Louisa May Alcott Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Louisa May Alcott - Essay Example Perhaps feminists can constructively criticize a book they grew up reading. Simone de Beauvoir and Gertrude Stein both read the book as young girls and found much to admire in the character of Jo (Baker, 2006; Friedell, 2005). If the reader ignores the ending where Jo burns her manuscripts, there is much that a feminist could admire about the strength and focus of her character. There is much, also, to admire in the real-life Louisa Alcott, who became a masculine stereotype as breadwinner for her real life family. According to Friedell (2005), Alcott worked 14 hour days at her writing, spent her earnings on her parents and younger sister, and cared for various nieces and nephews when her other sisters died. By the age of 40, Alcott declared proudly that her family was out of debt and finally free, but she still continued to produce writing to support the family. When she contracted mercury poisoning serving as a nurse during the Civil War, Alcott became addicted to morphine and still continued to work. She didn’t even enjoy writing Little Women. While she was usually willing to change stories and novels to please her editors, refused to marry Jo off to Laurie, but gave in to the general idea of marriage, saying in her journals she did not want Jo to end up like herself, worked to the bone with no time to enjoy anything, and alone. It is interesting that the character of Laurie was probably patterned after a real-life romance between Alcott and Ladislas Wisniewski (Sands-O’Connor, 2001). Most of the characters in this novel were patterned after someone Alcott knew, and her journals and letters are vague as to whether there was a real romance between Ladislas and Louisa, or whether she simply fictionalized that, too. The feminists speculate whether Alcott was bisexual or lesbian, and a romance with Wisniewski never blossomed in public. The book Little Woman and the character of Jo certainly start out as

Principles That Define the Culutral Level of Analysis Essay Example for Free

Principles That Define the Culutral Level of Analysis Essay Explain how principles that define CLOA may be demonstrated in research. ’ The first Principle states that Humans are information processors. Cognition refers to the mental tasks or thinking involved in human behavior. Thinking may involve memory, attention, perception, language and decision making at any one time. Cognitive psychologists see these cognitions are active systems; In between taking in and responding to information a number of processes are at work. Information can be transformed; reduced, elaborated, filtered, manipulated, selected, organized, stored and retrieved Therefore the human mind is seen as active system processing information, and cognitive psychologist’s aim to study these processes. Central to this information processing approach is the computer metaphor. One of the difficulties facing cognitive psychologists is that they were trying to study processes that are not directly observable. Consequently the computer revolution of the 1950 provided the terminology and metaphor they needed. People, like computers, acquire information from the environment (input). Both people and computers store information and retrieve it when applicable to current tasks; both are limited in the amount of information they can process at a given time; both transform information to produce new information; both return information to the environment (output). This information processing approach was adopted by Atkinson and Shiffrin in their Multistore Model of memory (1968). This model sees memory as an active process. Information flows in through the sensory stage (input). It then flows to the short-term memory before it is transferred to long term memory where it can be stored and later retrieved. A further example of information processing is the organization of information into schemas in the LTM. Schemas are mental models of the world. Information in LTM is stored in interrelated networks of these schemas and these schemas can affect retrieval. Simply put, schema theory states that all knowledge is organized into units. Within these units of knowledge, or schemata, is stored information. A schema, then, is a generalized description or a conceptual system for understanding knowledge-how knowledge is represented and how it is used. According to this theory, schemata represent knowledge about concepts: objects and the relationships they have with other objects, situations, events, sequences of events, actions, and sequences of actions. A simple example is to think of your schema for dog. Within that schema you most likely have knowledge about dogs in general (bark, four legs, teeth, hair, and tails) and probably information about specific dogs, such as collies (long hair, large, Lassie) or springer spaniels (English, docked tails, liver and white or black and white, Millie). You may also think of dogs within the greater context of animals and other living things; that is, dogs breathe, need food, and reproduce. Your knowledge of dogs might also include the fact that they are mammals and thus are warm-blooded and bear their young as opposed to laying eggs. Depending upon your personal experience, the knowledge of a dog as a pet (domesticated and loyal) or as an animal to fear (likely to bite or attack) may be a part of your schema. And so it goes with the development of a schema. Each new experience incorporates more information into ones schema. The second principle of CLOA states that the mind can be studied scientifically. Cognitive processes are difficult to study. They often occur rapidly, and inside the mind so they cannot be observed directly. It is only the responses that participants make when given some cognitive task to perform that can tell us about cognitive processes. These tasks usually take place under tightly controlled lab experiments where the main aim is to isolate a particular component of the cognitive process for the study. One of the earliest and most famous experiments into cognitive processes is the Stroop Effect. The Stroop effect is a phenomena involved in attentional processes. Although we will actually focus on the process of memory this is a good study to look at. People are often introduced to the Stroop Effect in beginning psychology classes as they learn about how their brains process information. It demonstrates the effects of interference, processing speed (reaction time) and automaticity in divided attention. The effect is named after John Ridley Stroop who first published the effect in English in 1935. In his experiments, J. R. Stroop administered several variations of the same test for which three different kinds of stimuli were created. In the first one, names of colors appeared in black ink. In the second, names of colors appeared in a different ink than the color named. Finally in the third one, there were squares of a given color. In the first experiment, 1 and 2 were used. The task required the participants to read the written color names of the words independently of the color of the ink (for example, they would have to read purple no matter what the color of its ink was). In the second experiment, stimulus 2 and 3 were used, and participants were required to say the color of the letters independently of the written word with the second kind of stimulus and also name the color of the dot squares. If the word purple was written in red, they would have to say red, but not purple; when the squares were shown, the participant would have to say its color. Stroop, in the third experiment, tested his participants at different stages of practice at the tasks and stimulus used in the first and second experiments, to account for the effects of association. Stroop noted that participants took much longer to complete the color reading in the second task than they had taken to name the colors of the squares in Experiment 2. This delay had not appeared in the first experiment. Such interference was explained by the automation of reading, where the mind automatically determines the semantic meaning of the word (it reads the word red and thinks of the color red), and then must intentionally check itself and identify instead the color of the word (the ink is a color other than red), a process that is not automatized. This is a classic laboratory experiment that involves the manipulation of an independent variable (colour or name of word) to see what effect it has on the dependent variable (reaction time). It attempts to control the influence of all other extraneous variables – such as other cognitive processes or skills. It also allows us to establish a cause and effect relationship between task and mental process. The strengths of the experiment are that it got valid results but however was still very unethical which not usuall in psychology is. One more strength is that it is an easy experiment which does not need a lot of input to carry out. The study can be considered cross cultural as any human would act the same in this situation. Obviously the reaction times would be different but in the end anyone would take longer to read the words writte in a different colour. Cognitive processes are influenced by social and cultural factors, is the statement which forms the third principle. Although cognitive tasks such as memory and attention are universal, there are cross cultural variations in processing mechanisms. Bartlett’s study demonstrates how memory can be distorted by cultural schemas. Schemas are representations of knowledge based on experience. In his study in which British participants were asked to recall a native American folktale. He found that the story of ‘The War of the Ghosts’ was difficult for Western people to reproduce exactly because of its cultural content which was unfamiliar to them so in fact they encoded the meaning of the story adapted to their existing cultural schemas. As a result Bartlett concluded that interpretation plays a large role in remembering events or stories. We reconstruct the past and try to make it fit into our schemata, the more difficult this is to do, the more likely it is that elements are forgotten or distorted so that it fits and remembering is integrally related to the social and cultural context in which it is practiced. Cole and Scribner (1974) studied memory skills in both American and Liberian children. They argued that cognitive processes are universal but not cognitive skills. Cognitive skills are dependent on the environment – education, social interaction, culture and technologies make up the environment they observed the effects formal schooling / education (culture) had on memory they compared recall of a series of words in the US and amongst the Kpelle people using word lists that were culturally specific. They found that in general educated Kpelle children performed better in the recall of list than no educated Kpelle children and those overall American children performed better than Kpelle children. Although this could be interpreted as memory skills being better amongst Americans children than Kpelle (African) children such an interpretation would overlook the influence of culture. Western schooling emphasizes certain cognitive strategies such as clustering / categorizing. It is unlikely such parallels exist in traditional societies like the Kpelle People learn to remember in ways that are relevant for their everyday lives, and these do not always mirror the activities that cognitive psychologists use to investigate mental processes The strengths of this lab study are that it was carried out ethically and the with the results we can almost confirm the cross cultural validity but of course we cant confirm it with 100% as exceptions will always be there. The applications of this study are basically already demonstrated within the study as it can be used for memory in schools or even at a working place.

