Wednesday, July 31, 2019

Heypih

Hones and Mauritius, or also known for short as H&M, is a big billion dollar Swedish fashion company which engages in designing and retailing fashion products from cosmetics, outwear and accessories for men, women and children. Operating all over the globe, throughout 43 countries with 2206 stores, there are various strategic issues which H&M need to address to keep the company moving forward and increase the market. H&M has a large international incumbents including Ezra being its most significant competitor.Ezra has not been around for nearly as long as H&M and it is already being considered a ‘serious challenge' which makes H&M questions the sustainability of the formula at hand. Using strategic management topics we can further discuss this issue. To begin the PASTEL Framework can be used in relation to strategic management and H&M. By using PASTEL we can categories environmental factors into specific key types, which are political, economic, social, technological, ecologica l and legal.These will help us to explain that environmental factors do not Just revolve around economic forces but other forces which have been mentioned and all are interactive with one another. Politics are forces both throughout the globe and in specific groups within areas which influence certain behavior and reactions. These influences can come from various political movements and concerned media. For example H&M in the past opened up a store in Israel's Jerusalem Malta Shopping Mall which is built in a previous Palestinian village of al-Malta.Since this village has been ethnically cleansed and caused those inhabitants to be referred to as refugees in their own land. This happened throughout the 1948 Naked and caused worldwide protest by activates at H stores. All those protests going on around the world gave a lot of negative reputation and unneeded attention to H. Even though the Israeli Embassy in Stockholm believed that opening the store in Israel would help tit ‘pea ce processes and profits' to H – it still did not affect the feelings of those protesting nor did it change the way H handled the situation at hand.Instead H turned a blind eye to a massive human rights violation and disregarded completely what was happening and this caused activists to begin the world wide approach of operation Boycott. Something similar did happen in the past with a different clothing brand named Mummy, but they did not follow through with their stores in Israel and till today will not open a store until the apartheid system is dismounted. Additionally, in reference to Section C, Article 3 of the Responsibilities of transaction corporations and other business enterprises (2003) H is actually breaching the regulations.It states that â€Å"Business enterprises shall not engage in nor benefit from war crimes, crimes against humanity†¦ Other violations of humanitarian law and other international crimes against the human person as defined by international law, in particular human rights and humanitarian law' Ecological factors in PASTEL framework is anything that falls under environmental issues which is definitely something relevant to H&M. H&M produces a special collection named the ‘conscious collection† using only sustainable materials.As mentioned on their website they are trying to push for fashion for the future. With these commitments come seven promises also stated on their website. Provide fashion for conscious customers Choose and reward responsible partners Be ethical Be climate smart Reduce, reuse, recycle Use natural resources responsibly Strengthen communities Under the PASTEL framework, technological is any influences that H uses for their material. Thanks to these, H was ranked number 21 out of 100 for the most label global brands according to inter brand in 2011, with a brand value of 16. Billion dollars. In comparison with close competitor Ezra ranked in at number 44 with 8 billion dollars' worth of bra nd value. This huge difference can partly be attributed to H&M's long term advertising campaigns with high-profile celebrities. In order to enhance the value of its brand name, H spends around 5% of its revenue on advertising. H has also established a strong social media presence. The company aims to become part of its customer's daily lives through its pages on Backbone,Twitter, Instating, Google+ and Youth as well as the Chinese social media networks Yuk and Sins Webb. Through these networks followers share ideas and opinions and get quick answers to their questions. This is important for this day and ages were people do not want to wait for too long. Also new fashion videos and catwalks are constantly uploaded to Youth with millions of views. The App for uses is also new which offers the latest collection and campaigns and find out what is new.In relation to strategic management it's important to note the Five Forces Framework hen determining the competitive forces. If an industr y has low competitiveness then there will be an expected high level of profit then in comparison to an industry with high competitiveness. H has high level of competitiveness with Ezra therefore their profit margin is close on a large scale. By using Porters Five Forces Framework we can measure 1) threat of entry 2) threat of substitutes 3) power of buyers 4) power of suppliers 5) extent of rivalry between competitors.In regards to competitors and rivalry, the competitive rival for H is Ezra and a substitute would be somewhere like Target/Smart. Ezra would be a very dominant organization to H with its products being very similar. A low differentiation between companies is also an issue as both are assumed to be similar when spoken about with consumers. The threat of entry works in H's advantage as they have different products which Ezra does not offer – for example the conscious collection. The threat of substitution is a big one for this industry as Ezra and H&M are very clo sely knitted.Firstly being price/ performance rations. Sara's products are slightly higher prices than H but overall the prices/performance ratio is very tight. SQ. Drawing on relevant topics in this unit, what do you consider to be H's rare and inimitable strategic capability/sis? Explain your answer. How do you think H&M can identify and leverage or exploit its rare and inimitable strategic capability/sis to achieve or sustain its competitive advantage and respond to the critical issue that you have identified in IQ?Upon research and further reading into the topic I would consider the fact H&M has its own range the conscious collection' reaching an audience of those who are have the want to help the environment to be its rare and inimitable strategic capabilities. H & M, is a environmentally conscious company, which provides economical fashion products around the globe (43 countries) in order to fulfill the seven commitments to the communities. The economic crisis was really stron g and it may increase the interest of the population for cheap and fashionable clothes.Not only has H found a gap in the fashion market, but they have found an up and coming issue and were able to reach it with a positive outcome. With all the issues worldwide, H knew it needed to invest its money into the right things to keep sales up and to also bring new sales in. With H having a big role in the fashion industry, they didn't want to come under any more negative scrutiny as this would bring a negative perception of the company. This is where the idea came across with the plan for using only sustainable materials for the release of the new range, the ‘conscious collection'.Along with this came certain commitments which included, adopting ethical practices, improving working conditions and using natural resources responsibly. The decision to introduce the range and commitments was structured very thoroughly through its strategic capabilities as these do have the ability to con tribute to a long term margin and also a competitive advantage. H&M followed ‘Tech' with the three generic types of dynamic capabilities as this has become the standard and most common practice in industries.The first point is ‘sensing where H has realized that there are new opportunities. No other fast fashion clothing brand has introduced an environmental friendly range at the moment in time so it was the perfect idea. Next point is ‘seizing is when H&M replaced the actual gap in the market with the line. Lastly ‘reconfiguring is basically what H are constantly doing with its update of the line. As new fashion comes in and out of season constantly, H need to keep its new line up to date.As you can tell H has big threshold capabilities which are needed for an organization to keep up to date with the requirements in the fashion market and with other competitors. In strategic management mindset using BRIO† is important to gain competitive advantage. To b egin with the product which has been introduced by H&M needs to be of value to the customers so it can generate higher revenue or lower costs to the business. So in this instance this product hadn't been introduced to the fast fashion oral so the value of it is quite and exciting for the industry.Therefore H&M with this product has taken advantage of its opportunities and threats, understands its value to customers and considered the cost. Next is the need of the product to have rarity. If a product is introduced which is valuable yet common throughout various competitors, then it's very unlikely it is going to be a major source of competitive advantage. Therefore it's important that the introduced line is something rare and will bring customers to the shop especially to view and purchase this line.As you can tell he strategic capabilities that allows H&M to be advanced is not as straightforward and simple as suspected. In this introduction to this line H&M did keep in the mind the next step being the Inimitable capabilities. If other competitors were to introduce something along the same lines they would find it difficult and costly to intimidate or even to substitute therefore would less likely be able to match up to H&M. Lastly H&M needs to be suitably organism to support all these capabilities.They already had the support of the formal and informal management control systems therefore they were blew to fully take advantage of the given capabilities SQ. Drawing on relevant topics in this unit, explain how H&M's culture as suggested by the ‘spirit of H&M' influences the current strategic position of H&M as well as its ability to respond to the strategic issue you have identified in IQ . An organizations culture is the behavior of those people within the organization and all the attachments to the meanings behind their behaviors.It revolves around their visions, language, assumptions, understandings, beliefs, habits, norms and values. It's basically how they do things from where they are in the organization. In any organization, culture has an influence over their strategy. Even the fact the fashion industry has a certain culture would affect the way H&M run their strategies including the different countries and cities H&M would have issues in relation to geographic based cultures due to the fact they have stores in all parts of the world.Each city would have its moralities and the usual way to do things from their knowledge which would differ from the same shop somewhere else. It's important for companies that run internationally to understand such differences H&M's hilltop's links in to the followed and believed culture. From day one H&M wanted to make fashion affordable for everyone so it was something they stuck by quite strongly. Throughout the years of passing through different managers and management styles – the company's culture still relieved on Reeling Persons style of sticking to central values and beliefs.Even the 7 codified core values for H&M link into the rare and inimitable strategic capability, and they are: 1) Keep it simple 2) Straight forward and open minded 3) Cost conscious 4) Constant improvement 5) Entrepreneurial spirit ) Team work 7) Belief in people Within H&M's spirit is the amazing way they really focus on their employee's involvement. Because H&M has this philosophy of participatory management the company is viewed as one with experimentation, trial-and-error learning, fast decision making, and willingness to take initiatives and try new ideas.These are the pillars of the company and without these; H&M wouldn't have the culture it has today. The active encouragement of this spirit is another key ingredient through all organization levels. This way, new things are encourages between purchasing managers and the understanding that mistakes are okay is followed through at all levels. Even managers in the front end of the business are encouraged to experiments with the interi or and exterior of the shop.Decoration, lighting, colors, clothes displays and even locating are swiftly changed depending on sales and preferences of customers. Although any new range which may be introduced must be bounded within H&M's core ideas and values, which the conscious range clearly does. ‘ One of H&M's major strengths are its fantastic brand imagine and the costs of purchases. H&M has established a strong culture which is self-motivating for employees by creating unity and a high skilled work place.The company benefits from a good image from the customers and they have a strong fame everywhere in the world thanks to its huge number of outlets. Also the prices that H&M offer to its customers are really competitive thanks to the cost saving management way of the company. H&M's environment has a very positive outcome throughout all levels of the business and this reflects solely on the complete imagine H&M perceives. The fact that employees get a say and get a chance to get involved in all levels makes it have such a constructive workforce.H&M has lots of freedom for employees to move around through levels of the organization but this has come under some scrutiny as there is no way to point the blame if something goes wrong. This doesn't work for everyone but for those who it does work for, it has a very motivational feel.

