Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words - 5

Assignment Example This means that when a company makes an agreement, they must honor this agreement even if the terms are beyond the constitution. In this case, the cat contract with Feline Fertility Pty Ltd is enforceable since company willing entered the contract while understanding that the their constitution did not allow them to trade in cats. Lassie Ltd argues that since the company constitution does not allow the company to trade cats, the contract was invalid and unenforceable. However, going by the law, the fact that the company entered the agreement with Feline Fertility Pty Limited, it remains valid even if this goes beyond the constitution. Therefore, Feline Fertility can move to the court to have the contract enforced and to avoid termination. Alternatively, Lessie Ltd should finance any losses that the other company may incur as a result of this termination. The Company act of 2001 states that a director of the company must act within the constitution while conducting business on behalf of the company. Since the director of the company conducts the business on behalf of the stakeholders, the constitution limits their actions.5 However, this must be in tandem with the requirements of the constitution. In this case, Willy Woof has the power to make decisions regarding the business process, as long as these decisions do not infringe the constitution. The company current constitution allows the director to enter the lease with Hot Ltd.6 However, the other company directors intends to include a new clause that requires that â€Å"the establishment of any store outside the state of Western Australia requires the approval of all the directors.† If the amendment is successfully integrated in the constitution, Lessie will not be able to enter into the agreement with Hot Ltd since the constitution will empower other directors to object suc h a move7. Therefore, changes in the constitution will help

Comparison Between Centralized and Distributed DBMS

Comparison Between Centralized and Distributed DBMS 1- Comparison between centralized and distributed DBMS: There are many aspect that let us make a comparison between centralized and distributed DBMS: Database management system is any software that manages and controls the storage, the organization, security, retrieval and integral of data in a specific database, whereas DDBMS consist of a single database that is divided into many fragments. Each fragment is integrated on one or more computer and controlled by independent database (DBMS) (Connolly Begg, 2004). In centralized DBMS the data is distributed across the network computers, and the data is stored on many sites and under the management responsibility of DDBMS. But in the DBMS data is stored and controlled in a central site. Both of DDBMS and centralized DBMS provide the access to database using the same interface, but for this function centralized DBMS faces less complication than DDBMS. For distributing data over network we can use replication or fragmentation. The objective of replication and fragmentation is to make a transparency of this allocation to make the details of implementation hidden on users. In centralized DBMS is not need to make transparencies. In DDBMS design we can find three issues which are not in centralized DBMS design. These issues are: How to split the database to fragments, and fragments to replicate, and in which locate we can find these fragments. Consequently, centralized DBMS is less sophisticated than DDBMS because it not supports the organizational structure of todays widely distributed enterprises, and DDBMS more reactive and reliable (Blurtit, 2010). 2- Advantages of DDBMSs The DDBMS have many advantages over DBMS. We can gather them in the following points: Reflects organizational structure: We can distribute the data base over any organization offices which has distributed locations Improved shareability and local autonomy: Users can use the data of other sites, which mean the data can be near of the users who use it. Also by this way the data can be controlled by the user. Improved availability: Unlike centralized DBMS, the failure at one site or link of communication makes only some parts of system inaccessible, which means the entire system is still working. Improved reliability: The replication system make the data exist in many site. So this insures the possibility of accessing to this data if there is any failure happened. Improved performance: We can improve the accessing speed to data base if we use remote centralized database. Also, there may not be same conflict for CPU and using the services, like DBMS. Economics: For making the organization systems more cost-effective to obtain separate computers, DBMS allows us to create systems of smaller computer, its power equal the power of one large computer. Modular growth: This one refers to the flexibility of DDBMS, where we can add a new site without any affects on the operation of other sites. 