Sociology and the culture Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Sociology and the culture - Essay Example Multiculturalism can be defined as the notion that American society should be understood as a collection of diverse cultural groups rather than as a single, unified national body on one hand or as simply an aggregate of atomized individuals on the other. A multiculturalism sensibility implies that the government must recognize and respect if not nurture the diversity and integrity of racial and ethnic communities. The reason why different student groups define success in different ways is that different race and ethnical groups have sometimes their own understanding of their roles in American society which based on historical background and in some cases on public opinion. American society still operates in a paradigm in which an individual is a member of the "majority" or the "minority," either White or Non-White. This Black-Non White binary has influenced courts' and legislatures' race-conscious remedies such as school desegregation orders and employment discrimination claims. The White-Non-White paradigm is injurious, because instead of promoting equality, it promotes the dominance of whiteness. "White" becomes the singular point of reference for all other races; if one is not White, the "other" race to which one belongs is immaterial.

Comparrative Essay of Cooking Programs Essay Example for Free

Comparrative Essay of Cooking Programs Essay â€Å"Nigella Bites† And â€Å"Surfing the Menu† are two cooking programmes that share the same end result of delicious foods, but are very different in the contrasting aspects of social context, form and purpose which all help to reflect the cooking styles and personalities of their hosts. The atmosphere and contents of both shows generally appeal to the audiences of a different social status and/or age group. Set in Britain, the programme â€Å"Nigella Bites† appeals to an audience who belong to more of a winter climate. Each episode is formatted as a very comfortable and inviting home movie, using amateur camera work making it look more personal and family orientated. The show is filmed in Nigella’s own house and kitchen allowing her audience to feel welcomed. Images and visuals of illustrated foods and vibrant pink colours are shown throughout the opening credits with Jazz music engagingly flowing in the background. Many of her episodes begin with the view of a freezing British winter day/night and then follow onto Nigella being in the warmth of her own home. â€Å"Surfing the Menu† is a travelogue formatted programme set in Australia which promotes different towns and locations around the country in each episode. Along with catching/acquiring their own ingredients before cooking their meals, the hosts Curtis Stone and Ben O’Donoghue aka â€Å"Bender† also make sure to interact with the culture of each location they shoot in, making the Programme very relaxed as well as educational to the viewers. The opening credits consist of a range of photo shots and bright colours that go with the themes of the tourism and the outdoors. While the boys are traveling cameras makes sure to capture different angles and views of the scenery, including aerial views of the land around them. The atmosphere for each show is evidently contrasted; â€Å"Nigella Bites† is more of a matured cooking programme compared to the jovial attitude of â€Å"Surfing the Menu†. Both shows have very different exterior climates which appeal to different audiences: Nigella pursues the comforts of the indoor warmth compared to the blistering cold of its winters outside. This tends to attract those who like to spend their time inside during the cold/wet days, such as women and mothers living in a winter climate wanting to create more wholesome and warm meals for their friends and families. Nigella showcases a particular social lifestyle that represents the enjoyment involved in cooking and preparing meals for the ones that are dear to her. â€Å"Surfing the Menu† however attracts, and is more of a target to those who are more outgoing, young and interested in the experience of Australia’s summer cultures. Both international and Australians viewers are drawn in by the advertised beauty of the scenery captured during each episode because of all the multicultural nature and Australian cuisine involved, advertising tourism within the country. Nigella is portrayed as a very family orientated and homely person who always enjoys her food and loves to cook. She has a proper upper-class British accent and speaks in a husky, somewhat seductive voice. Nigella is currently in her late thirties and is seen as very sophisticated to her viewers, usually she cooks on her own but once her meal is cooked and ready she shows her serving and sharing the meals with her children and/or all of her family and friends. The way that she describes her ingredients and recipes along with the terminology she uses such as â€Å"stunning†, â€Å"simply beautiful† and â€Å"absolutely gorgeous† makes it sound as if she is in love with what she is making, the endearment and emphasis she puts in makes her so believable and intriguing. Nigella tends to mainly use informal measurements and verbs to describe what she is doing which remind you of how a mother figure would teach you how to cook. Ben and Curtis on the other hand are completely different to Nigella, ‘typical Aussie blokes’ is what they are stereotyped as. Both in their mid-twenties, always wearing informal and comfortable ‘beach clothing’ and using a lot of Australian ‘slang’ such as â€Å"Mate† and â€Å"Chuck it on the barbie† the boys give off a very relaxed and casual feeling to their viewers. The meals that Nigella prepares are heavy winter foods which are more time consuming but are perfect for those who have the time and love to cook. The â€Å"Surfing the Menu† recipes on the other hand are light summer foods that are quick and easy to prepare. Nigella makes sure her cupboards are full of all the different ingredients that she uses and she then gives her viewers an insight of the different things that she likes to always make sure she has stocked, what they can be used for and why they come in handy for her to have around. Curtis and Ben use ingredients that are imported into the local stores such as stir-fry noodles that they cook on an Australian barbeque, along with many other ingredients that they go out and personally collect from the local produce or catch on their own in each episode. As well as collecting their own ingredients from each place they visit, each meal they prepare always relates to the location they’re in making the programme even more entertaining and educational. Typical cooking program camera techniques are used throughout both programs â€Å"Nigella Bites† and â€Å"Surfing the Menu† these techniques include: close-ups on the hands on action with the food preparation, and snap shots throughout the shows that are used to cut out the un-necessary preparation time and skip straight to the cooking, then to the completed meals. To show their personalities and connect with their audience both of the programmes hosts make sure to speak and look directly towards/into the camera whenever possible. â€Å"Surfing the Menu† also uses aerial shots during the car travels to capture the different scenery around them. Highlighted sounds of the cooking appliances and food being prepared are accompanied by soft music underneath throughout each episode in both â€Å"Nigella Bites† and â€Å"Surfing the Menu† to draw more attention to what they are doing. The contrasting features between both â€Å"Nigella Bites† and â€Å"Surfing the Menu† such as; social context, form, purpose, audiences and the atmosphere differ due to the personalities and cooking styles of their hosts. Nigella’s show expresses her love for warm homely meals and cooking for her family and friends during the cold British winters and the programme is filmed as a home movie style, which gives off an inviting comfortable feel to her audience. Curtis and Ben’s show however, reflects on the adventures and experiences of local cultures during the warm Australian summer days and is filmed as a travelogue. Both of the programmes hosts have very similar camera etiquettes and happy/warm, engaging mannerisms.

Oedipus The King :: Oedipus Rex, Sophocles

Oedipus the King: Appetite for Destruction Of all the tragedies that Greek playwright Sophocles created in his illustrious career, the one that stands out as his masterpiece, and quite possibly one of the greatest of all the Greek tragedies is Oedipus the King. The tragedy focuses on the life and downfall of the unfortunate King Oedipus, who was condemned by the oracle at an early age to murder his father and marry his mother. Despite the oracle’s grim prediction, Oedipus was responsible for his own downfall due to his overly proud and impetuous attitude, and his own intellect and diligence. In the polis of Thebes, Oedipus was the not only the king but he was also the hero of the community. The security and health of the community depended on him and he was expected to meet every urgent crisis with a plausible solution. He was celebrated for acting decisively and making decisions and then acting on them. With all his past accomplishments and achievements, Oedipus developed a strong sense of confidence, which fueled his over inflated ego. Unfortunately, when circumstances did not turn out in his favor, such as in his conflict with Tiresias the blind prophet, Oedipus became rigid and refused to see the problem on any one else’s terms except his own. Oedipus only wanted things to go the way he thought they should go. Whatever stood in his way he tried to overcome publicly and without any compromise from the opposing party, which was illustrated in his argument in front of the palace with Creon over the murder of the former King Laius. Ultimately his attitude of confid ence with no compromises contributed to his disastrous and sad end. In most cases, intelligence and diligence are valuable traits to possess, but for Oedipus they contributed to his eventual downfall. Oedipus was known for being extremely intelligent and was very talented at solving riddles. To earn the right to be King of Thebes, Oedipus solved a riddle, which as a result removed a plague from the land. In the play, Oedipus is again faced with another plague in his kingdom and this time the riddle was to discover who murdered King Laius. Using his intelligence, he again solves the riddle, but tragically for Oedipus he discovers that he is the murderer and he ultimately has to punish himself for the crime. Throughout his search all the people around him were urging him to use caution in his search, and even his wife Jocasta ordered him to abandon his quest, citing that the oracle was mistaken and was a hoax.

