Dashain: The Festival of Nepal

Dashain Festival of Nepal INTRODUCTION Dashain is the biggest festival in Nepal. Dashain is celebrated by Nepalese people with great excitement. It is normally in the month of October but sometimes in late September. This festival is the longest and the most important of all festivals in Nepal. It falls in the best time of the year when fruits, vegetables and other foods are in plenty. And, all animals are well fed and healthy. It is said that Dashain is a celebration of the victory of the gods over the wicked demons.More sophisticated people think it as a message that good will always wins over bad in the end. And, we all should stand on the side of the good even when the bad side may look to be stronger. THE PREPARATION Before the first day of Dashain starts, people clean their houses, clean up the barns, paint white and red colours on the walls, paint the windows, repair the Aangan, repair the barns and trails in the villages, and paint the temples, schools and shelters with white clay. They buy new clothes, lots of food and spices.Then the celebration begins. THE FIFTEEN DAYS OF DASHAIN The fifteen days are said to mark the various events in the war between the gods and the demons. These fifteen days of Dashain are celebrated as follows: * Day 1: Ghastapana:Â  It is the first day of moon and represents the start of the battle. All weapons and tools in the households are gathered, cleaned and put in a room where Goddess Durga’s worship is commenced. Seeds of corn and barley are planted in a large planter of leaves and kept in dark in the worship room.These seeds would have grown to be yellow seedlings (Jamara) by the ninth day, when they are offered to Vishwa Karma and to all worshippers on the tenth day. * Day 2-7: Dwitia to Saptami:Â  Represent the continuation of the battle. * Day 8: Ashtami:Â  Animals are sacrificed in the temples of Goddess Durga asking for her help to win the battle. * Day 9: Nawami:Â  People worship Durga in mass. Everyone goes to temple of Durga. Also Vishwa Karma (god of creativity) is worshipped at the room where all tools and weapons were kept and the tools are finally released from the room.All machinery like sewing machine, cars, carts and grinding mills are stopped and offerings are made to Vishwa Karma asking to protect from accidents and mishaps. This day signifies that everyone gets ready for the final battle. * Day 10: Vijaya Dasami:Â  Goddess Durga defeats demon Mahishasur. Good finally wins over the bad. Victory is celebrated with exchanges of blessings and best possible food one can afford. Elders in the family give blessings to the young and put Tika and Jamara on their forehead. People are supposed to pay honor to and get blessings from the all surviving elders in the family clan.All people seem to be on the move as they try to visit as many relatives as possible to collect the most possible blessings. * Day 11-14: Ekadashi – Chaturthi:Â  These days are for visiting elders tha t were too far to visit on the tenth day. Also if some difficulties prevented us from reaching home and elders. So Tika continues throughout Dashain. * Day 15: Purnima or Kojagrat Purnima:Â  Dashain ends on the day of full-moon. On this day, people stay at home and rest. Laxmi (the goddess of wealth) is worshiped on this date. People are now ready to work and acquire virtue, power and wealth.In Dashain, you want a tika from an older person in your family or from anyone. You want to receive blessings from as many wellwishers as you can. First you start in your family. The oldest person in your family gives Tika and blessings to the youngest then the second youngest and so on. Anticipation, fun, hope, blessings and friendship come to you in Dashain, especially when you are close to your relatives and friends, and not in a far-away land and alone. You still write to your relatives or call them if you can and get thier thoughts and blessings even when you are far-far-away!

