Tuesday, November 26, 2019

Add Math Project Essay Example

Add Math Project Essay Example Add Math Project Essay Add Math Project Essay Experience classroom environments which are Hellenizing, interesting and meaningful land hence improve their thinking skills. Experience classroom environments where knowledge and skills are applied in meaningful ways in solving real-life problems. Experience classroom environments where expressing ones mathematical thinking, reasoning and communication are highly encouraged and expected. Experience classroom environments that stimulates and enhances effective learning. Acquire effective mathematical communication through oral and writing, and to use the language of mathematics to express mathematical ideas correctly and precisely. Enhance acquisition of mathematical knowledge ND skills through problem-solving in ways that increase interest and confidence. Prepare ourselves for the demand of our future undertakings and in workplace. Realize that mathematics is an important and powerful tool in solving real-life problems and hence develop positive attitude towards mathematics. Train ourselves not only to be independent learners but also to collaborate, to cooperate and to share knowledge in an engaging and healthy environment. Use technology especially the CIT appropriately and effectively. Train ourselves to appreciate the intrinsic values of mathematics and to come more creative and innovative. Realize the importance and the beauty of mathematics. Acknowledgements First of all, I would like to say Illuminable to Allah for giving me the strength and health to do this project work. Also, I would like to say thanks to my Additional Mathematics teacher, Pun Intra Ross Lezzy Bin Zinnia Abiding for helping me by giving the rubrics and guidelines for this folio. Not forgotten my parents for providing everything such as money to buy anything that are related to this project work and their advice which is the most needed for this project such as internet, books and computers. They also supported me an encouraged me to complete this task so that I will not procrastinate in doing it. To my beloved friends, thanks for all the ideas, advices and help that you shared with me. Finally, I would like to say thanks for those who involved in the making of this folio. May God bless all your kindness. Thank you. Calculus Calculus is the mathematical study of change, in the same way that geometry is the study of shape and algebra is the study of operations and their application to solving equations. It has two major branches, differential calculus (concerning rates of change and slopes of revues), and integral calculus (concerning accumulation of quantities and the areas under and between curves); these TV branches are related to each other by the fundamental theorem of calculus. Both branches make use of the fundamental notions of convergence of infinite sequences and infinite series to a well-defined limit. Generally considered to have been founded in the 17th century by Isaac Newton and Gottfried Leibniz, today calculus has widespread uses in science, engineering and economics and can solve many problems that algebra alone cannot. Calculus is a part of modern mathematics education. A course in calculus is a gateway to Other, more advanced courses in mathematics devoted to the study of functions and limits, broadly called mathematical analysis. Calculus has historically been called the calculus of infinitesimals, or infinitesimal calculus. The word calculus comes from Latin (calculus) and refers to a small stone used for counting. More generally, calculus (plural calculi) refers to any method or system of calculation guided by the symbolic manipulation of expressions. Some examples of other well-known calculi are propositional calculus, calculus of variations, lambda calculus. Part 1 INTERNET REFERENCE BOOK Leibniz was the first to see that the coefficients of a system of linear equations could be arranged into an array, now called a matrix which can be manipulated to find the of the system, if any.

