9 Steps to a 1st Grade Lesson Plan for Telling Time

9 Steps to a 1st Grade Lesson Plan for Telling Time For students, learning to tell time can be difficult. But you can teach students to tell time in hours and half-hours by following this step-by-step procedure. Depending on when you teach math during the day, it would be helpful to have a digital clock sound an alarm when math class begins. If your math class begins on the hour or the half hour, even better! Step-by-Step Procedure If you know your students are shaky on time concepts, it’s best to start this lesson with a discussion of morning, afternoon, and night. When do you get up? When do you brush your teeth? When do you get on the bus for school? When do we do our reading lessons? Have students put these into the appropriate categories of morning, afternoon, and night.Tell students that we are going to get a little more specific. There are special times of day that we do things, and the clock shows us when. Show them the analog clock (the toy or the classroom clock) and the digital clock.Set the time on the analog clock for 3:00. First, draw their attention to the digital clock. The number(s) before the : describe the hours, and the numbers after the : describe the minutes. So for 3:00, we are exactly at 3 o’clock and no extra minutes.Then draw their attention to the analog clock. Tell them that this clock can also show the time. The short hand shows the same thing as the number(s) before t he : on the digital clock - the hours. Show them how the long hand on the analog clock moves faster than the short hand - it is moving by minutes. When it is at 0 minutes, it will be right up at the top, by the 12. (This is hard for kids to understand.) Have students come up and make the long hand move quickly around the circle to reach the 12 and zero minutes several times.Have students stand up. Have them use one arm to show where the long clock hand will be when it is at zero minutes. Their hands should be straight up above their heads. Just like they did in Step 5, have them move this hand rapidly around an imaginary circle to represent what the minute hand does.Then have them imitate the 3:00 short hand. Using their unused arm, have them put this out to the side so that they are imitating the hands of the clock. Repeat with 6:00 (do the analog clock first) then 9:00, then 12:00. Both arms should be straight above their heads for 12:00.Change the digital clock to be 3:30. Show what this looks like on the analog clock. Have students use their bodies to imitate 3:30, then 6:30, then 9:30. For the remainder of the class period, or at the introduction of the next class period, ask for volunteers to come up to the front of the class and make a time with their bodies for other students to guess. Homework/Assessment Have students go home and discuss with their parents the times (to the nearest hour and half hour) that they do at least three important things during the day. They should write these down on paper in the correct digital format. Parents should sign the paper indicating that they have had these discussions with their child. Evaluation Take anecdotal notes on students as they complete Step 9 of the lesson. Those students who are still struggling with the representation of hours and half hours can receive some extra practice with another student or with you. Duration Two class periods, each 30-45 minutes long. Materials toy analog clockdigital clock

American Culture and False Self essays

American Culture and False Self essays American culture is full of mixed messages and conflicting ideas. Society is far from perfect, especially when it has unrealistic expectations for its teenage girls. In pop culture, it is deemed inappropriate to display androgynous behavior, the ability to act freely without worrying if their behavior is feminine or masculine, once an individual has matured through the childhood years. Research has shown that androgynous people are in fact the most well adjusted adults (Pipher 18). According to Mary Pipher, author of Reviving Ophelia, a former number one New York Times Bestseller, during early adolescence girls are expected to sacrifice the parts of themselves that our culture considers masculine. Society forces these girls into their true and false selves, and it is society that causes girls to discard their true selves and acquire false selves. This idea of obtaining a false self is extremely dangerous. Girls are obligated to be attractive, be a lady, be unselfish and of service, make relationships work and be competent without complaint (Pipher 39). This is also the time that honesty is neglected for the ability to be nice and easy-going. Society recognizes and rewards honestly, but at the same time, women are taught that it is more important to be nice than honest. For example, girls who speak openly and bluntly are often called bitches. Girls who are not good-looking are ridiculed. The so-called rules of womanhood can be found in movies, song lyrics, everyday conversations, pornographic magazines and videos, works of literature, and television, magazine, newspaper, and radio advertisements. Girls have to make choices everyday based on this unfair set of rules. They choose to sit quietly in class rather than risking the possibility of being called a brain. They choose to diet rather than eat when they are really hungry. They choose to be polite rather than being honest, and they choose to pretty rather than have...

School Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

School - Essay Example They go about achieving these objectives by usually coming up with a defined set of syllabus of academic content and coordinating the knowledge provided with the defined set of topics in the syllabi. Schools hardly follow any other approach or want to deviate from the academic syllabus drawn up. This methodology of schools is met with mixed views by the individuals all around the world. Some individuals tend to think that as school is an only proper source of education or learning experiences for most students; it should not only emphasize on the academic content but should also work towards the personality and character development of students. Common ethical values such as discipline, honesty and uprightness should be emphasized and instilled in students from school so they know their responsibilities as a citizen and a human being. These individuals tend to think that providing people with a formal qualification and a degree is not quite enough. This world is becoming a worse abode to survive in because of the high level of corruption and immorality in the people who are living in it.

Expanding paper (two more pages) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Expanding paper (two more pages) - Essay Example Like Keats, bit with more justice, he laments, in the lines of ‘To the muses’ the feeble, artificial and meager achievement of the time. His notes are neither languid, nor forced but remarkably varied and spontaneous. Even in his less perfect work, there is not only abatement of fresh enthusiasm, but, rather an overtaking of powers not yet fully equip for high flights† (1) . The criticism has been taken from ‘The Cambridge History of English Literature† Volume-XI; 1954 Edition. Unquestionably, this criticism depicts the inner song of Blake’s heart. The romanticism is a multi layered subject in the period of French Revolution, in the post industrial Europe an well as America. The mature work by the writer often lefts us baffled with its complexity. No wonder whatever is being written by the poet, on later stage of the era, evokes much more applause as well as criticism from the erudite critics across the globe. It is the marvel of his work, discov ered much after his death, makes our heart full of joy and mysticism that propels us to another paradigm.

