What important contribution or contributions did this scholar make to Essay

What important contribution or contributions did this scholar make to the field of biblical studies - Essay Example The articles interconnect with apocryphal books, ancient and modern interpreters work, medieval work that laid the foundation for modern day ideologies, methods as well as movements that are key for biblical studies. The writer has minimized alteration of the original information as much as possible to maintain the authenticity of t6hje information in the bible. However, there has been addition of information to small extent which go beyond minor corrections. In this context, it has been observed that the book of Esther has additional text that comprises about nine sentences. These have formed the basis for the recent studies carried out on the book of Esther. Furthermore, the Song of Songs for instance, has thirty additional items to the bibliography causing some minor differences in the upcoming books and present day interpretations. Therefore the writer has laid a good foundation to modern day biblical studies and interpretations. it has been noted that the Deutronomical books in the old Testament has additional fascinating topics that focus on individual interpreters, modern approaches as well as theological topics that give immense inspiration. This has been based on the articles written or excerpted from the Dictionary of interpretations by John H. Hayes. Most biblical interpreters and writers emphasize and give particular attention to information obtained in the last two centuries. This marks a unifying factor towards the greatest interpreters. However, some interpreters subdivide their research and work to the different categories, namely: Early interpretation, which addresses the ancient Biblical information and how they formed basis for subsequent work. The second category is the early middle age. This follows the early middle age and borrows heavily from the earlier version. Thirdly, there is the twelfth century interpretation which laid the foundation for the other interpretations. Others are The scholastic period, the early modern period and

China Versus India Economic Growth Research Paper

China Versus India Economic Growth - Research Paper Example In terms of per capita GDP, India is way behind China with only $1124 compared to China’s $7518. (Runckel, 2002) China has a remarkably well developed infrastructural system. A number of prime factors that have developed a vast difference between the two countries’ economies, this include; labor development, manpower, water management, communication, healthcare services and facilities and also civic amenities (Zeng & Bigsten, 2006). All these key aspects become clearly defined in China, a nation that has placed positive impacts in the country's economy turning it to a leading in the world (Runckel, 2002). Although India has in the recent times grown and developed tremendously, it still faces problems such as unemployment, poverty, lack of civic amenities and many more. Unlike India, China has continued investing large amounts toward the development of manpower and strengthening of its infrastructure (Chow, 2001). Furthermore, in the sector of manufacturing, China is way ahead of India. In terms of world rankings, China is the third largest nation in manufacturing just behind America and Japan (InternationalMonetaryFund, 2006). India is at the distant 12th and this point out to the fact that its success in expanding the nation’s service industry is yet to be seen in the sector of manufacturing (Zeng & Bigsten, 2006). China was quick in embracing globalization and other open market economies. While the liberalization of India’s policies started in the early 1990s, China had by the mid 1980s welcomed Direct Foreign Investment and also private investment (Chow, 2001). This introduced a significant change in the country’s economy and its Gross Domestic Product increased considerably (Zeng & Bigsten, 2006) Nevertheless, India enjoys a large upper hand over China in the sector of IT/ BPO (Runckel, 2002). India’s documented earnings from the BPO sector in 2010 alone were $49.7 billion, while China’s earnings were $35.76 billion (InternationalMonetaryFund, 2006). In the world’s top ten BPO list, seven India cities feature prominently while only a single city from China is on the list (Runckel, 2002). Also, despite China being one of the Socialist countries, it started towards the match to liberalization of its economy way ahead of India. This strengthened its economy to a great deal (InternationalMonetaryFund, 2006). China is also lagging behind India in tax incentives. Its capital market lags behind India’s capital market in terms of transparency and predictability (Zeng & Bigsten, 2006). India’s stock market is highly transparent and predictable. India possesses Asia’s oldest stock exchange, The Bombay Stock Exchange. China is home to both Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchange (Zeng & Bigsten, 2006). As far as the issue of capitalization gets concerned, Bombay Stock Exchange is smaller than Shanghai Stock Exchange. Shanghai Stock Exchange holds $1.7 trillion with about 8 49 listed companies while Bombay Stock Exchange owns $1 trillion with close to 4833 listed companies (InternationalMonetaryFund, 2006).  In spite the size that makes the two different, BSE operates on the principles of global guidelines and is highly stable because of the quality of the listed corporations (Runckel, 2002). Over the years, both these two

