The Internet and It's Use in Politics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The Internet and It's Use in Politics - Essay Example In May 2010, a survey observed the Republicans (who were Congress members) as reaching out to new Facebook connections at a faster rate than the Democrats. As a result, by August 2010, members of the Republic Party claimed to possess double the amount of â€Å"fans† of the Democrats on Facebook. Prior to this, Hillary Clinton, the present US Secretary of State and Paul Nelson, the Republican member of the South Dakota House of Representatives had used the YouTube and MySpace sites for their respective election campaigns. (Bardes, Shelley,Schmidt, 192) How media sites encourage public involvement in politics The social networking sites undertake special projects to increase public participation in political issues.In January 2008, Facebook cosponsored a primary debate regarding the candidature of US Presidentship. This was the media site’s first notable political project, where one million of the site’s users participated in debate groups and were also allowed to present their own questions to the concerned candidates. Facebook also organized debates on the implementation of the US health care bill. Though, these were not initiated for any achieving any particular objective, important insights were gained from the passionate arguments that took place regarding the bill. This ultimately paved the way to the complete transformation of the US health-care system in March 2010. The social networking sites have the young population as the majority of its members. Modern politicians have realized that they can use thesenetworking platforms to disseminate their political ideologies among the youth of the country (Bardes, Shelley,Schmidt, 192). Social Media’s influence on Campaigning In the 20th century, political campaigns were mainly conducted on the streets with the help of posters, placards and bill boards. To reach out to a wider population, the campaigners relied on the traditional means of communication like advertising through the tele vision, radio, phone banks, newspapers and e-mail. In contrast, political campaigns in the 21st century depend heavily on the online communication methods. Political advertising is conducted through the Internet, RSS feeds, podcasts, interactive websites, social media sites, blogs, microblogs, mobile text messages and the e-mail. Campaigners specially utilize the platforms of YouTube, My Space, Facebook, other networking sites and micro-blogs like Twitter,to communicate their ideas to potential voters.The on-street campaigns had adequate time (days and sometimes weeks) to design advertising messages to influence the voters. After the election, the polling results also required some time to be analyzed and reported. On the other hand, the modern online campaigns operate at a phenomenal speed throughout the entire day. Election results, on field data and early voting information are received, deciphered and reported within a matter of a few hours. The on-street campaigns could involve a limited number of participants in their election propaganda.The rest of the population was left as spectators who were only required to cast their votes on the election day. In comparison, the online communication methodsensure the involvement of a greater number of potential voters in the election campaign. People

Physical Education in School Essay Example for Free

Physical Education in School Essay In the last ten years, our culture has changes dramatically. Our nation was once a physically active nation, yet now it seems that society discourages physical activity. Everyone knows that physical fitness is important to his or her health. Physical education helps students improve their knowledge about health issues and practices that will lead to a more enjoyable life. Some schools do not require students to participate in physical education classes, but it is important for young kids to stay physically active. The rise of obesity in young children has become a growing concern in America. Physical education should be required every year for all public school students. Some students are physically unable to participate in physical education. I agree that if a student has a note from their doctor that it is fine for them not to participate. All the others should be required to participate though. Their involvement in physical education teaches them about lifelong fitness. While I attended grade school, physical education helped play a valuable role in my life. I became involved in several different sports because of participation in physical education classes. During school we played football games during physical education. In addition, we learned some of the basics of baseball and softball. I played football and baseball for years because of my involvement in physical education classes. After graduation, I still kept the same habits from grade school, by continuing to stay physically active. I participate in softball tournaments occasionally to keep myself in shape. In addition, I try to lift weights four or five days a week. Read more:Â  Physical Education Essay Students who do not participate in physical education more than likely will not be physically active as adults. By not teaching children about physical education, it almost certainly adds to the problem. Some students do not want to participate in physical education because they are worried about sustaining injuries. Their argument is children participating in physical activity are at a higher risk of injury than those who are in academic classes. By not being physically active, a student is at greater risk for sustaining an injury. It is important to stretch and warm up before starting any work out. Students learn this from their participation in physical education class. Stretching helps in developing overall flexibility, particularly in the spine, shoulder, and hip areas. The kind of stretching depends on the type of activity a person plans to engage in. For instance, if one is about to play sports, the recommended kind of stretching would be the ones that mimics the movements of the activity the student engages in. Warming up also helps to avoid injury. To warm up start at a gentle pace, and then slowly increase the pace until the heart rate increases and the body temperature rises. Warming up also helps to loosen up muscles and jump-starts the fluids in the joints. If a student is not required to participate in gym class, they may not be aware of warming up to prevent them from sustaining injuries if they decide to start a workout regimen or any kind of physical activity. Obesity is becoming a concern among young kids now. The Southeast now has a new name. Instead of the Sun Belt, some call the Southeast the diabetes belt. Almost every time I turn on the news there is a story about the rising epidemic of obesity. With teenage obesity as prevalent as it is, it is imperative that physical education classes be mandatory at all grade levels nationwide. The amount of obese youth has steadily risen in the last twenty years. It is an obvious fact that physical education classes, when made mandatory, would help improve the physical health of the youth across America. It is important for the student to learn how to keep ones self in proper physical condition. In addition, by making physical education mandatory for all schools nationwide it will help make the students realize how important it is to stay physically active. Obesity also leads to hypertension, sleep apnea, diabetes, asthma, and many other serious problems. Physical education classes can help to reduce the chances for those problems, but there are other steps to take. Exercise is important, but diet is also a major factor in health. Eating healthy foods and exercising will make students be much healthier. In conclusion, all schools should make it mandatory for students to have physical education classes every year. Our society is becoming unhealthier every year because of students lack of exercise. They need to be educated in physical fitness. They can achieve this by participating in physical education classes, learning how to warm up, stretch, and exercise. Obesity is growing in our population every year. Everyone should participate in physical education classes to learn about, and prevent obesity. If we continue with the lack of physical education in schools, we will continue to contribute to the poor health of students.

Senior Capstone :: Free Essay Writer

Senior Capstone Observations I visited the Ronald McDonald House on September 15, to meet a family that was staying there because they had a very ill child. I was there to interview Mr. and Mrs. Davis who’s had their five-year-old son, John was at Children’s Mercy Hospital. The Davis family was there because John has leukemia and needed chemotherapy. When I first met John, I was at a loss for words. I saw a five-year-old boy that didn’t have any hair (like me) and was thin like a cable wire. I thought it was great that John got to say with his family on good days. What amazed me so much was his spirit and thrust for life. Because they had faith in their little boy getting better, his parents were very much the same. I asked them what made them so upbeat and positive. They told me that they were getting the best treatment around and being close to him everyday really helped. I didn’t quite understand what they meant and asked them to explain. They told me that staying at th e RMH with their son meant everything to the whole family. Instead of being in a hospital bed, or hotel room, the Davis’s kept close and were able to do everything that a family would do. Such things included playing with toys, having meals together, taking walks, enjoying closeness with one’s family, and all in the comfort of a home. The Davis family had been there for almost a week and was very happy to find a place that allowed them to stay without having to pay. They were also elated to know that they could watch after their child and not worry about how he was doing alone in some hospital bed. While I was interviewing the Davis family, I saw so much activity going on around me that it was difficult to concentrate. It was awesome to see, because everyone was interacting with everyone. Parents were relaxing and enjoying themselves, while children were playing together and loving every bit of it. Basically, what I learned from the Davis family is that they were very grateful to the Ronald McDonald House for allowing them to stay close to their child, affording them all the comforts of home while so far away from family and friends.

