The Bear Minimum

Per your request, our group conducted research to determine whether costs or potential costs of the provisions of Big Bear Power’s lease of Goliath Co’s combustion turbine should be included in its minimum lease payments. We have provided a summary of the facts, our conclusion, the basis for our conclusion, and an analysis of possible alternatives to our conclusion as requested. Summary of the Facts Big Bear Power (the Company), a public utility company, is leasing a combustion turbine from Goliath Co. for a 10-year, non-cancelable term. The lease agreement was signed on December 15, 2004, and the company’s right to use the turbine starts on January 1, 2005. Big Bear Power has been financially strong for a number of years, has positive cash flow, and is in accordance with all of its debt covenants. The lease agreement contains three provisions, each of which has associated costs that may potentially need to be included in the calculation of minimum lease payments. The issue at hand is determining whether the costs in these provisions should, in fact, be included in minimum lease payments Conclusion Provision 1 Big Bear Power should not include the $500,000 negotiation fee in its minimum lease payments because, by definition, it is not an obligatory payment to be made toward the asset. On the other hand, the Company should include the $1 million legal fee in minimum lease payments since it is considered an initial direct cost made in connection with the leased property. Provision 2 The lease agreement includes a provision requiring a penalty payment if Big Bear’s bank declares it in default under its primary credit arrangement. This potential cost should be included in calculating minimum lease payments since a lack of predetermined criteria exists to determine default. Provision 3 The lease agreement stipulates Big Bear’s annual lease amount to be increased by the percentage increase in the Consumer Price Index (CPI). Because the lease payments depend on the index, it must be included in the calculation of the minimum lease payment at the inception of the lease agreement. Basis for Conclusion Provision 1 In the Financial Accounting Standards Board’s (FASB) Accounting Standards Codification (ASC) 840-10-25-5, minimum lease payments are â€Å"the payments that the lessee is obligated to make or can be required to make in connection with the leased property,† excluding contingent rentals, any guarantees of the lessor’s debt, and executory costs. Although negotiating fees incurred by Big Bear Power are not executory costs, the fees toward its external legal counsel are considered non-obligatory in nature and should be expensed. In contrast, legal fees paid by Big Bear Power on behalf of Goliath Co. an be categorized as initial direct costs under Statement of Financial Accounting Standards (SFAS) 91. Being defined as such, they can be included in the general description of payments they are obligated to make in connection with the lease agreement. Provision 2 Big Bear Power is subject to default if there is a â€Å"material adverse change† in its financial cond ition. FASB ASC 840-10-25-14 provides guidance for default covenants relating to nonperformance and provides four conditions as follows: a. The default covenant provision is customary in leasing arrangements. b. The occurrence of the event of default is objectively determinable. c. Predefined criteria, related solely to the lessee and its operations, has been established for the determination of the event of default. d. It is reasonable to assume, based on the facts and circumstances that exist at lease inception, that the event of default will not occur. In applying this condition, it is expected that entities would consider recent trends in the lessee's operations. The Codification states that if the lease agreement fails to meet all of these conditions, Big Bear Power must include the penalty in its minimum lease payments. As already stated in the information provided, condition (a) is met. Upon further analysis, condition (b) and (d) are also met—Big Bear’s bank is an objective third-party that will determine an occurrence of default, and Big Bear Power is financially strong with remote likelihood of default. While the facts imply that â€Å"material adverse change† is a predefined criterion to determine default, it is our contention that the lack of definition in the documents is sufficient evidence to not fulfill the third condition. Furthermore, the absence of a definition implies a lack of objectivity within the criteria; the phrase â€Å"material adverse change† provides no verifiable benchmark to which Big Bear Power can be examined through its operations, as mandated by the condition. Consequently, Big Bear Power should add the maximum amount of the penalty to the minimum lease payments. Provision 3 According to FASB ASC 840-10-25-4, the portion of lease payments that depends on an index, such as the Consumer Price Index(CPI), should be included in calculating minimum lease payments at lease inception. Big Bear’s lease payments are contingent on increases in the CPI, therefore it must follow this rule. The lease agreement states that Big Bear will pay $1 million per year, and the lease amount will change at each year-end by the increase in the index rate. Only the most recent CPI increase at inception will be included in minimum lease payments. Future increases in the index will not be included as they are considered a contingent rental. Analysis of Alternatives Provision 1 Alternative A debate of Provision 1 suggests that Big Bear Power should not include the $1 million in legal fees toward minimum lease payments. Initial direct costs may be considered transactions separate from the lease itself with benefits being realized at the time of exchange (International Accounting Standards Board [IASB], 2009). Their recognition as assets would be erroneous under this premise, and instead would require an immediate expense to the income statement. Still, it remains our team’s recommendation that the $1 million legal fees be treated as described, in accordance with the FASB’s logic behind fees closely-tied to a lease agreement. Provision 2 Alternative It can be contended that the required penalty payment under a declaration of default should not be included in the minimum lease payments. As stated, FASB ASC 840-10-25-14 provides four conditions, which, if all fulfilled, would not include the penalty in minimum lease payments. Based on those facts provided, and regardless of the definition behind â€Å"material adverse change†, it is arguable that a sufficient criterion exists to determine default. Furthermore, the criterion is established by a third-party with no relation to Goliath Company. This would fulfill condition (c). Provision 3 Alternative Alternative treatment of this provision would adjust minimum lease payments annually after 2005 for the annual increase in the Consumer Price Index. For example, if the lease payment in 2005 is $1 million and the most recent CPI increases by 4%, the lease payment would increase to $1,040,000 in 2006, and $1,081,600 in 2007. The reasoning for this approach is to more accurately measure the lease agreement for financial reporting. However, this method is not in agreement with FASB ASC 840-10-25-4, which states a lease dependent on an index should only include the index existing at lease inception when calculating minimum lease payments. References Financial Accounting Standards Board. (n. d. ). Accounting standards codification. Norwalk, CT: Financial Accounting Standards Board. Retrieved February 8, 2010. International Accounting Standards Board. (2009). IASB staff paper: leases – initial direct costs. London, United Kingdom: International Accounting Standards Board. Retrieved February 8, 2010. The