Most effective Leadership & Management Styles & approaches Coursework

Most effective Leadership & Management Styles & approaches - Coursework Example Guiding the work of subordinates and subsequent organizational success requires good knowledge and espousing the dissimilarity between management and leadership. Differences of the models emanate from ascribed roles and expectations. Management is a function that entails frameworks for performing things right whereas leadership is the affiliation that the leader has with groups that can inspire and strengthen the business. In this regard, Managers are enablers of their subordinates’ accomplishment. They provide necessary inputs for productive and successful teams. Managers perform crucial roles of planning, controlling, commanding and coordinating followers. Good management skills offer the transition to participative and consultative operations (Adeniyi, 2010, pp. 64). Managers are rational characters and usually under control problem solvers. Quite often, they concentrate on personnel, goals, structures, and resource availability. Unique personalities of managers include persistence, analysis, strong will, and intelligence. Managers focus on supervising work by controlling subordinates. Most common managerial styles include dictatorship, Autocratic, Authoritative, Transactional Consultative and Democratic approaches to handling situations. Thus, far managing a group requires keen analysis of components and devising appropriate responses. Contrariwise, a leader is anyone among team members with a particular talent, creativity and experience in a certain part of the business. They usually guide colleagues based on capabilities and prove useful to the manager and the team. Good leaders exhibit excellent skills like participative, consultative and transformational approaches while handling followers (Adeniyi, 2010). Their sole focus is an achievement of goals. Effective leaders understand that there is no single best style to manage people. In its place, they acclimatize their

Al Pacino Essay Example for Free

Al Pacino Essay It is with great pleasure and reverence I present to you, Al Pacino. 2) Al Pacino was born on April 25, 1940 in Manhattan, New York. 1) When he was three years old, he and his mother moved to the South Bronx, which he claims as his hometown. 2) In 1966 he was granted admission to the prestigious Actors Studio where he was taught by renowned actor and coach, Lee Strasburg. 3) The lessons paid off quickly for Al Pacino. 4) In 1967 he won an OBIE award (equivalent to an Off-Broadway Tony), and in 1968, he won a Tony award for â€Å"Does the Tiger Wear a Necktie†. ) In 1971, Al got a shot in a feature film called â€Å"The Panic in Needle Park† where he plays a junkie who gets trapped in the ups and downs of dealing heroin. 1) This performance led him into the role that would propel him to greatness, the role of Michael Corleone in The Godfather. 2) The network executives didn’t want Pacino to play the youngest son to Marlon Brando’s Vito Corleone, but at the insistence of Brando, and director Francis Ford Coppola, Al won the part. ) This was the first of four consecutive Oscar nominations, and eight total for his career. 2) After portraying a real New York City undercover detective in Serpico in 1973, and reprising his role as Michael Corleone in 1974’s The Godfather II, Al’s next role was a huge departure from his usual gritty, tough guy roles. 3) In 1975, Al starred as Sonny, a would be bank robber who needs money to get his boyfriend a sex change operation in the movie Dog Day Afternoon. 4) In 1979, Al plays attorney Arthur Kirkland in the movie,†¦and justice for all. Arthur is forced to defend a judge (whom he hates) in a rape trial. Arthur is torn between defending the judge (even though he knows he’s guilty), and human decency. 1) For the next few years, Al’s career had taken a downward turn. 1) Less than expected box office revenues from 1980’s Cruising and 1982’s Author! Author! left many in Hollywood to think the Al had lost his magic. In 1983, screenwriter Oliver Stone and Director Brian De Palma created a vehicle that would launch Al Pacino’s career into the stratosphere. Pacino’s portrayal of Cuban-born drug kingpin Tony Montana in the movie Scarface is legendary Performance was worthy of an Oscar nod, which he didn’t receive. Pacino did finally win his Oscar in 1992. For his spot on performance as retired Army Officer Frank Slade in Scent of a Woman, he won the award, Pacino has done several films since Scent of a Woman, constantly stretching the limits of his craft, and ever bit as masterful today as he was in his heyday of the 1970’s. Al Pacino approaching his 72nd birthday has not slowed down. He is still acting, but not as much for major studio productions, but doing more independent type films and the occasional work on the stage. From a poor kid growing up in the Bronx, to a legendary film icon, Al Pacino has never forgotten his roots, and still claims the Bronx as his home. From having to borrow bus fare to get to auditions, to writing his own ticket, the humble, charismatic star can look back on a career filled with hard work, natural talent and people who believed in him with pride.

The function of flashbacks in Death of a Salesman. Essay -- English Li

The function of flashbacks in Death of a Salesman. Throughout Death of a Salesman flashbacks are used continuously, typically to present the audience with the Loman family's background and show deterioration. In act one we see the first flashback at the beginning of the play. As the play starts to go into flashback the backdrop changes from the present 'Apartment houses' and the 'surroundings become covered in leaves.' The first sign of the Loman's happy past. Willy is talking sense and telling Biff to watch his schooling, giving him good advice, and then he shows his wealth, polishing the car talking about the hammock that Willy is going to buy, to the punch bag that Willy bought his sons. This all seems too good to be true and as the flashbacks are taking place throughout the play we begin to see a tragic hero uncovered, Willy. The flashbacks show his highs from the past but the reality now is his present, and his falls. As the flashback begins to uncover, We see that the past is arriving on stage before the present has left. Ben a character from the past that is dead is present in flashbacks throughout the play. But at the start his presence he is more diffuse as he spreads with all the characters in the flashback. Later Ben is still apparent but only when Willy is alone in a flashback. As the flashbacks are happening in the past, the present is still there. So as Willy is talking to Ben, Linda is confused to who Willy is talking to. The 'laughter of the past' is heard during the play from the woman Willy was having an affair with. This shows Willy conscience, and that he stills thinks about what he did. The stage directions make a point of saying, 'From the darkness', and although this is not a ... ... flashback page 15 when the skyscrapers change to trees and leaves. This shows the environment, which the Loman family used to live in. The function of flashback in Death of a Salesman has proven to be successful. It helps to show the contrast between the past and the present, an insight into Willie's behaviour, and also explains the decline that Willy is experiencing in throughout his life. The variety of moods, location and atmosphere throughout the play and its flashbacks make it easier for the audience to comprehend and get an in sight into the characters personality. This play makes it easy for the audience to relate to the characters and their lives. What the Loman's are going through is a part of reality of which many people have to deal with everyday and so by incorporating flashbacks into the script makes the theme more accessible to understand. The function of flashbacks in Death of a Salesman. Essay -- English Li The function of flashbacks in Death of a Salesman. Throughout Death of a Salesman flashbacks are used continuously, typically to present the audience with the Loman family's background and show deterioration. In act one we see the first flashback at the beginning of the play. As the play starts to go into flashback the backdrop changes from the present 'Apartment houses' and the 'surroundings become covered in leaves.' The first sign of the Loman's happy past. Willy is talking sense and telling Biff to watch his schooling, giving him good advice, and then he shows his wealth, polishing the car talking about the hammock that Willy is going to buy, to the punch bag that Willy bought his sons. This all seems too good to be true and as the flashbacks are taking place throughout the play we begin to see a tragic hero uncovered, Willy. The flashbacks show his highs from the past but the reality now is his present, and his falls. As the flashback begins to uncover, We see that the past is arriving on stage before the present has left. Ben a character from the past that is dead is present in flashbacks throughout the play. But at the start his presence he is more diffuse as he spreads with all the characters in the flashback. Later Ben is still apparent but only when Willy is alone in a flashback. As the flashbacks are happening in the past, the present is still there. So as Willy is talking to Ben, Linda is confused to who Willy is talking to. The 'laughter of the past' is heard during the play from the woman Willy was having an affair with. This shows Willy conscience, and that he stills thinks about what he did. The stage directions make a point of saying, 'From the darkness', and although this is not a ... ... flashback page 15 when the skyscrapers change to trees and leaves. This shows the environment, which the Loman family used to live in. The function of flashback in Death of a Salesman has proven to be successful. It helps to show the contrast between the past and the present, an insight into Willie's behaviour, and also explains the decline that Willy is experiencing in throughout his life. The variety of moods, location and atmosphere throughout the play and its flashbacks make it easier for the audience to comprehend and get an in sight into the characters personality. This play makes it easy for the audience to relate to the characters and their lives. What the Loman's are going through is a part of reality of which many people have to deal with everyday and so by incorporating flashbacks into the script makes the theme more accessible to understand.

Defining God :: Philosophy Essays

Defining God A concept of God can begin at many places. I begin with a search for ultimate origins. Two complementary approaches can be taken: The personal: Where did I come from? The cosmic: Where did the evolving, life-producing world come from? PERSONAL: A quest for God appropriately begins with a two-fold basic experience. The first is the amazement that we are. The most immediate and self-verifying knowledge that we have is the consciousness of our own existence. This realization arises out of the contrast between the undeniable fact that we are "really here" and the recognition that we might not have been at all. Reflection and observation leads to the certainty that there will come a time when we will cease to be. There was a past when we were not, a present when we are, and a future in which we will no longer be. Out of this shock and astonishment arises the question of the factually ultimate origin of this coming to be and passing away. The formal answer to this question is God. To speak of God is to refer to the primordial, objective ground of our personal being. I experience my life as a gift from beyond myself from an Ultimate Source that I call God. The second deep experience is the awareness that it is good to be . The primal response to the gift of life is joy in being. We experience our existence as potentially and essentially good, i. e., capable of producing enjoyable, desirable, and satisfying experiences. The processes of life that fulfill the potential of the organism are experienced as pleasing and agreeable. Goodness is coincident with being. Life with its promise of happiness and joy is a gift to us from some Ultimate Mystery. The delight and ecstasy of life at its best point toward a Loving Giver of what comes to us a pure unmerited favor, grace. COSMIC: Science tells us that our present world has evolved over billions of years from a "big bang." Moreover, the evolutionary process has produced many forms of life. Organisms are highly organized systems composed of mutually sustaining, interacting parts whose harmonious functioning sustains the life of the whole in ways that tend to actualize the potential within it. The processes of life are internally directed toward the survival and flourishing of the individual organism and the perpetuation of the species. The universe appears to have a life-producing, life-fulfilling, and life-reproducing urge and capacity.

