Persuasive Student Parking

Dear Principal, I am writing to let you know that I am completely happy with the recent policy of numbered parking spaces. Parking at school is much more convenient now, and knowing the school has more information about parking lot activity is great. I am also very pleased that I have no longer been tardy or searched for an open space. It truly has been better with this rule in effect. First of all, the school should have knowledge about what is happening in the parking lot. Knowing where each student's designated parking spots are prevents vandalism. It also prevents the students from skipping class because the faculty can check if your car is in the designated parking space. In the same way it is nice for the staff to know where each student car is, it is just as great for me to know exactly where im going. I no longer have to drive in circles around the lot, searching for an open space. Stepping into the crisp, bitter cold in the morning is bad enough, staying in it even longer than necessary is just plain awful. Which bring me to my last point. I have not been tardy since the new parking rules. The traffic has been cut down tremendously, allowing me to get to my parking space very quickly. I no longer feel rushed or overwhelmed that i will be late, and that is a great way to start the day. As a result of reading the previous information, i urge you to please keep this rule enforced. I think the benefits you and the staff have recieved from knowing where each students car is just as great as the students starting off the morning going directly to their spot and getting to class on time! Thank you for your time and attention

Improving Quality to Improve Profits

Improving Quality to Improve Profits XXXXXXXX BUS 642: Business Research Methods & Tools Prof. Donna Wall September 10, 2012 ? Improving Quality to Improve Profit Public companies continuously experience pressure to increase profits for shareholders. One method of increasing profits is to reduce expenses. One expense Schlumberger management believes is totally within the company’s control is the first pass yield of their products. Specifically, Schlumberger management believed that raising the first pass yield of their product to at least 99% would result in at least a 1% increase in profit.As Fawcett & Calantone (2000) point out â€Å"quality’s relevance extends to its ability to reduce costs of defective work. Crosby estimated that the cost of quality are equivalent to 15 to 20 percent of sales revenue and argued that if quality were improved, total cost would inevitably fall, increasing firms profitability† (par. 22). As a result, Schlumberger management autho rized a study to validate their hypothesis and determine specific focus areas to place resources that will maximize the effort for achieving results.To start the validation, the research team decided to utilize the specific research process charted in Business Research Methods written by Cooper and Schindler. As Cooper and Schindler (2011) point out â€Å"good research generates dependable data that are derived by professionally conducted practices and that can be used reliably for decision making† (p. 12). Cooper and Schindler (2011) go on to state â€Å"good research follows the standard scientific method: systematic, empirically based procedures for generating replicable research† (p. 2). As a result, this particular study will follow the process of clearly define the purpose, provide process details, thoroughly plan the research design, provide high ethical standards, reveal any limitations honestly, provide adequate analysis for the decision makers, present findin gs unambiguously, justify the conclusions, and reflect the researcher’s experience. The first step in the overall process is to clearly defined purpose. To complete this step we need to answer the following questions.Question one is what is the management dilemma? Question two is what are the management questions? Question three is what are the research questions? And the forth question is what are the investigative questions? In this case, the management dilemma is how to increase profit margin. The management question is if we increase first pass yield to 99%, will profit margin increase by at least 1% given everything else stays equal? The research questions are what areas of the business should management allocate resources to improve first pass yield?The investigation questions are 1) what is the current first pass yield of our manufacturing facilities? 2) What is the first pass yield of each manufacturing facility? 3) What is the first pass yield of each product group? 4) What is the first pass yield of our incoming material from all suppliers? 5) What is the first pass yield of each active supplier? 6) What is the current profit margin? Next in the overall process is to create an operational definition for the study. In this particular study specific definitions are needed.For consistency, we will utilize the Association for Operations Management (or APICS) definitions for operating profit and first pass yield. APICS defines profit margin as â€Å"the difference between the sales and cost of goods sold for an organization. † According to APICS first pass yield is defined as â€Å"the ration of products that conform to specifications without rework or modification to total input. † This definition will be used in our manufacturing facilities as well as incoming material from our suppliers.Other terms that need to be defined for clarity include Schlumberger manufacturing assembly site facility, supplier, approved supplier list, and cu rrent active suppliers. Schlumberger manufacturing site will be defined as any manufacturing or assembly site Schlumberger owns. A supplier will be defined as any company delivering components, sub-assemblies, or final products that are not owned by Schlumberger. Approved supplier list will be defined as the list of suppliers approved by Schlumberger through the Quality Manufacturing and Safety (QMS) Audit and first article processes.Current active suppliers will be defined as any supplier that has supplied components, sub-assemblies or end products to Schlumberger within the last year. Part numbers will be considered active if Schlumberger has ordered or received a part number in the last year and has a forecast or purchase order placed for delivery within the next two years. Items that are considered out of scope for this study include software, services, facilities contractors, and transportation services. Any new products not released prior to the start of this study will also b e considered out of scope for this research.The primary method of gathering data will be to analyze and consolidate the raw information currently in the corporate databases. These databases include Approved Supplier List, eQuality, Incoming Inspection, Quest, and Finance. The research team does not plan to conduct any formal surveys at this time. The research team will consist of at least one person from each of the potential stakeholders. These stakeholders will include Finance, Quality, Supply Chain Management, Procurement, Manufacturing, and Information Technology (IT).Schlumberger has several databases with significant raw data in each. The team realizes that obtaining and consolidating this information in a usable form might require the help of IT resources and potentially delay the overall results of the study. The research team plans to obtain the following information from the data available in the databases. The team will begin gathering data closest to the end customer and move upstream in the process flow to analyze the major process points along the supply chain.As a result, the team will review the current overall first pass yield for all Schlumberger manufacturing sites, each individual manufacturing site, and each product line. In addition, the research team will analyze the first pass yield at incoming inspection from the suppliers. This information will be analyzed at a global level, by supplier, and by Schlumberger manufacturing site location. The team will also determine how many suppliers are in the approved supplier database and compare this number to the current active suppliers.Since Pareto Analysis is such an important data analysis tool, this research team plans to utilize this approach as the primary method of organizing the data. As Karuppusami & Gandhinathan (2006) point out a Pareto Analysis is a QC tool that ranks the data classifications in the descending order from the highest frequency of occurrences to the lowest frequency of occurrences. The total frequency is equated to 100 percent. The â€Å"vital few† items occupy a substantial amount (80 per cent) of cumulative percentage of occurrences and the â€Å"useful many† occupy only the remaining 20 per cent of occurrences† (par. 2). Utilizing Pareto Analysis will provide an easy way to determine where to focus resources for maximum benefit. Analyzing the resource allocation and budget needs to support this study reveals we need a core team of six people, a budget of $350,000, and four months to present the teams findings. At least one team member will represent the following functions in the company. These functions include Finance, Quality, Supply Chain Management, Procurement, Manufacturing, and IT. The Finance Vice-president will be the champion of the study.Other employees will be involved as needed to complete the research. The budget includes salaries of the team members for four months, researching internal databases, potentially developing IT scripts to extract needed data and potentially visiting manufacturing facilities and suppliers to validate data or obtain additional detailed information. As in any research project, handling the study with the highest ethics is extremely important. As Cooper and Schindler (2011) point out â€Å"the goal of ethics is to ensure that no one is harmed or suffers adverse consequences from research activity† (p. 2). Cooper and Schindler (2011) go on to state â€Å"unethical activities are pervasive and include violating nondisclosure agreements, breaking participant confidentiality, misrepresenting results, deceiving people, using invoicing irregularities, avoiding legal liability, and more† (p. 32). Although this research team does not plan to conduct ‘official† surveys, the team will conduct interviews with various participants to verify the data. In each case, the research team will disclose the nature of the study before engaging participants. Although Schlumberger has a strict no retaliation policy in the company, the final research report will not include the specific employee names of Schlumberger or suppliers employees. The primary focus of the study will be following and presenting the data related to product quality and increasing profits. The research team will honor all nondisclosure agreements and report the overall facts honestly. Consistent with company and standard research policy, the highest safety practices will be used throughout the study.Consistent with the research approach, the research team analyzed the data for the company owned manufacturing sites, first. This raw data revealed Schlumberger has a total of twenty-seven company owned manufacturing sites located in nine different countries. To review the first pass yield of these facilities, the research team reviewed a total of 4,376 quality records posted during 2012. The overall first pass yield for all twenty-seven facilities is 82 percent. The thr ee facilities with the lowest first pass yields are all located in the Houston area.The three product lines with the lowest first pass yield are Pressure and Sampling (59%), Seismic (67%), and Drilling (71%). Next, the tea m began to analyze the information regarding our supplier performance. Based on the raw data, Schlumberger has a total of 5,778 approved suppliers. Of these suppliers 63% (or 3640) are considered active suppliers by definition. Of these active suppliers, twenty suppliers account for 61% of the line items delivered to the twenty-seven facilities. Three specific suppliers have the lowest first pass yield. These three suppliers are Freeport (46%), Harrison (61%), and Tenaris (63%).Based on public financial records, the current profit margin is recorded as $0. 98 per share in Q1FY12 and $1. 02 per share in Q2FY12. This translates into $1. 303 billion in Q1FY12 and $1. 40 billion in Q2FY12. A one percent increase in profit would increase earnings by just over $13 milli on per quarter. To validate the first pass yield data, the research team visited four company owned manufacturing sites each in North America, Europe, and Asia. Two of the facilities visited in each region recorded the highest first pass yields in that region.Two of the facilities visited in each region recorded the worst first pass yields in that region. During these visits, the research team took a tour of each facility, conducted an audit of the quality records and interviewed key members of each manufacturing team including the Process Engineers, Quality Engineers, Incoming Inspection and Finished Goods Inventory Warehouse Managers. During the audit, the research team reviewed each facilities documented processes, actual processes utilized and the data recorded in the quality database.To the research team’s surprise, the methods utilized in each of the facilities were not consistent – either documented or in actual practice. The North American and European faciliti es utilized and practiced the definition of first pass yield consistent with the research team’s definition. However, the Asian manufacturing facilities did not record the actual first pass yield per our definition. Instead, if a product failed testing, the Asian facilities would retest the product. If the product passed testing during the second or even the third test and passed, they recorded a positive first pass quality yield.The finding of inconsistent data records in the Asian facilities weakened the confidence in the raw data analyzed previously. However, it did uncover an opportunity to strengthen the company’s overall processes. In summary, the raw data suggests Houston manufacturing facilities have the three low yields of the twenty-seven in total. However, these facilities might not be the lowest yields because the research team uncovered inconsistencies in the data collection definition and process between the Asian manufacturing facilities and the European or North American facilities.As a result, a further study is recommended of the Asian facilities to determine how significant the overall raw data is skewed by them utilizing a different process to collect and record first pass yield. At the same time resources should be placed in the Houston facilities to raise the first pass yield from the current low level to 99%. Since the data and process for collecting and recording the data for the supplier first pass yield is consistent, the research team is confident in the results achieved.It is the recommendation of the research team to focus resources on the three lowest yielding suppliers. These resources should conduct a more detailed analysis to uncover the Pareto Analysis of the top defects. Once the top three defects are determined, the root cause and appropriate corrective actions can be determined to raise the first pass yield to the appropriate levels. Reviewing the financial evidence suggests a 1% increase in profit is achievab le if the overall first pass yield of Schlumberger manufacturing facilities rises to 99%.To achieve this high yield levels quickly, the company will need a systematic and consistent approach across all facilities and suppliers. One such process to consider is implementing a combined Lean and Six Sigma continuous improvement approach in each manufacturing facility and with our suppliers. Since determining the cost of implementing Lean and Six Sigma process is out of scope for this research team, a further study would be needed to determine the cost of implementing significant process improvement verse the potential 1% benefit per quarter.Throughout this research the team worked well together. Having a process to follow made the overall activities much easier to accomplish in a systematic way. All members believed the success of this study was largely due to the planning at the beginning of the process. To keep the project on track, it was important to define exactly what activities w ere in the scope of the project and what was considered of of scope. When the team uncovered inconsistencies, in data collection or processes, we were able to document the information an continue progress toward the overall goal.Now that this study is complete the information will be recorded in our company Quest database for future reference. References APICS deifinitions First Pass Yield http://www. apics. org/dictionary/dictionary-information? ID=1543 Profit Margin http://www. apics. org/dictionary/dictionary-information? ID=3188 Cooper, D. R. and Schindler, P. S. (2011). Business research methods (11th ed. ). New York : McGraw-Hill Irwin Fawcett, S. E. , & Calantone, R. J. (2000).Meeting quality and cost imperatives in a global market. International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management, 30(6), 472-499. Retrieved from http://search. proquest. com/docview/232588532? accountid=32521 Karuppusami, G. , & Gandhinathan, R. (2006). Pareto analysis of critical success factors of total quality management. The TQM Magazine, 18(4), 372-385. doi: 10. 1108/09544780610671048. Retrieved from http://search. proquest. com/docview/227643251/fulltext/13911EA989455E63FDD/3? accountid=32521