John Rawls Theory Of Justice Philosophy Essay

John Rawls Theory Of Justice Philosophy Essay A Theory of Justice is Rawlss attempt to formulate a philosophy of justice and a theoretical program for establishing political structures designed to preserve social justice and individual liberty. Rawls writes in reaction to the then predominant theory of utilitarianism, which posits that justice is defined by that which provides the greatest good for the greatest number of people. Rawls proposes a theoretical person who, shrouded in a veil of ignorance, must design a just society without foreknowledge of his or her own status in that society. Rawls asserts that from this objective vantage point, which he calls the original position, the individual will choose a system of justice that adequately provides for those positioned on the lowest rungs of society. The individual will do so because he or she may end up in such a disadvantaged position and will want to be adequately provided for. Rawls draws from earlier theories of political philosophy that posit a social contract by which individuals implicitly agree to the terms on which they are governed in any society. Rawls concludes that such a social contract, formulated from the perspective of the original position, will guarantee a just society without sacrificing the happiness or liberty of any one individual. Rawls addresses issues of liberty, social equality, democracy, and the conflict of interests between the individual and society. A Theory of Justice Summary: Justice as Fairness In A Theory of Justice, Rawls begins with the statement that, Justice is the first virtue of social institution, meaning that a good society is one structured according to principals of justice. Rawls asserts that existing theories of justice, developed in the field of philosophy, are not adequate: My guiding aim is to work out A Theory of Justice that is a viable alternative to these doctrines which have long dominated our philosophical tradition. He calls his theory-aimed at formulating a conception of the basic structure of society in accordance with social justice-justice as fairness. Rawls sets forth to determine the essential principles of justice on which a good society may be based. He explains the importance of principles of justice for two key purposes: first, to provide a way of assigning rights and duties in the basic institutions of society; and secondly, to define the appropriate distribution of the benefits and burdens of society. He observes that, by his definition, well-ordered societies are rare due to the fact that what is just and unjust is usually in dispute. He further notes that a well-ordered and perfectly just society must be formulated in a way that addresses the problems of efficiency, coordination, and stability. Critique of Utilitarianism Throughout the twentieth century, the dominant philosophical theory of justice in Western philosophy was utilitarianism. Utilitarianism was first developed in the nineteenth century by the great utilitarians, whom Rawls lists as David Hume, Adam Smith, Jeremy Bentham, and John Stuart Mill. Utilitarianism essentially posits that a just society is one based on achieving the greatest good, or happiness, for the greatest number of people. However, many theorists have found this principle ultimately unsatisfactory because it implies that the  » Complete A Theory of Justice Summary Cited from: A Theory of Justice: Introduction. Nonfiction Classics for Students. Ed. Marie Rose Napierkowski. Vol. 3. Detroit: Gale, 1998. eNotes.com. January 2006. 6 September 2010. . A brief synopsis from Wikipedia: In A Theory of Justice, Rawls argues for a principled reconciliation of liberty and equality. Central to this effort is an account of the circumstances of justice (inspired by David Hume), and a fair choice situation (closer in spirit to Immanuel Kant) for parties facing such circumstances. Principles of justice are sought to guide the conduct of the parties. These parties face moderate scarcity, and they are neither naturally altruistic nor purely egoistic: they have ends which they seek to advance, but desire to advance them through cooperation with others on mutually acceptable terms. Rawls offers a model of a fair choice situation (the original position with its veil of ignorance) within which parties would hypothetically choose mutually acceptable principles of justice. Under such constraints, Rawls believes that parties would find his favored principles of justice to be especially attractive, winning out over varied alternatives, including utilitarian and libertarian accounts. In 1974, Rawls colleague at Harvard, Robert Nozick, published a defense of libertarian justice, Anarchy, State, and Utopia.[3] Because it is, in part, a reaction to A Theory of Justice, the two books are now often read together. Another Harvard colleague, Michael Walzer, wrote a defence of communitarian political philosophy, Spheres of Justice,[4] as a result of a seminar he co-taught with Nozick. In a related line of criticism, Michael Sandel (also a Harvard colleague) wrote Liberalism and the Limits of Justice,[5] which took Rawls to task for asking us to think about justice while divorcing ourselves from the very values and aspirations that define us. Sandels line of argument in part draws on critiques of Rawls advanced by both Charles Taylor and Alasdair MacIntyre who argue for the importance that moral ontologies have on ethical arguments.[6] Robert Paul Wolff wrote Understanding Rawls: A Critique and Reconstruction of A Theory of Justice[7] immediately following the publication of A Theory of Justice, which criticized Rawls from a roughly Marxist perspective. Wolff argues in this work that Rawls theory is an apology for the status quo insofar as it constructs justice from existing practice and forecloses the possibility that there may be problems of injustice embedded in capitalist social relations, private property or the market economy. Feminist critics of Rawls, such as Susan Moller Okin,[8] largely focused on the extent to which Rawls theory could account for (if at all) injustices and hierarchies embedded in familial relations. Rawls argued that justice ought only to apply to the basic structure of society. Feminists, rallying around the theme of the personal is political, took Rawls to task for failing to account for injustices found in patriarchal social relations and the gendered division of labor, especially in the household. The assumptions of the original position, and in particular, the use of maximin reasoning, have also been criticized (most notably by Kenneth Arrow[9] and John Harsanyi),[10] with the implication either that Rawls designed the original position to derive the two principles, or that an original position more faithful to its initial purpose would not lead to his favored principles. In reply Rawls has emphasized the role of the original position as a device of representation for making sense of the idea of a fair choice situation for free and equal citizens.[11] Rawls has also emphasized the relatively modest role that maximin plays in his argument: it is a useful heuristic rule of thumb given the curious features of choice behind the veil of ignorance.[12] Some egalitarian critics have raised concerns over Rawls emphasis on primary social goods. For instance, Amartya Sen has argued that we should attend not only to the distribution of primary goods, but also how effectively people are able to use those goods to pursue their ends.[13] In a related vein, Norman Daniels has wondered why healthcare shouldnt be treated as a primary good,[14] and some of his subsequent work has addressed this question, arguing for a right to health care within a broadly Rawlsian framework.[15] Philosopher Allan Bloom, a student of Leo Strauss, criticized Rawls for failing to account for the existence of natural right in his theory of justice, and wrote that Rawls absolutizes social union as the ultimate goal which would conventionalize everything into artifice.[16] Recent criticisms of Rawls theory have come from the philosopher G.A. Cohen. Cohens series of influential papers culminated first in his book, If Youre An Egalitarian, How Come Youre So Rich?[17] and then in his later work, Rescuing Justice and Equality. Cohens criticisms are leveled against Rawls avowal of inequality under the difference principle, against his application of the principle only to social institutions, and against Rawlsian fetishism with primary goods (again, the metric which Rawls chooses as his currency of equality). Philosopher and Nobel Prize-winning economist Amartya Sen, a former student of Rawls, critiques and attempts to revitalize A Theory of Justice in his 2009 book The Idea of Justice. He defends the basic notion of justice as fairness but attacks the notion that the two principles of justice emerging from the Original position are necessary. Sen claims that there are multiple possible outcomes of the reflective equilibrium behind the veil of ignorance. A Theory of Justice (1971), by John Rawls, is one of the most influential works in moral and political philosophy written in the twentieth century, according to Samuel Freeman in the Collected Papers of John Rawls (1999). A Theory of Justice is Rawlss attempt to formulate a philosophy of justice and a theoretical program for establishing political structures designed to preserve social justice and individual liberty. Rawls writes in reaction to the then predominant theory of utilitarianism, which posits that justice is defined by that which provides the greatest good for the greatest number of people. Rawls proposes a theoretical person who, shrouded in a veil of ignorance, must design a just society without foreknowledge of his or her own status in that society. Rawls asserts that from this objective vantage point, which he calls the original position, the individual will choose a system of justice that adequately provides for those positioned on the lowest rungs of society. The individual will do so because he or she may end up in such a disadvantaged position and will want to be adequately provided for. Rawls draws from earlier theories of political philosophy that posit a social contract by which individuals implicitly agree to the terms on which they are governed in any society. Rawls concludes that such a social contract, formulated from the perspective of the original position, will guarantee a just society without sacrificing the happiness or liberty of any one individual. Rawls addresses issues of liberty, social equality, democracy, and the conflict of interests between the individual and society. A Theory of Justice Summary Justice as Fairness In A Theory of Justice, Rawls begins with the statement that, Justice is the first virtue of social institution, meaning that a good society is one structured according to principals of justice. Rawls asserts that existing theories of justice, developed in the field of philosophy, are not adequate: My guiding aim is to work out A Theory of Justice that is a viable alternative to these doctrines which have long dominated our philosophical tradition. He calls his theory-aimed at formulating a conception of the basic structure of society in accordance with social justice-justice as fairness. Rawls sets forth to determine the essential principles of justice on which a good society may be based. He explains the importance of principles of justice for two key purposes: first, to provide a way of assigning rights and duties in the basic institutions of society; and secondly, to define the appropriate distribution of the benefits and burdens of society. He observes that, by his definition, well-ordered societies are rare due to the fact that what is just and unjust is usually in dispute. He further notes that a well-ordered and perfectly just society must be formulated in a way that addresses the problems of efficiency, coordination, and stability. Critique of Utilitarianism Throughout the twentieth century, the dominant philosophical theory of justice in Western philosophy was utilitarianism. Utilitarianism was first developed in the nineteenth century by the great utilitarians, whom Rawls lists as David Hume, Adam Smith, Jeremy Bentham, and John Stuart Mill. Utilitarianism essentially posits that a just society is one based on achieving the greatest good, or happiness, for the greatest number of people. However, many theorists have found this principle ultimately unsatisfactory because it implies that the  » Complete A Theory of Justice Summary I fondly recall arguing about Rawls theories in John Singers Values and Institutions class at Colgate, so it was interesting to finally try reading it.   It turns out, the revolution that Rawls created was based on a simple but totally specious change in the assumptions about human nature, and upon this rotten foundation he built up a shaky edifice to justify Liberal yearnings.   The book is reminiscent of a treatise by a Medieval scientist, working out the elaborate orbital patterns that planets would require if the Universe actually were geocentric. In order to accomplish his revolution, Rawls posited a counterintuitive and antihistorical starting point for the discussion of political theory. The great political philosophers, Hobbes, Locke, etc., had used the state of nature as the starting point for their theories.   In this state of nature, men were assumed to be completely self-centered and dedicated only to their own interests, with the result that life was nasty, brutish and short and only the strongest survived.   But gradually men tired of this blood sport and entered into a social contract wherein they surrendered some personal sovereignty to a central governing entity, which, in whatever form, would enforce a set of impartial laws in order to protect men from one another.   This is a pretty minimalist position, the social contract and the government that it creates serve only to provide a certain level of physical security, leaving men free to pursue their own fortunes and taking no interest in the degree to which they succeed.   But it conforms with our intuitive understanding of human nature, our observations of our fellow man and, most importantly, it has proven a workable basis for understanding politics for some 300 years. The essential change that Rawls made was to replace the State of Nature with his Original Position, wherein, when it came time for primordial man to enter into a social contract, because he would be ignorant of his own capacities (the veil of ignorance), he would pursue a low risk strategy and choose a social contract based on egalitarianism; he would seek the most equal distribution of wealth and power possible, just in case it turned out that he was the least fit of the species. If Rawls is right, if men acted on the assumption that they would be one of the ones left behind once the race of life begins, then the rest of his theory might be worth examining.   But, of course, this assumption runs counter to everything we understand about ourselves and our fellow human beings.   It is a fuzzy headed liberals view of the appropriate strategy for lifes losersmake political decisions on the basis of the likelihood that you are a loser and need help.  Ã‚   But look around a casino or a Lottery Ticket line and you will see that the losers think that they too are winners.   Look at polls about taxation levels and you find that the lower class does not want the upper class taxed too heavily, because they assume that they, or their children, are headed for that bracket eventually.  Ã‚   It turns out that people act very much as the great philosophers expected them to; they act out of naked self interest and the belief that they are capable and deserve whateve r they can achieve.   The justice that men seek is in fact little more than an impartial application of a set of laws that are fair to all, not an equal distribution of goods and power, which would necessarily impinge on the freedom of all. Rawls great error is to try to base his theory on a generalized yearning for happiness.   Rawls was seeking a positive definition of Mans aspiration in the original position, but the inevitable result, because we will all define happiness differently, is to create a foundational quagmire for his theories.   After all, you may define happiness as having a lot of stuff, but I may define it as spiritual enlightenment.  Ã‚   The classic understanding, basing the social contract on the avoidance of death, is obviously universal, we are all agreed that our own deaths are to be avoided, and, therefore, more sound.   . Finding the basic supposition that props up Rawls whole theory to be fundamentally incorrect, it behooves us little to examine the superstructure he seeks to construct upon this error.   Suffice it to say, no system of government has ever achieved a more equal distribution of wealth and power than has the American Constitutional Republic and it is based on the classic understanding of human nature found in Hobbes and Locke.   Nuff said. (Reviewed:) John Rawls is perhaps the most significant intellectual in philosophical ethics to have written in the past hundred years. It is nearly impossible to address ethics in contemporary philosophy without saying something about John Rawls. Central to his theory of justice are the concepts of fairness and equality from behind what he terms a veil of ignorance. Rawlss veil of ignorance is a component of the way people can construct society. He refers to an original position in which a person is attempting to determine a fair arrangement for society without any preconceived notions or prejudices. In this original position, people are behind what Rawls calls a Veil of Ignorance and do not know where they will fall in the social hierarchy in terms of race, class, sex, disability, and other relevant factors. Rawls is a Kantian liberal in that he believes that principles of justice should be universalizable, and so the only way to ensure that people will select fair principles of justice is to be certain that they do not know how the principles they select might affect them as individuals. A person behind the veil of ignorance does not know which side of a social contract he or she will be on, does not know his or her race, class, sex, or status in society. A person who does not know what privileges he or she will be born with (or without ) is, in Rawls view, more likely to construct a society that does not arbitrarily assign privilege based on characteristics that should have no bearing on what people get. Rawls believes that a society cannot be just without fairness and equalit y and believes this veil of ignorance both reveals the biases of In A Theory of Justice, Rawls attempts to make a rational study of social ethics by using reason to determine what a just society should look like and how a rational group of people would organize themselves. One major   topic of interest that Rawls presents is the veil of ignorance concept and its role in the creation of original position. Two further concepts of importance to the theory of a just society are the difference principle and the concept of individual liberty in society. Together, these three concepts provide a basis for the discussion and critique of Rawls theory and its implications for the pursuance of justice. current society and can help to prevent biases in establishing future social arrangements. In A Theory of Justice, Rawls attempts to make a rational study of social ethics by using reason to determine what a just society should look like and how a rational group of people would organize themselves. One major   topic of interest that Rawls presents is the veil of ignorance concept and its role in the creation of original position. Two further concepts of importance to the theory of a just society are the difference principle and the concept of individual liberty in society. Together, these three concepts provide a basis for the discussion and critique of Rawls theory and its implications for the pursuance of justice. Rawls method to justice as a theory proposes that principles of justice can be determined through the rational thinking of individuals shrouded by a veil of ignorance. In a purely hypothetical situation, the veil of ignorance creates an original position of equality in which persons under the veil have no knowledge of status, position in society, personal wealth or natural abilities. From behind the veil of ignorance, a rational, objective and disinterested group of people would choose a system of justice that ensures an equal distribution of rights and duties. The term reflective equilibrium was coined by John Rawls and popularized in his celebrated A Theory of Justice as a method for arriving at the content of the principles of justice. Abstract John Rawls Theory of Justice (1971) is the single most important philosophical work of the Left since Marx. Rawls A Theory of Justice can be understood as two theories addressing two different subjects. The split can also be seen textually. The first half of the book deals almost exclusively with the hypothetical theory of justice founded in the original position. The second half of the book addresses how actual institutions should operate given the findings of the initial theory. There are many instances, such as Rawls distinction between fair and formal equal opportunity, where Rawls claims that the purely speculative arguments of his theory can justify his claims concerning actual situations. However, as Sher argues, it is not necessarily the case that Rawls can make the connection. Rawls hypothetical theory can operate on its own. Rawls theory of just institutions is a stronger argument if he does not try and connect the two theories. The problem of desert is one example of how R awls theory of justice as fairness should be read as two theories. Rawls offers a theory of a just and well-ordered society which would distribute wealth, income, liberties, opportunities and positions of authority. He considers justice as fairness as a political -moral conception of justice. The principles of justice are two according to Ralws and these would justify a given body of social, moral and political ideas since they are congruent to our ferments convictions. Utilitarianism was first developed in the nineteenth century by the great utilitarians. Utilitarianism essentially posits that a just society is one based on achieving the greatest good, or happiness, for the greatest number of people. However, Rawls rejects Utilitarianism, for it fails to take into consideration, the distinction that exists between individuals. Since it aims at the greatest happiness and tries to maximize greatest welfare, it fails to secure individual rights. Rawls relies on the social contract tradition in its Kantian form to account for principles that would guide individuals noumenal selves, secure equal basic liberties to all and account for social values and community. In A Theory of Justice, Rawls begins with the statement that, Justice is the first virtue of social institution, meaning that a good society is one structured according to principals of justice. . Rawls asserts that existing theories of justice, developed in the field of philosophy, are not adequate: My guiding aim is to work out A Theory of Justice that is a viable alternative to these doctrines which have long dominated our philosophical tradition. He calls his theory-aimed at formulating a conception of the basic structure of society in accordance with social justice-justice as fairness. He claims that justice as fairness provides a practical political procedure, which satisfies the demand of modern democracies societies. Pluralism entailed by industrial societies is presumed to be the permanent features of modern democracies, which challenges the priority of philosophy over democracy. However, Rawls theory has received large scale attention by some well-known Academicians. Some of them have disagreed and challenged its basic assumptions. These critical appraisals, but, indicate the importance of his work if one wants to deliberate on problems of contemporary social and political theory. In this thesis will try to excavate the philosophical understanding of the Rawlsian theory of justice and also try to identify the philosophical shift in his position under the light of some of major critiques.

