Legalization of marijuna Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Legalization of marijuna - Essay Example A professor of economics at California State University suggests that the legalization of marijuana would have considerable positive economic consequences. The taxation and regulation processes involved with decriminalization would provide the federal government with $6.2 billion worth of tax revenues (Grammy 2). When adjusting for inflation, this total increases to over $8 billion (Grammy 2). For just one state, California, legalization is estimated to be an opportunity to produce an additional $151.8 million (Grammy 2). Another economist significantly inflates the aforementioned projections, suggesting that in California alone, legalization would provide the state with between $1.5 billion and $4 billion of new tax revenues (Wolff 2). These are significant improvements in the strength of state level economies which, under current prohibitive economic environments, are not achievable through any reputable taxation program. Additionally, marijuana prohibition under the current nation al drug enforcement policy is considerably expensive. In Alaska, these costs total $24 million (Bates v). None of these costs have been able to be compensated for with grants or imposed fines associated with marijuana consumption. A professor of economics at Boston University estimates that in Massachusetts, the costs of enforcement equal $120.6 million (Miron 1). The state-level expenditures for enforcing marijuana prohibition are paid by taxpayers, which represents a burden for hard-working Americans that must service enforcement programs whether or not they agree with the policies. These are significant state-level costs that could easily be avoided by legalizing the substance. Furthermore, the criminal justice system is fraught with problems associated with prison over-crowding, which also imposes costs on society and state/local budgets. Many local jails and prisons are at maximum capacity, continuing to be a problem as non-violent offenders arrested for marijuana production an d consumption contributes to this problem. The estimated costs of police protection under the prohibitive policies are $2.55 billion annually (Grammy 2). Judicial and legal costs under this policy are estimated at $7.76 billion annually (Grammy 2). Furthermore, the total cost of national corrections is projected to be $776.2 million (Grammy 2). These are rather outrageous costs that are imposed that could be better allocated to more socially-centric programs such as violent offender rehabilitation or other preventative programs that would provide better protections to society against violence. Taxpayers should not be financially supporting these inflated and rather ridiculous costs that are incurred for a policy that is largely ineffective. The White House, however, is a stoic opponent of legalizing marijuana, despite the aforementioned financial gains that could be incurred through legalization. The Office of the President believes that legalization would do little to prevent furth er drug violence. The White House is firm that members of drug cartels would simply attempt to create an undercutting pricing structure to ensure they maintained their long-standing market share on marijuana sales (ONDCP 3). Drug cartels are usually involved in violent behavior and, under the White House’

Octopus System Essay Example for Free

Octopus System Essay In our group’s case study report, we will examine the use of Octopus system in the education sector. Octopus system is a widely used e-Commerce technology in Hong Kong, covering a variety of industries including transportation, retail, restaurants, and more. Tsung Tsin Primary School is the main focus of this case study. The school uses the Octopus system extensively, integrating into student and staff information, attendance, educational activities, payment, and communications. We will look at how using the system can help achieve the school’s missions. In order to describe the business case, we will analyze the benefits of adopting the Octopus system in an educational environment, comparing with the traditional methods of performing similar processes. The feedback from Tsung Tsin Primary School has been very positive; however there are associated costs, risks, and challenges. In our case study, we will also discover the potential or existing issues with the implementation and maintenance of the systems. With personal identification store in the Octopus cards and the server, we also have concerns regarding to the security and privacy of the system. We will analyze the current security measures and suggest changes to enhance the protection. Finally, we will provide recommendations for extending and further improving the use of Octopus and other e-Commerce technologies in Tsung Tsin Primary School. We will also look at the feasibility of adopting the Octopus system in other types of educational institutes.

Snake, By DH Lawrence Essay -- essays research papers

Snake When the snake first came to the water-trough, the narrator was excited and glad "he had come like a guest in quiet, to drink at my water trough." He "felt so honoured" at this visit whilst at the same time, the voices of his "accursed human education" advised him to kill it, for it was a gold snake and therefore venomous. Those voices said to him, "If you were not afraid you would kill him." The narrator "picked up a clumsy log And threw it" at the snake when the snake was leaving. Like for a moment, the majestic spell of awe was broken and the voices overpowered him so his real cowardice shone through. He had asked himself whilst feeling this awe, if it were "cowardice, that I dared not kill him?" but his real cowardice came when the snake's "back was turned." I also think that when he threw the log at the snake, it was almost a cry out that he was not to go. He said that it was his voices, but it seems to me that he used that as an excuse. That he was almost trying to punish the snake for leaving him. The narrator says he felt "A sort of horror, a sort of protest against his withdrawing into that horrid black hole" then he threw the log. The use of words like silently, softly, in the beginning when he is first describing the snake and the snake's motions, serve to get ...

Carmen Marinache Essay

Assuming complex businesses in which company is part of: – organising logistics operations ( railway transportation from station of departure to station of destination, reception of wagons at final station of destination, unloading the cargo from wagons and loading it into trucks / handling, delivery up to the client’s terminal); – organising special transports such as munitions transportation in transit via Romania; – organising cargo exports from Romania with guard protection on route; – organising oversized transportation, export from Romania to different countries, which implies: obtaining loading drawing from an authorised company, obtaining approval for transportation from the railways and infrastructure, issuing CIM railway bills, coordinating the transport with foreign railways on traffic and obtaining all necessary traffic permission by keeping in touch with all our external partners, solving problems that might occur while transportation is performed; – organising exports from Romania to different countries from exCIS in special SZD wagons (wagons from CIS countries), obtaining all traffic permissions, keeping in contact with clients and partners for a prompt solving of all difficult situations; – organising transportation of wagons on their own wheels as well as of locomotives; – participating to organisation of multimodal traffic – Ex: cargo coming by vessel, unloading directly or indirectly to wagons and customs clearance through a sister company specialised in port in such ki nd of operations), railway transportation up to one station in Europe, unloading of cargo and delivery by trucks to consignee, etc. ? Keeping in contact with Accounting and Financial Dept. in order to mutually solve problems related to the financial part of the business; ? Based on the information received from the Controlling Dept. , analysing and proposing to the Executive Manager personal evaluation for personnel; ? Monthly analysing the activity of the Railway Dept. calculating estimated operational profit, calculating the total tonnage, presenting the situations to Executive Director; ? Contacting and visiting potential clients; ? Taking part to set up of transport and freight forwarding contracts with Romanian and foreign clients/partners ; ? Representing the company within international exhibitions and fairs, in Romania and abroad, to Express Interfracht Holding own stand, and within conferences having as topic the improvement of railway transportation; ? Issuing the documentation of company presentation and representing the company within different tenders opened by big production companies in Romania, in o rder to choose logistic supplier.

Background of Technology Project Essay

The Project to be studied is an implementation of a work assignment and tracking system in an IT department in a medium sized company. The IT Department before the project was started, had undergone a management change and a reorganization due to corporate cost cutting and restructuring. The previous structure of the IT organization was teams of people that support specific applications in the system, and the business users of a particular application contacted the team assigned to their application for system enhancements and support. There was no system for managing and tracking projects and tasks, and it was left to the managers of each team to handle project prioritization, assignment and tracking. This structure was changed to a pooled resource structure where IT staff people were grouped by functional areas (such as mainframe support group, pc support group, web applications, etc). The IT structure was no longer hierarchical and the work was no longer handed down in a top down approach thus creating a need for a systematic way of managing people and tasks to function effectively. SDLC (Systems Development Life Cycle) The Life Cycle for this particular project did not exactly match the order of the phases as described in the Systems Development Life Cycle concept. Because of the immediate reorganization of the IT organization, current projects encountered delays and the IT procedures and tasks were disrupted. This prompted a need for a quick reshuffling of work between the new groups and a quick and dirty way to manage the work at hand and incoming work until a better system is implemented. Initiation The initiation of a system (or project) begins when a business need or opportunity is identified. This happened for this project when a CIO was appointed to head the new IT organization and was asked to reduce head count by pooling the resources while at the same time still provide timely and effective service to the business users of the IT systems and applications. System Concept Development Phase In this phase of SDLC, the business need has been approved and the approaches for accomplishing the concept are reviewed for feasibility and appropriateness. Several approaches were considered for tackling the problem in the IT department. The first approach was an Excel spreadsheet to list all IT personnel and their assigned tasks but this turned out to be too cumbersome and hard for several persons to use. An in-house developed web based system was also considered and was in fact implemented but was cancelled since it was not flexible enough to handle the different tasks of the different IT groupings and the different sources of work requests. The last approach was either to buy an existing package that would fit the requirements and customize it for the IT organization’s structure and procedures or develop one in-house. Planning Phase In the planning phase, the concept/approach is further developed to describe how the business will operate once the approved system is implemented, and to define project resources, activities, schedules, tools, and reviews to ensure the products and /or services provide the required capability on-time and within budget. The planning phase for this particular project was being done while simple solutions were being used and implemented since there were time constraints and something had to be in place right away. A team was assembled to look into existing applications within the company or packages out in the market that would fit the requirement and assess its flexibility and long term viability for the organization. That team also had to come up with a process flow of how work will be handled in the new IT structure to help in the use of the short-term solutions and to help in finding a long-term solution. Finally, two long term approaches were proposed. One was that of customizing the packaged software that was currently being used by the Help Desk to track PC and Mainframe work requests for PC Technicians and Mainframe System  Programmers, which was from a company called Remedy. The other was to develop a work flow system in-house. Requirements Analysis Phase In this phase, functional user requirements are formally defined and delineate the requirements in terms of data, system performance, security, and maintainability requirements for the system. The functional user requirements for this project detailed all the different tasks that an IT organization performs and the information that needs to be tracked for each such as requestor, status, assigned IT person etc. One of the main requirements gathered was that of accessibility of the work flow system. Different people will be entering work requests such as business users and help desk personnel and the user interface and performance requirements for the two types would be far different. So the chosen system should have flexible interfaces and need to communicate work status and results back to the requester in a medium that is accessible company wide. Another main requirement is that the system can be implemented quickly and should be flexible enough to easily add features in the future. Design The physical characteristics of the system are designed during this phase. For this project, after reviewing the requirements, the only option that would work was an out of the box solution such as the Remedy Action Request System. Since it was already being used by the Help Desk team, it has already proven itself as a flexible and reliable system to use. As a help desk software it allows entry of work request, assigns work, allows a way to log the progress of a request and stores all the history regarding a request. Design was simply a matter of finding out the customizable options and features in Remedy and designing it for the different IT groups formed. Since help desk work was different as compared to application development work, two type of request were designed and one was for support/problems and one was an enhancement to the system or major project that have subtasks and  involved lots of people with different roles and responsibilities. For the IT staff a client server platform was needed for faster execution, and for accessibility and ease of use, a simple web-based interface was designed for the business users since they don’t need to see too much detail. Since company wide communications was done through email, work assignment, status and results need to be communicated through this medium. Development, Integration , Test and Implementation Phase The four phases for this project was combined into one because of the time constraints and since it was a packaged software approach and the main components no longer needed development and testing. Most of the development involved loading tables that the package uses such as logon ids, departments, user data etc, and the customization of the user interfaces. The necessary components of Remedy were installed and hooked up with the web servers and the email system. Before final rollout, it was given a trial basis by one representative in each IT group and finalized based on the recommendations of each representative. Once the work flow system was ready, the IT staff were trained on how to use it and how work should flow through the organization. Conclusion The project as a whole went through a couple of cycles of the SDLC due to different implementations. But the final result was relatively successful since it incorporated the ideas that Trepper suggested in his article â€Å"Getting an edge on the competition† which was about process management. According to Trepper, process management † should also cover the establishment of actual development phases and activities, creation of a workflow among participants, and selection and implementation of tools and techniques best suited to the task.† This was accomplished by the Remedy AR system. The customized Remedy AR System also incorporated the two principal source of best practices as listed by Trepper which is industry best practice and ones  developed within the company. The Remedy AR System already had the industry best practice since it is a widely used system and the company best practices were incorporated through the customization of the system based on recommendations of the different IT groups.

