Drinking And Driving Offences Essays (1170 words) -

Drinking And Driving Offences My essay is on "Drinking and Driving Offences". In my essay I will tell you the various kinds of drinking and driving offences, the penalties, and the defences you can make if you are caught drinking and driving. Let me tell you about the different offences. There are six offencesin drinking and driving. They are "driving while impaired", "Having care and control of a vehicle while impaired", "Driving while exceeding 80 m.g.", "Having care and control of a vehicle while exceeding 80 m.g.", "Refusing to give a breath sample", and "refusing to submit to a roadside screen test. These are all Criminal Code Offences. Now lets talk about the penalties of drinking and driving. The sentence for "refusing to give a breath sample" is usually higher than either of the "exceeding 80 m.g." offences. Consequently it is usually easier in the long run for you to give a breath sample if asked. If, for example you are convicted of "Refusing ato give a breath sample" for the first time, but was earlier convicted of "Driving while impaired", your conviction for "Refusing" will count as a second conviction, not a first, and will receive the stiffer penalty for second offences. For the first offence here is the penalty and the defences you can make. Driving a vehicle while your ability to drive is impaired by alcohol or drugs is one of the offences. Evidence of your condition can be used to convict you. This can include evidence of your general conduct, speech, ability to walk a straight line or pick up objects. The penalty of the first offences is a fine of $50.00 to $2000.00 and/or imprisonment of up to six months, and automatic suspension of licence for 3 months. The second offence penalty is imprisonment for 14 days to 1 year and automatic suspension of licence for 6 months. The third offence penalty is imprisonment for 3 months to 2 years (or more) and automatic suspension of licence for six months. These penalties are the same for the following offences. "Having Care and Control of a Motor Vehicle while Impaired" is another offence. Having care and control of a vehicle does not require that you be driving it. Occupying the driver's seat, even if you did not have the keys, is sufficient. Walking towards the car with the keys could be sufficient. Some defences are you were not impaired, or you did not have care and control because you were not in the driver's seat, did not have the keys, etc. It is not a defence that you registered below 80 m.g. on the breathayzer test. Having care and control depends on all circumstances. "Driving While Exceeding 80 m.g. is the next offence. Driving a vehicle, having consumed alcohol in such a quantity that the proportion of alcohol in your blood exceeds 80 miligrams of alcohol in 100 mililitres of blood. Some defences are the test was administered improperly, or the breathalyzer machine was not functioning properly. "Having Care and control of a Motor Vehicle while Exceeding 80 m.g." is the next offence I will talk about. This offence means having care and control of a vehicle whether it is in motion or not, having consumed alcohol in such a quantity that the proportion of alcohol in your blood exceeds 80 miligrams of alcohol in 100 mililitres of blood. The defences are the test was administered improperly, or the breathalyzer machine was not functioning properly. To defend against breathalyzer evidence you must understand how the test should be administered. The proper procedure for a breathalyzer test is as follows. Warming up the machine until the thermometer registers 50 degrees centigrade. This should take at least 10 minutes. The machine should then be turned to zero (by using the "adjust zero control") and a comparison ampoulel (of normal air) inserted. if the metre remains at zero, the test can proceed. An ampoule with a standard solution is then inserted. If the metre reads high or low by more than .02% on two successive tests, the machine should not be used. If the trial is valid, the machine should be flushed with room air and the pointer set at start. You will then be asked to provide two breath samples, about fifteen minutes apart. Normally they will take the result of the lowest result and use it as evidence against you. "Refusing to Give a Breath Sample" means refusing without a reasonable excuse to give a sample or refusing without a reasonable excuse to accompany a polic officer, when demanded by the police officer. Before demanding