William Faulkners A Rose for Emily Essay -- Faulkner Rose Emily Essay

William Faulkner's A Rose for Emily I. Implied author of the story „A Rose for Emily†, a story of horror first published in 1930, is considered by many scholars one of the most authentic and the best narratives ever written by William Faulkner. It is a story of a woman, Emily Grierson, and her relationships with her father, the man she was in love with and the community of Jefferson, the town she lived in. While discussing any narrative text it is crucial to mention the implied author of a text. As Wayne C. Booth, the most famous follower of the Chicago School believed, it is possible and acceptable to â€Å"interpret and criticize the narrative worlds of literary works without stepping beyond the limits of the text and falling victim to a ‘fallacy’† , without confusing the narrator with the implied author. Even though the plot or characters may be clearly described in literary works, only by interpretation can their â€Å"intended nature† be determined and the concept of an implied author is the one to bring together both: description and interpretation. There are many variations of the concept of an implied author, however most of them usually come down to two suggestions: first, that the implied author is a nexus of values and norms in the textual world and second, that he selects and orders the elements of narrative texts . Thus, it may be said that throu gh the mentioned selection (of, for example, the narrator, the title, the symbols or the language of events) and ordering the implied author passes on the information which the implied reader needs for the interpretation of the text. In this way, every literary text, as in this case â€Å"A Rose for Emily†, becomes a form of communication between the writer and the reader. The aforementioned information may be passed in various ways, two of them being the structure of the narrative text and its title. The title of â€Å"A Rose for Emily† is ambiguous. As there are no roses in the story, it may be safely assumed that the title is purely symbolic, however the meaning of this particular symbol remains unclear for readers. The word â€Å"rose† brings to mind a flower of a deep red colour, beautiful, but always surrounded by thorns. Red colour may symbolize love and passion, but it is also the colour of hate and revenge. Therefore, the rose may be the symbol of Emily’s feelings, her passion towards Homer, her desperat... ...follow in her future life. Trying desperately to keep Homer by her side, she turned to the only effective method she could think of, murder. Unable to let go of the past, Emily could not accept any changes in her life and disregarded them with pride and confidence. For some people her defiance was the reason why they admired her, for others the reason to pity â€Å"the fallen monument†. Eventually, Miss Emily’s unshakeable insistence to live her life solely on her own terms, led to tragic consequences. Tragic, not only for Homer Barron, but for Miss Grierson’s psyche as well. To sum up, it need to be concluded that â€Å"A Rose for Emily† belongs to those fascinating narrative works, which offer the readers detailed studies of characters without providing them with all the necessary information in a too easy way. It is the readers task to discover subtle relations within the story, to link together certain circumstances and to create one, vivid picture of a woman and the society she lives in. In this way, â€Å"A Rose for Emily† indisputably becomes an exquisite feast for the mind, without any doubt deserving to be considered the best of the short stories ever written by William Faulkner.

Bossini Research

Company background Bossini International Holdings Limited is an investment holding company which engages in retail, distribution, and wholesale of garments. The investment holding company together with its subsidiaries (â€Å"Bossini†) group carries casual wear products for a wide spread age range from ladies', men’s, teenagers’, kids’ and babies' wear products. Bossini was listed in Stock Exchange of Hong Kong in 1993 with a stock code of 592. It was found in 1987 and launched its first retail outlet in 1987 and it expands its distribution network both locally and internationally in the past two decades. Currently, its distribution network contains more than 1,470 stores, approximate 65% of them are self managed stores and 35% of them are franchised stores, covering 36 countries and regions worldwide. With headquarter in Hong Kong, its market covers all over the world. Nevertheless, its core market is the Asia pacific region including Hong Kong, Mainland China, Taiwan, Singapore and Malaysia. Its largest flagship store is situated in Mong kok, Hong Kong. Milestone 1987:1st retail outlet opened in Hong Kong 1998:Launched franchising operation 1993:Listed in Hong Kong Stock Exchange 1st retail outlet opened in Mainland China 004:Launched a new product line, â€Å"Bossinistyle†, in Mainland China Present:Over 1470 stores around the world Branding Bossini’s brand value is â€Å"be happy† and it helps promote a positive and optimistic life attitude. The brand color is green and it represents a spirit of growth. Through the colorful products and outstanding customer se rvices, Bossini successfully cultivate a comfortable and feel like home shopping environment. There are mainly five product lines, â€Å"Bossini†, â€Å"Bossinistyle†, â€Å"Bossini ladies†, â€Å"Bossini kids† and â€Å"Yb† and the major ones are â€Å"Bossini† and â€Å"Bossinistyle†. Business Overview Major markets: The major markets for Bossini are Hong Kong, Mainland China, Taiwan and Singapore and they are in an order from the highest revenue contribution that covers over 98% of total revenue. The Hong Kong and Singapore markets contribute approximate 55% and 9% of the group’s total revenue respectively and they are quite stable. On the other hand, the Mainland China market keeps contributing more from 2008 to 2011 and it is increased from 19% (2008) to 25% (2011) that represents a 10% average yearly growth. For Taiwan market, the contribution decreases gradually from 14% (2008) to 11% (2011). The revenue contribution can be determined by various factors such as geographic economic performance diversity, geographic brand popularity, and resource allocation, opening more stores can bring in more sales. Therefore, we need to have other analysis to help investigate the cause the revenue contribution up and down. Presently, Hong Kong is still Bossini’s primary market and the major revenue contributor; however, the Mainland China market will be the key growth driver in the long run. Number of shops: The speed of opening new stores in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore is stable except the Mainland China. From 2008 to 2011, the direct managed stores has been jumped from 304 (2008) to 456 (2011). This represents a 14. 5% average yearly growth. It is one of the reasons to explain why the revenue contribution from the Mainland China keeps increasing. On the other, although the number of franchised stores also has a significant increase, from 391 (2008) to 521 (2011), the revenue from these stores is trivial comparing to the total revenue. Net sales per square feet: Even though Bossini has opened lots of stores in the Mainland China, the net sales per square feet in 2011 (HK$1,340/sq feet) is still lower than HK$1,500/sq feet in 2008. It implies that even more stores can bring in more sales to the group, but the marginal benefit is diminishing. The sales growth in the Mainland China cannot catch up the speed of opening new stores. There are many reasons to cause this happen and one of the reasons is some stores are competing each others. That means that geographic area might have too many Bossini stores. However, the management still needs to open more stores due to fierce competition by other brands. If Bossini slows its pace to expand, it might lose its business and the net sales per square feet is even worse. Nevertheless, the net sales per square feet in the Hong Kong market performed extraordinary well and it rises from HK$5,700 per square feet (2008) to HK$11,000 (2011). It is very important since Hong Kong is the one the cities with highest rental cost in the world and a strong sales per square feet can help reduce the pressure of high rental cost. Retail businesses are strongly affected by rental cost. Besides experiencing an upturn from the economic recovery, Bossini has adopted different business strategies focusing on branding and marketing initiatives. One of the best strategies is adopted is the co-branded licensing program. For example, Bossini teamed up with M&M’s, classic cartoon figure and TV show character to launch limited edition items and which can add value to Bossini’s products and boost up both its revenue and profit margin tremendously. These campaigns can also strengthen Bossini’s â€Å"be happy† brand value and enhance overall brand awareness. Financial summary Income statement: The Bossini’s gross profit increased 14% from HK$1,190 million in 2010 to HK$1,354 million in 2011 but the gross margin dropped a little from 52% in 2010 to 51% in 2011. It is slightly lower than the last year owing to the expansion for franchise businesses since the profit margin of them are usually low. From 2008 to 2010, the revenue is quite stable, approximate HK$2,290 million per year on average, and it boosts up in 2011 to HK$2,640 million. Due to global recession starting in late 2008, Bossini was doing quite well to maintain its revenue at HK$2. 3 billion and the honor is given to the right move to develop the Mainland China Market. China is one of the few countries that were being hit by the financial crisis the least and thus Bossini experienced a stable growth and strong domestic consumption in the Mainland China. When we take a look of the gross profit, its trend looks similar to the revenue. Nevertheless, when we take a look of the operating profit, it fluctuates more volatile during 2008 to 2011 comparing to revenue and gross profit because the selling & distribution cost and administrative expense are relatively fixed and usually it is hard to be cut even the revenue and gross profit drop. Overall, the revenue, gross profit and operating profit are extraordinary improved in 2011 due to the economy recovery in Asia pacific region. Balance sheet: Bossini’s current asset weights heavily on the total assets. Cash and cash equivalents, inventory and debtors and bill receivable all together represent 90% of the current assets. The level of cash and cash equivalents represents over 80% of the net current assets (i. e. current asset – current liability) which reflects that Bossini has a strong cash position and it does not has any short term liquidity issue. In general, Bossini is a financially healthy company. However, the high level of stock level makes me concern. The average yearly growth from 2008 to 2011 is 21. 5%. As we have discussed before, the revenue is quite stable from 2008 to 2010 and it is not a very good signal that the inventory level is kept rising. The inventory turnover day is 36 days in 2008 and is 57 days in 2011. In another word, it needs almost two months to clear all its stock on hand. Usually, apparel and fashion industry faced with short product life cycles and cannot afford such a long inventory turnover day. Such a high level of inventory might be caused by enormous product variety to meet different geographic preference. SWOT Strengths Overall business – Bossini is innovative and keen to adopt different business strategies on brand building and marketing initiatives such as adopting the co-branded licensing program. Financial – Bossini has a solid liquidity background that reserves enough resource for it to keep expanding the potential market in the Mainland China. Also, the robust improvement of sales per square feet in Hong Kong market helps reduce the pressure of expensive rental cost. Weakness Overall business – Not every product line is successful under Bossini. It has been expanding pragmatically its â€Å"Bossini† stores while consolidating its â€Å"Bossinistyle† stores as a revamp in the Mainland China market. It opened 72 more â€Å"Bossini† stores but 34 closed â€Å"Bossinistyle† stores in 2011. The operating loss in the Mainland China market was attributable to the â€Å"Bossinistyle† stores consolidation. Financial – an increasing inventory turnover day signals that Bossini is producing more than they can be sold. The product life cycle for apparel is usually short and such a long turnover day will bring it to be an expense finally. Also, a lower operating margin, i. e. 4 to 5%, gives no buffer to the company during economic downturn. Opportunities The co-brand licensing program in Hong Kong market is successful. As the Mainland China market is going to be more and more important to Bossini, the management can adopt something similar as well. Together with the government policies to stimulate domestic consumption in the Mainland China, a successful business strategy can improve sales per square feet. Bossini can enjoy the result of revenue and profit growth even though with slower pace of opening new stores which help restrain operating expense. In the long run, as income in the Mainland China is expected to rise further, the average spending by consumers on retail products is also expected to continue the upward trend. Threats External – The global economy is facing uncertainties by the new European debt crisis and our major markets are expected to experience a slowdown. Internal – Bossini needs to launch a fashionable touch in style that fit different geographic preference. The failure of â€Å"Bossinistyle† in the Mainland Market reveals that Bossini did not target at the Chinese customers well. Financial performance Liquidity Ratio Liquidity ratio reveals a company’s short-term solvency. Current ratio and Acid-Test ratio are commonly used. Current ratio is calculated by dividing current assets by current liabilities. Its main purpose to measure whether a company has enough resources to pay its debts over the next 12 months. Even though Bossini’s current ratios is kept decreasing year to year, but it is still higher than 2. It means every dollar the company owes in the short term has two dollars worth short term assets that is available to convert into cash to meet creditor's demands. Acid-Test ratio is to measure whether a company can pay all its current liabilities if they are due immediately. The formula is similar to current ratio except it only considers those current assets that can be quickly converted to cash (i. e. exclude inventory and prepaid expense). Bossini’s acid test ratio is always higher than 1 means it is able to meet current obligations only using liquid assets). Acid test ratio is lower than current ratio since inventory and prepaid expense are excluded. But still, Bossini is considered to have a good financial strength in short term because both these ratios are higher than one. Activity Ratio Activity ratio measures a company’s asset management efficiency. Inventory turnover and Accounts Receivable turnover are commonly used. Inventory turnover measures the number of times inventory is sold during a year. The inventory turnover is kept decreasing year to year reflects that inventory is more and more difficult to be sold. In 2011, 6. 4 means that Bossini sold its inventory approximate 6 times during the year or it needed approximate 2 months to sell its inventory. Accounts Receivable turnover measures the ability to collect cash from credit customers. In this case, the account receivable turnover is not an important indicator since the average accounts receivable contributes less than 10% of total current asset and only a very small amount of credit sales will be involved. It is common for retail business. Solvency Ratio Solvency ratio measures a company’s ability to pay long term liabilities. The most common solvency ratio is Debt ratio. Debt ratio is calculated by dividing total liabilities by total assets. Its main purpose to show the proportion of a company’s assets which are financed through debt. In general, Bossini’s debt ratio is less than 0. which means most of its assets are financed through equity. It is a highly liquid company and it is financially healthy even creditors demand repayment of debt. However, this advantage is diminishing from 2008 to 2011. It is mainly due to Bossini has a short term borrowing of HKD78M starting in 2009 and gradually raised to HKD128M in 2011. Profitability Ratio Prof itability ratio measures a company’s overall efficiency and performance. Return on Sales, Return on Assets and Return on Equity are the popular profitability ratio. Return on Sales shows the percentage of each dollar of sales that a company can turn into income. It is calculated by dividing net income by net sales. Bossini only enjoys a low return sales which is common for low end products retail business; however, it has been increased from 2. 7% in 2008 to 4. 9% in 2011 reflects it has strived to improve its profitability strength over 80% during these years. Return on Assets shows how profitable a company's assets are in generating revenue. It is calculated by dividing net income plus interest expense by average total assets. An uptrend of Return on Assets reveals that it requires less and less investments to generate the same revenue which is good for Bossini. Lastly, Return on Common Equity shows how well a company uses investment funds to generate revenue. It is calculated by dividing net income net off with preferred dividends by average common equity. Bossini’s sustainable growth, in Return on Common Equity (except in 2009 due to worldwide financial crisis) indicates the management maintains Bossini as a high growth company. Market Analysis ratios Market Analysis ratio is a good indicator for stock valuation. Price/Earning ratio and Dividend yield are widely used. Price/Earning ratio (â€Å"P/E ratio†) reflects a price the market is willing to pay for a share relative to its annual earning. P/E is calculated by dividing market price per share by earnings per share. A high P/E ratio does not mean it is more expensive, it just means that investors are willing to pay more for each dollar of earning compared to one with a lower P/E ratio. There are many factors that investors are willing to pay this premium such as fast growing, unique business model, market sentiment, and many others. For Bossini, the market price per share is pretty stable throughout these years and the high P/E ratio in 2009 is due to the extraordinary low earnings per share caused by worldwide financial crisis. Dividend yield measures the percentage of annual dividend return comparing to a stock’s market value. It is calculated by dividing dividend per share by market price per share. Bossini’s investors can expect to receive more cash dividends in the future from the increasing dividend yield pattern. However, investors have to beware that the dividend yield might be dropped even they receive the same amount of cash dividend because of the market price per share increase. Either way, investors will be appreciated.

