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

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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. The number of mammals used for vivisection should be reduced. 123HelpMe.Com, 2010, Animal Testing Debate viewed on 22nd January 2010, http://www.123helpme.com/view.asp?id122783> AnimaltestingFacts.com, n.d, Animal Testing Facts, viewed on 22nd January 2010, http://www.animaltestingfacts.zooshare.com/o.html Harvard Style, 1988, Benefits Derived from the Use of Animals on Use of Laboratory Animal in Biomedical and Behavioural Research, National Academy Press, viewed on 3rd August 2010, http://site.ebrary.com/lib/sunway/docprint.action?encrypted=71bac7c3b51976†¦. Institute for Laboratory Animal Research (ILAR), 2004, Safety testing on Science, Medicine and Animals, National Academy Press, viewed on 30th March 2010. Intelligent life On the Web, n.d, Animal Testing viewed on 22nd January 2010, Http://www.buzzle.com/articles/animal-testing/ Ranjan Shandilya (2008), Animal Testing Pros, viewed on 25 January 2010 Scientific Community o Health and Environment Risks, n.d, Non-human Primates in research and safety testing, viewed on 3rd April 2010, http://www.greenfacts.org.com Thomas Dixon, (2000). Animal Experimentation (online), International Debate Education Association, http://www.idebate.org/database/topic_details.php?topicID=7 viewed on 19 January 2010. Understanding Animal Research, 2010, Understanding animal research, viewed on 30th March 2010, http://www.understandinganimalresearch.org.uk/homepage

Frankenstein: A Warning Against Masculine Individualistic Freedom Essa

Frankenstein: A Warning Against Masculine Individualistic Freedom In this commentary, I wanted to examine a little further the implications of a point brought up in the presentation on Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. They briefly suggested that Victor might occupy a space of idealised masculine freedom; given Victor's less than ideal fate and Mary Shelley's Feminism, such a masculine idealisation becomes highly problematic. Victor holds a privileged social position that allows him a financial and social freedom through which he can choose his occupations at will. In choosing Science, Victor's freedom to experiment holds potential benefit, both for him and for Others. However, I'd suggest that it's Victor's overdetermined sense of individualistic Self that results in a misuse of his freedom and the destruction of his social sphere. Victor's specific type of unfettered individualism results in the ultimate danger of individualism: he shakes off the shackles of social responsibility both literally, in his solitude, and metaphorically, in his failure to a cknowledge the possibility that his actions might have some social impact. His ultimate and most dangerous freedom lies in that he is free to consider only his own ambition. In creating the monster, Victor is, in both of these senses, outside the range of society. Quite literally, he moves away from his family (and his social background) to an unfamiliar space; he achieves an extra measure of freedom in his solitude in Ingolstadt. It is through this solitude that he is able to immerse himself in Science. Even as Victor leaves Geneva for Ingolstadt he believes himself "totally unfitted for the company of strangers" (38) but in Ingolstadt he becomes even more secluded, relating ... ...108-110). Thus Lucifer's vow in favour of the forces of evil is based on a loss of hope, fear and -- most importantly -- remorse; Frankenstein's Monster does abandon both hope and fear but his remorse is intense. Paradoxically, it is the Monster who is torn by "the bitterest remorse" (170) while Victor refuses it. In the end, Victor's freedom to create in league with his believed freedom from social responsibility makes him not the 'ideal scientist' but a destructive force towards himself, his creation, and his society. Perhaps, as critics have suggested, it is Victor who is the real 'monster' in Mary Shelley's story. Works cited Milton, John. "Paradise Lost." John Milton: The Major Works. Ed. Stephen Orgel and Jonathan Goldberg. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2003. 355-618. Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein. Chatham: Wordsworth Classics, 1999. Frankenstein: A Warning Against Masculine Individualistic Freedom Essa Frankenstein: A Warning Against Masculine Individualistic Freedom In this commentary, I wanted to examine a little further the implications of a point brought up in the presentation on Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. They briefly suggested that Victor might occupy a space of idealised masculine freedom; given Victor's less than ideal fate and Mary Shelley's Feminism, such a masculine idealisation becomes highly problematic. Victor holds a privileged social position that allows him a financial and social freedom through which he can choose his occupations at will. In choosing Science, Victor's freedom to experiment holds potential benefit, both for him and for Others. However, I'd suggest that it's Victor's overdetermined sense of individualistic Self that results in a misuse of his freedom and the destruction of his social sphere. Victor's specific type of unfettered individualism results in the ultimate danger of individualism: he shakes off the shackles of social responsibility both literally, in his solitude, and metaphorically, in his failure to a cknowledge the possibility that his actions might have some social impact. His ultimate and most dangerous freedom lies in that he is free to consider only his own ambition. In creating the monster, Victor is, in both of these senses, outside the range of society. Quite literally, he moves away from his family (and his social background) to an unfamiliar space; he achieves an extra measure of freedom in his solitude in Ingolstadt. It is through this solitude that he is able to immerse himself in Science. Even as Victor leaves Geneva for Ingolstadt he believes himself "totally unfitted for the company of strangers" (38) but in Ingolstadt he becomes even more secluded, relating ... ...108-110). Thus Lucifer's vow in favour of the forces of evil is based on a loss of hope, fear and -- most importantly -- remorse; Frankenstein's Monster does abandon both hope and fear but his remorse is intense. Paradoxically, it is the Monster who is torn by "the bitterest remorse" (170) while Victor refuses it. In the end, Victor's freedom to create in league with his believed freedom from social responsibility makes him not the 'ideal scientist' but a destructive force towards himself, his creation, and his society. Perhaps, as critics have suggested, it is Victor who is the real 'monster' in Mary Shelley's story. Works cited Milton, John. "Paradise Lost." John Milton: The Major Works. Ed. Stephen Orgel and Jonathan Goldberg. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2003. 355-618. Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein. Chatham: Wordsworth Classics, 1999.

Research on Atlas Honda

OXFORD BROOKES UNIVERSITY An analysis of the financial situation of ATLAS HONDA Ltd. Introduction The topic chosen by me for the research and analysis project is AN ANALYSIS OF THE FINANCIAL SITUATION OF YOUR CHOICE OF ORGANISATION. The reason for choosing this topic is that I am very comfortable with financial techniques and methods that are used to carry out financial analysis. Financial courses covered in ACCA part 1 and 2 were of key interest to me.The organization selected for the financial analysis is ATLAS HONDA LIMITED being the market leader in the motorcycle industry in Pakistan. The company attracted me to be selected for the project because the company is the leading company in the motorcycle industry with few unestablished competitors. The company is a public limited company with an annual turnover of Rs6,977. 4 millions, which makes it a leading company of public sector in our country.As the project is related with financial analysis of the company it is easier for me t o apply the financial tools learned in ACCA. It is easier for me to examine the financial position of Atlas Honda Ltd, as the management of the company is willing to provide me with sufficient financial data that will aid in carrying out a financial analysis. As this is public limited company information related to the company is also available through different magazines, government agencies, credit rating agencies (pacra), industry experts and websites.Atlas Honda Ltd is a company of Atlas group of companies. The foundation of the Atlas Group was laid in 1962 with the establishment of Shirazi Investments (Pvt) Limited with a capital of half a million rupees and three men doing business in trading shares and real estate. (www. atlasgrouppk. com) Atlas Honda Ltd was incorporated as a public limited company on October 16, 1962 and its shares are listed on Karachi and Lahore Stock Exchanges in Pakistan. Atlas Honda Limited is a joint venture between the Atlas Group and Honda Motor Co. , Japan.The merger of Panjdarya Limited and Atlas Autos Ltd created the company in 1991. The Atlas Group established both these motorcycle-manufacturing concerns. (www. atlasgrouppk. com) Atlas management is striving to modernize company operations by adapting applicable aspects of research and theory and more specially, Honda’s unique philosophy of hard/soft technologies to the realities of Pakistani