San Lorenzo - Olmec Civilization in Veracruz

San Lorenzo - Olmec Civilization in Veracruz San Lorenzo is an Olmec period site located in the state of Veracruz, Mexico. San Lorenzo is the name of the central place in the larger San Lorenzo Tenochtitlan archaeological region. It is located on a steep plateau above the Coatzacoalcos floodplain. The site was first settled in the second millennium BC and had its heyday between 1200-900 BC. Temples, plazas, roadways and kingly residences are included in an area of about a half acre, where about 1,000 people resided. Chronology Ojochi phase (1800-1600 BC)Bajio phase (1600-1500 BC)Chicharras (1500-1400 BC)San Lorenzo A (1400-1200 BC)San Lorenzo B (1000-1200 BC) Architecture at San Lorenzo Ten colossal stone heads representing heads of past and present rulers have been found at San Lorenzo. Evidence suggests that these heads were plastered and painted in bright colors. They were arranged in ensembles and set in a plaza paved with red sand and yellow gravel. Sarcophagus-shaped thrones linked living kings with their ancestors. A royal processional aligned to the north-south axis of the plateau led the way to the center. At the center of the site are two palaces: the San Lorenzo Red Palace and the Stirling Acropolis. The Red Palace was a royal residence with a platform substructure, red floors, basalt roof support, steps and drain. The Stirling Acropolis may have been the sacred residence, and is surrounded by a pyramid, E-group and a ballcourt. Chocolate at San Lorenzo Recent analysis of 156 potsherds were collected from stratified deposits at San Lorenzo, and reported in an article in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in May of 2011. Residues of the pottery were collected and analyzed at the University of California, Davis Department of Nutrition. Of the 156 potsherds examined, 17% contained conclusive evidence of theobromine, the active incredient in chocolate. Vessel types exhibiting multiple occurrences of theobromine included open bowls, cups and bottles; the vessels date throughout the chronology at San Lorenzo. This represents the earliest evidence of chocolate use. Read more about the history of chocolate Excavators of San Lorenzo include Matthew Stirling, Michael Coe and Ann Cyphers Guillen. Sources This glossary entry is a part of the About.com Guide to the Olmec Civilization, and part of the Dictionary of Archaeology. Blomster JP, Neff H, and Glascock MD. 2005. Olmec Pottery Production and Export in Ancient Mexico Determined Through Elemental Analysis. Science 307:1068-1072. Cyphers A. 1999. From Stone to Symbols: Olmec Art in Social Context at San Lorenzo Tenochtitln. In: Grove DC, and Joyce RA, editors. Social Patterns in Pre-Classic Mesoamerica. Washington DC: Dumbarton Oaks. p 155-181. Neff H, Blomster J, Glascock MD, Bishop RL, Blackman MJ, Coe MD, Cowgill GL, Diehl RA, Houston S, Joyce AA et al. 2006. Methodological Issues In The Provenance Investigation Of Early Formative Mesoamerican Ceramics. Latin American Antiquity 17(1):54-57. Neff H, Blomster J, Glascock MD, Bishop RL, Blackman MJ, Coe MD, Cowgill GLC, Ann, Diehl RA, Houston S, Joyce AA et al. 2006. Smokescreens in the Provenance Investigation of Early Formative Mesoamerican Ceramics. Latin American Antiquity 17(1):104-118. Pohl MD, and von Nagy C. 2008. The Olmec and their contemporaries. In: Pearsall DM, editor. Encyclopedia of Archaeology. London: Elsevier Inc. p 217-230. Pool CA, Ceballos PO, del Carmen Rodrà ­guez Martà ­nez M, and Loughlin ML. 2010. The early horizon at Tres Zapotes: implications for Olmec interaction. Ancient Mesoamerica 21(01):95-105. Powis TG, Cyphers A, Gaikwad NW, Grivetti L, and Cheong K. 2011. Cacao use and the San Lorenzo Olmec. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 108(21):8595-8600. Wendt CJ, and Cyphers A. 2008. How the Olmec used bitumen in ancient Mesoamerica. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 27(2):175-191.

The Novel Writer’s Secret Short Stories - Freewrite Store

The Novel Writer’s Secret Short Stories - Freewrite Store Today’s guest post is by author Jeff Somers.  He has published nine novels, including the  Avery Cates Series  of noir-science fiction novels from Orbit Books, the darkly hilarious crime novel  Chum  from Tyrus Books, and most recently tales of blood magic and short cons in the  Ustari Cycle. Go Short to Go Long: Going from Short Stories to Novels The Short Story is having a bit of a Moment these days. After a lengthy period of being overshadowed by longer-form fiction, readers, critics, and (most importantly) film and television producers seem to be waking up to the unique old-school pleasures of a short piece of fiction. Writers like George Saunders, who largely specialize in short stories (Lincoln in the Bardo was his first published novel), have bubbled into the mainstream- Jennifer Egan’s A Visit from the Goon Squad is composed of interlocked short stories, and it won the 2011 Pulitzer Prize. Some of the biggest movies of the past few years- like Arrival or The Curious Case of Benjamin Button- have been based on short stories. And Amazon just picked up Philip K. Dick’s Electric Dreams,an anthology series based on the short works of the famous sci-fi author. A lot of writers shy away from short stories. Stories don’t earn a whole lot of money, as a rule, and so can be seen as a poor use of a writer’s time. Plus, they’re tough to write; unlike a novel, where you can spin words upon words as you write through problems, the format is tight and constricted, requiring ruthless cutting and efficient plotting. This is also whyevery writer who aspires to write and sell a novel should be writing short stories- and a lot of them. Challenge: Accepted George R.R. Martin, a man who has managed to make writing huge, wordy novels look easy, once offered this piece of writing advice: â€Å"I would also suggest that any aspiring writer begin with short stories. These days, I meet far too many young writers who try to start off with a novel right off, or a trilogy, or even a nine-book series. That’s like starting in at rock climbing by tackling Mt. Everest. Short stories help you learn your craft.† The fact that writing a coherent short story that’s an affecting, complete piece of work is difficult is your first clue that you should be doing it. In fact, writing a short story exercises several writing muscles that will benefit your novel writing: Finishing. Probably the hardest part of writing any piece of fiction is getting to The End. Books often begin with a blaze of inspiration and excitement, then get bogged down in characters that don’t seem interesting, plots that go nowhere, and the slow creeping sense that you are a fraud and an impostor. Short stories train you to get from the beginning to the end without investing months or years of your time- and like any muscle memory, physical or mental, the more you get to The End the easier it becomes in the future. Efficiency. The open-ended expanse of novels (first drafts can be as flabby and overwritten as we like, after all) encourages experimentation and, to use a scientific term, noodling. All that noodling can bulk up your word count without actually moving the story forward or clarifying your characters’ motivations. Word count is a satisfying metric, making you feel like you’ve achieved something regardless of the quality of those words. But in a short story, there’s no room for noodling. Writing the short form forces you to cut your plot, your characterizations, and your world-building down to the essentials, making your game that much tighter. Creativity. Short stories also offer a way of capturing ideas when you don’t have time to work on a longer version of an idea. Haruki Murakami, the author of Kafka on the Shore and 1Q84 among many other amazing novels, once said â€Å"A short story I have written long ago would barge into my house in the middle of the night, shake me awake and shout, 'Hey, this is no time for sleeping! You can't forget me, there's still more to write!' Impelled by that voice, I would find myself writing a novel. In this sense, too, my short stories and novels connect inside me in a very natural, organic way.† In other words, sometimes a short story is just a short story, and sometimes it’s the tip of a novel-length iceberg. Short Stories Every Day When discussing the craft and process of writing, you’ll eventually hear that if you want to improve you need to write every day or as near to it as possible. The more you write (and the more you read), the better your writing will become because practice is an essential part of any skill or craft. Most of us have to work pretty hard to find the time to write every day, making that time precious. Your choice of what to work on during those precious hours (or minutes) is one of the most important decisions you’ll make as a writer. I strongly suggest you use that time to work on short stories unless you have a very clear concept and way forward for a novel. I’ve completed 35 novels. Many of those are awful, some are mediocre, and nine have been published (so far). One reason I’ve been able to plan, compose, and sell so many novels is that I write at least one short story every month, without fail. I started doing this thirty years ago, and I now have more than 500 stories written in long-hand in notebooks. When I finish one, I immediately start another. As with my novels, most of these aren’t great; I’ve sold about 40 over the years, and most of them never make it out of the notebooks at all. My goal isn’t necessarily to write a brilliant, publishable short story, though- those come as a side-effect of my true goal, which is to practice. To try different things. Working on a story each month means I can play around with a narrative device for a month, then capture an idea that’s been buzzing inside my head the next. After that, I can write a story focusing on a dialog trick I’ve thought of, and the month after that I can write my version of someone else’s story so I can tear apart their style, their mechanics, their tricks, and tics to see what can be seen. Every story I write, month after month, I’m trying something new, something that maybe I’m no good at, something that won’t work at all- but it’s low-risk, because at the end of the month I write The End and mo ve on to the next idea, the next experiment, the next challenge. This has had an incredibly positive effect on my longer works. First of all, some of these experiments lead to ideas and scenarios that grow naturally into novels- my book We Are Not Good People ultimately sprang from a pretty awful short story written a long, long time ago when I thought a mullet was an acceptable hairstyle. And every time I push myself to write a story in a new way, or using new, unfamiliar tools, I get a faint echo of that first crazy energy that drove me to write in the first place. And the fact that every day, without fail, I’m working on a new story means that my mind is always focused on writing and the mechanics of telling a tale, keeping me sharp. The TL;DR version is: Short stories for the Win. So, writers, how do you keep your skills and mind sharp even when your novel only exists as 4,000 Post-It Notes and a dream journal?    Jeff Somers (www.jeffreysomers.com) began writing by court order as an attempt to steer his creative impulses away from engineering genetic grotesqueries. He has published nine novels, including the Avery Cates Series of noir-science fiction novels from Orbit Books (www.avery-cates.com) and the Ustari Cycle  Series of urban fantasy novels. His short story Ringing the Changes was selected for inclusion in Best American Mystery Stories 2006,his story Sift, Almost Invisible, Through appeared in the anthology Crimes by Moonlight edited by Charlaine Harris, and his story Three Cups of Tea  appeared in the anthology Hanzai Japan. He also writes about books for Barnes and Noble and About.com and about the craft of writing for Writer’s Digest, which will publish his book on the craft of writing Writing Without Rules in 2018. He lives in Hoboken with his wife, The Duchess, and their cats. He considers pants to always be optional.