Analysis of My Last Duchess and Ulyssis

â€Å"My Last Duchess† is a vivid and striking monologue written in 1842. This poem represents the first part of the joint pieces called â€Å"Italy and France†. The poem consists of twenty eight rhyming couplets that are, in my mind, dominated by iambic pentameter. Robert Browning main tool to use in the poem is breaking the lines for regular and irregular pauses. This tool makes the poem very easy and enjoyable to read, and creates easy conversational flow. The poem begins with the line â€Å"Ferrara†. The readers finds himself in a house of a very wealthy duke with a lengthy title and immense power.At the beginning of the poem we are shown that the duke represents the amazing specially made collection of art he possesses. We hear the voice of the main character when he and his guest stop next to the painting with the duke’s last wife. The narrator starts to describe the painting, though rapidly moving to the describing of the duchess herself. From his m onolog it becomes obvious that the narrator considered his late wife to be also one of his possessions that were commissioned for him according to his will.From the very beginning of the poem the narrator is clear to be portrayed as a person depleted of morality and honesty. The poem shows corruption and wickedness of the speaker's character with this presenting similar traits of the society of that time. The people then wanted to possess everything can be naturally possessed or not. In his poem â€Å"Ulysses† Tennyson transports us to the Victorian times. The poem structure is also a dramatic monologue. Throughout the poem Tennyson uses enjambment in order to reproduce the meaning and content of the poem which is that of sailing beyond death.Tennyson’s poem is deep and resonant, he uses high-sounding verse, particularly by setting different vowel sounds closely against each other. In the poem â€Å"Ulysses† the main character is a hero, a warrior and a famous A ncient Greek traveler. He refuses to sit behind and unwind. His whole life is concerned with traveling, taking on adventures, competing and battling, he simply rejects that a man can be an â€Å"idle king† (Davis). Both of the poems, ‘My Last Duchess’ by Robert Browning and ‘Ulysses’ by Alfred Lord Tennyson, are examples of dramatic monologues.As it was already mentioned above they both exclusively consist of the monologs of the protagonists. In both poems there are powerful noble men ruminating about past, though they are very different. What is also different are the poetic devices used in the poems to present these two main characters. The first difference between the main characters is the way they came into power and how they exercise it. The rich Italian duke has acquired all his riches from the â€Å"nine-hundred-years-old-name†.He was born with lengthy titles, in the family with already established name. In his life he never had to do anything to achieve some position. His whole life he went with the flow, expecting others to admire him and his name and follow his orders. On the contrary, Ulysses has earned his status of a hero after battling in Troy, where he showed his nobility and courage. He is respected by people not because his name tells enough for him and leads to common obedient admiring. They respect him because he is a warrior fighting for Greece.At it can be seen from the previous paragraph the characters of the duke and Ulysses are very different. Even though they both get killed at the end of the poems, the reads see that the ways they took death also says a lot about who they are. Wee see that Ulysses is killed as a hero, while the Duke of Ferrara’s killing is very far from being heroic. What is interesting is that the way the duke was killed was not even personal. Even for his death he gave out orders and expected the job to be done for him.

Distance learning and telecommunications Essays

Distance learning and telecommunications Essays Distance learning and telecommunications Essay Distance learning and telecommunications Essay The process of writing a syllabus is quite an important one owing to the fact that it informs children about the policies that one must adhere to; it also gives details about the mode of operation and the assignments that are due. However, a distance learning syllabus unit requires much more detail than other usual classes in that there are no other ways in which usual learning objectives can be achieved directly. Core objectives The latter syllabus with certain information about when assignments will be handed in, classroom schedules, unanswered questions that is likely to crop up during the process of assigning these issues. The following are the major objectives of this syllabus unit; Clarifying class details Help students decide on staying within a certain lass Give details about the unit To serve as contract between the institution and the students In this latter syllabus unit, there will be details about the instructor. In this case there will be details about the department, fax, phone and fax number of the instructor. This syllabus will contain details about how to contact the instructor. (Pembrook, 2008) The syllabus unit Contact policy: The turnaround time for this course unit will be twenty four hours (i. e. the time that students can contact the instructor after giving notification. This rule applies within Mondays and Fridays. Over the weekends, twelve hour notices will be applicable. Course description: the description of this course in a full manner can be found on the registrar’s office and they are well written within the course catalog. Overly, the course unit will cover all the basic computer information. Required and course materials: the following textbooks will be required for this particular course O’Neil, K. (2008): the ABCs of computer instruction, New York, Routledge Mc Namara, T. (2008) Basic Computer skills, London, McMillan These textbooks will be the core texts and students can contact the instructor in order to know where thy can purchase. Their ISBN numbers will also be given upon contact and as they can be bought online. For this particular course, there will be a need to combine the core texts with other course information. In this case, students can log into my WPI site that will be indicated at the bottom portion of the book. Audio and video clips will be an important part of this course and they will be instrumental in ensuring the success of the program. (Pembrook, 2008) Class schedules: classes here will commence from Thursday and will progress until Sunday. Assignments will be due on Mondays at 1400 hrs GMT. Deadline extensions will be granted only after prior notice given to the instructor and they will lead to prior cancellation of work if done poorly. It should also be noted that all the files handed in must be in . doc format or in Microsoft Word 1997-2003 format. All files must be named in the following format; (number of assignment)-(name of the individual) Students can hand in their assignments in APA, MLA or Harvard referencing styles. They will be required to examine credible sources on how these can be achieved. Learning objectives: At the end of the course unit students need to be bale to do the following Open, create and store files Carry out the latter tasks in different programs Work with spreadsheets Create presentations on PowerPoint Know how to edit, format and add stylistic features in word documents Understand how to utilize other external features Utilize print options Start and run basic applications Assessment and grading: An excellent grad will be one in which all the assignments have been completed and one in which the final exam will be between 80-100 Good-79-60 Fair- 50-59 Poor -49- 0 The final exam will account for sixty percent to grade while the remaining percentage will be divided between the two assignments to be given i. e. twenty percent each. Late assignments will be penalized by ten percent of the overall grade. Technologies: the latter unit will entail use of a series of technologies to facilitate communication between the student and the instructor. Video conferencing will be important and this may involve about of countries. Correspondence will mostly be through mail between the students and the instructor. One way videos will be important too in that recorded material will be viewed across the internet. (Pembrook, 2008) Perhaps one of the most important modes of communication will be computer networking. Here, the internet and local area networks will be particularly useful. First of all, web pages will be important sources, additionally, emails and chat rooms will also be necessary to ask information about certain assignments. On top of these, databases about course contents, and course participants will be found in these respective areas. Reference Pembrook, C. (2008): Distance learning and telecommunications, NJ, Pearson Education

