Management Style and Practices Essay

Why the management style and practices that had worked well in the past began to cause discontent within the workforce? United Parcel Service (UPS) has a strict and regulated system. The managers have already determined everything for his staffs. All the employees are ought to follow every single step that has arranged previously by their company. The employees are bound with rules and regulations that they couldn’t have their own pace in working. Thus, the employees are now feeling stress and complaint on their jobs. The drivers are always require to make countless runs during the day to deliver overnight letters since UPS has made a guarantee of 10.30 am delivery services for it. For instance, a morning run is made to deliver the overnight letter, while a later run is made to deliver the remaining parcels. UPS has also increase the parcel weight and improves the technology so that it will be able to cope with delivery services on larger parcel. During the early- to mid- 1990s, the drives have to be trained on how to use UPS’s sophisticated and technical parcel-tracing systems. Hence, the UPS drivers have to learn to deliver the new services and new systems that could performance a better workload and services for customers. But, this has driven the UPS drivers into a situation where they felt discontent with the new delivery services. Besides, the engineers have delegated a set of suitable tasks to different workers in order to maximize its performance on delivery services. This is to ensure that the workers will perform every task down to the most minutes detail. The UPS workers have an average of 80 working hours per week that could be says as they had turn out better than machines. Generally, these changes on the management style and practices have impacts on the UPS staffs. The workers were suffocated and discontent over the competition-induced changes which have brought some difficulties to them. A research has shown that UPS workers scored in the 91st percentile of U.S. workers for job stress, while many of them suffered from nervous tension, phobias, back strain or injuries. Jim Carey, who was a former UPS driver and also was the first Teamster general president, had set fire on the strike against UPS. Carey was supported by the vast majority of UPS Teamster as most of the people were dissent of â€Å"living to work† and wishes to have better life. Even though UPS offers highly competitive hourly wages, salaries and total compensation plans to both full time and part time workers compared to other competitive company, but most people are searching for living a better life, which include a healthy lifestyle. The employees in UPS seem to follow every rules and regulations. It is because they have no right to voice out their idea and opinion. Lower level managers are obviously feared of questioning to the senior managers. It shows that the vile based management style is starts at the top. It may counterproductive and impacts the worker’s ability to provide better services to their customers.

Computer Network

Computer Network also called Network is a group of computers and other devices connected to each other to share resources electronically. Networks can be as small as two computers or many thousand computers that are connected to one another. These computers are usually connected to one another through wires, satellite, and modems. Each device connected to the network is called a â€Å"node†, and the computer that is connected to the network is called a workstation.There are several ways to connect networks together, the way the Network is laid out is called Topology, and there are several types of topologies, Bus Topology, Star Topology, Ring Topology. There are several types of network, Peer to Peer Network, Client/Server Network. Depending on the size of networks they are divided into several categories and have different terms that specify these networks, LAN (Local Area Network), MAN (Metropolitan Area Network), and WAN (Wide Area Network). One of the primary reasons to ne twork is to increase productivity and cut all the unnecessary costs.By connecting their office people can get the advantages of managing their data, all the data can be stored in a server computer instead of storing them in each workstations hard disk. This way you can easily back-up and manage your data. And whenever someone makes changes to files it will updated and everyone will have the access to the same updated file. The network administrator will decide to whom grant the access to the files. Another advantage of network is that it makes data transfer easy so you don’t have to transport files into Floppy disk, or USB device and walk over to your co-workers desk.Networking also will allow you to share the equipment like printer, if there are several hundred computers in an office building you don’t have to buy different printers for each computers instead you can just buy one or two printers that can be shared between all computers on a network. You can save on so ftware too many software companies offer businesses software deals that are more affordable than purchasing separate software license for each computer, it also can save time when the time to upgrade to a new version of a software you can just update it on a server instead of doing it on each computer.Another way of saving money is that you can share the internet too. As you can see networking computers has many advantages and it is recommended to network. As I mentioned above the way the networks are laid out are called topology, today you will come across the networks that laid out uniquely using one type of topology or combination of different types of topologies these kind of topologies are also called a â€Å"Hybrid Topology†:1. Bus.2. Star.3. Ring.The Bus Topology is older topology that is not seen that often and almost never used in modern networks.It is very easy to set up because all the computers are connected to each other using a single cable which is called a bac kbone or segment. Because all the computers connected to a bus network to one cable only one computer can send packets of data (which are electronic signals) at a time. Bus topologies have some advantages they are easy to set up, and since they are on one line of cable if one computer fails it does not crash the entire network. They are also very inexpensive to set up because less cable is used.Despite the advantages of a bus topology there disadvantages too. One of the disadvantages of a bus topology is that if the cable used breaks, the entire cable needs to be replaced, and if the cable is too long it will hard to find out where the cable is broken. The bus topology is also not very scalable if you have a small network it will be hard to expand it. It is also not very secure network. Even though the Bus topology is very easy to set up and inexpensive I t is very outdated, it should not be used in a modern networks.The Star Topology is a topology mostly used in modern networks alt hough it is an older topology too, many modifications has been made to it to handle all the modern networking needs. In a star topology all the computers are connected separately to the Hub or Switch, and all computers have their own cable. When a computer sends the packets of data to other computers in the network it is sent through the cable to the hub or switch, then it passes the data packet to other computers that are connected to it.Since the computers in a star topology are connected to the switch separately and all the computers have their own cables, in case it brakes it is easy to configure the problem. The computer that breaks down is the only computer that will not have access to the network, and all the other computer are not affected because they have their own cables connected to the switch. Another benefit the star topology has is that it is scalable and can be expanded anytime. The star topology is the most used topology in modern networks and it is recommended to u se the star topology if you are setting up a network.

Personal Statement on a subject of Social Injustice in the US and why

On a subject of Social Injustice in the US and why you want to be an intern with GO Project - Personal Statement Example My aim shall be to provide avenues in which children are recognized in society. This means allowing children to be aware of their environments while at the same time enabling them survive in societies that limits their freedom. Child negligence remains a problem in the 21st century and it is up to the society to change this fact. There is need to focus on how to equip children with the required knowledge to survive current societies. My ambition is to create a generational change where society will embrace and treated children equally. Empowering children will mean securing their future hence creating a responsible society. My passion for children will prompt me to develop mechanism that allow children to access basic education and enhance their skills and talents. The future of these children is paramount to any development agenda. They have the potential to transform the society and my aim would be to ensure they achieve these

Abortion(English abortion law delivers neither sufficient protection Essay

Abortion(English abortion law delivers neither sufficient protection for the foetus, nor sufficient respect for the autonomy of pregnant women.What are the main arguments for and against this claim ) - Essay Example 50). Very much like the Jewish Law, Romans considered a foetus to be an entity sans any legal and political rights (Sheeran 1987, p. 50). Romans never allocated any penalty for abortion; however the Roman law evinced a predilection towards change, when the debate as to the exact time of animation began to gain grounds (Sheeran 1987, p. 50). Still, pragmatically speaking, the Romans assigned no ethical or legal importance to the issue of abortion. In case of the Greeks, Plato and Aristotle deemed abortion to be a practical method of birth control (Sheeran 1987, p. 50). Greeks do confabulated on the exact timing of animation, yet they didn’t consider abortion to be a crime (Sheeran 1987, p. 51). It was with the advent of Christianity that the debate as to at what time a foetus could be deemed to be endowed with life became more intense (Sheeran 1987, p. 51). However, pragmatically speaking, there had been a conflict existent amongst the theory and practices surrounding the issue of abortion. However, in a contemporary context, the moral, legal and health implications of abortion have increasingly become important issues with the altering dynamics of social structuring (Cox 2011; Gerrard 2009). Through the evolving times, the advancement of science has significantly evolved safer methods of abortion (Keown 1998). But it was always subjected to the ethical, legal and religious perspective rather than as an empowered decision based on the principle of autonomy. As such, today the English abortion law neither gives sufficient respect for the autonomy of pregnant women nor sufficient protection for the foetus. The decision to conduct an abortion is indeed critical in the sense that it should be the woman who should have the primary prerogative to decide as to whether she wants an abortion to be performed. The Principle of Autonomy is of huge importance as it should be the women who should have the right to make

A ban on the wearing of items of clothing and other symbols of Essay

A ban on the wearing of items of clothing and other symbols of religious significance - Essay Example These Islamic dresses have raised various questions related to gender equality, freedom of religion and liberalism, and currently these issues are under serious contentions in Western Europe. Within this atmosphere of hot debate, France, which has around five million Muslims (the largest in population of Muslims in Western Europe), has taken a ?rm stand and became the first nation to pass a legislation that banned both headscarves and full veils (BBC News, The Islamic Veil Across Europe, 22nd September 2011). As per the legislation which became effective from 11 April 2011, it is now illegal for women in France (French or foreign), to leave their homes with their face covered with a veil, and women found flouting rules are liable to pay a heavy fine. UK, which promotes multiculturalism, have not imposed any ban on clothing or other accessories with religious significance; however, schools are allowed to establish their own dress code following a 2007 court directive (BBC News, The Is lamic Veil Across Europe, 22nd September 2011). However currently in UK, Face Coverings (Regulation) Bill 2010/11 brought in by Mr Philip Hollobone is under consideration, which proposes to ban the covering of faces in public spaces (Face Coverings (Regulation) Bill 2010/11, 2011). ... Russian Supreme Court had ordered a complete ban on use of veils in public spaces and offices, which is however not followed in Chechnya. In Germany, even though the court ruled in favour of a teacher wanting to wear a scarf to school, there are provisions for modifying laws locally, and many states have imposed a ban on Islamic veils. Austria and Switzerland are also considering a probable ban, in case there are too many women wearing the veil (ibid). From a scholarly viewpoint, even though the hijab and the niqab may have various cultural and religious connotations, but in the context of present debates over issues of gender equality and tolerance, there are claims that Muslims often tend to use veils to make their presence felt in the European countries (Teitelbaum, 2011). It is owing to such suggestions that the issue of wearing veils has currently taken a political shape, and many citizens and politicians view Islamic veils as a sign of radical Islam or fundamentalism. In the co ntext of the current debate, that questions the reasoning behind implementing a legal ban on wearing of Islamic veils, there are varying viewpoints. According to the Commissioner  of Human Rights (Council of Europe) Thomas Hammarberg, this ban on veils would not help to achieve the desired effects of gender equality or end oppression of Muslim women. Instead, he claimed, â€Å"Prohibition of the burqa and the niqab would not liberate oppressed women, but might instead lead to their further alienation in European societies. A general ban on such attires would constitute an ill-advised invasion of individual privacy. Depending on its precise terms, a prohibition also

