Brisbane Savings and Investment Bank

Brisbane Savings and Investment Bank Introduction Brisbane Savings and Investment Bank (BSIB) have developed to be a major player in banking industry in Australia. Although relatively new having been established ten years ago, the bank has experienced a fast growth rate. Due to good business environment, the bank was able to expand its domestic operation by increasing the number of branches.Advertising We will write a custom report sample on Brisbane Savings and Investment Bank specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The bank currently has branches in all major towns and cities in Australia. BSIB still maintains its Head Office in Brisbane major operations are based. Among the major operations at the Head Office include Retail Banking, Internet Banking and Business Banking. Retail Banking focuses on management of branches, customer accounts, loan and mortgage and cards. On the other hand, internet banking sector deals with managing online customers and online banking products. Business banking focuses on managing business based accounts, loans and mortgages and overdrafts. Apart from the Head Office, BSIB has another major office in Adelaide. The major operations based at Adelaide office include Institution Banking, Superannuation Products and Insurance Products. Operations in foreign exchange, hedge funds, share trading and bonds are managed from this office under Institution Banking. The office is responsible for management of insurance products such as life insurance, land protection, home and contents insurance. BSIB has experience rapid growth over the last ten years. When it started ten years ago, the bank had 1000 employees. The number of employees has increased with increased operations and it currently stands at about 17000. Computers and computer based information systems are integral part of every organization in modern days. Information system in an important resource in any organization and has significant contribution to an organization†™s productivity. In order to integrate the use computers and computer based systems effectively, an organization must exercise control over these important resources (Hall Singleton, 2005, p. 39). Although computer systems have positive contribution on productivity and efficiency, cost of irregularity and errors that may develop in the systems may have very severe effect on an organization. Control is essential in order to enable an organization to avoid or mitigate the negative effects.Advertising Looking for report on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More An organization can be affected severely by destruction or corruption of its database; data and information loss, loss of computer assets; effect of computer abuse; ineffectiveness of some computer systems and overall way in which computers are used within the organization. To avoid or mitigate negative effects that can result from use of compute rs and computer systems, information system auditors have become necessary. Information audit have become essential in order to enable an organization find gaps between its IT policy and usage and deficiency in information system design, results and usage. Information System Audit has become very essential with increased use of information systems. It entails gathering evidence which aids in the determination of whether a given computer system meets the required data integrity. In addition, it ensures effective utilization of resources. This increases the probability of an organization attaining its goals. Information System auditors not only ensure that there is adequate internal control on information system but they also ensure that the systems achieve their objectives. The IS Auditor should see that not only adequate internal controls exist in the system but they also wok effectively to ensure results and achieve objectives. Audit should ensure that internal controls implemented are proportional to assessed risk in order to reduce the identified risks to a health level. They also need to assess adequacy of internal of internal control in mitigating IT related risks. Information system has an important place in BSIB growth plan. The banks operations are fully computerized form normal baking operations to human resource management. Failure of information system can therefore have negative impact on the bank and affect its competitive advantage in a highly competitive environment. Auditing services for BISB for the last ten years have been provided by an external auditing firm. An audit team of six auditors have been responsible evaluating the organization’s IT systems. External auditors’ audit services however have been at a high level. BSIB executive management feels the need for more detailed audit and has proposed to establish an internal audit team. The internal audit team has the mandate of conducting a detailed audit of the major processe s of the bank, business operations, databases, systems, application, IT security and general business and IT management. IT Environment Advertising We will write a custom report sample on Brisbane Savings and Investment Bank specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More ACL Software Audit Command Language (ACL) Software is one of the audit software packages. It is the most popular and common audit package followed by IDEA (Interactive Data Extraction Analysis). The software is used to help audit process in an organization. The software play significant role in supporting financial statement audits. ACL helps auditors to be more efficient when conducting their roles. The package has become very important as electronic environment becomes more standardized. Using ACL auditors can be able to obtain important information for evaluation as well as simplify data processing. The software is an effective tool to data extraction and analysis therefore m aking it easier to perform information system audit. BSIB will be using ACL software to extract and analyze information from its information system. Auditing the bank’s information system without the help of a program would be challenging. The company has complex IT environment with a lot of processes, data and information supported by the system. By using the program, the auditors will be able to extract the information they require, analyze the information and be able to make appropriate recommendation. By using the ACL software, the auditors will be able to take less time to conduct their audit, cause less disruption to normal working of the bank and be able to obtain more reliable result. ACL uses queries to obtain information from extract information from information system. BSIB has a wide IT environment. The organization used information technology to carry out most of its function. ACL queries could be prepared and used to extract data and information from the system. Queries could be prepared to obtain information on how the organization’s resources are used. Information system is very important resource to BSIB. Auditors need to obtain information on how the resources are used in order to verify whether they are used for the good of the organization. Apart from obtaining information on how the organization’s resources are used, queries could be prepared in order to obtain information on effectiveness of the system in meeting the organization’s objectives. The organization’s IT environment comprise of various system to make up the overall system. For instance, queries could be prepared in order to obtain information on effectiveness of ERP in managing the bank’s human resources. Variables to effectiveness of an ERP should be identified in order to assist the auditors to prepare appropriate queries.Advertising Looking for report on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Appropriate queries are required in order to obtain the appropriate information from the bank’s information system. Before preparing queries, the auditors must identify the king of information that they require from the system. After identifying the data that they require to extract from the system, the auditors should outline the design of their queries. The queries should outline the variables that would be used and the way the data would be obtained. After preparing the design, the auditors would then prepare the queries using ACL command. This would call for detailed knowledge on how to use ACL. An individual with technical knowledge on ACL software would be required for this process. ACL will help the auditors to identify various issues of interest. Through ACL software, the auditors will be able to point out activities and control weaknesses that can compromise the organization from meeting its objectives. Auditors will be able to identify data integrity, security, phys ical environment security, system efficiency and management continuity (Piattini, 2000, p. 107). The software will enable the auditors to identify weaknesses in input control, access control and data integrity. The software will enable the auditors to get information on how the server is used and management. They will be able obtain information on disaster recovery situation of the organization. The information system has various components that have to work together for the overall goals and objectives of the organization. The ACL software will enable the auditors to obtain information on how well