Group Geospatial Revolution Videos Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Group Geospatial Revolution Videos - Assignment Example Alternatively, geographical or geospatial information systems describes the different technologies, methods and processes used to enhance effectiveness and efficiency in organizations. From the foregone discussion, it is evident that organizations strive at increasing efficiency and effectiveness in their operations. This same motivation has motivated Portland City to create some technologies, methods and processes that can be used to enhance their service operation. This has been motivated by the fact that GIS systems area cost effectiveness; additionally, they improve different functions in the city, something that increases the city’s potential to attract investors. The city has employed various professionals that have been doing their best in order to ensure that the city improves its practices. The incorporation of GIS in the city’s operations has increased job opportunities for many people that have continued to enjoy the improved services in the city. For this reason, the city needs to create goals and objectives that can be helpful in the achievement of the mission and vision statements in the city. However, the goals and objectives for the city’s GIS can only be derived from its mission and vision statements. It is important to note that a vision statement refers to the future picture or impression that an organizations develops for its for its practices. In this case, the vision statement for Portland City provides the picture of the city in its future as far as GIS systems are concerned and looks as follows; â€Å"To have a city that has effective and efficient services so that city residents and other investors can enjoy the lucrative investment opportunities. The city is thus positioned to become the centre for innovations and inventions that enhance people’s social and economic functions and processes.† The mission statement

Electronic commerce Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Electronic commerce - Essay Example It has also resulted to a difference in the way the companies relate to each other. The increased use of the internet has been contributed to by the need to perform business on line (Baye, Morgan, 2001). Various companies have managed to place their products on internet servers, where they have managed to advertise even using virtual brochures. In order for companies to attain competitive advantage, the virtual market should be untapped so as to reach so the many internet users (Baye, Morgan, 2001). Electronic commerce is defined as the buying and selling of goods, services or information through computer networks using the internet. E -commerce offers new ways of doing business that no company can ignore. Electronic commerce has brought with it several benefits, and it is also extremely convenient. Some of the benefits of e-commerce include; shortened remittance time, companies have managed to easily promote their product, both consumers and the companies have saved on the cost; it has enhanced the provision of timely information. E-commerce has also ensured a consistent flow of information; better customer relationship, it has enhanced the customization of products, and it has also brought with it the convenience of doing business (Baye, Morgan, 2001). ... The informational strategy has proved to be productive for most companies. An example showing the use of this strategy is Insight Direct, where a discount computer cataloger marketing mostly to business, obtains only 10 per cent of its deals from its on-line collection; however, such a company manages to get more than more 75 percent new customers from the site (Baye, Morgan, 2001). Another strategy used in e-commerce is the on-line or transactional strategy, which normally uses an electronic catalogue of goods for sale. Those visiting the site can normally go through the catalog and purchase products online. Despite the fact that the informational strategy provides an electronic catalogue and ordering information, it does not enhance online business transactions. The informational strategy does not, therefore, exploit the ability of the web to be used as an interactive medium. The transactional strategy is what most consumers relying on e-commerce would expect. In e-commerce for a c ompany to increase its overall performance, it is essential that the company establishes a website. This strategy may have a disadvantage, which is transaction insecurity. Online transactions have proved to be successful both for the small and medium sized companies. Such companies that have benefitted using this strategy include; the Virtual vine yards and Amazon.com. The use of the online transaction strategy has enhanced the growth of various enterprises; this is because the web has proved to be a potential money making vehicle that can be used in e-commerce (Baye, Morgan, 2001). The two strategies, however, have both advantages and disadvantages. The advantages of using the informational strategy include;

Valuation of Companies: Strategies and Theories

