Monday, December 23, 2019

The Things They Carried By Tim O Brien - 1849 Words

Fear is a term used to show and express one’s stressful emotions which are provoked by threat of immediate danger, evil, or pain; fear is the threat that can be real or imagined, and a feeling or condition of being afraid. The men in the Vietnam War felt this fear every single day and second they were on foot in Vietnam. War is an incredible mystery that many civilians and everyday ordinary people will never understand. The fear of death lurking around every corner, knowing that any second your life can end in a flash. The fact you are killing and ending someone else’s life for a reason you may fully not understand is truly a terrible thought to imagine. Realizing there was nowhere to hide or run, not knowing when death will be coming is the true fear of it all that many wanted not to experience firsthand. In the novel The Things They Carried: A Work of Fiction, Tim O’Brien unfolds the story of young men, himself, and the unforgiving truth about the draft, who am ong many resisted and dodged the Vietnam War are told through experiences and stories in the novel. Vietnam War goes down to be one of the most traumatic wars in American history. Among many of the American citizens have argued about the real reason and cause for the start of the Vietnam War. John Prados states what he believes to be the true cause of the Vietnam War was done solely by the hands of one important president. â€Å"President John F. Kennedy got the United States into the Vietnam War by aggressively pursuingShow MoreRelatedThe Things They Carried By Tim O Brien892 Words   |  4 PagesThe Vietnam War was a long, exhausting, and traumatic experience for all of the soldiers and those who came with them. The Things They Carried, by Tim O Brien illustrates the different affects the war had on a variety of people: Jacqueline Navarra Rhoads, a former nurse during the Vietnam war, demonstrates these effects within her own memoir in the book, The Forgotten Veterans. Both sou rces exemplify many tribulations, while sharing a common thread of suffering from mental unpredictability. DesensitizationRead MoreThe Things They Carried By Tim O Brien1377 Words   |  6 Pageslove to have it as good as we do. Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried discusses many veterans who experience the burden of shame and guilt daily due to their heroic actions taken during the Vietnam War. The book shows you how such a war can change a man before, during, and after it’s over.     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   As I reflect on the many conflicts America has been a part of, none can compare to the tragedies that occurred in The Vietnam war. As told in The Things They Carried (O’Brien), characters such as NormanRead MoreThe Things They Carried By Tim O Brien1457 Words   |  6 Pagesthe theme pertains to everyone regardless of their background. It conveys the same ideas to people from all across our society. Lastly, a classic is timeless, which means it has transcended the time in which it was written. In Tim O’Brien’s novel, The Things They Carried, he offers a new, intriguing way to view war or just life in general and also meets all of the crucial requirements mentioned above to qualify it as a book of literary canon. Though this book is technically a war novel, many peopleRead MoreThe Things They Carried By Tim O Brien1242 Words   |  5 Pagesâ€Å"Tim O’Brien is obsessed with telling a true war story. O Brien s fiction about the Vietnam experience suggest, lies not in realistic depictions or definitive accounts. As O’Brien argues, absolute occurrence is irrelevant because a true war story does not depend upon that kind of truth. Mary Ann’s induction into genuine experience is clearly destructive as well as empowering† (p.12) Tim O’s text, The Things they Carried, details his uses of word choice to portray his tone and bias. Tim O’BrienRead MoreThe Things They Carried By Tim O Brien1169 Words   |  5 Pagesbut are set in the past and borrows things from that time period. A story that fits this genre of literature is The Things They Carried. The story is about Tim O Brien, a Vietnam veteran from the Unite States, who tells stories about what had happ ened when he and his team were stationed in Vietnam. He also talks about what he felt about the war when he was drafted and what he tried to do to avoid going to fight in Vietnam. The Things They Carried by Tim O Brien was precise with its portrayal of settingRead MoreThe Things They Carried By Tim O Brien1004 Words   |  5 Pages Tim O’Brien is a veteran from of the Vietnam War, and after coming home from his duty he decided to be a writer. His work â€Å"The Things They Carried† is about a group of soldiers that are fighting in the Vietnam War. The first part of the story talks mostly about physical items that each soldier carries, and also mentions the weight of the items as well. Though, there is one exception to the list of physical things. Lieutenant Cross is a character of the story, and Tim O’ Brien quickly states theRead MoreThe Things They Carried By Tim O Brien896 Words   |  4 PagesTrouble without a doubt is what First Lieutenant Jimmy Cross c arried around his shoulders because he was out in war, where mistakes happen. Lost and unknown of his surroundings he had to lead his men into safety, while destroying anything they found. First Lieutenant Jimmy Cross only holds onto one thing for hope and that is Martha, the woman who he hopes is a virgin to come back to. Tim O’ Brien introduces symbolism by adding a character that has a meaning of purity and a pebble, which symbolizesRead MoreThe Things They Carried By Tim O Brien Essay832 Words   |  4 PagesSummary: â€Å"By and large they carried these things inside, maintaining the masks of composure† (21). In Tim O’brien’s The Things They Carried, the American soldiers of the Vietnam War carry much more than the weight of their equipment, much more than souvenirs or good-luck charms or letters from home. They carried within themselves the intransitive burdens—of fear, of cowardice, of love, of loneliness, of anger, of confusion. Most of all, they carry the truth of what happened to them in the war—aRead MoreThe Things They Carried By Tim O Brien1369 Words   |  6 PagesMany authors use storytelling as a vehicle to convey the immortality of past selves and those who have passed to not only in their piece of literature but in their life as an author. In Tim O’Brien’s work of fiction The Things They Carried, through his final chapter â€Å"The Lives of the Dead,† O Brien conveys that writing is a matter of survival since, the powers of s torytelling can ensure the immortality of all those who were significant in his life. Through their immortality, O’Brien has the abilityRead MoreThe Things They Carried By Tim O Brien1407 Words   |  6 Pages       Our introduction stated that in â€Å"The Things They Carried,† author Tim O’Brien tells us not directly of the soldiers of Vietnam, or the situations they find themselves in, but about the things they carry on their shoulders and in their pockets. These â€Å"things† identify the characters and bring them to life.   I find that to be true as the author unfolds the stories about war and the uncommon things one carries in to war both inadvertently and on purpose.  Ã‚  Ã‚  As it was noted: Stories about war –

