Tokyo Afm free essay sample

How would you recognize revenues associated with this type of catastrophe insurance contract? As with any accounting transaction the attempt is to capture the economic reality of the transaction. By recognizing all of the revenue up front upon the cash collection of the policy, it does not accurately portray the liability that Tokyo AFM has over the term of the policy. We will write a custom essay sample on Tokyo Afm or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page In order for a company to be able to recognize revenue it must be both earned and realized or realizable. Meaning that Tokyo AFM must fulfill the obligations of the contract of 5 years, and secondly that it has been paid for the services. Furthermore in SAB 101 4 basic conditions exist that help clarify revenue recognition: * Persuasive evidence of an arrangement exists- in the form of a contract with Fuji computers protecting it’s building against earthquake damage, over the term of 5 years. * Delivery has occurred or services have been rendered- the life of contract is 5 years, therefore Tokyo AFM is liable for the damages over the life of the policy. * The seller’s price to the buyer is fixed or determinable- Assumed at a price of ? 100 million up front in cash. Collectability is reasonably assured-As stated; the premium was paid up front in cash. With all previous information stated, Tokyo AFM should recognize the revenue of ? 100 million, evenly over the 5 year life of the contract. Question 2: Would you capitalize any of the above acquisition cost, or would you expense them immediately? If you were to capitalize the costs, over what period would you amortize them? A. The commission fee paid to the agent of ? 50,000 should be capitalized, and amortized. The fee of ? 50,000 should be spread across the useful life of the contract, in this case, 2 years. My opinion would be to use a straight line method, amortizing ? 25,000 each year. This portrays the economic reality of the situation, and closely follows the principles laid out by GAAP. The straight line method allocates the cost equally over the expected life of the asset 2 years. By immediately expensing the costs of the commission paid to the agent, Tokyo AFM is not accurately portraying the economic reality of the situation. The basis of accrual accounting is to record transactions in the period in which the events occur, and not necessarily when the cash is paid or received. B. The marketing efforts over the past 6 months to promote the Home Umbrella offerings should not be amortized and expensed immediately. Under GAAP, it is a general rule that advertising and marketing costs are expensed when they are incurred. The main reason is because it is nearly impossible to tell when or if marketing efforts will results in an increase of sales. If there is a point in time which you can attribute a growth in sales to marketing efforts, how much of the increase, would be attributed to the new marketing campaign would be nearly impossible to predict. For these reasons, GAAP recommends that marketing and advertising costs are reconciled against operating income in the time period in which they occurred. Thus, removing any ability to capitalize an expense in which you can not specifically determine how much of, or during what time period it would be appropriate to capitalize certain costs. Please note, that under GAAP this is a recommendation, and not a requirement. There are several examples of companies using â€Å"deferred customer acquisition costs† in order to prop up their overall financial standing. As with many companies that attempt to misrepresent their financial performance, this leads to a slippery slope and often ends in the demise of said companies. It is important to continue to portray the best financial picture possible of Tokyo AFM; therefore I would recommend expensing these marketing and advertising costs immediately. Question 3: What accounting treatment would you choose for expected losses (a) associated with automobile contracts and (b) associated with catastrophes? From a shareholder’s perspective, what concerns do you think could arise with respect to the accounting treatment of expected losses? A. In an attempt to accurately represent the amount of liability owed in automobile claims Tokyo AFM should show a line item of a liability. Because these claims can be reasonably estimated, and paid out within the current fiscal year reporting. Based on historical information Tokyo can estimate it’s liabilities within a 10 percent ratio, as stated in exhibit 1. The company must be cognizant of economic reality, and estimates that 70% of claims made will be payable due to automobile claims. Under or overstating its liabilities due to automobile premiums could result in misstating financial information and depict a financial environment that in fact is not reality. B. In dealing with a situation like a catastrophe, or trying to accurately represent this economic event on a balance sheet, I would think you would treat it as an item disclosed in the financial statement notes, but not accrued as a liability. There is no level of certainty in which this event can be predicted, from a time perspective, nor from a cost or liability stand point. Based upon historical information provided, there is no accurate predictor of these type claims. In order to accurately represent the event, and premiums paid to Tokyo AFM, they must show some type of claim over the life of the insurance premium contract. In the 20 years of historical information, there is not a pattern, and attempting to associate a fixed cost, to this type of insurance policy would be misrepresenting the reality of the type of claim associated. Catastrophic events cannot be predicted, nor can the amount of liability, or damage incurred by such events. From the shareholder’s perspective, I would feel as though this would be an area in which you would feel as though the company should be fairly conservative in their estimates. Although Tokyo AFM could misstate liabilities, if it grossly under estimated its total liabilities it could certainly mislead investors, one way or another. GAAP and other guidelines that shape decision making in accounting must always as accurately as possible depict the financial position These are typically valued at market value on a balance sheet, and unrealized gains and losses are included as a component of shareholder’s equity shown on the balance sheet. These marketable securities can be written up or down determined by market value. As with all items on a balance sheet accuracy and reality are the most important aspects in dealing with a company’s financial standing. The liquidity of Tokyo AFM must be accurately portrayed, and when looking at the investments made, it is imperative to show its ability to pay claims, and sustain profitability.

a question of framing essays

a question of framing essays A landscape is a series of named locales, a set of relational places linked by paths, movements and narratives. (Tilley '94 conclusion) It's a long way from rural New South Wales to rural n/e France or more precisely the other way around but with the right light and a morning mist and possibly the squinting of eyes, a paddock with a haystack here could be there or there here. Though of course it would only be a trick of the mind and the light, the paddocks and the haystacks carry their own stories which would refuse to engage in such deception but they may be captured in their own elements, engaged in that moment of mist filled eye-squint, to mingle and enmesh with the viewers stories/ memories/ passages and possibly here or there or both be dabbed upon a canvas. Stolen from its place of Being, a haystack out of context with its reason. Later to travel the world, a representative of it's time, locale, people. (...) A journey along a path can be claimed to be a paradigmatic cultural act, since it is following in the steps inscribed by others whose steps have worn a conduit for movement which becomes the correct or 'best way to go. There is usually a good reason for following in a particular direction linking places in a serial trajectory, and the more people who have shared in the purpose of the path the more important it becomes. Paths form an essential medium for routing of social relations, connecting up spatialimpressions with temporally inscribed memories. (Tilley '94) A question of framing. What is in view and not, what comes into view and leaves. Objects/thoughts depart, move through the field of vision/thinking to make way for others. Again I am driving the freeway to Canberra. I'm going to the National Gallery to see 'Monet ...

