Different opinions about what is psychology Essay

Different opinions about what is psychology - Essay Example But psychologists do experiments and make observations which others can repeat; they obtain data, often in the form of quantitative measurements, which others can verify. This scientific approach is very different from forming opinions on the basis of individual experience or arguing from premises that no one can test. As a science psychology is systematic. But one of the major aspects of science that is measurement is not possible in most of the situations. Psychological studies cannot be measured directly by physical scales. Even then we can often design our experiments and arrange our observations so that we can use physical measures of space and time to tell us about psychological events. Thus, fundamental differences in viewpoints show up in the very definition of psychology and in ideas about what psychology should study and how. Such differences and the arguments as they spark can make psychology a lively field indeed. In the history of psychology, strong differences of opinion about what psychology should study and how it should do it were represented by schools of psychology-groups of like-minded psychologists, which formed around influential teachers who argued for one viewpoint or other. Psychology as a separate area of a study split away from philosophy around 100 years back is captured in William James famous textbook of 1890, the principles of psychology. James Wundt & the other psychologists of the time thought of psychology as the study of mind. In the decades of the twentieth century, psychologists came to hold quite different views about the nature of mind and the best ways to study it. About the same time, fundamental questions were raised about what should be studied in psychology: should psychology be the study of mind, should it study behavior or should both mind and behavior is included Different influential psychologists of the time held quite different views on the nature of mind and the proper subject matter for psychology. The prominent schools of psychology may be categorized as Structuralism, Gestalt, Functionalism, Behaviorism and Psychoanalysis. Structuralism: Around the ideas of mind, structuralisms thought as in chemistry, a first step in the study of the mind should be a description of the basic or elementary, units of sensation, image and emotion, which compose it. The main method used by the structuralists to discover these elementary units of mind was introspection. Subjects were trained to report as objectively as possible what they experienced in connection with a certain stimulus, disregarding the meanings they had come to associate with that stimulus. These experiments using introspections have given us a great deal of information about the kinds of sensations people have, but other psychologists of the challenged the idea that the mind could be understood by finding its elements and the rules for combining them. Still the others turned away from describing the structure of the mind to study how the mind functioned. Gestalt psychologists maintained that the mind should be thought of as resulting from the whole pattern of sensory activity and the relationships and organizations within this pattern. According to Gestalt psychologists, the mind is best understood in terms of the ways elements are organized. Functionalists did experiments on the ways in which learning, memory, problem solving and motivation help people and animals adapt to

Theories of Learning Essay Example for Free

Theories of Learning Essay Piaget`s Cognitive Theory of Learning Piaget`s cognitive theory of learning has remained popular among educators and has greatly influenced curriculum development.  Ã‚   This is for the reason that traditional schooling gives utmost importance to the development of the learner’s cognitive faculties.   This theory was the culmination of his systemic longitudinal research on children (some of whom were his own).   Piaget`s theory describes what may be expected of children at different stages of intellectual development. According to Piaget, all persons go through a sequence of four distinct stages of intellectual development from birth to maturity.    Although every normal child passes through those stages, the ages at which some children attain each stage may vary.   The four stages are (1) the sensorimotor stage, (2) the preoperational stage, (3) concrete operations stage, and (4) the formal operations stage (Piaget, 1977).   Each stage is characterized by the ability to perform particular major cognitive tasks. Piaget`s approach to learning is a readiness approach.   Readiness approaches in developmental psychology emphasize that children cannot learn something until maturation gives them certain prerequisites.   The ability to learn any cognitive content is always related to their state of intellectual development and ways of thinking as a result of this integration. The cognitive theories of learning allege that individuals differ in their intellectual abilities because of the developmental stage they are in and their interaction with the environment.   These theories further assert that cognitive growth and development are characterized by steady progression (i.e., from the simplest to the most complex). Piaget`s theory of cognitive development has guided the sequencing of learning content (knowledge, skills, processes) from the concrete to the abstract, and the selection of evaluation tools.   It has also facilitated the realistic setting of educational objectives and intended learning outcomes. Skinner`s Behavioral Theory of Learning   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Skinner (1953) developed the method of conditioning through what has been termed operant or instrumental conditioning. Operant conditioning involves voluntary behavior emitted by the learner which may be reinforced by its consequence.   In operant conditioning, whether a response occurs in the future depends upon the nature of the contingency.   If a response makes life better for the individual, it will likely occur in the future.   If it makes life worse, it will likely not occur again in the future.   Thus, operant conditioning makes use of reinforcements.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Anything that increases the likelihood that a behavior will be repeated is referred to by the behaviorists as reinforcement.   It is very important to note that the definition says nothing about whether the student â€Å"likes† or â€Å"dislikes† the reinforcement; whether it is deliberately given or not, or whether the behavior in question is the one desired. In operant conditioning, when a student responds with a behavior that is close to what is expected by the teacher, the latter delivers a positive reinforcer.   Positive reinforcers motivate the learner to repeat the behavior with increased frequency, duration, and intensity.   A reinforcer can be anything that the learner may perceive as reinforcing (e.g. grades, oral/written commendation).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Negative reinforcement on the other hand, is the process by which a response that leads to the removal of an aversive event increases that response.  Ã‚   Further, behavior modification is a process of shaping a person’s behavior through the acquisition of new operants through a series of reinforcement and sequencing of desired responses.   It involves changing behavior in a deliberate and predetermined way by reinforcing those responses that are in the desired directions. A well-known behaviorist, B.F. Skinner, argues from an operant conditioning perspective that students must actively respond if they are to learn.   Cognitivists share that view with Skinner; however, they emphasize mental activity rather than physical activity.   According to the Cognitivists, if students control their own cognitive process, it is ultimately the students themselves who decide what information will be learned and how. A central component of Piaget`s developmental theory of learning and thinking is that both involve the participation of the learner.   Knowledge is not merely transmitted verbally but must be constructed and reconstructed by the learner.   Piaget believes that for a child to know and construct knowledge of the world, s/he must act on objects. Learners must be active; they are not vessels to be filled with facts.   Hence, a Piagetian curriculum emphasizes a child-centered educational philosophy and active discovery learning environments. Cognitive and behavioral theories of learning also serve as a psychological foundation of the curriculum.   Following are some ways each theory can influence the curriculum development process: Cognitive theory Learning experiences will be most effective if they are adapted to the normal growth of the learners; needs, capacities, and interests of the learner. Learning experiences must be â€Å"designed to match assessment of age levels on which certain processes of thought can occur†(Taba in Ornstein Hunkins, 1988).   Learning    experiences for different students should be adapted to their stage of cognitive development. Behavioral theory A motivated learner learns more readily than one who is not. Thee is no substitute for repetitive practice in the learning of skills. Information about the nature of good performance and knowledge of mistakes and success   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   aid learning. Meaningful tasks and materials are more readily learned than nonsense materials and those not understood by the learner. Active participation is preferable for passive reception. Learning has application and can be transferred to other situations. Since Piagetian curriculum emphasizes a child-centered educational philosophy and active discovery learning environments, instruction must be individualized as much as possible and children are given opportunities to communicate with one another, to argue and debate issues.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Further, the following are the four general principles of how the cognitive learning theory might influence the instructional design process: If learning depends on how information is mentally processed, then students` cognitive process should be a major concern of educators.   Students` learning difficulties can often be attributed to ineffective or inappropriate cognitive processes.   For example, disabled children process information less effectively than nondisabled children.   Teachers must become aware, not only of what students learn but also how they attempt to learn it. Educators must consider students` level of cognitive development when planning topics and methods of instruction.   For example, explanations based on concrete operational logic are unlikely to be effective ways of presenting ideas to pre-operational kindergarten.   Concrete operational elementary school children have difficulty understanding abstract ideas that do not tie up with their own experiences.   These students will learn more effectively if the same information is presented through concrete experiences prior to presenting abstract material. Students organize the information they learn. So teachers can help students learn by presenting organized information and by helping students see how one thing relates to   another. New information is most easily acquired when people can associate it with things they have learned.   Therefore, teachers should help students learn by showing them how new ideas relate to old ones.   When students are unable to relate new information to anything familiar, learning is likely to be slow and ineffective. Theories of learning, such as the cognitive and behavioral theories serve as a psychological basis f the curriculum. Hence, this great mass of theoretical and empirical information available to curriculum decision makers regarding the nature of the learner and how learning takes place.   Answers to questions like:   â€Å"What are the characteristics, capabilities, needs, and interests of children and the youth in the different stages of their development?†Ã‚   provide the psychological foundation of a curriculum, and serve to guide selection of curriculum objectives, content, learning experiences, evaluation scheme, and even the length of class sessions. For example, calculus has to wait until college (and only for those who are so interested in mathematics that they pursue specialized training in the discipline).   Preparatory school mathematics is limited to the basic notions of counting and the relationships of numerals (bigger/smaller0 and some very basic operations with the use of concrete objects, such as beads, blocks, and sticks. Essay tests are not given to preschool pupils, and so are test items that measure complex thought processes and require long attention span.   The length of class sessions per subject or course range from a few minutes on the nursery level to a couple of hours in the graduate school.   Long lectures will simply not work with the very young learners; neither will jumping, hopping, and running appeal to graduate students who might already be suffering from rheumatism, arthritis, or heart problems. The learning theories, principles, and assumptions have influenced curriculum development, most especially in the choice of curriculum content and learning experiences.   Just like the different educational philosophies, the different theories of learning have their respective strengths and limitations.   Curriculum developers have to make their own decisions as to which views of learning they will consider in planning the curriculum. References Piaget, J. (1977).   The development of thought:   Equilibrium of cognitive structures.   New York:   Viking. Skinner, B.F. (1953).   Science and human behaviour.   New York: Free Press. Taba, H. (1988). Curriculum development theory and practice.   New York:   Harcourts Brace World.

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For Pete’s sake, you've been learning how to read and write ever since the first day of school. And yet what's the one course that almost every first year student in every college and university required to take? That is correct, freshman composition, which means more reading and writing. Why, after all the practice, should you have to take yet an additional English course? You clearly know how to read and write. You might not even have the intention of majoring in literature or creative writing. You may also think that English has little to do with the real world or future profession. Well, think again. There are countless reasons to take freshman composition seriously. English class will definitely help you prepare for college level reading and writing coursework. Taking English composition classes can be very helpful in learning to meet college level writing expectations. Student’s achievement in college is largely determined on how well you can read, understand, and remember the texts you’ve read and on how effectively you can express that knowledge in writing. In both college and work, you'll be called on to write in different formats for a wide range of audiences and for a variety of purposes. For example, Queens College requires 2 writing intensive courses, and 2 additional English courses. At first I thought to myself, why do I need to take that many English courses? But at the end I realized that the benefit is all mine to take. Taking an English course will help you become a more skilled writer that can meet the particular needs of all your readers. Writing isn't just for English majors. English class can prepare you to write successful papers throughout your college years. Also in nearly every major, you will need to de. .. ... not, English composition classes can be fun. In colleges, these are sometimes the smallest classes available to underclassmen and are often limited in students. My English class accommodated merely 20 students. This permits you to know your peers as well as your professor. We had personal meet up sessions with the professor to discuss your personal progress in class. The professor identifies the problems you may need work on, and you can tell the professor your insight as well. It is wonderful to be able to share and communicate with your professor, not only do you focus more in class, but you tend to work harder. You're also likely to make friends, get focused attention, and receive feedback. Sometimes, mandatory composition classes are themed based, so you can choose a class that permits you to write through the lens of a topic you're particularly interested in.