conditions. Company management structure, systems and processes are changed according to the demands of the customer, growth and new technology. www. atlasgrouppk. com) Atlas Honda Ltd is a dynamic, profitable and growth oriented company through market leadership, maximizing export and excellence in quality and service. The company ensures attractive returns to equity holders, reward employees according to their ability and performance. Atlas Honda Ltd fosters a network of researchers and engineers ensuing unique contribution to the development of the industry. The company ensu res customer satisfaction and protection of the environment by producing emission friendly green products.The company aims to remain a good corporate citizen fulfilling its social responsibilities in all respects. Atlas Honda Ltd also received the best corporate report excellence awards in the engineering sector by the joint committee of ICAP/ICMAP. (Annual Report 2003) The company quality is gaining greater acceptance globally year after year the company takes it as a national cause to make â€Å"MADE IN PAKISTAN† accepted and Atlas Honda Ltd respected all the over world. An increase of 52% in exports on year-to-year basis is an indication of the growing popularity of the company products globally.Atlas Honda Ltd as being a market leader in motorcycle industry recognized the fact that excellence in business is dependent on the quality of human resource. As a result the company has continued to invest in development of its manpower over the years. The company has a well sprea d out service network of antenna shops, service dealers and four strokes mechanics with a combined strength of well over five thousand service points all over the country which has successfully covered the needs of company costumers.The network of 5S (Sales, Service, Spare parts, Credit and Second Hand Exchange) dealers all over country has given Atlas Honda Ltd a competitive edge over other players of the automotive industry. Due to the greater customer care and after sales service the customers of Atlas Honda Ltd are more obliged and satisfied then with any of the other competitors. As every market leader company Atlas Honda Ltd duly complies with the standards of safety health and environment (SHE). Sizeable capital expenditure was made by the company to install various equipments at assembling plants to minimize the risk of haphazard.The vision of Atlas Honda Ltd is to remain a leading group through effective use of its resources, technology and good business practices; attract and retain high quality people by developing them to their fullest potential; always keep the customer in their highest esteem and to give attractive returns to the share holders through a sustained growth of profit. (www. atlasgrouppk. com) The auto industry has been a major beneficiary of the macro economic stability of the country. The unprecedented reduction in the cost of the funds has helped promote greater consumer financing for automotive products.Atlas Honda Ltd has taken some tough decisions in enhancing the total customer base as well as dealing with the menace of the unauthorized sector. The motorcycle market has under gone a severe change in the last year. Ninety percent of the market is dominated by established brands from the organized sector. The players in the organized sector consist of the traditional Japanese manufacturers as well as a couple of Chinese assemblers and all are members of officially recognized Pakistan Automotive Manufacturers Association (PAMA). A nnual report 2003) The aim of the report is to apply the tools learned in ACCA and to carry out practical work in a real time company. Through this report I will have exposure to Pakistan industry that will help me in the development of skills acquired during my ACCA studies. The report also aims to critically view the financial statements in order visualize that adequate returns are available to shareholder, company is a going concern, company is generating sufficient profits, assets of the company are well managed and guarded by the management in the best interest of the share holders.I will also review that the best practices of management stewardship is carried out to ensure that the company is maintaining the best practices of corporate governance. The objective of the report is to carry out financial analysis of Atlas Honda Ltd for the year 2003. The financial analysis has been carried out by using financial techniques such as ratio analysis, trend analysis and vertical analys is on the data available in the annual report of the year 2003 of the company. INFORMATION GATHERING Information gathering is the process through which processed and meaningful data is available to