Saturday, August 31, 2019

Behind Closed Doors at WorldCom Essay

1.Two General Accounting employees—Dan Renfroe and Angela Walter—made journal entries in the amount of $150 million and $171 million, respectively, without detailed support. It was noted that this was not out of the ordinary at WorldCom. In your opinion, was this a proper accounting practice? Explain. Though this may not be out of the ordinary for WorldCom, this is not a correct accounting practice. The way the entries were made does not comply with the proper account practice according to GAAP. Detailed support is an important part of providing support to a journal entry and it explains the reason or purpose as to why the journal entry was created. 2.Based on GAPP, describe the propriety or impropriety of releasing of $150 million in line cost accruals in the Wireless division over Deloris DiCicco’s objections. Support your position using the authoritative accounting literature. When instructed to reduce the Wireless Division’s line cost by $150 million due to savings from the prior period, DiCicco refused because there was no support for the entry.   WorldCom would prepare an adjusting entry each month to recognize the estimated cost of the period as period expense, by capitalizing the expense as an accrued interest. According to GAAP, a line item cost must be reported as an expense on a company’s income statement. WorldCom capitalized the line expense, instead of expensing it and placed it on the balance sheet as an accrued liability rather than on the income statement as an operating expense. 3.On the topic of capitalizing line costs, critique the rationale included in CEO Scott Sullivan’s White Paper. Based on your own analysis of GAAP, explain the propriety or impropriety of capitalizing line costs in the telecom industry. In the White Paper presented to the Board of Directors, the CEO Scott Sullivan supported the decision to capitalize line costs. Sullivan provided that the White Paper was in line with the company’s goal of maintaining strong growth rate through increasing its capital investment. Management noted that the treatment of the E/R cots as an asset was in no way in any contradiction of the definition of an asset as per FASB Concept Statement No. 6 which states, â€Å"Assets are probable future economic benefits obtained or controlled by a particular entity as a result of past transactions or events†. However, as per GAAP, line costs must be reported as an expense in the company’s income statement as these are fundamentally,  ope rating expenses. It was put in the Balance Sheet as an accrued liability rather than in the income statement as an accrued expense. This resulted in falsely projecting income and profits; and concealing huge losses by wrongly capitalizing the line costs. 4.Consider journal entry that recognized $35 million of revenue in 2001 from the EDS contract based on WorlCom’s expectation that the five-year required cumulative minimum payment would not be met. Based on your own analysis of GAAP, explain the propriety to impropriety of this journal entry. This is not in compliance with the provisions of GAAP or SAB 101. Revenue should not be recognized until it is realized or becomes realizable and earned. If we followed this statement the company did not have realized revenue Furthermore, the penalty payments if enforced could not be paid till the year 2005 as stated in the contract. Also, the journal entry resulted in recognizing revenue when it was not earned or realized and thus, overstated the profits. 5.Why do you think the professionals in this case, most of whom are CPA’s, would agree to record a material journal entry contrary to their best professional judgment? I think that in many situations employees were able to twist statements which follow GAAP guidelines. May employees were convinced they were doing the right thing and those that were unwilling to participate were overlooked. Most of the material journal entries which were made contrary to best judgment were so done with a view to mask the declining profits and to show increasing profits, which in turn would increase stock prices. 6.In general, how does the role of Internal Auditing differ from the role of Independent (or External) Auditing? What is the role of Internal Auditing in a well-run corporation? When performed by internal auditors, what is a financial audit versus an operating audit? Do you think WorldCom’s Internal Audit Department was functioning as it should have been? Explain. Internal auditors work within an organization and report to its audit committee and/or directors. They help to design the company’s organizing systems and help develop specific risk management policies. External auditors are independent of the organization they are auditing. They report to the company’s shareholders. They provide their experienced opinion on the truthfulness of the company’s financial statements and perform work on a test basis to monitor systems in place. Internal Auditing  is designed to look at the key risks facing the business and how the business is managing those risks ef fectively. It usually results in recommendations for improvement across departments. Internal auditing is an independent, objective assurance and consulting activity designed to add value and improve an organization’s operations. It helps an organization accomplish its objectives by bringing a systematic, disciplined approach to evaluate and improve the effectiveness of risk management, control, and governance processes. A financial audit is an audit or examination of the financial reporting process, determining the reliability and integrity of the financial statements and preparation of such statements. It also involves an appraisal of the internal controls related to the finance function of the enterprise. An operational audit, on the other hand, is a systematic review and evaluation of an operational unit in terms of its effectiveness and efficiency of operations, accomplishment of its laid down objectives and goals, and determining its appropriateness in the use of various resources. It is clear that the WorldCom’s Internal Audit department was not functioning as it should have been. It was concentrating only on operational audits and totally avoiding financial audits. On the cause of cost-saving, it clearly avoided any and every function which could overlap with the role of the external auditors.

Diversity in American Education Before 1960 Essay

The diversity in terms of the student population in American education before 1960 was largely dependent upon the issue of racial equality. The push for racial equality in the United States got a boost from the demands placed on all facets of society during World War II. The mobilization effort relied on the black race to win the war and once it was over, there was no turning back. Furthermore, the ideals of freedom and equality, which were the backbone of the Allied war cry and the foundation for the anti-communist Western movement, did not sit well alongside Jim Crow laws and public acts of racial discrimination. The Jim Crow System is also called â€Å"segregation†. It is a process in and through which Southerners may be said to legitimize their racial supremacy over the Blacks or Negroes. It is a system in and through which the central idea is â€Å"differentiation†. The aforementioned differentiation is done on the basis of ethnicity or race. It is therefore not difficult to see that such a system will encounter numerous criticisms due to the implications that result from it. Differentiation entails the recognition that races are different and as such, it creates a political setting that â€Å"separates† races such as the Whites from the Blacks. In addition to this, it also separates and ultimately, limits or confines races such as the Blacks to a social sphere with corresponding social functions that are imposed on them. In line with this, this paper will focus on the manifestations and effects of racial segregation on the American public educational system before 1960. It will do so since the end of racial segregation within the American public school system was largely determined by the effects of the Civil Rights movement as can be seen in the discussion of the Supreme Court Cases on educational and racial equality before 1960. The following cases will show the effects of racial inequality on the diversity of the population in the American public educational system prior to the aforementioned period. In 1954, the United States of America’s Supreme Court decided a landmark case concerning educational and racial equality. In Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, 347 U. S. 483 (1954), the Court’s ruling is grounded on the principle that the doctrine of â€Å"separate but equal† [this doctrine is referring to the segregation policy, more specifically, the segregation policy in the schools in the U. S. ] will not and cannot provide Black Americans with the same standards and quality of education available for White Americans. The court thus, outlawed the â€Å"racial segregation of public education facilities† for the aforementioned reason. On May 17, 1954 the Warren Court handed down a 9-0 decision which stated, in clear and certain terms, that â€Å"separate educational facilities are inherently unequal†. Chief Justice Warren writes: Today, education is perhaps the most important function of state and local governments. Compulsory school attendance laws and the great expenditures for education both demonstrate our recognition of the importance of education to our democratic society. It is required in the performance of our most basic public responsibilities, even service in the armed forces. It is the very foundation of good citizenship. Today it is a principal instrument in awakening the child to cultural values, in preparing him for later professional training, and in helping him to adjust normally to his environment. In these days, it is doubtful that any child may reasonably be expected to succeed in life if he is denied the opportunity of an education. Such an opportunity, where the state has undertaken to provide it, is a right which must be made available to all on equal terms. (1954, np) Moreover, racial segregation, as the court sees it, is against the pronouncements of the Constitution; the segregation of students on the basis of race or ethnicity and the legalization of a segregated public school education through the enactment of certain statutes serving to legitimize the creation and operation of schools that are exclusively for Whites or for Blacks, is clearly, not justified. The Supreme Court’s ruling in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka remains and is still considered as a turning point in the determination of racial diversity in the educational institutions within the United States. The second case involves an implication of the Brown Cases [Brown Cases since there are Brown I, II and III cases]. Due to the Supreme Court’s verdict that segregation is â€Å"unconstitutional† and of course, due to the increasing rallies, boycotts and protests conducted by the advocates of the Civil Rights Movement, issues regarding â€Å"busing† as an appropriate means by which school administrators may comply with the then seemingly constitutional requirement of â€Å"desegregation†. Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education, 402 U. S. 1 (1971) was an important United States Supreme Court case which deals with the busing of students to promote integration in the public school system. After the first trial’s decision in favor of the Board of Education, the Court held that â€Å"busing† was the appropriate solution to address the existing racial imbalance among schools at the time, even where the imbalance resulted from the selection of students based on geographic proximity to the school rather than from deliberate assignment based on race. Busing was done as in the cases of two Northern cities; Boston and New York to ensure that schools would be properly integrated and that all students would receive equal educational opportunities regardless of their ethnicity or race Milliken vs. Bradley 418 U. S. 717 (1974), just like the Swann n. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education case is also another case concerning â€Å"busing†. Specifically, the Milliken vs. Bradley case deals with the â€Å"planned forced busing† of public school students across district lines among 53 school districts in Detroit. Hence, the case is also a consequence of the Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka case. The Court held that â€Å"[w]ith no showing of significant violation by the 53 outlying school districts and no evidence of any interdistrict violation or effect†, the district court’s remedy was â€Å"wholly impermissible† and not justified by Brown v. Board of Education (Milliken vs. Bradley 418 U. S. 717, 1974, np). The following statement by Friedman echoes the ramifications of the Milliken v. Bradley case The world was made safe for white flight. White suburbs were secure in their grassy enclaves†¦. Official, legal segregation indeed was dead; but what replaced it was a deeper, more profound segregation †¦ Tens of thousands of black children attend schools that are all black, schools where they never see a white face; and they live massed in ghettos which are also entirely black. (Friedman, 2004, p. 296) Another case set during 1974 shows the conditions of diversity in the American public school system prior to 1960. Morgan v. Hennigan is a class action suit on behalf of fifteen Black parents and 43 children which found the Boston School Committee guilty of maintaining a dual, that is, segregated school system. In a court order issued by Garrity, imposed or forced busing will be done on the city of Boston in order to achieve racial balance in public schools. The aforementioned court order was based on a complex system of racial parity and ignored previous busing solutions. The Boston School Committee, according to the ruling of the court, through various means and capacities violated the constitutional rights of the plaintiffs by imposing segregation in terms assigning students to other areas, segregating residential patterns, transportation and grade system policies, to name a few. The School Committee thus, violated the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution because instead of ensuring that Black children be given equal protection under the law, the segregation policies instead placed the Black children in an unfair disadvantage. The proper course of action that schools should take according to the court is to enact policies that will eliminate racial discrimination and not its converse. We will now discuss Boston Busing in the light of Ronald Formisano’s Boston Against Busing: Race, Class, and Ethnicity in the 1960s and 1970s. Formisano’s conclusion regarding busing was that it is a failure. The main aims of desegregation are supposedly, educational equality and racial equality. Both aims however, were never achieved. The desegregation and affirmative action policies were results of the Civil Rights Movement and the Supreme Court rulings on the cases discussed earlier. History reveals that the expedited implementation of these policies was not beneficial to the American society since it involves an overhaul of large areas of American civil society and political culture. This construal may be strengthened by the â€Å"White Backlash Movements† in Boston. Formisano sees the White Backlash [as in the case of Boston] as a reaction to the implemented â€Å"forced busing†. He further defines the White’s reaction as a â€Å"reactionary populism† involving the middle, working class moved by a sense of â€Å"threat† regarding the policies implemented during the time and the escalating number of White v. Black incidents in the community and schools. It is also interesting to note that the White Backlash, like the Civil Rights Movement of the Blacks lacked a unified reaction and stand on the issue. Whites responded differently, so to speak, on the issue of forced busing. Formisano’s analysis that the White Backlash is moved by a sense of threat is indeed a plausible idea. Other Whites actually support the anti-racial discrimination campaigns but the expedited implementation of desegregation, forced busing and affirmative action threatened their sense of security and their sense of community. In other words, it went too far. Given the aforementioned cases, diversity in American public education before 1960 was largely determined by racial stratification. This however was largely affected by the Civil Rights movement since the movement questioned the main assumption regarding the treatment of individuals with different racial backgrounds. References Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, 347 U. S. 483 (1954). Friedman, L. (2002). American Law in the Twentieth Century. New Haven: Yale University Press. Formisano, R. (2004). Boston Against Busing: Race, Class, and Ethnicity in the 1960s and 1970s. Carolina: University of Carolina Press. Milliken vs. Bradley 418 U. S. 717 (1974). Morgan v. Hennigan, 379 F. Supp. 410 (1974). Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education, 402 U. S. 1 (1971). Warren in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, 347 U. S. 483 (1954).

