The eNotes Blog Scholarship Spotlight June2016

Scholarship Spotlight June2016 Every month, we select some of the best scholarships around and post them here on our blog. When you are ready to apply, check out our tips on  how to write a scholarship essay. Visit   Essay Lab  if you’re looking for a writing expert  to review and provide feedback on your scholarship or college application essays! Opinion Outpost Prize Drawing Amount:  $10,000 Eligibility:  Applicants must be 18 years or older, enrolled in some level of higher education. Requirements:  Create an account with Fastweb.com, sign up to take a survey, and take the survey to be entered for a chance to win! The more surveys you take, the better your chances. Due Date:  June 30th, 2016 Learn more and apply CollegeSTEPS Sweepstakes Amount: $1,000 (to 160 winners) Eligibility:  High School Freshmen through Graduate Student, Year 5 Requirements: For a chance to win, enroll  in the Wells Fargo CollegeSTEPS educational resource program. Due Date: June 30th, 2016 Learn more and apply Andrew Flusche Scholarship Contest Amount:  $500 Eligibility: High School Senior through Graduate Student, Year 5 Requirements:  You must create a public service advertisement video (PSA) which raises awareness of the severity of the consequences of drunk driving among your peers to qualify for this award. The video must be uploaded to YouTube and be no longer than three minutes long. Due Date:  June 30th, 2016 Learn more and apply Because College is Expensive Scholarship Amount: $500 Eligibility:  High School Freshmen through Graduate Student, Year 5, (and those planning on enrolling within the next 12 months). Requirements:  The winner will be determined by random drawing and then contacted directly and announced on the Scholarship Winners page. One entry per person is all that is necessary. Due Date: June 30th, 2016 Learn more and apply Advanced Institute for Oral Health Scholarship Amount:  $500 Eligibility:  High School Seniors through College Freshmen; you must be planning to attend an accredited university in the upcoming school year, have a minimum GPA of 2.7 and be a resident of the U.S. Requirements:  Write a 300 word essay (400 words max) on â€Å"How you plan to positively impact the world with your degree?† Due Date: July 1st, 2016 Learn more and apply

Web Usability Revisited

Web Usability Revisited Web Usability Revisited Web Usability Revisited By Sharon If youre reading every word of this post, then youre in the minority. More than ten years ago, usability expert Jakob Neilsen published a paper called How Users Read On The Web. He began the paper by saying: They dont. Butterfly Readers Instead web users flit about like butterflies in a garden, pausing at anything that takes their interest. So what does that mean for people who are writing web content? It means that we have to write differently from the way we write for print. Heres a recap of Neilsens advice, which is still relevant, in my opinion. Keep It Short Since people arent going to read a large block of text, then theres no point in having one. A typical web page has more in common with a news story than a magazine article. Its short and to the point anywhere from 250 to 500 words, as a rough guide. Longer articles tend to be broken into several pages, and theres no guarantee that a reader will get past the first page. Inverted Pyramid That leads to the next point, structure. Use the inverted pyramid. That means putting the key information at the start so that readers will get the information you want them to have. If you were writing for print, this information might be your conclusion. For the web, you need to tell readers up front. One Point Per Paragraph If you manage to hook the reader, then theres plenty of time to expand and to tell them why you reached your conclusion. But you have to do it gradually, using a single point per paragraph. Within each paragraph, make the first sentence count if you want readers to get to the second. Use Signposts One way to slow readers down and make them look at your content is to use signposts, such as sub headings, bold text and bulleted lists. These make it easy for web readers to scan the text, but also make them stop and look further. Finally, Neilsen highlights the value of linking out. In part, this provides something else to make readers stop. Links also establish your credibility because they show that you have done some research. Neilsen went on to publish many more columns on web usability, which discuss other aspects such as using images, but I believe the basic advice is a good starting point for all web content writers. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Writing Basics category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Fly, Flew, (has) FlownFlied?5 Brainstorming Strategies for WritersInspiring vs. Inspirational

The investigation into effectiveness of using social media to engage Literature review

The investigation into effectiveness of using social media to engage customers - Literature review Example Paine (2011) notes that the criteria used for describing customer engagement cannot be standardized. It is explained that customer engagement can be related to different aspects of customer behavior, as for example the provision by the customer of his e-mail address so that he is informed on the new products/ services of a particular firm. Evans (2010) states that consumer engagement is a complex concept. According to the above researcher, an entrepreneur can understand that his customers are engaged when they react as follows: ‘they collaborate with each other and share the results of those efforts with other participants’ (Evans 2010, p.212). In other words, consumer engagement is characterized by collaboration and information sharing. From a similar point of view, customer engagement has been characterized as a concept reflecting ‘the engagement of customers to a particular brand’ (Tuten 2008, p.26). It is noted that the engagement of customers to a brand can be derived by the loyalty of the customers to the specific brand. Based on the above view, marketers can effectively promote customer engagement if they employ ‘tactics that enable customers to interact with the brand’ (Tuten 2008, p.26). In any case, customer engagement can be defined differently in the context of each organization, according to the priorities set and the organizational goals. Under these terms, customer engagement can be used just to emphasize on the need for ‘showing care to the customer’ (Seruca et al. 2006, p.49). When a customer feels that he is cared of at the highest possible level, then he is expected to be engaged (Seruca et al. 2006, p.49). This means that in organizations that customers’ needs are not addressed, the level of customer engagement will be quite low. Graph 1- When a customer is engaged, findings of survey developed by the Economist Intelligence Unit between December 2006 and January 2007 (Source: Economi st Intelligence Unit, 2007, p.3) In a report published by the Economist Intelligence Unit customer engagement is described as ‘a way to create customer interaction and participation’ (The Economist Intelligence Unit 2007, p.2). The characteristics of customer engagement have been further explored through a survey developed between December 2006 and January 2007 (Economist Intelligence Unit 2007, p.2). In the particular survey, about 300 executives have been asked to state their view in regard to the criteria used for characterizing a customer as engaged. The graph 1 above shows the answers of the customer in regard to this issue. These answers reflect the potential elements of customer engagement as appearing in markets worldwide. In practice, the development of an accurate definition in regard to customer engagement can be a challenging initiative. For this reason, a series of theoretical frameworks have been introduced for helping marketers to identify the potential e ffects of customer engagement on their products/ services. Using these frameworks, customer engagement can be described by focusing on different criteria. For example, if using the brand equity theory, customer engagement can be described as a concept related to ‘brand awareness, loyalty, quality, associations and competitiveness’