carry out the required task.Extensive amount of information is available through Internet, media, newspapers and other business magazines. These all sources of information these days make the process of information gathering simple. There are two main source of information gathering through which information is gathered, first is my personal visits and meetings with the different personnel’s in the company and secondly the financial statements available in the stock exchange on which the company is listed and also the data available through print media publicly.The information gathered depends on the reliability of the source from which it is gathered. These both sources are reliable to gather authentic information. Information was also obtained from credit rating agencies such as (pacra) and industry experts. Some government agencies also hold information relating to companies such as Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP). The financial statements and print media information used for the report are for the period ended 2003,the broachers of Atlas Honda Ltd, financial and business news papers such as THE NEWS BUSINEES PAGE, DAWN BUSINESS PAGE.As Atlas Honda is a leading company in the motorcycle industry information relating to the company is also available through different business magazines such as the Gulf Economist. They are good source of reliable information, that too with a critical viewpoint about the company. Information relating to Atlas Honda is also available through Internet by access to sight www. atlasgrouppk. com that makes it easier to be familiar with the company and have access to the financial and other authentic information that helps in the effective completion of this research and analysis project.Published documents of Atlas Honda Ltd provides a reliable method of data collection through which sufficient financial data can be collected easily so that financial analysis can be conducted in a effective way. Interview is very effective means of gathering information, providing precise and accurate data. Interviews with the officials of Atlas Honda also provided quality information that helped me to have a sufficient knowledge about Atlas Honda, about its financial position, where it stands in the market, its new competitors in the motor cycle ndustry, its adequate returns to share holders, about its expansion of the business and its unique 5S(service) network that give Atlas Honda Ltd edge over its competitors. ANALYSIS The analysis stage of the report carries critical view of the financial statements to ensure that adequate returns are available to share holders, assets are properly utilized by the management and are depreciated as par the accounting policies of the company, the company is financia lly sound and that investors have confidence in the company. There are few un established competitors of Atlas Honda with little penetration in the market.The ratios are computed on the basis of audited financial data for the year 2003. PROFITABILITY The profitability of any company is the key concern to the shareholders and to its employees and is also the symbol of market leadership for any company in the market. I have analyzed the profitability trend over the period of 8 years. The key ratios during the 8 years that demonstrate profitability are Profitability 2003 Gross Profit Ratio (%) Profit Before Tax (%) Profit After Tax (%) 14. 7 9. 3 6. 1 2002 13. 3 7. 1 4. 9 TABLE: 1 2001 9. 7 4. 3 2. 5 2000 10. 4 3. 0 1. 1999 11. 6 5. 3 3. 6 1998 12. 4 5. 6 3. 7 1997 1996 11. 3 5. 4 3. 6 10. 9 5. 7 3. 3 There is a constant increase in the gross profit during the first 3 years 1996 to 1998 but the year 1999 had a slump causing a decline for the next 3 years up till 2001. After that huge r ecovery has been made by the company with G. P Ratio from 9. 7 in 2001 to 14. 7 in 2003. Corresponding increase in cost and the relationship between profits and cost reveal that the profit before tax was almost half (5. 7) to 10. 9 in the year 1996 and this relationship is maintained in 2003.On the other hand the operating profit have not shown a considerable growth in comparison to the tax rates as shown by the relationship between G. P ratio and profit after tax. In the year 1999 it was 1/3rd to the G. P ratio but has increased to come up with ? of the G. P ratio. This indicates that the company is trying to improve its profit by maintaining its cost but the increase in taxes has jeopardized the efforts and consequent increase in profit after tax has not been obtained. Returns to Shareholders The returns are of key interest to shareholders as they invest in the company that gives more returns than the other.Atlas Honda distributed 5% of its total wealth to its shareholders in the year 2003. The company proposed a cash dividend of Rs. 7 per share. The return on capital employed, Earning per share (E. P. S), Price earning ratio, their trend can be seen below in the table. Returns to share holders 2003 ROE – Before Tax (%) 60. 