Thursday, October 31, 2019

Is Childhood Discipline Effective Research Paper

Is Childhood Discipline Effective - Research Paper Example The essay would hereby initially trace the historical background of using corporal punishment, particularly smacking, as a tool for childhood discipline. In addition, the discourse would present a general overview of different positions or contentions on the issue of smacking as the most effective technique for childhood discipline. Finally, the concluding portion would highlight the crucial points discussed and present a speculation and recommendation on the most effective tool for childhood discipline in the future. Relevant History and Background The roots of corporal punishment could be traced from the earliest published article in a periodical, the San Francisco Call, dated March 23, 1893 entitled â€Å"Slap or Spank?: School Punishment Query in Alameda† where the School Board of Alameda supposedly sought to determine the manner by which parents would agree and stipulate the kind of chastisement to be used to discipline the children (corpun.com 1). At that time, the conte nts of the article generated different reactions and responses from school administrators, teacher and parents; with the final recommendation that â€Å"the general verdict of all those seen is to the effect that the spanking process is far superior to the regulation strap method, but all concurred in saying that the best way of all in such matters was to leave it entirely with the teachers, who should be kept within bounds regarding the severity of the punishment inflicted by rules laid down by the Board of Education† (corpun.com 1). Suffice it to say that even at the earliest published article on corporal punishment through spanking or smacking, the issue was elicited diverse and conflicting arguments. Some parents averred that they do not want their children to be spanked at all. Other parents support smacking on prescribed areas of the body, but never on the face. And still, surprisingly, one parent remarked that â€Å"’taken across the knee and spanked, by all me ans. That's the old way, and I have found it very efficient.’ And the obedience of the little ones clustered about her was good evidence of the truth of the statement† (corpun.com 1). These diverse reactions have evolved through centuries and until contemporary times, smacking continues to be a controversial issue. In current times, Gershoff and Larzelere disclosed that, â€Å"corporal punishment remains a widely used discipline technique in most American families, but it has also been a subject of controversy within the child development and psychological communities† (par. 1). The controversial nature is clearly depicted from the contradictory arguments advocated by parents, to wit: â€Å"The consultation document issued this month by the Department of Health on the physical punishment of children states clearly that ‘many parents would welcome support in learning effective measures of disciplining their child which do not involve physical punishmentâ₠¬â„¢ while adding that ‘there may still be occasions when parents †¦ may consider it appropriate to discipline a child through physical punishment’† (Waterston 261). In this regard, parents, social workers, health professionals and policymakers all provide different perspectives on the subject of corporal punishme

Tuesday, October 29, 2019

Wilhelm Maximilian Wundt Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Wilhelm Maximilian Wundt - Essay Example 852). In 1879, he founded the Institute for Experimental Psychology in Leipzig, where he concentrated on experimental psychology (Kling & Riggs, 1971, p. 1) and developed a methodology that sought to develop more accurate data for testing mental activities. He is primarily responsible for moving the subject of psychology out of the realm of philosophy and into the venue of experimental or modern scientific method. He accomplished this by focusing on the physiological aspects of experimentation and how they related to the mind. The purpose of this paper is, having providing a brief biography and contextual frame of reference, to discuss the contemporaneous environment surrounding the development of some of Wundt's theories, to review the contribution of those theories to the subject and practice of Psychology in general, and to provide a personal statement of opinion on some of Wundt's theories. Of all the possible environmental contributors to Wundt's theoretical development, there are two that will be mentioned here. The first is the philosophical environment of the day in regards to psychological study, and the second is the laboratory environment at Leipzig. Wundt did not develop his ideas in a vacuum. He was heavily influenced by John Stuart Mill's "System of Logic," from which he often quoted (Schmidgen, 2003, p. 469). No doubt as part of his training, he would have studied both logic and philosophy, and Brown, et al., maintain that he was drawn toward idealism while opposing sensationalism (1996, p. 852). It is interesting to consider the difficulty of bridging from a philosophical approach to the scientific method when studying psychology. In Wundt's day, the mind was perceived in terms of the soul and introspection was the primary means of investigating those aspects of human understanding. Wundt did not accept the notion that self observation was effective; in applying his scientific approach, he believed that psychological study required a trained observer, and that observer needed to be performing those observations in a controlled environment while investigating a properly limited question. Thus, by taking the study of the mind out of the philosophical and into the practical, Wundt introduced a radical new perspective. The second environmental influence of note is his time spent in the laboratory at Leipzig where he actually performed many of his experiments. In one such experiment, he would use a pendulum or analog clock and have his subjects report "the time that coincided with some other event such as the ringing of a bell" (Carlson, Hogendoorn, & Verstraten, 2006, p. 1406). In this way, he was able to use empirical data to quantify the difference between those with fast responses and those with slow ones. Based upon those observations, he could draw conclusions about the way the mind processed

Sunday, October 27, 2019

Threats Of The Film Industry

Threats Of The Film Industry The main threat for the film industry now-a-days is PIRACY. Where hackers sell the duplicate CDs and DVDs. Online piracy has also come into action and every illegal download cost to the film industry is huge. It is obvious that people get attracted to the internet as it is free. Online piracy is could impact the film industry losing up to $460m (275 million pounds) annually according to leading motion picture studios and distributors report. Technology is playing a key role where things became more easy and simple. A recent report estimated around 144,000 films is downloaded every day across the world. The main piracy is done with the help of camcorders in the theatres. The recent box office hit AVATAR was the most grossing film in the cinema industry as well as the most pirated film. AVATAR was downloaded 500,000 times in its first two days in theatres and almost 1 million times in first week of release. (www.torrentfreak.com ) To prevent this threat for film industry government is taking necessary steps with the FEDERATION AGAINST COPYRIGHT THEFT (FACT) . It was established in 1983. The primary purpose of FACT is to prevent the UKs film and broadcasting industry from being infringed. FACT closely works with UK police, HM Revenue Customs, UK border agency, Serious and organised crime agency and the other agencies. FACT assess, analyse and report the threats. It plays a key role in ensuring that the awareness is created among people about the growing piracy. FACT works in three key areas: Online Piracy This focuses on distribution of illegal films. Prevention of recordings in theatres Over 90% of piracy is originated from copy recorded in theatres. Hard goods piracy http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2003/oct/21/film.filmnews http://www.fact-uk.org.uk/site/about/index.htm Question 2: SWOT ANALYSIS: SWOT is a tool which is used to evaluate Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats of an organisation. Strengths and Weaknesses are considered to be internal factors of the organisation and Opportunities and Threats are considered to be external factors. This method identifies internal and external factors which are favourable or unfavourable in achieving an objective. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SWOT_analysis INTRODUCTION OF IKEA: IKEA (Ingvar Kampard Elmtard Agunnaryd) was founded in 1943 by a 17 year old Ingvar Kampard in Sweden. He grew up in a farm called Elmtaryd in a village called Agunnaryd. IKEA comprises of initials of the founders name and the place where he grew up. In 1920s Kampard started selling match boxes to his neighbours by buying them in bulk at Stockholm and reselling them at very low cost. It later expanded by selling flower seeds, Christmas tree decorations, pencils and pens. In 1940s he discovered furniture designs with self assembling concept and now IKEA is the worlds largest furniture company which is famous for its flat-pack designs at low prices. It is sells Accessories, bathroom and kitchen items. IKEA has also actively participated and has partnerships with social and environmental projects. http://www.ikea.com/ms/en_US/about_ikea/the_ikea_way/history/2000.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ikea SWOT OF IKEA OF IKEA HELPING TO DEVELOP SUSTAINABILITY: IKEAs business strategy is based on sustainability and environmental design. To attain its goal of sustainability IKEA has launched a new business plan which combine social, economic and environmental issues. SWOT analysis will help IKEA to reach its objectives by identifying and evaluating Strengths and Weaknesses which are within the control of IKEA like production, marketing, finance, human resources areas of the organisation. Opportunities and Threats which are out of control of IKEA like social, economical, political, technological, environmental issues outside the industry. If IKEA is able to create opportunities by countering the threats and by addressing its weaknesses with the help of its strengths then it will achieve the goal of sustainability. http://www.ikea.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/DisplayPage?layout=memberOffersstoreId=7langId=-20catalogId=10103localStore=12003 http://www.thetimes100.co.uk/case-studyswot-analysis-sustainable-business-planning110-368-3.php STRENGTHS OF IKEA: Any aspect which adds value to product is considered to be a strength of the business. IKEAs Strengths are as follows, Its vision to provide better life for its customers and employees. Its promising global brand value and range worldwide. Its strong concept of providing wide range of products at low prices. IKEA has strong customer confidence level to buy IKEA products from any store. IKEA extracts chemicals and substances which are harmful to the environment and people. IKEA is completely against child labour and also keep an eye on its suppliers to avoid child labour by doing frequent visits without information. IKEA is working together with UNICEF to save the children and provide them with education and better future. IKEA has introduced an IKEA FAMILY CARD which benefits its customers with which they get discounts on the products like furniture, mobile phones and also reductions in restaurants. As a member of FAMILY CARD customers can save up to 60% on mobile phones purchase and get offers in restaurants like free Tea and coffee. This range of offers and products in IKEA makes customers visit them again and again. WEAKNESSES OF IKEA: http://www.clik2complaints.co.uk/Ori-others/ikea3.htm http://www.thetimes100.co.uk/case-studyswot-analysis-sustainable-business-planning110-368-5.php Any organisation should identify and acknowledge its weaknesses will improve the product or service of the company. This also helps the organisation to set objectives and create new strategies. IKEAs Weaknesses includes, IKEAs concept of offering low price products should be balanced with its quality. It should constantly concentrate on quality in every step of production. It should always differentiate its products from its competitors. Its global business makes it difficult to control quality and standards worldwide. It should always try to keep good relation with its stakeholders and consumers which again is a difficult task because of its size and scale. There are complaints from the customers that their orders include items which are not necessary for them. Items of wrong material, size and fabric are delivered to the customers. A poor customer services and improper staff coordination. The complaints from customers are spoil the reputation of the company. IKEA has to concentrate on improving its services by appointing right staff in right place. Orders need to be taken with all the specifications and confirmed by the customer before delivering the order. OPPORTUNITIES OF IKEA: Opportunities arise with the strengths of the company. IKEA focuses on environmental based business. IKEA educates its customers to support recycling and reusing of the products and also aims that recycled products are not used in developing a new product. IKEA wants to give its customer a sustainable life. Advantages of Opportunities of IKEA through its sustainability, The demand for greener products which do not harm the environment is growing. Demand for products with low price is growing because of the current financial conditions. Customers prefer trading in cheaper price. Being sustainable is IKEAs image which helps to keep good relationship with stakeholders, consumers and press. IKEA sources the products from countries like China, India and Pakistan which enables IKEA to offer products at competitive prices. IKEA plays a major role in supporting for charities like world wildlife fund and UNICEF. IKEAs aim to reduce energy use and carbon footprints and use more renewable energy has a growing demand. THREATS OF IKEA: For any organisation, competitors and new entrants to the market are the main threats. Threats are always external like political changes, environmental and economical. IKEA can use a particular strength and overcome the threat. There are many other companies in the same market and IKEA should try to attract the customers with special offers and reduced prices when compared to others. IKEA should make better use of technology and resources to gain economies of scale which gives them competitive edge and also enables to offer products at lower prices and puts barriers for new entrants entering the market. IKEAs biggest strength is offering products at cheaper prices which create strong customer base in tough financial times and depressed retail market. Its products are also famous in the market for its good quality among the higher budget markets. CONCLUSION: IKEAs strengths offering products at low prices, impressive designs and use of technology and resources can counteract any weakness or threat and create opportunities in the market. IKEA belief in doing good business makes it a sustainable business in creating better everyday life for its customers and employees. Question 3: IKEA TO FULFILL SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY IKEA took part in several projects for development of society. Most of the projects were related to children welfare. In association with UNICEF, IKEA initiated child rights program in India. The aim of this project was to prevent child labour by addressing root causes like poverty and illiteracy. IKEA also supported UNICEF in emergency programmes like earthquake in Pakistan and 2004 Tsunami affected countries like India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Maldives. IKEA supported UNICEF in providing immediate needs like food, bowls, sleeping bags, towels and bed sheets. It also took initiative for earthquake affected children in providing quality education and safe drinking water. Nearly 10,000 earthquake-affected boys and girls between 6-11 ages were benefited with education and hygienic facilities. These are some social activities of IKEA as a global brand and have good command on social responsibilities. In addition, IKEA also actively participates in addressing environmental issues as a responsibility. It believes in creating healthy society. As part of this it encourages its customers to support them for recycling or reusing the used products. It pays attention on less usage of water and carbon footprints. IKEA can continue its partnership with UNICEF and try to help whenever needed. It can show its concern in every possible and fulfil its social responsibility http://www.unicef.org/corporate_partners/index_25092.html TASK 2: Question 1: INTRODUCTION: Charles Lazarus is the founder of ToysRUs. In 1948, he turned his dream of creating children oriented business into reality. He started a baby furniture store, Childrens bargain town in Washington. On public demand he started selling toys. The first toy that he started selling was cradle gym. Later he expanded to tricycles, books and other toys. After 10 years, Charles opened his own store in a supermarket model which helped the customers to pick products of there own choice. In 1980, he opened his second store and named it as ToysRUs which attracted parents and kids. In 1984, the company began to expand internationally. It started opening the stores in countries like Singapore and Canada. Later more than 700 stores were opened in 33 countries outside United States. The company branched out into childrens clothing business and opened the first store in Paramus, New Jersey and Brooklyn, New York named KidsRUs. Although it closed its branches in 2003, it still remained committed to app arel business and continues selling designer and private label boys and girls clothing through BabiesRUs stores. http://www2.toysrus.com/about/ourHistory.cfm