the various components work together. It will enable them to identify weaknesses in the whole system and pinpoint the areas that would require to be reviewed. Concern for Audit and Control Information systems are a major resource at Brisbane Savings and Investment Bank. Most of the activities in the bank are carried using computer system. The bank’s success therefore depends highly on effectiveness of information system. Various risks associated with information such as data loss, abuse, and data integrity can compromise the bank’s performance. The bank has grown at a high rate in the last ten years. Starting in Brisbane ten years ago, the bank has been able to establish branches in almost all major cities and towns in Australia. Because of size of the bank’s operations, it is not possible for the management to exercise control over each and every activity. The bank’s employees have been able to increase from a thousand ten years ago about seventeen thousand currently. Managing the large size of staff could be challenging without the help of information system. To ensure that the information system is used effectively to help the organization meet its objective, auditing is essential. Information system auditing would help the organization to identify weaknesses in the system and therefore help the organization take the appropriate correc tive measures. Auditing would also ensure the computers and computer systems in the banks are used in the intended way and for the benefit of the organization. Role of Internal Audit Group BSIB has been relying on external auditors to audit its resources including information system. The executive management however feels that the external auditors are not adequate. The external auditors are not able to conduct detail audit since their audit is mainly at high level. Internal audit group is essential for the organization in order to conduct a thorough audit of the organization’s resources. Since internal auditors are centered at the organization, they will be able to conduct more detailed audit and therefore help the organization gain better control of its resources, be able to identify weaknesses in the system and take appropriate and timely corrective measures. The main functions of the Internal Audit Group will include verifying whether computer and computer systems are use d appropriately, verify where security issues are in order, ensure security of physical environment of the information system, verify whether there is appropriate input and access control and audit effectiveness of information system in meeting the organization’s objective (Dube Gulati, 2005, p. 72). Information system has great impact on the other auditing conducted in the organization. The information system is used for most of the banks activities. All other auditing therefore is influenced by the information system auditing. The information system holds most of the organization’s data and information. The organization’s databases have data and information on how other resources in the organization are used. They contain financial information, information on human resource and other important information. Information system audit therefore have great impact on the other audit. Components of Internal Audit Group Internal audit is important for BSIB to exercis e successful internal control. For internal control to be successful, the Internal Audit Group must be well composed. It should contain individuals with appropriate qualifications but above all, they should be able to work together as a team. The internal audit group would be comprised of team of well trained qualified staff drawn from various departments in the bank. The team will be led by an Audit Team leader. To ensure cooperation within the team, the Audit Team Leader will play a significant role in identifying members to the internal audit team (Dube Gulati, 2005, p. 67). Retail Banking, Internet Banking, Business Banking, Institutional Banking, Insurance Products, and Superannuation Products should be represented in the internal audit group. Audit team may be subdivided into business audit and IT audit, each headed by an audit leader. Five audit team leaders will be involved, each heading an audit team. 35 internal audit group members will be required. The members will distr ibuted among the audit team depending on workforce. The personnel working as auditor should have obtained sufficient training in the prerequisite on internal auditing techniques. To qualify, internal audit group members should have completed an internal audit course offered at a recognized third party. Members may also receive training by a personnel having successfully completed internal audit course and also having adequate experience in practice (Cascarino, 2007, p. 132). The audit group must demonstrate high level of integrity and professionalism in their practice. Audit Plan is essential for successful internal audit. Using the Audit plan, the auditors will be able to identify priories and establish strategies for meeting auditing goals. Importance of identifying Risks and Controls Successful Internal Audit begins with a successful identification of risks and the controls involved. Identification of risks and control play a significant role in preparation of Audit Plan and ther efore has important role in determining the direction of an audit (Cascarino, 2007, p. 117). Risks and controls enable auditors to set priorities for their audit process. Various risks and access issues have to be considered in BSIB audit. Physical risk such as system failure and theft are involved. For example, the bank’s server room is poorly ventilated therefore exposing the server to physical failure. The server room is also accessible to employees and visitors therefore exposing the system to several risks such as theft, physical and internal tampering. Controls are necessary in order to ensure that information system works effectively. The auditors should identify the available controls. The controls would give the auditors a guideline on how to carry out their duties and help them identify weaknesses in the system more easily. Detection of Risks at BSIB There are various ways which are used in detection and control of risk at BSIB. Inherent risks refer to vulnerability of an audit area to errors that could be significant individually or in combination with others. They occur where necessary internal control is lacking. Control risks refer to errors that could be significant either individually or in combination with others considering that the errors could not controlled by internal control. Various inherent risks are involved within the banks IT system. Group data warehouse is used by all applications using a common interface. This can lead to errors in case of failure. The bank’s server room is accessible to all employees and visitors without control. The server room is also poorly ventilated therefore exposing the system to possible failures. Some of controls risks involved include use of outsourcers to offer IT services. The IT infrastructure is managed by an outsourcer whose location is currently not well known. Mortgage/loans products, insurance and superannuation products are also management by outsourcers. Although these are possib le sources of error, the internal control may not be able exercise absolute control. Information System Risks at BSIB BSIB information system environment is prone to various risks. Some of these risks are outlined below. Physical risks Controls risks, Security risk Data integrity Performance risks IT infrastructure of the bank is managed by an outsourcer whose location is not well known. This poses the banks to possible risks in case the bank losses track of the IT service provider. Access to sensitive IT resource is not well controlled. For example, access to the banks servers is open to all employees and visitors therefore exposing the bank to risk. The server rooms are poorly ventilated therefore exposing the servers to possible failure. All the data in the bank is interfaced to the mainframe at real time. This can lead to bottle-neck especially during peak hours raising some data integrity issues. Various applications used to manage various processes such as Syst-Tell, Bus-Ban k, Cust ID and Trade-FX are add-up application. The application can lead to scalability and efficiency issues as the bank’s operations increase. Data integrity is a major issue at BSIB. Integrity of data inputted into the bank’s ERP is not certified by the necessary authorities. Common Information System Risks Information system auditing is essential in order help an organization indentify risks and take timely corrective measures (Piattini, 2000, p. 92). Organization security is the most important information system risks considered in information system auditing. An IS auditor should ensure that an organization has well defined policy to ensure security its information system. Information system resources are vital to an organization. An auditor should verify that the IT assets declared in an organization’s policy are actually existent on the ground. Employees and other individuals using information system can contribute to IT System risks. IT system users sho uld be aware and adhere to laid down security policy. Other risks include physical or environmental security, operational management, business continuity and compliance. Various