Monday, December 30, 2019

Essay on Why we Should Love the Non Lover - 713 Words

Why we Should Love the Non Lover Loving happens as natural as the rising of the sun. At some point in our lives, we all profess to love someone or something. For as long as the word and notion of love has existed, there have been innumerable attempts to explain just what love is and whom we should or should not love. Even the Bible, commands its believers to love their neighbors, family, friends, and enemies as they love themselves. The Phaedrus, one of Platos greatest dialogues delves into the love in terms of who would be best for us to love and why. Phaedrus makes mention of a speech by Lysias, whom he strongly admires, that states that one should strive to love a non-lover, someone who does not and will not love you in†¦show more content†¦On the other hand, the non-lover befriends and associates himself with the beloved out of pure free will, without regard to any feeling of pleasure or passion. So that there is no passion present to die out and thereby the non-lover will never desert the lover. Also, the lover will very likely blame the beloved for distracting him from personal, business, or academic affairs, so that the lover appears to be preoccupied with the beloved and ignores his prior obligations to school, such as homework, papers, and studying, career plans, home life, and friends (231b). The lover becomes so entangled in doing stuff for the beloved, that the beloved comes first, above all and everything, by his choice, but at the fault of the beloved. When this happens, the lover becomes immoderate and has no balance within his life. While the non-lover will always put business first, so that the beloved is second to all things and therefore cannot be blamed for a malfunction in the lovers prior obligations. During the relationship between the lover and the beloved, the lover will be kind to the beloved, but when it ends, the lover will love someone else, disregarding the previous relationship, thus hurting the past beloved (231c). So that after having some extended relationship with the lover, and for example, the lovers passion withers away and the beloved and the lover are no longer together, although the beloved mayShow MoreRelatedCulture : Cultural Lifestyle Interview975 Words   |  4 Pagesand wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? What does a believer have in common with and unbeliever? (2 Corinthians 6:14-15, NIV) . Was Paul merely stating that we should not communicate or associate with unbelievers who do not have the same beliefs as Christians? Absolutely not! What Paul was literally stating is, do not conjoin with false teachers of other doctrines, and do not confirm to their persuasive ways byRead MorePlato s View On Philosophers1334 Words   |  6 Pagesshun philosophers because they are lovers of knowledge and are perceived to be different from them. The majority of people in a city are not lovers of knowledge but rather lovers of beauty. Referencing â€Å"Plato’s Republic, each person has a different skill they are naturally good at. Knowing this, philosophers must be naturally good at thinking and arguing. However, a good and great ruler needs more than these traits; a true ruler will have to be â€Å"those who love the sight of truth.†(475d). Given thatRead MoreEssay about Metaphysical Poetry - the flea + sune rising1703 Words   |  7 PagesDonne’s poetry we can see that he is goaded and confused by the new discoveries and the social customs avert him from reaching his desires. This is incalculably recognized in his two poems, â€Å"The Sunne Rising† and â€Å"The Flea† where Donne’s arguments challenge some beliefs of the 17th century England. Through â€Å"The Sunne Rising† we gain a sense of meaning that Donne is irritated and perplexed with new discoveries and that he believes his love is everything in the whole world. In â€Å"The Flea† we can see Do nneRead MoreWilliam Shakespeare s Romeo And Juliet1423 Words   |  6 PagesWhen one thinks of the word â€Å"love,† the idea of romance often comes to mind. Therefore, platonic love (non-romantic love) is often forgotten, though it is equally as strong as its romantic counterpart, and can lead to consequences much more tragic. Such is the case with William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. Despite the dominating romance between the two young lovers, as the play progresses, one would realize that the platonic love of those around Romeo and Juliet, though no one can be at faultRead MoreThe Shrew By William Shakespeare1196 Words   |  5 Pagescomedic social issue that separates them is part internal and part external, instead of just a forbidden marriage. The play also takes Helena’s subplot from A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the woman’s wooing of a man, and makes it the focus of the play. As we read in Montrose’s article, Oberon corrected this gender role swapping because it was not natural, and likewise, the King attempts to make Bertram see the value of Helen, but to no avail. While this play is similar in plot to the Helena arch, the conclusionRead MoreNadine Gordimer s Country Lovers1379 Words   |  6 Pagestimes when racial segregation took place between South Africa’s white minority and non-white majority. Nadine Gordimer, is a born and raised South African novelist whose writings focused on exile and alienation. She wrote many novels and short stories that related to South Africa s unjust political situation between the whites and non-whites in the 1900’s. One of the short stories that she wrote is â€Å"Country Lovers† which portrays the life in South Africa during those times and how apartheid, a policyRead MoreHidden Meanings Within Shakespeare s Midsummer Night s Dream Essay1300 Words   |  6 Pagesaccomplishes this by using figurative language such as metaphors and similes. Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream encompasses many themes and apply them to certain characters or through communication between multiple characters. Helena portrays themes of love, betrayal, jealousy, and gender norms in Midsummer Night’s Dream presenting them through her speech and behavior. She depicts the challenges of a woman and also the flaws of human nature. In Act 2 scene 1 and Act 3 scene 2 Helena uses a metaphor twiceRead MoreElizabethan Poetry941 Words   |  4 Pagesas a distinct national tradition. Puttenham and Sidney were concerned to build a canon and help shape English poetry into a tradition capable of rivalling more prestigious literatures (for example of Italy and France). The courtly lyric/ Petrarchan love sonnet introduced to English by Sir Thomas Wyatt and Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey: not the only poetic genre in the Renaissance, but one of the most interesting, which has shaped our later conceptions of English poetry. Wyatt and Surrey were â€Å"courtlyRead MoreThe Beauty of Shakespeares Sonnets1350 Words   |  6 Pagespersons sorrows, that love could and should be immortalized, and that marriage between two individuals can be strong and true, Shakespeares sonnets 55, 30, and 116 truly explain the real value of human relationships. In most of Shakespeares sonnets, he appears to write about his insecurities in relationships, or his own self-worth. However, in sonnet 55, Shakespeare expresses a tremendous amount of confidence in his relationship by showing how much he values their love. This statement saysRead MoreOther Woman1399 Words   |  6 Pagesthe way that she relates with her family. Even from the start of her marriage she was not quite open to her husband. She was afraid to show her family her love and affection that is why she became distant to them. She also seems to be quite sad and discontented despite the good life that she has. She wanted so much to find the love and affection she needed which she couldn’t develop with her own family. This is what led her to being an unfaithful wife and mother. She had an affair with

