Wednesday, November 27, 2019

A Comparison of Leadership Styles Among the 2008 US Presidential Candidates essays

A Comparison of Leadership Styles Among the 2008 US Presidential Candidates essays A comparison of leadership styles among the 2008 US presidential candidates and which styles have been most successful in business and politics in the past: The 2008 elections in the United States are considered to be one of the most important elections in the recent history of the US. This assessment has two main considerations. On the one hand it represents an important moment from the point of view of the political spectrum, as the future of the United States and of the world is also decided upon. On the other hand, from the point of view of the candidates at the moment in the Democrats race there is an increase battle for nomination. Still, this competition makes them stronger and more willing to learn and help. Indeed, the 2008 elections represent a character statement and preference. Therefore, this is why it is important to have a personal style of conflict and of dealing with such issues. This is largely due to the fact that the electorate is seeking individuals that would represent them in all sorts of situations, including conflicting ones. At the same time though there must be qualities the people can identify with. This is one of the reasons for which there are different types of politicians, which appeal to different segments of the society and of the electoral poll. In order to assess the different styles which are present in the 2008 campaign candidates, it is important to take into account the different personalities. The most important candidates in the current race seem to be two Democrats, Clinton and Obama, and the Republican McCain. Taking into account the personal background of each, as well as the major policy lines they advocate, a certain style can be chosen to label them. First and foremost it is important to underline the fact that politics cannot be conducted without leadership. In this sense, political leadership is represents but one of the many categories of leadership, and it is a ...

Saturday, November 23, 2019

Insecure Writers, Heres Your Support Group

Insecure Writers, Heres Your Support Group Insecure Writers, Here's Your Support Group! - An Interview with Alex J. Cavanaugh Author communities, groups, forums, alliances and collectives are developing and proliferating at enormous speed as writers seem to be both excited by the new publishing world and worried it’s gotten too big and competitive to navigate on their own.Some groups focus on the writing, and have their members critique and hone each other’s writing skills. Others focus on the publishing options, and particularly the DIY one. Many mix both.When I first heard about the Insecure Writers Support Group, I liked the fact that it was both targeted (it’s for insecure writers) and open to all (mainstream, hybrid, indie). By clearly stating its purpose, IWSG fosters more transparent and open conversations around it.Today, we interview Alex J. Cavanaugh, sci-fi author and founder of IWSG.Hi Alex, great to have you here. Firstly, how did you start the Insecure Writers Group?Thanks, Ricardo! I started it after making a random comment to another author that he needed such a group. T he idea caught fire and in September 2011, we launched the group. Everyone posts the first Wednesday of the month, either about their insecurities, breakthroughs, or triumphs, and then they visit other blogger to encourage them. In September 2013, we launched the IWSG website and the IWSG Facebook group. Last year we joined forces with another Facebook group and formed the IWSG Critique Circle and we put together a book, The Insecure Writer’s Support Group’s Guide to Publishing and Beyond.There is a clichà © that all authors are insecure about their writing, at least in their early years. Do you think there’s any truth behind that?Absolutely! Writing is such a personal and creative thing, and we all have doubts about our abilities. I’ve yet to meet a writer who thought he rocked right out of the box.What’s your ambition for IWSG? You’ve added a lot of resource materials and some conversations are now more focused on tips and tricks for writ ing, marketing and publishing (as is the case in most author communities). Do you want to keep the â€Å"support† as core value in the group, or do you see it branching out?The tips and tricks are all part of the support. We can provide support through those posts and the database we maintain.I want to see this group grow on all fronts – blog participants, followers, and Facebook members. I want the site to become THE database of databases for writers. I’d also like to start a newsletter in the near future. Whatever we can do to connect authors and offer help.Orna Ross has been quoted saying: â€Å"A few years ago, writing was a very solitary profession. Now, I believe it’s one of the most social ones.† Is IWSG a good example of that?One of the best! Many members say IWSG post day is their favorite of the month and they receive so much encouragement – and give it. We’ve brought together so many writers, connecting them as friends, cri tique partners, and doorways to other opportunities.Do you think a lot of fantastic writing has never seen the light of day because writers didn’t get the moral support they needed when they doubted themselves?I’m sure there is some great writing hidden in the drawers of the world. It’s sad when writers don’t get support at home and can’t find connections elsewhere. Yes, you do have to have a thick skin and a strong drive, but everyone needs a boost now and then.Have you ever had to face writer’s block or self-doubt, and how did you overcome those?I’ve not really faced writer’s block. By the time I begin writing, I’ve had months to plan and form a detailed outline. Self-doubt has come with each new book I’ve written. Will my publisher accept it? Will fans like it? Will new fans find it? Between my fan base, friends, and the IWSG, everyone has pushed me through those doubts.I like the image of the lighthouse. Itâ⠂¬â„¢s one we’ve been using at Reedsy too. I feel like the waters of self-publishing are very unsure at the moment, almost impossible to navigate without first going through a very painful learning curve. What problems out there would you like to see startups like us try to address?I think letting writers know the process and the steps from writing to publication would give them an idea of what to expect. Just being able to connect with those who can help them is a big bonus with your site.One of our coming posts will be on author bundles. Do you think, like Mark Coker, that 2015 will be the year of collaboration between indie authors?I think it’s already happening. I know many self-published authors who have gotten together and created bundles. It’s a great way to gain more exposure.One of the things I’d really like to see, also, is more collaboration between indies, hybrids and mainstreams. Do you see something like this happening anytime soon, and what form could it take?I’d like to see that as well. The IWSG book was a collaboration, as we had a mixture of all three types of authors. I think the main thing would be working together and helping one another, and that could involve a lot of things – books, websites, tours, etc. After all, no matter the path, we’re all authors.Thanks again for the opportunity, Ricardo!You can follow Alex J. Cavanaugh, Reedsy, and myself on Twitter: @AlexJCavanaugh, @reedsyhq  and @RicardoFayetWhat do you personally think of the proliferation of communities, groups and alliances? Has being an author become one of the most social professions? Do you think insecure writers can benefit from a â€Å"support group†? Do join the conversation in the comments below!

