Activity-Based Costing (Abc); Hunter Company

Activity-based Costing (ABC) Hunter Company Emmanuel Achirem ACC 560-Managerial Accounting Dr. Lotfi Geriesh Strayer University 08/04/2012 Activity-based Costing (ABC) Hunter Company, 1 Introduction Over the past two decade’s adoption of Activity-Based Costing ABC has been tossed around like a hot potato by every size and type of organization. It was adopted by organizations ranging in size from huge multi-national companies like General Motors to the much smaller Alexandria Hospital. Lanen, Anderson, & Maher, 2011) Some companies began the initial processes but stopped short of actual implementation when they discovered more time and resources were needed to effect the change so management ran from it just as they had run from quality improvement concepts from the seventies and eighties. (Romano, 1990) Was this because ABC was not a good fit for the organization or was there a deeper issue? These organizations knew they were not adequately capturing the costs of activities ye t they final cost could be. T.J Rodgers who founded Cypress Semiconductor wrote: â€Å"The seeds of business failure are sown in good times, not bad†¦Growth masks waste, extravagance, and inefficiency. The moment growth slows, the accumulated sins of the past are revealed all the way to the bottom line. † (Clemmer, 1992) Given the competitive nature of business today organizations both big and small cannot long afford to ignore the 900 pound gorilla in the room. The goal of this paper is to discuss Time-driven ABC cost system can be implemented and how it has benefited some companies such as Hunter Company.The system was not widely accepted in the beginning, but ABC has play major role in cost accounting today and has help some managers to combat corporate resistance to change when trying to implement it. Operating managers have known for many years that while the traditional costing approach was inaccurate; and archaic it was close enough. Today, because of the global a nd high speed Activity-based Costing (ABC) Hunter Company, 2 nature of the business environment, the errors of conventional costing are systematic and can affect too many decisions.Time-driven ABC is not a hypothetical improvement to traditional ABC analysis. It has been applied in dozens of companies, helping them to deliver significant profit improvements quickly. The Hunter Company (disguised name of actual company), a large, multinational distributor of scientific products with over 20 facilities, 300,000 customers, and 460,000 product SKUs, processes more than one million orders each month. Hunter already had an existing activity-based costing model that had been built with the assistance of an external consulting team.The insights revealed from the model were extremely informative but many in the company questioned if the view was worth the climb. Their main complaints can be summarized as follows: †¢ The model had been cumbersome to build and maintain. With more than 1,0 00 activities, the monthly survey of department staff of where they had spent their time was complex and costly. Also, tracking the driver quantities for each activity and customer was difficult. †¢ The model did not reconcile with actual financials since activity cost driver rates had not been updated recently. Despite the already large number of activities, the model was still not considered accurate or granular enough. It did not reflect several important differences between orders. To increase accuracy, more activities would have to be added, and employees would have to be re-interviewed. Also, an additional data extract to track the quantities of the new cost drivers would be required. The existing ABC approach was not easily maintainable, and thus not sustainable.The company called in a software and consulting company to help it implement the time-driven ABC approach. The time-driven approach led to the following changes: For a department, such as the inside sales departm ent, the previous ABC model required employees to estimate, each month, the percentage of their time spent on their three activities: customer set-up, order entry, and order expediting. In the time-driven approach, the ABC team estimated the time required to perform each activity.For example, the activity to set-up a new customer took 15 minutes. Since a field already existed within Hunter’s ERP system that identified whether a customer was new, assigning a customer set-up cost to a new customer became a simple transaction. For order entry, the team learned that every order took about five minutes to enter the basic order information, plus three minutes for each line item on the order. Again this was a simple calculation to implement since the ERP system already tracked the number of line items for each order.Finally, the team learned that order expediting was triggered by a request by the customer to rush the shipment, resulting in an additional 10 minutes of time to coordin ate the expediting. The order included a field that identified it is a â€Å"rush order. † The project team could write a simple equation to estimate the Inside Sales Department time required for each order received: Inside Sales Process Time = 15*[New Customer] + 5 + 3*[Number of Line Items] + 10*[Rush]The Inside Sales Department cost for the order was obtained by multiplying this time by the cost per minute of Inside Sales Department resources. This process was replicated in each department to arrive at the total cost of producing, handling, and fulfilling the order. Note that once the team had created the Inside Sales Process algorithm, it did not need to continually re-interview personnel. Each period, the costs of the department would be assigned based on the volume and nature of the transactions it handled.Activity-based Costing (ABC) Hunter Company, 4 The Hunter Company identified the following benefits from shifting its ABC model to the time-driven approach. †¢ I t reduced the number of activities to maintain. It transformed 1,200 activities (e. g. , set-up new customer, enter orders, expedite orders) to 200 department specific processes (e. g. , the equation used to estimate Inside Sales Department time). Also, it could easily update the resource cost of each cost center and departments so that its process costs were accurate and current. Its cost estimates were more accurate since they were based on actual observations of processing time and actual transaction data, not subjective estimates on where and how people spent their time †¢ It was easier to increase model accuracy and granularity, when wanted, for high cost and heterogeneous processes. Adding more elements to the time equation enabled managers to easily add more variety and complexity to the model when required. This enabled managers to identify specific SKUs, customers, and processes where improvements could be made. The model was easier to validate. The calculated total pr ocess time, based on all transactions in a period, could be reconciled to head count (resources supplied during the period). If the total process time exceeded the actual resources supplied, managers received a signal that some of their unit times were likely too high. If total calculated process time was well below the time supplied, but employees felt they were working at or beyond capacity, managers learned that some of their unit times were under-estimated or employees were working less efficiently than anticipated.Activity-based Costing (ABC) Hunter Company, 5 †¢ The model provided explicit information on processes operating at or beyond capacity, and those operating well below capacity. Managers could take action to relieve bottlenecks expected to persist in future periods, or act to reduce capacity in departments where any unused capacity was expected to persist for several periods into the future. Today, it takes two people, two days per month to load, calculate, valida te and report findings, compared to the 10-person team spending over 3 weeks to maintain the previous model.Employees now spend time generating increased profits from the information rather than just updating and maintaining the information. Over the past 15 years, activity-based costing has enabled managers to see that not all revenue is good revenue, and not all customers are profitable customers. Unfortunately, the difficulties of implementing and maintaining traditional ABC systems have prevented activity-based cost systems from being an effective, timely, and up-to-date management tool. The time-driven ABC approach has overcome these difficulties.It offers managers a methodology that has the following positive features: 1. Easy and fast to implement 2. Integrates well with data now available from recently installed ERP and CRM systems 3. Inexpensive and fast to maintain and update 4. Ability to scale to enterprise-wide models 5. Easy to incorporates specific features for partic ular orders, processes, suppliers, and customers Activity-based Costing (ABC) Hunter Company, 6 6. More visibility to process efficiencies and capacity utilization 7.Ability to forecast future resource demands based on predicted order quantities and complexity These characteristics enable activity-based costing to move from a complex, expensive financial systems implementation to becoming a tool that provides meaningful and actionable data, quickly and inexpensively, to managers. In conclusion, we can see that the methodology behind Activity-Based Costing is sound, and can result in sometimes great savings to a company willing to take the time, effort and expense to implement a plan.Although there are some pitfalls to the process, with perseverance and a solid commitment from management, ABC can be of great benefit to a manufacturing company. Activity-based Costing (ABC) Hunter Company, 7 References C. Argyris and R. S. Kaplan, â€Å"Implementing New Knowledge: The Case of Activity -Based Costing,† Accounting Horizons (September 1994): 83-105. Journal of Cost Management (Winter 1989): 34-46; R. Cooper and R. S. Kaplan, â€Å"Measure Costs Right: Make the Right Decisions,† Harvard Business Review (September-October 1988). http://www. hbs. edu/research/facpubs/workingpapers/papers2/0304/04-0

Prior Knowledge Deficit Essay

Prior knowledge comes from visual experiences, seeing those mental pictures of a subject. Prior knowledge comes before understanding what readers read, or understanding the subject. A deficit in prior knowledge inhibits student learning by taking away their educational experiences and replacing them with standardized testing. To begin with, prior knowledge plays an important role in enabling students to learn to read, and to read to learn. First, learning to read starts in kindergarten and continues through third grade, where teachers use books called primers. Primers teach students how to read because they tell stories about subjects that students already have visual experience with, such as family, friends, food, pets, or games. Since students know the basic information about such subjects, when they are being taught how to read, they understand the primers. Finally, when students enter fourth grade, they begin reading textbooks to learn about science and social studies. These students developed prior knowledge of science and social studies from kindergarten through third grade, when they attended field trips to zoos and museums, watched educational films, and completed science projects. If they learned this basic information about the natural world of science, and about the human world of social studie s, students are able to understand their textbooks. As a result, they can add new knowledge to further their education. Additionally, many students struggle with the prior knowledge deficit because of standardized testing. First of all, standardized testing takes time away from educational experience by using all the time and money on the tests. Teachers use the time on teaching students how to become test takers, instead of educating them in different experiences of the world. In the past, schools would take students on field trips to teach them mostly about science, and social studies. However, such field trips cost a lot of money; money that is currently being used on standardized tests. On one hand, traditional education consisted of students reading and writing to understand and explain the knowledge of the world. On the other hand, now day’s students are test takers, and they use their reading and writing skills for the test, just like knowledge is used to memorize all the information without understanding it. Teachers need to focus on this method because they are evaluated by the student s test scores. To summarize, prior knowledge deficit hinders students learning by taking away their educational experiences and focusing their time on standardized testing. A solution to the prior knowledge deficit is for teachers to dedicate more time on teaching students about subjects that will be used later on in further education, rather than teaching students how to become test takers.

