Wednesday, October 30, 2019

Build and Sustain an Innovative Work Environment Assignment - 2

Build and Sustain an Innovative Work Environment - Assignment Example The principle aligns those of Virgin Atlantic Red’s business needs since it depends on customers to buy the services. Another underlying principle is that innovation should drive the core business process (Davila, Epstein, & Shelton, 2012). Virgin Atlantic Little Red is always in a constant need for new ways of providing goods and services to their customers thus the principle aligns with its business needs. In addition, the innovation plan relies on the principle of becoming ten times better with the new ideas (Boons, & LÃ ¼deke-Freund, 2013). The new idea should prove better than the previous and even far much better than those of the competitors. There are many domestic flights in the UK and Virgin Atlantic Little aims at becoming a leader in the industry thus the principle serves its business interests. A major area, that requires the pilot program, is the service provisions especially the flight services. Onboard services like inflight entertainment and connectivity will suit the pilot program since it proposes the provision of unique experiences to the passengers on board. The program might as well suit booking services with a strong emphasis on quick and reliable booking system to the customers. The plan begins notifying the management to know how best the staff can implement the proposal. In the implementation stage, it is also imperative to develop time frame for all activities specifying duration for their completion. On the other hand, the plan will have performance indicators to notify the implementing team on the success of the plan in meeting set goals and objectives. Moreover, the implementation plan should have a monitoring mechanism and assign duties to specific individuals. The communication plan in this proposal entails developing a comprehensive plan that states where chains of command come from and those who take the orders. Commands should come from the executive management who also has to state clearly the objectives and

Monday, October 28, 2019

Video game and violent movies Essay Example for Free

Video game and violent movies Essay Patel 2 Many teenagers watch under age T. V. that is violent. These children are too young to be watching violent T. V. or the little kids are watching their parents watching violent T. V. Much of this violent T. V. affects the children by the way they act and the way they think. After watching violent T. V. shows most children develop terrible social skills, poor grades, and aggression towards others. The children that are allowed to watch these shows don’t view it as bad. By watching violent T. V. shows they forget what is right and wrong in the world and don’t know what is good for them or what is bad for them. These violent T. V. shows emerged with the new technology unknown to viewers, but the children take it as if it is good for them. Some of the positive effects are it helps kids learn by watching educational television programs. When the parents watching violent movies in front of their kids the parents don’t realize that this is affecting the children. â€Å" Media is the most ubiquitous source of violence encountered by the majority of children. (Erwin, Pg. 105). † The government had created a strengthen the reflexes of military personnel. The creators of video games base their games on the violent movies and TV shows. Many third party game inventors came out with poor quality games. In the 1990’s home video game use had increased and arcade play had decreased, the release of violent games had also begun. The professional teams trained coders who watch samples from the recorded television and they try to see if it is violent or not. All violence tends to be treated in the same way by a content analysis. (Gunter, Harrison Pg. 76)† More and more parents begin to see that these violent games aren’t just bad for their children, but are causing problems in the community. â€Å"Before young children even enter kindergarten they are exposed to over 4,000 hours of television viewing and by the time they Patel 3 leave elementary school children will have witnessed 8,000 murders and 100,000 acts of violence on just television alone. (Erwin, Levin Pg. 105). † By looking at these numbers the amount of violent the T. V. channels produce I think they need to make kids show a little less violent than they do. When the kids get older they will have gone through a lot more violence than anyone so there are chances that through out there life time they will do something violent. The kids learn to fight from violent video games or by watching violent T. V. shows. â€Å"In a study examining violence in over 2,700 television programs across 23 channels of broadcast networks, public broadcasting, and cable, Wilson et al found that nearly 7 out of 10 children’s shows contain some type of physical aggression. (Erwin Pg. 501)†. As Erwin said in the last research in 2002 nearly 2,700 T. V. programs have some sort of violent most of them were seen by kids and their family. The kids show have some violence as well and out of that 7 out of 10 children’s show contain physical aggression. Violent video games are a very large problem with many generations today. Children who see a lot of violence are more likely to view violence as an effective way to settling conflicts. By watching all the violent stuff not only will the children act differently but when they begin to see real violent actions they will appear emotionless and unfazed because of all the built up viewing time. The children that play teen rated video games see many things in these violent world of movie industries: Intense violence, Sexual Content, Use if drugs and illegal substances, and lots of blood. In many video games today violence is viewed from a first person point of view. â€Å"Courts have refused to hold media corporations liable for the violent content of child-entertainment products, but many legal commentators have argued for an expansion of the law. Patel 4 (Proman Pg. 427-28)† The decision taken by the court is not accurate because the violence that the children learn is from the T. V. shows so they should be charged or fined for making violent shows for little kids.