Tuesday, July 30, 2019

Quiz Stat

Name: [pic]_________________________ 1. Two events are complementary when A) the sum of their probabilities is one. B) the joint probability of the two events is one. C) they are mutually exclusive. D) None of the above. 2. Are Service provider and county independent events? A) Yes. B) No. C) Insufficient information to determine. 3. A random variable is a function or rule that assigns a numerical value to each outcome in the sample space of a stochastic experiment. True A) False 4. A probability distribution A) is a listing of all possible values of a random variable.B) is a listing of all possible values of a random variable, along with their probabilities. C) can assume values between -1 and +1. D) has none of the above properties. 5. For a continuous random variable, the total area beneath the probability distribution curve will be greater than 0 but less than 1. A) True False 6. The standardized normal distribution always has a mean of zero and a standard deviation of one. True A) False 7. Excel’s RAND() function produces random numbers that are uniformly distributed from 0 to 1. The standard deviation of this distribution is about A) . 5000B) . 2500 C) . 3333 D) . 2887 8. The expected value of an unbiased estimator is equal to the parameter whose value is being estimated. True A) False [pic] 9. All estimators are biased since sampling errors always exist to some extent. A) True False 10. The Central Limit Theorem says that, if n exceeds 30, a histogram of the sample will have a bell-shape, even if the population isn't normal. A) True False 11. The distribution of the sample proportion p=x/n is normal when n ;/- 30. A) True False 12. The standard error of the mean decreases when the A) sample size decreases.B) standard deviation increases if n is constant. C) standard deviation decreases and n increases. D) population size decreases. 13. The owner of Limp Pines Resort wanted to know the average age of its clients. A random sample of 25 tourists is t aken. It shows a mean age of 46 years with a standard deviation of 5 years. The width of a 98 percent CI for the true mean client age is approximately ____ years. A) +/- 2. 06 B) +/- 2. 33 C) +/- 2. 49 D) +/- 2. 79 14. In a right-tail test, a statistician came up with a z test statistic of 1. 469. What is the p-value? A) . 4292 B) . 0708 C) . 0874 D) . 0301 15.To estimate the average annual expenses of students on books and class materials a sample of size 36 is taken. The average is $850 and the standard deviation is $54. A 99% confidence interval for the population mean is A) $823. 72 to $876. 28 B) $832. 36 to $867. 64 C) $826. 82 to $873. 18 D) $825. 48 to $874. 52 16. A poll showed that 48 out of 120 randomly chosen graduates of California medical schools last year intended to specialize in family practice. What is the width of a 90% confidence interval for the proportion that plan to specialize in family practice? A) +/- . 04472 B) +/- . 07357 C) +/- . 8765 D) +/- . 00329 17. In a random sample of 810 women employees, it is found that 81 would prefer working for a female boss. The width of the 95% confidence interval for the proportion of women who prefer a female boss is A) +/- . 0288 B) +/- . 0105 C) +/- . 0196 D) +/- . 0207 [pic] 18. Jolly Blue Giant Health Insurance (JBGHI) is concerned about rising lab test costs and would like to know what proportion of the positive lab tests for prostate cancer are actually proven correct through subsequent biopsy. JBGHI demands a sample large enough to ensure an error of +/- 2% with 90% confidence.What is the necessary sample size? A) 2,401 B) 1,692 C) 1,604 D) 609 [pic]19. A financial institution wishes to estimate the mean balances owed by its credit card customers. The population standard deviation is estimated to be $300. If a 98 percent confidence interval is used and an interval of +/- $75 is desired, how many cardholders should be sampled? A) 3382 B) 62 C) 629 87 20. For a one-tailed test of hypothesis for a single population mean with 13 degrees of freedom, the value of the test statistic was 1. 863. The p-value is A) between . 05 and . 025. B) between . 10 and . 05 C) greater than . 10 D) less than . 001.

