Tuesday, November 26, 2019

Free Essays on Viola Pallens

Viola pallens â€Å"Northern White Violet† This beautiful flower is a member of the Plantae Kingdom. Its Subkingdom is Tracheobionta. Division: Magnoliophyta, Class: Magnoliopsida, Subclass: Dilleniidae, Order: Violales, Family: Violaceae, Genus: Viola, and species: pallens. Viola pallens, the Northern White Violet, is a North American native perennial herb. It is an autotroph with five white petals, the lower ones veined in a deep shade of purple. The fragrant petals are under one inch long are not radially symmetrical, therefore the flower is an irregular shape. The leaves are bluntly heart-shaped, alternate, basal, simple, and pinnate. The leaves and flowers are on separate stalks, and there is a wide indentation at the junction of the leaf blade and the leaf petiole. The plant is a dicotyledon with adventitious rhizomes that run across the ground forming a network of flowers. The seeds are explosively ejected from the (fruit) capsule and then further distributed by ants. Viola pallens also plays host to caterpillars who like to eat the leaves. The leaves and flowers of the Northern White Violet are edible for humans as well. In fact, they are delicious and healthy. They contain a significant amount of Vitamin C and A. The flowers (and leaves) can be made into jelly, put in salads, boiled (for cooked greens), or dried for use as tea, among other applications. Early European settlers used violets for medicinal purposes. The settlers made poultices out of the seeds and leaves and applied them to treat swelling and inflammation of the skin. The violets were also used as children’s laxatives. There is no reason why this therapy cannot still be applied today for the modern hiker or naturalist. The Viola pallens blooms in March, April, and May. It can be found throughout most of North America except for the south central and southwestern United States. Its habitat is in moist woods, thickets, wetland, ma... Free Essays on Viola Pallens Free Essays on Viola Pallens Viola pallens â€Å"Northern White Violet† This beautiful flower is a member of the Plantae Kingdom. Its Subkingdom is Tracheobionta. Division: Magnoliophyta, Class: Magnoliopsida, Subclass: Dilleniidae, Order: Violales, Family: Violaceae, Genus: Viola, and species: pallens. Viola pallens, the Northern White Violet, is a North American native perennial herb. It is an autotroph with five white petals, the lower ones veined in a deep shade of purple. The fragrant petals are under one inch long are not radially symmetrical, therefore the flower is an irregular shape. The leaves are bluntly heart-shaped, alternate, basal, simple, and pinnate. The leaves and flowers are on separate stalks, and there is a wide indentation at the junction of the leaf blade and the leaf petiole. The plant is a dicotyledon with adventitious rhizomes that run across the ground forming a network of flowers. The seeds are explosively ejected from the (fruit) capsule and then further distributed by ants. Viola pallens also plays host to caterpillars who like to eat the leaves. The leaves and flowers of the Northern White Violet are edible for humans as well. In fact, they are delicious and healthy. They contain a significant amount of Vitamin C and A. The flowers (and leaves) can be made into jelly, put in salads, boiled (for cooked greens), or dried for use as tea, among other applications. Early European settlers used violets for medicinal purposes. The settlers made poultices out of the seeds and leaves and applied them to treat swelling and inflammation of the skin. The violets were also used as children’s laxatives. There is no reason why this therapy cannot still be applied today for the modern hiker or naturalist. The Viola pallens blooms in March, April, and May. It can be found throughout most of North America except for the south central and southwestern United States. Its habitat is in moist woods, thickets, wetland, ma...

Friday, November 22, 2019

Four Ways to Find New Markets

Four Ways to Find New Markets Youve signed up for all possible newsletters that promise to  introduce you to the magazine of your dreams one that pays well,  publishes fast and edits nary a word. Whats more, youve actually  tried all the magazines touted Or perhaps youve exhausted your permissible quota of stories that can  be submitted to these dream magazines. (Two in a year. Yeah, right.  What are you supposed to do for the remaining ten months?) Or perhaps youve sold first rights and would now like to sell  reprints to other magazines to make a quick, painless buck. Whatever the reason, you need more wonderful magazines to submit  stories to. Only, where do you find them? With more than 5,500 markets in my personal database, Ive become  something of an expert in sniffing out potential venues for  publication. Want to know my secret? Actually there are four: 1. Peek into your own backyard. Has your work been published online? Web magazines often have a  section that hyperlinks to other similar e-zines. It goes 2. Take a helping hand from your competitors. Diligently read the