Barry Hines

Barry Hines Essay Mr Sugden shouts at him for not having his kit, he doesnt understand that Billy and his family are poor and cant afford to buy his kit. From this Mr Sugden bounces a ball on Billys head Mr Sugden bounces the ball on Billys head This is all unnecessary but its the only way Mr Sugden can feel powerful which is a shame. I also believe that the reason he bullies the pupils is because hes insecure about himself and feels thats the only way he can feel good about himself. Mr Sugden treats Billy unfairly compared to the others Well get down then, before I come and make you red hot! And doesnt seem to listen to Billy or the others. Later on in the game a dog comes onto the pitch and Mr Sugden thinks that violence is the key to getting the dog off the pitch Go and fetch half a dozen cricket bats from the game store This shows that Mr Sugden doesnt have a high tolerance level and believes that that shouting and using violence will get him respect but it only creates a barrier between pupil and him as most children are too scared to disagree. I think thats why he treats Billy the way he does as he will answer Mr Sugden back but not in a cheeky manner You dont need cricket bats to do that, sir Mr sugden is very narrow minded and if some one has a different opinion to him then violence will change their mind. Mr Sugden is sarcastic towards Billy Whats the matter Casper are you scared of the ball Mr Sugdens need to humiliate Billy reminds me of Macdowell in the yard. Theres no real difference between the two. The main event that stuck in my mind was when Sugden made Billy take a cold shower because he missed saving a goal The cold water made Billy gasp he also had three boys to block the entrance so he couldnt escape Hey up, shift let me out, you rotten dogs! Mr Sugden took away any dignity that Billy may have had when he did this; the whole class was laughing at him. I believe that this scene would have made the audience want to go and grab Billy out of the shower and put Mr Sugden in it. The boys who are blocking the entrance begin to think they should let him out, however Mr Sugden disagrees Can we let him out now, sir? Hell get pneumonia I though the imagery of the shower scene was very dramatic and showed just how far Mr Sugden would go. This scene really moved me and I felt sorry for Billy in having to be put through that experience. The scene with the youth employment reminded me how much his mother didnt care for him or his future as there was a boy sitting next to him with his mother who was nagging him about his tie An straighten you tie. The boy wished his mother would stop nagging I wish youd stop nagging Whereas Billy would appreciate it if his mother gave the time to nag him because to Billy it would show him that his mother cared. The first thing the employment officer said to Billy was Well come in, lad, if your coming, I havent got all day. This doesnt set a good impression or any mutual respect between Billy and the officer. Billy expresses an interest in working in an office Id be all right working in an office, wouldnt I? Ive a job to read and write Then at the end of the meeting the officer hands him a leaflet to read which shows that he wasnt paying attention to Billy and didnt really care. Billys skills go unrecognised. Overall there were similarities between Billys home life and school life as they were both just as hard and he was mis-judged. However there was one main difference, which was someone, did care about Billy at school, Mr Farthering, who gave him time and attention. READ: Health EssayThis helped Billys confidence and gave him a friend to confide in. Billy discovers a new passion in life when he finds Kes, a kestrel hawk. Billy identifies with her silent strength and she inspires in him the trust and love that nothing else can. Kes is the only thing in life that makes him want to exist in this cruel society that he has been bought up in. He relies on Kes as his escapism to get away from the world. Kes has become a close friend of Billys, His only friend, he confides in him about school and home Hes allus after me allus has been. Like that day last summer when I fetched you, he was after me than When talking to Kes its like the build up of emotions has burst and he lets out what he is feeling freely. This is unusual for Billy has he finds it hard to express what hes feeling. Even though Billy doesnt receive any love or affection he still knows how to give it to others which shows that his mother and brother havent ruined his emotional status completely. The writer was very descriptive when writing about Kes and Billy to show the reader how immersed he is with her The hawk flapped her wings and fanned her tail, her claws still gripping the glove. Throughout the story Billy only seems happy when hes with his bird. Kes is his only enjoyment in life, his only luxury. It seems that when hes with Kes to him its like living in rich mans world for once. He feels safe and secure. In a sense I feel that the bird is seen as an image of Billys dad because when Billy found out that Kes was dead he had flashbacks of his dad. It infers that losing Kes was like the loss he felt when his dad was no longer around Where are you goin dad? The writer compares the loss of the bird and Billys dad in detail and uses flashbacks to show the reader the comparison between the two. The language Hines uses creates a more realistic image of Billy and his life. He uses slang shit to make it more personalised and to make the reader feel as though they are theyre with Billy through the story. Hines uses detail when writing about Billys more happily times like when he is with Kes and when he refers to his dad and the tall story. Hines uses a Yorkshire accent to make it more real tday, which helps create a more defined image of the characters. The whole novel is based on just one day in Billys life Hines does this by using flashbacks to show in depth what the characters are like so that the reader has a better understanding of what the characters personalities really like. Hines uses short sentence to create effect and emphasise the normality of Billys daily routine Billy left the shop. Therefore I conclude that living in poverty does have an effect on peoples attitudes and how they respond to others, the harshness of their lives portray in their behaviour to others. This book really shows how much teaching has changed, I believe for the better, since the 1960s. As in the school life we see in this book the teachers enjoy the power and humiliating the children, whereas nowadays most teachers aim in their career is to make a difference and to help as much as they can. I believe that Hines shows how harsh and cold life can be and can make us more fortunate people appreciate life more and not take food and peoples kindness for granted.