Monday, July 29, 2019

The Lost Duke of Wyndham Chapter Sixteen

Jack did not sleep well that night, which left him irritable and out of sorts, so he dispensed with breakfast, where he was sure to run into persons with whom he might be expected to converse, and instead went directly outside for his now customary morning ride. It was one of the finest things about horses – they never expected conversation. He had no idea what he was meant to say to Grace once he saw her again. Lovely kissing you. Wish we'd done more. It was the truth, even if he'd been the one to cut them off. He'd been aching for her all night. He might have to marry this one. Jack stopped cold. Where had that come from? From your conscience, a niggling little voice – probably his conscience – told him. Damn. He really needed to get a better night's sleep. His conscience was never this loud. But could he? Marry her? It was certainly the only way he'd ever be able to bed her. Grace was not the sort of woman one dallied with. It wasn't a question of her birth, although that certainly was a factor. It was just†¦ her. The way she was. Her uncommon dignity, her quiet and sly humor. Marriage. What a curious notion. It wasn't that he'd been avoiding it. It was just that he'd never considered it. He was rarely in one place for long enough to form a lasting attachment. And his income was, by nature of his profession, sporadic. He wouldn't have dreamed of asking a woman to make a life with a highwayman. Except he wasn't a highwayman. Not any longer. The dowager had seen to that. â€Å"Lovely Lucy,† Jack murmured, patting his gelding on the neck before dismounting at the stables. He supposed he ought to give the poor thing a man's name. They'd been together for so long, though. It'd be hard to make the change. â€Å"My longest lasting attachment,† Jack murmured to himself as he walked back to the house. â€Å"Now that's pathetic.† Lucy was a prince, as far as horses went, but still, he was a horse. What did he have to offer Grace? He looked up at Belgrave, looming over him like a stone monster, and almost laughed. A dukedom, possibly. Good Lord, but he didn't want the thing. It was too much. And what if he wasn't the duke? He knew that he was, of course. His parents had been married; he was quite certain of that. But what if there was no proof? What if there had been a church fire? Or a flood? Or mice? Didn't mice nibble at paper? What if a mouse – no, what if an entire legion of mice had chewed through the vicarage register? It could happen. But what did he have to offer her if he was not the duke? Nothing. Nothing at all. A horse named Lucy, and a grandmother who, he was growing increasingly convinced, was the spawn of Satan. He had no skills to speak of – it was difficult to imagine parlaying his talents at highway thievery into any sort of honest employment. And he would not go back into the army. Even if it was respectable, it would take him away from his wife, and wasn't that the entire point? He supposed that Wyndham would pension him off with some cozy little rural property, as far away from Belgrave as possible. He would take it, of course; he'd never been one for misplaced pride. But what did he know about cozy little rural properties? He'd grown up in one but never bothered to pay attention to how it was run. He knew how to muck out a stall and flirt with the maids, but he was quite certain there was more to it than that, if one wanted to make a decent go of it. And then there was Belgrave, still looming over him, still blotting out the sun. Good Lord, if he did not think he could properly manage a small rural property, what the devil would he do with this? Not to mention the dozen or so other holdings in the Wyndham portfolio. The dowager had listed them one night at supper. He couldn't begin to imagine the paperwork he'd be required to review. Mounds of contracts, and ledgers, and proposals, and letters – his brain hurt just thinking of it. And yet, if he did not take the dukedom, if he somehow found a way to stop it all before it engulfed him – what would he have to offer Grace? His stomach was protesting his skipped breakfast, so he made haste up the steps to the castle's entrance and went inside. The hall was quite busy, with servants moving through, carrying out their myriad tasks, and his entrance went mostly unnoticed, which he did not mind. He pulled off his gloves and was rubbing his hands together to warm them back up when he glimpsed Grace at the other end of the hall. He did not think she'd seen him, and he started to go to her, but as he passed one of the drawing rooms, he heard an odd collection of voices and could not contain his curiosity. Pausing, he peeked in. â€Å"Lady Amelia,† he said with surprise. She was standing rather stiffly, her hands clasped tightly in front of her. He could not blame her. He was sure he'd feel tense and pinched if he were engaged to marry Wyndham. He entered the room to greet her. â€Å"I did not realize you had graced us with your lovely presence.† It was then that he noticed Wyndham. He couldn't not, really. The duke was emitting a rather macabre sound. Almost like laughter. Standing next to him was an older gentleman of middling height and paunch. He looked every inch the aristocrat, but his complexion was tanned and wind-worn, hinting at time spent out of doors. Lady Amelia coughed and swallowed, looking rather queasy. â€Å"Er, Father,† she said to the older man, â€Å"may I present Mr. Audley? He is a houseguest at Belgrave. I made his acquaintance the other day when I was here visiting Grace.† â€Å"Where is Grace?† Wyndham said. Something about his tone struck Jack as off, but nonetheless he said, â€Å"Just down the hall, actually. I was walking – â€Å" â€Å"I'm sure you were,† Wyndham snapped, not even looking at him. Then, to Lord Crowland: â€Å"Right. You wished to know my intentions.† Intentions? Jack stepped farther into the room. This could be nothing but interesting. â€Å"This might not be the best time,† Lady Amelia said. â€Å"No,† said Wyndham, his manner uncharacteristically grand. â€Å"This might be our only time.† While Jack was deciding what to make of that, Grace arrived. â€Å"You wished to see me, your grace?† For a moment Wyndham was nonplussed. â€Å"Was I that loud?† Graced motioned back toward the hall. â€Å"The footman heard you†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Ah yes, footmen abounded at Belgrave. It did make one wonder why the dowager thought she might actually be able to keep the journey to Ireland a secret. But if Wyndham minded, he did not show it. â€Å"Do come in, Miss Eversleigh,† he said, sweeping his arm in welcome. â€Å"You might as well have a seat at this farce.† Jack began to feel uneasy. He did not know his newfound cousin well, nor did he wish to, but this was not his customary behavior. Wyndham was too dramatic, too grand. He was a man pushed to the edge and teetering badly. Jack recognized the signs. He had been there himself. Should he intercede? He could make some sort of inane comment to pierce the tension. It might help, and it would certainly affirm what Wyndham already thought of him – rootless joker, not to be taken seriously. Jack decided to hold his tongue. He watched as Grace entered the room, taking a spot near the window. He was able to catch her eye, but only briefly. She looked just as puzzled as he, and a good deal more concerned. â€Å"I demand to know what is going on,† Lord Crowland said. â€Å"Of course,† Wyndham said. â€Å"How rude of me. Where are my manners?† Jack looked over at Grace. She had her hand over her mouth. â€Å"We've had quite an exciting week at Belgrave,† Wyndham continued. â€Å"Quite beyond my wildest imaginings.† â€Å"Your meaning?† Lord Crowland said curtly. â€Å"Ah, yes. You probably should know – this man, right here† – Thomas flicked a wrist toward Jack – â€Å"is my cousin. He might even be the duke.† He looked at Lord Crowland and shrugged. â€Å"We're not sure.† Silence. And then: â€Å"Oh dear God.† Jack looked sharply over to Lady Amelia. She'd gone white. He could not imagine what she must be thinking. â€Å"The trip to Ireland†¦Ã¢â‚¬  her father was saying. â€Å"Is to determine his legitimacy,† Wyndham confirmed. And then, with a morbidly jolly expression, he continued, â€Å"It's going to be quite a party. Even my grandmother is going.† Jack fought to keep the shock off his face, then looked over at Grace. She, too, was staring at the duke in horror. Lord Crowland's countenance, on the other hand, was nothing but grim. â€Å"We will join you,† he said. Lady Amelia lurched forward. â€Å"Father?† Her father didn't even turn around. â€Å"Stay out of this, Amelia.† â€Å"But – â€Å" â€Å"I assure you,† Wyndham cut in, â€Å"we will make our determinations with all possible haste and report back to you immediately.† â€Å"My daughter's future hangs in the balance,† Crowland returned hotly. â€Å"I will be there to examine the papers.† Wyndham's expression grew lethal, and his voice dangerously low. â€Å"Do you think we try to deceive you?† â€Å"I only look out for my daughter's rights.† â€Å"Father, please.† Amelia had come up to Crowland and placed her hand on his sleeve. â€Å"Please, just a moment.† â€Å"I said stay out of this!† her father yelled, and he shook her from his arm with enough force to cause her to stumble. Jack stepped forward to aid her, but Wyndham was there before he could blink. â€Å"Apologize to your daughter,† Wyndham said. Crowland sputtered in confusion. â€Å"What the devil are you talking about?† â€Å"Apologize to her!† Wyndham roared. â€Å"Your grace,† Amelia said, trying to insinuate herself between the two men. â€Å"Please, do not judge my father too harshly. These are exceptional circumstances.† â€Å"No one knows that more clearly than I.† But Wyndham wasn't looking at her as he said it, nor did he remove his eyes from her father's face when he added, â€Å"Apologize to Amelia or I will have you removed from the estate.† And for the first time, Jack admired him. He had already realized that he respected him, but that was not the same thing. Wyndham was a bore, in his humble opinion, but everything he did, every last decision and action – they were for others. It was all for Wyndham – the heritage, not the person. It was impossible not to respect such a man. But this was different. The duke wasn't standing up for his people, he was standing up for one person. It was a far more difficult thing to do. And yet, looking at Wyndham now, he would say that it had come as naturally as breathing. â€Å"I'm sorry,† Lord Crowland finally said, looking as if he was not quite certain what had just happened. â€Å"Amelia, you know I – â€Å" â€Å"I know,† she said, cutting him off. And then finally Jack found himself at center stage. â€Å"Who is this man?† Lord Crowland asked, thrusting an arm in his direction. Jack turned to Wyndham and quirked a brow, allowing him to answer. â€Å"He is the son of my father's elder brother,† Wyndham told Lord Crowland. â€Å"Charles?† Amelia asked. â€Å"John.† Lord Crowland nodded, still directing his questions to Wyndham. â€Å"Are you certain of this?† Thomas only shrugged. â€Å"You may look at the portrait yourself.† â€Å"But his name – â€Å" â€Å"Was Cavendish at birth,† Jack cut in. If he was going to be the subject of the discussion, he would bloody well be given a place in it. â€Å"I went by Cavendish-Audley at school. You may check the records, should you wish.† â€Å"Here?† Crowland asked. â€Å"In Enniskillen. I only came to England after serving in the army.† â€Å"I am satisfied that he is a blood relation,† Wyndham said quietly. â€Å"All that remains is to determine whether he is also one by law.† Jack looked to him in surprise. It was the first time he had publicly acknowledged him aloud as a relative. The earl did not comment. Not directly, at least. He just muttered, â€Å"This is a disaster,† and walked over to the window. And said nothing. Nor did anyone else. And then, in a voice low and furious, came the earl's comment. â€Å"I signed the contract in good faith,† he said, still staring out over the lawn. â€Å"Twenty years ago, I signed the contract.† Still no one spoke. Abruptly, he turned around. â€Å"Do you understand?† he demanded, glaring at Wyndham. â€Å"Your father came to me with his plans, and I agreed to them, believing you to be the rightful heir to the dukedom. She was to be a duchess. A duchess! Do you think I would have signed away my daughter had I known you were nothing but†¦but†¦Ã¢â‚¬  But one such as me, Jack wanted to say. But for once it did not seem the time or the place for a light, sly quip. And then Wyndham – Thomas, Jack suddenly decided he wished to call him – stared the earl down and said, â€Å"You may call me Mr. Cavendish, if you so desire. If you think it might help you to accustom yourself to the idea.† It was exactly what Jack would have wanted to say. If he'd been in Thomas's shoes. If he'd thought of it. But the earl was not cowed by the sarcastic rebuke. He glared at Thomas, practically shaking as he hissed, â€Å"I will not allow my daughter to be cheated. If you do not prove to be the right and lawful Duke of Wyndham, you may consider the betrothal null and void.† â€Å"As you wish,† Thomas said curtly. He made no argument, no indication that he might wish to fight for his betrothed. Jack looked over at Lady Amelia, then looked away. There were some things, some emotions, a gentleman could not watch. But when he turned back, he found himself face-to-face with the earl. Her father. And the man's finger was pointed at his chest. â€Å"If that is the case,† he said, â€Å"if you are the Duke of Wyndham, then you will marry her.† It took a great deal to render Jack Audley speechless. This, however, had done it. When he regained his voice, after a rather unattractive choking sound he assumed had come from his throat, he managed the following: â€Å"Oh. No.† â€Å"Oh, you will,† Crowland warned him. â€Å"You will marry her if I have to march you to the altar with my blunderbuss at your back.† â€Å"Father,† Lady Amelia cried out, â€Å"you cannot do this.† Crowland ignored his daughter completely. â€Å"My daughter is betrothed to the Duke of Wyndham, and the Duke of Wyndham she will marry.† â€Å"I am not the Duke of Wyndham,† Jack said, recovering some of his composure. â€Å"Not yet. Perhaps not ever. But I will be present when the truth comes out. And I will make sure she marries the right man.† Jack took his measure. Lord Crowland was not a feeble man, and although he did not exude quite the same haughty power as Wyndham, he clearly knew his worth and his place in society. He would not allow his daughter to be wronged. Jack respected that. If he had a daughter, he supposed he'd do the same. But not, he hoped, at the expense of an innocent man. He looked at Grace. Just for a moment. Fleeting, but he caught the expression in her eyes, the subdued horror at the unfolding scene. He would not give her up. Not for any bloody title, and certainly not to honor someone else's betrothal contract. â€Å"This is madness,† Jack said, looking around the room, unable to believe that he was the only one speaking in his defense. â€Å"I do not even know her.† â€Å"That is hardly a concern,† Crowland said gruffly. â€Å"You are mad,† Jack exclaimed. â€Å"I am not going to marry her.† He looked quickly at Amelia, then wished he hadn't. â€Å"My pardons, my lady,† he practically mumbled. â€Å"It is not personal.† Her head jerked a bit, fast and pained. It wasn't a yes, or a no, but more of a stricken acknowledgment, the sort of motion one made when it was all one was capable of. It ripped Jack straight through his gut. No, he told himself. This is not your responsibility. You do not have to make it right. And all around him, no one said a word in his defense. Grace, he understood, since it was not her position to do so, but by God, what about Wyndham? Didn't he care that Crowland was trying to give his fiancee away? But the duke just stood there, still as a stone, his eyes burning with something Jack could not identify. â€Å"I did not agree to this,† Jack said. â€Å"I signed no contract.† Surely that had to mean something. â€Å"Neither did he,† Crowland responded, with a shrug in Wyndham's direction. â€Å"His father did it.† â€Å"In his name,† Jack fairly yelled. â€Å"That is where you are wrong, Mr. Audley. It did not specify his name at all. My daughter, Amelia Honoria Rose, was to marry the seventh Duke of Wyndham.† â€Å"Really?† This, finally, from Thomas. â€Å"Have you not looked at the papers?† Jack demanded. â€Å"No,† Thomas said simply. â€Å"I never saw the need.† â€Å"Good God,† Jack swore, â€Å"I have fallen in with a band of bloody idiots.† No one contradicted him, he noticed. He looked desperately to Grace, who had to be the one sane member of humanity left in the building. But she would not meet his eyes. That was enough. He had to put an end to this. He stood straight and looked hard into Lord Crowland's face. â€Å"Sir,† he said, â€Å"I will not marry your daughter.† â€Å"Oh, you will.† But this was not said by Crowland. It was Thomas, stalking across the room, his eyes burning with barely contained rage. He did not stop until they were nearly nose-to-nose. â€Å"What did you say?† Jack asked, certain he'd heard incorrectly. From all he had seen, which, admittedly, wasn't much, Thomas rather liked his little fiancee. â€Å"This woman,† Thomas said, motioning back to Amelia, â€Å"has spent her entire life preparing to be the Duchess of Wyndham. I will not permit you to leave her life in shambles.† Around them the room went utterly still. Except for Amelia, who looked ready to crumble. â€Å"Do you understand me?† And Jack†¦Well, he was Jack, and so he simply lifted his brows, and he didn't quite smirk, but he was quite certain that his smile clearly lacked sincerity. He looked Thomas in the eye. â€Å"No.† Thomas said nothing. â€Å"No, I don't understand.† Jack shrugged. â€Å"Sorry.† Thomas looked at him. And then: â€Å"I believe I will kill you.† Lady Amelia let out a shriek and leapt forward, grabbing onto Thomas seconds before he could attack Jack. â€Å"You may steal my life away,† Thomas growled, just barely allowing her to subdue him. â€Å"You may steal my very name, but by God you will not steal hers.† â€Å"She has a name,† Jack said. â€Å"It's Willoughby. And for the love of God, she's the daughter of an earl. She'll find someone else.† â€Å"If you are the Duke of Wyndham,† Thomas said furiously, â€Å"you will honor your commitments.† â€Å"If I'm the Duke of Wyndham, then you can't tell me what to do.† â€Å"Amelia,† Thomas said with deadly calm, â€Å"release my arm.† If anything, she pulled him back. â€Å"I don't think that's a good idea.† Lord Crowland chose that moment to step between them. â€Å"Er, gentlemen, this is all hypothetical at this point. Perhaps we should wait until – â€Å" And then Jack saw his escape. â€Å"I wouldn't be the seventh duke, anyway,† he said. â€Å"I beg your pardon?† Crowland said, as if Jack were some irritant and not the man he was attempting to bludgeon into marrying his daughter. â€Å"I wouldn't.† Jack thought furiously, trying to put together all the details of the family history he'd learned in the past few days. He looked at Thomas. â€Å"Would I? Because your father was the sixth duke. Except he wasn't. Would he have been? If I was?† â€Å"What the devil are you talking about?† Crowland demanded. But Jack saw that Thomas understood his point precisely. And indeed, he said, â€Å"Your father died before his own father. If your parents were married, then you would have inherited upon the fifth duke's death, eliminating my father – and myself – from the succession entirely.† â€Å"Which makes me number six,† Jack said quietly. â€Å"Indeed.† â€Å"Then I am not bound to honor the contract,† Jack declared. â€Å"No court in the land would hold me to it. I doubt they'd do so even if I were the seventh duke.† â€Å"It is not to a legal court you must appeal,† Thomas said, â€Å"but to the court of your own moral responsibility.† â€Å"I did not ask for this,† Jack said. â€Å"Neither,† Thomas said softly, â€Å"did I.† Jack said nothing. His voice felt like it was trapped in his chest, pounding and rumbling and squeezing out the air. The room was growing hot, and his cravat felt tight, and in that moment, as his life was flipping and spiraling out of his control, he knew only one thing for certain. He had to get out. He looked over for Grace, but she'd moved. She was standing now by Amelia, holding her hand. He would not give her up. He could not. For the first time in his life he'd found someone who filled all the empty spaces in his heart. He did not know who he would be, once they went to Ireland and found whatever it was they all thought they were looking for. But whoever he was – duke, highwayman, soldier, rogue – he wanted her by his side. He loved her. He loved her. There were a million reasons he did not deserve her, but he loved her. And he was a selfish bastard, but he was going to marry her. He'd find a way. No matter who he was or what he owned. Maybe he was engaged to Amelia. He probably wasn't smart enough to understand the legalities of it all – certainly not without the contract in hand and someone to translate the legalspeak for him. He would marry Grace. He would. But first he had to go to Ireland. He couldn't marry Grace until he knew what he was, but more than that – he could not marry her until he'd atoned for his sins. And that could only be done in Ireland.