Sunday, December 15, 2019

Unemployment and America Free Essays

Unemployment Rates Daniel Park March 28, 2013 America continues to have a high unemployment rate that causes many Americans to move out of homes, while South Korea has of the lowest unemployment rate. The U. S. We will write a custom essay sample on Unemployment and America or any similar topic only for you Order Now has struggled with continuous rise of employment rates since 2008. The main focus to the issue is creating jobs. America believed that creating jobs would be able to help the economy because people would be able to get jobs. So the government tried to add as many jobs they would be able to create. The government even created bills to help people find work so that they would not be unemployed. Although an abundant amount of citizens found jobs, it was not easy to lower the unemployment rate. Many of Americans citizens are mental or disable and it is difficult for them to find a job that treats them equally. This is an issue out of many other troubles that are the reason for high unemployment in the United States. America needs to be able to help and support the creation og jobs because America has one of the highest unemployment rates. Unemployment is important in the US because people are forced to move out of homes. The Great recession has caused people to move to a lesser home instead of going to get a bigger house or for a high-paying job. Before the economy crashed, 41. 3% moved locally to own a home or settle in a better neighborhood. But during the recession; only 30. 4% moved for those reasons. The percentage of people who moved to settle in a better neighborhood or moved locally to own a home was less than half the population. But the Great Recession caused an 8. 7% difference between the people who moved for their benefit. Roderick Harrison, a demographer at Howard University in Washington D. C. said it is going to be year before African-Americans return to their pre-recession trajectory. He said this because unemployment and foreclosure rates are higher among blacks than whites. The different unemployment rates vary by ethnic group, which makes one ethnic group to get jobs because of an abundant amount of people are trying to get work. During the 2007-09 recession, 9% of Americans (which is about 4 million) and more moved to cheaper housing or doubled up with family and friends according to an 2013 analysis. The US fails to address the unemployment issue because hile they try to cut government spending, jobs are cut too. Between 2008 and 2009, there a sharp rise of the unemployment rates, 8,924,000 to 14,265,000. The government has cut 719,000 jobs since President Barack Obama took office, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. During Obama’s office during 2008, there was a sharp rise of the unemployment rates from 5. 8% to 10. 2% during the years of 2008 to 2013. There are job losses even though the goal for the government was to create them. The unemployment rate hits 10. 2% which is the highest in 26 years and reaching double digits for the first time in 26 years. The sharp rise in unemployment caused to lose 190,000 net jobs which intensified pressure on the Obama administration to show results from the $787 billion package of spending unleashed early this year to spur the economy. South Korea is able to do a better job than America because South Korea uses a system called â€Å"chaebol† that was able to help South Korea during the global financial crisis and help people with disabilities. For people with disabilities have less minimum wage, even though America’s policy for employment said it would give â€Å"special† employment wage. South Korea on the other hand gives many benefits for people with disabilities. South Korea has a system called Chaebol (jaebol in Korean) which is a cluster of many companies around one parent company. The companies usually hold shares in each other and are often run by one family. The system was able to help South Korea during the global financial crisis and recovered faster than any other rich country. South Korea laid great store by education and hard work and South Korea meets above the standard rankings in Math and science; while America is below average. America is ranked 17 in the developed world of education. While South Korea tops the list of the top 40 education countries. South Korea does not have a high rate of birth like America which allows South Korea not to create many schools like America. South Korea spends about $1,000 dollars per student while the US spends about $5,000 per student. South Korea is considered a country where they spend a small amount of money but have high achievements with other countries such as Hong Kong. America on the other hand is a high spender but has low achievements. South Korea is able to do well because of three reasons, one is that they have a better education system, two they are hard workers, and three they use the chaebol system. South Korea believes that teachers should have great respect among their students. This is one example that America should do because a respected teacher helps ensure a good education. The US must create better education, reword the employment policy to be able to help people that have disabilities, and help lower the crime rates. America needs to put 2,220 hours of work a year because that’s how South Koreans lay great store by education and hard work. South Korea develop types of occupations suitable for their employment, expand opportunities for vocational skills development, provide employment information and take other necessary measures for the aged, the disabled, and etc. But America only gives special minimum wages for disable people; the thing is that many people who are disabled are not getting jobs. It is said that South Korea has a low crime rate, which means that many people have jobs or an education. But America has a high crime rate which means many people did not get the proper education or could not get a job. It is said that having high unemployment could increase crime motivation, and most cases have similar patterns such as burglary, larceny, and motor theft. South Korea has a low crime rate, and most cases are usually assault. There are rarely cases which involves burglary and theft. So America needs to give better education in order for employment rates to go high and crime rates down. South Korea does not need to worry so much in the police department because of not too many crimes that involve burglary and motor theft. South Korea can use statistics that show since they have a very good education system, committing crime is the least of their worries. On the other hand, America knows it needs to step it up to decrease the unemployment rate. In order for that to happen, America need to have better education so that it can ensure that people will have jobs or even create because they have the education they need. Change is possible but America would really need to take big leap in education but also towards to create jobs. But creating jobs might not be that helpful because even though America adds more jobs, it does not lower the employment rate by a high margin. In July 2012, Labor Department statistics show the US economy added 80,000 jobs, a figure below economists’ modest expectations of 90,000 jobs and the fourth in a row of underperforming employment growth. The issue is America is already falling behind employment rates compared to other countries. The unemployment rate is decreasing very slowly but it will not be enough to take the economy back on track. Education plays a big role considering how people will get jobs. South Korea has one of the top education systems which may guarantee a job in the future. America will need to increase their education system in order to improve children’s future for the better of America. From the continuing pattern of issues for American citizens, they are forced to cope with the struggles of getting a job and receive little help from the government. During the past 5 years, the unemployment rate went up which affected the citizens. When the government created more jobs, the amount of work produced were below what the economists expected. America needs to improve their education so that it may improve the chance for people to get jobs. South Korea was able to be recognized by the world because of their great education system and their low unemployment rate. America needs to realize that they need to stop with the rising unemployment and start giving the citizens the jobs in order to take America towards a greater future. References â€Å"Americans on the move start moving down, not up,† USA Today, February 20, 2013. Blank, Rebecca et al. , eds. , â€Å"Statistical Abstract of the United State: 2012†: U. S. Department of Commerce (Washington D. C. : Government printing office), 2012. Goodman, Peter S. , â€Å"Unemployment Rate Hits 10. 2%, Highest in 26 Years,† New York Times, November 6, 2009. Kamalick, Joe, â€Å"US at tipping point,† ICIS Chemical Business, July 16, 2012. Kavoussi, Bonnie, â€Å"Government Fails To tackle Unemployment, As sequestration Looms,† Huffington Post, February 1, 2013. People with Disabilities, AngloNFO, 2000-2013. Phillips, Julie, and Land, Kenneth, â€Å"The link between unemployment and crime rate fluctuations: An analysis at the county, state, and national levels,† Social Science Research, no. 41 (May 2012): http://web. ebscohost. com/ehost/detail? vid=4sid=b487b940-219c-4323-8f76-1b6bb64785b4%40sessionmgr4hid=26bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=a9hAN=73762358( accessed March 5, 2013). What do you do when you reach the top? , SEOUL, November 12, 2011. Who is Covered, United States of Department of Labor, September, 2009. ——————————————- [ 1 ]. â€Å"Americans on the move start moving down, not up,† USA Today, February 20, 2013. [ 2 ]. â€Å"Americans on the move start moving down, not up,† USA Today, February 20, 2013. [ 3 ]. Blank, Rebecca et al. , eds. , â€Å"Statistical Abstract of the United State: 2012†: U. S. Department of Commerce (Washington D. C. : Government printing office), 2012. [ 4 ]. Bonnie Kavoussi, â€Å"Government Fails To Tackle Unemployment, As Sequestration Looms,† Huffington Post, February 1, 2013. [ 5 ]. Goodman, Peter S. â€Å"Unemployment Rate Hits 10. 2%, Highest in 26 Years,† New York Times, November 6, 2009. [ 6 ]. Goodman, Peter S. , â€Å"Unemployment Rate Hits 10. 2%, Highest in 26 Years,† New York Times, November 6, 2009. [ 7 ]. Who is Covered, United States of Department of Labor, September, 2009. [ 8 ]. What do you do when you reach the top? , SEOUL, November 12, 2011. [ 9 ]. Ludger Woessmann,† Why Students in some Countries Do Better,† Education matters 1, no. 2( 2001): [ 10 ]. What do you do when you reach the top? , SEOUL, November 12, 2011. 11 ]. People with Disabilities, AngloNFO, 2000-2013. [ 12 ]. Phillips, Julie, and Land, Kenneth, â€Å"The link between unemployment and crime rate fluctuations: An analysis at the coun ty, state, and national levels,† Social Science Research, no. 41 (May 2012): http://web. ebscohost. com/ehost/detail? vid=4sid=b487b940-219c-4323-8f76-1b6bb64785b4%40sessionmgr4hid=26bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=a9hAN=73762358( accessed March 5, 2013). [ 13 ]. Joe Kamalick, â€Å"US at tipping point,† ICIS Chemical Business, July 16, 2012. How to cite Unemployment and America, Papers

Friday, December 6, 2019

Silver bullets Essay Example For Students

Silver bullets Essay The words damaged/ fractured/punctured/broken create images describing the ex-soldier physically but also referring to how these words could be used to describe the broken love. Therefore, it has been made clear that the love has become painful and traumatic as a consequence of war. Also, the metaphorical use of frozen river and blown hinge reflects a war zone. The word frozen could reflect how the relationship has become still and lifeless. The narrator states that his Jaw is a blown hinge, suggesting that he s no longer open to her and unable to talk of his traumatic experiences. The image of violence is also incorporated within Quadric through a western theme showing the intensity of the relationship. High noon and calamity implant the image off standoff in the wild west. This image of the standoff is inferred to be comparable to the relationship through the painful arguing that the once desire has turned into. Duffy references hard liquor to suggest that the relationship is reckless and has turned into something that is unhealthy also that if love goes wrong it can bring faculties along with it. Manhunt is made up of a series of couplets. The form of the poem creates a sense of fragmentation and the stages of process and search that the narrator has been through in order to find and heal their love. The series of couplets can be seen as a ladder that she is trying to climb to retrieve love once more, like the image of the broken ribs. Also, the rhyme scheme is irregular suggesting how the strength of the relationship is constantly changing. There is a personal tone to this poem as much of the topics are personal and it is quite conversational, inferring the Oman is talking to her husband but cannot get through due to his physical and mental damage. Similarly, Quadric is structured to reflect the love in the relationship. This poem forms a broken sonnet, showing the effects of the broken love. Duffy may have used enjambment between stanzas to capture the idea of relentless pain and that she does not want to finish the sentence and the relationship. The technique of enjambment has been used to separate Im all from alone reflecting the isolation the women feels. Simon Remarriage incorporates many elegiac and care adjectives: mind/hold/attend. These words express the womens unrelenting love towards her husband suggesting she will not give up on him. Also, this care can be compared to the image of war which physically describes the parachute silk of his punctured lung and his grazed heart. This reference to damaged organs infers that not only has the war physically scarred him but also to the extent of damaging the love- causing pain. Silver bullets have been referenced in Quadric to explore the theme of painful love. These silver bullets capture how