5 2002 49. 8 TABLE: 2 2001 31. 5 2000 17. 4 1999 32. 7 1998 39. 6 1997 48. 0 1996 61. 0 ROE – After Tax (%) 39. 7 34. 1 18. 3 10. 3 22. 3 26. 1 31. 8 35. 0 Return on Capital Employed (%) 34. 2 29. 8 14. 7 7. 6 17. 3 18. 7 23. 4 28. Market Price 80. 00 40. 05 25. 00 19. 25 19. 25 30. 00 31. 00 27. 00 E. P. S – After Tax – Rs 20. 91 13. 24 8. 07 4. 12 8. 45 8. 60 9. 41 8. 41 Price Earning Ratio 3. 83 3. 03 3. 10 4. 67 2. 28 3. 49 3. 29 3. 21 Industry Average . P. E Ratio 3. 21 3. 14 3. 52 3. 50 2. 14 3. 31 3. 27 3. 25 The Return on equity before tax ratio showed a downward trend and declined from 61% to 17. 4% in 2000,there by recovering to a satisfactory figure of 60. 5% in 2003. The ROE after tax declined from acceptable figure of 35% in 1996 to a dangerous level of 10. % in 2000 and reaching a satisfactory figure of 39. 7% in the year 2003. Earning per share is widely used to measure the performance of the company over a number of years. E. P. S of Atlas Honda started to decline after 1997 and declined to a poor figure of 4. 12,there by up streaming to the figure of 20. 91,compariably stronger than last year due to improved profits. Price Earning ratio shows partial ups and downs through years not having significant variation except 1999 where it shows a downward trend, showing a healthy upward trend in 2000.This indicates that the investors have a strong confidence in the company abilities to maintain the earnings. Overall the P/E ratio of the company is above the industry average as indicated in table 2. The market price of the shares has grown rapidly and has become twice as compared to the last year, which indicates people’s confidence. Cash Flow situation The cash flow statem ent with the same importance as profit and loss account and balance sheet is used to emphasize the difference between profit and cash. Cash flows, including net present value calculations, have always been a popular management tool.The situation of the company cash flow showed that net cash generation from operations increased to Rs. 724. 20 million as compared to Rs. 519. 34 million last years. Increased net income and customers’ advances created a positive impact on the net cash provided by operations. Net cash used in investing activities decreased to Rs. 67. 53 million compared to Rs. 150. 04 million last year. Net cash used in financing activities was Rs. 42. 33 million as compared to Rs. 121. 74 million last year. During the year Rs. 150 million long-term loans were acquired and Rs. 71. 11 million loans were repaid.Cash and bank balance increased by 1. 5 times to Rs. 1, 021. 23 million this year Rs. 406. 88 million for the operating year 2002. Investment income increase d to Rs. 38. 3 million from Rs. 32. 6 million of last year. Debt equity ratio was 10:90. The equity of the company stood at over Rs. 1 billion including reserves of Rs. 872. 2 million, with cash surplus of Rs. 1. 02 billion, reflecting a sound financial position of the company. Asset turnover Assets are held by companies to utilize them in their business activities and generate profits in order the company to prosper.Assets are held and maintained by Atlas Honda in the course of their business activities and the company to meet their growing requirements also acquires new capital assets. Asset turnover ratios are computed for a period of eight years. Asset turnover (Times) Sales to Total Assets Sales to Fixed Assets 2003 2. 63 12. 39 2002 3. 02 10. 32 2001 3. 16 10. 44 2000 2. 28 6. 93 1999 2. 80 9. 34 1998 2. 23 9. 02 1997 2. 89 13. 02 1996 2. 97 11. 42 Inventory Turnover 10. 34 9. 57 7. 46 6. 87 7. 39 6. 06 5. 41 5. 38Major portion of the total assets are current assets, which not an admirable situation and the company is bearing increase in the opportunity cost of assets not invested by the company. In the other scenario the company have superfluous current assets to meet its current liabilities, which is appreciable. In the sale to fixed asset turnover there is a major acquisition in the year 2000 then in other years where there is normal acquisition during the course of business. This is indicted by the reduction of only 0. 99% in the sale of year 2000 from previous year where as there is a reduction of 2. 