Critical Thinking Essay Essay

Critical thinking includes the component skills of analyzing arguments, making inferences using inductive or deductive reasoning, judging or evaluating, and making decisions or solving problems when evaluating academic content. Background knowledge is a necessary but not a sufficient condition for enabling critical thought within a given subject. Critical thinking involves both cognitive skills and dispositions. These dispositions, which can be seen as attitudes or habits of mind, include open- and fair-mindedness, inquisitiveness, flexibility, a propensity to seek reason, a desire to be well-informed, and a respect for and willingness to entertain diverse viewpoints. There are both general- and domain-specific aspects of critical thinking. Empirical research suggests that people begin developing critical thinking competencies at a very young age. Although adults often exhibit deficient reasoning, in theory all people can be taught to think critically. Instructors are urged to provide explicit instruction in critical thinking, to teach how to transfer to new contexts, and to use cooperative or collaborative learning methods and constructivist approaches that place students at the center of the learning process. In constructing assessments of critical thinking, educators should use open-ended tasks, real-world or â€Å"authentic† problem contexts, and ill-structured problems that require students to go beyond recalling or restating previously learned information. Such tasks should have more than one defensible solution and embed adequate collateral materials to support multiple perspectives. Finally, such assessment tasks should make student reasoning visible by requiring students to provide evidence or logical arguments in support of judgments, choices, claims, or assertions. Critical thinking is an important element of all professional fields and academic disciplines when evaluating academic content. Within the framework of scientific skepticism, the process of critical thinking involves the careful acquisition and interpretation of information and use of it to reach a well-justified conclusion. The concepts and principles of critical thinking can be applied to any context or case but only by reflecting upon the nature of that application. Critical thinking forms, therefore, a system of related, and overlapping, modes of thought such as anthropological  thinking, sociological thinking, historical thinking, political thinking, psychological thinking, philosophical thinking, mathematical thinking, chemical thinking, biological thinking, ecological thinking, legal thinking, ethical thinking, musical thinking, thinking like a painter, sculptor, engineer, business person, etc. In other words, though critical thinking principles are universal, their applicat ion to disciplines requires a process of reflective contextualization. Critical thinking is considered important in the academic fields because it enables one to analyze, evaluate, explain, and restructure their thinking, thereby decreasing the risk of adopting, acting on, or thinking with, a false belief. However, even with knowledge of the methods of logical inquiry and reasoning, mistakes can happen due to a thinker’s inability to apply the methods or because of character traits such as egocentrism. Critical thinking includes identification of prejudice, bias, propaganda, self-deception, distortion, misinformation, etc. Given research in cognitive psychology, some educators believe that schools should focus on teaching their students critical thinking skills and cultivation of intellectual traits. Socratic method is defined as â€Å"a prolonged series of questions and answers which refutes a moral assertion by leading an opponent to draw a conclusion that contradicts his own viewpoint. Critical thinking skills through Socratic method taught in schools help create leaders. Instructors that promote critical thinking skills can benefit the students by increasing their confidence and creating a repeatable thought process to question and confidently approach a solution. Students also accomplish follower-ship skills that can be used to probe the leader’s foundations. Critical thinking skills through Socratic method serve to produce professionals that are self-governing. However, Socratic method for critical thinking skills can become confusing if an instructor or leader uses the method too rigidly, the student may not know what the instructor or leader wants from him. An instructor or leader may disillusion the students if he uses particular style of questioning. Instructors must reveal their reasoning behind the questions in order to guide the students in the right direction. â€Å"Socratic method can serve twenty-first-century leaders to instruct students, mentor protà ©gà ©s, motivate followers, advise other leaders, and influence peers. In conclusion, â€Å"critical thinking is the disciplined art of ensuring that you use the best  thinking you are capable of in any set of circumstances when evaluating academic content. The general goal of thinking is to figure out some situation, solve some problems, answer some questions, or resolve some issue It also is a process in which a person pursuits reliable and pertinent information about the world. Critical thinking is often described as reasonable, ruminative, trustworthy, and a well practiced form of thinking that assists people with deciding what they should believe in and what actions should be taken. A practiced critical thinker will ask good questions, collects pertinent data, categorizes common characteristics, logically reasons with the new data and then he or she will come to a trustworthy and dependable conclusion. Critical thinking makes use of many processes and procedures. Some processes include but is not limited to asking questions, making judgments, and identifying assumptions.

Emerging Trends †Business Analytics

The Need: The amount of data being generated globally increases by 40 percent a year, according to the McKinsey Global Institute, the consulting firm’s research arm. Gartner predicts that data will grow 800 percent over the next five years and 80 percent of the data will be unstructured. International Institute for Analytics predicts that â€Å"Big data analytics will top all other areas of growth in analytics during 2012 due to the rapid expansion of social, mobile, location and transaction-based data taken in by various industries. As the volume of enterprise data sky-rockets, an industry is growing up around using this flood of information to help companies operate more efficiently and sustainably. Companies increasingly will be deploying sophisticated software as a key component of their sustainability strategy. Mu Sigma, for example, an Indian firm providing data analytics and decision support services for global enterprise, secured a $108 million investment round led by General Atlantic. My smartphone produces a huge amount of data, my car produces ridiculous amounts of really valuable data, my house is throwing off data, everything is making data,† said Erik Swan, 47, cofounder of Splunk, a San Francisco-based start-up whose software indexes vast quantities of machine-generated data into searchable links. Companies search those links, as one searches Google, to analyze customer behavior in real time. Splunk is among a crop of enterprise software start-up companies that analyze big data and are establishing themselves in territory long controlled by giant business-technology vendors like Oracle and I. B. M. Founded in 2004, before the term â€Å"big data† had worked its way into the vocabulary of Silicon Valley, Splunk now has some 3,200 customers in more than 75 countries, including more than half the Fortune 100 companies. The Usage: Here’s an unsubstantiated anecdote: â€Å"There’s a cell service provider in Japan that collects GPS data from cell phone users. The cell provider collects the data in real time, and keeps track of which people are walking the furthest. Once a month, the cell provider gives an award to the walker who covered the greatest distance. In a way, cell phones are working like sensors to collect and analyze streaming big data. † â€Å"Imagine a consumer walking around downtown in a city, shopping. Now imagine letting a shopping service know where he is, plus maybe the kinds of goods he is looking for. As I walk, the GPS coordinates could stream to the shopping service, and it could point him to stores that match his interests. † â€Å"A lot of people know how to work with data,† observed Anand Rajaraman, â€Å"but now there is a lot more data so the kinds of things you can do with it and the way you work with it can are very different. The founder of companies which have been acquired by Amazon and Walmart, Rajaraman is now senior vice president at Walmart Global e-commerce and co-founder @WalmartLabs, and a professor at Stanford. Traditional users of large amounts of Data — retail, telecom and intelligence — are already comfortable with it. The next big set of users is in mobile-soc ial, especially incorporating geolocation. Some areas have been underserved, such as health care, which is described as the third rail because it has been too hard and too slow. But now health care is experiencing a fundamental change similar to what retail felt when customers came in armed with smart phones and had more information than sales people. Patients are starting to acquire more information and health care providers are developing more analytics. The Education: To arrive at solutions on how to perceive, derive, collate, store, sort and use data for business decisions is Data Analytics. All areas of commerce, business, economics and sciences are using data analysis to arrive at solutions. To do this there is a certain skill set that has to be created, the science of teaching this has grown into what academic institutions call Data Analytics or Business Intelligence programs. The institutions that have taken on the mantle of teaching data analytics are the management institutions with inputs from their engineering, mathematics and statistics departments creating interdisciplinary programs to acquire data mining and interpreting skills. Most management institutions are at the forefront on this learning derivative because business now believes that this skill will be critical to improving their penetration and profitability. The Education programs train students on: Data Collection and Integration Processes for Enterprise Decision Making Advanced Data Analysis Database Management Web Analytics Marketing Analytics Process Optimization Text Mining The Nomenclature of Education Programs: Masters of Science in Analytics Masters of Science in Predictive Analytics Masters of Science in Business Intelligence Masters of Science in Business Analytics Masters of Science in Data Mining Certification in Data Analytics Duration of the Program: 10 months to 18 months Statistical Methods and Models Predictive Analytics Advanced Statistics Financial Analysis Predictive Modeling Data Warehousing Data Mining Techniques Mining Genomics Data Some of the Indian Institutions that are helping students gain data analytic skills are: Institutions Indian Institute of Science http://www. mgmt. iisc. ernet. in Location Bangalore Program Name Master of Management Program Length 24 Months (Full Time) Contact Details Department of Management Studies IISC Bangalore 560 012 Phone: +91-80-2293 2567 (Office) Fax: +91-80-2360 4534 E-mail: [email  protected] iisc. ernet. in The Administrative Officer Executive Education Programmes IIM Bangalore, Bannerghatta Road, Bangalore 560 076 Phone : +91-80-26993475 /3660/ 3264 /3742 Fax : +91-80 – 26584004 / 26584050 E-mail : [email  protected] ernet. n Admissions Office Indian School of Business Gachibowli, Hyderabad-500032 Phone: +91 40 2318 7474 /7484 /7494 Fax: +91 40 2300 7099 Admissions office Address: Praxis Business School, Next to Akademia International School, Bakrahat Road, P. O. Rasapunja, Kolkata – 700104 Phone: +91 98368 77599/ +9133 24980553/4 E-mail: [email  protected] ac. in Indian Institute of Management Bangalore http://www. iimb. ernet. in Bangalore Certificate Programme on Business Analytics and Intelligence 12 Months (Part Time) Indian School of Business http://www. isb. edu/ Hyderabad Part of the MBA program Analytics Labs (only for enrolled MBA students) 12 Months (Full Time) Praxis Business School http://praxis. ac. in (Knowledge Partners PWC and ICICI) Kolkata Post Graduate Program in Business Analytics Some International Programs offering Business Analytics: 1. In 2007, North Carolina State University began offering the first graduate degree in Analytics. In just 10 months, students can earn a Master of Science in Analytics through the university’s Institute for Advanced Analytics. The degree program addresses data collection and integration, statistical methods and models and complex processes for enterprise decision making. 2. In 2010, DePaul University announced a Master of Science in Predictive Analytics (MSPA) through its Center for Data Mining and Predictive Analytics, a joint venture between the School of Computing and the School of Marketing. The DePaul program covers data mining, predictive analytics and business intelligence. 3. Northwestern University will begin its first MSPA degree program in the fall of 2011. The new MSPA degree provides core basics such as data mining concepts and applications, and extends into advanced data analysis, advanced statistics, database management, financial analysis, web analytics, predictive modeling and marketing analytics. 4. Students can earn a Master of Science in Business Intelligence (MSBI) from Saint Joseph’s University. The program offers evening classes and addresses technology integration, quantitative skills and analytics within a business context. 5. The University of Denver also offers an MSBI degree rogram through the Daniels College of Business. The program focuses on how to gather and leverage information to lead organizations and guide decisions. The cross-functional coursework covers data warehousing, marketing, finance and operations and incorporates real project work. 6. The University of Tennessee Knoxville offers a Master of Science in Business Analytics through the College of Business Administration. The program provides students with an understanding of business and helps them learn the analytical skills needed to solve business problems. Students can choose one of three areas of concentration: Applied Statistics, Process Optimization or Business Intelligence. 7. Since 2003, Central Connecticut State University has offered a Master of Science in Data Mining degree. The program helps students master the cross-industry standard process for data mining, become proficient with leading data mining software, and to understand and apply a wide variety of mathematical and statistical techniques. It also introduces students to the latest data mining techniques and applications such as text mining and mining genomics data. Student Educational Backgrounds: Any student comfortable with Mathematics and Statistics can opt for these programs. Companies In India hiring for Analytics: Target, Dell, IBM, HP (analytics), Citi, ICICI, PWC, Accenture, etc.

