Measuring Intangible Assets - Apple, Inc Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Measuring Intangible Assets - Apple, Inc - Essay Example Tangible assets are fixed assets, which have physical substance and are held for use in the production or supply of goods and services such as lands, buildings, plants, and equipment. An intangible asset is an identifiable non-monitory asset without physical substance (Weetman 2010). Examples of intangible assets are trademarks. This essay will examine patients and brand names more thoroughly. One of the most challenging principles of accounting is the recognition of intangible assets, such as trademarks and patents, and a company’s reputation in its financial statements and balance sheet. In addition, these assets are considered â€Å"non-mentionable† or in another sense â€Å"unrecognized† in the balance sheet due to the failure of the rule of recognition in measuring the cost of the asset. The conventional argument is that the company gains nothing from the intangible asset, such as reputation etc. However. intangible assets can some of the largest assets a company’ acquires. They are also one of the major factors in generating future profits. This essay investigates the value and the importance of intangible assets for Apple Inc. After conducting research and examining its annual report Apple Inc. held considerable interest for me. Apple Inc is considered the most valuable company in the world with a market capitalization of $346 billion (James 2011). One considers whether the world’s number one company has recognized their reputation in the balance sheet and whether the confidence of their consumers over the years has been recognized in the company’s financial division. After examining the company’s annual report I could locate this asset on the company’s balance sheet. Apple’s brand is valued at $153 Billion ("Trademark a name:" 2011); this is almost half of its market capitalization size and is recognized as â€Å"unmeasurable† intangible asset of its trademark, which includes its reputation.

Funds Accounting Essay Example for Free

Funds Accounting Essay Business-type organizations and not-for-profit organizations, including not-for-profit colleges, universities and health care providers b. Business-type organizations; not-for-profit organizations; and all colleges, universities and health care providers, whether organized as not-for-profit or governmental entities c. Business-type organizations only d. All entities, except for those under the jurisdiction of the American Institute of CPAs Answer: a 5. A not-for-profit organization performs all of the following activities except . Charging a fee for services provided b. Paying dividends to shareholders c. Purchasing long-lived (capital) assets d. Paying overtime to employees Answer: b 6. The Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) establishes financial reporting standards for state and local governmental entities. An entity possessing the following characteristics should follow GASB standards: a. The power to enact and levy a tax. b. The power to issue debt, for which its interest is exempt from federal taxation. c. The potential that a government could unilaterally dissolve the entity and assume their assets and liabilities. d. All of the above. e. Only a and b. Answer: d 7. For which types of organizations is the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) responsible for establishing accounting and financial reporting standards? a. All state, local, and Federal organizations b. All state and local governmental organizations, except for state and local governmental colleges, universities, health care providers, and utilities c. All state and local governmental organizations, including government-sponsored colleges, universities, health care providers, and utilities d. All governmental and not-for-profit organizations Answer: c 8. Which entity establishes financial accounting standards and principles for the federal government? a. FASB b. GASB c. FASAB d. None of the above. Answer: c 9. Which of the following is the most authoritative source of accounting standards for cities and counties? a. Current practices widely used by not-for-profit entities b. GASB Statements and Interpretations c. AICPA Industry Audit Guides d. Implementation guides published by GASB staff Answer: b 10. Not-for-profit organizations obtain their revenues primarily from a. Sales to customers b. Contributions from donors c. Taxes on personal property d. Taxes on real property Answer: b TRUE or FALSE State whether these statements are true or false. Discuss why the false statements are false. True a. An entity is likely to be a governmental entity if a controlling majority of its governing body is appointed by governmental officials. True b. The objective of a government is to provide services to its constituents. False c. AICPA pronouncements have approximately the same level of authority as articles appearing in the Journal of Accountancy. True d. The objective of a not-for-profit organization is to provide services to its constituents. False e. By definition, all funds have cash, financial resources, and capital resources. True f. The objective of a business organization is to enhance the wealth of its owners.

MP3 :: essays research papers fc

Executive summary It's only been about three years since a little known extension of an audio compression technique-MPEG-2 Audio Layer-3 or MP3-opened the door to being able to send large volumes of CD-quality music over the Internet by pack the equivalent of several commercial compact disks onto the equivalent of one CD platter (Lange 01). It also initiated the veritable floor of pirating activity by an underground community students and hackers. Hundreds of MP3 Internet sites sprung up overnight. At these sites, everything in music from Mozart to Marilyn Manson is being reproduced (Lange 01). Of course, it's illegal, but it's free, which has a huge appeal. Two men summarize the battle that is still raging over this new technology. On one side there's Val Azzoli, co-CEO of the Atlantic Group, which has numerous popular artists signed to their label; and on the other is the CEO of the website MP3.com, which gives away digitized songs by new artists that no one has heard of yet (Mardesich 96). While this may not sound like much of a threat, what lies at the heart of this conflict is the concern of recording industry that this new technology may chance the balance of power and if allows the shipment of music directly to the consumer (Mardesich 96). The five giant corporations that contr ol 80% of the global music industry-worth roughly $60 billion a year-have taken notice (Wood; D'arcy 42). The following discussion will explore more fully why the record companies, despite their obvious power, are scared. Pros and Cons It is the impressive 12:1 compression ratio of the MP3 that has made it so popular. While 60 or so Mbytes are needed to store a typical song, once it is converted to MP3 format it becomes a single 5 Mbyte file (Lange 01). "The advantages are obvious," commented one executive, "CD-quality sound in a small package" (Lange 01). The drawbacks are all felt by the record companies. Artists are likely to benefit, eventually, if they take advantage of the new technology and deliver their songs to their fans directly via the Internet (Mardesich 96). They'l l no longer have record companies making money off from their work and by eliminating this "middle man" could conceivably earn a great deal more then they do now. However, for the large record labels, this new technology could mean real trouble in the future. Right now, the loss are negligible. For example, Americans spent almost nothing on downloaded music in 1998, but they spent nearly $14 billion on music from stores (Mardesich 96). Nevertheless, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) said that MP3 piracy may have contributed to a

Enhancing Efl Learners Writing Skill Via Journal Writing Education Essay

The accomplishment of authorship has been for old ages considered to be of import, but besides demanding and disputing for foreign linguistic communication scholars. In Enhancing EFL Learners ‘ Writing Skill via Journal Writing, Tuan points out that pupils ‘ advancement in authorship is hindered by uninteresting nature of the accomplishment itself ( Hedge, 1991: 6 ) , fright of rectification and clip force per unit area ( Weir, 1990: 61 ) . In his research, he aims at set uping whether the acquisition of composing accomplishments can be facilitated and advanced by the usage of diary authorship. The experiment took topographic point amongst 85 Vietnamese sophomore pupils of English of similar authorship proficiency. The topics, divided into Control ( CG ) and Experimental Group ( EG ) , were assigned assorted in-class authorship activities. Members of the latter were besides required to carry on a personal diary for a period of 13 hebdomads. The consequences were analysed and compared harmonizing to quantitative ( figure of words produced, figure of unfinished essays, figure of errors and mean tonss ) and qualitative methods ( questionnaire study ) . The findings province that participants from the Experimental Group produced more words, made less errors and received better tonss. Their motive has besides increased as they found the activity utile and enjoyable. It is undeniable that the pattern of composing diaries helped Experimental Group scholars develop their general composition accomplishments, nevertheless, carry oning the research in an academic environment seems slightly unequal, peculiarly when one takes into consideration Tuan ‘s motivations behind the survey and the fact that academic authorship is well different from that found in a typical foreign linguistic communication schoolroom. Britton ( 1972: 93 ) , in his acknowledged taxonomy, divided composing into three types: expressive ( exploratory ) , transactional ( explanatory ) , and poetic. This differentiation has been since supported by legion bookmans, including Phenix ( 2002: 50-52 ) and Browne ( 1999: 8-9 ) . Transactional authorship is related to academia, as it â€Å" prepares authors for engagement in their academic or professional discourse community † ( Babin and Harrison, 1999: 258 ) , while private diaries are classified as expressive composing seeing that they involve â€Å" linguistic communication near to the ego, uncovering the talker, verbalising his consciousness, exposing his stopping point relationship with the reader † ( Britton et al. , 1975: 88 ) . White ( 1995: 201 ) placed journal authorship amongst those techniques that help develop expressive, non explanatory composing accomplishments. On this footing serious uncertainties can be raised against the value of diary authors hip in developing academic authorship accomplishments. White proposes that the advancement in scholarly authorship should non be achieved by agencies of authorship, but reading: Within academic authorship, the nexus between reading and composing is extremely of import. Reading provides content every bit good as theoretical accounts. Students need developing in sum uping and rephrasing so that they can abstract thoughts from beginnings and present them within the context of their ain authorship ( White, 1995: 59 ) . It is extremely likely that by composing diaries pupils were forced to look for certain words and forms in order to convey their ideas and feelings, which developed their general authorship accomplishments and improved foreign linguistic communication competency. It is nevertheless undeniable that such development is limited to specific, repetitive set phrases and discourse ( e.g. day-to-day modus operandis ) and does non enable pupils to compose in a broad spectrum of subjects. One of the standards taken into history by the writer when measuring findings was figure of words produced. This benchmark seems nevertheless by no agencies related to truth and eloquence – standards of judgement. Undoubtedly, a greater figure of words does non guarantee the meaningfulness of vocalizations. It can, on the contrary, cause prolixity as the participants use constructions that are typical for this peculiar discourse ( e.g. disjunct adverbials ) . With mention to the statements that supported set abouting the research, one averment stated that pupils feel â€Å" uncomfortable about being corrected † and are hence afraid of perpetrating mistakes. The conversations nevertheless revealed that the pupils felt that they can larn and profit from doing mistakes, even if they encounter jobs with showing thoughts and feelings over a limited linguistics repertory. Another disagreement between the concluding behind the research and the existent results is that the challenge of developing the wont of â€Å" believing on paper † was non met by diary authorship. Despite bring forthing more words and doing less errors, huge bulk of Experimental Group pupils kept interpreting their thoughts from the First to the Second Language. Although the research has emphasised truth, instead less attending has been paid to fluency in footings of functional rightness. The interviews conducted by the research worker expose great diverseness in discourse used by the participants. The linguistic communication of the pupil who liked diary authorship appears comparatively right, but sounds unnatural and awkward. Conversely, the pupil who did non like the activity, makes a few errors, but his address comes across every bit much more natural and unschooled. On the whole, the extracts from pupils entries presented in the article are a mixture of formal and informal authorship, with phrases like â€Å" I feel like composing diaries † in one sentence, and â€Å" hence † or â€Å" a meaningful nowadays † in another. As a consequence, the concluding lingual merchandise sounds inelegant and unreal. One advantage of diary authorship is the development of certain, general authorship accomplishments. However, the virtues of diary authorship in developing academic authorship accomplishments remained unaddressed by the research. In the instance of the probe, it seems that pupils gained accomplishments they should already possess or at least pattern at the academic degree: summarising, rephrasing, critical thought, and doing their authorship cohesive.