1 times in the sale to fixed asset turnover ratio. This acquisition by the company in the year 2000 was made to cope with predict future growth. In other years the fixed asset turnover ratio is increasing due to increasing sales and there is usual acquisition of fixed assets. In the case of the inventory turnover ratio there is a constant increase in the figures over the years. The company in warehouses does not hold idle stocks thus reducing the stock holding cost. Demand based production is carried out by the company and there are no over purchases by the company.Solvency/Liquidity Solvency is the term used to determine that are the assets of the company surplus enough to pay its liabilities. This is a key measure of the financial reliability of a company and the key ratios that computes solvency are of key interest to investors. 2003 Current ratio (Times) 1. 47 2002 1. 38 2001 1. 48 2000 1. 46 1999 1. 64 1998 1. 31 1997 1. 21 1996 1. 10 Interest Cover Ratio (Times) 17. 17 11. 18 3. 65 2. 04 3. 18 2. 58 3. 95 3. 81 The intent of the current ratios is to determine that how many current assets are there to repay current liabilities on demand.The company holds surplus current assets. This is also discussed above in the Total Asset turnover that a major portion of the total assets is current assets showing a healthy prospect in terms of the company to meet its current liabilities. The company is showing an acceptable current ratio o ver the period indicating the company’s capability to meet its liabilities. The interest cover ratio for the year 2002 and 2003 shows that the company is having added profits that allows the company to borrow more loans but the company is not utilizing this facility. This is also the reason the company is low geared.This also indicates financial soundness of the company in the market. If the company takes advantage of this facility it would be beneficial for the company and would facilitate the company in reducing its taxes, as interest expense is a tax allowable expense. The company has been obtaining loans in the rest of the period as indicated by the interest cover ratios of rest of the periods. Investments Investments are held by companies to have adequate returns from their sales. Investments held by Atlas Honda in associates are proposed for sale and are stated at fair value.The investments held by the company are in listed and also some unlisted companies. Investments are counted as company’s principal financial assets. Listed Atlas Battery Limited – Associated undertaking NIL (2002: 165,550 Ordinary shares of Rs. 10 Each includes bonus shares 25,550) 2003 (Rupees in 000’s) 9,548 2002 Unlisted Arabian Sea Country Club (private) Limited 200,000 ordinary shares of Rs. 10 each Break-up value on the basis of audited Accounts for the year ended June 30, 2002 Rs. 6. 25 per share 2003 2002 (Rupees in 000’s) 2,000 2,000 Automotive Testing and Training Center (private) Limited 187,500 ordinary shares of Rs. 0 each Break-up value on the basis of audited Accounts for the year ended June 30,2001 Rs. 5. 75 per share 1,875 1,875 The credit risk represents the accounting loss that would be recognized at the reporting date if counter parties failed to perform as contracted. Out of the total financial assets, following amount of financial assets are subject to credit risk: 1,118,907. The company believes that it is not exposed to major concentration of credit risk. To manage exposure to credit risk, the company applies credit limits to its customers. STAEMENT OF VALUE ADDITION 2003 WEALTH GENERATEDTotal Revenue Material & Services (excluding duties) 8,066,365 (5,219,313) __________ 2,847,052 __________ 6,382,219 (4,177,572) _________ 2,204,647 _________ 2002 100% 100% WEALTH DISTRIBUTED To Government Sales Tax, Income Tax, Import Duty & Workers’ Welfare Fund To Employees Salaries, benefits and related cost To Providers of Capital Dividend to shareholders Markup on borrowed funds Retained with the business Depreciation Retained profit 89,645 284,345 _________ 2,847,052 _________ 3% 10% ______ 100% ______ 83,433 4% 143,058 20,487 5% 1% 122,621 19,913 5% 1% 346,762 12% 322414 15% 1,962,755 69% 1,508,389 68% 47,877 7% _________ ____ 2,204,647 100% _________ ____ As can be seen from the table above and the chart that a greater portion of wealth generated is distributed to the government. The company paid sales tax, income tax and custom duties amounting to Rs. 1. 96 billion during the year, which represents 69% of the total wealth generated. The company’s contribution to the national economy by way of value addition this year amounts to Rs. 2. 85 billion, which is 29. 