Developmental studies

At the beginning of the twentieth century underdeveloped countries began to look for the ways to diminish their dependency on agricultural exports and to bring on an industrial revolution. The situation which evoked this need was critical. The problem was that the underdeveloped countries developed mainly the policies of supporting primary commodity exports. Transportation policy was used in the infrastructure for delivering the export crop to the harbour.The research institutions specialized in agriculture worked only on improving crops for export, for example, sugar cane, coffee, cotton, etc.  while crops for domestic consumption, for instance, beans or manioc corn, potatoes, left with little or even without expenditure. As a result some of the underdeveloped countries had to follow the policy of import substitution to induce industrialization. Import substitution industrialization will be the goal of study of this paper. This economic policy will be investigated in the frames of an economic term with the necessary characteristics and also in a wider meaning as the experience of the countries of East Asia and Latin America.In the process of research different points of view, both pro and contra, will be cited in order to shed the light on positive and negative aspects and cover the field broadly. In the conclusion of the paper the main findings will be summed up. The term of import substitution can be defined as an economic process and as a policy strategy. As a process import substitution relates to the situation â€Å"where regions (more precisely, existing or new economic activities within regions) take up the production of goods or services which formerly were imported, but, for whatever reasons, now can be viably produced within the region (e.g. as a result of population increases leading to increases in demand or as a result of productivity increases resulting in greater competitiveness. †(Economic Geography Glossary, 1999)Import substitution i ndustrialization (ISI) as the economic strategy means encouraging the development of domestic industry by limiting manufactured goods import. The need of ISI implementation arouses from the belief that there is a potential comparative advantage in some of the industries of developing countries, but these industries are too weak yet to compete with foreign well-established ones.Thus, in order to allow infant industries to establish themselves and to realize their potential, and consequently to be able to compete internationally, governments should support the initial period of their development. The protection of government implies temporary measures such as using tariffs or import quotas to start industrialization in the country. As a policy strategy import substitution can be used to achieve the following goals: 1) to utilize the capacities which are underused; 2) to fight unemployment in the regions;3) to protect infant industries. The policy of import substitution industrializati on, according to the definition provided by the encyclopaedia, is â€Å"a trade and economic policy based on the premise that a developing country should attempt to substitute products which it imports, mostly finished goods, with locally produced substitutes. †(Wikipedia, 2005) The theory of import substitution has much common with the theory of mercantilism. Both the theories promote minimal imports and high exports as the means of inducing the growth of national wealth.In order to implement the policy of import substitution industrialization, the following three main tenets must be pursued: 1) protective barriers to trade, which can be set up in the form of tariffs. Tariffs or custom duties are applied to the goods which are imported and in this way they artificially protect domestic industries from competition with foreign companies; 2) a particular industrial policy, which orchestrates and subsidizes production of the substitutes; 3) a monetary policy, which will keep th e domestic currency overvalued.Monetary policy is implemented by setting reserve requirements and changing some interest rates directly or indirectly. The chief tools of monetary policy are operations in open market. In open market money circulates through the selling and buying of deferent foreign currencies credit instruments, or commodities. Such sales or purchases create a certain base currency which leaves or enters market circulation. Usually open market operations are aimed at achieving a specific short term interest rate target.However, monetary policy may also target a certain â€Å"exchange rate relative to some foreign currency or else relative to gold. † (Wikipedia, 2005) Equally important is to note that import substitution as economic protectionalizm can have negative outcomes. Stutz pointed out that â€Å"This form of economic protectionism helped some countries industrialize in the past but involves economic risks. † (Stutz and Souza, 1998) The risks of import substitution meant by Stutz are potential inefficiencies and higher prices.Successful implementation of this policy as a rule needs massive expenditure on infrastructure. Additionally, import substitution is accompanied by the establishment of state firms in the areas of industry which are thought to be too risky or too large for the private sector (or example, steel, aircraft) or estimated to be too important to be owned by foreign firms (or instance, oil). The policy of import substitution industrialization was argued by the advocates of absolute free trade theory.Generally, free trade becomes possible when the flow of services and goods between countries is not taxed. In particular, the economists who supported free trade policy stated that economic strategy would become successful only under the following conditions: 1) international trade in services must be without trade barriers, or tariffs; 2) international trade of goods must not be free from any possible tariffs (n amely taxes on imports) or trade barriers (for example, quotas on import); 3) the free movement of international labor; 4) the free movement of international capital;5) the absence of any economic protectionalizm, implemented by trade-distorting policies (for instance, subsidies, regulations taxes, or laws), which gives an advantage to domestic firms, factors of production, and households over foreign ones. Thus, it becomes obvious that free trade proponents advocated the policy which totally contradicted the fundamental tenets of import substitution industrialization. On the other hand, free trade proponents suggested that a foreign subsidy should be considered as another of comparative advantage and consequently domestic barriers should not be imposed on the purchase of goods produced overseas.Free trade economists pointed out that unlimited imports will be beneficial for domestic consumers which overweighs the loss of domestic producers. Thus, the lower prices of foreign subsidie s can be considered as net positive. Therefore, the domestic society where any import restriction is applied becomes â€Å"a whole worse off than it would be with unlimited imports. † (Wikipedia, 2005) Anyway, the viewpoints of the both theories – import substitution industrialization and absolute free trade – were checked in the process of their implementation and in real life experience.In the period from 1930 to 1940 the policy of import substitution industrialization was adopted in many underdeveloped countries of Latin America. The driving force which precipitated the acceptance of import substitution idea was the Great Depression which took place in 1930s. According to article Concern with Policy-relevance in the Latin American School of Economics authored by Bianchi, â€Å"Import substitution was a necessary condition for peripheral growth, in association with structural reforms in the economy.The focus should be placed on the strenghtening of the domest ic market, which was seen as the crucial element of an inward-looking model of development. † (Bianchi A. M. , 2003) Later on, in the 1950s Raul Prebisch, the prominent Argentine economist, expressed his belief that the only way to succeed for developing countries was to build forward linkages domestically and to create industries which would work on primary products already produced by the countries themselves. The policy of tariffs would help the domestic industry to prosper.By implementing the policy of import substitution industrialization in the period from 1950 to 1970 a number of Latin America countries, in particular Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, attempted to reach positive results and to increase their national wealth. The success of the policy in these countries was based on either high living standards or large populations. However, poorer and smaller countries, for example, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Honduras, were not successful in adopting import s ubstitution policy.Also it is notable that the countries which succeeded in import substitution industrialization managed to change the structure of their governments. Thus neo-colonialism collapsed and was replaced by democratic way of governing. Nationalization turned banks and utilities into public property and returned to nation some of the companies previously owned by foreigners. A case of implementation of import substitution industrialization can be examined with the help of the example of Brazil.Brazil was the country which carried the policy of import substitution industrialization later than other underdeveloped countries. The economists in Brazil carefully analyzed its effects and were planning the industrial development of the country while the other countries started import substitution mainly by accident. It is important to note that Brazil initially had all the chances for success in the policy of import substitution, since its population goes up to 170 million, whic h makes Brazil the fifth largest country in the world.Also Brazil is the fifth largest country by its land area. And finally, Brazil is rich in forest reserves, minerals, navigable rivers agricultural land, and hydroelectric capability. The development of Brazilian economy in the period from 1950 to the 1970s confirmed the most optimistic views. Brazil with its rich resources and reserves was called â€Å"the land of the future†. In 1950 Brazil attempted to establish the largest industry of motor vehicle having practically no sufficient basis. Thirty years later aircraft of Brazil were working on commuter airlines on the United States.Brazilian shoes spread everywhere. Moreover, Brazil opened up the richest iron mine in the world and Brazilians found out the capital city on the place where previously had been a roadless jungle and built the network of roads going deep into Amazon. When the oil prices rose and began threatening the development of Brazil economy, Brazilians lau nched huge hydroelectric projects to operate the growing industries of the â€Å"Golden Triangle†, which included Sao Paulo Rio de Janeiro, and Belo Horizonte and required the new automobiles to run on rum instead of gasoline.At the beginning of the 1980s even pessimists agreed that Brazil was â€Å"the country of future†, however added â€Å"and always will be†. The growth of Brazil stopped, when it was almost close to ripening. The modern cities in Brazil coexist together with miserable shanty-towns surrounded with open sewers. The roads are shared by modern vehicles and hand carts. The wages of Brazilian executives are the highest in the world, but at the same time average workers hardly reach subsistence level. Some economists call Brazil â€Å"a Switzerland within an India.† Other economists consider that the case of Brazil brightly illustrates economic growth without economic development. Economist Celso Furtado characterized the state of Brazilian economy in the following way: â€Å"The Brazilian economy constitutes a very interesting example of how far a country can go in the process of industrialization without abandoning its main features of underdevelopment: great disparity in productivity between urban and rural areas, a large majority of the population living at a physiological subsistence level, increasing masses of unemployed people in the urban zones, etc.† (Development policies, Catching Up, Sec 2, Chap 14) By the 1950s the industrial development by means of import substitution had been already a planned process in Brazil. New industries were protected from the foreign competition with the help of a number of methods. Basic industries (for example, steel, electrical power, petroleum reining) became either fully owned by state or received direct subsidies. Law of Similars aimed at putting high tariffs (sometimes tariffs went up to 300%) on imported goods as soon as any domestic firm somewhere in Brazil started manufacturing something ‘similar’.The industries considered high priority always could be credited under favorable terms by a national development bank. For some period of time, the government even set multiple exchange rates in order to lower the cost of imported capital equipment while the price of imported finished goods was kept expensive. One of the growing Brazilian industries in the mid of twentieth century was motor vehicles. The government hoped that foreign financing would help to expand Brazilian firms which were already producing motor parts, bus bodies, truck and so on and soon would turn them into real vehicle manufacturers.But this approach had to be changed for the government of Brazil faced the reluctance of American government to extend loans and the disapproval of the firms from Europe and the USA who owned a critical technology. The world famous giants – Fiat General Motors, Mercedes Volkswagen, and Ford – were threatened to lose their markets in Brazil if they did not manufacture vehicles within the country. It is important to note that modern manufacturing, in particular the production of appliances, motor vehicles, TVs and so on is a complex process that requires substantial knowledge and skill.Final assembly became possible in Brazil since it was the last stage of production and required the least skill. So, launching modern industries Brazil could start with final assembly and gradually came to more complicated â€Å"backwards†, which included more difficult procedures. For example, Volkswagen could start importing complete parts, such as engines, wheels etc. and assemble them in Sao Paulo plant. The tariffs allowed Volkswagen to sell 1960 30% Brazilian Beetle for twice what Europeans would pay even if the quality was not that high. Eventually, most of the parts became produced in Brazil and the quality of assembly improved.Gradually, the competition from Brazilian Fiats, Fords, and Chevrolets pushed the price down. In this way, Brazilian motor vehicle industry became more and more efficient and even in the 1970s Brazil exported subassemblies and parts to America and to the European countries. By 1980 Brazil started exporting entire vehicles. When import substitution industrialization was implemented in Latin America, the drawbacks of the policy soon revealed themselves. In Brazil as well as in other Latin America countries import substitution model led to foreign ownership in all the sectors in industry except those occupied by state enterprise.When the interests of foreign firms were threatened by Brazilian taxes, environmental or labor legislation, American, German, Italian, British Japanese or French owners were quick to call on their state departments. In particular, the Department of the United States defined one of its key objects as establishing favorable â€Å"business climate†. This meant undermining Brazilian government. Thus, in 1964 some Brazilian generals, b eing encouraged by American officials, made an attempt to overthrow constitutional government of their country.Another drawback of import substitution industrialization revealed in the fact that this policy led to huge foreign debts. It was not accidental, that Brazil and Mexico ran into debts in order to cover the expenses of their infrastructure development. The development of infrastructure needs a large number of hard currency imports. If infrastructure grows and increases exports together with hard currency earnings, a country can borrow in dollars. Then, under such condition, the country has to earn dollars in order to make the interest payments.But import substitution requires borrowing in dollars for the purpose of economic development of the domestic production that will not necessarily expand exports. By the end of the seventies the countries of Latin America faced the problem: Where to go next? And the next logical step was to export the goods which had been already produ ced efficiently. By the middle of the eighties Brazil became the largest exporter of shoes and coffee, among ten major exports to America, six were manufactured projects. Nevertheless, the expansion of manufactured goods made Brazilian economy vulnerable to retaliatory tariffs.Moreover, in the 1980s Brazil as well as other underdeveloped countries of Latin America did not manage to pursue the next layer of import substitution ( in particular, microchips, computers, capital equipment), although they attempted to create open markets for their manufactured consumer goods. Unlike the nations of Latin America, the majority of East Asian nations rejected the policy of import substitution industrialization. Due to this, as many economists think, East Asia had its superior performance in the seventies and the eighties of the twentieth century.Generally speaking, the Asian growth had started before World War II in Japan. The process of Asian growth included three groups of countries whose ec onomic â€Å"miracle† began at different times: 1) Japan (after the Second World War); 2) The â€Å"four tigers†: Taiwan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore (the sixties of the twentieth century); 3) Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, China (from the 1970s to the 1980s) In fact, by rejecting import substitution industrialization Asian nations managed to avoid some negative results of this policy. First, their economies were not dragged by inefficient industries.Second, East Asia did not have to implement policies benefiting industrial workers at the expense of those working on the farms. This was crucial for Asian countries because farmers made up the majority of their population. In addition, in order to diminish the cost of industrialization, the cost of food needed to be kept artificially low. And also, East Asia attempted to prevent the appearance of rent seeking behaviours, which resulted from the usage of the licensing schemes for import substitution strategy and whic h usually increased inefficiency of economics.High tariffs on manufactured goods, which were imposed by many countries in order to create their manufacturing bases, forced multinational companies to assemble or produce them locally. For example, manufacturers of motor industry exported vehicles for local assembly. Their vehicles were delivered ‘completely knocked down’ and the local assembly resulted in poorer quality and higher expenditures in comparison with those imported already built up. Moreover, the local assembly of identical products only duplicated resources and reduced economies of scale, which became increasingly inefficient for manufacturers.On the whole, at the beginning of 1980s the policy of import substitution industrialization began to fail both in Latin America and in those Asian countries where the policy was adopted. Generally, it happened because the governments involved in the policy started to overspend reserves in order to keep the stability of currency. The governments in Latin America defaulted on their debts and had to turn to the help of the International Monetary Fund. Another process which contributed to the failure of import substitution was globalization.However, some economists think that the collapse of the policy of import substitution industrialization â€Å"should not necessarily be taken as an endorsement of globalization. † (Wikipedia, 2005) Such point of view was supported by the fact that some countries of East Asia also used high tariff barriers while rejecting the rest of the strategy of import substitution. This mixed policy was focused on investment and subsidies on the industries which would produce goods for export. As a result, these Asian countries managed to create competitive industries.However, irrespective of all their achievements, the policies described above also proved to be inefficient and later led to many problems during Asian financial crisis. The closing period of import substit ution industrialization was in 1989 when the Washington Consensus as a set of policies designed to promote economic growth in the countries of Latin America was presented by John Williamson. The Washington Consensus included reforms which continued the policy of import substitution industrialization offering a modernized version of its tenets.In particular, the Washington Consensus proposed the following: 1) the discipline of fiscal policy; 2) tax reform. It flattened tax curve: the tax rates on high tax brackets were lowered and the tax rates on the low tax brackets were raised. Also it suggested lowering the marginal tax rate; 3) Competitive exchange rates; 4) Trade liberalization by means of low and uniform tariffs which would replace quantitative restrictions; 5) Reduced limitation for foreign direct investment; 6) Privatization of state enterprises;7) Deregulation, which implies â€Å"abolition of regulations that impede entry or restrict competition, except for those justifie d on safety, environmental and consumer protection grounds, and prudential oversight of financial institutions† (Wikipedia, 2005) 8) Property rights must be legally secured; 9) Public spending should be redirected toward the investment of health, education, and infrastructure; 10) â€Å"Interest rates that are market determined and positive (but moderate) in real terms. † (Wikipedia, 2005) In the nineties the Washington consensus was being disputed.The critics of the reforms argued that they would lead vulnerable countries to crisis instead of helping to overcome it. Naomi Klein and Noam Chomsky claimed that the neoliberal policies of the Washington consensus would lead to the exploitation of labor market of an underdeveloped economy by a more developed one. (Wikipedia, 2005) Privatization of state industries, deregulation, and tax reform were seen by the opponents as the reforms which would ensure the development of the layer of local monied elite who would pursue loca l interests and try to maintain local status quo.Jorge Taiana, the Deputy Foreign Minister of Argentina, also disapproved the Washington consensus saying that such policies never had a real consensus and nowadays â€Å"a good number of governments of the hemisphere are reviewing the assumptions with which they applied those policies in the 1990s,† adding that governments are working on a development model which would ensure productive employment and guarantee the generation of real wealth. (Wikipedia, 2005)Another economist Duncan Kennedy in the article for The Boston Review stated that the Washington Consensus completely opposed the initial tenets of import substitution industrialization and more favoured American political interests: â€Å"In the form promoted by the United States, ISI was as hostile to free-market economics as to Communism. The overarching idea of the Washington Consensus was to wipe out every aspect of ISI: the Washington Consensus is both that free mark ets are good and that ISI [Import substitution industrialization] was bad.Developing countries were to develop through integration into the world commodity and capital markets, with policies of deregulated private enterprise, foreign investment, and open economic borders. † (Kennedy D. 2003) All in all, taking into consideration the mistakes of the previous experience and the criticism of the economists, the developmental policy of import substitution industrialization has never been returned since the time of the Washington Consensus. Thus, in the paper import substitution industrialization as a process and as a policy was investigated.It was found out that import substitution pursues three main goals: utilization of underused capacities, reducing unemployment and infant industries protection. The implementation of the policy of import substitution industrialization is based on three tenets: particular monetary and industrial policies, and protective trade barriers. However, it turned out that success and efficiency of import substitution industrialization was doubted by the proponents of absolute free market.Potential risks of import substitution were also visible while careful theoretical analysis and pointed out by economists. The underdeveloped countries of Latin America and East Asia implemented the policy of import substitution industrialization. It occurred that the potential risks and the negative aspects found out by the proponents of absolute free market constituted the drawbacks of the policy and finally became the chief factors of its failure.However, the major part of East Asian countries rejected the policy and experienced economic growth. The example of Brazil demonstrated that the policy of import substitution industrialization can stimulate economic growth for some period of time, but its drawbacks (first of all high expenditures and inefficiencies) pose real obstacles for continuous and strong economic development.