Harvard business publishing Essay

In mid-September of 2010, Emily Harris, vice president of New Heritage Doll Company’s production division, was weighing project proposals for the company’s upcoming capital budgeting meetings in October. Two proposals stood out based on their potential to strengthen the division’s innovative product lines and drive future growth. However, due to constraints on financial and managerial resources, Harris knew it was possible that the firm’s capital budgeting committee would decline to approve both projects. She also knew that New Heritage’s licensing and retail divisions would promote compelling projects of their own. Consequently, Harris had to be prepared to recommend one of her projects over the other. The Doll Industry Revenues in the U.S. toy and game industry totaled $42 billion in 2008 and were projected to increase by 4.6% per year to $52.5 billion by 2013. The market was divided into two broad segments: video games (48%) and traditional toys and games (52%). The second segment was further divided into infant/preschool toys (14.5%), dolls (14.1%), outdoor & sports toys (12.3%), and other toys & games (59.1%) including arts and crafts, plush toys, action figures, vehicles, and youth electronics. The U.S. market for toys and games was dominated by large global enterprises that enjoyed economies of scale in design, production, and distribution. Revenues were highly seasonal; the largest selling season in the United States coincided with the winter holiday period. Within the toy and game segment, U.S. retail sales of dolls totaled $3.1 billion in 2008 and were projected to grow by 3% per year to $3.6 billion by 2013. The doll category included large, soft, and mini dolls, as well as doll clothing and other accessories. The phenomenon of â€Å"age compression†Ã¢â‚¬â€ the tendency of younger children to acquire dolls that had traditionally been designed for older girls—reduced growth in the â€Å"baby-doll† sub-segment. Competition among doll producers was vigorous, as a small number of large producers targeted similar demographics and marketed their dolls through the same media. Lasting franchise value for a branded line of dolls was rare; the enormous success of Barbie ® dolls was an obvious exception. More recently and on a much smaller ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ HBS Professor Timothy Luehrman and HBS MBA Heide Abelli prepared this case solely as a basis for class discussion and not as an endorsement, a source of primary data, or an illustration of effective or ineffective management. Th is case, though based on real events, is fictionalized, and any resemblance to actual persons or entities is coincidental. There are occasional references to actual companies in the narration. Copyright  © 2010 Harvard Business School Publishing. To order copies or request permission to reproduce materials, call 1-800-545-7685, write Harvard Business Publishing, Boston, MA 02163, or go to http://www.hbsp.harvard.edu. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, used in a spreadsheet, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise—without the permission of Harvard Business Publishing. Harvard Business Publishing is an affiliate of Harvard Business School. Purchased for use on the MSc Business Valuation, at Imperial College London. Taught by James Sefton, from 21-Aug-2013 to 31-Dec-2013. Order ref F211857. Usage permitted only within these parameters otherwise contact info@thecasecentre.org Educational material supplied by The Case Centre Copyright encoded A76HM-JUJ9K-PJMN9I Order reference F211857 New Heritage Doll Company: Capital Budgeting 4212 | New Heritage Doll Company: Capital Budgeting scale, New Heritage also had created a durable franchise for its line of heirloom dolls. But the popularity of most doll lines waned after a few years. New Heritage Dolls By 2009, New Heritage had grown to 450 employees and generated approximately $245 million of revenue1 and $27 million of operating profit from three divisions: production, retailing, and licensing. The production division, discussed further below, designed and produced dolls and doll accessories. The retailing division offered a unique â€Å"intergenerational experience† for grandmothers, mothers, and daughters, centered upon the character histories and storylines of the company’s dolls and delivered through an online website (42%), a mail-order paper catalog (33%), and a network of retail stores (25%). In fiscal 2009, the retailing division generated roughly $190 million of revenue and $4.8 million of operating profit. The licensing division was started in 1998, and represented the company’s newest and most profitable division. It sought to extend the New Heritage brand and capitalize on high levels of customer loyalty by selectively licensing the company’s doll characters and themes to a variety of media that reached the firm’s target demographic of toddler to pre-teen girls. In fiscal year 2009 the licensing division generated $24.5 million of revenue and $14.5 million in operating profit. New Heritage’s Production Division Production was New Heritage’s largest division as measured by total assets, and easily its most asset-intensive. Approximately 75% of the division’s sales were made to the company’s retailing division, with the remaining 25% comprising private label goods manufactured for other firms. Table 1 summarizes the division’s various sources of revenue and operating income. Table 1 Production Division Data: Revenue ($ millions) Operating Income ($ millions)    New Heritage’s dolls and accessories were offered under distinct brands with different price points, targeting girls between the ages of 3 and 12 years. The company’s baby dolls were generally priced from $15–$30, and were offered to younger girls in earlier stages of development. These dolls typically came with a â€Å"birth certificate† and a short personal history. Dolls in the higher-end of this category incorporated technology that produced a limited amount of speech and motion. For the 1 The division revenue figures include approximately $95 million of internal sales within divisions which are eliminated when considering consolidated revenue for the company. BRIEFCASES | HARVARD BUSINESS PUBLISHING Purchased for use on the MSc Business Valuation, at Imperial College London. Taught by James Sefton, from 21-Aug-2013 to 31-Dec-2013. Order ref F211857. Usage permitted only within these parameters otherwise contact info@thecasecentre.org Educational material supplied by The Case Centre Copyright encoded A76HM-JUJ9K-PJMN9I Order reference F211857 The New Heritage Doll Company was founded in 1985 by Ingrid Beckwith, a retired psychologist specializing in child development and the grandmother of two young girls. Dr. Beckwith believed the dolls produced by the major toy companies did little to develop girls’ imagination or foster a positive self-image, so she created a line of dolls with unique storylines and wholesome themes. Dr. Beckwith’s dolls struck a chord among mothers and grandmothers who also rejected the dated, clichà ©d images portrayed by the popular dolls of the day. New Heritage Doll Company: Capital Budgeting | 4212 New Heritage outsourced much of its production to a select number of contract manufacturers in Asia. To ensure product quality and safety, the company maintained a fulltime staff to oversee material sourcing, production, and quality control on site at each of its manufacturing partners. Manufacturing activities that required precise tolerances or proprietary processes, along with all the creative elements (design and product prototyping, for example), were handled in-house at the company’s headquarters facilities in Sacramento, California. Educational material supplied by The Case Centre Copyright encoded A76HM-JUJ9K-PJMN9I Order reference F211857 Capital Budgeting at New Heritage New Heritage’s capital budgeting process retained some of the informality that characterized the company’s early years as an innovative startup. As the company grew, deliberate steps were taken to decentralize some of the project approval process and increase spending authority at the division level. However, large and/or strategic spending proposals were reviewed at the corporate level by a capital budgeting committee consisting of the CEO, CFO, COO, the controller, and the division presidents. The committee examined projects for consistency with New Heritage’s business strategy and sought to balance the needs and priorities of each division against practical financial and organizational constraints. The committee also sought to understand project interdependencies and the potential for a given investment to strengthen the whole company, not solely the division proposing it. New Heritage’s capital budget was set by the board of directors in consultation with top officers, who in turn sought input from each of the divisions. The capital and operating budgets were linked; historically, the capital budget comprised approximately 15% of the company’s EBITDA. The committee had limited discretion to expand or contract the budget, according to its view of the quality of the investment opportunities, competitive dynamics, and general industry conditions. Before being considered by the committee, projects were described, analyzed, and summarized in self-contained proposal documents prepared by each division. These contained business descriptions, at least five years of operating and cash flow forecasts, spending requirements by asset category, personnel requirements, calculations of standard investment metrics, and identification of key project risks and milestones. Financial Analyses Financial analysis began with operating forecasts developed with oversight from New Heritage operating managers. Revenue projections were derived from forecasts of future prices and volumes. Fixed and variable costs were estimated separately, by expense category. Forecasts of working capital requirements were likewise vetted by line managers, who paid particular attention to a project’s requirements for various types of inventory. Forecasts for fixed assets and related depreciation charges were developed in cooperation with analysts reporting to the controller. HARVARD BUSINESS PUBLISHING | BRIEFCASES Purchased for use on the MSc Business Valuation, at Imperial College London. Taught by James Sefton, from 21-Aug-2013 to 31-Dec-2013. Order ref F211857. Usage permitted only within these parameters otherwise contact info@thecasecentre.org $75–$150 price range, New Heritage produced a line of heirloom-quality dolls and accessories. These were designed to appeal to older girls and to convey a sense of cultural and family tradition among grandmothers, mothers, and daughters. The heirloom dolls had more elaborate accessories and personal histories. Finally, the company offered a line of high-end dolls based on fictional â€Å"celebrities,† each associated with a charitable cause and embracing more contemporary fashion trends. These dolls targeted girls in the so-called â€Å"tween† age range of 8–12 years, and also were priced from $75–$150. Like the heirloom dolls, celebrity dolls also came with more elaborate stories and accessories. 