Interpreting Financial Statements Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Interpreting Financial Statements - Essay ExampleThe number of days in inventory for Pepsico is 40 days whereas it is 64 days for Coca Cola. It is unpatterned that Pepsico is more effective in converting its inventory into sale and hence has a better liquidity set up in terms of the revenue generated.Both the companies consider almost equally geared in terms of debt. The debt to total assets ratio is an indication of the companys long term growth capacity and its ability to generate more capital through debts.Both Coca Cola and Pepsico have significant absorb coverage, as the earnings are almost 33 times the interest expenses. Hence it is evident that the companies will not face any issues in coating the interest expenses.The cash in debt coverage is a measure of the ability of the company to cover its debts with the liquid cash in hand generated from the operations. Though both the firms have a significant value, Pepsico is able to generate blueer cash from its operations a nd hence can manage about 57% of its debts with the cash from operations.The free cash flow, as the name indicates, is measured in million USD and is found that in 2004, Coca Cola has a free cash of $ 5,213 million whereas Pepsico has about $ 3,667 million. It is evident that Coca Cola has significantly higher free cash compared to that of Pepsico.It is clear from the values that Coca Cola is able to convert 22% of its revenue as earnings or profit, whereas Pepsico converts only 14% of its revenue into income. Hence the profitability of Coca Cola is comparatively much higher than that of Pepsico. This is the percentage of revenue afterwards all the expenses, interests and taxes that is available to the shareholders and to the company.The Asset Turnover rate determines the ability of the company to effectively utilize its assets to generate revenue. It is important to note that a company generating high revenues may not actually be effective if its utilizing much

European Security and Defence Policy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

European Security and Defence Policy - Essay ExampleMost decisions in the council are made by the majority votes while unanimity is needed in the sensitive issues like foreign policy (Churruca 178 2000).In order to happen upon full responsibility in crisis management the European council established permanent political and military structures (Nice December 2000).The first structure is the political and security committee (PSC) which acts as the preparatory body for the European Union council. The main role of the political and security committee is to check and follow the international state of personal matters thereby helping in defining policies in the Common Foreign and Security policy. It prepares a rational EU reaction to a crisis and works turn out the political control and strategic bearing or direction to be under taken by the European Union (Hill 2002).The second structure is the European Union Military Committee (EUMC), which is the highest military organ in the counci l. The body is made up of the chiefs of defence of states that form the European Union.

Labor economics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Labor economics - Essay ExampleEmployers would want to reduce comprises and maximize profits. Therefore, employers allow for increase the minimum wage and decrease the number of employees to maintain their profitability.Various factors determine the size of the effect of an increase in the minimum wage on employment in perfect rivalry. First is nonmonetary compensation/ incentives, where employers reduce fringe benefits and increase the minimum wage without incurring additional costs. Second is the increased cost of a product. In the model economy, a corporation that increases its minimum wage reacts slowly to a corresponding rise in the price of its product than its competition in the industry (Card & Kruger, 792).The buyer has the ability to purchase a good at a lower price in a competitive commercialise because he/ she can affect its price. Collusive behavior among buyers that influences the elasticity of the supply curve gives buyers monopsony power. The minimum wage increase might have a controlling effect on employment if firms have significant monopsony power (Mangunsong, n.p.).This paper relies on studies such as the analysis of 410 fast food restaurants in atomic number 91 and New Jersey, which increased the minimum wage to $ 5.05 from $ 4.25. The study shows reduced employment in each state for companies that were paying the minimum wage of $4.25. The effect was undistinguished for those that had their minimum wage at $5.05 (Card & Kruger, 792). However, it is hard to standardized results, since employers face supply limitations in both monopsony and equilibrium models.The range of estimates produced by studies may be incapacitate due partly to differences in working hours for part- time and full-time employees. Individual skills and in-house job training also affect the results of increasing minimum wages since it affects employee efficiency, which in turn

The reality of arms trade compared to its depiction in popular Essay

