Case Grading Rubric

MAN 3301 Human Resource Management Dr. Jerry Schoenfeld A Model For Analyzing Cases In Human Resource Management Purpose of Cases A case is a written description of events and activities that have taken place in an organization. Cases allow you to experience a different kind of learning – learning by doing. They are intended to give you an opportunity to actively experience the reality and complexity of the issues facing practicing mangers and human resource executives.While other disciplines like physical science allow you to test theories in a laboratory, performing a case analysis allows you to apply human resource management theories to specific organizational problems. Completing a case analysis will help you develop your analytical and problem-solving skills. Cases enable you to analyze organization problems and to generate solutions based on your understanding of theories and models of effective human resource management (HRM). Both a â€Å"decision-maker† and an â€Å"evaluator† approach are used in cases.In the decision-maker approach, the primary goal is to sort out information given and to propose a viable solution to the problems(s) identified. In the evaluator approach, the human resource management decisions have already been implemented, and the primary goal is to evaluate outcomes and consequences and to propose alternative solutions. For this case assignment you will be in the decision-maker role. Student Preparation of Written Cases There are any number of possible approaches to analyzing a case. The most important point to remember is that case analysis involves decision making.There is no absolutely right or wrong solution to a case problem. Your major task as a decision maker is to present a coherent and defensible analysis of the situation based on human resource management concepts and theories. Just as managers in the â€Å"real world† must persuade their colleagues and superiors that their proposals are sound , so must you persuade your fellow students and your instructor that your analysis of the case and proposed solution are the best. You should follow a few preliminary steps before preparing your written analysis. First, give the case a general reading to get an overall sense of the situation.Put it aside for a while, then read it a second time and make notes on the critical facts. Case facts provide information and data on attitudes and values, relative power and influence, the nature and quality of relationships, the organization’s objectives and human resource management policies/functions, and other pertinent aspects of the organization. Keep two key questions in mind as you review the facts of the case: First, are there discernible patterns in the facts? Second, what can be inferred about human resource management practices in this organization from the facts presented?You should attempt to classify, sort, and evaluate the information you have identified in this prelimina ry step. Once you have a clear understanding of the critical facts in the case, you can prepare your written analysis using the five-step model that follows. Written Case Analysis Model Please follow these five steps in your written case analysis. Please have a separate section heading for each of these five steps along with a brief introduction and conclusion. Your completed case should be no longer then 10 double-spaced pages using 12-point font. It should be well written and free of grammatical errors.Step 1. Problem Identification. The first step in your written analysis is to explicitly identify the major problem(s) in the case in one or two clear and precise sentences. For example, â€Å"The major problem in this case is a 15 percent increase in employee turnover compared to last year’s rate. † Herbert Simon, who received a Nobel Prize for his work on management decision-making, has defined a problem as â€Å"a deviation from a standard. † In other words, one way to identify a problem is to compare some desired state or objective with the actual situation. A problem or series of problems may revent the organization from reaching its objectives or goals. A key point here is that in order to define a problem, there must be some type of standard for comparison. Possible standards include the organization’s stated objectives or goals, objectives or goals of competing organizations, or standards based on normative prescriptions from human resource management theory. Note: While you may be able to identify more then one problem in the assigned case. State clearly what is the main problem and complete subsequent steps in relation to this problem. Step 2. Identify the Causes of the Problem.Before proposing alternative solutions, the decision maker must have a clear understanding of the underlying causes of the problem. HRM problems are usually embedded in a larger context. This means the decision maker must examine internal and extern al environmental factors over time to isolate causal factors. Causes of problems tend to be historical in nature. To formulate a solid understanding of the specific causes, you should search for root causes and use relevant course concepts and theories to better define them. The â€Å"question syndrome† approach may be beneficial here: Why did the problem occur? When did it begin?Where does it occur? Where doesn’t it occur? What effective HRM practices should the organization be using? What has the organization failed to do? What are the antecedents of the problem? Posing these questions will help you to probe beyond the symptoms to the root cause of the problem. The process of identifying the cause of a problem is very much like hypothesis testing. You should set forth possible causes and then test them against the facts in the case. In writing this section, it is important to present a plausible discussion of the causes so as to convince the reader that your analysis is correct. Step 3. Alternative Solutions.This step involves developing alternative solutions and evaluating their contributions to resolving the problem(s) identified. Proposed alternatives should be consistent with the problems(s) and cause(s) identified. You should develop at least three possible alternatives in addition to those offered within the case. You may propose more than three. List each of your alternatives and the advantages and disadvantages associated with each. Keep the following criteria in mind as you evaluate your alternatives: time constraints, feasibility, cost, contribution to meeting the organization’s objectives, and possible negative side effects.Developing a list of good alternatives involves creativity and avoiding preconceived attitudes and assumptions. It may be useful to brainstorm possible solutions before weighing their advantages and disadvantages. Note: Your alternatives should cover the entire domain of human resource management functional activities. However, it is important that you do not combine various activities into one alternative. For example, you should recommend that the hospital pay more, offer more benefits, overhaul their selection process, and provide more training all within one alternative.Step 4. Select the Best Alternative. Indicate the one alternative you have chosen that â€Å"best† solves the problem. It is important here to justify why you chose a particular solution and why it will best resolve the problem(s). Again, I recognize that doing more then one alternative would be better. But if you have to choose just one alternative (and you must choose just one), which one offers the greatest potential benefits toward addressing the problem(s). Step 5. Implementation Steps. Now that you have a solution, you must develop appropriate action plans to implement it.In this section of your written analysis, you want to specify, as much as possible, what should be done, by whom, when, where, and i n what sequence. For example: Who should implement the decision? To whom should it be communicated? What actions need to be taken now? What actions need to be taken later? If you recommend that the organization revise its performance appraisal process, give as much detail as possible on the content of the revisions. Finally, in this section you should also indicate follow-up procedures to monitor the implementation of your solution to ensure that the intended actions are taken and that the roblem is corrected. While these steps have been presented in linear fashion, case analysis does not involve linear thinking. You will probably find yourself thinking about all of the parts of the analysis simultaneously. This is perfectly normal and underscores the complexity of decision-making. To present a clear written analysis, however, it is important to write up your report in the analytical form just described. As you gain experience with the case method, you will end the course with a bet ter understanding of both your problem-solving ability and effective human resource management practices.Pitfalls in Analysis Amateurs at case analysis often encounter the pitfall of jumping to a conclusion, which in effect bypasses analysis. For example, a student may readily observe some overt behavior, quickly identify it as objectionable and, therefore, assume it is a basic problem. Later, with some dismay, the student may discover that the prescribed action had no effect on the â€Å"problem† and that the objectionable behavior was only a symptom and not the actual problem.Another common mistake is for students to reject a case because they think there is insufficient information. All desirable or useful information is seldom available for analyzing and resolving actual problems in real organizations. Consequently, managers must do the best they can with the information available to them. Furthermore, the main issue in solving the problems of many organizations is to det ermine what additional and relevant information is available or can be obtained before adequate analysis can be made and appropriate action taken.If additional information is available, the manager must decide whether it is worth getting, whether it is meaningful and relevant, and whether it can be secured in time to be useful. Thus, an apparent lack of information in cases is actually a reflection of the reality that students must learn to accept and overcome. Students occasionally search for the â€Å"right† answer or solutions to cases and sometimes they ask their instructor what actually happened in a case. Although some answers or solutions are better than others, there are no â€Å"right† answers or solutions.What actually happened in a case is usually irrelevant – the focus of case study should be on the process of analysis, the diagnosis of problems, and the prescription of remedial action rather than on the discovery of answers or end results. Many of t he cases were in the process of being studied and resolved at the time the pieces were written. Consequently, the real life outcomes are not always available. Although some of the cases do include what happened, no case is intended to illustrate either right or wrong, effective or ineffective solutions to human resource management problems.

Creative Writing “Into the Darkness” Essay

It had just turned night when Victoria heard the thunder roll in, and the lightening strike against the ground. This worried her for she was afraid of losing power. As the night grew on the storm worsened. Making sure she wasn’t forgetting her laptop, Victoria made her way upstairs to the comforts of her bedroom. She decided this would be the perfect opportunity to take advantage of her time and watch the latest shows Netflix had to offer. Settling into her bed with her laptop in hand Victoria reached over to plug her charger in. Just as she did so, the power went out. Startled by the sudden darkness, she reached under her bed for her flashlight. Grasping her flashlight tightly, Victoria headed back downstairs to see what may have caused the power to go out. As Victoria went downstairs she noticed her porch door was ajar. Cautiously she approached the door and peered outside to see who or what may have opened the door. Nothing seemed to be around. Certain that the storm had simply blown out the power, Victoria poured herself a glass of hot chocolate and returned upstairs. Something seemed different to Victoria, but she was unsure of what exactly. Much to her dismay her beloved laptop was missing. Appalled by this discovery, Victoria quickly became worried that someone may be in the house with her. Using her survival instincts she quickly grabbed the flashlight and headed out into the hallway, if someone was in the house with her laptop, Victoria was determined to catch them and get her laptop back. Shaky and nervous she slowly peered out into the hallway, no one was to be found. Once at the stairs she swiftly tumbled down them, only missing a few steps at the bottom, but redeeming herself with style. The power had yet to return, and the only thing Victoria had with her was a flashlight. Determined she would catch the culprit and get her laptop back, she sprang across the room and swung the bathroom door open. Still she found no one. Next she opened the closet, then her office, and finally the last room she had left to check was the basement. Victoria clenched onto the flashlight and slowly turned the nob and entered the dark stairwell leading to the basement. Taking each step one at a time, until she got to the final one. When she glanced around the corner Victoria could see someone standing there. She couldn’t make out the face for it was too dark, and her flashlight was dimming by the second. Victoria slowly inched towards the dark figure, getting closer and closer, until finally she was close enough. Just as she reached out to grab onto the dark figure, she dropped the flashlight. All hopes of seeing who they were went away as soon as Victoria’s flashlight hit the floor. The dark figure quickly turned around tightly grasping the laptop. Victoria got struck in the face by her own laptop, and was knocked onto the ground. When she awoke the power had returned, and the storm had stopped. As Victoria got up off the floors she quickly glanced to around to see if anyone was around. There was nobody to be found, and her laptop was gone.