Shakespeares Macbeth is a Tragic Hero Essay examples -- essays resear

In the late 16th century and early 17th century, no playwright was better known than William Shakespeare. He was especially known for many famous tragedies. When Shakespeare wrote these plays he took many key aspects into account to create as much of an impact as possible on the reader or the audience. Macbeth, for example, is about one man, Macbeth who does what he thinks is necessary to become king but dies tragically due to his judgement. In this play, Shakespeare communicates how Macbeth's destiny can be changed depending on how he deals with his predicted future, in other words, his fate versus his free will. Macbeth makes many foolish decisions throughout his life like believing evil and supernatural powers will help him, allowing the endless verbal assault by Lady Macbeth to control him, and allowing his own ignorance in his decisions to overtake him. These are the main contributing factors that lead to his eventual breakdown and death. There are several instances in the story which suggest that the Weird Sisters are to blame for Macbeth?s downfall. At the very beginning of the book, the witches meet Macbeth and right away fill his mind with desire for the throne by telling him he will be king. The witches state ?All hail Macbeth that shalt be king hereafter!? (1.3.53). Since the witches are telling this to Macbeth, they are giving him a false sense of security by predicting what the future holds for him. After Macbeth converses with the witches, Banquo gets the feeling that the witches are bad news. ?The instruments of darkness tell us truths / Win us with honest trifles to betray?s/In deepest consequence? (1.3.136-138). This means that the ... ...and supernatural powers to control him, allowing his own ignorance in his decisions to overtake him and allowing the endless verbal assault by Lady Macbeth to control him, Macbeth is indeed a tragic hero. He has a fatal flaw that combined with fate, brings on a tragedy of all sorts. The Weird Sisters, Lady Macbeth and Macbeth himself play key roles in the downfall of Macbeth and each of them is to blame for the deaths of many people in the play. Shakespeare therefore allows them to set other people up for their crimes, especially Macbeth who gives a sense of vulnerability to many obvious culprits to the crime, making the play more enjoyable to watch and listen to. Along these lines, Shakespeare?s plays and books are the guidelines to many other tragic plays and books recorded through centuries and centuries of great literature.

Method of Money Laundering Essay

Structuring deposits The Bank Secrecy Act of 1970 requires banks to report any deposits exceeding $10,000.01. This is not a problem for most of us, but it is a big barrier to money-laundering criminals looking to rid themselves of some cumbersome currency. Launderers will hire low-level lackeys to make multiple small deposits, either on different days or at various branches on the same day to work around this pesky law that attempts to deter money laundering, It is a complex, time-consuming way to launder money, and one that has been rendered even more difficult by computer algorithms that look for suspicious deposit behavior and raise an red flag when one is found. see more:speech on money for asl Banks Far more exciting and global in the practice of money laundering is the use of offshore and overseas banks. Nations like the Cayman Islands, Bahamas and Panama are very accommodating to criminals looking to legitimize their cash; these nations are unrestricted with regards to burdensome banking laws and anti-laundering procedures, which ultimately helps hide the launderers behind strict veils of secrecy. Opening accounts in a number of these offshore accounts allows launderers to move their money around and create a nearly impenetrable defense against curious investigators. Some countries (China and Pakistan among others) have a history of well-established underground banks that have been accepting deposits from sketchy clients for centuries. They legally operate outside of the mainstream banking system and outside the control of the government. There is often no paper work, just the reputation of the principals involved. Shell companies Enterprising criminals looking to legalize their cash can set up various companies that exist for the sole purpose of money laundering. These so-called shell companies often offer some sort of service that can easily be fudged and usually accepts cash as payment when doing legitimate business (beauty salons and trades like plumbing are commonly used). The dirty money is funneled into the company, made to look like legitimate income with fake invoices and receipts and then deposited into the shell company’s accounts as clean, wonderfully spendable cash money. Using these shell companies to stay one step ahead of â€Å"the man† is a shell game of its own. Forensic accountants can strip away layers of deceit and reveal the shady transactions below, which means that only true criminal masterminds with really good accountants should consider this as a laundering option. Legitimate businesses Criminals looking to clean their money can also be good corporate citizens by investing in legitimate business. Cash-rich businesses like bars and strip clubs are the most common, with the dirty money seeded in with the legitimate revenue and squirreled away in the business’ bank accounts. The safer method is to use the dirty money to â€Å"buy† the services offered by the legit businesses, but this necessitates lots of fake invoicing and troublesome number fudging — and you can safely assume that most criminals choose the easy money of crime out of laziness, which makes this a decidedly unattractive alternative when looking for money-laundering options. Gambling With so many cash transactions taking place every day, casinos have become highly valuable money-laundering institutions because chips can be purchased anonymously with dirty money and after a period of time they can be cashed back in and turned into clean money. Even if the casino follows the letter of the law and asks for ID to record the transaction, the Feds are powerless to prove the money was ever dirty. Global criminal enterprises can even ask that the â€Å"winnings† be used as credit at the casino’s overseas franchises. With some games offering as much as 93% return on your money, certain criminals are willing to chance some losses and turn their illicit cash into legitimate money by actually gambling with it. One particularly popular method involves two associates at the roulette table. While one bets a substantial amount on red, the other places a similar amount on black. Provided neither zero nor double zero come up, one side doubles the money and turns it legit at the same time. However, sophisticated surveillance and casino security have limited this scheme in recent years. Down at the track, some crafty launderers will put the word out that they are willing to buy winning tickets at a premium. They then cash in the tickets as clean money and pass the bonus of cleaning the money onto the unsuspecting legitimate gambler, who is usually so stunned at their good fortune that they cannot appreciate their predicament. No money, No problems It is an enviable position that many would like to be in — having so much cash that you do not know what to do with it. However, cleaning money is harder work than earning it. Criminals have to stay one step ahead of the law and they constantly run the risk of losing their cash to shady launderers or eagle-eyed cops. Often, it is not the drug dealing or the extortion that gets these law breakers busted, it is their attempts at concealing the money. So, if you ever decide to get in â€Å"The Game,† watch what you do with your money.

buy custom Essay on Sport Injury - Cerebral Concussion

buy custom Essay on Sport Injury - Cerebral Concussion Sport Injury Introduction Sport is one of the main aspects that are vital for the development of human beings. However, sports are associated with various complications like cerebral concussion. Cerebral concussion is one of the diseases that are considered to affect the brain. This disease is known to cause some traumatic effects to the brain of an individual. This disease is caused if the head is damaged. Any damage that is inflicted to the head may affect the brain. This may be caused if the impact makes the brain get into the contact with the skull. The skull is a part of the body that acts as the guard to the brain. If the head is smashed or if the head smashes an object, concussion may be suffered. Many of the scientists believe that this concussion has considerable effects to the brain. This concussion is known to cause an effect that is temporary and which may make some of the functions of the brain fail. This concussion also has considerable effects in terms of physical and emotional feelings of an i ndividual. According to many scientists, it is a state, when functions of the brain are stopped and affected temporarily (Shannon, 2010).

Nazism And World War II Essays - Adolf Hitler, Nazi Germany

Nazism And World War II Essays - Adolf Hitler, Nazi Germany Nazism and World War II The National Socialist German Workers? Party almost died one morning in 1919. It numbered only a few dozen grumblers? it had no organization and no political ideas. But many among the middle class admired the Nazis? muscular opposition to the Social Democrats. And the Nazis themes of patriotism and militarism drew highly emotional responses from people who could not forget Germany?s prewar imperial grandeur. In the national elections of September 1930, the Nazis garnered nearly 6.5 million votes and became second only to the Social Democrats as the most popular party in Germany. In Northeim, where in 1928 Nazi candidates had received 123 votes, they now polled 1,742, a respectable 28 percent of the total. The nationwide success drew even faster... in just three years, party membership would rise from about 100,000 to almost a million, and the number of local branches would increase tenfold. The new members included working-class people, farmers, and middle-class professionals. They were both better educated and younger then the Old Fighters, who had been the backbone of the party during its first decade. The Nazis now presented themselves as the party of the young, the strong, and the pure, in opposition to an establishment populated by the elderly, the weak, and the dissolute. Hitler was born in a small town in Austria in 1889. As a young boy, he showed little ambition. After dropping out of high school, he moved to Vienna to study art, but he was denied the chance to join Vienna academy of fine arts. When WWI broke out, Hitler joined Kaiser Wilhelmer?s army as a Corporal. He was not a person of great importance. He was a creature of a Germany created by WWI, and his behavior was shaped by that war and its consequences. He had emerged from Austria with many prejudices, including a powerful prejudice against Jews. Again, he was a product of his times... for many Austrians and Germans were prejudiced against the Jews. In Hitler's case the prejudice had become maniacal it was a dominant force in his private and political personalities. Anti-Semitism was not a policy for Adolf Hitlerit was religion. And in the Germany of the 1920s, stunned by defeat, and the ravages of the Versailles treaty, it was not hard for a leader to convince millions that one element of the nation?s society was responsible for most of the evils heaped upon it. The fact is that Hitler?s anti-Semitism was self-inflicted obstacle to his political success. The Jews, like other Germans, were shocked by the discovery that the war had not been fought to a ezdstill, as they were led to believe in November 1918, but that Germany had , in fact, been defeated and was to be treated as a vanquished country. Had Hitler not embarked on his policy of disestablishing the Jews as Germans, and later of exterminating them in Europe, he could have counted on their loyalty. There is no reason to believe anything else. On the evening of November 8, 1923, Wyuke Vavaruab State Cinnussuiber Gustav Rutter von Kahr was making a political speech in Munich?s sprawling B?rgerbr?ukeller, some 600 Nazis and right-wing sympathizers surrounded the beer hall. Hitler burst into the building and leaped onto a table, brandishing a revolver and firing a shot into the ceiling. ?The National Revolution,? he cried, ?has begun!? At that point, informed that fighting had broken out in another part of the city, Hitler rushed to that scene. His prisoners were allowed to leave, and they talked about organizing defenses against the Nazi coup. Hitler was of course furious. And he was far from finished. At about 11 o?clock on the morning of November 9the anniversary of the founding of the German Republic in 19193,000 Hitler partisans again gathered outside the B?rgerbr?ukeller. To this day, no one knows who fired the first shot. But a shot rang out, and it was followed by fusillades from both sides. Hermann G?ring fell wounded in the thigh and both legs. Hitler flattened himself against the pavement; he was unhurt. General Ludenorff continued to march stolidly toward the police line, which parted to let him pass through (he was later arrested, tried and acquitted). Behind