Thursday, November 21, 2019

CORPORATE MANAGEMENT & FINANCE- Assessment Element 2 Essay

CORPORATE MANAGEMENT & FINANCE- Assessment Element 2 - Essay Example Financial Position Key Financial Indicator: This part of the report includes some key financial performance indicators for the three-retail giant of UK. This three company shares almost 72% of UK retail market share. Looking at the size of the company it is very important for management to identify the key financial performance indicator for their organisation. Sales Growth This is one of the major performance indicator for most of the companies particularly companies within retail sector. These companies are serving consumers by providing their basic and luxury items. Sales growth indicates company’s current position in the market as compare to its peer group. Since UK retail market is almost an oligopoly market it can be easily evaluate the performance and efficiency of the management of these three companies. Operating Profit Operating profit is another appropriate performance measurement indicator. Since these companies are largely utilising their fixed asset and labor, it is very important for this companies to maintain their operating cost efficiently. High labour cost or operating expenses can lead to a humongous loss to any firm and its shareholders. Financial Ratio: Any investors or potential investors generally analyse the financial ratios of a company before making an investment on it as they properly indicate the current position of the company. At the same time, these financial ratios are important from manager’s point of view also to assess their performance. While creditors also look at those ratios before giving any loan to the company. Precisely speaking everybody analyse the ratios before involving with any organisation. Ratios like ROE, EPS, and Dividend Payout are the most relevant from investor’s point of view as they are specifically indicate return generate by a company using invested capital. Whereas leverage ratios, efficiency ratio, operating or net profit depending on business (in retail industry operating) are of more interest to managers. While creditors i.e. lenders are more interested to see the efficiency and cash conversion ratios of a particular firm. Accordingly the below explained ratios are very important for retail industry. Operating Profit Margin: This indicates the operating profit as a percentage of sales. OPM signifies firm’s capability of generating profit from its operating activities. Generally, higher operating profit creates some tremendous investment opportunities for both investors and lenders. Total Asset Turnover: The ratio is an appropriate indicator of the fact that how efficiently and effectively company is utilising their assets to generate revenue. This ratio is very important for a retail company as they posse’s lots of fixed assets. The higher asset turnover signifies higher asset utilisation. This ratio is a good indicator of management efficiency. Higher asset turnover implies efficient management team. Current Ratio: This ratio is very importa nt from retail industry point of view as it indicates the liquidity position of the c

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

HEALTHY PEOPLE Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

HEALTHY PEOPLE - Essay Example Their subpopulations are culturally distinctive, diverse, and complex; live on nearly 300 locations in the lower 48 states, speaking more than 300 different languages (National Archives 2011). Top issue or problem: Alcohol takes a substantial toll among American Indians. They have a higher rate of alcohol-related death than the general U.S. population (May 1989). In every 100000 population covering both genders of American Indians in the age group of 25-34 years, 62.5 die from accident, 13.7 from homicide, 7.2 from heart disease and 6.4 from liver diseases (Healthy People 2011). A general observation is that alcohol abuse plays a significant role in these problems as it is a major factor in five of the 10 leading causes of mortality for American Indians (IHS, 1992). It is further corroborate by the fact that American Indian men die 2.8 times more frequently than non-Indian men from motor vehicle crashes, 2.7 times more from other accidents, 2.0 times more from suicide, 1.9 times more from homicide, and 6.8 times more frequently from alcoholism (alcohol dependence syndrome, alcoholic psychosis, and chronic liver disease and alcoholic cirrhosis) (May, 1996). For 19, 86 ­1,988, motor vehicle crashes, other accidents, suicide, homicide, and alcoholism caused a total of 5,781 American Indian deaths. 3,656 of these deaths are estimated to have involved alcohol (May 1989).There is the common view that Leland (1976) described in her book  Firewater Myths, that American Indians have an excessive craving for alcohol and to lose control of their behavior when they drink. Interventions that address the social and physical factors that influence alcohol abuse have the potential to prevent unintentional injuries and violence. Although, public health interventions are quite different in scope and application, however, most interventions share a similar path to succes