Sales Letter Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Sales Letter - Assignment Example The manufacturer will have to adjust to new consumer needs because of new interactive market place conditions. This depends upon where and how the company markets its products or services. In addition, when it comes to marketing or promoting a service or product, one sixe does not fit it all. I will introduce a new sales technique to the company in order to attract more customers. In addition, it will be my responsibility as a salesperson to ensure that the sales department is working in line with the company objectives. In order to increase sale of goods, I will do the following as a salesperson; ii. The sales department can use just in time method of supplying goods as this ensures that goods are delivered on time to avoid inconveniences in the production process. This type of system ensures that the delivery trucks are operating on a scheduled time plan and that they deliver goods at the stipulated time. iv. Just in time, technique is efficient because it does not need too much supervision in order to accomplish. This is because the truck drivers follow the schedules, which means there is no need to supervise their work. I am writing to you this letter because I believe I have all the necessary qualifications, experience and qualities that would help your company prosper. In addition, I know your are targeting customers from Asian countries especially India. I have worked as a salesperson for renowned companies such as BMW in India. This means I clearly understand Indian perceptions and behaviors towards a new product. Therefore, as explained above, I will ensure that you will not regret choosing me as your salesperson because your product will receive a positive reception in new market. I m looking forward to your positive

Economic growth of Japan after 1945 Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Economic growth of Japan after 1945 - Term Paper Example The net national savings (NNS) of an economy is calculated from the difference between its gross national savings (GNS) and the rate of depreciation of the capital stock of the economy (Depr). NNS= GNS – Depr. Figure 2: Falling Savings in Japan over Time (Source: â€Å"World Bank†) In the above line diagram, the pink line clearly shows the fall in the net national savings rate in Japan over time. The real interest rate is the rate of interest which is experienced by an investor in the market after compensating for the loss from inflation. The real interest rate (R) is calculated on the basis of the Fischer’s Equation. This equation explains that real interest rate is the simple difference between the nominal interest rate (N) and the inflation rate in an economy (I). R= N – I. The inflation rate for an economy is again calculated from the consumer price index (CPI) of a country. CPI is the simple average of a particular basket of goods and services produce d in nation. I = [CPI(this year) – CPI(last year)] / CPI(last year) (Baumol and Blinder 77). Figure 3: Real Interest Rates of Japan over Time (Source: â€Å"World Bank†) The above graph explains the real interest rate in Japan over the years. The entire quantitative data for the purpose of the research in this paper is taken on annual basis. The data table for the above line graph is given in Table 1 in the Appendix. Solow Model Analysis The Solow Model of growth is based on the concept of long run economic progress within the framework of neo-classical growth model. The neo-classical concept of growth states that a country can grow rapidly over time with the help of capital accumulation, population growth, technological progress and productivity. Figure 4: The Solow Model... According to the view of the neoclassical economists, the technological progress seen in the economy of Japan should have facilitated the growth of its national product. Moreover, the technological progress in the country should have reduced the use of labor in its economy. However, this is not the real scenario in Japans economy. The service sector income of the country contributes to the majority of its national income. In the last few years, Japan also had to face a severe decline in its national income, net domestic savings and real interest rates. This is because, in the real world, the idealistic view of endogenous growth does not exist. The crises of credit and fluid capital in the market have reduced the level of national income in the economy of Japan (Paul 47). The fall in the level of production capabilities has forced to reduce the national income of most of the countries (like Japan) in the world after the global recession. The decline in the national income has, therefo re, resulted in a fall of the per capita income level of the country. The fall in the income level is in turn responsible for the decline in the net domestic savings in Japan (Mankiw and Taylor 132). As the gross amount of savings in Japan has fallen over time, the number of investment opportunities in the country has also declined. After the emergence of globalization and liberalization in the world economy, the prices of most of the goods and services in the market are determined by the free market forces of demand and supply.

Krugman gives cautionary advice against the goverment policies warning Essay

Krugman gives cautionary advice against the goverment policies warning if there is no change the american drean will perish - Essay Example The constant fear of war and the possession of people and their believe in themselves found the claims leveled on the country of how it reflected the presence of the works. In the claims, the leftist holds information that if not dispensed would look at it as social problem. The principles of hard work define the principle. The inclination of her job with her life and the understanding of the America that was compared with the America that has become. A reduction in social mobility provides better grounds for us to make a move as accompany to consider the employees that it wants to help it achieve the objectives. A research activity aimed at finding out the reasons and the effects that the authorities will face for the elimination of each person involved and the inclusion of some people at the American Dream. The details of these all clearly follow in the summary below: â€Å"Our political leaders are doing everything they can try to fortify class inequality while denouncing anyone who complains or even points out what is happening as a practitioner am mature in relations and we should see his face†(Krugman, p1). The actions of our leaders have for years aimed at serving the interests of the people that fund their political ambitions. The funding is provided with strings attached relationships that many have suffered. The inclusion of many people in the gap for checking the inequality gap proves the point. The fact that a large number of people still lie un aided throughout these tough times makes the American Dream an image that the writer or the country cannot find easy to put across to its citizens that have sacrificed for years to work hard to keep the American Dream. The thoughts of an unachieved dream make each person reason towards the elimination of the dream or the elimination of some people from the pathway. That way the dream remains on truck and easy to manage. Aspects of income distribution all brought to thought after the

Business research Skills Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Business research Skills - Essay Example The study revealed that the general confidence of students increases from first year to third year. Introduction In today’s society, education has a vital role to play in political, economic, cultural, social as well as intellectual life. It has the ability to increase the quality of life for individuals. Tertiary education, also referred to as third level education is particularly essential in improving individuals’ lifestyle. In addition, third level education can help individual secure exciting job opportunities. It represents a crucial transition for students as they join from secondary school and most of them will go out to the job market upon completion. It is a transition from school life to employment. When students join college or universities from secondary school, they are always looking naive and they do not know what to expect at the tertiary level. They do not have any research skills or they have too little if any. For most of the students, it is a dream come true when they join universities and college but their confidence is usually very low (Shapiro, 2009). In fact, some do not have any confidence at all. Studies have indicated that most students who have dropped their studies at the tertiary level always drop while in their first year. There are a number of reasons that can result to the dropouts. One of the reasons is their lack of confidence. Higher education is a complete new experience for them (Burton & Schofield, 2011). For any individual, new experience always have a strong impact and is usually essential determinant of their progress to the next level. First year is a challenging year for many students. It is viewed as a make or break year to them. Students who progress past first year have a higher chance of completing their studies since their confidence builds up as they advance towards the third year. Epistemology This term generally means knowledge. In philosophy, it refers to the scope of knowledge as well as the n ature of knowledge (Rescher, 2003). It addresses the ways in which knowledge is acquired. In addition, it gives a distinction between true knowledge and untrue knowledge. Education is all about acquiring knowledge. When a student joins college or university, their main objective is to extend their knowledge so that they can be ready for the job market. Lack of knowledge keeps their confidence at a low level. However, as they acquire knowledge across their 3 years in the university, their confidence increases and they can be ready to work on their own. Their epistemology increases and their confidence also increase in the process. Ontology Ontology refers to the study of the nature of reality or existence. It attempts to explain the entities that exist, how they exist and why they exist (Adelsberger, 2008). This term is usually confused with epistemology. However, it can be used in the context of knowledge sharing where it means specification of a conceptualization. It describes conc epts as well as relationships that might exist for a given agent. Ontologies in technology are domains that can be understood by computers and can be used in research. They assist in sharing information within education systems and they also personalized student support. Therefore, ontologies can be effective in improving the students’

Reseach methods Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Reseach methods - Essay Example Multiple form reliability refers to the application of equivalent forms of measure and correlation. This measurement tool is similar to test-retest reliability, but in this, subjects are given both forms of measure concurrently. Split half reliability reflects the correlation between the two halves in a set of items but the coefficient varies, depending on how the scale is split. Sometimes when more than one scale, dimension or factor is evaluated then split half reliability is used to check the consistency (Sekaran, 2006). Ans. Crime seriousness scales are the severity scales that judges the seriousness of the crime on the basis of weights assigned to them. There are two types of crime seriousness scales, simple rating scales and magnitude scales. Simple rating scales determine the rate of the crime on the basis of scales ranging from 1(not serious) to 9 (extremely serious). But this rating scale is unable to determine the magnitude difference between the scale scores. While magnitude scale measures the degree of seriousness of various crimes by public ranking. Selling-wolf gang index and national survey of crime severity are the two examples of magnitude scales in crime seriousness. Both these crime seriousness scales are used in criminal justice research to determine and analyze the seriousness of the crime. Crime seriousness scales not only judges the crime level but it also helps in controlling (Wilmot, 2002). Ans. Least square regression line is known as the best fitted line, least square line, regression line and least square prediction equation. It represents a mathematical model for a group of data. Generally, linear regression consists of finding the best-fitted line through the points in the scatter diagram. This line identifies the relationship between a single predictor variable X and the response variable Y, while the other predictor variables are held fixed. This

