Nike Advertising Essays - Financial Ratios, Business, Economy

Nike Advertising Nike Financial Analysis Investing in a company has certainly changed over the years. Financial information is literally at one?s fingertips via the internet. In today?s fast paced corporate environment companies are under tremendous scrutiny to maintain their edge. The company I am evaluating is NIKE. This Financial analysis will consist of the following: Ratios from the Income Statement, Statement of Owner?s Equity, and Balance Sheet. This information is designed to assist a potential investor. Nike?s mission is complex. Listed below is a copy of Nike?s company philosophy. Company Philosophy: WE ARE ABOUT DREAMS. Nike was, is, and will always be a company driven by certain key philosophies. What are they? First and foremost, we are a company dedicated to innovation and the passion to create great product. From Bowerman's Waffle Trainer to the Tour Accuracy golf ball, we make every effort to take consumers where they want to go before they realize they want to go there. WE ARE ABOUT THE CONSUMER. The consumer rules the roost. They make the important decisions. I answer to them, as we all do. The opinions of Wall Street analysts and media pundits are really just derivatives of our relationship with our consumers. When the young at heart seek out our products, when they respond to our messages and believe in what we stand for, when our relationship with consumers is healthy, that's when we grow. Even so, gaining true understanding of our consumers, and thereby being able to deliver meaningful innovation to them, is a huge challenge. It's not the demographics that change; it's the deliverables. Ours is a constantly moving target. Technology continues to increase the pace and volume of options in all of our lives. WE ARE ABOUT IRREVERENCE. We are about irreverence. The great thing about Nike is that we have the ability to laugh at ourselves, to ind the humor in what we are doing, to compete aggressively but also to have fun. It shows in our best advertising, from M ars Blackmon to Andre Agassi. Irreverence has always been a core part of our culture. It is, for us, the balance between our attempt at greatness and the risk of arrogance. We mix confidence and strength with the humility to look at ourselves in the mirror and say, we can do better. WE ARE ABOUT WINNING AND COMPETING HARD. We invent markets and new ways to compete. We have withstood every challenge that has come our way. Winning starts with taking care of business at home and then looking for new challenges. We are doing both. WE ARE ABOUT CHANGE. Over the past twenty-five years we have had to reinvent ourselves many times. The first surge was with the Waffle Trainer and the running craze. When that slowed, we thought we ran out of market. We had another surge with basketball behind Michael Jordan, and cross-training with Bo Jackson. Then again, we Thought our growth was dead. Another surge came in 1995, when Nike became fashionable and athletic urban wear became king. But,that too ended in early 1998, as did the health of the Asian economy. There we were, with an over-extended brand. Each time we reinvented our company. In 1995, when we reached $3 billion in sales, we said $5 billion was the absolute limit. Three years later we were closing in on $10 billion. Each time we did succeed it was due, in part, to our fear of failure, which drove us harder and faster. Each time, however, it has gotten harder. We have covered more of the market, and now the targets seem smaller and more numerous. We have stretched our Nike brand quite far. Some say too far. Others say it still has more reach to go. What is clear to me now is that the market has changed. We have new competitors and, as before, we need to adjust. We need to expand our connection to new categories and toward new consumers. WE ARE ABOUT SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY. You have all read the press and seen the media regarding Nike's labor practices. The reality is, we have set the highest standards of conduct and p ractices in the industry. We have the responsibility to let the