measures should be taken to mitigate the information system risks. An organization must develop and maintain an IT policy to provide guidance on the way IT resources are used (Hall Singleton, 2005, p. 68). There should be proper access and input control to manage the way data is inputted into the system and the manner access is allowed. Authentication policies such as accounts and password controls are necessary. Audit Methodology Appropriate audit methodology is necessary for a successful information system audit. Key areas in an information system audit consist of audit planning, risk assessment, performance of an audit work and reporting (Cascarino, 2007, p. 87). Adequate planning is necessary before conduct. During planning, the purpose of the audit will be stated clearly. Various requirements for the a udit would be identified and appropriate preparation made. The responsibility, authority and accountability of the auditors are defined during this stage. Planning involves also identification of essential resources including members of the audit members (Weber and Jamieson, 2008, p. 95). Risk assessment is the second stage in information system audit. In this stage, possible risks in the information system are evaluated in order to provide the auditors with direction to follow in their audit. After risk assessment, the actual audit work is conducted. Audit work depends highly on audit planning and risk assessment. Using risk assessment results, the auditors develop audit plan or program that would be used for auditing. Reporting is an important step in auditing methodology. After conducting the audit test, IS auditor is expected to prepare and present appropriate report that communicate the outcome of the information system audit. The audit report includes findings from the audit, conclusions and recommendations. The reports may also include reservations that auditors have on their audit, qualification and limitations of the IS audit. Communication in Information Auditing Communication is a very important element in auditing. Good communication is required in obtaining information as well as communicating the results to the appropriate authority. Information System auditors work as a team. The outcome of audit process is not an individual effort but collective effort from all the audit team members (Weber Jamieson, 2008, p. 65). Proper communication framework is therefore required in order to enable the members to share information and thoughts as they carry out their duties. Apart from communicating among themselves, Information System auditors need to collaborate with other employees in an organization in order for them to obtain the necessary information that they require. Information system auditors need to communicate the results of their audit to the n ecessary authority. Reporting and other ways of communication should therefore be streamlined. Information Systems Audits BSIB IT Environment Information system audits are required in BSIB IT environment. Areas of high risks should be given more emphasis during the audit process. An audit is required to assess the services provided by the IT outsourcers. Management of the organization’s IT infrastructure, mortgages/loans, and insurance and superannuation products is provided by outsourcers. The resources and services are vital to the bank’s performance and should therefore be audited. Oracle ERP has raised various performance issues. To verify the system’s performance and contribution to overall BSIB performance, a detailed audit is required. The organization’s mainframe is vital to performance of BSIB’s information system. Performance and management of the mainframe require auditing. The bank’s information system is comprised of various app lications. The applications are possible source of shortfall in the organization and therefore require auditing. The bank’s server room and Hot Site are other areas that requires audit. Financial Environment BSIB financial environment has some shortfalls that impede the bank’s performance. The shortfalls should be addressed in order to improve the bank’s performance. Finance senior managers and Team Leaders should be provided with intensive in-house training in order to enable they understand financial assertions. This would enable them to exercise more control on their areas of responsibility. More resources including additional employees should be deployed to the Payroll Team in order to enable it review remuneration amounts for each business unit group on daily basis. Human resources core function application should be expanded in order to enable it handle the increasing number of employees. Training program and employees motivation strategies are required in order to improve performance of Accounts Payable Teams. To ensure improved performance, Account Payable Team Leader should be provided with appropriate resource in order to enable daily review of processing report and Exception report. Appropriate data integrity strategies are required in order to improve data accuracy and integrity in HR department. Oracle ERP Enterprise Resource Planning uses computer technology to undertake various functions of an organization. ERP integrates various functions therefore making management easier. The Oracle ERP can lead to various benefits to BSIB. The system can enable the bank integrate various functions conducted in human resource management. Instead of having independent systems to perform various issues in human resource management, the Oracle ERP will be able to handle them satisfactorily. The system will therefore lead to cost reduction. The system requires fewer personnel and is therefore efficient. When well implemented, Oracle ERP will improve on accuracy. Some of disadvantages of the Oracle ERP are inflexibility, cost and complexity. Oracle ERP is relatively complex and therefore not easy to use. Training and retraining would be required for best performance to be realized. Physical, Logical and Environmental Control Information system control should be all inclusive. Physical, logical and environmental controls should work together. Physical control required in BSIB IT environment includes computer maintenance, training, backup and physical access control. Logically, flow of data and information in the system should be well outlined. The logical structure of the information system should ensure data integrity and accuracy. Direct interface of the bank’s data with the mainframe may compromise data integrity and disaster recovery. The structure should be altered to allow indirect access to the mainframe. Various environmental controls are essential in BSIB IT environment. Access to sensitive IT resources sh ould be controlled. For example, criteria should be laid on individuals that can have access to the bank’s server room. Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity Disaster recovery and business continuity plans are necessary for success of information system. BSIB IT environment is lacking in disaster recovery and business recovery. Failure of some core IT resource could lead to great impact on the bank’s performance. The banks server rooms in Sydney and Adelaide need to be distributed in order to mitigate physical risks such as fire and other failures. Sharing Hot Site and Warm site with other organization may affect business continuity. Since, the bank is expanding at a high rate, it should consider establishing its sites. Data interface the bank’s mainframe directly. This may lead to great data integrity problem in case an interface fails. The system should be improved to allow caching and buffering. Some disaster recovery and business continuity strategies wi ll be necessary for BSIB. A disaster recovery and business continuity team will be necessary; alternative operational locations should be identified in case of disaster; backup sites should be implemented for the bank’s data while there should be proper safeguard of IT resource such as the servers and data store. Auditor’s Opinion Information system is a major resource to BSIB. The bank highly depends on its information system for most of its operations. To ensure consistent growth and high performance, BSIB information system should be well managed. There are material risks identified by BISB IT environment. Access to some sensitive IT resources is not well regulated. In addition, various applications in the bank’s IT environment are poorly integrated. There is physical failure threat due to poor management of some resources. Data integrity is compromised by poor training of some of the bank’s employees while disaster recovery and business continuity pla n has a discrepancy. Oracle ERP and other core systems are not working well together. Brisbane Savings and Investment Bank’s information system should review its information system in order to enable the firm gain a high competitive advantage in banking industry. Reference List Cascarino, R. 2007. Auditors guide to information systems auditing. New York: John Wiley and Sons. Dube, D. Gulati, V. 2005. Information system audit and assurance. Delhi: Tata McGraw-Hill. Hall, J. Singleton, T. 2005. Information technology auditing and assurance. Sydney: Thomson. Piattini, M. 2000. Auditing information systems. New York: Idea Group Inc. Weber, R. Jamieson, R. 2008. Information Systems Control and Audit. New York: Pearson Education, Limited.

