Article of Capital Budgeting Survey Essay Example for Free

Article of Capital Budgeting Survey Essay This research is motivated by two major factors: (1) the  over twenty year hiatus since the last thorough review ofthe capital budgeting survey literature, and (2) past appeals to the finance academic community by researchers to explore  neglected areas ofthe capital budgeting process. In response, and using a four-stage capital budgeting process as a guide, the authors review the capital budgeting survey literature  from 1984 through 2008 and find that some ofthe neglected  areas have infact been directly addressed. Unfortunately, the most prevalent focus of capital budgeting surveys continues  to be that ofthe selection stage. As a result, many areas ofthe capital budgeting process still remain relatively unexplored, providing numerous survey research opportunities. This research effort is motivated by two tnajor factors: 1)  the twenty year hiatus since the last thorough review of the capital budgeting survey literature, and 2) past observations and appeals made to the finance academic community by  fellow researchers to explore neglected areas of the capital budgeting process through more focused and directed survey  research. Richard M. Burns is a Professor of Finance at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, AL Joe Walker is an Associate Professor of Finance at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, AL. The authors wish to thank the Editor and the anonymous referee for their many helpful comments and suggestions. 78 The first factor stands on its own as justification for an update of the capital budgeting survey literature. The last comprehensive reviews were made by researchers Scott and Petty (1984) and Mukherjee (1987) over twenty years ago. Regarding the second factor, almost three decades ago, Kim (1979) noted that too much emphasis was being placed on methods of ranking and selecting capital budgeting proposals. Scott and Petty (1984) also noted the disproportionate (unjustified) amount of time [spent] on a particular stage (financial analysis and project selection) Further, Gordon and Pinches (1984) generalized this complaint by arguing that the capital budgeting process must be viewed in its entirety. Mukherjee (1987) agreed that further survey efforts need to be devoted to understanding the entire process. To address these two factors, the authors have provided a current review of the capital budgeting survey studies over the past twenty-four years. The results are reported in a four-stage capital budgeting framework that allows a more detailed and clear assessment of the appeals by past researchers. As a result, fertile areas for future applied research in the area of capital budgeting survey work are more easily identified and summarized. The organization of this paper is as follows. In Section I a four-stage capital budgeting process will be identified and used throughout the balance ofthe paper. It provides a useful framework to evaluate in more detail the most prominent capital budgeting survey literature reviews of the past, to highlight neglected areas of capital budgeting research, and to organize past appeals for future research in this area. In Section II this four-stage process will also be used to describe the procedures used in performing the capital budgeting 79 BURNS WALKER CAPITAL BUDGETING SURVEYS: THE FUTURE IS NOW survey literature update over the 1984-2008 period. Section  III will continue to use this framework to present the detailed findings while Section IV will provide an overall summary.  Finally, Section V will present conclusions, comments, and  insights for future survey research. I. Past Reviews and Appeals appears on an executives desk and all that is needed is for the manager to choose the project(s) with the highest expected payoff. However, as most managers quickly learn, this is not the case. Further, once projects are chosen, the evaluation  of an individual projects subsequent performance  is usually either ignored or often inappropriately  handled.  Our contention is that the capitalbudgeting process must be viewed in its entirety,  and the informational needs to support effective  decisions must be built  into the firms decision  comprehensive reviews  support system. In the corporate finance  capital budgeting survey  literature  the  capital  The last budgeting process has been  were made by researchers Scott  described in terms of four The two most significant stages: 1) identification, attempts to assess the and Petty (1984) and Mukherjee 2) development,  3)  balance of research among  (1987) over twenty years ago.  selection, and 4) control.  these four stages were those  The identification stage  of Scott and Petty (1984)  comprises the overall process of project idea generation and Mukherjee (1987), both of which occurred well over including sources and submission procedures and the twenty years ago.^ Scott and Petty provided a synthesis of earlier surveys of  incentives/reward system, if any. The development stage involves the initial screening process relying primarily large American firms and organized their analysis based on a upon cash flow estimation and early screening criteria. The three stage classification: 1) project definition and cash flow selection stage includes the detailed project analysis that estimation 2) financial analysis and project selection, and results in acceptance or rejection of the project for funding. 