Culture and gender issues in Education Essay

One of the most essential standards of American way of thinking is the conviction that all individuals are equivalent. Equivalent, where each individual is dealt with reasonably and with deference and that all individuals have equivalent open doors throughout everyday life. Training assumes a key job later on for each person. Thus, the American instruction framework was set up. The American training framework puts together its standards with respect to the ways of thinking and convictions all things considered. The USA comprises of numerous locales and states. It is thusly justifiable that in each locale, an alternate culture is drilled. In any case, as in everything in this world, there are acceptable sides and terrible sides to the framework. Various issues have ascended all through the advancement of American training. The most well known issues would be those identified with sex and nationality. The generalizing of guys and females has been the subject of most sex related issues in regards to a student’s capacity in accomplishing great training. This issue so far has not yet arrived at a resolution. Then again, nationality issues are as mind boggling as sex issues. Outside understudies contribute a huge entirety to the nation’s spending plan each year. Loss of outside enrollees subsequently would mean lower spending plans. Accordingly, the quantity of remote enrollees every year should be expanded if not kept up in order to help the ever money related weights of the nation. A few colleges have just found a way to advance the enlistment of remote understudies in the nation. Another issue is the accessibility of good American training to individuals of all heights throughout everyday life. To answer the issue, American training has created approaches and other advantageous projects for individuals with various heights to have the option to approach decent instruction. Instruction is significant for each person. It ought to in this manner be taken with adequate arranging as it has incredible impacts to one’s own future. References: Kotok, A. (2007). Outside Students Return to U. S. Universities †¦ That’s the Good News. Recovered August 23, 2007 from http://www. publicdiplomacy. organization/73. htm Sadker, D. Sex Equity: Still Knocking at the Classroom Door. Recovered August 23, 2007 from http://www. american. edu/sadker/stillknocking. htm

A Critique of The Giver :: Giver Essays

A Critique of The Giver        The motivation behind this book was to show us a potential form of a Perfect world. It  was a dream situated book, that was assume to make you consider the opportunities for the future.  The setting is an as far as anyone knows immaculate society where everybody is dealt with and nobody is different.  The creator Lois Lowry does a fine employment depicting this as far as anyone knows perfect society.         This book started with a portrayal of equivalence and discharge the two general standards the general public capacities on.  It at that point proceeds while Jonas (the principle character) holds on to get his task in the community.  Waiting to discover what his task is, and what it involves doing are  ascends in real life. The peak is the point at which the arrangement to get away from the general public is being considered and the genuine getaway itself.  The falling activity is the point at which he is getting away from the hunt planes and attempting to keep himself and Gabriel alive.  The completion is the point at which he feels triumph at the highest point of the slope and afterward sleds down it to his new family, his first memory that has a place with him.        There were numerous characters in this book the fundamental one being Jonas.  Jonas is a youngster in this alleged Ideal world who winds up with the most significant task of all the Beneficiary of Memory.  The Receiver holds all the recollections of the entire network so the network doesn't need to be wasted time with emotions and the psychological weight that accompanies them.  Jonas' mentor the Supplier is a elderly person who gives the recollections to Jonas and in the end thinks about the arrangement to escape.  The Giver additionally embraces Jonas and Rosemary as his own children in a way.  He had a past Recipient named  Rosemary who applied for and got discharge. Discharge is the term for death in this community.  So when Rosemary was  discharged her recollections returned to the community.  Jonas and the Giver were discussing this when the Giver got how to get Jonas away from the network and recover the network its feelings and feelings.  Gabriel was an another persuasive character he was a child remaining with Jonas' family  till he was

My Capstone experience with Barclays Capital COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY - SIPA Admissions Blog

My Capstone experience with Barclays Capital COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY - SIPA Admissions Blog Capstone is a semester-long, mandatory  project for Master of International Affairs (MIA) or Master of Public Affairs (MPA) candidates at SIPA. Like most of my peers, I have registered for my Capstone in the final semester. My client is the Public Finance Division of Barclays Capital and I have five other colleagues with me in the team. We are the consultants and our academic orientation at SIPA is either Finance (IFEP) or Energy (EE). We all have a background working for public-sector organizations or private entities that engage in public-sector financial management. I am an MPA candidate, concentrating on EE and my team members are Isaac Rauch (MPA, IFEP), Cathy Chen (MPA, EE), Yidai Zhao (MPA, IFEP), Aly Waleed El Salmi (MPA, IFEP), and Jay Shin (MIA, IFEP). My faculty adviser for the project is John C. Liu, former Comptroller of the City of New York (2010-2013) and former member of the New York City Council (2002-2009). He  also  teaches municipal finance and public policy in ma sters programs at the City University of New York and Columbia University. Spring 2017 Capstone typically go live a semester before the assignments begin. So I applied for and received my Capstone assignment last fall. This project was my first choice because of my previous professional experience in the sector and my  interest in learning more about public-private partnerships in green infrastructure investment. The scope of my teams Capstone is to conduct an agency-wide research on opportunities for Barclays to provide lending, underwriting, consulting, and advisory services for green bonds to finance public infrastructure in the state of New York. Our first meeting with the client occurred in December 2016, where they briefed us on what they are looking to get out of this  project. Coming back from the winter break, my team met with our faculty adviser to assign roles and responsibilities so that we could delve into content research. Currently, we are doing a comprehensive study of federal, state and municipal level agencies and programs in New York, and are reviewing their previous borrowing trends and deals, while identifying opportunities for our client.  The research part truly requires  a lot of time and constant coordination between client and consultants. But due to the very practical nature of the project, this is a huge opportunity for us to design a deliverable that would add substantial value to our clients business. Before starting the project, I was concerned about the workload that a Capstone would entail, and I thought of it much like a part-time job. The final semester is often stressful for graduating students, with the added pressure of job search, in addition to most people having  internships on top of everything else. What helped all of us this semester is having clearly defined roles and responsibilities and a monitoring framework to track outcomes and activities. But most importantly, I felt getting comfortable with my team members was crucial  since we will be working closely with each other for a whole semester. In that regard, we had a lot of fun taking a  personality test (I am supposedly the Virtuoso!) and sharing our results with each other over drinks on a weeknight. Who says Capstone is all work and no play? [Photo courtesy of Professor  John C. Li | Sadia (bottom right) takes a Seeples selfie with her Capstone team and Professor Liu.]

The Code of Ethics of a Company - 2068 Words

Code of Ethics A code of ethics represents a value statement of a company, its directors and its employees. It is the expected behavior tone that needs to be practiced in the company. It is considered to be a subsection of the ongoing mentoring program for ethical decision making. This program helps in preventing misconduct at workplace. For effective execution, this program requires continuous compliance monitoring along with constant reports to the top management. Code of ethics is a written policy communicated to the consumers and media by placing it on the company website. For the present study, I am selecting Oxfams code of ethics. Oxfams Values Accountability and Integrity: The company and its members are required to deliver their results on the committed date to the customer and, if found any errors, will be responsible to fix them on urgent basis. Security and Safety: The safety and security of the employees as well as the public is of supreme importance. Customer Focus: The company establishment clause defines the existence to meet the needs of the customers. It also emphasizes on the level of trust that exists between the members. Members are promised to be treated fairly and respectfully. Corporate Social responsibility: The company establishment purpose recognizes to support the social welfare causes so as to improve the quality of life. Fairness Policy: The Company seeks to practice fair policy that may be apparent in all procedures whetherShow MoreRelatedCompany Code of Ethics Essay827 Words   |  4 PagesCompany Code of Ethics The Company code of ethics will cover all employees within our organization. The Code of ethics is essential for corporations today to remain in business and abide by their federal and state government regulations. Ethical training programs will exist ever corporation and are given to each employee usually the first day of employment and renewed on the annual basics. An ethical conflict occurs when people will encounter situations that they cannot easily control or resolvedRead MoreThe Principles Of The Code Of Ethics Of A Company1143 Words   |  5 Pagesable to select and justify their top three business principles after teaching them the seven principles of the code of ethics of a company. Students will be able to individually explain the direct relationship that exists between a code of ethics and how it plays out with social responsibility. Students will understand and therefore recall specific principles they would like their company to use when they become entrepreneurs. Expectations: The audience will participate in discussions with enthusiasmRead MoreCode of Ethics for a Fictional Company1466 Words   |  6 Pagesï » ¿Code of Ethics for Fictional Company I. Objective The objective of this study is to create a code of ethics for a fictional company. Included will be Guiding Principles and a stated Purpose of the Code along with Core Values, Training and Education, Definitions, the employees that are covered under this code of ethics, how it will be implemented and communicated as well as enforced and reported. II. Introduction The fictional company in this study is a home health care agency that sends outRead MoreCompany X Code Of Ethics1156 Words   |  5 PagesCompany X Code of Ethics Purpose The Code of Ethics is to be used as a guide of the company values. This information will inform employees about the core values of Company X, along with an understanding of why having a commitment to the ethical conduct is a necessity. Standards and Procedures Standards of ethical behavior apply to every employee of Company X. This will guide Company Xs’ employees to make ethical decisions. 1. Follow HIPPA Privacy Rules HIPAA Privacy Rules are established standardsRead MoreThe Company s Code Of Ethics1145 Words   |  5 Pages2 INTRODUCTION Jim Goodnight is the CEO of SAS and has lead the company since 1976.Jim has brought innovations and corporate culture by his commitment and visions to meet the highest technology and work-balanced. SAS which stand for â€Å"Statistical Analysis System† have values and work on them to meet the highest standards and overcome boundaries to reach the future with great expertise and tangible results. In fact, SAS are committed to the highest ethical standards in its dealings with colleaguesRead MoreEth 316 Company Code of Ethics1035 Words   |  5 PagesCompany Code of Ethics Company Code of Ethics Wal-Mart was started over fifty years ago in Arkansas and within those fifty years has emerged into the largest retailer in the world. Wal-Mart operates in many countries with thousands of stores and millions of employees. One reason for Wal-Mart’s is the value and hard work they put into upholding their code of ethics. Wal-Mart has three basic beliefs – respect for the individual, service to their customers, and striving for excellence. Of theRead MoreCode of Ethics Conduct Coca-Cola Company3157 Words   |  13 PagesEnvironment Code of Ethics Conduct Coca-Cola Company Richard Bonds Dr. J. A. Anderson, Sr. Date May, 31 2014 Abstract Coca-Cola Company or Coke s the largest distributor of soft drinks in the world. Businesses such as Coke and other corporations set a strict code of ethics laws to live by and operate upon. This paper will illustrate the code of ethics of Coke the industry leaders and two of its partners/competitors PepsiCo and Dr. Pepper/Snapple Co. and the similarities of their ethics codeRead MoreEssay on Est1 Code of Ethics Company G1303 Words   |  6 PagesGiven Company| Ethics Program| | Patti BowenWestern Governors University| | Given Company Ethics Program A. INTRODUCTION Our Code of Ethics Program is designed to uphold the interests of every stakeholder of Given Company. Our mission is to uphold a high level of integrity by maintaining high company standards, values and principles to ensure the company meets its mission of being a good corporate citizen who is socially responsible. Our program provides effective guidance for dailyRead MoreThe Code Of Ethics : The Star Financial And Tax Solutions Company Essay1495 Words   |  6 PagesIntroduction A Code of Ethics is placed to act as a guideline to specific values, ethics, organization objectives, and the responsibilities of the specific organization. The code of ethics acts a guideline and template for the behavior for both internal employees and also towards employees externally. Being the cornerstone of operations, The Star Financial and Tax Solutions Company operations are guided by the following Code of Ethics: 1. Legal Compliance-the employees should adhere to the rule ofRead MoreEstablishing a Code of Ethics: Planning Implementation and Evaluation Strategies within a Company1472 Words   |  6 Pagesestablishing a code of ethics, its planning, and implementation and evaluation strategies within a company. After brainstorming about the ethical values for the company it will be easier for the company to support non-profit organization as much as possible. A-Develop an appropriate standards and procedures section, such as a code of ethics. This Code of ethics is supported by the following essential assumptions: For the purpose of achieving the objectives of the companies, ethics are very important