Silver bullets Essay Example For Students

Silver bullets Essay The words damaged/ fractured/punctured/broken create images describing the ex-soldier physically but also referring to how these words could be used to describe the broken love. Therefore, it has been made clear that the love has become painful and traumatic as a consequence of war. Also, the metaphorical use of frozen river and blown hinge reflects a war zone. The word frozen could reflect how the relationship has become still and lifeless. The narrator states that his Jaw is a blown hinge, suggesting that he s no longer open to her and unable to talk of his traumatic experiences. The image of violence is also incorporated within Quadric through a western theme showing the intensity of the relationship. High noon and calamity implant the image off standoff in the wild west. This image of the standoff is inferred to be comparable to the relationship through the painful arguing that the once desire has turned into. Duffy references hard liquor to suggest that the relationship is reckless and has turned into something that is unhealthy also that if love goes wrong it can bring faculties along with it. Manhunt is made up of a series of couplets. The form of the poem creates a sense of fragmentation and the stages of process and search that the narrator has been through in order to find and heal their love. The series of couplets can be seen as a ladder that she is trying to climb to retrieve love once more, like the image of the broken ribs. Also, the rhyme scheme is irregular suggesting how the strength of the relationship is constantly changing. There is a personal tone to this poem as much of the topics are personal and it is quite conversational, inferring the Oman is talking to her husband but cannot get through due to his physical and mental damage. Similarly, Quadric is structured to reflect the love in the relationship. This poem forms a broken sonnet, showing the effects of the broken love. Duffy may have used enjambment between stanzas to capture the idea of relentless pain and that she does not want to finish the sentence and the relationship. The technique of enjambment has been used to separate Im all from alone reflecting the isolation the women feels. Simon Remarriage incorporates many elegiac and care adjectives: mind/hold/attend. These words express the womens unrelenting love towards her husband suggesting she will not give up on him. Also, this care can be compared to the image of war which physically describes the parachute silk of his punctured lung and his grazed heart. This reference to damaged organs infers that not only has the war physically scarred him but also to the extent of damaging the love- causing pain. Silver bullets have been referenced in Quadric to explore the theme of painful love. These silver bullets capture how

Friday, November 29, 2019

Aristotles ideas on civic relationships happiness, the virtues, deliberation, justice and friendship

Introduction Aristotle is one of the most influential legendary philosophers that ever lived in the world’s history. Despite him being a Greek, his philosophies have influenced the way of life for people across the whole world. His ideas touched on almost all aspects of life whether in law, science, ethics, and philosophy among others.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Aristotle’s ideas on civic relationships: happiness, the virtues, deliberation, justice and friendship specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More However, there is a conflict between philosophical ideas of the legends and modernization in the 21st century. The world seems to have bumped off from the ideas of Aristotle and instead taken another unknown premise in search of happiness. For instance, Aristotle would disagree with the modern form of seeking happiness in the material things, as according to him, happiness is eternal and unique to every human being. Virtue of Happiness Aristotle described happiness as an eternal goodness that everybody strives to achieve in his or her day-to-day life. However, the striving for the achievement of happiness not only depends on every individual’s reasons, but also on the virtues that play a major role in hastening the achievements. According to Aristotle, some of the necessary forms of virtues for the achievement of happiness include confidence, generosity, justice, wisdom, humility, and courage. In addition, he described proper upbringing and the correctness of the law as the main factors on which the virtues depend on for their fecundity. According to Aristotle, the true happiness is achieved naturally through actions that do not contradict the will and interests of a person. This assertion implies that happiness is brought about by passion rather than social obligation like it has been the case in the modern society. Passion is a gift and its strength depends on the factors that define personal virtues (Aristotle, 89). Going back to those two factors, proper upbringing is an important factor for shaping the life of a human being. An individual brought up from a caring family is likely to have stronger virtues than one brought up in a less caring family. This aspect implies that the nature of a family background is important in shaping the character and passion of a person. However, according to Aristotle, the goodness of the family background is subject to human relations as opposed to economic welfare. In addition, there could be exemptions where some individuals acquire behaviors that contradict the nature of their families, and in such cases, they develop their own unique behaviors, which are shaped by other unknown factors.Advertising Looking for essay on philosophy? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The correctness of the law is very important in determining the strength of human virtues. Ari stotle lived when the world was chaotic and greatly affected by moral issues such as abortion, political chaos, capital punishment, and many world problems that are still in existence today. He chose to be a social activist despite him being a philosopher, and he said that correctness of the law shapes the moral behaviors and hence the virtues. For instance, a child brought up in a chaotic environment is likely to adapt chaotic behaviors and consequently have problems in changing the behaviors at adulthood. This observation adds value to his argument that virtue is an element of practice not nature as is the case for passion; hence, the reason why the nature of current social justice system could affect the behaviors of future generations. Civic Friendship According to Aristotle, civic friendship is an essential element for human good and hence necessary in achieving a flourishing life. He defined civic friendship as a form of friendship that dominates in the public arena rather tha n in interpersonal relations in the case of mutual and personal forms of friendship. The adjective â€Å"civic†, points at the political arena, by implying that friendship is defined at the level of citizenry relations for the goodness of the state. Aristotle’s idea holds that there is a direct relationship between personal and civic relationship, which is necessary for the maintenance of law and justice, but is also based on human virtues. By looking at the modern world, it is clear that the fastest flourishing economies and companies define human relations as one of the factors that determine success. However, it does not mean that those relations are civic friendship as not every successful economy or company upholds human freedom for there are policies that define human relations in such environments. Effective civic friendship makes people act kindly and politely to each other, thus creating a productive society where law and justice are upheld. In such a situatio n, people come together in the formation process of public policies that have benefits to the entire community. This aspect explains the lack of civic friendship as the root to the animosity behaviors that are evident in the modern society. These ill behaviors include corruption that mainly comes from selfishness of the few in authority, which can render to the collapse of a seemingly successful company.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Aristotle’s ideas on civic relationships: happiness, the virtues, deliberation, justice and friendship specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Traits of the â€Å"Best Places to Work† From the Best Places to Work Institute Apparently, ‘history repeats itself’ and ‘what comes around goes around’. Many research studies show that the American workplaces are destructive to the human virtues. Businesspersons and employers seem to have been ignored Arist otle’s ideas for a long time they have viewed employees as their most noble assets for their businesses. However, according to the â€Å"Best Places to Work†, the twenty first century has come with challenges that have rendered employers into reshaping their business strategies to conform with the ideas of the great philosophers like Aristotle. According to the research study by Crowley, the American smart companies have realized that the greatest competitive advantage is achieved by ensuring that employees find a happy work place to the extent that potential employees would feel encouraged to apply for job opportunities in such firms. However, it is hard to make a good workplace where employees’ needs would be the employer’s first priority always (Crowley Para. 12). According to the Best Work Places, employers should consider various factors in order to develop a good work place that would make employees happy at work. Those factors are designed accordin g to the Aristotle’s idea of happiness, whereby it is eternal and closely related to virtues. Hence, to bring forth the employees’ eternal happiness, employers should consider the aspect of integrating the workers’ virtues in the package. In the majority of research studies carried out in the American corporations in the past decade to identify the source of employees’ job satisfaction, the findings were shocking. It was found out that employees’ acquired job satisfaction from their coworkers’ relationships, but not from their relationships with their supervisors or bosses. In the twenty first century, some corporations like Google found out the strategy of developing the â€Å"Best Work Place† as a key competitive advantage and the company has performed better compared to others that are yet to adopt this strategy. Some of the factors that make a ‘Best Work Place’ include building trust at work place, acknowledging cultu ral diversity, building teamwork, and enhancing employee morale. On building trust at work, employers are required to give minimum supervision to the employees in an effort to make the latter feel a sense of belonging and responsibility. This aspect enhances talent development and encourages horizontal communication strategy, whereby an employee does not feel inferior to talk to the senior personnel in the workplace.Advertising Looking for essay on philosophy? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Secondly, the twenty-first corporations should appreciate and acknowledge cultural diversity. The world has become a global village and advanced technological advancement has resulted to globalization, whereby a corporation is required to hire employees from different cultural orientations. In a bid to create a sense of belonging, employees are required to respect one another and appreciate cultural diversity for the goodness of the corporations’ operations across various cultures in the world. Thirdly, employees are encouraged to embrace teamwork in their places of work. Gone are the days when workers were forced to give individual contribution at the workplace like was the case in the slavery period. Nowadays, employees are encouraged to work as a team against another opposing team as opposed to individual contribution. Team building is achieved through social events that are organized to bring the employees together. Lastly, it is very important for employers to consider e mployees’ morale as a crucial element for the success of a corporate organization. There are various ways of enhancing employee’s morale that include awarding and recognition, training, pay rising, and promotions. These ways are directed to the personal values and virtues, which are crucial factors for determining happiness. An employee would feel good whenever a boss calls and says thank you for the commendable job that you did. Moreover, other employees who do not receive awards and recognition would feel encouraged to work harder in an effort to make their contributions recognizable. On the other hand, training and development is very important for both the corporate and employees. An employee who undergoes training receives up to date knowledge that would boost the corporation’s competitive advantage. There are instances whereby some employees are founder to be weaker than others are, and in such cases, the employer has a moral obligation of improving employ ees’ skills. This goal could be achieved by placing the ‘poor’ employees next to employees who are good in those fields and encourage them to assist one another whenever one is stuck. Comparing and contrasting Aristotle’s ideas about civic relationships with these contemporary notions of best places to work Aristotle’s ideas have been ignored for a long time, but research shows that American corporations have changed from the traditional methods of disregarding his ideas to a point of embracing the same. Employers have realized that employees’ job satisfaction is directly related to business performance in the contemporary world. Aristotle stated that happiness comes from within and it depends on the virtues. Hence, employers are working on virtues by creating working environments that would encourage employees’ to build confidence and satisfaction in their work. In so doing, employers look into things and activities that would enable them to have a direct contact with employees. Civic friendship is seen to dominate in the workplaces, which is also the basic determinant for a ‘Best Work Place’. Through civic friendship, employees can work as a team and develop good coworker relationships. According to the Aristotle, civic friendship allows an individual to care for one another in the public phenomenon, and thus corporate environments are the individual’s public phenomenon. Civic friendship enhances social justice in a state as well as in a working environment. This assertion implies that through the adoption of Aristotle’s ideas by the corporations of the twenty first century, employers have realized the need to ensure effective social justice mechanisms in the work place. The majority of the leading American corporations have legal mechanisms in place that deal with employees’ issues and grievances. Nowadays, American employees hardly to go to industrial courts after having disa greements with their employers due to effective policies and mechanisms put in place at the workplaces. Conclusion The most notable difference that contradicts the Aristotle’s idea of civic relationship with the traits of â€Å"Best Places to Work† is the element of hypocrisy in the latter. Aristotle was talking from the point of achieving common good for the entire humanity regardless of economic status, which is yet to be achieved in the contemporary corporations. However, the American corporations of the twenty first century have moved to applying Aristotle’s ideas for the benefit improving employees’ performance, which essentially contributes towards the firms’ well being, but not that of the employee. This aspect implies that corporations are embracing Aristotle’s ideas for their own good, as opposed to the goodness of humanity. Works Cited Aristotle. The Nicomachean Ethics of Aristotle, New York: Filiquarian Publishing, LLC, 2007. Prin t. Crowley, Mark. Why Companies Are (Finally) Falling All over Each Other to  Become Best Places to Work, 2013. Web. https://www.greatplacetowork.com/ This essay on Aristotle’s ideas on civic relationships: happiness, the virtues, deliberation, justice and friendship was written and submitted by user Liberty Hall to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Monday, November 25, 2019

