Final reflection Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Final reflection - Essay Example Through the various lessons that we have undertaken in class, especially those focusing on the images and viewer meaning, have all contributed to my ability to visually communicate successfully. Not only have I had the opportunity to improve my visual communication skills, I have also learnt the various factors that lead to poor visual communication, perception and meaning of what we see are the major factors. Visually, I can analyse anything that I see from different perspectives and later make a conclusion. Earlier, I used to make conclusions without going through the analysing process. Subsequently, I made numerous mistakes in most of my decisions. However, being a visually literate person, I make decisions without any fear or worry of making mistakes. Thus, I am more confident, surer and more decisive when am making my decisions from visual communication. Art is emotional and sentimental, as I have come to realize from the various classes that we have taken. The purpose of art is diverse and has a broad meaning. Not only is art a form of entertainment, it is also a form of communication that artists use to convey different messages to the audience. Artists use art to communicate on different social issues and problems generally affecting the society. Art influences our thinking and reasoning about life. Personally, I perceive art as a method in which artists use to educate people on important issues affecting the society. Moreover, I have come to realize that art takes many forms, not just the cultural art or art by a certain group of people. Media is a form of art in the post modernism era. However, there is a rift in the reasoning behind the modern and post modernism forms of art. While postmodern art holds that all stances are unstable and insincere, and therefore irony, parody, and humour, by critique or revision prevails, the modern art thinks otherwise. As such, many events happening around us incorporate the use of art, especially in advertising and explaining consumer behaviour and character. For an advert to be captivating, it should be creative and attractive. Beauty is attractive and captures the attention of the people. Through this understanding, businesses provide beautiful commodities to people especially those that capture their attention for the purpose of ma king a sale. Thus, even in the modern world, the art is still alive, only that this time, its application falls in different categories than in the past. Throughout the class, I came to realize several things that I was not aware about in the past. Although initially they appeared obvious, the reality in them did not occur to me until after taking the class. It was during the topic on â€Å"the experience of looking† that I experienced a break-through moment in my artistic abilities as well as visual communication. The different concepts learned in the class were a form of revelation that I did not have in the past. Positivism as I realized assumes that me aning exists out in the world, independent of our feelings, attitudes, or beliefs about them. Positivism holds that only the scientific knowledge is genuine knowledge, while other views are simply some forms of suspicion. Moreover, the empirical truths of experience of loo

Nclex ; Hesi Practice Tests Essay Example for Free

Nclex ; Hesi Practice Tests Essay Denial B. Anger C. Bargaining D. Rejection 2. Which of the following matches the definition: covering up a weakness by stressing a desirable or stronger trait? A. Compensation B. Projection C. Rationalization D. Dysphoria 3. Which of the following waveforms is most commonly found with light sleepers? A. Theta B. Alpha C. Beta D. Zeta 4. Which of the following months matches with an infant first having the ability to sit-up independently? A. 4 months B. 6 months C. 8 months D. 10 months 5. Object permanence for toddlers develops in this age range? A. 5-10 months B. 10-14 months C. 12-24 months D. 15-24 months 6. Which of the following matches the definition: attributing of our own unwanted trait onto another person? A. Compensation B. Projection C. Rationalization D. Dysphoria 7. Which of the following matches the definition: the justification of behaviors using reason other than the real reason? A. Compensation B. Projection C. Rationalization D. Dysphoria 8. Which of the following matches the definition: response to severe emotion stress resulting in involuntary disturbance of physical functions? A. Conversion disorder B. Depressive reaction C. Bipolar disorder D. Alzheimers disease 9. Which of the following waveforms is most commonly found when you are awake? A. Theta B. Alpha C. Beta D. Zeta 10. The REM sleep cycle occur approximately every ____ minutes? A. 45 B. 60 C. 75 D. 90 11. Which of the following reflexes is not found at birth? A. Babinski B. Palmar C. Moro D. Flexion 12. Parallel play for toddlers develops in this age range? A. 5-10 months B. 10-14 months C. 12-24 months D. 24-48 months 13. Which of the following is not a sign of anxiety? A. Dyspnea B. Hyperventilation C. Moist mouth D. GI symptoms 14. Which of the following best describes a person that is completely awake falling asleep spontaneously? A. Cataplexy B. Narcolepsy C. Transitional sleep D. REM absence 15. Which of the following best describes a person that is unable to tell you were there hand or foot is? A. Autotopagnosia B. Cataplexy C. Ergophobia D. Anosognosia 16. Which of the following is not a characteristic of a panic disorder? A. Nausea B. Excessive perspiration C. Urination D. Chest pain 17. Which of the following categories would a 70 year old adult be placed in? A. Intimacy vs. Isolation B. Generativitiy vs. Stagnation C. Integrity vs. Despair D. Longevity vs. Guilt 18. Which of the following categories would a 60 year old adult be placed in? A. Intimacy vs. Isolation B. Generativitiy vs. Stagnation C. Integrity vs. Despair D. Longevity vs. Guilt 19. Which of the following categories would a 20 year old adult be placed in? A. Intimacy vs. Isolation B. Generativitiy vs. Stagnation C. Integrity vs. Despair D. Longevity

