How Does Montessori Compare With Waldorf Schools

Montessori and Waldorf schools are two popular kinds of schools for preschool and elementary school age children. But, many people arent sure what the differences are between the two schools. Read on to learn more and discover the differences.   Different Founders A Montessori school follows the teachings of Dr. Maria Montessori (1870-1952), a medical doctor and anthropologist. The first Casa dei Bambini, a house of children rather than a school, was opened in 1907 in Rome, Italy.  A Waldorf school follows the philosophy of Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925). The first Waldorf School was founded in Stuttgart in Germany in 1919. It was intended for the workers at the Waldorf Astoria Cigarette Company, after the companys director requested such.   Different Teaching Styles Montessori Schools believe in following the child. So the child chooses what he wants to learn and the teacher guides the learning. This approach is very hands-on  and student-directed.   Waldorf uses a teacher-directed approach in the classroom. Academic subjects are not introduced to children until an age that is typically later than that of students in Montessori Schools. Traditional academic subjects - math, reading and writing - are viewed as not the most enjoyable learning experiences for children  and are such put off until the age of seven or so. Instead, students are encouraged to fill their days with imaginative activities, such as playing make-believe, art and music. Spirituality Montessori has no set spirituality per se. It is very flexible and adaptable to individual needs and beliefs. Waldorf is rooted in anthroposophy. This philosophy believes that in order to understand the workings of the universe, people must first have an understanding of humanity. Learning Activities Montessori and Waldorf recognize and respect a childs need for rhythm and order in his daily routine. They choose to recognize that need in different ways. Take toys, for example. Madame Montessori felt that children shouldnt just play but should play with toys which will teach them concepts. Montessori schools use Montessori designed and approved toys. A Waldorf education encourages the child to create his own toys from materials which happen to be at hand. Using the imagination is the childs most important work posits the Steiner Method. Both Montessori and Waldorf use curricula which are developmentally appropriate. Both approaches believe in a hands on as well as an intellectual approach to learning. Both approaches also work in multi-year cycles when it comes to child development. Montessori uses six-year cycles. Waldorf works in seven-year cycles. Both Montessori and Waldorf have a strong sense of societal reform built into their teaching. They believe in developing the whole child, teaching it to think for itself and, above all, showing it how to avoid violence. These are beautiful ideals which will help build a better world for the future. Montessori and Waldorf use non-traditional methods of assessments. Testing and grading are not part of either methodology. Use of Computers and TV Montessori generally leaves the use of popular media to individual parents to decide. Ideally, the amount of TV a child watches will be limited. Ditto the use of cellphones and other devices. Waldorf is usually pretty rigid about not wanting young people exposed to popular media. Waldorf wants children to create their own worlds. You will not find computers in a Waldorf classroom except in upper school grades. The reason why TV and DVDs are not popular in Montessori and Waldorf circles is that both want children to develop their imaginations. Watching TV gives children something to copy, not to create. Waldorf tends to place a premium on fantasy or imagination in the early years even to the point where reading is delayed somewhat. Adherence to Methodology Maria Montessori never trademarked or patented her methods and philosophy. So you will find many flavors of Montessori. Some schools are very strict in their interpretation of Montessori precepts. Others are much more eclectic. Just because it says Montessori doesnt mean that it is the real thing. Waldorf schools, on the other hand, tend to stick pretty close to standards set out by the Waldorf Association. See for Yourself There are many other differences. Some of these are obvious; others are more subtle. What becomes obvious as you read about both educational methods is how gentle both approaches are. The only way you will know for sure which approach is best for you is to visit the schools and observe a class or two. Speak with the teachers and director. Ask questions about allowing your children to watch TV and when and how children learn to read. There will be some parts of each philosophy and approach with which you will probably disagree. Determine what the deal breakers are and choose your school accordingly. Put another way, the Montessori school which your niece attends in Portland wont be the same as the one you are looking at in Raleigh. They both will have Montessori in their name. Both might have Montessori trained and credentialed teachers. But, because they are not clones or a franchise operation, each school will be unique. You need to visit and make up your mind based on what you see and the answers you hear. The same advice applies with respect to Waldorf schools. Visit. Observe. Ask questions. Choose the school which is the best fit for you and your child. Conclusion The progressive approaches which Montessori and Waldorf offer young children have been tried and tested for almost 100 years. They have many points in common as well as several differences. Contrast and compare Montessori and Waldorf with traditional preschools and kindergarten and you will see even more differences. Resources A Montessori EducationA Waldorf EducationThree Approaches from Europe: Waldorf, Montessori, and Reggio Emilia    Article edited by Stacy Jagodowski.

Essay on A Research and Self-Reflection on Peanut Butter

Self-Reflection Summary The reason I chose this particular area of research is that peanut butter is an extremely popular food choice worldwide as it is affordable and nutritious; and I also love to eat it. However, the number of brands and the choices within the brand range make it complicated for the consumer and myself to choose the most nutritious option. Prior to this research I did not understand the nutritional content of the food I ate. On every food product there is a table of nutritional information that states the exact health contents of the food. There is also a list of ingredients that provides consumers with details regarding the food. In today’s times, consumers are flooded with choices of seemingly similar products. I†¦show more content†¦I am excited to further my studies in this methodology in my career. 6900kJ for a boy aged 7 and 6400kJ for a girl aged 7. This requirement will differ based on gender, amount of exercise done through out the day, height and weight. [30] [31] A single serving of crunchy peanut butter (1 tablespoon/15g) contains 401kJ. A single serving of smooth peanut butter contains 405kJ. A single serving of no added sugar or salt peanut butter contains 382kJ. Peanut butter would therefore be a healthy food choice for children’s breakfasts or school lunches, as it will provide them with the energy needed to concentrate at school and to use while playing sport. Adults also benefit from the high energy content of peanut butter, as they too require energy to complete a full day’s work. Graph 3 Yum Yum Smooth Peanut Butter contains 350mg of sodium per 100g; Yum Yum Crunchy Peanut Butter contains 414mg and Yum Yum Crunchy Peanut Butter with no added sugar and salt contains 8mg. Sodium is used by the body to control blood pressure and blood volume. However, excess sodium in the diet leads to high blood pressure, which may result in cardiovascular diseases and strokes. Table salt (sodium chloride) is the most common form of sodium. 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Assessment of Financial Health Free Essays

