The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time Essays

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time takes place in the year 1998 in and around the town of Swindon, England. The fifteen-year-old narrator of the story, Christopher John Francis Boone, discovers the slain body of his neighbor?s poodle, Wellington, on the neighbor?s front lawn one evening and sets out to uncover the murderer. His investigation is at times aided, and at other times hampered, by the mild form of autism he lives with. After Christopher hits a policeman in a misunderstanding at the scene of the crime, the police take Christopher into custody. They release Christopher with only a stern warning, under the condition that he promises to them and to his father not to look into the murder any further. Christopher chronicles his investigation in a book?the book we are reading?as part of a school assignment. Ignoring repeated warnings from his father, Christopher investigates the crime scene and conducts interviews with the residents of his block. He uncovers a more tangled plot than was first apparent when he discovers that his father and the owner of the slain dog, Mrs. Shears, had a romantic affair. He subsequently learns that their affair began in reaction to another relationship, one carried on between Mr. Shears and Christopher?s mother, before she disappeared from Christopher?s life. At school, Christopher prepares for an A-level math exam that will enable him to attend a university, a feat no other child at his school has managed. He also continues to work on his book. Upon returning home one afternoon, Christopher accidentally leaves his book in plain view on the kitchen table. His father reads it, becomes angry, and confiscates it. Later, Christopher searches for the book and uncovers a series of letters, hidden in a shirt box in his father?s closet, addressed to him from his supposedly dead mother. The letters chronicle a life that his mother has continued to lead with Mr. Shears in London and contain repeated requests for Christopher to respond. In shock, Christopher passes out in his bedroom surrounded by the evidence of his father?s deception. When Father comes home and realizes what has happened, he breaks down in tears. He apologizes for his lies, explaining that he acted out of a desire to protect Christopher from the knowledge of his mother?s abandonme nt of the family. Christopher?s father also admits to killing Wellington after an argument with Mrs. Shears, his lover. Christopher, now terrified of his father and feeling he can no longer trust him, sneaks out of the house and travels to London to live with his mother. During a harrowing journey, he copes with and overcomes the social fears and limitations of his condition, dodges police, and almost gets hit by a train. His arrival at his mother?s flat comes as a total surprise to her, as she had no idea that Christopher?s father had been withholding her letters. Christopher settles in for a time at his mother and Mr. Shears?s flat, but friction caused by his presence shortly results in his mother?s decision to leave Mr. Shears to return to Swindon. Christopher moves into a new apartment with his mother and begins to receive regular visits from his father. When Christopher?s pet rat Toby dies, Christopher?s father gives Christopher a puppy. At school, Christopher sits for his A-level math exam and receives an A grade, the best possible score. The novel ends with Christopher planning to take more A-l evel exams in physics and further math, and then attend a university in another town. He knows that he can do all of this because he solved the mystery of Wellington?s murder, was brave enough to find his mother, and wrote the book that we have read. Christopher?s defining characteristic is his inability to imagine the thoughts and feelings of other people. In other words, he cannot empathize. Because he cannot imagine what another person is thinking, he cannot tell when a person speaks sarcastically, or determine a person?s mood by his facial expression. This inability to empathize is one of the most prominent features of autism-related disorders, and this characteristic as well as a few others?Christopher?s difficulty understanding metaphors, his fixation on certain topics, and his computer-like ability

Ironclads essays

Ironclads essays In 1861 the Merrimack was captured by the Confederates. They turned it into an ironclad by placing iron on it. To counter it the Union created its own ironclad. The Monitor was born. Here are some of the ways ironclads impacted the navel warfare in the Civil War. Ironclads were ships built in a new technological way. They were platted with iron. The iron was placed in a way so that cannon balls were deflected. These new ships made wooden ships inferior. Ironclads could destroy wood ships by ramming them of by shooting them. The wooden ships couldnt harm the ironclads because of the cannon balls would bounce off them. Ironclads could also attack forts and land forces. Ironclads were not effective fighting other ironclads. The Battle of the Ironclads between the Monitor and the Merrimack lasted around four hours. When they shot each other the cannon balls just bounced off. The Merrimack tried to ram the Monitor, but failed. At times they were so close the bumped into each other. They were two matched forces, it was a draw. Nothing could match the force of an ironclad. In May 1862 the Confederates scuttled and burned the Merrimack so that the Union could not capture it. The Monitor sank in a storm as it traveled from Hampton Roads, were the battle took place. Ironclads were never used again in the Civil War after that battle. The only thing that stopped them was a storm and a side that was afraid of their ironclad being captured. The ironclads led up to the warships of today. They are like the great grandparents of todays iron warships. This is how ironclads impacted navel warfare in the Civil War. ...

