Kant and Singer: The Moral Status of Animals

Emmanuel Kant and Peter Singer expressed essentially opposing views on the moral status of animals.   Because animals are non-rational creatures, Kant did not believe that they had any moral status.   However, he did feel that human beings had a moral obligation to avoid cruelty to animals because being cruel was in opposition to the duty that mankind had to strengthen compassion in itself (MacKinnon, date, p. ).   The duty to prevent cruelty to animals, then, is one that humanity owes to itself, not to the animal kingdom. Peter Singer, however, believes that animals themselves are moral agents.   Unlike Kant, Singer believes that â€Å"animal interests are the basis for their having rights and rights that are equal to humans† (MacKinnon, date, pp. 363-364).   MacKinnon goes on to explain that Singer bases his position on the theoretical foundation that animals’ experiences of pleasure fulfill one or more of their interests.   Since animals appear to have interests similar to those of human beings, Singer believes that their interest should have equal weight to those of humans (p. 364). Singer appears to write in opposition to the statement that treatment of two groups can differ and still be morally equivalent.   His position indicates that by not recognizing animals’ equal right to those of human beings, that humans are guilty of â€Å"speciesism,† a type of racism.   For this reason, animals have a right to freedom from suffering.   However, Singer also believes that it does not matter if an animal is not extended a right to vote, because an animal has no interest in voting (MacKinnon, date, pp. 363-364). It would make sense to extend some rights, like that to be free from suffering, to animals.   Other sensible rights that could be extended would be the right to sufficient food, water, and shelter.   Other rights, such as the right to choose, the right to sexual freedom, and the right to medical care are arguable at best.   It is never possible to know an animal’s motivation for making a choice and sexual activity in animals is intended solely for survival of the species and not for pleasure.   Extending these rights might change the way society treats animals; however, these acts are already expected from those individuals who harbor animals. Although I would change the way that society treats animals, I do not feel that extending them rights is the answer.   Instead, I feel that it is necessary to increase the penalties connected with animal cruelty violations, making certain degrees of cruelty felonies, rather than mere misdemeanors.   Increasing or creating animal rights would only be possible by infringing on certain human rights.   Unlike animals, we would be aware of this infringement and would be harmed by the change in our status. Reference MacKinnon, B. (date). Ethics

Electoral Reform Green Paper: Strengthening Australia’s Democracy Essay

The term electoral system has broadly been used to refer to all elements of procedures used to choose or elect political representatives. However, the public discussion in Australian electoral system has narrowed down since the September polls. These include the mechanism voters preference over set of aspires are captured and further aggregated to produce the results of the elections. The description dismisses the important concerns considered critical criteria which should employed to select the groups, candidates and parties that will appear on the ballot paper. The two critical dimensions of the electoral systems are what Rae terms as ballot structure† and the â€Å"electoral formula.† According to Australian Government Electoral Reform Green Paper, (2013) the ballot structure is the choice of the electoral system that is presented to the electorate on the ballot papers and the procedures of recording their preferred candidate. Notably, the electoral formula is the ru le applied, given specific set of recorded electorates, to determine the victor or the winners. Ballot Structure of the Senate Elections Since 1934, it has been established that the ballot structure of the senate elections has been one full preferential candidate. Essentially, the electorate is the prima facie that the law permits to indicate the order of preference for every candidate appearing on the ballot paper. However, in 1948, the formula for electing the senate was changed from the originally majoritarian one to the version in which the single transferable vote proportional representation. As noted by Bonham, (2013) from the initial application of the system in 1949 until 1993, the number of candidates per vacancy steadily went up. Together with the increased number of senators from each state from six to ten in 1949, and from ten to twelve in 1984, the increased number of the electorate per vacancy produced a shocking growth in the ballot papers. Therefore, the increased length of the ballot papers coupled with the full preferential voting requirement encouraged voluminous number of the citizens to vote by si mply transcribing the numbers from how-to-vote cards given to the voters by the party agents at the polling stations. Furthermore, disparities are observable in the electoral systems as reported by Australian Government Electoral Reform Green Paper, (2013) in its argument, the party voting concept allows the candidates with low votes to legitimately build their votes up to the level of emerging a winner. Besides, the system insists that the votes transferred to them from other candidates must mirror the considered will of the electorate. Unlike the ticket voting, it permits the voters to adopt the preferred order of which they are ignorant of, or they are less concerned thereby surrendering their votes to parties. Besides, the party voting rather than voting individual candidates denies the voters absolute flexibility as a proportional representative voting system. Notwithstanding this, a trend emerged during the period of 1949 to 1983 for the senate elections to use the informal vote. Therefore, since 1970 to 1983, at every senate elections the rating of the informal voting nationally was over 9 percent. However, during the senate elections in 1974, in New South Wales, the voters had a task to order 73 senatorial candidates correctly for them to cast their votes formally. During the tenure of Whitlam Government, the stakeholders opted to retire the requirements for full preferential numbering; however, the overwhelming number of opposition senate in the opposition blocked the Bills. Finally, the current system of electoral system of ticket voting â€Å"above the line† voting system as well as full preferential electoral system referred to as â€Å"below the line† was introduced (Farrell & McAllister, 2003). Notable differences in the two electoral systems are identifiable in the procedures. In the preferential system, the electorate makes decisions on the most desirable candidate to the least. However, when no candidate attains the required majority votes, the candidates in possession of the least number of votes are awarded according to her or his wishes and the following preference is then counted. This process is repeated until that time a particular candidate attains an absolute majority. Unlike the proportional representation system, the above the line system in which the candidates are elected on the preference of their proportional representation in the party. Farrell & McAllister, (2003) points out that the elected surplus of the elected candidate votes of the first quota is then distributed in a fraction that values the continuing candidate of the next preference shown on the line. In a nutshell, the candidates are elected until vacancies are entirely filled. When selecting the senators, the voters use preferential voting system. The preferential voting system allows the voters to list the candidates in their preferred order. The Australian cross-party parliamentary committee has recommended tough and party rules and changes to the voting system of the senates. This is geared towards stopping the minor electoral games. The joint standard committee on electoral matters recommended the changing of the electoral laws for optional preferential above the line voting and optional partial below the line voting in the senate. According to the proposers, this would give the voters’ additional control over the flow of their preference by giving them the option to rank all the parties above the line (Farrell & McAllister, 2003). Above all, the process would make it easier for the electorate to choose to vote below the line requiring ranking a minimum of six candidates. The current senate voting laws, the voters have the power to choose one pa rty above the line. Besides, their preference flows are determined solely by the party, or they must number all the boxes below the line to distribute their preferred candidate evenly. Moreover, the current electoral system leads to election of senate candidates of those occupying their or second group of the popular party. This leads to election of the senators with very small votes. This system differs from the preferential representation system which their tally is an absolute indicator of their support by the people. In fact, in a preferential voting system, these are no scale of measuring popularity of senators. However, they are rather defined by the electorate in terms of comparison with the other candidates. In this voting system, it is easy to conclude on hypothetical examples in which the candidate with zero polls on first preference would have defeated all the other opponents in a head to head contest. The absolute difference in the two voting systems can also be observed in the strategic manipulation of voters, thus sacrificing democratic rights of the electorate. Strategically, most commentators have argued that ticket voting system can be manipulated by preference harvesting. Kelly, (2008) asserts that the system involves micro parties exchanging their voting tickets, hoping party with least votes would ascend to senate. The preference harvesting was clearly observable in the 2013 voting results. Essentially, the preference harvesting differs from the individual electoral process because t is pragmatic. Unlike the representative voting system which considers the ideological alignments of the electorate, the system is based on the basis where the electorate hardly has control on the outcome. It is established in the outcome of the elections that the above the line voting system has no credit to the voters. Above all fundamental differences in the two electoral processes, the outcome of the election should be determined by the wishes of the voters. In the evidence of the last election, there was no observable connection between the preference that the ticket voting system attributed to the voters and the ones they actually held. This raises a key difference in the electoral systems and on which covers the wills of the voters. Proportional representation The common feature of proportional representation is that the political parties must exceed a certain vote threshold in order to win the seats. It is clear that the previous election results have led to effortless demands for electoral reforms with the constitutional objectives addressed. Essential research done on the 2013 election found that the 38 percent of the small parties in the senate were beneficial for democracy. Besides, the most favorable, if the public opinion is to be observed is the abolition of the group voting tickets, currently operational. The proportional representation is critical to chapter seven of the constitution that requires the election process to be left in the conscious decisions of the voters. Thus, the obvious route to consciously respect the constitution in the electoral reforms is to copy the example of the New South Wales and distribute voting preference as the voters allocate them, or authorizes the voters to number the every box above the line. Additionally, the determination of the parties to respect section seven of the constitution is reflected in the representative voting system. According to section seven of the constitution, the senate shall be compost of senators for each state, directly elected by the electorate. Justifiably, the in 1984 the Chief Justice of the High Court rejected the above the line senate voting on grounds that the section required the voters vote for individual candidates as they wish to choose as senatorial representatives (Ghazarian & Monash University, 2010). However, the rule did not admit that above the line voting system amounted to any contradiction other than section seven. Notably, the principle that held by the proportional representation system of the electoral system of the senate must be based on choosing individual candidates rather than parties were, nevertheless, objective. As noted by (Kelly, 2012) more than a single authority involved in electoral reforms suggested that the voting system would be violated by the provisions that limited individual candidates in respect to aggregate of their party votes. Ideally, this is can be observed from the electoral threshold based on individual candidate would eliminate all the major party candidates with the exception of those at the top of the party ticket. Critics of the proportional representation voting system highlights that it not clear that the preference threshold would attain this. They assert that there might not be a handy alternative for challenging the above the line voting system that limited the candidates from choosing their preferred candidate. Besides, holding to the backers of the individuals with the good taste of the proportional representative voting, voting for the parties remains a constitutional disorder (Kelly, 2012). Arguably, it is unreasonable to penalize the political parties performing poorly for failing to meet the threshold seems to pass the consequences to the electorate who voted for them. Besides, democracy foundations of any conscious voting system respects the fact that the vote belongs to the electorate who registered, however, not to a particular party that the above the line voting which happen to give first preference to particular political parties. Happily, a report from Australian Government Electoral Reform Green Paper, (2013) asserts that the adoption of the proportional representative will grant observable credit to the most honest alternative of optional preferential voting above the line. Besides, the electoral body in the line of meeting section seven of the constitution examined photo identification, no-brainer of prohibiting people as serving the state as registered officers for more than a single party and tightening of the late campaign blackout. The senate electoral system should be changed to adopt the optional preferential voting. . The greatest impact of the 2013 election of preference harvesting should be abolished. Notably, the results of 2013 elections were unusual and interesting, preferably in the senate where small parties enter into back door negotiations. This raises the integrity of the voting process and the constitutional threshold. Holding that below the line voting system is constitutionally required, it is wise to argue that the basic criterion for election of the senate should that that puts the democratic rights of the voters in the heart. This can be achieved by allowing the voters to record their preferences truthfully and meaningfully. Therefore, considering the role of the senate in the constitutional reforms, the nearly and easily achievable deal is the OPV. However, the OPV does not achieve it fully. Essentially, the system does not permit the electorate to express equal preference for more than one candidate. Besides, it does not permit voting indifference to be shown with an exception from the least preferred candidate for the voter. The good news holds that the OPV does not require the voter to write large numbers on the ballot paper purporting to express preferences that are never held. But the system will ensure that the numbers on the ballot papers express the true preference of the voters. Besides, the introduction of the OPV below the line will automatically default the use of above the line voting. The key policy for implementation will be to use ne ballot paper to suffice the votes. The single ballot raises expresses as genuine preference the voter holds. Bonham, (2013) argues that unless the voters are required to write more than one ballot paper, vote exhaustion may lead to the election of candidates with less than a quota. Conclusion Voting in Australia is compulsory and uses preference ballot in single seats for the representatives of the house. Today, there are many parties that usually vie for the senate. Although it varies from state, dozens run and some parties gunners no votes. However, due to the preferential allocation system, it is equally possible to be elected to a senate even with less than 14.3 percent of the primary votes (Ghazarian & Monash University, 2010). For instance, in New South Wales the senate papers are printed in 7-point font and the voters are given magnifying lenses to read them. In a nutshell, proportional representation system is advised to lead to proportional results of the election. Besides, parties should win the senatorial seats on the proportion of their vote size. However, to uphold the integrity of the constitution, the senate should adopt democratic voting variations such as single transferable vote which votes for candidates rather than parties. References Australian Government.( 14 November 2013) Electoral Reform Green Paper: Strengthening Australia’s Democracy (2009), at Bonham, Kevin.( 14 November 2013) â€Å"Senate Reform: Change This System, But To What?†, at http://kevinbonham.blogspot.jp/2013/10/senate-reform-change-this-system-but-to.html, accessed Farrell, D. M., & McAllister, I. (January 01, 2003). The 1983 change in surplus vote transfer procedures for the Australian senate and its consequences for the single transferable vote. Australian Journal of Political Science, 38, 3, 479-491. Ghazarian, Z., & Monash University. (2010). Australian minor parties in transition in the Senate, 1949-2007. http://www.dpmc.gov.au/consultation/elect_reform/strengthening_democracy, accessed Kelly, N. (2008). Evaluating Australian electoral reforms: 1983-2007.Kelly, N. (2012). Directions in Australian electoral reform: Professionalism and partisanship in electoral management. Canberra: ANU E Press. Source document