Bear Minimum Per your request, our group conducted research to determine whether costs or potential costs of the provisions of Big Bear Power’s lease of Goliath Co’s combustion turbine should be included in its minimum lease payments. We have provided a summary of the facts, our conclusion, the basis for our conclusion, and an analysis of possible alternatives to our conclusion as requested. Summary of the Facts Big Bear Power (the Company), a public utility company, is leasing a combustion turbine from Goliath Co. for a 10-year, non-cancelable term. The lease agreement was signed on December 15, 2004, and the company’s right to use the turbine starts on January 1, 2005. Big Bear Power has been financially strong for a number of years, has positive cash flow, and is in accordance with all of its debt covenants. The lease agreement contains three provisions, each of which has associated costs that may potentially need to be included in the calculation of minimum lease payments. The issue at hand is determining whether the costs in these provisions should, in fact, be included in minimum lease payments Conclusion Provision 1 Big Bear Power should not include the $500,000 negotiation fee in its minimum lease payments because, by definition, it is not an obligatory payment to be made toward the asset. On the other hand, the Company should include the $1 million legal fee in minimum lease payments since it is considered an initial direct cost made in connection with the leased property. Provision 2 The lease agreement includes a provision requiring a penalty payment if Big Bear’s bank declares it in default under its primary credit arrangement. This potential cost should be included in calculating minimum lease payments since a lack of predetermined criteria exists to determine default. Provision 3 The lease agreement stipulates Big Bear’s annual lease amount to be increased by the percentage increase in the Consumer Price Index (CPI). Because the lease payments depend on the index, it must be included in the calculation of the minimum lease payment at the inception of the lease agreement. Basis for Conclusion Provision 1 In the Financial Accounting Standards Board’s (FASB) Accounting Standards Codification (ASC) 840-10-25-5, minimum lease payments are â€Å"the payments that the lessee is obligated to make or can be required to make in connection with the leased property,† excluding contingent rentals, any guarantees of the lessor’s debt, and executory costs. Although negotiating fees incurred by Big Bear Power are not executory costs, the fees toward its external legal counsel are considered non-obligatory in nature and should be expensed. In contrast, legal fees paid by Big Bear Power on behalf of Goliath Co. an be categorized as initial direct costs under Statement of Financial Accounting Standards (SFAS) 91. Being defined as such, they can be included in the general description of payments they are obligated to make in connection with the lease agreement. Provision 2 Big Bear Power is subject to default if there is a â€Å"material adverse change† in its financial cond ition. FASB ASC 840-10-25-14 provides guidance for default covenants relating to nonperformance and provides four conditions as follows: a. The default covenant provision is customary in leasing arrangements. b. The occurrence of the event of default is objectively determinable. c. Predefined criteria, related solely to the lessee and its operations, has been established for the determination of the event of default. d. It is reasonable to assume, based on the facts and circumstances that exist at lease inception, that the event of default will not occur. In applying this condition, it is expected that entities would consider recent trends in the lessee's operations. The Codification states that if the lease agreement fails to meet all of these conditions, Big Bear Power must include the penalty in its minimum lease payments. As already stated in the information provided, condition (a) is met. Upon further analysis, condition (b) and (d) are also met—Big Bear’s bank is an objective third-party that will determine an occurrence of default, and Big Bear Power is financially strong with remote likelihood of default. While the facts imply that â€Å"material adverse change† is a predefined criterion to determine default, it is our contention that the lack of definition in the documents is sufficient evidence to not fulfill the third condition. Furthermore, the absence of a definition implies a lack of objectivity within the criteria; the phrase â€Å"material adverse change† provides no verifiable benchmark to which Big Bear Power can be examined through its operations, as mandated by the condition. Consequently, Big Bear Power should add the maximum amount of the penalty to the minimum lease payments. Provision 3 According to FASB ASC 840-10-25-4, the portion of lease payments that depends on an index, such as the Consumer Price Index(CPI), should be included in calculating minimum lease payments at lease inception. Big Bear’s lease payments are contingent on increases in the CPI, therefore it must follow this rule. The lease agreement states that Big Bear will pay $1 million per year, and the lease amount will change at each year-end by the increase in the index rate. Only the most recent CPI increase at inception will be included in minimum lease payments. Future increases in the index will not be included as they are considered a contingent rental. Analysis of Alternatives Provision 1 Alternative A debate of Provision 1 suggests that Big Bear Power should not include the $1 million in legal fees toward minimum lease payments. Initial direct costs may be considered transactions separate from the lease itself with benefits being realized at the time of exchange (International Accounting Standards Board [IASB], 2009). Their recognition as assets would be erroneous under this premise, and instead would require an immediate expense to the income statement. Still, it remains our team’s recommendation that the $1 million legal fees be treated as described, in accordance with the FASB’s logic behind fees closely-tied to a lease agreement. Provision 2 Alternative It can be contended that the required penalty payment under a declaration of default should not be included in the minimum lease payments. As stated, FASB ASC 840-10-25-14 provides four conditions, which, if all fulfilled, would not include the penalty in minimum lease payments. Based on those facts provided, and regardless of the definition behind â€Å"material adverse change†, it is arguable that a sufficient criterion exists to determine default. Furthermore, the criterion is established by a third-party with no relation to Goliath Company. This would fulfill condition (c). Provision 3 Alternative Alternative treatment of this provision would adjust minimum lease payments annually after 2005 for the annual increase in the Consumer Price Index. For example, if the lease payment in 2005 is $1 million and the most recent CPI increases by 4%, the lease payment would increase to $1,040,000 in 2006, and $1,081,600 in 2007. The reasoning for this approach is to more accurately measure the lease agreement for financial reporting. However, this method is not in agreement with FASB ASC 840-10-25-4, which states a lease dependent on an index should only include the index existing at lease inception when calculating minimum lease payments. References Financial Accounting Standards Board. (n. d. ). Accounting standards codification. Norwalk, CT: Financial Accounting Standards Board. Retrieved February 8, 2010. International Accounting Standards Board. (2009). IASB staff paper: leases – initial direct costs. London, United Kingdom: International Accounting Standards Board. Retrieved February 8, 2010.