Thursday, November 21, 2019

References Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

References - Essay Example A reference can be the difference between getting a job, and being passed over for someone more qualified. One individual that was a reference for a sales candidate I had told me that the candidate was very meticulous and showed strong abilities in the laboratory. While this was great information, the same reference could have connected the candidate’s leadership, communication and organizational skills to the position to show how strong of a candidate the individual truly was. This would have made a world of difference! If you have applied for a position and given the employer your references’ information, call them and tell them that the employer may be calling for a reference. Explain to them the type of job that you are pursuing and what skills the employer is looking for from the potential candidate. It is usually best to ask the reference to contact you once they have spoken with the reference checker so that you know where you stand in the process and gain knowledge on what type of information the reference shared about you. When you contact the reference to prepare them, make sure that you take the time to remind the reference of your skills, background and what tasks you performed for the reference while you were with them. This information is not always readily available as people tend to forget. Keep in touch with the reference. If you have not spoken with the individual for quite some time, you cannot expect to receive the excellent recommendation that you are hoping for. Continue to build upon your strong relationship with that individual by staying in touch with them regularly. Usually, it is best to call or email your references every four or five months to check in on them and keep in touch. When you do make contact, ask the reference if there is anything that you are able to do for them as well. If you can help them, it increases

Tuesday, November 19, 2019

White on white and color in minimalism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

White on white and color in minimalism - Essay Example The essay "White on white and color in minimalism" analyzes the abstract art and compares white on white art and color art in minimalism. All artists concentrated on expressive art that showed emotion and universal themes. They were influenced by surrealism that changed into a new style that existed in the post-war era and mood of trauma, anxiety, fear and death. Abstract expressionism was not easy to define and understand. Some artists preferred to use action painting while others preferred American type painting. The artists who chose to express their artistic work through the movement showed their subconscious through their art and shared an interest in Jung’s ideas on myth memory and ritual. Minimal art developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s in the United States of America. Minimalist sculptures and paintings consist of geometric shapes and other simple forms that occur in a series of arranged unit. The movement was also called systematic painting, serial art or ABC p ainting. This movement grew in opposition of the earlier abstract expressionism movement. Minimal art movement was interested in logical systems and physical principles that occurred universally. They favored the straight and hard lines of design and rejected handcraftsmanship. White on white paintings or sculptures is objective and representational. They limit artists to develop things that exist in the real world situation. A viewer must be able to understand the piece of the work in the perspective of the artist. This piece of art does not allow artists to develop new things from their imagination that cannot be representative of the existence. In addition, the artists are limited to white color paintings and sculptures. They cannot use other colors except white colors when developing their work. The white color must be the background of any artwork. White on white paintings or sculptures represents the ultimate minimalism. It is neutral. In fact, it is not considered as a color. It is usually used in the background of the artwork. White on white paintings or sculptures signify and show purity, cleanliness and light (Foster, 2000, 45). White paintings are made up of white oil and exhaustic wax that softens its texture. White on white paintings has white encaustic burnt substance that contributes to the dimension of white on white painting in space. At the start of the white on white art, muted earth tones were incorporated into the white to come up with simple designs. The muted color was reduced later (Foster, 2000, 98). White paintings and sculpture present art in the simplest way possible by eliminating things that can complicate or add other dimensions on a piece of art. It brings art clearly from its background showing every detail. Minimalism is about creating clarity and avoiding ambiguity. White on white paintings and sculptures eliminate aspects of ambiguity in art works by putting the piece of art against a clear background that highlights each de tail that the artist wants to display. Tara Donovan is an American artist who was born in 1969 in new York. She has a Master of Fine Art degree in Sculpture (Lewis & Lewis, 2008, 62). She is an inventive sculptor who works elicit wonder and imagination using some of the common objects in everyday life. Her sculptural works show a transformation of ordinary materials shaped into intriguing and amazing physical and visual artworks.