Barack Obama - Knox College Commencement Address

Barack Obama Commencement Address at Knox College delivered 4 June 2005, Galesburg, Illinois You know, it has been about six months now since you sent me to Washington as your United States Senator. I recognize that not all of you voted for me, so for those of you muttering under your breath I didn’t send you anywhere, thats ok too. Maybe we’ll hold What do you call it? a little Pumphandle after the ceremony. Change your mind for the next time. It has been a fascinating journey thus far. Each time I walk onto the Senate floor, Im reminded of the history, for good and for ill, that has been made there. But there have been a few surreal moments. For example, I remember the day before I was sworn in, myself and my staff, we decided to hold a press conference in our office. Now, keep in mind that I am ranked 99th in seniority. I was proud that I wasn’t ranked dead last until I found out that it’s just because Illinois is bigger than Colorado. So I’m 99th in seniority, and all the reporters are crammed into the tiny transition office that I have, which is right next to the janitor’s closet in the basement of the Dirksen Office Building. It’s my first day in the building, I have not taken a single vote, I have not introduced one bill, had not even sat down in my desk, and this very earnest reporter raises his hand and says: â€Å"Senator Obama, what is your place in history?† I did what you just did, which is laugh out loud. I said, place in history? I thought he was kidding. At that point, I wasn’t even sure the other Senators would save a place for me at the cool kids’ table. But as I was thinking about the words to share with this class, about what’s next, about what’s possible, and what opportunities lay ahead, I actually think it’s not a bad question for you, the class of 2005, to ask yourselves: What will be your place in history? In other eras, across distant lands, this question could be answered with relative ease and certainty. As a servant in Rome, you knew you’d spend your life forced to build somebody else’s Empire. As a peasant in 11th Century China, you knew that no matter how hard you worked, the local warlord might come and take everything you had and you also knew that famine might come knocking at the door. As a subject of King George, you knew that your freedom of worship and your freedom to speak and to build your own life would be ultimately limited by the throne. And then America happened. A place where destiny was not a destination, but a journey to be shared and shaped and remade by people who had the gall, the temerity to believe that, against all odds, they could form â€Å"a more perfect union† on this new frontier. And as people around the world began to hear the tale of the lowly colonists who overthrew an empire for the sake of an idea, they started to come. Across oceans and the ages, they settled in Boston and Charleston, Chicago and St. Louis, Kalamazoo and Galesburg, to try and build their own American Dream. This collective dream moved forward imperfectly it was scarred by our treatment of native peoples, betrayed by slavery, clouded by the subjugation of women, shaken by war and depression. And yet, brick by brick, rail by rail, calloused hand by calloused hand, people kept dreaming, and building, and working, and marching, and petitioning their government, until they made America a land where the question of our place in history is not answered for us. It’s answered by us. Have we failed at times? Absolutely. Will you occasionally fail when you embark on your own American journey? You surely will. But the test is not perfection. The true test of the American ideal is whether we’re able to recognize our failings and then rise together to meet the challenges of our time. Whether we allow ourselves to be shaped by events and history, or whether we act to shape them. Whether chance of birth or circumstance decides life’s big winners and losers, or whether we build a community where, at the very least, everyone has a chance to work hard, get ahead, and reach their dreams. We have faced this choice before. At the end of the Civil War, when farmers and their families began moving into the cities to work in the big factories that were sprouting up all across America, we had to decide: Do we do nothing and allow captains of industry and robber barons to run roughshod over the economy and workers by competing to see who can pay the lowest wages at the worst working conditions? Or do we try to make the system work by setting up basic rules for the market, instituting the first public schools, busting up monopolies, letting workers organize into unions? We chose to act, and we rose together. When the irrational exuberance of the Roaring Twenties came crashing down with the stock market, we had to decide: do we follow the call of leaders who would do nothing, or the call of a leader who, perhaps because of his physical paralysis, refused to accept political paralysis? We chose to act regulating the market, putting people back to work, expanding bargaining rights to include health care and a secure retirement and together we rose. When World War II required the most massive home front mobilization in history and we needed every single American to lend a hand, we had to decide: Do we listen to skeptics who told us it wasn’t possible to produce that many tanks and planes? Or, did we build Roosevelt’s Arsenal for Democracy and grow our economy even further by providing our returning heroes with a chance to go to college and own their own home? Again, we chose to act, and again, we rose together. Today, at the beginning of this young century, we have to decide again. But this time, it is your turn to choose. Here in Galesburg, you know what this new challenge is. You’ve seen it. All of you, your first year in college saw what happened at 9/11. It’s already been noted, the degree to which your lives will be intertwined with the war on terrorism that currently is taking place. But what you’ve also seen, perhaps not as spectacularly, is the fact that when you drive by the old Maytag plant around lunchtime, no one walks out anymore. I saw it during the campaign when I met union guys who worked at the plant for 20, 30 years and now wonder what they’re gonna do at the age of 55 without a pension or health care; when I met the man who’s son needed a new liver but because he’d been laid off, didn’t know if he could afford to provide his child the care that he needed. It’s as if someone changed the rules in the middle of the game and no wonder no one bothered to tell these folks. And, in reality, the rules have changed. It started with technology and automation that rendered entire occupations obsolete. When was the last time anybody here stood in line for the bank teller instead of going to the ATM, or talked to a switchboard operator? Then it continued when companies like Maytag were able to pick up and move their factories to some under developed country where workers were a lot cheaper than they are in the United States. As Tom Friedman points out in his new book, The World Is Flat, over the last decade or so, these forces technology and globalization have combined like never before. So that while most of us have been paying attention to how much easier technology has made our own lives sending e-mails back and forth on our blackberries, surfing the Web on our cell phones, instant messaging with friends across the world a quiet revolution has been breaking down barriers and connecting the world’s economies. Now business not only has the ability to move jobs wherever there’s a factory, but wherever there’s an internet connection. Countries like India and China realized this. They understand that they no longer need to be just a source of cheap labor or cheap exports. They can compete with us on a global scale. The one resource they needed were skilled, educated workers. So they started schooling their kids earlier, longer, with a greater emphasis on math and science and technology, until their most talented students realized they don’t have to come to America to have a decent life they can stay right where they are. The result? China is graduating four times the number of engineers that the United States is graduating. Not only are those Maytag employees competing with Chinese and Indian and Indonesian and Mexican workers, you are too. Today, accounting firms are e-mailing your tax returns to workers in India who will figure them out and send them back to you as fast as any worker in Illinois or Indiana could. When you lose your luggage in Boston at an airport, tracking it down may involve a call to an agent in Bangalore, who will find it by making a phone call to Baltimore. Even the Associated Press has outsourced some of their jobs to writers all over the world who can send in a story at a click of a mouse. As Prime Minister Tony Blair has said, in this new economy, Talent is the 21st century wealth. If youve got the skills, youve got the education, and you have the opportunity to upgrade and improve both, you’ll be able to compete and win anywhere. If not, the fall will be further and harder than it ever was before. So what do we do about this? How does America find its way in this new, global economy? What will our place in history be? Like so much of the American story, once again, we face a choice. Once again, there are those who believe that there isn’t much we can do about this as a nation. That the best idea is to give everyone one big refund on their government divvy it up by individual portions, in the form of tax breaks, hand it out, and encourage everyone to use their share to go buy their own health care, their own retirement plan, their own child care, their own education, and so on. In Washington, they call this the Ownership Society. But in our past there has been another term for it Social Darwinism every man or woman for him or herself. It’s a tempting idea, because it doesn’t require much thought or ingenuity. It allows us to say that those whose health care or tuition may rise faster than they can afford tough luck. It allows us to say to the Maytag workers who have lost their job life isn’t fair. It let’s us say to the child who was born into poverty pull yourself up by your bootstraps. And it is especially tempting because each of us believes we will always be the winner in life’s lottery, that we’re the one who will be the next Donald Trump, or at least we won’t be the chump who Donald Trump says: â€Å"You’re fired!