Caribbean history Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Caribbean history - Essay Example Tiones and Arawaks lived a peaceful life with happiness before arrival of Columbus. Agriculture, fishing and hunting were their daily activities for fulfilling basic needs. Arawaks had copper colour with long black hairs (Johnson 1920). Arawaks had a unique lifestyle and a very gentle society. They lived as a society and society was just like a small kingdom. Their leaders were called cacique. Every Arawak and Tiones had 2 or 3 wives as per the culture. The cacique always had more wives than normal people as it was a symbol of pride for the woman to marry a cacique. Marring a cacique used to raise the authority and lifestyle of the woman. Children of the cacique were provided with better lifestyle and future opportunities (Williams 1984). House construction of the Arawaks and Tiones was basically of round shape that a supported with a pole in the centre. Palm leaves were used to cover the house from the top. Caciques had rectangular shaped houses as to create difference between a cacique and a normal man. Mats of banana leaves were the material used for sleeping in absence of any other bedding (Williams 1984). ZEMI were the gods of Arawaks and they used to arrange different religious functions. Religious practice included dancing, religious worship and medical treatment by ZEMI. People also consulted ZEMI for advice on health matters. Agricultural festivals also had certain religious features as thank giving. Specific dress was used on such festivals and drum beating with cacique sitting at a special place. Singing and admiring of cacique are the main events of such festivals (Williams 1984). Different caciques asked for certain help when Columbus landed in the region. Cacique Guacanagarie of Marien (Bainoa) asked Columbus to save him from Caribs. He became the very good friend of Columbus. Canoba was the leader who resisted Spanish movement in the area. Columbus offered Canoba a chain of gold. Conaba mistakenly took

Leadership Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 2

Leadership - Essay Example Who is a Leader Though there are various different views and definitions about leader and leadership, to come to a specific consensus about who is a leader may be a difficult task. To be very simple, a leader is one who has leadership quality. A leader can either be a man or woman who has the ability to get other people to do what he likes them to do even if they don’t like to do it. As Howard Gardner noted, a leader is a person â€Å"who could get other people to what they don’t want to do and like it† (Parker and Begnaud , p. 3). A leader is expected to be able to create interaction between him and his followers involving a structuring or restructuring of the situation, perception and expectations of the his followers. When it comes to a bit broader view about leaders, they come in all different shapes and sizes. They may be young or old, men or women and regardless of caste, region, religion and so on. they are found in all different levels, like Church, Polit ics, Government, Business, House, Community and sports (Corcoran, p. 3). All different leaders at different levels possess more or less different qualities, like transformational, charismatic, situational etc. A leader is one who listens to his people, supports and encourages them to get them involved in decision making process as well as problem solving processes (Holbeche, p. 72). Based on this view, a leader is one who influences his subordinates or followers by supporting them and encouraging them so that they will be motivated to get involved in all the relevant decision making and problem solving activities. He not only listens to the concerns of his followers, but also suggests possible solutions and finds better ways to help them by solving their issues. A leader tries to get his people to follow him or her to a specific objective. A political leader has his own specific objectives or destination that he likes to motivate his people to move towards that destination. A busine ss or political leader has thus certain objective and his activities or leadership attempts will be largely influenced by his intention to lead his people towards the ultimate goal. Contemporary perspectives on Leadership Leadership is basically a quality, necessarily an inborn quality according to some academic researchers and not so according to some others. Though there are various theoretical perspectives regarding leadership, trait theories are widely discussed and are considered to be highly important in contemporary business and political landscapes. In recent years, Warren Bennis contributed much to leadership studies and researches and has strongly disagreed with the concept that leadership is an inborn quality. In contemporary leadership literatures, Warren Bennis is perhaps the most widely discussed name. According to him, â€Å"leadership is the capacity to translate vision in to reality† (Corcoran, p. 3). Warren Bennis is the founding director of American Leaders hip Forum and he has authored more than 26 books in leadership and its very related functional areas. Leaders (1986) and On Becoming a Leader (1989) are some of his best-selling book about leadership (Thomas, p. 4). Warren Bennis tried to avoid the traditional view associated with leadership thinking and the concepts of trait-theories. He argued that leaders are not just born, but are made or created through training, developmental program and

Assingment 2 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Assingment 2 - Essay Example This letter indicates that the only appropriate measure to end this unexpected change is by responding to the problem of religion and administration by proposing the religious toleration as the only solution to this problem. This letter of toleration to some extent though it was written while putting emphasis to an anonymous audience portrays the power of religion as a unifying factor and above all as â€Å"opium of the masses† (Locke 57). On the second claim, toleration is an argument based on both a new and a general understanding of the links and relationship between religion and government. All these social systems were to work hand in hand for one could be more influential and superior to the other. The wide range of religious beliefs and practices was the influential aspects, in the political system, though Thomas Hobbes criticised the persuasion claims for he believed the imperialist-capitalism nature of the Catholic Church was one of the push and pull forces that made all the proposals made in regard to religious tolerance (Locke 36). This research work, through Locke, does not believe in Christian denominations for he believes this will divert the religious affiliations thus reduce the organic solidarity towards fighting the system of governance of the day. The persuasion of the mind is, therefore, viewed as the only influential aspect to be adopted between the state and religion for peaceful coexistence of the state versus religion and the state versus its citizens (Locke 98). The government should place the sovereignty in the hands of the people for the rulers owe their credit to the subjects. When it comes to persuasion, the government should, therefore, be more considerate and target the masses directly for peaceful coexistence in the social system. The social justice should be aptly upheld in any system of government to prevent the day-to-day political unrest. Through this persuasion letter, the only way through which the church can gain a genuine convert is through a persuasion strategy, as opposed to violence and unrests (Locke 143). This was one of the issues he advocated for, and as a believer of the political system, the letter made an assumption that the central governance administration system was like the church were salvation was the order of the day. The central government, as opposed to church, does not preach salvations therefore are very different entities in the social system. This persuasion letter, on the other hand, advocates for a complete restructure of the political system and governance such that it can take part in the purification of souls (Locke 78). This aspect is greatly defied by various political scientist scholars who believed the only thing that can create change in the society is force. This is also portrayed as evil critics as Locke, as a believer, sees heaven system of governance on earth and explains that individuals cannot deny control over their souls to secure various forces as the creator who is god does not sign up magistrates. In conclusion, salvation as an aspect of religion and theology greatly entails the inward persuasion of the mind and force as a parallel side salvation cannot create the appropriate change required in the salvation. This is because force only intimidates obedience but cannot absolutely change an individual’s beliefs acquired through religion as an aspect of

Computers and the law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Computers and the law - Essay Example An attempt to address these problems in the Act was implemented in controversial amendments, which came into force in October 2008 through the Police and Criminal Justice Act 2006 . With regard to the unauthorised access and attempted intrusions this could constitute an offence under the Act of the conduct satisfies the requirements as follows: 1) Unauthorised access to computer material (Section 1 of the Act); 2) Access to computer material without authorisation with intent to commit or assist the commission of offences (Section 2 of the Act); and 3) Modification of computer data without authorisation (Section 3 of the Act). With regard to the current factual scenario, it is evident that there have been attempts to hack the Macrobox system without success so far. Accordingly, whilst there has clearly been an intention to commit the office, there does not appear to have been actual access to the computer system or computer material. ... Accordingly, if we apply this to the current scenario, whilst the access to Macrobox’s computer and servers were not successful, the attempt to hack will constitute a criminal offence under Section 3 of the Act. With regard to potential penalties, the Police and Criminal Justice Act 2006 provides for criminal liability on the following basis to be included in the Act for the Section 3 offence: 1. On summary conviction a prison sentence of up to 12 months and a fine not exceeding the statutory minimum; or 2. On conviction on indictment, imprisonment for a term not exceeding ten years or a fine or both (Section 36(6) of the Police and Criminal Justice Act 2006). Additionally, as the forum users have been trying to encourage others to hack Macrobox, this also potentially falls within incitement offences, which have now been removed from the Act and inserted into the inchoate offences section of the Serious Crime Act 2007. Furthermore, it is important to highlight that the encoura gement on online forums to hack Macrobox’s computer systems could also constitute a potential offence under the Terrorism Act 2000. Section 2(e) of the Terrorism Act provides that an act of terrorism includes any act which is â€Å"designed seriously to interfere with or seriously disrupt an electronic system† if the act is undertaken with the objective of furthering a political, religious or ideological cause. In the current scenario, it is evident that the attempts to hack and interfere with Macrobox’s computer systems and servers were as a result of the disclosure on public forums that Macrobox is a major software supplier for Staffordshire

Beggaining of Judaism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Beggaining of Judaism - Essay Example During the foundation of this religion, God Discovers Abraham and calls him into a covenant. In this covenant, Abraham is called to be the father of numerous descendants who would be a special nation to God as they would be a case in point for the world. The world would be called to emulate this nation in terms of holiness and commendable conduct. For these special descendants, God would give the Land of Canaan or the Holy land between River Jordan and the Mediterranean Sea. Today, this land comprises the territories of Israel and Palestine while the religion headquarters remains as Jerusalem despite the absence of a temple or other forms of jurisdictional influence (Patheos.com para1). In order to guide the lives of the Israelites, God provided the Israelites with a set of rules. These rules were in the form of the Ten Commandments, which were to guide them. The rules were given to Moses at Mount Sinai. Other religious practices that the Jews were expected to adhere to were the sacrifices and prayer at the altar of sacrifice, sacred tree or stone pillar. Sacrifices were meant for retaining a strong relationship with God through recognizing His authority and influence over their lives. In addition, the Israelites were expected to remain as a religious community. This was possible through Circumcision, a practice that was acceptable for all male children eight days after birth (Religiousfacts.com para11). Religiousfacts.com further records that the relationship between the Jews was at first stormy and filled with challenges, especially during the journey to the Promised Land and in the Promised Land. For forty years, the Jews journeyed in the wilderness with Moses playing the key roles of a leader religiously, politically, military and legislatively. In the wilderness, God sustained them until He led them into the promised land of Canaan after entering into a covenant with them. The covenant required the