Thin film deposition techniques and substrate cleaning in cleanroom Essay

Thin film deposition techniques and substrate cleaning in cleanroom - Essay Example Any unwanted particles in the environment, such as organic and inorganic substances, dust, micro organisms, human skin, or vapours are regarded as contaminants. Humidity and temperature control is also maintained in a clean room. Contamination in a clean room can also occur from unclean surfaces. Walls, ceilings, or even materials used during experiments or fabrication in a clean room can be a source. It is therefore important that all material and substrates to be used are cleaned prior to their use. There are several ways to clean substrates depending on the material and the type of contamination to be removed. Larger particles, such as glass fragments, can be cleaned through washing. Gentle application of chemicals such as Decon 90 can also used to release any larger particles like dust and grease stuck on the surface. Then, to remove relatively smaller particles, the slides can be placed in an ultrasonic bath with a 20% solution of Decon90 in ultra pure water. Subsequently, 20% solution of Ethanolamine in ultra pure water is used to reactively clean the substrate by removing dirt which is chemically bonded to it. Once this is completed, the substrates are submerged in pure ethanol to get rid of water itself from the surface which is replaced by ethanol. The substrate is then dried on a hot plate or through hot air and to be used within minutes before it absorbs any moisture f rom air. The process described above is just one way of cleaning the substrate. As mentioned earlier, there are several methods available which can be used to suit the material and contaminant. For example, Martinez-Duarte et al (2010: p. 195) mention a host of possibilities. Among wet immersion techniques, diluted hydrofluoric acid, RCA, a process that uses ammonium hydroxide, hydrogen peroxide, water, hydrofluoric and hydrochloric acid, or supercritical cleaning can be used followed by rinsing in a solvent depending on application (Martinez-Duarte et al, 2010: p. 195).

Competitive Strategies Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Competitive Strategies - Essay Example †¢ To Achieve 95% customer satisfaction rating for Brand X. This goal can be accomplished by training employees on effective customer service, and improving the quality of the products or services using innovative technologies (Mahnken, 2012).†¢ To Achieve 95% customer satisfaction rating for Brand X. This goal can be accomplished by training employees on effective customer service, and improving the quality of the products or services using innovative technologies (Mahnken, 2012).†¢ Increase sales revenue by 10% within one year. This goal can be accomplished by using efficient inventory management methods and intensive promotional strategies.†¢ To improve the market share by 1%. This goal can be achieved by expanding to new geographical areas to get closer to customers, and using aggressive promotional strategies (Mahnken, 2012)†¢ Nokia – the company had been a leading mobile phone producer, but it has been overtaken by others including Samsung until it was acquired by Microsoft. In terms of strategy, the company lacked superior value proposition like iPhone’s prestigious value proposition by Apple and Android’s versatility value proposition by Samsung.†¢ Kodak – The Company maintained its film-based photography and failed to use the disruptive digital photography technology which disrupted its film-based model.†¢ Blockbuster – the company has failed to make use of disruptive technology and changing trends and internet security.  Companies with Differentiated products†¢ Apple – the company produces luxurious and prestigious products with high prices, including iPhones, iPads, and mac which target sophisticated consumers.†¢ Dropbox – offering freemium pricing strategy for storage services for businesses and individuals online.

Emirates Airline Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Emirates Airline - Case Study Example (Butler & Keller, 2000) Emirates Airline has been very fortunate during the 2000s and beyond. The political scene in the region has been quite favourable because most of the countries in the Asian Pacific have been making agreements that facilitate better trade between countries especially in relation to the aviation sector. These countries have signed agreements between themselves and also with other countries in the United States and also in the European continent. These agreements have opened up Emirates to the world and have provided ready made markets for the Airline Company. Any aviation company must be ready to tackle high fuel costs and Emirates is no exception,. In the year 2005, the country reported an increase in fuel expenditure of seven percent from the previous year. Fuel costs represent the highest form of expenditure in the company as this has really eaten into their profits. The Asian Pacific region and in particular the United Arab Emirates, has been nurturing its economy at a rapid pace. Most of the countries located there are becoming more mature. These economies are growing at a substantial rate consequently affecting their overall income. This means that most of them are earning more revenue per capita and they can therefore afford to use air transport. This is probably the reason why Emirates Airline has been steadily growing over the past few years. ... (Tayeh, 2006) Airline traffic in the rest of the world has reduced drastically. However, the Middle Eastern region has improved especially for Emirates. Emirates success is directly linked to the City's success-Dubai. Dubai is one of the most rapidly growing cities in the world. It represents a lot of potential for investment both in the tourism industry and also in the business world. First of all, there are so many projects that re coming up with time. First of all, the City is building a theme park that resembles Disney world; it has embarked on a project that will house over four hundred thousand residents through a waterfront project. As if this is not enough, there are plenty of businesses that are always coming up all the time. Real estate is one particularly interesting sector because it attracts lots of capital investment. All these business ventures are encouraging more visitors to the City and the country in general; this has been reflected in the overwhelming market for Emirates. As if this is not enough Emirates Airline is located at a very suitable region in Asia, it is in the middle of the Eastern and Western regions. Consequently, the Airline is capable of tapping resources from both sides. The Asian continent has a booming economy and Emirates Airline has really benefited from this. Social Emirates Airlines operates in a region where there are numerous employees and workers. Most of these workers rarely demand for high compensation. When the United Arab Emirates is compared to other countries such as the United States, it can be found that there is a significant difference in labour costs as the latter country uses up thirty eight percent of its operating expenses while the UAE only uses up eight percent of its operating costs to pay its

Personality Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 8

Personality - Essay Example Analyzing individual’s personality necessitates evaluation of cognitive and behavioral aspects and entails collaboration of various disciplines such as psychodynamics, biology and humanities, evolution and sociology just to mention a few. The information from these fields are then analyzed in an empirical dimensional approach principled on various multivariate statistics and evaluation based on sociologically or psychologically modified framework such as factor analysis, theory development and other evaluation platforms (Furr, 13). Myers- Briggs framework also known as Myer- Briggs Type Indicator [MBTI] is an assessment questionnaire that seeks to understand the psychological preferences in how people make decisions, react to other non-decisive phenomenon and how they generally perceive their surroundings. The framework involves psychometric analysis with focus on human behavior and personality with emphasis on extraversion and introversion; inborn or acquired traits that influence individual’s experience and perceptions in terms of sensation, feeling, intuition and thinking aspects. These aspects are further grouped into conceptual approaches of rationality and irrationality with typing based on either extraversion for sensing, thinking and judgment or introversion for intuition, feeling and perception. The evaluation is based on four dichotomies of introversion and extraversion; sensing and intuition, thinking and feeling, judging and perception, in a bid to indicate one’s reference over the ot her. Psychologically, individuals are born with and/ or develop certain preferred ways of deciding and perceiving the environment or phenomenon in the society and with guidance of MBTI framework this paper will analyze the personality of Warren Buffet and evaluate how his personality has impacted on his daily activities and as a leader in the business arena. Warren Buffet can be described as a business mogul with vast interests in

Nike’s Marketing Model Essay Example for Free

Nike’s Marketing Model Essay Price †¢Nike’s pricing is designed to be competitive to the other fashion shoe retailers. The pricing is based on the basis of premium segment as target customers. Nike as a brand commands high premiums. Nike’s pricing strategy makes use of vertical integration in pricing wherein they own participants at differing channel levels or take part in more than one channel level operations. This can control costs and influence product pricing. †¢The company has designed its pricing structure in a way to make it competitive to other shoe sellers. †¢The price of the products is variable depending on the type and the size for example a comfortable and good pair of shoes would cost