Financial Statement Fraud

Financial Statement Fraud Free Online Research Papers Financial statement fraud is among the most common types of fraud. It involves intentionally reporting false information in a companys financial statements. Also called â€Å"cooking the books†, financial statement fraud is also one of the most costly types of fraud. According to a study done by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, financial statement fraud causes a median loss of $2 million per fraud scheme. A commonly used term for financial statement fraud is â€Å"earnings management†. This term almost sounds like a legitimate practice, but it is anything but that. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has defined earnings management as â€Å"the use of various forms of gimmickry to distort a companys true financial performance in order to achieve a desired result.† Not all earnings management practices are in violation of generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP). Some practices considered as earnings management bend the rules of GAAP in order to achieve certain financial goals, but are not in violation of them. Financial statement fraud is almost always perpetrated by the upper management of a company. They have access to nearly all information in a company and they have tremendous influence over the employees under them, which can make it possible for them to conceal the fraud. Financial statement fraud is different from most other types of occupational fraud in a major way: the goal is not usually to directly enrich the fraudster, but is usually intended to mislead third parties (investors and creditors) about the profitability of the company. The most common financial statement fraud scheme is improper revenue recognition. This can take place in two different ways: premature recognition of legitimate revenues or the recognition of fictitious revenue from fictitious sales or fictitious customers. Other common methods include the overstating of assets, the understating of liabilities and expenses, reporting revenues or expenses in the wrong period, and inadequate disclosures. THE XEROX SCANDAL A well-known case of premature revenue recognition is the Xerox scandal of 2002. On April 12th, 2002, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a civil fraud complaint against Xerox Corporation for alleging that they intentionally deceived the public, from 1997 to 2000, by prematurely recognizing revenues from copier machine leases on the signing date rather than over the life of the lease, as payment would become due. The issue was not with the validity of the revenues, but with their recognition. These fraudulent actions were intended to help the company meet its Wall Street expectations and to give the appearance of a healthy financial position. They did just that. Over the four year period, these actions, most of which were in strict violation of generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), prematurely increased revenues by $3 billion and pre-tax income by $1.4 billion. This was a bold move by the management of Xerox because by recognizing future revenues in the current period, it made it increasingly harder to meet earnings expectations in the future periods. In 2005, Xerox paid a settlement the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and began efforts to regain the trust of its investors. PREVENTING THE FRAUD Management and the board of directors are responsible to take the necessary steps to deter fraud in financial reporting: Setting a â€Å"tone at the top† that communicates their expectations for accurate reporting Responding quickly, equitably, and proportionately to policy violations Maintaining internal and external auditing processes independent of managements influence Ensuring a proper flow of critical information to the board and external parties Establishing an adequate system of internal control Investigating and remediating problems when they arise To understand why a fraudster does what he does and to better deter future fraud attempts, an auditor must assess three variables that are present in virtually every fraud. These three concepts, collectively, make up the fraud triangle. These factors include: Perceived incentive or pressure Perceived opportunity Rationalization In the case of the Xerox fraud, management probably felt pressure to accelerate revenue from future periods to the current period in order to meet Wall Street expectations in order to protect the financial position of the company. Pressures also may have stemmed from desires for personal benefit in the form of performance-based incentives such as bonuses or stock options. An opportunity must exist to commit fraud, and the fraudster must believe he can get away with it. Lastly, it is probably reasonable to assume that Xeroxs management did not expect to continue the fraudulent actions forever. It was probably considered a temporary fix, as both the risk of getting caught and the risk of maintaining the heightened revenues in future periods were both high. This rationalization is the final component of the fraud triangle. DETECTING THE FRAUD Perhaps the first challenge for the auditor in detecting the fraud is to recognize early any signs that material misstatement has occurred. Following is a list of steps, from SAS 99, designed to assist the auditor in identifying, evaluating, and responding to the risk of fraud: Holding discussions among the audit team concerning fraud risk Obtaining information relevant to the identification of fraud risk Identifying the risk of material misstatement due to fraud Assessing the identified risks, taking into account the internal controls designed to address those risks Responding to the results of the assessment Evaluating audit evidence The Xerox fraud was executed in collusion with auditors, but certain analytical techniques, performed by the auditor, exist to help prevent financial statement fraud schemes like the known one from happening in the future. These include: Horizontal analysiscomparison of the current periods balances with those of prior periods. Vertical, or common-size, analysiscomparison of each line item of the financial statements to another line item, such as a percentage-of-sales comparison. Comparison of the detail of a total balance with similar detail for the preceding years Ratios and other financial relationships In a fraud like the one with Xerox, where the timing of revenue recognition is manipulated, potential causes could be: pressure to meet revenue targets as the period comes to a close, a known or expected shortfall of sales transactions for the period, a known potential existence of sales that are expected but not achieved, and the opportunity to alter the dating of post period transactions in order to make them appear to have happened in the prior period. Red flags that indicate this kind of fraud include: Falsification or alteration of documents Backdating or alteration of the dates of invoices Alteration or falsification of other dating evidence that might reveal the true dates of the arrangement of delivery of the products or services rendered Some unavoidable results of financial statement frauds like Xeroxsincluding the premature recognition of revenues create a revenue deficit for the future periods. This problem causes a need to: Make up the shortfall caused by â€Å"lending† revenues to the prior period Cover the effects of any real decline in sales Achieve the expected level of sales growth When revenues are prematurely recognized and sales are declining, each period may require more and more fraudulent premature revenue recognition in order to keep up the appearance of good financial position. INVESTIGATING THE FRAUD To perform an investigation of the suspected fraud, the investigator must gather all of the necessary documents. These may include auditors working papers, internal audit reports, organizational charts, alleged smoking gun documents, electronic files, personnel listings, financial statements, public filings, e-mails, and internet postings. Interviewing the suspect is necessary to obtain admission to the fraud. A few things to consider about the interview are the time, location, who should be present, and what type of interview should be performed. An information seeking interview is conducted to obtain information about the suspected crime. Interviewing starts with the periphery of interviewing candidates and continues moving inward until the subject is interviewed. Not all people interviewed for this type of interview are suspects. An admission-seeking interview differs by its intent and the people it interviews. The intent is to eventually get the suspect to admit to the alleged crime. Only suspects of the fraud are interviewed. Often in an investigation, the forensic accounting investigator will provide a written report of investigation. Until sure whether or not a report will be requested, an investigator should always retain evidence and analyses necessary for the report. WORK CITED 1.Golden, Thomas W., Stephen L. Skalak, and Mona M. Clayton. A Guide to Forensic Accounting Investigation. Hoboken: John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 2006. 2.Financial Statement Fraud and Deterrence. 4/29/09. acfe.com/resources/fraud-101-accounting.asp. 3.The Wide-Reaching Impact of Financial Statement Fraud. 4/29/09. sequence-inc.com/index.php?option=com_contentview=articleid=41. 4.Common Financial Statement Frauds. 4/29/09. worrells.net.au/Fraud%20Awareness/tpf_financial_statement.htm. 5.Xerox Scandal. 4/29/09. corporatenarc.com/xeroxscandal.php. Research Papers on Financial Statement FraudAnalysis of Ebay Expanding into AsiaThe Project Managment Office SystemTwilight of the UAWIncorporating Risk and Uncertainty Factor in CapitalDefinition of Export QuotasPETSTEL analysis of IndiaLifes What IfsOpen Architechture a white paperResearch Process Part OneThe Relationship Between Delinquency and Drug Use