Supply and Demand Easyjet

Assignment 2. 5 Supply, Demand and Easyjet The Marketing Mix is the name given to the elements which are the key components which a marketing plan should be based upon. Typically in Marketing literature there are four elements: price, place, promotion and product, however this is now sometimes expanded to incorporate another 3 elements: people, physical evidence and process. Pricing policy is clearly very important to the marketing mix and is affected by variables such as firm’s objectives, the nature of competition, demand and firm costs.Firms operate pricing in different ways according to their marketing strategy and the industry in which they participate; an example of pricing methods will be shown and evaluated further in the essay in reference to EasyJet and British Airways flight pricing. As mentioned in the introduction, the role of pricing within the marketing mix is a varied one depending on what the firm is trying to achieve and the conditions within which it is oper ating. This contradicts what economic theory tells us: that pricing should be based upon setting prices at the point where Marginal Revenue = Marginal Cost in order to maximise firm profits.However, in real life â€Å"few firms explicitly follow the economic model in developing pricing policy† (Doyle 1997), because firms may be trying to achieve other things than maximising profits such as gaining market share, in which case they could be using the loss-leader tactic (where prices are set at a point which actually makes a loss for the firm which they are able to recoup through customer retention once prices increase or through the sale of full price complementary products).Doyle suggests that there are several common type of pricing policies such as: market-penetration pricing, market-skimming pricing, cost-orientated pricing, perceived-value pricing and price discrimination. Market penetration pricing refers to the concept discussed above such as loss-leading where short-ter m profits are sacrificed in order to increase/gain a market share(Baker, 1997). Market-skimming is the practice of setting high prices with subsequent high profits and expect to only sell a small volume of products; this can only work if there is no risk of nother company being able to completely take-over your potential sales with a cheaper price. Cost-orientated pricing is where prices are set as a basic mark-up on top of product costs, which can be known in business as ‘cost-plus’ pricing or target pricing when it refers to a certain level of return on investment. Perceived value pricing is based on the perception that buyers have of your firm’s product relative to other products in the market. Finally, the concept of price discrimination is one of particular importance to this essay given its data content of airline pricing.Perfect price discrimination is an economic concept where a firm seeks to charge every buyer exactly the price that they are prepared to pay. In reality, this is very difficult to achieve as how can a firm possibly be expected to know the exact value which each individual buyer places on their product? The only way that perfect price discrimination can be achieved is through an auction format, but this is debatable. General Price discrimination is a common strategy, however, and this involves firms charging different groups of customer’s different prices for the same product.In order for it to work, Doyle states that â€Å"customers in the highest-price segment must not be allowed to buy from the lower-price segment† e. g. there must be boundaries in place to ensure that a high-price customer cannot sneakily purchase at the low price. Within the airline industry this is achieved by differentiating between time of bookings – long-term advance bookings are the lower price customers and bookings made close to the time of departure are high price customers. The prices for Easyjet flights from London Luton to Madrid are as follows below: †¢ Tomorrow = 124. 98 †¢ One week = 183. 98 One month= 82. 98 †¢ 3 months = 70. 98 The key difference between these prices is that the more in advance you book, typically the cheaper it is. This indicates that Easyjet flight pricing is based upon demand (and supply but supply is fixed) for the flights, as the further in advance you book, the cheaper it is and on the flipside if you discover you have to go to Madrid tomorrow the price is much higher as your need/demand is more urgent and thus you will pay a higher price. However the obvious exception here is that it is nearly ? 60 cheaper to fly out tomorrow than it is to fly out in a week’s time.I would suggest that this appears to be an anomaly, as the obvious pattern of decreasing prices with advance bookings coupled with the knowledge that Easyjet formulates it’s prices based on supply and demand for each particular day and thus rewarding advance bookings (lower d emand for far away dates) with cheaper prices suggests that this is an unusual occurrence. One reason for the flights in a week being higher than a flight tomorrow to Madrid may be because the flight in a week is the weekend before Valentine’s Day so may be booked up more than we would typically expect from a normal day a week in advance.This peak and higher price for a potentially popular weekend represents that Easyjet is employing an almost near perfect pricing scheme in an economic sense e. g. each consumer is being charged a slightly different price relative to the level of demand for the flights (there is a fixed supply due to the fixed number of seats available). [pic] The graph above represents graphically the information from the Easyjet website which is displayed in bullet points above.As is clear to see – apart from the peak at 1 week – there is a downwards trend over time which I would expect to be even more obvious if we were to add in more data for weeks between 1 week and 1 month and between the periods of 1 month and 3 months. The decrease in price does appear to be flattening between month and 3 months which I would advocate is because once we’re getting to booking a few months in advance the prices are getting near to Easy jet’s lowest price point so there isn’t much room to decrease- thus I would anticipate the bottom price for the journey being around the ? 0 mark (as at 3 months in advance it is ? 70. 98). Turning now to the British Airways data, below are the prices for a BA flight from London Heathrow to Madrid at the same time of day and date as the Easyjet prices above: †¢ Tomorrow = 316 †¢ One week = 217 †¢ One month= 130 †¢ 3 months =126 Again, we can see both in the data and in the graph below that the same price discrimination strategy is being pursued by British Airways as by Easyjet: the advance flights represent the cheap-price customer segment and the close flights ( next day to next few weeks) represent the high-price segment.In both companies the price discrimination policy works as they are able to enforce the different price/customer brackets because of time of purchase of travel tickets being the discriminating factor. Therefore similarities between the two airlines are in the nature of their pricing strategies – price differentiation – and therefore the decreasing trend in air fares if booked in advance. The differences between the two companies from the data collected appear to be two different things: firstly that British Airways has a higher base price than Easyjet (circa ? 20 to circa ? 70) and that British Airways has not taken into account high-demand special occasions such as Valentine’s Day weekend in its pricing in comparison to EasyJet, as shown by the lack of spike in price at the one week point on the British Airways graph. The higher base price of almost ? 50 more commanded by British Airways (BA) is proba bly due to both higher costs than EasyJet (who follow a low-cost strategy and thus deliver less service than BA on its flights e. g. ess cabin crew, no complimentary food/beverages, no free baggage check-in) and also the Brand-name of British Airways commanding a higher price. To conclude, pricing is a vital part of the marketing mix and overall strategy of all firms. Within the airline industry, the tendency is for price discrimination as due to the nature of travel and the booking of flights it is possible to discriminate between different bands of customers booking the same service based on their needs (economy, business class, first class) and their time of booking (advance, the day before etc. . From evaluation of comparable data taken from both EasyJet and British Airways it is clear to see that both are operating a policy of price-discrimination based on advance booking of fares. Bibliography Baker, J (1997) The Marketing Book, The Bath Press, Bath, UK. BritishAirways. com [o n-line] http://www. britishairways. com/travel/home/public/en_gb Doyle, P (1997) Managing the Marketing Mix, reproduced in The Marketing Book, The Bath Press, Bath, UK Easyjet corporate website [on-line] http://www. easyjet. com/EN