Factors Affecting The Reliability Of Audit Report Accounting Essay

Factors Affecting The Reliability Of Audit Report Accounting Essay Introduction The end of an independent audit closed with a written audit report. According to section 205 of the Companies Act 2001, the auditors shall make a report to the shareholders on the audited financial statement (FS). The objective of an audit is to render an opinion about the fairness of the clients financial statement. Audit report contains information value for users. Durendez Gà ³mez-Guillamà ³n (2003) states that audit report is found as an important element for making loan decision. Basically the audit report conveys whether the assertions made by management are credible or not. Types of audit report. Unmodified report According to ISA 700, an unmodified report should be issued when the auditors conclude that the FS are prepared, in all material respects, in accordance with the applicable financial reporting framework. Modified report. However if the auditors found that the FS are not free from material misstatement based on the evidence obtained or is unable to obtain sufficient appropriate evidence to make a conclusion, the auditors should issue a modified report in accordance with ISA 705. All qualification may arise from either disagreement or uncertainty in the scope of the audit. Uncertainty Uncertainty may arise from, firstly a constraint during the audit work i.e. not all records are made available to the auditors, the auditors have appointed after the inventory counts. Secondly, inability to gather evidence concerning a doubt for e.g. an accounting record that have been destroyed or lost or the directors are concealing information. Disagreements Disagreement is due from factual discrepancies, unsuitable accounting policies, inadequate or misleading disclosure or failure to comply with an accounting standard or legislation. Sometimes it can be resolved with the client depending on the fact. Furthermore it is important to calculate the effect of these circumstances and this could be grouped as: Having a material but not pervasive effect on the FS. Having a pervasive (fundamental) effect on the FS. Except for opinion. An except for opinion is given when the effect is material but not pervasive uncertainty or disagreement. An example of an uncertainty could be the part destruction of accounting record and disagreement could be the inappropriate application of depreciation policy to a particular class of fixed assets. Adverse opinion. An adverse opinion is given when the matter concerned is a fundamental disagreement such as failure by the client to recognize a provision which would convert a profit into loss. Disclaimer opinion. A disclaimer opinion is given in the presence of multiple fundamental uncertainties and it is impossible for the auditors to form an opinion. Factors affecting the reliability of audit report. Failure by auditors to issue a reliable audit report can arise from two main causes. Auditors may identify a material misstatement and fail to report it i.e. the auditors lack independence. Auditors may fail to detect an existing error or fraud in the financial statement. Lack of auditors independence Principles of auditors independence Independence is the main means by which the auditor demonstrates that he can perform his task in an objective manner (FEE 1995). Independence is fundamental to the reliability of auditors reports and an indispensable component for the auditing profession. Independence has been described as a position to take an unbiased view point in the performance of audit test, analysis of results and attestation in the audit report (Appah 2008). It simply means the auditors ability to express an honest and impartial conclusion and also the ability of reporting reality to users. In addition, independence also means the ability to resist managerial pressures that impair or are perceived to impair an auditors willingness to carry his work objectively and honestly. Without independence the auditors opinion is suspicious and the audit is considered to be worthless. If the auditors failed to maintain independence in their work, this can affect the reliability of audit report to the sense that the auditors may have discovered material misstatement during the audit test and may deliberately ignore it and issue an unmodified opinion. Independence: in fact and appearance Subject to Mautz and Sharaf (1964) there are two aspects of independence: Independence in fact (real independence) and independence in appearance (perceived independence). These two concepts are essential in maintaining independence. Real independence refers to the actual state of mind of the auditor. An auditor possessing the requisite state of mind will always react in the correct way as he has the ability to make independent audit decision in any compromising situation. More importantly, auditors should not only be independent in fact, but they should appear as independent in order to acquire the public trust on the auditors opinion. Auditors are expected to be seen as independent while examining the clients FS and collecting audit evidence which support their opinion (Stevenson 2002). Precisely, auditors are supposed to be independent while deciding on reporting strategies without any pressures from their clients management (Cullinan, 2004). Church and Zhang (2002) argue that independence in fact ensures the reliability of audited financial statements and independence in appearance helps to promote public confidence which will automatically increas e the trust of the users on audited FS. Factors affecting auditors independence Size of Audit Firm Various studies have proven that larger audit firms are more able to resist managerial pressures i.e. higher auditors independence (Gul 1989, Abu Bakar et al. 2005, Alleyne et al. 2006). Small audit firms may impair independence because they have a tendency to provide a more personalized service to their audit clients which will ultimately develop a close relationship between them (Shockley 1981). Since big firms have many clients, they are not affected by their clients fees so they have less incentive to report favorably to their clients. Moreover, DeAngelo (1981) reported that large audit firms are more likely to issue reliable report since they fear of losing their reputation if they are found to be associated with accounting scandals. However there is no assurance that larger firms are more able to resist pressures from their clients as pointed by Goldman Barlev (1974) due to the fact of the case which happened with Arthur Andersen and Enron. Level of Competition in the Audit Services Market Competition within the audit market is a major factor affecting auditors independence (Sucher and Bychkova 2001; Umar and Anandarajan 2004; MacLullich and Sucher 2005). High level competition compel the auditors to tolerate managerial pressures and ignore any material misstatement detected during the audit test and issue incorrect report as they fear of losing the clients due to the fact that the same services are easily available elsewhere. However, Gul (1989) argued that the level of competition do not cause auditors to be less independent. The existence of competition create a fear in the mind of the auditors as this same services are easily available in the market so they will strive to create a good image of themselves and increase their independency in order to maintain their clients and attract new ones. Tenure of an Audit Firm Serving the Needs of a Given Client An audit firms tenure is the length of time it has served the audit needs of a particular client. Most researchers have viewed tenure as a factor which affects the auditors independence negatively (Abu Bakar et al., 2005; Alleynes et al., 2006). Tenure may result into friendship with the audit client and make the auditor to ignore imperfections that have a significant material impact on the FS (Moore et al. 2006). Mautz Sharaf (1961) emphasized that a long tenure creates complacency, lack of innovation, less rigorous audit procedures and a learned confidence between the audit firm and the clients. It may happen that the audit client has changed the business activities but the auditors are still using the same old audit procedures. Ongoing relations make the auditors to rely upon last years auditing and prevent them from making new evaluation of the control system, thus affecting the reliability of audit report. Size of Audit Fees Received by Audit Firm (in relation to total percentage of audit revenue) Large size of audit fees caused a higher risk of losing auditors independence. The IFACs Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants (1996, para 8.7) suggest that client size (measured from size of fees) could raise doubts as to independence. Since audit firms depend on fees for their survival, a step such as qualifying the audit report could be ignored so as not to displease the client and also for the fear of losing income. It is exclusively relevant if the audit firm receive a major proportion of its fee revenue from a particular client. Conversely Pany Reckers (1983) argued that the large size of the clients audit fee (measured as a percentage of office revenues to the audit firm) do not show any significant impacts on AI but it inclined the public to be less confidence in the auditors independence. Non-audit services (NAS) The provision of NAS such as book-keeping and financial statement preparation services, internal audit services, taxation and legal services to audit client is regarded as a potential factor which affects auditors independence drastically. Wines (1994) found out that auditors receiving NAS fees are less likely to qualify their opinion than auditors that dont receive such fees. The NAS fees make auditors financially dependent on their clients and less willing to restraint managerial pressure for the fear of losing their business. Brandon et al (2004) found that auditors would not perform their audit services objectively and joint provision would impair perceived independence. Joint provisions help the auditors to be in a better position in concealing any material facts since they will the same person who will prepare the FS and the same one who will perform the audit. Moreover as the level of clients pressures increased, the auditors became less concerned on the quality of internal co ntrol system (Muhamad and Karbhari, 2006), thus affecting the quality of audit report since these internal deficiencies will remain concealed. Failure by auditors to detect material misstatement in the financial statement. The second factors affecting the reliability of audit report is failure by auditors to detect an existing fraud or error in the FS. Very often, when material misstatement is discovered, the board members are surprised by the occurrence and even more surprised by the fact that the auditors did not detect it. Failure by auditors to detect an existing fraud or error during the audit is costly to their firms because they suffer damages for giving an incorrect audit opinion and at the same time affect the audit quality. Material misstatement has increased considerably over the recent years and professionals believe this trend is likely to continue. ISA 240 The Auditors Responsibilities relating to Fraud in an Audit of Financial Statement states that misstatements in the FS can arise from either fraud or error. Error is an unintentional misstatement in FS, compromising the omission of an amount or a disclosure, such as a mistake in gathering or processing data, an incorrect accounting estimate and a mistake in the application of accounting principles. The ISA 240 refers fraud as an intentional act by one or more individuals among management, those charged with governance, employees, or third parties, involving the use of deception to obtain an unjust or illegal advantage. Aderibigbe and Dada (2007) define fraud as a deliberate deceit planned and executed with the intent to deprive another person of his property or rights directly or indirectly, regardless of whether the perpetrator benefits from his/her actions. According to ISA 240, there are two types of fraud namely: misstatements resulting from fraudulent financial reporting (management fraud) and misstatements resulting from misappropriation of assets (employee fraud) Fraudulent financial reporting (FFR) involves intentional misstatements or omissions of amounts or disclosures in FS to deceive FS users. Some types of FFR include manipulation, falsification or alteration of accounting records, misrepresentation or intentional omission of events, transactions or other significant information and intentional misapplication of accounting principles relating to measurement, recognition, classification, presentation or disclosure. Misappropriation of assets involves the theft of an entitys assets such as embezzling receipts, stealing physical or intangible assets and making the organization to pay for goods and services not received. Such acts are often accompanied by false or misleading records or documents in order to conceal the fact. Responsibilities of the auditors Various studies that have been conducted in different countries showed that many users perceived that it is the responsibility of the auditors to detect irregularities (Leung and Chau. 2001 in Hong Kong; Dixon et al (2006) in Egypt; Fadzly and Ahmad. 