Impact of Information Technology (IT) on NHS Essay

Impact of Information Technology (IT) on NHS - Essay Example The research paper â€Å"Impact of Information Technology (IT) on NHS† highlights the introduction and implementation of ICT technology systems in health service. The introduction and use of computers in primary health care provision in the United Kingdom has progressed slowly due to lack of proper coordination. This has necessitated calls with proposals to change policies so as to improve primary health care. According to researchers, proper coordination might enhance the use of suitable application of information technology. From the time ICT was incepted and applied in the pathways of health care in the United Kingdom, patients have experienced tremendous improvement at all stages of health care provision. This has mainly been necessitated by the fact that technology improves communication between the health care system and its consumers. It has provided various ways in which consumers can reach health information through NHS Choices mobile directory, Feedback services like that offered by Patient Option that gives consumers with the alternative to change health care delivery. Technology may have an impact on the relationship between patients and their carers and or other medical experts in ways that may sometimes be perceived as counterproductive. For example, some doctors view the availability of online information to patients as a threat to the delicate balance of the patient–clinician relationship. Patients may be concerned that the relationship with their carers could be replaced by one with a machine. Patient Records SCR: The electronic health record card has the ability to track the patient and allows staff treating or taking care for patients to easily access information about them, therefore improving diagnosis and care. Electronic Prescription Service: The Electronic Prescription Service enables those providing prescription services such as GPs and practice nurses, to send prescriptions electronically to dispensers like pharmacies of the patient’s choice. This has revitalized prescribing and dispensing processes therefore making it to be safe and convenient for patients and staff (Royal Commission on Long Term Care, 1999). Choose and E-Book ICT has provided the opportunity for online booking services as well as touch-screen patient check-in systems that offer patients more autonomy on the consultation process with their preferred medical expert and therefore empower them. It also offers monitoring and alarm facilities that help patients to sustain an independent life while bed-nursing at home for patients who might have to be cared for in a medical facility. Besides, there are devices that can check the level of blood glucose while others are able to monitor the use of anticoagulants help to save patients from unnecessary visits to the clinic or hospital. Individual applications located anywhere for both patients are available. In medicine, ICT has had adverse positive effects beyond the doctors’ a nd hospital databases. It is evident that other areas that have recorded substantial effects from ICT include computers that control diagnostic machineries. In addition, computer analysis of information collected from diagnostic equipment (Royal Commission on Long Term Care, 1999). This is evident since images from NRM scans that are very unintelligible get processed and interpreted clearly by computers and therefore helping doctors to give the correct prescriptions to the patient. Expert systems can avail doctors with information regarding diseases that are uncommon. For medical consultants, guidelines and online access to research results and protocols on searchable databanks offer easy reference to the current knowledge reservoir. Preventive care has also been greatly facilitated by

Compare and contrast two Indian states Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Compare and contrast two Indian states - Essay Example These states are good exporters and active in production of goods and commodities which have significant export value The Indian state of Gujarat speaks Gujarati and Maharashtra has the regional language of Marathi. The capital of Maharashtra is the ultra- modern city Mumbai whereas Gandhinagar, the capital of Gujarat is a mediocre city.Even though Gujarat is an industrialized state in comparison with Maharashtra it is way behind latter.Gujarat is self sufficient in agriculture while Maharashtra is not. However, the capital of Maharashtra is the most modern and sophisticated city of the country. The educational ratio of Maharashtra is higher with 78% than that of Gujarat which is only 70%.The infrastructure of Maharashtra is more sophisticated and developed than that of Gujarat. Moreover, the transportation system of Gujarat is not developed as Mumbai as the latter possess quality railway and roadway

THE EXCLUSIONARY RULE Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

THE EXCLUSIONARY RULE - Essay Example On the other hand, under the Fifth Amendment no person â€Å"shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself† (United States Constitution, Fifth Amendment) thus, a person is protected from self-incrimination. In the same manner, the Sixth Amendment guarantees the right to counsel, thus a statement made by a person to the police without the assistance of his or her lawyer may be excluded from the court proceedings (Berg, 2008). The application of the exclusionary rule in the United States has been defined by many leading cases decided by the Supreme Court. The case of Boyd v. United States (1886)1 is one of the earliest leading cases where the Supreme Court applied the exclusionary rule together with the Fourth Amendment. According to the Court in this case, the invasion of the â€Å"indefeasible right of personal security, personal liberty, and private property† violates the provision of the Fourth Amendment and any evidence gathered through the unreasonable search and seizure should be excluded in the court. The application of the exclusionary rule in relation to the Fourth Amendment was later on strengthened by the decision of the Supreme Court in the case of Weeks v United States (1914)2.The case of Weeks v United States (1914)3 is the first case where the United States Supreme Court established a strong exclusionary rule under the Fourth Amendment. According to the Court in this case, the warrantless seizure of objects or items from the residence of a private individual is a violation of the rights established under the Fourth Amendment and as such, these objects or items may not be used as evidences in a court proceeding. The Court also said in this case that the exclusion of these objects or items extend to the illegally obtained evidence in federal court. The exclusionary rule in the United States was further strengthen in the decision of the court in the case of