Multi Tasking Persuasive Essay Essay Example

Multi Tasking Persuasive Essay Essay Example Multi Tasking Persuasive Essay Paper Multi Tasking Persuasive Essay Paper formerly of the University of Michigan and now with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) working on security issues. And in certain cases of multitasking, Rubinstein says, you could be risking employers a dangerous outcome. In the research behind an article titled Executive Control of Cognitive Processes in Task Switching being published Monday in the American Psychological Associations Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance Rubinstein and his associates David Meyer, Ph. D. , and Jeffrey Evans, Ph. D. , determined that for various types of tasks, subjects lost time when they had to switch from one task to another. These time costs increased with the complexity of the chores: It took longer, say researchers Rubinstein and Meyer, for subjects to switch between more complicated tasks. People in a work setting, says Meyer, who are banging away on word processors at the same time they have to answer phones and talk to their co-workers or bosses theyre doing switches all the time. Not being able to concentrate for, say, tens of minutes at a time, may mean its costing a company as much as 20 to 40 percent in terms of potential efficiency lost, or the time cost of Switching, as these researchers call it. In effect, says Meyer, youve got writers block briefly as you go from one task to another. Youve got to (a) want to switch tasks, youve got to (b) make the switch and then youve got to (c) get warmed back up on what youre doing. Driving while talking on a cell phone, maybe making business calls while trying to get to your next meeting, is being used by these researchers as an example of a potentially disastrous multitasking scenario. A lot of folks, says Meyer, think, Well, cell phoning while driving is really no big deal and I can get away with it. But even if you have a cell phone thats not held by hand and can be dialed by voice, you still have a really big conflict because when youre driving you need to be looking at various different places, you need to be reading signs, you need to be talking to yourself about those in order to through your mental speech – make decisions about where to go with your car. And theres no way to do that while on the cell phone because you have to use your inner ears and inner speech and even your inner eyes to imagine what the person on the phone is talking about. We found that switch cost,' says Rubinstein, increases with the complexity of the tasks. That suggests that a very simple conversation on the phone while driving a car maybe Honey, please pick up some bread on the way home might not draw too much concentration. But if the conversation becomes difficult or emotionally charged or mentally taxing like Honey, the house is burning down, what should I do? it draws more attention and more mental resources away from your primary task, which is driving the car: Youre more likely to have an accident. Reference Mark Weed, David (2010). The effects of Multi-Tasking. davidweedmark. com/2010/effects-of-multitasking/ Miller, Chris (2007). The effects of multi- tasking on the brain. http://thecommandline. net/2010/06/07/the-effect-of-multitasking-on-the-brain/ John, Thomas (2001). The effects of multi tasking on teens. http://powertolearn. typepad. com/teacher_tech_blog/2007/03/the_effects_of_. html Chris, Crow (2007). Emergency Department Workplace Interruptions Are Emergency Physicians â€Å"Interrupt-driven† and â€Å"Multitasking†? http://onlinelibrary. wiley. com/doi/10. 1111/j. 1553-2712. 2000. tb00469. x/abstract Rubenstein, Meyer (2010). Introducing multitasking to the study of travel and ICT: Examining its extent and assessing its potential importance. sciencedirect. com/science/article/pii/S0965856406000280

Case Study & Recommendations for a child with autism and the visual Research Paper

Case Study & Recommendations for a child with autism and the visual impairment exotropia - Research Paper Example It is not surprising therefore that he would always get up very early from bed and wait to hear her daughter from the storey, descending downstairs. Regardless of her condition which had made her mother very worried about life, Brenda seemed to herself as living a very normal life, which is filled with the things she loved to do most in the day. For example, pulling the piano bench away from the piano and sitting by the piano to have it played was one of the regular things she did every morning. Brenda could therefore be said to be a person who had a well regulated life that was almost constantly made up of the same processes, as Persico and Bourgeron (2012) noted to be very usual of children with autism. Brenda’s mother’s attitude might have impacted on Brenda in some way as she would always sit by the white grand piano with her face frowned. This was exactly what her mother did most of the time, out of frustration. Brenda was a very sensitive person, who would get attracted and distracted by the slightly noise that passed by her. For example, even sounds of cracks could arrest her attention. Perhaps such lack of attention, coupled with Brenda’s inability to have clear vision due to the exotropia, which had made her eyes to be deviated outward (Chorn and Steiner, 2014) is what had made her mother made some very derogatory remarks of her life. She had even told her husband, â€Å"I can’t live like this much longer† (Oates, 1980). This is because in her opinion, all she had accomplished was nothing more than failure. But the big issue is whether Brenda was that worse to deserve that kind of remark from her own mother. Indeed, Brenda could play the piano like a 16 year old professional who had taken piano lessons for years. But she had no such training in music and was still only 6. Whenever she sat by the piano, she would only be seen running her fingers gently over the keybo ard

Research paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 6

Research paper - Essay Example Also, it is revealed that the support of the state to the relevant initiatives is not at the level required; the private sector has the key role in promoting schemes that can help to increase pedestrian safety but the necessary resources are often difficult to be retrieved. Thus, the effective cooperation between the state and the private sector is a key requirement for ensuring that pedestrians in cities will be safe no matter their financial or social status. According to a recent study, the number of pedestrians who lost their live because of their involvement in road accidents in USA in 2010 reached the 4,280 people, a number which is rather high if considering the development of technology and legislation related to road travel in USA (CDC 2013). On the other hand, the number of pedestrians who were killed in road accidents in 2001 has been higher compared to that of 2010 (Figure 1). Indeed, in 2001 in total 4,901 pedestrians lost their live after being involved in a road accident (Figure 1); by 2010 this number has been decreased at 4,280 (Figure 1). Also, it seems that the decrease of this figure has been continuous between 2001 and 2010 (Figure 1) a fact that implies the effectiveness of the initiative undertaken by the state and by the private sector in regard to this problem. It should be noted that age does not seem to be a critical factor in regard to the exposure of pedestrians to accidents: among the people mentioned above, i.e. the 4,280 people, only 19% have been found to be over 65 (CDC 2013). Children seem to be exposed to such risks at similar level: about 20% of the pedestrians who were killed in 2010 have been children (CDC 2013). On the other hand, it seems that there are certain factors that can increase the chances for road accident in which pedestrians are involved: for example, alcohol abuse has been found to be a key cause for fatal road accidents, at a