The evolution of management accounting

This paper starts with introducing importance of management accounting literature and reviews the historical development of cost accounting from 1850 through 2000, includes origin of management accounting and controlling practices. In addition it identifies the management accounting theoretical development, and the main critiques that shapes the development of management accounting, thus creating a ground for future research or reviews.As well as it presents challenge existed in the field and concludes by advocating field-based research to discover the innovative ractices being introduced by organizations successfully adapting to the new organization and technology of manufacturing. 1. Introduction 1. 1 Importance of knowing the literature A wealth of literature exists regarding the historical development and evolution of management accounting so accountants have many reasons to study this literature. It helps them to understand the sources of many of today's practices; it leads to r ediscovery of old ideas that have been lost.It enables one to support proposal with past writings quoting from an important work and can help them to sell a proposal or ive credence to an idea. As with study of any literature, it provides accountants with opportunities to improve their verbal abilities, both written and oral and familiarizes accountants with the intellectuals and innovators who have shaped how account proactive their profession in addition it illustrates the state of the professionalism of the field and leads them to an awareness of the controversial topics in the field.In addition to the financial summaries, the railroads developed a system of reporting operating statistics for evaluating and con-trolling the performance of their sub-units. Statistics such as cost per ton-mile and the operating ratio (operating in-come divided by sales) were routinely reported for various sub-units and classes of service. Later in the 1880s, the newly formed mass distribution [Chan dler, 1977, Chapter 7(cited on R. kaplan1984)] and mass production enterprises adapted the internal accounting reporting systems ot the railroads to their own organizations.The nationwide wholesale and retail distributors produced highly detailed data on sales turnover by department and by geographic area, generating performance reports very similar to those that would be sed 100 years later to monitor the performance of revenue centers in the firm. Mass production enterprises formed in the 1880s for the manufacture of tobacco products, matches, detergents, photographic film, and flour. Most important was the emergence of the metal-making and fabricating industries.Andrew Carnegie's steel company was a particularly good example of the importance of cost accounting information for managing the enterprise. Shinn's [the general manager's] major achievement was the development of statistical data needed for coordination and control. Shinn did this in part by introducing the voucher syst em of ac-counting hich though it had long been used by railroads was not yet in general use in manufacturing concerns. By this method, each department listed the amount and cost of materials and labor used on each order as it passed through the sub-unit.Such information per-mitted Shinn to send Carnegie monthly statements and, in time, even daily ones providing data on the costs of ore, limestone, coal, coke, pig iron, Spiegel, molds, refractoriness, repairs, fuel, and labor for each ton of rails produced. These cost sheets [were] called â€Å"marvels of ingenuity and careful accounting. † These cost sheets were Carnegie's primary instrument of control. Costs ere Carnegie's obsession†¦. Carnegie concentrated . .. on the cost side of the operating ratio, comparing current costs of each operating unit with those of previous months, and where possible, with those of other enterprises†¦.These controls were effective†¦.. â€Å"The minutest details of cost of materi als and labor in every department appeared from day to day and week to week in the accounts; and soon every man about the place was made to realize it. The men felt and often remarked that the eyes of the company were always on them through the books. † In addition to using their cost sheets to evaluate the performance of department anagers, foremen and men, Carnegie, Shinn and Jones relied on them to check the quality and mix of raw materials.They used them to evaluate improvements in process and in product and to make decisions on developing by-products. In pricing, particularly non standardized items like bridges, cost-sheets were invaluable. The company would not accept a contract until its costs were carefully estimated [Chandler, 1977, pp. 267-268] (cited on R kaplan1984). Interestingly, the development of these elaborate cost reporting and estimation schemes by the 1880s focused exclusively on direct labor and materials, what we call today prime or direct costs; hat is, little attention was paid to overhead and capital costs.Carnegie's concern was almost wholly with prime costs. He and his associates appear to have paid almost no attention to overhead and depreciation. This too reflected on the railroad experience. As on the railroads, administrative over-head and sales expenses were comparatively small and estimated in a rough fashion. Likewise, Carnegie relied on replacement accounting by charging re-pair, maintenance, and renewals to operating costs. Carnegie had, therefore, no certain way of determining capital invested in his plant nd equipment.As on the railroads, he evaluated performance in terms of the operating ratio (the cost of operations as a percentage of sales) and profits in terms ot a percentage ot book value ot stock issues [ n I , 1977, p. 268 (cited on C and er R. kaplan 1984)]. Thus, cost accounting practice in the late 1800s did not include the allocation of fixed costs to products or to periods. Despite the enormous capital i nvested in these new manufacturing enterprises, there was apparently no systematic method for forecasting investments or coordinating and monitoring capital investment.Andrew Carnegie is reported to have undertaken almost any new investment that would reduce his prime operating costs: Carnegie's operating strategy was to push his own direct cost below those of all competitors so that he could charge prices that would always ensure enough demand to keep his plant running at full capacity†¦. Secure in his knowledge that his costs were the lowest in the industry, Carnegie then engaged in merciless price cutting during economic recessions. While competing firms went under, he still made profits [Johnson, 1981, p. 515] (cited on R. kaplan1984).Management accounting development was highly nfluenced by scientific management theory, based on which accounting received academic basis and directions for purposeful development (Chatfield, 1977 cited on Darius Gliaubicas (2012)) The scienti fic management movement in American industry provided a major impetus to the further development of cost accounting practices [Chandler, 1977, pp. 272-283] cited on R. kapaln(1984)). The major fgures in this movement were engineers who, by detailed Job analyses and time and motion studies, determined â€Å"scientific† standards for the amount of labor and material required to produce a given unit of output.These standards were used to provide a basis for paying workers on a piece-work basis, and to determine bonuses for workers who were highly productive. The names associated with developing the scientific management approach include Frederick Taylor, Harrington Emerson, A. Hamilton Church, and Henry Townen. This approach included not only the development of work standards but also a new form of organization, supplementing the traditional operating or line functions with staff function designed â€Å"not to accomplish work, but to set up standards and ideals, so that the lin e may work more efficiently.The â€Å"scientific management† advocates also started the practice of measuring and allocating overhead costs to products. Innovations came primarily in deter-mining indirect costs or what was termed the â€Å"factory burden,† and in allocating both indirect and direct (or prime) costs to each of the different products produced by a plant or factory so as to develop still more accurate unit costs†¦. In a series of articles published in the Engineering Magazine in 1901, Alexander Church began to devise ways to account for a machine's â€Å"idle time,† for money lost when machines were not in use.Henry Gantt and others then developed methods of btaining standard costs based on standard volume of throughput by determining standard costs based on a standard volume of, say, 80 percent of capacity; these men defined the increased unit costs of running below standard volume as â€Å"unabsorbed bur-den† and decreased unit costs over that volume as â€Å"over-absorbed burden† [Chandler, 1977, pp. 278-279] (cited on R. kaplan 1984) Also, under performance of scientific management theory, a need for operative and perspective information has formed (Fleischman ; Tyson, (2007) cited on Darius Gliaubicas (2012)).Metcalfe ideas had high influence on cost accounting development. In his book â€Å"The cost of manufactures†, published in 1885, he discussed separation of direct and indirect costs in order to make ettective management decisions . Formation ot modern management accounting methods, were also influenced by General Motors ideas. In 1919 it was created promoting salary system; started implementing flexible budgets, developed transfer pricing method Du Pont Powder company, was one of the first USA companies, that started developing several activities at the same time Oohnson ; Kaplan, 1987).When company diversified its activities, management required such accounting system that ould help contr olling all products value chains, coordinate performance of individual subdivisions, while meeting owners' interests. Du Pont company's executives, wanted to control return on capital that owners invested, and at the same time Justify investment financing decisions. That is why was created ROI ratio. When World War I ended, cost accounting became a profession (Loft, 1990).Under the influence of great depression in 1933, USA government established mandatory provision, to form fair practice codex, which would include paying employees' reasonable wages and determining weekly working hours. Therefore cost accounting pecialists had to ensure two main functions, while following fair practice codex: (1) ensure, that prices would not be lower than prime costs and (2) to harmonize costs calculating rules and methods Oohnson & Kaplan. 1987).During World War II, the importance of standard cost accounting method has reduced, because government wanted to trade only with those companies, whose pr oduction costs were close to actual, not standard costs (Fleischman & Tyson, 2007). About 1954, management accounting definition was mentioned for the first time. In Simon (1954) research that included employees from 7 biggest USA companies, it was ound that management accounting information is used to fulfill three main control functions: (1) registering performance results, (2) managing attention and 3) solving problems.Performance results were given in financial reports. Attention managing was based on comparison of plans budgets and actual results. Problem solving function has been implemented by making decisions, such as: manufacture or buy, what if analysis or alternative pricing decisions. Also, a need to calculate direct production costs, to perform absorption and marginal costing has grown at about 1950 (Chatfield, 1977). In 1960s, when USA companies influence in worldwide economy has decreased, responsibility accounting has formed, which allowed determining who is responsi ble for individual scope (Kaplan, 1983).In 1970s first costs managing accounting methods were created. Activity based cost management method, and value adding costs and product lifecycle analysis methods were formed (Hoskin & Macve, 1988). In 1981 strategic management accounting definition was introduced. Management accounting purpose became helping company's management to manage its strategies Oohnson ; Kaplan, 1987). Porter (1985) created value chain model. Also, at 1985, competitors' analysis has grown stronger, because of five competitive forces, PEST and SWOT methods (Porter, 1985).These methods allowed assessing, not only company's internal environment, but also to foresee performance risk factors in external environment, this way creating a competitive advantage. In 1987, customers' profitability analysis was discussed (AnandaraJan & Christopher, p an & Norton ( ) created a balanced scorecard system, which allowed company's management to transform objectives provided in strat egy, vision and mission into performance indicators, which allow assessing the success of mplementing competitive performance strategy. Darius Gliaubicas (2012 P. 4-26) 3. Origin and Managerial Controlling Practices of Management Accounting In the period preceding the Industrial Revolution, economic advancement predominantly occurred in the Middle and Far East (Chatfield 1977 ). Some of the oldest surviving business records dace back to the Chaldean-Babylonian, Assyrian and Sumerian civilizations. Various types of service businesses and small industries were established and the oldest known commercial documents date from 3500 BC (Chatfield 1977:5). In Babylonia formal legal codes made record keeping compulsory.The most famous is the Code of Hanunurabi, which required that an agent selling goods for a merchant should give the merchant a sealed memorandum quoting prices. All these records were kept on clay tablets (Chatfield 1977:5) In Egypt the introduction of papyrus as a writing su rface made writing less cumbersome and permitted a wider use of supporting documents. Despite the early progress, the development virtually stagnated for several thousand years. This might be ascribed to the inability to express goods in terms of a single substance (monetary unit) (Chatfield 1977:7) (M. shotterl 999. p . 