string(65) " to less creditworthy individuals or inattention to collections\." Reocities Home Neighborhoods Making Of Cases in Finance – Final Project Report Friendly Cards, Inc. (1988) Gary Cao Noah N Flom Robert Harris Srini Pidikiti May 1997 TABLE of CONTENTS 1 Assessment of Financial Health Pro Forma Financial Statements 1. 1 Review of History and Statement of Financial Health 1. We will write a custom essay sample on Assessment of Financial Health or any similar topic only for you Order Now 1. 1 Industry 1. 1. 2 Friendly Cards History 1. 1. 3 Friendly Financials 1. 2 Review and Evaluation of Pro Forma Statements 1. 3 Financial Policy / Covenants 2 Beaumont’s Decisions 2. 1 Envelope Machine Proposal 2. 1. 1 Evaluation 2. 1. 2 Financial Effect of Investment 2. 1. Recommendation 2. 2 Evaluation of West Coast (new equity offer) 2. 2. 1 Advantages 2. 2. 2 Disadvantages 2. 3 Valuation of Creative Designs, Inc. 2. 3. 1 Capital Structure Argument 2. 3. 2 Weighted Average Cost of Capital Assumptions (WACC) 2. 3. 3 Cash Flows, Terminal Value, Equity Value Valuations 2. 4 Pooling Implictions (Friendly + CD) 2. 5 Friendly Cards Stock Valuation 3 Overall Assessment 4 Goals for the Financial Structure of Friendly Cards, Inc. ——————————————————————————- PART 1. Assessment of Financial Health Pro F ormas 1. Review of History and Statement of Financial Health Wendy Beaumont, president of Friendly Cards, Inc. , has rapidly expanded her greeting card business through internal growth and acquisitions. Ms. Beaumont realizes that money is currently tight, however, she is adamant about future growth and has sought our opinion as to determine her best course of action. In presenting a decision we will first conduct an analysis of the industry, then give a short history of Friendly Cards, Inc. (Friendly), and then examine Friendly’s financial statements to determine the financial health of the company. Industry Information The greeting card industry is dominated by three large companies, (Hallmark, American Greetings, Gibson), which are referred to as ‘The Big Three’. ‘The Big Three’ dominate market share, and the remaining competitors are predominantly small private and family owned firms. The greeting card industry is characterized high fixed costs due to: large inventory costs, large investment costs in the establishment of efficient distribution lines, and the need for a highly diversified product lines. Market leaders enjoy great economies of scale which tends to hinder new ntrants into the market. As a result, the card industry is capital intensive and very competitive. The number of firms competing in the industry has decreased by an annualized rate of 15% over the last three decades. Exiting firms were typically smaller in size, the majority of which had less than 50 employees. Additionally, the competitive nature of the market results in a high d egree of price sensitivity which culminates in smaller margins on sales. Sales tend to be very seasonal in nature with peaks during major holidays. There is trending toward a larger variety of card offerings (increasing inventories), shorter carrying/selling periods, increased diversification of product lines, and an increase in sales of everyday cards as compared to holiday cards. Friendly Cards, Inc. Beaumont Greeting Card Co. was founded by Wendy Beaumont in 1978, in New York City. She later acquired Lithograph Publishing Co. and took these companies public a year later for $3 a share under the name Friendly Cards, Inc. Friendly has rapidly expanded by acquiring Glitter Greetings of Lansing, Michigan (for cash and equity), whose primary market was selling cards to supermarkets. Soon thereafter, it acquired Edwards Co. of Long Beach, New York (for cash), whose primary market was selling juvenile valentines through chain, drug, variety, and discount stores, as well as, to wholesalers and supermarkets. These acquisitions greatly enhanced Friendly’s distribution line expanding it to a regional power. Later Friendly acquired a California firm (Friendly Artists) which extended the distribution line to a national basis. Friendly Artists’ primary market was prepackaged cards direct to the warehouse. Twenty-five percent of Friendly’s sales are prepackaged boxes, which have a higher margin than regular cards due to lower return rates and lower handling costs. Currently, Friendly appears to be a niche player in the prepackaged box cards market and has avoided entry into the premium card market, thus, avoiding direct competition with the ‘Big Three. ‘ Friendly’s sales are more concentrated than the industry with the majority of sales occurring near Christmas at 30% (vs. Industry 32%), and Valentines Day at 25% (vs. Industry 7%). Thus, over 55% of sales occur within a 3 month period. Plants at Friendly are being used at capacity thus, growth would necessitate further additions or acquiring contract services. Friendly’s distribution line is effective for a smaller firm due to its structure. Of twenty salesmen, one-third work on commission thus lowering Friendly’s costs. However, one problem with using salesmen on commission and having such a small sales force is the tendency to sell to rack jobbers and wholesale distributors. This decreases the potential margin on cards by two-thirds. Friendly’s Financials Sales have increased by over 50% between 1985 to 1987. Cost of goods sold has decreased as a percentage of sales in each of those years thus, producing an increasing margin ( 29. 36% in 1985 to 35. 15% in 1987). The rapid growth by acquisition and the national distribution channels that were accomplished by it, have affected the number slightly. In 1986 selling and delivery expenses increased by 1. 45% and this leveled out in 1987. GA expenses also spiked in ’86, reflecting the recent purchase of another company, and then settled back in 1987. However, while sales may have grown rapidly they have not matched the increase in asset growth, which nearly doubled in 1986. Growth in this company is being funded by improving margins and by increasing leverage, as indicated by the Dupont Data. Although the acquisitions were acquired by both cash and equity, the majority were debt financed, which explains why the ROE figures have increased so dramatically (almost 16%) in the last three years. The activity ratios indicate that the receivable to payable were in arrears by 36 days in 1985 increasing to 52 days in 1987. This is probably a result of increased sales to less creditworthy individuals or inattention to collections. You read "Assessment of Financial Health" in category "Papers" Inventory turnover umbers are shrinking due to the continually larger inventories being carried. Net fixed asset turnover has decreased by 2. 3% between 1985 and 1987. This can be explained by higher growth in assets than in sales. The liquidity ratios indicate that the asset to liability ratio for this company is trending down. The current ratio indicates that the company i s becoming slightly more insolvent with a current ratio of 1. 18 during ’87. However, by looking at the Quick ratio and discounting for the affect of inventory in the asset number, the company is dramatically less liquid at 0. 67 in 1987. This indicates that the company is very highly leveraged and is using its large inventory levels in order to support its substantial borrowing needs. Friendly’s actual growth rate exceeded the sustainable growth rate in 1986 and was equivalent in 1987. This difference in 1986 produced a need for added debt to finance growth. However excess funds were not needed to fund additional growth in 1987 since the actual rate of growth did not exceed the sustainable rate of growth. This can also be seen in the total debt to equity ratio which increased from 3 in 1985 to 5. 21 in 1986 and reduced to 4. 1 in 1987. The leverage ratios indicate that the bank loans to debt are fairly well matched, with loans being less than receivables, however, increasing in percentage. Interest bearing debt jumped dramatically in 1986 as a result of debt funded acquisitions but continues to level off along with total debt to equity figures in 1987. Finally, debt to assets has increased dramatically in the last three years, increasing by 7. 5% to 82. 5% in 1987. Thus Friendly Cards seems to be very highly leveraged, even more so than other firms in the industry although the trend is to increase debt. This highly leveraged position coupled with the high fixed costs and low margins characteristic of the industry, exposes Friendly as extremely susceptible to fluctuations in the market. Therefore, further debt growth may not be advisable–especially since it is currently violating its existing debt covenants. However, Continued growth, however, is needed as to allow the company to further take advantage of its existing distribution lines and realize further economies of scale. 1. 2 Review and Evaluation of Pro Forma Statements The parameters that Ms. Beaumont has set for the pro formas seem reasonalbe for the most part. There are, however, some questionable numbers. For instance, all the forecasts are based on continued sales growth at 20% per year. When compared to astronomical growth rates of 58% in 1986 and 27% in 1987, these estimates appear almost conservative. The majority of the growth in the past, however, were associated with major acquisitions which served to inflate the sales numbers. The historical reluctance to use equity to grow would serve to limit growth if continued into the future. Furthermore, it may be difficult to continue to grow at such a high rates in an increasingly competitive market. Holding costs of goods runs at 65% of sales and may also present a problem depending on whether the company can continue to manage its costs as it continues to grow. It could be argued that the reason CGS has dropped recently is due to the acquisition of Friendly Artists and the increasing reliance on a sales mix made up of low cost prepackaged boxes of cards. A shift in the mix away from these items could increase costs. Also, further acquisitions will serve to push up delivery and selling costs. For our purposes, however, holding them flat seems reasonable. The tax rate seems low at 38% but, depending on the new volume of sales and the maximum tax rate for a corporation, this rate could be even higher. And while the rest of the numbers seem to follow their previous assumptions, the inventory turnover, debt to asset, and interest rate assumptions could be assumed differently. As a result of increased competition in the industry, increasing variations of cards as well as shorter holding duration, it is very unlikely that inventory turnover would improve to 1. 1, and it may very well drop well below this number, possibly to 1. 75. Since growth is likely to continue into the future, an increased amount of inventory will be needed for new market areas. Debt to assets needs to decrease, but this will be difficult to do without funding growth by equity rather than debt. The large sales growth assumptions are directly related to acquisitions, thus increasing assets. If this is done through equity, this number is very realistic. Finally, there may be a problem with the assumption that interest rates on LTD will be 11%. The Monetary Policy Report to Congress indicates that rates should tend to decrease in the future so this rate may be attainable even to such a highly leveraged firm as Friendly. Without more information this estimate seems fine. 1. 3 Financial Policy / Covenants Friendly’s apparent financial policy is rapid growth by debt. This debt-financed growth may be due to a ownership issues that could affects Ms. Beaumont’s control over her company. The financials indicate that growth is also taking place at the expense of margins, as indicated by the Dupont data. The company believes in the economies of scale of the industry and appears to be establishing a national distribution network. While costly in the short run, this strategy may enable a viable and profitable position in the industry. The elements of Friendly’s financial policy appear to be the following. Friendly’s capital structure mix is governed by a debt orientation. Its debt/assets ratio is currently at 82. 5% which places is significantly below the AAA rate. AAA bonds are listed at 9. 7% while Friendly can only borrow at 11. 5%. While equity has been used in recent acquisitions there is a strong preference by management to use debt funding. Without question, Friendly is at an integral juncture. Existing lines of credit are maxed out and the bank is imposing new covenants on future loans: bank loans ; 85% of AR and liabilities not to exceed three times the BV of the company. Friendly currently has a $6. 25 million line of credit. Under the current structure Friendly will be in violation in 1987 with bank loans at 87% of AR and debt to equity is at 3. 13 times. Significantly, bank and trade credit for Friendly is expected to reach over $9 million in Dec. ’87. Long term and short term debt are both fueling growth. The basis is assumed to be the prime rate (which is 8. 5%) plus 2. 5% points. This is assumed to be a fixed rate established at the time of borrowing. The company’s currency is the U. S. dollar and the company does not have any exotica policy to mention. Control of the company rests solely with Ms. Beaumont as she is both the president and the leading shareholder, possessing 55% of the stock. An additional 20% of the stock is owned by employees and officers of the company. Finally, earnings are retained for future growth and meeting current obligations. There are no dividend payments and the stock has depreciated in value from a high of $15 a share. PART 2. Decisions faced by Ms. Beaumont 2. 1 Envelope Machine Investment Evaluation of the Envelope Machine We do not agree that the investment in the envelope machine will result in a return of 31%. The reason for this is that the working capital needed to fund the machine would be funded by additional debt by the company. The interest on the debt needs to be considered before evaluating the total return on the investment. Under this scenario, and considering that Friendly Cards’ interest on debt is 11% the interest expense is $22,000 per year before taxes. Our Estimated Annual savings from Operation of Envelope Machine, Years 1 through 8 ( Dollar figures in thousands) is as follows: Savings: Outlays for envelopes purchased in 1987 $1,500 Incremental expenses from manufacturing envelopes: Materials$ 902 Warehouse 94 Labor 91 Depreciation 62 Total Expenses $1,149 Increase in Profit before Taxes (decrease in COGS) 351 Interest Expense on Working Capital 22 Actual Increase in Profit before Taxes 339 Increase in Income Taxes @. 