APA Style Writing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

APA Style Writing - Essay Example be revisited, for example, the approach could be implemented by having students in business schools chose to take business ethics or business history (Cuilla, 2011, p. 342). In Nigeria, as in many other developing countries of black Africa, the socio-economic climate is characterized by such negative features as perversion of the course of justice, profiteering, black-marketing and racketeering among industrialists and business persons; hoarding of essential commodities and remorseless inflation of prices by traders; the questionable and devious activities of multi-national corporations etc. (p. 478). In these spheres of our social life, unethical business deal is chronic and rampant, with very few exceptions. Often political appointments are not based on evident competence and merit. The vested interests of the appointing authorities account far more than other factors. According to Ochulor and Okpo (2010), our social life is greatly influenced by unethical business deals, for example, many political appointments have unethical influences since the interests of some people override ethical conduct. According to McGowan and McGowan (2011), â€Å"The history of free markets appears to support the view that Locke allowed unrestrained acquisition of property. Certainly in America, we observe free market advocates relying on Locke’s ideas to oppose intrusion into anyone’s fairly acquired property† (p.75) Locke appears to allow the possibility that if people do not consent to the inequality, that other arrangements might be made, regardless of any prior right to property as established in a state of nature. In other words, the amount of property a person has is limited by reason in a state of nature or by consent after government is formed. According to McGowan and McGowan (2011), the quantity of property owned by a person is determined either by natural forces or by regulatory factors like the government. This happens if people do not agree to unequal statuses

Emergency Management Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 3

Emergency Management - Assignment Example thor is trying to enhance our understanding of how the emergency management system works and how our agency fits into the network, which will help us to function effectively and apply our knowledge on emergency management. The author seeks to present an integrated emergency management system that we can adopt (FEMA, 2011). In doing so, the reading uses key concepts that include emergency, emergency management, hazard, and threat to support the author’s reasoning. The emergency concept refers to any incident, whether natural or manmade, that requires responsive action to protect life or property (FEMA, 2011). Indeed, an emergency entails a natural or artificial disaster that requires a collaborative response from the government agencies, individuals, and organizations using the available resources within the shortest possible with an aim of saving lives and protecting the destruction of property. The recent Ebola outbreak in West Africa is an example of an emergency concept. Indeed, the fact that the United Nations and Western African countries have called for a coordinated global approach towards containing the Ebola outbreak defines the emergency concept. The reading raised the questions listed below. The Ebola outbreak in West Africa is a current event that defines emergency management. CNN published the current event titled, â€Å"WHO: Ebola outbreak in West Africa an international health emergency† on Fri August 8, 2014 (Karimi & Gigova, 2014). The article states that global health experts like WHO declared Ebola outbreak in West Africa as an international health emergency that requires a coordinated global approach (Karimi & Gigova, 2014). The outbreak is affecting Nigeria, Liberia, Guinea, and Sierra Leone. The outbreak requires emergency management because of the eminent effects of the disease, the prevalence of the disease, and the inability of the affected nations to contain the outbreak. The outbreak has killed 961 people by August 8, 2014 and the

Managing IT-Enabled Change Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Managing IT-Enabled Change - Essay Example Again, no information directly relevant to practicing or leading to IT-enabled changes can be found in Kotter’s Model. It is guided in another previous research that organizational dynamics of IT-enabled changes must be understood by managers so that the challenging task of implementing advanced IT-enabled changes could be kept from failing (Manzoni and Angehrn, 1998, p. 110). As quoted by Iveroth (2010, p. 136), earlier research focuses more on strategic guidelines and research by Manzoni and Angehrn (1998) also does not address detailed elements of practice much. Still, it is not like previous research on IT-enabled change management could be called nonexistent as it actually recognizes that record for IT implementation has not remained very good. An example of this includes research by Benjamin and Levinson (1993) according to whom, â€Å"technology, business process, an organization must be adapted to each other for such change to be effective†. The researchers have retrieved the information from a total of 12 managers. The rationale behind interviewing only 12 managers is not clear. A better approach would have been to supplement the total number of interviewees with some reference from a research paper that justifies this number to represent the organization of Ericsson as a whole. Although the researchers have made a good effort in drawing information from a three-year case study of Ericsson, yet it is a relatively unusual case in that the evidence is quite specific to the case. It is hard to generalize the findings elsewhere given the technological expertise of Ericsson. Ericsson has been providing telecommunications equipment to the network operators all over the world for a long time, so their interaction with IT is probably much more than an average organization considering their nature of work.   

Qantitive Analisis for Managers Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Qantitive Analisis for Managers - Research Paper Example 1(B)-: We are told that it would be desirable to make at least 1.5% of the cost of the construction of the venue back in profit from the tickets Let's charge due to above condition = p Total Construction Cost Activity Predecessor Week Cost Initial Cost Weekly Total Cost A. Design and drawing of plans - 16.00 50 0 50 B. Approval of design by the local Council A 13.00 0 0 0 C. Removal of debris etc.from site - 19.00 2 12 230 D. Offite construction of foundations - 13 14 10 144 E. Delivery of materials and equipment to site C 4.00 27 6 51 F. Building the foundations and basic structure C,D 21.00 0 14 294 G. Completion of the building work B,E,F 11.00 0 12 132 H. Installation of wiring, plumbing and other essential works F 15.00 0 8 120 I. Painting and installation of furniture, seating, etc. G,H,J 11.00 0 6 66 J. Publication and approval of plans by IOC A 8.00 2 0 2 Total 1089 1.5 % of Total construction cost = 1.5 X 1089 /100 = 16.335 So, 16.335 = p x 500 - (3571.12 + (500 x 1.86)) Ticket Charge (p) = 9.03 2(A)-: Break even point according to Regression Method Break even Point = Fixed cost /( Unit Price - Variable Unit Price) = 3784.53 /( 9 - 1.71) = 519.14 Percentage to Capacity = (Break even point / Capacity) x 100 = (519.14 /12000) x 100 = 4.32 % 2 (B)-: We are told that it would be desirable to make at least 1.5% of the cost of the construction of the venue back in profit from the tickets Let's charge due to above condition = p Total Construction Cost Activity Predecessor Week Cost Initial Cost Weekly Total Cost A. Design and drawing of plans - 16.00 50 0 50 B. Approval of design by the local Council A 13.00 0 0 0 C. Removal of debris etc.from...highest and lowest level of activity to calculate the cost function. But its reliability is not very high due to considering of less sample data. However it is more consistent than visual fit and easy to use. The regression analysis is a statistical technique that uses all observations to determine the cost function. It provides a best fit estimation model. Reliability of model can be used to consider the usefulness of model. It can incorporate multiple independent variables. So, Regression analysis is more accurate because in this method the deviation in data points and cost line is minimized as much as possible. Also this method makes use of all data and has statistical properties that allow us to make predictions and draw inferences (Langfield, Thorne and Hilton). However it is more complex to use and requires more expertise to be used.

Bill Clinton and Racial Reconciliation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Bill Clinton and Racial Reconciliation - Essay Example Racial reconciliation demands sensitivity when being expounded because any loose definitions could lead people to supporting that which they feel closely relates to them. Yet it should be a unifying factor since it is a matter of humaneness rather than individual feelings. As human beings, we should seek to come together as one and respect each other regardless of color or any other divisive issues such as creed. However, emphasis must be placed on the fact that racial reconciliation primarily entails holding all persons responsible for the past injustices, accountable (Lawson 295). At the time of his campaign, Governor Bill Clinton came out boldly against race as a divisive issue and called upon Americans to embrace the diversity as a strengthening factor. Staying true to his word, when Clinton came into power he appointed more blacks and women than any other President in the history of America had. His idealism on racial reconciliation was founded on the fact that at the end of the day we are all human beings. That ought to be the connection we all ascribe to and not color. Racial reconciliation became more practical as President Clinton established a commission, aimed at convening dialogues at town halls to initiate further discourse into the issue of racism. He went on to enacting policies that saw employment opportunities for African Americans increase dramatically; besides that, he reinforced civil rights movements and appointed a significant number of African Americans and women into the judicial system. His dedication to this was visible until the end of his term where he was seen to make recommendations to health, education, civil rights efforts and overall social and economic evolution. In Elie Wiesel’s speech at the Millennium Lecture series in April 12 1999, he cited indifference as the greatest enemy to racial reconciliation as it is worse than anger and hatred, because it does not bring out any response. He applauded President Clintonâ€⠄¢s efforts in intervening the suffering of people in Kosovo in partnership with NATO. This had a huge impact on his plight to Americans that the human connection is greater than any racial and ethnic differences as nowadays more leaders and international organizations are embracing their roles as human beings to intervening in countries where crimes against humanity are rife. Such intervention efforts point at the occurrence of racial reconciliation (Wiesel). There are considerable instances of racial reconciliation in America, starting with President Clinton’s apology to African Americans for the Tuskegee Syphilis experiment in 1997. He also alluded to an apology to slavery and launched an initiative that sought to give practices necessary for racial reconciliation. This made racial injustices more acknowledgeable by other leaders as more apologies were offered. Evidence to this is an apology, in 1999 by President Mathieu Kerekou of Benin to African Americans for the countr y’s participation in the European slave trade. More recently, the Jacksonville Journey an initiative established in 2007 to reduce crime rates in the town often referred to as the ‘murder capital’ of Florida; where its activities include youth development programs that turn the young population away from gang activities. This has been a positive step towards racial reconciliation as it eliminates the stereotype of African Americans as inclined towards violent and criminal activities. Still in the same year, the

Organizational behavior Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Organizational behavior - Assignment Example Positive organizational culture helps to improve the relationship between the organization and the regulatory authorities. Organizations with a positive corporate culture are guaranteed of success in the long-run. This is because customers gain a lot of interest in the products of a company whose organizational culture is strong (Bratton et al 10). It is also necessary for organizations to have a positive culture since it creates a favorable work environment. As a result, the employees feel motivated to work and give their best while performing the assigned tasks. Organizations whose cultures are positive can have the tasks performed effectively and with a lot of efficiency. Moreover, organizational culture helps organizations to adapt to change with a lot of ease. Compared to organizations whose corporate culture is weak, firms with a positive culture can adapt to changes in technology, as well as advancements in the way business is conducted. Organizations with a strong culture have the ability to create unique brands and at the same time perform well financially (Schein

The Financial Side of Media Industries Transform Research Paper

The Financial Side of Media Industries Transform - Research Paper Example One can consider the audience as a commodity, similar to a ‘widget’, which is manufactured, traded, circulated and used. The perception of trading ‘eyeballs’ to the promotional team is not a new idea for any person within the business; even though, in its historical perspective, it is remarkable to notice how this case is prepared. However, the thought of unfolding the viewers’ effort is intriguing (Young, 1997, p. 32). During the earlier period, conservative reviewers of interactions concentrate on optimist theories, which concentrate on its consequence or function, however, seldom to content. Earlier political economists - neoclassic, Keynesian and Galbraith - mainly disregard the audience market. Even Marx was unable to deal with it although is accepted for significant explanations. He says marketing was not essential to mass communication before the end of World War 1. Nonetheless, the inclination started during the last part of the 19th century w ithin main metropolitan areas in North America. This issue is a ‘blind spot’ for prominent educationalists as well as philosophers, for instance, Gramsci, the Frankfurt School and some others. In view of the fact that audience control is created, traded, bought and used, it has a cost and it can be taken as a commodity. This is where the argument turns motivating as he states it entails effort â€Å"on the part of the audience† (Ang, 1991, p. 83). The effort is classified, not merely as some activity for which a particular salary is given, but it is an innovative, humanly unique act, where creating something implies some practical purpose is provided and the person’s nature is changed.