Assessment of the Essay of “the Fourth World War Has Begun

Globalization is a process that integrates all the nations around the world, by the unification of global economy with the worldwide exchange of products and services (David, 2002). With that unification, the other matters, such as politics, technology, capital, labor force and culture, all have to undergo a international interaction and fusion. The rapid developments of information and telecommunication technology in recent years, as well as the construction of infrastructure like transportation, have promoted and accelerated the globalization process by connecting people more closely and compressing the time and space for communication.As a result, the nations are becoming more closely interdependent in today’s world. The four basic aspects of globalization identified by the IMF (International Monetary Fund) in 2000 includes: the trade and transactions cross borders, capital flow and investment, international migration of people and spread of knowledge. Globalization is a ra ther controvertial topic and the supporters and opponents are both numerous. The essay of â€Å"The Fourth World War Has Begun† by Marcos focuses on the negative sides of globalization on a global perspective.First, the greedy and warlike logic of contemporary capitalism and markets, which has prospered since the end of the Cold War, is described. A comprehension of globalization as â€Å"world war† has been provided, and this war is fought between the candidates of ruling power of world economy, and the victims are the poor and the humanity, as well as the independence of states and national culture. What the war seeks is a redistribution of the world, and in the process more serious inequality has been caused.The national states have been subordinated to the logic of transnational financial power and commercial free trade, and are reduced to play the sole role of securing markets. Then a fragmented world caused by globalization, which intends on the unification, is d escried. And the tattered picture contains seven pieces that could not be combined together. The seven pieces are: inequality and poverty, globalization of exploitation, migration of people, the globalization of crime and state power, legitimate violence, the emergence of mega-politics, and the various forms of resistance. In the end of the essay, a fable is presented.The perspectives of Marcos will be assessed in the following respects. 1. Is globalization essentially evil? The interactions between people and states are necessary and inevitable with the progress of human society. It is recognized that the trade benefits all participants in the respect of absolute advantage and comparative advantage of goods production by different entities. The globalization has achieved this goal as the worldwide trade is realized in a single major market joined by the whole world. In that unified economic world produced by neoliberalism, the commodities not the people circulate freely.But the pro blem is the problem of justice for the current pattern of unification. Marcos has declared in the essay that the globalization has caused a fragmented world rather than a wholesome one, as certain groups of people who are no use to the new economy, like the indigenous, have been excluded, and it is the purpose of the ZNLA (Zapatista National Liberation Army) to maintain the unification of the Mexico country rather than split. It is declared that the threatening factors to the indigenous include the exploitation of the natural resources, environment pollution and so on.The fragmentation and inequality problem caused by the globalization are the results of the neo-liberal logic. The principles of free competition and maximization of individual profits classify people in the categories of â€Å"winner† and â€Å"loser† (Angelis, 2005). Those who are not adapted to the system are rejected as â€Å"losers†. As the economy framework is fundamentally designed based on the western ideas and criteria, the extension of it to other parts of the world would surely encounter resists and inadaptations.Under the claim of globalization, the transnational enterprises pursue the maximization of profits by the organization of primary materials, labor force, capital, technology, production process and consuming market on a worldwide scale. All the nations and regions that are serviceable to the process are reshaped and included in the major market. In the reorganization process, the resistant factors of people, culture, internal industry and market, as well as political system, have to be wiped out.The unification of the world may be the trend for the future, but it could not be done in a mode which is dominated by a sole culture, that of the western world. The diversification of the nations and regions have to be respected, considered and integrated in the system harmoniously. 2. Is globalization bad for the poor? In the essay, Marcos argues that globalizati on has exacerbated the problem of inequality and poverty. It is stated that the wealth have been accumulated for the few and the poverty for the majority of people. And more poverty is produced by with the progress of the major transnational companies.Whether the globalization has worsened the inequality problem is rather controversial. Lindert & Williamson (2003) argued that the globalization of products and factor markets probably has alleviated the rapid rise of income inequality between countries that are integrated into the global economy. It is found that the income distributions are converged in countries which are integrated more fully in the global economy, and the distributions are diverged between the active participants and the countries that remain isolated from the global economy.And among the participants in the global market, the effects are different regarding to the development stage of the country: the highly advanced, the regions of new settlement and the rest. A nd for the income inequality within nations, the effect globalization has gone both ways. For example, it is indicated that the market-oriented trade liberalization and globalization in Brazil, i. e. , the Mercosur trade reform, has a redistributing and pro-poor effect. It has been shown that the consumption good prices decreased after entering the Mercosur.Decreased poverty has been found after national trade liberalization but no significant inequality effects have been obtained (Borraz et al, 2012). It is found that both the inequality and poverty decreased with rising export exposure but the poverty increased with import penetration (Castilho, 2012). 3. The unemployment caused by the globalization It is argued in the essay the economic growth of companies has produced unemployment, poverty and precariousness of the workers by the reorganization of the economy process, namely, the production, circulation and consumption of goods.With that rearrangement is the reorganization of wo rk force and destruction of small and medium companies, which causes an excess of workforce that is disposable and precarious treatments for them. Inevitably, the migration for work becomes a nightmare for those without a job. It is indicated that the jobless growth has been made in the recent decades by the globalization of labor market, as the structure of economy has undergone a great change, which is indicated in the essay, as the workforce for agriculture has shrunk, and the service tertiary industry has greatly expanded.So the traditional jobs are reduced while new kinds of jobs have been created in the process, but they are not made for the indigenous people due to the cultural and educational factors. The unemployment indicated by Marcos is categorized as the structural unemployment, which is caused by the restructuring of the global economy and the emergence of global labor market due to the technology revolution (Overbeek, 2003).The globalization is characterized as a stag e of intensified commoditization in the global economy, where the globalization of labor markets is manifested. It is argued by Overbeek (2003) that this structural transformation is accompanied by the emergence of global neo-liberalism, as ideological orientation is permeated by the hegemonic concept of control. The competitiveness has become a key imperative and caused a massive shedding for the labor force, especially in the time of recession and economy crisis.The labor market reforms carried out in the 1990s were seen as one of the spear points of capitalist restructuring, not only by national governments and by international organizations, but also by business pressure groups. And in this process, unemployment has been defined as a trouble of individual employability and personal ability, rather than a result of the economy cycle. The recent global economy slowdown may produce a reduction of employment, and a re-alignment of labor force may be issued, which would produce a red istributive labor. 4. The role of the government in the globalization processMarcos declares that with down fall the national market, the material base of the state are dissipated by the power of free commercial markets, and the governments have been reduced to the economy managers and are commanded or teleconmmanded by the mega-enterprises, and the rights and interests of the citizens could not be protected. Not only the material bases of the states are destroyed, but also the history and culture of nations. This may be not true for all the countries that participate in global economy, as the national sovereign rights are not devoured in that degree.However, it is authentic that government policies are influenced by the major transnational commercial powers. There are various evidences for this argument. Rogowsk (2005) has studied the restraining of governmental policy by the capital mobility in the wave of globalization and neo-liberalism. With the progress of globalization, capit al flow faster and more easily between nations. In order to attract more investment, countries compete more actively and carry out capital-accommodating policies, while the local preferences or factor endowments are less regarded.It is controvertial whether the developing countries would benefit from the globaliziaiton when speculating the problem from different perspectives. Lindert & Williamson (2003) indicates that the countries that benefit most from the globalization are the developing countries that have adjusted their polices to make use of it, while those have not done that achieved the least. Besides the difference of effect on participants and non-participants, the impacts of different sources of globalization are also different. The influence of globalization on national economy depends on the position of the state in the global economy chain.The countries that merely provide natural and human resources are at the least significant end of the economy chain, while the deve loped countries with advantages in technology, capital and market enjoy most of the gains of the economy globaliziation. Without the development of national industry, the conditions of state could not be improved fundamentally and the growth is unsustainable. However, if the transformation and promotion of the national enterprises could be achieved in the globalization process, the country becomes a real beneficiary. The expeience of China is a good example of benefiting from globalization.While the Afircan and Ltain American countries undergo a slower progress and the economy mode has not been changed at root. The essential reason is the political independence of the state government. If the government fell to be the managers for the major transnational economy as stated in the essay, the state could not achieve a substantial development and industry transformation. And the independent government could also protect the history and culture of the state in the wave of globalization, ensuring the independence and integrity of the culture and achieving an advancement by the interaction with foreign cultures.