† But there is a problem. It won’t work. It ignores our history. It ignores the fact that it’s been government research and investment that made the railways possible and the internet possible. It’s been the creation of a massive middle class, through decent wages and benefits and public schools that allowed us all to prosper. Our economic dependence depended on individual initiative. It depended on a belief in the free market; but it has also depended on our sense of mutual regard for each other, the idea that everybody has a stake in the country, that we’re all in it together and everybody’s got a shot at opportunity. That’s what’s produced our unrivaled political stability. And so if we do nothing in the face of globalization, more people will continue to lose their health care. Fewer kids will be able to afford the diploma you’re about to receive. More companies like United Airlines won’t be able to provide pensions for their employees. And those Maytag workers will be joined in the unemployment line by any worker whose skills can be bought and sold on the global market. So today I’m here to tell you what most of you already know. This is not us the option that I just mentioned. Doing nothing. It’s not how our story ends not in this country. America is a land of big dreamers and big hopes. It is this hope that has sustained us through revolution and civil war, depression and world war, a struggle for civil and social rights and the brink of nuclear crisis. And it is because our dreamers dreamed that we have emerged from each challenge more united, more prosperous, and more admired than before. So let’s dream. Instead of doing nothing or simply defending 20th century solutions, let’s imagine together what we could do to give every American a fighting chance in the 21st century. What if we prepared every child in America with the education and skills they need to compete in the new economy? If we made sure that college was affordable for everyone who wanted to go? If we walked up to those Maytag workers and we said â€Å"Your old job is not coming back, but a new job will be there because we’re going to seriously retrain you and there’s life-long education that’s waiting for you the sorts of opportunities that Knox has created with the Strong Futures scholarship program. What if no matter where you worked or how many times you switched jobs, you had health care and a pension that stayed with you always, so you all had the flexibility to move to a better job or start a new business? What if instead of cutting budgets for research and development and science, we fueled the genius and the innovation that will lead to the new jobs and new industries of the future? Right now, all across America, there are amazing discoveries being made. If we supported these discoveries on a national level, if we committed ourselves to investing in these possibilities, just imagine what it could do for a town like Galesburg. Ten or twenty years down the road, that old Maytag plant could re-open its doors as an Ethanol refinery that turned corn into fuel. Down the street, a biotechnology research lab could open up on the cusp of discovering a cure for cancer. And across the way, a new auto company could be busy churning out electric cars. The new jobs created would be filled by American workers trained with new skills and a world-class education. All of that is possible but none of it will come easy. Every one of us is going to have to work more, read more, train more, think more. We will have to slough off some bad habits like driving gas guzzlers that weaken our economy and feed our enemies abroad. Our children will have to turn off the TV set once in a while and put away the video games and start hitting the books. We’ll have to reform institutions, like our public schools, that were designed for an earlier time. Republicans will have to recognize our collective responsibilities, even as Democrats recognize that we have to do more than just defend old programs. It won’t be easy, but it can be done. It can be our future. We have the talent and the resources and brainpower. But now we need the political will. We need a national commitment. And we need each of you. Now, no one can force you to meet these challenges. If you want, it will be pretty easy for you to leave here today and not give another thought to towns like Galesburg and the challenges they face. There is no community service requirement in the real world; no one is forcing you to care. You can take your diploma, walk off this stage, and go chasing after the big house, and the nice suits, and all the other things that our money culture says that you should want, that you should aspire to, that you can buy. But I hope you don’t walk away from the challenge. Focusing your life solely on making a buck shows a certain poverty of ambition. It asks too little of yourself. You need to take up the challenges that we face as a nation and make them your own. Not because you have a debt to those who helped you get here, although you do have that debt. Not because you have an obligation to those who are less fortunate than you, although I do think you do have that obligation. It’s primarily because you have an obligation to yourself. Because individual salvation has always depended on collective salvation. Because it’s only when you hitch your wagon to something larger than yourself that you realize your true potential. And I know that all of you are wondering how you’ll do this, the challenges seem so big. They seem so difficult for one person to make a difference. But we know it can be done. Because where you’re sitting, in this very place, in this town, it’s happened before. Nearly two centuries ago, before civil rights, before voting rights, before Abraham Lincoln, before the Civil War, before all of that, America was stained by the sin of slavery. In the sweltering heat of southern plantations, men and women who looked like me could not escape the life of pain and servitude in which they were sold. And yet, year after year, as this moral cancer ate away at the American ideals of liberty and equality, the nation was silent. But its people didn’t stay silent for long. One by one, abolitionists emerged to tell their fellow Americans that this would not be our place in history that this was not the America that had captured the imagination of the world. This resistance that they met was fierce, and some paid with their lives. But they would not be deterred, and they soon spread out across the country to fight for their cause. One man from New York went west, all the way to the prairies of Illinois to start a colony. And here in Galesburg, freedom found a home. Here in Galesburg, the main depot for the Underground Railroad in Illinois, escaped slaves could roam freely on the streets and take shelter in people’s homes. And when their masters or the police would come for them, the people of this town would help them escape north, some literally carrying them in their arms to freedom. Think about the risks that involved. If they were caught abetting a fugitive, you could’ve been jailed or lynched. It would have been simple for these townspeople to turn the other way; to go live their lives in a private peace. And yet, they didn’t do that. Why? Because they knew that we were all Americans; that we were all brothers and sisters; the same reason that a century later, young men and women your age would take Freedom Rides down south, to work for the Civil Rights movement. The same reason that black women would walk instead of ride a bus after a long day of doing somebody else’s laundry and cleaning somebody else’s kitchen. Because they were marching for freedom. Today, on this day of possibility, we stand in the shadow of a lanky, raw-boned man with little formal education who once took the stage at Old Main and told the nation that if anyone did not believe the American principles of freedom and equality, that those principles were timeless and all-inclusive, they should go rip that page out of the Declaration of Independence. My hope for all of you is that as you leave here today, you decide to keep these principles alive in your own life and in the life of this country. You will be tested. You won’t always succeed. But know that you have it within your power to try. That generations who have come before you faced these same fears and uncertainties in their own time. And that through our collective labor, and through God’s providence, and our willingness to shoulder each other’s burdens, America will continue on its precious journey towards that distant horizon, and a better day. Thank you so much class of 2005, and congratulations on your graduation. Thank you. Good morning President Taylor, Board of Trustees, faculty, parents, family, friends, the community of Galesburg, the class of 1955 which I understand was out partying last night, and yet still showed up here on time and most of all, the Class of 2005. Congratulations on your graduation, and thank you thank you for the honor of allowing me to be a part of it. Thank you also, Mr. President, for this honorary degree. It was only a couple of years ago that I stopped paying my student loans in law school. Had I known it was this easy, I would have ran [sic] for the United States Senate earlier.

