Comprehensive Annual Financial Report - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 5 Words: 1351 Downloads: 10 Date added: 2017/09/22 Category Advertising Essay Type Narrative essay Did you like this example? Comprehensive Annual Financial Report Tyies Wells ACC/548 June 27, 2010 William J. Carter III, MSA Comprehensive Annual Financial Report The Office of Financial Management provides vital information, fiscal services and policy support that the Governor, Legislature and state agencies need to serve the people of Washington State (Investopedia, 2010). Included in this briefing, a comparison of the governmental and for-profit financial accounting will be discussed, an understanding of the government reporting and reporting entity, and an overview of the Management Discussion Analysis report for the state of Washington. The Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR) requires statistical evaluation, whereas for-profit accounting does not. A government budget document is a blueprint for a specific grouping of government agencies spending over the course of an annual financial period. The major differences between governments and for-profit financial accounting are they have d ifferent purposes, processes of generating revenues, stakeholders, budgetary obligations, and propensity for longevity. These differences require separate accounting and financial reporting standards in order to provide information to meet the needs of stakeholders to assess government accountability and to make political, social, and economic decisions (FASB, 2010). A reporting entity is any unit or activity that uses resources to provide goods or services. A reporting entity is an organization that is obliged to prepare general purpose financial reports (PSAB, 2010). The government uses the CAFR along with a budget document to compare the total financial standing to the general purpose annual budget with every thing else. The CAFR shows the total of all financial accounting the basic general purpose budget reports do not and should not be confused with any rainy day funds that are but one of many investment accounts included in government budgetary reports and process. In No vember 2007, Washington State voters ratified Engrossed Substitute Senate Joint Resolution 8206, amending the state’s Constitution and establishing the Budget Stabilization Account (BSA). On July 1, 2008, the balance in the Emergency Reserve Fund of $303 million was transferred to the newly created BSA. An additional $115 million was transferred from the General Fund to the BSA in Fiscal Year 2009 in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution. The Constitution details a limited number of circumstances under which funds can be appropriated from the BSA, one of which is a favorable vote of at least three-fifths of the members of each house of the Legislature (State of Washington, CAFR, 2009). The Management Discussion and Analysis section of the CAFR provides an overview of the previous year of operations and how the company fared in that time period. Management will usually also touch on the upcoming year, outlining future goals and approaches to new projects (In vestopedia, 2010). The state of Washington’s MDA offers a narrative overview and analysis of the financial activities for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2009. The information is presented in conjunction with the information include in the letter of transmittal and with the state’s financial statements. The three components discussed in the MDA includes: 1: government-wide financial statements, 2) fund financial statements, and 3) notes to the financial statements. The government-wide financial statements are designed to provide readers with a broad overview of the state of Washington’s finances. The concept of government wide reporting is the most dramatic change in the new approach. This is a significant move because, until now, government followed only the modified-accrual basis of accounting. The change is important to potential lenders and taxpayers because of the need to capitalize and depreciate general capital assets or infrastructure. Information conc erning infrastructure will include the cost and anticipated life of roads, bridges, sewer and water systems and other capital assets. Since state and local governments invest $1 out of every $10 dollars ($140 billion to $150 billion annually) in the construction, improvement, and rehabilitation of capital assets, that information should be very interesting to local taxpayers (Business Encyclopedia, 2010). The government-wide financial statement includes: †¢ Statement of Net Assets – Information on all of the state of Washington’s assets and liabilities, with the differences between the two reported as net assets. Statement of Activities – Information showing how the state’s net assets changed during the most recent fiscal year. The fund financial statement is a group of accounts used to maintain control over resources that are segregated for specific activities or objectives. The state of Washington uses fund accounting to ensure and demonstrate c ompliance with finance-related legal requirements. The state uses 649 accounts that are combined into 54 rollup funds. The state presents separate financial statements for governmental funds, proprietary funds, and fiduciary funds. Major individual governmental funds and major individual proprietary funds are reported in separate columns in the fund financial statements, with nonmajor funds being combined into a single column regardless of fund type. Internal service and fiduciary funds are reported by fund type (State of Washington, CAFR, 2010). Some of the major funds that are supported by the state of Washington are: †¢ General Fund †¢ Higher Education Special Revenue Fund †¢ Higher Education Endowment Permanent Fund †¢ Workers’ Compensation Fund †¢ Unemployment Compensation Fund †¢ Higher Education Student Services Fund The notes to the financial statements provide additional that is essential to a full understanding of the data provide d in the government-wide and fund financial statements. The Constitution details a limited number of circumstances under which funds can be appropriated from the BSA, one of which is a favorable vote of at least three-fifths of the members of each house of the Legislature (State of Washington, CAFR, 2010). In the government-wide and proprietary fund financial statements, long-term obligations of the state are reported as liabilities on the Statement of Net Assets. Bonds payable are reported net of applicable original issuance premium or discount. When material, bond premiums, discounts, and issue costs are deferred and amortized over the life of the bonds. Conclusion While a budget might indicate that a specific government or agency has financial trouble and debt because of excess spending or mismanagement within the select grouping of general fund accounts presented, the CAFR may indicate, in whole, the same government entity, has many facets possessing large holdings considerab ly over what is shown in a budget report. References Business Encyclopedia. (2010). Government Financial Reporting. Retrieved from https://www. answers. com/topic/government-financial-reporting Financial Accounting Standards Board. (2010). Why Governmental Accounting and Financial Reporting is-and should be-Different. Retrieved from https://www. gasb. org/white_paper_full. pdf Investopedia. (2010). Management Discussion and Analysis – MDA. Retrieved from https://www. investopedia. com/terms/m/mdanalysis. asp Public Sector Accounting Board. (2010). About the Government Reporting Entity. Retrieved from https://www. psab-ccsp. ca/item14956. pdf Washington State Office of Financial Management. (2010). Comprehensive Annual Financial Report. Retrieved from https://www. ofm. wa. gov/cafr/2009/CAFR09. pdf Comprehensive Annual Financial Report Briefing |Content |Points Available |Points Earned | |60% |4. 8 |3. | |Overview clearly and effectively demonstrates the following: |   | | |†¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Differences in governmental accounting and for-profit | | | |financial accounting | | | |†¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   An understanding of the government reporting and reporting | | | |entity | | | |†¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   An assessment of the Management Discussion Analysis | | | |reporting unit (MDA). | | |Organization/Development |Points Available |Points Earned | |20% |1. 6 |1. 4 | |†¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Overview is at least 1,050 and no more than 1,400 words in |   |   | |length. | | | |†¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Overview contains sufficient background on the selected | | | |organization and previews major points. | | |†¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Overview is logical, flows, and reviews the major points, for | | | |example | | | | | | | |  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Major Revenues | | | |- Major Debts | | | |- Risk Management | | | |Mechanics |Points Ava ilable |Points Earned | |20% |1. 6 |1. 6 | |†¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Formatting or layout and graphics are pleasing to the eye (font,|   |   | |colors, and spacing). | | |†¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Rules of grammar, usage, and punctuation are followed, and | | | |spelling is correct. | | | |†¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   APA guidelines are followed. | | | |   |Total Available |Total Earned | |   |8 |  6. 8 | Instructor Comments Content – One of the requirements for content was comparing and contrasting government entities, not for profits, and businesses. I would have liked to see more details in this regard. There was a limited amount of information detailing the differences. I would have like to see the board members referenced so we know who the audience is. You did a good job assessing the MDA of Washington State. Organization/Development – Organization and development was good. I would have like to have seen more specifics i n terms of revenue, expenditures and any major issues for the state of Washington. There were no detailed numbers to give an understanding of the financial health of the state. Mechanics – Your mechanics were great, no problems here. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Comprehensive Annual Financial Report" essay for you Create order

