Statistical Analysis Of Father-Youth Study Essays - Drug Culture

Statistical Analysis Of Father-Youth Study Introduction The purpose of this study is to ascertain the affects of drug-abusing fathers on the drug usage of their young adolescent children. A special targeted population were chosen for this study; they are the children of drug-abusing fathers who are HIV-positive or at risk for becoming HIV-positive. The major factors used to determine the dependent measure of adolescent marijuana use include certain drug abusing father attributes (i.e., illegal drug use, HIV status, and methods of coping), and adolescent personality which is directly affected by the father-adolescent relationship and environmental factors (see pathway to adolescent marijuana use). The focus of this paper will be on the influences of parent-child relationship, father's marijuana usage and HIV status of the father on the adolescent's marijuana use. These chosen domains (i.e., set of related variables) are a part of the study needed to determine the pattern of relationship between father drug use and adolescent drug use. This research is an extension of an earlier study of the psychosocial factors related to the AIDS-risk behaviors and methods of coping among male injection drug users [e.g., 1]. By focusing on the parental approach, it is hope that this information will allow a father to be a more effective parent and assist him in raising his children in a way that they wouldn't need to turn to drugs to cope with life's difficulties (i.e., having a drug abusing father that is at risk of becoming HIV positive). Methods Participants: Participants were male volunteers recruited from AIDS clinics and methadone maintenance treatment clinics, with a history of drug abuse (i.e., must have engaged in either injection drug use or another form of illicit drug abuse during the past five years). Only those volunteers who agreed to be interviewed along with one of their 13-20-year-old children were recruited for participation. In order to qualify for participation in the study, the men had to be either living with the child or have seen the child at least four times in the past year (majority of the children live with the mother). A total of one hundred and one father-child pairs participated in this study; 71 identified themselves as African-American and 27 identified themselves as White (the other three identified themselves as other). All father participants had used intravenous drugs or illicit drugs (other than marijuana or in addition to marijuana) by a non-injection route of administration within the past five years. Participants that were not considered for this study include those who had AIDS dementia, those who were too sick to participate in the study, and those who had a major psychiatric disorder (i.e., bipolar disorder or schizophrenia). Each patient voluntarily reported his own HIV status. Over 98% of the subjects' reports of their HIV status were confirmed by the ELISA (Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay) and the Western Blot tests. Of the 101 father participants, 38% were HIV positive and 62% were HIV negative. Only children who were already aware of their fathers' HIV status were qualified to participate in the study. Procedure: After providing informed consent, each father-child pair was interviewed for approximately four hours using a structured questionnaire. The interviewers were either counselors or social workers at an AIDS clinic or a methadone maintenance treatment clinic and had extensive experience working with substance abusers and/or HIV positive patients. Every attempt was made to match the participants and the interviewers in terms of their ethnic backgrounds. The interviews were conducted privately and the confidentiality of the data was strictly preserved. Each father-child pair participant was given $50 to compensate for his/her time and expenses. Measures: The scales used in this study were based on their item (question) inter-correlation. These scales were grouped into four domains: Father's attributes, father-child relationship, adolescent's personality, and environmental factors. The father attributes include his HIV status, illegal drug use, and methods of coping with HIV or the risk of having HIV. The measure of the father's illegal drug use was derived from a combined score of the father's report of his illegal drug use and the child's report of the father's illegal drug use. It is found in previous studies that by combining the parent and children's responses to measures provides a greater predictability than using one