3- Disadvantages Complexity: The features of DDBMS like replication, availability flexibility make the implementation of DDBMS more complex than centralized DBMS. Cost: The cost will increase due to the complexity in DDBMS than centralized DBMS. It requires the maintenance and additional hardware to create a network between the posts. Security: Unlike centralized system, access to data not only has to be secured, but the entire network also has to be made secure. Integrity control more difficult: In a DDBMS, the costs of processing and communication that we have to make to implement integrity constraints may be prohibitive. Lack of standards: Despite there is effective communication when we use DDBMS, There are no methodologies or tools to assist users convert a centralized DBMS into a distributed DBMS. Lack of experience: Unlike what we have with centralized DBMSs, still our experiences are lack in industry of DDBMS. Database design more complex: The design of DDMBS is more complex than centralized database, because the data fragmentation has to be implemented in this design, and also data replication, and fragments allocation to specific sites 4- Possibility of using the replication server: The replication is a mechanism enables the companies to provide their users accessing to current data at the time they need it (Connolly Begg, 2004). The DreamHome company can use the replication server to enhance the dealing with requirements, because if it want to make any updates to a replication object at one site are will be applied to their copies at all other sites. Furthermore, replication server enables the company users to replicate many objects, such as the tables and Functions and Procedures, Indexes, Views and Object Views, Packages and Package Bodies and so on (Urbano, 2003). Implementation of replication server can be useful. Because by it users can transfer data to any local site needs it. And the company can insure availability of data and applications at all the time. Companies can insure that important applications are available at all times. Also, replication server allows any user access to its data from distance (DCI, 1996). So that it is possible to use server of replication in this company. Finally the recommendations that we can give this company are Its better to implement DDBM to manage the data of this company. If this company use same operating system like Windows or Linux, it is better to integrate Homogeneous DDBMS, because, Its design is easier than heterogeneous DDBMS, as well as data managing, also It helps the company to add new sites to DDBMS. As well as It allows augmented performance by using the parallel processing capability of multiple sites (Edward, 2007). References Blurtit, d. (2010). Ask it answer it. Retrieved April 11, 2010, from blurtit: http://www.blurtit.com/q828920.html Connolly, T. M., Begg, C. E. (2004). Data base solution. A step by step guide to buildind database . England: Pearsoned. DCI, D. (1996). Replication, The Next Generation of Distributed Database Technology. Retrieved March 13, 2010, from DCIs Event Central: http://www.dciexpo.com/geos/replica2.htm Edward, C. ( 2007, Novamber 05). Distributed DBMS Concepts and Design. Retrieved March 13, 2010, from SJSU Department of Computer Science: http://www.cs.sjsu.edu/~lee/cs157b/fall2003/Edward_Chen_Chapter%2022.ppt. Urbano, R. (2003). Oracle Database Advanced Replication. Oracl.

Mark Twains Pessimistic Views Exposed in The Adventures of Huckleberry

Mark Twain's Pessimistic Views Exposed in Mark Twain's Pessimistic Views Exposed in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, through examples of hypocrisy, racism, and greed, shows Twain's pessimistic view of society and corruption of the human race as a whole. This novel documents the travels of a young boy by the name of Huckleberry Finn, and a runaway slave named Jim as they attempt to explore and escape their homes because of their own respective reasons. The plot of this novel is very simplistic, however the view of Mark Twain's pessimism regarding society as a whole is revealed through various characters and situations. The idea of hypocrisy by society is Mark Twain's first instance of pessimism. The general view of each of the townspeople is that they live in a civilized society. The continual use of the word civilized causes a sense of arrogance or cockiness as to the fact that society thinks that it is so supreme over other life. Mark Twain does not believe that being civilized makes one a better person and that it is the inner soul that creates a good person. For example, the townspeople believe they are superior, but beneath the surface, they are all selfish, arrogant, hateful people. Any of the people in town can be an example of this as they believe that they are better than any of the slaves that they own. Jim, on the other hand, is Twain's portrayal of a kind and gentle hearted soul and this shows his pessimism towards the hypocrisy of society in the fact that it again illustrates the wrong belief that civilization makes you superior. Jim is a better human being than the majority of the people that are living in the town. Racism is another ideal that Mark Tw... ... continually. Right then we can see the effects of his greed. In the aftermath though, Twain decides to show the severity of an outcome of greed by causing the death of Pap. Death is always caused by greed, whether it is death of the physical body or moralistic part of the personality. Mark Twain's pessimisms of society are portrayed through his beliefs on hypocrisy, racism, and greed. After more in depth characterization of Twain's beliefs on society, it is safe to assume that he believes not in outward appearances or social standing, but that the true person is inside the body, the soul makes up whether we are of high class or low class. Twain was a man beyond his time in the fact that he realized the true meaning of life and that one should not judge a book by its cover. To truly understand a person, one must look to the abstract ideas of their life.

