Economic evaluation (comparing scenarios) Assignment

Economic evaluation (comparing scenarios) - Assignment Example In the current society, it is considered to be an analytical tool that focuses on managing issues ascribed to uncertainty. Base Case: In the case that financial resources amounting to 1029.8 dollars, are used to solve challenges ascribed to acquisition of PEP, an incremental value of 258.6 dollars would be spend to cater for improving the quality of life leading to 21.418 quality life added year. However, the value of QALY would reduce to 21.399 if only 771.2 dollars are spent to solve HIV challenges without PEP. Worst Case: In the case that an amount of 1098.5 dollars is directed towards solving HIV issues by use of PEP, the QALY would reduce to 15.958 with an incremental cost of 1033.7 dollars. However, if the challenges associated with HIV are solved by investing 62.2 dollars, there would not be incremental costs with an increased QALY of 15.993. Best Case: 2614.6 dollars is directed towards purchasing PEP to solve HIV challenges the QALY would increase to 36.488, with no increased incremental. However, if other methods rather than PEP is used, the costs would rise to 9046.8 dollars with an incremental value of 6432.2 dollars with a relatively lower QALY value

Sealed Bids vs Competitive Essay Example for Free

Sealed Bids vs Competitive Essay Sealed bidding and Competitive Proposals have their advantages and disadvantages for private contractors. The government offers the opportunity to contractors to place their bids depending on the specifics of the job or the contract requirements then the government will choose the channel which they will send the solicitation through. For Sealed Bidding is an Invitation for Bids and for Competitive Proposals bids are two ways of solicitation, a Request for Quotation and Request for Proposals (Murphy 2009). An advantage for contractors that are bidding through Sealed bidding is that they are not obligated to provide any information on cost or the profit to justify their bid price. The government has no control over that part and will have to rely solely on the price competition without having all the facts to know if the bid is a reasonable one. This can be a great advantage in making a higher profit if the contractor’s cost for the project is low. Another advantage is that there are no negotiations before, through the period of evaluation or after. There are no individual discussions with any bidder during the process, and no price discussions occur† (Murphy 2009, p. 18). Competitive Proposal advantages for contractors can occur when the government uses a tradeoff. Even though a tradeoff is used by the government when they feel it is to their benefit, it can also be advantageous for a contractor because if chosen the contractor once again does not have to be concerned with the cost or price and still be the one with the higher bid. This process permits tradeoffs among cost or price and noncost factors and allows the government to accept other than the lowest priced proposal† (Murphy 2009, p. 21). The difference with this approach is that the government can either arrange to have a discussion with the contractors or simply make their decision without holding a discussion. When the government chooses to hold a discussion they will select the proposals from those contractors that were in the competitive range. Then the government will have discussions with these contractors in which they can review their proposal, make adjustments and resubmit a new proposal. Although discussions are offered in some cases the government may opt to make their decision without a discussion or the change for contractors to review and change their bids (Murphy 2009, p. 21). The advantage would be for those contractors that were given the chance to make adjustments to their proposals which based on their discussion could be closer on making the final award. The two contracting methods have advantages for contractors but in my opinion the Sealed bidding is a less extensive process for both the government and the contractor. From the contractor’s perspective I would prefer the Sealed bidding for the fact that there are no extra requirements to prove costs and price.

The Parable of the Wedding Feast Essay -- Literary Analysis, Bible, Go

Marriages in Biblical Tradition typically represent a symbolic expression of the covenantal union between God and his people. A wedding banquet during this time period in history was a joyous occasion that had a great importance in the lives of the betrothed. â€Å"The Gospel of Matthew, like all the New Testament Gospels, was composed as a literary work to interpret the theological meaning of a concrete historical event to the people in a particular historical situation† (Boring 89). Mt 22:1-14 utilizes this tradition and expresses wedding celebrations in order to exemplify the significance of Jesus’s goal to bring salvation to those on Earth. The parable of the wedding feast unfolds into three parts; the inviting of guests, a call to the outcasts, and a removal. (Brown 664) Matthew paints the scene of Jesus using a parable to describe the fact, â€Å"The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son† (Mt 22:2). Using a wedding banquet as the setting for this parable allows people to apply the message of God to their everyday lives. The visualization of the preparations of the oxen and fat calves for feasting depicts the nature that this was an important event, worth the sacrifice of animals, which at the time was a great personal expense. Theologically, the kingdom of heaven was represented by the wedding banquet, for those who were invited to the wedding banquet were extended an invitation to the kingdom of God, while the King was an image of God, The Father and the king’s son was a portrait of Jesus. (Brown 665) The servants of the king, symbolically known as the prophets, were sent to complete the King’s bidding and to inform the guests of the upcoming wedding banquet. Rather than accept as per ... ...rning the declination of invitations, whereas Luke goes further into detail. Also, the Gospel of Matthew offers a shorter summary in comparison to Luke and includes the second part of the parable, Mt 22:11-14. (Lester 308) Matthew directed this passage toward the Matthean reader for it supplies instruction and a sense of warning to those who wish to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. â€Å"Matthew uses tension and surprise, in both form and content, to address this situation, while affirming that Jesus Christ, â€Å"God is with us,† is the defining figure around which the community’s self-understanding, imagination, and social relations are to be formed† (Saunders 871). By presenting the text in the form of a parable, the message of God’s will is omitted in a historical and cultural context that enables society to comprehend the meaning behind the words chosen by Matthew.

open house :: essays research papers

Review of Open House I am an avid reader. The type of person who can wipe out a good book in a day or two. For the past several months my only reading has been my textbooks. So I was excited sitting down and reading a book just for pleasure. A girlfriend of mine had given me this book and said she enjoyed it. Plus it was a selection of the Oprah book club. Surely Oprah wouldn't steer me wrong. It's Friday night. I am in my room, settled down with everything I need for a night of reading. I actually managed to finish this book with about six to seven hours. This would lead you to believe this was one of those books that you couldn't put down. Unfortunately this was not true. I was sadly glad to just be through it. The story is about a women named Samantha, and the experiences she has during her seperation and divorce. While there was a minimal amount in the story that I could relate to, feeling she has been living what her husband and son wanted her to be. She has to find herself and her own way now. For the most part the story was totally not what real life is about. While I would have liked to have spent the days after my spouse moving out overcharging at Tiffany's. Then the story switches to problems with money. She wanted to charge him out at Tiffany's then suddenly wants to make it on her own. Yet is real slow at looking for a job. When her husband is described as extremely wealthy, yet they didn't live that way. Ok. So Samantha takes in borders. The first one was an older woman who's daughter works at the grocery store. How many of us when looking for a roommate would actually choose a woman in her 60's. Samantha needed to roll her Mom's advice with the old womans example. Because Grandma had a boyfriend. They dated, she spent the night with him. Samantha actually lies in this woman's bed one night and thinking what their lovemaking must be like. Samantha does make a male friend in the story. His name was King. He was the moving man who delivered the roommates funiture. He stopped by a few days later while he was doing another one of his jobs of dog walking.

Organizational Theory Essay

Why do large corporations tend to have larger ratios of clerical and administrative support staff? Why are they typically more formalized than small organizations? The clerical ratio increases because of the greater communication and reporting requirements needed as organizations grow larger. The professional staff ratio can increase due to the greater need for specialized skills in a larger corporation. As organizations increase in size, the administrative ratios declines and the ratios for other support groups will increase. Large corporations can have a wide range of functional specialties within the organization that perform multifaceted tasks and produce various products. For this reason, larger corporations are more formalized due to the complexity. Rules, procedures, controls and policy manual are needed in order to efficiently operate in a larger corporation. Large organizations rely on these rules and procedures to achieve and control the large number of employees and departments. Smaller organizations have simpler operations and a smaller number of employees which would not require detailed manuals or polices. The company may be so small that every employee physically sees each other every day and communicates on a regular basis. Question 7 Government organizations often seem more bureaucratic than for-profit organizations. Could this partly be the result of the type of control used in government organizations? Government organizations are more bureaucratic than for profit organizations because government organizations have a much larger number of clerical and administrative staff members. Considering that there are large numbers of groups in governmental organizations, bureaucracy is an effective way to minimize abuses of power and gain control. Bureaucracy also provides a systematic and rational way to organize and manage complex tasks that are too difficult to be understood and handled by few individuals. This is a great way to improve efficiency and effectiveness within governmental organizations.