Effective Strategies to Maximize Student Learning Time

Effective Strategies to Maximize Student Learning Time Time is a precious commodity for teachers. Most teachers would argue that they never have enough time to reach every student, particularly the ones that are below grade level. Therefore, every second a teacher has with their students should be a meaningful and productive second.   Successful teachers establish procedures and expectations that minimize wasteful downtime and maximize engaging learning opportunities. Wasted time does add up. A teacher who loses as little as five minutes of instructional minutes per day due to inefficiencies wastes fifteen hours of opportunity over the course of a 180-day school year. That extra time would likely make a significant difference for every student, but particularly those who are struggling learners. Teachers can utilize the following strategies to maximize student learning time and minimize downtime. Better Planning and Preparation Effective planning and preparation are essential in maximizing student learning time. Too many teachers under-plan and find themselves with nothing to do for the last few minutes of class. Teachers should get in the habit of over-planning- too much is always better than not enough. In addition, teachers should always have their materials laid out and ready to go before students arrive. Another important- and often overlooked- component of planning and preparation is practice.  Many teachers skip this essential element, but they shouldnt. Independent practice of lessons and activities allows teachers to work out the kinks beforehand, ensuring that minimum instructional time will be lost. Buffer the Distractions Distractions run rampant during school hours. An announcement comes over the loudspeaker, an unexpected guest knocks on the classroom door, an argument breaks out between students during class time. There is no way to eliminate every single distraction, but some are more easily controlled than others. Teachers can evaluate distractions by keeping a journal over the course of a two-week period. At the end of this period, teachers can better determine which distractions can be limited and formulate a plan to minimize them. Create Efficient Procedures Classroom procedures are an essential part of the learning environment. Those teachers who operate their classroom like a well-oiled machine maximize student learning time. Teachers should develop efficient procedures for every aspect of the classroom. This includes routine activities such as sharpening pencils, turning in assignments, or getting into groups.   Eliminate â€Å"Free Time† Most teachers give â€Å"free time† at some point during the school day. It is easy to do when we may not be feeling the best or we under-plan. But we know when we give it, we are not taking advantage of the precious time that we have with our students. Our students love â€Å"free time†, but it is not what is best for them. As teachers, our mission is to educate. â€Å"Free time† runs directly counter to that mission. Ensure Quick Transitions Transitions occur every time you switch from one component of a lesson or activity into another. Transitions when poorly executed can slow a lesson down tremendously. When done right, they are practiced procedures that are quick and seamless. Transitions are a major opportunity for teachers to gain back some of that valuable time. Transitions may also include changing from one class to another. In this case, students must be taught to bring the correct materials to class, use the bathroom or get a drink, and be in their seats ready to learn when the next class period starts. Give Clear and Concise Directions A major component in teaching is providing your students with clear and concise directions. In other words, directions should be easy to understand and as simple and straightforward as possible. Poor or confusing directions can stymie a lesson and quickly turn the learning environment into total chaos. This takes away valuable instruction time and disrupts the learning process. Good directions are given in multiple formats (i.e. verbal and written). Many teachers select a handful of students to summarize the directions before turning them lose to get started on the activity. Have a Backup Plan No amount of planning can account for everything that could go wrong in a lesson. This makes having a backup plan critical. As a teacher, you make adjustments to lessons on the fly all the time. Occasionally, there will be situations where more than a simple adjustment is needed. Having a backup plan ready can ensure that learning time for that class period will not be lost. In an ideal world, everything will always go according to plan, but the classroom environment is often far from ideal. Teachers should develop a set of backup plans to fall back on should things fall apart at any point. Maintain Control of the Classroom Environment Many teachers lose valuable instructional time because they have poor classroom management skills. The teacher has failed to gain control of the classroom environment and establish a relationship of mutual trust and respect with their students. These teachers are continuously having to redirect students and often spend more time correcting students than teaching them. This is perhaps the most limiting factor in maximizing learning time. Teachers must develop and maintain effective classroom management skills where learning is valued, the teacher is respected, and expectations and procedures are set and met beginning on day one. Practice Procedural Steps With Students Even the best intentions fall by the wayside if students do not truly understand what is being asked of them. This problem can be easily taken care of with a little practice and repetition. Veteran teachers will tell you that the tone for the year is often set within the first few days. This is the time to practice your expected procedures and expectations over and over. Teachers who take the time within the first few days to drill these procedures will save valuable instructional time as they move throughout the year. Stay on Task It is easy for teachers to get distracted and veer off topic from time to time. There are some students who, frankly, are masters at making this happen. They are able to engage a teacher in a conversation about a personal interest or tell a funny story that captivates the classes attention but keeps them from completing the lessons and activities scheduled for the day. To maximize student learning time, teachers must maintain control of the pace and flow of the environment. While no teacher wants to miss out on a teachable moment, you dont want to chase rabbits either.

Sexism in A Thousand Splendid Suns Essays

Sexism in A Thousand Splendid Suns Essays Sexism in A Thousand Splendid Suns Essay Sexism in A Thousand Splendid Suns Essay Essay Topic: A Thousand Splendid Suns A major theme throughout the novel is sexism and the ideology that men possess complete control over their wives (helped further by the Taliban). A few days after living with Ransheed, Mariam is required to wear a burka as where he comes from a womens face is her husbands business only. This statement objectifies women, likening them to possessions without personality or any individuality. If not for the tone, it could be said that Ransheed wants to free his wife from unwanted glances and snide remarks of another men, that might make her feel uncomfortable. However, no affection or protectiveness is expressed, the burka is simply for his benefit; a way to maintain his pride. The quotation links closely to The Handmaids Tale the handmaids dress code consists of an ankle-length, full, gathered to a flat yoke that extends over the breast and white wings which keep them from seeing but also from being seen showing extreme of objectification. The idea that women can be so indoctrinated indicates they are viewed as not having a mind of their own, free to make their choices, almost like animals (not possessing a higher order of thinking). Ransheed also expresses his distaste when he mentions women come uncoveredlook me in the eye without shame claiming how it embarrasses him to see a man whos lost control of his wife Women are seen as an extension of the husband and if they act inappropriately husbands only care about what it reflects upon them. Women are treated as sub-human, inferior to man, who should dominate; enabling them to mould women as they wish until they become a voiceless being (never expressing their true character), whose purpose is to serve them only. Leading on from this, Ransheed could be said to be struggling for his identity as he feels pressured by society to have a wife that shows utter respect and obedience. Without, he would be classed as weak, thus a nobody. Society norms alone have huge influence o n the struggle for identity. Not only does Ransheed dominate his wife, he also physical abuses them downstairs, the beating began it is almost like a ritual and the way it is said so obviously, highlights the horror of the act. Laila names it as methodical, familiar proceedingno cursing, no screamingonly the systematic business of beating and being beatenthump thump the women have no option to accept the abuse (their punishment) as part of the daily routine. The fact women have no power to stop the atrocity, places them as forever vulnerable and powerless. Not being able to stand up for themselves, leads to a reduced version, thus the struggle for identity continues. Ironically, both men behave in ways that are ethically shameful. To protect their names in order to meet their own ideas of social expectations, they neglect or even abuse their offspring and wives, sacrificing the welfare of those around them in order to save face. Influence of War When Mariam finds a flyer, expressing the new regulations the Taliban are implementing. There is one section devoted entirely to women Attention women, as though they need extra ruling. The rules are written as a list, which highlights the extent to which women are being controlled; there is literally no way for them to escape. Some of the include You will not speak unless spoken to and You will not laugh in public and have to be accompanied by a male relatives. The Taliban completely removes their independence, allowing them to be dominated and treated as sub-humans (their identity gone). The nicest consequence for violation of the rules is being severely beaten. The fact this is written publically, shows societys treatment attitude towards women; they are worthless, undeserving of equality. This was all meant to safeguard their honour, but in fact it was a way to control society, inducing too much fear for there to be ever a chance of rebellion. Language Techniques * Short clipped sentences convey a tone that it is very matter of fact. This illustrates how the treatment of women by men is the norm, completely unsurprising. This highlights the struggle for identity as both women and men alike have become so indoctrinated by society ideology, they no longer act as they would do normally. * Use of questions, Do you understand? is almost like a parent would talk to a child, reflecting how men are placed as superior. Women are not given the courtesy of being thought of having a mind of their own. Other Links * The Colour Purple Ceclie is beaten by her husband as it is the norm. She is beaten for being not good enough but in truth he uses her as a way to release his frustration and anger.

Impact of Data Warehousing and OLAP Models on Management Accounting Dissertation

Impact of Data Warehousing and OLAP Models on Management Accounting - Dissertation Example The questions were categorised into seven sections that cover the aspects of familiarity of the organisation with these tools, historical data for planning the implementation, changes and compatibility of people in various departments, contribution of OLAP to management accountant and other departments. The data collected were analysed in Excel and by SWOT analyses. The strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats in implementing OLAP and data warehouses for the organisation and the management accountant have been analysed. It has been identified that the strengths are more and the threats are less. Hence the impact of the OLAP and data warehouses on management accountant is positive and their overall benefits it that the data analysis and reporting is easy and efficient. Table of Contents Chapter 1 - Introduction 1.1. Research scenario 1.2. Identification of research problem 1.3. Main research question and Assumptions 1.4. Aim and Objectives of the Research 1.5. Methodology of r esearch 1.6. Structure of the research Chapter 2 – Literature Review 2.1. The Traditional Accountant 2.2. Challenges faced by The Traditional Accountant 2.3. Transition of role 2.4. The Data Marts 2.5. Introduction to OLAP 2.6. OLAP models 2.6.1. Data analysis in OLAP 2.6.2. OLAP components 2.7. The role of OLAP 2.8. Mapping the BI 2.9. Database Design 2.10. Warehouse Management 2.11. Challenges and implications of BI tools Chapter 3 - Methodology of Research 3.1. Research Methodologies 3.2. Qualitative survey method 3.3. Data collecting instrument 3.4. Sample space and sample size 3.5. Validity, Originality and Limitation of the research Chapter 4 – Data Presentation and Analysis 4.1. Qualitative Data representation 4.1.1. Section I Questions – Data Representation 4.1.2. Section II Questions – Data Representation 4.2. Preliminary data analysis in EXCEL 4.2.1. Analysis of section I questions 4.2.2. Analysis of section II questions 4.2.3. Analysis of secti on III questions 4.2.4. Analysis of section IV questions 4.2.5. Analysis of section V questions 4.2.6. Analysis of section VI questions 4.2.7. Analysis of section VII questions 4.3. SWOT analysis method 4.4. SWOT analysis of research data Chapter 5 – Research Recommendations 5.1. Strengths 5.2. Weaknesses 5.3. Opportunities 5.4. Threats 5.5. Research Recommendations Chapter 6 – Research Conclusion References Appendices Appendix A – Questionnaire Appendix B – Data Collected from First Participant Appendix C – Data Collected from Second Participant List of Figures Fig.2.1. The cube architecture of OLAP system. Fig.2.2. Database segregation in Business Intelligence using OLAP. Fig.4.1. Analysis of first question in section I. Fig.4.2. Analysis of second question in section I. Fig.4.3. Analysis of third question in section I. Fig.4.3. Analysis of third question in section I. Fig.4.5. Analysis of fifth question in section I. Fig.4.6. Analysis of sixth q uestion in section I. Fig.4.7. Analysis of seventh question in section I. Fig.4.8. Analysis of eighth question in section I. Fig.4.9. Analysis of first question in section II. Fig.4.10. Analysis of second question in section II Fig.4.11. Analysis of third question in section II Fig.4.12. Analysis of fourth question in section II Fig.4.13. Analysis of fifth question in section II. Fig.4.14. Analysis of sixt