Valuation of Companies: Strategies and Theories Part A The valuation of company assets depends a varies a great deal; attempts to find theoretical models that cover all of the aspects of a business valuation has proven difficult; as such, many of the major valuation theories have been proven to have both specific strengths and weaknesses. One of the core difficulties inherent to the great majority of theories available is the reliance on specific factors in their equations that remain subject to widespread debate as to how, precisely, they should be measured in order to attain the most accurate appraisal of a company’s given value. Many problems inherent to risk assessment and company valuation include: the weighting of future long-term assets versus short-term stock market value; the precise period from which historical data should be dated from; and how risk should be defined precisely. Of course, stock market appraisal is innately probabilistic, and the development of a coherent and foolproof theory for valuing company stock re mains very unlikely. There are, however, many strengths and weaknesses inherent to the myriad of hypotheses and models available to us. One of the most ambiguous factors inherent to theories of valuation is the prediction of future growth, known as a forecast horizon. The economic growth model, which will be described later, suggests that forecasted profit over a pre-specified horizon does not affect the value of the company as such, but affects the manner in which that value is distributed over the period of the horizon. Thus, the specific horizon period utilized can impact upon the perceived growth of the company. Of course, the horizon period can indirectly impact upon the perceived value of the company in DCF and economic growth forecasting models, especially if value is tied to changes in economic assumptions regarding the general future growth of the company and its continuing value. Of course, measuring the exact forecast period is not an exact science, but must take into account a number of factors if it is to provide us with an accurate view of the relationship between explicit free cash flow and continuing value. Firstly, the horizon period should be long enough to predict that the company’s growth period will be over at the end of it. Secondly, the horizon period shouldn’t be overly long as this will inevitably impact upon the predictive capacity of the theory. Of course, the length of the horizon period also impacts upon the Return on Invested Capital (ROIC), often because the horizon period is inappropriately equated to the competitive advantage of investment of a company. As such, ROIC is directly equated to levels of continuing value presupposed by the horizon period used in determining levels of continuing value as compared to the value of explicit cash flow. As Kollar et al. (2006) suggest, â€Å"the key value driver formula is based on incremental returns on capital, not companywide average returns. If you assume that incremental returns in the continuing-value period will just equal the cost of capital, you are not assuming that the return on total capital (old and new) will equal the cost of capital† (p. 283). Instead, original capital will continue to earn the same returns that were projected in the former period. Part B The attainment of the true value of a company based upon its position in the stock market is a difficult task, and many differing theories have been developed to come to terms with perceived valuation weaknesses in previous theories. This is especially prevalent today, as many recent problems, from the bubble bursting on the dot com revolution, to recent accounting scandals in large financial firms, have stressed the need for more rigorous methods of determining true value. One problem that management have had to encounter is the paradox of retaining short-term profits in a sustainable manner that can ensure long-term health of the company. The stock market obsession with factors such as the quarterly rate of return places emphasis on short-term profitability. One competing model, that takes into account assumed growth of the company, can be found in the many discounted cash flow (DCF) models that are being used more frequently as a result of the failings of simply using present rate of return to determine a company’s overall value. DCF models differ from economic profit models because they forecast the potential of future growth of the company and incorporate that into the present-day value of the company. As such, DCF models incorporate estimates of future growth into the present model; however, further analysis of the two competing models for determining company value suggest that, in theory at least, the results should create the same overall value. The economic profit model uses the theory of Alfred Marshall (1890), in which he suggests that â€Å"What remains of the owner’s profits after deducting interest on his capital at the current rate may be called his earnings of undertaking or management† (p. 142). As such, any perceived value created by the company should take into account the opportunity cost of the capital as well as expenses. As such, in many respects the economic profit model is more rigorous in measuring the present-day value of the company, because DCF determines free cash flow through measuring investments in capital and fixed assets. Of course, because the level of investment can be delayed by management, it is possible to generate short-term value at the expense of long-term value. In theory however, both models should produce the same results. Ultimately, DCF is useful for determining the price of an asset in the long run; as such, it provides one of the most useful tools for measuring the long-term profitability of an investment by factoring in future cash flow models. While the presence of short-term deviations in market value can be useful in certain contexts in determining value, many of the models practised are unreliable and unstable in practice. Fluctuations in short-term market value is difficult to measure with any degree of accuracy, whereas DCF models reflect the true value of a company more accurately as the model is based on the acquisition of long term profitability. Certainly, the role of strategic manager should be covered in the great majority of instances by the DCF model. As Koller et al. (2005) suggest, â€Å"What matters is the long-term behaviour of your company’s share price, not whether it is 5 