Mayan Civilization

Dwayne Sinclair 1 Taking Sides paper Prof John Dunn History 1111 02/26/2012 THE FALL OF MAYA CIVILIZATION DUE TO ENVIROMENTAL FACTORS. The collapse of the Maya civilization was a result of environmental factors which eventually led to warfare as a way of coming up with solutions to avoid the inevitable collapse of this civilization. Environmental factors like over population, agricultural scarcities, disease, natural disasters, were the major factors for the collapse of the Maya civilization. Judging from rcheological evidence from the lost chronicles of the Maya kings, by David Drew (university of California press, 1999). David focuses on the bones of the Maya people throughout the region in sites such as Tikal, Lamilpa, and Altar de sacrificios, with similar stories of an unhealthy and stressed population, shrunk skeletons, decrease in life expectancy of children which had not occurred in earlier societies of the Maya. The fact that similar patterns of deterioration was found in mo re than one area shows a pattern that spread all across the maya region.According to David, the Maya's view of their universe saw a ruler as having divine powers. Also in the text from Warfare in Ancient Mesoamerica by Payson D Sheets (AltaMira press, 2003) who argues that the collapse of the Maya civilization was a result of military expansion agrees with the view point that the rulers divine powers could influence the gods by by bloodletting sacrifices, essential for the proper functioning of the Maya society. Sacrifices in various forms like food and drink, human sacrifice in the form of captives needed to appease he gods for the purpose of receiving rainfall which led to a good crop harvest, and recovery from diseases. 2 Over a period, this unquestioned belief in the rulers wore thin, because of a series of natural disasters in the form of environmental factors like dense populations, famine, diseases, natural disasters like droughts, hurricanes, earthquakes which caused a lot o f ecological stress that made agriculture almost impossible, leading to food shortages to an already overpopulated region.In an attempt to salvage the situation of the Maya's, the rulers felt their powers were failing and the gods needed more blood sacrifices that led to expansive militarization for the purpose of capturing neighboring warriors who were offered as sacrifices to the gods, to take over antagonistic city states for the purpose of claiming new fertile agricultural land, because their land had been devastated by a combination of natural disasters that rendered their land unsuitable for agriculture. The only option that could keep the rulers in power and feed their assive population was to take land very scarce resources from neighboring states through violence in the form of war. The Maya's belief system could not hold up due to changes in environmental factors that were out of their rulers control, and this led to chaos in the form of wars and violence in desperation to turn their fortunes around. Environmental factors were the reasons that led to the excessive militarization that brought about wars, and brought about the collapse of the Maya civilization. Mayan Civilization Dwayne Sinclair 1 Taking Sides paper Prof John Dunn History 1111 02/26/2012 THE FALL OF MAYA CIVILIZATION DUE TO ENVIROMENTAL FACTORS. The collapse of the Maya civilization was a result of environmental factors which eventually led to warfare as a way of coming up with solutions to avoid the inevitable collapse of this civilization. Environmental factors like over population, agricultural scarcities, disease, natural disasters, were the major factors for the collapse of the Maya civilization. Judging from rcheological evidence from the lost chronicles of the Maya kings, by David Drew (university of California press, 1999). David focuses on the bones of the Maya people throughout the region in sites such as Tikal, Lamilpa, and Altar de sacrificios, with similar stories of an unhealthy and stressed population, shrunk skeletons, decrease in life expectancy of children which had not occurred in earlier societies of the Maya. The fact that similar patterns of deterioration was found in mo re than one area shows a pattern that spread all across the maya region.According to David, the Maya's view of their universe saw a ruler as having divine powers. Also in the text from Warfare in Ancient Mesoamerica by Payson D Sheets (AltaMira press, 2003) who argues that the collapse of the Maya civilization was a result of military expansion agrees with the view point that the rulers divine powers could influence the gods by by bloodletting sacrifices, essential for the proper functioning of the Maya society. Sacrifices in various forms like food and drink, human sacrifice in the form of captives needed to appease he gods for the purpose of receiving rainfall which led to a good crop harvest, and recovery from diseases. 2 Over a period, this unquestioned belief in the rulers wore thin, because of a series of natural disasters in the form of environmental factors like dense populations, famine, diseases, natural disasters like droughts, hurricanes, earthquakes which caused a lot o f ecological stress that made agriculture almost impossible, leading to food shortages to an already overpopulated region.In an attempt to salvage the situation of the Maya's, the rulers felt their powers were failing and the gods needed more blood sacrifices that led to expansive militarization for the purpose of capturing neighboring warriors who were offered as sacrifices to the gods, to take over antagonistic city states for the purpose of claiming new fertile agricultural land, because their land had been devastated by a combination of natural disasters that rendered their land unsuitable for agriculture. The only option that could keep the rulers in power and feed their assive population was to take land very scarce resources from neighboring states through violence in the form of war. The Maya's belief system could not hold up due to changes in environmental factors that were out of their rulers control, and this led to chaos in the form of wars and violence in desperation to turn their fortunes around. Environmental factors were the reasons that led to the excessive militarization that brought about wars, and brought about the collapse of the Maya civilization.

Explaining the Expository Essay

Explaining the Expository Essay What exactly is an expository essay? All you may know about it right now is that your teacher assigned you an expository essay and now you have to not only figure out what topic youre going to write about, but you also have to figure out what exactly it is and how it works. Its likely that the expository essay has been making students collectively groan since its invention, but were going to argue here that it doesnt have to be that way. The expository essay, while kind of a broadly interpreted kind of essay, is about digging up facts, making an argument, and possibly even discovering something new. When you are writing your essay, think of yourself as an archaeologist who is digging into the earth to learn more about its history, or as a 15th century explorer who is embarking out to find new land. With this blog post we hope to provide an explanation of the expository essay, how to best write it, and the general format that it follows- with plenty of examples along the way.What is t he expository essay?An expository essay is a way to research about topics and explore new ideas.The expository essay is a way for students to explore new ideas, research about topics, make a claim, and then provide evidence for backing up this claim that theyve made. The expository essay is ideally one that is based on unbiased facts from credible sources, and is a good way for students to practice organizing their thoughts in a structured way. An expository essay can be about just any topic- while of course adhering to the teachers instructions- and can even be a bit of fun if you let it. Your essay should consist of a thesis statement in your introduction, several body paragraphs that provide evidence to the claim you made in your thesis statement, and a conclusion that wraps up everything that youve discovered along the way.Now that youre getting familiar with the basics of the expository essay, lets take a look at what each section of the essay will look like in detail.What is a thesis statement?A good expository essay will consist of a strong thesis statement, which will go into the first paragraph of the essay (also known as the introduction). The thesis statement, as you may remember, makes an argument about your chosen topic and will typically guide the direction of the rest of your paper by making claims that you can talk about in the body. Your thesis statement will emerge as you do research on your topic, and not the other way around. A very common theme when researching for a paper is that students will go into their papers thinking one thing about their subject and then after doing some research will have a completely different conclusion.As we go along in this blog about essays we will be building our own essay for you to look to as an example. Our essay topic is about school start times.Well begin with our sample thesis statement:Middle schools and high schools should consider starting the school day later so that students can get the amount of sleep that doctors recommend, they could concentrate better, and improve their overall education performance.How do I research and write the body paragraphs?The body paragraphs of your expository essay are the meat of the paper. They are the part of the essay that backs up the claims that you made in your thesis statement, and are really the main attraction of the entire essay. When you are researching about your paper topic, most of the information that you find is going to end up being written about in the body paragraphs. And the introduction paragraph and the conclusion paragraph are mostly just a broad overview of what the body paragraphs have to say.Researching your paperSo what kinds of information should you look at when youre researching to write the meat of your paper? In this modern era of essay writing, the first step youll need to take is to do some online research. As we outlined earlier, though, its crucial for an expository essay to be thoroughly researched using unb iased and accurate resources. One thing that we all know about the Internet is that its filled with a lot of factual, useful information, but much of that is surrounded by false information that isnt verified by anyone or any entity. After all, anyone can make a website with copy- so you want to make sure that your research is giving you good information. So how do you know if its a good resource for you? Heres a good checklist to use as you research for your paper:Has the author signed his or her name to the piece? Though articles with unknown authors can sometimes be credible, for a general rule of thumb, its good to stick with articles or books that have been published by a notable journal, newspaper, or publishing company and that have an authors name attached to the work. You want to the know that the author wants to stick by their words and doesnt anonymously hide behind the Internet walls.Does the article have a date of publication? If the article youre looking at doesnt have a date of publication it may not be a credible source. A date can help you determine whether or not a sources work is still relevant.Does the website look well designed? Not every journal or newspaper has the budget for a beautifully designed website, but it should at the very least look professional. Does the website in question have a lot of pop up ads or a strange font? Does it just look off? Trust your gut instinct and look for another source if you see any of these flawed web designs.Is the writing poor? Does the writing read a little strange? Is the author not capitalizing things correctly or using bad language? You may be looking at a poor source. Credible sources typically will have an editor look at grammar and spelling before its published, so if youre seeing big mistakes then its likely that the rest of the information isnt accurate.Did you access the site through a simple Google search or did you go through your schools library site? Now, of course Google churns out som e credible material in a search. However, when you are researching for an academic paper its always best to start with your school librarys search portal for academic journals and verified articles. Ask a librarian or your teacher for more information about this if youre unsure how to begin.Writing your paperNow that we understand what good, solid research looks like, we can get to writing about it. After youve gathered all the information you need, youre going to need to organize it in a way that makes sense in your paper. Typically, expository essays are in the format of the traditional five-paragraph essay. Though your paper doesnt necessarily have to adhere to this structure (and you should definitely check with your teachers instructions before you begin), well stick with this format to explain how to make claims and support them.Remember that thesis statement that we made up? Were going to use that to guide our discussion throughout the body paragraphs.Here it is again, but th is time were going to dissect it:Middle schools and high schools should consider starting the school day later so that 1. students can get the amount of sleep that doctors recommend, 2. they could concentrate better, and 3. improve their overall education performance.Based on our research, weve determined that schools should start later based on these three reasons. Now that we have these reasons pointed out, were going to structure our paper using them. Heres how that should look:Body Paragraph 1 (Point 1)Students can get the amount of sleep that doctors recommend if middle schools and high schools started later.Supporting evidenceTransition sentenceBody Paragraph 2 (Point 2)Students could concentrate better if middle schools and high schools started later.Supporting evidenceTransition sentenceBody Paragraph 3 (Point 3)Students could improve their overall performance if middle schools and high schools started laterSupporting evidenceTransition sentenceThough this is a very basic st ructure of a short essay, it gives you a good idea of how to position your paper and can guide you as you write.How do I write my conclusion?The conclusion may seem like its the easiest part of the essay, but its just as critical to concentrate as much on the conclusion as you did with the thesis statement and the body paragraphs. Youre wrapping up your paper but you could also be providing a suggestion of future research, what your research didnt cover, and what we can gain by reading your essay.To write a good conclusion you must restate the main ideas that your essay touched on, summarize all the claims you made, and then tell the reader what we should be left with. Tell us if theres any room for further analysis and where we go from here.Proofread, proofread, and proofread some moreIts important to proofread your essay before you hand it in.No great novel or great work was ever constructed on the first draft. Even though it may tempting to start your essay the night before its d ue and crank it out really quickly, the real writing process is slow. It takes several drafts of something before it can look well thought out or sometimes even make sense. This is true whether youre a seasoned professional or youre a brand new writer.Take your time when youre writing. Really think about the words youre writing and the order in which you write them. When youre done with your first draft, youre most likely not really done with the paper. Take a few hours, or even a few days if you have the time, and dont look at it for a bit. Allow your brain and your eyes to take a break, and then come back to it with a fresh look.When you go in to write your second draft, look for mechanical errors like spelling and grammar (and no, spell check will not see everything!) and then look at the overall structure of your paper.Though it may seem silly, reading your paper out loud is one of the best ways to catch any glaring errors that your eyes may be skipping over. Read your paper out loud to your parents, a friend, or even a dog that is willing to listen.Once youve gone over it a few times, rearrange or fix whats needed. If youre not sure of how best to fix it, consider seeking the advice of a professional editor, a friend, or a teacher. The last thing your instructor wants is for you to sit alone and struggle with your writing. Dont be afraid to reach out for help when you need it.