The New Testament Essay Example for Free

The New Testament Essay The Book of Matthew is the first book of the New Testament, traditionally attributed to Saint Matthew. The purpose of the book was to show that Jesus was the Jewish Messiah, or deliverer, but that his ministry was spiritual and not political. Most Biblical scholars believe that Matthew was derived from the Gospel of Mark and a now- lost book of the sayings of Jesus. The Introduction (1:1-4:16) gives the genealogy of Jesus and tells of his birth, infancy, and preparation. The second division (4: 17-16:28) includes the Sermon on the Mount and deals mainly with the public ministry of Jesus. The third division (17: 1-20:34) deals mainly with Jesus’ private ministry with his disciples and stresses the requirements of true discipleship. The fourth division (21: 1-25:46) tells of the entry into Jerusalem and the events of the last week of Jesus. The final division (26:1-28:20) tells of the last evening with the disciples, the Crucifixion of Jesus, and His Resurrection. Mark The Gospel of Mark is the second book of the New Testament. The book, shortest of the four Gospels, was probably written by Saint Mark himself. Most scholars believe it was the first Gospel to be written and was the basis for both Matthew and Luke. According to Papias, a second- century bishop, the author of Mark drew largely from the reminiscence of Peter, but it is now assumed that he used other sources as well, both written and oral. He probably wrote in Rome, about 67 A. D. Many scholars believe that Peter’s death, presumedly in 64 A. D. , motivated Mark to record what had been told by Peter. The Gospel of Mark was written in colloquial Greek, in a vigorous, dramatic style. It presents Jesus Christ as a man of action and power who performed miracle and other mighty deeds, a human being and yet the Son of God. Mark says nothing about the birth and boyhood of Jesus. The Gospel has three divisions. The first (1:1-8:26) begins with the preaching of John the Baptist and his Baptism of Jesus, reports many parables and miracles, and tells of conflicts with the religious leaders. The second section (8:27- 10:45) stresses the coming crucifixion. The third section (10: 46- 16:8) tells of the final week in Jerusalem and relates the story of the Crucifixion of Jesus and His Resurrection. Many scholars believe that the end of the Gospel (16: 9-20) was not a part of the original writing, since these verses are not found in some early manuscripts. Luke The Gospel of Luke is the third book of the New Testament. The Gospel of Luke is generally attributed to Saint Luke. This book, which has been called the most beautiful ever written, tells of the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. Luke records the famous birth story, which ends with the adoration of the shepherds. The Gospel according to Saint Luke presents the teachings of Jesus as a message of universal salvation for all men everywhere. Luke has a strong humanitarian emphasis and shows a deep sympathy for the poor and weak. The Gospel stresses the importance of prayer and the power of the Holy Spirit. Many scholars believe that the Gospel of Luke is derived from the Gospel of Mark and a lost source of the sayings of Jesus. John The Gospel of John is the fourth book of the New Testament. Traditionally this book I attributed to John the Apostle. As a gospel the books tells the â€Å"good news† of the teachings and life of Jesus Christ. The Gospel of John is more a spiritual book and less a biography than the other gospels. Its purpose is to promote belief and faith in Jesus. It emphasizes the divinity of Jesus and deals with many theological issues. According to tradition, the books was written about 90- 100 A. D. in Ephesus by John the Apostle. Acts The book of Act was written by Saint Luke. The date of the writing is uncertain, but most scholars favor the period 8-90 A. D. At the beginning of the book the author states his purpose and that is to explain to Theophilus, and to the world, how Christianity arose and began its sweep across the earth. By this time Christianity appeared to be on the way to becoming a world religion, and some account of its beginning was needed so that it might appeal to cultured and learned people. It talks about the Day of Pentecost, empowered by the Holy Spirit; the apostles take the Good News of Jesus Christ throughout the Mediterranean world. The title is misleading, for Acts is not a record of all the original disciples of Jesus. The book gives the early history of Christianity from Christ’s ascension outside Jerusalem to Paul’s visit in Rome. Chapters 1-12 stress the work of Peter in Judea and nearby lands, mainly among Jews. Chapters 13- 28 tell of the far- ranging missionary preaching of Paul, mainly to gentiles. Romans Epistle to the Romans is a letter of Saint Paul and a book of the New Testament. Romans, is the longest of Paul’s letters, has been called â€Å"the first great work of Christian theology. † Summarizing his doctrine in 1: 16-17, Paul wrote that the Gospel of Christ is the â€Å"power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth,† and â€Å"the just shall live by faith. † Men, he said, are justified by their belief in Jesus Christ. By believing in Him men find salvation, gain freedom from sin, and have a new life in the Holy Spirit. Paul wrote the letter to the Christian community in Rome about 58 A. D. He hoped to visit Rome, and apparently wrote the letter to prepare the way for his visit. Writing to a group composed of both Jews and Gentiles, Paul presented Christianity as a faith for all.

La Jument Lighthouse Essay Example for Free

La Jument Lighthouse Essay The name of this well known light house is La Jument. It is located in Brittany, France. The lighthouse is built on a rock about 300 meters from the coast of the island of Ushant in the middle of the ocean. Construction of this lighthouse began in 1904 but wasnt finished until 1911 due to the rough seas and weather conditions. The west coast of Northern France has always been known for its rough seas. This heavily trafficked sea line experiences severe weather during much of the year. This area has experienced many shipwrecks over the centuries. Including one accident, the wreck of the steam ship Drummond Castle in June, 1896, was responsible for the deaths of nearly 250 people. Between the years 1888 and 1904 thirty-one ships were wrecked there. The construction was paid for privately by a wealthy Frenchman who had almost lost his life in a shipwreck. La Jument first became famous through a series of pictures taken by Jean Guichard in 1989. To take these pictures Jean Guichard hired a helicopter to fly over the Iroise Sea during a very dangerous storm. The infamous pictures, also named La Jument, were taken on December 21,1989 of the lighthouse keeper Theodore Malgorn, who was trapped in the lighthouse during a dangerous storm with gale force winds and surge waves of 20-30 meters. The waves from this storm smashed through the windows of the lighthouse, tore the front door off, and flooded the inside of tower carrying all the furniture out with it. Theodore Malgorn was taking refuge in the lantern room awaiting a rescue helicopter when he went outside to see a helicopter hired to take pictures where he almost lost his life when a huge wave came crashing all around the lighthouse just barley escaping death saving his life in a matter of seconds. These series of pictures taken by Jean Guichard inspired many places to take the safety of lighthouse keepers more seriously. The improved technology and increased mechanization have now made lighthouse keepers unnecessary. Today in the U.S. all of our lighthouses are automated except for one in Boston, which was the first one built on our shores. Many lighthouses are no longer needed because of advancements in technology making traveling the coast more safe. Some lighthouses are now being turned over to the government or other organizations to keep them maintained for future generations to learn about their place in the history of our country.