or 10 percent undervalued this week. [†¦] Managers who use the DCF approach to valuation, wit h their focus on increasing long-term free cash flow, ultimately will be rewarded with higher share prices† (p. 100). Therefore, the predictive capacity of DCF can be used as an effective model for creating future growth, although its predictive methods and mechanisms can occasionally be doctored to create larger levels of short-term growth at the expense of long-term growth, as a result of the correlative relationship between investment levels and free cash flow in any valuation process. In addition, DCF relies heavily on projected scenarios; as Mauboussin (2006) comments, â€Å"small changes in assumptions [in the DCF model] can lead to large changes in the value† (p. 7). This requires the need for rigorous assessment of a large quantity of possible growth scenarios. Part C CAPM uses three variables for determining the expected return of a stock, which can furthermore be used to determine the expected value of a company. Unfortunately, despite CAPM providing us with a â€Å"tour-de-force† (Fama French 2004, p. 28) of theoretical analysis that can provide us with a useful series of principles by which central principles of asset pricing can be taught, its empirical record is poor enough, according to Fama French (2004), to â€Å"invalidate the way it is used in applications† (p. 1). The problems with CAPM are built upon a number of difficult foundational principles that, in practice, prove to be unrealistic. Firstly, the Sharpe – Lintner CAPM model (see Sharpe 1964, Lintner 1965) assumes the presence of unrestricted riskfree borrowing in their equations. Of course, this is an unrealistic assumption that severely affects predicting the empirical data. Modifications by Black (1972) attempt to remedy this by creating effective asset v aluations based on risk modelling; but Black’s analysis merely suggests that unrestricted short selling, rather than unrestricted riskfree lending, is a central assumption, and proves equally false in practice. The use of CAPM is therefore encumbered by a number of weaknesses, and relies on a number of assumptions that, in practice, prove difficult to measure. These include difficulties in ascertaining precisely which risk-free rate should be used in particular circumstances, as well as difficulties in measuring the market risk premium and beta. A number of alternative models of determining company value based on risk assessment exist, all of which rely on a fundamentally different definition of risk itself. While CAPM defines a stock’s risk as its sensitivity to the stock market on the whole, other systems use more rarefied versions of risk assessment: the Fama-French three factor model, for example, defines risk in terms of sensitivity to three portfolios: the stock market, a portfolio based on book-to-market ratios and a portfolio based on firm size. Whether the Fama-French three factor model is a better system than the CAPM system remains to be seen; while it is widely held that the Fama-French model offers us a more comprehensive assessment of risk to value than CAPM, which does not rely on the assessment of other portfolios, many critics also state that the Fama-French model is subject to the same interpretative problems as the CAPM system – namely, the Fama-French model, like CAPM, does not state how muc h data should be used; this is especially important considering that the system is based on historical evidence. As Koller et al. (2005) suggest, â€Å"Since 1926, small companies have outperformed large companies, but since 1982, they have not† (323). The lack of a rigorous method for determining how far back the data related to regressed returns should go creates many inconsistencies in risk assessment and valuation, such as the one highlighted above. Arbitrage Pricing Theory (APT) offers us a model similar to the Fama-French model but more generalised in its practice. Of course, while it suffers from the same fundamental implementation-related weaknesses as other models, although it differs insofar as it factors into its central equation the actual return of a security, which is fully specified. While theoretically this model is successful, again it reveals many weaknesses in determining the overall value of a company based on the assessment of portfolio risk: implementation and application of the theory has seldom been presented because of the more generalised nature of the variables and the factors in the central equation; in practice, there has been little agreement on what these factors should be, how many there should be, and how these factors should be weighted and measured. As such, CAPM retains its validity despite its essential weaknesses as, some economists argue, it represents the â€Å"least worst† model for de fining risk. As Koller et al. (2005) suggest, â€Å"It takes a better theory to kill an existing theory, and we have yet to see the better theory. Therefore, we continue to use the CAPM while keeping a watchful eye on new research in the area† (324). Bibliography Brealey, R. A. Myers, S. C. (2003), Principles Of Corporate Finance, 7th ed., London: McGraw-Hill. Koller, T., Goedhart, M., Wessels, D. et al. (2005), Valuation: Measuring and Managing the Value of Companies, London: John Wiley and Sons. Lintner, J. (1965), â€Å"The Valuation of Risk Assets and The Selection of Risky Investments in Stock Portfolios and Capital Budgets.† Review of Economics and Statistics. 47:1, pp. 13-37. Marshall, A. (1890), Principles of Economics, Vol. 1, New York: MacMillan Co. Mouboussin, M. J. (2006), â€Å"Common Errors in DCF Models†, Legg Mason Capital Management. Sharpe, W. F. (1964), â€Å"Capital Asset Prices: A Theory of Market Equilibrium under Conditions of Risk†. Journal of Financial Economics, 10:3, pp. 237-68.