English Verb Tense Resources

English Verb Tense Resources Learning verb tenses is one of the most important tasks in any language learning. There are a number of resources at the site that will help you learn tense rules, practice using verbs in different tenses, read sample sentences in a variety of tenses, teach tenses in class, and more. For an overview of conjugation of all these tenses, use the tense tables or the visual guide to tenses for reference. Teachers can use theses guides on how to teach tenses for further activities and lesson plans in class Tense Use Rules and Explanations These explanation resources provide the rules for each tense, as well as examples of proper tense use. Use the time expression commonly used with the tense, as well as the example sentences to help you get started. Present Simple Every day - When do you get up? / Tom usually eats lunch at home.Present Continuous Now - Shes watching TV at the moment. / Im not working, Im reading a newspaper.Past Simple Yesterday - They went on vacation last July. / Where did you meet Tim?Past Continuous Yesterday, at X oclock They were watching TV at 5 oclock yesterday. / What were you doing when he came home?Present Perfect Since / For - Ive lived here a long time. / Have you ever seen that film?Past Simple vs. Present Perfect Ive lived here for many years. vs. I lived there before I moved to New York.Present Perfect Continuous Since / For Time - Weve been working since 8 this morning. / What has she been doing recently?Past Perfect Already - They had already eaten when she arrived. / Had you finished the report by the time he asked for it?Future with Will Tomorrow, Next week - Well get together next week. / Will you be able to come tomorrow?Future with Going to Tomorrow, Next year, semester, etc. - Theyre goi ng to study Russian next semester. / Where are you going to stay?Future Perfect By, By the time - Ill have finished by the time he arrives. / Will you have done the work by six?Future Continuous At X oclock, This time next year, month, week / What will you be doing this time next year? - Shell be working tomorrow at 10 oclock.Conditional Forms If questions - What would you do if you had enough time? / If she is in town, shell come to the meeting.Alternate Conditional FormsModal Forms Asking Permission, Giving Advice, etc. - May I help you? / He should see a doctor.Modal Verbs of Probability Stating guesses - He must have stayed at home today. / She might be downstairs. Tense Use Rules For Beginners These tense explanations cover basic tenses and are especially for beginners. They include easier English as well as example dialogues of tense use. Present SimplePast SimplePresent PerfectFuture with WillFuture with Going toModal Form Basics Tense Quizzes Once you understand the tense use, these quizzes will help you test your knowledge. The more you practice, the more confident you will feel using various tenses. Past Tenses ReviewSimple Past or Present PerfectPresent Perfect or Present Perfect ContinuousAdvanced Tense IdentificationConditional FormsPassive Forms Quiz Tense Review If you have a good understanding of tense use, these pages will help you review tenses as they relate to each other. The resources include a tense timeline, and a special section focusing on auxiliary verbs - the key to verb conjugation. English Tenses TimelinePresent Tense Auxiliary VerbsPast Tense Auxiliary VerbsFuture Tense Auxiliary VerbsSimple vs. Progressive VerbsExample Sentences in All Tenses Tense Use Lessons These lesson plans can be used in your classes. Each lesson plan includes an introduction, a step by step guideline to teaching tense use, and class exercises to be used during the lesson. A Difficult Situation: Using Modal Verbs of Probability in the PastA VIP - Present Perfect Simple and Continuous Lesson PlanConditional StatementsIntegrating Past ContinuousPassive VoiceTense ReviewTime Expressions and Simple Past or Present PerfectReported Speech: Developing Production SkillsTense Review for Advanced Levels

Case Report of the Alaska-Airline Disaster

This case report discusses about the Alaska-airline crash that has occurred on Jan, 31, 2000 at California. The causes, contributing factors, potential hazards and safe- guards that were ignored in accordance with air crash were discussed. This incident teaches a great lesson to the world to prevent future air- accidents and the inadequacies in policies to prevent loss of life and property.   Ã‚  Ã‚   The most miserable disaster of Alaska-Airline took place on 31 st January, 2000 at approximately 1621 Pacific- Standard time. The flight 261 that involves MD (McDonnell Douglas) - 83, N963AS was crashed at approximately 2.7 miles in the Pacific Ocean specifically at the north side of Anacapa- island of California. All the people in the flight that includes two pilots, three crew-members of cabin as well as 83 passengers were killed with destruction of the flight by impact forces (Carmody, 2002). There were dozen causes that have contributed to this disaster and have taught a great lesson about flight maintenance.    The main cause is that the in-flight failure of the acme- nut threads that is present on the jack-screw assembly (trim system) of the horizontal-stabilizer of flight has occurred. This has lead to the loss of pitch control of the flight. NTSB (2003) has stated that the jack-screw assembly is the most integral as well as crucial part of the trim- system of horizontal-stabilizer that acts as a critical airplane system and the destruction of this jack-screw assembly has caused the flight disaster. Moreover, the thread failure has occurred due to the insufficient lubrication that has lead to the excessive wear of the Alaska Airlines (Cockpit database, 2000). Basically, there was a fault in the fundamental MD- 83 flight design as it has no fail-safe design to counteract the thread loss of the total acme-nut that has lead to the catastrophic effects. In this disaster, improper adherence to the maintenance process as well as inspection of the jack-screw parts has exacerbated the design fault and has resulted in crash (Carmody, 2002). Another factor that has contributed was the extended interval for lubrication process. The Federal aviation-administration (FAA) has approved the extended lubrication interval that has contributed to the missing or improper lubrication. This has resulted in the complete wear of the threads of acme-nut. Further, increased interval for end- play check with approval from FAA for extension has allowed to the excessive wear that has progressed to failure without detecting the flaw. The horizontal-stabilizer has stopped working to the commands of the pilot and they were unable to rule out the cause. The acme- nut threads have worn inside the horizontal stabilizer and were sheared off completely. Then, the acme-screw and nut has jammed that has prevented the movement of horizontal-stabilizer. Later, the jam was overcome that has allowed the acme-screw to pull acme-nut causing the airplane to pitch downward (NTSB, 2003). It had lead to the (low- cycled fatigue) fracture of the torque tube again lowering the pitch from which regaining is impossible.   The use of auto-pilot at the time of horizontal stabilizer jam was inappropriate. Moreover, lack of checklist to land at these circumstances is an additional drawback. The pilots were not provided with clear guidelines to avoid experimenting with improper troubleshooting measures (Woltjer, 2007). The slats and flaps should have extended by the captain when the flight was controlled by the configuration after initial drive. The acme-nut threads were found to have worn extensively due to ineffective lubrication on the acme parts that have lead to the disaster. The recovered acme showed dried degraded grease that suggests that, it was not greased recently. The post-accident interviews of SPO-mechanic indicated that they had no knowledge to lubricate acme (NTSB, 2003). The safety board concluded that inadequate lubrication and lack of standard measures have lead to the accident. Fig: 1 shows acme-nut with plugged grease Increased pressure in the flight maintenance area in correcting, maintaining and delivering the flight in given time has contributed to this disaster. In this disaster, they have falsified the records that the flight has passed through the inspection process due to the increased pressure on them to make a scheduled return (Carmody, 2002). The measurements have showed that the jack-screw was in the brink to wear out and requires to be replaced by a newer jack-screw: but as it may delay the departure time, they have altered the record to be airworthy (ATEC, 2005).  The maintenance persons don’t have assertiveness to speak about the importance of lubrication and replacing the wear to the company.   The maintenance personnel have not helped the pilots when they were at horizontal-stabilizer problems. The safety issues in this accident include improper lubrication with inspection of the jack-screw, extended end-play check-intervals, over-haul procedures of jack-screw and design with certification of horizontal-stabilizer, maintenance program and FAA’s inadequacies has lead to disaster. Standards should be issued to pilots with the instructions to handle mal-functioning situations. NTSB (2002) ordered MD flights to replace dried greases with fresh grease. The size of the access-panel was increased to lubricate the jack-screw properly (FAA, 2002). The lubrication procedure for jack-screw was established as an inspection item to be signed by an inspector. The existing intervals were reviewed to identify the fault in the flight components. NTSB (2002) has conducted an evaluation and has issued a report with recommendations for maintenance. Improving fail- safe mechanism in MD design, promoting end-play check interval, issuing newer certification regulations and policies for horizontal stabilizers ensures safe air-travel. ATEC. (2005)  Incorporating Air Transport Association Codes into Maintenance Curriculum, ATEC Journal, 26 (2). Available from Aviation Technician Education Council [Accessed 28/02/17] Carmody, C.J. (2002)  Aircraft Accident Incident Report. Loss of Control and Impact with Pacific Ocean Alaska Airlines Flight 261 McDonnell Douglas MD-83, N963AS About 2.7 Miles North of Anacapa Island, California January 31, 2000, National Transportation Safety Board, Washington, DC:   National Transportation Safety Board. [Accessed 28/02/17] Cockpit database. (2000) Cockpit voice recorder database. Available from https://www.tailstrike.com/310100.htm [Accessed 28/02/17] FAA. (2002) Accident Board Recommendations, U.S.  Department  of  Transportation. Available from https://lessonslearned.faa.gov/ll_main.cfm?TabID=1&LLID=23&LLTypeID=4 [Accessed 28/02/17] NTSB. (2003) Loss of control and impact with Pacific Ocean, Alaska Airlines Flight 261, McDonnell Douglas MD-83, N963AS, about 2.7 miles north of Anacapa Island, California, January 31, 2000 (Aircraft Accident Report No. NTSB/AAR-02/01), National Transportation Safety Board. Washington, DC: National Transportation Safety Board [Accessed 28/02/17] Woltjer, R., & Hollnagel, E. (2007) The Alaska Airlines Flight 261 accident, A systemic analysis of functional resonance. Proceedings of the 2007 (14th) International Symposium on Aviation Psychology (ISAP), pp. 763-768. Available from https://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:210824/fulltext01.pdf [Accessed 28/02/17]