Entrepreneur interview & Personal Analysis Essay

Entrepreneur interview & Personal Analysis - Essay Example A decision maker, leader, communicator and a good team player is what an entrepreneur is. This paper provides an analysis of the personality of a small business entrepreneur. Entrepreneurial Interview This paper deals with analyzing and conducting the reflective study of the small business entrepreneurs. The interview conducted here reflects upon the background, motivating factors and personalities of the businessmen. The survey questionnaire contains 15 questions which are aimed upon discovering the personality traits and capacities. The survey has been conducted with the owner of fashion boutique, Ellen Sandry. Ellen has been a successful entrepreneur for a few months and has been really successful in quite a short time. Fashion industry has motivated him a lot and considering the interests, the interview responses have been analyzed below: What is you educational background? Ellen has studied fashion designing at a reputable institute and this education aroused interest in pursuin g the field of fashion as his personal career. Besides interest, Ellen feels that the scope of fashion industry has gained great heights in the present era and thus, it would be a good initiative to take up. What have your previous experiences been? The entrepreneur’s response to this question was amazing as he mentioned many experiences that he has been through recently. He has taught, worked as a steward at a hotel and interned at a local bank for a while. Later on, his professional enthusiasm compelled him to start his own business. How did you get into this business? In reply, Ellen mentioned that his interest brought him into this business. He had a passion for colors, beauty and money. Thus, this capacity seemed to be suitable. How many employees do you have? Ellen has only two people who look into his business. He calls them his helpers and pays them a good salary at the end of every month. They manage his boutique on a daily basis and even stay overtime and help Ellen wind up the necessary tasks. How do you finance your business? Ellen mentioned that he already had enough capital at the time of initiation of his business. Besides this, he takes small loans from the financial institutions and invests them into business. What have been the major challenges that you have countered while initiating and managing the business? Ellen Sandry has been a successful owner of a small boutique and earns good profits every month. According to him, it is necessary to take risks and accept challenges with good entrepreneurial skills. During the starting up of his fashion boutique, he had to counter the shortages of finance, skilled labor, and inventory. Moreover, decision-making was an area where he was not much confident. Besides this, arranging for a considerably sophisticated infrastructure also became a problem which he quickly managed with the help of his own skills. Do you take social and environmental factors into consideration? To this Ellen replied tha t while starting up his boutique, he assured that it will not create any negative externalities for the society. He took care of all the security standards, societal costs, and made sure that the environment is not affected from the existence of his business in any way. How does the economic environment impact your business? The economic booms and depressions impact all the businesses and similarly,

Sunday, July 28, 2019

Design a management control system to measure the iphone's success as Essay

Design a management control system to measure the iphone's success as an established brand - Essay Example Current Apple Product Offering One area of business that Apple seems to concentrate a great deal of resources is Research and Development (R&D). As the source of many loyal consumers’ frustration about the company, Apple is always upgrading their products (Chamberlin, 2011), presenting iPad 2, for example, less than one year after April 3, 2010 release date of the original iPad (InfoSync World, 2010). The two newest product categories Apple has introduced are the iPad and iPhone (Apple Inc., 2011). Other product categories the company offers include the iPod, a music device that comes in various sizes, styles, and storage capacities, such as iPod Shuffle, iPod Nano, iPod Touch, and iPod Classic. Apple also manufactures laptop and desktop computers called the MacBook and iMac, which also have other styles, sizes, and names, such as MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, Mac Mini, and Mac Pro (Apple Inc., 2011). Shareholder Value or Financial Perspective The financial objectives identified i n this section focus on market share, profits, and utilization of current assets. A company with unsold inventory is losing money every day they do not sell the products (The Business Place, 2009). Tracking the sale of these products by store and moving unused inventory to geographic locations that have potential to sell, if the products are available, as opposed to being manufactured, it is an excellent starting point. Continuing to monitor the location of all inventory and keeping the products mobile will help the company to achieve both of the other objectives in this section, which are increasing market share and profits. Customer Value Perspective In the section focusing on the company’s current and potential customers, the objectives are enriching relationships with current customers, reducing paperwork completed by employees, and generating â€Å"buzz† about new products like the iPhone. Customers do not want to feel as though they are simply revenue for the org anization. Taking time out to focus on the customers, gives the company an opportunity to gain insight through feedback they offer (Walinskas, 2011). If the customer is having issues, the company is aware of them before the customer complains. With the vast amount of technology available as forums for product complaints such as Twitter, Facebook and other social networking sites, and YouTube, customer satisfaction is a top priority (Bensen, 2010). Reducing the amount of paperwork completed by employees, potentially frees up time for these groups to spend focusing on the customer; proactivity requires attention. Customers appreciate immediate notification if a foreseen problem exists. Process or Internal Operation Perspective The two focuses of the three objectives in this section are training and communication. Empowering and developing employees, makes them more of an asset to the company. Knowledge is power, and educated employees ultimately make customers happier (Hobbs, 2011). C ommunicating this knowledge is the second piece of the process. Trained employees are not effective if they do not share their education with peers, customers, management, and all who they interact with during the regular course of business. Customers want

Saturday, July 27, 2019

Writer's choice Research Proposal Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Writer's choice - Research Proposal Example The development pattern of childhood obesity is similar to obesity in adults. In the past, questions have been raised over whether childhood obesity differs from obesity in adulthood. Research has shown that the definitive attributes of obesity are constant in all age groups. As children grow, fat cells multiply and when calorie intake outweighs expenditure, the number of fat cells increases. According to Farley & Dowell’s 2014 investigation, in the event that fat cells have attained their maximum size but calorie intake still outweighs expenditure, they (fat cells) continue expanding rapidly, leading to accumulation of fat in the body. This is what differentiates overweight children from obese children, although the two conditions are often confused. Fat loss results in a decrease in the size – not number – of the fat cells. Findings of a research conducted by Green (2013), show that there is a positive correlation between heightened levels of the hormone leptin and obesity. In research settings, leptin is commonly referred to as the â€Å"fat hormone,† the â€Å"obesity hormone,† or the â€Å"starvation hormone.† An increase or decrease in the amount of leptin secreted can affect calorie intake, calorie expenditure, and energy balance. For example, findings of a study conducted by Dawes (2014) reveal that obese children have higher blood leptin levels compared to those with normal weight because they have higher percentage body fat. Voigt, Nicholls & Williams (2014) conducted a study whose results suggested that obese children also exhibit resistance to the hormone in the same manner as type 2 diabetics show resistance to insulin. Their elevated levels of leptin mean that they cannot control hunger or their weight. On the other hand, obese children who lose weight experience a decline in blood leptin levels, leading to temporary declines in sympathetic tone, calorie expenditures in skeletal tissues, and thyroid

Friday, July 26, 2019

ASSIGNMENT SHEET -- BUSINESS LETTER Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

ASSIGNMENT SHEET -- BUSINESS LETTER - Essay Example You want $10000 in compensation. You attached a photo of the frog with the letter. However, with uttermost sincerity, it is my pleasure to inform you that Wal-Mart is a large and renowned company countrywide and the error that may have erupted during your consumption of our goods must have been an external factor rather than one caused by our own incompetence of quality service delivery. It is our duty to ensure that the usual high standards of our goods are maintained. Like mentioned above, am afraid we may not consider the misfortune you experienced a result of our incompetence since the company is a government certified company, with the entire permit to deliver these commodities to the customers. I did all the necessary investigations concerning our storage facilities and am happy to note that they are up to standard. We pack our goods with the greatest care, and we can only presume that the goods must have been mishandled after purchase. We always see to it that each vegetable mix is well checked before actual packing. The containers in which we store the veg etables are thoroughly cleaned on a daily basis thus cannot attract any pests whatsoever, leave their survival in there alone. The health officers also investigate us every month to see to it that our commodities are up to the standards; otherwise, there are high chances that we would have been closed down by now. I presume you must have bought a sealed product, as you did not mention that in your claim letter. However, being a loyal customer to Wal-Mart Company, and to show our goodwill to our customers, we are willing to extend a gesture of our kindness by allowing you a free shopping of goods of the same value or even dispatch the same to your area of residence. It is sad to note that your $1000 plea is rather too much and unacceptable especially when we are most innocent of the allegations. Wal-Mart may not be ready to offer that, especially for a foul not

Thursday, July 25, 2019

Personal Philosophy of Student sucess Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Personal Philosophy of Student sucess - Essay Example order to ensure that I earn more than a sheet of paper with a degree printed on it upon college graduation, I have set up some important guidelines so that my education, career, and life are set on the right track and a solid foundation. If a student sets off to college expecting professors to set his or her life’s course − whether we are talking values, career direction, or other goals − that student is playing a game of Russian roulette. Fortunately, I have been counseled at an early age to be accountable for my actions, and this is consistent with scholarly guidance being offered to college students today, which emphasizes that accepting personal responsibility for one’s actions is critical to achieving college success, (Downing 1). From this core value stem the ability to self-motivate, master self-management of one’s time and obligations, and establish interdependence – where one learns to give and receive essential information from others. Also, the power of choice to make wise decisions must be utilized (Downing 3), as one must use his or her cognitive skills to collect, organize, rehearse, and then evaluate information (Downing 16) before acting out. One barometer that I personally employ to gauge my personal choices is the Bible, which teaches me to â€Å"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your path straight. Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and shun evil,† (The NIV Study Bible, Prov. 3.5-7). I can always fall back on wise teachings such as this in order to stay grounded on a moral track and rely on the timeless discernment that has shaped this nation for centuries − and the world for millennia. When striving to set more specific and short-term goals, I find it beneficial to focus on positive ways to adapt well to academic demands and campus life. Impeccable attendance in class is always a top priority of mine − there is a direct