Friday, October 25, 2019

JHCP STOCK ANALYSIS REPORT :: essays research papers

JHCP CO. STOCK ANALYSIS REPORT   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Dear Investor: New York City, NY. Based J. Holla Cell phone CO. is rapidly emerging as one of America’s most respected manufacturers and distributors of precision made cell phone products. Low cost cell phones for application in business, commercial, and consumers cell phone markets nationwide. JHCP is posting exceptional revenue gains while implementing a host of new and refined core strategies that have successfully eliminated over $ 9 million in corporate debt, dramatically improved efficiencies and set the stage for accelerated growth and earning well into the future. Since its inception, JHCP has gained impressive market share in a high demand industry. For ten consecutive years the market for cell phone has grown at an unprecedented rate of 50% per season. With no signs of slowing down, industry analysts predict this trend will continue through the current year and gain further momentum. With high volume capacity and a wide range of mainstream products. JHCP is positioned at the fore-front of this burgeoning market. INVESTMENT ANALYSIS JHCP is in excellent financial health, with a solid balance sheet and strong and growing cash flow. Equipped with an established and expanding customer base and a full complement of precision cell phone products, JHCP is ideally positioned to capitalize on the surging nationwide demand for cost effective cell products. The company’s current growth program through the year of 2009 is expected to dramatically boost corporate revenues and earnings and make JHCP into a powerful national cell phone manufacturer and provider. Based on the company’s impressive reported growth rate over the past twenty months and current expansion campaign, J. Holla Cell phone (OTCBB: JHCP) is considered one of the top emerging growth issues for 2003. RECENT NEWS Recently a second export shipment of cell phones to the Caribbean which completes a 600,000 round order. Our efforts to expand are paying off. REASONS TO BUY THIS STOCK 1.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  JHCP strongly positioned in multi-billion dollar national market for cost effective technology. 2.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  JHCP emerging as one of the well recognized and respected manufacturers and distributors of high precision, low cost cell phone products.

Thursday, October 24, 2019

Homeschooling and Family Education

Homschooling is the education of children at home, rather than other formal settings of public or private schools. Homeschooling can affect a child negatively in some cases. Some of the effects include lack of social interaction, too much protection from the parents and limited exposure to extra curricular activities. One of the negative effects of homeschooling is that it decreases the ability of the child to interact socially with others. As stated by John 2012, â€Å"homeschooling do not teach homeschoolers how to interact with peers and authoritative figures†. Homeschoolers are less exposed to other poeple compared to those who get a formal setting of education. Also, they lack of communication skills with children from different backgrounds (Mead 2009). Other than that, homeschoolers get too much protection from their parents, making it hard for them to adapt in real life situations without their parents protection. Parents must realize they cant protect their children forever ( Family Education 2012). According to Schroeder 2011, real life situations are introduced at schools such as bullying, teasing and public humiliation are a part of life. Children from homeschools may suffer from culture shock when dealing with real life situation (Family Education 2012). Next, another negative effect of homeschooling is the limited exposure of homeschoolers on extra curricular activities. Homeschooled children lack the diverse enrichment activities(Mead 2009). They are also not exposed in group works such as team sports amd performing art clubs as mentioned by Family Education 2012. In conclusion, there are many disadvantages of homeschooling that could have a negative effect on children. Therefore, parents should think wisely before sending their children to homeschools because it lacks of social interaction, too much protection from parents and has limited exposure to extra curricular activities.