The reality of accouterments trade compared to its depiction in popular Hollywood Movie - Essay Example coat of arms Trade has impeded the prosperity of this humans and its negative effects are just increasing as it has become a nuisance for the well- creation of the people.The planetary arms industry comprises of various governments and individual commercial companies who manufacture and sell weapons and other advanced form of military technology and equipment. This industry has grown in both volume and its reach. Now more and more developing countries are being served by these arms producing entities. A huge sum of cash is being spent on research, development, manufacture and supply of military equipment to the developing world. These defense contractors produce guns, ammunition, military aircraft, missile and other defense related equipment. Experts estimate that virtually 1.5 trillion dollars are wasted on the various military expenditures worldwide. Although the percentage h as come down from 4% in 1990 to 2.7% at present, the volume has increased significantly and the sale has been focused more towards the economically deprived countries. (Shah, World Military Spending) These countries lack enough funds to provide for the well-being of its people but somehow they manage to spend a substantial amount of their GDP on defense budgets. The movie Lord of War does portray a true propose of the global arms industry existing in the world. Nevertheless, it can be argued that the degree of its reality is different since these things are hidden from the general public. The incidents visualized in this movie clearly highlight how in real life certain factors push ace to pursue the worst of jobs. The life story of Yuri portrays him as a person caught up in a situation where he has to deal in arms trade in order to give others a play to comfort themselves. His initial intention is to provide the people with a necessity of life, but later on he turns into an a rms dealer who builds contacts and uses his networks to sell arms and ammunition without caring for the lives of others. The way the trade has been shown, where force and power has been used to get hold of weapons, is a true picture of reality. Arms trade is one of the deadliest causes of chaos in the world. It not only allows military dictators to rule ruthlessly over the population but also gives them the power to continue their suppression and oppression over the suffering population. The deal that is struck between the arms lord and the dealer is usually of millions of dollars and both parties are completely unresponsive to the effects such transactions would have over the future of their nations. The use of such arms is highly questionable on one end these deals are struck to protect the people from the ruthless rule of their dictators, and on the other it is seen as a source of strengthening the grip of evil doers over the sufferers. For instance, the movie story shows that it was unembellished that the deal between the African military ruler and the arms dealer would bring about a massacre of nearby villages and loss of thousands of lives, but until now the deal was carried out. It is likely that the dealer is rarely concerned about the interests of the people who will suffer as a result of these weapon deals. It has been debated also depicted in the movie that after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, thousands of AK-47 and other Russian weaponry flowed into the hands of arms dealers. Since it was lying idle in warehouses and military depots, Russian military generals illegally sold them to arms dealers around the globe in order to make their personal gains. This surely resulted in the approachability of one of the best assault rifles of all times and was soon seen in the hands of mobsters and warlords on all continents. It is astonishing to know that around 76% of worlds total expenditure is accounted on defense budgets. This amounts to a hu mungous $1.22 trillion, out of which 42.8% comes from the United States. (Sipri, Recent trends in military expenditure) This reveals that no matter what

Is acupuncture an effetive treatment for Insomnia Dissertation

Is acupuncture an effetive discussion for Insomnia - Dissertation ExampleThe main objective of this research is to conduct a critical review of literature and mensurate whether acupuncture is an effective treatment for insomnia. Insomnia Defined Insomnia is the inability to fall asleep or to remain asleep for an adequate length of time, so that tiredness is roughly permanent (Oxford Concise Medical Dictionary 2007, p.370). According to the British United Provident Association (2011), primary and secondary insomnia are the two classifications of insomnia. Primary insomnia has no noticeable grounds while secondary insomnia is caused by an underlying problem, such as stressful events, psychiatric problems, medical conditions, drug and substance abuse, certain types of music and psychological problems such as grief and depression. Moreover, the National Health Service (NHS) described insomnia as either short term insomnia which lasts for one to four weeks, and long (or persistent) insomnia, which persists for more than four weeks. According to the NHS (year), if a person has been diagnosed with short term insomnia, their GP will primarily advise them on good sleep hygiene, and if the insomnia is touch him/her during the day, then the GP may prescribe sleeping tablets. Moreover, if a person has been diagnosed with long term Insomnia, their GP will recommend the same as for short term Insomnia, along with cognitive and behavioural treatments (CBT). Additionally, if the