Impact of video games in society Essay

A video game is an interactive computer that displays a video signal, allowing you to play thousands of games on your television or handheld video game device. (Wikipedia, Video Game) We have came a very long way since the very first type of video game console was invented by Ralph Baer in 1967. From the very first console, the â€Å"Brown Box† to the more interactive video game consoles such as the Wii, Playstation, XBOX or the handheld Nintendo DS. Regardless of which video game is being used, it has made a huge impact in life’s of many children, as well as adults today. In the beginning, the games were user friendly and parents did not have much to worry about if they purchased a video game for their child. Take Pac Man for example, a very simple game where the player â€Å"Pac Man† eats dots and tries to avoid getting touched by an enemy. Now in 2012, we have games such as Call of Duty which focuses on killing members of the opposite team. As we as a society became more developed in technology, the video game systems became more and more high tech. For today’s generation, playing a 3D interactive video game is normal. The manifest function of video game systems of today is the ability to connect the console to your television and even internet and play virtually with friends online. In 2009, it was reported by the Entertainment Software Association that nearly sixty-eight percent of households told have at least one gaming system. There are many video games aimed at children today that can be used as a learning tool. However, the amount of violent games greatly outweighs the educational ones. There are many sociological impacts from video gaming systems today. Gaming systems are a very popular way of keeping children and teenagers entertained. Teenagers and children are becoming more and more addicted to these gaming systems everyday, which could lead to many issues such as poor school work or childhood obesity. Instead of doing homework or playing outside as we did before video games became popular, children are spending hours a day sitting on the couch due to the addictiveness of these games. Many of the games being sold today are full violence and teaching children bad morals such as sexuality, drug trafficking and even rape. According to Dr.Craig Morrison, a professor of psychology at Iowa State University, even if children are playing games without violence, these children are forty percent more likely to show aggressive behavior after playing. The latent functions of these video gaming systems are quite clear. If we continue to allow children to play them it will lead to childhood obesity, violence as they grow older and even lack of motivation to communicate with the real world. In 2007 a sixteen year old boy in Ohio killed his own mother and shot his father simply because they took a game away from him, â€Å"Halo 3. † According to the boy’s lawyer, he was injured in an accident that did not allow him to go anywhere, so he focused all of his time, energy, and mostly anger on playing this video game. When his parents decided the game was too violent, they took it away, causing the boy to snap. This is just one example of how video games can unintentionally lead to violence, and in this case death. The University of Texas performed a study on the relations of childhood obesity and video games. Results were found to be that video games, due to their addictiveness were the cause of the children’s overweight status, and not linked to watching television as some may argue. It was found that children with a high weight status spent more time inside and less time performing outside activities, such as sports or riding bicycles. Perhaps the parents are to blame for allowing their children to do this; however, many parents today are of the working class group, sometimes being forced to leave their children unattended to do whatever they please. Each and every video game is required to have a rating. There are seven total. Early childhood being the most non-violent and inappropriate. The rating Adults Only, requiring the purchaser to be eighteen years or older. Titles in this category usually include scenes of intense violence and or graphic sexual content and nudity. Even with the ratings, these video games are still getting into the hands of children. As our society and technology begins to grow, the problem will continue to worsen. Citations: (Iowa State University Newspaper Article) http://www. public. iastate. edu/~nscentral/news/2007/mar/vvg. shtml (Cleavlead. com Article) http://blog. cleveland. com/metro/2008/12/boy_killed_mom_and_shot_dad_ov. html.

The 22nd Amendment Sets Presidential Term Limits

The 22nd Amendment Sets Presidential Term Limits The 22nd Amendment to the United States Constitution establishes term limits for persons elected to the office of President of the United States. It also sets additional eligibility conditions for presidents, who after assuming the office through succession, serve out the unexpired terms of their predecessors. Under the 22nd Amendment, no person may be elected president more than twice and no person who has already served or acted as president for more than two years of an unexpired term may be elected president more than once. The joint resolution proposing the 22nd Amendment was passed by Congress and sent to the states for ratification on March 24, 1947. The 22nd Amendment was ratified by the required 36 of the then-48 states on February 27, 1951. Section 1 of the 22nd Amendment states: No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice, and no person who has held the office of President, or acted as President, for more than two years of a term to which some other person was elected President shall be elected to the office of President more than once. But this Article shall not apply to any person holding the office of President when this Article was proposed by Congress, and shall not prevent any person who may be holding the office of President, or acting as President, during the term within which this Article becomes operative from holding the office of President or acting as President during the remainder of such term. History of the 22nd Amendment Before the adoption of the 22nd Amendment, there was no statutory limit on the number of terms a president could serve. The Constitution merely stated that the president’s term in office lasted four years. The Founding Fathers had believed that the shifting political views of the people and the Electoral College process would prevent third presidential terms. After George Washington and Thomas Jefferson chose to limit their presidencies to two terms, the two-term limit became a respected tradition- sort an unwritten rule. The two-term tradition held sway until 1940 when President Franklin D. Roosevelt chose to run for a third term. With the nation facing the Great Depression followed closely by World War II, Roosevelt was elected to not only a third but a fourth term, serving a total of 12 years in office before his death in 1945. While FDR was the only president to be elected to a third term, he was not the first to try. Both Ulysses S. Grant and Theodore Roosevelt had run unsuccessfully for third terms. In the 1946 midterm elections, just 18 months after Democrat FDR had died in office, many Republican candidates made limiting presidential tenure a large part of their campaign platforms. In the election, Republicans succeeded in winning control of both the House and Senate and immediately pushed the 22nd Amendment establishing presidential term limits to the top of the legislative agenda when the 80th Congress convened in January 1947. In less than one month- on February 6, 1947- the House of Representatives, with the support of 47 Democrats, passed a joint resolution proposing the 22nd Amendment by a vote of 285-121. After resolving differences with the House’s version, the Senate passed the amended joint resolution on March 12, 1947, by a vote of 59–23, with 16 Democrats voting in favor. The 22nd Amendment imposing presidential term limits was submitted to the states for ratification on March 24, 1947. Three years and 343 days later, on February 27, 1951, the 22nd Amendment was fully ratified and incorporated into the Constitution. The Constitution’s Framers and Presidential Term Limits The Constitution’s Framers had little to go on as they debated how long the president should be allowed to hold office. The Constitution’s predecessor, the Articles of Confederation, provided for no such office, granting Congress both legislative and executive powers instead. Their only other example of a supreme national executive- the King of England- against whom they had just revolted, was a troubling model. Some of the Framers, including Alexander Hamilton and James Madison, argued that presidents should serve for life and be appointed by Congress, rather than elected by the people. Of course, that sounded far to â€Å"kinglike† for others, like Virginia’s George Mason, who said it would make the American presidency an â€Å"elective monarchy.† Surprisingly, however, when Hamilton and Madison’s proposal for lifelong, appointed presidents came to a vote, it failed by only two votes.      With the â€Å"presidents-for-life† option off the table, the Framers debated whether presidents could be re-elected or be term-limited. Most of them opposed term limits, arguing for presidents who would be elected by Congress and could run for re-election an unlimited number of times. But that, warned Gouverneur Morris, would tempt incumbent presidents to make corrupt, secret deals with Congress in order to get re-elected. That argument led the Framers to adopt Article II of the Constitution with its complicated and still controversial Electoral College method of electing presidents with no term limits. Since the 22nd Amendment amended Article II in 1951, some politicians and constitutional scholars have argued that desperate circumstances, like the Great Depression and World War II faced by Franklin Roosevelt, warranted unlimited presidential terms. Indeed, some two-term presidents of both parties, including Ronald Reagan and Barack Obama, lamented their constitutional inability to run for third terms. 22nd Amendment Key Takeaways The 22nd Amendment establishes term limits for the President of the United StatesUnder the 22nd Amendment, no person may be elected President of the United States more than twice.The 22nd Amendment was approved by Congress on March 24, 1947, and ratified by the states on February 27, 1951. References Neale, Thomas H. (October 19, 2009). â€Å"Presidential Terms and Tenure: Perspectives and Proposals for Change.† Washington, D.C.: Congressional Research Service, The Library of Congress.Buckley, F. H.; Metzger, Gillian. â€Å"Twenty-second Amendment.† The National Constitution Center.Peabody, Bruce. Presidential Term Limit.† The Heritage Foundation. Updated by Robert Longley