Friday, August 30, 2019

Notes on Society

Chapter 10 Social Stratification: a system by which a society ranks categories of people in a hierarchy, it is a trait of society, found in all society's, carries over from generation to generation and creates systems and class Social Mobility: a change in position within the social hierarchy Caste System: Closed system based on ascription, or birth, little or no mobility, shapes a persons entire life, occupation and marriage. Found in traditional Agrarian societies. Class System: social stratification based on both birth, ascription and individual achievement, meritocracy.Meritocracy: Social stratification based on personal merit Status Consistency: the degree of uniformity in a person's social standing across various dimensions of social inequality. Example: A college professor with advanced degrees enjoys high prestige but only earns a modest wage. Structural Social Mobility: a shift in the social position of large numbers of people due more to changes in society itself than to in dividual efforts Ideology: cultural beliefs that justify particular social arrangements, including patterns of inequalityDavis Moore thesis: A system of unequal rewards is necessary to place talented people in the right jobs and to motivate them to work hard. the functional analysis claiming that social stratification has beneficial consequences for the operation of society Blue Collar occupations: lower prestige jobs that involve mostly manual labor White Collar occupations: Higher-prestige jobs that involve mostly mental activity Socioeconomic Status, SES: a composite ranking based on various dimensions of social inequalityConspicuous Consumption: Buying and using products because of the â€Å"statement† they make about social position Chapter 11 Income: earnings from work or investments Wealth: The total value of money and other assets, minus outstanding debts Intragenerational Social Mobility: a change in social position occurring during a person's lifetime. Intergenerati onal Social Mobility: upward or downward social mobility of children in relation to their parents Feminization of Poverty: the trend of women making up an increasing proportion of the poor Chapter 12Global Stratification: Patterns of social inequality in the world as a whole High Income Country: nations with the highest overall standards of living Middle Income Country: nations with the standard of living that is about the average for the world Low Income Country: nations with low standard of living in which most people are poor Modernization Theory: is a model of economic and social development that explains global inequality in terms of technological and cultural differences among nations Dependency Theory: explains global inequality in terms of the historical exploitation of poor societies by rich ones

Thursday, August 29, 2019

Evaluation - The Secret Garden Party Organisation Essay

Evaluation - The Secret Garden Party Organisation - Essay Example The report will also discuss the various options for the two strategic issues. Finally, the paper will concentrate on in-depth analysis of the annual music event. Section 1: Key Strategic Issues The management of Secret Garden Party Organization is grappling with several key issues, which will dictate its performance in the industry. One key strategy is the need to target internet viewers to its program. Such a move is justified by the fact that the literacy rate in UK is above 95% besides having high rate of internet users. The other critical issue that the organization is grappling with is the issue of bad weather. It is worth noting that the organization should consider conducting indoor events to avoid chances of bad weather ruining the event. The other two strategic issues that are of concern to the Secret Garden Party include the pricing of the tickets and the measures to ensure that this annual event does not clash with any other event. However, the two main issues, which will be put into perspective, include the pricing of the tickets and the measures to ensure that this annual event does not clash with any other event. In order to make sure that the annual event registers maximum attendance, it is prudent that the date in which the event is staged does not clash with any other major event. ... The event is always very memorable judging by how lovers of the festival always look forward to the event (Cronk & Hill, 2008). The other justification of setting a unique date is for the logistics reasons; planning such a global event is no mean fete, and it gets more difficult if several other programs are being organized around the same date. A program of that caliber requires security measures, humanitarian measures, and proper sanitation for the guests. All these requirements are always attained on this event thanks to the fact that it is set on a unique date. The other key strategic issue is the issue of pricing. Research by the event organizers revealed that majority of the lovers of this annual event are reluctant to attend the event owing to the fact that the ticket prices are beyond their reach. The event organizers must be alive to the fact that lowering the ticket prices will go a long way to increase the number of attendance to the event considerably. Indeed, it is bette r to reduce prices, which will increase the number of attendance thereby maximizing the revenues for the event (Kinnie, 2003). Reducing the prices will not affect the surplus at the event because the corporate sponsors associated with the event always shoulder most of the costs incurred at the event. Section 2 Several ways can be used to attain the strategic issues discussed in section 1 above. The issue of pricing is very critical to the financial viability of the annual event. The organizers of this event need to explore various options available to them regarding the issue of pricing of the tickets. Currently, the ticket prices are very high; this factor is blocking out potential lovers of the events from attending this otherwise popular event (Kuchler, 2013). One

Wednesday, August 28, 2019

HR Alignment Part II Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

HR Alignment Part II - Assignment Example th the organization’s business objectives, the very first step that leaders of any organization has to take will have to do with selecting the right goals and objectives for the organization. I say this with experience from my previous workplace where a failure to set the right business objectives led to a situation where there was human resource alignment alright but the outcome of it was not successful. This was because the employees were pursuing something that was not suitable for the organization. I really admire the approach you took to addressing the benefits of assessing HR alignment when you indicated that you can only manage what you measure. The indication that this gives is that before HR managers can even think about gaining from the benefits of the alignment process, they have to get a means by which they can measure the HR alignment process (Becker,   Huselid & Ulrich, 2001). I would therefore use an example with my current organization to suggest how this can be done for any real world organization. In our organization, an integrate metric has been used that seeks to measure the business goals separately, after which it measures the HR performance also separately. After this is done, the two measures are integrated to know how any successes or flaws with the business goals can be associated with the HR responsibilities. With this approach, it is possible to have the HR as an agent of change because when any elements of failure are identified, the HR is called upo n to change its approach to work as a way of fixing

Tuesday, August 27, 2019

E-Commerce Cyber Marketing Strategies Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