Pedagogy :: essays research papers

We are currently taking part in a graduate research project at Loyola Marymount University. The focus of this project is internet plagiarism. More specifically what academic and social pressures lead students to plagiarize. Below are several questions regarding your site. Please answer them in the spaces provided and forward the e-mail back to us. We understand that what you do is perfectly legal, and we want to make it clear that we are in no way using this data to accuse or discredit your business. We just want to gain insight as to why students choose to plagiarize (despite your disclaimer not to use the papers they receive as any more than research), what topics they choose, and approximately how frequently they use your site. Also, we want to make it clear that we do not believe that your companies plagiarize or promote plagiarism in any shape or form. Regards, Marc Wiseman, Loyola Marymount Graduate Studies in Pedagogy 1) How long have you been in business? What size staff do you have? Who writes the papers? What is their education level? 2) How many papers are on file? How many topics? How long before a paper becomes outdated? What topics are your most popular? How many do you sell per year? 3) Do you get many complaints about the quality of the papers after they are purchased? If so, how do you solve this problem? 4) How do you protect yourselves from lawsuits? 5) Who is the target audience for your marketing? Where do you advertise? What are some promotional gimmicks that seem to work for you? 6) What is the average age of the people who use your site? How many times, on average, does one person use your site? 7) Do you have many requests for personal narratives? Pedagogy :: essays research papers We are currently taking part in a graduate research project at Loyola Marymount University. The focus of this project is internet plagiarism. More specifically what academic and social pressures lead students to plagiarize. Below are several questions regarding your site. Please answer them in the spaces provided and forward the e-mail back to us. We understand that what you do is perfectly legal, and we want to make it clear that we are in no way using this data to accuse or discredit your business. We just want to gain insight as to why students choose to plagiarize (despite your disclaimer not to use the papers they receive as any more than research), what topics they choose, and approximately how frequently they use your site. Also, we want to make it clear that we do not believe that your companies plagiarize or promote plagiarism in any shape or form. Regards, Marc Wiseman, Loyola Marymount Graduate Studies in Pedagogy 1) How long have you been in business? What size staff do you have? Who writes the papers? What is their education level? 2) How many papers are on file? How many topics? How long before a paper becomes outdated? What topics are your most popular? How many do you sell per year? 3) Do you get many complaints about the quality of the papers after they are purchased? If so, how do you solve this problem? 4) How do you protect yourselves from lawsuits? 5) Who is the target audience for your marketing? Where do you advertise? What are some promotional gimmicks that seem to work for you? 6) What is the average age of the people who use your site? How many times, on average, does one person use your site? 7) Do you have many requests for personal narratives?