My Definition Of Normal - 1646 Words

What is considered normal? Everyone today yearns to be considered normal, but what exactly are they striving for? Found in the dictionary, the definition of normal is: an adjective; usual; conforming to the usual standard, type, or custom. But, how can anything be considered normal if no two people are exactly the same? Norms form a society. They are the standards by which people live by. Growing up in Rhode Island, my experience has been with the American contemporary society. Our society has to put labels on everything and everyone in order to function. There are different norms for the way we look and act. Our society has set an extremely high standard of normality with appearance. People believe that the norm for appearance,†¦show more content†¦I am not staying popular people cannot be friends, but they are friends based on a superficial idea. They care about the clothes, the looks, and what people thought of them, while my sister did not care how she dressed or if what approved of what she was doing. All she cared about was having what she determined to be fun. While most people looked at her as being a nerd, I look at her as being a cool person who was content with her life. This experience made me start questioning the idea of normality. I realized that norms measure a persons happiness. If a person is normal, then he or she has found security and happiness. But, what about the rest of us? Just because I have not achieved, and in most cases unwilling to achieve, the norms of society, does this make me inferior to the norms? Beside myself, many people have internally agonized over the idea of norms and how they serve society, especially dealing with appearances. Everyone comes to a point when they evaluate their lives against these standards. Often times, in a persons quest for normality, they have to conform and try to destroy their differences from what they perceive to be normal. Before they realize they are different, they are, in a sense, content with their lives. This idea can be found my many writings such as Elizabeth MacDonalds Odalique. My hair is short can less feminine at this time, my face rounder, my body plumper.Show MoreRelatedDe finition Of A Normal Adult905 Words   |  4 Pageswith reading the words â€Å" normal adult† before I get start into the main concepts of unit two. This is something I think is very close to my daily life because my parents are considered normal adult to me. They set up the best real model for me. Therefore, it is not difficult being a normal adult from my perception. Yet, by end of unit two, I was proven wrong. 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At first my definition of equality was that everybody is subject to the same set of rules, even though there are many times when the same set of rules can be unfair. An example of equality not being fair can be shown where two students are taking the same class. One student is normal in abilitiesRead MoreQueer Is Not A Queer1218 Words   |  5 PagesI was walking to my house from the bus stop one day with my neighbor, Michael, and I was joking about how I have a girl crush on Selena Gomez. I asked Michael, Hey, what male celebrity do you have a man crush on? He responded ferociously with, None. I m not a freaking queer. This is the exact type of mindset that transforms innocent words into ones dripping with negativity and spite. Language is one of the most powerful tools a person could have, and the way they utilize it reveals their characterRead MoreChallenges in Identifying Mental Disorders685 Words   |  3 Pagesquestion. People live fairly normal, adaptive or with mental disorders, it would be a great task to understand thus. This paper is a short APA formatted reflective essay on my research determining, why abnormal behavior or a mental disorder so difficult to understand. When discussing or defining what is abnormal we can run into some challenges on our techniques in defining or diagnosing a patient. There are so many ways a person or client or patient can appear normal or not. Misinterpreting thisRead MoreThe Neuman System Model And Its Impact On Patients And Nursing Care963 Words   |  4 Pagesvery diverse in applicability. The Neuman System Model discusses many concepts. One major concept is the idea of stressors and their affects on the patient system. Neuman defines stressors as any phenomenon that might penetrate both the flexible and normal lines of defense, resulting in a positive or negative outcome (Masters, 2015). Types of stressors include intrapersonal, interpersonal, and extrapersonal. Intrapersonal stressors are those that occur within the client system boundary and correlateRead MoreMy Family As A Normal Family1357 Words   |  6 Pagesafter my two children have been diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder, tends to be: â€Å"What is normal?† Growing up, I would consider my family to be a â€Å"normal family.† I have a mother and father who have been married for 38 years, and a younger brother who is three years and four months younger than I am. We were the typical four-person family with one daughter and one son. My mother considered us the â€Å"perfect family† because she had the best of both worlds. To me, this is what a normal familyRead MoreAnalysis Of The Article Are You Sexually, And Does That Matter?1109 Words   |  5 PagesAnalysis of Articles One of the keys points in the article â€Å"Are you Sexually Normal- and Does That Matter?† by Dr. Klein is â€Å"are we normal?† As humans we want to be seen as normal, but there is no real definition for normal. In class, Professor Popillion asked us our definition of a virgin and as a class we have different views on what we classified as a virgin. This is exactly what is going on with the definition of normal. I didn’t realize how much of a problem this was until reading this articleRead More Why There is no Model Family? Essay1291 Words   |  6 Pagesthat the entire definition of â€Å"family† can be skewed into whatever subjective opinion one wants. Cold-blooded, homicidal menaces to society can create a â€Å"family† by forming a gang which may have more inner peace than a dysfunctional blood family. Friends can consider themselves family even when they share no blood ties. Gay couples, single males, and parents of different ethnicities ca n adopt a child and form the â€Å"legal† definition of a family. There is no set-in-stone definition of family; with