Investigating a pollutants effect on cress seeds Essay Example

Investigating a pollutants effect on cress seeds Essay Example Investigating a pollutants effect on cress seeds Paper Investigating a pollutants effect on cress seeds Paper To investigate the effect of phosphates from detergent liquid, at different concentrations, on the germination of cress seeds. Hypothesis: I predict that, at lower concentrations, the detergent liquid containing phosphates will have a small positive effect on growth. However, I believe at stronger concentrations, the detergent liquid will have a negative effect on growth, causing stunted and malformed cress plants. Introduction: Many commercial detergent liquids contain phosphate. Phosphate, (PO43-) is an important inorganic macronutrient which is needed to help plant growth, and as such is a part of the essential small molecule ATP. Although it can be hard to test whether minerals are important in animals, it is far easier to test the effects of phosphate (which in this case will form part of a pollutant). The main reason for my hypothesis is that phosphates can cause eutrophication when found in a water supply, and as such I believe that small percentages (10-20%) detergent liquid will case minor positive changes in growth. However, there are other chemicals present (such as Benzotriazole, colorants and purfumes) in detergent liquid that may cause the cell wall and cell membrane of the cell to break down allowing the cell contents to spill out and the leaves will appear discolored. This may also cause the cress to grow slowly or die prematurely. There may also be an appearance of leaf tip necrosis, iron deficiencies, and some seeds may fail to germinate due to imbalances in the pH of the soil. You dont say why there may be a pH imbalance. Cress is a seed which is exceptionally easy to cultivate, and as such will be the plant used for my experiment. Germination in plants occurs when there are suitable conditions. Germination requires water, oxygen and an appropriate temperature. Water is necessary because the final stage in the creation of a seed is a drying out of embryonic tissues. This means that a huge inward water gradient is created, allowing easy osmosis into the seed. Seeds typically absorb so much water that they swell into 1.5 times the size of the seed (statistic taken from broad beans). This is obviously important in measuring the different growth patterns when using different concentrations of a pollutant, as my pollutant (as many pollutants are) will be found solely in the water source of the plant, and will thus have a great effect on a germinating plant. Plan: Some preliminary tests were carried out prior to the experiment to find the best medium for cress growth and the preferable environment for their germination. These are presented and discussed in my appendix, which is found below. This is the reason for using 2 layers of kitchen paper to grow my seeds in, as well as placing them by a large, light window. The aim of this experiment is to add variable concentrations of a phosphate containing detergent to cress seeds water supply and measure the effect upon their germination and growth. The independent variable used will be the detergent concentration and the dependent variables are percentage germinated and the growth rate. I will use a Spearman rank correlation test to determine whether these two variables are linked. Justifications I will be using pipettes and a pipette filler because these are more accurate than traditional pipettes. I require several different pipettes to ensure that each one is not contaminated with a previous concentration of liquid. I will be using tweezers to place my seeds in the grid as these allow me to grip and place my seeds accurately. I plan to repeat each experiment (to obtain two results for each value). This is to restrict the chances of a faulty result skewing results. Ideally, I would repeat these tests many times, but as the experiment is quite slow, and placing too many petri dishes by my window might obscure the light available, Ive decided upon two results. The seeds will be grown for 7 days as my preliminary tests show that 7 days is perfectly adequate time for the cress seeds to germinate and grow to a measurable length. I plan to use cress seeds from the same packet throughout my experiment, as cress seeds found in different places may have different resistance to phosphates. This is because the detergent I am using may have been present in an irrigation system used to when the seeds were produced, and thus using a mixture of seeds would give a mixture of tolerances against phosphates. I plan to use the same amount of liquid throughout my experiment (20ml initially) as using varying amounts may affect my results. This is because plants need water to grow, and thus those with access to more water will probably grow both faster and further than those with less water. It is thus important to keep them as constant as possible. I have chosen to use 50 seeds at each concentration. This will reduce the chance of a percentage error. If using 10 seeds and one fails to germinate, this will be a 10% percentage error, whereas if one fails to germinate with 50 seeds, this gives only a 2% percentage error. This is a simple and effective way of reducing the percentage error. Sufficient replicates to assess reliability of data. Issues highlighted by my preliminary experiments Considering the results of my preliminary tests, I will be growing my cress inside by a window so that it has plenty of access to light and warmth. I will be growing my cress in petri dishes on two circular pieces of kitchen paper. I will be covering each dish with a piece of transparent film slightly larger than the dish itself. This is because the kitchen paper tends to dry out quickly, which would obviously prevent germination and negatively effect plant growth. The reason for using a piece of transparent film is because this will let light through. I will not be sealing these, as this will prevent air getting to the cress, which it requires for growth. This method prevents the seeds from drying out too quickly, although I will still be watering them at intervals specified before. In my preliminary tests, I measured the seed growth by their length above the seed and root length. However, this may not be accurate as some cress seedlings may have longer roots, and longer roots also indicate growth. For this reason I have decided to measure the shoot and root length combined of my seedlings. Ensuring consistancy I need to ensure that the amount of liquid present stays constant, and thus need to ensure that the dilutions of detergent liquid have appropriate amounts of distilled water. I will be using 20ml of water for the control, and various concentrations made up to 20ml for the other experiments. I need to ensure that the environment of the plants stays as consistent as possible throughout the experiment, and thus need to choose a window with enough space beneath it to give equal light to all the plants. I need to ensure that the cress is spread in the same way in each experiment. To give maximum space to each seed, I have chosen the following layout: This gives me enough room for 25 cress seeds in each experiment. I will need to ensure that the temperature around the petri dishes is kept constant between all petri dishes, as an inconsistency will have a small effect on growth. To do this, I shall measure the temperatures near each dish twice daily and record and adjust any anomalies. The petri dishes will need to be clearly labeled with concentration and experiment number (either 1 or 2) so as to avoid confusion when collecting results.