Business Negotiation Learning Report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Business Negotiation Learning Report - Essay Example In such a situation, negotiation is required. The negotiator must be careful in how he develops his arguments for reducing the level of damages and the length of the defects period; otherwise he will lay himself open to the argument from the buyer that the contractor has no confidence either in his or her ability to complete on time or in the quality of his product. A proper preparation is the most imperative prerequisite to successful negotiation. Neither the negotiator’s expertise nor persuasion can make up for the dearth of preparation. An adequate preparation will provide me with an opportunity to clarify the delegation’s objectives, and acquaint the delegates with the primary issues and the parties engrossed. Adequate preparation is a step close to attaining success (Garrett, 2005, p. 32). In designing the plan, I will consider the issues at hand which are the contractor’s reputation, other completed contracts by the contractor and the damages that the owner of the building will incur after breach of contract. In addition, I will also consider each party’s interests in light of the delegation’s objectives. I will ensure that I have the required information to facilitate the negotiation since information is power (Garrett, 2005, p. 41). ... In preparing for the negotiation, I will ensure that I do not confuse my perceptions with veracity. I will be ready to examine each and every situation in the contract and consider both sides of the negotiation. In preparing for the negotiation, identification of the structure of the negotiation is vital. The structure includes setting the appropriate sequence, time and venue for the negotiation. After identification of the issues at hand in the negotiation, I will come up with a clearly written and delineated path and strategies on how to achieve the desired results. In order to address the issues effectively, I will carefully plan the order by which I will address these issues. I will either start with the least important to the most salient or start with the most significant then finish with the least important. Finally, I would decide on the responsibilities of each team member in the negotiation and consider any other relevant information that could be helpful (Garrett, 2005, p. 45). In this contract negotiation, evaluating the potential risks and liabilities is the best strategy. Such a strategy allows me to think and imagine of the potentiality for something going wrong and the unforeseen costs and expense one party will incur if the contract is breached. Such a strategy will allow me to consider the possibility of a breach and the liabilities. Every negotiator has to consider the best and the worst outcomes before the negotiation process commences. As a negotiator, I will evaluate the possibility of favorable and unfavorable outcomes. Trust, power and persuasion play a significant role in negotiations. A high degree of trust with the parties will lead to an effective negotiation in the contract

Developing business Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words - 1

Developing business - Essay Example be specific considering the underlying report discusses the growing dimensions with respect to different in sustainability in social and environmental factors as well as financial sustainability that is interpreted as going concern for business. In addition, the ways to reconcile the difference between two concepts, obstacles and future implications with respect to the operation and reporting are discussed. In due course, different conceptual aspect is noted and discussed with examples. Finally, the recommendation based conclusion is proposed to adapt the real sustainability imperative that brings financial, social and environmental aspects all on a single page. The raising concerns related to the adverse impacts that businesses are creating on society traces its history in the 1700. The concerns arose as a result of growing child labor and working conditions in factories and mines in UK. However, it was late in 1970s when the voice gained momentum and finally with the turn of the century, the concept is now set as among the priority concerns of the business (Honeyman, 2007 and Ceres, n.d.). The overall evolution of sustainability has grown from rejection for the concept of the transformation of business as shown waves of sustainability as follows: According to the definition put forward by United Nation’s Global Compact, a sustainability is an imperative for the for success in the long-term with the assurance that the business also delivers value all across the society (UN Global Pact, n.d.). However, the concept of value varies. For example, Golub, et al. (2000) discussed the value delivery to customers while Hartlen (2014) clearly states that the definition of value varies from the interest of one stakeholder to another. Hence, for providing the direction for value to the business, UN Global impact has identified five dimension of delivering value to the society. The five dimensions are depicted in the image below: All these collectively result in the

Method of data analysis Essay Example for Free

Method of data analysis Essay Thematic analysis was used to make meaningful deductions from the documented raw data. In thematic analysis, a concept is chosen for examination, and the analysis involves noting the frequency of its presence in the whole interview, and finding interrelations among the themes identified. The focus is at the occurrence of selected terms within a text or texts, although the terms may be implicit as well as explicit. While explicit terms obviously are easy to identify, coding for implicit terms and deciding their level of implication is complicated by the need to base judgments on a somewhat subjective system (Patton 2002). Simply put, the researcher read the documented surveys, and analyzed the inter-linkages of these responses. When responses are not explicit, inter-judge validation was used, with another researcher agreeing on the category under which the response may be grouped. The meaning and interpretation of each response was noted, and related to the organization’s overall profile. In this sense and taken as a holistic approach, the data from the chosen institution may be considered as a case study. Methodological Limitations The study also has methodological limitations. First, it did not make use of any other quantitative measure to study the phenomenon apart from qualitative procedure of thematic analysis (Patton 2002). Second, there was only one participant institution, Elfed and its responses may not be reflective of the population it represents (Zikmund 1997). It may be worth noting that the goal of the study is to generalize about the phenomenon across schools; thus, the use of participants from a cross-section of different learning institutions. Third, there were some time constraints on the part of both interviewer and interviewees, which may be a factor in the length of their responses or the duration of the interview. Had there been more time, more probing questions and more data may have been gathered. Moreover, since the study has been limited to an UK-based school, its conclusions may not be able to create a comprehensive generalization to other countries or regions. This is especially true when cultural and economic factors are taken into consideration. Biases in the responses may have occurred since the only source of primary data is the knowledge and perception of the interviewee. The respondent may not be so honest with their answers and express only what is socially desirable, especially because they were ‘carrying’ the name of their school. Logically, they would not want to put the school in a bad light. In addition, since the interviews were conducted at the place of work, the respondents may not be at ease in answering the questions. In effect, their responses may not be as candid or as honest (Denzin Lincoln 2000). Results and Discussion For this part of the study, the results gathered from both the interview and the focus group discussions will be presented in this part of the study. In addition to this, the results will be evaluated and examined with the literature presented in the review of related literature to gather any existing relationships or occurrences within the data gathered. For the first part of this section, the results of the focus group discussion will be presented and will be discussed.

The nyquist theorem is one of the deciding factor in data communication.