6 Things You Must Do Before That Successful Interview

6 Things You Must Do Before That Successful Interview Getting an interview feels like a victory, doesn’t it? It means you’re one step closer to that job, and makes a black-and-white online job posting seem like more of a reality. After you do your happy I-got-the-interview dance, it’s time to start thinking ahead for the interview itself. Here are six things you can do ahead of time to set yourself up right for the big day.1. Plan your outfit.This doesn’t just apply to fashionistas. Figuring out ahead of time what you’ll be wearing can take one major thing off your mind the day of the interview. It also lets you plan ahead for small (but crucial) touches like making sure your clothes are cleaned and pressed on time or that your lucky interview shoes are shined up and ready to walk into the room like a boss.2. Get your talking points in order.Review the job listing, and remind yourself how your skills and experience dovetail with what the company’s seeking in this role. Then, be sure to practice working those into a conversation. Naturally.  No one wants to be hit with a barrage of canned-sounding bullet points†¦ especially if you were asked to name a few of your strengths, and you respond with a memorized monologue about your achievements from your last job.3. Take another pass at your resume.You should have reviewed your resume before you applied for the job (please tell me you did!), but even so, take a fresh look at it. Is there anything you can tighten up before you walk into the interview as an ambassador for yourself and your work achievements? Once you feel good about the content and of your resume and have caught every typo, make sure to print copies (on high-quality paper, whenever possible) to take with you on interview day.4. Put on your researcher hat.Learn as much as you possibly can about the company before you go in. Can you tell anything about their corporate culture from their social media accounts? Have they been in the news for anything lately? If there’s been a scandal, obviously don’t eagerly bring it up in the interview. But if the company has been involved in something cool or newsworthy, it’s good to have that info stored and ready to go.5. Practice your smile.Spend a few moments rehearsing your interview smile in the mirror each night before you go to bed. Work on your most confident, pleasant smile, and be ready to break it out for every  person you meet during the interview (receptionists, assistants, interviewers). You can also practice with loved ones, or take some selfies to review and find the best â€Å"hire me† grin.6. Have your thank-you letters ready to go.The night before your interview, type up a template for your thank-you notes to your interviewers. That way, after you walk out of the interview you just have to enter a few crucial details (the person’s name, email address, and ideally a specific reference or two to the conversation you had), then hit send. Easy peasy.A little extra care and planning as you get ready for the interview can be the edge you need to get you to that next step: the job offer. After all, the interview is the only thing keeping you from an even better happy dance: the I-got-the-job one.

How to Simulate Weather Fronts (With Ingredients in Your Kitchen)

How to Simulate Weather Fronts (With Ingredients in Your Kitchen) Weather fronts are a part of our everyday weather. Make understanding what they are easier with this visual demo. Using blue water (cool air) and red water (warm air), you will see the ways in which frontal boundaries (areas where warm and cold air meet, but mix very little)  are formed between two different air masses.   What Youll  Need: 2 identical baby food jars (no lids needed)plastic coated heavy paper or an index cardblue food coloringred food coloringwater2 measuring cups with pour spoutsspoonpaper towels Heres How: Fill a  measuring cup with warm water (from the tap is fine) and add a few drops of red food coloring so that the water is  just dark enough to clearly see the color.  Fill the second measuring cup with cold water from a faucet and add a few drops of blue food coloring.Stir each mixture to evenly disperse the coloring.Cover a table top with towels or plastic to protect the surface. Have paper towels handy in the event of a spill or leak.Inspect the top of each baby food jar to ensure there are no cracks or chips in the tops. Place one jar upside down on the other jar to ensure that they are an exact match. If the jars are not meeting exactly, you will end up with water everywhere!Now that you have inspected both jars, fill the first jar with cool water until it is almost overflowing. Fill the second jar with the warm water until is almost overflowing. Make sure your warm water jar is easy to touch and not too hot!Place the index card or plastic coated paper on the top of the wa rm water jar and press down around the edges of the jar to make a seal. Keeping your hand flat on the paper, slowly turn over the jar until it is upside down. Do not remove your hand. This step may take a little practice and some spilling of water is normal. Move the warm water jar over top the cold water jar so that the edges meet up. The paper will act as a boundary between the layers.Slowly remove the paper once the jars are stacked on each other. Pull gently while keeping your hands on the two jars. Once the paper is fully removed, you will have a front. Now let’s see what happens when the two jars are moved.Keeping one hand on each jar, lift the two joined jars and slowly turn the jars to one side while holding the center together. (To protect against accidents and broken glass, do this over a sink or protected area.) Remember, the jars are not sealed together in any way. You have to hold them together carefully!Now, watch as you see the blue water (colder and denser) slide underneath the warmer water. This is the same thing that happens to air! You have just created a model weather front! Tips: No special precautions are needed to complete this experiment. Please be aware that this can become a very messy experiment if the jars get knocked over and some of the colored water spills. Protect your clothing and surfaces from the food coloring with smocks or aprons as stains may be permanent.

Environment Science Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Environment Science - Essay Example Another environmental issue is related to freeing the planet from the bad effects of carbon emissions by 2050 so that by 2100 carbon emissions are in required limits. A detailed energy system model has been developed to find the relation between the aims of 2050 and 2100. By using a computer simulation, future greenhouse gas emissions have been put on the test assuming there is no climate policy in practice. Implications of limiting emissions by 2050 have been analyzed on different levels. According to the study, current technologies won’t help in achieving the set targets for 2100. There are two options suggested: either reduce 20 percent below 2000 levels by mid-century to maintain the option for end-of-the-century or as per the rising needs of energy and land, the reduction should be 50 percent, which is unattainable with the given energy resources.According to the research team, more research needs to be made on technological feasibility for mid-and end-of-century emission deadlines to circumspect the issue.Science Daily has attracted the attention of its readers towards the South Asian monsoon the reason of which could be heat and moisture from the Himalayas. Basically, it is a climate issue on which the Harvard climate scientists have drawn attention. It is assumed that the Tibetan Plateau is the leading resource for generating heat resulting in the South Asian monsoon. The Harvard climate scientists believe that monsoon in the region is caused more due to the Himalayas and the adjoining mountains.

Climate Change Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Climate Change - Essay Example On the other hand, impact of climate change is not always uniform globally due to the difference in exposure and adaptive capacities. The effects of climate change can become worst if other issues such as poverty, ageing population and pollution are combined. The effect on developing and poor countries by the change of climate is huge. This could also extend to advanced economies like the U.S. because they have a connection with the developing countries. Developed countries have an economic connection such as trade, investments, migration, travel, and tourism with the developing. The effects of climate change on New York City could be felt soon if measures are not taken to curb the changing climate. According to Lallanilla (2013), the city could soon witness huge rainstorms, floods and heat waves. This could have huge impacts on New York population and more on the vulnerable persons such as children, the elderly and disabled people. The results of climate change have previously been felt in New York. The hurricane sandy caused serious destruction on October 2012; transport system was halted because of hurricane sandy. The recent march in New York shows that the population in New York and around the world are feeling the effects of climate change. This is evidenced by the huge number of demonstrators who turned up in New York to urge the world leaders to find measures of curbing climate change. Solution to climate change can only be reached by identifying the cause. For example, research reveals that the emission of greenhouse gases is the cause of climate change. Emission result from burning of fossil fuel and coal. Solution is to adopt measures such as the use of renewable energy like wind power and solar

BUSINESS ORGANISATIONS Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words - 1

BUSINESS ORGANISATIONS - Essay Example It may be one essential element of an organization that keeps it together and going. It is a process of getting a task done through people. There have been numerous amounts of theories and assumptions that have varied. Although words about leadership have been written by Egyptian and Greek philosophers about five thousand years ago, but the studies about different approaches to leadership did not commence until after World War 1. Since then, there has been a multitude of perspectives and theories produced. The "Personality approach" emphasizes at the individual attributes of leaders, such as self confidence, risk taking, creativity, and persuasiveness. The "Behavior approach" looks at the actual activity performed by any leader that involves assessing regular tasks and behavioral characteristics of leaders. Lastly, the "Situational approach" focuses on leadership in terms of its relationships with factors such as subordinates, and peers. This approach is also referred to as â€Å"Contingency theory† because the situation determines the role of the leader. First time a scientific research was carried out was in the early part of the twentieth century. These scientists’ works with an assumption that leaders were people who had various attributes and personality traits that include physical characteristics, personality, social background, and ability that distinguished them from the rest. Therefore, this consistent philosophical view came to be known as the "Great Man Theory of Leadership." The theory states that some people are ‘born to be leaders’ and not made. Such people possess a special quality that differentiates them as unique from common individual(s). One may say that the great leaders of the world like Julius Caesar or Napoleon would’ve achieved the same leadership role at anyplace or anytime in history. In the Nineteen twenty’s, some of the leadership researchers started taking this hypothetical theory