Finc2011 Major Assignment Essay Essays

Finc2011 Major Assignment Essay Essays Finc2011 Major Assignment Essay Paper Finc2011 Major Assignment Essay Paper Executive sum-upFrank winfield woolworths Limited ( WOW ) . which is one of the listed companies in Australian Security Exchange ( ASX ) ( ASX 200 ) . is the largest supermarket in Australia ( Kruger 2013 ) . it specializes in the food markets. nutrient and retailing ( WOOLWORTHS LIMITED ( WOW ) 2013 ) . The purpose of this study is to gauge and find the dividend growing rate. stock return and current portion monetary value of Woolworths. Methods used for the appraisal include dividend growing theoretical account. Capital Asset Pricing Model ( CAPM ) and Gordon’s Growth Model. The consequences of the appraisal indicate that the dividend payments will continuous increasing in the hereafter. the return on the company’s assets is sensible and its portion monetary value is expected to lift. : In add-on. recommendations associated with the investing determination will be provided to the public investors sing to the hazards in the market by comparing with companies within the same industry. However. there are still a figure of restrictions of the study such as a few premises are made for computations and restrictions due to the difference of hazard free rate. Calculation of Growth Rate:The attack used to gauge the growing rate ( g ) for dividend payments of Woolworths is: g = Ploughback Ratio x Return on Equity ( ROE )Ploughback Ratio = 1 – Payout Ratio In which. payout ratio refers to the ratio of dividends to net incomes per portion ( EPS ) ( Brealey. Myers and Allen 2011 ) . Souce: hypertext transfer protocol: //www. woolworthslimited. com. au/annualreport/2012/pdf/WW_AR12_Full. pdf Based on the figures above. the growing rate ( g ) for the 2012 should be: g = ( 1 – 0. 8528 ) x 0. 2722 = 4. 01 % In order to calculate out a more accurate growing rate. the norm should be taken from 2008 to 2012. As it is shown in the tabular array. the mean g = 7. 68 % . Harmonizing to Woolworth’s one-year study ( 2012 ) . the payout ratio is rather stable. despite there is a sudden addition in 2012 ; hence. we could presume that the dividend payout ratio is changeless. Meanwhile. although Woolworths’ Return on Equity ( ROE ) shows a little lessening from 2008 to 2012. it is still reasonably steady – stopping point to 28 % . Since both of two premises – changeless dividend payout and return on equity – are satisfied ( Mellare 2013 ) . g = Ploughback x ROE is suppose to be an appropriate method to gauge the dividend growing rate for Woolworths. Calculation of needed return utilizing CAPMCapital Asset Pricing Model ( CAPM ) is a method used to mensurate the hazard and return of an plus. which describes that each expected hazard premium of an plus should lift in proportion to its beta ( Brealey. Myers and Allen 2011 ) : In which. Rhode Island refers to the return on plus. releasing factor refers to the hazard free rate of return. beta is the covariance and ( rm-rf ) is the market hazard premium ( Brealey. Myers and Allen 2011 ) . To get down with. hazard free rate ( releasing factor ) should be determined. Generally. 10 old ages authorities bonds rate is considered to be risk free rate as it is normally believed that a authorities would be improbable to default on its duties ( McNickle 2011 ) . However. it does non intend that authorities bonds face no hazards. it still encounter rising prices and involvement rate hazard ( Brealey. Myers and Allen 2011 ) . Beginning: hypertext transfer protocol: //www. rba. gov. asu/statistics/tables/xls/f02d. xls? accessed=2013-05-22-21-18-20 Harmonizing to the Capital Market Yields – 10 old ages Government Bonds provided by Reserve Bank of Australia ( 2013 ) . the 10-year authorities bond rates in 21th May 2013 is 3. 26 % . which should be used as the hazard free rate ( releasing factor ) for the computation of CAPM. Beginning:hypertext transfer protocol: //www. ato. gov. au/super/content. aspx? menuid=0 A ; doc=/content/60489. htm A ; page=36 A ; H36 However. those may reason that based on the historical information from Australian Taxation Office ( 2013 ) – the tabular array above. the norm of hazard free rate from 2003 to 2012 is calculated to be 5. 34 % . which should be the hazard free rate for the computation alternatively of 3. 26 % . Nevertheless. since the hazard free rate is ever altering. in order to gauge the return for plus more accurately. the current hazard free rate 3. 26 % is supposed to be taken for the appraisal. In this phase. the hazardous needed return ( rm ) . the same as market return. should be calculated. Stock market index is an attack to measure the value of stock market and S A ; P/ASX 200 is the most important stock market index which tracks the public presentation of two hundred large Australian corporations ( Australia Stock Market ( S A ; P/ASX 200 ) 2013 ) . Currently. S A ; P/ASX 200 is a primary portion market index in Australia which replaced the All Ordinaries in April 2000 and has become the benchmark for investing for the Australian Securities Exchange ( ASX ) ( ASX 200 2013 ) . Therefore. S A ; P/ASX 200 is the best index of the market return and used to find the market return. Beginning: hypertext transfer protocol: //blackboard. econ. usyd. edu. au/bbcswebdav/pid-636137-dt-content-rid-201558_2/courses/FINC2011_SEM1_2013/All % 20Ords % 20Accumulation % 20Indices. forty Based on the information from S A ; P/ASX 200 Accumulation index ( day-to-day ) . which is provided by Mellare ( 2013 ) . the annual index could be calculated by averaging all of the day-to-day indexes for that twelvemonth. Annual market return ( rm ) can be determined by: In which. old market index refers to the index for twelvemonth T and new index is the index for twelvemonth ( t+1 ) . A tabular array for the computation of market return will be created in a similar manner with the S A ; P/ ASX200 tabular array ( see Appendix – 1 ) for the periods of 10old ages in order to follow with ASX. Due to the monetary values in 2013 is non completed. the market return for fiscal twelvemonth ( FY ) 2012 can non be estimated faithfully. Importantly. averaging rm for 10 old ages from FY 2002 to FY 2011 is important for the intent of finding a more accurate figure. As a consequence. rm = 8. 31 % . Because rm is the amount of the hazard free involvement rate ( releasing factor ) and a premium for hazard ( Brealey. Myers and Allen 2011 ) . the hazard premium. as a portion of CAPM equation. can be calculated through: rm = releasing factor + hazard premium hazard premium = rm – releasing factor Based on the old analysis. rf = 3. 26 % and rm = 8. 31 % . hazard premium = 8. 31 % – 3. 26 % = 5. 09 % . Harmonizing to the study from last twelvemonth. the market hazard premium is estimated to be 6. 0 % in October ( Michael. Blake and Zolotic 2012 ) . the estimated value of 5. 09 % is sensible. Harmonizing to the fiscal information from Reuters ( 2013 ) . Woolworths’ beta ( ? ) = 0. 34. Therefore. by using CAPM: Calculation of Following Dividend PaymentThe following dividend payment should be determined by utilizing: In which. d0 is the current dividend payment. d1 is the dividend for the following fiscal twelvemonth and g is the growing rate. Souce: hypertext transfer protocol: //datanalysis. morningstar. com. gold. ezproxy1. library. usyd. edu. au/af/company/dividendhistory? ASXCode=WOW A ; xtm-licensee=dat The tabular array above shows the dividend history of Woolworths ( Morningstar 2013 ) . Since. the entire dividend payment in 2012 is $ 67+59 = $ 126 cents/ $ 1. 26 per portion. which should be d0. and the growing rate is estimated to be 7. 68 % in the old computations. d1 = 1. 26* ( 1+7. 68 % ) = $ 1. 36. which is the entire dividend payment for 2013. As the interim dividend for 2013 has already paid on 26/04/2013. the concluding dividend for 2013 which is the following dividend payment should be: $ 1. 36–0. 62= $ 0. 74 per portion. Determination of Expected Current Share PriceThe changeless divident growing theoretical account. which is Gordon’s Growth Model. is used for gauging the current portion monetary value: In which. P0 refers to the current portion monetary value. d1 is the divident payment for the following twelvemonth. rhenium is the needed rate of return and g is the growing rate. In order to cipher the current monetary value P0. foremost. d1 demand be calculated which should be the dividend for the following twelvemonth – 2014. Hence. d1 = 1. 36* ( 1+7. 68 % ) = $ 1. 46As required rate of return ( rhenium ) consists of both capital additions and dividend outputs ( Mellare 2013 ) and capital additions is the same as g ( Mathis 2001 ) . rhenium = capital additions ( g ) + dividend outputs. Souce: hypertext transfer protocol: //www. woolworthslimited. com. au/annualreport/2012/pdf/WW_AR12_Full. pdf Harmonizing to the historical information from annural study of Woolworth ( 2012 ) . taking the norm of all of the dividend outputs for the last five old ages – from 2008 to 2012. the dividend output = 3. 8808 % . Therefore. rhenium = 7. 68 % + 3. 88 % = 11. 56 % Last. the expected current portion monetary value in 2013 is:P0 = 1. 46/ ( 11. 56 % -7. 68 % ) = $ 37. 63 Recommodation and DiscussionInvesting determinations are rely on the return and hazard associated with a security. Harmonizing to CAPM. actural returns are measured by beta. which is defined as a security’s sencitivity relation to the alterations in the value of the market portfolio ( Brealey. Myers and Allen 2011 ) . over the long tally. Beta of Woolworths Limited is 0. 34 ( Reuters 2013 ) . which is a good mark as it indicates that the company is insensitive to the market hazard. Comparing it with other companies. Wesfarmers Limited ( WES ) . the Perth-based pudding stone which selling nutrient to clients ( Greenblat 2013 ) . has same state of affairs with Woolworths in footings of turning tendency of dividend payment and sharing market hazard as they operates within the same industry – nutrient industriy. Beta of Wesfarmers is 0. 96 ( Reuters 2013 ) . which means that Wesfarmers is more hazardous than Woolworths as it is every bit hazardous as the market porfolio ( Brealey. Myers and Allen 2011 ) . As good. beta of Goodman Fielder ( GFF ) . another nutrient company. is 0. 98 ( Reuters 2013 ) . which means it portions about the same hazard with the market porfolio ( Mellare 2013 ) – realtively in the same state of affairs with Wesfarmers. Therefore. when refering with the hazards. it is recommended to put in Woolworths. However. under CAPM. high-beta securities will ensue in high return: Rhode Island = releasing factor + ?* ( rm – releasing factor )As all of these three companies are in the same market. they portion the same market hazard but the proportion is different based on their beta. Although. securities of Wesfarmers and Goodman Fielder are more hazardous than Frank winfield woolworths due to higher beta. they provide higher return to investors. Since investing determinations are depend on personal involvements ( Mellare 2013 ) . it can non be denied that there are a few investors prefer higher returns with higher hazards. Furthermore. the higher returns compensate investors for higher hazard. hence. it is improbable to find whether invest in Woolworths is a better option. However. puting in Woolworth is still recommended. Investing in low-risk securities provides changeless and stable returns. Investing in Woolworths is worthwhile non merely because Woolworths provides rather changeless returns. but besides its possible to growing due to its strong profitableness and hard currency flows ( WOW – Woolworths Limited 2012 ) . Overall. it is recommended to put in Woolworths. It is of import to detect that there are a figure of restrictions for this study. First. the method used for ciphering dividend growing is based on the premises – changeless dividend payout and return on equity. but in world. both dividend payout and return on equity are improbable to be changeless. Consequently. the computation of g may non be accurate. As good. since the 10-year authorities bond rate. which is considered as hazard free