Master in Finance Admissions Essays Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Master in Finance Admissions Essays - Essay Example In the Department of Corporate Research at Unilever, I grasped how research projects are chosen and financed based on customer preferences. I also understood the importance of saving time & money while doing research. During my research assistantship at IIT Bombay, I worked on the optimization of chemical processes involved in the death of cancer cells triggered by intravenous delivery current platinum-based drugs. At IIT Bombay (IITB), I was exposed to various technological & social issues. My internships and studies at Unilever, University of Oklahoma, IITB, and the University of Cambridge, provided me opportunities to interact with people from diverse cultures. This immensely broadened my vision and knowledge base and enabled me to incorporate different perspectives and viewpoints. I have always been fascinated to work in interdisciplinary work environments, like the one at Unilever, because it draws in combined knowledge of experts from various fields, thus giving valuable experience of collaborating with various teams. I believe that MPhil in Finance offers an opportunity to combine finance and economics with mathematics and help me develop a strong background for a career integrating chemical engineering and finance. I plan to work in a field that would integrate chemical engineering and finance, and help promote industry growth in high-technology-related areas. The lectures by experts a t IIT Bombay, especially by Dr. Muhammad Yunus have helped me become aware of the issues that often affect society. I have been motivated to do something for solving the problem of malnutrition and growing environmental pollution in developing countries, like my own, by helping develop investment instruments to hedge against risks. This would facilitate the growth of new industries using funds drawn from international capital markets. This includes the manufacturing of nutritional foods with longer shelf lives, at the lowest possible costs, and making the foods available at affordable prices, while manufacturing those products using energy-efficient and cost-effective technologies.

Making Decisions Based on Demand and Forecasting Research Paper - 1

Making Decisions Based on Demand and Forecasting - Research Paper Example The year 2000 census established that whites form the majority of the population followed by the African Americans in Chesapeake, Virginia. It is an extremely economically vibrant city with a lot of business opportunities. The City’s economic status means that the per capita earnings of the population are fairly good and promotes the service and commodity industries because the population has more purchasing power (United States Bureau of the Statistics, 2001). With only a small percentage of the entire population living below the poverty line and the majority of those above this line being between the ages of 15 and 35 years, it makes the city an unusually favorable place for business opportunities. The population of Chesapeake as of the year 2010 was 222,209 people with the majority of this population earning between 60,000 -100,000 thousand US Dollars annually (United States Bureau of the Census, 2006). The age that is associated with pizza or is pizza tolerant also happens to be the majority age group of between 10 and 40 years. The cost of living is high, which means that the prices here are relatively higher as compared to other cities. This is brought about by the economic stability of this Region: The rental prices are relatively cheap and the city’s security is conducive for businesses and their clients. The use of demand and forecasting, in making business decisions, is a wise tool to choose because it relies on facts on the ground to make predictions about the suitability of an event in the future or the present (United States Bureau of Economics, 2006). Estimated regression is a mathematical principle used in this process, and it uses this formula;  = a + bx with y and x being the two variables under consideration. They determine the suitability of the future conditions or circumstances that will prevail in relation to the business. The variables x is used to predict the outcome, which is represented by y. The coefficient of

Business plan brief Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Business plan brief - Research Paper Example In other circumstances, sun block is also incorporated in moisturizers. Hawaiian Tropics aims to provide a new sun block makeup line which incorporates the sun protection offered by typical sun block together with the physical enhancements of makeup. The new product is aimed to be a fusion of these two typically separate products. In so doing, the line will be addressing the need of women on the go as this requires lesser application time. The two-in-one product will allow women to retouch their makeup and put on sun block anytime they need them. After looking at the market, Hawaiian Tropics' decision is to target transitioners who are either A or C. In terms of age, these markets are seen to be often seeking for beauty products in order to enhance their physical appearance and have confidence in themselves. Being in the stage of transitioning from teens to adulthood, this age group desires to have products which will enable them gain confidence when dealing with other people and are more likely using both makeup and sun block. The choice of going after customers using makeup and sun block together or separately is justified by the fact that these are the most profitable market.

Novartis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Novartis - Essay Example In addition, the company is concerned about the role of its employees in the provision of quality services and achieving the company’s performance target. To facilitate the objective, Novartis introduced the annual energy excellence awards to motivate its employees. Although, Novartis has promoted an extensive performance management process, their efforts have not attained the desired levels of expectation. The Performance Management Process Can Be Considered ‘Strategic’ Novartis PM Process is strategic since it links other HR polices such reward, talent development and training with its performance management policies. This is a good strategy since it enables the company to achieve its management objectives through direct approach. The pay for performance system is strategic since it enables the company to motivate its employees by rewarding them for exceptional performance. Moreover, the company can evaluate the value of its employees in terms of the value that they contribute to the company. Rewarding employees for exceptional performance also enables them to benefits from their initiatives and handwork (Randle, 2007). To implement the performance program Novartis has implemented a training program to equip its staff with the required skills. Although the PM process is rewarding in the short term, it cannot be relied upon in the long term. This is because; employee’s performance is limited to several factors including their ability and perf ormance capacity. Moreover, the policy does not promote loyalty and skill development among the company staff. This is because the employees are only concerned with the gains they are making out of their performance rather than the overall performance of the company. The HR policy does not help to sharpen the skills of individual employees since it focuses on the overall performance of the team rather than the performance of individuals. Line managers rather than HR staff drive the process. This is an advantage as well as a disadvantage to the company in terms of skill development and company’s performance. Line managers are more inclined to production and overall company’s’ performance rather than skill development. This makes them less suitable for the job considering that the company needs to establish a long-term relation with its customers. Alternatively, being managed by line managers is superior to being managed by HR officers since they focus on the prod uction aspect of an employee. Components & Techniques of the Process PM components and techniques involve employee rating and performance evaluation. The â€Å"First Steps 2006/7 was the first Novartis PM process for all V&D staff. The rating process was used to determine and categorize employees according to their performance capacity. Throughout the PM process, measuring or rating employees according to their performance ability is essential. However, the process is not beneficial to members of staff since it only targets employee’s performance rather than the cause of poor or exceptional performance (Marketline, 2012). The process only provides a comparison on employee’s performance rather than the cause of poor performance among employees. Consequently, the pulse check 2008 provides a review of employee’s performance rather than strategies to improve the performance. The survey emphasizes on identifying key improvements that have led to the company’s development. This is not a strategic move since it does not define any specific plan or activity that will lead to the company’