4212 | New Heritage Doll Company: Capital Budgeting New Heritage assigned discount rates to projects according to a subjective assessment of each project’s risk. High-, medium-, and low-risk categories for each division were associated with a corresponding discount rate set by the capital budgeting committee in consultation with the corporate treasurer. Assessments of each project’s risk were made at the division level, but subject to review by the capital committee. Factors considered in the assessment of a project’s risk included, for example, whether it required new consumer acceptance or new technology, high levels of fixed costs and hence high breakeven production volumes, the sensitivity of price or volume to macroeconomic recession, the anticipated degree of price competition, and so forth. In 2010, â€Å"medium†-risk projects in the production division received a discount rate of 8.4%. High- and low-risk projects were assessed at 9.0% and 7.7%, respectively. Projects that created value indefinitely, given continuing investment, were treated as going concerns with a perpetual life. That is, NPV calculations included a terminal value computed as the value of a perpetuity growing at a constant rate. However, to preserve an element of conservatism, the capital committee generally insisted on relatively low perpetual growth rates – lower than New Heritage’s historical growth and lower than near-term growth forecasts for a given division. Investment Opportunities in the Production Division Emily Harris was focused on two of the production division’s most attractive current proposals. The first involved expanding the successful Match My Doll Clothing Line to include matching allseason clothing for tween girls and their favorite dolls. The second involved a new initiative, the Design Your Own Doll line, which employed web-based doll-design software to let users â€Å"customize† a doll’s features to the customer’s specifications. Match My Doll Clothing Line Expansion The Match My Doll Clothing line originally consisted of a few sets of matching doll and child clothing and accessories for warm weather. It quickly became successful after the daughters of a few celebrities were spotted and photographed wearing items from the line, and girls’ magazines included some of the line in â€Å"what’s hot to wear† sections. Given recent publicity, Marcy McAdams, the brand manager responsible for the line, believed the timing was perfect to expand. Specifically, McAdams proposed to create an â€Å"All Seasons Collection† of apparel and gear covering all four seasons of the year. She expected the new offerings to be at least as profitable as the existing line, since its current popularity would make it possible to maintain premium prices. She also hoped to take advantage of off-peak discounts offered by some suppliers and contract manufacturers as they tried to smooth their capacity utilization. In the same fashion, McAdams argued the expansion would help reduce, or at least not exacerbate, the seasonality in New Heritage’s sales and earnings. BRIEFCASES | HARVARD BUSINESS PUBLISHING Purchased for use on the MSc Business Valuation, at Imperial College London. Taught by James Sefton, from 21-Aug-2013 to 31-Dec-2013. Order ref F211857. Usage permitted only within these parameters otherwise contact info@thecasecentre.org Educational material supplied by The Case Centre Copyright encoded A76HM-JUJ9K-PJMN9I Order reference F211857 Operating projections for a given project were used to develop cash flow forecasts that would underpin calculations of net present value (NPV), internal rates of return (IRR), payback period, and other investment metrics. Cash flow forecasts were intended to capture the incremental effect of a proposed project on the firm’s cash flow for each year within the forecast period. That is, each project’s cash flow forecasts excluded non-cash items, such as depreciation charges, and nonincremental items such as sunk costs (i.e., costs that would be incurred regardless of whether a given project was undertaken or not). The cash flow forecasts were computed on an after-corporate-tax basis, but excluded all financing charges. Some elements of the cash flow forecasts were prepared with assistance from treasury analysts, but most of the necessary adjustments were well understood by division staff. New Heritage Doll Company: Capital Budgeting | 4212 To exploit the current popularity of the original Match My Doll Clothing line, especially given the fickle nature of children’s fashion trends, McAdams believed the opportunity had to be exploited without delay. Her investment proposal contained relatively large outlays for R&D, market research, and marketing to maximize the probability of quick acceptance and longer-term success for the follow-on line. Upfront investment expenditures are summarized in Table 2. Table 2 Match My Doll Clothing Extension Outlays The R&D and marketing expenditures would be deductible for tax purposes at New Heritage’s 40% corporate tax rate. The property, plant and equipment was expected to have a useful life of 10 years; the associated depreciation charges, shown in Exhibit 1, were based on the modified accelerated cost recovery system (â€Å"MACRS†) allowed by the IRS. Working capital requirements, shown in Table 2 for 2010 and in Exhibit 1 for subsequent years were based largely on recent historical experience with the original Match My Doll Clothing line. Finally, given the proven success of Match My Doll Clothing, Harris believed the project entailed moderate risk—that is, about the same degree of risk as the production division’s existing business as a whole. Design Your Own Doll This initiative targeted existing New Heritage customers, many of whom owned several of the company’s heirloom dolls. The company’s research showed that, when asked what features (e.g., appearance, ethnicity, â€Å"life story,† etc.) New Heritage should give to future dolls, loyal customers’ responses had a high correlation with their own personal data. That is, girls wanted dolls like themselves. Further research suggested that many loyal customers would purchase yet another doll if they could customize the doll’s features to create a â€Å"one-of-a-kind† addition to a girl’s or family’s existing collection of dolls. It also promised to increase the girl’s pride in and identification with the doll, both because of their shared features and because of the girl’s participation in creating the doll. This in turn further cemented customer loyalty. The customization process would begin with a new section of New Heritage’s website, where proprietary design software enabled the customer to select physical attributes of the doll such as hair color, hair length & style, skin color, eye shape, eye color, and other facial features. The software could combine selected features and produce a photo-realistic image showing the finished doll with user-selected accessories. The customer could zoom in or out on the image and rotate it to see different aspects. The software made it easy to try out different combinations of features and accessories before making a purchase. Elizabeth Holtz, brand manager for heirloom dolls, was very excited about the project. She observed, â€Å"A girl’s relationship with her favorite doll is often partly mommy and partly big sister. Either way, having your doll look more like you is really powerful. And there’s excitement in the experience: exploring the website, naming the doll-to-be, selecting her first outfit†¦even the anticipation of waiting for the new doll to arrive. I really think this is big.† Holtz also believed that the dolls could command a premium price. â€Å"Customers will naturally expect to pay more [for a HARVARD BUSINESS PUBLISHING | BRIEFCASES Purchased for use on the MSc Business Valuation, at Imperial College London. Taught by James Sefton, from 21-Aug-2013 to 31-Dec-2013. Order ref F211857. Usage permitted only within these parameters otherwise contact info@thecasecentre.org Initial Expenditures ($ thousands) 4212 | New Heritage Doll Company: Capital Budgeting custom doll],† she said. Market research with focus groups revealed significant enthusiasm for the product concept and supported the notion of premium prices. The web-based software tools and order entry system required New Heritage to make significant modifications to its existing technology infrastructure, expand its webhosting capacity, and modify the terms of its third-party service agreements to ensure a higher level of service quality. The majority of the R&D expenditures shown below were related to software development, hardware upgrades, and web design. The development time involved, including product testing, was expected to be approximately 12 months. Initial outlays, some of which occurred in 2010 and some in 2011 As with Match My Doll Clothing, the required R&D and marketing costs would be tax deductible. Manufacturing equipment had to be ordered by the end of 2010 to be ready for production at the beginning of 2012. While New Heritage had the option to pay for custom equipment in quarterly installments, the firm could get a substantial discount by paying for the equipment up front, in 2010. Figures in Table 3 and Exhibit 2 reflect the discounted cost of the equipment. To support the forecasted level of sales, substantial investment in working capital (primarily work in process inventory of partially manufactured dolls) would be required beginning in 2011. And still more equipment would have to be purchased and installed no later than 2014. In years 2015 and following, investments in working capital and equipment would revert to patterns familiar from the production division’s traditional lines of dolls. To complete development work, Holtz planned to use some of the company’s existing IT staff. The majority of the work would take place during calendar 2011. The number of people and their fully loaded costs are shown Table 4. These costs were not included by Holtz in the initial outlays shown in Table 3 or in the forecasts presented in Exhibit 2. The development personnel Holtz needed were considered â€Å"corporate† resources and were almost certainly available to work on the project. Table 4 Design Your Own Doll Development Personnel, ($ 000s) Application Development Personnel Costs: Web Application Developers Database Manager Systems Integration Specialist Total Cost BRIEFCASES | HARVARD BUSINESS PUBLISHING Purchased for use on the MSc Business Valuation, at Imperial College London. Taught by James Sefton, from 21-Aug-2013 to 31-Dec-2013. Order ref F211857. Usage permitted only within these parameters otherwise contact info@thecasecentre.org However, even a limited degree of customization increased manufacturing complexity and expense. Further, because of the low production runs and volume, fixed costs on a per unit basis were expected to be relatively high. Consequently, the breakeven volume for the project was also expected to be high. New Heritage Doll Company: Capital Budgeting | 4212 Finally, Holtz needed to give Harris her assessment of the project’s riskiness. On the one hand, Design Your Own Doll had a relatively long payback period, introduced some untested elements into the manufacturing process, and depended on near-flawless operation of new customer-facing software and user interfaces. If the project stumbled for some reason, New Heritage risked damaging relationships with its best customers. On the other hand, the project had a relatively modest fixed cost ratio, and it played to the company’s key strength—creating a unique experience for its consumers. Educational material supplied by The Case Centre Copyright encoded A76HM-JUJ9K-PJMN9I Order reference F211857 Emily Harris still needed to complete her review and financial analysis of the two proposals. McAdams and Holtz were in frequent touch with Harris and both had offered to respond to any questions she might have about the proposals: the business case, the financial projections, the operating details, or anything else. Harris expected that she would indeed have some follow-up questions as she worked through her financial analyses. She also knew that her final recommendation might disappoint some executives within the division, who would scrutinize it closely. It had to be well-supported.

