Simple Harmonic Motion

Physics Laboratory Report Simple Harmonic Motion: Determining the force constant Aim of experiment: The objective of this experiment is: 1. To study the simple harmonic motion of a mass-spring system 2. To estimate the force constant of a spring Principles involved: A horizontal or vertical mass-spring system can perform simple harmonic motion as shown below. If we know the period (T) of the motion and the mass (m), the force constant (k) of the spring can be determined. [pic] Consider pulling the mass of a horizontal mass-spring system to an extension x on a table, the mass subjected to a restoring force (F=-kx) stated by Hooke’s Law.If the mass is now released, it will move with acceleration (a) towards the equilibrium position. By Newton’s second law, the force (ma) acting on the mass is equal to the restoring force, i. e. ma = -kx a = -(k/m)x ————————-(1) As the movement continues, it performs a simple harmonic motion with angular velocity (? ) and has acceleration (a = -? 2x). By comparing it with equation (1), we have: ? = v(k/m) Thus, the period can be represented as follows: T = 2? /? T = 2? x v(m/k) T2 = (4? 2/k) m —————————(2)From the equation, it can be seen that the period of the simple harmonic motion is independent of the amplitude. As the result also applies to vertical mass-spring system, a vertical mass-spring system, which has a smaller frictional effects, is used in this experiment. Apparatus: Slotted mass (20g)x 9 Hanger (20g)x 1 Springx 1 Retort stand and clampx 1 Stop watchx 1 G-clampx 1 Procedure: 1. The apparatuses were set up as shown on the right. 2. No slotted mass was originally put into the hanger and it was set to oscillate in moderate amplitude. 3.The period (t1) for 20 complete oscillations was measured and recorded. 4. Step 3 was repeated to obtain another record (t2). 5. Steps 2 to 4 were repeated by adding one slotted mass to the hanger each time until all of the nine given masses have been used. 6. A graph of the square of the period (T2) against mass (m) was plotted. 7. A best-fitted line was drawn on the graph and its slope was measured. Precaution: 1. The oscillations of the spring were of moderate amplitudes to reduce errors. 2. The oscillations of the spring were carefully initiated so that the spring did not swing to ensure accurate results. . The spring used was carefully chosen that it could perform 20 oscillations with little decay in amplitude when the hanger was put on it, and it was not over-stretched when all the 9 slotted masses were put on it. This could ensure accurate and reliable results. 4. The experiment was carried out in a place with little air movement (wind), in order to reduce swinging of the spring during oscillations and errors of the experiment. 5. The spring was clamped tightly so that the spring did not slide during oscillation. It reduced ene rgy loss from the spring and ensured accurate results. . A G-clamp was used to attach the stand firmly on the bench.This reduced energy loss from the spring and ensured accurate results. Results |Hanger and slotted mass |20 periods / s |One period (T) |T2 / s2 | |(m) / kg | |/ s | | | |t1 |t2 |Mean | | | | |( ±0. 1s) |( ±0. s) |= (t1 + t2) / 2 | | | |0. 02 |5. 0 |5. 4 |5. 2 |0. 26 |0. 0676 | |0. 04 |6. 0 |6. 0 |6. 0 |0. 3 |0. 09 | |0. 06 |7. 0 |7. 0 |7. 0 |0. 35 |0. 1225 | |0. 08 |7. 8 |7. 8 |7. 8 |0. 9 |0. 1521 | |0. 10 |8. 6 |8. 6 |8. 6 |0. 43 |0. 1849 | |0. 12 |9. 4 |9. 5 |9. 45 |0. 4725 |0. 22325625 | |0. 14 |10. 1 |10. 1 |10. 1 |0. 505 |0. 255025 | |0. 16 |10. 5 |10. 4 |10. 45 |0. 5225 |0. 27300625 | |0. 8 |11. 1 |11. 3 |11. 2 |0. 56 |0. 3136 | |0. 20 |11. 9 |12. 0 |11. 95 |0. 5975 |0. 35700625 | Calculations and Interpretation of results [pic] From equation (2), the slope of the graph is equal to (4? 2/k), i. e. 1. 5968 = 4? 2/k k = 4? 2/1. 5968 ? 24. 723 Nm-1 ?The force c onstant of the spring is 24. 723 Nm-1. Sources of error 1. The spring swung during oscillations in the experiments. 2.As the amplitudes of oscillations were small, there was difficulty to determine whether an oscillation was completed. 3. Reaction time of observer was involved in time-taking. 4. Energy was lost from the oscillations of the spring to resonance of the spring. Order of Accuracy Absolute error in time-taking =  ±0. 1s |Hanger and slotted mass (m) / kg |20 periods / s |Relative error in time-taking | | |t1 |t2 | | | |( ±0. s) |( ±0. 1s) | | | | | |t1 |t2 | |0. 02 |5. 0 |5. 4 |2. 00% |1. 85% | |0. 04 |6. 0 |6. 0 |1. 67% |1. 67% | |0. 06 |7. 0 |7. 0 |1. 3% |1. 43% | |0. 08 |7. 8 |7. 8 |1. 28% |1. 28% | |0. 10 |8. 6 |8. 6 |1. 16% |1. 16% | |0. 12 |9. 4 |9. 5 |1. 06% |1. 05% | |0. 14 |10. 1 |10. 1 |0. 990% |0. 990% | |0. 6 |10. 5 |10. 4 |0. 952% |0. 962% | |0. 18 |11. 1 |11. 3 |0. 901% |0. 885% | |0. 20 |11. 9 |12. 0 |0. 840% |0. 833% | Improvement 1. The spring should be initiated to oscillate as vertical as possible to prevent swinging of the spring, which would cause energy loss from the spring and give inaccurate results. 2.Several observers could observe the oscillations of the spring and determine a more accurate and reliable result that whether the spring has completed an oscillation. 3. The time taken for oscillations should be taken by the same observer. This allows more reliable results as error-error cancellation of reaction time of the observer occurs. 4. The spring used should be made of a material that its resonance frequency is difficult to match. Discussion In this experiment, several assumptions were made. First, it is assumed that the spring used is weightless and resonance does not occur.Furthermore, it is assumed that no energy is lost from the spring to overcome the air resistance. Besides, it is assumed that no swinging of the spring occurs during the experiment. In addition, there were difficulties in carrying out the exper iment. For timing the oscillation, as the spring oscillates with moderate amplitude, it was hard to determine if a complete oscillation has been accomplished. Added to this, in drawing the best-fitted line, as all the points do not join to form a straight line, there was a little difficult encountered while drawing the line.Nevertheless, they were all solved. Several observers observed the oscillations of the spring and determined a more reliable result that whether the spring has completed an oscillation. For the best-fitted line, computer was employed to obtain a reliable graph. Conclusion The mass-spring system performs simple harmonic motion and the force constant of the spring used in this experiment is 24. 723 Nm-1. ———————– A graph of T2 against m Square of the period (T2) [pic] Simple Harmonic Motion Shanise Hawes 04/04/2012 Simple Harmonic Motion Lab Introduction: In this two part lab we sought out to demonstrate simple harmonic motion by observing the behavior of a spring. For the first part we needed to observe the motion or oscillation of a spring in order to find k, the spring constant; which is commonly described as how stiff the spring is. Using the equation Fs=-kx or, Fs=mg=kx; where Fs is the force of the spring, mg represents mass times gravity, and kx is the spring constant times the distance, we can mathematically isolate for the spring constant k.We can also graph the data collected and the slope of the line will reflect the spring constant. In the second part of the lab we used the equation T=2? mk, where T is the period of the spring. After calculating and graphing the data the x-intercept represented k, the spring constant. The spring constant is technically the measure of elasticity of the spring. Data: mass of weight | displacement| m (kg)| x (m)| 0. 1| 0. 12| 0 . 2| 0. 24| 0. 3 | 0. 36| 0. 4| 0. 48| 0. 5| 0. 60|We began the experiment by placing a helical spring on a clamp, creating a â€Å"spring system†. We then measured the distance from the bottom of the suspended spring to the floor. Next we placed a 100g weight on the bottom of the spring and then measured the displacement of the spring due to the weight . We repeated the procedure with 200g, 300g, 400g, and 500g weights. We then placed the recorded data for each trial into the equation Fs=mg=kx. For example: 300g weight mg=kx 0. 30kg9. 8ms2=k0. 36m 0. 30kg 9. 8ms20. 36m=k 8. 17kgs=kHere we graphed our collected data. The slope of the line verified that the spring constant is approximately 8. 17kgs. In the second part of the experiment we suspended a 100g weight from the bottom of the spring and pulled it very slightly in order to set the spring in motion. We then used a timer to time how long it took for the spring to make one complete oscillation. We repeated this for the 20 0g, 300g, 400g, and 500g weights. Next we divided the times by 30 in order to find the average period of oscillation. We then used the equation T2=4? mk to mathematically isolate and find k. Lastly we graphed our data in order to find the x-intercept which should represent the value of k. Data Collected: Derived Data: mass of weight | time of 30 osscillation | avg osscilation T| T2| | m (kg)| t (s)| t30 (s)| T2 s2| | 0. 10| 26. 35| 0. 88| 0. 77| | 0. 20| 33. 53| 1. 12| 1. 25| | 0. 30| 39. 34| 1. 31| 1. 72| | 0. 40| 44. 81| 1. 49| 2. 22| | 0. 50| 49. 78| 1. 66| 2. 76| | Going back to our equation T2=4? 2mk .We found the average period squared and the average mass and set the equation up as T2m=4? 2k. Since T2 is our change in y and m is our change in x, this also helped us to find the slope of our line. We got T2m equals approximately 4. 98s2kg. We now have 4. 98s2kg= 4? 2k. Rearranging we have k=4? 24. 98s2k= 7. 92N/m. Plotting the points and observing that the slope of our line is indeed approximately 4. 98 we see that the line does cross the x-axis at approximately 7. 92. Conclusion Prior to placing any additional weight onto our spring we measured the length of spring to be 0. 8m. So if we hooked an identical spring and an additional 200g the elongation of our total spring would be approximately 0. 8m; accounting for twice our spring and the . 24m the additional weight added. However, I believe the additional weight of the second spring would slightly elongate the initial spring; bringing it roughly over a meter. Since our spring elongation has almost tripled I believe that an effective spring constant would be triple that of what we found it to be initially, making a new spring constant of 24. 51kgs