2004 in Malaysia). Since the fall of Enron, Boynton et al (2005) argue that auditing standards have been revised to re consider the auditors responsibilities regarding fraud. Moreover ISA 315 requires the auditors to evaluate the effectiveness of the clients internal control system in detecting or preventing material misstatement occurring. Boynton et al (2005) emphasized that this condition was not previously needed, such an evaluation was only required if the auditors chose to rely on the internal control system in attempt to lessen the extent of the audit procedures. All staff members are required to communicate their result in order to combine the minor irregularities detected by each of them and required to consider the incentives and opportunities existed in the organization that induce the occurrence of fraud. An auditor who is conducting an audit in accordance with ISAs should obtain reasonable assurance that the FS taken as a whole are free from material misstatement whether from error and fraud. But an auditor cannot provide absolute assurance that the FS are free from material misstatement since some material misstatements of the FS may not be detected, even though the audit is properly planned and performed in accordance with the ISAs. Furthermore frauds are more difficult to detect than errors since the former involve the use of sophisticated and well organized plan to conceal them. It should be noted that management fraud is more difficult to detect than employee fraud as management is often found on the higher position and is more able to directly or indirectly manipulate figures. Such attempts may be even more difficult to detect if they are accompanied with collusion because collusion may cause the auditor to believe that audit evidence is persuasive when in fact, it is false. It is worth to note that the ultimate responsibility in relation to fraud detection and prevention rest with those charged with the governance of the entity and management. It is their responsibility to implement appropriate internal control systems to prevent fraud in their companies. Factors affecting the ability of auditors to detect material misstatement. Poor audit planning Planning is critical to the effectiveness and efficiency of an audit engagement (Mock Wright, 1992). It can be concluded that information obtained in the planning stage have an impact on the subsequent audit procedures and the audit evidence to be evaluated (Joyce, 1976). The planning stage consists of materiality assessments, risk assessments and decision on the kind of evidence to be collected. If the initial risk assessment is wrong, the planned audit procedures may be incorrect or insufficient, thus reducing the reliability of the FS and increase the auditors exposure to lawsuit and unfavorable outcomes (Palmrose 1987). If the auditors fail to assess risk, a material error could arises in the raw data of an account balance (inherent risk (IR)), passes through the internal control system of the entity undetected (control risk (CR)) and escapes detection by the auditors tests and procedures (detection risk (DR)). The risk assessment stage is vital as it enables the auditors to identify areas where there is a high probation of material misstatement, plan audit work that address those errors and minimize the chance of giving an incorrect audit opinion. The risk assessment comprises of three important elements namely IR, CR and DR. If any of these three elements are wrongly assessed, it affects the subsequent procedures and many misstatements would go undetected. IR is important as it identifies risks which are inherent within the industry. CR enable auditors to assess whether the clients internal control system can identify or prevent any material misstatement occurring. The assessment of inherent and c ontrol risk will have an impact on detection risk as they will determine the extent of audit procedures. Furthermore, if the auditors fail to determine materiality level, this can cause many material misstatements or omissions go undetected. IASB defined materiality as information is material if its omission or misstatement could influence the economic decision of users taken on the basis of the financial statement. Determining materiality is a matter of professional judgment. It can be concluded that both materiality and risk assessment contribute to determine the nature, extent and timing of audit procedures. Inexperienced Auditors Although a successful audit depends on a good planning stage, the ultimate success depends on the auditors experience to conduct the audit. Experienced auditors have the appropriate and adequate skills required in order to achieve audit objectives to the satisfaction of the client. Very often, auditors fail to detect material misstatement despite having assessing a high initial risk assessment, the reason behind this failure is that they lack the required skill to perform the audit while simultaneously identifying relevant risk factor. Experienced auditors is regarded as an valuable asset to the audit firm since they have more practice and feedback on the types of material misstatement that could be existed in the FS and its rate of occurrence (Libby and Frederick, 1990), thus increasing the likelihood of detecting potential fraud more easily. Bedard and Graham (2002) concluded that auditors with more experience with a particular client industry have more ability to identify risk factors than auditors with little or no experience with that industry. Furthermore, Moeckel (1991) found that experienced auditors search for more evidence than less experienced auditors. It simply means that experienced auditor do not only rely upon the evidence produced by the client but they look for further relevant and reliable evidence outside the entity before reaching an opinion, thus increasing the chance of detecting irregularities. Libby and Trotman (1993) found that senior auditors have the ability to recognize evidences which are inconsistent with their judgment. Time budget Time budget is considered as a major problem faced by almost auditors. Time budget pressures affect the quality of an audit as it prevents the auditors from allocating adequate number of time to complete specified audit procedures (Margheim, Kelley Pattison, 2005) and limits auditors ability to expand the extent of audit test (Asare et al. 2000), thus affecting the ability of auditors to detect material misstatement in the FS. It is worth to note that when attainment of budget is considered as a major factor in performance evaluation, auditors are more likely to engage in dysfunctional behaviors such as reduction of follow-up procedures, underreporting of time, and overriding auditing procedures in the work program (Azad 1994). Time pressures create a stressful working environment among the audit team which is likely to affect the ability of auditors to detect material misstatement since the auditors tend to behave unprofessionally. This includes behavior such as superficial examination of documents, acceptance of weak explanations by the client, reduction of work on an audit step below acceptable levels. E.Cook and Kelley (1988) survey results showed that auditors are more likely to engage in reduced audit quality practices in order to attain the time set by the firms. It simply means as time budget pressure increased, the auditors performance decreased significantly (McDaniel, 1990). However, time budget make auditors work harder and charge all time properly (Kelley and Seiler1982, Cook and Kelley 1991, Otley and Pierce 1996a). Moreover time budget is likely to enhance audit judgment by encouraging auditors to emphasis more on relevant information thus preventing them from being influenced by irrelevant information (Glover 1997). Sampling error According to ISA 530 Audit Sampling and Other Sampling Testing Procedures, audit sampling involves the application of audit procedures to less than 100% of items within a population of audit relevance such that all sampling units have a chance of selection in order to provide the auditor with a reasonable basis on which to draw conclusions about the entire population. Every audit involves the use of sampling since it is costly for the auditors to examine 100% of all the transactions that took place during a period. The auditors use some form of audit sampling to test the internal control system, help them to reach a conclusion about whether or not material misstatement exist. But sampling always involves some risk, i.e. the auditors might not look at enough items or the sample result might not be representatives. This can have a drastic effect since the auditors might reach an incorrect conclusion. Sampling risk could occur in both test of control and substantive procedures. In test of control, there is the risk of assessing control risk too high or too low.  Ã‚  Assessing control risk too high result into audit inefficiency and assessing control risk too low makes the auditor rely on ineffective control procedures which increases detection risk. In substantive procedures, there is the risk of incorrect acceptance and risk of incorrect rejection. Incorrect acceptance is the risk that the conclusion drawn from the audit sample is that the account balance is not materially misstated, when in fact it is materially misstated. Incorrect rejection is the risk that the conclusion drawn from the audit sample is that the account balance is materially misstates, when in reality it is not. Inadequate audit fees There is limited empirical evidence on the linkage between low audit fees and audit quality. However we can say that audit fees have an impact in the performance of auditors. Numerous Accountancy members have noted that low fees are associated with inadequate audit work. For example, an auditor might use his judgment to the client rather than devote additional time to investigating an audit issue and search for reliable evidence. This would likely to make the auditors to fail in identifying a material misstatement in the FS and issue an incorrect opinion. It can be asserted that when audit fees are abnormally low, the concern is poor audit quality as the auditor might attempt to cut back on effort to design an appropriate audit procedure that fully identify and address material misstatement. Furthermore it can be concluded that if audit fees are low relative to the size of audit client and audit client complexity, this can cause a serious problem since the auditors would be demotivated as more time and effort would be required to perform the external audit work and to reach an unbiased conclusion, thus making the auditors to skip a lot of important audit procedures. On the other hand, inadequate fees do not pose any concern when there is severe competition among audit firms since all audit firms will tend to tender low fees for their services in order to maintain its clients and to attract new ones.