Negotiation Game Theory Free Essays

Negotiation| | The use of Game Theory could be a powerful force in negotiation. Investigate the different ways that Game Theory can be used or manipulated to change an outcome in a negotiation. | | Negotiation| | The use of Game Theory could be a powerful force in negotiation. We will write a custom essay sample on Negotiation: Game Theory or any similar topic only for you Order Now Investigate the different ways that Game Theory can be used or manipulated to change an outcome in a negotiation. | | Quentin Dutartre Yash Ruia Damien Canneva Kilian Bus Emilien Allier David Schil Quentin Dutartre Yash Ruia Damien Canneva Kilian Bus Emilien Allier David Schil Contents Introduction2 What is the Game theory? Theory4 Making commitments: promises and threats4 Basic situation4 Unique Win/Win situation5 Commitments and side payments5 Prisoner’s dilemma7 The Simplest Game: Two Person with a Fixed Pie8 Tacit Barganining8 How to act during a negotiation9 Breakthrough Strategy9 Tactics10 Limits11 The modelisation11 The interpretation12 Conclusion13 Sources13 Introduction Our group decided to work on the topic three: â€Å"The use of Game Theory could be a powerful force in negotiation. Investigate the different ways that Game Theory can be used or manipulated to change an outcome in a negotiation†. The modern Game Theory was created in 1944 with the book â€Å"Theory of games and economic behavior† by Oskar Mogenstern and John Von Neumann. It was also developed a lot in the 1950’s with several studies by John Nash. After our seminary about negotiation we thought it would be very interesting to make some research about the Game Theory. Indeed, we made some researches on the Game Theory in our first year in IESEG in our economic classes. That is why we were a bit surprised to see that this theory could be also used in a negotiation process to analyze it. It seems to be obvious that using the concepts of that theory could change the course of a negotiation and be understood as a manipulation or just a skill to achieve the goals of the agents in a negotiation. We decided to divide our work in three parts. First, we will define the Game Theory and make some examples. Secondly, we will make an synthesis on how to act as a negotiator during a negotiation. Finally, on the third part we will talk about the limits and the interpretation we can make on that subject. Generally, we can say that our goal is to extend the concept of Game Theory. Indeed, we imagined it only in an economic vision and we want to extend it to a negotiation vision. What is the Game theory? The Game theory is a method to study the strategic decision-making. More formally, it is  «the study of the mathematical models of conflict and the cooperation between intelligent reasonable decision-makers. † An alternative term suggested  «as a more descriptive name for the discipline † is the theory of interactive decision. The Game Theory is mainly used in the economy, the political science and the psychology, as well as the logic, negotiation and the biology. The subject of the (landed) at first sent zero-sum games, such as the earnings(gains) of a person equal exactly the clear(net) losses of the other participant (s). Today, however, the Game theory applies to a vast range of relations of class and developed in a term of umbrella for the logical side of science, to include both man and non-people, as computers. Classic uses include the direction of the balance in numerous games, where every person found or developed a tactics which cannot successfully better its results, given the other approach. Theory Making commitments: promises and threats The first assumption to be made is that the goal of any negotiation is to enlarge the pay off for both sides, and in most cases agreements has to be made in order to achieve getting a Win/Win situation. These agreements can be made by making either promises or threats. In both cases, the idea is to benefit from an enlargement of the total pie obtained by making commitments. Basic situation In the following example, both sides are looking forward to getting the better pay off. At first sight, Neil seems to have a better hand since he is able to have payments by using both of his strategies while Bob can only win by using strategy 1. It is obvious that Neil would better use strategy 1 in order to maximize his payoffs expectations. But Bob would probably prefer using his second strategy than winning less than Neil, though it would result in a Loose/Loose situation. Bob will probably threatens to take strategy 2 if Neil chooses the first one. The only way to obtain a Win/Win situation though is for Neil to make a commitment: he must promise to choose 2 if Bob chooses 1. This is the most basic commitment example. Unique Win/Win situation In the following one, there is one only scenario which allows the two player to win, but commitments must be made buy both sides in order to reach the best situation for both. Here, Neil will probably initially chose strategy 1 in order to avoid loss, but he won’t be able to gain anything though. Bob would probably choose to maximize his payoffs expectations by choosing the first strategy. Finally, neither Bob nor Neil will get payoffs, so that we obtain a Loose/Loose result, which is not acceptable. They both have to promise to choose the second strategy in order to win. Commitments and side payments In this last example, it is not possible to reach a Win/Win agreement but by making side payment. Side payments allows to change the total pie, and though to reach the targeted situation. In this particular scenario, initially Neil would choose the first strategy, which is not acceptable for Bob in both cases. Moreover, Bob can’t threaten Neil to choose either a strategy or another. This is a very bad situation for Bob. He will probably choose strategy 1 in order to minimize Neil’s payoffs, and though gain nothing. But, fortunately he can also promise side payments, which could change the total pie. As a matter of fact, if he pays $2 for Neil to pick strategy 2, we create a Win/Win situation which will allow both sides to get payoffs. Through this part we’re going to apply the concept of promises and threats into a concrete situation of negotiation. We set the situation, we have two participants, one will be selling an apartment two a possible buyer. At first sight, the man in power is the seller as he fixes the price. Nevertheless, the buyer can use the threat technique, saying he won’t accept the offer. This decision would place our two actors in a lose/lose situation. Indeed, if the buyer is in the situation of losing the negotiation he will choose to make his opponent loose too. Thus in order to obtain a win/win situation, the seller must not be too greedy to convince his customer. In another way, if the seller wants to be sure to succeed, he can promise the buyer an offer that will automatically put the buyer in a state of winning. Prisoner’s dilemma The prisoner’s dilemma is one of the most famous games. It is quite easy to understand and gives a good idea of different possibilities in negociation and the interest of cooperation. The main idea is that two burglars get caught by the police after a robbery, and they are interrogated separately. They have two options: either they say that the other guy is guilty or they say he’s not. Considering one’s interest separately, the best situation for him is to use the guilty option while the other chooses the not guilty option. In this case, the first guy will get only 1year of jail while the other one will get 5 years. Therefore it is very risky to choose the not guilty option. If we consider the two as one, the most interesting situation is that both of them choose the not guilty option, whereas the worst is both choosing the guilty option. This is one of the simplest examples of a Win/Win, Win/Loose or Loose/Loose situation. They can both act individually using the guilty option, and get 3 years of jail each, or they can cooperate, use the not guilty strategy and get only 2 years both. The major thing to be remembered is that trust is crucial in negotiations. It leads to the only Win/Win situation possible and credibility is needed to avoid defection. The Simplest Game: Two Person with a Fixed Pie When think of people negotiating, a very simple scenario comes into mind, where one person wins and the other fails to win. This is a very simple scenario and one of the first that game theory attempted to solve. Let’s take a very simple example where Nathan owes Barbara some money and they can’t decide on how much. Both of them have two options available to them, but the final decision depends not only on what strategy they choose, but also on what strategy is chosen by their opponent. Nathan will choose to pay a minimum of 40 and Barbara will want to take the maximum of let’s say, 60. This is a very simple scenario and one can easily figure out that the outcome will be 50. 40| 50| 50| 60| However this illustrated a very important concept called the Minimax theorem which tells us to pick the strategy the minimizes the opponents maximum gain. Nathan will pick strategy 2 in order to not pay 60 while Barbara would pick strategy 1 to avoid only getting paid 40. The more variables one has, the more complex the game becomes to solve. Therefore it is a good idea to have lesser number of variables, similarly we need to have a clear idea of what we need in order to reduce unimportant options. Reducing the number of variables one has is always a good idea, even if one is not really reducing the number of variables it is important to show to the opponent that you only have some variables to win. For example, when a customer asks for something one can refer to standardized guidelines or not having permission from the boss to reduce variables. Tacit Barganining. This term was first coined by Thomas Schelling. Who did some experimental research and found out the following facts: * When asked to pick any number, 40% chose the number 1. * When asked to pick any amount of money almost all people chose a figure divisible by 10 * When people were told that they had to meet someone else – but had to guess the time – almost all chose noon. We often succumb to a lot of convections even without doing it consciously. It is normal for people to follow the laws of fairness and equilibrium; no one wants to be seen as deviating from the norm. Therefore its usually a good idea to make the first move in a negotiation so that you can create the framework and make clear that you are precedent. In a negotiation, taking the initiative doesn’t seem to be the best thing to do when you start it. Indeed, when you ask somebody to start negotiations, generally he is reticent to do so. Nevertheless asking the first proposal allows you to be able to negotiate on this basis, that’s why you should do it first. Establish a precedence as we said before is a tool to start negotiating. The thing is, there is always a argaining whereas you don’t even notice it. It’s called the â€Å"tacit bargaining†. How to act during a negotiation Breakthrough Strategy In order to reach your goals through using the game theory to negotiate you will need to apply a strategy you will respect during the entire negotiation. That’s why we can use the breakthrough strategy. This breakthrough strategy is based on five step s and permits to solve issues during the negotiation process. Its aim is to offer the two parties the possibility to work together rather than appearing as two adversaries. Nevertheless, this strategy needs to be remembered and followed as it wouldn’t be the intuitive reaction. These five steps are to firstly stay focused. In fact, the goal is to have your mind clear and not be parasite by your emotions. You need to have an overall view on the entire negotiation and to not get lose on a specific point. Then, you need to accept the counter-party. Indeed, being as empathic as possible is very important throughout the negotiation process as creating a climate of exchange is primordial to obtain a win/win situation. This can be perfectly illustrated by the prisoner dilemma. Both parties searching for their proper interest without regarding his opponent situation will lead to lose/lose. Thereafter, the participant will reframe the negotiation. It is based on rephrasing the opponent arguments enhancing the common interest. This will permit that both side look for the fairest deal possible. Once again you need to look through the other negotiators eyes in building a â€Å"golden bridge. This means trying to understand if, in his situation, you will accept the deal as it is now. You will therefore see when to finalize the negotiation in order that the counter-party doesn’t feel pushed in the conclusion. Finally, to make it hard to refuse by using the power game as threats or bluff is the most common mistake made at the end of the negotiation. In fact, by using lowering his chance to refuse you also lower his chance to accept the deal. Thus, by having used the four precedent steps, you have create a negotiation climate that will present your golden bridge as the best common interest for the parties. Tactics Tactic is about anticipating what the negotiator is going to do. You have to prepare several strategies in order to obtain what you want from these negotiations. First, there are the behavioral tactics, whose aim is to differentiate the negotiation in its role of representation of a third person or a company and the person who plays this role. Negotiators when using these tactics can operate in many ways. They can use a spokesman for representation, or the executive person or a delegated representative. You have to create a positive frame if you want to obtain concessions from the person you’re negotiating with. Moreover, you have to establish limits in your area of negotiation. Anchoring is a tool that has to be established in order to be able to make adjustments between the two parties in the future. Adjustments and anchoring are important because they have an impact on negotiators. They lead them to what is possible and doable during the negotiation. Another mean is to influence the negotiator as an individual. As if, the negotiator is using its unique and common sense during an argumentation. Some tactics can be based on ethic and morality. If you think the proposition is unfair or contrary to the usual behavior or even illegal, you can use these tactics by pointing up the fact that the proposition is unethical. Tactics is not only about the human and the social part; there is also a part of a negotiation that is about the balance of power between the two parties. The main goal of this tactic is to let the other party know that accepting one request would have an important impact on the cost and that we are going to make them pay for that. The deterrence impact shouldn’t be ignored in a negotiation. Commitment in a negotiation is of paramount importance. It is one of the three strategic strikes with bluff and threat. The thing is that negotiators have naturally the tendency to commit themselves into the negotiation. Instead of trying to develop its requirements and modifying its position, he will start conflict in order to put pressure on its opponent. It puts the opponent in a tough position; accept our request or he will have to face the failure of the negotiation. And that’s exactly what he wants to avoid. Otherwise, its role would be useless. This tactic can lead to a dead-end, but it’s a stuck situation that doesn’t consider the balance of power between the two parties. Threats are different from commitment as they are more flexible and have a longer range of existence. They are various as they can be explicit or implicit. They are the direct consequences of the failure of negotiations and can be introduce by the company of the negotiator. They have to be used sparingly because threats without any actions discredited any negotiators and especially its company. In the future, it would have an impact on the approach of the opponent regarding the company. Limits The study of a complex negotiation situation with the help of a model places two major complementary problems: the modeling itself (the passage of the reality to a version idealized of this reality) and the interpretation (inverse approach) The modelisation Modelisation is a very hard job. We can resume it as the stage of transforming reality problem into a matrix. The modelisation consists in creating a representation simplified by a problem: the model. But as every transformation, problems could be highlight. Some characteristics, some influence can be overestimated or less estimated. How to model the respective influences of the parameters (functional dependence, indeed if such or such parameter exercises one dominating influence or on the contrary, unimportant in first estimate, etc. ) * How measure the values of the parameters (variables of situation or history of the previous negotiations for example) and how fire of a model of the theoretical results (or of experimental simulation). And at least the human factor is very difficult to imagine and to predict. The process of modelisation tries doing it. But through his experience, his character, his objectives or his approach, each human is different. So a model would try to simplify it but of course will make errors. The interpretation Indeed, we already possess a completely realistic model: it is the real world itself. Yet this model is too much complicated to be understandable. †¦ It is only when a simplifying postulate ends in a model which supplies incorrect answers to the questions which it is supposed to answer that its lack of realism can be considered as an imperfection. †¦ Otherwise, its lack of realism is then a virtue. In that case, the simplifying postulate allows to isolate certain effects and to facilitate the understanding. How to interpret the results supplied by the model, suppose that there is (problem of adequacy of the model to the reality). Does such result of the model express suitably the real situation, in spite of the simplifications and the untidy parameters? Like the modelisation, Interpretation is a tuff job. The human factor is a hard to forecast. Game theoretic predictions may not be confirmed in experiments (the real life). Is this a fault of game theory? Yes: people are simply not rational †¦ * No: maybe we get the information technology wrong (absentmindedness), or payoffs are not specified correctly (altruism). The advantage of assuming rationality is that we can think through situations (how can irrationality be modeled). The advantage of assuming selfish behavior is that it is â€Å"unique† (what means altruism, inequity aversion etc. ). Conclusion As a conclusi on we have studied all the aspects about the Game Theory and that helped us to understand that it is a useful tool not only about economic classes but also for negotiation. Indeed, we have made a link between the different sorts of Game Theory and the different cases you can face during a negotiation process. As it is often the case, we found that one of the strongest conditions to succeed in a negotiation is to be able to adapt your body language and attitude according to the characters and features of your contradictor(s). Using the Game Theory could help you to make a strategy and to adapt your goals to any case which is in front of you. However, it is never possible to make a perfect prediction of how the person who is just in front of you and it is very important to be cautious enough, that means that you must rank the risks of any strategy you will try during a negotiation. We can take a final example: You start a meeting being sure you will use the theory of the prisoner’s dilemma because you thought you perfectly understood the mood of the other agent. Imagine one second that you made a very big mistake because you don’t know that the person in front of you has just been left by his wife (for example) and he is very upset. That situation is a good illustration of the risks of using the Game Theory as a perfect and trusting strategy for negotiation. We can finally say that using the Game Theory can be very positive in a negotiation and you can consider it as a very useful tool. However, we have to be very careful because some parts of this theory can be assimilated as a manipulation and this theory is not a miracle solution: every negotiation is different and you can’t always predict the features and mood of your contradictors. Sources * http://dlhoh. hubpages. com/hub/Negotiation-Skill-Dilemma * http://hbswk. hbs. du/item/2773. html * http://www. digitaltonto. com/2009/game-theory-guide-to-negotiations/ * http://www2. warwick. ac. uk/fac/soc/economics/staff/academic/muthoo/publications/bargwc. pdf * http://www. negotiation. hut. fi/learning-modules/IntroToGTAndNego/index. html * http://www. economist. com/node/21527025 * http://www. google. fr/url? sa=trct=jq=negotiation+game+theorysource=webcd= 9ved=0CHoQFjAIurl=http%3A%2F%2Ffaculty. haas. berkeley. edu%2Frjmorgan%2Fmba211%2FCourse%2520Overview. pptei=vgibT_juBoek4AS8ys2pDgusg=AFQjCNF5FpD-1CO77pM9Ae0oXFzY0SeGCQcad=rja How to cite Negotiation: Game Theory, Essay examples