Diabetes Research Essay

Diabetes is often referred to by doctors as diabetes mellitus. This describes a group of diseases in which the person has high blood glucose (blood sugar). This could be because either insulin production is inadequate or the body’s cells do not respond properly to insulin. There are 3 types of diabetes: 1)Type 1 Diabetes: The body does not produce insulin. People usually develop type 1 diabetes in early adulthood or teenage years. Approximately 10% of all diabetes cases are type 1, it is nowhere near as common as type 2. Patients with type 1 diabetes will need to take insulin injections for the rest of their life and carry out regular blood tests and a special diet to ensure proper blood-glucose levels. 2)Type 2 Diabetes: The body does not produce enough insulin for proper function, or the cells in the body do not react to insulin. Some people may be able to control their type 2 diabetes symptoms by losing weight, a healthy diet, and doing lots of exercise. They would also have to monitor their blood-glucose levels. Although the patients will most likely end up having to take insulin in tablet form because type 2 diabetes is typically a progressive disease. 3)Gestational Diabetes: This type affects woman during pregnancy, some woman have very high levels of glucose in their bodies and are unable to produce enough insulin. The majority of gestational diabetes patients can control their diabetes with exercise and diet. Undiagnosed or uncontrolled gestational diabetes can raise the risk of complications during childbirth. History For 2,000 years diabetes has been recognized as a devastating and deadly disease. In the 17th century a London physician, Dr. Thomas Willis,  determined whether his patients had diabetes or not by sampling their urine. If it had a sweet taste he would diagnose them with diabetes mellitus- â€Å"honeyed† diabetes. In the early 20th century, diabetologists such as Dr. Frederick Allen prescribed low calorie diets-as little as 450 calories per day for his patients. His diet prolonged the life of people with diabetes but kept them weak and suffering from near starvation. In his book, The Discovery of Insulin, Michael Bliss describes the painful wasting death of many people with diabetes before insulin: â€Å"Food and drink no longer mattered, often could not be taken. A restless drowsiness shaded into semi-consciousness. As the lungs heaved desperately to expel carbonic acid (as carbon dioxide), the dying diabetic took huge gasps of air to try to increase his capacity. ‘Air hunger’ the doctors called it, and the whole process was sometimes described as ‘internal suffocation.’ The gasping and sighing and sweet smell lingered on as the unconsciousness became a deep diabetic coma. At that point the family could make its arrangements with the undertaker, for within a few hours death would end the suffering.† Then in 1921 something truly miraculous occurred in Ontario, Canada. A young surgeon Frederick Banting, and his assistant Charles Best, kept a severely diabetic dog alive for 70 days by injecting it with a murky concoction of canine pancreas extract. Since insulin’s discovery, medical breakthroughs continued to prolong and ease the lives of people with diabetes. In 1935 Roger Hinsworth discovered there were two types of diabetes: â€Å"insulin sensitive† (type I) and â€Å"insulin insensitive† (type II). By differentiating between the two types of diabetes, Hinsworth helped open up new avenues of treatment. In the 1950s, oral medications-sulfonylureas were developed for people with type II. These drugs stimulate the pancreas to produce more insulin, helping people with type II diabetes keep tighter control over their blood sugars. In the 1960s urine strips were developed, and Becton-Dickinson introduced the single use syringe in 1961. This greatly reduced the amo unt of pain from injections as well as the time-consuming ritual of boiling needles and glass syringes. Chemistry behind diabetes Diabetes is characterized by elevated levels of glucose in the body. The management of insulin therapy in relation to carbohydrates can be hard to deal with for most diabetics. Carbohydrates lead to increased blood sugar. Once digested, carbohydrates break down into glucose molecules, which are then converted into ATP in the cells with insulin. Too little insulin causes an excess of unconverted glucose, and too much insulin causes low blood sugar. Carbohydrates are necessary when a diabetic is experiencing hypoglycemia to compensate for the excess insulin in the blood stream, which can lead to serious consequences, such as seizure or even death. Social Impacts Diabetes is more than a health condition. For most people, it’s a new way of life, and it affects relationships in all areas as much as it affects eating and physical activity. One challenge facing a diabetes student is the ongoing medical care required during school hours. It is up to the parents to make sure the school officials, nurses, and teachers are educated and comply with their child’s needs. Another challenge is helping the child fit in. often other children have no knowledge or understanding of diabetes and with a perception that the child is being treated differently this could lead to teasing and possibly bullying. Sports are an important part of many people’s lives. Teamwork and physical activity are vital parts of a well-rounded life. Diabetes doesn’t have to alter that Exercise is essential in diabetes management, and participation in sports can provide this and other benefits. But it does require some extra effort by the diabetic. Economic impacts Diabetes is a disease that occurs worldwide, and therefore its economic impact is experienced globally. With increasing concern among providers about the rising cost of health care, economic assessments of the impact of various diseases are growing in importance. This imposes a large economic burden on the individual, national healthcare system and economy. Environmental impacts Environmental factors appear to play an important role in the pathogenesis of childhood-onset of type 1 diabetes. Breastfeeding, the early presence or lack of certain foods, birth weight, childhood over-nutrition, and negative stress events have been shown to be related to the prevalence of type 1 diabetes. More studies are starting to show that pollution can affect the symptoms of diabetes by increasing inflammation and contributing to weight gain. People who live in urban areas are more likely to breathe polluted air, which is believed to be a factor in insulin resistance. Moreover, diabetics have a harder time controlling blood flow during times where air pollution is increased leading to intensified cardiovascular problems.

A Comparison Of Liberalism Socialism And Nationalism Politics Essay

A Comparison Of Liberalism Socialism And Nationalism Politics Essay The three most powerful ideologies that emerged in the beginning of the nineteenth century were Liberalism, socialism and nationalism. These ideologies came together to destroy older order that existed in Western Europe. However, there is very little that is actually known about the real origin of these three ideologies. Most of the research only talks about the recognized authorizes that exercises these ideologies but do not talk about the real issue. This essay seeks to compare and contrast these ideologies and trace their origin, development and revolution. Liberalism This was a product of some kind of enlightenment by human thinking. It held that the progress of human beings was inevitable. This is the reason it believed that all human beings should be viewed to be equal before the law and no one was above the law. Moreover, it believed that every person was born free and is good in some aspect let alone owning the chance to improve in skills and general thinking. Liberalization therefore expected that all governments were representative of its citizens and not part of the citizens. According to Hansen, Curt & Curtis (2008) this could only be achieved through the freedoms of speech, press, assembly and protection from arbitrary arrest. The nineteenth century liberalism which is also referred to as classical liberalism was against the involvement of the government in the economic and social affairs of the nation. This is therefore very different from what we currently know liberalism to stand for where active government intervention is highly supported and represented through democratic parties. Classical liberalism was first developed by Adam Smith as expressed in his book â€Å"Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of Wealth of Nations.† (Hansen, Curtis & Curtis, 2008). He proposed the fact that there was a need for a free enterprise where prices would be regulated by market forces. This he believed would offer a free and equal chance to all citizens to participate in what they do best. In this way both the rich and the poor will benefit rather than a situation where the rich are the only ones who benefit. This was very much different from the earlier situation of mercantilism where the government was very deeply involved in regulation of markets. While the British were experiencing gradual expansion of freedoms and rights of ordinary citizens, the French were denied of such rights until the 1989 when there was the Revolution. Unlike in France, there was no central instrument with which the British used to be oppressed with like the army ready to do what the monarch said. The British liberalization was never aimed at overthrowing the Monarchy. On the contrary it was aimed at reigning its power through the expansion of representation of the people. Because of common political, ethical, cultural and geographical factors liberalization in the United States took so much from the British kind of liberalism than it took from the Frenc h. However, during early stages of Beiner (2003) argues that American Revolution, there was much borrowed from the political thoughts of the British. Subsequent developments then later own changed and took more from the French.

Employment Law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Employment Law - Essay Example The next issue that arises is whether John Davies employer had done to protect and accommodate John Davies condition. Discrimination as when employer treats a qualified individual within a disability who is an employee or applicant unfavorably because she is a disability. The question that arises is whether Davies was a qualified individual and whose employer treated unfavorably. This is answered in the affirmative The fact that he has been into a company for over two years can not dispute the fact that he is qualified, and he could work well and tight deadlines. The law requires (The Rehabilitation Act 1973) an employer to provide reasonable accommodation to an employee. In this scenario, making the employee perform his duties with minimal pressure and him to continue enjoying the privileges of employment. It can be said that the fact that John Davies was given poor rally in his recent appraisal as a result of him having backlog of work is discriminatory and gross violation of his h uman right to fair wage /promotion. John Davies been denied promotion yet he is qualified and the denial is based on the need of such covered entity to make reasonable accommodation to the physical /mental impairments of the employee. The company failed to make a reasonable accommodation to Davies appraisal and was given poor results despite the fact that he was sickly and unable to attend his job on full time basis. John Davies was denied promotion because of the known disability and yet he was qualified An example of such a case is evident in, Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Kentucky, Inc. v. Williams Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Kentucky, Inc. v. Williams, 534 U.S. 184 (2002) was a case in which the Supreme Court interpreted the meaning of the phrase "substantially impairs" as used in the Americans with Disabilities Act. It reversed the decision by the Sixth Court of Appeals to grant a partial summary judgment in favor of the respondent, Ella Williams that qualified her inability to p erform manual job-related tasks as a disability. The Court held that the "major life activity" definition in evaluating the performance of manual tasks focuses the inquiry on whether Williams was unable to perform a range of tasks central to most people in carrying out the activities of daily living. The issue is not whether Williams was unable to perform her specific job tasks. Therefore, the determination of whether impairment rises to the level of a disability is not limited to activities in the workplace solely, but rather to manual tasks in life in general. When the Supreme Court applied this standard, it found that the Court of Appeals had incorrectly determined the presence of a disability because it relied solely on her inability to perform specific manual work tasks which was insufficient in proving the presence of a disability. The Court of Appeals should have taken into account the evidence presented that Williams retained the ability to do personal tasks and household ch ores, such activities being the nature of tasks most people do in their daily lives, and placed too much emphasis on her job disability. Since the evidence