Critique Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 5

Critique - Essay Example A careful review proves that Many of the American militias suffer heavy loses personally but believe in the revolutions course. The Militia show courage as the film portray their force fragile compared to the military power of the British Army. However, Bravery is challenged in the film, and the story depicts how the men handle the challenges and continue to fight. The film despite an excellent effort by the director to portray the real life events of the revolution but, it does not represent the actual history. Many of the atrocities committed by the British particularly Tavington, are war crimes by the Nazis in 1940 and not what happened in 1770s. The mixture of the two clearly demines credibility of the film as an accurate account of the revolutionary war. A vital lesson from the film is war always comes with its spoils that curse both pain and joy to the two warring sides. Bravery is crucial in any war, and when mixed with the right experience and war tactics a win is most promising, in this

Background Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Background - Term Paper Example The airport was built up using a metallic reinforcement that has been holding the entire set up. This has been incorporated so that the pilots are informed about the possible dangers that the airbuses may encounter by proper exhibition in the compass. Along with this several establishments like four hangers and private dining clubs were set up in the airport premises. Post 1939 period when the airport was under the New York Municipality a lot of fund was invested for the development of the airport and for incorporation of modern amenities (PANYNJ 1). In the later stages of development the airport faced problems relating to overcrowding and huge burden of the air traffic. However, the traffic faced a decline after the terrorist attack of 11th September, 2001 and there was a decrease in demand for travel in New York. Plans of renovation of the Central Terminal Building have been on the process and developmental activities are taking place to improve the airfield layout of LaGuardia. All this have been undertaken to increase the demand for air travel among the

Does the internet degrades its users's cognitive quality Essay

Does the internet degrades its users's cognitive quality - Essay Example This paper is supposed to be a research opinion paper, so you are right to change this into a more argumentative one. Please strengthen this paper if possible by adding strong arguments, providing great coherence of logic flow, or including thought-provoking ideas. Does The Internet Degrade Its User’s Cognitive Quality? The internet is extremely prevalent these days; it has transformed human life from a normal life to a digital life. There are no life segments, in which the influence of internet is negligible. Business, education, communication, healthcare, culture and politics are some areas in which internet brought huge changes. The entire world is now divided into real world and virtual world. The activities going on the virtual world are almost equal in magnitude with the activities going on in the real world. In short, internet has made plenty of changes in the physical world. The influence of internet is not limited to the physical world alone; even mental activities un dergo rapid changes. One of affected mental activities is people’s cognitive skills; cognitive skills are brain-based skills that include set of abilities that are part of human actions. It involves logic, attention, memory, and perception. The efficiency and convenience that the internet provides is utilized by people in order to make their life much easier. Comparing internet research to hours of turning book pages to find relevant information and noting them down, the latter seems like a laborious and time-consuming task. After all, the internet provides relevant information from thousands of sources altogether in just a matter of seconds. But without being realized, it serves as a double-edged sword where it overindulges our brain and ruins our cognitive ability. The internet has made our lives much easier, but along with that it has degraded our cognitive quality. Being a student in this tech savvy generation, I am completely aware of the role the internet plays in our l ives. In fact today’s youth cannot even imagine getting through schools and colleges without the internet. The internet helps to complete academic tasks more easily because we have easy access to every piece of information one can ever imagine; it is all just a click away. The internet serves as huge library where one has access to information from all corners of the world. Even though lack of good editorial committees has flooded the internet with wrong information, the convenience of using the net to seek something, continues to be a preferred choice over browsing through books and journals. With the realization that using the internet to search for information is pretty convenient, people are becoming overly dependent on it, and slowly, their reasoning and problem solving skills are dropping. The internet provides readymade answers to all problems; therefore a student or researcher does not feel the need to think much about solving a problem. On the other hand, generations in the past were forced to think deeply to analyze different dimensions of a problem before identifying proper solution for that. The easiness in solving problem with the help of internet causes mental idleness. According to a study conducted by Karin Slegers, a Cognitive Psychologist, older adults who rely on the internet lose their cognitive functions much faster than their counterparts

Health insurance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Health insurance - Essay Example Therefore, this paper will look into a health advertisement and discuss it in its fullness. Health and health insurance as a topic is important in most people’s lives. Decisions on what the best medical policies are suitable for an individual and their families as well as what medical services are best suited for them often take center stage in planning. Therefore, companies and medical providers have the obligation to research and find out what consumers need and how effectively they can provide these needs. They have to take into consideration; the pricing, the treatment, cause of the drug as compared to its complements, then advertise it in a manner that will captivate the consumers and make them want to try it. Advertisements assure the target market of how effective the product is and how well- tested it is should be included to erase any fear of bad and severe side effects or otherwise. There is an advertisement of the Swiss drug maker, Novartis, on multiple sclerosis disease that says â€Å"Hey MS, Take This!† (Olson). The advert is about people who refuse to let the disease control their lives. Multiple Sclerosis is a disease that affects the brain and the spinal cord. These parts of the body are the central and core parts that control most, if not all the other body parts. Multiple Sclerosis can affect the body hindering an individual’s perfomance as well as personal independence; thus, making them rely on assistance for the rest of their lives. The advert shows people with the Gilenya drug on their tongues that are stuck out (Olson). This shows that they are willing to fight against any disease that may want to affect their bodies neurologically or otherwise. The text â€Å"Hey MS, Take This!† (Olson). The graphics of extremely good-looking and healthy persons brings out the defiance nature that we should adopt against any condition. It is encouraging and shows a positive fighting spirit and the strength that

Does the internet degrades its users's cognitive quality Essay

Does the internet degrades its users's cognitive quality - Essay Example This paper is supposed to be a research opinion paper, so you are right to change this into a more argumentative one. Please strengthen this paper if possible by adding strong arguments, providing great coherence of logic flow, or including thought-provoking ideas. Does The Internet Degrade Its User’s Cognitive Quality? The internet is extremely prevalent these days; it has transformed human life from a normal life to a digital life. There are no life segments, in which the influence of internet is negligible. Business, education, communication, healthcare, culture and politics are some areas in which internet brought huge changes. The entire world is now divided into real world and virtual world. The activities going on the virtual world are almost equal in magnitude with the activities going on in the real world. In short, internet has made plenty of changes in the physical world. The influence of internet is not limited to the physical world alone; even mental activities un dergo rapid changes. One of affected mental activities is people’s cognitive skills; cognitive skills are brain-based skills that include set of abilities that are part of human actions. It involves logic, attention, memory, and perception. The efficiency and convenience that the internet provides is utilized by people in order to make their life much easier. Comparing internet research to hours of turning book pages to find relevant information and noting them down, the latter seems like a laborious and time-consuming task. After all, the internet provides relevant information from thousands of sources altogether in just a matter of seconds. But without being realized, it serves as a double-edged sword where it overindulges our brain and ruins our cognitive ability. The internet has made our lives much easier, but along with that it has degraded our cognitive quality. Being a student in this tech savvy generation, I am completely aware of the role the internet plays in our l ives. In fact today’s youth cannot even imagine getting through schools and colleges without the internet. The internet helps to complete academic tasks more easily because we have easy access to every piece of information one can ever imagine; it is all just a click away. The internet serves as huge library where one has access to information from all corners of the world. Even though lack of good editorial committees has flooded the internet with wrong information, the convenience of using the net to seek something, continues to be a preferred choice over browsing through books and journals. With the realization that using the internet to search for information is pretty convenient, people are becoming overly dependent on it, and slowly, their reasoning and problem solving skills are dropping. The internet provides readymade answers to all problems; therefore a student or researcher does not feel the need to think much about solving a problem. On the other hand, generations in the past were forced to think deeply to analyze different dimensions of a problem before identifying proper solution for that. The easiness in solving problem with the help of internet causes mental idleness. According to a study conducted by Karin Slegers, a Cognitive Psychologist, older adults who rely on the internet lose their cognitive functions much faster than their counterparts

Credit Report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Credit Report - Essay Example Fair Credit Reporting Act was amended by adding the following new subsections:Fair Credit Reporting Act was amended by adding the following new subsections:†¢ RESELLER.—the term ‘reseller’ means a consumer reporting agency that assembles and merges information contained in the database of another consumer reporting agency or multiple consumer reporting agencies concerning two or any consumers for purposes of furnishing such information to any third party, to the extent of such activities; and does not maintain a database of the assembled or merged information from which new consumer reports are produced.†¢ Identity theft prevention; to identify theft, means a fraud committed using another person’sIdentifying information, subject to such further definition as the commission and the board may prescribe, jointly, by regulation. Have different sections that it represents and includes the following: a] Investigating changes of address and inactive acco unts this is done by the federal banking agencies and the national credit union administration] Fraud alerts.Include a fraud alert in the file of that consumer for a period of not less than 90 days beginning on the date of such request, unless the consumer specifically requests that such fraud alert be removed before the end of such periodc] Truncation of credit card and debit card account numbers d] Summary of rights of identity theft victims e] Establishment of procedures for depository institutions to identify possible Instances of identity theft f] Study on the use of technology to combat identity theft.