Saturday, November 16, 2019

Tui Mod 6 Self Reflective Paper Essay Example for Free

Tui Mod 6 Self Reflective Paper Essay As I reflect back on the last two months I start to think of what I have learned while in OPM300, Introduction to Operations Management. In this essay I will discuss the following topics, what I learned the most in this class, something’s that I didn’t really catch on to and how I can improve. One important thing that I learned in this class is if you don’t have a good logistical support then your business can fail quickly. After spending numerous hours on research for Wal-Mart Stores I caught on to the fact that in order for that sore to be so successful the management has to know when to place its order for restock, stay on top of inventories and know when to get rid of a product that’s not selling. Without a good logistical support department Wal-Mart would surely fail. In Module 4 I didn’t not grasp the concepts you were describing on AON and AOA Network Conventions. I spent about an hour going through the slides and couldn’t grasp the process being displayed on the slides. Where these the answers to the previous slides concerning Pert and CPM? My research habits this past semester have been less than stellar. I would find my mouse clicking on topics that had nothing to do with what I was trying to research and instead of reading material on the topic that I was researching I found myself reading the news or sports. I am going to have to find a way to isolate myself and focus on the main topic and not get side tracked so easily. Over all I think that this was a great class. The material was all there and the Session Long Project helped me understand some of the Operational Management processes that happen inside a store that I would have never thought of before. References: 1. http://www.webhostingreport.com/learn/amazon.html 2. www.amazon.com

Thursday, November 14, 2019

Clearly state what constitutes performance indicators? Why do people :: Economics

Clearly state what constitutes performance indicators? Why do people want organisations to produce these? Suggest your own type of performance indicators that Could be used with a doctor's surgery (general practise). ACCOUNTING AND CONTROL IN ORGANISATIONS 2003 Q. a) Clearly state what constitutes performance indicators? b) Why do people want organisations to produce these? c) Suggest your own type of performance indicators that Could be used with a doctor's surgery (general practise). d) What problems might arise when you try to use the Performance indicators that you produced in part c). a) The purpose of performance indicators is to evaluate and monitor how well a system responsible for providing a service is performing; to report this information in quantitative terms; and to direct the system's efforts and resources towards desirable goals. The fundamental problem, however, with defining what such a set of performance indicators should be made of due to there sometimes being a lack of consensus on what are desirable goals and, therefore, a lack of definition of what constitutes good performance. Performance indicators can consequently be measuring very different aspects of performance, yet they are all generally concerned with measuring the success of a venture and the success of the people who are managing it. As performance indicators are concerned with the measurement of the success of an organisation, and its management, you need to look at what success is to see what constitutes one. The obvious answer is that success is earning a profit and that the greater the profit the larger the success. Profit as measured in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles is, however, a somewhat unsure gauge of success. This is because profits can be kept up for years while a business is being milked dry by cutting down on research, maintenance and certain kinds of advertising, or by realising assets which have been steadily appreciating in value. Alternatively profits can be kept down by stepping up these expenditures and by declining to realise assets which have appreciated in value. Furthermore, what does "the larger profit" actually mean. If it simply means the greatest number of absolute pounds, then there is the criticism that a manager who has access to unlimited capital, with either a free rate of interest or a very low rate, can probably increase the absolute profit he shows by pumping in more capital, so long as he can show any return at all on it. If, however, it is measured by the rate of return on capital employed then is a high rate of return on a small capital better or worse than a lower but still satisfactory return on a larger capital.