MANAGING HUMAN CAPITAL Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

MANAGING HUMAN CAPITAL - Essay Example This has been in terms of falling revenues and loss of crucial talent and problems in talent retention. The critical literature puts forth a direct relationship between the HR polices and organizational productivity. This is followed by the primary research which supplements the critical literature through primary findings. The findings reveal that Emirates HR policies and practices in the HR departments must be redesigned to cater to the immediate business needs of the organization. The redesigning must come in the form of changes in recruitment activities, change in compensation packages and aligning training modules with the aim of serving the business needs of Emirates. Introduction The project seeks to put forth the present human resource conditions in Emirates Airlines which is the largest airline operating in the Middle East flying over 2400 passengers in a week. The company’s are located around 111 numbers of cities across 62 nations in the world. It also operates thre e of the nonstop commercial flights from Dubai. This company has been chosen for the study as it is the fastest growing global airlines in the world and is known for the high quality of services that it provides to its customers (Emirates, 2011). Known for its advanced and improved human resource management practices the company has evolved as the being one of the most employee friendly organizations to work with. Not only does its HR practices aim to reduce costs and enable the development of learning and development, it also tries to facilitate employees’ growth and prospective in the organization. The most remarkable part of its human resource management practices is the way they are directed towards the attainment of the company’s goals and objectives (Emirates-a, 2011). The project tries to analyses the present human resource issues and challenges confronting the company. Based on the analysis it provides an action plan for the same. This is done by the developmen t of an outline plan for the company which would contribute to its growth in business as well. The literature review presents critical analysis of how HRM practices can affect and regulate the business development of organizations and add to its goodwill. It would be presented with reference to the examples of major organizations in the world. In this context special emphasis would be provided to the Michigan model and the Harvard’s model. To supplement the above critical analysis primary research would be conducted to bring about a relationship between the HR practices in organizations and the development of its businesses. Analysis of Company background and current challenges/issues they are facing With the growing number of international airlines across the world, the organization has been confronting with a problem of employee crunch and employee retention. It is felt that the company redesigns its recruitment strategies in order to attain a competitive position in terms of attracting and retaining talents. The study suggests that Emirates Airlines must seek to develop a dedicated recruitment services team within the various departments which would ensure the

Marketing Influences Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Marketing Influences - Essay Example This paper will discuss Levi jeans for men based on personal influences as opposed to rivals as well as segmentation and targeting initiatives. Levi jeans for men have been around for many years and are still popular today. Various brands have come and disappeared, but the Levi jeans brand is still dominant in the market, showing that the company has considerable market power. The brand satisfies and appeals to the needs of its male clients regardless of the age brackets with diverse style senses. The name of the brand is what makes one to purchase the jeans. Since they have existed in the market for quite some time, the name has acquired the trust of consumers from different parts of the world. When one sees the name of the brand, he thinks of quality and picks the product for that reason. The brand receives this major benefit for addressing the requirements of its clients for many years (Fuller, 2011). Levi jeans are attractive since they provide various types of cuts. One has a broad range of denim cuts to select from, meaning that you can select the cut that you are most comfortable with. Although other jeans provide various cuts, they do not offer a broad selection as in the case of Levi, particularly because it is always updating, offering, and adjusting (Fuller, 2011). Levi has undertaken processes, which other brands struggle with while trying to keep their brands relevant in the marketplace. Levi jeans are popular because one is aware that they offer a broad range of relevant styles. Most jeans brands arise and disappear since they fail to get in touch with the client. As such, they cannot keep producing products that clients do not need. Levi is unlike its rivals in the marketplace. It has managed to provide great jeans and relevant styles that are appealing to clients in different parts of the world (Fairchild, 2014). The prevalence of

Criticall review for secure Database Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Criticall review for secure Database - Essay Example One of the reasons for not implementing secured databases is the improper design that does not act in accordance to organizational security policies. This document presents the importance of database security and critically reviews the various reasons for improper security implementation. Moreover, the document provides comprehensive analysis of the techniques and strategies are being utilized to overcome the database security issues (Abramov, Anson, Dahan, Shoval and Sturm, 2012). Database Security The database security is concerned with the unauthorized access or misuse of the authorized user which leads to the leakage of personal or potential information. A database is said to be a reliable data storage source if it does not compromise on confidentiality (data security), integrity (the correctness of data) and availability. The integrity of data is dependent on the data gathering and storing process, moreover, if the database could be accessed by unauthorized users can influence t he correctness of data. ... Moreover, the data can be made secure by the application security and database integrity controls (Oracle, 2003). Logical and Physical Database Security The Elmasri and Navathe in 2004 a methodology have been introduced for developing a database design. The database designing methodology has following three (3) main phases include: the Conceptual database design, Logical database design, and Physical database design. As the objective of this document s to present a review of the database security concerns for avoiding illegal access, therefore, the document limits the discussion to the logical database design phase. In order to implement the security policies, the logical database design is the most critical phase. The database security can be implemented while designing the database and developing the software application. There are certain techniques need to be implemented for the development of a secured database. One of the techniques is the general security specification techniq ue that can be implemented using Unified Modeling Language (UML) use cases. In order to implement the user privileges the database designer needs to implement the access control specification technique. One of the limitations of these techniques include these methods do not have provisions to tackle the organizational security policy. Keeping in view the limitations, a new security model has been suggested in which the database designers can implement the organizational security policy patterns which would be implemented while application development. In the design phase the database designers can develop security constraints following organizational policy. The

Fanatic perceptions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Fanatic perceptions - Essay Example Fanatic perceptions Support is important in every area of life. The support is given to players from fans. The fans have different types of antics that are used to lift up the player’s spirits and encourage them to endure. It is true in the sense that this spirit lifting renders a subtle affect that helps the players get on with the game. Fans and spectators may differ on opinions of what they see and what they believe. It is this inner reaction that is produced by the fans that give off different emotions during the game. Some fans have so much energy built up for the game that they become fanatics. The fanatic can sometimes have violent outbursts while being so caught up in the game. These types of violent actions happens in more cases then are needed. Fans become so caught up in the game that excitement is quickly turned into anger and violence. This anger and violence can be dangerous to those nearby. A good example of how these fanatics lose their self control and cause violence is demonstra ted in an incident that recently happened. The incident happened at a game between the Boston Celtics and the Utah Jazz. Viewing this particular game can demonstrate how fans lose self control. The NBA game held between the two teams could have been prevented by self control. The game shows how spectators come from different walks of life. The spectators from the game have different opinions and feelings toward the game. Not everyone in the crowd will share the same beliefs. Some spectators are attending the game to experience a good time. This is proven by the many beer bottles and whistled that surround this type of spectators. Other spectator’s attend games because of the dedication they have to the home team. These spectators dress in colors of the team they adore. The spectators also may purchase season tickets so that no game is missed. Many bring cameras in hopes to catch that perfect shot which can be kept as a sacred memory. Whichever way the spectator has chosen to show his or her appreciation, it is easily shown. Regardless of the sport, each fan has their own motivation that persuades them to be a fan. These fans are what bring the spirit to the game. Alt hough each fan may have a different motive, the fan is there for one reason and that reason is to support the team. The way people of different walks of life are able to come together and cheer on a team shows dedication. Some fans are so caught up in the moment that they put all ethics aside and turn to violence. This is clearly reviled in an incident at an NBA game. A game between the Celtics and the Jazz left people injured and fans in an outrage. During the game, â€Å"the filmmaker was even struck blurring the camera from taking clear shots of the event†. (gazette.com) Incidents of violence happen quite often, and can often be prevented. The different ways that the fans link their personalities to support the same team are similar to the writings of Karl Marx. These incidents between the fans and the games follow them for the rest of their lives. This is also true with writing created by Karl Marx. KARL MARX People from all over the world have different perceptions on ev ents that happen around them. It is certain that each person in life will hold a different viewpoint then the person next to them. This is true for everything in life. The different perceptions that are shown from the players are similar to the