History and Evolution of the Smart Pill

History and Evolution of the Smart Pill The name of smart pill now refers to any pill that can deliver or control its delivery of medicine without the patient having to take action beyond the initial swallow. The phrase smart pill became popular after the computer controlled medical device was patented by Jerome Schentag and David DAndrea, and named one of the top inventions of 1992 by Popular Science magazine. However, now the name has become generic and many companies are using the name smart pill.   History of the Smart Pill Jerome Schentag, professor of pharmaceutic science at the University of Buffalo, invented the computer-controlled smart pill, which can be electronically tracked and instructed to deliver a drug to a predetermined location in the gastrointestinal tract. David DAndrea was the co-inventor. UB reporter Ellen Goldbaum describes the smart pill as a combination of microminiature electronics, mechanical and software engineering, and pharmaceutical sciences. This capsule represents a significant advance in medical technology, said DAndrea to UB reporters, With the Smart Pill, we have been able to miniaturize a complex electronic system and put it into a capsule about one inch long. Youre not just taking a pill, youre swallowing the instrument. David DAndrea is the president and chief executive officer of Gastrotarget, Inc. the manufacturers of the Smart Pill. Jerome Schentag is the companys vice president of research and development. DAndrea is also the director of Millard Fillmore Hospitals Engineering and Devices Laboratory.

Contemporary Entrepreneurial Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Contemporary Entrepreneurial - Essay Example Information was also sourced from reliable online sources such as newspaper articles of major media houses such as CNN, and reports posted on websites of international financial and economic organizations such as the International Monetary Fund and the Organization for Economic Cooperation-operation and Development. These online reports were used because they obtain their information from official government sources and thus this information is valid. In addition, online articles of peer-reviewed economic and business journals were used because in some, cases hard copies were not available. The Greek small and medium enterprise (SME) sector plays a very crucial role in the country’s economic development. The SME sector employs the majority of Greece’s labor force and accounts for two thirds of the non-primary sector sales volume. The SME sector has particularly been important in the wake of the debt and economic crises that have been facing Greece for a couple of years now. As numerous companies went bankrupt and retrenched thousands of workers, the SME sector proved to be a valuable source of employment as it absorbed many of the employees who lost their jobs (Markatou, 2012, 56 – 65). Although many SMEs also went bankrupt because of the crisis, majority of them survived, and many start-ups are still coming up as a result of entrepreneurship driven by innovation. The general decrease in demand for goods due to falling income levels led to fierce competition among SMEs forcing businesses to initiate value-driven innovations in a bid to obtain an ed ge over competitors. Through the PESTLE analysis, this report evaluated the competitiveness of Greek SMEs by analyzing the factors that affect the ability of businesses to become or remain competitive. Factors that this report analyzes are the PESTLE factors which include political, economic, social, technological, legal, and environmental factors. The political factors that affect the ability of

Sales and purchase Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Sales and purchase - Essay Example The input data that is required are item category, brand, quantity, cost, customer detail (name, address, phone and birthday), mode of payment, mode of sale and special scheme (e.g. discount). Once these data are entered into the system, it undergoes various processes before finally culminating in the delivery of the item. These processes can be broadly classified into six main areas; 2. The system then differentiates the mode of sale and categorising it into direct sale order or internet based order. This gives the management to make appropriate strategies and plans for their existing or emerging market. 3. With category and brand specified, it then checks for the stock status so that in case of any shortfall, alternative brands can be suggested or sold. This information (category and brand) also help to market other products that may add value to the items asked for. 4. The system then checks for any special offer or discount that the item might have at that particular time. This is an important process because the current market scenario has necessitated introduction of special schemes to attract customers in order to main their competitive edge. 'The ultimate schedule (discount) is one which maximises the suppliers' resultant economic gain, but does so at absolutely no added cost to the buyer' (Monahan, 1984). 5. If the mode of payment is other than cash transaction, the system performs credit check for the customer and accordingly, informs and suggests the customer for alternatives for payment schedules. 6. The system then confirms or refuses the sale/ purchase order and sends the same information on the terminal and generates invoice or sale/ purchase receipt. The completion of sales order is but the first of many other requisites of the input information that are essential for the management of the company. The growth and the future prospects of the business depend on the input data as they are able to divulge vital information about the products and the customers. The sale processing data helps the management to disseminate information that can be categorised into the following output formats; 1. The input data helps to generate current inventory status so that the products that need fresh stocks can be ordered much in advance. 2. The data also helps the management to assess the order flow pattern of the products and services so that the management is able to take appropriate steps in meeting the demands of their customer either by increasing the shopping hours or employing more staff to deal with the rush. This helps the management to maintain a high level of customer satisfaction and general efficiency. This applies both to the days of the months and the specific hours of the day, during which there is marked difference in the sales and purchase pattern. 3. The data also help in finding out the popular items which are sold or purchased as well as the brands that are preferred thus helping the firm to introduce items or products that add value to the ones that are already popular. 4. The management can also maintain its client base by making efforts to

