Random Act of Kindness free essay sample

Random Acts of Kindness For our Random act of Kindness project we decided to surprise a teacher with flowers, candy, and pictures of her favorite animals. We chose Mrs. Adams because we all like her as a teacher and she was recently going through a hard time. I brought her some flowers, purchased some of favorite candy, and drew pictures of her favorite animals. During advisory we placed the gifts right by her door and knocked on her door. We then ran away and left the gifts as a surprise. Who wouldn’t be happy if they opened the door and found free gifts? We didn’t get to see her initial reaction, but we did know she liked them. The thrill of trying to run away before Mrs. Adams saw was a very fun feeling. After school Mrs. Adams talked to one of our friends Kathryn and said she love the flowers and made a day a lot better. We will write a custom essay sample on Random Act of Kindness or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page We also found out that Mrs. Adams was having a really bad, emotional day and the surprise completely made her happy. Throughout the day we didn’t completely know how much Mrs. Adams liked her flowers, but after school we saw a big smile on her face and we knew right then she loved them. To perform a random act of kindness truly does make you feel you’ve done a good deed. In our world today, there is not enough kindness in general, so to have the opportunity to do something nice for someone without asking for anything in return is an amazing feeling. Personally we all felt happy that we did something nice and if we got the chance we would do it again. Our eyes have opened and we have realized doing a random act of kindness and really make someone pleased and change their day for the better.

Bismarck essays

Bismarck essays Bismarck was born in 1815, at Schnhausen, northwest of Berlin, the son of a landowning nobleman (Junker) and an upper-middle-class commoner. In 1862, the Prussian King Wilhelm I appointed him as Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Prussia. (Hollyday, 1970:11) To justify the increase of the army, Bismarck warned that "the great questions of the day [meaning German unification] will not be settled by speeches and majority decisions ... but by blood and iron."(Williamson, 1998: 94) Thus, Historians called Bismarck the Chancellor of Blood and Iron. Through the Danish- Prussian War of 1864, the Austro-Prussian War of 1866 and the Franco- Prussian War of 1870, he unified Germany. He was the first chancellor (1871-90) of the German Empire. However, the successor of Wilhelm I, Wilhelm II, dismissed Bismarck in 1890. This speech was announced to the German Reichstag in 1888, its main point was to claim the necessity of strong German armament because of its geographical position and because it faced a potential anti German coalition. Germany is located in the heart of Europe and has at least three fronts open to an attack. France and Russia could make an alliance against Germany because of their abhorrence to Germany and warlike nature. At the same time, Bismarck expressed that Germany desired peace and was not interested in any kind of an aggressive war; they were willing to work for peace with their neighbors, especially with Russia. The unspoken assumption of this document was to raise the nationalism in Germany and gain support from the nationalists and conservatives in the Reichstag. Thus, Bismarck emphasized the threats from Russia and France, and the glory of German unification. If Germany did not do anything to protect its achievements, it would lose everything again. A German army, stronger than any other nation of equal numbers in the world, was the best way to protect this great achievement. However, lack of money was th...

Social Entrepreneurship Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Social Entrepreneurship - Essay Example In this respect class, race, ethnicity, gender etc. do not play a role at all. If anything, it is the socio-economical background of a particular individual, and his access to the education and training facilities, that would determine whether he becomes an entrepreneur or not. When it comes to social entrepreneurship, we have any number of examples of striking success of voluntary efforts of individuals whether from the poor or the rich countries. Here, it is the indomitable human spirit to achieve something for the common good that drives such people to social entrepreneurship. One recalls the stupendous success of Prof. Md. Yunis of Bangladesh and his Grameen Bank, for which he was recently honored with the Nobel Prize. Of course, he is a well-educated person by any standards, but the fact that he hails from a very poor country, the fact that he is a Muslim, and most importantly, the very concept of his enterprise: to lend money without any collateral guarantees, especially to poor women (in Bangladesh and the concept successfully copied in dozens of poor countries around the world) who in turn use it for the purpose of pursuing traditional skills like weaving, basket making, pottery, etc., and supporting them at every stage, lends credence to my choice of Pearl 1. In other words, social enterprise to develop business enterprise! The fact that over 95% of the loanees do not default on repayments is a testimony to both ethical values of poor and middle class people as well as the fact that this 95% constitutes, in Susan Davis words, "...every culture, class, race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, physical ability and age." We have many such examples of both business and social entrepreneurship, unencumbered by man-made differences like culture, class, race, ethnicity, gender, etc. Nelson Mandela, Mother Theresa, Mahatma Gandhi, Rev. Martin Luther King and Aung Sung Suki in socio-political fields; Indra K. Nooyi, Kiran Majumdar Shah,

What are the key functions of the German Chancellor Essay - 1

What are the key functions of the German Chancellor - Essay Example This research will begin with the statement that Germany adopted the constitution (Basic law) on May 1949, which saw the reunification of Germany. The Basic law combines the lessons from German experience with the National Socialist State, the Weimar Republic and the intention of the Western powers. The Basic law provided the foundation for creating the Democratic and the Social Federal Republic. The Federal Republic of Germany has its name from Germans federal structure. The Federal Republic of Germany consists of sixteen states; each state has its own authority and powers. The Federal Republics constitution stipulates the responsibilities of the three separate arms of Germany government. The three branches are the legislature, executive, and the judiciary. The legislature consists of a bicameral parliament, the Bundesrat, and the Bundestag. The function of the executive circulates within the office of the president and the Chancellor. The federal constitution is the highest court i n Germany. It has the right to declare any acts of the federal state or the state legislatures unconstitutional. The court guards the Basic Law and consists of two panels, each panel consisting of eight judges. The Bundestag and the Bundesrat appoint an equal number of judges. The federal president is the head of the government and performs a ceremonial role. The president represents the country in international relations. The president concludes treaties, accredits and receives envoys. The federal president is not a member of the government, the legislature or the federal government.

The Project to Open a New Tesco Superstore Case Study

The Project to Open a New Tesco Superstore - Case Study Example In order to conduct stakeholder analysis for opening new Tesco superstore, the researcher will use Mendelow’s (1981) Matrix. For sake simplicity and preciseness, UK based operation of Tesco superstore will be used as reference point. UK based customers and local society members who will buy food items and grocery items from Tesco superstore. These stakeholders will show interest in the project because opening a new store will increase their convenience for shopping. Their motivation to support the project will be directed by the desire to shop quality food items, chance to get associated with the Tesco brand name etc. Project workers, Suppliers of raw material. These stakeholders will show interest in the project for monetary interest, opportunity to get financial benefit by signing the long-term contract with the company. Their motivation to support the project will be directed by business benefits, remuneration, and higher supply margin. Top-level managers, of Tesco superstore, project managers, and government. These stakeholders will show interest in the project due to political reason, earning corporate tax, monetary compensation for project completion and annual salary. Same reasons will motivate these stakeholders to show green signal to the project. Financial institutions who lend the money to the project, social activists, and local community members. The will show interest in the project for financial and environmental sustainability reasons. Motivation to support the project will be directed by environment sustainability assurance from Tesco, assurance timely repayment of debt with additional interest, good corporate social responsibility (CSR) reputation of the company. In such context, it is suggested to Tesco superstore to use multiple communication channels to communicate the project scope top stakeholders and also engage stakeholders (Jugdev, 2012).