Statistics presentation Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Statistics presentation - Coursework Example This formula is based on the risk free rate of the security, the beta factor of that security and the difference between the risk free rates of that stock. Understanding the testing of the CAPM, requires a good knowledge of these components of the CAPM. Investing in various securities in the securities market has various risks that the investors must consider when putting their funds in such securities (Sharpe, 2010). These risks are represented in the CAPM formula are the unsystematic risk in the market. The risk in each company’s stock is accounted for in the capital asset pricing model formula with the beta factor as the unsystematic risk factor. In this work of capital asset pricing model testing, beta factor in the formula is used to measure the level of risk when an investor decides to invest in any of the 20 companies discussed relative to the market risk (Mullins, 2012). For this coursework, the beta of the market would be 1 of the FTSE market index of the 20 companies. In measurement of the CAPM, an individual security, which will have a beta of 1.5 will be riskier than the market and less risky than the market if the stock has a beta of 0.5. The formula of the Capital Asset Pricing Model is given as The risk free rate in the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) formula is the rate which is expected by the investors to be free from any risk when they invest in any of the companies’ stocks. These are like the Treasury bill rate for governments and are generally used as it is short term. Besides, the risk premium is also a component of the CAPM. The capital asset pricing model is made up of two components. If this market risk is multiplied by the beta factor of the market and added to the risk free rate, then, the expected return of the stock can be determined and tested in this case (Lakonishok and Allan, 2013, pp.16). Risk is the same with the volatility. For example, if the market risk is 1 and in the test a better of 2 was found then, the

Spiritual Needs Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Spiritual Needs - Assignment Example The results show that those who had frequent involvements in spiritual matters were significantly more likely to have longer, healthier lives. (McCullough, Hoyt, Larson, Koenig & Thoresen, 2000 ) Thesis - Of course any patient needs treatment for his illness, but this should be given as part of a holistic approach which includes an attempt to both assess and to meet his spiritual needs, whatever his particular faith stance and practice. In order to do this effectively it is necessary to be aware of particular spiritual needs. For this reason each patient should be assessed spiritually. A number of question s should be asked in order to arrive at the truth regarding an individual’s spiritual state. The answers then provide clues or pointers to what is required – does the person want to see a minister, to receive the Eucharist, or perhaps need space to put down a prayer mat if they are a Muslim.... Rather they provide an inclusive framework. They may not necessarily be addressed directly to the patient , but may be based upon observation, if for instance the patient has difficulty speaking or when there is a language barrier. They may for instance be wearing a cross or a Sikh steel bangle The questions do not include words specific to particular religious groups e.g .church, temple, synagogue, sacraments. It isn’t that these may not be used, but rather that it is necessary to establish first of all if the patient does belong to a particular faith ]tradition e.g. If they ‘I go to the Episcopalian church in my town.’ the care provider might go on to ask if anyone from the church know you are in hospital? Would you like us to let them know? If they say ‘I am a Muslim’ they can then be informed of any specifically Muslim provision such as a prayer room or told that they can use the day rom at particular times . b) My assessment of Michael R. Michael is a 45 year old gentleman whom I have come to know well over several weeks. He originally came into hospital with what he thought was simple chest infection, but was told within a few hours that he required a lung transplant, something he found to be devastating. Since that time his kidney function has deteriorated and he had a near fatal episode a few days ago. Date of interview most recent interview 27th July 2012 . Significant discoveries. Michael has a young child and, because he feels his illness is self-induced he feels a great deal of guilt about his more youthful follies such as street drug use which now prevent him from being with his child . He doesn’t want his daughter to see him in his present state. c) What went well? At first Michael pretended he didn’t want

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Media Assigment - Essay Example This paper stresses that as per Alberta Human Resources and Employment, for such a dynamic profile of the job, editors may exhibit the following characteristics: and ambition, excellent writing and research skills, the ability to criticize effectively, organization and time management skills, decision-making and leadership skills, the ability to work well under time pressure. As the report declares the editors are required to plan, coordinate work with other, analyze information, solve problems and negotiate with writers and others. The job is multidisciplinary in nature with persons from a variety of backgrounds qualifying as editors. Citing the case of newspapers, there are written statements to define ethical standards. The job of journalists is to gather information, to validate it, and also to sort facts out of a mass of information, not only voluminous but often unintelligible. This process of selection and synthesis implies choices which will alter reality. People often blame the media for over-simplification and lack of nuances. But efforts at simplification are part of the job. Almost by definition, to inform is also to deform. News describes information that is new. The concept has a deep meaning because it implies that what is not new, or different, or significant is not news. By definition, news is a breach of continuity and a breach of normal ity as may be describable by events such as crises, fights and changes that are not part of normal daily life.

William Hill Plc acquired 624 betting shops of Stanley Leisure an Coursework

William Hill Plc acquired 624 betting shops of Stanley Leisure an Evaluation - Coursework Example The researcher states that there are different forms of growth approaches that companies generally follow. Typically if a company wants to make growth, then in such circumstances the company has two choices whether to go for an organic growth or to go for acquisition or a combination of both. For organic growth, the companies generally expand their business operations by opening up new branches, adding up new product lines etc. On the other hand, for acquisitions, the companies generally purchase an existing business such that the company owns that business and in this way it brings expansion in its existing business operations. Capital budgeting is a tool which is used to evaluate the financial viability of the projects whether in the form of organic growth or in acquisitions. In this technique the future cash flows are estimated including both the outflows and the inflows pertaining to that project after which net cash flows are computed. Those net cash flows are discounted by a re levant cost of capital of the company to arrive at the present values of all the net cash flows. Those net cash flows are then summed up to obtain the Net Present Value of the project. The NPV is then used as a tool to decide whether a project is feasible or not such that if the NPV figure is positive, then the project should be accepted and if it comes as a negative figure, then that project is advised as not to be accepted. Capital budgeting also has some other related criteria for checking the viability of the projects. ... The NPV is then used as a tool to decide whether a project is feasible or not such that if the NPV figure is positive, then the project should be accepted and if it comes as a negative figure, then that project is advised as not to be accepted. Capital budgeting also has some other related criteria for checking the viability of the projects. Those criteria include Internal Rate of Return, Profitability Index, Discounted Payback and other similar techniques. Most of these techniques work on the basic principle of discounted cash flows. These financial projections and the computation of NPV are generally prepared by the finance departments of the companies and they are used for internal reporting purposes. Those kinds of information are not disclosed to the general public because these valuations can certainly influence the share price of the company as there are likelihoods that investors may welcome those valuations and in this way share prices can be increased. If the valuations are not consistent with shareholders’ expectations, then there comes a decline in the share prices. If the projects are not likely to influence the existing operations and financial results of the company, then the shareholders might remain indifferent as to which way they should react. In case of acquisitions, generally when the terms and conditions of the purchase are settled, then some of the details of the proposed acquisitions are disclosed to the shareholders. The company does not provide them the comprehensive financial prospects and projections of the acquisition deal, rather it provides the necessary information to the shareholders such as purchase price, amount of goodwill, total amount of synergies that can be obtained from the acquisition, the capital