Story Lesson Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Story Lesson - Essay Example This way, the teacher is able to understand the level at which each individual students understand the concepts learnt in class and can thus address these individual problems. The teacher uses several behavioral modification strategies that ensure that the objectives of the lesson are learnt. One is through giving direct instructions which each student is expected to follow. She also uses direct questioning where she mentions the name of a few students and asks them to give answers to her queries. The teacher also reinforces the students who give the correct answers with praises which motivates them to continue participating in the classroom discussion. I was impressed by the manner in which the teacher paced down the class getting close to all the student and not being localized at the front. This reminded me of my teaching where I tend to concentrate more on writing on the board other than connecting with the students. I have also noted that some students in the class are encouraged to type the work on the computer. Using the word processer is a good way of enhancing writing skills in student as it identifies some grammatical errors and this speeds up the level at which the learners polish up their

Solid Waste Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Solid Waste - Term Paper Example Environmental activists have conducted massive research on the subject of solid waste. To date, many smartly engineered techniques like recycling and composting have been introduced to protect the environmental purity and human population from its toxic effects. There are regulations defined by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for different types of waste in the Unites States (US). This paper attempts to contemplate what modern literature has to say on the subject from multiple perspectives. It will also scrutinize different EPA regulations for eradication of solid waste to analyze the extent to which this issue is taken seriously in the best interests of people and global climate. Types of solid waste: There are different types of solid waste which come in all varieties. Some common examples include tires, rubber, plastic products, empty bottles/cans, broken furniture, cylinders, construction debris, and industrial waste etc. Depending on a particular source, solid waste ca n be divided into domestic, industrial, and biomedical waste. Each type of waste is interpreted differently and influences our environment differently. Also, different regulation policies are identified for each type depending on its specific nature. Household waste is considered MSW. Some kinds of industrial waste are known as hazardous waste, while biomedical waste whose source is healthcare facilities is considered infectious waste. Industrial waste is considered very harmful and is made up of chemicals and metal mostly (The Energy and Resources Institute, 2007). Biomedical waste includes wasted stuff like gloves, sheets, plastic, disposables, chemicals, swabs, syringes, human waste etc.. This genre of solid waste is generated during surgeries, research, and treatment processes. This is the most infectious of all types of solid waste and poses a serious threat to humanity if not effectively managed as often as necessary in a certified manner. Given the high rate of infectious dis position of biomedical waste, it is assumed that 1 kg of every 4 kg of hospital waste contains infectious materials (TERI, 2007). Timely management of solid waste is critical important as otherwise, the risk of dangerous infections swiftly reaches a worrisome rate. Regulations by EPA for each type of solid waste: Many regulations have been made in the area of public law to properly manage both hazardous and nonhazardous solid waste. This identifies that law enforcement agencies significantly acknowledge how untreated waste can threaten the environment. The job of EPA is to keep track of the amount of trash produced, recycled, and composted each year in America in addition to generating a detailed report on this subject. It is claimed that in the year 2011, about 250 millions of MSW alone was generated by Americans and only 87 millions of it got recycled and composted which identifies a recycling rate of 34.7% (United States Environmental Protection Agency, 2013). Solid waste generat ed by house can often be harmful. So, household waste exemption is an important regulation for the solid waste management by EPA. It is literally impossible for EPA to monitor every house in every US state which may occasionally throw a bucket of paint or a bottle of acidic contents outside. So, houses are exempted from application of Subtitle C but the solid waste produced by them is still regulated under Subtitle D. The principal objective of Subtitle D is to promote â€Å"