The nyquist theorem is one of the deciding factor in data communication. PART A Q1. The Nyquist theorem is one of the deciding factor in data communication. The fibre optics as well as the copper wires are communication mediums. Do you think the theorem is valid for the fiber optics or for the copper wires. Ans. Nyquist theorem is valid for both fibre optics and copper wires this is because the Niquist theorem is purely depend upon the mathematic function and has not any concern with the transmission media for communication. According to Henry Nyquist, a perfect channel has a finite transmission capacity. He derived an equation expressing the maximum data rate for a finite bandwidth noiseless channel. Nyquist said that if an arbitrary signal has been run through a low-pass filter of bandwidth B, the filtered signal can be completely reconstructed by making only 2Bsamples per second. Sampling the line faster than 2B times per second is pointless because the higher frequency components that such sampling could recover have already been filtered out. If the signal consists of L discrete levels, Nyquists theorem states: Maximum bit rate =2* Bandwidth log2 L. For noisy channel: Capacity = bandwidth * log2 (1+SNR), where SNR is signal to noise ratio. Q2. Noise affects all the signals which are there in air. There are some communicating modulation techniques. Noise affects which of the modulation technique the most. Ans. Noise is defined as the disturbance in the signal. When data is send over the network in the form of signal, due the various natural or unnatural circumstances produce disturbance in the signals which is called noise. The noise is various kinds such as thermal noise, crosstalk, and impulse noise. Noise affects all the signals but there are some modulation techniques which are used to reduce the noise. These techniques are: Amplitude modulation Frequency modulation Phase modulation The amplitude modulation is affected most by the noise this is because there is the change in only amplitude and the amplitude is affected easily by the noise. Q3. An analog signal carries 4 bits in each signal element. If 10,000 signal elements are sent per sec, find the Baud Rate and Bit Rate? Ans. Given signal carries r =4 Signal element s=10000 Let N be the bit rate We know that S = N*(1/r) à ° N= S*r à ° N= 10000* 4 à ° N=40000 bps Bit rate is equals to 40000bps Q4. What are the reasons for the imperfection caused in transmission media? How the perfection can be measured? Ans. There are certain reasons for the imperfection caused by the transmission media. These reasons are describe below: Attenuation: All the transmission media has some sort of loss of signal i.e. called attenuation which make then imperfect. During the transmission of the signal from one place to another the loss or energy is occurred which reduce the overall strength of the signals which is called attenuation. For this is reason amplifier is used in various place in the transmission. Noise: Noise is the basically the disturbance which is produced in the signal when the signal send over the transmission media then the natural and un natural climate affect the signal such as pollution etc.   So that some kind of distortion is occur in the signal. Every transmission media is affected with the noise which makes the signal imperfect. Distortion: Distortion means that the change in the signal. Due to some circumstance there must be change in the signal. The signal may deviate from actual one this is called distortion. The perfection can be measure in the form the above three. A transmission media which has less attenuation, less noise and less distortion that transmission media is called perfect. Q5. There are numerous multiplexing techniques available. What in your opinion is the most appropriate multiplexing technique for the fiber optics as well as copper wires? Ans. Multiplexing is the process of converting n signal to the one. There are various technique but two basic technique are FDM(Frequency Division multiplexing) TDM(Time Division multiplexing)   wavelength Division multiplexing In fiber optics multiplexing the best technique used is called WDM Wavelength division multiplexing. The basic principle of WDM on fibers is that n fibers come together at an optical chamber, each with its energy present at a different wavelength. The four beams are combined onto a single shared fiber for transmission to a distant destination. At the far end, the beam is spilt up over as may fibers as there were on the input side. Each output fiber contains a short special- constructed core that filters out all but one wavelength. The resulting signals can be routed to their destination or recombined in different ways for additional multiplexed transport. In the case of the copper wire Frequency division multiplexing technique is used. First the voice channels are raised in frequency, each by a different amount. Then they can be combined because no two channels now occupy the same portion of the spectrum. Notice that even though there are gaps (guard bands) between the channels, there is some overlap between adjacent channels because the filters do not have sharp edges. But nowadays there is use of the Time division multiplexing is used which is particularly deal with the digital signal. In this technique the conversion must be take place from analog to digital signals.   Q6. While transferring the data from the transmission medium there are various aspects of your data getting tempered by other users? Whats your opinion is the most secure and insecure transmission medium. Justify your answer with an example. Ans. Transmission media is the aspect which is caused for tempering of data by the other. All transmission media has this problem. When we use the copper wire it can be taped by another one. One of the improve version is the optical fibre which An improved media is fiber optic cabling, this media does not emanate any signals since it uses light sources to transmit the signals from node to node. It has proved to be the most secure media available for use on LANs today and will continue to be the most secure media until the black hats discover a way to tap it undetected. The last medium reviewed is the wireless media which uses the airways as their path from node to node. The only way to guarantee secure transmissions is to use a layered approach, or combination of techniques to try to encrypt the data. The best way currently to encrypt data over LANs is to use the IPSec protocol with any of the discussed media. IPSec security is compatible with all types of media so it is the one thin g in common with allmedia that will almost guarantee the security of the pathways between nodes. PART B Q1.Assume a stream is made of ten 0s .Encode this stream , using following encoding schemes .How many can you find for each scheme ? Unipolar NRZ-L NRZ-I RZ Manchester Differential Manchester Ans. 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Unipolar: it can be drawn as: NRZ-L:   It can be drawn as: NRZ-I: it can be drawn as: RZ: it can be drawn as: Manchester: it can be drawn as: Differential Manchester: it can be drawn as: Q2. Two channels ,one with bit rate of 150kbps and another with a bit rate of 140kbps,are to be multiplexed using pulse stuffing TDM with no synchronization bits.Answere the following: What is the size of frame in bits What is the frame rate ? What is the duration of a frame? What is the data rate? Ans. Given bit rate of 1st channel=150 kbps Given bit rate of 2nd channel=140kbps Ans1. We allocate 3 slot for first and 3 slot for 2nd and we each size of frame is six bit. Ans2. Q3. Contrast   compare sampling rate received signal? Ans. In the conversion of the analog to digital, pulse code modulation is used. Sampling is the first stage of the PCM. The analog signal is sampled every Ts second. Where Ts is the sample interval or period. The inverse of sampling interval is called the sample rate or sampling frequency and denote fs where fs = 1/Ts. To produce the anolog signal one necessary condition is that the sampling rate be at least twice the highest frequency in the original signal. This is according to the Nyquist theorem. e.g. Wo well-known examples where sampled sound is used are the telephone and audio compact discs. Pulse code modulation, as used within the telephone system, uses 8-bit samples made 8000 times per second. In North America and Japan, 7 bits are for data and 1 is for control; in Europe all 8 bits are for data. This system gives a data rate of 56,000 bps or 64,000 bps. With only 8000 samples/sec, frequencies above 4 kHz are lost. Received signal strength is a measure of the power present in a received radio signal. RSSI is generic radio receiver technology metric which is usually invisible to the user of device containing the receiver but is directly known to users of wireless networking Q4. Synchronization is the problem in data communication. Explain? Ans. Synchronization technologies are designed to synchronize a single set of data between two or more devices, automatically copying changes back and forth. For example, a users contact list on one mobile device can be synchronized with other mobile devices or computers. Data synchronization can be local synchronization where the device and computer are side-by-side and data is transferred or remote synchronization when a user is mobile and the data is synchronized over a mobile network. In synchronous communications receiver, this specification discloses a decoder for generating a clock signal to synchronize the receiver with the information data rate of the received signal. The implementation of a decoder apparatus as a periodic finite state machine allows a clock signal to be extracted from the energy or transitions of the encoded signal. Such a decoder can define clock information over a large range of data rates. A band pass filter tuned to the characteristic frequency being re ceived can be coupled to the input of the decoder to limit the synchronization range to that desired by the receiver. Q5.Can bit rate be less than the pulse rate? Why or why not? Ans. Yes it is possible. Pulse rate is defined as the number of signals element send per second and the bit rate is defined as the number of data element which may be called bits in one second. Data communication needs to increase the data rate and decrease the pulse rate. So that the speed of transmission may be increased and decrease of bandwidth. But in some of the case it may be possible to the bit rate is less than pulse rate. This is done when the single pulse can carry more bits. When this happen the congestion Q6. A signal is sampled. Each sample represents one of four levels. How many bits are needed to represent each sample? If sampling rate is 8000 samples per second, what is the bit rate Ans. Given Sampling rate = 8000 We know that   bit rate   =1/Sample rate So bit rate =1/8000 =0.000125 bps

Durkheim and Levi-Strauss and Thought Essay examples -- Psychology Phi

The ritual examination of the other functions as a harvesting of intellectual resources to formulate a theory of the western self. In the case of the sensitive but scientific anthropologist, the mind of the other is a key to understanding the universal nature of the human mind. Durkheim and Là ©vi-Strauss consider ‘primitive thought’ to be rooted in certain modes of classification which they consider to be precursors and parallels, respectively, to ‘modern’ Euro-American scientific rationality. They take this connection between modes of classification and thought as indicative of a universal condition of human existence that shows the subject is rule bound and order loving. This conclusion of thought from classification from society is ultimately but the reenactment of their definitions and presuppositions that arise from the form of religious thought they call ‘rationality’. To begin with, for both Durkheim and Là ©vi-Strauss , ‘primitive thought’ is the result of how the ‘primitive’ classifies the world, which in turn is the result of accident and human nature. Classification is the center of thought, for both writers. Durkheim explains this well in his reconciliation of the theories of apriorism and empiricism. He argues that the categories that are the sine qua non of thought are themselves the results of social conditions. â€Å"If the categories are essentially collective representations †¦ they translate states of the collectivity, first and foremost. They depend upon the way the collectivity is organized, upon its morphology, its religious, moral, and economic institutions, and so on.† (Durkheim 15) He then takes up the remainder of the apriorist narrative; these categories are the foundations of thought and it is only ... ... ordered mind seems a perfect example of Durkheim’s division in all ‘religious thought’ between the sacred and the profane. For both writers, a universal and order loving subject is a sacred necessity which cannot be questioned within and by the structure of their modes of religious thought. But of course, this totalizing theory would not grant my argument an exception either, if my view of the subject were also an article of faith, but this presumes the very system of classification of the academic in describing the classification of the subject that this argument is meant to question. In the case that we do not presume the existence of a classifying, order loving thinker, religious thought may well never even occur, as there is no one to think of the profane and the sacred, and no one to generate a science of the concrete. There is, instead, only the concrete.

To what extent is Of Mice and Men a novel of protest? Essay -- English

To what extent is Of Mice and Men a novel of protest? John Steinbeck's novel Of Mice and Men conveys the impression, that it is a novel of protest. The character Candy suffers from discrimination because of his age and his disability. Steinbeck uses this character to protest against ageism and the treatment of the disabled during the Great Depression. The repeated reference to Candy's hopelessness could be understood as a protest against ageism. He says more than once that if he "can't swamp out no bunkhouses, they'll put" him "in the county". His whole life is based on one pillar, the kindness of the boss. He "wisht somebody'd shoot" him, if he gets fired. He "won't have no place to go" and is tied on the ranch. When Curley's wife says that Candy is "a lousy ol' sheep", Candy "subsided". He suggests to tell the boss about that dispute, but he knows that "nobody'd listen to" them. Steinbeck uses these situations to protest against ageism. The hopelessness is also used by John Steinbeck to protest against the treatment of the disabled during the Great Depression. Candy knows that he does not have a future. Crooks emphasises this fact, when he says that Candy will be "a swamper till they take" him "out in a box". Candy swamps out houses, because he is not able to do something else. Although he hopes that their dream will work, he recognises that it is unrealistic. It is unrealistic because of his disability. Steinbeck's protest against the treatment of the disabled is evident from the way he describes Candy's hopelessness. Through his descriptions of Candy's primitive working and living conditions, Steinbeck protests against ageism. Candy is an "old swamper", who lives in a "bunkhouse". His possess... .... That is another parallel between Candy and his dog. Both, Candy and his dog are handy-capped. Carlson discriminates Candy as well, when he states that the dog "can't eat, can't see" and "can't even walk without hurting". The dog would be "no good to himself". Candy receives these statements as discriminations against him. What about him, if his dog has to be shoot? Steinbeck's protest against the discrimination of the disabled is evident from these descriptions. To some extent, John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men is a novel of protest. When he wrote the novel, Steinbeck was sad because of the horrible situation of the old and disabled during the Great Depression. The themes of ageism and the treatment of the disabled are protested through Candy. Candy does not play a very big role in the story, but he plays a very big role in the background of the novel.