Coffee Processing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Coffee Processing - Essay Example However, you will enjoy coffee more if you learn how to process it. It is even a good idea to process your own coffee at home and indulge in your coffee creation. Though the process is requires a lot of time, effort and complicacies, it might be worth it. The basic steps in home coffee processing are picking, pulping, fermentation, drying, hulling, and roasting. The first step in coffee processing is picking the ripe cherries. Before embarking on this task, you need to know to be able to identify and differentiate the ripe from the unripe berries. Ripe berries are deep red in color. The rationale in picking coffee cherries when they are ripe is their relatively higher aromatic oil, lower organic acid content, more fragrant, smooth, and mellow. You must manually hand pick the fruit in order to choose only the ripe ones. This is an essential step in coffee processing as classification of the handpicked fruit often determines the quality of the end product. The next step is known as defruiting or pulping which is done immediately after picking the cherries in order to preserve quality. In this stage, you now separate the coffee bean from the coffee cherry. This can be done in two ways: first, you can individually squeeze the berry by hand or you can use you can use a piece of wood to compress the berries in the container until all the seeds are removed. Afterwards, you need to fill the container with water for the seeds and the removed skin to float. The skin and the seed should be removed before they settle. You then repeat the process until the all the seeds and skin are eliminated. In order to ferment the coffee beans, they should be put in a plastic bucket filled with water. Fermentation is done in around 18-48 hours depending on the temperature of the surrounding. To test if the fermentation is complete, you should take a handful of beans and wash them with water. If the beans are already clean and not slippery, enough fermentation has already bean achieved. You can now wash the beans in running water and drain, repeating the process until the water becomes clear. Drying is the process wherein the coffee beans are spread out on a wide concrete or rock and is exposed to air or sunlight to eliminate excess moisture. You can either sun dry or use a home food dehydrator to adequately remove the moisture. To enhance effectiveness, you should see to it that the beans are stirred three times a day in the entire process. Before roasting, hulling should be done in order to remove the tough thin parchment from the beans. You can do this by placing the beans, a small quantity at a time, in a food processor with plastic blades. You need to blend the coffee beans at slow speed for about thirty minutes. A hair dryer can also be utilized to blow away the unwanted lighter parchment from the beans. After hulling, you can now store in the store the beans in jars as they are now ready for roasting. Roasting is one integral step in attaining a savory coffee. You can roast the coffee beans by baking them in the oven. Spread the coffee beans thinly in a large baking, ensuring to stir frequently to prevent burning and facilitate an even roast. It is estimated that a single layer of beans will roast in 12 minutes at 230-250C. Your personal preference should be your guide in coffee roasting. Stronger flavor is achieved by roasting a little longer than usual. After the aforementioned processes, the coffee is now ready for grinding, brewing, and