Snake, By DH Lawrence Essay -- essays research papers

Snake When the snake first came to the water-trough, the narrator was excited and glad "he had come like a guest in quiet, to drink at my water trough." He "felt so honoured" at this visit whilst at the same time, the voices of his "accursed human education" advised him to kill it, for it was a gold snake and therefore venomous. Those voices said to him, "If you were not afraid you would kill him." The narrator "picked up a clumsy log And threw it" at the snake when the snake was leaving. Like for a moment, the majestic spell of awe was broken and the voices overpowered him so his real cowardice shone through. He had asked himself whilst feeling this awe, if it were "cowardice, that I dared not kill him?" but his real cowardice came when the snake's "back was turned." I also think that when he threw the log at the snake, it was almost a cry out that he was not to go. He said that it was his voices, but it seems to me that he used that as an excuse. That he was almost trying to punish the snake for leaving him. The narrator says he felt "A sort of horror, a sort of protest against his withdrawing into that horrid black hole" then he threw the log. The use of words like silently, softly, in the beginning when he is first describing the snake and the snake's motions, serve to get ...

The Importance of Disaster Investigations for Systems Engineers :: Engineers Engineering Systems Essays

The Importance of Disaster Investigations for Systems Engineers - What is a Systems Engineer? In the modern industry engineering systems are becoming more complex by the day. Therefore a need for elite engineers i.e. the Systems Engineer, capable of applying a wide range of engineering disciplines to a variety of tasks from product design and development from requirements analysis to simulation to manufacturing and marketing etcà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ is essential. Such engineers work within a team at the heart of the organisation where the design and development of a project is carried out. At this stage it is of great importance that every aspect of the design is studied accurately in order to ensure the final product works effectively, efficiently and safely. However, although maximum effort is made during the design, it is impossible to produce a result 100% efficient. This unfortunately leads to the occurrence of accidents and in some extreme cases to a disaster. By carrying out investigations into the disasters and their causation, lessons can be learnt and employed in future designs. This allows the team of engineers to improve the performance and efficiency of the system whilst maintaining the maximum safety levels. - Disasters and why they happened? - Air disasters caused due to faulty design: There have been historically countless cases of confusion in handling the flaps and the gear controls on the DC3 aircraft as they are in close proximity to each other and of similar shape. This is a problem that should have been addressed by the system engineers before the final go ahead for production was approved considering the importance of such instruments and their role during the flight of the aircraft. - Challenger disaster caused due to faulty design: This incident saw the destruction of the United States space shuttle Challenger 73 seconds after take-off from the Kennedy Space Centre on January 28, 1986 killing the entire shuttle crew. The disaster was caused by the failure of an "O-ring" seal in the solid-fuel rocket on the shuttle's right side. The seal's faulty design and the unusually cold weather, which affected the seal's proper functioning, allowed hot gases to leak through the joint. Flames from inside the booster rocket escaped through the failed seal and enlarged the small hole. The flames then burned through the shuttle's external fuel tank and cut away one of the supports that attached the booster to the side of the external tank. The booster broke loose and collided with the tank, piercing the tank's side. Liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen fuels from the tank and booster mixed and ignited, causing the shuttle to tear apart. It is quite clear from this example that had the design of the ring

Spanish Civil War Essay -- essays research papers

Spanish Civil War (1936–39), military revolt against the Republican government of Spain, supported by conservative elements within the country. When an initial military coup failed to win control of the entire country, a bloody civil war ensued, fought with great ferocity on both sides. The Nationalists, as the rebels were called, received aid from fascist Italy and Nazi Germany. The Republicans received aid from the Soviet Union, as well as from International Brigades, composed of volunteers from Europe and the United States. The war was an outcome of a polarization of Spanish life and politics that had developed over previous decades. On one side (the Nationalist) were most Roman Catholics, important elements of the military, most landowners, and many businessmen. On the other side (the Republican) were urban workers, most agricultural labourers, and many of the educated middle class. Politically their differences often found extreme and vehement expression in parties such as the fascist-oriented Falange and the militant anarchists. Between these extremes were other groups covering the political spectrum from monarchism and conservatism through liberalism to socialism, including a small communist movement divided among followers of the Soviet leader Joseph Stalin and his archrival, Leon Trotsky. In 1934 there was widespread labour conflict and a bloody uprising by miners in Asturias that was suppressed by troops led by General Francisco Franco. A succession of governmental crises culminated in the electi ons of February 16, 1936, which brought to power a Popular Front government supported by most of the parties of the left and opposed by the parties of the right and what remained of the centre. A well-planned military uprising began on July 17, 1936, in garrison towns throughout Spain. By July 21 the rebels had achieved control in Spanish Morocco, the Canary Islands, and the Balearic Islands (except Minorca) and in the part of Spain north of the Guadarrama mountains and the Ebro River, except for Asturias, Santander, and the Basque provinces along the north coast and the region of Catalonia in the northeast. The Republican forces had put down the uprising in other areas, except for some of the larger Andalusian cities, including Seville, Granada, and CÃ ³rdoba. The Nationalists and Republicans proceeded to organize their respective territories and to repre... ...rovinces in the summer of 1937 and then Asturias, so that by October they held the whole northern coast. A war of attrition began. The Nationalists drove a salient eastward through Teruel, reaching the Mediterranean and splitting the republic in two in April 1938. In December 1938, they moved upon Catalonia in the northeast, forcing the Republican armies there northward toward France. By February 1939, 250,000 Republican soldiers, together with an equal number of civilians, had fled across the border into France. On March 5 the Republican government flew to exile in France. On March 7 a civil war broke out in Madrid between communist and anticommunist factions. By March 28 all of the Republican armies had begun to disband and surrender, and Nationalist forces entered Madrid on that day. The number of persons killed in the Spanish Civil War can be only roughly estimated. Nationalist forces put the figure at 1,000,000, including not only those killed in battle but also the victims of bombardment, execution, and assassination. More recent estimates have been closer to 500,000 or less. This does not include all those who died from malnutrition, starvation, and war-engendered disease.