The New Imperialism Of The Late Nineteenth Century

Melania Fernandez Professor MacLeod History 102 Final Exam May 9, 2016 PART I Part I: 2 Long Essays (70 points) 2. What were the causes of the New Imperialism of the late nineteenth century? What were some of the arguments to justify this imperialism? What were the results or consequences of this imperialism? 4. Considering the period 1933 to 1945, analyze the economic, diplomatic, and military reasons for Germany’s defeat in the Second World War. Causes and Effects of The New Imperialism in World Wars What is the New Imperialism and what were the cause and effects in the World Wars in order to understand what is the â€Å"New Imperialism†, we must first learn and define Imperialism: a policy or practice by which a country increases its power by gaining control over other areas of the world: the effect that a powerful country or group of countries has in changing or influencing the way people live in other, poorer countries. The New Imperialism takes on effects in the late 19th century this is when there is an interest or wanting to gain a imperial territory, Imperialism is also consider to be when there is a desire to control a trading routes and resources in a nation. A perfect example of the New Imperialism is called the Scramble for Africa, this is when Europe tries to takes control over Africa. In the late 19th century Europe struggle to destabilize and to balance the power that they once had before Italy and Germany became unify. The rise of many non EuropeanShow MoreRelated The Compelling Motives of European Imperialism Essay794 Words   |  4 PagesThe Compelling Motives of Imperialism The presence of Europe in Africa in the late nineteenth century was one of extreme power. The countries of France, Britain, and Germany had especially large claims to the African continent during this time. The motives of imperialism for these countries greatly define Europe at this time. Insatiable desires for economic markets, power and political struggles, the motivating belief in Social Darwinism, and the European idea of superiority were the drivingRead MoreTo What Extent Was Late Nineteenth-Century and Early Twentieth-Century United States Expansionism a Continuation of Past United States Expansionism and to What Extent Was It a Departure?1184 Words   |  5 PagesTo what extent was late nineteenth-century and early twentieth-century United States expansionism a continuation of past United States expansionism and to what extent was it a departure? Throughout the history of the United States, America had a desire to expand its boundaries. The United States acquired most of its land during the nineteenth and early twentieth century with a brief break during the Civil War and Reconstruction. However, the way America went about graining new lands drasticallyRead MoreNotes on Colonialism and Imperialism1489 Words   |  6 PagesChapter 33 Notes * Foundations of empire * Motives of imperialism * Modern imperialism * Refers to domination of industrialized countries over subject lands * Domination achieved through trade, investment, and business activities * Two types of modern colonialism * Colonies ruled and populated by migrants * Colonies controlled by imperial powers without significant settlement * Economic motives of imperialism * European merchants and entrepreneurs made personalRead MoreWhat attracted European imperialism to Africa to Asia in the late nineteenth century.1585 Words   |  7 PagesMortimer Chambers et al define imperialism as a European state s intervention in and continuing domination over a non-European territory. During the Scramble for Africa in the late nineteenth century, the most powerful European nations desired to conquer, dominate and exploit African colonies with the hope of building an empire. According to Derrick Murphy, in 1875 only ten percent of Africa was occupied by European states. Twenty years later only ten percent remained unoccupied. There wereRead MoreAmerican Imperialism the United States (U.S.)1562 Words   |  7 PagesAmerican Imperialism in the Nineteenth Century During the late nineteenth and early twentieth century’s the United States (U.S.) pursued an aggressive policy of expansionism extending its political and economic influence around the world. What is imperialism? Why this policy was adopted and how it was rationalized. The major events that took place and which countries of the world the U.S. became involved due to this policy. 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However, by the late nineteenth century and the early twentieth century, United States expansionism looked abroad with new interest, because, as a rising industrial power, the U.S. needed to find foreign markets in which to sell its manufactured products and from which to acquire raw goods. This new age of United States expansionism was a continuation of past expansionism. America s hunger for land and powerRead MoreCauses Of Imperialism1107 Words   |  5 PagesImperialism Essay Growing up, many children play the board game â€Å"Battleship,† where a player’s main goal is to conquer his opponent’s ships and, eventually, land. Similarly, in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the nation of Europe and other countries took over and influenced countries that they believed were inferior to them. This process, known as imperialism, is defined as â€Å"a policy of extending a countrys power and influence through diplomacy or military force† (googleRead MoreImperialism in the 19th century1746 Words   |  7 Pagesgreat deal of Imperialism in the 19th century, led by mostly westerners from Europe. Imperialism is the act in which one nation extends its rule over another. Imperialism had a substantial effect on the 19th century throughout the entire world by bringing upon changes to many different countries, for better and for worse, especially to Africa. Prior to the nineteenth century, westerners did interfere with many of the affairs of nations outside of their boarders, so signs of imperialism are shown manyRead More Comparing Colonialism and Imperialism in Heart of Darkness and Kiplings Poetry1515 Words   |  7 PagesImperialism in Heart of Darkness and Kiplings Poetry   Ã‚  Ã‚   Imperialism sprung from an altruistic and unselfish aim to take up the white mans burden1 and â€Å"wean [the] ignorant millions from their horrid ways.†2 These two citations are, of course, from Kipling’s â€Å"White Man’s Burden† and Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, respectively, and they splendidly encompass what British and European imperialism was about – at least seen from the late-nineteenth century point of view. This essay seeks to explore

Oil and Gas Industry in Kazakhastan Free Essays

Kazakhstan is one of Central Asia’s most successful and dynamic economies. More than hundred U.S. We will write a custom essay sample on Oil and Gas Industry in Kazakhastan or any similar topic only for you Order Now companies are operating in this country, through subsidiaries, JVs, liasion offices or as contractors. While most of them are found in the energy sector, many of them are service sector firms (e.g. international law firms, accounting firms, Banks like Citibank, American Express bank etc.). There are companies in telecom, sector, consumer goods and others. Kazakhastan provides excellent business opportunities in the fields of Oil and Gas, Power, Telecom, Medical instruments, Controlling Pollution, Agro-Machinery, Food, Construction and Mining. Kazakhstan has implemented important structural reforms during the past few years with an objective to transform its economy into a robust, market-driven business environment. However, some of the issues concering the development are- corruption, inconsistent customs regulations, inconsistency in interpretation of law, red tapism, work permit limitations for managerial and technical staff, amendments in laws increasing government interference etc. Many of these concerns are on legal innovations, which are aimed at creating changes in prevailing contracts e.g. â€Å"the Government has recently adopted legislation giving it preemptive rights in both existing and future contracts in the event that shareholders in oil field consortia want to sell shares, even if other partners have a contractual right of first offer†. Similarly, the Government adopted a telecom regulation that limited foreign equity in telecom companies to forty-nine percent.   (http://www.buyusa.gov/kazakhstan/ en/doing_business_kazakhstan.html) Kazakhstan is perceived as an evolving economy surmounting the heritage of the Soviet economy through constant dedication to economic liberalization and upholding a striking investment climate through practical policy choices and support with the West. The IMF called Kazakhstan’s firm macroeconomic stabilization actions â€Å"appropriate and far-sighted.† Of all the ex-Soviet economies, Kazakhstan is rated first in FDI as a percentage of gross domestic produce and next only to Hungary in per capita foreign direct investment. Because of its thriving reforms, liberal trade practices, and capability to draw external financing, the economy is booming. Kazakhstan is a signatory to the World Trade Organization. (http://www.kazakhembus.com/Stable_Free_Market_Economy.html) Kazakhstan’s economy registered a growth rate of 8.5% in 2006. GDP grew by 9.4 percent in 2005, by 9.1 percent in 2004, by 9.2 percent in 2003 and by 9.5 percent in 2002. Kazakhstan’s financial policy has been well administered. Since 2001, the inflation has been under check and well controlled. In 2006, it was 8.6 percent, 7.5 percent in 2005 and during 2001-2003 it was 6.4 percent, 6.6 percent and 6.8 percent respectively. Due to strong macroeconomic show and financial strength, Kazakhstan became the first former Soviet country to settle all of its debt to IMF in 2000, seven years before schedule. The U.S. Department of Commerce has recognized Kazakhstan as a market economy under U.S. trade law since 2002. This is the result of effective market economy reforms in the domains of â€Å"currency convertibility, wage rate determination, openness to foreign investment, and government control over the means of production and allocation of resources†. Kazakhstan became the first economy from the ex- Soviet Union to get an â€Å"investment-grade† credit rating from a leading global credit rating agency in 2002. Projected external borrowings in 2005 were $41.66 billion. In 2004, Kazakhstan’s gross foreign borrowings were approximately $26.03 billion. Kazakhstan has been able to check the ratio of borrowings to Gross Domestic Produce in recent years. In 2005, total governmental debt was 8.9 percent of GDP whereas this ratio in 2000 stood at 21.7 percent of GDP. Kazakhstan has copious natural wealth with a whole prospective value projected at $8.7 trillion. Specially, Kazakhstan’s hydrocarbon reserves are enormous and are expected to be next only to Saudi Arabia and Iraq. Oil and gas is the most important economic sector. Oil exports have pushed the economic development and have already drawn considerable international investment of over US$ 8 billion since 1993. The Tengiz oil field, was promoted by the TengizChevrOil a joint venture company established by the Kazak government and Chevron in 1993. Exxon Mobil and LukArco have also joined the venture to further develop the said project. TegizChevrOil is the major foreign venture in Kazakhstan. Though Kazakhstan’s present oil output of nearly 1.2 million barrels/day is comparitively small, oil reserves found offshore in the North Caspian, together with onshore sites currently being developed, put it among major oil exporter over the medium term. The total output of oil and gas condensate in the country totaled to 61.9 million tons in the year 2005 registering a growth of 4.3 percent over 2004. Total exports of oil and gas condensate were 52.4 million tons per annum in both 2004 and 2005. The total output of natural gas in Kazakhstan in 2005 equaled 14.5 billion cubic meters, registering a growth of 25 percent over the same in 2004. Kazakhstan has reserves of about 4 billion tons of confirmed recoverable oil and 3 trillion cubic meters of gas. Industry forecaster consider that planned development of oil production, together with the expansion of new fields, will facilitate the country to generate as much as three million barrels per day by the year 2015, elating Kazakhstan into the position among the world’s top ten oil-producing countries. Kazakhstan’s exported oil valued at US$17.4 billion in 2005, which constituted 70% of total exports from the country. In Kazakhstan, most important oil and gas fields and their producible oil reserves are: â€Å"Tengiz (7 billion barrels); Karachaganak (8 billion barrels and 1,350 billion cubic meters of natural gas); and Kashagan (7-9 billion barrels)†. From 2004, the Government of Kazakhstan augmented its catch of oil deals by rising levy of new oil projects. (http://www.kazakhembus.com/Enormous_Energy_Reserves.html) It was in 1899, when oil was first revealed in Atyrau. Since then, the affiliation with the West has been essential to energy resource growth in Kazakhstan. The first oil well, â€Å"Karachungul well†, had a depth of about forty meter and daily produced approximately 150 barrels. Alfred Nobel had developed it in association with Russian industrial companies. This grew to fifteen operating wells 1912, and each well generated about 306-346 barrels per day usually. The new development also included a transit system for transporting 5,453 barrels of oil to Baku per annum through barge. While the appropriate progress of Kazakhstan’s vast oil reserves has been sporadic due to two world wars, a uprising and the conclusion of the Soviet Union, the reality of deep wells and the growth of shipping solutions have remained fundamental to Kazakhstan’s energy equation. Apart from the major oil reserves, â€Å"Karachaganak also has 500 billion cubic meters of natural gas†. The potentially biggest recent discovery of major hydrocarbon reserves is the offshore â€Å"Kashagan† structure. The reserves at this site are expected to be three times more than Tengiz. The group, developing this two thousand  square mile block fourteen thousand feet below the Caspian sea bed comprises of nine companies: â€Å"BP Amoco, ENI, British Gas, Mobil, Shell, Total Fina Elf, Phillips, Statoil and Inpex†. The forecasted extractable reserves of oil are projected to be 7.8 billion tons, and those of natural gas 7.1 billions cubic meter. About seventy percent of these resources are gathered in the western parts of Kazakhstan, and the greater part of the reserves are associated with salt fields and have been found at depths of over 5000 meters. The envisaged reserves of the Kazakhstan part of the Caspian shelf are projected to be around thirteen billion tons of standard fuel but the successful expansion of the Caspian fields necessitates a considerable amount of investment. According to industry experts, the total required investment could be as high as $160 billion, which includes an amount of about $10 billion for the preliminary stage of exploration, including field assessment. As on now, western companies have already pumped in more than US$7 billion. Some limitations to getting investments for discovering the Caspian shelf had been the need of a clarification to the status of Caspian Sea. With signing of the agreement between Kazakhstan and Russia to partition the seafloor of the Caspian along the midline between the two countries, the issue appears to have been resolved. Similar agreements have been signed between Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan, and Azerbaijan and Russia. Envisaged reserves of the Aral basin stand for about two billion tons of standard fuel. The high gas and oil prospective and encouraging geographic location in respect of the basic transportation of groundwater routes makes the Aral basin one of the most significant area with respect to the prospective oil discovery operations. In spite of Kazakhstan’s considerable oil and gas resources, the production and export of hydrocarbons has been inhibited by Kazakhstan’s land-locked position and its considerable reliance on domestic and Russia’s shipping networks for export routes. Kazakhstan is dedicated to the expansion of multiple oil export routes, in order to sustain its impending oil resources of 100-110 billion barrels.   A wide-ranging understanding with the national pipeline operator, Kaztransoil CJSC can be made in order to gain access to the main pipeline system by agreeing to   shipment schedules by the Kazakhstani oil producers. Due to the inadequate capability of the Kazakhstani pipeline system, right to use to the pipeline is established as per the ratio of a particular oil producer’s contribution in the total quantity of oil to be produced in Kazakhstan in a given year. Presently, there are only two in service pipelines: â€Å"the Atyrau-Samara pipeline connects Kazakhstan to the Russian export network, while the CPC pipeline (Tengiz-Novorossiisk) connects the Tengiz field with the Russian port of Novorossiisk on the Black Sea†. Although there are it is largely privately owned pipeline but Russia reserves the right to suspend and enforce limitations on the stream of Kazakhstani oil from the Atyrau-Samara pipeline into Russian transportation network. More importantly, Russian organizations usually have priority access to their export terminals. By becoming a partner to the international BTC (Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan) Consortium that have built a 1,730-kilometer export pipeline with an annual capac ity of 50 million tones, Kazakhstan can improve the scenario. (http://www.kazakhembus.com/Oil.html) The services of nationals and foreign nationals in Kazakhstan are monitored by the Labor Laws, labor relations are monitored by individual employment agreements and, if applicable, collective labor contracts. Employment agreements must be in writing and must obey the rules to the minimum standards prescribed by the Labor Law. Companies usually face problems in hiring managerial and technical staff. Further, they even have to obtain permits to get overseas workers. Kazakhstan has delivered continueous economic development for several years, particularly given the increasing significance of the Caspian Basin as a source for petrochemicals. While the rate of its economic reforms has recently slowed down,   Kazakhstan’s promise to continue and further push the structural transformations aimed at changing its economy into a more market-driven business climate remains of vital importance. Prospective international investors and exporters will prefer to see more repeated and many more success stories in this market in order to invest in the Kazakhstan’s economy. In spite the several issues that still need to be addressed, in this Central Asian country, an increasing number of the U.S. enterprises is of the opinion that Kazakhstan deserves a serious thought by the U.S. exporters. More importantly, considering the strategic significance of the country, it is important for them to be here for being competitive in Central Asia. Resources http://www.kazakhembus.com/Oil.html http://www.allbusiness.com/mining/oil-gas-extraction-crude-petroleum-natural/235547-1.html?yahss=114-2974554-235547 http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/5487.htm http://www.bakernet.com/NR/rdonlyres/1E007228-ED7E-4475-8ED7-0BDBA7B76FD3/38334/DBIKazakhstanJan2005.pdf http://www.buyusa.gov/kazakhstan/en/doing_business_kazakhstan.html http://www.cioc.com/ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7015361.stm How to cite Oil and Gas Industry in Kazakhastan, Essay examples