Wednesday, July 24, 2019

Plate Boundaries and Earthquake Featurs Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Plate Boundaries and Earthquake Featurs - Essay Example This analysis seeks to explain and help comprehend diverging zones. A boundary with divergence is a location where plates move apart while occurring above the growing convection currents. These currents rising push upon the base of the lithosphere, forcing it up while flowing beneath it. This tangential surge results in a drag of the plate substance over it, in a similar direction flow. At the apex of fortify, the overlying plate gets elongated thin, and because it cannot hold on anymore, it fractures and tows apart. Divergence occurs when the boundary plates move with different velocities both vertically and horizontally. According to Strickler’s 2nd law of GeoFanstasy, divergence occurs due to a massive stress at a tremendously slow rate on the boundary plates. The up and down movements result in distortion of the earth’s crusts resulting in fractures and joints, breaks and slips and folds. Krafla Volcano; the northern part of Iceland clearly shows the consequences of these plate movements. At the Krafla Volcano region, the current ground fractures continually widens as new ones emerge after a few months. In the period between 1975 and 1984, a number of rifting activities took place close to Krafla fissure region. A few of the rifting incidents were pursued by some significant volcanic activities; the ground gradually rose 1-2 meters prior to unexpected dropping, which signaled a looming eruption. In the era linking 1975 and 1984, the ground rose by a stunning 7 meters due to the plate divergence (Condie, 1997). The movement of the earths’ crust results in different formations. The conditions bringing forth these differences include the Temperature, Type and magnitude of the force and Rock type. Economic resources consist of naturally occurring materials of earth in dire demand for different uses. These economic resources include minerals, rocks and gases. Nature and divisions of these resources relate to geological structure and its hist ory resulting in a wealthy economic resource. Stop 2: Haiti an earthquake feature location Introduction An earthquake feature point is a place where there is a high activity underground resulting to frequent earthquakes and other tremors. Maps of Japan Map of Japan showing the three plates in contact The type of earthquake: Megathrust A Megathrust fault is a boundary connecting a sub-ducting zone and an overriding plate. A Megathrust quake results from an abrupt slip between the two plates down the fault line. It occurs in an area of Megathrust fault. An earthquake results from friction of plates and is increases as it progresses from one layer to another. Grinding of plates against the other is the main cause of earthquakes (Rafferty, 2011). Japan sits at the top of three continental plates rubbing against the other; the Pacific, the Eurasian and the Philippine Sea plates. These three plates continually rub against the other developing a tremendous pressure escaping with a vicious force. According to the Stille (2006), Japan is in a â€Å"ring of fire†, it experiences an earthquake every seven minutes. A seismic network takes down the measurements of the earthquake while a seismograph measures the magnitude or energy released while intensity is the strength the quake shakes things. The quakes produce two waves; P waves, a compressional wave and S or shear wave. The shear wave is slow

Information Systems Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 6000 words

Information Systems Management - Essay Example The next sections of the paper talks about value chain of Jupiter Business Systems by framing the main operations within the company. Further the SWOT and PEST analysis follow that represent the basic part before coming down to strategy overview. These analyses describe internal and external environment of the company. Later levels of the information management are critically evaluated basing on the information about Jupiter business operations. Finally the information systems strategy is proposed and recommendations for implementations are provided. Jupiter Business Systems is formed by a dedicated team of young and dynamic professionals. JBS offers various high quality end-to-end business management solutions with unique capabilities for business enterprise of all size. The Company provides innovative and easy-to-use applications that help businesses gain better control over business. Jupiter is therefore B2B Company rather than B2C. Its customized solutions support, specific business requirements and aid in identifying critical issues & accessing information at the right time lets to pursue customers' business goals with confidence. The mission of the company is to empower our clients by implementing complete and powerful end-to-end enterprise solutions thus enabling them to answer their present day business challenges and prepare for greater success in the future. Jupiter Company has partnership with multiple leading technology vendors which makes it the one-stop-shop for the very best in IT solutions for business. Possessing a dedicated team of innovative professionals who have worked in various business streams and industries, Jupiter delivers its customers a complete solution with an extra value of business management expertise. Jupiter flagship product the "Jupiter Business Manager" - a suite of business management solutions developed to meet the requirements of business enterprises of all size operating in the UAE and other Middle East countries. Its secure and reliable design accelerates the actual process of business automation while its flexible structure, designed to grow with your business, effectively combines easy functionality (across all key areas of the business) with high scalability. Organizational structure of Jupiter Business Systems is simple, since there are only 15 employees working for the Company, including ten employees in United Arab Emirates and five outsourced to other countries. The graphical representation of oorganizational structure has the following view: Graph 1: Organizational Structure of Jupiter Business Systems Management Structure includes management director and general manager who are owners of the company working since its very creation. Financing Debt is a department dedicated to managing the debt of the company that it has due to comparative novelty on the market. Two people are working at this department. Production team is the

Tuesday, July 23, 2019

Evaluative Report to Support a Marketing Environment Essay

Evaluative Report to Support a Marketing Environment - Essay Example Jack Cohen in East end of London started Tesco in 1919. It started when Jack Cohen began to sell surplus grocery from a stall in east London. It become a private limited company in 1932 and two years later the company built it’s headquarter and a warehouse. Later in 1947 its stocks were floated on the stock exchange and in 1956 it opened its first self-service supermarket. By 1995 Tesco had become the world leading retailer and a year later it launched a 24 hours trading. Currently Tesco operates in 14 markets across Europe, Asia, and North America. Tesco UK is the largest of the Tesco businesses contributing to over 60% of the group’s sales and profits. Its plan to build a better Tesco focuses on six key elements that are service & staff, stores and formats, price & value, Range & quality, Brand & Marketing and Clicks & Bricks (Tesco 2012). Throughout this report, we will be underpinning our empirical finding from our research with the theory from various appropriate literatures. We will show how practices on these two retail outlets correspond to the available theory of marketing practice available in various marketing literature. Moreover, we will also show how some of the practices in these two retail outlets deviate from the available theory of marketing and management.... Moreover these new technologies has enabled this retail outlet to make its retail transactions more efficient by reducing the delay in which the customers are served thus improving the retail productivity of these organization. Moreover, I found out that the two retail outlets have started to practice online retailing where customers are required to place their orders on the organizations website and then after paying for the products they have delivered to their homes. In a consumer oriented organization such as a retail organization, to gain a competitive advantage the business has to ensure that customers are served better as compared to their competitors (Cant 2004). In these two retail outlets, I found out that the service to the customers is the key objective of every employee. I found out that employees are placed in almost every subsection of the retail shop to assist the customer in case of any need. This actually has differentiated this retail outlet from their competitors and thus making them to have a competitive advantage in the areas where they are located. According to Dahlen et al. (2010), brand positioning for retailer brands involves the design and implementation of a retail mix to create an image of the retailer in the customers mind relative to its competitors. Using the quality and the attractiveness of the product these group of retailers put in its retail outlets, it has helped them in the brand positioning. As revealed by the information which I received from several customers that I talked to most of the customers have a very good image of this retail outlets. This kind of positioning that this retail outlets have employed have helped them to gain a competitive advantage over their competitors and thus

Monday, July 22, 2019

The Great Society Essay Example for Free

The Great Society Essay What is the Great Society? Lyndon Johnson came up with the Great Society of the 1960s. It helps with education and people in poverty. Medicaid and Medicare are also two big parts of the Great Society during the 1960s. Lyndon Baines Johnson was born on August 27, 1908. Johnson graduated from high school, at the age of 15, as a valedictorian, in 1924. When Johnson finally went to college, his tuition was only forty-five dollars per year. He went to South West Texas State Teachers College. He graduated at age 21, on August 17, 1930 (Morgan Reynolds Inc. ). Once Johnson graduated, he taught at the school. He was the principal and coach of the Debate Team. Johnson was offered a job as a US Representative and he accepted. Sadly, December 7, 1931, Johnson walked out of Union State in Washington D. C. He married Lady Bird three years later on November 24, 1934 (Morgan Reynolds Inc. ). What started Johnson to help society is when he saw his seventh and eighth graders digging in the trash, looking for something to eat. He decided to start a school’s lunch program after seeing that. He also came up with the idea of building â€Å"Roadside Parks† (Morgan Reynolds Inc. ). Johnson combined Civil Rights Act of 1964 and federal programs into a vision and that is how â€Å"The Great Society† all started. Johnson asked students to fight for four battles: Civil Rights, against poverty, and finally for the Great Society, which seeks a â€Å"richer life of mind and spirit† (LBJ Launches 1). July 30, 1965, one of the 90 laws for his Great Society, that was passed was Medicare (Devaney 100). Medicare became as much a part of America as Social Security (Devaney 116). President Truman said, â€Å"I’ve wanted the Medicare Act you’ll sign today for a long time. † when Johnson passed the law. Medicare Act will help pay medical bills for Americans of the age 65 or older (Wilmore 15). The Medicare program was a first step toward creating the system of national insurance. It provided federal funding for many of the medical cost of older Americans. It also overcame the bitter resistance to the idea of socialized medicine (Brinkley 471). Medicare did not carry the stigma that was attached to Medicaid, to some people (Naples). In 1963, most elderly Americans had no health insurance. Since 1965, 79 million Americans have signed up for Medicare. Democrats tried to preserve and expand Great Society programs such as Medicare. Medicare has had a defining impact on American families (Califano, Jr. ). Since 1966, Medicaid has served more than 200 million needy Americans (Califano, Jr. ). Medicaid is one of the largest Great Society programs (Brinkley 472). This healthcare system was said to be in crisis. This led people to fear that poverty might ne one severe illness or accident away (Sherrow 10). Health care payments come from public providers such as Medicaid (Sherrow 18). Congress approved the Medicaid program in 1967, to finance health care for the poor (Sherrow 39). People who qualified for Medicaid could choose among private services as well as public clinics and university outpatient departments. Medicaid gave millions of people more access to care although many physicians and providers chose not to accept Medicaid patients. Some administered their own Medicaid programs (Sherrow 39). By the 1970s, both Medicare and Medicaid provided coverage for all ages, poor, disabled, unemployed, blind, those who were unable to work, and dependent children with one parent (Sherrow 44). The Great Society is the latest stage in the evolution of Woodrow Wilson’s progressivism and Franklin Roosevelt’s Second Bill of Rights liberalism (LBJ Launches 1). The Great Society rests on abundance and liberty for all. It demands to end poverty and racial in justice. The Great Society is a place where every child can find knowledge to enrich his/her mind and to enlarge his/her talents (Johnson 3). It is a challenge constantly renewed beckoning us toward a destiny where the meaning of our lives matches the marvelous products of our labor. The Great Society was built to prove that our material progress is only the foundation (Lyndon 4). The Great Society was so we can build a richer life of mind and spirit. Woodrow Wilson once wrote: â€Å"Every man sent out from his university should be a man of his nation as well as a man of his time† (Lyndon 4). The Great Society is a term used to describe antipoverty legislation. The Great Society legislation targeted poor communities and individuals living in poverty as well as educational and employment practices (Naples). Education was another one of the Great Society’s main programs (LBJ Launches 1). Johnson’s Great Society articulates the vision of the students for a democratic society (LBJ Launches 2). The Great Society’s higher education legislation with scholarships, and etc. , is opened to any American with the necessary brains and ambition. The Great Society had a bilingual education designed to teach Hispanics subjects like math and history. These special educational programs have helped millions of children with learning disabilities (Califano, Jr. ). Expanding educational opportunities was one of the goals for the Great Society. 1965 Health Professions Educational Assistance Act provided resources to double the number of doctors graduating from medical schools. Educational programs such as Sesame Street, has also given the nation countless bows of fine arts (Califano, Jr. ). Parents send their children to college often with assistance with the Great Society higher programs like the Educational Act. It was announced at Ohio University that new majors spending programs that addressed education, medical care, urban problems, and transportation were launched during this period of the Great Society. Education was central to opening up the promise of American life to all. With the 1965 Secondary Education Act, the Great Society, for the first time, committed the federal government to helping local school districts (Califano, Jr. ). The goal of the Democratic Party under the leadership of President Johnson, is chiefly to enact domestic programs to improve education, provide medical care for the aged and to eliminate poverty. Johnson had so many goals for the society, in which many people took heed to. People may not know, but the Great Society is actually still going on today. Medicaid and Medicare, Educational Programs such as Job Corp, and many other programs of Johnson, has helped people lives until this day.