Best College Acceptance Calculator Learn Your Admission Chances

Best College Acceptance Calculator Learn Your Admission Chances SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips Anyone who’s applied to college remembers the fear of getting that dreaded rejection letter. (For the record, I got two- and they both stung. A lot.) But what if you could calculate your chances of college acceptance before you applied? The good news is that you can! Ourcollege acceptance calculator uses your GPA and SAT/ACT score to estimate your likelihood of getting accepted to a particular school.But aside from GPA and test scores, what other critical factors affect your chance of admission?Read on to learn what schools look for during the admission process as well as how you can raise your chance of acceptance by submitting a strong application. What Factors Affect Your Chance of Acceptance? College applications have several components, with each part playing a crucial role in determining whether or not you'll be admitted. But just how important a role one part plays ultimately depends on where you're applying. Below, we go over the major factors that can influence your chance of admission to college, starting with the most important ones. #1: GPA and Rigor of Coursework Many experts agree that your GPA and the rigor of your course load are the most important factors in the college admission process. According to theNational Association for College Admission Counseling's (NACAC)2017 State of College Admission report, 77% of the schools surveyed rated grades in college prep courses, as well as grades in all courses, considerably important, and52%said the same for the overall strength of a student's high school curriculum.As these statistics indicate, most colleges consider grades and rigor of coursework extremely significant factors in admission. Good grades are so important because they emphasize your overall diligence as a student. But it'snot always just about getting straight As; rather, schools want to see that you're consistently challenging yourself to learn complex concepts. Your ability toperform well in upper-level classes indicates your preparedness for college-level coursework. So for some colleges, a B in an AP class might be viewed just as highly as, if not higher than, an A in a regular class. #2: SAT/ACT Test Scores Another critical factor for admission- ranked considerably important by 54% of schools in the NACAC survey- is SAT/ACT test scores. Generally speaking, admission test scores are just as, or nearly as, important as grades and rigor of coursework. But according to a US News interview with college-admission experts, the overall significance of SAT/ACT scores varies depending on the school. Some schools, particularly highly selective ones, largely emphasize test scores during the admission process. As a result, being able to hityour goal score on the SAT/ACT is often necessary for admission to these schools. Nevertheless, not all schools believe SAT/ACT scores are that important. In fact, many liberal arts colleges and national universities (even some highly ranked ones!) are test optional, meaning you are not required tosubmit test scores. #3: Personal Statement/Essay Next up is the admission essay, or personal statement.This essay is a critical component of your application, as it offers a personal glimpse into who you are as a person- something your transcripts and test scores can’t do alone. By allowing you to address and explain specific challenges you’ve overcome and accomplishments you've made, either in your personal life or academic career, the personal statement gives you the opportunity todistinguish yourself from your peers. This is especially helpful as many applicants often look alike on paper, with similar grades and test scores. In the NACAC survey, 55% of schools rated the personal statement either moderately or considerably important for admission. Clearly, you'll need to write a great essay if you hope to raise your chances of admission! Extracurriculars? Well, for one, I was the slowest runner on my cross-country team. #4: Extracurricular Activities/Resume Most schools will require you to submit a resume or evidence of any extracurricular activities (e.g., sports, clubs, etc.), volunteer work, and/or part-time work you’ve completed outside of school. What this resume does is introduce to schoolsyour general interests and non-academic accomplishments. As you create your resume, remember the key motto: depth over breadth.Basically, you’re far more likely to stand out as an applicant if you're deeply focused on honing a certain skill or contributing to a certain cause than if you're simply jumping from one activity to another. More than anything, schools want a resume that highlights your ongoingpassion and commitment. According to NACAC, nearly half of the schools surveyed considered extracurricular activities moderately or considerably important.So hopefully you've got a couple of interesting hobbies or experiences you can add to your resume! #5: Letters of Recommendation Letters of recommendation are often a vital component of college applications. If required, you'll usually need to submit two letters.However, many large state schools, such as the University of Washington and the University of Texas, do not require letters of recommendation, so make sure to check your schools' application requirements to see whether you'll need to submit any. Your letters should come from teachers whose classes you've taken (core classes, such as math and English, are preferable) and/or your school counselor. Althoughyou won't be able to read what your teachers have written about you, a good letter will positively address key aspects of your personality and work ethic in a detailed and thoughtful manner. You should always choose letter writerswho know you well enough to comment on specific accomplishments you've made.Teachers who don’t know you that well are more likely to write lukewarm letters that don’t say anything unique about you and don't mention anything that isn’t already explicit on your transcripts and resume. Letters of recommendation can play an important role in the admission processbut are generally secondary to transcripts, test scores, and resumes. According to the NACAC survey, alittle more than 40% of schools considered both teacher recommendations and counselor recommendations moderately important, while less than 20% considered them considerably important. #6: Additional Test Scores (AP, IB, SAT Subject Test) Subject-specific tests, such as AP tests, IB tests, andSAT Subject Tests, differ from the SAT/ACT in that they showcase your mastery of particular skills and subject areas. The NACAC survey reports that 61% of schools said AP and IB tests were oflimited ormoderate importance. So whileAP and IB test scores aren’t usually requirements for admission, scoring highly on them could give a small boost to your application. Fewer students take SAT Subject Tests, however, which are only required by certain (selective) schools for admission. NACAC states that 70% of schools rated SAT Subject Test scores as having no importance at all, indicating that most schools do not ask for these scores. But for the schools that do require (or strongly recommend) SAT Subject Test scores, you should aim to get high scores on them, particularly if you’re taking any Subject Tests in the field in which you’re planning to major. Our guide offers a complete list of schools that require or recommend SAT Subject Test scores. I wasn't ranked No. 1 at school, but I'm always No. 1 in Mario Kart. #7: Class Rank Class rank is an admission factor that’s actually decreased in importance over time, as fewer high schools are beginning to calculate it. In 2006, 23% of schools surveyed by NACAC regarded class rank as considerably important, but by 2016 this number had dropped to just 9%. Despite this, if your school doescalculate class rank, your rank will likely be fairly important to your colleges. Even with its drop in importance over the past decade,33% of schools still consider class rank moderately or considerably important. #8: Other Factors Several additional factors can influence your chance of getting accepted to college. These factors vary with different schools, but here are some of the most common ones: Supplemental essays:Some schools might ask you to supply a supplemental essay detailing why you want to attend this particular school(we call this a â€Å"Why This College† essay). Portfolio: A portfolio is generally only required if you’re applying to an art-oriented program or school. For example, Champlain College in Vermont requires portfolios for undergraduate applicants in certain BS and BFA programs. Interview: Not many schools require interviews, but those that do want to see that you’re enthusiastic about the school and are as strong a candidate in person as you are on paper. Most Ivy League schools require evaluative interviews, while other selective schools might require or strongly recommend them. Legacy: Many schools, such as Harvard and Brown, will take into consideration whether you are a legacy student. (In most cases, "legacy" means that one or both of your parents attended the school for undergrad.) Legacy can be a tipping factor for schools trying to decide between two equally qualified candidates. Ethnic background: Many schools practice affirmative action and will therefore take into account your racial and/or ethnic status with the intention of increasing student diversity. Geographic location: Schools might also take into account where you come from so as to create a diverse class of students from a variety of states and countries. Athletic skills: Yourathletic skillsmight play a role in admission at certain schools. Some schools even recruit highly successful student-athletes based on their high school athletic careers. First-generation college student:Being afirst-generation college student means that your parents did not attend or complete college (regardless of whether your siblings did). Much like legacy, this can be a tipping factor in your favor during the admissions process. Want to build the best possible college application? We can help. PrepScholar Admissions is the world's best admissions consulting service. We combine world-class admissions counselors with our data-driven, proprietary admissions strategies. We've overseen thousands of students get into their top choice schools, from state colleges to the Ivy League. We know what kinds of students colleges want to admit. We want to get you admitted to your dream schools. Learn more about PrepScholar Admissions to maximize your chance of getting in. Feeling lucky? College Acceptance Calculator: What Are Your Chances? While you can’t know for sure whether you’ll get into a school or not, you can use our college acceptance calculator tool, along with what we know about admission factors, to roughly calculate your college acceptance chances. First, go to Google and search for â€Å"[School Name] PrepScholar† or â€Å"[School Name] PrepScholar admission requirements.† You’ll want to find your school’s admission requirements page in our PrepScholar database. For example, here’s what came up when I searched for â€Å"pomona prepscholar†: Once you've clicked the link to your school’s admission requirements page, scroll down to the section titled â€Å"Admissions Calculator.†You can also use ctrl + F to search for â€Å"calculator† to jump to the section more quickly. On Pomona's admission requirements page, here's what the admissions calculator section looks like: As you can see in this screenshot, our calculator takes your SAT/ACT score and (weighted or unweighted) GPA to give you a percentage estimating your chance of acceptance. Note that this percentage, though helpful, is based only on your GPA and test scores anddoesn't take into account other critical admission factors, so itcan't be considered 100% accurate. The default SAT score and GPA on the calculator will be whatever the averages are for your particular school. (The default SAT score uses the old 2400 SAT scale, but you can change this to the current 1600 SAT scale by clicking "New SAT.") In my example above, the average (old) SAT score for students admitted to Pomona is 2160, and the average GPA of admitted students is 4.05. To calculate your chances of college acceptance, choose your test (old SAT, new SAT, or ACT) and then toggle the calculator so that it shows your test score.You can also type your score directly in the box to the right. Next, repeat these steps for your GPA. Note that the GPA scale here goes up to 5.0 to account for weighted GPAs. Input your GPA exactly as it is, regardless of whether your school uses a weighted or unweighted scale. So if your school uses unweighted GPAs (i.e., out of 4.0) and you have a 3.5, input 3.5 on the calculator. If, on the other hand, your school uses weighted GPAs and you have a 4.2, then you'd input 4.2. Let’s say I took the (current version of the) SAT and got a relatively high score of 1430. In addition, my (weighted) high schoolGPA is 4.5. According to our tool (and based purely on GPA and test scores), my chance of admission to Pomona would equal about 15%: As you can see, it'd be particularly tough for me to get into Pomona based on my current GPA and SAT test score alone. Even though my GPA and SAT score are quite high in this example, Pomona is an extremely selective school with only a 10% admittance rate. Therefore, in orderto increase my chances of admission,I'd need an extremely impressive SAT score and GPA (not to mention quality letters of recommendation, a strong personal statement, and a great resume!). Despite my low chance of admission, there's no guarantee that I couldn't get into Pomona with my current SAT score and GPA. What our college acceptance calculator shows is thatit's simply unlikelyfor me to get accepted with my current stats. As you use our college acceptance calculator, be aware thatyour test scores and GPA are not the only factors schools will consider during the admission process. Unfortunately, no college acceptance calculator can take into account the strength of non-quantifiable application components, such as your personal statement and resume. The best thing to do, then, is towork on ensuring that the rest of your application is equally strong, if not stronger, than your GPA and test scores. What's worse than a low chance of acceptance? A constant low battery. What If Your Chances of College Acceptance Are Low? What's considered a low chance of admission will vary depending on where you're applying. As we saw above, with highly selective schools- even if your SAT/ACT scores and GPA are quite high- your chance of admission could be low due to the low acceptance rate of the school. If you've used our college acceptance calculator but discovered your chances of admission aren't as high as you'd hoped they'd be,you’ll need to put extra effort into your application to increase your chances of getting accepted. Here are five ways you can improve your applicationand give yourself a better shot at admission: #1: Retake the SAT/ACT Though you can't change your GPA all that much, you can make big gains on your SAT/ACT test score with a little- OK, a lot- of elbow grease. Let's look back at myexample with Pomona. You can see that my initial chances of admission- with a 1430 SAT score- are about 15%.But let’s say I retake the SAT and score far higher the second time around. How much would my chances of admission increase as a result? The answer to this depends on how big of a point improvement I'm able to make. If I were to improve my SAT score by 100+ points and get a near-perfect score of 1580, my chance of admission, according to our calculator, would increase by a whopping 32%! Ultimately, what this means is that you might be able to dramatically increase your chances of admission by simply retaking the SAT/ACT and scoring higher on it. This is partly because SAT/ACT test scores are such an important part of college applications. (Remember, as the NACAC survey revealed, test scores are usually one of the most important factors, along with GPA and coursework difficulty.) But getting a higher SAT/ACT score isn’t always easy. To help you out, we offer completely customizable SAT and ACT prep programs. You can also read our guides on how to improve your SAT orACT score, and on how to get a perfect SATorACTscore. #2: Get Feedback on Your Essay Sometimes an excellent personal statement or â€Å"Why This College† essay can sway an admission committee’s decision in your favor, so it’s imperative you write acompelling and technically correct essay. Getting separate pairs of eyes to analyze your writing is key to ensuring your college essay is high quality. Ask yourteachers, parents, and/or counselor to look over your essay and offer detailed feedback on how you could improve it and what you could change to make it more impactful. Make sure you, too, meticulously check your essayfor any glaring errors in grammar, spelling, or punctuation before submitting it. For additional help,our guide offers 100+ samples of stellar personal statements. These essays will give you ideas as to what you should discuss in your essay and how you might want to organize your thoughts. #3: Get Letters of Recommendation From Teachers You’re Close With For your recommendations, askteachers who know you well and who are guaranteed to write passionately and enthusiastically about you in their letters. Ideally, you’ll have already pinpointed the teachers with whom you get along best and have forged a solid relationship. You should also have received consistently high marks in their classes. The best letters are those that can speak to positive qualities you possess and achievements you’ve made- in other words, elements about you that aren’t evident in your transcripts and test scores.You should aim to obtain letters from primarily (if not only) core-class teachers, including one whose field you're interested in studying in college. Remember, although letters of recommendation won't necessarily be the most important part of your application, they still play a valuable role in showcasing your accomplishments to colleges. In the end, a glowing letter can really boost your application and might even help get you into some of the toughest schools out there, such as Harvard. The teachers you're close with = those whom you can take cool, hipster, Inception-y photos with. #4: Get High Scores on AP, IB, and/or SAT Subject Tests If your SAT/ACT test scores aren’t as impressive as you would've liked, you can try to make up for them by submitting high AP, IB, and/or SAT Subject Test scores. Most schools do not require AP scores but will view them if submitted. You’ll usually self-report these on your application, whichallows you to select the specific AP scores you want (and don't want) to report to your school. For example, if you scored 5s on AP US History andAP English Literature and Composition but only a 2 on AP Bio, reporting only your highest scores- and omitting your AP Bio score- will let you present yourself in a more flattering light. On a related note, if you scored relatively high on an AP or IB test whose field is related to the major you want to do, definitely report this score on your application.This score will indicate to your school that you have the basic knowledge and skills necessary for success in your chosen field of study. As for SAT Subject Tests, only certain (selective) schools will require these scores. Schools that want SAT Subject Test scores usually require (or strongly recommend) you to take two or three tests. If you’re already taking AP courses, it might be easier to opt for Subject Tests in the same fields as your AP classes. Doing this should give you a higher chance of securing solid SAT Subject Test scores since you’ll already be studying the material full-time in school. #5: Ace Your Interview (If You Have One) As is the case with SAT Subject Tests, most schools do not require evaluative interviews. But if your school is one of the few thatrequires or strongly recommends an interview, doing well on it can strengthen your application and produce a clearer, more well-rounded picture of who you are and what you hope to accomplish in college. Treat the interview as an opportunity to showcase your demonstrated interest in the school. According to NACAC, half of respondents ranked â€Å"Student’s Demonstrated Interest† in a school as moderately or considerably important for admission. So as youanswer questions during the interview, be clear about how the school will help you attain your academic goals and why you’ve chosen this particular school. Most of all, be sincere. Recap: What Are Your Chances of Getting Accepted? There are many factors that affect your chances of getting accepted to college. Generally speaking, the most important factors are your GPA, the rigor of your coursework, and your SAT/ACT test score. Secondary factors include your personal statement, extracurricular activities, letters of recommendation, and class rank. To (roughly) calculate your college acceptance chances, look for your school’s â€Å"Admission Requirements† page in our PrepScholar database and use its â€Å"Admissions Calculator† to see what your chances of getting in are, based on your current GPA and SAT/ACT score. Note, though, that our college acceptance calculator can only give you a rough estimate of your chances of acceptance. Because there's no way to take into account non-quantifiable factors such as your personal statement and letters of recommendation, no college acceptance calculator can ever be100% accurate.That said, you can use our calculator to help determine whether you might need to work on strengthening other areas of your application. If your chances of admission are low, try to improve your application as best you can. Some options to consider are retaking the SAT/ACT and aiming for a higher score, obtaining strong letters of recommendation from teachers who know you well, and getting feedback on your essays. In the end, it's impossible to know for sure whether you’ll get accepted to a certain school or not.But by putting forth your best application possible, you can give yourself a far higher chance of acceptance- not to mention the satisfaction that you gave it your all! As Tim Allen once said, "Never give up, never surrender." What’s Next? Need help applying to college? Start by reading our extensive guide onhow to apply to college. After,get tips onhow to build a versatile college application so that you can apply to a broad range of colleges without getting overwhelmed. What's a good SAT score for college? A good ACT score?A good GPA?Our guides offer tons of information on how high you'll need to aim in order to get into the schools you wish to attend. Aiming for a super selective school?Get expert tips in our guide to getting into Harvard- written by an actual Harvard alum! Want to improve your SAT score by 160 points or your ACT score by 4 points?We've written a guide for each test about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. Download it for free now:

Natural Resources and energy paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Natural Resources and energy paper - Essay Example However, although there are benefits of extracting water for use as energy, there are certain risks and challenges as well that are associated with the extraction of this source of renewable energy (NRCan’s Role and Freshwater, 2010). Fresh water is one of the prime necessities for all living beings and in particular for human beings. Human beings living in the cities, or for the purposes of farming and agriculture, and in the industries, require freshwater which is the main cause for extraction of freshwater from the aquatic ecosystems. Freshwater systems provide control of floods, transportation facilities, recreation, as well as waste purification (Baron et al, 2003, pp.1-15). Extraction of freshwater includes benefits for the landscapes on earth. Freshwater aquatic ecosystems are comprised of such organisms that form the food web for other living beings. These organisms available in the freshwater are both ecologically and economically important as they are diverse in form and nature. Benthic communities refer to the lives available at the bottom of the freshwater systems constituting organisms like algae, bacteria, fungi, and other invertebrates that are capable of transforming substance and energy into livi ng forms, thus proving to be sources of food and energy of living beings on earth (Benefits of Freshwater Systems, 2013). However there are certain risks associated with such extraction of freshwater from the aquatic ecosystems as well. The benefits for the society has led to overlooking the benefits that freshwater has for the aquatic ecosystems and the living organisms present in there. With more and more extraction of this source of life and energy the quantity of freshwater required for the aquatic systems as well as for human beings is becoming limited. There is a huge demand for freshwater while the

American Consumer Culture Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

American Consumer Culture - Research Paper Example This leads to the many topics which arise when studying American consumer culture. One of the major impacts of American consumer culture is its association to materialism. The critics and the advocate of the American consumer culture believe that materialism, which has a close association to the culture, has the disadvantages and advantage respectively, on the economy. The realization of materialism as a major topic in American consumer culture makes it inevitable to discuss the roots of materialism and its impact throughout the American history. In his book, Lawrence Glickman asserts that consumerism has been treated as excessive materialism classified as a moral danger and a popular culture (Glickman, p. 1). Materialism refers to the act of individuals in the society stressing on the importance of the physical possession than they do to the spiritual. The major thesis statement for the article, American consumer culture causes individuals to care more about their personal possessio n than their internal well-being. Impact materialism in American history Benefits The impact of materialism is much evident in the American society where consumer culture has a strong foundation. History shows that materialism saved America from overproduction. It is true that America is one of the strongest economy in the world hence it is easy to associate it to materialism. Materialism can thrive in the economy because there is much resources to support the needs of the consumers. Consequently, materialism proves useful to American economy since the consumers have the urge of purchasing more and more allowing supply and demand to occur naturally. In chapter 5 of Lawrence volume collection, Durning asserts â€Å"materialism is caring about things and taking care of them meaning it isn’t necessarily a bad thing† (Glickman, p. 78). Durning is right owing to the present state of America which consumption drives it current economic system. Further, materialism have also contributed to the American economy being self sustaining and self regulating since the consumers are much interested in buying the products in the market. It is true that a product can only exist in the market if the consumers are willing to buy hence the benefit of materialism. History shows that after the World War I American society feared the emergence of overproduction since the consumers had no desire in buying the products . The only remedy was to train the society into being materialistic with subsequent desire to buy the products. There was need for shaping a new mentality whereby the desires of man would overshadow their needs hence the birth of materialism (Bussinessinsider, 2013). It is acknowledged that consumer culture is a very important recipe for economic growth, it make the people to perceive spending as a way of obtaining happiness and satisfaction that can be very helpful in the times of economic recession as they will continues to spend cushioning the economy f rom experiencing the pinch in a significant way. Consumer culture makes spending be a bonding experience, for example doing shopping together with the friends, peers, and age mates, it brings about a strong bonding culture (McLaren, and Torchinsky 57). Drawbacks One of the major disadvantages of materialism arising from consumer culture is its effect in causing poorer well-being. The people with high materialistic nature often appear to possess goal orientation that may ultimately impact the society negatively. Don Campbel in