The History and Origin of the U.S. Democratic Party

The History and Origin of the U.S. Democratic Party The Democratic Party along with the Republican Party (GOP) is one of the two dominant modern political parties in the United States. Its members and candidates- known as â€Å"Democrats†- typically vie with Republicans for control of federal, state, and local elected offices. To date, 15 Democrats under 16 administrations have served as President of the United States. Origins of the Democratic Party The Democratic Party was created in the early 1790s by former members of the Democratic-Republican Party founded by influential Anti-Federalists including Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. Other factions of the same Democratic-Republican Party formed the Whig Party and the modern Republican Party. The landslide victory of Democrat Andrew Jackson over incumbent Federalist John Adams in the presidential election of 1828 solidified the party and established it as a lasting political force. In essence, the Democratic Party evolved due to upheavals in the original First Party system, made up of the two original national parties: the Federalist Party and the Democratic-Republican Party. Existing between roughly 1792 and 1824, the First Party System was characterized by a system of deferential-participant politics- the tendency of constituents of both parties to go along with the policies of elite political leaders out of sheer respect for their family pedigree, military accomplishments, prosperity, or education. In this respect, early political leaders of the First Party System might be viewed as an early-American aristocracy. The Jeffersonian Republicans envisioned a locally-established group of intellectual elites who would hand down the unquestionable government and social policy from on high, while the Hamiltonian Federalists believed that the locally established intellectual elite theories should often be subject to the approval of the people. Death of the Federalists The First Party System began dissolving in the mid-1810s, possibly over the popular revolt over the Compensation Act of 1816. That act was intended to raise the salaries of Congressmen from a per diem of six dollars a day to an annual salary of $1,500 per year. There was widespread public outrage, fanned by the press which was almost universally opposed to it. Of the members of the Fourteenth Congress, over 70% were not returned to the 15th Congress. As a result, in 1816 the Federalist Party died out leaving a single political party, the Anti-Federalist or Democratic-Republican Party: but that lasted briefly. A split in the Democratic-Republican Party in the mid-1820s gave rise to two factions: the National Republicans (or Anti-Jacksonians) and the Democrats. After Andrew Jackson lost to John Quincy Adams in the election of 1824, Jacksons supporters created their own organization to get him elected. After Jacksons election in 1828, that organization became known as the Democratic Party. The National Republicans eventually coalesced into the Whig Party. Political Platform of the Democratic Party In our modern form of government, both Democrat and Republican parties share similar values, in that it is the political elites of those parties who are the main repositories of the public conscience. The core set of ideological beliefs subscribed to by both parties includes a free market, equal opportunity, a strong economy, and peace maintained by an adequately strong defense. Their most glaring differences lie in their beliefs of the extent to which the government should be involved in the daily lives of the people. Democrats tend to favor the active intervention of the government, while Republicans favor a more â€Å"hands-off† policy. Ever since the 1890s, the Democratic Party has been measurably more socially liberal than the Republican Party. Democrats have long appealed to the poor and working classes and Franklin  D. Roosevelts common man,† while Republicans have gained support from the middle class and higher, including suburbanites and the burgeoning number of retirees. Modern Democrats advocate for a liberal domestic policy featuring social and economic equality, welfare, support for labor unions, and nationalized universal health care. Other Democratic ideals embrace civil rights, stronger gun control laws, equal opportunity, consumer protection, and environmental protection. The party favors a liberal and inclusive immigration policy. Democrats, for example, support controversial sanctuary city laws protecting undocumented immigrants from federal detention and deportation. Currently, the Democratic coalition includes teachers unions, womens groups, blacks, Hispanics, the LGBT community, environmentalists and many others. Today, both the Democratic and Republican parties are made up of coalitions of many diverse groups whose loyalties have varied over the years. For example, blue-collar voters, who were for years attracted to the Democratic Party, have become Republican strongholds. Interesting Facts The symbol of the donkey for the Democratic Party is said to have stemmed from Andrew Jackson. His opposition called him a jackass. Instead of taking it as an insult, he chose to adopt this as a symbol. This, in turn, became the symbol of the Democratic Party.The Democrats hold the record for controlling both houses of Congress for the most consecutive Congresses. They controlled both houses of Congress from 1955 to 1981.Andrew Jackson was the first President of the Democratic Party; and, including him, there have been 14 Democrats in the White House. Updated by Robert Longley Sources: Aldrich JH. 1995. Why Parties? The Origin and Transformation of Political Parties in America. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Skeen CE. 1986. Vox Populi, Vox Dei: The Compensation Act of 1816 and the Rise of Popular Politics. Journal of the Early Republic 6(3):253-274.

The Social Environment and Health Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

The Social Environment and Health - Assignment Example On the other hand aging and obesity are biological factors. As Hillier and Barrow (2014) state, hypertension exists in about 31% of individuals above the age of 65 and only in 22% of those between 45 and 64 years. Chen, Lo, Chang, and Kuo (2014) note that obesity indices are substantially associated with the risk of hypertension across age and gender. Approaches geared towards enhancing health when biological and social factors are considered differ. If considering the physical fitness, it is easier to undertake physical exercises that will lead to improved health. In the case of dieting, it requires the intervention of a nutritionist who advises on what foods to and not to take. Also, the results of dieting may not be physically observable as those of physical exercise. For example, reducing dietary sodium salt intake to the recommended standard of around a 1,500 mg a day (Cavanaugh & Blanchard-Fields, 2014), it is not physically expressed. Chen, S. C., Lo, T. C., Chang, J. H., & Kuo, H. W. (2014). Variations in Aging, Gender, Menopause, and Obesity and Their Effects on Hypertension in Taiwan. International Journal of Hypertension, 2014,

Broadcast news story Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Broadcast news story - Essay Example Fox Sports 1 appears to have accepted the challenge and it aims to set new standards of sports telecast by introducing the newly emerging idea of â€Å"Jockularity† as part of their regular telecasts. The new channel aims to establish its reputation as a funny, irreverent and so called ‘less-serious’ sport channel. They say that they will engage the services of some really famous Canadian pranksters to anchor the network’s flagship programs. Regis Philbin is also expected to host a show at the new sports network. â€Å"What we are fighting is inertia. ESPN has a 30-year head start, and they are doing a remarkable job. We are very much the underdog, and we have to convince the sports-viewing public that what we have on offer is better—or as good as—what ESPN has been offering. We have to create a personality.† (Greenfeld) Greenfeld,  K.  T. (2013, July 18). Fox Sports 1s Strategy vs. ESPN: Jockularity - Businessweek. Retrieved  May  18, 2015, from

Investment ratios of McBride plc Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Investment ratios of McBride plc - Essay Example According to David (2005), financial statements provide the potential users with a narrow insight into the strengths and weaknesses of a business. This is because what is reported does not give an in-depth depiction of performance of an entity. Such full view of a business is important as it would ultimately influence users’ decisions on whether to continue their association with an entity and in addition, give potential investors adequate information to aid them in decision-making. Thus, the concept of financial analysis The Mcbride Plc had basic normalized earnings per share of 2.9p, 12.3p, 9.2p, and 6.4p for the financial year of 2011, 2010, 2009 and 2008. This ratio is very important in comparing the performance of companies, as this cannot be done using the profit they make directly because of differences in the number of outstanding shares and income. A higher Earnings per Share is desirable to investors as it indicates a higher relative income. This company has a EPS that fluctuates from time to time which means that shareholders returns is unstable. Price to earnings ratio (P/E ratio)- David (2003) states that price/earnings ratio is the most commonly used to evaluate investment in an entity. He further points out that historically, the average P/E ratio for the broad market has been around 15, although it can fluctuate significantly depending on economic and market conditions. A stock with a high price/earnings ratio suggests that investors are expecting higher earnings growth in the future compared to the overall market while a stock with a low price/earnings ratio suggests that investors have more modest expectation for its future growth compared to the market as a whole (David, 2003). From the computations of price/earnings ratio for McBride plc in table below, the ratio declined from 10.8 in 2010 to 9.44 in 2011. This decline may not be attractive to prospective growth investors despite

Political Philosophy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Political Philosophy - Essay Example Many people have questioned whether the government, with all its laws and regulations, is justified to rule the people. What right does the government have to demand that its people obey? Why should an individual obey the state in the first place? These are just a few of philosophical queries being asked. Nonetheless, a majority of the responds stress the need for an orderly process and protection as the justification for obedience to the government. Some have highlighted the need to promote cultural and spiritual aspects of the populace while others stress the need for economic well-being, which stands as the foundation for all values. This text looks into the answers given by John Stuart Mill, Karl Marx, and Friedrich Engels. Mill concurs with Lock in vying for representational democracy; however, he is against the idea of natural rights (Pojman, 502). The struggle between Authority and Liberty has been ongoing for a long time particularly in the history of countries like Rome, Gre ece, and England. However, during such times, the contest was between the government and certain classes of subjects. Liberty meant protection against the dictatorship of political rulers. The rulers at the time obtained authority from conquest or inheritance. Therefore, most of them never held leadership at the pleasure of the citizens. Although their power was deemed necessary, it was regarded as highly dangerous. Some of the leaders would use authority as a strategic weapon against their adversaries or subjects (Pojman, 502). However, it reached a time when men stopped to believe that their governors should be independent. They deemed it fit that their leaders should be delegates or tenants revocable at their gratification. That way, they would have total security that the government authority will never take them for granted. Others still thought that there was a need to let their give responsibility to their leaders, where they can be removed if need be. This idea was common am ongst the last liberal European generation (Pojman, 504). However, in time, a democratic republic came into place as an elective and responsible government was ushered into place. The will of the people meant the will of the many. According to Mill, the only instance where power can be exercised in the right manner is when used on any civilized member of a community to prevent harm against others, against his will (Pojman, 505). However, this is not about minors in the society. Freedom should only be extended towards the pursuance of our own good in a specific way, so long as no other person gets hurt. A person who hurts others should be punished by law, in a situation where legal penalties cannot be safely applied. A person can also be compelled to do acts that would be of benefit to the rest of the society, for instance, to give evidence in a court of law, saving another human being’s life, or protect the defenseless. The society, in this case, will hold responsible the ind ividual should he fail to do the act. In this regard, a person can cause harm to others, not necessarily by doing wrong, but by refusing to do the right thing. Mill further argues that people should not have the right to coerce the government into doing something; such power in itself is illicit (Pojman, 507). It is even more noxious for a government to exert power as a result of public opinion. Basically, Mill promotes the idea that the principle of liberty is only justifiable by utilitarian reflections. 3. The Communist Answer according to Carl Max Karl Max played an instrumental role in the dawn of the Marxist movement. According to him, all cultural values, including all the laws and ideal, of a society are at all times the reflection of the rulers. History has always painted a picture of struggles between the classes (Pojman, 510). During the past periods of history, there has been an intricate arrangement of the society into different social orders, a diverse

Article Review Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 15

Article Review - Essay Example In his work, his aim is to keep readers entertained, but in his view to entertain, it is clear the author disregards the Populist Party. In the author’s argument on politics and money, the symbols he uses for representation are characterized. Dorothy symbolizes the medium of transport for the local currency; silver is the value of money, and she wears silver shoes, gold also represents the value of money, while green is neutral. The common farmer believed that the yellow brick road† which was the term used to represent gold would cause harm†, but in the real sense it was what was needed to solve all the problems experienced. The argument that populist use the power they have to their advantage shows, as he uses the wizard who takes on many forms, the wizard only agrees to help if there is something to return the favor. The populist showed people a side of them that they knew would be convincing; their true characters and intentions were hidden. The author Frank Baum was not a politician; he was a writer, and that is why he was well informed in the political settings. The article shows how some people are perceived, dumb and stupid. These people never get the chance give their own opinion. The scarecrow in the article represents this group of people. It is lifeless and without a brain, what people do not know is that the scarecrow has a brain. The article engages the addressees; the symbols used help one to understand why this article was reviewed. Each symbol used is relevant to what it represents. In the symbol of the wizard, it represents bad leaders as the article explain how the wizard transform’s, this clearly shows how bad leaders hide who they really are. The article does not explain in depth, how money and politics play a part in this article, it shows their symbols but does not really explain, how this relates with the common people who are the mice, in this article. The articles’ focus is mainly on the populist, it needs to cover all