Protections and issues surronding the 4th amendement Essay

Protections and issues surronding the 4th amendement - Essay Example These questions will be answered and explained in detail. The Fourth Amendment states, â€Å"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.† (Anonymous 1) Since the ratification of the Fourth Amendment we have had many court rulings directly applying to the use of the Fourth Amendment and its limits and allowances. The amendment itself states emphatically that people must be secure from unreasonable searches and seizures. It also clearly states that their security is in their homes, persons and especially their papers and effects. The use of the word effects is based on 18th century English the definition of which at the time meant specifically, movable property. A primary modern legal precedent can be found in Mapp versus Ohio, 367 U.S. 643 (1961). This case specifically decided that evidence obtained in violation of the Fourth Amendment cannot be used in a criminal prosecution in state or federal courts. (Mapp v. Ohio 1) An interesting aspect of this case came in the dissenting opinion from Justice Harlan who believed that the wrong questions had been asked and that proper information had not been given. The exclusionary rule had also been brought up with this decision as before this decision there had never been a widely applied enforcement of the exclusionary rule. The exclusionary rule is the legal approach that holds that evidence wrongly acquired should be dismissed and is a support for the Fourth Amendment. The exclusionary rule does not however, apply in civil cases, grand jury proceedings or a parole revocation hearing. Some believe that the exclusionary rule causes more negative than positive. Socially this may be the case in that as a result of the exclusionary rule and by default the Fourth Amendment guilty individuals may go free, there is the greater need for justice to be fair and the exclusionary rule ensures that this can happen. The exclusionary rule is the only agreed upon solution for the Supreme Court to assure the effectiveness of the Fourth Amendment. Another case that set legal precedent was Katz versus United States, 389 U.S. 347 (1967). This case set the precedent for technology and privacy, specifically; one has an expected privacy when making a call from a telephone booth. The decision made it clear that a person could make a private call in a public area. The dissenting opinion from Justice Black said that the Fourth Amendment was meant to protect items from physical search and seizure. (Katz v. United States 1) There have been new approaches to this issue due to the use of the internet and cellular phones which do not necessarily call for a phone booth; however, it has been upheld as case law. Among the modern issues pre sented by adherence to the protections of the Fourth Amendment come as a result of recent terrorist activity within the United States. The Patriot Act or public law 107-56 has been the center of much controversy with its wide reaching allowances especially regarding the protections of the Fourth Amendment. The Patriot Act allows federal and state law enforcement agents to commit searches if a suspect is understood to be a threat to national security. Specifically Title II

Micro Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Micro - Essay Example This will raise the price of gasoline and as a result its quantity demanded will also be decreased (as quantity demanded decreases when price increases owing to the law of demand). In this way, the equilibrium quantity of gasoline will reduced to the new level Q’ and equilibrium price will be raised to P’. Price S’ S D Q’ Q Quantity The impact of increase in equilibrium prices of gasoline can be traced to the consumers of gasoline i.e. automobile owners. As far as the Luxury cars are concerned, which are not so fuel-efficient, the owners of Luxury cars will face increase in operational cost of their automobiles. Thus, the increase in price of gasoline will decrease the quantity demanded for gasoline and so will also decrease the demand for Luxury cars – perfect complement for gasoline. Graphically, in the Luxury car market, the demand curve of Luxury cars will shift leftward and now there is lesser demand of Luxury cars at each unit of their prices. Given the supply of Luxury cars, the leftward shift in their demand will decrease the equilibrium quantity of Luxury cars since the decrease in their demand will lead to excess supply of Luxury cars which will put downward pressure on their price and as a result their quantity supplied will also be decreased (as quantity supplied decreases when price decreases owing to the law of supply). In this way, the equilibrium quantity of Luxury cars will be reduced to the new level Q’ and equilibrium price will be decreased to P’. Price S D’ D Q’ Q Quantity The same impact can also be traced to the market of Economy cars which are fuel-efficient. Since the increase in price of gasoline will decrease the demand of Luxury cars, the consumers will tend to switch to the less-expensive alternative – Economy cars. Since Economy cars are the substitutes of Luxury cars, decrease in demand of Luxury cars will increase the demand of Economy cars. Graphically, in the Economy car market, the demand curve of Economy cars will shift rightward and now there is more demand of Economy cars at each unit of their prices. Given the supply of Economy cars, the rightward shift in their demand will increase the equilibrium quantity of Economy cars since the increase in their demand will lead to a situation of ‘excess demand’ of Economy cars which will put upward pressure on their price and as a result their quantity supplied will also be increased (as quantity supplied increases with price). In this way, the equilibrium quantity of Economy cars will be increased to the new level Q’ and equilibrium price will also be increased to P’. Price S D D’ Q. Q’ Quantity Question 2 Price a S b Price Ceiling D QS QD Quantity At the binding price ceiling – which is the maximum price set below the equilibrium price – suppliers can't charge what they had been. Consequently, some suppliers exit the industry and thus s upply is decreased. In this way, there will be inefficiency in the market as it will prevent some sellers from selling their good to buyers who value the good higher than their cost ("Price ceiling" Wikipedia.org). On the other hand, consumers can now buy the product for less, so quantity demanded increases. This will cause a  shortage since quantity demanded exceeds quantity supplied. Since producer surplus is area above the supply curve and

Introduction about Drones and Seattle Police's Drones Essay

Introduction about Drones and Seattle Police's Drones - Essay Example The ones used for attacking enemy lines have recently been a part of war on terrorism where they are used to figure out enemies on the ground and then they are used to eliminate these enemies. The ones used for surveillance purposes have been used both domestically and internationally for security purposes. For example: recently the state of Seattle purchased two drones each costing a total of $41,000 (Clarridge, 2012). These drones are under the testing phase and are controlled by the police department of Seattle. These drones have been adopted by the police department for the purpose of surveillance and these drones have cameras along with infrared eye attached to it. There are various benefits of using drones, these include: they are in expensive, they save lives and they provide a competitive advantage to the side that is using them (Benjamin 18). Clarridge, Christine. "Police Department demonstrates new drone, to help allay concerns | Local News | The Seattle Times." The Seattle Times | News, sports, weather, events in the Northwest. N.p., 27 Apr. 2012. Web. 13 Mar. 2013.

International Trade and Tariff Essay Example for Free

International Trade and Tariff Essay Tariffs Explain the various impacts of an import tariff in small nations vs. large nations. The impact of an import tariff in a small nation is entirely unlike then an import tariff from a larger nation. When smaller nations imposes a tariff, it does not affect world prices, however the price of the importable commodity will start to rise, usually by the amount of the tariff for manufacturers and trade in the small nation. When large nations impose a tariff, it will reduce the volume of trade. Large nation tariffs also improve terms of the nation’s trade. Since the volume of trade is being reduced, it tends to lesson the nation’s welfare. However it also can improve the nation’s welfare. It depends on the welfare of the nation to if it actually rises or falls depending on the two conflicting forces. What are the three main reasons governments prefer using a tariff to restrict imports versus quotas? A few reasons why tariffs are better option than import quotas is because, tariffs can generate revenue for the Government, import quotas can lead to administrative corruption, and import quotas can cause smuggling. The reason the government can make money off of tariffs is because there can be a percentage put on imported goods that will generate extra money. There are millions of different things that are imported into a country and the small percentage of tariffs generates a lot of revenue that would be lost of the government unless their trade had an authorizing fee on goods being imported. This can lead to administrative corruption, if there are no restrictions on importing goods then the government has the ability to pick and choose who can import and who cannot. This can give the custom officials a lot of power since they would have the ability to favor and only allow certain corporations. Tariff system helps to rid the possibility of corruptions. This not just the price, but also the quantity sold through supply and demand. Smuggling can occur with an import quota when there are large shortages. A tariff cannot provide a set number on the goods or products that are coming into the country so the number of imports will increase when the demand for it goes up. Should our government use a weak dollar exchange rate policy to make imports more expensive in order to help our exporters? The weakening of the U. S. dollar means that the dollar has fallen in value compared other currency. The weak dollar is good for exports, but not good for importers. The value of currency will decrease when the demand for that specific currency is low, which will make importing goods more expensive. A weak dollar can make things difficult for exporters that are selling to the United States. If a foreign company wants to sell goods to the U. S. it either needs to up the price of the product or sell it at a lower price because of the exchange rate. What roles do the IMF and WTO play in trade and the use of tariffs? The IMF or International Monetary Fun is an global business of countries that strives to guarantee the constancy of the worldwide financial and economic system. The IMF tries to make sure that there is balanced growth to international trade, it promotes exchange constancy and helps to give countries a way to balance payment issues. Tariff rate data comes from the IMF database and the country’s authority figures. The WTO or World Trade Organization is a global company that works on the rules of trade between two countries. It helps to ensure that international trade moves smoothly and generously. It also gives countries a helpful and just outlet for dealing with arguments over importing issues. The WTO regulations permit a nation to defend certain businesses if the elimination of tariffs would have detrimental side effects, such as the loss of necessary national trade.