244).Once of the oldest and largest surviving records of a system of responsibility accounting was maintained by Zenon. a manager of a private estate of the finance minister of Ptolemy II in 256 BC. Each of the supervisors of the areas of the estate had to render frequent accounts of all transactions. The accounts were rised and audited on a regular basis. This form of accounting system spread throughout the Mediterranean and the Middle East and was later adopted and modified by the Romans. The essential aim of this form of accounting system was the protection of the property of the owners (M . hotter 1999 p. 4)1. None of the above ancient forms of accounting provid ed any aid for decision-making or resembled cost accounting. Until the Industrial Revolution, records did not allow for separate costing by product lines and mad: no distinction between capital and revenue expenditure. This resulted in an inability to estimate the profitability of a product, a capital investment or an increased investment in labour (Chatfield 1977:11) The Industrial Revolution which gained momentum roughly between 1760 and 1830 in this period accounting historian place the exact time as the origin of management accounting is 1812 (H.T. Johnson and R. S. Kaplan, 1987) the industrial revolution can be ascribed to a vast number of reasons, but the most well known arc the technical inventions that reformed the manufacturing world. These include the steam engine by James Viratt in 1765, the spinning Jenny by James Hargreaves between 1764 and 1767 and Arkwright's spinning frame in 1768 (Ashton 1948) This period Britain was also associated with a sharp growth in the popula tion, a more extensive use of capital, and the conversion of rural into urban communities as well as a rise in new social classes (Ashton 1948 ).In the United States of America the effect of the industrial Revolution was not as marked and immediate as in the United Kingdom. Although it did have an indirect effect on the US economy. the factors that had the most remarkable effect were the corning of the railways and the telegraph around 1840 (Chandler 1977). After 1840 and especially trom 860 the railways and the telegraph revolutionized t traditional ways of production and distribution.Coal provided a cheap and flexible source of energy which enabled the railways to provide the fast, regular and dependable transportation so essential to high volumes of production and istribution (Chandler 1977:79). Technological innovation, the expanding income per capita as well as the rapid growth of the poralation increased the complexity of existing production and distribution processes and incr eased the volume and the speed of transactions.The existing market mechanism was often no longer able to co-ordinate these transactions effectively. According to Chandler (1977:484 ) created a need for administrative co-ordination. To address this need entrepreneur's large multi-unit organizations and appointed managers to administer them. (M . shotter 1999 P. 1 5) According to traditional history management accounting evolved from the techniques of cost accounting that were developed in England before and during the Industrial Revolution (M. shotter 1999 p 216).The need for cost accounting developed when the double-entry bookkeeping system was not able to provide owners with product costs for purposes of pricing, particularly in the engineering sector. As engineering firms grew more and more competitive, cost estimates were needed for bidding on special contracts for which no market prices existed (Chatfield 1977:159). At that stage manufacturers guarded their cost methods as indus trial ecrets and bookkeeping texts generally ignored the subject (Chatfield 1977:1 59 ).Edwards, et al. (1995 ) suggest that management accounting was purely concerned with making the best use of available resources within certain constraints. Management accounting was viewed as an independent variable†, which passively served the needs of the organization and neither neither shaped nor was shaped by the organization or society Support for their view can be found in the number of case studies of archival records of organizations that operated before and during the Industrial Revolution in the United Kingdom.In 1740 the accountant of the Melincryddan Smelting Works distinguished between variable and fixed cost while deciding on the most profitable location, whilst Cyfartha Iron Works was recharging production overheads to cost centers and writing off general overheads to the profit and loss account in the 1790s (Comes 1996:16). Walsh & Stewart (1993) suggest that they found evi dence of the implementation of accounting systems for purposes of managerial control in two separate studies, carried out before and during the Industrial Revolution.In their study of the operations of the New Mills Woollen Manufactory for the period 1681 to 1703, they ound evidence of costing for purposes of pricing as well as information to control the flow of material. At New Lanark Cotton Factory, which was studied from 1800 to 1812, they found a much more sophisticated system of control over not only materials but also over the laborers. Accounting was used for the purpose of measuring productivity as well as to control the behavior of laborers (Walsh & Stewart 1993:790).Edwards et at. (1995: 6) ascribe the difference between their view of the origin of management accounting and the other views mentioned below to the differences in environmental circumstances between countries. They contrast the long industrial history, steady rate ot economic development and relatively ample s upply of labour of the United Kingdom with the United States where industrial development started much later and industrialization took place more rapidly against a background of labour shortages.Edwards et at. (1995) are also of the opinion that it is unduly restrictive to equate the development of management accounting to the use of accounting information to control human activity. As discussed above, they advocate a much broader role for management accounting. M. shotter1999 . P217) Chandler (1977) disagrees with the aforementioned view of management accounting being an â€Å"independent variable† and suggests that it played an important role in the development of the giant firm.According to him modern cost accounting originated during the middle of the nineteenth century with the advent of the railways and later the chemical, steel and metal working industries in the United States of America. These organizations were growing in size and their processes were growing in com plexity, creating a need for cost information to determine prices and evaluate the performance of the businesses.He is of the opinion that management accounting did not merely arise because the growing organization needed it, but that it facilitated this growth by means of focusing attention on the advantages of buying internally rather than through the market. Chandler also suggests that management accounting was not merely applied for the purpose of product costing, but also to aid internal control. Williamson's (1975) transaction cost theory supports Chandler's view. He suggests that management accounting is a means of determining the prices of products in large corporations in the absence of a market system.The cost of co-ordination internal transactions by means of management accounting is lower than the cost incurred when entering into these transactions through the market, thus Justifying its existence. A study by Fleischman, Hoskin & Macve (1995)(cited on M. shotter1999) of the Boulton & Watt engineering practice during the beginning of the eighteenth century revealed that costing techniques to determine piece rates for laborers were ‘once-off exercises to establish fair prices, and thereafter only received sporadic attention.Based on these findings, they essentially agree with Chandler (1977), Williamson 1975) and Johnson and Kaplan (1987) that entrepreneurs did not really need cost accounting, as long as they were paying market prices for the output of each worker. Similarly, Fleischman et al. (1995: 171) agree that detailed attention to the efficiency and control of labour was only required when entrepreneurs took the manufacturing process out of the hands of contractors and brought the workforce under their direct control.To sum up all evolution of management we should analyses four stage as follows The demand for information for internal planning and control apparently arose in he first half of the 19th century when firms, such as textile mi lls and rail-roads, had to devise internal administrative procedures to coordinate the multiple processes involved in the pertormance ot the basic activity (the conversion ot raw materials into finished goods by textile mills, the transportation of passengers and freight by the railroads). In the first stage, management accounting is seen as a technical activity necessary for the pursuit of the organizational objectives while in the second stage it is seen as a management activity performing a staff role to support line management hrough the provision of information for planning and control. In the third and fourth stages management accounting is seen as an integral part of the management process With improved technology, information is available in real time to all levels of management.The focus, therefore, shifts from the provision of information to the use of the available resources to create value for all the stakeholders. Figure 1 shows four stages of management accounting evol ution and how each stage encapsulates the previous ones. 3. Reduction of waste of business resources 4. Creation of value through effective use of resources Source: IFAC, 1998: 6. imported from (Nelson Maina Waweru,2010 p . 167) Fig. 1 . The evolution of management accounting 4. Management Accounting Theories Regardless of how management accounting emerged, the economic framework played a central role in shaping it.Other subject areas, such as management science, organization theory and lately behavioral sciences were undoubtedly present, but economics and specially the marginal list principles of neoclassical economics, had the dominant influence in the last century. The evolution of management accounting in the last century can be also assessed on historical grounds. Figure 2 below shows our main theoretical frameworks that can be used to describe the development of management accounting. They are then discussed in the subsections that follow. 2 Management accounting development : theoretical tramework 4. 1 Old conventional wisdom. Traditional textbooks have a list of topics that, despite the differences in orientation, are common to all. It is agreed that the final developments in management accounting occurred in the early decades of the twentieth century to support the growth of multi-activity and diversified corporations such as Du Pont (Kaplan, 1982 and 1984; Scapens, 1985; Boritz, 1988; Johnson and Kaplan, 1987; Atkinson, 1989; and Puxty, 1993) cited on(Nelson Maina Waweru, 2010) .This stage is based on the absolute truth approach and principles of management which were rooted in an engineering view. Giglioni and Bedeian (1974) cited on (Nelson Maina Waweru, 2010) provide a good overview of the roots of management control issues that lie in early managerial thought. Emerson (1912)( cited on Nelson Maina Waweru, 2010) may be credited with the first meaningful contribution to the development of 20th century management control theory, in ‘The Twelve Principles of Efficiency where he heavily stresses the importance of control.Church (1914) cited on (Nelson Maina Waweru, 2010) also contributed to the development of early management control theory; for him one of five organic functions of administration was control, identified as the mechanism that coordinates all the other functions and in addition supervises their work. Fayol (1949) cited on (Nelson Maina Waweru, 2010) identified control as one of the five functions of management, control being the verification of whether everything occurs in conformity with the plan adopted, the instructions issued and principles established.It is interesting to note that Lawson 1920) cited on (Nelson Maina Waweru, 2010) wrote the first text devoted entirely to the subject of management control, while Urwick (1928) cited on (Nelson Maina Waweru, 2010) became the first author to identify a set of five control principles: responsibility, evidence, uniformity, comparison and utility. One of the f irst empirical studies of corporate organization and control was performed by Holden, Fish and Smith (1941), where one of its conclusions was that control is a prime responsibility of top management.Historical studies have played a conspicuous role in management accounting in recent years. Both research and practice have been strongly influenced by Kaplan (1984) and Johnson and Kaplan (1987), cited on (Nelson Maina Waweru, 2010) who call for more relevant product costing. As a precedent, Chandler (1962 and 1977) cited on (Nelson Maina Waweru, 2010) showed the importance of cost and management control information to support the growth of large transportation, production and distribution enterprises during the perid of 1850-1925.Management accounting systems evolved in the late 1880s to provide information about internal transactions, and by mid 1920s they were being used for diverse activities like lanning, controlling, motivating, analyzing and evaluating (Boritz, 1988). Johnson (19 81 and 1983), Johnson and Kaplan (1987) and Lee (1987) cited on (Nelson Maina Waweru, 2010) made a convincing case for the development of managerial accounting practices in the US. 4. 2 Agency theory. The irruption of economics in the field led academicians to work on very elegant Mathematical models.Agency theory and transaction costs are a refinement of the mathematical modeling based on economic concepts and theory. The agency theory assumes that there exists a contractual relationship between members of a firm. It recognizes the existence of two groups of people; principals or superiors and agents or subordinates. The principals will delegate decision making authority to the agents and expect them to perform certain functions in return for a reward.Both the principals and the agents are assumed to be rational economic persons motivated solely by self-interest but may differ with respect to preferences, beliefs and information densen and Meckling, 1976) cited on (Nelson Maina Waw eru, 2010). The principal/ agent relationship can exist throughout any organization and usually starts from the shareholder director nd ends with the supervisor-shop floor worker. In an organization context, which involves uncertainty and asymmetric information, the agent's actions may not always be directed to the best interests of the principal.Agents' pursuit of their self interest instead of those of the principal is what is called the agency problem densen and Meckling, 1976) cited on (Nelson Maina Waweru, 2010) to counter this behavior, the principal may monitor the agents' performance through an accounting information system. The owner can also limit such aberrant behavior by incurring auditing, ccounting and monitoring costs and by establishing, also at a cost, an appropriate incentive scheme densen and Meckling, 1976). ited on (Nelson Maina Waweru, 2010) Agency theory is based on several assumptions: Individuals are assumed to be rational and to have unlimited computational ability. They can anticipate and assess the probability of all possible future contingencies. The contracts are assumed to be costless and accurately enforceable by courts. The contracts are expected to be comprehensive and complete in the sense that for each verifiable event, they specify the actions to be taken by the contracting parties. However, this assumption may not hold in most developing countries where Judicial systems still lack the necessary resources to act efficiently.Both principals and agents are motivated solely by self- interest. The agent is assumed to have private information to which the principal cannot gain access without cost. The agent is usually assumed to be work averse and risk adverse (Batman, 1990: 343) cited on (Nelson Maina Waweru, 2010). Furthermore, agency theory concentrates on problems encountered by the owner when the manager relies on asymmetric information to cheat and shrink (Mackintosh, 1994). Asymmetric information is not a one-way street a s is assumed by agency theory.Owners would also have access to private information, which they would use in negotiating contracts. However, according to Baiman(1990), the above criticisms are less compelling if we view the principal-agent model as a frame work for analyzing issues and highlighting problems which arise and must be considered in applying managerial accounting procedures to real world situations. Consequently, agency theory offers insights into some of the tough issues and difficult problems involved in he design of management accounting systems. . 3 Contingency theory. The contingent control literature is based on the premise that a correct match between contingent factors and a firm's control package will result in desired outcomes. Contingencytheory explains how an appropriate accounting information system can be designed to match the organization structure, technology, strategy and environment of the firm. It suggests that universal applications are inappropriate a nd a framework for analysis is developed to suggest alternative performance measures,