Friday, November 15, 2019

Determination of Diastereoselectivity Experiment

Determination of Diastereoselectivity Experiment Jackson Nguyen Determination of Diastereoselectivity using Thermodynamic vs. Kinetic Controlled Reduction Procedures: A Reduction of 4-tert-butylcyclohexanone Introduction: The goal in this experiment was to oxidize 4-t-butylcyclohexanol to 4-t-butylcyclohexanone and reduce back to the original compound. Additionally, the goal was to analyze the ratio of the diastereomers and dictate the reasoning behind the ratios. Theory: In this experiment, three reactions total were performed. One of which was oxidation, and the other two were reduction. The overall result in this experiment was that 4-t-butylcyclohexanol was oxidized and reduced back to an alcohol through two different reactions that gave the same products. In order to oxidize 4-t-butylcyclohexanol, sodium hypochlorite was used, along with acetic acid. Acetic acid was used to protonate the hypochlorite which would then protonate the alcohol group of the reactant. As a result, the hydroxyl group with the extra hydrogen became a great leaving group, allowing hypochlorite, a nucleophile, to attack. This allowed a base, such as water, to deprotonate a hydrogen and create a double bond with the oxygen bond, which allowed the chlorine to leave. Overall, this reaction produced 4-t-butylcyclohexanone as the product. After the oxidized product was created, two different types of reduction were used to reduce the product created from oxidation. Two reagents used in each reduction reaction were sodium borohydride and aluminum isopropoxide. Both reagents would create similar products; however, the ratios of diastereomers were different. For sodium borohydride, the hydrogen would attack the carbonyl of 4-t-butylcyclohexonone and create a negative oxygen. Ethanol would act as a proton source in the solution and protonate the oxygen, which created a hydroxyl group. On the other hand, the reduction reaction that involved aluminum isopropoxide had a different mechanism. The carbonyl group of the 4-t-butylcyclohexonone would attack the partial positive aluminum due to the electronegativity of the oxygen. A hydrogen would attack the double bond of the carbonyl group and carry electrons over and allow the oxygen to have two pairs of electrons. As a result, the bulky group of the reactant would leave by an addition of hydrogen to the molecule, which created 4-t-butylcyclohexanol. Overall, both different reagents provided the same results. However, the ratio of diastereomers was determined by the structure of the reagents. In order convert the carbonyl group into an alcohol, a bond must be formed at 107Â ° angle. By looking at the structure of the hexane ring, the molecule can be attacked at two different sides. On one side, there were hydrogen that can provide steric hindrance; whereas, the other side would be free. Aluminum isopropoxide was a bulky group that will not likely to attack the 4-t-butylcyclohexanone at the side that has hydrogen. Hence, it would attack the side that had greater room. As a result, there was a higher ratio of an axial attack, compared to an equatorial attack of hydrogen. On the other hand, sodium borohydride was not a bulky group; thus, the ratio of axial and equatorial attacks would be more equal. Mechanism: Results: Part A: Part B: Part C: Discussion: The three reactions completed during the experiment were successful. By doing a TLC test every several minutes helped indicate the completion of the reactions and ensured that no reactant were present. The first two parts that required TLC testing showed the comparison between the starting material and the reaction mixture. Since TLC was based on polarity and the distance traveled, the completion of the reaction were focused on the distance of the spots and whether the initial spot disappeared after the reaction took place. The two main compounds were 4-t-butylcyclohexanol and 4-t-butylcyclohexanone. In order to analyze these two compounds, the polarity between them was different. The former compound had an alcohol group that was able to form hydrogen bonds; whereas, the latter compound cannot. Therefore, the former compound was more polar than the latter. In the case of the TLC testing, 4-t-butylcyclohexanone that was created from oxidation in part A, would travel farthe r on the TLC plate. Indicated in the data obtained, no reactant was left after the reaction, which indicated the completion of oxidation. On the other hand, the TLC test in Part B showed the same result. The product, 4-t-butylcyclohexanol was expected to travel less due to its polarity. Also, the final result showed that no reactant was present, indicated by the absence of the spot compared to the spot of the starting material. On another note, isopropyl alcohol was used to eliminate the excess of hypochlorite in Part A. By reacting hypochlorite and isopropyl alcohol, acetone and water were produced. Hence, hypochlorite was used to oxidize isopropyl alcohol in order to create acetone, which was a solvent that would interfere with the reaction; thus, it provided no harm and affect the results. The percent yield was decent for part A and was low for Part B and C. Possible reasoning for this could be that the products were lost during the extraction. It was not likely that the issue resided in the reaction itself because TLC testing indicated that all the reactants were used up. Hence, it was more likely that the extraction process may account for the loss of products. On another note, the ratio of trans/cis of the commercially obtained alcohol mixture seemed to be 1:3. Additionally, the standard ratios of the stereoisomers were almost the same compared to the HNMR spectrums obtained from the experiment. Since the ratio was 1:3, the method most likely used to synthesize the 4-t-butylcyclohexanol was the Meerwein-Pondorff-Verley Reduction. Sources of Errors: No major errors occurred during the experiment. One possible error that may account for the low recover of product would be the extraction. The extraction process went too fast, which may cause some products to be lost in the aqueous layer. However, the aqueous layer was extracted once more, which can minimize the loss of products. This was a possibility. Conclusion and Future Experiments: The results from the experiment concluded that Meerwein-Pondorff-Verley Reduction was the method used to synthesize the commercially obtained 4-t-butylcyclohexanol. Additionally, the products from reactions were successfully obtained from the completed reactions. Future experiments would include multiple attempts of the reactions in order to obtain a higher yield. Although, the results concluded the exact method used, more HNMR spectrums from additional experiments would provide credibility.