RIBA Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5250 words

RIBA - Essay Example The RIBA plan of work is prepared by the Royal Institute of British Architects in conjunction with other stakeholders to provide a regulatory framework for practitioners in the building and construction industry (Cross, 2013). The RIBA plan of work is widely used in the UK as the official guideline and directive indicating the best practices in the industry (Farrelly, 2014). The plan of work has been extremely efficient such that it has been benchmarked by numerous countries worldwide, modeling their building and construction industry regulatory framework on RIBA’s. RIBA has continued to update its plan of work since 1963 as times and circumstances change (Hopkirk, 2014). The latest plan of work was prepared in 2013 and represented a paradigm shift from the previous one prepared in 2007. The stages of work have essentially remained the same only that they have been categorised and labeled differently (Architecture.com, 2014). Instead of the eleven stages that were explicated b y the tasks to be conducted, the new plan of work has eight stages and eight task bars under each stage indicating the tasks to be conducted.

Construction Contract Law Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Construction Contract Law - Case Study Example These set of laws preside over the operation of government and safeguards the rights of individuals. As such, it is the very system of a well organised society. This essay will examine the importance of Alternative Dispute Resolution in resolving and expediting cases between and among the parties. In order to shed light to this, the case of Burchell v. Mr. and Mrs. Bullard will be used along with relevant provisions of the Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act of 1996, The Woolf Report, Pre-Action Protocol for the Construction and Engineering Disputes and other current and relevant materials to Alternative Dispute Resolution and Construction Contract Law. Among the difficulties encountered in forming this paper was that due to the relatively new case of Burchell, materials used for this paper are limited to current case laws and articles which relates to the case. In the instant case, Mr Burchell, the claimant, had agreed to build two large extensions to the home of Mr and Mrs Bullard, the defendants, for which he was to be paid in four stages, as stated in their agreement. The Spouses Bullard refused to make the third stage payment, amounting to 13,540.99 and find fault about the work that had been done. The claimant's solicitors initially wrote to the defendants suggesting that the matter be referred for an Alternative Dispute Resolution through "a qualified construction mediator". Subsequently, this approach was discarded by the defendant's surveyor on the grounds that the matters complained of are technically complex, and as such mediation is inappropriate to settle the issue in the case. The claimant claimed 18,318.45. The defendants responded by counterclaiming 100,815.34 and further damages which were then not fully particularised. The claimant then brought a Part 20 claim against a sub-contractor in relation to the roofing works. There were no payments into Court and no Part 36 Offers made. At first instance the Court rendered judgment in favour of the claimant on his claim and awarded him 18,327.04 but likewise gave judgment in favour of the defendants on the counterclaim in the amount of 14,373.15. The result was that the defendants had to pay the claimant the difference, which with interest and VAT came to only 5,025.63. The claimant was awarded 79.50 on his counterclaim against the sub-contractor. The defendants were ordered to pay the claimant's costs of the claim and in turn, the claimant was ordered to pay the defendant's costs of the counterclaim. The claimant was also ordered to pay the Part 20 defendant's costs on the basis that the Part 20 defendant had only had 79.50 awarded against him and had made offers to settle from the beginning. The claimant appealed the costs award and made a further proposal for mediation, requesting the defendants to submit to the Court of Appeal scheme. The defendants, thereafter responded in the negative stating that they did not consider that this would be either "necessary or appropriate". In determining whether the circumstances of the case justified a departure from the general

Technology and Its Effects on Children Essay Example for Free

Technology and Its Effects on Children Essay The use of technology has skyrocketed over the past few years, with a whopping ninetyfive percent of people utilizing the internet, constantly checking smartphones, and relying on other forms of media for entertainment, socializing, or work related instances. Compared with the digital satellites, MP3 players, and Palm Pilots of the 1990s, the technology today has truly advanced, causing many people to become dependent on media-related devices. More than fifty percent of today’s youth contribute to this dependency. What is not taken seriously enough is that this eagerness for technology is destroying the minds of young children by distracting them from important family values, causing various bullying issues, exposing them to violence, and inducing many health risks. Technology therefore should cease to exist in the lives of children, who should instead learn important life lessons from playing outside, utilizing talents, or spending time with the family. It is very important for a child to spend quality time with his or her family. Parents, grandparents, siblings, or extended family members help children develop positive self-esteem by communicating values, encouragement, and love. Today, children’s sense of those relationships is altered due to the fact that they are becoming less and less interested in family and instead more and more intrigued with media. The average kid ages eight to eighteen spends over seven and a half hours a day using technology, equaling seventy-five hours a week (Negative Effects Of). With all of that attention going to technology, children develop a loss of family interest. A group of four to six year olds said they would rather watch television than spend quality time with their fathers (Negative Effects Of). Story time with mother is rapidly being replaced with an old episode of Spongebob, thus creating disconnected children that do not find the value they should within their families. Every second a child is watching television or fiddling with an iPad is a second that should have been spent learning how to ride a bike, painting a picture, or reading with their parents to better the bond in the family relationship. While children are becoming less interested in their families, they are also gaining a false sense of privacy and leading themselves into a dangerous direction as to what they expose on the inter net. The youth of today do not realize that once something is posted online, it is there forever. One million children were harassed, threatened, or subjected to other forms of cyberbullying on Facebook during the past year (Cyberbullying Statistics). Many kids post embarrassing photos, statuses, or leak things on to the internet that they later regret, causing them to become a subject of harassment by others online or in school. There is a strong link between bullying and suicide, with bully victims being two to nine times more likely to consider suicide than non-victims (Bullying and Suicide). At five, more than fifty percent of kids regularly interact with a computer or tablet device (Clinton and Steyer). Because parents are not monitoring kids or enforcing certain rules in the household, such as coming up with limits as to the amount of time spent on the computer, many children waste away hours staring at a screen which can make them an easy target for those who bully via the in ternet. Not only are people unaware of potential consequences posed by the internettelevision is another main concern that poses risks for young children, who have impressionable minds. The generation of young kids may as well be called the â€Å"couch potato† generation, as they are spending up to six hours a day watching television, with their parents using TV as an â€Å"electronic babysitter† (Harris). Many believe that children’s programs show happy, colorful images that influence the child’s mind positively. However, what goes unknown is the fact that those â€Å"happy† and â€Å"colorful† programs actually average more than fourteen violent acts per houreight more than adult programs (TV Media’s Influence). Parents would obviously be appalled at this number due to the fact that by age eighteen, their child will have witnessed about two hundred thousand acts of violence, including eighteen thousand murders (TV Media’s Influence). Instead of subjecting children to the television that imprints their minds with violence, parents should instead spend quality time educating, playing, or reading with them. By doing this, the disgusting knowledge of crime and violence will not be apparent in a young child’s life. They will have a chance to remain unpolluted, their minds full of important family values versus mu rder and bloodbath. Exposure to television and media too early in a child’s life leads to health problems. By age three, one third of children have television sets in their bedrooms. This puts them at risk for delayed sleep onset, increased caloric intake, and nightmares from overstimulation (Stein). The excessive early exposure to electronic media correlates with language delay, attention problems, and deficits in executive function. What many people do not realize is that putting a child in front of a screen is not harmlessit greatly affects the way they transition into adulthood. On top of all of those problems, children who constantly sit in front of a television or game device have a risk of becoming obese. TV watching contributes to this by increasing sedentary behavior, teaching unhealthy eating patterns, increasing snacking, and interfering with normal sleep (Stein). Children should be outside playing with others, reading, and falling asleep at normal hours without a television in the room in order to prevent the health risks that have plagued many because of overuse of electronic media. Though technology is helpful in many ways, it is detrimental to chil dren when exposed regularly. Sitting a child down in front of the television, handing them a game console, and allowing hours of computer time greatly affects the way that child thinks, feels, and reacts to certain situations. Technology not only puts a dent in a child’s emotional state in regard to violent shows and commercials, but it affects their health as well, causing them to suffer great setbacks such as nightmares, increased caloric intake, and attention disorders. Even though the world is becoming more technologically advanced that does not mean children have to as well. They should be playing outside, reading, and spending time with the family in order to learn important values that they would not learn from using electronics.