Study on the Industrial Abandoned Lands

Study on the Industrial Abandoned Lands Industrial abandoned lands, ruins, eyesores, voids, derelict, urban deserts, dead zones, silent spaces, landscapes of contempt, and squats are just a few of the words that have been used to figure out the fragments of transformation within our urban spaces. They are terms that refer to spaces such as post-industrial landscapes, abandoned environments, and empty spaces in the peripheral parts of a city. Linked to the processes of decay, the terms also refer to the cultural entropy and social of our city spaces, their loss and ruin. By virtue of their neglect, ruinous state, and marginal place in the urban landscape, recent architectural and urban planning discourse has defined these spaces as contingent, interstitial, and spaces of indeterminacy. Throughout the second half of the twentieth century, many cities have witnessed the unused of significant industrial landscapes and their eventual abandonment. Urban societies, cultural and architectural history, these landscapes of indetermi nacy remain a part of the urban palimpsest. Using the metaphor of city as palimpsest and extending the notion of indeterminate spaces. It is explored the nature of contemporary city phenomena in relation to the transformation of abandoned urban spaces. Since the fall of the Nazis colonization, Oswiecim has struggled with using former factories. Under Communist force, the citys main employer, who a chemical worker, failed to develop continue with modern technology, and since 1989 over 10,000 work places have been lost at the plant. With seemingly no other choice to cultivating a grizzly tourist trade, Oswiecim is finding its past increasingly difficult to escape. In other words, Oswiecim is urban decay city falls into irrecoverable and aged, with falling population or changing population, economic restructuring, abandoned buildings, high local unemployment, separated families, and inhospitable city landscape where whole city area as fragments which is contained city memories and space qualities. trauma and discontinuity are fundamental for memory and history, ruins have come to be necessary for linking creativity to the experience of loss at the individual and collective level. Ruins operate as powerful metaphors for absence or rejection, and hence, as incentives for reflection or restoration.[3] Decay Industrial ruins are an intersection of the visible and the invisible, for the people who managed them, worked in them, and inhabited them are not there. And yet their absence manifests itself as a presence through the shreds and silent things that remain, in the objects we half recognize or surround with imaginings. In ruins we can identify that which appeared to be not there, a host of signs and traces which let us know that a haunting is taking place. The ghosts of ruins do not creep out of shady places unannounced, as they do in highly regulated urban spaces, but are abundant in the signs which haunt the present in such a way as to suddenly animate the past. Rather than being exorcised through redevelopment, these ghosts are able to haunt us because they are part of an unfinished disposal of spaces and matter, identified as rubbish but not yet cleared. Such things suddenly become animated, when the over and done with comes alive the things you partly recognize or have heard about provoke familiar feelings, an imaginative and empathetic recouping of the characters, forms of communication, and activities of factory space. In these haunted peripheries, ghosts rarely provoke memories of the epochal and the iconic but recollect the mundane passage of everyday factory life. The past isnt dead. It isnt even past.[4] The decay resides at the conceptual intersection of the individual parts of the analogy that zone created by the superimposition and superposition of essentially translucent entities. The active light of interpretation shines through these layers, as it were, illuminating significant shapes and figures. Meaning actively happens here; it is constructed as images overlap each other, aligning themselves momentarily, and then shifting slightly, encouraging reevaluation and reinterpretation. As a layered figure of depth in architecture, complexity occurs in both plan and section. As a site, the zone of meaning in the analogical system is often ambiguous. Yet, also as a site, this area has boundaries or, rather, a set largely unquantifiable of all available meanings, which is different than a boundless field of all-inclusiveness or unregulated interpretations. Trace and Time Layers with Derridas Theory The resonance of a knock on a door uncovers its density. The tactile of a wall describes its materiality. The texture of a floor may invite us to sit or lay down. The smoothness of a handrail comforts our ascent. Human skin is a powerful material that enables us to perceive and understand our surroundings. Skin is highly expressive; based on its color, texture, wear and plasticity we can read it, gathering information concerning culture, ethnic background, age, abuse, health and the tasks it performs on specific body parts. Skin itself reads as it is readable. Our skin can gather data through tactile perception and read our spatial surroundings. Architecture is an expressive act and the only discipline that stimulates all of our senses. An architect designs spaces that foresee and celebrate the bodily interaction of the inhabitant. According to Derrida, phenomenology is metaphysics of presence because it unwittingly relies upon the notion of an indivisible self-presence, or in the case of Husserl, the possibility of an exact internal adequacy with oneself. In various texts, Derrida contests this valorisation of an undivided subjectivity, as well as the primacy that such a position accords to the now, or to some other kind of temporal immediacy. For instance, in Speech and Phenomena, Derrida argues that if a now moment is conceived of as exhausting itself in that experience, it could not actually be experienced, for there would be nothing to juxtapose itself against in order to illuminate that very now. Instead, Derrida wants to reveal that every so-called present, or now point, is always already compromised by a trace, or a residue of a previous experience, that precludes us ever being in a self-contained now moment. Memory Whenever I distrust my memory, writes Freud in a note of 1925. I can resort to pen and paper. Pater then becomes an external part of my memory and retains something which I would otherwise carry about with me invisibly. When I write on a sheet of paper, I am sure that I have an enduring remembrance, safe from the possible distortions to which it might have been subjected in my actual memory. The disadvantage is that I cannot undo my note when it is no longer needed and that the page becomes full. The writing surface is used up. Memory-autobiographical and collective, each integral to the other-exists as the foundation upon which meaning is built. Memory affords our connection to the world. Every aspect of experience becomes enveloped in the process of memory. It forms our identity as individuals and it coheres individuals together to form the identity of social groups. Memory is also the thread which links the lived-in now with the past and the future: what I remember of my past cont ributes to who I am now (at this very moment) and in many ways affects what I will do in the future. Without memory, meaning building cannot happen.[5] Memory of architecture, therefore, seems to depend more on our ability to perceive the embodied situation. Moreover those situations are subject to particular catalytic moments in time-those instances in which the energies of both the container and the contained become virtually indistinguishable. The timing of those moments is uneven, poetic, and anisotropic. It would be impossible for the constituent elements of a place memory to sustain a constant equilibrium or frequency of resonance in time. It needs to be emphasised that remembering is a thoroughly social and political process, a realm of contestation and controversy. The past is constantly selected, filtered and restructured in terms set by the questions and necessities of the present. Memories are selected and interpreted on the basis of culturally located knowledge and this is further constituted and stabilised within a network of social relationships, consolidated in the `common sense of the everyday. Although practices of inscribing memory on space are enormously varied, there are undoubtedly tendencies to fix authoritative meanings about the past through an ensemble of practices and technologies which centre upon the production of specific spaces, here identified as monumental `memory-scapes, heritage districts, and museums. It is within the contingent spaces of the city where ephemeral gestures resonate, drawing our attention to the residue of the past, enticing us to rediscover their temporal value. And for me at least, ruins, like palimpsests, are traces by which we discover our urban history, and the soul of a space. As all historical narratives are subjectively woven Tapestries of pieced historical facts and events, new Histories often reveal striking discrepancies in the linear conventions of previously inscribed histories. The intention here is to piece together discrepant theoretical notions, to produce an archaeological investigation, which is consistent with the theoretical and ideological approach of Aldo Rossi. The most evocative works of Aldo Rossi are exemplary of the process of building meaning as we engage memory in our everyday experiences, thinking analogically and understanding the world tacitly by doing and making. Whether stated explicitly or not, Rossi must have sensed the necessity to temper his early polemics about a theory of design with a commitment to architecture of intense poetry, of non-quantifiable artistry, and an architecture conscious of its autobiographical significance. Underlying the rationalist tendencies of Rossis theoretical ork is a deeply felt reverence for the power of memory, both his own as well as the collective memory of a particular culture or society that is embodied in key architectural types. And the force of memory permeates his entire oeuvre to such an extent that it is almost pathological, or cultish, or verging on nostalgia, to say the least. For Rossi, the process of memory analogically suggests the evolution and morphology of the physical form of the city; and a formal language based on a typology of architecture; and, as a matter of necessity, the repetitive, obsessive, and dynamic nature of his own creative practice. However, Rossis poetic was not as self-absorbed as it may seem-or, at least, it was not ultimately meant to turn in on itself in the creation of a restrictive, self-indulgent reverie. He expected his obsession with memory to translate into his buildings in such a way that it would invigorate architecture with a new liberty, a freedom of experience and meaning similar to so many of those buildings he had discovered and cited in his early treatise, The Architecture of the City: the Palazzo della Ragione in Padua, the Roman amphitheater-turned-market square in Lucca, the tiny fishing huts along the Po River valley-buildings that, while displaying characteristics of specific types, transcended the program of those types by accommodating changing activities and uses. By analogically relating the transposition of a rchitectural types with the process of memory, Rossi was privileging meaning building with his architecture as an integral part of the built environment, especially as it governed the evolution of cities. It is how Rossi engaged the profound memories of his past. It is how he anticipated people would live with and within his buildings, seeing in those forms their own memories of an architectural past, encouraging them to reactivate those connections, those relationships in his buildings. The emergence of relations among things, more than the things themselves, always gives rise to new meanings, wrote Rossi. Perhaps, like this: Confront the built form-it reminds you of other buildings and other experiences you have had before-this new building feels familiar and established in your understanding of the given-yet, you experience this building as something different, its meaning has changed from what you thought it should be because of the change in how you use the architecture-the given is expanded, enriched with new meaning meaning building. It is how Rossi practiced architecture-by working analogically from drawings to buildings to writings, discovering relationships, exploring the sp ace where meaning happens, in between those things which can be explicitly articulated, patently expressed. Sampling to make music, people need sounds and when people cant make them yourself you find them somewhere else: in appearance there is nothing more simple.The sampler is an electronic memory that is virtually infinite, which enables sounds to be stored, from a single note to a symphony. This fund constitutes a sort of personal library, where works are reduced to an anthology of chosen pieces drawn flora the vast reservoir of musical culture. The work ceases to function as a closed opus or a melody and becomes a sum of harmonies and pre existing sounds. The sampler is thus the centre of sound memory, a centre where all metamorphoses are possible. It is an abstract place where all the sounds of the world are classified and subjected to changes. This tool simplifies the work of the DJ, who then needs only to physically manipulate the vinyl records in order to modify sounds, slowing them down, warping them or passing them into a loop. These manipulations are necessary to the construction of a du rable rhythm by the mixing of short breaks. The re-appropriation of knowledge has always been pre sent in human activity, in different forms, but the advent of the sampler has upset the pre existing metaphysical relationship between creation and memory. Indeed, by faithfully retrieving recorded pieces ready to be recombined, the memory no longer works as a catalyst. The combined effect of the dormant memory/recall binomial implements internal re-composition, a metabolism that plays on memory by default. But the sampler, on the contrary, pushes the process of fabrication to the surface, turning it into a conscious act, like collage, thus relating it to an aesthetic of superposition, medley and fusion. References Leatherbarrow. D, Mostafavi. M, Surface Architecture Skin+Bones ; Parallel Practieces in Fashion and Architecture, Thames Hudson, London, 2007 McLuhan. M, Understanding Media; The Extensions of Man, 2002 Bru E, New Territories New Landscapes, ACTAR, 1997 Herausgeber, Atlas of Shrinking Cities, HATJE CANTZ, 2004 Juhani. P, The eyes of the skin; architecture and the senses, London:Academy Editions,1996 Morphosis, Architecture and Urbanism, A+U, 1994 This quote was taken from Walter Benjamins Paris: Capital of the Nineteenth Century, cited in Sexuality and Space, ed. Beatrize Colomina (New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 1992) 74. Matthew Goulash, 39 Micro Lectures in Proximity of Performance (London and New York: Routledge, 2000) 190. Salvator Settis, forward, Irresistable Decay: Ruins Reclaimed, by Michael S. Roth (Los Angeles, CA: The Getty Research Institute for the History of Art and the Humanities, 1997) vii. William Faulkner making meaning out of the memory of architecture