Time Value of Money and Present Value

Date: 14/11/2012 52. Annuities: You are saving for the college education of your two children. They are two years apart in age; one will begin college 15 years from today and the other will begin 17 years from today. You estimate your children’s college expenses to be $23,000 per year per child, payable at the beginning of each school year. The annual interest rate is 5. 5 percent. How much money must you deposit in account each year to fund your children’s education? Your deposits begin one year from today. You will make your last deposit when your oldest child enters college. Assume four years of collegeSolution: Cost of 1 year at university = 23,000 N=4 I=5. 5% PMT=23,000 CPT PV = 80,618. 45 For the first child the PV = 80,618. 45/ (1. 055) ^14 = $38,097. 81 For the second child the PV = 80,618. 45/ (1. 055) ^16 = $34,229. 07 Therefore the total cost today of your children’s college expense will be the addition of the 2 = $72,326. 88 This is the present value of my annual savings, which are an annuity, so to get the amount I am supposed to save each year would be: PV=72,326. 88 N=15 I=5. 5 CPT PMT = 7,205. 6 57. Calculating Annuity Values: Bilbo Baggins wants to save money to meet three objectives.First, he would like to be able to retire 30 years from now with retirement income of $25,000 per month for 20 years, with the first payment received 30 years and 1 month from now. Second, he would like to purchase a cabin in Rivendell in 10 years at an estimated cost of $350,000. Third, after he passes on at the end of the 20 years of withdrawals, he would like to leave an inheritance of $750,000 to his nephew Frodo. He can afford to save $2,100 per month for the next 10 years. If he can earn an 11 percent EAR before he retires and an 8 percent EAR after he retires, how much will he have to save each month in years 11 through 30? Solution:First we get the FV of the 2,100 savings over 10 years Bilbo Baggins can afford to save $2,100 dollars per month for the next 10 years therefore at 10 years he would have saved: PMT = 2,100 I = 10. 48 / 12 = 0. 873 N = 10 x 12 = 120 CPT FV = $442,201. 15 So after 10 years he would be able to purchase his yacht at the price of $350,000, and he would be left with a balance of $92,201. 15 This $92,201. 15 will be our current PV at year 10. At year 30, the year when Bilbo retires, the $92,201. 15 would become 92,201. 15*(1. 11) ^20 = $620,283. 23 Second we have to find out how much the inheritance of 750,000 would be at year 30: 750,000/1. 8^20= $160,911. 16 Third In order for him to be able to withdraw a sum of 25,000 per month for the next 20 years after his retirement, we should now calculate this annuity’s present value: N= 20 x 12 = 240 I= 7. 72 / 12 = 0. 643 PMT= 25,000 CPT PV = $3,052,135. 26 Adding up the PV’s of the $750,000 and the annuity, we will get $3,213,046. 32 We will subtract the future value at year 30 of the $92,201. 15 ($620,283. 23) which we saved at year 10 from $3,213,046. 32 to get $2,592,763. 09 We are now left with an annuity that pays $2,592,763. 09 at year 30, and a time period of 20 years (yr11-30) To calculate the yearly PMT, we haveFV= $2,592,763. 09 I= 10. 48 / 12 = 0. 873 N= 20 x 12 = 240 CPT PMT = 3,207. 33 Therefore the monthly PMT Bilbo would have to save each month through years 11-30 would be = $3,207. 33 34. Valuing bonds: Mallory Corporation has two different bonds, currently outstanding. Bond M has a face value of $20,000 and matures in twenty years. The bond makes no payments for the first six years, then pays $1,200 every 6 months over the subsequent eight years, and finally pays $1,500 every 6 months over the last years. Bond N also has a face value of $20,000 and a maturity of 20 years; it makes n coupon payments over the life of the bond.If the required return on both these bonds is 10% compounded semiannually, what is the current price of bond M? Of bond N? Solution: The price of a bond is equal to PV of ex pected future cash flows Bond M: Face value 20,000 Present value of 20,000 = 20,000/ (1. 05) ^40 = $2,840. 91 First we need to get the present value of the annuity for the 1,500 semiannual PMTs at year 14 Present Value of Annuity = $13,295 $13,295 becomes $3,391 at year 0 We then get the annuity of the 1,200 semiannual PMTs at year 6, and then at Present Value $13,005 at year 6 with a PV of $7,242 at year 0 The sum of the 3 PV’s gives us the value of the bond ,841 + 3,391 + 7,242 = $13,474 Bond N Face value 20,000 Present value of 20,000 = 20,000/ (1. 05) ^40 = $2,840. 91 38. Non-constant growth: Storico Co. just paid a dividend of aud 3. 5 per share. The company will increase its dividend by 20% next year, and will then reduce its dividend growth rate by 5% per year, until it reaches the industry average of 5% industry average growth, after which the company will keep a constant growth rate forever. If the required return on Storico stock is 13%, what will a share of stock s ell for today? Solution  : D0 = $3. 5 D1= 3. 5*1. 2= $4. 2 D2= 4. 2*1. 15= $4. 3 D3=4. 83*1. 1= $5. 31 D4=5. 31*1. 05= $5. 58 Since the first 4 periods are different we get the PV of each one alone, then as of the 4th year we get the perpetuity of the rest, and sum them up to get the final NPV We now get the PV of each Dividend PV D1 = 4. 2/ (1. 13) = $3. 72 PV D2 = 4. 83/ (1. 13) ^2 = $3. 78 PV D3 = 5. 31/ (1. 13) ^3 = $3. 68 So the PVs of D1+D2+D3 = $11. 18 NPV of perpetuity at constant growth = 5. 58(0. 08) / (1. 13) ^3 = 69. 75 / (1. 13) ^3 = $48. 34 NPV perpetuity + NPV dividends = NPV price of stock today 48. 34 + 11. 18 = $59. 52

Importance of Integrated Marketing Communications

By definition, integrated marketing communications is a concept of marketing communications planning that recognizes the added value of a comprehensive plan. Such plan evaluates the strategic roles of a variety of communications disciplines and combines these disciplines to provide clarity, consistency, and maximum impact through the seamless integration of individual discrete messages. Considering that (a) the mass market can be fragmented into a multitude of mini-markets (with each mini-market requiring its own approach), (b) there is continuous proliferation of new types of media, and (c) there is growing sophistication of consumers, it is clear that there is definitely a need for marketers to utilize a wide range of communication tools to efficiently deliver messages to specific audiences. Marketers should therefore combine personal and non-personal communication channels to achieve maximum impact (i.e., employing multiple-vehicle, multiple-stage campaigns). Hence, it is clearly imperative for companies to move toward integrated marketing communications, and the absence of which results in uncoordinated communications and image diffusion. A comprehensive integrated marketing communications plan can produce stronger message consistency. It can also help to build brand equity as well as create greater sales impact. Furthermore, it can unify the company's brand images and messages as they come through multiple company activities. In simpler terms, IMC improves the company's ability to reach the right customers with the right messages at the right time in the right place.