Sunday, July 21, 2019

Study of In-vivo Analgesic Activity in Animals

Study of In-vivo Analgesic Activity in Animals A) ANIMALS Swiss albino mice (20-25 g) and wistar rats (150-200 g) of either sex were used for study of in-vivo analgesic activity. Animals were kept under standard laboratory conditions i.e. temprature is 24  ± 2 °C and relative humidity is 60-70%. The study protocol was approved by the institutional animal ethics committee (IAEC) before experiment (Approval No. 1452/PO/a/11/CPCSEA). Albino-Swiss mice were taken from Laboratory Animal House, Devsthali Vidyapeeth College of Pharmacy, Lalpur, Rudrapur (U. S. Nagar) and used for the study. The animals were procured from IVRI, Bareilly (U.P.) The animals were kept in polypropylene cages and maintained on balanced ration with free access to clean drinking water. All experimental procedures were conducted in accordance with the guide for Care and use of laboratory animals and in accordance with the Local animal care and use committee. Paddy husk was provided as bedding material, which was cleaned every day. The cages were maintained clean. All o f the animals were left for 2 days in the laboratory for getting used to before the day of experiment and on the last day they were given water only. Minimum of 6 animals were used in each group. B) ACUTE TOXICITY STUDIES The acute oral toxicity studies were carried out to study the acute toxic effects and to determine minimum toxic dose of the synthesized compounds. For the study swiss albino mice of either sex weighing 20-25 g were used. The aqueous solution of compounds were administered orally to different groups of over night fasted mice at the doses of 30, 100, 300, 1000 and 3000 mg/kg body weight. After administration of the compounds, animals were observed continuously for any toxic manifestation for the first three hours. There after, observations were made at regular intervals for 24 hrs. Further the animals were under investigation up to a period of one week. I) ANALGESIC ACTIVITY For the study of analgesisc activity two methods were used. (A) Hot Plate method (B) Acetic caid induced writhing method A) Method 1: Hot plate method186,187,188,189 By applying heat pain is inced to animals. All the animals one by one are kept in the hot plate maintain at constant temperature (55 °C) and there reactions was noted i.e. paw licking or jumping response. Work plan Albino rats of either sex (150-200 g) were selected and divided into four groups of six animals each. All the animals were fasted for 24 hrs. before the start of the experiment and water was given adlibitum. The animals were treated as follows : Group 1 : Control group received 0.5% sodium CMC (1mg/kg) orally. Group 2 : Diclofenac sodium 50mg/kg were administered orally. Group 3 : Novel benzimidazole substituted pyrazolidine 3,5 dione derivative in dose level of 50mg/kg was administered orally. Group 4 : Novel 2-quinolone substituted pyrazolidine 3,5 dione derivative in dose level of 50mg/kg was administered orally. Here Group 1 is the control, group 2 is active standard and group 3 and group 4 are test. Experimental Details The hot plate method is based on the fact that analgesic compounds increases the response time. This method was first described by Eddy Leimbach, where a cut off period of 15 sec is observed to avoid damage to the paw. All the synthesized compounds were dissolved in the CMC (0.5% suspension). After administration of control, standard and test compounds the animals were kept at the hot plate and their reaction time were note at 15, 30, 60 120 min interval. All the doses were given orally to animals. Diclofenac Sodium at dose of 50 mg/kg was used standard drug for comparison. The results so obtained were tabulated in Table 10, 12, 14 and 16 and figure 07, 09, 11 and 13. Results were expressed as means  ± S.E.M. Statistical significance was analyzed using the two-way anova analysis of variance followed by Tukey’s Multiple Comparison Test where p B) Method 2: Acetic Acid Induced Writhing Method186,187,188,189 In this method pain is induced by intraperitoneal (I.P) administration of 0.6% (0.1 ml/10g) acetic acid in mice. Analgesic activity was determined by calculating total number of writhings. Work plan Albino mice of either sex (25-30 g) were used for the study. All the animals were fasted for 24 hrs. before the start of the experiment and water was given adlibitum. The animals were treated as follows : Group 1 : Control group received 0.5% sodium CMC (1mg/kg) orally. Group 2 : Diclofenac sodium 20mg/kg were administered orally. Group 3 : Novel benzimidazole substituted pyrazolidine 3,5 dione derivative in dose level of 20mg/kg was administered orally. Group 4 : Novel 2-quinolone substituted pyrazolidine 3,5 dione derivative in dose level of 20mg/kg was administered orally. Here Group 1 is the control, group 2 is active standard and group 3 and group 4 are test. Experimental Details All the synthesized compounds were administered intraperitonealy (0.5 ml) as a suspension in sterile 0.9% DMSO solution as vehicle. Diclofenac Sodium at dose of 20 mg/kg was used standard drug for comparison. Acetic acid solution was intraperitonealy administered 30 min after administration of the compounds. 10 min after intraperitoneal injection of acetic acid solution, the number of writhings per animal was recorded for 20 min. Control animals received an equal volume of vehicle. Results were expressed as means  ± S.E.M. Statistical significance was analyzed using the two-way anova analysis of variance followed by Tukey’s Multiple Comparison Test where p II) ANTI-PYRETIC ACTIVITY STUDIES:190 For antipyretic activity yeast induced pyrexia model was used for the study. Work plan Albino rats of either sex (150-200 g) were selected and divided into four groups of six animals each. All the animals were fasted for 24 hrs. before the start of the experiment and water was given adlibitum. The animals were treated as follows : Group 1 : Control group received 0.5% sodium CMC (1mg/kg) orally. Group 2 : Peracetamol 100mg/kg were administered orally. Group 3 : Novel benzimidazole substituted pyrazolidine 3,5 dione derivative in dose level of 100mg/kg was administered orally. Group 4 : Novel 2-quinolone substituted pyrazolidine 3,5 dione derivative in dose level of 100mg/kg was administered orally. Here Group 1 is the control, group 2 is active standard and group 3 and group 4 are test. Experimental Details For induction of fever in rats, 20% w/v of brewer’s yeast in distilled water was administered by subcutaneous injection. All animals which were used for study, were induced pyrexia by injection of 10 ml/kg of brewer’s yeast solution under the skin in between the shoulder blades. The place of the injection was massaged in order to spread the suspension beneath the skin. Basal rectal temperature was measured before the injection of yeast, by inserting digital clinical thermometer to a depth of 2 cm into the rectum. The rise in rectal temperature was recorded after 19 hours of yeast injection. The rectal temperature was taken after 30, 60, 120, 180 and 300 minutes post treatment. If a drug is having antipyretic effect then there is a fall in the rectal temprature. Results were expressed as means  ± S.E.M. Statistical significance was analyzed using the two-way anova analysis of variance followed by Tukey’s Multiple Comparison Test where p III) ANTI-INFLAMMATORY ACTIVITY: 186,187,188,189 For anti-inflammatory activity carrageenin-induced rat paw oedema method was used. Work plan Albino rats of either sex (150-200 g) were selected and divided into four groups of six animals each. All the animals were fasted for 24 hrs. before the start of the experiment and water was given adlibitum. The animals were treated as follows : Group 1 : Control group received sterile normal saline (0.85% NaCl) orally. Group 2 : Ibuprofen 20mg/kg were administered orally. Group 3 : Novel benzimidazole substituted pyrazolidine 3,5 dione derivative in dose level of 50mg/kg was administered orally. Group 4 : Novel 2-quinolone substituted pyrazolidine 3,5 dione derivative in dose level of 50mg/kg was administered orally. Here Group 1 is the control, group 2 is active standard and group 3 and group 4 are test. Experimental Details This method was described by Winter et al. in 1962. The experimental animals were divided into ten groups, each containing five animals. After 30 min of administration of test compounds, 0.1 ml of 1% (w/v) carrageenin was injected subcutaneously in the subplantar region of the left hind paw. The right paw served as a reference to non inflammed paw for comparison. The initial paw volume was measured within 30 sec of the carrageenin injection by plethysmometer. The relative increase in paw volume was measured in control, standard and test compounds at 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 h after the carrageenin injection. The difference between initial and final readings was taken as the volume of oedema and the percentage inhibition by the compounds was calculated using the formula- where dt is the difference in paw volume in the test compound-treated group and dc the difference in paw volume in the control group. Results were expressed as means  ± S.E.M. Statistical significance was analyzed using the two-way anova analysis of variance followed by Tukey’s Multiple Comparison Test where p Uttarakhand Technical University, Dehradun 1