Human Impacts on Deciduous Forest

Human Impacts on Deciduous Forest Autumn Blaze Maple Tree The autumn blaze maple tree is a unique combination of good traits from the red maple and silver maple. The qualities mixed by the autumn blaze maple tree are brilliant orange-red color in the fall, dense and healthy branching, and enhanced growth that protects from insects and disease. They are known for their unexcelled speed of growth. The autumn blaze maple tree can also live in a variety of climates, ranging from the frigid cold of zone three, to the humid south of zone eight. The autumn blaze maple tree will grow to fifty or sixty feet tall and have a mature spread of thirty to forty feet. They are not a susceptible to storm damage as the silver maple, as they received stronger wood from their red maple parent. The autumn blaze maple tree also has the ability to grow in most soil conditions. The leaves of the autumn blaze maple tree resemble the leaves of a silver maple tree, being opposite, simple, and five-lobed with toothy margins. The deep red veins of the leaves are derived from the red maple. The summer color of the autumn blaze maple tree is a rich medium green, which turns into orange and crimson in the fall. The leaves of the autumn blaze maple tree will last longer on the branch than those of other maple trees. The Birch Birch species are generally small to medium-sized trees or shrubs, mostly of temperate climates. The simple leaves are alternate, singly or doubly serrate, feather-veined, petiolate and stipulate. They often appear in pairs, but these pairs are really borne on spur-like, two-leaved, lateral branchlets. The fruit is a small samara, although the wings may be obscure in some species. They differ from the alders (Alnus, other genus in the family) in that the female catkins are not woody and disintegrate at maturity, falling apart to release the seeds, unlike the woody, cone-like female alder catkins. The bark of all birches is characteristically marked with long, horizontal lenticels, and often separates into thin, papery plates, especially upon the paper birch. It is resistant to decay, due to the resinous oil it contains. Its decided color gives the common names gray, white, black, silver and yellow birch to different species. European larch Larix decidua, common name European larch, is a species of larch native to the mountains of central Europe, in the Alps and Carpathian Mountains, with also low populations in southern Poland and southern Lithuania. Larix decidua is a medium-size to large deciduous coniferous tree reaching 25-45 m tall, with a trunk up to 1 m diameter (exceptionally, to 55 m tall and 2 m diameter). The crown is conic when young, becoming broad with age; the main branches are level to upswept, with the side branches often pendulous. The shoots are dimorphic, with growth divided into long shoots (typically 10-50 cm long) and bearing several buds, and short shoots only 1-2 mm long with only a single bud. The leaves are needle-like, light green, 2-4 cm long which turn bright yellow before they fall in the autumn, leaving the pale yellow-buff shoots bare until the next spring. The cones are erect, ovoid-conic, 2-6 cm long, with 30-70 erect or slightly incurved (not reflexed) seed scales; they are green variably flushed red when immature, turning brown and opening to release the seeds when mature, 4-6 months after pollination. The old cones commonly remain on the tree for many years, turning dull grey-black.It is very cold tolerant, able to survive winter temperatures down to at least -50 °C, and is among the tree line trees in the Alps, reaching 2400 m altitude, though most abundant from 1000-2000 m. It only grows on well-drained soils, avoiding waterlogged ground. Deciduous forest animals A wide variety of mammals, birds, insects, and reptiles can be found in a deciduous forest biome. Mammals that are commonly found in a deciduous forest include bears, raccoons, squirrels, skunks, wood mice, and in the U.S., deer can be found in these forests. While bobcats, mountain lions, timber wolves, and coyotes are natural residents of these forests, they have nearly been eliminated by humans because of their threat to human life. Other animals that were native to this biome, such as elk and bison, have been hunted to near extinction. Migration and hibernation are two adaptations used by the animals in this biome. While a wide variety of birds migrate, many of the mammals hibernate during the cold winter months when food is in short supply. Another behavioral adaptation some animals have adopted is food storage. The nuts and seeds that are plentiful during the summer are gathered by squirrels, chipmunks, and some jays, and are stored in the hollows of trees for use during the winter months. Cold temperatures help prevent the decomposition of the nuts and seeds. Deciduous forest plants A deciduous forest typically has three to four, and sometimes five, layers of plant growth. Tall deciduous trees make up the top layer of plant growth, and they create a moderately dense forest canopy. Although the canopy is moderately dense, it does allow sunlight to reach the forest floor. This sunlight allows plants in the other layers to grow. The second layer of plant growth includes saplings and species of trees that are naturally shorter in stature. A third layer (or understory) would include shrubs. Forest herbs, such as wildflowers and berries, make up a fourth layer. During the spring, before the deciduous trees leaf out, these herbs bloom and grow quickly in order to take advantage of the sunlight. A fifth layer would include mosses and lichens that grow on tree trunks. Plant adaptations In the spring, deciduous trees begin producing thin, broad, light-weight leaves. This type of leaf structure easily captures the sunlight needed for food production (photosynthesis). The broad leaves are great when temperatures are warm and there is plenty of sunlight. However, when temperatures are cold, the broad leaves expose too much surface area to water loss and tissue damage. To help prevent this damage from occurring, deciduous trees make internal and physical adaptations that are triggered by changes in the climate. Image of deciduous forest trees with leaves of red and orange. Cooler temperatures and limited sunlight are two climatic conditions that tell the tree to begin adapting. In the Fall, when these conditions occur, the tree cuts off the supply of water to the leaves and seals off the area between the leaf stem and the tree trunk. With limited sunlight and water, the leaf is unable to continue producing chlorophyll, the green stuff in the leaves, and as the chlorophyll decreases the leaves change color. The beautiful display of brilliant red, yellow, and gold leaves, associated with deciduous forests in the fall, is a result of this process. Most deciduous trees shed their leaves, once the leaves are brown and dry. Humans in the ecosystem The original broad lived deciduous forest that covered most of the lowlands of temperate Europe have almost disappeared to give way to an intensively farmed landscape. (Peterken, G. F., 1996). European natural nemoral woodland is considered to be among the most degraded ecosystems in the world (JÄâ„ ¢drzejewska et al., 1994). Although there is the perception that the greatest concern should be held for tropical rain forests, temperate deciduous forests have a smaller fraction of original vegetation remaining than boreal or tropical forests, and also have been more severely impacted by land use change and air pollution. Remaining deciduous forests in the Fennoscandian boreal landscape have high ecological value, and are considered as key components of the forest landscape. In Europe and North America, less than 1% of all temperate deciduous forests remain inundisturbed state, free of logging, grazing, and deforestation or other intensive use. In  south  and  central  Sweden,  during  the  20th  century much  of  the  deciduous  forests  were  transferred  to  coniferous  forest  plantations, while  the  remaining  deciduous  forests  are  to  a  large  extent  also  characterized by  commercial  forestry.  Estimates  by  SEPA  indicates  that  less  than  2%  of  the original  distribution  of  deciduous  forests  are  still  intact,  in  terms  of  natural forest  dynamics. In Norway more than 20% of the broad-leaved forests are logged and replaced with non-native tree species. The forest sector continues this destructive management, manipulating living forests into boring monoculture of non-native species. This is the biggest threat to this unique and biodiversity rich forest ecosystem, for which Norway has an international responsabiliity. The history of deciduous forest in Scandinavia: The example of picea albes Although climate changes are considered as the driving force of forest modification, (Webb 1987), the actual vegetation landscape of Europe is the result of thousands years of interferences between human activity and forests. (Behre, 1988; Huntley Webb, 1989). This can be illustrated by the immigration of Picea abies into Fennoscandia. Both human disturbance and climatic change are responsible factors (Tallantire, 1977; Nunez Vuorela, 1979; Huntley, 1988; Dahl, 1990). To retrace forest landscape history we can use pollen analysis (Bradshaw, 1988; Bradshaw Zackrisson, 1990). The major deciduous tree species in the Fennoscandian boreal forest, Betula pendula, B. pubescens and Populus tremula, all depend on disturbance for their perpetuation (Zackrisson, 1985; Nikolov Helmisaari, 1992) Pollen records and charcoal remains provide evidence of intense deforestation for agricultural uses 4000 years ago in Southern Scandinavia. This clearing facilitated a dramatic change in the forest composition, although at the beginning in southern Sweden forest where dominated by deciduous trees and Spruce were found only in the northern and central part of Sweden,(Bjorse Bradshaw 1998, Lindbladh Bradshaw, 1998) During the following two millennia, the spruce spread southwards rapidly and is now the dominant forest species in most of southern Sweden. This process has been explained as being based on a combination of climatic changes and of anthropogenic influences such as grazing by domestic animals, selective cuttings, pollarding, and burning, which has been unfavorable for deciduous tree species (Nilsson, 1997a, Lindbladh et al., 2000). Since the mid-19th century the Swedish boreal land- scape has been transformed by forestry operations, which have produced intensively managed forests, mainly even-aged conifer monocultures, in which production of tim- ber and pulpwood are the main goals (Ostlund et al. 1997; Linder Ostlund, 1998; Axelsson Ostlund, 2001) The landscape perspective has come to play an important role in efforts to achieve sustainable forestry, especially regarding the protection of biodiversity However, many temperate zone economies have shifted from rural, agricultural to urban manufacturing and technologically driven economies. This has led to large-scale agricultural abandonment and the reversion of agricultural lands back to forests. Recent studies indicate an increase in forest area and volumes in both North America and Europe (Kauppi et al., 1992; Houghton, 1995). Restoration and management of deciduous forests Temperate deciduous forests are important to regional economies as a source of wood, they provide many ecological services, and they play a major role in the global carbon cycle The need to repair habitat and restore forest structure and function is recognized throughout the boreal and temperate zone as a component of sustainable forest management. Forest restoration is a complex task, complicated by diverse ecological and social conditions, that challenges our understanding of forest ecosystems. Forest are human dominated ecosystems. Reconstructing forests where they are now absent, as well as altering existing forests to more natural conditions, are important aspects of sustainable forest management. Rare herbaceous species, lichens, mosses, insects and birds that are dependent on old, dying and dead deciduous trees occur in these forests (Sturesson, 1983; Lundqvist, 1986; Wikars As, 1991) In Sà ¶derà ¥sen National Park Sweden CONCLUSION: WHAT FUTURE FOR  TEMPERATE FORESTS? Long, long ago forests of oak, elm, beech, chestnut, maple, ash, poplar, linden, birch, and many other species blanketedmost of the lowlands of Europe. Similar forests covered much of the northeastern United States. Many of those forests have gone, cleared by long-dead settlers to make way for farms. Farms were needed, of course. People must be fed-and so must the draft animals that helped the farmers till the land. But forests have always been needed. Most furniture, house frames, floors, and everyday tools are made wholly or partly from wood. This book is made from paper manufactured from what were once trees growing in a forest. Wood was once the only fuel that heated every home, from the kings palace and the barons castle to the villagers cottage. It cooked everyones meals, and the only way to obtain hotwater for washing was to place a cauldron over a wood fire. Many people burn wood to keep warm even today. We mayboast of living in the Information Age, but the truth is that we live in the Wooden Age, and we always have. Nowadays a new use has been found for our forests, basedon a deeper understanding and appreciation of the way they function. Forests are seen not simply as sources of raw materials and fuel, but as living communities of plants, animals, fungi, and organisms so small they can be seen only with the aid of a microscope. The forest reveals itself as a wonderland of diversity, a community of living organisms so vast and complex as to be barely comprehensible. Most North Americans and Europeans now live in cities. The countryside and its forests are remote from the sidewalks, subways, city blocks, and suburban sprawl, and city parks are pale imitations of genuine countryside. This makes the forests still more special-and valuable. The forest is a place to visit. It is where families can walk, children can play, and naturalists can observe what is around them. It is where scientists can study the planet we all share, and where students can learn. Throughout much of the Tropics, forests are being cleared, although strenuous efforts are being made to halt the clearances. In temperate regions, on the other hand, the forests are expanding. Forests that have stood for centuries, known as old-growth forests in most of the world and as ancient woodland in Britain, are protected. The protection is not always effective and valued forests are sometimes lost, often through illegal logging, but conservation bodies are increasingly vigilant and the chainsaws can no longer enter the forest unchallenged. It seems certain, therefore, that the temperate forests will survive long into the future. Changes in the climate may alter their composition, but forests are not static; their composition is changing all the time. Trees come and go, but the forest will remain. Of that we may be certain.