Achievements Of Cloud Computing Information Technology Essay

Achievements Of Cloud Computing Information Technology Essay In the modern world, along with the strong development in information technology, computers are becoming vital part of our life. Computers are available everywhere and they served for various purposes such as working, studying, entertainment, looking for information, etc. It leads to the fact that the increase of connectivity and amount of data requires a solution for this situation. Therefore, there must be a bank of information that helps storing all kind of sources and guarantee that hosted data would exist long term. Back to the past, people used traditional way to maintain the data but it was complex and often costs much. Besides, almost devices which include hardware and software are out of date. There must be also a whole team of specialist who can install, configure, test, run, secure, and update them regularly. In 1990, the introduction of internet marked a tremendous growth of the information technology and the word cloud was born to represent for the internet. Mentioning the cloud computing, people think of a new innovation in technology that become a great help for information storage in general and business in specific. In other words, cloud computing is designed for obtaining network and supplying computer resources. Now, cloud computing has received attention from not only each individual but also many organizations, entrepreneurs, etc. And it deserves such a great attention because of huge benefit from using it. Since then, cloud computing is widespread and applied in many fields such as library and information science, education, architecture and especially business. By far, cloud computing spread across the globe and become biggest turning point in this century. 2. Achievements of cloud computing expressed by statistic data. According to the final report of International Data Corporation (IDC) in 2011, cloud computing brings significant benefits especially in business. Statistic data estimates that cloud computing would contribute up to à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬250 Billion to EU GDP in 2020 and 3.8 million jobs. Besides, the growth of cloud computing also reduces cost and expenditure. In fact, 78% of those who have been using cloud services said that indeed it is a cost saving. Not only the cost savings have been seen, but also people expect the more advantages have also been expected from cloud computing. The chart below illustrates more details about these facts: chart2.png Business seen and expected benefit (IDC Final Report, July 13th, 2012) Cloud computing bring customers a large variety of benefits that can be gained by using it. The convenience of mobile working is undeniable; within Internet access you can use any cloud application by mobile devices. Furthermore, cloud computing enable you to start new business, new location and enhance the productivity easier and more rational. About the other benefit expected categories as: standard processes, capital expenditure (capex) for business and business volume, each of them presents for the promising of standard core process, reduce capital expenditure and increase revenues. The development of cloud computing is the excellent potential for investing in business. Hence, understanding related fields of cloud computing and how to apply it in business would be an advantage. All of the standpoints would be presented as below. Cloud Computing and its application 1. Definition of Cloud Computing Actually, the term cloud computing has just been appeared recently. However, it is not the new trend of information technology; it has only synthesized all the directions of the development of information infrastructure in recent years. In 2006, Amazon impulse the research and implementation of cloud computing (ComputerWeekly.com, 2009). Soon after, with the participation of big corporations such as Google, Microsoft and IBM, cloud computing has had a very strong development which attracts a huge investment in researching of many scientists, universities and companies of information technology. Thus, a lot of definitions of cloud computing were released by experts. However, each research group defines cloud computing byits own understanding and approaches so that it is very difficult to give the most general definition. Here are some definitions of cloud computing: The cloud is IT as a Service, delivered by IT resources that are independent of location (The 451 Group, 2008) Cloud computing is a style of computing where massively scalable IT-related capabilities are provided as a service across the Internet to multiple external customers (Gartner, 2008) Cloud computing is basically a computing model which uses computer technology and develops based on the internet. In the cloud model, all customers requirements relating to information technology are provided in the form of services which allow users to access and use technological services from a provider on the cloud without purchasing the equipment or infrastructure as well as knowledge of that technology. The main task of cloud computing is to meet the users computing demands based on the internet. For example, Google App Engine service provides common online business service which can be accessed from a web browser, the rest of applications and data are stored in the server. However, companies such as Gartner, The 451 Group and IDC are not companies that specialize in IT so these definitions focus mainly on explaining what cloud computing is on the view of commerce and based on their own experience. According to scientific and technical perspective, there are also many different definitions, of which the definition of National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is widespread in use; they define cloud computing as a model which has 5 essential characteristics (Grance, Mell, 2011): Resource pooling: Cloud computing allows many users to share a common providers resource pool based on multi-tenant model. Cloud computing is based on virtualization technology so almost all resources is virtual resources which will be allocated dynamically in accordance with the changing demand of different customers. Therefore, the provider can serve more customers than the traditional static resource allocation. Broad network access: With internet connection, customers can use and access the cloud applications from anywhere and anytime by using many types of devices such as smartphone, laptop, tablet. Rapid elasticity: This is the most prominent and important characteristic of cloud computing. The system can scale up or down automatically depending on users demand by adding or reducing resources. This capability helps the service provider manage resources more efficiently, take full advantage of the excess resources and serve more customers. Moreover, the users can cut down the costs because they only pay for the resources actually used. On-demand self-service: When customers have a computing demand such as increase or decrease storage space and server time, they only need to make a request on the providers website and the system will satisfy their needs automatically without any contact with the cloud vendor. Measured service: Cloud service automatically controls and optimizes the use of resources such as storage space, bandwidth, etc. So the resources usage will be monitored and transparently report to both service provider and users. 2. Services model of Cloud Computing Nowadays, many cloud computings suppliers provide different services for users and businesses. Hence, they have to understand thoroughly about the feature and function of each model in order to apply the best model to the company. There are 3 main services of cloud computing which are Software as a Service (SaaS), Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) and Platform as a Service (PaaS) (Stanoevska-Slabeva el al. 2010) http://www.technoster.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/layers-of-cloud-computing.png 3 types of Cloud Services (http://technoster.com/cloud-computing-explained) Software as a Service SaaS: Before cloud computing is widely known in IT circles, SaaS has actually appeared for a long time, the most popular service is email such as Gmail, Yahoo mail, Hotmail. SaaS is a service model in which the supplier will provide its customers software as a completed service. Customers only need to choose a software application that matches their needs and run the application on the Cloud infrastructure. This service model frees users from the management of system, infrastructure and operation which will be managed and controlled by the host in order to ensure the applications availability and stable operation. Currently, SaaS for businesses is strongly developed such as office applications of Microsoft Office 365 like internal email and communication, applications in Customer Relationship Management (CRM) of SalesForce, Amazons e-commerce applications. Platform as a Service PaaS: is a variant of SaaS, but this service model offers a platform as a service which means that a business can build their own application on the providers infrastructure and delivers to its customers via the hosts server. This business will not be completely free by bounds of design and technology. Some examples of PaaS are Force.com of SalesForce, Google App Engine, etc. Infrastructure as a Service IaaS: is a service model that will provide users basic computing resources such as storage space, server, network as well as tools to manage those resources. Customer can install the operating system, deploy the applications and also connect to other components such as firewalls and load balancers. Therefore, customers have to manage operating systems, storage, applications and connections between the components; service providers manage basic infrastructure below and is responsible for the operation and maintenance of the system. Besides, one of the most popular IaaS services that businesses and organizations often use is to rent a certain amount of resource for daily business operation and rent standby resource for unexpected demands. As a result, it is not necessary for businesses to invest large amount of upfront cost, they only need to pay the cost for the real demand. IaaS brings its customers economic efficiency, especially in the case of demand fo r computing and storage increased sharply in a short time, the investment in infrastructure and equipment will be wasteful; time of purchasing them will cause delay and affecting the operation of businesses. Cloud computing provides its customers variety of models with different characteristics. Thus, the organizations can choose to use cloud computing to supplement their existing computing infrastructure (IaaS), test and develop applications (PaaS) or take advantage of existing applications (SaaS) to timely meet the needs of businesses, reduce investment and opportunity cost. On the view of management, cloud computing allows companies and firms to transfer IT outsourcing to the service provider in order to concentrate on the development of the core business. 3. Deployments Model of Cloud Computing There are 3 types of clouds which can be used for different purposes (Masiyev, 2012): Public cloud: In this cloud, all cloud services is widely provided by the suppliers for the customers widely through the internet. Different applications share the resource pool of computing, storage and network so the infrastructure is designed to ensure separating data between the clients. Public cloud focuses on serving a large number of customers so it is able to meet the flexible computing needs and provide lower costs to the customer. Therefore, public clouds customers include all types of individuals and businesses whom can benefit from easily approach to high-tech and high quality applications without any up-front cost. However, the whole data is located on cloud which is managed and controlled by the provider; this make customer, especially big companies feel unsafe for their important data when using cloud service. http://www.janakiramm.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/Public-Cloud.png Public cloud (http://www.janakiramm.net/blog/the-tenets-of-the-cloud) Private cloud: in this type of cloud, all the platform and applications are set up for the use of only one organization or business. Private cloud can be operated by a third party and the infrastructure can be placed inside or outside the owner. Therefore, it helps businesses to maximize the ability to control all data, security and service quality. Besides, private cloud can be built and managed by the companys IT department or they can hire a service provider to undertake this work. Thus, although the investment cost is high, this cloud allows business to control and manage its sensitive or critical data. http://blog.esds.co.in/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/public-cloud.jpg Public and Private cloud (http://blog.esds.co.in/while-using-public-cloud-services) Hybrid cloud: As analyzed above, public cloud is easy to set up and use, low cost but not safe in contrast, private cloud is more secure but costly and difficult to set up. Therefore, if these 2 clouds can be combined together, the new model will take advantage of each type of cloud. That is the idea of Hybrid cloud. On one hand, the firm will outsource all insignificant business functions, data and use public cloud to handle these data; on the other hand, business will retain control of important information simultaneously (Private cloud). What is Hybrid Cloud Hosting Hybrid Cloud (http://www.moderndignity.com/what-is-hybrid-cloud-hosting) Businesses can choose to deploy the application on the Public, Private or Hybrid Cloud depending on specific demands. Each type of cloud has its strengths and weaknesses so companies need to consider carefully before choosing or they can use more than 1 model to solve different issues. The need of temporary applications can be implemented on the Public cloud because it helps the firm avoid purchasing additional equipment for a temporary need. Similarly, the need of permanent applications should be implemented on Private or Hybrid Cloud. 4. Application of Cloud Computing Based on the functions of cloud computing applications, they are divided in some of categories such as: processing pipelines; batch processing systems and web applications. Processing pipelines: They include data are data-intensive and sometimes compute-intensive applications. For example: image processing (flickr.com), indexing, document processing, email and social network (Facebook, Twitter. Currently, they represent a fairly large segment of applications which are running on cloud. Batch processing systems: The disadvantage of this type is that it cannot be available for long term. Consequently, it can cause severe problems. A non-exhaustive list of batch processing applications includes activities report, transaction and summaries of organizations, inventory management of big companies, billing and payroll process. Web applications: Another important application is web access. Some categories of web sites only serve for temporary purposes (for example: website for event or conference.) The stronger the cloud computing develop, the more creative of cloud applications prove. With such a huge benefit like that, cloud applications would become active helper of cloud computing. Cloud Computing in Business Is cloud computing suitable for all types of businesses? It depends on the scale of the companies and the nature of businesses. In fact, for the businesses in which data is a vital part such as storage system of a bank, they should build their own operating system and data center. However, Cloud computing is probably a best solution for small businesses because they do not have to invest in initial infrastructure and have a department for management and maintenance of operating system (such as the issue of replacing the storage devices or the problem of power consumption of the system). It cannot deny that outsourcing business system to the cloud will bring a lot of benefit to not only the companies but also its customers. However, there are still some concerns that businesses have to face with when they use cloud computing. 