Preparation for Value Management Study designed for TechWatt Essay

Preparation for Value Management Study designed for TechWatt Corporation - Essay Example In preparation for the Value Management Study, TMK Services has determined the need for this preliminary report that will address the specific issues that should be evaluated during the first meeting of the project briefing stage. This report will include details of what should be contributed to the Value Management Study, and who will be involved in the process. In addition, TechWatt will need to provide certain information for the Study, which will be addressed. Finally, a proposed agenda will be submitted for approval. Top managers of TechWatt must be involved in every aspect of this process and, since the company is not large, they will be directly monitoring each feature of the process without exception. At the early stages of decision making, there is no need for any delegation of responsibility. As the process proceeds to the construction phase, At the outset, TMK Services has been informed that the funds allocated by TechWatt for the proposed HQ total approximately five million pounds. With that in mind, the first logical step in this process must be to determine a suitable location for building and determine what the cost of the land will be. While some locations may seem more desirable from a strictly logistical or geographical standpoint, consideration must be given to the relative cost of land in any given area being considered. We would suggest that TechWatt management not limit themselves to only one possible location at this stage. Going into the Value Management Study meeting, it would be beneficial to have at least two, if not three possible locations on the table. Considering what has been occurring with the price of land in recent years, it becomes imperative to make the proper decision on location. For example: From 1983 to 2002 the cost of one hectare of land in London went from 0.76m to 5.5m. However, in the South West, the price went from 0.18m to 1.7m. Finally, the lowest prices for land are found in Yorkshire with prices raising from 0.1m to only 0.87m per hectare. (UK Land Prices Rocket, 2003) Prices for land vary throughout additional areas of the country, and specific numbers can be provided upon request, however the purpose of providing these statistics is simply to provide the basis for TechWatt management to understand the importance of this part of the decision making process. Obviously, the cost of the land on which the HQ will be constructed will play a major roll in determining the amount of finances remaining for the building process. 3 Although a full hectare of land may not be necessary for this project - that is a determination that will be made at a later date - understanding the cost of land in various locations must be a vital part of the process for TechWatt management. Other factors will need to be considered regarding location, as well. These include: accessibility of location (is it close to majors thoroughfares and easily accessible from airport); quality of surrounding area

LEGAL QUESTIONS MUST BE GRAMMER CORRECT AND ON TIME Essay

LEGAL QUESTIONS MUST BE GRAMMER CORRECT AND ON TIME - Essay Example Kathy's participation would be considered in terms of the fact that other messages. Other than the email # 6 can be deemed as Kathy's message and not Bill's. But for this Bill would have to be coward enough to turn his back on Kathy and say that she accessed his Email account without permission. So in this case Bill is responsible for correspondence #6 in evidence. By law, now, they held Walt. But the case description does not specify any warrants being shown to Waltz. One thing being clear. Walt was hacking Jim's system for his personal and Bill's personal advantage and their firm's advantage. Answer) Walt can plead for the motion of cause, only in the following cases: if Walt is able to prove that has committed a minor crime or a crime that has not caused sever damage or loss to the concerned party. Legally, if he has caused damage and loss to the concerned party, he cannot be granted the Motion of Cause. Because as the motion of cause suggests that the evidence found during the search, it would not be allowed to be presented as evidence in court. 3) The CPIF stands for Cost plus incentive fee contract. Megacorp and Mesoco. in other words John and Jim and both their firms had a contract , as this contract was a CPIF contract , by law , Mesoco will have to pay the Amount as ruled by the court because of the implication that CPIF had on their contract . Legally it was not John or his firms' responsibility to know how Jim will complete the project. It was Jims Responsibility. As the CPIF indicates the cost of the project plus some bonus if all is successful. 4) Barbara was at fault initially, she did decide in hastiness, or what one might presume is that, now that she knew she had settled for a lesser amount, she thought this was a good way out. Other than that if we observe the other facts. Which are that she was not qualified enough to handle the project wholly. So she was honest enough to let Bill and Kathy know that she would not continue, if she would she would need an extension on the deadline as well as the assistance of two other people who would be able to do the job for her. For some extra cost. That extra cost was also specified in the mail correspondence. Furthermore, other than this if that wouldn't or couldn't be the case she herself volunteered to back out, and just be paid for the work she had done up till then. The contract she made with Microdev was true and very much there. They can hold her in court against making them suffer when they were half way through the project. Just because she was not careful enough to read all the specifications clearly does not let her buy herself out of the situation. Legally, also Bill and his firm can take her to court and possibly win, if they can prove their point. 5) Nanotechnocrats owe money to Microdev. It is quite sensible. But legally,

The most appropriate strategy for the segmented UK market Essay

The most appropriate strategy for the segmented UK market - Essay Example 112). This is the initial tip in attaining a feasible market for these products. The company should, first of all, deal with feasible products for introduction into the market. In this sense, it better to deal with t-shirts and simple top clothes. Additionally, it should concern with jeans clothes and jackets. A modern addition to the same pertains to khaki products. This is because they possess perpetuity in fashion world. In this sense, the products face a high certainty of sales. In terms of style and design, it is essential that the company separates its clothes products in terms of functionality and appearance. However, the functionality will rely on appearance and psychology games as pertains to the customers. For example, there could be light denim for hot weather. On the other hand, heavily designed denim would be for cold weather. In another sense, there could be workman oriented clothes or street articulated clothes. Additionally, there could be quality differences in terms of costs. In terms of denim products, fine clothes would represent better quality. However, this should occur within a range of fineness that remains fashionable for the young age. This means that the company should not compromise on the quality because the same would necessitate a divergent range of prices. In close relation to the same the company should entail various sizes to clothes. ... However, a market study should entail average prices for both female and male markets. For instance, there is a recent preference for fitting clothes among the male markets. This means that should all cloths should strive towards average definition of size. In terms of prices, there are few factors to consider in the same. To begin with, there should be range of prices that customers should be aware. In this sense, the fashion line creates a sense of quality and affordability of the same. Market segments are divisible into two vital aspects. For instance, the marketing team should consider the lower income sections. In addition to the same, the marketing team should consider the higher income groups. This is achievable in terms of placement and distribution. In higher income neighborhoods, they should set higher prices. That is because such a group considers high quality which is to coincide with prices. Low prices might connote poor quality of clothes. However, there is a highly fas hion conscious group among the high income earners. This group would be slightly price sensitive thereby the prices should be reasonable in order that the fashion line does not lose the group. In terms of low income neighborhoods, the stores should have slightly higher prices than the average consumer prices in such areas. This should be higher by only 20 percent. This is because such consumers would perceive such clothes as of better quality than their daily products. In terms of promotion, there would be notable aspects to the same. To begin with, the clothes market is a wide one that needs marketing techniques that reach an extensive audience. The immediate audience for such products would pertain to the UK consumers. It is crucial to note that the marketing

Major market segments and trends in biotech industry Essay

Major market segments and trends in biotech industry - Essay Example Biotechnology is a technology based on biology, especially when used in agriculture, food science, and medicine. Of the many different definitions available, the one formulated by the UN Convention on Biological Diversity is one of the broadest: "Biotechnology means any technological application that uses biological systems, living organisms, or derivatives thereof, to make or modify products or processes for specific use." (Article 2. Use of Terms). Another definition can be: Biotechnology is the manipulation of organisms to do practical things and to provide useful products.2 Biotechnology is a scientific knowledge base--a rapidly evolving technology--that has economically valuable applications in diverse industries such as pharmaceuticals, medical diagnostics, agriculture, bio-environmental remediation and chemical processing. Biotech is still at an early phase and there are many opposing hypotheses about its future development.3 The biotechnology industry serves both medical and non-medical markets as well. The medical market includes human therapeutics and human diagnostics as well as applications in veterinary medicine. Non-medical markets cover both agriculture and industrial applications. Agricultural applications cover making plants and crops pest resistant, providing improved seed quality, modulating growth and ripening times, enhancing nutrient content of foods, and providing simple and inexpensive diagnostics for use in field testing for contaminants and toxic materials. Industrial uses of biotechnology encompass many diverse sectors and include industrial enzymes, waste management, bioremediation, energy biomass, cosmetic formulations, and diagnostics for toxicity determinations.4 The Medical Market Most of U.S. biotechnology companies are aiming at markets in human medical purposes. Nearly 29 percent of biotechnology companies are involved in therapeutics, while the primary focus of 17 percent of companies is in diagnostics. Biotechnology companies in the human health care field concentrate on discovering and creating ways to prevent, diagnose, treat, and cure the dozens of life-threatening and serious diseases and conditions for which satisfactory medical therapies or preventive agents currently do not exist. The market for human therapeutic biotechnology products is expected to grow from $7.6 billion in revenues in 1996 to more than $24 billion in 2006, an average annual growth rate of 13 percent while the human diagnostics biotechnology product sector is predicted to grow at an average annual rate of 9 percent from $1.8 billion in 1996 to approximately $4 billion in 2006. Colony stimulating factors, insulin, human growth hormone, beta and gamma interferon, and vaccines comp rises much of the outstanding market. A 1996 survey of biotech drugs under development by companies belonging to the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) found that there were 284 biotechnology drugs in human trials, a 21 percent jump over the number (234) in development reported by PhRMA in the previous year. The survey also found 18 drug applications pending approval at the FDA and 49 in