Allocation of Resources in Cloud Server Using Lopsidedness

Allocation of Resources in Cloud Server Using Lopsidedness B. Selvi, C. Vinola, Dr. R. Ravi Abstract– Cloud computing plays a vital role in the organizations resource management. Cloud server allows dynamic resource usage based on the customer needs. Cloud server achieves efficient allocation of resources through virtualization technology. It addresses the system that uses the virtualization technology to allocate the resources dynamically based on the demands and saves energy by optimizing the number of server in use. It introduces the concept to measure the inequality in multi-dimensional resource utilization of a server. The aim is to enlarge the efficient resource utilization system that avoids overload and save energy in cloud by allocating the resources to the multiple clients in an efficient manner using virtual machine mapping on physical system and Idle PMs can be turned off to save energy. Index Terms-cloud computing, resource allocation, virtual machine, green computing. I. Introduction In cloud computing provides the service in an efficient manner. Dynamically allocate the resources to multiple cloud clients at the same time over the network. Now-a-Days many of the business organizations using the concept of cloud computing due to the advantage with resource management and security management. A cloud computing network is a composite system with a large number of shared multiple resources. These are focus to unpredictable needs and can be affected by outside events beyond the control. Cloud resource allocation management requires composite policies and decisions for multi-objective optimization. It is extremely difficult because of the convolution of the system, which makes it impracticable to have accurate universal state information. It is also subject to continual and unpredictable communications with the surroundings. The strategies for cloud resource allocation management associated with the three cloud delivery models, Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS) and Software as a Service (SaaS), differ from one another. In all cases, the cloud providers are faced with huge, sporadic loads that contest the claim of cloud flexibility. Virtualization is the single most efficient way to decrease IT expenses while boosting effectiveness and liveliness not only for large enterprise, but for small and mid budget organizations also. Virtualization technology has advantages over the following aspects. Run multi-operating systems and applications on a single computer. Combine hardware to get hugely higher productivity from smaller number of servers. Save 50 percent or more on general IT costs. Speed up and make things easier IT management, maintenance, and the consumption of new applications. The system aims to achieve two goals: The capability of a physical machine (PM) should be enough to satisfy the resource requirements of all virtual machines (VMs) running on it. Otherwise, the Physical machine is overload and degrades performance of its VMs. The number of PMs used should be minimized as long as they can still satisfy the demands of all VMs. Idle physical machine can be turned off to save energy. There is an intrinsic exchange between the two goals in the face of altering resource needs of VMs. For overload avoidance, the system should keep the utilization of PMs Low to reduce the possibility of overload in case the resource needs of VMs increase later. For green computing, the system should keep the utilization of PMs reasonably high to make efficient use of their energy. It presents the design and implementation of an efficient resource allocation system that balance between the two goals. The following aids are, The development of an efficient resource allocation system that avoids overload in the system effectively while minimizing the number of servers use. To introduce the concept of â€Å"lopsidedness† to measure the uneven utilization of a server. By minimizing lopsidedness, the system improves the overall utilization of servers in the face of multidimensional resource constraints. To implement a load prediction algorithm that can capture the future resource usages of applications accurately without looking inside the VMs. Fig.1 System Architecture II. System Overview The architecture of the system is presents in Fig.1. The physical machine runs with VMware hypervisor (VMM) that supports VM0 and one or more VMs in cloud server. Each VM can contain one or more applications residing it. All physical machines can share the same storage space. The mapping of VMs to PMs is maintains by VMM. Information collector node (ICN) collects the information about VMs resource status that runs on VM0. The virtual machine monitor creates and monitors the virtual machine. The CPU scheduling and network usage monitoring is manage by VMM. Assume with available sampling technique can measure the working set size on each virtual machine. The information collects at each physical machine and passes the information to the admin controller (AC). AC connects with VM Allocator that activated periodically and gets information from the ICN resource needs history of VMs, and status of VMs. The allocator has several components. The Indicator Indicates the future demands of virtual machine and total load value for physical machine. The ICN at each node attempts to satisfy the input demands locally by adjusting the resource allocation of VMs sharing the same VMM. The hotspot remover in VM allocator spots if the resource exploitation of any PM is above the Hot Point. If so, then some VMs runs on the particular PM will be move away to another PM to reduce the selected PM load. The cold spot remover identifies the system that is below the average utilization (Cold point) of actively used PMs. If so, then it some PMs turned off to save energy. Finally, the exodus list passes to the admin controller. III. The Lopsidedness Algorithm The resource allocation system introduces the concept of lopsidedness to measure the unevenness in the utilization of multiple resources on a server. Let consider n be the number of resources and let consider ri be the exploitation of the ith resource. To define the resource lopsidedness of a server p by considering r is the average utilization of resources in server p. In practice, not all types of resources are performance critical and then consider bottleneck resources in the above calculation. By minimizing the lopsidedness, the system can combine different types of workloads nicely and improve the overall utilization of server resources. A. Hot and Cold Points The system executes periodically to evaluate the resource allocation status based on the predicted future resource demands of VMs. The system defines a server as a hot spot if the utilization of any of its resources is above a hot threshold. This indicates that the server is overloaded and hence some VMs running on it should be migrated away. The system defines the temperature of a hot spot p as the square sum of its resource utilization beyond the hot threshold. Consider R is the set of overloaded resources in server p and rt is the hot threshold for resource r. (Note that only overloaded resources are considered in the calculation.) The temperature of a hot spot reflects its degree of overload. If a server is not a hot spot, its temperature is zero. The system defines a server as a cold spot if the utilizations of all its resources are below a cold threshold. This indicates that the server is mostly idle and a potential candidate to turn off to save energy. However, the system does so only when the average resource utilization of all actively used servers (i.e., APMs) in the system is below a green computing threshold. A server is actively used if it has at least one VM running. Otherwise, it is inactive. Finally, The system define the warm threshold to be a level of resource utilization that is sufficiently high to justify having the server running but not so high as to risk becoming a hot spot in the face of temporary fluctuation of application resource demands. Different types of resources can have different thresholds. For example, the system can define the hot thresholds for CPU and memory resources to be 90 and 80 