Albanian crises of 97 essays

Albanian crises of 97 essays It is not easy at all to try to understand and define what happened in Albania between end of 96 till summer 97. It is almost impossible to really tell why it happened, whether it was organized if it was, what went wrong and what should have be done to avoid that. One thing is for sure though The State did NOT function. The state didnt function in several aspects and dimensions. The government was not able to prevent the expansion of the pyramid schemes. It also was not able to warn its citizens in due time about the risk that they had taken. On the other side, the citizens themselves were expecting everything from their government. And when things went wrong, the Government was on the spotlight. Everybody blamed the state and forgot they the citizens form an integral part of the state. People didnt understand that by attacking the state and its institutions, they were attacking themselves. Dont ask what the Government can do for you, but what you can do for your Government-. Unfortunately most of the citizens didnt see it this way. There can be several factors that can explain why people reacted that way. History of regimes in Albania. Albania has had very short period that can be considered that they had an independent state and the government that served them, and that is from 1920 till the Italian occupation . For the rest of the time we have either been under occupation, thus not considering the government as Albanian, or under dictatorship so that the government was serving the dictator and not the people. Manipulation of the situation by the opposition. The opposition played a very destructive role by putting narrow political interests above wider national ones. Another notion that did not function was the hierarchy. The army, the police forces and other public officials/servant didnt ...

pearl harbor a suprise or not essays

pearl harbor a suprise or not essays Knowledge that was not passed on and Miscommunication before December 7th Prior to December 7th there were many warnings and letters given to the military saying there was possible plan of attack on Pearl Harbor very few of these letters were actually received by the military. On November 27, the Chief of Naval Operations sent a letter to Lt. Layton concerning the possibility of imminent attacks on Pearl Harbor Refer to my 272338 {the naval sabotage warning}. Army has sent following to commander western defense command. Negotiations with Japan appear to be terminated to all practical purposes with only the barest possibilities that the Japanese Government might come back and offer to continue. Japanese future action unpredictable but hostile action possible at any moment. If hostilities cannot repeat not be avoided the United States desires that Japan commit the first overt act.... Prior to hostile Japanese action you are directed to undertake such reconnaissance and other measures as you deem necessary but these measures should be carried out so as not to repeat not to alarm civilian population...Undertake no offensive action until Japan has committed an overt act....1 This was one of the few letters that Layton received. Shortly after receiving this letter, Layton saw the Army begin to get ready, troops started moving as well as trucks: I though I saw weapons moving into the street and I presumed that they were going into full condition of readiness, including the emplacement of anti-aircraft and other mobile weapons around Pearl Harbor.2 Layton received other signals in addition to these, some confirming war within a few days and others saying war was going to happen in South East Asia. None of the signals, however, were passed on to military officials who could have used this information. One man who needed the information was McCollum. He received the above letter on December 1st 1941. Captain W.A. Heard...

Single-sex education and coeducation Research Proposal

Single-sex education and coeducation - Research Proposal Example While some researchers have stressed on the advantages and significance of single-sex education as the single most tool of enhancing the educational experience of the students and securing their long term prospects, yet others have vehemently opposed the same, categorizing such a system as essentially reintroducing gender barriers and providing differing treatment to students on the basis of their gender. This paper focuses on the both these aspects from a broad perspective and explores the vast amount of literature available to arrive at a logical conclusion. Although, with respect to any given educational setting, learning outcomes are a consequence of an interplay of various factors – such as, social, emotional, psychological, physical and intellectual and can hardly be construed as resulting from a single variable. The educational policy of the schools, composition of subjects taught, family background of the students etc work collaboratively towards enhancing the student’s overall performance. The present decade has witnessed the resurfacing of the single-sex educational system, which is largely attributed to the transformation in the educational reform policies, and most of all to the rising cynicism about the credibility of co-educational systems with respect to its ability to offer an unbiased learning environment to the students and its approach towards the treatment of issues concerning gender bias. The arguments in favor of and against a particular type of educational system which has helped shaped our perspectives, although wide in number, are more or less, ambiguous both in terms of nature and content, and hence inconclusive. The success or failure of a single-sex education or co-education is dependent on various factors such as the objectives and mission of the institutions, indicators of success used to analyze the phenomenon, historical perspectives, financial constraints, availability of resources etc. among others. Given the fact that all