Introduction to Microeconomics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 3

Introduction to Microeconomics - Essay Example Owing to high middle-class population growth in these countries, the food processors other than Nestlà © can also experience shift in demand of their products. Yet, determinant of Nestlà ©Ã¢â‚¬â„¢s shift in demand is not only the emerging market’s innate potential but also the increasingly appealing behavior of consumers in these markets towards Nestlà © brands. In the light of this strong shift in demand, Nestlà © can well forward rising input costs to its consumers without much affecting the sale-volume. This reflects relatively inelastic demand for Nestlà © products in emerging markets, developing a high revenue-potential to Nestlà © even in pace of rising input costs. Besides Nestlà ©, overall food processed market (mainly the food makers as Peers Danone and Unilever) can also effectively put into practice the rise in price in response to the rising food costs since the rightward shift in processed food’s market demand can well offset the leftward shift in its market supply thus raising the market’s equilibrium quantity with price. Yet by raising its price, food maker, Kraft Foods, may hurt its quantity demanded, and thus demand, due to elastic nature of its products’ demand; leftward movement along its demand curve, which is due to increased prices owing to left-shifted supply, may offset the rightward shift in its emerging markets’ demand. Further, due to its larger market share, Nestlà © can capture the large part of this shift in market demand; shift in Nestlà © products’ demand is expected to be larger than the shift in other food makers’ demand thus, rise in its equilibrium quantity should also be higher than others. VEVEY, Switzerland (Reuters) - Nestle, the worlds biggest food maker, said strong demand in emerging markets would help it offset a steep rise in input costs in 2011 after it beat sales forecasts for 2010. "We saw a significant uptick in raw material prices in the second half," Chief Financial

Research paper nuclear testing in North Korea Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Nuclear testing in North Korea - Research Paper Example President Obama further went on to denote that the act by North Korea will increase the isolation of North Korea, from the international community. It is important to denote that this nuclear test by North Korea was unexpected, despite the regime issuing a warning on the 24th of January 2013, that it would conduct a nuclear test (Davenport, 11). However, the regime did not identify a specific date that it would undertake the nuclear test. It is important to understand that this announcement was made; just two days after the Security Council of the United Nations passed a decision to strengthen the sanctions that were placed against North Korea (Park, Kyung-Ae, and Mark, 39). These sanctions were in response to the decision by North Korea to launch a satellite on the December 12th 2012. It is important to understand that the security council of the United Nations seeks to prevent Pyongyang from launching satellites, and this is because the technology used in launching a satellite is directly used for purposes of making ballistic missiles (Davenport, 33). North Korea is considered a rogue regime, and on this basis, the United Nations cannot trust the regime with a ballistic or nuclear weapon. It is important to understand that the road for North Korea becoming a nuclear state began on October 2006, when the country conducted its first nuclear. The other nuclear test was conducted by North Korea on May 2009. Prior to conducting a nuclear test in 2006, North Korea announced that it no longer recognized the treaty of nuclear nonproliferation. This was on April 2003. In as much as North Korea withdrew from the treaty, the United Nations, and other countries who signed the treaty have not recognized this withdrawal. On this basis, the Security Council of the United Nations, under resolution 2009, and 2006 makes it mandatory for North Korea to abandon all its nuclear activities, and

