Consider how effectively does David Lean creates an atmosphere of fear and suspense in the opening sequence of ‘Great Expectations’

Welcome to the new monthly section of The Film Watchers' Journal in which we discuss a question asked to us by a reader. As it is nearly Halloween, our topic for this month will be, ‘What is the best way to create an atmosphere of fear and suspense in a film? ‘ To do this I will first discuss my personal views on this question and then we will take a deeper study of the classic suspenseful opening of the 1945 film ‘Great Expectations', directed by the great David Lean and the Academy Award Winner of Best Cinematography and Best Art Direction in 1946. To start with, let's consider what makes a film scary and suspenseful. Some may say that it is outright scares and jumps, though I believe that it is more than that. Something within us needs to feel the fear of the characters and there are many techniques a director can use to achieve that. One of the main causes of fear is the music. Large periods of silence can really get you feeling scared as you wait for something to happen, but equally I also would say that it is chilling when you hear the odd sound such as creaking or the wind to give a sense of realism and pulls at our basic fears of these sorts of noises. Another way that many films are made to be scary is by their use of lighting. Again the basic fear of the dark is used, but also making certain aspects of the scene light or dark can foreshadow future events and subconsciously make the viewer feel worried about what is going to happen. There are also of course many other ways of making a scene fearful and suspenseful such as camera movement, the relative size of what is in the frame, speed of editing and lots of other things besides but we will get to this as I analyse the opening scenes of ‘Great Expectations' as it has many good examples which can be noted. To start with it would be wrong not to look at how the opening shot of the scene in which the book is read. At first glance it may not seem to have any fear or suspense as it is a very everyday object, but I think that there is relevance to this in the overall build up of apprehension. As it is read, the calmness of the melody in the background is slowly overtaken by the sound of the wind as the story begins, and the way this is makes you wonder what is going to happen and starts building up some tension, especially as the pages of the book flick in some supernatural way. It immediately focuses you on it as the book is lit up, framed by the darkness of an unknown place which may be playing on our fear of the unknown. It then fades into the next scene, which I believe gives it a sense of smooth carrying on, and the suspense really starts to kick in. One of the key ways in which David Lean creates fear is by the imagery of death all around, a common technique used by directors. One of the chief examples of this is when Pip runs past the gallows in the wide open marshes. With the use of perspective he really looks the same size as the first, almost as if it is made for him. Subconsciously I think that this must make the scene more worrying for the audience as they have the picture of him and death together in their minds. This is strongly reinforced by the second gibbet which towers over him as he runs underneath it which again shows that death is over him all the time. I find that this is a very effective way of creating fear as it is not too obvious so it works at our subconscious which is more subtle and can create more lasting and deeper fears as we slowly piece them together in the backs of our minds. Another example of death imagery is obviously the graveyard which almost always has the gravestones looking bigger than Pip and looming over him, possibly to create a sense of foreboding. I think that the constant reminder of death being always there is definitely a big reason that this is the classic suspense scene always remembered. Of course imagery is also used elsewhere; one of the foremost cases of this is when the second tree is shown looming over Pip you can quite clearly see what seems to be a face in the gnarled bark. This reflects the childish fears of Pip and therefore makes us immediately empathise with him and feel his fear as well due to our compassion for frightened children that is within most people, especially seeing as that sort of thing can live in with us until we are much older. Of course the imagery is not the only way of creating fear and suspense. Another obvious technique used in this film is the way objects or people, specifically Pip, are placed in the frame to give them certain relevance. This is shown to start with by the world seeming very big and Pip seeming very small by using very distant establishing shots. You may think that this would make him seem quite irrelevant but as he is kept quite central in the mise en scine and the camera moves with him we can see that his size on the screen must serve a different purpose and I believe that this is to show us just how scary and big this world is, especially to a child, and straight away lead us to empathise with him and therefore feel his fear. Again this use of size is echoed later in the scene when Pip meets the convict, with the convict always towering over him in a way that makes him seem very weak and in peril. At some points we cannot even see the convict's head as it is looming so high above him that it does not fit in the frame. It could be said that this is just for practicality but I think it is important because in quite a lot of the time we can be more scared by what we cannot see that what we can see and the fact that his head is not in the shot makes it seem all the more frustrating as we do not feel that we can see the whole picture and therefore it scares us as the unknown is a massive factor in how we get scared.. Another more subtle way that this film gets into our subconscious is through very clever lighting which can be seen as very symbolic. In the shot where the boy runs toward the camera we can quite clearly see that the foreground is darker than the light shining on the horizon so we can plainly see that the boy is running from the light into the dark and I would associate this with danger and fear. However, I think the use of light is most evident in the section with Pip and the convict as Pip clearly has the light shining on him while the convict is left in the dark. This not only makes him more mysterious as we cannot see him as well as we would like to but it also makes him seem dark and scary which sparks most people's inner fear of darkness and again that which is unknown. Use of the dark is therefore a very popularly used way to really get into people's heads as it is a primal fear that everyone has and instantaneously makes us feel nervous when this man is introduced because he is so dark within the frame compared to Pip whom we have come to trust who is lit up. Although a lot of the lighting is not as strong as in some other films, I think that the way that it affects us is still quite noticeable and does serve a very useful purpose in that it grabs our attention and slowly builds up future unconscious foreshadowing of future events. Probably one of the more obvious things which David Lean uses to create tension is his use of sounds. Unlike many other suspenseful films he does not use suspenseful music or much silence, but in fact the chilling sounds of the howling wind, distant seabird call and the creaking of trees. These may seem a little over the top to a modern audience used to being scared in much more elaborate ways, but they still can make you shiver if you are really getting into the film. A great deal of this is just repeated over and over, so you are lulled into a false sense of security so that when the scream comes as Pip is grabbed by the convict you are caught completely off guard. This use of a long period of similar sounds then a large, surprising one is often used to great effect in films and the shock of it is a very good tactic as it shakes the audience into focus and really makes them watch what's happening. The scream itself is quite scary as, having to got to empathise with the boy, we immediately share his fear and want to know what is going on but can't quite tell. I think that this is again going back to the fear of the unknown which has seemed to come up quite often in this review. Lastly, it is useful to look at some of the more technical techniques used to make this film suspenseful, namely camera movement and post production editing. I don't feel that the way the camera moves makes it quite as suspenseful as it could be as there is not all that much done with it other than panning across whenever Pip moves. It could possibly be improved had more been done with it such as zooming in slowly to build up tension or quick movement away from Pip to disassociate with him at some points. However, it could be said that the lack of movement in the shots makes them seem more sharply put together and could make movement more edgy and therefore in a way scarier. The editing on the other hand I feel is quite well done to make it seem more suspenseful. As the scene opens there are long, slow moving shots which establish us into the scene and make us feel a sense of what it is like to be there and begin to draw us into it. The shots continue to be long and unhurried until the lengthy shot of Pip slowly looking round behind him as he begins to feel that something is wrong. The shots then speed up rapidly, cutting from him to the tree then back to him and even more quickly onto the tree with the gnarled face. With this we can feel his fear building up and we begin to feel it ourselves too, and as he gets up and runs we are fully with him and are just as shocked as him when his is grabbed by the convict. The shots stay quite fast as he has his conversation with the convict which I feel reflects his own fear in the situation and again, because we have already built up some form of empathy for Pip's character during the short time before, we begin to worry what will happen as well. So there it is, I can answer the question that in this old classic the way that David Lean thinks that a film can be made suspenseful and fearful is mainly by slowly getting us to feel for a character and build up imagery of death and subconsciously keep feeding us fearful pictures and sounds so that when the climax of the fear comes we are equally as shocked as Pip is. Although modern audiences might scoff at this movie as it is not as scary by today's standards, I think that it is a very clever piece of film in making you scared without being too obvious about it and that if you look carefully in more contemporary films you will see that even then the same techniques are generally used. That's it for this month's film question, but please write in with responses or suggestions for November, and keep an eye out for these techniques when you are next watching a scary film!