percent, respectively. Thus a server is a hot spot if either its CPU usage is above 90 percent or its memory usage is above 80 percent. B. Hot Spot Reduction The system sort the list of hot spots in the system in descending temperature (i.e., the system handle the hottest one first). Our goal is to eliminate all hot spots if possible. Otherwise, keep their temperature as low as possible. For each server p, the system first decides which of its VMs should be migrated away. The system sort its list of VMs based on the resulting temperature of the server if that VM is migrated away. The system aims to migrate away the VM that can reduce the server’s temperature the most. In case of ties, the system selects the VM whose removal can reduce the lopsidedness of the server the most. For each VM in the list, the system sees if the system can find a destination server to accommodate it. The server must not become a hot spot after accepting this VM. Among all such servers, the system select one whose lopsidedness can be reduced the most by accepting this VM. Note that this reduction can be negative which means the system selects the server wh ose lopsidedness increases the least. If a destination server is found, the system records the migration of the VM to that server and updates the predicted load of related servers. Otherwise, the system moves onto the next VM in the list and try to find a destination server for it. As long as the system can find a destination server for any of its VMs the system consider this run of the algorithm a success and then move onto the next hot spot. Note that each run of the algorithm migrates away at most one VM from the overloaded server. This does not necessarily eliminate the hot spot, but at least reduces its temperature. If it remains a hot spot in the next decision run, the algorithm will repeat this process. It is possible to design the algorithm so that it can migrate away multiple VMs during each run. But this can add more load on the related servers during a period when they are already overloaded. The system decides to use this more conservative approach and leave the system s ome time to react before initiating additional migrations. IV. System Analysis In Cloud Environment, the user has to give request to download the file. This request will be store and process by the server to respond the user. It checks the appropriate sub server to assign the task. A job scheduler is a computer application for controlling unattended background program execution; job scheduler is create and connects with all servers to perform the user requested tasks using this module. In User Request Analysis, the requests are analyze by the scheduler before the task is give to the servers. This module helps to avoid the task overloading by analyzing the nature of the users request. Fist it checks the type of the file going to be download. The users request can be the downloading request of text, image or video file. In Server Load value, the server load value is identifies for job allocation. To reduce the over load, the different load values are assign to the server according to the type of the processing file. If the requested file is text, then the minimum load value will be assign by the server. If it is video file, the server will assign high load value. If it is image file, then it will take medium load value. In Server Allocation, the server allocation task will take place. To manage the mixed workloads, the job-scheduling algorithm is follow. In this the scheduling, depends upon the nature of the request the load values are assign dynamically. Minimum load value server will take high load value job for the next time. High load value server will take minimum load value job for next time. The aim is to enlarge the efficient resource utilization system that avoids overload and save energy in cloud by allocating the resources to the multiple clients in an efficient manner using virtual machine mapping on physical system and Idle PMs can be turned off to save energy. Fig. 2 Comparison graph IV. Conclusion It presented by the design, implementation and evaluation of efficient resource allocation system for cloud computing services. Allocation system multiplexes by mapping virtual to physical resources based on the demand of users. The contest here is to reduce the number of dynamic servers during low load without sacrificing performance. Then it achieves overload avoidance and saves energy for systems with multi resource constraints to satisfy the new demands locally by adjusting the resource allocation of VMs sharing the same VMM and some of not used PMs could potentially be turn off to save energy. Future work can on prediction algorithm to improve the stability of resource allocation decisions and plan to explore using AI or control theoretic approach to find near optimal values automatically. References [1] Anton Beloglazov and Rajkumar Buyya (2013), ‘Managing Overloaded Hosts For Dynamic Consolidation of Virtual Machines In Cloud Data Centers Under Quality of Service Constraints’, IEEE Transactions on Parallel and Distributed Systems, Vol. 24, No. 7, pp. 1366-1379. [2] Ayad Barsoum and Anwar Hasan (2013), ’Enabling Dynamic Data And Indirect Mutual Trust For Cloud Computing Storage Systems’, IEEE Transactions on Parallel and Distributed Systems, Vol. 24, No. 12, pp. 2375-2385. [3] Daniel Warneke, and Odej Kao (2011), ‘Exploiting Dynamic Resource Allocation For Efficient Parallel Data Processing In The Cloud’, IEEE Transactions on Parallel and Distributed Systems, Vol. 22, No. 6, pp. 985-997. [4] Fung Po Tso and Dimitrios P. Pezaros (2013), ‘Improving Data Center Network Utilization Using Near-Optimal Traffic Engineering’, IEEE Transactions on Parallel and Distributed Systems, Vol. 24, No. 6, pp. 1139-1147. [5] Hong Xu, and Baochun Li (2013), ‘Anchor: A Versatile and Efficient Framework for Resource Management in The Cloud’, IEEE Transactions on Parallel and Distributed Systems, Vol. 24, No. 6, pp. 1066-1076. [6] Jia Rao, Yudi Wei, Jiayu Gong, and Cheng-Zhong Xu (2013), ‘Qos Guarantees And Service Differentiation For Dynamic Cloud Applications’, IEEE Transactions on Network and Service Management, Vol. 10, No. 1, pp. 43-54. [7] Junwei Cao, Keqin Li,and Ivan Stojmenovic (2013), ‘Optimal Power Allocation and Load Distribution For Multiple Heterogeneous Multicore Server Processors Across Clouds and Data Centers’, IEEE Transactions on Computers, Vol. 32, No. 99, pp.145-159. [8] Kuo-Yi Chen, Morris Chang. J, and Ting-Wei Hou (2011), ‘Multithreading In Java: Performance and Scalability on Multicore Systems’, IEEE Transactions On Computers, Vol. 60, No. 11, pp. 1521-1534. [9] Olivier Beaumont, Lionel Eyraud-Dubois, Christopher Thraves Caro, and Hejer Rejeb (2013), ‘Heterogeneous Resource Allocation Under Degree Constraints’, IEEE Transactions on Parallel and Distributed Systems, Vol. 24, No. 5, pp. 926-937. [10] Rafael Moreno-Vozmediano, Ruben S. Montero, and Ignacio M. Llorente (2011), ‘Multicloud Deployment Of Computing Clusters For Loosely Coupled MTC Applications’, IEEE Transactions on Parallel and Distributed Systems, Vol. 22, No. 6, pp. 924-930. [11] Sangho Yi, Artur Andrzejak, and Derrick Kondo (2012), ‘Monetary Cost-Aware Checkpointing And Migration on Amazon Cloud Spot Instances’, IEEE Transactions on Services Computing, Vol. 5, No. 4, pp. 512-524. [12] Sheng Di and Cho-Li Wang (2013), ‘Dynamic Optimization of Multiattribute Resource Allocation In Self-Organizing Clouds’, IEEE Transactions on Parallel and Distributed Systems, Vol. 24, No. 3, pp. 464-478. [13] Xiangping Bu, Jia Rao, and Cheng-Zhong Xu (2013), ‘Coordinated Self-Configuration of Virtual Machines And Appliances Using A Model-Free Learning Approach’, IEEE Transactions on Parallel and Distributed Systems, Vol. 24, No. 4, pp.681-690. [14] Xiaocheng Liu, Chen Wang, Bing Bing Zhou, Junliang Chen, Ting Yang, and Albert Y. Zomaya (2013), ‘Priority-Based Consolidation Of Parallel Workloads In The Cloud’, IEEE Transactions on Parallel and Distributed Systems, Vol. 24, No. 9, pp. 1874-1883. [15] Ying Song, Yuzhong Sun, and Weisong Shi(2013), ‘A Two-Tiered On-Demand Resource Allocation Mechanism For VM-Based Data Centers’, IEEE Transactions on Services Computing, Vol. 6, No. 1, pp. 116-129.  ­Ã‚ ­Ã‚ ­