Resuming Internationalization at Starbucks Essay

Starbucks is the premier roaster, marketer and retailer of specialty coffee in the world. The first Starbucks store was opened in Seattle in 1971. The current CEO, Howard Schultz, joined the company in 1982 and decided bringing the Italian coffee-drinking culture to the United States. In 1992, the company went public. In 1996, with the home market becoming increasingly saturated, Starbucks opened the first outlet in the Far East. Ever since, the company has pursued a relentless international expansion. By 2012, Starbucks had achieved a global reach of 18,066 stores in 62 countries. With revenues grew on average 30 per cent per year, Starbucks experienced substantial growth from $160 million in 1993 to $10 billion in 2009. In 2007, Starbucks had a presence in 56 countries through approximately 17,000 stores. However, Starbucks’ relentless march had been slowed by increasingly intense competition and rising coffee bean prices between 2007 and 2009. After 2007, demand for Starbucks’ products was badly hit by the global economic recession. At the end of fiscal 2009, nearly all of the approximately 800 US Company-operated stores, 61 stores in Australia and 41 Company-operated stores in other International markets had been closed. Approximately 70 per cent of the stores that were closed had been open for fewer than 3 years. In the third quarter of 2009, The company achieved the first profit since the first quarter of 2008 by the self-save closure. Finally, CEO Schultz made Starbucks backed to the growth trend. But as the criticism the company had receiv ed on a number of fronts, he needed to decide again how to approach international markets. Industry Analysis The 5 forces approach is used in this part and the aim of this analysis is determining the attractiveness of the industry and understanding factors driving past, current and forecast industry profitability. Barriers to Entry: A cup of coffee could be served from many kinds of sources, such as independent operated coffee shops, quick-service restaurant, specialty coffee shops, and international retailers. Considering different types of independent operated coffee shops, the barriers of this industry is not that high. However, being one of recognized and respected band in this industry needs standard quality and high level of capital to support. In this case,  the barriers to entry are medium. Bargaining Power of Suppliers: The coffee beans are mainly plant in Latin America, East Africa and South Asia. Exporters collect coffee beans which are already roasted from farmers and trade with retailers all over the world. Although there are plenty of suppliers in the industry, with the increasing consumption globally and the decreasing production in the large coffee producing countries, the average wholesale price for coffee had increased twofold between 2001 and 2010. The suppliers still keep strong power on bargaining. Bargaining Power of Buyers: The customer have lots of choices even though there will be a variety of request on flavor for different people. They also have low switching cost because of many competitors and brands in the market. Product differences are small and price sensitivity is high. All of these reasons give consumers strong bargaining power. Threat of Substitutes: There are a number of substitutes in the market to buyers. Juice, Tea and other beverages could be another choice for people. There are also many kinds of coffee related products recognized by different making process. In some regions which coffee drinking is not the main habit in daily life. For example in China, Tea obtains considerate market shares in beverage market. Competitive Rivalry: Coffee industry possesses intense competition. The differentiation of products between different entities is low and easy to replicate. Worldwide demand of coffee is growing. More than 500 billion cups of coffee were being consumed yearly. Meanwhile, hundreds of exist competitors led to low switching cost of customers. Starbucks roast 4 hundred million pounds coffee annually. It has high quality requirement on coffee beans. In that case, the company cultivates the stable relationship with its own suppliers. So Starbucks has high cost on switching suppliers. However , Starbucks highlights and chases the experience that their customers can obtain in coffeehouse. The company positions itself as the third place besides workplace and home. This high level of experience and also good quality coffee raise the switching cost of customers and reduce the power of bargaining. SWOT Analysis Strength Starbucks stands one of the most recognized and respected brands in the world. It has the largest chain stores, which is operating approximately 18,000 stores in 62 countries. Besides high