Saturday, November 23, 2019

The Maya Calendar

The Maya Calendar What is the Maya Calendar? The Maya, whose culture in Central America and southern Mexico peaked around 800 A.D. before going into steep decline, had an advanced calendar system that incorporated the movement of the sun, moon and planets. For the Maya, time was cyclical and repeated itself, making certain days or months lucky or unlucky for certain things, like agriculture or fertility. The Maya calendar reset in December of 2012, inspiring many to see the date as an end-of-days prophecy. The Maya Concept of Time: To the Maya, time was cyclical: it would repeat itself and certain days had characteristics. This notion of cyclical as opposed to lineal time is not unknown to us: for example, many people consider Mondays to be â€Å"bad† days and Fridays to be â€Å"good† days (unless they fall on the thirteenth of the month, in which case they are unlucky). The Maya took the concept further: although we consider months and weeks to be cyclical, but years to be lineal, they considered all time as cyclical and certain days could â€Å"return† centuries later. The Maya were aware that a solar year was roughly 365 days long and they referred to it as a â€Å"haab.† They divided a haab into 20 â€Å"months† (to the Maya, â€Å"uinal†) of 18 days each: to this was added 5 days annually for a total of 365. These five days, called â€Å"wayeb,† were added at the end of the year and were considered very unlucky. The Calendar Round: The earliest Maya Calendars (dating from the preclassic Maya era, or about 100 A.D.) are referred to as the Calendar Round. The Calendar Round was actually two calendars that overlapped one another. The first calendar was the Tzolkin cycle, which consisted of 260 days, which roughly corresponds to the time of human gestation as well as the Maya agricultural cycle. Early Mayan astronomers used the 260 day calendar to record the movements of the planets, sun and moon: it was a very sacred calendar. When used consecutively with the standard 365 day haab calendar, the two would align every 52 years. The Maya Long Count Calendar: The Maya developed another calendar, better suited for measuring longer periods of time. The Maya Long Count used only the haab or 365 day calendar. A date was given in terms of Baktuns (periods of 400 years) followed by Katuns (periods of 20 years) followed by Tuns (years) followed by Uinals (periods of 20 days) and ending with the Kins (number of days 1-19). If you added all of those numbers up, you would get the number of days that had passed since the starting point of Maya time, which was sometime between August 11 and September 8, 3114 B.C. (the exact date is subject to some debate). These dates are usually expressed as a series of numbers like so: 12.17.15.4.13 November 15, 1968, for example. Thats 12x400 years, 17x20 years, 15 years, 4x20 days plus eleven days since the beginning of Maya time. 2012 and The End of Maya Time: Baktuns - periods of 400 years - are counted on a base-13 cycle. On December 20, 2012, the Maya Long Count Date was 12.19.19.19.19. When one day was then added, the entire calendar reset to 0. The thirteenth Baktun since the beginning of Maya time therefore came to an end on December 21, 2012. This of course led to much speculation about dramatic changes: some predictions for the end of the Maya Long Count Calendar included the end of the world, a new age of consciousness, a reversal of the Earths magnetic poles, the arrival of the Messiah, etc. Needless to say, none of those things happened. In any event, historical Maya records do not indicate that they gave much thought to what would happen at the end of the calendar. Sources: Burland, Cottie with Irene Nicholson and Harold Osborne. Mythology of the Americas. London: Hamlyn, 1970. McKillop, Heather. The Ancient Maya: New Perspectives. New York: Norton, 2004.

Thursday, November 21, 2019

Country risk analysis Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Country risk analysis - Research Paper Example Therefore, the country’s economy is growing and when united with its population increase, India is indeed a very significant nation for investment in the world (Machiraju 36). This paper will seek to discuss a country risk analysis with reference to India by taking the perspective of a multinational corporation considering expanding its operations into that country, and is intended to assess the business environment in that country. Geographical Location Bounded in the south eastern part by the Arabian sea, in south by the Indian Ocean, and on the south eastern side by the Bengal Bay, the country of India shares her border land with Bhutan in the north-eastern side, Pakistan on the western angle, and Nepal, China, Burma, and Bangladesh on the eastern side (Machiraju 49). India covers an area of 1,269,219 square miles (3,287,263 sq km); the capital city is New Delhi, while the major cities include Chennai, Bangalore, Mumbai, and Kolkata. With regard to the Indian Ocean, India l ies within the vicinity of Maldives and Sri Lanka while the islands of Nicobar and Andaman share the maritime border with the states of Indonesia and Thailand (Saleem 66). This indicates that India lays within a very vibrant economic location – a factor that gives this country too much international openness. Thus, any multinational corporation considering expanding its operations into this country should do so without hesitation. Accordingly, the Indian naval hydrographic charts maintains that the coastline of India measures up to 4,700Â  mi (7,517 kilometers) lengthwise; within that distance, 3,400Â  mi (5,423 kilometers) belong to India’s peninsular and 1,300Â  mi (2,094 kilometers) to the Nicobar, Andaman, and Lakshadweep chains of the island (Devonshire-Ellis 48). This country has several rivers which major origin is Himalaya that flows through the country to the Bengal Bay. Brahmaputra and Ganges are the major rivers supplying India with larger amounts of wate r. The Ganges River has important tributaries such as the Kosi and Yamuna (Carbaugh 54). Cases of flooding are common with the Yamuna tributary but the major peninsular rivers such as the Tapti and Narmada have steeper gradients, which deter them from causing floods. The country is geographically divisive and the costal characteristics comprise the marshy Kutch Ran situated in the western part of India (Bouchet, Ephraim, and Bertrand 50). The country has alluvial Sundarbans delta found in eastern India. Climate The Himalayas Mountains and the Thar Desert have a great influence on India’s climate. Fact findings show that they both act as the driving force of the country’s major sources of income. They are the pivotal determiners of the winter and summer monsoons winds, hence influencing the culture and economy of the state strongly (Machiraju 55). The Himalayas also shield India from the excruciating wrath of the cold katabatic winds of Central Asia by keeping the India n subcontinent bulk warmer as opposed to similar states under same latitudes (Carbaugh 84). The Desert of Thar has a pragmatic role to play as it attracts the moisture-laden summer monsoon winds, which blow from the south-west. These winds are very important to the people of this country as they provide most of the country’s rainfall when they blow between the months of June and October (Saleem 81). India has four predominant climatic groupings, namely