1. Benefit of using cloud computing a. Cost saving The most remarkable benefit of using cloud computing in businesses is economic efficiency. In fact, when a business set up its data and infrastructure on cloud especially public cloud, it is unnecessary to pay significant up-front cost for equipment, management and maintenance of IT system and manpower to operate system. They can rent fully-made applications and storage space from the providers (SaaS) or build their own applications on a platform (PaaS) as needed. Therefore, businesses only need to pay for what they really use (pay as you go) which can cut down the fixed costs. (Chan el al. 2012) Nowadays, more and more companies realized the economic benefit of using cloud computing in their system and one of them is Sensata Technologies a big supplier of electrical equipment and power solution with more than 9000 employees over the world. In order to improve the companys operation, majority of employees e-mail was moved to the cloud by Information Technology department. This decision helps Sensata to reduce more than a half of cost in interaction tool which is approximately $500,000 after just 4 months. (Hodges, 2011) b. Flexibility Thanks to rapid elasticity of cloud computing, customers system can scale up or down flexibly depending on demands. Therefore, businesses are able to start with small scale of system with low demand and then develop to a larger scale with increasing demand (Marston, et al., 2010). For example, in order to launch a new marketing campaign, a business needs to have an own server for uploading information from the client within a month. This server will be redundant when the campaign finishes if a business buy a new server; but with the existing technology infrastructure, third party may grant or revoke this server easily. Furthermore, cloud computing allows employees to easily access companys data from anywhere and anytime even when they are on holiday as long as they have internet connection. With cloud computing, the firm will forward most of the responsibility for controlling system, infrastructure management, securityà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ to the service provider, so that the companies can greatly reduce costs and time, they only need to concentrate on the core business and do not have to worry much about control and management of system. c. Environmental benefit Cloud service helps the firms reduce power consumption much more than using its own data center. Power saving can make the environment greener because the less power is consumed, the less carbon is emitted. Besides, using cloud service allows companies to save much area of land use for cumbersome database center. According to recent research about power consumption and carbon emission of using cloud computing (Accenture, 2011), more than 30 percent of power can be saved and about 32 percent of carbon emission may be avoided for the large companies when they move applications to the cloud; with small businesses, these numbers are even higher which are about 90 percent for each of them. d. Improve performance Cloud computing allows the firm to access almost immediately to the pool of data which leads to faster transactions in business. Moreover, it is easier for the organizations to work in collaboration with partners because they can share and access to the same data quickly on the cloud. On the other hand, the issue of storage space now can be solved with cloud computing, it is unnecessary for the employees to keep the data in their limited hard drive which might be corrupted or lost because of computer crash or virus. e. Automatic update A lot of companies spend few days or even couple of weeks on just upgrading their operating and security system which contains huge amount of data. However, with cloud computing, businesses do not need to update their software or system by themselves; it is all done by the cloud vendor regularly as soon as the latest update is available. 2. Challenging for Cloud computing a. Security and privacy The most frequently question about cloud computing is: Is it safe to move all businesss data to the cloud? Actually, when moving all data to the cloud, businesses lose somewhat of abilities of controlling their information; they have to lay their faith entirely on the cloud vendor to ensure the safety of that data. With some companies of which data is their lifeblood, it is very risky to put the control of those sensitive and critical data on the third-party hand, hacking or some kinds of attacks to the infrastructure may cause some adversely unexpected consequences such as data loss or corruption. Besides, privacy is also the big concern of using cloud computing. In fact, putting data on cloud can make organizations data more vulnerable and it can be accessed by unauthorized people. Currently, a solution to solve this issue is that cloud users need to encrypt their data before uploading to the cloud and they have to decrypt it at the local computer when they want to use that data. For instance, according to Bloomberg, in April 2011, more than 100 million customers accounts of Sony Corporation were compromised by hacker through Amazon cloud service; the Sonys PlayStation Network and Qriocity service had to shut down in nearly one month due to the cyber-attack. Hackers rented a server of Amazons EC2 service as a platform to launch an attack to Japanese company and stole personal information and credit, debit card information of their customers. After an incident, shares price of Amazon decreased 1.7 percent from $206.07to $202.56 in stock market, this decline of Sony is even more significantly, they lost nearly 23 percent of the share price in 2011. (Alpeyev, et al.,2011) On the other hand, because of the ability to damage and spread very quickly, computer virus is one of the major risks of data security issues. The centralization of data on the cloud can reduce time and cost of virus removal, but the risk and impact of virus will not change or even turn more dangerous because of the reason that though whether in any model, the destructive purposes of the virus creator are not changed, viruses still have the objective of sabotage and fraud; the new variants of virus that adapt to the operating environment of cloud computing will promptly appear. Moreover, centralizing data on the clouds server also helps virus spread faster and sabotage stronger. b. Availability Another challenge of cloud computing is whether users can access and utilize their data and applications or not, there is a problem with the server system of the provider. With the businesses which need to access their data and files all the time for operation, this is such a serious issue which may cause some critical consequences such as delay in business. Therefore, companies should have a plan providing against all possible contingencies such as backup system if problem occurs. c. Cloud provider lock-in Today, clouds applications are being improved the ability of interaction between different platforms. However, when businesses build their application on a cloud infrastructure, it is very difficult to move that application to another cloud vendor in the future. Furthermore, businesses become dependent on the technology and quality of service providers which can reduce their flexibility and creativity, they only have the right to do what the cloud vendor allows. In addition, the latest information is often not timely updated by the provider while companies want to keep pace with the latest innovations, so they may feel dissatisfied with that limitation. d. Internet dependency According to the definition of cloud computing, users must have internet connection to access the resource on cloud infrastructure, so the availability, speed, quality and performance of internet may significantly affect the business operation. Internet interruption may occur in the middle of transaction which means that action can be cancelled or delayed. Besides, without a high speed connection, it can take a lot of time to load huge amount of data through the internet 3. Future of cloud computing In the recent report of Gartner (2012),it indicated that there is a stable increasing in public cloud service. It also proves the fact that cloud computing become useful and being used widespread. In 2010, public cloud services reached 75.6 billion Dollars. But it is estimated that in 2016 it would account for 206.6 billion dollars. So, during 2011 and 2016, it may contribute compound annual growth rate of17.7%. chart 4.png Market size of public cloud services (Market Analysis and Statistic, Gartner2012) In my opinion, cloud computing not only continues to have a strong impact on business with concrete targets including increasing revenues and decreasing cost. But cloud computing can also bring us many other chances in different fields. a. Advertising services. The combination of advertising services and cloud service can be more efficient. It has become a trend with many useful online tools. Now, the two main part of cloud advertising market are paid search and online display advertising. This form of advertise is easier and quicker which can grab peoples attention better. Businesses could save a lot of money for the cost of producing advertising products. Besides, it meets the demands of customers who do not want to spend much time to look for information in normal ways (magazines, leaflet, booklet).All of them now always are available on Internet within few clicks. b. E-commerce services. Shopping online is quite popular and convenient. Actually, online retail is not considered as cloud service. But, the provision for retail online service from one to the other which can gain profit is a form of cloud service. Amazon is a typical example for the extraordinary successful of E-commerce. By doing E-Commerce, businesses can expand the wide range of customers and understand the taste of specific customer groups (through statistic numbers) which all lead to the great achievement in increasing profit. Case study 1. Overview Royal Mail Group is one of the biggest postal organizations in UK that is responsible for mail and parcel delivery and related businesses, about 70 million items are delivered by Royal Mail around UK every day. However, the rising numbers of competitors in this sector are putting more and more pressure on Royal Mail which forces them to have a rational strategy to compete with private companies, this challenge is even bigger for the information technology unit in the company who always need to upgrade the system to make it operate efficiently. In order to deal with this concern, in 2008, Royal Mail Group decided to replace the IBM Lotus Notes which is out-of-date and costs too much by a new economical service model, it is cloud computing. (Jaques, 2011) 2. Cloud computing in Royal Mail Group Royal Mail spend only about 8 weeks to apply this new model named Microsoft Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS) which is more flexible and scalable than the old one without paying a huge amount of money each year. More than 28 thousand accounts of employees are moved to the cloud proving them many useful tools of communication such as instant messages, audio and video conference which helps them work more efficiently. Server, storage space, application are now provided on demand by CSC and Microsoft so that they only pay as they use and can easily scale up or down their system in each period of time. For example, Christmas is always the peak time of Royal Mail which requires the company to operate at full capacity, so the cloud service allows the firm to expand their system in order to meet the demand and scale down in the off-peak time. The benefit of applying new cloud service is more impressive according to economical perspective. In fact, Royal Mail can save about 15 percen t of only maintenance cost which is now the responsibility of service provider (Tabbitt, 2011). According to the head of infrastructure management of Royal Mail Adrian Steel, the company may save approximately  £1 million during the 4 years contract with CSC. Conclusion This dissertation has proved the significant role of cloud computing in businesses and its widespread development in near future. The appearance of cloud computing brings the solutions for businesses questions related to build a datacenter with low-cost, high benefit, security and sustainable. Many years ago, it takes much time for business to develop and attract millions of customers. Nowadays, cloud computing make all dreams of using computer and Internet as a powerful tool becomes practical and realizable. The target of deliver services to millions customers through Internet with faster speed now can achieved for months. In both viewpoints of businesses and customers, they all received the benefit from cloud computing directly or indirectly. With different cloud computing services models and 3 types of cloud, they allow businesses consider and choose which model would be most suitable for businesses. Each of services models and cloud type has its own advantage and disadvantage traits. Therefore, understanding basic knowledge of them is quite necessary. Businesses of different fields can apply cloud computing successfully such as newspaper like Washington Post, search engine like Google Web Search, online retail like Amazon or even movie companies like Pixar. By using cloud computing, businesses can get remarkable achievements which can be shown through rising revenues and good reputation. Besides, the interaction between businesses and customers would be more closed. It all serves for the sake of matching demands for both sides. Based on the statistic number, it is apparently that cloud computing promote the economic growth in general and in business in particular. With the increasing quickly in the number of cloud computing users, there must be some necessary steps to consider the challenging and obstacles from cloud computing. Hence, we can know exactly what should we do to prevent them then give some recommendations which would be helpful for both sides: cloud providers and businesses. For cloud providers perspective: Providers have to predict what could become risks from cloud computing. Therefore, providers would develop strategies that help enhance the cloud system. Besides, providers also have to pay attention at some main threads such as: availability, internet independency and other ethical issues. For businesses perspective: Businesses should prepare carefully before making any decision that they should migrate to cloud computing or not. Evaluate the internal and external force and the current situation of business are also important. By doing that, they can know exactly what type of cloud that their structure need. Cloud computing gives businesses long term benefit and makes the breakthrough in technology. It becomes most preferred choice for businesses and industries. Cloud computing would give us a new chance, new hope for the world that businesses will be full of success in particular, and a world that economic can develop for the interest of everyone.