Capital Market Efficiency and Its Implication for Financial Reporting

Capital market efficiency has been a widely debated topic since the term was introduced. The efficient market hypothesis was introduced by Eugene Fama in 1970 and is one of the most important topics that is covered in financial accounting theory. There have been many papers and studies that have backed the efficiency market hypothesis. There have also been many others that have tried to show that the markets are inefficient. Are securities markets efficient or not? I believe that they are, and because they are efficient, there are multiple implications of efficient securities markets for financial reporting. In 1970, Eugene Fama introduced the efficient market hypothesis. Since there are many definitions and forms of an efficient securities market, I will focus my attention on the semi-strong form. In the semi-strong form, a market is considered efficient when security prices traded on that market at all times fully reflect all information that is publicly known about those securities. This hypothesis or theory has had many proponents for and many against it in recent years. These people have done their own studies and research on the market trying to either prove or disprove that the markets are efficient. An important statement in the definition of an efficient securities market is publically known. It focuses on the theory that the market prices are efficient and include all publicly known information. It does not rule out that some people will have inside information, and they will know more about the company than the market. Since these people know more than the market, they may be able to earn excess profits on their investments if they choose to take advantage of their inside information. While most insider trading is legal, it is illegal for insiders to trade when they trade with information that is not publicly known to further their own profits. By enacting trading laws, like insider trading, it just further solidifies that the markets are efficient. Market efficiency is a relative concept. This means that the market is efficient relative to the quality and quantity of the publicly known information. Nothing in the definition suggests that the current market prices reflect the real firm value. Due to the possible presence of inside information, for example, the market prices may be incorrect. What the definition does imply is that once new or corrected information comes along the market will adjust the prices quickly. This adjustment happens because rational investors will revise their beliefs. They will start buying and selling securities due to their new beliefs which in turn will change prices. Another important point of the theory is that investing is fair game if the market is efficient. In an efficient market there is an expected return on that security, and one way to establish the expected or normal return is by using the capital asset pricing model. In an efficient market, the investors cannot expect to earn excess returns on a security over and above the expected return of the capital asset pricing model. Under the efficient market hypothesis, a security’s market price should fluctuate randomly over time. The reason that prices will fluctuate is that anything about the firm that can be expected will be properly reflected in the price by the efficient market as soon as the expectation is formed. The only reason that prices in an efficient market will change is if some unexpected and relevant information comes along. By examining a time series form by the sequence of price changes, the time series should fluctuate randomly. A random walk is a time series of price movements that will not follow any patterns or trends and that these past movements cannot be used to predict future price movements. There seems to be an increasing number of people against the theory of market efficiency including Professor Charles Lee (2010). He states that the market efficiency has its limitations. He uses the United States housing market as an example of a market that seems to have been dominated by greed. He believes that emotions now dominate the markets and assist in setting the prices in the securities market. The other emotion that he points out is that of fear. The unwillingness to grant credit and to take risks are direct results of fear. Since these emotions dominate people’s actions, the markets are not as efficient as originally thought. Shiller (1984) created a model which featured two types of agents. The two types of agents are â€Å"smart-money† investors and noise traders (ordinary investors). The smart-money investors focus on fundamental information and react quickly to news about fundamental information in an unbiased manner. Noise traders are vulnerable to fads and may also overreact to news. Noise traders may also trade for consumption-based or liquidity reasons. Since there are noise traders in the market that assist in driving prices, the markets are not completely efficient. Critics of market efficiency also point out that there are several recent instances where the market prices must have been set by psychological considerations instead of by rational investors. The first example is the stock market crash of October 1987. During this crash, the general economic environment stayed the same, but the stock market lost about one-third of its value. A second example is the Internet â€Å"bubble† of the late 1990s. The values assigned to high-tech and Internet related companies were inconsistent with rational valuation. In looking at market efficiency, any large swings upwards or crashes downward that do not have related unexpected information can be signs that the market is not efficient. Despite these cases and examples of reasons that the market is inefficient, I believe that for the most part the market is efficient. It is not completely efficient, nor will it ever be, but for the most part the securities are properly priced. I believe that if the market was not efficient, there would be more professional investors that would be able to beat the market as a whole. I believe that with the information and the speed with which it is available today it is more efficient than in 1970 when Fama first introduced market efficiency. I do agree with the notion that there are some people who invest with emotions. When you talk to people about a company such as Apple, you will find just as many people who â€Å"love† the company as you will who dislike it. My feeling is that most of the emotion trading will for the most part cancel out and will not represent enough trading to dramatically adjust market securities prices. There are many fund managers who believe that they can outperform the market. Efficient markets depend on these participants who think that the market is inefficient and trade in the market in an attempt to outperform the market. Jensen (1968) performed the first study of mutual fund performance. He found that active fund managers underperformed the market and were unable to add value. In my personal research, I have found that when looking at â€Å"professional† analysts opinions, they are all over the board. My belief is that fund managers should focus more on correctly diversifying people’s portfolios than suggesting and trying to get them to invest in securities that they feel are undervalued. In order for the market to be efficient, the arket must be able to quickly analyze and adjust prices for new information. Nowadays with the Internet, investment journals that come out daily, and television shows and channels related to securities markets, the markets are more efficient than in the past. An example of the market being able to react quickly was in the article â€Å"The Stock Price Reaction to the Challenger Crash: Information Disclosure in an Efficient Market. â€Å" Maloney and Mulherin found that â€Å"the market pinpointed the guilty party within minutes. Regardless of whether you agree with the efficient securities markets theory or not, there are many implications of efficient securities markets for financial reporting. In W. H. Beaver’s article â€Å"What Should Be the FASB’s Objectives†, he outlines four implications. The first implication is accounting policies adopted by firms do not affect their security prices, as long as policies are disclosed. The accounting policies have no differential cash flow effects, and the information is given so readers can ea sily convert across different policies. The policy that is chosen will affect the reported net income, but it will not directly affect future cash flows and dividends. The efficient market is not fooled by different accounting policies when securities of firms are compared. The second implication is that efficient securities markets go hand in hand with full disclosure. Management should report firm information if the benefits are greater than the costs. Investors use information that is available to them to improve decisions in market efficiency. Confidence in the securities market will increase because of the information available. An important standard of full disclosure is Management Discussion and Analysis. The objective of MD&A is to enhance investor understanding of the issuer’s business by providing supplemental analysis and background material to allow a fuller understanding of the nature of an issuer, its operation, and known prospects for the future. The third implication is that market efficiency implies that financial statement information does not need to be presented in such a form that everyone is able to understand. The majority of investors are educated and will understand the information as presented. They are the ones who buy and sell and will move market prices to an efficient level. Naive investors are then price-protected since they can trust the efficient market to price securities. The final implication is that accountants are in competition with other information providers. With new pertinent information investors will change their beliefs. This revision of beliefs is a continuous process. If accountants did not provide useful, cost-effective information, the usefulness of this function would decline to other information sources. Accounting information is generally useful to investors. The theory of efficient securities markets has been around for more than forty years. The concept should be around for many years to come. As in all theories, there are people that will continue to try to further prove the theory and people that will work to disprove the theory. From all available information and from my experience, I believe that securities markets are efficient. Due to the efficient securities markets, there are many implications for financial reporting.

Erikson’s Theory In Today’s Culture: A Reflection

A person’s personality directly affects how he conducts himself and ultimately, how he will live his life. In more ways than one, then, personality helps direct a person towards success. Having said this, it is no wonder that the development of a person’s personality has long been the subject of psychological research. Of the many theories in personality and child development, Erik Erikson’s is one of those that have stood the test of time. Perhaps this is largely due to the fact that unlike most theories, his covers the whole life cycle of man. It also helped that amongst the rather purist concepts – of the nature vs. urture phenomenon – his recognizes both the effect of internal development (of the body and the mind) and the influence of the outside world to a person’s personality. However adaptive Erikson’s psychosocial stages are, though, it is still important to reexamine it alongside our culture today, in order to gauge how effective and accurate it still is. On a general viewpoint, the main tenet of Erikson’s philosophy – that there are specific traits developed (or lost) in a particular stage in a person’s life – still holds even when analyzed alongside our ever-developing culture. This means that on most counts, contemporary culture has strengthened Erikson’s theory – not negate or redefine it. For example, that the viewpoint of a person with regard to how trustworthy the world is shaped during the early years is still true (whether that occurs exclusively during infancy is up to now subject to verification): recent studies of incidents of suicide show its relation to the formation during the early years of the basic belief I have earlier mentioned. Likewise, it is still true that a sense of autonomy is developed during the toddler years – when we learn to walk on our own, and feed and bathe ourselves. The continuous development of our educational system supports the two subsequent stages – play age and school age – in Erikson’s theory: indeed, it is during the time we start going to school and widening our circle that we develop initiative and the value of industry. As for the next stage, adolescence, it still is the case that during these years – in our struggle for independence from parents; in our attempt to develop romantic relationships and strengthen our ties with friends; in our quest to find the answer to the question â€Å"Who am I? † – we develop a deeper sense of our identity. I mentioned that on most counts, Erikson’s theory holds. There are several points in his work, however, that are redefined by a change in our culture. One of the most glaring changes would be in his stage of young adulthood. While it is true that during this time we seek love and a deeper relationship, more and more of the American youth opt to stay single until their thirties. Whereas before starting a family occurs at this stage, now having kids occurs more in Erikson’s next stage – middle adulthood. In my opinion, the high incidence of divorce nowadays, and the lure of leading a life devoid of the immense responsibility married life entails, instills in us the belief that having a family takes careful planning and thus, takes time. Upon examining Erikson’s theory, it is prevalent that he sees his stages as having a linear path; that is, the stages – and the development of the traits he singled out for each stage – occur one after the other, with each one having a direct effect on the stage it precedes. In simpler terms, then, if a person failed to develop trust in infancy, he will have a hard time cultivating autonomy in the next stage, if he even ever does. Such a pessimistic way of putting things, I believe, is doomed to criticism and negation in itself. How many times have we heard of success stories, of people who rose above a troubled childhood to find love and success in their adult lives? Erikson, it seems, failed to take into account the strength of the human spirit to rise above any predicament. If there is one characteristic of our culture and our world today that may hinder us from successfully navigating through Erikson’s psychosocial stages, it is their being fast-paced. In an environment where success is predominantly measured by what you own, we are driven to lead lives that place personal relationships in the back seat. Given this fact, it is possible that more and more of us will fail to resolve a crisis or two in the â€Å"right time†, as outlined in Erikson’s work. I believe, however, that despite this fact, in the end we will still tackle the issues inherent in our struggle to form our identity, and we will still be able to resolve them all.

What Are the Problems with the Uk’s Party System, and How Might They Be Resolved?