Haimon in Antigone

Haimon in Antigone Sophocles Antigone tells a beautiful story of a woman who fights for her brother, Polynices, to be buried after her uncle and King, Creon, has declared that Polynices body will remain unburied for his blasphemy towards the state. For the culture this is dishonorable. Disobeying her uncle, Antigone goes ahead and buries her brother with miserable consequences. As characters are introduced to the plot, their purposes are clear, but one character may stand ambiguous in purpose; Antigones fiancà © Haimon for instance. But Haimon plays a very crucial role within the play, both conveying the true feelings of state and sympathizing with Antigones cause. Haimon as heir to the throne of Thebes remains very close with his father, but as fiancà © to Antigone, Haimon is torn as to advise his father whom he holds high. Therefore Haimons advisement starts timid: I cannot say [father] that you have reasoned badly. Yet there are men who can reason too; and their opinion might be helpful. Haimons clear drive to change his fathers mind is exhibited upon his first entrance in the play. You are not positioned to know everything says Haimon, for his father has stubbornly sentenced Antigone to be stoned to death, but Haimon is stern to tell of the countrys feelings towards the matter. I have heard them muttering and whispering in the dark about [Antigone.] They say no woman has ever, so unreasonably, died so shameful a death for a generous actthis is the way they talk out there in the city. Haimon clearly informs his father of the peoples disapproval of the Kings actions. Haimon serves as the only person to stand up to Creon. Clearly no resolution is brought about after the two have quarreled. But Haimon does in fact have a small effect on Creon, for Antigones sentence is changed for a much less demeaning one. Haimons presence is the only firm stand against Creons through the entire play. And this stand roots guilt within Creon that serves as motivation for the character. The final straw is pulled as the prophet Teiresias comes to Creon announcing his similar distaste, and bears a prophecy of tragedy. Creon is finally swayed to retract his horrible sentence but is too late, Antigone has killed herself, Haimon has killed himself, and Creons wife of the news kills herself. Everyone around Creon who had shared loved for one another have passed. And Haimons purpose is finally clear and digested.  

Sound Essay -- Hearing Papers

Sound It may be commonplace to point out that acoustic reality and perceptual reality are different. In a live performance situation, for example, no matter how still the audience, the environment will be full of sounds extraneous to the music. If a tape recorder were positioned somewhere in the midst of such a situation, and if a segment of the resulting tape were submitted to digital sound analysis, the results would highlight the difference between what one heard during the performance (what is presumably captured on the tape), and what analysis confirms the tape actually contains. Sound analysis reveals the behavior of sound in the physical world. In this case, analysis would show that soundwaves from all the sound sources in the environment -- the various instruments of the performance, perhaps the stirring of the audience, or the sound of vehicles passing beyond the confines of the performance context -- the multitude of acoustic elements that make up each of these sounds do not rema in conveniently grouped by source. Rather, the components of all these sounds mix together, combining into a single, very complex waveform which is represented on the tape and revealed through analysis. This is because sound waves are additive, like waves in water, multiplying in quality rather than quantity. In the simplest possible terms, what digital analysis uncovers are the acoustic features of the sounds captured by the tape recorder; what are actually heard are the perceptual features of the same sounds. The acoustic and perceptual characteristics of sound are not the same, nor in many cases is there a one-to-one correspondence between them. Parameters of Sound In a very general sense, sounds in a normal environment consist o... ...on provided by either form of presentation is an approximation at best, limited by the resolution capabilities of both the digitizer and the analyzer, as well as by the fineness of detail possible in the graphic display of the software. It is also important to be cautious in considering which details of the visual representation of a sound sample are salient to the sound as perceived; often the picture of a sound will include clearly visible elements which are acoustically present in the sound but too short in duration, or too soft in intensity to register perceptually. A useful maxim in this regard is the following: If a discrete element is filtered from a sound with no difference to the resulting tonal sensation, then the element is unimportant to the final percept and need not be considered in interpreting the data, no matter how blatantly it appears in analysis. Sound Essay -- Hearing Papers Sound It may be commonplace to point out that acoustic reality and perceptual reality are different. In a live performance situation, for example, no matter how still the audience, the environment will be full of sounds extraneous to the music. If a tape recorder were positioned somewhere in the midst of such a situation, and if a segment of the resulting tape were submitted to digital sound analysis, the results would highlight the difference between what one heard during the performance (what is presumably captured on the tape), and what analysis confirms the tape actually contains. Sound analysis reveals the behavior of sound in the physical world. In this case, analysis would show that soundwaves from all the sound sources in the environment -- the various instruments of the performance, perhaps the stirring of the audience, or the sound of vehicles passing beyond the confines of the performance context -- the multitude of acoustic elements that make up each of these sounds do not rema in conveniently grouped by source. Rather, the components of all these sounds mix together, combining into a single, very complex waveform which is represented on the tape and revealed through analysis. This is because sound waves are additive, like waves in water, multiplying in quality rather than quantity. In the simplest possible terms, what digital analysis uncovers are the acoustic features of the sounds captured by the tape recorder; what are actually heard are the perceptual features of the same sounds. The acoustic and perceptual characteristics of sound are not the same, nor in many cases is there a one-to-one correspondence between them. Parameters of Sound In a very general sense, sounds in a normal environment consist o... ...on provided by either form of presentation is an approximation at best, limited by the resolution capabilities of both the digitizer and the analyzer, as well as by the fineness of detail possible in the graphic display of the software. It is also important to be cautious in considering which details of the visual representation of a sound sample are salient to the sound as perceived; often the picture of a sound will include clearly visible elements which are acoustically present in the sound but too short in duration, or too soft in intensity to register perceptually. A useful maxim in this regard is the following: If a discrete element is filtered from a sound with no difference to the resulting tonal sensation, then the element is unimportant to the final percept and need not be considered in interpreting the data, no matter how blatantly it appears in analysis.

Report on Talent Planning in Organisations

Human Resources Management Resourcing Talent Activity 1 † Report on Talent Planning in Organisations â€Å"Factors that affect an organizations approach to attracting talent Companies are offering attractive packages for educated and talented people who have interest it the role with in the company for example: * Pension – private pensions schames with in the company , retirement programs * Flexi time of work – where employee can chose when he is able to work once the work load is done by dead line time, giving opportunity for work life balance * Learning opportunities- the company gives ability to learn and develop skills PDP plan and also offering courses, or finance degree programs for employees in order to develop company * Attractive and fair solary- employees are working at different levels of performance also at different grades within the company, the knowledge that the hard work is going to be rewarded Three organizations benefits of attracting and retai ning o diverse workforce Trzy organizacje korzysci z przyciagniecia i utrzymania o. roznorodnych pracownikow) * The company can gather huge amount of talent from all around the world, which might not find it the country of origin of the company. * Different people different approaches from all around the world can help company to expand to different markets * Many organizations recognise that a diverse workforce helps the organization understand and respond to the needs of an increasingly diverse client baseThree factors that affect an organizations approach to recruitment and selection Trzy czynniki wplywajace na podejscie do organizacji rekrutacji i selekcji The factors can be internal and external the example of internal approach is: * Recruitment policy- which include : general recruitment policies and terms of the organisation, recruitment services of consultants, recruitment of temporary employee, unique recruitment situations, selection process, job descriptions, terms and co nditions of the employment. * Cost of recruitment process- who is recruiting do they have skills needed is it agency . External factor could be: * Unemployment rate – where employer is setting the recruitment process at very high level and is looking for high qualified and skilled people because of amount of candidates more or less suitable for the role, to choose the best one, also salary offered can be lower because of economic situation. * Image of company- is company the employer of choice Recruitment methods Internal recruitment – Where company is preparing job specification and skills desirable and is looking for employee within the company who can take position offering promotion or transfer to different department * External recruitment – outsourcing where empoyer is advertising externally in newspapers, online the position he is seeking for with full job description and skills needed * Agancy recruitment- where employer is handing the recruitment proces to the recruitment agency paying fee for finding right candidate. Selection methods * Interwiew- the most popular technique,the interview is great for information exchange between applicant and interviewer regarding an applicant's suitability and interest in a job the employer seeks to fill.Since interviews can be rather flexible, any missing pieces of information about an applicant can be collected at this time. * Test – If this is an important part of the role, it may be worth using a test, for example if some IT skills are needed for the posts, such as Access database skills, using test you can quickly eliminate candidates which wouldn’t know the answer to the questions asked. * Presentation- In assessing presentations, it is important to have decided on the criteria against which each candidate will be marked. How the person communicates with the panel and gets their points across, as well as how they interact with the members of the panel.Purpose of induction and how they benefit individuals and organisations It is process of bringing, introducing, familiarising a new recruit into the oraginsation. This program familiarises the new employee about the culture, accepted practices and performance standards of the organization. Induction training is very essential for any company because it helps an individual or new recruit to grow within a company and motivates him. New employee is more confidence. During induction new recruit gets to know about the organisation's employment philosophy, physical work environment, employee's rights, employee's responsibilities, organisation, culture and values and also with key business processes.Induction program should include all the aspects of the organisation and present for the awareness of the new employee. Like emergency procedures, facilities, safety issues, right's of the employee, what to be paid, no harassment, equal opportunity, grievance procedures, employee responsibilities, times, conduct stand ards, job function, dress requirements, organisational structure, what it does, how they fit in, who is their Manager, the functions of different departments, how the employee will be managed, what the performance management process will involve, and his role in that process. The benefits for the organisation is also visible as they get to push forward the way they wish their new employees to act and to tell them exactly what is expected of them.A successful workforce is one that everyone knows what their role is and how to complete the tasks assigned to them. Therefore, without an induction day, time and money can be lost further down the line when the staff member doesn't meet the required standard due to not being told exactly what is expected of them. Induction Plan that identifies areas to be covered, timelines and those involved in the process It is very important for all staff and company to have induction plan in place it standardise the information that staff members are ge tting when joining the organisation or being transferred from another department. * Show location of food, drink and bathrooms as a top priority, so the person could move around the building comfortably. Tell existing employees about the new person, and encourage them to stop by and say hello, visit and show around the facility the new person will be based in that will let new employee to be introduce to most of the staff * We can provide chart and office/building seating plan, to help make sense of of people, names and departments. * Have all security and passes ready and waiting. * Have a trusted team member explain the unwritten rules and subtleties of office politics. * emergency procedures should be discus while inducting * explaining one more time duties, responsibilities and introduce person to report to Staff induction plans set the tone of the relationship between employee and employer. With thought and a small amount of prior organisation, you can get the relationship off to a flying start by using an effective staff induction plan. .