Summary of a book chapter Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Summary of a book chapter - Assignment Example The chapter focuses on the value system of terrorists and states that terrorists believe that they are fighting against enemy who lack traits and characteristics of human beings. Terrorist even believe that they are elite members of the society and are victims and they chose terrorism as an involuntary response (Combs, 2012, p.56). They even believe that the crimes they commit such as murdering innocent people is a moral act. They even believe that if their victims are closely associated with the enemy then they are even enemies. There are certain common characteristics that all terrorists share. These characteristics include high dedication towards the cause and all of them indulge in a brave act since they face the threat of being harmed (Combs, 2012, p.65). All terrorists lack emotions of regret as well as shame and that is why they kill people. They are very intelligent as they have to collect and analyze information and are involved in sophisticated activities such as living and flying in first class hotels and airlines. They are highly educated as they are able to communicate in various languages such as English language. Individuals become terrorists because they believe that they are the victims and are fighting evil. Joining terrorist groups even provide individuals with a sense of belongingness (Combs, 2012, p.68). They believe that indulging in acts of terrorism is a way to attain revenge against those who have done wrong to people they are associated with. Terrorists in the past were motivated by the aim of attaining social liberty, but now their aim has become quite political. Terrorists in the 21st century are quite away from reality and are quite irrational and that is why they prefer being recognized as prisoners of war (Combs, 2012, p.71). A major reason that drives terrorist activities in the 21st century is that

Term paper-ceramics Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

-ceramics - Term Paper Example The input of ceramic materials to automobile technologies ranges over driving performance, fuel efficiency and exhaust gas purification. A number of ceramic parts, such as knock sensors, oxygen sensors, exhaust gas catalysts, and silicon nitride components for automotive engines, have been well utilized to automobiles. Ceramics revolution is not just confined to the automotive industry- producers in aerospace, defense, medical and telecommunication firms are also progressively utilizing ceramic alternatives. The material is fast becoming to be much known for its application in earthenware and pottery and more for the opportunities it creates in the production of goods necessary in our daily lives. This paper will examine the contribution of the ceramics to advances in automotive technologies. It will also try to explore the possible contributions of ceramics in the future such as ceramic gas turbines, adiabatic turbo-compound diesels, electric vehicles and fuel cells due to advances in ceramic technologies. Ceramics is an inert composite containing a metal and a non metal or several non metals. These materials have several properties that identify them. For instance, they are delicate thus easily broken, elastic, quite hard, and need high melting temperatures. They are also electrical, act as thermal insulators and have a high chemical stability. Examples of ceramics include silica (an ingredient used in glass products and contains silicon dioxide), alumina (used in abrasives and contains aluminum oxide) and complex compounds that contain hydrous aluminum silicate used mostly in clay products. Ceramic products are clay in form of bricks, cement used for construction, intractable ceramics that can withstand high temperatures like furnaces used in factories, glass and glass fibers, abrasives, and white ware products. Ceramics are divided in three categories: Traditional ceramics, new ceramics and glass. Ceramics are stronger than metals thus are

Environmental Footprint Lab Report Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Environmental Footprint - Lab Report Example This increase in carbon dioxide emissions results in increase in the global Earth temperature. Consequently, development of newer homes in areas that have been originally covered with forests results in increased carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, since the forests functioned as carbon sinks. In addition, same lifestyle among humans may result in degradation of ecosystems and loss of biodiversity. As the human population increases, new modifications on the landscape, such as creation of new structures, result in altering of the ecosystem of a place and disruption of the ecosystem processes. The ecosystem processes are controlled by the biodiversity in an area. If everyone enjoyed the same lifestyle, the rate of consumption of resources would increase rapidly. This would result in a decline, in the resource base for humanity. Changing human lifestyles, such as preferring fast foods to agricultural products can also result in decreased farming activities. This may lead to lack of food r esources necessary to support human population and, hence, may affect the economic security. Consequently, increase in human activities, such as deforestation, affects ecosystem processes, which reduces the productivity of land. ... In addition, turning down of the temperature of the heating thermostat by eight degrees Fahrenheit and the air conditioner by seven degrees Fahrenheit can provide savings of $24 and $42 respectively. This will save about 770 pounds of carbon dioxide from being released into the atmosphere. Activities, such as washing clothes in cold water instead of hot will save up to $10 annually and in the process there would be savings by 181 pounds of carbon dioxide emission. In addition, using the sleep feature in the computer will save $10 annually saving about 159 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions. In order to reduce carbon emissions, recycling products associated with foodstuffs can be used. This will save about 447 pounds of carbon dioxide. The total amount of carbon emissions saved by an individual amounts to 19,905 pounds. This produces savings amounting to $2,304 per year. For a population of 100 million in America, the total amount of carbon emissions saved would amount to approximatel y 1990.5 billion pounds of carbon dioxide saved per year. Therefore, the total savings in dollars would be about $230.4 dollars per annum. Implementation of these solutions will greatly reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, which will result in maintaining a stable earth temperature. In addition, reducing the miles driven by vehicle will help improve the air quality, as the production of carbon dioxide from the vehicles will be reduced. Consequently, increased recycling as a measure to reduce pollution will help improve water quality, as most of products that were disposed in the waters will be re-used. Reduction in the emission of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere will improve the health conditions of humans especially those who have breathing

Organization and Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Organization and Management - Essay Example This paper compares two organizations in terms of their approaches to three aspects of organizational theories. The comparison will be based on their approach to teamwork and teamworking, organizational structure and design, and organizational culture. Comparison of approaches to teamwork and teamworking Public and private organizations have been similar in embracing the different organization theories. According to Robbins & Judge, (2010, p. 23) organizations have embraced the scientific management theory by trying to apply all the eleven principles of scientific management. Biogenic plc divides tasks and assigns workers that have skills in performing the specific task only. The organization emphasizes on assigning different tasks to workers according to their best ability and academic credentials. This can be referred to as division and specialization of labor. It’s the most common principle of management. Applying division and specialization of labor has been facilitated by the availability of knowledge and skills among the workers. This has enabled organizations to assign tasks to workers according to their skills and abilities. The bureaucracy theory developed by Max Weber is also applied in managing both public and private organizations. All the hierarchies are involved in decision making thus it takes a long time to approve an action. This is the case of Biogenic plc where teams are designed on the basis of their position in the hierarchy of management. The administrative theory as developed by Henry Fayol emphasizing the importance of the functions of management including planning, organizing, controlling, coordinating and commanding. Public and private organizations apply the functions of management in their daily operations. These organizations are structured around the five functions of management. The application of the principles of management has been promoted by the close relationship among the functions of management. However, Sleepeasy h as little application of the five principles of management which has led to the company lacking a team. Employees are hired on the basis of part-time and there are formal processes that make it difficult for managers to fulfill the principles of management. Comparison of organizational structure and design In an organization, workers are the most important between the system and workers. Classical organizational theories were centered on tasks rather than the human aspect of workers. Workers were viewed as parts of a machine that played a significant role in the running of the business. All the organizational theories aimed at finding the best way of managing resources especially human resources in order to improve their efficiency and effectiveness in the production process of the organization. The organization is in itself run by workers who operate machines or work manually.  