Stone Cold Authors Craft Essay Example for Free

Stone Cold Authors Craft Essay Write an analytical response to the opening chapters of Robert Swindells Stone Cold, with specific reference to the authors craft. Every novel needs an effective opening. If it wasnt any good, we probably wouldnt read the novel! How do authors try and make the opening paragraphs of their books effective? Writers try to hook the reader into reading their book, by making a strong narrative pull; they try to make the reader want to know whats going to happen next? so that they read on. They do this with the aid of the authors craft. The authors craft is like a writers secret code of story telling. Its their nifty gizmo, and they call it their craft. Its basically their way of writing, and it is made up of two main parts; narrative elements and literary devices. Every author has a craft, but they all use it in different ways and in this essay I aim to show how Robert Swindells has used it, in the opening paragraphs of his book, Stone cold. Literary devices, as can be worked out from its name are the tools and techniques that authors use to make their work more meaningful and significant. Narrative Elements set out the story and its structure in different aspects, for instance its plot, characters and setting. Swindells has mastered the use of characterization in the opening paragraphs of his novel, and even in his first sentence, he characterizes his main character: You can call me Link. Links tone and wording makes him seem friendly -so the reader knows what sort of personality Link is of- and eager to talk to the reader directly, via the pronoun you. And by putting the words you and me in one sentence Swindells also makes the first sentence emotion as Link is connecting to the reader directly. The opening sentence in a way welcomes the readers into the book. It also seems a bit random, because we dont know at all whats going on. So this makes the reader eager to know why the character would want to be called by an alias, so would therefore read on to find out. In the same way, in the next paragraph another character is shown. The way he talks is very different to how the previous character did, so it is evidently clear he isnt the same person. By starting of with just Shelter and the often repetition of the word, it shows this character is quite full of himself. Unlike Link, this character doesnt at all use the word you, so is clearly not talking to the reader, but rather to himself. Swindells uses the technique of foreshadowing here. Here it is shown in advance that Shelter is a bit crazy, hence he is talking to himself. This is consequently proved later on in the novel, when the deeply disturbed Shelter, stores his murdered victims corpses under his floor boards, after making them presentable with clothing and haircuts. He seemed to care for the victims he despised in life, undoubtedly making him a lunatic. In the opening sentences Swindells uses a metaphor, to make the reader want to read on and question: Im invisible, see? One of the invisible people. Swindells does this to make the reader question as to why Link would say that, whats going on in his life to make him feel neglected? This makes the reader nosy and want to read on. Its also emotional, because Links manner of saying this kind of touch the heart. He says it as if no one cares about him, and he shows he is upset about it. Once again this makes the reader want to read on to find out why he feels like that, but the answer is revealed truly in the end of the book, when another character called Gail betrays him. Swindells does this so that the reader has to finish the book. In the last sentence of Links paragraph, Swindells expertly uses irony. Link says: Ill tell you the story of my fascinating life. It is obvious here that Link is being sarcastic as he seems depressed and hurt, and the reader does not expect Link to say this due to his negative attitude, even though to a normal person it probably would be fascinating. All this emphasizes on the fact that Link is the main character and the book is about his fascinating life. This makes the reader once again want to read on. As can be seen, most literary devices are aimed to make the novel more exiting to make the reader carry on reading. Throughout the second paragraph the technique of parallel structure is used. All the sentences are short and snappy: Its what theyre all seeking. The street people. What they crave. This creates a rhythm to what Shelter says and makes it confusing but satisfying; this makes the reader think about what is being said. The short sentences also grab the attention of the reader and make the reader think and wonder whether possibly the reason Link was sitting in the doorway was possibly because he was one of the street people, so may possibly be homeless. Furthermore the thing Link wanted from the passer-bys was money. In the same way the reader might jump to other conclusions, so carry on reading to find out if he was right and if not what else it could be. In the end of the second paragraph of the novel, Allusion is used. Well get fell in my lucky lads. Here Shelter is referring back to the army, when soldiers fall into line. This also gives a sense of foreshadowing because later on in the novel, the reader discovers that Shelter was actually from the army, and he creates a little a little army of his self with the homeless people or as he call them his lucky lads. From the opening chapters of Stone Cold, it is clear that even in a little extract of a novel authors use the authors craft quite a lot, and very complexly. The opening of this particular book is very effective and really does make the reader want to read on further in the book. People say that you cant judge a book by its cover and I agree with that. They should judge it by its opening paragraphs. If an author cant write the most important paragraph of a book properly, why would the rest of the novel be any different? Robert Swindells has written a successful novel here, and a lot of that goes onto the fact that he had a great opening paragraph.

Absorption Costing Vs Marginal Costing | Case Study

Absorption Costing Vs Marginal Costing | Case Study As Marabs Manufacturing Limited deals in different products, some standard while others customised, it should accordingly adopt different but suitable techniques for costing these products. Absorption costing and marginal costing are two different techniques of cost accounting which can be used by Marabs Manufacturing. These techniques may be suited under different circumstances. How is Absorption Costing Different from Marginal Costing? Absorption costing is a traditional method of inventory costing that traces all manufacturing costs (the variable and the fixed costs of production) to the product. These costs do not become expenses until the inventory is sold. Absorption costing considers normal manufacturing costs as product costs and includes them for inventory valuation. As sales occur, the cost of inventory is transferred to cost of goods sold. Absorption costing emphasises the functional characteristics of cost. Using this system, the profit reported for a manufacturing business for a period is influenced by the level of production as well as by the level of sales. The rationale for absorption costing is that it causes a product to be measured and reported at its complete cost. Absorption costing is based on the premise that even though it is difficult to trace costs like fixed manufacturing overhead to a particular unit of output it does not mean that they are not a cost of that output. As a result, such cost s are allocated to products. In contrast, marginal costing is a costing technique of presenting cost data wherein variable costs and fixed costs are shown separately for managerial decision-making. Marginal costing system emphasises the behavioural characteristics of cost. The focus of this system of costing is on separating costs into variable elements and fixed elements. Under marginal costing, variable costs are charged to cost units and the fixed costs are treated as period costs and, as such, are simply deducted from contribution in the period incurred to arrive at net profit. Inventory/stock for profit measurement under marginal costing is valued at marginal cost. It is in sharp contrast to the total unit cost under absorption costing method. There are various other points of difference. The key differences between marginal and absorption costing are: Accounting for Fixed Manufacturing Costs Marginal and absorption costing differ in terms of treatment of fixed manufacturing costs. Under marginal costing, fixed manufacturing costs are excluded from inventory costs and are a cost of the period in which they are incurred. On the other hand, under absorption costing, these costs are included in the cost of inventory and become a part of cost of goods sold in the period when sales occur. Presentation of Sales and Cost Data Facilitating Decision-Making Absorption costing does not differentiate between variable and fixed cost in the calculation of profits. But marginal cost statement very clearly indicates this difference in arriving at the net operational results of a firm. The differences in presentation are clearly shown in the costing pro-forma below. ABSORPTION COSTING PRO-FORMA Â £ Â £ Â £ Sales xxx Production cost of Sales Opening Stock xxx Production Costs: Direct Materials Direct Labour Production Cost absorbed xxx xxx xxx xxx xxx Less: Closing stock (xxx) (xxx) Production Overhead absorbed xxx Production Overhead incurred xxx Over absorbed / Under absorbed xxx or (xxx) xxx Administration overheads incurred xxx Selling and distribution costs xxx (xxx) Profit xxx MARGINAL COSTING PRO-FORMA Â £ Â £ Â £ Sales xxx Variable cost of Sales Opening Stock xxx Variable Production Costs: Direct Materials Direct Labour Variable Production Cost xxx xxx xxx xxx xxx Less: Closing stock (xxx) Variable Production Cost of Sales xxx Variable Selling and Distribution xxx Total Variable Cost of Sales (xxx) Contribution xxx Fixed Costs: Fixed Production Cost Fixed administration cost Fixed selling and distribution xxx xxx xxx Total Fixed Costs (xxx) Profit xxx Absorption of Fixed Overheads In absorption costing, fixed overheads can never be completely absorbed. However, this is not so under marginal costing. Under marginal costing, the actual fixed overhead incurred is wholly charged against contribution. Stock Valuation In marginal costing, work in progress and finished stocks are valued at marginal or variable cost, but in absorption costing, they are valued at total production cost. Difference in Profits The net profits under absorption costing method and marginal costing methods differ if there is a difference between opening and closing stock values. When closing stock is more than opening stock, the profit under absorption costing will be higher as comparatively a greater portion of fixed cost is included in closing stock and carried over to next period. When opening and closing stocks are same, there will be no difference in profit, provided the fixed cost element in opening and closing stocks are of the same amount. Thus, absorption costing and marginal costing differ in their approach and treatment of costs. However, each method has its own advantages and disadvantages. Arguments in Favour of Using Absorption Costing Absorption costing is simple to administer and easy to understand, and may be appropriate when direct costs are of significance. Besides, absorption costing is required for outside reporting where other methods of costing such as marginal costing are not accepted. It is also widely used for cost control purpose. Thus, there are various arguments in favour of absorption costing are: Absorption costing does not need to separate costs into fixed and variable costs. This is especially useful in situations where separation of costs into fixed and variable is difficult and gives misleading results. Under marginal costing, stocks and work in progress are understated. The exclusion of fixed costs from inventories affect profit and true and fair view of financial affairs of an organisation may not be clearly transparent. Absorption cost data is more realistic than marginal cost data in case of highly fluctuating levels of production, e.g., in case of seasonal factories. Besides, volume variance in standard costing also discloses the effect of fluctuating output on fixed overhead. Application of fixed overhead depends on estimates and not on the actuals and as such there may be under or over absorption of the same. Absorption costing takes care of this while marginal costing may not be able to do so. Absorption costing controls cost by means of budgetary control. This is an acceptable process to many. In order to know the net profit, one needs to take into account fixed overheads also. A system like marginal costing which ignores fixed costs is less effective since a major portion of fixed cost is not taken into account. Thus, absorption costing proves to be better. Arguments in Favour of Using Marginal Costing Despite its various advantages, absorption costing may not always prove to be the best approach to costing or pricing a product. It may not help management take important decisions about a product. Marginal costing may prove to be a better system of costing. For the decision-making purpose of management, better information about expected profit is obtained from the use of variable costs and contribution approach in the accounting system. The arguments that favour marginal costing are: It is simple to understand and avoids having varying charges per unit as it does not charge fixed overhead to cost of production. It prevents the illogical carry forward in stock valuation of some proportion of current year’s fixed overhead. It facilitates cost control as it avoids arbitrary allocation of fixed overhead. Marginal costing uses cost control methods such as flexible budgets. It facilitates cost-volume-profit (CVP) or breakeven analysis and profitability analysis and thus helps in short-term profit planning. It also helps an organization compare profitability and performance between two or more products and divisions and help the management in decision making. Under marginal costing system, large balances are not carried under overhead control accounts and thus there is no difficulty of ascertaining an accurate overhead recovery rate. As marginal costing is much closer to cash flow managers usually find it easier to understand marginal costing reports. Using Both Absorption Costing and Marginal Costing Like any other organization, a manager at Marabs Manufacturing Limited will need to take decisions when he encounters problems and alternative courses of action are available. In deciding which option to choose he will need all the relevant information. In most cases cost information proves to be relevant to any decision making. However, no single costing approach can provide appropriate information for taking decisions in all circumstances. In certain cases absorption costing will provide more complete information while in other cases marginal costing information will be more relevant. The theoretical basis for absorption costing is that decisions should be based on the matching principle for all manufacturing costs. Marabs Manufacturing incurs fixed manufacturing cost with the expectation that the resources represented by these costs will be used in the production of inventory. Hence, these costs should be matched against the revenue generated from the sale of that inventory. In contrast, the theoretical reasoning for marginal costing is that fixed manufacturing overhead will be incurred in the short-run irrespective of the volume of production or level of inventory. A significant portion of the fixed manufacturing overhead costs is unavoidable in the short run even when the facilities are idle. Marabs Manufacturing Limited is in a multi-product business. Some products are standard products while others are based on specific orders or are customized according to specifications provided by customers. Wherever the company is costing for standard products it may use absorption costing. It is also given in the scenario that the standard products tend to be seasonal and highly fluctuating. Absorption cost data is more realistic than marginal cost data in case of highly fluctuating levels of production. Absorption costing will also be useful while making certain decisions, for example the price to be charged for external services. However, all decisions related to specific orders and or products adapted to meet the requirements of individual customers should be based on marginal costs. Thus, Marabs Manufacturing Limited should not restrict itself to just absorption costing or just marginal costing and use cost data based on both approaches. The chosen approach should depend on the nature of decision required. As a guideline, if the required decision relates to cost control, cost data based on absorption costing will be more appropriate. However, cost data based on marginal costing will be more appropriate for short-term managerial decision-making and control. Decision analysis should ideally include costs that vary with a decision. Though marginal costing identifies both fixed and variable costs its decisions are based on only the variable component of costs of an activity. Fixed costs are not relevant in case of many decisions that involve relatively small variations from existing practice and/or are for relatively limited periods of time. This is because fixed costs are difficult to alter in the short term. Variable cost corresponds closely with the expenditure n ecessary to produce and sell products and services and can therefore be used more readily in incremental analysis than absorption costing data. Marginal costing is also appropriate for decision making when an activity centre has short-term spare capacity. Marginal costing will also help the company in taking a decision on the minimum price that could be charged for a product. This can be particularly useful for pricing additional sales at special reduced rates when sales have already been made at the normal selling price. As fixed costs have already been paid of all that is required to cover the variable costs of any additional sales Finally, marginal costing can help Marabs Manufacturing take decisions related to: Budget planning and determining the volume of sales required to make a profit Pricing and sales volume decisions. Sales mix decisions, to determine in what proportions each product should be sold. Decisions that will affect the cost structure and production capacity of the company. Whether or not to close down a factory, department, product line or other activity, either because it is making losses or because it is too expensive to run. To sum it up, both absorption as well as marginal costing techniques are appropriate for the company and one cannot be treated as better than the other. The choice of a technique should be dependent on the costing objective. References: Charles T. Horngren, George Foster, Srikant M. Datar, Cost Accounting: A Managerial Emphasis, Prentice Hall John K. Harris, Cost Accounting Student Guide, 12th Edition, Prentice Hall Michael W. Maher, William N. Lanen, Madhav V. Rajan, Fundamentals of Cost Accounting, McGraw-Hill/Irwin Ronald W. Hilton, Frank H. Selto, Michael W. Maher, Frank Selto, Cost Management: Strategies for Business Decisions, McGraw-Hill College Absorption Costing / Full Costing accessed from: http://www.valuebasedmanagement.net/methods_absorption_costing.html