An analysis on the foreign women's fashion magazines in China, and Literature review

An analysis on the foreign women's fashion magazines in China, and compare how do Chinese people appreciate Western magazines - Literature review Example Consumer Culture in China Davis (2005) conducted a qualitative study in which two groups of Chinese consumers in Shanghai were interviewed. The first group consisting of 51 men and women were interviewed in 1987 and the second group comprised of different Chinese consumers consisted for 46 men and women. The consumers were between the ages of 40 and 50. The interviews were open-ended and involved questions relative to consumption expectations in the future. The results of the study found that since the late 1980s, Chinese consumer culture, at least in relation to Shanghai has undergone a revolution of sorts (Davis, 2005). Chinese consumers have experienced significant changes in terms of increased income, improved standards of living, increased spending power, a greater variety of consumption choices and have embraced â€Å"globally branded foodstuffs, pop-music videos and fashion† (Davis, 2005, p. 692). ... Zhou, Arnold, Pereira and Yu (2010) offer some insight into Chinese consumer culture in China’s inland and coastal regions. According to Zhou, et. al.(2010), China is one of the world’s most important consumer markets although there is very little known about the different drivers of Chinese consumption trends and habits in China’s different regions. Using a cultural materialism approach, Zhou, et. al. (2010) analysed consumer decisions approaches among inland and coastal consumers in China. The study found that there were no material differences between coastal and inland consumers in terms of their style of shopping although their pleasure/hedonic shopping styles are different (Zhou, et. al., 2010). These differences are only important for marketers in determining what marketing approach to take for appealing to the pleasure of consumers in different regions in China. Xiao and Kim (2009) conducted a study to determine the extent to which the â€Å"changing val ue systems of modern China† impacted the consumption habits of Chinese consumers (p. 610). Using a multivariate analysis approach, the study found that functional, emotional and social values were linked in a positive way to foreign goods. Individualism and collectivism were identified as having positive links to foreign goods and life satisfaction. Individualists’ consumers were not as satisfied with their lives as collectivists were, but they were more amenable to foreign goods (Xiao & Kim, 2009). Dickson, Lennon, Montalto, Shen and Zhang (2004) conducted a survey of 1,628 married consumers in Beijing, Guangzhou and Shanghai to collect data informing of

Inventory Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Inventory Management - Essay Example Inventory items usually consist of the goods, raw materials and finished products. All of these items are seen as money or profit for the owner of any specific organization. Campbell (2007) states that keeping track of raw materials, works-in-process and finished products are obviously critical to a companys bottom line. The aims and objectives of the research regarding inventory management are to analyze various issues which are associated with the inventory management process in any specific organization. Another purpose is to talk about the importance and significance of these issues in the process of inventory management. The plan of the report is that those matters or issues, which influence the inventory management process of any company or organization, will be critically examined and studied in order to see their impact on the inventory control and management system and suitable solutions will be found in order to properly tackle any sort of issue that may appear in the organization regarding the process of inventory management. If we talk about the importance of inventory management system, we can say that inventory management is the root cause for the success of any company or organization. Zierden (2009) states that to be successful in today’s market, dealers need to have concrete inventory strategies and processes in place. If the company contains required amount of inventory items in the stock, the company never faces a demand-supply problem. Demand-supply issue always occur when the company gets out of stock and when the inventory stock level of the company is balanced, the company will never face the issue of less stock and high demand. Muller (2003) found that balanced inventories are very important for the companies because all companies, whether they are medium sized or a large sized organization, inventory management is the key to productivity and success. Piasecki (2003) found that