Asher Farms Essay Example for Free

Asher Farms Essay Political – In class the major political topic that we focused on was possible affects on the industry if immigration laws became stricter. This industry is highly dependent on cheap labor. If all of a sudden there were not enough workers in the industry there would not be enough chicken available to meet the demand. Economic – Evident from the case, the chicken market is heavily influenced by currency fluctuation. This is because 15% of the total poultry production is exported and therefore changes in the price of the dollar can make chicken much more expensive in other countries or it can have a reverse effect. Social – Over the past couple of decades there has clearly been a shift in the amount of different types of meat products that are consumed. Those who watch their what they eat are more likely to eat chicken for the high protein benefits and minimizing some of the harmful affects of red meat. Technological – There had been a strong push for more efficient technology to be produced in this industry. The technology developments range from the machinery that does some of the work to new genetic engineering of the food that the chickens eat. These advancements allowed for the growth of the chicken industry without and slowdowns. Legal – Animal rights advocates have had major impacts on the ways that chickens can be processed. The conditions that the chickens live in could cause some legal problems in the future in different animal rights groups wanted to make changes. Environmental – Spread of disease always seems to be a major concern in the food industry. Contamination is very possible and could potentially cause huge problems. The FDA would like to minimize the possible affects of any type disease from spreading such as salmonella or other bacteria’s that are harmful. I feel that all of the business risks identified in question 1, the PESTLE acronym, all have the same potential to impact the risk of material misstatements on the financial statements. These business risks would all put revenue, cost of goods sold, wage expenses, and certain discloses at risk for being misstated. This would require more substantive tests to provide more reliable evidence that the financial statements are correctly stated. Obtaining knowledge about the client’s industry helps to highlight practices unique to that industry that may have an effect on the client’s financial statements. The auditor should obtain knowledge relating to the client’s business before commencing the audit. Understanding the client’s business provides information regarding events and transactions that may affect the client’s financial statements. Just like an auditor is not responsible to provide absolute assurance that the financial statements are correct, an auditory does not have the responsibility to identify or assess all business risks because it would be not efficient, timely, or costly to do so. As discussed in question 1, some examples of business risks that should be considered include; immigration concerns, currency fluctuation, health changes, technological development, and the spread of disease. An example of a business risk that might not lead to a risk of material misstatement in the financial statements that we discussed in class was opening new locations and growing the business.

Children Coping With Stress :: essays research papers

CHILDREN COPING WITH STRESS While some stress is normal and even healthy, children today seem to encounter many stressful life events at earlier ages. Stress shows itself in children by complaints about stomachaches, being nervous, trouble sleeping, anger flares, and infections. There are a variety of reasons for children to feel stress. Death, divorce, remarriage, moving, long illness, abuse, family or community violence, natural disaster, fear of failure, and cultural conflict may each heighten stress. Under stress, the heart rate and breathing are at a higher speed and muscles are tense. Multiple stressors worsen the stress level and the length of the stress. Our bodies need relief from stress to reestablish balance. Reactions to stress vary with the child’s stage of development, ability to cope, the length of time the stressor continues, intensity of the stressor, and the degree of support from family, friends, and community. The two most frequent indicators that children are stressed are change in behaviors and regression of behaviors. Children under stress change their behavior and react by doing things that are not in keeping with their usual style. Behaviors seen in earlier phases of development, such as thumb sucking and regression in toileting, may reappear. Typically, preschoolers lack self-control, have no sense of time, act independently, are curious, may wet the bed, have changes in eating habits, have difficulty with sleep or speech, and cannot tell adults how they are feeling. Preschoolers under stress each react differently. Some behaviors may include irritability, anxiety, uncontrollable crying, trembling with fright, eating or sleep problems. Toddlers may regress to infant behaviors, feel angry and not understand their feelings, fear being alone or without their parent, withdraw, bite, or be sensitive to sudden or loud noises. Feelings of sadness or anger may build inside of them. They may become aggressive or angry, have nightmares, or be accident prone. Just as children’s reactions are each different, so are their coping strategies. Children can cope through tears or tantrums or by retreating from unpleasant situations.