Film Festival Start Ups :: Movies Films Film Festivals Essays

Film Festival Start ups Silicon Valley fairly bursts with life and energy. Everywhere you look new companies, ideas and innovations are on the move and on the rise. Welcome to the land of start ups; small companies with a dream who survive and thrive by skill, luck and sheer tenacity. While the term usually describes high tech concepts, start-ups abound in the Valley - from the small catering company on the comer to the neighborhood printing shop down the street to the local film festival. Yes, that's right - film festival. The Local Scene "Film festival" usually conjures images of stretch limos, glittering starts and rabid paparazzi. Think Cannes or Sundance and you think big budgets, big egos and big-time Hollywood take over. Even smaller, more local festivals have the same overtones. Take the San Francisco International Film Festival. Champion of such "outsider" interests as gay rights, and American Indians long before those concepts became acceptable, SFIFF has mellowed with maturity. Called the "gray lady of local fests" by Dennis Harvey in Variety (June 30, 1997), the SFIFF continues to support international diversity, but with more of a prestigious, elitist atmosphere. The air, apparently, has become more rarified in San Francisco. The second largest film festival in the Bay Area, the Mill Valley Festival has a much more relaxed atmosphere. But, even within this atmosphere, some of the need for mainstream acceptance and money tends to bleed through. Start-ups seem to have two destinies - wonderful success or complete failure, with little middle ground. Other film festivals have ventured into the Silicon Valley before. Most of them had wonderful prospects - at the beginning. The Santa Cruz Festival, the San Jose Film Festival and the Monterey Film Festival, all showed great promise, and none made it to a third year. The Santa Cruz Festival ran from 1982 to 1985, and died of erratic handling. Part of the Santa Cruz charm is its dedication causes, its fierce independence and the feel that comes together with one word - Burkenstocks. Unfortunately, the wild, eccentric and fairly unorganized tendency that adds charm to the city killed the film festival. With wildly erratic programming that could confuse even dedicated fans and the death of festival found Les Goldman in 1986, the Santa Cruz Festival passed into the night. In 1984 San Jose made its stab at a festival. The Cinema of the Fantastic focused on science-fiction and fantasy in the beginning.