Learning Lab Denmark Case Study Essay

Executive Summary The Shackleton’s Antarctic expedition, from 1914 to 1916, is a compelling story of leadership when disaster strikes again and again. In words of David Foster Wallace, Real leaders are people who help us overcome the limitations of our own individual laziness and selfishness and weakness and fear. Q1;- Has designing and leadership at Learning Lab Denmark been effective so far? Why/Why not? What about Organizational Culture? A1:- Organizational design is the pillar of any organization. It is the deliberate process of configuring structures, processes, reward systems, and people practices to create an effective organization capable of achieving the business strategy. It is ongoing process and simply a vehicle for accomplishing the strategic tasks of the business. A well-designed organization helps everyone in the business do his/her job effectively. A poorly-designed organization (or an organization by default) creates barriers and frustrations for people both inside and outside the organization. Organizational design affected by few key factors, which are: 1. Strategy 2. Environment 3. Technology 4. HR Learning Lab Denmark was the â€Å"Research and Development Institute† which was established by the help of Danish Ministry of Business and Industry, the Ministry of Research and the Ministry of Education and the Private sectors. Like every organization, in LLD, there was an Organizational design to perform its job smoothly. In that organization, there was a central unit which conducted all the the jobs like Management, Communication and Culture activities called â€Å"Secretariat†. It was an independent organization but affiliated with the Danish Pedagogical university (DPU). In LLD, there were two senior managers, one was managing director and other was a research director. Research director was responsible for research jobs which were going on in all Consortia. The MD was to report to the boards and to oversee the organization’s daily operations. There were six consortia where in each  consortia, a Consortium Director was deputed and under which many employees were working on different projects. The Consortium were : Math and Science (MS) Neuroscience, Cognition and Learning (NCL) Play and Learning (PL) The Creative Alliance (TCA) Workplace Learning (WL) Tools for the Knowledge Based Organization (TKO) There was a dpartment under secretariat for sharing all the information and ensure an effective network of communication within LLD. It shared all the learnings between all Consortia and between Consortia and Secretariat. It also support to LLD by developing a consortium’s website. Secretariat also focused on the organizational culture whether is was followed or not. In my view, the Organizational design and leadership both were not so effective due to that Organization failed to perform. If we consider the basic key factors of Organization design, we will find; 1. Startegy – There was lack of strategy. What we have to do and what will be the tentative time frame of completion of job. There was lack of experienced employees so that they couldn’t make proper strategy. 2. Environment – There was no favourable work environment. Leaders were not able to communicate properly. Each consortia was doing his own way. There was ego issue between two different departments and both were avoiding each other instructions. 3. Technology – This was the research institute so the first thing which was required, adequate knowledge, experienced expertise, upgraded technologies. There was lack of all these things which led to fail the organization. 4. Human Resources – The HR management was handled by DPU so there was big gap betwee n the actual scenario inside the LLD and action taken by DPU. DPU was not involved directly and there was no perfect communication networking between LLD and DPU. There was big dissatisfaction in the employees of LLD. One of the reasons to fail the LLD was weak leadership. In the case study, it was clear that the role of top leaders was not effective. The CDs didn’t follow the instructions which were taken by senior leaders. There was big  ego issue between two departments. The CDs were doing their job in their own way. Organizational Culture – Organizational culture is the basic pillar of any organization. It decides the way to achieve the goal along with growth and great satisfaction of each and every employee. The culture depends on the few key factors which have been described below:- 1. Team Orientation – Degree to which work is organized around teams rather than individuals 2. People Orientation – Degree to which management decisions take into account the effects on people in the organization 3. Attention to detail – Degree to which employees are expected to exhibit precision, analysis and attention to detail 4. Stability – Degree to which organizational decisions and actions emphasize maintaining the status. 5. Aggressiveness – Degree to which employees are aggressive and competitive rather than cooperative. 6. Innovation & Risk Taking – Degree to which employees are encouraged to be innovative and to take risks 7. Outcome Orientation – Degree to which manager’s focus on results or outcomes Since in LLD, there was no any structured Organizational design so there was also lack of culture. There was no strategy according to which all consortia could perform. The consortia leader was not interested to follow the instruction of his senior management. The above described all factors are required to develop an organizational culture but in LLD, no any factors were lays. Q2 :- What are the opportunities and challenges of designing and leading Learning Lab Denmark? A2:- If any system fails it means that faced many challenges which couldn’t be attended on the time. In the case of LLD, there were multiple challenges in designing and leading, which i have described below. 1. Establish the Hilton Experience – Hilton experience means that the administrative side of LLD sustains the research side with supportive attitude where helpful procedures and routines make it easier, not harder, for the researcher to do their job. But in actual condition, there was lots of confliction between consortia and secretariat. 2. Common Culture and Identity – MD and Research Director of LLD wanted to establish common culture and identity across all consortia but it was very tough since the project job of all consortia were different from each other, so the working  was also different. 3. Establish the communication networking across LLD – It was very big challenge to establish the proper communication among Secretariat and Consortia and also among all Consortia. They didn’t want any interruption in their working on the projects. 4. Financial Crisis – Since LLD was an organization which was funded by Danish Govt. as well as Private investors. At the initial time when LLD was being established, the global market was facing recessions. The terrorist attacks on Sep’11, 2001 further heightened pessimism. So, it became tough to collect the fund for the Organization. 5. Execution of LLD Research model – LLD has established a research model where the involvement of Stakeholders have been introduced directly with the researchers to give their inputs so that researchers can work in that direction and at the same time, Researchers can convince with their efforts to Stakeholders. But it was not established due to weak leadership of LLD top management. 6. Recruitment of Researchers – This was research institute so the employees should have high knowledge along with experienced, only then research could be done in within time frame. This type of researchers could be recruited only when selector s having high knowledge. Other thing was the new inexperienced employees who got the first job of life in LLD, could be performed as per expectation due to lack of job experience. This was the big challenge. 7. Work Environment – A healthy and familiar work environment is required to perform well in the organization. This environment can be achieved by taking care of employee. For that a strong HR management should be there but in the LLD, this was lacking point. 8. Decision Taking Authority – There should be the freedom to take decision regarding research to all consortia but this should be controlled by LLD top management. For this, a structural frame should be in the organization with proper strategy. This was not in the LLD. 9. Get Result – All stakeholders invest on the basis of performance of the organization. They want results for that they invest the money. In LLD, only research work remained ongoing but results didn’t deliver with full satisfaction and within time frame. It also remained challenge and reason for failure. 10. Confliction – This was the big issue in the LLD and the main reason of the confliction between the employees was Power, Authority and Hierarchical Status. The top management couldn’t able to resolve this confliction. There are so many opportunities where LLD management should focus and could be improved. Few points have been described below. 1. Organizational Design – There should be proper structured team in LLD by considering few factors like; Strategy, Technology, Environment and Human Resource. This team should perform effectively. 2. Communication Networking – Communication networking to be strengthen and for communication, there should be a proper channel which should not be bypassed in any case. Communication should be monitored by senior management effectively. What to be shared with stakeholders, what to be requested to investors, what to be ordered to researchers; these all things should be monitored properly. 3. Recruitment – Since the core business of this organization was research so the employee recruitment should be on the basis of real merit and experience. 4. Training – If employees having less job-experienced then there should be a training cell where the researchers can be developed by training. 5. Feedback System – There should be proper feedback system for the ongoing projects status and it should be monitored on regular basis. 6. Fund Arrangement – There should be proper team for fund collection. Team has ability to convince the investors. They should make other strategy to draw the attention of investors. 7. Execution of LLD Research Model – The research model established by LLD was very good but it was not executed due to having much confliction between the top management of LLD and Consortia leaders. So, it should be role of top leaders that the good model should be executed effectively. 8. Resolves Confliction – There was too much confliction on the thoughts among the LLD and it created tension. The tension was created due to Power, Authority, Hierarchical Status and this was continued due to unwillingness of senior management. The senior leader should take their responsibilities and perform effectively. Q3:- Identify tensions, problems, issues, paradoxes, characteristics and dilemmas that make organizational design and leadership ongoing challenges in new ventures such as LLD. What is distinctive about LLD’s design? A3:- In LLD, there was tension between the Broker team (Communicator) and the Consortium Director and its related to whether the broker team is a â€Å"Service Team† that executes orders/requests issued by the CDs or a â€Å"Techno  Structure† that can issue orders/requests to the CDs. The tension was related to three main issues; Power, Authority and Hierarchical Status. The problem was that the more the broker team acts as if it is a technocratic structure, the more CDs resist. The paradox underlined the organization-wide tension between Standardization and Variability. The communicator team emphasized on stability and standardization as it represented secretariat of LLD where as the CDs fostered variability because they resisted the brokerâ€⠄¢s initiatives. â€Å"They accepted, the brokers are right when they say that no procedure includes all local conditions but we are also resisting because the procedures minimize our autonomy†. The consortia people also resisted to follow the standardization procedures due to which the secretariat was facing big challenge to deliver on the idea of being a Hilton experience. They were frustrated with LLD’s organizational bureaucracy, which they believed was constraining their efforts unnecessarily. Another problem was in the relationship between LLD and DPU. LLD’s managers and employees knew they belonged to DPU as an independent unit, but never viewed their organization as a part of DPU. Even though all LLD’s budget including salaries was paid through DPU’s administration, LLD’s administrators feared that if they used this bureaucracy, LLD would become like DPU means very slow, dusty and inefficient. According to LLD’s personnel, they were facing some human resource problem. They said that their salaries were not released on time by DPU. There was some management issue, due to which two Chief Financial Officers had resigned within 18 months and the reason shared was the perceived difficulty of serving as the interface between the two organizations. The LLD’s Organizational design was different in the case that only two senior managements were involved and MD was to oversee the organizational daily operations. There was confliction in the team due to having issues like Power, Authority and Hierarchical Status. The employees didn’t view their organization as a part of DPU whereas LLD was administratively governed by DPU. It showed there was no effective leadership. Q4:- As a leader, how do you prepare for and manage the difficulties and challenges identified in questions 2 and 3? Consider actions, strategies and techniques that you might want to take/use. Be specific and illustrate with examples? A4:- In this case study, i have found many difficulties and challenges and Being a leader, here i am explaining my remedial action to resolve those challenges. 1. Organizational Design – I would like to frame a design where responsibilities of everyone would be described and everyone will have to perform according to that. I would like to make a team on the basis of Strategy, Environment, Technology and Human Resource. I would introduce every consortia, a leader under whom a technical and managerial employee will work. Managerial employee will look after the basic needs of all involved researchers. And Technical employee will take reports on daily basis from the researchers and talk about their demands for doing project smoothly. Both will report to Consortia head. Consortia head will power to take decision for his consortia work and decide the time frame with responsibilities. Now in Secretariat, similarly, one top leader will be under whom a research director, a finance head , a HR head will work. Research Director will take report from all Consortia head. Finance head will manage all funding for LLD and head a cell which will work for fund collection by involving investors. HR head will look after all the basic needs of all employees across LLD. The head of Secretariat will take report from all three heads and take appropriate actions for the organization. He will shared the key points with DPU, Danish Govt. And Stakeholders. The all consortia head will be liable to follow the instructions given by all three heads, whom he will report and discuss the issue. 2. Communication Networking – Communication networking will be affected by leadership quality. If the above design will work effectively, the communication will remain strong. 3. Recruitment and Training – The HR will be responsible for recruitment and there will be selector team in which a technical and managerial employee will be involved for selection of researchers. In the selection, they will have to giv e priority to those who have much job experience and having higher degree of knowledge. Few researchers can be selected who have no much job experience but for those, there would be manage a training program on regular interval to increase their skills. 4. Financial Establishment – The finance dept will be responsible for the  funding arrangement. They will make different teams in which one will be in touch with every consortia and review their financial demands like equipments for experiment and other basic requirements, one will be responsible to review current cash situation and their expenditure plan, keep previous expenditure report, one will be responsible to involve investors, stakeholders by convincing with the performance of the organization, make some investment schemes., one will be responsible to review current market condition, take care of investors who has become partner in the organization. 5. Get Result – The organization is â€Å"Research and Development Institute†, so it’s growth will depend on the completion of projects within time frame. For this, every consortia head will be responsible for completion of all projects within time frame and share the way forward plan, if any projects doesn’t complete in within time frame. To involve the investors, everyone will keep honesty in his work. For this, HR team will responsible to arrange the meeting between investors and respective consortia at regular time of interval along with research head, so that every investors can remain updated with the ongoing research. 6. Confliction – This is the big challenge for any organization. This can only be resolved by the effective organizational design. It is the responsibility of the top leader to define the responsibility along with power and level of freedom to take decision on any topic. According to me, i will define the decision taking authority with the power and Hierarchical status. The HR department will be responsible whether the things are being followed or not. Whatever decision is taken by higher management, it should be followed by every employee. 7. Organizational Culture – Organizational culture is the basic pillar of any organization. It decides the way to achieve the goal along with growth and great satisfaction of each and every employee. The culture depends on the few key factors which are, Team Orientation, People Orientation, Stability, Aggressiveness, Innovation & Risk Taking, Outcome Orientation. In my leadership, i will assure the organizational key factors are being followed or not. Q5:- What should Vaaland and Jensen do? A5:- Being Managing Director, Marianne Stang Vaaland had much power to handle  the all obstacles. There are two types of obstacles; one can be controlled by your efforts since the reason of the obstacle remains known but another type of obstacle comes due to external agencies which is not in your hand and take much time to control that, like recession, market condition, investors demand etc. Vaaland should form an effective organizational design along with responsibility. He should take action if there is any deviation. Similarly being Research Director, Hans Siggaard Jensen should define the working responsibility of all researchers along with tentative time frame. He should take honest feedback from each consortia on regular basis and suggest if he founds any deviation. At first, Vaaland should resolve all the confliction by distribute the Power and Authority on Hierarchical base so that a healthy work environment can be developed. Both should have assured that researchers which are being selected will give benefit to the organization. It means selection process should be effective. If any researcher is selected who has less experience but having capability to learn and grow, for such type of researchers, there should be training cell. Both should have reviewed the market scenario and investors demand and according to that they should establish the working model. They should develop such type of organizational culture where whatever decision has been taken by both of them that should be followed by their sub-ordinates. Before establish any working model, both should discuss with their sub-ordinates. Both should make a strategy to collect the fund by providing different type of schemes for their investors. They should make a cell that looks after only the fund collection job. Both should have assured the project completion time frame so that investors can faith on the organization. It gives a positive message in the market and it helps to attract the investors. Both should have established the proper networking for communication and taking feedback. No one should have confliction on this. Both should have enforced to establish the Hilton Experience effectively between Secretariat and all Consortia. Q6:- What lessons can you draw from LLD? What LLD a success? A6:- The case study â€Å"Organizing From Scratch: Learning Lab Denmark Experience† is really having great lesson for all the leaders. In my  opinion, LLD was a big failure due to weak leadership and having no any strategic plan to run the organization for long time, achieve the targets, lack of organizational culture, inexperienced work force and weak financial condition. Here I am sharing the key points which I have learned from the case study to run any organization effectively:- Importance of effective and structured Organizational Design.