Endowed loyalty status Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Endowed loyalty status - Essay Example Atkinson (364) asserts that opinion on how successful these loyalty schemes are divided, but there is consensus on their advantages and disadvantages. The main advantage is that; as these customers feel rewarded they are motivated to purchase more; thus, increasing the company’s benefits. This will in the long term boost the sales of the business. However, the flipside of this argument is that if the status of customers is downgraded or remains the same, the customers feel unappreciated and may wholly cut their business links with the organization. Secondly, as a customer buys more and more their spending habits are noted and so more targeted products are put at their disposal. This makes the customer to be extremely satisfied since they get what they most require. The flipside of this argument is that the customer buys beyond their means and is likely to drastically change their spending habits when they are unsustainable. This is usually to the detriment of the business. There are several theories that explain customer behavior when rewarded as discussed above. The two notable ones though are equity theory and attribution theory. Atkinson (367) claims that equity theory seeks to study the relational satisfaction that is derived from rewards of different kinds. People evaluate the value of a relation based on the fairness or unfairness of distribution of rewards and costs. According to this theory, people feel indebted to fair treatment (Atkinson 368). On the other hand, limited reward or unfair treatment leads to dissatisfaction. It is also common for people getting the unfair treatment to feel underappreciated. Among the foundations of Equity theory is the assumption that people always seek to maximize their rewards, people get distressed in unequal relationships and then they try to restore parity in such unequal relationships. The other theory is the attribution theory. According to the theory, people analyze success or failure based

Supreme Court Case Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Supreme Court Case - Research Paper Example The administrative action taken in this case, which consisted of five steps, is described, after which a stand is made that the court’s action had no effect on any perceived arbitrariness in the administrative agency’s decision. This writer’s opinion was rendered on the appropriateness of the court’s decision, and foreseen future implications on administrative actions are briefly described. On the case of Goldberg v Kelly 1. Offer a brief summary/historical overview of the circumstances in the case, the stakeholders, and the outcome sought by the plaintiff. In this case, the appellants were New York state officials and the Commissioner of Social Services, New York City. The appellees are New York City residents who were receiving financial aid under federally supported Aid to Families with Dependent Children program, and the general Home Relief program of New York State (397 U.S. 256). Plaintiff-appellees allege that their benefits either have been or were about to be terminated by officials without prior notice and hearing. They claim in effect, denial of their constitutional right to be afforded the due process of law, for which they sought the restoration of their welfare benefits pending results of evidentiary hearing where they could present their case (397 U.S. 256-257). Upon conclusion of the administrative procedure and remedies during which time plaintiffs’ welfare benefits were terminated, action was brought by the aggrieved party in the District Court for the Southern District of New York. Defendants argued that pursuant to regulation, a pre-termination review was conducted at the end of which it was decided that termination of benefits was warranted. At this juncture, the benefits were halted, although plaintiffs were afforded the option of requesting for a post-termination â€Å"fair hearing† during which they may appear personally before the decision-maker, adduce their evidence and confront and cross-exam ine the witnesses against them. The rationale behind the discontinuance of welfare benefits after the administrative review and summary adjudication prior to the â€Å"fair hearing† was purportedly to protect the interests of the New York taxpayer, in case the hearing finds the discontinuance to be meritorious (397 U.S. 265). The district court ruled in favor of plaintiffs, that in light of the constitutional mandate, a pre-termination evidentiary hearing is required in order to satisfy the due process requisite under the law (397 U.S. 256-257). The District Court rejected the argument by welfare officials that their conduct of a post-termination â€Å"fair hearing† as well as an informal pre-termination review had adequately complied with the law. The decision of the District Court was withheld on appeal. 2. Explain how the case qualified for judicial review in regards to the ripeness, standing, the exhaustion of administrative remedies, and primary jurisdiction as th ey apply. The doctrine of ripeness is concerned with whether at the time a judicial action is brought, the facts have sufficiently developed such that the injury has occurred or is likely to occur, instead of being remote or contingent. A claim is ripe if the injury upon

MARKETING IMPLEMENTATION Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

MARKETING IMPLEMENTATION - Essay Example ucceed, there is a need to recognize a problem within the market niche, know where the problem is emanating from, executing plans and evaluating the results of the executed plans. The marketing strategies can be implemented by using internal marketing and total quality management approaches. Pride & Ferrell note, "Both approaches represent mindsets that marketing managers may adopt when organizing and planning marketing activities† (2004). Internal marketing involves the administrative actions that are needed to make the employees of the company accept their obligations in the marketing process. Customers are also important in the internal market as they buy a firm’s products. Total quality refers to the output that the firm(s) gives to its customers. It focuses to meet the customers need to gain satisfaction from a product. Total quality method relies on the ability of employees to repeatedly increase the quality of goods and services in the organization. It takes into consideration organizing the products, region it distributes its products to and organizes its targeted customers. â€Å"Just like external marketing activities, internal marketing can involve market segmentation, research, distribution, product development, and even public sales promotion" (Pride 2004). Constant enhancement of an organizations goods and services is by the idea that the quality is free but having low quality of goods and services can lead to the number of dissatisfied customers hence can be expensive. In conclusion, marketing implementation connects with market strategies. The strategies have to be implemented through internal marketing and total quality management approaches. The ultimate result of an appropriate strategy is satisfied employees and enhanced customer

Microeconomics - International Trade Term Paper

Microeconomics - International Trade - Term Paper Example International trade has come about due to globalization where boundaries have become nearer and the countries have come closer. This is the age of international trade as everyone is talking about this. It has helped the trade to flourish, bringing people closer with one another. It has opened up new pathways, understood the dynamics of the worldwide markets and emphasized a great deal on how things have shaped up with the passage of time. What international trade does is to expand the markets in such a way that different goods and services become available even though they are not a part of the same territories. Thus imports and exports become stronger and the people feel the urge to buy something which is not of their own lands. They would rather buy a product which is internationally acclaimed for its taste, or durability (Warburton, 2010). However, local products are also sent internationally which essentially makes the entire world a market zone which is free for all the people i n this world. Hence it is a fact that international trade is an important element of the microeconomics debate and will continue to be given the significance that it richly deserves, and more so with the coming in of the globalization regimes. This will be discussed at length within this paper so that an understanding of international trade with regards to microeconomics could be reached upon. International trade helps the countries to invest in goods and services which are of beneficial use. It makes the marketers comprehend where they have to invest in the coming times. The best thing about international trade is that it makes everything accessible and people feel the urge to buy something which they would not have been able to purchase had they still lived there yet with no trade happening on the global front. Thus what is a good thing here is the fact that international

Devising Safety Plans Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Devising Safety Plans - Assignment Example Last week, he punched her in the ribs a couple of times, resulting in bruising, which she revealed to you.She fears for her safety, though she is not yet ready to move out or leave him. The situation presented in the case is slightly complex and tricky to any counselor. Refusal or unwillingness by Jeannine to leave Robert despite series of abuse creates a serious uphill in the designing of an effective safety plan. However, it is still the responsibility of a counselor to design a workable safety plan to protect the abused client (APA). In that line, safety plan for Jeannine can begin with assessment of the situation and concerns of the client, that have to covering the extent and magnitude of the past abuses and resolutions. The next step is to persuade Jeannine to leave home with counselor providing the alternative home while assuring the client about returning to Robert after some times of treatment (Joiner et al., 2009). The reason for devising the above safety plan relates to the fact that the client’s life is in danger and must be away from the abuser. Assuring the client about returning home is to create a give-take situation to address the unwillingness to leave Robert and still achieve safety. An alternative safety plan would involve reporting to police to initiate arrest and lead to incarceration of the abuser (Jaffe & Diamond, 2011). This cannot work well in the situation considering the seemingly close attachment of the abused to the abuser that can escalate or worsen crisis experienced by the client. Scenario 2: Maria states she met Justin at a party a couple months ago. They have gone out a few times. Justin has never been to Marias house but she has been to his apartment; client states she usually meets him at a restaurant or club. Their relationship had advanced somewhat physically, but never to a sexual culmination. Imagine

MARKETING IMPLEMENTATION Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

MARKETING IMPLEMENTATION - Essay Example ucceed, there is a need to recognize a problem within the market niche, know where the problem is emanating from, executing plans and evaluating the results of the executed plans. The marketing strategies can be implemented by using internal marketing and total quality management approaches. Pride & Ferrell note, "Both approaches represent mindsets that marketing managers may adopt when organizing and planning marketing activities† (2004). Internal marketing involves the administrative actions that are needed to make the employees of the company accept their obligations in the marketing process. Customers are also important in the internal market as they buy a firm’s products. Total quality refers to the output that the firm(s) gives to its customers. It focuses to meet the customers need to gain satisfaction from a product. Total quality method relies on the ability of employees to repeatedly increase the quality of goods and services in the organization. It takes into consideration organizing the products, region it distributes its products to and organizes its targeted customers. â€Å"Just like external marketing activities, internal marketing can involve market segmentation, research, distribution, product development, and even public sales promotion" (Pride 2004). Constant enhancement of an organizations goods and services is by the idea that the quality is free but having low quality of goods and services can lead to the number of dissatisfied customers hence can be expensive. In conclusion, marketing implementation connects with market strategies. The strategies have to be implemented through internal marketing and total quality management approaches. The ultimate result of an appropriate strategy is satisfied employees and enhanced customer

Devising Safety Plans Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Devising Safety Plans - Assignment Example Last week, he punched her in the ribs a couple of times, resulting in bruising, which she revealed to you.She fears for her safety, though she is not yet ready to move out or leave him. The situation presented in the case is slightly complex and tricky to any counselor. Refusal or unwillingness by Jeannine to leave Robert despite series of abuse creates a serious uphill in the designing of an effective safety plan. However, it is still the responsibility of a counselor to design a workable safety plan to protect the abused client (APA). In that line, safety plan for Jeannine can begin with assessment of the situation and concerns of the client, that have to covering the extent and magnitude of the past abuses and resolutions. The next step is to persuade Jeannine to leave home with counselor providing the alternative home while assuring the client about returning to Robert after some times of treatment (Joiner et al., 2009). The reason for devising the above safety plan relates to the fact that the client’s life is in danger and must be away from the abuser. Assuring the client about returning home is to create a give-take situation to address the unwillingness to leave Robert and still achieve safety. An alternative safety plan would involve reporting to police to initiate arrest and lead to incarceration of the abuser (Jaffe & Diamond, 2011). This cannot work well in the situation considering the seemingly close attachment of the abused to the abuser that can escalate or worsen crisis experienced by the client. Scenario 2: Maria states she met Justin at a party a couple months ago. They have gone out a few times. Justin has never been to Marias house but she has been to his apartment; client states she usually meets him at a restaurant or club. Their relationship had advanced somewhat physically, but never to a sexual culmination. Imagine