The car industry: Dilemmas

The car industry: Dilemmas 1. Introduction The car industry faces a crucial weight problem resulting from increasing customer demands in terms of safety and performance. This trend leads to fully equipped cars in all classes getting more luxurious and comfortable. To escape from this vicious circle car manufacturers are forced to take action in the form of lightweight concepts. Light metals are seen as a promising opportunity to decrease the weight of a car. An increasing use of metals such as aluminium in the automotive industry shows that there is still large scope for improvements. Using aluminium car body panel is just a representative example of weight-saving effort did by car manufacturers. Aluminium has some properties that make it ideal for car bodies. The strength of aluminium frame and extruded sections is approximately the same as that of steel. However, the rigidity of aluminium is lower than that of steel. That is partly due to the modulus of elasticity of aluminium that is just one-third that of steel. (1) The effect is that aluminium has a higher elastic distortion when exposed to the same force as steel. Therefore the simple replacement of steel by aluminium engine is not an optimal solution as it does not exploit the whole scope of the advantages of aluminium. New ways need to be pursued to make full use of aluminiums advantages as a light weight material, which means it can be supplied in various aluminium alloys. Although the requirement for improved corrosion resistance and light-weighting are significant factors for use low-carbon steels in the manufacture of cars, (1) this traditional material still has some advantage such as higher strength and lower price. Many kinds of steel and aluminium alloys can be found commercially using in producing car body panels. Each material has its own characteristic. 1.1 Steel Steel is known as an alloy consisting mostly of iron, with carbon content between 0.2% and 2.1% by weight. (3) One of the main factors contributing to the utility of steels is the broad range of mechanical properties which can be obtained by heat treatment. For example, easy formability and good ductility may be necessary during fabrication of a part. Once formed very high strength part may be needed in service. Both of these material properties are achievable from the same material. All steels can be softened to some degree by annealing. The degree of softening depends on the chemical composition of the particular steel. (4) Annealing is achieved by heating to and holding at a suitable temperature followed by cooling at a suitable rate. Similarly, steels can be hardened or strengthened. This can be accomplished by cold working, heat treating, or an appropriate combination of these. Cold working is the technique used to strengthen both low carbon low alloyed steels and highly alloyed austenitic stainless steels. Only reasonably high strength levels can be attained in the carbon low alloyed steels, but the highly alloyed austenitic stainless steels can be cold worked to rather high strength levels. (5) Most steels are commonly supplied to specified minimum strength levels. Heat treating is the primary technique for strengthening the remainder of the steels. Some common heat treatment of steels is listed below: Martensitic hardening Pearlitic transformation Austempering Age hardening The recyclability of steel is brilliant and it is economically advantageous to do so. It is cheaper to recycle steel than to mine iron ore and manipulate it through the production process to form new steel. (6) 1.2 Aluminium-based alloys In the Earths crust, aluminium is the most abundant (8.3% by weight) metallic element and the third most abundant of all elements (after oxygen and silicon). Because of its strong affinity to oxygen, however, it is almost never found in the elemental state; instead it is found in oxides or silicates. Aluminium was isolated in small quantities early in the 19th century and it remained an expensive curiosity until 1886 when discovery of an economic method for its electrolyric extraction. Since then, the emergence of aluminium as a practical, commercial metal has relied primarily on the availability of electricity at economic prices. Aluminium is obtained from bauxite which is the name given to ores containing 40-60% hydrated alumina together with impurities such as iron oxides, silica and titania. Two steps are needed in the production of aluminium. First, alumina is extracted from bauxite. Second, use electrolysis to dissolve the alumina in molten cryolite and a typical electrolyte contains 80-90% of this compound and 2-8 % alumina together with additives such as aluminium and calcium fluorides. (7) Because the cryolite has a melting point as high as 1010?, the electrolysis of it needs a temperature of about 960? which wastes lots of energy and makes the cost of producing aluminium relatively higher. However, a new methodCambridge FFC which comes from the production of titanium, was introduced to China. This method use a NaCl-CaCl2 electrolyte which has a lower melting point of 520?, even lower than the melting point 660? of aluminium. By using alumina and liquid aluminium as negative electrode, the expanded reacting area on negative electrode allows the electrolysis of alumina to happen, which can theoretically reduce the electrolysis temperature to the melting point 660?. This research opens a new chapter of production of aluminium and will dramatically reduce the cost of producing aluminium some day. Generally speaking, about 85% of aluminium is used for wrought products which are produced from cast ingots. (8) The structures of alloys are greatly changed by the various working operations and thermal treatments. Each individual class of alloys behaves differently, with composition and structure dictation the working characteristics and subsequent properties that are developed. Casting aluminium alloys are also important parts of Al. Apart from light weight, the special advantages of aluminium alloys for castings are the relatively low melting temperatures, negligible solubility for all gases except hydrogen, and the good surface finish that is usually achieved with final products. Most of the cast alloys also show good fluidity and composition can be selected with solidification range appropriate to particular applications. (1) Casting alloys normally have mechanical properties that are inferior to wrought products and these properties also tend to be much more variable throughout a given component. 2 Study of possible alloy using for producing car body 2.1 Steel At present, low carbon steel sheet is most commonly used in car body production. Low-carbon steel has good machinability. Its strength and rigidity can fully meet the car body strength requirements, as well to meet the body welding requirements. 2.1.1 Low carbon steel Steel with low carbon content has properties similar to iron. Low carbon steel is the steel containing approximately 0.05-0.15% carbon. Content influences the yield strength of steel because it is a BCC structure and carbon atoms fit into the interstitial crystal lattice sites. (3) These carbon atoms reduce the mobility of dislocations. But it has a hardening effect. Because the interstitial carbon atoms cause some of the iron BCC lattice cells to distort, a high enough stress level must be applied in order for the dislocations to move. Low carbon is one of the most common steel and it is relatively cheap than most other steels. However, the strength is relatively lower, which can be seen in appendix. 2.1.2 Higher strength steel In order to reduce the weight of an automobile, it is absolutely essential to reduce the thickness of the sheet steel and compensate for loss of strength by using higher strength steel sheets. For inner panels, though a rather substantial amount of high strength steel is used, the percentage use is a little lower than in the outer panel due to stiffness limitation and insufficient formability. (9) However, the overall use of high strength steel is estimated to increase further more. The problems in press performance of high strength steel are wrinkles, surface deflection and springback, fracture especially in stretch flanging and galling on the forming tool. Until now, the average level of strength used widely is at most 400 MPa but in the near future the high strength steel with over 400 MPa may be used for the reduction of weight and in this case the forming difficulty will increase further more. (5) The thickness of a panel sheet decreases as a result of application of higher stre ngth steel. Many kinds of microstructural hardened high strength steel sheet are applied by automobile producers. Ø Dual phase steel Dual phase steel show lower yield strength compared with other types of steel having the same tensile strength because of mobile dislocations existing in the vicinity of the boundary of ferritic and martensitic phases. So presents low yield ratios. And thats why its elastic recovery after forming work is small and shape fixability is good. As it also shows larger elongation than precipitation hardened steel sheets and fatigue resistance. (3) Ø Trip steel sheet Transformation induced plasticity steel is also becoming an ideal material for car body panels. It has meta-stable austenite transformable into martensite contained up to 30% in bainite or ferrite and bainite matrix. Commercial Trip sheets have simple C-Si-Mn series chemical compositions. The simpler chemical compositions are made viable by stabilizing the austenite phase through distribution of alloy elements in the two phase region and concentration of carbon into austenite during bainite transformation. (4) 2.2 Aluminium-based alloy Pure aluminium cannot be applied to normal passenger car due to softness. Moreover, surface damages during stamping and handling are often subjected to subsequent surface hand finishing. This additional operation on the panel is usually inevitable. In contrast to pure aluminium, aluminium alloys contain solute additions which can markedly affect grain structures and particularly the microstructures within the grains. This in turn strongly influences the responses of alloys to working and heat treatment. Both crystal structure and microstructure influence mechanical properties. Slip is inhibited by grain boundaries, which are disordered regions, (and so small grains improve strength). Slip can also be made difficult by dispersing particles of another phase throughout the matrix. This indicates the typical hardening mechanism of aluminium. (9) There are some kinds of wrought aluminium alloys typically used for car body. 2.2.1 Aluminium Manganese Alloys 3xxx This series of alloys is non heat-treatable. The addition of approximately 1% manganese increases the strength by approximately 10 15% compared with 1200, without any major loss in ductility. This non-heat treatable alloy generally finds a wide application where greater strength is required without any major loss in corrosion. The addition of manganese to the chemical composition creates phases like (Mn,Fe)Al6 or (Mn,Fe)3SiAl12 that can be revealed by a solution of 10% of phosphoric acid. The grain structure obtained by work hardening or by annealing is usually revealed by anodisation. (8) 3103 is typically used for car body in the automobile industry. The composition of 3103 alluminium is 0.7% Fe, 1.5% Mn and some others. 2.2.2 Aluminium Magnesium Alloys 5xxx This series of alloys is non heat-treatable and exhibits the best combination of high strength with resistance to corrosion. This series also exhibits good weldability but when the Mg level exceed 3% there is a tendency for stress corrosion resistance to be reduced, dependent on the temper used and temperature of operation. (1) Magnesium is largely soluble in aluminum compared to the other elements, but the content in excess can appear as eutectic Mg2Al3. After cold rolling and annealing they can be found at the grain boundaries or after cold working they can precipitate on deformation bands. In both cases the structure can be revealed by an etching of 10% H3PO4. At the same time as Cr is a frequent additive in this series, Cr2Mg3Al18 may appear as a fine dispersoid. (8) 5182 can be used as car body panel. The composition of 5182 alluminium is 4.1% Mg, 0.4% Mn and some others. 2.2.3 Aluminium Magnesium Silicon Alloys 6xxx This group of heat-treatable alloys uses a combination of magnesium and silicon (magnesium Silicide) to render it heat-treatable. These alloys find their greatest strength, combined with good corrosion resistance, ease of formability and excellent ability to be anodised. This family takes the main advantages from the strengthening due to the precipitation of Mg2Si. So the etching will reveal the iron rich phases like Fe3SiAl12, Fe2Si2Al9 that are insoluble and the coarse precipitates or the excess soluble precipitates (0.5%HF). (8) Typical alloys 6009 in this group are used for car bodies. The composition of 6009 aluminium is Si 1.1%, Mg 0.6 %, Mn 0.4% and some others. 3 Study of competition between steel and Al Automobiles today are over 63% iron and steel by weight. (10) With rising energy and environmental concerns, as well as increases the performance of the car, vehicle light-weighting continues to be a prominent concern for vehicle manufacturers. At the present, more and more aluminium alloys are introduced to automobile industry because the aluminium alloys can normally meet the requirement but is only half weight of steel. However, both the traditional steel car and aluminium have their advantages or disadvantages on aspects of manufacturing, safety, repairability, cost, recyclability, and environmental protection. 3.1 Manufacturing Aluminium parts can be more complicated in their design because the high number of design solutions likes the castings available in nearly any shape. One casting can replace a complex part consisting of several steel panels. Consequently a reduction of parts up to 50% is feasible. (1) This again makes design, construction and production easier as fewer parts need to be dealt with in any stage of the design and manufacturing process. Aluminium car body has fewer parts lead to fewer tools and fixtures, which makes manufacturing easily and therefore saving working spaces and expenses. Because the sheets can tear easily, low elongation and yield limits of aluminium alloys make it difficult for stamping. This has to be taken into account when designing and building car bodies. Also a higher resilience of the sheets causes difficulties in keeping the tolerances during stamping for individual parts and therefore for the whole car body. (11) Furthermore, it is difficult to keep the body tolerances after welding processes since aluminium extrusions and cast sections behave unpredictably when subjected to uneven heat influence. The heat expansion of aluminium is higher than steel, so all fixtures need to be built more solidly and stable to cope with the higher forces. Extensive pickle treatment is necessary to create a weldable surface for aluminium car body. Also the finish of the surface for the paint shop is costly and requires a lot of time and knowledge since the sheets tend to get scratched more easily than equivalent steel panels and the surface of the sheets is liable to form waves. (12) The 6xxx series of aluminium alloys which has been used a lot for the car body requires heat treatment to achieve the demanded strength. The drying process in the paint shop is not sufficient as the conventional temperatures are not high enough. Hence, an additional heat treatment line needs to be installed to heat the car bodies up to 210Â °C for 30 min to harden the aluminium alloys. (13) This cannot be done in advance of manufacturing as it would influence the welding processes negatively. When using aluminium alloy as car body material, contact corrosion plays a much more crucial role as steel accelerates the corrosion of aluminium than using steel body. So that screws or other parts made of steel need to be coated. Otherwise holes in the car body are unavoidable when exposed to moisture. (7) 3.2 Repairability and safety aspects Nowadays, Crash tests have aroused the publics attention since occupant safety is a feature that is receiving considerable public attention. Automobile companies even promote car safety as a leading aspect in their advertising campaigns. Additionally, insurance companies set great store by repairability of cars as they cause a significant part of their costs. In some countries the expenditure per car for repairing certain types of damage is assessed and taken into account when the car is being classified for insurance. (15) In approximately 5% of all accidents the frame structure of a car is damaged. (2) This can be crucial if casting parts or extrusions are concerned as they cannot be reformed properly. They need to be replaced in sections or as a whole dependent on the severity of the accident. Cast aluminium sections especially are liable to develop cracks and consequently need to be examined carefully. Additionally, a completely different approach to repairing damage forces dealers to train their mechanics in the appropriate techniques. In particular aluminium shielded arc welding requires accuracy, practice and the appropriate equipment but not steel. This becomes a problem especially for small dealers as they cannot afford the necessary equipment or staff. (12) Also, tools must not be mixed up with steel tools to avoid corrosion caused by steel particles in the aluminium panels. A separate set of tools for aluminium is mandatory to fully avoid these effects. (14) However, the properties of aluminium offer several advantages to steel. Tubular aluminium sections crumple in the ideal way when subjected to impacts. They develop a crumple pattern that can absorb more energy than equivalent steel elements. Consequently with half the weight of steel an aluminium structural member provides the same safety. (15) 3.3 Cost It is obvious that aluminium is more expensive to manufacture than steel. The costs of a sophisticated aluminium car body are many times larger than of an ordinary steel body. This can be especially crucial when being applied to small cars as the margin there is lower than at luxury cars. Higher material costs, a more sophisticated handling of aluminium parts in comparison to steel and some alloys need heat treatment to achieve the required strength, are the main drawbacks. (9) However, the use of aluminium causes lower investments for tooling due to the fact that stamped steel parts are replaced by extrusions which cause costs only a fraction of the costs required to manufacture stamping tools. This is especially interesting for low volume series as the tooling costs here have a relatively high influence on the unit costs. Additionally, punch riveting and clinching consume less energy than spot welding and will cause lower energy costs. But the development of high volume technology for welding, riveting and bonding is a crucial issue that has kept car manufacturers from producing all-aluminium car bodies as it is accompanied by high initial investment for research, development and design. (15) 3.4 Recyclability Recycling is likely to become more important in the future as governments force industry to design fully recyclable products just as is an increasing customer awareness in terms of environmental protection and hence a growing demand for eco-friendly products. To preserve the quality of the recycled material the different alloys must not be mixed up. This is especially crucial for the production of extrusions and sheets out of recycling aluminium alloys as they have lower tolerance levels of impurities than steel. Additionally, they can only be recovered if they are not mixed with cast parts. (6) Therefore, joined aluminium alloys panels with different alloys cause problems. Also panels that are joined with steel parts like rivets make recycling problematic since steel parts need to be removed to keep the number of foreign substances low. (6) This becomes more difficult as aluminium cannot be magnetically separated from other wastes. In order to recycle aluminium only a fraction of the original energy consumption is needed, even less than for recycling steel. 3.5 Environmental protection The environmental issues of different materials can be assessed by a comparison of the energy household of an aluminium and steel-made car during production and over their whole lives. Only having regard to all processes that cause energy consumption during production and operating life can an accurate result be given of the eco-friendliness of a car. It includes material cycles and the amounts of energy needed to produce and maintain a car during operating life time, including fuel. (15) If primary material is used, aluminium starts with a drawback of an additional energy consumption during production. Compared with steel, far higher amounts of energy are needed to produce lightweight metals like aluminium. For illustration, a car could achieve a weight reduction of 20 kg by the intensive use of aluminium alloys body other than the steel one. The additional energy consumed could be compensated after 3500 miles. After having covered this distance, the energy comparison works in favour of aluminium. A further comparison can be made in terms of carbon dioxide emissions. If primary aluminium is used it takes 60000 miles until the lighter aluminium auto has compensated the higher CO2 emission during production. However, when the proportion of recycled, secondary aluminium exceeds 75% the CO2 emission household is positive for aluminium from the first instance. (1) 4 Summary Considering the energy and environmental issues, using light weight metal for car bodies will be the trends in the near future. However, the traditional steel products still have the advantage of price and easy for manufacturing. Apart from luxuries cars already using light metal bodies, steel car bodies still take a large part of auto body market for it cheaper price and relatively better mechanical properties.