Sunday, December 22, 2019

The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr Hyde - 1524 Words

Frequently overlooked in favor of discourse on the duality of man or the dubiousness surrounding the characters’ interactions with Hyde, Jekyll’s portrayal of his transformations into Hyde in Robert Lewis Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll Mr Hyde has an indubitable parallel to symptoms of drug addiction. This allegory fits seamlessly into the narrative once the reader becomes aware of its presence. Not only does Henry Jekyll present symptoms paralleling drug addiction, his transformations into Hyde and how the other characters in the novel react to them are also typical of situation involving an addicted person. Finally, the ease with which a respectable member of the bourgeoisie lapses into such a degenerative state serves the†¦show more content†¦Like a drug abuser, Jekyll’s need for a specific ‘experience’—which later becomes the high of being Hyde and living without inhibitions—causes him to become blinded t o dangers that he, as a professional, should be aware of. While he entertains the notion of the possibility of death, Jekyll never once considers during that fateful first transformation that he can become addicted to the lightness that Hyde’s highs evoke (Stevenson 54). This ignorance parallels the pre-addiction pride that plagues the ‘junkie’; they arrogantly take their drug believing that degeneration will never happen to them because they can remain in control. Jekyll even relapses back to the drought after a two-month period of self-discipline, echoing the struggle of overcoming dependency on a drug without the proper support. By isolating himself in his quarters and devising a carefully-crafted second identity for Edward Hyde, Jekyll denies himself the possibility of breaking his addiction through the support of the people around him. This is a case all too common in drug addicts, who are ashamed or in denial of their problems. Utterson, who is implied to h ave overcome a taste for alcohol himself and who is exposed to addicts in his career, is both a success story and a case of the bourgeoisie’s oversight in the possibility of addicts outside of theShow MoreRelatedThe Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde1675 Words   |  7 PagesThe Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Essay Robert Louis Stevenson’s novella, â€Å"The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde,† is a type of Gothic literature. In the beginning of the story when Stevenson is describing the lawyer, one â€Å"Mr. Utterson,† the mood is a bit dull. At first glance the reader may think that this story would be a bit boring and drab. Stevenson’s story is far from being another dull piece of British English literature. The setting and mood of this novella are more complexRead MoreThe Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde Essay975 Words   |  4 PagesStevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a novella that follows the basic outline established by Mary Shelley in Frankenstein. However, Stevenson’s monster is not created from body parts but comes from the dark side of the human personality. In both novels, a man conducts a secret experiment that gets out of control. The result of these experiments is the release of a double, or doppelgan ger, which causes damage to their creator. While most people think that The Strange Case of Dr. JekyllRead MoreThe Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde1440 Words   |  6 Pagescomplexity of human nature in his books, especially in The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and Kidnapped. The former is about a lawyer named Mr. Utterson seeking out the truth of Dr. Jekyll’s very strange will. He finds out that Jekyll was transforming himself into Mr. Hyde so that he could have the freedom to do whatever he wanted no matter how evil. By the time Utterson finds all this out and findsJekyll, he is too late and Jekyll has already killed himself. The latter is about David BalfourRead MoreThe Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde1196 Words   |  5 Pageswhich do let control you? The good or evil? This was a question that Dr. Jekyll from the book, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, could not answer. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a book about a man who cannot control the two sides of himself, causing him to do terrible things and not even be aware of it. The theme of this book is good versus evil. Dr. Jekyll is fighting his evil side, known as Mr. Hyde, throughout the book. Some people believe that the book’s theme hasRead MoreThe Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde938 Words   |  4 PagesVictorian Hopes and Fears Involving Science as Found in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde During the Victorian Era there was a great race to use science to alleviate the suffering of the ill, specifically for those patients who were suffering from ailments of the mind. While some of the methods used to diagnose and treat such afflictions would be considered barbaric in nature by today’s standards, they were considered cutting edge medical science during the time of the Victorian Era. It was also consideredRead MoreThe Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde964 Words   |  4 PagesThe Strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, written by Robert Louis Stevenson was published in 1886. The story is published during the Victorian era, the Victorian era was an age of repression, there was no violence, no sexual appetite, and there was no great expression or emotion. In the story, Dr. Jekyll creates a potion that turns him into Mr. Hyde, Mr. Hyde is the complete opposite of what people are in the Victorian era. At first, Dr. Jekyll is in control of Mr. Hyde, but towards t he end MrRead MoreThe Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde1505 Words   |  7 PagesDuring the latter portion of the nineteenth century, Robert Louis Stevenson published his novella, The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. The fin de sià ¨cle saw the rise of different thoughts and ideas surrounding science and society. These concepts and interpretations sparked the discourse surrounding the theory of degeneration; which was the concern that civilization would fall to a lower state of being. This chapter will be reading multiplex personality as a manifestation of this broader culturalRead MoreThe Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde1739 Words   |  7 Pagesnovel â€Å"The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr Hyde† by Robert Louis Stevenson, the novel â€Å"Frankenstein† by Mary Shelley, the short story â€Å"The Monkey’s Paw† by W.W Jacobs and the short story â€Å"Yellow Wallpaper† by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. These four texts convey this theme through the use of gothic conventions such as death, madness and darkness. In the novels The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson and Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, Frankenstein and Dr. Jekyll are wronglyRead MoreThe Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde1351 Words   |  6 PagesThe Personas of Henry Jekyll Every person is born with bright and dark personas that people moderate due to the standards of society. In The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Jekyll and Hyde battle for the power to stay alive in the story. As Jekyll continues to try and take over his evil persona, Hyde tries to stay alive and cause evil in the world. In our society, many people will struggle with self control and Dr. Jekyll has trouble controlling his alter ego by performing his evil pleasuresRead MoreThe Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde1326 Words   |  6 Pages The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde was published during the late Victorian era, but he clearly brings into question the acceptance of Victorian philosophies, especially the belief that one truth exists and that we can identify good and evil as separate entities. The names Jekyll and Hyde have become synonymous with multiple personality disorder. This novel can be examined from the natural dualism and Freud’s structural th eory of the mind. In The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr

Saturday, December 14, 2019

The dotcom bubble and the stock market fall in 2000-2001 Free Essays

Summary of the main points covered in my essay. How did the dotcom bubble burst contribute to the economic crisis of the 2008? Could we expect the similar crisis and how can it be prevented? What are the lessons that should have been learned from the dotcom crisis? When the global financial crisis occurred in 2008, both experts and general public started heated discussion as everyone was eager to identify the reasons for such a calamity. It is clear that nothing happens with no reason at all. We will write a custom essay sample on The dotcom bubble and the stock market fall in 2000-2001 or any similar topic only for you Order Now Let’s consider the famous speech1 of Ben Bernanke, who is the Chairman of the Federal Reserve System. In that testimony he tried to explain the causes of the recent financial and economic crisis to the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, highlighting the vulnerabilities in different sectors of economics. The idea of inadequate risk-measurement that he focused on is very important for us, as this particular issue makes the recent crisis akin to the dotcom bubble we are about to examine in detail. (The same idea is one of the major issues of the next Ben Bernanke’s speeches, where he underlines the importance of reasonable risk management and possible destructive effects of being too optimistic about the future of the economic system). To sum up, experts claim that flaws in evaluating the perspectives of new technologies in the 90ies caused the dotcom bubble burst in 2000, while the inadequate risk-measurement of the financial instruments connected to mortgages led to the global financial and economic crisis in 2008. Could we have predicted the economic disaster coming in 2008 and which lessons could have been gathered from the dotcom crisis? These are the questions that make the topic urgent and exciting to examine. To begin with, let’s define the key term. What is a dotcom? Dotcom is a firm conducting its business mainly over the Internet. They usually possess a Web site intended for business use. The term is based on the â€Å"com† that forms the last part of the address for most commercial Web-sites. Now, what were the reasons for the dotcom bubble burst and what actually happened? (We should mention that this phenomenon is also referred as the Internet bubble and the Information Technology Bubble in many articles). It all started during the mid 1990is. The Internet was extremely popular those days and the Stock Market soared on technology and Internet stocks. Stock prices were rising and it seemed there was to limit for their value to expand. The masses believed there was a new world coming and the Internet was for sure to become the future of business. The steady confidence took place that the e-companies would turn future profits and there is no limit for technologies development. These expectations were reflected in the NASDAQ composite index. The NASDAQ composite is a stock market index of the common stocks and similar securities, which are listed on the NASDAQ stock market. The index reflects the performance of stocks of technology companies and growth companies. From January 1994 to February 2000, the it rose from 776. 80 to 4,696. 69, a 605% increase, and was influenced mainly by prices of high-technology stocks. But these expectations turned out to be far too positive. The market became overvalued. The Stock Market crashed. The culmination happened on March 10, 2000, with the NASDAQ peaking at 5132. 52 in intraday trading before closing at 5048. 62. (see the graph 1) Graph 1. NASDAQ composite dynamics2 The period when the bubble expanded rapidly was marked by the founding of many new small Internet-based companies commonly referred to as dotcoms. Many of them failed in 2000. A very specific phenomenon could be noticed at that time – the way for a new unknown company to become prosperous was just to add an â€Å"e-† prefix to their name or a â€Å". com† to the end. One of the authors called it â€Å"prefix investing†3, as the result of this simple renaming was the incredible growth of stock prices. I suppose that was one of the first indicators that something was wrong and the calamity was coming. But everyone considered it the steady development of the market that has big future. Alan Greenspan (an American economist, the Chairman of the Fed in 1987-2006) in 2005 said, that â€Å"this vast increase in the market value of asset claims is in part the indirect result of investors accepting lower compensation for risk. Such an increase in market value is too often viewed by market participants as structural and permanent†4. However, the situation isn’t unique and appeared to happen again. When in 2003 nanotechnology became the â€Å"hot† thing, everyone started to add a â€Å"nano† prefix in their name. It seems that the lessons that should have been learned from the dotcom bubble burst were forgotten. Let’s turn to the term itself in its theoretical sense. What is the bubble in financial markets? In a word, we say that a stock market bubble occurs when there is a rise or boom in the share prices of stocks of a particular industry. Meanwhile, the rise in prices usually bears little relation to the intrinsic value of the asset. The term â€Å"bubble† may be used with certainty only in retrospect when share prices have since crashed, as it happened in our case. An important basic characteristic of a bubble is the suspension of disbelief by most market participants during the â€Å"bubble phase. They fail to recognize that all of them are engaged in a speculative activity. That characteristic describes the dotcom crisis as well, as we already found out. It would be interesting to mention that financial bubbles have existed for centuries and one of the earliest crises of the type in known as the Dutch tulip mania. In the 17th century prices for tulip bulbs rose and finally reached extraordinarily high levels and then collapsed in the blink of an eye. The same happened to the stock of e-companies in the late 90ies. I suppose we can refer to this case as to â€Å"the dotcom mania†. The speculators who represent all the people in the economy that what to get high profits very fast, note the fast increase in value and decide to buy stock in anticipation of further rises, not taking into account that the shares are overvalued. Consequently the rise happens responding to the high demand for stock and many companies thus become grossly overvalued. When the bubble â€Å"bursts†, the share prices fall dramatically, and many companies are forced to leave the business. In order to be more precise, we can name five stages of any financial bubble5: First. Displacement. When people, especially investors, get enamored by a new paradigm, such as an innovative new technology or dotcom companies, as in our case, displacement occurs. That is the first stage of a financial bubble. Second. Boom. At this stage prices rise slowly at first, following a displacement, but then they gain momentum. More and more participants enter the market. All of them are determined to get prosperous as soon as possible. In case of dotcoms, a huge amount of small companies appeared on the market. The low interest rates in 1998-99 helped to increase the start-up capital amounts. Not all of them possessed innovative ideas, but they were sure that in the wave of e-companies they must succeed. No wonder they all had the same business plan of monopolizing their respective sectors through network effects. However it was clear that all of them wouldn’t become successful as the competition was tough. For many of them the â€Å"get big fast† plan would fail. During this phase, investors become even more enamored by the asset, considering it once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that increases speculation even more. Mass media also played its role. American respected business publications such as Forbes and the Wall Street Journal, encouraged the public to invest in risky companies in the wave of the wide-spread euphoria. As the result, many â€Å"ordinary† people became investors, some of them even gave up their job to become fill-time traders. Third. Euphoria. During this phase investors as well as the whole financial system forgets about prudence and asset prices skyrocket. During the dotcom bubble, the euphoria stage took place in the beginning of March 2000, when NASDAQ composite reached its top at 5132. 2 in intraday trading before closing at 5048. 62. This and the previous stages can be clearly revealed from the NASDAQ dynamics (see graph 1). Fourth. Profit taking. By this time the warning signs of coming debacle can be seen. This is the point when smart investors can make fortunes by selling out positions and taking profits. However, it is obvious that it’s very difficult to estimate the exact time when a bubble is due to collapse. John Maynard Keynes once mentioned that â€Å"the markets can stay irrational longer than you can stay solvent. As for the dotcoms founders, few of them made vast fortunes when their companies were bought out before the collapse. Fifth. Panic. In the panic stage, asset prices change direction and descend as rapidly as they had ascended. Investors and speculators are faced with margin calls, which are â€Å"demands on an investor using margin to deposit additional money or securities so that the margin account is brought up to the minimum maintenance margin†6, and the value of their holding plunge. Consequently, they want to liquidate them at any price. The supply overwhelms demand, and asset prices slide sharply. In 2000 the market index fell by almost 11% and NASDAQ fell by about 41%7. To explain the bubble applying the tools of mathematics, we’ll apply the most common concept that shows the existence of bubbles8. Considering the most simple case of price of a single share, the mathematical definition of an asset price bubble uses the fair price of a financial asset as its starting point. The price of an asset is the present value of the future cash flows, generated by the asset. pt =Et(dt+1+pt+1)/(1+r), here dt is dividend, pt is the price of the asset at a certain time t, and Et(i) is the expected value of the expression in the brackets based on the information available at t time. If the interest rate (r) is held constant during the whole period, then share price at t time (pt) in a general form can be given as follows: The first part of the sum on the right, which is the discounted present value of dividends, is the fundamental value of the share (pt * ). The remainder (bt) is a deterministic or the stochastic component satisfying the condition bt = Et(bt+1) /(1 + r), which is the asset price bubble itself. So, if the price of an asset is formed as following: pt =p t*+bt, and if p =? p*, then in the mathematical sense an asset price the bubble is formed. To continue our analysis, let’s describe the consequences of the dotcom bubble burst in 2000. Many small companies and some of the largest ones were forced to file for bankruptcy. Some of them ran out of capital, some of them were acquired, some were convicted of fraud in their financial statements. WorldCom, which was one of the leaders in the market was found practicing fraudulent accounting practices to exaggerate its profits every year. As it was revealed, it’s stock price fell dramatically, and finally the company filed for bankruptcy. Other examples include NorthPoint Communications, Global Crossing, JDS Uniphase and many others. However, some of the e-companies managed to survive the calamity. Large companies, for example, Amazon. com and eBay, are quite successful nowadays. Google also survived the turmoil and became one of the market leaders. As many economists predicted, harsh recession began from 2001. The crash on the stock market of 2000-2002 caused the loss of $5 trillion in the market value of companies from March 2000 to October 2002: the market value of NASDAQ companies peaked at $6. 7 trillion in March 2000 and bottomed out at $1. 6 trillion in October 20029. The economic bottom was the followed by 9/11 terrorist attacks of the World Trade Center’s Twin Towers. CONCLUSION After the case of dotcom crisis the word â€Å"dotcom† started to be used with unfavourable inflecton. It is frequently used to refer to a poorly thought-out unsuccessful businesses. Experts claim that dotcom crisis was one of the events that preceded the global financial crisis in 2008. It was kind of a â€Å"rehearsal†, as the global crisis also contained a speculative bubble, though it embraced a much wider variety of securities. Luckily, the recession following the bubble burst of 2000-2001 was not as deep as it could have been thanks to very aggressive interest rates lowering. However, a deeper downturn in the financial activity is much harder to overcome. The Internet bubble is also similar to the recent downturn because they were both preceded by inadequate risk-measurement and agents’ overconfidence. The financial and economic crisis of 2008 could have been predicted, if everyone was more prudent and learned a lesson from the 2000 dotcom case. In conclusion, I’d like to address the issue of a new Internet crisis that is predicted by some economists. Nowadays World Web companies place their stock at unbelievably high prices. Can a successful Internet project cost more than a huge transnational oil company? The common sense says definitely no, but investors have their own specific point of view. For example, the shares of Groupon, a famous discount service, we evaluated at $12,7 trillions, despite the company’s loss of $400 trillions the previous year and gross debt equal to $420 millions. This estimation is not reasonable and very far from reality. Meanwhile, the expected IPO of social network Facebook is evaluated at $100 trillions. It can be the beginning of the Dotcom Crisis 2. 0. On the other hand investors are optimistic about e-companies, as they survived the recent global crisis, unlike huge interconnected firms in other fields, such as financial, machinery and so on. However, if the case of Groupon is not unique (which is so, judging by the investors’ optimistic mood) the crisis can occur once again. The most important thing in preventing the possible debacle is being prudent. Investors shouldn’t be too optimistic and should be sensible when acquiring assets. PR and advertising can be astonishing, however being reasonable means evaluating the real business indicators to make rational decisions. Risk-management is the field that shouldn’t be ignored if we want to avoid new crises. How to cite The dotcom bubble and the stock market fall in 2000-2001, Papers