Nestl S Corporate Strategy Analysis

Rational model 2 l. Vision statements Concerned with the desired future state of the company. What do we want to be?  « I will bully a motor car for the great multitude†¦ Lit will be so low In price that no man making good wages will be unable to own one†¦ When I am through, everyone will be able to afford one and everyone will have one. Henry Ford Me are committed to enhancing the quality of consumers lives through nutrition, health, and wellness. Our mission of â€Å"Good Food, Good Life† is to provide the best tasting, most nutritious choices In a wide range of food and beverage categories and eating occasions, from morning to night. † Nestle A. Goal B. Scope C. Advantages II. Mission statement Provide stakeholders with clarity about the overriding purpose of the organization.Why do we exist? â€Å"To organize the world's Information and make It universally accessible and useful† Google â€Å"To be the most successful computer company in the world at delivering the best customer experience in markets we serve† Dell Ill. Goals French market IV. Objectives Principal objective of corporate strategy: to maximize shareholders wealth through achieving maximum sustainable profits. Societal value add Increase shareholder value

Free Essays on Impressionism

American Impressionism by Chris Nicholson In the years following the Civil War, American art underwent a fundamental shift. The traditional Romantic style of painting, which focused on portraying majestic scenes in stark, vivid lines and shapes, gave way to a new concern for light and atmosphere. It was the age of Impressionism. Impressionism was not indigenous to America. In fact, its origins lay in France, which had long been at the fore of artistic innovation. The French Impressionists threw off the shackles of traditional painting in favor of an airier, lighter style. The purpose of Impressionism was to convey the impression of an object by capturing the patterns of light and color on and surrounding it. There were no sharp outlines or definite edges; everything was very ephemeral, almost illusory. But what factors were responsible for this movement? Why did it become popular in America so much more so than in any other country? Wherein lay the Impressionist appeal? These are important questions. For some time during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, American artists had scoffed at European art as too stuffy and urbane. The Americans drew inspiration from the beauty of their native landscape, turning to naturalist and romantic styles to portray the land they loved. The Literary World wrote, â€Å"What comparison is there between the garden landscapes of England or France and the noble scenery of the Hudson, or the wild witchery of some of our unpolluted lakes and streams? One is man’s nature, the other, God’s.† However, after the horrific Civil War, this proud view of a â€Å"New Eden† was shattered. Soon Americans were turning elsewhere for inspiration. It is interesting to note that while dozens of Americans were studying in Paris in the mid-1800’s, thousands came there in the post-war years. It was in this time that the Impressionist movement began in France. Thus, many Americans were about to discover t... Free Essays on Impressionism Free Essays on Impressionism American Impressionism by Chris Nicholson In the years following the Civil War, American art underwent a fundamental shift. The traditional Romantic style of painting, which focused on portraying majestic scenes in stark, vivid lines and shapes, gave way to a new concern for light and atmosphere. It was the age of Impressionism. Impressionism was not indigenous to America. In fact, its origins lay in France, which had long been at the fore of artistic innovation. The French Impressionists threw off the shackles of traditional painting in favor of an airier, lighter style. The purpose of Impressionism was to convey the impression of an object by capturing the patterns of light and color on and surrounding it. There were no sharp outlines or definite edges; everything was very ephemeral, almost illusory. But what factors were responsible for this movement? Why did it become popular in America so much more so than in any other country? Wherein lay the Impressionist appeal? These are important questions. For some time during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, American artists had scoffed at European art as too stuffy and urbane. The Americans drew inspiration from the beauty of their native landscape, turning to naturalist and romantic styles to portray the land they loved. The Literary World wrote, â€Å"What comparison is there between the garden landscapes of England or France and the noble scenery of the Hudson, or the wild witchery of some of our unpolluted lakes and streams? One is man’s nature, the other, God’s.† However, after the horrific Civil War, this proud view of a â€Å"New Eden† was shattered. Soon Americans were turning elsewhere for inspiration. It is interesting to note that while dozens of Americans were studying in Paris in the mid-1800’s, thousands came there in the post-war years. It was in this time that the Impressionist movement began in France. Thus, many Americans were about to discover t...