Working With Special Populations

Working With Special Populations Spirduso et al. (2005) gives the definition of ageing as ‘ A process or group of processes occurring in living organisms that begins with birth and, with the passage of time, leads to a loss of adaptability, functional impairment and eventually death. Also Swain and Leutholtz (2002) define aging as a result in years of physical inactivity, and that much to do with the biological consequences of age is the sedentary lifestyles most aging people have. Those who remain physically active throughout life demonstrate much slower rates of physical decline than do the sedentary, and a growing body of research indicates that those who have been sedentary for many years can experience significant improvements by beginning an exercise programme even at very advanced ages (Fiatrone et al. 1990). The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that there is over 20 percent of the population in the United Kingdom over the age of 65 and by the year 2025 there is an overall projection that, that value will rise to almost as much as 30% of the population living in the united Kingdom to be over the age of 65 (Mcardle, Katch and Katch 2010). Research shows that when properly prescribed exercise, elderly people can significantly improve their aerobic power (Eshani 1987), muscular strength and size (Fiatrone et al. 1990; Frontera et al. 1988), and bone density (Dalsky 1989). Improvements in functional movements such as walking speed and stair climbing power have also been reported (Fiatrone et al. 1990). These results can reverse the effects of many years of physical decline and lead to greater independence and a much higher quality of life. More than half of elderly people have at least one disability or chronic condition, participation in a regular physical activity/exercise programme has many physiological health benefits including reducing the risk and lessening the impact of many chronic diseases (DiPietro, Caspersen and Ostfield 1995). Aging has numerous effects on organ systems in the body, effecting skeletal muscle, body composition, the cardiovascular system, the metabolic system, the respiratory system, the nervous system, energy expenditure and energy intake and also thermoregulation. These can all seem to be contraindications for exercising when elderly such as thermoregulation being affected this means there is a decreased ability to regulate body temperature when homeostasis is challenged; decreased amount of sweat per active sweat gland; reduced response to increased blood flow during exercise attributable to structure and response of cutenous blood vessels; inadequate ability to reduce splanchnic blood flow during exercise (Kenney 1997 and King, Martin 1998). In general, if an individual leads an active lifestyle it preserves and enhances skeletal muscle, strength and endurance, flexibility, cardio respiratory fitness and body composition for later life. Main Content Physiological Factors Cardiovascular Fitness + Training Since many elderly individuals have a low initial fitness level, it is prudent to begin exercise programmes at a low intensity and to progress gradually (Swain and Leutholtz 2002). Low cardiorespiratory fitness is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease and all cause mortality (Blazer 1982). Low VO2 peak is associated with reduced ability to perform ADLs (activities of daily living) including climbing stairs and brisk walking (Birdt 1998). A small improvement in cardiovascular fitness is associated with lower risk of death. Healthy sedentary older men and women can increase their cardiorespiratory fitness by performing aerobic exercise training (Engels et al. 1998: Kuczmarski et al. 1994). Physical activities that the elderly population, should engage in are walking (indoors, outdoors, or treadmill), gardening, swimming (water aerobics), golf and cycling (White 1995). Combining strength with endurance training is also beneficial for the elderly individual. One study showed that after 6 months of combined resistance and endurance training, older healthy individuals increased their VO2 peak (11%) and their upper and lower body strength (Blazer 1982). The ability to carry out normal daily task such as carrying laundry, vacuuming and climbing stairs translated to carrying 14% more weight and moving 10% faster. Resistance Training Elderly individuals, including the oldest old and very frail elderly, demonstrate physiological adaptations to strength training (Kuczmarski et al. 1994). How much adaptation depends on the frequency, volume, mode, type of training and initial training state (Ferketich, Kirby and Alway 1998). Strength training has the potential to improve functional capacity and quality of life of the elderly person (Fiatrone et al. 1990). Most elderly individuals can participate in a resistance training programme that is individually designed. Those with hypertension or arthritis or at risk of osteoporotic fracture need to be assessed and evaluated by a physician prior to initiating resistance training programme (White 1995). A ACSM recommendation for the elderly that bears some scrutiny is the recommendation to use machines as apposed to free weights. Swain and Leutholtz (2002) evaluates that although it is true that machines require less skill, free weights have the advantage of teaching balance and greater neuromuscular control, which may be transferrable to real world activities. Furthermore they also talk about free weights being more superior by allowing the user to add small amount of weight onto their dumbbells i.e. 1kg whereas resistance machines normally have increments of 4.5kg or more which is a large leap when the user is frail, on the other hand ACSM realise that machines require less balance requirements and the risk of injury. Resistance training programmes lasting from 8 weeks to 1 year can increase muscle strength and mass in elderly, regardless of age and sex (Fiatrone et al. 1990). Psychological + Sociological Factors International Society of Sport Psychology (1992) states that â€Å"Individual psychological benefits of physical activity include: positive changes in self perceptions and well-being, improvement in self-confidence and awareness, positive changes in mood, relief of tension, relief of feelings such as depression and anxiety, influence on premenstrual tension, increased mental well-being, increased alertness and clear thinking, increased energy and ability to cope with daily activity, increased enjoyment of exercise and social contacts, and development of positive coping strategies.† Many older individuals do not have a spouse, close children or friends to rely on for socialization, assistance and support (Evans 1999). Although with age, social relationships may change from family to more formalized organizations or nonfamily members, many elderly live in social isolation and are very lonely. This is important because epidemiological studies have demonstrated a relationship between social support and physical health (Evans 1999). To add on to this it has been show that in several studies, lack of social support is a major risk factor for depression, morbidity and mortality (Engels et al. 1998). Participation in an organized training session provides an excellent opportunity for interaction between other elderly people and when organising a session it is been seen to do all activities as in one whole group to get a more major interaction between participants (Evans 1999). Also another method which could be used to improve social interaction for the elderly participating in a exercise program could include a ‘buddy exercise system where individuals are matched up with similar ability to perform their exercises together. Exercise Recommendations Physical activity recommendations for the elderly are updated regularly by the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM 2000). High intensity activities such as running, rowing, aerobic/gravity riders, and stair steppers may not be appropriate unless the individual has a rare high fitness level. Low to moderate intensity exercise programmes can be performed daily. Higher intensity exercise sessions (>70% heart rate reserve) should only be performed 3 to 5 days per week (ACSM 2000). This allows for recovery days, which are more important for the older adult than the younger person as elders recover slower. Older individuals with a low exercise capacity may benefit from multiple daily sessions of short duration, whereas the more capable individual can benefit from three sessions per week with exercise bouts performed once per day (ACSM 2000). Elderly individuals who are unable to perform ambulatory activities may be candidates to perform seated chair activities, stationary cycling and water activities. T ai chi is seen to be one of the best activities for elderly individuals to undertake as it improves strength and balance according to Dalsky (1989). For the healthy older individual, it is recommended that exercise be performed minimally for 30 minutes but not beyond an hour in duration. If an individual beginning an exercise programme is predominately sedentary, has severe chronic disease, or has a very low fitness level, a minimum of 30minutes of continuous activity may not be possible. Sessions of as little as 10 minutes two or three times a day is appropriate in this situation. Health benefits are still obtained this way (ACSM 2000). National and Regional Strategies Summary Physical activity of light to moderate intensity helps to improve health, whereas moderate to high intensity physical activity with an emphasis on aerobic endurance improves cardiorespiratory fitness (VO2) as well as health in older individuals. Elderly individuals demonstrate improvements during resistance training by increasing muscle mass and strength; this improves gait, balance, and overall functional capacity and bone health this staving off chronic diseases such as osteoporosis and improve overall quality of life. There are also psychological benefits associated with regular physical activity and exercise. Dr. Robert Butler, former director of the National Institute of Aging states ‘If exercise could be put in a bottle, it would be the strongest medicine money could buy In general the elderly person can improve physical and mental health by performing regular physical activity, and this should be encouraged by all medical and exercise professionals. Ultimately, regardless of age or level of frailty, nearly all elderly persons can derive some physiologic, functional or quality of life benefit from initiating an exercise programme. Training Sessions Mode Frequancy Itenisity Duration Special Considerations Aerobic Training Intensity Load Reference Page American College of Sports Medicine. (2000) ACSMs Guidlines for Exercise Testing and Prescription. 6th Edition. Baltimore: Lippincott, Williams and Wilkins. Birdt, T.A. (1998) Alzheimers disease and other primary dementia. In Harrisons principles of internal medicine. New York: McGraw and Hill; pp. 2348-2356. Blazer, D.G. (1982) Social support and mortality in an elderly community population. American Journal of Epidemiology; 115:684-694. Dalsky, G.P. (1989) The role of exercise in the prevention of osteoporosis. Comprehensive Therapy. 15(9):30-37. DiPietro L, Caspersen C.J., Ostfield A.M. (1995) A survey for assessing physical activity among older adults. Medical Science Sports and Exercise; 25: 628-642. Engels, H.J., Drouin, J., Zhu, W., Kazmierski, J.F.(1998) Effects of low impact, moderate intensity exercise training with and without wrist weights on functional capacities and mood status on older adults. Gerontology: 44:239-244 Eshani, A.A. (1987). Cardiovascular adaptations to exercise training in the elderly. Journal of Applied Physiology. 46:1840-1843 Evans, W.J.(1999) Exercise Training Guidelines for The Elderly. Medical Science of Sport and Exercise; 31:12-17 Ferketich, A.M., Kirby, T.E., Alway, S.E. (1998) Cardiovascular and muscular adaptations to combined endurance and strength training in elderly women. Acta Physiology Scandinavia; 259-267. Fiatarone, M.A., Marks E.C., Ryan N.D., Meredith C.N., Lipsitz L.A., Evans W.J. (1990) High intensity strength training in nonagenarians. Journal of American Medical Association. 263:3029-3034. Frontera, W.R., Meredith, C.N. OReilly, K.P. Knuttgen, H.G. Evans, W.J. (1988) Strength conditioning in older men: Skeletal muscle hypertrophy and improved function. Journal of Applied Physiology, 64:1038-1044. International Society of Sport Psychology (1992). Physical activity and psychological benefits: International Society of Sport Psychology Position Statement. The Physician and Sports medicine, 20(10), 179-184. Keen, W.L. (1993) The older Athlete: Exercise in hot environments. Sports Science Exchange 6:44. King, A.C. and Martin, J.E. (1998) Physical Activity promotion: Adoption and Maintenance. American College of Sports Medicines Research Manual for Guidelines for Exercise Testing and Prescription. Baltimore: Williams and Wilkins pp 564-569. Knutzen, K.M., Brilla, L.R. and Caine, D. (1999) Validity of 1RM prediction equations for older adults. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research 13, 242-246. Kuczmarski, R.J., Flegal, K.M., Campbell, S.M., Johnson, C.L. (1994) Increasing prevalence of overweight among U.S. adults. Journal of American Medical Association; 272:205-211. McArdle, W.D., Katch, F.I. and Katch V.I. (2010) Exercise Physiology: Nutrition, Energy and Human Performance. 7th Edition. Baltimore: Lippincott Williams and Wilkins. Seguin, R. and Nelson, M.E. (2003) The benefits of strength training for older adults. American Journal of Preventive Medicine 25 (Suppl. 2), 141-149. Spirduso WW, Francis KL, MacRae PG (2005). Physical Dimensions of Ageing (2nd ed). Human Kinetics, Champaign, IL, pp. 131-55. Swain, D.P and Leutholtz, B.C. (2002) Exercise Prescription: A case study approach to the ACSM Guidelines. Champaign: Human Kinetics. White, T.P. (1995) Skeletel muscle structure and function in older mammals. In Perspectives in Exercise Science and Sports Medicine. Carmel: Cooper; pp.115-174.