Baked soil versus regular soil when planting

Television knows the power of the image, and critics of television are aware that the image can be a negative force or positive one. Television violence has a huge impact on our children’s mind. Every child loves watching television, each child gathers plenty of information on TV. The TV causes children not to able to communicate or express their feelings and causes them to have low critical thinking when it comes to educational progress. Children learn aggressive behavior by watching television. Children tend to imitate what they have learned on TV ads and they easily learn profane words.Even though TV brings many positive impacts and influences from which people can benefit, its negative impacts are most likely extensive. Many surveys have been conducted to see how many hours’ children watch TV. The result shows that children spent plenty of hours watching TV every day. Is TV too bad for the children to watch? The answer is no, because it can also educate children. At tentive parents must step in to guide their children as they watch TV. I remember growing up; my parents did not allow me to watch anything on TV.I have to be monitored by my parents, elders, and family friends. There were periods of time to do home-works, playing with friends, go out with family, and watch TV. My parents used to tell me that education was the first priority, and then the rest would flow with it. Nowadays, the children just sit in from of TV and they do not care about their homework. One year ago, I heard a friend of my family friends that a boy of 8 years old took his father’s gun to practice on his sister what he saw on TV, but luckily their mother intervened and took the gun from the boy.If the mother had not been around, bad things could have happened. But how did the boy have get access to the gun to imitate what he saw on the TV? This is why parents should pay attention to what their children watch on the TV to prevent them from becoming violent or deve loping aggressive behavior that will lead them to juvenile delinquency. The television has a lot of advantages and disadvantages, but there is a dark side to it when children sit every day watching TV and the problem starts with our children.When the children are more exposed to watching TV, they do not have the urge to do their home work because children learn from what they see on TV. TV causes children to have distractions and children can have the knowledge of what is happening by mimicking cartoons or ads on TV. Children nowadays like to spend hours in front of a television, and this can cause children to suffer from eye problems and obesity. Watching TV for long period of time adds to the sedentary nature of their lifestyles. This can create or lead to aggressive behavior, violence, restlessness, and poor academic performance (Simmons &Wentzel, 1999).The children could have nightmares during sleeping hours due to violence they had watched on the TV aside from physical conseque nces; children imitate what they see on the TV and have a negative reaction. TV ads send messages telling children what is considered attractive. For example, smoking, murder, sex, and violent movie ads on the TV can create a big impact on them like immoral behavior, provocative clothing, and inappropriate ads such as alcohol and tobacco. Children, who should spend their time in studying, reading good books, playing outside homes, and engaging in social activities, today, spend their evenings glued to the television.Through watching the TV, a child or a teenager could learn how to kill someone or even kill himself or herself (Simmons &Wentzel, 1999). Watching people dying will not do the child any good. The child might try to imitate all the actions seen on TV, and watching violence or crimes can lead to aggressive behavior and as a result to juvenile delinquency. The physical activities on TV programs can influence the children in a negative way. Also TV can easily influence childr en who are curious and act on what they see, but if children watch educational programs, they can be influenced in positive ways.According to Squidoo (2010), â€Å"some studies indicate TV can shorten attention span, distort body image, and work in conjunction with other factors to escalate obesity, create fear, and increase aggressive and anti-social behaviors if exposure is unmonitored and unlimited, â€Å"The same report also states that many families in the US have their TV on an average of 6 -7. 5 hours per day. † (Squidoo, 2010, p. 4). This is true because when the children are glued to the TV for that long period of time, it can cause distraction and low performance in their education.Students watching more TV in elementary school had increased chances of dropping out of school and decreased chances of getting a college degree (Karachi, 2010). For instance, according to The Sourcebook for Teaching Science, the average child views 1500 hours of TV per year compared to spending only 900 hours per year in school year in 2010. (Karachi, 2010). Can you imagine when you do the calculation that the children only have 600 hours per year to spend on other things like going out with the parents or visiting family or friends and doing home-work?Clearly, TV gets in the way of the children’s educational progress and performance. Clearly, TV is a very powerful tool that influences our children. The influence of television depends on the parenting skills and how parents train their kids. Children who watch TV violence or cartoon films may become less sensitive and less emotional to others around them and they may be more fearful, have antisocial behaviors, and behave in aggressive or harmful ways towards others. TV violence has an impact on expressed levels of aggression in children (Simmons &Wentzel, 1999).Children learn to be aggressive by watching actors and actresses or cartoon characters on TV and practicing their aggressive behaviors. Seeing the a ctresses or actors get away with violence on the TV causes children to believe that performing violent acts is a normal thing. Children who watch a lot of TV violence when they are elementary school age tend to gain more aggression once they become teenagers. Parents should pay attention to the programs their children are watching and explain to their children what is going on what is right, and what is wrong. (Blumenthal, 1999)According to Belson (1978), violence can be wrapped in a way that the violent content becomes transparent. He writes, â€Å"In 1992, the American Psychology Associate’s Task Force on TV and society published a report that confirms the TV violence in children. † (Kurniawan, 2008, p. 243). We should not allow children to watch TV alone; this will prevent them from watching violence on the TV. When children see the colorful picture on the TV, it catches their attention to watch the TV because of the bright colors attract them and entertain them. Pr oblem arises, when children become addicted to the TV and parents unable to control them.There are several effects of watching TV, especially cartoons, which can be dangerous if parents do not monitor them. According to the American Psychological Association (APA), the average child will watch 8,000 murders and 100,000 acts of violence on television before finishing elementary school (Leonard & Mirrors, 1997). From June 1994 to April 1998 the ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox study to monitor violence on television and found that overall 61% of television programs during the 1996-1997 season contained some violence, compared with 57% of shows during the 1994-1995 season.The amount of violence showed increased 14% from the previous year, with 67% of those shows depicting violence (Leonard & Mirrors, 1997). According to Bandura study was conducted in which children watched a video of a woman hitting and kicking a plastic doll. Afterwards, the children were allowed to play with a doll. The childre n imitated what they watched on the TV, kicking, hitting, and using verbal expressions to attack the doll as they saw on the video (Leonard & Mirrors, 1997). Another study has shown that TV characters who committed violent acts were not punished right way is about 75%.(Leonard & Mirrors, 1997) Conclusion Study has shown that children who watch TV are destined to develop problems with their educational progress, poor classroom behavior, lower math scores, and unhealthier habits in life (Karachi, 2010). References Belson, William A. (1978), Television and the adolescent boy, Saxon House, Teakfield Ltd. , Hampshire. Blumenthal, Richard. (1999), What Parents Can Do About TV Violence. June14, 2010 retrieved from http://www. cslnet. ctstateu. edu/attygenl/tvtips. htm Karachi, P. (2010).Child watching much TV gets negative effect on education, 81(1), 368-375. Kurniawan, Y. (2008). Children should be protected from the media influence. June 14, 2010 retrieved from http://www. slideshare. ne t/yusuf_k/children-should-be-protected-from-the-media-influence Leonard, J. , and Mirrors, S. (1997). Violence, television, and other American cultures. New York: New Press. Simmons, B. , and Heather, W. (1999), Television violence and its effects on young children. Early childhood education journal. 26. 3 (1999): 149-153. Squidoo, LLC.(2010). Influence of Media on Children Retrieved June 14, 2010 from http://www. squidoo. com/influence-of-media-on-children There are various ways to make a garden and undeniably, the success of gardening not to mention the necessity of having a silver hand for planting which is in reality the gardener’s skill and how plants are taken cared for is a must but also much depends on the type of soil used for the planting. With reference to the above, this research paper will try to find out which is better, the baked soil or the regular soil?First, let us take a look on the regular soil by reviewing some of the classification of soils that are used for planting. These are â€Å"clay, sand, chalk or calcareous, loam and peat and even subsoil (Data). † Clayish soil looks like putty when it gets wet and for this reason it is hard to cultivate plants on this soil during rainy days or wet seasons. Sandy soils only amounts to ten percent of clay and cactus and other succulents thrived on it. Loam is an ideal blend of sand and clay and it is what gardener commonly looks for because it is â€Å"considered as the best soil for almost any plants (Data).† Chalky soil is very deficient because it lacks humus and other organic matter for the plant to feed on. This type of soil is a bad choice anytime whether it is dry or wet season. Peat soil contains more than 20% humus which can be very valuable for growing acid loving plants (Data) for examples to certain crop like celery. Peat soil comes in two varieties, the brown peat and the black however, the brown colored one is easier to work with. Last but not the least is the sub soil which can be found a foot deep which are often times impedes drainage of the top soil (Data).For all soil types, it is always good to consider the subsoil in order to grow plants that will have a healthy root structures. Some experts says that sand holds little water and nourishment or nutrients (Tapla) and for that reason growers replace sand with silica or crushed granite found in masonry stores. What to keep in mind are plants need aeration as well as drainage while we try to maintain the porosity of the soil. Soil by the way also contains different PH which have various requirements to so many different species of plants.And for this reason, before embarking on gardening, because of very limited time and space, the gardener should decide which type of plants should be grown in the garden. As noted above, a regular garden soil comes in variety or in simple term we can call them the raw soil. The baked soil may come from those varieties however the only thing that makes a dif ference is that it is baked, may be sun baked or baked in the laboratory or nurseries. Baked soil is clean and with no impurities, however some of those soils are hard depending where it came from.For example it is hard if it came from clay type of soil. However, this can be splashed with water and then raked to make it a good bed for seedlings. Some makers of organic soils used to bake soils in the sun or applying heat to make a smoother texture of the soil and kill the unhealthy bacteria that could be damaging for plants. Baked soil is the best choice when we do not like fungi to thrive on our plants, for instance the yellowing of the leaf or the overstressing of the root system due to poor soil.However, this type of soil can not be available anytime and may not be a very practical choice for many uses. Baked soil may also be very expensive to make. Moreover, the choice of soil really depends on the type of plants that will be grown and the time somebody is willing to spend in tak ing care of the garden. Since many type of garden soil are not ideal to grow plants, the combination may be a kind acceptable to grow healthy plants provided that gardeners add some nutrients in the soil. Gardeners at the same time should manage the plant environment by conditioning the soil.To condition a garden soil, the following soil management in the yards and gardens may prove helpful; first, is to manage the environment and that is to know very well whether plants are sun or shade loving and providing adequate supply of air, water, and mineral in the soil. For this task, soil management becomes the major gardening task because soil can easily be controlled unlike the climate. Second, gardeners should realize the need to improve soil management constantly and that includes erosion, chemical leaching, and weeds problems.Soil management also helps to conserve the natural resource like water. It is not truly a fight whether which type of soil is a lot better because even poor soi l can be improved by adding organic matter into it. These are biosolids or matters from sewage sludge, sawdust, rice hull, and even manure. There are many types of conditioning which can be used in treating soil deficiencies at no cost because most of these organic things come from outside and inside our homes.Adding a little bit of organic matter in the raw soil each year can help add up to the nitrogen requirements or obtain balance fertility in garden soils. Aside from these available organic matters, composting can hasten the provision for fertilizing the soil however; the need for commercial nitrogen chemicals is still a practical way of doing things easily since these chemicals are cheaper in terms of the amount of time that will be spent in the preparation.Both baked and regular soil can grow plants, even poor soils can be conditioned. What is important is whether the gardener is knowledgeable in managing the soil including the plants and water requirements of plants. Work Ci ted Data, Gardening. â€Å"Different Types of Garden Soil. † (2008). 01 May 2008 . Tapla. â€Å"A Soil Discussion. † (2007). 01 May 2008 .

Okonkw’s Insecurity

There are a lot of factors in a person’s life that contribute to their feeling of insecurity. Certain events might cause that, mostly it tends to be childhood events. Men usually try to hide their insecure feelings by making sure they appear strong and masculine while deep down they could be very weak. A person feeling insecure is normal but insecurity taking over a person might result in his downfall. That’s what happened to Okonkwo in Things Fall Apart.Okonkwo’s obsession with what others think of him started from an early age, which would drive him to be insecure. Okonkwo’s father is the reason for Okonkwo’s insecurity. His dad being viewed as a nothing would make Okonkwo wants to be viewed as everything his father wasn’t. Okonkwo’s first priority is to maintain his masculinity in front of people, which would lead him to success at first. But, later on he would be so afraid to look weak, that he breaks a lot of tribal rules just to keep his image intact.Okonkwo starts breaking the rules by beating his youngest wife Ojiugo during the week of peace because she left the hut without cooking dinner. He later one does another fatal error that would start leading to his fall down, he kills the boy which called him father although the clan’s leader and the authorities told him not to. Okonkwo loved Ikemfuna but he still killed him because he resembles any feelings with femininity and for him any sign of femininity is being weak. Feeling weak inside, Okonkwo would do actions to make people feel down.Insecure people insult others because they think that, by making someone else down; it will make them feel better about themselves. That's exactly what Okonkwo does when he tells Sugo – a man without titles- â€Å"This meeting is for men,† who implies that he is not a man, but actually a woman, who is a weak creature in Okonkwo's view. The reason why Okonkwo specifically attacked Sugo by implying that h e is a woman is because insecure people attack the things they are most afraid of.Another reason why he constantly criticizes people is because, deep down, he feels inferior. This particularly shows when his wife, Ekwefi, says â€Å"guns that never shot†. He immediately translates that as a critique of his masculinity. As a result, he starts beating her, thinking that this will prove his masculinity, while it totally shows the opposite. It actually makes him seem weaker. Okonkwo hides all his emotions under a mask because he associates any form of emotion, such as compassion and love, to being feminine.Okonkwo tries to hide his emotions from his daughter Ezinma. Although she is his favorite child, he refuses to show her any kind of emotion, supposedly, to maintain his masculinity. Another example of how Okonkwo tries to hide how he feels is when he kills his â€Å"son† Ikemefuna. Upon killing him, Okonkwo feels too much pain inside of him that he thinks of himself as a â€Å"woman†. However, afraid of being viewed as weak, he keeps trying to hide his feelings. Instead, his body responds and starts to weaken without him noticing it.

Destin Brass Products Co.