Mathematics STANDARD level Paper 1 Essays - Standardized Tests

Mathematics STANDARD level Paper 1 Essays - Standardized Tests Mathematics STANDARD level Paper 1 M13/5/MATME/SP1/ENG/TZ1/XX mathematics STANDARD level Paper 1 Thursday 9 May 2013 (afternoon) instructions to candidates Write your session number in the boxes above. Do not open this examination paper until instructed to do so. You are not permitted access to any calculator for this paper. Section A: answer all questions in the boxes provided. Section B: answer all questions in the answer booklet provided. Fill in your session number on the front of the answer booklet, and attach it to this examination paper and your cover sheet using the tag provided. Unless otherwise stated in the question, all numerical answers should be given exactly or correct to three significant figures. A clean copy of the Mathematics SL information booklet is required for this paper. The maximum mark for this examination paper is [90 marks]. 11 pages 1 hour 30 minutes International Baccalaureate Organization 2013 Examination code 2 2 1 3 7 3 0 3 Candidate session number 0 0 0 1 1 2 22137303 2 M13/5/MATME/SP1/ENG/TZ1/XX Full marks are not necessarily awarded for a correct answer with no working. Answers must be supported by working and/or explanations. Where an answer is incorrect, some marks may be given for a correct method, provided this is shown by written working. You are therefore advised to show all working. Section a Answer all questions in the boxes provided. Working may be continued below the lines if necessary. 1. [Maximum mark: 6] Consider the vectors 2 3 = a and 1 4 = b . (a) Find (i) 2a b + ; (ii) 2a b + . [4 marks] Let 2a b c 0 + + = , where 0 is the zero vector. (b) Find c. [2 marks] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Thursday, November 21, 2019

On the era of reconstruction Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

On the era of reconstruction - Assignment Example 256)†, he could be thought to have chiefly referred to the tedious paths to resolutions proposed by the divided Republicans yet to no avail. What the critics had neglected to see, however, was besides the issue of unfruitful contributions in addressing Civil War, the Americans whether white or black had been revived of new hopes at the unfolding changes of the period. To Americans, the initial stages of achieving an industrial economy occurred to have established a revolutionary social order that only raised confusion especially among the working class, making them suspiciously ponder and react upon the possible outcomes of social development for the nation (Foner, 2007). It entailed a notion that such approach to spontaneous progress determines allocation of power and social security. In this regard, reformists of the period were led to conceive that potential peril exists with the significant concern that as a response to it, people of the lower class may act in tumultuous ag gression in exercising their democratic right over to suppress individual economic growth thinking that liberty of acquisition of rights to property (Foner, 2007), particularly with those who could afford, would only emphasize inequality among social divisions and thus create on appropriating amount of common interests. Progression of economic development enabled Americans to adapt to the concept and application of ‘Social Darwinism’ in their everyday living since the competition to acquire relative or higher advantage in upgrading social and economic status in American society had apparently become essential. With the rapidly growing rate of capital formation, GDP, and wages (Gilded), this condition concretized the effect of social freedom and transformation across vast critical regions of societies in U.S. in which most citizens began expressing individual or collective views by putting up labor unions that served to oppose severely improper conditions, shift schedule s, loads, and unjust wages at work. Democracy was put in wide and intense practice of articulating protest with the desire to take part in the evolving process of industrial growth. In this endeavor, they sought to be assured as well of experiencing freedom from any form of injustice or oppression of employers who were predictably consumed by the principle of capitalism or profit-orientation for use in business that required irrational gravity of labor at the expense of either skilled or unskilled workers (Gilded). Since Social Darwinism in human society advocates natural selection without interference from the government, the ensuing crisis with inequality due to the fast rate of economic growth that was rather favorable to the financially capable who consequently had been able to gain more in wealth was radically questioned and rallied against by the group class who were either receiving substandard dues or whose personal advancement was impeded. Concerns toward personal economy f urther resonated in politics that the Gilded Age or Era of Reconstruction was also witnessed to characterize corruption by the state authorities and widespread operation of fraudulent activities in the U.S.

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

Orgaanizational Culture and Values Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Orgaanizational Culture and Values - Essay Example The values of an organization and those of the nurse hugely impact on patient care in any health care setting. Nurse’s values are supposed to be guided by professionalism or nursing professional ethics while those of the health care facility should be guided by organizational ethics. It is, therefore, clear that a nurse if only able to perform professionally if the organization has offered an environment to facilitate such performance (Hall, Doran and Pink, 2008). Nurse’s values can also be attributed to their personality which impacts on how a nurse delivers patient care. Organizational culture also tells a lot about its values and when this culture conflicts with the nurse’s professionalism, patient outcome is negatively affected. For example, many health care institutions currently grapple with limited resources including human resource. When the management policy dictates that a single nurse addresses many patients, this hampers on patient outcomes because of minimized attention. Organization values also affect the levels of motivation among nurses because these values foster a particular environment which can either lower of increase motivation levels (Park and Kim, 2009). Therefore, environmental context coupled with nurse’s behaviors bring about distinct levels of motivation. The aggregate situation resulting in the blending of nurse’s values and those of the organization hugely affect patient outcome either positively or negatively as explained above. According to Vandome and McVey (2012) effective communication is an essential ingredient for organizational success. Communication in an organization is either internal or external in nature. Internal communication is primarily between and among the management and the employees while external is between the organization and the outside world or external stakeholders like customers. Workplace challenges are easily overcome through effective

Monday, November 18, 2019

To what extent has the CCTV camera reduced the crime in the uk Essay

To what extent has the CCTV camera reduced the crime in the uk - Essay Example proponents of this technology; with an approximated 1.9 million CCTVs in 2011-which easily translates into 1 camera for every 32 UK residents-with this number rising daily. Estimates also claim that the average Briton is normally caught on CCTV 300 times every day. This paper aims at exploring the effectiveness of CCTV in crime reduction in UK (Fenwick, 2012). The use of CCTVs in tackling crime in UK has greatly grown over the past decade. No official figure exists for how many cameras are currently in use, although on the basis of academic research, a 4.2 million figure has been frequently cited. Whereas the underlying principle for use of CCTV has been that it aids in prevention of crime, numerous studies have queried the assumptions behind this claim; drawing attention to a complex variety of factors that must be considered when evaluating the effectiveness of CCTVs. A 2007 Campbell Collaboration report stated that CCTV has a â€Å"modest but significant desirable effect on crime†, however its usage must be more closely targeted than it is at present (Siegel,2015). The beginnings of CCTV usage for public places in UK dates back at the start of 1980s. From then, CCTV system usage has gradually, but considerably expanded. The initial systems were financed in a few places by the local businesses or the police, however, in most of cases local authorities via what were referred to as Safer Cities or City Challenge Initiatives. Successive Government financing assumed the shape of CCTV Challenge Competition between 1994 and 1999, whereby 38.5 million pounds was availed for about 585 schemes throughout the country. Consequently, between 1999 to 2003, core investment was started in public space CCTV via the Home Office-funded Crime Reduction Programme (CRP).Thus, a sum of 170 million pounds of capital financing was availed to local authorities after a bidding process. The coming to an end of the Crime Reduction Programme indicated the finishing of a devoted central