Enron Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Enron - Research Paper Example top, what exactly went wrong, and how this wrong was further fueled by an individual’s personal quest for gains, eventually turning the company into nothing more than a mere sand dune. A significant part of this research would also attempt to highlight circumstances under which auditors for the firm, Arthur Anderson failed to play its role as well as the failure of the federal government in its part to detect cracks in Enron’s policies and financial reporting to its shareholders. â€Å"In an attempt to identify the relationships, organizational and individual, that played a part in Enron’s fall, I will highlight the reasons that led to the eventual failure of Enron, the role played by individuals serving the management of Enron to hide information from their employees, stakeholders and the general public to elude failures and heavy losses incurred due to malpractices and willful fraudulent activities.† Based in Omaha, Nebraska, InterNorth was a very large company with investments in businesses ranging from plastics to petroleum exploration and so on. Primarily a gas pipeline manufacturer, InterNorth was also distinguished in its operations of the largest gas pipeline spread across North America. A legacy of Northern Natural Gas Company founded in 1932, InterNorth was formed as its holding company in 1979. Later in 1985, InterNorth took over Houston Natural Gas Company in 1985, in pursuit of expansionary production opportunities. For a while, the company was renamed HNG/InterNorth after the takeover, later named to Enron in just a few months. After the takeover, HNG/InterNorth fell into depth of $ 4.2 billion (Gavridis) following the acquisition of the company. In view of the critical situation, Kenneth Lay, then CEO of HNG, used Employee Stock Ownership Program to pay off the debt. After the settlement, the company, initially planned to manage two headquarters in Omaha and Houston, moved all its operations to Houston, Texas where HNG was initially based,

Employee Portfolio Motivation Action Plan Essay Example for Free

Employee Portfolio Motivation Action Plan Essay Determine the motivational strategy or strategies that would likely be most appropriate for each of your three employees, based on their individual characteristics. Indicate how you would leverage their employee evaluations to motivate each of the three employees. Describe one or more of the motivational theories and explain how the theories connect to each of your selected motivational strategies. Team MemberPerformance RatingSummary of AssessmentsMotivational Strategy and Action PlanRelevant Theory Edward JonesEven though theres some concern the applicant requires to care for, he is suitable for the employment The worker has got a greater employment satisfaction and he is fairly prepared. His good points are shown by confidence, hard work abilities, and greater mental cleverness. But, he isnt able to correctly acknowledge criticism and might get subjective in job-related issues. Due to his enhanced employment satisfaction and confidence, Edward Jones might not be challenging to be inspired. To do this the organization requires to make him maintain his greater employment satisfaction and confidence the organization will ensure that hes provided proper power into doing his work in order that the workers feel the authority and association to the organization. The inspiration hypothesis related to this case is McClellands hypothesis of requirements stating that authority, accomplishment, and association are essential requirements which help explain inspiration. Michael Ciross Michael Ciross is an excellent applicant for his employment.The exams demonstrate that this worker has a normal employment pleasure meaning that hes neither enthusiastic nor unhappy regarding his employment. The main good points of Michael are indigenous cleverness, fairly planned, and greater mental cleverness. On the contrary, the main weak points are lack of attention and probability of getting subjective. The truth that the worker lacks attention while doing his work implies that he doesnt have a great curiosity on getting this done and he most probably does it for the very fact that its a usual element of his survival. Due to his lack of attention he may not be inspired into doing the perfect on his employment. A usual employment pleasure shows the truth that the worker might not desire to accomplish better performances. The most suitable hypothesis in this situation is the expectancy hypothesis which will indicate the worker in case he acts in a particular better way he will just need to gain from the situation.The  expectancy hypothesis will attempt to show the worker that in case he does his work better, payment and satisfaction will most probably increase. He might be capable to be promoted. Respect and self-actualization are the need which must be focused in following the hypothesis. Jeffrey Blake Jeffrey might not be the ideal applicant for his employment. But, it doesnt mean that he can improve. Jeffrey Blake has got a reduced pleasure, requires a great deal of time to finish jobs and there are greater possibilities for subjectivity while doing his work. On the contrary a few of his good points are that he has a tendency to put emphasize on details and that he shows a more mixed style of making decisions. There are many methods of enhancing the pleasure of this worker that is the 1st step in to enhancing the inspiration. The most related inspiration hypothesis to this scenario is Theory X and in order to enhance Jeffreys inspiration the organization must decide what makes him have discontentment for his employment, take steps to get rid of this element, enhance the payment, and influence Jeffrey into enhancing output and performance.Hypothesis X, as Robbins and Judge (2011) consider, says that workers dont like job and they must be directed or even forced into performing it.