Geoff the Pedantic Elf A Christmas Proofreading Story

Geoff the Pedantic Elf A Christmas Proofreading Story Geoff the Pedantic Elf: A Christmas Proofreading Story ‘Twas the day after Christmas, when all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse. This suited Santa Clause just fine. It had been a busy festive period, after all, culminating in his customary, physics-defying journey around the world to deliver gifts to all the good boys and girls (he delegated the naughty list these days for efficiency). The fact he uses such an old-fashioned mode of transport makes it even more impressive. Now, though, his work completed, Santa was enjoying a well-earned sit down in his office. He was just pouring himself a celebratory brandy, in fact, when someone knocked on the door. â€Å"Come in!† called Santa to the knocker. The door opened a crack. Geoff, Santa’s top admin elf, sidled in nervously. â€Å"Can I help you, young man?† asked Santa, chuckling to himself (he knew well that Geoff was 974 years old, which is fairly venerable even for an elf). â€Å"It was a good idea of yours to automate the Christmas list system this year,† he added, encouragingly. Are those even real glasses, Geoff? â€Å"Umm, thats actually what  I need to talk about,† said Geoff, avoiding eye contact with his boss. â€Å"We’ve had a few complaints.† â€Å"Complaints?† bellowed Santa, leaping to his feet and towering over the elf. â€Å"From whom?† Geoff cowered, but managed a response: â€Å"Parents!† he squeaked, â€Å"It seems that there might have been some typos in the Christmas list!† â€Å"Typos? Like what?† Santa grumbled, reaching for his tablet computer and opening the Good Boys and Girls app that Geoff had developed to handle the Christmas list this year. The head elf watched Santa struggle with the device for a few minutes, then gently took it off him and navigated to the â€Å"User Feedback† section. â€Å"Here,† he said, â€Å"This one is from a mother who says you crept into her little girl’s room and performed neural surgery on her in the middle of the night.† Not something youd want to wake up to. Santa sniffed defensively. â€Å"Yes, well? The list clearly said that she wanted a ‘boy brain’.† â€Å"It did,† agreed Geoff, â€Å"But it should have said ‘toy train’.† Santa’s face, usually so ruddy, suddenly turned pale. â€Å"Oh. Well. I can see why she might be upset. I thought that sounded like a strange request.† He paused. â€Å"Was there anything else?† â€Å"Quite a few, actually,† replied Geoff. â€Å"There was a boy in Arkansas who wanted a puppy.† â€Å"What did we deliver?† asked Santa with palpable trepidation. â€Å"A yuppy, apparently. â€Å"The kid’s dad says the boy freaked out when he found a businessman sat at the end of his bed, sipping coffee and working on a laptop.† Hes cute, sure, but is he puppy cute? â€Å"I can imagine,† said Santa, slumping back into his seat. Santa’s brow furrowed as he squinted at the tablet screen. â€Å"Is that even how you spell ‘yuppie’?† â€Å"It’s a variant spelling,† explained Geoff, shrugging. â€Å"That’s what you get when you hire temps to do the data entry work, I guess.† â€Å"So, then, what do we do now?† Santa asked, looking to the elf for help. â€Å"First of all, we need to get back out there and, ahem, make some corrections,† the elf suggested. â€Å"And then, before we get started on next year, we should probably hire a proofreader.† â€Å"Good idea,† muttered Santa, before taking a deep gulp of brandy. MERRY CHRISTMAS, EVERYONE! Remember to proofread your letters to Santa next year!(Photo: Jonathan G Meath/wikimedia)