3) project implementation and review. Citing Gitman and Finally, the control stage involves the evaluation of project Forrester (1977), they noted that: project definition and cash flow estimation is performance for both control purposes and continuous considered the most difficult aspect ofthe capital improvement for future decisions. All four stages have budgeting process. The financial analysis and common areas of interest including personnel, procedures, project selection stage, which receives the most and methods involved, along with the rationale for each. attention in the literature, is considered the least All four stages are critical to the overall process, but difBcult ofthe three stages   the selection stage is arguably the most involved since it includes the choices of analytical methods/techniques used, Also covering surveys of large American corporations, how the cost of capital is determined, how adjustments for Mukherjee (1987) agreed that there had been too much projects risks are assessed and reflected, and how, if relevant, survey focus on the selection stage and not enough on the capital rationing affects project choice. The selection stage other stages as well as the overall capital budgeting process. has also been the most investigated by survey researchers, Paraphrasing that papers recommendations, it called for particularly in the area of selection techniques, resulting in more research into specific questions relevant for each stage. a relative neglect ofthe other stages. This in turn has led to For example, in stage 1, future surveyors were urged to appeals to future researchers to consider the other stages in investigate the reward systems, procedural aspects, and the their survey research efforts. As Gordon and Pinches (1984) organizational structure ofthe firm. In stage 2, more research note: was suggested on the topics of divisional vs. corporate Most of the literature on the subject of capital biases, strategic considerations, cash flow estimation budgeting has emphasized the selection phase, details, data details, cannibalization, risk, and inflation. giving little coverage to the other phases. Instead, Even within the more widely-studied Stage 3, neglected it is usually assumed that a set of well-defined capital investment opportunities, with all of the informational needs clearly specified, suddenly ^ o t e that these two reviews are only three years apart based on publication See Gordon and Pinches (1984) and Mukherjee (1987). Scott and Petty (1984) use a similar 3-stage process. It is interesting to note, however, that an even earlier survey by Gitman and Forrester (1977) had used a 4-stage analysis. date, and that the latter does not cite the former, likely due to publication lags. As noted in the procedures section, this paper uses the Mukherjee format. Furthermore, the title of this paper derives from Mukherjees title. 80 areas were identified such as the rationale for the various methods used, how firms compute their cost of capital, the low rate of risk recognition, the associated low rates of risk adjustment and assessment sophistication, capital rationing (and the low usage of linear programming), and the details of authorization levels. Finally, with regard to Stage 4, more research was encouraged into the details of performance evaluation, how the company follows up on such evaluation, the details of expenditure control procedures, and the reward system for performance. How well these appeals have been answered with subsequent survey research is the primary focus of this paper. In the next section the authors describe the procedures employed to assess the effectiveness of these appeals made over twenty years ago. II. Procedures Consistent with the reviews by Scott and Petty (1984) and Mukherjee (1987), the following criteria were used to choose capital budgeting survey articles for inclusion in this review: the surveys had to involve large US firms, they had to be broad-based (not focused on one particular industry), and they had to be published in mainline academic journals post-1984. Using these criteria resulted in the selection of the nineteen capital budgeting surveys included in Figure 1. The Figure provides, in chronological order, the survey year (which in all cases differs from the publication year), authors, research method, usable responses and the audience surveyed. Each of these 19 survey articles was then thoroughly examined in an effort to identify the stages and areas within each stage that the survey covered. The results of this process are reported in Figure 2 and consistent with Mukherjees (1987) chronological ordering in a tabular form indicating areas of investigation within the four stages ofthe These more specific questions are largely paraphrased from Mukherjee (1987) and are not fully exhaustive. The interested reader is, of course, encouraged to read this very thorough article in its entirety. †¢Ã¢â‚¬ ¢The initial search using Proquest (ABI Inform) specifying capital budgeting surveys in scholarly journals after January 1, 1984, yielded over two hundred results. However, the great majority were published in the non-mainline journals, including many strictly practitioner (trade journal) outlets and /or were focused on a particular country or industry and thus eliminated by the screening criteria. To insure against missing articles due to any limitations ofthe ABl database, the authors checked the references ofthe surviving articles, and in addition, conducted a manual search ofthe most cited finance journals tables of contents and the reference sections of the various survey articles found. JOURNAL OF APPLIED FINANCE ISSUES 1 2, 2009 capital budgeting process. It should be noted that the Figures herein were slightly altered from Mukherjees original format to better focus on selected issues that were identified specifically as areas of neglect. For example, the category of techniques was divided into techniques used and reasons for techniques used. Similarly, the risk category was divided into risk recognition, risk assessment, and risk adjustment. III. Findings by Stage A quick perusal of Figure 2 reveals an obvious concentration of checks in Stage 3 (selection) similar to the previous findings of Mukherjee. Although a careful look at some of the stage categories individually indicates that several neglected areas have been researched over the period, there is still an obvious and relative lack of research into Stages 1, 2, and 4. To further assess the effectiveness ofthe research appeals, the analysis and reported results in this section will be ordered by the four stages.   