Willie Lynch Letter

Value persuasive outline Introduction I. Out of 50 states only one of them are easily recognizable as the United States capital city. II. Washington D. C. is the second most visited city I the United States. Also it is a good place to visit. III. Today, I will persuade my audience about Washington D. C. also I will provide the history about it. A. The city is mainly based on government and everything from museums to mansion brings millions of tourists each year. B. Washington has a growing, diversified economy of professional and business service jobs. Body I.First, the city is mainly based on government and everything from museums to mansion brings millions of tourists each year. A. It’s a home to many national monuments and museums, which are primarily situated on or around the National Mall. B. There are 19 museums and 17 galleries that are located in Washington D. C. C. The city hosts 176 foreign embassies as well as the headquarters of many international organizations, tr ade unions, non-profit organizations, lobbying groups, and professional associations. D. There are over 100 million tourists each year. 30% of traveling tourist comes from all overseas. II.Secondly, Washington has a growing, diversified economy of professional and business service jobs. A. The gross state product of the District in 2010 was $103. 3 billion, which would rank it No. 34 compared to the 50 U. S. states B. 2012, the federal government accounted for about 29% of the jobs in Washington, D. C. C. In 2008, the foreign diplomatic corps in Washington employed about 10,000 people and contributed an estimated $400 million annually to the local. D. According, to my last visit in Washington D. C. I visited a police department where most people live in Maryland or Virginia in work in Washington D.C. Conclusion I. Today, I will persuade my audience about Washington D. C. also I will provide the history about it. A. The city is mainly based on government and everything from museums t o mansion brings millions of tourists each year. B. Washington has a growing, diversified economy of professional and business service jobs. II. It is easy to get around in Washington D. C. , the people there are very friendly. All the building in Washington D. C. are the oldest building in the world, it is consider a federal place, that is full with historic things, with so much to do.

Auto Exhaus essays

Auto Exhaus essays The purpose of the experiment was to understand and learn how to use Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy for analyzing the content of exhaust gas, carbon monoxide. Carbon monoxide, CO, is formed from burning oil, gas, coal, and wood, and is the most common air pollutant in urban areas (Peter et. al., 1999). Because its primary source is automobile emissions, carbon monoxide exposure is particularly high near heavily trafficked highways (Peter et. al., 1999). Carbon monoxide attaches to hemoglobin in the red blood cells which reduces the amount of oxygen transported to the cells. Scientific evidence indicates that exposure to carbon monoxide can reduce mental activities such as: time distortion (10-30 ppm), throbbing headache (100 ppm), vomiting and collapse (300 ppm), and coma and death (600 ppm) (Rowlen et al., 2004). This experiment was dealing with FTIR spectroscopy as a quantitative technique to determine the amounts of carbon monoxide, CO, in automobile exhaust samples. The FTIR method was chosen for this experiment, since it has given good results in analyses of gas compounds. The absorbance can be determined in all or parts of the infrared (IR) region, not only for one specific wavelength. The least concentration that can be detected with FTIR is about 0.2 ppm. The procedure for this experiment was adapted from the Carbon Monoxide in Auto Exhaust experiment.2 The instrument used for this experiment was an Avatar 360 FTIR spectrometer. To collect the exhaust samples from the cars, the evacuated metal flasks were used. Sample 1 was collected from a Toyota Tacoma from 1997 at the ground level parking lot, and sample 2 and 3 were collected from a Toyota Corolla from 1993 at the underground parking lot. The samples were collected at free idle after the car was holding at a fast idle (2500 RPM) for approximately 30 seconds. The time at whic ...

The Role Of A Government Essays - Civil Disobedience, Free Essays

The Role Of A Government Essays - Civil Disobedience, Free Essays The Role Of A Government Sue Ellen Webb Mrs. Caudill English III Honors-5 20 January 2000 The Role of a Government Henry David Thoreau often took extreme positions on the issue of government and its role in society. To this somewhat rebellious transcendentalist, government should not govern people at all and law was often meant to be broken. Thoreau's belief in individualism was so strong in fact that it seems he often took sides on an in issue simply to be in favor of the minority, whether the majority was right or wrong. Certainly, it is important for one to be himself and stand up for what he believes in. However, to Thoreau's statement that that government is best which governs not at all is a bit extreme. Some form of government is necessary first and foremost to prevent chaos and widespread disorder. Without laws and consequences for breaking those laws, people will do exactly what pleases them without regard to how it affects others. Theft and murder will become everyday occurrences because men without ethics will see no reason not to commit these crimes. In fact, the entire population may ending killing themselves off. In addition to an increase of crime, a significant increase in poverty is likely to occur without government leadership. Without government funding, public schools, hospitals, and transportation would be nonexistent. This in conjunction with the lack of welfare funds would obviously lead to a society of poor, uneducated, Webb 2 and sickly people. Without a doubt, a society must be under the rule of a strong government power in order to function properly. Thoreau's statement is also too harsh because it has no regard for the fact that in a democratic society, the people essentially are the government. The whole purpose of a democracy is to ensure that the people govern themselves. Rather than being ruled by a dictator or monarch, members of a democratic society are able to have an input on how the government runs. Ideally, any law that is formed in this country is formed because the majority of the population want it to be formed. Rather than complaining about the existence of a government, Thoreau should have rejoiced at having the rights people in America have. It is doubtful that the laws of any other country would have allowed Thoreau more freedom or independence than the laws of the United States. If he felt otherwise or disagreed with the majority of the population, he should not have chosen to live in the United States. Certainly, one can see that Thoreau's complaints about the censorship placed upon individuals by the governme nt were unjustified. Obviously, Thoreau went too far in stating that the government should not govern at all. Without a government that does its job in governing the people, disaster will occur. While it is not the government's place to suppress the ideas or expressions of its people, it is vital to maintaining organization. As a society, people should strive to find a medium between total lack of government and total control by the government. Bibliography none