The Left Brain vs. the Right Brain

The Left Brain vs. the Right Brain: How Does This Impact Learning Over the years, schools have been teaching in the traditional way. This has proven to be successful for many students, but not all. By breaking down the brain and how each side of it processes information could make a more conducive learning environment. If both sides are maximized in the classroom, all of the students are able to excel. Which should be the goal of all schools. Before comparing the styles, knowing how the brain processes the information for different people needs to be looked at.The brain processes information by the type of information that it is. Each side of the brain will process information differently. The left side of the brain will generally process information in a linear fashion. It will take the information and put it in a line and then draw the conclusion at the end. This is a sequential type of thinking. The left brain excels at information that comes in symbols, such as math formulas. It think of things in a logical sense. It can work through a problem in the logical sequence to come to the conclusion or answer.The left brained individual does not have any issues with expressing themselves verbally. They know what they want to say, and they can say it correctly. The left brained person is grounded in the world of reality. They are able to adjust to their surroundings (Templeton, 2012). On the other hand, the right brained person is the opposite. Instead of being linear in their way of thinking, the right brained person likes to know what the result is before discussing the topic. They need to know what the â€Å"big picture† is first so that they know where they are going.The right brained individual will jump around from task to task, not doing them in a sequential order. They still complete the tasks, but they will not prioritize the tasks. Where the left brained person likes symbols, the right brained person likes to deal with things that they can touch, r eal objects. The left brain looks at things in a logical manner, the right brain does things that feel right. They will base choices off of how they feel about something. A right brained person will want to see things visually. They will make mental pictures of the things that are discussed.The right brained person may have difficulty in meeting deadlines because they want to change the things around them and are less attune to reality (Templeton, 2012). Now that the aspects of each side of the brain has been described, are we able to only function with one side of the brain? To read some of the literature that is out there on the subject, you would assume that this is what people think. If this was the case, then we would only have that side of the brain. The brain was made to work with both sides in conjunction with each other.Yet, most people will be dominate one side more than the other. Radwan (2012) list ways that a person with either side brain dominant can use the other side . For example, a person that is left brained dominant should try to refrain from using only logic to make a decision. Radwan (2012) suggest listening to music while reading. that way the right side of the brain can be active in the process. For the person that is right brained, they should try to find out as much as they can about the issue or situation. Get more details about it.They should also try using more numbers, this way the left side of the brain is working, too, according to Radwan (2012). How is the traditional way of teaching conducted? According to Novak (1998), the traditional way of teaching is where the teacher is the one with the power and responsibility, they play the role of the instructor. They teach through lectures. They will be the one that decides the curriculum and what they want the students to learn. Novak (1998) also states that the teachers are the reason that learning happens and that the students need to have the information that they are missing, give n to them.The classroom is generally set up with the desks or tables in a row with the teacher in the front of the classroom. The most important part of this process is the content and delivery of the lesson. It is believed that the student gets their knowledge through practice, which could include the note taking. This type of teaching will be competitive. (Johnson, 1991). Traditional style teaching can cause learning issues for some students. Not every person has the ability to learn this way. In a competitive arena, those that do not excel, may get left behind because they feel insignificant to the others.If they are wrong in the front of the class, they may not want to answer questions, due to the feeling of being ridiculed. This type of teaching does not take into account the creative side of the student. The student that starts to â€Å"move back into their shell†, has the potential to start to fall behind. With the traditional style, that student will have a challenge to catch up since the technique is to continue to teach, fill the student with more knowledge. Brain based teaching is a different type of teaching then the traditional way. It is geared more for the success of the student.It is broken down into three areas, before, during and after class. The before class section, which is conducted way in advance of the class, has two steps: pre-exposure and the environment. The pre-exposure has the teacher plan for those students that will need some extra help. The teacher determines how they will engage the students, making it interactive, to make them remember more of the lesson. The environment cannot always be adjusted, but when it can, the teacher will want to make the students feel safe. They will want to allow the students to sit wherever they want to.The temperature and lighting will need to be adjusted and watched to ensure it is conducive with the learning environment. (Jensen, 2005) During the class, the teacher wants to ensure that th ey engage both the mind and body. This will keep the student awake and interested in the material. The next step will be to â€Å"frame† the lesson. This step gets the student interested in the lesson. It is like a motivator for the student to learn the material. Acquisition is the next aspect that needs to be looked at. This focuses on input where the students and teacher interact and learn from each other.The teacher will want to elaborate on the topic to ensure that the learning has more detail. When the student has learned something new, time needs to be added at the end of class to reinforce the memory so that it can be recalled later. This is a very important part that is not done with traditional teaching. (Jensen, 2005) Jensen (2005) states that the after class section has two steps: â€Å"settling time and rest and review and revision. † It is believed that rather than teaching a mass amount of information, interval learning is the better way.Giving the studen ts time to allow the information to settle by giving them breaks. As time goes on, the students will start to forget the information that was taught to them. If time is set aside to review the information and revise the students knowledge, they will remember it longer. A study was conducted in Pakistan to find out which style of teaching is more productive. It was conducted in Pakistan because the only style that has ever been taught is the traditional style. Fifty students were used in the study; twenty-five were the control, traditional, and twenty-five were the experimental.All of the students were given a pre-test in physics. The scores were recorded and then they were taught in the two different styles. At the end of the study, they were given a post-test. The results showed that the students that studied under the brain based technique were able to learn and retain more compared to the students under the traditional style. (Ali, 2010) For years schools have taught using the tr aditional style of teaching. Knowing what each side of the brain processes and using that to teach students has proven to be effective.By combining the creative side with the linear side ensures that students stay interested in the material. By staying interested, they are able to learn more, and more importantly, retain more information. References Ali, R. , Hukamdad, Ghazi, S. , Shahzad, S. , & Khan, H. (2010). The Impact of Brain Based Learning on Students Academic Achievement. Interdisciplinary Journal of Contemporary Research In Business, 2 (2). 542-556. Jensen, E. (2005). Teaching with the Brain in Mind. Alexandria, VA. Association for Supervision & Curriculum Development.Johnson D, Johnson R. (1991). Learning Together and Alone ed3. ;Allyn & Bacon, Sydney. Novak, J. (1998). Learning, Creating and Using Knowledge: Concept Maps as Facilitative Tools in Schools and Corporations; Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc; New Jersey, pp 24-25. Radwan, M. (2012). Learn How To Use Both Side s of Your Brain (the Left and Right Hemisphere. Retrieved from: http://www. 2knowmyself. com/The_brain/learn_how_ use_both_sides_of_your_brain_left_right. Templeton, M. (2012). Learning Styles. Retrieved from: http://frank. mtsu. edu/~studskl/hd/ learn. html.

The Story of Tom Brennan Quotes

Story of Tom Brennan quotes: 19 -â€Å"Sudden death, sudden death fellas. † 26 –â€Å"that was the thing I couldn’t get my head around – there would be a tomorrow, and a day after that, and a day after that. The world went on regardless of how I felt. † 71 –â€Å"All we could do was stand around†¦ Watching Finn and a machine that heaved and clicked with each breath it took for him. † 101- â€Å"I changed my clothes cause Finn’s blood was on my jeans and jumper, but I can still smell him on my skin, especially my hands though I was washed them a hundred times. 116 –â€Å"That’s all right, she whispered. How about you saying grace tonight? † 120 –â€Å"And if you’d asked me then what I thought, I would’ve said nothing or no one could take that away from us. † 124 –â€Å"like I said, that was a low point. † 128 –â€Å"Being a team player, you should have k nown better. † 132 –â€Å"Give him my love. She whispered. Tell him I’m always thinking of him. † 134 –â€Å"Didn’t they realise we weren’t like everyone else here? † 139 –â€Å"Tom, he swallowed. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry you had to leave the Billi. I’m so, so sorry. † 148 –â€Å"You could be Finn. 152 –â€Å"Talking about a waste. † 154 –â€Å"Fair? Kath yelled. Fair! † 157 –â€Å"One small step for man. One giant leap for mankind. Cause today, for my family, that’s what it was like. † 167 –â€Å"You know, today I’m going to the Hill Deli to buy one of their home-made lasagnes. I hear they’re delicious. † 183 –â€Å"When I walked into the school gates†¦ no one turned to look at us. No one pointed, no one whispered behind their hands. † 185 –â€Å"I felt lighter. I no longer had the bu rden of carrying a secret. And the consequences – well there was none. 185 –â€Å"At least she liked watching the footy show. We’d have a good laugh over that. Sometimes she wasn’t too bad. † 210 –â€Å"†I know it hurts Tom†¦ but we can’t undo what’s done. Bennie’s is giving you a chance and, as pathetic as it may seem to you, it’s still a chance. † 217 –â€Å"We’d reached the top of the ascent. I’d made it up without even realising. † 260 –â€Å"Blue upon blue which was what our families had become – sad, angry, guilt ridden, confused, lost. Blue or for some of us black. † 283 –â€Å"That was the morning Tom Brennan came back forever. †