Recruitment Methods Essay Example for Free

Recruitment Methods Essay There are many types of recruitment methods that employer chose to target the type of applicants they desire for the open position. I will describe one internal and three external ways to recruit applicants for a high school librarian. I will also describe the advantages and disadvantages of each recruitment method. The first recruitment method for a high school librarian would be through advertisements. By placing advertisements in the local newspaper, on radio broadcasts, and web sites, the school board will be able to reach a larger audience of possible applicants more quickly, especially if the position needs to be filled at once. Another advantage for advertisements is that it highlights the major assets of the position. In addition, advertisements lets the potential applicants know that the high school is an equal opportunity employer. The disadvantage is that people who apply for the position apply with great hopes that the school board will not find a more qualified individual. Thus, the school board takes the chance of receiving more under qualified individual applications. Internet recruiting is another source the school board could use in order to find the most qualified and skillful applicants. It is a cheaper, faster, and potentially more effective way to recruit an applicant. Another advantage for internet recruitment is that web sites such as Monster. com, has a tracking system that can match the job requirements with the experiences and skills with the applicant. Disadvantages to internet recruiting include the loss of potential local â€Å"walk-ins†, less applications, and it puts a limit on recruitment resources and applicants for the school board. The final external way of recruitment the school board would use is the public employment agencies. Each state maintains an employment agency that administers its unemployment insurance program. This gives the school board an advantage because when a position needs to be filled immediately, the agency can refer an individual to them that have the specified skills and experiences for the job. The agency can also assist with any testing, job analysis, evaluation programs, and community wage surveys that would occur with a normal applicant. On the flip side, the applicant must be â€Å"suitable for employment†. Each individual is required to go through a job placement session in order to keep his or her unemployment wages. If an individual sees that they could make more through their unemployment wages, he or she may not interview as well for the position, leaving the school board with no position to fill. I am not quite sure about the advantages of hiring within for a high school librarian, because this position has skills and requirements that are not always the same for those such as a teacher, lunch person, or school bus driver. Yet the advantages for internal recruiting can let the employer capitalize on their investment they made during recruitment, selection process, training, and developing the current employees. The firm can reward their employees for past performances, and use him or her as an example to improve morale for others. Internal recruitment can protect its employees from layoffs and or broaden job experiences. A disadvantage of internal recruitment is that those from within may not always have the desired specialized training, required education, and specific skills needed to fill the position. If a firm relies too much on internal resources, it could lead to inbreeding of ideas and attitudes.

The Basic Sorting Algorithms Computer Science Essay

The Basic Sorting Algorithms Computer Science Essay In the following scientific report, the basic sorting algorithms will be discussed and examined. Timing will be done on the different sorting algorithms and experiments will be done to see which of the different sorting algorithms are the most efficient. Assumptions will be made on which sorting algorithm is the most efficient and then compare the results to see if the right assumption were made. We will discuss the reasons why each sorting algorithm is efficient and under which conditions are efficient. A brief explanation of each sorting algorithm will be given to get the basic idea what its all about. Then a brief conclusion will be done to round of the scientific report Bubble sort is probably one of the most popular and simple sorting algorithm. It is often used as a programming exercise for beginners because it is relatively easy to grasp and understand. The problem though is that its not very efficient, therefore bubble sort only gets used once in a blue moon. There are more efficient sorting algorithms used in real application and that will be discussed in a later stage. It basically two steps that happen in bubble sort, which are: It compares each pair of adjacent elements from the start of the array and, if they are not in the right order, they get swapped If at least one swap has occurred the you repeat step one until no numbers gets swapped Heres a graphical example how Bubble Sort works. Bubble sort http://www.algolist.net/Al We going to sort an array {5, 1, 12, -5, and 16} using bubble sort. Selection sort just like bubble sort is one of the simplest of the sorting algorithms and it works very well with small files. The concept of this algorithm is quite simple. The array is said to be divided in two parts, a sorted part and an unsorted part. At the beginning the sorted part is empty while the unsorted part is the whole array. At every step the method/algorithm finds the smallest element in the unsorted part of the array and the ads it to the end of the sorted part of the array. When the unsorted part becomes empty the algorithm stops. Insertion Sort just like bubble and Selection is one of the most basic and most common sorting algorithms around. This sorting algorithm is more efficient than the other to because it has fewer comparisons than the other two, but this will be discussed in more detail later on. Think about how you sort a deck of cards. You start from the beginning and work through the deck and as you find cards that arent in the right order you remove them and place it in the right order, and you do the this until all the cards are in the right position and your deck is sorted This is the main idea behind Insertion sort. The Method Insertion sorts breaks up the array in two parts, sorted and unsorted. At the start the sorted part of the array only contains one element. Each step the algorithms runs, it expands the sorted part of the array by one and then places the first element of the unsorted region and places it in the right place in the sorted area. This will carry on till the whole array will be a sorted array. The illustration on the right hand side shows step by step how insertion sort works. Shell sort Shell sort algorithm is one of the eldest sorting algorithms out there and was invented by D.L Shell in 1959[3]. It is quite effective and easy to comprehend. The sorting algorithm follows two standard procedures: 1. It arranges the data into a two dimensional array 2. The columns of the array will then be sorted Once the procedure has been concluded, the resultant data sequence is placed into another two dimensional array, but with less columns. The columns are then sorted and the above procedure is repeated until a single sorted column is leftover [3]. MERGESORT The merge sort algorithm uses divide and conquer approach. The algorithm firstly divides the data sequence into two halves, sorts the two halves and then combines them together to form a sorted set of data sequences. [4] Figure 0-4 http://www.inf.fh-flensburg.de/lang/algorithmen/sortieren/merge/mergen.htm In the above figure it illustrates the basic merge sort process. It starts by dividing the unsorted data sequence a into to unsorted data sequences b and c. The data sequences b and c are then sorted with recursive calls to form b and c. Once the two halves are sorted, they are combined to form a sorted data sequence namely a [4]. Quick sort Quick sort is the fastest sorting algorithm when it comes to large elements in an array. Quick sort has to make use of recursion, because of the way quick sort, sorts the elements. The way quicksort works is that there are three pointers, namely a left, right and pivot pointer, the pivot pointer is the most important one. The Left pivot will point to the most left element in the array and the right to the most right element in the list. For the pivot any number can be chosen, but its normal practice to make the first element your pivot. The steps: Pivot and left pointer points to the 1st element in the list and right to the last element The pivot pointer will now compare the object that its pointing at with the one that the right pivot is pointing at. If the right pointer objects are smaller than the pivot then the two objects swap, it is important to note that the pivot will always point to one number, so if that number moves so does the pivot, the right and left pivot stays in its respectable place. If the right pointer object is not smaller that pivot, the right pivot will just move left until a smaller one is found Once the pivot swaps with the right pivot , the pivot and the right pointer will point to the same object, therefore the right pivot will not move anymore now the left pointer will move one right The left pointer and the pivot will now compare, and it the left pointer object is bigger than the pivot object then it will swap, and the pivot will now join the left pointer. This will then let the right pointer move one left This will carry on until all three pointers point to the same object, this means that the object is in its perfect position, to the left of this object no number will be bigger than it and to the left no number would be smaller. Once it found the first object in its perfect place, it will then move to the left hand side of that object It will follow all the above steps with the left side. Ones the left side is all sorted it will then go to right side of our first perfect number and sort the right hand side with the same procedure (To see a Illustrative example see Appendix A) Sorting Algorithms Figure -Sorting Algorithm Figure 1 above shows us the relationship of time (ms) and the number of objects the sorting algorithm has to sort. There are 5 sorting algorithms measured in this experiment namely Bubble sort, Insertion Sort, Selection Sort, Double Insertion and Double Selection sort. As can be noticed from the graph above s that all five sorting algorithms has the same trend but some just increases more than the other and sometimes by quite a substantial amount. First thing noticeable is that if we sort little objects, lets say less than 2000 objects, then it does not matter what algorithm we use all of them are at about the 0ms mark. Only when we get to about the 10000 objects mark, then only the sorting algorithms really shows who the best is. As we can see from the graph is that Bubble Sort is the least sorting Algorithm and is basically just used to explain the sorting procedure to new comers to the programming language. Bubble selection and Double selection are very similar when it comes to efficiency. The most efficient sorting algorithm by far is the Insertion Sorts. As can be seen by figure 1 Double insertion is the most efficient and it all works on how the sorting algorithm sorts the array which is discussed in the abstract portion of this report. Experimental Procedures What was needed to run the experiment The apparatuses needed for his experiment where a Computer, Visual studio C#, and a user that has been tutored for Sorting algorithms How experiment was executed Code where write for each sorting algorithm in a method in a specific program. A new timing class was created, to have something to time how fast or slow the different sorting algorithms gets sorted. Then the method for each 5 sorting algorithms gets executed and run five times to get an average, to eliminate errors that might have been caused. After all the data has been recorded, a graph was plotted  [1]  . This graph was then evaluated Problems that arise The main problem that happened was, each time the programme ran the results werent always constant. And if the programme was not a dedicated programme (i.e. the only programme running at the time) then the values went haywire. This problem was fixed by forcing the visual studio to run a garbage collector and collect all the garbage, to make sure that when programme runs all the processing power is used for the programme so the times will be more accurate. Conclusion In this report five different sorting algorithms where discussed. Each one was investigated and briefly explained how they work, and why each one is efficient in their own right. As the experiment when on it was noticed that some sorting algorithms are less efficient than others and that had all to do with how each sorting algorithm works. When figure-1 was examined, it was concluded that Bubble sort was the least efficient of the different sorting algorithms and that Double insertion Sort was the most efficient of all the sorting algorithms. From this we can conclude that Bubble sort is best used just to explain or introduce the sorting algorithm to a new student. As soon as you want to have an efficient sorting algorithm the Double will be the best because less time will be spent to sort the objects in the array References http://wiki.answershttp://www.c.happycodings.com/Sorting_Searching/code17.html http://stackoverflow.com/questions/832765/whats-a-bubble-sort http://www.inf.fh-flensburg.de/lang/algorithmen/sortieren/shell/shellen.htm http://www.inf.fh-flensburg.de/lang/algorithmen/sortieren/merge/mergen.htm http://www.algolist.net/Algorithms/Sorting/Bubble_sort http://www.algolist.net/Algorithms/Sorting/Selection_sort http://www.algolist.net/Algorithms/Sorting/Insertion_sort