38 125 Increase in profit after taxes $ 204 The projected Cash flows for the investment in the machine are: (attachments). Based upon the cash flows projected in the above Table the internal Rate of Return on the investment is 26%. Based upon Friendly Cards Cost of Equity which is 20% (Appendix WACC) buying the machine with all equity at 20% or debt at 11% is recommended Financial Effects of Investment The Financial effects of buying the envelope machine are can be examined in detail in Appendix Machine. The activity ratios for Friendly if the investment in the machine is made are: (attachments). The investment in the machine has the following effects: * Decreases Cost of Goods Sold by about 1. 5 % which in turn increases the Gross Margins * Decreases Inventory Turnover from 1. 91 to 1. 86 * Increases Funds needed in 1988 by $418,000, in 1989 by $323,000 and in 1990 by $112,000. * Earnings per share increase to $2. 89 in 1990 from $2. 53 in 1990 without investment * By making the investment in the machine Friendly would not be able to meet both of the covenants required by the bank The ratio of the bank loans to receivables exceeds . 85 in all three periods. * Ratio of Friendly’s total liabilities to the book value of the company’s net worth exceed 3 in 1988 and 1989 which do not meet the covenant but in 1990 the ratio drops down to 2. 94 where it meets the covenants. 2. 2 Evaluation of West Coast Offer (New Equity) We agree with Ms. McConville’s conclusion that Friendly should accept the offer from the West Coast Group at the terms stated if that was the only option available to Friendly Cards. The advantages of this proposal would be: Agency costs will be only 5% compared to the actual costs if an investment bank was used to sell securities of the company in a public offering. * The infusion of equity would enable Friendly to meet all the covenants required by the banks (Appendix WC) enabling Friendly to continue its rapid growth without any financial restrictions from the bank. * The equity infusion would enable Friendly to invest in the envelope making machine and reduce its cost structure and still meet all covenants required by the bank. * The uncertainty about how many securities will be sold if a public stock offering is held is eliminated. Continuing rapid growth would enable Friendly to retain most of the sales representatives who might shift to a competing firm if growth is slowed to enable Friendly to meet its financial covenant s * The price that Friendly is getting is more than reasonable based upon the present value of the discounted cash flows as shown in (Appendix Valuation) Disadvantages of accepting the proposal would be: * Loss of control. Ms. Beaumont’s who presently owns 55% of the outstanding shares would own 40. 37% of the company after the equity infusion. Even though along with the employees of the company she would own 60% of the company she would not be able to make unilateral decisions. * The West Coast Investors who would own 26% of the company would have a significant say in how the company should be run which may affect the current management structure and aversely effect their ability to mange the company as they wish. * Reduction of EPS. Earnings per share would be reduced to $2. 29 per share from the projected $2. 89 per share in 1990 with the purchase of the machine and without equity infusion due to the dilution effect of the new shares. This earnings dilution would probably result in a lower share price. (Approximately $18. 32 instead of $23. 12 considering a price multiple of 8). 2. 3. Valuation of Creative Designs, Inc. Capital Structure Argument Ms. Beaumont had been considering a possible acquisition of Creative Designs, Inc. (CD), a small mid-western manufacturer of studio cards. She had examined the details of CD’s operations for four months, and believed that under her management, CD could immediately reduce cost of goods sold by 5%, and reduce other expenses by 10%. If Friendly acquires CD in early 1988, assumptions are made that CD’s sales would stay flat during 1988 but would grow at 6% per year thereafter. Based on the following table from case facts, there is a wide range of Debt-to-Equity Ratios for the four companies within the same industry. American Greetings'(AG) D/E ratio increased from 0. 35 in 1985 to 0. 63 in 1987. The reason for this upward trend was that American Greetings had diversified its business segments; from solely relying on greeting card sales AG expanded into gift wrap and stationary goods, such as playing cards, gift-books, and college study guides. Such diversification efforts demanded higher debt levels. In addition, AG was a large company with annual sales of $1,174 million in 1987, up 16% from 1985. Gibson Greeting’s (GG)D/E ratio decreased from 0. 71 in 1985 to 0. 49 in 1987. The reason for this downward trend was that Gibson was a relatively small company, with annual sales of $359 million in 1987, an 8. 8% increase from 1985. GG’s growth rate was significantly lower than American Greetings. The total debt-to-equity ratio of Creative Designs would decrease over the next several years. Since CD’s sales in 1987 was $5 million, it was much smaller than the above two companies. Based on the pro forma financial statements for the period of 1988 to 1990, we see growing sales and EBIT. As a small-size manufacturer, the best capital structure would be: financing its operations mainly by internal growth and a significant reduction in the company’s debt levels. Ms. Beaumont wanted to acquire CD for the following reasons: * In the highly competitive market with high cost in distribution and low margin, Friendly had to grow in order to survive, and CD was a good target; Since CD’s shareholders agreed to the acquisition by stock-exchange, â€Å"pooling of interests† accounting method would be used, and the consolidated financial statements more attractive than without CD, and Friendly need not record goodwill (if any) and avoid amortization of goodwill; * Since CD had a relatively low debt level and a very low â€Å"bank loan to receivable ratioâ⠂¬ , while Friendly had difficulty meeting its bank borrowing restrictions, acquiring CD would make possible for Friendly to meet the covenants; Friendly can easily integrate CD to its high growth strategy, and expand Friendly’s market presence in the mid-western region. Weighted Average Cost of Capital Assumptions (WACC) Based on the case facts that the premium for equity risk was 6% on long-term governmental bond rate of 8. 37%, we may calculate the unleveraged beta for American Greetings and Gibson Greeting, and use a derived estimate as a proxy for CD’s unleveraged beta. 1987 Financial Data for Two Large Publicly Traded Companies To be conservative, we assume the unleveraged beta for CD is 0. 77. Since the cost of debt was 11% and the tax rate was 38%, we calculated CD’s cost of equity is 13. 97% in 1988, and the weighted average cost of capital (WACC) is 11. 07%. Over the next five years, CD’s WACC would increase to 11. 92% in 1992 due to the decreasing D/E ratio and therefore the tax shield effect. Cash Flows, Terminal Value, Equity Value Valuations In addition to the above information on WACC and sales growth rate, we have made the following assumptions: * Sales will stay flat in 1988, but will grow at 6% per year after 1989. * Cost of goods sold will stay at 55. 2% of sales level. * Depreciation, â€Å"Selling, delivery, and warehousing expenses†, and â€Å"general and administrative expenses† will grow proportionately to sales growth. * Increased Retained Earnings will be used to reduce long-term debt. * Prepaid expenses will increase by a small amount each year. * Interest expenses will decrease over the period since the debt level will decre ase. * No dividend will be paid after 1988. Based on the above assumptions, we found that the total present value for CD was $4. 349 million. Adjusting for the interest-bearing loans totaling $1. million, the net worth of CD would be $3. 049 million, $1. 168 million higher than the calculated value of the stock exchange ($1. 881 million). This indicates that acquiring CD is a good transaction for Friendly. 2. 4 Pooling Implications (Friendly + CD) By using the â€Å"pooling of interests† accounting method, we constructed the Friendly and CD consolidated financial statements. (see Appendix Valuation – Friendly + CD) The impact on 1988 pro forma financial statements is as follows: * New bank loans needed decreased from $1. 585 million to $1. 357 million; * EPS increased from $1. 7 to $1. 73; * Net profit margin increased from 4. 96% to 5. 49%; * Assets turnover increased from 1. 01 to 1. 03; * ROA increased from 5. 01% to 5. 49%; * ROE decreased from 25. 23% to 20. 5%; * Days in Receivable reduced from 157 to 149; * Bank loan to receivable ratio decreased from 0. 9 to 0. 74; * Interest bearing debt to equity ratio decreased from 2. 62 to 1. 92; * Total debt to equity ratio decreased from 4. 04 to 2. 62. The overall impact of acquiring CD to CF is positive. The result of pooling is in line with Friendly Cards’ financial strategy. In the long run, acquisition of CD would become an integral part of Friendly Cards’ strategic plan for the next few years to achieve a higher growth rate and increased market share. In the short run, acquisition of CD would meet Friendly Cards’ immediate financial needs enabling the company to meet the bank’s covenants, specifically, to reduce the â€Å"bank loan to receivable† ratio to an estimated 0. 9 in 1988 to 0. 85 or lower, and to decrease â€Å"total liabilities to equity ratio† from an estimate 4. 04 in 1988 to 3 or lower. The result of pooling shows that these two requirements are met. 2. 5 Friendly Cards Stock Valuation Assumptions: Capital structure Based upon the pro forma financial statements and the bank covenants’ requirements, we assume the capital structure to be 75% debt and 25% equity. Any other capital structures with the reduction of debt would make it more difficult to get additional capital through equity. We need the debt financing to be able to meet Ms. Beaumont’s growth requirment. Discount rates We assume the cost of debt to be 11%. This is based upon the following facts: In early 1988, interest rates were declining, the 10-year Treasury Notes rate declined from 9. 52% in October 1987 to 8. 9% in January 1988; even though the short-term Prime Rate increased to 9. 07% by October 1987, it had decreased to 8. 5% by January 1988; furthermore, the Federal Reserves Monetary Policy Report(Jan. 1988) stated that â€Å"high rates of capacity utilization and low unemployment suggest the needs in maintaining progress toward price stability†, indicating that interest rates would stabilize at the present level. Also the need to reduce the trade deficit, business and labor would continue to exercise restraint in price and wage behavior, indicating the Fed would hold interest rate at the present level, or even reduce them. We assume the interest rates would hold stable at the present level of 8. 5% and that the lending institution will continue its premium of 2. 5% over prime. We assume all the funding for the debt to be short term as most of the debt would be used to fund the current assets (receivable and inventories). This would be a proper matching of funds. Based on the valuation of Friendly Cards, we found that * FCFE Method (Free Cash Flows for Equity): the valuation was -$ . 95 per share ; * Free Cash Flow for Capital: the valuation was -$5. 5 per share ; * Book Value Method: using 11/2 times Book Value the valuation was $7. 40 ; * P/E ratio (multiple) method: using the industry average P/E ratio of 7, the valuation was $9. 50 per share. (Please refer to appendix Valuation – Friendly Cards, Inc. ) The only way the company’s stock price was worth $8 to $9. 50 per share was that West Coast Investors and Creative Designs valued the company using a Price to Earnings multiple method. * *Note** We attempted to back out a discounted cash flow model that would justify an $8 or $9. 50 share price. By altering certain assumptions, most specifically the sales growth rate we can achieve positive valuations of the stock price. Slower growth in sales PART 3 Overall Assessment Our recommendation to Ms. Beaumont is to (1) First, acquire CD with a stock exchange of 198,000 shares at $9. 5/share, (2) With the additional leverage obtained by the CD acquisition, purchase the envelope machine. As evidenced by the above matrix and graphs, even though Friendly Cards would achieve a higher EPS by not acquiring CD but buying the machine, it would not meet the bank covenants. Advantages of our recommendation: * Meet all of the bank’s covenants; * Meet Ms. Beaumont’s growth needs; * Meet Ms. Beaumont’s requirement on D/E ratio of 2 by 1990; * Maintain a relatively high level of control for Ms. Beaumont over the company; * Position the company for future growth by providing a more favorable D/E ratio. Disadvantages of our recommendation: * EPS dilution by acquiring CD from $4. 64 per share in 1992 as compared to $4. 15 with the CD acquisition; * Reduce Ms. Beaumont’s control from currently 55% to 41. 5% with CD acquisition. PART 4 Goals for the Financial Structure of Friendly Cards, Inc. 4. 1 Friendly Cards capital structure consideration Our recommendation is that Ms. Beaumont to move Friendly Cards’ capital structure closer to 60% debt and 40% equity (a D/E ratio of 1. 5). Our reasoning for such a recommendation is as follows: Flexibility: For future growth and possible acquisitions, Funds for acquiring more assets (another envelope machine! ) to reduce costs. Risk: Ability to deal with possible adversity into the future (i. e. , low sales) Lower risk level than current D/E ratio Income: Future growth in earnings due to ability to acquire market share through acquisitions. Further exploit the economies of scale to reduce CGS, Handling and Distribution Costs Control: Maintain controlling interests in the company Timing: Having a higher D/E Friendly can issue equity at more favorable terms at a later date when EPS is higher, the market environment is â€Å"friendlier†, and the company will be in a better financial position. Our recommended target capital structure for Friendly Cards, Inc. of 60/40 D/E is realistically attainable within 3-4 years (mid 1991). Friendly Cards Case Attachments How to cite Assessment of Financial Health, Papers