Week Three Learning Team Assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Week Three Learning Team Assignment - Essay Example The needs of engineers and suppliers are also considered as the key supply chain needs of motor vehicles, especially in General Motors Company. The supply chain team should focus on automated materials recovery process and a centralized analysis system in order to meet the special needs of engineers and suppliers (UPS, n.d.). Engineers provide manufacturing services and advise in order to build customer-oriented products while suppliers provide parts and other materials needed to produce the best vehicles. A good relationship between the company and these stakeholders is necessary to combine the best parts and the best services to enhance an effective manufacturing process in the supply chain. Another key supply chain need for motor vehicles is a responsive process. The process of manufacturing vehicles should be a highly responsive one whereby accountability and flexibility are enhanced. The supply chain should be able to simplify automobile processes including warranty parts and root-cause analysis. Responsiveness of processes is highly dependent on the effectiveness of the company’s workforce and

Impact Of Music File Sharing On The Production Of New Music Essay

Impact Of Music File Sharing On The Production Of New Music - Essay Example The modern trend of business provides a great deal of importance to capitalize over cultural aspects that are integrally associated with social upbringing of an individual. Music is one such medium that incorporates within its scope diverse aspects of the social existence and acceptance, popularity or support for an artist or for a particular form of music varies according to the extent of using cultural traits and their commercialization in the modern business scenario. Compared to the earlier time, though music and various forms of performing art remained as a source of income or doing business since time immemorial, it never took form of an organized business industry as that of the recent situation. The post Industrial Revolution era witnessed a general trend provided a spontaneous impetus to the humankind to find all possible means to accumulate financial capital and encourage capitalism. Such capitalist aggression also blocked the natural right of common people to enjoy and con sume the products of their respective cultures and it also suggested that if such rights are to be obtained, an individual is required to pay certain amount of price. Interestingly, the process of such prohibition also received legal acknowledgment in terms of protecting rights of an artist and encouraging the production of cultural artifacts: â€Å"Cultural production, like other areas of production, underwent a transformation as the Industrial Revolution gathered steam. It became possible to mass-produce cultural artifacts† (Giese, 2004, p. 348).

Motivating employees Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

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Impact Of Music File Sharing On The Production Of New Music Essay

Impact Of Music File Sharing On The Production Of New Music - Essay Example The modern trend of business provides a great deal of importance to capitalize over cultural aspects that are integrally associated with social upbringing of an individual. Music is one such medium that incorporates within its scope diverse aspects of the social existence and acceptance, popularity or support for an artist or for a particular form of music varies according to the extent of using cultural traits and their commercialization in the modern business scenario. Compared to the earlier time, though music and various forms of performing art remained as a source of income or doing business since time immemorial, it never took form of an organized business industry as that of the recent situation. The post Industrial Revolution era witnessed a general trend provided a spontaneous impetus to the humankind to find all possible means to accumulate financial capital and encourage capitalism. Such capitalist aggression also blocked the natural right of common people to enjoy and con sume the products of their respective cultures and it also suggested that if such rights are to be obtained, an individual is required to pay certain amount of price. Interestingly, the process of such prohibition also received legal acknowledgment in terms of protecting rights of an artist and encouraging the production of cultural artifacts: â€Å"Cultural production, like other areas of production, underwent a transformation as the Industrial Revolution gathered steam. It became possible to mass-produce cultural artifacts† (Giese, 2004, p. 348).

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Comparison of strategy of Nike and Adidas Essay Example for Free