Comparing IFRS to GAAP Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Comparing IFRS to GAAP - Coursework Example This document will focus on specific differences and similarities between IFRS and GAAP as applicable in businesses across the globe. Although GAAP and IFRS are similar in their application and usually results to uniform results, there are slight variations arise where GAAP and IFRS offer options due to the nature of the business, company’s interpretation of principles, industry practices and details of transactions. The FASB and IASB have adopted criteria for fair measurement of financial instruments in order to reflect the fair value of business assets and liabilities. Fair value is used to refer to the current market value of the financial instruments. The boards have adopted two steps to ensure fair value measurements whereby businesses are supposed to record particular financial instruments to reflect their current market value. The approaches include â€Å"disclosure of the fair value information in the notes† and â€Å"fair value option† that allows companies to record particular financial instruments at fair value in the financial report. However, IFRS differ from US GAAP in some ways because IFRS examines specific loans and debtors to ensure the same is not impaired, and. In addition, GAAP and IFRS employ different criteria for recording a factoring transaction whereby, IFRS applies the combination of methods dealing with reward, risk and loss control whereas GAAP applies t he loss of control as the chief method. Also, GAAP takes into consideration the incomplete derecognition of receivables while IFRS does not allow incomplete derecognition of receivables (Kimmel, 2013). Depreciation refers to distribution or spread of costs of assets over its useful life according to IFRS (Shamrock, 2012). Depreciation reflects the value of assets over a given period and depicts the potential of that asset to generate income for the business. It portrays the diminishing utility of the asset in business. Depreciation of components is essential when making a major financial decision such as during mergers and acquisitions, when preparing the financial report at the end of the trading period and when disposing of or acquiring additional depreciable assets to reflect the current value of the assets (Shamrock, 2012).