Interpersonal Communication Theories Essay

Identify Three Concepts from Any of the Interpersonal Communication Theories Interpersonal communication is as important as life itself for most of the people on this planet. Humans are social creatures, mostly, and the ways of communication are very important for building a healthy society through the construction of relationships between individuals. There are numerous theories of interpersonal communication that explain the process of building and supporting relationships with people around. The theory of Symbolic Interaction is one of such (Nelson). It has the following idea as base: people form some meaning and structure of everything around in a society using interactions. Then, people act according to the meanings they give to other people, events, things, etc. Moreover, the theory presupposes that the entire world is made of such social objects, named and determined by a society beforehand (Nelson). The theory has the following main concepts: society, self, and mind. Society. The basic social acts (the ones that create meaning only) must involve some kind of initial gesture from a person. Then, this act must receive some kind of response to this gesture from another person. Finally, some kind of result appears (Nelson). Life of any person is full of such moments, especially in childhood and youth. It is so because when a person learns new concepts and models of behavior, learning the life, this individual does something and then has to see the response to this action and only then this person will know what kind of act it is. The simplest example is smoking. Being a child, I was not aware that smoking is bad because I did not know about it. Then, at school, kids have been told that smoking is bad. However, children are maximalists, usually. We all have tried smoking and then it was considered as cool thing s because other kids gave the response that it was cool. Then, parents explained why it was bad and the problem was solved. Self. Understanding oneself is conditioned and shaped by interactions with others and the way they percept this person (Nelson). Most of people are worried about what others would say about them. Thus, self is usually defined based on the opinions of others regarding the personality of each individual. The best example is as follows: I came to study in a new school. The way I looked and acted from the beginning made the kids around me consider me as a normal, cool person. Therefore, my self image was shaped and supported by their attitude. Mind. People see how objects can be defined according to their understanding of how it is possible to react to them. Thus, people are able to think using significant symbols in order to respond to oneself (Nelson). In other words, people give objects meaning through symbolic thinking. As the example, the following case can be provided: when I was little, it was necessary to learn how to write. While I was not good at it, the pen and paper were my enemies and I did not like to do this exercise. However, after a series of attempts something started to come out. Thus, I gave these objects other meaning. It all happened because I reacted differently to these objects within some period giving them symbolic meaning. Symbolic thinking is the base of our perception of the world. Works Cited Nelson, L. D. Herbert Blumer’s Symbolic Interactionism. 1998. Web. 26 January 2012 .