The Science of Curing Grey Hair

The Science of Curing Grey Hair The current cures for gray hair range from the truly promising to being downright snake oil in nature. The products and procedures that are for real are based on real science and recent research on the causes of gray hair. So recent, that as of this writing any real solutions for reversing gray hair are still pending, however, they are definitely in the works to manifest for the consumer during the next few years. What Causes Grey Hair Each individual hair follicle has pigment-producing cells called melanocytes. As the hair strand is being formed, the melanocytes cells inject pigment (melanin) into cells containing keratin, the protein structures that makes up our hair follicles, skin, and nails. Throughout our lifetime, our melanocytes continue to inject pigment into our hairs keratin, giving it color, however, after a certain amount of years of producing, our melanocytes go on strike so to speak and stop making as much melanin which causes grey hair, or make no melanin at all which causes white hair. When you ask a scientist why this happens, the common answer given us is usually genetics, that our genes regulate the predestined exhaustion of the pigmentation potential of each individual hair follicle. However, there is a more in-depth explanation about what happens when our hair turns gray or white, and understanding the science behind that is leading to innovations that will change the inevitability of having to put up with a loss of hair color. Stem Cell Research: Reversing Grey Hair In 2005, Harvard scientists were the first to propose that a failure of melanocyte stem cells to maintain the production of melanocytes caused the graying of hair. They were correct, and other scientists have expanded on their research. The simplified definition of a stem cell is a cell whose job is to make more cells. Stem cells repair and build our bodies. As explained above in this article, two different types of cell production occur when our bodies produce a non-grey strand of hair. The melanocytes stem ​cells produce the hair color, and other stem cells produce the hair follicle. Scientists have researched this coordinated production between the two different stem cell types, and have discovered a signaling protein called Wnt. Think of Wnt as a type of work foreman that oversees the production of hair and tells each different stem cell type how fast to work. Wnt has everything to do with why our hair turns gray. When our melanocytes stem cells do not have enough Wnt protein, they do not get the signal to produce hair color. Professor Mayumi and a team of researchers at the New York University Medical Center have successfully restored hair color in mice by manipulating the Wnt signaling proteins. Mayumi is confident that the research will lead to solutions of melanocyte related issues both serious and cosmetic in humans, including skin diseases such as melanoma, and of course gray hair. Researchers at the Tokyo University of Science, have also experimented with stem cells in attempts to regrow hair and restore color. The researchers injected a bald and otherwise colorless mouse with stem cells from live hair follicles and were able to grow dark tufts of hair on the injection site. The research is intended to lead to solutions for both baldness and gray hair in humans. LOreal Research: Preventing Grey Hair Doctor Bruno Bernard is the head of hair biology at LOreal in Paris. LOreal, a company known for hair and beauty products, is currently supporting research into innovative methods of preventing hair from turning gray. Bernard and his team have been studying the melanocyte stem cells found in our skin that are responsible for making skin the pigment that it is. The researchers wanted to know why our skin doesnt turn gray with age but our hair does. They discovered an enzyme called TRP-2 that is present in our skin stem cells but is missing in our hair follicle stem cells. They observed that TRP-2 helped protect the melanocyte stem cells in skin from damage, and so helped those stem cells to last longer and function better. The TRP-2 enzyme provided an advantage to our skin cells that the cells involved with hair production do not have. LOreal intends to innovate a topical treatment, such as a shampoo for hair, that will replicate the effect of the TRP-2 enzyme and give the melanocyte stem cells in hair follicles the same advantage that skin stem cells have, thereby preventing and delaying gray hair from happening in the first place. The End of Grey Hair The majority of all people, over three-quarters of the population, will have some gray hair by the age of fifty. Surprisingly, one in ten people over the age of sixty still have no gray hair. For those of us who just dont want the look, hair dye to cover the gray has always been the only option, if you exclude hats. Viable alternatives may be on the horizon.

Focused observation 3 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Focused observation 3 - Essay Example Children of this age also question a lot including ‘how’ and ‘why’ and of course they are talkative. Based on this background and since preschoolers are always filled with enthusiasm I decided to teach them few basics by adopting the fun and play method. One must remember that this age requires a strong foundation on which the growing and learning years can develop on. My action plan involved the delivering the messages of determination and lending a helping hand. I decided to perform a puppet show that narrated the ‘incy-wincy spider’ rhyme. On hearing this all the children became interested to know more and looked on in anticipation as I kept the suspense brewing. The first step was to make a spider and by involving all the children I began teaching them about insects and spiders. My aim was through the process of creating, sticking and coloring the spider the general fear that most children possess about insects, hopefully will be erased. During this process the children began asking various questions about insects such as, how do insects fly? What do insects eat? And the interesting part was the creation of the spider’s legs wherein most children were curious to know why they have two legs and a spider has eight legs. Once the spider was ready next on the agenda was to manufacture rain. Interestingly another opportunity to teach the children about the conservation of water and to protect what God had made i.e. the environment. Therefore after the lecture about rain and how they could save water in their own little ways, the next step involved the developing of rain. Instead of utilizing water as rain I developed a plan wherein with the help of beans I involved the children in painting and the portrayal of raindrops on a chart. The children enjoyed themselves dipping the beans in blue paint and dabbing the same on the chart paper. And I took

Analysis of Impeachment Trails Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Analysis of Impeachment Trails - Essay Example reflect negatively on the integrity of the US government while at the same time, taking no action will be taken as a laxity which would affect trust and relationships as well as granting the future holders of this office chance to abuse their powers (Stadelmann, 2011). The most unethical of the three cases is the Nixon’s case with the Watergate issue where he covered up and refused to hand over evidence of the Watergate affair which would have shown that his re-election committee burglarized the headquarters of Democrats party office headquarters. He used his powers to misuse the CIA, conduct illegal wiretapping, perjury and obstructed justice. Lucky for him he resigned before he was impeached. This is closely followed by Clinton case. His sexual encounters were not what led to his impeachment by the Congress but rather his perjury and abuse of office. He was a lawyer to begin with and he knew that lying under oath was the worst mistake that can be done through any trial. Lastly is Andrew Johnson’s case where immediately after the Tenure of Office Act was enacted in 1867 and whose aim was to prohibit presidents from removing from office holders without approval from the Senate, he still went ahead and tried to remove the Secretary of War Stanton. He then went ahead and criticized Congress in loud voices on top of using his office to abuse powers (Gerhardt, 2000). On Clinton, the ethical charge would be conducting misconduct by having sexual relations in office which amounts to extra marital affairs and lying about it even after having video evidence of the misconduct. As for the Andrew Johnson, the ethical charge would be abuse of power and going against the laws of the land which he is supposed to be on the forefront of protecting. When it comes to Nixon, there are several ethical charges the first being perjury, abuse of his power as a president and involving the CIA in crime as well as misconduct in office by harbouring criminals and refusing to cooperate

Long day's journey into night Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Long day's journey into night - Research Paper Example O’Neill brings out the role of men and women in the society at that time and the difference between the father and his sons. The issue of gender and especially feminism is focused in the play through the life of Mary, who also happens to be the structural center of the play. A deeper analysis reveals that Eugene portrays Mary in a manner that she has many troubles and has many weaknesses evidenced by the use of morphine. She is being seen as irresponsible mother who cannot quite the addition. In addition, it is evident at times when James and Jamie talk alone and on the arrival of Mary, they shut up. The evidence concerning the fact that they are to be the only persons is from the fact that she is the one who can handle issues since they believe as seen in the statement, â€Å"Ive always believed Jamie did it on purpose. He was jealous of the baby. He hated him.† (2.2.103) (Eugen and Neill 103). James showed man character when he told Mary to forget the past. This is demonstrated by how strong he is and could forget the past. In addition, James Tyrone characters confirm feminism through his appearance and personality. It is evident that the story evolves around him as the head of the family but later we see the role of the woman becomes necessary when it comes to reliance and love. On the other hand, O’Neill uses Mary to show the â€Å"struggles that women go through in their daily lives† (Porter 80). Mary is described as a beautiful woman who takes up her role as a mother despite the addiction and other challenges that she has to overcome. For that reason, Mary started using morphine and got addicted to it after she had difficulty and was not treated well at the birth of her youngest son Edmond. Mary is also depicted as a tragic woman who is different from what she used to be in the past. She was innocent, beautiful and used to have dreams of becoming a Catholic nun a pianist. She also had strong religious faith in God.