Case Study Analysis on an Organisation Essay Example for Free

Case Study Analysis on an Organisation Essay Organisational change is something that occurs throughout an organisation’s life cycle and effects the entire organisation rather than one part of it. Employing a new person is one example. Change is increasing due to a number of forces including globalisation led by rapidly advancing technologies, cultural diversity, environmental resources and the economy; therefore the ability to recognise the need for change as well as implement change strategies effectively, in a proactive response to internal and external pressures is essential to organisational performance. Internal changes can include organisational structure, process and HR requirements and external changes involve government legislation, competitor movements and customer demand (Wood et al, 2010). Change does not need to be a painful process, as it may seem when observing the amount of failed change management initiatives with reports as low as 10% of researched success rates (Oakland Tanner, 2007), when successful change management strategies are utilised and planned, including effective communication strategies, operational alignment, readiness to change and implementation, which all lower and overcome resistance (Wood et al, 2010). There is a great amount of literature on the negative aspects and difficult management with employees resisting change, however Wood et al (2010) challenge this notion by questioning the change management process as people do not resist change itself but aspects of the change that affects them personally such as fear of the unknown, status, remuneration and comfort. Resistance to these changes is a healthy reaction and can be managed effectively in the beginning by ensuring communication and using one of the change initiatives described here. Background Information Truelocal is based in Sydney, with small sales branches in Brisbane and Melbourne. It employs over 150 staff, an increase of approximately 50% over the past two years. It was founded in 2005 by NDM as part of an expanding operation of online websites to provide across the board consumer services, including news and magazine websites; online sport and weather information; and shopping comparison search engine, web-based recruitment, and travel search engine solutions [http://www. ewsdigitalmedia. com. au, accessed 25/08/2010]. As the world shifted into what is often referred to as the ‘digital info age’, consumer demand for online media as a way to source information significantly increased and demand for printed media decreased putting pressure on newspaper companies to expand to producing news and information online in digital format. This included News Corporation which decreased its newspaper operations and increased its digital expansion. As an employee at Truelocal for over six years, I have acquired this information presented here through interviews with management, company information and my own observations internally within the organisation’s sales department working in the roles of sales executive, account manager and senior retention account manager. The Need for Change – Management Structure Truelocal needed to align its culture, values and structure with the parent company in order to meet strategic growth goals not long after it was founded. Wood et al (2010) describe the work of an author, Noel Tichey on managing strategic change. Experts use three fundamental sets of change in their approach; technical design, political allocation and culture/ideological mix problems. It is one of these problems that become a pressing issue at any one time of which then initiates the change. In Truelocal’s case there were a number of changes evolving and at this time it was culture problems. NDM has been growing in size since its establishment in 2006 with a number of acquired website operations, each operating as a separate business unit with the support of HR, Finance, IT, Commercial Operations and other support services provided by the parent company (NDM). A decision was made to align the organisation in terms of operations, culture and strategy so it could concentrate on innovation and performance to achieve its goal of becoming the number one provider of online information in Australia. As a result NDM redesigned its organisational structure as Truelocal and most of the other business units merged together in one location. Not long after this relocation, Truelocal began flattening out the company structure lead by a new management team and CEO. It has since been under constant change to achieve it’s goal to continue growth (both in number of staff and performance) and excel as a high performing and innovative company with an agenda of being the second largest online directory service in Australia after it’s competitor Sensis (Yellow pages online). Wood et al (2010) explain the performance gap is a desire to move from one less desired state to another. This can be seen by the increased performance after the change occurred and culture change was implemented. What changed Fundamental changes that occurred were a shift from the existing vertical, bureaucratic structure to a horizontal structure and change in specialist functioning of divisions creating a professional, corporate environmental culture that was customer focused. The existing culture was a casual attitude towards dress requirements, starting and finishing times, breaks, informal communication expression and channels and many staff were employed as friends of existing staff rather than based on competency and job skills. Some managers had their partners working for them and a few were family members. There didn’t appear to be any dress code and people came and left work at varying times. Additionally management employed more skilled staff, retrained existing staff and created processes of which procedures were then put in place. One of the ways these objectives were achieved was by the reduction of management layers resulting in more direct reporting. Wood et al (2010) explain as organisational size increases, the more interconnections and less direct communication between people takes place (Wood et al, 2010). Change Process When management at Truelocal uplifted existing management and reporting structures, staffs were initially left without direction, reporting channels, processes and goals were not clearly communicated causing a lot of uncertainty. Consequently many staff resigned as they felt upset and confused about what was happening. Truelocal however, retained some of the more experienced staff with new career development propositions and new managers were encouraging and open about future improvements that were to take place within the organisation. One of the ways Truelocal could have managed this change is by using the Freeze/Unfreeze concept; Wood et al (2010) explains Kurt Lewin, a famous organisational Psychologist’s three-force phase, which is needed for any organisation to be motivated to bring about the change of which are; 1) Unfreezing focuses on preparing people for change. This is a critical part of the change phase prior to implementation by analysing and influencing resistance and need to change. A common tool that is used at this stage is called Force Field Analysis, this measures these forces. ) Changing of people; tasks; structure; technology. Ideally the organisation will be completely unfrozen, ready for change and its goals made clear. It is recommended that staff are not perceived to have a sense of high or low security at this stage in order to avoid resistance. 3) Refreezing is the evaluation and reinforcement of the changes that took place. The new managers were recruited by Truelocal for their exp erience in organisational transformation within the type of professional, high performing, corporate environment the organisation desired and who worked at their competitor company. These managers were expected to manage the entire change process themselves. Change agents are people or groups who take responsibility for the change of behaviours and existing patterns in a supportive manner (Wood et al, 2010). The perceived risks however, are the responsibility of the organisation’s leader who decides on the direction of the change (Oakland Tanner, 2007). Planned changes that took place were; Structure – change in organisational design by reporting systems, operational processes and size of teams, while roles were redefined by definition, job title and remuneration. Tasks – Most jobs were redesigned including more responsibility for staff in management roles and multi functional tasks for other staff. One of these job designs is called job enrichment, which is the increase and deepening of motivating factors built into a job (Wood et al, 2010). Some of these enrichments used by new management were increased responsibility and accountability, less control and more freedom in the job and more recognition. People – improvement of recruitment and selection process by advertising formal job vacancies on the organization’s intranet and incentives for staff to nominate candidates who were then formally interviewed by a number of managers. Additionally training sessions for new staff, coaching and certification courses were made available. Carless (2005) describes her research on the compatibility of job-person-organisation-environment fit. She believes a person