Exercise Physiology

Questions: 1.Describe the structure and function of the physiological systems studied and explain how these respond to sport and exercise.2. Explain the integration of the physiological systems studied during sport and exercise.3. Explain how the limitations of physiological response may limit sport and exercise performance. Answers: 1. Function of Cardiovascular and Respiratory System: Heart is comprised of the arteries, arterioles, capillaries and veins. Heart is a muscular organ acts as pump. Through the arteries and arterioles, heart supplies oxygen and nutrients to the other parts of the body. At the same time heart, receives impure blood with carbon dioxide and waste material. Upper chambers of the heart receive blood and lower chamber pumps out the blood. Respiratory system comprises of different parts like lungs, diaphragm and nasal cavity. Main function of the respiratory system is to transport oxygen to muscles and tissues as well carbon dioxide from muscles and tissues. At the time exercise, respiratory system helps to meet oxygen demand of working muscles (Larry et al., 2015). Exercise: Exercise like running and swimming augments need of muscle for oxygen and nutrients. There is deep breathing and pulse rate increases when person is performing exercise. When a persons physiology is not normal, then cardiovascular system doesnt adopt to these changes easily. Hence, such persons feel tired very easily with moderate exercise also. There is increased production of energy during exercise because of skeletal movements and contractions. Body produces carbon dioxide as the toxic byproduct during exercise (Ehrman, 2009). Cardiovascular System: At the time of exercise, adrenal gland increases production of adrenaline and noradrenaline which affects the functioning of heart. These hormones act on heart by influencing sympathetic nerves. During the duration of moderate to intense exercise, heart rate increases rapidly and heart pumps more volume of blood. At the time of exercise, sympathetic nerves act on veins and veins get constricted which results in the return of more blood to the heart. This results in the increase in stroke volume by approximately 30 to 40 %. Consequently, there is the increase in the systolic blood pressure and increase in the blood volume (Peanha et al., 2016; Besnier et al., 2016). Along with volume, there is also increase in the speed of the blood flow through the blood capillaries. Due to increased blood flow, there is the increase in diameter of the blood capillaries. During exercise, blood flowing through the veins should not flow in the reverse direction. Diastolic pressure falls during moderate exercise because capillaries and veins relax and dilate during the duration of exercise. Even though, there is increase in the heart rate during exercise, there is decrease in heart rate after long exercise (Bell, 2008). In normal person heart rate is around 72 beats per minute, however heart rate increase upto 200 beats per minute during exercise. Because heart is a muscle and it becomes acquired with the exercise activity and need less work to pump oxygenated blood. In long term exercise, this condition can be observed both during exercise and after completion of exercise. There can be increase in heart rate during long term exercise but it would not be sharp increase due to the strengthening of the heart (Roh et al., 2016). During exercise, working muscles are the main focus of the circulatory system. Circulatory system prevents blood flow to the resting organs and tissues like tissues of the digestive system. During exercise, circulatory system delivers maximum number of nutrients to the skeletal system. There is increase in the capillary bed in muscle during exercise and circulatory system delivers 12 times more blood during exercise. Main reason for increase in the blood pressure during exercis e is nutrient rich blood (Larry et al., 2015). Respiratory System: Due to the increased amount of oxygen and carbon dioxide during exercise, there is increased respiratory rate and rate of breathing also increased. During exercise, there is increased stimulation of sympathetic nerves which results in the stimulation of the respiratory muscles and increase in the respiratory rate. During exercise, respiratory rate increase form 14 beat per minute to around 32 beat per minute. Tidal volume also increases during exercise. During normal condition tidal volume is approximately 0.5 liter and during exercises this tidal volume increase upto 4-5 liter. In normal condition human can take up to 0.35 liter of Oxygen per minute however, in case of exercise it can increase up to 3.5 liter per minute. It has been reported that, oxygen intake can be increased up to 6 liters per minute based on the fitness level of the individual. There is increased work for ribcage muscles and diaphragm during exercise (Plowman and Smith, 2007). Approximately 40 50 % changes occur in the intrathorasic pressure during exercise. This increased respiratory rate helps in allowing more oxygen to enter lungs and blood. Consequently, blood can deliver more oxygen to the working muscles during exercise (Porcari et al., 2015). In long term, exercise helps respiratory system to adapt to the physiological adaptations. As a result, there is augmentation in the efficiency of the respiratory system and removal of metabolic by-products. With this increased efficiency, respiratory system can transport and deliver more oxygen to the working muscles. Long term oxygen efficiency of respiratory system generally measured using VO2 max test which is a test for maximum rate of oxygen consumption during incremental exercise. During exercise, there is improvement in the VO2 max. During exercise, there is increased metabolic by-product due to cellular respiration. At the same time, there is increase in the carbon dioxide due to compensate for these acidic byproducts. As there is increased production of carbon dioxide in the body, person should breath faster to expel produced carbon dioxide (West, 2012). During long term exercise, there could be intensified respiratory rate however, there would not be difficulty in the respiration due to strengthening of the lungs. Respiratory rate of the body remains elevated after the completion of the exercise. This event is known as Excess Post-Exercise Oxygen Consumption (EPOC). This EPOC phenomenon occurs because, body tries to bring back physiology to normal homeostatic condition and resting state similar to prior to exercise. This surplus oxygen consumption helps body to refill energy reserve, make oxygen and hormone level in the blood to normal level, maintain normal body temperature and ventilation. Duration of EPOC can vary from few minutes to 24 hrs based on the type of exercise (Larry et al., 2015). 2. Exercise enforces enormous stress on the physiology of the person. Hence, different physiological functions should act in coordination to get maximum benefit with lesser stress. Exercise produces multiple effects on the cardiopulmonary system. There is increased work load on the cardiopulmonary system during exercise. Both cardiovascular and respiratory system works towards the same goal. Goal of these two systems is to delivery oxygen to the tissues and extract carbon dioxide form the tissues during exercise. Respiratory system gets fresh oxygen from the air during inhalation. This oxygen transported to the blood with low oxygen level through alveoli. At the same time, carbon dioxide from the blood gets transported to the lungs. This fresh oxygen received by the respiratory system gets transported to the different parts of the body by virtue of cardiovascular system. In this way, both cardiovascular and respiratory systems work together. If there is hypertrophy of muscle, blood c apillaries and mitochondria, it would lead to the increased circulatory capacity and increased oxygen transport to the tissues. However, increase in the circulatory function to the greater extent during exercise may lead to the requirement of the greater structural demand. This increase in the structural demand lead to the exercise induced pulmonary hemorrhage (Gregory and Travis, 2015). Respiratory system utilize parts of cardiovascular system like heart, blood and blood vessels for the transport of the oxygen and carbon dioxide. During exercise, there is increase in both the heart beats and breathing rate. This is due to increased demand for the oxygen. Circulatory system has chemoreceptors and these chemoreceptors detect alteration in the oxygen and carbon dioxide concentration in the blood. These chemoreceptors send danger signal of increased carbon dioxide level in the blood. Brain sends signals to increase respiration rate, in response to increased carbon dioxide level in the blood (Hawley et al., 2014). During exercise, veins of the circulatory system should work more to circulate waste product to the heart. Consequently, heart contracts and pumps blood into the pulmonary artery. Lungs absorb this carbon dioxide and exhale this carbon dioxide outside the body. It has been observed that, there is increase in the pulmonary vasodilation during exercise (Margarite lis et al., 2016). There are three different phases of cardiorespiratory response occurs during exercise. Phase 1 response is rapid and it occurs prior to initial 15 seconds. This rapid response in phase 1 is mainly due to the neural control mechanisms. Second phase of cardiorespiratory response occurs between 15 s to 3 minute and in this phase 2 there is slower increase in the cardiorespiratory response. Generally, period after 3 minutes is considered as the steady state for the cardiorespiratory response. At the end of the exercise, both breathing rate and heart gradually return to the normal. This gradual normalization of the heart rate and breathing rate is called as recovery period. This recovery period for cardiovascular and respiratory system is faster in people who exercise as compared to the people who do not perform exercise. After completion of the exercise, this cool down period is necessary for heart and lung. This cooling down period should be gradual and light exercise like stretches and motion exercises can be incorporated during this period. Sudden stopping of the muscle activity can result in the decrease in the blood pressure below normal level and results in the dizziness and lightheadness. This steady state of the cardiorespiratory system can be achieved by integration of neural and humoral mechanisms. Nueral mechanisms involved in the regulation of the cardiorespiratory system are feedback reflex from the working muscle and feedforward motor action generated from the central nervous system. It reflects central nervous system command and muscle afferent information work in coordination during exercise for effective utilization of the cardiorespiratory system. If there is more exercise, this system become more efficient. These two system work together for efficient transport of oxygen and carbon dioxide during exercise. During exercise there is more production of heat in the body (Periard et al., 2016). During this period of EPOC, bodies necessitate surplus en ergy to activate the cooling system of the body. Ventilation and heart rate also requires more energy during the period of EPOC. 3. In persons with chronic blood pressure, there is damage of the blood vessels and this lead to the arteries with plaque. Due to the presence of this plaque, there is limitation of the blood flow to the muscles. As a result, muscles dont receive oxygen during the exercise. More serious case occurs, when there is narrowing of coronary artery, which result in the pain in chest during the exercise. In persons with univentricular circulation, there is significant decrease in the exercise capability of the person. During exercise, there is increased work demand on the right ventricle (RV). There is decreased cardiac output in the patients with heart failure during exercise. To increase cardiac output, there should be more contractibility for RV as compared to the LV. In case of hypoxic pulmonary vasoconstriction, pulmonary circulation prevents cardiac output. Generally impairment in the tolerance of exercise, is due to the diastolic dysfunction. This diastolic dysfunction is due to the i nsufficient filling of LV and damage to the LV myocardium. Insufficient filling of LV is due to the reduction in preload. As compared to the systemic circulation, there is increased pulmonary vascular pressure. It reflects there is more workload on the RV and cardiac fatigue due to exercise (Brown et a., 2012; LeMura and Von Duvillard, 2004). As compared to the heart, respiratory system of the heart is not usually considered as the limitation for exercise in the normal person. This strength of respiratory system is due to capacity of the system to manage increased requirement for ventilation and gas exchange during heavy exercise (Szabo et a., 2015). There are different reasons for the impaired transport of oxygen to the working muscles in the exercise. First, is the failure of the respiratory system to prevent arterial desaturation and there is alteration in the oxygen content in the arteries. This increased Arterial Oxyhaemoglobin desaturation is due to the inadequate hyperventilation during exercise. This inadequate hyperventilation is due to decreased chemo responsiveness as a result of decreased circulating chemical agents like adenosine, catecholamines and proteins. Second, is the respiratory muscle work fatigue due to heavy exercise. This respiratory muscle fatigue mainly occurs due to the increase in activity of b oth inspiratory and expiratory muscle. This results in the sympathetic system mediated limb-muscle vasculature vasoconstriction and alteration in the blood flow to the leg. Third, is the unwarranted fluctuations in the intrathoracic pressure and consequent alteration in the cardiac output and blood flow to the leg. These fluctuations in the intrathoracic pressure also results in the exposure of heart and large blood vessels to the considerable oscillatory pressure. Due to this impaired oxygen transport, there is decreased VO2 max and reduced endurance capacity of the individual. At higher altitude, limitations of respiratory system are more during exercise. At higher altitude, there is decreased arterial content and increased fatigue of the respiratory muscle (Ehrman, 2009; Amann, 2012). Enhanced oxygen delivery to the tissues during exercise is mainly limited by the central factors such as heart, lung and blood vessels and peripheral factor such as tissue extraction of oxygen. There are also physiological factors responsible for the limitation of the oxygen delivery and these include pulmonary diffusion, efficiency of cardiac output, amount of blood flow and rate of blood flow (Bassett and Howley, 2000). During exercise, there is the increased amount of cardiac output. Due to this, there are fewer periods for blood to accept oxygen in the lungs and consequently lower oxygen saturation in the blood. It has been estimated that around, 80 % of the limitation of the oxygen delivery to the tissues is due to increased cardiac output. In peripheral region main limiting factors responsible for the oxygen extraction of tissue are muscle diffusion capacity, mitochondrial enzymes responsible for the ATP production and blood capillary density at the muscle. Oxygen delivery to t he muscle mainly depends on the gradient mechanism. During exercise there is increase in the mitochondrial enzymes and consequently peripheral limitation to the oxygen delivery to the muscle. Central factors are more important for delivery of oxygen to tissues as compared to the peripheral factors (Robergs, 2001). Thus, cardiovascular and respiratory systems are two most important systems plays important role in the exercise and sports in an individual. References: Amann, M. (2012). Pulmonary System Limitations To Endurance Exercise Performance In Human Experimental Physiology, 97(3), pp. 311318. Bassett, D.R., JR., and Howley, E.T. (2000). Limiting factors for maximum oxygen uptake and determinants of endurance performance. Medicine and Science in Sport and Exercise, 32(1), pp. 70-84. Bell, C. (2008). Cardiovascular Physiology in Exercise and Sport. Elsevier Health Sciences. Besnier, F., Labrune, M., Pathak, A., Pavy-Le, T.A., Gals, C., Snard, J.M., and Guiraud, T. (2016). Exercise training-induced modification in autonomic nervous system: An update for cardiac patients. Annals of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine, pii: S1877-0657(16)30081-1. Brown, S. P., Miller, W.C., and Eason, J. M. (2012). Exercise Physiology: Basis of Human Movement in Health and Disease. Lippincott Williams Wilkins. Ehrman, J. K. (2009). Clinical Exercise Physiology. Human Kinetics. Gregory, H. G., and Travis, T. N. (2015). Essentials of Strength Training and Conditioning. Human Kinetics. Hawley, J.A., Hargreaves, M., Joyner, M.J., and Zierath, J.R. (2014). Integrative biology of exercise. Cell, 159(4), pp. 738-49. Larry, K. W., and Jack, W., David, C. (2015). Physiology of Sport and Exercise. Human Kinetics. LeMura, L. M., and Von Duvillard, S. P. (2004). Clinical Exercise Physiology: Application and Physiological Principles. Lippincott Williams Wilkins. Margaritelis, N.V., Cobley, J.N., Paschalis, V., Veskoukis, A.S., et al., (2016). Principles for integrating reactive species into in vivo biological processes: Examples from exercise physiology. Cell Signaling, 28(4), pp. 256-71. Peanha, T., Bartels, R., Brito, L.C., Paula-Ribeiro, M., Oliveira, R.S., and Goldberger, J.J. (2016). Methods of assessment of the post-exercise cardiac autonomic recovery: A methodological review. International Journal of Cardiology, pii: S0167-5273(16)33138-2. Priard, J.D., Travers, G.J., Racinais, S., Sawka, M.N. (2016). Cardiovascular adaptations supporting human exercise-heat acclimation. Autonomic Neuroscience, 196, pp. 52-62. Plowman, S., and Smith, D. (2007). Exercise Physiology for Health, Fitness, and Performance. Lippincott Williams Wilkins. Porcari, J., Bryant, C., and Comana, F. (2015). Exercise Physiology. F.A. Davis. Robergs, R.A. (2001). An exercise physiologists contemporary interpretations of the ugly and creaking edifices of the VO2max concept. Journal of Exercise Physiology online, 4(1), pp. 1-44. Roh, J., Rhee, J., Chaudhari, V., and Rosenzweig, A. (2016). The Role of Exercise in Cardiac Aging: From Physiology to Molecular Mechanisms. Circulation Research, 118(2), pp. 279-95. Szabo, A., Griffiths, M.D., de La Vega Marcos, R., Merv, B., and Demetrovics, Z. (2015). Methodological and Conceptual Limitations in Exercise Addiction Research. Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine, 88(3), pp. 303-8. West, J. B. (2012). Respiratory Physiology: The Essentials. Lippincott Williams Wilkins.