Friday, December 6, 2019

Development and Project Management Method †MyAssignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about the Development and Project Management Method. Answer: Introduction Perfect Builders is an organization that is based in the Sunshine Coast and provides repair and assessment services to the insurance companies. Dan Perfect had set up the company in the year 1999 and has been working towards the betterment of the same till the present day. Looking at the problems and issues with the current system that is followed, it has been decided to implement an information system for enhancement of the business processes and operations at Perfect Builders. Adaptive System Development Methodology The information system that is required to be developed for Perfect Builders can be done through a number of system development methodologies. These methodologies provide the methods and guidelines that shall be followed in the development process. These methodologies are broadly classified in two categories as adaptive and predictive methodologies. In case of the required system at Perfect Builders, the adaptive nature of system development methodology shall be used. It is because of the reason that the system requirements state that there will be amendments that will be done in the developed system which will easier through the adaptive approach. Also, the end users that are associated with Perfect Builders that will be using the information system belong to various groups and categories such as members of staff, management resources, corporate and individual clients. The needs and requirements of all of these user groups will vary from each other which will be handled better through the adaptive approach in system development (Carvalho, Mello, 2011). There are many adaptive system development methodologies that are present. However, the one that will be apt for the information system for Perfect Builders will be agile methodology using the Scrum framework. There are several reasons that are present behind the selection of the Scrum based agile methodology for this project. The approach that is used in this methodology is the ad-hoc approach (Kautz, Johanson, Uldahl, 2014). There are no pre-conceived notions or guidelines that are designed in general and the strategies and policies are designed as per the scenarios and the requirements. In case of Perfect Builders, there is a high degree of criticality associated with the project along with the varying demands and requirements. Ad-hoc approach of this methodology will meet all of these needs and variations. There is also focus on the values that is laid in this approach instead of the functions and behavior (Hart, 2011). The information system that is required to be developed for Perfect Builders will surely involve many modifications, changes and amendments during the project and after the project as well. It will therefore be required that the system is efficient enough to deal with all these modifications and there is no need to perform re-work to handle the same. It will also be required to ensure that the scalability of the system is not compromised. The system shall be scalable so that the changes in terms of technology and requirements can be met. There may be need to scale the system up in certain situations and it may also be necessary to scale the system down in certain scenarios (Ashbacher, 2010). Both of these abilities will be provided and ensured by the agile methodology based on the Scrum framework. Involvement of Dan and his team will also be essential and it will be recommended that there is a constant tracking of progress, status and the project activities done. It will make sure that the client that is Perfect Builders has a complete idea of the product being developed at all times and can easily point out the changes if required on an immediate basis (Mahnic, 2012). The traditional approach in which the system is first developed and then reviewed by the customer leads to many changes and a lot of re-work for the project team. The adaptive system development methodology will therefore allow the involvement of Dan and his team throughout the timeline of the project (Ali, Babu, 2016). There may be many risks and uncertainties that may emerge during the development of the information system for Perfect Builders. These risks may be in the form of technical or operational risks, management related risks, resource risks, budget risks or any other form of the risk. It will be essential that there are guidelines present with the Project Manager and leadership involved with the project so that these risks can be handled and controlled. Adaptive approach for the project will provide this opportunity by suggesting the various risk control and prevention measures. Also, the approach will include the execution of the project in the form of stages and iterations. These iterations will be termed as sprints and the duration of each sprint will be kept short. It will lie between 4 to 7 weeks which will be used to target and complete the requirement sets. In such a manner, there will be multiple short term goals that will be created which will be easier to achieve as compared to a final single goal as the end product. Tracking of the progress along with the management and incorporation of changes will also be easy in this case. Once all the sprints will be executed, there will be final product that will be created in the form of the information system for the company (Altameem, 2015). All the reasons that have been stated above support the decision of choosing adaptive system development methodology over any of the predictive approaches for the project. There will be many of the managerial and operational advantages offered by the agile based scrum development approach. Event table Event Event Type Trigger Source Activity/Use Case System Response/ Output Destination Perfect Builders wants to add new client Internal Get insured details Insurance company Record new client A new client has been added successfully Perfect Builders, Client Perfect Builders gets new project Internal Insured wants to construct a property Insurance company Create project A new project has been added successfully Perfect Builders, client Assessor inspects property External New Project accepted Admin staff Inspect property Assessor successfully inspected the property Assessor Admin staff appoints building supervisor External Inspection successful Admin staff Assign building supervisor Building supervisor has appointed successfully Building supervisor Admin staff provides quote Internal Inspection successful Admin staff Provide quote Admins staff successfully provided the quote Insurance company Client sign-offs the project External Sign-off project Admin staff Sign-off project Client signs the project after project completion Client Admin staff maintain diary Staff New project created Admins staff Manage diary - Perfect Builders Use Case Create project Scenario Create new project Triggering Event Insurance company receives details of the insured for a new work. Description Allows admin to create a new project for the respective insured. Actors Insurance company, admin staff Related Use Case N/A Stakeholders Client, admin staff Pre-Condition Admin staff is already logged in the system. Post-Condition A new project has been created. Flow of activities Actor System 1) Insurance company emails the details of insured to the company. 2) Admin staff checks the details and initiate a new project. 4) Admin staff fills the form and submit it. 6) An assessor is assigned to the project. 3) System displays a project form. 5) System saves the new project and return a project ID to the admin staff. Alternate Course of Action 3.1 If staff enters wrong details such as start date, name of the insured, etc., then an error message is displayed. A design analysis was done by the design team to understand the design specification and requirements for the information system that is required to be developed for Perfect Builders. Interaction and responsiveness are two of the major demands and expectations that the users have from the design of any of the web based application. We will be following the design principles that enhance the Human Computer Interaction (HCI) and provide an amazing experience to the users. The first and the foremost design principle that we will follow in the application will be the use of responsive web design. For every user action, the system will provide a response according to the nature of the action. For example, if the user wishes to access the application in the landscape mode or reduced resolution mode, then the elements of the UI will accordingly adjust. There will be use of change in text colour, shadowing, highlight etc. that will be used (Akoumianakis, Stephanidis, 2005). There will also be principles of consistency that will be maintained in the application design. The use of colour scheme, layout, navigation, font style etc. will be kept the same across all the pages and screens of the information system that we will provide. Customization and personalization options will also be considered while designing the system. The users will be able to customize the application on the basis of the language options, colour options and theme of the application. It will provide the users with the ability to connect with the system in a better way (McFarlane, Latorella, 2002). Navigation and layout that will be used in the application will be kept as simple and smooth as per the standard design principles. There will not be too much of navigation on any of the screens as the users may not like to scroll too much. Also, there will not be any overloading of screen elements and the use of spaces will be judiciously done. The layout that we will follow in the design will be simple and will follow the structure as placement of title at the top followed by header, menu, and body and footer section. We will only alter the body section on every screen and all the other sections of the layout will remain the same across all the screens. We are aware of the fact that the users may perform certain errors or may accidently click on certain options present in the application. There will be a re-confirmation of every such task and there will also be easy reversal of actions that will be implemented in the system design. The system will also provide an informative feedback to the users (Bakker, Hoven, Eggen, 2014). Please review and read through all of these design principles associated with the application and let us know if there are any further additions/changes required. References Akoumianakis, D., Stephanidis, C. (2005). Building Consensus in Human-Computer Interaction Design: Integrated Activity-Oriented Design Environments. International Journal Of Human-Computer Interaction, 18(1), 85-103. https://dx.doi.org/10.1207/s15327590ijhc1801_5 Ali, S., Babu, A. (2016). A Hybrid Agile model using SCRUM and Feature Driven Development. International Journal Of Computer Applications, 156(5), 1-5. https://dx.doi.org/10.5120/ijca2016912443 Altameem, E. (2015). Impact of Agile Methodology on Software Development. Computer And Information Science, 8(2). https://dx.doi.org/10.5539/cis.v8n2p9 Ashbacher, C. (2010). Succeeding With Agile: Software Development Using Scrum, by Mike Cohn. The Journal Of Object Technology, 9(4). https://dx.doi.org/10.5381/jot.2010.9.4.r1 Bakker, S., Hoven, E., Eggen, B. (2014). Evaluating Peripheral Interaction Design. HumanComputer Interaction, 30(6), 473-506. https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/07370024.2014.921531 Carvalho, B., Mello, C. (2011). Scrum agile product development method - literature review, analysis and classification. Product Management Development, 9(1), 39-49. https://dx.doi.org/10.4322/pmd.2011.005 Hart, M. (2011). Agile Product Management with Scrum: Creating Products that Customers Love by Roman Pichler. Journal Of Product Innovation Management, 28(4), 615-615. https://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-5885.2011.00829_2.x Kautz, K., Johanson, T., Uldahl, A. (2014). The Perceived Impact of the Agile Development and Project Management Method Scrum on Information Systems and Software Development Productivity. Australasian Journal Of Information Systems, 18(3). https://dx.doi.org/10.3127/ajis.v18i3.1095 Mahnic, V. (2012). A Capstone Course on Agile Software Development Using Scrum. IEEE Transactions On Education, 55(1), 99-106. https://dx.doi.org/10.1109/te.2011.2142311 McFarlane, D., Latorella, K. (2002). The Scope and Importance of Human Interruption in Human-Computer Interaction Design. Human-Computer Interaction, 17(1), 1-61. https://dx.doi.org/10.1207/s15327051hci1701_1