Occupier Liability Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Occupier Liability - Essay Example According to the discussion there is a common duty of care6 on the occupier to ensure his premises are reasonably safe at all times.7 If any danger exists, it is the duty of the Occupier to post signs warning of the danger and this can satisfy the duty of care expected8. In the case of the Park, due signs were posted and therefore, visitors to the park were duly warned they were using the facilities at their own risk. Occupier liability will be limited by the element of foreseability of accidents. In the case of Cunningham v Reading9 loose tiles on the terrace were the cause of police injury, for which the Occupier was held liable, because this was an instance where injuries were foreseeable and chances of occurrence were also higher, therefore the Occupant was held liable. This may also hold good in the case of the Park, because three aspects must be noted the signs warning of the risk were corroded and unreadable and therefore practically non existent. Exclusion clauses, waiving li ability, must be clearly communicated - if they are printed on the back of a ticket or communicated indistinctly, they will not be valid10. the element of foreseeability of accident was high due to the nature of the facilities. Moreover, the Park may also face difficulties on the issue of maintenance of the slides, since they collapsed with the weight of only two children.

Whether The Marketing Mix Contributes on the Success of Wal-Mart

Whether The Marketing Mix Contributes on the Success of Wal-Mart Introduction The marketing mix, as a paradigm, has been keeping applied in business since it was merged more than 50 years ago. Many companies are still using it as a guide in marketing (Zineldin, 2007) to gain more competitive power in the market. The activities integrated in marketing programmes to create, communicate, and deliver value for consumers were classified into product, price, promotion and place in marketing mix tool by McCarthy (cited in Davies et al., 1995) in 1960, and Kotler et al. (2009) defined the sub activities of each element of the 4Ps: product variety, quality, services, etc for Product; list price, discounts, allowances, etc for Price; sales promotion, advertising, public relations, etc for Promotion; and channels, coverage, locations, transport etc for Place. By using the guide and adjusting the elements and the sub activities of them, companies can find a marketing strategy suitable for both the industry and the organizations. Although the application of the marketing mix seems to be different among industries, it still has influences on the businesses in extents. To see whether the marketing mix can work to the achievements of the organizations, the strategies and the application of the marketing mix of Wal-Mart, the largest retailer in the world, can be a great choice to analyze. As a well known hypermarket business leader, Wal-Mart serves customers and members more than 200 million times per week at more than 8,650 retail units under 55 different banners in 15 countries (Anonymous, 2010), and it is still extending its business globally. This essay will analyze the contribution of the marketing mix on the success of Wal-Mart, and a brief scheme of improvement will also be looked at. Product As a retailer, the term product can be divided into two parts, the retailing service to suppliers, and the products and services to customers. Since both suppliers and retailers are pursuing a low-margin, high-volume strategy (Kotler et al., 2009), the stable and high-volume orders from Wal-Mart can meet the needs of the suppliers. However, only large orders are not enough in current business, according to Hansen (2009), a service-centered philosophy and service quality are crucial for building long-term relationship with suppliers. To keep a high quality of service, Wal-Mart is innovative and a pioneer in technology development. It is among the first retailers using computers to track inventory (1969), adopting the bar codes (1980) and wireless scanning guns (late 1980s), and introducing EDI for better coordination with suppliers (1985) (Johnson, 2002), which developed the efficiency of distribution and turnover of goods so that it can meet the requirements of suppliers. To individual customers, not only selling products of suppliers, Wal-Mart has private-labels such as Great Value, OlRoy, Partents Choice etc, which provides products in wide fields. Kumar et al. (2007, cited in Geyskens et al., 2010) argued that private-label products are positioning at mid-quality, and they are as good as national brand offerings but cheaper. However, Wal-Mart focuses on the quality rather than only mimic other brands (Neff, 2009), trying to meet the needs of most customers focusing on cost performance. Because of the efforts Wal-Mart made, customers are increasingly relying on the private labels (Rae, 2009). Also, according to Min (2010), customers evaluate the service with product quality, which is followed by cleanliness of the store, competitive price, product variety and fast checkouts. By making collection of customer information and IT innovation, these factors are getting focused on by Wal-Mart, which keeps the service quality and satisfaction of customers. Price The price factor of Wal-Mart can be looked at by the view of both B2C and B2B businesses. For the pricing strategies towards individuals, a lower price can capture more market share even competitors build price wall to fight in the market (Chiu et al., 2009). Wal-Mart has a great advantage in the competition among retailers because of offering a lower price and promising it the lowest among all, but lowering the price does not definitely lead to a cut in the profit. Wal-Mart uses a broad line and low value added product lines to keep prices low and raise the volume that is increased greatly enough to make up for the low margin (Kotler, 2009). However, there is always a risk: if the added revenues from the increased demands cannot cover the loss of margin, it will diminish the profit (Nijs et al., 2007). By using and collecting a huge database of consumption of products in large regions and super centers, according to the law of large numbers, the demands of the products could become stable and predictable. With a prediction of consumer behavior and risks, an aggressive pricing strategy helps Wal-Mart gain huge advantages and profitability. Place For Wal-Mart, a company that has been focused on discount merchandising and growth (Graff, 1998), cost is always a key to it. With mature management and decisions on places the products available to customers, distribution and channels, Wal-Mart gets phenomenal growth and excellent performance. First of all, considering the size, majority of Wal-Mart supercentres are located in nonmetropolitan counties and get around the distribution centers (Graff, 1998), which can make Wal-Mart benefited from a low land-rent cost and a more efficient distribution. However, a great negative impact on Wal-Marts market share occurred because of the factors of the growing maturity of internet retailing industry and lower prices offered by on-line retailers (Bock et al., 2007). In order to keep the market share and the customer satisfaction, Wal-Mart