Comparison of strategy of Nike and Adidas Essay 1.0 Introduction: Johnson, Scholes and Whittington (2005, p.9) defines strategy as the way in which an organisation plans to use its resources effectively in order to gain a competitive advantage over the long term. In other words the carefully planned guidelines that organisation’s follow, which differentiates them from other organisations. Mirow (2005,p.10) suggests that strategy of Amazon.com,Inc., a multinational electronic commerce company headquartered in Seattle, focused on providing customers with low price, convenience and a wide selection of merchandise. They focused on this strategy and started their website in 1995 as an online book retailer. They slowly expanded their products and are currently an online shopping website with the largest product supplies online earning revenues in billions. Hence we can see how important strategy is for the success of an organisation. There are three levels of strategy, which are corporate level, business  level and functional level strategy. Strickland and Thompson (2003, pp.50, 55 and 56) suggests that the corporate level strategy is the strategy which is determines the overall purpose and prospect of an organisation and reflects on how to add value to different parts of the organisation. The business level strategy provides guidelines on how to excel competitors or survive in a particular market and the functional strategy is the contribution made by the resources, people and processes to the business and corporate level strategies. Companies strive with their strategies in order to become the leader in their specific industry or market. Nike and Adidas are the top two competitors in the footwear, apparel and accessories segment of the textile industry. The focus of the latter part of this report is on how these competitors compete with each other using their strategies. 2.0 Literature review: In order to fully understand about strategy, it is mandatory to know about the five generic competitive strategies. The five generic strategies according to Strickland and Thompson (2003, p.150) are low-cost provider strategy, in which the organisation provides goods or service at a low cost, broad differentiation strategy, in which the organisation differentiates its products or services making it appeal to a vast range of customers, best-cost provider strategy, in which the organisation provides goods or services of high quality making it worth the amount they are charging which is lower than their competitors, a focused strategy based on lower cost, in which the organisations focus on a narrower buyer segment and provides them their goods or services at a lower cost than its competitors and focused strategy based on differentiation, in which the organisation focuses on a narrower buyer segment and produces product customized according to their needs. 3.0 Backgrounds of Nike and Adidas: [IMAGE URL: http://digestingdesign.wordpress.com/tag/nike/] 3.1 Company overview of Nike According to (www.nikebiz.com) NIKE,Inc. was founded in 1972 by Phil Knight and Bill Bowerman. It designs, markets and distributes athletic footwear,  apparel, equipment and accessories for a vast range of sports and fitness activities and are currently the world’s leading company in the athletic footwear, apparel and accessories segment in the textile industry. It is based in Beaverton,Oregon and has subsidiaries such as Cole Haan, which designs, markets and distributes luxury items such as shoes, handbags and coats. Their subsidiaries also include Converse,Inc. and Hurley International LLC and Umbro,Ltd. The revenue of Nike,Inc. as at May 2010 is around US$ 19014 million according to (www.biz.yahoo.com). [IMAGE URL: http://www.soccercleats101.com/2009/10/07/adidas-predator-x-get-ready/] 3.2 Company overview of Adidas Group: According to (www.adidas-group.com) Adidas, founded in 1949 by Adofl Dassler, is a sports apparel manufacturing company. Starting with athletic footwear such as running shoes and soccer shoes, they currently manufacture a wide range of products such as bags, watches, shirts and accessories. They are the second largest sportswear manufacturer, behind Nike,Inc. Adidas Group is made up of three companies, Reebok, TaylorMade Adidas Golf company and Rockport. The revenue of Adidas as at May 2010 is 14878 US$ Million according to (www.biz.yahoo.com). 4.0 Critical Incidents that occurred in the past: 4.1 Critical incidents that affected Nike: Nike, Inc. had gone through various incidents which had an impact on their success. According to Dermesropian, Drage, Grigaite and Lopez (2004,p.3) in 1972, Nike persuaded marathon runners at Olympic Tracks to wear their shoes which was an innovative strategy as it resulted in strong advertising when some of the runners were the top finishers and popularity of Nike continued to grow throughout the 70s. In 1979 Nike had 50% of the US running shoe market. In 1988 Nike introduced their famous slogan ‘Just do it’ and acquired a company called Cole Haan. They sponsored many famous athletes such as Michael Jordan, a famous basketball player and Tiger Woods, an excellent young golf player. During 1992 Nike acquired Canstar sports which included the hockey equipment maker Bauer and opened its first Niketown store. In early 1995 Nike acquired a license to put its logo on NFL uniforms  which resulted in strong marketing. Air Jordan [IMAGE URL: http://www.myairshoes.com/air-jordans/air-jordan-xx3-officially-unveiled.html] They launched a new brand called Jordan, in 1997, which was influenced by the famous basketball player Michael Jordan and one of the most famous shoes of that brand were called Air Jordan. Some incidents harmed Nike during 1998 as they had to cut 1,200 jobs due to the fall of sales in Asia and the demand of athletic shoes fell in 1999. Nike wanted to diversify and in the year 2000 they shifted a little towards the technological and electronic sector and introduced athletic electronics, which included MP3 players, heart monitors, and two-way radios. Products of Nike in the BCG matrix [IMAGE URL: http://www.robmillard.com/archives/BCG%20Matrix%20Big1.html] They opened their first Nikegoddess store in California in 2001. They acquired Hurley International, a distributor of action sports apparels and lost their license to put their logos on NFL uniforms to Reebok in 2002. In 2003 they acquired one of their competitors called Converse but it continued to operate independently in order to sustain the brands popular name. 4.2 Critical incidents that affected Adidas: Adidas also faced various occurrences in order to attain the title of the second largest athletic footwear sportswear and accessories manufacturer.   Adidas Samba [IMAGE URL:http://www.bestshoesmen.com/adidas.Men.Samba.Classic.Soccer.Shoe/detail.html] According to (www.adidas-group.com) Adidas registered as a company in 1949 with the three stripes logo as their trademark. (www.footballshirtculture.com) explains that in the year 1950 they produced the â€Å"Samba† all-round soccer shoes which are even now considered to be the best classic training shoe today. One of the biggest successes of Adidas was in 1952 when it was the most common shoe brand worn at the Olympic Games  held in Helsinki. They made the first track shoes with removable spikes. Emil Zatopek, in Adidas shoes, won three gold medals in one week creating a huge impact on the image of the brand. German National Team wearing Adidas in the 1954 football world cup [IMAGE URL: http://soccernet.espn.go.com/world-cup/feature?id=696762cc=4716ver=global] In 1954 Adidas became famous all over the world as the German national team was victorious in the football world cup for the first time, wearing Adidas shoes with screw-in spikes. In 1955 Adidas came up a shoe with exchangeable spikes which became very popular among the high jumpers. In 1964 Billy Mills won the men’s 10,000 meters wearing the new Adidas shoe which was considered the lightest shoe weighing 135 grams. In 1969 Adidas produced the world’s first injection molded multi stud soles of polyurethane, which gave a one year guarantee on the soles. Adidas began production of balls in 1961 and in 1970 their football was the official ball of the football world cup. In 1971 the famous ‘Fight of the century’ where Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier fought with each other, both of them wore special boxing shoes d esigned by Adidas. Products of Adidas in the BCG Matrix [IMAGE URL: http://www.robmillard.com/archives/BCG%20Matrix%20Big1.html] Adidas Copa Mundial [IMAGE URL: http://www.footballbootroom.com/Adidas-Copa-Mundial] In 1979, Adidas produced ‘Copa Mundial’, which even today is still the world’s best selling soccer shoe. In 1986 Adidas introduced Azteca, the first synthetic world cup matchball in the world. However, in 1993 Adidas took over Sports Inc., a US based sports marketing company and Adidas was loosing US$100 million a year. Robert Louis Dreyfus had become the new president of Adidas and he downsized the German staff and went subcontracting to China. Adidas once had 70% market share in the US and it fell to 2% in 1993. In 1994 Adidas made a comeback by producing the revolutionary soccer shoe called the Predator during the soccer world cup in the USA. They went public in 1995 and acquired the Salmon Group which consisted of the brands TaylorMade, Mavic  and Bonfire in 1997. The new company is named Adidas-Salmon AG. They were the first sporting goods company to chosen as the official sponsor of a soccer world cup in 1998 when they sponsored the 1998 FIFA World cup in France. Adidas Predator Mania [IMAGE URL: http://www.produktenews.ch/newsflashartikel.cfm?key=179710] In March 2002 Adidas launched ClimaCool a footwear with a ventilation system and introduced the new Predator Mania boots and jerseys with the dynamic layering concept in the 2002 FIFA world cup with their own official ball called the Fevernova. They sold over 6 million footballs and more than 1.5 million jerseys and half a million of the Predator Mania that year. In 2006 Adidas became the official partner, supplier and licensee for the FIFA world cup to be held in 2006, 2010 and 2014. They acquired Reebok International in the same year. 5.0 Comparison of the strategies of the companies: 5.1 Strategies of Nike: In order to become the world’s leading designer, marketer and distributor of athletic footwear, apparel and accessories, Nike followed many strategies. Their corporate level strategy, according to Dermesropian, Drage, Grigaite and Lopez (2004,p.15) is their focus on innovation and emphasis on their research and development department in order to be profitable in the long run and they do their best to produce footwear, apparel and athletic equipment that reduce or eliminate injury, help in athletic performance and maximize comfort. They continue to expand their operation in the USA, Asia Pacific, Europe, Middle East, Africa and the American regions trying to reach as many customers as possible. Their business level strategy is a combination of the best cost provider and broad differentiation strategy, but more emphasis is put on the best cost provider strategy. They rely heavily on strategic outsourcing and most of their products are manufactured outside the United States. One of the main reasons behind their success following the cost leadership strategy is their extensive network structure that allows them to cancel their alliance with any company that fails to maintain their standards. They work very closely with their suppliers which allow them to produce their goods at a very low price and of superior  quality with the newest technology which makes them the market leader and the rest have to try producing similar goods close to their standard in order to survive in the market. They work very hard in their marketing strategies and which one of the primary reasons behind its success. Fig.1Fig.2Fig.3 Players who wear Nike – Fig.1) Cristiano Ronaldo [IMAGE URL: http://s702.photobucket.com/albums/ww24/bleedingblue97/?action=view ¤t=Cristiano_Ronaldo_Manchester_United.jpgnewest=1 Fig.2) Michael Jordan [IMAGE URL: http://www.ionlinephilippines.com/2009/12/michael-jordan-look-alike-michael-jordan-imposter-video/] Fig.3) Tiger Woods [IMAGE URL: http://www.dailyworldbuzz.com/tiger-woods-still-has-support-of-nike-gatorade-and-gillette/4970/] Nike hired famous basketball player Michael Jordan, tennis player Serena Williams and Tiger Woods who signed a seven year contract in order to be the spokesperson of Nike. In 2003 they spent around US$ 32.4 million on Net TV commercials and another US$ 39.8 for magazine ads. In order to become the market leader one has to follow a rigid and innovative strategy but to remain as the market leader the strategy has to be sustainable. According to (www.bizjournals.com) on a report published by Nike, suggest that they have planned five major programs in order to keep their corporate level strategy sustainable. In order to sustain in the long run Nike is now emphasizing more on the concerns about global warming. They have decided to focus more on their product design process, eliminating toxics and wastes wherever possible, start a GreenXchange web marketplace to share intellectual property which have been designed to act as a catalyst in green development, establish a lean manufacturing and human resource management in order to acquire a more equitable supply chain, establish a social program which combines education and sports programs for the third world countries and establish a new group call the Business for Innovative Climate and Energy Policy. 