Young Girls with Eating Disorders Essay -- essays research papers fc

You open up a magazine and fine a beautiful woman who is 110 pounds soaking wet. Her eyes are the starring straight at the camera with her thin lips clinched together and her neck slightly raised. This in my most cases is what beauty is brought out to be. Sometimes you have to ask yourself, how many of those girls do you actually see? For others its, how do I become that? Many teen girls suffer with anorexia nervosa, an eating disorder in which girls use starvation diets to try to lose weight. They starve themselves down to skeletal thinness yet still think that they are overweight. Bulimia, meanwhile, is a disorder in which young women binge on food and then force themselves to vomit. They also often use laxatives to get food out of their system. All of these young women who suffer from this problem are considered to suffer from a psychiatric disorder. While the causes are debatable, one thing that is clear is that these young women have a distorted body image. It is a very serious issue when someone's body shape is determined by genetic disposition and yet they try to alter it to fit some kind of imaginary ideal of how a person should look. One of the most serious problems is that female nature is not what society says it should be. Some researchers theorize that anorexia is a young woman's way of canceling puberty. Since they lack body fat, anorexics don't get their periods and often lose their sexual characteristics such as public hair. They remain, in other words, little girls. There is also the complex issue of women feeling that by having an eating disorder they are finally in control of something in their life. This may sound strange, but much research has shown that women who have been abused or neglected in their childhoods develop these problems of control. (http://www.anred.com/medpsy.html). Studies suggest that eating disorders often begin in the transition from being a kid to puberty. They are directly connected to pubertal maturation and the increases in body fat that occurs during this phase. These biological changes are associated with increased dieting and unhealthy behaviors in early adolescence. This problem is aggravated by various problems, including negative body image, which links with weight, perfectionism and depression. Family and socializ... ...ED 1. ANRED: Complications of Eating Disorders: http://www.anred.com/medpsy.html-79. 2. EATING PROBLEMS in FEMALE ATHLETES Disordered Eating Tendencies Among Female Pair and Dance Figure Skaters: Are They More at Risk Than Non-Athletes?: G. Taylor & D. M. Ste-Marie http://www.health.uottawa.ca/hkgrad/mllab/eatdisfg.html 3. Cauffman, Elizabeth, and Steinberg, Laurence. "Interactive Effects of Menarcheal Status and Dating on Dieting and Disordered Eating Among Adolescent Girls," Developmental Psychology, 1996, vol. 32, no.4, 631-635. 4. Graber, Julia, Brooks-Gunn, J., Paikoff, Roberta, and Warren, Michelle. "Prediction of Eating Problems: An 8-Year Study of Adolescent Girls," Developmental Psychology, 1994, vol.3O, No.6, 823-834. 5. The costs and causes of low self-esteem: Nicholas Emler http://www.jrf.org.uk/knowledge/findings/socialpolicy/n71.asp 6. Burns, David â€Å"Feeling Good, The New Mood Therapy† pgs. 62-69, 385-405