patient is over 55 years old, the GP may consider prescribing Melatonin. Kaptchuk (2000, p. 191) describes insomnia in Chinese texts as Yang unavailing to enter Yin. This typically suggests that Blood or Yin or both are insufficient and not able to sustain the Spirit in the Heart. There is wherefore a relative oversupply of the Yang, which is not in equilibrium and is unable to calm down in balance. An oversupply of the Yang or Fire in any other organ can also be a reason for insomnia. The persistent desire to sleep, or oversleeping, is often a sign of unequal Yang, Deficient Qi, or Dampness. Under Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), when a person suffers from insomnia, one generally tends to find that the two organs that are most often out of balance are the Heart and the liver. Each of these two organs houses a specific aspect of the spirit. The Heart houses the mind (Shen) and the Liver houses the ethereal reason (Hun). If these organs are out of balance, they will not be able to house the spirit properly, and the spirit will wander (Kaptchuk 2000). According to Maciocia (2005) sleep generally depends on the state of Blood and Yin, especially that of the Heart and Liver. During the night the Yin Qi predominates, and the mind and ethereal soul should be anchored in Heart Blood and Liver Blood. If the mind and/or ethereal soul are not anchored, a sleep disturbance is likely to occur. Research Aim The present paper aims to review pertinent literature to ascertain the effectiveness of acupuncture in the treatment of insomia among adults. Research Hypotheses Ho stylostixis is not an effective treatment for insomnia. Ha Acupuncture is an effective treatment for insomnia. Method The current paper makes use of critical review of literature to determine the effectiveness of acupuncture as a treatment method for insomnia. This entailed the search of

Information Security Proposal Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Information Security Proposal - Essay ExampleThis includes the recuperation from network downtime. It also includes the plans and security in place for theA paradigm can have various meanings. It refers to your basic beliefs and your approach to the world which affects the way you pay back your research and how you collect and analyse data (Collis & Hussey, 2003, p. 47). The research approaches used in the study comprises a mixture of both the phenomenological paradigm which is also referred to as a qualitative approach, and the positivistic paradigm also known as the quantitative approach (Collis & Hussey, 2003, p. 47). As the research will utilize interviews to collect data, it would be expedient to use both the qualitative and quantitative approaches. This will be useful when conducting interviews, as the phenomenological paradigm helps the researcher to get a feel for the key issues and provides assurance in the accuracy and depth of the data collected as the main issues have been covered (Saunders & Lewis & Thornhill, 2000, p. 98). Furthermore, working within the positivistic paradigm will do in measuring the data and the correlation between the variables, and the quantitative research outcome could be measured against existing theory.Using a mixture of approaches and techniques has advantages, as all methods have pros and cons. This means using a triangulation approach, which as Denzin & Lincoln (2000) explain has been generally considered a process of using multiple perceptions to clarify meaning, affirm the repeatability of an observation or interpretation (p. 443). Using both methods will help ensure that the research outcome is accurate and this will lead to greater sureness being placed in your conclusions (Saunders & Lewis & Thornhill, 2000, p. 99). It also reduces the possibility of getting the answer wrong (Saunders & Lewis & Thornhill, 2000, p. 100). For the research, data will be collected from two types of sources,

Assessment and Students Essay Example for Free

opinion and Students EssayJournal sagacity Conclusion Reccomendation III. INTRODUCTION Why do appraisal? Are you asking too minute of your class? Are your scholars approaching your cut across as hurdlers, b arly clearing required levels of performance? Or are they approaching your trend like extravagantly jumpers, pushing themselves under your guidance to increasingly more challenging heights? If your scholars arent high jumpers, maybe its because you arent asking them to high jump.By using appropriate appraisement techniques, you jackpot encourage your students to raise the height of the bar. There is consider able evidence showing that legal opinion drives student reading. More than any(prenominal)thing else, our opinion tools tell students what we consider to be important. They will learn what we guide them to learn through our estimates. Traditional testing methods have been steriliseed measures of student learning, and equally importantly, of limited valu e for guiding student learning.These methods are often inconsistent with the increasing emphasis being placed on the ability of students to think analytically, to understand and communicate at both small and big picture levels, and to acquire lifelong skills that permit continuous adaptation to workplaces that are in constant flux. Moreover, because assessment is in many respects the gum tree that links the components of a line of credit its content, instructional methods, and skills phylogeny changes in the