Diffusion across a Selectively Permeable membrane Essay

Introduction: Diffusion is movement of molecules from one area of concentration to another. This process is vital for the life functions of cells. Cells have selectively permeable membranes that allow only certain solutions to pass through them. Osmosis is a special kind of diffusion that allows water to go through semi-permeable membranes of high water potential to a region of lower water potential. Water potential measures the tendency of water to leave one place and into another. Diffusion and osmosis is responsible for the movement of molecules in and out of cells. Diffusion and osmosis can be shown using dialysis tubing which is a membrane that is made of regenerated cellulose fibers into a flat tube. When solutions that contain dissolved substances, are separated by a membrane like the dialysis tubing, some may readily pass through it and others may not due to the size of the molecules. Hypothesis: Diffusion and osmosis will occur once dynamic equilibrium is reached. If a substance contains molecules small enough to pass through a selectively permeable membrane then they will readily pass through it without the solution or substance, which is inside the membrane, getting out. Materials: String Starch Solution I2KI Solution Plastic cup Disposable transfer pipettes Strips of dialysis tubing soaked in water Timer Scale Method: First you will have your dialysis tubing soaked in water ready for the experiment. Once the dialysis tubing in being soaked, wash your hands to get rid of any oils or dirt that may be on them. Remove the tubing from the water and tie off one end. Open the other end using two fingers in a rubbing motion so that the tubing will separate and open. Use a disposable pipette to fill the tubing with starch solution. Once the tubing is filled leave a bit of space so that expansion may occur and tie off the end and place the tubing on the scale to see how much it weighs. Fill the cup with distilled water and add I2KI solution to the water. Place the tubing inside the cup for 30 minutes and record any color change. Record the color change of the bag every 5 minutes until 30 minutes have passed. Take the tubing out of the water solution and place on the scale and record any weight change. Data: Solution sourceOriginal ContentsOriginal colorOriginal Weight5 min color15 min color25 min color30 min colorFinal weightFinal Contents BagWater 1% starchWhite/ milky10gWhite slightly blueMilky inside darker blue Darker blue some white visibleDarker blue no white visible11gWater 1% starch + iodine BeakerWater, I2KIAmber yellowN/AAmber YellowAmber YellowAmber YellowAmber YellowN/AWater and iodine Results: The results show that the water, glucose, and I2KI molecules were small enough to pass through the selectively permeable membrane which was the dialysis tubing. I would expect for the color change to occur in the cup instead of inside of the tubing if we had started with the starch in the cup and the I2KI inside the tubing, because the iodine would instead of going into the bag, would leave through the bag and into the starch inside the cup. Discussion and conclusion: The data shows what molecules can and cannot diffuse across a selectively permeable membrane. The color change that occurred showed that the I2KI molecules were small enough to pass through the pores of the membrane or dialysis tubing. This data also shows that the water and glucose solution moved out of the dialysis bag because water molecules are small enough to pass through the membrane. No mistakes were made in this experiment but many could have occurred. If the tubing was not tied correctly a leak could have occurred and the experiment would have failed and been inaccurate. References: â€Å"Diffusion and Osmosis.† Diffusion. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Mar. 2014 â€Å"Diffusion.† And Osmosis. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Mar. 2014. â€Å"Osmosis.† Osmosis. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Mar. 2014.

Escape from the Western Diet Essay

In Michael Pollan’s essay â€Å"Escape from the Western Diet,† he informs Americans about the western diet and believes they need to escape from it. The reason Americans should escape the western diet is to avoid the harmful effects associated with it such as â€Å"western diseases† (Pollan, 434). To support his view on the issue, Pollan describes factors of the western diet that dictate what Americans believe they should eat. These factors include scientists with their theories of nutritionism, the food industry supporting the theories by making products, and the health industry making medication to support those same theories. Overall, Pollan feels that in order to escape this diet, people need to get the idea of it out of their heads. In turn he provides his own rules for escaping the western diet as well as the idea of nutritionism set forth by scientists. Pollan explains that scientific theories of nutritionism focus on individual nutrients rather than foods as a whole (Pollan, 434). He further goes on to refute this claim mentioning that these scientific theories contradict with one another. Pollan explains â€Å"the scientists who blame our health problems on deficiencies of [micronutrients] are not the same scientists who see a sugar soaked diet leading to metabolic syndrome and from there to diabetes, heart disease†¦Ã¢â‚¬ (Pollan, 435). On one hand there are scientists who blame health problems on a lack of nutrients, and on the other hand there are scientists who blame those health problems on a sugar soaked diet. By stating these theories, Pollan tries to get his point across that they all have the same thing in common; these theories are mere explanations to western diseases. In Pollan’s view, â€Å"scientists can argue all they want about the mechanisms behind this phenomenon, but whichever it is, the solution w ould appear to remain very much the same: Stop eating a Western diet† (Pollan, 435). In other words, no matter what reason scientists have for the causes of western diseases, the common factor among them is the western diet, and that should be the basis for solution. In addition to bringing to light these contradicting scientific theories, Pollan goes further to include how these theories benefit the food industry as well as the health industry. Pollan observes â€Å"for the medical community too scientific theories about diet nourish business†¦ new theories beget new  drugs†¦ and new diets organized around each new theory’s elevation of one class of nutrient and demotion of another† (Pollan, 436). Basically, Pollan is informing that the health industry wants to profit off the theories declared by making drugs in regards to the nutrients cut down on. Similarly, Pollan notes the food industry comes out with a new line of products to match with the new theories made for the western diet. He reminds the reader to escape the western diet even though it will be hard because these industries only seek to profit rather than change the way people eat for the better (Pollan, 436). To address what distinguishes the food of a western diet, Pollan compares whole foods and processed foods. He quotes Gyorgy Scrinis and concludes to himself â€Å"instead of worrying about nutrients, we should simply avoid any food that has been processed to such an extent that it is more the product of industry than nature (Pollan, 438). Pollan agrees with Scrinis for avoiding processed foods, but he complicates it by mentioning that all whole foods are taken over by industrial processes. Again Pollan reminds the reader that escaping the western diet will not be simple, yet he convinced it is possible and he offers his developed solutions for it (Pollan, 438). Pollan encourages Americans â€Å"eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants† (Pollan, 440). His three rules emphasize eating food that is in fact real food, eating in a manner that presents a positive culture, and eating plants which Pollan considers the best types of food a person can eat. As Pollan argues against the scientific theories of nutritionism, he exposes what he considers their contradictions as well as the cycle of new theories creating new products creating new medicine. He informs the reader that these theories exist for these companies to make a profit rather than change the way people eat for the better (Pollan, 436). So again, Pollan reminds the reader to escape the western diet because it is the cause of western diseases. He offers his solutions on how to eat a better, more traditional diet.

Meeting Stakeholder and Quality needs Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Meeting Stakeholder and Quality needs - Essay Example (Ashley & Amir, 2010) Intermediary stakeholders are not directly related to the organization but may have an interest in the organization. E.g. - government. The list of stakeholders of any company are- The stakeholders have many expectations and it can be categorized as satisfied, exceeded, created or eliminated. The success of the organization depends if the expectations are met or not met. The expectations of the stakeholders can be overlapping and there are various operational and management goals are designed to satisfy the different stakeholder expectations. The expectations of the customers will be to get the better quality service and low costs and the expectations of the management and the company is to improve the return on investment, increase profit margins and control operational expenses. (Kumar, 1998) There are different ways of achieving the stakeholder expectations. Defining standards for input, process and outcomes are very essential for meeting the requirements. The standards laid by the organization must be realistic, reliable, valid, clear and easily measurable. Firstly, the organization needs to analyze the stakeholders and understand their interest and impact in the organization. The organization then needs to develop a strategy that provides guidance to communicate and interact with the key stakeholders. The strategy developed need to be implemented across the organization to achieve the desired results. The stakeholder strategy should incorporate the following elements-   These results have to be periodically checked and monitored to access the results. This helps the organization to evaluate where they stand and what are the additional strategies that need to be adapted in order to improve the results with the organizations stakeholder.  (Lauri, 2009) It is very essential for the organization to organize regular meetings with the key stakeholders and involve them in every meeting. Review process should be initiated and approval of

Ominivore's Dilemma Book Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Ominivore's Dilemma Book - Essay Example im that it is actually the combination of obesity and myriad other health problems which accompany obesity like hypertension, fatigue, and decreased physical activity, which lead to the development of full blown cardiovascular complications. In response to the alarming rate by which morbid and moderate obesity is seen increasing in surgery patients, research was carried out recently by Park et al. (2011) to assess the impact of obesity on specific perioperative outcomes like myocardial infarctions and long-term outcomes like renal dysfunction. The theme of this research is that though obesity plays a major role in independently raising risk factor for diseases like coronary artery disease (CAD), secondary hypertension, and diabetes mellitus, still it should not be thought of as an independent risk factor for adverse perioperative and long-term clinical results following surgeries like aneurysm repair. Many conventional thinking based articles and talkshow hosts blame obesity to be independently related to not just some specific diseases but almost all major clinical complications. Though this leads people to adopt precautionary measures against obesity, but such an action comes at cost of development of a great confusio n in society. People have a right to know that obesity does not play the role of an independent risk factor for every disease every time. Diaz et al. (2009) also claim that morbid obesity never turns up as an independent risk factor for mortality in seriously ill trauma patients. The research conducted by Diaz et al. (2009) on trauma patients was to assess all the risk factors which posed highest risk for death. Among all such risk factors, obesity got out ruled for independently being capable enough to cause death in trauma patients. Whether obesity be seen as a primary cause of a disease or simply as an aggravating factor, fact is that even cardiovascular diseases develop due to certain excess morbidity associated with obesity like lack of

Comparing Teacher Standards Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Comparing Teacher Standards - Essay Example Accesses students thinking and experiences as a basis for instructional activities by, for example, encouraging discussion, listening and responding to group interaction, and eliciting samples of student thinking orally and in writing. obtained advanced certification defined as a professional or permanent certificate, and if assigned to middle and secondary grades the teacher has completed at least 30 semester hours distributed across academic subject matter knowledge, teaching skills, and state academic content standards related to the teaching assignment; OR achieved 100 points on the Ohio Highly Qualified Teacher Rubric (The rubric credits a combination of teaching experience, coursework, professional development, professional activities, and awards. This rubric is still under development); OR Assesses individual and group performance in order to design instruction that meets learners current needs in each domain (cognitive, social, emotional, moral, and physical) and that leads to the next level of development. Understands and can identify differences in approaches to learning and performance, including different learning styles, multiple intelligences, and performance modes, and can design instruction that helps use students strengths as the basis for growth. Values on-going assessment as essential to the instructional process and recognizes that many different assessment strategies, accurately and systematically used, are necessary for monitoring and promoting student learning. Appropriately uses a variety of formal and informal assessment techniques (e.g. observation, portfolios of student work, teacher-made tests, performance tasks, projects, student self-assessments, peer assessment, and standardized tests) to enhance his or her knowledge of learners, evaluate students progress and performances, and modify teaching and learning strategies. 1. Have an individual professional development plan approved by the local

Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 3

Assignment Example The payoff for SS will be .1 and .03, if it chooses to reduce the price in conjunction with two different strategies by SIA. Ans 3) Yes there exists Nash equilibrium (Non-cooperative equilibrium) as the firms will not cooperate or collude as there can be no legally binding contract among them to keep the prices same and in absence of which each firm would fear that even if keeping price normal offers highest pay out overall and higher than what they would get in case they don’t cooperate, the other firm may cut the price an take the market share away from the firm keeping price normal. Thus both firm fearing this would play safe and reduce the price. The combination of these two price cutting strategy by both the firm will entail a Nash equilibrium which is represented in cell D. Ans 4) No they are not likely to achieve their best outcome which would have been in cell C and B for SIA and SS respectively. In fact they would have been happier in cell A also but the irony is, fearing that they might be suckered by their competitor, they will avoid reaching such outcome and settle for the one that offers them utmost safety and not payoff. Ans 5) Repeated games can be classified in two categories finitely repeated and infinitely repeated. In the former case the number of games is fixed and each player is aware of such number, while in the latter the number of such repetition is not known. In repeated games the firms may achieve cooperative equilibrium as each firm can punish the other one for suckering it in the next game and thus â€Å"Tit for tat† plays out which leads to cooperation in repeated games. Each firm over a period builds a reputation and they start trusting each other. But in case of finite games the theoretical understanding says they will not cooperate as in the last game both would like to defect and since in the last game no cooperation is expected in the second last game both would also like to defect and working backwards in

Diane Arbus, Photography of the Everyday or Pictures for the Freak Literature review

Diane Arbus, Photography of the Everyday or Pictures for the Freak Show - Literature review Example What is far more difficult to grasp from the work included in "The Dawn f Photography" is that the very frankness f photography can also inspire a whole other kind f artistic posturing. For if directness is photography's glory, it is also liable to be manipulated, used as a sort f all-purpose rhetorical device, until frankness itself becomes a form f obfuscation or artiness--which is a fair description, I think, f the work f Diane Arbus. Arbus, who committed suicide in 1971 at the age f forty-eight, is widely admired as a truth-teller, and if the initial reactions to the new book, Diane Arbus: Revelations, are any indication, the woman and her work are exerting as strong an attraction today as they did at the time f the posthumous retrospective at the Museum f Modern Art in 1972. Arbus's warts-and-all photographs, which are at once exposes and benedictions, create just the right kind f psychological havoc for a public that is all too willing to believe that any image that disturbs your equanimity is emotionally authentic, and that the greatest works fart are the ones that leave you wondering if you are yourself emotionally authentic. The public all too easily confuses hyperbole with honesty, and Arbus, who is intent on telling us how awful everything is, is a master f the highfalutin creep-out. In a series f photographs folder women on the streets f New York, Arbus seems to suggest that these ladies, who quite clearly take considerable pride in looking their best, are in fact ghouls; she gives such a sharp-eyed attention to their elaborately made-up faces and carefully arranged clothes that they begin to resemble the transvestites in whom Arbus also took an interest. The very eagerness with which Arbus's ladies out for an afternoon pose for the camera becomes a measure f their self-delusion. What's missing is the delicacy that Brassai (whose work Arbus admired) brought to his famous photograph f an old whore, swathed in cheap jewelry, seated in a caf. Brass reminds us that, for all her haggard theatricality, this wreck f a woman is still the proud possessor f a pair f beautiful, velvety eyes. Arbus uses the fixity f the image to deny people their freedom--and in so doing she also denies them their self-esteem. She undermines the young as well as the old, the pretty as well as the ugly. Often photographed front and center, in a dull symmetry, even her most sexually intriguing subjects seem wilted, marooned. Nobody ever looks their best, which is meant as some sort f revelation.

The role of cell phone usage in the dialectic of autonomy vs Research Paper

The role of cell phone usage in the dialectic of autonomy vs connection within young adult romantic relationships - Research Paper Example Does a relationship exist between cell phone application and perceptions of the dialectical autonomy pressure versus connection among romantic relationships in young people? â€Å"What sources of autonomy-connection conflict pertain to cell phone use within romantic relationships do individuals report?† Does a difference on sources of phone-based conflicts exist between individuals who experience â€Å"high versus low levels of autonomy-connection dialectical tension†? Which strategies to the target population use to resolve autonomy-connection conflicts that relates to cell phone application? (Duran, Kelly and Rotaru, 2011, p. 23). The researchers do not offer research hypotheses but these can be inferred from the research questions. The authors explain their expected findings on the research questions from the literature review that established existing knowledge in the subject of study and the aim of expanding the existing knowledge and this means that the study†™s findings are supposed to be consistent with the already developed knowledge regarding the research questions. The authors relied on previously developed information and not specific theories (Duran, Kelly and Rotaru, 2011). Analysis of the methods section The researchers’ description of participants’ selection strategy identifies a stratified sampling approach, a techniques that classifies participants into categories with identifiable features before sampling from each category. Stratified sampling is recognized for generating representative samples. The categories, used by the researchers, are upper division courses and lower division courses. Two hundred and ten participants were used in the study, 145 of whom were women while 45 were men and the participants had an average age of... The role of cell phone usage in the dialectic of autonomy vs connection within young adult romantic relationships The statement of purpose is therefore clear and is expressly stated. The author’s offers many justifications for undertaking the study and one of the justifications is existence of information gap on the subtopic that remains unexplored within the wider topic of mobile phones usability. Background information into the study that identifies increasing trend in phone ownership among teenagers, previous studies on rates of phone applications and the role of phone in social initiatives, among friends, and within social networks with little focus on the role of phone usage in dialectic autonomy versus connection among adults is one of the offered reasons for the study. The need to obtain solutions for developed questions from the study’s background information is another justification that the authors offer for the study. The questions relate to partners’ perception of the role of mobile phones on â€Å"autonomy-connection dialectic† and potential conflict amon g partners regarding cell phone usage. The researchers’ description of participants’ selection strategy identifies a stratified sampling approach, a techniques that classifies participants into categories with identifiable features before sampling from each category. Stratified sampling is recognized for generating representative samples. The categories, used by the researchers, are upper division courses and lower division courses. Two hundred and ten participants were used in the study, 145 of whom were women while 45 were men and the participants had an average age of 20.62.

Reading Journals Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Reading Journals - Essay Example In addition to that one magazine called To The Bride, about a hundred another different texts written in the postwar period are analyzed by Neuhaus in order to develop an understanding of the ideology behind female gender norms popular in those years. It dawned on the author that most of those texts targeted newly wed women thus getting them familiar with the path men wished the women to follow for the rest of their lives and which stretched from their kitchens to catering to their husband’s needs. The article interestingly reveals how marital concepts during the 1950s set in contrast with the present ideologies by identifying that a woman was only eligible to get married if she knew how to make the best steak or pie for her husband to be. In this way the author aims to convey to the public how stereotypical gender roles were promoted during the 1950s through cookbooks that young girls were encouraged and even pushed to act out. One question regarding this article that I would like to be discussed in the class is about how women’s dependence on men in the 1950s could be demonstrated by the fact that men claimed themselves as meat consumers and women as meal

Academic Honesty Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Academic Honesty - Assignment Example Other academic misconduct includes tampering with the already filed educational reports or data (Ariely 33). God discriminates dishonesty. Moses discourages people from having different weights in the same bag namely a considerable weight and a small one. In the book of Proverbs, the Lord abominates a false balance and is proud of right weight (New International Version, Deut, 25:13). The Bible discourages people from lying. Proverbs 21:6 states that when one acquires treasures by a lying tongue, is like a fleeting vapor. This is a pursuit of death. Being successful through dishonesty is also condemned. Anyone building a house not in righteousness using his neighbors without paying them, shall be punished (New International Version, Jeremiah 22:13). God expects us to be honest. The Bibles talks of people deserving honesty from the heart. One is to utter truthfully and sincerely. This is the wisdom that everyone is supposed to ask from God (New International Version, Psalms 51:6). The Bible teaches us that being dishonest by telling lies about someone is so harmful. Biblically, it compares to hitting someone with an ax, or wounding the person with a sword or even shooting him/her with a sharp arrow. In business dealing, God does not approve of dishonesty. The Load is unpleased with dishonest scales and differing weights (New International Version, Prov 20:23) The Bible encourages honesty at all times. I Thessalonians 2:3 tells us that the preachers were preaching not by telling lies or falls motives but were very sincere and straight forward. II Corinthians 8:21 also talks about the fact that they were taking pain in doing right in both the eyes of God and man (New International Version, II Cor 8:21). God involves honesty in two of the commandments. These are on the commandment that prohibits us from stealing and the one that tells us not to give testimonies, which are not true against our neighbors (New International Version, Exodus

Motivational Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Motivational Management - Essay Example The researcher states that the most important things learned from the paper is the power of a good management practice. Utilizing a proper management program a business or organization is more likely to achieve its goals as opposed to not using. If am placed in a position of a future manager, the skills the author has acquired in the class will help him out in leading the company or business he will be running towards its success. The management theories of motivation are as follows: Content theory focuses on human needs and the motivating factor towards a particular achievement. Human needs do change with every achievement one makes. This comes from the need to be satisfied in life. Content theory looks at the motivating factors while process theory focuses on how the processes of motivation itself operates and maintain itself over a long period, not forgetting the factors that affect the amount of effort put into the act and the extension of the effort. Human beings doing various t hings due to different reasons as the theories have highlighted. Reward theory is not so different; it shows that an individual will be motivated towards doing or performing a particular action to get a specified reward at the completion of such an action.