Processing

Crystal Hoge Professor Jennifer Mullins Eng. 101 Bi-Term Processing Essay 29 October 2012 Bringing Baking Back from the Old Days Today's society has become all about convience and how to get everything done cheaper and faster. However, my belief is that you should only take convience so far. Convience shouldn't be brought anywhere near the kitchen. My favorite baked item is that of old-fashioned bread. I don't mean that pre-packaged bread that you pick up from your local grocery store.I'm talking about the kind of sweet smelling bread your grandma used to make on Sunday mornings before church. Included in this article are the ingredients and steps necessary to obtaining that delicious, sweet smelling homemade bread. The first step to baking is to aquire the desired recipe the recipe I will be following is the recipe for traditional white sandwich bread. (Yetter, Elizabeth) The required ingredients for this recipe for the recipe are as follows: * 1 ? cup room temperature milk * 1 Tbsp dry active yeast * ? tsp salt * 1 Tbsp softened butter 3 ? cups all purpose flour, or bread flour This recipe will only make one loaf and will take roughly three hours and fifteen minutes. This time includes baking and preparation time. Before starting your preparation, I highly recommend making sure you have all required ingredients, as well as any desired additional indregients. If you wish to have sweeter tasting white sandwich bread I recommend a tablespoon of honey. If you wish to make more than one loaf of bread, simply multiply the recipe. If you desire to make two loaves, double the recipe.If three loaves is what you want, quadruple the recipe. Doing so, however, may elongate the period of time it takes to cook and prepare the bread. Preparation is the next key step in making a successful loaf of bread. First, you will need a large bowl in which you will mix milk and yeast, adding sugar, salt, and two cups of flour at a time to ensure it mixes well. As a test, make sure the dough follows your spoon around the bowl. Next, lightly flour your recently cleaned and dried counter top and knead the dough for four minutes.The process of kneading is basically pulling apart and massaging the dough into a ball. After kneading the dough until smooth, grease a medium sized bowl and place the dough into into bowl. Turn the dough over so that both sides of the dough are lightly greased then cover the dough for one hour and place in a warm, draft-free place, such as a microwave and let rise. After the dough has doubled in size remove it from the covered bowl. Then lightly flour a cutting board. After flouring your surface place the dough onto it and knead for four minutes or until all the bubbles are gone.Once the bubbles are gone, shape the dough into a loaf and place into a greased bread pan. Then, once again cover the pan with a cloth and place back into the microwave and let rise for forty-five minutes. After the bread has doubled in size, uncover the pan and pla ce into a preheated oven of 350 degrees. Cook the bread dough for approximately forty-five minutes. A way to test the bread to see if it’s done is to knock on the top of the bread. If it sounds hollow when you knock on it, it’s done.Once you have verified that your bread is done, remove it from the oven and place it on a rack to cool. After your bread has cooled enough to touch, remove it from the bread pan and place on a cutting board. With a sharpened bread knife, cut the bread into even slices. Remember, your slices should be thick enough to hold a spread and a couple slices of sliced meat. However, it should also be thin enough to chew easily without straining your jaw. To ensure that your bread doesn’t get hard, store your bread in plastic storage bags.Bread made with milk usually has a softer crust than breads made with water. However, in any recipe for milk, you can substitue milk with water or visa versa. Now that you have properly mixed, prepared, cooke d, and stored your bread you should have a nicely browned, sweet smelling loaf of bread that Grandma used to make. Now simply dress your bread with your desired spread, meat, and vegtables, and enjoy! Works Citied Yetter, Elizabeth, White Sandwich Bread, About. com, 2012, Oct. 28, 2012

How Starfish See With Eyespots

How Starfish See With Eyespots Starfish, which are more scientifically known as sea stars,  dont have any visible body parts that look like eyes. So how do they see? While it may not look like starfish have eyes, they do, although theyre not like our eyes. A starfish has eyespots that cannot see much in the way of details but can detect light and dark. These eyespots are at the tip of each of the starfishs arms. That means that a 5-armed starfish has five eyespots, and a 40-armed starfish has 40! How to See a Starfishs Eyespots A starfishs eyespots lie underneath its skin, but you can see them. If you get a chance to gently hold a starfish, often it will tilt the end of its arms upward. Look at the very tip, and you might see a black  or red dot. Thats the eyespot. Cartoons that portray starfish with a face with eyes in the center of their body are therefore inaccurate. A starfish is actually looking at you with its arms, not from the center of its body. Its just easier for cartoonists to portray them that way. Structure of the Sea Star Eye The eye of a sea star is very small. On a blue star, they are only about half a millimeter wide. They have a groove on the underside of each arm that has the tube feet that stars use to move. The eye is made of a couple hundred light-collecting units and is located at the end of one of the tube feet on each arm. It is a compound eye like that of an insect, but it doesnt have a lens to focus the light. This reduces its ability to see anything but light, dark, and large structures such as the coral reef it needs to live on. What Sea Stars Can See Sea stars cant detect color. They dont have the color-detecting cones that human eyes do, so they are colorblind and see only light and dark. They also cant see fast-moving objects as their eyes work slowly. If something swims by them fast, they simply wont detect it. They cant see any details because they have so few light-detecting cells. Experiments have shown they can detect large structures, and even that was a surprise for scientists, who for a long time thought they could only see light and dark. Each eye of the sea star has a large field of vision. If all of their eyes werent blocked, they could see for 360 degrees around themselves. They could probably limit their field of vision using their other tube feet on each arm as blinders. Sea stars likely see just enough to be able to get to where they want to be, on a rock or coral reef where they can feed.