E-Commerce Cyber Marketing Strategies - Essay Example Internet has become of the most phenomenon technological factor to most modern organizations, tapping the cost-effectiveness and affordability of the factor to achieve their objectives and goals (Krishnamurthy, 2006). As such, the internet has ingrained itself in the modern commerce and trade. Moreover, despite its rapid growth, analysts expect the internet to growth and advance further. The central goal of most organizations is to realize future threats and opportunities, and accordingly design a strategy. Commoditization of the internet has led to the development and evolution of electronic commerce, or E-commerce as commonly known (Hanson, 2000). Essentially, E-commerce refers to the concept of selling and buying services and products over computer networks or the internet. It incorporates technologies such as internet marketing, electronic funds transfer, supply chain management, inventory management, systems, electronic data interchange, online transaction processing, and automatic data collection systems. E-commerce has led to the revolution of traditional marketing concepts, initiating strategies to enhance marketing strategies referred to as network marketing (Miletsky, 2000). This paper seeks to discuss and analyze four main E-commerce cyber marketing strategies: viral marketing, online advertising, permission electronic mail marketing, and search engine man agement and optimization. The paper also provides an analysis of their pros and cons, as well as a comprehensive comparison of the strategies. Lastly, the paper provides a decision-making criterion for selecting the best strategy. In marketing strategies, the most important factor to consider is to shorten the distance between consumption and production as well as reduce the lengthy circulation of commodities through numerous links. As such, the internet provides an ideal marketing platform, allowing consumers and producers to conclude their transaction in a click of a mouse button. This is the foundation of cyber marketing. Essentially, marketing is the communication between firms and customers with the intention of persuading the customer to purchase the goods and services of the firm. The increasing growth and popularity of the internet makes it an ideal target for marketing, supported by other significant factors such as cost effectiveness, reliability, speed, and accessibility (Bhusry, 2005). Consequently, marketers have come up with innovative strategies to tap the potential opportunity of E-commerce cyber marketing, including viral marketing, online advertising, permission electronic mail marketing, and search engine optimization. Viral Marketing Viral marketing essentially refers to the online word-of-mouth advertising. In this marketing concept, the firm provides something interesting that encourages others to spread marketing information about the product or service, cost effectively and quickly without much effort from the firm. Consequently, this potentially creates an exponential growth in the effect and visibility of the marketing message (Bhusry, 2005). In other words, the message spreads like a common cold virus form one person to the other. Cyber virus marketing is a very effective marketing strategy, and a successful campaign may present an opportunity of obtaining thousands of new every year. A prime example of a phenomenon viral marketing s trategy is Hotmail (http://www.hotmail.com), the first provider of free E-mail services (Krishnamurthy, 2006). The firm began offering free accounts, attaching a

Monday, August 26, 2019

Nutrition Data and Analysis Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Nutrition Data and Analysis - Assignment Example It is evident from the data that I am below the target of all the required food types or kinds that I am supposed to take in order to be in a position to count that I am eating healthy. All the graphs are showing a trend below the target for good and healthy eating. This aspect cuts across all the 12 graphs s shown above. My diet therefore, fails to meet the minimum amounts of needed food kinds to make me a healthy person. Basing on the data above, the weight of my height falls above the recommended health range. I think this can increase the risk of contracting diseases and facing or experiencing several problems of health. I may need to consider weight loss in order to be fit and healthy. My diet therefore, needs to be enhanced a bit and checked to ensure that it balances out well in order to make sure that what I take ends up making me healthy rather than exposing me to risks of disease. It may be important that I talk to a nutritionist or a health provider in order to seek guidance and help with selecting what is healthy for me to take. The counseling will include the pattern and the progam for eating and physical activity in order to balance out well and to eat healthy foods. This will greatly assist me in managing my weight, ensuring that I set goals, and I track the calories that I take. When carrying out an activity that is moderate, I can talk while when doing one that is vigorous I can say some few words when holding my breath. In order to increase the fibre level in my diet, I may have to choose foods rich in fibre as compared to those that lack fibre. This will help in the enhancement of my body tissues. In sufficient in-take of proteins and carbohydrates for instance, may contribute to illnesses. Therefore, I will need to watch keenly the amounts of all this types of food that I take so that I do not end up not balancing them. A healthy diet will ensure that I keep fit and safe. My body will not be susceptible to

Sunday, August 25, 2019

Rommels Leadership in the Battle of El Alamein Essay

Rommels Leadership in the Battle of El Alamein - Essay Example Despite Rommel’s many talents, he was soundly defeated. That meant the end of the German campaign in North Africa. Rommel had many successes during his North African battles, even at the ill-fated battle of El Alamein. Rommel has been regarded as a brilliant military commander in both tactical and strategic levels, as much as his sphere of command can control. Rommel was aware that the forces under his command were numerically inferior against the British forces based in North Africa. They were also lacking in sufficient supplies. Despite such disadvantage, Rommel caused a lot of mayhem with a disproportionately small number of tanks and supplies. As Greene (2006) observed: What was most devastating about this offensive was the novel way Rommel fought. He used the desert as if it were an ocean. Despite supply problems and difficult terrain, he kept his tanks in perpetual motion. The British could not let up their guard for a moment and this mentally exhausted them†¦ Instead of pushing forward and to punch holes in the enemy lines, he would send out his weakest tanks, then have them retreat at first contact; the British tanks would invariably swallow the bait and go in pursuit, kicking up so much of their own dust in the process that they would not see they were running straight into a line of German antitank guns. (pp.190-191) Rommel relied on speed and surprise to make his strategy work to his advantage. He used small forces to outmaneuver and outsmart his numerous British opponents. Rommel would ride ahead, risking death so that he could make rapid decisions on the move. He devoured information about the enemy, made himself an expert on tank technology, memorized maps, and personalized his relationship with his men (Greene, 2006, p.38). Rommel also never allowed any of Hitler’s political directives to undermine his command. When Hitler ordered that Jews among the German military be shot, Rommel

Saturday, August 24, 2019

Experimental economics, summary paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Experimental economics, summary paper - Essay Example The winners curse cannot occur if all bidders are rational, thus when the winner curse occurs it is considered a market anomaly. In an auction marketplace in which they are a lot of bidders one must utilized a more aggressive bidding strategy. Another risk associated with auctions in which there are lots of participants is for the winner to overstate the value of the item. In 1983 Max Bazerman and William Samuelson conducted an experiment on MBA students to test the winner’s curve concept. They filled cookie jars with coins and they ask the students to make money bids for the cookie jar full of change. All cookie jars were valued at $8.00, but this variable was unknown to the participants. The results were that the mean winning bid was $10.01 which means that student overestimated the value by $2.01. The winners were cursed with an item that was worth less than what they paid for. Often economic anomalies occur due to the existence of asymmetric information. An industry in whi ch there are often projects that can be worth millions or nothing is the oil business. When companies make bids on oil exploration project the bids are done knowing that there is a possibility of complete failure. Market anomalies offer occur in these types of auctions.

Friday, August 23, 2019

Critically Assess Whether Monetary Union Within The EU Has Been Essay

Critically Assess Whether Monetary Union Within The EU Has Been Successful And Discuss Suggested Changes Which Could Be Made To - Essay Example It will also lay out some of the discussion regarding the debt crisis and the importance of the European Central Bank in the current situation. The Success of Monetary Union within the European Union The Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) has been extraordinary in the contemporary history of the European economy and was successful in altering the international economic landscape. Following a decade of its release, the Euro was successful in offering steadiness with regard to businesses along with the national economies. The Euro protects against tentative sprints in relation to the national currencies. A sole monetary policy that was adopted for the Member States, which was united with synchronized global fiscal policies, was capable of promoting macroeconomic steadiness. The EMU successfully encouraged Europe of economic integration and also amplified investments, financial incorporation and cross-border business. EMU within the EU also facilitated in enhancing the budgetary discipli ne and even took care and stabilised the repositioning of the exchange rate which were known to upset the European economy at regular intervals in the past (European Union, 2009). The EMU had even augmented the EU’s flexibility to unfavourable jolts and facilitated in promoting management of the international economy by the EU. Besides these the tangible advantages that were generated by the EMU gave rise to or created strong public finances and strengthened the worldwide position of Euro (European Union, 2009). Discussion of the Problems and the Suggested Changes By entering the Euro zone, European countries lost their monetary independence and also their central banks, which in cases like that of the current crisis would back the countries’ sovereign bonds. This is a drawback of the European monetary system and the European Central Bank (ECB) should be allowed to â€Å"stand behind solvent and sovereigns with unconditional and unlimited liquidity† (The Economi st, 2011, p. 65). Whether Germany can accept this situation is still to be seen, but it should admit the implications and get ready for a breakdown of monetary union or try to act in symphony with other various member states. A parallel, although not obvious, could be traced with Argentina’s debt issues a decade ago. Argentina had its peso fixed to the dollar, maintaining something close to a monetary union with the US. In 2001 to early 2002 it suffered a debt and currency crisis leading that country to default. Source: (Hugh, 2011). However, this has not been an option for Greece. German finance minister holds the keys to the money printing machines. The German Chancellor needs to be approached to receive consent for the reason of printing money. Therefore, this trims down the prudence enjoyed by the Portuguese government, but the ways by which the Eurozone gets affected owing to this still need to be explored. In order to further comprehend the aspect, help of an assumption can be taken. For instance, a Chinese

Compare and contrast keynesianism, monetarism, and neo-classicism how Research Paper

Compare and contrast keynesianism, monetarism, and neo-classicism how do new theories of economics develop overtime - Research Paper Example This paper is an attempt to compare and contrast some of the Macro-economic theories. Before John Maynard Keynes most of the economists of the world believed on the classical theory of macroeconomics. However, the great depression of 1930s turned the tables. The classical theory was appearing to be failing and inconsistent. That allowed a British economist; John Maynard Keynes (Coddington, pp. 23-25)to step up on the stage and present what he thought is the right way to get the economy out of the recession. This theory was the rejection of the classical theory. According to Keynes and his followers, the supply side economics of the classical theory is an obsolete concept (Coddington, pp. 23-25). If the output and employment need to be altered, only the Aggregate Demand had the capability to affect these factors. Therefore, the economy should be a demand side or aggregate demand centered economy. In addition, Keynes and his followers were of the opinion that the aggregate demand of an economy can be calculated by taking â€Å"the summation of government spending, consumption, investment, net exports and others† (Coddington, pp. 37-43). Therefore, by varying the consumption levels and spending by the government, the levels of employment and total output of the economy affects. Keynes also argued that the full employment level of output cannot be achieved and the assumption of classical economists of full employment level of output is not realistic (Coddington, pp. 37-43). Money demand and Money supply are important factors in dealing with the economy. Conversely, this brought up the idea of the LM and IS curve. Furthermore, the point were IS and LM are equal determines the level of output and interest rate. All these assumptions and arguments also indicated that according to Keynes, there is no â€Å"invisible hand† in economy and government intervention is nece ssary to achieve the desired results (Baumol, & Blinder, pp.