Privacy of Information and Advertising Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Privacy of Information and Advertising - Essay Example the FatAway Inc. has launched a product line that is so far trusting with respect to the product specifications and the claims that it says. And to market it, manager believes that the best idea is to select the fattest people in Australia and use them as spokespersons or as reference persons in their ads. For this manager needs to probe into the databases of companies that maintain statistics related to the fat people in Australia. In this situation we can say that the manager's company is the sponsoring client (or the user of the data) and the companies maintaining databases are the researchers. Now, manager sees that the data probably might be easily available about the heavy weighted people; but the problem lies in the intrusion of someone else's personal life and the respondent probably has given his personal profile for some other purpose, and to use it for a third purpose might not be liked by him. And even if the respondents agree to the proposal of acting as sales person then too they might not be aware of the future emotional consequences that might occur to them and then they would not have any option. As the technology emerges it brings with it new and creative ways of information sharing. Companies have also shifted their business orientation from production to provision of knowledge. And hence we see growing number of companies maintaining databases, and also government organizations maintain data with respect to the population demographics etc. This data is collected for specific purposes. But as we move forward issues concerning intrusion of privacy are enhanced; since individuals are too cautious about their personal lives and the style with which they live. Accordingly, no one has any right to say or dig into the reason why someone is fat, since he or she has no concern. This case explores the same idea. Ethical issue or dilemma in the case Firstly, manager (user of the data) sees that obtaining data about weight and height of client is intrusion of privacy and since in the western countries especially collecting and giving out of data is considered serious violation of privacy. Next, the data might be available with a third party (the researcher) and the researcher is ready to sell the data but data might have been collected for some other purpose and thus using it for some other reason might not be right. Third, the subjects i.e. the fat people might agree to participate and act as the spokesperson and participate in the advertising campaign for the company. But this may embarrass them in the future and bound them to work for the company even if they later realize that they don't like working in the ad or made public about their weakness i.e. being fat. Prevailing community or the societal attitudes of the person may not allow him to such a behaviour. Solutions to the case Solution 1: First and foremost the general business ethics of the company maintaining databases and their privacy policy should be analysed. If they have the right to use the respondents' information in any way and context with the prior permission of the client, then only the data should be used. And this is most required in situations when the certificate of confidentiality has been given by the respondents. Solution 2: Moreover, to avoid any future embarrassment and humiliation for the potential spokesperson they should be

Finance College Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Finance College - Essay Example Thus, the returns from fixed income securities remain unchanged over the period for which they are invested in. Beyond the period or before the period of investment, the rates would be prone to vary. Changes in the reserve ratio (CRR) stipulated by the Reserve/Federal Bank lead to changes in the rate of interest/ returns for the investor. A shift in the global economy and change in the CRR of the banks in the country which has a dominant role in the global economy can influence the interest rates in other countries too. An investor has a choice of investing in various assets over time. He can invest in movable assets like securities, stocks, fixed deposits and immovable assets like land, buildings etc. Each class of investment has its own risks and returns. The returns from each asset would also vary from time to time, depending on various socio-political, economic and geographical factors. The capital markets offer a wide range of investment options like shares, stocks, debentures, fixed income securities etc. While shares and stocks are high risk-high return instruments, bonds and fixed income securities are safer modes of investment. Capital markets typically tend to move in cycles or phases, called bull and bear phases . A bull market is one in which the majority of the shares move up and there is ample capital appreciation for the investor. A bear phase is one in which there is a negative trend and the prices of shares fall. There is erosion in value of the holding and the investor might not even get back his initial investment amount. The returns in a bull market have been known to be as high as 500-1000% in some cases, while the losses in a bear market have forced several investors to go bankrupt and sell whatever other assets they were holding as investments. Many a times, the economy of the country itself has had to undergo a substantial loss due to the fluctu ations in the capital markets. Fixed income securities are one of the most innovative and dynamic instruments evolved in the financial system ever since the inception of money. Based as they are on the concept of interest and time-value of money, Fixed income securities personify the essence of innovation and transformation, which have fueled the explosive growth of the financial markets over the past few centuries. http://sify.com/finance/fullstory.phpid=14201529, accessed on 27th Aug.,2008. A wise investor would have a combination of investments which give fixed and variable returns over a period of time. The risks involved in investing in stocks are offset by the returns from fixed income securities. Depending on the disposable income, age of the investor and risk-taking capacity of the investor, a financial planner would

Environment Factors Paper Research Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Environment Factors - Research Paper Example A business environment is the collection of factors that affects the operations of a business. Business environment can further be categorized into external and internal factors. The success of a company is evaluated by its ability to utilize its business environment. This paper will, therefore, analyze the business environment of the Coca-Cola Company. The Coca-Cola success story begun in Atlanta, Georgia, before the drink became a major drink in the global market (Stonebtb, 2010). Venturing into the global market created a new set of problems for the company that could only be overcome through an appropriate combination of various factors within its business environment. Global marketing involves complex processes due to the number of parties involved in the distribution of goods and services. Global economic interdependency is viewed as a remedy to the complexity of international trade. Currently, Coca-Cola has associate firms in different countries that market or produce Coca-Col a products. This phenomenon is a form of international interdependence. International interdependence is, however, subjected to international business law and restrictions. Most countries have laws or policies that are aimed at protecting local businesses and industries. These laws are meant to create a balanced relationship between foreign companies and the mother company. Global interdependence has also contributed to the growth of the Coca-Cola Company by enabling it to acquire a firm foundation within host countries. On the other hand, trade practices and policies regulate relationship between beneficiary firms and the mother company by ensuring equitable distribution of proceeds. Demographic and physical infrastructures of a firm have a great impact in the development of a company. Currently the company has various brands that are associated with different demographic groups within a given society. Different packaging and flavors of soft drinks produced by the company identifiy these brands. The company has different packaging for various groups within the society. Different packaging and brands names are also associated with different genders within different societies. Consequently, different flavors of soft drinks produced by the company define the demographic characteristics of the consumers. These demographic infrastructures strengthen the company’s brand. In addition, the company demographic infrastructure creates or enables the customers to identify themselves with various brands that the company produces. Coca Cola’s physical infrastructure includes production facilities and units in different countries across the globe. The company has also a satellite connected communication facility that alleviates global communication and networking. Due to its scope of operation, the company considers culture as an important aspect of strategic management. The company markets its products across different cultures and this creates the needs for cultural sensitivity. In addition, the company employs a large number of employees from different cultural background. The Hofstede’s cultural dimension index has been useful to the company in determining the different roles to be assigned to members of different societies working within the company. Cultural differences within the company have, therefore, enabled the company to acquire a global