Nike vs Puma Essay Example for Free

Nike vs Puma Essay Nike vs Puma Easily the biggest grudge match in Germany this month will not be between two of the countries competing, but between homegrown Adidas and, of course, American arch-rivals Nike. The business media is already hot on the Stripes versus the Swoosh, with the German brand reportedly splashing out double Nikes estimated ? 60m World Cup marketing spend. But what about the shirts themselves? Which ones would you want to play in, and which should be left on the backs of the die-hards down the pub? Out of the six countries theyre dressing, including hosts Germany, and also France, the best Adidas shirt has to be Argentinas (above left). Perhaps not as recognizable as Brazils famous bright yellow, the subtle sky-blue and white stripes belied how fearsome Argentina were from the late 1970s through the 1980s. Kept simple, although a bit too shiny for my liking, the current shirt remains true to the great players who have previously worn one. As does Hollands shirt (above right), one of eight nations wearing Nike. While every other colour is sported by several teams, no-one but the Dutch really wear orange, and during the mid-1970s they played some of the sexiest football ever. Though theyve never managed to lift the trophy, this jersey echoes the heyday of the Dutch game when their brand of Total Football, as its known, narrowly lost the 1974 final to Germany. It has none of the unnecessary graphics that have plagued the brilliant orange kit of previous years, but again its kept simple and low-key, complete with a nod to the 1970s in the form of the collar. Thats the big boys, but its another German brand thats kitting out the most countries. Puma has deals with no less than 12 federations, including Italy, all of the African teams who qualified, as well as Saudi Arabia and Iran from the Middle East. The brand has taken the opposite approach to its larger competitors, embellishing most of its shirts with designs that reflect that countrys heritage. The Hawks of Togo are depicted, as is the Ivory Coasts nickname, Les Elephants. For me, Tunisias shirt (above left) works best, showing the Eagles of Carthage merged with a sort of camouflage design. Elsewhere, there are a handful of smaller brands providing some of the teams with their kit. Umbros heritage as makers of England shirts is well-known. They also make Swedens, but their best World Cup-related gear is designed by Kim Jones, which is featured elsewhere on Cool Hunting today. Italys Lotto and Spanish new-boys Joma are also after a piece of the action, supplying the likes of Ukraine (above right) and Costa Rica respectively. If you want to be really obscure next time you take to the pitch though, an Ecuador shirt (right), made by little-known company Marathon, wins hands down.

Aristotles Tragic Hero in Shakespeares Macbeth Essay examples -- Mac

Aristotle's Tragic Hero in Macbeth      Ã‚  Ã‚   Aristotle and Shakespeare lived ages apart, but Aristotle had a great affect on Shakespeare's plays. In Shakespeare’s tragic play, Macbeth, the character of Macbeth is consistent with Aristotle's definition of the tragic hero.    Aristotle's tragic hero is a man who is characterized by good and evil. He is a mixture of good characteristics and bad characteristics. For example, Macbeth was an honorable Thane of Glamis. He was a valiant fighter who had protected his country of Scotland well, but he wanted to be king. His "vaulting ambition" caused him to kill King Duncan which ended up in his fall.   Aristotle's tragic hero has a tragic flaw, or harmatia, that is the cause of the downfall. Macbeth's vaulting ambition, though it is what brings him to his height of power, it is also what leads him to his downfall. Vaulting Ambition is Macbeth's only flaw; it disables him to achieve his utmost goals and forces him to face his fate. Without this ambition, though, Macbeth never would have been able to achieve his power as King of Scotland or have been able to carry out his evil deeds. In these instances, ambition helped Macbeth do what he wanted to do. But, consequently, Macbeth's ambition has another face and is what leads him to his tragic downfall. Had he not been so enveloped with becoming King and remaining powerful, he would not have continued to kill innocent people in order to keep his position. It was because of these killings and his overbearing attitude that caused him to be overthrown and killed himself.      Ã‚  Ã‚   Macbeth, at the beginning of the play seems to be a very noble person. He is characterized as being very loyal and honorable. He fights in the battle against ... ...o his tragic death. Had it not been for Macbeth's obsession with power, he would have been able to remain powerful, but it is because of his ambition that causes him to become less powerful and leads him to his downfall.    Works Cited and Consulted:    Brooke, Nicholas, ed.   Macbeth. Oxford: The Oxford University Press. 1990.    Coursen, H.R.   Macbeth-A Guide to the Play. London: Greenwood Press.1997.    Elloway, David. Tragic Ambition in Macbeth Macmillan Education Limited. 1985.    Nostbakken, Faith. Understanding Macbeth. USA: Greenwood Press. 1997.    Shakespeare, William.   Tragedy of Macbeth . Ed. Barbara Mowat and Paul  Ã‚   Warstine. New York: Washington Press, 1992.  Ã‚  Ã‚      Slethaug, Gordon. "Lecture Notes" for ENGL1007. Online posting. November 2000. <http://ws.bowiestate.edu/archives/1996/0807.html>.   