Thursday, August 22, 2019

Terrorism Its Causes and Effects Essay Example for Free

Terrorism Its Causes and Effects Essay Terrorism has become a worldwide phenomenon with its many faces and manifestations. State-sponsored terrorism presents its worst form. Pol Pot in Cambodia let loose such a terrorism which killed millions of Cambodians. In India terrorism has been there in many States. Terrorists do not hesitate in using even the most cruel methods of violence and do not spare even women and children. In Punjab it has been Pakistan sponsored terrorism. It has been in control in Punjab but still not eliminated. Poverty, unemployment, deprivation and illiteracy make a good breeding ground for militancy extremism. In north-eastern States of India the terrorism has been on the rise and nothing effective has been done to check it. The tribal’s of these States have been victims of long neglect, deprivation, economic backwardness and alienation. Similarly People’s War Group (PWG) has been very active in Andhra Pradesh and has won support, sympathy and participation of the rural public in Telengana. Problem Of Terrorism The problem of terrorism need to be tackled on many fronts. It is a global menace and requires global cooperation between powers of the world to check and eradicate so devastating a phenomenon as terrorism. The biggest threat that the nation-state faces today emanates from terrorism which is widespread geographically and diverse ideologically. Modern terrorism thrives on its ability to hit where it hurts the most. The practitioners of modern terrorism believe the world ‘is beyond redemption. Irishterrorists, the Italian and Japanese Red Brigades, the Baader-Meinhoff gang in Germany, Islamic and Jewish fundamentalists have all sought to spread their ideology by the sword. Terrorist’s use of explosives, machine-gun fire or other sophisticated use of arms has interrupted the prayers of dozens of worshipers of all religions and cut short the journey of bus, rail and air passengers. Terrorism has many faces, faces and dimensions. It may be regional, national or global and international in scale. Then it may be regional, communal, political, state-sponsored or foreign in origin. It is found worldwide in one form or the other. The development of very fast means of transport, communication and very sophisticated automatic weapons, have given terrorism new dimensions, depth and immensity. With the globalization, economic integration and cooperation of the nations, the terrorism too has become unlimited and can be transported and transplanted to any part of the world easily. It is a cult of violence, killings, murders, arson and destruction to perpetrate terror, fear and demoralis1ation among the masses. It is in its worst form when it is state-sponsored. Then dictatorial and military rulers resort to violence, killings and shootings of people on suspicion or any other pretext and suppress human rights to make the public obey their unjust, discriminating dictates and administration. For example, Khmer Rouge, led by Pol Pot, let loose the reign of terror in Cambodia between 1970 and 1975 and millions of its citizens were killed by its trigger-happy troops in uniform. Similarly, the Communist Government in China suppressed and killed people in thousands when they demand political reforms, liberalization and freedom from tyranny in 1989. In Tiananmen Square alone outside the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, the main place of students demonstration, about 5,000 young students were shot dead and another 10,000 injured. In Tibet as well, the followers of Dalai Lama and Buddhism are tortured and prosecuted by the government troops and administrators. The people there are being forcibly sterilized and their brains are being systematically washed. Dalai Lama himself fled Tibet and sought refuge in India to escape state-sponsored terrorism, violence and persecution. Now, he has his Government-in-exile at Dharamshala in Himachal Pradesh. Terrorism in India is widespread and there seems no end to it, at least for the present. The way it has been spreading in States like Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Tripura, Nagaland, etc. and spilling-over other states alarmingly, is a matter of great concern. The trigger-happy terrorists and extremists have been using all kinds of violence and automatic weapons and bombs to terrorize people and the administration. Their strategies include killings, murders, bomb-explosions, destruction of houses, looting of banks, disruption of road, and rail transportation and other means of communication, desecration of religious places, hijacking and kidnapping, arson and looting. They rape women and do not even spare innocent children. In retaliation, sometimes there is more terrorism, blood-shed, violence and destruction. In the cross-fire between terrorists and the government, the innocent citizens suffer the most because then the opponent forces become totally blind and lose discrimination. The militancy and terrorism and Punjab has been sponsored by neighbor Pakistan. The Pakistan’s ISI has been supervising and financing the terrorists in the Punjab and adjoining States of Haryana and Rajasthan. It has misled the many young people in the name of religion and separate and independent state of Khalistan. The extremists are trained and armed in Pakistani camps and then smuggled across the border into India. They explode bombs, loot banks, ransack homes, hijack, buses and planes and kidnap people. The militancy and terrorism in Punjab has been curbed and controlled to a large extent but it has not been eliminated. The then Chief Minister of Punjab, Mr. Beant Singh, himself was killed in an terrorist attack. In recent days there has again been a spurt in terrorist activities in Punjab. In the Bhatinda train blast in July, 1997, the fourth in the series of bomb-explosions, 38 lives were lost. The extremists have been striking at soft targets. According to the intelligence reports, Prakash Singh Badal himself was under threat from the terrorists. Again, terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir has been Pakistan- sponsored. A number of terrorist outfits have been active there supported, trained, armed and sneaked into the State by Pakistan. The extremists have given a communal colour to the violence and militancy and thousands of Kashmiri Hindus and Pandits have fled the State. The seeds of communal violence and extremism were really sown during the partition of the sub-continent into India and Pakistan. The terrorists groups in Kashmir mainly consist of some politically frustrated groups, religious fundamentalists and mislead youth of the society. Poverty, unemployment, deprivation and illiteracy have made the region a good breeding ground for militancy. The terrorists indulge in all sorts of anti-social and anti-government activities to achieve their narrow, sectarian, political and unholy aims but they are unlikely to succeed in spite of massive financial and other support from Pakistan. 2004 Lok Sabha campaign in JK-the Jaish-e-Mohammed leaflet in Mitari village, lays out a seven-point code of conduct for local residents. People’s Democratic party workers are â€Å"not to participate in the elections, or else face the consequences-which they understand†. Not only this-there has been scores of events of this nature in JK. During the 2002 Assembly elections, 250 companies of the police and paramilitary forces had been pressed into service to hold the ground. Likewise, contrary to that what may happen this time (2004), and how many companies would be needed is a matter of great concem for the Election Commission. The rise of terrorism and extremism in our north-eastern States of Assam, Nagaland, Mizoram, Tripura, Manipur etc. is part of our colonial legacy. The long British rule never attempted to bring the tribal’s of these states into the main stream of the nation. Rather a feeling of separation, hatred, alienation and disharmony was created. Unfortunately even after 55 years of independence, our leaders and governments have failed to change the equation for better. Consequently, misled by a false sense of losing their ethnic identity and independence, they have taken to arms and extremism. Besides social-political and economic aspects there are some such other aspects as psychological, emotional and religious. As a result there has been no participation of the people of these States in the process of democracy and independence. They have been haunted by insecurity, neglect and alienation and want separate and independent states. To achieve their ends they commit heinous crimes like burning, looting and destroying of the homes and houses of other ethnic groups, killing†¢ government security personnel and soldiers. They explode bombs at public places and kill innocent people. They also resort to abduction and kidnappings. The Peoples War Group (PWG) has been quite active for a long time in Andhra Pradesh and now exercises control on a big part of the Telengana region. The poverty and unemployment coupled with illiteracy and exploitation of the weak and vulnerable sections of the society have made these parts of the State fertile ground for insurrection and terrorism. No effective. steps were taken to improve the socio-economic conditions of the people and they were demoralized. In sheer desperation and misery they saw a ray of hope in the PWG movement and if the information is to be believed the militants have been delivering goods. The militant Naxalite outfits have been successful in winning the sympathy, favor and patronage of the down- trodden and long exploited masses who have always been at a receiving and at the hands of the corrupt government officials for many generations. Large parts of Telengana are now under effective control and administration of the PWG. Simply banning an extremist group is not enough, the genuine grievances of the public need to be redressed at the same time. They need a healing touch besides social and economical developments and empowerment. Devaluation and decentralization of powers and economic resources at the grassroots levels to the panchayat raj institutions is the need of the hour. Militancy and terrorism can be checked and eradicated only with the support and active participation of the people of the area. The menace of terrorism needs to be tackled on many fronts. The cause of militancy and terrorism should be clearly and precisely identified and remedial steps taken. There should be clear under- standing and cooperation between neighboring countries on the matter to check terrorism. Moreover, national security and intelligence need be kept quite fit and updated. In the ultimate analysis terrorism achieves nothing, solves nothing. It is sheer madness to take to arms when there are many other democratic and constitutional means available to solve problems in a democratic country like India. Pakistan should also understand that its militant activities and terrorism in India will not succeed. They have already started boomeranging and Pakistan itself is in the worst configuration of communal violence, frenzy, terrorism and bloodshed. Terrorism and its sponsors commit a crime against humanity at large and must be dealt with accordingly. It is a global danger and can be eliminated only by close cooperation between various communities and nations of the world. All terrorist groups are criminals including even those who start with good intentions and objectives because sooner or later they degenerate into corrupt, criminal and anti-social groups. They become so blind in their over-ambition and misguided enthusiasm that they soon lose sense of balance and discrimination between good and evil. Most of the militant outfits have their origin in evil and sin. They are ruthless, rapacious and greedy and do not spare even children, women, old and weak people. They do not hesitate even to abduct and kill foreign tourists and visitors. It creates an endless vicious circle. Terrorists become indiscriminate’ in their killings, shootings and violence. They have no religion, ethics, fellow-feelings and code of conduct. Terrorism drains a country of its valuable resources and enormous funds are spent in facing and checking it. It is said not in vain that prevention is better than cure. Our political leaders are mainly responsible for the origin and growth of terrorism in India in most of the cases. There is still time that th1ey realize that national interest is above everything else and that unity and integrity of the nation is the hallmark of patriotism. Only patriotic feelings coupled with efforts in reduction of poverty, illiteracy, regional imbalances, and inequality among people can successfully face and fight the menace of terrorism.