Performance Art Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Performance Art - Essay Example This paper shall focus on performance artists and how they have been affected by various incidents and happenings. It shall highlight performance artists Marina Abramovic, Yoko Ono, and Stuart Brisley. This paper is being carried out in order to review the impact of performance art on art itself, and how these artists have impacted on the evolution and development of art in general. Each artist’s personal and professional history will first be presented, followed by a description of their significant work or performance art. Their more significant work/s shall then further be described or discussed in relation to significant incidents in their lives. Body Performance art refers to a performance which is exhibited to an audience; the performance may or may not be scripted, or it may also be carefully orchestrated or even spontaneous (Carlson, 1996, 3). In some cases, it may be performed live or taped with the performer being absent or present. It may include the situation which involves the four basic elements: time, space, performance’s body or presence in a media, and the relationship between the performer and the audience (Carlson, 1996, 4). It can happen anytime at any venue for any period. The performance of the artist exhibits the artist’s particular work of art. Three performance artists who have had a significant impact on art and on performance art shall be depicted in this essay. Marina Abramovic was born in Belgrade, and is based in New York as a Serbian performance artist (Stiles, et.al., 2008, 3). Her career first started in the 1970s and since then, she has been active in the arts for more than three decades. She has mostly been known for her performance art, exploring the relationship of the performer and the audience, the possibilities of the mind, as well as the limitations of the human body (Stiles, et.al., 2008, 5). She is considered to be the ‘grandmother of the performance art.’ In one of her earliest perfor mances, she sought to evaluate rituals and gestures, using knives and tape recorders, jabbing the knives between her fingers and each time she cut herself, she would use a different knife (Stiles, et.al., 2008, 4). In this performance, she was able to review the mistakes of the past and her previous attempts. In this performance, she sought to understand the state of consciousness of a performer and how it was actually possible to push him into actions which he could never normally do (Stiles, et.al., 2008, 6). In her next work, she considered how to create the energy caused by extreme body pain. In this performance, she cut off her nails, toenails, and hair and tossed it into a flaming star (Richards, 2009, 6). She considered these acts of purification as against the political traditions of her past; with the star representing the communism that dominated her home country for many years. To culminate her performance, she leapt across the flames into the centre of the burning star. She however passed out from lack of oxygen, but it took a while for her audience to realize such unfortunate circumstance (Richards, 2009, 7). This incident implied how physical limits can also limit performance; in this case, her passing out limited and curtailed her performance and what she wanted to convey in her art. For the years that followed, she also attempted to test the state of consciousness and whether it could also be made part of a performance (Westcott, 2010, 18). In her performance, she took a pill used by catatonic patients. This pill caused her to go into seizures and other uncontrollable movements (Westcott, 2010. 13). She recalls that while she did not have any control over her body, her mind was clear and lucid and she could observe what was actually

Steamboal Bill, Jr Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Steamboal Bill, Jr - Essay Example An analysis of the film will address themes, sound tracts, and effectiveness to the audience. The plot of the movie begins with the arrival of a new steamer in the river junction. The owner of the new steamer is J.J. King (Wickstrà ¶m). He is shown being happy with other captains of the ship waiting for its arrival. On the other hand, Steam Boat Bill is shown with his mate Tom Lewis in the old steamer (Wickstrà ¶m). Bill is shown annoyed because of the new steamer, as he perceives it as a business rivalry. King is depicted as a wealthy business with some few banks and hotels under his name (Wickstrà ¶m). King notes of the old steamer as a floating ‘thing’ (Wickstrà ¶m). Bill also receives a telegram of his impending son visit. They go with his mate to get the son at the railway station. They both expect a well-built man. However, the contrary happens, as the son appears small and dressed in a funny way. This makes his father begin a journey of his transformation in a new life. At the same time, King Daughter (Marion Byron) arrives from school (Wickstrà ¶m). Both Bill and King get annoyed as they realize that both Willie and Byron were lovers. They engage in a journey of ensuring that the relationship does not exist. On the other hand, Stonewall Jackson is condemned from public safety committee from carrying out transactions (Wickstrà ¶m). This annoys Bill who confronts J.J. King. The confrontation lands Bill to jail. The son tries to rescue him without any success. In the end, Willie is shown saving father, Marion Byron, and King from ravaging weather (Wickstrà ¶m). He ends up being a hero in the film despite his initial weaknesses. The theme of the film appears as that of transformation. This has been well articulated and developed by the main characters in the play. For example, Willie is shown as a weak character in the railway station. The father and his mate Tom Lewis are ashamed of Willie as he

Company's strategy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Company's strategy - Essay Example The companies argue that they are not responsible for telling consumers about disadvantages of their products because it will eventually ruin their income and business. The customers in the case study had to search the internet in order to find expected disadvantages of obesity food. The food researchers are working to find, pinpoint and solve health problems caused due to usage of fast food for number of years now (Hill, Wyatt, Reed, & Peters 2003). The court established a comment that said that the company was not at all the only source of information on the side-effects of fast food and therefore, the claim of the plaintiffs is invalid. The legal authority also added that the food chain never requested nor forced anyone into eating their stuff. The company held on to the point that they are not liable for providing information about the quality of the food. But, if one views the case from a societal angle then, the company had a duty to inform the customers about the side-effects of the products. Still, the businesses do not consider ethics as the core and composite part of the business and say that their concern is profitability and because of this reason, ethics are rated at a much lower rank. However, various stakeholders of the company view the case study in a very divergent and different way. Nevertheless, customers considered themselves as betrayed by the company.

Nortel Networks Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Nortel Networks - Article Example In 1994, two Nortel executives, anxious over the possibility of the company’s having an empty â€Å"war chest† of novel and innovative product ideas, instigated a restructuring of the company’s business processes. The aim of the stated was the facilitation of the process by which internally generated new product ideas could be evaluated and implemented. Within a span of just over 5 years, Nortel had successfully designed a process-oriented knowledge management strategic paradigm (KM) for its New Product Development (NPD) process.The above-mentioned restructuring was a complex process, involving a umber of clearly defined steps. The first of these steps was aimed towards the testing of the empty war-chest hypothesis through an in-house survey targeting all of Sales and Support, Global Service Planning, and Marketing and Development. An excess of 100 new product ideas were submitted within three weeks. The results, thus, proved that Nortel had the potential for a v ery rich war chest but, the absence of a process for the capitalization upon internally-generated ideas, constrained this potential. It was imperative, therefore, that the company design and develop a paradigm for the exploitation of its internal innovative capabilities.To leverage its knowledge base, Nortel formed a cross-departmental task force, Project Galileo, whose primary objective was the design of system for the facilitation of the new idea submission, evaluation and product development processes.

Management papers Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Management papers - Essay Example players in this fraud, the top management, preferred their own short-term fiscal profits and stakeholder deceit that destroyed not only their business, social and personal reputations and position. Being pressured by Enron’s senior management, Arthur Anderson and Vinson and Elkins aided it in its deceit. Thus the fundamental source of fraud was the neglect of organizational and individual integrity capacity. The top management boasted themselves as credible corporate citizens though swindling employees and investors, the executives of Enron were aware of such misconduct still they remained silent and supported the top management thus neglecting the process integrity capacity by neglecting moral awareness, moral deliberation, moral character as well as moral conduct (Petrick & Scherer 39). The Enron’s commitment to specific ethics theories, and deformed managerial judgments yielded poor outcomes in treating moral and behavioral complexity (Petrick and Quinn 4), thus neglecting the judgment integrity capacity. Moreover, the moral infrastructure at Enron lacked the system integrity capacity that’s why could not constrained the development of such a fraudulent, immoral and illegal activities. In order to avoid such frauds in future, the managerial legal duties scope should be enhanced to comprise the democratic participation of institutionalized stakeholder in corporate governance. All level employees and stakeholders should be made accountable for their immoral conduct. An ethical culture should be developed in the organization that is supported by all the member of organization. Such immoral acts should be firmly penalized at all levels and ensured that their reoccurrence is minimized. Employee survey should be taken periodically to ensure that such acts can be reported from all levels within the organization. Whistle blowers should be encouraged and