Tuesday, November 12, 2019

Swot Analysis of Cango

SWOT is an acronym that stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. The SWOT analysis will help CanGo understand the opportunities that are available and what threats may affect its operations. Before moving forward CanGo needs to assess the position they currently have in the market place. The use of a SWOT analysis technique will be beneficial at this point and will serve as the baseline to elaborate on a strategic plan for the organization.Be Bold has been observing CanGo’s operations for a couple of months, and have developed the following preliminary SWOT Analysis from these observations:Strength Purchase an automated storage and retrieval system (ASRS) to help improve the warehouse. An automated storage and retrieval system (ASRS) is a great solution for CanGo’s inventory handling.CanGo has experienced exponential growth in their first two years of operation. CanGo has been recognized as one of the fastest growing small business in the Hudson Val ley. Constant interest in research and improving company. As we can see that CanGo is always looking for something new, they are always trying to beat their competitors, they are constantly trying to improve company, and find another way to be successful and gain profit.Weaknesses CanGo, Inc. has no vision or mission statement.Growth opportunities are imminent and the possibility to go public requires a clear vision and mission statement in order to understand their direction on the marketCanGo is lacking in management by objectives (MBO).The aim of MBO is to increase organizational performance by aligning goal and subordinate objectives throughout the organization.CanGo is missing a strategic management plan.A strategic approach will help CanGo build teamwork by developing commitment and trust; will strengthen the leadership team by aligning their goals with those of the CEO; and will move the organization from the current status quo to an organized environment with clear goal sett ing for the short and long term. to develop and maintain a viable fit between their objectives, resources, and opportunitiesNeed for systems analysis and programmer.The marketing department must focus and apply their expertise and support in the areas of market intelligence and strategic business planning.OpportunitiesDeveloping an in-house database that is incorporates into an automated storage and retrieval system ASRS. An automated storage and retrieval system (ASRS) is a great resolution for CanGo’s inventory usage.Opportunities also exist in the Asia Pacific region for online sales. Company has to keep an eye on the future opportunities and possible consumers. The region could be their next step ahead to become a continental corporation. Updating the website to incorporate some of the marketing ideas found to be relevant in the recent research analysis project.Threats CanGo needs to expand its operating capacity to continue its’ growth. If they stay the same there won’t be growth, so in order to become more profitable, beneficial, and successful company they need to increase their productivity.Management must develop a strategic management plan. The purpose of the strategic marketing plan is to fit between the organization’s objectives and resources and its changing market opportunities so it is beneficial for the company. CanGo could potentially have employee retention problems. It is the responsibility of the CEO to ensure equal opportunity for all employees, adequate compensation packages, fair performance evaluation processes and career development programs for employees.Lack of capital for necessary growth needs. Lack of money and cost of ASRS system. Company needs to have funds to change or improve warehouse. When expanding into a new market CanGo needs to understand and take into account trends that are in the industry and account for them when doing any sort of planning.