The United States of America, 1919 – 1941 – Sources Question

(a) (i) President Hoover thought that the causes of the Depression of the à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½29 weren't because of the USA lending money to Germany, or because of the Daweà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½s Plan, or any other reason that might blame the USA. He thought that all the other countries had the fault or were to be blamed because of the Depression of the à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½29. I think that he thought that way because as he was President from the USA, he was obviously going to defend his country and say that his country had been a victim of all the other countries and problems of other parts of the world. (ii) In source B, the historian who wrote that thinks almost completely different than President Hoover. You can clearly notice the different opinions, as in source B, it says that the Wall Street Crash was the main cause of the economic Depression of 1929, the historian seems to be sure about it. And in source A, Hoover says that, as I have already mentioned before, the USA had absolutely no fault at all of the Depression. Because of these reasons, I can compare both sources and get to the conclusion that the historian of source B did not agree at all with the opinions expressed in source A. (iii) In my opinion, source B is much more reliable and trustworthy, because the historian who wrote that did it in 1984, and it had been a long time since the war finished, and he could analyze all the sources and evidence together. I think that is easier to analyze everything in â€Å"cold†, rather than in â€Å"hot†. I mean that is better to do it after it had happened, than meanwhile it is happening. Also, one thing that is very important is that the historian was, probably, more objective that the President. Because Hoover had so much pressure that he couldn't say that the USA had the fault of the Depression even though he thought that it really did. So, I think that source B is more useful than the other as evidence of the causes of the Depression. (b) (i) One reason why agriculture did not share in the 1920sà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ boom was because of the loss of the European market. During the war America had shipped millions of tons of grain to Europe. Europe ha become the main market for American farm exports. But the First World War had so bankrupted Europe that few Europeans could afford to buy American farm produce any longer. Also, the tariff barriers put up by the Republicans to protect American industries made Europe poorer still so it could not afford American produce. Another reason is that American farmers were also struggling against competition from the highly efficient Canadian wheat producers. All of this came at a time when the population of the USA was actually falling and there were fewer mouths to feed. (ii) The Wall Street Crash began as a stock market and financial crisis, especially with the crisis of the New York stock exchange. In October 1929 the Wall Street stock market crashed, the American economy collapsed, and the USA entered a long depression which destroyed much of the prosperity of the 1920sà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½. The depression passed from finance to industry and from USA to the whole world. Export of American capital came to an end. (iii) The Wall Street Crash lead to a collapse of the US economy because Americans, with their incomes low, couldn't buy foreign goods. People couldn't collect the money they were owed or the money they thought they had in the bank. People could not buy so factories could not sell. Unemployment grew rapidly: skills of older people grew rusty and young people had no opportunity to learn. This made the people feel discouraged and frustrated, so they turned to new and disturbing political ideas. Optimists, including Hoover, thought that the depression was only a low point in the business cycle, and that â€Å"Prosperity was just around the corner†. But others believed that the depression meant the breakdown of the whole system of capitalism. (iv) Hoover was regarded as a â€Å"do nothing† President. He tried to encourage the US export trade although without much success. Even more damaging to Hoover's reputation, was how little he tried to help those who were suffering because of the Depression. He believed that social security was not the responsibility of the Government. Hoover appeared to be heartless and indifferent to the suffering of the American people. There could not be a greater contrast to Hoover than his opponent, the Democrat candidate, Franklin D. Roosevelt, who believed strongly in â€Å"active government† trying to improve the lives of ordinary people; had plans to spend public money on getting people back to work. As Governor of New York he had already started doing this on his own state. He was not afraid to ask on advice on important issues from a wide range of experts such as factory, union leaders or economists.