Linguistic Automatic Generation Natural Language

Linguistic Automatic Generation Natural Language 1. Introduction 1.1. The Problem Statement This thesis deals with the problem of Automatic generation of a UML Model from Natural Language Software Requirement Specifications. This thesis describes the development of Auto Modeler an Automated Software Engineering tool that takes Natural Language Software System Requirement Specifications as Input, performs an automated OO analysis and tries to produce an UML Model (a partial one in its present state i.e. static Class diagrams only) as output. The basis for Auto Modeler is described in [2][3]. 1.2. Motivation We conducted a short survey of the Software Industry in Islamabad in order to determine what sorts of Automated Software Engineering Tools were required by the Software houses. The result of the Survey (see Appendix-I for the survey report) indicated that there is demand for such a tool as Auto Modeler. Since such tools i.e. [2][3] that have already been developed are either not available in the market or are very expensive, and thus out of the reach of most software houses. Therefore we decided to build our own tool that can be used by the software industry in order to enable them to be more productive and competitive. But at present Auto Modeler is not ready for commercial use. But it is hoped that future versions of Auto Modeler will be able to cater to the needs of the Software Houses. 1.3. Background 1.3.1. The need for Automated Software Engineering Tools: In this era of Information Technology great demands are placed on Software Systems and on all those that are involved in the SDLC. The developed software should not only be of high quality but it should also be developed in minimal amount of time. When it comes to Software quality, the software must be highly reliable and it should meet the customers needs and it should satisfy the customers expectations. Automated Software Engineering Tools can assist the Software Engineers and Software Developers in producing High Quality Software in minimal amount of time. 1.3.2. Requirements Engineering: Requirements engineering consists of the following tasks [6]:  · Requirements Elicitation  · Requirements Analysis  · Requirements Specification  · Requirements Validation / Verification  · Requirements Management Requirements engineering is recognized as a critical task, since many software failures originate from inconsistent, incomplete or simply incorrect System Requirements specifications. 1.3.3. Natural Language Requirement Specifications: Formal methods have been successfully used to express Requirements Specifications, but often the customer cannot understand them and therefore cannot validate them [4]. Natural Language is the only common medium understood by both the Customer and the Analyst [4]. So the System Requirements Specifications are often written in Natural Language. 1.3.4. Object Oriented Analysis: The System Analyst must manually process The Natural Language Requirements Specifications Document and perform an OO Analysis and produce the results in the form of an UML Model, which has become a Standard in the Software Industry. The manual process is laborious, time consuming and often prone to errors. Some specified requirements might be left out. If there are problems or errors in the original requirements specifications, they may not be discovered in the manual process. OOA applies the OO paradigm to models of proposed systems by defining classes, objects and the relationships between them. Classes are the most important building block of an OO system and from these we instantiate objects. Once an individual object is created it inherits the same operations, relationships, semantics, and attributes identified in the class. Attributes of classes, and hence objects, hold values of properties. Operations, also called methods, describe what can be done to an object/class.[1] A relationship between classes/objects can show various attributes such as aggregation, composition, generalization and dependency. Attributes and operations represent the semantics of the class, while relationships represent the semantics of the model [1]. The KRB seven-step method, introduced by Kapur, Ravindra and Brown, proposes how to find classes and objects manually [1]. Hence, Identify candidate classes (nouns in NL). Define classes (look for instantiations of classes). Establishing associations (capturing verbs to create association for each pair of classes in 1 and 2). Expanding many-to-many associations. Identify class attributes. Normalize attributes so that they are associated with the class of objects that they truly describe. Identify class operations. From this process we can see that one goal of OOA is to identify NL concepts that can be transformed into OO concepts; which can then be used to form system models in particular notations. Here we shall concentrate on UML [1]. 1.3.5. Natural Language Processing (NLP): If an automatic analysis of the NL Requirements Document is carried out then it is not only possible to quickly find errors in the Specifications but with the right methods we can quickly generate a UML model from the Requirements. Although, Natural language is inherently ambiguous, imprecise and incomplete; often a natural language document is redundant, and several classes of terminological problems (e.g., jargon or specialist terms) can arise to make communication difficult [2] and it has been proven that Natural Language processing with holistic objectives is a very complex task, it is possible to extract sufficient meaning from NL sentences to produce reliable models. Complexities of language range from simple synonyms and antonyms to such complex issues as idioms, anaphoric relations or metaphors. Efforts in this particular area have had some success in generating static object models using some complex NL requirement sentences. 1.3.5.1. Linguistic analysis: Linguistic analysis studies NL text from different linguistic levels, i.e. words, sentence and meaning.[1] (i) Word-tagging analyses how a word is used in a sentence. In particular, words can be changeable from one sentence to another depending on context (e.g. light can be used as noun, verb, adjective and adverb; and while can be used as preposition, conjunction, verb and noun). Tagging techniques are used to specify word-form for each single word in a sentence, and each word is tagged as a Part Of Speech (POS), e.g. a NN1 tag would denote a singular noun, while VBB would signify the base form of a verb.[1] (ii) Syntactic analysis applies phrase marker, or labeled bracketing, techniques to segment NL as phrases, clauses and sentences, so that the NL is delineated by syntactical/grammatical annotations. Hence we can shows how words are grouped and connected to each other in a sentence.[1] (iii) Semantic analysis is the study of the meaning. It uses discourse annotation techniques to analyze open-class or content words and closed-class words (i.e. prepositions, conjunctions, pronouns). The POS tags and syntactic elements mentioned previously can be linked in the NL text to create relationships. Applying these linguistic analysis techniques, NLP tools can carry out morphological processing, syntactic processing and semantic processing. The processing of NL text can be supported by Semantic Network (SN) and corpora that provide a knowledge base for text analysis. The difficulty of OOA is not just due to the ambiguity and complexity of NL itself, but also the gap in meaning between the NL concepts and OO concepts.[1] 1.3.6. From NLP to UML Model Creation. After NLP the sentences are simplified in order to make identification of UML model elements form NL elements easy. Simple Heurists are used to Identify UML Model elements from Natural Text: (see Chapter 7) * Nouns indicate a class * Verb indicates an operation * Possessive relationships and Verbs like to have, identify, denote indicate attributes * Determiners are used to identify the multiplicity of roles in associations. 1.5. Plan of the thesis In Chapter 2 we present a brief survey of previous work and work similar to our work. Chapters 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 describe the theoretical basis for Auto Modeler. Chapter 8 Describes the Architecture of Auto Modeler. In Chapter 9 we describe Auto Modeler in action with a case study. In Chapter 10 we present conclusions. 2. Literature Survey The first relevant published technique attempting to produce a systematic procedure to produce design models from NL requirements was Abbot. Abbott (1983) proposes a linguistic based method for analyzing software requirements, expressed in English, to derive basic data types and operations. [1] This approach was further developed by Booch (1986). Booch describes an Object-Oriented Design method where nouns in the problem description suggest objects and classes of objects, and verbs suggest operations.[1] Saeki et al. (1987) describe a process of incrementally constructing software modules from object-oriented specifications obtained from informal natural language requirements. Their system analyses the informal requirements one sentence at a time. Nouns and verbs are automatically extracted from the informal requirements but the system cannot determine which words are relevant for the construction of the formal specification. Hence an important role is played by the human analyst who reviews and refines the system results manually after each sentence is processed.[1] Dunn and Orlowska (1990) describe a natural language interpreter for the construction of NIAM (Nijssens, or Natural-language, Information Analysis Method ) conceptual schemas. The construction of conceptual schemas involves allocating surface objects to entity types (semantic classes) and the identification of elementary fact types. The system accepts declarative sentences only and uses grammar rules and a dictionary for type allocation and the identification of elementary fact types.[1] Meziane (1994) implemented a system for the identification of VDM data types and simple operations from natural language software requirements. The system first generates an Entity-Relationship Model (ERM) from the input text and then generates VDM data types from the ERM.