Improving your cardiovascular endurance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Improving your cardiovascular endurance - Essay Example There are also other factors that lead to cardiovascular diseases such as obesity, high blood pressure, smoking, and abnormal values of blood lipids. Nonetheless, research shows that the risks factors mentioned could be reduced. Additionally, reducing factors mentioned above decreases chances of having cardiovascular disorders. Other cardiac causative disorders such as stroke can also be minimized by avowing sedentary lifestyle (Myers, 2003). Regular exercise is one favorable way of curbing risks that lead to cardiovascular disorders. Weight reduction can be done by performing regular exercise. As such, regular exercise reduces blood pressure because bad cholesterol is minimized in the blood. Diabetic patient have found exercise as the most effective way of improving their lifestyle. Regular exercise to them is a sure way because it affects the body’s ability to make use of insulin in controlling glucose in the blood (Myers, 2003). Exercise is beneficial to many of us in many ways; some include physiological and health benefits. One of these benefits is the improvement in functionality of muscles. Additionally, physiological benefits of exercise improve the ability of the body’s to take in and make use of oxygen. An individual benefits from such because the ability to take in oxygen and use it improves, as such, the person can perform regular activities without getting tired (Silberman, 2015). Cardiovascular endurance is important for our physical fitness. In this regard, it refers to a capability of the heart to perform better or the strength of the heart. The heart plays a significant role in the body. Therefore, it is important to keep it healthy in order to avoid diseases associated with heart mentioned earlier in this paper. Additionally, cardiovascular endurance is important in the sense that the heart function is to pump the blood to all parts of the body. Also, it controls the circulation