launched its own retailing websites and planned to build multichannel. This shall benefit the giant retailer as researchers found that the adoption of inte rnet and a multichannel strategy will be more profitable for retailers than traditional strategies (Zhang, 2009; Bock et al., 2007). Other than the location of supercentres, the performance of distribution of Wal-Mart is outstanding. Firstly, by geographical segmentations, distribution centers, around by supercentres, are located in appropriate regions. Suppliers make most deliveries to distribution centers, and retailer then ferry goods between the regional centers and individual stores using its own trucks (Burritt et al., 2010), which reduces the cost of transportation and enhances Wal-Marts control on the whole inventory and process of delivery. Also, a mature IT system weighs greatly for Wal-Mart: hand-held computers used by employees can collect the information of products such as storage, packaging and shipping, and a satellite communication system set up in 1983 helps managers to track sales and inventories in stores across the country (Chandran et al., 2003), which keeps the distribution under control and improves the efficiency. In addition, Wal-Mart puts a great concern upon the suppliers and the integration of supply chain. Because great volumes of products are sold through Wal-Mart, suppliers are delighted to do business with the retailer at a lower price because of the large orders, which increases the bargaining power of Wal-Mart. As what Davies et al. (1995) found: strength in bargaining power positively relates to commercial success. It seems that Wal-Mart keeps a superior power upon its suppliers to squeeze the cost. However, Even suppliers treat Wal-Mart as a primary customer perform worse financially (Bloom, 2001), there may still be benefits for suppliers to keep a long-term relationship with a higher performing channel member being efficient and aggressive to attract consumers to suppliers products, because the revenue with a high volume sold might cover the squeeze, and some suppliers hope it might help them expand their market share (Bollm, 2001; Erdem et al., 1997). By cutting the cost in the B2B part, the prices of products could be lower and more advantages Wal-Mart can gain in the market. Also, with a thought that putting the volume together of both itself and its suppliers are buying from one supplier can reduce costs (Muntaner, cited in Boyle, 2010), Wal-Mart has been trying to team up with suppliers to purchase the raw materials, like teaming up with Pepsi to purchase sugar together from one sugar supplier at a lower price, in order to reduce the cost of private labels so that more attractive prices can be offered to customers. A good management of the place factor improves the efficiency of distribution and lowers the cost of the company. Promotion The element of Promotion was divided into sales promotion, including reduction of price, discount etc, and communication, including advertising, public relations, store design etc (Van Waterschoot et al., 1992; Davies, 1995). In sales promotion, Wal-Mart uses reduced prices to increase the sales of the inventory in order to keep a high turnover rate and release the problem of stocking of inventory. Also, as it was found that a slight change in the price will lead to great improvement of business performance in a high price-elasticity product (Driussi, 2007), Wal-Mart uses short-term discounts on particular products to stimulate the consumption of products. Concerning about the communication of Wal-Mart, with an increasing budget on advertising from $405 million in 1999 to $2.3 billion in 2008 (Norman, 2009), the brand name and the slogan of save money, live better, formerly always low prices are getting widely known, which leads to a greater awareness of public and an increase in brand equity (Keller, 1993). Also, it uses diversified advertising methods such as TV, websites and newspaper, which is crucial to the success of any advertising campaign (Scott, 2009). In addition, according to Ataman (2010), by making efforts on advertising can improve the customer loyalty to the companies, which might also be an important reason for Wal-Mart being attractive and well accepted by publics in either new or existing market. It seems that Wal-Mart focuses greatly on communication with customers and trying to get more strength of brands. However, there are still some factors that Wal-Mart needs to take into consideration. First of all, although Wal-Mart is widely accepted by the public, the public relationship and the social image from the public tell a different story. With a history of anti-union tactics and worker disputes, including an ongoing gender discrimination lawsuit (Bustillo, 2010), Wal-Mart is getting into a social issue negatively affects its social image. Society worries about Wal-Marts lacking of consideration to health, life and rights of employees. However, Wal-Mart has been trying to making efforts on its CSR while the public does not realize. It offers a better health care plan than the retail average, in which 80% of its US workers can get health coverage while only 58% for the retail sector as a whole (Bustillo et al., 2010). This phenomenon shows that Wal-Mart needs to make effort o n PR to change the biases made by the society. In addition, with a development of customer perspectives, physical environment and social cue, factors influencing customers feelings and satisfaction (Bitner, 1992; Hu et al., 2006) are getting more focused. Wal-Mart can try to collect more customers preference to the store environment such as store designing and employees behaviours in order to build a welcoming feeling to customers and serve customers better. Integration of The Marketing Mix Although each element of the marketing mix Wal-Mart focuses is analyzed, the marketing mix should be treated as a whole. An application of the marketing mix upon the business needs the coordination among departments of a company, not only marketing department, and part-time marketers who are not working for marketing department but have connect with customers need to be greatly relied on to generate and disseminate the market intelligence (Davies et al., 1995; Grà ¶nroos, 1994). It can be shown from the above analysis that the elements of the paradigm influence each other such as price and PR, supply chain and price, cost and distribution etc, and Wal-Mart controls them in a macro vision. With an interaction among the departments, Wal-Mart can get advantage in each element of the marketing mix by using resources widely and efficiently. Conclusion By analyzing the concentration of Wal-Mart upon the marketing mix, it not only treated the paradigm as a guide, but also applies it upon the strategy and management of the company. It is not unfair to say that with a proper application upon the business and a great interaction in the marketing mix, Wal-Mart gets benefit from the classic theory. The application of the marketing mix could be seen as a key positive factor of the success of Wal-Mart. However, to improve the business performance of the giant retailer according to the paradigm, some soft factors such as the flexibility of distribution, PR and consumers emotion can be concerned by Wal-Mart.