‘On the Road’ by Jack Kerouac

When first set this assignment I was mildly exited. Although I usually choose quiet good books to read, I thought it might give me a different literacy experience. Having had faith that all the books on the list are reasonably good I didn't spend much time choosing. I picked one my cousin had and launched into it with enthusiasm. It was called ‘On the Road' and was written by Jack Kerouac. Basically the book is about a young fairly innocent young aspiring writer who gets captured I the ideology of the American dream. Like many people after the great depression Sal Paradise gets caught in to urge to break out and experience adventure. He felt that his life was not sufficient to the visions and expectations he had. So he left his home where he lived with his auntie and with fifty bucks decided to go to the west coast, hitchhiking most of the way. His first stop was his mates house Remi Boncour, who similarly to him also waiting foe his big break. During his hitchhike he meets ‘a middle aged woman' and a ‘tough truck driver with popping eyes', ‘two boys from the university of Iowa'. The fundamental thing bout these characters is that they all seem to know where they are going not jut literarily to their destination but also metaphorically in their lives, all these people have cars and are picking Sal Paradise up, pulling him to his destiny. One of the characters he encounters on his way to the west who is in the same position as him is Eddie who is also looking for a new life and heading to meet a ‘girl and a new girl'. Eventually he gets a ride two brothers who are picking up everyone they see on the road. He spends a few nights drinking talking to the unhopeful crew. All these characters have a hope of a better life and what Jack Kerouac, the writer, does is put them all together because collectively they keep each other's dreams alive. Following this he meets a Mexican girl who surprise, suprise is also running away from something (an abusive husband). This particular portion of the book I think should be and perhaps Kerouac intended it to e significant. However, his style of writing which is very chronological and minimally descriptive takes away the importance of Sal's and Terry's meeting. He spend a good few months with her and her young son, we are told of the hardship he goes through to support them but the writer failed to touch me whit it. I feel this is because once they part they arrange for her to follow him to New York. However despite this the writer adds ‘But we both knew she wouldn't make it'. This line takes away the wonder and hope from their time together and I think it wipes out any feeling the characters had for each other that the writer was trying to implant earlier in the reader. Maybe its because I am a romantic, but I didn't believe they loved each other enough if it was so easy for the author to wipe it away. Sal Paradise is an example of the youth at that time. Jack Keurack wants us to see through Sal the feeling and expectations of the youth. To fulfil the lack of fulfilment the youth searched for their personal freedom in sex drugs and jazz. This book was described by some as ‘makes the reader want to go out there seize the day and live, live, live'. Personally it makes me want to slam it shut. When I mentioned that I had faith in the list, well I was very wrong. Apart from making me go to sleep this book did absolutely nothing for my imagination. Kerouac's writing annoys me tremendously there is nothing worse that telling a story completely chronologically. When I read the book it felt like I was reading boolet-points. I think this might be because the writer must have had similar experiences and so the excitement for him was drained and no matter hoe hard one tries to regain the enthusiasm it is impossible because once experienced the magic is taken away. I understand the concept of the story and what the author is trying to achieve but it feels like his missed out on writing what potentially could be a great book. Compared to classics that I read this book is not predictable, usually this should be the exiting and fun but in this case it just seems to annoy me and I know exactly why? Simply, deep down, like the lone characters in the book, I to am an idealist.

Education Is the Single Most Important Factor in the Development?

Issue: Education is the single most important factor in the development of a country? Do you agree? IMPORTANCE OF EDUCATION Today, having a good education is really important for people. So that, most people apply a lot of tecniques which help them their work and school. Education is the single most important factor in the development of a country. Countries need a lot of things for their future because educated people are good at many things, such as communication and also to know how to improve themselves. First of all ,being good at communicating which has some advantages for people is very urgent for today’s life .It brings people a lot of feasibility and success. For example, at work people get on well and behave eachother suitable. They find possibility and become successful . But if they don’t do these ,they can lose many things . In addition to this, they may be hopeless and destroy their future. For these reason, people can have a good communication thanks to o nly education . To sum up, having good education opens people new door in their work and give them many things for their life. Another issue in the development country is that people know how to advance themselves during their all lives.For instance, educated people improve themselves during their all lives. They learn many things and in the future when they face with some problems ,they know how to deal easily, because they read or saw previous anywhere these problems . As a result, improving themselves about a lot of things is very significant for people. In the light of the above-mentioned reasons ,a country cannot develop without the education which requires an essential communication and improving themselves . In my opinion ,the education includes the most things that advance to the country. FATMA SARI

Tips for Declaring Variables in Java

Tips for Declaring Variables in Java A variable is a container that holds values that are used in a Java program. To be able to use a variable it needs to be declared. Declaring variables is normally the first thing that happens in any program. How to Declare a Variable Java is a strongly typed programming language. This means that every variable must have a data type associated with it. For example, a variable could be declared to use one of the eight primitive data types: byte, short, int, long, float, double, char or boolean. A good analogy for a variable is to think of a bucket. We can fill it to a certain level, we can replace whats inside it, and sometimes we can add or take something away from it. When we declare a variable to use a data type its like putting a label on the bucket that says what it can be filled with. Lets say the label for the bucket is Sand. Once the label is attached, we can only ever add or remove sand from the bucket. Anytime we try and put anything else into it, we will get stopped by the bucket police. In Java, you can think of the compiler as the bucket police. It ensures that programmers declare and use variables properly. To declare a variable in Java, all that is needed is the data type followed by the variable name: int numberOfDays; In the above example, a variable called numberOfDays has been declared with a data type of int. Notice how the line ends with a semi-colon. The semi-colon tells the Java compiler that the declaration is complete. Now that it has been declared, numberOfDays can only ever hold values that match the definition of the data type (i.e., for an int data type the value can only be a whole number between -2,147,483,648 to 2,147,483,647). Declaring variables for other data types is exactly the same: byte nextInStream; short hour; long totalNumberOfStars; float reactionTime; double itemPrice; Initializing Variables Before a variable can be used it must be given an initial value. This is called initializing the variable. If we try to use a variable without first giving it a value: int numberOfDays; //try and add 10 to the value of numberOfDays numberOfDays numberOfDays 10; the compiler will throw an error: variable numberOfDays might not have been initialized To initialize a variable we use an assignment statement. An assignment statement follows the same pattern as an equation in mathematics (e.g., 2 2 4). There is a left side of the equation, a right side and an equals sign (i.e., ) in the middle. To give a variable a value, the left side is the name of the variable and the right side is the value: int numberOfDays; numberOfDays 7; In the above example, numberOfDays has been declared with a data type of int and has been giving an initial value of 7. We can now add ten to the value of numberOfDays because it has been initialized: int numberOfDays; numberOfDays 7; numberOfDays numberOfDays 10; System.out.println(numberOfDays); Typically, the initializing of a variable is done at the same time as its declaration: //declare the variable and give it a value all in one statement int numberOfDays 7; Choosing Variable Names The name given to a variable is known as an identifier. As the term suggests, the way the compiler knows which variables its dealing with is through the variables name. There are certain rules for identifiers: reserved words cannot be used.they cannot start with a digit but digits can be used after the first character (e.g., name1, n2ame are valid).they can start with a letter, an underscore (i.e., _) or a dollar sign (i.e., $).you cannot use other symbols or spaces (e.g., %,^,,#). Always give your variables meaningful identifiers. If a variable holds the price of a book, then call it something like bookPrice. If each variable has a name that makes it clear what its being used for, it will make finding errors in your programs a lot easier. Finally, there are naming conventions in Java that we  would encourage you to use. You may have noticed that all the examples we  have given follow a certain pattern. When more than one word is used in combination in a variable name the words following the first one are given a capital letter (e.g., reactionTime, numberOfDays.) This is known as mixed case and is the preferred choice for variable identifiers.