Dogmatism Character of Religion Essay -- Religion

â€Å"Plato’s Dream† is a short story written in 1756 by the French philosopher and satirist Franà §ois-Marie Arouet who published under the name of Voltaire. In this story, He explained the doctrine taught by Plato to his disciples. The scene is about Demiurgos, the creator of the infinite space, who wanted to test the geniuses of his supreme creatures. He gave each one a planet to organize. One of his creatures, Demogorgon, received the earth. He worked on it and arranged it as well as we have it today. Because of the magnificent job he did, he believed he would receive the utmost praise from his brothers; instead, he was ridiculed and criticized because of his imperfections that they noted supposedly. The brothers not only criticized Demogorgons’ work, but also seem to have a critique towards each other’s work. Since they were not able to agree with each other’s work, they kept going back and forth in their disputes. To put an end to it, the cre ator Demiurgos called for peace amongst his supreme creatures and decided to be the ultimate judge. Through his examination of their work he found both great discoveries as well as flaws, which was not a surprise to him since his creatures had a lot of knowledge and imperfections as well. Demiurgos concluded and stated that he is the only one who could create perfection and had the power to give immortality. This fable written by Voltaire is a sharp philosophical criticism of religious doctrine. He is known as a deist, which is a belief or doctrine that declares the existence of a god and its influence in the creation of the universe without relying on sacred scripts or being a member of a formal religion. â€Å"Plato’s Dream† portrays the dogmatic character of religion, and argues for principles ba... ...not sponsor a blind belief in God in the darkness of its mysteries. Works Cited Englander, Alex. â€Å"Kant’s Aesthetic Theology: Revelation as Symbolisation in the Critical Philosophy.† NeueZeitschriftfà ¼rSystematischeTheologie und Religionsphilosophie.53.3 (2011). 304. Academic Search Complete. Web. 25 April 2012. Rist, John.† Morality and Religion: Some Questions about First Principles.† Philosophical Investigations.34.2. (2011). 215. Academic Search Complete. Web. 24 April 2012. Voltaire. â€Å"Plato’s Dream.† Trans. Literature a World of Writing: Stories, Poems, Plays, and Essays. Ed. David L. Pike and Ana M. Acosta. Boston: Pearson 2011. 429-430. Print. Wittgenstein, Ludwig Josef Johann. â€Å"Wittgenstein and religiousdogma.†International Journal for Philosophy of Religion. Ed. Hoyt, Christopher.61.1 (2007). 42. Academic Search Complete. Web. 23 April 2012.

Financial Analysis Apple Inc.

————————————————- To: ————————————————- ————————————————- By: ————————————————- ————————————————- FINANCIAL REVIEW TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. Company Background 3 2. Stock Price Analysis 6 3. Risk Return Analysis 9 5. References11 PART I A. Company Background Apple Inc. long with its wholly-owned subsidiaries designs and manufactures and markets mobile communication, media devices, personal computers and portable digital music players along with a variety of related software’s, services, peripherals and networking solutions. The Company offers a range of mobile communication and media devices, personal computing products, and portable digital music players, as well as a variety of related software, services, peripherals, networking solutions and third-party hardware and software products. The most important of which are enumerated below: 1. Phone – iPhone combines a mobile phone and an iPod, Internet communication device in a single handheld product. 2. iPad – is a multi-purpose mobile device, for browsing web, sending and reading email, viewing photos & watching videos, listening music, playing games and reading e-books etc. 3. Mac Hardware Products – includes likes of iMac, Mac-Pro and Mac mini. The iMac desktop has design that incorporates display, processor, graphics, storage, and other components in a single enclosure 4. iPod – line of portable digital media players includes lik es of iPod touch, iPod shuffle and iPod classic. Pod is a flash-memory-based device with a widescreen display, a Multi-Touch user interface. 5. iTunes – is an application, which supports the sale, purchase, download, organization and playback of digital video and audio files and is also available for both the Mac and the Windows based computers. The Company not only sells to retail and bulk consumers, but also to small and mid-sized businesses, and to educational institutions, enterprises and government customers. The Company’s fiscal year ends on the last Saturday of September and is of 52 or 53-week period.The company has almost 60400 permanent employees and has the second largest market cap after IBM with about 563. 79 Billion dollars and an equal enterprise value, with revenues in excess of 142. 36 Billion dollars and with and EBITDA of 53. 27 billion dollars. B. Business Strategy & Organization The Company’s business strategy is to uniquely leverage its abi lity to design, develop its own operating system, hardware, applications software’s, to its customers, and new products and new solutions with superior usage ease and seamless integration and innovative design.The Company’s strategy, also includes and basically rests on, expanding its distribution network so in order to effectively reach more customers. The Company manages business primarily on geographical basis and has segregated the business locations of its customers into the following 1. The Americas consisting of both North and South America, 2. Europe, Middles East and Africa, 3. Japan, 4. Asia-Pacific, Australia and Asian countries and 5. Retail. It is to be noted that all the above four segments do not include the retail segment figures and strategy.The retail segment consists of stores directly opened by the company and managed by it. C. Competition The products and services offered by the company are a part of highly competitive markets segment it faces stif f and aggressive competition in almost all areas of its business. The market is characterized by very frequent new product introductions and a rapid technological advancement that has substantial capabilities of use of mobile and related communications devices.There is a cut throat competition in the market where the company’s operates, as the competitors are continuously innovating and selling products at extremely low rates. However still the company has been able to maintain its market brand values and sees a good and extremely high level of operating cash flows generation. The Company’s major services i. e. digital content services is facing significant competition from other companies who are promoting their own digital music, services and content products, including free peer to peer video and music services.Some of Apple’s competitors have enough substantial resources and may provide such products and services in market at virtually little or no even prof it to compete with the Apple’s offerings. The most important and major company’s competitors can be classified in various ways as below: However for our study later on, we shall consider HPQ or Hewitt Packard as a close competitor. PART II A. Stock Price Analysis For our stock price analysis, we consider the time period from 16 Mar – 2012 to 6 April – 2012.However it is to be noted that the time frame provided here is not ample for a detailed study and an accurate one for future predictions. We first study the movement of the Apple Inc. stock price movements’ vis-a-vis the S&P 500. From the above figure it is clear that the movement of Apple is less volatile than that of the Index. It is also to be noted that the pattern of movement of Apple’s price show that it is lagging behind or trailing the trend movement of the index. Furthermore in the period under consideration above there seems to be an immediate uptrend developing and sustaining.Al so the major point of astonishment here is during the period post 3 April 2012, the S&P 500 and Apple’s stock prices are moving in opposite direction thereby indicating of some news based movement. This move was probably preempting the Q2 filing by the company which was due later in the next week. However no serious trend or movement is visible in either of the charts above. We do the same comparison of Apple with its peer HPQ for the same period. From the graph above it is quite clear that where Apple’s price movement is positively trending upwards, that of HOQ is a sideways movement without any perfect present trend or direction.The reason being the expectations from the forthcoming Q2 results of Apple, which was an event based movement for Apple, which was absent for HPQ. Now we study the movement of the stock prices on a standalone basis. From the above diagram it is clear that there is no significant or sudden movement in prices or volume of the stock. However the y both show a good trend, and there is not much pressure on the prices of the stock at higher levels which is shown by the build of white candles and an uptrend, which indicates of further upside room present in the stock.However this seems to be news based event and should be properly traded. In all there are five black and ten white candles, which show an imminent uptrend in the stock price, which is also supported by sustenance in the daily volumes. PART III A. Risk Return Analysis We now perform a risk return analysis on the stock. We use the concepts of CAPM model and data for the period as specified in the above segment and calculate different measures as shown below and abridged in the accompanying excel file.From the above calculations we see that the Beta of Apple is lesser than that of HPQ and more close to 1 which resembles that Apple is less volatile than HPQ and more in tandem with the normal or broad market movement. On the other hand HPQ has a high beta indicating tha t the movement in prices of HPQ is more volatile and would yield a higher return, either positive or negative, as compared to Apple. This is also visible in the fact that the Expected return of HPQ is less than that of Apple, which is at least a percentage point or a 100 bps better than HPQ.It is also seen that Apple has been able to give positive returns as compared to HPQ and even the market. This means that Apple has been able to outperform the market. The reason behind the same is the fact that it is expected that the results of Apple for Q2 are going to be better due to the fact that they have recently launched new products and expanded on existing sales and product line, which would result in better revenue e, margins and sales and net profits, which would ultimately react in the EPS.Hence the returns of Apple are positive and more than that of HPQ. This indicates the fact that Apple seems to be an underpriced stock and should be bought as it seems to be giving more returns th an the expected returns and compared to HPA and the index is an outperformer due to more fundamental reasons likes above expectation performance rather than purely and only technical reasons. All this is pretty evident in the Beta and the Expected returns of the stock.PART IV REFERENCES: 1. Thirty Year US T-Bill rate; Available at http://www. bloomberg. com/markets/rates-bonds/government-bonds/us/ 2. Apple Inc. Annual Report and About Company; Available at http://secfilings. nasdaq. com/edgar_conv_html%2f2011%2f10%2f26%2f0001193125-11-282113. html#FIS_BUSINESS 3. Stock Prices Data, Apple, S&P, HPQ; Available at http://finance. yahoo. com 4. Apple Competitors; Available at http://www. nasdaq. com/symbol/aapl/competitors