Possible Effects of Budget Preparation on the Behavior of Laundry Essay

Possible Effects of Budget Preparation on the Behavior of Laundry Supervisor - Essay Example This research will begin with the possible effects of budget preparation on the behavior of laundry supervisor. Budgets fall under the category of responsibility accounting. The reason they are given this name is because laundry supervisor can be given enough discretion to manage her own department and at the same time she will be questioned on any results that were below the budgeted performance. It helps the higher level management is focus on their core competencies and organizational planning, setting up strategic goals and looking after other more important aspects of the business by giving the duty of performing day to day budget of one department within the organization to its supervisor. This is a motivational thing for the department supervisor as well. She will try to beat her own budget and achieve better performance if the budget achievement is linked with performance rewards. The current budget preparation process has certain big flaws. First of all since people closer t o the action were not consulted before making the budget, a lot of useful information would have been omitted from the budget preparation process. This is particularly bad as the supervisors might not be able to achieve their targets because the budget was not realistic and all blame will fall on the supervisors. Similarly, it will be impossible to link the laundry function of the organization with other functions. This will create negative synergy or less result from more effort. Certain functions of the laundry department and costs of laundry departments are linked with the results or decision taken by other departments. For example, it is the nursing department that decides on how frequently it will change the bedding of the patient. If they decide to change the bedding daily, whereas the budget was prepared keeping in mind that the bedding will be changed not before three days, then the costs of the laundry department will rise. If no alteration is made to the original or planne d budget than laundry supervisors will not even try to achieve the budget and their negative feelings towards the organizations will be reflected and translated to the entire organization. This will result in the performance decrease in the entire organization. Any variation in the budget should be investigated only when it is material to investigate the scenario. For example, a lowly amount of $10, even if the change is more than 5% should not be undertaken because the entire investigation process would further waste the resources of greater than $10. Hence, lowly amounts are not worth investigation and only those amounts which are large enough to contribute to the organizational saving should be investigated. In other words variances should only be investigated if the cost of doing research is less than the benefits obtained from the investigation. The current process of budget preparation is that each department has to look after the

Video Critique on the play Oklahoma Movie Review

Video Critique on the play Oklahoma - Movie Review Example Herein lies one of the first of several problems with the 1999 production: the stage space did not allow for the robust participation of the supporting cast as is seen in the 1955 film production. In the production’s premiere theme song, Oklahoma, the on-stage cast, except Jackman and his bride, played by Josephina Gabrielle, remain seated at the wedding dinner table, smiling, but otherwise uninvolved physically and emotionally, until the end of the number. Not much can be said for the cast’s emotional expression while they are chair singing, raising cups without much enthusiasm. When they finally rise and join in, it is a flat effect on the viewer because there continues to be a lack of physical interaction with the song. Jackman’s voice is flawless when he sings this theme song, and he radiates in his performance. Unfortunately, his radiance was not contagious among his partner, Gabrielle, or the rest of the cast. This is a failure in Nunn’s direction. O ther song scenes, like I Can’t Say No, have the same brilliance of voice, but not in the performance of the actors. It is as if the cast was unaware of the sense of pride-in-state, and without a sense of the American west in their performance. There were dialogue scenes that were of a high caliber, but this is a musical, and the musical scenes are vital to the overall production, and the performances were sorely lacking.

Operating System Simulator Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Operating System Simulator - Essay Example It also supports JRE version 1.2. Java as language offers various capabilities including running the application as a Java applet or as a java application. Therefore, this CPU process-scheduling simulator can be run either as a Java applet or as a Java application. This CPU process scheduling algorithm can be used to perform several experiments on different process scheduling algorithms. Tables of data, graphs, and Gantt charts in form of log files in HTML can be produced by the simulator at the end of each experimental run. One experiment can be carried out involving several processes, for instance, the experiment can be based on eight different CPU processes. The tabular data obtained for different CPU process scheduling algorithms can then be analyzed and important conclusions drawn. Graph or Gantt chart data obtained can also be analyzed. Comparison between the various CPU scheduling algorithms can be drawn and explained based on the analysis of such data and the conclusions arri ved at. The statistic to be evaluated and analyzed from the experimental runs includes data on processes throughput, CPU burst times, I/O Burst times, Waiting times, Turn Around time, and the ratio of CPU Burst Times to Time to Ready plus CPU Burst time. As noted earlier, this CPU process-scheduling simulator supports various CPU scheduling algorithms such as First Come, First Served (FCFS), Shortest Job First (SJF), and the Round Robin algorithm (RR). This simulator manual report will aim at reporting on experiments carried on two CPU process scheduling algorithms; the First Come, First Served (FCFS) algorithm, and the Shortest Job First (SJF) CPU scheduling algorithm. The experiment will be carried out on eight processes for both the algorithms and the characteristics of bot the algorithms evaluated based on those processes. Graphs, Gantt charts, and table data for both the CPU scheduling algorithms will be drawn, analyzed, and evaluated. The evaluation and analysis to be carried out is aimed at illustrating the differences between the two CPU process-scheduling algorithms based on the data obtained. Normally, it is expected that, for the Shortest Job First SJF also referred to as the shortest remaining CPU burst time first, the process with the shortest CPU burst time is the one that is executed first. For the First Come, First Served CPU scheduling algorithm, the first job to arrive in the ready queue is the one that is executed first, and it must be executed to completion before any other process takes up the CPU. However, there are scenarios such when there is an I/O request, a process being executed in the First Come, First Served algorithm is returned to the waiting time and a new process in the queue is executed before the other process continues executing. This is known as context switching and they are normally two. In the Shortest Job First CPU scheduling algorithm, there are scenarios where more than one process with the shortest CPU burst time; m ore than one process have the same CPU burst time exist in the ready queue. In such cases, these processes are evaluated depending on the time each job or process arrived in the ready queue, this implies some sort of First Come, First Served CPU scheduling algorithm is implemented, and the job that arrived in the re