Summary comments are provided only  on those surveys which provide a significant contribution to a previously neglected area of capital budgeting survey research. As a result, the findings of Bierman ( 1993), Gilbert and Reichert (1995), Payne, Heath, and Gale (1999), and Ryan and Ryan (2002) are not summarized. A. Stage 1 : Identification Suggested areas of study within this stage include how project proposals are initiated, whether the proposal process is on-going or on an only-when-needed basis, at what level projects are generated, whether there is a formal process for submitting ideas, how that process works when present, and if there is an incentive system for rewarding good ideas.* Unfortunately, there has never been an in-depth survey focused on this stage, leaving no question that it remains strongly neglected. The only contribution of a minor nature to this topic is the incidental finding by Stanley and Block (1984). They found that in over 80% of the responding firms that capital budgeting proposals originated bottom up In the 1987 article, note that on Figure 4, the stages are described somewhat differently from the discussion in the paper itself Specifically, in the body of the paper, the four stages are: (1) identification, (2) development, (3) selection, and (4) the post-audit. But in the table, the 4 stages are idea generation, proposal development, selection of projects, and control or performance evaluation. As in footnote 3, the following suggested areas of study for all four stages are largely paraphrased from Mukherjee (1987).. 81 BURNS WALKER CAPITAL BUDGETING SURVEYS: THE FUTURE IS NOW Figure 1. Surveys of Capital Budgeting of Large US Firms Surveyed Year(s) Survey Author(s) Method Number of Usable Responses 1982 Stanley Block (1984) questionnaire 121 1986 Pruitt Gitman (1987) questionnaire 121 1986 Pohlman, Santiago, Markel(1988) questionnaire 232 1988 Gordon Myers (1991) 1988 1992 1990 1991 1992 Myers, Gordon, Hamer(1991) Bierman (1993) Porterba Summers (1995) Gilbert Reichert (1995) Trahan Gitman (1995) Sample CFOs of Fortune 1000 multinationals VP Finance or Treasurer of largest industrials in Fortune 500 CFOs of Fortune 500 questionnaire 282 questionnaire 282 questionnaire 74 Executives and capital budgeting directors of large US industrials except utilities and transportation Large public firms from FASB Data Bank 100 largest of Fortune 500 questionnaire 160-228 CEOs of Fortune 1000 questionnaire 151 Fortune Magazine Directory CFOs questionnaire 84 CFOs of Fortune 500 + Forbes 200 Managers of foreign manufacturing subsidiaries of US industrials 1992 Shao Shao (1996) questionnaire 188 1992 Burns Walker (1997) questionnaire 180 Fortune 500 7,27,10 7 best-sellling texts, 27 prestigious CFOs, 10 leading financial advisors 1996-97 Bruneretal(1998) telephone survey 1992-93 Mukherjee Hingorani(1999) questionnaire 102 Fortune 500 CFOs 1994 Payne, Heath, Gale (1999) questionnaire 155 USA and Canadian based companies from SP Compustat database questionnaire 111 CFOs from Fortune 1000 questionnaire 392 CFOs from FEI corporations interviews 39 executives of large companies questionnaire 205 CFOs of Fortune 1000 questionnaire 40 top-ranking officers of Fortune 1000 1997 1999 1999 1999 2005 Gitman Vandenberg (2000) Graham Harvey (2001) Triantis Borison (2001) Ryan Ryan (2002) Block (2007) z †¢^ II O) (2002) ueAy ? uBAy o (0 O) †¢a (0 a i2 i2 o u. a †¢o (0 (O O) I O) †¢o 3 OQ a re U 3 D) O6B!)UB9 UBLU|L|Od S (8861.) |StJeiM (Z86l.)ueaJi!OSH!n.id (W6l)|00ia8^8|UBis |L Idea Generation |A. Source of Origination |B. Reasons for Idea Origination |C. Process of Origination Submission |D. Time Pattern of Origination 1II. ProposalDevelopment |A. Level at Which screening Takes Place |B. Screening Process  ¡C. Cashflow Estimates (and forecasting) |D. Responsibility for Budget Preparation (personnel) |lll. Selection of Projects |A. Classification of Projects for Economic Analysis B. Personnel (Department) Responsible for Analysis C1. Listing Techniques Used |C2. Reasons for Techniques Used Dl. Risk recognition D2. Risk assessment D3. Risk adjustment El. Capital Rationing: How Extensive? E2. Capital Rationing Rationale E3. Capital Rationing Methods Used F. Cost of Capital G. Project Approval |IV. Control (or Perfonnance Evaluation) A. Extent of Use of Post Audit B. Personnel Involved/Procedure C. Performance Measurement D. Use of Evaluation (Punishment/Reward/Etc.) 1* Surveys in this exhibit appear in chronological order of their publication. 82 JOURNAL OF APPLIED FINANCE ISSUES 1 2, 2009 o o o o CM o ( ¿ooz) iooia 6jaquapueA S UBLUIJO (0002) (6660 9|B0 S MIB9H auÄBd (666 O !UBJo6u!H S aa[jaLj|ni^ -?†¢ -y -7-?†¢ -y (1.002) uosuog pue suueui -?†¢ ~y (1.002)^SWBH S lUBMBJO ~7-?†¢ -?†¢ -?†¢ -?†¢ -y -?†¢ (866l.)|Bà ­a.iaunjg -?†¢ CO t ^ -y ( ¿66l)J8lieM8SUjng (966l†¢)oeL^S8OB^s -y (9661.) uBUjJio S UBUBJi -y (S66l.)weM0!ays;jaqi!9 -y (9661-) sjauiujns s eqjapod -?†¢ -y m ( £661.) ueuuaig -y -y 5 a. n O (1-661-) jaoiBH S uopjoo sjaA|/\| ~y -y ~y -y (1.661.) sjaÄ|/\l8uopjoo -y ~y -y -y -?†¢ -?†¢ -y ~y -y -y to -y 00

Social Networking Essay Example for Free