Thursday, November 28, 2019

A Universal Job Recommendation Letter Template

A Universal Job Recommendation Letter Template SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips Are you tasked with writing a recommendation letter for someone and not sure where to start? While all letters should be uniquely customized to the candidate, most share a certain fixed structure. This guide will go over this structure piece by piece to help you through the writing process. Read on for a recommendation letter template that you can use to shape your recommendation letter. To begin, let’s review the purpose of reference letters for job seekers. What's the Purpose of Recommendation Letters? Hiring managers often ask for a recommendation letter or two from applicants to gain an outside perspective on their qualifications. Reference letters can confirm and complement a candidate’s story, as well as speak to specific skills and achievements. As a letter writer, you can give specific examples of the candidate’s long-term work and day-to-day behavior. Managers or coworkers are great sources to describe what it’s like to supervise or collaborate with the candidate. In its most basic role, a letter of recommendation confirms the candidate’s dates of employment and job responsibilities. The most memorable references, though, go beyond a statement of verification to paint a picture of the candidate. They stand as powerful statements of support as the hiring manager decides which applicant would best fill the prospective position. Writing a letter of recommendation can be a tall assignment, so I've broken down the process into steps. Read on to learn about the stages of the letter writing process. Step one is all about listening to what the candidate has to say. Writing a Letter of Recommendation in 4 Steps Below are four major steps of writing your recommendation letter: 1, learn about the job; 2, brainstorm ideas; 3, draft your letter; and 4, edit for clarity. Once you get to the drafting stage, you can use the descriptive template below to structure your letter. Your first step should be to speak with the candidate. Before putting pen to paper (or more realistically, fingers to keyboard), ask her to tell you more about the new job. Want to provide a strong recommendation for your employee, but don't have the time to craft the perfect letter? PrepScholar's new recommendation tool, SimpleRec, takes you from good intentions and a blank page to a fully written and formatted letter of recommendation in under 5 minutes. All you need to do is give us some simple pieces of information about your employee and your experience working with them, and we'll do the rest. Try out SimpleRec risk-free today: Step 1: Learn About the New Job Before starting to write your letter, you might meet with the candidate to gather all the important information and materials. Find out about the new job and its requirements. Get a copy of the candidate’s resume. Ask her if there are any particular qualities or skills she’d like you to emphasize to show she’d make a good fit with the new job. For example, let's pretend you’re writing a letter of recommendation for a member of your support team. If she’s moving and applying to a similar position, then you could focus in on her excellent customer service skills. If she’s applying to a position of leadership, though, then you might focus more on times when she showed managerial skills or maintained productive relationships with her coworkers. You also might mention the reason that the candidate’s applying elsewhere. If she’s moving out of state, then you could say this while adding that you’d retain or hire her again if you could. It’s not totally necessary, but touching on the reason for the application might present another opportunity to show support. Once you â€Å"have your assignment,† you can start to brainstorm ideas for your letter. What skills, qualities, or achievements should you highlight, and what specific examples can you include? Step 2: Brainstorm Ideas for Your Letter Once you have a sense of what your letter’s for, you can start brainstorming ideas. What comes to mind about the candidate? What skills or accomplishments could you highlight? In what ways has she fulfilled or even gone beyond her job responsibilities? Some qualities you couldconsider include flexibility, initiative, leadership, growth, collaboration, interpersonal skills, and/or ability to perform within a certain environment or culture. You can also think about specific professional skills, like writing, social media, programming, classroom management, technology, underwater basket weaving - whatever’s relevant to both the current job and the new one. Once you’ve brainstormed ideas, pick out the top two to three to highlight. As you’ll read below, your letter should contain two to three body paragraphs, each with a specific focus and supporting example. Before writing, you can brainstorm the main points you’ll make in your letter. Then, you can start to draft using the structure described below. Don't fear the blank page! The recommendation letter template below will give you all the writing guidance you need to draft your letter. Step 3: Draft Your Letter with this Template There’s something uniquely intimidating about a blank page. You’ve arrived at the moment of truth - actually writing your letter - but you’re not sure where to start. Luckily, recommendation letters, as varied as they can be, tend to follow a tried-and-true format. Your page doesn’t need to remain blank for long. First, you should add the contact information of the person who will be reading your letter. Write Out the Hiring Manager’s Contact Information To start your letter, you should add the hiring manager’s contact information lined up with the left margin at the top. This includes his/her name, position, company or organization, and company or organization’s address. For example, here’s the contact information from our first sample recommendation letter written by a direct manager for a full-time employee. Ms. Greta JohanssenSales ManagerStreambase Corp.66 Western BoulevardSanta Fe, New Mexico 87500 Ideally, you can address your letter to a specific person. Often, a candidate only needs to submit recommendation letters once she’s gone through the first phrase of the application process. She should provide you with this information so you can make your letter more personal. Rather than starting with a generic, "Dear Hiring Manager," strive to address your letter to a specific person, like"Dear Ms. Johanssen," "Dear Mr. Smith," or "Dear Dr. Jekyll." Easy enough, right? And you’re no longer dealing with that unforgiving blank page. Once you’ve added this information, you can start in on your introductory paragraph. Paragraph 1: The Introduction Your introductory paragraph might be three to four sentences. You should start with an enthusiastic opener, like I’m delighted to recommend Joe for the position of Dive Instructor with Rocktopus Dive Company. It’s my honor to provide this recommendation for Chelsea, with whom I co-taught Latin to kindergarten students for the past three years. It’s my great pleasure to recommend Alexandra for the position of Chief Engineer with the Rebel Alliance. There’s no need to explain the reason for your letter with a sentence like, â€Å"Joe asked me to write a recommendation letter for his application to the position of Dive Instructor.† The letter speaks for itself. Start out strong with a positive statement of support. Next, you should explain who you are and why you’re qualified to recommend the candidate. Were you her manager? Coworker? Collaborate on a project? Worked side by side in the same office space every day for three years? Qualify the nature of your relationship to show why your opinion holds weight. Here are a few examples for the second sentence of your introductory paragraph. I’ve gotten to know Joe well over the past three years both as an employee of my diving school and a close personal friend. As Chelsea’s co-teacher at Caesar’s After-School Republic, I planned lessons and taught classes with her Monday through Friday. As Alexandra’s Direct Manager for the past fiveyears, I spoke with her on a daily basis about the best ways to defend ourselves against the Galactic Empire. You may also give a brief description of the candidate, perhaps starting with a preview of the skills or qualities you plan to highlight in your letter. The following are a few examples of the kind of introductory evaluative statements you could make in the beginning of your letter: Joe is a skilled diver, a charismatic teacher, and the kind of level-headed person you’d want to have around in an emergency. Chelsea is a warm, creative, and dynamiclanguage teacher. Please allow me to give three examples of her instructional skills. Alexandra is an outstanding mechanical engineer with a stronggraspof technology and an effective style of communication. Once you’ve introduced yourself and the candidate, you can start in on the body paragraphs of your reference letter. The body paragraphs are like the fillings in a sandwich. How can you make them as tasty and substantial as possible? Paragraphs 1, 2, and (maybe) 3: Your Main Points Once you’ve written your introduction, you’ve arrived at the meat of your letter (or, if you’re a vegetarian, at the grilled eggplant layer of your letter). Most letters contain two to three body paragraphs of fourto sixsentences each. You might choose to write two in-depth paragraphs or three that are a little shorter. Each paragraph can focus on a skill or accomplishment and should contain a specific example.By specific example, I mean you should focus on a particular point in time when the candidate did something significant or memorable. Here are a few examples. Joe’s an expert diving teacher who supports his students holistically through the learning process. In addition to giving clear instruction, Joe helps newdivers manage their anxieties. A few weeks ago, one of his students felt panicky during her first open water dive. Joe showed patience and understanding, and ultimately, the student completed the dive. After the group came back in, she raved about Joe and the way he helped her conquer her fear. With his compassionate approach, Joe has empowered dozens of students to overcome their nerves and achieve their diving goals. Chelsea’s creativity and passion for the Latin language shinethrough in her approach to teaching. She brings the language to life with skits, costumes, posters, and visuals across every wall and tabletop. Last week, the students performed a skit for their parents about Pandora’s Box. Pandora, Prometheus, and Vulcan all made appearances in the excited cast. Chelsea’s classroom is a colorful ode to the ancient world where interactiveactivities and visual cues reinforce students’ language learning at every turn. Beyond improving our existing equipment, Alexandra also develops and tests new theoretical designs. Most recently, she developed a prototype for a starship engine that could run for 1.5 times longer than our current model before needing additional charge. This exciting project is just one example of Alexandra’s innovative and forward-thinking ideas. Between her creativity and engineering expertise, she has the potential to transform our fleet and shape the future of Alliance technology. Coming up with specific anecdotes can be tricky. If you're having trouble coming up with some, you might first consider the qualities you want to highlight. Some possible descriptors and phrases that could jog your thinking include, Creative problem solver Reliable Integrity Detail-oriented Articulate Clear communication Efficient Organized Ambitious Innovative Forward-thinking Sensitive Interpersonal skills Collaborative Leadership qualities Hard-working Dependableand trustworthy Take-charge personality Influential Supportive Thoughtful Kind Once you’ve chosen your points,think of a time that the candidate showed these qualities. What makes you think the employee has great interpersonal skills? Why does the word "initiative" come to mind? Why do you consider her to be an exceptional problem solver? Strive to incorporate a brief but illustrative example in each body paragraph. If your letter starts to resemble a list of vague adjectives, then it won’t paint a vivid picture in the eye of the reader. Another point to consider when drafting your body paragraphs is theorder in which youpresent your points. Remember that first step of learning about the prospective position and its requirements? This information comes in handy now, because you should order your paragraphs by putting the most relevant points at the beginning. Once you’ve drafted your body paragraphs, it’s smooth sailing to the end of your letter. You just need to add a conclusion and a signature, and you’ll be done with your first draft! Made it to the conclusion of your rec letter? Congratulations! It's smooth sailing from here on out. Conclusion and Signature The concluding paragraph, like the introduction, is pretty straightforward. You can think of the last paragraph of your letter as an opportunity to restate your support for the candidate. To give a couple of examples, your conclusion could start something like this: Joe has proven himself to be an outstanding dive instructor, and he has my highest recommendation. Chelsea has my wholehearted recommendation for the position of Head Latin Teacher with your school. In closing, I’d like to reiterate my unequivocal support for Alexandra and her application to theposition of Head Engineer. You might also add a sentence or two summarizing the content of your recommendation or adding a few more positive descriptors. Here are a few examples. Whether he’s training a new group in the classroom or calming a nervous student on her first open ocean dive, Joe has proven himself time and again to be an extremely capable instructor. Chelsea’s made a lasting impression with our students and is more than ready to take on the position of Head Instructor. Alexandra is a hard-working and talented engineer committed to our mission to restore the Republic. Finally, you should invite the reader to contact you with any questions or for any further information. You could also thank the reader for her time. Here are a couple ways to express this thought: Please don't hesitate to contact me for any further information. Thank you for your time. Please feel free to get in touch with any questions. Thanks very much. Then add a "Sincerely" (this is technically called the valediction) and your signature. You might print your name, position, phone number, and email beneath your signature. If this contact information’s already present in the header of your official letterhead, then you could alsochoose not to repeat it at the bottom. For instance, the end of your letter might look something like this: Sincerely, [Signature] Adrianna AureliusLatin Teacheraaurelius@caesarsschool.edu766-263-6747 Now that you’ve got a sense of the content of your recommendation letter, let’s go over a few pointers about format. A Few Tips on Formatting Your Letter Recommendation letters are typically one full page. Any shorter could look like you rushed or didn’t have many positive statements to make about the candidate. Much longer and your reader could lose interest. You want to create a full impression while still being concise. Most recommendation letters are lined up against the left margin. You might indent each paragraph, but it’s more common not to indent. As discussed above, introductory and concluding paragraphs are usually two to three sentences. Body paragraphs might be a little longer at four to six. You might choose to use bullet points with the body paragraphs if it clarifies your thinking, but this format is less common. The paragraphs themselves should be single-spaced with a double space in between each one. You could also put two full spaces between the hiring manager’s contact information at the top and the beginning of your letter, as well as extra space beneath your valedictionof, â€Å"Sincerely† to make space for your signature. While the wording may vary, your final letter should look something like thefinaltemplate below. Below you'll find the basic scaffolding for your recommendation letter. You can use this template to construct yourpolished final product. Drafting Your Recommendation Letter: Final Template While you'll have to fill in the details, the following offers a basicemployee recommendation letter template to guide your writing. Your Official Letterhead Hiring Manager's NamePositionCompanyStreet AddressCity, State, Zip Code Dear [Hiring Manager's Name], It's my great pleasure to recommend [name] for the position of [job title] with [company or organization]. I've worked with [name] as his/her [manager, coworker, etc.] for the past [number of years]. [Name of candidate] is [two to three descriptors], and I have no doubt that he/she would make an outstanding addition to your company/organization. Please allow me to give three examples of her qualifications. Body Paragraphs 1 - 3: [Name] stands out for his/her [quality]. Last week, for example, he/she [specific example]. He/she consistently [description of skills, accomplishments]. [Name] is uniquely qualified for the position of [new job], especially when it comes to [specific responsibilities of the new position].* *Present 2-3 main characteristics of the candidate in the body paragraphs, each with a specific example if possible. Put them in order of importance andrelevance to the prospective position. Usestrongly positive language, but try not to soundover the top. In closing, I'd like to restate my wholeheartedsupport for [name's] application to the position of [job title]. He/she is [most important qualities]. I have no doubt that she will continue to have great success with your company/organization. Please don't hesitate to contact me for any further information. Thank you for your time. Sincerely, [Signature] NamePositionEmailPhone Number While this structure works for most letters, there's also a lot of space for you to customize your letter to the individual,especially in the body paragraphs. In the end, your letter should be your own unique piece of writing. Once you’ve finished drafting, take some time to read over your letter and make any necessary revisions. Step 4: Edit for Clarity Your final letter should be clear, concise, and error-free. To cut down on unnecessary bulk, consider whether you can shave off unnecessary adjectives or adverbs. Watch out for wordiness, and try to tighten up your language overall. If you can express the same idea in fewer words, do so. Below is one example of editing for clarity. Too flowery: Chelsea is an energetic, exciting, and enthusiastic teacher who's truly dedicated to the well-being of her students and to the maintenance of an open, comfortable classroom environment conducive tolearning and exploration. Better: Chelsea is an energetic teacher dedicated to her students' well-being. She createsa classroom environment where students feel safeto explore. Beyond making your letter lean and precise, make sure it doesn’t have any errors of grammar and spelling. Through editing, you can make your letter a powerful endorsement and help the candidate get hired for the new job! As you edit, cut down on flowery language so your reader can get to the root of what you're saying. Final Thoughts About Writing a Letter of Recommendation In the end, your mission is to produce a stand-out letter of recommendation that will leave an impression with its reader. You’re aiming to endorse the candidate and prove that she would be successful in her next role. Your letter can complement the candidate’s story and give specific examples of her accomplishments. While recommendation letters should be unique to each candidate, they share a certain structure. Ensure that you use a proper format, address your letter to a specific person, and introduce who you are and how you know the candidate in your introduction. Choose a few points to make in your two to three body paragraphs, each of them supported with an anecdote from a particularpoint in time. Present the most relevant points first, so your reader can see right away why the candidate is qualified. Finally, conclude with a restatement of your support and an invitation for the hiring manager to contact you for any further information. Above all, choose your words with care so that you succeed in painting a strongly positive, while still realistic picture of the candidate. Your letter could go a long way in helping her get hired and ultimately, changing her day-to-day life! Want to provide a strong recommendation for your employee, but don't have the time to craft the perfect letter? PrepScholar's new recommendation tool, SimpleRec, takes you from good intentions and a blank page to a fully written and formatted letter of recommendation in under 5 minutes. All you need to do is give us some simple pieces of information about your employee and your experience working with them, and we'll do the rest. Try out SimpleRec risk-free today: What’s Next? Now that you have a recommendation template to work with, learn more about recommendation letters with our nine free samples! Check out this full guide with recommendation letter samples from managers, supervisors, and a colleague. Are you interested in recommendation letters for college? Check out this guide with four samples of teacher recommendation letters for high school students. You can also find three more written by school counselors. Interested in how a student recommendation letter is different from a job rec letter?This recommendation letter template will help you write a reference for a student.