5.2 Strategies of Adidas: The strategies of both these sports giants are very similar but Adidas  focuses more the broad differentiation strategy. According to (www.adidas-group.com) the corporate level strategy of Adidas also focuses on innovation, trying to produce new products, services and processes in order to cope up with the competition. In 2009 the Adidas Group strategically decided to move from a vertically integrated brand structure into a functional multi-rand structure for the Reebok and Adidas brands. This created a global sales function which were responsible for commercial activities and a global brands function which were responsible for the marketing of both brands. The global sales function was also split into two departments, wholesale and retail, which catered to the various needs of both these business models. This was done in order to sustain their corporate level strategy for the long run so that these divisions could emphasize and work hard in their respective departments in order to make the most of their efforts. This led to the elimination of regional headquarters and moved towards more direct communication between the local markets and the global functions. They implemented a multi-brand strategy by having a diverse brand portfolio which allowed them to cater all segments of the market from players to almost everyone. This helped them to keep a unique identity and concentrate on their core competencies. Adidas focused their investments in the best marketing and distribution channels in different countries by critically evaluating the consumer buying behaviors and their constant struggle to secure prime shelf space. They have also embraced e-commerce in order to become more efficient and appeal to more customers and make purchasing much more easily accessible for them. Their supply chain is closely communicated and hence it helps them to customize their products which appeal to a wide range of customers. The organizational culture of Adidas group obligates employees to be innovative. This culture forces them to produce goods which are highly innovative and with the use of the latest technology their products have a very good quality. According to (ar2001.adidas-salomon.com) using latest technologies they produce products which enhances performances of players and they focus on sports such as football, tennis, basketball and even training shoes which are used by anyone with the ability to run. Their new technologies have lead to the production of Climacool, a shoe with a ventilation system and a ­3 a shoe with an energy management system that guides and drives an athlete’s foot  through each stride. Fig.4Fig.5Fig.6 Famous players who wear Adidas – Fig.4) Zinedine Zidane [IMAGE URL: http://s670.photobucket.com/albums/vv70/tomdavies99/?action=view ¤t=09_zinedine_zidane_dpa_300.jpgnewest=1] Fig.5) Kaka [IMAGE URL: http://soccerpitch.co.za/tag/real-madrid/] Fig.6) Kobe Bryant [IMAGE URL: http://family-fitness.mattters.com/2010/7/2/couldnt-wait] Adidas Trefoil logo [IMAGE URL: http://free-extras.com/images/adidas_logo-658.htm] Adidas has world class players who wear their products such as Zinedine Zidane of France, Alessandro Del Piero of Italy and Kobe Bryant an NBA champion who is a style icon for basketball lovers. They also concentrate on their classic items, reintroduce and redesign them under their Trefoil logo. 5.3 Comparison of the strategies of Nike and Adidas: According to (http://comparisonz.com) Nike and Adidas have almost similar strategies but different implementation methods. Both the companies concentrate heavily on technology and strive to produce new and innovative products. Nike focuses on the American markets whereas Adidas focuses on the European market. Nike does not have any production plants as they only design, distribute and market their products and hence they outsource to various countries in Asia, mainly Taiwan and Korea, which outsource their production to China, Indonesia and Vietnam. Adidas on the other hand, carry out all their production in Germany and recently has adopted Nike’s outsourcing policy by outsourcing to Asian countries. Nike and Adidas both follow a premium pricing strategy which according to Kotler (2003, p.272) is a strategy where companies charge a premium price for their products. Their competition is always intense and according to Anderson (2010) during the world cup 2010 Nike launched the popular â€Å"write the future†, three minute advertisement featuring world cup stars which was a major hit on Youtube and Adidas replied with their two minute video with celebrities like Snoop Dogg  and Daft Punk into a famous scene from the movie Star Wars. Nike sponsored nine teams whereas Adidas sponsored 12 teams. World’s Largest LED by Nike [IMAGE URL: http://johannesburgbc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/nikefootball-delivers-the] Even though Adidas was the official sponsor of the World cup 2010, Nike attached an LED display to a 30 story skyscraper in Johannesburg where soccer fans could write short messages using popular social networking websites such as Twitter and Facebook and Nike put up 100 messages on the side of the walls every night. Adidas adiPURE III Nike Tiempo Elite [IMAGE URL: http://soccerlens.com/shirts/nike-vs-adidas-buying-football-shoes-in-2010/6410/] Umair (2010) compares the constant rivalry between Nike and Adidas using their products. During the world cup Nike launched an Elite series for the 2010 world cup called Nike Tiempo Legend Elite which had customized shoes worn by famous football players such as Christiano Ronaldo and Cesc Fabregas. Adidas on the other hand, launched a new collection called Adidas Adipure for the world cup 2010 which also had customized shoes worn by famous players such as Kaka and Lionel Messi. In soccer Adidas shoes are worn by famous players such as Zinedine Zidane, Kaka and Lionel Messi, whereas Nike shoes are worn by Christiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney and the original Ronaldo. In basketball Nike shoes have been used by Michael Jordan and Adidas shoes have been worn by Kobe Bryant. 6.0 Future Plans of Nike and Adidas: It is easy to become the market leader or the market challenger for organisations but sustainability is the primary concern and hence organisations focus of the sustainability by coming up with strategies that will make their position sustainable in the long run. According to (www.environmentalleader.com) Nike’s future plans are to focus on the environment and production of eco friendly products. They mentioned in their 2005 and 2006 Corporate Responsibility Report that they will become carbon neutral by 2011 by reducing their Caron Dioxide emissions. They have decided  to design all Nike brand footwear in ways through which they can reduce waste production during product design and packaging. They will eliminate the use of volatile organic compounds and use more environmental friendly material in their products and be carbon neutral by 2011. Adidas on the other hand became the official sportswear partner of the London 2012 Olympic Games. The London Organising committee for the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games (LOGOC) has few regulations which all of its partners are obligated to follow. These obligations are focused towards the environment. Adidas, being a partner of LOGOC has to follow all these regulations as their future plans are to be the official sponsor of almost all major events in the world, and in order to achieve this goal their strategy is to produce environment friendly goods as well. They have to ensure that all their products are produced with environment friendly materials, which would protect the human health and the environment and their packaging should also be produced with materials that can be recycled. Hence we can see that both the future plans of Nike and Adidas are quite similar. 7.0 Conclusion: The main element that determines an organisation’s success or failure is the strategy it follows. Any industry is vast and the competition is also fierce and in order to survive in the competition organisations must devise innovative strategies. Nike and Adidas have started their journey decades ago and they have struggled but sustained their positions; Nike as the market leader and Adidas as the market challenger. Various incidents have occurred in the past to both the companies which were both good and bad, but it was the strategies that helped them survive and sustain their positions. The strategies of both these companies are quite similar and Adidas is not far behind from Nike, but any small mistake by Nike, might make them the market challenger and Adidas the market leader. Nike has to be very careful while implementing their strategies because Adidas is very close to becoming the market leader. Nike’s initial strategy of being just the product designer, distributor and marketer gave them the competitive edge against Adidas, because their investments were low compared to Adidas as they have production plants, but Nike should be very careful to sustain their market position. 8.0 List of references: Books: Johnson,G., Scholes,K. and Whittington,R.(2005) Exploring Corporate Strategy: Text and Cases. Seventh Edition. Prentice Hall. Thompson,A.A., and Strickland,A,J.(2003) Strategic Management Concept and cases. 13th edition. McGraw Hills. Kotler,P. ( 2003)Marketing Management, Eleventh Edition, Pearson Education. Websites: (2010) NIKE, Inc. Company Profile, [URL:http://biz.yahoo.com/ic/14/14254.html] (accessed: 29 August 2010) (2009) Adidas Group History, [URL:http://www.adidas-group.com/en/ourgroup/history/history.aspx] (accessed: 29 August 2010) (2010) Nikebiz: Company Overview, [URL:http://www.nikebiz.com/company_overview]/ (accessed: 29 August 2010) (2010) Adidas AG Company Profile, [URL:http://biz.yahoo.com/ic/92/92632.html] (accessed: 29 August 2010) (2010) The history of Adidas, [URL:http://www.footballshirtculture.com/2006102796/history/adidas-football-shirt-history.html] (accessed: 29 August 2010) (2010) Strategy, [URL:http://www.adidas-group.com/en/ourgroup/strategy] (accessed: 29 August 2010)/ Strategy: Adidas, [URL:http://ar2001.adidas-salomon.com/adidassalomon2001/strat_adidas/] (accessed: 29 August 2010) (2010) Nike vs. Adidas – Compare Side by Side, [URL:http://comparisonz.com/comparisons/100305/nike-vs-adidas]/ (accessed: 29 August 2010) (2009) Adidas: 2009 Sustainability review, [URL:http://ser2009.adidas-group.com/suppliers/3_4.html] (accessed: 29 August 2010) Articles: (2010) Nike plans to be Carbon neutral by 2011, [URL:http://www.environmentalleader.com/2007/05/31/nike-plans-to-be-carbon-neutral-by-2011] (accessed: 29 August 2010) Umair,A.(2010) Nike vs Adidas – Buying football shoes in 2010,