Tuesday, November 12, 2019

Customer Relationship Management and Flight Attendants

Essentials of MIS Additional Cases 1 BUSINESS PROBLEM-SOLVING CASE JetBlue Hits Turbulence In February 2000, JetBlue started flying daily to Fort Lauderdale, Florida and Buffalo, New York, promising top-notch customer service at budget prices. The airline featured new Airbus A320 planes with leather seats, each equipped with a personal TV screen, and average one-way fares of only $99 per passenger. JetBlue was able to provide this relatively luxurious flying experience by using information systems to automate key processes, such as ticket sales (online sales dominate) and baggage handling (electronic tags help track luggage).Jet Blue prided itself on its â€Å"paperless processes. † JetBlue’s investment in information technology enabled the airline to turn a profit by running its business at 70 percent of the cost of larger competitors. At the same time, JetBlue filled a higher percentage of its seats, employed non-union workers, and established enough good will to scor e an impressive customer retention rate of 50 percent. Initially, JetBlue flew only one type of plane from one vendor: the Airbus A320. This approach enabled the airline to standardize flight operations and maintenance procedures to a degree that resulted in considerable savings.CIO Jeff Cohen used the same simple-is-better strategy for JetBlue’s information systems. Cohen depended almost exclusively on Microsoft software products to design JetBlue’s extensive network of information systems. (JetBlue’s reservation system and systems for managing planes, crews, and scheduling are run by an outside contractor. ) Using a single vendor provided a technology framework in which Cohen could keep a small staff and favor in-house development of systems over outsourcing and relying on consultants. The benefit was stable and focused technology spending. JetBlue spent only 1. percent of its revenue on information technology, as opposed to the 5 percent spent by competitors. JetBlue’s technology strategy helped create a pleasing flying experience for passengers. As president and chief operating officer Dave Barger put it, â€Å"Some people say airlines are powered by fuel, but this airline is powered by its IT infrastructure. † JetBlue consistently found itself at the top of J. D. Power and Associates customer satisfaction surveys. JetBlue believed it had learned to work lean and smart. The big question was whether JetBlue would be able to maintain its strategy and its success as the airline grew.By the end of 2006, the company was operating 500 flights daily in 50 cities and had $2. 4 billion in annual revenue. Along the way, JetBlue committed to purchasing a new plane every five weeks through 2007, at a cost of $52 million each. Through all of this, JetBlue remained true to its formula for success and customers continued to return. February 14, 2007, was a wake-up call. A fierce ice storm struck the New York City area that day and set i n motion a string of events that threatened JetBlue’s sterling reputation and its stellar customer relationships.JetBlue made a fateful decision to maintain its schedule in the belief that the horrible weather would break. JetBlue typically avoided pre-canceling flights because passengers usually preferred to have a delayed arrival than to camp out at a terminal or check into a hotel. If the airline had guessed correctly, it would have kept its revenue streams intact and made the customers who were scheduled to fly that day very happy. Most other airlines began canceling flights early in the day, believing it was the prudent decision even though passengers would be inconvenienced and money would be lost.The other airlines were correct. Nine JetBlue planes left their gates at John F. Kennedy International Airport and were stranded on the tarmac for at least six hours. The planes were frozen in place or trapped by iced-over access roads, as was the equipment that would de-ice o r move the aircraft. Passengers were confined inside the planes for up to ten and one-half hours. Supplies of food and water on the planes ran low and toilets in the restrooms began to back up. JetBlue found itself in the middle of a massive dual crisis of customer and public relations.JetBlue waited too long to solicit help for the stranded passengers because the airline figured that the planes would be able to take off eventually. Meanwhile, the weather conditions and the delays or cancellations of other flights caused customers to flood JetBlue’s reservations system, which could not handle the onslaught. At the same time, many of the airline’s pilots and flight crews were also stranded and unable to get to locations where they could pick up the slack for crews that had just worked their maximum hours without rest, but did not actually go anywhere.Moreover, JetBlue did not have a system in place for the rested crews to call in and have their assignments rerouted. The glut of planes and displaced or tired crews forced JetBlue to cancel more flights the next day, a Thursday. And the cancellations continued daily for nearly a week, with the Presidents’ Day holiday week providing few opportunities for rebooking. On the sixth day, JetBlue cancelled 139 of 600 flights involving 11 other airports. 