13% higher as compared to last year showing company’s responsibility towards overall economy.This is also the reason that the company is unable to increase its profit after tax even though the company is maintaining its cost. This huge amount of tax payments has jeopardized the efforts made by the company. A good proportion of wealth generated is distributed to employees as salaries and benefits showing that the company is facilitating its employees and maintaining a healthy environment of working by offering benefits to them. WORKING CAPITAL The company has maintained a good working capital that shows the stewardship of the management in the use of financial resources in the operations.Company maintains a 5:1 to the current assets that is a working capital of Rs. 6, 671. 50 million, Showing good liquidity performance. Capital Structure The company shows a very low financial gearing (0. 165b: 1b) but the timing of the repayment cash flows is a cause of concern, as 50million out of a total of 166million has to be repaid during the next 12 months. As the net increase in cash and cash equivalent is 614million it would not be a major cause of concern but shows the company’s vulnerability and dependence on maintaining very high liquid assets.This indicates that the company is in a desperate need to maintain its profits and to increase them. The period where the company is unable to make any profit the company will be in a critical situation beyond its accepting power. Presentation of Findings The SWOT analysis is used as a technique to identify the strengths and weaknesses in the company and the opportunities and threats outside faced by the company. A SWOT analysis of Atlas Honda Limit ed would be a significant appraisal of the company’s position in the automotive industry.Strengths: Market leader †¢ Advance cash receipts from dealer’s hence additional cash available for investment. †¢ Customer satisfaction. †¢ Trained technical staff. †¢ Atlas Group patronage. †¢ Sound financial standing in the market. Weakness: †¢ †¢ No customer support in rural areas. Burden of taxes by the Government. Opportunities: †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ Opportunities for new technologies. Development of latest IT infrastructure. Effective media promotion. No threat of established competitor. Threats: †¢ †¢ †¢ Threat of new entrants.Unestablished Competitors imitating the models of motorcycles at low price. Demands for low priced motorcycles. The strengths of the company are the key to triumph and the company should seize advantage from its opportunities and should devise such that its opportunities should be part of its strengths. Atlas Honda has been able to prolifically make its way through the heavy burden of taxes this year but it’s my anticipation that the burden of taxes will increase further, to counter this the company should plan a head.Atlas Honda is having a sound financial standing in the market and had attained customer satisfaction by quality products and after sales customer service. Customers are drawn in due to quality and services provided by the company, which the company should sustain and enhance, by making available price controlled motorcycles. Company has developed latest IT infrastructure to make good use of IT in manufacturing using computer techniques such as CAD (computer aided design) and CAM (computer aided manufacturing) thus enhancing costs.The edifying aspect of the report has been the findings that Atlas Honda is a financially sound company with market penetration and strong customer base. Conclusion The essence of the research and analysis report was to ca rry out a comprehensive financial analysis of Atlas Honda Ltd. The core objective of the report was to scrutinize that ample returns are available to share holders, the company is generating sufficient profits, and the financial situation of the company is sound and investors have confidence in the company and its financial position.In my surveillance over all the company has maintained a good level of profit even after an amplified amount of tax over the period of time. This has caused an increase in Earning per share of the company and eventually the market value of the company, which is avowed at 700% premium (Market value Rs. 80 per nominal value of Rs. 10 per share). The investors have confidence, which is reflected in the Price Earning Ratio of the company, which the company has maintained over the period of 8 years.The overall enhancement in the level of operations and market demand indicates that the company is moving on the right track even after facing rigid rivalry from i ts competitors. Atlas Honda has maintained a very low level of gearing and so far is unable to acquire market loans, which indicates low level of financial risk the company is exposed to. On the other hand this can hamper the potential available in the market by scarcity of the funds in the company when investment climate is good and market demands is high.In the Automotive industry Atlas Honda is still a market leader as far as the wealth distribution