Saturday, October 26, 2019

review potter3 chapter 1 :: essays research papers

The Characters in Chapter One â€Å"Owl Post† of â€Å"Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban† by J.K.Rowling In class, we listened to the first chapter of â€Å"Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban†. This is indeed an extremely interesting chapter since it contains all the basic information you have to get to understand the â€Å"Potter Universe†. It gives quite detailed information about most of the important characters. The chapter starts with very important information about Harry. It says:† Harry Potter was a highly unusual boy in many ways. [†¦] And he also happened to be a wizard.† As the story unfolds, you get to know Harry as a boy of thirteen years with untidy jet black hair who is quite small and skinny for his age. His eyes are bright green and he wears round glasses. The most important feature, though, in the description of his appearance is the scar on his forehead, shaped like a bolt of lightning. The book explains that Harry got the scar when his parents, James and Lily Potter, wizard and witch themselves, were murdered by the dark wizard Voldemort, the most vicious of his kind for a hundred years. This explains why Harry has to live with his only living relatives, whom he obviously dislikes. It is also made clear that Harry only spends the summer with his relatives to go back to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry for the rest of the year, which he has attended for the last two years. His relatives are his uncle Vernon Dursley, aunt Petunia Dursley and his cousin Dudley Dursley. They are non-magic folk, so-called Muggles, and they are extremely scared of anything that has to do with magic. This shows when Harry’s uncle roars at one of his wizard friends on the phone:† DON’T YOU COME NEAR MY FAMILY!†. To the Dursleys it is very important to make a good impression on their neighbours and so they are terrified of anyone finding out that Harry is a wizard and goes to Hogwarts. They think that magic people belong to some kind of a lower class, which shows clearly when Uncle Vernon screams at Harry:† HOW DARE YOU GIVE THIS NUMBER TO PEOPLE LIKE- PEOPLE LIKE YOU!† Magic people seem to be dirty and worthless and even dangerous in his eyes. Three of the magicians closest to Harry are characterized in chapter one in detail. First, there is Ron Weasley, one of Harry’s best friends at Hogwarts.