How Women Are Affected By Poverty Sociology Essay

How Women Are Affected By Poverty Sociology Essay In recent years, focus has been on discovering if poverty is gendered, that is to say to what extent women may be more at threat of poverty than men. In this essay I shall be discussing how women are affected by poverty and what factors lead to women being poorer than men. Peter Townsend et al (1987) have argued that there has been a feminisation of poverty, this term may be understood in various ways, it may refer to the increased risk of poverty or the increased visibility of womens poverty it may also refer to the reconstruction of poverty from a womans viewpoint. It is difficult to compare the poverty of men and women because statistics are usually based on households and this suggests that household incomes are shared evenly between adult members. Glendinning and Millar (1987 maintain that men get a larger share in most cases and this may echo their higher earning ability and the fact that in many households men still make the decisions of how money is spent. It has been shown that women are more likely to be poorer than men, although their poverty has often been masked behind studies that focused on male-headed households Ruspini (2000). Townsend acknowledges four groups which make up the majority of the female poor, these consist of women who take care of children and other dependents they are unpaid and are unable to take up employment. There are also lone women with children who dip in and out of employment. Then there are elderly women like pensioners who live alone. There are also women with low earnings where the incomes of others in the household do not contribute towards the total household income to enable the womens income to go over the poverty line. Women unquestionably tend to experience more poverty than men because their labour both unpaid and paid is undervalued, in addition women have always experienced work in a different way from men. A private and public split has always existed where women were seen as belonging in the private sphere of hearth and home and the ideologically constructed family, whereas men were seen as belonging in the public sphere of the market and the state. In terms of work, three main reasons for why womens poverty continues have been identified, the first is because a third of all women of working age still remain outside the labour market almost twice the proportion for men, they do not have equal access to the core of the labour market and they are disproportionately represented within part-time and lower paid jobs and on average women are paid less than men. The New Labour government has aimed to maximize labour force involvement by supporting (the idea of work-life balance) and trying to make it easier for people to merge paid work and family life. In-work benefits and tax credits were introduced as incentives however the working families tax credit has been more beneficial to women earners than those whose main income comes through male partners since it is more likely to be paid through the pay packet. The development of a National Childcare Strategy was also introduced but it does not measure up to the levels of childcare provi sion to be found in most other European countries. The second reason involves the responsibility women have for most of the tasks associated with social reproduction in the way of unpaid care work and domestic labour. The third reason is the sharing of income and resources within families, in the majority of cases this does not benefit women. Individuals can be poor in households with adequate incomes. This finding has important implications for policy initiatives aimed at the relief of poverty (Pahl 1989; Kempson 1996). Other forms of inequality have persisted within the public sphere, Gillian Pascall (1997) and others have argued that while women now make up a high proportion of the public sector workforce in healthcare, social work and education, they remain under represented in senior and management positions. This is characteristic of the sticky floor where women are concentrated in specific occupations with low pay and status and what they do at work is often similar to what they do at home, although the introduction of the minimum wage in April 1999 has been beneficial to women who are dependent on low paid work but not to other wage groups. Though most health service workers are women, most of the surgeons are men and it is largely men who control health and social services including services that concern women, for instance reproductive healthcare, as well as support for informal carers and the education system. This is typical of the glass ceiling where women are less likely to hold senior positions and when they do hold senior positions they have to work harder and for longer hours in jobs that are classed as mens work. In the 1970s 70 percent of managers were men and today 90 percent of judges are men. Anti discrimination legislation has sought to outlaw all forms of sex discrimination but this has mostly brought about advances for individual women but has not benefited all women although it has improved the practices of most employers as well as raising public awareness. While the education system no longer just prepares girls for domesticity, it is tending to equip them for sub- servient occupations especially in the public sector on the other hand it has also expanded womens options in the labour market. Despite the fact that women have been allowed to vote and participate in the democratic process on the same terms as men since 1928, in 2000 only 20 percent of Westminster Members of Parliament were women and in 2001 only 28 percent of local government councillors were women (EOC 2001). Although there has been a feminisation of the labour market, the increase in womens workforce participation can have disastrous effects on their health because of the double burden they have to shoulder, at home they take care of children and perform domestic tasks which are unpaid as well as doing their paid job. The General Household Survey of 1998 showed that the majority of carers were women who provided more than a hundred hours of care per week which was far more than any paid worker would do. It has been shown that caring is costly in various ways, for one there is loss of earnings and the rate of adults providing care who are in paid employment is low, the effect is even greater for women than men and greatest of all in the case of a mother providing care for a disabled child Arber and Ginn(1995): Baldwin (1985). In addition costs that are associated with disability like house adaptations to accommodate special equipment and higher transport costs. There is also the cost to the