Free Essays on Legalization Of Prostitution

being raped. My solution to the problem is to legalize prostitution. In a first case scenario the legalization of prostitution will help put an end to the numerous cases of rape in America. If you can go out and buy sex than that will cut down on the number of sexually frustrated people who resort to rape. See that way you can go out on a date with a virgin who wants to save herself for marriage or whatever and have a good time with her.( Normally you would spend the whole date figuring out how you’re going to get her in bed.) When midnight rolls around you can make up some story that your cousin is picking you up early in the morning to paint yor grandmother’s house.Then that’s when you drive downtown and claim a nice little prostitute.You see, you get the best of both worlds because your date thinks you’re a perfect gentleman for not even making an attempt to get in her pants and you get to end the night with having sex or receiving some other kind of sex act. For the really sick bastards who rape their victims just simply for violence and because they like to see woman struggle, why not have them take their aggression out on a prostitute rather than your little sister. Moving on to our next scenario of why prostitution should be legalized.This is directed at men ages 30-50 years old. How many of you guys married what you thought to be a beautiful woman with a great body? Now how many of you are married to an overweight wrinkled woman who already popped out about 3 big kids? When you first got married you would work a hard days work but at least you could come home to a pretty little thing to go to bed with. Now ,... Free Essays on Legalization Of Prostitution Free Essays on Legalization Of Prostitution How many of you out there like to have sex ,watch people have sex on T.V. or in person, or think about sex. You aren’t alone if you are knodding your head yes.The problem is that not everyone has the oppurtunity to have sex and some people are having sex forced upon them, in other words being raped. My solution to the problem is to legalize prostitution. In a first case scenario the legalization of prostitution will help put an end to the numerous cases of rape in America. If you can go out and buy sex than that will cut down on the number of sexually frustrated people who resort to rape. See that way you can go out on a date with a virgin who wants to save herself for marriage or whatever and have a good time with her.( Normally you would spend the whole date figuring out how you’re going to get her in bed.) When midnight rolls around you can make up some story that your cousin is picking you up early in the morning to paint yor grandmother’s house.Then that’s when you drive downtown and claim a nice little prostitute.You see, you get the best of both worlds because your date thinks you’re a perfect gentleman for not even making an attempt to get in her pants and you get to end the night with having sex or receiving some other kind of sex act. For the really sick bastards who rape their victims just simply for violence and because they like to see woman struggle, why not have them take their aggression out on a prostitute rather than your little sister. Moving on to our next scenario of why prostitution should be legalized.This is directed at men ages 30-50 years old. How many of you guys married what you thought to be a beautiful woman with a great body? Now how many of you are married to an overweight wrinkled woman who already popped out about 3 big kids? When you first got married you would work a hard days work but at least you could come home to a pretty little thing to go to bed with. Now ,...

Chapter 12 Review essays

Chapter 12 Review essays Chapter 1: The Science of Psychology Chapter one of our text begins by discussing psuedoscience, or as the authors call it "psychobabble". Basically they discuss how it is common that people are often misled by false psychology in our culture and quite often in the media. The authors compare and contrast true psychological practices with psuedopsychology, which often lacks true evidence and proper methods of research and information retrieval. I was glad to see that the authors discussed this topic and clarified the difference between "psuedopsychology" and genuine psychology. It was very helpful to have clarification of what is genuine and what is not within the field of psychology. The remainder of chapter one discusses two other topics, Critical Thinking and the history of psychological practices. Critical thinking is an evolving process, which one uses to come to a reasonable logical conclusion. It is imperative that Psychologists use Critical Thinking when coming to a conclusion regarding the matter at hand. This section on Critical Thinking provides the reader with a good base to begin thinking Psychologically and it is very helpful in allowing one to come to an unbiased conclusion. This section was helpful in describing to the reader how psychologists reason and come to logical conclusions in their field of work. The history of Psychological practices was the section of chapter one that I least enjoyed. This was mostly due to the fact that I was already aware of most of the information that was provided. However it is important that people realize how the field of Psychology has developed and it's different methods, so this chapter served the purp ose of providing this information. Chapter 2: How Psychologists do Research The second chapter of our text covers the topic of how Psychologists go about obtaining results from their research. This chapter discusses the various methods and practices that Psy ...

What to Do If You Are Being Stalked

What to Do If You Are Being Stalked If you suspect that youre being stalked, you should report all contacts and incidents to local law enforcement, according to the Office for Victims of Crime. The brochure Stalking Victimization from the U.S. Department of Justice OVC, gives the following tips for those who are being stalked: To make arrest and prosecution more likely, stalking victims should document every incident as thoroughly as possible, including collecting/keeping videotapes, audiotapes, phone answering machine messages, photos of property damage, letters received, objects left, affidavits from eyewitnesses, and notes. Experts also recommend victims keep a journal to document all incidents, including the time, date, and other relevant information for each. Regardless of how much evidence youve gathered, file a complaint with law enforcement as soon as possible. You Are Not to Blame As a result of the stalking, you may experience a variety of physical, emotional, and financial consequences. The emotional trauma of constantly being on alert for the stalker, or the next harassment, may seem to use up all the energy you have. You may feel vulnerable and out of control of your life. You may have nightmares. Your eating and sleeping habits may change. You may feel depressed or hopeless and lack interest in things you once enjoyed. This is not unusual. The constant stress in stalking situations is very real and harmful. Realize that what is happening to you is not normal, not your fault, and not caused by anything you have done. Where Can You Get Help? As a stalking victim, you are not alone. Do not lose hope. The support network in your community may include hotlines, counseling services, and support groups. Trained victim advocates can provide vital information and a full range of support services, such as assistance through the criminal justice process and assistance with ​finding out about your rights as a stalking victim. You may be able to obtain a restraining order or a no-contact order through the clerk of court. These are court orders signed by a judge telling the stalker to stay away from you and not to have contact with you in person or by phone. It is not necessary for a civil or criminal domestic violence case to be filed for these orders to be issued. Most states authorize law enforcement to make an arrest for violation of such an order. Each jurisdiction and community may differ in the type of restraining order available and the process for application and issuance of orders. Local victim advocates can tell you how the process works in your community. All states now have crime victim compensation programs that reimburse victims for certain out-of-pocket expenses, including medical expenses, lost wages, and other financial needs considered reasonable. To be eligible, you must report the crime to the police and cooperate with the criminal justice system. Victim assistance programs in your community can provide you with compensation applications and additional information. Source: Office for the Victims of Crime

Disscusion board (criminology) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Disscusion board (criminology) - Essay Example The doctor should have checked the man’s workplace conditions, his habits and other proclivities. A more detailed and in-depth examination would have revealed the cause. The doctor’s perfunctory approach resulted in the man ultimately suffering heart attack. There are cases where even after all standard examinations patients have had heart problems. The blood can clot without notice, block blood circulation in the heart and trigger heart attacks (Sardi, Bill). Heuristics is the â€Å"rule-of-the-thumb† analysis. Other than the standard examination, doctors apply their minds to other causes responsible for ailments like heart attacks. It is possible to apply heuristics in criminology as well. The study of criminology is not limited to law enforcement agencies alone. The medical line must also go into the social and mental causes of the crime (Zalman, Marvin; 1981) In this case, although the patient had fever and was experiencing discomfort, the doctor could not find the cause for the fever. The next day the patient suffered severe infection on the side of the body the doctor did not examine. Maybe the doctor was tired and called it a day. Even then, in medical parlance, this is medical malpractice. The doctor could be legally taken to task for this lapse (Doctor Negligence, 2010) Doctors as well as criminologists need to be open to all options. There may be situations when nagging doubts and lack of evidence evade solution. A doctor who is too tired to attend to patients must have fresh replacement to attend to the patient. In most cases, a criminologist gets enough evidence or witnesses to make his case. In difficult and/or complex cases, a criminologist can only wait for the courts to decide the

Research Proposal on a topic that links Knowledge Management System

On a topic that links Knowledge Management System with Cloud Computing - Research Proposal Example Explicit knowledge is the type of information that an individual has and he is more conscious of, and he can communicate the same with other people, this kind of knowledge is the one that organisations focus on capitalising on. Cloud computing is a term that is used to refer a large interconnection of computers that share data, this means that instead of using the local servers or personal devices to handle applications, organisations rely on sharing of computing resources through the use of internet. The interlink between knowledge management and cloud computing in an organisation comes in several ways where an organisation will use the cloud computing resources in knowledge management. Cloud storage, which has a vast of storage space in comparison to the typical storage spaces such as the hard disks, is a key driver of knowledge management tools such as blogging, micro-blogging pages, wiki, individual web spaces, podcasts, webcasts that require large volumes of storage space. The f lexibility that cloud computing offers in terms of the dedicating space when it is needed is convenient for knowledge management activities such as teleconferencing, web calls and lead capture, the ease of access of information that has been stored in the cloud computers by multiple users facilitates fast approval of information which has allowed workflow to be more efficient. Knowledge management has been ineffective for a long time due to several reasons; one of the reasons is that knowledge management has been confined to the walls of the organisation for a long time. This is despite the common knowledge that most of the useful information to the employees of a company is present outside these walls, which would improve the innovativeness and efficiency of the employees. With the discovery and growth of internet, most of the organisations that used intranet in knowledge management from actively managing the productivity of critical knowledge assets have made it become a publisher of informational assets. With the introduction of cloud computing in knowledge management, every individual either within or out of an organisation will become a knowledge manager. as tools become easier to use, individuals will actively contribute to the relevance of the information that is available within an organisation, in addition to this, individuals will be able to contribute to the improvement of the of practises and improvement of decision making. It will as be possible to send the information available within an organisation outside and also monetize it for the benefit of the organisation, however this will require companies to change their policies that govern how knowledge is shared within an organisation and new ways on how to gain a competitive edge using knowledge. While knowledge management has been a priority to most of the organisations for many years, addressing the challenge that comes with it has been relatively hard for most of the organisations (Kambil, 2009 , p67). With the current increasing economic uncertainties, reducing loyalties among customers, a very diversified workforce and increasing competition have made companies to find new and innovative ways to advance their knowledge management standards to match these challenges. These problems have been made