Progress of Human Development in India free essay sample

Therefore, large –scale investments in human resources are needed under public sector if physical capital available is to be exploited in a more efficient way. Human development index of India has improved from 0. 515 in 1990 to 0. 611 in 2004, but India still has miles to go before she can enter the group of high human development countries. The process of development has to accelerate the pace of human development. In this paper an attempt is made to highlight some of the factors which promotes human development. 1. INTRODUCTION Human development report 1990, has defined human development ‘as the process of enlarging people’s choices’. The most critical ones are to lead a long and healthy life, to be educated and to enjoy a decent standard of living. Additional choices include political freedom, other guaranteed human rights and various ingredients of self respect. Human development is thus a process of widening people’s choices as well as raising the level of well-being achieved (UNDP 1997). We will write a custom essay sample on Progress of Human Development in India or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page The concept of human development puts people back at center stage, after decades in which a maze of technical concepts had obscured this fundamental vision (Paul Streeten 1996). â€Å"Income clearly is only one option that people would like to have, though an important one. But it is not the sum total of their lives. Income is also a means, with human development the end (UNDP 1997). Economic growth contributes most to poverty reduction when it expands the employment, productivity and wages of poor people and when public resources are channeled to promoting human development. A virtuous cycle of economic growth and human development arises when growth is labour using and employment generating and when human skills and health improve rapidly. The defining difference between the economic growth and the human develop- ment schools is that the first focuses exclusively on the expansion of only one choice – income – while the second embraces the enlargement of all human choices- whether economic, social, cultural or political (Mahbub-ul-Haq 1996). Haq rightly warns† unless societies recognize that their real wealth is their people, an excessive obsession with creating material wealth can obscure the goal of enriching human life. † The world Bank (IBRD 2006) is used GNI per capita to classify the economies by income per capita and by region: Low- income $ 825 or less in 2004: middle income, $ 826 to $ 10, 665; and high income, $ 10, 066 and above. A further division at GNI per capita $ 3, 255 is made between lowerTable 1: GNP per capit a and PPP estimates of GNP per capita in U. S dollars (2004) (in U. S $) Country Norway Switzerland United states United kingdom Australia China Srilanka India Bangladesh Kenya Niger GNP per capita 52030 48230 41400 33940 26900 1290 1010 620 440 460 230 PPP estimates of GNP per capita 38550 35370 39710 31460 29200 5530 4000 3100 1980 1050 830 Source: World Bank, World Development Report 2006. 14 middle – income and upper- middle – income economies. It Can be concluded from the table 1 that while GNP per capita in India was only $ 620 in 2004 as against $ 41,400 in USA, the PPP estimate of GNP per capita in India was $ 3100 against $ 39710 in USA (which is the standard for comparison) in 004. If we use PPP estimates of GNP per capita, we find that income inequalities between the High, middle and lower income economies are some what lower than those we observe on the basis of exchange rates as conversion factors. Human development report states (UNDP 2006) that millions of the world’s people lack access to safe water not because of scarcity, but because they are locked out by poverty, inequality and government failures. Tackling these problems holds the key to resolving the global water crisis. Safe water and sanitation are fundamental to human development. When people are deprived in these areas they face diminished opportunities to realize their potential as human beings. Unsafe water and inadequate sanitation are two of the great drivers of world poverty and inequality. They claim millions of lives, destroy livelihoods, compromise dignity and diminish prospects for economic growth. Poor people especially poor women and children, bear the brunt of the human costs. At the start of the 21st century we live in a world of unparalleled prosperity. Yet almost 2 million children die each year for want of clean water and toilet. More than 1 billion people do not have access to safe water and some 2. 6 billion lack adequate sanitation. Mean while, inadequate access to water as a productive resource consigns millions to lives of poverty and vulnerability. The rest of the paper is organized as follows. Various human development indices of UNDP and HDI and its trends for selected countries have been discussed in Section ii. Comparison of human development indices for some selected countries and HDI trends among selected states are discussed in Section iii. The progress of human development in India is discussed in Section iv. Section v presents concluding observations. II. HUMAN DEVELOPMENT The search for an alternative to GNP as a measure of economic development has led to the T. KOTI REDDY computation of the Human Development Index (HDI). The United Nations development programme (UNDP) introduced the HD1 in its first Human development report prepared under the able stewardship of Mahbub ul Haq, and published in 1990. The measure has been enlarged and refined over the years and many related indices of human development like Gender- Related development Index (GDI), Gender empowerment measure (GEM) Human poverty index (HPI) have been developed in subsequent human development reports published annually by UNDP. Human Development Index (HDI) The HDI is a summary measure of human development. It measures the average achievements in a country in three basic dimensions of human development (UNDP 2006). A long and healthy life as measured by life expectancy at birth  · Knowledge, as measured by the adult literacy rate (with two – thirds weight) and the combined primary, secondary and tertiary gross enrolment ratio (with one- third weight)  · A decent standard of living as measured by GDP per capita in purchasing power parity terms (ppp) in US dollars. Gender – Related Development Index (GDI) While the HDI measures average achievement, the GDI adjusts the average achievement to reflect the inequalities between men and women in the following dimensions (UNDP 2006)  · A long and healthy life, as measured by life expectancy at birth. Knowledge, as measured by the adult literacy rate and the combined primary, secondary and tertiary gross enrolment ratio.  · A decent standard of living as measured by estimated earned income (PPP US $) Human Poverty Index for Developing Countries (Hpi-1) While the HDI measures average achievement, the HPI-1 measures deprivations in the three basic dimensions of human development captured in the HDI (UNDP 2006)  · A long and healthy life- vulnerability to death at a relatively early age, as measured by the probability at birth of not surviving to age 40. PROGRESS OF HUMAN DEVELOPMENT IN INDIA 15 development report 2006 calculated the index. India which was at No. 138 in HDI in 1994 has improved its position to 126 in 2004 (Table 2). It is observed that the HDI trends for selected countries over the last 15 years (1990 – 2004) reveals that all countries are making efforts in varying degrees to improve their human development indices. If the trend is maintained, several medium HDI countries will enter the high HDI group and several low HDI countries will join the medium HDI range. This is a welcome development. India has improved its HDI index value from 0. 510 in 1990 to 0. 611 in 2004 (Table 3). It is observed that near gender equality exists in Norway, Iceland, Australia, United States, New Zealand, Russian Federation, China and Sri Lanka. There is a greater awareness in the world about gender inequality and efforts are being made to reduce gender inequality by promoting the education of females and giving them a better status in the family (Table 4). It is observed from the table 5 that HDI varies between 0. 38 for Kerala and 0. 367 for Bihar in 2001 while Kerala can be ranked as a medium HDI state; Bihar presents a dismal value of HDI even  · Knowledge – exclusion from the world of reading and communications as measured by the adult literacy rate.  · A decent standard of living – lack of access to overall economic provisioning, as measured by the unweighted average of two indicators, the percentage of the population without sustainable a ccess to an improved water source and the percentage of children under weight for age.