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Frostbite Chapter 1

One I DIDN'T THINK MY DAY could get any worse until my best friend told me she might be going crazy. Again. â€Å"I†¦ what did you say?† I stood in the lobby of her dorm, leaning over one of my boots and adjusting it. Jerking my head up, I peered at her through the tangle of dark hair covering half my face. I'd fallen asleep after school and had skipped using a hairbrush in order to make it out the door on time. Lissa's platinum blond hair was smooth and perfect, of course, hanging over her shoulders like a bridal veil as she watched me with amusement. â€Å"I said that I think my pills might not be working as well anymore.† I straightened up and shook the hair out of my face. â€Å"What does that mean?† I asked. Around us, Moroi hurried past, on their way to meet friends or go to dinner. â€Å"Have you started †¦Ã¢â‚¬  I lowered my voice. â€Å"Have you started getting your powers back?† She shook her head, and I saw a small flash of regret in her eyes. â€Å"No †¦ I feel closer to the magic, but I still can't use it. Mostly what I'm noticing lately is a little of the other stuff, you know†¦I'm getting more depressed now and then. Nothing even close to what it used to be,† she added hastily, seeing my face. Before she'd gone on her pills, Lissa's moods could get so low that she cut herself. â€Å"It's just there a little more than it was.† â€Å"What about the other things you used to get? Anxiety? Delusional thinking?† Lissa laughed, not taking any of this as seriously as I was. â€Å"You sound like you've been reading psychiatry textbooks.† I actually had been reading them. â€Å"I'm just worried about you. If you think the pills aren't working anymore, we need to tell someone.† â€Å"No, no,† she said hastily. â€Å"I'm fine, really. They're still working†¦just not quite as much. I don't think we should panic yet. Especially younot today, at least.† Her change in subject worked. I'd found out an hour ago that I would be taking my Qualifier today. It was an examor rather, an interviewall novice guardians were required to pass during junior year at St. Vladimir's Academy. Since I'd been off hiding Lissa last year, I'd missed mine. Today I was being taken to a guardian somewhere off-campus who would administer the test to me. Thanks for the notice, guys. â€Å"Don't worry about me,† Lissa repeated, smiling. â€Å"I'll let you know if it gets worse.† â€Å"Okay,† I said reluctantly. Just to be safe, though, I opened my senses and allowed myself to truly feel her through our psychic bond. She had been telling the truth. She was calm and happy this morning, nothing to worry about. But, far back in her mind, I sensed a knot of dark, uneasy feelings. It wasn't consuming her or anything, but it had the same feel as the bouts of depression and anger she used to get. It was only a trickle, but I didn't like it. I didn't want it there at all. I tried pushing farther inside her to get a better feel for the emotions and suddenly had the weird experience of touching. A sickening sort of feeling seized me, and I jerked out of her head. A small shudder ran through my body. â€Å"You okay?† Lissa asked, frowning. â€Å"You look nauseous all of a sudden.† â€Å"Just†¦nervous for the test,† I lied. Hesitantly, I reached out through the bond again. The darkness had completely disappeared. No trace. Maybe there was nothing wrong with her pills after all. â€Å"I'm fine.† She pointed at a clock. â€Å"You won't be if you don't get moving soon.† â€Å"Damn it,† I swore. She was right. I gave her a quick hug. â€Å"See you later!† â€Å"Good luck!† she called. I hurried off across campus and found my mentor, Dimitri Belikov, waiting beside a Honda Pilot. How boring. I supposed I couldn't have expected us to navigate Montana mountain roads in a Porsche, but it would have been nice to have something cooler. â€Å"I know, I know,† I said, seeing his face. â€Å"Sorry I'm late.† I remembered then that I had one of the most important tests of my life coming up, and suddenly, I forgot all about Lissa and her pills possibly not working. I wanted to protect her, but that wouldn't mean much if I couldn't pass high school and actually become her guardian. Dimitri stood there, looking as gorgeous as ever. The massive, brick building cast long shadows over us, looming like some great beast in the dusky predawn light. Around us, snow was just beginning to fall. I watched the light, crystalline flakes drift gently down. Several landed and promptly melted in his dark hair. â€Å"Who else is going?† I asked. He shrugged. â€Å"Just you and me.† My mood promptly shot up past â€Å"cheerful† and went straight to â€Å"ecstatic.† Me and Dimitri. Alone. In a car. This might very well be worth a surprise test. â€Å"How far away is it?† Silently, I begged for it to be a really long drive. Like, one that would take a week. And would involve us staying overnight in luxury hotels. Maybe we'd get stranded in a snowbank, and only body heat would keep us alive. â€Å"Five hours.† â€Å"Oh.† A bit less than I'd hoped for. Still, five hours was better than nothing. It didn't rule out the snowbank possibility, either. The dim, snowy roads would have been difficult for humans to navigate, but they proved no problem for our dhampir eyes. I stared ahead, trying not to think about how Dimitri's aftershave filled the car with a clean, sharp scent that made me want to melt. Instead, I tried to focus on the Qualifier again. It wasn't the kind of thing you could study for. You either passed it or you didn't. High-up guardians visited novices during their junior year and met individually to discuss students' commitment to being guardians. I didn't know exactly what was asked, but rumors had trickled down over the years. The older guardians assessed character and dedication, and some novices had been deemed unfit to continue down the guardian path. â€Å"Don't they usually come to the Academy?† I asked Dimitri. â€Å"I mean, I'm all for the field trip, but why are we going to them?† â€Å"Actually, you're just going to a him, not a them.† A light Russian accent laced Dimitri's words, the only indication of where he'd grown up. Otherwise, I was pretty sure he spoke English better than I did. â€Å"Since this is a special case and he's doing us the favor, we're the ones making the trip.† â€Å"Who is he?† â€Å"Arthur Schoenberg.† I jerked my gaze from the road to Dimitri. â€Å"What?† I squeaked. Arthur Schoenberg was a legend. He was one of the greatest Strigoi slayers in living guardian history and used to be the head of the Guardians Councilthe group of people who assigned guardians to Moroi and made decisions for all of us. He'd eventually retired and gone back to protecting one of the royal families, the Badicas. Even retired, I knew he was still lethal. His exploits were part of my curriculum. â€Å"Wasn't†¦ wasn't there anyone else available?† I asked in a small voice. I could see Dimitri hiding a smile. â€Å"You'll be fine. Besides, if Art approves of you, that's a great recommendation to have on your record.† Art. Dimitri was on a first-name basis with one of the most badass guardians around. Of course, Dimitri was pretty badass himself, so I shouldn't have been surprised. Silence fell in the car. I bit my lip, suddenly wondering if I'd be able to meet Arthur Schoenberg's standards. My grades were good, but things like running away and getting into fights at school might cast a shadow on how serious I was about my future career. â€Å"You'll be fine,† Dimitri repeated. â€Å"The good in your record outweighs the bad.† It was like he could read my mind sometimes. I smiled a little and dared to peek at him. It was a mistake. A long, lean body, obvious even while sitting. Bottomless dark eyes. Shoulder-length brown hair tied back at his neck. That hair felt like silk. I knew because I'd run my fingers through it when Victor Dashkov had ensnared us with the lust charm. With great restraint, I forced myself to start breathing again and look away. â€Å"Thanks, Coach,† I teased, snuggling back into the seat. â€Å"I'm here to help,† he replied. His voice was light and relaxedrare for him. He was usually wound up tightly, ready for any attack. Probably he figured he was safe inside a Hondaor at least as safe as he could be around me. I wasn't the only one who had trouble ignoring the romantic tension between us. â€Å"You know what would really help?† I asked, not meeting his eyes. â€Å"Hmm?† â€Å"If you turned off this crap music and put on something that came out after the Berlin Wall went down.† Dimitri laughed. â€Å"Your worst class is history, yet somehow, you know everything about Eastern Europe.† â€Å"Hey, gotta have material for my jokes, Comrade.† Still smiling, he turned the radio dial. To a country station. â€Å"Hey! This isn't what I had in mind,† I exclaimed. I could tell he was on the verge of laughing again. â€Å"Pick. It's one or the other.† I sighed. â€Å"Go back to the 1980s stuff.† He flipped the dial, and I crossed my arms over my chest as some vaguely European-sounding band sang about how video had killed the radio star. I wished someone would kill this radio. Suddenly, five hours didn't seem as short as I'd thought. Arthur and the family he protected lived in a small town along I-90, not far from Billings. The general Moroi opinion was split on places to live. Some argued that big cities were the best since they allowed vampires to be lost in the crowds; nocturnal activities didn't raise so much attention. Other Moroi, like this family, apparently, opted for less populated towns, believing that if there were fewer people to notice you, then you were less likely to be noticed. I'd convinced Dimitri to stop for food at a twenty-four-hour diner along the way, and between that and stopping to buy gas, it was around noon when we arrived. The house was built in a rambler style, all one level with gray-stained wood siding and big bay windowstinted to block sunlight, of course. It looked new and expensive, and even out in the middle of nowhere, it was about what I'd expected for members of a royal family. I jumped down from the Pilot, my boots sinking through an inch of smooth snow and crunching on the gravel of the driveway. The day was still and silent, save for the occasional breath of wind. Dimitri and I walked up to the house, following a river rock sidewalk that cut through the front yard. I could see him sliding into his business mode, but his overall attitude was as cheery as mine. We'd both taken a kind of guilty satisfaction in the pleasant car ride. My foot slipped on the ice-covered sidewalk, and Dimitri instantly reached out to steady me. I had a weird moment of d? ¦j? ¤ vu, flashing back to the first night we'd met, back when he'd also saved me from a similar fall. Freezing temperatures or not, his hand felt warm on my arm, even through the layers of down in my parka coat. â€Å"You okay?† He released his hold, to my dismay. â€Å"Yeah,† I said, casting accusing eyes at the icy sidewalk. â€Å"Haven't these people ever heard of salt?† I meant it jokingly, but Dimitri suddenly stopped walking. I instantly came to a halt too. His expression became tense and alert. He turned his head, eyes searching the broad, white plains surrounding us before settling back on the house. I wanted to ask questions, but something in his posture told me to stay silent. He studied the building for almost a full minute, looked down at the icy sidewalk, then glanced back at the driveway, covered in a sheet of snow broken only by our footprints. Cautiously, he approached the front door, and I followed. He stopped again, this time to study the door. It wasn't open, but it wasn't entirely shut either. It looked like it had been closed in haste, not sealing. Further examination showed scuffs along the door's edge, as though it had been forced at some point. The slightest nudge would open it. Dimitri lightly ran his fingers along where the door met its frame, his breath making small clouds in the air. When he touched the door's handle it jiggled a little, like it had been broken. Finally, he said quietly, â€Å"Rose, go wait in the car.† â€Å"But wh† â€Å"Go.† One wordbut one filled with power. In that single syllable I was reminded of the man I'd seen throw people around and stake a Strigoi. I backed up, walking on the snow-covered lawn rather than risk the sidewalk. Dimitri stood where he was, not moving until I'd slipped back into the car, closing the door as softly as possible. Then, with the gentlest of movements, he pushed on the barely held door and disappeared inside. Burning with curiosity, I counted to ten and then climbed out of the car. I knew better than to go in after him, but I had to know what was going on with this house. The neglected sidewalk and driveway indicated that no one had been home for a couple days, although it could also mean the Badicas simply never left the house. It was possible, I supposed, that they'd been the victims of an ordinary break-in by humans. It was also possible that something had scared them offsay, like Strigoi. I knew that possibility was what had made Dimitri's face turn so grim, but it seemed an unlikely scenario with Arthur Schoenberg on duty. Standing on the driveway, I glanced up at the sky. The light was bleak and watery, but it was there. Noon. The sun's highest point today. Strigoi couldn't be out in sunlight. I didn't need to fear them, only Dimitri's anger. I circled around the right side of the house, walking in much deeper snowalmost a foot of it. Nothing else weird about the house struck me. Icicles hung from the eaves, and the tinted windows revealed no secrets. My foot suddenly hit something, and I looked down. There, half-buried in the snow, was a silver stake. It had been driven into the ground. I picked it up and brushed off the snow, frowning. What was a stake doing out here? Silver stakes were valuable. They were a guardian's most deadly weapon, capable of killing a Strigoi with a single strike through the heart. When they were forged, four Moroi charmed them with magic from each of the four elements. I hadn't learned to use one yet, but gripping it in my hand, I suddenly felt safer as I continued my survey. A large patio door led from the back of the house to a wooden deck that probably would have been a lot of fun to hang out on in the summer. But the patio's glass had been broken, so much so that a person could easily get through the jagged hole. I crept up the deck steps, careful of the ice, knowing I was going to get in major trouble when Dimitri found out what I was doing. In spite of the cold, sweat poured down my neck. Daylight, daylight, I reminded myself. Nothing to worry about. I reached the patio and studied the dark glass. I couldn't tell what had broken it. Just inside, snow had blown in and made a small drift on pale blue carpet. I tugged on the door's handle, but it was locked. Not that that mattered with a hole that big. Careful of the sharp edges, I reached through the opening and unlocked the handle's latch from the inside. I removed my hand just as carefully and pulled open the sliding door. It hissed slightly along its tracks, a quiet sound that nonetheless seemed too loud in the eerie silence. I stepped through the doorway, standing in the patch of sunlight that had been cast inside by opening the door. My eyes adjusted from the sun to the dimness within. Wind swirled through the open patio, dancing with the curtains around me. I was in a living room. It had all the ordinary items one might expect. Couches. TV. A rocking chair. And a body. It was a woman. She lay on her back in front of the TV, her dark hair spilling on the floor around her. Her wide eyes stared upward blankly, her face paletoo pale even for a Moroi. For a moment I thought her long hair was covering her neck, too, until I realized that the darkness across her skin was blooddried blood. Her throat had been ripped out. The horrible scene was so surreal that I didn't even realize what I was seeing at first. With her posture, the woman might very well have been sleeping. Then I took in the other body: a man on his side only a couple feet away, dark blood staining the carpet around him. Another body was slumped beside the couch: small, child-size. Across the room was another. And another. There were bodies everywhere, bodies and blood. The scale of the death around me suddenly registered, and my heart began pounding. No, no. It wasn't possible. It was day. Bad things couldn't happen in daylight. A scream started to rise in my throat, suddenly halted when a gloved hand came from behind me and closed over my mouth. I started to struggle; then I smelled Dimitri's aftershave. â€Å"Why,† he asked, â€Å"don't you ever listen? You'd be dead if they were still here.† I couldn't answer, both because of the hand and my own shock. I'd seen someone die once, but I'd never seen death of this magnitude. After almost a minute, Dimitri finally removed his hand, but he stayed close behind me. I didn't want to look anymore, but I seemed unable to drag my eyes away from the scene before me. Bodies everywhere. Bodies and blood. Finally, I turned toward him. â€Å"It's daytime,† I whispered. â€Å"Bad things don't happen in the day.† I heard the desperation in my voice, a little girl's plea that someone would say this was all a bad dream. â€Å"Bad things can happen anytime,† he told me. â€Å"And this didn't happen during the day. This probably happened a couple of nights ago.† I dared a peek back at the bodies and felt my stomach twist. Two days. Two days to be dead, to have your existence snuffed outwithout anyone in the world even knowing you were gone. My eyes fell on a man's body near the room's entrance to a hallway. He was tall, too well-built to be a Moroi. Dimitri must have noticed where I looked. â€Å"Arthur Schoenberg,† he said. I stared at Arthur's bloody throat. â€Å"He's dead,† I said, as though it wasn't perfectly obvious. â€Å"How can he be dead? How could a Strigoi kill Arthur Schoenberg?† It didn't seem possible. You couldn't kill a legend. Dimitri didn't answer. Instead his hand moved down and closed around where my own hand held the stake. I flinched. â€Å"Where did you get this?† he asked. I loosened my grip and let him take the stake. â€Å"Outside. In the ground.† He held up the stake, studying its surface as it shone in the sunlight. â€Å"It broke the ward.† My mind, still stunned, took a moment to process what he'd said. Then I got it. Wards were magic rings cast by Moroi. Like the stakes, they were made using magic from all four of the elements. They required strong Moroi magic-users, often a couple for each element. The wards could block Strigoi because magic was charged with life, and the Strigoi had none. But wards faded quickly and took a lot of maintenance. Most Moroi didn't use them, but certain places kept them up. St. Vladimir's Academy was ringed with several. There had been a ward here, but it had been shattered when someone drove the stake through it. Their magic conflicted with each other; the stake had won. â€Å"Strigoi can't touch stakes,† I told him. I realized I was using a lot of can't and don't statements. It wasn't easy having your core beliefs challenged. â€Å"And no Moroi or dhampir would do it.† â€Å"A human might.† I met his eyes. â€Å"Humans don't help Strigoi† I stopped. There it was again. Don't. But I couldn't help it. The one thing we could count on in the fight against Strigoi was their limitationssunlight, ward, stake magic, etc. We used their weaknesses against them. If they had othershumanswho would help them and weren't affected by those limitations †¦ Dimitri's face was stern, still ready for anything, but the tiniest spark of sympathy flashed in his dark eyes as he watched me wage my mental battle. â€Å"This changes everything, doesn't it?† I asked. â€Å"Yeah,† he said. â€Å"It does.†