Corporate Risk Management Essay Example for Free

Corporate Risk Management Essay Risk refers to the uncertainty that surrounds future events and outcomes. It is the expression of the likelihood and impact of an event with the potential to influence the achievement of an organization’s objectives. Risk management is a systematic approach to setting the best course of action under uncertainty by identifying, assessing, understanding, acting on and communicating risk issues. The Corporate Risk Management framework is a systematic, integrated approach with a focus on managing financial risks to enhance shareholder value. The Corporate Risk Management processes are indentification of the risk, measurement , policy, process and execution. Those processes are utilised by corporate enterprises to manage the risk of fortuitous loss. Once corporate risks have been identified and their impact on the firm measured, risk management attempts to control the size and frequency of loss, and to finance those fortuitous losses which do occur. Those are the main definition about the subject, which are to be discussed in this document. Risk Management is an ongoing activity and should be carried out as a part of day-to-day business. The management of risk can only take place within an organisational framework that is inclusive of all parts of the corporate infrastructure. Without this framework, risks cannot be efectivelly discussed, communicated, compared and managed in a coherent way across the whole organisation. Risk should be a feature of any management discussion of any uncertain circumstances including new initiatives of any kind and the implementation of significant projects Risk management deals with insurable and with uninsurable risks and is an approach which involves a formal orderly process for systematically identyfying, analysing and responding to risk events throughout the life of a project to obtain the optimum or acceptable degree of risk elimination or control. Risk management is an essential part of the project and business planning cycle which requires acceptance that uncertainty exists, generates a structured response to risk in terms of alternative plans, solutions and contingencies ,is a thinking process requiring imagination and ingenuity and generates a realistic attitude in an investment for staff by preparing them for risk events rather than being taken by surprise when they arrive. Risk management involves identifying risks, predicting how probable they are and how serious they might become, deciding what to do about them and implementing these decisions. Corporates finance is the specific area dealing the financial decisions corporations make and the tools and techniques used to make the decisions. Categories of corporate financial decision making are : objectives of investment decision, financial decision and financial techniques. Corporates need a more advanced risk management approach in order to benefit from a competitive advantage from strategic risk management. They should manage risks proactively via an integrated approach with a focus on measurable financial risks. Quantitative techniques, such as cash flow-at-risk and earnings-at-risk, are necessary to look at the combined effect of risks on the formulated business objectives. Identification of risks, analysis of implications, response to minimise the risk and allocation of the contigencies are part of the process of managing the corporate risk. The objective to managing the corporate risk is to understand the risk that is known to be associated with the corporate strategy plan. This corporate risk management plan will enable the communication of the risks and risk treatments to be passed down to the strategic business units that may be impacted by the risk and maintenance of the corporate risk register. Altough risks are evaluated at the corporate level, the power they maintain over governments and consumers is phenomenal. Corporate risk startegy often implies planned actions to respond to identified risks. A typical corporate risk strategy includes the following: * accountabilities for managing the corporate risk. * A corporate risk register will be maintained as a record of the known risks to the corporate strategy plan; the types of mitigating action recorded. * Treatment plans are identified that form part of the corporate strategy and will be communicated to the SBUs, so they in turn may manage the risk which may affect them. A first estimate of potential effects can be determined using assumption analysis, decision tree analysis and the range method. These models can then be used to evaluate the effectiveness of potential mitigating actions and hence select the optimum response. Mitigating actions can be grouped into four categories and potential action : * Risk avoidance * Risk reduction * Risk transfer * Risk retention Corporate management, often referred to as corporate strategy, is concerned with ensuring corporate survival and increasing its value not just in financial terms but also by variables such as market share, reputation and brand perceptions. Thus the scope of corporate risk management is wide ranged to support the corporate strategy. A senior corporate manager owns the process and has the staff to resource the analysis and administrative activities. A board member champions the process ensuring access to information and resources. A core group of corporate broad members and strategic business unit executives can draw additional input from stakeholders such as shareholder representatives, representatives from major customers, partners and suppliers and external experts. At the corporate level a corporate strategy plan is often produced. The plan objectives are: * Create and maintain a strategy that achieves the corporate intent, corporate commitments and expectations of the customers, shareholders and other stakeholders. * Incorporate and maintain the commitments and the requirements of business sectors, specifically strategic business units and process owners that support the strategic direction. * Communicate the strategic direction and relevant objectives and target to each strategic business unit. * Manage strategic change to maintain or gain competitive advantage. The risk management process can be viewed as the application of traditional management techniques to a particular problem. Risk management is a continous loop rather than a linear process so that, as an investment or project processes, a cycle of identification, analysis, control and reporting of risks is continuously undertaken. Steps in the risk management process include: * setting risk-return goals, * identification and evaluation of the causes of potential expense or revenue fluctuation, * choice and balance of loss control and loss finance tools, and * implementation, monitoring and review. There are many opinions about those processes. For example Chapman and Ward believe that there are eight phases in the risk management process. Each phases is associated with broadly defined deliverabe, and each deliverable is discussed in terms of its purpose and the tasks required to produce it. Phases and deliverable structures: * Define : the purpose of this phase is to consolidate any relevant existing information about the project, and to fill in any gaps uncovered in the consolidation process. * Focus : the purpose of this phase is to look for and develop a strategic plan for the risk management process, and to plan the risk management process at an operational level. * Identify : the purpose of this phase is to identify where risk may arise, to identify what might be done about the risk in proactive and reactive terms, and to identify what might go wrong with the responses. Here, all the risks and responses should be identified, with threats and opportunitiess classified, characterised, documented, veified and reported. * Structure : the purpose of this phase is to test the simplified assumptions, and to provide a more complex structure when appropriate. Benefits here include a clear understanding of the implications of any important simplifying assumptions about relationships between risks, responses and base plan activities. * Ownership : at this phase client/contractor allocation of ownership and management of risk and responses occur, such as the allocation of client risks to named individuals, and the approval of contractor allocations. Here, clear ownership and allocations arise; the allocations are effectively and efficiently defined and legally enforceable in practice where appropriate. * Estimate : this phase identifies areas of clear significant uncertainty and areas of possible significant uncertainty. This acts as a basis for understanding which risks and responses are important. * Evaluate : at this stage synthesis and evaluation of the results of the estimation phase occurs. Diagnosis of all important difficulties and comparative analysis of the implication of responses to these difficulties should take place, together with specific deliverables like a prioritised list of risks or a comparison of the base plan and contingency plans with possible difficulties and revised plans. * Plan : at this pase the project plan is ready for implementation. The main processes involved in project risk management are: * risk identification, risk quantification and analysis, * risk response, selection of risk response options, * outputs from the risk response process, * outputs from the risk response process, * risk management within the project life cycle, * the tasks and benefits of risk management, * the beneficiares of risk management. Risk identification consists of determining which risks are likely to affect the project and documenting the characteristics of each one. Risk identification should adress both the internal and the external risks. The primary sources of risk which have the potential to cause a major effect on the project should also be determined and classified according to their impact on project cost, time schedules and project objectives. Inputs and outputs of the Risk Identification Process . Inputs to risk identification are given as product or service description; other planning outputs (work breakdown structure, cost and time estimates, specification requirements) historical information. Outputs to risk identification are sources of risk; potential risk events; risk symptoms; imputs to other processes. After identification risks should be ’validated’, for instance, the information on which they are based and the accuracy of the description of their characteristics should be checked. The purpose of risk identification is to identify and the project or service components, the inherent risks in the project or service, to capture the most significant participants in risk management and to provide the basis for subsequent management, to stabilise the groundwork by providing all the necessary information to conduct risk analysis. Risk quantification and analysis involves evaluating risks and risk interactions to assess the range of possible outcomes. It is primarily concerned with determing which risk events warrant a response. A number of tools and techniques are available for the use of risk analysis and quantification and the analysis process. Risk response involves defining enhancement steps for opportunities and responses to threats. Â  Risk avoidance involves the removal of a particular threat. This may be either by eliminating the source of the risk within a project or by avoiding projects or business entities which have exposure to the risk. Since the significance of a risk is related to both its probability of occurence and its effect on the project outcome if it does occur, risk reduction may involve either lowering its probability or lessening its impact ( or both ). Projects may be seen as investment packages with associated risks and returns. Since a typical project or business involves numerous stakeholders, it follows that each should ’own’ a proportion of the risk available in order to elicit a return. Basically, risk transfer is the process of transferring risk to another participant in the project. Transferring risk does not eliminate or reduce the criticality of the risk, but merely leaves it for others to bear the risk. Risk Retention .Risks may be retained intentionally or unintentionally. The latter occurs as a result of failure of either or both of the first two phases of the risk management process, these being risk identification and risk analysis. If a risk is not identified or if its potential consequences are underestimated, then the organisation is unlikely to avoid or reduce it consciously or transfer it adequately. Corporate risk refers to the liabilities and dangers that a corporation faces. Risk management is a set of procedures that minimizes risks and costs for businesses. The job of a corporate risk management department is to identify potential sources of trouble, analyze them, and take the necessary steps to prevent losses There are several steps in any risk management process. The department must identify and measure the exposure to loss, select alternatives to that loss, implement a solution, and monitor the results of their solution. The goal of a risk management team is to protect and ultimately enhance the value of a company. With corporations, financial risks are the biggest concern. Just as with standard insurance policies for physical damage, some financial risks can be transferred to other parties. Derivatives are the primary way that corporate risk is transferred. A derivative is a financial contract that has a value based on, or derived from, something else. These other things can be stocks and commodities, interest and exchange rates or even the weather when applicable. The three main types of derivatives that corporate riskmanagers use are futures, options, and swaps. Corporate risk is especially prominent during difficult times in the economy. Risk management teams will take less chances when the economy is less forgiving. They will do everything necessary to avoid additional risks, which in some cases can contribute to a decrease in credit availability and less overall spending. * Corporate Risk Management ,second edition, Tony Merna Faisal Thani 2008 * Analysis Evaluation,second edition, Neil Cowan 2005 * http://www.decs.sa.gov.au/docs/documents/1/DecsRiskManagementFramewo.pdf * http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-corporate-risk.htm