The Advantages Of Stupidity (931 words) Essay Example For Students

The Advantages Of Stupidity (931 words) Essay The Advantages of StupidityMost people say being stupid will lead no where. They claim that it is the worst possible condition in which to spend ones life, and if possible, it should be completely avoided. They would even suggest if the symptoms of stupidity are caught in the early stages, it could easily be treated by a surgeon. The most effective method used to do this is the chainsaw technique, later described in volume two. Yet, perhaps if people took a closer look at someof the advantages stupidity had to offer, they wouldnt have such a negative attitude toward it. After reading this paper, one will underezd the advantages of stupidity. Admittedly, stupidity has certain disadvantages. Life isnt a bowl of cherries. And being stupid doesnt make it any fruitier. Being stupid can annoy even the most sensitive people. If one acts stupid, and does it in the wrong crowd, like a group of adults, it will seem more immature than funny. If one is forced to act stupid while dealing with lower life forms, for example, high school teachers, one may encounter barriers such as cruelty and insensitivity, with the utterance of statements like, Think with your head straight! or, You have a brain, use it. Yet these areall true, there are still many advantages to stupidity.The first advantage is very easy to underezd. Stupid people are never asked to do a lot. Many have noticed that people tend to steer away from someone they feel may be stupid. This is for a very good reason. The stupidity which they posses makes a name for themselves, a name which can be very difficult to shake. Possibly, it is a word which describes the working habit s of the person, such as crappy. Yet, this creates a positive situation for thestupid person.They will have a lot of free time on their hands for more of lifes truly meaningful pleasures. Some of these activities are combing facial hair, and counting the pixels on a Sony TV. Now, there has been a rumour going around that suggests that stupid people have low expectations. This is true. They are so stupid that they dont realize great from O.K. They could have a Sanyocordless phone, but would probably choose instead a Pierre Cardin alarm clock telephone, because it comes free with their sensamatic folding bed. And someone with the advantage of stupidity might have a hard time doing certain tasks, or setting things up. Yet this isnt allbad. For example, if a stupid person leaves the chore, and comes back to it later, no one will be able to underezd it. Would they get fired from their job? No. For the very simple reason that no one would underezd their work except for them. The job would have to be given back to the stupid person, perhaps with a higher salary, or someone would do it for them, leaving them with even more free time! Free time is great for brainstorming (Admittedly this seems to be a bad choice of words!). Yet the ideas stupid people create tend to be original. For example, when was the last time someone stupid said something, and made one think about it? It seems that people are always talking about someone elses dumb idea. An example of such an idea would be, How many stories will that english teacher drop before having a stroke? This would suggest that stupid people may have the upper hand when it comes to thinking up original ideas. In fact, the next time someone wants an original idea for something, they should try talking to their local, community stupid person. The reason for this is that while a stupid person thinks with his head, he does not do so an organized manner. This is why they have so much creativity. By thinking in this fashion, thei r ideas have a natural tendency to flow more easily, without the interruptionswhich occur from the editing of thoughts that logical people would have normally. Thus if someone else should say to one, That was a stupid idea! one should merely look that person straight in the eye, and say, Thank-you! This also means that the claim, Stupid minds think alike. is not true. All stupid minds have different ideas, each idea being original. One of the final advantages of stupidity is that stupid people are always remembered, even after graduation day. It has been noticed how a quiet person is always hard to detect, and often remains anonymous. There is a very good reason for this. The mind has a hard time keeping quiet people in its memory track. But it is much easier and pleasing for the mind to remember someone really stupid. Anyways, when was the last time one laughed at an idiot in ones grade 12 class? When was the last time one laughed at the little kid at the back of the room? The evid ence here proves how stupid people last longer in someones thoughts. The largest advantage which arises from stupidity is that it takes up 2/3 of DNA storage space, which is excellent for keeping stupidity in the family.Thus, stupidity clearly has many advantages, as long as someone is smart enough to use them! It is important to underezd that stupid people are like all other humans physically. Yet, because of the difference between smart and stupid people, smart human beings should give them some breathing space. Teachers can learn that someone graced with stupidity, deserves more respect. 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Data Provenance in E-Learning Essay Example