Hydrophobic And Hydrophilic Interaction In Protein Folding Biology Essay

Hydrophobic And Hydrophilic Interaction In Protein Folding Biology Essay Review the mechanism of protein folding Module: Enzyme Technology and Biocatalysts Module leader: Prof. Steve Forsythe Proteins are the bio molecules which play pivotal role in this living world. They are responsible for expression of certain characters in different types of cells and constitute around 50% of the total cell dried mass. Proteins are the chain of amino acids which binds with polypeptide backbone and then fold in a unique 3D (native) structure by which protein expression takes place. Various forces and factors are responsible for protein folding .If right expression of the protein will not take place, it will cause disorders in human body. Many diseases like Alzheimers; Parkinson, cystic fibrosis etc (Baldwin 2007) is caused due to improper folding of proteins. For proper expression of protein, the amino acid chain should be in its unique 3D structure. Sometimes proteins require assistance in folding, molecules which help in the folding are known as chaperones. These molecules help in the folding of the certain protein molecules and also prevent the unfolding of the molecules. In this assignment, I have tried to describe the mechanism of the protein folding and effect of various factors which influence protein folding by taking into consideration the present developments in our understanding of thermodynamics and kinetics of protein. INTRODUCTION Protein folding refers to the process by which a protein assumes its characteristic structure, known as the native state. Protein folding is very complex mechanism and great development in its understanding has been achieved in last 20years due to the development and use of some sophisticated modern techniques like X Ray Crystallography, N.M.R, and Mass Spectrometry etc. In the last few decades, we have managed to find the 3D structure of various proteins and how actually protein folding takes place. In the complex process of protein folding, various factors act together to construct specific 3D structure of a protein. Protein folding is a very quick process taking milliseconds to seconds. Due to high speed of folding, it is not possible to find each and every possible conformation in fractions of time. Levinthal stated that each protein can possibly have millions of pathway by which a desired 3D pattern can be achieved. By study of intermediates we can understand the mechanism or pattern on which protein folding works. But it is impossible to find out all possible structure of protein molecules. Protein folding study uses denaturants which help to denature the protein. The logic is to use denaturing conditions viz. high pH, Temp, Pressure etc to stop folding at intermediate stages (Stop flow technique) to study these intermediates, thereby generating an overview of the whole process. Fully folded structure is also known as native structure. Protein folding studies have also been done in in-vivo and in-vitro conditions. In in- vivo protein folding, some metal ions act as cofactors. These cofactors stabilise and accelerate protein folding and finally help to achieve native stage .Macromolecules like chaperones initiate protein folding, helping the protein molecule to retain its folded confirmation and making it stable. In-vitro concentration of macromolecules is very less, around 1% of what is originally present in the cell. So inside cell, these molecules also affect protein stability and make them more stable than in vitro (Rumfeldt et al. 2008) Protein folding can be a two stages or multistage process, depending upon the type of sequence. A single point mutation can change folding from two stages to multistage and vice-versa .Some previous studies show that protein sequences of less than 80 amino acids prefer two stage folding and large protein sequences having more than 130 amino acids prefer multi stage folding. Later studies have shown that sequences rich in F and G amino acids prefer two stages folding where as sequences rich in C, H, L and R amino acids prefer multistage folding (Ma, Chen Zhang 2007) PROTEINS FOLDING Hydrophobic and hydrophilic interaction Proteins are made of amino acids and joined by polypeptide bonds leads to formation of polypeptide backbone. We have only 20 type of the amino acids .whose combinations code for such complex structure and folding .These amino acids can be divide in two groups one is hydrophilic or polar group and other is hydrophobic or nonpolar group and their interaction with the cytoplasm make them folded(Trevino, Scholtz Pace 2007) POLAR OR HYDROPHILIC AMINO ACID NON-POLAR OR HYDROPHOBIC AMINO ACID ASPARTIC ACID D ALANINE A GLUTAMIC ACID E GLYCINE G ARGNIN R VALINE V LYSINE K LEUCINE L HISTIDINE H ISOLEUCINE I ASPARAGINE N PROLINE P GLUTAMINE Q PHENYLALANINE F SERINE S METHIONINE M THREONINE T TRYPTOPHAN W TYROSENE Y CYSTEINE C In the early stages of research, problem was why protein folds to a specific structure and which part of the protein carried information for the folding and later on this was find that primary structure of the protein code for the final 3D structure. Hydrophilic and hydrophobic interactions of the amino acids adjust protein it such a way that it suffers minimum repulsion and problem from the surrounding. In folded state of protein all hydrophilic amino acid molecules come at the other side and interact with water in the cytoplasm and hydrophobic molecule come at the inner side of the molecule and dont show any reaction and attraction with water molecules and ultimately protein folding take place in such a way that suffer minimum repulsion (Baldwin 2007) All amino acids have different energetic in secondary structure. There are many chameleon sequences in protein structure which can be taken as alpha helix or beta sheets depending upon the tertiary structure of protein. These chameleon are stabilised by hydrophobic forces (Chen et al. 2008) Fig.a shows yellow colour hydrophobic molecules inner side of structure Fig.b shows folding takes place and keeps hydrophobic molecules in inner side (Chen et al. 2008) Apart from these interactions hydrogen bonding is very important in the protein folding. Hydrogen bonding takes place between hydrogen and electronegative atoms In the maintenance of the native structure hydrogen bonding present in between the polypeptide amino acid chain which helpful in the formation of the secondary, tertiary and quaternary structure of the proteins. Hydrogen bonding also interacts between polar and side chain residues with the surrounding water molecules. During the denaturing of the protein hydrogen bond between protein molecules break and native structure of protein disturbed (Djikaev, Ruckenstein 2010) Hydrophobic interactions are also responsible for the protein folding. During hydrophobic interactions amino acids which are non polar or hydrophobic they align themselves in such a way that all hydrophobic come together and all hydrophilic molecules make hydrogen bonds with water molecules, all hydrophobic amino acid come in to inner side of the protein molecules and formation of the nuclei take place which is hydrophobic these interaction further helpful in the secondary, tertiary structure and due to this protein sta bilise and help to achieve native structure because hydrophobic molecules will not interact with water and always have repulsive attitude toward water and let the protein in the folded form and finally such type of the folding take place in which molecule have hydrophobic core and all hydrophilic molecules in periphery of the folded structure(Berezovsky et al. 2001) Free energy and entropy (G, E) Gibbs free energy (G) is also defined as the amount of the energy which is free and this can also be defined as the measure of unstableness and this measured by simple equation G= H-TS G=free energy, H=enthalpy, S=entropy, T= temperature Entropy (S) is defined as degree of randomness in any system, in terms of protein folding this can be define as the measure of the possible structure in the protein molecule at that value of the entropy. Entropy is responsible for the possible out come of protein as much high would be entropy as much high number of the confirmation would form. To minimise the entropy in the protein folding various force come in play like hydrogen bonds, salt bridges, disulphide bonds etc. these bonds help to reduce the entropy and favour protein folding(Brady, Sharp 1997)BOLTZMANN worked on the entropy and give us a very useful relation between atomic theory and entropy. Boltzmann proposed an equation which shows that entropy in any unfolded protein structure is equal to the product of his constant(KB) and natural log of number of all possible states which any protein can adopt(S) S = KB * NATURAL LOG (S) KB=Boltzmann constant Protein folding prefers low value of entropy and follows that smallest path in which value of entropy is low. At different value of the entropy different number of structure could be present and finally all structure will vanished and one structure would be present at the minimum value of entropy, which is our native structure (Weikl, Dill 2003) Enthalpy (H) is also responsible for protein folding. This is also known as the measure of the total energy of the system including internal energy (U). P and V are the pressure and volume of system H= U+P*V So, we should search for such structure which have low value of enthalpy then the free energy, because which structure have low value of enthalpy that will have low value of free energy too(Brockwell, Smith Radford 2000) Gibbs free energy equation is the single solution for all protein folding problem. Gibbs equation shows that in case of protein folding, stable state will have minimum value of G. unfolded state have higher free energy then the folded one and protein folding have many intermediates, This stage is less populated stage and have maximum energy in the whole system, all above mention factor in the Gibbs equation adjust and finally provide such folded state in which value of G is minimum and this is known as fully folded and stable confirmation(Finkelstein, Badretdinov 1997) (www.biology-online.org/articles/statistical_thermodynamics_taking_walk.html) Chaperones Chaperones are bio molecules which participate in the protein folding. Proteins need assistance in the folding and binds with cofactors .which allow them to fold properly .these cofactor known as chaperones. These chaperones bind with the protein as N terminus of the protein formed and leave ribosome and until and unless protein gain his fully active 3D state and become functional(Tomala, Korona 2008) Chaperones are not only helping in the correct protein folding but they also help protein to maintain its correct 3D structure and prevent them to unfold .these molecules comes in to play when cell is under stress due to favourable conditions are not present and they also known as the H.S.P (heat shock protein).these molecular chaperones are HSP40(Dnaj), HSP60(GroEl), HSP70(Dnak) etc.(Rikhvanov, Romanova Chernoff 2007) Copied from Yon, Betton 1991 Mode of action Chaperones recognise non native protein structure by their exposed hydrophobic regions Chaperones action is driven by ATP and for the activity of the chaperones assistance protein folding need of energy, which is provided by the ATP. These chaperones bind with the intermediate and unfolded protein structure by the utilisation of the ATP intermediates or random coil structure are unfolded and again they are fold in the correct 3D structure (NATIVE structure). Chaperones molecules are task specific that are different molecules perform different functions. For example: HSP70/40 They prevent aggregation and misfolding of newly synthesised protein molecules. HSP60 They unfold intermediate and then fold them properly in to native structure Chaperones are like catalyst, they enhance rate of protein folding and assist protein folding to native structure and after the formation of the native structure they separated. As like catalyst they required energy for the initiation of the process Chaperones activity is much specialised, in stress condition protein get mutated, denature, and aggregate. Which may cause some wrong expression and code for some disease .In such situations they are enough capable to provide personalised treatment to different protein (Yon, Betton 1991)They can easily point out that which protein intermediate structure need to be degraded and which protein intermediate to be stabilise in the native structure and path should be follow for this process. In some mutation destabilise protein can be easily stabilized by HSP70 and some over expression of the specific chaperones. For example: In bacteria HSP70 bind with the protein polypeptide chain during translation after the synthesis some protein released for expression and some may attached for some specialised folding and most destabilise polypeptide chain degraded by chaperones (Tomala, Korona 2008) Chaperones activity is not simple they have multiple steps in their folding mechanism. Some chaperones required some other chaperones intermediate as substrate and then they provide native structure. Hsp90/70 mechanism chain Some chaperones may responsible for disease. it has been found that HSP90 enhance cancer development because many mutated protein mature in the presence of the HSP90 and cause cancer , repressing HSP90 such type of cancer can be able to prevent but problem associated with this is due to this action some non mutagenic protein will be degrade and not express and cause problem. But on other side HSP70 acts as good repressor in neurodegenerative disease and prevent this disease in the fruit flies (Tomala, Korona 2008) Models of protein modelling and structure prediction Plaxco and co-worker model: This model shows that high degree of correlation between folding rate and structural properties of protein explain on the basis of contact order (CO). This can be cross validated from various experiments that folding rate and contact order are dependent to each other. ,    L  is the sequence length   N  is the total number of inter-residue atomic contacts   ÃƒÅ½Ã¢â‚¬ Lij  is the sequence separation of contacting residues  i  and  j Kuznetsov and rackovsky showed that structural based determinants can serve as good determinants of folding rate and many other researchers searching for which structural and sequence based determinants can serve as unique predictor of folding rate (Shakhnovich 2006) Dokholyan and co-workers model: They use simple protein model and find out transition state of src homology 3(SH3) to find out contribution of each amino acid in transition state. They calculate ÃŽÂ ¦ value and on this basis they find high correlation between simulation and experimental ÃŽÂ ¦ value .in the end of their experimental model they conclude that L24 and G24 are two most important residues in the folding of proteins Physics and bioinformatics based models: Physics models are very helpful to understand protein folding rate and route to folding. These physics based models help to understand the various forces and their dynamics in protein folding. These models help to understand: Conformational changes in protein Mechanism of folding, enzyme catalysis, mode of action protein Response to ph salt and denaturants(Brockwell, Smith Radford 2000) Bioinformatics is very important tool to find out the structure and folding pattern of the protein molecules. In this we add our computer based program along with these physics model and within the fraction of time provide us 3D structure of protein. Various databases on web are present which contain information regarding proteins only like NCBI, PUBMED etc. these databases contain all information about proteins by the comparison of our unknown sequence using bioinformatics tools with these databases we can find out possible structure and folding pattern and helpful in drug discovery, possible remedy against disease etc. Now, how collectively these factors works After having the knowledge of these factors now we can easily understand how they act and result to the fully folded 3D structure. Primary structure of protein code for 3D structure and all above factors participate to provide a functional unit. initially primary structure of protein are made of different type of amino acids on the poly peptide back bone and just after the production of the N-terminus protein folding starts and secondary structures alpha helix and beta sheets are formed. In alpha helix all amino acid chain remain in the periphery of the helix and this structure formed due to hydrogen bonding and di-sulphide bonding (Trevino, Scholtz Pace 2007) After the formation of secondary structure, tertiary structure these hydrophobic interaction, hydrogen bonding and charge on the molecule come it to the play now this protein molecule structure fold in such a way to minimise all these forces and try to give an stable confirmation to protein(Chen et al. 2008) Free energy and entropy act simultaneously. After attachment of these secondary structures stability is not uniform in the whole tertiary structure. There may be possibility that two stable structures are joining by unstable and less stable strands and in that case folding take place in such a way to minimise the free energy of the system. This type of stage is known as the intermediate stage. In this stage all amino acids are attached in the structure but the entropy of the system is high and due to which this show high presence of free energy and may have the millions of the possibilities of the intermediate structure. Now protein starts folding from intermediate to the stable or native structure by minimising the interaction between the molecules. Due to which all the hydrophobic or non polar amino acid come in the centre of the structure and the formation of hydrophobic core take place of 3D structure and all polar or hydrophilic molecules come at the periphery of the 3D structur e(Chen et al. 2008). Out of millions of the possibilities there are many path which favour this folding in term of having minimum energy and protein molecule select that path which is shortest and this may contain several steps in folding and ultimately leads to the formation of native 3D structure Copied from Ma, Chen Zhang 2007 There is always some equilibrium in some folded and intermediates state and molecules may be aggregate. this depend upon the pH, Temp, Pressure and denaturation agents and the protein structure destabilise it start affecting other native protein structure in this stage chaperones act as cofactors and help in the and maintaining native structure of protein(Ma, Chen Zhang 2007) SUMMARY In the protein folding 3D structure of protein plays an important role in the protein expression and their function. Information regarding protein folding is present in the primary structure of the protein which bioenergetics can be determined by bound amino acid. Hydrophobic forces play an important role. They all concentrate at the centre of the molecules and hydrophilic at the periphery of the structure. Hydrogen bonding plays an important role due to which all polar molecules bound with the surrounding medium in cell and makes protein molecule structure rigid and compressed. Protein folding is a spontaneous process in which entropy of the molecule is decreasing and finally provides a folded structure. Protein native structure must have low value of Gibbs free energy, entropy, and enthalpy and lower the value, higher will be the degree of protein stability. Protein may unfold due to the presence of the unfavourable condition like temp, pressure, pH, and denaturing agent. In such a case special type of molecules help in the folding known as chaperones and helpful in maintaining native structure of protein.