Food Inequality

Food Inequality between Developed and Developing Countries Introduction These days, any domestic problems tend to be connected with or caused by reasons coming from outside abroad. Among those globalized issues, one of the serious issues is the theme of food security. According to FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization), the outlook for the global cereal supply in the 2011/12 marketing season has improved the following positive production. However, the impact on global food security remains uncertain given the current international economic slowdown and changeable weather. For example of food security, in Eastern Africa, the drought-induced humanitarian crisis continues to take lives and reduce livestock. Additionally, in East Asia, severe localized monsoon floods in several countries – Bangladesh, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, India, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Pakistan, Thailand and the Philippines may reduce the final outcome because of the natural disaster while a record 2011 cereal harvest was anticipated. What do all these facts mean? Should people put up with the hunger if weather hits them and the economy is tough? There seem to be some other reasons which facilitate food security and if we could struggle with them, the damage caused by the reasons of natural disasters and the tough economy will be mitigated. What could these reasons be? This essay explores the extent to which Population Growth, Food Distribution, Genetic Resources Factors contribute to the problem of food security. Population Growth Today, it is generally agreed that food insecurity issue can be attributed to the fact that we are running out of food due to the intense population growth. In this part, we shall examine the idea carefully. The world’s population has been increasing, according to the report of World Bank in 2011, the population of the world has been doubled over the past 50 years. In this period, world population increase 3 billion to 6. 8 billion. Beyond the year 2050, it is projected that the population is to approach 9 billion, and the growth would likely occur in developing regions such as Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Inversely, the industrial countries or developed countries are going through a trend of decreasing population. The increase in population of developing countries is one of the main factors of the global population increase. Another factor is that the average life span has been extended, which means that the death rate is dramatically decreasing all over the world. The explosive increase of population brings about a problem of inequality, especially food. An excess of population is linked to food production and thus, food security. In a TED talk in 2007, Hans Rosling gave a lecture about inequality between developing and developed countries and attributed the food inequality to the fact that the world population has been increasing. In 1960, the gap was relatively small but now the existing gap between both of them has intensified. He had mentioned an example of shoes and cars, and at the very last he discussed food insecurity. Therefore, according to his speech, we can claim that the population growth causes the food inequality issue between developing countries and industrialized countries. However, on the other hand, according to two books which we mostly relied on, Ending Hunger by the Hunger Project and Food Policy by The Johns Hopkins University Press, we found there were some people who had made an objection against the idea. FAO and the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) reported in 2008 that new estimate of the number of people who would suffer chronic hunger in which year was 925 million, which, however, doesn’t mean that there is not enough food for the people who need it in the world. According to the report of FAO, the amount of world crop production was recorded two billions tons in 2008, which had been the best record. If the all crops were distributed equally to all people around the world, each of people was supposed to eat 320kg in a year, which is twice as much as crops that are eaten by Japanese per a year on average. Given that there are more food like vegetable, fish, and meat, in addition to crops, all people in the world are supposed to be able to get enough food. Then, why can’t all people get enough food? We examine the causes of food inequality from the different perspective in the next section. However, what we emphasize here is that we think the population growth could also be one of the causes in the near future if the world population kept increasing. As shown in Food Policy by The Johns Hopkins University Press, the world population will soon be over 9 billion people, which means that the earth’s productivity will not be able to catch up with the increase in population. Therefore, people in the world will soon face the fact that we run out of food. Then, we examine the food production in third section. Inadequate Food Distribution As we discussed in the last section, two books, Ending Hunger by the Hunger Project and Food Policy by The Johns Hopkins University Press, showed us that food inequality issue between developed countries and developing countries arises not from population growth but from in a defect in an appropriate food distribution system. According to Food Policy, All people in the world could be supposed to be able to get enough food, when the all crops were distributed equally to all people around the world. However, when it comes to the supply of food, only people in developed countries, which are estimated 20% in the world, can always get more calories than they need. Moreover, crops are consumed not only by people but also by livestock such as cattle, chicken, which usually come to the markets for industrialized countries. As a result, people in developed countries like us usually consume more than half of all crops in the world. It turns out that something may be wrong in the process of the food distribution. First, we attribute it to high food prices. As we learned in Prof. Montgomery’s lectures, the energy and water insecurity made the food prices high because food, water, and energy are tightly connected to each other, so farmers need tons of energy and water to produce food. Moreover, Food Policy also described that due to the energy insecurity, more and more people in developed countries used crops in a different way; today biofuels that are made by crops are one of the popular renewable energies in the world. However, to grow the crops, people also need to use more energy and water, which leads people into a downward spiral, and usually the victims are people in poor countries. On top of that, according to Ending Hunger, the high food price can be attributable to speculations. The author said, â€Å"Crops have been getting the attention as an object of speculation. † Originally, more crops tend to go into the domestic market, and there are a few products being