The Definition And Concept Of Spatial Integration Cultural Studies Essay

The Definition And Concept Of Spatial Integration Cultural Studies Essay The definition and concept of Spatial Integration in historic cities or towns is not accurately defined as it has been seen as an essential component of the present integration in the cities of towns. According  [1]  to European Spatial Development Programme (ESDP) under the Noordwijk project, Spatial integration expresses the opportunities for and level of (economic, cultural) interaction within and between areas and may reflect the willingness to co-operate. It also indicates, for example, levels of connectivity between transport systems of different geographical scales. Spatial integration is positively influenced by the presence of efficient administrative bodies, physical and functional complementarity between areas and the absence of cultural and political controversies. In itself, the term interaction can seem at least as global as the one of integration. However, this term, often coupled with the spatial or territorial qualifier is often used in scientific literature, in particular by geographers. In a wide sense, the concept of spatial interaction can be related to any kind of relationship between places (connexity, similarity, flows, and proximity) and one could assimilate the analysis of spatial interaction to spatial analysis in itself, or even to geography. In the practice of (mainly geographical) research, spatial interaction often takes a more limited and technical meaning and may refer to a phenomenon described as decreasing of the intensity of flows with distance. Different spatial interaction models have been built in order to give account of this phenomenon, many of them relying on the general gravity model, based on distance and on relative weights of the considered entities. Taking into account the ESDP definition, its global approach as well as the history of the criterion, it seems that interaction must be understood here as a rather comprehensive concept, that cannot be directly limited to some domains of relationships, nor even to spatial interaction as it is generally understood. For example the definition mentions interaction between areas rather than spatial interaction, which could indicate that distance is not necessarily seen as central (maybe because the concept of distance is more specific of another criterion, Geogr aphic position) The ESDP definition, through its reference to willingness to co-operate and to absence of cultural and political controversies, also indicates that the social and human aspects play an important role in an open minded approach of the concept of spatial interaction. Besides its various interpretations, use of the term interaction in the definition of the Noordwijk draft of ESDP can also be seen as conveying some implicit ideas through its etymology. Spatial integration and (spatial) cohesion:- There is often reference to the terms which are or their meaning is related or closed to the integration in the European documents. In the Article B under title I of Treaty of European Union, the most often term under the aims and objectives, is the economic and social cohesion. There is no specific definition of cohesion (Economic and social) in the Treaty, but there is reference is to reduce the disparities between the levels of development of the various regions and the backwardness of the least favoured regions, including rural areas. The analysis of the first report on social and economic cohesion describes the situation of the European regions in the same perspective of assessment of inequalities and of their trends. In those terms, cohesion seems closely related to the idea of homogeneity and Spatial (or territorial) cohesion is relatively less mentioned compared to social and economic cohesion. Spatial integration and co-operation:- The Noordwijk project of ESDP introduces in its definition the concept of willingness to co-operate, as a basis for spatial integration. This adds an important dynamic element to understanding of territorial (or spatial) integration. Co-operation is often associated to integration, although there are some fundamental differences between the two concepts. A priori, the concept of spatial interaction, which is at the core of the definition of spatial integration, has no positive or negative sense. Spatial interaction generally relies on human motivation (even if natural phenomena such as floods may cause spatial interaction), but these motivations might not be shared by all actors nor lead to win-win situations. In contrast, absence of co-operation may result either in a limited level of spatial interaction, as relationships will not be supported by all actors, or in unbalanced relationships solely ruled by the law of the strongest. Lack of co-operation can be observed in practice in some cases where actual relations are less than one would expect in view of shared interests, physical possibilities available, or presence of spatial systems to manage (e.g. river basins). But absence of co-operation may also exist where integration (in terms of interactions) is strong, and in those cases it may have harmful effects for some of the partners. Although the ESDP mentions the willingness to co-operate, it must be said that co operation does not always rely on willingness but also on need to co-operate. This allows us to distinguish between situations that require co-operation (even if the partners are somewhat reluctant) and situations where spatial integration is actually weak but the willingness to co-operate exists. In the second case, certain material organisational changes may lead to an increase in the significance of relations between areas. Attempting to translate the concept of spatial co-operation into indicators is recognised as being a very difficult task, as co-operation mainly relies on a state of mind and on organisational patterns that do not necessarily imply easily measurable phenomena. Networks of places:- For many authors, it is useful to reflect further on how places are linked, in order that integration might occur. Places are no longer considered as simple geographical constructs; rather they are defined through social analysis (for a review, see Amin and Graham, 1998). These stress that places are articulated moments in networks of social relations and understandings rather than areas with boundaries around (Massey, 1993; 66). In this configuration socially-constructed places are noncontiguous, diverse, dynamic and superimposed. As well as being bound to place-based relations, cultural, social, economic, political and environmental links and relations can be stretched across space (Graham and Healey, 1999 (forthcoming)). This partially reflects a more sophisticated analysis of how networks of cities and towns interact, an area that Theme 2 explores further. As Dematteis notes we have witnessed the passage from a functional organisation in which the centres are graded with a multi-level hierarchy (as in the models of Christaller and Là ¶sch) to interconnected networks organised on the basis of the corresponding complementarities of the nodes and the synergies produced (Dematteis, 1994). It also reflects an understanding that it is not places which interact but the people and organisations (actors) which inhabit that space. Geoff Mulgan (1997) labels the current era one of Connexity. This reflects the ESDPs definition of spatial integration as: Opportunities for and level of interaction within and between areas. In Mulgans view cultures, economies, social worlds, politics and environments all become driven by logics of increasingly intense interconnections and flows, over larger and larger geographical scales. A growing range of economic, social, and cultural interactions which are both in place and out of place (Adams, 1996; 279) are being supported by modern communications technologies (Graham and Healey, ibid.). Of course, it is possible that connections may only occur between specific sections of society. We may therefore witness different social geographies of spatial integration. The Noordwijk project of ESDP suggests that measures of spatial integration will include levels of linkage between transport systems at different geographical scales. However, a fuller interpretation of the conception offered above implies that spatial integration is wider than simply transport linkages but includes all transactions (or flows) between areas. To Mulgan, the growing importance of network-based connections means that economies are increasingly driven by the logical or virtual regularities of electronic communication, a new geography of nodes and hubs, processing and control centres. The nineteenth centurys physical infrastructures of railways, canals and roads are now overshadowed by the networks of computers, cables and radio links that govern where things go, how they are paid for, and who has access to what. The physical manifestation of power, walls, boundaries, highways and cities, are overlaid with a virtual world of information hubs, databases and networks (Mulgan, 1991; 3). India: According  [3]  to Jordar, Souro D., Spatial integration is the combination of all the activities like economic, social and physical which can be achieved by the modern spatial planning tools and techniques, different and dual modes for the participation towards development in the cities. There are very few cities in India which have undergone planned development by using the modern spatial planning tools and techniques towards spatial integration. The author signifies the role of resources like land and infrastructure in the spatial integration of cities. Moreover, the role of modes like public and private sectors, public/private sector for the development of spatial integration, is also most important for spatial development. Brazil: According  [4]  to Edja Bezerra Faria and Valerio Augusto in their paper, Spatial Integration/Configuration is a set of independent relations in which each is determined by its relation to others and the fundamental correlate is of the spatial integration/configuration is movement . But according  [5]  to Hillier, (1996, 35/152), The structure of the grid considered purely as a spatial integration/configuration, is itself the most powerful determinant of urban movement, both pedestrian and vehicular. Because this relation is fundamental and lawful, it has already been a powerful force in shaping our historically evolved cities, by its effect on land use patterns, building densities and part-whole structure of the city. South America: According  [6]  to Poul Ove Pedersen and Walter Stà ¶hr Spatial development and Economic Integration is associated with spatial distribution of physical geographical patterns, transport networks, economic activities, natural resources different policies etc and change is these factors can change the spatial integration pattern in the areas/city or in the region. South Africa: Within the constitution, for the basis of new development and local government system, white paper was introduced which highlights and committed to cover all the sectors to meet the demands of the society. According  [7]  to it, Spatial integration is a strategy for doing away with the expensive and exclusionary land-use patterns of apartheid. It seeks to enhance the efficiency of the city by placing residential development closer to job opportunities, and reduce the costs of development by exploiting surplus bulk infrastructural capacity. Spatial integration also has a social dimension and can increase the access of low-income residents to facilities and opportunities in the city. For the Integration of cities, towns and rural areas which has different spatial dimensions like social, an economic etc, the objective is to create more efficient and equitable cities, towns and rural areas. In Contrast to many literatures, Hilliers establishment of a theory of space as configuration and series of related methodologies, called space syntax, (Hillier Hanson, 1984; Hillier, 1996) that spreads a new light on the spatial formation of area structure. Hillier (1987, 1989) first suggested that optimizing correlations between spatial configuration measured by spatial integration and movement rates and the growth of settlements changes the pattern of Integration. The concept of spatial integration was also identified in the European Spatial Development Programme (ESDP) throughout the various versions. The First document which was on spatial planning issues, when it appeared first time in 1994 and it was centred on the specific aspect of cross-border relationships but slowly it came out with wider vision which was summarised later in the first official project of ESDP. After the evolution of Noordwijk, 1997, the next version of ESDP was produced in Glasgow in 1998 which came out with removal of few terms (economic, cultural) while it maintained the definition. Later on, the final and official version was adopted in Postdam, 1999 in which no indications on the definition of spatial integration or the concept of spatial integration. The CEMAT also gave same kind of Guidelines for Sustainable Spatial Planning to maintain spatial balance. It was also asked to produce synthetic indexes which should be able to take into account the seven dimensions of spatial differentiation in a global approach. These criteria, it is argued, provide a starting point for recognising and assessing the spatial dimension of the ESDP and, in combination, have a particular value for the purpose of spatial analysis. As it was recognised, spatial integration is, perhaps, one of the criteria which is most directly related to the concept of spatial planning itself. Consequently, and by virtue of its comprehensive nature, it may often overlap the fields of interest of the other criteria. From the start criterion has an overlay with the criteria Geographical position (1.1) but also with all the other criteria of spatial differentiation and probably with all the other parts of the call for proposals. In other words, the question of spatial integration is present everywhere in the SPESP and it is well known that what is everywhere is also nowhere. For example, there is a potential overlap between spatial integration and geographical position on the questions of distances and of transport and communication infrastructures. Some less obvious overlaps may occur with social integration (about integration factors such as language, culture, political sensitivity), with economic strength (economic functions generating relationships), with land use pressure (impact on migration moves through effects on land prices) or with natural and cultural assets (common resources that can account for spatial relationships). Links exist also with work on the urban rural relationships typology and urban rural partnerships considered under theme 2. All this indicates that one of the first tasks related to the work on this study strand is a deepening of the concepts, taking into account not only the concept of spatial integration itself, but also some other related concepts that may help to delineate the field of the study. The previous points all go to show how interrelated the concept of spatial integration is with concepts such as economic and social integration. Far from serving to narrow its field of application, the body of literature concerned with spatial integration is in fact serving to widen its influence. This raises the question of identifying the specific nature of spatial integration, and reminds of another similar question, that is identification of the specific nature of spatial planning / spatial development. In both cases, the multi-facetted nature generates a difficulty to focus on specific issues, notably because isolating the spatial dimension of a reality is a rather abstract exercise whose practical purpose is not always obvious to perceive.