Tuesday, November 19, 2019

Businesses desire to achieve a competitive advantage Essay

Businesses desire to achieve a competitive advantage - Essay Example The paper tells that companies that achieve a competitive advantage can exploit that edge in order to obtain higher sales than other companies in the marketplace. Organizations can achieve a competitive advantage by exploiting their brand value. A brand strategy is generated over time by investing a lot of money in advertising and marketing campaigns. Technological superiority, innovation, and patents are other ways to gain a competitive advantage. Companies that achieve a competitive advantage are able to increase their market share. These firms are also able to attract more customers than its competitors. Examples of companies that have been able to dominate an industry by gaining a competitive advantage are Starbucks Cafà ©, Microsoft, and De Beers. Microsoft utilized innovation to stay ahead of the competition. Starbucks Cafà © beat out the competition by providing a superior product and better customer service. The competitive advantage that De Beers enjoys comes from its supp ly chain superiority and access to greater sums of capital. Organizations that have a competitive advantage are able to retain more customers and build brand loyalty. Higher customer retention rates are desirable. Based on Pareto’s 80/20 rule approximately 80% of a firm’s revenues come from 20% of its customers. Most companies that are the market leaders in their respective industries reached that status by having some type of competitive advantage. Good business strategies are needed for managers to implement a competitive advantage.

Sunday, November 17, 2019

Christian Science Essay Example for Free

Christian Science Essay Modern day America is home to many Protestant groups, most of which had their foundation largely influenced by 19th century Protestantism in the region. During the period, irresistible dynamism rocked American Protestant groups, coinciding with an epoch in which the American society readily allowed the founding of new churches and religious movements. Amid growing revivalism and much freedom to develop, the 19th century also saw mounting interest in millennialism and the rise of Adventism. All these resulted in new Protestant groups, some motivated by the looming Second Coming of Christ and while others invented new religious doctrines. A few broke away from existing churches while others claimed their foundation in new revelations. Among the key churches founded then include the Jehovah’s Witnesses, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Christian Science and the Seventh-Day Adventist. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, popular as the Mormons and founded by Joseph Smith, was among the first churches to be formed. In his boyhood, Smith experienced visions via which he was advised against joining existing churches, and told he would be active in restoring true Christianity. In 1823, he was guided by a heavenly messenger named Moroni to a hill in New York, where he discovered strange writing covering two thin golden plates. His translation of the writing, aided by Moroni, is now the Book of Mormon and is based on Christ’s teachings. Mormons deem their faith akin to that founded by Jesus in North America. Although they accept the influence of the old and new testaments, their scriptural doctrine includes the Book of Mormon and two other texts, Doctrines and Covenants and the Pearl of Great Price; both based on Smith’s revelations and sermons. The discovery of the Book of Mormons allured many followers to Smith’s church, whose membership is now roughly eight million, with headquarters in Salt Lake City. Christian Science was on its part founded in 1879 by Mary Baker Eddy, originally a member of a Congregational Church. As a young woman, she suffered from nervous disorders that physicians and hypnotists could not cure. She in 1866 claimed to have been totally cured after reading a New Testament account of one of the miraculous healings Jesus performed. She subsequently founded the church, which she described in her book Science and Health. Its members disregard formal creeds and doctrines, with some fully devoting themselves to tutor others how to use ‘scientific prayer’ to access God’s healing love. Christian Science has over 3, 000 congregations in 50 countries, with headquarters in Boston. This church is seen as the source of New Thought, a larger American religious movement attributed to Emma Hopkins. Emma was Baker’s student and a teacher, whose students later formed new versions of New Thought such as the Unity School of Christianity, Religion Science and Divine Science and the Unity Movement. The latter has congregations in most USA cities and abroad. On the Adventist front, the Seventh-Day Adventist is the main church. It was founded by Ellen White. White was a follower of William Miller, a millennialist who founded the first Adventist denomination and wrongly proclaimed Christ would return in 1843 to preside over a final judgment. Ellen experienced many visions that inspired her books. And being a gifted speaker, she drew thousands to her lectures, in which she attributed the delay of the predicted Second Coming to Christians’ failure to obey the Ten Commandments. Today, the church has nearly four million members, with half a million living in the USA. The Jehovah’s Witnesses is also a millennialist group, formed in 1881 by Charles Taze Russell. At 20, Russell’s study of the Bible led him to a verdict that the Second Coming would occur in 1874, when Christ would invisibly return. This was to be followed by the Battle of Armageddon and end of the world in 1914. His ideas drew him hundreds of followers and membership continued to rise even after his prophesy failed to materialize. The church, with headquarters in New York, now has over two million members in 200 countries. They understand Christ to be God’s son but reject the doctrine of the Trinity and still believe that a ‘great tribulation’ is imminent. Considering that the churches discussed here are just the main ones and have followers worldwide, it is clearly evident that 19th century American Protestantism played a middle role in both the origination and molding of the course, and even beliefs, of numerous modern-day churches and movements. References LD.