America and the Cold War essays

America and the Cold War essays Americans have always wanted the "best" of things. Brand new cars, big houses, and flashy clothes have historically been an American way of life. Even in the face of extreme hardships, Americans being Americans, go to extreme measures to preserve their way of life. Of course, we Americans have our liberties, our freedom, and our democracy, but other Nations do as well, but our version of democracy has a certain allure to it. Rock and Roll, Hollywood, and muscle cars were not discovered by the French. That being said, with this "American" state of mind comes with a strong sense of paranoia that someone is going to take all these things away from you. In a post war America, paranoia was the new enemy. After suffering through the Great Depression, and winning the biggest war the world has ever seen, you would think we would have been caring free and relax. Not the case at all, Americans were first concerned about entering into another Depression with the return of millions of out of wor k soldiers. The economy boomed when our soldiers came back, and people had savings that they earned during the war and went shopping. So a quick summary of events in the United States, we enter a depression, come out of a depression and go to war, win the war, have the atomic bomb, and the economy is starting to boom. Life is good, but wait for a second, what about that communist? Thus begins a forty-five-year struggle of political ideals, Capitalism versus Communism, between two Nations, the United States versus the Soviet Union. This struggle is known as the Cold War. In 1945, the "Big Three" (Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin) met in the Yalta conference to discuss post war diplomacy and peace. One major issue between Roosevelt and Stalin was the state of Eastern Europe. To Stalin controlling Eastern Europe was important for Russia's national security. Roosevelt agreed that Poland and other Eastern European countries would fall under the Soviet "sphere...

Resturant project (re-write) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Resturant project (re-write) - Essay Example Finally, ways to address the challenges will be discussed. Several factors play their role in the success and growth of a restaurant like convenience of location for the customers, an appealing menu, sufficient funds, good management, recruitment of competent staff, and proper scheduling. Management needs adequate amount of inventory, budget operational expenses, and cost effective supplies to make a restaurant prosper and its business profitable. An efficient information system helps the management achieve this. Information systems are definitely any organization’s backbone since they offer information that users can use to enhance their efficiency and productivity at work. Users also use information systems to have quick access to the data needed for making such decisions as the items to be restocked or excluding a drink from the menu because it does not sell. Information systems play a critical role in the management of a restaurant’s daily functions. Managers can us e adequate information systems to keep track of the sales and expenses to help a company minimize its costs and plan for the future costs well in advance. The owner and the CEO of the Favorite Greek restaurant is George. George operates the whole business and is the major decision maker. Kitchen is managed by the chef. The chef oversees how cooks prepare the meals, performs inventory checks, and places the order for drinks and food items with the suppliers. An assistant manager runs the entire restaurant which includes developing schedules for the servers, dealing with the complaints of the customers, and closing the restaurant at night. Orders are taken and meals are served to the customers by the waiters and waitresses. The Favorite Greek restaurant founded in May 2008 exists on George Street, Peterborough, ON. This restaurant that offers lunch and dinner has 14 employees in total. The restaurant also contains a bar to serve different sorts of drinks and alcoholic beverages to the customers. Many customers visit the restaurant on major events and festivals in the town, and the business of the restaurant flourishes. Customers get a great dining experience at the Favorite Greek restaurant. It is an ideal place to visit because of its vibrant ambiance, variety of meals, and friendly staff members. Both locals and tourists can easily access the restaurant since it is located in the heart of downtown Peterborough. Emergency Plan: There is no 100 per cent guarantee that the information is safe. The manager of the Favorite Greek seriously considers this fact and has therefore made an emergency plan that would help the restaurant operate during crisis. For low risk issues like water damage to a device of the server, the other two are usable till it is repaired by the software provider. In case the system completely collapses, they immediately approach the POS software provider for help. It is unfortunate that support personnel take a day to analyze the problem becau se of which, operations can halt and business can stop temporarily. Because of this, the only option the Favorite Greek restaurant has is to rung in orders and use the old fashioned way to tally the expenses. Expenses and receipts are necessarily recorded by hand till the problem is fixed by the POS provider. Advantages: Using POS software is advantages in numerous ways. It is not only user-friendly, but it tracks all placed orders and the most

Alcohol Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 17

Alcohol - Essay Example It is critical that in such instances, alcohol increases its effects on the consumer with the possibility of death resulting from such incidences being a common occurrence. Evidently, alcohol has become a global problem because of steady increment of consumers annually, with the most affected individuals being the youth. Alcohol has severe effects and the usage increase among the youth possess a great challenge to tomorrow’s generation. The practice of alcohol abuse is currently widespread with the total number of individuals engaging in the practice reaching a billion marks (Myers and Isralowitz 48). Whereas some people argue that better an individual abuse alcohol than other substances, the effects associated with alcohol are more severe, and evidence proves that the effect on humans is very severe when consumed in excess. Many alcohol users perceive the drinking as a means of relieving pains and certain stressful conditions, without any knowledge of the hallucinating effect s of alcohol. Increase in such misconceptions regarding alcohol has indeed been the greatest contributing factor towards the increased abuse of alcohol in the deceit of its relieving aspects. Alcohol currently stands as one of the greatest causes of preventable deaths globally through liver cirrhosis, the commonest resultant effect associated with alcohol abuse. Despite the variance of alcohol usage based on age and gender, the practice seems to have an earlier onset of its abuse, which extends to both genders.

Determining Attributes to Maximize Visibility of Objects

Determining Attributes to Maximize Visibility of Objects A Critique on  Determining Attributes to  Maximize Visibility of Objects Muhammed Miah Gautam Das Vagelis Hristidis Heikki Mannila Vidisha H. Shah 1. Summary of the published work Das, Hristidis, and Mannila (2009, p. 959) discussed about the ranking function and top k retrieval algorithms that helps user (potential buyers to search for the required product from the available catalog. The problem is how a user (potential seller) should select attributes of new tuple that the product stands out from the other available products. So there are several formulation that were developed by the author and few that are already in practice. According to authors, to run a query(search) keywords are entered on basis of which search is conducted (p. 959). The query anserwing system may return all the values that fulfill the condition it is also called as unranked retrieval or Boolean retrieval, or can rank the answers and return top k values known as ranked retrieval or Top-k retrieval. The example given by the author is objects can be ranked on the attribute based on price or based on relevance. The example and a problem related to it is described by the author. A user wants to classify an ad to rent an apartment in an online newspaper (p. 959). The given ad (tuple) has various attributes like number of bedrooms, location and so on. The cost factor is also involved in any ad so accordingly attribute that will provide better visibility should be selected. To understand which attributes provide better visibility we can built it on basis of previous sellers recommendation (tradition technique) or an argument by which we can view the ranking function buy which we can understand which attribute will lead to high ranking score. Example adding an attribute swimming pool can increase the visibility, or a catchy title or indexing keywords (for an article). Let D be the database of some product that has been advertised already (competitor). Author is considering that the database can be a relational table or a text document (p. 960). If database is a relational table then each tuple i n the table is a product and every column is an attribute related to the product. If database is a collection of text document then each document contains data regarding a specific product (ad). The set of queries or search conditions that have been executed in past by the user is stated as Q. therefore Q is the â€Å"query log† or â€Å"workload†. The query log is the record of the queries that have been used buy the potential buyers in the past. So the query could be like SQL query or query based on key word that will return a tuple from D(database). The problem given by the author is when a D(database), Q(query log), new tuple t and integer m are given determine best m attributes for tuple t such that when the shortened version of the tuple t with m attributes is inserted in d then the number of queries from Q retrieving tuple t is maximized (p. 960). In this paper variant of m is also considered that is when m is given by the user or when m is not mentioned. In this paper author has consider several variants like Boolean (unranked retrieval) (P 960), categorical variant, text and numeric data variant and conjunctive and disjunctive query semantics. Budget variant is also considered where in if m is not given the objective of maximizing the visibility is achieved keeping m minimum. No- budget variant is also considered where value of m is not given and the only aim is to gain maximum visibility of the object and for that all possible attributes can be added. In the preliminaries section author describes that for the given database D it contains tuples {t1, t2,†¦.tm}. Each tuple t has various attributes { a1, a2,†¦. an}. Tuple t will have either value 1 or 0. 0 implies that the attribute is absent and 1 implies that the feature is available. Tuple Domination means that if a tuple has all attributes value 1 that that tuple dominates. Tuple compression of t which has m attributes. It retains all 1’s in m and converts rest all attributes to 0 (p. 961). In Conjunctive Boolean with query log(CB-QL) variant the problem definition stated by the author is when a Q with Conjunctive Boolean retrieval semantics, tuple t, and integer m are given then have to compute compressed tuple with m attribute with maximum visibility(p. 961). For this problem author uses NP-Completeness Results and derives the Theorem that the decision version of CB-QL problem is NP-hard. Author explains various algorithms for Conjunctive Boolean with query log (p. 961). First is Optimal Brute Force Algorithm. As stated earlier that CB-QL is NP-hard so during worst case optional algorithm will run in polynomial time. The problem can be solved by a simple. This problem can be solved by simple brute force algorithm. So can be called as Brute Force-CB-QL which will consider all the combination of all m attributes of the tuple t such that the combination will satisfy to achieve maximum visibility among Q. In Optimal Algorithm Based on Integer Linear programming an ILP framework CB-QL can be described as follows, new tuple t be a Boolean vector has various attributes {a1,a2,†¦an}. Q be the query log and S be the total number of queries in query log. So the task is to This integer linear formulation is attractive unlike other general IP solvers, ILP solvers and are also usually more efficient(p. 962). According to author in Optimal Algorithm that is Based on Maximal Frequent Item Sets according to the author this algorithm is based on Integer Linear Programming, but this has certain limitation so author says it is impractical if there are more than few hundred of queries in the Q query log. The author has develop an alternate approach for the same which scales large query logs very well (p. 963). This algorithm is called MaxFreqItemSets-CB-QL, for this author has defined the frequent item set problem, Complementing the Query Log, Setting of the Threshold Parameter, Random Walk to Compute Maximal Frequent Item Sets, Complexity Analysis of a Random Walk Sequence, Number of Iterations, Frequent Item Sets at Level M _ m, Preprocessing Opportunities, The Per-Attribute Variant. Author says in Greedy Heuristics algorithm becomes slow for large query logs when maximal frequent item set based algorithm has better scalability then the IPL based algorithm (p. 964). So author has developed suboptimal greedy heuristic for solving CB-QL. The algorithm consist of ConsumeAttr-CB-QL computes the number of times each attribute appears in Q. Using this top m attributes that have highest frequency is computed. The algorithm ConsumeAttrCumul-CB-QL first selects the attributes from the query log Q that has occurred maximum times and then finds the attribute that occurs second highest in the Q, and so on. The algorithm ConsumeQueries-CB-QL picks the query with minimum number of attributes first, and then selects all attributes specified in the query. In next section author explains problem variant for text data. In the text database there is a collection of documents, and each document consist a data of a particular ad (p. 965). The problem definition for text data is that query is a set of keywords and have to retrieve top-k documents via query specific scoring functions and make the document maximum visible. According to author text database can be directly mapped into Boolean database (p. 965). So the algorithm and the working can be made similar to that of Boolean Data but author says that there is a problem with attribute selection for text data is NP-complete. It can convert it into Boolean considering each key word as a Boolean attribute. So according to author since text database can be converted to Boolean database in the algorithm for text data the are two issues firstly to view each text keyword as a Boolean attribute in query log Q, and none of the optimal algorithms are feasible for text data (p. 965) . Second issue is that in text data the scoring functions that are used takes account of the document length and leads to decrease the score if keyword has low frequency. In the next section author has described about the experiments that were conducted and there results. For this experiments system that was used had following configuration P4, 1 GB RAM, 3.2- GHZ processor, 100 GB HDD, Microsoft SQL Server 2,000 RDBMS. Algorithms were implemented in C# Language, for backend RDBMS and connectivity was done using ADO. 2 data sets were used for Boolean data and publication titles were used for text data experiments. 185 queries in query log were created for the experiments, 205 distinct keywords were created by other students. The experiment worked well for Boolean data CB-QL where top m attributes were given and had maximum visibility for 185 queries. Individual experiments were done to calculate the execution time of each algorithms of CB-QL. Various statistical data is given by the author that gives how individual algorithm runs under various workload. Various similar experiments were done for text data also and its algorithm and similar statistical d ata is given by the author (p. 965). In the next section various other problem variants for Boolean data, categorical and numeric data are considered. In that author has first explain Conjunctive Boolean-Data (CB-D) in which author describes its problem definition for maximum visibility given D(database), Q(query log), t (new tuple) and m(integer). For the given problem definition complexity results for CB-D and its algorithm are given by the author (p. 967). Then next variant considered is Top-k – Global Ranking (Tk-GR) and Top-k – Query-Specific Ranking (Tk-QR) and in that author considers Top-k retrieval using Global and Query-Specific Scoring Function. Then problem definition for Tk-GR and Tk-QR is stated by the author and then its complexity and algorithm for the same are given(P.968). Next variant considered by the author is Skyline Boolean (SB) where skyline retrieval semantics are considered then problem definition for SB then its complexity and algorithms are discussed. In the similar way remainin g variants Conjunctive Boolean—Query Log—Negation (CB-QL-Negation), Maximize Query Coverage (MQC), Categorical and Numeric Data are discussed by the author(P. 969). In conclusion author describes that how the best attributes for the problem can be selected from the data set given query log. Author has presented variants for many cases like Boolean data or categorical or text data and numeric data (p. 972). And has showed that even though the problem is NP complete the optimal algorithms are feasible for small inputs. Author has also presented greedy algorithms that can produce good approximation ratio. 2. My Opinion on published work The use of internet and network has increased tremendously and with that the data available on network has increased but the main problem is information to knowledge conversion that is finding data that is useful to the user, over spam. The algorithm discussed by the author can be used to improve the visibility of the document. In the paper author has not just given algorithm for Boolean type data but also text data and other variant that is the algorithm can be used for real time data that is in various forms. The main focus of the author is on potential seller and what all attributes should be added to maximize the visibility of the advisement or the document on the web so that the potential buyers can view that document in first few options, but this can be used other way round to and using this spam can be created, a document that is a fake document that has various attributes which are not true but are added added to gain maximum visibility, which should not be even displayed in the given category. The author makes assumption about the competitors or say other advertise, and assumptions about the users preferences are made as well. The queries in the query log where written by random students and not according to what actual users want, so there is no guarantee that this will work equally well in real time environment and will actually maximize the visibility with real time users and on real network. As given by the author in every problem definition of every variant that given D database and given Q query log but in real time for many application neither D(database) nor Q(query log) is available for analysis so user have to make assumptions about the competitors and users (potential buyers) need and there after have to decide the Top-k attributes from the subset of all the attributes that will help the user to achieve maximum visibility with minimum number of attributes. In the paper the author has given various variant by which the visibility of the object can be maximized in various cases and has various optimal algorithms and greedy algorithm. Optimal algorithm gives optimal outputs but works well for small inputs only as and when the size of input increases the algorithm does not work well. Greedy algorithm produces approximate results that can be seen from the experiments done by the author with various variants. According to Ao-Jan Su, Y. Charlie Hu, Aleksandar Kuzmanovic, and Cheng-Kok Koh Page rank of any document or advertisement is not only depended on the attributes but also on key words in host name, the key words in the URL, HTML header so with the selection of proper attributes in the document user also needs to keep a check on above mentioned factors also to maximize the visibility of the object.(2010, P. 55) Angelica Caro has given a table of Data quality and visibility rankings for Spanish university portals. In which author has given DQ* ranking, Visibility ranking, Partial visibility rankings in terms of Site, Links and Popularity, Distance* where *DQ means data quality and *Distance between the data quality and visibility rankings. Teal numbers indicate the portals that are relatively close in both rankings. So from the result given by the author it is seen that there is not a precise order that is the data quality of a site can be ranked 1 but visibility is 19 because it is based on other factors also like its popularity, links, sites and distance. So even if the DQ is not very good but it is popular or it has many incoming links can lead to improve the overall ranking of the page and thereby maximizes the visibility of the page. The statistic of the site that has ranks first in visibility is data quality is 5 visibility is 1 site 1 links 1 popularity 3 distance 4 so it can be seen that to gain maximum visibility we cannot just depend on attributes of the data that is not just data quality but there are various other factors that is required to be considered to improve visibility of the object, that is not considered in the paper by the author.(2011, p. 46). References Ao-Jan Su, Hu, Y.C., Kuzmanovic, A., Cheng-Kok Koh (2010). How to Improve Your Google Ranking: Myths and Reality.2010 IEEE/WIC/ACM International Conference onWeb Intelligence and Intelligent Agent Technology (WI-IAT),1, 50-57.doi: 10.1109/WI-IAT.2010.195 Caro, A., Calero, C., Moraga, M.A.(2011). Are Web Visibility and Data Quality Related Concepts?.Internet Computing, IEEE, 15(2), 43-49.doi: 10.1109/MIC.2010.126 Miah, M., Das, G., Hristidis, V., Mannila, H. (2009). Determining Attributes to Maximize Visibility of Objects.Knowledge and Data Engineering, IEEE Transactions on,21(7), 959-973.doi: 10.1109/TKDE.2009.72