Evaluation of Individual Stock and Sector Level

Evaluation of Individual Stock and Sector Level Is there any method of asset allocation within a stock portfolio that can repeatedly and over time outperform a passive index (buy and hold strategy)? The objective of this study is to compare strategies that have been used over the last decades by academics and professionals alike, and to expand on that study to create a real-time portfolio at the end of year t, to observe the portfolios behaviour during the next year (t + 1). This portfolio, unlike those created in previous studies, is not limited to the study of individual stocks, but instead gives importance to sector allocation. In addition, this study also focuses on implementing a long-short strategy in those assets: with the same overall exposure to the market, will a long-short strategy that depends on financial metrics exhibit a better risk-adjusted return than a 100% long strategy? In other words, are financial metrics capable of not only detecting undervalued stocks, but also of detecting those overpriced? Sector allocation is an especially important factor, with previous studies failing to consider sector allocations before moving to find the best classified assets within each sector; rather, they have jumped directly to stock selection. One of the most common strategies for stock picking in the asset management industry today relies on initially choosing sectors that, from a macro perspective, are expected to outperform the market. From this stance, analysts proceed to evaluate specific stocks to choose potential winners. Despite this being the industry standard, only a scarce number of studies exist that use common ratios between sectors to analyse and devise allocation strategies that are first sector-based and then based on individual stock. The objective of this project, therefore, is to focus on a set of financial metrics, both at individual stock level and at sector level, to examine if there is a positive relationship between these ratios and alpha creation. In order to achieve this, a portfolio will be constructed and rebalanced yearly, according to previous end-of-year data. Several traditionally-appraised financial measures, such as P/E ratio, free cash flow to enterprise value ratio and book-to-market value ratio will be employed, as will certain profitability ratios that include data from the income statement, such as gross profit, operating profit and EBITDA. The reasoning behind using measures higher up within the income statement is due to solely to accounting choices in comparison to net income these are less affected by an individual companys accounting process. In fact, revenue and other described measures of profit, are more consistent year to year than net income. Subsequently, this provides the rationa le that these measures are better able to predict future cash flows and, consequently, next years performance. Forward-looking measures such as analysts consensus recommendations and forward EPS will also be utilised and tested. Departing from the hypothesis that these individuals conduct an exhaustive analysis of the financial data at year end t to predict the performance during year t+1, the accuracy of the forecasts will be tested against those same financial measures and valuation metrics existing at year end t. Data will be extracted from a set of databases comprised of Compustat, CRSP and I/B/E/S. Fundamental data will be extracted from end-of-fiscal-year filing, to allow a time lag for the data release of a quarter period (3 months), before a portfolio is rebalanced. Hence, with a fiscal year ending in December of year t, a lag in the release of data will always exist and portfolios will be rebalanced at the end of the first quarter of year t+1. Monthly returns for every stock will be compounded throughout that year over 12 months. Each years universe of stocks will then be ranked by the different valuation metrics to construct a portfolio at year end t in order to assess the portfolios performance during t + 1. Three different sets of portfolios will be constructed for each financial metric each year and, within each set, two strategies will be implemented. For a stocks-only portfolio, only those stocks ranking in the upper quintile (top 20%) will be used each year. For the sector-only portfolio, a market capitalisation average of each sector will be calculated, and the portfolio will be formed by the top 20% sectors ranked in any given year. For the sector and stocks portfolio, an implementation of both criteria will be evaluated. That being said, the portfolio is formed from the top quintile stocks within the top quintile sectors each year. As a whole, this assumes a long strategy, buying in on those stocks on a value-weighted basis each year to constitute a portfolio. In the long-short strategy, the bottom quintile of each respective category will be shorted, and the proceeds used to buy an extra 30% of the top quintile of stocks. Using a long-short strategy will help the researcher examine the feasibility of using these ratios in recognising overvalued stocks as well as undervalued companies, and use this information to construct a more profitable portfolio. A 130/30 long short strategy is used, where a 150/50 long short strategy or other proportions could have also been tested. However, the 130/30 strategy is chosen following the creation and later popularisation of 130/30 mutual funds and investment vehicles. This choice stems from an initial study suggesting that 130/30 was the optimal proportion of long-short positions in a portfolio, even though no empirical data has been found that a 130/30 strategy later maximises alpha. Despite this, given its popularisation and position as an industry standard, our analysis proceeds with this strategy. Ultimately, performance attribution and portfolio statistics will be calculated, such as average return, total payoff, standard deviation, Sharpe ratio and alpha according to the Fama French 3 factor model, correcting for small minus big and high minus low book market value (Fama and French, 1992). This will help in our analysis of the results, to provide a clear and concise indication of which ratios perform best under each strategy and under each level (sector and stock). Literature Review Re-emphasising the importance of sector level asset allocation strategies, particularly at a time in the financial industry when performance attribution analysis stresses return on the relative weighting of sectors in portfolios, it is surprising that existing studies underscore the importance of certain ratios or fundamental data for stocks while lacking the ability to employ a method to identify undervalued sectors. Previous studies from Shiller and Bunn (2014) construct a 140-year regression series based on the relationship between the earnings of different sectors and their yields, creating a CAPE (Cyclically Adjusted Price Earnings) index that identifies sectors with upside potential. Their research indicates that market sectors show price mismatches that can be exploited. According to them, the CAPE index is capable of outperforming the market by an average of 4%. Therefore, the objective of this project is to expand on their results by examining a number of other ratios and fi nancial fundamentals, particularly those related to profitability measures, and to investigate whether these, both at individual and sector level, are capable of forming a portfolio that outperforms the broader index and a buy and hold investment strategy. Gray and Vogel (2012) try to depict not only the ratio that is able to predict higher performing stocks, but also those in the lower ranges; this implies being able to detect not only what are known in the financial investment world as value stocks, but also overvalued growth stocks. According to their research, some measures are more efficient than others in providing insight into which stocks are overpriced. Gray and Vogel (2012) therefore conclude that EBITDA/EV and GP/EV are the metrics that are best able to identify the overvalued stocks. The results in this dissertation agree that the GP/EV ratio is useful to identify overvalued stocks and is hence a good metric to build long/short strategies, but the results also consider free cash flow/EV as a favourite on a risk-adjusted basis for implementing a long-short strategy at stock level. The results of the following study show that stocks exhibiting a low FCF/EV experience low returns, demonstrating an ability to identify overvalue d stocks. Such a contradiction might be explained by the difference in the universe of stocks used or, more specifically, by the use of lag for data release, which corrects the assumption that results are available to the public at the end of fiscal year t. This lag is introduced by Hughen and Strauss (2015) in their comparable study of profitability ratios in portfolio allocation. The analysis in this project goes beyond what the Gray and Vogel (2012) study implies and develops a portfolio strategy to buy stocks that exhibit higher ratios, but also a complementing 130/30 strategy, which short sells stocks exhibiting poor ratios, and proportionally buys in excess those that exhibit a healthy ratio. As Miller (2001) shows in his work, overvaluation of stocks is far more common and of greater absolute value than undervaluation. This supports a rationale for this work. However, care should be taken when dealing with long-short strategies. As suggested by Michaud (1993), costs stemming from short sales in a portfolio could prove quite significant. However, Jacobs and Levy (1995) argue that these costs are not much higher than a long-only portfolio, and are well under those charged by active management. Professionals and practitioners alike have historically depended on several fundamental and financial measures to assist them in the portfolio selection process. Perhaps the most famous is the price-to-earnings ratio (P/E) along with the ratio between earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) and total enterprise value. Fama and French (1992) argue that book to market ratio perhaps most accurately explains the cross section return of stock, which they later include in their three-factor model. In our approach, we include these traditional metrics, while also relying on profitability measures, such as gross profit/EV, introduced by Novy-Marx (2010), and operating profit divided by market value, as presented in Fama and Frenchs (2015) 5-factor model. Ball et al. (2015) proves that the suggestions shown in Novy-Marxs (2010) paper, in which he proposes the existence of a very strong cross relation between gross profit and future returns, regardless of the financial leverage or structure of the firm, are true by constructing portfolios based on highly profitable firms as represented by gross profit/enterprise value. Novy-Marx (2010) concluded that because gross profit is the measure of profit less affected by accounting choices in the income statement, it results in a clear and normalised comparison between different companies. However, Ball et al. (2015) argue that gross profit is not significantly superior to net income (earnings) when analysing an extended time period. After analysing other measures of financial data, they conclude that operating profit, as a percentage of market value, does offer a significantly higher alpha. Therefore, this project continues with the aforementioned financial metrics, and focuses on sector and stock selection to create an annually-rebalanced real-time portfolio. Hughen and Strauss (2015) attempt to use different financial measures to construct portfolios at sector, stock and combined stock and sector levels. The following study complements and verifies the conclusions of Hughen and Strauss (2015) regarding the superior indicators of profitability measures versus traditional measures of valuation such as P/E and book to market in all three levels, and extends their research by looking at forward looking measures and a value weighted approach to the sector allocation, rather than the equal weight approach used in their research. The limitations of assuming sectors to be equally weighted across the portfolio, and not a function of the market value of the components of those sectors, contradict the notion of constructing a value-weighted portfolio. Their construction of portfolios at stock level is value-weighted, whilst at sector levels they equally weight each sector within their top quintile. This is a counterintuitive approach and this paper tackles that limitation by weighting the sectors accordingly respective to their components market capitalization, making periodical rebalances within the year unnecessary and increasing operational efficiencies in a real-life practical situation. It should be mentioned that the universe of stocks used in this study pertains to the SP500, which by definition is a market-weighted index. The project finds some discrepancies with respect to Hughen and Strauss paper, in particular surrounding the performance of the free cash flow ratio. A possible explanation for this is that this study states free cash flow as a percentage of total enterprise value, whilst Hughen and Strauss (2015) compute it as a percentage of market value. The approach taken within the subsequent study results in a much higher risk-adjusted return for the ratio, as measured by the Sharpe ratio, both for long strategies and to identify overvalued stocks. In their research of different financial ratios, Loughran and Wellman (2011) found that EBITDA over enterprise value offers superior performance to a predefined buy and hold benchmark. Their analysis, which comprehends data starting from 1963 to 2009, holds that EBITDA/EV possess a very significant regressive coefficient with future performance. Gray and Vogel (2012) confirm this hypothesis, analysing a time period of 30 years starting in 1980, in their research of different financial metrics. This paper confirms that, at a stocks-only level, EBITDA along with gross profit, both measured as a percentage of enterprise value, offer the highest risk-adjusted returns. For the analysis at both sector and stock level, EBITDA fails to show the same accuracy as the stock-only analysis. Therefore, the following study builds on the findings of previous studies by providing a more thorough examination at sector level. Gray and Vogel (2012) extended their research further by considering periods of economic crisis, in order to identify which financial ratio is most appropriate during high volatility economic downturns. However, they were unable to conclude which ratio is able to identify winners or losers during periods of financial distress, because none behaves in the same systematic manner during selected periods of extreme economic contraction. In their study of different economic coefficients and measures, Welch and Goyal (2007) conclude that the relationship between sector level performance and macroeconomic industrial data is unstable and at most, follows a random relationship. With that in mind, the focus of this paper is instead on building sector data as a market weighted average of the individual microeconomic company ratios and forecasts. Each individual constituent fundamental metric at year end will be used to position the allocation of each asset for the next year based on a ranked system. This construes that this analysis will be based on each stocks financial information at year end t to later construct sector level ratios and metrics, and is not based on macroeconomic or sector level data that, according to Welch and Goyal (2007), do not provide any significant cross-relation with future performance. Theory Development Although the focus of previous literature is in the attribution of portfolio performance to the different ratios and metrics used, the objective of this paper is to examine whether these same metrics, mainly traditional measures, forward looking estimates and profitability ratios, are able to exploit sector and stock level mispricing and generate real-time winner portfolios. Given the availability of forward estimates in the I/B/E/S database, a period from 1990 to 2016 will be examined in this paper. The choice of time period is not a random one; rather, to have consistency in data across the analysis and throughout all the variables used, this period is chosen from the start. To see the limitations of an extended data period, Gray and Vogels (2012) work show an exemplary illustration of such restrictions. They use a period of 30 years, starting in 1980, evaluating which financial metric can predict future performance. They complement their analysis on fundamental metrics by looking at analysts estimates and consensus forecasts, succeeding to recognise the lack of certain information in the beginning years of their timeframe, therefore failing to Nos interesa saber, al igual que el trabajo de Graham y Dodd (1934), cà ³mo el uso de normalizacià ³n de los diferentes ratios y fundamentos es capaz de cambiar nuestros resultados. Segà ºn sus estudios, la normalizacià ³n o media sobre cierto tiempo de estas mà ©tricas financieras, es capaz de mejorar la prediccià ³n de los resultados comparado con una estimacià ³n anual. Segà ºn su anà ¡lisis, la normalizacià ³n deberà ­a ser entre 7 y 10 aà ±os. Anderson y Brooks (2006) recientemente confirmaron esto, llevando a cabo un estudio de la mà ©trica P/E, la cual tambià ©n utilizamos en nuestro anà ¡lisis, pero a la inversa (Earnings/ Market Value). Segà ºn su estudio, basado sobre el mercado en U.K., usando el promedio de este ratio de 8 aà ±os en lugar de usar las mà ©tricas del aà ±o anterior, resulta en un crecimiento de las ganancias de un 6%, ya que es capaz de filtrar el ruido de earnings. Siguiendo estos anà ¡lisis, nuestro estudio abarcarà ¡ tambià ©n ratio s normalizados durante una serie de aà ±os, concentrà ¡ndonos en el universo de acciones del SP500, para confirmar que esta hipà ³tesis es apta en nuestro anà ¡lisis. Sin embargo, Data V.I Evaluation Metrics This paper will focus on three different categories of data inputs. There is an abundant choice of methods and variables in the accounting and financial research world, there is a large set of variables and measures to assess a firms valuation. In order to establish the model, an initial differentiation between these variables should be made. Traditional Metrics To start with, we look at the long standing traditional metrics that long have been appraised by the professionals in the financial industry. This involves the inverse of the P/E ratio, given as Earnings over Market Value of the firm, Book to Market value and Free Cash Flow to Enterprise Value. These ratios, introduced decades back in the origins of value investing by Graham and Dodd (1934), show mixed results according to existing literature. Including this long favourite measures in this research will prove useful when comparing to the other measures. Earnings/Market Value Earnings will be computed following Fama and Frenchs (2001) approach: Earnings = Earnings Before Extraordinary Items Preferred Dividends + Income Statement Deferred Taxes Book value/Market Value Book Value will again be calculated as Fama and French (2001) propose. Following on its definition, Book Value = Stockholders Equity Preferred Stock Free Cash Flow/Enterprise Value Analogous to Novy-Marxs (2010) work, we compute free cash flow as FCF = Net Income + Depreciation Amortisation Working Capital Change Capital Expenditures Enterprise Value will also need to be calculated. Following Loughran and Wellman (2011), we compute it as EV = Market Value + Short-term Debt + Long-term Debt + Preferred Stock Value Cash and Short-term Investments The enterprise value variable will be used again in multiple valuation measures. Profitability Metrics Profitability measures as reported in the income statement will also be used as valuation methods. The focus will be Gross Profit, EBITDA and Operating Profit. EBITDA and Gross Profit will be computed as a percentage of Total Enterprise value, as suggested by the work of Gray and Vogel (2012), whilst Operating Profit will be looked at as a percentage of Market Value. From here on, well expand on this and compute an average of this three profitability measures, in order to analyse if a composite metric is able to detect the cross relation between fundamentals and future returns. The reasoning behind using an average of these three different measures stems from the work of Hughen and Strauss (2015), as they find that the composite measure are less sensitive to changes in the firms structure across different sectors and within sectors, as well as providing more information than just a single variable. This implies that the average measure is less affected by differences in financial leverage across sectors, which results in a more standardised comparison between firms in different sectors. Gross Profit/Enterprise Value Once again following Novy-Marx (2010), we compute every years gross profit as Gross Profit = Revenue Cost of Goods Sold Operating Profit/Market Value Operating Profit, as define in the income statement will be used for this metric. EBITDA/Enterprise Value EBITDA, defined as Earnings Before Interest, Tax and Depreciation Amortisation is calculated by the simple sum of operating and non-operating income; EBITDA = Operating Income before Depreciation + Non-Operating Income Profitability Average Equally weighted average of the three profitability ratios. The reason for selecting profitability measures higher up the income statement, and not focusing solely on the inverse P/E ratio, Earnings/MV or expectations of forward earnings, is because the higher up the income statement we go, the more consistent data proves to be year on year: that is, figures are more normalized and suffer fewer variations, which could explain why they result in being better predictive models, filtering out excessive noise. According to Dichev et al. (2013), profitability metrics are more persistent than earnings and forecast future performance more accurately than net income. Earnings data is affected by accounting choices, whereas gross profit and operating income suffer fewer distortions from this. Forward Estimates Analysing a set of fundamental past data wont be the only proxy used to rebalance our portfolio: analysts stock recommendations will also be evaluated. Two different sets of forward data will be used. In the first place, an average of the consensus forecast of next fiscal years EPS divided by the current market value of each firm will be used. This forecast will be an average of the estimates of each analyst throughout the fourth quarter of year t for year t+1. The consensus mean recommendations from analysts from the fourth quarter of the year t for year t+1 will also be employed. These recommendations are a ranking from 1 to 5, with 1 signalling a strong buy and 5 a strong sell. This is the mean of the different analysts recommendation existing at that time for each individual stock. V.II Data Criteria and Universe To ensure a minimum amount of liquidity in our analysis, we pick the historical constituents of the SP500 Index as our universe of stocks. This results in our analysis not being driven by the performance of smaller capitalisation firms, for which data might not be readily available. As our analysis involves implementing a long/short strategy, the ability to do so with large capitalisation stocks in practice results much easier. Therefore, every year, the appropriate constituents in our portfolio are updated, reflecting the changes in the overall index. This implies that our universe of stocks closely replicate the SP 500 Index on a yearly basis. The constituents as of 1990 will first be extracted, and updated every year thereafter. The analysis is then limited to those companies with a positive market capitalization as of December of year t, as well as to those companies with at least 2 years of data, in order to perform all the analysis in a consistent universe of stocks. In order to conduct the analysis across sectors in a more uniform manner, certain companies were removed from the universe of stocks. This includes REITs, utility and financial firms, as denominated by CRSP. From this, a benchmark is constructed with our new universe of stocks; that is, all those fulfilling the above criteria. This benchmark is a value weighted portfolio of all the stocks for a given year, rebalanced yearly at the end of each previous year (December 31st). Therefore, being a market value weighted portfolio comprising most SP500 stocks, it should closely resemble the SP500 Index. Comparing the quarterly performance of both our benchmark and the index for the period to analyse between 1990 and 2015, and running a corresponding regression, it is found that they correlate with a coefficient of 99.17%. As seen by this observation, our universe of stocks bears similarities with the index, although the payoff at the end of the period differs. The benchmark provides a payoff of $11.13 for a $1 investment (or a 1113%) at the start of the period, in 1990. The SP500 index returns a payoff of $8.86 (886%) at the end of the period. This figures assume complete reinvestment of capital and a compounded growth rate. V.V Model We represent year t+1 to be the year for which the portfolios performance will be monitored, and year t to be the year in which the fundamental data which will estimate performance will be extracted. As most US companies have a fiscal year corresponding to the calendar year, our model will retrieve end of year fundamental data for these companies, corresponding to December year t, allow for a data release lag, and compute the portfolio. The lag in data release is introduced as companies dont disclose their annual financial statements until the quarter after their fiscal year end. This usually happens within two months, as observed from historical data. Taking this factor into account, the model will allow for a lag of one quarter, therefore allowing for information to be readily available to the public at each point in time. Denoting t.(x) as the xth quarter of year t, and t+1.(x) as the xth quarter of year t+1, the above implies extracting fundamental data as of t.(4), allowing for a lag in data release during t+1.(1) in order to construct the portfolio at t+1.(2). The performance will then be measured during one year from then. This model so far deals only with the companies which disclose their end of year information by the end of the calendar year, so a provision must be made for the proportionally low, but still significant, number of companies whose annual results are released at a different date. Hughen and Strauss (2015) tackled this issue by rebalancing quarterly their portfolio, but they recognized the limitations of using quarterly results rather than normalizing their ratios and profitability measures by using annual ones. Gray and Vogels (2012) work consists of an annually rebalanced portfolio as of June 30 every year. Their approach is to use, for firms with fiscal year ending within the last quarter of the previous year, or the first quarter of the year, those fundamentals. For companies with fiscal years ending after March 30, previous years fundamentals will be used. This implies that, no matter when the end of fiscal year is, the latest annual filling will always be employed to construct th eir portfolio, even when this filling is from the second quarter of the previous year. In the following model, the approach will be somewhat different, Therefore, first, a differentiation between the two strategies implemented should be made. Value weighted These buy-and-hold portfolios are attractive not only because they minimize trading costs, but because they are simple to implement from an operational perspective. Mention sector allocation using SICS merge Compustat and CRSP databases. Delisting returns. References Ball, R., Gerakos, J., Linnainmaa, J. and Nikolaev, V. (2015). Deflating profitability. Journal of Financial Economics, 117(2), pp.225-248. Bunn, O. and Shiller, R. (2014). Changing times, changing values. 1st ed. Cambridge, Mass. Dichev, I., Graham, J., Harvey, C. and Rajgopal, S. (n.d.). Earnings Quality: Evidence from the Field. SSRN Electronic Journal. Fama, E. and French, K. (1992). The Cross-Section of Expected Stock Returns. The Journal of Finance, 47(2), p.427. Fama, E. and French, K. (2006). Disappearing dividends: changing firm characteristics or lower propensity to pay?. 1st ed. Fama, E. and French, K. (2015). A five-factor asset pricing model. Journal of Financial Economics, 116(1), pp.1-22. Gray, W. and Vogel, J. (2012). Analyzing Valuation Measures: A Performance Horse-Race Over the Past 40 Years. SSRN Electronic Journal. Hughen, J. and Strauss, J. (2015). Portfolio Allocations Using Fundamental Ratios: Are Profitability Measures Effective in Selecting Firms and Sectors?. SSRN Electronic Journal. Jacobs, B. and Levy, K. (1993). Long/Short Equity Investing. The Journal of Portfolio Management, 20(1), pp.52-63. Loughran, T. and Wellman, J. (2011). New Evidence on the Relation between the Enterprise Multiple and Average Stock Returns. Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, 46(06), pp.1629-1650. Michaud, R. (1993). Are Long-Short Equity Strategies Superior?. Financial Analysts Journal, 49(6), pp.44-49. Miller, E. (2001). Why the Low Returns to Beta and Other Forms of Risk. The Journal of Portfolio Management, 27(2), pp.40-55. Novy-Marx, R. (2010). The other side of value. 1st ed. Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Research. Welch, I. and Goyal, A. (2007). A Comprehensive Look at The Empirical Performance of Equity Premium Prediction. Review of Financial Studies, 21(4), pp.1455-1508.