Tuesday, October 22, 2019

Tracking Your Goals for Success

Tracking Your Goals for Success Working on commission can be stressful, especially when you dont know how much money comes in each month. Just as you keep track of your bills, you should get in the habit, if you havent already, of staying up-to-date with each piece of work you have in the pipeline. Not only will this help your bottom line, but youll also keep on track with your major goals. For instance, if your goal is to write for  The Writer Magazine, you may need to climb the ladder from where you stand now. Its rare for first time freelancers to break into the national magazine market, so build a system and break down your goal into smaller bites to develop your portfolio to improve your effort toward that big accomplishment. Using the system outlined below, I wrote my first article for a paying ezine and quickly followed it with work for Writing for Dollars, Writers Weekly, and Writer2Writer. Twenty articles later, I had my first article accepted While I use Excel, you may use Microsoft Word, a day planner, or simply a blank notebook (If you prefer, you can use apps), and just as you would schedule your doctors appointments and kids soccer games, create a task list of everyday activities needed to bring in the income. As a freelancer, your times can be flexible, but I caution you to adhere to certain goals each day. Divide your list into four separate sections like the example below. The first section is research, the second is reviewing the guidelines, the third is preparing and submitting, and the fourth is writing and editing. To stay on task with your goals, you have to set aside time each day to do all four. Research Review Guidelines Prep Submission Pkgs Writing Editing Research mags blogs for places to submit article on Writing Tight Review writers guidelines for Parenting Today and  Working Moms Prep submission pkg for Adopting at 50 Parenting Today Working Moms Begin writing the Writing Tight article. Edit other article on staying healthy during the winter When an idea for an article strikes, begin researching places that might be interested before you waste time writing. Some writers suggest pitching before the article is written, but such a move is dependent upon the publications guidelines. After your research, review the guidelines once more for the article you finished the evening before. Guidelines can change so confirming what you should be sending saves time for you and the editor.   Then prepare the submission package for your article and move on to the writing phase of your evening. As you work, highlight each completed task so at the end of the day, youll see the progress youve made. Each evening, create a new list so you start fresh each morning. Carry over the activities you didnt complete the previous day onto the new list and start with those first. Never skip over one of your tasks because doing so erases a potential income opportunity and sets you back a step. Yes, you work on more than one article at a time. Hope Clark keeps as many as thirteen in play, as she likes to put it. Youre always moving forward, working multiple opportunities at different levels. Trust me, its doable. Just ask every successful freelance writer. To achieve goals, you need to keep up with where you are on your journey. This system is designed to help any writer climb the ladder of success, but even if you dont use this one, you should have a way to track the steps youre taking toward your dream.

Monday, October 21, 2019

Kmart and Sears Merger †Summary and Analysis

Kmart and Sears Merger – Summary and Analysis Free Online Research Papers The acquisition of Sears Roebuck Co, cost to Kmart Holding Corporation $ 11 billion (Dess, Lumpkin, Eisner, Strategic Management, 211, 2008). This merger occurred for economical reasons. This merger will benefit both companies in different ways separately and as Sears Holding Company. Kmart will benefit from the planned cost sharing of several of Sears leading proprietary brands as well as present opportunities to capture significant revenue and cost synergies including merchandise and non-merchandise purchasing, distribution and other SGA expenses. Sears will be out of malls, and will benefit from Kmart’ stores locations which are in the high-income customer target of Sears. Moving out off malls means that Sears will sell some of it real estates which will bring money to the company. According to Edward S. Lampert, former chairman of Kmart and new chairman of SCH, the goal were to seek to leverage the combined strengths of Sears and Kmart to obtain greater long-term value either could have generated on a stand-alone basis. SHC will offer a wide variety of products and combining both their strong brands such as Kmart’s brands; Martha Stewart Home and Sears’s brands like Kenmore, Craftsman and Die Hard, they will compete among others. Combining two forces (even in our case where we have two weak companies) increase their merged companys market presence. Choosing from previous companies the best human resources, information technology, operations, finance, strategy lead them to a stronger organization. ¹ Based in all the above SHC will become the third largest retailer in the United States with $ 55 billion in annual revenues and 2,350 full-line and off mall stores and 1,100 specialty retail stores in the USA. Higher market shares often result in greater purchasing power over suppliers. Increased orders result in lower purchase prices for materials and services, allowing the company to be more price competitive. ² The issues SHC will face are internal and external such as organizational culture, organizational structure, organization identity, competition, trained staff, customer’s loyalty and SHC store’s design. Organizational culture is a system of shared values (what is important) and beliefs (how things work) that shape a company’s people, organizational structures and control systems to produce behavioral norms (the way we do things around here) (Dess, Lumpkin, Eisner, Strategic Management, 309, 2008). In merger there will be employees from Kmart and Sears which will share different organizational culture. And according to an AT Kearney research study; in mergers the more powerful partner imposes his culture on the less powerful one. The key to a strategic merger is to create a new organizational culture for SHC. First they need to see what the organizational culture before merger is. They can do this through an OCI which provides a picture of an organization’s operating culture in terms of the behaviors that members believe are expected or implicitly required. By guiding the way in which members approach their work and interact with one another, these â€Å"behavioral norms† determine the organization’s capacity to solve problems, adapt to change, and perform effectively.  ³ First alternative is that they can conduct a separate OCI for Kmart and Sears’s employees and decide which the best organizational culture is and apply it. The advantage is that this will not be time consuming since one part is already used to this organizational culture, the disadvantage is that there will be resistance from the employee’s of the other company since they will see this not as SHC culture but as Sears or Kmart culture (depending on which of the two company’s culture will be chosen) and they will not be willing to share common values and beliefs of another company. The other alternative which I think is the best solution is to cross results from both Kmart and Sears and take the best elements from both companies. The advantage here is that the employees will see this as SHC culture and will share these values. The new SHC culture will encourage individual identification with the organization and its new objectives (Dess, Lumpkin, Eisner, Strategic Management, 309, 2008). This is important because people should start to cooperate; they are not competitors, not anymore. Organizational structure refers to the formalized patterns of interactions that link a firm’s tasks, technologies and people. Structures help to ensure that resources are used effectively in accomplishing an organization’s mission (Dess, Lumpkin, Eisner, Strategic Management, 340, 2008). Since SHC is a new company there should be applied a new structure. I think the best structure in this case is a Matrix structure. Since SHC will operate under at least six different formats and since there were past problems related to the organization’s identity and image, the Matrix structure will keep them in contact and through continuous communication between the ‘’directors of stores’’ they can manage to combine their changes and so keep uniform corporate image and identity. The advantages of this structure are that it: Increases market responsiveness through collaboration and synergies among professional colleagues, allow more efficient utilization of resources, improves flexibility, coordination and communication, increases professional development through a broader range of responsibility. The disadvantages are that: the dual-reporting relationship can result in uncertainty regarding accountability, intense power struggles may lead to increased levels of conflict, working relationships may be more complicated and human resources duplicated and excessive reliance on group processes and teamwork may impede timely decision making (Dess, Lumpkin, Eisner, Strategic Management, 350, 2008). Even after the merger both companies will continue to operate separately under their respective names. And as I mentioned above this is not the right thing to do, because there should not be anymore Kmart or Sears. The quicker they manage to change their previous identity into Sears Holding Company, the better. Buyers need to see that this merger brought changes and the reason they were not preferred from them, are being improved into this new company. As longer they continue to act as Kmart as Sears the more difficult will be for them to be seen as SHC. They need to have ‘’one’’ identity and show improvements and finally get some attention, people must perceive SHC as a new company but which still have the good quality (their brand names are preferred from the clients) and low prices and which continue to improve; they cant effort anymore to be seen as ‘’second hand’’ store. Kmart was placed as a discount store and Sears as a department store. SHC must be placed as a discount store since department stores are not longer liked from customers. Before the merger Kmart was competing against a low-price Wal-mart and a high-style Target and Sears against Home Depot and Lowe. Also as SHC they have to compete against Kmart and Sears as they was and change the way people sees them, and through their past experience try to not make the same mistakes and improve their products. Now as SHC they have to decide against whom they want to compete. Who is more important? They definitely can’t compete against Wal-Mart which is from several years the largest US Corporation. The best move is to compete against Target and Lowe’s who are more easily to compete. They can take advantage of the good allocation of Kmart stores in key urban and high density suburban markets with high-income customers and far from these 2 competitors. They also can fill areas that are overlooked from the others. There are 3 types of competitive advantage: overall cost leadership, which is based on creating low-cost position, which means that SHC must also be able to manage the relationship throughout the value chain and lower costs throughout the entire chain. (Dess, Lumpkin, Eisner, Strategic Management, 156, 2008) The advantage here is that SHC will increase sales but due to cut costs in operating expenses the companies operations will become weaker, and if they offer low prices means they will compete directly with Wal-mart which is a leader in low-prices, and SHC can’t afford such direct competition with them. Then there is differentiation which means that SHC must launch in the market products there are unique and valued, and the price is not an issue since because of the high quality customers will pay more. The disadvantages here are that: SHC a merger company of Kmart and Sears can not be easily perceived by customers as a high-quality company and the high prices they will offer will push the customers away. And there is a focus strategy where the company can gain competitive advantage through a combination of low cost and differentiation. This I think is the best strategy since they can compete through their strong brand such as Martha Stewart, Kenmore, Craftsman and Die Hard, which are perceived very well from customers, against Target which is known for the high-style provided, and with low-cost they can compete against Lowe’s. They need also to attract more brands. Both companies had problems with human resources. SHC must recruit talented people-employees at all levels with the proper sets of skills and capabilities coupled with the right values and attitudes. Such skills and attitudes must be continually developed, strengthened and reinforced and each employee must be motivated and his efforts focused on the organization’s goals and objectives (Dess, Lumpkin, Eisner, Strategic Management, 119, 2008). They need to find and train people who are identified with company’s mission and values, and whom trying to achieve their personal goals, achieve also the company’s goals. There will be also lay-offs which SHC need to manage well. Because there will be people affected by this and the biggest mistake companies do is that they focus in the fired people and how to make them feel better through compensations or explanations of the style ‘’ you are a good manager, is not your fault’’ and forget that they should focus in the remaining employees which is their primary resource. The remaining people will be demotivated because of the large number of firings and think they can be next, so this process is crucible; CEO must talk to them, tell them the truth about the situation, explain them the reasons why they fired their colleagues, motivate them and show them that SHC counts on them and that they are part of the merge process which will be a difficult one and there will be a lot of stress. SHC need to keep the remaining staff motivated in order to share the same vision and mission of the company. The most important part of the remaining employees is the former high level managers, who probably will loose their previous positions and need to work in lower positions. So, this is the part there could resist more to the changes and maybe the part where the attention of SHC should be concentrated. Another issue to be solved for SHC is customers. SHC should focus primarily on them and then in profit maximization, which will come if they are able to fill the customer’s need for good quality, competitive prices, service, time and possibility to easily reach them. Marketing should try to anticipate needs and has customer satisfaction as its primary goal. They need to do surveys to see how people perceived them as Kmart and Sears and what they are expecting from SHC. The design of their stores is keeping customers away because they see the stores as old, not attractive and with a cheap design. SHC stores are what people see in first place, and in order for someone to enter the store they need to redesign its ambient. From the internal design people will see that there are being changes in SHC, and this will help SHC being separated from the previous Kmart and Sears. To conclude SHC should do post merger monitoring, and if there are needed additional changes to enhance results do them. References:  ¹  ² investopedia.com/articles/stocks/07/drive_stock_price.asp  ³ humansynergistics.com/products/oci.aspx Research Papers on Kmart and Sears Merger - Summary and AnalysisAnalysis of Ebay Expanding into AsiaOpen Architechture a white paperThe Project Managment Office SystemTwilight of the UAWMarketing of Lifeboy Soap A Unilever ProductIncorporating Risk and Uncertainty Factor in CapitalDefinition of Export QuotasHip-Hop is ArtAssess the importance of Nationalism 1815-1850 EuropeBionic Assembly System: A New Concept of Self