Essay --

1/9/14 Henry Graham Greene was an influential 20th century author who was able to combine serious literary recognition with present day popularity whose collections impact the modern world today. Greene is notorious for religious studies and involved in making changes to the literary world, enabling readers to further explore theological concerns. Leaving an imprint on literature, many study his works and still celebrate his legacy all over the world. Rebelling against his own beliefs and suffering with bipolar disorder , many aspects of Greene’s life remain unrecognized which encourages many to study his impact on the present day. Native to Berkhamsted, England, Greene was born October 2, 1904 to parents Charles and Marion Raymond Greene, who were first cousins. Greene grew up in the St. John’s House, a boarding school where his father was the housemaster. Accustomed to a large family, Greene spent his childhood summers with his uncle at the Harston House, another boarding school, where he learned to read. As a boarder at the St. John’s House, Greene was bullied and spent years in depression with several attempts of suicide. At the age of 16, Greene was sent for psychotherapy in London, later returning to his former home to continue as a day student. Beginning his first year at Oxford University, Greene became a member of the Communist party. Although leaving this party quickly, Greene wrote profiles on Ho Chi Minh and Fidel Castro to relay his studies (Coleman 529). A rough period in his life encouraged Greene to seek religious outlets that influenced his works as did his political affiliations. In 1926, greene converted from Anglicanism to Roman Catholicism. The reasoning for this transformation was to seek cure to the sufferin... ...ligion and social ideologies. Recently, a documentary further exploring Greene’s early life and career was released drawing attention to his change to writing. Greene’s novels, poems, and plays are still being produced into films and performed in theaters across the globe. Each year, Graham Greene is recognized at the Graham Greene International Festival held in Berkhamsted on his birthday, October 2, to further promote his studies and gather fans to discuss. Modest about his literature and a confusing character to understand, Greene left the impression among many that his career was merely a sign from his youth to express what he knew, and what he could explore and discuss with others: â€Å"My two fingers on a typewriter have never connected with my brain. My hand on a pen does. A fountain pen, of course. Ball-point pens are only good for filling out forms on a plane.†

Memory, Aging, and the I-function Essay -- Biology Essays Research Pap

Memory, Aging, and the I-function Folk wisdom has long noted that as individuals age, they experience decline in memory performance such that many accept cognitive decline and even "senility" as normal affects of aging, along with graying hair and wrinkled skin. The effects of time on the brain in humans is more complex than simple gradual decay until one shuffles off the mortal coil, as it were. The implications of memory loss, and cases in which cognitive function does not decline, has implications for our understanding of how memory works in general, the treatment of debilitating diseases such as Alzheimer's Disease, and for the role of the "I-function" in learning and recollection. Memory, in general, can be broken down into different forms, being divided according to the functions it serves and the duration for which it holds. Neurobiologically, to qualify as a "memory," an input must both "cause enduring changes in the nervous system, and be affected by emotional and motivational 'sets'" (1).What is meant in that description is that a memory has to have some root in the brain, must induce some change so that the nervous system undergoes some physical change in addition to the ontological change brought about by being in the class of things affected by the input, and must, in turn, affect other forms of behavior. No memories are ever neutral from a behavioral standpoint. The main functional division among memories is between so-called ""declarative" and "procedural" memories. The former consists of what are termed "episodic" or "semantic" memories. Declarative memories are formed by events, and are brought back in specific contexts and with distinct meanings. "Procedural Memories," on the other hand, include cla... ...rapha.htm 11) Atrophy of CA1 hippocampal synapses in aging adults , http://www.centraal.nl/ 12) Geary, James. "Should we just say no to smart drugs?" Time 5 May 1997., http://www.time.com/time/magazine/1997/int/970505/science.should_we_jus.html 13) Bachman, Laura. "Aging and Intellectual perfromance among educated older adults , http://callisto.gcsu.edu/JNBS/article1-2.html 14)This paper reflects the research and thoughts of a student at the time the paper was written for a course at Bryn Mawr College. Like other materials on Serendip, it is not intended to be "authoritative" but rather to help others further develop their own explorations. Web links were active as of the time the paper was posted but are not updated. Contribute Thoughts | Search Serendip for Other Papers | Serendip Home Page http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/cgi-bin/comments

Abraham Lincoln Essay -- Biography Biographies Bio essays papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Four score and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth upon this continent a new nation: conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. (Lincoln) Abraham Lincoln was a true American hero. He brought this country through a time of succession and rebellion, through his thoughtful planning, tyranny like leadership, and amiable individuality. He, with a half a nation of armed forces, liberated the slaves and united a nation. Abraham Lincoln was born on February 12, 1809, in a log cabin on a farm in Hardin county, Kentucky. He was the son of Thomas and Nancy Hanks Lincoln, and was named after his grandfather (Lincoln). Thomas Lincoln was a carpenter and farmer. Both of Abraham's parents were members of a Baptist congregation, which had separated from another church due to the disagreement of slavery. (needy pg 121) He as a young child spent a lot of the day doing one of two things; reading books, or doing household tasks. In 1816, when Abraham was 7, he moved with his family to Indiana. There his mother died in 1818 of a milk sickness, a disease obtained from drinking the milk of cows, which had grazed on poisonous white snakeroot. This devastated Abe "God bless my mother. All that I am and ever hope to be, I owe to her." (Lincoln) When he was 15 years old he often worked as a hired hand on other farms. While he plowed or split fence rails, he usually had book tucked in his shirt to read while on his lunch breaks. Once a farmer loaned him The Life of George Washington, by Parson Weems, and Abe accidentally left it in the rain. To pay for the damage, Abe shucked corn for him for three days. Throughout his life Abraham Lincoln made every effort to do be fair, hence he came to be know as "Honest Abe". This fairness that he learned in his child hood would stay with him the rest of his life. Using his skill as a speaker and Ethics on slavery Abraham and his running mate Hannibal Hamlin ran for the presidential seat for the Republican Party in 1860. They set out on a long campaign, of mostly northern states, sometimes they were the only ones traveling. They spoke many places such as Illinois, Missouri and many others. This devoted work paid off as Lincoln was appointed the 16th president of the United States of America November 6, 1860. (Norton) After the election was over the president and his wife moved to... ...ves in states like Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and others, to break away from the slave owners and rebel. It also let the union troops have a reason to fight, they from that point on fought for freedom and to help the slaves in the slave states. The act also let black soldiers fight for the union side in the war. As perversely they were not aloud to do so. Although, the emancipation Proclamation was limited, it only applied to the slave states excluding the 4 slave union states. This was a try for Lincoln to help keep the 4 union slave states within the union. If they would have lost them the war would have turned out differently, the south might have won. Also, the emancipation proclamation didn't actually free anyone, as the south was not going to obey any of the union rules that they appointed. They would have to win the war to get the confederate sates to follow, by that point the law could just be changed to abolish slavery outright. Abraham Lincoln was the 16th president of the United States of America. He Was said to Free the slaves he was a great American hero to us all. Not only was he the greatest president to ever live but he was a man that united a broken country Abraham Lincoln Essay -- Biography Biographies Bio essays papers   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Four score and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth upon this continent a new nation: conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. (Lincoln) Abraham Lincoln was a true American hero. He brought this country through a time of succession and rebellion, through his thoughtful planning, tyranny like leadership, and amiable individuality. He, with a half a nation of armed forces, liberated the slaves and united a nation. Abraham Lincoln was born on February 12, 1809, in a log cabin on a farm in Hardin county, Kentucky. He was the son of Thomas and Nancy Hanks Lincoln, and was named after his grandfather (Lincoln). Thomas Lincoln was a carpenter and farmer. Both of Abraham's parents were members of a Baptist congregation, which had separated from another church due to the disagreement of slavery. (needy pg 121) He as a young child spent a lot of the day doing one of two things; reading books, or doing household tasks. In 1816, when Abraham was 7, he moved with his family to Indiana. There his mother died in 1818 of a milk sickness, a disease obtained from drinking the milk of cows, which had grazed on poisonous white snakeroot. This devastated Abe "God bless my mother. All that I am and ever hope to be, I owe to her." (Lincoln) When he was 15 years old he often worked as a hired hand on other farms. While he plowed or split fence rails, he usually had book tucked in his shirt to read while on his lunch breaks. Once a farmer loaned him The Life of George Washington, by Parson Weems, and Abe accidentally left it in the rain. To pay for the damage, Abe shucked corn for him for three days. Throughout his life Abraham Lincoln made every effort to do be fair, hence he came to be know as "Honest Abe". This fairness that he learned in his child hood would stay with him the rest of his life. Using his skill as a speaker and Ethics on slavery Abraham and his running mate Hannibal Hamlin ran for the presidential seat for the Republican Party in 1860. They set out on a long campaign, of mostly northern states, sometimes they were the only ones traveling. They spoke many places such as Illinois, Missouri and many others. This devoted work paid off as Lincoln was appointed the 16th president of the United States of America November 6, 1860. (Norton) After the election was over the president and his wife moved to... ...ves in states like Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and others, to break away from the slave owners and rebel. It also let the union troops have a reason to fight, they from that point on fought for freedom and to help the slaves in the slave states. The act also let black soldiers fight for the union side in the war. As perversely they were not aloud to do so. Although, the emancipation Proclamation was limited, it only applied to the slave states excluding the 4 slave union states. This was a try for Lincoln to help keep the 4 union slave states within the union. If they would have lost them the war would have turned out differently, the south might have won. Also, the emancipation proclamation didn't actually free anyone, as the south was not going to obey any of the union rules that they appointed. They would have to win the war to get the confederate sates to follow, by that point the law could just be changed to abolish slavery outright. Abraham Lincoln was the 16th president of the United States of America. He Was said to Free the slaves he was a great American hero to us all. Not only was he the greatest president to ever live but he was a man that united a broken country