African American Athletes Essay Example for Free

African American Athletes Essay American student athletes have always faced stereotypes in and out of the classroom, being seen as self-segregating or dumb jocks that really wouldnt be at school if it werent for their athletic ability. Although these stereotypes are applied to both white and black athletes, African American students, especially men, feel it more than their white counterparts. African Americans are already, for the most part, seen as intellectually inferior, so when they are seen in an academic environment they are automatically judged. If they didnt get into school just for being black, they got into school for being a black athlete. Excuses are made as to why African American student athletes and pro athletes dominate in the world of sports in general. From the time the black athlete stepped into the sports arena and began to compete with whites, white people have been looking for an explanation. In his article Sailes looks into the myths and stereotypes surrounding African American athletes, most of which have been created by whites. In loosely replicated the experiment that Sailes conducted with his students and in doing so I found that the stereotypes he discusses do exist and many people strongly believe in some of the myths. I interviewed both male and female athletes and non-athletes alike and surprisingly most of their answers to my questions were the same. I asked them all the same five questions; 1. Do you think African Americans dominate in sports? 2. Which Sports? 3. Are there certain positions they are better at? 4. Why? 5. Is their demeanor on the field or court different than that of a white athlete? and 6. Have you heard any myths about why black athletes are better? Interviewee #1, A white female on the basketball team at Gettysburg College felt that black athletes were better at all sports and in all positions, but particularly in basketball and football. She has learned from experience that black athletes are more loud and aggressive. It was her belief that African Americans are better at sports because of genetics. She also said that it could be because historically they have done hard labor and had menial jobs, so their physical condition has evolved. The one myth she has heard is that African Americans have an extra bone in their leg which makes them capable of jumping higher and running faster. Interviewee # 2, an African American football player stated that blacks are better at all sports, but especially football, in such positions as cornerback, running back, and wide receiver. When asked why he felt that this is true his answer was because were just nasty like that. In regards to myths he recalled one of his high school classmates expressing to him that the reason blacks were better was because they still had some monkey left in them. Interviewee # 3, a white college graduate, non-athlete articulated that blacks are better at any sport they try but not in any positions that require brain power or thought. He said that they are not usually good quarterbacks because they arent smart enough. When I asked him why, his response was, because they are dumb Ns. He believes that they become athletes because they have no other options to get a job or get rich, unless they can rap. He also stated that the reason they can run so fast is because they are used to running from the cops. Interviewee # 4, A white male who is a former athlete said that he believes that African Americans are superior in all sports except for lacrosse and hockey, and that the reason for this is because they are much more expensive to start up and maintain- as opposed to soccer/football/basketball where all you need is a ball really. He thinks black people on the whole start out life economically feeble compared to whites and believes in the myth that they have been evolved into more muscular and stronger people because of the process of natural selection during slavery where the slave owners bought the biggest and strongest, and theyre offspring are the ones that created the people that are dominating in sports now. My last interviewee was a female African American basketball player who felt that African Americans dominate in football and basketball because it is the only sport they want to play so they strive for it. She also said that blacks are more aggressive because it means more to them. In the majority of my interviews the participants mentioned what Sailes referred to as the Mandingo Theory, in which the physical superiority of African Americans is attributed to the selection and so called breeding process along with the manual labor performed during the days of slavery. The psychological and dumb jock theories were also articulated in the answers I received from the white students for they all said at some point or another during the interview that African Americans are intellectually inferior and all they have going for them is sports, and even in the world of sports there are positions that they are mentally incapable of occupying. The one thing that I believe all the participants agreed on both black and white is that African Americans are somehow genetically different. I was really taken aback by my findings. Even though I have learned throughout this semester that people are more racist than I ever thought they were, I didnt realize that this racism is existent in literally everything. Im not really into sports and do not pay attention to them, so I had no idea that people felt this way about African American athletes. So, it seems as though African Americans are battling this war on racism on yet another front.