coffee’s quality, the strongest advantage of the company is the experience it delivers to the customers. Starbucks is not just passionate purveyors of coffee, but everything else that goes with a full and rewarding coffeehouse experience. The company also provides well offers to employees compared with other competitors in the industry. Weaknesses Starbucks has high price in the market based on its quality and so-called experience. The main was the high cost of the products. It contains the rent of the stores where located in very popular districts. The company offers good paid to their employees. And also, it is influenced by the coffee beans’ price. Starbucks’ main target consumers are well educated white collars. So it is influenced by the cycle of economy to some extent. Opportunities About 79% of the revenue comes from the company-operated stores, which means Starbucks has low levels of diversification. The company need to develop more kinds of products to meet different demand. There are great opportunities in local market, the company could focus on the expansion to emerging economies. The smart phone and moving technology is developing really fast. From online promotion to offline sails, new form of sail brings the company more opportunities. Threats Local competitors could be the direct threat to Starbucks on internationalization. The model and the style is easy to be replicated by new entrants. High cost is the weakness of Starbucks and also brings threats compared with other competitors. The saturated demand in some market needs to be considered carefully in future strategy. SWOT Analysis of StarbucksStrength -Good reputation -Largest chain stores -Quality and experience -Well employees treatmentWeaknesses -High price -High cost -Influenced by economy Opportunities -Diversification -Expansion on emerging -Online to Offline model -Chain stores could promote the diversification -New technology such as App would be used widely -Good financial statement provide capital on emerging -Reduce the influence by diversification and emerging -New model could enhance sails and also get lower on the price Threats -Competitors in local market -Be replicated -Rising price of the cost -Saturated market-Good reputation has strong competitive power in new market -Hard to be replicated -Reliable loyalty of customers -High cost could bring the competitors more opportunities -Close stores after crisis in saturated market Internationalization Company-operated versus licensed stores Starbucks set the mix form of company-operated and licensed stores in a given market. About more than 70% revenue is generated from company-operated stores. See the below chart. Actually, Starbucks could be considered has both forms of chain and franchise stores. The chain stores consist its main profit annually. Compared with Mcdonald’s, the very success in franchise model worldwide, Starbucks has its own advantages on internationalization. The company has the absolute dominate right to decide every aspects of a new store. It contains the decoration style, location picking, training new employees and so on. This form could fully maintain the value and culture of a company. To Starbucks, the experience of the customers and the spirit are the target and  the core value of their products. Its mission is to inspire and nurture the human spirit. Company-operated store is the right way which could assure that the value will be delivered completely. After repurchased the shares of some stores in some first level cities in the world, Starbucks shown its insist in the quality on the expansion road. However, this form costs more higher than franchise. Starbucks need to decide main issues such as the store’s design respectively. The most important is, without local partner, the company will hardly know and understand the real demand and then provide the suitable service. These real problems could not be ignored on internationalization. Local Competition After entering the new market, what is waiting for Starbucks is the intense local competition. Starbucks has to face new problems and balance the profits and its belief in coffee. Price The Price Discrimination in different countries was questioned by media. Starbucks was doubted on the reasonability of price. High price compared to the other coffee retailers let Starbucks to be luxury products in some developing countries. High cost is the main reason of the price. Sails to some extent rely on the growth of economy. This brings more chances to local competitors. Local Demand Coffee is not the irreplaceable drink in people’s daily life in some countries although the consumption of coffee is increasing annually. This situation requires Starbucks obtain brilliant ability on innovation and diversification on products. Providing tea