Library Information studies- Research evaluation-Evaluation of sample Assignment

Library Information studies- Research evaluation-Evaluation of sample library questionnaire - Assignment Example re can not only effectively be used to gauge how to improve services and keep customers happy but it may also be used to provide powerful insights for the Library on how to keep their client base growing. Although there is no theoretical base for developing a good questionnaire, the success of any user survey can not be achieved without a properly well designed questionnaire. In this regard, the effectiveness of the survey questionnaires largely depends on how well they are designed, whether they have met the goals of the research, their appropriateness as well as their effectiveness in meeting the demands of the particular organization. This paper evaluates a user survey questionnaire that was designed used by Example Library during their user survey. The primary research goal of the user satisfaction survey used by the Example library is to collect data which will enable the library to evaluate how they would improve the quality of their Library services. With regard to the methods used, the researchers primarily used a set of customer satisfaction survey questionnaire that sought to determine the demographics, needs, interests as well as the expectations of their Library users. On the other hand, the expected outcome was that the user survey will be able to effectively measure the perceived customer satisfaction as well as their experience with the services and offerings of Example library. The appropriateness of questionnaire wording is critically important because it helps minimize bias in the results obtained from the respondents during the user survey. According to Grunlund (1993), poorly structured questions may lead respondents to answer the questions in a specific way. The questionnaire used by Example Library is appropriately worded and the authors have avoided the use of technical terms and jargons that may confuse the respondents. Similarly the researchers have effectively begun with a brief statement that was intended to explain the purpose of the

The Management of Global Trade Distribution Assignment

The Management of Global Trade Distribution - Assignment Example DHL has a considerable market share of around 40% of the Asian market (The Economist, 2012). FedEx accounts for the market share of around of 49%Â  in USA as compared to around 50% by the competitor UPS. FedEx has developed the fleet and service base that has built a strong reputation of the company. For example, GPS tracking, Online Solution (FedEx, 2012a), SenseAware (Business Wire, 2014) are some of the leading services from FedEx. The industry in which FedEx operates is highly competitive and it has low switching cost for buyers and suppliers. Also, the industry is affected by high oil prices. FedEx, with its service to the global market, has focused on building competitive edge with technological innovation and is ranked at the 91st position on the Forbes Most Valuable brands (Forbes, 2013). Competitive information technology orientation has taken the place of absolute advantage for FedEx. Change in the global trade agreements and patterns have a direct impact on the FedEx. FedEx supports FTA for the removal of barriers from Panama, Columbia, and South Korea. Furthermore, FedEx has capitalised the growth in global demand for the Korean products where Korea in all has generated $3.8 billion in the year 2011 (FedEx, 2012b). FedEx has planned to establish logistic hub in Pudong considering the global trade patterns between China to Europe where Shanghai Pudong International Airport is to take the position of hub (FedEx, 2012b). Hence, FedEx is keenly developing the comparative advantage from the changing global trade patterns. Furthermore, the company is also directly impacted by the varying regulations from country to country. For example, FedEx launched SenseAware in different market upon receiving security clearance from the respective countries’ and related organisations (Leung, 2011). Most recently it has expanded to 14 European countries and Canada. Such str ong connectivity with the movement of sensitive products has developed

Coporate social responsibility Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Coporate social responsibility - Article Example Srinivasan, in her article, emphases it is the responsibility of any business environment stakeholders to address the financial problems in the business environment of the developing economies, particularly in India. She notes that, in India, the key actors include the government, civil society, and the target businesses. However, Srinivasan notes that it is essential to examine distinct roles of each of these stakeholders. In understanding the roles of each stakeholder, Srinivasan cites  the  significance of evaluating  social, ethical, and environment challenges that have significantly changed the tradition upon which business is understood in India especially the way it is taught in business schools (Srinivasan, 2012; pg. 104). Thus, this article examines how ethical and social factors have affected the Indian business environment and the ways it can be improved. The Indian corporations are indulging in fields including education and health with innovative and sustainability ideas towards delivering affordable and scalable products into the market. In other words, the incorporation of new techniques and ideas of addressing social and ethical issues will change the nature of the business activities from the traditional ways of handling business (Srinivasan, 2012; pg. 10). ... In conclusion, it is apparent that Srinivasan advocates for changes in numerous social and ethical issues in the Indian business environment in order to achieve the desired profitable business environment. However, these changes must be aimed at complying with the global understanding. Importantly, if India needs to improve it economy through international businesses, it must create friendly external business environment. The external investors will only be interested in some specific factors in order to invest in India. Most of the investors will be interested in the leadership, how the Indians understand business society inter- relationship, the contribution of the corporate government and other stakeholders. These changes can never be achieved over night; therefore, it is the dire responsibility of then stakeholders to initiate these changes within the Indian business environment. Corporate Social Responsibility Can Be Profitable This article is a contribution of Ruben Hernandez-M urillo and Christopher J. Martinek in an attempt to highlight the profitability of the Corporate Social Responsibility. Notably, businesses and organizations often peg their social expansions on their corporate social responsibility (CSR) (Hernandez-Murillo and Martinek, 2009; pg. 01). Hernandez-Murillo and Martinek highlights how the corporate social responsibility usually embraces a broader group of stakeholders including the employees, customers, and the entire business community. Moreover, CSR often depicts the financial responsibilities to the stakeholders. Therefore, the main role of the CSR is to maintain reputable relationship through giving back to the community (Hernandez-Murillo and Martinek, 2009; pg. 01). Through the article, Hernandez-Murillo and