Questionnaire Design for Business Research

Questionnaire Design for Business Research INTRODUCTION: Many businesses, economic and social questions are not amenable to a simple YES or No answer. Every business needs some clarification or discussion. Solutions can be presented and every criterion can be either accepted or rejected. To consider the arguments and indeed the facts presented, the completeness of current information and the requirements for new information need to be assessed. Decision maker not only need the DATA but also need to evaluate the quality of the data. One Dictionary definition of data is ‘things known and from which inferences may be deduced. Data refers to information or facts usually collected as the result of experience, observation or experiment, or processes within a computer system, or premises. Data may consist of numbers, words, or images, particularly as measurements or observations of a set of variables. Data are often viewed as a lowest level of abstraction from which information and knowledge are derived. Data in business means numerical values such as size of a business, its profitability, its product range, the features of the workforce and host of other factor. However numbers alone cannot give clear understanding of the business problems therefore it is important to consider the entire factor that affects the business during its existence such as legal, economic, culture and etc. In general business, require a multi disciplinary approach. The completeness of data is always a problem for the decision maker. Collection of data is always vast, but it depends on the decision maker to decide whether the current data is enough or more additional has to be collected. Collection data is a tedious job and costly also. The main issue for the decision maker is that whether the data has some quality information or no. Data that has bias or is misleading can damage any effective decision making process which can further affect the profit in future. Data can be collected by different sources and most people underestimate the number of sources and the amount of data within each of these data: Paper based sourced: It is books, journals, periodicals, abstract, indexes, directories, research reports, conference papers, markets reports, annual reports, internal record, magazines, newspaper. Electronic based sources: CD-ROMs, online database, Internet, videos and broadcast. Pre-collection activity is the most crucial steps in the collection of data. There is always a formal need of checking the data collected so as to ensures that the data collected defined and accurate and the finding in the collection of data are valid and not bias. In this Globalization century it is important to be abreast with the updated information and data so as to have a competitive edge. 1. Company Overview: My research is based on Dominos: Starting in business with his brother James in 1960, Tom Monaghan brought a pizza store named DomiNicks in Ypsilanti, Michigan. A year later, James traded his interest in the store for a Volkswagen. Tom formed another partnership and, during the next three years, continued to open stores in Mt Pleasant, Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti. In 1965 that partnership was dissolved, leaving Tom with one store in Ann Arbor and two in Ypsilanti. When Tom was searching for the name for his new corporation, a driver suggested the name ‘Dominos. The name was adopted and Tom helped create the now familiar red and white three-dot logo. Through hard work and dedicated team, Dominos grew into international leader in the pizza delivery industry, with over 8,000 stores in 50+ markets. December 1998, saw a change in ownership for Dominos pizza when Bain Capital, a Boston based private equity investment firm, purchased Dominos from Mr. Monaghan. The new leadership has brought an even stronger focus to operational quality and growth, as well as renewed commitment to recruiting and developing exceptional people. To forward the goals, David A Brandon was named Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Dominos Pizza, LLC in March, 1999. Dominos pizza first opened its UK store in 1985 and has over 500 stores now in UK and Ireland. TASK 1: 1. Sources of Data Collection: Nowadays data collection is become very important in this Economic world .When there are many business ,economic, and social question they are not amendable by a simple yes or no, So here to consider the argument and indeed the ‘facts presented, the completeness of current information and the requirement for new information need to be assessed. According to Jon Curwin and Roger Slater, Third edition 1991, stated that one dictionary definition of data is ‘things known and from which inferences may be induced Appraisal and market studies use two types of data- Primary data and Secondary Data. All the data collected should be current, relevant, accurate and conceptually correct. Primary data and Secondary data are defined in The Dictionary of Real Estate Appraisal as follow: Information that a researcher gathers first hand is primary data. Information from secondary sources i.e. not directly complied by the analyst may include published and unpublished work based on research that relies on primary sources of any material other than primary sources used to be prepare a written work. Decision makers not only data but also the quality of the data because Data that are bias or misleading can damage any effective decision-making process. Whenever we look at data or consider data collection we need to ask ‘what is the problem? or ‘what is the question?Basically there are two types of sources of data 1) Primary Data and 2) Secondary Data. A) PRIMARY DATA: Primary data is facts and information collected specifically for the purpose of the investigation at hand. Primary data is collected specifically to address the problem in question and is conducted by the decision maker, marketing firm, a university and etc. Primary data cannot found elsewhere. Primary data may be collected through surveys, focus groups or in depth interviews, or through experiments such as taste tests. According to Jon Curwin and Roger Slater, Third edition 1991, stated that a statistical enquiry may require the collection of new data, referred to as primary data, or be able to use existing data, Primary data is its collection for a specific project. Advantages: Basic data are included in primary data collection. It is unbiased information It is the information that is collected originally. Disadvantages: Data collected is large in volume It is time consuming Direct and personal intervention has to be there to collect the data The data collected is raw. For example: A distribution census, taken every five years, dealing with retail data Ø Population census which has been carried out in the U.K in every 10years since 1801 ,this exercise gives highly detailed information and reflect data from all part of the population EXAMPLE: Metro Newspaper, Thursday, May 14, 2009. BANKS are slowing down Britains economic recovery by not lending, it was claimed yesterday. The Banks- some of which have been propped up with billions from the taxpayer- are displaying an ‘extreme level of risk aversion when lending to businesses and households, Banks of England governor Mervyn King said. The warning came as the Bank predicted the economy would shrink by 4.5 per cent at the peak of the recession in the summer. Consumer price inflation currently at 2.9 per cent target this year. However, a weak pound, the impact of 0.5 per cent interest rates and government spending offered hope of recovery, Mr King added in his quarterly inflation report. http://goliath.ecnext.com/coms2/gi_0199-934872/Primary-and-secondary-data-concepts.html B) TYPES OF METHODS OF COLLECTING PRIMARY DATA: Questionnaire Interviews Focus Group Interviews 1. Questionnaire: Questionnaire are a popular means of collecting data, but are difficult to design and often require many rewrites before an acceptable questionnaire produced. Questionnaire is the series of question to be asked to an individual so as to obtain statistically useful information about any given task. It became a vital instrument if it is constructed and responsibly administered. It is frequently used in quantitative marketing research and social research. They are valuable method of collecting a wide range of information from large number of individuals, often they are referred to as respondents. Good questionnaire construction is important for the success of a survey. Inappropriate question, incorrect order of question, incorrect scaling, and bad format can make the questionnaire worthless. In order to have a successful questionnaire it is important to have the subset of target respondent to be tested first. Advantages: It can be used as a method in its own right or as a basis for interviewing or a telephone survey. It can be posted, emailed or faxed. It can be used for large volume of people or organization It has wide geographic coverage. It is relatively cheaper No prior arrangements are needed. It avoids embarrassment on the part of the respondent. Respondent can consider responses. There is a possibility of respondent being anonymous There is no Interviews bias. Disadvantages: Designing the questionnaire is a problem Questions have to be relatively simple. It has low response rate. It is time consuming whilst waiting for the response to be returned. It requires return deadline. Several remainders are required while conducting the questionnaire. It assumes no literacy problems. There is no control over who completes the questionnaire. It is not possible to give assistant if required. There is a problem with incomplete questionnaire. The replies are not spontaneous and independent of each other. Respondent can read all questions beforehand and then decide whether to complete or not may be because it is too long complex, uninteresting, or too personal 1.1 SUCCESSFUL QUESTIONNAIRE DESIGN: To be successful, a questionnaire needs both a logical structure and well thought out questions. The structure of the questionnaire should have a flow from question to question and from topic to topic, just like the conversation between two people. Any radical jump between questions or topic would create a problem or confusion to the respondent. It is often suggested that a successful and useful technique is to move from general to specific questions on any particular issue. The Gallup organization has suggested that there are five possible objectives for a question: To find if the respondent is aware of the issue To get general feelings on an issue To get answer on specific parts of the issue To get reasons for a respondents views To find how strongly these views are held 1.2 DESIGN OF POSTAL QUESTIONNAIRE: Theme and covering letter: The general theme of the questionnaire should be explicit in a covering letter. You should state who you are, why the data is required, give if necessary, an assurance of confidentially and/or anonymity and contact number and address or telephone number. This ensures that what respondent is known what they are committing. If possible, you should offer estimate time for completion. Instruction for return should be included with the return date made obvious. Instruction for completion: You need to provide clear and unambiguous instruction for completion. There should be a general instruction for particular question structure. The response method should be indicated (circle, tick, cross and etc). Even example can be given to make question clearer. Appearance: Appearance is the first thing which the recipient reacts. A neat and professional look will encourage further consideration of request, increasing your response. To improve the questionnaire appearance: Liberal spacing makes the reading easier. Photo reduction can produce more space without reducing content. Consistent positioning of response boxes, usually to the right speeds up completion. Choose the font style to maximize legibility Differentiate between instruction and question. Length The length of the questionnaire should not be that long because this could affect the completion of it and respondent may be uninterested to complete. Order: The most important and crucial stage in questionnaire is the beginning. Once the respondents have started to complete the question they will normally finish provided if it not too long or difficult. Coding: It is advisable non numerical responses when designing the questionnaire rather than trying to code the responses when they are returned. Thank you: Respondents to questionnaire rarely benefits personally from their efforts and the least the researcher can do is to thank them. Even though the covering letter will express appreciation for the help given, but it is always advisable to thank the respondent at the end of the questionnaire. Question: Question asked should be short, simple and to the point avoid any unnecessary words. It shouldnt confuse the respondent as it could affect the completion of questionnaire. Types of Questions: Contingency question: A question that is answered only if the respondent gives a particular response to a previous question. This avoids asking questions of people that do not apply to them. Matrix question: Identical response categories to multiple questions. The question are placed one under the other, forming a matrix with response categories along the top and a list of question down the side. This is efficient use of page space and respondents time. Close ended question: Respondents answers are very limited to a fixed set of responses. Other types of closed ended question include: Yes or No question: The respondent answer with a ‘yes or a ‘no. Multiple choices: The respondents are given with several options from which to choose. Scaled question: Responses are graded on a scale for e.g. rate the food quality scale from 1 to 10, with 1 being the least preferred and with 10 being most preferred. Open ended question: No option or predefined categories are suggested. The respondent gives their own answer without being constrained by fixed set of possible responses. 2) Interviews: Interviewing is a technique that is primarily used to gain an understanding of the underlying reasons and motivation for people attitudes, preferences or behavior. Interviews can be undertaken one to one basis or in group. There different types of interview that can be conducted such as personal interview and telephone interview. Interviews can be structured, semi structured and unstructured. A personal interview has a serious approach by respondent resulting in accurate information. It has good response rate with completed and immediate. Interviewer can also give help to the interviewee if in case it requires some help. There is need to the setup interviews. It is time consuming and expensive. Interviewer can even ask some personal question which could be embarrassing for the respondent. Telephone interview is an alternative form of interview to the personal, face to face interview. It is relatively cheaper, quick and has wider coverage. It has high rate of spontaneous response. Telephone interview is often connected with selling. It often requires questionnaire. Time is wasted if lines get disconnected and if call backs are given it could make the respondent irritate. A strong telephone manner is needed to handle the question raised by the respondent. 3) Focus Group interview: A focus group is an interview conducted by a trained moderator with a small group of respondent. The moderator starts the discussion and then leads the same. The main purpose of the focus groups is to get the insight or complete knowledge by listening to a group of people from the targeted market about the specific issues of interest. SECONDARY DATA: All methods of data collection can supply quantitative data or qualitative data. When using secondary research, one must be caution when using dated information from the past. Secondary data is facts and information gathered not for the immediate study at hand but for the purpose. Secondary data is data which has been collected by individuals or agencies for purposes other those of our particular research study. Common sources of secondary data for social science include censuses, large surveys and organizational records. Secondary data is a data which is collected from primary data to create new research. A secondary data source is a summary of a book or set of records. Secondary data, Sources of primary data include observation, group discussions and the use of questionnaires. Advantages: It is easily accessible and saves time that would otherwise be required for collecting data. The cost to access secondary data is little or no cost to acquire. Secondary data helps to clarify the research focus or question. Disadvantages: Quality of research is questionable because the secondary data is originated from primary data research which is collected and controlled by the marketer itself. In many cases, secondary data is not well presented in a form that exactly meets the researchers needs. In secondary research, much information is incomplete because the researcher may not get the full version of the research to gain the full value of the study. This is because many researcher suppliers offers free portions of their research and then charge expensive fees for their full reports. Example: Data collected by the hotels or the organization through its history system. Data supplied by a marketing organization Annual company reports Government statistics Secondary Data Analysis: Secondary data analysis is commonly known as second hand analysis. It is simply analysis of pre-existed data in a different way to answer a different question than originally needed. It analysis the data that was collected by someone else and uses it in for further study that is intended to complete. Secondary data can be gathered by internal and external source of data collection. Where internal sources includes sales data, reports data, financial data, Transport data, storage data and external sources includes government statistics, trade association, and commercial services There are common sources of collecting secondary data such as from Bureau of the census, the Bureau of Labor Statistics and various other agencies. Example: U.S Bureau of the census has kept track of the census of the population for over two hundred years. Moreover, the census includes housing, the labor force, manufacturers, business, agriculture and so on. Census data can be used for various research questions. Anyone has access to the large amount of information nearly one hundred surveys, by visiting their website at (http://www.census.gov). Bureau of Labor Statistics collects information or data on employment, industrial relations, prices, earning, living condition, technology and productivity. Report is out every month in this bureau and they can be viewed at (http://stats.bls.gov ) International Data Sources is a strong source for comparative researchers and can deal with economic aspects, including political events across many other nations. In Europe, a Euro barometer Survey Series is used to publish reports on social and political events in the country. The Design and purpose of research: Secondary data analysis means collecting the data which is collected by some other person and using the same data for understanding the current issue or problem face by the researcher. It is important to have a well defined research type which in turn would help the research to be successful. In order to use the secondary data three steps must be completed: Locate the data Evaluate the data Verify the data Collecting data is easy online but to verify the data whether they care up-to-date or current is important. Therefore it is important to be alert and cautious while using the online sources while collecting the data Example: Ethnicity, discrimination and health outcomes: a secondary analysis of hospital data from Victoria, Australia In this study, secondary data was used in the form of hospital discharge abstract for the state of Victoria in Australia. The variables that were looked at were a persons country of birth and the quality of care they received in a universal health care system. It was secondary data because it had already been collected by the hospital in the way of their charts and discharge abstracts. The researchers were simply looking at the data and the relationship between the listed country of birth and what type of care was listed. The goal of the research was to explore the relationship between a person ethnic background and the amount of care they received from the hospital. The researchers were interested in developing a preliminary set of data that would allow them to develop methods to study the issue further. The discharge abstract contained demographic and clinical information about each patient. From the abstract the researcher separated the patient into three groups. The first being Australian or English patients. The second group consisted of patients who did not visibly appear to be minority e.g. people from Europe, South and Central American. The third group contained people that were visible minorities e.g. Middle Easterners, Asians, Africans and Pacific Islanders. Dominos strives to excel in customers satisfaction. Its major competitors are Perfect Pizza with over 200 outlets, Pizza Hut with over 170 restaurants and also small pizza delivery business; it is believed that there are as many as 4,000 pizza delivery companies in UK. It is important to have updated knowledge about the market so as to survive the recession. Dominos store in UK conducted the questionnaire to have clear idea about the market needs and customer expectation. DOMINOS PIZZA 315 Chiswick High Road, London W4 4HH Telephone: 020 8995 4555 http://www.dominos.uk.com/people/Current_Positions.aspx TASK 2: TECHNIQUES TO ANALYSE DATA: Data which is collected needs to be analyzed and then interpreted or technique to presented in the form that is self explanatory and easily understandable. Therefore, it is important to know the process that is included in process of analyzing the data. Data analysis is the process of gathering, modeling, and transforming data with the goal of highlighting useful information, suggesting conclusion and supporting decision making. Data analysis has multiple ways, approaches and technique. The main task is to interpret the information or the data that is collected. There are various ways to interpret the data in a simple for easy understanding. Interpretation of data is important for making a decision for the business. There are different ways or methods how a data can be interpreted, that is: Method1: Graphical presentation Method 2: Mean, Median and Mode Method 3: Quartile, percentile and Standard deviation. Method 1: Graphically presentation: The easiest way to present the data is through graphs and diagrams. There are different graphical presentations that are used for interpreting the data or presenting the data. To show the relationship between two variables we use graphs and diagrams. Using graph can have quick and direct understanding. It highlights the most important facts. It gives easy understanding of the data and can have a long lasting impression. Graph can be used when the data is dispersed, few or numerous and has little or no variation. Below is the detail for the local garage which is facing the fierce competition and wants to compete in the market with the reasonable prices. HISTOGRAM: Histogram is the popular graphing tool. It is used to explain discrete or continuous data that are measured on an interval scale. It is often used to present the distribution of data that is collected for the purpose. It divides the range of values in the data set into group classes. Histogram is more similar to vertical bar graph but when the data are continuous, there are no gaps between the bars. When the variables are discrete, gaps should be left the between the bars. In histogram, frequency is measured by the area of the column and in a vertical bar graph; frequency is measured by the height of the bar. Histogram graphically shows: Center (i.e. the location) of the data Spread (i.e. the scale) of the data skewness of the data presence of outliers and Presence of multiple modes in the data. The most common form of the histogram is taken by dividing the range of data into equal classes. That is, Vertical axis: frequency Horizontal axis: Response variable The histogram is a popular graphing tool used in the presentation of the data. It is used to summaries discrete or continuous data that are measured on an interval scale. It is often used to represent the major features of the distribution of the data in an easy form. The October costs of the garage. In the data the costs of the servicing may be grouped into classes as follow: Tabulated (grouped) continuous data Method 2: Mean, Median and Mode are the most commonly used forms of average for the most business data. Each has its own characteristics, and whilst it will be possible to use them interchangeably with some data sets, for others there will be a single average which will be most appropriate. One consideration will be the type of the data with which we are dealing is it categorical, ordinal or cardinal; secondly we must ask if the data is discrete or continuous. 2.1 Mean: The arithmetic mean is the name used for the simple average which you can already calculate. Almost everyone understands this average and thus it will succeed in communicating the concepts of the location of the data to a wide range of people. It does not apply to the apply to the categorical data and its interpretation when used with ordinal data is to open to considerable doubt. When used with discrete data it may give an answer which cannot occur, for example fractional number of people. This is the most commonly used average. The mean is calculated by adding the given values and then dividing the sum by the number of addends. Potential Problem: If you have a large number of small values with a few very large values in your sample, mean averages get skewed: the mean is nearer to the bigger values even though the small values there are smaller numbers. If you have a few small values and a few large values, the mean average can get skewed this way too. If you have one, or more, outlying values that do not follow the general trend of the numbers in a sample, the mean average can be affected more dramatically than intended. There are different ways of calculating Mean in different Data: 2.1.a) Untabulated data: Suppose that there are number of people were 7, 5, 6, 7 and 8. To calculate the mean, we would add all the numbers together to find the total number of people taken, and then divide by the number of values included. Here, the mean would be: That is, / 5 =33/5 =6.6