Social Networking Essay Social Networking A Thesis Presented to the Faculty of Technological Institute of the Philippines College of Engineering In Partial Fulfillment Of the Requirements in Bachelor of Science Industrial Engineering By: Jessica P. Tumambing Approved By: Ms. Federa Acknowledgements The author would like to express his sincere appreciation to all those that have assisted in the completion of this Thesis. Ms. Federa Ms. Federa has been an excellent professor. The author could not have completed the research without her guidance and ongoing support. Respondents Author would like to thank all the people that took the time to respond to the questionnaire and assisted in gathering the primary data. Friends and Family Finally the author would like to thank his friends especially to my very best friend for their great help and for enduring me. Their assistance has been very motivating. I would also like to thank my family for their support, with special mention to my Mom and Dad, for always covering my back and providing me with encouraging words DEDICATION I dedicate this thesis to my parents who have always been my nearest and reverse nearest neighbors and have been so close to me that I found them whenever I needed. It is their unconditional love that motivates me to set higher targets. I also dedicate this to my best friend (Jhae Jimenez) who is my nearest surrounder and have provided me a strong love shield that always surrounds me and never lets any sadness enter inside. ABSTRACT Social Networking Sites are experiencing a rapid growth; there seems to be no limit to their size. Many Social Networking Sites boast with millions of members using their networks on regular basis to communicate, share, create, and collaborate with others. Popular examples of these Social Networking Sites are Facebook, LinkedIn and Bebo. Although most of these sites lack decent business models, they are valued at millions of pounds. Google paid 1.5 billion dollar for YouTube when it wasn’t even earning a single penny. The reason successful Social Networking Sites have become so valuable is due to the amount of people that are using it; and people are exactly what organizations are after. This report aims to find out whether Social Networking Sites have the same value in the context of recruitment. Academic literature extensively discusses online recruitment, however not much is said about recruitment on Social Networking Sites: ‘Sociocruitment’ Research revealed that professionals are quite optimistic about Sociocruitment. Although users of Social Networking Sites had a disperse opinion on organizations contacting them on these websites; not many were negative. The contemporary research furthermore harvested information from a range of sources to create understanding of key issues allowing readers to familiarize themselves with the concept. Finally the report makes suggestions on how organizations can engage in this new media. TABLE OF CONTENTS Approval Sheet I Acknowledgement II Dedication III Abstract IV Table of Contents - V CHAPTER 1 Background of study - 1-2 Statement of the Problem 3-4 Significance of the Study 5 Assumption of the study 6-7 Scope and Limitations - BACKGROUND OF STUDY This thesis explores Social Networking sites as a medium of expression for sexual identity construction; more specifically the research question aimed to explore how gay and lesbian individuals use social networking websites as a means to construct and explore their sexual identities through self presentation on conventional social networking sites (SNS) available and used by everybody versus LGB SNS which are primarily used by Lesbian/Gay and Bisexual individuals and groups. Through the conduction of eight semi- structured interviews with an even number of four males and females and a content analysis of each participant’s social networking profiles, the research explored how sexual identities were presented and played out on these sites by the variation and degree of information that was disclosed by the sample study. Overall the aim was to explore the advantages and disadvantages social networking entails for the gay community through a comparison of both types of SNS, exploring how self presentation and sexual identities are negotiated and managed through the two while determining if these sites were in fact a safe location to play out sexual identities if they are a site of identity restrictions. From research up to this point it has struck me that there is limited research concerned with the disadvantages of social networking and identity experimentation for gays and lesbians. Thus this present study aims to acquire if gay individuals feel  they can perform their sexual identities more comfortably and honest in one ahead of the other or if they feel the need to ‘conceal’ their sexual identities on certain social network sites which are accessible to all e.g. Facebook and reasons why. The basis of this study is to get both sides of the story, addressing the positives but also taking into account the negatives and weighting up which SNS is less restrictive on sexual Page 2 of 39 identity construction. Self presentation will be a dominant theme in drawing research, extending on the existing research exploring the differences of presentation between the two sites. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM Social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace allow you to find and connect with just about anyone, from a coworker in a neighboring cube to the girl who played Emily in your high school production of â€Å"Our Town† thirty years ago. Browsing these sites can make you feel connected to a larger community, but such easy, casual connection in an electronic environment can also have its downside. A False Sense of Connection According to Cornell University’s Steven Strogatz, social media sites can make it make it more difficult for us to distinguish between the meaningful relationships we foster in the real world, and the numerous casual relationships formed through social media. By focusing so much of our time and psychic energy on these less meaningful relationships, our most important connections, he fears, will weaken. Cyber-bullying The immediacy provided by social media is available to predators as well as friends. Kids especially are vulnerable to the practice of cyber-bullying in which the perpetrators, anonymously or even posing as people their victims trust, terrorize individuals in front of their peers. The devastation of these online attacks can leave deep mental scars. In several well-publicized cases, victims have even been driven to suicide. The anonymity afforded online can bring out dark impulses that might otherwise be suppressed. Cyber-bullying has spread widely among youth, with 42% reporting that they have been victims, according to a 2010 CBS News report. Decreased Productivity