Feeding Monkeys Essay

In the short story,† Finding Prosperity by Feeding Monkeys†, by Harold Taw, Taw explains a moral about the importance of family, and how some people will break whatever rules to respect their family. Taw states that a Buddhist monk told his parents that he [Taw] would bring great prosperity to the family if he fed a monkey on his birthday every year for the rest of his life. Every year Taw made a point to feed a monkey on his birthday because he felt he had a right to protect his family. Early in his life, Taw and his dad â€Å"would go to the zoo early in the morning†¦ [and] when the coast was clear, [Taw] would throw†¦peanuts to the monkeys†. Together, Taw and his father would secretly go to the zoo every year until he was eighteen to guarantee the prosperity of his family. This proves that Taw was determined to keep his family safe. When Taw turned eighteen, he had to find different ways to feed the monkeys, since he was now an adult. One of the many ways he fed a monkey was that he went to a laboratory and had to â€Å"wear a biohazard suit† to feed a monkey. Taw demonstrates that even the tasks that seem the most impossible can be achieved. From these examples, it is easy to see that some people, such as Taw, with do whatever it takes to secure the safety of his or her family.

Infective Endocarditis

Infective endocarditis (IE) is a rare but potentially severe, life-threatening infection of the inner lining of the heart and the surface of valves known as the endocardium. If IE is left untreated, local tissue destruction occurs and heart valves become damaged due to pathogen invasion resulting in severe regurgitation of blood. Consequently, the heart becomes less proficient at pumping blood around the body which can lead to congestive heart failure that is the main cause of death from IE1. IE is a rare affecting around 1 in 30,000 individuals each year in England but is important as despite antimicrobial therapy, severe complications including stroke, heart failure or even death2. Delayed clinical diagnosis of IE is common as the initial symptoms such as fever and fatigue are varied and non-specific. Early diagnosis is crucial to enable faster treatment of IE critical for reducing morbidity and mortality. This review will discuss the aetiology and pathophysiology of IE alongside the standard procedures used for diagnosis. Aetiology of IE:IE is mostly caused by gram-positive cocci with Streptococci, Staphylococci and Enterococci which usually originate from oral, skin and gastrointestinal tract flora respectively, accounting for 85% of cases3,4. IE can also be caused by fungal infections such as Candida or Aspergillus colonising the endocardium5. Individuals at risk of include those that inject drugs or have a central venous catheter inserted as medical instruments can be infected by opportunistic pathogens, so manipulation of the skin disrupts the physical barrier allowing transient bacteria to enter the bloodstream6. Despite medical advancements, rates of IE are increasing due to a rise in surgery for valve replacement2.Pathophysiology: Understanding the pathophysiology of IE provides an insight into disease progression and aids in diagnosis7. The endocardium has an outer endothelium with an underlying basal lamina and an inner sub-endothelial layer made of loose connective tissue, fibroblasts and collagen fibrils8. Despite the presence of transient bacteraemia in the bloodstream, IE is rare due to the resistance provided by the intact endothelium lining the heart valves, heart chamber and great vessels9. If endothelial erosion occurs by altered haemodynamics, valvular heart disease, or mechanical lesions from artificial heart valves, blood would be exposed to the sub-endothelial layer and to stromal cells, thromboplastin and collagen present3. Exposure results in activation of the coagulation cascade resulting in fibrin deposition and platelet aggregation7. Consequently, small masses known as sterile thrombotic vegetations mainly made of platelets, fibrin, red and white blood cells4 form on the damaged endothelium on cardiac valve leaflets resulting in non-bacterial thrombotic endocarditis [Figure 1]. Vegetations are frequently found in low-pressure areas on cardiac valves due to the Venturi effect where blood flows to a lower-pressure area. Greater mechanical stresses are imposed on the left cardiac valves as blood is pumped under higher pressure. Thus, vegetations are usually identified by echocardiography on the atrial surface of the mitral valve and the ventricular surface of the aortic valve10. Knowing the common vegetation sites enables faster diagnosis of IE. Colonisation of an initially sterile vegetation may occur by adhesion of transient bacteria in the bloodstream [Figure 2]. Adhesion of gram-positive bacteria occurs as adhesins present on the surface of gram-positive bacteria recognise the exposed fibronectin, fibrinogen and platelets3. Bacterial colonisation and growth results in leukocyte infiltration into the vegetation further activating the host coagulation cascade. Vegetation