Monday, November 25, 2019

Secret holds essay

Secret holds essay Secret holds essayNowadays the so-called secret holds are considered to be on the top of the list of the Senate progress threats. The main idea of secret hold is the right of one single senator to hold some piece of legislation, without stating the reason. This could be done officially, as well as non-officially. When there was a moment, when a bill to stop secret holds was offered, ironically it was not passed exactly because of a number of secret holds. Nowadays there is an opinion that secret holds are not beneficial for progress and accountability and thus they should be banned.According to the rules of Senate in order to proceed any bill there is a need to get the unanimous consent. In other words if there is a Senator, who has objections as for moving forward a bill, then there is no unanimous consent and the bill is stopped automatically. If there is a need to prevent any bill from reaching the stage of voting, then it receives hold. There are two options possible. According t o the first option the motion is held due to open objection on the Senate floor and according to the second option, the Senators have the chance to inform the party leaders privately about their objections, without even revealing their names to public. This is actually the procedure of a secret hold. Initially the main aim of introducing of the secret hold was to let Senators consult of legislation in relations to each of the states. As soon as any Senator used the right to place a hold, he could have enough time to consider the current legislation and realize the outcomes of the further steps forward.In reality the situation is not that simple, as this right was actually utilized by the Senators in order to anonymously hold the legislations, without even having to comment upon the reasons for doing so. Logically, secret holds became real powerful weapons to be used by Senators, when they needed it and moreover without forcing them to present their comment to public. The practice of secret holds dates back to the middle of the 19th century and was actively utilized by both Republicans and Democrats. Still nowadays there are more and more cases, when secret holds are abused and the results are the blocks of the normal functioning of the Senate as well as some of the Presidential appointments, for which approvals from the Senate are needed.This is the reason, why the advocated of the government transparency have paid attention to the practice of secret holds and initiated the discussion of finding the way to ban secret holds. There is an opinion that there is a need to support transparency by making the Senators come out with their ideas and attitudes officially and be ready to bear responsibility for their decisions and actions.  Ã‚   The Senators have initially occupied their positions in order to operate openly and without taking any decisions in shadow. Even if there is no chance to take such decision immediately, there should be steps made in this directi on.Do you like this essay? You can say "Thank you" to the writer donating him any amount you want. Donate here. (2 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5) Loading...0Comments Secret holds essayNowadays the so-called secret holds are considered to be on the top of the list of the Senate progress threats. The main idea of secret hold is the right of one single senator to hold some piece of legislation, without stating the reason. This could be done officially, as well as non-officially. When there was a moment, when a bill to stop secret holds was offered, ironically it was not passed exactly because of a number of secret holds. Nowadays there is an opinion that secret holds are not beneficial for progress and accountability and thus they should be banned.According to the rules of Senate in order to proceed any bill there is a need to get the unanimous consent. In other words if there is a Senator, who has objections as for moving forward a bill, then there is no unanimous consent and the bill is stopped automatically. If there is a need to prevent any bill from reaching the stage of voting, then it receives hold. There are two options possible. According t o the first option the motion is held due to open objection on the Senate floor and according to the second option, the Senators have the chance to inform the party leaders privately about their objections, without even revealing their names to public. This is actually the procedure of a secret hold. Initially the main aim of introducing of the secret hold was to let Senators consult of legislation in relations to each of the states. As soon as any Senator used the right to place a hold, he could have enough time to consider the current legislation and realize the outcomes of the further steps forward.In reality the situation is not that simple, as this right was actually utilized by the Senators in order to anonymously hold the legislations, without even having to comment upon the reasons for doing so. Logically, secret holds became real powerful weapons to be used by Senators, when they needed it and moreover without forcing them to present their comment to public. The practice of secret holds dates back to the middle of the 19th century and was actively utilized by both Republicans and Democrats. Still nowadays there are more and more cases, when secret holds are abused and the results are the blocks of the normal functioning of the Senate as well as some of the Presidential appointments, for which approvals from the Senate are needed.This is the reason, why the advocated of the government transparency have paid attention to the practice of secret holds and initiated the discussion of finding the way to ban secret holds. There is an opinion that there is a need to support transparency by making the Senators come out with their ideas and attitudes officially and be ready to bear responsibility for their decisions and actions.  Ã‚   The Senators have initially occupied their positions in order to operate openly and without taking any decisions in shadow. Even if there is no chance to take such decision immediately, there should be steps made in this directi on.