Client Understanding Paper

University of Phoenix ACC/541 Client Understanding Paper As per your request of an analysis of the following topics: Adjusting lower of cost or market inventory on valuation, Capitalizing interest on building construction, Recording gain or loss on asset disposal, and Adjusting goodwill for impairment. The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) established clear guidelines addressing the items mentioned above. I will outline that FASB generally accepted accounting standards (GAAP) affect each area, and how these improvements to the company will benefit the company’s financial health (FASB, 2010). The methods of inventory valuation are different according to companies, but at the end of the day the chosen method should be consistent each year according to the general accepted accounting principles. A manufacturing company will generate inventories for finished product, raw materials and work in progress, so lowering the cost of market inventory can be very intimidating and consuming. Inventories and prepaid expenses present some additional valuation issues. With the emphasis on net income reporting, the inventory valuation process has become secondary to the matching of expired inventory costs to sales. The use of any of the acceptable inventory flow assumption techniques prescribes the amount that remains on the balance sheet, and it is likely that each of these flow assumptions will result in different inventory valuations in fluctuating market conditions. In addition, the accounting convention of conservatism requires that a lower of cost or market valuation be used for inventories (Schroeder, Clark, & Cathey, 2005). Using the first-in-first out (FIFO) or the last-in-first-out (LIFO) method is the perfect way to identify the cost of each inventory item. â€Å"A valuation method (e. g. LIFO, FIFO, average cost and specific identification) is used to compute the cost of the inventory dollar amounts and then it is compared to the market dollar amount. † LIFO is not commonly used because the last goods purchased are the first to be sold. The inventory at the beginning of the year will have the earliest goods purchased acquiring a valuation of an early price. FIFO is better used for lowering cost especially during periods of increase prices. It is also important to identify a method for valuing the items in the inventory and calculating the cost of goods sold. This can be done through the cost method, the lower of cost or market and the retail method. â€Å"A valuation method is used to compute the cost of the inventory dollar amounts and then it is compared to the market dollar amount. The lower of the two amounts must be used when recording inventory. † The cost method involves all direct and indirect costs to acquire the inventory. The cost of the products purchased consists of the invoiced purchase price minus discounts or trade with and addition of transportation, shipping additional cost incurred for attaining the product. Lower of cost or market method â€Å"determine the market value of each item on hand as of the inventory date, compare the market value with the cost of each item, and use the lower of the two as the inventory value of that item† (Hagen, 2005). The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AIPCA) in conjunction with the Financial Standards Accounting Board (FASB) issued ARB No. 3 that lower of    cost or market rule apply to all inventories. Lower of cost or market aspect (LCM) is also supported and defined by SFAC No. two and SFAC No. 6. The LCM rule considers the market that purchases and sells the inventory. In general, the conservatism principle applies to LCM method of accounting. Conservatism principle directs a company to choose the more â€Å"conservative† dollar amount when considering two amounts that represent inventories. This helps a Company to report accurate losses on their income statement. To determine LCM, one must also consider net realizable value (NRV). This value represents the selling price of inventories minus the fees associated with completion of sales. The NVR is key to determining true LCM. Conclusion of market value also refers to an items current replacement cost. This cost falls between the NRV (ceiling value) and the floor value (NRV- normal profit). Inventory cost adjustments are required by accounting standards. Incorrectly reporting inventory values at higher levels is a fraudulent act (with harsher penalties under Sarbanes Ox). Inventory valued at $10 with a true value of $5 is a punishable event (FASB, 2010). When a building asset is developed, a vast amount of time is required between the start and completion of the project. Normally the cost of should include all cost to prepare the asset for its useful life of the asset or for sale. The capitalization of interest cost on a building give a guideline on the amount of interest to be capitalized and for the financial statement disclosure. The expenditures must be qualified ahead of time, activities must be in progress and the company must be paying interest. Capitalization ends when the building fully constructed and is in use. Interest is not capitalized on inventories manufactured on a repeated basis or if the building is acquired using gifts or grants under restriction by the donor or grantor. â€Å"When additional financing is incurred after construction expenditures have begun, a firm may capitalize interest on construction expenditures either using an end-of-period average interest rate that includes all financing outstanding at the end of the period (general or specific, as appropriate) or using only the finance outstanding when the construction expenditure was made. Scofield, 2004) The average capitalized rate can be computed using the weighted-average or the specific method. If you were to purchase a building after it was completed, the sales price would include all costs (plus a profit to the seller). Part of the costs in building something is the interim borrowing costs†¦ in this case, the construction loan. Adding the loan to the other costs (brick, mortar, labor) is called â€Å"capitali zing† the interest expense. This creates a higher cost basis for the building and can be â€Å"recovered† through the depreciation expense deduction (over the life of the building). The three main events in the life of an asset are the acquisition, useful life, and disposal or retirement. At the end of an asset’s life, gain or loss of its disposal is recorded. A gain or loss will take place at the disposal of any assets and should be logged as journal entry along with any related incidental cost. The unrealized gains and losses are noticed according to its earnings. All changes whether upward or downward that involves investment shares are shown as income or losses with a change in market value that requires an adjustment to its carry value. At the time disposal there can either be a gain or loss or no gain or loss. Schroeder, Clark and Cathey states that all unrealized gains and unrealized losses will be valued the same for asset valuation purposes. For trading securities, the gains and losses are noticed in those periods in which they occur; for these assets the method is consistent with other accrual accounting requirements. A consistency with the SFAC No. six definition of comprehensive income is determined because comprehensive income is determined by the changes in net assets and would include changes in the market values of assets. For trading securities, no further masking of gains against losses that occurred under the aggregate valuation approach of SFAS No. twelve is needed. Goodwill for impairment must be assessed by companies at least once per year. If an impairment of goodwill the carried amount will be lessened and there will be recognition of impairment loss. Goodwill for impairment test must be recorded as reporting units. These could be the company’s operating segments identified under SFAS 131, or a â€Å"component† of a reportable operating segment as defined in paragraph 30 of SFAS 142. (Huefner and Largay III, 2008). Goodwill is comparing each unit’s estimated fair value of the reporting unit with the unit’s fair values of its identifiable net assets. This process and the process of allocating purchase price differentials of asset acquired, goodwill and liabilities assumed is very similar. The total of the tentative assignments of goodwill to reporting units can surpass the total goodwill recorded by the total entity but when this occurs, the tentative unit assignments are reduced in some reasonable fashion to make the sum equal to the total recorded goodwill (Huefner and Largay III, 2008). Losses on impairment cannot be changed but according to Schroeder, Clark and Cathey, an impairment loss for goodwill should be reversed only if the specific external event that caused the recognition of the impairment loss reverses. A reversal of an impairment loss should be recognized as income in the income statement for assets carried at cost and treated as a revaluation increase for assets carried at revalued amount. At the end of the developing period, the annual impairment test is done on an aggregate basis, which means an increase in goodwill on some books annot offset impairments found in other units. Huefner and Largay III also states that given the potential significance of the change in the accounting treatment of a major asset, the authors expected to observe numerous large impairment write-offs due to implementing the new standard, and large increases in net income because of eliminating goodwill amortization as an expense. In conclusion assets involving current assets, long-term investments, fixed assets, and intangible assets at some point can be changed into cash. Intangible assets except goodwill can either be determinable or indeterminable useful lives. Schroeder, Clark and Cathey explain that those with determinable useful lives are written off over the period of benefit. The cost of acquiring goodwill as well as intangible assets with indeterminate useful lives, is not amortized. References Schroeder, Richard G. , Clark, Myrtle W. , and Cathey, Jack M. (2005). Financial Accounting Theory and Analysis, The Development of Accounting Theory. Financial Accounting Standards Board. 2010). Financial Accounting Standards Board home. Retrieved April 5, 2010 from, http://www. fasb. org/. Scofield, B. (1994) Full disclosure of interest capitalization decisions. The National Public Accountant. Retrieved on April 5, 2010 from http://www. allbusiness. com/accounting. Huefner, R. J. , Largay J. A. (2008). The CPA Journal. The Effect of the New Goodwill Accounting Rules on Financial Statements. Retrieved on April 5, 2010 from http://www. nysscpa. org/cpaj ournal/2004/1004/essentials/p30. htm Client Understanding Paper University of Phoenix ACC/541 Client Understanding Paper As per your request of an analysis of the following topics: Adjusting lower of cost or market inventory on valuation, Capitalizing interest on building construction, Recording gain or loss on asset disposal, and Adjusting goodwill for impairment. The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) established clear guidelines addressing the items mentioned above. I will outline that FASB generally accepted accounting standards (GAAP) affect each area, and how these improvements to the company will benefit the company’s financial health (FASB, 2010). The methods of inventory valuation are different according to companies, but at the end of the day the chosen method should be consistent each year according to the general accepted accounting principles. A manufacturing company will generate inventories for finished product, raw materials and work in progress, so lowering the cost of market inventory can be very intimidating and consuming. Inventories and prepaid expenses present some additional valuation issues. With the emphasis on net income reporting, the inventory valuation process has become secondary to the matching of expired inventory costs to sales. The use of any of the acceptable inventory flow assumption techniques prescribes the amount that remains on the balance sheet, and it is likely that each of these flow assumptions will result in different inventory valuations in fluctuating market conditions. In addition, the accounting convention of conservatism requires that a lower of cost or market valuation be used for inventories (Schroeder, Clark, & Cathey, 2005). Using the first-in-first out (FIFO) or the last-in-first-out (LIFO) method is the perfect way to identify the cost of each inventory item. â€Å"A valuation method (e. g. LIFO, FIFO, average cost and specific identification) is used to compute the cost of the inventory dollar amounts and then it is compared to the market dollar amount. † LIFO is not commonly used because the last goods purchased are the first to be sold. The inventory at the beginning of the year will have the earliest goods purchased acquiring a valuation of an early price. FIFO is better used for lowering cost especially during periods of increase prices. It is also important to identify a method for valuing the items in the inventory and calculating the cost of goods sold. This can be done through the cost method, the lower of cost or market and the retail method. â€Å"A valuation method is used to compute the cost of the inventory dollar amounts and then it is compared to the market dollar amount. The lower of the two amounts must be used when recording inventory. † The cost method involves all direct and indirect costs to acquire the inventory. The cost of the products purchased consists of the invoiced purchase price minus discounts or trade with and addition of transportation, shipping additional cost incurred for attaining the product. Lower of cost or market method â€Å"determine the market value of each item on hand as of the inventory date, compare the market value with the cost of each item, and use the lower of the two as the inventory value of that item† (Hagen, 2005). The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AIPCA) in conjunction with the Financial Standards Accounting Board (FASB) issued ARB No. 3 that lower of    cost or market rule apply to all inventories. Lower of cost or market aspect (LCM) is also supported and defined by SFAC No. two and SFAC No. 6. The LCM rule considers the market that purchases and sells the inventory. In general, the conservatism principle applies to LCM method of accounting. Conservatism principle directs a company to choose the more â€Å"conservative† dollar amount when considering two amounts that represent inventories. This helps a Company to report accurate losses on their income statement. To determine LCM, one must also consider net realizable value (NRV). This value represents the selling price of inventories minus the fees associated with completion of sales. The NVR is key to determining true LCM. Conclusion of market value also refers to an items current replacement cost. This cost falls between the NRV (ceiling value) and the floor value (NRV- normal profit). Inventory cost adjustments are required by accounting standards. Incorrectly reporting inventory values at higher levels is a fraudulent act (with harsher penalties under Sarbanes Ox). Inventory valued at $10 with a true value of $5 is a punishable event (FASB, 2010). When a building asset is developed, a vast amount of time is required between the start and completion of the project. Normally the cost of should include all cost to prepare the asset for its useful life of the asset or for sale. The capitalization of interest cost on a building give a guideline on the amount of interest to be capitalized and for the financial statement disclosure. The expenditures must be qualified ahead of time, activities must be in progress and the company must be paying interest. Capitalization ends when the building fully constructed and is in use. Interest is not capitalized on inventories manufactured on a repeated basis or if the building is acquired using gifts or grants under restriction by the donor or grantor. â€Å"When additional financing is incurred after construction expenditures have begun, a firm may capitalize interest on construction expenditures either using an end-of-period average interest rate that includes all financing outstanding at the end of the period (general or specific, as appropriate) or using only the finance outstanding when the construction expenditure was made. Scofield, 2004) The average capitalized rate can be computed using the weighted-average or the specific method. If you were to purchase a building after it was completed, the sales price would include all costs (plus a profit to the seller). Part of the costs in building something is the interim borrowing costs†¦ in this case, the construction loan. Adding the loan to the other costs (brick, mortar, labor) is called â€Å"capitali zing† the interest expense. This creates a higher cost basis for the building and can be â€Å"recovered† through the depreciation expense deduction (over the life of the building). The three main events in the life of an asset are the acquisition, useful life, and disposal or retirement. At the end of an asset’s life, gain or loss of its disposal is recorded. A gain or loss will take place at the disposal of any assets and should be logged as journal entry along with any related incidental cost. The unrealized gains and losses are noticed according to its earnings. All changes whether upward or downward that involves investment shares are shown as income or losses with a change in market value that requires an adjustment to its carry value. At the time disposal there can either be a gain or loss or no gain or loss. Schroeder, Clark and Cathey states that all unrealized gains and unrealized losses will be valued the same for asset valuation purposes. For trading securities, the gains and losses are noticed in those periods in which they occur; for these assets the method is consistent with other accrual accounting requirements. A consistency with the SFAC No. six definition of comprehensive income is determined because comprehensive income is determined by the changes in net assets and would include changes in the market values of assets. For trading securities, no further masking of gains against losses that occurred under the aggregate valuation approach of SFAS No. twelve is needed. Goodwill for impairment must be assessed by companies at least once per year. If an impairment of goodwill the carried amount will be lessened and there will be recognition of impairment loss. Goodwill for impairment test must be recorded as reporting units. These could be the company’s operating segments identified under SFAS 131, or a â€Å"component† of a reportable operating segment as defined in paragraph 30 of SFAS 142. (Huefner and Largay III, 2008). Goodwill is comparing each unit’s estimated fair value of the reporting unit with the unit’s fair values of its identifiable net assets. This process and the process of allocating purchase price differentials of asset acquired, goodwill and liabilities assumed is very similar. The total of the tentative assignments of goodwill to reporting units can surpass the total goodwill recorded by the total entity but when this occurs, the tentative unit assignments are reduced in some reasonable fashion to make the sum equal to the total recorded goodwill (Huefner and Largay III, 2008). Losses on impairment cannot be changed but according to Schroeder, Clark and Cathey, an impairment loss for goodwill should be reversed only if the specific external event that caused the recognition of the impairment loss reverses. A reversal of an impairment loss should be recognized as income in the income statement for assets carried at cost and treated as a revaluation increase for assets carried at revalued amount. At the end of the developing period, the annual impairment test is done on an aggregate basis, which means an increase in goodwill on some books annot offset impairments found in other units. Huefner and Largay III also states that given the potential significance of the change in the accounting treatment of a major asset, the authors expected to observe numerous large impairment write-offs due to implementing the new standard, and large increases in net income because of eliminating goodwill amortization as an expense. In conclusion assets involving current assets, long-term investments, fixed assets, and intangible assets at some point can be changed into cash. Intangible assets except goodwill can either be determinable or indeterminable useful lives. Schroeder, Clark and Cathey explain that those with determinable useful lives are written off over the period of benefit. The cost of acquiring goodwill as well as intangible assets with indeterminate useful lives, is not amortized. References Schroeder, Richard G. , Clark, Myrtle W. , and Cathey, Jack M. (2005). Financial Accounting Theory and Analysis, The Development of Accounting Theory. Financial Accounting Standards Board. 2010). Financial Accounting Standards Board home. Retrieved April 5, 2010 from, http://www. fasb. org/. Scofield, B. (1994) Full disclosure of interest capitalization decisions. The National Public Accountant. Retrieved on April 5, 2010 from http://www. allbusiness. com/accounting. Huefner, R. J. , Largay J. A. (2008). The CPA Journal. The Effect of the New Goodwill Accounting Rules on Financial Statements. Retrieved on April 5, 2010 from http://www. nysscpa. org/cpaj ournal/2004/1004/essentials/p30. htm