LITERTURE REVIEW Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

LITERTURE REVIEW - Essay Example Of all the industries, sectors that require professionals to continuously interact with non-professionals need effective communicators. Industries like hospitality, media, medical, legal and other service sectors need people not only with strong professional backgrounds, but also excellent communication skills. Nursing is a profession where nurses are required to not only assist the doctor in his work, but also ally the fears and apprehensions of the patient and his relatives. Nurses in hospitals become the primary care-givers and spend considerable time with the patients. They would very frequently find themselves in a position where they are the bridge between the specialist doctor and the patient. Thus, their role extends to that of an effective communicator. Various researchers have highlighted the importance of effective communication by nurses in their works. "Effective communication is a fundamental element of nursing care that is integral to the provision of quality patient care." (Ravert et al. 1997, Wilkinson et al. 1999, Bowles et al. cited in McGilton, 2005). By going through the literature available in various nursing journals, it would be easy to narrow down to the topic of my dissertation. Although a lot of research has been done in the field of effective communication as an integral part of the nursing profession, there are many grey areas even today. A lot needs to be done to achieve cent percent efficiency in the field. Surveys, trainings, evaluations, further research would provide a means to fill the lacunae in this field. Process of Literature Search The literature search was carried out through online medical/nursing journals .These have given a wide and varied range of literature on the subject. This literature review has used the results of studies and experiments carried out across the globe. The literature review includes research papers from Toronto Rehabilitation Institute, Canada; University of Alberta, Canada; Griffith University, Australia; Communication Disability Center, University of Queensland, Australia; and The Martlets Hospice, Hove, UK. These papers were downloaded from such vastly spread out sources so that there would be very little scope for bias and the review would be a well-balanced one. Under the keyword "effective communication", the review includes topics ranging from complex continuing care facility, palliative nursing, factors that influence communication between people with communication disability and their healthcare providers in hospitals, effective communication as a core competency for collabora tive practice among nurses to effective parent-nurse communication. These articles have been published over a period of nine years from 2001 to 2009.Thus, they include the latest research in the field of effective communication between nurses and patients and ways and means of achieving it. Also, these articles are themselves very well-researched and offer excellent secondary sources of reference. Findings The research studies definitely show that there is a lot of scope for further research and recommendations in the field of effective communication among nurses. The studies covered parent-nurse interactions and patient-nurse interactions under various circumstances and illnesses. The first paper

Should Newspapers Shut Down Their Presses (responses) Assignment

Should Newspapers Shut Down Their Presses (responses) - Assignment Example I think that the youth around the world would rather have access to news when they want it. Unlike Fahri’s viewpoint that we will have to worry about all media organizations, I think with the increase of digital media, there will actually be more media outlets instead of less. Post Two: I think that Farhi’s argument that printing news is adaptable but only if papers printed all of the time. By the time news hits the press, it is all over the web. By the next day when it hits the newsstands, it is old news, actually making it less efficient. What is the point of calling it news if it is old? I disagree that it will affect all news sources. I am siding with Shirky in the fact that newspapers are old and the wave of the digital world are increasing. There are now more opportunities to share news online. People that are growing older are starting to dabble in using technology so while newspapers will not phase out completely because some still like to hold that paper in their hands and read it, they will find that what they are really interested in can be found online and even local news that is relevant even in small towns can be found on social media sites. Post Three: I feel like that there has to be at least one side to every argument. However, being a student learning about journalism and being young at that, I think we have to acknowledge and embrace change. What happened to radio? More people are listening to satellite radio or stations that provide specific music. Traditional radio phased out. Newspapers will do the same. There might be a few that hang around for the sake of people who like to hold a newspaper but with reading devices such as the Nook or Kindle, you can read the digital versions immediately. Everything that we need to know can be found through the Internet. I am with Shirky on the fact that newspapers will not adapt but instead society will adapt without newspapers.

LITERTURE REVIEW Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

LITERTURE REVIEW - Essay Example Of all the industries, sectors that require professionals to continuously interact with non-professionals need effective communicators. Industries like hospitality, media, medical, legal and other service sectors need people not only with strong professional backgrounds, but also excellent communication skills. Nursing is a profession where nurses are required to not only assist the doctor in his work, but also ally the fears and apprehensions of the patient and his relatives. Nurses in hospitals become the primary care-givers and spend considerable time with the patients. They would very frequently find themselves in a position where they are the bridge between the specialist doctor and the patient. Thus, their role extends to that of an effective communicator. Various researchers have highlighted the importance of effective communication by nurses in their works. "Effective communication is a fundamental element of nursing care that is integral to the provision of quality patient care." (Ravert et al. 1997, Wilkinson et al. 1999, Bowles et al. cited in McGilton, 2005). By going through the literature available in various nursing journals, it would be easy to narrow down to the topic of my dissertation. Although a lot of research has been done in the field of effective communication as an integral part of the nursing profession, there are many grey areas even today. A lot needs to be done to achieve cent percent efficiency in the field. Surveys, trainings, evaluations, further research would provide a means to fill the lacunae in this field. Process of Literature Search The literature search was carried out through online medical/nursing journals .These have given a wide and varied range of literature on the subject. This literature review has used the results of studies and experiments carried out across the globe. The literature review includes research papers from Toronto Rehabilitation Institute, Canada; University of Alberta, Canada; Griffith University, Australia; Communication Disability Center, University of Queensland, Australia; and The Martlets Hospice, Hove, UK. These papers were downloaded from such vastly spread out sources so that there would be very little scope for bias and the review would be a well-balanced one. Under the keyword "effective communication", the review includes topics ranging from complex continuing care facility, palliative nursing, factors that influence communication between people with communication disability and their healthcare providers in hospitals, effective communication as a core competency for collabora tive practice among nurses to effective parent-nurse communication. These articles have been published over a period of nine years from 2001 to 2009.Thus, they include the latest research in the field of effective communication between nurses and patients and ways and means of achieving it. Also, these articles are themselves very well-researched and offer excellent secondary sources of reference. Findings The research studies definitely show that there is a lot of scope for further research and recommendations in the field of effective communication among nurses. The studies covered parent-nurse interactions and patient-nurse interactions under various circumstances and illnesses. The first paper

Art as we know it Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Art as we know it - Essay Example These include the Early Christian Art, Romanesque Art, Islamic Art, Byzantine Art, Migration Period Art, Pre-Romanesque Art, Celtic Art and Gothic Art to name a few. With that there is a strong enough relational basis for the respective artistic styles and when looked at in an individual fashion, they all form up as the sub parts of the Medieval Art period. These could comprise of the Anglo-Saxon Art and Viking Art. On a different tangent, Medieval Art period includes a number of significant mediums, where the emphasis is more towards the fields of sculpture, mosaics and manuscripts to name a few. Also with that, the basis was strong in terms of the genres of art which involved the Crusade Art, also known as animal style. One should understand that Medieval Art period actually grew out of the Roman Empire and the legacy attached with it. The linkage is strong in terms of its basis with the Christian church for this matter. The history of the Medieval Art period thus makes count for the historical interplay which was present between the significant elements of classical, earliest Christian times as well as that from the pagan art, another school of artistic design. The different genres within the Medieval Art period entailed the classification by culture and region. In terms of the same, there was a long list of art within this Medieval Art period, a few of which are the Coptic Art, Old Russian Art, Serbian Art, Cypriot Art, Romanian Art, Bosnian Art and Kiev Rus Art to name a few. The Islamic Art includes the basis of the Abbasid Art, Hafsid Art, Mecca Art, Persian Art, Umayyad Art and others. Then there is a separate basis for the Jewish Art within the Medieval Art period. Moving towards Western Europe, one finds that the classification is pretty strong within the Medieval Art period where there is Lombard Art, Pictish Art, Roman Art, Anglo-Saxon Art, Flemish Art, Mosan Art, Spanish Art, Viking Art and many other artistic

Nursing Today Essay Example for Free

Nursing Today Essay Nurses these days have positive and negative images from the general public. Negative stereotypes portray nurses as being overbearing, sexual, and incompetent. For example: Naughty Nurses, Airheaded, and Doctor’s Handmaiden. These stereotypes are portrayed in the media constantly even though nursing is a challenging respectable profession. Some of the positive images that are portrayed by the public are strong, patient advocates, dedicated, trustworthy, profession highly in demand, and highly intelligent. There are numerous actions that can be taken to actively fight the negative stereotypes. It generally starts by promoting positive images of the nursing students. This could start at the college setting or even the clinical setting where a lot of interactions will be done with the general public and strangers. I also think that if you actively educate others on the true meaning of nursing then that would also help fight negative stereotypes. This could generally be done in health career fairs, schools, colleges, and health centers where nurses are actively involved. Also establishing public image committee in the local neighborhood or city would also help. There are also popular celebrities that actively help with stereotypes. For example: Christina Aguilera as both a nurse and patient, exploited negative stereotypes of nurses. If popular celebrities can take active role in helping stop negative stereotypes for nurses then anyone can. It would definitely take a lot of hard work to stop it but eventually the word would come across. Moreover, television nurses also promote positive nursing its understood that medical dramas are meant to entertain, not serve as documentaries. Nevertheless, media-driven messages are also very powerful, influencing the culture and collective mindset. There are numerous current images of nurses in the media and challenges nurses to engage in professional and public service designed to promote a positive media and public image of nursing. In conclusion, if we actively did take a part in stopping negative stereotyping for nurses or any other profession it would benefit and bring more respect to the nursing world. It doesn’t take much to down grade a rofession but it takes a lot of hard work and time to stop the negative stereotyping. As I listed examples above to help reduce negative stereotyping all it takes is active participants to bring a change. In this time and age we often get influenced by individuals very fast and so why couldn’t we actively bring positive influence to society and help the nursing profession in general to lower negative stereotyping. Because it will greatly help our profession of nursing become more respectable in society.