Data Provenance in E-Learning Essay We live in an information age, where the volume of data processed by humans and organizations increases exponentially by grid middleware and availability of huge storage capacity. So, Data management comprises all the disciplines related to managing data as a valuable resource. The openness of the Web and the ease to combine linked data from different sources creates new challenges. Systems that consume linked data must evaluate quality and trustworthiness of the data.A common approach for data quality assessment is the analysis of provenance information. [1] Data provenance, one kind of Meta data, relate to the transformational workflows of a data products (files, tables and virtual collections) starting from its original sources. Meta Data refers to â€Å"Data about Data†. The workflows can generate huge amount of data with rich Meta data in order to understand and reuse the data. Data provenance techniques used in e-science projects, e learning environment, etc. E-learning can be difficult to understand because different authors use the term differently.E-learning is a new education idea by using the Internet technology, it delivers the digital content, provides a learner-orient environment for the teachers and students. This definition extends the environment on the Internet. We mean that the Internet provides a learning environment for the students and teachers. This environment is learner-oriented, so we can throw out the thoughts of traditionally teacher-centre’s instruction in classroom. 2. E- Learning in Detail 2. 1 ‘E’ side of E-Learning As it apparently seems, the word can be thought of having two different sides. E’ side and ‘Learning’ side are the elements which construct this norm. ‘E’ side has more impact in the idea of E-Learning. Just for a look, it might give the explanation as ‘electronic’. But in this phenomena, ideas are broad considering different aspects of electroni c technologies. Normally in an e-learning environment, Store, access and use of information occurs seamlessly. This needs to be addressed indicating different technologies/products. That might include operating systems (Windows, Mac OS, etc) , standalone applications (word processor, excel , etc) and any other web applications.In fact, this different products/technologies collaboratively build the norm of virtual learning environment. So, rather than just think of ‘e’ as electronics, above given factors should come into the mind to fix the ‘e’ side with learning aspects. Science of e-learning involves investigation about how people learn in e-learning environments. This subsequently results in three elements such as 1) evidence 2) theory 3) applications. And now, there is a question of what the e-learning is. It is approached to answer the question by considering what, how, why of e-learning keywords.Definition derived from this, may rise doubt whether e-le arning would fulfill the conventional learning. But the fact is always there that as long as same instructional methods are used to convey the contents, medium doesnt come into any concern. When presenting multimedia materials in e-learning environments, there are concerns of how it is to be presented as there are lots of methods like words, pictures, narrations and more. The article goes through nine effects: modality effect, contiguity effect, multimedia effect, personalization effect, coherence effect, redundancy effect, pretraining effect, signaling effect, and pacing effect.Each of which explains an efficient way of presenting materials within their context. When the theory for science of e-learning is considered, it depicts that the process of meaningful learning from multimedia involves five cognitive processes: selecting words, selecting images, organizing words, organizing images, and integrating. Efficient learning happens when e-learning environments adapt and enable thes e processes. Finally, applications for science of e-learning is built combining evidence and theory in a practical manner. It is concluded that even the e-learning moves beyond multimedia contents, this three elements are required. 3] E-learning can be divided into four categories learning theories, based on demands of learner, technology form and content to be formed. Andragogy is the term used for learning of adults. Adult usually self-directed, they take responsibility for their learning. So theory of andragogy instructs us that the best way to assist adults in E-learning. Problem based learning is about teaching adults is to provide them with the tools they information and tools they Need to solve problems and to provide these in the proper sequence, level of depth, and format to maximize their usefulness.Teaching can only take place in same place and same time. But E-learning can be seen in four basic situations such same time, place (traditional classroom), same time different place, same place different time and different time different place. The environment of e-learning can be divided into several component environments. Information development meta-environment deals with making of plans for informing clients. The delivery environment is concerned with the available ICT as well as the packaging of the information into the optimal sequence and media for the target learner.The information using environment contains the experts on the topics being taught and the students who wish to learn this information. These three environments are distinct from each other. Associating and storing metadata about the learning object with the learning object makes it possible for a course designer to search for and locate existing learning objects. For this to work, those objects must be stored in an accessible location and form. Such locations are called Learning Object Repositories. There are two types of repositories; first type only contains etadata of the learning objects and actual learning objects saved on various locations. Second type is both Meta data and actual learning objects saved on same place. Learning Content Management System (LCMS) is used for a system that is more capable than a simple Learning Object Repository. This term commonly used for system that supports authoring combined with learning object repository and tools for delivering the object to students and administrative tools. And learning space contains multiple databases and multiple participants.These participants restricted to some databases based on their responsibility in the system. [4] 2. 2 Different modes of E-learning: Research paper [5] has mentioned different modes of e-learning has following. E-learning can be used in educational system in many ways. As a matter of importance of incorporating e-learning strategies into formal educational system, many approaches/techniques have been recommended from time to time. The following are a few that are quite releva nt in a particular educational setting. 2. 2. 1 Blended learning It is a concept which is of quite recent origin.It is nice amalgam of formal teaching/learning mode with distance/e-learning strategies in order to facilitate the target learner. Some particular examples of blended learning benefits include an increase in the number of students feeling and an increase in student support and consequently improved student retention rates. 2. 2. 2 Self-learning The novel idea of ‘self-learning’ received due attention recently. Both the teachers/guides and the students usually interact via mail. Classroom teaching has become little passive, however its importance can never be minimized for many genuine reasons.Devices like Communication technologies are generally employed which categorized as asynchronous or synchronous activities. Asynchronous activities use technologies such as blogs, wikis, and discussion boards. The idea here is that participants may engage in the exchange of ideas or information without the dependency of other participants’ involvement at the same time. Synchronous activities involve the exchange of ideas and information with one or more participants during the same period of time. A face to face discussion is an example of synchronous communications.Synchronous activities occur with all participants joining in at once, as with an online chat session or a virtual classroom or meeting. 2. 2. 3 Personalized learning It is a personalized-based unique learning mode reflecting differences in learners. Personalized learning has always been the burning research issues in the area of E-learning throughout the recent past. In E-learning, the following issues are emphasized: individual differences such as capacities, learning background, learning styles, learning objectives, and the changing states of individual knowledge in learning process.So E-learning in these trends attempt to provide a personalized learning which includes persona lised material, personalized objectives and personalised process. 3. Data Provenance in Detail Provenance information about a data item is information about the history of the item, starting from its creation, including information about its origins. Provenance can be distinguished into two granularities those are: workflow (or coarse-grained) provenance and data (or fine-grained) provenance. Workflow provenance represents â€Å"the entire history of the derivation of the final output of a workflow†.Data provenance, in contrast, provides a more detailed view on the derivation of single pieces of data. There is a provenance model that captures both, information about Web-based data access as well as information about the creation of data. [1] A digital object’s provenance (also referred to as audit trail and lineage) contains information about both the process and data used to derive the object. Provenance also provides documentation that’s vital to preserving da ta, determining the data’s quality and authorship, and reproducing as well as validating results. 20] Provenance in the context of workflows, both for the data they derive and for their specification, is an essential component to allow for result reproducibility, sharing, and knowledge re-use in the scientific community. [6] Scientists and engineers need to expend substantial effort managing data and recording provenance information. They support the automation of repetitive tasks, but they can also capture complex analysis processes at various levels of detail and systematically capture provenance information for the derived data products.It provides important documentation that is key to preserving the data, to determining the data’s quality and authorship, and to reproduce as well as validate the results. Workflow and workflow-based systems have emerged as an alternative to ad-hoc approaches for constructing computational scientific experiments. Workflow systems hel p scientists conceptualize and manage the analysis process, support scientists by allowing the creation and reuse of analysis tasks, aid in the discovery process by managing the data used and generated at each step, and systematically record provenance information for later use.Workflow systems have a number of advantages for constructing and managing computational tasks compared to programs and scripts. They provide a simple programming model whereby a sequence of tasks is composed by connecting the outputs of one task to the inputs of another. Furthermore, workflow systems often provide intuitive visual programming interfaces, which make them more suitable for users who do not have substantial programming expertise. Workflows also have an explicit structure. They can be viewed as graphs, where nodes represent processes (or modules) and edges capture the flow of data between the processes.The benefits of structure are well-known when it comes to exploring data. There are two basic views of provenance such as source provenance and transformation provenance. Provenance recording can be classified as lazy (inversion) and eager (annotation). Some address provenance in the context of services and workflow management. The myGrid system [SRG03] provides middleware for biological experiments represented as workflows. Chimera offers a Virtual Data Catalog for provenance information. The topic of provenance for relational databases was first discussed in the context of visualization.Trio is a database system for handling uncertain data and provenance. Provenance is related to data annotation. Annotation systems like DB-Notes and MONDRIAN enable a user to annotate a data item with an arbitrary number of notes. [10] The three main categories of the provenance scheme mentioned in the report are provenance model, query and manipulation functionality, and storage model and recording strategy. [2] â€Å"In query provenance, the word ‘query inversion’ is one of the method for identify provenance by inverting the original query†. Provenance can be characterized related to view maintenance and truth maintenance.View maintenance about, when the source of the database changes we would like to recomputed the view without recomputing whole query. Truth maintenance is about what is in the database. Query inversion method is problematic in updating and captures other languages and data models[7]. The provenance of a data item can be divided into the two parts transformation provenance and source provenance. Source provenance can be classified as original source, contributing source and input source. An important part of the provenance model is the world model, which could be either closed or open.In a closed world model the provenance management system controls transformations and data items. Contrary in an open world model the provenance management system has no or only limited control over the executed transformations and data items. [6] I n research paper [10] authors have mentioned two distinct forms of provenance prospective and retrospective. Prospective provenance captures the specification of a computational task; it corresponds to the steps that need to be followed to generate a data product or class of data products.Retrospective provenance captures the steps that were executed as well as information about the execution environment used to derive a specific data product; a detailed log of the execution of a computational task. If a provenance management system handles transformations at various levels of detail, it should provenance mechanisms for merging multiple transformations into one transformation and split a complex transformation into a sequence or graph of simpler transformations. Storage strategy describes the relationship between the provenance data and the data which is the target of provenance recording.There are three principal storage strategies: the no-coupling, the tight-coupling and the loose -coupling recording strategy. [10] Provenance systems can support a number of uses such as data quality, audit trail, replication recipes, attribution and informational perspective. Provenance information can be collected about different resources in the data processing systems such as data-oriented or process-oriented and the granularity at which it is collected such as fine grain or coarse grain.The cost of collecting and storing provenance can be inversely proportional to its granularity. There a lot of techniques to represent provenance information, specially annotation and inversion. Annotation is a form of representation in that provenance is pre-computed and readily usable as meta-data. The inversion method uses the property by which some derivations can be inverted to find the input data supplied to them to derive the output data. There is no Meta data standard for lineage representation across disciplines due to the diverse needs.So, many current provenance systems use synt actic information, semantic information and contextual information for representation. When it comes to the storage, the manner in which the provenance metadata is stored is important to its scalability. Management of provenance incurs cost for its collection and storage. Less frequently used information can be archived to reduce the storage overhead or a demand supply model based on usefulness can retain provenance for those frequently used.The most common way of disseminating provenance data is through a derivation graph that users can browse and inspect. There are a lot of popular surveyed data provenance techniques such as Chimera, myGRID, CMCS, ESSW and Trio which focus on characteristics like applied domain, workflow type, use of provenance, subject, granularity, representation scheme, semantic info, storage repository, user overhead, scalability addressed and dissemination. [2]Teaching is one of the killer applications of provenance-enabled workflow systems, in particular, fo r courses which have a strong data exploration component such as data mining and visualization. By using a provenance-enabled tool in class, an instructor can keep detailed record of all the steps she tried while responding to students questions; and after the class, all these results and their provenance can be made available to students. For assignments, students can turn the detailed provenance of their work, showing all the steps they followed to solve a problem.Provenance of Electronic Data, In a practical situation, e-science end users would be able to reproduce their results by replaying previous computational model, understand why two seemingly indistinguishable processing with the same inputs produce different results, and decide which data sets, algorithms, were involved in their derivation and analysis for deviation. Same thing apply for the provenance of electronic data. Process documentation is to electronic data what a record of ownership is to a work of art. So Proces s documentation for many applications cannot be produced in a single. Application Performance depend on documentation.They have identified various kind of p assertions which are simple pieces of documentation produced by services autonomously. Next important thing after Process Documentation in provenance is querying. Provenance queries are user-tailored queries over process documentation aimed at obtaining the provenance of electronic data. Last part of the article illustrates the Organ Transplant Management (OTM) system in health care. OTM consists of a composite process involving the surgery itself, along with such activities as data collection and patient organ analysis that must comply with a set of regulatory rules.OTM is supported by an IT infrastructure for data maintenance. [8] By making OTM provenance-aware, powerful queries can be processed without provenance awareness. Many complex decisions are made using Data provenance. For instance whether or not to donate an organ. Moreover the article speaks about existing system in data provenance. Virtual Data System and myGrid are scientific workflows that provide support for provenance. The Provenance Aware Storage System developed at Harvard University is designed to automatically produce documentation of execution by capturing file system events in an operating system. 8] 3. 1 Functional Requirements for Information Resource Provenance on the Web Before we consider about Data provenance model, Let consider the web architecture to representation Information Resource Provenance . Http protocol plays an important in the Web. Http transaction can be interpreted as many ways. At a low level perspective, a physical stream of bit is transmitted between clients and server. At a higher level perspective, those bits stream is interpreted as a message with specific bit pattern. Moreover, the architecture of the Web(WWW) defines the relation between URLs(ex: http://weather. xample. com/oaxaca) , Recourses(ex :Oaxac a Weather Report) ,Representation(ex: . html, . xml, . RDF and JSON format) . Different request for the Same recourse can return a variety of format representation such as HTML, XML ,etc.. This leads us to define standard for every format. W3C recommendations relating to how URIs ,XML entities and RDF resources are related. So from this definition, one resource may be returned for a URL and that the exact nature of this resource can be unpredictable. 3. 1. 1 The Semiotics of HTTP URLs The dereferencing of a URL can be mapped to a semiotic interpretation.Ogden and Richards’ Semiotic Triangle model explains how real world objects are related to symbols and how people think about those objects from a linguistic perspective. | |[pic] | | Symbol : URL : http://www. weather. gov/xml/current obs/KBOS. xml Referent: Recourse : the document ’/xml/current obs/KBOS. xml’ Representation :xml format 3. 1. 1 FRBR and FRIR FRBR is a conceptual model that relates user tasks of retrieval and access in library catalogues and bibliographic databases from a user’s perspective.It is not follow the new cataloguing rules and standard. library science community that distinguishes four aspects of an author’s literary work, ranging from purely concrete to completely abstract. For example, FRBR can describe how different copies of the same book, or different editions of the book, relate to each other. The most real aspect is the Item – the physical book that exists in the world. Functional Requirements for Information Resources It extends the use of following form 1. frbr: Work remains a distinct intellectual or artistic creation and corresponds to the Resource or Referent in the semiotic framework. . frbr: Expression 3. frbr: Manifestation 4. frbr: Item to electronic resources, FRIR also integrates FRBR with the W3C Provenance Ontology (PROV-O). FRIR has two levels of cryptographically computable which are content and message. 3. 1. 3 HTTP with FRBR, FRIR, and PROV-O If a client asks an HTTP server for a mime type at a URL, the server can respond with many different possible file formats. For an example If the client asks for plain txt format , the server will try to find the best way of representation content. 1. URL denotes a single : frbr: Work. 2. Same content regardless of format frbr : Expression. content digest) 3. The bit of sequence of a file aligns frbr: Manifestation. (message digest) 4. Files on disk or data as streamed over a network connection frbr: Items (transaction digest) 3. 2 Different views of Provenance Data provenance may be collected and reconstructed from different orchestration and execution frameworks. The provenance collection mechanism provides a natural â€Å"grouping† structure for representing provenance. However, it present provenance from the perspective of the â€Å"composer† of the workflow rather than the â€Å"consumer† of the provenance.The view of the provenance should be based on current task at the time and interest in that task. Different users may interest in different view of the provenance. For example we take business managers and engineers. Business managers may only interest in high level view of data. But most commonly engineers are interested in detailed step in provenance. [17] 3. 2. 1 Example for Different provenance Consumers In this they used an example scenario to express different provenance consuming type of users. They took power consumption forecast workflows as their example scenario.In this scenario there are three kind of consuming users: the software architect, the data analyst, and the campus facility operator. So they need different provenance model for each of them. The word â€Å"quality impact†, which indicates how the quality of a process affects the output quality, is then used to guide users on what processes and data objects they need to exercise more quality control upon. 3. 2. 2 An Apropos Presentat ion view Generally we use two kind classifications of approaches for determine suitable presentation view of the provenance: decomposition approach and clustering approach.Decomposition method is well suited for presence of granularities clearly defined in the provenance model. In each individual activity in the workflow, we identify the most appropriate presentation granularity to satisfy the usage requirement and to meet the user’s interest. When granular levels are not specified clear, clustering approach will be used. This approach incrementally clusters the initial fine-grained provenance information so that groups of low-level provenance nodes are combined and replaced by new higher-level nodes. This strategy needs to identify what grained provenance can be composite into module. . 3 Models for Data Provenance Sixteen team is divided and assigned to challenges and they had to submit their input for analysis provenance challenges. First provenance challenge was setup a f orum based system for the community to understand the capabilities of different provenance system and display how their provenance representation. Back end, a Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging workflow(FMRI) was define, which participants had to either simulate or run in order to produce some provenance representation, from which a set of identified queries had to be implemented and executed. 9] This article discuss about FMRI in more depth of technical aspect. I would like to explain this concept in simple point of view. For an example take different point of new brain images as input to the FMRI work flow . FMRI unified different brain images to produce the single reference image. In addition to the FMRI workflow, the challenge specified an initial set of provenance-related queries. Sixteen team analysis contribution to the provenance challenges. They introduce a classification of the different approaches of provenance systems. which are Characteristics of Provenance Systems E xecution Environment ? Representation Technology ? Query Language ? Research Emphasis ? Challenge Implementation Properties of Provenance Representation ? Includes Workflow Representation ? Data Derivation vs. Causal Flow of Events ? Annotations ? Abstraction mechanisms. An approach to model provenance on a more detailed level is the Open Provenance Model. [1] The Open Provenance Model represents provenance by graphs. The nodes in these graph represent the artifacts, processes, and agents. The edges are directed and they have a predefined semantic depending on the type of the adjacent nodes.Provenance research in the context of databases or in the context of workflows usually focuses on the creation of data items. To represent the provenance of data from the Web we need an additional dimension. Provenance information of Web data must comprise the aspect of publishing and accessing data on the Web. In research paper [21] authors have proposed a quality assessment methodology that mea sures information quality in four quadrants: soundness, dependability, usefulness, and usable information. Each quadrant comprises several information quality criteria.For example security and timeliness would be used to measure the dependability of an information. Provenance information are used for various purposes. Purposes like the estimation of data quality, the tracing of audit trails of data, the repetition of data derivations, the determination of liabilities, and the discovery of data. In the provenance model mentioned in [12],[1] they broadly distinguish three types of provenance elements. The provenance elements represent pieces of provenance information; such an element can be the creator of a specific data item in which case this element is an instance of the data creator type.The three types of provenance elements used in the model are actors, executions, and artifacts. An actor generally performs the execution of an action or a process which in most cases yields an ar tifact such as a specific dataset. An execution may include the use of artifacts which, in turn, might be the result of another execution. The central element type in data creation is the data creation execution. Data creations represent the execution of actions or processes that create new data items. Thus, in the provenance graph of a specific data item actual data creations are represented by provenance elements of the data creation type.All data creations have a creation time and use a method. Data creators, created data item, source data, and creation guidelines are the provenance elements that are part of a data creation. Data creators are actors that perform the data creation. This model has the ability to distinguish human and non-human data creators. Human data creators, called data creating entities, are persons, groups, organizations, etc. Non-human creators are data creating devices such as sensors and data creating services such as software agents, reasoners, query engi nes, or workflow engines.Source data is often used by data creator to create new data. Examples for source data are the content of a document used for machine learning, the entries in a database used to answer a query, and the statements in a knowledge base used to entail a new statement. Other artifacts that may be used in a data creation are the creation guidelines, it is used for guiding the execution of the data creation. Examples for creation guidelines are mapping definitions, transformation rules, database queries and entailment rules. The data access centers on data access executions.Data accessors perform data access executions to retrieve data items contained in documents from a provider on the Web. To enable a detailed representation of providers the model describe in paper[12] distinguishes data providing services that process data access requests and send the documents over the Web, data publishers who use data providing services to publish their data, and service provi ders who operate data providing services. Furthermore, the model represents the execution of integrity verifications of artifacts and the results.A system that uses Web data must access this data from a provider on the Web. Information about this process and about the providers is important for a representation of provenance that aims to support the assessment of data qualities. Data published on the Web is embedded in a host artifact, usually a document. Following the terminology of the W3C Technical Architecture Group we call this artifact an information resource. Each information resource has a type, e. g. , it is an RDF document or an HTML document. The data accessor, retrieves information resources from a provider.Their provenance model allows a detailed representation of providers by distinguishing data providing services, data publishers, and service providers. [1] In paper [12] a provenance graph has represented as a tuple (PE; R; type; attr) where, ? PE denotes the set of p rovenance elements in the graph, ? R [pic] PE X PE X RN denotes the labeled edges in the graph where RN is the set of relationship names as introduced by our provenance model, ? type : PE ; ? (T) is a mapping that associates each provenance element with its types where T is the set of element types as introduced by our provenance model attr : PE ; ? (A X V ) is a mapping that associates each provenance element with additional properties represented by attribute-value pairs where A is a set of available attributes and V is a set of values They didn’t specify the sets A and V any further because the available possible values,attributes, and the meaning of these depend on the use case. However, they introduced an abbreviated notation to refer to the target of an edge in a provenance graph: if (p? 1; p? 2; rn) [pic] R we write p? 1 [pic] = p? 2. 3. 4 Using Data Provenance for Quality AssessmentFor assessment of the quality of data, we need to find out the information types that c an be used for evaluating and a methodology for calculating quality attributes. In this research paper they have introduce a provenance model custom-made to the needs for tracing and tracking provenance information about Web data. This model describes about the creation of a data item and the provenance information about who made the data to be accessed through the Web. Most of the existing approaches for information quality assessment are based on the information provided by users.Quantitative approach described in the research paper [12] follows three steps: ? Collecting the quality attributes which are needed for provenance information ? Making decision on the influence of these attributes on the assessment ? Application of a function to compute the quality In this paper author has described information quality as a combined value of multiple quality attributes, such as accuracy, completeness, believability, and timeliness. The assessment method described in the paper [12] follow s three steps. Those are, 1. Generate a provenance graph for the data item; . Annotate the provenance graph with impact values; 3. Calculate an IQ-score for