I love you Essays

I love you Essays I love you Essay I love you Essay Worst Nightmare Dreams seem so real sometimes that you will wake up out of your sleep Just to make sure they arent real. Nightmares are the ones that really make you do it though. They are so scary. You can have a nightmare about a monster, someone dying, or maybe even somebody breaking into your house. I have had plenty of nightmares, but there is one that I really want to talk about. My all-time worst nightmare was my whole family dying. It was the scariest thing that has ever happened. Luckily it was Just a dream though. One night I was sleeping and I started to dream that me and my whole were going on a vacation in an airplane. I dont even know where we were going. We were flying on a private plan so we were all playing board games and Just laugh and having a good time. It was one of the best times because for the first time since I was little my WHOLE family was together. My family and I were so anxious to get where we were going. We were flying over the ocean and the plane started to rock. The pilot came on the loud speaker and said he was having technical difficulties, but everything would be okay. My family tried no to panic, but nobody likes to hear that Then the oxygen masks fell and the pilot asked us to place them on our faces. Everyone was panicking and I started to cry because I dont like scary situations. My mom and Dad were trying to comfort me but it wasnt working. All of a sudden the plane started rapidly going down. Then BOOM, we crashed! We crashed in to the water. All I remember is being the only one alive and the plane was in pieces. My family member were all dead, every single one of them, I was freaking out. I didnt know what to do. I was in the middle of the ocean with no way to call anyone, no boats around, no food or anything to drink, and I had no life Jacket all I could do was hold on to a piece of the plane. At that point, I woke up because it seemed so real. That was the worst nightmare Vive ever had because my family means the world to me. I cant lose them all at once. Im so glad it was Just a nightmare because I would be lost without my family. Nightmares are so scary. I never want to have another one. I love you By evocable 234