Vietnam War Brigadier General Robin Olds

Vietnam War Brigadier General Robin Olds Born July 14, 1922, in Honolulu, HI, Robin Olds was the son of then-Captain Robert Olds and his wife Eloise. The oldest of four, Olds spent the majority of his childhood at Langley Field in Virginia where his father was stationed as an aide to Brigadier General Billy Mitchell. While there he also associated with key officers in the US Army Air Service such as Major Carl Spaatz. In 1925, Olds accompanied his father to Mitchells famed court-martial. Dressed in a child-size air service uniform, he watched his father testify on Mitchells behalf. Five years later, Olds flew for the first time when his father took him aloft. Deciding on a military career at an early age, Olds attended Hampton High School where he became a standout in football. Declining a series of football scholarships, he elected to take a year of study at Millard Preparatory School in 1939 prior to applying to West Point. Learning of the outbreak of World War II while at Millard, he attempted to leave school and enlist in the Royal Canadian Air Force. This was blocked by his father who forced him to stay at Millard. Completing the course of study, Olds was accepted to West Point and entered the service in July 1940. A football star at West Point, he was named an All-American in 1942 and later was enshrined in the College Football Hall of Fame. Learning to Fly Selecting service in the US Army Air Forces, Olds completed his primary flight training in the summer of 1942 at the Spartan School of Aviation in Tulsa, OK. Returning north, he passed through advanced training at Stewart Field in New York. Receiving his wings from General Henry Hap Arnold, Olds graduated from West Point on June 1, 1943, after completing the academys accelerated wartime curriculum. Commissioned as a second lieutenant, he received an assignment to report to the West Coast for training on P-38 Lightnings. This done, Olds was posted to the 479th Fighter Groups 434th Fighter Squadron with orders for Britain. Fighting Over Europe Arriving in Britain in May 1944, Olds squadron quickly entered combat as part of the Allied air offensive prior to the invasion of Normandy. Dubbing his aircraft Scat II, Olds worked closely with his crew chief to learn about aircraft maintenance. Promoted to captain on July 24, he scored his first two kills the following month when he downed a pair of Focke Wulf Fw 190s during a bombing raid over Montmirail, France. On August 25, during an escort mission to Wismar, Germany, Olds shot down three Messerschmitt Bf 109s to become the squadrons first ace. In mid-September, the 434th began converting to the P-51 Mustang. This required some adjustment on Olds part as the single-engine Mustang handled differently than the twin-engine Lightning. After downing a Bf 109 over Berlin, Olds completed his initial combat tour in November and was given two months leave in the United States. Returning to Europe in January 1945, he was promoted to major the following month. On March 25, he received command of the 434th. Slowly increasing his score through the spring, Olds scored his final kill of the conflict on April 7 when he destroyed a Bf 109 during a B-24 Liberator a raid over LÃ ¼neburg. With the end of the war in Europe in May, Olds tally stood at 12 kills as well as 11.5 destroyed on the ground. Returning to the US, Olds was assigned to West Point to serve as an assistant football coach to Earl Red Blaik. Postwar Years Olds time at West Point proved brief as many older officers resented his rapid rise in rank during the war. In February 1946, Olds obtained a transfer to the 412th Fighter Group and trained on the P-80 Shooting Star. Through the remainder of the year, he flew as part of a jet demonstration team with Lieutenant Colonel John C. Pappy Herbst. Seen as a rising star, Olds was selected for a US Air Force-Royal Air Force exchange program in 1948. Traveling to Britain, he commanded No. 1 Squadron at RAF Tangmere and flew the Gloster Meteor. With the end of this assignment in late 1949, Olds became the operations officer for the F-86 Sabre-equipped 94th Fighter Squadron at March Field in California. Olds next was given command of the Air Defense Commands 71st Fighter Squadron based at the Greater Pittsburgh Airport. He remained in this role for much of the Korean War despite repeated requests for combat duty. Increasingly unhappy with the USAF, despite promotions to lieutenant colonel (1951) and colonel (1953), he debated retiring but was talked out of it by his friend Major General Frederic H. Smith, Jr. Shifting to Smiths Eastern Air Defense Command, Olds languished in several staff assignments until receiving an assignment to the 86th Fighter-Interceptor Wing at Landstuhl Air Base, Germany in 1955. Remaining abroad for three years, he later oversaw the Weapons Proficiency Center at Wheelus Air Base, Libya. Made Deputy Chief, Air Defense Division at the Pentagon in 1958, Olds produced as series of prophetic papers calling for improved air-to-air combat training and the increased production of conventional munitions. After assisting in generating the funding for the classified SR-71 Blackbird program, Olds attended the National War College in 1962-1963. Following graduation, he commanded the 81st Tactical Fighter Wing at RAF Bentwaters. During this time, he brought over former Tuskegee Airman Colonel Daniel Chappie James, Jr. to Britain to serve on his staff. Olds left the 81st in 1965 after forming an aerial demonstration team without command authorization. Vietnam War After brief service in South Carolina, Olds was given command of the 8th Tactical Fighter Wing at Ubon Royal Thai Air Force Base. As his new unit flew the F-4 Phantom II, Olds completed an accelerated training course on the aircraft before departing to take part in the Vietnam War. Appointed to instill aggressiveness into the 8th TFW, Olds immediately placed himself on the flight schedule as a rookie pilot upon arriving in Thailand. He encouraged his men to train him well so that he could be an effective leader for them. Later that year, James joined Olds with the 8th TFW and two became known among the men as Blackman and Robin. Increasing concerned about F-105 Thunderchief losses to North Vietnamese MiGs during bombing missions, Olds designed Operation Bolo in late 1966. This called for 8th TFW F-4s to mimic F-105 operations in an effort to draw enemy aircraft into combat. Implemented in January 1967, the operation saw American aircraft down seven MiG-21s, with Olds shooting down one. The MiG losses were the highest suffered in one day by the North Vietnamese during the war. A stunning success, Operation Bolo effectively eliminated the MiG threat for most of the spring of 1967. After bagging another MiG-21 on May 4, Olds shot down two MiG-17s on the 20th to raise his total to 16. Over the next few months, Olds continued to personally lead his men into combat. In an effort to raise morale in the 8th TFW, he began growing a famed handlebar mustache. Copied by his men, they referred to them as bulletproof mustaches. During this time, he avoided shooting down a fifth MiG as he had been alerted that should he become an ace over Vietnam, he would be relieved of command and brought home to conduct publicity events for the Air Force. On August 11, Olds conducted a strike on the Paul Doumer Bridge in Hanoi. For his performance, he was awarded the Air Force Cross. Later Career Leaving the 8th TFW in September 1967, Olds was made Commandant of Cadets at the US Air Force Academy. Promoted to brigadier general on June 1, 1968, he worked to restore pride in the school after a large cheating scandal had blackened its reputation. In February 1971, Olds became director of aerospace safety in the Office of the Inspector General. That fall, he was sent back to Southeast Asia to report on the combat readiness of USAF units in the region. While there, he toured bases and flew several unauthorized combat missions. Returning to the US, Olds wrote a scathing report in which he offered deep concerns in regard to a lack of air-to-air combat training. The following year, his fears were proven true when the USAF incurred a 1:1 kill-loss ratio during Operation Linebacker. In an effort to aid the situation, Olds offered to take a reduction in rank to colonel so that he could return to Vietnam. When this offer was refused, he elected to leave the service on June 1, 1973. Retiring to Steamboat Springs, CO, he was active in public affairs. Enshrined in the National Aviation Hall of Fame in 2001, Olds later died on June 14, 2007. Olds ashes were interred at the US Air Force Academy. Selected Sources Robin Olds: BiographyAce Pilots: Major Robin Olds in World War IIUS Air Force: Legendary Fighter Pilot Robin Olds Dies