[1] Mich and Garigliano (1994) and Mich (1996) describe an NL-based prototype system, NL-OOPS, that is aimed at the generation of object-oriented analysis models from natural language specifications. This system demonstrated how a large scale NLP system called LOLITA can be used to support the OO analysis stage.[1] V. Ambriola and V. Gervasi.[4] have developed CIRCE an environment for the analysis of natural language requirements. It is based on the concept of successive transformations that are applied to the requirements, in order to obtain concrete (i.e., rendered) views of models extracted from the requirements. CIRCE uses, CICO a domain-based, fuzzy matching, parser which parses the requirements document and converts it into an abstract parse tree. This parse tree is encoded as tuples and stored in a shared repository by CICO. A group of related tuples constitutes a T-Model. CIRCE uses internal tools to refine the encoded tuples called extensional knowledge and the knowledge about the basic behavior of software systems called intentional knowledge derived from modelers to further enrich the Tuple space. When a specific concrete view on the requirements is desired, a projector is called to build an abstract view of the data from the tuple space. A translator then converts the abstract view to a concrete view. In [5] V. Ambriola and V. Gervasi describe their experience of automatic synthesis of UML diagrams from Natural Language Requirement Specifications using their CIRCE environment. Delisle et al., in their project DIPETT-HAIKU, capture candidate objects, linguistically differentiating between Subjects (S) and Objects (O), and processes, Verbs (V), using the syntactic S-V-O sentence structure. This work also suggests that candidate attributes can be found in the noun modifier in compound nouns, e.g. reserved is the value of an attribute of â€Å"reserved book†.[1] Harmain and Gaizauskas developed a NLP based CASE tool, CM-Builder [2][3], which, automatically constructs an initial class model from NL text. It captures candidate classes, rather than candidate objects. Bà ¶rstler constructs an object model automatically based on pre-specified key words in a use case description. The verbs in the key words are transformed to behaviors and nouns are transformed to objects.[1] Overmyer and Rambow developed NLP system to construct UML class diagrams from NL descriptions. Both these efforts require user interaction to identify OO concepts.[1] The prototype tool developed by Perez-Gonzalez and Kalita supports automatic OO modeling from NL problem descriptions into UML notations, and produces both static and dynamic views. The underlying methodology includes theta roles and semi-natural language.[1] 3. Software Requirements Engineering Software requirements engineering is the science and discipline concerned with establishing and documenting software requirements [6]. It consists of: * Software requirements elicitation:- The process through which the customers (buyers and/or users) and the developer (contractor) of a software system discover, review, articulate, and understand the users needs and the constraints on the software and the development activity. * Software requirements analysis:- The process of analyzing the customers and users needs to arrive at a definition of software requirements. * Software requirements specification:- The development of a document that clearly and precisely records each of the requirements of the software system. * Software requirements verification:- The process of ensuring that the software requirements specification is in compliance with the system requirements, conforms to document standards of the requirements phase, and is an adequate basis for the architectural (preliminary) design phase. * Software requirements management:- The planning and controlling of the requirements elicitation, specification, analysis, and verification activities. In turn, system requirements engineering is the science and discipline concerned with analyzing and documenting system requirements. It involves transforming an operational need into a system description, system performance parameters, and a system configuration This is accomplished through the use of an iterative process of analysis, design, trade-off studies, and prototyping. Software requirements engineering has a similar definition as the science and discipline concerned with analyzing and documenting software requirements. It involves partitioning system requirements into major subsystems and tasks, then allocating those subsystems or tasks to software. It also transforms allocated system requirements into a description of software requirements and performance parameters through the use of an iterative process of analysis, design, trade-off studies, and prototyping. A system can be considered a collection of hardware, software, data, people, facilities, and procedures organized to accomplish some common objectives. In software engineering, a system is a set of software programs that provide the cohesiveness and control of data that enables the system to solve the problem.[6] The major difference between system requirements engineering and software requirements engineering is that the origin of system requirements lies in user needs while the origin of software requirements lies in the system requirements and/or specifications. Therefore, the system requirements engineer works with users and customers, eliciting their needs, schedules, and available resources, and must produce documents understandable by them as well as by management, software requirements engineers, and other system requirements engineers. The software requirements engineer works with the system requirements documents and engineers, translating system documentation into software requirements which must be understandable by management and software designers as well as by software and system requirements engineers. Accurate and timely communication must be ensured all along this chain if the software designers are to begin with a valid set of requirements. [6] 4. Automated Software Engineering Tools Software engineering is concerned with the analysis, design, implementation, testing, and maintenance of large software systems. Automated software engineering focuses on how to automate or partially automate these tasks to achieve significant improvements in quality and productivity. Automated software engineering applies computation to software engineering activities. The goal is to partially or fully automate these activities, thereby significantly increasing both quality and productivity. This includes the study of techniques for constructing, understanding, adapting and modeling both software artifacts and processes. Automatic and collaborative systems are both important areas of automated software engineering, as are computational models of human software engineering activities. Knowledge representations and artificial intelligence techniques applicable in this field are of particular interest, as are formal techniques that support or provide theoretical foundations.[7] Automated software engineering approaches have been applied in many areas of software engineering. These include requirements definition, specification, architecture, design and synthesis, implementation, modeling, testing and quality assurance, verification and validation, maintenance and evolution, configuration management, deployment, reengineering, reuse and visualization. Automated software engineering techniques have also been used in a wide range of domains and application areas including industrial software, embedded and real-time systems, aerospace, automotive and medical systems, Web-based systems and computer games.[7] Research into Automated Software Engineering includes the following areas: * Automated reasoning techniques * Component-based systems * Computer-supported cooperative work * Configuration management * Domain modeling and meta-modeling * Human-computer interaction * Knowledge acquisition and management * Maintenance and evolution * Model-based software development * Modeling language semantics * Ontologies and methodologies * Open systems development * Product line architectures * Program understanding * Program synthesis * Program transformation * Re-engineering * Requirements engineering * Specification languages * Software architecture and design * Software visualization * Testing, verification, and validation * Tutoring, help, and documentation systems 5. Natural Language Processing Natural language processing (NLP) is a subfield of artificial intelligence and linguistics. It studies the problems of automated generation and understanding of natural human languages. Natural language generation systems convert information from computer databases into normal-sounding human language, and natural language understanding systems convert samples of human language into more formal representations that are easier for computer programs to manipulate. 5.1. Language Processing Language processing can be divided into two tasks:[11] * Processing written text, using lexical, syntactic, and semantic knowledge of the language as well as any required real world information.[11] * Processing spoken language, using all the information needed above, plus additional knowledge about phonology as well as enough additional information to handle the further ambiguities that arise in speech.[11] 5.2. Uses for NLP: 5.2.1. User interfaces. Better than obscure command languages. It would be nice if you could just tell the computer what you want it to do. Of course we are talking about a textual interface not speech.[10] 5.2.2. Knowledge-Acquisition. Programs that could read books and manuals or the newspaper. So you dont have to explicitly encode all of the knowledge they need to solve problems or do whatever they do.[10] 5.2.3. Information Retrieval. Find articles about a given topic. Program has to be able somehow to determine whether the articles match a given query.[10] 5.2.4. Translation. It sure would be nice if machines could automatically translate from one language to another. This was one of the first tasks they tried applying computers to. It is very hard.[10] 5.3. Linguistic levels of Analysis Language obeys regularities and exhibits useful properties at a number of somewhat separable levels.