Comparing Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Essay

Comparing Malcolm X and Martin Luther King - Essay Example Martin Luther King Jr. was follower of the Christian faith. Struggle of Martin Luther Jr. for the right of for his fellow African-American was always non-violent and peaceful throughout his entire movement. He always remained firm on his ground, even he have been physically attacked he never leapt out of his destiny, and never reacted with violence. Malcolm X was a believer of Muslim faith, and strongly believed on Muslim principles. His most renowned quote was â€Å"By any means necessary† (Otis 143-144). He believed in violence against violence. His theory was to get freedom; he was all for it by any way violent or nonviolent way. Although his stance changes later in his life, when he met other Muslims in his visited to Jerusalem. At that moment he changed his thoughts, and became nonviolent. In the start of his preaching, Malcolm X never wanted black and white integration. He grew up minding to the words of his father. Father of Malcolm X was a follower of Marcus Garvey (on e of the most influential and earliest black-nationalist minds was founder of the â€Å"Back to Africa† social movement). In 1946, he was convicted of robbery and sent to prison. During his prison he studied â€Å"Nation of Islam†, Muslim sect founded by Elijah Muhammed. After his release from prison, he joined daily activities of the NoI with dedication. The NoI appealed to warm and young blood of Malcolm, as it was griped with the prosperity of black culture and history, and completely rejecting values and norms of white society. In contrast to Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr. was non-violent and peace loving person. He was in favor of peace and integration between black and white races. Martin was influenced by the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi. He studied Gandhi's non-violent strategies and found how, to change hearts through love of one’s enemies and sacrifice. Leader and his followers can convert a society externally by diplomacy. His one of the famous civi l rights move was the â€Å"March on Washington†, which framed the different views of Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X. This event took place on August 28, 1963. Around 20,000 or more people including whites participated in the march from Washington Monument to the Lincoln memorial in Washington D.C. This march turned out to be one of King’s greatest achievements throughout his life. This event was where he was crowned for the face of the civil rights movement. King never acted out even in the time of violence. Martin wanted all the races should get united to put halt on hatred and violence. Thoughts of Malcolm X were different regarding the march. According to him integration would destroy the movements of African-American for their social rights. He thought that American blacks should be more worried with helping each other and blacks should start this by giving self respect to the same race first. He was not agreed with what King Jr. had to say, in his view drea m of King was not a dream but a nightmare. MLK’s struggle to civil rights and equality was non-violent, preaching out for non-violence, nonviolent resistance, and all this with what he named as a, â€Å"weapons of love† (King, Carson and Carson  135-136). On the other hand, Malcolm X’s approaches for civil rights and equality were different. He does not trust whites, willingly used any means necessary to get social and equal rights. He believed segregation until he went to Makkah.

Drug Addiction Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Drug Addiction - Essay Example They crave for the drug so much that they can do anything they could to get a dose for them to relax. For those who are addicted they will continue taking the drugs even after realizing the harm it has on their body. (Amusable, 2008) The risk factors of drug addiction are common as for the other condition. Risk factors include family history of addiction where it is usually common on the families that had prior addiction before the current case. In addition, addiction of drug is dominant in males than female according to statistics. Stats show that the addiction in male is two folds compared with their counterparts. Peer pressure is also a contributing factor. This according to stats is seen mostly in the young people trying to fit in their social stratum. After the first introduction into drug abuse, the body develops a tolerance with time and eventually dependence. Drug addiction is a physiological process on its own. It is a physiologic process, because, it does not just happen at once but develops slowly and in sequential stages. Dopamine is the main hormone that is involved physiologically in the process of drug addiction. Drugs such as cocaine, morphine, and alcohol alter the pathway of dopamine. The first dose taken by an individual has no big effect. Additional drug abuse cause tolerance effect and soon the level of dopamine increase and consequently cause a feeling of being happy. Continuous administration of drugs also has a sensitization effect on the extracellular cells. So when an individual has reduced, or the dose reduce in the blood also the happiness causing hormone, dopamine, also goes down and the craving also start to go back to normal. The drugs taken tend to increase dopamine and when withdrawn the level of this dopamine dwindle and the cycle repeat itself. This cycle is what is known as drug addiction (Hanson, 2005). Will power to withdraw from drugs is most a time futile. The physiologic development of regulation effect

Organizational culture Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Organizational culture - Assignment Example rtaken in this  process  include lectures, video materials, prints, formal meetings, or orientations to introduce new employees to their  respective  work  and firms, based on the computer.  According to research by Schein (2010), socialization methods project towards positive outcomes for the recently employed workers such as  superb  job  performance,  superior  organizational commitment, greater job satisfaction and  tremendous  reduction in stress levels.  These results are  vital  to a  firm  that looks to  retain  its competitive  advantage  in ever increasing  portable  and globalized personnel. Fast growing organizations like AIT Laboratories employ strategies of conducting  excellent  onboarding. These companies  base  on four  critical  factors of  culture  as well as  leadership. These factors include Mission, Consistency, Involvement and Adaptability. Corporate culture is a  mixture  of the values, symb ols, rituals, beliefs, taboos and myths that  develop  overtime in all companies.  The video corporate culture shows how cultures of different organizations develop overtime.  It also shows how these cultures carefully implement and  nurture  its values. With the new Vice President, the situation will lead to a raise in the productivity of the  firm  because only the best  get  picked. There is a high probability of the chosen employee being creative and  inventive  because the recruiting  system  focusses on those issues. If I were the Vice President, I would  communicate  in person through giving a speech to the employees after a team building  day  that I would have

Understanding financial statements Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Understanding financial statements - Case Study Example The main rationale of this report is to examine the financial position and performance of Sandell and to suggest Parveen whether she should accept the position of sales director. The financial statement of the company focuses on the various areas of the financial performances. Comprehending financial statement is necessary for the achievement of goals of a company. The main aim of this report is to evaluate the financial performance of the Sandell Plc. The report has focused on the key features and purpose of Sandell Plc. It also led emphasis on the importance of clean audit reports and good corporate governance. An analysis of the ratios indicates that the liquidity position of the company is not good and the solvency ratios have also increased which will have a negative impact on the company. Further, the operating cash cycle has decreased as compared to previous year which signifies that Sandell will require more time to acquire its cash. Sandell Plc is listed on the United Kingdom’s AIM (Alternative Investment Market). It is one of the building merchant which supplies ironmongery, landscaping materials, heating and plumbing, timber, decorating and painting, sheet materials, insulation and dry lining, door and carpentry, and power and hand tools. The expansion which is desired by Sandell has not yet took place and therefore the company offered Parveen an incredibly generous compensation package in order to apply a new strategy of sales to support the expansion of Sandell into new markets of Western Europe. So, the main purpose of Sandell Plc is to hire a sales director to focus on the areas which are not contributing to sales and then they will take necessary steps accordingly to augment sales and growth of the company. The total assets of the company incorporate the current and non-current assets. Current assets have increased in relation to previous year and the non-current assets are

CASE STUDY PHASE 3 - FINAL PHASE Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

PHASE 3 - FINAL PHASE - Case Study Example Risk mitigation strategies are divided into four: Risk Acceptance, Risk Avoidance, Risk Limitation and Risk Transference. This is a kind of strategy where the owner of the Apple decides to accept that they are working under some risks and decided to live with it without doing anything. Accepting risks will not see to it that the negative impacts associated with the risks are reduced or eliminated completely. Risk acceptance strategy is usually a common option of choice when the calculated cost avoidance and/ or limitation as other strategies are deemed to be more than the cost of risk. Risks that don’t tend to happen frequently are always preferred to be accepted rather than being reduced or eliminated (Mark, Galai, & Clouhy, 2005). Apples outsourcing operation can therefore be only accepted since the cost of manufacturing these parts by itself, is much more expensive than the risk that accompanies it. The risks that are associated with the disruption of the other companies that Apple deals with also have a low likelihood of occurring. This is a strategy that sees to it that risk exposure is avoided at all costs. It is opposite to risk acceptance. In terms of cost of implementation, it is expensive than all the other three strategies of risk mitigation (Mark, Galai, & Clouhy, 2005). For the Apple scenario, an example can be Apple decides to manufacture its products so as to see to it that their fate does not rely on the functionality of other companies. This will be expensive in nature since it will mean that Apple will have to expand its size and bring more specialists in. Using this strategy will mean that Apple stops outsourcing for services and therefore come up with its own human capital which will be more expensive. The budget of apple will therefore shoot sky high but the risks related to reliance on other companies will have been avoided. Most businesses prefer the risk limitation strategy compared to other strategies

Contrast Japanese Families with US Essay Example for Free

Contrast Japanese Families with US Essay Japanese and U. S. families have many dissimilarity one of this the family concerns, role of the family towards raising and education and wedding ceremony practiced in Japan and American people. These can be read in the next paragraph. Family Concern The Japanese family is concern with their children and their aging grandparents. Greenfield Cocking, (1994) point out the practice of â€Å"collectivism† as also reveal by Naito Gielen, this volume. The children obey their parents and they are dependent on their parents. The children must not only obey the parents and grandparents, but must observe among themselves the domestic law of seniority: thus the younger brother should obey the elder brother, and the younger sister the elder sister. At the same time, Japanese parents have a strong expectation that the oldest son will take care of them when they get old. (Kagitcibasi, 1996) This is why the Japanese parents don’t encourage children to be independent as much as American parents do. The grand parents share their experiences and wisdom with grandchildren and provide unconditioned love. In return the children respected, and appreciated learning from them. While the U. S. families the individualism is develop. (Naito Gielen, p. 10) Children are encouraged to be independent and individual. During teenage years, children tend to emphasize â€Å"self† too much, and ignore â€Å"others† as emphasized by Naito and Gielen. American teenagers’ rebel against rules to gain freedom is independent and individual to them. The author further added that the parents need to fight through against â€Å"freedom without rules and responsibilities† that children insist on holding â€Å"Individual right protected under the Law†. (American Family Tradition 2006). The children allowed going to the party alone although the parent sets the time but they cannot force their children’s to go home early. The early freedom they give from their children’s is a preparation for their being responsible. Roles in the family In Japanese raising children, supervising their educations, do some household chores and other home accounting are a sole responsibility of the mothers’. The father will provide a monthly income needed for the family. They have their grandparents living with them. The grandparents still support the married children. In contrast the American families raise their children with a shared responsibility of a mother and father. Both parents participate in their children’s school activities when they need their presence. The household works are shared by both parents. Fathers often take the financial matters however the mothers also shared some depending on their agreement. Wedding Ceremony Excerpted in the Mothra Online Organization in Japan â€Å"The Japanese wedding ceremony they called it Shinto wedding and is performed before a Shinto sanctuary, set up for the occasion unless the wedding takes place in a Shinto shrine. It is preside by a Shinto priest who first holds the purification service of all present. After a ritual by the priest, reporting to olds on the marriage and requesting their lasting favors on the newly-weds it is now customary for the bridegroom to read an oath to keep faithful and obedient to each other in the married life. The oath may be given by the go-between in behalf of the new couple. The San-San-Kudo or ceremony of the Three-Times-Three Exchange of nuptial cups is then performed by the bridegroom and bride. The bridegroom and bride proceed to the sanctuary to offer twigs of Sakaki sacred tree in worship to gods to end the main part of the wedding ceremony. Drinks of Sake are then exchanged between members and close relatives of the both families to signify their union through the wedding†. According to Shizuko Mishima, Non-family members dont usually attend the marriage ceremony itself; rather they go to the wedding reception, called Kekkon Hiroen in Japanese. This very different in American wedding, the Wedding Ceremony is most often performed as part of a religious ceremony each with its own specific customs and traditions. On the day of the wedding the Groom does not see the Bride until the actual ceremony. As Custom would have it from Victorian Times: the Bride wears Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue, and a Sixpence in her shoe. Finally, a ring is exchanged to mark the permanent commitment of the new spouses to each other. (American Family Tradition 2006). It was perform by a priest or a pastor depending on the religious belief agreed by the groom and bride. Conclusion As read and figured by the different author that there are lots of differences that American and Japanese exhibit. They have different upbringing when it comes to children for the Japanese practice collectivism still supporting the children even if they have graduated college. With the contrasting American, that practice individualism preparing their children for early independence. All the disciplines on how to deal different family practices are sacrifice on the part of the parents. But the culture has great influence on all this issue.