Should You Prep for the PSAT 3 Reasons Why

Should You Prep for the PSAT 3 Reasons Why SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips Even if prepping for the SAT or ACT isn't the most enjoyable of activities, it's easy to see why it's important to do well on these tests. Depending on your point of view, SAT and ACT scores are either tools that colleges use to help figure out if you're a good match for them and if you'll succeed at their schools...or are admissions gatekeepers that you have to conquer if you want to attend most American colleges*. By contrast, PSAT scores are never seen by colleges. Even if you get a perfect score on the PSAT, it's really only useful for helping you qualify for a National Merit Scholarship- something that only US citizens and permanent residents are eligible for. So why prep for the PSAT, and what do you need to know about PSAT prep if you're interested in trying it out? Keep reading to find out more about the pros and cons of focused PSAT prep (rather than joint PSAT/SAT prep) and what our PSAT prep recommendations are. *exceptions include test-optional schools and Hampshire. Why Take the PSAT? While the SAT (or ACT) is far, far more helpful to college applications than the PSAT, there still are good reasons to take the PSAT. We'll start with the most important reason: if taking the PSAT is required by your high school. If The PSAT Is Mandatory in Your School In some high schools (particularly public high schools), the PSAT is mandatory for all students. Sometimes, this just means that you'll have to take the PSAT NMSQT the fall of your junior year. Depending on your school, however, you may also have to take the PSAT NMSQT or PSAT 10 sophomore year, and indeed some students start taking PSAT-like-exams (PSATLE?) as early as 8th grade with the PSAT 8/9. Dealing with all these extra standardized tests is kind of a pain as a student, but from the high school's point of view, the PSAT is a good way to see if students are on track for college applications. No matter what point of view you look at it from, though, if it's mandatory to take the PSAT at your school, then you'll have to take the PSAT. What if, though, you don't fall into this category? Perhaps you could take the PSAT but you'd have to go to a different school to take it, or your school offers the PSAT but doesn't require students take it- should you take it anyway? In these cases, the PSAT is still worth taking for the following two reasons. Taking the PSAT Is Mandatory to Qualify for National Merit You may know that another name for the PSAT students take in the fall of 11th (and sometimes 10th) grade is the PSAT NMSQT (or National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test). That's because the only way to qualify for a National Merit Scholarship is through taking the PSAT NMSQT as a high school junior. National Merit Scholarships are merit-based (rather than need-based) awards given to students who have (through testing and other factors) qualified as National Merit Finalists. The competition for National Merit is open to high school students who: are enrolled and progressing normally towards graduation (basically, you plan to graduate high school in four years, not more or less) plan to enroll full time in college the fall after high school (no gap years!) are US citizens or US lawful permanent residents planning to become citizens We'll discuss the different kinds of scholarships you can win by becoming a National Merit Finalist (and what steps beyond the PSAT you need to take to become one), but for now, just know that if you want to win a National Merit Scholarship, you must take the PSAT NMSQT in your junior year and do extremely well. The PSAT Is Great Practice for the SAT Taking the PSAT can be a great low-stakes way to see what taking a college entrance exam will be like. You can treat it as an extra chance to get used to standardized testing without having to worry about the scores affecting your college acceptance. Learning how you react to extended periods of focus on a test, how stressed you feel doing a math test without a calculator, what the time pressure is like- you can gather tons of different data points for future SAT/ACT prep by taking the PSAT. There are fewer and fewer schools these days, even among top-tier colleges and universities, that require all SAT scores sent (notable exceptions include Yale, Georgetown, UC Berkeley and Carnegie Mellon), so if you have the time and money, you can take the real SAT just to see what it's like and not worry about your scores. However, in most public high schools, taking the PSAT is free- or at least significantly cheaper than the SAT- and its administration is built into the school day (no need to waste half a Saturday). Bottom line: the PSAT is a fine way to dip your toe into the waters of college entrance tests at low cost but under realistic conditions. Dip your toe into the water of college entrance exams with the PSAT and the sands of standardized test experience will follow. PSAT Prep vs. SAT Prep: What's the Difference? While there's a lot that remains the same between the PSAT and the SAT (including the subject areas covered and test structure), there are a few major differences between the tests that lead to differences in PSAT prep compared to SAT prep. The most important difference between the two tests is that PSAT scores are not looked at by colleges, whereas SAT scores are very much an important factor in college admissions. It's possible to argue that colleges might consider your being a National Merit Semi-Finalist when looking at your application, which indirectly relates to your PSAT score, but the SAT vastly outweighs the PSAT in importance when it comes to college admission. Because of this, PSAT prep is lower stakes than SAT prep. Another key difference between the PSAT and SAT is that the PSAT has no essay section. While the SAT essay section is optional, and more and more schools are making it optional to send SAT essay scores, there are still a number of schools (mostly highly selective colleges) that do require you to take the SAT with the essay. Therefore, students prepping for the SAT and aiming for a high score to get into top-tier schools will need to spend some of that prep time learning how to write a high-scoring SAT essay. By contrast, students studying for the PSAT don't need to bother with essay prep. Overall, the PSAT is also a little easier than the SAT, both in terms of timing and content covered. With the exception of the Writing and Language section (which has the same number of questions and is the same length on the PSAT as on the SAT), there are fewer questions per section on the PSAT than the SAT. While you have the same time per question on PSAT Reading as on SAT Reading, there are fewer questions on each passage; and both PSAT Math sections give you more time per question while asking fewer questions than the SAT Math sections do. The cumulative result of these timing differences is that you need slightly less endurance to take the PSAT than the SAT- you only have to concentrate for an hour and 45 minutes instead of two full hours. Combined with having more time to answer each Math question, these timing differences between the PSAT and SAT mean that when prepping for the PSAT, you don't have to get as good at time management as you do for the SAT. Finally, there are subtle differences between the content covered on the PSAT and SAT. As we mention in this article comparing the PSAT and SAT, there may be slightly fewer big picture and inference questions and more detail-finding questions on the PSAT than on the SAT. In addition, the PSAT Math sections contain proportionally fewer questions that require geometric and trigonometric knowledge than do the SAT Math sections. Instead, PSAT Math includes more questions (compared to SAT Math questions) on the Passport to Advanced Math topic areas, like functions and linear and nonlinear systems of equations. Your PSAT prep will reflect this difference- instead of having to cover the SAT's harder topics (that you may not have yet learned in school as an 11th grader), you can spend more time perfecting a smaller number of skills. Now that we've discussed why you should take the PSAT at all and the differences between prepping for the PSAT and the SAT, we'll move on to the debate of whether or not to prep for the PSAT. Why Do PSAT Prep? With the College Board offering free SAT prep through Khan Academy and ACT, Inc. offering paid ACT prep, it's become pretty clear that even the testing companies themselves admit that prepping for the SAT and ACT will help you get a higher score. Because the PSAT is just a slightly easier, slightly shorter version of the SAT, it makes sense that you can prep for the PSAT and increase your score the same way you can with the SAT. Since PSAT scores aren't used in college applications, however, it can be harder to figure out whether or not it makes sense for you to prep for the PSAT. To help you decide, we've laid out the arguments for the three most compelling reasons to spend time prepping for the PSAT: qualifying for National Merit, focusing on one thing at a time, and getting ready for SAT prep. Reason 1: Qualifying for the National Merit Scholarship The number one reason students take the PSAT is to qualify for the National Merit Scholarship. We have a more detailed breakdown of how the National Merit Scholarship process works in this article, but basically what happens is that you take the PSAT NMSQT in the fall of your junior year to see if you can score well enough to become a National Merit Semifinalist (which is the first step on the road to becoming a National Merit Finalist and getting a National Merit Scholarship). As a National Merit Finalist, you can win a National Merit scholarship, a scholarship from your college, or a corporate scholarship. For more info on how to get each type of scholarships, read this article explaining how you can qualify for and win a National Merit scholarship. Let's now go back to the first step of the process, which happens when you take the PSAT NMSQT in the fall (usually October or early November) of your junior year. Your PSAT score qualifies you for National Merit depending on whether your score passes the cutoff for your state. The cutoff isn't announced officially by the College Board, but it can be inferred from students receiving notification that they have or haven't become a national merit semifinalist. You can find out what your state's National Merit cutoff score was last year here. By taking an official PSAT practice test or by comparing your sophomore year score on the PSAT to the cutoff score for your state, you can get a good idea of how much prep you'll need to score high enough to pass your state's cutoff score and become a National Merit Semi-Finalist. Aiming for a National Merit Scholarship but worried your score won't qualify? If you're not sure you can self-study your way to a qualifying PSAT score, you'll love our PSAT prep program, PrepScholar. We designed our program to learn your strengths and weaknesses through advanced statistics and customize your prep to be as effective as possible for you. When you start with PrepScholar, you’ll take a diagnostic that will determine your weaknesses in over forty PSAT skills. PrepScholar then creates a study program specifically customized for you. To improve each skill, you’ll take focused lessons dedicated to each skill, with over 20 practice questions per skill. This will train you for your specific area weaknesses, so your time is always spent most effectively to raise your score. We also force you to focus on understanding your mistakes and learning from them. If you make the same mistake over and over again, we'll call you out on it. There’s no other prep system out there that does it this way, which is why we get better score results than any other program on the market. Check it out today with a 5-day free trial: Reason 2: Focusing on One Test at a Time Because PSAT prep and SAT prep are so similar, many students who are aiming for National Merit either go straight to studying for the SAT as prep for the PSAT or try to study for both tests at once. Whether or not this is effective really depends on the individual student. Some students thrive by multitasking. Whether it's doing homework while listening to music and eating dinner or preparing to take multiple SAT subject tests on one day, these students get good results when they maximize their time by doing multiple things at once. For other students, however, having to prep for multiple things at once (particularly if they're academic or test-related things like the PSAT and SAT) is so stressful that it leads to poorer performance on everything. As an example: during college, I had multiple assignments I had to hand in at the end of each finals period. Rather than work a little on each assignment each day, I found it more effective for me to focus on one project at a time and get it out of the way before going on to the next. Similarly, depending on what kind of student you are, you may find that it's more helpful to start out by focusing just on the PSAT, getting that over and done with, and then moving on to study for the SAT. This "one thing at a time" strategy works well for students who have some time during sophomore year or the summer before junior year to set aside specifically for PSAT study. CAUTION: If you're just starting to study the fall of your junior year and your prep time is limited, you're better off going straight to SAT prep. If you have to choose between PSAT prep and SAT prep, the clear choice is SAT prep. It's only if you have the time to do both that you should consider prepping for the PSAT and SAT separately. If you're feeling overwhelmed by everything you have to do for college applications, it can be helpful to prep for one test at a time. Reason 3: Getting in Gear for SAT Prep One other benefit to prepping for the PSAT is that it put you in a good place for SAT prep. As we discuss in detail in this article comparing the PSAT and SAT, there are very few content differences between the PSAT and SAT (the main difference being in the math concepts covered and the increased length of the SAT). By prepping for the PSAT, you'll be more than 75% of the way there for the SAT. You won't be able to get away without doing any SAT-specific prep (particularly for those math topics that aren't on the PSAT), but the amount of work that you'll have to do is way less than those starting on SAT prep from scratch. If the "doing more prep now means less hard prep later" argument isn't convincing, think about it in non-test prep terms. Imagine that you want to learn how to play the piano by the end of junior year of high school. You have the option of learning how to play an electric keyboard first or just starting straight on the piano. Also, for some reason there's an electric keyboard competition the fall of your junior year that could lead to you winning money; it's only open to people playing the electric keyboard, though (not people playing the piano). Because the electric keyboard and piano are so similar, if you do start out by just teaching yourself to play the electric keyboard (what the notes are, how to read music, how to do different things with your right and left hands at once, etc), you'll be most of the way there to learning the piano; all you'll have to get used to is the bigger range and using the pedals. Or in test-prep terms, if you prep for the PSAT, you'll just need to learn any pre-calc math you hadn't learned when you took the PSAT and work on time management and endurance in order to prepare for the SAT. What if you're already studying for the SAT, or don't have the time to first study for the PSAT and then for the SAT? Going back to the analogy, if you already know how to play the piano, then you don't need to do intensive prep to teach yourself how to play the electric keyboard- you just need to do a practice test to make sure you get used to playing on a simpler instrument. Or in the case of the PSAT/SAT, if you've already studied for the SAT, you just need to take a PSAT practice test to make sure you're all set for that. Basically, if you prep for the PSAT, it'll help you prep for the SAT; if you're already prepping for the SAT, that will also prep you for the PSAT. While we've gone over some of the reasons students might want to prep for the PSAT, there are also cases in which PSAT prep is unnecessary and pointless. We'll get into these cases in the next section. When PSAT Prep is Unnecessary As we mentioned above, the main reason to take the PSAT (other than your school forcing you to take it) is to qualify to apply for a National Merit Scholarship. If you're not interested in qualifying (or are ineligible) for that National Merit Scholarship, then there is no point in doing pure PSAT prep. That doesn't mean you can't prep at all- you just should jump right into prepping for the SAT (or ACT) You can still treat the PSAT as a chance to take an official standardized test and get used to what sitting and concentrating for that long at once feels like, but there's no need to prep for the PSAT in particular. Another important point that we touched on earlier is that prepping for the SAT will help you with the PSAT. If you start to prep for the SAT before your junior year (when you'd take the PSAT NMSQT), any SAT prep you do will also prepare you for the PSAT. Of course, if you're not prepping for the SAT effectively, then you won't prep for the PSAT any more effectively. But, assuming you're putting in time and effort in the right way, if you're already prepping for the SAT, there's no need to do additional PSAT prep. Summary: Is PSAT Prep Right for You? Whether or not it makes sense for you to prep for the PSAT specifically (instead of just prepping for the SAT) depends on a few different factors. We've put these factors into a checklist you can go through below to see if prepping for the PSAT is the right call for you. Should You Study for the PSAT? YES, if... NO, if... You're hoping to qualify for National Merit You don't care about National Merit You work better when focusing on prepping for one test at a time You're already prepping for the SAT anyway You want to get a head start on prepping for the SAT but don't want to prep for the SAT because you haven't learned all the math you need to know for it yet You don't have the time and just want to focus on SAT prep If you checked off all "No" answers, there's no need to do any PSAT-specific prep; instead, you should turn all your prep energies toward studying for the SAT (or ACT). However, if you checked off any of the "Yes" reasons, then it's worth thinking about doing some prep for the PSAT in particular. What's Next? Doing well on the PSAT is just the first step to winning a National Merit Scholarship. Find out how the whole process works with our complete guide to becoming a National Merit Finalist and winning the scholarship. The PSAT NMSQT is only offered once each year in the fall, but what date is it this year? We tell you when the PSAT is and when you'll get your scores in this article. Curious what the PSAT looks like? Want to try your hand at a practice test? We have a complete list of all the free official practice tests the College Board has released here. Want to improve your PSAT score by 150 points? We have the industry's leading PSAT prep program. Built by Harvard grads and SAT full scorers, the program learns your strengths and weaknesses through advanced statistics, then customizes your prep program to you so that you get the most effective prep possible. Check out our 5-day free trial today:

Terrorism Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Terrorism - Research Paper Example d political fractions), motivation is based upon global jihad, its goals are based on political and religious supremacy of Islam, threat is related to the rapid spread of religious fundamentalism and terrorism, and anti-terrorism policies can save Somalia from the negative influence of this terrorist organization. First of all, the origin of the jihadist group, named as Al-Shabaab, is indebted to the military aims of political Islam in Somalia. To be specific, Al-Shabaab originated as a military subsidiary of the Islamic Courts Union or ICU. When the ICU lost influence and support during its clash with Transitional Federal Government in Somalia (TFG), Al-Shabaab gained momentum and began to exert its influence in Africa. Besides, this terrorist organization was formed in the year 2006. One can see that the origin of this terrorist group is deeply rooted in the Islamic concept of jihad. For instance, the masterminds behind the origin of this terrorist group served in Afghanistan during late 70s. Hansen (2013) states that, â€Å"A proper exploration of the history of Al-Shabaab should start with the origins of this network, which are amongst the Somalis travelling to Afghanistan in the wake of the Soviet intervention, during the Afghan war of 1979-89† (pp.19-20). To be specific, those wh o (say, Somalis) served during this time returned to Somalia and helped the ICU while fighting against the TFG. The defeat of ICU by the TFG resulted in the fragmentation of ICU into different groups. During this time, Al-Shabaab (say, one among these fragmented groups) declared its aim, i.e., the leadership of jihadists in Africa or the fight against the foes of political Islam. One can see that Al-Shabaab amalgamated the idea of political Islam to the core of religious fundamentalism. To be specific, the leaders of this jihadist group gained the confidence of the mass by proclaiming their ultimate aim, the superiority of religion beyond the government. As pointed out, Al-Shabaab