Political Philosophy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Political Philosophy - Essay Example Many people have questioned whether the government, with all its laws and regulations, is justified to rule the people. What right does the government have to demand that its people obey? Why should an individual obey the state in the first place? These are just a few of philosophical queries being asked. Nonetheless, a majority of the responds stress the need for an orderly process and protection as the justification for obedience to the government. Some have highlighted the need to promote cultural and spiritual aspects of the populace while others stress the need for economic well-being, which stands as the foundation for all values. This text looks into the answers given by John Stuart Mill, Karl Marx, and Friedrich Engels. Mill concurs with Lock in vying for representational democracy; however, he is against the idea of natural rights (Pojman, 502). The struggle between Authority and Liberty has been ongoing for a long time particularly in the history of countries like Rome, Gre ece, and England. However, during such times, the contest was between the government and certain classes of subjects. Liberty meant protection against the dictatorship of political rulers. The rulers at the time obtained authority from conquest or inheritance. Therefore, most of them never held leadership at the pleasure of the citizens. Although their power was deemed necessary, it was regarded as highly dangerous. Some of the leaders would use authority as a strategic weapon against their adversaries or subjects (Pojman, 502). However, it reached a time when men stopped to believe that their governors should be independent. They deemed it fit that their leaders should be delegates or tenants revocable at their gratification. That way, they would have total security that the government authority will never take them for granted. Others still thought that there was a need to let their give responsibility to their leaders, where they can be removed if need be. This idea was common am ongst the last liberal European generation (Pojman, 504). However, in time, a democratic republic came into place as an elective and responsible government was ushered into place. The will of the people meant the will of the many. According to Mill, the only instance where power can be exercised in the right manner is when used on any civilized member of a community to prevent harm against others, against his will (Pojman, 505). However, this is not about minors in the society. Freedom should only be extended towards the pursuance of our own good in a specific way, so long as no other person gets hurt. A person who hurts others should be punished by law, in a situation where legal penalties cannot be safely applied. A person can also be compelled to do acts that would be of benefit to the rest of the society, for instance, to give evidence in a court of law, saving another human being’s life, or protect the defenseless. The society, in this case, will hold responsible the ind ividual should he fail to do the act. In this regard, a person can cause harm to others, not necessarily by doing wrong, but by refusing to do the right thing. Mill further argues that people should not have the right to coerce the government into doing something; such power in itself is illicit (Pojman, 507). It is even more noxious for a government to exert power as a result of public opinion. Basically, Mill promotes the idea that the principle of liberty is only justifiable by utilitarian reflections. 3. The Communist Answer according to Carl Max Karl Max played an instrumental role in the dawn of the Marxist movement. According to him, all cultural values, including all the laws and ideal, of a society are at all times the reflection of the rulers. History has always painted a picture of struggles between the classes (Pojman, 510). During the past periods of history, there has been an intricate arrangement of the society into different social orders, a diverse

Photography Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Photography - Coursework Example The image sensor featured in CMOS is smaller than the 22.3 mm Ãâ€" 11.49 mm area of the image in 35 mm full frame cameras (Guncheon 12), which results in a narrower view angle. The EOS 550D’s rear display is a 3-inch LCD widescreen and sports an aspect ratio display of 3:2. It has a standard definition 4:3 mode of aspect ratio that captures 640 Ãâ€" 480 pixel movies with fifty frames every second in PAL mode and 59.94 frames every second in NTSC mode (Guncheon 18). Moreover, shooting movies in VGA mode allows for an effective zoom of 7. With regards to exposure, the EOS 550D uses evaluating metering with more close to +/-5 values of exposure to choose from. This allows the camera to assess the position of the subject on the viewfinder and record the camera’s orientation, rear and front lighting conditions, and the general scene’s brightness. Based on this information, it will set the right exposure and adhere to the general 15-18% grey scale for white balance and metering (Guncheon 19). In general photography under natural light, this is the best setting because it is possible to tweak dark and light areas afterwards. The image output choices for this camera is RAW, JPEG, and RAW+JPEG and can capture thirty four fine/large JPEG or six RAW frames in a burst. The camera creates JPEG using 14-bit Analog-to-Digital conversion, which makes for better, and smoother color transition and 14-bit files to store RAW files (Guncheon 20). The camera also has various special features, including the inclusion of a stereo microphone jack and full HD movie recording (1080p) combined with exceptional still shooting. HDMI connection allows for HD playback of images and footage on HDTV, while one also has full control over shutter speeds and apertures (Guncheon 20). With regards to the camera lens being used, the Canon EF-S 18-55 mm IS, has an EF-S lens mount, and it is a mid to

Panama Canal Essay Example for Free

Panama Canal Essay The topic that will be researched and analyzed in the following essay has to do with the Imperialist Era in the United States. The question is: â€Å"To what extend did the Panama Canal lead to our success as Imperialists? † The aspects I will be researching are the history of the Panama Canal, the problems related to it, and the consequences that lead to our success as Imperialists. In general, my method of investigation was a bibliographical research, based on information found in books and on the internet. As resources I used both primary and secondary sources. First, I have a database article from Texas Digital Library, and secondly I used an IB Diploma Programme Book called â€Å"History of the Americans† published by the Oxford University and written by Y. Berliner, T. Leppard, A. Mamaux, M. D. Rogers and D. Smith. Also, I based my essay on a book from a historian called Kenneth C. Davis. The book’s name is â€Å"Don’t know much about History†, and it was a New York Times bestseller. Furthermore, I used another article by an historian called Sarah Jane Gilbert. The article has the title â€Å"Panama Canal: Troubled History, Astounding Turnaround†. The primary source I found was a letter from President Roosevelt to the Senate and House of Representatives that is called â€Å"Message to Congress after Returning from the Canal Zone in Panama†. The idea for the Panama Canal was very old, almost since Balboa stood on the cliffs of Darien in modern Panama. In fact, in 1880 a French group led by Ferdinand de Lesseps put together a company with the capital of thousands of investors to build a canal across the Isthmus of Panama, back then still part of Colombia. But corruption, miserable engineering plans and the harsh realities of the Central American jungle with its rainy season floods, earthquakes, yellow fever and malaria doomed de Lesseps’ effort. After thousands of deaths and a little excavating, the French company had to abandon the jungle and left all the equipment behind. However, since there was some trouble with Cuba, the navy had to be sent from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic. The ship took 2 month to finally arrive and fight against Cuba. But that was taking way too long. In 1903, Theodore Roosevelt then decided to give the canal a second chance. After taking the decision of continuing the French canal and not building a new one in Nicaragua, the United States had purchased the rights to build the canal. Nevertheless, the territory also needed to be bought. Since Panama had been under the control of Colombia, the US Secretary of State John Hay negotiated that the US would lease the land for 100 years, pay $10 million for the lease and $250,000 a year for the duration of the lease. But the Colombian government rejected this offer. Since Roosevelt was known for his big stick policy, he helped the Panamanians revolutionize and also sent weapons and the US Navy to Panama. Shortly after the establishment of a new country, the initial offer had been accepted, and after the purchasing of the French equipment for $40 million, the digging could begin. Roosevelt himself wrote to the Senate and House of Representatives, that the Canal was making a good process. He let them know that people there were happy, and that there was a lot of advancement going on. Furthermore, the people in panama would be really nice, and that he was welcomed warmly. The historian Sarah Jane Gilbert wrote in an e-mail interview that the United States used military force and the threat of military force against Colombia (to detach Panama from Colombia) and against the new Panamanian government (to get a better deal for the Panama Canal). American warships prevented Colombia from responding to Panamas declaration of independence. The new government then appointed the head counsel of the French company as their foreign minister (he was not Panamanian and in fact lived in New York). The lawyer drafted a treaty that gave Panama a far lower share of the canal revenues than the United States could have received in a fair negotiation. When the new government balked at the treaty, Secretary of State J. Hay warned of grave consequences and threatened to send the Navy. The Panamanians soon capitulated. When writing an essay based on sources instead of doing an actual research, it is highly important to be critical about the sources one uses. One also has think about their accuracy, because one cannot always trust them a 100%. The first source I will analyze is the letter from Roosevelt. The origin is Roosevelt himself. He sent it to the Senate and House of Representatives. From there it had been taken and finally also typed up, so that an electronic version was available for everyone who wants to use or take a look at it. The purpose of the letter was to show them how great everything in Panama was going, and that people were fairly happy. The value is high, because it is from the President himself. But of course, he also wanted to show the Senate and House of Representatives how great everything was, and we can be sure that there are limits in terms of the accuracy. Earlier the day it was much easier for politicians to lie about a situation that took place far away from their homes, since nothing could be verified. Since Panama is located in the Tropics, the Climate with its rainy season, diseases, mosquitos and wild animals are very unpleasant. From a logic point of view we could say, that Roosevelt’s letter cannot be completely true at all. The second source I will analyze is the e-mail interview between the historian Sarah Jane Gilbert and the Harvard Business School. The origin is the website of the Harvard Business School. They sent e-mails with questions to the historian, and on that way they could interview her and published her responses. The purpose is to get some information from a historian, who wrote a book about this topic and knows a lot about it. That also means that the value is high, because she is an expert. But as far as limitations are concerned, we cannot be sure that everything she really said had been published. Eventually, some of the information had been rewritten. Also, S. J. Gilbert was not present during the construction process of the Panama Canal. She had to base her answers and her knowledge on other sources. Those might also be biased. Furthermore, we tend to give some part of an event more attention than we would give others. That’s why we cannot get a completely objective answer from any historian. The Panama Canal helped us very much as Imperialists. On one side, we increased the security because our Navy needs less time to get from one Ocean to the other one, but on the other side their reach is larger since they save fuel. Also, the Panama Canal increased our national income by 4%, since other ships also use it. Furthermore, our commercial ships can ship their goods at higher rates because they do not have to pass around the Cape Horn. However, we can be sure that all the history and consequences are aspects related to imperialism. The reason of that is because we used military and economic force to make an independent nation out of Panama and then used it for our own purposes. If we think about it, that is exactly what Imperialism is about. â€Å"The seizure of a country or territory by a stronger country† is the definition, and it applies to what happened. However, the canal did not directly make us imperialists, but helped us a lot, because we could control the Atlantic Ocean and take control of Caribbean islands. Our Navy controlled a big part of American continent. However, after some time, the canal became so expensive that is was not worth it keeping it under our command, so we gave it to the Panamanians, who control this piece of history at the moment. Due to the analysis of several sources, and the interpretation of them, I have found out that the Panama Canal did help us being imperialists. But it also helped us to continue being imperialists and also guard America. The liberation of the Panama and the creation of the Panama Canal were both acts of economic and military imperialism. Without the Panama Canal we would have been in quite some trouble, and also still would be in it today, since even right now it is actively being used by ships standing in rows to pass through it. Even if the most captains of those ships do not know much about the canal, they will always be grateful for the creation of it.