living multi personality disorder Essay -- essays research papers fc

Works Cited 1. M. Keenan, "The Devil and Dr. Braun," New City article, 1995-JUN-22: Mentioned in FMS Foundation Newsletter, at: http://www.fmsfonline.org/fmsf99.n24.html 2. The International Society for the Study of Dissociation has a web site at: http://www.issd.org/ Its official publication is the Journal of Trauma and Dissociation. See: http://www.issd.org/indexpage/jtdauthorsinfo.html There are allegations that the ISSD controls the content of the The Journal of Psychiatry & Law (JPSLA). These are not to be mistaken for the The Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law or International Journal of Law and Psychiatry." 3. Psychology, Myers in Modules, Sixth Edition, David G. Myers. Hope College Holland, Michigan. (2001) Living with Multi Personality Disorder After watching the movie â€Å"Sybil† a couple of times, I was able to grasp a better understanding of what a person who suffers from Multiple Personality Disorder goes through. In my Abnormal Psychology class we touched basis on what Multiple Personality Disorder is and what signs to look for, but â€Å"Sybil† gave me a vivid idea of how someone lives on a day to day basis with this disorder. This movie also allowed me to see how a clinical psychologist performs an initial assessment which is also part of my abnormal psychology class. This movie â€Å"Sybil† made it very clear that Sybil suffered from MPD. Multiple Personality Disorder also called Disassociative Identity disorder can be defined as a rare disassociative disorder in which a person exhibits two or more distinct and altering personalities. (Myers, 564) Sybil was in her mid twenties when the problems from her disorder begin to take a huge toll on her. She was emotionally, physically and sexually abused by her mother during her childhood. Somehow Sybil pushed away all of those memories of her childhood into another place. This back fired on her because she later developed MPD. Luckily, Sybil came across a doctor who noticed little things when some routine tests were performed. She then decided to perform an assessment. An assessment in Psychological terms can be defined as the collecting of relevant information in an effort to reach a conclusion and also to determine how and why a person is... ... that person’s life and can come and go at any given moment. This is why it is necessary to have the medical treatment and help of a committed doctor so that that person can be most successful at becoming healthy. This disorder is unfortunate and very difficult to carry on a normal â€Å"everyday† life style. Sybil was in and out of work little things such as, noises would bring her disorder out. She was unable to maintain a teaching position which was what she had always wanted to do until she had learned about her disorder and figured out how to cope with it thanks to the seven years of treatment that her doctor devoted to her. Sybil was a great example of Multiple Personality Disorder or Disassociative Identity Disorder. Watching this movie not only gave me a better understanding of what this disorder is but how difficult ones life must be for the person who suffers from it. I can only hope that more doctors will be as helpful and dedicated as Sybil’s doctor in the movie. According to my abnormal Psychology class and the movie â€Å"Sybil† I learned that by understanding and knowing a patient’s disorder that is the first step to treating and helping them.

Computers In Education :: Technology

Computer's Value in Education What is an education? Education is defined as "the knowledge or skill obtained or developed by a learning process or an instructive or enlightening experience" (Dictionary 1).It says that it's the knowledge obtained, but does it matter where this knowledge is obtained? We now use computers in our society, which allow us to do many things. However, in today's society, children go through their entire education using the computer. There is now cyber schooling, where a child no longer attends school but learns at home in front of their computer. Should this, however, be how students learn and become educated? We, as Americans, educate our children by putting them through years of schooling. A child is suggested to go through 13 years of schooling. After graduating high school, it is greatly recommended to go further onto college to become more educated in certain areas. There are thousands of schools throughout America, however. Therefore, the students at the many schools will learn different things. We gain our knowledge through many resources during these years of learning. Teachers, other students, computers, and much more are ways we attain our education. Computers are a dynamic addition to education, and could be considered to be almost like a school in itself. Computers have advanced our knowledge greatly since we have introduced them into our society, and started to use them in our everyday lives. This being the reason we now use them greatly in schooling. Computers in schooling are used for many things. Computers enable students to share learning with others. Computers can greatly enhance the writing process of a student. It allows them to change things easily, cut things out of writing and move it to different places, add pictures, and many other attributes to writing. Computers should be compared to encyclopedias, libraries, newspapers, television and any other information tools used in the classroom. Computer knowledge does not however, replace any of the subject area skills. However, the spelling ability of a computer is much greater than most human's ability. It has almost a built in dictionary which is not like a typical human. Students need to learn to do research on the Internet, but they also need to learn to research books. Students also need to learn to use a spellchecker, but they also need to learn to spell correctly and proofread their work without a computerized grammar checker.