Java Multithreaded Genetic Algorithm In Solving Computer Science Essay

Java Multithreaded Genetic Algorithm In Solving Computer Science Essay Time table problem is a kind of scheduling problems with many variations. It defines a class of hard-to-solve constrained optimization problems of combinatorial nature (Bhaduri, 2009, p.289). Constraints are the rules that control the schedule process and it not necessarily be satisfied but for certain constraints, it may be inviolable for the problem. Based on the constrains, sometime the scheduling problem may also facing the problem that it only be to obtain a feasible solution but all feasible solution have equal cost. Furthermore, the time table problem (TTP) also is an NP-hard problem and by conventional methods, it is very hard to solve (Even cited in Verma, 2012, p.919).The timetable problem can be of few kinds. E.g. for the transportation purpose, educational institutes, or a hospital roster for nurses. This project is considers a time table in educational, especially for the case of a School (Sapru et al, 2010, p.1). In recent years, interest in meta-heuristic approaches such as simulated annealing, tabu search and genetic algorithms (for school timetabling) has increased due to the ability of these approaches to generate solutions to solving TTP. (Schaerf, 1999, pp.87-127 and Burke et al, 2002, pp.266-280). Solving the real world school timetable problem manually often need a lot of time and resources. In order to handle the problem, many researches in this area has been invested over the year, the automated school timetabling is one of the part or idea in this area for those researches. It is a task that can save a lot of man-hours work. However it is difficult tasks faced by educational institutions. For example, it involves the allocation and distribution of resources to different tasks subjected to different constraints (Verma, 2012, p.919). Those are including of teachers, rooms, classes at a fixed number of available time slots and subjects. The constraints in School Time Table problem are: Certain room (computer lab, music room) cannot have more than one class in a given time slot. No class can have more than one subject in a given time slot. The number of classes per week is a fixed number for each subject, and this number must be met by the prepared schedule. Genetic algorithm (GA) have been used for solving timetable problem since 1990(Bhaduri cited in Bhaduri, 2009, p.289). The GA has global optimization strategy which can avoid falling into local optimum and it also is one kind of the iterative adaptive heuristic probabilistic searching algorithm (Yunfeng Dong, 2011, p.3703). besides that , GA also is the widespread algorithm for the timetable problem(TTP).The main reason for widespread of GA uses are GA do not require a continuous data set or objective function; they also require no gradient or other information (Sapru et al., 2010, p.2). In this project, we attempt to compare the results in time table solving based on the GA with java multithreaded and the GA without java multithreaded. An objective of this study is to prove that java multithreaded optimize the GA in solving school time table problem. Literature Review Genetic algorithm (GA) Li et.al. (2010, p.21) using the genetic algorithm to solve the university test timetable problem, from the experiment result show that the genetic algorithm able to get the optimal solution. However, the examination place is not in a big situation, so it only can guarantee obtains the overall situation optimal solution in the two number random situation. Yunfeng Dong et.al. (2011, p.3705) describe a new algorithm for scheduling system, it is genetic search algorithm . Traditional genetic algorithm has shortcomings of early convergence and variation problem . Genetic search algorithm is an algorithm that makes the improvement based on the genetic algorithm merit . It use partially matched crossover to solve the early convergence problem and the Tabu search algorithm concept instead of using mutation operator to solve the variation problem. A test for solving school time tabling between genetic algorithm, simulated annealing and genetic search algorithm, can be found in the paper .From the test, the time complexity of genetic search algorithm is the most optimal, compare to other .However, the test is only set the population size is 50 and genetic generation is 50 .The next experiment in the paper for the genetic search algorithm also can find out that more genetic generation, consuming more time for the genetic search algorithm . Whil e the genetic generation is increasing , the result is not so optimal compare to the performance in test. In Sheung et.al. (1993, p.448) , a comparison between the results produced by the GA-based (Genetic Algorithm) and the SA-based (Simulated Annealing) time table optimizer was found. From the result (figure 5) , find that the SA-based time table optimizer is better than GA-based time table optimizer , that is because the comparison only until generation is 50.But from the figure 6 , can find that the convergence curve of GA looks more stable and smooth for the larger population. Sheung et.al. (1993, p.448)- figure 5 Sheung et.al. (1993, p.448)- figure 6 Project Scope and Objectives In the title of the project, we find that this project is solving the school timetable problem based on the genetic algorithm (GA) with java multithreaded. By using java multithreaded, it will solve the problem of the speed of generate school timetable based on GA. The speed will faster than the GA without using java multithreaded. 3.1 Project Scope The scope of this project is the systems that generating the school timetable by the GA with java multithreaded and the GA without java multithreaded. The following details will describe the functions that both timetabling system will perform. The systems should be able to generate timetable for students and teachers. The systems should be able to let the students and teachers view their timetable online at anytime. The systems should be able to let teachers to check availability of the lab and book the lab online at any time. The systems should be able to let the officer in charged to add, modify, and delete teachers detail at any time. The systems should be able to provide a user friendly interface for users to use it. The system should be able to provide a simple and nice timetable interface for users to view. 3.2 Project Objectives Based on the project scope, the projects objectives are the proposed idea are: Main Objective Enhance the genetic algorithm (GA) in solving the school timetable problem by using multithreaded programming. The system will apply GA concept into the time tabling procedures to get the result and using the multithreaded programming to increase the speed of generate time table schedule. Sub-Objective To optimize the use of time. The time of generate the school timetable will be decrease. To save workload of the officer in changed and teacher. The system will perform time tabling automatically rather than the officer need to manually schedule the timetable. The system able to let teachers to check availability of the class room and book the class room online. 3.3 Conclusion The system able fully utilize processors to using genetic algorithms (GA) generate the time table schedule faster without changing the concept of GA .That is the innovation of this project compare with other. Methods/Technologies Involved 4.1 Methods GENETIC ALGORITHM (GA) Genetic algorithm (GA) is an optimization and search technique based on the principles of genetics and natural selection.GA uses the concept of genetic recombination of parent chromosomes for traits sharing among their offspring, mutation to bring change among the offspring and survival of the fittest for the population to evolve [17,18]. In this project, the system apply GA concept into the time tabling procedures to get the result (time table schedule). MULTITHREADED PROGRAMMING Sometimes a lightweight process refers by a thread; multithreaded programming allows multiple threads to exist within the context of a single process. These threads execute independently but share the same processà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ resources. So, multithreaded program able to operate faster, if that computer system for the program has multiple CPUs or CPUs with multi cores. Java multithreaded is one of the multithreaded programming. The advantages of java multithreaded are given below: Processors are fully utilized. Threads share the same address space. Context-switching between threads is normally inexpensive. Not have as much OS overhead. In this project, the system using the multithreaded programming to increase the speed of generate time table schedule. 4.2 Technologies Involved Notebook (Window) with multi core: writing Java Language and running the system Java Platform, Enterprise Edition (Java EE): Developing time tabling system 4.3 Project Methodology The development method that will use for this project is incremental development, because the functions will be implementing in order the rank of according to ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s important in the project and release the latest version from time-to-time until the final version. C:UsersmirroDownloadsincremental.PNG