Sunday, October 20, 2019

ITIN para pagar impuestos y desgravar sin Seguro Social

ITIN para pagar impuestos y desgravar sin Seguro Social En Estados Unidos, el  ITIN es un nà ºmero de identificacià ³n fiscal. Es utilizado por extranjeros que no son elegibles para obtener un Nà ºmero del Seguro Social  (SSN, por sus siglas en inglà ©s). ITIN significa Nà ºmero de Identificacià ³n de Contribuyente Individual, por su nombre en inglà ©s, y se utiliza con dos fines distintos. En primer lugar, para pagar impuestos por los ingresos obtenidos en Estados Unidos. Las leyes federales establecen la obligacià ³n de pagar impuestos para  toda persona que recibe ingresos en el paà ­s sin que importe su estatus migratorio.     En segundo lugar, el ITIN sirve para identificar a cà ³nyuges e hijos dependientes que no tienen SSN para que las personas que pagan impuestos puedan desgravar por esos familiares. En este artà ­culo se informa sobre los puntos bsicos del ITIN, quià ©nes pueden solicitar ese nà ºmero, cà ³mo se hace, cà ³mo se renueva y para quà © puede ser utilizado y para quà © no.  ¿Quià ©nes pueden solicitarel ITIN? Pueden solicitar el ITIN personas en distintas situaciones. Por ejemplo, los extranjeros que residen habitualmente fuera de Estados Unidos pero que estn obligados presentar sus planillas de impuestos federales. Por ejemplo, inversionistas o empresarios de otros paà ­ses que tienen dinero invertido o un negocio en EE.UU. Otro grupo que puede solicitar el ITIN es el de extranjeros no residentes en Estados Unidos que pueden solicitar un beneficio fiscal al amparo de un tratado internacional. Asimismo, otro grupo que debe solicitar el ITIN es el los estudiantes internacionales que viven en Estados Unidos por un tiempo suficiente para ser considerados como residentes a efectos fiscales. Es muy importante entender que esto no los convierte en residentes a efectos de inmigracià ³n, es decir, no por eso pueden obtener una tarjeta de residencia permanente. Sin embargo, si el IRS considera a un extranjero como residente a efectos de pagar impuestos, pues debe hacerlo. Otro grupo de personas para los que es conveniente tener un ITIN es el conformado por cà ³nyuges e  hijos dependientes de ciudadanos americanos o residentes permanentes legales que no pueden sacar la tarjeta del seguro social. Un ejemplo de esta situacià ³n es el caso de esposos u otros dependientes que viven habitualmente fuera de Estados Unidos. Es conveniente que esas personas tengan un ITIN cada uno porque de esta manera los ciudadanos y los residentes permanentes  pueden desgravar por ellos como dependientes cuando presentan la planilla la planilla de los impuestos. Asimismo, pueden solicitar el ITIN el cà ³nyuge y los hijos dependientes de las personas con una visa temporal. Un caso muy tà ­pico es el de la visa H-1B para profesionales y modelos que permite a cierto grupo de extranjeros trabajar en EEUU y estar acompaà ±ados en el paà ­s por su familia inmediata, pero estos no pueden trabajar ni obtener un SSN.  El camino para obtener posibles beneficios fiscales desgravando por dependientes a la hora de declarar ingresos es identificando con un ITIN a dichos dependientes. El ITIN es muy frecuentemente solicitado por los migrantes indocumentados. La razà ³n es que por ley estn obligados a pagar impuestos por sus ingresos en Estados Unidos, aunque no tienen permiso para trabajar legalmente.   Algunos migrantes sienten miedo porque temen que el ITIN puede ser utilizado por las autoridades migratorias para localizarlos pero esto no es asà ­. Segà ºn la Seccià ³n 6103 del Cà ³digo del IRS, las autoridades fiscales no estn autorizadas a proveer informacià ³n sobre quià ©n paga impuestos a ninguna otra agencia del gobierno.   Hay dos excepciones a esa regla. En primer lugar, cuando el Departamento de Tesoro investiga un posible fraude fiscal y, en segundo lugar, cuando existe una orden judicial para que el IRS revele esos datos porque se est realizando una investigacià ³n. Finalmente, tambià ©n pueden solicitar el ITIN personas en estatus migratorio legal pero que no pueden solicitar, por el momento, un SSN como, por ejemplo, algunas và ­ctimas de violencia domà ©stica. Informacià ³n bsica del ITIN El ITIN se creo en 1996 y es un nà ºmero compuesto por nueve dà ­gitos. Siempre comienza por el nà ºmero 9 y en el cuarto lugar aparece el nà ºmero 7 o el 8. En la actualidad, el ITIN tiene una validez de cinco aà ±os. Segà ºn datos del IRS, cada aà ±o fiscal ms de cuatro millones de personas utilizan el ITIN para presentar su planilla de impuestos, conocida en EE.UU. como tax returns pagando casi 14 mil millones de dà ³lares. Segà ºn datos del centro de estudios Taxation and Economic Policy, ubicado en Washington D.C. aproximadamente el 50 por ciento de los indocumentados en EE.UU. paga tax returns utilizando un ITIN.  ¿Cà ³mo se solicita el ITIN por primera vez? El ITIN se puede solicitar  por correo enviando la solicitud utilizando la planilla W7. Adems, debe incluirse la planilla de impuestos y  documentos originales o certificados por la autoridad que los emite y  que prueben su identidad y su condicià ³n de extranjero.  Si se envà ­an documentos originales, estos sern devueltos en 60 dà ­as desde que se recibià ³ la solicitud. La direccià ³n a la que enviar la solicitud  desde EE.UU. o desde otro paà ­s e: Internal Revenue ServiceAustin Service CenterITIN OperationP.O. Box 149342Austin, TX 78714-9342 Pero una forma ms fcil y conveniente de solicitar el ITIN cerrando una cita con  un agente autorizado  algunos de los cuales estn ubicados fuera de los Estados Unidos (Acceptance Agent) o visitando un  Centro de Asistencia al Contribuyente  (TACs, por sus siglas en inglà ©s), donde una persona especializada podr ayudar  en este proceso y  verificar la autenticidad de los documentos.   Si necesita ayuda especà ­fica para su caso para solicitar el ITIN, adems de poder acudir a los TACs  se puede marcar al 1-800-829-1040. Documentos admisibles para acompaà ±ar la solicitud del ITIN Para solicitar el ITIN debe probarse la identidad del solicitante y su carcter de extranjero. Se admiten 13 documentos entre los que se encuentran: pasaporte, cà ©dula de identificacià ³n, licencia de manejar de EEUU o del paà ­s de origen, partida oficial de nacimiento para menores de 18 aà ±os, ID card de un estado estadounidense, visa, tarjeta militar americana o extranjera o la tarjeta de votante extranjero. Para que cualquiera de estos documentos sea admisible es necesario  presentar el original o copia certificada por la entidad que los emite. Otra opcià ³n es verificarlos en un TACs o con un Acceptance Agent. Adems, no pueden estar expirados  y que en ellos debe aparecer  claramente el nombre del solicitante,  una foto del mismo y deben servir como prueba de su carcter de extranjero. Cunto tiempo se demoraen procesarse el ITIN En general, se recibir el nà ºmero de identificacià ³n fiscal dentro de las seis semanas siguientes a haber formulado la peticià ³n, siempre y cuando la aplicacià ³n està © completa y no falte ningà ºn documento. Si no se recibe contestacià ³n en ese plazo de tiempo se puede llamar gratuitamente al telà ©fono seà ±alado anteriormente para averiguar sobre el estado del trmite. Expiracià ³n del ITIN y su renovacià ³n En la actualidad, todos los ITIN son vlidos solamente por cinco aà ±os. Se renuevan de la misma forma que se solicitan por primera vez. La à ºnica diferencia es que al renovar no hay que presentar un tax return. Adems, cabe destacar que si el ITIN pierde validez automticamente si no se utiliza por tres aà ±os consecutivos.   Si se presenta un tax returns con el ITIN caducado, la declaracià ³n de impuestos se va a tramitar pero no se tendrn en cuenta exenciones o crà ©ditos solicitados ni tampoco se devolver dinero al contribuyente al que le corresponderà ­a mientras no se presente un ITIN vlido.    ¿Para quà © puede utilizarse el ITIN y para quà © no? A pesar de ser un nà ºmero  emitido oficialmente por una agencia del Departamento del Tesoro de los Estados Unidos, el ITIN no puede utilizarse como identificacià ³n ni, en ningà ºn caso, como un sustituto del nà ºmero social.  Ã‚   Nunca jams el ITIN prueba de que se est autorizado para trabajar. No es uno de los documentos admitidos en la planilla I-9  que se completan al comenzar a trabajar en una empresa. Adems, si la compaà ±Ãƒ ­a utiliza el sistema e-verify, serà ­a evidente que no se tiene permiso para trabajar. El pago de impuestos con un ITIN no da derecho a solicitar el crà ©dito fiscal que se conoce como Earned Income Tax Credit  (EITC, por sus siglas en inglà ©s), y que es el ms solicitado por las familias trabajadores de bajos ingresos. Tampoco se puede obtener beneficios del sistema del seguro social ni de Medicare, a pesar de haber contribuido con los impuestos a esos fondos. El ITIN se utiliza para pagar impuestos, porque es una obligacià ³n que establece la ley. Tambià ©n se usa porque brinda algunos beneficios. Por ejemplo, las personas que pagan impuestos con un ITIN pueden solicitar un Child Tax Credit por sus hijos dependientes, con un mximo de $2.000 por menor. Sin embargo en la actualidad se requiere que dichos dependientes tengan un nà ºmero del seguro social propio. Adems, cuando un migrante cambia de estatus migratorio, el pago de impuestos con ITIN podrà ­a servir para probar aà ±os de residencia en el paà ­s. Asimismo, podrà ­a dar derecho a contabilizar los pagos ya hechos a Medicare y al sistema del seguro social una vez que ya tiene un nà ºmero social.  Este punto, debido a su carcter delicado, es aconsejable consultarlo con un abogado. Tambià ©n da derecho el ITIN a poder abrir una cuenta de banco que genera interà ©s. Finalmente, algunos estados listan el ITIN como uno de los documentos que puede presentarse para probar identidad a la hora de solicitar una licencia de manejar o un I.D. de identificacià ³n. Puntos Bsicos: El ITIN y su utilizacià ³n El ITIN es un nà ºmero de identificacià ³n fiscal que emite el IRS, una agencia del Departamento del Tesoro de Estados Unidos.Pueden solicitarlo las personas que no tienen derecho a un Nà ºmero del Seguro Social pero tienen que pagar impuestos en EE.UU. o pueden ser personas dependientes de otras por las que se desgrava, y es que el fin del ITIN es pagar impuestos y para desgravar, aunque algunas desgravaciones no aplican con el ITIN.No es una identificacià ³n, no da permiso para trabajar legalmente en EE.UU ni tampoco sirve para probar o ganar estatus migratorio alguno.En la actualidad, el ITIN es vlido por cinco aà ±os, despuà ©s debe renovarse. Adems, caduca si no se utiliza por tres aà ±os consecutivos. Este es un artà ­culo informativo. No es asesorà ­a legal.