must assess their attributes and personality with the job and organisational characteristics, which is likely to improve job satisfaction and adjustment to the environment. Culture – organisational values and beliefs were communicated from the parent company of which staff was rewarded when their behaviour displayed these values. Recognition was given in addition at meetings and performance appraisals. This is the observable culture, however as Wood et al (2010) explain, shared meanings and stories are other powerful aspects of culture and this can be observed at Truelocal by the high turnover of staff by both stories and norms that communicate the need to work hard to perform in the job or leave. Cultural symbols include trophies for ‘employee of the month’ awarded to the highest performer. These symbols serve to transmit cultural meaning (Wood et al, 2010). In the sales department a large subculture can be observed. Wood et al (2010) explain strong subcultures are often found in high performance task forces where people share similar values and backgrounds. This subculture included men between the ages of 22-30 yrs that have no formal education, drink alcohol excessively, and are passionate about technology, highly materialistic and view women as sex objects, which can often be observed by their language and behaviour. Moreover this culture is likely to be influenced by the national culture of which the organisation is embedded (Wood et al, 2010). In fact this subculture existed in the old culture before the restructure of which the company held ‘diversity training’ focused on discrimination and fairness within the workplace resulting in terminations. According to The Economist (2008), in the economic downturn companies need ‘Generation Y’ as hungry 25-35 year olds without commitment, for marketing and product innovation with emerging technologies, able to put in the time and energy to help them deal with recession hazards, especially in sales. Strategy – operations and planning were clarified at monthly and quarterly meetings including product changes. These were addressed by department managers regularly and CEO meetings irregularly, to engage staff. Wood et al (2010) explain leadership has changed from the traditional trait and behaviour approaches to transformational, charismatic, visionary focus and is separate from management. The leadership team at Truelocal formally includes the CEO and parent company (NDM) leaders. Their leadership function can be observed by their language and behaviours they use a transformational and visionary change approach. Objectives – specific performance targets were set allowing staff to earn a higher commission by overachieving set targets, recognition and prizes to increase motivation consistently. Purpose – both the CEO and the parent company made organisational goals clearly communicated vision and clarified progress regularly. Recognition was given for the contribution of each department and each business unit to the overall success of the organisation. These changes were managed by senior staff using a combination of change strategy approaches as explained by Wood et al (2010) that include a forced approach of top down command, one way communication, coercive reward and punishment approach, rationalisation approach and shared decision making, empowered approach. Of these approaches no single approach was concluded best by researchers on organisational change and it is advised that more commonly a combination will occur, however guidelines are offered to change agents and managers (Wood et al, 2010); consider use of expert consultants communicate the need for change feedback from employees avoid changing for the sake of change study organisational change and structures From this perspective Truelocal management took the right approach by varying the way they managed the change. Change Results The facilitation of clearer and faster communication channels enabled staff to work more efficiently and get things done faster, along wit h improved technology. Further benefits of this structure were people collaborating in teams, using initiative and increased spontaneous communication while rules, procedures and close supervision were reduced as described in (Tushman, Anderson O’Reilly, 1997). Wood et al (2010) describe the matrix structure is common in large organisations wanting to improve customer responsiveness. Truelocal’s reporting structure utilised this organisational design as part of the change, for example the finance manager reports to the CEO of Truelocal and to the Commercial Director of NDM, however Wood et al (2010) note each organisation’s structure is unique and there is no single observed design. This change is described by Wood et al (2010) as radical. Radical changes are fundamental reorientations and transformational, often initiated by the arrival of a new CEO. Culture Performance Change Since the change occurred, Truelocal’s sales department recorded a growth rate of 15% per full time employee (FTE). Some strategies used were; Performance appraisal review (PAR) – staff are asked to grade themselves on their performance and their use of company values of which are discussed by their managers. For example one of the values is ‘Impact’ and an employee is asked how much impact they contributed to the organisation since the last performance review and they are required to give examples of this behaviour. These PARs are held quarterly and annually. Reward and remuneration – staff are given targets according to their job level and experience with incentives to over achieve. These targets are called Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). The person’s job is broken into task components of which each component consists of a target behaviour that is rewarded. Remuneration is based on the overall percentage of KP I achievement. Recognition – employee of the month award was created by encouraging staff to use an online submission for their preferred co-worker who had gone over and above their job requirement displaying one of the company values. In addition the company awards the sales department with the person with the highest dollar value in sales and yearly a larger reward of which one year was a new car. Similarly a newsletter recognises new sales people who achieve early in their job. All of these reinforcements are called extrinsic which are rewards given to someone by another person’s valued outcome and because they are environmentally impactful are valued in influencing behaviour through the law of effect (Wood et al, 2010). Cultural change can take years according to Wood et al (2010); however effective cultural change strategies can be used to shorten the timeframe. One of which is explained by Oakland Tanner (2007), it is important to align the culture to support the desired change in behaviour. For example Truelocal needed a professional, customer focused culture which required staff to develop professional skills and behaviour. The result was all departments undertook a full training programme designed to increase awareness in communication, with a focus on questioning and empathy. Conclusion Truelocal is a young company and part of the larger and still relatively new parent organisation, NDM, operating under the global News Corporation. The industry it operates in, digital media is one of the fastest growing and changing environments globally. It changed from a structure and culture of casual, unprofessional work practices managed within a more bureaucratic structure that was under performing to a transformational, high performing, innovative and professional culture that is customer focused. Truelocal achieved its goal of growth, productivity and change in culture, however many staff were lost in the process and not much planning appeared to be in place. It is unclear as to the lack of planning, communication or use of external consultant in the case of radical change that occurred. One assumption might be due to budgetary restrictions as the company has been running at a loss since it started, reporting a loss this year of over one hundred million. Apart from the successful change management strategies that were used by the change agents, in particular the motivational strategies used by nominated change managers, numerous other approaches were identified that may benefit the organisation for managing future changes more effectively. Reference List Carless, S. A. (2005). Person-job fit versus person-organisation fit as predictors of organisational attraction and job acceptance intentions: a longitudinal study. Journal of Occupational and Organisational Psychology. 78 (3), 411-429. Generation Y goes to work (2008, December 30). The Economist (US). Retrieved from http://www. economist. com/business/displaystory. cfm? story_id=12863573 Oakland, J. S. , Tanner, S. (2007). Successful change management. Total Quality Management, 18 (1-2), 1-19. Tushman, M. L. , Anderson, P. C. O’Reilly, C. (1997). Technology cycles, innovation streams and ambidextrous organisations: organisaiton renewal through innovation streams and strategic change. Managing strategic innovation and change. Oxford University Press, NY. 2-23. Wood, J, Zeffane, R. , Fromholtz M. , Wiesner R. , Creed A. , Schermerhorn J. , Hunt J. , Osborn R. , (2010). Organisational Behaviour, Core concepts applications. 2nd Ed. John Wiley Sons, Australia, Ltd. Milton Qld.