A Look at the Country of Rwanda Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

A Look at the Country of Rwanda - Essay Example Today, Rwanda, with the densest population in Africa, struggles to bring more prosperity to its approximately 9 million people by attracting investments, promoting tourism and boosting its agricultural output. -- and this distinction is most commonly used in connection with the Rwandan civil war or the genocide in 1994. However, the Rwandan people have historically belonged, using common culture and language as criteria, to one ethnic group called Banyarwanda (people of Rwanda).5 Dr. Anastase Shyaka, a professor at the University of Rwanda writes that prior to European colonization, all the Hutus, Tutsis and Twas were united and swore allegiance to one monarch, "Umwami". Further cementing this bond were the myths and folktales and clan-based identity, in which every Rwandan would trace his genealogy to one ancestor, called "Kanyarwanda". While the first king of Rwanda in the 15th century was identified as a Tutsi - the ethnic identity as explained by Prof. Shaka was more in connection with certain economic activities, and a Tutsi could lose his "Tutsiness" and become a Hutu and be deprived of his possessions. Therefore, the distinction was more economic and social, rather than strictly ge netic - a fact boosted by subsequent intermarriages, making the genetic basis moot and academic. All of Rwandans currently speak the same language (Kinyarwanda), and most are Christians (majority of whom are Catholic), with a sprinkling of Muslims. Political Culture Prior to the coming of European colonizers (first the Germans in 1894 and the Belgians in 1917), Rwanda was under a monarchy and its society was cohesive and stable. Political power was vested i the King who was in turn recognized and respected as protective of the interests of the citizens of Rwanda.6 To ensure checks and balances, three or four ministers were in-charge of different spheres of economic activity - for pasture, agriculture and hunting.7 When the Belgians ruled Rwanda, the political culture built on trust of the monarchical power to ensure fairness and equality was destroyed. Instead of three or four chiefs to oversee the different areas of livelihood, a single chief was installed, bringing the socio-economic foundation in service to the interests of the colonizers and its appointed rulers, while introducing forced labor.8 In 1935, the Belgian Colonial Administration issued identification cards clearly categorizing Rwandans as "Hutu", "Tutsi" and "Twa" on the basis on the number of heads of cattle they owned, with Tutsis classified as those with 10 or more cows. From then on, Rwandans came to see that their ethnicity is linked to opportunities for jobs and positions of power - as if identity comes first and was the primary factor over and above legitimate efforts to achieve success in society. That ethnicity became the crux of achieving or

Management accounting Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Management accounting - Assignment Example Taking into account the advice given out by the proposals of the Function Managers there is a need for a partial overhaul of the companies working practice and corresponding adjustments need to be made to its business model with an overall aim of ensuring as smooth a transition as possible in the aftermath of the acquisition of the company by MAJORAIR. What should also be considered by the board is the long-term strategy of what market should be the focus in terms of both location (established versus expanding) and passenger type (low cost versus high end and discerning), as well as the risks posed by each of these approaches. In regards to the accounts for the season Winter 2011/12 Overall profitability for the season stands at ?148,201,205 It will be important to benchmark the overall profitability of the proposals against this figure to establish which offer would be the most attractive to the company. Another important figure to look at would be at which moment in the season the proposals meet the breakeven mark. There are two ways of looking at this figure. One is to look at which moment in time the costs are covered by simply deducting overall costs against turnover as a point in time (for example: costs are covered between months 3 & 4 and from that point on all revenue can be considered as profit.) Another is to deduct what percentage of each sale is allocated to cover the costs spread out over the entire season or year. Figures for the yearly turnover are not calculated in this analysis because of the uncertainty of passenger numbers for the summer months. In regards to Load Factor there is some room for improvement Gatwick – Washington (AM) – 77.97% Load Capacity (55.14% of total available seats) Gatwick – Washington (PM) – 88.44% Load Capacity (28.26 of total available seats) Gatwick – Boston (AM) – 79.44% Load Capacity (57.9% of total available seats) Gatwick – Boston (PM) – 84.5% Load Capacity (50.88% of total available seats) Gatwick – Seattle (AM) – 55.78% Load Capacity (34% of total available seats) Gatwick – Seattle (PM) – 77.57% Load Capacity (63.16% of total available seats) As the accounts stand there is a surplus that can be reinvested or paid out to shareholders as part of a dividend but before either of these can occur I will be analysing the proposals set by the Functional Managers in regards to an investment strategy. Some of them are long-term investments, several of them are speculative and some of them deal with short-term fixes. I will be assessing them on immediate changes to profitability, projected impacts of capital expenditure feedback (for both the immediate fiscal year and for long-term cost reductions through investments) and what impact each proposal has on the current business practice used by SMALLAIR. Network Management In the first instance, this is the proposal I would want to present to the board as I agree with the recommendations of the proposal in a number of ways. Firstly, the Washington PM flight is the most efficient at load

Nike and its Approach to Corporate Responsibility Essay - 1

Nike and its Approach to Corporate Responsibility - Essay Example The organization established new approaches to the corporate responsibility in order to influence environmental and social change. The organization is made up of several small business units, regions, functions, centers. It is true that global business scenario is changing constantly due to frequent change in external environmental factors and market demand. Corporate responsibility helps an organization to adopt health business and corporate model that ensures potential competitive advantages for the company. The essay will discuss a conceptual framework that will explain the approach of Nike, Inc. to corporate responsibility. Â  Nike is one of the popular apparel and footwear manufacturing and distributing organization around the globe. In the year 2004, the organization began a large scale and intensive review of its developed and implemented strategies. The management of the organization tries to take unique and new approaches to corporate responsibility in order to ensure future business growth. The organization understood that demand for sustainable business practices can help an organization to run a smooth business across the world (Rendtorff, 2009, p.50). They tried to understand future social and environmental trends before expanding their business in several emerging global areas. The social and environmental trend cannot be similar in all the countries. Therefore, they tried to implement an effective review process to achieve potential competitive business opportunity. Â  In the year 2004, Nike, Inc understood that no single corporation can attain systematic change alone. Collaboration, partnership, and open source approaches can lead to providing an organization sustainable market-based solutions to the challenges that can easily generate system change.

Management accounting Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Management accounting - Assignment Example Taking into account the advice given out by the proposals of the Function Managers there is a need for a partial overhaul of the companies working practice and corresponding adjustments need to be made to its business model with an overall aim of ensuring as smooth a transition as possible in the aftermath of the acquisition of the company by MAJORAIR. What should also be considered by the board is the long-term strategy of what market should be the focus in terms of both location (established versus expanding) and passenger type (low cost versus high end and discerning), as well as the risks posed by each of these approaches. In regards to the accounts for the season Winter 2011/12 Overall profitability for the season stands at ?148,201,205 It will be important to benchmark the overall profitability of the proposals against this figure to establish which offer would be the most attractive to the company. Another important figure to look at would be at which moment in the season the proposals meet the breakeven mark. There are two ways of looking at this figure. One is to look at which moment in time the costs are covered by simply deducting overall costs against turnover as a point in time (for example: costs are covered between months 3 & 4 and from that point on all revenue can be considered as profit.) Another is to deduct what percentage of each sale is allocated to cover the costs spread out over the entire season or year. Figures for the yearly turnover are not calculated in this analysis because of the uncertainty of passenger numbers for the summer months. In regards to Load Factor there is some room for improvement Gatwick – Washington (AM) – 77.97% Load Capacity (55.14% of total available seats) Gatwick – Washington (PM) – 88.44% Load Capacity (28.26 of total available seats) Gatwick – Boston (AM) – 79.44% Load Capacity (57.9% of total available seats) Gatwick – Boston (PM) – 84.5% Load Capacity (50.88% of total available seats) Gatwick – Seattle (AM) – 55.78% Load Capacity (34% of total available seats) Gatwick – Seattle (PM) – 77.57% Load Capacity (63.16% of total available seats) As the accounts stand there is a surplus that can be reinvested or paid out to shareholders as part of a dividend but before either of these can occur I will be analysing the proposals set by the Functional Managers in regards to an investment strategy. Some of them are long-term investments, several of them are speculative and some of them deal with short-term fixes. I will be assessing them on immediate changes to profitability, projected impacts of capital expenditure feedback (for both the immediate fiscal year and for long-term cost reductions through investments) and what impact each proposal has on the current business practice used by SMALLAIR. Network Management In the first instance, this is the proposal I would want to present to the board as I agree with the recommendations of the proposal in a number of ways. Firstly, the Washington PM flight is the most efficient at load

Final Business Model and Strategic Plan Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Final Business Model and Strategic Plan - Essay Example The new product division will analyze the potential market for their products. They will use the available budget to conduct research that will provide insights about the competition in the markets and what the competitors are doing to win customers. In addition, the new product division will use the information received to build a strong company brand presence. Moreover the brand owners who include the brand manager and marketing manager will gather information about the prospective customers. They will conduct online surveys as well as group and personal interviews to find out about customers views and preferences, goals economic and financial status. Moreover, they will liaise with the IT department to come up with a website that will be sued to market the new product. The website will inform customers on the benefits of the product, the places where to purchase the product as well as the prices and discounts that will be provided for the product. In addition, clients can post the ir comments, recommendations as well as the challenges they have faced while using the product. Moreover some of the marketing promotions that will be used will include above the line and below the promotion. This includes the posters, newsletters, billboards, coverage on radio and television. The new product division will mostly use above the line advertisement for the purpose of reaching a massive group of people. The new product division will have an effective communication plan that will ensure effective communication both internally and externally. The new product division plans to have access to the agenda of the critical meetings by involving the senior executives to deliver on the presentations in regards to the new product division to get insights and feedback from them. The new product division also plans to have proper management by planning campaigns and tracking results and success. This will include monitoring performance of the new product