Modern Statutory Interpretation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Modern Statutory Interpretation - Essay Example The discussion will give me a side that shall be weighed heavily on the conclusive part. The contents of this Essay will include: Ambiguity is a notorious word that affects not only most learners of law but also those who enact law, interpret law, and obey, or violate law. It is present in the most precise of words, as one classic rock song goes "sometimes words have two meanings," (Stairway to Heaven, Led Zeppelin). And it so happened that words with two, or more meanings here being discussed are parts of the law system of which had been enacted by Parliament, obeyed or violated (although it will be already on the part of the judiciary to decide) purposely and not by the people, and with the Acts to be interpreted by the court as either lawful or not where instances had been that a prosecution is undertaken. The law is such that Lord Esher in R v Judge of City of London Court declared, "If the words of an Act are clear, you must follow them even though they lead to a manifest absurdity. The court has nothing to do with the question of whether the legislature has committed an absurdity. [However] If the words of an Act admit two interpretations, and if one interpretation leads to an absurdity, and the other does not, the Court will conclude the legislature did not intend the absurdity and adopt the other interpretation." The discussion will take off from here. Main Part For the purpose of clarifying the content of this essay, statutory interpretation is a process of interpreting and applying a legislation or a law which has been promulgated or enacted by the parliament or governing body. Legislation may refer to a single law or a collective body of enacted law, but "statute" is always referred to as a single law. At most times, the words of a statute have plain and direct meaning but ambiguity and vagueness are resolved by the judge of which he may use various tools and methods of "statutory interpretation" which may include traditional canons, legislative history as well as purpose. In the United Kingdom, there is a general presumption that legislation takes precedence in so far as there is any inconsistency or where legislation and case law are in conflict. This principle is called Parliamentary Sovereignty. The general notion is that a statute will be interpreted as consistent with all the content of the act so that the sui generis (of its won kind) rule is applied to resolve any conflict. In the interpretation of statutes, approaches to literal and purposive construction are used, and so are the intrinsic and extrinsic materials. The specific aids to interpretation includes among others: The Interpretation Act 1978 that defined many common terms to be used in construing any Act that contains the

Healthy Lifestyles Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Healthy Lifestyles - Assignment Example ecifically, the detrimental consequences of these unhealthy behaviors manifest when two or more habits of the behaviors merge to produce synergistic effects. Technically, frequent health habits coalesce to form health lifestyles. Based on the interview, relevant data and information were obtained regarding particular unhealthy lifestyles. Admittedly, trends on unhealthy lifestyles suggested by the interview’s results were a bit surprising. Prior to the interview, I perceived the behaviors of tobacco use, alcohol consumption, and lack of physical exercises as experienced by members within the age bracket of 45-60 years. Surprisingly, these unhealthy behaviors are prevalent among members of the young generation; particularly those between 20-35 years. Actually, this optimally productive portion of the population seems to frequently engage in risky health habits more than those within the age bracket of 45-60 years. For example, alcohol abuse and reckless driving topped the list of most common unhealthy behaviors examined during the exercise. Observably, certain unhealthy behaviors are primarily associated with members of a particular age group. For example, teenagers and young adults between the ages of 15-24 are fond of smoking, drinking alcohol and using phones while driving compared to members of any other age group. Contrarily, adults between the ages of 55-64 years emerged as having unhealthy physical activity habits coupled with improper nutrition. With respect to teenagers and young adults, the pronounced frequency and intensity of drug abuse are relatively high compared to any other age group. In addition, reckless driving habits are more common among teenagers and young adults compared to any other age group. Reasons for this trend in young persons may include but not limited to emotional immaturity, juvenile delinquency, and social anxiety among others (Burnham, 2010). Contrarily, drinking, smoking and reckless driving habits subside towards adulthood.

Tourism Planning Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Tourism Planning - Essay Example The role of governments in the planning phase of tourism both regionally and nationally is significant since it fosters growth at all levels and increases the chances of economic prosperity and wellness for the related stakeholders. (Gunn, 2003) I disagree with the premise that tourism planning is just about what will be built and where – rather it is a complete mindset which needs to be understood within the thick of things. The tourism sector must make sure that the role of government is encouraging at consistent levels and there are no hiccups in the wake of the provision of funds for the growth regimes of the tourism industry. Tourism would be conducted best if it is left to the locals as it is a thriving industry. However, the role of government is of the essence as it works as a helping agent in the whole scheme of things. In its own right, tourism planning is an art. This is because it is difficult living up to the expectations of the varied tourists hailing from different regions of the world. The local tourism measures seem more pertinent for the region under consideration since this lays the foundation stone for the upheaval of the tourism industry in a localized zone. These measures boost the economic and societal aspects which are rampant within the region and thus facilitate the common man with the provision of job opportunities, skilled labor and so on and so forth. Nationally, the economy gets a facelift and there are changes in the lines of commerce and industry since the country realizes its true potential elsewhere. (Kirk, 1997) Consequently, people come to terms with the advancements and technological changes that start to happen within such lands and thus hail the efforts undertaken by the related ministries.  Ã‚  

Healthy Lifestyles Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Healthy Lifestyles - Assignment Example ecifically, the detrimental consequences of these unhealthy behaviors manifest when two or more habits of the behaviors merge to produce synergistic effects. Technically, frequent health habits coalesce to form health lifestyles. Based on the interview, relevant data and information were obtained regarding particular unhealthy lifestyles. Admittedly, trends on unhealthy lifestyles suggested by the interview’s results were a bit surprising. Prior to the interview, I perceived the behaviors of tobacco use, alcohol consumption, and lack of physical exercises as experienced by members within the age bracket of 45-60 years. Surprisingly, these unhealthy behaviors are prevalent among members of the young generation; particularly those between 20-35 years. Actually, this optimally productive portion of the population seems to frequently engage in risky health habits more than those within the age bracket of 45-60 years. For example, alcohol abuse and reckless driving topped the list of most common unhealthy behaviors examined during the exercise. Observably, certain unhealthy behaviors are primarily associated with members of a particular age group. For example, teenagers and young adults between the ages of 15-24 are fond of smoking, drinking alcohol and using phones while driving compared to members of any other age group. Contrarily, adults between the ages of 55-64 years emerged as having unhealthy physical activity habits coupled with improper nutrition. With respect to teenagers and young adults, the pronounced frequency and intensity of drug abuse are relatively high compared to any other age group. In addition, reckless driving habits are more common among teenagers and young adults compared to any other age group. Reasons for this trend in young persons may include but not limited to emotional immaturity, juvenile delinquency, and social anxiety among others (Burnham, 2010). Contrarily, drinking, smoking and reckless driving habits subside towards adulthood.

Federalism and the Thirteen Independent Sovereignties Coursework

Federalism and the Thirteen Independent Sovereignties - Coursework Example blish how the documents presented in Chapter 5 support this contention as well as identify exactly what were the main issues that are deemed to have been responsible for pitting Americans against Americans as well as colony against colony. One of the key issues that is seen to have pitted Americans against each other and in the process lend credence to the postulation that was made by Knox is that there appeared to be a raging conflict between members of different classes in the early American society. Zinn (2010), notes that the military across the various American states was regarded as being a place for the poor as it afforded them the opportunity of rising in rank, acquiring some money and eventually being able to change their social status. However, this dream was not realized by most of the poor Americans that joined the army as Zinn (2010) points out that Governor Robert Morris who had been appointed as the superintendent of finance had implemented policies that largely ignored the common soldier who was not getting paid, was suffering in the cold, dying of sickness while all along watching the civilian profiteers progressively get richer. Another conflict that is noted to have pitted Americans against Americans is the conflict over land that pitted Native Americans against the colonialist Americans. Zinn (2010) points out that Native Americans had for the most part bee ignored by the fine words of the Declaration which had been drafted and designed in such a manner that it would not grant them equal rights to those that were granted to White Americans. Before the Revolution, the Indians that had been living in New England and Virginia had been subdued by force and that that had been living in other regions of the country had been forced to work out modes of coexistence with the colonies. However, despite their having worked out modes of coexistence with the colonizing Americans, by around the 1750, the fast growing colonial population served to increase

Crusades and Pope Urban Essay Example for Free

Crusades and Pope Urban Essay The Christian Crusades occurred around the 11th and the 12th century are very many and complex. The Christian Crusades has built a tense relationship between the Christians and Islamic. This essay will explain the causes and effects of the Medieval Crusades. The importance of the holy lands as stated in the Islamic bible, Koran, and the Christian bible is the most significant cause of the Christian Crusades. Religious rivalry between the 2 religions was caused by the fact that both of these religions believed in 2 different gods. The Islam’s thought that there god was the true god whilst the Christians believed that there god was the one and true god. The fact that the Islam’s believed there god was the one and true, brought anger to the Pilgrims who were on a quest to take back the Holy lands which were Bethlehem, Nazareth and Jerusalem, which were controlled currently by the Muslims since 638AD. But as more and more pilgrims came to visit the Holy lands, Seljuk Turks, Saracens, took over the lands and denied more Pilgrimages to the Holy Lands. This brought great anger to Pope Urban II. Pope Urban II was responsible for the very first Christian Crusade. He started this by giving an extremely influential speech to all Christians in Europe and Medieval time saying that the Saracens were turning Christian Churches into Mosques which were Muslim churches. Pope Urban II then told all Christian men and European Christian Princes to go on a crusade to take back the Holy lands. The Pope also stated to these Christian men that by fighting in this holy war they would reach heaven. So the Christian Crusaders set their target on regaining one of the Holy lands which was Jerusalem. The result of the first crusade was not too good for the Muslims as 70,000 Muslims had died trying to flee from the city or fight to protect their city. A reason that explains the cause of the Christian Crusades, are the Christian men, the Knight class and Princes. Prior explains how Pope Urban II speech influences the Christian men, Knight classes and Princes of Europe to go on a crusade against their rivalry religion and to gain back the Holy Lands. Pope Urban II says to all these men that go on to their crusade, that if they do not fight back against the Saracens, god will not clear there sin. This was another reason for the Christian Crusade. Pope Urban II â€Å"blackmailing† these men to go to the Holy lands was a reason for why the Christian Crusades began in the first place. The Knight class were all men that wanted to fight. Since the age of seven, pagers, who were the first stage into becoming a knight, were taught special skills to fight. Every Crusader that was going on to gain back the lands had a sign on their tunics when they went to fight. This sign resembled St Johns Cross. The medieval Crusades have brought a strong intensity in these to religions that are still quite tense nowadays. Pope Urban II speech had urged men to go on this holy crusade and both the Koran and bible having two of the same holy places caused tension between these two religions. This essay has given the causes and effects of the holy crusades.