The Roaring Twenties free essay sample

Many of these ideas had a historical impact. All over the United States people had the highest standard of living in the world during this time period. The 1920’s was the decade to live in. As a matter of fact the 1920’s were such a phenomenon that they got the nickname of the â€Å"Roaring 20’s†. The Roaring 20’s brought new inventions and many technological innovations that made this decade a time to live in. The first step Americans took was the shift from coal to electricity. There was mass production all over the nation with higher wages and more employee benefits. People were now moving from the country into the cities to gain work opportunities with all the new businesses opening up selling brand new ideas that people had never seen before. Electronic appliances were selling like fresh bread. From irons to toasters to refrigerators, for once it wasn’t men going and picking out appliances for home but it was the women who had this responsibility. These new products made life for housewives so much easier by reducing laundry labor, food preparation and cleaning. Women were running to the stores to buy these new electronic appliances. Granted many of these appliances had already been invented but it was in the 1920’s when they were improved and more people actually had the budget to purchase them. Ernst Alexanderson then introduced the radio and it was a huge impact on society. People could now be informed of things happening around America. The business industry took full advantage of this by marketing and selling their products by using persuading words and attracting the attention of their customers. The radio also transmitted many important events in America from sport events to historical events. The radio was a huge hit among the people but it was no contender for what was coming next. Henry Ford launched an innovation that was so revolutionary that drove Americans crazy, literally. The combustion automobile was made and not only that but it was selling for an affordable price all over the United States. The first low-cost cars ever were created all the same so there was no way to differentiate the different classes. Later GM motors came up with the idea to make different type of combustion automobiles and sell them at different prices. This was a huge sensation and people could now get from point A to point B remarkably faster at a lower expense unlike the previous years. For the first time more Americans could travel the country and explore places that most of them had never seen before. This was just the tip of the iceberg as in came more changes in America during the Roaring 20’s. World War I had just ended and there was a sense of peace and freedom among Americans. During this era there were numerous of movements and new political norms. The greatest of them could have been the 19th amendment which gave women the right to vote. Women were now politically equal to men and it was chaotic. Pushing their luck, women also created the Equal Rights Movement which targeted laws the favored only men. This was the start of the â€Å"new women†. Women now had different goals and ambitions. With a new role, more women began to desire not only successful careers of their own but also families. With all the new opportunities women still seemed to prefer the housewife job and find a husband they could depend on. Also the 20th century introduced the minimum wage and also forced many industries and factories to shorten their work days. Factories produced labor more quickly and more efficiently due to the incentives and bonuses that were now given to workers. Many jobs were now available for all kinds of classes. Government then did a risky move which was the prohibition of alcohol. At this point there was a strong demand for alcohol and the government had now made it illegal. Many Americans still found a way to obtain this by going to illegal hidden bars or pubs and consuming alcohol. When people are refused something they really desire they will find a way to get it and many times it is going to be secretive and at a higher price. People needed to celebrate and drink up and that’s exactly what they did. It was a time of joy and festivity and no one not even the government was going to take that away from them. It also helped that during this prohibition period the selling of alcohol was illegal but there were no laws prohibiting the consumption of it. In the government they had their own kind of new era. Three conservative presidents from the Republican Party were elected into office during this age. Warren G Harding who was elected in 1921, Calvin Coolidge elected in 1923 and ending with Herbert Hoover in 1929 all had their flaws but with one common goal, to help business and industry to operate with the maximum efficiency and productivity as possible. This most definitely helped the economy and opened many job opportunities in America. The Roaring 20’s was a decade of show time and entertainment. People had new activities that got them entertained and wanting to leave their home or get a break from work. During this time Jazz Age was born in New Orleans by African Americans. Jazz soon became the most popular music all over the United States. Jazz was fast, loud and a ruckus much like the Roaring 20’s. Jazz bands quickly moved up north some to Chicago and others to New York and played in many dance clubs or had their own shows in theaters. Jazz was mostly influenced by the prohibition of alcohol. Soon records were being produced and every music manager wanted to get a hold of these Jazz bands that were causing chaos all over Chicago and New York. With jazz came many new things such as dances. Jazz created the famous Charleston and the Black Bottom. People everywhere had this new energy every time they listened to this new sound and soon were dancing all over the place. It was a party everywhere one of these African American bands played. Dance clubs became extremely popular at this time. Dance clubs across America would host dance competitions and many unique and never before seen steps were created. Along with the new dances in came the Flappers. These Flappers were women of the new era who drank, smoked, talked about sex and danced. The Flappers were an entertainment and not only for men. They danced and carried on this idea of changing previous roles or views of women. Their attire was what stuck out the most, wearing short skirts, bobbed haircut and feather like clothing. These women didn’t care what anyone thought about them, they were living their lives with no regrets. As if the Jazz era wasn’t exciting enough Hollywood soon came into play. Movies became America’s favorite activity in the 1920’s. The cinema industry had an enormous expansion filling up movie theaters to the maximum capacity. These innovative movies were based on the new era and people were thrilled about that. The new cinema age provided a dream world for the audiences. The movies now had role models for young men and women. People wanted to act like the actors they were viewing on the big screen. Another great source of entertainment that really became famous was sports. The Roaring twenties was indeed the breakout decade for sports in America. This became known as the â€Å"Golden Age of Sports†. All over the states Americans made their way to stadiums and arenas to watch the top of the world athletes perform. Among top performers in the 20th century the name Babe Ruth with the 1927 Yankees is the first to come to mind. No player had, or has for that matter, ever played the sport of baseball like this man did. Babe Ruth was an exciting player to watch play and improved the way the game was played. His team during this time is said to be the greatest team of all-time. Another name that pops into my head is Red Grange the â€Å"Galloping Ghost†. Red Grange was an amazing football player in the college league with the University of Illinois who had outstanding talents on the field. After college he signed with the Chicago Bears and became the highest paid football player in the NFL. This was the first time the NFL franchise had seen incredible potential and skills in one player. In addition to incredible sport figures, in the Olympic games of Paris 1924, many American athletes would go and break records by a remarkable difference and would bring the gold back home. Society in the 1920’s had a very liberal perspective towards life. People were leaving old and traditional behind and adapting to the new era. Americans wanted to become rebellious and feel free. Many of the people in this decade looked up at models in magazine and propaganda. Americans were attracted to the media and marketing was in a way brain washing them. During this time acceptance was becoming a bit clearer. Acceptance to homosexuality was becoming more common and also that of minor race groups in America. Society was in awe of all the new advances both technological and in culture. Everything seemed so easy for them and it just so happened during a period where most Americans had the money to do as they wish. Everything was good, maybe too good to be true. As all things come to an end, in October 29, 1929 one of the worst catastrophes in America and even the world occurred. The Wall Street Crash came into place. This day the stock prices on Wall Street collapsed resulting in a world-wide depression that would later be known as the Great Depression. This crash on Wall Street would put millions of people out of work across the globe. In 1933 the 21st amendment would legalize alcohol in an effort to stop the depression. Happiness has its price and the people of the 1930’s unfourtanely took the toll for it. Nevertheless, the Roaring Twenties was a time of excitement and adventure. One can look back and it looks all too surreal. People were just having fun that is all, living the best life they could ever wish for. This period of celebration and prosperity had many accomplishments in history. I can only imagine what I would have done during this decade, the choices are numerous. The whole 1920’s seem to me like it was one huge American party that lasted ten whole years. Ten years of non-stop entertainment until in 1929 the â€Å"cops† raided the party. The Roaring Twenties most definitely was the decade to live in.