Future of democracy Essay Example for Free

Future of democracy Essay Illiberal democracy is a system of governance in which the citizens are kept in the dark about the conduct and activities of powerful officials in the government due to the absence of civil liberties. Despite the existence of democratic space in a country, the society becomes an â€Å"un-open† society. Such situations arise in cases where despite the existence of a democratic constitution that limits the powers of government, its liberties are not taken into consideration by the ruling class due to lack of strong constitutional legal framework. Illiberal democratic regimes feel that they have the right to act in whichever way they feel is best provided that regular elections are held. Such governments may impose rules which interfere with the individual liberties such as: the freedom of assembly and speech, making it difficult for opposition forces to succeed in criticizing it (Zakaria 2007). There is a wide range of illiberal democratic governments. They range from those dictatorial governments to those governments that are nearly democratic. An illiberal democracy regime can be determined through observing the nature in which the government carries its elections. If a government does not carry out regular, free, competitive and fair elections when filling its principle governance positions, then it can be classified as an illiberal democracy government according to the yearly freedom house ratings. Around the globe, democratically elected governments have gone beyond their limits and deprived their citizens their rights which are provided for in the constitution. Countries such as the Philippines and Peru are some of the countries with illiberal democratic governments. According to Zakaria (2008), democracy that has no constitutional liberalism produces centralized governments, eroded liberty, conflicts, war and ethnic competition. There are a wide range of implications of liberalism to the foreign policy. First, it is a guarantee for humility. Although it can be easier for elections to be imposed on a country, it will be difficult to impose constitutional liberalism to a society. Genuine democratization and liberalization is a process which is long-term and gradual in nature that an election acts as a step towards achieving its overall goal. Without the necessary precautions being taken, such an election can end up being a false step towards the process. This has prompted nongovernmental organizations together with various governments to put in place measures that are aimed at promoting constitutional liberalisms in countries which are in the process of becoming developed (Zakaria 2007). National democracy endowment fosters independent labor unions together with political parties and also ensures that there are free markets. Independent judiciaries are funded by the USA through the International Development Agency but in the end, elections trump virtually everything. On the other hand, if elections are not held in a transparent way that promotes democracy, the incident should not be viewed as dictatorship but instead it should be taken as a mistake that has been committed. Although fair elections form part of the virtues of effective governance, it should not be the only virtue that should be capitalized on. Other government yardsticks should be used in judging it. Such yardsticks include: civil, religious and economic liberties which form the basis of human dignity and autonomy. When a government extends these liberties to its people despite its limited democratic space, it cannot be categorized as a dictatorial government. Countries like Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore provide their citizens with a better life of happiness in spite of the limited political freedom. Countries such as China which have continued with repressive regimes offer their citizens more economic liberty and autonomy in their current forms than they have ever offered in their history. Despite the achievements that China has achieved for its citizens such as economic freedom, much still needs to be done to effect proper change towards full liberalizing democracy (Zakaria 2008, 200). Zakariah concludes with a recommendation that there is need for countries to change their system of governance through constitutionalism. He says that when there is too much dependency on pure democracy, it affects transitional countries such that they lack constitutions which can be considered imaginative. Constitutionalism is a system of governance in which there are checks and balances which are meant to prevent stagnation and abuse of power by officials in governments. This is achieved through drafting a list of rights for the citizens and ensuring that they are given to people by putting in place proper structures to ensure that they are not neglected by authorities. Various groups are also empowered to ensure that the officials observe the rule of law (Zakaria 2007). Just as an ambitious idea is made to counteract another ambitious idea, constitutions were made to cater for public passion and ensure effective governance. Despite its creation, most European countries at the moment have started looking at their constitutions suspiciously because of the wide range of rich unelected bodies that indirectly vote, do checks and balances and federal arrangements to both formal and informal constitution. Such procedures which do not advocate for direct democracy are considered to be inauthentic because they muzzle the people’s voices (Zakaria 2008, 200). It is therefore important for any country to use the type of governance that suits them but should at the same time put the interests of its citizens ahead of any other issue. Bibliography Zakaria, F. 2008. The post-American world. New York: W. W. Norton Co. Zakaria, F. 2007. The Future of Freedom: Illiberal Democracy at Home and Abroad. New York:

The Electronic Medical Records Information Technology Essay

The Electronic Medical Records Information Technology Essay Electronic Medical Records are legal databases created within different organizations to help healthcare providers access information about patients. Without these types of databases other modern technologies cannot be effectively integrated into routine clinical workflow. For example, decision support systems depend on EMR systems to help coordinate research and practice in different areas. Records about patients in this form make it easier for many organizations to keep organized and handle billing and services more effectively. These types of medical records have seemed to become quite a phenomenon in the healthcare industry because it has allowed care providers to be able to effectively gain access to a patients medical history to help better provide services to individuals. In essence these records have the ability to save lives. This innovative idea gives doctors and other medical providers access to a database where all of these types of files are stored. The quick right of entry to the records can help to find ways to treat patients sooner and more effectively thus people are much healthier and happier. It also allows billing to be a much simpler process to make sure patients are only charged for services rendered. Although the idea of Electronic Medical Records seems to be a very easy and a useful tool, there have been many people and much time that has been spent in making this type of database access. A lot of hospitals have been recently moving to the practices of EMRs because they have found that it has led to a higher quality of patient care. Doctors and nurses are finding out that they can access not only a patients medical records, but also lab results, body scans, and information about allergies and medication, which is wonderful news to healthcare providers and people in the medical field who provide care to individuals. Finger printing has also been recently rumored to be a new part of EMR access. In this paper we will explore a few things such as how EMR came about, what is going on with EMR now, opinions of EMR over time, and forecasting the future of EMRs. History of EMR Before the Electronic Medical Records, physicians could only document patient information and encounters by hand-writing it on paper. Dr. Lawrence Weed changed this concept when introduced the idea of EMR into medical practice in the late 1960s. Weed was known as father of the problem-oriented medical record (POMR). Weed wanted to create a record that would allow a third party to verify the diagnosis. Another critical person in the establishment of EMR, was Dr. G. Octo Barnett. He worked to develop the Computer Stored Ambulatory Record (COSTAR) which supported patient care, billing, and follow up treatment. The Health Evaluation through Logical Processing (HELP) was also a key influence. Homer R. Warner led this team that provided support for health care professionals. He presented that computer systems would enhance the record keeping system while replacing paper. It wasnt until 1972 when the Regenstreif Institute generated the first medical records system. Although the invention of the EMR developed a major advance in medical practice, it was not getting very much use. This innovation was expensive to obtain and many were skeptical of the privacy and confidentiality of EMR. In 1991, the highly esteemed Institute of Medicine suggested that by the year 2000, every physician should have implemented EMR into their office. The Institute of Medicine did a study in 1999, which concluded that preventable medical errors are caused by faulty systems and processes that could be prevented through adopting electronic medical records. A study of EMRs by the RAND Health Information Technology Project started in 2003. From this study they found hospitals and physicians would save money and significantly improve healthcare quality. Although the Electronic Medical Record has come a long way, it has not fully taken off. What is going on now with EMR There are an estimated 300 to 400 companies in the United States peddling electronic medical records (EMR) systems to the nations hospitals, medical clinics and solo practitioners. While some, such as GE Healthcare and NextGen Healthcare Information Systems, are part of corporate behemoths, the vast majority are small, privately held firms like eClinicalWorks. While large firms such as Allscripts-Misys Healthcare Solutions Inc. and NextGen Healthcare remain huge presences, industry observers say that the electronic medical records field is as open to smaller challengers as it has ever been. One big factor working in the small companies favor: The majority of doctors offices that have yet to adopt electronic records are small businesses themselves. While more than half of medical practices employing 50 or more doctors are using EMR systems, less than 10% of practices made up of three physicians or fewer can say the same, according to a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2008. These smaller practices are not an easy sell. Bigger EMR players tended to ignore them until recently, figuring the greatest revenue was to be made converting larger hospitals and clinics to their systems. Moreover, they are usually so sensitive to the cost of the product not to mention the amount of time they will lose seeing patients while they get up-to-speed on the software that they were effectively priced out of the market. EMR Systems generally have three price levels. The first level is a boxed systems for small one or two provider offices. These systems are usually older products with a large client base that will provide the practice with the basics. These types of products generally run below $3,000. The second level is a more customized system for Small to Medium sized offices. These products will often require on-site installation and training because they need to be customized for each application. Prices for these products usually run between $5,000 and $35,000. This depends on the number of providers. A small one to two provider offices can expect to pay between $5,000 and $15,000. A larger office of 5-10 providers can expect to pay around $3,000 per additional provider, bringing the total cost to around $25,000 to $35,000. Forecasting the Future of EMR Today, Electronic Medical Records are a huge benefit to physicians. Having this computerized system allows the physician to spend less time doing paper work and more time spent on the patient. Even though Electronic Medical Records software is beneficial, it still has a lot of room to grow. Electronic Medical Records has a bright future. In addition to helping the physician, the future of EMR systems can bring e-medicine to the patients. Portability is a main concern for patients who travel to different care providers and need to have their health records easily accessible. Electronic Medical Records hopes to increase the accessibility of patient medical records through the internet and making it available for the patient to update their own health records. This advancement is sure to transform the practice of medicine. Current EMRs are closed systems that use Microsoft word, excel, and a static view. Future EMRs will use graphical representations to give the information a more interactive and visual view. All of these improvements will make way for doctors and patients to interact through computer screens and cameras. Patients will want physicians to monitor electronic diaries about their illnesses or preventive efforts. In effect, doctors will share individual quality contracts with their patients. The future EMR workflow will change from the time consuming process the doctor uses to gather and input all the data to a user friendly system that gathers and inputs data for the doctor. This cuts the doctors and patients wait time by two thirds. Medical experts agree that electronic medical records, when used wisely, can help curb costs for physicians and improve care for the patient. Overall, improving and advancing electronic medical records will cut costs, time, and reduce medical record errors. Opinions of EMR Over Time An EMR is one or more computerized clinical information system that collects, stores, and displays patient information. Electronic medical record systems are generally designed to preserve and present patient data longitudinally throughout their many encounters with a healthcare provider system. At its most basic level, an EMR provides a legible, organized method of recording and retrieving clinical information about an individual patient, and essentially replaces the paper medical record that is most familiar to practitioners. By its very nature, an EMR supports data retrieval for quality assessment activities, research, and practice improvement initiatives. An EMR enables concurrent access to and documentation in the patients chart by multiple practitioners. In addition, having an EMR system eliminates the need to transport the physical medical record as the patient moves throughout the healthcare facility. Each year, electronic medical record (EMR) systems are deployed in many physician practices throughout the world, with clear clinical and financial objectives. However, some of these systems are later uninstalled by practices that have found them to be too costly in terms of lost time, productivity and revenue. A problem with EMRs in general (with respect to functionality, usability, and adoption) is that the people who perform the data entry and the people who actually benefit from the data are not the same. This means that the incentives are not aligned properly and when incentives arent aligned in anything (including IT) then failure is likely to ensue. In Conclusion This is only a brief hint at what the past, present, and future of EMRs look like and what an EMR actually does and can do to benefit millions of people across the world. The convenience of EMRs is spreading like the plague, and will only continue to do so in the future. While spreading, the conveniences gained from using an EMR will also increase and end up being a huge factor for many places to save time and money. The rapid daily increase of technology will only serve as a catalyst to what the modern day EMR could possibly transform into. EMRs are the top must-have for the future of the medical fields.