Things Fall Apart Contradicts Stereotypes and Stereotyping in Heart of

Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart Contradicts Stereotypes in Conrad's Heart of Darkness In "An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad's Heart of Darkness," Chinua Achebe criticizes Joseph Conrad for his racist stereotypes towards the continent and people of Africa. He claims that Conrad propagated the "dominant image of Africa in the Western imagination" rather than portraying the continent in its true form (1793). Africans were portrayed in Conrad's novel as savages with no language other than grunts and with no "other occupations besides merging into the evil forest or materializing out of it simply to plague Marlow" (1792-3). To Conrad, the Africans were not characters in his story, but merely props. Chinua Achebe responded with a novel, Things Fall Apart: an antithesis to Heart of Darkness and similar works by other European writers. In Things Fall Apart, Achebe tells the story of an Ibo man, Okonkwo, and the tragedies which he has to endure. Africans are represented as individuals capable of speech, not just one massive conglomerate of natives. Their customs are not reg arded as eccentric or bizarre, but as the norm-functioning no differently than the variety of Western customs do. And the land itself is described as a mix of towns and farms, not a mysterious land which breeds insanity. In almost every respect, Things Fall Apart contradicts the stereotypes set up in Heart of Darkness. Achebe opens his lecture, "An Image of Africa," with the story of a student who sent him a letter saying how he was "particularly happy to learn about the customs and superstitions of an African tribe," not realizing that "the life of his own tribesmen in Yonkers, New York, is full of odd customs and superstitions" as well (1784). Western thou... ...nters many of the degrading stereotypes that colonial literature has placed on Africa. In his lecture, "An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad's Heart of Darkness," Achebe documents the ways that Conrad dehumanizes Africans by reducing their religious practices to superstition, saying that they should remain in their place, taking away their ability of speech, and depreciating their complex geography to just a single mass of jungle. Achebe carefully crafts Things Fall Apart to counter these stereotypes and show that Africa is in fact a rich land full of intelligent people who are, in fact, very human. Works Cited Achebe, Chinua. "An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad's Heart of Darkness." The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism. Ed. Vincent B. Leitch. New York: Norton, 2001. 1783-1794. Achebe, Chinua. Things Fall Apart. New York: Anchor Books, 1994.

Dbq 13 Industrial Revolution Beginnings

Several different aspects helped contribute to the start of the Industrial Revolution in England. Three major reasons were improved methods of farming methods, England’s abundant amount of natural resources, and the joining together of workers in factories. These all helped England to thrive in industry and soon start a revolution. Agricultural changes greatly impacted the start of the Industrial Revolution in England. Farming methods and inventions helped inspire the creation of inventions that would soon industrialize England.Inventions such as the seed drill and mechanical reaper helped make farming more efficient by making harvesting and planting much easier. (Doc. 7) Enclosure brought forth a great increase in farm output and profits. It created a mass production of goods. Farming was improved through the use of crop rotation, enclosure, the growing of turnips and the division on farms across the country. This improvement in farming caused a population boom, which soon le d to a higher demand for goods. (Doc. 8) A second factor of England that led to the start of the Industrial Revolution was their abundant amount of natural resources.England had access to several useful resources needed to industrialize, such as coal, iron, wool, and cotton. (Doc. 1) Coal was a vital source of power for it supplied energy for the steam engines, which were often found powering factory machinery. Iron was often useful in the construction of things, such as railroads. Iron had many purposes after it had been made cheaper and better quality. (OK) England was also aided by the amount of harbors it had and was often no more than 70 miles away from sea. (Doc. 4) A third reason the Industrial Revolution began in England was the joining together of the workers in the factories.Workers often used the assembly line to produce goods. It proved to much more efficient and increased factory output as well. Men working with a distinct job could produce thousands of goods in a day w here men who worked independently could hardly make twenty. (Doc. 3) Higher amounts of goods caused prices to fall, which led to the increase of population because people found food much more affordable now. With this efficiency, England began to advance in transportation as well. In reaction to this mass production of goods, faster methods of transportation were invented.The steam locomotive increased railroad growth and made the moving of goods much faster. (OK) Several different aspects helped contribute to the start of the Industrial Revolution in England. Three major reasons were improved methods of farming methods, causing a new found population boom; England’s abundant amount of natural resources, necessary for industrialization for they were often used for power sources; and the joining together of workers in factories, causing a mass production of goods and a further increase in population. These all helped England to thrive in industry and soon start a revolution.