Elizabeth Bishop’s “The Hanging of the Mouse” Reaction Paper

Elizabeth Bishop’s â€Å"The Hanging of the Mouse†, places animals in the roles of humans in reference to an execution. The writer uses animals to replace humans to possibly convey a message or point of view towards the death penalty. In the story, the mouse is being executed for what we believe is some sort of crime. It isn’t clear whether or not the mouse actually committed a crime, but we are led to believe that an act occurred in which caused the mouse to be executed on this particular day. The writer doesn’t convey their opinion on capital punishment or the death penalty. As the story plays out, all the writer is doing is telling a story of a mouse and incorporating all these different animals. Every animal has a different role. And each role is specific to want happens in a hanging. â€Å"A raccoon, wearing the traditional black mask, was the executioner†¦. A large praying mantis was in charge of the religious end of the ceremonies. † (Barnet, Cain, & Burto, 2010, p. 1309) Is the writer trying to tell the reader something? It isn’t clear, but the writer does convey the hardship of watching such a thing occur. Most of the animals have a difficult time watching the hanging. â€Å"It was all so touching that a cat, who had brought her child in her mouth, shed several large tears. They rolled down on to the child’s back and he began to squirm and shriek, so that the mother thought that the sight of the hanging had perhaps been too much for him,† (Barnet, Cain, & Burto, 2010, p. 1310). Stereotypically mice fall prey to cats, and in this case, the cat feels remorse, sadness for what happens to the mouse. This theory can lead to a thought that not everyone who believes in capital punishment can withstand to watch the punishment be carried out. Reading through the story, the writer doesn’t have a specific reader in mind. This story can easily be read by a vast majority of different people and each one may have a different take on its meaning. Small children wouldn’t benefit from a story like this, because questions would arise as to why the mouse is being punished? Young adults and adults would find the story an interesting read. Each, again, may grasp a different meaning or have a different feeling towards the story, only because of the different backgrounds may be involved. â€Å"The Hanging of the Mouse† brought to light a few questions on my feelings on capital punishment and the death penalty. Questions like â€Å"Do I believe in capital punishment? †, â€Å"Do I believe in the death penalty? † and â€Å"Can I withstand to watch someone die in front of my eyes? † crossed my mind as a read through the story. The death penalty should be carried out depending on the crime committed, and I don’t believe that I am one to watch the punishment to be carried out. I would be that cat feeling remorse and sadness for what was happening in front of me. The last line in the story, â€Å"but an excellent moral lesson, nevertheless. † (Barnet, Cain, & Burto, 2010, p. 1310) sticks out the most from the entire story. Having the belief that the death penalty should be carried out, but not being able to watch such an event†¦should children and teens be subject to such things? For sure this would teach them a lesson on what happens when extremely bad crimes are committed, but is that a lesson that should be taught in that way? Elizabeth Bishop’s very short story brought up more questions than answers. It’s refreshing to read something that may have a clear message, e. g. the agreement of having the death penalty, but it could mean so much more. Questions arose to the feelings of victims watching the execution and children being taught a â€Å"valuable† lesson. There isn’t a clear answer and I don’t believe that was the intention of the writer. Overall the intention was to have thoughts, to have conversations about the underlying topic.

Myths: Education and Family

Interpreting and understanding myths depend on an individual’s personal views, beliefs, and ideas. With that in mind, the myth regarding the nuclear family and the myth of education and empowerment are all interpreted differently and argued, for and against, in many ways. Both have been perceived negatively by society, yet they have not always been a harmful folktale. Rather, the myth that education can improve someone’s life has been used, year after year, to motivate the youth in order to improve their own personal lifestyle.The myth of the nuclear family has also been used over and over again by the media as a prospective goal for everyone who wants to start a family. Although the passing of time has changed the perception of both myths throughout our society, to many, including myself, these myths continue to provide hope for a better life and a traditional family. Imposing the myth of the ideal family, which the media depicts as white, semi-rich and happy with â₠¬Å"†¦no rifts†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Soto 29) is what negatively impacts society because no one should set a standard on what a family should be like.As a result of this misconception, the ideal family has become the ultimate goal for couples who want the best for their children. Take Gary Soto’s â€Å"Looking for Work,† and picture an eight year old Mexican-American boy, who felt the need to change his family because he wanted them to act like the white families portrayed in television shows, like Leave it to Beaver. Why do these individuals have the need to create â€Å"the perfect family† portrayed by the media?According to Soto, as a child, he â€Å"†¦tried to convince [his family] that if [they] improved the way [they] looked [they] might get along better in life†¦ White people would like [them] more†¦ [White people] might not hate [them] so much† (30). Although the myth of the family has been attributed negative qualities because it crea tes a false sense of reality, it has, for many years, been the underlying reason why couples start a family of their own.For instance, if a couple could not decide on the number of children, they could turn to the myth and consider starting with two because the myth implies that an ideal family consists of â€Å"†¦Dad, Mom, a couple of kids, maybe a dog, [living in] a spacious suburban home†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Colombo et al. 18). Even though society has accepted the meaning of family to be between a man and a woman, moreover, it is evident that in the America of today there are families composed of same-sex couples. The myth however, was not created to incorporate same-sex couples as part of the efinition, as it is explicitly described in page 18 of â€Å"Harmony at Home:† †¦the traditional vision of the ideal nuclear family-Dad, Mom†¦remains surprisingly strong. †This myth has become so ingrained in society that even after the idea of the nuclear family stil l receives extensive support. Even the famous archaeologist, Margaret Mead, commented on the belief of the ideal nuclear family â€Å"As far back as our knowledge takes us, human beings have lived in families. We know of no period where this was not so.We know of no people who have succeeded for long in dissolving the family or displacing it†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (New World Encyclopedia). Similar to the myth of the nuclear family, the myth of education and empowerment introduces two different sides of the spectrum- the idea that education is not for everyone, as seen by John Taylor Gatto in â€Å"Against School,† and the idea that education does improve someone’s life, as seen by Malcolm X in â€Å"Learning to Read. † The literal interpretation of the myth shows education as a symbol of success and as the gateway to fulfill the American dream (Colombo et al. 11). Education, moreover, has not always been perceived negatively by society because to many people education r epresents social mobility and a shot for a better life. While there may be some frustration with the educational system, education, according to the myth, will always serve those who seek to better their lives and who want to be someone in life, as long they are not limited to the quality of education offered. However, the reality is that minorities have continuously faced obstacles that impeded them from receiving a high-quality education.For instance, if an individual comes from an affluent household, then as students they are more likely to receive a better educational foundation than an individual who goes to a lower or middle class school (Anyon 173). As a result of Jean Anyon’s findings, it is evident that social class plays a prominent role to the type of education that a student receives especially if â€Å"knowledge of skills leading to social power and regard (medical, legal, managerial) are made available to the advantaged social groups but are withheld from worki ng classes, to whom a more practical curriculum is offered (manual skills, clerical knowledge)† (170).But what if we, as a society, had followed what President John F. Kennedy mentioned in his 1960 senatorial speech that â€Å"†¦ we [need] to rededicate ourselves to the principle of equal educational opportunity for all regardless of race, place of birth, or wealth. † Our society would be improved greatly, and the educational knowledge would be dispersed equally amongst all of the citizens; no one would be given a better education because everyone would receive the same quality.The significance that the education and empowerment myth has in society is that one: people who believe in education are more likely to finish their schooling because it symbolizes an achievement and because it emphasizes the credibility of what the United States represents-freedom, happiness, and success. Secondly, if an individual like Gatto believes that education is a waste of time (148) , then people will become discouraged and therefore there is a higher probability that these individuals will â€Å"fail† to fulfill the American Dream.The reason I am generalizing this concept and associating failure with not finishing high school or college, is because of the way that I grew up and the sacrifices that my parents had to endure in order for all their children to have the best education possible; to my parents, not finishing school is like giving up in life, and throwing all their sacrifices down the trash chute.Lastly, the belief that education brings you power and offers you an open door for a better life, has impacted society, because as the country progressed into the new era way before the revolutions that this country had to endure, such as the Civil Rights Movement and women’s suffrage, education was not opened to everyone. As time went by and people fought for their liberties, education became a universal liberty, rather than a right given to se lected individuals. All in all, the myth of the nuclear family and the myth of education and empowerment have not always been interpreted as negative ideas by society.They may have been by a few people, but the feeling was not mutually shared by everyone. Both myths served as motivational ideas that influenced people like Gary Soto and Malcolm X, to have the desire to try new things, even if what Soto wanted to try could have change his family completely; and the things Malcolm X wanted to experience, improved his capacity to learn and educate himself. Although, the myth of the nuclear family has not changed because it has not accepted same-sex couples, the myth of education and empowerment has changed with respect to who it is being applied to.In other words, the interpretation of the myth will vary with people from different backgrounds. For instance, to a Mexican like me, education is a gateway to a better life. To a Chinese person, education represents honor and recognition from his or her family. Lastly, the myths of education and the nuclear family gives us, the citizens of the United States, hope for a better life or a perfect family, depending on one’s respective point of view. Works Cited Anyon, Jean. â€Å"Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum of Work. 1980. Rereading America: Cultural Contexts for Critical Thinking and Writing. By Gary Colombo, Robert Cullen, and Bonnie Lisle. Vol. 162. Boston: Bedford of St. Martin's, 2010. 169-85. Print. First appeared in the Journal of Education. Colombo, Gary, Robert Cullen, and Bonnie Lisle. â€Å"Harmony at Home: The Myth of the Model Family. † Introduction. Rereading America: Cultural Contexts for Critical Thinking and Writing. Boston: Bedford of St. Martin's, 2010. 17-21. Print. Colombo, Gary, Robert Cullen, and Bonnie Lisle. Learning Power: The Myth of Education and Empowerment. † Introduction. Rereading America: Cultural Contexts for Critical Thinking and Writing. Boston: Bedford of S t. Martin's, 2010. 109-15. Print. Colombo, Gary, Robert Cullen, and Bonnie Lisle. Rereading America: Cultural Contexts for Critical Thinking and Writing. Boston: Bedford of St. Martin's, 2010. Print. Gatto, John Taylor. Against School. 2003. Rereading America: Cultural Contexts for Critical Thinking and Writing. By Gary Colombo, Robert Cullen, and Bonnie Lisle.Boston: Bedford of St. Martin's, 2010. 148-55. Print. This selection originally appeared in Harper's magazine. John F. Kennedy:  Ã¢â‚¬Å"Speech by Senator John F. Kennedy, Beverly Hilton Hotel, Los Angeles, CA – (Advance Release Text),† November 2, 1960. Web. 22 Oct 2012. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley,  The American Presidency Project. http://www. presidency. ucsb. edu/ws/? pid=25930. Marriage Equality USA. Prop 8 Hurt My Family – Ask Me How. 2009. Rereading America: Cultural Contexts for Critical Thinking and Writing.By Gary Colombo, Robert Cullen, and Bonnie Lisle. Boston: Bedford of St. Martin's, 2010. 84-88. Print. New World Encyclopedia. â€Å"Margaret Mead. †Ã‚  New World Encyclopedia. New World Encyclopedia, 16 Nov. 2011. Web. 22 Oct. 2012. ;http://www. newworldencyclopedia. org/entry/Margaret_Mead;. Soto, Gary. â€Å"Looking for Work. †Ã‚  Rereading America: Cultural Contexts for Critical Thinking and Writing. By Gary Colombo, Robert Cullen, and Bonnie Lisle. Boston: Bedford of St. Martin's, 2010. 26-31. Print.