Anastasia essays

Anastasia essays The Mystery of Grand Duchess Anastasia Throughout time and the world, there have been many puzzling mysteries. One of the most puzzling mysteries of its century was the mystery of Anastasia of Russia. For many years scholars have tried to figure out what happened to her. They thought she may be alive, and many people thought they found her at some points. However it turns out there have been many Anastasias, but Anna Anderson was the most believed. Grand Duchess Anastasia Nicholaevana was born on June, 18 1901 at the Farm Palace in the Alexandria Park Peterhof. Her parents were the last Tsar of Russia, Nicholas II, and his wife Alexandra. Anastasia had three older sisters, Olga, Tatiana, and Marie. She had only one brother Alexei who was born in 1904. Alexei suffered from Hemophilia, a disorder in which the blood did not clot properly, causing internal bleeding. Only a few people knew about Alexeis disorder. Anastasia was the youngest and most intelligent of the Tsars daughters. She had light brown hair and blue eyes. She enjoyed practical jokes, but also had a gentle side towards her 2 dogs, Shipka and Jemmy. Anastasia and her sisters spoke English and Russian, they were also taught other languages. During the Revolution Nicholas had taken command of the army, and on March 15 1917 he was forced to abdicate. At this time Anastasia and her siblings were suffering from the measles, while they went to bed the palace was taken ov er by soldiers. The imperial family were now prisoners. They had little peace during their time of captivity. They eventually moved to Siberia, where there were rude guards. Anastasia and her sisters could not even lock their bedroom at night and guards even followed them to the bathroom. Later they were taken to the Impatiev house, house of special purpose. On the night of July 16, 1918 the family was awakened and taken to the cellar; they thought they would be photograp...