Wednesday, August 21, 2019

Umbilical Cord Blood Banking

Umbilical Cord Blood Banking Constant growing attempts have been made spread awareness among the people for the cause of umbilical cord blood banking. Stem cells derived from umbilical cord have proved to be a boon to mankind. Earlier stem cells were only used to provide some low cost effective treatment to diabetes, stroke and some kind of blindness. But no doubt about it that today we are on the edge of having a major breakthrough with these cells which will get stem cells the credit they deserve. Although it is true that the spread of awareness among people has paid off and the preservation of umbilical cord blood is gaining momentum. Now cord blood bank is a place where cord blood can be kept for the future use. The cord blood banking involves three simple steps. These steps are collection, processing and storage. Collection is a process in which the umbilical blood is collected and can be done within 5 minutes after the birth of the child. Umbilical cord is clamped and cut and is attached to a special bar coded bag. This bag is kept at a lower level than the cord so the blood drains out in the bag.   After collection its the turn for processing. Processing normally involves checking of blood for various possible viral infections and then separating stem cells from the red blood cells. After processing the umbilical blood is stored in liquid nitrogen tank at a temperature of -196 Celsius. This keeps the blood available for use even after a very long time. The banks which handle all these operations can be generally classified into two categories and they are public and private. While the public cord blood bank is set to be for public use, private banks are set up exclusively for parents who want to keep the umbilical cord blood of their baby to themselves. At present, for every 3 public cord blood banks there is 1 private cord blood bank. The public banks can be used free of cost while the private banks charge the fees of $800-$2000. Most parents do not worry about the amount as it can be considered as the cover for medical insurance against so many fatal diseases. The only good thing about the private banks are that with the donation to private banks comes the guarantee of availability, while in public banks the usage of cord blood is subjected to availability. It is due to private banks only that this noble cause of donation is turning into a kind of business that requires investment. That is why medical community strongly supports public banks and not the private banks. The use of public banks widens the number of beneficiaries from medical advances. The government is also spending heavily on the research and storage of stem cells. Recently the Indian government granted Rs 5 crores to a Mumbai based institution to upgrade its stem cell research facility. Also a large number of banks are being set up nationwide to facilitate the process and to spread awareness among the masses.