Saturday, October 19, 2019

What is Pesticide Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

What is Pesticide - Assignment Example There are natural pesticides such as neem tree or citronella plant to ward off other insects. Scarecrows commonly used to ward off crows from eating the corn. Today, the market has many types of chemical pesticides suited to just any type of pest. In 2009, paldoxins, a new class of fungicides were developed and endorsed to the public sinve they were considered more earth-friendly and non-toxic ( Eurekaalert, 2009).Pesticides have three major benefits to mankind, namely,1) to prevent or control organism that cause harm 2) providing economic benefits to farmers due to reduced damage of crops due to diseases 3) prevent sickness in human beings such as DDT for malaria .Nevertheless, there is another side to this argument as pesticides can also have negative effects on human population.The following are pathological disorders caused by certain pesticides: 2.Attention-deficit disorder - Recently, it was reported that there is a possible link between pesticides used in food to incidence of ADHD in children ( Sott.net, 2010). The report is based on analysis of U.S. Health data where childrens urine were examined to establish the difference between eating organically grown produce and produce with fertilizers. From the given information, it can be said that pesticides creates a great risk for human beings. Although there are benefits that can be derived from using pesticide, still, the effect is even more disastrous. It is therefore a challenge for government agencies to come up with pesticides that would not be harmful to human beings as well as the environment. Ascherio A, Chen H, Weisskopf MG, OReilly E, McCullough ML, Calle EE, Schwarzschild MA, Thun MJ (2006). "Pesticide exposure and risk for Parkinsons disease". Annals of Neurology 60 (2): 197–203. doi:10.1002/ana.20904. PMID 16802290 Beseler CL, Stallones L, Hoppin JA, et al. (December 2008). "Depression and pesticide exposures among private pesticide applicators enrolled in the Agricultural Health Study".

Friday, October 18, 2019

Birth control Movie Review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Birth control - Movie Review Example The cost of sustaining the use of contraceptives is clearly evident and younger women, especially those in colleges cannot afford it. This can be a barrier to the women’s choice of contraceptive method. Given the extent to which contraceptives are important to women, more so college women, the government has an obligation to fund the low-cost birth control for college women. This will enable most women to access to birth control services at relatively low costs. As a result, there will be a reduction in the cases of unplanned pregnancies which often lead to abortions. In response to the post by the student, I agree with her that women need to embrace the use of contraceptives. The benefits of using contraceptives are very evident for those who choose to use it. However, it is also very true that the cost of sustaining contraceptives limits many women to adopt its usage. For this reason, the government needs to come with other options to ensure that most women are able to access this critical health care. Including approved contraceptive methods in most health insurance cover is one step in the right direction to ensure that women have access to contraceptive methods that are suitable for them. I strongly agree with her that there should be no politics around such a critical subject as contraception since it is a matter that touches on the health of

Ethics Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Ethics - Case Study Example It would be ethical to disclose what TT is doing under the Kantian ethics that stresses the principles of universal acceptability and respect or the criterion of reciprocity. It is already confirmed that what TT is producing is counterfeited from the produce of FF. Moreover, the alleged drug or diet produced by TT has been made using cheap substances that make him reap maximum profits that are not comparable to the combination that can be derived from the genuine ones produced by FF. The implication of this under the Kantian utilitarianism is that there is need to disclose the productions of TT, as he neither respects the needs of his customers nor does he produce a diet worthy of reciprocation from his clients. The production by TT must be disclosed for violating the principles of reciprocity in that despite the fact that his child is sick and needs expensive treatment, his production does not guarantee his patients a successful treatment therapy. For the Kantian utilitarianism to h ave held any ground for him to warrant a non-disclosure of his activities, TT should have endeavored to compare the needs of his client as compared to the plight of his daughter in the spirit of reciprocity. Fisher and Lovell (2008) argue that at any given time, a person must know when to apply the ethical virtues and how to use them. Under the present scenario, TT has exhibited rashness or recklessness in his behavior by offering substandard diet and Energy band to his customers and therefore under the ethical virtues, his activities should be disclosed to the authorities, as they do not take care of the interests of the clientele. It would be an act of courage and magnificence as well as an act of honor for me as a journalist to disclose the misdemeanors and misrepresentations of TT to the authorities in line with the reasoning of Aristotle of what virtue is. This is coupled with the fact that disclosing his activities will be seen as a virtue of truthfulness and magnanimity to pr otect the clients that TT serves. The need to report TT is further compounded by the fact that he is boastful and malicious in that he only focuses on taking his daughter to an expensive hospital at the expense of others who he may harm through his sub-standard diet and Energy Band (Aristotle, 1955). There would also be need to disclose the lies and misrepresentations peddled by TT through his diets. This could be hinged on Gilligan’s (1982) virtue of care and wisdom, vice of deficiency and the vice of excess or appeasement as used in moral reasoning. Through this reasoning, there would be need to disclose the activities of TT, as they lack any care or wisdom in their undertaking. This is whereby TT is only concerned about the need to generate money to take his daughter to an expensive hospital, as opposed to giving his clients the right therapy or diet to help them live a healthy lifestyle. It would also be important to report him for the wrong that he is committing to his c lients in order to appease them for the excesses that TT may have committed to them. Question 2 As an investigative journalist who has been approached by TT for a relationship in exchange for compliments, it is important to reject the offer and advances. Based on Low and Queensland University of Technology (2012), I am at the fourth stage in