Free Essays on Three Faces Of Aeneas

Three Faces of Aeneas: The Gladiatorial Combat of auctores in Chaucer’s House of Fame Dependence on literary tradition established by the textual legacy of prestigious Latin authors characterized the period of the composition of the House of Fame, one of Geoffrey Chaucer’s early works. Authoritative Latin writers- auctores- provided the works of medieval writers with invaluable ‘truths’, which contributed to the credibility of medieval texts, though robbing them of certain amount of originality. However, in authorizing their works by utilizing the material produced by auctores, medieval writers faced a dilemma- they discovered that the authoritative literary material that comprised the invaluable truths was often contradictory, confusing and inaccurate, as reflected in Book III of the House of Fame: â€Å"Oon seyde Omere made lyes, / feynynge in hys poetries† (ll. 1477-78). Consequently, the credibility of the truths and the credibility of those who uttered them were questioned by those aware of the problem. The House of Fame reveals C haucer’s awareness of the problem. Chaucer’s revision of the Aeneas and Dido episode depicted in Book I of the House of Fame represents a product of the divergent and conflicting literary traditions established by two authoritative giants of the Middle Ages, Virgil and Ovid. This revision, built on carefully selected conflicting poetical/historical truths of both auctores, produces a new Aeneas, simultaneously Virgilian and Ovidian. Aeneas of the House of Fame, I shall argue, possesses three distinguished faces: that of a hero, a traitor, and a victim of heterosexual desire. Chaucer places his rendering of the Aeneas and Dido episode within a dream-vision. The choice of the form of a dream-vision often brings a number of advantages for the writer. A dream-vision allows the author to examine questions that cannot be considered by reason alone and that may require a visionary ... Free Essays on Three Faces Of Aeneas Free Essays on Three Faces Of Aeneas Three Faces of Aeneas: The Gladiatorial Combat of auctores in Chaucer’s House of Fame Dependence on literary tradition established by the textual legacy of prestigious Latin authors characterized the period of the composition of the House of Fame, one of Geoffrey Chaucer’s early works. Authoritative Latin writers- auctores- provided the works of medieval writers with invaluable ‘truths’, which contributed to the credibility of medieval texts, though robbing them of certain amount of originality. However, in authorizing their works by utilizing the material produced by auctores, medieval writers faced a dilemma- they discovered that the authoritative literary material that comprised the invaluable truths was often contradictory, confusing and inaccurate, as reflected in Book III of the House of Fame: â€Å"Oon seyde Omere made lyes, / feynynge in hys poetries† (ll. 1477-78). Consequently, the credibility of the truths and the credibility of those who uttered them were questioned by those aware of the problem. The House of Fame reveals C haucer’s awareness of the problem. Chaucer’s revision of the Aeneas and Dido episode depicted in Book I of the House of Fame represents a product of the divergent and conflicting literary traditions established by two authoritative giants of the Middle Ages, Virgil and Ovid. This revision, built on carefully selected conflicting poetical/historical truths of both auctores, produces a new Aeneas, simultaneously Virgilian and Ovidian. Aeneas of the House of Fame, I shall argue, possesses three distinguished faces: that of a hero, a traitor, and a victim of heterosexual desire. Chaucer places his rendering of the Aeneas and Dido episode within a dream-vision. The choice of the form of a dream-vision often brings a number of advantages for the writer. A dream-vision allows the author to examine questions that cannot be considered by reason alone and that may require a visionary ...

Research Paper, Finance and Accounting Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

, Finance and Accounting - Research Paper Example Research Paper, Finance and Accounting Hence having an accounting background opens the door to a wide range of career opportunities. Accounting has always been considered as the language and basic tool of business and it is concerned with determining how a business is doing and what the bottom line of the business is. The demand for accountant has been growing and it is outstripping supply. There are a lot of field where accounting can be done like tax, managerial, audit, forensic, governmental, consulting etc. This paper will discuss about the pros and cons of each of the above field of accounting and arrive at the most important one among them which is more relevant today. Managerial accounting is referred to as management accounting and is defined as the internal business building role of finance and accounting professionals who designs, implement and manage internal systems that supports effective decisions and support, plan and control, the value creation operation of an organization. In other words, managerial accounting supports the decision making process through planning and controlling operations. Managerial accounting emphasizes on future event of a company and hence is often considered to be forward looking and uses past result as the basis for estimating future results. It increases the efficiency of a company as everything is done in management accounting in a scientific way of evaluation and compares the performance of the company.

How did certain factors encourage or inhibit the development of Essay

How did certain factors encourage or inhibit the development of certain types of the state systems in at least two geographical - Essay Example The rulers of the Persian Empire used autocracy, which was a practical tool to handle the vast and extremely social-culturally diverse empire. This is contrasted with the Greeks whose fierce sense of independence is meant that only through democratic systems could their state systems be maintained. Among these factors is that when the Persian Empire was founded by Cyrus the Great, it consisted of a large number of peoples from different ethnic groups within it stretching from the borders of Greece in the west to India in the east. It was for this reason that this far-flung empire had to have four main administrative centers which were headquartered in the cities of Pasargadae, Babylon, Ektabana, and Susa. Because of the diversity of the of the peoples within the empire, the rulers of Persia allowed the various regions which they ruled some autonomy in the form of the satrapy system and this consisted of administrative units that were organized according to a geographical basis. The g eography of Persia proper was harsh, being mostly arid or semi-arid, and this was influential in creating a hardy race of people who had to look outside their own homeland to acquire the items which were necessary for their survival (Mojtahed-Zadeh 275). As a result of the geographical as well as the population diversity of the empire, the rulers of the empire tended to appoint regional governors known as satraps, whose duties included being a vassal king to the Persian emperor. This administrative system was developed in such a way that these satraps administered the region on his behalf and oversaw the recruitment of the military whenever the emperor had a need for it. For such a large empire to function well, it was necessary to keep accurate records so that all the administrative activities within it could be carefully scrutinized and organized. In order to fulfill these purposes, under the authority of the various satraps, there were often officials whose work was to ensure tha t all the records of the government of these units were well kept and maintained. The administrative system of the Persian Empire was highly autocratic and this was necessary because the Persians had acquired their empire through conquest (Mojtahed-Zadeh 273). This meant that they had to govern their acquired territories with an iron fist to ensure that any forms of rebellion within their empire were suppressed. Therefore, the Persian administration gave immense power to the emperor who had the power of life or death over all his subjects meaning that he was an absolute monarch whose authority could not be questioned. The forms of democracy which were prevalent in the Greek cities were absent in Persia, and this may have been a factor in keeping the empire unified since all the authority within it was vested in the emperor, who could either delegate it to individuals or take it away as he pleased. It can therefore be said that the Persian Empire developed its autocratic system of go vernment as a response to the diversity in the population within it and it is this, more than anything else which ensured that the empire remained stable for several centuries. Ancient Greece on the other hand consisted of several hundred city states which were completely independent of each other and the

Content Analysis of a Recent Film Compared to 1934 Production Code Essay

Content Analysis of a Recent Film Compared to 1934 Production Code - Essay Example In addition, the Hollywood Production Codes state that any form of dress that is indecent and is aimed at revealing the private parts of individuals to make have sedate looks are prohibited in the filming industry. These are cases that should not be included in the films since they depict negative pictures to the society. In addition, such films associated with violence, nudity as well as sensations may instill negative habits, lessons and behaviors in the society. The â€Å"Twilight: Breaking Dawn† is one of the most recent films in the American filming industry that contradicts the Hollywood Production Codes of filming in the American society. The film â€Å"Twilight: Breaking Dawn† is one of the films that was introduced in theaters on 16th November 2012. The film was written by Melissa Rosenberg and Stephen Meyer, directed by Bill Condon and produced by Wyck Godfrey, Stephen Meyer as well as Karen Rosenfelt (Doherty, 25). Following the contents of the film, it has been rated a PG-13 due to several reasons. The film â€Å"Twilight: Breaking Dawn† has three biggest problems with regards to the provisions of the Film Production Codes. Some of these include several sequences and series of violence as well as disturbing images. Moreover, the film is known for its contents of sensuality (Black, 47). The other problem is the partial nudity photos associated with the film. These have seen the film rated as PG-13. The film introduces several captions associate with sensual passions coupled with sexual arousal. The character Bella is seen to engage in sexually suggestive acts with Edward in the film. This is associated with increased sexual and emotional arousal in the minds of the viewers. Such situations also depict negative lessons to the minds of the youngsters who may be curios to experiment what they saw in such films. This is strongly prohibited by the