Thursday, November 14, 2019

The La Jolla Project :: Architecture Architectural History Essays

The La Jolla Project The presence of the past is everywhere. One does not have to look very far to realize that the past has quite an influence on the present. In fact, there are a few examples of modern works of art at the University of California, San Diego, that bring to mind architectural works of the past. One such example is the La jolla Project, which is a collection of stone blocks on top of a hill on the Revelle College lawn south of Galbraith Hall. The isolated groups of blocks refer to architectural elements such as columns, posts, lintels, windows, and doors; but the collection, as a whole, resembles a modern reconstruction of Stonehenge. The La Jolla Project and Stonehenge differ from each other in many ways, but they also share some striking silmilarities that are constant reminders that the past is very much a part of modern life. The La Jolla Project is the third work in the Stuart Collection, which is a group of site-specific sculptural works at the University of California, San Diego. The La Jolla Project was installed by Richard Fleischner and was completed in 1984. The Project consists of 71 blocks of pink and gray granite (Stuart Collection 5). All the blocks are rectangular in shape and range from about 3 to 15 feet in length. The stones were quarried in New England and cut near Providence, Rhode Island, where the artist lives (Stuart Collection 6). Unlike the La Jolla Project, Stonehenge was probably not an abstract sculptural installation made of polished granite blocks. Stonehenge was built starting in 3100 B.C.E.(Encyclopedia Brittanica 287). The builders used mostly sarsen, a gray sandstone. Bluestones, or blocks of bluish dolerite, were also used. The number of stones used is unknown because the present structure of Stonehenge is the product of at least four major building phases. The stones have endured many centuries of rough weather and erosion. Stonehenge is located on Salisbury Plain in Southern England. Although it is not the largest henge (circle of stones) of the Neolithic Period, it is a remarkable site because it is one of the most complicated megalithic sites. Stonehenge was repeatedly reworked from 3100 to 1500 B.C.E. (Encyclopedia Brittanica 287). Each new major building phase added new elements to the site. The present-day arrangement at Stonehenge is the result of the last building phase which ended nearly 3,500 years ago.