Thursday, November 21, 2019

Research Design and Methodology Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Design and Methodology - Research Paper Example After reviewing literature, the research design that will guide the investigation will be identified. In this particular case, the design that will be used for this research would be the analysis of secondary data. This is because for this kind of research design, there are very few research ethics that are involved. The main source of data in this research would be the internet and other library resources would supplement it. After selecting the research design, the next process would be collection of required data from their sources. Data sources for this particular research will be scholarly books, peer reviewed journals, published research papers, information from nonprofit organizations, and information from government agencies. This information would be obtained either from the library or internet sources. Since the sources of information are many and wide, it is necessary to select a sample. A sample is a portion of the sampling frame used in a research because of impracticability of using every item in the sampling frame (Buglear, 2012). Therefore, before starting the process of data collection, a sample of sources of information would be identified. In this particular research, the sampling frame consists of all sources of information that could provide data related to this research topic. After collecting the data, the next step to be undertaken would be data processing. According to Babbie (201 0), data processing methods available for qualitative research are coding, writing memos, and mapping concepts graphically. These are the methods of data processing that would be used for this research. After the data processing, the research conclusion will be drawn from the analyzed and interpreted data. The data collected in this particular case would represent the variables identified for this particular research topic. Data collected in this research will be qualitative and non-numerical. This is why it would be processed and

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

Career Aspirations Research Proposal Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Career Aspirations - Research Proposal Example This is my short-term plan for the next 5 years. An accountant must be very good at numbers, precise, analytical and willing to work in a flexible schedule. There are many occasions wherein one has to render overtime especially when a lot of transactions were made in a single day .It is a must for an accountant to have an over-all knowledge of accounting, finance, budgeting, cost control and the GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles).It is also important for an accountant to be updated with existing financial regulations on the federal as well as national level. It is important for someone who wants to be an accountant to be very patient in handling details. But aside from the technical work, it would also be good if I have good interpersonal skills since I have to deal with different people inside an organization. I need to do a lot of explaining about finance which is sensitive topic for most people. Moreover, I believe I should be very, very objective. One of my strengths is the ability to persevere under trying conditions. I am a very patient person and this attribute would greatly help me in this career. For one, I have encountered a situation wherein I have to explain procedures that someone must follow. The incident happened when I was then assisting in my relative's small business during summer. They had a small grocery which had long-term customers. One grocer returned a box of milk since the date showed that it has already expired. I calmly explained that I need to keep the box as proof but I can't return her money since I do not have the authority to do so. She was insistent and started cursing me. I called my aunt on the cellphone and informed her of the situation. She immediately ordered me to refund the payment. At the end of the day, it was only then that I realized that I was patient and tactful in handling the old lady. I followed the procedure and asked for advice before I acted on the

Monday, November 18, 2019

Financial Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 5

Financial Management - Essay Example This paper will explore the different ways by which business entities can deal with the exchange rate variations to protect the value of their assets and profits against unpredictable risks. In recent years derivatives have been developed in order to provide some sort of insurance in the face of uncertainty caused by the changes in the foreign exchange rates. Derivative, or hybrid, investments, unlike stocks and bonds, do not represent ownership of shares, such as stocks, or a promise of loan repayment, such as bonds, and are once or twice removed from a real product. For example, a crude oil futures contract is a bet on which way crude oil prices will move, but what happens to the product itself is of no interest to the investor When an individual converts one currency into another in an actual exchange, the risk inherent in this activity is called a transaction exposure. Multinationals often face translation exposure, or the risk that arises from the need to re-state one currency in terms of another currency for accounting purposes. The risk arises because exchange risk volatility can impact the value of net assets and profits at the time of their translation. (See Kolb 1997). Financial derivatives are based on an underlying instrument such interest as debt instruments or foreign currencies. Most predominant among these derivatives are forward contracts, but futures contracts, option contracts, and swap contracts are also used by businesses as means of hedging. Hedging is distinguished from speculation in that the hedger wants to shift risk to others while the speculator hopes to make profits for the risk he is taking. A futures contract is an agreement that one party will accept delivery of a particular asset – either real or financial – on some date in the future at a price determined today. If one is intending to buy an asset in the future, one could buy a futures contract (a long position) today to fix the