FPL Group Essay -- GCSE Business Marketing Coursework

DIVIDEND POLICY AT FPL GROUP INC Q.1 DIVIDEND POLICY AT FPL GROUP, INC In 1994 FPL Group, the parent company of Florida Power and Light Company, announced a reduction in its quarterly dividend from $.62 ($2.48 annual) a share to $.42. This was the first-ever dividend cut for a healthy utility, so the company did its best to explain to investors why it had taken such an unusual step. Table 1. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Year Dividend Earnings Dividend Dividend Earnings Dividend Dividend per share per share payout ratio payout (%) per share payout payout (%) before ratio extraordi- nary items ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1993 2.47 2.30 1.07 107.39 2.76 0.89 89.49 1992 2.43 2.65 0.92 91.70 2.65 0.92 91.70 1991 2.39 1.48 1.61 161.49 2.66 0.90 89.85 1990 2.34 (2.86) (0.82) (81.82) 2.64 0.89 88.64 1989 2.26 3.12 0.72 72.44 2.99 0.76 75.59 1988 2.18 3.42 0.64 63.74 3.12 0.70 69.87 1987 2.10 3.10 0.68 67.74 2.69 0.78 78.07 1986 2.02 2.90 0.70 69.66 2.90 0.70 69.66 1985 1.94 3.11 0.62 62.38 3.11 0.62 62.38 1984 1.77 2.62 0.68 67.56 2.65 0.67 66.79 Mean 68.23 78.20 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Analysing dividend policy of FPL Group we could track some major steps, which leads company to that decision. From table 1, the number shows that FPL has paid very high dividend comparing to the earnings. Dividend has been increased every year. Furthermore, from the record, this company has a 47 years history of dividend increases. We can see that in 1990 dividend payout ratio was increased sharply compare to the previous years. Also, we can see that FPL had a loss in 1990, but the company still increased dividend. Furthermore, in 1991 to 1993 dividend payout ratio was significantly high when compare to the historical data. These sharp changes ... ...pected in a rational market, within a month of the announcement, the stock price had more than recovered it's initial loss. Bibliography: 1. M.H. Miller and K. Rock, "Dividend Policy Under Asymmetric Information," Journal of Finance, 40:1031-1052 (September 1985). 2. J. Lintner: "Distribution of Incomes of Corporations among Dividends, Retained Earnings, and Taxes," American Economic Review, 46:97-113(May1956). 3. P. Healy and K. Palepu, "Earnings Information Conveyed by Dividend Initiations and Omissions," Journal of Financial Economics 21 (1988), pp149-175. 4. R. Comment and G. Jarrell, "The Relative Signaling Power of Dutch-Auction and Fixed Price Self-Tender Offers and Open Market Share Repurchases," Journal of Finance 46 (September 1991), pp 1243-1271. 5. S.C. Myers, "The Capital Structure Puzzle," Journal of Finance 39 (July 1984), pp 581-582. 6. M.H. Miller and F. Modigliani: "Dividend Policy, Growth and the Valuation of Shares," Journal of Business, 34:411-433 (October 1961). 7. R.A. Brealey and S.C. Myers, Principles of Corporate Finance, 6th Edition, Irwin McGraw-Hill, Chapter 16.