System Migration Plan

System Migration Implementation Phase I Oracle Environment On December 16, 2006 the migration of the production database will take place. It has been deemed necessary to move our Oracle production database to a more robust server for future growth. At this time the database resides on a p650 unit that will be utilized in phase two of this migration. Below find the laid out plan as it pertains to the move. December 16, 2006:There will be a complete backup of the existing server. December 17, 2006:Starting early that morning, the backup of the existing server will be restored on to the new server emulating the current environment.While the restore of the new server is taking place, the existing server will be set up for the actual move of the existing Oracle database. Step. 1: The mounted file system will be un-mounted from the operating system, at that point after recording all the necessary paths. Step. 2: The volume group that the file systems reside in will be varied off, and then exported. After this step the database which resides on the EMC Symmetric will no longer exist on the present database server. Step. 3: The server will be totally taken down and power will be totally extinguished. Step. : The remove of the fibber channel card that leads back to the EMC database location. The data on the EMC/database will go unchanged or accessed at this point. Step. 5: The fibber channel card will then be placed in the new server. Step. 6: The new server will then be powered on with the fibber channel card from the now existing server, and then the database will be imported to that server. Step. 7: At this point all the network and fibber connections will be moved to the new sever from the existing one using the same IP/Hostname to eliminate further configuration changes or delays. Step. : A DBA will be contacted to confirm the migration success, and then the server will be taken down for the data center outage. System Upgrade Recommendation Phase II Oracle Environm ent As a result of an evaluation of performance and future growth of the present Oracle environments, it was proposed and recommended that the production database server be upgraded with additional processors and memory. As phase one, on January 29th 2006 each Oracle environment received the recommended upgrade as described in the briefing dated January 3, 2006 and title: Hardware Upgrade for Oracle Financials in Preparation for OAB and iSupplier Modules.The Oracle environment received the recommended memory and has proved to perform as projected. The production application server now utilizes 16GB of memory, and the database server has a total of 32GB. In a continued effort to move toward phase two, the following information has been composed and now submitted for evaluation. It is the opinion of the system administrator, utilizing performance tools that the existing system degradation only appears during multiple thread requests.In short, thread request are granted buy and throw s ystem processors within any given computer environment. To wit, it has been ascertained that during a normal business run the system reflects system degradation at any point of a new presented workload introduction. System memory and IO performance proves to be stable while the now utilized processors show to be at their maximum thread capacity. In today’s environment the production database unit consists of four processors; with the recommendation to increase this number buy four additional processors facilitating a total of eight.This is projected to improve Dallas County production presently as well as future growth performance. See projected cost on page two. Model Highlights 7038-6M2 The Model 6M2 delivers a cost-efficient growth path to the future with: †¢ 64-bit system scalability in 2-, 4-, 6-, and 8-way configurations with the following processor options: o 2-way 1. 2 GHz POWER4+ with 8 MB shared L3 cache per processor card o 2-way 1. 45 GHz POWER4+ with 32 MB s hared L3 cache per processor card †¢ Expandability and reliability: System memory expandable from 2 GB to 64 GB o Rack-mounted drawer utilizes 8U (EIA Units) o Supports up to eight 7311-D10 or 7311-D20 I/O drawers per server o Each I/O drawer supports either 6 (for D10) or 7 (for D20) hot-plug PCI bus slots To upgrade to an 8 way system IBM has given a cost of $25,750. 00 2-way 1. 45 GHz POWER4+ with 32 MB shared L3 cache per processor card. The above quote is without any government discount or third party intervention. However, a third party vender’s quotes $9590. Mr. UNIX Sr. UNIX System Administrator

How Fiber Optics Was Invented

How Fiber Optics Was Invented Fiber optics is the contained transmission of light through long fiber rods of either glass or plastics. The light travels by process of internal reflection. The core medium of the rod or cable is more reflective than the material surrounding the core. That causes the light to keep being reflected back into the core where it can continue to travel down the fiber. Fiber optic cables are used for transmitting voice, images, and other data at close to the speed of light. Who Invented Fiber Optics? Corning Glass researchers  Robert Maurer, Donald Keck, and Peter Schultz  invented fiber optic wire or Optical Waveguide Fibers (patent #3,711,262) capable of carrying 65,000 times more information than copper wire, through which information carried by a pattern of light waves could be decoded at a destination even a thousand miles away.   Fiber optic communication methods and materials invented by  them opened the door to the commercialization of fiber optics. From long-distance telephone service to the internet and medical devices such as the endoscope, fiber optics are now a major part of modern life.   