distributed in the international market. Under the circumstance, investors who were struggling under the financial crisis in 2008 had an eye on crops for speculation, which raised the food prices intensely. Thus, today under the capitalism, people rather reckon food as a â€Å"product†, so food has been distributed in a way that certain rich people can benefit. At the very last in Food Policy, we got a clue for solving food inequality; an alternative food distribution system that can exist even under the capitalism. The authors have an eye on an idea of â€Å"food redistribution†. Food bank, a non-governmental organization that provides food to poor people for free, has been popular in many developed countries to help poor people within the nations. The authors expect that it will be exercised not by government, but by some entrepreneurs since there is a big challenge for governments in terms of fund and security, and that it will become a new business model in the future. In my opinion, however, it seems difficult that the model can be applied, crossing the boarders. In addition to the point of food distribution, we would like to mention the food production. Ending Hunger, the book we had read, said that although every country needs to try to keep their food self-sufficiently stable, it’s a big challenge for developing countries. There are quite a few countries that rely on the imports from other countries to get crops for their principal diet. It’s related to their history which they were forced to produce some products like cacao to export to industrialized countries in their colonial ages. They are vulnerable because of this monoculture structure which has been still existed when the food prices fluctuate. In the next section, we examine how to solve the monoculture structure issue. Losing Biodiversity In this section, we discuss biodiversity, the problem between biodiversity and food security and the solution. First of all, Biodiversity is a term that is short for biological diversity. Currently, the great variety and richness of plant, some microbe are said to be approximately 1. 7 million species in 2008. The human race literally relies on those plants and animals for clothing, shelter, medicines, and many other things, according to Red list of Threatened Species. However, 784 species have been officially recorded as extinct and more than 16,000 species contains approximately 12 percent of bird species, 23 percent of mammals, and 32 percent of amphibians as well as a large number of plant species. Even so, how does the problem connect with food security? Does the extinction of some species of plants lead to such a big problem? The answer seems to be affirmative; the conflicts between agriculture and biodiversity would be possible. Presently, just three crops- rice, wheat, and maize- amount to about 60 per cent of the world’s food crops and 56 per cent of the protein people derive from plants. This means the stability of agriculture is easy to be affected by climates, pests, diseases because there are no other different plants which would be durable to those stresses. As a result, a drought becomes more likely. In Bangladesh, for example, increasing HYV [high –yield varieties] rice monoculture has decreased diversity, including nearly 7,000 traditional rice variation and many fish species. Ironically, the production of HYV rice per cent acre in 1986 dropped by 10 percent from 1972, in spite of a 300 per cent increase in agrochemical use per acre. (Thrupp 2000,p269) In India, by 1968, although, the so-called â€Å"miracle† HYV seed had replaced half of the native varieties, the expected production in many areas were not realized because those seeds need irrigated land with high inputs of fertilizer, which poor farmers cannot afford. Thrupp p269) North America like US is not also exemption. Of more than 7,000 apple varieties grown in the United States between 1804 and 1904, 86 per cent are no longer cultivated, and 88 per cent of 2,683 pear varieties are no longer available. (Thrupp p270). The main causes for the loss of agrodiversity are reliance on uniform plants and the heavy use of agrochemicals (often make lands barren), and institutions and companies from developed countries who gained patents of seeds and other genetic resources. In order to change this situation, a shift to sustainable agriculture requires changes in production methods, models and policies, as well as the full participation of local people. Example includes use of organic fertilizer, reduction of agrochemicals that destroy diverse rich soil, multiple cropping, eliminating subsidies and credit policies for uniform high-yield varieties. In addition, those developing countries which have plenty genetic resources don’t keep silent to their serious problem. In the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in 2010, those countries tried to negotiate with developed countries in order to create a protocol about making the access and payment of genetic resources a matter of international law for â€Å" fair and equitable sharing of benefits† (The Economist 2010) Conclusion As we discussed in this papers so far, we mostly attributed the food inequality problem to population growth, inadequate food distribution system, and losing biodiversity. However, the more we studied, the more we found that the food inequality problem was very complicated because there ere a lot of factors which were connected to each other and which lead to the problem. The solutions we figured out are that an alternative food distribution system, and a shift to sustainable agriculture requires changes in production methods, models and policies, as well as the full participation of local people. The right for accessing to food; it is supposed to be exercised by al l people in nature. We strongly hope that more and more poor people will get the access to food in the future, and in order to make it happen, we need to get back to an idea of cooperation at the end. References 1) J Price Gittinger; Joanne Leslie; Caroline Hoisington; Economic Development Institute in Washington, D. C. (1987). Food policy: integrating supply, distribution, and consumption. Baltimore : Published for the World Bank [by] Johns Hopkins University Press 2) W Ladd Hollist; F LaMond Tullis(1987) Pursuing food security : strategies and obstacles in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East. Boulder : L. Rienner Publishers 3) Debra A Millar(2008) Biodiversity Detroit : Greenhaven Press. Thruoo L Ann (2000) Linking agricultural biodiversity and food security: the value role of agrobiodiveristy for sustainable agriculture International affairs Vol. 76 Issue 2, p265, 17p, 4 Charts 4) Global Information and Early Warning System, 2011 Food Outlook November 2011. Available at: http://www. fao. org/giews/english/fo/index. htm 5) The Economist Online (2010) Pay up or die: Protecting and profiting from the environment (21th Oct) The Economist Available at: http://www. economist. com/blogs/newsbook/2010/10/protecting_and_profiting_environment