The importance of religion in eitheror

How to Use Attribution Correctly as a Reporter

How to Use Attribution Correctly as a Reporter Attribution simply means telling your readers where the information in your story comes from, as well as who is being quoted. Generally, attribution means using a source’s full name and job title  if thats relevant. Information from sources can be paraphrased or quoted directly, but in both cases, it should be attributed. Attribution Style Keep in mind that on-the-record attribution - meaning a sources full name and job title are given - should be used whenever possible. On-the-record attribution is inherently more credible than any other type of attribution for the simple reason that the ​source has put their name on the line with the information theyve provided. But there are some cases where a  source might not be willing to give full on-the-record attribution. Lets say youre an investigative reporter looking into allegations of corruption in city government. You have a source in the mayors office who is willing to give you information, but hes worried about repercussions if his name is revealed. In that case, you as the reporter would talk to this source about what kind of attribution he is willing to commit to. You are compromising on full on-the-record attribution because the story is worth getting for the public good. Here are some examples of different kinds of attribution. Source – Paraphrase Jeb Jones, a resident of the trailer park, said the sound of the tornado was terrifying. Source – Direct Quote â€Å"It sounded like a giant locomotive train coming through. I’ve never heard anything like it,† said Jeb Jones, who lives in the trailer park. Reporters often use both paraphrases and direct quotes from a source. Direct quotes provide immediacy and a more connected, human element to the story. They tend to draw the reader in. Source – Paraphrase and Quote Jeb Jones, a resident of the trailer park, said the sound of the tornado was terrifying. â€Å"It sounded like a giant locomotive train coming through. I’ve never heard anything like it,† Jones said. (Notice that in Associated Press style,  a source’s full name is used on the first reference, then just the last name on all subsequent references. If your source has a specific title or rank, use the title before his full name on the first reference, then just the last name after that.) When to Attribute Any time the information in your story comes from a source  and not from your own firsthand observations or knowledge, it must be attributed. A good rule of thumb is to attribute once per paragraph if you are telling the story mainly through comments from an interview or eyewitnesses to an event. It might seem repetitive, but it’s important for reporters to be clear about where their information originates. Example: The suspect escaped from the police van on Broad Street, and officers captured him about a block away on Market Street, said Lt. Jim Calvin. Different Types of Attribution In his book News Reporting and Writing,  journalism professor Melvin Mencher outlines four distinct types of attribution: 1. On the record: All statements are directly quotable and attributable, by name and title, to the person making the statement. This is the most valuable type of attribution. Example: The U.S. has no plans to invade Iran, said White House press secretary Jim Smith. 2. On Background: All statements are directly quotable but cant be attributed by name or specific title to the person commenting. Example: The U.S. has no plans to invade Iran, a White House spokesman said. 3. On Deep Background: Anything that is said in the interview is usable but not in a  direct quotation and not for attribution. The  reporter  writes it in his own words.   Example: Invading Iran is not in the cards for the U.S.   4. Off the Record: Information is for the reporters use only and is not to be published. The information also is not to be taken to another source in hopes of getting confirmation.   You probably don’t need to get into all of Mencher’s categories when you’re interviewing a source. But you should clearly establish how the information your source gives you can be attributed.

Project Management Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Project Management - Assignment Example There are two fundamental scheduling network techniques known as Critical Path Method (CPM) and Program evaluation and review technique (PERT). However, use of CPM technique has greatly increased in the last many years. This technique is advantageous as it covers both scheduling and costing of projects (Meredith and Mantel, 2009). Under the CPM, a project is divided into nodes, and initial event is taken as 0 and final as n event. Time taken for completion of tasks in a project is denoted as x1, x2,†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦xn. For example, a good network diagram is developed that also requires the list of all activities on the work breakdown structure (WBS). Duration of each activity is determined that results into a critical path, which is the least time for completion of a project. For a project, critical path is determined by adding the duration of activities of different paths starting from start to finish of a project as shown in the

Designing a Grounded Embodied Mental Model Learning Environment Assignment

Designing a Grounded Embodied Mental Model Learning Environment - Assignment Example The paper contains answers to a number of questions in which the Grounded Embodied Mental model learning environment has been investigated. The topic chosen for the design of the learning environment is the mathematical branch called arithmetic. It was found that the GEMM learning environment can be very appropriate in helping the student to master the simple arithmetic procedures. Arithmetic involves counting and adding up of things as it happens to be applicable in many spheres of life. It is the oldest branch in mathematics. The grounded embodied learning environment is one that provides the student with the right objects to apply the lessons they learn. It should allow them to have physical manipulation of these objects as well as the use of gestures in learning. The content of learning gets meaning from the use of these physical objects. It is no longer based on concept visualization without seeing or handling anything. Gestures have a role they play in changing the knowledge of the child. This happens directly on the cognitive state of the child or indirectly by affecting the child’s communicative environment. Agents are also important in learning because they make the lesson more realistic. Examples include robots and video games which make learning more interesting and easy to master. Students are motivated by the GEMM since it is a more interesting way of learning that reduces boredom. Using gestures and manipulating physical objects in the learning environment is very entertaining and can increase motivation. ... ognitive learning environment is critical; to enable the student to use the other body senses such as touch in order to learn (Lakoff and   Rafael 200).   Description of the grounded environment and how it would make the content more meaningful The GEMM learning environment has physical objects that should be used by the students. It involves gestures which are expected to make understanding better than if they were not there. This is the main difference with the ordinary learning setting. The physical objects such as computers are expected to help the student to learn. The student manipulates these objects to create a better understanding of the abstract concepts being taught (Greeno, & Moore, 210). The arithmetic learning environment consists of a number of equipment and parts such as natural user interfaces. These are of two types thus; free interfaces and the touch use interfaces. In the touch use interface the user has to directly touch the device and a single touch could be appropriate such as the SMART Board or multi touch such as SMART iPhone, table, surface or iPad. Free form interfaces with gestures don’t need the user to handle the device like the kinect Microsoft project. The gestural controller and touch screen mechanics have 3 parts which are an actuator, comparator and sensor. Bodily rooted knowledge has perception processes that have an effect on conceptual thinking. Researchers in the area of embodiment and cognition discovered that there exists a compatibility effect between the physical state of a person and his mental state. Physical touch and movement enhance the learning of a student. When children involve their hands in learning they develop knowledge and brain connections through the movement. When children make use of compatible actions for

The Problems of Contemporary American Culture Assignment

The Problems of Contemporary American Culture - Assignment Example Many teenagers disrespect their parents, adults, the elderly, and traditions. The media no longer differentiate the news from gossip and personal opinions. Many people assert their rights without knowing and doing their responsibilities as law-abiding and productive citizens. We have high rates of recidivism, because we not prepare ex-convicts for re-integration into community life. Sapiental Circle Questions What do you cherish about American culture? Respondent 1 Sex: Male Age: 52 Relationship: Neighbor and friend Answer: I cherish the belief in the American Dream, where any people from any gender, race, and age can attain happiness and success through hard work and determination. Respondent 2 Sex: Female Age: 39 Relationship: Mother’s friend Answer: I cherish the freedoms in American culture that other societies do not have, like freedom of speech and freedom of demonstration. Respondent 3 Sex: Male Age: 19 Relationship: Cousin Answer: I like that we have freedoms. I can cr iticize my government without being killed for my views. Respondent 4 Sex: Female Age: 18 Relationship: Friend Answer: I like the notion of the American Dream and our freedoms. It means we can be who we want to be and no one can stop us. We can speak our minds and we can still wake up and live another day. Classmate 1 Sex: Female Age: 20 Relationship: Friend Answer: The best in American culture is our freedoms. ... Respondent 1 Answer: So many youth nowadays have no respect for their parents and adults. They think they know everything and yet they know nothing, even about themselves and their culture. Respondent 2 Answer: Mass media makes me sick. I rarely watch TV nowadays. It’s all about selling sex, violence, and materialism. Respondent 3 Answer: People fight for their rights, but they don’t want the responsibilities that go with it. They just want this and that, but they will not give time for issues that matter. Respondent 4 Answer: I find it problematic that media glorifies skinny and perfectly beautiful models and actresses. They teach youth that they can never be young, pretty, and sexy enough. They teach poor self-esteem and self worth. Classmate 1 Answer: The problem is the lack of self-criticism, the inability to stop and examine our weaknesses. Media also sucks. It’s driven by money and produces sexual, misogynistic, and materialistic images and messages all the time. Classmate 2 Answer: It’s problematic that people no longer care about each other. They are too individualistic. I also dislike its apparent lack of respect for other cultures in other countries. We cannot force our ideals on others, no matter how noble we think they are. My Own Answers What do you cherish about American culture? I cherish the concept of the American Dream and our civil rights and freedoms. Migrants and natives can both reach their ideals of success and happiness. They have the liberty and support from the government too, which help them reach their dreams in life. What do you find problematic in America culture? I find it problematic that the culture is steeped with materialism, sensationalism, discrimination, indifference, immorality