Tuesday, August 20, 2019

The Traffic Congestion Problem In Toronto

The Traffic Congestion Problem In Toronto Traffic congestion is a problem which faces many large cities around the world. Many cities face the problem of traffic gridlocks especially during rush hour periods when employees are rushing to or from work. In Toronto, this is a major problem which threatens the long term economic growth of Canada mainly due to economic losses attributed to the congestion. In North America, Toronto is the fourth most congested city after San Francisco, Chicago and Los Angeles. Toronto was actually ranked last among cities in North America based on the average time employees spent commuting per day, which was eighty minutes. This rating is worse considering that it involved assessment of all transport forms and not only automobiles. In addition, only 30% of car owners in Toronto leave vehicles at home, which add to the congestion (Steve 2010). This congestion has an adverse cost to the economy especially due to idle time by employees, fuel wastage during traffic jams or lateness in deliveries. These costs add up to over $2 billion annually which is a great concern to any economy. In addition to these economic losses, there are other repercussions of traffic congestion including environmental pollution, which translates to millions of dollars in health care costs to affected people. It is important to understand reasons behind traffic congestion in Toronto in order to develop effective solutions to this problem. This paper will evaluate the traffic congestion in Toronto, assess the possible reasons for the problem and advance viable solutions which will help end the traffic problem in the city. The discussed issues will be summarized at the end. Traffic congestion in Toronto As has been discussed, Toronto is the most congested city in North America judging by the transport delays experienced by residents. Traffic congestion is experienced when traffic volume is generally higher than the available road capacities. This is also known as saturation and it is simply a situation where demand for roads is greater than the supply. Generally, causes of traffic congestion are categorized into two; recurring and non-recurring causes. Recurring causes of traffic congestion are caused by traffic issues which recur such as ineffective management of capacity, unrestrained demand and insufficient capacity. Non-recurring causes are those which occur due to unique circumstances which are not normally experienced. These include work zones, car accidents, bad weather, disabled vehicles and emergencies. For purposes of this paper, the recurring causes of traffic congestion will be addressed since this forms the major part of congestion of traffic in Toronto. Key reasons for increase in congestion There are several reasons which have played a role in increasing traffic congestion in Toronto. Some of the causes of recurring traffic congestion in Toronto will be briefly discussed below; Increased automobile use The increase in use of automobiles is one of the major causes of traffic congestion around the world. As has been discussed, Toronto is the most congested city in North America with over 70% of automobile owners driving to work. In addition, pedestrians and bicycles also compete for the limited road resource. This causes a strain on roads and contributes heavily to the congestion experienced in Toronto (Halberstam 14-17). Many automobiles carry one or two passengers as opposed to public transport where several people are transported by buses. This also increases congestion since more private vehicles are used to ferry very few passengers between various locations. The increase in automobile use also has adverse effects on the environment since there is more pollution from automobiles. Idle time experienced by automobiles as a result of traffic jams also increases pollution by automobiles. This pollution not only harms the environment but also causes respiratory infections and illness es to humans which translate to a huge cost to the economy. Poor planning Every government planning department or ministry is tasked with the responsibility of ensuring that the population growth matches available resources to reduce strain. It is therefore the responsibility of the government to ensure that resources such as roads are well planned and developed to cater for the population growth. However, the Canadian government has performed poorly in developing roads which cater for the large population in the country (Conrad Finkel 55-58). For instance, some experts have pointed out that on some roads, bike lanes have been placed in poor locations. These lanes have not been connected to other routes, which is wastage of space and money. In addition, some bike lanes have been placed in thoroughfares which are major and in addition to contributing to the congestion, parking and stopping spaces are drastically reduced. Some pedestrian crossings have been placed in dangerous locations where they cause a reduction in traffic flow as opposed to easing traff ic. Lapse in implementation of laws There is a notable inconsistency in implementation of the law which regulates traffic. It is unclear whether this is done intentionally but experts have blamed it on ignorance and corruption. Parking and traffic laws are generally not evenly applied for all types of vehicles. In addition, many motorists who commit traffic offenses are not dealt with in a harsh manner in order to act as a deterrent to other motorists. This creates a situation where motorists are ignorant of traffic laws, which further complicates the problem of congestion. Effects of traffic congestion in Toronto There are various effects of traffic congestion in Toronto and these will be discussed below; Pollution Due to the increase in the number of automobiles in use in Toronto, the city has experiences high pollution levels than many cities in North America. Toronto is one of the most congested cities in North America and pollution levels are high due to high automobile usage. Many automobiles used emit high levels of carbon monoxide and other gases which harm the environment and the health of the public (Lerner Wilmoth 74-81). Over 1500 people die annually in Toronto due to diseases which are related to environmental pollution. In addition, over 6000 people are admitted to hospitals in Toronto annually due to complications related to pollution and motor vehicle usage is a large contributor to this problem (Ruddiman 81-87). Pollution due to increase in automobile use is therefore a major problem which causes economic costs to Toronto through damage to the environment and adverse effects on the health of residents. Traffic congestion also results in idling of automobiles which leads to more pollution on the environment. Idle time and opportunity costs A lot of time is spent by workers in Toronto commuting to and from their place of work. Toronto was ranked last in terms of commuting time spent by employees when using different forms of transport and this was seen to be an average of eighty minutes. This is a lot of time since workers spend over an hour commuting daily to and from their place of employment. The costs of this idle time to the economy have been estimated to be over $2 billion annually (Roess et. al. 34-37). These are opportunity costs which would have brought even greater value to the economy. In addition to idle time by employees, there are the costs of fuel used during traffic by the many automobiles which use the roads. Such costs also run into the billions as vehicles burn fuel in traffic each day. These costs experienced due to idle time are opportunity costs which would have been used for development purposes and development of infrastructure by the Canadian government. Delays Traffic jams usually lead to delay for either employees to reach their work stations or for products to be delivered on time. It also makes employees be late for meetings, flights or other opportunities which further their career. Delays may have a negative impact on individuals, the government or businesses at large. When individuals get delayed, they may miss certain opportunities which may result in earning lower disposable incomes which adversely affects their families. When there are delays, businesses suffer from lower sales due to delays in supplies or other factors. When delays occur, the government may also earn lower revenue due to lower tax received from decline in opportunities associated with the delay. Delays should therefore be avoided since they have negative effects to the society at large. This can only be achieved if viable solutions to the problem of transport congestion are implemented. Barriers to emergency services When there are traffic delays, it becomes difficult for emergency services to reach people in need. Emergency vehicles usually find it difficult to navigate through Toronto due to the problem of traffic congestion. Ambulances and fire trucks usually take longer than necessary to reach their destinations due to traffic congestion. This is very dangerous for Canadians since many people may continue losing lives due to delays in emergency service provision. It is imperative that urgent solutions to the problem of traffic congestion in Toronto are developed in order to ensure residents have access to fast emergency services. Viable solutions to the problem There are several solutions which will help reduce traffic congestion in Toronto and these will be discussed below; Encouraging commuters to use public transport It has been discussed that one of the reasons why there is traffic congestion in Toronto is that over 70% of automobile owners use their cars as opposed to public transport. Since private cars mostly carry one or two people, there are very many private cars which are needed to transport employees to and from work. These private cars cause congestion in roads due to their large numbers. In order to ease congestion, public transport should be encouraged since it involves transporting many people simultaneously hence easing traffic congestion. Trains and public buses carry hundreds of people simultaneously which reduces the number of private cars on roads. The government should discourage the use of private cars especially within the city through making it expensive to drive and park private cars within the city. Parking fees for private cars should be increased to discourage use of these vehicles within the city. This will encourage more people to travel by train or buses which will ea se traffic on roads. Decongesting public transport Although public transport is very effective in reducing traffic congestion, it has to be effective to achieve this goal. The public transport system in Toronto faces certain weaknesses which contribute to the traffic congestion experienced in the city. Many subways including the Yonge subway is very crowded yet this is one of the most important subways in Canada. Although there is a plan to computerize control and signals system in order to enable a greater number of trains to run closer together, this plan will take some years to implement, which means that Canadians will continue facing transport congestion in the short run (Preville 2010). There are also problems with train capacity and speeds with commuters complaining some trains are too slow and have low capacities. This is a problem which should be addressed by the government through increase in number, speeds and capacities of transport trains. Decentralizing businesses from the Greater Toronto Area There are very many businesses which are present in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). As a result, many employees commute from suburbs into the GTA each day. The large number of people who commute to the GTA is one of the major reasons why there is traffic congestion. In order to reduce congestion, it is important for the government to encourage investors to invest in suburbs or the outskirts of the city (Wallace 65-69). This is one of the most effective solutions to this problem since fewer people will travel to the GTA. When many businesses are decentralized and established in suburbs and outskirts of Toronto, the traffic systems will face lower congestion due to the reduced number of users. In addition to benefits of decentralization to the transport system, decentralizing businesses will also ensure that there is balanced development in Toronto and Canada as a whole. This will raise the standards of living of people and reduce the gap between the poor and the rich. Investing in transport infrastructure In order to cater for the growing population, the road infrastructure should match population growth. Since the transport system in Toronto is congested, it is important to invest in new and more effective transport infrastructure to ease the congestion. One of these types of infrastructure is investment in subways. Subways which run under major roads are very effective means of easing traffic congestion in most major cities. The government should construct such subways and offer commuters a variety of choices to make when making transport decisions. Other infrastructures include billing systems which discourage the movement of private cars into the city. These billing systems may resemble that used in London where cameras monitor vehicles entering congested zones and require motorists to pay a certain sum of money. Motorists who do not pay receive very heavy fines. Such a billing system may be required to adjust the rates according to traffic movements. This will ensure that traffic congestion is eased in Toronto. Passing relevant transport legislation In order to ensure motorists comply with changes which have been suggested in the paper, stronger legislation is required to ensure that private cars are discouraged from entering the city and that any traffic offenders receive harsh punishments. This will serve as deterrent to other offenders who are not keen to be part of the traffic decongestion efforts. For instance, in London, private cars entering congestion zones pay 8 pounds in fees. However, people who do not observe this rule pay a harsh fine of 120 pounds. There are cameras which records all registration plates of motor vehicles hence it is difficult not to comply with the rule. Toronto requires legislation and policies which support traffic decongestion to be passed in order to develop long term solutions to the problem of traffic congestion. Dialog with stakeholders in transport industry In order for the government to ensure that changes required to the transport industry are effectively implemented, all stakeholders should be involved in the changes. The government should convene a meeting with stakeholders in public and private transport with the aim of developing long term solutions to the problem of traffic congestion (Quentin 16-22). These people may offer very effective solutions to this problem since they are the major road users. The general public will also be keen to follow changes and recommendations made to improve the transport sector once it is involved in developing solutions to the problem. Dialog with stakeholders will provide the government with an opportunity to listen to a variety of suggestions on how the transport problem can be resolved. Summary and conclusion Various aspects of traffic congestion in Toronto have been analyzed in detail. It is clear that Toronto is facing a serious problem of traffic congestion since it is the most congested city in North America. Traffic congestion in Toronto costs over $ 2 billion annually and it is caused by a variety of factors. These factors are categorized into non-recurring and recurring factors. However, the paper focused on recurring factors which contribute to the largest proportion of traffic congestion in Canada. These include increased automobile use, poor planning and lapse in implementation of laws which govern traffic systems. This leads to the use of many private cars by employees who commute to work as opposed to use of public transport systems resulting in congestion. Traffic congestion in Toronto has various adverse effects including barriers to emergency services, delays, idle time and opportunity costs as well as pollution. These effects have adverse effects on the health, welfare and economic development of the society as whole. All stakeholders in society suffer either indirectly or directly from traffic congestion. There are several solutions which should be implemented to reduce traffic congestion in Toronto. These include encouraging commuters to use public transport, decongesting public transport, decentralizing businesses from the Greater Toronto Area, investing in transport infrastructure, passing relevant transport legislation and dialog with stakeholders in transport industry. These solutions aim at discouraging the use of private vehicles and increasing the effectiveness of public transport to increase the capacity and speeds needed to reduce congestion in Toronto. However, it is important to involve all relevant stakeholders when developing solutions to the transport congestion since as earlier discussed, these people may offer very effective solutions to this problem since they are the major road users. The general public will also be keen to follow changes made to improve the transport sector if it is involved in the change process. This will ensure that Toronto has one of the best t ransport systems not only in North America but across the world.

Monday, August 19, 2019

Free Essays - The Tall Tale in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn :: Adventures Huckleberry Huck Finn Essays

The Tall Tale in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In Mark Twain's timeless American classic, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the narrator often finds himself in undesirable situations.   These situations, which are far-fetched even for the nineteenth-century, provide much humor to the novel and demonstrate Huck's cunning.   Huck's adept use of the tall tale becomes a survival tool on this adventure.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In the novel, Huck sees lies as more of a practical solution to problems than as a moral dilemma.   He rationalizes that he has "never seen anybody but lied, one time or another"   (1).   Unlike the lawless adventurer of the frontier, Huck does not use his knack for selfish purposes.   He, instead, uses his lies strictly as a means of escaping misfortune and never for his own profit.   At one point in the story, Huck uses his skill to fabricate a story that keeps a skiff of slave-hunters away from Jim:   " 'Well, there's five niggers run off to-night, up yonder above the head of the bend.   Is your man white or black?'...'He's white' "   (110).   Huck's tall tales are used for the survival of both Huck and Jim, and Jim knows this.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Huck's stories are usually believed, but even when doubted, he manages to change his fib just enough to make it believable.   An example of this is when he is caught as a stow-away on a raft and his original story is not believed by the crew:   "Now, looky-here, you're scared, and so you talk wild.   Honest, now, do you live in a scowl, or is it a lie?" (106).   Huck then changes his story just enough to make it believable, displaying his unique ability to adjust his

Sunday, August 18, 2019

Rape and Intimate Partner Abuse In The Lesbian Community Essay

In every 45 seconds, someone is sexually violated in the United States. Out of every 6 women, one has experienced an attempted rape or complete rape. Lesbians and bisexual women remain at increased risk of sexual victimization compared to heterosexual women. In order for a woman to determine the direction of her life, she must first determine her sexuality. Sexuality is a deep, integral part of any human’s life. This should not be a subject of coercion or debate. The society must recognize that a woman has the right to freely pre-determine her sexuality without oppression and discrimination (Burn, 2004). Traditionally, women throughout history and culture have undertaken the role of independent, non-heterosexual, women-connected existence. Lesbianism according to ancient literature review has always existed. The practice has always been unacceptable and deviant. Lesbians are subjected to rape more often than other women. Worldwide, lesbians are subjected to verbal and physical abuse. In most cultures, lesbianism occurs prior to heterosexual marriages. These facts were gathered by Faderman in 1981. Female-female romantic relationships were found in European communities since the 17th century through the early 20th century after studying the fiction and poetry written during this period (Burn, 2004). Today, many societies view bisexuality and homosexuality as a sickness. The societies deny their existence entirely. However, biologists and psychologists believe that both are mere instances of many human variations. After successful lobbying by gay and lesbian political organizations in 1974, the American Psychiatric Association (APA) eliminated homosexuality from its list of mental disorder. The APA now takes the position that homos... ...(2010). External Barriers to Help-Seeking Encountered by Canadian Gay and Lesbian Victims of Intimate Partner Abuse: An Application of the Barriers Model. Violence and Victims, Vol. 25(4), 536-552. Pinto, S. (2012). Intimate Partner Violence: Sexual Abuse. CINHAL Nursing Guide. 1-2. Renzetti, C. M. (1996). The Poverty of Services for Battered Lesbians. Journal of gay and Lesbian Social Services, Vol. 4, pp 61-68. Tigert, L. M. (2001). The Power of Shame: Lesbian Battering as a Manifestation of Homophobia. Women & Therapy, Vol. 23, pp 73-85. Walters, M. L. (2011). Straighten up and Act Like a Lady: A Qualitative Study of Lesbian Survivors of Intimate Partner Violence. Journal of Gay and Lesbian Social Service. Vol. 23, pp 250-270. West, C. M. (2002). Lesbian Intimate Partner Violence: Prevalence and Dynamics. Journal of Lesbian Studies, Vol. 6(1), pp 121-127.