While many businesses use social networking sites to find and communicate with clients, the sites can also prove a great distraction to employees who may show more interest in what their friends are posting than in their work tasks. Wired.com posted two studies which demonstrated damage to productivity caused by social networking: Nucleus Research reported that Facebook shaves 1.5% off office productivity while Morse claimed that British companies lost 2.2 billion a year to the social phenomenon. New technology products have become available that allow social networks to be blocked, but their effectiveness remains spotty. Privacy Social networking sites encourage people to be more public about their personal lives. Because intimate details of our lives can be posted so easily, users are prone to bypass the filters they might normally employ when talking about their private lives. What’s more, the things they post remain available indefinitely. While at one moment a photo of friends doing shots at a party may seem harmless, the image may appear less attractive in the context of an employer doing a background check. While most sites allow their users to control who sees the things they’ve posted, such limitations are often forgotten, can be difficult to control or don’t work as well as advertised. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY 1. Informatics Manila Students – The main target of the study, for the students to be aware of the impact of social media to them 2. Parents – This study will be beneficiary to parents of the students, for them to be aware of the impacts of social media usage. 3. Informatics College Manila – The study will also be beneficial to the educational institution for the awareness on the impact of social media usage. 4. Future Researchers – They will benefit from the study through the information they could gather.

Sports Psychology Techniques, Research Design and Methods

Sports Psychology Techniques, Research Design and Methods Show a Critical Awareness of the Theoretical Basis to Applied Sport Psychology Techniques; Research Design, Methods and Procedures Used in This Domain, and Practical and Ethical Issues in the Delivery of Sport Psychology. In the research article relating to sports psychology, in particular the achieving of excellence, we can see that an attempt has been made by the researchers to asses the role of certain psychological phenomena related to positive performance to see if they could determine whether or not these factors played a significant part in the success of highly acclaimed professional sportspersons, in particular tour golfers. The research involved key concepts such as imagery, goal setting, focus, distraction control and evaluation techniques that all pertained to fundamental concepts outlined in findings from sports psychology theory and research. The study itself used a questionnaire from which an interview was conducted in the hope of extracting some of the mental processes and preparations of top golfers that were believed to have become evident in their responses. These interviews were tape recorded and transcribed according to qualitative research method processes and conventions. The in terviews were conducted at the convenience of the sportsperson as it was believed that this would make the process more free flowing as the interviewee would be more focused and inclined to cooperate with the questions. The findings of the research suggested in conjunction with former findings related to the field of sporting excellence that their was clear evidence of the usage of imagery, goal setting, focus distraction control and evaluation techniques in the interview answers put forward by the sportspersons. It was concluded that an integral part to the psychological phenomena detailed was the role of commitment and suggestion was made for subsequent research to be conducted into this area. Some of the areas that were drawn out and critiqued within the interview pertained to goal setting. Goal setting techniques can be understood as being set by psychologists to put in place the achieving of high levels of endurance in sport (Orlick Partington, 1988). Goals are generally set to focus the individual on desirable target behaviours or performance actions. The focusing on goals or targets is believed to take away extraneous and undesirable distractions from the sportspersons conscious perception and produce a well defined path towards achievement. This can be seen being evident in some of the interview responses as being a ‘clearly defined’ target. In Bandura’s model he suggests that there are three major factors at work in the acquisition of a behaviour or performance. Three key factors are believed to inform the intention towards a desired target in this model. It was suggested that manipulation of these factors could change the intention of a person and consequently change, or shape, their behaviour to a more desirable one (Bandura, 1997). In accordance with other factors a positive attitude towards a desired behaviour would essentially increase the intention towards any goal. To function successfully, the intended goals would have to be clearly defined. This notion of clearly defined goals is included and incorporated throughout the methodology of the research article and forms an essential part of the findings according to the model of excellence proposed by Orlick Partington (1988). Another factor indicated in research on goal setting is that of unrealistic goal setting and the effects of negative mental attitudes when the goals do not relate to the desired outcome. For instance, unrealistically high goal settings from pressures such as media and peer pressure may lead to a high percentage of failure. This can have a very negative effect on the individual’s mental state. For example, in the model proposed by Baumeister (1990) the destructive effects of unrealistic goal setting can be understood in three steps. The first step is a mismatch between circumstance and expectation, leading