Thursday, October 24, 2019

The Formulation of Accounting Standards

The Corporations Law which came into effect in January 1991, has made substantial changes to the way business is conducted in Australia. Previously some illegal practices are now legal, and some legal practices are now deemed to be illegal. Under the Corporations Law finical statements have to be made out in accordance to the various accounting standards. AASB 1024 and AASB 1013 are two such standards. Both these standards have been through a reform process over the last few years, and changes that have been made to them, have determined the level of compliance to the Corporations Law. The formulation of accounting standards is based on the premise that financial information should be available to users of these statements to enable them to make decisions about the allocation of scarce resources and in the evaluation of such decisions. The ASC is the sole administering body of the Corporations Law, and it is directly accountable to the Commonwealth Attorney-General and the Commonwealth Parliament. Prior to the changes of the Corporations Law in 1991, compliance with applicable Accounting Standards as not necessary, provided that the financial statements gave a true and fair view. Yet after 1991 changes, the compliance with the applicable Accounting Standards increased. Section 298(1) of the Corporations Law requires that ‘a companies directors shall ensure that the company†s financial statements for a financial year are made out in accordance with applicable accounting standards. † By the interaction of section 298(1) and 299(1), â€Å"where the accounts are made out in accordance with applicable accounting standards but do not otherwise give a true and fair view of the matters †¦ the directors must add such information and explanations as will give a true and fair view of those matters. † Under section 224 of the Australian Securities Commission Act 1989, saw the establishment of the Australian Accounting Standards Board (AASB). The AASB supports an accounting regulatory system whereby legislation provides a â€Å"framework under which accounting regulation can be developed and implemented by a thorough due process† AASB 1024 Consolidated Accounts is one such standard. AASB 1024 requires â€Å"the consolidation of companies which are controlled even if there is less than majority ownership. The effects of most intra-group transactions will then be eliminated a part of the consolidation process† (Henderson & Peirson 1994). A company is required to present consolidated accounts only when it is the parent entity of an economic entity which is a reporting entity. The consolidated accounts are comprised of a consolidated profit and loss account and a consolidated balance sheet. This balance sheet includes all the entities controlled by the reporting entity at the end of the financial year. Compliance with AASB 1024 became mandatory for financial statements published on and after December 31, 1991. In 1991 changes were also made to definitions in the wording of AASB 1024. To remove the option to deconsolidate one or more subsidies of the reporting entity, The definition of ‘group accounts† was replaced by ‘consolidated accounts†. The Corporations Law also broadened the base of the ‘economic entity† to which consolidated accounting applies , no longer allowing other forms of ‘group accounting† reporting. In the Editorial of the Australian Financial Review on August 5, 1991, appeared the following paragraph: â€Å"The recently introduced standard on consolidations (AASB 1024) aims at producing a clear picture of the financial health of reporting companies. It will certainly catch a lot of off-balance sheet devices† The functions of consolidation or group accounting is not universally accepted. AASB 1024 and the relevant sections of the Corporations Law presume that the functions is to depict the affairs of an economic entity or group of companies. One would expect consolidated accounts to contain the data in separate accounts, but not including data which are not sourced nor excluding data which are. There is concern as to the utility of the consolidated financial statements. One such event, the $2. billion bail out of the State Bank of South Australia, confirmed the presence of doubt regarding the accounting data about groups. â€Å"The recent introduction of AASB 1024 ‘Consolidated Financial Statements† and the consequential amendments to the Corporations Law may play a significant role in determining off balance sheet financing, but these reforms have been long overdue and there still remains doubt as to their effectiveness† Prior to the changes, where the operations of a subsidiary were totally different from those of its parent company it was argued that it would be misleading to consolidate the accounts of the companies. One immediate way of establishing the impact of AASB 1024 on companies reporting practices