[10] Think of language as transfer of information. It is much more than that. But that is a good place to start. Suppose that the speaker has some meaning that they wish to convey to some hearer.[10] Speech (or gesture) imposes a linearity on the signal. All you can play with is the properties of a sequence of tokens. Actually, why tokens? Well for one thing that makes it possible to learn.[10] So the other thing to play with is the order the tokens can occur. So somehow, a meaning gets encoded as a sequence of tokens, each of which has some set of distinguishable properties, and is then interpreted by figuring out what meaning corresponds to those tokens in that order.[10] Another way to think about it is that the properties of the tokens and their sequence somehow elicits an understanding of the meaning. Language is a set of resources to enable us to share meanings, but isnt best thought of as a means for *encoding* meanings. This is a sort of philosophical issue perhaps, but if this point of view is true, it makes much of the AI approach to NLP somewhat suspect, as it is really based on the encoded meanings view of language.[10] The lowest level is the actual properties of the signal stream: phonology speech sounds and how we make them morphology the structure of words syntax how the sequences are structured semantics meanings of the strings There are important interfaces among all of these levels. For example sometimes the meaning of sentences can determine how individual words are pronounced.[10] This many levels is obviously needed. But language turns out to be more clever than this. For example, language can be more efficient by not having to say the same thing twice, so we have pronouns and other ways of making use of what has already been said: A bear went into the woods. It found a tree. Also, since language is most often used among people who are in the same situation, it can make use of features of the situation: this/that you/me/they here/there now/then The mechanisms whereby features of the context, whether it is the context created by a sequence of sentences, or the actual context where the speaking happens is called pragmatics.[10] Another issue has to do with the fact that the simple model of language as information transfer is clealy not right. For one thing, we know there are at least the following three types of sentences: statements imperatives questions And each of them can be used to do a different kind of thing. The first *might* be called information transfer. But what about imperatives? What about questions? To some degree the analysis of such sentences can involve the ideas of a basic notion of meaning Speech acts.[10] There are other, higher-levels of structuring that language exhibits. For example there is conversational structure, where people know when they get to talk in a conversation, and what constitutes a valid contribution. There is narrative structure whereby stories are put together in ways that make sense and are interesting. There is expository structure which involves the way that informative texts (like encyclopedias) are arranged so as to usefully convey information. These issues blend off from linguistics into literature and library science, among other things.[10] Of course with hypertext and multi-media and virtual reality, these higher levels of structure are being explored in new ways.[10] 5.4. Steps in Natural Language Understanding The steps in the process of natural language understanding are:[11] 5.4.1. Morphological analysis Individual words are analyzed into their components, and non-word tokens (such as punctuation) are separated from the words. For example, in the phrase Bills house the proper noun Bill is separated from the possessive suffix s.[11] 5.4.2. Syntactic analysis. Linear sequences of words are transformed into structures that show how the words relate to one another. This parsing step converts the flat list of words of the sentence into a structure that defines the units represented by that list. Constraints imposed include word order (manager the key is an illegal constituent in the sentence I gave the manager the key); number agreement; case agreement.[11] 5.4.3. Semantic analysis. The structures created by the syntactic analyzer are assigned meanings. In most universes, the sentence Colorless green ideas sleep furiously [Chomsky, 1957] would be rejected as semantically anomalous. This step must map individual words into appropriate objects in the knowledge base, and must create the correct structures to correspond to the way the meanings of the individual words combine with each other. [11] 5.4.4. Discourse integration. The meaning of an individual sentence may depend on the sentences that precede it and may influence the sentences yet to come. The entities involved in the sentence must either have been introduced explicitly or they must be related to entities that were. The overall discourse must be coherent. [11] 5.4.5. Pragmatic analysis. The structure representing what was said is reinterpreted to determine what was actually meant. [11] 5.5. Syntactic Processing Syntactic parsing determines the structure of the sentence being analyzed. Syntactic analysis involves parsing the sentence to extract whatever information the word order contains. Syntactic parsing is computationally less expensive than semantic processing.[10] A grammar is a declarative representation that defines the syntactic facts of a language. The most common way to represent grammars is as a set of production rules, and the simplest structure for them to build is a parse tree which records the rules and how they are matched. [10] Sometimes backtracking is required (e.g., The horse raced past the barn fell), and sometimes multiple interpretations may exist for the beginning of a sentence (e.g., Have the students who missed the exam ). [10] Example: Syntactic processing interprets the difference between John hit Mary and Mary hit John. 5.6. Semantic Analysis After (or sometimes in conjunction with) syntactic processing, we must still produce a representation of the meaning of a sentence, based upon the meanings of the words in it. The following steps are usually taken to do this: [10] 5.6.1. Lexical processing. Look up the individual words in a dictionary. It may not be possible to choose a single correct meaning, since there may be more than one. The process of determining the correct meaning of individual words is called word sense disambiguation or lexical disambiguation. For example, Ill meet you at the diamond can be understood since at requires either a time or a location. This usually leads to preference semantics when it is not clear which definition we should prefer. [10] 5.6.2. Sentence-level processing. There are several approaches to sentence-level processing. These include semantic grammars, case grammars, and conceptual dependencies. [10] Example: Semantic processing determines the differences between such sentences as The ink is in the pen and The ink is in the pen. 5.6.3. Discourse and Pragmatic Processing. To understand most sentences, it is necessary to know the discourse and pragmatic context in which it was uttered. In general, for a program to participate intelligently in a dialog, it must be able to represent its own beliefs about the world, as well as the beliefs of others (and their beliefs about its beliefs, and so on).[10] The context of goals and plans can be used to aid understanding. Plan recognition has served as the basis for many understanding programs PAM is an early example. [10] 5.7. Issues in Syntax For various reasons, a lot of attention in computational linguistics has been paid to syntax. Partly this has to do with the fact that real linguistics have spent a lot of work on it. Partly because it needs to be done before just about anything else can be done. I wont talk much about morphology. We will assume that words can be associated with a set of features or properties. For example the word dog is a noun, it is singular, its meaning involves a kind of animal. The word dogs is related, obviously, but has the property of being plural. The word eat is a verb, it is in what we might call the base form, it denotes a particular kind of action. The word ate is related, it is in the past tense form. You can imagine Im sure that the techniques of knowledge representation that we have looked at can be applied to the problem of representing facts about the properties and relations among words. [11] The key observation in the theory of syntax is that the words in a sentence can be more or less naturally grouped into what are called phrases, and those phrases can often be treated as a unit. So in a sentence The dog chased the bear, the sequence the dog forms a natural unit. The sequence chased the bear is a natural unit, as is the bear.[11] Why do I say that the dog is a natural unit? Well one thing is that I can replace it by another sequence that has the same referent, or a related referent. For example I could replace it by: [11] Snoopy (a name) It (a pronoun) My brothers favorite pet (a more complex description) What about chased the bear? Again, I could replace it by died (a single word) was hit by a truck (a more complex event) This basic structure, in English, is sometimes called the subject-predicate structure. The subject is a nominal, something that can refer to an object or thing, the predicate is a verb phrase, which describes an action or event. Of course, as in the example, the verb phrase can also contain other constituents, for example another nominal. [11] These phrases also have structure. For example a noun phrase (a kind of nominal) can have a determiner, zero or more adjectives, and a noun, maybe followed by another phrase, like: the big dog that ate my homework Verb phrases can have complicated verb groups like will not be eaten Syntactic theories try to predict and explain what patterns are used in a language. Sometimes this involves figuring out what patterns just dont work. For example the following sentences have something wrong with them: [11] * the dogs runs home * he died the book * she saw himself in the mirror * they told it to she Figuring out exactly what is wrong with such sentences allows linguists to create theories that help understand the way that sentences