West European Studies

West European Studies The three texts delve into the Anglo Saxon period in detail. Bede’s text is considered one of the most insightful texts during this period, with its focus on the religious issues of the day.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on West European Studies specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The text gives an insight of the spread of Christianity in England, a factor that eliminated pagan practices in the region. (Bede, Eddius and Farmer 21). Bede was motivated by the desire of the English to understand their history and the achievements of their past heroes. Since England had been newly formed, Bede’s writings got a ready audience anxious to hear about the development of Christianity during the Anglo Saxon era. The audiences were also impressed by Bede’s demonstration of the harmony in England despite the Kingdoms that existed during the time of the penning of the text. His work juggled written text with relev ant oral tradition and other literacy elements such as anecdotes (Bede, Eddius and Farmer 16). King Harald’s text gives a compelling account of the triumphs of King Harald as he moved his army across Europe through Russia and eventually to England. The author wanted to give an insight into history, as contrasted to keeping a historical record. His main motivating factor is to give an insight into history and not necessarily to keep a historical timeline. King Harald’s saga’s original form follows that of other texts that fall within the Heimskringla which is a historical narrative of Norwegian rulers (Snorri, Magnusson and Hermann 54).Advertising Looking for essay on history? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Geoffrey Chauser in his book sought to discuss the history of the high middle ages and his motivation arose from a desire to narrate the decisive years that led to Britain’s modern hist ory. In achieving this, Chaucer was well aware of the interest that his work would generate (Chauser and Malcolmson, 45). There were major transformations in England between the period 1000 and 1300. These transformations centered on the social-political and economic spheres. Among the political changes that took place during this period was the gradual administrative movement that eventually resulted in the formation of the Great Council (Hakluyt and David 78). The Witan Council existed in England in the 9th century, during which period England was ruled by tribes under the Anglo-Saxon group. The Witan was the brainchild of King Alfred and its main role in governance was to advise the king. The king relied on this council of elders to make major decisions that bordered on issues such as the making of laws, war and distribution of land. So important was the Witan that the king could not make a major decision before seeking its counsel. The council also had the responsibility of appr oving a new king during succession. The Witan had no definite composition and the number of members present heavily depended on the gravity of the matters being discussed or the function being conducted by the king. For example, religious ceremonies experienced a high number of Witan members.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on West European Studies specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The period between 1066-1154 witnessed the setting up of a central authority in England and the elimination of the feudal system that had been practiced before. This administrative change was a result of the conquest of England by the Normans. In the place of the feudal system, the Normans, under king William established a monarchial rule (Loyn 34). However, the role of the Witans continued being paramount in this new administrative dispensation with matters such as taxation and legislation requiring their input. It was also looked upon in ma tters dealing with the dispensation of justice. At this point, the Witan began being referred to as the ‘Great Council’. The rule of King William was the beginning of the reign of the Plantagenet (Lehmberg 67). King Williams sought to extend his powers to the church and he required the bishops to participate in military activities in defense of their territories. Although he allowed them to retain their courts, they could not lodge appeals with the pope without his consultation. The orders of the Pope could also not be implemented in England unless the king was consulted (Brooke 122). The rule of the Plantagenet continued over the period of king Henry 1 and king Henry 11. An era of chaos ensued in the course of this period, and with the chaos dominating the kingdom, the role of the nobles grew dramatically. The later oppressive rule of King John led to the signing of the Magna Carta, which was an agreement forced on him by the barons that he will observe all privileges accorded to the nobility.Advertising Looking for essay on history? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More One of the most important aspects of the Magna Carta was the supremacy of the law, and it would form an important basis for British history (Brooke 127). The rise of the British parliament would happen after the expansion of the great council. The Magna Carta was followed by the rise of the British parliament, with an expanded Great Council (Huscroft 12). Its role grew powerful between 1272-1307. King Henry III was the ruler at this time. Overtime, the role of parliament powers extended even further as it began playing a greater role in financial and legislative matters. In later years, its role would increase significantly and form the foundation of British democracy. Bede, J. F. Webb, Eddius Stephanus, David Hugh Farmer. The Age of Bede. Middlesex, England: Penguin.1983. Print. Brooke, Christopher Nugent Lawrence The Saxon Norman kings. London: Batsford. 1963. Print. Chauser, Geoffrey and Anne Malcolmson. A taste of Chaucer; selections from the Canterbury tales. New York: Harco urt, Brace World, 1964. Print. Hakluyt, Richard, Richard David. Hakluyts voyages. Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin company. 1929. Print. Huscroft, Richard. Ruling England, 1042-1217. Harlow: Pearson, 2005. Print. Lehmberg, Stanford E. A history of the peoples of the British Isles. From Prehistoric times to 1688, New York: Routledge, 2002. Print. Loyn, Henry Royston The Norman Conquest. New York: Hutchinson, 1965. Print. Magnusson, Mangus and Hermann Palsson. King Haralds Saga: Harald Hardradi of Norway. From Snorri Sturlusons Heimskringla. Baltimore: Penguin Books. The Peoples of the British Isles: 1966. Print.

The Effectiveness of Dictionaries for L2 Learners Essay

The Effectiveness of Dictionaries for L2 Learners - Essay Example English is dynamic language, which is under continuous transition as the world accelerates and develops. The English dictionaries are the perfect resource for the L2 learners to understand and update themselves about the English vocabulary and the recent inclusions. The recent amendments and inclusions in the English level are political and technological driven; therefore an individual with formal update about the changing global scenario is aware of such amendments. The dictionaries have been somehow reluctant to add such words in their collection because primarily such words have no link with the language and communication protocol. The political terminology has no linguistic inference, but however it has political interpretation. The short-comings with reference to the publication and listing of dictionary is debatable, however it is must to suggest the intent behind dictionary. There are many terminologies which certainly become rare and uncommon after passage of time; therefore such words are never included in the dictionaries (Paul, 2002). Dictionary is considered as an effective mode of communication, because instructions delivered through this mode are clear and understandable. The element of understanding, between the book and the learner is not a pre-requisite to conduct the communication. It is important to realize that the mode of communication requires basic understanding of language and prior situation of occurrence. The familiarity of the contents and background is important; to make sense out of the interpretation of the word. Dictionary makes use of the words, sentences, grammar and other structures that are associated with spoken and written language. The term verbal refers to a number of different communication processes on the basis of tone and frequency of the speaker. It is best mode of communication to understand the emotional affinity or reaction of the speaker with reference to any event or occurrence. Dictionary has different characteristics; a politician through his deliverance can receive the focus and attention of the voters, the tone of the speaker is considered to be the best way of evaluating the level of sincerity and seriousness the couples with the intentions of the politicians. It is the dictionary which directs and influences the nature and intent of the communication. From this subject, it is evident that the dictionary shall incorporate the essential words to assist L2 learners. Dictionary is regarded as the appropriate mode of communication, and it is highly spontaneous. The dictionary has great importance with reference to the written communication. The spectrum of written communication is limited, and it is employed for limited purpose. Written communications are mainly conducted for the sake of record, but with the passage of time, it has evolved as an independent mode of communication. Earlier the individuals or companies use to build links through verbal communications, and then use to strengthen and execute it through written practices. The dictionaries have offered relevant expertise to the writers for writing and applying these words in their publication, with specific reference to L2 learners-cum-writers. Dictionary and its content have emerged as "an independent and authentic mode of communication, which is employed for official purposes; nut the evolution of technology has given

Financial reporting analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Financial reporting analysis - Essay Example Under this ratio, a business’s efficiency to use its material and labour is analysed with the residue of the revenue and the costs reflecting the gross profit. Net Profit Margin: This ratio is almost similar to the Gross Profit ratio with a further extension of scrutinising the administration and other selling costs – resulting in the net profit for an organisation. The ratio displays the net profit of a company as a percentage of its revenue. Return on Capital Employed: This is an important measure of evaluating a company’s profitability. It measures the efficiency of a firm towards utilising the funds invested in it (Fridson & Alvarez, 2002). Liquidity Ratios evaluate a company’s ability to pay off its debts as soon as they fall due. These ratios are used to analyse a company’s ability to continue its operation in the long run. Bankruptcy is one major issue that is highlighted while analysing the liquidity ratios. There are two main types of liquidity ratios: Current Ratio: This ratio assesses a company’s ability to pay off its short term liabilities with its current assets. Usually the benchmark is to have twice the amount of current assets as compared to the current liabilities but this varies within different industries. Quick Ratio: Quick ratio analyses a company’s ability to pay off its current liabilities with its most liquid assets i.e. excluding costs – which takes time to convert into cash. The usual standard is to keep a 1:1 ratio (Helfert, 1997). The Gearing or the leverage ratios give an insight to the risk faced by an investor within a company. This risk is usually affiliated with the financing of the company whereby a firm which is highly financed via debt is considered to be a risky venture for potential investors. Since both Essakane plc and Westwood plc are not hugely affected with any major debt financing issues, the gearing ratios for the company may not be analysed. Market value ratios