would be, if investments, which formerly were not reported as subsidiaries, were reported as such after December 31, 1991. If compliance with AASB 1024 has had any impact on company reporting practices it could be expected that former associates as well as former subsidiaries for which separate sets of accounts were prepared, would now be included in the consolidated accounts. After AASB 1024 became effective, referencing was no longer made to parent and subsidiary companies, but rather to controlling entities. By this change in definition, resulting from the consolidation of an investment was taken as evidence that introduction of AASB 1024 has ‘influenced management†s choice of accounting policy. Consolidated accounts now give an accurate picture as to the profit and loss and provide more meaningful information for users of the accounts, however it would appear that there is substantial compliance with the consolidated accounts standard, yet little influence on the financial statements. The second standard to be examined is AASB 1013 ‘Accounting for Goodwill†. Goodwill probably is the most â€Å"intangible of intangibles because it is difficult to determine just exactly what it is† . In practice it has evolved to include everything contributing to an existing business†s advantages over a new one or anything that enhances a company†s earning potential. Goodwill defined is as an entity†s unidentifiable intangible assets. These assets that are unidentifiable include â€Å"loyal and efficient employees, an established clientele, suppliers †¦ and a good name and reputation. † (Henderson & Peirson 1994). Goodwill is measured as the difference between the price paid for an entity and the fair value of the identifiable net asset acquired. Fair value is defined as the ‘amount for which an assets could be exchanged between a knowledgeable, willing buyer and a knowledgeable, willing seller in an arm†s length transaction† . A distinction is drawn between internally generated goodwill and purchased goodwill. Both internally generated goodwill and purchased goodwill give rise to probable future economic benefits. However only the latter â€Å"is to be recognised as an assets because ‘internally generated goodwill is not usually capable of reliable measurement† â€Å". .† (Henderson & Peirson 1994). AASB 1013 was approved on April 18, 1988 and the purpose of this was in ‘regard to the acquisition of an entity, is to specify the manner of accounting for goodwill and discount on acquisition †¦ † . Prior to the dates before the goodwill standards were introduced, most preparers and their auditors â€Å"chose to ignore their professional responsibility to ensure compliance with the accounting standards. Prior to the introduction of the standard, little attempt was made to establish that the amount attributed to goodwill actually reflected unidentifiable assets. This meant the goodwill amounts was inflated by omission of valuable intangible assets. With the omission of these valuable intangible assets from the balance sheet therefore understates the net worth of the reporting entity. The introduction of an accounting standard regarding goodwill had the purpose of appropriate determination and achieving the proper recording of other acquired assets. Since the introduction of the standard, the recognition in the financial reports has reached ‘plague proportion†11 with accounting for intangibles reveals an increase in the numbers of companies recognising and amortising goodwill. It is now common place to see the recording of † †¦ brand names, software, patents and licences and even assets of a more nature like intellectual or sporting property† 11. AASB 1013 also served to minor service which was to reminder the reporting entity that the intangible assets, once recognised, attracted the same obligations as that of non-current assets, including depreciation and amortisation. Accounting for goodwill has always attracted interest, and all those involved with it have their own view on how it should be reported in the financial statements. â€Å"The failure of the community to accept readily a single concept of goodwill and to adopt the consequential accounting treatment can only be explained by the nature of the product we are considering – its† intangibility11 . Both AASB 1024 and AASB 1013 have received their criticism in the past, yet both of them have many positive aspects. Both these standard have changed management practices in the two fields. There is enough evidence for both standards to suggest that there is compliance with section 298(1) of the Corporations Law, yet in some cases this compliance is limited to the situation and the reporting entity. AASB 1013 has proven to be (prior to its introduction) a relatively large unknown quantity, now having all but changed, and with regard to AASB 1024, a more informed and detailed reports of corporate groups provide more meaningful information.