Health Spa

Space aims to be the premier spa/salon in the Raleigh, NC area. Through a unique combination of offered services and products, they will quickly gain market share. SoulSpace will provide customers with a relaxing, rejuvenating atmosphere where all of their mind and body needs can be met. The business will be set up as a partnership with Steve Long, Debby Long, and Linda Hill-Chinn owning equal portions of the operation. Products and Services SoulSpace offers a wide variety of mind and body healing services and products.The salon aspect of the business will provide both males and females with any type of hair styling services. The spa business is devoted to providing holistic methods of massage, body work, and energy work. This is all done in a relaxing, serene setting. Location SoulSpace has chosen Raleigh, NC as their city for the business venture. Raleigh has consistently over the last few years been voted the best place to work and live in the USA, frequently making the top five a nd ten lists of Forbes, Money, and Inc. magazines.Raleigh has one of the most educated populations that loosely correlates to earning potential, or at least indicates a higher average household income. Additionally, the downtown  area has undergone a recent renovation that has attracted a lot of new businesses as well as become a hot urban area. Competitive Edge SoulSpace's competitive edge is their unique combination of services, location, and customer-centric focus. Both the extraordinary services and location has been detailed previously. SoulSpace has set out since its inception to provide quality, dependable services.SoulSpace has an innovative training program that is extensive in its depth, properly training employees to provide an unprecedented level of customer service. All customers will leave SoulSpace with a feeling that their needs were met well beyond any expectations that they previously had and far better than any competitor. This customer-centric business model is not just rhetoric, there are financial incentives in place for employees to offer unprecedented levels of service. This will ensure a high rate of return customers, allowing SoulSpace to meet their ambitious goal of 90%. FinancialsSoulSpace has forecasted substantial sales revenues by year two. Also by year two the business will reach profitability and have achieved  a healthy profit before taxes. When SoulSpace begins their fundraising efforts they will consider options such as LLC status to replace the partnership business formation that they have currently adopted. SoulSpace is an exciting business that provides a combination of sought after services that are not currently offered by a direct competitor. SoulSpace will provide a relaxing, serene setting for a variety of mind and body rejuvenation services for the booming Raleigh population. . 1 Objectives The objectives for SoulSpace are outlined below: 1. Substantial sales  revenue by end of second year. 2. Profit before ta x by end of second year. 3. Have clientele return rate of  90% by end of first year. 4. Become established community destination by end of  first year. 1. 2 Mission SoulSpace will provide a comforting, yet stimulating, atmosphere in which customers will be able to relax both their body and mind, reconnecting their daily lives to their true purpose through a wide range of holistic methods including massage, body works, energy works, and hair styling.SoulSpace will establish itself as a dependable destination to which they can always come to escape the stresses of life, and rejuvenate their energies, their souls, and their lives. 1. 3 Keys to Success 1. Quality and skilled employees familiar with energy work and oriented to a soothing spiritual disposition. 2. Establish trust within the community that each customer's needs will be taken care of during every visit. 3. Easily accessible location. 4. Effective advertising. Company Summary SoulSpace Holistic Spa and Salon is a new des tination offering customers the unique combination of hair styling, massage,  body and energy work, and raining, all in one beautifully serene setting. Soulspace will offer all ranges of hair styling, therapeutic massage, manicure, facial, sauna, Reiki, therapeutic touch, and specific complimentary product offerings. The goal and promise of SoulSpace can be summed up in our name and slogan:  SoulSpace Holistic Spa and Salon–Rejuvenate Your Life! 2. 1 Company Ownership SoulSpace, at this time, is a privately held partnership, owned by Steve and Debby Long and Linda Hill-Chinn. In the course of fund raising, we will explore the feasibility of both a partnership, and a limited liability partnership. . 2 Start-up Summary In the following  table, the start-up cash has been marked for the estimated amount needed to cover operational expenses for the first two months. Start-up Funding| | | Start-up Expenses to Fund| $94,000| Start-up Assets to Fund| $66,000| Total Funding Requ ired| $160,000| | | Assets| | Non-cash Assets from Start-up| $6,000| Cash Requirements from Start-up| $60,000| Additional Cash Raised| $0| Cash Balance on Starting Date| $60,000| Total Assets| $66,000| | | | | Liabilities and Capital| | | | Liabilities| | Current Borrowing| $0| Long-term Liabilities| $0|Accounts Payable (Outstanding Bills)| $0| Other Current Liabilities (interest-free)| $0| Total Liabilities| $0| | | Capital| | | | Planned Investment| | Investor 1| $66,000| Investor 2| $47,000| Investor 3| $47,000| Additional Investment Requirement| $0| Total Planned Investment| $160,000| | | Loss at Start-up (Start-up Expenses)| ($94,000)| Total Capital| $66,000| | | | | Total Capital and Liabilities| $66,000| | | Total Funding| $160,000| Start-up| | | Requirements| | | | Start-up Expenses| | Legal| $4,000| Stationery etc. | $2,000| Brochures| $3,000| Construction/Design| $30,000|Insurance| $3,000| Rent| $20,000| Research and Development| $0| Expensed Equipment| $15,000| Other| $17 ,000| Total Start-up Expenses| $94,000| | | Start-up Assets| | Cash Required| $60,000| Start-up Inventory| $6,000| Other Current Assets| $0| Long-term Assets| $0| Total Assets| $66,000| | | Total Requirements| $160,000| 2. 3 Company Locations and Facilities Target sites for SoulSpace  include downtown Raleigh in the Warehouse District and Art Districts, West Raleigh near Entertainment Sports Arena, and a  rural area off route 40/440 between Raleigh and Cary.SoulSpace will need at least 4,000 square feet (sq. ft. )  of space. Initial estimates put leasing between $12/sq. ft. to $28/sq. ft. (inclusive of tax and accommodations). Contact has been made with Mary Hobbson of Grub & Ellis Real Estate for 4,200 sq. ft. at 510 Glenwood Avenue downtown Raleigh. This site is within the target priority area in part of the Warehouse District in what is now referred to as Glenwood South. The lease is $28/sq. ft. , making estimated payments at $9,800/month, the most expensive of all targ et sites.We also have met with Peter Pace of York Properties when shown the space available at 200 West Street in Raleigh's Warehouse district. This space is in priority target range, and will be two blocks from the Raleigh Commuter Rail Hub due to open in the next five to eight years. The location is spacious at 10,000 sq. ft. , with first floor (5,000 sq. ft. ) leasing at $12. 50/sq. ft. and the basement floor (5,000 sq. ft. ) leasing at $8/sq. ft. , which averages out to $10. 25/sq. ft. for the entire 10,000 sq. ft. location.This makes this space cheaper than the other locations, and has twice the space. We have also met with David Stowe of Anthony Allenton Real Estate when shown space at the Royal Bakery on Hillsborough Street across from Meredith College. This location is within priority target, and has 6,000 sq. ft. at $20. 60/sq. ft. This site is extremely attractive for it offers many accommodations such as plumbing, electrical, and hvac, that will save us tremendously on co nstruction costs, thusly counterbalancing the expense of rent, which is only $300, over our high-ended estimated budget.Also, this space is primely located on Hillsborough, 1/4 mile from the Beltine, and two miles from Highway 40. It is also the site of a future Commuter Rail Station. They have also built a large parking decking which will be free to all patrons. Products and Services SoulSpace will provide customers with personal beautifying and relaxational services and complimenting products, as well as training in specific forms of energy work, accessible materials on a wide range of health-related topics, and the option to purchase artwork displayed in SoulSpace.Explanations and/or consultations will be provided on all services and products if needed. 3. 1 Product and Service Description 1. Men and Women Hair Styling:  Men's  ($30 average)  and women's  ($40 average)  color ($75), perm ($80), and combos ($80-$120). Selected hair care products (shampoos, conditioners, cleansers, brushes, mirrors) will be sold as well. 2. Body Works:  Massage ($60), other massage/body works ($65 average), facials ($60 average), manicures ($45), pedicures ($50-$65), waxing ($20 average), aromatherapy ($40), and combos ($60-$200 depending).Specific complementing products will be sold as well. 3. Energy Works:  Reiki (1/2 hour $35, 1 hour $60), energy revitalization (1 hour $60), and therapeutic touch (1 hour $60). Customers will include  people wishing to strengthen their physical body, mind, and spirit through the cleaning and revitalizing of their energetic system (i. e. , aura, human energy field). The Reiki offered will be traditional Usui Shiki Ryoho, the predominant form of Reiki practiced worldwide, which originated in Japan from it's rediscoverer Dr. Mikao Usui. Reiki is a hands-on â€Å"stepping† method of balancing the energy field.Energy revitalization and therapeutic touch are energy field cleansing and revitalizing techniques working with t he outer levels of the energy field along with Reiki. 4. Artwork: Most of the artwork in SoulSpace will be  by local artists, for sale to the customers. SoulSpace will earn a 15% commission on each piece sold. This adds an extra element of community integration to SoulSpace with an added emphasis of the art being from beginning artists, and that the art be spiritual and/or modern in form. 3. 2 Competitive Comparison There are many salons in the greater Raleigh area but no direct competitors.There are many places offering massage, but there are only ten day spas, of which only four are a spa/salon. There is one place offering energy work, in Clayton (30 minutes southeast from downtown Raleigh). All energy work practitioners are private, of which there are only ten working full-time, with most of them concentrating on other alternative modalities, and an estimated ten (twenty at the very most) part-time energy practitioners. Not including Chapel Hill and Durham, the above service an estimated population of at least 800,000, with that figure growing by an estimated 6,000 persons daily. . 3 Sales Literature Services brochure, logo/slogan with advertising to be included, and a planned website. 3. 4 Fulfillment SoulSpace services sell themselves as a natural way to rejuvenate one's life. 3. 5 Technology SoulSpace will sell complementing products of the highest quality that have not been created through the testing of animals, and are of the latest scientific knowing for effecting the desired results for body beautification and energetic balancing maintenance. 3. 6 Future Products and Services SoulSpace will add healing touch when Steve Long earns his certification.SoulSpace will always  remain involved with the best spa relaxational techniques offered, and will implement them if deemed appropriate and feasible for SoulSpace clientele. Market Analysis Summary There are no exact competitors, and few related competitors in the greater Raleigh area. There are no rel ated competitors in the downtown Raleigh area. The space at 510 Glenwood was recommended to us by the managing realtors because they had targeted that space for a spa type tenant. By nature of the service SoulSpace will provide, success will be readily achieved. 