Leadership Effectiveness In The Business World Commerce Essay

Leadership Effectiveness In The Business World Commerce Essay There exist different leaders with disparities in disposition, conceptualization as well as leadership styles. Leaders are meant to provide guiding vision in professional as well as personal matters. A competent leader should exude integrity which encompasses maturity, self knowledge or even candor. Being daring allows a leader take risks of experimenting with new things thereby getting new insights and ideas from the errors incurred. A leader of moral reasoning and futuristic destiny drives institutional growth to greater heights (Davis and Shrander 2007, 96). This document discusses the different leadership strategies as portrayed from Ray Davis leadership in an attempt steer Umpqua bank to higher profitability levels. Ray Davis leadership style can best be described as authentic, focused and transformational. He took over the leadership of South Umpqua bank and utilized creative philosophies as well as unique leadership disciplines in expanding South Umpqua bank operations, thus making the bank profitable, agile as well as customers satisfaction oriented. For him leadership has translated to growth. His leadership style is a clear demonstration that creating a competitive advantage will lead to exceptional growth to any institution. Being an authentic leader, Davis genuine desire to empower other people has been demonstrated. Chapter II: Findings and Discussion Transformational leadership Ray Davis has indeed provided positive change in the management of Umpqua bank making the bank amongst the most profitable institution of the times. Through the radical changes introduced in the banking industry, the institution has transformed into a multibillionaire entity with more than 120 branches spread throughout the state. Ray Davis has largely focused in transforming the lives of people through the establishment of accountability forums where the employees are encouraged to look at the interests of each other while contributing to the general well being of the entire institution. For instance, when Ray Davis took over the management of the bank in the fiscal 1994, the number of employees was about 60 people in Oregon which is an economically depressed region. This scenario has since been transformed with a record 1800 employees spread across the over 120 branches of the bank in Oregon, northern California as well as in Washington. Over the past twelve years relentless growth has been exhibited in this once little known financial institution having been transformed into a highly traded public company (Woodward 2003, 2). The transformational leadership strategy utilized by Ray Davis has propelled the growth which has seen the bank feature in prominent financial matters publications like Fast Company, CNBC as well as in the Business week. Through the personality aspects and traits of Ray Davis, he has managed to create change through the vision and goals he set out to achieve. The influence that Ray Davis has had on his followers is massive due to the charisma, individual consideration as well as the intellectual arousal he exudes. A key pointer to the transformational leadership strategies demonstrated by Ray Davis, lie in his ability to identify and implement new opportunities in the banking industry. For example, when he took the helm of the bank he made it a rule for the tellers to reckon the slogan World Greatest bank whenever they answered their clients phones. This move was frowned over by the competitors in the banking industry but massive benefits have been exhibited and indeed South Umpqua bank is amongst the best banks in the world. Ray Davis is listed amongst the top influential people who have made massive strides in the financial industry. Getting out of the status quo of the banking industry led to alte r the environment with a growth of about 30 times being exhibited at the bank. Ray Davis has offered individualized considerations to his followers through acting as a mentor to the employees and close associates to his business. Through giving support and empathy and support, other people have had a chance to emulate him as they are given an opportunity for self improvement and development (Sperry 2002, 86). Ray Davis appreciates any individual contribution made by the juniors thus enabling an intrinsic motivation of ones tasks to develop. There are times when the executives had to change direction in the implementation procedures on the institutions strategic plans. Ray Davis says that in such instances, he does not admonish their decisions but rather encourage them as they take their time to research on the implications of starting such an initiative at the time. The executives were able to question the assumptions which might have been overlooked and they thereby managed to have a deeper understanding of the strategic implications of such decisions. Through transformational leadership, Ray Davis has been able to break away from traditional rivals in the industry thus giving value to the shareholders, employees as well as to customers. Ray Davis has intellectually stimulated his executive team by encouraging creativity in their thinking. For instance, some branch managers have dog bowls at the entrances to cater for clients with pets. They even go way-out to open lobbies for community events. Managerial Capacity Ray Davis has demonstrated managerial aspects in his leadership as the output of the bank has been maximized owing to his administrative implementation procedures. Managerial tasks like organization, planning, controlling as well as staffing which Ray Davis has undertaken with the assistance of the executive team of the bank have steered the bank into profitability. As a manager he has done things right through following the stipulated procedures and company policies. Ray Davis says he is not predictable and he possesses a rare sense of urgency. Through open communication, tasks get done quickly. He does not communicate through emails and memos rather he prefers to get in touch with concerned parties via phone calls (Engen, 2009). As a manager who embraces delegation, Davis makes himself accessible to even the lowest ranking employees of the institution hence the reason why he does not follow the stipulated chain of command. For example, Ray handles people directly whether its the frontline associate, store manager situated in California or even senior VP heading operations at the headquarters. His staff joke that all the priorities of Ray Davis come at first position especially if they cause even the slightest difference. Executives of the company have experiences of how Ray Davis was relentless about their failure to address a clients problem. Through record keeping, Ray Davis is able to keep track of the customers queries and determine whether they have been addressed by the concerned parties. These managerial concepts help in building customer loyalty thus translating to added financial gains to the institution. Implicit Capacity Ray Davis has openly demonstrated to the employees, shareholders and other stakeholders of the bank that indeed he is a leader and a force to reckon with in the banking industry. He acts as a fully responsible person by being autonomous as well as highly independent during task completion. He is not press0urized to act in accordance to the laid down stipulations of requirements of a CEO of a financial institution. For instance, managers need be stable so as not to distract the functioning of the employees but Ray Davis is so unpredictable. He lets people see him even in social environment. During company picnics, he is never detached from other staff in fact he demonstrates this by cooking hamburgers. He loves having fun and demonstrates that even CEOs enjoy having good time as well.. For instance, when the young executives were designing the Portlands District store, he was filled with feelings of gratitude and massive appreciation such that he didnt want to distract them. He does n ot bottle-up feelings, but rather remain assertive enough thus he is not inscrutable. A very controversial creation of Davis Ray is referred to as Universal Associate program whereby every employee of the bank is trained in all banking operations. Thus instances of employees claiming to be incompetent are not evidenced (Hesselbein and Shrander 2008, 126). For example, a teller can make a mortgage application on behalf of the client. Ray Davis Competencies The competency of Ray Davis is evident as the profitability of the bank has increased as leading to the achievement of an envisioned future to the financial institution. Through his wisdom, he pioneered massive changes in the banking industry by making the Umpqua bank turn to a dynamic and innovative institution. The quality of management and the type of services and products developed by the bank demonstrate high levels of competency. During the 2010 Portland business luncheon, Umpqua Bank was among the most recognized companies in Oregon. It is also ranked amongst the best companies to work with. Throughout the tenure of Ray Davis at Umpqua bank, he has been a source of inspirational leadership to his followers and even to various customers. The kind of culture which Ray Davis has managed to create is geared towards serving the customers adequately (Sperry 2002, 174). When the customers are satisfied then this ultimately translates into added profits. Through consistently communica ting optimism regarding future goals, Ray Davis has managed to provide immerse energy to drive the bank forward. He says he largely concentrated on making the bank significant to the lives of the all the stakeholders. In his tenure, Umpqua Bank has become a financially stable and trustworthy enterprise which will continue to grow even as new leaders are given the mandate to head it. Chapter IV: Recommendation and Conclusion Ray Davis leadership discipline and creativity has not been pegged on selfish gains but there an endeavored move to impact the institutions prosperity. He has created a competitive advantage in the bank by installing projects and service delivery mechanisms which foster customer loyalty. Through building a pool of committed employees who are given the mandate to undertake tasks which are deemed productive to the institution, vital growth is guaranteed. Through transformational leadership, Ray Davis has fought the syndromes which make people to fall back into ancient business routines which are not productive. If Ray decides to go global in future, then there id dire need to strategically plan for the unbecoming effects associated with cords-cultures.

Essay --

Philip Covarrubias Covarrubias 1 Fire 100-30 Friday 1300-1550 12-06-2013 Communications Center My name is Philip Covarrubias, and I’m going to be talking about the communications center. The Communications center, a facility where dispatchers work, is the place where most emergency agencies receive 9-1-1 calls for emergency assistance, such as the fire departments, police departments, and EMS agencies. There are many communications centers throughout the United States and in other countries. In the United States, they are divided by counties. Depending on how large the county is, it will determine how many facilities will be running. In every communications center dispatchers work with a computer system called computer-aided dispatch (or CAD for short). Dispatchers started working with these computers in the early 1970’s, and as they became more known, agencies began adopting theses computers. The function of the CAD system, using the enhanced 9-1-1 system, is to quickly find the lo...

Diagnostic Essay

Of all the things high school students complain about, being sleep deprived and tired ranks first as most problematic. The issue isn't that kids simply choose not to get enough sleep; it is that the majority genuinely cannot. Students are constantly being badgered by parents, doctors and school faculty to get at least eight hours of sleep, but with school starting as early as 7:20, that makes getting a decent amount of sleep an almost impossible task.Though there are numerous other reasons as to why students are lacking leap, the start time of school is ultimately the main contributor and leads to many severely negative results. A policy causing high schools to start at 8:30 instead would greatly improve the number of better rested students. Firstly, there are a plethora of other variables preventing students from adequate sleep. Such examples include an excruciating amount of homework, extra-curricular activities and striving to maintain the Triangle Of Health. These additional issu es make It even more difficult to get enough sleep.The large amount of homework sometimes has students staying up all hours of the night. Some might argue that if students manage their time efficiently they should be able to go to sleep at a reasonable hour, but even the most organized, intelligent students have trouble completing their huge quantity of homework by the time recommended getting to bed. Next, students are greatly encouraged to participate in after school activities, however, enough sleep is practically impossible to attain when most activities run until five and time is lost to complete work.Finally, students are educated in health class to maintain the Triangle of Health, a diagram representing three crucial elements to being an overall healthy person – physical, mental, and social health. So, students are trying to maintain each form of health by attempting to make time for friends and family, hobbies, at least a half hour of exercise, and stimulation of the mind through education. Overall, when students have these other things to worry about, the early start of school is really an issue when endeavoring to get enough sleep.Secondly, students' lack of sleep affects their overall performance in school, academically and physically. Inadequate sleep in adolescents, defined as less than nine hours per night, is a known problem and a major public health concern. Sleep is food for the brain. Without the nourishment of enough sleep one can look awful, feel moody, and perform badly. While it's true that delaying school would cause complications in bus runs and after school activities, there are many convincing reasons to do so. A study made by Dry.Kyle Hailstorm at the University of Minnesota, saw an improvement in attendance and enrollment rates, increased daytime alertness, and decreased student-reported depression in seven schools whose start time changed from 7:15 to 8:40. Other studies have shown less likelihood of experiencing depressed m oods, reduced possibility for tardiness, reduced absenteeism, better grades, reduced risk of drowsy driving, and reduced risk of metabolic and nutritional deficits associated with insufficient sleep, including obesity. Another doctor, Judy Owens, MD and sleep expert undertook studies as well.She found that there was a significant average increase in sleep duration on school nights of 45 minutes across all grades nine to 12 after the change in the school start time. Her report also showed a drastic decline in students who said they rarely or never got enough sleep. The pros more than surpass the cons when it comes to a delayed school start time. All in all, if a little time and effort was put into finding solutions to the few complications that might arise in school starting at 8:30 rather than 7:20, students overall health and academic performance would improve aromatically.If there is one thing students are lacking in their lives, it is most definitely sleep and unfortunately it is a major issue. With all the incredible benefits of suitable sleep and depressing negative effects of not enough, if given the option, students would most definitely choose to sleep rather than be working on hours of school work and staying at after school activities. But, when the start time of school is as early as 7:20, students will be continuing to be sleep deprived and performing the tiring ritual of complaining of lack of sleep. Diagnostic Essay English class that I will have to take I am excited; I come with a great expectation of leaving behind my bad writing experiences; although a kind of weakness opaque my writing strengths I am going to take full advantage of each and every concept learn during the English 1301 class. First of all, I come with a great expectation of leaving behind my writing experiences presented in my lasts English classes.The memory of the first official essay that I wrote in life is enormously disturbing. Do not remember err well the date but it is truly an experience that will always be impossible to forget. It all started when the professor assigned to each one of us a topic from which we had to develop an essay. I have to mention that the word â€Å"plagiarism† was not in my vocabulary, so I immediately went into the site of lazy people called â€Å"Wisped† and started to copy and paste all the useful information that I found.That way my worked was finished in less than 10 minutes. As well, it was no longer necessary to put attention to the professor essay explanation. Consequently, the teacher did not even take ten seconds o detect my cheat when she was grading my work. After a horrible F in my grade and after a great shame in front of everyone in my class, I realized that the lessons that the teacher had given during the class was going to help me write my essay and obviously what I did was wrong and it was considered â€Å"plagiarism†.Above all, the positive part of this bad writing experience is that promised that will never do it again, and that I was going to use every skill learned in each and every English class in order to be able to develop perfect essays without any plagiarism. On the other hand, especially in this class, a weakness opaque my writing retries; this is due to the fact that English is considered my second language. I come from Monterrey, Mexico and I moved 3 years ago to this country. My first language is Spanish.All my thoughts and ideas in my head are produced in Spanish and in a matter Of seconds I translate it into English. Of COUrse, that point that I see it as a weakness will only disappear if I give the double of the effort. However, through the pass of the years realized that one of my greatest virtues is my agility in the development themes, especially if the theme has to do with science or social problems. As a matter of fact, spent woo to three hours every day reading science magazines or books, and that has helped me when need to develop essays.That's exactly what will do in this English 1301 course; I am going to squeeze 100% each and every knowledge given by the teacher. Improving and enhancing the area of reading comprehension through the ‘Mercury Reader book As well as learning how to adequately answer each and every question used to complete the journals. My goal is to get into the nursing program. Come with the clearly idea that every lesson, every concept learned in this course dur ing this semester will have a positive impact on my future.