enlargement occurs as bacteria grow and produce a biofilm made of polysaccharides and proteins which aids bacterial persistence11. Pathogen binding initiates neutrophil chemotaxis and infiltration occurs concentrating proteases and oxidative activities12 which can cause valvular damage and cusp perforation [Figure 2]. Thrombotic vegetations can disseminate and become septic emboli possibly resulting in the blockage of small vessels, organ failure or stroke if a cerebral artery is occluded13. Clinical presentation:Delayed diagnosis of IE is common as IE has varied presentations; therefore, blood cultures and echocardiography are predominantly used in diagnosis and clinical presentations are used to help guide diagnosis. IE is traditionally classified as either acute where a sudden development of IE occurs within days, or as subacute if a gradual development of IE occurs over weeks to a few months14. Patients usually present with persistent or recurrent fever, chills, or with non-specific and highly variable symptoms such as malaise, night sweats, myalgia, arthralgia or anorexia16. If the onset of the disease process is slow, classic examination findings such as Osler nodes (red nodular lesions found on fingers and toes), Roth spots (a white-centred haemorrhage in the retina) and Janeway lesions (non-tender, haemorrhagic plaques usually on palms and soles)15 may present [Table 1]. Auscultation of the heart is important as regurgitant murmurs are identified in nearly half of patients16. Identifying regurgitant murmurs is critical as murmurs are a result of valvular insufficiency which commonly develops as a result of IE. As clinical presentations are non-specific and highly variable, a low threshold criterion for further investigation is needed to avoid delay in identifying individuals with IE16. Diagnosis:Rapid diagnosis of IE is essential to initiate antibiotic therapy and avoid progressive, irreversible valve damage7. In comparison to the original Von Reyn criteria for the diagnosis of IE which only consisted of clinical and microbiological investigations, the modified Duke criteria is used in secondary care as the latter is more effective in diagnosis by incorporating echocardiographic findings18 to provide a greater insight into any endocardial pathogenesis [Table 1]. Two major, one major with three minor, or five minor criteria are required for a definitive diagnosis. For example, an echocardiogram showing endocardial involvement alongside a positive blood culture result is sufficient for a definitive diagnosis of IE [Table 1]. Possible diagnosis of IE requires at least one major and one minor criterion or three minor criteria. In clinical practice, the Duke criteria is used but does not replace clinical judgement otherwise misdiagnosis or delayed would result due to the varied clinical presenations19. Microbiological Tests: Identifying underlying microbial aetiology is essential for optimal individual patient treatment. Microbiological tests are performed to identify positive blood cultures. Prior to initiating antibiotic treatment, two sets of blood cultures are taken20. Incubation of a standard blood culture lasts for five days to recover nearly all cultivatable causes of IE21. However, negative tests in around 10% of patients22 may result from antibiotics being given prior to blood cultures or alternative diagnoses such as non-bacterial endocarditis. Around two-thirds of initially culture negative patients are identified as positive with further testing such as serological testing for Bartonella and Coxiella22; therefore, the incorporation of serological testing in the modified Duke criteria is critical to avoid delayed diagnosis. Echocardiography: Echocardiography is crucial in the diagnosis of IE and in predicting the embolic risk. Performing echocardiography as early as possible is essential to diagnose IE and thus initiate treatment23. Transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) and transoesophageal echocardiography (TOE) can be involved in diagnosis [Figure 3]. In TTE the transducer is placed on the chest wall and sends out ultrasound waves which pass through the chest wall into the heart. As TTE is non-invasive, it is initially used to identify evidence of endocardial involvement that is stated in the modified Duke Criteria such as vegetations or valvular perforation24, [Table 1]. TTE has a lower sensitivity of 60-75% in comparison to TOE which is more than 90% sensitive; therefore, most patients also have the TOE test where the transducer is attached to a tube, is guided down the pharynx and larynx into the oesophagus to achieve a more detailed image of the heart23, [Figure 3]. Conclusion:Rapid diagnosis is critical as IE has high mortality with over a third of patients dying a year after diagnosis despite advancements in the sensitivity of the diagnostic criteria1. Delayed diagnosis contributes to mortality as vegetation enlargement and subsequent cusp perforation continues resulting in blood flow disruption, deterioration of cardiac function or systemic effects from emboli.