Independent Audit Risks: Cases

Independent Audit Risks: Cases Lisa Ferguson Case 1.8 1. Misstated development costs and revenue measurement are both inherent risks when auditing live theatrical companies. To detect the first, auditors should design testing procedures to evaluate whether deferred development costs are reasonable to the production. This would involve obtaining itemized lists of costs and comparing them to similar expenditures industry-wide. To test for proper revenue measurement, the auditor would have to compare ticket sales with actual head counts. This could involve looking at recent ticket sales and observing the actual attendance of a show. Likewise, if it is a production transferring from out-of-town tryouts to Broadway, compare those out-of-town ticket sales to Broadway sales. If one is consistently different, there may be cause for further investigation. 2. A CFO owes their first loyalty to the company for which they work. They are usually responsible for the internal controls of the accounting and financial departments, planning overall tax strategies and consulting on financial matters. They manage the money. An audit partners first loyalty is to their firm. They bring in new business and ensure that their auditors fulfill their duties while also upholding legal and ethical standards. Both roles are very important. I think an audit partner is more important on a societal level, as auditors are meant to aid in the detection of misstatements, some of which could lead to widespread financial consequences. A CFO has the more stressful job, though. They are essentially serving two masters. They must maintain the legal and ethical standards of their profession (many are accountants), while also generating financials that satisfythe CEO and Board of Directors. That could mean facing pressure to falsify accounts to lead to better numbers. I have little interest in auditing so would rather be a CFO. 3. Independent audits are required by law, hence the necessary part. However, to do his job, an auditor must dig through a companys financials, possibly bringing to light number fudging. An auditor can frame what they are doing as a service. The auditor is finding potential misstatements before the financials are filed with the government. If mistakes have occurred, and auditor gives the company a chance to fix them before potentially incurring disciplinary action from the government. 4. A secondary accounting firm has a responsibility to test the assumptions at the center of the dispute and issue and un-biased opinion about how the dispute should be resolved. 5. I do not think the $12.5 million should have been declared in total. If the verbal contract fulfilled the requirements of a legal contract, then an amount associated with the existing theatre could be recorded as revenue. However, the amount associated with the theatre that had not yet been built should have been recorded as unearned revenue since it was, in fact, not yet earned. If the verbal contract did not meet the requirements for a contract, then nothing should have been recorded. This is about the concepts of matching and what constitutes a binding contract. 6. Messina was the engagement partner on the last two Livent audits. When she discovered the fraud, she likely felt that she should have caught it when engaged in auditing the company. Having not done so, and then gone to work for the company, she felt guilty. While I can sympathize with the pressure to go along with fraud like that, I would use whatever the appropriate reporting procedures were to report the fraud. No job is worth that level of dishonesty. I would rather earn $24,000 a year honestly, than $250,000 facing the pressure and internal disgust of lying. 7. The standards that govern due diligence is AS 1015. AS 1015.05 states that (a)n auditor should possess the degree of skill commonly possessed by other auditors and should exercise it with reasonable care and diligence (that is, with due professional care). Case 2.2 1. Accuracy and occurrence are both relevant. Arthur Andersen could have asked to see the un-booked cost charges and compared them with previous periods to ascertain their accuracy as regards the new revenue recognition technique. For occurrence, they could have verified that contracts actually existed between Paragon and all the jobs they were recognizing revenue for. 2. I believe the SEC meant that Sullivan failed to do his due diligence. An auditor should not simply accept a management assertion. He should perform procedures that test that assertion. Sullivan did not perform with a level of competence expected by an auditor. Considering that Sullivan was the engagement partner, the ultimate responsibility does rest on him to ensure the audit is performed correctly. 3. A high-risk engagement requires thorough procedures and testing to minimize the audit risk. Because the auditor has assessed that the engagement carries a substantial risk of misstatement, he must be more exacting with procedures than on a normal audit. Every assertion should be questioned and professional skepticism should be in full force. 4. A good knowledge of the industry a company is in is necessary for an auditor. It falls under taking due care in performing the audit. If the auditor has another source of information, personal experience for instance, then it is not a requirement that she read the AICPA guides. However, if those guides will aid her in being thorough, then she should take advantage of a good resource. The guides carry no force of law or regulation and therefore do not supersede PCAOB standards. 5. It is a change in accounting principle as it is a change in how revenue is recognized. Such a change must be retroactively applied to previous financial statements. A change in accounting estimate must be fully disclosed, but is not required to be retroactively applied. Case 7.7 1. An engagement letter should include the following: The scope of the audit including the period being audited The auditors responsibility, including the standards they will follow Managements responsibility A fee structure If signed by the firm and the company, an engagement letter is a legally binding contract. 2. KPMG may have decided to reduce hours and put less experience personnel on the audit because the company being audited was small and it trafficked in material goods, which would be easier to verify than a more esoteric business. Both of these are valid reasons for reducing hours and putting some less experienced personnel on the audit, though they should have been under the supervision of an experienced auditor. 3. A reduction in hours can adversely affect the quality of an audit if that reduction is unreasonable. It is entirely possible to budget too many hours for an audit, in which case reducing the budget down to a realistic number is fine. However, if the reduction creates too much pressure on auditors, it may encourage them to cut corners to meet the budget, which would adversely affect the audit quality. If less experienced personnel are used with proper supervision, the quality is not reduced. Less experienced auditors need experience to become more experienced, after all. However, if those auditors are turned lose on an audit with the necessary experience or oversight, the quality is affected. 4. I agree with the courts decision. As long as the firm is not misleading the client or overcharging them, the firm should be allowed to use professional judgement. The firm is experienced with audits and will likely have a clearer picture of the time and personnel requirements to properly perform.

Artists in Stained Glass :: Essays Papers

Artists in Stained Glass I. CONCRETE EXPERIENCE I think my interest in the combination of glass, light and color began as a child when I discovered the colorful images created inside a kaleidoscope. Even as an adult, I cannot seem to resist picking up a kaleidoscope and gazing into the viewer as I rotate the tube to change the design of the colored bits of glass. If you walk into my home, it is apparent that I like to decorate with glass. I have glass flowers, marbles, stones, vases, balls, bowls and my favorite, stained glass. I have stained glass windows, birds, flowers, night-lights, candle holders, picture frames, and a jewelry box. I like to attend the various arts and craft festivals and shows in Tulsa so I can enjoy the stained glass art created by the local artisans. In November 1999, I went to the Stained Glass Guild's annual sale and purchased my first large piece of stained glass. It was a beautiful blue, yellow, green and red floral piece. I had purchased several smaller floral pieces in 1998 at Tulsa's Arts and Craft Fall Festival at Tulsa State Fairgrounds and I knew it would look beautiful surrounded by the smaller pieces. I purchased my stained glass windows at the Haskell Antique Auction in 2000. They were removed from a building in England and I like to think that they survived the bombings during World War II and now they hang inside my home. I would not say an exceptionally talented artisan created the windows but the pattern in the glass is unique. The colors sparkle and bring a certain charm to my kitchen and breakfast nook, especially on cold winter days. I recently remodeled my kitchen, breakfast nook and formal dining area. I installed new counters, wallpaper, border, artwork and flooring. In my spare time, I have been working with two friends to make a stained glass still life to hang between the doorway to the formal dining area and the kitchen, breakfast nook area. We made the pattern from the wallpaper border, which depicts a wine bottle, cheese, basket of fruit and some flowers sitting on a counter. The piece has over 200 pieces of cut glass and we are about two-thirds finished.

The Theme of Alcestis :: Alcestis

The Theme of Alcestis      Ã‚  Ã‚   Alcestis by Euripides is distinct from other Greek Tragedy, due to its fairy tale origins. It was the fourth play in a set and would therefore have taken the place of a satyr-play. Satyr-plays were usually a light, comic play used as a form of relief from the previous heavy tragedies. The play has its comic elements, Heracles and Death playing the main comic figures but is there a more serious meaning hidden within the comedy? Philip Vellacott in his introduction to a collection of Euripides' plays, states that the main theme of the play is the "unequal relationship of man to woman." He believes this theme to be a reading of the play that would not be accessible to spectators who watched the play purely for enjoyment, but would be found by those capable of serious reflection. Did Euripides foresee such a reading of the play and is there enough evidence to support such a view?    In the play, the experience of man and woman do appear to be set up against each other. On the one hand there is Admetus and the chorus of the citizens of Pherae and on the other, there is Alcestis aligned with other second-class citizens, the servants. The chorus sympathise almost exclusively with Admetus and the servants with Alcestis. The servants and Alcestis are associated with each other from line 192:    "She took each one by the hand, and spoke to each...even the humblest."    Alcestis shows how she cared for the servants by being so thoughtful during her suffering. Later in the play another servant hails Alcestis as a mother figure. With such a bond between them, the servants see things from Alcestis' point of view. In telling the chorus the events of the day, the servant speaks entirely with sympathy for Alcestis, recalls what she has said and done and how she is becoming weaker and weaker. The servant does not mention Admetus until the chorus pointedly ask about him. In her reply the servant shows how Admetus is coping with the situation. Line 200: "Oh, yes, he weeps...Beseeching her not to desert him."    Here the irony of the situation is recognised by the servant.