Faults in U.S. Intelligence Operations Carried over from Persian Gulf Assignment

Faults in U.S. Intelligence Operations Carried over from Persian Gulf War I to Persian Gulf War II - Assignment Example The war was successful due to the fact that no much resource was used during the war and only estimated 300-Allied soldiers lost their lives. Twelve years down the line, the U.S. and its allies again initiated another war with Saddam Hussein in 2003 with a view to toppling his regime. The reason for Iraq’s invasion according to the then U.S. president George Walker Bush, and the then British Prime Minister Tony Blair was that their intention was to disarm Saddam of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and stop Saddam from supporting terrorist as well as liberate the people of Iraq3. The war ended after several months of fighting with the culture of Saddam Hussein in Baghdad Iraq. Despite the success in the two wars, the U.S. intelligence services have been faulted for not doing its work as expected. This was mainly manifested during the Persian Gulf War of 1991. After discovering the faults, the U.S. intelligence service took several initiatives aimed at rectifying the faults to avoid a repeat of such errors in subsequent operation. Despite these attempts, the question that one may ask is whether the US intelligence op eration made similar faults during the Persian Gulf War of 2003? The objective of this paper is to analyze whether the faults in US intelligence operations were carried over from the Persian Gulf War of 1991 to the Persian Gulf War of 2003. Intelligence department plays a major role with regard to the provision of vital information that may help country strategize in time and combat any security threat5. Provision of timely and accurate information is important because it may help a country prepare in terms of defence and put in place the necessary resource needed to prevent any security threat. This has been a major concern for the United States government since the end of the Cold War. Nevertheless, some of the intelligence services have failed the government of U.S. with regard to the provision of vital information regarding  uncertainties and early warning. This was witnessed during the Persian Gulf War of 1991 when the I MEF failed to provide a strategic warning during months Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait in 1990.

Alternative Voting System in Parliamentary Elections Essay - 1

Alternative Voting System in Parliamentary Elections - Essay Example UK has seen in many such reforms that have made it a modern democracy with elected representatives, from being a monarchic state (Secretary of State for Justice and Lord Chancellor, 2007, 9). My article will examine the current electoral changes that have been proposed, which signal the ushering in of the Alternative Voting system (AVs). This topic has been in debate in the UK parliament for quite some years, and is currently under review, in the House of Lords and the Parliament. My article will explore to find out whether the changes in the electoral processes that will bring in use of the Alternative Voting System or AVs in parliamentary elections, would actually work towards improving democracy in United Kingdom. What is AV: â€Å"AV represents a very simple change to our current First-Past-the-Post (FPTP) voting system. The principle behind AV is a no-brainer: the winner in an election should need the support of a majority of the people. AV makes this happen with ‘preference voting’. All that means for voters are swapping the ‘X’ on the ballot paper for numbers, so voters can rank the candidates in order of preference 1, 2, 3†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Electoral Reform Society, Introducing the Alternative Vote). Fig 1: (Source: Electoral Reform Society, Introducing the Alternative Vote). In this figure, we take an example of a voting centre, which has 4 candidates A, B, C and D, standing for an election, while the number of voters is taken to be 100. In the present electoral process that is known as the First-Past-the–Post or FPTP, Candidate ‘A’ has garnered the maximum number of votes, and is the clearly the winner, though he hasn’t received even 50% of the total vote share, that is, majority of the voters are not backing him.

Community Based Correctional Program Research Proposal

Community Based Correctional Program - Research Proposal Example The program is also aimed at assessing the behavioral and psychological traits of individuals in the program, which lead them to participate in chemical abuse. 1. The first objective of the program is to provide primary counseling services for the individuals who have a chemical abuse problem (Marlowe, 2010). This objective will also focus on individualized treatment of the individuals, coupled with constant monitoring and assessment of the offenders. 2. Provide the clients in the program with a highly specialized treatment service for the period in which they are in the program. This will include a completely structured treatment and therapeutic treatment service aimed at identifying and reducing the root of the chemical abuse problem (CCP, 2012). 5. Provide other services that help in improving the chemical and psychological health of the client. These services include anger management, parenting skills, cultural, gender sensitivity, and alcoholic control (CCP, 2012). Since the program is meant to compliment the services of the state in the provision of rehabilitation services, the main clientele served by the program will be individuals who violate their paroles to a level that necessitates their return to prison (Lipton, 1999). These individuals will be mainly composed of violating parolees who are deemed to have a chemical abuse nature and must undergo drug rehabilitation. The second groups to be served by the program include offenders currently undergoing incarceration at state prisons, but are mandated by the regulators and prison boards to undergo chemical rehabilitation (Lipton, 1999). These offenders will be taken out of their prisons and kept in the program facilities. Other clients will be the offenders who are ordered by respective courts to serve chemical dependency programs prior to their release form state and government prison services (Lipton, 1999).

Informing Clothing Customers on Potential Skin Irritation Assignment

Informing Clothing Customers on Potential Skin Irritation - Assignment Example From this discussion it is clear that  in analyzing the situation: the general purpose of the announcement is to inform the general public on the skin irritation concerns of the tag less children clothing. The specific purpose of this announcement is to inform the affected children’s parents or guardians of the remedy measure or solution to the skin irritation problem. After receiving the message; we expect the customers to understand that we will solve the irritation problem by, manufacturing only clothes which have label texts printed directly on fabric. The primary audience for our message are our customer; parents who buy clothing products for their children. The background of the audience is they are parents residing mostly in the USA, and they have children. The audience members are different from each other. Some audiences are young parents, whereas others are old parents.  As the report highlights the audiences are, however, similar to each other because they all r eside in USA, have children, and take care of children through providing basic need like clothing. The reaction of the customers to the message is likely to be positive; this builds customer loyalty because the company addresses their complaints concerning clothing products. The company addresses irritation problem through; manufacturing clothes that have labels printed directly on the fabric.  In gathering information: the customers require solution information for the irritation problem.  

Community Based Correctional Program Research Proposal

Community Based Correctional Program - Research Proposal Example The program is also aimed at assessing the behavioral and psychological traits of individuals in the program, which lead them to participate in chemical abuse. 1. The first objective of the program is to provide primary counseling services for the individuals who have a chemical abuse problem (Marlowe, 2010). This objective will also focus on individualized treatment of the individuals, coupled with constant monitoring and assessment of the offenders. 2. Provide the clients in the program with a highly specialized treatment service for the period in which they are in the program. This will include a completely structured treatment and therapeutic treatment service aimed at identifying and reducing the root of the chemical abuse problem (CCP, 2012). 5. Provide other services that help in improving the chemical and psychological health of the client. These services include anger management, parenting skills, cultural, gender sensitivity, and alcoholic control (CCP, 2012). Since the program is meant to compliment the services of the state in the provision of rehabilitation services, the main clientele served by the program will be individuals who violate their paroles to a level that necessitates their return to prison (Lipton, 1999). These individuals will be mainly composed of violating parolees who are deemed to have a chemical abuse nature and must undergo drug rehabilitation. The second groups to be served by the program include offenders currently undergoing incarceration at state prisons, but are mandated by the regulators and prison boards to undergo chemical rehabilitation (Lipton, 1999). These offenders will be taken out of their prisons and kept in the program facilities. Other clients will be the offenders who are ordered by respective courts to serve chemical dependency programs prior to their release form state and government prison services (Lipton, 1999).

An analysis asking a critical question about the ad Assignment

An analysis asking a critical question about the ad - Assignment Example Coco Cola, stands extremely aloof from the list of healthy drinks, and has been a subject of criticism for all the health and nutritional experts. One might wonder what is it about coke that makes the health experts criticize it so much. The fact is, no health expert or physician have been successful in finding a single trace of goodness in this drink to recommend it to person on a healthy diet. However, Coco Cola enjoys a humongous good will in the global market and it is powerful enough to reach to every nook and corner of the planet with minimum effort. Sadly, the age group which is largely influenced by Coke is undoubtedly the children and the youth of the current age. They are not only a prey to Coke’s ad campaigns but also innocent victims of this malicious life threatening drink. It is sad to know that the globalization has reached such heights that goodness lost its value to the unquenchable thirst of physical pleasure. Reference This is about the World Cup 2010 Coca-C ola Commercial Source - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDwRkiHaOfI

Musical Instruments Essay Example for Free

Musical Instruments Essay 1. Do you believe it is still possible that new musical instruments could be invented and widely distributed? Empirically, though the diversity of musical instruments has reached a quite high level, human has never stopped their exploration into music. So, I think it’s highly possible that several new musical instruments can be invented and widely distributed. The musical history has already proved this. Before 19th century, the majority of musical instruments are acoustic, and most people at that time held the opinion that we already have enough instruments. However, accompany with the development of electricity and latter computer technology, electronic music has grown rapidly. Musical instruments are no longer bonded within the acoustic. Maybe in the future, we can even use the photon to make some music. 2. Do you think that existing orchestral instruments will be drastically altered in the future? I think some fine turning may occur on existing orchestral instruments but drastically change may not happen. With hundred years of development and perfection, orchestra has already formed its own system and process. Its requirement to musical instruments is almost fixed. Already some fine turning may be applied in order to achieve better acoustic effect, but the outer shape and essential component of these musical instruments won’t be changed since they have already be a symbol of orchestra. 3. Will the computer and other electronic instruments eventually replace acoustical instruments? Which do you prefer? Definitely not. Diversity is an essential part of music, if all the music is generated by electronic devices, it can be quite boring and people will suffer aesthetic fatigue. Personally, I prefer acoustical instruments, why, just personal taste. 4. Please open YouTube and listen to composition Desintegrations for 17 instruments and computer tape (1983) created by French composer Tristan Murail (1947-). Can you separate sound materials created by the acoustic instruments from the tape material? Are they often fused? Are they created to resemble each other? For those parts in which only one instrument occurred I can figure out the type, while for those with more than two, I can not. Yes, they often fused together, especially in modern music. Yes, they do resemble to each other otherwise the music won’t achieve harmonic sound effect.