Writing an Essay :: Writing an Essay

How to Write an Excellent Essay Excellent essays get results. A well-written essay can earn you a scholarship or entrance into your favorite college. Many essays win contests and prizes and encourage others to live better lives. Well written essays turn the hearts of the people. Early America was motivated to fight for freedom from England because of the writings of Thomas Paine, Benjamin Franklin, and Thomas Jefferson. Your well-written essays might be printed in newspapers and make a positive impact in the lives of others. You can change cold hearts and encourage fellow believers by your written words. To write a good essay, one must have a particular point to make. A well-written essay includes an interesting point to ponder in the introduction, an assortment of solid facts to emphasize the point in the body, and a strong summation in the conclusion. If you are writing for a contest or scholarship, then the topic suggestions may be given to you. If you are practicing writing essays and you cannot come up with a topic, try writing emotional statements. Here are some ideas: I hate abortion! Income tax is against the Constitution! There is NO speparation of church and state in the Bill of Rights! Israel has the right to defend itself from terrorism.... etc. Start your essay with a grabber statement, quote or question. Be sure that you hook your reader’s attention. Expound on your opinion or your concern with a few sentences explaining your point of view. The next part of your essay needs to have clean clear facts to back up your powerful point. Here is where you can quote other people. A good essay does not always have to be only about your own opinion. You will be more effective if you integrate other’s opinions or facts and data to back up your point of view. Try to give a few facts with a sentence or two to explain each fact with clear supporting points. Be sure to use good connecting phrases to connect your facts. For example, begin with your main point and why you are concerned. * Excellent Essays Get Results The need to write excellent essays is more important today than ever. Well-written essays can earn scholarships, change hearts and open doors once closed by bigotry and prejudice. Then start explaining your position by writing clear exact facts or well documented solutions to the problem.

A Discussion On Earthquakes :: essays research papers

A Discussion On Earthquakes Perhaps Mother Nature offers no greater force than that of the earthquake. Across the span of time, earthquakes have been recorded for their incredible destructive forces, and their abilities to awe mankind with their unparalleled force. Earthquakes can often strike without any notice, leveling large cities and killing scores of innocent people. Not only can earthquakes bring harm to society through these methods of destruction, but they can also cause millions of dollars worth of damage to the areas they destroy, causing economic chaos. An earthquake is a natural phenomenon, occurring throughout the history of the world. Descriptions as old as recorded history show the significant effects earthquakes have had on people's lives. Long before there were scientific theories for the cause of earthquakes, people around the world created folklore to explain them. Until recent times, science has not had a complete understanding of how earthquakes are caused, and what can be done to predict when they will strike. This essay will discuss how earthquakes are formed and occur, how scientists can more accurately predict the arrival of earthquakes.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Before contemplating how earthquakes might possibly be prevented, it is essential that the process and formation of and earthquake be understood. Earthquakes are caused when the earth's crustal plates move, rub, or push against each other. The earth's crust (the outer layer of the earth) is made up of seven major plates and approximately thirteen smaller ones. The name plate is used to describe these portions of the earth's crust because they are literally â€Å"plates† or sections, composed of dirt and rock. These plates float on molten lava, called magma. Since the plates are floating on magma, they can slowly move. The place where friction occurs between plates is called a fault. A fault is a crack in a plate or a place where two or more plates meet. An example of a fault where two plates meet is the San Andrea's fault in California, where the Pacific and North American plates meet. The plates are about 30 miles thick under land and can be one to five miles thick beneath the ocean. The plates move because of convection currents. Magma has currents like the ocean does, that move in a circular motion beneath the plates. When two plates are pushing against each other, they are constantly building up tension on the fault. When two plates finally slip, they release a great amount of energy in the form of shock waves. These shock waves cause vibrations, which in turn cause the ground around the fault line to move and shake.

Eastman Kodak Resources

Eastman Kodak Resource and Capabilities Analysis Eastman Kodak has been able to maintain business in a tough market that has changed dramatically fast. Kodak’s core competitive advantage was redundant with the new digital moves happening. The introduction of digital imaging has taken off beyond anyone’s belief. Eastman Kodak has acquiring other business in trying to gain a competitive advantage in markets they have never been in. Between 1985 and the early 1990’s, Eastman Kodak acquired several companies hoping to drive their sales and profits.In order to keep a competitive advantage in the market, Eastman Kodak will have to do several key things. Eastman Kodak’s brand name speaks for its self. It is one of the most recognizable brand names in the country. Use this to the advantage of the company. In a market that has changed so quickly, a company has to be able to come up with a strategic plan in order to make sure they will continue as a profitable busin ess. Hiring has been a key strength for Kodak. Being able to bring in executives with experience and expertise has helped Kodak maintain their advantage.The role of the company now is to utilize those executives to continue to grow Kodak as a business. Some of the products that Kodak has introduced have their competitors wondering how they can get that same advantage. The 2003 introduction of the EasyShare camera docks hit the market and Kodak gained immediate advantage. Due to it being the only product on the market at the time, Kodak found a product that no one else was producing creating scarcity. This R&D investment had paid off. Being the innovator of new products and services is important for Kodak to stay in business.With so many competitors out there, scarcity and differentiation is important. Kodak’s was forced into a changing market. Being almost a monopoly for years in the film business, digital imaging was a huge step that Kodak had to figure out. In the early 197 0’s, Kodak was facing challenges from the Japanese camera industry and Polaroid pioneered instant photography. Kodak invested millions of dollars into R&D. Kodak needed to produce products that would separate them from their competitors. They will need to continue this but also find a way to turn a profit from the innovative changes.Technology and product development was a struggle for Kodak in the early 1980’s. The digital industry was taking off and most of Kodak’s plants still serviced film production. Kodak invested heavily into changing plants and equipment. Kodak realized that they were now struggling to make products from an industry that the world’s technology was moving into. Inventing new technologies thru R&D and creating a new wave of products is what will lead to the continued success of Kodak. Being able to make the leap from the old Kodak to the new Kodak has emerged Kodak as a company with competitive advantage.Management has had to cut ov er 15,000 jobs since the introduction of the digital industry. Plants were being reevaluated and stores were closed. Management had to figure out the exact approach they were going to take to become a leader again in the market. Adding new products was a step they took but most of those markets were already lead by companies that had secured their competitive advantage already. Trying to become a leader is those industries was hard with many failures. The most important role is to figure out what strength can be exploited to offset the failing issues.Due to heavily investing in the digital industry, Kodak has not seen a profit on those investments. Kodak’s brand name and profits made from the silver halide roll film has been able to keep them going. Kodak will need to continue to work toward making those investments into profits. As long as they continue with the strategic plan eventually they will see a profit from their efforts. Eastman Kodak realized that they had over ext ended themselves. Without having a commitment to those new ventures hurt the company.Eastman Kodak will need to take a hard look at the direction the company wants to go. Selling or merging some of the acquired business is the first step in making sure you are moving in a particular direction and not just acquiring companies that do not fit into the plan. Eastman Kodak has found success is a challenging market. I do believe continuing with their strategic plan of out with the old Kodak and in with the new Kodak is important. Making it easy for consumers to use the products and affordable will also keep Kodak on the path of striving competitive advantage.