Saturday, August 17, 2019

How Is Conflict Presented in Bayonet Charg Essay

Conflict often has harmful effects, including causing death and destruction, so it is usually viewed negatively. However, conflict can also bring out positive traits in people, and the people involved in it may be respected. â€Å"Bayonet Charge† imagines a soldier’s experience in battle. â€Å"The Charge of The Light Brigade† recounts the story of the charge made by the Light Brigade in the Battle of Balaclava. Language One way conflicted is presented in â€Å"Bayonet Charge† is through the use of language. The language used, portrays the soldier and his actions/movements. Ted Hughes uses sibilance to portray the soldier’s actions as well as feelings. For example, â€Å"raw-seamed hot khaki, his sweat heavy Stumbling†¦Ã¢â‚¬  The use of sibilance here mimics the squelching mud. The repetitive‘s’ sounds recreates an image of the soldier walking through mud. The word ‘khaki’ suggests that the person being described is a soldier as it is normally associated with the military uniforms. The word ‘heavy’ suggests that the soldier is uncomfortable and his movements are unnatural. The word ‘stumbling’ suggests that the soldier is disoriented and could also suggest that his movements are clumsy. Another way language is used to present conflict is through the use of similes. For example, â€Å"Sweating like molten iron from the centre of his chest†. The phrase ‘molten iron’ suggests a burning, abject terror at the heart of his being. On the other hand, â€Å"The Charge of the Light Brigade† uses metaphors such as â€Å"Valley of Death† to present conflict. This phrase forebodes the charge as it makes it sound certain that the soldiers are going to die. It also suggests the commander has made a mistake as he has sent them into the ‘valley of death’. This makes the soldiers more courageous as they are marching into their own deaths. It also creates the allusion to psalm, where faith instils courage in the face of death. Another way language is used to present conflict is through the use of rhetorical questions. For example, â€Å"was there a man dismay’d?† The rhetorical question implies unequivocal bravery and shows the gallant nature of the men. It shows that they were used to obeying orders and leaving the thinking to their generals. Structure/Form The form and the structure of the poems also plays a part in getting the message across to the reader. â€Å"The Charge of the Light Brigade† has a clear and powerful rhythm and rhyme scheme that suggest the energy of the battle. The Light Brigade’s determined gallop towards its destruction is emphasised, by repetition, from the first two lines of the first stanza of the poem: â€Å"Half a league, half a league,/ Half a league onward†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Once the order has been given, the fate of the men was sealed – they had no choice but to follow their terrible destiny to its conclusion. The weapons they faced are also repeated, sometimes with slight variations, for example, â€Å"Cannon to the right of them, / Cannon to the left of them,† to emphasise the danger faced by the cavalry and their great bravery. Repetition creates a sense of impatience to enter battle and bravery in the face of danger. Alfred Tennyson uses dactylic trimester to mimicking the stea dy galloping of their horses. The stresses also create a â€Å"falling rhythm† which symbolises the soldiers who will fall. The poet has written the poem in 6 irregular lined stanzas. This could be to show the unpredictability of war. The word â€Å"Cannons† has been used as an anaphora for three lines which emphasises the fact soldiers are surrounded and can’t escape. The sheer amount of cannons blocks their vision therefore suggesting they couldn’t anticipate the attack. The form of the poem is a narrative story. This is because the poet is describing the attack to his audience. â€Å"Bayonet Charge† uses onomatopoeia, alliteration and assonance and the senses to bring the images described to life. â€Å"Stumbling across†¦Ã¢â‚¬  is an awkward line to read, which evokes the sensation of running across a muddy field. The use of enjambment throughout the poem quickens the pace and emphasises urgency and unpredictability of war. The use of medial caesuras achieves a variety of effects, from reflecting the soldier’s tiredness to deliberately making the action feel like slow motion. The use of iambic pentameter in some lines helps the poems flow and recreates a heartbeat

Why Does Mankind Seem so Incurably Religious

Mary Beth Lindsey September 9, 2011 Intro to Religion Wagner Why does mankind seem so religious? There is a lot of influential reasoning that can attribute to religion because some of it is man-made and the other is a divine revelation. I think that no matter what, all humans yearn for a universal presence of some kind that is responsible for our existence. Religion is thought to fulfill deep individual needs of humanity. Humans is incurably religious because of the passing of generational opinions and beliefs, such as from churches and other religious sources and organizations, and also what we learn in schools, varying from Greek mythology to evolution and more. The argument from universal belief insists that every human being has an innate knowledge of God- a sense of the divine- that these clues or arguments simply confirm it. However, Roman 1 also insists that we have a tendency to suppress this, this innate knowledge of God, choosing instead to rebel against our Creator (Romans 1:19-23). I agree with this due to the actions of society. In addition, man has always sought to worship something or someone. In contrast, a nineteenth century socialist philosopher, Karl Marx, argued that religion emerged from economic frameworks a mean for oppressing people and maintaining an unjust economic system. In his view, religion is an opiate for the masses to keep them submissive and unquestions about their lot in life. I do not think that man would use the law for an economic system or some kind of punishment. We are taught in school about religion , now depending on the approach the teacher is trying to give off can influence the outcome or the intensity of students perception of religion , because teachers/professors teach our growing youth. Religion goes beyond facts in the form of faith which has a connection to the facts. All the while, we come up assumptions when we look at the facts to determine reasonable conclusions. Work Cited Page 1. The New English Bible. London. Oxford UP and Cambridge UP. 1970. 2. atheism. about. com/od/philosophyofreligion/a/marx. htm