Quality Control Department Essay

In an attempt to cut costs in the Quality Control Department of XYZ Deli, it is important to first identify the costs to determine which aspects of the company’s quality control process can be eliminated, if any at all. Quality control costs can be divided into three different classifications. These classifications are prevention costs, appraisal costs and failure costs (Stevenson, 2008). Prevention costs are costs generated in the process of impeding product mistakes or flaws in order to supply customers with XYZ Deli brand quality products or to improve current products. Prevention costs are the most indispensable of the quality control costs. It is less expensive and much less difficult to repair a flaw or defect before the product reaches the customer. Prevention costs include not only planning and administrative procedure costs, but also education/training and increased equipment maintenance costs. It is important that all employees are trained accurately throughout the quality control process in order to produce XYZ Deli quality products and to ensure a decline in the possibility of erroneous design and productivity (Stevenson, 2008). Possible tradeoffs for this cost would be if employees are not trained properly, ensuring the job is being done correctly; may result in the production of unsatisfactory product. This could potentially create loss of sales or opportunity costs because the products are being poorly produced. However, increasing the time spent training employees could delay the production process. This would also create opportunity costs because the product would take longer to get  to the customer. While prevention costs are most vital, appraisal costs are necessary to ensure customers are being provided with the high quality products expected from the XYZ Deli brand. This would include costs of inspection of products to determine if product standards and parameters are being met, as well as to detect any product flaws. An example of appraisal costs is inspection costs. Inspection costs are incurred during the quality testing process. This includes the cost of the inspection facility and inspector auditor salaries, as well as any materials, appliances or tools used to test XYZ Deli brand products (Stevenson, 2008). A potential tradeoff to not inspecting product could also allow defective product to reach the customer, creating opportunity costs. Poorly produced products will not be well received. At any rate, the tradeoff for properly inspecting all the product being produced could set back the time it takes for the product to reach the market; also creating opportunity costs. Finally, failure costs are generated when components of the product or the product itself is faulty. Failure costs can be either internal or external. Internal failures are those detected in one of the production phases; before the product reaches the customer. There are numerous issues that contribute to an internal failure; such issues include: faulty materials received, improper handling of material, defective equipment, and improper use of equipment. Examples of internal failure costs are loss of production time, worthless material and the cost of regenerating previous work and/or the rebuilding of the product, as well as the cost of inspecting the reworked product. Other examples of internal failures include possible damage to equipment; possible safety issues causing employee injuries. External failures are failures that are identified after the customer has received the product. Such issues are not discovered during production or inspection process. These costs are much more expensive and much more difficult to correct because the product has already reached the consumer. Examples of a failure costs include managing customer complaints, accountability and possible litigation. Overseeing warranty issues, providing replacements and payments are also examples of failure costs. An  important failure costs to avoid is the loss of customer loyalty (Stevenson, 2008). Not only does XYZ Deli want to recruit new customers, it is important to retain current valued customers. Not finding a way to take care of the consumer may give the company a poor reputation, creating more opportunity costs. While each of these costs is expensive, they are necessary in maintaining the reputation of a growing company, such as XYZ Deli. Prevention appraisal costs are the preferable way to disperse funds because they prevent failure costs. Failure costs are much more expensive for the company, not only in terms of money, but also in terms of the company’s reputation, good will and the ability to retain current valued customers. If XYZ Deli spends the time and money on the appropriate such as ensuring proper training in production and inspection, the company will save money in the future. References Stevenson, W. (2008). Operations management (10th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill ISBN-13: 978-0-07-337784-1.

The Walt Disney company, as well as its subsidiaries, are focused on a diversified worldwide entertainment market

The Walt Disney Company has a rich selection to produce its own products and attractions, making the company a highly competitive industry to expand into new markets and products lines. Their domestic and international market share demonstrates its great expansion and its location between the top players in its industry. The Walt Disney Company has multiple challenging threats that could lead to a negative impact of the business in the future. The company major threats come from its national and global competitors. The high competitions have sometimes imposed problems for the company to sustain its entertainment leadership. A new challenge emerged with the acquisition of Marvel; new acquisitions could affect the development of a company at its beginning by having unprofitable sales. Disney’s pressure in terms of creativity and innovation is other threat that must be surpassed to stay in this competitive market, and which Disney has done well so far. With the economic recession that is faced in this country now a days another common challenge might be employee retention. If you let go your employees they might leave and work in a competitor within the industry, giving out crucial information from the company. Walt Disney Company goal has been and will always be â€Å"To make people happy† and â€Å"to be creative† Since 1923 to the present the company has been producing films and contents for different age people. The company’s ability to invoke a feeling of â€Å"eternal youth† is clearly present in all of its content; so generally I can say the company has been doing an excellent job fulfilling both of their goals! hat The Walt Disney Company is a global leader in the industry of entertainment; it is a company that is continuously growing. The company always demonstrates its highly centralized and organized managerial decisions. From the previous table you can see the profits margin calculations, which is a profitability ratio calculated as operating income divided by revenue. Walt Disney Company’ s Profit Margin also deteriorated from 2008 to 2009 and slightly improved from 2009 to 2010 Thanks to the recent launch and growth of the company’s game development, new growth avenues are expected.

Protection of Human Rights Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Protection of Human Rights - Research Paper Example The Committee of Ministers supervises and ensure that all judgments are carried out by the particular member state. Member state could be marginalized if refuses to honor such judgments. Even though explicitly ECJ is not only for Human Right violations like ECHR, there are many cases where issue touches both the courts and eventually, these two law bodies pass judgments in support of one another. In the Cossey case1 (ECHR, 1990), of sex change, it upheld applicant's claim that she has lived a woman's life, and after the operation, she was a complete woman, and is capable of marrying a man and claim all benefits reserved for women and this was a landmark judgment. The European Convention of Human Rights established The European Court of Human Rights as the lawmaking body, governing and securing the human rights that have been approved by the Convention. Court has the power to award damages, decide punishments and direct the Member States. "The establishment of a Court to protect indiv iduals from human rights violations is an extremely innovative feature for an international convention on human rights, as it gives the individual an active role on the international arena"Â   The European convention is perhaps the highest body in the world that provides a great amount of protection of the individual human rights of a person, as opposed to another person and also against member states. There is a rarely used option of one State complaining against another state in matters of Human Rights. Human rights enshrined by the Convention are (from Article 1 to 27): obligation to respect human rights, right to life, prohibition of torture, prohibition of slavery, right to liberty and security, right to a fair trial, no punishment without law, right to respect for private life, right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion, right to freedom of expression , right to freedom of assembly and association, right to marry, right to an effective remedy, prohibition of discrim ination, derogations, exemption for political activities of aliens, prohibition of abuse of rights, limitation on permitted restrictions of rights etc. and the Protocols are concerned with right to property, education and free elections, civil imprisonment, freedom of movement, expulsion, death penalty, expulsion, criminal appeals, compensation, double jeopardy, spousal equality, discrimination, death penalty, changing the conventions machinery etc.

Research proposal Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words - 6

Research proposal - Essay Example rious industries, including the UK banking sector is also making vital use of IT networks in their processing of customer services (Ho & Mallick, 2006; Samakovitis, 2006). It is often argued that IT systems hold considerable significance in the building cooperative associations with customer groups that further facilitates better customer serving and hence, contributes to augmented customer loyalty. Both these spectrums, i.e. customer loyalty linked with better customer serving, have been many a time associated with the longevity and continuous expansion of any service sector today, and likely to be apparent in the banking sector as well. Keeping speculations aside, the UK service sector, which is the other dimension in focus of the title chosen for this study, has been reported as growing impressively over the past few years even if its particular drawbacks remain to be consistent (Mullineux, 2012). The three key dimensions of the UK financial sector, vis-Ã  -vis, and its banking sector involve payment services, insurance services against risk and intermediation services between lenders and borrowers. While all these three dimensions present different challenges for the banking institutions in the UK, the continuously changing demands and shifts in the market functions have somewhat forced these banks to build a close and strong relationship with its customers (Davies & et. al., 2010). The particular problems presented by the UK banking services sector have thus been attempted to be resolved with the usage of IT innovations (Aliyu & Tasmin, 2012). Nevertheless, this topic yet remains as negligibly studied among the modern scholars, indicating a gap in the literature obtainable to test such speculations. Hence, emphasizing this gap currently present in the scholar society, the proposed study will aim at deriving firm conclusions on the strength of influences imposed by IT innovations and developments on the UK banking industry. From a mere tool for communication,

Strategic management examination - case study of UK supermarkets and Essay

Tesco and the UK Grocery Retail Industry - Essay Example As noted in the previous question and also in sync with the case, it has been seen, that the Porter’s Five Forces also influence the companies to enter into the high street stores to a great extent and the below mentioned forces help understand the reasons to a great extent. Firstly, the barriers to entry are very low in this industry. Cost advantages can be minimized by smart outsourcing of production, and doing so can allow new entrants in the market with relatively little capital requirements. As seen in the case there are several small grocery stores that are being opened every single day on the high streets. These form a great threat to the super markets. However, building an appealing brand image is crucial to success, and this is where new entrants may have difficulty. Additionally, acquiring the necessary distribution points may prove challenging as a newcomer, and so some obstacles do exist for newcomers. Secondly, considering the buyer power, the current period has h ad a number of issues with the buyer power of the nation. This is mainly due to the recession. However in the case of Tesco, the threat is relatively low as the company operates on providing the customers with ‘Everyday Low Prices’. Also, in the current markets, it is the consumers who dictate what will sell and what won’t – ultimately, if they disapprove of the item, then it will not be sold. Next the supplier power, as seen in the case, since there are many suppliers in the industry, and there is little room for forward integration or differentiated inputs as many of these suppliers outsource production to the same or similar factories. In this industry it is the end consumer who must accept the product for it to be successful, and with no shortage of competing brands, the supplier has a limited ability to control the market. In the case of Tesco again this is relatively low as the company does apart from the various brands also manufacture their own bra nds. Hence this gives them an edge and allows them to be able to cope with the supplier power. Also, the threat of substitutes is relatively low in this industry.