Comparing the Character of Life in As You Like It and King Lear :: comparison compare contrast essays

The Character of Life in As You Like It and King Lear      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Through comedy and tragedy Shakespeare reveals the vast expanses and profound depths of the character of life. For him they are not separate worlds of drama and romance, but poles of a continuum. The distinction between tragedy and comedy is called in question when we turn to Shakespeare. Though the characters differ in stature and power, and the events vary in weight and significance, the movements of life in all Shakespeare's plays are governed by the same universal principles which move events in our own lives. Through myriad images Shakespeare portrays not only the character of man and society but the character of life itself.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The difference between comedy and tragedy, success and failure, good fortune and catastrophe often seems to turn on a seemingly chance event. In All's Well that Ends Well, Helene's pilgrimage to win back Bertram succeeds on the basis of her chance meeting with the mother of a virgin whom Bertram is courting. Time is another crucial determinant. Often a split second or brief interval is the difference between life and death. In this small but all important gap of time, the character of life is revealed most clearly. In As You Like It, Orlando came in time to save Oliver from the serpent that was winding around his neck. Out of context, these events would appear as a very thin and frail fabric upon which to build great comedy and tragedy were it not for the fact that they are true to a deeper level of causality in life. Suzanne Langer has called comedy 'an image of life triumphing over chance.' It may be otherwise stated that in comedy the s eemingly chance events of life move in favor of a positive resolution, whereas in tragedy they seem to conspire toward disaster. Helene Gardner observes that 'comedy is full of purposes mistook, not "falling on the inventor's head" but luckily misfiring altogether. In comedy, as often happens in life, people are mercifully saved from being as wicked as they meant to be.' 5   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Time as well as chance events are expressive of another set of determinants, another level of causality in the wider plane of life. The critical gap between human action and its results depends on the response of the environing life and expresses the character of life in the given circumstances.

Dysfunctional Families In Cana Essay -- essays research papers

Dysfunctional family relationships form the basis of many Canadian short stories. Often, tragedy is the end result of severe family breakdown. In other cases, personality defects are directly traceable to poor family dynamics. In the stories â€Å"Hurt†, â€Å"Fall of a City†, and â€Å"The Sound of Hollyhocks† there were very profound family problems. The difficulty in the father/son relationship in â€Å"Hurt† reflects a role reversal. Even though Stevie is only a young boy, he took care of himself and his father. Stevie made his own meals and when his father was inebriated, he â€Å"...went down to the store and got him a couple bottles of vanilla to sober up on.† (pg. 195) In a family situation a young child such as Stevie should not have the responsibility of taking care of his parent. Moreover, even when Stevie’s father was sober, Stevie could do whatever he liked without consequence. Skip described such a freedom when he said that â€Å"Stevie went to school when he wanted to go...† (pg. 193) This lack of rules or an authority figure demonstrates the dysfunctionality of this family. Also, Stevie’s father was a violent alcoholic. Skip observed that somedays Stevie’s father would be â€Å"...pounding on the walls with his fists and swearing and crying all at the same time...† (pg. 195) The parent/child role reversal , the lack of structure, discipline, and authority in the home and the violent episodes demonstrate the degree of dysfunction in this family. â€Å"Fall of a City† depicts the dysfunctional...