Research Methodology for Director Elections Analysis

Research Methodology for Director Elections Analysis The director and board performance from the perspectives of voting shareholders, the implementation of majority-approved shareholder proposals provide a more specific and tighter measure for the actions boards take to do their jobs. For this comprehensive exam paper, I will focus on votes withheld for director elections because implementation of majority-approved shareholder proposals requires non-trivial hand collection and might decrease the sample size significantly. This measure has several important merits in multiple directorships setting compared with commonly used measures. First, it has been well documented that reputational concerns from the director labor market, the increasing prevalence of vote-no campaigns, and increased prevalence of corporates voluntary adoption of Majority Voting standards makes votes withheld from director elections a good proxy for shareholder general evaluation of director, committee, and board performance. (Georgeson 2000-2016). Second, while uncontested shareholder voting rarely remove specific directors, the voting outcomes of director elections are associated with subsequent board conduct, governance changes and firm performance (Del Guercio, Seery, and Woidtke [2008], Cai, Garner, and Walkling [2009], Fischer, Gramlich, Miller, and White [2009], Ertimur, Ferri, and Muslu [2011], Ertimur, et al. [2015]). Third, academics and practitioners have consensus that the threshold of 20% of votes withheld represents s ubstantial shareholder dissatisfaction. (Del Guercio et al. [2008], Cai et al. [2009], Fischer et al. [2009], Ertimur, et al. [2011], Ertimur et al. [2015]). Fourth, data for this measure on individual director level is directly available, and can be easily aggregated to get measures on committee level and board level. For the aggregate level, I can use either the average percentage of votes withheld per director, or the percentage of directors with substantial shareholder dissatisfaction (at least 20 % votes withheld) of committees, or boards. In sum, to better measure the effort exerted by directors and the value added by boards, I use a comprehensive list of complementary performance metrics: voting outcome of director election, serving on committees and attendance rate at board meetings on individual director level; voting outcome, CEO turnover sensitivity to performance, excessive CEO pay, and financial reporting misstatement on committee level, and voting outcome, market-to-book ratio (M/B) and return on sales (ROS) on firm level. 3. Sample, data, empirical results, and additional analyses 3.1. Sample and data To answer these questions, I study the multiple directorships policies for SP 1500 firms for the period from 2000 to 2016. First, I construct a dataset of director-level data for SP 1500 firms from the Institutional Shareholder Services ((formerly MSI, IRRC, and RiskMetrics) Directors Database from 2000-2016. I restrict my sample to SP 1500 firms to make the data collection manageable. This dataset contains information on director attendance and a range of other director characteristics (e.g., name, age, tenure, gender, committee memberships, independence classification, primary employer and title, number of other public company boards serving on, shares owned, etc.) which are collected by ISS from company proxy statements, annual reports or company websites. My first multiple directorships measure, Multiple Directorships_traditional, are retrieved from this database directly.ÂÂ   Based on the directors total number of meetings required to attend and whether they attended fewer than 75%, I also construct a measure, Current Distraction, to better capture the time demand and the distraction effect of multiple directorships. To test H1 and H2, we need to know director attendance immediately before and immediately after firms adopt overboarding rules. However, only annual attendance data is publicly available. In addition, many overboarding policies set grace periods explicitly or implicitly. Therefore, I use the director attendance the year before adoption year to test H1, and the director attendance the year after adoption year to test H2. Next, I require these firms to have accounting data from Compustat, stock return and pricing data from CRSP, corporate-governance provisions data from ISS Governance database, director elections voting data from ISS Voting Analytics (VA) database, and financial reporting restatement data from AuditAnalytics database. (access?) For firm performance, I measure the market-to-book ratio (M/B) and return on sales (ROS), measured at the lagged fiscal year-end, to compare with previous literature (Fich and Shivdasani [2006], Field, et al. [2013]). Then I use BoardEx database, which includes profiles of executives and directors (demographics, education and career history, compensation, board and committee memberships, etc.) and the connections among them, to construct my second sets of measures of multiple directorships, Multiple Directorships_public, Multiple Directorships_private, and Multiple Directorships_total. Using BoardEx database, I also construct two measures of director qualification, Accumulated Directorships Experience and General Qualification, which reflect director qualification but are not necessarily associated with their current busyness. BoardExs coverage of U.S. public companies is extremely limited prior to 2000, causing serious survivorship bias (see, Fracassi and Tate [2012], Engelberg, Gao, and Parsons, [2013]). Similar to previous literature which also uses the BoardEx database, I focus on the period after 2000 to mitigate these concerns. It needs to be noted that while BoardEx database suffers survivo rship bias and some other issues, using BoardEx provides several important merits for my research. First, it provides information about directors seats on significant private firms and gives a better measure of directors total workload. Second, it allows me to test directors seats choices between public firms and private firms. Third, it provides information to construct a measure of directors resources/talent which is not necessarily connect with their current busyness. Finally, I hand-collect information on firms overboarding policies for this sample. Normally, firms overboarding policies are disclosed in their governance principles/governance guidelines. I retrieve firms current overboarding policies from their websites, and their historical overboarding policies from the Internet Archive library, which archives over hundreds of billion historical web pages on the Internet. ( https://archive.org/web/)

Chuck Close :: essays research papers

Chuck Close (born 1940) is an American photorealist specializing in close-up portraits and self-portraits. Close is one of the very few modern realists or photorealists who focus on the human face. In 1988, in mid-career, Close was paralyzed due to a blood clot in his spinal column. He regained partial use of his arms, and was able to return to painting after developing techniques which allowed him to work from a wheelchair.All of Close’s works are based on photographs he takes himself. Close always follows the same guidelines in planning a painting. The source photograph is a tightly cropped head and shoulder shot. The subject is a family member or friend. The finished work is always titled by the subject’s first name alone (with the exception of â€Å"Self-Portrait†). This decision was intended to project an aura of anonymity, allowing viewers to approach the work without preconceived ideas about the sitter.Close’s working method is extremely labor-intensive. He begins by dividing his source photograph into a grid and creating a corresponding grid on the canvas. He then meticulously transcribes the image onto the canvas square by square, proceeding from the top left to the bottom right. Some of the largest canvases contain thousands of squares; Close completes all of his paintings by hand. Given the painstaking nature of this work, some of the earlier large-scale paintings took up to fourteen months to complete.Close's work falls into two periods, the early and the middle, in which he is now fruitfully engaged. It is easy to divide the two periods on either side of Close's 1988 stroke that left him unable to hold a brush. (He paints with his brush tied to his hand by a metal and Velcro device.) Close started to work with bolder, more expressive and colorful marks before his great physical trauma. The new work is both the same; they're recognizable as works by Close and could be by no one else He still uses the grid and he still paints heads. Although the amount of information the new pictures carry is less than the old, the characters depicted seem warmer, more immediate, and more exuberant.Close's repertory of marks has changed dramatically. In place of the discreet dots and miniature strokes of his early work, not to mention the pictures constructed of fingerprints he made in the early'80s, each of the enlarged squares in the new grids contains colorful, painterly marks that function as mini- abstract paintings of their own.

Evaluate the Impact of Changes in the Economic Environment

Evaluate the impact of changes in the economic environment on a selected business – D1 After various changes to the economic tax and interest rate, CPHP have conducted and compiled research into current public spending. The results show that there has been a dramatic reduction in the level of public spending in the UK. The changes in economic environment will affect a business, the profit of the business will be affected because its affect the price and income of a business, which are the main aspect of a business.If Tesco decides to change the price of their goods, for example; the price of their doughnut in 2009 was 5 pieces for a pound, a reasonable price for students but with the economic environment it affected everything with the introduction of VAT from 17. 5% to 20% made the price of the doughnut to now cost around 1. 30p the change is affordable for some people but for other people it is not affordable. The reality of this economic environment is that when the price c hange and it becomes higher, consumers get less happy and this affects our range of time of buying certain products.The article above shows how the economic environment tax income is affecting prices as a whole, the price of cigarettes and alcohol in going to increase. This will affect Tesco because this is where they make most of their sales from. They have almost to sessions for both cigarettes and alcohol. When these products increase, it means their sales on these products will reduce because not a lot of customers will still be buying these products.Another policy that will affect the business Tesco is the fact their employee can’t work more than 39 hours, this policy will have impact on the business because they will have to recruit more workers and especially for the big 24 hours Tesco. This will affect Tesco income because it will increase the rate of their outcome because they will spend a lot of money on paying their workers. Another important economic environment i mpact will be the fact that Tesco will have to apply for more loans to be able to successfully run the business until it’s able to make enough money by itself and rely only on their income.This will affect Tesco growth because the loans will affect their income, cash flow and business image. Tesco will pay more and profit will drop. Tesco also have social factors that affect them, as the business have charity centre in helping the less privilege people and the more these people gets poor, the more they will have to stretch to help out which also spending money. Recession causes unemployment, this will affect the demand for goods and Tesco profit will drop.An economic factor that might affect Tesco is the demand of the consumer and customer which will decrease with the different problems; people are having in the world. As the demand decrease so the economy of the business will decrease and the profit of the business will decrease too. This refers in the fiscal and monetary, f or example since when the government decided to raise the VAT from 17. 5% to 20%, the business increase their goods price and due to that reason the customers do not purchase enough goods like they used.Social factors refer in the trend of customer which keeps changing their trend, and what the trend of their purchase. For example nowadays due to people’s work, they are really busy so they often decide to buy already cooked food. Technology refers in how Tesco adopt online shopping to attract customer, to purchase goods and services from the business. Another technology might be the introduction of delivery which refers in how the businesses deliver their goods around the customer’s address.