Plantation agriculture Essay Example for Free

Plantation agriculture Essay Plantation agriculture is a kind of commercial arable farming in the world. It is especially important in humid tropics with luxuriant growth of vegetation. Its economic effectiveness is always emphasized, bringing both positive and negative impacts. In recent decades, crop diversification is introduced and the ecological balance of the natural environment is greatly conserved. Plantation agriculture refers to the growing of cash crops on large foreign owned estates in countries of tropical environment. It is usually practiced in a large scale with monoculture, in which only a certain type of plant is dominant. Take Papua New Guinea as an example, in the area, cacao, coffee and rubber are mainly grown in the region for export to other countries. Under this kind of farming, there are positive impacts to the economy. Firstly, due to its large scale of operation and being export-oriented in Papua New Guinea, the supply of products is regular and of uniformly high quality. With high demand for the products, this attracts large amount of investment of capital from the foreign countries, such as Europe and North America, thus allowing the farmers being financially able to provide the expensive machinery capable of turning out a high grade product. Benefiting from economies of scale, this enables both the transportation cost and production cost to be lowered. Secondly, plantations are also able to undertake greater scientific research and the eradication of pests and diseases. For example, one large sugar company in the former British colony of Guyana was able to employ a large research staff to produce a strain of sugar cane resistant to leaf-scald disease. Besides, government assistance has brought improved crop varieties, scientific research, new pesticides and fertilizers and effective marketing, The government of Papua New Guinea launched The Cape Hoskins Oil Palm Scheme to solve land disputes of many small holdings, strengthening national self-reliance. With increasing demand for the plantation, the employment rate of Papua New Guinea is greatly increased as there are more needs for personnel to manage crop growing and researching. Some crop processing and manufacturing industries are set up to satisfy the demand for crops. The farm productivity is increased as well. As people can earn more income from this kind of farming, this stimulates the rate of urbanization, hence the development of infrastructure and improvement of public facilities, such as roads, railways, ports, towns, schools, hospitals and the supply of electricity and water. As a result, the living standard of the labour is greatly improved. Despite the economic benefits, plantation farming somehow brings negative impacts to Papua New Guinea. First is the reliance upon the protected markets in Australia. At present, about one-third of the copra, 40 percent of the coffee, most of the cocoa and rubber is exported to Australia, which is assigned to admit duty free. In return, Papua New Guinea has to pay taxes for any imports. This leads to outflow of capital to foreign countries because this kind of farming is highly export-oriented. Second is the problem of labour. Plantations require large amount of cheap labour, but the wage rate is progressively higher because of the rising living standard and commercialization of the country. This increases the cost of production and thus reduces the competitiveness among other countries for the same kind of farming. Apart from this, the risk of crop failure is an important factor for consideration. As plantation agriculture is highly specialized. People highly rely on monoculture to earn a living. When the price of cash crops falls drastically or there is a sudden of crop failure, the income of farmers will fall as well. As a result, the earning of farmers tend to be unstable and badly affected the national income of Papua New Guinea. Besides, people have to import other necessities from other countries instead of planting within their own country, self-sufficiency cannot be achieved. In this way, there is no other source to safeguard the return of farmers. To overcome the negative impacts, crop diversification is a good method to reduce the over-reliance on certain types of cash crops. Ecologically, this method can also be beneficial to the environment. Since different types of crops are grown, the risk of crop failure decreases. This can stop the spread of diseases and pests for a particular type of crops. The population of pests decreases. This in turn reduces the use of pesticides. Hence, the chance of stream pollution is smaller, the sea organisms will not be poisoned or suffocated so easily, the nutrient flow can be more stable. There will be greater diversity of species of biomass, so the ecosystem will be more stable. Furthermore, diversification of crops increases the vegetation cover. There will be less surface runoff and soil erosion, yet infiltration increases. The nutrients of the soil can be preserved. Crop diversification also reduces the exhaustion of certain type of nutrients, fertility can be maintained and thus the use of fertilizer will be less common as well. Climatically, because of less crop failures, the amount of biomass increases. The evapotranspiration rate and wind speed can be more stable, so the microclimate can be maintained constant, the risk of global warming will not be getting serious so fast. In conclusion, plantation of cash crops is significant in Papua New Guinea for economic development. Though crop diversification may not be as profitable as plantation agriculture, ecological environment should not be ignored. In long-term, diversification of crops is a good way to safeguard the natural environment and brings more stable income to the farmers as well.

Can Go Issues And Solutions

Can Go Issues And Solutions One of CanGo division is an online book store. Best sellers are kept in the warehouse grouped by subject, while other titles are ordered from publishers or other sources. The current process involves pickers getting lists with titles that have been ordered and then picking them from inventory. The issues with this system are that the lists are random and congestion. This is because a picker may have to go from one end of the warehouse to the other and back again when fulfilling an order. In addition, multiple pickers often end up in the same place at the same time causing congestion. If the picking process is improved, it would mean CanGo can carry more inventory and decrease the amount of time it takes to get books to customers. Solution 1 CanGo has presented a proposal to purchase an automatic storage and retrieval system (ASRS) to streamline the picking process. An ASRS is a system that uses technology for depositing and retrieving inventory from a defined storage location. There are several benefits to an ASRS including better use of both space and labor, and it improves the company control of the materials CanGo needs to consider several things when designing a system. These include the material to be moved, numbers of load to be stored, material flow description, description of operations, and architectural consideration for future expansion (ASRS, 1999). It is obvious that CanGo deals with books but it is important to know the weight and the dimensions of the books. Material flow description or flow charts illustrate how the books get from the starting point to the outbound truck, including a description of what the operator does and shows places where a logjam may occur. Architectural consideration means that the size of the building may place limits on what system CanGo uses. There are several manufactures of ASRS systems. One is Cisco Eagle and its mini storage system (Cisco eagle mini load). Material is placed in a tote, a tray or a carton. Storage can be single, double or triple deep. In conclusion a good ASRS system will lower storage costs and enable the work force to be more productive. Problem 2 CanGo continues to strive to increase their sales and to work through their growing pains that are often experienced by new companies. Like many startup companies, CanGo is faced with the prospect of large investments back into the company in order to increase production and streamline the delivery system. One issue that CanGo needs to rectify is the number of abandoned shopping carts that the company is experiencing. According to a recent survey conducted by Comscore, 76% of orders are abandoned. This is because the educated consumer of today continues to comparison shop throughout the checkout process. While CanGo has experienced a smaller percentage of abandoned orders, the problem is still prevalent. Solution 2 East Coast Consulting simulated the purchasing process on CanGos website and offers the following recommendations. Review the pricing of items that are offered. If an item is the same or similar as to what is offered on other sites, the consumer will shop by price alone. Offer a clearance or sale area in order to entice shoppers. Offer free shipping. 76% of consumers rate free shipping as a must for online orders. According to David Bell of Wharton, For whatever reason, a free shipping offer that saves customers 6.99 in shipping is more appealing to many than a discount that cuts the purchase price by $10 Eliminate the need to register in order to check out. This requires too much information from the customer and takes too much time. Provide the option of Guest check out. Remember that in order to follow up on abandoned orders, an email address must be obtained. This should be the first field presented to the customer upon checkout. Build trust and eliminate doubt with customers. This can be accomplished by addressing frequently asked questions, clearly stating the return and privacy policy and a security guarantee. Also, CanGo needs to prominently show the company information including an email and phone number. Implement Live Chat. In a recent survey, 77% of retailers listed Live Chat as critical to converting the shopping cart into sales. Offer more payment options including PayPal and Amazon Checkout. Also provide clear instructions on providing credit card information. Simplify this process as much as possible and make the checkout button a clear call to action. We feel these recommendations will greatly improve the conversion rate at CanGo. Problem 3 One of the main problem that Can Go is facing is making their website user friendly and more appealing, At this point, nearly every company has a website, and for good reason. Potential customers and clients use sites to learn about the company, but also to get a general feeling about service and culture. If Can Go makes their website user friendly and attractive then customer would definitely come back and buy the service. Solution 3 Although a fantastic-looking website can be powerful, design isnt the first place to start when it comes to user experience. Because businesses need to understand their consumers in order to develop products and marketing campaigns that appeal to their target audience, consumer psychologists often spend a great deal of time learning more about what makes shoppers tick. This often involves first figuring out the target audience for a particular product including the gender, age and socioeconomic status of the typical shopper. Next, the consumer psychologist might begin researching the types of products and marketing messages that appeal to these types of buyers. Other consumer psychologists might focus on social marketing, or how ideas and messages spread among groups. Researchers might be interested in getting out information about a product or an important public health message. Learning how beliefs andÂÂ  attitude spread among groups can help organizations learns how to better get their message out and encourage word-of-mouth marketing. Consumer psychologists often conduct research to learn more about buyer behavior. Common research methods used by these professionals include experiments, phone surveys, focus groups, direct observation and questionnaires. Chances are good that you have participated in at least one market research survey in your life. These are often conducted by phone, but may also be done online or through direct mail. In a survey, consumers are often asked to describe their past shopping behavior, factors that influenced their decision-making and their future buying plans. Researchers also typically gather details about each respondents sex, age, race, educational history and current financial situation. This type of information can be very useful, since it allows researchers to look for patterns and learn more about who buys certain products. For example, using a survey might allow researchers to discover that women between the ages of 30 and 45 who have a household income between $50,000 to $100,000 are most likely to buy a particular product or service. By knowing this, they can then begin designing marketing campaigns aimed at this target audience. Learning these aspects will definitely help Can Go to help better their business. Problem 4 CanGo has spent a lot of time trying to meet the needs of their current customers and have done very well at that. Recently, CanGo began research to understand their current customers purchasing habits and the changing and evolving ecommerce market. For CanGo to remain successful, they must understand the new target market. It is very well known that customer retention is imperative to be successful and without doing the proper research, CanGo will not be effective at holding on to their current customers or gaining new ones. This will ultimately make them a failure with the new product and it could cause them to go under for a lack of being able to gain new customers for the current market. Solution 4 CanGo needs to take a look at it current customers first. Then they need to understand what the age group of its current shoppers is and what they are purchasing. Then CanGo can identify any buying habits. This will help CanGo with their advertising and marketing. This can also help with planning so that their customers will not be impacted by a lack of product. CanGo will also need to identify the target market for online gaming. Doing market research will help CanGo by answering certain questions. What age group of people likes to play games online? What time of day do they like to play these games and how often. How much do online gamers pay for this service? What does the current competition offer? This way they can better understand the new target market as well as the old one. Problem 5 CanGo recently experienced an increase in orders from Japan. When the company received the occasional order from Japan, it was economical to send via UPS. Now, with the increase in sales to Japan, it makes sense to look into companies that specialize in business shipments to Japan. CanGo also should learn all it can about Japanese shipping regulations. Solution 5 CanGo should seek to partner with several companies that specialize in business shipments to Japan. One company is Best Shipping (Best shipping). According to their website, Best Shipping not only accepts imports, but they are licensed customer brokers. They are able to navigate the Japanese shipping rules and regulations and have its own fleet of trucks. This means that one company will have control of the shipment from the time merchandise leaves CanGo until it arrives at the customers door. Another company that specializes in shipping to Japan is Yamato Transport Inc. There office is located in Secaucus, New Jersey and specialize in air and ocean freight, international moving and import and export custom clearing services in the US. The company has several businesses that specialize in door to door shipments in a particular region of Japan. Large American based shipping companies like UPS and Fed Ex have experience serving the Japanese market and should be part of CanGos rotation of Japanese shippers. Although the shipping companies are experts in Japanese shipping rules and will handle most of the details, it is helpful to know the basics. Jetro.org, Japans external trade organization, offers useful information for US companies doing business in Japan. Problem 6 CanGo is spending time to fix all of the things that are not currently working. In doing so there has not been any update on what they are going to do to get the new product line off the ground. Has research been done to see if there is a competitor out in the online gaming market? What type of computer system is needed to handle online gamers? Is CanGos security tight enough to handle the hackers? What is needed to get the online gaming up and running? Does CanGo have enough capital to make this happen? These are all questions that have not been answered. CanGo has not assigned any specific people to the new project. This is going to be a lot of work and take a lot of time. The marketing department also needs to focus on who they are marketing to and how they are going to market to them. Solution 6 So that the team stays focused at a time like this there should be weekly meeting on what is going on with the new project what needs to be done. Deadlines need to be set. This way it is clear that CanGo has not decided not to do the project and that this needs to be done in addition to the corrections to the current process. This way it is clear to all what the goal is. This will help the workers not lose sight of what is important and what needs to be done. CanGo need to make a Gantt chart so the time line of what needs to be done. This will also help assign people to specific task. When CanGo does this it will make it clear to all what needs to be done and who is going to do it. Once it is clear to everyone who is doing what, CanGo needs to look at what they are looking to sell. A Gantt chart would be beneficial to help assign people to specific task and provide clear goals and time frame for completion. In Closing it is important for CanGo to focus on now and the future. That means looking at what is happening to maintain the current customers and drive new ones. East Coast Consulting has provided 6 problems and 6 solutions that will allow CanGo to get once set closer to getting where they want to be. References ASRS. (1999, May 27). Consideration for planning an automated storage retrieval system. Retrieved Feburary 1, 2013, from https://www.cirrelt.ca/mhmultimediabank/ApplicationGuide%5CMHIA%20-%20ASRS%20considerations.pdf Best shipping. (n.d.). Best shipping/ services. Retrieved January 30, 2013, from Best shipping: http://www.bestshipping.co.jp/english/service/index.html Cisco eagle mini load. (n.d.). Retrieved Feburary 1, 2013, from Cisco eagle: http://www.cisco-eagle.com/material-handling-systems/asrs-systems/mini_load Japanese external trade organization. (n.d.). Jetro.go.jp. Retrieved January 31, 2013, from http://www.jetro.go.jp/ Yamato transport inc. (n.d.). about us Yamato transport inc. Retrieved January 31, 2013, from Yamato transport inc: http://www.kuronekoyamato.co.jp/en/corporate/