Brave New World vs. Gattaca

Brave New World vs.. Cataract BY Killing We all expect the near future to have advance technology and flying cars. Well, genetic engineering Is Indeed advance technology but there are negative effects that come along with it. In both â€Å"Brave New World† by Allots Huxley (1932) and Cataract (1997) is based on how genetic engineering is taken over the world. Everyone was created by science instead of being born and having both parents' genes. Intelligence an personality are very minor In these societies, but the Important thing that matters is where you belong in life.However, the film Cataract is in the future but has a dated style to it. From the clothing and hairstyles to the cars and buildings, it all reminds you of the style in the ass's or ass's. The director intended it to be that way just to view how our style could go back to how It used to be In the past. The setting of the movie sets the mood to be somewhat serious and thriller like. The mood of professional busine ss would be a good example of this film. The theme of the novel is generally saying are we all headed to where our genetic code defines what we do and owe we live.Although the film does not have a futuristic feel to It, the plot still shows you that the future is not that distance. The mall character, Vincent Freeman, wanted to fulfill his dreams and travel into space. The initial problem that occurred was that his gene was not genetic superior to accomplish his goal. Vincent had a heart problem that prevented him from doing big Jobs. He came up with an idea to become a valid person. He decided to use someone else's Identity and DNA to be able to travel in the stars. Vincent uses an athlete, Jerome Marrow, who was paraplegic from a car crash.Freeman changed his looks, style, and even had surgery to become the same height as Jerome. He made sure that people would discover whom he really Is. Later on In the movie, Vincent brother tries to find the murderer of an Important person but w as really trying to find Vincent. They didn't know they were brother because a while back when they were younger, Vincent brother was lost at sea and he haven't seen him ever since. They reunite and realize on how different they were from each other. In a way, this film has a genre of mystery and thriller that is served.On the other hand, the book â€Å"Brave New World† also does not really have that futuristic feel, but you can tell it is based on the future when you read it. The book is older, so when it was written, it did not have the modern day style that we use. The year is actually in 802540, which is way past the year future. The mood of this book Is satirical and bitter. At some points. It was funny but had a serious meaning to It as well. As you read the book, you could notice that there would be more than one thing owing at once where the point of view turns from first person to third person omniscient.The theme of this book Isn't anything compared to Cataract, but it's saying that the community Is sterilized and we are headed for the end if the community we live in continue. In addition to, the movie Cataract is similar to â€Å"Brave New World†. Humans predict other humans lifestyle by making tests and observations to determine where they are placed. This world seeks stability in each society but it most likely doesn't work on everyone. Having a family Is not allowed to be applied In he future.Therefore, the people are separated on what defines them Like being a Delta or an upsilon. In which why the character Bernard is not happy with the order 1 OFF such as having a family. Bernard tries to find the meaning of life but everyone thinks he is crazy from exploring his curiosity. I believe that the both the writers of the film and the book intended on including such an intense view of the future. These views of the future are actually believable and actually could be where we are all headed at to the near future.All though we all imagin e the future being a new and high tech setting, in Cataract we can actually see the style of the ass's and unlike â€Å"Brave New World† we can only read what it could be and visualize it. All in all, both of the Cataract and â€Å"Brave New World† are engaging and interesting. I would recommend reading â€Å"Brave New World† first and then watching Cataract because you can get an older point of view of the future and a more modern point of view. Genetic engineering could be our future if technology becomes bigger than it already is.

Mussolini and the intervention crisis essays

Mussolini and the intervention crisis essays Mussolini and the intervention crisis Benito Mussolini was born in Predappio, near Forli, in Romagna, on July 29, 1883. Like his father, Benito became a fervent socialist. He qualified as an elementary schoolmaster in 1901. In 1902 he emigrated to Switzerland. Unable to find a permanent job there and arrested for vagrancy, he was expelled and returned to Italy to do his military service. After further trouble with the police, he joined the staff of a newspaper in the Austrian town of Trento in 1908. Expelled by the Austrians, he became the editor at Forli of a socialist newspaper, La Lotta di Classe (The Class Struggle). His early enthusiasm for Karl Marx was modified by a mixture of ideas from the philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche, the revolutionary doctrines of Auguste Blanqui, and the syndicalism of Georges Sorel. In 1910, Mussolini became secretary of the local Socialist party at Forli.When Italy declared war on Turkey in 1911, he was imprisoned for his anti-war propaganda . Appointed editor of the official Socialis t newspaper Avanti, he moved to Milan, where he established himself as the most forceful of all the leaders of Italian socialism. At this stage in his life, his political views were anti-militarist and anti-war however throughout the intervention crisis his views altered dramatically and became opposite of what they were before. On June 28 the Archduke of Austria Franze Ferdinand, Hapsburg heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, was assassinated in the Bosnian capital of Sarajevo. The death of the heir was greeted with relief and joy because he once stated publicly that he wanted to declare war on Italy, but also because Italys relations with Austria had became increasingly tensed since the war in Tripoli. As the war began to take shape on the horizon, Italy found itself in an undesirable position. Under the leadership of Antonio di San Giuliano, the Foreign Minister, the nation had become increasingly tied to ...