Free Essays on Extreme Programming

HISTORY and DEFINITION XP is the abbreviation, or 2-letter acronym for Extreme Programming. XP is a type of software methodology that is used today in the field of software development. â€Å"Extreme Programming is a discipline of software development with the values of simplicity, communication, feedback and courage. We focus on the roles of the customer, manager, and programmer and accord key rights and responsibilities to those in those roles.† (Jeffries). About four years ago, many software developers in the industry were frustrated with the â€Å"heavy† methodologies that were being used. They were so complex and time consuming that many of the projects they were undertaking seemed almost unattainable. This is when the paradigm in thinking switched from â€Å"heavy† methodologies to the â€Å"lightweight† methodologies. (sdmagazine article) XP is an example of a â€Å"lightweight† methodology. It simplifies the process and also involves the customer. Both of these elements help to ensure successful projects. The customer is involved throughout the process and the project is also broken down into smaller attainable steps or goals that will aide the developer in completing the project. Not only is this plan simplistic in nature but it also allows for change throughout the process. XP is unlike other methodologies where change is considerably difficult, or almost impossible, after a certain point in the project. XP may also be used on both high and low risk projects. It factors in some risk analysis during the release-planning phase that will take into account weather the developer is working with confident or uncertain estimates. â€Å"XP empowers your developers to confidently respond to changing customer requirements, even late in the life cycle.† (Wells). Not only is XP a more simplified approach, it is also flexible in more ways than one. Software developers can change to the entire XP approach o... Free Essays on Extreme Programming Free Essays on Extreme Programming HISTORY and DEFINITION XP is the abbreviation, or 2-letter acronym for Extreme Programming. XP is a type of software methodology that is used today in the field of software development. â€Å"Extreme Programming is a discipline of software development with the values of simplicity, communication, feedback and courage. We focus on the roles of the customer, manager, and programmer and accord key rights and responsibilities to those in those roles.† (Jeffries). About four years ago, many software developers in the industry were frustrated with the â€Å"heavy† methodologies that were being used. They were so complex and time consuming that many of the projects they were undertaking seemed almost unattainable. This is when the paradigm in thinking switched from â€Å"heavy† methodologies to the â€Å"lightweight† methodologies. (sdmagazine article) XP is an example of a â€Å"lightweight† methodology. It simplifies the process and also involves the customer. Both of these elements help to ensure successful projects. The customer is involved throughout the process and the project is also broken down into smaller attainable steps or goals that will aide the developer in completing the project. Not only is this plan simplistic in nature but it also allows for change throughout the process. XP is unlike other methodologies where change is considerably difficult, or almost impossible, after a certain point in the project. XP may also be used on both high and low risk projects. It factors in some risk analysis during the release-planning phase that will take into account weather the developer is working with confident or uncertain estimates. â€Å"XP empowers your developers to confidently respond to changing customer requirements, even late in the life cycle.† (Wells). Not only is XP a more simplified approach, it is also flexible in more ways than one. Software developers can change to the entire XP approach o...

5 Ways to Fend Off Difficult Coworkers

5 Ways to Fend Off Difficult Coworkers These aren’t the only strategies for dealing with difficult people- at work or anywhere else, but they’re a start. Make sure to keep in mind that difficult people are still people, and show them as much compassion as you can- within reason, of course. 1. Respect and ValidationIt’s what you would want, if the roles were reversed. No one is difficult on purpose. So give the pain-in-your-office the benefit of the doubt; you don’t need to agree with everything they say, but sometimes all a person needs is to be heard.2. SympathizeWalk a mile in their shoes. Just because they’re difficult doesn’t mean they don’t deserve a hand. If you can see the situation from their point of view, then maybe you can help steer them out of it. A little critical thinking, active listening, and a bit of compassion can go a long way.3. Don’t ArgueAn argument is easy, and almost always unproductive. Instead of anticipating what you’ll fire back wi th, try actually listening. Listening is easy and it will never escalate a situation out of your control.3. Counter with FactDon’t be argumentative, but you can help a difficult person reframe their more extreme statements with a little dose of reality. Turn hatred into frustration, â€Å"always† into â€Å"occasionally,† and desperate situations into constructive possibilities for change.4. Set a TimerNo matter how high your patience level, there are reasonable limits. Don’t let the difficult person hijack your entire day with their negativity. If you’ve tried all of the above and still can’t defuse the situation, it’s perfectly okay to set some boundaries. Say you have five minutes to chat, but then you both should really get back to work.5 Tips to Handle Difficult People

Lakes in Kenya Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Lakes in Kenya - Research Paper Example Indeed lakes are important geographical features that are formed through certain processes. A lake is defined by Chave (2001) as a body of inland standing water while oxford dictionaries (2013) defines them as huge masses of water surrounded by dry land. Kenya is a country in Africa that that has several lakes and they are Baringo, Bogoria, Chala, Chew Bahir, Elementaita, Jipe, Kamnarock, Logipi, Magadi, Naivasha, Nakuru, Turkana and Victoria. This paper is going to look at three lakes in Kenya which are Lake Bogoria, Lake Nakuru and Lake Victoria, their formation, properties, and their economic benefits. Lakes can either be natural or artificial and Chave (2001) says that natural lakes are a result of natural processes while artificial lakes are constructed by man for various purposes such as hydropower generation. The lakes discussed here are natural lakes which have an ecosystem. Lake Bogoria This is a lake in the Great Rift Valley in Kenya and is amongst what some are calling Rif t Valley lakes. These lakes are small, shallow and occupy slightly sloping depressions on the Rift Valley floor (Crafter, 1992). The lake has a length of 21.13 miles and a width of 2.175 it lays north of the equator and it is an alkaline lake. The lake is a tourist attraction site because of its soda water that attracts flamingoes. Another major tourist attraction in Lake Bogoria is the hot water geyser, and steams that are bubbling hot. Geysers are violent gushes of water from under the surface and can get to a height of between 30-60 metres. These geysers are a result of hydrological activities underground. In areas experiencing volcanic activity, water may be heated underground and through fissures get to the surface in form of jets of hot water (McLeish, 1992).It is common sight to see visitors boil eggs in the hot water. Apart from flamingoes there are fish eagles. There are also other wild animals such as gazelles, Kudu, Zebra and Baboons (Magicalkenya .com 2013). Lake Baringo -hot springs (courtesy of Kenyaphotos.wordpress.com) Lake Nakuru This lake which is 1754 m above sea level is found on the Rift Valley and it very popular with tourists to Kenya because of the large of flamingoes it hosts. The lake is in Nakuru County and it is within Lake Nakuru national park. According to magicalkenya.com this is also a soda lake which is alkaline. An alkaline lake is that whose water has a ph of 7 and above. Therefore certain animal and plant species thrive in them while others do not. Living within the park are wild animals such as both black and white rhinos, warthogs, waterbuck, zebra, buffalo and the endangered Rothschild giraffe amongst others. The lake resulted from tensional forces on rocks leading to formation of normal faults secondary faulting followed leading to more subsidence and formation of a hollow that is filled with water (Opati, 2007). This process is characteristic of other rift valley lakes. The park is a source of revenue for the Nakuru Coun ty and a source of employment to many residents. Lake Nakuru if fed by only one river known as river Njoro (inlet) and it does not have an outlet and this is the reason as to why it does not have fish. Lake Nakuru (Picture courtesy of tripadvisor.com) Lake Victoria This is a huge lake whose size is 67,493 sq kms and it is shared by three countries which are Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. According to WorldAtlas (2013), Lake Victoria is the largest lake in Africa and the largest tropical lake in the world. Importantly, it is the second largest fresh water lake in the world after Lake Superior in America.Its water flows down the Nile River into Egypt. It was the explorer John Hanning Speke who discovered Lake Victoria as the source of river Nile. McClanahan (1996) says

The effect of economic crisis to the marketing strategy of Volkswagen Literature review - 2

The effect of economic crisis to the marketing strategy of Volkswagen in Asian market. The case of Vietnam - Literature review Example inancial crisis on the automotive industry in general and a special note on its impact on the automotive industry in Vietnam’s automotive sector have been included. Research Methodology: The study is about evaluating the effect of economic crisis to the marketing strategy of Volkswagen in Asian market. Now to accomplish the objectives of the study positivism approach has been chosen. In addition, the research design chosen for this study is cross-sectional design approach. Now based on the research questions and research design questionnaire has been selected as the data collection instrument. Findings and Analysis: The aim of the study was to uncover the impact of economic crisis to the marketing strategy of Volkswagen in Asian market. The study revealed that in the global perspective, the company has been able to increase its overall sales volume. In the year 2010 the company has been able to deliver, 7,139,472 cars, but in the year 2011, it increase to 8,160,154 resulting in a 14.3 % growth. In the Asia-Pacific region Volkswagen has been able to deliver 2,140,698 cars in 2010 and in 2011 the company has been able to sell 2,569,765 cars resulting in a staggering 20 % growth. Recommendation: In order to deal effectively with the ongoing issue of financial crisis, the company should reduce its operating cost and marketing cost. It is highly recommended to the company that they should try to integrate more features to their current product portfolio. To create a balance between the net revenue and net expenses, Volkswagen, Vietnam needs to carry out certain cost cutting activities. The company should consider outsourcing different segments of the business to third parties. The economic crisis has affected the automotive industry significantly. In the year 2007 the industry faced the heat of subprime meltdown due to issues related to valuation, in 2008 crisis resulted due to structural and solvency problems in the financial sectors, and in 2009 the disintegrate