Inclusive School And Inclusive Teacher

Inclusive School And Inclusive Teacher Providing a quality education for all students in inclusive settings has been acknowledged as perhaps the most challenging, yet most important issue in education. The concept of inclusion places the stress on altering the system rather than the child. The inclusive school system is often thought of as the inclusion of all students, regardless of ability into the same schools and classrooms with peers who are not considered to have disabilities. Inclusive school is a school where all children are taught to understand and appreciate human differences. Teachers and administrators receive the support necessary to include all students in regular education classrooms. Parents concerns for their children are taken acutely. In inclusive school special education is a service not a place. Inclusive teacher is a teacher who is equipped with general as well as special techniques of teaching and who can ensure quality education for all students. Introduction Inclusive school is a school where all children are taught to understand and appreciate human differences. Teachers and administrators receive the support necessary to include all students in regular education classrooms. Parents concerns for their children are taken gravely. Supportive learning and peer instruction are strategies used throughout the school. Where all kids are given the opportunity to develop real friends, not just peers buddies or helpers. In inclusive school the entire community honors diversity and supports quality education for all students. Philosophy of teachers about inclusion Heres what some teachers say about the philosophy of inclusion: Kliewer (2001) Inclusion involves all kinds of practices that are ultimately practices of good teaching. What good teachers do is to think considerately about children and extend ways to reach all children. Eventually good teaching is a relationship between two people. Good results acquire to the teachers because they enter into that relationship. Inclusion is very important and providing more options for children as ways to learn. Its structuring schools as society where all children can learn. But theres no formula for becoming an inclusive teacher or an inclusive school. Its not a preset system. Etscheidt (1999) Inclusion is based on the belief that people/adults work in inclusive communities; work with people of different races, religions, aspirations, disabilities. In the same stratum, children of all ages should learn and grow in environments that look like the environments that they will ultimately work in. Heston (2000) When good inclusion is in place the child who needs the inclusion does not stand out. Strong parental participation includes in the inclusive curriculum, students making choices, and a lot of hands-on and heads-on involvement. East (1995) Inclusive education means working of teachers with the students in that situation which is suitable to a miscellaneous population of students. It also means the teacher may need another prospect and goals for students, and its complex to get teachers to do this. Inclusive education Inclusive education means that achievement of education is the right of all the children in their own community schools. Inclusive education means that classroom teachers have the final authority and responsibility for educating them. This does not mean that all children will necessarily receive all instructional services in the regular classroom. Kronberg (1992) Inclusive education does not mean that students must waste every minute of the school day in general education classes, that students never receive small-group or individualized instruction, or that students are in general education classes to learn the core curriculum only. It means, rather, that if a trained disciplinary team decides that students require instruction beyond the normal developmental curriculum, need services beyond the ability of the classroom teachers (e.g. mobility training or speech reading) or specialized services, then them (which includes the classroom teacher) ensures that students receive this help in their community school. Moreover the classroom teachers are in charge of orchestrating all the required elements of his or her program plan. Stainback (1992) Some educators have suggested that inclusion means getting rid of special education special educators, and a continuum of services (e.g. individualized instruction and tutoring). We believe that inclusion means that those elements are brought into regular classroom. Inclusion embraces the concepts of integration and mainstreaming and promotes the idea that very one has a contribution to make, that a childs school experience should be one that is maximized, not restricted. We agree with Rogers, J. (1992) they note that inclusion means that the childs educational program is adapted to meet his or her academic or social needs and the child and teacher receive the support they need to succeed. Full inclusion never means simply placing a child with challenging needs in an ordinary classroom without adaptations or supports. Collier (1987) Inclusive education can function on many levels. In inclusive education the disabled student joins the general education classroom for part of the day, depending on the type and strictness of the disability. In inclusive education all students are in the general education classroom instead of the special education classroom. Theoretically this would eliminate the need of a special education classroom. Full inclusive education should allow disabled students to be part of the various setting, teach social skills, foster independence and provide opportunities to build friendships with non-disabled peers. Factors to be considered in the development of a full inclusion classroom should include age appropriate placement in local public schools, integrated delivery of services in the general education classroom, social integration, curricular expectations adapted to the level that best challenges the handicapped student, home-school partnership, staff development, team collab oration, and systematic evaluation and related services. Implementing inclusive classroom in schools Salisbury (1994) It is actually useful that the process of inclusion needs to occur within the larger context of a school where there is a clear philosophical foundation teaming practices and a commitment to shared decision making. Unfortunately not all schools and communities value the inclusion and or teaming model of intervention. Even though national mandates and policies call for the provision of intervention services in mainstream schools laws alone are insufficient for changing attitudes. Stainback, (1993) Opponents of inclusive classrooms often refer to barriers that inhibit effectiveness of this approach. Such barriers include lack of adequate training in general and special early education philosophical difference between the two disciplines lack of related services in many programs (e.g. speech language therapy physical therapy etc and lack of monitoring systems and negative staff attitudes. Additional barriers that have been identified by other researchers include the emphasis on academic achievement in the educational reform movement competition for shrinking fiscal resources lack of flexibility in teachers contracts and lack of clear policy directives. All of these identified barriers are indeed real issues and need to be addressed in planning and implementing inclusive programs for he/ she children with special education needs. Unless these barriers to inclusion are adequately addresses it will be difficult to convince reluctant schools and communities to move toward or adopt the inclusive approach. School-based learning All parents want their children to feel comfortable and competent when they enter school yet there is no way to build in assurance that this will be the case. While this is true whether or not a child has a disability the concerns are certainly magnified for children with special educational needs. Common concerns expressed by parents of children with disabilities relate to medical fragility and or special health condition (e.g. seizures asthma immune deficiency etc). Peer acceptance and making friends participation in group activities (e.g. listening to stories playing group games etc) and fear and distress in separating from parents. The transition from home-to school-based learning places new expectations and demands on the child and family. Bout child and family must become acquainted with new people in their lives and adjust to new schedules. Parents know there will be certain school-related behaviors that their child will be expected to adopt. Inclusive Teacher To be effective an inclusive teacher education program must instill in the pre-service teacher an understanding and appreciation of diversity. It means they must be equipped with both general as well as special education techniques through pre service, and in-service. Pre-service teachers must also become comfortable with change and they must learn early in their preparation to be flexible and creative. Our classrooms have undergone tremendous changes and those changes will continue in the future. It is one of the biggest roadblocks to inclusion has been the inability of many educators to shift from one operational standard to another. This can be proficient by providing experiences that require forthcoming teachers to develop creative problem-solving skills and to view situations from different perspectives. Some of the main essentials of inclusive teacher are as under: Teachers Beliefs, Values, and Attitudes inclusive education Many teacher characteristics affect the process of inclusive education, for example, the type and level of educational training and the number of years of teaching experience. Ostensibly, the more training and experience teachers have in special-needs education and programming, the greater their chances for successfully implementing educational programs and practices based on inclusive education. And if classroom teacher are willing to teach children with diverse learning and behavioral needs, the chances for effective inclusive education are greatly increased. Inclusive education also depends on certain necessary values. Teachers need to value learning as a lifelong process in which they share responsibility with parents for maximizing the quality of childrens loves; the need to enrich childrens academic and social competencies; their colleagues and the benefits of collaboration; and, perhaps most importantly, the goals of inclusive education. It has been suggested that the most critical element of inclusive education is the attitude of classroom teachers toward children with special needs. Teachers attitudes affect not only what happens in classroom settings but also the instructional option that is chosen for students. Unfortunately, many teachers are opposed to having children with diverse needs in their classrooms. This finding suggests that teachers must be given opportunities to confront their biases so that constructive and workable solutions can be developed. Attitudes vary according to types of disabilities, the types of perceptions people have about disabilities and the labels assigned to children with disabilities. Teachers attitudes influence the nature of the interaction between students and teachers, as well as the students achievement. Schrag (1994) point out those teachers constantly communicates important messages to students about individual differences. It becomes obvious to all students whether teachers favor high achieving students, feel respect, pity, or disgust for students who have special problems, believe that every person has inherent value, or are prejudiced against those who are different. Enabling Conditions for Incisive Education The merger of regular and special education will not happen quickly or easily. The process requires regular and special educations to consult and collaborate with one another and to plan provide adaptive instruction for all children. It also depends on teachers positive attitudes and the resources available. From our perspective the most important enabling conditions are professional training and development, pooling of resources and administrative leadership and support. Adaptive Instruction Inclusive education requires regular and special education teachers to respond and adapt innovatively and collaboratively to the unique learning needs of all students. Adaptive instruction assumes that each teacher will identify and provide a wide range of instructional supports that are needed by individual students to effectively master the learning and behavioral objectives. Wang (1984) Adaptive instruction requires teachers to, Assess the characteristics and capabilities of each student, collaborate and consult with others to plan developmentally appropriate instruction. Than make environmental and individual accommodations to facilitate student learning. Than manage and instruct students in ways that permit those to master content at a pace suited to their abilities, needs, and interests. This will result in promoting all students social ability and social integration. One of the basic premises of effective adaptive instruction programs is that a variety of educational objectives, instructional materials, and learning tasks is needed; furthermore, success in achieving instructional objectives requires a wide selection of teaching and learning strategies. Successfully implementing and practicing adaptive instruction procedures depends on teachers beliefs about student diversity, and on the enabling conditions of the educational environment. Professional Training and Development Teachers federations agree that present in-service training methods fail to provide successful integrated learning experiences. Teachers need information that will broaden their understanding and appreciation of children with special needs-for example, information on how to identify learning problems, and on how to adapt the environment and their instruction to accommodate those problems. Their courses should include such things as dynamic assessment, individual educational planning, adaptive instruction differentiated learning, multicultural education, and holistic curriculum development. Pooling of Resources Inclusive education will need a high quality of service, requiring well-trained teachers, support personnel (e.g. teachers aides), transpiration services, school building modifications, and material resources (e.g. assessment instruments program materials and instructional aides). Inclusive education will impose additional financial demands on school board. Therefore teachers must be trained to pull recourses for inclusion. Collaborative Teaming Smith (1993) The ultimate goal of collaborative teaming is the creations of a collaborative school. At its core are the professional relationships, particularly between teachers and administrators, and the unified goal of school-wide, continuous improvement, and shared responsibility for the continuous progress of all students within the learning community. Salisbury (1994) Collaborative problem solving to promote inclusive education is typically carried out between teachers and other support professionals who get together to solve specific problems, usually concerning a student or group of students, focusing on classrooms- based interventions increase the students chances for success. Assistance might involve interactions between classroom teachers and speech and language specialists, counselors, school psychologists, specialists in visual and auditory impairment, special-education specialists, or other specialists bilingual education, reading and mathematics. The relationship in collaborative problem solving is based on mutually defined goals and a common framework, and involves shared authority for idea generation, mutual accountability for success, and the sharing of recourse and rewards. Co-teaching Reynolds (1991) Co-teaching may refer to cooperative teaching or collaborative teaching, and is sometimes referred to as team teaching. Cooperative teaching requires a group structure and clearly defined roles for the participants. Collaborative learning requites only a collaborative goal. Team teaching is seen to be either the equivalent or a subset of co-teaching. Co-teaching as an activity in which special educators and general educators work together in one physical space in a variety if instructional activates in order to provide optimal instruction to the greatest number of students. Achieving social integration Research findings indicate that children with and without disabilities generally do not engage in high levels of social interaction with one another unless they are encouraged and supported in doing so. Factors frequently associated with this lack of interaction include language and cognitive delays poorly developed play skills and behavior disorders on the part of the children with special education needs. It takes a great deal of energy and creativity on the part of early childhood educators to achieve social integration between children with special education needs and their typically developing peers as the levels of social interaction skills of these two groups generally differ to a significant extent. Individualized curricular accommodations Salisbury (1994) Curricular adaptations are usually designed to serve two main goals to promote positive child outcomes and to optimize the physical social and instructional inclusion of the child in ongoing classroom actives. Do adaptations in an inclusive program actually achieve these goals? Results of studies relating to each of these outcomes lend support to the effectiveness of the inclusion-with-modifications model. Further studies however are certainly warranted. Such studies would do well to focus on the effects and perceived value of the process by stakeholder groups including school administrators teachers and parents.

Technology and Morality in Shelleys Frankenstein - The Advancement of

Frankenstein and the Advancement of Science      Ã‚  Ã‚   Science is nothing more than facts and principles that have been accepted on the basis of the knowledge gained by a systematic study. The scientific process is the common, basic pathway to this discovery of knowledge. The good or evil implications resulting from knowledge is not the primary concern of the scientist, though these implications can have a powerful impact. Mary Shelley's Frankenstein shows how the discovery of knowledge can have earth-shattering repercussions when a scientist does not consider the consequences of his actions.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Victor Frankenstein often esteemed himself a scientist of nature in contrast to those of his time who were alchemists. As such, he followed the very same path which elementary school kids follow today; observation, hypothesis, experimentation, and conclusion. The first step he took in creating his monster was observation. Victor Frankenstein observed the power of nature through the destructive force of lightning. He knew the potential of such energies and developed a hypothesis based on his studies of Agrippa and Magnus. His hypothesis stated that, through the power of nature, he could reanimate organic tissue; a process which his mentors claimed to have already achieved. Victor Frankenstein's experimentation required a form, which took him to the charnel houses to claim tissue from the deceased. The creature was complete with the animating science developed by Victor Frankenstein. His hypothesis proved true in the respect that it could give life. Through out the process he underwent to create the creature at no time in the process was there a point to reflect as to whether or not he should create such a monster. There was ... ...iterary Supplement 9 Apr. 1993: 12-14.    Boyd, Stephen. York Notes on Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. Longman York Press, 1992.    Garber, Frederick. The Autonomy of the Self from Richardson to Huysmans. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1982.    Nelkin, Dorothy.   "Genetics, God, and Sacred DNA."   Society May/June 1996: 22-25.    Patterson, Arthur Paul. A Frankenstein Study. http://www.watershed.winnipeg.mb.ca/Frankenstein.html    Shelley, Mary.   Frankenstein.   Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1980.    Smith, Christopher. Frankenstein as Prometheus. http://www.umich.edu/~umfandsf/class/sf/books/frank/papers/FrankCS.html    Spark, Muriel. Mary Shelly. New York: Dutton, 1987.    Williams, Bill. On Shelley's Use of Nature Imagery. http://www.umich.edu/~umfandsf/class/sf/books/frank/papers/FrankWJW.html   