Timeline 1854: John Tyndall demonstrated to the Royal Society that light could be conducted through a curved stream of water, proving that a light signal could be bent.1880:  Alexander Graham Bell invented his Photophone, which transmitted a voice signal on a beam of light. Bell focused sunlight with a mirror and then talked into a mechanism that vibrated the mirror. At the receiving end, a detector picked up the vibrating beam and decoded it back into a voice the same way a phone did with electrical signals. However, many things - a cloudy day, for instance - could interfere with the Photophone, causing Bell to stop any further research with this invention.1880: William Wheeler invented a system of light pipes lined with a highly reflective coating that illuminated homes by using light from an electric arc lamp placed in the basement and directing the light around the home with the pipes.1888: The medical team of Roth and Reuss of Vienna used bent glass rods to illuminate body cavities.1 895: French engineer Henry Saint-Rene designed a system of bent glass rods for guiding light images in an attempt at early television. 1898: American David Smith applied for a patent on a bent glass rod device to be used as a surgical lamp.1920s: Englishman John Logie Baird and American Clarence W. Hansell patented the idea of using arrays of transparent rods to transmit images for television and facsimiles respectively.1930: German medical student Heinrich Lamm was the first person to assemble a bundle of optical fibers to carry an image. Lamms goal was to look inside inaccessible parts of the body. During his experiments, he reported transmitting the image of a light bulb. The image was of poor quality, however. His effort to file a patent was denied because of Hansells British patent.1954: Dutch scientist Abraham Van Heel and British scientist Harold H. Hopkins separately wrote papers on imaging bundles. Hopkins reported on imaging bundles of unclad fibers while Van Heel reported on simple bundles of clad fibers. He covered a bare fiber with a transparent cladding of a lower refractive index. This protected the f iber reflection surface from outside distortion and greatly reduced interference between fibers. At the time, the greatest obstacle to a viable use of fiber optics was in achieving the lowest signal (light) loss. 1961: Elias Snitzer of American Optical published a theoretical description of single-mode fibers, a fiber with a core so small it could carry light with only one waveguide mode. Snitzers idea was okay for a medical instrument looking inside the human, but the fiber had a light loss of one decibel per meter. Communications devices needed to operate over much longer distances and required a light loss of no more than ten or 20 decibels (a measurement of light) per kilometer.1964: A critical (and theoretical) specification was identified by Dr. C.K. Kao for long-range communication devices. The specification was ten or 20 decibels of light loss per kilometer, which established the standard. Kao also illustrated the need for a purer form of glass to help reduce light loss.1970: One team of researchers began experimenting with fused silica, a material capable of extreme purity with a high melting point and a low refractive index. Corning Glass researchers Robert Maurer, Donald Keck, and Peter Schultz invented fiber optic wire or Optical Waveguide Fibers (patent #3,711,262) capable of carrying 65,000 times more information than copper wire. This wire allowed for information carried by a pattern of light waves to be decoded at a destination even a thousand miles away. The team had solved the problems presented by Dr. Kao. 1975: The United States government decided to link the computers at the NORAD headquarters at Cheyenne Mountain using fiber optics to reduce interference.1977: The first optical telephone communication system was installed about 1.5 miles under downtown Chicago.  Each optical fiber carried the equivalent of 672 voice channels.By the end of the century, more than 80 percent of the worlds long-distance traffic was carried over optical fiber cables and 25 million kilometers of the cable. Maurer, Keck, and Schultz-designed cables have been installed worldwide. U.S. Army Signal Corp The following information was submitted by Richard Sturzebecher. It was originally published in the Army Corp publication Monmouth Message. In 1958, at the U.S. Army Signal Corps Labs in Fort Monmouth New Jersey, the manager of Copper Cable and Wire hated the signal transmission problems caused by lightning and water. He encouraged Manager of Materials Research Sam DiVita to find a replacement for copper wire. Sam thought glass, fiber, and light signals might work, but the engineers who worked for Sam told him a glass fiber would break. In September 1959, Sam DiVita asked 2nd Lt. Richard Sturzebecher if he knew how to write the formula for a glass fiber capable of transmitting light signals. DiVita had learned that Sturzebecher, who was attending the Signal School, had melted three triaxial glass systems using SiO2 for his 1958 senior thesis at Alfred University. Sturzebecher knew the answer. While using a microscope to measure the index-of-refraction on SiO2 glasses, Richard developed a severe headache. The 60 percent and 70 percent SiO2 glass powders under the microscope allowed higher and higher amounts of brilliant white light to pass through the microscope slide and into his eyes. Remembering the headache and the brilliant white light from high SiO2 glass, Sturzebecher knew that the formula would be ultra pure SiO2. Sturzebecher also knew that Corning made high purity SiO2 powder by oxidizing pure SiCl4 into SiO2. He suggested that DiVita use his power to award a federal contract to Corning to develop the fiber. DiVita had already worked with Corning research people. But he had to make the idea public because all research laboratories had a right to bid on a federal contract. So in 1961 and 1962, the idea of using high purity SiO2 for a glass fiber to transmit light was made public information in a bid solicitation to all research laboratories. As expected, DiVita awarded the contract to Corning Glass Works in Corning, New York in 1962. Federal funding for glass fiber optics at Corning was about $1,000,000 between 1963 and 1970. Signal Corps Federal funding of many research programs on fiber optics continued until 1985, thereby seeding this industry and making todays multibillion-dollar industry that eliminates copper wire in communications a reality. DiVita continued to come to work daily at the U.S. Army Signal Corps in his late 80s and volunteered as a consultant on nanoscience until his death at age 97 in 2010.