Essay --

Society’s role in criminalizing statutory rape cases play a big part on how people look at the different cases. In society everyone expects for a younger girl to be with an older guy, so people may not see a priority in statutory rape laws. â€Å"Considering that it is customary for women to date and marry slightly older men† (M.W., 1998). Since it is not abnormal for younger girls and older guys to be together most people do not see an age gap of about three years that big of a deal. But if these people do not report a case of statutory rape then they are technically endangering a minor. Males in society do not see male statutory rape victims as victims. These men look at it as a pat on the back to the young boys who were sexually active with adult women. The men also make comments saying that they wish they could have been in that position when they were young. Some people in today’s society do not understand the priority of really enforcing statutory rape case s unless there is a huge age difference or the victim was a young girl instead of a boy. The media has a big part in which cases will be recognized. The media tends to show female victims and adult male offenders more than they would male victims and adult female offenders. Female offenders should be broadcasted just as much as the men and should not get privileges just because they are women. Statutory rape laws and child marriage laws greatly clash. According to Cocca, â€Å"of all brides in 1970, 13% were under 18; in 1980, 8.2%, and in 1990 3.7%. Of all grooms 1970 2.1 were under 18; in 1980 1.3% and in 1990 0.6† (Cocca, 2004). Yes over time the percentage of adults and minors getting married has dwindled, but it was not right to go along with in the first place. In some states... ...sibility of being parents when they cannot even legally say yes to sex. Statutory rape laws are far from perfect. Statutory rape laws are discriminating towards boys and biased towards girls. No law should be gender specific especially one that consists of people who are endangering minors. These laws have discriminated boys for over 150 years. The law should be fair to both genders and give boys the voice the need in the cases. Over the years statutory rape cases have gone underreported, mainly because people do not witness the cases themselves. Most of the lost cases involve minor males and older females. Even though some cases have been reported they do not get as much publicity as the cases dealing with young girls and adult men. Boys should get the same amount of protection under the statutory rape laws as girls do; the young men are victims just as girls are.

American Freedom - No Greater Gift Essay -- Exploratory Essays Researc

American Freedom - No Greater Gift Silently they stand, tall, strong pillars of memory in a seemingly long since forgotten world. Rows upon rows of white marble glisten in the first rays of the rising sun. The shimmer of morning frost still graces their elegant arches as the brisk air begins to take on a slightly warmer tone. In this quiet hour, not quite night, yet still not day, one lone man stands respectfully next to a small, almost insignificant grave stone. His head hangs slightly bowed, and except for the small hunch in his back, he stands at perfect attention. Unnoticed by the swirling city around him, he slowly removes his cap and looks out across the hill before him. His gaze sweeps over the expansive garden of marble and granite. Millions of white headstones grace the green hillsides, most of them appearing small and humble. Every so often, however, the man sees a taller, more significant looking headstone. He knows these stones were meant to be impressive and eye catching; but to him, there is nothing more touching than the stone which stands before him. Only the rank of a private, a name and two dates grace the stone's face. Some might say this is rather insignificant compared to the graves containing generals or captains. Others might take the time to note how young the man was when he died at the age of twenty-one, and think he still had his whole life left to live. This lone man, though, views the grave stone entirely differently. To him, Private Michaels was more than just a name carved into a head stone, more than a private, more than just a twenty-one year old boy. Private Michaels had been his best friend. In Arlington Cemetery, there are hundreds upon hundreds of heroic men lying silently, their sto... ...rice of our freedom. Many have stepped back and taken a good look at the struggles our founding fathers went through to plant our country on a firm foundation based on freedom. As the old man stood silently surrounded by the stillness of the morning, he thought back to the days of his youth. Private Michaels and he had grown up together, and were thought to be closer than any two brothers. Where one went, the other was sure to follow, even to the extent of entering the Second World War. Together, they fought side by side, defending their country as well as the lives of many innocent people. Michaels gave his own life over to enemy fire, shortly before the end of the war, so his best friend could live. Standing there with rays of warmth caressing his back, the old man realized there truly was no greater love than the gift his friend had given him, and his country.

Game Playing and Artificial Intelligence Essay -- Video Games AI

Game Playing and Artificial Intelligence Abstract Since the inception of the field of Artificial Intelligence (AI), game playing has had a key role. Likewise, AI has been an integral part of modern computer games. This collaboration of academic and commercial research and development into AI has yielded vast amounts of crossover technology. Academic research problems have become or influenced commercial games and the money gained from the commercial applications of AI have helped advance academic research as well. Highly publicized man-machine tournaments, such as between Gary Kasparov and IBM's Deep Blue have served to showcase the current state of the art in Artificial Intelligence agents. The technology from these game players is finding its way into many other software fields, such as medical databases. Introduction Not long ago, at the mention of Artificial Intelligence (AI) the first thing most people thought of was the science fiction image of computers capable of independent thought and possessing a human-like personality such as HAL from the movie 2001. It is not unusual now to see commercial computer games advertised and reviewed based on their AI capabilities. The strategic war game EARTH 2140 for example is advertised as containing "excellent strategic and economic AI". Where once AI was solely a matter of fiction and research, it has effectively made its way into the consumer market in the form of computer games. While AI artifacts have not yet reached the level of HAL, computers and their games have advanced substantially from the days of punch cards and Pong. The early uses of Artificial Intelligence in game playing were not the highly graphical, user friendly, mass marketed computer games seen today. The e... ...hat the game required "robot-like planning abilities,"2 not deep search. The tools used to solve problems in AI will continue to evolve via game playing as long as there are new games to play and new computers on which to play them. Bibliography 1. AAAI Hall of Champions, Matthew L. Ginsberg, 2. "Smart games: beyond the Deep Blue horizon" Sara Hedberg IEEE Expert July/August 1997 3. "Deep Blue Wins 3.5 to 2.5: Kasparov vs. Deep Blue the rematch" IM Malcolm Pein, London Chess Centre May 11, 1997 4. "Classic Games and AI - What's Been "Solved"", Steven Woodcock 5. "Deep Blue's Hardware - Software Synergy" Scott Hamilton and Lee Garber Computer October 1997 6. "Debbi One: Challenging the Extremes of Computation", George Kaplan 7. Interplay's Earth 2140 Website 8. "Ultima Online", Cindy Yans Computer Games Strategy Plus July 1997 Pages 44 - 49