Face Recognition Attendance System

Face Recognition Attendance System In the 21st century, everything around us has become depends upon technology to make our life much easier. Daily tasks are continuously becoming computerized. Nowadays more people prefer to do their work electronically. To the best of our knowledge, the process of recording students attendance at the university is still manual. Lecturers go through manual attendance sheets and signed papers to record attendance. This is slow, inefficient and time consuming. The main objective of this project is to offer system that simplify and automate the process of recording and tracking students attendance through face recognition technology. It is biometric technology to identify or verify a person from a digital image or surveillance video. Face recognition is widely used nowadays in different areas such as universities, banks, airports, and offices. We will use preprocessing techniques to detect, recognize and verify the captured faces like Eigenfaces method. We aim to provide a system that wi ll make the attendance process faster and more precisely. The core problem is identified along with solutions and project path. Furthermore, detailed system analysis and design, user interface, methods and the estimated results are presented through our documentation. Keywords: Attendance; Automate; Recording; biometric; face recognition; FRAS Face Recognition Attendance System NIST National Institute of Standards and Technology UML Unified Modeling Language IDE Integrated Development Environment MS Microsoft VS Visual Studio SQL Structured Query Language SSMS SQL Server Management Studio OO Object Oriented 1.1 Introduction Office automation refers to the collective hardware, software and processes that enable automation of the information processing and communication tasks in an organization. It involves using computers and software to digitize, store, process and communicate most routine tasks and processes in a standard office. [1] In addition, attendance considered as the biggest issues that may face lecturers in class. It takes time, effort and difficult to manage. Therefore, our project will focus on online student attendance. In another word, the aim of this project is to build a system that help lecturers take students attendance in a professional way. 1.2 Problem Definition Taking and tracking students attendance manually, losing attendance sheets, dishonesty, wasted time and high error scales are problems facing the lecturers use the existing attendance system. It is a hard process, take time and cause a lot of paper-based work. As a result, in order to solve these problems and avoid errors we suggest to computerize this process by providing a system that record and manage students attendance automatically without needing to lecturers interference. 1.3 Project Objectives Our primary goal is to help the lecturers, improve and organize the process of track and manage student attendance and absenteeism. Additionally, we seek to: Provides a valuable attendance service for both teachers and students. Reduce manual process errors by provide automated and a reliable attendance system uses face recognition technology. Increase privacy and security which student cannot presenting himself or his friend while they are not. Produce monthly reports for lecturers. Flexibility, Lectures capability of editing attendance records. Calculate absenteeism percentage and send reminder messages to students. 1.4 Project Scope Our project targets the students of different academic levels and faculty members. The main constraint we faced is distinguishing between identical twins. This situation is still a challenge to biometric systems especially facial recognition technology. According to Phillips and his co-researcher paper [2] to get the best results of the algorithms your system employed, they should run under certain conditions for taken pictures (i.e age, gender, expressions, studio environmentà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦etc.) otherwise, the problem is still ongoing. They provide application (method) to solve this problem, but in order to use this solution you have to sign a contract with the (NIST) organization and to be a researcher or developer. For us, to solve this issue we suggest to record twins attendance manually. 1.5 Contributions of This Study We have searched for a system that can take, monitor and manage students attendance and absenteeism, send reminder messages, calculate absenteeism percentage, and produce weekly, monthly, and annual reports. Based on our searches, there is no integrated system can support our idea. In this project, we are trying to develop such a system that can do all those tasks. Our project will serve students, lecturers, and the university as whole. 1.6 Project Timeline We utilized Gantt chart in figure 1.1, to show a project schedule with the start and finish dates of several tasks of a project and the deadline to submit the project. 1.7 Document Organization This project consists of six chapters. These chapters organized to reflect the scientific steps toward our main objective. A brief description about the contents of each chapter given in the following paragraphs: Chapter 1 introduces the problem definition, project objectives, the contribution of this project, the scope of the work, and the project layout. Chapter 2 provides the reader with an overview of the literature review. Chapter 3 displays the analysis of the existing system, requirements elicitation which includes (functional requirements, nonfunctional requirements, User Requirements.), requirements specification, research methodology. Chapter 4 displays the architectural design, object oriented design figure. Chapter 6 displays the conclusion that includes limitation and future work.    2.1 Introduction Over the past decade, taking down students attendance process had been developed and changed.The driven force of this development is the desire to automate, facilitate, speed up and save time and efforts. Although that the attendance systems are around us everywhere, Taibah university lecturers still use a traditional way to record students attendance either through calling out students names or through a passing attendance sheet among students to sign beside their names. Both ways are time consuming and associated with high error scales. In this project, we attempt to reduce wasted time, eliminate buddy clocking, and automate the process. Our system uses facial recognition technology to record the attendance through a high resolution digital camera that detects and recognizes faces and compare the recognize faces with students faces images stored in faces database. Once the recognized face matches a stored image, attendance is marked in attendance database for that person. The process will repeat if there are missed faces. For example, if there are 4 faces missed for a bad position while the detecting phase, then this phase will start again to detect the missed faces and recognize them and continue the attending process. By the end of the month, a monthly report is send to the lecturer contains attendance and absence rates as a chart and the names of absentees. Also, a warning message sends to the student if he passes the allowed number of absence. In this chapter, we present a brief overview of face recognition in the background section, relevant works to our project with their advantages and disadvantages, how we relate to these studies and how this project can provide some beneficial features for lecturer. 2.2 Background Most lecturers have a significant number of students and it is hard to keep taking or tracking all their absence. Facial recognition is commonly used in many institutions to take attendance of a significant number of students. There are many errors that could occur during this process, including misidentification and self-recognition [3]. Lecturer can control the errors and correct it. In the next subsection, brief overview of the usage,techniques, and methods in facial recognition. 2.2.1 Face Recognition Usage Face recognition rises from the moment that machine started to become more and more intelligent and had the advance of fill in, correct or help the lack of human abilities and senses. [4]. Common uses ofFacial recognition clarify in following points; Security; can be crime-fighting it will recognize people based on their eyes, nose and face. Searching for lost people. Games Taking student or employee attendance 2.2.2 Face Recognition Techniques and Methods Many factors influence the process of face recognition such as shape, size, pose, occlusion, and illumination. Facial recognition, have two different applications: basic and advanced . Major face recognition recognizes faces or no faces such as balls and animals. If it is a face, then the system searches for eyes, a nose, and a mouth. Advanced facial recognition manages the question on a specific face. This contains unique landmarks: the width of nose, wideness of the eyes, the depth and angle of the jaw, the height of cheekbones, and the separation between the eyes, and makes a unique numerical code. Utilizing these numerical codes, the system then matches that image with another image and distinguishes how comparable the pictures are to each other. The image provenance for face recognition include pre-existing pictures from various databases and video camera signals. [5] A facial recognition system involves the following phases: Face detection, feature extraction, and face recognition as illustrated in Figure 2.1. [5] Figure 2.1:General structure of the face recognition system. The following table compares some of the biometric technology used lately. Table ‎2.1: Comparison among some of the biometric technologies Biometric Technology Accuracy Price Tools required Facial recognition Moderate Moderate Camera Voice recognition Moderate Moderate Microphone Fingerprint High Moderate Scanner 2.3 Related Work In this section, we highlight some related works that were developed to recognize faces and takedown attendance together with the advantages and disadvantages of each system. 2.3.1 Review of Relevant Work 2.3.1.1 Auto Attendance Using Face Recognition (by Mahvish Tania) Figure 2.2: Screenshot of Main Interface (Admin Tasks Interface) Figure 2.3: Screenshot of Auto Attendance systems interface In this project, we have two users responsible for the system [6]. The instructor who takes the attendance and admin who is responsible for managing students faces in the faces database. Admin selects a camera to capture, collect and save images to database or a folder. After the collection and saving the process done the trainingSet manager start to extract faces from the image by face detection. Finally, the trainingSet manager (Admin) will add the extracted image -person- to class or trainingSet. And as you can see in the illustrated figure, 2.3 above, attendance is taken down by recognizing the faces through a web camera and automatically marked in attendance sheet with daytime. The instructor chooses the course ID and the class ID to begin the attending process. Advantages: The system stores the faces that are detected and automatically marks attendance. Provide authorized access. Ease of use. Multiple face detection. Provide methods to maximize the number of extracted faces from an image. Disadvantages: The accuracy of the system is not 100%. Face detection and loading training data processes just a little bit slow. The instructor and trainingSet manager still have to do some work manually. 2.3.1.2 Attendance System on Face Detection (By NevonProjects) The system is created for employing a simple and a secure way of recording attendance. First of all, the software takes a picture of all the authorized individuals and stores the information into the systems database. Then, the system stores pictures by mapping it into a face match structure. The system will recognize the registered person and mark his/her attendance along with the arrival time whenever he/she enters the locations again [7]. Advantages: The system stores the faces that are detected and automatically marks attendance. Ease of use. Manipulate and recognize the faces in real time using live video data. Multiple face detection. Multipurpose software. Can be used in different places. Disadvantages: The accuracy of the system is not 100%. It can only detect face from a limited distance. It cannot repeat live video to recognize missed faces. 2.3.1.3 Face Login Face Login allows you to log in to your PC by looking at your webcam. FaceLogin associates user accounts with a picture, and then, when looking at your webcam, you can login because it detects you on the webcam. [8] Advantages: Only an administrator can run FaceLogin and change its settings. More than one way to configure users. Can store more than one image for a user to maximize face detection. Disadvantages: Applications accuracy is not 100%. Adding users manually. Associated risks with stored data and images. Uses traditional way to access the application. Limited use. 2.3.1.4 Biometric Face Detection Attendance Systems Face recognition systems with time attendance provide multi-biometric and multi-authentication modes. Attached with high resolution infra-red camera works in low light, best face recognition algorithms and identification methods. Advantages Convenient. Provide many recognition ways. High accuracy. Used for secure purposes. Provide many communication models. Disadvantages Limited capacity. Detect faces from a limited distance. People stand in a queue to take their attendance. Screen size. Still uses traditional authentication PIN way. 2.3.1.5 C-400 Facial Recognition Clocking System Facial recognition timing systems will give you precise attendance information and stop employees buddy clocking when employee sing on behalf of his colleague-. [9] Advantages C-400 Face recognition timing technology reduces any likelihood of your employees signing for each other in/out. Complete suite of reports. Printable attendance register in the event of an emergency. Disadvantages There is no External Bell Attachment. Device is expensive. The face has to be in front of the device to record attendance. 2.3.1.6 Churchix Face Recognition Software Churchix presents face recognition software, which takes someones face through a picture or video and then identifies it by comparing it with those in a database of pictures. The software is becoming more common in every day interactions. [10] Advantages: Attending members in videos and photos. High quality photos. High accuracy. Disadvantages: Some people they see as a threat to privacy. Inability to capture all the faces in the video. Restart the video several times to capture all faces. Figure 2.5: Screenshot of Churchix Face Recognition Software 2.3.2 Relationship Between the Relevant Work and Our Own Work Table ‎2.2: Comparison among applications viewed in the previous section Application Auto Attendance Using Face Recognition by: MahvishTania Attendance System on Face Detection By: NevonProjects Face Login Biometric Face Detection Attendance Systems C-400 Facial Recognition Clocking System Churchix Face Recognition Software Face Recognition Attendance System Database à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã… ¡ à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã… ¡ à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã… ¡ à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã… ¡ à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã… ¡ à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã… ¡ à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã… ¡ Hardware PC Webcam PC , camera Pc , webcam Camera camera PC , camera PC , camera Language C# C# unknown Unknown unknown unknown C# Scope student student anyone employees employees anyone Student light-on when-the camera starts à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã… ¡ Fast Face detection à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã… ¡ à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã… ¡ à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã… ¡ unlimited distance à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã… ¡ High accuracy à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã… ¡ à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã… ¡ à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã… ¡ à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã… ¡ From table 2.2, the main point in our project is to create a system that facilitates students attending process. The following points summarize features will be adopted in the system: The light on when the camera starts facial recognition because reduce the error There are screen next to the camera to display the result of attendees and absentees The system at the end of the class update attendance sheet 2.4 Summary An automatic attendance management system is needed tool for huge organizations. Many organizations have been used face recognition system such as train stations, airports, and companies. Overall, this chapter provided an overview of some related works that were developed with their advantages and disadvantages. Moreover, we compare between the relevant work and our own work and show the differentiation between them. The matter that has to be taken into consideration in the future is a method to guarantee users privacy. Whenever an image is stored on servers, it must be impossible for unauthorized person to get or see that image. 3.1 Introduction This chapter examines the analysis that determined the adequacy of the existing attendance system and identifies the requirements of the new system. Additionally, a specification of functional, nonfunctional and user requirements will be presented to understand how the system will work. In the term of analyzing these requirements, UML diagrams of the new system will be presented. 3.2 Analysis of Existing Systems In the school, colleges and universities attendance system are used to keep the record of a student presence and absence. It is true that the Taibah University has an electronic system but still needs a manual intervention. There are two case to attend students: First, add students attendance directly to the attendance web page. Second, write attendees names on a paper then move it to the web page. These two cases have drawbacks such as in the first case, there is a possibility to disconnect the connection and chose the wrong date. In the second case, there is a chance to loss the paper and it is a waste of resources We did a questionnaire that was targeted a lecturer in Taibah University and the number of participants nineteen. The aim of this questionnaire is to determine the satisfaction of the current system. Here are some questions and their statistics. As shown in figure 3.1, 84.2% of lecturers do not like the existing systems, we should take into consideration this percentage and develop a new attendance system. As can be seen from the Figure 3.2, 84.2% of the lecturer sees the existing system not suitable for all people like deaf. This is one of the drawbacks of the existing system, and there are more such as: There is always a chance of forgery (one person signing the presence of the other one) More manpower is required (some person to take attendance) To overcome the problems in the existing system, we will develop a face recognition attendance system. The majority of lecturer sees as in the figure 3.3, if we replace the current system with a biometric system it will be successful. Overall these statistics, the lecturer is not satisfied about the existing attendance system. 3.3 Requirements Elicitation The requirements are the descriptions of the system services and constraints. 3.3.1 Functional Requirements System functional requirement describes activities and services that must provide. Taking and tracking student attendance by facial recognition in specific time. Sending the names of the absent student directly to the lecturer Permitting the lecturer to modify the student absent or late. Showing the names of who is absent or late in the screen to avoid errors. 3.3.2 Non-Functional Requirements Nonfunctional Requirements are characteristics or attributes of the system that can judge its operation. The following points clarify them: Accuracy and Precision: the system should perform its process in accuracy and Precision to avoid problems. Modifiability: the system should be easy to modify, any wrong should be correct. Security: the system should be secure and saving students privacy. Usability: the system should be easy to deal with and simple to understand. Maintainability: the maintenance group should be able to fix any problem occur suddenly. Speed and Responsiveness: Execution of operations should be fast. 3.3.3 User Requirements or Domain requirements Tools that the user must have in order to use the system and obtain good results: Software Requirements: windows7 or higher, SQL and visual studio. Hardware Requirements: high resolution camera and screen. 3.4 Requirements Specification Use case diagram is one of Unified Modeling Language (UML) that describes the system functionality, what actors that interact with the system and any associations between use cases. As shown in figure 3.4, the FRAS has actors named Admin, Lecturer and Student which are the main users of the system. Other actor, timer which turns camera on to record attendance by detecting and recognizing faces. 3.4.1 Use Case Description (Detailed Use Cases) (1) Log in Table ‎3.1: Log-in usecase description Use Case Name: Log in Use Case Number:1 Actors: Admin, Lecturer, student Description: This use case describes how Admin, Lecturer and student log into the system. Triggering events: Lecturer, admin and student enter his username and password. Steps Performed (Main Path): 1-System requires users to enter username/password. 2-Users enter username/password. 3-System validate entered username/password. 4-The use case ends successfully. Preconditions: System installed on pc. Admin, Lecturer and student must be authorized. Post-conditions: Log in is successfully. Alternate: If the Admin, Lecturer and student is not fill correctly, the log in fails. (2) Manage student attendance. Table ‎3.2: Manage student attendance usecase description Use Case Name: Manage student attendance Use Case Number: 2 Actors: Admin, Lecturer. Description:

Mark Twain Essay -- Samuel Langhorne Clemens Biography Bio

Samuel Langhorne Clemens, better known as Mark Twain, is perhaps the most distinguished author of American Literature. Next to William Shakespeare, Clemens is arguably the most prominent writer the world has ever seen. In 1818, Jane Lampton found interest in a serious young lawyer named John Clemens. With the Lampton family in heavy debt and Jane only 15 years of age, she soon arried John. The family moved to Gainesboro, Tennessee where Jane gave birth to Orion Clemens. In the summer of 1827 the Clemenses relocated to Virginia where John purchased thousands of acres of land and opened a legal advice store. The lack of success of the store led John to drink heavily. Scared by his addiction, John vowed never to drink again. Even though John now resisted alcohol, he faced other addictions. His concoction of aloe, rhubarb, and a narcotic cost him most of his savings and money soon became tight (Paine 34-35).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The family soon grew with the birth of Pamela late in 1827. Their third child,Pleasant Hannibal, did not live past three months, due to illness. In 1830 Margaret was born and the family moved to Pall Mall, a rural county in Tennessee. After Henry’s birth in 1832, the value of their farmland greatly depreciated and sent the Clemenses on the road again. Now they would stay with Jane’s sister in Florida, Missouri where she ran a successful business with her husband. Clemens was born on November 30, 1835, in the small remote town of Florida, Missouri. Samuel’s parents, John Marshall and Jane Lampton Clemens never gave up on their child, who was two months premature with little hope of survival. This was coincidentally the same night as the return of Halley’s Comet. The Clemenses were a superstitious family and believed that Halley’s Comet was a portent of good fortune. Writing as Mark Twain, Samuel L. Clemens would claim that Florida,Missouri â€Å"contained 100 people and I increased the population by one percent. It is more than the best man in history ever did for any other town† (Hoffman 15).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  1847 proved to be a horrific year for John Clemens. He ventured to Palmyra in order to find work on the county seat. On his voyage home he found himself in a devastating snowstorm which left him ill with pneumonia. He stayed at his friend Dr.Grant’s house, ill and jaded, where he rested and grew weak. He died on March 24, 1847 at the age of 48 (Kaplan 112-125... ...true. On the night of April 21 he set his gaze on Halley’s Comet, sank into a coma and died (Cox 218).  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Essentially no one any longer ponders the place of Mark Twain in American literature, or in international literature. A pioneer in writing, William Dean Howells best sums Mark Twain up with, â€Å"There was never anybody like him; there never will be† (Hoffman 497). Works Cited Cox, Clinton. Mark Twain: America’s Humorist, Dreamer, Prophet. New York:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Scholastic Inc.1995 Hoffman, Andrew. Inventing Mark Twain: The lives of Samuel L. Clemens. New York:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  William Morrow 1997 Kaplan, Justin. Mr. Clemens and Mark Twain: A Biography. New York: Simon and   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Schuster 1966 Long, Hudson E. and J.R. Lemaster. The New Mark Twain Handbook. New York and   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  London: Garland Publishing Inc. 1985 Lyttle, Richard B. Mark Twain: The Man and His Adventures. New York: Macmillan   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Publishing Company 1994 MiningCo. Research. â€Å"Mark Twain- Home Page† Online. Internet 1999 Paine, Albert Bigelow. Mark Twain: A Biography. New York: Harper and Brothers,   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  1912 Robinson Research. â€Å"Samuel Langhorne Clemens a.k.a. Mark Twain†. Online.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Internet 1998

The Old Family Bank

The Old Family Bank I. Problems A. Macro 1. The lack of loyalty to the entire bank could affect the effectiveness (and profitability) of the bank. 2. The bank may have a poor process for setting pay policies. B. Micro 1. Though the personnel in the computer services department have a strong team, they are not loyal to the larger organization. 2. Computer services personnel believe that management does not appreciate them, their skills, and contributions. 3. Computer services personnel may be underpaid when compared to similar workers in other companies. II. Causes 1.The skilled workers in the computer services department do not recognize all of the factors that may affect pay and rewards. 2. The computer services personnel possibly have access to more company-wide information by virtue of the type of work their department does than do personnel in other departments. Consequently, they get a portion of the data without understanding how managers make decisions based upon that data. II I. Systems affected The attitudes of the computer services personnel to the bank likely affect the entire bank’s operations. IV. Alternatives 1. H. Day gathers more data to confirm/disprove initial diagnosis. . Use a diagnosis model such as force-field analysis to understand better the problem. Working through the model may bring to light ways to change the situation in the computer services department. 3. Day checks on regional employment data to determine if computer services personnel are being paid competitively with similar workers in other companies. Adjust pay if warranted by the data. 4. Meet with the department and explain the bank’s procedures and rationale for how pay levels are set. V. Recommendations All of the alternatives listed above can be undertaken by Day.