Autobiographical story Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

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Economic history Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Economic history - Essay Example setting up policies like maximizing the use of domestic resources, limiting wages, export subsidies, all aimed at accumulating monetary reserves (Brue & Randy 42). David Hume disagreed with mercantilism on their trade restrictions by stressing that trade restrictions are restriction of innovation, and so these opened avenues for uniform market competition. Physiocrats stressed the importance of agriculture in the economy; he proposed that agriculture is a vital organ in the development of any economy. He suggested an economic environment free of government restrictions when it comes to transactions between two private parties; the only regulations he proposed are those that protects property rights. Since individuals have a natural right to freedom, it should be understood that nature is a self-regulating system and harmonious so human control should never be factored in. Adam smith proposed the idea of artificial stimulation of manufacturing and trade; he made it clear that real wealth of a country not only consist of gold and silver, but also in its houses, lands and consumable goods of all different kinds (Brue & Randy 45). He fueled foreign trade by recognizing that it could explore the overseas markets and largely promote development of production capabilities of the nation and consequently lead to a rise in real wealth owned by a country. He also contributed to the idea of a free market by proposing to the government to reduce and abandon control over foreign trade, and he suggested for the implementation of free trade policies. David Ricardo shed light on the importance of agriculture, by analyzing the importance of diminishing returns. He postulated that a utility is mandatory for exchange values, but does not determine it. He promoted extreme industrial specialization by proposing that a nation should put more efforts on industries in which it is more internationally competitive. Ricardo suggested trade with other countries to obtain goods not produced

Why organisations should be concerned with high levels of labour Essay

Why organisations should be concerned with high levels of labour turnover and what can organisations do in an attempt to reduce it - Essay Example These people thereby tend to drift away from the main organisational objective and in a bid of frustration turn out from the organisation. Similarly a concern rendering enhanced emphasis on the training activities but working less on helping to enhance the productivity of the workforce also face similar problems. The organisation with less focus on enhancing the compensation aspects and also in rendering of other benefits happens to disturb the interest and productivity of the workers. Workers would thus endeavour to shift from such no gains concern to high gain jobs where they would be able to gain high increments both in the compensation package and other benefits. Thus absence of proper supervision and training mechanism coupled with a poor pay package with no proper increments happens to provoke the employees to take to new jobs. Hence the event of labour turnover significantly emerges onto the business scenario (Mudor and Tooksoon, 2011, pp.41-45; Aswathappa, 2007, p.615). The f actors that contribute to the growth of labour turnover problems in the organisation can be broadly grouped into two main types-internal and external. In the internal scenario the employees can get frustrated owing to the internal job policies of the concern for which they tend to quit the concern. The policies of the concern can largely change in relation to the technological and structural framework of the concern making the employees feel uncertain about their job and employee security. This tantamount to the employees seeking jobs in other stable concerns. Moreover a change in the management structure of the concern also happens to change the outlook of the supervisory tem... The paper tells that employees are concerned as the life blood of the organisations. The organisational managers are concerned in effectively managing this large pool of human resources through proper training and motivational functions. Training helps in enhancing the productivity mechanisms of the workers and also develops the relationship between the employer and the employees. Similarly different motivational activities both financial and non-financial are also taken to retain the employee base in the concern. Organisations in such approaches tend to render large amount of investment and thereby would endeavour to gain effective returns out of such. Therefore it is highly needed by a business concern to minimize the amount of employee turnover as it happens to impact the profitability parameter of the concern. Employee turnovers in a firm can occur both in a voluntary and in an involuntary manner. Voluntarily the employees can leave the firm owing to rising job pressures or being unable to fit into the required job role. Again a sudden accident or fatal event can lead the concern lose an employee. The employee turnover activity adds to the cost of the concern in that the concern would need to hire another employee to fill the post thus enhancing the recruitment cost. Again losing a skilled an experienced employee leads to considerable productivity loss for the concern. Labour turnover as an incident results in the organisation losing a large pool of effective human resources that would help in enhancing the productivity potential of the concern.

Vivisection and whether it should be morally accepted for the benefits of human beings