carer in terms of the stress and strain (Glendinning and Millar1992; Pahl 2006). Social policy is beginning to acknowledge the contribution of carers, one way was the introduction of the Carers Act 1985 which imposed an obligation on local authorities, however the support that carers receive is still limited. Financial support is also provided by the social security system with benefits like carers allowance and disabled persons tax credit for low paid disabled workers. There are also many ways in which care can be paid for Ungerson (2000); see also Ungerson (2006). The way social security is arranged and its effects on women can be attributed to the architects of the welfare system who were so used to patriarchal assumptions about respective roles of male breadwinners and female homemakers that the National Insurance system for example was founded on the idea that married women would mainly be financially dependent on their husbands and although obvious biased elements have since been removed, the inheritance of the assumptions on which the system was founded remains. Lewis and Piachaud (1992) demonstrated that women have always been poorer than men by showing the proportion of women amongst adults in receipt of poor relief or social assistance was at around 60 percent and was the same at the end of the 20th century. Women are the main recipients of most benefits and rely more on means tested benefits even though it means greater personal scrutiny, rather than contribution based benefits like jobseekers allowance, incapacity benefit and industrial injury benefit because these types of benefit rely on the recipient having been employed, and for women their work patterns are sometimes interrupted when they take time out to raise children and therefore their national insurance contributions are affected. Women are also in some cases hidden claimants because they receive benefits as dependents of male breadwinners, and for this reason, the welfare state may also function directly to make women dependent on men, although housing and social security provision has provided at least some measure of independence to women like those escaping from violent or dysfunctional relationships. Donzelot (1979) has observed that families seem to have extended functions and are subject by the welfare state to greater levels of surveillance and control for example womens performance as mothers and informal carers may be subject to supervision by healthcare and social service professionals. The family has not lost its functions, but it has lost control. It is still the major arena for the care of dependents, but traditional female tasks are now defined and managed outside the family and by men. Pascall (1997: 23). This is seen in the cases of lone parents 90 percent of whom are women who will have social assistance benefits withdrawn if they should cohabit and they can be compelled to cooperate with the making of child support assessments against the father(s) of their child(ren). In terms of work the, mother -as-work policy ignores that child care is also work and lone mothers stand little chance of becoming equal stakeholders because they must be both breadwinners and carers, and the position at present is that lone mothers are likely to be praised for the paid work they do and condemned as welfare dependent for the unpaid work they do and the eradication of the Lone Parent Premium to income support which directly disadvantaged many lone parents most of whom are women. In recent years studies have shown that pensioners are far more likely than the working population to experience ongoing poverty, between 1998 and 2001, 18 percent of pensioners experienced persistent poverty as compared to 7 percent of the working population. Studies have also found that in recent decades older women and those from ethnic minorities are more likely to experience poverty than other pensioners. Findings from these studies led Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown to state in 2002: Our aim is to end pensioner poverty in our country. the introduction of a pension credit in October 2003 which guaranteed a minimum income of half of those people in this age group in the UK attempted to meet this goal but the success of this policy depends on all those entitled to claiming the benefit actually doing so Flaherty et al (2004). The majority of people over state pension age do retire from the labour market, but as longevity has increased the labour markets have tightened and retirement has become in Townsends words a kind of mass redundancy (1991:6). As a group, old peoples vulnerability to poverty is not as great as it was in the post second world war period, but this should not mask the fact that there is now greater inequality between older people than before. Since the number of old people both as a proportion of the total population and in absolute terms has grown this means that pensioner poverty is still a major issue. The employment of older people can be sensitive to changes in the labour market conditions and they may be shut out of jobs when the demand for labour falls. Age concern (see McEwan 1990), argue that older people are frequently subject to discrimination if they choose to re-enter the labour market often on mistaken assumptions about their reliability and adaptability. Additionally when older people do eventually become frail they suffer the same problems associated with disability. The lack of provision of universal pension in this country is out of sync with most industrialised countries, although the introduction of stakeholder pensions for people with no access to private pensions and the introduction of free eye tests has gone some way in helping pensioners at a disadvantage. Feminists tend to view welfare state provision as being important for improving womens lives but it also reinforces female dependency on men and the sexual division of labour. Some strands of feminism stress that women are closer to nature and are naturally more caring and less aggressive and they address the world in a different voice Gilligan (1982). Other strands of feminism discard this view and assert that the gendered nature of society is the exact product of power relations and patriarchy. It is a result of the dominance of men over women and can be rejected. So in conclusion, having assessed and considered all the evidence and studies on gender and poverty, it is clear that although successive governments have through legislation and policies attempted to lessen the poverty of women, the gap between the sexes still exists and women are still very disadvantaged and are poorer than men and a major reason is the structure of the welfare state which contributes to and reinforces the differences.