Sexually Transmitted Diseases Essay -- Essays Papers

Sexually Transmitted Diseases Sexually Transmitted Diseases are an intimate part of many people’s lives. These diseases, one could say, represent a conflict between human and nature. It is a part of nature that humans are inclined to engage in sexual activity . Yet, humans are endangering themselves with the spreading of these diseases. Also, a human oriented disease can take on a life of its own, so to speak, and even turn deadly when nature takes it course. Humans have created antibiotics and other drugs to cure the diseases and help with the symptoms of these diseases, but the complications that can arise from these diseases sometimes have no cure, and it is at this time that nature takes over. Sexually transmitted diseases are a part of history. Some have been around since the beginning of the United States. During times like the Industrial Revolution, the Depression, and WWI, sexually transmitted diseases have flourished because of the conditions of the cities and the living areas of citizens. Sexually transmitted diseases, of STDs, are a growing concern among people of all ages. Some are less severe and dangerous than others, but none of them are to be taken lightly. Some of the most common diseases are Acquired Immunity Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), which is caused by the HIV virus; Chlamydia, Gonorrhea, Herpes Simplex, and Syphilis. These facts from the STD Homepage (http:// med-www.bu.edu/people/sycamore/std.) further explain the diseases and what one can expect from them. Sexually Transmitted Diseases are serious and can have lifelong effects; however, most are easily prevented and treatable. AIDS The disease AIDS, which is a set of disease... ...elids, face, chest, fingers, breasts, anus, and on the perineum. After the chancres disappear, the disease continues to inhabit the body. Syphilis is completely curable with antibiotics. Some complications of the disease that can not be cured but that may arise are flu-like symptoms, fever, skin rash, swollen glands, spots on the tongue, and warts on the genitals. In the last stage, the syphilis eats away at skin and bones. It can cause blindness, heart disease, and brain damage. Therefore, the Humanities Base Theme of Human Vs. Nature is prevalent in the topic of sexually transmitted diseases. Although there are drugs to lessen the effects and cure most of the actual diseases themselves, some complications that may arise are not curable. These complications, which arise mainly from nature taking its course in the body, are not curable by humans.