Pret A Manger Internationalization strategy Essay Example

Pret A Manger Internationalization strategy Essay Example Pret A Manger Internationalization strategy Paper Pret A Manger Internationalization strategy Paper Secondly, it is interesting to study how this brand has landed to face the increasing competition on the fast food market (Eat keeps opening new stores, Struck starts selling sandwiches and even Ginsburg and MS are places where people go and buy their lunch). (Nee LEE, 2014) prà ªt A Manger is a British company created in London in 1 986 by two friends, Sinclair BECAME and Julian METCALF. Prà ªt, as this company is more commonly called, is a private company, which does not accept franchising. Prà ªt owns 335 shops all over the world, amongst which 21 3 are in the United Kingdom. The company is very profitable since the annual sales worldwide represent an amount of IEEE million. Preps customers can either eat or drink in the restaurants, either take away, or order Prà ªt delivery at home. The message Made Today, Gone today, that can be read on every Press product, sums up the mission of the company: the products sold are fresh, made from natural and good ingredients. They are ready-to-eat, known as gourmet and seen as sophisticated products, to suit the tastes of the target market. They are also convenient to satisfy businessmen and women with a tight schedule. The values of Prà ªt are quality, healthy food, ethics and sustainability. Prà ªt provides work to 7,1 00 employees. It stresses the importance of having a friendly staff. Also, to match its strong Corporate Social Responsibility, Prà ªt defends the employment of homeless people and people who come from disadvantaged backgrounds. Moreover, the company puts in place the project that consists in donating unsold sandwiches to homeless people. Prà ªt also wants to hit the environment consciousness of the customers by spreading an environmental friendly brand image. For example, in the 1 9905 they stopped using plastic boxes and started using boxes made of cardboard. So Preps target market is this following type of customers: business refashions, who are environmentally conscious, clean and sophisticate and who adopt a healthy lifestyle. (Dave WALLER, 2012) Prà ªt is a very successful brand in its national country. There are 213 Prà ªt shops in the United Kingdom and sales per store are twice as high as those of the competitors that are Costa Coffee or Struck for example. In order to understand this success since 1 986, we have been through a PESTLE analysis regarding the fast food and take-away market. Politic The British government launched a plan to fight against obesity and to spread a healthy lifestyle. Indeed, The Department of Health, in the frame of its 2013 policy of reducing obesity and improving diet, fixed the following objectives: By 2020, we want to see a downward trend in the level of excess weight in adults and a sustained downward trend in the level of excess weight in children. Lane Ellison MM, 201 3) Economic As consequence of the crisis, the purchase power decreased so people changed their consumer habits and focused on cheaper take-away options, which, therefore, became more popular. Social Prà ªt matched the populations awareness of the importance to have a healthy way f life, as the growing concern of the population about ethics and sustainability. Technology Prà ªt updated its services by offering delivery options. The use Of the Internet and therefore of the technologies to promote, communicate about the brand and enable online orders was a very efficient strategy. The companys current international operations and strategy Currently, Prà ªt A Manger is settled in the United Kingdom, in France, in the United States and in Hong Kong. Prà ªt also tried to enter the Japanese market but it happened to be a failure. Prà ªt A Manger decided to go abroad for several reasons. The main one is the dangerous expansion of strong and already global brands, such as Subways or Struck Struck is already implemented in 55 countries- that threatened prà ªt market shares. Secondly, it is naturally a profit-driven decision. By looking abroad, Prà ªt identified promising market opportunities that the United States, China or Europe represent. The final reason is the expansion in the United Kingdom that appears limited eventually. However, Clive SCHLEP, the current Chief Executive Officer of the company remains optimistic regarding the constant growth of Prà ªt in the United Kingdom. We keep on thinking that London cant take any more, he said in an article in The Guardian (Rebecca SMITHIES, 201 0), but every year we have some very strong openings. He asserts that the brand can rely on the shops opened in much crowed areas such as airport or train stations, areas where the customers that Prà ªt targets spend times every day. In 2000, Prà ªt widened its ambitions and started to expand abroad. The first foreign market the brand targeted was the United States. They opened there their first shop in New York in 2000. The main challenges were to create solid partnerships with American suppliers and to rain the New Yorker staff The US expansion was successful, thanks to the strategic alliance with McDonalds, which bought 33% of Prà ªt shares. The company benefited from the expertise, the country knowledge and the network in the food industry of McDonalds. As a result, the brand was well accepted in the new market since American and British share the same Western cultural eating habits. American associates the brand with a British image, I. E. Fast and healthy. Thus, by the end of the year 2013, Prà ªt had opened 36 restaurants in New York, 9 in Chicago and 3 in Boston (Rebecca SMITHIES, 2010). Along with its strategy to become global, Prà ªt tried to enter the Japanese market in 2002. Japan appeared as a very promising market because of its large population that easily welcomes what comes from the Western countries. Moreover, the Japanese are quality conscious consumers who spend about 20% of their budgets on food. On the other hand, entering this new market was a real challenge. As we know, many global brands have already failed in this county, such as Google, Ebay or Burger King. The mode of entry strategy was to create a 50/50 joint venture with McDonalds Japan. This strategy was legitimate regarding its success in the US. But unfortunately, McDonalds which had been present in Japan for a long time, decided to cut its prices down in 2003. Prà ªt, at a too early stage on this new market, could not follow the decision. So as a result, McDonalds announced the end of the partnership with prà ªt. Therefore prà ªt was forced to close all the shops down in 2004. (Jinee LEE, 2014) How can we explain the failure of Prà ªt In Japan? First, timing was simply wrong. In 2002, Japan had suffered from the mad cow disease, which represented a big disadvantage for a food company. Secondly, Prà ªt leaned too much on its partner. The company relied only on McDonalds arrest knowledge and information so as a consequence, it lacked of market awareness. Besides, Preps expansion on the Japanese market was too ambitious: 14 stores were opened at once, it was a gambling strategy. And finally, prà ªt had not well understood the customers expectations. Japanese customers care about the taste, the cost and the ambiance. Prà ªt sandwiches were too expansive and they did not suit the customers eating habits (Michael Fitzpatrick, 2004). The brand launched its first shop in France in Paris in 2012. Contrary to the implantation in the United States, which had been seen as fast, Prà ªt gradually expanded in France. Ahead the company made a lot of research about the French tastes to make sure that they were pin pointing the right target markets. France was a strategic market to enter because of the cultural French habit that consists in spending 30 minutes in average on lunch break to eat. In order to succeed there, Prà ªt also adapted the food offers to the French customers to their tastes. As an example, more French baguettes than British puddings Were sold in Prà ªt stores. The results were the following in France: sales were 15% higher than the average in the UK (Rose Jacobs and Jennifer Thompson, 2012). II. Three potential target markets Brazil Why this country? First of all, the group chose Brazil because the country itself is a strategic point of entrance for the Latin America at the economic, political and social levels. In the last five years, the world has been looking to this BRICE country as one of the most emergent economies in the world. With nearly 200 million people and a GAP of $2. 4 trillion and $11,875 per capita, Brazil represents the new breath of Latin America (Reuters, 2010). When it comes to a country, the group had to reflect individually about all the advantages and disadvantages of settling down the operations in Brazil. However, sooner we concluded that a country that produces one third of all the coffee produced in the world and that has maintained this position for around 150 years should be the right decision for Prà ªt A Manger. To conclude, the overview of why the group chose Brazil as one of the three target countries for Pretax Mangers expansion is becalms Brazil has been consolidated as the 7th largest consumer market in the world with $1. 37 trillion. Likely to impact? Economic Reasons The economic reasons regarding why we choose Brazil as a target country for Prà ªt A Mangers expansion were the most pondered within all the reasons u to the countrys emergent economy at all levels. Brazil is mainly characterized by a large and well-developed agricultural, where obviously the coffee beans production is included, services and manufacturing sectors. After 2010, the confidence of investors and consumers in the economy returned which resulted in an increase of the GAP growth of 7. 5% (Remuneration International, 2010) and from that time line the economic performance has been positive. Since the beginning, Prà ªt A Mangers expansion has been prudent and conscious to each country. They prefer establish in big and metropolitan cities and after depart to other places within he same country. For the company, the cities ROI De Jeanine and So Paulo are the most indicated because it is where the flow of tourists and the number of habitants is the highest in Brazil. With the objective of calling external investors and companies, the Brazilian government reduced the corporate tax rate from 34 to 25%, which is really beneficial to Prà ªt A Manger in order to generate future profits (Beseechers, 2013). Demographic and social reasons From 2013 to 2014, Brazil increased its population growth in about 0. 8% and its birth rate stands for 14. 72 births per 1 ,OHO habitants (CIA, 2014). According o the population graph, the median age for males is 29. 9 years and for the females is 31. 5 years. It is also observable on the graph that the predominant age ranges are the ones from 25 to 29 years and from 30 to 34 years, which represent the youth of the Brazilian labor force. In addition, it is important to mention that, as a result of Dilemma Rouses policies, the labor force has become more and more qualified because in a macroeconomic view Brazil wants to match the external investment requirements with a qualified labor force in order for multinational companies to settle their production lines and warehouses. Pretax Manger would have to take this point under consideration because they do not have any operations settled yet so this variable costs would affect their growth rate and the return on investment over the first years. Since 201 0, Brazil spends 5. 8% of their GAP on education (CIA, 2014) because they know that this subject will have a great impact on the countrys productivity in about 10 years and also because the youth unemployment rate is 15. 4% which is too high. Operational reasons In terms of coffee production about one third of all the coffee produced in the world is attributed to Brazil and the more cherishing thing for Brazilian is hat they have maintained this top position for around 150 years (Heritage, 2014). So, the group concluded that if our core business is based on selling coffee beverages, choosing one of the biggest coffee producers in the world could benefit the speed and the costs of the operations. As said in the previous reason, the cheap labor contributed mainly for the choosing of Brazil as a target country because prà ªt should consider the vertical integration of some coffee beans plantations and production warehouses. Since Struck entered the Brazilian coffee market they already bought mom of the biggest coffee plantations in Brazil in order to control all the process from the harvesting to the final product. Consequently, this allows them to create a monopoly in this sector becoming an entry barrier (5 forces of Porter) for potential companies that would like to enter. Since Prà ªt a Manger has the financial power to buy some coffee plantations that would facilitate them in terms of costs and of operations. Secondly, it is important to mention the recent enhancement of the Brazilian roads and train ways because the country is so big that if they were in a bad state that could affect Preps shipping of coffee and other fresh rodents creating at the same time delays on the store replacement. Sporting reasons During the 2014 summer, the world stopped to watch the FIFE World Cup in Brazil. This sporting event created a lot of revenues but also a lot of investment in infrastructures by the Brazilian government. From this experience, Brazil created infrastructures that are prepared to generate cash flows into the country. According to the Guardian, the World Cup added $13. Ban in the Brazilian GAP (Betimes, 2014) for the year. One of the reasons why prà ªt chose this country is because in 201 6 Brazil will also receive the 01 6 Olympic games in ROI De Jeanine, one of the chosen cities for Prà ªt a Manger expansion. We believe that this worldwide event that involves more sports than football will bring even more revenues because more tourists and athletes will come and consume in a more extended period of time. Coffee habits and consumer patterns In certain extent Brazil is a very interesting country regarding the customers behavior. Out-of-home consumers are looking for different types of coffee beverages, namely espressos, cappuccinos and other milk-based preparations, different from the traditional filtered coffee they usually drink t home (Brazil Bar, 2014). They are also more inclined to pay more for higher quality coffees as compared to previous years. It is because of the above- mentioned reasons that the group also chooses Brazil. In addition, their purchasing power is increasing due to the enhancement Of the standards Of life, so we expect that if Prà ªt a Manger decided to penetrate the Brazilian coffee market they would succeed in terms of cash flows growth. Canada Canada is really similar and close politically, economically and culturally to the United Kingdom (UK) and the United States (US) where PRÊT has implemented itself very successfully. That is the main reason why we have chosen to enter this specific country. Furthermore, other factors specific to Canada make this country such an interesting market to enter for PRÊT. Political factor Canada is a parliamentary democracy and a free country. The head of state is none other than Queen Elizabeth II. Therefore, Canada and the LIKE are very close politically. Economic factor Canada is a developed country with a free market that makes it easy for a foreign company to open a business in this country. Besides, the country received the highest grade of AAA by COFFEE for its risk assessment and business climate in 2014. Forbes magazine even ranked Canada as the best country for doing business in 2013. It is also one of the wealthiest countries in the world. Canadas economy is also very close to the US and the EX. ones, and especially from the UK. In fact, a free-trade agreement ACTA is to be signed within years between Canada and the European Union (Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Canada, 2014). This will lead to even more economic relationship bet/en the two regions. And currently, the UK is one of the strongest economic partners of Canada. Finally, the cost of entering the Canada would be affordable. It will be similar to the US operation. As a result, we should gain some benefits by expanding our sales. Demographic, social and cultural factors Canada is a very big market. Currently, more than 3 million people are living in this country and 54. 5% of the population is between 25 and 64 years old which is our target age. Furthermore, an important part of Canadas population comes from England and France, so the brand is already present in the minds of potential consumers. As English and French are also both official languages, we will not have to translate our advertising for the ascription of our products in another language. Moreover, there is no specific food restriction due to religion. Lastly, obesity is quite high in Canada so it could be a good strategy for us to play our healthy fast food card. Finally, Canada is extremely close culturally to the LIST and the KICK. In fact, the Hefted cultural criterion for these three markets are, if not the same, really similar (Hefted center, 2014). This can be a real advantage for PRÊT as they can use the same strategy used in the LIKE and the US, and it is likely to be a success. Geographical factor Canada is the 2nd biggest country in the world. It has a border with the US from which more than of its population lives within km (CIA, 2013). Prà ªt is already set on the east cost of the IIS so it is a way to expand in America. There are lots of big cities in Canada as 80. 7% of the population live in a town (major urban areas in 201 1: Toronto 5. 573 million, Montreal 3. 856 million, Vancouver 2. 267 million, Calgary 1 . 16 million, Ottawa 1 . 208 million, Edmonton 1. 142 million). This is an important point as Prà ªt only opens in big cities. Consumer food and drink habits Historically, the Aborigine, English and French cultures has influenced Canada. As a consequence, Canadians are used to eat fresh and healthy food. Moreover, Canadians are huge coffee drinkers. According to the Canadian Coffee Drinking study 2013, coffee is the second most consumed beverage in 201 3 and 65% of adults seem to drink coffee regularly (Coffee association of Canada, 2013). Likely to impact? As we have seen before, the political and monetary risks are really low regarding Canada but the competition is actually quite tough. Moreover, Prà ªt will have to consider a few economic, cultural and political issues when entering the market, which are likely to impact negatively on its equines, if not considered seriously. Competitive risk First, Preps main competitor, Struck, is already very well implemented in this country (Struck, 2014). Second, a lot of coffee shops have already seized the opportunity of settling into Canada so competition is tough. Local standards of products and practices in pricing, distribution, and advertising are similar than in the US. Economical issue Currently, unemployment and poverty are quite high in Canada. In fact, 7% of the population is unemployed and 9% live under the poverty line (CIA, 2013). This could have an impact on our revenues since our products are quite expensive and since we are targeting businessmen and women. Cultural Issue There are two different cultures in Canada: a culture of Quabeck and an English Canadian culture. Hence, we may need to adapt our products differently for each of those cultures. Actually, Quabcoos seem to have better food habits than the rest of Canada (Louise Limited, 2008). Whats more, French Canadian is slightly different from the French that is spoken in France. For example, Canadian use the French word submarine when referring to what is called in France a sandwich (Doctrinaire des expressions ubcozies, 2007). That is why we cannot use the exact same marketing strategy we used in France. Political and legal issue Canada is composed Of 10 provinces and 3 territories. Each province has different registration procedures and regulation fee (CIA, 2013). Therefore, it could become really complicated to settle in different provinces at the same time. It would be the same as entering into different countries at the same time. Other issues Geography is also an issue PRÊT should consider when entering the market. The climate varies from temperate in south to sybaritic and artic in north. There are mostly plains with mountains in west and lowlands in southeast and only 4. % of the land is arable (CIA 2013). This could be a danger for the production, supply and conservation Of food. Germany Germany is one of the most developed countries in the world, from an economical, technological, political and social point of view.