UK Tax System Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

UK Tax System - Essay Example With the government's source taken from the public taxation always greater than the amount that is intended for use by the government, taxes are levied to fund several programs. Other governmental policies are also geared towards the redistribution of wealth from the rich and poor respectively in relief operations, public education, social security benefits and reparations. However, fundamental methods of collection are not foolproof and possibilities for inefficiencies are always prevalent. Tax policies being a highly political and controversial issue do require extensive analysis and determination on its viability to gain the paying sector's acceptance and economic performance. The neo-classical economic theories whose studies believe that taxation brings about economic inefficiencies have suggested changes in the tax systems that would work to minimise the distortion. Tax remittances of the ordinary working sector accommodating deficiencies brought about by certain deficits were s een as the basis for the recognition of its disadvantages. However the complexities of the British Tax system have served to greatly increase the stress and expense to millions of taxpayers as tax season approaches in Kay(1990)1. Simplification of the British tax system has allowed the common platforms of many political parties in grandstanding tax rules and exemptions. Disadvantages in the assessment, calculation and collection of taxes are often criticized as ineffective and administratively expensive according to Emes and Clemens (2001)2. Determined to maintain absolute performance of the economy, changes were aimed at creating several programs that redistribute wealth and prosperity to all. Tax cuts became a scene in fiscal reforms that has announced reductions in income taxes and simplification of the system which focused on the tax laws themselves without upsetting the current balance of tax burdens or taxes paid by the individual. Alternative tax base system was introduced that basically focused on income, expense and wealth. Income derivatives in the corporate ladder include Value added tax (VAT) and excise taxes while individual income tax has pre-existed along with social insurance continuity. On investment and entrepreneurship, under expenditures or consumption taxes, capital gains and sales taxation is considered tentative in nature. Property tax summarized under wealth taxation has gained support claiming that anti-wealth tax is funded by a coterie of wealthy taxpayers whose instinctive rejection of the sys tem comes from the broad aspiration to become wealthier and amass more fortune by any means. Income derived from gainful employment; pensions; shares and dividends; interest on savings and trust and rentals is deemed taxable at a certain level. Forming the bulk of revenues for the British government, each earning person below the age of 65 is afforded an income tax allowance or a tax-free allowance each year of 5,035Gbp. For earning persons of over 65 but below 74, any income above 7,280Gbp is taxable while elderly individuals whose income is below 7,420 are exempted from paying taxes. But where income is in excess of one's tax-free allowance, taxation is based on the age-related allowance. Earners, whose income is 1 to 2,150 above their mandated tax allowance, shall enjoy a flat 10% tax rate. Those whose accumulated gross

Thursday, October 17, 2019

Biodiversity of Coastal and Exposed Shores Assignment

Biodiversity of Coastal and Exposed Shores - Assignment Example (DETR, 2001). Ideally, we should be able to monitor the biological status of all UK biodiversity and how it is changing (e.g. ecosystem support functions, such as pollution buffering, flood reduction, climate change responses), with focus on priority species and habitats. This paper seeks to respond to the question: How should one go about designing the statistical analysis of biodiversity if it had to be done across scales in time and space The conceptual basis of the design is the definition of biodiversity as a convolution of two community components. One of the components is richness, the product of species evolution, and the other structure, the consequence of environmental sorting (biotic, physical). The method of choice takes information in the manner of frequency distributions, and decomposes the associated total diversity into additive components specific to the deemed sorting factors. Diversity quantities are supplied by the analysis by which the relative importance of sorting factors can be measured and the dynamic oscillations which they generate in diversity can be traced. It is important for this to strategy considers both the present situation and future research needs. Our present monitoring capabilities may be limited not in a scientific sense but through poor coordination and use of existing resources. The Strategy aims to identify areas where improved coordination is required, as well as prioritising new research. Method and Planning: For the preliminary planning process, I conducted the experiments on the middle shore, i.e., 6/12ths, where this position was used in the case of both the exposed and sheltered shores. Also, a levelling technique was made use of in order to locate the middle position. Further, random selection was conducted with the collected samples using a quadrat. Once the middle positions on each shore were located, 30 samples were extracted from each position. With the help of two measuring tapes - one vertically and one horizontally (like an x and y axis), a random numbers table was used to pick some numbers with two numbers for each sample making a total of 60 numbers for 30 samples. After this, the two numbers (coordinates x and y), were used to find the x coordinates on the vertical measuring tape and the y coordinates on the horizontal measuring tape. This helped to finally zero in on a position from where the researcher could extract samples. A note on the style that has been followed throughout this paper - I have followed the APA style in keeping with the most uncomplicated one for the purpose of our research and simple presentation. Analysis and Implementation: In the course of this task, I went on the assumption that the species will show more diversity on the sheltered shore while the exposed shore will have less population density owing to harsh weather conditions. Accordingly, I have used the following steps: Surveying the Rocky shore Because the tide rises up and down twice a day things at the top of the shore get much less water than things at the bottom. This gives rise to an extraordinarily large number of different ways of surviving

Marketing project Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Marketing project - Essay Example For this very reason the government and the customers are encouraging the investment of public and private sector into the sector; they are encouraging more of private investment because it is believed that they would provide with better quality of services. The system of nursing home started in 1980s and with time and has progressed over the years; more investment during 1990s and it is believed that by 2011 the government would have invested $123 Billion into the sector. The quality of the services is under question; there are few areas that do not provide the expected level of facilities and much important needs to be given on them. The customers need the facility but at the same time they would prefer such nursing homes that would give them the standard they are looking for at a reasonable cost. Because there is high demand for the services that is why any new investment would find itself good customers and at an stage of investment; Guardian Care will be a good investment for the people of China as well as for the company if they focus on the existing lack of facilities and services and provide the same and bridge the

Wednesday, October 16, 2019

Biodiversity of Coastal and Exposed Shores Assignment

Biodiversity of Coastal and Exposed Shores - Assignment Example (DETR, 2001). Ideally, we should be able to monitor the biological status of all UK biodiversity and how it is changing (e.g. ecosystem support functions, such as pollution buffering, flood reduction, climate change responses), with focus on priority species and habitats. This paper seeks to respond to the question: How should one go about designing the statistical analysis of biodiversity if it had to be done across scales in time and space The conceptual basis of the design is the definition of biodiversity as a convolution of two community components. One of the components is richness, the product of species evolution, and the other structure, the consequence of environmental sorting (biotic, physical). The method of choice takes information in the manner of frequency distributions, and decomposes the associated total diversity into additive components specific to the deemed sorting factors. Diversity quantities are supplied by the analysis by which the relative importance of sorting factors can be measured and the dynamic oscillations which they generate in diversity can be traced. It is important for this to strategy considers both the present situation and future research needs. Our present monitoring capabilities may be limited not in a scientific sense but through poor coordination and use of existing resources. The Strategy aims to identify areas where improved coordination is required, as well as prioritising new research. Method and Planning: For the preliminary planning process, I conducted the experiments on the middle shore, i.e., 6/12ths, where this position was used in the case of both the exposed and sheltered shores. Also, a levelling technique was made use of in order to locate the middle position. Further, random selection was conducted with the collected samples using a quadrat. Once the middle positions on each shore were located, 30 samples were extracted from each position. With the help of two measuring tapes - one vertically and one horizontally (like an x and y axis), a random numbers table was used to pick some numbers with two numbers for each sample making a total of 60 numbers for 30 samples. After this, the two numbers (coordinates x and y), were used to find the x coordinates on the vertical measuring tape and the y coordinates on the horizontal measuring tape. This helped to finally zero in on a position from where the researcher could extract samples. A note on the style that has been followed throughout this paper - I have followed the APA style in keeping with the most uncomplicated one for the purpose of our research and simple presentation. Analysis and Implementation: In the course of this task, I went on the assumption that the species will show more diversity on the sheltered shore while the exposed shore will have less population density owing to harsh weather conditions. Accordingly, I have used the following steps: Surveying the Rocky shore Because the tide rises up and down twice a day things at the top of the shore get much less water than things at the bottom. This gives rise to an extraordinarily large number of different ways of surviving