My Friend’s Most Important Decision Essay

Firstly, I would like to introduce my friend Jenny, who was born in China and now she is 25 years old. In 2011, she left her great job and came to the United States to pursue her master degree. Jenny decided to study in the United States and in particular at JWU because she wanted to study professional knowledge of management and have a master degree, she believe the U.S is the origin of the MBA program and JWU is famous for its hotel management program. First and foremost, after graduation, Jenny worked at the Beijing Branch of Education Service Center for about three years. She has great expectations for her career and she wants to get a high position but it’s difficult for her. She said,† You can see my academic background, I never studied any business knowledge, if I want to get high promotion, to study professional knowledge of management and have a master degree is important for me.† Thus, she wanted to get an MBA to get more knowledge of management and improve all kinds of abilities and help herself with her career objective. Another reason why she decided to study in the U.S. is because she believe that the United States is the origin of the MBA program. The United States’ MBA program pays more attention to practical skills and ability development, like communication, leadership, control, decision making, influence and entrepreneurship. She thinks studying in America can advance her career and make her more competitive in her field. She said to me, â€Å"American’s Hospitality management program is very strong†. Because in America , many universities are famous for this program, like: Cornell University, University of Houston, Pennsylvania State University, and the U.S. also has some famous hotel, like: Hilton Grand Vacations, New York Hotel and so on. Thus, she believes America is a good place for her to study this major. Most of all, Johnson & Wales university is famous for its hotel management program. She has a friend who is currently studying hotel management at JWU, and her friend told her some advantages about this university, especially teaching resources on management is quite good. After that, she searched a lot of information on the internet, and found that JWU was suitable for her. She said,† this university is career-oriented school, especially pay attention to students’ practical skill development, like communication, decision making, entrepreneurship and leadership ability†. Many students who graduate from JWU can get into big companies like Hilton Hotel, so she believes studying at JWU can make her more competitive in the future. For these reasons and more, Jenny decided that in order to make herself more marketable that she needed to leave her job in China and move to the United States in order to learn professional knowledge and extend her education. Therefore, Jenny, my best friend, chose to study in the United States in an MBA program and in particular at JWU with a concentration in Hospitality.

9 Best Hurricane Tracking Charts

9 Best Hurricane Tracking Charts Updated October 15, 2018 Hurricane tracking charts are blank maps used to track the path of a hurricane. When tracking hurricanes, the intensity of the storm is indicated on the path along with any dates/times of landfall. There are several versions of the charts depending upon your needs. (All links will open maps in PDF format.) Atlantic Hurricane Tracking Chart Version 1This version is as official as it gets. Used by forecasters at the National Hurricane Center (NHC), it not only has a view of the full Atlantic basin but of the east coast of Africa, too. With a smaller grid overlay, the path of a hurricane can be plotted with greater precision. Atlantic Hurricane Tracking Chart Version 2This grayscale NOAA chart has a smaller grid and a wider view of the Atlantic and Gulf Coast. Atlantic Hurricane Tracking Chart Version 3This color chart is produced by the American Red Cross and shows the full Atlantic basin. Helpful tips on the dangers of hurricanes are printed on the map and all states, islands, major cities, and beaches are clearly labeled. Atlantic Hurricane Tracking Chart Version 4This black and white chart is one of NOAAs older versions but has small dot marks in a grid for easy plotting. Islands and land structures are labeled. Atlantic Hurricane Tracking Chart Version 5Courtesy of the LSU Agricultural Center, this grayscale chart is unique in that it labels the Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean Sea, Pacific, and Atlantic waters. One obvious drawback? It only includes a view of the eastern seaboard up to Virginia. (NOTE: The chart is on page 2 of this .pdf file, but the first page contains some very useful evacuation tips and hurricane facts.) Gulf of Mexico Hurricane Tracking Chart Version 1For those wishing to track hurricanes that enter into the Gulf of Mexico, this map provides the perfect solution. A grid overlay and labels of major cities on the Gulf Coast provide an easy way to track the path of some of the most destructive United States hurricanes. Gulf of Mexico Hurricane Tracking Chart Version 2The Boat Owners Association of the United States provides this simple map for tracking Gulf Coast hurricanes. (Its a great kid-friendly version.) The Caribbean Islands are labeled as well as major Gulf Coast cities. Eastern Pacific Hurricane Tracking ChartThis map comes directly from the NOAA NHC. It includes a view of the Hawaiian islands. Hawaii Hurricane Tracking ChartIf youre only interested in plotting hurricanes that venture near the Hawaiian Islands, this is the map for you (courtesy of AccuWeather). Plotting the Path of a Hurricane Now that you have the maps printed, its time to start plottin! For a simple how-to, check out How to Use a Hurricane Tracking Chart.   Edited by Tiffany Means