Tuesday, November 12, 2019

Knowledge Management: PETRONAS

Introduction Today, oil and gas companies around the world are not just professional organizations who specialize in mechanical drilling and extraction processes. Increased oil demands and the need for improved productivity have forced these organizations into new methods and knowledge intensive approaches. For instance information technology has now become very much an integral part of the oil exploration and oil extraction business. The collaboration between multi disciplinary teams has become a norm. Real-time information communication from remote reservoirs, and processing of such data in a collaborative environment that involves multiple teams and vendor locations has become an essential part of the business decision making process. In other words, a knowledge based approach underlies the critical business decisions in oil majors. (Jemielniak & Kociatkievicz, 2009, pg 284). As an oil and gas extraction company of the world, with presence in more than 30 countries across the world, PETRONAS is one of the Oil Majors. Being an increasingly competitive sector, skilled staff are always on demand in the Oil and Gas industry. This implies that organizations have to defend against attrition and be armed with effective knowledge management practices that manage vital information about processes, best practices and information about field experts and tacit knowledge about the entire operational processes. Effective knowledge management process is at the heart of business competitiveness and success. Knowledge Management Knowledge is a multidimensional and heterogeneous entity. Proper storage, classification and retrieval of knowledge is critical for innovation, cost control and hence the competitiveness of any industry. Particularly, for knowledge intensive firms such as PETRONAS, where high skilled engineering processes are involved, there is a need for ‘integrated operations’ between various knowledge areas. Ultimately, improving the production optimization process is at the heart of all knowledge management practices in PETRONAS. One of the important areas that lack coordination in the Oil and gas sector in general is the working of the reservoir engineers, the production engineers and the process engineers at the facilities. This implies that operation decisions are not always made in consultation with the onshore engineers. In other words this leads to what is known as the fragmented approach. (Jemielniak & Kociatkievicz) 2009, pg 285 Integrated Operations (Process facility and reservoir sensors and Collaboration among vendors and operators) (Jemielniak & Kociatkievicz, 2009, pg 285) Information technology has now penetrated every area of the production and process control aspects of the Oil and Gas companies. However, most of these IT tools are specialized and lack the integration that makes it difficult to access relevant data for purposes of production analysis and optimization. It is necessary that all the three major divisions (reservoir management, production management and process management) exchange real-time data. A shared information space might be the answer to the problems as it promotes better access to real-time data and integration of the various processes, which is the key to achieving production optimization. (Jemielniak & Kociatkievicz, 2009, pg 284) Knowledge Management in PETRONAS Knowledge management practices are very recent at PETRONAS. As the Knowledge Management manager, Miss Murni Shariff, disclosed in a recent interview, only in 2006 the company seriously focused on KM practices. Prior to that KM was mostly restricted to content and information management. (KMTalk, 2009) There are two types of knowledge namely tacit knowledge and explicit knowledge. Explicit knowledge, as the name suggests, refers to knowledge that could be easily documented. This type of knowledge is gained by reading, observation and discussion. For instance, documented guides about a program or the operational features of a product are examples of explicit knowledge. Tacit knowledge, on the other hand, is more implicit and it is not easy to document it and consequently much harder to share. Tacit knowledge is developed over a period of time when an individual gains insights and details about the various functions in the organization. (MMU, 2006) Currently, PETRONAS is focusing on all efforts towards transferring this tacit knowledge of its staff and making it accessible for future reference and for new workers. Achieving this tacit knowledge sharing pertaining to the various complex processes within the organizations is crucial for the company to reduce costs and become competitive. As Stephen Birell, marketing director of Vardus, a KM company focusing on the Oil and gas sector states, â€Å"The way the industry can drive down cost is by attacking the areas of huge cost which are facilities and drilling. And if everyone follows best practice and shares their learning, you won’t have people making the same mistakes twice. And that ultimately saves money.† (Chowdury, 2006) Three issues are the main motivating factors for the implementation of KM practices across the organization. These are 1) aging workforce- With more than three and half decades since its institution many of the technical staff members at PETRONAS are nearing their retirement age and this mass retirement would drastically impact upon the performance unless swift knowledge management policies are in place to capture the tacit knowledge of these experienced older workforce. 2) The global oil industry is very competitive placing a high premium for the experienced and knowledgeable workforce. High attrition rate at PETRONAS is one big problem as competitors are luring skilled staff. In this context the issue of Trust becomes foremost. The following 5 C’s are recognized as trust factors among knowledge intensive workers. These are a) Competence, b) Commitment, c) Conflict, d) Communication and e) Caring. Of these commitment is foremost and it is the responsibility of the team leade r or the manager to ensure that commitment to the organization and its values are developed naturally as a response to the motivation and example shown by the leader. (Ralston, 2007) Finally, increasing international operations also implies international competition and in this scenario an effective KM plan is indispensible for the organization to smoothly manage and coordinate the international operations. KM makes it possible to simply follow the ‘PETRONAS way’ of transferring knowledge across the different organizations. (KMtalk, 2009) Initially, the main focus was on technology and in removing the hindrances in sharing knowledge stored in varied database formats. However, more than the technical problems it is the problem associated with human acceptance that is currently a pressing issue. In other words, promoting effective change management is the key to implementing KM practices. At PETRONAS new initiatives were implemented to promote better change management. Communities of Practice A new, ‘Communities of practice’ (CoP) initiative was implemented with the idea of starting an effective KM program across the entire organization to better facilitate transfer of information between the various divisions in a swift and effective manner. Currently, there are over 50 CoP’s with each Cop having 30 members. A leader or a champion is chosen among each CoP team based on their performance criteria. The CoP’s were provided with a basic structural framework with which they can implement KM solutions and promote group-wide collaborative values. Regular monitoring of the CoP operations and impact of the same are undertaken. These leaders are also encouraged to share success stories on online CoP newsletter. To encourage enthusiastic participation from the staff, the Knowledge management team is also currently promoting a rewards system wherein the reports from the various Cop’s would be reviewed and the best performing team recognized and awarded (Murni Shariff, 2008) This CoP approach at PETRONAS has shown significant positive results so far with effective information exchange between various operating units already visible across the organization. This would also significantly improve the training for younger generation staff as they fast replace the retiring older generation. A simple online tool that was designed to evaluate the penetration of the CoP based KM practices has confirmed these positive improvements. ( Murni Shariff, 2008) Conclusion Knowledge management practices are critical to the continued competitive growth of any organization. In simple terms it facilitates effective reuse of organizational resources which is tantamount to considerable cost savings. Particularly, in a knowledge intensive and high-tech organization such as PETRONAS, KM practices help to promote better collaboration between multidisciplinary teams. This could help avoid millions of dollars in costs by helping workers avoid unnecessary delays and repetitive mistakes. The current KM practices involving Communities of practice concepts are showing good acceptance among the staff which is important for effective change management. As more and more staff members are encouraged to participate in KM activities, more intensive KM practices and collaborative platforms could be established. This would help in realizing organization wide process integration and overall business alignment. However, regular knowledge auditing is the key to understand the flow of knowledge within the organization and to ascertain areas where improvements could be effected by increasing knowledge sharing. Continued management support is the key as even a small amount of time and resources spent on good KM practices would definitely translate to considerable productivity gains in the longer run. References Dariusz Jemielniak & Jerzy Kociatkievicz, (2009), Handbook of research on Knowledge intensive organizations, Pub by Information Science Reference. Faith Ralston, (2007), How to manage four types of Knowledge Workers- Play Your Best Hand, Adams Media. U.S.A KMtalk, (2009) Knowledge Management in PETRONAS : Interview with Murni Shariff, viewed Jan 23rd 2012, Murni Shariff, (2008), PETRONAS : Engaging Knowledge Worker Communities to Stimulate Innovation and Build Corporate Capability, Viewed Jan 23rd 2012, Naguib Chowdhury, (2006), Knowledge Management Implementation in PETRONAS: A Case Study, Viewed Jan 23rd 2012, Manchester Metropolitan University, (2006) Introduction to Knowledge Management, viewed Jan 24th 2012,