structure of a course require coordinated changes in assessment.IV. RESEARCH (CONTENT) What is opinion? Assessment is a systematic process of conference, interpreting, and acting upon data related to student learning and experience for the purpose of developing a deep understanding of what students know, understand, and passel do with their knowledge as a result of their educational experience the process culminates when assessment results are use to improve subsequent learning. Huba and Freed, 2000Key Points Assessment is an ongoing process aimed at understanding and improving student learning Multiple methods Criteria and standards Evidence Students know, bottomland do and understand Its more than comely collecting data Sequence in Preparing Instructionally Relevant Assessment INSTRUCTION Indicates the learning outcomes to be attained by students LEARNING TASK Specifies the particular sic of learning task(s) to be assessed. ASSESSMENT Provides a procedure intentional to measure a voice sample of the instructionally relevant learning tasks.Is there close system? What is the Assessment Process? AIMS ASSESSMENT ACTION ADJUSTMENT splendor of Assessment To find out what the students know (knowledge) To find out what the students stomach do, and how well they move do it (skill performance) To find out how students go approximately the task of doing their work (process) To find out how students feel about their work (motivation, effort) What is Student Assessment for? *To patron us design and modify political platforms to discontinue promote learning and student success. To provide common definitions and benchmarks for student abilities that will enable us to act more coherently and effectively to promote student learning. *To provide feedback, guidance, and mentoring to students so as to help them better plan and execute their educational programs. *To provide improved feedback about student learning to support talent in their work. Functions of Assessment Diagnostic tell us what the student needs to learn Formative tell us how well the student is doing as work progresses Summative tell us how well the student did at the end of a unit/task What can be assessed?Student learning characteristics -Ability differences -Learning styles Student motivational characteristics -Interest - egotism-efficacy -goal orientation Learning Content knowledge Ability to apply content knowledge Skills Dispositions and attitudes Perform ances Direct and substantiating Assessment Measures Direct methods ask students to demonstrate their learning while indirect methods ask them to reflect on their learning. Direct methods complicate objective tests, essays, case studies, worry solving exercises, presentations and classroom engagements. Indirect methods include surveys, interviews and student reflection and/or self-assessment essays.It is useful to include both direct and indirect assessment measures in your assessments. How should we assess? True False Item Multiple Choice Completion Short Answer Essay Practical mental test Papers/Reports Projects Questionnaires Inventories Checklist Peer Rating Self Rating Journal Portfolio Observations Discussions Interviews Criteria In Choosing an Assessment Method It should be reliable. It should be valid. It should be simple to operate, and should not be too costly. It should be seen by students and guild in general. It should benefit all students. Who should be involved i n assessment?The teacher The student The students peer Administrator Parents What should we do with the learning from our assessment? Use it to improve the focus of our teaching (diagnosis) Use it to focus student attention of strengths and weaknesses (motivation) Use it to improve program planning (program assessment) Use it for inform to parents Classroom Assessment Paper and pencil assessments Ask students to respond in writing to questions or problem -Item level Assessing lower vs. higher(prenominal) skills -Knowledge vs. application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation -Authentic tasks e. . quaternary choice, T/F, matching (recognition), short answer, essay (recall) Paper and Pencil Assessment Strengths -Can cover a lot of material reasonably well -Fair - trenchant in assessing fact mood knowledge of content Easier to rebuild and administer than performance assessments Weaknesses -Require forethought and skill -Less effective in assessing procedural knowledge and creative thinking -Construction of good higher level recognition items is difficult -Recall items that do a good job of assessing higher level thinking (essay questions) are difficult to score.Performance Assessments assessment that elicits and evaluates demonstrable student performances Types of Performances Products drawings, science experiments, term papers, poems, solution to authentic problems Behavior time trial for running a mile, reciting a poem, acting tryouts, dancing Performance assessments Strengths Effective for assessing higher level thinking and authentic learning -Effective for assessing skill and procedural learning -Interesting and motivating for students Weaknesses -Emphasize depth at the expense of breadth Difficult to construct -Time con amounting to administer -Hard to score fairly How can we assess student learning? Traditional assessment assess student knowledge and skills in sexual congress isolation from real world context. Traditional assessment practices refl ect what students are able to