Techniques of Team Building for Organizational Development

Techniques of Team Building for Organizational Development Abstract In organizational development the team building process can benefit the corporation by grouping people together with common skills and providing them with a clear and concise mission and common goal. Team building is also a function that does not end when the team comes together, but is an ongoing process that runs throughout the project. Teams are a necessary part of organizations and will be important far into the future. The knowledge of team cultures and dynamics can be an invaluable tool for organizations. Techniques of Team Building for Organizational Development A Review of Forming and Managing Teams within an Organization A team is a small number of people with complementary skills, who are committed to a common purpose, set of performance goals and approach for which they hold themselves mutually accountable (Gordon p. 489). Teams are also described as groups of two or more people who interact and influence each other, are mutually accountable for achieving common goals associated with organizational objectives, and perceive themselves as a social entity within an organization (McShane 2010, p. 234). Since the beginning of time there have been teams such as hunting teams, where each member of the team has a specific task, but the overall goal for the team was to kill an animal for food. When man began building large structures there were work teams that would be in charge of producing the stones for the structure, work teams that would be in charge of moving the stones from the quarry to the structures construction site, and work teams that constructed the structure. The purpose of building teams is to allow employees to participate in the planning problem-solving and decision-making to better produce products and provide services. When companies grow they become more complex, therefore having groups or teams within the company allows the company to perform tasks more efficiently and effectively. An example of this can be seen in the automotive industry. Small car companies can have as few as seven employees performing specific skills to produce one vehicle at a time. Over time if this company is successful and begins to grow it will need to hire more employees. These employees will need to be placed into teams with each team performing a certain task or group of tasks in a certain area such as a body shop, and engine shop, a chassis shop, or an interior shop. Each shop has a group of employees that specialize in a particular area in the company that is necessary to produce the product. When the company was small one person could build an engine in a day for one car, but as the company grew more people are required to build more engines for more cars each day. There are various different types of teams: work teams, project and development teams, parallel teams, management teams, transitional teams, virtual teams, and self-managed teams. Work teams perform operations like manufacturing, assembling, selling, or providing services (Gordon p. 490). Work teams are the most common type of teams because theyre the most basic. Project and development teams work on projects that take a long time and they have specific tasks such as research and development. The teams new members usually contribute expert knowledge and judgment to the project, so they must be trained in that particular area for the work that is being performed. These teams work on one project and then disband when it is completed. Parallel teams are made up of individuals who are picked from various different teams in the organization and brought together to work outside the organization temporarily. Parallel teams are different in that they are formed to produce a product or service that is not normally done within the organization. Management teams provide direction to and work within, to other teams under their leadership. Management teams are a group of managers responsible for different subunits were together form a team and establish should take a direction and manage the companys overall performance. Transnational teams have members in multiple countries and are different from other work teams because they are multicultural and geographically dispersed. Also transnational teams also tend to be virtual teams. A virtual team has members that are not located in the same location. They communicate through e-mail, telephone, or with a teleconference system. Virtual teams created difficult challenges because of the way they operate and communicate. Virtual teams are usually made up of self-managing professionals. Some of them are made up of individuals that are trained to do all or most the jobs for specific task and have no supervision. Usually, as with virtual teams, self managed teams make the decisions that are usually made by their supervisors. There are advantages and disadvantages of forming teams. Early studies have shown that under the right conditions teams make better decisions, develop better products and services, and create a more engaged workforce than do employees working alone (McShane p. 237). Most teams create an environment that promotes communication, motivation, and better work ethics. Most employees prefer to work in teams because it gives them a sense of belonging. The motivation to work can be strong when the team is part of the employees social identity and by being accountable to their team members who watches their performance and quality of work more than their supervisor would. The drawbacks of developing teams is that the teams take a lot of energy and resources to develop and that some of the members of the team may not be trained to the level of skills that are required to be at to perform the certain task asked of them. Another disadvantage of developing teams is that adding new members to an ex isting team may drawdown the process and quality of work performed by the team. Source: Retrieved from PM: Program Manager (Online) July August 2002 Issue p. 79 There are five stages of team development; they are forming, storming, norming, performing, and adjoining. Forming is when the members get acquainted with each other and figure out the benefits of staying in the team. During this stage the members learn about the evolving culture within the team and the social boundaries in its environment. The storming stage is when the members become more comfortable in the team that they begin to test the boundaries and become more competitive with each other. During this stage norms of appropriate behavior are established. Norms are the shared rules and expectations that are established to regulate the behaviors that are important to the members of the team. The norming stage is when the team members come together and gain trust within the team. As objectives are established the team members begin to form a consensus on the goals. During the performing stage the team member are resolving conflicts by themselves. The members adjust to changes in the environment easier than at any other time. The adjourning stage comes at the completion of the project, the members disband and move on to other projects and teams or as an old team they take on a new project and start the process all over again. Teambuilding is an ongoing process, even though the team is formed, the process of maintaining the team goes on throughout the project. The most important property of a team is cohesiveness. Cohesiveness is the degree to which a group is attractive to its members, members are motivated to remain in the group, and the members influence one another (Gordon 2010 p. 501). The two reasons why cohesiveness is important in the team is first, it contributes to the member satisfaction and second, cohesiveness has a major impact on the teams performance. An organizational planner may be called on by company to assist them in developing or managing their teams. To be successful in this you need to know about personal behaviors, team dynamics, and about the individual roles within a team. When constructing teams it is best to select team members who are trained to perform the required roles necessary for that job so they may become effective contributors to the team. There are two roles that must be performed within the team, first the team specialist is a role that is filled by an individual who has a particular job-related ski ll and ability, secondly the team maintenance specialists develop and maintain harmony within the team by boosting morale, giving support, providing humor, soothing hurt feelings, and generally exhibiting a concern with team members well-being. The most important facet for team effectiveness that an organization must know is that to enable the teams productivity and cohesiveness the members must have a clear and concise knowledge of what tasks and duties they are responsible for. As a team performs a job, the individuals within the team perform specific tasks the culmination of these tasks make up the jobs at the team is responsible for. Allowing team members to be involved with the leadership and decision-making process will also motivate them toward superior performance as well as assisting them in the understanding of what they are required to perform through clear communication. Being able to identify performance norms allows for adjustments in the team to achieve optimal output and member satisfaction. In an article about building a better team Kevin Mehok stated: Picking the right players is critical to building a solid team. There are so many aspects of this process. You need to have the right people for the right job (2010 p. 2). The following chart displays the high and low cohesiveness versus the high and low performance norms. (High cohesiveness and low performance norms shows that there is high goal attainment based on the groups perspective but there is a low task performance based on managements perspective. Source: retrieved from, /imagecache/book/28776/fwk-bauer-fig09_004.jpg>. Low cohesiveness and low performance shows that there is poor goal attainment and poor task performance. With high cohesiveness and high performance norms there is a high goal attainment and a high task performance whereas with the low cohesiveness and high performance norms there is moderate goal attainment and task performance. Non-cohesive groups with high performance norms can be effective from the companys standpoint; however they wont be as productive as they would be if they were more cohesive (Gordon 2010 p. 502). Being able to understand the teams cultural environment makes it easier to make adjustments if necessary to enhance the teams cohesiveness. Some of the cultural environments are the clan, adhocracy, market, and hierarchy. A summary of the Hawthorn White Paper (2009) described the four different cultures as in a clan when the members identify with the group like they would a family where the emphasis is on team and teamwork and the members are loyal and friendly. Adhocracy is when the members have a large amount of independence with an emphasis on developing cutting-edge products and services. Hierarchy is where tradition and formality are dominant values and the emphasis is on stability, rules, and efficient processes. Market is where the members are competitive, hard-working, and demanding with the emphasis on productivity and beating the competition. Teams that are operating effectively and efficiently can identify problems faster. This allows the members to feel more confident in the decision making process. Having confident team members also reduces constructive conflict. When building an effective team there are a few activities that can be performed to boost morale, communication, and trust, along with having a lot of fun. Activities can range anywhere from a simple 10 minute exercise to a week long adventure. Measuring how effective such one-time activities are in changing a culture is difficult, so team building now employs more subtle methods to break down mistrust, inadequate leadership, and weak communication among employees (Laff 2006 p. 1). The greatest effect of these activities is the members are awakened by the obstacles of working with others, this comes out at the end of the exercise when they discuss there experience with each other. Usually a company will hire someone to facilitate these team building activities. One of the activities is that Alan Chapman (2010) posted on his web site that a developer can facilitate. It is an experiment to explore the brains capability to estimate scale. Using sticky notes have the team members mark a distance of ten feet on the floor, a height of three feet on a wall, and a distance of one yard on a table. They must do this without a measuring device. Review the activities as appropriate for your purposes, points for example: What surprises did we find? What clues are there to peoples different abilities? What differences are there in guessing different types of scale? What creative methods were used in measuring? How does the brain guess something? In work/life how do we decide when to guess and when to measure, and are these the best criteria? How can we make our guessing more reliable? (If exercises are performed in teams) are team guesses more reliable than individual guesses? What merit is there in the Wisdom of Crowds in guessing and making intuitive judgments? At the end of the exercise the facilitator will provide an assessment of the effectiveness that the activities provided the organization along with possible follow up events to maintain team cohesiveness. Have a facilitator draw out the dynamics using the Socratic Method of learning to tie together what happens in the office setting with what the members just experienced. Also remember to remind participants that they are not at the office, many of the activities still contain some form of gaming (Laff 2006, p. 1). Training team members to operate in the environment around them and not to hide from it, ignore it, and to not fight it will further enhance their efficiency in the team. May organizations are looking to streamline their operations, one of the tools they can turn to is hiring team building facilitators to perform exercises and give feedback. Of all of the functions an organizational developer performs to analyze, troubleshoot, and coach an organization toward their optimal output, team building is one of the most effective.

Education Philosophy Essay -- Educating Educational Teacher Teaching E

Education Philosophy The purpose of public education is to enable students to be contributing members of society. Without it, the world would not be as we know it today in a very intelligent and complex society. Education is important in very many ways, probably too many to be listed. But I believe that among all other things that it allows students, by being educated, to live their lives in a way in which they can be successful in whatever they do. By learning about the trials and errors of those who came before us permits students to make well thought out decisions later on in their life. I personally hope to be able to better my students' lives by educating them about the overall curriculum and standards brought about today and also relating the curriculum to real life situations that they might one day take part in. I hope that my students will understand that it is necessary to complete their assignments and get an education in order to have a happy and successful life. Because using the same routine day after day can cause a loss of interest in students, I will be flexible in my ways of teaching. I will try to use many different types of learning techniques such as group work. As far as discipline in the classroom I plan on being a teacher that when a student breaks the rules he/she will be punished for it accordingly. I believe that by doing this it will help them once they are in the real world. Hopefully I will be able to install that there...

International Court Of Justice :: essays research papers fc

Overview   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The issue of international terrorism is one that has engulfed the global community. With terrorism on the increase, we have seen that its importance has increased. Whether domestic or international in nature, terrorism is having an ever-increasing impact upon the international community. The United States has fallen victim to acts of terrorism recently, most notably the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, OK, and the 1998 bombings of U.S. Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. Upon investigation, it was revealed that the embassy bombings were linked to Osama Bin Laden, a former Saudi Arabian National whose excessive bank accounts fund a worldwide terrorist operation.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Further investigation revealed that Bin Laden was living in Afghanistan in a camp protected by his own 200-man private army and a sub-unit of the Taliban, a quasi-religious organization operating within Afghanistan’s borders (MSNBC, 10/12/99). The United States, backed by other nations who have had terrorist attacks related to Bin Laden, appealed to the United Nations Security Council to call for the extradition of Osama Bin Laden for trial.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In response to the request, the United Nations Security Council unanimously adopted resolution 1267 on October 15, 1999. The resolution called for sanctions to be placed on Afghanistan effective November 14, 1999 unless the Taliban turned over suspected terrorist Osama Bin Laden to the appropriate authorities. Bin Laden is currently a suspect in financing terrorist activities in nation-states such as Algeria, Jordan, Egypt, Israel, Kenya, and even the United States of America. Worldwide intelligence networks have been attempting to maintain constant surveillance of him in order to help deter further acts. However, he is still free, protected by the Taliban, who share many of the same fundamentalist beliefs with him.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  International Law has established several procedures for the extradition and trial of international terrorists. Currently, there are eleven documents of international law, which address the issue states’ responsibility for combating terrorism (USIA, Feb. 1999). Bearing in mind the precedence established in international law as well as the nature of these activities that have been associated with Osama Bin Laden, it is appropriate to impose sanctions upon the Taliban for the surrender of Osama Bin Laden to the proper authorities. I.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  History of International Terrorism   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  International terrorism has changed in structure and design over the centuries. Jewish zealots conducted campaigns against the Romans in the first century AD, and the Hashshashin, a Shi’ah Muslim group who gave us the word assassin, systematically murdered those in positions and leadership during the 19th century (CSIS, July 1999).