Friday, August 16, 2019

Analytical Hierarchy Process Essay

Abstract The analytic hierarchy process (AHP) provides a structure on decision-making processes where there are a limited numbers of choices but each has a number of attributes. This paper explores the use of AHP for deciding on car purchase. In the context of shopping, it is important to include elements that provide attributes that make consumer decision making easier, comfortable and therefore, lead to a car purchase. As the car market becomes more competitive, there is a greater demand for innovation that provides better customer service and strategic competition in the business management. This paper presents a new methodological extension of the AHP by focusing on two issues. One combines pair wise comparison with a spreadsheet method using a 5-point rating scale. The other applies the group weight to a reciprocal consistency ratio. Three newly formed car models of midsize are used to show how the method allows choice to be prioritized and analyzed statistically. INTRODUCTION The Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) is a structured technique for helping people deal with complex decisions. Rather than prescribing a â€Å"correct† decision, the AHP helps people to determine one. Based on mathematics and human psychology, it was developed by Thomas L. Saaty in the 1970s and has been extensively studied and refined since then. The AHP provides a comprehensive and rational framework for structuring a problem, for representing and quantifying its elements, for relating those elements to overall goals, and for evaluating alternative solutions. It is used throughout the world in a wide variety of decision situations, in fields such as government, business, industry, healthcare, and education. Users of the AHP first decompose their decision problem into a hierarchy of more easily comprehended sub-problems, each of which can be analyzed independently. The elements of the hierarchy can relate to any aspect of the decision problem. Once the hierarchy is built, the decision makers systematically evaluate its various elements, comparing them to one another in pairs. In making the comparisons, the decision makers can use concrete data about the elements, or they can use their judgments about the elements’ relative meaning and importance. It is the essence of the AHP that human judgments, and not just the underlying information, can be used in performing the evaluations. The AHP converts these evaluations to numerical values that can be processed and compared over the entire range of the problem. A numerical weight or priority is derived for each element of the hierarchy, allowing diverse and often incomm-ensurable elements to be compared to one another in a rational and consistent way. This capability distinguishes the AHP from other decision making techniques. In the final step of the process, numerical priorities are derived for each of the decision alternatives. Since these numbers represent the alternatives’ relative ability to achieve the decision goal, they allow a straightforward consideration of the various courses of action. EXPLANATION For instance let’s consider cars (an example) which touch the lives of hundreds of millions of people nearly everywhere on this planet on a daily basis. Other than a house, a car is perhaps the largest purchase that we make. With the average cost of a car well over US$ 15,000, choosing just the right one becomes a major decision. Buying a new car is regarded as a decision-making problem and a reflection of customer preference. Someone shops for a new car, he or she want to take a look at finances and options. The possible budget is then a constraint in the decision on which car to buy. Most people shopping for a new car rank safety high among their purchase considerations. Other important attributes include: fuel economy; comfort and convenience features; insurance information; specification and warranties and resale value. Constant changes in customer demands lead manufactures to produce new and improved designs. Automation of manufacturing technologies allows this. Recently the production life cycle has become shorter. For example, General Motors in the USA is leading the industry in developing ground-breaking technologies to improve the driving experience and to meet the changing needs and life styles of modern drivers. They are making efforts to lower the cost of the technology to a level that will make advanced cars an attractive purchase. As the automobile market becomes more competitive, the industry has no choice but to adopt innovation that brings better customer service. Many customers seek advice from car experts or friends when purchasing a car. In many cases, there are times when the price and special features do not match the budget. An appropriate decision-making method for selecting the best car is useful to both customers and producers. An analytic method not only reduces the dealer’s burden, but also may increase sales The analytic hierarchy process (AHP) is an intuitively easy method for formulating and analyzing decisions .It was developed to solve a specific class of problems that involves prioritization of potential alternate solutions. This is achieved by evaluation of a set of criteria elements and sub-criteria elements through a series of pair wise comparisons. The AHP model depicted in this paper uses the following decision criteria: exterior, convenience, performance, safety, economic aspect, dealer, and warranty as well as 39 sub-criteria. For the implementation of the AHP, we considered the three midsize passenger car models as alternatives 2. EVALUATION CRITERIA The source for deriving the evaluation criteria candidate was: 1. A telephone interview with dealers who are part of companies that make the models. The manufacturing company with the highest market share considered graceful body styles and smart design of facilities related to safety to be most important. On the other hand, warranty on the car and the dealer’s strategies for marketing are regarded as important customer criteria; 2. The use of personal experiences recorded on an online bulletin board was corrected using the Internet; The AHP model shown consists of three levels. Exterior involves components and factors seen from the outside such as color, length and width, tyres, trunk, wheels, doors and headlamp styles. It includes the following sub-criteria: model, style, length, quality of interior decoration, number of available color types, and instrument cluster. Convenience is related to the design of the equipments for easy operation. It includes: inside width, ease of loading or unloading packages, convenience of operating instruments, modern fittings (such as electronic systems and a burglar alarm), forward visibility and quality of the audio system. Performance is related to the functioning of the car. It includes maximum torque, maximum speed, fuel tank capacity, braking ability, cornering ability, inside noises and traveling comforts. Safety is enhanced by a body designed to protect the drivers and passengers against collisions. The most important safety features are those that reduce the risk of death or serious injury. It includes: airbags, antilock braking system ABS, impact protection systems, trunk safety, seat belts, safety of the body and number of alarm facilities. Airbags provide total chest and face protection. The ABS allows drivers full steering control and shorter stopping distance in adverse situations. The economic aspect refers to the price and cost of a new car, or maintaining the car within budgets, etc. It includes: purchasing prices, fuel consumption per month, insurance costs and installment conditions, resale prices of used cars and optional equipment costs. The dealer criterion refers to personal characteristics and attitudes that lead the customer to make the purchasing decision. This criterion includes: visits or calls needed to persuade the customer to buy, the dealer’s attitude, the dealer’s expertise and belief in the dealer’s promises. The warranty criterion include: the number of service stations, ease of acquiring spare parts, customer satisfaction after services, and the average repair time for minor troubles. We mailed questionnaires to each of two groups. The first group was given a questionnaire that contained a pair wise comparison sheet. The members consisted of 13 managers who were serving in the sales department and who had experience exceeding 10 years (see Appendix A for this questionnaire). Respondents were domain experts who easily recognized their own sales products and have valuable knowledge about the customer requirements and preferences. Twenty-two potential customers with experience over 7 years were in the second group (see Appendix B). They answered about their satisfaction with their current car. 3. Implementation and ranking A procedure of prioritizing each car model is shown in Table 1 shows the C.R. for each individual, where the circle represents meaningful C.R. Using Expert Choice, we obtained the synthesized priorities of the main criteria and sub-criteria. The reason that the group’s weight is 1/C.R. is to assign higher weights for higher consistent persons. As a result, safety gains are the highest priority in the main criteria. The body safety is especially important. The synthesized priorities and ranks resulted in Table 2 (Case-II). The priorities of the sub-criteria are not proportional to those of the main criteria. This means the decision-makers have different opinions on the importance of the main criteria. By synthesizing the drivers’ rating values with the priorities, we obtain the priorities of the car models and the ranks with respect to the goal and synthesized priorities for each main criterion when the C.R. is bounded by the limit (see Table 3). In Case-I and Case-II, the computational methods used are reasonable when the groups’ consistency is more important than the individual ones. Because the conventional AHP has no choice but to increase the Delphi rounds in order to increase the groups’ consistency, much effort is required to reduce the C.R. If the Delphi rounds are not sufficiently processed, it is unreliable through the inclusion of inconsistent matrices [12]. Using the Spearman rank correlation test [1], accepting H0 means that the ranks are either uncorrelated or negatively correlated. That is, two decision makers exhibit an insignificant level of agreement in ranking for each criterion. Rejecting H0 means that the ranks are positively correlated. As shown in Table 4, we conclude that there are significant effects between groups since the rate of the H0 acceptance is 83% (65/78 Ãâ€"100). This shows that Case-I is the more appropriate method. It rejects greater agreement between groups. 4. SENSITIVITY ANALYSIS Sensitivity analysis allowed us to verify the results of the decision. A sensitivity analysis can be formed to see how sensitive the alternatives are to change with the importance of the criteria. The Expert Choice implementation of AHP provides four graphical sensitivity analysis modes: dynamic, gradient, performance and two-dimensional analysis [4]. Here performance sensitivity analysis is employed. It depicts how well each alternative performs on each criterion by increasing or decreasing the importance of the criteria. In addition to this, each sub-criterion performs on each main criterion by increasing or decreasing the importance of the main criteria. It should be noted that if a criterion is not sensitive, it would be better to eliminate it from the AHP model. In the case of increasing importance of a criterion to the maximum value of 1.0, we assigned the alternative that gained the highest rank to score 5 and the lowest rank to score 1. The value of Model 1 is 25, Model 2 is 21 and Model 3 is 15. In summary, we can conclude Model 1 is the best among the alternatives, although the highest priorities were different in Case-I and Case-II. 5. CONCLUSION This paper presents a decision-making method for selecting the best passenger car models through combining the AHP and a spreadsheet model. The C.R. is used as the decision-maker’s weights. As an implementation of the AHP, three car models were prioritized. Through the sensitivity analysis, the fact that Model 1 ranked the highest is consistent with the result of the highest market share. References E.H. Forman, T.L. Saaty, M.A. Selly, R. Waldron, Expert Choice, Decision Support Software, McLean, VA, 1983 T.L. Saaty, K. Kearns, Analytical Planning: The Organization of Systems, Pergamon Press, Oxford, 1985. Y Wind and T L Saaty, ‘Marketing Applications of Analytic Hierarchy Process,’ Management Science, Vol. 26, No. 7, July 1980

Thursday, August 15, 2019

Computerised Environmental Control and Plant Management Systems

For the new modern state of the art green houses there is the ability to run a computerised plant control system which controls the heat and ventilation of the greenhouse. It is likely that there will be different requirements for the system through the year. Alteration on the computer programme will allow the greenhouse environment to be adjusted which will help the growth of certain plants. Building a state of the art greenhouse with a computerised environmental control system will enable Progress Plants to create the best possible conditions for the plants. There is an array of climate condition which the Ventilation control creates. Moreover a computerised environmental control system helps towards greater savings of energy. And additionally help the progress of growth and plant management through a computerised control system. Additionally it will allow them to offer unusual plants at unusual times as they can create a season for the plants which can become an attraction if they bring in foreign plants which otherwise cannot be grown in the UK. The staff in the nursery as well as the head gardener will have more time on their hands as the Computerised environmental control system will water and add nutrients to the plants and create a perfect environment for the growth of the plants, as well as the fact staff won’t be needed to do regular checks on the plants so this means hours of staff can be cut down which leads to lower salary rates or some staff maybe made redundant or they could be given additional jobs within Progress Plants which reduces the number of staff needed and the current staff feel more important due to playing a bigger role within the business which helps productivity. Staff training may be needed to run the computerised plant control system so to save the business time and money they can be trained while the business is installing the system moreover it means that Progress Plants will not have to hire specialist staff which will cost more money and time. These changes will have to be made effectively and looked into as it can cause problems if they do not tackle the issues effectively. Due to using a computerised system to take over human roles there will be fewer mistakes made and there will be no need to motivate it as it is a machine which will constantly run saving the business money and time by giving plants heat and water when necessary. But the computer may break down which means that it will not be able to look after the plants, moreover it will cost a lot of money to fix and repair as well as set up and there will be distractions of moving the plants into a suitable place of storage and can be unhealthy which will be bad for the clients. Overall, the computerised control system for the greenhouses if affectively installed, run and developed will create a huge advantage for Progress Plants. Using this technology will lead to an increase in sales and profit which will benefit Progress Plants. Also the plants will be healthier than normal and increase sales with the benefit of being able to offer an unusual variety of plants. Additionally it will create a bigger marketing opportunity for Progress Plants.