Quality and Systems Management in McDonalds

Quality and Systems Management in McDonalds McDonalds, as we all know is the worlds largest chain of fast food suppliers. The business began in 1940, with a small restaurant Bar B Que run by two brothers Dick and Mac McDonald in California. It was a drive way restaurant which served a limited menu of burgers, fries etc. Mr. Ray Kroc, a paper cup and multi-mixer salesman got an order of multi-mixer from the McDonald brothers. He was impressed by the organization of the restaurant and came up with the idea of McDonalds Corporation, which was founded in 1955 by Mr. Ray Kroc. The first McDonalds was opened on April 15, 1955 in Illinois. By 1960, he bought the exclusive rights to the name McDonalds. And by 1965, there were 700 restaurants throughout United States. It was the first time that McDonalds shares went public at $22.50 per share. McDonalds opened the first international restaurant in Canada in 1967. In 1974 McDonalds opened its first restaurant in the UK. Today, it has a chain of restaurants in 118 countries around the world. It celebrated its 50th anniversary on 15th April, 2005. Philosophy Mr. Kroc had the vision of creating a restaurant system, known for its consistency and quality of food. To achieve this, he needed his franchisees and suppliers to work with McDonalds and not for McDonalds. He promoted the slogan, In business for yourself, but not by yourself. He encouraged entrepreneurship as much as the commitment to his visions. This has led to the introduction of many new products into the supply chain, most of which were the contributions of franchisees. If I had a brick for every time Ive repeated the phrase Quality, Service, Cleanliness and Value, I think Id probably be able to bridge the Atlantic Ocean with them. -Ray Kroc. This very well illustrates the significance of these four aspects in the excellent execution of the restaurant services at McDonalds. The quality and cleanliness is unparalleled. But, what is unique in this restaurant chain that has travelled past 50 years and emerged as a market leader and promises to continue the same. Business Model McDonalds business runs on 3 pillars: The suppliers The franchisees The McDonalds corporation itself The business model that the organization follows is Franchisee Model. The company provides training to the prospective franchisees and operators regarding the ways a McDonalds is run. There is a Research and Development Lab that provides facilities for all trainees to experiment in cooking. McDonalds as a company owns only 15% of the restaurants. The remaining 85% are taken care by the franchisees. There are stringent policies of monitoring the franchisees to assure that they are adhering to the McDonalds promises of Quality, Cleanliness, Service and Value offered to its customers. The Product Consistency across all the outlets is guaranteed by a supplier networked operation and distribution system. This has resulted in consistency not only across the restaurants in a region but worldwide. The brand building mechanism of McDonalds is not to cater the needs of the current market demand, but also ensures the brand value in years to come. The organization ensures that the promises to the customers are not compromised which ensures repeat business. Operations Management It is considered to be the management of an organization capable of transforming an input to output. This transformation is performed by following a particular process. The transformation can be applied to different categories based on the nature of the business. The three main categories being materials, customers and information. Most of the organizations rely on a combination of these. However, in this particular example, the input is the raw materials going into the making of any of the eatables in the restaurant. The process is the conversion of these products to deliverables. These processes are repetitive throughout the organization except for the minor changes resulting due to an introduction of a new recipe which, at a later point of time, become repetitive. The output is the finished eatable that is been supplied to an end user, here the customer. Strategies of Operations Management Operations management plays a very significant role in the building up of any organization. The Operations, when put into place, help the organization achieve its basic goals. It is well established by the Potters value chain model. Value is the amount the byers are willing to pay for what an organization provides them . . . creating value for buyers that exceeds the cost of doing so is the goal of any generic strategy. Value, instead of cost, must be used in analyzing the competitive position. . . Potter M. (1985) According to Potters analysis, the value chains consist of basically two activities, viz. primary activities and support activities. The Primary activities are Inbound Logistics Operations Outbound Logistics Marketing and Sales Service The Support activities are Procurement Technology and Development Human Resource Management Organization Infrastructure Further, the operations management is not constrained to value addition task alone. It is a process of Planning, Organizing and Controlling of the operations to ensure that the customer satisfaction is achieved. Planning and Control Planning is the major step in Operations management. Planning helps serve many objectives that can contribute to the profit of an organization. Proper planning helps reduce the cost of the production. This is achieved because proper measures are taken to ensure availability of raw materials at reasonable cost even in bleak periods, hence avoiding a stall in the production scenario. Moreover, proper planning also takes care of measures to avoid excess production. There is a better control of the cash flow, which can be the expenses incurred and future investment of the profit earned. Moreover, the planning strategies will also help make proper use of available resources, raw materials as well as human resources. It also mitigates the causes of dissatisfaction among the employees at times of unexpected workload and among the customers at times of unexpected delay in the services. Any organization would perform to the best of its abilities when the planning is proper and the plans are put into action as well as process control systems are enforced to make sure that the system is running as per the planned schedule. The control can be implemented by system or manually monitored by people. It does not matter as long as the processes are being followed without fail. The process is monitored meticulously and the reports are created for every output produced. In the case of our example, the reports would be the profit and the customer feedbacks obtained. These reports are analyzed to detect the deviation from the expected outcome. If the deviations are trivial, corrective measures are taken at the franchisee level. If the deviations are significant, corrective measures are incorporated at an organizational level. The challenge for fast food joints like McDonalds in structuring their strategies are better ways to provide variety of end products to the consumers in large quantities, at the same time maintaining the quality and value of the product and keeping it cost effective. Performance Measures Since the fast food joint McDonalds has a global presence, the competitive priorities can be analyzed on the following parameters. Cost Quality Delivery Flexibility Service Cost Any customer of a fast food joint has various options to choose from. This leads to tuff competition for an organization. The cost is sometimes the major factor influencing a customer choice. The customer in most cases wont be able to distinguish the difference in the cost of the commodities put together to produce the end product. So, the organization needs to make sure that the cost of the end product is lucrative for any prospective customer. Quality The product quality also plays a significant role in customer satisfaction. Low cost ensures initial customer flow, but low cost put together with superior quality ensures repeat business. The quality of product is an impact of the quality in process. The process quality is significant as it takes care of delivering product to the customers worldwide having a uniform taste and quality. This is very important for fast food joints as their taste is expected by the customers at various geographic locations to be same. Delivery Another major significant priority is the speed of delivery. Most of the customers going to a fast food joint are expected to be short on time. Hence, they would prefer places which have the fastest customer service even at peak load times, like lunch time. But even with the best processes in place, there can be delays due to unanticipated circumstances. McDonalds has schemes in place to avoid customer dissatisfaction on such uncommon situations. They offer the ordered items for free in case of delay beyond a threshold time. Some joints provide additional items free of cost too. Flexibility Flexibility can be the variety of products provided to the customer. Since during a peak time, there would be far too many customers ordering a variety of items, the supply chain is well organized to cater to the requirement of each and every customer in the least time possible. Moreover, it also requires the organization to adapt to the changing demands of the customers, which may vary based on basically the geographical locations. McDonalds is dominantly a fast food joint which specializes in beef and pork varieties, but they have a wide range of menu for the Asian customers, where vegetarian and chicken recipes are more in demand. Service Since fast food joints are a service oriented industry where in business depends not only on the above mentioned factors, but to a large extend on the customer interaction. The customer service employees, who are responsible for interacting with the customers while taking orders and delivering them, undergo a proper training before being assigned the job. This gives an advantage over the competitors as customers tend to prefer joints having better customer services. Along with all of these strategies, the competitive nature of the global fast food market requires the organization to keep on innovating new products to lure various ranges of customers. McDonalds has in place various product packages that cater to the needs of customers of various age groups. The ranges include the inclusion of HappyMeal option for kids which include toys from the latest animation movies along with food for the kids. Quality Customer satisfaction is the key to success for any fast food joint. According to David Garvin of Harvard Business School, quality is defined as transcendent, product based, user based, manufacturing based or value based .Based on these five definitions, Garvin(1984) compiled together eight quality dimensions which are as follows . Performance Features Reliability Conformance Durability Serviceability Aesthetics Perceived Quality With respect to our example of fast food joint McDonalds, only a few of these are significant. They are as follows Conformance This is one of the major concerns of a product developed by any organization that it should conform to some pre defined standards that are expected for that particular range of product. The fast food joints are expected to conform to the food quality norms and nutritious value. Performance Performance is the measure of how efficient a product is to perform its intended purpose. In case of fast food, the objective is to relieve a customer of hunger and provide the necessary nutrition to the body. The better the performance of a food item in this respect, the more is the demand for that particular item. Features These are the additions to the product that can enhance its performance. The addition of accessories in electronic equipment can enhance its performance. Similarly, fast food joints provide a wide range of additional products like soft