Crime And Behavioral Genetics Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Crime And Behavioral Genetics - Research Paper Example To gain an in depth insight of this hypothesis, this paper will outline an annotated bibliography of three journals: Gou, G. Roettger, M. Cai, T. (2008). The Integration of Genetic Propensities into Socio- Control Models of Delinquency and Violence among Male Youths, American Sociological Review, 73 (4); 543-568; Ferguson, C. J. (2010). Genetic contributions to antisocial personality and behavior: A meta-analytic review from an evolutionary perspective, The Journal of Social Psychology, 150(2), 160-80, and Stone, R. D. (2003). The cloudy crystal ball: Genetics, child abuse, and the perils of predicting behavior. Vanderbilt Law Review, 56(5), 1557-1590 that have delineated the relationship between genes and crime. The annotated bibliography will be aimed at addressing the specific title of how genetics play a role in crime. Gou, G. Roettger, M. Cai, T. (2008). The Integration of Genetic Propensities into Socio- Control Models of Delinquency and Violence among Male Youths. American Soc iological Review, 73 (4), 543-568 As pertains to the author’s background, this journal is work of four authors. Guang Guo was a professor at the University of North Carolina- Chapel Hill and teaches sociology. He was also a member of the faculty at Carolina Population Center and Carolina Center for Genomic Sciences at the same University. Michel E. Roettger was a PHD candidate at the same University and his thesis statement sought to examine social inequality in relationship to the US criminal justice system. Tianji Cai a PHD holder at the same university was interested in sociological research methods that aimed at addressing how biology interplayed with the society. Intended audience of this journal article was the delinquent civil societies, the parents, the genetics departments and the criminal society. The objective of the study was to examine the effects of genes on violent delinquency by examining three genetic polymorphisms: 40-bp VNTR in the DATI gene, the 30-bp prom oter- region VNTR in the MAOA gene, and the Taq1 polymorphism in the DRD2 gene. Data used was collected from DNA subsample obtained from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. The study was based on a population size of 1,100 males whose DNA and measures to control their social behavior was available for incorporation in the study. The results of the study illustrated that there was a positive interaction between DATI, MAOA, and DRD2 and the deliquescent behavior reported among the males involved in the study. An interaction was reported between MAOA gene and DRD2 gene in association with having a family meal. The results illustrated that a weaker socio cultural involvement of the family and the school processes flared up the gene expression in deliquescent individuals. Social issues play a paramount role in the gene expression of the individuals who engaged in deliquescent behavior. Individuals who possessed a 2R allele as evidenced in the MAOA*2 genotype, upon repea t of a grade, they exhibited serous delinquency compared to individuals who did not express the 2R allele gene in their genotype. Repeating a grade and its influence in expression of MAOA*2 was attributed to the interference in the individuals social relationship with his peers, ridicule by his peer. They were also predisposed to feelings of shame, inadequacy, humiliation, and confusion weakening their bonds to social support structures

Case Beverly Inc Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Case Beverly Inc - Essay Example The expansion plan involves the opening of three new stores each year in the next three years. Consequently, the company sought to borrow a loan in order to finance the expansion plan. The maximum amount accepted by the financier is $ 100 million. On that note, the cash inflows and cash outflows originating from receipt of the cash proceeds of the loan and payments of interest and the principal amount should be presented as financing activities. That is, the monetary value of these transactions should be recorded as financing activities of the company because it is a long-term credit (ASC-230 3-4). The company drew a portion in two instances, on the facility. It is provided that on July 15, 2010, the company drew $ 60 million on the facility; on August 30, 2010, the company drew an additional $ 40 million on the facility; and on September 30, 2010, the company paid down the draws by $ 50 million. All these transactions should be recorded based on their net values (ASC-230 8-9). The warehouse damaged by the Hurricane is considered as one of the company’s assets. The purchase of an insurance policy necessitates the payment of an annual premium. The value of the premium is estimated based on the degree of the risk covered. Insurance claims are paid to cover for damages and losses caused to a company’s assets. Therefore, the $ 15 million reimbursement to Beverly should be classified under the investment activities of the company. The classification is based on the fact that the premium payments are invested in an insurance company in order to indemnify the insured in case of a loss (ASC-230 5-6). This section contains a comparison of the accounting practices regulating the presentation of the cash flow statement as stipulated in IFRS and GAAP. First, the IAS and IFRS 5 regulate the presentation of financial statement under IFRS. On the other hand, the presentation of a similar financial statement under U.S GAAP is guided by the accounting

Leadership in nursing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Leadership in nursing - Essay Example This paper aims to provide a model of leadership in nursing. It also outlines factors that influence leadership styles, discusses approaches to leadership and the impact of the leadership style on nursing care. Besides, impact on nursing education/practice, role of the nurse, problem identification, solution, and nursing implication is discussed at length. Leadership is about knowing how to make visions become reality. This definition remains constant whether it is nursing, medical or healthcare leadership. In general the vision that nurses have is one where patients are treated with dignity and respect at all times; where systems are designed for the benefit of individual needs; and where the work performed by nurses is valued and respected. From a nursing perspective the three key foundation stones that helped nursing achieve the vision of a patient centred health service are development of patient centred care measures as part of performance management and the clinical governance agenda; leadership based on personal growth and development principles and; new clinical career and competency framework for nursing (Kitson, 2001). Achieving these visions will require a paradigm shift in the philosophy, priorities, policies, and power relationships of the health service. While a fall in the number of nursing leaders may be attributed to the current nursing shortage, studies have noted that there is also a significant deficiency in the number of nursing leaders. Even at major research and teaching hospitals, chief financial officers are worried about the scarcity of nursing staff (Singhapattanapong, 2002). Unfortunately an overlooked aspect of this nursing shortage is the dearth of leaders among nurses. In 2002, nurses are in a distinct position to influence healthcare policy and legislation. There is a need for nursing leadership to exert that influence and by nurturing both

Crime And Behavioral Genetics Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Crime And Behavioral Genetics - Research Paper Example To gain an in depth insight of this hypothesis, this paper will outline an annotated bibliography of three journals: Gou, G. Roettger, M. Cai, T. (2008). The Integration of Genetic Propensities into Socio- Control Models of Delinquency and Violence among Male Youths, American Sociological Review, 73 (4); 543-568; Ferguson, C. J. (2010). Genetic contributions to antisocial personality and behavior: A meta-analytic review from an evolutionary perspective, The Journal of Social Psychology, 150(2), 160-80, and Stone, R. D. (2003). The cloudy crystal ball: Genetics, child abuse, and the perils of predicting behavior. Vanderbilt Law Review, 56(5), 1557-1590 that have delineated the relationship between genes and crime. The annotated bibliography will be aimed at addressing the specific title of how genetics play a role in crime. Gou, G. Roettger, M. Cai, T. (2008). The Integration of Genetic Propensities into Socio- Control Models of Delinquency and Violence among Male Youths. American Soc iological Review, 73 (4), 543-568 As pertains to the author’s background, this journal is work of four authors. Guang Guo was a professor at the University of North Carolina- Chapel Hill and teaches sociology. He was also a member of the faculty at Carolina Population Center and Carolina Center for Genomic Sciences at the same University. Michel E. Roettger was a PHD candidate at the same University and his thesis statement sought to examine social inequality in relationship to the US criminal justice system. Tianji Cai a PHD holder at the same university was interested in sociological research methods that aimed at addressing how biology interplayed with the society. Intended audience of this journal article was the delinquent civil societies, the parents, the genetics departments and the criminal society. The objective of the study was to examine the effects of genes on violent delinquency by examining three genetic polymorphisms: 40-bp VNTR in the DATI gene, the 30-bp prom oter- region VNTR in the MAOA gene, and the Taq1 polymorphism in the DRD2 gene. Data used was collected from DNA subsample obtained from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. The study was based on a population size of 1,100 males whose DNA and measures to control their social behavior was available for incorporation in the study. The results of the study illustrated that there was a positive interaction between DATI, MAOA, and DRD2 and the deliquescent behavior reported among the males involved in the study. An interaction was reported between MAOA gene and DRD2 gene in association with having a family meal. The results illustrated that a weaker socio cultural involvement of the family and the school processes flared up the gene expression in deliquescent individuals. Social issues play a paramount role in the gene expression of the individuals who engaged in deliquescent behavior. Individuals who possessed a 2R allele as evidenced in the MAOA*2 genotype, upon repea t of a grade, they exhibited serous delinquency compared to individuals who did not express the 2R allele gene in their genotype. Repeating a grade and its influence in expression of MAOA*2 was attributed to the interference in the individuals social relationship with his peers, ridicule by his peer. They were also predisposed to feelings of shame, inadequacy, humiliation, and confusion weakening their bonds to social support structures

Leadership in nursing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Leadership in nursing - Essay Example This paper aims to provide a model of leadership in nursing. It also outlines factors that influence leadership styles, discusses approaches to leadership and the impact of the leadership style on nursing care. Besides, impact on nursing education/practice, role of the nurse, problem identification, solution, and nursing implication is discussed at length. Leadership is about knowing how to make visions become reality. This definition remains constant whether it is nursing, medical or healthcare leadership. In general the vision that nurses have is one where patients are treated with dignity and respect at all times; where systems are designed for the benefit of individual needs; and where the work performed by nurses is valued and respected. From a nursing perspective the three key foundation stones that helped nursing achieve the vision of a patient centred health service are development of patient centred care measures as part of performance management and the clinical governance agenda; leadership based on personal growth and development principles and; new clinical career and competency framework for nursing (Kitson, 2001). Achieving these visions will require a paradigm shift in the philosophy, priorities, policies, and power relationships of the health service. While a fall in the number of nursing leaders may be attributed to the current nursing shortage, studies have noted that there is also a significant deficiency in the number of nursing leaders. Even at major research and teaching hospitals, chief financial officers are worried about the scarcity of nursing staff (Singhapattanapong, 2002). Unfortunately an overlooked aspect of this nursing shortage is the dearth of leaders among nurses. In 2002, nurses are in a distinct position to influence healthcare policy and legislation. There is a need for nursing leadership to exert that influence and by nurturing both