Business Intelligence Essay

1. Integration * 1.1 BI infrastructure * * All tools in the platform use the same security, metadata, administration, portal integration, object model and query engine, and should share the same look and feel. * 1.2 Metadata management * Not only should all tools leverage the same metadata, but the offering should provide a robust way to search, capture, store, reuse and publish metadata objects such as dimensions, hierarchies, measures, performance metrics and report layout objects. * 1.3 Development tools * The BI platform should provide a set of programmatic development tools and a visual development environment, coupled with a software developer’s kit for creating BI applications, integrating them into a business process, and/or embedding them in another application. The BI platform should also enable developers to build BI applications without coding by using wizard-like components for a graphical assembly process. The development environment should also support Web services in performing common tasks such as scheduling, delivering, administering and managing. In addition, the BI application can assign and track events or tasks allotted to specific users, based on predefined business rules. Often, this capability can be delivered by integrating with a separate portal or workflow tool. 1.4 Collaboration * This capability enables BI users to share and discuss information, BI content and results, and/or manage hierarchies and metrics via discussion threads, chat and annotations, either embedded in the BI platform or through integration with collaboration, social software and analytical master data management (MDM). 2. Information Delivery 2.1 Reporting * * Reporting provides the ability to create formatted and interactive reports, with or without parameters, with highly scalable distribution and scheduling capabilities. In addition, BI platform vendors should handle a wide array of reporting styles (for example, financial, operational and performance dashboards), and should enable users to access and fully interact with BI content delivered consistently across delivery platforms including the Web, mobile devices and common portal environments. * 2.2 Dashboards * This subset of reporting includes the ability to publish formal, Web-based or mobile reports with intuitive interactive displays of information, including dials, gauges, sliders, check boxes and traffic lights. These displays indicate the state of the performance metric compared with a goal or target value. Increasingly, dashboards are used to disseminate real-time data from operational applications or in conjunction with a complex event processing engine. * 2.3 Ad hoc query * This capability enables users to ask their own questions of the data, without relying on IT to create a report. In particular, the tools must have a robust semantic layer to allow users to navigate available data sources. These tools should include a disconnected analysis capability that enables users to access BI content and analyze data remotely without being connected to a server-based BI application. In addition, these tools should offer query governance and auditing capabilities to ensure that queries perform well. * 2.4 Microsoft Office integration * In some use cases, BI platforms are used as a middle tier to manage, secure and execute BI tasks, but Microsoft Office (particularly Excel) acts as the BI client. In these cases, it is vital that the BI vendor provides integration with Microsoft Office applications, including support for document and presentation formats, formulas, data â€Å"refreshes† and pivot tables. Advanced integration includes cell locking and write-back. * 2.5 Search-based BI * * This applies a search index to both structured and unstructured data sources and maps them into a classification structure of dimensions and measures (often, but not necessarily leveraging the BI semantic layer) that users can easily navigate and explore using a search (Google-like) interface. This capability extends beyond keyword searching of BI platform content and metadata. 2.6 Mobile BI This capability enables organizations to deliver report and dashboard content to mobile devices (such as smartphones and tablets) in a publishing and/or interactive (bidirectional) mode, and takes advantage of the interaction mode of the device (tapping, swiping and so on) and other capabilities not commonly available on desktops and laptops, such as location awareness. 3. Analysis * 3.1 Online analytical processing (OLAP) * * This enables end users to analyze data with extremely fast query and calculation performance, enabling a style of analysis known as â€Å"slicing and dicing.† Users are (often) able to easily navigate multidimensional drill paths. And they (sometimes) have the ability to write-back values to a proprietary database for planning and â€Å"what if† modeling purposes. This capability could span a variety of data architectures (such as relational or multidimensional) and storage architectures (such as disk-based or in-memory). * 3.2 Interactive visualization * This gives users the ability to display numerous aspects of the data more efficiently by using interactive pictures and charts, instead of rows and columns. Over time, advanced visualization will go beyond just slicing and dicing data to include more process-driven BI projects, allowing all stakeholders to better understand the workflow through a visual representation. * 3.3 Predictive modeling and data mining * This capability enables organizations to classify categorical variables and to estimate continuous variables using advanced mathematical techniques. BI developers are able to integrate models easily into BI reports, dashboards and analysis, and business processes. 3.4 Scorecards These take the metrics displayed in a dashboard a step further by applying them to a strategy map that aligns key performance indicators (KPIs) with a strategic objective. Scorecard metrics should be linked to related reports and information in order to do further analysis. A scorecard implies the use of a performance management methodology such as Six Sigma or a balanced scorecard framework. Market Leaders IBM. SAS. Oracle. 1 Oracle 1.1 Strengths * * In 2011, Oracle Business Intelligence Foundation Suite, with its principal component Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition (OBIEE), continued to execute on its stated top-to-bottom BI vision. This year, the products have the highest aggregate Ability to Execute scores. References depict a customer base that is Oracle through and through — 85% run Oracle Database as their data warehouse, nearly 75% run Oracle Applications, and a majority utilizes Oracle Fusion Middleware. Oracle is deployed most broadly (in respect of global deployment) of any vendor in this Magic Quadrant, with average user populations nearing 3,000 and data volumes of more than 5 TB, and it is considered the BI standard for nearly 70% of firms surveyed. While complex workloads are below average, the breadth of use scores in the highest quartile. * * During the Magic Quadrant evaluation process, Oracle announced and completed its acquisition of Endeca, a search-based provider of e-commerce and analytic capabilities. Customer surveys were conducted before the Endeca acquisition was completed; therefore, Endeca is not factored into the Magic Quadrant evaluation of Oracle’s execution, but was considered as part of its long-term product vision. Relatively low numbers of existing references access hybrid data types using OBIEE. Gartner believes that this is a forward-looking acquisition that will have significant impact on the company’s business analytics future (see â€Å"Endeca Buy Extends Oracle’s Ability to Support and Discover Diverse Data† for a more detailed opinion of the acquisition). * * In October 2011, the company announced an engineered system — Oracle Exalytics In-Memory Machine — that leveraged assets across the Oracle stack. The integrated hardware/software analytics solution features a package of OBIEE with new in-memory capabilities (based on Oracle’s acquisition of TimesTen), optimized Oracle Essbase to support the range of traditional BI (reporting, dashboards and analysis), and dynamic planning, what-if and scenario analysis, as well as interactive visualization and data discovery capabilities. The system is designed to support high-performance BI and performance management use cases with the intention of improving the performance, scale and speed of reporting, analysis and planning applications. It is now generally available. * * References select Oracle primarily for functionality, enterprise application integration, and data access capabilities. Additionally, customers indicated that they valued the products’ ability to support large numbers of users. Like other megavendors, the product road map plays an important role in the evaluation process. Ease of use and cost do not factor significantly into the selection process. * * Oracle Business Intelligence Applications (OBIA) are predefined analytic applications for horizontal business processes such as finance, procurement and sales analysis. Customers and prospects find this combination of analytic applications built using the OBIEE toolset appealing, with many buyers selecting both at evaluation time. Additionally, the company also delivers vertical-specific analytic data models for industries such as retail and financial services for IT buyers looking to establish a common data model standard as the foundation for analytics. 1.2 Cautions * References rate OBIEE as difficult to implement, with only SAS Institute considered more difficult. Also, the product was rated as having lower than average ease of use scores. As ease of use for both developers and end users takes on an even more important role in business analytic deployments and evaluations, Oracle must explicitly address these issues or risk being marginalized in user-driven projects. The company has been slow to respond to the data discovery trend. However, some functions are now available in the Exalytics In-Memory Machine, and the Endeca acquisition will add more capabilities in this important area. * * Product functionality evaluation scores remain below average again this year, a trend that appeared in last year’s report. Additionally, customer support and product quality issues are rated below the average (in the fourth and third quartiles respectively) for all vendors in this report. In fact, both support and product quality were also noted as issues that blocked further deployments within customer organizations. This represents a slip from last year’s scores. While not huge red flag items now, they may become more problematic without dedicated company attention to address client concerns. * * Oracle customers use the product mostly for static report viewing, parameterized reporting and scorecard capabilities, leading to below average user complexity ratings. Slightly more than 25% of customers Gartner surveyed for this report run the most current version of the BI suite, which is significantly below average for vendors in this analysis. * * More than 10% of survey respondents indicate that they plan to discontinue, or are evaluating a discontinuation of, software use in the next three years — a relatively high response rate given responses from the prior year. This is above the average for all vendors in this research. 2 SAS 2.1 Strengths * * SAS gets high marks for its global footprint and broad industry initiatives. Unlike some other BI platform vendors, SAS focuses on advanced analytical techniques, such as data mining and predictive modeling, where references acknowledge it as a leader of the pack. SAS’s clients also have above average complexity scores (for the depth of use of different BI use cases) on larger than average data sources. SAS customers also access and interpret unstructured internal and external data more often than any other vendor’s clients surveyed for this Magic Quadrant. * * SAS’s solution-oriented analytic application approach to the market is a differentiator, giving the company the advantage of having a wide variety of cross-functional and vertically specific analytic applications out of the box for a variety of industries, including financial services, life sciences and manufacturing. While others are also adopting this approach, SAS remains in the lead. Customers also report an above average sales experience. * * The primary drivers for customers choosing SAS remain functionality and data integration. In addition, references reported that they select SAS because of availability of skills. In the past, we have heard concerns over a lack of available SAS expertise; we suspect that this improvement is linked to the aggressive stance the company has taken to forge substantial partnerships with services firms, specifically Accenture. This broadened ecosystem also expands SAS’ sales channels with multiple partners positioning SAS-based solutions to their customers. * * On the software partnership front, SAS has partnered with a number of database vendors (such as Teradata) to push the execution of its models directly into the database management system without moving the data. Not only does this reduce data duplication and movement, it also allows SAS users to leverage the power and scalability features of the database to run predictive models against very large datasets with high performance. * Overall, SAS has a wide and loyal user base, many of whom have built careers around these products. References have a solid, positive outlook for SAS’s success within their organizations, as well as in the market as a whole. The company recently reported double-digit revenue growth for 2011. 2.2 Cautions * * References report that SAS is very difficult to implement — it was the No. 1 firm in this category. Companies also indicate that the product is considered difficult to use for business users (it was ranked No. 2 in this category). Its dashboard capabilities were rated lowest of all the vendors in this research. SAS is very much aware of these criticisms, and in 2011 embarked on a major development initiative involving hundreds of resources to improve usability and implementation activities. While it is too early to see the results of these efforts in surveys, we expect to see improvement in these areas in next year’s reference assessment. If no improvement is noted, this will directly impact SAS’s Ability to Execute scores for 2013. * * SAS’s dominance in predictive analytics and statistics continues to be challenged on many fronts. In addition to the SPSS suite, IBM also acquired Algorithmics in 2011 to bolster its portfolio; we are seeing greater adoption of open-source â€Å"R† in some products and embedded predictive and statistical capabilities in others. New entrants to the BI platform Magic Quadrant Prognoz and Alteryx accentuate these capabilities as core components of their product suites. While SAS still remains the acknowledged front runner, buyers have more options now, and SAS must continue to defend its franchise. The company recognizes this and, for example, has reinvigorated its emphasis on placing its software products in higher education settings for student and teacher use. * * Customer references report that cost is the most common factor blocking further adoption. In fact, verbatim responses to the survey mention cost in many ways — leasing terms, expensive to maintain, ongoing costs and so on — and, again, the company is very much aware of this criticism. With more options now available, SAS should also remain responsive to customers and prospects in these areas. The average tenure of SAS’s reference customers that participated in this survey was five years. Over 10% reported that they are planning to replace or are considering replacing the software in the next three years. Despite SAS’s success and awareness as a leader in the predictive analytics space, the company is still challenged to make it onto BI platform shortlist evaluations when predictive analytics is not a primary business requirement. While a little less than 60% of references indicated that SAS was their company’s BI standard, functionality used in traditional BI areas (reporting, dashboards, OLAP and so on) was lower than for other BI leaders in this report. Like last year, ad hoc query remains the one exception, with clients aggressively using SAS BI for that component. 3 IBM 3.1 Strengths * * IBM maintains its leading position on the Completeness of Vision axis for this year’s Magic Quadrant. The company takes a holistic approach to what it calls Business Analytics and Optimization (BAO), combining comprehensive software, hardware and services in a coordinated market offering. IBM’s business analytics software portfolio includes a unified BI, analytics and performance management platform, and is complemented by IBM information management software and appliances (Netezza, for example). Services are made up of a consulting line of nearly 9,000 people, which is a growing part of IBM Global Business Services (GBS). IBM can offer both a tools-based and/or a solution-driven offering, along with significant vertical expertise, to customers and prospects. * In 4Q10, IBM introduced its latest business analytics platform, IBM Cognos 10. Throughout 2011, additional capabilities have been released and customer adoption has begun in earnest. Cognos 10 references who responded to this year’s Magic Quadrant survey painted a very interesting snapshot — on average nearly 4,000 users, over 12 TB of data, broad functional use, and very high platform integration scores, all at or near the top of all ratings for all vendors in this report. Overall, Cognos 10 references were significantly more satisfied than Cognos 8 customers, who were the majority of IBM’s survey respondents. While some indicated that upgrading from Cognos 8 to Cognos 10 had some complexity, the majority rated it as straightforward or very straightforward. This bodes well for IBM’s future ability to execute, providing the firm delivers superior service and support and problem-free software. * * The average tenure of IBM respondents was seven years, second highest of all vendors in this survey. Gartner often hears this long-standing customer commitment in inquiry, and this represents a strong customer loyalty factor. This year, less than 7% of references noted that they are planning to discontinue use of the software in the next three years (or are considering doing so), which is significantly lower than last year’s result. * * Advanced analytics is a particular IBM strength. The company’s SPSS software continues to advance nicely, readily allowing IBM to bid for predictive analytics and statistical use cases. Customers rated IBM’s predictive capabilities in the top quartile of all vendors. A secret weapon at IBM’s disposal — IBM Research — delivers another level of research and development prowess to the overall IBM value proposition. For example, Watson, the Deep Question and Answer system that interprets natural language and scores possible answers based on probability, is a visible example of IBM Research at work. While not a part of the Cognos 10 platform, it demonstrates the depth and breadth that IBM can bring to clients’ advanced analytic scenarios. * The top reasons why customers select IBM are functionality, ease of use for end users, and data access and integration. IBM’s road map and future vision weighed heavily in reference decisions. In 2011, IBM delivered a new Cognos 10 mobile application for the iPad that is included free in existing user roles. In early 2012 the company will introduce Cognos Insight, a personal, desktop BI product that enables independent discovery and â€Å"what if† modeling, while also providing full interoperability with the larger workgroup and enterprise solutions. 3.2 Cautions * Twenty-three percent of Cognos 8 references indicate that performance continues to be problematic (a persistent problem for the last several years), nearly three times the average response for other vendors evaluated in this Magic Quadrant. In contrast, Cognos 10 references reported below average performance concerns. This is a sure signal that IBM must encourage upgrades to Cognos 10 without technical and/or financial disruption. * Again this year, references consider the Cognos products more difficult to implement and use than those of competitors. While Cognos 10 was rated slightly below average, other IBM products (Cognos 8, SPSS software and Cognos TM1) were deemed significantly more difficult. These are cited as two major reasons that limit expanded BI deployments with Cognos 8. As such, improved system administration and end-user usability were major development themes of the Cognos 10 release. References indicate that Cognos software is used largely by a consumer/casual user population. Reporting is the most extensively deployed component, followed by ad hoc query and OLAP analysis. * * IBM’s customers also continue to have less than optimal customer experiences, with support and sales interactions, along with product quality, rated in the bottom quartile of all vendors reviewed in this report. References also rate product functionality slightly below the average for all vendors. The bright spot is that Cognos 10 references rated product functionality near the top of all vendors, and support, sales and product quality were rated better than for Cognos 8. These issues remain IBM’s Achilles’ heel, and will limit its ability to raise execution scores next year unless action is taken quickly. * * License cost continues to be another source of customer concern across all products in the IBM business analytics portfolio. Gartner client inquiry also bears out this concern. Higher than expected costs to upgrade from Cognos 8 to Cognos 10 have stalled some projects, but changes in configuration, user roles, and/or support costs appear to drive the increase. As a counterpoint, existing Cognos 10 users did not identify license cost as a concern.