drinks, sweets, coffee etc. along with the burgers which fetch more revenue as well as result in the increased service quality and performance. Some of the food packages include additional items like toys etc. that further result in rich features. Reliability Reliability is the property of achieving customer trust. A customer should be able to rely on a product for its consistency across various geographic locations. This is crucial for fast food joints as a person travelling to an unknown place around the globe would be more tempted to walk in to a familiar food joint and hence would expect the same taste and quality that he is used to in his own country or region. This leads to an increase in global business by catering to regular customers. Aesthetics It is the biggest concern for any organization dealing with food and drink market. Its the subjective sensory characteristic. There are a lot of competitors in a fast food business. The customers along with the nutrition and value for money also care for the aesthetic value of the delivered products. These may be the taste, look and feel etc. This may also be the ambience in the fast food joint. The customer prefers a place where he finds a good combination of all the above concerns. A very nutritious burger in a shabby wrapping wont be popular among the customers on the contrary vice versa can be a market leader. The Sand Cone Model Cost Efficiency Speed Dependability Quality An Operations Management Competence Model Slack et al (2008) Quality improvement methodologies Improving the product quality is an evolving process in any business organization irrespective of the domain or range of product it deals with. A variety of norms and paradigms are in place to monitor the Quality improvement processes. Total Quality Control (TQC) Total Control Quality is the philosophy of continual improvement in the quality. Its based on the adherence to the 5 Ss that are a sequential process that organizations follow to ensure that result in high quality processes and in turn high quality products. According to Ramasamy(2005) The 5 Ss are Seiri This is the organization by getting rid of unnecessary items. These may include a wide range of objects. The cleaning up of the old files and records in one of them. The old machineries which no longer give optimal results can be discarded or replaced with new one. The machineries may include cutting instruments, baking ovens etc. The constraint for removing the machineries and tools is the once that have been unused for past 2 3 years. However, the organization can override these constraints based on their domain and requirements. Seiton Its the cleanliness as a result of performing a Seiri. In case of a fast food joint, keeping the area neat is extremely important as it concerns not only the aesthetics but also hygienic issues of prospective customers. Food outlets need to be well cleaned and maintained so. Seiso The equipment and plant where the production happens should be clean to avoid dirt and resultant obscure problems. In case of fast food joints, the plants where the raw materials for making the food items, the farms from where the vegetables and poultry are being used etc. must be scrutinized to make sure that there is no compromise on the quality of the products used. Moreover, the kitchen in which the food is made should be cleaned. The food items should not at any point of time be touched by bare hands unless it reaches the customer. All these ensure that the food is safe and free from any germs or disease carriers. Seiketsu Standardizing the locations of all the items is another way of enhancing quality. The places of raw material in the kitchen needs to be standardized in order to facilitate fast assembling of various items and hence reduce the time of delivery. Moreover, the cash counter has a well-organized cash box which facilitates easy and faster transactions as it becomes easier for the employees to return the change to the customers. Shetsuke It is the disciplined way in which the above four Ss are implemented and adhered to in any organizations. This doesnt only include the management to take care of the enforcement of these rules. The responsibility lies with each and every employee be actively involved in ensuring that the quality processes are followed. The three Universal Processes of Managing for Quality THE JURAN TRIOLOGY DIAGRAM Quality Planning Quality Control Quality Improvement Determine who are the customers Evaluate actual product performance Establish the infrastructure Determine the needs of the customer Compare actual performance to product goals Identify the improvement projects Develop product features that respond to customers needs Act on the difference Establish project teams Develop process able to produce the product features Provide the teams with resources, training and motivation to : Diagnose the cause Stimulate Remedies Establish controls to hold the gains Transfer the plans to the Operating force Copyright  © 1989 by Juran Institute Inc There are many standards in place to ensure that Quality norms are followed. But, these policies seem useless unless there is proper and timely audit for the same. The Quality audit processes would require a team of quality experts to evaluate each and every process for its quality. The above table gives an overview of all the quality planning, control and improvement strategies. According to Summers (2009), the various standards and criteria that exist globally to support effective quality management systems are: ISO 9000 International Organization for Standardization has representatives from the national standardization bodies of over 90 countries. The main objective is to satisfy customer by quality assurance and increase the level of confidence of a customer in an organization. A company can audit itself to gain this particular internal certification. The customers can audit an organization against the set of standards for second party certification. ISO 14000 This is an extension of ISO Standards regarding environmental issues. The organizations are evaluated for environment protection and pollution prevention. These are followed by organizations to reduce negative impact on the environment. The organizations can implement various strategies to achieve this. Like, providing bio degradable wrappers and glasses instead of using plastics. SIX SIGMA The goal of this process is to reduce the process variation to the point where there are only 3.4 defects per million opportunities. This is especially significant for industries whose business involves mass production. Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award (MBQNA) This is another evaluation process which was designed by consulting lots of experts. The main evaluation dimensions are The soundness of the system. The deployment of the system across the organization. The outcome of the deployment. Organizational Performance If you dont drive your business, you would be driven out of business. B. C. Forbes. This is the basic principle of business in todays world. The business world is very competitive and doesnt leave room for compromise on any of the aspects of business, be it, Quantity, Quality, Operations Management, Process Management etc. The responsibility of a successful business lies with each and every employee, as was the theory of Ray Kroc, which led him to implement the franchisee business model. But, implementing alone would not ensure adherence. Adherence can be assured only when measured. Measures literally mean dimensions or capacity of anything. For an organization, the performance has to be measured as well as recognized and rewarded. The performance can be measured for employees, processes, services, suppliers etc. Any parameter that plays a significant part of the organization needs to be measured against certain standards to ensure quality. Measures of good performance The performance of the processes in place can be measured on the basis of certain parameters like expenses, income, quality, throughput, delivery time, safety, cleanliness etc. In a fast food joint like McDonalds, the service time to the customer is a major concern. This can be ensured only if the production time for the food in the kitchen is well defined. Any delay in the production time would delay delivery to the customer hence violating the standards. So, standard time constraints need to be put in place. Moreover, the cleanliness is important as its a matter of hygiene. The quality of food depends a lot on the incoming raw materials like flour, vegetables, fruits, poultry, oils used etc. All these have to be of superior quality for the proper working of the organization. The organizational results performance measures are focused on the strategic interests of the organization. The results involve both the organization and customers equally. The customer satisfaction is one of the measures, which can be measured by the amount of repeat business and the number of customers per day. All satisfied customers tend to recommend the organization to their friends hence increasing the business. The performance measure with respect to the organization can be based on its annual financial results, quarterly financial results, deviation of these results from the predicted results, the profits etc. The organizational performance can be measured also by the brand value generated by the organization. The measures discussed so far were materialistic, but its the human resources that make a service oriented organization like McDonalds achieve its objectives. There are measures to monitor the efficiency and performance of these human resources. This can be done yearly or half yearly in the form of appraisals. The employees can be rated based on performance. The excellent performers should be rewarded to encourage them to keep up the work and also motivate the rest of the employees to perform better. The extremely poor performers should be given proper mentoring to help them perform better. The internal process measures are meant to measure the effectiveness and efficiency of the plans and processes that are incorporated inside the organization. The Learning and Growth measures are focused on the growth and well being of the human resource i.e. the employees. It also encourages innovations, in case of McDonalds, the innovation of new recipes in the RD department by the franchisees. Financial measures are put in place to analyze the business progress of the organization world-wide in the context of the monetary gains or profits. These performance measures are used by the organization leaders to analyze and review the existing strategies, plans and processes, and make changes if necessary to improve the present conditions. The quality management systems and Six Sigma are used by organizations to ensure that the organization is moving towards progress in business by balancing the cost, quality and availability of products to the customer satisfaction. Conclusion For any fast food joint, in this case McDonalds, to be a success, the first principle should be Customer is the King. A service oriented industry can flourish only by providing the best customer service in the least possible time. But, service is not the only factor. The quality of the products delivered must be hygienic and nutritious so as to serve their purposes. The competition is fast food industry is on an all time high, so the cost along with the quality would be a deciding factor for the customer. An organizations success doesnt rest in the managements hands. The responsibility lies with each and every employee and franchisee. The employee has to work for the organization as their own. The process of the organization has to be adhered to. This measure of these adherences and changes in the organizational strategies according to the requirements would lead to better business. The organizational leaders should not only Implement policies but also incorporate performance measure exercises to ensure that the processes are being adhered to.