Fitness Market Analysis Essay Example for Free

Fitness Market Analysis Essay Industry/market Industry: How many fitness centers? What’s their revenues? Profit margins? Is it growing? Concentrated or not? Market: PMB, attendance, consumer spending, Statistics Canada (average spending) General Trends: Growing? Health trends? Key Competitors: other popular gyms in the area (Nautilus, Progym, energy cardio) The Fitness Market The fitness market is very large and keeps growing. This market is targeted at anyone who wants to be in shape and is looking to live a healthier lifestyle. In 2009, consumers spent on average 186$ on fitness facilities and the median expenditure per household was 390$. We notice a positive trend of fitness center attendance during the past 10 years. Since 2003, there has been an increase in participating in a physical activity throughout the population of Quebec. Even though this change is small, it is a good indicator that people are looking to workout more. If we notice other health behaviours in Quebec we will notice the same positive trend of wanting to live a healthy lifestyle. There has been a drop in the smoker population: dropping from 26.4% in 2003 to 23.8% in 2010. People are also consuming more fruits and vegetables (5 times a day) an increase from 45.4% to 51.1% (2003-2010). Even the population’s life expectancy increased by 2 years to 81 from 2003 to 2008. All these statistics give us a good understand of our population’s health behaviours allowing to conclude that that the fitness center market has a high potential for profit because people are looking to stay fit and live healthier and longer.