to unrealistic goal setting. The second stage highlights the negative outcomes of this phenomenon. The third and final step indicates the importance and fragility of the mind if it is not focused. Essentially, to avoid disturbing ideas of failure, the individual negates responsibility for the outcomes of their actions altering their logic in a very negative and destructive ma nner (Baumeister, 1990). That is to say, that if the perception of realistic goals is not adjusted then the mind of the individual will begin to apply severely disturbing logic patterns to the process of goal achieving. This is not regarded in the condition of club professionals. Rather than them being simply uncommitted as is concluded, it could be that the negative effects of unrealistic goal setting has disturbed their focus or commitment. For instance, the individuals may begin to apply the successful achievement of goals to external factors such as luck, and take responsibility for only failed goals (Abramson et al, 1978). Another key concept in achievement is learning. Essentially, objectives are considered to manage goals and goal setting. Fontana (1993) suggests that these objectives can be split into five mental processes. He defines these categories as ’identifying clearly what needs to be done, plan how we are going to do it, monitor our progress while we are doing it, assess the extent of our success when we have done it, learn more effectively from the experiences it has offered us’ (Fontana, 1993). This learning model shows of how goal setting and achieving goals can be utilised through the introspection of the experience gained. We can see from the research article that this idea of learning rather than focusing upon error is incorporated in the findings. The effects of learning can be seen in the formulation and use of educational objectives (Pearson and Tweddle, 1984). This research indicates the benefits of evaluation, reflection and consideration within the domain of sportin g achievement. The notion of learning can also be seen in the role of imagery and the imagination, highlighted within the findings of the interviews. This notion is concerned not only with the role of understanding and the learning of psychological processes after the event, but also the role of psychological processes before the event. Imagery is considered as being directly associated with the pathways of the imagination. This field of research has highlighted the importance of pre-conceived and pre-empted eventualities within the thought processes of the individual. Essentially, it focuses upon the actualisation of possibilities and outcomes within the mind. This would indicate the need for the individual to think in a certain way to achieve the best results. The imagination of sporting techniques is considered a cognitive pathway that can be honed and lead to more confidence and a more successful outcome. For instance, if the individual can visualise success then it is presumed that he/she can gain confidence in the achieving of a successful goal without the actual physical experience usually required in confidence acquisition (Kohler, 1925). We can see that this core idea has been implemented into the methodology of the research. For instance, there is an indication of imagining the ideal put before practising it. Imagery is also believed to help in the preparation for events that can not be prepared for with physical training alone. For instance, improvisation and the applying of insight into extreme circumstances can be utilised in ways that cannot be accounted for in normal physical training. In this sense the imagination and imagery is a key component in the conceptualising of an ideal action involved in a sporting technique. We can see from the methodology of our study that this notion has been incorporated. For instance, the ideal technique of a swing can be seen in the account that indicates that once the ideal stroke has been accomplished there is no longer a need to practise physically. This imagery can be seen as being indicated by the pro in the success of his action that is then carried out against the imagined goal in the learning manner put forward by Fontana. Imagery and the imagination seem to be manipulated by the golfers to hone their focus techniques as the methodology of the research article suggests. Focus is understood as being not something that is physically learned, but that is important to success. As we have seen, extraneous variables from the environment can have negative effects on the performance of actions. However, it would seem from the accounts of the tour pro’s that these extraneous factors have been removed from as they have attained focus. It would seem that this research has backed up the findings of former research. Although, some problems may arise from its use of a confined and pre-determined model of closed questions, it can be said to be valuable. Although this may arouse critical questions of validity, it can be said this research has brought to our attention some of the psychological dynamics associated with achievement, excellence and success within the sporting domain. Bibliography Abramson, L, Y., Seligman, M, E, P., Teasdale, J., (1978) Learned Helplessness in Humans: Critique and Reformulation. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 87, 49-74. Bandura, A. (1997) Self-Efficacy: The Exercise of Self Control. New York: WH Freeman. Baumeister, R, F., (1990) Suicide as Escape From Self. Psychology Review, 97. 90-113 Fontana, D., (1993) Managing Time: Personal and Professional Development. Leicester: BPS Books (British Psychology Society). Kohler, W., (1925) The mentality of Apes. New York: Harcourt Brace (Reprint ed., 1976. New York: Liveright.) Orlick, T., Partington, J. (1988). Mental Links to Excellence. The Sport Psychologist, 2, 105-130. Pearson , L. and Tweddle, D., (1984) The Formulation and Use of Educational Objectives. In Fontana, D. (ed.) Behaviourism and Learning Theory in Education. Edinburgh: Scottish Academic Press.