Problem Statement: Destin Brass president Roland Guidry is concerned with the competitive trends of the company products. He and his staff are worried that company profits are falling in regards to these competitive problems. Analysis: Destin Brass Company manufactures three items dealing with water purification systems: valves, pumps, and flow controllers. The company has been seeing some problems dealing with competition within some of the product markets they produce. Ronald Guidry had two basic questions they wanted answered dealing with this case: 1. Why was it so difficult for the company to stay competitive in the pump market? 2. Why has the company not seen any competition in the flow controller market even with a recent raise in their price to consumers? These questions aroused from Guidry when he realized that the company wasn’t making the standard 35% gross profit margin in pumps. This was the case because the company was forced to reduce the selling price in pumps away from the target price ($97. 10 to $81. 26) due to stiff competition. Management also realized the excessive gross profit margin of 42% in flow controllers even after a recent 12. % increase in price. [pic] The answer to the questions raised by management is directly related to how the company is accounting for their overhead relating to each product. The company had been using a traditional way of allocating overhead. (Exhibit 2) This was a simple and inexpensive way for the company to accomplish this task. However, it really didn’t accurately assign overhead to each product. Destin realized this and had it controller, Peggy Alford, design a revised way for allocating overhead. Exhibit 3) This revised system didn’t seem to answer any questions or alleviate any problems that Destin was having. Activity Based Costing (ABC) was another possibility to allocate overhead and helps answer the questions above. (Exhibit 4) Traditional Cost system: The traditional cost system that was currently being used was a fairly inexpensive way for the company to allocate overhead cost. This system was used to generate a standard unit cost that was then used to produce a target selling price based on the 35% profit margin set by the company. The structure used to assign overhead to each product to arrive at a standard cost was a very inappropriate method for the company to use. There are a number of reasons that this way was inappropriate. First, the only way overhead is allocated using this system is by assigning overhead to production to each product on the basis of production-run labor costs. [pic] The table above shows how the overhead rate was generated for use in the traditional cost system. Using this rate it allocates $4. 39 of overhead for every $1. 00 of run labor used in the product which the labor was applied. This per unit overhead rate is then added with a material and direct labor per unit cost. Adding these three cost up will give you the standard unit cost for producing each product. (Exhibit 2) This system basis all overhead on labor and therefore is not a very accurate way to distribute overhead cost to each product. Take for instance the flow controllers which have a labor usage of . 40 hours per unit. Using the overhead rate above of 439%, overhead allocated to each flow controller is $28. 10. This only takes into account direct labor and nothing else. This creates a problem because even though Flow Controllers take . 40 hours to produce they only use . 20 hours of machine usage. Compare this machine usage to . 50 machine hours to produce each valve which uses . 25 labor hours and . 50 hours to produce each pump which uses . 50 labor hours. This shows that flow controllers are incurring more cost then needed when dealing with machine usage. This problem of over allocating overhead to certain products is also true when dealing with machine depreciation. Machine depreciation accounts for $270,000 of the total overhead, a large percentage. With the overhead rate being determined by labor using this traditional system, machine depreciation is being determined by how much labor is being used to produce each product. In reality machine depreciation should be allocated to overhead using how many machine hour it took to produce each product. With 4,000 flow controllers being produced at a machine usage of . 20 hours they accounts for 800 total machine hours. This number is very small in comparison to valves and pumps which take 3,750 and 6,250 total machine hours to produce, respectively. This means that flow controllers should be allocated less machine deprecation overhead due to the relative small number of total machine hours used. However, since the overhead rate is only calculated using labor in the traditional system Flow controllers are being over allocated. The table below shows how much machine depreciation is being allocated to overhead using the traditional method based on labor hours. [pic] The table below shows what machine depreciation would be if it were calculated using the number of machine hours used produce each product line. [pic] Based on the previous two tables allocating machine depreciation based on direct labor hours can give the company a false cost on how much it cost to produce each unit of a particular product. Pumps are being allocated $19,350 ($175,600-$156,250) too much machine depreciation. With the company producing 12,500 pumps that’s a per unit over charge of $1. 55. While this is only showing the differences in machine depreciation, the other overhead cost associated with Destin producing it products also vary. With these overhead cost being miss-allocated for, there is the potential for Destin to be using bad data to price its products. This could help explain the competition problem the company is facing and will be discussed later in the paper. A second way that this traditional cost system is inappropriate for Destin to use is because it only gives the company one option in dealing with a price change. Since all overhead is figured using direct labor hours if Destin wanted to change it cost associated with overhead, then the only way would be to change the direct labor dollars. This severally limits the company by having only one â€Å"pool† to change prices. Revised Unit Cost System: Destin Brass Products controller Peggy Alford put together a revised cost allocating system in an attempt to better allocate overhead based on activities. This system separates material related overhead and labor related overhead and determines corresponding rates to plug into your unit costs. (Exhibit 3) The table below shows the separation of the two types of overhead used in the revised method. [pic] The revised system is better than the standard system that Destin Brass currently uses to allocate overhead. It takes into account the problem in the standard system which based all allocation of overhead only from direct abor dollars. In correcting this problem the revised structure now takes into account material related overhead which has no relationship to the labor costs of machining. While this dilemma was corrected in the revised system other problems aroused questioning the accuracy of the system allocating overhead to the right products. When looking at the â€Å"other overh ead† section in the table above packing and shipping overhead is included. This creates a problem when the overhead rate for this group of cost is determined using machine hours. Let’s use flow controllers again to better understand the problem that is created. In the revised cost system all overhead not dealing with materials is allocated to products using $42. 59 per machine hour used. With flow controllers taking . 20 hours of machine time to produce the â€Å"other overhead† is assigned to the standard cost at $8. 52 per unit. With valves and pumps both using machine time of . 50 hours to produce each unit, this systems creates an advantage for the flow controllers. Although flow controllers use less machine time they require more shipping and packing cost. Flow controllers require a total of 22 shipments to its customers compared to only seven for pumps and one for valves. With this being true the majority of the $60,000 assigned to packing and shipping overhead should be allocated as cost to flow controllers. Despite this fact the allocation can’t be done because of how overhead is assigned based machine hours used. The following table shows the current overhead assigned to packing and shipping based on the revised system of using machine hours as the basis for overhead allocation. [pic] The next table shows what packing and shipping overhead would be based on a percentage of total shipments company wide. [pic] The second way shown is the better way to allocate overhead based on packing and shipping costs because it takes into account how many shipments and necessary of each product line. Looking at flow controllers again you can see that this product line requires 22 of the 30 shipments. This is a cost of $44,000 that is directly related to the flow controllers. With the current revised system represented in the first table, flow controllers only were allocated $4,430. 0 of cost associated with packing and shipping. This is only 10. 1% of the cost that should be allocated. With this Revised System for costs Destin Brass would still be using bad data to set prices of it products. This could be one possible answer to the questions asked in the beginning by the company. Another problem that arises if this revised system is put into place is one that is similar to the p revious problem. Destin Brass manufacturing manger John Scott is quoted in the case as saying â€Å"(the company) probably spends one-half of our engineering effort on flow controllers. If this is the case, then like before flow controllers aren’t being allocated enough overhead with regards to engineering cost. This is shown in the following two tables. The table on the left shows the amount of engineering overhead being currently allocated to flow controllers. The table on the right shows what the allocation of engineering cost should be to flow controllers based on the estimated number of 50% of total engineering. [pic] [pic] This again is another possible reason for the competition and price problems that Destin Brass is facing. Both of the above methods really restrict the company from implanting changes in price and/or cost. The methods have few â€Å"pools† for management to implement changes using and result gives poor data. A System with the possibilities to implement changes easily is activity based costing. Activity Based Costing A system that would benefit Destin Brass greatly would be to implement activity based coasting as a means to allocate the overhead costs associated with its products. This method traces the costs of resources to the activities consumed. The problem identified in the two previous systems would all be eliminated if ABC where used at Destin. The ABC method is used by applying all direct cost (direct labor and materials) towards the product coast based on the coast summary. (Exhibit 1) Indirect cost (Indirect labor and materials and depreciation) are then applied to each product at a rate that set by the amount of the activity used to produce the good. The amounts used in this case are estimated based on how many transactions occur in total and are caused by each product. Exhibit 5) This way of allocating overhead better illustrates how much cost goes into each product based on the amount of components and runs is needed to complete each product. With this being true flow controllers now have representation to the cost being occurred and the overhead allocated to them. Flow controllers numbers are now more accurate because of the fact the all transactions needed to complete the product are used in generating an allocati on rate. Each flow controller is made up of 10 components and that are being produced in 10 runs. This will account for the company to have 100 transactions (10Ãâ€"10) in order to produce the good. The numbers that Destin came up with using this method are shown in Exhibit 4. With each overhead cost being rated by itself for each product, the company has better data to make sound decisions with. They also have better control on implementing changes. As with the previous methods management could only change labor or machine hours to effectively change coast. With the ABC method each cost is rated separately and therefore a change to a cost would be easily done. When comparing the product unit coast obtained from the three methods discussed in this paper, the companies’ problems dealing with competition and price are easily reasoned with. The following table shows these unit costs for each product line using each of the three methods: This comparison table shows that Destin Brass was allocating its overhead in a way that gave decision makers faulty data. By looking at the numbers obtained using the ABC method and comparing them to the two other methods answers to the two questions raised by the president can be answered. The first question of why was it so difficult for the company to stay competitive in the pump market is explained by the above chart. Destin had believed its production cost for pumps to be $63. 12. With this being said when Destin had to lower their price due to stiff competition the company felt they were no longer going to be able to obtain the desired 35% profit margin. However if Destin new the true cost of producing each pump unit was $37. 70 then lowing the price to stay competitive would have been no longer and issue because the company would still be over the 35% mark. The second question raised by management at Destin Brass dealing with why the company has not seen any competition in the flow controller market is also easily answered using the above table. Destin believed that its standard unit cost for producing flow controllers was $56. 50. Using this cost number the company set a target selling price of $86. 96 to obtain the desired 35% profit margin for the company. When potential competitors looked at this price they felt there was no way they could make a profit in this product line. The potential competitors most likely had a cost of producing a flow controller some where around the price we obtained using the ABC method of $100. 91. Even when Destin raised the price of flow controllers by 12. 5% to $97. 07 competitors would still not want to enter the market based on our selling price. These questions are also easily answered by looking at the following table which take the unit cost obtained using the ABC method and comparing them with last months selling prices: This table shows that the flow controllers were priced to low based our current cost. The company would have incurred a loss of 4% gross margin if this were the unit cost we used last month. Again this shows why now competition was forming because any other company using the ABS method would incur a loss as well. If Destin where however to make a 35% margin at its new unit cost of $100. 91 it would need to sell the flow controllers at $155. 25. This increase in price might fuel some competition. Potential competitors might see this new price Destin is selling at and feel it is a favorable market to get into now competition can sell above their production cost. Pumps are also easily analyzed using this table. Now that the company has an ABC unit cost of $48. 79 they can better compete in the price wars the take place in the pump market. At the price Destin was selling pumps at last month of $81. 26 the company would now be making a 40% gross margin using the ABC cost. This leaves Destin the option of lowering the price in pumps $75. 06 in order to stay competitive and maintain market share. At this price Destin would still be making the company desired 35% profit margin. Net income would not change in the flowing month if the ABC method were to be implemented. This is assuming there are no changes in production, sales, or costs. This is strictly saying that the way you account for overhead as no impact on net income. The ABC method total overhead costs, it only changes how those costs are allocated for internal purposes. With this information shown the ABC method for allocating overhead to products is far superior to anything Destin Brass had used before. The ABC method takes into account all overhead cost and the components involved in each product. In summary a company’s profitability of a product depends on the allocation rules used internally. Recommendations: I would recommend to Destin Brass president Roland Guidry to implement the ABC method for allocating overhead. This method alleviates the two problems he had at the beginning of the case dealing with the question of competition and price. The ABC method will also let Mr. Guidry better control his cost and prices by providing him with a way that’s easier and more effective. I would recommend to Mr. Guidry that he lower the price of the pumps in order to remain competitive in that market. He should lower pump prices as long as he stays at or above the 35% gross margin he wants. I would also recommend that he slowly raise the prices of flow controllers. With the unit cost a lot higher than where it was this price needs to raise and try to obtain the 35% margin. Mr. Guidry should keep a close eye on the competition in this market. As the price is increase potential competitors might enter the market. He should raise the price for flow controllers as long as competition stays to a minimal to retain the market share Destin has already obtained. [pic] [pic] [pic] [pic] [pic]