Friday, November 15, 2019

Aircraft Maintenance Hanger Construction Bid

Aircraft Maintenance Hanger Construction Bid Introduction Many hangar projects are erroneously started in what should be the fourth step project execution. Bypassing the first three planning steps usually leads to frustration and project failure. There is no way to shorten the process by skipping any particular step. Planning the development of any construction site ultimately saves time, effort, and money. All of the project pre-planning and preparation to this point begins to pay off. During the project execution phase project manager completes the project design and funding, solicit bids, award the construction contract, build the hangars, and move in tenants. There will be changes that must be incorporated into the project plan (change in funding sources, regulations, stakeholders, size of project scope), and using the principles of project management can ensure the best possible outcome. This case is about the construction bid for an Aircraft maintenance hanger. ABC Construction Company is in the business of the Aircraft hanger construction. The company has bid for the construction of Aircraft hanger at one of the client site. The Project Manager of the ABC Construction Company has been entrusted with the responsibility of coming up with the project management plan for the entire construction. The following sections provide the baseline plan, progress of the activities against the plan on a given date (15/12/2010) and the efforts by the project manager to bring the plan to the original schedule. The second part of the task is to develop a project cost plan for the main contractors preliminaries associated with the construction of the aircraft hanger. When calculating the preliminary costs, following information is referred: NRM Group element 10 guidance Drawings of the Aircraft hanger Contractors master program The cost plan also discusses the implications of earned value techniques on the project as part of the project control process. The discussion also includes examples to illustrate the application of the earned value techniques in the management of the preliminaries costs. Finally, the value engineering process is conducted to the project, and a better deal is offered the client, which has a better value but at a lower price. The value engineering report prepared as part of this process demonstrates each step of the value engineering process. Time and resource planning and control Project scheduling Assuming the project starting date is of 06/09/2010, and 5 working days a week with Saturday and Sunday as holidays. Based on the tasks lists provided to you, Input activity information into Microsoft Project and schedule the hanger. Based on the schedule that you have generated using Microsoft Project, provide the following outputs: project schedule information (activity ID, activity description, activity duration, predecessors, skilled labor, unskilled labor, early start, early finish, late start, late finish, and total float); CPM network diagram; Bar charts; and Project resource profiles (skilled labor and unskilled labor). Program control By now, you should have developed your baseline schedule for the office building. As an exercise in monitoring and control, you will be required to monitor and control your project based on certain deviations from your initial project plan. Save your initial schedule plan as a baseline schedule and identify all the critical activities; Assume the current date to be 15/12/10 and induce delays into your project based on the following considerations: Due to the problem for the selection of the color of bricks, the hanger starts on 15/10/10 instead of 06/09/10; all activities in progress on 22/10/2010 are delayed by 3 days each; all activities in progress on 01/11/2010 are delayed by 5 days each; all activities in progress on 20/11/2010 are delayed by 2 days each; Update the project and save this as actual project information. After updating, please provide the following information Project schedule information (activity ID, activity description, activity duration, predecessors, skilled labour, unskilled labour, early start, early finish, late start, late finish and total float); Barcharts; Project resources profiles (skilled labour, unskilled labour); and Critical activity list. Do a comparison between both baseline and actual schedules. For comparison, you may compare activity start and finish dates under both situations. Since your project should have been delayed, it is your duty as a project manager to bring the project back on schedule with the least cost. Using 15/12/10 as a current date, try compressing some activities (these activities should not have started yet) and bring the project back on schedule. Compression should be logical and at a minimum cost. This may require several trials. Assume that the extra cost incurred as a result of activity compression is  £50/worker/day. After bringing back your project on schedule, please provide the following information: Project schedule information (activity ID, activity description, activity duration, predecessors, skilled labor, unskilled labor, early start, early finish, late start, late finish and total float); Bar charts; Project resource profiles (skilled labor, unskilled labor); and Critical activity list. Do a comparison between baseline, actual and updated schedules. For comparison purposes, you may compare activity start and finish dates under all situations. All the above details related to above questions have been entered into MS-Project and the three mpps are enclosed with the assignment. Cost Plan Develop a project cost plan for the main contractors preliminaries associated with the construction of the aircraft hanger. The Project cost plan includes the schedule of costs to be incurred during the project and the associated estimates. These are the costs which are expected to be incurred as a result of the completion of project activities. The schedule of activities and the resource plan feeds into the Cost plan and hence it is prepared subsequent to them. As a result of the project planning activities, the project manager is aware of the details regarding the project and hence the refinement of project budget can take place. This activity is particularly important when the project in full or part is expected to be executed under a contract. This is not to undermine the importance of accurate cost planning for the in-house projects as accurate and realistic cost plan helps in effective monitoring and of costs during the execution of the project. The monitoring of the cost helps the project manager to execute the project within the budget. Following three activities are important to develop the cost plan The expected cost identification and estimation Estimation of schedule when these costs would be incurred Cost per activity/task estimation The development of the cost plan for simple projects may only involve the consideration of the overall cost vis-à  -vis the project activities on the schedule of activities. Nevertheless, the situation is different for the complex projects, where, a detailed cost plan needs to be drawn in order to effectively monitor the overall expenditure. The NRM is also known as New Rules of Measurement. It provides a structured basis for preparing order of cost estimates and elemental cost plans including all the costs and allowances forming part of the cost of the building to the client but which are not reflected in the measurable building work. NRM covers the non-physical aspects of a project that the client may require as part of his overall budget for the project. NRM rules for order of cost estimating Information required Constituents Measurement rules Floor area Functional units Elements floor area, Element unit quantities Updating historic costs Preliminaries Contractors overheads and profit Discuss how earned value techniques could be employed on the project as part of the project control process including examples to illustrate their application to the management of the preliminaries costs. Earned Value Analysis (EVA) was developed by the US Department of Defence to determine the performance of large military procurement contracts. Its techniques can still be applied to the smaller projects currently in use today. Indeed, as Microsoft Project allows drilling down through and across a project, specific variances and general trends can be easily found. EVA looks at three basic parameters: What value of work SHOULD have been accomplished to date? How much value has been realized to date? How much has actually been spent to date? By comparing these parameters, an objective assessment of cost AND schedule performance can be gained. Instead of simply concentrating on how much time has been taken to achieve progress, earned value looks at how much value has been achieved so far. For example, take the following project summary task: This project started on time, but it is currently expected to finish 5 days late. This project is expected to overspend by $1,280 approximately 13% greater than its baseline cost. So far (as of the projects status date), the project is behind schedule to the value of $1,600 worth of work. In addition the current best estimates indicate that it will (if things continue as planned) overspend by $2,004, which is $725 more than forecast in the topmost example. Whilst these figures may not indicate large overspend or overrun, these figures are from a sample project containing ONLY seven tasks. If there were 70 tasks (or even several hundred tasks), the potential for error becomes much larger. Value Engineering Efforts to reduce the Cost Value Engineering is defined as an organized effort directed at analyzing the functions of systems, equipment, facilities, services and supplies for the purpose of achieving the essential functions at the lowest life cycle cost consistent with the required performance, reliability, quality and safety. Numerous other terms (value management, value analysis, etc.) are also used when referring to VE. While there are subtle differences among these terms they all refer to-generally the same process. There types of benefits associated with the VE exercise in the current case are First Cost Reduction: These reductions are attributed to the VE program only when required project functions or features can be delivered at the reduced cost. Simple cost cutting e.g. reducing cost at the expense of required features or functions is not VE. VE first cost reductions are counted as VE savings to the extent that dollars are withdrawn from approved budgets based on the results of VE studies. Life Cycle Cost Reduction: LCC reductions are based on the aggregate of first cost and anticipated future cost in maintenance and operations. When additional first cost is required to implement a specific VE suggestion, this can be offset by other VE suggestions which reduce initial cost. If the project budget must be increased to accommodate the additional investment, first cost savings derived from other projects may be used for this purpose after appropriate approvals. As long as they do not entail first-cost project budget increases, VE suggestions based on apparent life-cycle cost reductions may be adopted without formal LCC analysis. However, LCC reductions will be counted as VE LCC savings only when supported by sufficient economic analysis. Value Improvement: Value improvement is a subjective expression referring to a projected or apparent favorable shift in cost/worth ratio. The objective of all VE suggestions is value improvement, whether or not cost reductions are involved. VE suggestions maybe to reduce life cycle cost with no reduction or a lesser reduction in worth, to increase worth with no increase or a lesser increase in life-cycle cost, or (ideally) to increase worth and reduce cost. All VE suggestions which involve adjustments in worth should be related to specific forms of such adjustment (e.g., productivity, flexibility, expandability, aesthetics, etc.), whether or not they also involve cost adjustments. Following two studies were conducted as part of the VE exercise: The completion of Concept Design The completion of Tentative Design As it is a new construction projects, the first study at Concept Design is intended to review basic design decisions that pertain to areas such as: Siting and building orientation Building form, shape and massing Layout Occupiable to gross area relationships Design criteria Building systems selection options Space program options Building space/volume parameters Vertical and horizontal circulation Major Mechanical-Electrical-Plumbing (MEP) considerations Overall energy considerations Site access/egress Overall phasing/scheduling plans (as appropriate) Sub-soil conditions and geological data Utility availability The second study at Tentative Design will focus on more detailed design decisions including (as applicable): Specific building system design Specification and performance requirements Proposed design details Layout options within overall building geometry Specific MEP system selections Site paving, grading and utilities Phasing and scheduling plans Major constructability issues The basic approach is intended to consider macro level issues at Concept Design and more micro level issues at Tentative Design. In general, decisions made as a result of the first study will not be reconsidered in the second study unless significant new information is available. Furthermore, design changes implemented as a result of the studies will generally be considered to be within the bounds of the normal design process. VE Job Plan The recommended VE methodology (Job Plan) used by the VE team during the Workshop had five distinct phases. Briefly, these phases are: Information Phase: During this phase, the VE team gains as much information as possible about the project design, background, constraints, and projected costs. The team performs a function analysis and relative cost ranking of systems and sub-systems to identify potential high cost areas. Speculative/Creative Phase: The VE team uses a creative group interaction process to identify alternative ideas for accomplishing the function of a system or sub-system. Evaluation/Analytical Phase: The ideas generated during the Speculative/Creative Phase are screened and evaluated by the team. The ideas showing the greatest potential for cost savings and project improvement are selected for further study. Development/Recommendation Phase: The VE team researches the selected ideas and prepares descriptions, sketches and life cycle cost estimates to support the recommendations as formal VE proposals. Report Phase: The VE consultant will work in concert with the A-E and the PBS representative to produce a preliminary written VE Report which is intended to represent the results of the VE workshop activities, and meet the VE Program objectives. Finally, post workshop, all the suggestions were collated and classified into three categories of high, medium and low complexity. The suggestions associated with the current projects were as follows Modification of architectural designs: The hangar roof was designed to be an opaque structure. This roof can be made transparent through the ample use of the transparent glass which would allow more volume of sunlight. The high amount of sunlight during the day would result in the low usage of electricity and hence reduction in the variable cost of the running the hangar. Substitution of building wall material: Building wall material is designed to be made up of steel which can be replaced with high grade brick. The brick would also keep the temperature under control within the hangar. Reuse of existing materials such as fencing: The material used in fencing can be reused in the construction activity as the fence would not be required eventually. Use of Solar power: The Solar power can be effectively used to heat the water as well as to provide the night time lighting. This would reduce the variable cost of running the hanger. References Cooks, Sarah (2002), A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge, PMI, 3rd Edition (PMBOK Guides) Public Procurement Directorate (2007), [Internet], Public Procurement best practices guide, Available at :< http://www.publicprocurementguides.treasury.gov.cy/OHS-EN/HTML/index.html?7_4_3_cost_of_project_development.htm>, accessed on: 25 May 2010 Homepage (2007), [Internet], Aircraft Hanger development guide, Available at :< http://www.aopa.org/asn/hangar-execution.pdf>, accessed on: 25 May 2010 Jack J. Champlain, Auditing Information Systems, Second Edition (2003), Pages 277, 278, 279 280, John Wiley Sons Publication. Mulcahy, Rita (2003), Risk Management, Tricks of the Trade ® for Project Managers, 4th edition, RMC Publications. Mulcahy, Rita (2003), PMP Exams Prep, RMC Publications. Rich, Jason R, Design and Launch an Online E-Commerce Business in a Week, Entrepreneur Press, 2008, ISBN: 1599181835, 9781599181837. Schwalbe, Kathy (2009), PMBOK (Project Management Body of Knowledge) reference and Information Technology Project Management, 6edition.

Wednesday, November 13, 2019

Expectations versus Reality in Stephen Cranes The Red Badge of Courage

Expectations versus Reality in Stephen Crane's The Red Badge of Courage The notion that war is an exciting, romantic endeavor full of glory and heroism has existed for centuries.   Stephen Crane set out to demystify war through his novel The Red Badge of Courage, which traces the experiences of a young soldier in the American Civil War. Crane shows the true nature of war by contrasting Henry Fleming's romantic expectations with the reality that he encounters. This contrast between romantic vision and cold reality can be seen early in the novel, with Henry's departure from home. Driven to a "prolonged ecstasy of excitement" by the rejoicing crowd, Henry enlists in the army and says good-bye to his mother with a "light of excitement and expectancy in his eyes" (709). He anticipates a romantic, sentimental send-off reminiscent of Spartan times and even goes as far as preparing remarks in advance which he hopes to use "with touching effect" to create "a beautiful scene" (710). However, Crane presents a more realistic view. At the news of Henry's enlistment, his mother simply says "The Lord's will be done" and continues milking the cow, having previously urged Henry not to be "a fool" by enlisting (709). She then destroys his hopes by offering sensible,... ...es in anguish while his friend Jim suffers and dies. Today, many of the romantic myths about war have been destroyed through television and movies such as Born on the Fourth of July, which shows war with all its suffering, pain, and death. Yet it was Stephen Crane who, a century ago, deglorified war through the experiences of Henry Fleming. With his frequent contrasts between romantic vision and cold reality, Crane clearly portrays the true horrors of war. Work Cited Crane, Stephen. The Red Badge of Courage. Anthology of American Literature. Ed. Geroge McMichael, et al. 5th ed.Vol. 2. New York: Macmillan, 1993. 707-87.