Tuesday, October 15, 2019

Inspector Goole Essay Example for Free

Inspector Goole Essay I believe such cliff-hangers put the characters in a defensive and confused mood and they left wanting to know what is to happen next. Who thought the inspector knew a lot therefore they have to co-operate by telling the truth and this makes the jig-saw puzzle of the mysteries easily soluble. That is the scenes with each Act are easily identifiable as the initial atmosphere is established, as the focus moves from one character to the next and as the family seeks to explain the evenings events. At the end of the play, the audience are shocked and surprised that inspector Goole, who has acted professionally, so it seems, has turned out to be a fraud and a fake. Afterwards, the audience, I presume, becomes more confused and bewildered. The plan was a type of whos done it (by Agatha Christie) which progressively builds up and heightens the supernatural nature of the mystery surrounding the inspector. However, the inspector has successfully made Sheila and Eric confessed their guilt and irresponsible behaviour towards Eva Smith yet the inspector leaves the audience guessing who actually is responsible for the death of Eva Smith, and the audience having learnt that the inspector is a fake, makes them more surprised at his professional manner and style of his interrogation and enquiries. Initially, the role of the fake Inspector Goole, who visits the Birling family residence and to interrogate them about the supposed suicidal death of Eva Smith, tries to make the characters aware of the broader view of responsibility because before the entry of Inspector Goole in Act one, Mr Birling tells the two young lads Gerald and Eric that,  A man has to mind his own business and look after himself and his own After the inspector has given his speech of Love, the three; Mr and Mrs Birling and Gerald are adamant and refuse to accept any responsibility on their part, which contributed to the death of Eva Smith. Before the end of the play, Gerald Croft rings the infirmary to confirm the death of Eva Smith and the falsehood of his cocked up story of the death of a young woman now on a slab at the infirmary. Mr and Mrs Birling and Gerald are in jubilant and triumphant mood that they have been vindicated that no girl has died and the infirmary hasnt had a suicide for months. Just then, the phone rings. This time, it is a real inspector who confirms that indeed a young girl has died drinking disinfectant and is on the way to the infirmary. Then inspector wishes to visit the Birlings (second time round) for a fresh investigation. I therefore believe that this is proof of Priestleys use of time as element of his play. Now the audience are left in no doubt that the events of the play are going to start all over again because according to theory of nature of time, the cycle of identical lives will be repeated if people involved change nothing of significance. J.B Priestley wants to convey a moral and social message that we all should think, feel and act like responsible people in the community helping one another. I believe that the sort of audience who went to the theatre in 1945 were, naà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ve and ignorant but rich and powerful. Despite the ignorance of the audience, they were wealthy and powerful people of the society at that time after the Second World War. Therefore, they could easily identify with the Birlings. These people are selfish, uncompromising and thought of themselves and their families and disregarded the plight of the poor and disadvantaged members of society. This is vividly in Mr Birlings advice to Eric and Gerald;   but I care. I was almost certain for a knighthood in the next Honours List-  Having identified themselves with the Birlings, I feel that the audience will feel guilty for being irresponsible and selfish towards the poor and disadvantaged in the society. Therefore I believe if injustice and inequality are allowed to flourish in the society, mistakes of the old generation will repeat itself in generations to come. The play encourages the audience to learn from the mistakes of the past and to recognize that selfish pursuit of riches and power can be destructive. J.B Priestley encourages his modern audience to see that capitalism has many victims. He also makes them aware that our lives are linked and that our behaviour affects one another to see the need to create a better society. Nevertheless, the modern society reacts to the characters in the same way in the sense that the rich are becoming richer and the poor becoming poorer, due to the selfishness and inward looking of the wealthy and powerful over the less advantaged members of society. I feel Priestleys use of surprise interrogations and inquiries do not work in modern times. This is because before an inspector of the police visits a residence to interrogate, he first makes himself known by producing his identity card. I believe the end is a surprise because after inspector Gooles speech, the real inspector of the police rings announcing the death of a girl who has drank a strong disinfectant and that the police inspector is on his way to ask questions. Despite the present of socio-political conditions, I believe Priestleys moral and social message is still relevant. For instance, inequality and class systems are prevalent in modern societies. For example, the labour party which is socialist inclined seems to stress the idea of interdependent community but fail to practice what they preach. The original audience are different from the present day audience, whereas the audience in 1945 were aristocrats, wealthy and powerful, the present audience have different social status therefore I think one should expect diverse reactions. Thus, the play does not affect them in the same way. However, I feel that the play is still worth performing because modern audience are still committing the old mistakes that the original audience committed. Morden society is still irresponsible and class system is also operative. Again the elite and affluent exercise power over the less advantaged and the poor, and they are business conscious more than being charitable. In this play, Priestley writes about social message, love and responsibility. Socially, the writer makes me feel and accept that people share a common humanity and that we are all interdependent.  Again Priestleys writing about love through charity which is faked by Mrs Birling encourages me as an audience to express true love.  I believe this play has encouraged me to look back to the mistake of our fore-fathers in all circumstances and live as a member of a community contributing and helping to build a society devoid of wickedness, irresponsibility and selfishness.  In conclusion, I must admit I have been overwhelmed by Priestleys use of time as an element of his plays ( The dessert Highway-1944 and The Linder Tree-1945), to demonstrate how in general; the behaviour of each member of a community can affect others.

Monday, October 14, 2019

Chili Flax (Dish advisor) Web Site Analysis

Chili Flax (Dish advisor) Web Site Analysis 1 Introduction In this section, documentation describe purpose of system, scope, and different possible interaction with system. 1.1 Purpose The purpose of this documentation is to give a detailed information about Chili Flax (Dish advisor) web site. In this documentation, we describe various interactions, interfaces and system constraints for this system. The main purpose of this documents is to give illusion to developer and user about system. 1.2 Scope The Chili Flax (Dish Advisor) is a website, which helps user to compare foods serving all restaurants in the city. It compares based on price and customers review on particular food selected by user. It will help user to find best food nearby his/her location. Main advantage that it brings transparency in price and quality of food is serving in the city. Restaurant owners will provide information about its menu and other information about restaurants like establishment years, experience in this business, connected with another firm and schedule. Restaurant owner can have Owner panel to modify menu whenever they want. The software need GPS (location) permission for find nearby place feature which allow software to calculate minimum distance with user and provide best search result. 1.3 Definitions, acronyms and abbreviations Term Definition user Person who interact with website Admin/Administrator System administrator who have rights to change and manage website information Restaurant owner Who have rights to change own restaurant menu and prices Developer Who created this website and managed all information GPS Global Positioning System GPS-Location Manager Location permission need when website is excessed through user device to improve search optimization Data Source Person or referencing object who contributed data in this website 1.4 Overview In this documentation, we have majorly included three chapter which enable to give brief introduction of system and other interaction modules given by all whole system. In this document, also describe different stakeholders and their respective roles. Another aspect is that what is constrains and assumption need to mention in system that every individual should make is also describe in this documentation. Requirement specification and detailed terms and definitions of the different interfaces mansion in third chapter of documentation. Technologies used during implementation of requirement also mentioned. In the Fourth chapter prioritization of requirement is mention and also mentioned what basis developers are choose those requirement is first and all filtration process. The appendixes in the end include all results of requirement prioritized and launch plan of development. 2. Overall description This section will provide associate summary of the entire system. The system will be explained in its context to indicate however the system interacts with alternative systems and introduce the essential practicality of it. It will additionally describe what kind of stakeholders which will use the system and what practicality is obtainable for every kind. At last, the constraints and assumptions for the system will be given. 2.1 Product perspective This system mainly contain two parts first one is web browser and second is database. Web browser serve application pages which contains different pages to serve. GPS will be used by mobile application to locate user. Distance between user and restaurant will be displayed by GPS and also da of application will be displayed by GPS. User can use function of GPS seamlessly manner. This application contains centralized database so it requires to store data somewhere. Mobile application as well as website both can access to database. They will use database in different ways. Mobile application will use database to display those data which is required by user. Web portal will use database to store and modify those data needed by administration team of system. Internet will be used for this kind of communication. There are limited resources available for mobile application. The maximum amount of hard drive space required by application will be 20 MB. 2.2 Product functions User can search restaurants using mobile application. The result will be displayed using inputs given by user. Administrator of system can change of add criteria. Search result will be displayed in either list view or in map view according to the requirements of user. The list view will have one list item for each restaurant. Location of each restaurants will be displayed in map view. In both views user, can view information about restaurants. The web portal will be used for data population and administration purpose. 2.3 User characteristics The number of types of users is three which will interact with system: User of mobile application, administrators and restaurant owners. Each user carries different role, requirements and rights on system. The mobile application users can see data only. They can input criteria for search restaurants and gets directions to reach there. The restaurant owners will use web portal to populate date. The can manage their menu and information about restaurants. The administrators will use web portal to system. They will have maximum rights on system. They are responsible for removing uncourts data and harmful contents. 2.4 Constraints Mobile application needs GPS system to be functional properly. Mobile devices with different GPS will use same interface. The application will also require internet connection. Connectivity to database is established over internet so internet connection will be needed by application. Both the application and web portal will have limited size of database. Database is shared between both application and web portal so it can happen that they can be forced to queue incoming requests. 2.5 Assumptions and dependencies We can assume that application will be installed on capable devices. If device does not have enough space, then application will not be installed. Another assumption is that all mobile devices in which application is installed, have working GPS with same interface. If the phones have different interfaces to the GPS, the requirements for GPS will needed to be changed. 2.6 Apportioning of requirements If project is about to be delayed, there are some requirements that will be implemented in the next versions of application. Those requirements are to be implemented in the next release, see Appendix IV. 3. Specific requirements The functional and quality requirements are contained by this section. Detailed description of system and interface is given in this section. ÂÂ  3.1 External interface Requirements This section describes all inputs and outputs of system. It also describes the software, hardware and the communication interfaces. This section provides basic prototypes of the user interface. 3.1.1 User interfaces Login page will be displayed to first time user, see Figure 2. User can navigate registration page from login page. Search page will be displayed to user if user is not first time user, see Figure 3. User will select search criteria here and able to get list of required restaurants. User will have profile page to manage personal and contact information, see Figure 4. Also, the user can change its preferred language. 3.1.2 Hardware interfaces Applications are installed on fully built systems so they dont need any external hardware. The GPS and database will be handled by underlying processes of operating system of respected devices. 3.1.3 Software interfaces The mobile application will use GPS to get location of user and will use database to fetch data about restaurants which is required by user, see Figure 1. Mobile application can only read data from database. Web portal will have all rights on data of database. 3.1.4 Communications interfaces The different parts of system are highly dependent on each other so communication among them is very important. Way of communication is doesnt concerned by whole system. So, communication will be handled by underlying processes of operation system on respective devices. 3.2 Functional requirements 3.2.1 User Class 1 The User 3.2.1.1 Functional requirement 1.1 ID: FR1 TITLE: Download mobile application DESC: Application should be downloaded by user from application store and free of cost RAT: So, user can download application. DEP: None 3.2.1.2 Functional requirement 1.2 ID: FR2 TITLE: Notification of new releases DESC: When new release of application comes, user will get notification about it. RAT: So, user can download new version of application. DEP: FR1 3.2.1.3 Functional requirement 1.3 ID: FR3 TITLE: Registration DESC: User should create an account on system. RAT: So, user can create an account. DEP: FR2 3.2.1.4 Functional requirement 1.4 ID: FR4 TITLE: Login DESC: User should login in system in order to user features of system. RAT: So, user can access its profile. DEP: FR1, FR3 3.2.1.5 Functional requirement 1.5 ID: FR5 TITLE: Get password DESC: User can get password by email. RAT: Recovery of password. DEP: FR1 3.2.1.6 Functional requirement 1.6 ID: FR6 TITLE: User ratings DESC: User should rate restaurants. RAT: Improved feedback. DEP: FR4 3.2.1.7 Functional requirement 1.7 ID: FR7 TITLE: Search restaurants DESC: User should search restaurants by food, price, distance and rating. RAT: Search for a restaurant. DEP: FR6 3.2.1.8 Functional requirement 1.8 ID: FR8 TITLE: Admin panel DESC: Administrators should be able to manage database of system. RAT: System management. DEP: None 4. Prioritization and Release Plan 4.1 Choice of prioritization method Top 10 most important requirements will be selected first. This will be done by simple number method in which higher number means high priority. Number will be assigned base on decision of meting of stockholders. The highest summed number associated with requirement will decide priority of requirement. The results will be red marked and others will be left as are they before. These requirements were prioritized according to the points they got and the results can be viewed under Appendix II. 4.2 Release Plan The requirements were divided in three groups and each group will be implements in each release of application. Each release will be work as complete working system. The first release will contain essential requirements. The last release will contains most advanced requirements. Other requirements can be implemented in middle release, Gantt Chart