European Union Description :: European Union Essays

European Union Description In 1967, three European institutions merged. The three institutions were the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), the European Economic Community (EEC), and the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom). When the three merged, they formed the European Community or EC. On November 1, 1993, the 12 members of the European Community ratified the Treaty on European Union, or Maastricht Treaty. The twelve members were- Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, and Spain. The countries of the Benelux Economic Union- Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg- continue to and in some ways as a single economic entity within the European Union. The EC became the policy-making body of the European Union. In 1994 Austria, Finland, and Sweden became members of the European Union. By 1997 more than a dozen countries had applied for European Union membership, but the European Union had only admitted the three listed above. T he other countries that applied for membership include Turkey, Cyprus, Malta, Switzerland, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Bulgaria, and the Czech Republic. Of those countries, six are considered associate members of the European Union: Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia. Three other countries-Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania-are being considered for associate membership. Other potential European Union applicants include members of the European Free Trade Association. The European Union was expected to decide which counties it would open negotiations for full membership with by the end of 1997. The purpose of the European Union was to increase economic integration and strengthen cooperation among its member states. European citizenship was granted to citizens of each member state, under the Treaty on European Union. Customs and immigration agreements were enhanced to allow European citizens more freedom to live, work, and s tudy in any of the member states, and border controls were also eased. The European Union also set a goal of establishing a single European currency, the Euro, by 1997; this date was later changed to 1999. It is proposed that full circulation of the Euro is to be in effect by the year 2002. At that time the individual states notes will no longer be valid. The European Union’s attempts to establish a single European currency have had some controversy. An example is, some member countries, such as Great Britain, have worried that a shared European currency would threaten their national identity and their government’s authority.