Chapter 8 : A Single Man With A Dog Essay -- Dog, Pet, A Great Way to Ca

THESE MOMENTS WHERE HE ACTUALLY LOOKS RELAXED People wear masks most of the time, meaning that they would rather play pretend or have a straight face in front of the world, instead of being themselves. So, you can agree with us, that it is most of the time difficult to give an honest judgment about these people. On the other hand, for dog owners (again), their dogs make them look like the â€Å"Kings of cool†, because, well, a dog doesn’t need to impress anyone, and by being his loyal companion, this kind of attitude will contaminate his owner. So, dog owners are more relaxed. And why shouldn’t they be? When you walk a dog, you are going to end up running, petting him, talking to him etc. Now, who has a straight face while doing all that? Nobody. And as said, most of the time, pet owners look so relaxed that it’s easy to approach them and talk to them. Another thing that you should remember is that a dog is his owner’s pride (just like a son or a daughter can be), so for the sake of this special bonding this owner has no choices but to look relaxed. We’ve explained why dog owners are so relaxed, contrary to others, we will now focus on what we see when they are around their dogs. So, how are these single guys behaving, when they are around their pets in public, or around the house. The first words that come to mind are â€Å"silly† and â€Å"happy†. Pet lovers play, cheer, burst into laughter when they are around their dogs. It’s almost like seeing a little boy playing with his best friend. And it’s not surprising, dogs are amazing and they do amazing things. They can wake you up in the morning when you are late (considering that they know your routine), they can pick up your mail at the door or the nes on his head and of course a big smile. Most people who have been dog owners for a long time would tell you that expressions are important in your day to day life for dogs. They feel your pain, joys, moodiness, but still, they remain loyal. So, not only does the dog’s attitude puts them in a good mood instantly (so they smile more often). Dogs are almost like mood meters, one look at them and they remind you that life is more than these silly arguments with your peers. Don’t they say that smiling is a great way to fight depression, and in turn, live a happier life? Knowing that you have a better attitude outside of your home thanks to your dog, you will attract more people, like friends and of course people who would love to go on a date with you. And like most people say, smiles and great moods are contagious, so single men along with their dogs, win it again.

Balance score card Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Balance score card - Essay Example Gradually Invest on New Equipments with the Help of a Financer and the Commune. The Mayor could help out in financial matters since both have the same goal on providing the local community with the access to health care services as well as in maintaining the employment of ABC Hospital stakeholders. The Mayor has the power to grant the hospital some money to buy the needed equipments and facilities and lessen the tax collection from the organization. Establish a Strict Guidelines and Random Checking on the Quality of Products & Services that are Currently Outsourced. This will enable the hospital to acquire the best quality products and services at lower costs. It is not wise to reduce the cost by allowing the quality of food being served to the patients to suffer. Encourage Expansion and Investment on Equipments for the Rehabilitation Ward. Allowing further development and investments on specific wards that has a big market potential could minimize opportunity loss. Transferring some beds from the less active wards into a bigger rehabilitation ward will encourage maximizing the use of existing equipments. Reallocation of available resources is important because of the limited funds. Maximize Economies of Scale on Existing Wards. This strategy will help keep down the operational costs. By carefully analyzing and studying the demand for each ward in the hospital, the management could easily decide on whether to expand or cut down the size of each ward. In line with restructuring the size of wards, the number of nurses and doctors should be assigned according to the demand in each ward. Re-establish the Customers’ Confidence on the ABC Hospital. With the use of the media and church, it would be easier for the organization to re-establish the name and reputation of the hospital as the best in delivering quality services to the community. Using the media and advertisements to announce the

The role of OS Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 8000 words

The role of OS - Essay Example Some of the most common functionalities of any operating system are mentioned below: History of Operating Systems starts as early as the first computing machine. It is a subject of great researched and every generation is adding more features to the operating system making them more and more efficient. The modern operating systems can be broadly classified into two categories: Microsoft Windows is the most common household operating system widely present. Its success mainly is a result of its user interface which is very user friendly. Windows has a graphical user interface which makes it very easy for the user to select options and issue commands. XP was the latest success of the Windows family. The user interacts with the hardware in form of buttons, boxes and images by clicking the mouse. Any layman without any experience working with computers can easily work on GUI based operating systems. UNIX on the other hand is an operating system which is not GUI based. Users working on UNIX have to remember commands and type the commands to achieve results. Although UNIX is quite popular on the research front, it did not gain wide acceptability because of the lack of a graphical user interface. There is no well defined fact as to which operati... There is no well defined fact as to which operating system is better than the other. Every OS has its own disciples and haters. Every commercially available OS has its own pros and cons. Microsoft operating systems are easy to use but are expensive and low on security. Linux and UNIX on the other hand are freely available and extremely secure but lack a user friendly user interface. It depends on the type of the user and his nature of requirements that finally decides which OS would be the best for him. Answer 2 An Operating System acts an interface between the user and the computer. Although most users would have had some experience with an operating system, it is very difficult to precisely define the purpose of an operating system. This difficulty arrives mainly due to the fact that an operating system performs two basically unrelated functions: Extended Machine and Resource Manager (Tanenbaum, 1987). As an extended machine the operating system assists the architectural components (Instruction Set, Memory, IO) to understand the user input, provides them with their requirements to solve the user problem and give the result back to the user. As a resource manager the Operating System provides the users with a top-down view. The operating System performs the job of controlled and orderly allocation of processors, memory and IO devices among the various tasks that are competing for them. Based on the above discussion the primary purposes of an Operating System can be enlisted as under: Process Management: Process is defined as an instance of a program that is currently under execution (Stallings, 2002). A process needs certain resources such as CPU time, memory, files and IO devices to accomplish its tasks. The Operating System is responsible