Quazi

African Journal of Business Management Vol. 5(27), pp. 11005-11010, 9 November, 2011 Available online at http://www. academicjournals. org/AJBM DOI: 10. 5897/AJBM11. 326 ISSN 1993-8233  ©2011 Academic Journals Full Length Research Paper Impact of working capital on firms’ profitability Hassan Aftab Qazi1*, Syed Muhammad Amir Shah2, Zaheer Abbas3 and Tanzeela Nadeem4 1 University of Central Punjab, Lahore 1-Khayaban-e-Jinnah Road, M. A. Johar Town, Lahore, Pakistan. 2 Illama Iqbal Open University, Islamabad, Pakistan. 3 Islamic International University, Islamabad, Pakistan.Accepted 20 April, 2011 The correlation between working capital and profitability of firms is analyzed for the management of cash cycle management. Working capital is made by the three important factors, debtor, creditor and stock. When we include cash conversion cycle (CCC) to working capital then it becomes working capital management (WCM). Two sectors are selected as a sample size: automobile and oil and gas sector. The time period is from 2004 – 2009. Different variables affecting the profitability of firms are selected.In this study, networking capital, inventory turnover in days, average account receivable and financial asset to total assets (FATA) are taken as independent variables. The result shows positive movement of working capital (WC) on firm’s profitability. R shows the fitness of the model which is 49. 95%. The independent variables explain 49. 95% of the model. Key words: Working capital management (WCM), cash conversion cycle (CCC), account receivable (AR). INTRODUCTION A good number of firms have put sufficient cash in working capital. Working capital management (WCM) is an important factor of financial management (FM).Debtor, creditor and inventory are the major components of working capital (WC). Large stock and trade credit policy can increase the sales volume. Inventory is the main part of the working capital. Increase in the inventory will give dec rease in the risk of stock out. Inventory is done for fulfilling the demand of the public. Inventory is the liability of the company to sell it. The other element of working capital (WC) is accounts payable (AP). Firms can check the quality of the products provided by the producer by giving them late payment, whether it is suitable for the firm or not.Late payments create very bad impression of the firm in the market. Accounts receivable is also the major part of the working capital. Delay in the days of receivable creates more complication for the company. Working capital management is still taken lightly by some companies. It works as a key to free the cash from stock, accounts payable (AP) and accounts receivable (AR). To deal with the less important aspects of efficient and effective Working Capital (WC), firms can sharply reduce the out sourcing and they can save the money for future investment or opportunities.This can create more financial flexibility and increase the worth o f the firm by reducing capital employed (Buchmann and Jung, 2008). This study basically focuses on the long run financial decisions, future investments and allocations of funds, dividends and valuation of the firm in the stock market. However, balance sheet components assets and liabilities are significant in short term planning and they need to be carefully analyzed by the firm. Short term assets and liabilities are managed carefully by working capital management (WCM) for the growth of the firm’s profitability (Smith, 1980).For creating good worth of the share in front of shareholders, firms have to manage working capital efficiently and effectively. Working capital management process starts from the purchase of raw material up to the sales of the goods. It creates significant impact on the profitability and liquidity of the firms (Shin and Soenen, 1998). Net working capital (NWC) and gross working capital (GWC) are the two major concepts of working capital (WC). The total current assets and *Corresponding author. E-mail: [email  protected] com. Tel: +92-42-35880007 or +923334604314. 11006 Afr. J. Bus. Manage. orking capital (WC) can be replaced as a Gross working capital of the firm. By subtracting Current Liabi-lities from Current Assets it becomes Net Working Capital. Net working capital (NWC) can also be used to measure the liquidity but it is not useful when firms are compared with each other regarding performance, but useful in measuring the internal control of the firm. The net working capital helps to compare the liquidity of previous record of the firm performance. The main purpose of the working capital management (WCM) is to make the sustainable level of the working capital (WC) which is favorable for the firm.Net working capital (NWC) is the part of the currents assets which is main-tained through funds having maturity life more than one year. Current assets represent the source of short terms funds. If the firm has less short term funds then it is supported by long term funds and sustains the firm value and market share price. This is very useful for the ana-lysis of trade between profitability and risk in the shares of the firm. Positive working capital (PWC) and Negative Working Capital (NWC) are the two possible signs. Positive working capital (PWC) is the sign of firm healthiness.Positive working capital (PWC) means that firm have the ability to pay the liabilities which maturity date are less than one year of the firm on due date. Positive working capital (PWC) is calculated by comparing Current Assets (CA) by current liabilities (CL). Negative Working Capital is the sign of firm weakness. Negative working capital means that company does not have the ability to pay the short term liabilities. When the Working Capital (WC) shows negative sign, it indicates long term funds support the short term funds and firm can easily pay the obligations on due date and save the value or worth of firm in the market.But in th e different case, firm declining means bankruptcy. If declining working capital ratio continues for longer period then it can affect the firm value. If the firm efficiency is more in the operation, the more increase in working capital (WC). It can be analyzed by comparing the operation of working capital (WC) periodically. Working capital is raised from profits or outsourcing. Outsourcing means when there are more sales in the season but the firm is not able to invest and produce more products.From outsourcing, more liabilities arise but on the other way from investing more, revenue will generate from more sales and it will increase the assets of the firm. Working Capital Management (WCM) has its impact on profitability as well as liquidity of the company and the primary goal of a company is to increase the annual revenues. Keeping the company liquid is an extremely main task also. Increase in company profitabiliy by reducing the liquidity of the company can bring some serious probl ems for it. Goals cannot be ignored at any cost because each individual goal has its own importance. If goal of maximizing the profit is gnored, survival is not possible for a longer time. Similarly, if liquidity objective is ignored, insolvency or bankruptcy could be faced. Because of these bases, proper attention should be given to Working Capital Management (WCM) which affects the companies profits and through this, it will show the effect of the Working Capital (WC) on profitability (PRT). The research problem of this study is: does working capital have significant impact on profitability of a company? The objective of this reseach is to find out the correlation between working capital and profitability (PRT) through statistical analysis of a sample of listed companies.The purpose of this research is to analyze the impact of traditional working capital policies (WCP) on the profitability (PRT) of the firms, to analyze whether Working Capital Policies (WCP) can become stable over a long run-up and to draw a conclusion about the impact of working capital on the profitability of companies. LITERATURE REVIEW A significant portion of financial research is concerned with the Management of working capital (MWC). This issue has been investigated at both theoretical and empirical levels. Different researchers have worked on working capital from different perspectives and in different economic environment.The environments and perspectives are discussed in detail in this work. This paper is conducted for the association between working capital (WC) and value creation for shareholders. Working capital has three parts. First, account receivable; second, account payable; and third, inventory. Account receivable is a part of balance sheet, placed in the Asset Side (AS) and it is the inflows of firm. Account receivable is maintained when a company makes sales on credit bases. Account payable is also the part of the balance sheet, placed on the liabilities side and also th e outflows of the firm.Account payable is maintained when a company do sum expenditures on the credit bases and make a payment on different terms. Inventory is maintained for generating the revenues from sales. The standard measure for working capital management (WCM) is cash conversion cycle (CCC). Cash conversion period reflects the time span between disbursement and collection of cash. Cash Conversion Cycle (CCC) is based on three components: number of days of account receivable, number of day of accounts payable and number of day of inventory. It is measured by the sum of inventory conversion period less payable conversion period.Different researchers use the name like net trade cycle for calculating the Working Capital Management (WCM). In this, every component is calculated in percenttage of sales (Soenen, 1998). Qazi et al. 11007 In Marc’s view most firms invest cash in working capital (WC) and it shows that the management of Working Capital leaves good impression on t he Profitability of firms. Similarly, firm’s Working Capital Management (WCM) is a major part of financial positions. It helps the firms in maximizing their wealth and value of the shares. Larger inventory and trade policy can make higher sales for the firm.Large inventory reduces the risk of stock out for fulfilling the demand of the public. By providing credit sales to the customers, suppliers have significant cost advantage over financial institution (Deloof, 2002). Different researchers have different views that they test on the working capital. There is a positive correlation between account receivable and operating income of firm. Because if the good provided on credit bases then the days of the accounts receivable will not be for long period. On the basis of the accounts receivable, firms running their operations can meet the payment on due date.Efficient liquidity management (ELM) is a process which includes planning and controlling of current assets (CA) and current liabilities (CL). Liquidity and profitability of firm have great relation with each other. This relationship can be analyzed by current ratio (CR) and cash gap (CG) (Abdual, 2007). Firms short terms liabilities are directly related to the former while the continuity of liabilities is concerned with the latter. Higher investment blocked in stock and accounts receivable creates problem for operation. Decrease in number of days of account receivable gives increase in early eserves (Padachi, 2006). Financial managers can gain profit by maintaining component of cash conversion cycle (CCC) at a higher level (Nazir and Afza, 2009). If the inventory gets to the minimum level and the number of days account receivable (NDAR) also becomes minimum, then firms can increase their profits and run their project efficiently and effectively (Abdul, 2007). The policies of working capital management can help to measure the WC. If the policies which the firm is going to implement are very strict and hel pful for the firm then the firm will not bear losses or stock out or less short term assets.The financing policies mean how to allocate the revenue to different departments and after how many days the firm is going to receive their payments and ability to pay his own payments. The share value can be created by the financial managers if they efficiently manage through conservative approach (Nazir and Afza, 2009). Different researchers use different analysis models. For empirical investigation, the anova and Pearson correlation analysis is applied. From these models, firm size and cash cycle can be measured easily.It is easy to measure the efficiency of working capital management (WCM), performance evaluation and the whole efficiency of the firm by setting up their targets. For calculating the overall efficiency of the firm, the target has to be achieved in limited time period. Researchers use pooled data for the analysis. In the pooled data, different independent variables such as re gress combine with the dependent variable (Zariyawati, 2009). The financial leverage and growth in sales are the major factor of firm profitability. Firms have to select the best policy to improve their collection and payment period.Efficient management financing of working capital can increase their operational profitability (Abdul, 2010). After studying the above articles, it is seen that the results of all researchers are the same on working capital management (WCM) and profitability (PRT) regardless of different companies, environments and situations. METHODOLOGY This research is to analyze the impact of working capital (WC) on the profitability (PRT) of oil and gas and automobile industry with reference to Pakistan. Different statistical tools are applied to analyze the significance of the variables. So, the method of coefficient of correlation has been selected.Regression analysis is applied for testing the model reliability and significant relationship between variables. Data set and sample Two sectors are selected from Karachi Stock Exchange. The first is oil and gas and the second is automobile sector. A total of 20 companies are taken as sample for the data collection, which are collected from different sources. They are taken from 2004 – 2009 from the annual report. Some data are collected from the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP). State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) provides an analysis report of different sectors and companies which were listed in Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE).In this study, different variables are taken to measure the working capital (WC). Working Capital is taken as independent variable (WC) while profitability is taken as dependent variable (PRT). In this case, profit after tax is taken as profitability of firms. Working Capital can be measured by different ways. First is net working capital (NWC), which is measured by current assets (CA), divided by current liabilities (CL). Second is inventory turnover in days (ITID), which is cal culated by inventory divided by Cost of Goods Sold (CGS) and multiplied by 365.Third is number of day of accounts receivable (AAR), which is calculated by other current assets divided by sale and multiplied by 365. Forth is financial asset to total assets (FATA), which is calculated by adding cash and investment and the whole divided by total assets. In addition, current ratio (CR), debt to equity ratio (DER) and sales natural logarithm (LOS) are taken as control variable in this analysis. All the aforementioned variables are affecting the Working Capital, Working Capital Management (WCM) and it will have negative or positive impact on the profitability of the firms.Hypotheses testing The objective of this research is to examine the impact of Working Capital (WC) on the profitability of firms. Figure 1 shows the impact 11008 Afr. J. Bus. Manage. Figure 1. Impact of Working Capital on Profitability. of working capital on profitability† H1: Working capital has positive effect on the profitability of firms. H0: Working capital has no positive effect on the profitability of firms. Model specification In this study, panel data regression analysis and time series of data are taken. For the regression analysis, pooled data are used.In this pooled data, all variables are combined on the same level and selected variables are grouped as independent and dependent variables. After that, all variables are selected for regression and correlation analysis. Model equation PRT it = ? 0 + ? 1 (AAR it) + ? 2 (ITID it) + ? 3 (CR it) + ? 4 (DER it) + ? 5 (LOS it) + ? 6 (FATA it) + ? 7 (NWC it) + ? PRTi t = Net Profit t; i = 1- 20 firms. ?0 : Beta ? i: Coefficients X it X it: Independent variables i at time t t: Time = 1-5 years. ?: The error term Whereas, AAR = Average Account Receivable ITID = Inventory Turnover in Days CR = Current Ratio LOS = Sales logarithmFATA = Financial Assets to Total Assets NWC = Net Working Capital DER = Debt Equity Ratio Qualitative analyses In th is paper, two analyses are applied. First, correlation and statistical tools are applied in these data. We select person correlation model for this study to find out the degree of correlation among dependent and independent variables. In the regression analysis, we gather the data from annual reports and turn it to the same level. This gathering of data is called pooled data. For this analysis, we select E-views software to analyze it correctly in the case of pooled data.DATA ANALYSIS AND REGRESSION RESULTS The correlation and determination coefficients are the measures of the regression model. First, correlation coefficient (49. 95%) and the determination coefficient (26. 12%) show the degree of correlation among working capital and profitability of selected firms from oil and gas and automobile sector over 2004 – 2009. The standard error value is 6. 5926 and F-statistics value is 5. 4213 which is significant at 1% and shows 100% fitness of the model (Table 1). Similarly, th e Durbin-Watson statistics is 1. 9991 which clearly defines that there is no serial correlation in this regression model.Table 2 shows the estimation results of the six antecedents for the independent variable of working capital at Qazi et al. 11009 Table 1. Model summary. R R2 Adjusted R-squared Standard Error of Estimate Durbin-Watson statistics F statistics 0. 499599 0. 261211 0. 213029 6. 592679 1. 991426 5. 421362 Table 2. Estimation results. Variable NWC NDAR ITID FATA DER CR Means 23. 58595 129. 4913 75. 80012 0. 217936 17. 96434 18. 85266 SD 8. 415465 351. 7532 143. 2339 0. 191679 3. 368055 0. 597391 T stats 4. 520358 0. 254527 0. 937944 -0. 477942 -0. 554939 0. 096545 Remarks Sig Not Sig Not Sig Not Sig Not Sig Not Sig Table 3.Correlation matrix. PROFIT NWC NDAR ITID FATA DER CR PROFIT 1. 000000 0. 474400 0. 109619 0. 112621 -0. 124623 -0. 201328 -0. 217375 NWC 1. 000000 -0. 086246 -0. 125120 -0. 054646 -0. 308676 -0. 397314 NDAR IITD FATA DER CR 1. 000000 0. 748882 -0. 190 807 -0. 095937 -0. 040053 1. 000000 -0. 311687 0. 061122 -0. 118921 1. 000000 0. 078238 0. 396036 1. 000000 0. 008978 1. 000000 1% significance level. The results show that Net Working Capital (NWC) has positive and significant impact on the Profitability (PRT) of firms and the rest of the variables explain the behavior of profitability but have no significant impact on profitability.In the correlation results shown in Table 3, networking capital has strong positive relationship with profitability of firms while number of days of account receivable (NDAR) and Inventory turnover in days (ITD) are positive but have weak correlation power with profitability of firms; financial assets to total assets (FATA), debt equity ratio (DER) and current ratio (CR) are weak and negatively correlate with the Profitability (PRT) of the firms.But the correlation results of independent variables somehow showed positive and strong correlation of inventory turnover in days (ITD) with number of days acco unt receivable (NDAR) and a strong but negative correlation of current ratio with net working capital; the remaining variables correlate but are weak in both the positive and negative sense, thus the concept of colinearity does not exist among the variables as evident by the analysis results. Conclusion This study is the relationship of working capital (WC) and profitability (PRT) of firms. orking capital (WC) is the major portion of the balance sheet. In this paper, data are collected form Annual Reports (AR) and analysis report which is provided from the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP). In this analysis report, the companies which are listed in stock exchange are analyzed and summarized. In this research, oil and gas and automobile sectors are taken 11010 Afr. J. Bus. Manage. as sample. Data are taken from 2004 – 2009. In this research, R shows the fitness of model which is 49. 95%. The independent variables explain 49. 95% of the model.In the regression results, only net work ing capital is positive and significant and Number of Days of Account Receivable (NDAR) and Inventory Turnover in Days (ITD) are positive but insignificant; and all other independent variables are negative and insignificant. In the correlation results, networking capital is positively correlated with profitability of the firms. The other two variables are weakly correlated with the profitability of firms and the other three independent variables are negatively correlated with profitability of firms.Hence, the empirical results of the paper show the positive trend of working capital on profitability of the firms. The results are supported by previous studies of Rahman (2007) and Nazir and Afza (2009) and Deloof (2002) on the Working Capital (WC). REFERENCES Abdual RMN (2007). Working Capital Management And Profitability – Case Of. Int. Rev. Bus. Res. Papers, pp. 279-300. Abdul RMN (2007). Working Capital Management And Profitability – Case Of Pakistani Firms. Int. Rev. Bus. Res. Papers, pp. 79-300. Abdul RTA (2010). Working Capital Management and Corporate Performance of Manufacturing Sector in Pakistan. Int. Res. J. Finan. Econ. , 47: 152. Buchmann P, Jung U (2008). Best-practice working capital management: Techniques for optimizing inventories, receivables, and payables. Q. Financ. , pp. 1-7. Deloof M (2002). Does Working Capital Management Affect Profitability of Belgian Firms? investopedia. com. (2010). Working capital : definations; negative working capital, positive working capital.Retrieved October 10, 2010, from www. investopedia. com: http://www. investopedia. com/terms/w/workingcapital. asp. Nazir S, Afza T (2009). Impact of Aggressive Working Capital Management Policy on Firms’ Profitability. J. Applied Manage . Padachi K (2006). Trends in Working Capital Management and its Impact on Firms’ Performance: An Analysis of Mauritian Small Manufacturing Firms. Int. Rev. Bus. Res. Papers, pp. 45 -58. Shin HH, Soenen L (1998). Eff iciency of working capital management and corporate profitability.Financ. Pract. Educ. , pp. 37-45. Smith K (1980). 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