Sun Tzu’s Art of War and Business Strategy

The concepts from Sun Zi’ a Art of War and Business Strategies applied by Carrefour is sufficient and effective, so just keep up with those concepts and Carrefour will do fine in the future. Otherwise, they could also apply some of other concepts from Sun Zi to even strengthen their business and to even secure a more stable success from future uncertainties. Carrefour should open more famous restaurant inside such as famous retailer shop to attract more customer traffic. Besides, they should be discovering more sales promotions to attract customers, such as rebates, premium and so on. This can be done by increasing advertisement in TV to attract more customers. By that, attract workers that they have many languages to communicate with customer in dealing with customer with different religious view. One of those concepts from Sun Zi that Carrefour could apply is the â€Å"To Dictate and Not to Be Dictated† concept. The company needs to create online supply platform, which will have Sears and Oracle. This will allow the company’s retailers and suppliers exchange innovative information through the internet system and maximize the flow of products, hence minimizing their administrative costs. Carrefour also needs to embrace technological advances, which will allow the company venture into new markets where it can increase its customer base. The marketing strategies, which the company can embrace, include online, viral marketing, and sourcing strategies (Nina, 2008). The company needs to streamline its legal aspects to allow its expanding in Asian markets without any hurdles. Carrefour gains of the utilization of emerging technologies can also come in the form of lowered tear and wear on equipment and facilities, which will decrease the maintenance needed for equipment and facilities (Gehlen & Lasserre, 2005). Carrefour has to show an exceptional capacity to adapt its concept to local business environment across the globe. By internalizing the achievement or failure of definite initiatives in one business design, Carrefour is capable to transmit the knowledge of this failure or success transversely in all business departments at little cost to the firm. The company is competent to spread the expertise, which its human capital has gained by sending experts to work side-by-side with local managerial team. This structure enables the spreading of understanding within the firm both downstream and upstream, therefore, creating value for the whole company (Hoskisson, 2008). Besides that, Carrefour could also apply the â€Å"Knowing the Battleground and Engagement Time† concept. Whereby Carrefour could conduct a survey beforehand to determine what are the most suitable tactics and strategies to implement in a certain market. This will bring greater result and a swift success could be obtained. Carrefour should seize the opportunity for expansion to other parts of China, especially the second-tier cities, which have a high growth potential. Since the eastern coastal cities where Carrefour has the majority of the market share are already saturated, there is little value in investing more money in the area. Moreover, it is timely for Carrefour to expand especially when personal income in China has seen a rising trend. This shows that the Chinese consumer market has a high potential for growth, and consumption and demand is likely to increase as disposable income rises. While Carrefour’s main challenge is increased competition as its major competitors also have plans to expand and seize market share, its resources do give it a competitive advantage. Firstly, its one-stop shopping concept is one-of-a-kind. It recognizes consumers’ need for convenience and provides for it. Hence, Carrefour should continue to position itself as a company that delivers superior value offering to customers, as well as the place where one can satisfy most of one’s needs for products, entertainment and other services. Secondly, its management capabilities also give it a competitive advantage over other competitors. Having a decentralized management gives the store managers flexibility to adjust the strategies to meet different local demands and needs in different locations. This allows Carrefour to increase customer value as it narrows down and customizes its strategy to meet the local customers’ needs. Thirdly, Carrefour’s low employee turnover rate gives it a cost advantage over its competitors and also raises overall confidence level of the company. Our recommendations are relative to the market development and are based on an evaluation of the forecast return within the coming 12 months. The forecast return is the difference between the current price and our 12-month price target which includes the projected dividend. The equity market has historically yielded a return of around 10%. When we determine the recommendation for a share we use the 10% as an estimate of the return in the equity market. Since our recommendations are relative and risk-adjusted, it is possible to compare our recommendations across sectors and risk categories. In addition, the potential is stated in absolute terms via our price target. It should be borne in mind, however, that the recommendation is the anchor. A buy recommendation will remain a buy recommendation until changed, even if price increases have taken the price ‘too close’ to the price target. The future and historical returns estimated in the research report are stated as returns before costs since returns after costs depend on a number of factors relating to individual customer relations, custodian charges, volume of trade as well as market, currency and product-specific factors. It is not certain that the share will yield the stated expected future returns. The stated expected future returns exclusively express our best assessment. References http://designit.com/cases/making-quick-check-scanning-simple http://na-carrefour.blogspot.com/2012/05/recommendation.html http://www.studymode.com/subjects/recommendation-of-carrefour-page1.html http://www.exclusivepapers.com/essays/Informative/carrefour-company.php