Disney Company

External EnvironmentThe Disney Company is renowned throughout the world as a leading media and entertainment company in the world. The external environment for this company is vast and has several effects on the company’s operations and performance and progress. The environment includes competitors such as News Corporation and AOL Time Warner Inc, resources, technology, and the economic circumstances that influence the organization.With media and entertainment companies experiencing a boom with a wider consumer and viewer base it is not easy to compete in the industry. Disney analyzes its general as well as its task environment thoroughly to fish for opportunities and threats. In the following text, we will identify two direct and two indirect forces have the potential to affect the company progress.Direct ForcesDirect forces or forces from the task environment include all those forces that are closer to the organization. They conduct day-to-day transactions with the company a nd have a major influence on the company’s performance and basic operations. The forces which come under this category include customers, competitors, suppliers and the labor market. We would be analyzing customers and competitors.CustomersThe Disney customers are highly important for Disney. The bargaining power of customers is also high. The customers decide what price they are willing to pay for a movie, what price they are willing to pay at the entrance of Disney’s theme parks and lastly but most importantly the unique customer experience they desire. Therefore customers, as recipients of Disney’s services, determine the company’s success and future growth.If Disney slacks any one of these three crucial touch points it would lose its market share to other rivals. Mottos for Disney, thus, revolve around the customers like one which reads â€Å"Be so nice to the guests so that they can’t believe it†. Disney looks for chances to create magi cal moments for its customers and always making them smile. Customers are what make up Disney and if it wasn’t for these customers Disney wouldn’t have been where it is now.CompetitorsDisney faces a range of competitors both at a local and international level. Since the Disney Company has been able to tap a very distinctive niche in the industry and has a stronghold, the barriers to entry do exist for the animated entertainment industry. Despite these barriers competition also exists. Disney has been able to establish a mark in the movie business and the Network-television department where several powerful rivals do exist making it extremely risky.Moreover, new cartoon figures appear every day in television shows and in movie theaters overseas. The recent merger of AOL and Time Warner poses a great threat to Disney. Moreover, Viacom and Fox Entertainment are other big competitors. In order to safeguard its position as the leading media conglomerate, Disney must continu ously invest in technological and operational improvements.Indirect ForcesIndirect forces or forces from the general environment are forces that affect the organization indirectly. It embodies the outer layer of the organizational environment. These forces aren’t involved with the organizations day-to-day activities but do affect the organization’s progress and performance overtime. These indirect forces include several dimensions like technological, international, socio-cultural, economic and legal-political but we will focus on technological and international dimensions.  Technological DimensionThe Disney Company provides entertainment through animation and animation and technology have a very strong link. Superior animation is supported through superior technology therefore it is imperative for Disney to be up-to-date with technology. With scientific and technological advancements occurring at an astounding pace it is often hard for companies to keep up but it is crucial for them to do so. Newer competitors are using the latest world technology and providing customers with better experiences, Disney should do the same in order to maintain its position.International DimensionEvents occurring in other foreign countries also have a strong potential to affect Disney’s progress. Since Disney operates theme parks in France, Japan, Hong Kong and USA and furthermore operates its own cruise line as well, events and relations with other countries are of great importance. This international environment also provides new competitors, customers and suppliers and also forms social, technological and economic trends which Disney has to adapt to.ConclusionDisney is the world’s leading entertainment company but does face many challenges and threats within its environment in terms of direct and indirect forces which have the potential to affect its operations, performance and future growth. It is imperative for Disney to analyze these forces car efully and flex its operations and strategies in accordance to them. References Book Jones, G. R. (2007). Contemporary Management. 5th Edition, illustrated, revised. Mc Graw-Hill Companies Wood, J. C (2002). Henri Fayol: Critical evaluations in business and management. Illustrated edition. Taylor & Francis Online Journal/Article Fine, J (2008). Disney Emerges a Winner. Business Week, Retrieved June 10, 2009.

Moo Cow Frozen Yogurt

Moo Cow Frozen yogurt it is also low in calories and high in calcium and protein. In fact, it contains a higher content of calcium per 100g when compared to milk and cheese! Moo Cow is the most impressive frozen yogurt in terms of calcium content, with a whopping 844. 3mg of calcium per 100g serving. Other than being high in calcium, FroYo also contains all the beneficial ingredients of yogurt such as probiotics (the â€Å"good bacteria†) with health benefits ranging from boosting the immune system, helping digestion, lowering cholesterol as well as combating stress and allergies.Frozen yoghurt needs to have 107 viable â€Å"live and active† lactic acid bacteria per gram at time of manufacture in order to be effective, and Moo Cow contains 1. 8 x 107 acido philusbifidus thermophilus, as analysed by the Chemical Laboratory of Malaysia. natural goodness and a whole lots of health benefits. Live and active culture provides good bacteria that improves digestive system.The w ords â€Å"Live Active Culture† refer to the living organism Streptococcus, Thermophilus, and Lactobacillus bulgaricus which convert pasteurized milk to yogurt fermentation. Now, instead of yogurt and yogurt drinks, there is frozen yogurt! Which I love ~†¦ Moo Cow sells frozen yogurt of several varieties of flavours, including a weird and daring attempt of ice kacang flavour. unlike other frozen yogurts, the toppings are really healthy.From choices of oats, sunflower seeds, raisins, prunes, cornflakes, pumpkin seeds and nuts. You probably think its no fun and dull, but it turns out to be surprisingly delightful. and if you are watching your health (and for the ladies, weight and figure), how about just switch the ice cream with all natural goodness of frozen yogurt. Reference http://goodyfoodies. blogspot. com/2012/03/moo-cow-frozen-yogurt-gardens-mall. html http://foodeverywhere. wordpress. com/2011/08/01/moo-cow-frozen-yogurt/

Freedom and the Art of Balance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Freedom and the Art of Balance - Essay Example The most noticeable one is Nichomachean Ethics. In this Aristotle pointed out the virtue ethics which demarcated the proper functioning of every article of thing. He said that what is fact is truth for e.g. an eye is only a good eye as long as it can see as the proper function of eye is sight. Also, he identified the best activity of the soul as eudaimonia (a sense of happiness that suffuses the good life) and in order to attain the good life one must live a balanced life and avoid anything in excess. This excess could hold different meaning for different people and also for different situations and exists as a golden mean between the two vices- one is an excess while other is a deficiency (Nichomachean Ethics). This is essential to define the quality of a person's habits or character as the man of excellence or the thing of excellence is said to have virtue and this in its highest forms is associated with potential for happiness (Nichomachean Ethics). Book 1 defines the subject matter and emphasizes on the Goal-directed ethics and is often called teleological. In this Aristotle stated that everything has a purpose or end. For instance a good knife has a purpose to cut and therefore must be sharp. In the similar manner every human has also a purpose this might be different than what he has thought, i.e.

Quentin Tarantino Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Quentin Tarantino - Essay Example His critically-acclaimed films have contributed much to the enrichment of the movie industry and to the American pop culture in general. In this paper, readers would be able to know more about this brilliant artist. Considered as a stylish auteur, Tarantino gained popularity in the 1990s with the release of Reservoir Dogs that premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 1992. With this Tarantino, who was then unheard of, became a small-time sensation specifically to the cult film industry in the United States and United Kingdom ("Quentin Tarantino - The Film Maker," 2004). At that time, Tarantino presented a fresh outlook on film with his bold use of non-linear storylines, unforgettable dialogue and gory violence that brought new life to traditional American film archetypes ("Wikipedia," 2005). Inspired by the success of his first film, Tarantino made other movies and with Pulp Fiction he has left a permanent mark in the film industry. This movie won the Best Original Screenplay at the Academy Awards and the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 1994. Given the myriad honors bestowed upon his films by prominent award-giving bodies, Tarantino became the center of attention in the film circle ("Quentin Tarantino - The Film Maker," 2004). ... What creative elements does he employ in his film-making When asked about his core strength as a film-maker, Tarantino asserted that his expertise lies in his manner of story-telling. He attributed this strength from his intuitive understanding of what the audience desire (Suellentrop, 2003). Truly, the way he creatively makes the story unfold sets his films apart. His movies are renowned for their insightful dialogue, splintered chronology and pop culture obsessions ("Wikipedia," 2005). Apart from this, Tarantino also incorporated violence extensively in his films as one of the creative elements he employs. This element is clearly evident in his key films such as Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, and Kill Bill, where there are profuse blood spattered and flowing in various scenes ("Wikipedia," 2005). It should be highlighted though that what actually affects the audience is not directly the violence but rather the casualness by which the major characters go about the violent scenes. At times, this effect is achieved by applying morbid humor to such tension-filled and gritty scenes. In this regard, Tarantino is described as a master storyteller who has a weird and artistic manner of creating completely unnaturalistic dialogue in a way that appears casual and improvised ("Quentin Tarantino - The Film Maker," 2004). He often uses unconventional storytelling devices in his films, namely retrospective (Reservoir of Dogs), non-linear (Pulp Fiction) and chapter format (Kill Bill and Four Rooms). ("Wikipedia," 2005) In terms of cinematography, Tarantino popularized the trunk shot, which he employed in most of his movies. As such, this became his signature camera angle albeit this is not his original