Wisdom, Morality, and Meditation

The Fourth Noble Truth is the Noble Eightfold Path, which is also referred to as â€Å"Magga. † The Noble Eightfold Path essentially has three main parts: Wisdom, Morality, and Meditation. These three sections represent the eight sections of the Noble Eightfold Path. Wisdom is broken down into â€Å"Right View† and â€Å"Right Intention. † Next, morality consists of â€Å"Right Speech,† â€Å"Right Action,† and â€Å"Right Livelihood. † Finally, meditation consists of â€Å"Right Effort,† â€Å"Right Mindfulness,† and â€Å"Right Concentration. † One may think that these eight parts must be followed in a specific order, however, all eight parts work mutually dependent of each other. Right View is a part of Wisdom and, according to our class lectures, is the â€Å"Middle Way between eternalism and nihilism; the emptiness of all things. † Right View distinguishes wholesome (beneficial) things from unwholesome (harmful) things. A few examples of unwholesome things from our class notes are: onslaught of living beings, taking what is not given, sensual misconduct, lying speech, divisive speech (idol speech), harsh speech, covetousness, and wrong view. The roots of unwholesomeness can be narrowed down to three things: greed and desire, hatred and anger, and ignorance and confusion. Thich Nhat Hanh describes the importance of Right View and what it is within chapter 9. Right View is known as samyag drishti. TNH talks about how seeds are planted within our bodies, and everyone has them. I thought it was the coolest analogy when TNH taught of these seeds within our bodies. It seems like everyone has each kind of seed of all different traits, but it depends on whether or not those seeds are watered within our bodies. He says: If you live in an environment where your seed of loyalty is watered, you will be a loyal person. But if your seed of betrayal is watered, you may betray even those you love. You’ll feel guilty about it, but if the seed of betrayal in you becomes strong, you may do it. (TNH, 51) This is such an amazing statement because I am a fairly strong believer that you are the product of your environment. Most people do whatever the â€Å"status quo† is in their neighborhood and rarely does anyone make a big jump to do something drastically different. I feel like all people are created the same, at least mentally, and it is up to the upbringing to form how someone acts in life. The reading of TNH’s chapter 9 discussed how it is up to the individual to decide which seed grows more than others within one’s body. In class we discussed how one can try to keep the seed of anger, for example, from growing. It is up to the individual to essentially stunt the seed of anger’s growth when one feels any possibility of anger coming in. While pushing the feeling of anger away, one should try to grow the seed of loving-kindness instead. Within my own life, I try to live by the idea of â€Å"killing people with kindness. † This is my third year as RA here on St.  Bonaventure and when I confront a situation, I try to always be as nice as possible. There’s nothing better than when we are documenting a room for a violation, usually alcohol related, and being overly nice to them. They have no idea how to handle the niceness in the situation. It just makes the situation so much better in the long run. Most people act very mad and rude to us when they are being documented and they don’t expect us, the RA’s, to be nice to them, but when we are nice to them and don’t let their obscene â€Å"hate words† affect us, they don’t know what to do. I feel like this could be a small example of growing my seed of kindness because I could get very angry about the students calling me hateful names for simply doing my job. Instead, I try to do what TNH said in Chapter 10, â€Å"†¦replace an unwholesome thought with a wholesome one by ‘changing the peg,’ just as a carpenter replaces a rotten peg by hammering in a new one. † (TNH, 62) In this example of my RA duties, I replace the unwholesome thought of harsh speech with loving-kindness, compassion, and clarity (education) to why the students are being documented. Discussing â€Å"Morality†, I read a part in which Kornfield was talking about his teacher, Maha Ghosananda (the Gandhi of Cambodia). Kornfield was telling how his teacher would teach the survivors of the 1975-88 genocide in Cambodia practices of compassion and loving-kindness for their own loss and that of others. He said, â€Å"You have lost so much. Now you know how precious everything is in this world. You must love again and let new things grow. † (Kornfield, 81) This quote can be related to â€Å"Right View,† but more importantly the concept of compassion which is within â€Å"Right Conduct† or â€Å"Morality. I absolutely love this quote because I feel like way too many people take their great lives for granted. I am sad to say that I am sometimes right in that category of people. I am always humbled so much when I meet someone who has endured a great amount of pain, or those who have already had cancer and are the same age as me. Right now, while at college I have two close friends who have already battled cancer and are now back at college. It makes me feel like I should be so incredibly thankful for the life that I have been blessed with. Many times one can become attached to something that is not all that important. Meditation can resolve this. In chapter 12 of TNH, it talks about how we have become so efficient and able to talk to places on the other side of the planet, however, he also explains that people have a harder time with one-on-one interactions and speech nowadays. This is an example of becoming attached to technology instead of listening and speaking with people in person. When reading through Kornfield’s 24th chapter, I noticed the stories about Dipama Barua, one of the greatest meditators of the Theravada lineage. They told of how she lost two out of three of her young children to illness and lost her husband due to a heart attack soon after. Most people would feel like there is no longer a reason to live after something like that, and she was one of those people. However, after a year of lying in bed full of grief, she started doing meditation and then eventually became a master of meditation. (Kornfield 382-384) Kornfield had gone to see Dipama and had such an encounter! When he was leaving from seeing her, she touched him and said a 10 minute prayer in which he started to have a realization and see everything in a positive light. After this, he could not stop smiling at everything. (Kornfield 382-384) This encounter between Kornfield and Dipama reminds me of times that I feel like nothing can go right, but all it takes is seeing and talking to someone who you really like and respect. Then, after talking to this one person, you have a totally new positive outlook on life. This short story tells me that how you go through life is all about perspective. This â€Å"halt† in life represents a meditation. Sometimes one has to take a break from their busy lives and just reflect on their life and spirituality. When I have done this in the past, it feels so incredibly rewarding to just take a break from things and reflect on how great life is. When one is thinking about the Noble Eight-Fold Path, one has to remember that all of the â€Å"Rights† link into each other. We need to be compassionate for others, practice loving-kindness, and embrace wisdom, morality, and meditation within our lives to better understand everything.

English Language Content Standards Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

English Language Content Standards - Essay Example They will also address how to give a full curriculum, and has focus of areas of students that may need extra help to reach the standards. These standards are part of an essential discipline because it has become essential to communicate fluently in English. Language tools are needed to be able to openly communicate with other people, as well as to express you won ideas and though processes. The standards will help students learn the tempo and structure of language in their early years, until they are able to master vocabulary, expression, and the ability to gather evidence to support an idea. Studies show that children who fall behind in reading have a small chance of catching up, so it is crucial to help engrain these ideas and skills as early as possible inside of the education system. Also, though literature students are able to learn just as much about history as they would about the time period of the writing, and this benefits them in both ways. Students should be able to read a vast source of materials that benefit not only their English training, but also their history, math, social science, science, and gover nment classes as well. Students must able read a vast range of texts in order to help them gain the understanding of them, and to also try out best to instill into them a love for reading, so that they may one day gain pleasure in this simple

US foreign policy towards Saddam Husseins Essay

US foreign policy towards Saddam Husseins - Essay Example One of the most controversial subjects in the world politics is the invasion of Iraq by United States. The invasion has resulted in considerable losses to both the countries and in fact has resulted in almost complete destruction of Iraq. This is necessary to understand the genuineness of the policies of United States. The present essay is intended to analyze the policies of US for Iraq, which finally resulted in the Invasion. The consequences of the war also would be analyzed based on these policies for interpreting the invasion based on these policies.Under these circumstances it would be ideal to analyze the relations United States had with Iraq before the invasion throughout the history of Iraq.The policy of United States over Persian Gulf is centered on the oil reserves. They also wanted to protect Israel and never had any close relations with Iraq (History of Iraq: Part III US-Iraq Relations, 2003). They always viewed Iraq with a hostile eye. During the Iran-Iraq war US sided I raq not because they had any interest in Iraq, but they were afraid of the Iranian revolution. Thus it could be seen that relation of US with Iraq was never a smooth one.As the economy of US progressed in great pace after the World War II, oil became their priority and wanted to strengthen relations with Middle East so as to protect the oil reserves. For this purpose they maintained a good relation with Iraq and even declared that the interest of Iraq is the same as that of US (Battle, 2003). But during 1950's as Iraq became friendly with Soviets, US turned against Iraq. US had good relations with other countries in Middle East like Saudi Arabia and Iran until the Iranian revolution also called Islamic revolution. This revolution by Muslims frightened US and therefore in the war that followed between Iran and Iraq, US stood with Iraq purely because they felt that Islamic revolution could pose a big danger for them. Although there were against the brutal tactics of Saddam Hussein, they did not have a choice (Background and history on Iraq, 2009). From the above facts it could be assumed that the relation that US has with Iraq was just an opportunistic one intended to get the provision of oil and they never had any common interest. Iraq started production and use of chemical weapons from early 1980's. United States was quite aware of this situation and they had even supplied raw materials for the production of the same secretly. Although almost all of the equipments, which Iraq used against Iran, were US made and were secretly shipped to Iraq by US, this fact is still regarded as a secret. Thus US played a game with Iraq by supporting it to make chemical weapons and then suddenly changed strategies against Iraq blaming them in front of the world, for production of the same weapons (Battle, 2003). This might be the reason why they were quite sure that there were chemical weapons in Iraq even when the inspectors from UN denied this fact (Background and history on Iraq, 2009). September 11 attack fuelled rivalry of US to Iraq. With this event US wanted to destruct all the forces that might poise danger for them, especially the strongest among the Muslim countries, Iraq. Several reasons had been proposed by US for its Iraq Invasion. The most important one is that US believed that Saddam, the arrogant President of Iraq, had great storage of Weapons for Mass Destruction (WMD). On their request United Nations appointed chemical weapon inspectors and Iraq co-operated with them resulting in destruction of all the weapons they had. The continued inspection by UN was denied by Iraq. But UN inspectors had already destroyed those weapons to almost nil (Background and history on Iraq, 2009). US could have believed the results of the inspection by US. But they denied believing because they wanted to destroy that country. Another reason proposed by US was that Iraq was hosting suicide bombers of Al Queida and was encouraging terrorism. But they did not have

Marketing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words - 1

Marketing - Essay Example Procter & Gamble has one of the largest portfolios of consumer brands that are commonly known in the household, such as Pampers, Tide, Ariel, Pantene, Bounty, Always, Folgers, Downy, Crest, Olay, Pringles, Actonel, Wella, lams, Gillette, and Charmin. Its community consists of over 138, 000 employees in over 80 countries worldwide, making P&G a company whose products reach households of different nationalities. The company started as a small, family-operated soap and candle business, which later transformed into a big transnational corporation that provides products and services of superior quality and value to consumers in more than 180 countries. Procter & Gamble is a Fortune 500, American global corporation based in Cincinnati Ohio whose focus of manufacturing is a wide range of consumer goods. As of 2008, it has placed itself as the 14th largest US company by profit and 23rd by revenue. In 2007, it was placed 10th in Fortune’s Most Admired Companies list.1 It was recorded t hat it spent more on U.S. advertising than any other company in 2007, doubling the $2.62 billion spent by General Motors.2 Procter & Gamble was founded in 1837 by William Procter, a candle maker, and James Gamble, a soap maker. William Procter was an immigrant from England while James Gamble was from Ireland who both settled in Cincinnati and met each other when they married sisters Olivia and Elizabeth Norris.3 As electricity became more and more common, the company stopped producing candles in 1920 and as it grew larger in the early 20th century, it began building factories in other parts of the United States because of a high demand of products outgrowing the Cincinnati facilities. P&G also became known for its research laboratories in the 1900s, in which chemists produced new products. It also pioneered in the area of market research, probing on product appeal and consumer needs. When radio became popular in the 1920s