Pharmacologic Advances Essay -- bioservices, anti-body

Aligning to IBT BioServices’s business model and core competency, the top four critical needs and requirements have been identified from Model 1 assessment. These criteria are compared and contrasted to the company’s model and key strengths to develop a strategic roadmap for further expansion of the market position and share. The key learning from this assessment includes (Figure 4): 1. Need of surrogate assays model that are reliable (in-vitro and in-vivo assays) and predictive of protective immunity against RSV and DEN. This is a demonstrated key strength area for IBT BioServices with their cotton rat model. The company successfully tested RSV vaccine and therapeutic candidates that led to IND and clinical development (IBT BioServices). Their in-vitro assay platform, particularly CPE assay, provides high correlation of inhibitory and efficacy measurements of vaccine candidates to human subject. This is essential preliminary data needed to design pre-clinical and clinical trials direction. 2. Develop new assays platform that is compatible for next generation technology and approach e.g. structural-based design to develop RSV vaccines (vaccine research center- NIAID-NIH). This approach utilized atomic-level details of RSV protein to detect binding mechanisms of fusion glycoprotein needed to neutralize human RSV antibody (Oplinger, 2013). The assays must be able to measure and follow the activity of the protein-antibody complex to develop higher efficacy vaccine. 3. Compliance and data integrity. Early phase R&D programs do not require GLP certification; however, there are benefits in establishing such programs. In this industry the concept of speed to market is essential and critical for market share and profit generation. The th... ...o 2016, Stockpile Analysis, Competitive Benchmarking and Pipeline Analysis. Retrieved from: http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/1195531/the_future_of_global_vaccines_market_forecasts (n.d.). Services for respiratory syncytial virus research. Retrieved from IBT BioServices website: www.ibtbioservices.com (n.d.). Services for dengue virus research. Retrieved from IBT BioServices website: www.ibtbioservices.com Thomas, S. (2011). The Necessity and Quandaries of Dengue Vaccine Development. J Infect Dis., 203 (3), 299 303. doi: 10.1093/infdis/jiq060 WHO. (2014). Dengue. Retrieved from: http://www.who.int/immunization/diseases/dengue/en/ Wilson, P. (2010). Giving developing countries the best shot: An overview of vaccine access and R&D. Retrieved from: http://www.oxfam.org/sites/www.oxfam.org/files/giving-developing-countries-best-shot-vaccines-2010-05.pdf

Cryptographic Protocols for Electronic Voting Essay -- Technology Elec

Cryptographic Protocols for Electronic Voting After some preliminary research into the subject of electronic voting [BARL2003], it became apparent that there may be reason to mistrust current electronic voting systems. Further, as I studied a variety of voting systems, I realized I had little confidence that any of them (even paper ballots) would be guaranteed to produce a perfectly accurate tally. In my previous paper [BARL2003], I suggested the following definition: "An accurate voting system counts all valid votes with minimal processing error such that the intent of eligible voters is reflected in the final tally." I believe it is important for a voting system to (a) minimize error, (b) count all valid votes, and (c) preserve the intent of eligible voters in the final tally. At least in theory, I believe that today's electronic voting systems are capable of counting votes with minimal processing error. Assuming that all parties involved in the process of creating an electronic voting machine perform ethically, and that enough time, money, and effort is expended to do the job correctly, it should be possible to create a system that processes each entry that was received by the system. However, even making those assumptions, it is not quite that simple. There may be many reasons that a valid entry is not received by the system. For example, voters may be confused by the systems and may not enter their selections into the machine they way they intended. The system may "crash" before reporting its results. An eligible voter may be denied access to voting machines during the election interval . As far as I have been able to determine, the process for deciding the validity of a vote is subject to interpret... .../www.notablesoftware.com/Papers/1002evot.pdf [MERC2003] Mercuri, Rebecca. Website on "Electronic Voting" last updated September 1, 2003. http://www.notablesoftware.com/evote.html [PFIT1996] Pfitzmann, Birgit. Digital Signature Schemes: General Framework and Fail-Stop Signatures; Springer-Verlag, Berlin 1996. [PITT2003] Pitt, William Rivers. "Electronic Voting: What You Need to Know," Interview with Rebecca Mercuri, Barbara Simons, and David Dill, October 20, 2003. http://truthout.org/docs_03/102003A.shtml [RaRaNa] Ray, Indrajit and Ray, Indrakshi and Narasimhamurthi, Natarajan. "An Anonymous Electronic Voting Protocol for Voting Over the Internet." (Date of publication unknown.) http://citeseer.nj.nec.com/471417.html [SCHN1996] Schneier, Bruce. Applied Cryptography: Protocols, Algorithms, and Source Code in C; John Wiley & Sons, New York 1996.