Inventory management system Essay

Introduction Technology is simultaneously advancing together with what internet offers. Many system made by programmers and companies are innovating people look and need them via internet. One click, thousands results, probably millions or ever billions of different system. One button press brings people to new discoveries and massive enjoyment. A sales and inventory system is a system that can handle a company data. With this system, company will not easily lost their record of items and record of their daily, monthly or yearly income. Some companies have not yet developed their system like this, they still in the handing out of records manually, then write it on in an inventory book. Yet the main problem with the manual inventory is easy to lost, recording is slow and spend a lot time when doing it. With the sales and inventory management system, recording became easy and didn’t spend a lot of time. It can also print a receipt, records of items sold daily, record of stocks and it can add a new item or edit a price or designed. PURPOSE OF THE STUDY The proponents design a Point-of-Sale and Inventory System to automate the transaction of ALMER’s Digital Printing and Audio Visual Presentation. This system helps the client to minimize the time in computing the amount to be paid by the customer and in tracking the supplies of the shop. The system is not a hassle for the client since the proponents designs the system in a user-friendly way. The ALMER’s Digital Printing and Audio Visual Presentation Point-of-Sale and Inventory System aims to make the work easier and comfortable. Computations and monitoring of the supplies and sales is fastened in this matter. There is consistency in accessing the reports since all transactions are saved in a database that later on generates the appropriate reports. BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY Companies are using inventory systems for quickly growth and success. Inventory systems have a variety of functions purposes in businesses. Promoting the sales and shrinkage control are two main functions of inventory system. Promoting the sales function deals with availability of sufficient products for the customers where a shrink age control function deals with monitoring the occurrence of damage loss, or theft, etc. of the products. The problem arises in keeping the transaction faster and convenient both in the staff and the customer. At the same time, the report may not be consistent enough since it is in written forms. Since the company is on its early stage, the existing system then is the manual one. A staff is designated in a certain counter of the shop that accepts the item/s purchased by a customer. Using a calculator, that staff computes the total amount due of the customers. That staff using receipt forms produces the official receipt manually. All transactions are managed manually especially the adding and updating the products available in the compay. OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY This study aim to develop a Sales and Inventory Management System of ALMER’S Digital Printing and Audio Visual Presentation, this was the system that we would like to implement to be able to lessen the company’s human effort, to save materials, products, transaction of the company. This system can also print a receipt for a daily/weekly/monthly/yearly transaction records to serve as the company’s hard copy. It can also check the number of stocks that was recorded in this system every day. Specific Objectives 1. Create a Sales and Inventory system that include saving of stocks, transaction and printing of reports of ALMER’S Digital Printing and Audio Visual Presentation. 2. Design a Sales and Inventory system that can print receipt for the customer of the company. 3. Test and upgrade the system. SCOPE OF THE STUDY This study is about the Sales and Inventory Management System. It is intended for the company wants have to keep their records or files in a long period of time. Adding new item/product: allow users to add a new product Adding of item stocks: only the admin is allow to add the number of stock. Printing of Report: allow users to print all report like weekly sales, all transaction, inventory report Sales and Report: allow user to print a report in daily, between dates and all transaction it also print a report of customer who are buying as installment. Create Transaction: allow user to create a transaction with receipt. Cancel Transaction: allow user to cancel transaction but it need an admin code. Transaction of Installment: allow user to view the customers that has a balance. Changing User: allow user to change account into other admin or employee. Changing Admin Code: allow admin to change the security code. Creating New Users Account: allow user to create a new user account but it need an admin code to register. There are two access levels of this system. The first and the powerful one is the Administrator. He She has the overall authority and access in the system. Another function of the administrator is that he/she maintains the system. The other one is the authorized employee that has the right of entry in the Point-of-Sale. He/She is the one responsible in accepting transactions from the customers. The administrator is providing all the usernames and passwords of the users of this system. The authorized user can to view and make an update with the reports generated by the system. The authorized user can define the date range of the report needed to view or update a certain report. He she is allowed to print the said report. LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY ALMER’S Digital Printing and Audio Visual Presentation and Inventory System is limited in terms of the devices used. The system is installed in a desktop computer instead to a touch screen monitor. The printer connected to it is an ordinary printer instead of a receipt printer. The system is not capable of accepting credit cards as a means of payment from the customer. Another thing is that it is not connected to a barcode reader that is used by different shops today. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY To the Company – for their business transaction, keeping of records, adding of their stock and printing of reports. Inventory system will be proposed. To the User – this system helps the user to encode and print report easily. To the Customer – this system helped the customer to view their transaction. Figure 2.1 Conceptual Framework Definition of Terms Application is a shorter form of application program. An application program is a program designed to perform a specific function directly for the user or, in some cases, for another application. Inventory is an application use for keeping records. Management is an act, art, or manner of managing, controlling, etc. Point of Sale (POS) or checkout is the place where a transaction occurs in exchange for goods or services. Receipt a written acknowledgement that something, as goods, money, etc. Sales the act of selling or exchanging something or some services for an agreed some money. Chapter II RESEARCH AND SOFTWARE DESIGN RESEARCH DESIGN Method of Research Used The fundamental concentration of this study endorses the systematically and orderly gathering of all necessary data in accomplishing and completing the study. Using systematized procedures which involve a series of essential activities will lead the researchers to the development of the study. The first step in finding solution starts with a deeper understanding of the current status of the study. By doing this, different problems within the system can be identified and therefore seeking for appropriate solutions will be needed for the improvement of existing system. Data gathering procedure such as personal observation, research, survey questionnaires, and interview will be used for the acquisition of relevant data. DESCRIPTIVE METHOD The Descriptive Method is a fact finding approach with adequate interpretation. This method allows the researcher to collect data and to report from the point of view of some objectives and basic assumption of the study. It also analyses and interprets the status of the system currently in use. This method of research focuses on process, analysis, and interpretation of data being collected. It involves the interpretation of the change and supplementary training is conducted, as needed. Changes are recommended via the Change Control Authority. Evaluate/assess program performance Once the new system is up and running for a while, it should be exhaustively evaluated. Maintenance must be kept up rigorously at all times. Users of the system should be kept up-to-date concerning the latest modifications and procedures. Data Gathering Tools These are set of activities that focus in the production of data for the system to be developed. The following instruments were used for data gathering as a technique in acquiring as much as possible reliable information needed to more scientific investigation of the application to be analyzed: QUESTIONAIRE These are written and/or printed form comprising a series of question presented to a number of persons to obtain data for survey purpose. The researchers created survey questions to determine the point of view of the respondents regarding the problems that made the researchers come up with the proposed study. INTERVIEW In this part of techniques in gathering data or information. It is defined as a purposeful face-to-face relationship between two persons one of whom called interviewer who ask question to gather information and the other interviewee or respondents who supplies the information asked for. The researchers gathered data from person who are related to the subject of the study to determine the problems and able to define the ways on how to solve them. Software Evaluation This method of data gathering involves evaluation of the study and the system to the respondents. The researchers implied this tool to make it easier to gather information and feedback on the proposed study. Software evaluation is based on ISO 9126 Observation This method is used to identify and analyze the problem and the needs of the respondents. Observation is considered as the most direct means of studying people as far as behavior is concerned. The researchers used their senses in order to investigate the constraints that will affect the planning and implementation of the proposed system. The sense of sight is the most important and the most used among all the 5 senses. During observation, the researcher discovers certain that let them come up with the proposed study. Statistical Tools The statistical treatment is used in determining the measures of reliability and compared data between sampling and/or measures points. Statistical treatment of data is essential in order to make use of the data in the right form. Raw data collection in only aspect of any experiment; the organization of data is equally important so that appropriate conclusion can be drawn. Weighted Mean Also known as the Average, it is defined as the sum of all scores of data divided by the numbers of scores in the data. The mean denoted by X of the scores X1, X2, X3†¦ is given by the formula: X= ∑fx/N Where: X = MeanN = Total number of scores f = frequencyx = Score in the distribution ∑ = Sum of all scores Likert’s Scale The researchers use a numerical scale, the Likert’s scale method to interpret the events of the evaluation to be made. A scale which respondents indicate their level of conformity with declaration that express favorable attitude towards a concept being deliberated. Rating Analytical Tools Interviews: with this tool we find that the company needs our proposal study. Observation: we observed that the company lost their transaction report sometimes and forgot to list the material that they used to create a finish product. Questionnaire: we find out that the company wants to use our proposal study. CHAPTER III PRESENTATION OF DATA, INTERPRETATION OF RESULTS AND SOFTWARE PRODUCT ANALYSIS PROJECT DESCRIPTION System General Features and System Function Figure 4-1: System Security User’s is to choose one of the Log-in forms, if they choose the admin log-in form they will be log in as admin but if they choose the employee log-in they will be log-in as employee. Figure 4-2: Admin Log-in Form User allows inputting a valid username and password of admin account to access the system. Figure 4-3: Employee Log-in Form User allows inputting a valid username and password of employee account to access the system. Figure 4-4: Splash Screen System is loading after logging in the admin/employee log-in form. It takes a few seconds before go to the main form. Figure 4-5: Main Form Main form: allow user to select inventory, sales and reports and transaction. The manage account is only for the admin, if you log-in as admin, you can manage the existing account can also create a new account. If you log-in as admin, you can add a new item, add a stock of items, view all current stocks, and print all records of inventory, daily or between dates and by category. But if you log-in as employee you cannot add the number of stocks. In sales and report, admin and employee allow printing transaction (daily, between dates, all) and installment transaction (by amount, have no balance, all). In transaction users allows creating transaction, canceling transaction and viewing the entire installment transaction. Figure 4-6: Inventory Allows admin to add a new item, add a stock of items, view all current stocks, and print all records of inventory, daily or between dates. But if you log-in as employee you cannot add the number of stocks. Figure 4-7: Current Stock Form Both admin and employee can view this form but only the admin can add the number of the stock of items. Figure 4-8: Add new Item Form The users allow adding new item. First click the â€Å"ADDNEW† button to enable the objects, second, user allows to input item type if the item category is not exist but if the item category is exist users allow to select from the combo box, input a unique item name, quantity of stocks, price per item and select the size. Figure 4-9: Updating Current Stock Form Simply select item name or type in the textbox and click the search button to view the number of stock of the item you select, after searching/selecting item name you can add the number of the item you selected. Figure 4-10: Printing Inventory Reports Form Simply select date to print all records in between dates, also in category select a category of item to print and click the preview button of all record to print all recorded item in the system. Figure 4-11: Sales and Report Form In Sales and Report Form, user allows printing transaction, simply choosing category to be print (all, daily, between dates) and printing of transaction of installment, the same in the transaction, users allows to choose either all, amount or 0 balance. Click the generate button after selecting from the category. Figure 4-12: Transaction In transaction both admin and employee allow to create transaction, cancel transaction, adding of payment for the installment transaction. Simply clicking the text and it goes to the different form of transaction. Figure 4-13: Creating Transaction Form In creating transaction user will input the customer name, address and contact number, then select the item to be sold and the payment, if the payment is installment it allow user to input the 50% of the total price. Figure 4-14: Cancelling Transaction Form In cancelling transaction form, the user must be select first the record to be cancel after clicking the record the form inform the user to input the admin code to cancel the transaction. Figure 4-15: Installment Transaction Form In installment transaction form, user will allow to select the record of customer who has a balance, after selecting user must be input the balance if the customers pay for it. Click save button to update the record and print receipt. Figure 4-18: Managing Accounts Form In managing accounts form, user allow to select in any control button, if they select the log-in other admin account the system goes to the log-in form of the admin, if the create new account selected, it goes to the creating new account form, in changing admin code, it goes to the changing account form. Figure 4-17: Managing Accounts Form In creating new account, user must be select if admin or employee the account to be creates then enter a unique username and password. After creating an account you can now use the account to be created. Figure 4-18: Changing Admin Code Form Changing Admin Code form is to change the security code that used in many process of this system. Simply input the old admin code and the new admin code and click the save button to update the new admin code. Excellent Table 5.6 Software Evaluation for all Criterion The table 5.6 shows the overall rating of all system software criteria. The system software scored 4.72 which equivalent to excellent rating. The system software performance met what is aligned with software evaluation and exhibits excellent in all criteria. Recommendation The developer of Sales and Inventory Management system would like to recommend the following improvement of the system, and also would like to recommend some ideas on innovation regarding the use of Sales and Inventory Management System. 1. The researchers would like to propose and additional enhancement on Sales and Inventory Management System, additional improvement like sounds alert, but the first intention of the researchers is to develop a system that will easily to use. 2. Enhance the GUI or Graphical User Interface of the system. This will give more interactivity and nice looking for the company users. 3. The researcher would like also to propose for future developers and/or researchers to develop a Sale and Inventory Management System that can be used via internet. 4. A Sales and Inventory Management System created for keeping reason is also recommend by the researchers. Company management can use this system online if the recommendation number 3 will done. CONCLUSION After gathering information on Sales and Inventory Management System (SIMS) and conducted a software evaluation, we are come up with the conclusion that this study will be very helpful to many company as well as the business industry to minimize error on recording inventories and every day transaction.   