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

“God Sees the Truth, but Waits” by Leo Tolstoy Essay

Biography: Leo Tolstoy was born in Tula Province, Russia, on September 9, 1828. His mother died when he was only two years old. After Tolstoy’s father died in1837, he was cared by his relatives. He attended Kazan University for three years but he never could complete it because of joining to Russian army on active duty. However, being a soldier could not stop his desire to write literary plays and during his duty he published his first work childhood. After writing childhood, he continued on writing autobiographic plays and his life on the army; the works included boyhood, Sevastopol Tales book, youth and an uncompleted work entitled The Cossacks. In 1859, Tolstoy returned to Yasnaya Polyana and devoted himself to be management and study educational practices. In 1862, He married Sophia Andreevna Behrs who was 16 years younger than him. They had thirteen children which five of them died at early age. His wife helped him as a secretary to complete is works, especially on writing his first great novel, War and Peace. Their early life was full of happiness and they had no problem. However, their relationship became progressively worse as he was being radical to the extent of disowning his inherited and earned wealth. He was known for his complicated and paradoxical personality. In 1972, he wrote the short story of God Sees the Truth, But Waits which was about a merchant who was jailed innocently. In his life, he has written a lot of short stories which the well-known ones are The Candle, How Much Land Does a Man Need?, Little Girls Wiser than Men and The Coffee House of Surat. In 1973, he wrote the novel of Anna Karenina which was the best known one in his writings. Other most famous works were The Living Corpse and The Death of Ivan Ilyich. In his life, furthermore, he wrote various pieces on social, political, and economic topics ranging from vegetarianism to capital punishment but could not be published because of government. Tolstoy died on November 20, 1910 in Astapovo, Russia. Tittle: Throughout the tittle, Tolstoy wants to tell the readers the fact that reality can be hidden but one day it comes out. The tittle has a lot of interpretations considering real life and the events of the story. God  always sees the truth in whatever people do, but the meaning of â€Å"waits† is debatable and purposeful. First of all, in the tittle, the notion of the truth is isolated and not became known for some reasons. Sometimes, God examines those people who have good personality and looks gentle among people so that they prove their faith. On the other words, He takes them to a bad situation to purify their sins and reward them for their patient. And no one knows what is happening in the future; people may see something wrong, but in reality it will be good, and vice versa. So, if people commit illegal works and sins, they always do secretly and keep them silent. At this time, just God knows the truth and waits to see whether the man is going to regret or not, and do the right thing or not. Regarding the short story, there are two opposite characters, Aksionov and Makar; innocent and guilty. At the beginning of the story, readers know that Aksionov is not the doer of the murdering but he is sentenced to be in jail for 26 years. A part of the truth, God knows about everything but waits. For Aksionov, there are two truths which the first one is his meek personality. But the second one is the reality of his personality in every conditions. God does not make something to declare his innocence till He examines him by punishing and away from his beloved family, and to see what Aksionov will do, seek to revenge or forgive. By this bad condition, the true reality of Aksionov will be obvious to all, because if he revenges himself upon Marker and ruins his life as him, he has no difference with Makar. Plot: Once upon time, in the land of Vladimir, a young merchant named Ivan Dmitri Aksionov lived with his family. He was in his young life and very happy by experiencing luxurious things that was offered by the world. One day of summer, when he was about to go to Nizhny fair as he planned, his wife warned him not to go. She told him that she had a bad dream, she said â€Å"I dreamt you returned from the town with hair of grey.† Ivan laughed and showed himself as if he didn’t care and continued on going to the fair. In the half way of his traveling he met a merchant. He drunk tea with him at the night and shared a room in the inn. Aksionov did not use to sleep for long hours, so he decided to wake up and continued his journey. While he was in the way of his journey, he was stopped by two soldiers in a troika to  begin asking questions. Their questions were about the merchant that he met on the travel and spent time with him for he was found dead. As all evidences of the crim e were pointing guiltiness of Aksionov, he was imprisoned. When his wife heard this bad news, she remembered her dream. She was very worried to her husband and thought that her husband was guilty. Aksionov felt sadder when he realized this thought. 26 years in prison made Aksionov a well-grounded and God-fearing man. In spite the fact that his family has completely forgotten him, he still serves as a â€Å"Grandpa† to the other prisoners. Then came a new prisoner named Makar Semyonich. After a while, they knew each other, Aksionov discovered that Makar was killed the merchant. Although he realized everything but he uttered nothing about it. One night, while the prisoners were sleeping, Aksionov saw that Makar dug the earth. Makar told him not to tell anyone about what he has seen or else he would kill him. One day, a soldier noticed that a prisoner took some earth off his boots, when the soldier immediately started for searching any escaping plans and found the tunnel. At that time, they asked the prisoners who knew about the plan, but no one replied. Since Marker warned them if they declared anything, they would be killed. Finally, the governor asked