Primary Source Anaylses Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Primary Source Anaylses - Research Paper Example Psychoanalysis is the field of psychology that is attributed to Sigmund Freud for its development. The basic concepts of psychoanalysis are centered around interpretation and observation, with the interpretation of dreams being one core principle of the methodology.2 In his work â€Å"The interpretation of dreams†, Freud relates the foundation of his principles and beliefs in the interpretation of dreams as they are a core factor in understanding the psychological behaviors and reactions of a patient. Written in the year 1900, the work is an example of the direction of psychology as it moved forward as a scientific pursuit. The concept of analyzing a patient to find causality was an important theory in moving the scientific research of psychology forward. Freud uses himself as an example in order to make his points about the importance of dreams. He uses the example of eating salty foods late at night in order to promote a thirst, which he says is always preceded by a dream of this type of content.3 Freud uses himself liberally throughout the work in order to establish this foundation. In order to define his concept of wish fulfillment and the function that dreams have in providing this revelation about the often hidden desires of a man or a woman, he suggests that fulfillment does not always suggest just something that is wanted, but that it might reflect fear, a reflex or even a reproduced memory.4 The intention of the work that Freud does in writing â€Å"The interpretation of dreams† is to create a field of psychological study that is centered on dreaming. He establishes dreams as valid objects of study rather than a presumption of either supernatural flight of the mind or of frivolous thoughts that might have preoccupied traditional thought before this time.5 The intention of Freud to relate his field of study to a defined psychology means of research is relevant to the

Lyrical Ballads and Hamlet Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Lyrical Ballads and Hamlet - Essay Example he genuineness of the actions taken by Gertrude as a female character, it is still evident that Shakespeare tries to create a realization of this character as a human being (Stephen 1). Therefore, this paper attempts to scrutinize the extent to which self-hood can be attained through the use of female characters as depicted by Shakespeare in Hamlet and The Female Vagrant by Wordsworth. The realization of the human nature in Gertrude is observed when she drinks the poisoned wine that was prepared by Claudius, her husband, for Hamlet. Looking at this incident critically, it is evident in Act 3 that Gertrude came to herself and felt the guilt behind all the evils she was doing. For instance, it is possible that Gertrude had an affair with Claudius even while she was still married to King Hamlet and probably this is why the marriage between her and Claudius worked out so fast after the King’s death. Moreover, it may still be possible that Gertrude participated actively in secrecy towards the murder of her husband since from the play; she does not seem to consider the claims of her son that his uncle murdered his father, the King of Denmark (Stephen 3). Some of the actions of Gertrude seem to be powered by her wish and ambition to retain her station in the palace and her status as the Queen of Denmark (Stephen 4). These are valid human ambitions, and every other human is bound to be filled with the desire to maintain a royal status. It is therefore not surprising that Gertrude would be willing to do everything to see to it that she retains her status as the Queen of Denmark. What makes this ambition all wrong is going to the extreme; being ready even to see her husband die and start having sex with another man even before long after her husbands death creates a lot of suspicions (Stephen 4). However, despite all the bad things that Claudius did, she finally admitted that she was wrong, although she did not use spoken language to regret her deeds, but her actions

Capital Punishment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

Capital Punishment - Essay Example Japan and the United States are some of the developed countries that are still practicing capital punishment. In Africa, Congo’s executions were rising at an alarming rate by 2003. There needs to be a change since capital punishment adversely affects the families of the victim. Capital punishment is reprisal through meting out a death sentence to the offender. In the criminal justice systems of many countries, it is lawful to inflict death to lawbreakers, depending on the weight of the crime. It is an act of ensuring that individuals suffer for engaging in activities that are against the law. In the criminal justice systems of many countries, it is lawful to inflict death to lawbreakers, depending on the weight of the crime. In the United States, death penalty is usually held in reserve for first-degree murder crimes which in most cases are associated with horrific circumstances such as bombing and killing a large number of people. It was mostly used in the ancient times, although many countries still use capital punishment (Steven 2007; Katrina and Steve 2008). In a broader perspective, it can be argued that capital punishment involves taking the life of another person. In doing so, it should not be forgotten that the victim has certain responsibilities t hat he/she leaves behind after an execution. The most important of all are the family members left behind. Frustration and grief overcome them with a number of suicide cases being reported after a death sentence. People have had different views concerning capital punishment, with some viewing it as a deterrent to crime, while others find no accomplishment in it. This paper is a critical investigation of capital punishment. The history of capital punishment has been discussed and its application in today’s society. Several states where it is applied on lawbreakers have been highlighted as well as how it is applied. The paper presents a discussion on the system of capital punishment, and its

Pride and Prejudice Essay Example for Free

Pride and Prejudice Essay When prejudice occurs, stereotyping and discrimination may also result. In many cases, prejudices are based upon stereotypes. A stereotype is a simplified assumption about a group based on prior assumptions. Stereotypes can be both positive (women are warm and nurturing) or negative (teenagers are lazy). Stereotypes can lead to faulty beliefs, but they can also result in both prejudice and discrimination. According to psychologist Gordon Allport, prejudice and stereo types emerge in part as a result of normal human thinking. In order to make sense of the world around us, it is important to sort information into mental categories. The human mind must think with the aid of categories, Allport explained. Once formed, categories are the basis for normal prejudgment. We cannot possibly avoid this process. Orderly living depends upon it. This process of categorization applies to the social world as well, as we sort people into mental groups based on factors such as age, sex and race. However, researchers have found that while when it comes to categorizing information about people, we tend to minimize the differences between people within groups and exaggerate the differences between groups. In one classic experiment, participants were asked to judge the height of people shown in photographs. People in the experiment were also told that: In this booklet, the men and women are actually of equal height. We have taken care to match the heights of the men and women pictured. That is, for every woman of a particular height, somewhere in the booklet there is also a man of that same height. Therefore, in order to make as accurate a height judgment as possible, try to judge each photograph as an individual case; do not rely on the persons sex. In addition to these instructions, a $50 cash prize was offered to whoever made the most accurate judgments of height. Despite this, participants consistently rated the men as being a few inches taller than the women. Because of their prejudgment that men are taller than women, the participants were unable to dismiss their existing categorical beliefs about men and women in order to judge the heights accurately. Researchers have also found that people tend to view members of outside groups as being more homogenous than members of their own group, a phenomenon referred to as the out-group homogeneity bias. This perception that all member of an out-group are alike holds true of all groups, whether based on race, nationality, religion, age or other naturally occurring group affiliation.