B321 Tma 02

Question 1 (a) Simons (1999, pg 768) describes intrinsic motivation as â€Å"desire to engage in behaviours or actions in anticipation of internally- generated rewards such as personal feelings of accomplishment† and extrinsic motivation Simons describes as (1999, pg 766) â€Å"desire to engage in behaviours or actions in anticipation of tangible rewards, such as money or promotion†. Extrinsic motivation is created by financial incentives. An incentive as Simons (1999, 767) describes as being â€Å"a reward or payment that is used to motivate performance.The two types of motivation mentioned above can be used to design a rewards package for the product centre managers. First I will discuss intrinsic motivation; this type of motivation is â€Å"from within† (as Simon states (1999, pg 245)) rather than external. Managers can improve intrinsic motivation, Simon’s (1999, pg 245) states â€Å"they can make people proud of where they work† and also †Å"they can involve subordinates in the goal setting process to increase the likelihood that subordinates will see the goals as legitimate.If subordinates are included in the process of setting goals-asked to provide input and information –they are more likely to feel that the goals are legitimate and work more diligently to achieve them†. The motivation is aligned to Air Tex Aviation’s performance goals, which are, the granting of credit but managers have performance goals set by Ted, monthly charges against their departmental profits, managers are more likely to stick to the rules set by Ted because they are in control of credit.Also, the purchasing of capital equipment and operating supplies but having predetermined limits this gives the managers a sense of control and able to make decisions without having to ask permission whenever a purchase was to be made. Moreover product managers are allowed to set policies such as pricing for products or services. They al so have the power to hire, fire and administer the salary. Product centre managers can rewarded because they have the responsibility to do the above and are free to make choices within set boundaries. Other rewards can be meaningfulness managers may feel they are doing something important.Also another reward is having the competence, managers can feel satisfied. Lastly, another reward is having the sense of progress, product centre managers will feel they have gained something. I will now discuss the extrinsic incentives, Simons (1999 pg 245-246) states â€Å"financial performance awards-typically in the form of bonuses-can be linked explicitly to the achievement of goals and targets. Since incentives are to motivate performance Ted has allocated 10% bonus to managers. (b) Simon’s four levers of control can be used in the implementation of strategy for Air Tex Aviation.Simon’s states â€Å"Strategic control is not achieved through new and unique performance measureme nt and control system, but through belief systems, boundary systems, diagnostic control systems and interactive control systems working together to control both the implementation of intended strategies and the formation of emergent strategies†. Simon’s (1999, pg 763) describes belief systems as â€Å"explicit set of organisational definitions that senior managers communicate formally and reinforce systematically to provide basic values, purpose, and direction for the organisation†.Figure 14-2 Levers of control (Simon’s pg, 305) shows belief systems as â€Å"strategy as Perspective† and â€Å"Obtaining Commitment to the Grand Purpose, this in the context of Airtex Aviation are firstly Ted and Frank have taken control of the business, Ted is President and chief operating officer and Frank is chairmanship. They also have a vision to grow at a rate of 20% per year for the first five years. To implement strategy Ted and Frank decentralised authority an d made each operating activity a profit centre and grouped them by departments.Departments were given authority over his operations. This creates shared beliefs and missions within the business. Employees will be more motivated because of the more control they have and they will have the sense of belonging to the business. Simon’s (1999, pg 764) describes boundary systems as â€Å"explicit statements embedded in formal information systems that define and communicate specific risks to be avoided†. Boundary Systems in the situation of Air Tex Aviation are, Simon’s (1999, pg 297) described as â€Å"rules, limits and proscriptions†.Rules in Airtex Aviation are decentralising the business, installing a control system. Limits introduced are profit centre’s having the authority to buy operating supplies and capital equipment with purchase order limits. A reason for limits is described by Simon’s (1999, pg 297) as â€Å"to allow individual creativi ty within defined limits of freedom†. Proscriptions include removing Sarah Arthur and her accounting system as it was not working and introduce a control system that support’s the management and provides information needed in order to make decisions.The accounting system before gave employees a lack of motivation because they were not involved in the decision making process. Also Simon’s (1999, pg 279) states â€Å"communicate standards of business conduct for all employees†, that’s what the new control system does, involves all employees. My recommendations to AirTex Aviation would be use all four levers of control together as one can’t work without the others. Also I would recommend the company when financially able to perhaps train managers, as most employees have only studied up to high school.Another recommendation would be for the department managers to set out goals for their own departments, use a balance scorecard or something simila r. Moreover, I would also recommend the business owners to draw up perhaps a mission statement or a statement of purpose and distribute it to each manager, so they know the objective and purpose of the business. Overall, the owners have turned the business around and should carry on as they have done so. Question 2 (a) In the article by Jones, T. C. and Dugdale, D. (1994), most of the interviewees agreed, net present value is superior to payback.I will summarise the views of the five interviewees below. Adam a lecturer was one those that thought that NPV is better than PB. Adam does however think that payback, in Jones, T. C. and Dugdale, D. (1994) â€Å"works fine for simple, straightforward projects†, but does say how useless it is and NPV gives the right answer and considers time value for money. He also thinks that NPV has no disadvantage whatsoever. He also goes on to say that calculating NPV is easy because of the use of computers. His academic group also agree with him that NPV is superior.Frank chief accountant was one of those interviewed who was against NPV and suspicious of it, describing it as â€Å"dangerous† Jones, T. C. and Dugdale, D. (1994). He has been using PB for many years and says it is simple to use and NPV is complicated, time consuming and â€Å"conveys spurious accuracy† Jones, T. C. and Dugdale, D. (1994). He also says that NPV is hard for managers to understand they prefer PB. Simon a senior finance manager thought no appraisal method has â€Å"importance† but believes â€Å"NPV only relevant with high interest rates & long time periods†, Jones, T.C. and Dugdale, D. (1994). He believes that information given to managers should be what they want and accountants should help in making investment decisions not decide which appraisal method to use. Judy a junior finance manager prefers to use NPV rather than PB because it considers time value for money which is important in her view. She also says †Å"NPV gives ability to alter assumptions & identify different outcomes† Jones, T. C. and Dugdale, D. (1994). She has very strong views for NPV and thinks managers should use this technique only.Managers have studied MBA’s so thinks it will be easy for them to understand. But â€Å"She fears that she may be ‘a victim of my training’ which might have been academic ‘brainwashing’†, Jones, T. C. and Dugdale, D. (1994). Len a finance officer also says net present value is superior to payback. He doesn’t agree with Adam’s suggestion that â€Å"PB figures might be adjusted to reflect more clearly the results of NPV analysis† Jones, T. C. and Dugdale, D, because of ethical rules. (1994).He too like Adam finds calculating NBV easy because of the use of computers. The interviewee’s which I mostly agree with are Len, Judy and Adam this is because, they believe that NPV is superior to PB. Also NPV considers time value of money and is easy to calculate because of the use of computers. I also agree with Judy that managers should be taught NPV because PB is simple and as Adam said NPV should be used for minor projects. (b) Pure reasoning in my view would be coming up with answers which would be the norm and what most people would agree to.An example in B321 case studies would have to be that of Classic Pen Company: Developing an ABC Model. Jane Dempsey came up with information by using methods such as activity based costing used by accountants. Overall, I think pure reasoning would have the most influence on someone’s decision making process this is because most people adhere to the norm they don’t want to be seen as deviant. Also most people would be scared to do otherwise just in case the decision doesn’t turn out to be as expected, which may get them into a lot of trouble. (c)My views have changed since reading the article because, before I thought that calculating net present v alue for investment appraisal was complex and very complicated but both Adam and Len find it easy because of the use of computers. Also before reading the article I thought payback was completely useless and unreliable for investment appraisal but as Adam points out it is fine to use on simple projects. Also another benefit for NPV is that it â€Å"gives ability to alter assumptions & identify different outcomes†, Jones, T. C. and Dugdale, D. (1994) as Judy points out.Both appraisal methods have their benefits, net present value has more benefits overall. Question 3 (a) Total machine hours: 880,000 ? 44,000 = 20 Game Pies: 20 ? 4,000 = 80,000 ? 2000 = ? 40 per batch Pork Pies: 20 ? 40,000 = 800,000 ? 20,000 = ? 40 per batch (b) Set up related: 420,000 ? 200 = 2,100 Pork Pies: 2,100 ? 120 = 252,000 ? 20,000 = ? 12. 60 Game Pies: 2,100 ? 80 = 168,000 ? 2,000 = ? 84 Purchasing related: 240,000 ? 480 = 500 Pork Pies: 500 ? 320 = 160,000 ? 20,000 = ? 8 Game Pies: 500? 160 = 80,000 ? 2,000 = ? 40 Volume related: 44,000 + 88,000 = 132,000 220,000 ? 32,000 = 1. 67 Pork Pies: 1. 67 ? 120,000 = ? 200,400 ? 20,000 = ? 10. 02 Game Pies: 1. 67 ? 12,000 = ? 20,040 ? 2000 = ? 10. 02 Cost centre costs for pork pies per batch: ? 12. 60 + ? 8 + ? 10. 02 = ? 30. 62 Cost centre costs for game pies per batch: ? 84 + ? 40 + ? 10. 02 = ? 134. 02 (c) The difference with activity based costing and traditional costing is, firstly traditional costing only assigns overhead cost: machine hours or direct labour hours to products. Whereas activity based costing uses activities â€Å"for accumulating costs† as described by Atkinson (2004, pg 127).