Importance of Political Socialization

There are many ways that our ideas are shaped and influenced as we grow up. This process by which we develop certain ways of thinking is called political socialization. There are three main influences which change and shape us being, the family, the mass media, and formal education. The family definitely has the greatest impact on us as we grow. This is primarily because ever since the beginning of childhood we are exposed to the ideas of our parents. Their ideas are the ideas that young children learn, and soon begin to form these ideas are their own. The saying that â€Å"You never get a second chance to make a first impression† holds true here in that this is what first the child is exposed to, and it is hard to get people to change from their original ideas of politics, or anything for that matter. In 1965 Jennings and Niemi selected a sample of high school seniors throughout the country and found that 58.9% of them had chosen the same party as their parents. Another influence on how people are shaped is the Mass Media. Today more and more people are spending more and more time watching television. The average grade school student spends more time watching tv than he or she does at school. The media has been called the â€Å"new parent† by some. However, the programs that would influence political opinion the most, such as the news, are rarely watched by the youth of today. The final major influence of people political socialization is their formal education or school. Countries have historically had government classes in their schools to â€Å"preach† the goodness of their particular type of government. For example, American children have been taught the virtues of capitalism and democracy for years. In Germany, during the Nazi era, children were taught how murders could be justified in certain situations. There are certain types of ways used to measure the public's opinion once they have been formed. There are usually samples that are performed instead of complete polls because it can save a lot of time. Scientific sampling is polling random people to form the general opinion of many people. In closing, it is evident by reading above that people today are influenced by the Mass Media, schools, and probably most importantly, families. Importance of Political Socialization There are many ways that our ideas are shaped and influenced as we grow up. This process by which we develop certain ways of thinking is called political socialization. There are three main influences which change and shape us being, the family, the mass media, and formal education. The family definitely has the greatest impact on us as we grow. This is primarily because ever since the beginning of childhood we are exposed to the ideas of our parents. Their ideas are the ideas that young children learn, and soon begin to form these ideas are their own. The saying that â€Å"You never get a second chance to make a first impression† holds true here in that this is what first the child is exposed to, and it is hard to get people to change from their original ideas of politics, or anything for that matter. In 1965 Jennings and Niemi selected a sample of high school seniors throughout the country and found that 58.9% of them had chosen the same party as their parents. Another influence on how people are shaped is the Mass Media. Today more and more people are spending more and more time watching television. The average grade school student spends more time watching tv than he or she does at school. The media has been called the â€Å"new parent† by some. However, the programs that would influence political opinion the most, such as the news, are rarely watched by the youth of today. The final major influence of people political socialization is their formal education or school. Countries have historically had government classes in their schools to â€Å"preach† the goodness of their particular type of government. For example, American children have been taught the virtues of capitalism and democracy for years. In Germany, during the Nazi era, children were taught how murders could be justified in certain situations. There are certain types of ways used to measure the public's opinion once they have been formed. There are usually samples that are performed instead of complete polls because it can save a lot of time. Scientific sampling is polling random people to form the general opinion of many people. In closing, it is evident by reading above that people today are influenced by the Mass Media, schools, and probably most importantly, families.

Legal aspect of the gas and oil industry Coursework

Legal aspect of the gas and oil industry - Coursework Example A country with natural resource (usually oil and gas) allows companies to explore areas for oil and gas. When the enterprise generates revenue through oil exploration it first covers the expenses such as materials, machinery, and operational costs. The rest is the profit that is usually split in 20/80 ratio. The 20% share goes to the company, and the government takes the remaining 80% share. This is still highly profitable for companies. Contractual arrangements are divided into two main categories; service contracts and production sharing contracts. The difference between the two depends on whether or not the contract receives compensation in cash or in-kind (crude) (Johnston, 1994). Generally speaking, both contracts are referred to as production sharing contracts (PSC) or production sharing agreement (PSA) because of the commonalities. The Philippine government alternatively refers to their contractual arrangements as either a service contract (Johnston, 1994). The oil community does a similar thing but ordinarily calls it a PSC. The PSC is a risk service contract because the contractor pays a fee for conducting exploration and production operations. The contract of the century is a term used for a PSA between 11 major oil companies and Azerbaijan for exploration of oil in this region (Ciarreta & Nasirov, 2012). This form of contract is highly feasible for developing countries. The petroleum fiscal systems in the majority of developing countries are opting for PSCs (Pongsiri, 2004). Settings of PSC are not unique or a recent invention. Upon analysing the spirit of the contract, it would seem quite similar to the agreements already in existence in places like Indonesia. For this reason, it was much easier to implement the terms of the PSC for oil exploration in Indonesia. The country already had the concept of â€Å"crop sharing† between the farmers and the landlords that

A Favorite Pet Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

A Favorite Pet - Essay Example I hastily made my way through the dark to get to the light switch. OUCH. I bumped into the hardwood couch. Swearing, I got up and stepped on something unusually soft. I bent to pick up what I thought was a cushion. I felt its feathery softness and then, as if someone on the other end was pulling the cushion, it slithered from my hands. Now terrified, I reached for the light switch. In the pitch black of the room, shiny, wide yellow eyes with extremely dilated pupils stared at me. Horrified as I already was, I screamed. Somebody turned on the lights and I saw, sitting right in front of me, a feathery fur ball; a fusion of grey and white fur with long whiskers and a small adorable face set on which were huge, hypnotizing yellow eyes and an adorable pink nose. The creature stared at me, amazed, and I could only return the amazement. That was my first encounter with our new pet, Dimka. I have had a lot of pets throughout my life. From a chick, when we used to live on a farm, to a horse w ho I wanted for a horse race, my experience with pets has not been quite worth remembering. I never developed the bond that people talk about with any of my pets. The reason, probably being that none of them stayed with me for long or maybe that, they all faced a traumatic fate. Seeing Dimka that night, did not ignite that spark of excitement into me. However, there was something unsettling about her presence which I could not figure out. As I came to know later, that was the beginning of the bond that Dimka and I would soon come to form. Dimka was a cat of the Persian breed which is considered the elite class in the kingdom of cats. She had been born to a lovely cat couple in my Uncle Igor's house. They named her after the exquisite blend of grey and white that her body was. Seeing her now, I knew why they had named her that. Her fur reminded me of the haze that overrides the blue of a sky before a heavy downpour. Uncle Igor was leaving the country for a few months and he could not think of leaving Dimka, only a year old, alone. That is how we got Dimka. I have never been fond of cats. All those horror movies that associate cats with evil magic and witch transformations worked to create a bad image in my mind. The first few days, I did not even look at her. She would patrol the hallways and I would always change my path whenever I caught sight of her. At nights, I would refrain from getting my midnight snack just because I was afraid she might turn into witch. Looking back at those times, I can't help laughing because Dimka turned out to be the total opposite of the cliched bad image. It all happened on one fateful night. I was up till late studying for my high school final which I had the next morning. I decided to take a break. So I plugged in my headphones, closed my eyes and leaned back on my chair. After a few minutes I felt something soft brush past my leg. I opened my eyes to see Dimka sitting beside my chair brushing her fur against me. I freaked out and shifted unsteadily in my chair, unplugging my headphones. And that was when I heard her soft murmur, almost like a whisper. She looked at me with those huge eyes of hers; wide open and her face reminded me of a small, lovely infant trying to get his message across through facial gestures. I could not help patting her and at my touch she playfully brushed herself beneath my hand. She 'meowed' again and I knew what I had to do. I made my way downstairs to the kitchen, Dimka trudging along. I gave her some cat food to eat and watched as she devoured the whole bowl. That night, for the first time had I not only