A Man for All Seasons :: Essays Papers

A Man for All Seasons Throughout the world of written literature there have been times when the author perceives the characters of their story in many different ways. For instance, at the beginning of a story a character could be portrait as a hero by the author. However, as the story unfolds and the story line develops, the character could suddenly be realized as being a villain. In the play written by Robert Bolt, A Man for All Seasons, the character Thomas More is just such of an example of a character that is perceived in different ways. When one reads the story, initially they would consider More as a wise and religious man, who wouldn’t even harm a fly. He was deeply respected for he was quite intelligent, in the aspect that he was a lawyer and knew the business of politics well. More was considered wise. He had his own ideas of things, and he seems to know what is best for everyone. However, it was his philosophies and his strong faith in the Church, the King, and in God that got him prosecuted. Thomas More would also be described as being a foolish old man. More was very kind, a little too kind. He would have given anything to anyone. As described by the steward, Matthew, â€Å"My master Thomas More would give anything to anyone. Some say that’s bad, but I say he can’t help it-and that’s bad†¦because some day someone’s going to ask him for something that he wants to keep; and he’ll be out of practice.† (Bolt, 17) Many would say that Thomas More was a fool because of his deep faith in the Church. He was scrutinized as being foolish due to the fact that he would rather die than give in to an oath, which even though against his beliefs could have saved his life. Most men, who might have been considered wiser, would have saved their own lives. Apparently, that was exactly what Norfolk did. He asked More once, â€Å"We’re suppose to be the arrogant ones, the proud, splenetic ones-and we all given in! Why must you stand out?