Assessment of Product: The Refrigerator Essay -- Consumer Issues

Customer Expectation for a product changes from one customer to another and so does the definition of quality. In case of a refrigerator there isn’t a product that could satisfy every customers need therefore manufactures have to target their products in different segments. Even if the product caters for a certain customers need, it wouldn’t stop a rival company from bringing new features that customers never imagined and now customers have changed their quality definition. When assessing the quality of a product it is important to understand the thought process of a customer as sales are generated through them. A customer generally has a preconceived idea about the product or service, after consuming they would have perception on how the product or service performed; if the product or service does perform to expectation or even beyond, it would be perceived as a quality product. Evaluation of the LG Refrigerator (GL-M252VM) using the Garvin’s eight product dimensions framework. Dimensions of LG Refrigerator - GL-M252VM It is important to understand that quality varies when product evolves through time. Consider this, when refrigerators were introduced newly it contests on the level of performance and when all competitors are close enough to a certain level customers expect all products to perform (maintain a necessary temperature to keep bacteria away).then competition goes to the reliability stage where they compete on reliability, Durability, Conformance and Perceived Quality once these aspects are meet or even close to judge the completion moves on to convenience stage Features, Serviceability and Aesthetics will be their success factors and product is considered to be a commodity that is contested on price. G... ... Vogue type handle. Works Cited 1) Miner (2010) Re: 8 Dimensions of Product Quality according to Garvin. [online]. Last accessed 3 April 2012 at: http://elsmar.com/Forums/showthread.php?t=45292 2) Press Releases (2011) LG’s Linear Compressor Refrigerators: Technology that Preserves. [online]. Last accessed 3 April 2012 at: http://www.lg.com/za/press-release/article/lgs-linear-compressor-refrigerators-technology-that-preserves.jsp 3) Module 11: Quality Management (2010). [online]. From YouTube last accessed 4 April 2012 at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJNVrY_Z2NM&feature=related 4) Product Support for GL-M252VM.AMDQABN. [online]. Last accessed 3 April 2012 at: http://goo.gl/ziWk1 5) James R. Hood (1998) Consumer Complaints & Reviews [online]. Last accessed 3 April 2012 at: http://www.consumeraffairs.com/homeowners/lg_refrigerator.html