Islamophobia Essay Example for Free

Islamophobia Essay Islamophobia is controversy term that refers to perjudice and discrimination of Islam and muslim. It become more popular after attack of 11/9. Now, i’ll tell you about 11/9 issues, which is the series of 4 suicided attack organised by Al-Qaeda on the United states in 11 of september 2001. In that morning, 19 al-qaeda’s seized four passengers jet. And the hijackers intentionally crassh the 2 plane into PWTC in city of newyork. Thus, this tragedy had killed all passengers and most of the workers in the building involved. Both of towers collapsed within 2hours. Suspicion quickly fell on the al-Qaeda’s leader which is Osama bin Laden at that time. As we know that alQaeda such a muslims organization. Based on what had happened to american in this tragedy made the outsiders phobia to Islam and think that Islam suched a terrorist religion. I can give you one opinion of a British journalis in the indipendent, Johan Harry. He argues that authentic Islamophobia exist and consist of the nation that is a uniquely evil religon, more definitly war, like a fanantical than cristianity or budism or others. For more clear, let me tell you about a hindustan movies My Name Is Khan and I’m sure some of you have heard about this movie. The story about Rizwan Khan charactered by Shah Rukh Khan which is a sindrom Asperger. He’s meet his love in america state with a widow, mandira who is have a son named Sam. When they decided to married. Name’s of Sam should be change to Sameer Khan. And the name of khan create a prejudice Islam-christian. Until sameer Khan had been killed at the middle of the field in america by his friends. This is clearly shown the feelings of scared in american until they have to killed their own friends. In 1997 the British RunnymedeTrust defined that Islamophobia is as dread and hatred of Islam and let to the fear and dislike of all muslims. Stating that it also refers to the practise of discriminating againts muslims by excluding them from economic, social, pilitics and public life of the nation. It includes the perception that Islam has no values in common with other cultures is interior to the west and also is violent political ideology rather than a religion. The Runnymede report contrasted open and closed views of Islam, and stated that the following eight closed views are equated with Islamophobia: 1. Islam is seen as a monolithic bloc, static and unresponsive to change. 2. It is seen as separate and other. It does not have values in common with other cultures, is not affected by them and does not influence them. 3. It is  seen as inferior to the West. It is seen as barbaric, irrational, primitive, and sexist 4. It is seen as violent, aggressive, threatening, supportive of terrorism, and engaged in a clash of civilizations.