Saturday, July 20, 2019

The responsibilities of a project manager

The responsibilities of a project manager

Founding Fathers Of The Usa :: essays research papers

There are many people who can be considered the indirect founding fathers of The United States. Such people are The Christian Crusaders, Marco Polo, Cortez, Pizarro, and Martin Luther. The Crusades were a series of holy wars fought to win the holy land of Christianity from those who follow Mohammed. Even though these wars failed in the respect of winning the land back, they did triumph in another aspect. The crusaders introduced a lifestyle to the Europeans in the Holy Land that was more appealing than they knew before. Following the wars the Europeans returned and they created a market to deliver the desirable goods they came accustomed to in the Holy Land. This was one reason for the beginning of exploration, and ultimately led to the discovery of America. Marco Polo was a great explorer of his time. He wrote a manuscript on his voyage entitled, "The Voyage of Marco Polo." In this manuscript it said how the Kahn of China lived in riches, used fine china, decorated with gold, and used spices. When the manuscript reached the people of Europe they realized how life could better if they had the materials as did the Khan. This discovery encouraged people to find new places to find these riches. Cortez founded the city of Tenochtitlan, which was created by the Aztecs in central Mexico. He said how the people of this town lived with the riches of a Khan. They city was advanced further than any European had seen in the New World. The ruler of this land, Montezuma, lived in huge room filled with "jewels, precious stones, silver, and an astonishing amount of gold." Soon after his arrival the Aztecs rebelled. Cortez had Indian and Spanish allies and won the battle against the Aztecs. News of the conquest of Mexico created a rush of Spanish to America and led to further settling of the continent. Francisco Pizarro found the empire of the Incas in the Andes Mountains region. This empire, like the Aztec Empire, was advanced and rich in gold and silver. Inca, the head of the Empire and was considered a God, was killed by Pizarro. This lessened the spirit of the Incas and made it easier for Pizarro and his men to succeed among them. This success, again, encouraged the Europeans to settle their own area. One of the best known reformers, Martin Luther, can be considered a founding father of The United States. Luther tried to reform the Church of England, and rid it of Catholic ways.

Friday, July 19, 2019

An Economic Approach To Surfing :: essays research papers fc

An Economic Approach to Surfing   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The following represents a specified depiction of a typical day of surfing for me, in a manner described using economic terminology. Although there are many definitions of surfing these days, including surfing the internet, surfing departments stores, magazine surfing, etc., we will focus on the meaning of surfing as it was originally intended, defined as â€Å"The water sport of riding the surf into shore† (Webster’s New World Dictionary, p.739) Using this, I will recount a surf trip a friend and I made to the beach a few years ago, beginning and ending at my home in Valley Center California. The Events I experienced will be depicted using primarily economic concepts. What would seem like ordinary events will be portrayed using an economic microscope of interpretation.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  It is five A.M. on a scorching Saturday morning in the summer of 1998, and I am awakened by the unpleasant sound of my alarm clock. Now you may be wondering why I am crazy enough to wake up this early on a Saturday, but for the dedicated surfer it is a necessity that one must take in order to maximize utility. Utility is defined as â€Å"A measure of the satisfaction, happiness, or benefit that results from the consumption of a good† (Arnold, p. 849). The good in this case being surfing, and in order for me to be fully satisfied, receive happiness, and benefit optimally from this good, I must awake early. By awaking at five A.M., I can prepare for surfing without other members of my family inhibiting me because they will all be asleep. Everything is quiet and peaceful, and this factor alone allows me to start my day in a sort of positive and spiritual mode.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The roads at this time in the morning are virtually empty, which enable me to arrive at the beach in approximately 20 minutes as opposed to 35 minutes during regular hours. The main concept explaining this circumstance has to do with supply and demand. At five A.M. the amount of traffic in relation to spaces available on streets and freeways is relatively small. At eight A.M. however, the amount of traffic in relation to spaces available on streets and freeways is relatively large, often causing extremely congested circumstances. Granted, my surf trip is on a Saturday, and most people have the weekend off from work, but the same economic concept applies on the weekend as it does during the week, but not as drastically.