Limited and Controlled Use of Marijuana

Limited and Controlled Use of Marijuana Approaches to marijuana legalization Many countries across the world have prohibited the use, farming, possession, manufacture and trade of marijuana and its derivatives. However, some countries do allow limited and controlled use of marijuana for medical purposes or a limited amount for personal use often in private places.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Limited and Controlled Use of Marijuana specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More In the context of medical use, marijuana has been used in relieving some conditions associated with cancer. Such conditions include nausea, anorexia, cachexia, pain and depression. While sixteen states in the United States have legalized medical marijuana use, there are still a lot of controversies surrounding its medical use. Such controversies arise from the safety concerns surrounding the medical use of marijuana. The question of legalizing marijuana refers to the legal use of marijuana bot h in private and public places for medical use or otherwise. However, there are no adequate justifications on the need to legalize marijuana use. The proponents of marijuana legalization often use three approaches to advance their arguments. One approach revolves around comparing and contrasting effects of marijuana use with other legal substances that are commonly abused. The other approach revolves around the notion of personal freedom of choice in a democratic space. The third and last approach revolves on the concept that marijuana has known medical benefits. On the other hand, the opponents of marijuana legalization have developed arguments to counter the three approaches used by its proponents. One approach involves showing the health complications caused by legal but commonly abused substances that marijuana use is often compared. The opponents of marijuana use advocate for the limitation of personal freedom of choice if such freedom leads to self-injury. The opponents of ma rijuana use have also argued that the medical benefits derived from marijuana use can be gained through alternative conventional drugs. Substance abuse Marijuana use is often compared to substance abuse such as alcohol and tobacco use. These two substances do cause serious health complications. For example, according to the center for disease control and prevention (CDCP), tobacco use is associated with several diseases such as coronary heart diseases and stroke amongst many more physical and mental health complications (par 3).Advertising Looking for essay on government? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Proponents of marijuana use argue that its use does not cause more harm than alcohol and tobacco use. Alcohol and tobacco use are legal in most countries. On the other hand, the opponents of marijuana use have sought to show that marijuana use does cause grievous mental and physical health complications. According to National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), marijuana use severely compromises ability to do complex functions and causes chest problems similar to tobacco use (par 1). Marijuana use has known health complications and antisocial behaviours. Having established the health complications caused by the marijuana use, the opponents of marijuana use argue against legalizing marijuana. Instead, the opponents of marijuana use advocate for greater sanctions on alcohol and tobacco use by governments across the world. Freedom of choice The notion of freedom of choice is another major reason advanced on the need to legalize marijuana. In this context, the proponents of marijuana legalization argue that marijuana use ought to be a personal decision as long as one does not present antisocial behaviour. This school of thought holds the view that this personal choice in relation to marijuana use ought not to be regulated by the government. People who use marijuana for recreational purposes often hold t his school of thought. There is documented evidence that the official government position across many countries is that marijuana use is harmful to a persons’ mental and physical health. For example, the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), a US government agency, holds the view that ‘the use of marijuana can produce adverse physical, mental, emotional, and behavioral effects’ (par 2). The opponents of marijuana use have used such government position to justify its interference with personal choices and freedom of choice. The opponents argue since many governments hold the view that marijuana use is harmful to one’s health then it has a right to prohibit it. Medical use of marijuana There are active ingredients in marijuana that have medical value in cancer medication and HIV/Aids management. In this context, marijuana has been used in the management of anorexia, cachexia and pain amongst other conditions associated with cancer and HIV/Aids.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Limited and Controlled Use of Marijuana specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The main psychoactive ingredient in marijuana used in management of these conditions is known as tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) or formerly delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (Nida 5) .This medical use for marijuana has been advanced as a major reason to legalize marijuana. Having recognized the medicinal value of THC, medical researchers have synthesized THC that is used in most conventional cancer drugs. While there are still some limitations on the medicinal value of synthetic THC in comparison to its plant extract version, the benefits of prohibiting medical marijuana use still outweighs its benefits. This is because there is a high potential to abuse marijuana in the pretence of marijuana use. Marijuana legalization On deep scrutiny and analysis, the three major approaches used to advance the need for marijuana legalization fai l to pass the logic threshold. The reason advanced on the need to legalize marijuana use because there are other legal but commonly abused substances fails to appeal to logic. These commonly abused substances have the capacity to cause serious mental and physical health complications. Marijuana use in its own right causes serious health complications. In this context, the focus ought to shift to lobbying the governments to regulate those substances and not to legalize marijuana use. The government has a duty towards individuals. In this context, the government has a right to infringe on personal liberties if it opines that the same may lead to self-destruction and harm. The world has synthetically produced the active ingredient in marijuana that has medicinal value and as such, there is no need to legalize marijuana use based on this reason. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDCP). Health Effects of Cigarette Smoking. 21 Mar.2011.Web.19th Nov.2011 https://www.cdc.gov/toba cco/data_statistics/fact_sheets/health_effects/effects_cig_smoking/ National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). What Are the Long-Term Health Effects of Marijuana Use? Oct.2011. Web. https://teens.drugabuse.gov/drug-facts/marijuana

Importance of Management in Civil Engineering Essay - 1

Importance of Management in Civil Engineering - Essay Example Management is a leading science domain and routine in managing building companies. It is one of the oldest human activities; it activates human abilities on building investment objects in order to assure necessity for civil engineering purposes. It is good enough reason to take place in management development in civil engineering. As there are too many definitions of management depending on an author, only the most important are offered, namely the most acceptable in civil engineering domain. Remarkable attention is given to managing tasks in civil engineering as well to their correlationsIf we speak about management in civil engineering then the total quality management must be proposed. Total quality management is a business philosophy and accessible way of modern companies around the whole world. It is the most contemporary idea of developing and advancing in all life and work domains. The growing urge of efficient use of the earth's resources such as land, air, water and raw mate rials as well as concentration on efficient design, analysis and maintenance of civil structures requires a better insight in the spatial and temporal patterns of resources and activities (Bean, A.L., 2007). In view of the fact that the parameters of civil engineering today are not only confined to design and construction of structures but due to globalization and privatization of civil engineering organizations now civil engineering emerges as a study, which not only pay attention on construction.

Analytical report Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Analytical report - Assignment Example Therefore, mobile telephony technology can be adopted by an agricultural organization due to the various reasons from the analysis be discussed below. The paper will seek to analyze mobile telephony technology in the agricultural sector. Mobile telephony in the agricultural sector can be defined as a process through which farming information services is provided to farmers. This information is provided to farmers who have access to mobile phones. Relevant information provided to farmers include: weather forecasts, product market prices, farming techniques and farming information in general (Rouvinen, 2006). In the process of analyzing agricultural mobile telephony, it is important to know: its advantages, disadvantages, impacts and usage. To begin, Agricultural mobile telephony services is a very easy tool to use and has greatly transformed the operation between producers and consumers globally. In order for a farmer to use this technology, a mobile phone is needed. The mobile phone must first of all be connected to a terrestrial network to enable communication. Moreover, internet accessibility by these phones usually plays a vital in providing additional information. To start using the service, one is required to s ubscribe to the agricultural service on their mobile phones. For example, a farmer can send the word ‘agriculture’ to a number like 211 in order to gain access to the variety of services provided. The farmers can then go ahead and choose their area of specialty. Since agriculture accounts for a large employment population in the rural sector, an agricultural company can effectively use this technology to address various issues that faces the rural agricultural sector such as poor farming methods. The company can benefit from this technology economically in form of investments because of the various advantages that comes with it. For example, the use