Root Canal Essay -- Health, Edodontics

The Endodontics procedures of a Therapy Root Canal Dreyonna Carroll Anthem Institute The endodontics procedures of rotary canal therapy or root canal is a procedure that is performed by a specialized general dentist, and or a endodontist. The patient develops consistent ,severe pain, discoloration, or sensitivity from food and even to touch in , or around a certain area of a tooth, and is diagnosed by a specialist to receive rotary therapy. This is if the tooth can be saved, meaning it is not to harsh of damage or decay in the root, it will then be prepared. If it can not be saved the tooth is looked at , but it will be determined to extract the tooth. The procedure takes place in the root of a infected tooth which needs special attention. The procedure can be considered as a surgical procedure, but it only consist of three visits if that, and could be completed or carried out in one day by one specialist. The endodontics procedures of therapy root canal according to (Ingle, 2009, p. 61). Root canal treatment consists of three visits; examinations, preparations and obturation. Though this was not always the case ,dentist years ago would extend treatment time for longer than what was needed. (Ingle, 2009. para.1). The root canal is found at the very bottom of the tooth near the nerve. When a patient is in need of an rotary canal treatment it is due to significant causes. Root canals are used to protect the tooth form any further decay or damage , untreated cavities are the main causes for need of root canals. Poor dental hygiene is the main cause of cavities. Cavities depending on how bad the pulp decay inside the tooth ... ...your body it will not react badly against you. (Chetan, 2008. para. 1). A permanent aesthetic cement filling is sealed over the top of the tooth which can have a crown as a placement for a definite protection of the tooth. Conversely, the Endodontics procedures of a therapy root canal , or rotary canal can be treated within a day or two depending on how severe the tooth or teeth are in need of treatment. In all this procedure is very important and should be taken into consideration if someone has a tooth issue with consistent pain or sensitivity to touch, brushing, and or eating. In other words, dental hygiene should be looked at in a positive matter and teeth should be brushed, flossed, and seen by a dentist on a regularly basis. If this goes ignored, unnoticed, or untreated it can lead up to permanent tooth extraction or the total removal of ones tooth.

Benefits of good team dynamics Essay

The Benefits of good team dynamics can be seen in sports as well as the work place. When the team works as one, amazing things can happen. Goal setting is a technique that is used by athletes, business people and top achievers in all aspects of life. Psychological research shows that those who set personal goals achieve more, demonstrate improved performance, have less stress and possess positive attitudes. In the business environment there must be a blending of the goals of each individual and those of the organization. People have a desire to be successful and so do organizations. The goals determine the results. When we define our personal goals we are setting a personal standard that will improve the overall effectiveness of the team. Organizations need to help their people define their personal goals. They can then help them interpret the relationship between these personal goals and the organization’s goals. â€Å"As important as individual growth is, no one person can be responsible for total success in the business world. Personal involvement begins with team dynamics.† (Making Success a Shared Res ponsibility, Security Management; Mar94) Another benefit of good team dynamics is the ability to identify the team or individuals capabilities or weaknesses. Highlighting weaknesses will push the team to take the necessary steps to improve. While identifying what capabilities each member of the team has, will enable the team to focus on a strong direction for attacking the problem or task. Effective teams accept team responsibility and do not â€Å"blame† one another for team mistakes, nor do they spend useless time in personal justifications. Team members will look upon first-time mistakes as opportunities for learning, rather than criticism and punishment. An improved team relationship is another benefit. When you have good dynamics the relationships inside your team greatly improve. Everyone love to be on a teams that works well together. You feel that you are striving for the same goals. People will work harder if the dynamics of there team is a positive one. Good teams honour the contribution each makes to the total work of the team. Effective team communication will greatly increase with good team dynamics. Willingness to talk and share information and effectively presenting your point of view. Effective teams communicate easily and openly. Feedback on â€Å"performance† is two-way and constant, providing information to all members of the team on how their work supports the overall effort of the team. Effective teams operate in an environment in which two way trust and honest communication exist. Enhanced critical thinking skills is another benefit of good team dynamics. What is critical thinking anyway? â€Å"Critical thinking is the use of those cognitive skills or strategies that increase the probability of a desirable outcome. It is used to describe thinking that is purposeful, reasoned and goal directed – the kind of thinking involved in solving problems, formulating inferences, calculating likelihoods, and making decisions when the thinker is using skills that are thoughtful and effective for the particular context and type of thinking task. Critical thinking also involves evaluating the thinking process – the reasoning that went into the conclusion we’ve arrived at the kinds of factors considered in making a decision. Critical thinking is sometimes called directed thinking because it focuses on a desired outcome.† (Thought and Knowledge: An Introduction to Critical Thinking. 1996.) With good team dynamics come improved critical thinking skills. Zaleski, John E. (1994) Making Success a Shared Responsibility, Security Management; Mar94, Vol. 38 Issue 3, p22: Retrieved from EBSCOhost search engine. Halpern, Diane F. Thought and Knowledge: An Introduction to Critical Thinking. 1996.

I Love School Essay

Sixteen years after a sixteen-year-old wrote this book, Francis Ford Coppola turned this novel into a movie. The book is a coming-of-age novel, but the movie focuses on the characters’ loss of innocence. The movie follows the story line very closely. The reader is only told that this story takes place in the southwest, but the movie places it in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in the year 1966. It also changes the conflict from the East Side versus the West side to the northside versus the southside. This minor directional change was probably made due to the relative time proximity to the musical West Side Story, which won the best picture Academy Award in l961. However, as with all movies, character insight that is critical to understanding the story is lost when the format goes from the written word to the screen. Ponyboy is telling us the story, the same as in the book, but the 91-minute film only glosses over many character relationships. With the exception of Ponyboy, the viewer misses out on knowing most of the novel’s characters. Darry and Soda are relatively minor characters in the movie, and the viewer is given little insight into their lives. The same is true for the rest of the gang, even Dally. Dally’s death loses much of its impact because viewers aren’t able to get to know him. Only the reader is aware of the fact that Dally’s gun is unloaded, and the symbolic death of Dally in the spotlight is gone. Johnny’s character is also weaker in the movie than the book. Viewers don’t see the growth in his character, because they don’t know Johnny. Johnny’s appreciation for life at the end of his own is barely noted, but it has great impact on Pony in the novel. The whole point of the telling of Ponyboy’s story is to give meaning to Johnny’s death. Johnny had wanted Ponyboy to tell Dally certain truths, and given that Dally is dead, Pony writes this story down for all of the Dallys in the world: â€Å"Someone should tell their side of the story, and maybe people would understand then and wouldn’t be so quick to judge a boy by the amount of hair oil he wore.† The movie and book do begin and end with the same lines, the difference being, only readers understand the meaning behind them.