Immanuel Kant Essay -- Immanuel Kant Deontology Ethics

Immanuel Kant Immanuel Kant was born, lived and passed away in his home town of Konigsberg. He lived from 1724 to 1804. He studied at the local university and later returned to tutor and lecture students. It wasn’t until he met an English merchant by the name of Joseph Green that Kant learned of David Hume and began to develop his ideas of morals and values. Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason (1781) is believed by many to be his greatest work. Kant’s was known mainly, however, for his moral code The Categorical Imperative. Immanuel Kant was a follower of Deontology, or duty ethics. This means that for an act to be moral it must be performed out of duty. If you are concerned for the end product of your actions it is not a moral act. Only when your action is done in such a way that your only ...

McBride Financial Marketing Plan Essay

McBride Financial is a fast growing organization with plans to open a total eight offices located in Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, South and North Dakota. Services will specialize in providing financial mortgage assistance to first time buyers, retirees, professionals, families and individuals with credit problems. McBride Financial provides customers with informative information without any hidden cost. Breakdown of services and rates are thoroughly explained with every home purchase. Applications are processed within one business day. Marketing Plan The development of McBride Financials marketing plan will require various forms of market research. The three major groups McBride will focus on will be first time buyers, buyers with credit problems, and retires purchasing primary or secondary homes. Market research will be conducted through the collection of surveys, contact methods, marketing intelligence and internal data. Advertising will consist of promotional television, radio, newspaper, and internet ads that appeal to specific marketing groups. Local realtors will be used for advertising purchases as well. Marketing strategies will be developed that establish McBride Financial as the leader in low cost mortgage services. Online Research Most consumers have access to the internet; as a result McBride Financial will conduct online surveys to reach a broad focus group. â€Å"Online research accounts for 8% of all spending on quantitative marketing research, and most industry insiders predict healthy growth† (Armstoring & Kotler, 2005). Cost associated with online research is minimal and will help McBride Financial meet budget demands. The use of online surveys will be implemented to gain a better perspective of consumer needs. Surveys will consist of 25 questions related to home purchasing and financial planning. Surveys will be forward to the marketing department for further analysis and plan development. Media Advertising McBride Financial currently has plans to air a radio ad which informs consumers of the company low cost special financing offers. McBride Financial has included a promotional pamphlet that will be available at airports, store newsstands and realty offices. In addition, an ad has been printed in newspapers nationwide. The development of McBride Financials television ad is currently in the works and will began broadcasting later this month. McBride Financial has joint-ventured with Realtor.com in order to reach our expanding consumer based. â€Å"Realtor.com is the largest real estate database of homes for sale and the official site of the National Association of Realtors; real estate listings, realtors, mortgage rates, home buying help and much more can be accessed through the website†. Financial calculators, investing tips, lender comparison, and many other services can be access through relator.com. Links to McBride Financial can be found under the mortgage lenders link. Internet Marketing Part of the McBride Financials advertising plan will focus on internet advertising through the company’s website. In order to expand marketing efforts, McBride Financial will develop and maintain an interactive website that provides consumers with information regarding the latest rate changes and tax breaks. Internet advertising makes use of banner ads, search engines, email adverting, and paid search terms. â€Å"Internet advertising involves bringing users to a web site or generating traffic; the web site itself may consist primarily of a simple presentation of information about a company, its products and services† (Magee, N.D.) Target Market McBride Financial will focus their lending services toward three major groups. All consumers are encouraged to use McBride Financial as a qualified mortgage lender. First Time Buyers Purchasing a new home can be overwhelming for many first time buyers. McBride Financial service will work closely with first time buyers to ensure customers receive the best available rates and the largest tax breaks. McBride Financial offers services to fit all first time buyer needs: Credit reports, appraisals, home inspections and easy approval can be complete by filling a simple application. Credit Problems McBride Financial offers specialized services for clients with credit problems. McBride Financial offers services for a fixed rate of $1500 dollars. Our rate is significantly lower than our competitors and accommodates consumers with less than perfect credit; preapproval is quick and easy. Retirees Purchasing the perfect vacation home can be made easy due to McBride Financials state of the art property search. Home buyers can quickly lock-in prime rates and feel assured their rates will not change. Advanced information systems ensures the security and privacy of all customers are highly maintained. Conclusion Providing consumers with competitive mortgage lending requires effective advertising and a strategic marketing plan. McBride will meet the demands of consumers by providing the lowest rates available for qualified borrowers. Retirees, first time buyers and clients with credit problems will benefit from McBride Financial services. Marketing strategies will be employed to allow consumers to apply line of credit. McBride will be the leader in lost cost mortgage services.