Green Buildings Improve Occupants Health Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 1

Green Buildings Improve Occupants Health - Essay Example Construction of a green building is exceptionally costly as opposed to construction of a regular building. Before an individual is able to construct a green building he must consolidate a lot of money (Coussens, Pp 43). Individuals may save money from less energy consumption, but before this, they need to pay handsomely. Construction of green buildings is dreadfully expensive because eco-friendly materials used in building is not available in many regions. These materials have to be imported from other parts, thus increasing construction cost. There is a lot of indoor pollution in green building because these buildings are heavily sealed, hence ventilation is not enough. This worsens if the builder uses materials that emittoxic substances as it may result to health problems to the occupant. Green buildings are built in a manner that ensures maximum utilization of light. This results in construction of the buildings in the opposite direction to the neighborhood buildings, thus causing problems with the neighbors. Green buildings may take a long time before they are completed and this may put the home owners in difficult situations. The home owners are in difficult situations because some of them want the building to be completed at a specific time (Coussens, Pp 54). Green houses may take long before they are completed because materials are scarce and they have to be shipped from other countries. Another cause of delay is unavailable recycled materials that are supposed to be used in construction. It is difficult to install air cooling features that are self regulating like natural environment.

Fossil Group, Inc Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Fossil Group, Inc - Essay Example These include brands such as Superman, Elvis Presley, Snoopy, Wonder Woman, Chronicles of Narnia, The Matrix and Star Wars. This paper outlines the inventory policies and items that Fossil Group Inc. adopts in their operations and offers in the market respectively. Apart from selling products directly to consumers through commercial websites and retail stores, Fossil owns a global distribution network that includes wholesale outlets in countries where the company has a physical presence. In countries that it does not have a physical presence, the company maintains third-party networks that facilitate the marketing and distribution of its products. Fossils’ inventory policy is primarily based on the average cost of production, which includes related freight charges and applicable duty. Inventory that is unmarketable or obsolete is determined by the difference between market value estimates and the approximate costs of inventory. Such estimates are based on assumptions regarding future demand, available channels for liquidation and prevailing market conditions. Additional reductions in inventory are thereby inevitable in the event that market conditions and future product demand are regarded by management to be less favorable than what had been projected. Reductions in inventory are also inevitable if the management determines that channels for liquidation are insufficient. The company’s success in inventory management is hence largely attributed to continuous assessment of off-price sales and regular updates of inventory estimates. Revenue from sales of products likely to be subjected to agreements in inventory consignment is often determined at the point where title and risk of loss has been transferred, products have successfully been delivered, buying price at the end of the chain can easily be determined, and there is reasonable assurance in collectability of the product. In the event that inventory is