Bossini Research

Company background Bossini International Holdings Limited is an investment holding company which engages in retail, distribution, and wholesale of garments. The investment holding company together with its subsidiaries (â€Å"Bossini†) group carries casual wear products for a wide spread age range from ladies', men’s, teenagers’, kids’ and babies' wear products. Bossini was listed in Stock Exchange of Hong Kong in 1993 with a stock code of 592. It was found in 1987 and launched its first retail outlet in 1987 and it expands its distribution network both locally and internationally in the past two decades. Currently, its distribution network contains more than 1,470 stores, approximate 65% of them are self managed stores and 35% of them are franchised stores, covering 36 countries and regions worldwide. With headquarter in Hong Kong, its market covers all over the world. Nevertheless, its core market is the Asia pacific region including Hong Kong, Mainland China, Taiwan, Singapore and Malaysia. Its largest flagship store is situated in Mong kok, Hong Kong. Milestone 1987:1st retail outlet opened in Hong Kong 1998:Launched franchising operation 1993:Listed in Hong Kong Stock Exchange 1st retail outlet opened in Mainland China 004:Launched a new product line, â€Å"Bossinistyle†, in Mainland China Present:Over 1470 stores around the world Branding Bossini’s brand value is â€Å"be happy† and it helps promote a positive and optimistic life attitude. The brand color is green and it represents a spirit of growth. Through the colorful products and outstanding customer se rvices, Bossini successfully cultivate a comfortable and feel like home shopping environment. There are mainly five product lines, â€Å"Bossini†, â€Å"Bossinistyle†, â€Å"Bossini ladies†, â€Å"Bossini kids† and â€Å"Yb† and the major ones are â€Å"Bossini† and â€Å"Bossinistyle†. Business Overview Major markets: The major markets for Bossini are Hong Kong, Mainland China, Taiwan and Singapore and they are in an order from the highest revenue contribution that covers over 98% of total revenue. The Hong Kong and Singapore markets contribute approximate 55% and 9% of the group’s total revenue respectively and they are quite stable. On the other hand, the Mainland China market keeps contributing more from 2008 to 2011 and it is increased from 19% (2008) to 25% (2011) that represents a 10% average yearly growth. For Taiwan market, the contribution decreases gradually from 14% (2008) to 11% (2011). The revenue contribution can be determined by various factors such as geographic economic performance diversity, geographic brand popularity, and resource allocation, opening more stores can bring in more sales. Therefore, we need to have other analysis to help investigate the cause the revenue contribution up and down. Presently, Hong Kong is still Bossini’s primary market and the major revenue contributor; however, the Mainland China market will be the key growth driver in the long run. Number of shops: The speed of opening new stores in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore is stable except the Mainland China. From 2008 to 2011, the direct managed stores has been jumped from 304 (2008) to 456 (2011). This represents a 14. 5% average yearly growth. It is one of the reasons to explain why the revenue contribution from the Mainland China keeps increasing. On the other, although the number of franchised stores also has a significant increase, from 391 (2008) to 521 (2011), the revenue from these stores is trivial comparing to the total revenue. Net sales per square feet: Even though Bossini has opened lots of stores in the Mainland China, the net sales per square feet in 2011 (HK$1,340/sq feet) is still lower than HK$1,500/sq feet in 2008. It implies that even more stores can bring in more sales to the group, but the marginal benefit is diminishing. The sales growth in the Mainland China cannot catch up the speed of opening new stores. There are many reasons to cause this happen and one of the reasons is some stores are competing each others. That means that geographic area might have too many Bossini stores. However, the management still needs to open more stores due to fierce competition by other brands. If Bossini slows its pace to expand, it might lose its business and the net sales per square feet is even worse. Nevertheless, the net sales per square feet in the Hong Kong market performed extraordinary well and it rises from HK$5,700 per square feet (2008) to HK$11,000 (2011). It is very important since Hong Kong is the one the cities with highest rental cost in the world and a strong sales per square feet can help reduce the pressure of high rental cost. Retail businesses are strongly affected by rental cost. Besides experiencing an upturn from the economic recovery, Bossini has adopted different business strategies focusing on branding and marketing initiatives. One of the best strategies is adopted is the co-branded licensing program. For example, Bossini teamed up with M&M’s, classic cartoon figure and TV show character to launch limited edition items and which can add value to Bossini’s products and boost up both its revenue and profit margin tremendously. These campaigns can also strengthen Bossini’s â€Å"be happy† brand value and enhance overall brand awareness. Financial summary Income statement: The Bossini’s gross profit increased 14% from HK$1,190 million in 2010 to HK$1,354 million in 2011 but the gross margin dropped a little from 52% in 2010 to 51% in 2011. It is slightly lower than the last year owing to the expansion for franchise businesses since the profit margin of them are usually low. From 2008 to 2010, the revenue is quite stable, approximate HK$2,290 million per year on average, and it boosts up in 2011 to HK$2,640 million. Due to global recession starting in late 2008, Bossini was doing quite well to maintain its revenue at HK$2. 3 billion and the honor is given to the right move to develop the Mainland China Market. China is one of the few countries that were being hit by the financial crisis the least and thus Bossini experienced a stable growth and strong domestic consumption in the Mainland China. When we take a look of the gross profit, its trend looks similar to the revenue. Nevertheless, when we take a look of the operating profit, it fluctuates more volatile during 2008 to 2011 comparing to revenue and gross profit because the selling & distribution cost and administrative expense are relatively fixed and usually it is hard to be cut even the revenue and gross profit drop. Overall, the revenue, gross profit and operating profit are extraordinary improved in 2011 due to the economy recovery in Asia pacific region. Balance sheet: Bossini’s current asset weights heavily on the total assets. Cash and cash equivalents, inventory and debtors and bill receivable all together represent 90% of the current assets. The level of cash and cash equivalents represents over 80% of the net current assets (i. e. current asset – current liability) which reflects that Bossini has a strong cash position and it does not has any short term liquidity issue. In general, Bossini is a financially healthy company. However, the high level of stock level makes me concern. The average yearly growth from 2008 to 2011 is 21. 5%. As we have discussed before, the revenue is quite stable from 2008 to 2010 and it is not a very good signal that the inventory level is kept rising. The inventory turnover day is 36 days in 2008 and is 57 days in 2011. In another word, it needs almost two months to clear all its stock on hand. Usually, apparel and fashion industry faced with short product life cycles and cannot afford such a long inventory turnover day. Such a high level of inventory might be caused by enormous product variety to meet different geographic preference. SWOT Strengths Overall business – Bossini is innovative and keen to adopt different business strategies on brand building and marketing initiatives such as adopting the co-branded licensing program. Financial – Bossini has a solid liquidity background that reserves enough resource for it to keep expanding the potential market in the Mainland China. Also, the robust improvement of sales per square feet in Hong Kong market helps reduce the pressure of expensive rental cost. Weakness Overall business – Not every product line is successful under Bossini. It has been expanding pragmatically its â€Å"Bossini† stores while consolidating its â€Å"Bossinistyle† stores as a revamp in the Mainland China market. It opened 72 more â€Å"Bossini† stores but 34 closed â€Å"Bossinistyle† stores in 2011. The operating loss in the Mainland China market was attributable to the â€Å"Bossinistyle† stores consolidation. Financial – an increasing inventory turnover day signals that Bossini is producing more than they can be sold. The product life cycle for apparel is usually short and such a long turnover day will bring it to be an expense finally. Also, a lower operating margin, i. e. 4 to 5%, gives no buffer to the company during economic downturn. Opportunities The co-brand licensing program in Hong Kong market is successful. As the Mainland China market is going to be more and more important to Bossini, the management can adopt something similar as well. Together with the government policies to stimulate domestic consumption in the Mainland China, a successful business strategy can improve sales per square feet. Bossini can enjoy the result of revenue and profit growth even though with slower pace of opening new stores which help restrain operating expense. In the long run, as income in the Mainland China is expected to rise further, the average spending by consumers on retail products is also expected to continue the upward trend. Threats External – The global economy is facing uncertainties by the new European debt crisis and our major markets are expected to experience a slowdown. Internal – Bossini needs to launch a fashionable touch in style that fit different geographic preference. The failure of â€Å"Bossinistyle† in the Mainland Market reveals that Bossini did not target at the Chinese customers well. Financial performance Liquidity Ratio Liquidity ratio reveals a company’s short-term solvency. Current ratio and Acid-Test ratio are commonly used. Current ratio is calculated by dividing current assets by current liabilities. Its main purpose to measure whether a company has enough resources to pay its debts over the next 12 months. Even though Bossini’s current ratios is kept decreasing year to year, but it is still higher than 2. It means every dollar the company owes in the short term has two dollars worth short term assets that is available to convert into cash to meet creditor's demands. Acid-Test ratio is to measure whether a company can pay all its current liabilities if they are due immediately. The formula is similar to current ratio except it only considers those current assets that can be quickly converted to cash (i. e. exclude inventory and prepaid expense). Bossini’s acid test ratio is always higher than 1 means it is able to meet current obligations only using liquid assets). Acid test ratio is lower than current ratio since inventory and prepaid expense are excluded. But still, Bossini is considered to have a good financial strength in short term because both these ratios are higher than one. Activity Ratio Activity ratio measures a company’s asset management efficiency. Inventory turnover and Accounts Receivable turnover are commonly used. Inventory turnover measures the number of times inventory is sold during a year. The inventory turnover is kept decreasing year to year reflects that inventory is more and more difficult to be sold. In 2011, 6. 4 means that Bossini sold its inventory approximate 6 times during the year or it needed approximate 2 months to sell its inventory. Accounts Receivable turnover measures the ability to collect cash from credit customers. In this case, the account receivable turnover is not an important indicator since the average accounts receivable contributes less than 10% of total current asset and only a very small amount of credit sales will be involved. It is common for retail business. Solvency Ratio Solvency ratio measures a company’s ability to pay long term liabilities. The most common solvency ratio is Debt ratio. Debt ratio is calculated by dividing total liabilities by total assets. Its main purpose to show the proportion of a company’s assets which are financed through debt. In general, Bossini’s debt ratio is less than 0. which means most of its assets are financed through equity. It is a highly liquid company and it is financially healthy even creditors demand repayment of debt. However, this advantage is diminishing from 2008 to 2011. It is mainly due to Bossini has a short term borrowing of HKD78M starting in 2009 and gradually raised to HKD128M in 2011. Profitability Ratio Prof itability ratio measures a company’s overall efficiency and performance. Return on Sales, Return on Assets and Return on Equity are the popular profitability ratio. Return on Sales shows the percentage of each dollar of sales that a company can turn into income. It is calculated by dividing net income by net sales. Bossini only enjoys a low return sales which is common for low end products retail business; however, it has been increased from 2. 7% in 2008 to 4. 9% in 2011 reflects it has strived to improve its profitability strength over 80% during these years. Return on Assets shows how profitable a company's assets are in generating revenue. It is calculated by dividing net income plus interest expense by average total assets. An uptrend of Return on Assets reveals that it requires less and less investments to generate the same revenue which is good for Bossini. Lastly, Return on Common Equity shows how well a company uses investment funds to generate revenue. It is calculated by dividing net income net off with preferred dividends by average common equity. Bossini’s sustainable growth, in Return on Common Equity (except in 2009 due to worldwide financial crisis) indicates the management maintains Bossini as a high growth company. Market Analysis ratios Market Analysis ratio is a good indicator for stock valuation. Price/Earning ratio and Dividend yield are widely used. Price/Earning ratio (â€Å"P/E ratio†) reflects a price the market is willing to pay for a share relative to its annual earning. P/E is calculated by dividing market price per share by earnings per share. A high P/E ratio does not mean it is more expensive, it just means that investors are willing to pay more for each dollar of earning compared to one with a lower P/E ratio. There are many factors that investors are willing to pay this premium such as fast growing, unique business model, market sentiment, and many others. For Bossini, the market price per share is pretty stable throughout these years and the high P/E ratio in 2009 is due to the extraordinary low earnings per share caused by worldwide financial crisis. Dividend yield measures the percentage of annual dividend return comparing to a stock’s market value. It is calculated by dividing dividend per share by market price per share. Bossini’s investors can expect to receive more cash dividends in the future from the increasing dividend yield pattern. However, investors have to beware that the dividend yield might be dropped even they receive the same amount of cash dividend because of the market price per share increase. Either way, investors will be appreciated.