Set theory

Set theory Set Theory and Georg Cantor Georg Ferdinand Ludwig Phillipp Cantor, or Georg Cantor, was one of the groundbreaking mathematicians to approach the concept of infinity. He worked intensively with set theory, working with the cardinality of sets, one-to-one correspondence, transcendental numbers, and different types of infinity. Over the course of the study, we shall take a journey through Cantors life, works, and arguments. First, Richard Dedikind proposed the proposition of infinity. He, instead of constructing it, began to recognize it, avoiding an argument made by Gauss: I protest against the use of infinite magnitude as something completed, which in mathematics is never permissible. Infinity is merely a FaÃ' «on de parler, the real meaning being a limit which certain ratios have approached indefinitely near, while others are permitted to increase without restriction. Georg Ferdinand Ludwig Phillipp Cantor was born in 1845 in Saint Petersburg, Russia. He was a talented violinist having inherited skills from his father and mother. His father worked in the Saint Petersburg stock exchange. Cantor lived in Russia until he turned eleven. He got sick that year and the family moved to Germany to experience warmer winters. Cantor graduated from Darmstadt in 1860; in 1862, he was enrolled in the Federal Polytechnic Institution in Zurich. When his father died, he received an inheritance that enabled him to attend the university ofg Berlin in 1862. He received his PhD in 1867 for his math paper on number theory. Cantor first began teaching at a girls school. He then moved to the University of Halle where he would be promoted to Extraordinary Professor in 1872 and full professor in 1879. He achieved this status at the young age of 32. Unsatisfied, he wanted to pursue a better job. But his colleague, Leopold Kronecker fundamentally disagreed with Cantors studies. He believed it was incorrect to propose a set with certain qualities without giving certain examples. Georg Cantor suffered from his first bout with depression in 1884. Because of this he took a break from math and began to teach philosophy. He did begin to work with math again, but it was not of the same caliber as before. He tried to reconcile with Kronecker who enthusiastically accepted, but their views on mathematics and philosophy still opposed each other. Many people suggest that because of this conflict Cantor was depressed, but others think it was a cause of his bipolarity. Cantor retired from mathematics in 1913 and suffered from poverty because of WW1. He died on January 1918 in the asylum where he spent his final years. As a mathematician, Cantor contributed many things to the mathematical field. H developed Set theory. He developed countability, denumerability, and 1-to-1 correspondences between sets. He was the first mathematician to theorize different sizes of infinity. Back then infinity was more of a philosophical topic rather than a mathematical topic. Plus, he received a lot of criticism from Leopold Kronecker. So how is a set defined? Cantor defined a set as, â€Å"a collection into a whole, of definite, well-distinguished objects (called the elements of the set) of our perception or of our thought†. For example, every even number from 1 to 100 can be considered a set. Every prime number from 1 to 1000 can be considered a set. Even the amount of vegetables in the world can be considered a set. A set is just a group. In a set, order is not important, for the sets {1,2,3,4,5} and the sets {4,5,2,3,1} are considered equal. To write that set L is equal to set H, you could write L=H. For that to be true, all the elements in set L have to be in set H, and the elements would all have to be equal. If set L contained {1,2,3}, the set H must contain {1,2,3}. However, if L has only some of the elements of H, we call L a subset of H. To show that something is an element of L, we use the symbol â€Å"Ï µÃ¢â‚¬ . If mÏ µL, it represents â€Å"m is an element of set L†. To represent unions between sets, we use. L M means the union of sets L and M. We use the symbol when describing an intersection between sets. We use this notation when trying to find an element between two sets. To get a better representation of the use, let O be the set of odd integers from 1-10 and let P be the set of prime integers from 1-10. When we see O P, the elements of that intersection would be {3, 5, 7}. If we make a union between the sets, the elements of the union would be {1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 9}. You can think of union and intersections in the form of a Venn diagram. An intersection would be only the area where the circles intersect. A union would be the entire thing: the middle and the sides. Other important facts about set theory are cardinality and ordinal numbers. The cardinal number of a set represents the amount of elements in a set. An elements ordinal number shows where the number is in a sequence. Sometimes in well-ordered sets you can have each element with its ordinal number. Cantor developed the term enumerability. When a set is enumerable, it means that is cardinal number is the same size as the natural numbers or is the same size as a subset of the natural numbers. In a countable set, there exists an injective function. An injective function is when you can associate distinct values with distinct arguments. This is also referred to as a 1-to-1 function. In addition to injective functions, there is a surjective function where for the function f(x)= y, there exists more than one x value to one y value. Bijection is when for f(x) = y between sets, there exists one and only one value of y. a bijective function is different from an injective function because in an injective function, you can map all them elements from set A to set B with some elements in B left over when with a bijective function all the elements in set A must map over to set B with only one corresponding element. So where does this all tie into Cantors work? Well, to start off he was the first one to actually work with set theory. Through his work, he was able to prove that the set of odd integers is equal to the set of integers overall. For this proof, let us assume that the amount of even integers is equal to the amount of odd integers. Now, people will think, â€Å"But arent the odd integers a subset of the integers?† True, but subsets can have the same cardinality as the whole set. The way Cantor proved this was through proving the odd integers equal to the number of integers with a bijective function: f (x) = y = 2x+1, where x is an element of the entire set of integers. This way, -3 would go to –5, -2 would go to -3, -1 would go to -1, and 0 would go to -1. Through this, Cantor made a groundbreaking discovery. It would lead on to understanding different kinds of infinity. Cantor came up with two great theorems. The first one, Cantors Theorem showed that the power set of a set is larger than the set itself. A power set contains all the subsets of a set. Consider a set whose elements are {1, 2}. The power set of this set would be {{}, {1}, {2}, {1, 2}}. The cardinality of this power set is 4. 4 is greater than two. As we described before, we showed that two sets have the same cardinality if they have the same number of elements and there exists a 1 to 1 correspondence. He proved his theorem by finding a subset, B, that was not in A. Consider a set, A, and its power set P(A). The subset B would be represented by: F(x) is a general bijective function that maps the elements of set As power set to the elements of set A. This shows that for any element x of A, x is an element of B if and only if x does not equal f(x). But then that would mean x is an element of B where x isnt an element of f(x) and then x is not an element of B? Impossible! One of the most famous proofs of set theory was the diagonal proof by Cantor. He applied it to show that the real numbers were more numerous than the naturals, therefore proving the existence of uncountable sets. To prove it, we will use contradiction. Consider a list of the real numbers that could be put into a 1-to-1 correspondence with the naturals. 1 .5657678†¦ 2 .3364625†¦ 3 .2425364†¦ 4 .3544657†¦ 5 .3535465†¦ 6 .1324354†¦ 7 .2000000†¦ Because of their 1 to one correspondence, should we try to construct another element in the list of real numbers, it would already be accounted for. But what the diagonal argument did was it took the first digit of the fist element, the second digit of the second element and so on and so on, all the way to the nth digit and added one to each individual digit mod ten. What would happen is we would add one to the first digit 5 mod ten and get six. Then we would add 1 to the second digit 3 mod ten and get 4. The pattern of numbers follows a diagonal formation, such as the numbers highlighted below. 1 .5657678†¦ 2 .3364625†¦ 3 .2425364†¦ 4 .3544657†¦ 5 .3535465†¦ 6 .1324354†¦ 7 .2000000†¦ The digits we would get are 6, , 3, 5, 5, 6, and 1. From these digits, we make a decimal with each digit in the spot respective to the element they were taken from. For example, 6 would be the first digit because it was taken from the 1st element. 4 would be the next one for it was taken from the second element, and so on and so on. Following that pattern, we would construct the number .6435561†¦. This beauty of this proof is we have just constructed a number that isnt part of the list! Why? For example, if we looked at the mth digit of this new number and the mth digit of the mth element of the list, we would see that they differ by that one number, thereby having created a new number. What we have done here is just made a way to make an infinite list strictly larger than the naturals therefore proving the existence of uncountable sets. What makes this proof so much more amazing is that there are so many ways to represent it. I used decimals to represent it. However, other peop le might use two variables and just switch them when changing by one. Other people might only use 0 and 1. Cantors work became an important part of other mathematicians work. It became an important part in Russells Paradox, Godels Incompleteness theorem, and Turings Entscheidungsproblem (German for â€Å"decision problem†) Through Cantors groundbreaking work, mathematicians were finally able to approach the concept of infinity. No longer was the topic reserved for the philosophers. Infinity could be used as a mathematical field.