Great Gatsby Symbols :: essays papers

Great Gatsby Symbols Different symbolism The Great Gatsby is enhanced by the great number of symbols in the story. The story is revolved around symbols which represent different things. There are three types of symbols color, object, name symbols. Each symbol represents a different kind of situation in the story. The color represents all colors that are involved in the story, each color has its own meaning in the story. Object symbols explain the person himself and his situation in the story. Name symbols give the inner meaning of the person and how the name is related to the character. Color symbolizes a lot in the story. In the story you see excessive use of colors. The first most clear color symbol is white which doesn't express the purity but the false purity and goodness in the people. The next is gray, valley of ashes, which expresses the lack of spirit in that area. The green shows the hope of a new start, or to work for something. Red is death , or blood. Yellow expresses the corruptness in society and dishonest behavior in society. Also yellow represents the coward image of characters. The objects that are represented in the story are very interesting. Most obvious is West Egg and East Egg which are described as white from the outside which represents purity and the yellow inside which is the rotten part. Owl eyes is the person who is all knowing in this book from the start. When he was first introduced he was introduced very positively. Cars had a big role in The Great Gatsby, they symbolized the status of the person and the careless and there reckless personality . In summer was the boiling part of the novel and conflict, where everything was told. Flowers symbolize everything in the great Gatsby grace, beauty and love. Names express what the person is and his back round. For the Gatsby, Gat means pistol, and he was murdered by one.

Baseball at The University of Florida :: Sports Perry Field McKethan Stadium Essays

Baseball at The University of Florida While being recruited by various colleges for baseball, I had to decide on a program with a great athletic, academic, and fan supported background. I chose the University of Florida because of their great athletic success in the past ten years and all of their well-equipped facilities. I never took a recruiting visit to the University of Florida, so when I first arrived to Gainesville and saw the baseball field for the first time I was amazed. The field looked as if it were a professional stadium. Whether you enjoy watching baseball or not, there is always something interesting happening at the ballpark. There are usually media personal conducting interviews, or fresh peanuts are being roasted, or a father and son are having a catch on the side of the field. Students also gather here and study or just hang out. Just as many people know, baseball is â€Å"America’s pastime† and the ballpark is where a family can come together, socialize, and have fun. The ballpark, also known as McKethan Stadium/Perry Field, is located in between the O’Connel center and the soccer field/track. To gain entrance into the field, there are two large glass doors for athletes to enter through captured in picture #1. This leads towards the locker rooms, dugouts, and trainer’s room. Fans are prohibited from entering these doors, which is blocked off by security guards during games. This gives a sense of feeling that even college athletes are protected like professionals. Fans enter the stadium on a ramp towards the bleachers past the box office. This keeps the fans under control and away from the athletes. The outskirt of the stadium’s landscape brings on a sense of beauty and security. A 6-foot metal fence encloses the stadium. Beyond the fence there are large palm trees and shrubbery surrounding the batting cages. This is illustrated in picture #2. The fence and plants serve as a way to keep non-ticket holders out of the stadium. This gives the field a sense of security. Because of the stadium’s location in the middle of the campus, it is easy access for anyone to attend games. Across the street from the stadium are apartment-like dorms where students can watch the games from their window.

Huckleberry Finn vs. Tom Sawyer Essay

Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer are very different characters. I think that is what made them such great friends. Tom is always out to have a good time and doesn’t care who he hurts to do it. Huck always follows Tom’s lead even though sometimes he shouldn’t. Huck Finn grew up in a very rough environment. His father was a drunk who would disappear for months on random occasions. Huck is typically dirty and homeless. Eventually he goes to live with Widow Douglas who continually tries to reform Huck, but he resists and keeps his own ways. He said â€Å"The Widow Douglas she took me for her son, and allowed she would sivilize me; but it was rough living in the house all the time, considering how dismal regular and decent the widow was in all her ways; and so when I couldn’t stand it no longer I lit out. I got into my old rags and my sugar-hogshead again, and was free and satisfied.†(2) Huck is also a follower mostly of his good friend Tom. â€Å"But Tom Sawyer he hunted me up and said he was going to start a band of robbers, and I might join if I would go back to the widow and be respectable. So I went back.† (2) This is really the first time Huck has been educated and is taught about religion. Huck grew up in a much tougher environment then his close friend Tom, but he still has a good heart and was an easy going guy. He says â€Å"We said there wasn’t no home like a raft, after all. Other places do seem so cramped up and smothery, but a raft don’t. You feel mighty free and easy and comfortable on a raft.† (42) Tom is Huck’s best friend. They are about the same age but grew up in completely different situation. Tom grew up in white middle class family in a nice comfortable environment. Tom is clearly the leader of the two because Huck is always following his lead. Huck says â€Å"Tom told me what his plan was, and I see in a minute it was worth fifteen of mine for style, and would make Jim just as free a man as mine would, and maybe get us all killed besides. So I was satisfied, and said we would waltz in on it.† (66) Also Huck says â€Å"Tom Sawyer wouldn’t back out so I won’t.† Another thing that is different is Tom is willing to keep a secret that hurts a lot of people. He knows Mrs. Watson has died, but keeps it a secret for his own enjoyment. He could have told and Jim would have been free, but all he cared about was his plan to escape and how fun it was going to be. You  can clearly see the differences between Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer. There are many examples in the book that show that. Tom is the leader and Huck is the follower. The biggest difference is the morals of the two. Tom kept a secret that hurt people and all Huck wanted to do was free Jim. After everything said Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer are best friends. They get along so well and will be friends for life.