Vivisection and whether it should be morally accepted for the benefits of human beings Research topic: Vivisection and whether it should be morally accepted for the benefits of human beings. This report attempts to prove that vivisection should be morally accepted by the society. In essence, the report touches on the importance of vivisection in medicine and other non-medicine products too. It is stated that vivisection had save many lives. This has been done through organ transplantation. Our understanding about animals had also been improved. Animal experimentation also benefits the medicine area when new vaccine and treatment is discovered. This has helped to provide better understanding of our body system. Lastly, vivisection is required for the safety trials of non-medicinal product to avoid any defects. Animals such as non-rodents are needed as using human as subject of experimentation is considered an immoral act. Ask the experimenters why they experiment on animals, and the answer is because the animals are like us. Ask the experimenters why is it morally okay to experiment on animals, and the answer is because the animals are not like us. Animal experimentation rests on a logical contradiction. (Charles L. Magel, n.d) We, human are afraid of everything. We are afraid of uncertainty and a lot of experiences from the past are not forgotten. There was a lot of human dying for the wrong reasons. We went to the hospital to find a cure instead the cure becomes a poison.   Now is the time where animal testing come in. Animal testing or often called vivisection is a process of testing new products and medicines on animals for the benefit of human beings. In United Kingdom, the Medicines Act of 1986 declares that all medicines have to be tested on at least 2 mammals and one of them must be non-rodent (Shandilya, 2008).   This act was introduced when the Thalidomide drug was discovered to cause serious physical deformities in babies born to the mother who had taken it during pregnancy. This problem happen as Thalidomide was not tested on animals (specifically pregnant animals) before. Since then, many countries had followed the lead of United Kingdom and enforced the law on animal testing. Before a prod uct are commercializes, it has to be tested on any animals that have the closest DNA with human. A long process involving animal, in-vitro (i.e. in test tube) and using computer program take place before a products can be offered to consumer (Shandilya, 2008). Most drug authorities have to pass all of this before a trial can be conducted on human. Unfortunately, in order to provide the best things for human beings, we have to hurt the animals. When vivisection is carried out, animals have to suffer in order for the scientist to monitor the effects that might occur. In cosmetics; specifically for eye mascara, it had to be tested on rabbits eyes. Morally, it is very cruel to do that and let the animal suffer. However, this cruel act is needed to make sure that there is no side effect of applying mascara on our [human being] eyes. In pharmaceutical industry, finding cure and vaccine for AIDS has become a very important goal to achieve. A lot of animals had to be sacrificed but sooner or later, we will find it. This has been proven by history when we had finally succeeded in finding vaccines for life threatening diseases such as rabies, Hepatitis B and Herpes Simplex (Shandilya, 2008). The journey to find the cure or vaccine for many fatal diseases which involves torturing the animals had cause the NGO such as PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) to take actions. Members of PETA had been fighting against animal testing since new research methods such as computer models, human studies and cell cultures had been invented.   They feel that all of these methods are more humane and accurate than animal testing. This view had been opposed by scientists and researchers as majority of them are saying that animal testing is the best way to detect any flaws in products and medicines. We can see very clearly that there are many strong opinions and thought on the subject of animal testing. The main question is that should vivisection be morally acceptable to develop products and medicines that will benefit human beings? When we look closer into this, we can see that vivisection should be morally accepted. This will bring a lot more benefits for us, human beings and the animals too. This has been proven when heart worm medication has been formulated by researching on animals and until now, it had reduced the number of death of dogs. Research on animals had also provided better understanding on cat nutrition and the reasons on why cat had been healthier and live longer are better understood. This report will show convincing evidence of why animal testing should be morally acceptable to develop products and medicines for human beings. The research findings are narrowed to the Asian country and United States of America as this two are the advanced leader on producing products and medicines in the world. 2.0 Vivisection saves many lives. It is scientifically proven that animal testing had save many life. Testing household compounds, cosmetics and pharmaceutical products has been a common practice for a very long time. It is estimated that nearly 20 million animals are used for animal experimentation purposes, 15 million are tested for medication and 10 million are tested for other products (Shandilya, 2008). A lot of time is required to develop product and vaccines. The pressure to find cure for HIV infection is overwhelming as this disease is increasing day by day. To find the effective drugs and vaccine has been proven difficult as HIV is very good at changing its structure and evading destruction. In reality, scientists are able to test thousand of different vaccine in human participants. By doing this method, we can see directly whether there are any cures, treats or vaccine to be found (Shandilya, 2008). However, these actions would be highly time-consuming and dangerous to human. This is because all of these compounds may not be effective and cause sickness or death. Animals are the best substitutes as we have to focus on reducing human pain first. Despite the fact that the prevention of animal suffering and death is still important, but it is still secondary to human pain. 2.1 Organ transplantation.   When each one of our family members is hale and hearty, we will find that it is very difficult for us as to why the innocent animals are used for testing purposes that will results in killing them. But, it will usually start to make sense when someone in the family or our own self starts suffering fatal diseases. This is when animal testing came handy. Testing on animals had help discovered a lot of life threatening diseases including rabies and malaria (Shandilya, 2008). One of the major finding of vivisection is organ transplantation. Skin, corneas and various other internal organs can now be safely transferred to others patient in need.   Without the knowledge of transplantation immunology in biology, this procedure could never be declared as a safe and standard procedure now, (Harvard style, 1988). Nowadays, more than 30,000 Americans have undergone heart and liver transplantation and they survived. There are some that had retained their sight because of cornea transplant. During the World War 2, the treatment for burn victims had become very important and British biologist P. B. Medawar (1944) had found a way to do skin transplantation. He had used the Freemantin cattle as his models. A Freemantin is a sexually developed female cow that is born as a twin of a normal male cow. Thus, the hormones from the male cow reached through the placental vessel and make its sterile. This experimentation had showed that the skin and other tissues of the female and male Freemantin twins will produce success result at any stage of their lives. They were suitable for each other as they had been exposed with each others cells since they were born.   Moreover, animal testing had helped us to know more about virus related to organ transplantation rejection (Harvard Style, 1988). This discovery had signalled a new era in immune system with wide results for the sake of health in treatment of diseases not for human and animals too. 2.2 Better understanding of animals. We can prove that animal testing benefits not only human but animals too. When the research is conducted in the veterinary schools and other institutions, it proved that animals too gain benefit from the research. Research on animal farms had discovered way to increase productivity and quality of the animals product. Simultaneously, researchers had also found a way to reduce the sufferings and increase the health of the animals. The cure for some lethal disease on animals had also been found. One of the examples is the cure for Potomac fever in horses (Harvard Style, 1988). Research that is aimed on human can also help in finding vaccine for animals. While finding a cure for human beings, a host of antibiotics and vaccine had been found applicable for animals too (Harvard Style, 1988). The major benefits of vivisection on animals are that it helped in reproduction of the endangered species. The abilities to eliminate parasitism to treat illnesses and the usage of anaesthetic had improved the health and survival of many species. The knowledge gained from genetic studies has allowed appropriate management of species that are facing extinction. Research in successful breeding had reduced the need for importation of many species especially monkeys (Harvard Style, 1988).   This can be confirmed when the amount of primates used in research had had increased from 2198 in year 1973 to 7908 births in year 1984 (Harvard Style, 1988).   Vivisection is a waste of money. To do a research on animals is not cheap. People that are against animal testing are saying that instead of using animals, we should spend all this money on technology. Nowadays, there are computer that can demonstrate the human cell reaction (Dixon, 2000). But this entire test cannot monitor the reaction of the medication or products on animals. This is a problem as we cannot figure how the animals and we will react toward those medications. What we can learn from the past is that animal experimentation had helped us to advance faster in medicine and that live animals are the most reliable subjects for toxicity test. In country such as United States, all prescription drugs must be tested on animals before they are allowed into the market (Dixon, 2000). If animals testing are banned, it would paralyse modern medicine, increase human suffering and endanger human health. It is clearly proven that animal testing had contributed many information and benefits to the medicine area. This information had helped humanity survived and live longer. Vivisection had indirectly helped to improve human health. 3.1 New vaccines and treatment are discovered. Animal experimentation had started long time ago. Since then, many new vaccines have been discovered. One of the greatest discoveries is the cure for Polio. Polio is a contagious disease that had killed many people around the world since the ancient times. It is a dangerous disease and its most widespread outbreak occurred in the first half of the 1900s. In 1995, Jonas Salk had found the vaccines to prevent and cure polio (Harvard Style, 2000). This vaccine was found through animal testing. Rhesus monkey is used as the subject for the study of polio. The two researchers, Landsteiner and Popper proved that when the injection of spinal cord fluid from patients that are suffering from polio is inserted to the animals, it would paralyze them (Harvard Style, 1988). Researcher had come across the good solution when they decided that they have to immunize the animals first to protect them from the disease which in this case is polio. The Rhesus monkey was injected with polio virus and then a formalin-inactivated virus in injected to their infected brain suspensions. This will set the body to produce a modified live virus. This virus can be used for mass production of polio vaccines (Harvard Style, 1988). We can see that, experiment on Rhesus monkey had contributed a lot since many lives is safe since that. The use of monkeys had decreased considerably but it is still used sometimes to test the capacity of the virus to cause disease in our nervous system. 3.2 Help understand more about human system. Previously in surgery many mistakes that had caused fatality can be avoided. Vivisection had helped us to understand more about our system.   Charles Sherrington had studied on our reflex actions and he had done that by experimenting on cats. This test had been continued by Eccles who had explained in great details on how our central nervous system works (Harvard Style, 1988). At present, our surgeons can remove brain tumours with least damage to our motor system. This precious thing had happen through the research of Sherrington (Harvard Style, 1988). Basic research on animal are needed to find out ways to keep human and animal alive. It is extremely important to find out how the different organ and tissue in our body react towards any disease and even vaccines. In the past year, animal experimentation is needed to find out about our heart, kidney and renal system. Now, it has to be continued as there are a lot more to be discovered and this includes our brain. The brain is so far the most mysterious organs in our body and there are a lot more that we do not know about it. Thus, vivisection has to be continued as finding the essential information is the most important actions now to help find new medicine. Animals are different from people. People that are against animal testing stated that it is impossible for us to find   neither cure nor vaccine through animal testing as animals are very different from us. However, mammals are descended from common ancestors and we are biologically same with them. By saying same is that we have the same organs such as heart, liver and kidney. These organs worked the same ways as our which is through bloodstream and nervous system.   We cannot deny that there are minor differences between animals and animals but our similarities are much more than that. These differences may help us to overcome and find new cure. It is also proven that vitamins worked the same way in animals as they do in people (Harvard Style, 2000). When a research on guinea pig was conducted, we had discovered on how vitamin C works. There are also some animal hormones that can be used on human. One of them is thyrotropin from cows (Harvard Style, 2000). Laboratory animals are not only used for medication purposes. They are also necessary in accessing the safety of household products, workplace chemicals, food addictive and cosmetics products. A product without any testing is considered dangerous as we cannot identify the side effects of them. There are some agencies that are monitoring the quality of products and this includes Food and Drug Administration (FDA). FDA monitors the safety testing process for drugs, vaccine, food addictive and cosmetics. Some others agencies including Consumer Products Safety Commission and the Environmental Protection Agency monitor the other types of testing (ILAR, 2004). 4.1 Defects and bad effect is avoidable. Without safety trial, a lot of bad consequences can happen. In 1933, a mascara brand called Lash Lure had caused more than one dozen women to become blind and one of them died. This permanent mascara contains a chemical called p-phenylenediamine which has never been through a safety trial before (ILAR, 2004). This chemical caused the users eye to become badly blistered, produces ulcers on the face, eye and eyelids thus cause blindness for majority of them. One woman had developed a bad infections and she had died because of it. Here we can see that, an untested chemicals used only in mascara can cause such a devastating effect. There are numerous products that we used every day and to not test them is like killing our own body. To use a product without knowing the side effects is suicidal. This is where animal safety test come in. Agencies including the FDA require all cosmetics products such as makeup, shampoos, soaps, hair sprays and dyes and shaving cream to be tested first before it is released (ILAR, 2004). All manufacturers have to prove the safety of their products before it can be sold. We can see that it is crucial to have a safety trial as the effects can be so serious and lethal. 4.2 It is immoral to use human as subject. So far, we do not discover any close substitute of human. It is not possible for us to use human as the subject of a safety trial. There are too many risks and there are also millions of possibilities of defects on new products. To use human and let them suffer pains is beyond acceptance. Human are too scared of risks and death. Even though there are other alternatives than using animals especially primates as subject, these could not yet replace testing on these primates.   There is one procedure called micro dosing where human beings were given a small dose of chemicals to see how the body will react towards the chemicals but these chemicals must undergo a toxic test using animals first before it can be done (Harvard Styles ,2009).   Therefore, this procedure cannot replace animal testing completely. The most suitable subject for safety trial is monkeys and apes as they have the closest DNA match to us. Normally, safety trials for non-medical products use animals such as rabbits and mice. They are used to identify the outcome of new chemicals tested. Rabbits are sometimes used to test a new mascara product. This is required to make sure that there will be no flaw in the products. Animal testing is not required as there are other alternatives. Anti vivisections are saying that animal experimenting is not needed as there are many alternatives around such as computer modelling. There is also synthetic skin called Corrositex. However, this alternative seems impossible as we cannot reproduce complex diseases in cell culture or make the computer cough. We cannot even monitor a beating heart in a test-tube (Harvard Styles, 2010). It is also stated by law that animal testing is not required if there are other ways available. Even so, there are situations where using animals as subject is unavoidable. Our living body is so complicated and it is divided into so much part. So we need to understand on how they interact with each other and it is impossible for us to use human as the subject of experimentation. As a conclusion, we can say that vivisection should be morally accepted to develop products and medicines that benefit human beings. This decision was made as it should be based on the arguments given above. Until now, we can say that vivisections are still needed as so far there is no advance technology to replace it yet. A lot more things need to be discovered and the only suitable method available is vivisection. Even though animals have to suffer pain when undergoing experimentation, it is the researchers best interests to make sure that the animals suffer minimum pain. This is because if they were too stressed, the results produced may not be reliable. It is required by law that any animals that suffered excessive pain have to be put down painlessly and immediately. This proved that we, human still have pity and moral value in us. Vivisections have contributed a lot for the benefits of human and animals. It had reduced the risks of human disease and this had substantially increase life expectancy. This is the results of animal experimentation. In the mean time, there are a lot of more that have to be learned. Further studies in such areas as cancer and HIV will continue to require the use of animals. Animal experimentation is recommended as a way to test medicine and products. It is so far the most suitable way to identify any defects on products compared to using human or computer. However, this report recommends further work to: Find ways to reduce the amount of animals used in vivisection and at the same time maximize the information that we can get through it. Discover the new way on how experiments in carried out so that we can reduce the pain of the animals to the minimum. Find more alternative ways so that animals testing can be reduced. Animal testing can be reduced to the minimum level. So, this report recommends further work to: Ban the unnecessary testing such as for cosmetics purposes. Reuse the existing data from the previous research so that new researches do not have to be conducted. Increase the usage of in-vitro in experimentation. This report also recommends further work: Increase the usage of newer scanning techniques such as MRI so that we can monitor the internal organs of humans. Reduce the amount of animal used in science experimentation is school such as frog dissecting. Students should be encouraged to use computer model rather than real animal. 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