Maestro essays

Maestro essays The novel Maestro, by Peter Goldsworthy, who was born in Adelaide and then moved to Darwin to finish his education. Since graduating in medicine from the University of Adelaide, he has devoted his time equally to medicine and writing. He is married to a fellow graduate and they have three children. I believe Goldsworthy successfully explores issues relevant to a society in a different period of time, given the book is set in the 1960s and was not published until 1989. Goldsworthy uses representations of setting and character to give the reader a better understanding of the people places and culture, which surround them today. Goldsworthys representations of characters in the novel play a major part in exploring issues from a different period of time as well as giving the reader a better understanding of their own world. * Keeps himself remote/removed from others by not showing - Certain feelings or acting kindly * Lacks the ability to compliment/praise and encourage others * An obscure, mysterious character (enigmatic) Cultured (contrast to Darwin) - Keller's white clothing may indicate his real, but hidden Goodness. This "whiteness" is like holiness. This is a total contrast Though to his self-perception- this representation made by Goldsworthy is made to give the reader a better understanding of their own world. That people are not always as they may seem on the outside. -Quest for perfection- making Paul start from the beginning - Keller constantly collects clippings of newspaper articles. It seems he liked to study the behaviour of others to help him understand him self- Keller himself is trying to gain an understanding of his own world. As the reader is told about what some of the articles are about, we gain a greater understanding of issues, which were in a different period of time. ...