Purpose of a Building Society Essay Example

Purpose of a Building Society Essay Example Purpose of a Building Society Essay Purpose of a Building Society Essay Abbey National diversified further into money market and offshore banking by buying Cater Allen Holdings Plc for 195 million. Cater Allens main businesses are in wholesale money markets and offshore banking; other businesses include an onshore retail banking operation and a major execution-only sharedealing operation  Diversification towards the Internet Banking sector  Cahoot, Abbey Nationals separately branded e-bank, went live in June 2000 offering a competitively priced credit card and current account. cahoot has links with a number of non-financial retail and service partners to offer its customers a range of lifestyle products and services. In August 2001 Abbey National acquired Scottish Provident, to give Abbey National a leading position in the UKs individual protection insurance market.  Inscape  Abbey national diversified its activities to Investment Management.Inscape, Abbey Nationals new investment management business, was launched. The service is for the new wealthy a growing market of approximately four million people in the UK who have at least 50,000 to invest. Inscape delivered its services through a new network of advice centres where clients can meet dedicated relationship managers for face-to-face professional advice, seven days a week. This was complemented by a true multi-channel proposition of internet, telephone and postal support. Abbey National from being just a building society which offered savings account and Mortgage had diversified its activities to fields of General insurance and life assurance,offshore banking,Money Markets Commercial banking including asset financing, commercial lending operations, securities financing and risk management and even Car Finance and Leasing.  Abbey Nationals decision to convert to a Plc. is appropriate and timely.After the Big Bang(1983) Abbey National was facing tough competition from banks, centralised lenders and even high street retailers who were offering a range of financial products and services.Conversion to a Plc helped Abbey National to diversify its activities to the above mentioned field rather than being confined to the savings and mortgage Industry. Banks began to compete with building societies for home loans and 1981/82 gained a considerable share of the mortgage market for new homes. But profit-maximising banks would not be able to compete profitably with mutual-help nonprofit-making building societies in providing mortgages.  At that time the Council of the Building Societies Association was made up of Chief Executives of something like 30 building societies, including the ten largest. And in 1983 a working party of the Building Societies Association recommended proposals for changing the role of building societies. They were seeking wide-ranging powers to extend their operations into areas such as banking, insurance and hire-purchase. Implementing many of their proposals would overturn 200 years of tradition.  Where such activities would involve a degree of risk they proposed to operate only through subsidiary companies. Presumably to protect parent societies from having to pay the full debts of their subsidiaries if the subsidiaries became insolvent. The activities of building societies are restricted by legislation. When banks entered the mortgage market, building societies pressed for changes which enabled building societies to compete with banks for services offered so far by banks alone.  Consumers benefited considerably from this. It was building societies which introduced free banking and interest-paying current accounts and forced at least some banks to reduce charges and treat their customers with more consideration. Most building societies now compete to some considerable extent with banks and insurance companies, providing loans and insurance policies. The sale of mortgages in the UK is a à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½500 billion business. Huge. There are tens of thousands of intermediaries and advisers offering thousands of mortgages from hundreds of lenders. New entrants to the market are bringing with them technology and process that have driven down the costs of running a mortgage business and thereby making products more competitive. Lenders making their products available through low-cost distribution channels such as the Internet and telephone are further enhancing this effect. Meanwhile, image conscious lenders are working together to clean up the industry as they try to shed the stigma sometimes attached to operating in their industry. In converting to plc status, a society would become a public limited company (plc), subject to all the regulations imposed by the Companies Acts and, being a deposit-taking institution, it would require a banking licence from the Bank of England. Thus conversion meant converting to a bank.  There are approximately 70 building societies in the UK, with assets of over 185 billion. They employ over 34,000 staff who work across the country in head offices and 2,100 branches, serving more than 15 million savers and over two and a half million borrowers. Building societies currently account for 19% of all outstanding residential mortgages. On the savings side, building societies hold about 18% of all personal deposits.  Top 15 Building societies asset wise  The main legislation governing the sector is the Building Societies Act 1986 (amended in 1997) which requires building societies to have as their main business making residential mortgage loans funded by the savings of members, and describes how they are to be regulated in order to ensure that members money is safe. Each society has a set of rules that governs the relationship between the society and its members. Along with banks, building societies also voluntarily follow the Banking Code, which sets minimum standards of good banking practice and customer service, and the Mortgage Code, which sets good mortgage lending practice. Purpose of a Building Society  Section 5(1) of the 1986 Act provides that a building society may be established under the 1986Act if (and only if)   Its purpose or principal purpose is that of making loans which are secured on residential property and are funded substantially by its members  Residential property is defined as being land at least 40% of which is normally used as, or in connection with, one or more dwellings, or which has been, is being or is to be developed or adapted for such use. The 1997 Act gave building societies the freedom to pursue any activities set out in their memorandum, subject only to compliance with the revised principal purpose introduced by that Act, the lending and funding limits, the restrictions on powers and appropriate prudential requirements, referred to below. In essence, it is the principal purpose, the nature limits and restrictions, together with the fact that most of a building societys customers are its members, which retain a building societys fundamental character, and differentiate it from other financial institutions.  A new building society can be established by ten or more people, and the capital which they have to put into the society is a minimum of à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½1 million (to be held in permanent interest bearing shares (PIBS).So it is relatively easy to start a Building society. The number of Building societies approximately 70 is realistic because they all function purely according to the banking codes set by Banking Code Standards Board and the Mortgage Code set by the Mortgage Code Compliance Board. Building societies whether bigger or smaller are regulated by the Financial Services Authority (FSA), under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000. The role of the regulator is to ensure societies are run in a safe and prudent manner. All Building societies are required to participate in ombudsmen schemes.