Thursday, July 18, 2019

Computer Ethics and Information Systems

â€Å"Computer Ethics and Information Security† a. Introduction The consideration of computer ethics fundamentally emerged with the birth of computers. There was concern right away that computers would be used inappropriately to the detriment of society compromising information security, or that they would replace humans in many jobs, resulting in widespread job loss. Ethics- Guidelines or rules of conduct that govern our lives, work, behavior and communication in both public and private undertaking. Ethics are a set of moral principles that govern an individual or a group on what is acceptable behaviour while using a computer.Computer ethics is a set of moral principles that govern the usage of computers. One of the common issues of computer ethics is violation of copyright issues. Duplicating copyrighted content without the author’s approval, accessing personal information of others are some of the examples that violate ethical principles. Security – is the deg ree of protection to safeguard a nation, union of nations, persons or person against danger, damage, loss, and crime. Security as a form of protection are structures and processes that provide or improve security as a condition.Information security means protecting information and information systems from unauthorized access, use, disclosure, disruption, modification, perusal, inspection, recording or destruction Computer Ethics- is a branch of practical philosophy which deals with how computing professionals should make decisions regarding professional and social conduct. b. Discussion Computer Ethics Ethics deals with placing a â€Å"value† on acts according to whether they are â€Å"good† or â€Å"bad†. Every society has its rules about whether certain acts are ethical or not.These rules have been established as a result of consensus in society and are often written into laws. When computers first began to be used in society at large, the absence of ethical s tandards about their use and related issues caused some problems. However, as their use became widespread in every facet of our lives, discussions in computer ethics resulted in some kind of a consensus. Today, many of these rules have been formulated as laws, either national or international. Computer crimes and computer fraud are now common terms. There are laws against them, and veryone is responsible for knowing what constitutes computer crime and computer fraud. The Ten Commandments of computer ethics have been defined by the Computer Ethics Institute. Here is our interpretation of them: 1) Thou shalt not use a computer to harm other people: If it is unethical to harm people by making a bomb, for example, it is equally bad to write a program that handles the timing of the bomb. Or, to put it more simply, if it is bad to steal and destroy other people’s books and notebooks, it is equally bad to access and destroy their files. ) Thou shalt not interfere with other people's computer work: Computer viruses are small programs that disrupt other people’s computer work by destroying their files, taking huge amounts of computer time or memory, or by simply displaying annoying messages. Generating and consciously spreading computer viruses is unethical. 3) Thou shalt not snoop around in other people's files: Reading other people’s e-mail messages is as bad as opening and reading their letters: This is invading their privacy. Obtaining other people’s non-public files should be judged the same way as breaking into their rooms and stealing their documents.Text documents on the Internet may be protected by encryption. 4) Thou shalt not use a computer to steal: Using a computer to break into the accounts of a company or a bank and transferring money should be judged the same way as robbery. It is illegal and there are strict laws against it. 5) Thou shalt not use a computer to bear false witness: The Internet can spread untruth as fast as it can spread truth. Putting out false â€Å"information† to the world is bad. For instance, spreading false rumors about a person or false propaganda about historical events is wrong. ) Thou shalt not use or copy software for which you have not paid: Software is an intellectual product. In that way, it is like a book: Obtaining illegal copies of copyrighted software is as bad as photocopying a copyrighted book. There are laws against both. Information about the copyright owner can be embedded by a process called watermarking into pictures in the digital format. 7) Thou shalt not use other people's computer resources without authorization: Multiuser systems use user id’s and passwords to enforce their memory and time allocations, and to safeguard information.You should not try to bypass this authorization system. Hacking a system to break and bypass the authorization is unethical. 8) Thou shalt not appropriate other people's intellectual output: For example, the programs you write for the projects assigned in this course are your own intellectual output. Copying somebody else’s program without proper authorization is software piracy and is unethical. Intellectual property is a form of ownership, and may be protected by copyright laws. ) Thou shalt think about the social consequences of the program you write: You have to think about computer issues in a more general social framework: Can the program you write be used in a way that is harmful to society? For example, if you are working for an animation house, and are producing animated films for children, you are responsible for their contents. Do the animations include scenes that can be harmful to children? In the United States, the Communications Decency Act was an attempt by lawmakers to ban certain types of content from Internet websites to protect young children from harmful material.That law was struck down because it violated the free speech principles in that country's constitution. T he discussion, of course, is going on. 10) Thou shalt use a computer in ways that show consideration and respect: Just like public buses or banks, people using computer communications systems may find themselves in situations where there is some form of queuing and you have to wait for your turn and generally be nice to other people in the environment. The fact that you cannot see the people you are interacting with does not mean that you can be rude to them. Ethical Issues :- †¢Computers in the Workplace Computer Crime †¢ Privacy and Anonymity †¢ Intellectual Property †¢Professional Responsibility †¢Globalization Computers in the Workplace. Computers can pose a threat to jobs as people feel they may be replaced by them. However, the computer industry already has generated a wide variety of new jobs. When computers do not eliminate a job, they can radically alter it. In addition to job security concerns, another workplace concern is health and safety. It is a computer ethics issue to consider how computers impact health and job satisfaction when information technology is introduced into a workplace.Computer Crime. With the proliferation of computer viruses, spyware, phishing and fraud schemes, and hacking activity from every location in the world, computer crime and security are certainly topics of concern when discussing computer ethics. Besides outsiders, or hackers, many computer crimes, such as embezzlement or planting of logic bombs, are committed by trusted personnel who have authorization to use company computer systems. Privacy and Anonymity. One of the earliest computer ethics topics to arouse public interest was privacy.The ease and efficiency with which computers and networks can be used to gather, store, search, compare, retrieve, and share personal information make computer technology especially threatening to anyone who wishes to keep personal information out of the public domain or out of the hands of those who are perce ived as potential threats. The variety of privacy-related issues generated by computer technology has led to reexamination of the concept of privacy itself. Intellectual Property. One of the more controversial areas of computer ethics concerns the intellectual property rights connected with software ownership.Some people, like Richard Stallman, who started the Free Software Foundation, believe that software ownership should not be allowed at all. He claims that all information should be free, and all programs should be available for copying, studying, and modifying by anyone who wishes to do so. Others, such as Deborah Johnson, argue that software companies or programmers would not invest weeks and months of work and significant funds in the development of software if they could not get the investment back in the form of license fees or sales.Professional Responsibility and Globalization. Global networks such as the Internet and conglomerates of business-to-business network connecti ons are connecting people and information worldwide. Such globalization issues that include ethics considerations include: †¢Global laws †¢Global business †¢Global education †¢Global information flows †¢Information-rich and information-poor nations †¢Information interpretation The gap between rich and poor nations, and between rich and poor citizens in industrialized countries, is very wide.As educational opportunities, business and employment opportunities, medical services, and many other necessities of life move more and more into cyberspace, gaps between the rich and the poor may become even worse, leading to new ethical considerations. Common Computer Ethics Fallacies Although computer education is starting to be incorporated in lower grades in elementary schools, the lack of early computer education for most current adults led to several documented generally accepted fallacies that apply to nearly all computer users.As technology advances, these f allacies will change; new ones will arise, and some of the original fallacies will no longer exist as children learn at an earlier age about computer use, risks, security, and other associated information. There are more than described here, but Peter S. Tippett identified the following computer ethics fallacies, which have been widely discussed and generally accepted as being representative of the most common. The Computer Game Fallacy. Computer users tend to think that computers will generally prevent them from cheating and doing wrong.Programmers particularly believe that an error in programming syntax will prevent it from working, so that if a software program does indeed work, then it must be working correctly and preventing bad things or mistakes from happening. Even computer users in general have gotten the message that computers work with exacting accuracy and will not allow actions that should not occur. Of course, what computer users often do not consider is that although the computer operates under very strict rules, the software programs are written by humans and are just as susceptible to allowing bad things to happen as people often are in their own lives.Along with this, there is also the perception that a person can do something with a computer without being caught, so that if what is being done is not permissible, the computer should somehow prevent them from doing it. The Law-Abiding Citizen Fallacy. Laws provide guidance for many things, including computer use. Sometimes users confuse what is legal with regard to computer use with what is reasonable behavior for using computers. Laws basically define the minimum standard about which actions can be reasonably judged, but such laws also call for individual judgment.Computer users often do not realize they also have a responsibility to consider the ramifications of their actions and to behave accordingly. The Shatterproof Fallacy. Many, if not most, computer users believe that they can do littl e harm accidentally with a computer beyond perhaps erasing or messing up a file. However, computers are tools that can harm, even if computer users are unaware of the fact that their computer actions have actually hurt someone else in some way. For example, sending an email flame to a large group of recipients is the same as publicly humiliating them.Most people realize that they could be sued for libel for making such statements in a physical public forum, but may not realize they are also responsible for what they communicate and for their words and accusations on the Internet. As another example, forwarding e-mail without permission of the author can lead to harm or embarrassment if the original sender was communicating privately without expectation of his message being seen by any others. Also, using e-mail to stalk someone, to send spam, and to harass or offend the recipient in some way also are harmful uses of computers.Software piracy is yet another example of using computers to, in effect, hurt others. Generally, the shatterproof fallacy is the belief that what a person does with a computer can do minimal harm, and only affects perhaps a few files on the computer itself; it is not considering the impact of actions before doing them. The Candy-from-a-Baby Fallacy. Illegal and unethical activity, such as software piracy and plagiarism, are very easy to do with a computer. However, just because it is easy does not mean that it is right.Because of the ease with which computers can make copies, it is likely almost every computer user has committed software piracy of one form or another. The Software Publisher's Association (SPA) and Business Software Alliance (BSA) studies reveal software piracy costs companies multibillions of dollars. Copying a retail software package without paying for it is theft. Just because doing something wrong with a computer is easy does not mean it is ethical, legal, or acceptable. The Hacker's Fallacy.Numerous reports and public ations of the commonly accepted hacker belief is that it is acceptable to do anything with a computer as long as the motivation is to learn and not to gain or make a profit from such activities. This so-called hacker ethic is explored in more depth in the following section. The Free Information Fallacy. A somewhat curious opinion of many is the notion that information â€Å"wants to be free,† as mentioned earlier. It is suggested that this fallacy emerged from the fact that it is so easy to copy digital information and to distribute it widely.However, this line of thinking completely ignores the fact the copying and distribution of data is completely under the control and whim of the people who do it, and to a great extent, the people who allow it to happen. Hacking and Hacktivism Hacking is an ambivalent term, most commonly perceived as being part of criminal activities. However, hacking has been used to describe the work of individuals who have been associated with the open -source movement. Many of the developments in information technology have resulted from what has typically been considered as hacking activities.Manuel Castells considers hacker culture as the â€Å"informationalism† that incubates technological breakthrough, identifying hackers as the actors in the transition from an academically and institutionally constructed milieu of innovation to the emergence of self-organizing networks transcending organizational control. A hacker was originally a person who sought to understand computers as thoroughly as possible. Soon hacking came to be associated with phreaking, breaking into phone networks to make free phone calls, which is clearly illegal.The Hacker Ethic. The idea of a hacker ethic originates in the activities of the original hackers at MIT and Stanford in the 1950s and 1960s. Stephen Levy outlined the so-called hacker ethic as follows: 1. Access to computers should be unlimited and total. 2. All information should be free. 3. A uthority should be mistrusted and decentralization promoted. 4. Hackers should be judged solely by their skills at hacking, rather than by race, class, age, gender, or position. 5. Computers can be used to create art and beauty. . Computers can change your life for the better. The hacker ethic has three main functions: 1. It promotes the belief of individual activity over any form of corporate authority or system of ideals. 2. It supports a completely free-market approach to the exchange of and access to information. 3. It promotes the belief that computers can have a beneficial and life-changing effect. Such ideas are in conflict with a wide range of computer professionals' various codes of ethics. Ethics Codes of Conduct and ResourcesSeveral organizations and groups have defined the computer ethics their members should observe and practice. In fact, most professional organizations have adopted a code of ethics, a large percentage of which address how to handle information. To prov ide the ethics of all professional organizations related to computer use would fill a large book. The following are provided to give you an opportunity to compare similarities between the codes and, most interestingly, to note the differences and sometimes contradictions in the codes followed by the various diverse groups. Information SecurityInformation security means protecting information and information systems from unauthorized access, use, disclosure, disruption, modification, perusal, inspection, recording or destruction Information Security Attributes: or qualities, i. e. , Confidentiality, Integrity and Availability (CIA). Information Systems are decomposed in three main portions, hardware, software and communications with the purpose to help identify and apply information security industry standards, as mechanisms of protection and prevention, at three levels or layers: physical, personal and organizational.Essentially, procedures or policies are implemented to tell people (administrators, users and operators)how to use products to ensure information security within the organizations. Confidentiality Confidentiality is the term used to prevent the disclosure of information to unauthorized individuals or systems. For example, a credit card transaction on the Internet requires the credit card number to be transmitted from the buyer to the merchant and from the merchant to a transaction processing network.The system attempts to enforce confidentiality by encrypting the card number during transmission, by limiting the places where it might appear (in databases, log files, backups, printed receipts, and so on), and by restricting access to the places where it is stored. If an unauthorized party obtains the card number in any way, a breach of confidentiality has occurred. Confidentiality is necessary (but not sufficient) for maintaining the privacy of the people whose personal information a system holds. [citation needed] IntegrityIn information security, integrity means that data cannot be modified undetectably. [citation needed] This is not the same thing as referential integrity in databases, although it can be viewed as a special case of Consistency as understood in the classic ACID model of transaction processing. Integrity is violated when a message is actively modified in transit. Information security systems typically provide message integrity in addition to data confidentiality. Accessibility For any information system to serve its purpose, the information must be available when it is needed.This means that the computing systems used to store and process the information, the security controls used to protect it, and the communication channels used to access it must be functioning correctly. High availability systems aim to remain available at all times, preventing service disruptions due to power outages, hardware failures, and system upgrades. Ensuring availability also involves preventing denial-of-service attacks. Authent icity In computing, e-Business, and information security, it is necessary to ensure that the data, transactions, communications or documents (electronic or physical) are genuine.It is also important for authenticity to validate that both parties involved are who they claim they are. Non-repudiation In law, non-repudiation implies one's intention to fulfill their obligations to a contract. It also implies that one party of a transaction cannot deny having received a transaction nor can the other party deny having sent a transaction. Electronic commerce uses technology such as digital signatures and public key encryption to establish authenticity and non-repudiation. c. ConclusionImpact of Computer Ethics on Information Security The relationship between information security and computer ethics does not look, on the surface, readily obvious, and even appears remote. It is, however, credible. Culture, customs, trust and privacy that characterize security fall within the realm of ethics. Computer ethics alert information security management to ethical considerations and warn potential offenders of ethical consequences in situations where the technical tools or the legal measures fail.In these cases, an ethical decision may be helpful in bringing about a solution. Furthermore, this conclusion is consistent with the following premises with respect to technical controls, computer laws and computer ethics: †¢Premise 1: The information security management community has applied control tools to meet the information security objectives of safeguarding confidentiality against unauthorized access, upholding integrity and maintaining availability. However, detecting computer crime is difficult, because the act is either traceless or difficult to trace.Quantifying the damage is problematic since the victims all too often withhold reporting the crime for reasons including fear of recrimination and bad publicity. 8 Therefore, the technical control tools are ineffective, wi th respect to legal issues. †¢Premise 2: Computer laws have been enacted in various nations at an ever-increasing rate since the late 1980s, when business and the society at large were forced to face the magnitude and severity of damage not experienced prior to computer crimes. There has been a dramatic increase in specialized legislation to combat criminal behaviors related to computer crime, which include traditional crimes committed with the use of a computer and a variety of new, technologyspecific criminal behaviors spawned by the rapid emergence of computer technologies and the exponential expansion of the Internet. 10 However, despite the additional new laws, prosecution is deterred because the legal proceeding is a tardy, time-consuming and expensive process, even when there are well-justified intentions to proceed with legal action.Also, legislation always lags behind the event such that either no appropriate laws are found or the new law is too late for the case in ha nd. Hence, computer laws are at best a deterrent to computer crime, not a guardian of information. †¢Premise 3: Computer ethicists assert, on the one hand, that special ethical issues are raised because computers are special technology, and query, on the other hand, why there should be computer ethics since, for example, there is no such thing as telephone ethics even though the telephone is a special technology that makes a profound change on the way individuals communicate with others. 1 However, information security is worthy of ethical consideration as many decisions in information technology affect a wide range of stakeholders. National and international computer societies have promoted codes of ethical practice and even written these codes into their constitutions. As technology advances, computers continue to have a greater impact on society.Therefore, computer ethics promotes the discussion of how much influence computers should have in areas such as information securit y, artificial intelligence and human communication. As the world of computers evolves, computer ethics continues to create ethical standards that address new issues raised by new technologies. Reference http://www. isaca. org/Journal http://plato. stanford. edu/entries/ethics-computer/ http://www. cmpe. boun. edu. tr/~say/c150/intro/lit10. html