Return to the Past: William Faulkner :: Creative Writing Dialogue Essays

Return to the Past: William Faulkner One Friday afternoon, I was sitting in my Calculus II class, taught by the one and only Dr. Larry Zettel. I was confused about the topic and wasn’t paying very close attention. My thoughts were drifting off between his explanation of anti-derivatives and thoughts of the other things going on in my world. I was remembering what a great time I had when I traveled back in time to interview A. E. Housman. It then occurred to me, I should do this again. The tough part was deciding whom I would interview. I finally decided to go to Oxford, Mississippi, to see William Faulkner because I had read his short story, â€Å"A Rose for Emily,† in class, and I had an idea of what it meant, but I wasn’t entirely sure. I snapped back to reality and class was finally over. I made my way back to my room. Later that night I placed a call to Jason back home. â€Å"Hey, Jason, what are you up to?† â€Å"A whole lot of nothing. What about you?† â€Å"Well, funny you should ask. I was wondering if you’d like to take another trip back in time, using the time machine you built, which I must say, is your greatest invention so far. We would be going to Mississippi this time to see William Faulkner.† â€Å"Sure, dude, sounds cool. When were you planning to go?† â€Å"I was hoping you could go come on up now, if that’s fine with you. I already talked to JoJo, and he said he’d let his parents know you could take his truck.† â€Å"Yeah, no problem, I’ll leave in ten minutes or so. See you in a bit.† â€Å"All right, see you soon.† A little bit later Jason showed up with Curtis, another one of my friends. We checked to make sure everything was operable so the trip would succeed. After everything was checked, we took off. We were heading, as I told Jason, to Oxford, Mississippi. I hoped I would find William Faulkner there on June 9, 1962. This time was going to be different. A different area, a different time. We didn’t know what to expect, and I still don’t really believe what happened on that trip. We arrived with a flash and a bang.

Creative Play Essay

Creative development is provided within settings through role play, music, dance and messy activities. Creativity can stem to a range of other things to, such as problem solving, knowledge and understanding of the world, Personal social and emotional development and physical development. When creative activities are set out for children they can gain a great deal of satisfaction and it can increase the child’s confidence and self esteem. Children do not necessarily have an end product in mind but they may just want to explore and enjoy the creative materials they are using. Children are learning all the time and we as practitioners need to make learning fun and enjoyable. It is important that we provide enough opportunities for children to develop creatively we can do this by providing resources that they may not have access to at home and offering support in exploring these materials. As practitioners we are good observers and reflectors and should encourage children to reflect on their experiences to. From children’s reflections you can then look at where an activity should go next and how you can adapt that activity to support the individual child’s learning. Children can learn from as young as newborn. They begin to learn skills such as grasp, facial expression, textures, smells and sounds. The first sign of a child’s creativity begins with exploring sounds and listening to familiar voices around them. They may link these sounds to key people such as their parents, siblings, grandparents or carers. The process of a newborn is to become familiar with its surroundings and to sense a gain of belonging. They can gain this from bonding with its parents. As the child gets older they begin to learn new skills and have more opportunities in which they are able to explore. They become more inquisitive and like to have free flow of activities within the setting they are in and practitioners need to encourage them to explore the surroundings without taking charge of their play. For babies we offer opportunities for them to explore a wide range of materials and resources such as musical and light toys and natural ‘holistic’ objects such as brushes, wool, saucepans, utensils, wood, sponges and a range of different textured fabrics. Babies use the senses to acquire the skills of play they explore by using their hands and eyes. Children gradually learn to understand the properties of the objects that they played with – whether they are hard or soft, or big or small; whether the have a ight or a wrong way up; whether their shape changes or stays the same; whether they taste or smell good, and so on. Babies learn so much from exploratory play and we as practitioners provide them with a safe and secure place to do this. We let the children take risks which they may not be able to do at home such as having out blunt cutlery, pasta and other exciting and interesting objects in which they can play with and learn from. Children are more likely to l earn through play if you make it exciting for them and you help in supporting their play. When supporting children within their play you should aim to provide minimum intervention in children’s play activities while keeping them safe from harm. You should support rather than direct their play and help create a play environment that will stimulate their self directed play and provide maximum opportunities for them to experience a wide variety of activities. You can show support within children’s play by providing flexible planning and enable them to choose from a broad range of play opportunities both indoors and outdoors. You should support their play by giving the child a choice of whether or not they wish to be involved in the play activity. By giving the child plenty of space to play especially when they are taking part in physical and imaginative play and to provide challenging play opportunities to avoid boredom; risk taking is part of the enjoyment of play. Creative play allows children to express their feelings through art, music, role play, singing and story telling. It is important that as practitioners we introduce new concepts of play to children in order to expand on their existing knowledge. When supporting a child in creative play practitioners should not stress that they are to produce an end product, and that there is no competition to who produces the best piece of work as children develop at different levels and stages. Practitioners should support the fact that the child has had a learning experience whether they have just explored the resources and materials or they have reached the end product. All children should be praised for the efforts they have made and feel pride in what they have achieved and learnt and we should support children in not being disappointed in their efforts of creative play. Children’s creative development is broken down into 4 sections these are responding to experiences, expressing and communicating ideas, exploring media and materials, Creating music and dance and developing imagination and imaginative play. Children need the opportunity to explore and investigate and have a sound knowledge of where they want to go in life. Creativity can give your child a chance to experience and develop new skills and sharing their knowledge and skills with others It is a way in which children explore and develop an understanding of the world. Through creative play children develop social, material, and imaginary worlds and their relationships with them, they elaborate all the while a flexible range of responses to the challenges that they may encounter. Creativity plays a part in all the learning areas within the foundation stage for example; Personal, social and emotional development, creativity builds upon a child’s curiosity and encourages a positive approach to new experiences.