2 76 Part I: Information Systems in Hits Digital Age JetBlue the TurbulenceJetBlue’s eventual recovery was of little solace to passengers who were stranded at the airport for days and missed reservations for family vacations. Overall, more than 1,100 flights were cancelled, and JetBlue lost $30 million. The airline industry is marked by low profit margins and high fixed costs, which means that even short revenue droughts, such as a four-day shutdown, can have devastating consequences for a carrier’s financial stability. Throughout the debacle, JetBlue’s CEO David G. Neeleman was very visible and forthcoming with accountability and apologies.He was quoted many times, saying things such as, â€Å"We love our customers and we’re horrified by this. There’s going to be a lot of apologies. † Neeleman also admitted to the press that JetBlue’s management was not strong enough and its communications system was inadequate. The department responsible for allocating pilots and crews to flights was too small. Some flight attendants were unable to get in touch with anyone who could tell them what to do for three days. With the breakdown in communications, thousands of pilots sand flight attendants were out of position, and the staff could neither find them nor tell them where to go.JetBlue had grown too fast, and its low-cost IT infrastructure and systems could not keep up with the business. JetBlue was accustomed to saving money both from streamlined information systems and lean staffing. Under normal circumstances, the lean staff was sufficient to handle all operations, and the computer syste ms functioned well below their capacity. However, the ice storm exposed the fragility of the infrastructure as tasks such as rebooking passengers, handling baggage, and locating crew members became impossible. Although Neeleman asserted in a conference call hat JetBlue’s computer systems were not to blame for its meltdown, critics of the company pointed out that JetBlue lacked systems to keep track of off-duty flight crews and lost baggage. Its reservation system could not expand enough to meet the high customer call volume. Navitaire, headquartered in Minneapolis, hosts the reservation system for JetBlue as well as for a dozen other discount airlines. The Navitaire system was configured to accomodate up to 650 agents at one time, which was more than sufficient under normal circumstances.During the Valentine’s Day crisis, Navitaire was able to tweak the system to accomodate up to 950 agents simultaneously, but that was still not enough. Moreover, JetBlue could not find enough qualified employees to staff its phones. The company employs about 1,500 reservation agents who work primarily from their homes, linking to its Navitaire Open Skies reservation system using an Internet-based voice communications system. Many ticketholders were unable to determine the status of their flights because the phone lines were jammed.Some callers received a recording that directed them to JetBlue’s Web site. The Web site stopped responding because it could not handle the spike in visitors, leaving many passengers with no way of knowing whether they should make the trip to the airport. JetBlue lacked a computerized system for recording and tracking lost bags. It did have a system for storing information such as the number of bags checked in by a passenger and bag tag identification numbers. But the system could not record which bags had not been picked up or their location.There was no way for a JetBlue agent to use a computer to see if a lost bag for a partic ular passenger was among the heap of unclaimed bags at airports where JetBlue was stranded. In the past, JetBlue management did not feel there was a need for such a system because airport personnel were able to look up passenger records and figure out who owned leftover bags. When so many flights were canceled, the process became unmanageable. JetBlue uses several applications provided by outsourcing vendor Sabre Airline Solutions of Southlake, Texas to manage, schedule, and track planes and crews and to develop actual flight plans.Sabre’s FliteTrac application interfaces with the Navitaire reservation system to provide managers with information about flight status, fuel, passenger lists, and arrival times. Sabre’s CrewTrac application tracks crew assignments and provides pilots and flight attendants access to