The History of the National Transport Safety Board

The National Transport Safety Board in the United States of America was established on the 1st of April 1967, basically relying on the Department of Transportation, for its funding and the administration maintenance. In 1974, the Safety Board Act (in P.L.93-633) was passed by the Congress, which thereafter, separated the board from the department of transportation which allowed the safety agency to carryout the unbiased investigations and also to make recommendations about the safety regulation sine then the NTSB has received a momentous respect from the Congress for its hard work in discovering the needed transportation safety enhancement and maintaining the civic confidence in transportation safety. On 1st October 2002 the funding authorization for the National Transport Safety Board expired but in the second session of the 107th Congress, bills that is the CRS-43H.R. 1527/S. 579 grants for authorization of the funds that are necessary for the expenses of the board. Senator John McCain introduced the reauthorization of the safety board which was therefore prepared and reported positively without adjustments by the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation. We see that on 13th March 2003. Representative Don Young established a bill for reauthorization of the board that was to be done on 1st April 2003. Also the House Committee covering Transport and Infrastructure reported a bill on May 1, 2003 the two bills, were to authorize the boards’ appropriations from the year 2003 to the year 2006 in which the same funding was to be provided. [1] Since its launch, the board has been given the responsibility of carrying out investigations on aviation and surface transportation accidents. Due to its high number of investigation recorded, the board is ranked as the worlds leading accident investigation agency. These transportation modes include the highway, marine, pipeline and railroad, therefore, it core objective is presenting safety recommendations that are meant to prevent future transportation accidents, and therefore it comes up with capable causes of the accidents. These investigations are carried out by the boards regional and field officers though they are not the basic sources of information to the board. The board has headquarter offices for all modes of transportation in which various information is requested from. The headquarter offices are situated at 490 L'Enfant Plaza, SW Washington, DC 20594 and they can be contacted by telephone (202) 314-6000 while its conference center is located at 429 L'Enfant Plaza, SW Washington, DC   20594 the location of the offices vary, depending on the mode of transport that the board deals with . The board is also dependable for maintaining the governments records on transportation issues, these records are normally accrued from special studies on transportation protection that are conducted by the board,   these studies basiaclly come up with factual and safety recommendations that are of a nationalized importance. Under this, the board provides investigators who always serve as qualified legislative body which is specified in the international agreements for aviation accidents overseas that usually involve the United States registered aircrafts. The National Transport Safety Board does not carry out regulations over the transportation apparatus, operation and the transportation personnel. The boards’ success in the formation of the transportation safety comes as a result of, its character for fairness and care. The National Transport Safety Board has five Board Members, who are normally chosen by the President and confirmed by the Senate to serve for a period of five years. Therefore a member is nominated by the President as Chairman and another as Vice Chairman for a period of two years These Chairmanship requires a separate Senate verification. In a situation where the chairman is not designated, then the vice chairman acts in place of the chairman. [2] Since the board has no power to regulate the transportation laws in the country it only causes change in the safety implementation of the transportation systems in the USA, therefore, it submits safety proposals to managers, workers, and the users of transportation systems. The safety measures include: improvement of child protection in automobile industry, reduction of fatigue of people from transportation operations, creation of event recorders that includes; video systems, commercial highway vehicle recorders, and an improved flight data recorder. Averting runway incursions at airports; justifying the risks of structural icing on aircraft; and the elimination of the explosive fuel in fuel tanks from the aircrafts to prevent explosions. while on the rail roads, the board comes up with a suggestion of avoiding collision systems, it also improves the safety standards of trucks and buses on the roads, this may require the use of seat belts, it also implements the promotion of highway safety through licensing and also ensuring that the driving laws are adhered to by the members of the country, and in marine transportation, the board enhances the recreational boating safety; and the post-accident drug and alcohol testing. Reports say that, these safety recommendations across all modes of transportation for over 35 years, through which about 82% of the recommendations has led to the implementation of acceptable safety improvements in the United States. The board normally works in collaboration with the department of transport agencies during the drafting of these measures so as to ensure that they are issued earlier and also in a satisfactory manner. The national transport board is given the authority to sign contracts for facilities, technical services, and training in accident investigative theories and practices. Like in a case where the board was given a one year contract for a training site to the George Washington University, and in the year two 2003 it established the National Transport Safety Board(NTSB) Academy on London County Campus of the George Washington University in Ashburn, Virginia. It is also allowed to engage in agreements and other dealings that are important in accomplishing its mission without undergoing the normal procedures of contracts, though the board has been criticized over its financial management it has been struggling to create a balance between the issuing of responsibilities to its investigators to complete their duties on time and efficiently and also providing a better financial management system that is effective in curtailing the fraudulent risks and wastages of resources. [3] Despite the alleged financial mismanagement, the board had to establish a strategic plan that is meant to last for 4 years, the plan was established in the year 2006 and is expected to accomplished its objective in the year 2010, this plan is meant to guide the Agency’s work, by enabling the planning, budgeting and accounting for the work performed by the board. This strategy is to cover various issues, including the accident investigation, support and the boards’ employee’s development and resource management. The current technological complex in the transportation system has made it hard for the agency to meet the challenge of accidents, thus making the agency to enter into a resource declination period whereby, planning is seen to be the most important factor in the utilization of the declining resources. For this reasons, the aircrafts, vehicles, trains, pipelines and marine vessels have safety features integrated in them. Therefore the assignment of the National Transport Safety Board is to, recognize and converse the lessons learned from investigation of transportation accidents. this investigation is normally watchful, experienced and self-regulating in order to prevent the loss of possessions, individual injuries, loss of life and also the environmental harm. Apart from safety measures, the board also carries out the coordination of tragedy backing for, victims and families affected by the transportation accidents; it also arbitrates for the airman and mariner petition, this services are used to maintain the reputation that the transportation system of America   as the safest in the world. [4] Therefore the national board of safety have set plans to have a careful use of the resources by maintaining a motivated, experienced, well trained, equipped and supported workforce which will enable it accomplish its mission this motivation is to be done through   intellectual selection of attempt and masterful implementation of objective; this goes hand in hand with the contribution of the private and public sector partners, who are always cooperative and supportive, the communication of these   recommendations for change in the directive and functions of the services of transportation is also considered. The goals set by the transportation safety board in conjunction with its mission include: Accident investigation under this the board has been maintaining its reaction competence of the accidents and has also increased the examination of occurrence and other negative issues that predicted to be of consequences in the improvement of public transportation protection. The boards’ approaches to accident investigation involve the enhancing of the organizational capacities and investment of the resources to enable the board to recognize and analyze the incidents which will further identify the origin of the transportation accidents. The second goal of the board is the support and Outreach this, objective is to enhance the presence of the national transport safety board in the transportation system whereby, leadership and technical support is used as a factor in giving support to the safety issues in transportation, thus promoting the safety recommendations of the board, this is normally done by, advancing the technical understanding and awareness of the safety issues which reflects the leadership role in the workforce performance. The board also expands and performs procedures that always support the safety recommendations. The board also carries out the reviewing and analyzing the results of the recommendations, whereby the board chooses what measure is proved to be better. While playing its role of leadership the board usually solicit the support of external agencies which may be industries or the government, that assist in the bringing of the transportation issue to the awareness of the transportation society. [5] The board also ensures that, its workforce maintains its knowledge by giving them a chance to play the leadership role with the board and other agencies locally and internationally. The board seeks to improve the productivity of the employees and their satisfaction through a vigilant recruitment, performance compensation, having an interest on their personal needs. It also maintains a working environment that facilitates the performance and the fulfillment of the boards’ workforce. To deal with financial frauds, the board has come up with a resource management system, whereby it evaluates expenditures and fiscal commitments, so as to have an efficient asset management, to enable it have its mission accomplished, this course of management involves the budget implementation as a factor of performance for all stages of management. The reviewing of all actions and costs is carried out whereby; the board members expect the board to finish its mission at a considerable time and with the use of limited resources therefore the national safety board is expected to carry out more investigations on accidents in shorter time and with fewer resources. The cost accounting tools and methods is normally provided by the agency to the program officers so that they can manage resources more effectively. The boards’ performance is usually evaluated by the office of the management and supplemented by the boards’ annual financial audit. The national board of transportation safety provides a room for safety studies that is termed as an assessment of the effectiveness of rules, curriculum, program management and operational regulations and other government agency actions that are implemented to reduce the transportation losses; these studies result in the issuance of a narrative report on the information, conclusions and any valid recommendations on the safety of the travelers. They are normally scheduled irregularly about six weeks after a board meeting is carried out covering the same subject. The schedules for such meetings are usually presented under news and events on the boards’ website, and announced via a press release. [6] Since the board is basically an investigative agency, it carries out a special investigation that is divided into two segments, whereby the first one is defined as an effort of gathering any information concerning the programmed focus selected in support of safety studies under this a report is usually issued, but a file is usually preserved, this file normally contains details, circumstances, and conclusions but will not include the possible cause of the accident. While the second one is an examination of the mechanical issues and safety problems recognized in one or more accident investigations, under this a detailed narrative report is usually developed and approved by the Board, it contains the details, circumstances , conclusions and safety recommendations if necessary. All these records are always available from the boards’ records management division. References: Coyle, J.J.; Bardi, E.J. and Novack, R.A. (2004): Transportation. 5th Edn: Southwestern College Publishing, Cincinnati OFCM (1999): Public-Private Partnership Symposium: Panel on Successful Transportation Partnership; Presentation at the Volpe Center, Boston M A. TRB (2001): Critical Issues in Transportation 2002. Reprinted from TRB News 217; November-December 2001: Transportation Research Board, Washington, D.C TRB (2000): Highway Capacity Manual 2000. D.C.: Transportation Research Board. Washington [1] Coyle, J.J.; Bardi, E.J. and Novack, R.A. (2004): Transportation. 5th Edn: Southwestern College Publishing, Cincinnati [2] TRB (2000): Highway Capacity Manual 2000. D.C.: Transportation Research Board. Washington [3] Coyle, J.J.; Bardi, E.J. and Novack, R.A. (2004): Transportation. 5th Edn: Southwestern College Publishing, Cincinnati [4] [5] TRB (2001): Critical Issues in Transportation 2002. Reprinted from TRB News 217; November-December 2001: Transportation Research Board, Washington, D.C [6] TRB (2000): Highway Capacity Manual 2000. D.C.: Transportation Research Board. Washington   