products and acquiring tea producer’s company is the necessary strategy in featured markets. Competitors Starbucks needs to compete with local competitors and international retailers after entering the new market. For example, Mcdonald’s possesses stable relationship with local partners based on its stores and also has long time experience than the others. The wide spread network and well understanding to the local market provide McCafe a perfect stage. The local competitors also have obvious advantages on cost and distribution. Conclusion After experienced the stores closure issue, Starbucks was doubted and received criticism for going and expanding too fast. Actually, Starbucks did not stop its pace on internationalization. According to the numbers provided by the company in 2009, there are about 800 US. company-operated stores were closed out of 1000 planned closure globally. The measurement of Starbucks could be considered as an adjustment which emphasized on the demand saturated market. Its global expansion is still going on especially in the developing market which obtains tremendous potential demand such as China. However, on the road of expansion worldwide, Starbucks still has variety of problem which need to deal with. No matter how its strategy is adjusted, Starbucks should maintain its quality and experience to their customers. Their belief on coffee is the only sustainable way to the future. Reference Resuming Internationalization at Starbucks; Richard Ivy School of Business, The University of Western Ontario Starbucks’ Annual Reports of 2012

Perception of Different Sugars by Blowflies

? ? Fly? lab? report? p. 1? SAMPLE LAB REPORT Perception of Different Sugars by Blowflies by Alexander Hamilton Biology 101 October 24, 2009 Lab Partners: Sharon Flynn, Andi Alexander ? ABSTRACT ? Fly? lab? report? p. 2? To feed on materials that are healthy for them, flies (order Diptera) use taste receptors on their tarsi to find sugars to ingest. We examined the ability of blowflies to taste monosaccharide and disaccharide sugars as well as saccharin. To do this, we attached flies to the ends of sticks and lowered their feet into solutions with different concentrations of these sugars.We counted a positive response when they lowered their proboscis to feed. The flies responded to sucrose at a lower concentration than they did of glucose, and they didn’t respond to saccharin at all. Our results show that they taste larger sugar molecules more readily than they do smaller ones. They didn’t feed on saccharin because the saccharin we use is actually the sodium salt of saccharin, and they reject salt solutions. Overall, our results show that flies are able to taste and choose foods that are good for them. INTRODUCTION All animals rely on senses of taste and smell to find acceptable food for survival.Chemoreceptors are found in the taste buds on the tongue in humans (Campbell, 2008), for example, for tasting food. Studies of sensory physiology have often used insects as experimental subjects because insects can be manipulated with ease and because their sensory-response system is relatively simple (E. Williams, personal communication). Flies are able to taste food by walking on it (Dethier, 1963). Hollow hairs around the proboscis and tarsi contain receptor neurons that can distinguish among water, salts, and sugars, and flies can distinguish among different sugars (Dethier, 1976).These traits enable them to find necessary nutrition. ? ? Fly? lab? report? p. 3? In this experiment we tested the ability of the blowfly Sarcophaga bullata to taste dif ferent sugars and a sugar substitute, saccharin. Because sucrose is so sweet to people, I expected the flies to taste lower concentrations of sucrose than they would of maltose and glucose, sugars that are less sweet to people. Because saccharin is also sweet tasting to people, I expected the flies to respond positively and feed on it as well.METHODS We stuck flies to popsickle sticks by pushing their wings into a sticky wax we rubbed on the sticks. Then we made a dilution series of glucose, maltose, and sucrose in one-half log molar steps (0. 003M, 0. 01M, 0. 03M, 0. 1M, 0. 3M, and 1M) from the 1M concentrations of the sugars we were given. We tested the flies’ sensory perception by giving each fly the chance to feed from each sugar, starting with the lowest concentration and working up. We rinsed the flies between tests by swishing their feet in distilled water. We counted a positive response whenever a fly lowered its proboscis.To ensure that positive responses were to sug ars and not to water, we let them drink distilled water before each test. See the lab handout Taste Reception in Flies (Biology Department, 2000) for details. RESULTS Flies responded to high concentrations (1M) of sugar by lowering their probosces and feeding. The threshold concentration required to elicit a positive response from at least 50% of the flies was lowest for sucrose, while the threshold concentration was highest for glucose (Fig. 1). Hardly any flies responded to saccharin. Based on the results from all ? ? Fly? lab? report? p. 4? he lab groups together, there was a major difference in the response of flies to the sugars and to saccharin (Table 1). When all the sugars were considered together, this difference was significant (t = 10. 