The ICU as an Effective Learning Environment Essay -- Nursing Reflecti

Learning is the lifelong process of transforming information and experience into knowledge, skills, behaviors and attitudes. It may occur as part of education, personal development or training. According to Hinchliff (1999), there are many factors that can give and affect the quality of learning such as students, teachers and the environment. Meanwhile, learning environment itself is the physical or virtual setting in which learning takes place. Hannafin, Land & Oliver (1999) described learning environment as a typically constructivist in nature, engaging learners in â€Å"sense-making† or reasoning about extensive resource set, including four components which are enabling context, resources, a set of tools and scaffolds. This paper is going to discuss the significance of my clinical area as a context for learning and how myself as practitioner can give to an effective learning environment. I have been a critical care nurse working in intensive care unit for almost seven years. I am graduated from local nursing school in 2002. At first, I worked on a regular hospital floor. One year later, I came to intensive care unit and obtained my intensive care post basic certificate in 2006. I was attracted to critical care nursing because of the challengers and the environment. Here in the intensive care unit my nursing skills and role continues to evolve. The intensive care unit is at a very strategic location and in the second floor where immediate transportation of patient is available from all departments and wards. The unit is staffed and equipped to a high standard to give quality care to the patient. The unit is divided into two adjacent clinical areas. Open plan area with ten bedded spaces and isolation room with two bedded spa... ... into people’s actions and feelings and can be a resource for helping people to improve their lives. The continuing in the students experiences at practice area are important in creating a welcoming learning environment. This can be achieved through a regular daily schedule and group support by involving staffs, unit sisters, doctors and specialists that have different level of knowledge and experiences. Finally, promoting a sense of community within the hospital and the practice area is an essential element to a welcome and supportive social climate. To end, this paper has identified my clinical area as context for learning in which it offers great learning opportunities although there are some limitations. A few recommendations have been highlighted to improve the quality of learning in the future.

Bioethics :: essays research papers

Bioethics encompasses every ethical question relating and pertaining to medicine and the health of living things. Everything from pediatrics to nursing, from euthanasia to birth-pain killer, from the debate of abortion to the law of malpractice is covered by the term bioethics. Bioethics is a very broad, very extensive category of ethics. The concept of a separate set of ideas called bioethics first began in 1846. While it stayed very small, it did experience a resurgence after World War Two. This resurgence was mostly due to the vast array of war crimes committed by the Nazi?s with such tortures as human testing and mass murders. In the 1960?s, the United States had to give death a legal definition. Because of new life support technologies such as heart-lung machines and the lack of dialysis machines, people could now be kept alive artificially. If people weren?t keeping their selves alive, were they really alive at all? Whenever a new medicine or technology is developed for use in the health care community, bioethical questions are raised and answers are demanded and debated, and hopefully answered eventually. In past months, there has been much heated debate over many issues that bioethics encompass. The use of reproductive enhancing fertility drugs (viagra and hMG?s (human menopausal gonadotropins)) has recently been all over newspapers and television due the sudden outbreak of multiple births and cures for impotence. This new advancement in medicine has led to the questioning of the ethical issues surrounding such technologies. Some religions do not allow for such drugs to be used, and some do not believe that it is ?God?s will? to have children unless the person is naturally fertile. Many environmentalists see these new drugs as the end of humankind because of the damage that overpopulation will cause. The debate over fertility drugs is almost as heated as the discussion over abortion. Contraceptive devices have always been a source of disagreement for people since many hundreds of years ago. Up until the 1800?s, abortion was a common practice. In the late 1800?s abortion was criminalized until 1973, when the historic Rowe versus Wade case made abortion legal practice again. The use of such drugs as the French-developed RU-486, has been questioned by our own country?s Food and Drug Administration.

Benefits of Kids Playing Outdoors Essay

1. Introduction The modern day definition of playing for many children these days are stuck in front of the laptop, television, game console or tablet devices. Game consoles more generally refer to video games that required connecting to the television. Examples of game consoles are Microsoft Xbox, Sony PlayStation and Nintendo Wii. While there is doubted those tech gadgets can help young children in terms of their mental development and dexterity, getting kids playing outdoors is beneficial too. A gadget is a small technological object that has a certain function, but often thought of as unique. Examples of tech gadgets are smartphone, iPod, Samsung Galaxy Tab, PlayStation and many more. Playing outdoors is a form of exercise that encourages kids be well-being and healthy physical development. Play outdoors can let them explore their environment, improve their muscle strength, and organization, and also improves self-confidence. Playing vigorously outdoors also will increase flexibility, development of an extensive collection of physical skills, as well as involved themselves in sports. Outdoor play should not become too academic and too teachers and parents controlled. 2. Background Information The growing of kids nowadays and back then is different. Kids nowadays spend indoors that wired to technology while kids back then spend their time outside enjoying the nature. The huge majority of today’s kid only stays indoors use a computer, watch TV, online or play video games on a daily basis. However, only about 10 per cent of kids spend their time outdoors every day, according to a new nationwide poll from The Nature Conservancy. About 80 per cent of kids said that it is uncomfortable to play outdoors due to thing like bugs, mosquitoes, and also the heat outside. Then about 70 per cent of them said that they do not have transportation to go outdoors like natural areas. Lastly about 63 per cent said there were no natural areas or nice places for them to play outdoors that near to their houses. These days parents are so busy with their work and they do not have time to accompany or bring their children go out and play. Our culture is taking outdoor play away from young children through excessive of TV and computer use, unsafe neighbourhoods, busy parents, elimination of school recess and academic  standards nowadays that push more and more developmentally inappropriate academics into our early childhood programs, thus taking away their time to play and relax. 3. Benefits of Kids Playing Outdoors 3.1 Physical Benefits Obesity is getting more and more these days because most of them are lazy to do exercise and spend time outside, they prefer watching television, playing video games and online at home for the whole day. Outdoor play also enables children to enjoy the natural environment and learn how to seek out exercise, and fresh air. Children who learn to enjoy the outdoors activities have a much higher likelihood of becoming adults who like to hiking, bicycling, mountain climbing and many more. This is dangerous as obesity becomes an ever-greater national fear and as we must all learn to care and protect the environment. By spending time in the sunshine playing, it can help their bodies to get vitamin D to develop healthier bones and can reduce risk such as heart disease or high blood pressure. 3.2 Mental and Emotional Benefits Children these days have busy schedules with school and extracurricular activities and they may experience stress and suffer from conditions like depression. Physical activities outdoors can definitely help kids to reduce their stress and also can improve their mood. When kids are playing outside, they are most likely running, jumping, yelling and laughing. Take a break to let kids playing outside can increase focus of children while they are in the classroom. 3.3 Promotes leadership skills and encourage cooperative play In the environment where children create the fun, natural leaders will arise. One child will need to explain how to play the game, while another may enjoy setting up the physical challenge of an outdoor obstacle course. While in a setting where there aren’t clear winners or losers, children work together to meet a goal. The way they cooperate or work together to meet a desired result helps them to increase their relationship. They may also learn how to share foods, toys and so on. 3.4 Cognitive Benefits Playing can develops kid’s memory, thinking skills and ability to study. According to The National Centre for physical development, playing can develop children’s gross motor skills, which increases their ability to remember new information. Spending time outside can benefits children to determine new things and make sense of the world around them when they are outside. 3.5 Social Benefits When kids are playing outdoors with other kids, they are learning about relationships and how to behave as a member of a group. Spending time outside can allow children to make new friends, resolve conflict and express their feelings. They also will learn how to follow the rules and gain self-control skills. For example, pushing each other on the swing, playing together in the sand, jumping rope together and so on can develop social skills. Physical play, constructive play can also involve in social play if it encourages the commitment of more than one child. 3.6 Natural Experience Playing outside is vital to a child’s growth and their mental and physical development. When playing outdoors, they can interact with the environment, the nature by climbing trees, lying on the grass, digging in the sands, or play with the butterflies. By interact with the nature and also with the other kids outside, it helps to motivate the curiosity and creativity of children and they also can learn new thing of being outdoors. When they are playing outside, they can hear the sound of birds’ tweets, the bees breezing, the sound of the dried leaves and many more. Therefore, they also can learn and know about how do caterpillar become butterflies, how do plants grow, how does mud feel and smell like and so on. 4. Conclusion Providing for the outdoor play needs of children is a complex and challenging task. Parents should take some times to bring their children go out to enjoy the environment not just stuck in the house playing games or watching TV. As  a part of being child, they must have the chances of playing outdoors. So that they can be healthier, become smarter, can enjoy the environment and have memorable memories when they grow up.