Saturday, November 16, 2019

Valuation Methods of Inventories: Advantages Disadvantages

Valuation Methods of Inventories: Advantages Disadvantages The subject of this paper is the valuation of inventories. We have looked at the rules of the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and Dutch rules. The Dutch rules can be dividend in Title 9 of Book 2 of the Dutch Burgerlijk Wetboek (BW) which is a part of the Dutch law and the recommendations made by the Raad voor de Jaarverslaggeving (RJ) which are giving a interpretation of the Dutch law, but which are not a part of the Dutch law. The research question of this paper is: Which valuation methods of inventories are allowed or not and what are their advantages and disadvantages? Before we are starting with this question we tell you about the general lay out of the different rules and standards in chapter 2. In chapter 3 we will explain the methods based on the historic cost price. This chapter tells you about costs of purchase, costs of conversion and methods to assign costs. We will explain the differences between fifo, lifo and hifo. Chapter 4 deals with fixed transfer price. Chapter 5 describes the fair value (or actual value). Chapter 6 describes one interpretation of fair value, namely the replacement value. Chapter 7 describes net realizable value and the difference with fair value. Chapter 8 will tell you in short about the selling price. At the end of this paper in chapter 9 we will give our opinion about which methods should be used. General laws and standards The use of IFRS is for the consolidated statements of listed companies. All other companies in the Netherlands can opt for the application of IFRS or Dutch Law in Title 9 of Book 2 of the BW and the rules which were made by the RJ.  [1]   IAS 2 (IFRS) IAS 2 sets out how to deal with inventories. Paragraph 6 defines inventories as follows: Inventories are assets: held for sale in the ordinary course of business; in the process of production for such sale; or in the form of materials or supplies to be consumed in the production process or in the rendering of services.  [2]   IAS 2 is not applicable for all kinds of inventories. Work in progress arising from construction contracts, including directly related service contracts, financial instruments and biological assets related to agricultural activity and agricultural produce at the point of harvest has their own IAS. IAS 2 paragraph 9 prescribes that inventories must be measured at the lower of the cost and net realizable value. This leads to a requirement for impairment test. Paragraph 10 prescribes that the costs of inventories shall contain all costs of purchasing, costs of conversion and other costs incurred in bringing the inventories to their present location and condition. Paragraph 6 prescribes that the net realizable value is the estimated selling price in the ordinary course of business less the estimated costs of completion and the estimated costs necessary to make the sale. Book 2, Title 9 of the Burgerlijk Wetboek (Civil Law of the Netherlands) The Dutch Law defines in article 2:369 BW about the next four types of inventories: Commodities and consumable supplies; Work in progress; Finished goods and goods for trading; Prepayments on inventories.  [3]   Article 2:384 lid 1 BW allowed the purchase price, the manufacturing price and the actual value to use for valuation of the inventories. Article 2:384 lid 7 BW gives an own regime for financial instruments, other investments and agricultural inventories. In the Besluit Actuele waarde the rules of Book 2 title 9 are further explained.  [4]   Raad voor de Jaarverslaggeving The Raad voor de Jaarverslaggeving (RJ) gives the following definition of inventories: Assets which are  held for sale in the ordinary course of business;  in the process of production for such sale; or  in the form of materials or supplies to be consumed in the production process or in the rendering of services. The RJ prescribes in rule 220.301 RJ that inventories must be valuated based on the cost-price or the lower market value or actual value. 220.201 RJ defines when an inventory item has to be recognized. The inventories are only assets if it is probable that the future economic benefits in according to the assets will be for the company and the costs of the assets can be solid measured. Comparing the rules The definition of inventories is the same in IAS 2 and the rules of the RJ. Book 2 BW is applicable on every type of inventory. IAS 2 is not applicable for every type of inventory. Excluded inventories have their own IAS. Actual value is allowed in the Dutch rules, but not under IAS 2. There are not any differences between the Dutch BW and the RJ about valuation techniques. This is logical, because the RJ has to deal with the Dutch BW. Historic cost price Although there is much criticism about his system, this one of the most used method of valuation of inventories. When you think of historical cost, you immediately think about costs of purchase. But that are not the only costs. Think of transport costs, administrative costs, taxes and other cost. Factories even have cost to complete the products. We call these costs of conversion. Costs of purchase Costs of purchase are not only the price paid for the product. There are more costs that you have to pay. For example import duties, administration cost and shipping cost. Value added tax can be recoverable by the entity from the taxing authorities  [5]  . These taxes are therefore no costs and cannot be added to the inventory. All other costs that are directly related to the product can be added to the inventory (according to IFRS). It is important that also revenues from discounts are deducted from the total costs of purchase. We shall make an example. Let assume there is a company in the Netherlands. They want to buy oranges in Africa. The oranges normally costs 2 euro per kg, but the company gets a discount (because they buy a large quantity). They cost now à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬1,50 per kg. The company buys 500kg. Value added tax is à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬0,50 per kg (based on the discounted price). To ship the oranges to the Netherlands there are costs: à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬100. The company also needs to pay import duties: à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬50,-. The costs of purchase can be determined as followed: Price: 500kg x à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬2,- = 1,000 Discount (500kg x à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬0,50) = (250) VAT (500kg x à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬0,50) = (250) Shipping cost = 100 Import Duties = 50 Cost of purchase = 650 Note that you really pay à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬900,- in total. But 250 will be returned to you by the tax authorities. Costs of conversion Costs of conversion are the costs that occur when a manufacturing entity makes products out of raw materials. You do not only have the raw materials. Think of the machines in the factory and employees. These are examples of direct costs. But they are not the only costs. There are many costs that cannot be directly linked to a product: administration, electricity, depreciation of machinery and so on. But which costs should you assign to the product (and inventory). This is a topic that is very much discussed in management accounting. There are basically 4 types of methods to allocate costs to the products. Throughput costing, direct costing, absorption costing and activity based costing. Throughput costing Throughput costing traces the least amount of cost to the inventory. Throughput costing only assigns only the direct costs. These direct costs are based on unit-level. This is an advantage because otherwise managers would have an incentive to overproduce  [6]  . Managers do that because you are able to lower the average cost per unit when you produce more. We shall give an example: A company produces 10.000 products. 5000 products will be sold. Fixed costs are $ 50.000 and variable costs are $ 1 per unit. Selling price = 15 We assume that there is no beginning inventory. We can see that in this example the profit is much higher under absorption costing. In this example is the production higher than the actual sales. Note that if the production is equal to the sales, there would be no difference. If the production is lower than the sales, you need to have a beginning inventory and profit under absorption costing is lower. This is because you take a part of the last years fixed cost and takes that this year. So it looks like throughput costing is a good system because you cant steer the profit, but it violates the matching principle. That is why this method is not allowed for external reporting purposes. Direct (or variable) costing In this system all variable manufacturing costs are allocated to the inventory. All other costs flow into the expense of the current period. The variable manufacturing costs include direct material, direct labor and variable overhead. Variable overhead can be for example the electricity needed to operate machines. Absorption costing In absorption costing all of the manufacturing cost (fixed and variable) capitalized in the inventory. As we mentioned earlier, this means that the cost will not be an expense until the product is sold. The only costs that are taken at cost when incurred are selling and administrative costs. This is the system that is mostly used for external reporting. This is because it is aligned with the matching principle. Today, this system is now increasingly used also for internal reporting. But as mentioned earlier, this system has a great disadvantage that it might encourage a manager to overproduce. Activity based costing Activity based costing is invented to improve traditional costing systems. The system provides more accurate product costs. You have to first assign costs to activities and then to goods and services based on how much each good or service uses the activity. You can say that activities consume resources and products consume activities You can determine the cost of goods and service in four steps: Step 1: Search for activities that are related to the companys products. You need to make a list of activities and classify them as unit-level, batch level, product level, customer level or facility level. There are varies ways to do this: You can use the top-down approach. The organization use specials ABC teams of people at the middle-management or above. Advantage of this method is that generating the activity dictionary is quick and inexpensive.  [7]   You can also use the interview or participative approach. In this method you interview operating employees. So you have to rely on their knowledge. And last but not least you can use the recycling method. In this method you have to reuse documentation of processes used for other purposes. Step 2: Estimate the costs of the activities that you identified in step 1. Step 3: Calculate a rate for each of the activities that you indentified in step 1. For example machine cost is caused by hours it is used. So you need to calculate a rate per machine hour used. Step 4: Assign the activity cost to the product. For instance: measure how much hours you used and calculate total cost assigned to the product. Do this for all of the activities. As you can see it is a very time-consuming and therefore expensive method. But you get the advantage of detailed information. Therefore a company needs to evaluate whether the extra information has a higher value than the costs. As you can see, fixed costs are included in this system to. The system treats all costs as variable. ABC is not used for external inventory valuation, but for decision-making purposes. This is because selling and administrative costs are also included. Activity based costs are therefore also not charged to the inventory accounts. Thats why most of the companies that use the ABC method have an IT-system. This system is separate from the companies accounting system used for external reporting. Normally the process of identifying is done once per year, or when changes are made in the production process. Main difference with other costing systems is that other costing systems the manufacturing costs are allocated to products on the basis of production volume related measurement such as direct labor hours. ABC uses both production volume and non-production volume related bases. In ABC an attempt is made to assign all costs to products including engineering, marketing, distribution and administrative costs  [8]  . Methods to assigning costs Historical cost price is only a valuation at first recognition. For subsequent measurement you have different methods for assigning costs to inventory on sale. Fifo We begin with fifo. Fifo means first in first out. According to this method you assume that items that were first purchased are first sold. This is not literally. This method makes more sense in businesses where actually the first purchased products are first sold. This is the case in for example a supermarket. In this method the remaining inventory comes near to replace value. Because the inventory is valued for the price that you have paid last time. If this was not a long time ago, this last price is the replace value. When products decrease in prices (deflation), fifo gives a lower income. This can be an advantage when you have to pay tax. But when there is inflation, fifo gives a higher income. LiFo Lifo means last in first out. It is basically the same as fifo, but in this method you assume that the last purchase goods are first sold. When goods do not have an expiry date this is a method that makes sense. For example think of a warehouse full with steel. You grab the first one you can reach. Steel will not decrease in value over time. It is a lot more work to grab the last one. In that way you actually first sell the product that you bought last. When you use lifo, the cost of goods sold comes near replace value. This is because you use the newest purchase cost. But the inventory is valued according to the oldest products purchased. When there is inflation, lifo gives a lower income. This