Sunday, November 10, 2019

Cost functions Final Exam Essay

1. The degree of operating leverage is equal to the ____ change in ____ divided by the ____ change in ____. 2. The short-run cost function is: 3. Theoretically, in a long-run cost function: 4. Evidence from empirical studies of long-run cost-output relationships lends support to the: 5. In the linear breakeven model, the breakeven sales volume (in dollars) can be found by multiplying the breakeven sales volume (in units) by: 6. In a study of banking by asset size over time, we can find which asset sizes are tending to become more prominent. The size that is becoming more predominant is presumed to be least cost. This is called: 7. Buyers anticipate that the temporary warehouse seller of unbranded computer equipment will 8. In the long-run, firms in a monopolistically competitive industry will 9. In the short-run for a purely competitive market, a manufacturer will stop production when: 10. A firm in pure competition would shut down when: 11. Asset specificity is largest when 12. Uncertainty includes all of the following except ____. 13. Experience goods are products or services 14. Declining cost industries 15. Of the following, which is not an economic rationale for public utility regulation? 16. ____ as practiced by public utilities is designed to encourage greater usage and therefore spread the fixed costs of the utility’s plant over a larger number of units of output. 17. The practice by telephone companies of charging lower long-distance rates at night than during the day is an example of: 18. When the cross elasticity of demand between one product and all other products is low, one is generally referring to a(n) ____ situation. 19. In natural monopoly, AC continuously declines due to economies in distribution or in production, which tends to found in industries which face increasing returns to scale. If price were set equal to marginal cost, then: 20. A cartel is a situation where firms in the industry 21. The existence of a kinked demand curve under oligopoly conditions may result in 22. Which of the following is an example of an oligopolistic market structure? 23. Even ideal cartels tend to be unstable because 24. In a kinked demand market, whenever one firm decides to lower its price, 25. Some industries that have rigid prices. In those industries, we tend to