Introduction to Operation Management Essay Example for Free

Introduction to Operation Management Essay If you would like to choose an organization that is NOT from the above list, please consult your professor. For SLP 1, identify the following by writing a paper (with paragraphs, including an introductory, body, and concluding section): 1) The organizations name and main line of business, 2) A specific type of operations process that takes place there (either service or product), 3) Describe the nature of the operations given your newfound understanding of operations management and productivity. 4) You may identify the strategy or global strategy of that organization. Feel free to consult background readings, browse our library to find more articles, and check the relevant websites to support your argument. Introduction An organization efficiency and effectiveness are necessary to surface in this new era of business where maintaining a competitive edge is the difference between succeeding and faltering. In this paper I will describe and analyze the operation management by describing and analyzing the different operations management perspectives and its productivity. Body The organization I have chosen to study and analyze is Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., their line of business is retail. Since Wal-Mart is one of the top supermarket chains in the country exporting to 27 countries and sells a large number of products, the company runs on multiple levels and since some products have different regulations than other obviously the operation management has tuned to the specific needs of the product. Not only has the operation management pertained not only for goods but also for services. Since 2009, The Sustainability Consortium (TSC) and Wal-Mart have worked together to create a system that measure and report the sustainability of products by developing tools to enhance the capacity to comprehend and state the environmental, social, and economic effects of products. This process of researching product sustainability is used to expand knowledge of top grossing products and find out how to improve the quality of the products. By improving the quality they can manufacture better products at a lower cost and sell it the same of higher price increasing profits. On the other hand, by testing product sustainability new eco-friendly products can be produce and lower the environmental impact while still satisfying consumer demand. The second step is researching the consumer, what they think about the product and how the product is used. This enables manufacturing companies to meet the consumer needs. After all the researcher is done, new found data is combined with new tools to produce better product quality and transparency creating a stronger trust between Wal-Mart and its customer. The nature of this operation is based on the idea of lowering costs while maintaining profits. By researching the products they learn the ins and outs of how it is made, the costs of production, and the sustainability of the product. This allows them to look into cheaper methods and materials while still maintain same safety, health and environmental standards. Furthermore when they research the consumer, they find out what the consumer really needs and provide more to fill that need. Whatever profits are saved they can invest into better tools, production equipment, or anything used to further advance the company. The global strategy (as well as general strategy) is to invest in lower prices. By expanding the types of products sold and bringing back assortments the customer base is expanded, since now the convenience of finding everything you need in one place is available. When this convenience is combined with lower prices, it makes Wal-Mart a retail juggernaut that will be nearly impossible to top. Conclusion In conclusion, operations management is a key tool in controlling all aspects of a business. By managing operations you can cut costs, accidents, or even increase profits. An example would be Wal-Mart’s product sustainability management. By investing in this process they have advanced their company in many aspects, giving them an advantage in their business. References Plenert, Gerhard J. (2002). International Operations Management. Retrieved January 17, 2013 at: http://site.ebrary.com/lib/tourou/search.action?p00=International +Operations+ManagementfromSearch=fromSearchsearch=Search Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (2012) 2012 Annual Report. Retrieved on January 17, 2013 at: http://www.walmartstores.com/sites/annual-report/2012/CEOletter.aspx Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (2012) Global Responsibility. Sustainability Index. Retrieved on January 17, 2013 at: http://corporate.walmart.com/global-responsibility/environment-sustainability/sustainability-index