Kudler’s Strategic Plan Essay

The mission statement should be a clear and succinct representation of the enterprise’s purpose for existence (BRS Center for Business Planning, 2010). Kudler Fine Foods mission statement is to supply the finest assortment of their wines and foods with a knowledgeable support staff. Vision Kudler Fine Foods vision highlights their image for the future and their motivation. The gourmet grocery store’s vision is to sustain superior and quality foods, at competitive prices, with friendly service. Values Statements The values statement provides boundaries on how such success will be achieved and establishes a covenant you ask all stakeholders to accept by answering the question: â€Å"How will we behave as we pursue success?† (Magus Consulting, 2010). The value statement of Kudler Fine Foods focuses on employee’s dedication, high standards, and cleanliness. Their employees and customers are priority and Kudler provides the means to inspire employees, which in maintain long-term relationships with customers. Environmental scan Kudler Fine Foods performed an SWOT analysis scan to determine the company’s new strategies. To conduct the analysis, the company conducts SWOT analysis to establish its current conditions. Strengths Kudler Fine Foods is small, customer-oriented organization in which the owner, Kathy Kudler, interacts with staff members weekly. The company offerings include a wide variety of quality fruits, vegetables, wines, and cheeses. In addition, the stores are in excellent economic regions where customers can afford the prices. Furthermore, the firm has repeat customers, which demonstrates that the company has an impeccable reputation and high customer satisfaction (Apollo Group, Inc., 2007). Weaknesses Kudler Fine Foods sells mostly perishable foods, and about 12% of the stock is removed from the shelves to ensure freshness, which also results in waste and lost profits. In addition, the stores have high payrolls associated with specialty positions and small management that makes managing, ordering, and maintaining inventory difficult for the owner. Kathy is managing all the stores, ordering supplies, and maintaining inventory. A management model in which Kathy performs all major activities limits growth and represents a risk because if she became ill, she would not have a replacement, which would have a negative impact on store operations (Apollo Group, Inc., 2007). Kudler’s Fine Foods External Analysis Opportunities Kudler Fine Foods has the opportunity to fulfill other market needs by including additional gourmet products to their offer such as coffee and tea, a fish counter, a deli counter, among others. This horizontal expansion of the business will attract new customers and increase the share of wallet from current customers. Other expansion opportunities for Kudler Fine Foods include the consolidation and growth of the catering business and the entrance to the e-market by offering delivery of gourmet products and ordering of catering services. The Internet is usually a lower cost channel given that fewer employees are needed to maintain it and to drive an increase of the customer base. Finally, the most obvious growth opportunity for the company relies in geographic expansion. Opening more stores in the California area and in other states is a possibility for Kudler Fine Foods if they can increase their management capabilities. (Apollo Group, Inc., 2007). Threats Kudler Fine Foods, like other businesses, faces threats relative to the economic conditions of the region in which it operates. The market for gourmet products is very sensitive to economic downturn because consumption of such items usually responds to desire rather than necessity. Current unstable weather conditions and natural disasters (like earthquakes) due to global warming also pose a threat of increased costs of produce if it affects local producers that supply Kudler Fine Foods. Other threats come from direct and indirect competition. If competitors choose to expand geographically or to extend their product lines to include the products Kudler Fine Foods today provides, this expansion could have a negative impact on the company’s bottom line. Another threat could be that traditional supermarkets are expanding their offers to include organic products and some gourmet items. Traditional supermarkets usually have higher bargaining power, which allows them to offer lower prices, and they have the advantage of covering a wide rage of needs in a same location. (Apollo Group, Inc., 2007). Review of the individual strategies from Week Four and a recommendation for the best strategy for Kudler see strategies below (in pink) and choose best strategy Strategic Plan Kudler’s strategic plan involves increasing efficiency of their management and employees. Firms that implement the strategy of operational excellence typically restructure their delivery processes to focus on efficiency and reliability, and use state-of-the art information systems that emphasize integration and low-cost transactions (Pearce & Robinson, 2009). Kudler Fine Foods requires exceptional customer service because the store is a customer-oriented. Companies excelling in customer intimacy combine detailed customer knowledge with operational flexibility. They respond quickly to almost any need, from customizing a product to fulfilling special requests to create customer loyalty (Pearce & Robinson, 2009). Therefore, their strategic plan will include ways to retain their customers, as customers are the most important to their bottom-line. Concentrated Growth Strategy Kudler Fine Foods should consider the concentrated growth strategy. According to Pearce and Robinson (2009), the concentrated growth strategy is the least risky grand strategy. Successful implementation of a concentrated growth strategy would increase KFF’s market penetration. Smaller companies such as Kudler Fine Foods with limited resources can increase market position with a concentrated growth strategy. In addition, this strategy can help KFF to increase the number of repeat customers and their usage rates (Pearce & Robinson, 2009). However, this strategy does entail some risks. These risks include changes in the economy, possible slow market growth, vulnerability to high opportunity cost related to alternative strategic approaches, and the probability of financial losses by KFF related to poor forecasts (Pearce & Robinson, 2009). Product development focused on new products Kudler could develop Product development is the process of creating a new product to be sold by a business or enterprise to its customers. A product can be any item from a book, musical composition, or information service. The task of developing outstanding new products is difficult, time-consuming, and costly. However, quality products are not simply designed, but instead they evolve over time through hours of research, analysis, design studies, engineering and prototyping efforts, and finally, testing, modifying, and re-testing until the design has been perfected (Riley, 2009). Kudler Fine Foods is already a supplier of gourmet food and adding coffee products to the company’s selection would put them another step ahead of the competition. â€Å"Demand for both coffee and coffee â€Å"drinks† is so high that recent surveys estimate that coffeehouses alone sold $8.3 billion in coffees and coffee drinks and that amount is expected to reach almost $19 billion by 2011, according the Specialty Coffee Association of America. It reports that the United States coffee industry has grown almost 50% from $7.76 billion in 2000 to more than $11 billion in 2005 and the figures keep climbing† (Rosen, n.d., p.1). The type of coffee products that Kudler Fine Foods could market is gourmet coffee, flavored coffee, and decaf coffee. Differentiation and customer responsiveness Another alternative strategy that Kudler Fine Foods may consider to realize growth would be â€Å"differentiation.† Differentiation is â€Å"designed to appeal to customers with a special sensitivity for a particular product attribute† (Pearce & Robinson, 2009, p. 204). † Differentiation assists in building loyalty with customers as well as it enables an organization to charge a â€Å"premium† for its products and services (Pearce & Robinson, 2009). Differentiation helps separate a brand from others and build a reputation for â€Å"excellence† (Pearce & Robinson, 2009). Kudler may use differentiation to separate itself from competitors and help build its reputation, which would result in increased customer loyalty and would appeal to those customers seeking for specific attributes. Kudler may couple this strategy with â€Å"customer intimacy,† which tailoring products and services that fit customers (Pearce & Robinson, 2009). â€Å"Customer intimacy† assumes certain degree of knowledge about customers and the flexibility to make necessary adjustments. This long-term approach is designed to satisfy customers. Because Kudler is a relatively small operation with centralized management, it has the flexibility and the resources to grow to know its customers and build the kind of relationships that will result in lifetime customers. Market development by adding a sales channel Kudler Fine Foods has been successful in marketing its products through several stores where customers can choose and buy gourmet products. As revealed in the company’s SWOT analysis, the superior selection of a variety of products has been a critical strength to support such growth. According to Pearce and Robinson (2009), â€Å"market development allows firms to leverage some of their traditional strengths.† In this proposed strategic alternative Kudler Fine Foods can use its excellent selection of products to appeal to an even larger base of customers by selling its products through the Internet. Online sales have presented two digit growth rates in the past four years (Greene, 2009). Internet can be considered a cheaper channel to drive growth given that it requires less capital investment than opening a new location and it reaches a larger base of customers. Advertising in other media Other strategic option includes advertising with newspapers, a local radio station or television advertisement. Placing a weekly ad in a local newspaper, KFF will become a known brand for fine gourmet in the Del Mar area. Because the advertisement will be in a local paper, it pinpoints the target market and reduces costs. Kathy should advertise on the radio during peak hours her free cheese samples and wine meetings. If the cheese, dairy, and wine areas are in the front of the store, Kathy should consider placing it near the back. The goal is to compel consumers to walk around the KFF store to see their products before arriving at the cheese and wine area. Another way to market Kudler is through television. Because Kudler is selling locally, expensive commercials will work against them. By using a local advertiser, the intended message will be seen by consumers in that particular demographic area. Costs will be minimal because advertising in local newspapers, radio, and television will be done locally. Implementation Plan: Create a WBS and Gantt chart for the new strategy. Include objectives, functional tactics, action items, milestones, tasks, resource allocation, and a deadline. In addition, analyze the key success factors for plan implementation. Include cash budget for the implementation plan and forecasted financials for Kudler. I did this last week, but I was not sure if I did this correctly. See excel spreadsheet Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) Incorporating a work breakdown structure will assist KFF in their efforts to assign responsibilities and manage time. Currently Kathy is responsible for each department and which takes away her time from other managerial duties. The WBS has four sections, planning and supervision, inventory management, staff management, and marketing. Planning and supervision refers to how Kathy will operate Kudler Fine Foods. Kathy will make plans, verify the budgets, and meet with shift-supervisors for each department. Inventory management is crucial for a gourmet grocery store. Forecasting sales will help reduce chances of ordering too much food. A customer count can be incorporated by issuing savings cards so customers can attach to his or her key ring. This device not only tracks what customers are purchasing but also their geographic location. Food count will let shift-supervisors know how much food should be ordered every two days. Food management must be accurate because KFF offers the freshest foods and ordering too much food will cost the company. Kathy has to manage her staff so that she is not over or understaffed. Because there are six sections to KFF, there should be at least three employees in each department. Employees should strategically be placed in their area of strength. For example, an employee with excellent math skills, they should be placed on the register. In addition, the employees should be cross-trained in the event of someone taking leave. Shift-supervisors are also responsible for coordinating employee’s schedules. Marketing for a gourmet store is chief to earning sales. Kathy has to study the local businesses, schools, stores, and understand who the competitors are. This understanding will assist in becoming more profitable and peaking customer’s interests. Once Kathy is aware of the other factors, it is easier to strategize. In addition, considering holidays and vacations will alert Kathy of when to expect crowds and order more inventory. To continue to attract customers, Kathy should continue to offer free samples on Saturdays. Once a potential customer is interested, he or she has a higher chance of coming into the store and spending. A guest check average will assist with ordering inventory because the average calculates the number of customers divided by the money spent in the store.

Nursing School Essay

Nursing is one of the most respected and rewarding occupations in the healthcare industry. An exemplary nurse exhibits qualities such as empathy, selflessness, and the ability to work well under pressure as a team and also independently. Although the nurses job description focuses on patient care, nurses are also the patient’s number one advocate; the doctor may diagnose and order treatments for the patient, but the nurse is the one whom the patient sees and establishes a connection most. Nurses are skilled, intelligent, and fearless. They are a part of an occupation that I aspire to join. Prior to my parents’ retirement as physicians, I spent a lot of time in hospitals when I was a child. As a result to their profession, I was significantly more exposed to healthcare than the average individual; my toys were sphygmomanometers and stethoscopes, my bed time stories were medical journals, my play area a hospital waiting room. Coming from a healthcare family, I always knew I was going to work in healthcare but never knew to what extent; do I become a doctor or a PA? Perhaps a pharmacist or possibly a nurse? When I began working as an EMT in 2011, it solidified the idea that I wanted to be a nurse. One day at my EMT job, we responded to a woman with substernal chest pain radiating to the left arm with breathing difficulty. The woman appeared pale, cool, and diaphoretic indicating textbook symptoms of a possible myocardial infarction. Naturally, we called a Code heart and went straight up to the cardiac catheter lab. The next thing I knew, I was looking at a literal heart of a literal person on a monitor with all the blockages that caused the infarction. After the stents were placed it looked like a completely different healthy heart with no blockages to be seen. Obviously I have seen such x-rays of vessel blockages and I’ve learned about angioplasties, but it was completely different experiencing it right before my very eyes. I was in awe of the doctor and nurses’ keen attention to detail and swift actions that saved a woman’s life. The cardiac doctor performing the angioplasty along with the nurses and techs acted like it was just an ordinary day, but it i s considered a monumental moment in my life. It was the very first time I was made fully aware of the potential that medicine truly has. After watching the coronary angioplasty I realized that I, too, wanted to be a lifesaver. Thus began the journey of fulfilling my ultimate goal of becoming an ER nurse and part of a trauma team. As an individual, I enjoy helping and interacting with others. My EMT and ER tech experience has given me confidence to work well under pressure as well as understand the balance of empathy and patient care. One of my greatest strengths is my determination to better myself as a person and as a healthcare provider. I believe that motivation is crucial in achieving your goal and I refuse to stop until I achieve that goal. Along with my motivation to be great and do great, I also believe that we should always learn something new every single day. Be it positive, negative, informational, recreational it doesn’t matter—as long as we learn something new about our environment and the people that we provide care for. One way I try to further my knowledge is that I always ask questions and continue to always be curious in regards to learning how things work and indications of illnesses that may follow. Alternatively, I feel that one of my greatest weaknesses is my lack of knowledge from a medical nature of illness standpoint. Working as an EMT in an urban city has given me the ability to understand and execute treatments and follow protocols in basic life support for a mechanism of traumatic injury. However, although I learned about the nature of medical illnesses and its indications, I have never had to treat or understand the illnesses in its entirety for pre-hospital emergent settings. As EMTs, we are taught to â€Å"treat what we see† but we are not trained to understand the underlying reasons and problems that medical illnesses may have. Another aspect I consider as a weakness is that my ability exceeds my level of education at this point in my career. I can only ask and learn so much information on my own that there are still so many areas of medicine that are unknown to me. One way I plan on  working on my weakness is pursuing a nursing education to help me enhance my understanding and increase my level of patient care. I believe that being a registered nurse is more than just an occupation. Nurses are guardians of life. The field of nursing is not for everyone. Furthermore, I believe that you have to have a certain skill or characteristic trait that nursing school cannot teach. Nursing school can teach you pharmacology and protocols, but it cannot teach you the value of a human life. As a nursing school applicant, I believe that the Carepoint School of Nursing will teach me the knowledge and guidance that I desire to become an exemplary registered nurse. I am confident that my experience in  patient care and field of work, along with this nursing program will push me to the fullest capabilities necessary to become an extraordinary nurse and unlock my full potential as an individual and as a healthcare provider.