Thursday, November 7, 2019

The Charactertic Coral and Mussels Have in Common

The Charactertic Coral and Mussels Have in Common The term sessile refers to an organism that is anchored to a substrate and cannot move about freely. For example, a sessile alga that lives on a rock (its substrate). Another example is a barnacle that lives on the bottom of a ship. Mussels and coral polyps are also examples of sessile organisms. Coral is sessile by creating its own substrate to grow from.  The blue mussel,  on the other hand, attaches to a substrate like a dock or a rock via its byssal threads. Sessile Stages Some animals, like jellyfish, start their lives as sessile polyps in the early stages of development before becoming mobile, while sponges are mobile during their larval stage before they become sessile at maturity.   Due to the fact that they dont move on their own, sessile organisms have low metabolic rates and can exist on small amounts of food.  Sessile organisms are known to clump together which improves reproduction.   Sessile Research Pharmacological researchers are looking into some of the potent chemicals that are produced by marine sessile invertebrates. One of the reasons for that the organisms produce the chemicals is to protect themselves from predators due to the fact that they are stationary. Another reason is they may use the chemicals is to prevent themselves against disease-causing organisms.  Ã‚   The Great Barrier Reef The Great Barrier Reef was built by sessile organisms. The reef consists of over 2,900 individual reefs and covers an area of over 133,000 miles. Its the largest structure built by living organisms in the world!

Tuesday, November 5, 2019

Dealing with he said and she said

Dealing with he said and she said Dealing with he said and she said Dealing with he said and she said By Maeve Maddox I once had a high school English teacher who encouraged her students to use as many synonyms for said as possible, for example: he gasped, she grumbled, and they snorted. Maybe she was just trying to get us to stretch our vocabularies. These days, writers prefer the simple word said, feeling that its more colorful synonyms tend to distract the reader. There are, of course, exceptions. If a character is asking a question, a word like asked is a more logical choice. An occasional shouted or screamed is also permissible in moments of extreme duress for the characters. Sometimes, however, even the he saids can slow conversational flow. Im presently revising a mystery novel, deleting every unnecessary word I find. Here are some of the revisions Ive made to get rid of speech attributions that are not absolutely necessary. Example one: Hello again, Miss Dunbar, he said, motioning for her to sit. I’m afraid you’re not having a very pleasant holiday.â€Å" People do seem to be dying in my vicinity,† she said. REVISION: Hello again, Miss Dunbar. I’m afraid you’re not having a very pleasant holiday. He motioned for her to sit. People do seem to be dying in my vicinity. Since only two people are in the room, attributions are unnecessary. I get rid of the first said by rearranging the sentence, allowing the mans gesture to identify him as the speaker. The second said is unnecessary because only two people are present. Example two: Weve found the murder weapon, Sir, the policeman said, holding out what he was carrying on a towel. Sallie looked at the object in bewilderment. It looks like a flute, she said. It is a flute, Dave said. A flute that shoots .22 caliber bullets. REVISION: Weve found the murder weapon, Sir. The officer was carrying something on a towel. Sallie looked at the object in bewilderment. It looks like a flute. It is a flute, Dave said. A flute that shoots .22 caliber bullets. I get rid of the first two saids by letting gestures identify the speakers. I keep the third attribution to make clear which of the three men present is speaking. Sometimes a character thinks something without saying it aloud. Example Three: The policeman waited for Sallie to get onto the escalator in front of him. So I cant make a break for it, Sallie thought. REVISION: The policeman waited for Sallie to get onto the escalator in front of him. So I cant make a break for it. I get rid of Sallie thought by typing the thought itself in italics. The scene is being narrated from Sallies point of view. REMINDER: This is not a matter to worry about as you write the first, or even second, draft of your novel. Throw in all the saids and snorteds you like. Save the pruning for the final revision. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Fiction Writing category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:50 Handy Expressions About HandsAt Your DisposalEach vs. Both

Sunday, November 3, 2019

The issue of how children should be treated in the tax system.and more Assignment