Post Implementation Review of Concur

Post Implementation Review of Concur 1. PURPOSE OF PROJECT CHARTER The purpose of the project charter is to setup the guidelines on which the entire project will go on. Project charter is basically to set the scope, budget, time and technology that will be used in the project after the discussion between client and team members. so, the post implementation review of concur will be done to assess whether extended destinations will meet, to decide how adequately the project will run and to learn lessons for the future, and to ensure that it will be beneficial for concur customers and users to get the conceivable advantage from the project.. Concur was developed by sniff and was further purchased by federation university and they use it for their staff which provides an estimate price for the travel expenses by getting feedbacks from the current users. when it regards to business travel and cost coordination it means everything. So with Concur our business travel and costs are coordinated by giving us a superior client encounter more precise information and wealthier answering to help us to settle on better choices and increment strategy control while sparing time and cash. There travel booking tools gives them arrangement worldwide travel content that is effortlessly open and constantly accessible from any place on the planet. Travelers have an expansive choice of travel decisions in light of corporate arrangement and individual traveler inclinations. Travelers can rapidly book local and global flights and reserve a spot for rental autos, hotels and trains. Once the trip is reserved travelers can oversee trip subtle ele ments like flight delay, cancellationÂÂ   and baggage claims.. Individual can do all these things in a single place. Concur also offer an web application to manage the trips. Concur make the record of all the bills like cab fare, air fare, hotel booking and food bills. There are several apps that are partnered with concur like Uber, Starbucks and they send their bill receipts directly to the Concur app which helps the user to take control of their expenses. 1. BUSINESS NEED IMPACT Concur system helps the people in making their travel easier by giving them the fair idea of the expenses before making a travel. Concur also helps in booking hotels, cabs, air tickets so that the traveler can travel without any worry and can make the arrangements on the spot. This helps business companies to grow while collaborating with Concur by increasing their customers. 2. STRATEGIC ALIGNMENT Project goals: Goal 1: Document the system impact and how it meets the objectives of the relevant stakeholder groups Goal 2: the major problem faced by concur team to deal with software .Its very complicated for the workers to work on this software. Goal 3: Identify the Concur glitches like after the completion of trip, some of the customers are getting e-mails to clear their dues which are already paid by customer. Goal 4: Update Concur with customer requirements like some customers recommend to stay in 3 star hotel rather than 5 star to save their money and some ask to use new technology updates. Goal 5: Address stakeholder and end-user needs 1. OBJECTIVES The objectives of the post implementation review of Concur are as follows: Better customer satisfaction in customer requirements, booking services, real time solution , real time updation in increased air fare and more options to select. Make required update in Concur solutions of problems that are faced by customers Data Analysation to get more correct expense estimate for the trip to be travelled in future. 2. HIGH-LEVEL REQUIREMENTS Req. # I Requirement Description 1 The project should match stakeholders requirements 2 The project should make Concur in control and reduce future risk 3 Identify the impact of Concur implemented 4 Based on the objective facts, judge the system shortfalls 5 Conduct user review and feedback of Concur system 6 Conduct further training and coaching of Concur system 1. TIMELINE Time Activity 08/03/2017 Project begins and weekly activity report start 15/03/2017 Meet with client 25/03/2017 Project charter approved 05/04/2017 Meet with client 07/05/2017 Project progress report approved 18/05/2017 Meet with client 27/05/2017 Team presentation 30/05/2017 Final project report approved 06/06/2017 Individual report 2. KEY MILESTONES Key Milestones Estimated Completion Timeframe Project team formed 28/02/2017-07/03/2017 End-user interview 08/03/2017-30/05/2017 Concur system research 08/03/2017-30/05/2017 Project charter approved 12/03/2017-26/03/2017 Project progress report 02/04/2017-07/05/2017 Team presentation 08/05/2017-27/05/2017 Final project report 08/05/2017-30/05/2017 Project released 30/05/2017-04/06/2017 1. ASSUMPTIONS Projects are actually judged against two parameters: How it is well defined? How well defined are methods to achieve it? Project should be divided in three structures Product breakdown structure Organization breakdown structure Work break down structure For good objectives it should meet following criteria. Outcome Oriented: Speaks to important changes in basic threat and opportunity figures that influence project goals. Measurable: Characterized in connection to some standard scale (numbers, rate, parts, or all/nothing states. Time Limited: Should be achievable within aÂÂ   given period. Specific: Clearly defined so that all people involved in the project have the same knowledge of what the terms in the objective mean . Practical: Appropriate or achievable within the context of the project and in light of the social and financial context. 2. CONSTRAINTS Sometime the roles of team member changes if they cant handle the problem Less training or knowledge of team to understand the project. The analysis report given to client not accepted in case demand changes. Policies selected for accomplishing the goal not liked by the client. Project managers having difficulty to handle team and client because of less experience. 3. RISKS Unreal expenses documents submission by the current users. Change in government policies. Hike in airfares and other traveling aspects. A delay in one task deteriorates the quality of project. Time and budget management risk. Risk Category: Requirement Risk Requirement not fully known at project start Not deliver the expected results to the client Risk Category: Project Management Risk Priorities changes while working on project Sometime same resources required at same time Success criteria not well defined Risk Category: Product/Technology Risk Market competition with the similar softwares. Update in technology may result in budget risk. Technology selected to achieve project goal is poor. Including extra analysis method that are not required. Risk Category: Customer Risk Customer demand new requirements under the given time. Customer not accept the proposal Customer force to work different technology rather than previously used. Client not supportive. 1. ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES This section describes the key roles supporting the project. Person Role Responsibility Fiona Bryant (client) Client Provide information about concur to the team and share problem faced while working with concur. Surjeet singh (team member) Project manager Deliver the project to client expectations, Monitor and report to client on project progress, Advise client if project appears to be in danger of non delivery, control project scope and time, keep contact with team members for their working progress and difficulties, contact coordinator if client is unavailable; Work on plan and write project report of every part of the project with other team members, provide the report to client and supervisor. Taiwo Oseni (Supervisor) Coordinate project Give advice if client is unavailable, help the team to finish the project, help team members contact client if the team loose contact with client, balance the project requirement between team members and client, get project working process and project report from project manager and give advice. Harman (team member) Risk manager, researcher Control the project risk, support/provide responsive action for every times risk if happen; Work on plan and write project report of every part of the project with other team members, , discuss the project report detail with other team members; Amrit (team member) Documenter, Interviewer Work on plan and write project report of every part of the project with other team members, discuss the project report detail with other team members; discuss the client requirement with other team members and how to achieve the requirement; Interview end-user to get system feedback, check the coaching process and training materials Xinwen Hu (team member) Main documenter Execute issue management process when issues happen, Work on plan and write project report of every part of the project with other team members, discuss the project report detail with other team members, integrate all members report and provide it to project manager; Researching and help team members to get useful resources. 2. STAKEHOLDERS (INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL) Stakeholder Interest / stake Importance Fiona Bryant (Client) Make Concur able to use High Project manager Manage project , satisfy client ,fix meetings. Medium Team members Work on project, satisfy client Low Taiwo Oseni (Supervisor) Help team member finish the project Medium FedUni End-user Skilled to use Concur easily High The undersigned acknowledge they have reviewed the project charter and authorize and fund the post implementation review of Concur project. Changes to this project charter will be coordinated with and approved by the undersigned or their designated representatives. Signature: Date: Print Name: Title: Role: Signature: Date: Print Name: Title: Role: Signature: Date: Print Name: Title: Role:

Ireland Trip :: essays research papers

The Ireland Trip   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  When I was fifteen I was with my best friend when we encountered funny experience when we overslept for our first tour of The Taste of Ireland. I stayed over at Ryan’s house. Ryan, my best friend since I was six, and me were leaving fro Ireland the next morning and we were so excited that we slept only two hours all night. The next morning we woke up and got all of our stuff put into his mom’s car. We then told her we’re ready, so we jumped into the car and headed for the Huntington Tri-State Airport.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Once we arrived we jumped out of the car and got our luggage checked in. At the point I was a little nervous because I had never flown in an airplane. We finally make it on the airplane and we were off to Pittsburgh’s Airport. Once we arrived we stepped into the airport and it was huge. No one in the group of fifteen had been in the airport and didn’t know where to go except Mr. Shy, the leader of the group. Our next plane was leaving in fifteen minutes so Mr. Shy had to hurry and get all of us kids together so that we could get on the other side of the airport to catch out next flight. While we were walking through the airport, Ryan asked me, â€Å"If I liked flying yet.†   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I asked, â€Å"Why is that?†   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  He replied, â€Å"This plane is a monster compared to the last one.† We stepped on the plane and I looked towards the back and it looked like there were four hundred seats on the plane compared to the last one, which held only twenty passengers. We got seated, and a few minutes later we started to take off. As we were taking off unlike the crop duster, this plane made me feel like I was implanted in the seats because the plane took off so fast. I was so excited because I was flying on this monster plane. The whole time we were in flight I was watching out the window at the ground where there weren’t clouds below us. Not feeling like we had been on the plane for very long, we arrived in New York to catch our next flight. Once we arrived we went to the section of the airport where our plane is leaving.