Michael Collins’

Between the white knuckle intensity, the bombastic array of explosions, the sinister factionalism and the multitude of conspiratorial machinations, director Neil Jordan’s Michael Collins comes off like political history re-imagined in the vein of the gangster film. As an ambitious attempt to chronicle the life and times of one of the most important figures in Ireland’s violent struggles for independence from the British Empire, it is intelligently well-made. But it is also problematic, because it makes an obscure political struggle even more obscure by trivializing it in the way that much of historical cinema has trivialized history: emphasizing the emotional highs and lows of its protagonists at the expense of the events it uses as its foundation. Considering that Michael Collins’ epochal content is fundamentally tied to present day conflicts, namely the seemingly endless one in Northern Ireland, this is rather troubling. Collins is credited with inventing guerilla warfare, and bringing world attention to the Irish cause by forcing the English to cede authority in certain parts of his native soil and initiating a movement for an independent Irish republic. Having seen many historical dramas before, I immediately assumed that Jordan was going to spend the entire length of the film demonstrating Collins’ greatness. I was pleasantly surprised to see that while Jordan does question some of Collins’ character attributes and decisions, he fashions a historical account that somehow absolves Collins of the present state of Ireland. Jordan presents Collins, played with hearty vigor by Academy Award nominee Liam Neeson, glowing from the residual acclaim of Schindler’s List, as a patriot whose dedication to the annihilation of British rule in Ireland was compromised by the people around him. The film opens with a terrible bombardment by the English upon Irish freedom fighters, which establishes the unforgiving demand of obedience that the English crown maintained without any pretense of subtlety. Some years later, one of them named Collins is released from jail, whereupon he proceeds to give impassioned speeches as the self-dubbed Minister of Mayhem. Collins argues that the disastrous defeat in 1916 proves that a straightforward battle against the occupying British presence is an invitation to defeat. He proposes that they plant bombs to deliver unobstructed carnage to those who would oppose Irish independence. The film plays this up as an action of last resort in which Collins and his men have been forced to use violence because of the unyielding nature of the anti-independents. Yet despite to airing this sentiment frequently to his best friend/confidant/rival Harry Boland (as played by Aidan Quinn), Collins has no qualms about using the intelligence offered by a sympathetic copper played by the downtrodden hangdog face of The Crying Game’s Stephen Rea. The escalating acts of violence put the British in the uncomfortable position of acceding to negotiations, and former Republic president Eamon de Valera, as portrayed with vague menace by versatile character actor Alan Rickman, delegates Collins as a representative on his behalf. Collins recognizes his own shortcomings as a politico: the best he could negotiate was self-governance for South Ireland with allegiance to the Crown still in place. It is this halfway point of reconciliation between Ireland and the Crown that Collins argues is the best attainable agreement of the time. De Valera proceeds to disassociate himself from Collins, while Collins has a falling out with Boland, and the upset leads to civil war. Eventually, Collins dies at the hands of an assassin, which Jordan implies to have been approved by De Valera. Jordan’s Collins ultimately comes off as a violent underdog who repackages himself as a liaison between his countrymen and the occupying forces, trading in the downtrodden charisma of a scruffy brown coat with the sharp glamour of a well pressed uniform, not unlike a German officer who approves of Hitler because of the blessings in his life under Nazism. This isn’t to say that Collins was some kind of fascist, but that his frequently celebrated talents for political expedience still fall short under the lens of critical examination. After all, his agitator’s approach to moving the Irish cause forward still hasn’t brought peace today. In the meantime, conventional history writes De Valera off as a duplicitous sell out, and Jordan doesn’t attempt to challenge that view, choosing instead to portray Collins as a heroic patriot. This strikes me as strange, since Collins is the man who initiated violence and then insisted that violence must stop, leaving us with a rather ambiguous and maybe ambivalent definition of what heroism and patriotism is.       Michael Collins This oft-quoted statement is a testament as to how diverse a society’s perception of historical figures can be. Different world leaders, especially revolutionaries are often portrayed in different respects, according to the ideological prism one uses to analyze the life of the world’s greatest men and women. Mao Zedong, for example, will always be remembered by the majority of the Chinese population who lived through the years prior to the 1949 Chinese revolution as the leader of a people’s movement that liberated Chinese society from a semi-feudal and semi-colonial system ruled by bourgeois compradors and big landowners under the auspices of foreign imperialism. He is also remembered by some sections of Chinese society as a ruthless dictator who insisted on an experimental utopian social system that led to the deaths of millions of his people due to hunger and famine. In contemporary history, on the other hand, Arab nationalists and anti-imperialists view the legacy of Saddam Hussein as a triumph of the repudiation of American intrusion into Arab soil, while American conservatives view his reign of terror as one of the most dastardly regimes the world has seen in the last fifty years. Nonetheless, it is this historical ambivalence that the life of Michael Collins as an Irish revolutionary shall be analyzed in this paper, especially on questions as to whether he can be considered a villain or a patriot. Michael Collins was an Irish revolutionary who fervently sought the independence of Ireland from the â€Å"illegal occupation† of England, and led one of the bloodiest armed struggles against the British Empire. Collins came to the fore during the Easter Rising, which was one of the first attempts for centuries of British rule that militant Irish republicans sought to win Irish independence by force of arms. It must be understood that the armed struggle which was started during the Easter Rising and continued on even by the Irish Republican Army until recent past was a reaction to the timid parliamentary politics that was being espoused by the Irish Parliamentary Party of John Redmond. This party was seen by many militant republicans led by Michael Collins as a capitulating force and utterly incapable of leading the Irish people in the path to independence. As such, the Easter Rising was hatched and implemented by throngs of Irish revolutionaries which sought to grab the reins of political power from the British in the lightning fashion of an urban insurrection by seizing buildings in Dublin and cordon-off the city to surmount a violent counter-attack from British security forces, notwithstanding guerilla attacks at British soldiers – a tactic that was mastered by Collins through his flying columns. As expected, the British forces soon after counter-attacked and they were decisively able to quell the rebellion in a week, with the leading members and cadres of the Irish republican movement arrested and even executed by the British.   This foolish tactic of political violence was premised on the theory that the bloodletting of the leaders and members of the republican movement would soon after inspire the struggle of a thousand-fold more people. While this tactic of violence had a definite shock-value both to the British Empire and the Irish public, it was very costly to the Irish republican cause because it lost much of its respected leaders, especially John Connolly, the head of the Irish armed socialist movement that inspired much of the forces to wage armed struggle against the British Empire. In all of these, and even to the events leading to the signing of the Peace treaty between the Ireland and England, Michael Collins can be considered a patriot as he knew at what historic moment the necessity of armed struggle beckons, alongside his other comrades in the Irish republican movement. By supporting the armed struggle, no matter how ill-advised their insurrectionary tactic was, Collins recognized that Irish political power and national sovereignty can never be attained by simply waging a peaceful parliamentary struggle against the British crown, as the Empire will never hand over sovereignty of rich Irish lands on a silver platter. Instead, it must be forcibly taken through violent means. Nonetheless, it is only in Collins’ role prior to the peace treaty that he can be considered a patriot as he capitulated to the might of the British Empire when he acceded to the treaty and abruptly ended hostilities between the warring nations. Many in the radical sections of the Irish Republican Army saw the signing of the treaty and Collin’s support for it as a betrayal of the Irish revolution, especially to the Irish martyrs who only wanted to witness an Ireland that had its people as its sovereign and not the English throne. For this, Collins was assassinated during the Irish Civil War, dying in the same violent manner as the armed struggle he valiantly espoused in the years after the Easter Rising. On the other hand, it can somehow be said that Collins model of political violence is comparable to the theory of armed struggle by Che Guevara, particularly his foco theory. Che Guevara believed that a single guerilla force, no matter how small, carrying out armed revolution in any country is capable of spreading like wildfire and inspiring the masses to join the revolution. Both of them believed in the necessity of guerilla warfare as the most effective tool at systematically reducing the strength of the enemy, especially an enemy with almost unlimited military resources fighting against a revolutionary movement with meager resources. It must also be said that both revolutionary leaders repudiated the grabbing of political power through an urban insurrection as it opened revolutionary movement and its supporters to the heavy weight of a counter-attack by enemy forces which might be utter detrimental to the revolutionary cause. In all of these, though, it must be reiterated that despite the faults and failures of Michael Collins, especially when he capitulated to British forces instead of seeing the Irish revolution to its fruition, his life as an Irish patriot and hero can never be discounted. He lived at a concrete historical moment which challenged him and many other Irishmen to stand up against a mighty empire and determine their own destiny as a people. Works Cited: Castaneda, J. (1998). Comandante: The life and death of Chà © Guevara. Vintage Publishing. Fox, R.M. (1943). The History of the Irish Citizen Army. Dublin: James Duffy &   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Co. Hopkinson, M. Green Against Green, the Irish Civil War, pp.83-87 Kostick, Conor & Collins. (2000). The Easter Rising. Dublin: O'Brien Press Townshend, C. (2005). Easter 1916: the Irish rebellion. London: Allen Lane.