What are the problems with the UK’s party system, and how might they be resolved? This essay will analyse the challenges and problems UK party system is facing. The essay will look into public apathy and mistrust, resulting in low party membership and low electoral participation. The main argument is that political parties do not have strong enough incentives to connect with voters. Proposals to resolve these problems will be changing electoral system, further limiting donations to the political parties and banning their trade activities, forcing more ideological changes and showing strong real actions to ignite the political debates. As we all know, UK political system is dominated by main two political parties, Labour and Conservatives. Historically, most of the elections, apart from few exceptions, resulted in one party forming the government whilst other party being in opposition. Throughout the history, British political parties enjoyed large memberships and enthusiastic support from all sections of population during the elections. Voters were more politically aware and active in political life. British Election Study’s survey in 1964 showed that three quarters of population had strong or fair affiliation with a political party (Pattie & Johnston, 2007, p. ). In 1950’s Labour had 1 million members while conservatives had 2,800,000 (Fieschi, 2006, p. 143) However, political parties lost the trust and support of public. Membership of parties is at all-time low. According to the recent study, only 2 percent of voters in the UK are party members (Beetham, Blick, Margets, & Weir, 2008, p. 42). People abstain from voting in general elections, the trend observed especially amongst young voters. Pressure groups and lobbyists are gaining more influence and political parties are increasingly getting disconnected from the general public. Latest MP’s expenses scandal dramatically reduced the trust in politicians. The trend is not unique to Britain. Other European states observe the same decline in public participation. Therefore, many analysts declared that the age of mass party membership is over (Beetham, Blick, Margets, & Weir, 2008, p. 42). But what are the reasons that the political parties lost the trust of public? It is not true that people are not interested in politics anymore. Mass mobilisation of cross-party protests against the war in Iraq is the biggest example that politics still plays important part in public’s life. Almost all of the works and researches done on the subject of declining of party politics agree on one thing- the electoral system in the UK and subsequent â€Å"two party† system that results from it is the main obstacle for parties to engage with public. The argument is, political parties only concentrate on swing voters and taking the â€Å"safe votes† for granted (Pattie & Johnston, 2007, p. 7). However, Britain always had a two party system with FPTP. So, why parties did not concentrate on marginal swing voter areas before? The explanation given by commentators is that Britain used to be divided into two poles: conservative traditionalists and labour working class. But now, most of the population is more or less â€Å"middle class† and have moved to the centre (Garner & Kelly, 1998, pp. 255-256). Therefore, people have marginalised their party or ideological identities. This argument does not hold ground, as although political parties reformed greatly, the membership of both parties still declined. â€Å"But this is because voters don’t see the difference between parties and are confused† the critics say. But, is it not exactly what the two political parties used to be; having two distinct ideologies? Yet, membership is declining in both cases. So, one might think that it is inevitable for party membership and influence to diminish on the face of social developments in the UK. However, there is another explanation. Commentators are right to point out to parties only concentrating on swing voters. However, while before, party largely depended on their grass-root support and mass membership, political leaders tried to be â€Å"independent† from their supporters. Many laws were passed amid the opposition of most of the party members. Even the reforms of the Conservatives under William Hague could not produce effective â€Å"democratisation† of the party. Today, both parties are still centralised. Parties just don’t need the support of their members anymore, as parties can only focus on minority of voters and still win the elections. The argument of inevitability of party support declining in the face of rising middle class is also weak. Labour party did manage to almost double its membership in 1997 with the drive to recruit more members (Whiteley, 2009, p. 249). However, once Labour came to power, party became more preoccupied with â€Å"governing†, and disregarded grassroots party (Whiteley, 2009, p. 249). The conclusion from above analysis is that, given the right incentives, parties are able to recruit members. But political parties are more concerned with winning elections and holding office, and not concentrating on representing the people (Copus, Clark, Reynaert, & Steyvers, 2008, p. 6). But how could political parties do it? Do they not depend on members and supporters at least financially to survive? Well, this brings us to the second issue-the party funding. It is only natural that parties did suffer financially with the decline in membership. However, all of the major parties managed to find wealthy donors to compensate for the loss (Jones, Kavanagh, Moran, & Norton, 2007, p. 196). Apart from that, political parties have found ways of generating money through trade, although at the moment it constitutes only minority of their budget (Granik, 2005). The issue of party funding through wealthy individuals have been and still remains a controversy. The funding scandals in both main political parties triggered the need to review their funding and expenditure. Following Neill Committee report, drastic changes were introduced, including declaration of donations over ? 5,000, banning the donations from foreign donors, capping the spending in general elections at ? 20 million and controls over spending on referendum campaigns (Jones, Kavanagh, Moran, & Norton, 2007, p. 196). Even before Neill Committee report, in 1976 and 1981 Houghton and Hansard Society reports respectively, proposed political parties being state funded (Garner & Kelly, 1998, p. 202). No action was taken by ruling Labour on Houghton report and Conservatives rejected Hansard Society report (Jones, Kavanagh, Moran, & Norton, 2007, p. 96). Proponents of the state funding claim that parties, like military or police are vital public bodies, therefore they need to be subsidised by taxpayer. It will also remove the reliance on donors, thus removing the undesired influence (Jones, Kavanagh, Moran, & Norton, 2007, p. 197). However, those arguments are weak. Although, it is true that the state funding might reduce the dependence on donors, it also removes the incentives for parties to recruit more members, thus stopping them further from engaging the people during inter-election times. Provided the public trust in political parties and politicians being record low, it will further raise the suspicions of the public, especially after the expenses scandal. The solution is not state funding, but limiting donations even further. Large donations from interested businesses and individuals should not be just declared, but banned altogether. Parties should be forced to, once again, rely on their members for funding. The claim that political parties are public bodies is untrue. They are voluntary bodies. Political parties are only good if they are fit for purpose, i. e. eing a link between a government and public. When they are successful in this task, they gain trust of public and their membership will soar. This automatically will solve their funding problems. Coming back to the issue of electoral system, most of the public agree that the FPTP is the most unjust type of representative system available. It is made worse by current decline in party allegiance among the popu lation. FPTP is also unfair to smaller parties. While major parties get disproportionately large amount of seats to the votes they received, for smaller parties it works the other way around. A more proportionally representative voting system will result in more parties competing in general elections, with new parties created to contest the elections. This competition will not only motivate parties to engage with public, as noted earlier, but also make people more politically active during the elections. Supporters of FPTP system say that it provides strong and effective government, while PR system likely to produce hanged parliaments and unstable coalitions. But political parties themselves are coalitions of many views, that’s why public is faced with non stopping rifts within the parties. Furthermore, coalitions can be persuaded to work with each other successfully, as it is the case in many European countries. Initially, labour government were committed to electoral reforms, with the promise of referendum on the issue in 1997 manifesto. A decade later, 2007 government green paper on constitutional reform had only one line, informing that electoral reform is still under revision (Brown & Straw, 2007, p. 46). This uncertainty and not delivering promises further alienates voters. â€Å"In 2009 Britain, a frighteningly large proportion of UK voters feel effectively disenfranchised† says John Ward of Guardian (Ward, 2009). One of his proposed solution to representation problem is reducing the power of party whips. He says that reduction of power of whips â€Å"†¦ is absolutely essential if backbench idleness, disillusionment and cynicism are to be curbed – and the executive controlled. Those few still in touch – the likes of Kate Hoey, David Davis, Dennis Skinner and Graham Brady – are popular because they understand widespread concerns (respectively) about rural life, personal liberty, uncompromising values and educational aspiration† (Whiteley, 2009). Problem of parties being too strict is actually good for their discipline. However, over the years one sees that the whip system is been abused to great extends, thus taking away the independence of politicians. There is a problem of people lacking political information. People lacking the political information are less likely to participate in politics. In 2006 Joseph Rowntree Trust’s â€Å"Power Report† was published, where the issue was identified amongst many others. In the report, the solution proposed was â€Å"The citizenship curriculum should be shorter, more practical and result in a qualification. † (Power Report, 2006, p. 204). As Power report admits, the curriculum has many flaws. It is unlikely that curriculum makes any significant impact on young people’s political participation. Therefore, political parties themselves should engage in educational activities. They should hold more meetings and rallies, explaining people why to vote and why to vote for them. Political parties should re-think their methods of appealing to public. Emphasis should be given to enlarging their membership and engaging with public. Rather than being a vote-calculating machines, they have to re-establish their clear ideological stands. Public disillusion with what they are voting fore can only be resolved with party philosophies and ideologies being distinct. They also have to find the ways of re-gaining public trust. For that, they need more action rather than words. Radicalism is missing in modern day politics. Mass rallies, public speeches are being replaced by appearances on mass media and point scoring PR campaigns. Of course, all the symptoms mentioned above are interconnected, so it would be wrong to analyse each separately and come to a negative conclusion. But we believe that old-fashioned traditional politics can work if politicians commit themselves more. If parties reform, they make their positions stronger, with respect and trust vested in them by public. Failure to reform will eventually lead to their doom. Bibliography Beetham, D. , Blick, A. , Margets, H. , & Weir, S. (2008, February). Power and Participation in Modern Britain. Retrieved November 11, 2009, from Democratic Audit: http://www. democraticaudit. org/download/PP_lowres. pdf Brown, G. , & Straw, J. (2007, July). The Governance of Britain (CM 7170, Green Paper on constitutional reforms. Retrieved November 11, 2009, from Official-Documents: http://www. official-documents. gov. k/document/cm71/7170/7170. pdf Copus, C. , Clark, A. , Reynaert, H. , & Steyvers, K. (2008). Minor Party and Independent Politics beyond the Mainstream: Fluctuating Fortunes but a Permanent Presence. Parliamentary Affairs , 62:1, 4-18. Fieschi, C. (2006). How British Parties Lost Our Favour. Parliamentary Affairs , 60:1, 143-152. Garner, R. , & Kelly, R. (1998). British political parties today (2 ed . ). Manchester: Manchester University Press. Granik, S. (2005). Invisible Business: The Unregulated World of Political Party Commerce. Politics , 25:2, 89-98. Jones, B. , Kavanagh, D. , Moran, M. & Norton, P. (2007). Politics UK (6 ed. ). Harlow, New York: Pearson Education. Mehdi, H. (2009, September 29). Do politicians matter? Retrieved November 15, 2009, from Guardian: http://www. guardian. co. uk/commentisfree/2009/sep/29/labour-conference-politicians-least-trusted Pattie, C. , & Johnston, R. (2007). Power to the People through â€Å"Real Power and True Elections†? The Power Report and Revitalising British Democracy. Parliamentary Affairs , 60:2, 1-26. Report, P. (2006). Power to the People. York: Power Enquiry. Ward, J. (2009, October 16). MPs have forgotten how to represent us. Retrieved November 11, 2009, from Guardian: http://www. guardian. co. uk/commentisfree/2009/oct/16/mps-representation-constitutional-reform Whiteley, P. (2009). Where Have All the Members Gone? The Dynamics of Party Membership in Britain. Parliamentary Affairs , 62 :2, 242-257. ——————————————– [ 1 ]. This year’s Ipsos Mori poll suggests that the politicians are the least trusted group of professionals, with only 13% of public trusting them. This is the lowest percentage politicians received in this poll in 26 years (Mehdi, 2009). [ 2 ]. For example Labour abandoning clause 4 and â€Å"modernising† the party [ 3 ]. Interesting to note that, although Conservative party was always associated with rich class and electorate dominated by working class, the party was always able to win the elections, gaining at least a third of working class. Especially during inter war periods; Conservatives were the most favourite party in inter-war period [ (Garner & Kelly, 1998, p. 56) ]. This reinforces our thesis that different ideologies could be overcome by concentrating in recruiting more grassroots party members. [ 4 ]. For example, Poll Tax of Conservatives, war in Iraq, 5 ]. The newly created â€Å"policy forum† to discuss the policies and national party conventions are only advisory and it became harder to challenge the leadership of the Conservative party (Jones, Kavanagh, Moran, & Norton, 2007, p. 287). [ 6 ]. Under this system, most of the votes are wasted. As we have observed before, parties take â€Å"safe seats† for granted and only campaign in â€Å"swing† constituencies. Public, on the other hand, knowing that their vote would not make a difference, abstain from voting. [ 7 ]. Evidence suggests that more competitive the elections, more people cast their vote (Pattie & Johnston, 2007, pp. 5-7).