What Is Enterprise Application Integration Information Technology Essay

What Is Enterprise Application Integration Information Technology Essay We are living in a world of rapid technological change. Organizations are demanding more functionality from integrated applications; new computing techniques to reuse and repurpose legacy data, and quicker deployment of technology to suit rapidly changing structures and business focus. And some of these drivers actually contain contradictions which must be simpler, but it has to be compliant with a raft of complex requirements; organizations want it quickly. They want it designed to meet the future to be competitive in the market, but with taking into consideration valuable data that have been accumulated in the past. Some fundamentally new ways of thinking about technology are emerging to manage this complex set of requirements using existing technologies but putting them together quite differently. There is a high competition between organizations worldwide, technology and business process together must be integrated so as to compete in such a market. (Thomas Gulledge, 2006) This paper will discuss the difference between Enterprise Application Integration and Service Oriented Architecture. And will clarify many misconceptions between them. This paper is compromised of three main sections. The first section gives an overview of enterprise application integration. The second section gives an overview on service oriented architecture and web-services. Finally the last section discussing the relationship between enterprise application integration and service oriented architecture. Enterprise Application Integration (EAI): What is EAI? Supply chain management applications (for managing inventory and shipping), customer relationship management applications (for managing current and potential customers), business intelligence applications (for finding patterns from existing data from operations), and other types of applications (for managing data such as human resources data, health care, internal communications, etc) typically cannot communicate with one another in order to share data or business rules throughout a company. Enterprise application integration (EAI) is the process of linking such applications within a single organization together in order to simplify and automate business processes to the greatest extent possible, while at the same time avoiding having to make sweeping changes to the existing applications or data structures (Wilfried Limahieu, et al., 2003). Enterprise application integration (EAI) is defined by Linthicum (1999) EAI is the unrestricted sharing of data and business processes among any connected applications and data source in the enterprise, However researchers have different perspective on defining it as some suggested inter-organizational Application Integration as the highest level of EAI and others suggested it as a part of external and internal Application Integration, so It can be considered as two types intra and inter-organizational AI. It is considered as a framework that is formed of a collection of technologies and services forming a middleware allowing the integration of different systems across the enterprise such as legacy systems, enterprise resource planning systems, and best-of-breed business. It is considered as a business computing term for the plans, methods, and tools aimed at modernizing, consolidating, and coordinating the computer applications in an enterprise (Bouchaib Bahli and Fei Ji, 2007). It usually comes in the form of middleware connecting such kind of applications that are usually running on different systems and databases making a difficulty of communicating and sharing information within the enterprise. One large challenge of EAI is that the various systems that need to be linked together often reside on different operating systems, use different database solutions and different computer languages, and in some cases are legacy systems that are no longer supported by the vendor who originally created them (Mrinos Themistocleous, et al., 2001) EAI uses and purposes: EAI serves different purposes throughout an enterprise that allows organizations to be more flexible and responsive to market demands improving their efficiency, some of these uses are data integration, vendor independence and common facade. (Mrinos Themistocleous, et al., 2001) 2.2.1. Data integration: Data Integration is also well known as Enterprise Information Integration (EII) which is considered as the integration of information used for viewing all the data within the organization and representing them. Its goal is to get data from various data sources to appear to a system user as a single unified data source. It ensures that information in multiple systems is kept consistent. It works by providing homogenous data representations to a range of wide data sources, By providing a front end tool by which users can access data from many different databases, the software can greatly increase the efficiency of business processes that rely on these disparate databases. 2.2.2. Process Integration: Full benefit will be extracted from computer systems, only by making resources available to every single process and user within an enterprise. Unfortunately, the development of department specific systems has encouraged applications becoming more isolated and available only to a small portion of the enterprise; this kind of isolation is called islands of automation. EAI software offers the opportunity to make a connection and removing the gap between these applications. Whereas data integration standardizes data across an enterprise, process integration standardizes access to the technology and resources. It is finally considered as the linking of business processes across applications. 2.2.3 Vendor independence: As mentioned EAI software is designed for allowing integration of new applications. By extracting rules and business policies from current data and applications and implementing them in the EAI system, it becomes possible to apply these rules to new applications added in the future with little disruption, that even if one of the business applications is replaced with a different vendors application, the business rules do not have to be re-implemented. 2.2.4 Common facade: An EAI system offers a complete front-end solution, a front-end for a cluster of applications, providing a single consistent access interface to these applications. Single interface helps in reducing the complexity of many business processes throughout and enterprise, Moreover will remove the necessity of training users to operate a range of different applications, so a small basic training can be sufficient for allowing users to operate the EAI interface in a professional manner. Barriers to effective EAI and implementation pitfalls: EAI projects suffers from a nearly 70% of failure. These failures was not due to a software problem nor a technical one, however almost were due to management issues. According to EAI Industry Consortium workshop there are seven main pitfalls that were taken by companies using EAI systems explaining solutions to each problem.( Gian Trotta, ebizQ, 2003; Marinos Themistocleous, 2004) Change is constant: EAI require changes frequently in different components, spreading across value chains into companies as an integrated business process. Budgeting in the end of a particular project gets companies into trouble when service level and many requirements increase after deployment, thats the reason companies should create a post project investment that allows more than for basic maintenance. EAI skills are rare: The market suffers from a lack in persons that have skills considering EAI complex parallel processing and data combinations which can distract programmers and other staff who are used to a straight line approach. Moreover organizations that prefer the third party vendor route must be aware of its drawbacks. In addition, local language, Knowledge transfer and issue contingencies should be considered. Standards are never universal: Sometimes vendors deviate from inconsistent specifications and from different standards bodies such as those for Web services. On top of that, these standards bodies often have quite a heavy involvement from vendors, and vendors might be deciding to pursue their own agendas. Since standards cant guarantee interoperability, companies should budget for testing and validation, though relying on standards. Thinking of EAI as a tool as opposed to a system: Other critical organizational issue which was not realized till companies experienced it was a failure to realize that EAI can sometimes be difficult to control and sometimes affects other projects and service levels throughout and beyond the enterprise. It requires a set of tools and some procedures to deal with things such as security, capacity, change management and monitoring. Here comes roles and responsibilities, in which business analysts are responsible for defining the flows, IT people are the ones responsible for the actual execution and EAI administrators who interface with both business and IT staff, and finally Competence Centers are highly recommended. Treating interfaces as a science as opposed to an art: IT staff prefers solving problems using analytic solutions and inaccurate definitions to solve business unit requirements; however EAI is about linking those business components together while maintaining the value of business data. Thats the reason why building some kind of negotiation process that everybody agrees with would be a plus. That will help in resolving issues with the business departments. Without taking that into account time will be lost, deadlines will be exceeded and finally the service delivered will lack in quality considering business needs. Discarding details along the way: Within an organization as its EAI system expands, information that may seem unimportant today may become important. As an example operational requirements often differ beyond the project development stage. Keeping a record of definitions, structures, interfaces and flows, and gathering statistics would decrease lots of effort later on when it is needed. Companies must look at such kind of information at a much higher level, that one day they might need it. EAI implementation should be extensible and modular to be flexible for future changes. Unclear accountability and protectionism: Lots of companies suffers from unclear accountability as business driven integration has a need to cross corporate boundaries, engage partners, and even touch customers. As an example when there is a run time issue, it has to be addressed in some kind of coordinated fashion combining both business and IT skills. Moreover applications whose data is being integrated sometimes belong to different departments that have cultural, technical and political reasons for preventing their data to be shared with other departments. It makes it so difficult considering internal corporate politics which could take months trying to resolve simple questions like Where does the help desk report? Benefits and advantages of EAI: Imagine a company having many systems each serving a certain department and not connected nor integrated together, such a company will fall apart and will not be able to compete in the business any more as lack of communication leads to inefficiencies, EAI is the soluble glue needed for modular relationships that allow organizations to be flexible and responsive to market demands, thats the reason an integration is required (Thomas Pushmann and Rainer Alt, 2004). EAI benefits can be categorized into four groups operational, managerial, strategic, and technical. The operational benefit is that it increases productivity, improves planning in supply chain management and quick response to change. Shifting to the managerial benefit it results into more organized business process, increases the performance, improves data quality, and supports decision making. EAI strategic benefit would be that it increases collaboration between partners, achieves return on investment (ROI) and customer satisfaction. And finally the forth and last category which is the technical benefits in which it reduces the redundancy of tasks and data, having an integrated process, increases flexibility, and reduces development risks. It also allows organizations to do business more effectively. (Marinos Themistocleous, 2004) It allows diverse systems to connect with one another quickly to share data, communicate, and processes the information silos that plague many businesses. EAI solutions provide a way to connect the systems of collaborators, partners, and others for as long as necessary, decoupling when the relationship ends. EAI is the soluble glue for the modular corporation. It not only integrate various enterprise applications it also provides better customers and supplier services applications, and aid in promoting organizational goals. There are many cited advantages of implementing EAI, including an increased operational performance, a higher customer satisfaction. Moreover, EAI is not only about an ad hoc response to business needs, but also about gaining competitive advantage and strategic use of information technology (Themistocleous and Irani, 2002). Finally EAI is the unrestricted sharing of data and business processes throughout the networked applications or data sources in an organization. It provides real time information access among systems, helps raise organizational efficiency, and maintains information integrity across multiple systems. It is facilitates the integration problems that ERP systems failed to solve and facilitates market and economical growth.(Bouchaib Bahli and Fei Ji, 2007) Drawbacks and disadvantages of EAI: However, given all the benefits of EAI, many companies hesitate to adopt EAI technology. High initial development costs, especially for small and mid-sized businesses, require a fair amount of up front business design, which many managers are not able to envision or not willing to invest in. One drawback of EAI is that the various systems that need to be linked together often reside on different operating systems, use different database solutions and different computer languages, and sometimes there are legacy systems that are outdated and no longer supported by the vendor. In some cases, such systems are dubbed because they consist of components that have been jammed together in a way that makes it very hard to modify them in any way. In addition that EAI costs a lot, it introduces changes to organizations and the way of doing their business. Moreover it is more likely to be implemented in large organizations than in companies. Finally most EAI projects usually start off as point to point efforts, quickly becoming unmanageable as the number of applications increase. .