their schedules via a secure Web portal. JetBlue uses a Navitaire application called SkySolver to determine how to redeploy planes and crews to emerge from fligh t disruptions. However, JetBlue found out during the Valentine’s Day emergency that SkySolver was unable to transfer the information quickly to JetBlue’s Sabre applications.And even if these systems had worked properly together, JetBlue would have probably been unable to locate all of its flight crews to redirect them. It did not have a system to keep track of off-duty crew members. Overtaxed phone lines prevented crew members from calling into headquarters to give their locations and availability for work. JetBlue’s response to its humiliating experience was multifaceted. On the technology front, the airline deployed new software that sends recorded messages to pilots and flight attendants to inquire about their availability.When the employees return the calls, the information they supply is entered into a system that stores the data for access and analysis. From a staffing standpoint, Neeleman promised to train 100 employees from the airline’s corporate office to serve as backups for the departments that were stretched too thin by the effects of the storm. Chapter 2:of MIS AdditionalBusinesses Use Information Systems Essentials E-Business: How Cases 77 3 JetBlue attempted to address its customer relations and image problems by creating a customer bill of rights to enforce standards for customer treatment and airline behavior.JetBlue would be penalized when it failed to provide proper service, and customers who were subjected to poor service would be rewarded. JetBlue set the maximum time for holding passengers on a delayed plane at five hours. The company changed its operational philosophy to make more accomodation for inclement weather. An opportunity to test its changes arrived for JetBlue just one month after the incident that spurred the changes. Faced with another snow and ice storm in the northeast United States on March 16, 2007, JetBlue cancelled 215 flights, or about a third of its total daily slate.By canceling early, ma nagement hoped to ensure that its flight crews would be accessible and available when needed, and that airport gates would be kept clear in case flights that were already airborne had to return. In the wake of its winter struggles, JetBlue was left to hope that its customers would be forgiving and that its losses could be offset. Neeleman pointed out that only about 10,000 of JetBlue’s 30 million annual customers were inconvenienced by the airline’s weather-related breakdowns.On May 10, 2007, JetBlue’s Board of Directors removed Neeleman as CEO, placing him in the role of non-executive chairman. According to Liz Roche, managing partner at Customers Incorporated, a customer relationship management research and consulting firm, â€Å"JetBlue demonstrated that it’s an adolescent in the airline industry and that it has a lot of learning and growing up to do. † Sources: Doug Bartholomew and Mel Duvall, â€Å"What Really Happened at JetBlue,† Base line Magazine, April 1, 2007; â€Å"JetBlue Cancels Hundreds of Flights,† The Associated Press, accessed via www. nytimes. om, March 16, 2007; Susan Carey and Darren Everson, â€Å"Lessons on the Fly: JetBlue’s New Tactics,† The Wall Street Journal, February 27, 2007; Eric Chabrow, â€Å"JetBlue’s Management Meltdown,† CIO Insight, February 20, 2007; Jeff Bailey, â€Å"Chief ‘Mortified’ by JetBlue Crisis,† The New York Times, February 19, 2007 and â€Å"Long Delays Hurt Image of JetBlue,† The New York Times, February 17, 2007; Susan Carey and Paula Prada, â€Å"Course Change: Why JetBlue Shuffled Top Rank,† The Wall Street Journal, May 11, 2007; Coreen Bailor, JetBlue’s Service Flies South,† Customer Relationship Management, May 2007; Thomas Hoffman, â€Å"Out-of-the-Box Airline Carries Over Offbeat Approach to IT,† Computerworld, March 11, 2003; and Stephanie Overby, â€Å"JetBlue Skies Ahead, † CIO Magazine, July 1, 2002. Case Study Questions 1. What types of information systems and business functions are described in this case? 2. What is JetBlue’s business model? How do its information systems support this business model? 3.What was the problem experienced by JetBlue in this case? What people, organization, and technology factors were responsible for the problem? 4. Evaluate JetBlue’s response to the crisis. What solutions did the airline come up with? How were these solutions implemented? Do you think that JetBlue found the correct solutions and implemented them correctly? What other solutions can you think of that JetBlue hasn’t tried? 5. How well is JetBlue prepared for the future? Are the problems described in this case likely to be repeated? Which of JetBlue’s business processes are most vulnerable to breakdowns? How much will a customer bill of rights help?