46, df = 8, p < . 05). Also, the response of two flies to saccharin was not statistically different from zero (t = 1. 12, df = 8, n. s. ). DISCUSSION The results supported my first hypothesis that sucrose would be the most easily detectabl e sugar by the flies. Flies show a selectivity of response to sugars based on molecular size and structure. Glucose, the smallest of the three sugars, is a monosaccharide.The threshold value of glucose was the highest in this experiment because a higher concentration of this small sugar was needed to elicit a positive response. Maltose and sucrose are both disaccharides but not with the same molecular weight or composition. It has been shown that flies respond better to alpha-glucosidase derivatives than to beta-glucosidase derivatives (Dethier 1975). Because sucrose is an alphaglucosidase derivative, it makes sense that the threshold value for sucrose occurs at a lower concentration than that for maltose. This might also be the reason why sucrose tastes so sweet to people.My other hypothesis was not supported, however, because the flies did not respond positively to saccharin. The sweetener people use is actually the sodium salt of saccharic acid (Budavari, 1989). Even though it ta stes 300 to 500 times as sweet as sucrose to people (Budavari, 1989), flies taste the sodium and so reject saccharin as a salt. Two flies did respond positively to saccharin, but the response of only two flies is not significant, and the lab group that got the positive responses to saccharin may not have rinsed the flies ? off properly before the test. ? Fly? lab? report? . 5? Flies taste food with specific cells on their tarsal hairs. Each hair has, in addition to a mechanoreceptor, five distinct cells – alcohol, oil, water, salt, and sugar – that determine its acceptance or rejection of the food (Dethier, 1975). The membranes located on the tarsi are the actual functional receptors since it is their depolarization that propagates the stimulus to the fly (Dethier, 1975). Of the five cells, stimulation of the water and sugar cells induce feeding, while stimulation of the salt, alcohol, and oil receptors inhibit feeding.More specifically, a fly will reject food if the substrate fails to stimulate the sugar or water receptors, stimulates a salt receptor, or causes a different message from normal (e. g. , salt and sugar receptors stimulated concurrently) (Dethier 1963). Flies accept sugars and reject salts as well as unpalatable compounds like alkaloids (Dethier & Bowdan, 1989). This selectivity is a valuable asset to a fly because it helps the fly recognize potentially toxic substances as well as valuable nutrients (H. Cramer, personal communication).Substances such as alcohols and salts could dehydrate the fly and have other harmful effects on its homeostasis (Dethier, 1976). Thus, flies are well adapted to finding food for their own survival. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I thank Prof. Cramer for help with the t-test and my lab partners for helping me conduct and understand this experiment. LITERATURE CITED Campbell, N. A. , & J. B. Reece. 2008. Biology, 8th ed. Pearson Benjamin Cummings, San ? Francisco. ? Fly? lab? report? p. 6? Budavari, S. , et al. 1989. The Merck Index. Merck & Co. , Rahway, NJ. Biology Department. 2000. Taste Reception in Flies. Biology 101 Laboratory Manual, Hamilton College, Clinton, NY. Dethier, V. G. 1963. The Physiology of Insect Senses. Methuen & Co. , London. Dethier, V. G. 1976. The Hungry Fly. Harvard University Press, Cambridge. Dethier, V. G. , & E. Bowdan. 1989. The effect of alkaloids on sugar receptors and the feeding behaviour of the blowfly. Physiological Entomology 14:127-136. Table 1. The average number of flies in each lab group that fed from 0. M concentrations of each chemical tested. The mean + standard deviation is shown. chemical tested number of 10 flies responding glucose maltose sucrose saccharin 3. 2 + 1. 5 7. 8 + 2. 3 8. 6 + 2. 1 0. 2 + 0. 5 ? ? Fly? lab? report? p. 7? Fig. 1. Taste response curves of flies to different concentrations of the sugars glucose, maltose, and sucrose. Fig. 2. Chemical formulas of sucrose and maltose (Biology Department, 2000). Glucose is a monosaccharide an d is shown as part of each of these molecules.