Ivan for he was the most generous man there. But Ivan said it is not my job and I don’t care. At night, when Aksionov was on his bed and about to sleep, Makar went to him to thank him. He felt very sorry for he made Aksionov suffer for all this years. He did not want forgive till he sobbed to Aksionov, then said the Lord will forgive you. Makar said that he will confess to the governor so that Ivan would be free. In fact, since Aksionov had no family neither home, he did not want to go out of prison. Rather, he waited for his last hour to come. In spite of what they’ve talked about, Makar Semyonich confessed his guilt. But when the order for Ivan Dmitri Aksenov’s release came, he was already dead. Conflict: Sadness comes to Aksionov when he found out that the man he stayed with last night has been killed. The soldiers searched his bag and found a knife with blood. In fact, Aksionov is not the murder, but at the end of the story he sees Makar in the same jail that he has been prisoned who is the killer. In the short story, there are some conflicts: 1. Man vs Man : Aksionov with himself and Makar 2. Man vs Nature: Aksionov with his black fate 3. Man vs society: Aksionov (as an innocent man) with court decision. Characters: Protagonist: Aksionov: he was a young merchant lived in the town of Vladimir. He had two shops and a house of his own. Aksionov was a handsome, fair-haired, curly headed fellow, full of fun, and very fond of singing. In one of his journey, he accused by murdering a merchant and was sentenced to be jailed for 26 years. Although he was innocent, but he couldn’t anything with his fate. Finally he found the murder and forgave him for sake of God. Antagonist: Makar: He was a bad person who appeared at the end of the story. He was the real murder who killed the merchant and wanted to kill Aksionov but he couldn’t. He felt shame for what he did for Aksionov and begged him for forgiveness. Finally, Aksionov forgave him and Makar confess the secret to the governor. Themes: The short story takes place in Russia, Vladimir (Aksionov’s home and inn) and in Siberia where Aksionov was arrested. And the story was narrated in omniscient style that the narrator seems know all of the things that happen there. 1. Forgiveness vs Revenge and Bitterness Leo Tolstoy, the writer, wants to show the readers what is the real forgiveness and what wise people do when they face difficult situations. In the short story, Aksionov has to accept his fate which becoming a murder while even he did not kill the merchant. After 26 years the governor found out that he was not the murderer when Makar, who was the real murderer, came to the jail and confessed his fault and asked for forgiveness. Aksionov forgave him without having desire to revenge. This shows the fact that Aksionov was different from normal people; people often revenge upon their enemies whenever they can. Furthermore, he also did not announce the truth  as he promised to Makar. 2. Truth vs †Justice† Aksionov did not get justice that earned by himself. He was a good and innocent man, but court judged him as a murderer. In our daily life, we can see a lot of the same examples that people get something that they don’t deserve. Court and also people judge the event as they see their appearance not reality. It declares the fact that every judgments are true. 3. Injustice vs Forgiveness It is belonged to the religious idea that people should be kind in every situation. Aksionov was areligious man which followed that idea and finally forgave Makar. Aksionov may represent Tolstoy’s characteristic because Tolstoy was a religious man. 4. Innocence vs injustice The evident faults in the injustice system. The idea that God does what he does, such as withholding the truth, to allow us the opportunity to learn something vastly more important, such as the power of forgiveness the power of circumstance and persuasion over logical thoughts and deductions. Tone of the Short Story: The tone of the story is human’s depression and sorrow which is very tragic, and sympathetic. We can see the sympathetic depression of Aksionov When Makar asking Aksionov for forgiveness, he replied: â€Å"It is easy for you to talk,† said Aksionov, â€Å"but I have suffered for you these twenty-six years. Where could I go to now?†¦ My wife is dead, and my children have forgotten me. I have nowhere to go†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Personal value: The purpose of Tolstoy in giving Aksionov’s suffering is to show us a good example of real generous man. He wants to tell us that God knows everything but does not appear the reality purposefully. It does not mean that He hates His people, but examines them so that they realize their real personality. Look at Aksionov, after suffering for 26 years, he felt inner peace when he forgave his enemy. The short story tells the readers must to be faithful in Go, in every moments of life, because He will bring justice to every  situation. By reading the whole story, the readers learn the power of forgiveness and its impact on offering inner peace. Moreover, they will learnt to be freed from being angry and indignant with the world and having achieved ‘inner peace’. Tolstoy used a nice style in writing the story that interact the reader to read the whole story. The title is ambiguous that makes the reader to read the story so as to find the ambiguity. Throughout the short story, he pointed on some perspectives such as religion, society and politician. Through the characteristics of Aksionov, he viewed that people must believe in God and his power. And he pointed out that religious people should be gentle and calm in difficult situations. Furthermore, he showed us that some time you cannot use what you have in society. Aksionov was rich, he had two shops and a house, but at the end he couldn’t use them and even lived with his family. In addition, although he was innocent, but he and his wife couldn’t win the court because they did not have witness. Finally, the writer tells the reader that when people let someone down God will pick him up.