Oncogenes and Breast Cancer Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Oncogenes and Breast Cancer - Term Paper Example Thus, classification of tumors in diverse types and subtypes along with the identification of individuals who are at the potential risk of cancer is gaining prevalence. A combination of data procured from gene-expression and genomic information aids in the detection of possible new targets for designing high-throughput screening strategies for designing drugs that will lead to advances in cancer cell-targeted therapy. The present article deals with the importance of understanding for oncogenes to comprehend breast cancer. Introduction Cancer is known as malignant neoplasm, the hallmark characteristic involves uncontrolled proliferation of cells. Under normal conditions cells grow, divide and die, but in a genetic defect called mutation occur in cancer cells leading to the formation of an abnormal DNA. As genes are the basic control machine of the cells, alteration of any kind may bring devastating consequences, or malignancy. When compared with the normal cells, where damage of any k ind is taken care by the repair system, tumor cells do not have any repair mechanism for the damaged DNA and there is a constant proliferation of cells without displaying senescence hence, generating a series of abnormal cells, with altered cellular pathways for uncontrolled proliferation, figuring malignant tumors (Alberts 2007; Katzang et al. 2009). (Normal cell cycle) (Genetic mutation- causes alteration in genes) (Alberts 2007) Cancer cells manifest, to varying degrees, four characteristics that distinguish them from normal cells, comprising- uncontrolled proliferation, de-differentiation and loss of function, invasiveness and metastasis (Rang et al. 2007). The Genesis of a Cancer Cell A normal cell turns into a cancer cell because of one or more mutations in its DNA, which can be inherited or acquired. In case of the breast cancer, woman who inherits a single defective copy of either of these tumor suppressor genes BRCA1 and BRCA2 displays an augmented risk of developing breast cancer. However, carcinogenesis is a complex, multistage process, usually involving more than one genetic change. Other epigenetic factors responsible for carcinogenesis involve epigenetic factors, such as level of hormones in the body, exposure to carcinogens and tumor promoting agents. These epigenetic factors do not produce cancer by themselves but enhances the likelihood of genetic mutation(s) resulting in cancer. These genetic changes are categorized as - A. The activation of proto-oncogenes to oncogenes: Proto-oncogenes are the normal genes present in the cells and are responsible for controlling cell division, cell differentiation and apoptosis. A triggering factor such as a virus or exposure to any carcinogen brings malignant changes in the cell. B. The inactivation of tumor suppressor genes: A cell has the mechanism to protect itself from uncontrolled proliferation and tumor formation due to expression of genes called tumor suppressor genes. These genes possess the ability to suppress malignant changes and are also referred as antioncogenes. Mutation in proto-oncogenes or tumor suppressor genes results in the proliferation of tumor. Thus, a loss of function of tumor supp

Evolution in Health and Disease Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Evolution in Health and Disease - Essay Example However, another form of evolution exists with relation to disease and patient health. In fact, an entire field of study is termed as â€Å"evolutionary medicine†. As such, this particular field is interested in determining the ways in which health and disease closely mirror evolutionary biology. As a function of understanding this fact, medical health professionals and researchers of ever variety are able to formulate treatments and care plans that will more effectively speak to the needs of the patient within the framework of understanding disease from the evolutionary standpoint. As a function of seeking to understanding this particular field of study in a more full and complete manner, this analysis will define, categorize, and explore some of the key realms within which evolutionary medicine has and continues to make valuable contributions to the medical community and treatment of disease. In such a way, the study of evolutionary biology as related to the human body and t he field of medicine and health is ultimately the study of change and how it is exhibited on the body as well as the pathogen, organ, or feature of the body that is targeted for treatment. When one considers evolutionary biology, one of the first items that comes to mind is of course the way that living organisms have the innate ability to shift, change, and adapt in order to survive and thrive within their environment (Trotter et al 2011, pg. 41). Ideally, this is a good thing; however, with the case of a variety of pathogens, the ability to morph, change, and alter the way in which they react to certain substances and environments means that pathogens that had been able to be treated using a variety of different means can eventually become somewhat immune to such efforts and require the medical community to actively engage and seek out new ways in which to stop the spread of disease; oftentimes utilizing entirely different means than the pathogen itself has become immune to. One o f the ways that pathogens can exhibit a type of evolutionary biology with reference to a type of â€Å"learned† immunity is with respect to the way that certain pathogens survive the administration of a given antibiotic (Valles 2012, p. 256). As with the model of the natural selection and survival of the fittest, this means that those pathogens that survive the administration of the antibiotic are generally less affected by its subsequent administration than the original culture of pathogens which were first exposed. This is very much the same principle whereby humans themselves develop a type of immunity to certain diseases based upon the fact that their body’s immune system has â€Å"seen† the pathogens at an earlier date and becomes, at least in some way, resistant to them. Figure 1.0 below shows the ways in which bacteria becomes resistant to antibiotics over time. Figure 1.0 Although a natural process and merely part of evolution itself, this particular asp ect of evolutionary medicine is both worrisome and troublesome for pharmacologists, researchers, and medical healthcare professionals alike as they seek to develop and utilize new strains of drugs to treat increasingly resistant pathogens. However, the fact of the matter is that not only do some pathogens become immune themselves to the drugs that doctors might administer to help the body fight them off, the most dangerous pathogens have â€Å"

Blue Nile Case Essay Example for Free

Blue Nile Case Essay Background Blue Nile has grown into one of the largest jewelry retailers in the United States with only using the Internet as its distribution channel. The success is a direct result of a well-crafted business strategy that attracts high price customers and provides them with in-depth education about diamonds and jewelry. Gamble, Peteraf, Strickland III, and Thompson (2012), indicated that the company’s strategy provides customers with high quality diamonds, exceptional customer service and low prices (p. c-128). They pride themselves on their selection and outstanding education that they provide to consumers looking for the perfect diamond. In addition they have received various awards and recognition from Forbes and Bizrate.com (Thompson, Peteraf, Gamble, Strickland, 2012, p. C-127). Blue Nile has found a niche in which to differentiate itself by creating an online marketplace for jewelry shopping and with low operating costs which makes them extremely competitive. In viewing Blue Niles website, one can see that they have a vast amount of for potential buyers, that which determine a diamond’s value- carat, clarity, color, cut, and cut grade. Strength The company has a user friendly site that present a lot of diamonds styles to choose from with the 5C’s of diamond selection which are cut shape, cut, color, clarity and carat weight. Their price is much lower than others. Blue Niles also prides themselves on their selection and outstanding education that they provide to consumers looking for the perfect diamond (Thompson, Peteraf, Gamble, Strickland, 2012, p. C-127). Weakness Blue Nile competes in a small area with a specialty offering. Brand awareness remains a constant source of weakness for the company. Blue Nile, Inc. needs to increase their advertising campaign to attract new and retain old customers. Opportunities Blue Nile needs to create a strong brand awareness that will allow can compete with Tiffany and Co. Blue Nile, Inc. recently opened warehouses in Canada and Britain, but has limited globalization to sales of 40 nations. Blue Nile will need global growth into the European market could prove to be a financial success. Threats Through the operating capital calculations it indicates that Blue Niles strategy is needs some adjustments in the current market space. From 2005 to 2009 the cash that has been available for the firm’s day-to-day operations has dropped dramatically. There was an estimated $58.8 billion in sales in the United States alone in 2009 (Thompson, 2012, p. C-127). With Blue Nile taking $302 million in sales in 2009, they had a great year but in reality only maintain a less than 1% of the market industry hold. This suggests that there is room for growth in this are. With steady profits for the past two years, 2011 has been the best year even though the 4th quarter resulted in small loss. The company profits are 2011 $348 million, 2010 $332.9 million, 2009 $302.1 million, and in 2008 $295.3 million be (Blue Nile, 2012, Investor Relations). References: Blue Nile, Inc. 2011 Annual Report (2012). Blue Nile, Inc. (online). Retrieved from http://files.shareholder.com/downloads/NILE/1855688484x0x560442/D1DAE1BA-0161-4574-8447-242F9561DF0E/2011_Annual_Report_FINAL.pdf Thompson, A. A., Peteraf, M. A., Gamble, J. E., Strickland, A. J. (2012). Crafting executing strategy: The quest for competitive advantage (18th ed.). New York, NY: The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Discussion 6.1 Jeffrey Clapper Jeffrey, I agree with your posting and I enjoyed reading it also. In reviewing the financials and the Internet site, it is apparent that Blue Nile spends a lot of money in the area that has no direct impact on generating profit. Blue Nile is now pursuing a new market consisting of non-engagement jewelry by offering an expanded range of products across several price points. This market should offer a great amount of growth opportunities for now and the future. All in all the brand and name recognition is the key aspect that the must pay attention to. Discussion 6.1 Michael Veltman Michael, Your post was very insightful. A main issue for Blue Nile is the lack of exposure through the their advertising. Blue Nile offers the best prices while still being able to create a profit. The low operations cost of the business enables them to offer low prices and still make a profit. On the other hand the lack of store front exposure creates a problem for gaining additional clients. By adding new products they can create there reach and drive more revenue.