recall from memory through various means, such as, multiple choice, avowedly/false, fill in the blank, and matching questions. Authentic assessment assess students ability to use what theyve learning in tasks similar to those in the outside world.Occurs when the authenticity of student learning has been observed. It requires information from a variety of source such as content work samples, observation during class activities, and conferences with students. Classroom Assessment Informal Assessment teachers spontaneous, day to day observations of student performances. Examples Verbal -Asking questions -Listening to student discussions -Conducting student conferences Nonverbal -Observing -Task performances -On-and off-task behavior -student choices -student body languageInformal Assessment Strengths -Facilitates responsive teaching -Can be done during teaching -Easy to various(prenominal)ize Weaknesses -Requires high level of teacher skill -Is vulnerabl e to -Bias -Inequities Mistakes Classroom Assessment Formal assessment assessment that is planned in advance and used to assess a pre go throughd content and/or skill domain. Strengths -allows the teacher to evaluate all students systematically on the important skills and concepts -helps teachers determine how well students are progressing over the entire year -provides useful information to parents and administrators.Portfolios A collection of student samples representing or demonstrating student academic growth. It can include formative and summative assessment. It may contain written work, journals, maps, charts, survey, group reports, peer reviews and other such items. Portfolios are systematic, purposeful, and meaningful collections of students work in one or more subject areas. immenseness of Portfolios For Students Shows growth over time Displays students accomplishment Helps students make choices Encourages them to take responsibility for their work Demonstrates how studen ts thinkImportance of Portfolios For Teachers Highlights performance-based activities over year Provides a framework for organizing students work Encourages collaboration with students, parents, and teachers Showcases an ongoing curriculum Facilitates student information for decision making Importance of Portfolios For Parents Offer insight into what their children do in school day Facilitates communication between home and school Gives the parents an opportunity to react to what their child is doing in school and to their development Shows parents how to make a portfolio so they may do one at home at the kindred timeImportance of Portfolios For Administrators Provides evidence that teacher/school goals are being met Shows growth of students and teachers Provides data from various sources What do portfolios contain? Three basic models Showcase model, consisting of work samples chosen by the student. Descriptive model, consisting of representative work of the student, with no attem pt at evaluation. Evaluative model, consisting of representative products that have been evaluated by criteria. Disadvantages of Portfolio Require more time for faculty to evaluate than test or simple-sample assessment.Require students to compile their own work, usually outside of class. Do not easily demonstrate lower-level thinking, such as recall of knowledge. May threaten students who limit their learning to cramming for doing it at the last minute. Rubric It is a scoring guide that seeks to evaluate a students performance based on the sum of a full range of criteria rather than a single numerical score. It is a working guide for students and teachers, usually handed out before the assignment begins in order to get students to think about the criteria on which their work will be judged.Rubrics are scoring criteria for Free-response Questions Scientific reports Oral or position point presentations Reflections/Journals Essay Laboratory-based performance tests Article review or re actions Portfolios Many others Open-ended Question Concept Mapping It requires students to explore links between two or more related concepts. When making concept maps, they clarify in their minds the links they have made of the concepts and having visual representation of these links, they are better able to rearrange of form new links when new concepts are introduced. Laboratory PerformanceIn this format students and teachers know the requirements in advance and prepare them. The teacher judges the student performance within a specific time frame and setting. Students are rated on appropriate and effective use of laboratory equipment, measuring stick tools, and safety laboratory procedures as well as a hands-on designing of an investigation. Inventories Diagnostic Inventories Student responses to a series of questions or statements in any field, either verbally or in writing. These responses may indicate an ability or interest in a particular field.Interest Inventories student r esponses to questions designed to find out past experience and or current interest in a topic, subject or activity. Classroom Assessment Presentation a presentation by one student or by a group of students to demonstrate the skills used in the completion of an activity or the attainment of curricular outcomes/expectations. The presentation can take the form of a skit, lecture, lab presentation, debate etc. Computers can also be used for presentation when using such software as Hyperstudio, Powerpoint or Corel presentations.Peer