(Marinos Themistocleous, 2004). Service Oriented Architecture (SOA): .What is SOA?: Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) can be decomposed as follows; an architecture style as a combination of distinctive features in which architecture is performed, supporting service orientation which is a way of thinking in terms of services and its outcomes. In which a service in SOA is a reusable component for using in a business process, it is a logical representation of a repeatable business activity that has a specified outcome and may be composed of other services. (Mark Colan, 2004; Barbara Reed, 2008) SOA is defined differently, however the Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (OASIS) an IT industry standards body defined as follows: A paradigm for organizing and utilizing distributed capabilities that may be under the control of different ownership domains. It provides a uniform means to offer, discover, interact with and use capabilities to produce desired effects consistent with measurable preconditions and expectations. Others defined SOA as An architectural design principle that describes a set of guidelines, principles and techniques by which business processes, information and technology assets can be effectively (re) organized and (re) deployed to support and enable strategic plans and productivity levels that are required by competitive business environments. (Rense M. Balk, 2006,2008). It is a set of design principles used during the phases of systems development and integration in computing. A system that is a SOA based will be integrated and can be used within multiple systems across many business domains. It is considered as a type of architecture that integrates different disparate applications for a web based environment using multiple implementation platforms. Service-orientation requires loose coupling of services with operating systems, and other technologies that underlie applications. SOA separates functions into distinct units, or services, which developers make accessible over a network in order to allow users to combine and reuse them in the production of applications. It is an architectural concept in which all functions, or services, are defined using a description language usually Extensible Markup Language (XML) and where their interfaces are discoverable over a network. The interface is defined in a neutral manner that is independent of the hardwa re platform, the operating system, and the programming language in which the service is implemented. These services communicate together using loose coupling without effecting other ones. (Jean-Louis Marà ©chaux,2006) Properties and principles of a Service Oriented Architecture: A Service Oriented Architecture is a style of architecture that embodies the following principles and elements: Services loose coupling: Services should be able to interact without the need for tight dependencies, in which a service requester should be loosely coupled to a service provider. This means that the service requester has no knowledge of the technical details of the providers implementation, such as the programming language and deployment platform. The service requester operates by sending a request message and a response one. The loose coupling allows the internal structure of requester or provider components to change, without impacting the other, provided that the message schema stays the same. (Sefan Linders, 2008; Mark Colan 2004; Rense M. Balk, 2006-2008) Services are autonomous: Services have control over the logic they encapsulate and do not depend on other services. Allowing the service to take care of its processing making it independent from other ones. Service autonomy is a primary consideration when deciding how application logic should be divided up into services (Rense M. Balk, 2006-2008; Sefan Linders, 2008) . Standardized and well-defined Service Contract: Services adhere to a communications agreement, as defined collectively by one or more service-description documents it provides information on the service end point, the operations of the service, and the messages supported by each operation. This information is needed for a service requester to connect to a service provider and invoke the service. A service should have a well-defined interface that is mentioned and described in a service contract or its service definition. (Sefan Linders, 2008; Rense M. Balk, 2006-2008) Services internal structure is hidden: The only part of a service that is visible to the users is what is only needed. The underlying logic of the service is invisible and irrelevant to service requesters. Components using the service should not know or care about the implementation logic of a service, but just want the expected result to be returned. (Sefan Linders, 2008) SOA Requirements: In order to efficiently use a Service Oriented Architecture and to overcome problems, the architecture must meet the following requirements: (Edward Tuggle, Jr.,et al ,2003) Analyzing and considering the existing assets. Some times the existing systems are totally neglected; however it still has a great value. Existing system must be integrated and taken into consideration, in which overtime they will be replaced Support all required types of integration including User Interaction providing a single and interactive user experience, Application Connectivity facilitating communications, Information Integration for sharing enterprise data, being able to add new applications and services, and Process Integration. Interoperability among different systems and programming languages that provides the basis for integration between applications on different platforms through a communication protocol. Allowing the implementation of new computing models such as Grid computing and on-demand computing. Allowing the migration of assets and incremental implementations for the production of incremental ROI. Lots of integration projects have failed due to cost and unmanageable implementation schedules. Include a development environment that will be built around a standard component framework, promote better reuse of modules and systems, allow legacy assets to be migrated to the framework, and allow for the timely implementation of new technologies. Understanding web services: A misconception is that web services is a synonym of SOA; however web services are based on open standards that are independent from any implementation platform, it is a set of technologies including The Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP), The Universal Description, Discovery, and Integration (UDDI) and Extensible Markup Language (XML) (Mark Colan, 2004). A suitable technology is needed for the implementation of a SOA that can support the principles of service-orientation and there is no technology has been more suitable and successful in implementing SOA than web services. Other technologies can be employed as well for implementing an SOA, All major vendor platforms currently support the creation of service-oriented solutions with the understanding that the SOA support provided is based on the use of web services. The web services framework consists of a collection of technologies that apply to the use of services. (A.D. Phippen, et al.,2004; Sefan Linders, 2008). SOA presents the big picture of what can be made with Web services. Web services specifications define the details needed to implement services and interact with them (Mark Colan, 2004) . In a web service approach, each SOA block can play one or both of two rules a service provider which creates a web service and possibly publishes its interface and access information to the service registry. Secondly a service consumer or web service client which locates entries in the broker registry using various find operations and then binds to the service provider in order to invoke one of its web services (Edward Tuggle, Jr. et al., 2003) SOA Benefits: A question may arise for the reason of using SOA? Some of the key benefits are as follows: 3.5.1. Reusability: The principles that were discussed drive the opportunities for reuse of services. As an example autonomy and loose coupling of services results in independency of services, this broadens the applicability of its reusable functionality; hiding underlying logic adapts reusability, because service requesters are presented a generic public interface; A well-defined service promotes reuse also, because it allows service requestors to search and discover reusable services .Service orientation promotes the design of reusable services; Creating a library of services that support reuse, provides increased opportunities for leveraging existing application logic. When new application logic is built, the time for designing, developing, testing, and deploying the application can be reduced when the required logic is available in existing services, enabling composition of services, rather than developing all application logic from scratch (Sefan Linders, 2008). Efficient integration: Using communication standards such as web services on the design of services it can result in the creation of solutions that consist of inherently interoperable services in which the functionality of services becomes independent of the implementation platform. Meaning that services can communicate using the same protocol even though it resides on different platforms. Theoretically, when all services are designed according to the same standards, an access to any service is applicable from a service requester from any device, using any operating system, in any programming language. When application logic is represented by standardized services, creating interaction between them requires less effort since the communication proceeds using the same protocol. SOA can therefore significantly reduce the efforts of application integration over other methods. The benefit of interoperability does not only apply to services that are built from scratch, but also applies to legacy systems (Apostol os Malatras, et al. 2008; Sefan Linders, 2008). Agility and adaptability: Agility of an organization is the speed to which an organization copes to changes in an environment. Through the opportunities for both reusability and integration, SOA can increase the ability of the organization to cope with changes. Agility of an organization depends in part on the agility of the application logic that supports the business processes of the organization. An IT environment that is standardized, interoperable and reusable services establishes a more adaptive organization, in which automation solutions can be delivered faster, with less effort involved (Sefan Linders, 2008). EAI and SOA Relationship: 4.1. Evolution or revolution: Some misbelieves is that EAI is a thing of past and SOA is the new thing that is replacing it, this is just like if a person says transportation is a thing of past now road is here. SOA is more like EAI than a lot of software vendors would have believe. In fact, in many vendors offerings, especially the ones labeled ESB (Enterprise Service Bus) have changed very little from their EAI roots. Simply adding web services support to a product that already supports multiple protocols is not a radical improvement. SOA most likely includes messaging particularly for legacy integration. EAI also implements loose coupling though message queues and or publish subscribe messaging (Greg Deller, 2008). Many of the best practices of EAI apply directly to SOA. EAI concept of interfaces is a message publisher and subscriber. There are four types of EAI where integration projects fall; information portals, data replication, shared business function and service-oriented architecture; in which when there are enough useful services available in a company, new applications can be built by reusing already existing services only (Robert Thullner, 2008; P. Joshi, H.Singh and A.D. Phippen 2004). Companies that were doing a good job with EAI will have an easier time with SOA. They have untangled the spaghetti bowl of interfaces and now service enabling them will be much simpler. Those who struggled or failed with EAI now have another chance with our newly relabeled technology. But simply slapping a web service in front of a tangle of interfaces and decades worth of dirty data will not realize the promise of SOA. There is still a lot of heavy lifting to do and a need for a well defined approach and a set of best practices. (Robert Thullner, 2008) A SOA web services and EAI: An assumption that web services are the tools for building EAI could be made.. Integration can be done with web services, but it is a very heavyweight approach. There are many standards that is developed which should build the fundament for a widespread acceptance and usage of web services. The standards are UDDI for the registry component, WSDL for describing interfaces of services, and SOAP protocol communication between services. Many other standards have been developed around these principles supporting web services growth, they are usually referred as WS- standards. A WS- standard could be messaging (SOAP, WS-Addressing), description and discovery (UDDI, WSDL), reliability (WSReliable Messaging), transactions (WS Coordination), security (WS-Security), business processes (BPEL) and management (WSManageability) . Those WS-* standards would cover all topics which are needed for an EAI solution, BPEL can be used to build business processes and for management of the EAI solution mana gement standards can be used. SOAP can be used for messaging and can be extended by WS-Reliably Messaging to ensure that a message gets delivered. Web services standards are all based on XML and when implementing an EAI solution a lot of XML configuration files have to be written to get a working solution. The three main standards SOAP, WSDL and UDDI have been accepted by all vendors. All other standards have been developed to solve a specific problem in the web services domain. As soon as standards are broadly accepted by all major vendors of EAI solutions the web service technology can be a reasonable and effective approach for EAI solutions (Greg Deller, 2008; Robert Thullner, 2008). Research Gap: While going through the literature there are to many limitations and gaps. This is mainly because researches do not focus on EAI and SOA, in which there are lots of misconceptions present due to the lack of research on them. Some of the limitations are that SOA is a confusing term to managers, because technologists do not share a common understanding of service-oriented concepts. If technologists present the concepts from different perspectives, then confusion persists. In fact, SOA is not well understood by managers, and the business benefits are even less understood. For that reason, companies are slowly investing in SOA mitigating risk through pilot projects and being very cautious. Moreover experience in SOA and EAI is rare and as a result the academic research on them. Moreover according to Sefan Linders (2008), none of the identified benefits of SOA were based on empirical findings. Conclusion: In this paper, we examined the difference between enterprise application integration and service oriented architecture. In the first section of the paper, Enterprise application integration is generally discussed with its benefits, drawbacks to an organization, and its barriers including the rare skills and thinking of EAI as a tool opposed to a system. In the second section service oriented architecture was examined discussing its principles and requirements for preventing future problems. Afterwards the concept of web services was explained followed by SOA benefits. Finally the relationship between both EAI and SOA was discussed explaining how can both work together.