Saturday, November 9, 2019

Asset Classes Paper Essay

The mutual fund chosen is Merrill Lynch Global and the Dow 30 organization chosen is McDonalds. The asset classes for both the mutual fund and Dow 30 organization will be determined. The following will explain how classifications and the current investment environment impact organizational decisions concerning the composition of these portfolios. _Merrill Lynch Global_ Merrill Lynch (2006). Merrill Lynch is a company that helps individual clients achieve financial success. With a professional advisor, customers can receive a customized strategy with the customer’s goals in mind. It makes available to its clients a wide range of investment products and services. When selecting the fund that best suits the clients need, some key factors to consider include a fund’s investment strategy, risk profile, investment performance, and relationship to the overall asset allocation strategy and investment time horizon. _Class A Shares_. Typically, the most preferred tier of classified stock, offering more voting rights than Class B shares. Class A shares are designed to insulate management from the short-term swings of Wall Street, by allowing those in management to control a small amount of the equity of the company but still maintain voting power. These types of shares are not sold to the public and cannot be traded, which supporters say allows management to focus on long-term goals. Class A shares’ annual operating expenses typically include an annual asset-based distribution and service fee of up to .35% (Mutual Funds. 2006). This annual fee is used to compensate the fund’s distributor and firms like Merrill Lynch for shareholder servicing  and distribution-related services. Class A shares are generally more economical for investors who seek to invest larger amounts and have a longer term time horizon. _Class B Shares_. Class B shares typically do not charge a front-end sales charge, so all of the assets are immediately invested in a fund. Class B shares usually impose a contingent deferred sales charge (CDSC) which may be charged to shareholders who redeem Class B shares within a certain number of years. This charge declines over time and is eventually limited. Class B shares are more economical for investors who have an intermediate to longer term time horizon and have less than $100,000 to invest in a fund family’s equity funds or less than $50,000 to invest in a fund family’s fixed income funds (Mutual Funds. 2006). _Class C Shares_. Class C shares usually do not impose a front end sales charge at the time of purchase. All of the client’s assets are immediately invested in the fund. It is common for Class C shares to impose a CDSC up to 1.00% of the redemption amount during the first year or longer (Mutual Funds 2006). Unlike Class B shares which convert to Class A shares after a period of time, C shares generally do not have a conversion feature. Compared to Class A and Class B shares, Class C shares generally become less economical for investors who plan to invest over a longer term. Merrill Lynch’s compensation differs by share class. The fund share class specific compensation is the basis upon which Merrill Lynch Financial Advisors are paid. Some funds may set higher sales charges and asset based fees for a particular class than do other funds for the same class. Merrill Lynch policy sets a limit as to the maximum sales charges or asset based fees included in the Financial Advisors’ compensation formula based on the share class and size of investment to minimize potential conflicts of interest based on differential compensations (Mutual Funds. 2006). Merrill Lynch is a diversified financial services company. It can be expected to pursue additional business opportunities with the firms whose mutual funds Merrill Lynch makes available to its customers. _McDonald’s (MCD)_ The Dow 30 organization chosen for this paper is McDonald’s. McDonald’s was founded in 1948 and is based in Oak Brook, Illinois. McDonald’s Corporation operates as a foodservice retailer worldwide. It operates and franchises McDonald’s restaurants, which offer various food items, and soft drinks and other beverages. As of July 14, 2006, it operated approximately 31,000 restaurants in 100 countries (Yahoo Finance). McDonald’s change in cash and cash equivalents is a difference of $2,718,200. In 2003, the cash and cash equivalents were at $162,400 and in 2005 the cash and cash equivalents were at 2,880600. The total cash flows from financing activities was (1,736,800) in 2003 and 361,600 in 2005. The cash flows grew substantially throughout the three years (Yahoo Finance). McDonald’s Income Statement shows a revenue of 21.23B, and quarterly revenue growth of 9.40%, a gross profit of 6.32B, a diluted EPS of 2.22 and quarterly earnings growth to be at 57.30%. The balance sheet’s total cash in 2005 is set at 3.29B. The net income for 2003 was $1,471,400 then greatly increasing in 2004 to 2,278,500 then increasing a little more to $2,602,200 in 2005 Yahoo Finance (2006). The stock price history for McDonald’s shows Beta, a measure of security’s or portfolio’s volatility or systematic risk, in comparison to the market as a whole, to be at .92. In my reading for this past couple of weeks, I have learned that many utilities stocks have a beta of less than 1. McDonald’s 52 week low on September 21, 2005 was set at $31.31 while its 52 week high on February 8, 2006 was set at 36.75 Yahoo Finance (2006). Overall, McDonald’s has been growing since 1948 at a great pace. McDonald’s second quarter operating results was fueled by strong sales and margin performance worldwide. McDonald’s EPS compared to competitors is much higher at 2.218 with Burger King at .235 and Wendy’s at 1.056 (Yahoo Finance. 2006). McDonald’s has done an excellent job with their employees, stocks, investments, an  d all aspects of the fast food organization. REFERENCES Mutual Funds Investing at Merrill Lynch (2006). Retrieved on August 12, 2006 from http://askmerrill.ml.com/publish/marketingcenters/products/MF_DisclosureDocument_0406.pdf . Merrill Lynch (2006). Achieve Life on Your Terms. Retrieved on August 13, 2006, from http://askmerrill.ml.com/fa_front/1,2280,,00.html?pg=cnp. Yahoo Finance (2006). Retrieved August 13, 2006, from http://finance.yahoo.com/q/ pr?s=mcd.

Thursday, November 7, 2019

How to Balance a Redox Reaction in a Basic Solution

How to Balance a Redox Reaction in a Basic Solution Redox reactions commonly take place in acidic solutions. The could just as easily take place in basic solutions. This example problem shows how to balance a redox reaction in a basic solution.Redox reactions are balanced in basic solutions using the same half. In summary: Identify the oxidation and reduction components of the reaction.Separate the reaction into the oxidation half-reaction and reduction half-reaction.Balance each half-reaction both atomically and electronically.Equalize the electron transfer between oxidation and reduction half-equations.Recombine the half-reactions to form the complete redox reaction. This will balance the reaction in an acidic solution, where there is an excess of H ions. In basic solutions, there is an excess of OH- ions. The balanced reaction needs to be modified to remove the H ions and include OH- ions. Problem: Balance the following reaction in a basic solution:Cu(s) HNO3(aq) → Cu2(aq) NO(g) Solution: Balance the equation using the half. This reaction is the same one used in the example  but was balanced in an acidic environment. The example showed the balanced equation in the acidic solution was:3 Cu 2 HNO3 6 H→ 3 Cu2 2 NO 4 H2OThere are six H ions to remove. This is accomplished by adding the same number of OH- ions to both sides of the equation. In this case, add 6 OH- to both sides. 3 Cu 2 HNO3 6 H 6 OH- → 3 Cu2 2 NO 4 H2O 6 OH-The H ions and OH- combine to form a water molecule (HOH or H2O). In this case, 6 H2O are formed on the reactant side.3 Cu 2 HNO3 6 H2O → 3 Cu2 2 NO 4 H2O 6 OH-Cancel out the extraneous water molecules on both sides of the reaction. In this case, remove 4 H2O from both sides.3 Cu 2 HNO3 2 H2O → 3 Cu2 2 NO 6 OH-The reaction is now balanced in a basic solution.