Business Communications Final Exam Questions & Answers Essay

1. Briefly describe any one of the communication models discussed in the textbook and/or lecture Lasswell’s (1948) model describes communication as a one-way transmission of messages. The model shows the ‘who’ as the ‘source’, the ‘what’ as the message, the ‘how’ as the channel, the ‘whom’ as the destination and the ‘effect’ as the outcome. 2. Describe three of the of the tests you can use to enable ethical decision-making Are we rationalising: Identify if you are rationalising, that is justifying your reasons with excuses such as: Everybody is doing it It’s not illegal They did it to me If I don’t do it someone else will The golden rule: Treat others as you would want to be treated If you wouldn’t like a particular action or behaviour to happen to you, then don’t do it to others Publicity test: After making a decision, it would then be publicised for anyone to see or read about such as family, friends etc. If you are happy and confident in what you have done and do not feel any guilt then it is a good test to use, if not, then the decision was not ethical. 3. What is the role of ‘I’ statements in the communication process? Illustrate with an example I’ statements are a way of sharing emotions and letting others know how their behaviour is perceived and how it affects you. One of the most effective  ways to begin assertive statements is to say ‘I feel †¦ when †¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ For example, the message may be: ‘I feel annoyed when you don’t let me know you will be late.’ People can express their needs and wants with an ‘I’ message. It shows their personal involvement plus a willingness to share their feelings. It also lets them own their own reactions. 4. Identify and explain the three techniques of persuasion as outlined in the textbook Three techniques: Rhetorical mix Features-benefits mix Appeals to emotion Rhetorical mix: Persuasion involves careful framing of arguments and a mixture of the three types of rhetorical appeal. Good communicators have the ability to use and combine the three types of appeal appropriate to the audience, subject matter and context. logos, or the appeal to logic (price, variety, product information) pathos, or the appeal to the emotions (entertainment potential of the website, sensory appeal through audio/visuals, intuitiveness of navigation and the extent to which the website can be personalised for users) ethos, or appeal to credibility (privacy and security, corporate image and branding). Features–benefits mix The features–benefits mix is a technique of persuasion that incorporates a mixture of a product or service’s features and benefits into the message to show the audience the real benefits. The message must stress the benefits in order to focus on the receiver’s need and enable the receiver to see the relevance of the features and benefits to them. The message has two essential components: features of a product or service, and a clear and concise illustration of how to apply these features linkage of the features with the benefits to enable the receiver to understand ‘what’s in it for me’ Appeals to emotion Appeals to emotion are ideas targeted towards the emotions, needs or values that the reader or listener is likely to care about. Fair appeals to emotion generate emotions based on facts and related to the issue. In contrast, unfair appeals to emotion generate emotions based on unsubstantiated claims and aroused by biased words rather than solid evidence or by fallacies such as red herrings or by personal attacks unrelated to the issue. Appeals to emotion balanced with logic persuade fairly and ethically; however, appeals to emotion are often misused either intentionally or unintentionally. When used improperly, emotional appeals offer a simple unthinking reaction rather than a reasoned argument and manipulate through prejudice, fear, embarrassment or other feelings rather than convince credibly. Example 5. Define the concept of emotional intelligence. Discuss the role emotional intelligence plays in building relationships and improving performance at work. Define: the abilities to recognise and regulate emotions in ourselves and others. Discuss: Emotionally intelligent people are responsive to others and able to use their own personal and social competence to express their expectations and values. Researchers have concluded that success is related to more than general intelligence (IQ). Successful people are emotionally intelligent. They have the personal and social competence to develop positive personal, social and work relationships, and to interact easily. Emotional intelligence influences organisational effectiveness in a number of areas: employee recruitment and retention, development of talent, teamwork, employee commitment, morale and health, innovation, productivity, efficiency, sales, revenue, quality of service, customer loyalty, client or student outcomes. 6. Briefly explain the difference between macro-culture and micro-culture including examples for each The macro-culture comprises all the arts, beliefs and institutions (legal,  governmental, business, educational and social) that characterise an ethnic group, race or nation, while a narrower micro-culture exists within the macro-culture. The micro-culture includes the characteristic attitudes and behavior operating within a group, an organisation or a nation. Macroculture usually consists of the culture which influences the majority of the people. In United States, macroculture reflects to the traditions of Western Europe. An example of a micro-culture could be the aboriginal community within the larger Australian community. 7. Describe the characteristics of Hall’s context model of culture Hall’s context model demonstrates that communication and culture are not only about words. Not just text, but context. It explains how context can be measured and that there are two extremes – low and high High context: A culture in which the context of communicated messages is as important as the communicated message Low context: A culture in which the context of communicated messages is not as important as the communicated message itself 8. Define the terms ‘enculturation’ and acculturation’ and explain how they differ. Provide examples for each of the terms Enculturation is the socialisation process that we go through as we learn about and adapt to our society Examples: unconscious (as we absorb and imitate the daily habits, speech patterns and roles of our parents from infancy) or deliberate (as we are taught specific manners for greeting people, religious rites and rituals, and reading the Bible, Koran, Torah or other literature). Acculturation is the process of cultural adjustment and adaptation people experience as they move from one culture to another. Example: Adopting a culture’s values, symbols and behaviour. Moving to another country and adapting to their customs whilst maintaining your traditions from back home. Differ: Enculturation and Acculturation both involve adapting to society however acculturation is not an unconscious or deliberate process and mainly occurs when introduced to a new culture or environment. 9. What is cultural diversity? Why is it important for people to study diversity as they prepare to enter their career? Cultural diversity is the variety of human societies or cultures in a specific region, or in the world as a whole. It is important that people study diversity as they prepare to enter their career because people can then accommodate differences in the background, perspectives and family responsibilities of other employees, and gather knowledge from the diversity of perspectives to generate new ideas and ways of doing things. It is also important, as they will already have acknowledged that the workplace is diverse and also respect other colleagues of their customs and cultural beliefs. This in turn prevents any form of discrimination, and judgement. 10. Hofstede’s five†dimensional model of culture has substantial potential for aiding our understanding of individual cultures and for comparing cultures. What are the five dimensions in the model? Briefly explain any one of the dimensions. Five Dimensions Power Distance Uncertainty Avoidance Individualism vs. Collectivism Masculinity vs. Femininity Long-term vs. Short-Term Orientation Uncertainty Avoidance Defines the extent to which members of a culture feel nervous about, or are threatened by, situations they perceive as ambiguous, unclear or unstructured. People in high-uncertainty cultures: Are risk averse Maintain strict codes of behaviour Establish more formal rules Tend to be resistant to change. People in low-uncertainty cultures: Take more risks Require fewer structures Are more informal and relaxed Are willing to accept change.