Sexual selection - Then and Now Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Sexual selection - Then and Now - Essay Example highest number of young ones to inherit their superiority while those that protect or nourish their young and will leave their young ones to inherit weak powers (Darwin 1882, p209). The males’ modifications are generally more than the female. The male is more modified and the female almost retains a close similarity to the young of her species and the other adult members of similar group. The male is usually more eager than the female and in most cases it is the male that pursues the female and displays plumage characteristics (Darwin 1882, p221). The male’s great vigour during the love season tends to frequently intensify the individual’s colours that are entirely different from those of the female (Darwin 1882, p224). For example, most of the birds that inhabit the northern and the southern United States, the bird specimens that come from the south are dark in colour in comparison to the ones from the north. This is attributed to the direct differences in the light, temperature and other factors of the two geographical regions. The males of Ageloeus phoeniceus have their colours more intensified while in the south and the females of Cardinalis virginianus are the ones affected. In the species of Quiscalus major, the colour of the male remains uniform while the female have variations in the tint (Darwin 1882, p225). There are isolated cases where the females have pronounced sexual characters such as great size, brighter colours, pugnacity and strength. In the birds, there can be a complete transposition of the normal characters that are proper to each of the sex. In such a case, the females become more fervent in courtship and the males remain passive. Although the males are passive, they perform the role of selecting the most attractive females. There are certain hen birds that are highly ornamented and more pugnacious and powerful than the cocks; these types of characters are transmitted to the female progeny alone (Darwin 1882, p225). Double process

Decision- making case study Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Decision- making case study - Essay Example The Informed Decisions Toolbox (IDT) was developed to assist managers in efficient use of six key steps in evidence-informed decision making. These steps include: framing the management question, finding sources of information, assessing the accuracy of information, assessing the applicability of information, determining the actionability of the evidence and determining whether the information is adequate. The IDT allows managers to take control of the decision making process to enhance the performance of their organizations (Rundall et al., 2007). The issue arising due to the budget cut at Medicaid requires decision making based on careful consideration. Using information from â€Å"Informed Decisions Toolbox: Tools for Knowledge Transfer and Performance Improvement† we can determine which tools would be the most appropriate to use for decision making at Medicaid. The decision making process for Medicaid would begin with framing the question. Medicaid requires selection of the most optimum mix of medical services within the prescribed budget. For this we need to understand which services yield most benefit to the stakeholders including employees, regulatory agencies, patients and payers affected by our decision, and which services are most critical for our operations and which ones can be disposed of without having a tremendous impact on the organization and its stakeholders. This step would set the foundation based on which we can proceed towards seeking the best possible solution for the problem and yield maximum benefits for all concerned. This step would provide a clear definition of the issue and also highlight what information needs to be collected. The second step would require us to find appropriate sources of information. For the situation under discussion it would be beneficial to extract useful information from sources both external and internal. This stage would

Terrorism in gobal world Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Terrorism in gobal world - Essay Example This paper seeks to examine some of the advantages of coercion as an instrument of counterterrorism policy. The paper will draw from examples where coercion has been applied to extract information regarding terrorism. As a counterterrorism policy instrument, coercion has some significant advantages that accompany it. Coercion plays the role of deterrence and preventing any likelihood of terrorists to engage in criminal activities. For example, the United States counterterrorism strategy and policy advocates for the intimidation of suspects through the use of coercion and force. In its counterterrorism policy, the United States advocates for the capturing of suspects and holding them prisoners (Bolz et al., 2005). Besides, the US advocates for the application of forceful means to get information from terrorists. Such coercion works since no terrorist dares engage in terrorist activities due to the harsh conditions attributed with coercion. Most governments perceive the use of coercion as an effective way of fighting terrorism. There may be a tendency to rely on threats of punishment as a way of countering the likelihood of terrorist attacks. For example, such acts as kidnapping terrorists with a view to extract information play an essential role of punishment. Through such strategies, the terrorist will provide information, which can help in the prevention of a terrorist attack. Strategies such as cover and overt paramilitary and military action play an essential role in pre-empting and preventing terrorist groups (Crank & Patricia 2005, p. 26). Coercion can also be effective when gathering information from countries and people believed to be harboring terrorists. Through coercion, people who harbor terrorists fear the consequences of being caught. As a result, they tend to refrain from harboring dangerous terrorist groups that may pose a danger to the world. For example, the United States applies trade sanctions on countries believed to host

Sexual selection - Then and Now Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Sexual selection - Then and Now - Essay Example highest number of young ones to inherit their superiority while those that protect or nourish their young and will leave their young ones to inherit weak powers (Darwin 1882, p209). The males’ modifications are generally more than the female. The male is more modified and the female almost retains a close similarity to the young of her species and the other adult members of similar group. The male is usually more eager than the female and in most cases it is the male that pursues the female and displays plumage characteristics (Darwin 1882, p221). The male’s great vigour during the love season tends to frequently intensify the individual’s colours that are entirely different from those of the female (Darwin 1882, p224). For example, most of the birds that inhabit the northern and the southern United States, the bird specimens that come from the south are dark in colour in comparison to the ones from the north. This is attributed to the direct differences in the light, temperature and other factors of the two geographical regions. The males of Ageloeus phoeniceus have their colours more intensified while in the south and the females of Cardinalis virginianus are the ones affected. In the species of Quiscalus major, the colour of the male remains uniform while the female have variations in the tint (Darwin 1882, p225). There are isolated cases where the females have pronounced sexual characters such as great size, brighter colours, pugnacity and strength. In the birds, there can be a complete transposition of the normal characters that are proper to each of the sex. In such a case, the females become more fervent in courtship and the males remain passive. Although the males are passive, they perform the role of selecting the most attractive females. There are certain hen birds that are highly ornamented and more pugnacious and powerful than the cocks; these types of characters are transmitted to the female progeny alone (Darwin 1882, p225). Double process

Terrorism in gobal world Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Terrorism in gobal world - Essay Example This paper seeks to examine some of the advantages of coercion as an instrument of counterterrorism policy. The paper will draw from examples where coercion has been applied to extract information regarding terrorism. As a counterterrorism policy instrument, coercion has some significant advantages that accompany it. Coercion plays the role of deterrence and preventing any likelihood of terrorists to engage in criminal activities. For example, the United States counterterrorism strategy and policy advocates for the intimidation of suspects through the use of coercion and force. In its counterterrorism policy, the United States advocates for the capturing of suspects and holding them prisoners (Bolz et al., 2005). Besides, the US advocates for the application of forceful means to get information from terrorists. Such coercion works since no terrorist dares engage in terrorist activities due to the harsh conditions attributed with coercion. Most governments perceive the use of coercion as an effective way of fighting terrorism. There may be a tendency to rely on threats of punishment as a way of countering the likelihood of terrorist attacks. For example, such acts as kidnapping terrorists with a view to extract information play an essential role of punishment. Through such strategies, the terrorist will provide information, which can help in the prevention of a terrorist attack. Strategies such as cover and overt paramilitary and military action play an essential role in pre-empting and preventing terrorist groups (Crank & Patricia 2005, p. 26). Coercion can also be effective when gathering information from countries and people believed to be harboring terrorists. Through coercion, people who harbor terrorists fear the consequences of being caught. As a result, they tend to refrain from harboring dangerous terrorist groups that may pose a danger to the world. For example, the United States applies trade sanctions on countries believed to host