Kari Charboneau Competency Statement Essay

To establish positive and productive relationships with families To establish positive and productive relationships with families I try to make sure I keep an open, honest relationship with them. I feel its important to have my parents feel that they can trust me. I also feel its important they know I have the best interest of their child in mind. Parents need to feel that they are being listened to and that we care enough to work with them in regards to their child’s wellbeing.†¦ CG 4.1 Keeping Families Informed In my center it’s a priority to make sure we are keeping all families informed of all the things that we as a center do as well as their individual child’s daily activities. I would have a welcome packet that includes contact information as well as center information. This would include information such as teacher profiles, center policies etc. I will make it a point to get to know each parent and to establish an open dialect. I would have information as to how they can contact me to discuss any concerns they may have as well as just general information we just share on a daily basis. We would have a monthly newsletter and calendar with center activities on it as well as weekly information in the entry way to remind them of any upcoming events we may have. There will also be daily communication sheets provided for each child describing what their child did throughout the day. Parents will know that they are welcome to stop in or call a t any time to check on their child’s day. CG 4.2 Teaching Practices I believe that by having open conversations with my families they start to trust and with that we have conversations about not only their child but also our own lives outside of the center. Knowing that maybe one parent might be out of town is good information to have. This helps us understand why a child may be having a change in behavior. I will make sure I know the children in my care well enough to notice changes and having a good parent relationship’s will allow me to communicate with them and find out if they notice the changes as well and to see if they have ideas as to why. If it’s not a typical reason we would expect to see a change in behavior from we can then work together to see if we can’t figure  it out and come up with a plan that will help meet that child’s individual needs. There will be a communication sheet written out daily that will highlight their child’s day and at pick up we can then discuss why their child may have had a more difficult day or even the opposite that their child was really happy. We may find out that they have family visiting that the child loves to be around or that Daddy has been out of town for a few days. These are both good reasons to see a change in a child’s normal behavior. Communication is very important in keeping good relationships going.

Study Skills and Daily Homework

I think that daily homework is necessary for a student. Daily homework is a important factors in life of education. A lot of students face daily homework in school for years. I think that there are a lot of useful points. Firstly, I will explain that homework supply a person that he or she is regular. Secondly, I will talk that daily homework develop achievement. Thirdly, I will explain that daily homework supply feel of relaxing. Firstly, a lot of student study lesson in only exams time and generally they postpone many things.Therefore, in points daily homework is essential for students. If they had daily homework, they had to get up early and both will daily homework and will not postpone something. For instance, my sister is student at high school and generally her teacher gives daily homework. My sister was a irregular person in past but she is regular in terms of daily homework. As a result, I think that if you want to be a regular person, daily homework is the best way for it. Secondly, I believe that daily homework is a important way for both study lesson and repeat lesson.When students stroll away, I think that a lot of students don’t find time for studying lesson but while they are doing daily homework, they remember that what explain in lesson and students repeat in term of daily homework. For example, my cousin Ali always don’t like studying lesson because he thinks that studying lesson is boring but generally Ali is successful for and doing daily homework. In conclusion, daily homework shoes achievement. Moreover, I think that daily homework supply feels of relaxing. When a student do daily homework, he or she feels relax because he or she thinks that I don’t have homework, now I can do what want.For instance, my teachers give a lot of daily homework so I always do homework in the evening. After I do daily homework, I relax and sometimes I watch TV or search on the Internet. As a result, when people do something, they relax and this is the best feels. As a result, daily homework is important for students. Daily homework has a lot of advantages like repeating lesson, giving feel of relaxing and be a regular person I believe that daily homework play a important role in my achievement at university or high school. Therefore daily homework is necessary for a student. All right, why do you try doing your daily homework?

Data Warehouse and Data Essay

Data Warehouse and Data Essay Data Warehouse and Data Essay Data warehousing plays a vital role and important area of information technology infrastructure Data warehousing is a structure that holds data in a prà ©cised manner and data can be retrieved based on the business requirements of a company. There are many different kinds of data ware housing systems that a data is stored in a company and will be vary based on the storage like star flex schema data ware house, snow flake data ware house, metadata ware house and enterprise data warehouse systems. In past data is being maintained in the papers, tapes and disks and now the data is maintained in the granular, systematic order and in highly secure way in appropriate data bases with structured tables, constrains, data diagrams, and keys combined know as data ware house. As of now we would make a difference between the data in legacy format of operation to the on-going operation of Data Warehouse 2.0 Step-By-Step Growth and architectural view of DW 2.0: In DW 2.0 when compared to 1st Generation data ware housing there is an advanced architectural features and technologies. There are remarkable changes made in the DW 2.0 when compared with the previous versions change in implementation of architectural, upgrade to systems and ability to communications with the end users which has got a vital change in the business. Online Process and access of data to a common business man in day to day life in reservation systems, ATM Process and online inventory management is not restricted to time. Corporate Data: Came to reality by adding the corporate information on the many applications by new vistas of processing opened up which was not previously obtained. Business made discussions on the structured data but there is also valuable information in the unstructured data which need to be made decision on it and the key to open up was made with ETL (Extract, transform, Load) which made vital changes in business. Capacity: Interact with different forms of technologies, speed up of processing, with stand of data in which capacity is an infrequently encountered constrains made easier in DW 2.0 Effects of Data ware house on Business: The DW had higher effect on various businesses. In this case the situation raises where the business which are deeply reliable on the DW are follows: The airline environment which uses the frequent flyer technology The Credit card companies which cross verifies the persons profile to see if any fraudulent use of credit card. Company keeps track of oversupply and under supply of goods maintained by an organization Organization stores customer profile regarding transactions in detail manner in data ware house. The Data ware house helps the organization to maintain long and detailed corporate memory. Changes of Data in timely manner supported by DW : There are wider changes in architectural and ability to maintain data in DW 2.0. It has greater ability to support the changes of data which changes in time to timely manner this is due to the semantically static and semantically temporal data in database designs. If data entity changes happens, Semantic data changes occurs. In Meaning full static data will it will not always be fixed and there wouldn't be any changes and the data which is Meaning full secular data will be frequently changing . Taking an considering an example of customer profile with Meaning full secular data where we can edit details of his profile and we can add details in his profile this shows that data is frequently changing. If considering in an organization where details of an employee are maintained in case gets transferred or gets into new position where the roles, responsibilities, emails to whom he needs to report and who all needs to report to him will be changed and leads to add in columns to tables and changes in data. And now considering the example of Meaning full static data is yearly stocks where it will be mentioned the sales, profits,