Bbmdoc.233

CHRIST UNIVERSITY Hosur Road, Bangalore Department of Management Studies Course Plan-2012-2013 Subject/Code: Organizational Behaviour/BBM 232 |Name of the faculty | Email | |Dr. Jain Mathew |[email  protected] in | |Mr. John Paul |john. [email  protected] in | |Ms.Mary Thomas |mary. [email  protected] in | |Ms. Vinita Seshadri |vinita. [email  protected] in | INTRODUCTION To provide students with thorough knowledge in theory and concepts of organizational behavior, also to equip them to address the contemporary changes related to the behavior and performance of people in organizations today.Teaching and learning approach Each week's teaching sessions will comprise: Four- Hour lecture including student centered activity During which you will be introduced to the topic for that week. It is important to note that the coverage of each topic during the lecture will be incomplete unless you read the references provided and attempt the tutorial questions that cover that topic. It is important to note that for each topic a set of objectives is given and it is your responsibility to ensure that you meet those objectives.Recommended text books Stephen Robbins, Timothy A. Judge, Seema Sanghi, Organizational Behavior, 13th Edition Pearson Education, Journals Human Capital MBA Review HRM Review ICFAI HR HBR Review Case Folio Lecture Schedule: 1. MODULE – Introduction to Organizational Behaviour 1. 1 Objectives †¢ Understand the importance of interpersonal skills in the workplace. †¢ Describe the manager’s function, role and skills. – Week |Topics |Hour |Methodology | | |Nature, importance and purpose of organizations |1 |Discussion | | | | | | |Nov 5 – Nov 10 | | | | | |Managerial Skills by Robert Katz |2 |Lecture (C/PPT) | | |Management Roles by Mintzberg |3 |PPT; video showing various roles | | |Effective versus successful Managerial Activities|4 |Group discussion and reflections | | |- | | | | |Luthan’s study | | | 1B. 2 Objectives: On completion of the material you would be able to: †¢ Define Organization Behaviour †¢ Trace the historical roots of organization behaviour †¢ Explain OB Model †¢ Identify the major behavioral science disciplines that contribute to OB †¢ Identify the challenges and opportunities managers have in applying OB Concepts Week |Topics |Hour |Methodology | | |Introduction to Organization Behaviour – OB Model|1 |Lecture (C/PPT) | | | | | | |Nov 12 –Nov 19 | | | | | |Challenges in handling OB |2 |Group discussion and reflections | | |Contribution from other disciplines |3 |Concept Mapping | | |Case Study |4 |Use as a tool to explain how to approach OB case | | | | |studies | 1+. 2 Reference Prerequisite readings – Chapter 1 Stephen Robbins, Timothy A. Judge , Seema Sanghi , Organizational Behavior, 14th Edition Pearson Education 2. MODULE – II Personality 2. 1 Objectives: On completion of the material you would be able to: †¢ Define Personality, describe how it is measured and factors that determine n individual’s personality †¢ Identify Personality Traits relevant to OB and it’s applications in the workplace |Week |Topics |Hour |Methodology | | |Meaning & Determinants of personality |1 |Concept Mapping | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |Nov 20 – Dec 4 | | | | | |Theories of personality: Type and Trait theory |2 |Activity: ‘Favourite Personality’ | | |The ‘Big Five’ Personality Traits |3 |Lecture (C/PPT) | | |Experiential Exercise: Big Five Personality |4 |Questionnaire | | |Trait | | | | |Myers-Briggs Indicator |5 |Lecture (C/PPT) | | |Psychoanalytical theory |6 |Lecture (C/PPT) | | |Erickson’s personality |7 |Lecture (C/PPT); Handout | | |Group Activity9-+ |8 |Write up on various personality +-+traits of famous | | | | |personalities | | |Case Study |9 |Case discussion/Written Analysis | 2. 2 Reference: Prerequisi te readings –Ch. 4 Stephen Robbins, Timothy A. Judge , Seema Sanghi , Organizational Behavior, 14th Edition Pearson Education 3. MODULE- III Learning Meaning of learning –– Learning theory of Organisational Behaviour-Classical- Operant conditioning- Cognitive- Observation Theory 3. 1 Objectives: On completion of the material you would be able to: †¢ Define and understand what is Learning †¢ Four theories which explains how learning takes place †¢ Learning principles which needs to be observed in any training programme †¢ Its impact on individual behaviour and organization Week |Topics |Hour |Methodology | | |Meaning of learning |1 |Concept Mapping | | | | | | | | | | | |Dec 5 – Dec 21 | | | | | |Learning process |2 |Discussion | | |Classical conditioning |3 |Lecture (C/PPT) & video | | |Operant conditioning |4 |Lecture (C/PPT) & video | | |Cognitive Theory |5 |Lecture (C/PPT) | | |Social Learning Theory |6 |Group discussion – ‘Role Models’ | | |Group Activity |7 |Presentation on videos depicting various learning | | | | |styles/skits | | |Principles of Learning-Reinforcement and |8 |Lecture (C/PPT) | |Punishment | | | | |Learning Curve |9 |Discussion | | |Case Study |10 |Case discussion/Written Analysis | 3. 2 Reference: Prerequisite readings – Chapter 9 K. Aswathappa, 9th edition, OB-Himalaya Publishing House / Chapter 4- Kavitha Singh-OB Text and Cases-Pearson Education / Chapter 4-OB- Hellriegel & Slocum- Thomson 4. MODULE- IV Attitudes Meaning, Characteristics and functions- Components-the ABC Model- Formation of attitude Meaning, Charecteristics, Components and Formation of attitudes. Change in attitude- Barriers to change- How to minimize the barriers. 4. 1 Objectives On completion of the material you would be able to: †¢ Contrast the three components of an attitude †¢ Discuss attitude and attitude formation †¢ Relate attitude to behaviour Week |Topics |Hour |Me thodology | | |Meaning, Characteristics and functions |1 |Concept Mapping | | | | | | | | | | | |Jan 2 – Jan 12 | | | | | |Components-the ABC Model |2 |Lecture (C/PPT) | | |Cognitive Dissonance; Job |3 |GroupDiscussion | | |Satisfaction/Dissatisfaction | | | | |Formation of attitudes- Changing attitudes |4 |Lecture (C/PPT) | | |Barriers to change, How to minimize the barriers |5 |Video | | |Case Study |6 |Case discussion/Written Analysis | 4. 2 Reference: Prerequisite readings – Ch 3 Stephen Robbins, Timothy A. Judge , Seema Sanghi , Organizational Behavior, 14th Edition Pearson Education 5. MODULE – V – PERCEPTION Meaning and definition – Need, Factors influencing perception, perceptual consistency, Context and definition,. 5. 1 Objectives: On completion of the material you would be able to: †¢ Understand importance and factors contributing for perception †¢ Understand the concepts in perceptual Organization Understand factors contri buting towards the interpretation of data |Week |Topics |Hour |Methodology | | |Meaning, nature and importance of Perception |1 |Concept Mapping | | | | | | | | | | | |Jan 21 – Jan 31| | | | | |Factors influencing perception |2 |Lecture (C/PPT) | | |Experiential Exercise 1 |3 |Story telling based on pictures | | |Perceptual Process |4 |Group discussion | | |Interpersonal perception 5 |Video | | |Case Study |6 |Case discussion/Written Analysis | 5. 2 Reference Prerequisite readings – Chapter 6 K. Aswathappa, 9th edition, OB-Himalaya Publishing House 6. MODULE –VI Group Behaviour and Group Dynamics 6. 1 Objectives: On completion of the module you would be able to: †¢ Analyse the different stages of group formation and development. †¢ Differentiate formal and informal groups. †¢ Know the factors that increase or decrease group cohesiveness †¢ Differentiate between groups and teams. †¢ Discuss the conditions for building successful teams. Week |Topics |Hour |Methodology | | |Meaning and types of groups |1 |Concept Mapping | | | | | | | | | | | |Feb 1 – Feb 12 | | | | | |Formation of groups |2 |Activity + Reflection | | |Characteristics of Groups (Size, Norms, Status, |3 |Lecture (C/PPT) | | |Roles) | | | | |Characteristics of Groups (Cohesiveness, |4 |Lecture (C/PPT) | | |Groupthink, Groupshift) | | | | |Group decision making |5 |Lecture (C/PPT) | | |Groups vs Teams |6 |Discussion | 6. 2 Reference: *Aswathappa –Ch. 14 and 15, Organizational Behavior (Text, cases and Games), 9th Edition, Himalaya Publication 7. MODULE – VII Leadership 7. 1 Objectives: On completion of this module you would be able to: †¢ Differentiate Leadership and management. †¢ Leadership styles and their impact on followers. †¢ Transformational leadership, women as leaders and charismatic leadership are emerging issues in leadership. Week |Topics |Hour |Methodology | | |Meaning, concept and Differences wit h managers |1 |Concept Mapping | | | | | | | | | | | |Feb 13 – Feb 23| | | | | |Leadership Styles |2 |Lecture (C/PPT) | | |Managerial Grid; Situational Leadership (Hersey &|3 |Lecture (C/PPT) | | |Blanchard) | | | | |Tannenbaum and Schmidt; Path Goal theory |4 |Lecture (C/PPT) | | |Transactional, Transformational & Charismatic |5 |Presentations by students | | |leaders | | | | |Communication: Meaning and importance, barriers |6 |Discussion | 7. 2 Reference: *Aswathappa –Ch. 18, Organizational Behavior (Text, cases and Games), 9th Edition, Himalaya Publication 8. MODULE – VIII Motivation 8. 1 Objectives: On completion of the material you would be able to: †¢ Identify major content theories of work motivation Explain the major process theories of work motivation †¢ Understand theories of motivation and evaluate their applicability today |Week |Topics |Hour |Methodology | | |Meaning and Concept of motivation |1 |Concept Mapping | | | | | | | | | | | |Feb 25 – Mar 4 | | | | | |Content Theories of Motivation – Two factor |2 |Presentations by students | | |theory, Theory X & Y | | | | |Alderfer ERG Theory; McClleland’s need |3 |Presentations by students | | |classification | | | | |Process Theories- Vroom’s Expectancy Theory, |4 |Lecture (C/PPT) | | |Porter-Lawler theory | | | | |Case Study |5 |Case discussion/Written Analysis | 8. 2 Reference: Prerequisite readings – Chapter 11- K. Aswathappa, 9th edition, OB-Himalaya Publishing House / Chapter 6- Stephen Robbins, Timothy A. Judge , Seema Sanghi / Chapter 8- Fred Luthans- OB- 9th Edition Mc Graw Hill. 9. MODULE-IX- Organizational Change 9. 1 Objectives: On completion of the module you would be able to understand †¢ The nature, level, need and types of change. †¢ The reasons for change in organization. †¢ The reasons why people resist change in organization. †¢ The change process. Week |Topics |Hour |Methodology | | |Nat ure and Levels of Change |1 |Concept Mapping | | | | | | | | | | | |Feb 25 – Mar 4 | | | | | |Types and Forces for Change & Lewin’s Model for |2 |Lecture (C/PPT) | | |Change Management | | | | |Change Process ( Six Stages) |3 |Lecture (C/PPT) | | |Resistance to change (RTC) and methods dealing |4 |Discussions | | |with RTC | | | 9. 2 Reference: *Aswathappa –Ch. 22, Organizational Behavior (Text, cases and Games), 9th Edition, Himalaya Publication Continuous Internal Assessment CIA 1 – Mid Semester Examinations for 2 hours and 50 marks CIA 2 – Comprising of the following 3 components of 10 marks each: i) Article Review – The student will be required to read a specified article and present the review in the following format †¢ Name of the Author, Year of Publication, Title of the article †¢ Objective of the study †¢ Methodology adopted – o Sample (Technique and size) o Tools o Analysis †¢ Findings of the study †¢ Recommendations of the author (ii) MCQ test. (iii) Case analysis – The case must be analyzed in the following manner †¢ Critical analysis o Key facts in the case o Central problem in the case o Theoretical concept it relates to †¢ Answer the Questions †¢ Recommendations/Suggestions + Conclusion CIA 3 – Comprising of the following 3 components of 10 marks each: (i) Written Case analysis of a comprehensive case following the format specified above. (ii) MCQ conducted through LMS (iii) Class participation evaluated through Q, Activities,