Economic Policy and Vocational Training in the United Kingdom Essay

Economic Policy and Vocational Training in the United Kingdom - Essay Example In comparison to other countries in the European Union the United Kingdom lags in literacy and numeracy rates. At age 16 the 'staying on' rate for students transitioning into vocational education is below desired rates with the majority of students not 'staying on' being from poorer or minority families. The United Kingdom's attempt to change the course of decline in educational outcomes has met with limited success. The United Kingdom has made three major policy changes that should affect literacy rates and staying on rates. The U.K. has chosen to lengthen the compulsory education mandate from 5 to 16 to 5 to 18. The U.K. has also mandated a 'literacy hour' each day where students and teachers focus only on literacy education. The United Kingdom has also mandated that public schools follow the National Curriculum so that all students are educated using the same standards. The desired outcome of these changes are higher literacy rates, increased staying on rates, and standardization of curriculum across the U.K. The long term outcomes of policy changes would ideally give the United Kingdom a competitive advantage in the E.U. marketplace. If the United Kingdom continues with current trends businesses in the U.K. may look elsewhere in the E.U. for qualified workers thus taking business away from the U.K. The end of World War Two and the creation of the European Union have brought changes to how children are educated in the European Union. This paper examines those changes and evaluates current policies in place in the United Kingdom. For the purpose of this study three member states and their educational systems have been examined. The United Kingdom is the focus of this paper while data and educational programs in Germany and France have been examined for comparison. All three countries have compulsory education laws that require children attend school during certain years of childhood. All three have tracks that children can follow with some transitioning into vocational education while others transition into higher education (university study for example). And, all three are European Union member states. How these member states prepare their 'human capital' is important to the European Union as a whole. The move toward open borders, open markets, brings forth the need to have qualified workers in all sectors of the economy. It only makes sense to prepare future workers in the European Union in a similar way with those performing the same jobs having attained the same qualifications. This was not so important pre World War Two when each country had its own isolated economy. The completion of the Chunnel connecting France and England and the completion of the land bridge connecting Sweden and Denmark further opened borders to more commerce. Countries are responsible for preparing their 'human capital' to function (work) in the global market place. As the European Union moves closer to social and economic cohesion it is more important than ever for it is for workers to be trained or educated to function in this new marketplace. Human Capital Human capital is best understood as "the physical means of production" (Becker, G 1993). Investing in human capital is much the same as investing in equipment. The equipment desired to

Project management Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 2

Project management - Coursework Example The case: S M Construction has been awarded a contract to build a new manufacturing plant just outside Cardiff. The activity on arrow table below gives data on the activities involved in the plant’s construction. The excellent timeline view, provided by Ms project, is one of the features that contributed to the usefulness of this software (Muir, 2004, 59). The feature allowed for organizing each execution, listed in the case, regardless of whether they were complicated or long projects. This made the coordination between the projects, both long and short, much easier. Further, the compatibility of the project to other office apps also contributed to the successful execution of the task assigned by SM construction. The compatibility allowed for a presentation in Microsoft word, through copy pasting for better understanding. Further the software made it easy to derive relationship between the presented activities, thereby presenting an activity node diagram worth appraising (Taylor & Dow, 2013, 45). From the above case, the use of MS project proved that the SM construction project manager can minimize cost from  £26000 to  £19000. This was obtained by extracting a critical path from network diagram, which showed the shortest route possible. The network diagram showed that the lowest cost will be along 1-2, 1-3, 2-5, 5-6. Mind manager is another software, apart form Microsoft project, which can be use to perform the exercise presented by SM constructions (Lowery, 2001, 7). Managing such project, as presented, is made easier by mind manager through its outstanding feature of graphically compiling the data. The software allows users to add relationship between given activities and sub activities within a given project. Intuitively, the effectiveness of mind managers lies in how easy it allows users to organize information and