Free Essays on Analysis Of Sharon Olds, “Leningrad Cemetery, Winter Of 1941”

Analysis of Sharon Olds, â€Å"Leningrad Cemetery, Winter of 1941† In the poem, â€Å"Leningrad Cemetery, Winter of 1941,† Sharon Olds describes a cemetery during World War II. The 900-day siege on Leningrad began in September of 1941 and there were countless casualties to be buried during that winter. During the winter the ground freezes and makes it next to impossible to dig the graves. The winter of 1941 is described as, â€Å"that winter the dead could not be buried.† The ground is too hard to dig and the gravediggers are over tired and over worked. The war has killed so many people that the gravediggers are too weak to dig and they are also very hungry because food is scarce during war. The poem is vividly describing how horrible war can be. The language used in the poem is strong and descriptive. The corpses are described as being transported by children’s sleds. This description shows how all innocence during wartime is lost. The sadness that this inflicts on the children will never go away, their innocence is lost forever. The poem describes corpses wanting to be brought back alive. â€Å"A hand reaching out with no sign of peace.† That line purely shows how these soldiers were not ready to die; they still had their lives to live. Our sadness as witnesses to the war is nothing compared to the sadness of the dead who cannot witness anything. This poem symbolizes an important time in history. At the same time this poem can be used to describe the horror of all war. The war in Leningrad was a horr ible time and many lives were lost. Sharon Olds is trying to show us just how horrible war can be.... Free Essays on Analysis Of Sharon Olds, â€Å"Leningrad Cemetery, Winter Of 1941† Free Essays on Analysis Of Sharon Olds, â€Å"Leningrad Cemetery, Winter Of 1941† Analysis of Sharon Olds, â€Å"Leningrad Cemetery, Winter of 1941† In the poem, â€Å"Leningrad Cemetery, Winter of 1941,† Sharon Olds describes a cemetery during World War II. The 900-day siege on Leningrad began in September of 1941 and there were countless casualties to be buried during that winter. During the winter the ground freezes and makes it next to impossible to dig the graves. The winter of 1941 is described as, â€Å"that winter the dead could not be buried.† The ground is too hard to dig and the gravediggers are over tired and over worked. The war has killed so many people that the gravediggers are too weak to dig and they are also very hungry because food is scarce during war. The poem is vividly describing how horrible war can be. The language used in the poem is strong and descriptive. The corpses are described as being transported by children’s sleds. This description shows how all innocence during wartime is lost. The sadness that this inflicts on the children will never go away, their innocence is lost forever. The poem describes corpses wanting to be brought back alive. â€Å"A hand reaching out with no sign of peace.† That line purely shows how these soldiers were not ready to die; they still had their lives to live. Our sadness as witnesses to the war is nothing compared to the sadness of the dead who cannot witness anything. This poem symbolizes an important time in history. At the same time this poem can be used to describe the horror of all war. The war in Leningrad was a horr ible time and many lives were lost. Sharon Olds is trying to show us just how horrible war can be....

Mandatory and discretionary Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Mandatory and discretionary - Research Paper Example Mandatory spending is that part of the federal budget which is allocated by law toward the provision of such programs as social security and Medicare. Mandatory expenditures are the payments required by specific laws. Discretionary budgets are renewed annually as part of the budgeting activity (Novick, Morrow & Mays, 2014). This form of spending is negotiated by the President and the Congress every year through annual appropriation bills such as funding for cabinet department. Most public health programs fall within the mandatory budgets because they involve the allocation of proper medical care to the public through construction of health care facilities, building hospital, provision of health insurance and proper home care to the elders (Pickett & John, 1990). These programs also relate to creation of awareness to the public on benefits of maintain proper health. An example of an expenditure that is considered mandatory is funding for defense and security which is necessary to maintain law and order as well as security to the citizens. An example of a discretionary expenditure would be funding for such activities as housing, educations and space exploration (Pickett & John, 1990). This is so because, the weight of the needs of these services is not so mandatory but necessary for state

Al-Nusrah Front Terrorist Group Profile Thesis Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Al-Nusrah Front Terrorist Group Profile - Thesis Example The paper will also analyze the American policies on homeland security, and relate the aspects of the policies to the design and structure of the Al-Nusrah Front. Terrorism is a serious global issue that is attracting great financial, political, war, economic, religious and social strategies. Usually, the groups characterize with competent military structures and strategies that enable them to fight military of sovereign states. Currently, largest terrorist groups have concentrated within the Middle East and Arabic speaking countries. The nature and organization of the groups has led to labeling of some as Islamic-oriented. In fact, the greatest terrorist groups such as the Al-Qaeda, Al-Nusrah, ISIL and the Hamas have Islamism at the core of their ideologies. Most of the terrorist groups have been targeting Western countries, America in particular, and the allies. A case in point was the 9/11 event that made terror threat on Western countries a reality. It is for the escalation of terrorist activities targeted at America that the US government strengthened policies on Homeland security. The Al-Nusrah Front otherwise called Jabhat al-Nusra is among the renowned global terrorist groups after enlistment by Australia, United States, United Nations, Turkey, United Kingdom, and Russia. Analysis of the Al-Nusrah alongside US security policies is important in determining the efficiencies of the homeland security programs in tackling any threats from the group. The Al-Nusrah Front or Jabhat al-Nusra is a terrorist group based in Syria with extended operations to Lebanon. The group started forming late in 2011 and formalized its existence on January 23, 2012 through publication. The group pays allegiance to the Al-Qaeda of Iraq that saw its formation under the leadership of Abu M. al-Julani, who was an operative of Al-Qaeda in Iraq. The purpose for the creation of the group was to