to the government is concerned. In the statement of value addition it is indicated that 69% of the company’s wealth had been distributed to the government as sales tax, income tax, import duty and workers welfare fund. Subsequent to the distribution the company has maintained sufficient levels of profit to distribute to the shareholders in the form of dividends. The company has continued to improve the net generation of cash and cash equivalents during the year causing the company to increase its cash resources.Positive inflow of cash from operations is a signal of company’s ability to improve the liquidity position of the company on a continuous basis. This is the main reason the liquidity situation of the company is very good. The analysis shows that the company is making headway well in terms of profitability, liquidity but as far as the capital structure of the company is concerned it is still at very low level of gearing thus hampering the opportunities available in the market and without exploiting the internal strengths available in the company.A high level of profits, good liquidity and sufficient working capital indicates that the financial situation of the company has improved over the period of time and is still improving. On the basis of the research and analysis work carried out I foresee that Atlas Honda will be more profitable over the period of time and will be able to exploit the opportunities available in the market. In my viewpoint Atlas Honda will remain to be the market leader for the coming years too. The company will also prove arduous to compete by new entrants in the industry.

Phase change lab

We have worked with hot plates and thermometers in other labs before, so we know how to be safe. I wonder what a graph of the changing temperatures over time between the phases would look like. Hypothesis Based on prior learning, I predict that the graph of the water phase changes will not be one straight slope, but instead will plateau, or be flat, and then slope between the change of ice to water, plateau and slope once more between the change of water to steam, and then plateau once more.If we record the temperature of the H2O at regular Intervals, then we will be able to make the predicted graph. Procedure List of Materials: 1 thermometer (Tot 100 OIC 1 beaker (250 or 400 ml), 1 hot plate, CE (enough to fill the beaker), tap water (about 25 ml 1 graduated cylinder (optional), safety goggles, lab apron, at least 1 rag (to clean up spills), pencil/pen, notebook/paper, graph paper, and access to an electrical outlet. Steps: 1. Prepare a data table to collect measurements from the la b.Make sure to put the dependent and independent variables in the correct place. 2. Fill the beaker with ice and add a small amount of water (about 25 ml) 3. Place the beaker on the hot plate with the hot plate TURNED OFF. 4. Take two temperature measurements of the Ice/ water slurry 30 seconds apart. 5. Do not let go of the thermometer. 6. Do not let the thermometer touch the beaker's sides or bottom. 7. Turn the hot plate on to about 6 (about halfway). 8. Collect temperature measurements every 30 seconds.The plateaus were not completely flat and fluctuated between 2 degrees of temperature. We didn't get to record measurements after reaching 100 co because we ran out of time and our outlet wasn't working. Analysis 2. Phase changes are happening to the water during the â€Å"flat† areas of the graph. 3. The water is heating up during the slanted areas of the graph. 4. More than one phase of water is present in the â€Å"flat† areas of the graph. 5. The heat from the ho t late is converted to energy when the water is changing from ice to liquid. 6.The heat from the hot plate is changing the temperature of the water when it is only liquid. 7. The graph would have a slower change in temperature over time if we had twice the amount of water, so the graph would be longer horizontally. My hypothesis was confirmed because our data that showed minuscule fluctuating temperatures for the plateaus and the rise/Jump in temperature for the slopes. However, I had not initially accounted for the slight drop of temperature in the beginning due to the ice lolling the water because the water was room temperature.I learned that plateau points on the graph do not stay only one temperature but instead fluctuate. We did have a possible margin of error due to possible inaccurate temperature readings, not exact temperature readings, inconsistent time, and not exact time intervals. If we do this experiment again, we can try changing the temperature of the initial water ad ded or the amount of water added to see if we produce any noticeable differences. Watching H2O change phases took longer than I though!