gives an advantage when for example you have to pay tax. Collective LiFo (periodic LiFo) In collective LiFo, the amount of inventory is determined periodically by conducting a physical count and multiplying the number of units by a cost per unit to value the inventory on hand  [10]  . This makes a difference with normal LiFo. This difference can be best explained with an example: A company buys on 1/1 500products à ¡ $1,50 Buys 1/4 200products à ¡ $1,60 Sells 1/5 600products Buys 1/7 300products à ¡ $1,40 Sells 1/9 200products LiFo: When the company sells on 1/5 the purchase cost of that 600products are: 200 x 1,60 + 400 x 1,50 = $920,- There are 100products left in the inventory with the worth of $1,50 each= $150,- When the company sells on 1/9 the purchase cost of that 200 products are: 200 x 1,40 = 280. Total costs of purchase for the period = 280 + 920 = $1200 The worth of the inventory on the end of the period = 100 x 1,40 + 100 x 1,50 = $290 Collective Lifo: This time we do not look at when the company sells, but only at the end of the period. At the end of the period there are 800 products total sold (800+200). The purchase cost of that product can be calculated as follows: 300 x 1,40 + 200 x 1,60 + 300 x 1,50 = 1190 The worth of the remaining inventory = 200 x 1,50 = $300 As you can see this makes a difference of $10. In this example it is not that much. But think of a company that buys and sells every day. In that case the difference can get much bigger. Collective Lifo is a good example of a periodic method. Lifo is a perpetual method. As you saw in the perpetual method the inventory are updated each time a transaction involving inventory takes place. In the periodic method the amount of inventory is determined by conducting a physical count  [11]  . Unfortunately despite the advantages, this method can only be used for homogeneous products. The perpetual method is a much more time consuming method. Therefore the cost is higher. But this method has advantages. You can get anytime you want information about the cost of purchase and the value of the remaining inventory. Therefore management can make better decisions. Because of the better control that you have, you will immediately see differences in stock. These differences can come from multiple reasons, for example they can be stolen or spoiled. Management can examine why there is a difference and can take action. Hifo Hifo means highest in first out. In this method you assume that the goods with the highest value will be sold first. In this case the company records the highest cost of goods sold as possible. Therefore, this method decreases your income. This is an advantage for companies, because they have to pay less tax or have less attention from for example environment associations or government. For example shell will not make too much profit. Otherwise government would raise taxes because it is polluting for the environment to produce oil. The cost for having this attention is called political cost. You need to minimize that cost. This method can also be Lowest in, First out. It works the same way. Only in this way you maximize your profit. This can be an advantage for managers whose income is dependent of the profit. Average costing method The inventory is based on the average costs of all products. This can be a weighted average; this is the average of a period. The average can also be a moving average. In this case the average is changed every time the company buys new products or when there is a purchase return. This method makes the assumption that all products are homogeneous. Therefore it makes sense to use it in companies that have homogeneous products. The method has the advantage that is very easy to apply. Because it is an average, you eliminate unusually high or low materials prices. This can help for better or stable cost estimates. Fixed transfer price (Dutch: vaste verrekenprijs) When purchase prices changes a lot it is very time consuming to register individual purchase price. It is even more time consuming when a company has a lot of transactions. That is why a fixed transfer price can be used. The fixed transfer price is based on a fixed purchase price plus cost of purchase and cost of inventory. At the beginning of the period, an average purchase price, average purchasing cost and average inventory cost is estimated. Because it is an estimation, there will be differences in the real cost and the estimated cost. The difference must be recorded on a separate account called: price differences at purchase.  [12]   An example: Company Bert sells chairs. The fixed transfer price is $ 200,-. This price consists of: Purchase price $ 160 Purchasing cost 10 Inventory cost 30 $ 200 The company buys 50 chairs for a total price of $ 8200. The following journal entry has to be made: Inventory $ 10000 (50 x $ 200) Price differences $ 200 a/ revenue purchasing department $ 500 a/ revenue inventory department $1500 a/ creditors $8200 Price differences are only based on the difference between expected purchasing price and real purchasing price. Therefore price differences is 8200 (50 x 160) = 200. In this case the difference is an asset, because you actually paid more than the worth in your inventory. But sometimes you evaluate your inventory to high, because actual price is lower. For example: Company Bert buys 50 chairs for total price of $ 7800. Journal entry will be: Inventory $10000 a/ revenue purchasing department $ 500 a/ revenue inventory department $1500 a/ creditors $7800 a/ price differences $ 200 You can see that inventory did not change. Thats why FTP has the major advantage that inventory is easy to valuate. You can immediately calculate how much units you have (Inventory divided by FTP). When you sell your products the sale will be calculated on actual price. The difference will disappear. For example you sell 40 chairs of the 50 chairs you bought. You sold them for $400,- per chair. Journal entry will be: Cash 40 x $ 400,- = $16.000 a/ Sales $16.000 Cost of goods sold (8700/50) x 40 = $ 6960 Price differences = $ 1040 a/ inventory 40 x 200 = $ 8.000 Cost of goods sold is valuated at actual price (in this case). This can also be on average price. The remaining price difference only consists of the 10 remaining chairs in inventory. If they are sold too, the price difference is 0 again. Price differences are a correction on the inventory. When you use average cost price you create a special situation. Because then price differences are not only a correction on the inventory but also on the cost of goods sold. Therefore you have to make a distinction between price differences that go to the balance sheet and that go to profit and loss account, at the end of the period. Fair value (or actual value) Paragraph 6 of IAS 2 gives the following definition of fair value for inventories: Fair value is the amount for which an asset could be exchanged, or a liability settled, between knowledgeable, willing parties in an arms length transaction. How works the fair value accounting method? Fair value isnt laid in one conception. The basis of fair value is that the value of an asset or liability is the value for what the asset can be traded between well informed, independent parties which want to do the transaction. The best indication of fair value is the quoted price on an active market. But not every asset has a quoted price on an active market. If an active market isnt available, than you can look to the last transaction. This is just a good indication if the economic situation has been the same. At least you can use valuation techniques to determine the valuation. Other fair value conceptions are value in use and replacement value.  [13]   Is the fair value accounting method allowed for inventories? IAS 2 doesnt prescribe fair value as a valuation method. The RJ allows the use of fair value for valuation of inventories in 220.301 RJ. Art. 2:384 lid 1 BW allows the use of fair value.  [14]   IAS 2 gives an explanation of the conception of fair value, because it explains that net realizable value may not equal to fair value minus selling costs. Article 8 of the Besluit Actuele waarde explains that you can use the replacement value for inventories, besides the agricultural inventories. If the gain value is lower than the replacement value, than you have to use the gain value. If it is probable that the inventories will be replaced, than you have to use the gain value. For agricultural inventories which are valuated by actual value, you have to use the realizable value. 220.331 RJ describes if the inventories will be valuated by the actual value and that is probable that the inventories will be replaced, than must the actual value be based on the replacement value or the lower realizable value. 220.332 RJ says if the inventories will be valuated by the actual value and it is not probable that the inventories will be replaced, than must the actual value be based on the realizable value. The replacement value and the realizable value will be explained in another part of the paper. What are the advantages and disadvantages of fair value? The general advantages of fair value accounting for inventories are: More transparency Providing more information (about the market prices) Financial reports are less subject to earnings management.  [15]   Disadvantages are: Fair value accounting can be expensive. Implementation and maintenance of a fair value accounting system will cost time and resources. Fair value accounting for inventories is allowed by the RJ and the BW, but not by the IFRS. This can be confusing for some companies. We think that it will be good if the Dutch rules and the IFRS will be the same, because this makes it more clear for the companies if the allowed or not to use fair value accounting for inventories. We dont think that fair value must substitute the other methods, because for some companies is it not easy to measure the fair value. Replacement value There are two variances of the replacement value method: replacement value with a normal inventory and replacement value without a normal inventory. First we will give an example of the replacement value with a normal inventory: base stock value (ijzeren voorraadmethode). After this example we will explain the replacement value without a normal inventory. The function of the replacement value method is inventory valuation. Replacement value with a normal inventory How works replacement value with a normal inventory? An example of replacement value with a normal inventory is the use of a base stock. The base stock is the inventory which the company needs for a continued process of the company. The base stock can exist of a physical inventory and an economic inventory. The economic inventory consists of the physical inventory plus the orders and minus sales which are not delivered. The company has a price risk on the economic inventory.  [16]   The company can valued the base stock by the next three values: The price paid in the past; Or the lower buying price on the balance date; Or the lower net realizable value on the balance date. The base stock is valued by an established price. It is possible that the actual inventory differs from the base stock. There are two types of differences: a manco or a surplus. There is a manco when the actual inventory is lower than the base stock. The difference between the actual inventory and the base stock has the company to buy as soon as possible and must be valuated by the using the replacement value. The replacement value is the price which the company has to give if she buys today the inventory to solve the manco. There is a surplus if the actual inventory is higher than the base stock. The surplus must be valuated by using the minimum valuing rule. The company has to use the lowest of the following values: The last paid price (Fife method); Buying price on balance date; Selling price on balance date. The reason of this rule lies in the prudence principle.  [17]   This system doesnt take into account changes of the value of money. The system is used to determine the profit which can be pay out.  [18]   There is a profit on the selling on e. of 50 (e-/-b) and a profit on the selling on f. of 50 (f-/- 0,5c). The total profit is 100. Is it allowed to use the replacement value with a normal inventory? IFRS doesnt allow the use of the replacement value with a normal inventory. In the Netherlands has the Hoge Raad decided that the base stock method still acceptable is for the calculation of the taxable profit.  [19]   220.204 RJ says that a method which uses the economic inventory cant be a basis for valuation. 220.301 RJ prohibits methods which are using a normal inventory; one of these methods is the base stock method. The reason behind this idea is that the balance has to reflect the physical inventory. What are the disadvantages of this method? A disadvantage of this method is that it is difficult to make a definition of the normal inventory. Another disadvantage is that you have to deal with results of price speculation. The use of a normal inventory method leads to differences between the physical inventory and the normal inventory. This is sometimes confusing.  [20]   Replacement value without normal inventory The second method of using replacement value doesnt know a normal inventory. How works replacement value without normal inventory? Replacement value is the value which you have to give if you want to replace your asset for another asset with the same economic value.  [21]   If the price of the inventory increases you make a revaluation reserve with the same value as the price increasing. An example: Company Y has 1000 pieces as inventory. Every pieces has she has bought for 5 euro. The price increases to 6 euro. The company has to make a revaluation reserve for 1000 euro. (1000 x à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬1)  [22]   If the replacement value of the inventory decreases, than you must the change deduct from the revaluation reserve. If the revaluation reserve isnt big enough, than you must the decrease subtract directly from the profit- and loss account.  [23]   When is it allowed to use the replacement value without normal inventory? IAS 2 doesnt allow the use of the actual value, and implicit the use