Vocabulary Tips Is Thank You One Word or Two

Vocabulary Tips Is Thank You One Word or Two Vocabulary Tips: Is Thank You One Word or Two? People often thank us for our proofreading. But even gratitude can cause spelling problems! In particular, it can be tricky to know whether to write thank you, thankyou, or even thank-you. So, is â€Å"thank you† one word or two? Check out our guide to find out. Thank You as Two Words As a verb phrase, â€Å"thank you† is always two words. Or to put it another way, you should always use two words for the act of thanking someone: Thank you for walking my dog. We can also use this term as a noun (i.e., something given as thanks): I’ll send your mom some flowers as a thank you. Or we can use it as an adjective to modify another noun: I received a thank you note in the mail today. So no matter how you are using â€Å"thank you,† you can write is as two words. Thankyou as One Word Until recently, writing â€Å"thankyou† as a single word was generally considered an error. And some people still don’t like it! But the single-word version of this term is more common now than it used to be, especially as a noun or an adjective. For instance: I’ll send your mom some flowers as a thankyou. I received a thankyou note in the mail today. Alternatively, some people hyphenate â€Å"thank-you† when using it as a noun or adjective. So we could rewrite the examples above as follows: I’ll send your mom some flowers as a thank-you. I received a thank-you note in the mail today. However, you cannot use these versions of the term as a verb. And you should not write â€Å"thankyou† or â€Å"thank-you† at all in formal writing unless you’re sure your style guide permits it. Summary: Is Thank You One Word or Two? In American English, we almost always write â€Å"thank you† as two words. This applies whether you use it as a verb phrase, a noun, or an adjective. However, other versions are gaining acceptance. How you write â€Å"thank you† may thus depend on how you use it: As a verb phrase, always use two words (e.g., Thank you for your time). As a noun or an adjective, you can write it as two words, as a single word, or with a hyphen. However, some still consider writing it as a single word incorrect, so use two words in formal writing. And if you’d like someone to check your writing, get in touch with Proofed.

Niobium (Columbium) Chemical and Physical Properties

Niobium (Columbium) Chemical and Physical Properties Niobium, like tantalum, can act as an electrolytic valve allowing alternating current to pass in only one direction through an electrolytic cell. Niobium is used in arc-welding rods for stabilized  grades of stainless steel. It is also used in advanced airframe  systems. Superconductive magnets are made with Nb-Zr wire, which retains superconductivity in strong magnetic fields. Niobium is used in lamp filaments and to make jewelry. It is capable of being colored by an electrolytic process. Niobium (Columbium)  Basic Facts Atomic Number: 41Symbol: Nb (Cb)Atomic Weight: 92.90638Discovery: Charles Hatchet 1801 (England)Electron Configuration: [Kr] 5s1 4d4 Word Origin:  Greek mythology: Niobe, daughter of Tantalus, as niobium is often associated with tantalum. Formerly known as Columbium, from Columbia, America, the original source of niobium ore. Many metallurgists, metal societies, and commercial producers still use the name Columbium. Isotopes: 18 isotopes of niobium are known. Properties: Platinum-white with a bright metallic luster, although niobium takes on a bluish cast when exposed to air at room temperatures for a long time. Niobium is ductile, malleable, and highly resistant to corrosion. Niobium does not naturally occur in the free state; it is usually found with tantalum. Element Classification: Transition Metal Niobium (Columbium) Physical Data Density (g/cc): 8.57Melting Point (K): 2741Boiling Point (K): 5015Appearance: shiny white, soft, ductile metalAtomic Radius (pm): 146Atomic Volume (cc/mol): 10.8Covalent Radius (pm): 134Ionic Radius: 69 (5e)Specific Heat (20 °C J/g mol): 0.268Fusion Heat (kJ/mol): 26.8Evaporation Heat (kJ/mol): 680Debye Temperature (K): 275.00Pauling Negativity Number: 1.6First Ionizing Energy (kJ/mol): 663.6Oxidation States: 5, 3Lattice Structure: Body-Centered CubicLattice Constant (Ã…): 3.300 Sources Los Alamos National Laboratory (2001)Crescent Chemical Company (2001)Langes Handbook of Chemistry (1952)CRC Handbook of Chemistry Physics (18th Ed.)

Vulnerability Tools Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Vulnerability Tools - Essay Example nformation systems. Nessus is a comprehensive and open source security scanner. Plug-in architecture allows users to customize it as per their systems and networks. The security scanner frequently updates itself and provides full reporting, host scanning, and real-time vulnerability searches. Security audit features of Nessus are (Messmer, 2005): Credentialed and un-credentialed port scanning Network based vulnerability scanning Credentialed based patch audits for Windows and most Unix platforms Credentialed configuration auditing of most Windows, Unix platforms Robust and comprehensive credentialed security testing of 3rd party applications such as iTunes, JAVA, Skype and Firefox Custom and embedded web application vulnerability testing SQL database configuration auditing Cisco Router configuration auditing Software enumeration on Unix and Windows Testing anti-virus installs for out-of date signatures and configuration errors Another popular and open source tool for vulnerability an alysis is Wireshark. This tool, which was previously named as Ethereal, also provides functionality for packet sniffing. A relatively easy GUI along with various filtering and sorting options makes this tool perfect for non-savvy IT staff within organizations (Scalisi, 2010). Comparing Nessus and Wireshark Wireshark is considered to be at top of the list for network protocol analyzers. Wireshark not only provides vulnerability analysis, as its functionality can be resembled with â€Å"tcpdump.† It emphasizes protocols and represents data streams on the GUI. The major advantage that this tool has is the compatibility of operating systems, as it supports OS X, Windows, UNIX and Linux. Moreover, it also extensively supports Voice over IP that is a significant option for the organization, as international and corporate organizations use VoIP for communication purposes to save cost and at the same time deliver quality. Nessus, on the other hand, is used in more than 75,000 organiz ations around the globe and it is considered to be one of the world’s most popular vulnerability scanner (Ferguson, n.d.). However, the third version, i.e. version 3, has now been converted to a proprietary license as the scanning engine is still free and updates are also available after a week on a release. Relating with the Scenarios When Nessus is incorporated in a large enterprise, most probably, a government organization such as Department of Defense (DOD) networks, it will initiate a port scan and target the defined host or a network. After opening the port, it examines all the services that are running on the system or network and tests all the detected services against vulnerabilities defined in the Nessus vulnerability database (Kim, n.d.). As this tool can develop a testing platform for network resilience, the report generation is very comprehensive that is ideal for large enterprises. As it is an easy remote based vulnerability analysis tool, it can be best suited for large enterprises that are geographically dispersed in more than one continent