Dark Money - Definition

Dark Money - Definition Anyone whos paid attention to all those mysteriously funded political ads on television during the 2012 presidential election is probably familiar with the term dark money. Dark money is a term used to describe political spending by innocuously named groups whose own donors - the source of the money - are allowed to remain hidden because of loopholes in disclosure laws. How Dark Money Spending Works So why does dark money exist? If there are Federal Election Commission rules requiring campaigns to report their sources of funding, how can it be that some of the money spent on trying to influence elections is coming from unnamed sources? Related Story: A Guide to Money in Politics Most of the dark money making its way into politics comes not from campaigns themselves but outside groups including nonprofit 501[c] groups or social welfare organizations that are spending tens of millions of dollars. Those groups are required to report how much they spend trying to influence elections. But under the Internal Revenue Service code, 501[c] and social welfare organizations are not required to tell the government or public from whom they get their money. That means they can spend money on electioneering or make contributions to super PACs without naming names of individual donors. What Dark Money Pays For Dark money spending is very similar to spending by super PACs. 501[c] and social welfare organizations can spend unlimited amounts of money trying to sway voters on specific issues and thereby influence the outcome of elections. History of Dark Money The explosion of dark money followed the U.S. Supreme Courts landmark 2010 ruling in the case of Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. The court ruled that the federal government cannot limit corporations - including those 501[c] and social welfare organizations - from spending money to influence the outcome of elections. The ruling led to the creation of super PACs. Dark Money Examples Groups that spend money on trying to influence elections without having to disclose their own donors appear on both sides of the political spectrum - from the conservative, anti-tax Club for Growth and U.S. Chamber of Commerce to the left-leaning abortion-rights activist groups Planned Parenthood Action Fund Inc. and NARAL Pro-Choice America. Dark Money Controversies One of the biggest controversies over dark money involved the 501[c] group Crossroads GPS. The group has strong ties to former George W. Bush adviser Karl Rove. Crossroads GPS is a separate entity from American Crossroads, a conservative super PAC funded by Rove that was sharply critical of President Barack Obama in the 2012 election. During the campaign, the groups Democracy 21 and the Campaign Legal Center asked the Internal Revenue Service to investigate Crossroads GPS after the 501[c] group received an anonymous $10 million contribution. The new $10 million secret contribution to Crossroads GPS to run attack ads against President Obama as he runs for re-election is a stark illustration of the problem caused by groups engaged in campaign spending claiming eligibility as social welfare organizations under section 501(c)(4), wrote J. Gerald Hebert, executive director of the Campaign Legal Center, and Fred Wertheimer, president of Democracy 21. It is apparent that these groups are claiming section 501(c)(4) tax status in order to keep secret from the American people the donors financing their campaign-related expenditures, they wrote. If these organizations are not eligible for tax status under section 501(c)(4), then they are improperly using the tax laws to shield their donors from public disclosure and improperly using secret contributions to influence the 2012 national elections. Crossroads GPS reportedly spent more than $70 million from anonymous donors on the 2012 election even though it had previously told the IRS political spending would be limited in amount, and will not constitute the organizations primary purpose. Dark Money and Super PACs Many advocates for transparency believe spending by 501[c] and social welfare organizations is much more problematic than that by super PACs. We are seeing some 501c4s becoming pure election vehicles, wrote Rick Hasen on the Election Law Blog. ... The key is to stop 501c4s from becoming shadow super PACs. Yes, campaign finance reform community, it has become this bad: I want more super PACs, because the 501c4 alternative is worse!

The U.K Phone Scandal Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

The U.K Phone Scandal - Essay Example Communication practices and media of communication have with time mutated, becoming self-organized, and wholly evolving to new forms (McQuail, 2008:214). Outcomes of these new forms of communication systems and practices are often not predictable. This paper discusses in depth how the recent phone hacking scandal in U.K portray incidences where the popular press use their press freedom as a justification of their unwarranted media intrusion in people’s privacy. Research depicts that the cell phone is one fascinating garget that has undergone many changes and still undergoing technological changes (Wyatt, 2000:4). For instance, it never envisaged that the use of mobile phones would change drastically from voice mail communication to SMS then later to the internet use. Mobile phones are depicted to have a variation of features that make them powerful gargets. They not only serves as a means of communication but also installed with the necessary technology of accessing the intern et, watching television, and playing games. In addition, some mobile phones have been installed with the GPS that enables the location of an individual. Therefore, change in the cell phone technology has increased dramatically. This change in the cell phone industry has been both beneficial and hazardous to the society. Although people have a positive attitude towards the use of cell phones, in some cases, they pose a negative impact to the society. For a better understanding of the emergence of media, it is necessary to understand public communication and media are much more than the deployment of communication technologies. The key factor that differentiates media and communication is practices. These practices include co-creation, conversation, collaboration, and community building. Cell phones, mostly used as gadgets of communication have been used by the U.K as a means of retrieving information from people especially the politicians. Scholarly research depicts that in the world of news and media all hours of the day, political advertising, and communication are viewed as a strong set of policy ideas. The press has always been extensively given the responsibility and freedom of carrying out research and informing the nation about the current and on-going issues in the country (Curran, and Seaton, 2009:6). However, the U.K press has gone to a further extent of using their freedom in intruding people’s privacy. Phone-hacking scandal in recent years has been an ongoing controversy in the international news. It is depicted that the press use phone hacking as a way of obtaining information. Researchers depict that the U.K press viewed their work as commercial rather than a responsibility. Legal, economic, and social context in which the media is allowed to function lead to an ultimate contribution in an individual’s political life will. For instance, media and its effect on political process health in U.K, remains a considerable issue under scruti ny (McNair, 2011:20). Moreover, the emergence of political industry in U.K has raised an argument on efficient and reliable political communication to democracy. Research depicts that most of these social reporters typically base their concern and focus on celebrities, gossip, and other subsequent trivia rather than social issues affecting the country. However, the media not only portrays the social issues in the society but also becomes a pathway for extensive political campaigns, civic actions, and professional and business