Monday, November 11, 2019

To The Hills of Kodaikanal

By Pranav R Kalathungal Last March, I, along with my whole family went for a trip to Kodaikanal. Though we travelled in a comfortable airbus, the journey felt very boring. After two hours, we started playing some games and suddenly things started to get interesting. The games and jokes along with some snacks elevated all our travel sick spirits. We had stared our journey the previous night at nine. After some hours of playful pranks and laughter, slowly everyone started getting drowsy and one by one people started nodding off to sleep. As the noise quietened down and the lights dimmed on the request of elderly people, and I too gradually settled down to sleep. What I saw the next morning when I opened my eyes, took my breath away. We were travelling on a road built into the side of a hill and were flanked by scenic mountains overflowing with luscious beauty on the other side. The scene was heavenly. I can still see the scene in my mind when I close my eyes. Through this heavenly path we reached a homely, beautiful, comfy cottage from where we had our breakfast. After a lovely and stomach filling breakfast, we started a tour of the place. We visited a garden so enriched with natural beauty, that it was paradise itself. The notoriously famous suicide point seemed to me, as if it was inviting people with its deadly beauty, into its treacherous depths. Hours seemed to pass away in minutes in this glorious land and suddenly it was time to go back. And so, thus ended a wonderful journey which will forever remain engraved in the canvass of my mind. I urge you, each and every one of my friends, to undertake a similar journey if you get a chance.

Saturday, November 9, 2019

The YMCA

The YMCA (Young Mens Christen Association) is a world-wide Christian, voluntary movement for women and men with special emphasis on the involvement of young people. It seeks to build a human community of justice with love, peace, and reconciliation. Founded in 1844, it now works through 14,000 local associations and 45,000,000 members in 122 countries. YMCAs are the largest not-for-profit community service organizations in America, working to meet the health and social needs of 17.5 million men, women and children. YMCAs are for people of all faiths, races, abilities, ages and incomes. No one is turned away for inability to pay. YMCAs strength is in the All communities have different needs, so all YMCAs are different. A YMCA may offer child care or teen leadership clubs. A YMCA in the next town may have swimming lessons or drawing classes. Every YMCA makes its own decisions on what programs to The YMCAs mission is expressed in its motto taken from the Bible That they may all be one (John 17:21), and the Paris Basis, which emphasizes two main purposes working for unity and working for the establishment of the Kingdom of God on earth, that is, working for a society characterized by justice, peace and love according to Commitment to its mission has led YMCAs to work with all people in the community. This commitment has also led the YMCA to work for social change, addressing the root causes of issues and problems faced by people. In addition to recreation, sports and educational activities as well as the front-line services to refugeesand displaced people, in many countries the YMCA is also engaged in the formation of movements for social change. It is involved in peoples issues through community organizing and programs for empowering the people. The Grant County YMCAs facilities and programs are ...