Tuesday, November 5, 2019

2016 MCAT Cost and Fees by Registration Zone

2016 MCAT Cost and Fees by Registration Zone Taking the MCAT is no easy feat, and paying for it isnt either, especially if youre a poor college kid working your way through undergrad. So, how much does this test cost? Good question. Heres the answer: Note: The MCAT fees below are only payable in U.S. dollars. The MCAT costs are divided into three zones: Gold, Silver, and Bronze. Read on for the benefits and costs of each. The Gold Zone If you take a peek at the MCAT registration dates, youll see that the Gold zone is the earliest zone in which to register, and registering early has its advantages! There is more flexibility for dates and locations, to begin with. And when you register in the Gold Zone, you can get a partial refund if you need to cancel for any reason. Plus, this zone offers the lowest MCAT fees all around. Registration Fee: $305Date and/or Test Center Reschedule Fee: $75 extraCancellation Refund $150International Fee: $95 extra The Silver Zone If you miss registering in the Gold zone, there are still benefits to getting in a little bit earlier. First, the registration fee does not increase at all. Plus, you can still reschedule your test date or test center if you need to. If you need to cancel, though, youre out of luck where your cash is concerned! Registration Fee: $305Date and/or Test Center Reschedule Fee: $135 extraNO Cancellation RefundInternational Fee: $95 extra The Bronze Zone If youre late registering for the MCAT, the good news is that you can still take it. The bad news is that youre going to have to pay a bit more for the test than if youd planned ahead. Registration Fee: $355NO Date and/or Test Center Reschedule OptionNO Cancellation RefundInternational Fee: $95 extra Affording MCAT Fees The AAMC does offer a fee assistance program (FAP) for students who just cant afford to pay the MCAT registration fees, but the benefits of the program vary according to which registration period you choose to use. Gold Zone FAP Program Registration Fee: $115Date and/or Test Center Reschedule Fee: $35 extraCancellation Refund $60International Fee: $95 extra Silver Zone FAP Program Registration Fee: $115Date and/or Test Center Reschedule Fee: $55 extraNO Cancellation RefundInternational Fee: $95 extra Bronze Zone FAP Program Registration Fee: $165NO Date and/or Test Center Reschedule OptionNO Cancellation RefundInternational Fee: $95 extra

Saturday, November 2, 2019

What is meant by the term sustainable development How has this concept Essay

What is meant by the term sustainable development How has this concept contributed to the amelioration of environmental degradation - Essay Example Generally speaking, human needs must be met and economic growth must be nurtured keeping intact the available natural resources and environmental integrity (Willers, 1994, p. 1147). Requirements of both ecological balance and economical development must be satisfied. These conditions would be lasting forever or for a very long period. Hierarchial management of sustainable development is necessary and it must be able to result in the essential performance of main requirements, satisfying the various interests. It is essential to overcome the environmental pollution and its effect in aggravating the ecological situation which is a global problem (Ougolnitsky, 2009, p. 428). The concept of hierarchial controlled dynamic management has the chances of providing better decisions. The three constituents of hierarchial management are the administrative, economic and psychological. Private interests of organizations, aiming at short term interests, collide with the objective strategies of the global system (Ougolnitsky, 2009, p. 429). . This contrast in ideas needs to be solved by the hierarchial management which had better be a two tier management. The individual interests should be coordinated into a common group of interests with common objectives. Different methods are employed in the management: compulsion, impulsion and conviction (Ougolnitsky, 2009, p. 431). Compulsion is when a participant is forced to undertake or accept a common interest or objective. Impulsion is when the participant is offered the opportunities or economically advantageous background to promote the common interests. Both levels have common interests and both are equally committed in conviction. Compulsion is an inefficient method to produce a combined effort. Voluntary cooperation is evident in conviction which is actually a psychological approach and the best in the sustainable development (Ougolnitsky, 2009, p. 432). The