Family theory use for the dementia Disease Essay

Family theory use for the dementia Disease - Essay Example ortant that nurses continue to improve their care services beyond that of re-establishment of family balance to encompass that of family health support and health protection through extensive awareness. The capability of families to reveal self-care skills is crucial to advance mental and physical health within the family and curb the mortality and morbidity that persists to transpire as an outcome of chronic health problems (Doane, 2004). Being a service-oriented profession, nurses working with families in illness and health have an obligation to enhance individual health but the health of the entire family. The objective of this paper is to explore some of the features of the family system theory. Primarily, the repercussions of an organismic family systems model to dementia will be taken into account. Then, consistent with the principles of a competence theory, there will be an exploration of the features of the family systems theory. And lastly, based on research on family systems, several dimensions of family systems will be discussed with regard to their relevance to nursing practice with vulnerable families of dementia patients. The family systems theory was conceptualised by Murray Bowen which maintains that understanding of an individual is impossible in separation from one another, but instead understanding of an individual as a member of their family. The family, as espoused by the theory, is an emotional entity. In the family systems approach, the family is viewed as a system of interrelated and mutually dependent individuals. Moreover, the theory stipulates that families are systems in which all of its members had tasks to fulfil and rules to obey. System members are anticipated to respond to each other in a definite manner in accordance to their responsibility, which is established by relationship agreements (Titelman, 2003). Within the system boundaries, trends emerge as behaviour of a particular member of the family is attributable to and sources

Gender and Equality Thesis Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Gender and Equality - Thesis Example Gender, equality and inequality all over the world vary immensely, and in various continents, the manner in which women are treated varies as a result of differences in culture. For instance, women residing in the Middle East are in most cases belittled by their spouses as well as the society because of traditional ideologies (Kelly & Breslin, 2010). On the other hand, the women in the western societies go through a different form of inequality whereby they can only access particular forms of employment, ways of living, wages as well as qualities that are similar to those enjoyed by men. Regardless of the fact that these inequalities are not supposed be inequalities as they are considered as gender aspects from a natural biological point of view in a practical manner, utilitarianism can be perceived as a form of discrimination regarding the biological difference that are evident. For instance, in the west, people of the female gender are not usually regarded as being good candidates for being employed at construction sites and other places that may be hazardous or might need the use of physical strength. In spite of the decades dedicated to feminist advances, countless inequalities against women have not been dealt with and are still in existence. The most notable is the number of women who are in corporate leadership as well as those in political leadership, which is comparatively low. Additionally, women are still entitled to low wages with this aspect being associated with fewer years of experience on the similar jobs to those being done by men as a result of pregnancy and raising children. There are also very limited opportunities for women in professional sports and numerous other areas that need some level of physical strength, as well as in the cases where there is an aspect of isolation or danger. Society also makes the women feel less safe than the men and they