Comparison of Database and File Storage

Comparison of Database and File Storage Author: Noronjon Qalandarov CONTENTS (Jump to) ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS SUMMARY 1. INTRODUCTION 2. AIMS AND METHODOLOGIES 3. LITERATURE REVIEW 3.1 Technologies and definitions 3.1.1 RDBMS 3.1.2 Native XML DB 3.2 DATABASE PRODUCTS 3.2.1 MySQL database 3.2.2 eXist and Sedna databases 4. DATABASE BENCHMARKING 4.1. Storing XML in file systems 4.2. Document size 4.3. Updates 4.4. Description of soil sampling and sample preparation 4.5. Determination of pendimethalin in methanol extract 5. ANALYSIS 6. DISCUSIONS 7. CONCLUSIONS 8. REFERENCES ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First of all thanks to my supervisor Ing.Alexandr Vasilenko for advices and assistance during the work on this diploma thesis and all his support during whole practical work. Special thanks to all members and coordinators of Europian Commission Erasmus Mundus program, especially to coordinator of CASIA project Ewa Wietsma and PhDr. Vlastimil ÄŒernà ½, CSc. for granted me and gave me opportunity to study at Czech University of Life Sciences. I also would like to thanks to Department of Information Technologies, represented by Ing.MiloÃ… ¡ Ulman, Ph.D. for his professional skills, for kindness and support. Thanks to all academic staff of university for their contribution to obtaining high-quality skills and knowledge. SUMMARY Database systems are well-known for consistent storage, retrieval, and manipulation of data. At the same time, the Extensible Markup Language (XML) is generally accepted as data description language for both web-based information systems. XML is self-desibing. It can provide flexible information identification, and can be extensively used in many application domains such as chemistry, biology, and e-business, etc. With the development of the web applications and the large amounts of XML documents that are being generated, it is therefore necessary to work out how to manage them efficiently. Databases are the prime storage engines for many different types of data. Traditional DBMS are designed for regular data. However, XML data often includes some irregular data such as pictures, audio and video files etc, which means that the storage of XML data is a challenge to traditional relational database DBMSs. Keywords: XML, RDBMS, database, relational databases, storage, data and file, analysis, solutions, software, web application 1. INTRODUCTION As the use of XML has grown, it is now generally accepted that XML is not only useful for describing new document formats for the Web but is also suitable for describing structured data. Examples of structured data include information that is typically contained in spreadsheets, program configuration files, and network protocols. XML is preferable to previous data formats because XML can easily represent both tabular data (such as relational data from a database or spreadsheets) and semistructured data (such as a Web page or business document) (Obasanjo, 2003). Popular pre-existing formats such as comma separated value (CSV) files either work well for tabular data and handle semi-structured data poorly, or like RTF are too specialized for semi-structured text documents. This has led to the widespread adoption of XML as the lingua franca of information interchange. As more and more organisations and systems employ XML within their information management and exchange strategies, classical data management issues pertaining to XML’s efficient and effective storage, retrieval, querying, indexing and manipulation arise. From this environment we have seen the emergence of native XML databases. These are designed for seamless storage, retrieval, and manipulation of XML data and integration with related technologies (Noordij, 2002). However, a number of questions arise regarding Native XML Database (NXD) technology. Does it represent a paradigm shift? More importantly, is the performance of NXD technology sufficient to provide an alternative to standard database technology, or will existence be the status quo? 2. AIMS AND METHODOLOGIES The diploma thesis investigates the advantages and disadvantages of storing data and files in native XML databases and relational databases. Main goal of this diploma thesis is to compare the approaches of a number of varying solutions. Partial goals are: To explain the main differences between the database models; To compare different solutions of storing data in different platforms; To analyze performance of XML and RDBS models (size, speed, access, etc); The several methodology parts are defined to accomplish the thesis. The methodology of the diploma thesis is based on research and analysis of relevant information resources. In the first part collected the necessary information about the database models. The further step was to define requirements of the database systems in order to exactly characterize the system processes. Within this requirements the definitions, the tables and the graphs are also fulfilled due to properly do the practical section of the thesis. Practical process and analysis will draw on results which will be given by the research study. Finally, comparison of analysis of the storing data models and file storage made in a different development platform will be made. Based on the synthesis of the theoretical and the practical knowledge, final conclusions will be formulated. 3. LITERATURE REVIEW 3.1 Technologies and definitions In this chapter we define all terms and technologies needed to understand rest of this paper. We start by basic definitions (e.g. what is an XML document), continue by characteristics of XML documents (e.g. what is a depth of an XML document) and their schemes and finish by benchmark related definitions (e.g. what is an XMLMS). Definitions also contain examples when it is appropriate. Relational data storage unit implemented in the framework of powerful databases such as MS SQL Server, Oracle, MySql, etc. actually able to meet all requirements for the server machines. At these facilities are built and successfully operate the systems from a variety of online stores to systems of automation of bank activity. High performance, reliability, and advanced administration tools allow for functionality and scalability within a large range of tasks. But the relational concept of data presentation within storage demands reduction them to relational structure, that means allocation from stored these same objects and placing them in line by one or a group of tables, that is the fixed and unchangeable structure. As a result, the limit of applicability of such systems lies in the field of tasks over strictly structured data. There are solutions of unification of relational object for storage of poorly structured data. But they, as a rule, lead to sharp losses of productivity an d to increase in labor input of development and support of all system on the basis of such decision as complicate storage structure, lead to partial refusal of control devices of integrity given by the server and to strong complication of inquiries. Applying as a data presentation basis within storage the xml-notation, it is possible to lift limits on rigid structurization of data and to receive the device of storage of diverse data. Such approach is used in servers Tamino, MarkLogic Server, Sedna, Timber, etc. Besides, xml became de facto the data presentation standard in information systems. However, the effective use xml to develop application systems currently constrained in particular multi-user access restrictions, and low-speed transactional mechanisms work with large data files. XML has several advantages over other languages à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ ¹Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ ¹/ formats of the description of data at exchanging data between applications: Platform independence. The XML language allows exchanging data to the systems which are based on different platforms. The XML document can be created and sorted as the text file by means of outdated or built-in programming languages whose composition does not include a special library for working with XML. Support by producers. Libraries for work with XML are created for all leading programming languages and popular DBMS. Use of these libraries allows significantly reduce the amount of code when developing gateways between applications. Self-documenting. The XML document is readable for the person. Besides, existence of the date description in it allows creating automatic processing programs, for example universal modules of loading of the data arriving from different systems into a one repository. Hierarchy. A key feature of the language. In difference, for example, from the CSV format (the text file with a divider ;), XML allows to describe easily difficult structures of the objects given with an unlimited enclosure. Objectivity. The data structure of XML is perfectly combined with object-oriented programming model. Each tag of the XML document can be mapped to a class or class property of the processing program. On the other hand, there is an opportunity to describe in a XML format each applied object of subject domain as a separate tag. Expansibility. In use of XML format, you can add new tags. It wont lead to fatal change of data structure, simply reading and writing programs will need to be added with classes or the functions that recognize these tags. Safe and efficient management of large volumes of data is a challenging task, which is traditionally solved by database management systems. When storing XML data, it is necessary to provide reliability, the transaction nature, recoverability, high availability, security, effective search device and scalability and modification. All these requirements define the necessary tools and functionality of the XML data storage systems and limit the applicability of existing technologies and resouces. RDBMS Relational databases are widely used. They encapsulate the storage and data processing mechanisms, offering effective methods for structured data storage for faster query execution. On the other hand, XML is a data format used for exchange of non-structured data between incompatible systems or applications. Application of relational database is limited, but the obvious advantages of XML representation in the allocated task areas are relevant in todays systems. Let’s consider the key differences between relational and XML-data. Neither XML nor relational format is definitely the best solution for any problem. There are various data management needs for which relational data model is insufficient and the use of XML allows improving the solution characteristics, reducing the complexity and sometimes recognizing task feasible. In a relational database, data is stored in tables consisting of rows and columns. The data of a certain type is stored in column for all of the table records. Each table record is presented in the row. Order of the rows in the table is not associated with any ordering of data, unlike XML, where internally present document order affects, for example, the data returned by such function XPath, as position (). Only the simplest relational data can be stored in the same table, a typical relational database has many tables with complex logical relationships between them. Data in different tables are linked by keys. For example, in the table Customers can be a field (or column) CustomerID. Identification of orders for a particular user is made easy by the corresponding value in the column CustomerID of the table Orders. The data relationships can be one-to-one (for example, one son can have only one father, one-to-many or one son, two parents, one user has several orders), or many-to-many (one item can be in many orders, and each order can be different goods). Each of these relationships can be represented by storing data in two or more related tables. Native XML DB Generally distinguish databases XML-enabled and native XML database opportunities. The database is called XML-enabled, if it is a model of data storage kernel and data processing is not XML data model. In many cases, its core is relational model that requires a mapping between XML data model and the relational model. All relational database systems can be considered as XML-enabled database, because they support such a mapping for XML data management. The term native XML database is used in different ways by different groups. Native XML database has the following three characteristics: It defines the logical model for XML-document. The data is stored and selected according with this model. The model must include elements, attributes, PCDATA, and document order. XML-document is the basic unit of logical storage. No specific physical model of storage is required. It means that it can be based on relational, hierarchical or an object-oriented database. In particular, this definition allows transformation from the XML data model to another model of data storage and processing. This is what we have defined for XML-enabled databases. Thus, it is required to native XML database also has the following two properties: XML data model (XML Infoset) fundamental logical data model, which is used in the database and is available to database users if data type is an XML. XML data model is the basic unit of a physical storage of XML-data without displaying them in a different data model. This brief definition means that XML is not just extended data type, this is how the data is processed, both logically and physically. The data presented in XML, schema correspond to the physical scheme of storage on disk. This model is best for efficient search of XML-data. DATABASE PRODUCTS MySQL database eXist and Sedna databases DATABASE BENCHMARKING Storing XML in file systems We should not forget that the most of XML-documents are stored in file systems. The idea XML-document means storing on disk, just as you keep any of other documents on your desktop. Many applications do not ever go further this first step, and always keep XML-documents in file system. Storing XML documents in file system simple and natural, not only because the term â€Å"XML document† means it, but also that the hierarchical organization of file system is very similar to the hierarchical organization of the document. There is a clear parallel between the syntax of the URL or file path and simple XPath expressions, so it looks quite natural appeal to the node â€Å"/bat/baz† in the â€Å"/foo/bar.xml†. Before moving on to the â€Å"real† XML databases, consider, what are the limitations of XML documents storing in file systems. XML data internally ordered, as in this simple example: Value=123.45 Currency=US Dollars /> Value=4500.12 Currency=US Dollars /> Value=8000.00 Currency=US Dollars /> Document size It makes sense to store XML documents on disk when you need to work with static small sized documents in WWW. File systems can now effectively support gigabyte files; so, knowing a path to any XML document, you can effectively get access to information which was stored in it. Important factor is granularity of information to which access is required. If you always need the complete document, this system works quite well. However, if you need to retrieve only a small part of a large document using DOM or XPath, then you have huge overhead due to having to read all document before you will be able to extract from it part you are interested in. Also, you must do not forget to analyze these documents whenever you access them through the DOM or XPath. Of course, this consideration applies only to this type of work with documents. If all you need is to work with documents without their modification or transformation on WWW, it is better to prepare them to work in XML. Updates Another important question arising during the storage of XML documents on disk are updates. If you manually run a small set of well-formed XML documents on the desktop or the web server, the updates do not cause difficulties. But once you need to enable the updates by many users, or even worse, if you develop a transactional application, you need to take some additional steps to perform updates. One of ways of solution this problem is the storage of documents in the repository WebDAV, which resolves issues of blocking and the parallel addressing instead of you. If you are interested in this approach, you can try to use a version control system such as Subversion (http://subversion.tigris.org/). Subversion can work as a WebDAV repository and provides all the features of version control system, including the fixing of any modifications history of your documents. For many applications it is very important opportunity, and this opportunity is one of those which directly are not supported by the databases considered in this thesis. Description of soil sampling and sample preparation Determination of pendimethalin in methanol extract ANALYSIS 6. DISCUSIONS CONCLUSIONS REFERENCES Carlos Coronel,Steven A. Morris,Peter Rob. Database Systems: Design, Implementation, and Management. Cengage Learning, 2011. 692p. ISBN 9780538469685 AKMAL B EDITOR CHAUDHRI,AWAIS EDITOR RASHID,Roberto Zicari. Xml Data Management: Native Xml and Xml-Enabled Database Systems. Addison-Wesley Professional, 2003. 641p. ISBN 9780201844528 EMC Education Services. Information Storage and Management: Storing, Managing, and Protecting Digital Information in Classic, Virtualized, and Cloud Environments. John Wiley Sons, 2012. 528p. ISBN 9781118236963 Vrana,I. Projecting of information systems with UML, CULS Prague, 2009, 150p. ISBN 9788021319769 http://kavayii.blogspot.cz/2010/01/xml.html Comparison of relational and XML data storage methods Noronjon Qalandarov CULS, Prague 2014Page 1

Eddie Vedder Is A Vampire :: essays research papers

Eddie Vedder Is A Vampire Although at first he may seem to be just your average angst ridden lead man for a popular rock and roll band, Eddie Vedder, the vocalist and lyricist for Pearl Jam, may very well be a vampire. Although it is impossible to tell, everything points to his being an immortal. An in depth analysis of his lyrics shows that Pearl Jam's second album, â€Å"Versus†, has been used by Vedder as sounding boards for the complex emotions and change of perspective that come with one's transition to vampirism. Other lyricists have used vampiric images before - for instance Sting, in Moon Over Bourbon Street, which was written in first person - but Vedder is unique in that his lyrics evolve over time as being indicative of his vampiric state. Either he has become a vampire, he believes himself to be a vampire, or he is leading a fictional double life, from which he draws inspiration for his lyrics.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  What exactly is a vampire? Numerous myths, folk tales, and works of fiction exist on the matter of what makes up a vampire, but if they do exist, vampires have been incredibly careful to conceal their presence from most people (supposedly following a law known as the Masquerade), and very little is known about them definitively. However, some basic facts are common to most sources. These are: vampires drink blood, vampires live forever if not killed, and vampires undergo grievous bodily harm if exposed to sunlight; this normally kills them.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Many other things about vampires, such as their aversion to garlic, their superhuman abilities, and their prohibition on entering abodes unless invited, are mentioned in some sources and not others, and so it is unclear as to how much of this applies to real vampires, and how much is pure myth.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Eddie's vampiric tendencies became apparent in the lyrics to â€Å"Versus†, Pearl Jam's second album. Pearl Jam's first album, â€Å"Ten†, contains no real evidence of vampirism, and his lyric writing style is subtly different from that in â€Å"Versus†. In â€Å"Ten†, the lyrics are often in ballad form, generally relating tales of normal people. The songs Jeremy, Alive, Deep, and Black were all number one hits in the U.S. from â€Å"Ten†. Eddie was not writing about himself in these songs, and was only assuming personas for the narrative, a standard device for composers of fiction of any kind. Thus, the lyrics were simply Eddie's view of the world around him, incorporating characters and situations which he could relate to.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Eddie's lyric writing style had change considerably in the second album, â€Å"Versus†.