4. 1 Market SegmentationOur target market will be divided by salon customers and spa customers. Salon customers will be from every age and gender; however, since the salon and spa will be in direct association with each other, we expect that the spa market segment will greatly affect the salon market segment. Thusly, our target market segment will be male and female professionals and retirees, from the age of 25, with individual and household incomes greater than $25,000. Market Analysis| | | Year 1| Year 2| Year 3| Year 4| Year 5| | Potential Customers| Growth| | | | | | CAGR| +$25K 5 mi. Radius Raleigh| 2%| 50,500| 51,510| 52,540| 53,591| 54,663| 2. 0%| +$25K 5 mi. Radius West Raleigh| 2%| 53,000| 54,060| 55,141| 56,244| 5 7,369| 2. 00%| Total| 2. 00%| 103,500| 105,570| 107,681| 109,835| 112,032| 2. 00%| 4. 2 Target Market Segment Strategy The members of these market segments have luxury money on hand, and lead professional lives  filled with stress at a consistent level. All persons usually need hair styling regardless of income level, and make the effort to find the money available to style their â€Å"look. † 4. 2. 1 Market Needs People love to pamper themselves, especially people who have achieved a modicum level of professional success.Raleigh has become  a bastion for the successful, having consistently been named as one of the best cities in America to live and to do business in since the mid 1990's. This has created a community of wealth, mobility, and growth. Raleigh has successfully implemented a refurbishing plan of â€Å"old† downtown, which now makes Glenwood South, the Warehouse District, and Hillsborough Street one of the most popular destinations in the whole city. 4. 2. 2 Market Trends With the refurbishment of Raleigh's Warehouse District, including Glenwood South, and it's continual development of downtown Raleigh, this area will nly become more popular. 4. 2. 3 Market Growth When  Forbes, Inc. ,  and  Money, Inc. listed Raleigh as the best place to live and do business, and subsequently listed Raleigh in the top five and top ten in the following years, a population boom ensued in the late 1990's. The North Carolina census released in October 2000 reports  that an average of 6,000 persons per day were relocating to the greater Raleigh area. According to this census, the Triangle has one of the highest concentrations of Ph. D. ‘s per square mile in the world. The average income per household is $40,000-$60,000  and climbing.According to the  Raleigh News & Observer  reports of Raleigh City Counsel meetings concerning growth, the continuing refurbishment of downtown Raleigh is a top priority, along with a complete overha ul of the mass transit system. New buses and taxis are funded and are to be implemented during the next two years. A Commuter Rail System run by the Triangle Transit Authority is supposed to be finalized May 1, 2001, and completed by 2007-2008, with rail stations throughout downtown, running up Hillsborough Street going to RDU Airport then connecting to Chapel Hill and Durham; later phases include branch rails to North Raleigh.The refurbishment plan continues, and downtown is now populated with more destinations than ever, with the plan growing even more businesses. The future looks very promising for a thriving downtown with a continual presence of customers. 4. 3 Service Business Analysis We are part of the retail health and beauty industry which has four major types: 1. Salons: Stores with only hair styling services and products. 2. Day Spas: Stores specializing in body health maintenance through a variety of services and products. 3.Day Spa & Salon: Stores combining the serv ices of the two aforementioned. 4. Health & Beauty Products: Stores selling only merchandise products covering the wide range of products available but not inclusive of those sold by salons and spas. 4. 3. 1 Main Competitors The main competitors are Salon 21 with a location in downtown Raleigh, Von Kekel with locations in East Cary and North Raleigh, Soigne' with a location in mid North Raleigh, Emerald City with a location in Northwest Raleigh, Image with a location in far North Raleigh, Millennium 2000 with a location n North Raleigh, Devine with a location in mid North Raleigh, and Warren Scott with a location in far North Raleigh. Also, by nature of their popularity we must also include these spas as main competition: Skin Sense with locations in downtown Cary and far North Raleigh, and Iatria in far North Raleigh. Strengths of the above are services offered: location proximity to major housing developments, and name recognition. The weaknesses of these competitors are gener al lack of promotion, concentration mainly in North Raleigh.With our target location being downtown Raleigh, we will be servicing East, South, West, and Old Raleigh, as well as downtown commuters. There are no salon-spas in West Raleigh, the closest being Von Kekel in East Cary, and the spa only Skin Sense also in Cary. The only downtown competitor, Salon 21, is very small, not very well known, and concentrates most of their business on the salon end. Our market advantage is wide open, and will give us the opportunity to service a large population base that is not currently being well served.When you include our service of energy works, we become the sole provider of all three services of hair works, body works, and energy works  not only in downtown Raleigh, but for the entire greater Raleigh area. 4. 3. 2 Business Participants Industry participants are those whose services include salon and spa offerings. Salon services concern hair styling, while spa services concern body relax ing and rejuvenating offerings such as massage, and nail  and face works. 4. 3. 3 Competition and Buying PatternsCustomers choose spa and salon services based on proximity to their daily travels from home and work, reputation for quality, and good pricing. With our combined services, we expect to compete mainly against other combination spa-salons. Strategy and Implementation Summary 1. Emphasize quality, originality, and dependability of service. We will differentiate ourselves from our competitors by offering a staff of practitioners who are not only certified in their professions, but will be trained in understanding the dynamics of individual energy systems so as to maximize the connection to their client and more easily meet the needs of he client. 2. We will provide a unique atmosphere. From the name to the ambience of our salon, SoulSpace will distinguish itself as a completely trustworthy and soothing setting where customers can enjoy being pampered and escape the stress o f their everyday lives. 3. Build a community relationship-oriented business. We will focus on strengthening the trust of our customer base, and providing not only services, but information that will aid everyone in the progression of obtaining a balanced and healthy lifestyle. We will also work with local artists to provide their work to inspire our customers. 5. Value Proposition Our value proposition is that we will bring a unique mode of relaxation and fulfillment to our community. When people are relaxed, comfortable, and happy, they have the ability to work harder, concentrate better, feel   physically, emotionally, and mentally balanced, and give that happiness back into their homes, workplaces, and community. Simply put, our value proposition is that we help our community become a better place to live and work. 5. 2 Competitive Edge Our competitive edge is  a combination of our unique services, outstanding location, and our interaction with customers.By providing our cust omers a holistic and integrative spa and salon, we build relationships of trust and satisfaction. Our customers will come to depend on our unique services and fulfilling environment. 5. 3 Marketing Strategy Our marketing strategy is the key to our success: 1. Emphasize  our name and unique services through advertising. 2. Focus on the convenience of our location. 3. Build community relationships through unique and quality service, friendly and caring atmosphere, and establishing absolute dependability of our services. 5. 3. 1 Promotion StrategyOur promotional strategy will be two-fold:  first phase promotion will deal with advertising before, during, and six months following our opening; the second phase advertising will deal with all  long-term advertising. 1. FIRST PHASE PROMOTIONS A. Advertising We will utilize local newspaper, local social and health magazines, local radio, local television, mail-outs to all households within the immediate five mile radius, and  mail-out s to all local business within a five-mile radius. B. Internet We will have a comprehensive website. C. AlliancesWe will place our brochures within the offices of our medical referral clients. 2. SECOND PHASE PROMOTIONS A. Advertising We will continue to place ads in the local social  and health magazines year around. Mail-outs will be done again within a five-mile radius one year later after opening, then again only every three to five years. Radio and television ads will be done only when we have sale promotions during the most stressful times of the year for the Christmas season, and graduation; television ads are not certain, we will evaluate their effectiveness before further implementation.B. Internet We will continue to have a comprehensive website. After the  first six months, and certainly after the first year, we will evaluate the viability of having target clients advertise on our site, and conversely, we will evaluate viability of advertising on our target clients we bsites (if applicable). C. Alliances This type of advertising will be implemented once we have grown beyond our break-even point. We will also form advertising alliances with any business with whom we share common business goals.We will also implement mutual perks with our business and restaurant neighbors which will aid in local visibility. Advertising promotions with certain restaurants will also be considered. 5. 3. 2 Marketing Programs Owner Steve Long will be responsible for marketing SoulSpace through the advertising channels. The general manager will be responsible for assisting with the implementation of alliance advertising partnerships. Our advertising budget is $10,000 for the first year. Advertising will begin one week prior to opening. 5. 3. 3 Positioning StatementWe will automatically position ourselves as one of the top spa-salons in the greater Raleigh area. Considering that none of the other competitors will offer the range of services we will, or that their staffs will be trained like ours, and that there are not any spa-salons of our type in our target locations, we will be able to provide services to a portion of Raleigh populace not currently being tapped. 5. 3. 4 Pricing Strategy Our pricing strategy will be similar to that of our competitors. We will not charge over, nor substantially under, standard prices for our services.We will be paying our employees a higher straight percentage of their total individual customer sales than our competitors. This will allow us to hire the best employees, and have a built-in motivational factor that will keep them working hard and happily. 5. 4 Sales Strategy 1. Our umbrella sales strategy is to sell SoulSpace to public consumers as a uniquely desirable destination that will enhance their lives. 2. We will sell SoulSpace through each employee's skill, courtesy, and warmth, creating a trusting impression on all customers, thusly establishing loyalty and return.We will ensure each visit to SoulSpace is a relaxing and memorable experience, so that  customers can always depend on our brand of service when they arrive. 