Principles of accounts Essay Example for Free

Principles of accounts Essay I would like to express my sincere gratitude to all the persons who have been helpful towards the successful completion of this assignment. First and foremost I would like to thank Shadae Russell, Shakeyra Millington, Jonathon Butler and Ovasha Bartley for their support and assistance towards carrying out the research to complete this assignment. Secondly I want to thank my guardians for providing me with the suitable materials to finalize this assignment. I would also like to thank Mrs. K. Elliot for her assistance and guidance in completing this project. Last but certainly not least I would like to thank God for his extended mercies unto me. Introduction This assignment is about a business that started approximately three (3) years ago which is situated in a busy area that allows it to generate large amounts of money each day to carry out its operations. This assignment contains all the information about this Blanna’s Fashion Boutique business. The information which this assignment contains includes the financial records for the period ending September 30 2011. This assignment serves to keep track of all the money that goes inside the business bank account, all the cash which the business uses within visiting the business bank account, all the money that goes outside of the business bank account, all the money that came into the business by cash and not with the use of cheques and the purposes for each transaction. Therefore this assignment provides a clear understand of all the operations the business under goes on a day to day basis. Table of Contents Headings Page # Cover Page I Title PageII AcknowledgementIII Introduction IV Aim of the Project1 Description of Business Entity 2 Mission Statement 3 Logo and Slogan 4 Accounting Cycle 5 Accounting Information Journals 6-7 Cash Book 8 Ledgers 9-13 Trial Balance 14 Stock Valuation 15-19 Trading, Profit and Loss and Appropriation A/c 20-21 Balance Sheet 22 Bank Reconciliation Statement 23 Accounting Ratios 24-25 Performance of the Business 26 Comparisons 27 Recommendations and Suggestions 28 Conclusion 29 Appendix Price list (showing mark up %) 30 Diagrams Charts and Graphs Pictures Invoices, Cheques, Receipts etc References Aim of the Project The aim of this project is: To arrive at a comprehensive understanding of the financial sector of businesses. To highlight the strength and the weaknesses of the Blanna’s Fashion Boutique business. To present the financial records for the year ended September 30, 2011 for Blanna’s Fashion Boutique business. Description of Business Entity Blanna’s Fashion Boutique is a partnership. This business is owned and operated by Anna Kay Blake, Shadae Russell and Ovasha Bartley a Group of ambitious young ladies. Our main aim is to make a profit while catering for the needs of the community which it is situated in. Blanna’s Fashion Boutique is situated in Montego Bay at the Blue diamond plaza 10 Pearl Street. This business has been in existence since June 20, 2008. We employ approximately fifteen (15) workers. We cater for the petite to the full figured women. We produce a wide variety of slippers, pants, skirts, handbags and accessories. Prices are always lower than that of our competitors. In cases of fashion emergencies you can call us at (1876) 3553980/4275646 or email us at Blanna’[emailprotected] com. The mission of Blanna’s Fashion Boutique is to: Provide the latest fashion for all females Provide goods and services at a reasonable cost Ensure that the quality of our goods meets the standards of our business. Ensure that whatever the business do doesn’t affect the environment negatively. Provide employment for members of the community Provide sponsors to underprivileged children Logo and Slogan Logo Slogan With passion we send out the latest fashion Accounting Cycle General Journal Date Details Folio Debit Credit September 1 Bank CB01 364000 Cash CB01 27160 Debtor (J. Simpson) SL01 31600 Motor Van GL02 62840 Building GL03 100000 Stock 24960 Creditor (Super Supreme) PL01 10560 Capital GL01 600000 Opening entries 610560 610560 Purchase journalPage 01 Date Details Folio Amount 1-Sep Super Supreme International PL01 237,040 27-Sep Super Supreme International PL01 57,960 Sep 30 Total credit purchases to be transferred to the purchases account in the general ledger GL02 295,000 SALES JOURNAL Date Details Folio Amount 5-Sep J. Simpson SL01 57000 13-Sep B. Banton SL03 78,550 20-Sep N. Kidman SL02 104,400 Sep 30 Total credit sales to be transferred to the sales account in the general ledger GL13 239,950 RETURN OUTWARDS JOURNAL Date Details Folio Amount 9-Sep Super Supreme International PL01 13,600 Sep 30 Total return outwards to be transferred to the return outwards account in the general ledger GL16 13,600 Return Inwards Day Book Date Details Folio Amount 24-Sep B. Banton SL03 16,800 30-Sep N. Kidman SL02 9,600 Sep 30 Total goods returned to us to be transferred to the return inwards account in the general ledger GL15 26,400 Cash Book Date Details Folio Discount Allowed Cash Bank Date Details Folio Discount Received Cash Bank September 1 Balance b/d GJ01 27,160 364,000 September 1 Machinery GL3 48,000 September 2 Bank C 50,000 2 Cash C 50,000 3 Sales GL13 59,350 3 Rent GL4 30,000 7 Sales GL13 37,750 6 Fixtures GL5 65,000 18 J. Simpson SJ01 12,000 45,000 8 Wages GL12 10,000 29 B. Banton SJ03 6,175 55,575 11 Insurance GL6 6,100 30 Sales GL13 120,540 11 Electricity GL7 3,300 11 Rates GL8 2,600 15 Super Supreme International PL01 7,500 142,500 15 Wages GL12 10,000 16 Drawings GL10 6,200 19 Furniture GL11 3,600 22 Wages GL12 10,000 29 Wages GL12 10,000 30 Balance c/d 123,075 239,000 18,175 350,375 409,000 7,500 350,375 409,000 General Ledger Date Details Folio Amount Date Details Folio Amount Capital A/C Page 01 September 31 Balance c/d 600,000 September 1 Balance b/d GJ01 600,000 October 1 Balance b/d 600,000 Motor Van A/C Page 02 September 1 Balance b/d GJ12 62,840 September 30 Balance c/d 62,840 October 1 Balance b/d 62,840 Buildings A/C Page 03 September 1 Balance b/d GJ01 100,000 September 30 Balance c/d 100,000 October 1 Balance b/d 100,000 Machinery A/C September 1 Bank CB01 48,000 September 31 Balance c/d 48,000 October 1 Balance b/d 48,000 Rent A/C September 3 Bank CB01 30,000 September 30 Profit Loss 30,000 Fixtures A/C September 6 Cash CB01 65,000 September 31 Balance c/d 65,000 October 1 Bal b/d 65,000 Insurance A/C September 11 Bank CB01 6,100 September 30 Profit Loss 6,100 Electricity A/C September 11 Bank CB01 3,300 September 30 Profit Loss 5,500 30 Accruals c/d 1,200 5,500 5,500 October 1 Accruals b/d 1200 Rates September 11 Bank CB01 2,600 September 30 Profit Loss 2,600 Drawings September 16 Cash CB01 6,200 September 30 Balance c/d 6,200 September 30 Balance b/d 6,200 Furniture September 19 Cash CB01 3,600 September 30 Balance c/d 3,600 October 1 Balance b/d 3,600 Wages September 8 Bank C01 10,000 September 31 Profit Loss 40,000 15 Cash C01 10,000 22 Bank C01 10,000 29 Bank C01 10,000 40,000 40,000 Sales September 30 Trading Account 457,590 September 3 Cash CB01 59,350 September 7 Cash CB01 37,750 September 30 Cash CB01 120,540 September 30 Total Credit Sales SJ01 239,950 457,590 457,590 Purchases September 31 Total Credit Purchases PJ01 295,000 September 31 Trading Account 295,000 Return Inwards September 31 Total for month RI01 26,400 September 31 Trading Account 26,400 Return Outwards September 31 Trading Account RO01 13,600 September 31 Total for month 13,600 Discount Allowed September 30 Total Discount Given to customers 18,175 September 30 P L 18,175 Discount Received September 30 P L 7,500 September 11 Super Supreme International 7,500 Purchases Ledger Super Supreme International September 9 Return Outwards RO01 13,600 September 1 Balance b/d GJ01 10,560 15 Bank CB01 142,500 1 Purchases PJ01 237,040 15 Discount Received CB01 7,500 27 Purchases PJ01 57,960 30 Balance c/d 141,960 305,560 305,560 October 1 Balance b/d 141,960 Sales Ledger J. Simpson September 1 Balance b/d 31,600 September 18 Discount Allowed CB01 12,000 September 5 Sales SJ01 57,000 September 18 Bank CB01 45000 September 30 Balance c/d 31,600 88,600 88,600 October 1 Balance b/d 31,600 N. Kidman September 20 Sales SJ01 104,400 September 30 Return Inwards RI01 9,600 September 30 Balance c/d 94,800 104,400 104,400 October 1 Balance b/d 94,800 B. Banton September 13 Sales SJ01 78,550 September 24 Return Inwards RI01 16,800 September 29 Discount Allowed CB01 6,175 29 Cash CB01 55,575 78,550 78,550 Trial Balance Blanna’s Fashion Boutique Trial Balance as at September 30, 2011 Details Debit $ Credit $ Capital 600,000 Motor Van Buildings 100,000 Machinery 48,000 Stock 24,960 Rent 30,000 Fixtures 65,000 Sales 457,590 Purchases 295,000 Cash 123,075 Bank 239,000 Wages 40,000 Return Outwards 13,600 Super Supreme International 141,960 Electricity 3,300 Insurance 6,100 Rates 2,600 Furniture 3,600 Drawings 6,200 Return Inwards 26,400 N. Kidman 94,800 J. Simpson 31,600 Discount Received 7,500 Discount Allowed 18,175 1,220,650 1,220,650 Stock Valuation (A) Pants Date Received Issued Balance Quantity Unit Price Amount Quantity Unit Price Amount Quantity Unit Price Amount 1-Sep 12 900 10,800 1-Sep 96 1,000 96,000 12 96 900 1,000 10,800 96,000 3-Sep 12 12 900 1,000 10,800 12,000 84 1,000 84,000 5-Sep 12 1,000 12,000 72 1,000 72,000 13-Sep 24 1,000 24,000 48 1,000 48,000 20-Sep 24 1,000 24,000 24 1,000 24,000 27-Sep 36 1,100 39,600 24 36 1,000 1,100 24,000 39,600 30-Sep 24 12 1,000 1,100 24,000 13,200 24 1,100 26,400 (B) Blouse Date Received Issued Balance Quantity Unit Price Amount Quantity Unit Price Amount Quantity Unit Price Amount 1-Sep 12 400 4,800 1-Sep 96 440 42,240 12 96 400 440 4,800 42,240 5-Sep 12 12 400 440 4,800 5,280 84 440 36,960 13-Sep 24 440 10,560 60 440 26,400 20-Sep 36 440 15,840 24 440 10,560 30-Sep 12 440 5,280 12 440 5,280 (C ) Handbag Date Received Issued Balance Quantity Unit Price Amount Quantity Unit Price Amount Quantity Unit Price Amount 1-Sep 4 1,600 6400 4 1,600 6,400 3-Sep 1 1,600 1,600 3 1,600 4,800 7-Sep 1 1,600 1,600 2 1,600 3,200 13-Sep 1 1,600 1,600 1 1,600 1,600 27-Sep 4 1,650 6,600 1 4 1,600 1,650 1,600 6,600 30-Sep 1 3 1,600 1,650 1,600 4,950 1 1,650 1,650 (D ) Skirts Date Received Issued Balance Quantity Unit Cost Amount Quantity Unit Cost Amount Quantity Unit Cost Amount 1-Sep 12 780 9,360 1-Sep 60 820 49,200 12 60 780 820 9,360 49,200 3-Sep 12 780 9,360 60 820 49,200 7-Sep 12 820 9,840 48 820 39,360 13-Sep 12 820 9,840 36 820 29,520 30-Sep 24 820 19,680 12 820 9,840 (E) Slipper Date Received Issued Balance Quantity Unit Price Amount Quantity Unit Price Amount Quantity Unit Price Amount 1-Sep 48 900 43,200 48 900 43,200 5-Sep 12 900 10,800 36 900 32,400 7-Sep 12 900 10,800 24 900 21,600 20-Sep 24 900 21,600 27-Sep 12 980 11,760 12 980 11,760 Trading, Profit and Loss and Appropriation Account Blanna’s Fashion Boutique Trading Profit Loss Account for the year ended September 30, 2011 $ $ $ Sales 457,590 Less Return Inwards (26,400) Net Sales 431,190 Less Cost of Goods Sold: Opening Stock 24,960 Purchases 95,000 Less Return Outwards (13,600) Net Purchases 281,400 Cost of Goods Available 306,360 Less Closing Stock (54,930) 251,430 Gross Profit 179,760 Add Revenues Discount Received 7,500 187,260 Less Expenses Wages 40,000 Rent 30,000 Electricity 4,500 Insurance 5,100 Rates 2,600 Depreciation 400 Discount Allowed 18,175 100,775 86,485 Net Profit Add interest on Drawings: Shadae 620 Less: 85,865 Interest on capital Anna kay 12,500 Shadae 7500 Ovasha 10,000 30,000 Salary: Anna kay 12,000 42,000 43,865 Share of Profit: Anna kay 18,277. 08 Shadae 10966. 25 Ovasha14,621. 67 43,865 Balance Sheet Blanna’s Fashion Boutique Balance Sheet as at September 30, 2011 Fixed Assets Cost Accumulated Depreciation NBV Buildings 100000 100,000 Fixtures 65000 65,000 Machinery 48000 400 47,600 Furniture 3600 3,600 Motor Car 62840 62,840 400 279,040 Current Assets Stock 54,930 Debtors 126,400 Prepayment 1,000 Bank 239,000 Cash 123,075 544,405 Less Current Liabilities Creditors 141960 Accruals 1,200 143160 Working Capital 401,245 680,285 Financed by: Capital 600,000 Net Profit 86,485 686,485 Less Drawings 6,200 680,285 Bank Reconciliation Statement Updated Cash Book Balance b/d 239,000 Bank Charges 65 Credit Transfer 4200 Standing Order 15000 Balance c/d 228,135 243200 243200 Bank Reconciliation Statement as at September 30, 2011 Balance as per Bank Statement 222,535 Add Late Lodgments 45,000 267,535 Less Unpresented Cheque 39,400 Balance as per Cash Book 228,135 Accounting Ratios Inventory Turnover Ratio- Cost of Goods sold Average Inventory/2 =244,470 24960+61890/2 =5. 62 Current Ratio- Current assets Current Liabilities =551365 143160 =3. 85 Gross profit as a percentage of sales- Gross profit x 100 Sales =179,760 x 100 457590 = 39. 28% For every sale of $100 the business earns $39. 28 as gross profit. Net profit Ratio- Net profit / Net sales x l00 =86,485 / 431,190 x 100 =20. 06% For every sale of $100 the business earns $20. 06 as net profit. Acid Test Ratio- Current Assets- Stock Current liabilities = 544,405 54,930 143160 =3. 42 Performance of the Business In preparing the financial statements of Blanna’s Fashion Boutique the Trading, profit and loss and appropriation account shows a profit of eighty six thousand four hundred and eighty five thousand dollar (86,485) at the end of the financial period of September 30,2011. The business started out with six hundred thousand dollar. In the closing of the financial period of Blanna’s Fashion Boutique there was an increase in the amount of capital that the business has. The business made a gross profit of one hundred and seventy nine seven hundred and sixty dollars (179,760) instead of making a gross loss. Comparisons The comparison is being done between the opening capital and the closing capital for Blanna’s Fashion Boutique, at the end of the financial period. At the beginning of the financial year the opening capital was six hundred thousand dollar (600,000). At the end of the financial period the closing capital is six hundred and eighty thousand two hundred and eighty five dollar (680,285) which means there is an increase of eighty thousand two hundred and eighty five dollar (80,285). Another comparison is being done between the fixed assets of the business and the current assets. The fixed asset of the business is two hundred and seventy nine thousand and forty dollar (279,040) while the current asset is five hundred and forty four thousand four hundred and five dollars (544,405). This means that the amount of money that the business spend of items that stays in the business with no intention of selling it is lesser than the amount of money that the business spend on assets that will allow the business to generate a profit. Recommendations and Suggestions It is recommended that Blanna’s Fashion Boutique: Ploughed back a portion of the profit that the business makes into it. Introduces new products to the business. Purchase new equipment for the business Uses some of the profit that the business makes to attach another department on to the business. It is suggested that Blanna’s Fashion Boutique should: Purchase cheaper equipments to use in the business. This will increase the amount of money available in the business. Offer more sale discounts this will force more customers to purchase from Blanna’s Fashion Boutique. Conclusion It is clear that Blanna’s Fashion Boutique keeps all the records of the transactions that take place in the business over the financial period of time. Blanna’s Fashion Boutique could increase the gross profit and net profit of the business by adhering to the suggestions or recommendations outlined. Never the less Blanna’s Fashion Boutique made a good net profit of eighty six thousand four hundred and eighty five dollars (86,485) during the month of September in 2011. Blanna’s Fashion Boutique was able to make a profit due to the large amount of sales the business made. Price list Goods Price Pants $ Blouse $ Handbags $ Skirts $ Slippers $ INVOICE Debit note Principles of Accounts School Based Assessment (2012-2013) You are required to name the firm and state the nature of the business. This must be in accordance with the items sold*. After the initial accounting entries (Tasks 1 -3) have been completed you will then record the additional adjusting entries as set out at Tasks 4 and 5. You may choose goods from the following list for the transactions. * Computer Store Clothes and Accessories Store A Keyboard Pants (guess) B Mouse Blouse (guess) C Printer Hand bags (guess) D Surge Protector Skirts (guess) E Speakers Slippers (guess) ABC Enterprise (Remember that you are to rename the firm) The following transactions were taken from the books of ABC Enterprise. You are required to asses them carefully then write up the relevant books as outlined in the requirements below: 2011 Sept 1Opening Balances Capital$600, 000 Bank$364, 000 Cash$ 27, 160 Debtor (J Simpson)$ 31, 600 Creditor (Super Supreme International)$ 10, 560 Motor Van$ 62, 840 Building$100, 000 Stock 1doz A$ 10,800 1doz B $ 4,800 1doz D$ 9,360 Sept 1Bought goods on credit from Super Supreme International. 8 doz A @ $1,000 each 8 doz B @ $440 each 4 boxes C @ $1,600 each 5 doz D @ $820 each 4 doz E @ $900 each Sept 1Bought Machinery by cheque $48, 000. Sept 2Withdrew $50, 000 cash from the bank account to be used in the business. Sept 3Cash Sales 2 doz A @ $1, 650 each 1 box C @ $2, 950 each 1 doz D @ $1, 400 each Sept 3 Paid rent by cheque $30, 000. Sept 5 sold goods on credit to J. Simpson. 1 doz A @ $1, 650 each 2 doz B @ $800 each 1 doz E @ $1, 500 each Sept 6 Bought fixtures with cash $65, 000. Sept 7 Cash Sales 1 box C @ $2, 950 each 1 doz D @ $1, 400 each 1 doz E @ $1, 500 each Sept 8Paid wages $10, 000 by cheque. Sept 9Returned goods to Super Supreme International as items were damaged. 1 doz A 1 box C Sept 11Paid the following expenses by cheque: Insurance $6,100, Electricity $3,300 and Rates $2,600. Sept 13Sold goods on credit to B. Banton: 2 doz A @ $1, 650 each 2 doz B @ $ 800 each 1 box C @ $2, 950 each 1 doz D @ $1, 400 each Sept 15Made payment to Super Supreme International by cash $150, 000, received a 5% cash discount. Sept 15Paid wages with cash $10, 000 Sept 16Owner withdrew $6,200 cash to fix his personal motor car. Sept 18Collected Cheque from J. Simpson for goods sold on Sept 5th 2011, $45, 000. Sept 19Bought furniture $3,600 with cash from Courts Ja. Ltd. Sept 20Sold goods on credit to N. Kidman 2 doz A @ $1, 650 each 3 doz B @ $ 800 each 2 doz E @ $1, 500 each Sept 22Paid wages with cheque $10, 000. Sept 241 doz D returned to us by B. Banton as they were the wrong size. Sept 27Bought goods on credit from Super Supreme International. 3 doz A @ $ 1,100 each 4 boxes C @ $1, 650 each 1 doz E @ $ 980 each Sept 29B. Banton settled his account less 10% cash discount. He paid with cash. Sept 29 Paid wages $10,000 by cheque. Sept 30 Received goods from N. Kidman: 1 doz B Sept 30Cash Sales 3 doz A @ $1, 815 each 1 doz B @ $ 800 each 4 boxes C @ $3, 000 each 2 doz D @ $1, 400 each Task 1 Write up ALL Subsidiary Books and then post the transactions to the ledgers. Please ensure that you distinguish between, General Ledger, Sales Ledger and Purchases Ledger. Show the opening entries in the General Journal at September 1, 2011. Task 2 Prepare ABC Enterprise Trial Balance as at September 30, 2011 Task 3 Using the FIFO method of stock valuation, determine the closing stock. Task 4 Design a logo and slogan for your business and provide the relevant information on the business entity Prepare ABC Enterprise Trading, Profit and Loss Account for the month ending September 30, 2011 and a Balance Sheet as at that date, after taking into account the following: a) Insurance expense was paid in advance, $1000. b) Electricity was outstanding by $1, 200 c) Machinery is to be depreciated at 10 % annually using the straight line method (show the depreciation for the month). Show adjustment to the above information in the ledgers. Task 5 Prepare the Bank Reconciliation Statement using the Bank Statement below Bank Statement DR CR Balance $ $ $ Sept 1 Balance 364 000 Sept 1 Burke’s (Machinery) 48 000 316 000 Sept 2 SNPN Ltd (Cash) 50 000 266 000 Sept 8 Wages 10 000 256 000 Sept 11 NWC (Rates) 2 600 253 400 Sept 20 Wages 10 000 243 400 Sept 24 Credit transfer (Q Smith) 4 200 247 600 Sept 29 Wages