Evaluation judgments by students about one anothers performance relative to stated criteria and program outcomes Journal Assessment This refer to students ongoing record of expressions experiences and reflections on a given topic. There are two types one in which students write with minimal direction what he/she is thinking and or feeling and the other requires students to compete a specific written assignment and establishes restrictions and guidelines ne cessary to accurately accomplish the assignment. Journals can evolve different types of reflecting writing, drawing, painting, and role playing.REFLECTIVE journal What did I learn? How do I feel about it? What happened? SYNTHESIS JOURNAL How I can Use It? What I learned? What I Did? SPECULATION ABOUT EFFECTS JOURNAL What could happen because of this? What happened? V. CONCLUSION A fair assessment is one in which students are given equitable opportunities to demonstrate what they know and can do. Classroom assessment is not only for grading or be purposes. Its goal is to inform instruction by providing teachers with information to help them make good educational decisions.Assessment is integrated with students day-to-day learning experiences rather than a series of an end-of-course tests. Why link assessment with instruction? Better assessment means better teaching. Better teaching means better learning . Better learning means better students. Better students mean better opportuniti es for a better life. VI. RECCOMENDATION Specific assessment tools, listed below, are strongly recommended to faculty and department heads for their ability to provide useful information for accountability and, more importantly, to foster dialogue to improve student learning within courses.These three assessment tools are strongly recommended because they are concise and effective direct evaluations as opposed to indirect evaluations. Direct evaluations can be both formative (the gathering of information about student learning during the progression of a course or program, usually repeatedly, to improve the learning of those students) and summative (the gathering of information at the conclusion of the course, program or undergraduate career to improve learning or to meet accountability demands. ) 1.RubricsThese are the most flexible types of direct assessments and can be used to score any product or performance such as essays, portfolios, skill performances, oral exams, debates, pr oject/product creation, oral presentations or a students body of work over the course of a semester. Since we are talking about assessing official course learning outcomes that are stated in course documents, all faculty teaching that course must agree on a detailed scoring system that delineates criteria used to discriminate among levels and is used for scoring a common assignment, product or performance or set of assignments, products or performances.Information can be obtained from the course documents assignment and evaluation pages to help guide the creation of the rubric. Pros Defines clear expectations. Can be used to score many kinds of assignments or exams capability define standards and criteria and how they will be applied Cons Faculty must agree on how to define standards and criteria and how they will be applied 2. Common Final Exam or Common Capstone ProjectThese direct assessment methods integrate knowledge, concepts and skills associated with an entire sequence of study in a course.Either use the same final exam for all sections offered in a course (commercially produced/standardized test or locally developed final exam) or require a culminating final project that is similar (using the same grading rubric to evaluate). Pros Good method to measure growth over time with regard to a course Cumulative The data is more robust if all students pass with flying colors the same assessment Provides an additional buffer between student learning performance and an individual instructors teaching performance Cons Focus and breadth of assessment are important Understanding all of the variables to produce assessment results is also important May result in additional course requirements Requires coordination and agreement on standards 3. Embedded Test QuestionsEmbed the same agreed upon questions that relate to the courses student learning outcomes into the final exam for all sections of the course and analyze those results and/or embed the same a greed-upon requirements into the final project/assignment for all sections of the course and analyze those results.Pros Good method to measure growth over time with regards to a course Cumulative The data is more robust if all students complete the same assessment Provides an additional buffer between student learning performance and an individual instructors teaching performance Embedded questions can be reported as an aggregate Cons May result in additional course requirements Requires coordination and agreement on standards If some instructors embed and others do not, the data will be difficult to compare and analyze Separate analysis of embedded set of questions is required VII. REFERENCES https//www. google. com. ph/search? q=ASSESSMENT+TOOLS+PPTrlz=2C1GTPM_enPH0537PH0537aq=foq=assessment+tools+aqs=chrome. 0. 59j57j61j60l2j0. 3437j0sourceid=chromeie=UTF-8 http//www. slideshare. net/armovil/assessment-of-student-learning? from_search=2 Fulks, Janet, Assessing Student Lea rning in Community Colleges, Bakersfield College, 2004