Something Wickid this way comes essays

Something Wickid this way comes essays I use processes that are most common among my peers to select my books. I usually have one of my parental units, usually my mom, to go out and look for books. This is the way it happens because up until now I had no mode of transportation. I have faith in my mother to make a good choice; she usually does, for she knows most of my likes and most of my dislikes. This is how its been for a long time, but at least she can pick some pretty interesting books. Three unfamiliar words/unfamiliar usages Alighieri meaning hell or some hellish place Ironmongery heavily tooled, worked, and strangely shaped iron Drolls cliffs and mountebanks The seller of the lightning rods arrived just ahead of the storm in a green town in Illinois, in late October. The lightning rod salesman calls to the boys and asks if their folks are home, they say no. He asks if they have any money, the boys shook their heads. He then asks them their names. William Halloway and Jim Nightshade the boys reply. The boys begin to tell their story on how they were born only minutes apart around Halloween. The lightning rod salesman decides to give the boys a rod for free because, he feels a storm is coming and its going to hit Jims house. The contraption was covered in ancient dialects, the language of the storms. He goes on about the storm that is going to hit. Its going to be no ordinary storm, the lightning rod salesman says. He says his name is Tom Furry and for the boys to hammer it high on the roof. Tom totes his bag of contraptions and walks on as the boys nail the rod up. The boys head down to the library for their weekly run. They get to the library and Jim heard some strange music off in the distance. Wills dad meets the boys there; he works as a janitor and is quite old. The boys looked at some dinosaur books, they all discuss the books that they have picked...

An Overview of Costa Rica essays

An Overview of Costa Rica essays A chain of rugged mountains divides Costa Rica, which is an extended part of the Andes-Sierra Madre chain. Costa Rica is in Central America and is surrounded by Nicaragua to the North and Panama to the south. Costa Rica is approximately 19,730 square miles, which is slightly smaller than the state of West Virginia. Bordering the country to the east is the Caribbean Sea, and to the west is the Pacific Ocean. Costa Rica's total coastline distance is 1,290 km. The highest point is Mt. Chirripo, which stands at 3,797 meters high. Costa Rica is included in the Pacific "Ring of Fire" with seven out of forty-two active volcanoes on the chain. The population of Costa Rica is something around 3,534,174, which was taken in July of 1998. The country is marked with a 2.4% population growth rate, which increases annually. 96% of the Costa Rican natives are Caucasian (including mestizos), 2% are African American, 1% are Chinese, and 1% are Indian. Over 90% of the people in Costa Rica believe the faith of the Roman Catholic Church. The official language is Spanish, but English is spoken in parts around Puerto Limon. Costa Rica has a 95% literacy rate, which is from both males and females over the age of fifteen that can read and write. San Jose is not only the capital of Costa Rica; it is also the country's largest city with a population of 300,000. Most of the economic, political, and social events of the country take place in the capital of San Jose. In colonial times, the main industry was tobacco growing and processing. By the mid-1800s, the city (along with the entire country) became a coffee producing area. San Jose was founded around 1738 some two hundred years after Spain's Westward expansion for Cartago. San Jose gained independence from Spain in 1821. It later went on to become the country's political base, and in 1823 it became the country's capital. San Jose is a modern city with parks and fine buildings open to the public. The cap...