CAD Summary Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

CAD Summary - Essay Example He did not undertake aerobic exercises and ate foods rich in cholesterol. NIH (2012) notes that the overall amount of cholesterol is higher than 240 mg/dL, less than 40 mg/dL for HDL, and more than 190 mg/dL for LDL in CAD. (Ondrus, et al. (2013) opine that CAD results from obstruction of the coronary arteries and supports the genetic and environmental factors causing the disease. Besides, Kakouros and Cokkinos (2014) add and say that smoking as my father did could hasten plaque formation, which hinders supply of oxygen to the cardiac muscles. The patient could have an electrocardiogram and ultrasound as tools for screening. On the one hand Rumberger (2011) asserts that the ultrasound detects any changes in the arterial pressure due to obstruction. We (2010) indicates that the importance of the tool is that it is non-invasive and it can be utilized in subclinical arteriosclerosis screening if the condition is advanced. On the other hand Douglas, Garcia, & Haines (2011) is utilized in aiding asymptomatic clients; hence, because my father was exposed to the causative factors, then an ultrasound screening of the carotid plaque can be conducted. Platts and Javorsky (2010) stipulates that ultrasound screening decreases the risk linked with other tools used in screening. The electrocardiograms would come in handy in the determination of the electrical levels of the heart of the patient in order to assess its function-ability that aids in assessing if there are other illnesses affecting the patient. Ondrus, T., Kanovsky, J., Novotny, T., Andrsova, I., Spinar, J., & Kala, P. (2013). Right ventricular myocardial infraction: From pathophysiology to prognosis. Exerimental and Clinical Cardiology, 18(1), 27-30. Platts, D. B., & Javorsky, G. (2010). Comparison of fluoroscopic versus real time three-dimensional transthoracic echocardiographic guidnance of endomyocardial biopses. European Journal of Echocardiography, 34(32),

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Reading Response - Essay Example Germany hoped these points would be the basis for the treaty. However this hope was belied and the terms of the treaty were so harsh on Germany that it finally resulted in a more destructive and horrific war. America had come out of the war virtually unscathed. However the people of Britain and France were devastated by the destruction caused by the war and in no mood to forgive Germany for it. So it came about that Germany was held solely responsible for the misery and death caused to millions, and the terms of the treaty were particularly humiliating to Germans. Besides, Britain and France had rich colonies that added to their coffers, and therefore clauses that held that determination of their status must have â€Å"the interests of the populations†; were contrary to their interests. Every nation naturally looked at the treaty with its own interests foremost. France wanted the territories of Alsace and Lorraine with a view to safeguarding its borders from future German attacks. In this way Germany lost land to France, Belgium, Denmark, Czechoslovakia and Poland. The victors of the war were the ones who drafted the treaty of Versailles and the defeated nations were not asked to contribute to the drafting of the treaty. The treaty therefore looked after the interests of the victors and since Germany was blamed for the havoc caused by the war and held solely responsible for it; she had to bear the burden of war reparation and cutting down of her armed forces as well as losing territories to other nations. The most important of the fourteen points was the last - that of setting up an international body to maintain peace among the nations of the world. This was set up in the form of the League of Nations. However, Wilson was unable to convince the Americans to join the league and it proved to be an ineffective and toothless body. It led to more friction among nations

Perception of Soviet Russia in Hollywood Films Essay

Perception of Soviet Russia in Hollywood Films - Essay Example During the time of Ninotchka (1939), this American sentiment was anti-Soviet, but first this film depicted the union of "the spirit of Marxist ideas" (Rogin 269) with the spirit of a business enterprise - clearly, a parody of "the conversion of the former to the latter" (Rogin 369). It was in the same year, 1939, that the USSR "signed the Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact in August 1939 and divided Poland with Germany" (Dunn 459). Ninotchka is an epitome of an anti-Soviet film. Like any other such film, "Every Russian- whether peasant or nobility- is caricatured as villain incarnate and the whole nation is represented as a threat to mankind, nineteenth-century style" (Fyne 194). Understandably, American sentiments toward the Soviet Union at the time of these anti-Soviet films are a degradation of communism as symbolized, at that time, by none other than the USSR. According to Fyne, Ninotchka was an "strong indictment about a regime that most Americans, sitting comfortably in their capitalist living rooms and reading about mass executions, feared and mistrusted" (200). In 1943, that sentiment changed drastically. It must be noted that this time was after Pearl Harbor. After Pearl Harbor, "the U.S. and the Soviet Union were now brothers-in-arms" (Fyne 200), hence this new alliance "had to be solidified on the screen" (Fyne 200).

Colonial to 1877 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Colonial to 1877 - Essay Example Slavery remained legal in the South while it was illegal in the North. Few Northerners actively opposed the practice though. The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 began a series of events which resulted ultimately in war. The Northwest Ordinance was an act of Congress of the federation and essentially declared that the land north of the Ohio River and East of the Mississippi River, would in fact become a part of the United States as well as become settled. Additionally, the ordinance established an area where slavery was illegal, therefore causing uprising from states south of the Ordinance. The Ohio River would become the boundary line. The next event to cause a disturbance between the North and the South was the Missouri Compromise of1820. This established slavery regulations within the Western Territories. It also made slavery illegal in the Louisiana Territory but allowed it to remain legal within the Missouri Territory. Political ramifications of the compromise served to introduce the idea of democrats and republicans. The compromise had established clear boundaries between North and South and would eventually push the two halves into war. In the meantime, the Mexican-American War was on the horizon as America had annexed the Texas territory from Mexico. The conflict lasted from 1846 to 1848. Most of the Southern States at the time, embraced the idea of Manifest Destiny as well as the idea of acquiring more land in the spirit of slavery expansion. Manifest Destiny was the notion that the United States was destined to claim the territory from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Seaboard. This is precisely why many were in favor of the Mexican-American war and also why the conflict began. Because of so much political and social unrest, the Compromise of 1850 was drafted. This series of bills sought to create resolve over the issue of slavery as well as the Mexican-American War. This compromise served to avoid an immediate

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What specific impact does the media have on the development of - Research Paper Example The big question is are the media contributing positively in the development of this cadre of population. The answer is no, as it is now apparent that the media particularly the internet has made the moral turpitude of the teens to be put to doubts and ascertained that this is the avenue through which they explore and practice illicit behaviors. It is not accurate to state that media does not have any meaningful contribution in the lives of the teens, as it does influence many things with positive outcomes, an example of the case in the US where adolescent obesity has been mitigated through the media. Notwithstanding, when critically evaluated it will be found that the same media has also contributed negatively in the lives of the teens by exposing them to issues related to sex, an example is the phonographic videos in the internet. Teens have also fallen into the trap of engaging in the illicit activities following the kind of advertisement they are accorded in the media; therefore, the media has both positives and negatives influences to the teens. According to research, it has been proven that the teens with computer and laptops in their room demonstrate remarkable improvement in their performance in academic work. This is attributed to the fact that by having computers, they not only have the ease to reach information through the internet but also get motivated and spend more hours reading information in the internet. Television show are also rated to have the best educational session on several issues that even the parent might not be having good grasp of knowledge about. In a close supervision then, television can prove to be one of the best informative media on relevant issues to the teens. An example is the show by Dr. Oz and Oprah It is a fact that the reading culture is threatened with the technological advancement today. Most of the teens demonstrate a very poor reading culture that needs to be reinforced. The print media