The issue of how children should be treated in the tax system.and more - Assignment Example The Canada Child Tax Benefit came to existence as a response to a commitment made by the parliament of Canada in the year 1989, to completely eliminate child poverty in Canada by the end of that millennium. For a person to qualify for this payment they must be living with and providing care to a child of bellow 18 year, must be Canadian residents, and must have a common-law partner or a spouse. This paper aims at discussing how children should be treated in the tax system. The first time Canada introduced financial assistance to families with children bellow the age of 18 was in the year 1945. This was made possible through the Family Allowance Act of 1944. In 1979 the monthly rate of family allowance was reduced from 25.68 dollars to 20.00 dollars. When income taxation was introduced in Canada in the year 1918, tax exemption was allowed for each child. The Canada Child Tax Benefit was introduced in the year 1992 and took effect in the year 1993. The Canada Child Tax Benefit aims pri marily at low income families with dependent children. The net effect of all these changes was that higher income families were treated the same way for tax purposes independent of the number of dependent children in the family (Hale, 2002). The Harper government reintroduced some modest tax breaks for higher income families with children, including tax credits for dependent children and children’s fitness and arts credits. The Harper Government also introduced the Universal Child Care Benefit which pays $1200 per child as taxable income to parents. According to Robert M. Haig and Henry Simons income is defined as values of commodities and services that a citizen consume minus or plus any change in net worth in a given period of time. This definition of income is commonly known as Haig-Simons definition of income. In this contest both outflow and inflow of resources are taxable (Hale, 2002). Given that children bellow the age of 18 do not have any activities that generate inc ome but have activities that require resources it will be unfair if their consumptions are taxed equal to the grownups. When parents or guardians spend money on commodities and services that relate to the upbringing of their children, there is a certain amount of money that is taxed. This might make life harder for families with children, especially those with low income. This explains the necessity of the Canada Child Tax Benefit. The Canada Child Tax Benefit highly contributes to the horizontal equity in the Canadian tax system. Horizontal equity in taxation refers to equal taxation of individuals with the same amount of income. In a case where two people have equal gross income, people with children will be taxed more. This is because they always have to spend more as compared to the childless individual. The increased expenditure is because they have extra person to take care of. The Canada Child Tax Benefit creates equality by making sure that those with children get some tax r elief thus making their general taxation almost the same to that of people who do not have children (Hale, 2002). This makes sure that no income earner is subjected to unfair taxation. It also ensures that the low income earners have an easy time bringing up their children. The Canada Child Tax Benefit can also contribute to vertical equity in taxation. Vertical equity is a principle which states that citizens with higher income should always pay more taxes as compared to those with low

Friday, November 1, 2019

Finance Dissertation Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Finance - Dissertation Example Islamic banking and finance is the new representation of financial institutions and it is also said to be the answer in looking for a better and fairer way of managing money and in underpinning the real financing activities. Since its origin, just over thirty years ago Islamic banking has been the fastest growing industry in the financial system and financial markets of several countries. It has â€Å"concentrated in the Middle East and Southeast Asia, but they are also present as niche players in Europe and the United States† (Cihak & Hesse, 2008, p.3). For instance, Islamic banking in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is more lucrative compared to conventional or commercial banks of the country (Parker, 2010). Aside from profitability, Islamic banks also are strong in asset growth despite of the abrupt decline of credit ratio compared to the average banking sectors in many countries. However, when global financial crisis had entered the real economy, Islamic banks started to incur more and more lucrative losses than their conventional counterparts, because Islamic investments are more prone to risk. The aim of this paper is to investigate the financial stability of Islamic banks versus conventional banks in the perspective of the global credit crunch. ... The growing literature mostly contained issues of comparison between the role of Islamic and conventional banking in the global credit crunch. When it comes to empirical analysis of financial stability the argument would always be about risk whereas when it comes to empirical papers, most of the arguments are discussing the efficiency of handling risks (Cihak & Hesse, 2008, p.3). The severe deficiency of money or credit which is also known as credit crunch has created a big impact on banking operations and practices around the world. Global credit crunch is a higher form of risk that distinguishes the differences executed by Islamic banks from those executed by conventional banks. Several institutions in various countries are now offering Islamic financial services like Murababa, Ijara, and Musharaka, wherein Muslims and non-Muslims can lend money without interest and no trading debt (Ahmad, 2010, p.38). According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the success of Islamic banks is present in almost all Middle East countries except Bahrain, Qatar, and the UAE. Based on the study of Hassan and Bahshir (2005), Islamic banks are said to be efficient when it comes to resources allocation, profitability, liquidity, development of assets, and many more. However, according to Schoon (2009, p.187), Islamic banks are settled in a less efficient and cost effective market as long as the average rate of return is elevated. He said further that Islamic banks are not efficient in terms of liquidity ratios because of an absence of liquid assets and accepted primary liquidity instruments such as cash, bank balances, negotiable instruments, etc. It also