Yahoo Inc Statistics Project Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Yahoo Inc - Statistics Project Example It is important to observe trends in the time series data in order to assess which model to apply when undertaking a forecast of data. In this regard, graphical presentations are usually recommended. Thus in this study, graphs are used to show the trends in the data gathered as has been recommended by other scholars for observing time series data (Anderson, et al., 2010). One of the objectives of this paper was to assess the measures of central tendency and measures of dispersion (spread). In this study, we use mean scores and median values to assess central tendency and standard deviation, minimum and maximum values to assess spread in the time series data. Therefore, this has been done for sales, costs, and profits of Yahoo Inc. for the period under review. These results are presented in table formats in Part II of this paper. There are many methods that can be used to forecast time series data such as the one in this study (Table 1). In our assessment of the task at hand and the l imitation of resources, we conducted the forecast using regression analysis technique which we found to be appropriate for this study. There are a number of statistical software available for conducting forecasts of time series data (Evans, 2003). These include but are not limited to Excel, SPSS, Stata, Eviews, R, and Minitab. Again, due to resource limitations and our assessment of the task at hand, we use the Excel software to conduct the forecasting exercise in the present study.

Surface analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Surface analysis - Essay Example For example, corrosion in metal is prevented through the use of specific chemicals; various optical effects on lenses may be done through special coatings; and automobile emissions are significantly reduced through the unique chemical composition on the surface of an auto-exhaust catalyst. To achieve the desired function, the surface a material should be analyzed to determine its physical characteristics, chemical composition, chemical and atomic structure, electronic state, and molecular bonding (Vickerman, 2009). Methods Several probes may be applied on a solid surface to measure its response, namely: electrons, ions, neutrons, photons, and heat or field. Each probe has a specific response. The combination of probes and corresponding responses provides 36 basic classes of experimental techniques which may be utilized for surface analysis. Table 1 Most Commonly Used Surface Analysis Methods Incident Excitation Probe photon electron ion neutron electric/magnetic field Radiation Detec ted photon FTIR, Raman, XAFS, EXAFS, SFG, IR EDAX NRA GDOES electron XPS/ESCA, UPS, (AE) XAFS AES, SAM, SEM, TEM, LEED, RHEED, SPE, STM, EELS STM, AFM ion SIMS, LEIS, RBS, ISS neutron INS As shown in Table 1, the following shows the most commonly used surface analysis methods: FTIR – Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy; Raman Vibrational Spectroscopy; XAFS – X-ray Absorption Fine Structure analysis; EXAFS – Extended X-ray Absorption Fine Structure analysis; SFG – Sum Frequency Generation; IR – Infrared Spectroscopy; EDAX – Energy Dispersive Analysis of X-rays; NRA – Nuclear Reaction Analysis; GDOES – Glow Discharge Optical Emission Spectroscopy; XPS/ESCA – X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy / Electron Spectroscopy for Chemical Analysis; UPS – Ultraviolet Photoelectron Spectroscopy; (AE) XAFS – Auger Emission X-ray Absorption Fine Structure analysis; AES – Auger Electron Spectroscopy; SAM –Sc anning Auger Spectroscopy; SEM – Scanning Electron Microscopy; TEM – Transmission Electron Microscopy; LEED – Low Energy Electron Diffraction; RHEED – Reflection High Energy Electron Diffraction; SPE – Spin Polarized Electron spectroscopy; STM – Scanning Tunnelling Microscopy; EELS – Electron Energy Loss Spectroscopy; AFM – Atomic Force Microscopy; SIMS – Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry; LEIS – Low Energy Ion Scattering spectroscopy; RBS – Rutherford Backscattering Spectroscopy; ISS – Ion Scattering Spectroscopy; and INS – Inelastic Neutron Scattering; Analysis Auger electron spectroscopy or AES is considered as a key chemical surface analysis tool for conducting material samples. The AES technique is based on the excitation of auger electrons which allow not only the imaging of atoms but for chemical identification as well. Information available through AES ranges between the first 2 to 10 at omic layers of the sample surface (Matheiu, 2009). Meanwhile, low energy electron diffraction or LEED works by bombarding a surface with beam of low energy electrons which enable the identification of the surface structure by electron diffraction (Vickerman, 2009). A beam of low energy electrons between 10 to 200 eV is used to determine crystallographic structure. A device called a Retarding Field Analyzer is utilized to detect diffracted electrons. Diffracted electrons appear as spots on a phosphorescent screen which move according to energy variations of electrons. The intensity of the spots also provides information regarding surface reconstructions (Walker, 2011). An auger