Promise Essay Example for Free

Promise Essay The teacher walked into the classroom. It was the first period that day. â€Å"Good morning, everyone. How was your holiday? † Mrs. Jane asked. â€Å"Great! † â€Å"Fun! † â€Å"Exciting! † Those were the words came from every student in the class describing their end-year holidays. Of course holiday is fun and interesting days for everyone. But, for Jessica, it was a boring holiday since her parents rarely spent their times with her due to their busy schedules even during her school holidays. She just kept quiet as if she did not hear when Mrs. Jane asked them. She seems hardly opened her mouth since she entering the class. After sometimes Mrs. Jane realized that Jessica disliked her school holidays. She quickly switches her topic. â€Å"Okay, now. Everyone, I’m going to introduce you to your new classmate, Tiffany,† announced Mrs. Jane. She welcomes Tiffany to the classroom. Mrs. Jane then asked her to introduce herself. After that she asked her to sit beside Jessica. â€Å"Hi, I’m Jessica. Nice to meet you,† Jessica greeted her with a broad smile. â€Å"Nice to meet you too,† Tiffany said with a broad smile too. Mrs. Jane smiled to herself when she saw that Jessica smiled broadly. Mrs. Jane felt relief knowing that Jessica was happy to have a new friend. Alright, everyone~ Let’s start our first lesson today,† Mrs. Jane told the class. The lesson for the day was very interesting as the students seemed to be enjoying the lesson. It was at about 2pm everyone was waiting for the final bell to ring that marked the end of the lesson of the day. Jessica and tiffany walked hand-in-hand on their way home. â€Å"Do you usually walk home? † Tiffany asked Jessica while walking along the corridor. â€Å"Yes. I’d rather walking than going by car,† Jessica told her. â€Å"I used to walk too,† said Tiffany. â€Å"Hey†¦ can I ask you something? † Jessica asked. â€Å"Sure. Why not? † Tiffany wondering what is she going to ask her. Can we be friend? † Jessica asked. Her face turned reddish red. Tiffany giggled. â€Å"Why are you asking that silly question? We’re already friends,† she said. â€Å"What? Really? Thanks! † Jessica said and hugged her tightly. â€Å"No problem,† Tiffany said and Jessica released the hug. â€Å"Now, let us promise,† she said. â€Å"What? † â€Å"Let’s be friend forever no matter what happen. Even if we were separated one day, we will always keep in touch, okay? † She told her. â€Å"Okay~ I promise. † Jessica said. After promising to each other, they headed to their own home. Day after day, their relationship became closer and closer. They always spent their weekend together at each other’s home. During the holiday, Jessica spent her holiday with tiffany and her family since Jessica’s parents was always busy. A few months later, Jessica parents told her that they will move overseas. Knowing this, Jessica’s tears rolling down to her cheeks. â€Å"We know you can’t separate with Tiffany. But, we have to move, dear. Anyways, you will have some new friends there,† her mother tried to console her. One day after the school was over; Jessica told tiffany that she will move to New York that evening. â€Å"Really? But, I know you will come to visit me in the future, right? Tiffany asked as her tears rolled down her cheeks. â€Å"Yes. I will,† that was all Jessica can say at that moment. They went home as usual. That evening, Tiffany went to the airport to say goodbye to Jessica. Jessica was happy to see her present at the airport and wish her happy journey. She hugged Tiffany and felt heavy to let her go. As it was already time to go to the departure hall, Tiffany loosens her hug and let her go. â€Å"Promise me that you will not cry when you arrive there and I promise to wait for you to come here,† Tiffany promised. â€Å"I promise. And, I promise I will be back,† Jessica told her. Alright, girls. It’s time to go and say goodbye,† Jessica’s mother said to them. â€Å"Okay, mom. † Jessica said. Then, they bid their farewell. Two years later, Tiffany pursued her study in college. Even though they were separated, they always keep in touch through social network and phone call. Since Jessica was busy with her college activities, she didn’t have enough time to go back to Canada. But, she still kept her promise. She told Tiffany that she will be back next week. Tiffany was so delighted to hear the news. Two weeks later, but Jessica still not coming back. She was very disappointed and upset with Jessica. One day, Jessica’s mother went to Tiffany’s house. She told Tiffany why Jessica will not come. She told her that Jessica died in a car accident while on her way to the airport two weeks ago. â€Å"No! That shouldn’t be! She won’t leave me! † Tiffany cried out loudly. She feels that she can’t bear it anymore. Her mother and Jessica’s mother tried to console her. Tiffany went to New York that night. Upon arriving at New York, she went to Jessica’s grave. Tears gushing out of her eyes until she felt that no more tears came out. It’s been two years after Jessica’s death; Tiffany soon became a famous singer as they promise in the past.

Mayers Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning

Mayers Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning Mayer describes multimedia as modern presentation modes (text, pictures etc.) and different modalities (visual, auditory etc.) that are presented by an integrated technical system such as computer and internet. According to Mayer, multimedia learning refers to learning from words and pictures and multimedia instruction refers to the presentations of words and pictures. We see that Mayer describes the differences between multimedia learning and multimedia instruction. According to his description, multimedia instruction is the learning material which presents words and pictures that are intended to promote learning whereas multimedia learning refers to the learner constructed knowledge that builds mental representations from these words and pictures; that is, multimedia instruction. Mayer (2009) states three views of multimedia messages. Multimedia messages can be based on the delivery media such as amplified speaker and computer screen presentation modes such as words and pictures, or sensory modalities such as auditory and visual. In the first view, it is clearly seen that delivery media is technology centered and focus is on technology rather than learners; that is, the focus is on the devices used to present information rather than on how people learn. The other views are learner centered. These views are consistent with learner centered approach and based on cognitive theory of learning on how people learn. Moreover, these two views are consistent with constructivist learning which is based on actively constructed knowledge rather than passively transmitted and gathered. The only distinction between these views is the sensory modalities view of multimedia is consistent with a cognitive theory of learning that assumes humans have separate information processing channels for auditory and visual processing whereas presentation modes view is consistent with a cognitive theory of learning that assumes humans have separate information processing channels for verbal and pictorial knowledge. In the following figure, Mayer (2009) describes his cognitive theory of multimedia learning. Figure: Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning This cognitive theory of multimedia learning is based on three assumptions (2009): dual channels: there are separate channels for processing visual and auditory experiences and information in humans memory limited capacity: each information channel is limited in its ability to process the amount of information and experiences at one time active processing: processing experience and information in channels is an active process designed to construct coherent mental representations According to this model, the learner must engage in the five cognitive processes or steps in order for meaningful learning to occur in multimedia environment. First, learner selects the relevant words for processing in verbal working memory. Then, learner selects relevant images for processing in visual working memory. After that, learner organizes selected words into a verbal mental model and selected images into a visual mental model. Finally, learner integrates work based and image based representations as well as prior knowledge (Mayer, 2009). Mayers cognitive theory of multimedia learning draws on Paivios (1986) dual coding theory, Swellers (1988) cognitive load theory, Baddeleys (1992) model of working memory, Mayers (1996) SOI model of meaningful learning and Bruners constructivist theory. The working memory model explains what happens to information after it is perceived by the sense organs and suggests that there are separate slave systems such as phonological loop and visuo-spatial sketch pad for processing visual and verbal information (Baddeley, 1992). Dual coding theory is built on the working memory model and suggests that humans have two separate systems for representing verbal and nonverbal information. This verbal and nonverbal information is processed differently and in separate channels and although these systems are structurally and functionally independent, they are also interconnected (Paivio, 1986). Cognitive load theory points the findings from studies about dual coding theory; for example, information processing system is consist of two independent channels for processing and representing information which are limited in their capacity and suggests that learning happens best under conditions that are aligned with human cognitive architecture. Cognitiv e load theory is concerned with the way cognitive resources are focused and used during learning and problem solving (Sweller, 1988). Although Mayers cognitive theory of multimedia learning draws on many theories, Mayers multimedia theory is specifically based on Paivios dual coding theory which basically assumes that humans have separate information processing channels for verbal and pictorial information for auditory and visual messages. According to Mayers theory, the learner has a visual and verbal information processing system. For example, auditory narration goes into the verbal information processing system whereas animation goes into the visual information processing system. Since dual coding theory is built on the working memory model of Baddeley and working memory includes verbal and visual channels which are phonological loop and visuo-spatial sketch pad for processing visual and verbal information, we can also say that Mayers theory is consistent with Baddeleys one. Mayer also uses Swellers cognitive load theory to understand how humans learn and humans cognitive limitations for processing information. By using cognitive load theory, Mayer suggest that presenting too many elements such as words and pictures in multimedia material can lead to overload to be processed in visual or verbal information processing systems. Mayer also supports the theory of constructivist learning. By considering constructivist learning theory, Mayer suggests that cognitive construction and active learning depends on the cognitive processing of the learner during learning process. For example, learner constructs new knowledge by using active learning methods such as actively and mentally engaged in learning processes although passively sitting in the chair and watching a presentation. Mayers also use his SOI model of meaningful learning while building cognitive theory of multimedia learning. In this model, learners are again knowledge constructors who pay attention to relevant words and pictures in multimedia message in order to produce meaningful learning and organize the information in coherent verbal and pictorial model, and integrate it with prior knowledge. By his theory, first, Mayer has contributed to establishing a cognitive theory of multimedia learning which builds on how people learn. Mayers theory also continues to contribute greatly to establishing theories and principles about learning in multimedia environment. Also, his theory and principles are a great resource for instructional designers to consider the cognitive processes related with learning. Instructional designers need to consider the learners and their memory capacities. They need to design their learning materials to maximize the focus on learning activities and minimize the learners attention to activities which are not directly related to learning. When considering new delivery media technologies such as mobile phones, tablet pcs and smart phones, I think future researches need to be conducted to evaluate the multimedia by using this theory in a real world context or new derivatives of theories need to be developed from Mayers one to adapt it to recent real life co nditions.

Designing an Automatic Card Shuffler :: Robotics

Background Most automatic card shufflers on the market today have a card output slot, a card input slot, a card separation area, and an arm between the card input slot and the separation area. The card input slot is where used cards are put to be shuffled. The arm makes sure that not too many cards enter the separation area at a time. The separation area is where the actual shuffling occurs. The most common method of separation uses a system of rotating belts to pull cards out of the main pile and put them back at random (Card Shuffler). Another method uses a series of elevators. The elevators move up and down, while cards are inserted randomly into each one. Then, the piles in the elevators are shuffled together (Uncomfortable Shoe). This design adds another level of randomness to the shuffling. The last essential part of the shuffler is the card output slot, which is simply where the shuffled cards come out of the machine. Our robot will be different. It has a card input and output slot, but the rest of the machine is different. It shuffles by randomly choosing from several trays full of cards. This method is faster and is more flexible regarding the number of cards being shuffled than other shufflers. Also, this machine will deal a number of different card games automatically. Casinos will want this robot because it is a faster way to shuffle more cards. It makes it so that players can not "count" cards to gain an advantage over the casinos, and with its automatic dealing capabilities, it will increase their efficiency, allowing them to earn more money. Preliminary Design Our product will do more than current automatic card shufflers. In addition to just shuffling the cards, it will also deal them out. The final product will have many shuffling trays, to increase the capacity and effectiveness of the shuffler. It will have an LCD display with inputs that allow card players to select a game on the screen, and the robot will shuffle and deal the cards according to the rules of the game. The final product will be mostly enclosed in a plastic case, to make it look streamlined and prevent tampering or damage to the parts inside. The internals, however, will not be plastic. The gears will be welloiled metal, and the gates will also be smooth plastic to allow the cards to exit them rapidly. To allow the 2 robot to be low-cost, the metal parts would have to be aluminum. There would be little to no specialized