How does joining the European Union affects a country's right to trade Essay

How does joining the European Union affects a country's right to trade - Essay Example Citizens of these countries are allowed to move freely hence able to provide there services in any of the member states without much restrictions. However, there are a number of legislations which impede trading between European Union members and non member states (Federation of American Scientists). There are requirements provided by EU which affects rights to trade for member states. For instance democracy should be upheld, stable institutions, respect for human rights and rule of law. The country must be able to cope with market forces and competition existing within the union. The union members are also to observe environmental issues before trading. Furthermore as a contribution to a sustainable environment, EU members have to observe certain guidelines before trading with other non member countries. If these countries do not meet the requirements then there will be no trading between the countries. In support of reduction in greenhouse gas emission EU ensures special tariff rates for countries that have ratified global environmental agreements (Europa). In addition there are a number of criteria which have to be observed by EU countries before issuing trading licenses to non member countries. These criteria to a greater extend impede trading. They include abiding by international commitments such as sanctions, respect for human rights and national security of nations etc. There have been efforts by the European Union to ensure that third countries develop democratic parliamentary institutions. Respect for fundamental rights and democratic principles are laid down as â€Å"essential element to all the agreements reached upon by the respective governments (European Commission). As much as these principles are essential in addressing pertinent issues in the society it hinders trade between nations. Member states from EU may shun from trading

Hot-Button Issue Paper Essay Example for Free

Hot-Button Issue Paper Essay Nowadays one of most concerning topic in today’s media is sex and violence. Determining what’s â€Å"too much† for children is not an easy task, because every parent has their personal preferences about such matters. But determining the actual effects of media violence on children gives rise a problem in itself, as it’s quite tricky to actually determine what â€Å"violent media† means to the children (Cutler, 2002). There were many children friendly shows back in the days, shows that taught some useful lessons to the children in a non-violent manner. Shows like Ducktales or Darkwing Duck are examples of such shows that children not only could enjoy, but also learn some valuable lessons from. Even vintage video games like Super Mario was just a fun seeking game that children could enjoy and parents didn’t have to worry about their effects on their children too. But if we look at the TV shows, movies and games in the present, it’s quite obvious that the use of excessive violence has crawled its’ way into almost every form of media. Another problem is the increase of usage of sexual acts in the media. There are open discussions of sex and enactments of sexual activities in almost all the TV shows and movies. In the past, TV shows mostly showed two persons getting into bed and the next scene took us to the next day. There were no enactments of sexual activities in the shows. But today, almost every show on every premium channels show fully nude persons or even the acts of having sex. The media industries have been strongly resisting such arguments that the usage of scenes containing sex, violence, and drug usage in TV, music, radio and movies is directly related to the increasing cases of negative behavior buildups in the society, (Anderson, 2002). Canceling such shows is the only way to get rid of sex from the TV. But doing so creates the possibility that children will grow up without the knowledge of sex. They might grow up and have to face the big bad world without anyone to properly guide them into making the right decisions. So it’s essential for them to learn the correct decisions at an early age, so  that they don’t make any decision that could destroy their life forever. You might be able to control the TV shows on their usage of sex and violence; but what about other for ms of media such as magazines, internet, books, music, and movies? Nowadays media has an array of methods to attract peoples’ eyes. They can target audiences of any age or group by tempting their senses. Teenagers are often attracted by violent acts, and by using this they can easily influence them. It doesn’t matter if it’s TV or the movies or the internet, violence is everywhere and trying to shut down all of them is simply not possible. Imagine yourself in a scenario where you’re changing through channels on the TV and you can’t find any shows with violence, shooting or sexual scenes. What would you do in that case, keep on watching the TV or turn it off and do something else? Doing the later would cause the viewer ratings of TV networks to go down and thus giving them the impression that they need to show more violence and sexual acts to attract the audiences. There’s no point in denying that sex and violence attract people or â€Å"sell†, so to say. Although almost 60-70 persons out of 100 say that there’s excess use of sex and violence on TV, they have to firstly watch such usage to find that out. Imagine a show that you watch on a regular basis, and you’d realize by yourself that sex and violence sell. Not a single person can be found who hasn’t seen or doesn’t know of a show that uses violence or sexual references, at the very least. Just as a children mig ht want to smoke if they see their parents smoke, they also might have the inclination towards committing crime if they see their favorite TV character commit a crime. Recently several methods have been developed to control or even block specific shows at specific times. A parental control, that gives the parents the power to block certain TV shows, is offered by every cable provider. But still, it’s the parent that must decide whether to block or not. The V-chip is a recent controlling method developed to restrict sex and violence scenes from being showed on the TV and it’s done by incorporating a small chip in the TV. But to some extent, this seems to be violating the first amendment. What someone wants to watch on their TV is their personal choice; why should they be restrained from watching something they want? It’s understandable that children shouldn’t be exposed to such shows that negatively impact their sense of judgment, but what about someone who’s an adult and willing to watch those shows? Whether you allow play in  shows containing sex and violence in your household premises is a decision that you should make, not the government. If there are children in the house, the parents should be responsible for keeping them away from shows that contain sex or violence. Another point is that most of these shows are aired at nighttime, and it’s safe to assume that children should be in the bed by that time. If kids are staying up at nights to see such shows, it’s not the networks’ fault that they are airing these shows, but it’s the parents’ fault that they can’t fulfill their responsibilities as a parent. On average, a child in the USA watches almost 28 hours of TV shows per week. Also, by the age of eleven, before finishing elementary school, a child views about 8000 murders on these TV shows. And the most terrifying fact is that in almost 75% of the cases shown in the TV, the criminal is shown to get away without being caught and feeling no remorse for their violent acts. This creates a false impression on children about violence. They often get an impractical idea about the acts of violence. Some of them feel no affect of violence whatsoever and even think that it’s cool, while other few become scared of everything around them. In 2009, the National Organization of Women reported that the most violent shows that were being aired were- Alias of ABC, Law Order: SVU of NBC and WWE: Smackdown of CW (NOW, 2009). When children watch TV shows that show someone committing a crime and getting away with it, it creates an impression on their mind that even they can get away without suffering the consequences of their actions. It’s also possible to link violent movies to several cases of assault, robbery and other anti social behaviors. People, particularly teenagers, often confuse things they watch on TV or movies with reality. Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, the Columbine shooters, are a perfect example of such delusional cases. They tried to dup licate scenes from the movies The Matrix and Basketball Diaries and even dressed up in trench coats and armed themselves with guns to depict those scenes. But just watching violence on TV and movies is not the entire story, there are several other factors that shape the thoughts of persons. Information obtained from several social research studies prove that what a child learns from what he/she watches is greatly affected by his/her surrounding environment (Anderson, 2002). For instance, if a child grows up seeing domestic violence in his/her household, he/she is more likely to think that these acts of violence is acceptable in the society. He/she would  be more prone to act according to what he/she saw when growing up, thus giving him/her a completely false sense of what’s acceptable and what’s not. To those who are mentally handicapped, these effects are much more severe. Since they often have problems differentiating what’s right and what’s wrong, exposure to these sexual acts and violence change the way they think about the world and often clouds their judgments. Watching people commit crimes in the media might give them the impression that it’s okay to do such acts. In one of her studies, Sue Bailey declared that people would of ten enact scenes they saw in the media, even if those scenes were to contain violence or sexual exploitation (Anderson, 2002). This is in fact the main reason why we see so many copycat criminals nowadays. This reminds us of the Banduras theory of modeling (Sparks, 2013). Children often idolize these TV and movie characters and watching their idols beat someone, sell drugs, and committing crimes makes them want to do the same. The act of violence and their rate varies in every society, but what’s alarming is that the USA has a horrifying rate of killings and suicides in the 15 year age group. In 1995, the combined death toll of children among 26 countries was at 2872. Out of these 2872 deaths, 1446 were in the USA alone and compared with the other 25 countries; this rate was almost 5 times higher. A child’s personality also plays an important role in their vulnerability to these violent acts. From an early age, some children might have the tendency to be temperamental. Watching violent acts in the media might increase their tendency to act violently. Furthermore, prolonged exposure to acts of violence increases their chance to act according to what they see in the media. Showing sexual acts and violence in TV can, in many ways, negatively impact the society. But the most argued point is the belief that a persons’ behavior is affected by what they watch. But this seems likely only if someone was to watch only these type of shows at all times. Watching such acts on TV or movies once or twice is not going to affect someone’s personality or turn them into violent sexual offenders. Moreover, the choices someone make is their and theirs’ only to make. No one else can be blamed for their personal faults. To conclude all this discussion, today’s TV can’t be compared with the TV from 30 years ago. Today’s shows cover a more wide range of topics, represent different cultures and languages and they’re targeted for every age group. The increase in sexual scenes and acts  of violence in the media reflects the change our society has undergone in the past years. This change can’t be denied and sooner or later society has to accept that these shows are a part of this change. So rather than demanding to stop this change, it’s practical to demand that these shows should be aired at a certain t ime, thus enabling the viewers to choose what they see and what they allow their children to see. References Anderson, C. A. (2002). Violent Video Games and Hostile Expectations. Retrieved from http://www.psychology.iastate.edu/faculty/caa/abstracts/2000-2004/02BApspb.pdf Bandura, A. (2006). Social Learning Theory. Retrieved from http://www.instructionaldesign.org/theories/social-learning.html Cutler, Maggie: Research on the Effects of Media Violence on Children Is Inconclusive. Is Media Violence a Problem? James D. Torr, Ed. At Issue Series. Greenhaven Press 2002 National Organization of Women. (2009). Retrieved from http://www.now.org/organization/conference/resolutions/2009.html Sparks, G. G. (2013). Media Effects Research (14th ed.). Retrieved from The University of Phoenix eBook.