How to Control Flies in Your Home and Yard

How to Control Flies in Your Home and Yard Whats a barbecue or picnic without a few flies, right? Wrong. The flies you nonchalantly swat from your burger and coleslaw can make you sick. These flies, known as filth flies, make a living off animal feces and garbage. Flies pick up all manner of nasty bacteria, then transport the disease-causing organisms right to your food. Take a few measures to control flies in your backyard and your home, and youll be healthier for it. What Are Filth Flies? Filth flies carry disease-causing organisms and can be a threat to public health. These flies breed in bacteria-laden environments, such as feces, carrion, and human food waste, often in close proximity to humans or domesticated animals. Filth flies include some of our most common fly pests - house flies, fruit flies, green bottle flies, stable flies, and several others. A single house fly can carry over one million bacteria. No less than 60 different diseases can be transmitted by filth flies, from salmonella to dysentery. Most filth flies can reproduce quickly in warm weather. To keep fly populations under control, you must limit the places where they can breed and feed. Good Sanitation Practices Theres nothing a filth fly likes less than proper sanitation. Adult flies need a place to lay their eggs, and a clean home and yard just wont appeal to mama fly. Heres how to keep flies from breeding in or near your home. Clean up all pet and animal feces promptly. Any fresh, moist animal feces will draw flies. To keep flies from breeding in your dogs business, either bury it immediately or use a pooper scooper and plastic bag to remove and seal the feces. Place the bagged waste in a lidded garbage can.Dispose of kitchen scraps and other organic waste properly. When it comes to food waste, the drier the better. Drain any moisture you can from it before throwing it away. Scrape your plates or other leftovers into a plastic garbage bag, tie the bag shut, and put it in a garbage can with a tight fighting lid.If you save kitchen waste for your compost heap, add some sawdust to your scrap bin to help absorb moisture and odors that might attract flies. If your compost pile does not heat up sufficiently, those kitchen scraps may attract breeding flies. Turn your compost pile regularly, and dont put meats or animal waste in your compost bin.Garbage cans and dumpsters are favorite breeding areas for flies. You can significantly reduce fly populations by keeping lids tightly closed on your trash cans, and making sure the cans have no holes. All garbage within the can should be bagged and tied closed. Dont forget to put your garbage out for collection regularly. Its not a bad idea to scrub out your cans now and then, to remove any food or pet waste residue. Recycling cans also attract some filth flies. Rinse empty soda cans, beer bottles, and pet food cans before tossing them in the recycling. If possible, use a lidded recycling container.If you have fruit trees in your yard, pick up any fruit that falls on the ground. Fermenting or overripe fruit provides just the right combination of moist and sweet to attract flies.Indoors, take care not to overwater your houseplants. Prune and discard of any dying plant parts. Fungus gnat larvae feed on fungi that develop in moist soils and on decaying plant matter. Physical Controls Following all the sanitation rules above will significantly reduce, but not completely eliminate, flies in your yard and home. You can further limit the numbers of these unhealthy pests by using appropriate barriers and traps. Install and maintain tight-fitting window screens. Check your screens for holes or tears, and repair them as needed. Caulk and seal any openings around windows, doors, or in your foundation.Sticky flypaper does work but is most useful when fly populations are low. If youve followed all the steps to limit breeding sites, hanging a few sticky flypaper traps will do the trick on the few that wander into your home. Still, you might not like having a ribbon of dead flies hanging from your ceiling.Commercially available fly traps work well, especially for house flies. Traps usually contain some kind of food bait, sometimes in combination with a pheromone. Place fly traps where you see the most flies. Pesticides Pesticides are available to control flies, but should never be used as the first line of defense against them. Proper sanitation is the best way to keep flies to a minimum. Follow sanitation guidelines, install good window screens, and use traps when needed. You should rarely if ever, need to use a chemical pesticide on flies.