Cookridge Ltd Essay Example for Free

Cookridge Ltd Essay Inkwell is a Public limited company and was established in 2003, seven years ago by two of its three controlling shareholders, Paul Farnon and Victoria Dawson. Two years ago Anil Gupta bought into the company and joined the board as Finance Director. The company has its head office and warehouse on the industrial estate in Birmingham, where the management team and account department resides, including a large central warehouse. 4.2 The business was set up to offer a part exchange facility online accessible 24 hours a day or physically bring them into one of the 60 shops, and supplies a complete range of re-manufactured inkjet and toner cartridges through nationwide high street shops. Its main competitors are suppliers in the cartridge supplier sector in UK. Its main internal stakeholders are its Board of Directors, being the investors and manager of the organization. Employees, they are the workers of the organization in various departments to run its operations in return for a salary. Its external stakeholders are its: Supplier’s, these are the people that provide the supplies of re-manufactured inkjet and laser toner cartridge after it has been refilled. Customers that pay on cash, order online, or buy at one of the nationwide network of shops. These customers account for 80% of Inkwell Limited revenue. Government of UK, they are interested in the performance of the business in order to be able to collect the taxes on the profit levels. 4.4 The shareholders are still heavily involved in the day to day operations with Paul Fernon as Managing Director with 40% shares with the largest share, Victoria Dawson as Sales Director with 30% shares and Anil Gupta as Finance Director with 30% shares. A qualified Accountant Alex Fox has been employed as the first member of the accountant team that reports to Michael O’Payne but have direct access to the Finance Director as well. 4.5 Inkwell Limited is organized into departments and has an equivalent of 180 employees including  the accounting de partment – see Appendix on page for a structured chart. Analysis and evaluating the system Structure and Function 5.1 The Company Accountant is Michael O’Payne who’s responsible for the running of the accounting department. The first member of the accounts team is Alex Fox with other 5 full time staff. 5.2 The computerized system in the head office is an integrated system which is linked between the different accounting functions. While in other 60 shops they are on a stand-alone basis and data and information are stored separately. 5.3 The different section of the department, its staff and responsibilities: General Ledger and Inventory- Michelle Labelle account clerk. Responsible for entering relevant data into the general ledger, keep financial control over companies inventories. Purchase ledger- Liana Khan accounts clerk. Responsible for liaising with suppliers and other associated transactions. Sales ledger- Greg Morris accounts clerk. Responsible for dealing with customers and other associated transactions. Costing- Alan Cook costing technician. Responsible for dealing with in put costs and other associated transactions. Payroll- Sharon Ward, BA (Hons) is a personnel database and wage clerk. Responsible for preparing monthly salaries and wages for all the employees and all associated transactions and second is to maintain the personnel database. 5.4 The accounting functions in details are: Processing and recording of the financial transactions of the credit customers and credit suppliers of the different sections in the accounts department. Preparation of management information’s on credit sales, credit purchases, costing and payroll associated returns and documents. 5.5 Michelle Labelle in the general ledger and inventory function: Enters all data requiring input directly into company’s cash book and its petty cash imprest system and keep financial control over the company’s inventories. If inventories get above three days’ holding in any shop Michelle has to telephone and get justifications for the variance. 5.6 Liana Khan in the purchase ledger function: Makes sure that all supplier’s invoices and credit notes are entered into the Accounts Payable Ledger, and for Subsequently arranging the payments to suppliers. 5.7 Greg Morris in the sales ledger function Uses a credit reference agency to ensure that potential new credit customers have no history of poor payments. Checks any new customer who applies is always given a line of credit after this trial period. 5.8 Alan Cook in the costing function: Uses a target costing approach, working out what the cost of each component such as ink or plastic, and Supplies management with the monthly basis, and Advises management of variances from target. 5.9 Sharon Ward in the payroll and personnel database function: Operates the company’s two payrolls prepares the pay slips from the rotas prepared by the managers for the staffs. The salaries staffs are paid monthly on the last working day of the month using the Bankers Automated Clearing System (BACS). 6 Review of the accounting system 6.1 Record Keeping System A business needs an effective and manageable recordkeeping system. This is why in the business environment with regulated accounting structures, it is vital that organizations have the necessary records of evidence to support business operations. All transaction is electronically and manually processed to be made available. The necessity to provide access to recorded information is crucial. These are information’s relating to the different accounting function, such as; Purchase Sales Payroll Cash and Banking Record keeping systems are used; To better support the performance of the organization activities and enable better decision making all throughout the structure of the organization. To make sure that information is available for future or current processes, and helps also in the improving and upgrading of the manual or computerized processes. To address any future issues that may arise internally or  externally, such as fraud, lawsuits and other an-ethical accusations. To support the employees in the different functions of the business to be more efficient, productive in the accuracy of delivering the work. Records which are processed and made available are then used to produce other financial reports. Michelle Labelle in the general ledger and inventory function record and process the different inventory, supplier’s data to make available information on: Suppliers Cost prices Selling prices Profit margins Re-order level and quantities The data is used to know the overall cost of inventory, purchase and how much owed to better plan for future costs. Greg Morris in the sales ledger function processes the cash, cheques and other financial data to ensure that information is available on demand for: Customers Selling prices Bad debt Amount customers owed This information is used for different purposes such as; it is used by the debt collection agency for the collections of debt. The use of computerized recording system is more efficient than paper base. This is due to because the use of paper base recording system is more likely to produce errors then having a computerized format that data is just inputted in. Using a computerized system is less costly and time consuming. 6.2 Internal System of Control For an organization to have efficient and effective operation of its activities, internal system of control procedures is used by the management in place to ensure that the organization achieve its goals. This is where policies and procedures come in place to establish an internal control system to maximize the detection of frauds and errors, and to minimize their occurrence also. Existing internal system of control in Inkwell limited are: Supervision of the accounts office by a Company Accountant and Senior accounts member. A staff rota is prepared by the managers to ensure adequate staff coverage for all the opening hours of their shops. An information technology policy exists which sets out rules relevant to securing the computer systems. The computer system throughout the company is password protected. Company cheques are required for authorization by the three directors company accountant and other financial documents for approval. Reconciliation of the purchased stock against recorded inventory level. Purchases duties are segregated to minimize the risk of fraud. A credit rating agency is used to ensure that potentially new credit customers have no history of poor payments. Policy for dealing with non-payment of debt exists, and its state out the actions and procedure. Cheques and cash from customers are kept in office safe until it is banked. Internal control that is missing or can improve is: Company policies and procedures. Disciplinary measure to breach of policy or miss conduct. Management supervision. Segregation of duties Staff Recruitment procedures Staff training and Continual Professional Development. Restriction on accessing of computer systems. Enforcement on Computerize backup of financial documents. Retention and disposal of records throughout the business. Accounting standard and procedures. Risk assessment. Liquidity management. Verification and checks of accounting data. List of authorized access. Checks relating to wages paid out Credit control system. 6.3 Fraud Fraud is the use of deception with the intention of obtaining an advantage, avoiding an obligation or causing loss to someone else or to an  organization; this is the general definition of fraud. It is an unfortunate fact of life and comes in many forms and is recognized as a criminal activity in many countries including UK. Possibility and opportunity of fraud within Inkwell limited is possible due to the internal control is not efficient, efficacious, being deficient and the opportunity of fraud is there for the taking. Fraud covers a wide range of area criminal activity. Common types of fraud are: Theft Dishonestly taking someone else’s property. False accounting – Dishonestly destroying, defacing, concealing or falsifying an accounting record for personal gain or to cause loss to someone else. Bribery and corruption – taking or giving a bribe that might influence the actions of others. Deception – Obtaining property, money, services or evading liability by deception Methods that can be used to detect fraud Fraud can be detected by the experience manager by simple observation and through experience and also through a robust internal control system. Some sigh can include: Employees acting suspiciously – looking shifty and hiding paperwork Employees with higher levels of spending than you would expect from their income Employees working long hours and taking less than the normal holiday entitlement. Employees who have a grudge against the organization. Employees who are known to be short of money. The usage of the internet to for online sale is also at risk of fraud, since customers give Debit and Credit Cards details to pay their debts. Card fraud transaction can be detected by using Business rules. Opportunity and Potential areas of risk of fraud taking place are:  £3000 worth of a particular make of cartridge was unaccounted for during reconciliation of inventory with purchase order. Goods not appearing on the warehouse inventory record. Cash and cheques are entered manually which can be easily be subject to false accounting Complaint’s on wages being underpaid Only one staff operates and have access to payroll system Lack of written instructions Computer are not logged out and locked when not in use. No system in place for warehouse or administrative employees to record and know the time they arrive and when they leave the office The usage of debit or credit card detail by customers over the internet to pay. 6.4 Working Methods and Practices The working methods used in Inkwell Limited are: Computers are attributed to each staff whether part-time or fulltime to work on. The computer systems are run on an integrated network, with all PCs linked to two printers in the department. Every shop has PCs and printers of its own. Microsoft office excel spreadsheets is used in the accounting system for recording of the different data. All computers use Windows Vista operating system and loaded with Microsoft office 2007 consisting of 80-user operating license, and one new computer loaded with Sage Payroll software to unable payroll and personnel system to be run in-house. Internet access is available on every computer with Mozilla Firefox as web browser. Password is used on the computers. Large trade customers are put on a cash-with-order basis for the first three months of business. A credit reference agency is used potentially new customers have no history of bad credit. All cash and cheques are removed from the till, leaving a float of  £50 cash in each for the start of the next day. Staff salaries are paid monthly using the Bankers Automated Clearing System (BACS). Prepared by the wage clerk, signed by the Company Accountant and banked on 24th of each month. The methods and practices can be improved in the following: All 60 computers at the shops operate on a stand-alone system. Excel Spreadsheet being used for recording accounting data. Debt collection agency being used to collect bad debt is expensive. Password used for the computers. The removal of all cash and cheques, from the individual tills are not  practiced. Backing up of computerized data. 6.5 Training Training is essential for every personnel of an organization, as it improve the ability of the staff to perform its work and therefor reducing the amount of errors and hired part time staff used to perform tasks that can’t be done inside the organization. This is why every staff must get the opportunity to continue their professional development and be skilled to perform the task at hand. Inkwell Limited does not have the proper policy and systems in place to encourage employees to be enrolled in a part time or full time course, unless they take it on themselves to address the issue to the management. Benefits of training: Staffs are updated to the accounting standard and regulations. They will be motivated to work and be more efficient due to possibility of a promotion or career opportunity being increased, therefor errors is reduced. Staff will be more skilled to meet the needs of the organization. Professionally regulated staff will be governed by a recognized code of ethics from a professional accountancy body. Will better know how to, manage the time to do the tasks, therefor becoming more flexible and productive. Development of an ethical approach to the work and to employers and clients, acquired by experience and training. WEAKNESSES IDENTIFIED Record keeping system No completion of trial balance, statutory accounts as planned. Window dressing of the accounts. Transaction accounting are not done on a day to day basis Accounting record data entry is not being viewed as apriority by Michael O’Payne and Anil Gupta. Having unusual entries found in the general ledger. Errors may occur in inputting data into the computer. Internal System of Control No proper recruitment procedures in place to hire staff that has dismiss. The existing policies are not fully followed. This includes the Computers information technology policy, with no proper password, and logging off the computer after use. A lack of internal control for detection and fraud prevention Lack of segregation of duties. No proper scheduling back up of all IT systems being followed. No proper security for the shops. No policy for Data protection. No list of authorized personnel to access certain documents. No follow up control in place to the internal controls being followed. No supervision is done to monitor the signing in and signing out in the business. For the 60 shops, computers run on a stand-alone system. No safeguard for the proper security procedures in place/security issues relating to debit and credit cards details over the internet (Identity theft). Fraud Possibility of fraud is high; this may be caused due to: Nothing is done to ensure working practices undergoes a proper way. Inadequate guidance on how to detect and deal with fraud. Low effectiveness of security systems especially the password which does not improved each time is changed and can be guessed easily. A lack of supervision, monitoring and checks of accounting activities and records kept. Debit and Credit cards usage over the internet for customers to pay their debt can be subject to identity theft. Noncompliance to internal control. Unaccounted Cartridge’s worth  £3500, with no record in inventory. Details of transactions being deleted in the database, relating to one-off significant payments. Working Methods and Practices Breach of software and user license for software in use, can bring legal action against the company. No coverage or placement of professional personnel to carry out the work of absent staff. Lack of enforcement of legal requirement trough out the business and working practice is very low due to low standards Liquidity management is very poor. Lack of motivational skills from the directors of the business. No adequate physical controls to ensure the security and safe keeping of the businesses assets so that they do not go missing or are stolen. Working conditions and schedule are not respected by the Directors, having problems prioritizing work Lack of staffs, causing over working of staffs and no coverage or placement of professional personnel to carry out the work of absent staff. Therefor agencies are hired to do the work, which is costly. Job rotation is not practiced in the organization A required computer program needs to be attributed to these functions: Invoicing which is carried out. Data on Excel spreadsheet is manually input. Training More training is needed for operating: Quickcost system Payroll and personal system: Several teething problems experienced with the integrated payroll and personnel database. Need for education is needed for: Professional approach to work. Reliability in terms of competence. How to properly handle a secure credit and debit card transaction. Recommendation Recommendations are done following the various weaknesses identified and mentioned above. Record keeping system The management must ensure that the planned working schedule is followed strictly. If problems meeting the targets occur, it should be communicated to the responsible supervisors so proper action can be taken. Working schedule should be adjusted in so that the review of the payments and all other relating transaction are done earlier so that they don’t have to window dress. Different task must be prioritized by the management, so that conflict does not occur, were task are neglected. Accounting record data entry must be prioritized by the two organization’s directors Michael O’Payne and Anil Gupta. The directors must review the benefits that will be gained. Unsure that the proper records relating to the daily business transaction are entered into the general ledger. Verify the data inputted in the computer to ensure that is correct. Internal System of Control Standard policy and guidelines of hiring staffs should be introduced, pointing out the necessary detailed document that is needed making the  process more transparent and reliable. Staffs should be sensitized of the policies in place and know the importance of respecting them. Setting up a fraud policy which sets out the way to detect and deal with fraud, throughout the different working procedure and practice. Duties should be segregated, by setting up a system, which when combined, could lead to fraud. The existing policy should be re-enforce, so that the record kept on the computers would be backed up on the server regularly to prevent loss of data instead of doing it once a day. Alarm systems should be installed for all the shops of the organization, to better protect the business assets from being stolen. Proper policy and procedures should be introduced. The Data Protection Act should be communicated to all staffs, to better protect the company’s and the customer Data. A list of authorized personnel should be produced and communicated to the staffs. Staff personnel should be put in charge of verifying that all policies in place are being followed. A logging system should be set up to have a record of who comes in the office and at what time. Such system should be monitored to ensure all staff complies. An integrated network should be set up on a server to connect the computers together with proper licensed software. Safeguards should be implemented on the procedure for transaction involving debit and credit card details provided by the customers. A standard and effective Sage Accounting package should be bought to unable: A standard layout of the invoices issued to customers. Enable data to be imported and exported from and to Excel spreadsheets. Enable better detection of errors in the different account ledgers. Fraud To reduce the possibility of fraud and make the internal control system fraud resistant, the various techniques should use: Accounting activities should be supervised on a regular basis. The records and calculation of financial document should be sampled and checked regularly for errors. Make sure that the fraud policy which will be introduced set out the way to detect and deal with fraud, throughout the different working procedure and practice and to make any adjustment necessary. Managers of the various departments should be given areas of responsibilities and answerability to ensure that fraud is kept to a minimum. Value of a business rule management system (BRMS) approach to fraud detection can be implemented. Business rules can be used  to validate various conditions for detecting anomalies that can indicate fraud. Enables institutions to react quickly in their effort to keep pace with fraudsters. Disciplinary measures or penalties should be set up for breaking an internal control or if a staff is practicing fraudulent act. Physical security should be re-enforced, locking up valuable items away, such as cash and cheques. Set up a limit to which a financial transaction should be requiring authorization, by one or more authorized signature. This may range from petty cash or cheques over a certain amount. Doing a regular reconciliation of the accounts to the financial documents to make sure they balance and errors corrected. Management should carry out Risk Assessments as part of the of an effective internal control system. Working Methods and Practices Make sure that all computers use license software in all the shops and departments, monitor that the license are not broken causing legal action to the organization. Adequate number of specialized staffs should be introduced for the coverage of staff that is absent. The business must comply with all relevant External regulations. Such as international accounting standards even government regulation from HMRC. This will aid in raising the standard of working practices. Better management of buying inventory from suppliers. Credit to customers should be reduced. The managers should undergo a management course, to learn how to better manage their business, motivate their employees through training, giving out bonuses, paying for overtime and other incentives. All assets should be recorded and proper management of the assets should be put in place, to know the life cycle. Directors should produce an effective working schedule, reducing the stress on employees. Adequate number of specializ ed staffs should be introduced for the coverage of staff that is absent. Produce an effective rota to unable the staff to rotate to different accounting functions in the organization. A standard and effective Sage Accounting package should be bought to unable: A standard layout of the invoices issued to customers. Enable data to be imported and exported from and to Excel spreadsheets. Enable better detection of errors in the different account ledgers. Training More training should be provided for: Quick cost system Payroll and personal system To ensure that staff has the necessary skills and knowledge to be more effective and reliable in their work, in terms of competence: Staffs Training should be invested in by the management, to better handle the daily tasks. Including Debit Credit cards transactions This should include internal or external training courses for using any newly introduced accounting package. Telephone support lines made available by the software provider. Workshops on the improvement of staffs’ communications skills. Cost benefit analysis Improvement Recommended Cost of Time Benefits Time spent by manager in Training 25 hours Ãâ€" 3 Ãâ€"  £25 per hour Time spent by 5 account staff 25 hours Ãâ€" 5 Ãâ€"  £15 per hour TOTAL TRAINING COST  £ 1875 1875 3750 The work output will be more accurate due to the raise of standard. The organization will appear more professional, more efficient, meanings fewer errors and problems. Cost of hiring new Accounting staffs  £ 192000 The different responsibilities can be segregated and work will be done faster. Setting up of computers on a network Cost of hardware Installation cost  £ 5000 1000 6000 Access to data will be easier which will speed up the work and save time. New accounting Package Cost of the software Installation cost cost of training the staff 10000 3000 3500 16500 Many routine operations will be speeded up, save time and reduces wages bill. 9.2 To carry out a Risk assessment the management will require 2 hours per month. This will discourage and reduce the risk of fraud in the accounting system by identifying the areas of the risk of fraud and then setting up a system in place to detect any possibility of fraud and then deal with it, making the system more reliable. Appendices SWOT Analysis Strengths Record keeping system Using an archiving computer package to store full accounting records. Easy access to past exact copy of company accounting transactions. Sage Payroll software was loaded in the accounts department to enable the new payroll and personnel system to be in house. Excel spreadsheets are used for maintaining the inventory information. Integrated General, Accounts payable and Accounts Receivable set of ledger principal financial accounting system. Internal system of control An information technology policy exist which sets out rules relevant to securing the computer systems. The computer system throughout the company is password protected. A credit rating agency is used to ensure that potentially new credit customers have no history of poor payment. Value of a business rule management system (BRMS) approach to fraud detection benefits: The performance of the rules is high enough to provide real-time detection of anomalies based on several criteria, including multiple sources, transaction values, card-use frequency, merchant and location of the charges. If implemented new detection policies can be activated in hours, instead of months, helping to reduce lost revenue and increase customer satisfaction and provides safety in online transaction.