How to Style Titles of Compositions

How to Style Titles of Compositions How to Style Titles of Compositions How to Style Titles of Compositions By Mark Nichol Navigating the formatting rules about titles of compositions books and chapters, movies and TV shows, albums and songs, and the like can seem like negotiating a minefield. Here’s a handy map to help you maneuver through the terrain: In print, two primary formats exist for identifying a creative work. Titles of entire bodies of work such as a book, a TV series, or an album are often italicized, while titles for components of each book chapters, TV episodes, or songs are usually enclosed in quotation marks. Easy enough, but what about creations such as paintings and poems? A painting is a discrete work, but it is also often displayed as part of an exhibition. What do you do? In this case, italicize the painting’s title but style the title of the exhibition in roman, or ordinary, type. (However, single ancient works of art, such as the Venus de Milo, are simply styled in roman.) As for short poems collected in an anthology, style their titles like those of book chapters, but italicize the titles of book-length poems. Photographs are considered elements of a larger work, such as a book or an exhibition, and their titles are simply enclosed in quotation marks. And what about capitalization? Generally, in a title, always capitalize the first and last words regardless of part of speech, plus nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and long conjunctions (those other than and, but, for, nor, and or.) Lowercase prepositions (over, under, through, etc.) unless they are key to the title (A Walk Through Time) or as part of an adverbial or adjectival phrase (Turn Up the Volume). The initial definite or indefinite article in a title can be preempted by a nonitalicized article if it conflicts with the sentence structure. For example, write â€Å"The Wizard of Oz audio book is a best-seller.† But if this style looks awkward, just relax the sentence: â€Å"The audio-book version of The Wizard of Oz is a best-seller.† Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Style category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:50 Synonyms for â€Å"Leader†Expanded and ExtendedStarting a Business Letter with Dear Mr.

Employment Problems in India Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Employment Problems in India - Assignment Example This is contrary to the country’s projection and its perceived international image of an intellectual force and companies such as 24/7 Customer are forced to hire and manage their labor force from outside India. The country’s experience is also contrary to objectives of its economic revolution that aimed at offering quality education for the job market. Such a level of quality has not been achieved and business professionals blame the government for the poor education system that is too bureaucratic and lacks resources. This has led to poor quality and a sharp increase in a number of graduates but most of them cannot find jobs. Engineering faculties, for example, trains more than four times their previous capacities the general literacy levels in schools are very poor with the trend indicating a threat to the country’s ability to sustain its achieved economic growth rate (Anand, 1). Many education stakeholders acknowledge the problem, and the government has attempted to pass a bill for remedy. Students particularly recognize the problem with irrelevant academic units, lack of commitment from both students and lecturers, and cheating as some of the factors to the poor quality. Students have also reported bribery as a strategy to acquiring good grades in cases where they had failed their examinations. Graduates poor analytical and communication skills that many managers have reported from their experience in interviewing recruits further identify weakness in the education system. The students may sometimes know answers to interview questions but are too nervous to formulate and communicate the correct answers, a fact that is also reported in their schools, as lecturers are not keen to facilitate interactive learning processes. This poor system has forced some organizations like Tata to establish parallel training for their employees (Anand, 1).

Group Work Speech or Presentation Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Group Work - Speech or Presentation Example The work was divided into five categories where each person was supposed to generate ideas about that particular task and these ideas would be used in the group work. I can illustrate this with an example. In software development, there are many people work together on different parts of the same code. These people can have different styles and algorithm logics but when they are done, they send their work to software engineers who can modify it or design it to produce the desired results. Software engineers are specialized in this area since they can assemble the codes in order to complete the project task. In brief, we had to work on different parts which were later going to be assembled to produce one meaningful component. Therefore, the presentation has to be like essay where each person has to contribute ideas which can be linked to form one meaningful document with clear ideas. In our presentation, each person had a part which was different from the others and this caused confli cts in trying to link the ideas into a meaningful task. We met a couple of times in order to try to iron out the problems as a group so that we could all understand what we were doing. In most cases, we communicated via the email. Though this is not a bad channel of communication with regards to simple things, I realised that complex issues when preparing for a presentation to be done in a short require face to face interaction so that the members can understand each other clearly. The other problem was the structure of the presentation.