Narragansett Yacht Essay Example

Narragansett Yacht Essay Example Narragansett Yacht Essay Narragansett Yacht Essay 1. What is the economic ordering quantity for standard 5-inch winches if they are ordered from (a) Supplier A, and (b) Supplier B? Round your answers up to the next whole unit, because Narragansett cannot order a fraction of a winch. What assumptions are implied in the EOQ model? Do these assumptions appear reasonable when applied to Narragansett Yacht? How many orders should be placed each year if Narragansett buys from Supplier A? If the firm buys from Supplier B? What is the reorder point (in units) for each supplier? Assume for now that no safety stocks are held and use a 360-day year. Calculate the total inventory cost (the cost of ordering plus the cost of carrying inventories) that Narragansett would incur from each supplier. On the basis of the information developed thus far, which supplier should Narragansett use? Narragansett currently carries a safety stock of 75 winches to protect itself against stockouts due to delivery delays and/or an increase in its usage rate. However, if it decides to switch to Supplier B, Narragansett would need to increase the safety stock to 150 units to reflect Supplier B’s longer lead time. a. Assuming that the desired safety stock is currently on hand, what is the total cost of ordering and carrying inventories, including the safety stock, using Supplier A? What is the cost of using Supplier B? b. How does the introduction of safety stocks affect the reorder points as calculated in Question 3? c. Assume that there is a shipping delay. How many days after an order is placed could Narragansett continue to operate, at its expected usage rate, before its entire stock of 5-inch winches is reduced to zero? Compute this figure for both Supplier A and Supplier B. Narragansett’s production is relatively constant throughout the year, but if its sales and production were highly seasonal, could the EOQ model still be used? If so, would modifications be required? Explain. Suppose Supplier A, the current supplier, offers a 2 percent discount on the $300 per- unit purchase price on orders of 250 or more units. In an attempt to win the contract, Supplier B is also offering a 2 percent discount on ordersof 250 or more. Should Narragansett take the quantity discount from Supplier A? In answering this question, assume that Narragansett holds a 75-unit safety stock. ) What are some methods that Narragansett might use to control the inventory of 5-inch winches? That is, how can it keep track of the number of units in stock and then be sure an order is placed when the order point is reached? In many situations, companies are using just-in-time inventory procedures with good results. What is involved in the JIT approach, and what factors would need t o be considered before you could recommend that Narragansett adopt or not adopt a JIT system

Halifax Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Halifax Analysis - Essay Example The service delivery method deployed by Halifax is strongly related to the company's ability to promote and execute to customer needs through professional E-business at http://www.halifax.co.uk/home/index.shtml. This allows the bank to run literally twenty-four hours per day year round. The benefits of this service delivery are the continuity of service, however the detriment may be found in genuine customer service and person to person contact. The professional service deliver for online banking is in high demand. In the long run, there will always be demand for credit cards, mortgages business loans or insurance in one form or another. Financial services are the backbone of our economy and will continue to be for years to come (Davies 1992). Because diversified financials offer such a wide range of products, they are able position their companies to tap changing demand for different products (Davies 1992). World population is continuing to expand at an exponential rate. It is important for companies within the industry position themselves in developing countries to take advantage of exploding populations, especially in emerging countries (Davies 1992). The degree of customer interaction for online banking is low. ... Several online banks also offer 'click to chat' options which allow an online customer to 'chat' with a professional banker. This is not an option available with Halifax. ). Technological innovation has allowed financial companies to automate time and labour intensive processes and enhance their ability to match up borrowers and lenders, regardless of geographic location (Gardener 1988). While Halifax has reached several components of innovative technology by the development of 24-7 online banking, they are severely lacking in the degree of viable customer interactions. Degree of Service Customisation The degree of service customisation is relatively high. Halifax has developed specialised services through online banking for the purpose of gaining new customers and retaining current customers (McDonald 2002). In the degree of customised services, Halifax offers diverse and multiple professional banking services. Expectations are commonly defined as "beliefs about a product that serve as standards or reference points against which product [or service] performance is judged" (Zeithaml et al. 1993, p. 1). To this, Halifax responds by offering direct and easy to navigate professional services. There are icons for nearly all-banking needs that the customer can easily navigate based on their requirements. Halifax also boasts that it will assist the customer in 'switching' banks, which customises the professional service towards new customers. Nature of Service Act The nature of the professional service is strongly E-business The service side concentrates mainly on providing services to the customer. Halifax's customer care section plays an important role on deciding if the company and should be

Theory and concepts of creating a financial model Essay

Theory and concepts of creating a financial model - Essay Example Management should be skeptical of the model assumptions that will be related to the recommendation. There are different types of financial models that are used for various purposes. For example, a cash flow model is regarded as a powerful tool that can assist a financial team with project future performance in a business venture by evaluating the effect of that type transaction such as an an acquisition and LBO(Shim 2007, 67)2. It is also able to calculate returns and perform ration analysis. Financial models for investment options or product services are often custom developed in excel sheets as they take into account for unique characteristics such as cost structure, product market and competitive situation. The following guidelines should be used: Outline the model the type of model structure that would include the general output and the key components.The weight cost and the advantages of the type of model will also be factored in. The forecasting future method should be used in any financial model (Fernholz 2002, 56). When constructing a cash flow model there are a number assumptions that must be included. In this kind of financial model, there is a deterministic approach that uses certain simplifications.Among them is the investment of return that is known and does not usually vary from year to year. Another important aspect is that this rate is the same rate that will be used to discount the reserves and the third aspect is that the ultimate loss ration will be accurately predicted. There are some concepts that one has to know when creating a financial model like a cash flow model. Firstly, you have to have to start with the in mind- This will be inclusive of whether you are pricing options of an investment or building3. With the Cash flow model, you should be able to check for assumptions. From this you would be able to get truthfully generate outputs with a certain number of inputs. This kind of model should be one that you are able to adjust automatic ally and should be dynamic depending on your inputs. This model does not give room for a formula, like for instance, that will multiply a specific number of units with the determined price (Hambrook 2003, 95). This gives room in case the price might change in future. If you use a fixed formula and the prices change in the future, you will be forced to go the right cell of the Excel sheet and make changes every time the price changes. One of the major concerns that most investors have is determining the relationship between the risk and the return of a financial asset. This kind of information can be obtained in his portfolio. It is general knowledge that there is a good relationship between the risk and the expected return of a financial asset. In other words, when the risk of an asset increases, so does its expected return. What this means is that if an investor is taking on a big risk, he is expected to be compensated for doing so with a higher return of sales in the futures. Simi larly, if the investor wants to boost or increase the the expected return of the investment, he needs to be prepared to take on more risk. This is the reason why a portfolio is used to give this important relationship. It is important to note that the concept of Modern Portfolio Theory to show the connection between the risk and return of a portfolio of financial assets. The three types of portfolios that will help us