Wednesday, November 6, 2019

The Insider Secret to Dialog [Hint Steal It] - Freewrite Store

The Insider Secret to Dialog [Hint Steal It] - Freewrite Store Photo by  Victor Rodvang  on  Unsplash Today’s guest post is by author Jeff Somers.  He has published nine novels, including the  Avery Cates Series  of noir-science fiction novels from Orbit Books, the darkly hilarious crime novel  Chum  from Tyrus Books, and most recently tales of blood magic and short cons in the  Ustari Cycle.       The film Sunset Boulevard (1950) is perhaps Billy Wilder’s greatest achievement in terms of dialog- including the all-time great line (spoken by all-time great voice William Holden), â€Å"Sometimes it's interesting to see just how bad bad writing can be† (a line given extra oomphby the fact that the character speaking is himself a pretty bad writer). You can’t help but wonder if Wilder was winking at himself when he came up with that one, despite the fact that Wilder- a Polish Jew who emigrated to the U.S. in his late 20s- didn’t learn English until he arrived in Hollywood to begin his stellar career as a screenwriter and director. The fact that English wasn’t his first language might have helped Wilder come up with such great dialog. Hearing a language spoken when you don’t understand it is an entirely different experience than when you’re fluent; in 1972, Italian singer Adriano Celentano released â€Å"Prisencolinensinainciusol,† a song of gibberish lyrics that are designed to sound like English spoken with a typical American accent. Listening to the song is an interesting experience- at first, it seems like the meaning of the song is just beyond your grasp because the rhythms and inflections are right on the money. The reason this song sounds right despite being meaningless reveals the fundamental trick of good dialog: The rhythm.    Slave to the Rhythm Every writer knows that it’s pretty easy to go very wrong when writing dialog: - Monotony, wherein all the characters sound more or less exactly the same (if a reader can’t tell who’s speaking without a dialog tag, you’ve got a problem). - Stilted, exposition-heavy conversations filled with clumsy signifiers like â€Å"As you know ...† or repetitions of facts re-phrased for clarity (people simply don’t talk like that). - Dialog that’s too close to reality, because in real life we all speak in meandering, stuttered phrases, using a lot of filler sounds to stall for time- and while making your characters sound like this might be realistic, it’s unpleasant to read (and difficult to understand on the page). - Characters that only speak in Plot Points, only opening their mouths when the reader needs to know something. The sweet spot for dialog is hazy, but the trick is to match the rhythm of real speech, but use a much more controlled approach to the actual words. Modeling Speech The key is turning off your brain a little and hearing just the pacing and pattern of a conversation without the meaning behind the sounds. One easy way to do this is to take dialog from a fictional source or from a real-life conversation and then substitute your own words. TIP: Steal the rhythm, skip the boring parts- this is a perfect opportunity to strip out the â€Å"placeholder† words we all use to stall while we think, like â€Å"um† and â€Å"ah,† or, if you’re Italian, allora. Borrowing From a Scene: Let’s say you have a scene between two characters talking about something. Why not steal the rhythm from one of the masters of modern movie dialog, Quentin Tarantino, and his classic Pulp Fiction: JULES: Okay so, tell me again about the hash bars. VINCENT: Okay what do you want to know? JULES: Well, hash is legal over there, right? VINCENT: Yeah, It's legal but it ain't hundred percent legal, I mean, you just can't walk into a restaurant, roll a joint and start puffin' away. They want you to smoke in your home or certain designated places. Even without having seen the film, the rhythm of each speaker is clear, and the dialog bounces in a way that’s distinctive and pleasant to the ear- which is one reason this scene is one of the most famous from a famous film. The subject matter is not exactly important in any way (to the plot or anything) else, but you can see how the use of meaningless words like okay, right, and yeah are used to keep the rhythm balanced, and how some words are intentionally left out to get a more naturalistic sound (like ain’t hundred percent legal instead of ain’ta hundred percent legal). Modeling your own dialog after these rhythms can get that same bounce for your own words. You can also steal from great books. Why not steal from a master of the art like Hemingway or Elmore Leonard? Leonard had a skill in making ordinary conversations pop off the page: CHRIS: She didn't throw me out, I left. I phoned, you weren't home, so I stayed at Jerry's. DAD: When you needed me most. I'm sorry I wasn't here. CHRIS: Actually, you get right down to it, Phyllis's the one does all the talking. She gives me banking facts about different kinds of annuities, fiduciary trusts, institutional liquid asset funds ... I'm sitting here trying to stay awake, she's telling me about the exciting world of trust funds. DAD: I had a feeling. You've given it some thought. You realize life goes on. CHRIS: I'm not even sure what attracted me to her in the first place. DAD: You want me to tell you? All of Leonard’s dialog has a recognizable rhythm that magically seems realistic while being very controlled and carefully constructed. Borrowing from Real Life: An equally powerful approach is to model your dialog on actual conversations. This can be a better approach if you’re trying to capture an iconic cultural rhythm, or if you’re simply looking for something more naturalistic. This approach can guarantee that your dialog has a believable, authentic rhythm to it, which is about 75% of the battle. A hybrid of both approaches is to use an actor’s distinctive delivery of dialog to model the rhythm of one character on. Think about an actor with a distinctive way of delivering dialog- Alec Baldwin, or Meryl Streep, or even a non-actor you know personally. Imagining them reading every line you write for a specific character will subconsciously guide you towards a distinctive but believably consistent rhythm for every line they speak in your story. These approaches will train you to write realistic-sounding dialog every time, eventually without having to draft on someone else’s work or the neighbors’ conversations- and eventually to develop your own personal rhythm that doesn’t rely on anything but your creative imagination and skill. Dialog is hard- no one’s saying otherwise. World-building and plotting can be fun, filled with the wild excitement of simply creating. Dialog is a delicate business. The secret to great dialog doesn't lie with poetic lines scanned and re-scanned endlessly for errant commas or stuffed with convoluted similes- it's all about the rhythm. If your characters’ speaking rhythms appear naturalistic to the mind's ear, the reader will find it easy to imagine the characters are really speaking even though written dialog is so different from the spoken kind. This is incredibly important because having your characters speak in believable ways sells even the most far-fetched world-building and the most faith-testing out-of-nowhere plot twists. Bad dialog can ruin even the smartest story, even stories that are otherwise brilliantly written, and like many aspects of the craft getting dialog ‛right’ has more to do with approximating reality than reproducing it. Like "Prise ncolinensinainciusol," you're fooling your readers into â€Å"hearing† what you want them to hear. Except, of course, you should use words that actually mean something as a best practice. So, writers, tell me: What writer creates the best dialog for modeling your own work?    Jeff Somers (www.jeffreysomers.com) began writing by court order as an attempt to steer his creative impulses away from engineering genetic grotesqueries. He has published nine novels, including theAvery Cates Series of noir-science fiction novels from Orbit Books (www.avery-cates.com) and theUstari Cycleseries of urban fantasy novels. His short story â€Å"Ringing the Changes† was selected for inclusion inBest American Mystery Stories 2006,his story â€Å"Sift, Almost Invisible, Through† appeared in the anthologyCrimes by Moonlight edited by Charlaine Harris, and his story â€Å"Three Cups of Tea† appeared in the anthologyHanzai Japan. He also writes about books forBarnes and Noble andAbout.com and about the craft of writing forWriter’s Digest, which will publish his book on the craft of writingWriting Without Rules in 2018. He lives in Hoboken with his wife, The Duchess, and their cats. He considers pants to always be optional.

Monday, November 4, 2019

Solving Mathematical Problems Math Problem Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Solving Mathematical Problems - Math Problem Example At the top of my diagram I had colored five colored dots represent each person in the room. The first person was the red dot. The first person can't shake hands with himself but can shake hands with everyone else. So under the red dot I put a blue dot, a green dot, a yellow dot, and a purple dot. The second person can't shake hands with themselves and already shook hands with the first person. Under the blue dot I put a green dot, a yellow dot, and a purple dot. The third person can't shake hands with themselves and they already shook hands with the first two people. I put a yellow dot and a purple dot under the green dot. The fourth person can't shake hands with themselves and they already shook hands with the first three people, so I only put a purple dot under the yellow dot. Now the fifth person shook hands with everyone, so I didn't put any dots under the purple dot. I counted the dots in each column under the 5 dots on top and added them together to get a total of 10 handshakes . This is what my diagram looked like. After I made this diagram I noticed a pattern. When there were five people in the room I added up all the numbers under 5, so it was 4+3+2+1. When there were six people in the room I added up all the numbers less than 6, so it was 5+4+3+2+1. ... I used this rule to see how many handshakes there would be with even more people. By looking at all these numbers I noticed a shortcut. Every time you go to find the number of handshakes for one more person in a room, you just add one less than the total number of people to the previous total number of handshakes. Using this rule to find the number of handshakes for 14 people you can add 13 to 78, which is 91. That's a lot easier than adding 13+12+11+10+9 and so on all over again. Another pattern I noticed is that the number of handshakes for 5 people was 5 times 2, the number of handshakes for 6 people was 6 times 2.5, the number of handshakes for 7 people was 7 times 3, and the number to be multiplied kept increasing by half. To find out how many handshakes would happen in a room with 100 people, maybe I could use this rule to see what number I should multiply 100 by, instead of adding 100+99+98+97 and so on all the way down to 1. I started another table to see what number I needed to multiply 100 by. Once I got to 21 I saw from the numbers in the table that you can get the number to multiply by subtracting one from the number of people then dividing by two. For 100 people in the room, then, you can subtract 1, which is 99, then divide by 2, which is 49.5. This means that to see how many handshakes would happen in a room of 100 people you just have to multiply 100 times 49.5. The total number of handshakes is 4950. Even though patterns make things a lot easier, they aren't good if they aren't accurate. To make sure my rule was right I used a calculator to add 99+98+97+96 and so on all the way down to 1. Sure enough, it added up to 4950.

Saturday, November 2, 2019

Tesco Corporate Governance Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Tesco Corporate Governance - Case Study Example A quarter of Superstores have received the customer-focused improvements in key areas including car parking, trolleys, signage, counters and availability. Express offers customers the chance to stock up on shopping at their convenience at a diverse range of locations, from inner city stores such as Maida Vale, London, to villages like Yateley in Hampshire. Although on a smaller scale than larger supermarkets, it will provide a broad but carefully selected range of essential everyday products. In the stores that convert to Express, customers will benefit from lower prices, improved service, better fresh food ranges and store environment, as well as better availability, quality and choice. This will also allow Tesco to accelerate their growth in the 20bn convenience market while continuing to run the remainder as OneStop Shops. However, the profitability and growth always goes with the development of the human resource personnel. The human capital after all, continues to be the single most important capital in businesses. Thus, recognizing that they are an essential element to the success and future of providing quality differentiated services at affordable prices, Tesco had also a set of principles that promotes the growth and convenience of its employees. The Tesco Values are a set of principles that describe two work ethics such as: 'Treat people how we like to be treated' and 'No-one tries harder for customers'. Also, employee benefits such as childcare voucher scheme and Shares in Success, where staff with more than a year's service will be eligible for free shares has been devised. Customer Value is what Child (2004) would define as "the difference between the values the customer gains from owning and using a product and the costs of obtaining a product" (pp. 9). Customers usually weigh values and use the product with the best perceived value among the rest and also the product and service that will deliver them the best value. It is what makes a product and service important to them and what will eventually convince them to go ahead and avail of the service or purchase the product. It is thus the responsibility of these firms and organization to be the firm that consumers or customers believe to offer the greatest and highest customer perceived and delivered value. If firms' total customer values are perceived and delivered the best from the combination of "product, sources, personnel and image", more customers will decide to opt for them (pp. 669). Companies now face the challenge of making its target consumers respond accordingly to their marketing efforts. Those who understand its consumers' responses will have a great competitive advantage. The starting point towards this is through the stimulus-response model of buyer behaviour which involves examining the marketing and other stimuli in the consumer's black box that translates into buyer responses (Child, 2004). Marketing stimuli often consist of the four Ps of marketing: product, price, place and promotion while the other stimuli may include economic, technological, political and cultural factors which exist in the marketing environment. Child (2004) explains that the practical application of learning to most companies is that they can build a demand for a product through association with strong drives, motivation cues and positive reinforcement. Lastly, beliefs and attitudes are