Case study Technique Essay

In psychology, cases study is the use of descriptive research and analysis to obtain in-depth information about a person, group, or a phenomenon. Case study is conducted using techniques such as direct-observation of the person, personal interviews, psychometric tests, and use of earlier researches archived (Dunbar, 2005). Psychology uses a case study often in clinical research to explain an unusual occurrences and conditions of the patient. The conditions are contrary to the pre-established principles in the fields of psychology and clinical research. Most of the case studies are single-case design; however, there is multiple-case design where instead of using sampling, replication is the criterion for use. Case study in psychology ought to be valid, and reliable to help in the future psychological research. This paper explains the reasons, disadvantages, and advantages of the case study. Reasons for Using Case Study Case study allows the researcher to examine and gather information about persons in far more detail than if the research was on a large number of people. Although the case study is not a research method, clinical and psychological researchers identifies methods of data collection that is suitable for the case study (Goodwin, 1995). For instance, observation, interviews, personal notes, and officially documented records. The reason for the case study is to investigate into the private lives of persons with the focus of understanding them and helping them in overcoming the problems that they experienced in their daily lives. Advantages and Disadvantages of Case Study Case study allows the researchers to collect detailed information about a person that is useful. The information would not have been obtained by the other research methods. The information obtained during the case study is richer and is greater in depth compared to the other experimental designs. Moreover, the research considers rare cases where large samples of similar people are not available. Scientific experiments on the person done during the process of study are also an advantage (Dunbar, 2005). The process enables the researchers to adapt to ideas and come up with a hypothesis that  will be a point of reference in the future research. On the contrary, the data collected during the case study cannot apply in a wider population. This makes the data not be useful in longitudinal case studies. In addition, some of the studies are not scientific in nature (Goodwin, 1995). They are only a generalization of the scientific principles. The study considers only one individual; therefore, the study is prone to the researcher biases. The bias of the experimenter can influence the conclusions more than in the other study designs. It is also difficult to prove the effect from the psychological case study (Dunbar, 2005). A case study is often prone to be more time consuming than the time used in other study designs. Sources of Case Study Data The case study research generates data from different sources. The researchers use field notes to record data that is already available in stored databases. The use of sampling where one person is examined to represent a wider group is also a method of case study data collection. In addition, questionnaires, observations, and interviewing are other methods used to collect case study data. In conclusion, the study tends to collect qualitative data. The psychological case study is important since it collects unique and in-depth data about a person. Mainly, the rare phenomena and conditions allude to case studies. Finally, it is vital to refer to the recorded data to ensure that the findings are accurate and applicable in the real life situations. References Dunbar, G. (2005). Evaluating research methods in psychology: A case study approach. Malden, MA: BPS Blackwell. Goodwin, C. J. (1995). Research in psychology: Methods and design. New

Organizational Control

Organizational control is the systematic process through which managers regulate organizational activities to make them consistent with expectations established in plans, targets and standards of performance (Kuratko, 2001). These organizational expectations are a collection of goals and accountabilities represented in the budget, which help establish performance metrics, document actual performances, allow comparison between the estimated and actual performance, and allow for corrective actions (Jones-George-Hill, 2003). Measures of financial performance are those ratios against which actual performance can be meaningfully measured against the expectations of the budget. These measures are objective measures of performance, and a careful analysis of a combination of these ratios may help dis ¬tinguish between firms that will eventually fail and those that will continue to survive, sometimes as early as five years before a firm fails trouble can be detected from the value of these financial ratios (Keating). These performance ratios measure profit, liquidity, leverage and activity and the combination tell a significant story as to the overall health of an organization. Profitability ratios demonstrate the efficiency of the use of resources to generate profits from organizational inputs of materials to value added activities (Jones-George-Hill, 2003). These are Return on investment and Gross Profit Margin. ROI, or â€Å"return on investment,† measures competitive advantage because it allows managers to compare performance against other similar organizations. Although firms will differ on how that calculation is reached internally and what activities are considered profit drivers. For instance, in her 2010 book Open Leadership, Charlene Li argues that a social media campaign goes beyond marketing in that it reduces other costs by not only building affinity but can reduce other costs using Ford Motor Company and Comcast as an example (Li, 2010). Gross Profit Margin is the difference between the amount of revenue generated from the product and the resources used to produce the product. For the current quarter, Apple Computer is projecting an increase in GPM from their expectations of 36% to 37% with further expectation that will increase to 38% next quarter (Barrons, 2011). The iPad generated $4. 4-Billion in revenue last quarter with 80% of the Fortune 100 deploying the computer (Goldman, 2011). With strong business acceptance and revenue performance for a market that didn’t exist a year ago, the GPM associated ith such a product increases far more quickly. Real Networks, on the other hand, has had significant difficulty maintaining its gross profit margin indicating it either cannot control costs or that it has been forced to lower prices (Phillips, 2011). Apple has had no downward price pressure and costs have been kept under control (Hadhazy, 2010). Liquidity ratios measure the overall organizational preparedness to meet the short-term obligations of the organization. The higher the ratio, the greater the organizational ability to cover short-term debts, but a high liquidity ratio also indicates a significant proportion of assets are being used in non-productive ways (Yahoo Finance). Two common liquidity measures are the current ratio and the quick ratio. The current ratio is the difference between current assets and current liabilities and it speaks to the question of whether there are enough assets to pay claims on short-term debts without selling inventory. The ratio expression indicates how much money is available versus how much short term debt is outstanding. A ratio of 2:1 indicates $2 in assets for every $1 in debt. The Motley Fool dissects Real Networks stock performance while determining whether or not to sell the stock. One positive sign for the company is a high current ratio – 3. 13 (Phillips, 2011). However, while the company has â€Å"miniscule† debt, the company’s equity has been shrinking over the past 5-years, so a question to ask is do they have too high a current ratio, bearing in mind that represents non-productive assets? There are enough assets to pay short-term claims, but the stock performance lags the S&P by almost 2/3 – raising the question in my mind if they have too much non-performing assets on hand which need to be reevaluated. The quick ratio answers the question of whether an organization can pay claims without selling inventory. Inventory is not necessarily worth the amount represented on the books, and removing it from this calculation gives a better view of whether or not an organization has liquid assets available. If a company has too much of its liquidity tied up in inventory, it will be dependent on selling that inventory to finance its operations and will have a low quick ratio (Motley Fool). Leverage ratios measure the use of debt or equity to finance operations, with the use of debt becoming problematic if profits cannot cover the interest on the debt (Jones-George-Hill, 2003). Two common such ratios are debt-to-assets ratio and times-covered ratio. Debt to assets shows to what extent the organization is financed with debt, with a lower number being more favorable. With a low number, an organization and its investors can be more confident a company can weather difficult times. Real Networks, as discussed earlier, has a debt to equity ratio close to zero, largely because there is close to no debt – this is a company which can weather some difficult times, however while the debt remains low, the equity is decreasing as well signaling there may be some continuing difficult times (Phillips, 2011). The times-covered ratio measures the extent to which a company's can meet its current debt obligations with available net income. If the times-covered ratio declines to less than 1, then the company is unable to meet its interest costs and is technically insolvent (Jones-George-Hill, 2003). Activity ratios are a measure of an organizations utilization of resources to create value. For a company to be profitable, it must be able to manage its inventory, because it is money invested that does not earn a return. So, inventory turnover measures how well a company is moving its inventory so the assets are not carried as non-performing assets and days sales outstanding measures how quickly that inventory is converted to payment on what it owed. I worked for a small printing company which was dependent on its ability to collect on outstanding projects – age of account was an important measure of the company’s health and much effort was placed on collecting. Inventory was not an option as each job was unique to the client and was good only for that client. These measures help direct the activities of the organization and help set the goals of the organization. The indicate the health of the company, by measuring the management effectiveness in meeting the organizational goals.