5. 4. 1 Sales Forecast The important elements of the Sales Forecast are shown in the chart and table below. Initial sales forecasts indicate vigorous first year  sales,  almost doubling by the  end of second year, then leveling out somewhat by the  end of third year. These figures are based only on revenue from minimum average estimates from salon stylings and spa massages only, with sales cost reflective of the 60% commission earnings to each stylist/therapist.Sales Forecast| | Year 1| Year 2| Year 3| Sales| | | | Salon Styles Only Revenue| $717,500| $1,400,000| $1,600,000| Spa Massage Only Revenue| $182,500| $350,000| $400,000| Total Sales| $900,000| $1,750,000| $2,000,000| | | | | Direct Cost of Sales| Year 1| Year 2| Year 3| Salon Styles Only Revenue| $429,300| $840,000| $960,000| Spa Massage Only Revenue| $109,500| $210,000| $240,000| Subtotal Direct Cos t of Sales| $538,800| $1,050,000| $1,200,000| 5. 4. 2 Sales Programs 1. Our comprehensive brochure will explain  the holistic nature of our services, and how this benefits the customer. 2.Our website will be comprehensively informative of our services and their benefits. 5. 5 Strategic Alliances We will form alliances with our referral practitioners, local restaurants, offices, and businesses who will be strategically beneficial for generating new customers; we will also form alliances with  local certified massage schools and hair styling schools. 5. 6 Milestones The following table lists important store milestones, with dates, implementation duty, and budgets for each. The milestone schedule emphasizes the timeliness for implementation per the sales and marketing targets listed in detail in the previous topics.Milestones| | | | | | | Milestone| Start Date| End Date| Budget| Manager| Department| Business Plan| 1/15/2001| 2/1/2001| $0| Steve| Owner| Financial Backing| 2/1/2001| 2/5/2001| $200,000| Steve| Owner| Design Contractor Retainer| 2/5/2001| 5/1/2001| $5,000| Steve| Owner| Construction Contractor Retainer| 2/5/2001| 5/1/2001| $20,000| Steve| Owner| Lease Agreement| 1/17/2001| 2/12/2001| $20,000| Steve| Owner| Logo Design| 2/12/2001| 3/1/2001| $1,000| Steve| Owner| Business Cards (Initial)| 2/19/2001| 3/1/2001| $300| Steve| Owner| Brochures| 3/1/2001| 5/1/2001| $3,000| Steve| Owner|Grand Opening| 5/1/2001| 6/1/2001| $0| Steve| Owner| Seven Customers Per Stylist/Therapist| 8/1/2001| 9/1/2001| $0| Steve| Owner| Totals| | | $249,300| | | Management Summary The management philosophy of SoulSpace is based on respect for each of our fellow employees, respect for every customer, and individual responsibility. SoulSpace's success is dependent on the warmth and uniqueness of its atmosphere which is generated by a fun-loving and caring employee. The management team will consist of the owner, general manager, and assistant manager (if deemed necessary).We will hire only those whom demonstrate  the qualities necessary for working in a nurturing environment, and the willingness to move forward in study of energetic principals if not already so trained. We will be hiring the ultimate â€Å"people persons. † 6. 1 Organizational Structure Our initial team consists of 14 employees, inclusive of a general manager and an assistant manager,  both of whom will be active stylists/therapists. Employees will be in from the two store divisions of spa and salon. On the salon side there will be 10 stylists and one or two receptionists.There will be room for expansion to 12-15 stylists and three receptionists. The spa side will consist of three massage therapists, one energy therapist, one nail specialist, and one receptionist. There will be room for expansion to five to seven massage therapists, and  two to three energy therapists. 6. 2 Management Team Steven J. Long, co-owner, president:  Founded SoulSpace in 2001. He has a degree in psyc hology from NC State, a  concentration in industrial/organizational with emphasis on communication.He has been a Reiki Master Usui Shiki Ryoho since 1996 and operates part-time healing practice from home. He has  eight years management experience, six in retail, two in electronic component rep field for distribution. Mr. Long spent  three years in the modeling industry, one as model and two as the manager of an agency in Raleigh in 1991. Deborah L. Long, co-owner:  Debby will not be directly involved in daily operations, but will assist Steve in general organizational planning and vision implementation. Debby currently is the number one co-location sales manager for SpectraSite, Inc. here she has worked for two years. She spent several years as an executive assistant at TDK of America's Distribution Sales Center in Chicago, and at Cotton Incorporated. She is a level two Usui Shiki Ryoho. Linda Hill-Chinn, co-owner, CFO:  Linda is retired after having spent 15 years as seni or national staffing specialist for the American Hospital Association in Chicago, as well as serving on their board of directors for several national projects. She also spent several years managing Planned Parenthood of Chicago.Linda holds a Masters of sociology  from Brown University. Jennifer McElravey, general manager: For the past nine years, Jennifer has been one of the top stylist for Mitchell's Hair Design of Raleigh and is currently a level five stylist, Salon Designer of the Year '94-97, and received  extra training at Vidal Sassoon of London, Highest Salon Retail Sales four different years. Jennifer is also a level two Usui Shiki Ryoho. 6. 3 Management Team Gaps We believe the experience of our team covers the needs to make the business plan for SoulSpace a very successful reality.The assistant manager is not named here because that position will be named from the pool of stylists/therapists that will be hired previous to our opening. 6. 4 Personnel Plan The Personnel Plan below reflects our projected need at opening, and carries through the second year expansions. Personnel Plan| | Year 1| Year 2| Year 3| Steve Long, Owner, President| $65,040| $65,040| $65,040| General Manager| $60,000| $60,000| $60,000| %100 Commissioned Employees| $150| $156| $156| Receptionist| $15,360| $15,360| $15,360| Receptionist| $15,360| $30,620| $30,620| Total People| 17| 18| 18| | | | | Total Payroll| $155,910| $171,176| $171,176|Financial Plan The premier element in our financial plan is initiating, maintaining, and improving the factors that create, stabilize, and increase our cash flow: 1. We must create visibility so as to create customer flow. 2. We must maintain a dependable,  happy employee force so as to minimize turnover. 3. Create a brisk turnaround on our retail and art products, always maintaining viable stock levels. 7. 1 Important Assumptions The key underlying assumptions of our financial plan shown in the following general assumptions table are: 1. W e assume access to equity capital and financing to support our financial plan. 2.We assume our financial progress based on realistic sales to minimum sales against highest expenses. 3. We assume there will not be an economic crash that would greatly hinder our target market's access to their personal luxury funds. General Assumptions| | Year 1| Year 2| Year 3| Plan Month| 1| 2| 3| Current Interest Rate| 10. 00%| 10. 00%| 10. 00%| Long-term Interest Rate| 10. 00%| 10. 00%| 10. 00%| Tax Rate| 2. 50%| 0. 00%| 2. 50%| Other| 0| 0| 0| 7. 2 Key Financial Indicators Our most important Key Financial Indicator is when each stylist averages seven customers per day and each therapist averages three customers per day. . 3 Break-even Analysis For our Break-even Analysis we assume estimated monthly operational costs which include payroll, rent, utilities, and other running costs (not including employee draw fund considerations). Payroll alone is only estimated to about 1/2 of those costs. The ana lysis shows what we need to generate in  revenues per month to break even. This total is 13% less than estimated monthly store gross. This estimation does not include revenue from any other store sources, and is based on a salon customer average of $36 and spa customer average of $60. Our average per customer revenue is estimated at $39.Considering our minimal assumptions show a monthly total customer average of 1,922, we therefore believe our break-even figures can be readily maintained. Break-even Analysis| | | | | Monthly Revenue Break-even| $73,567| | | Assumptions:| | Average Percent Variable Cost| 60%| Estimated Monthly Fixed Cost| $29,525| 7. 4 Projected Profit and Loss There are two important assumptions with our Projected Profit and Loss statement: 1. We  expect to have to pay out from the Draw Fund occasionally. 2. Our revenue is based on minimum estimated averages against highest expense expectations. Pro Forma Profit and Loss| Year 1| Year 2| Year 3| Sales| $900,000| $1,750,000| $2,000,000| Direct Cost of Sales| $538,800| $1,050,000| $1,200,000| Other| $0| $0| $0| Total Cost of Sales| $538,800| $1,050,000| $1,200,000| | | | | Gross Margin| $361,200| $700,000| $800,000| Gross Margin %| 40. 13%| 40. 00%| 40. 00%| | | | | | | | | Expenses| | | | Payroll| $155,910| $171,176| $171,176| Sales and Marketing and Other Expenses| $34,000| $39,000| $41,000| Depreciation| $0| $0| $0| Rent| $120,000| $120,000| $120,000| Leased Equipment| $0| $0| $0| Utilities| $9,000| $9,000| $9,000| Insurance| $12,000| $12,000| $12,000|Payroll Taxes| $23,387| $25,676| $25,676| Other| $0| $0| $0| | | | | Total Operating Expenses| $354,297| $376,852| $378,852| | | | | Profit Before Interest and Taxes| $6,904| $323,148| $421,148| EBITDA| $6,904| $323,148| $421,148| Interest Expense| $0| $0| $0| Taxes Incurred| ($2,907)| $0| $10,529| | | | | Net Profit| $9,810| $323,148| $410,619| Net Profit/Sales| 1. 09%| 18. 47%| 20. 53%| 7. 5 Projected Cash Flow Considering our business is a luxury, retail-oriented business with customers who will pay primarily with credit cards, our cash flow is not dependant on the issuance of invoices and the vagaries of Accounts Payable.We will need a minimum of financing to cover the cash flows of the first year of operations. After that, the cash flow becomes continual. Pro Forma Cash Flow| | Year 1| Year 2| Year 3| Cash Received| | | | | | | | Cash from Operations| | | | Cash Sales| $900,000| $1,750,000| $2,000,000| Subtotal Cash from Operations| $900,000| $1,750,000| $2,000,000| | | | | Additional Cash Received| | | | Sales Tax, VAT, HST/GST Received| $0| $0| $0| New Current Borrowing| $0| $0| $0| New Other Liabilities (interest-free)| $0| $0| $0| New Long-term Liabilities| $0| $0| $0| Sales of Other Current Assets| $0| $0| $0| Sales of Long-term Assets| $0| $0| $0|New Investment Received| $0| $0| $0| Subtotal Cash Received| $900,000| $1,750,000| $2,000,000| | | | | Expenditures| Year 1| Year 2| Year 3| | | | | Expenditures fr om Operations| | | | Cash Spending| $155,910| $171,176| $171,176| Bill Payments| $719,414| $1,263,200| $1,423,005| Subtotal Spent on Operations| $875,324| $1,434,376| $1,594,181| | | | | Additional Cash Spent| | | | Sales Tax, VAT, HST/GST Paid Out| $0| $0| $0| Principal Repayment of Current Borrowing| $0| $0| $0| Other Liabilities Principal Repayment| $0| $0| $0| Long-term Liabilities Principal Repayment| $0| $0| $0| Purchase Other Current Assets| $0| $0| $0|Purchase Long-term Assets| $0| $0| $0| Dividends| $0| $0| $0| Subtotal Cash Spent| $875,324| $1,434,376| $1,594,181| | | | | Net Cash Flow| $24,676| $315,624| $405,819| Cash Balance| $84,676| $400,299| $806,118| 7. 6 Projected Balance Sheet Our Projected Balance Sheet shows we will not have any difficulty meeting our debt obligations as long as our revenue projections are met. Pro Forma Balance Sheet| | Year 1| Year 2| Year 3| Assets| | | | | | | | Current Assets| | | | Cash| $84,676| $400,299| $806,118| Inventory| $54,450| $10 6,111| $121,269| Other Current Assets| $0| $0| $0| Total Current Assets| $139,126| $506,410| $927,387| | | | |Long-term Assets| | | | Long-term Assets| $0| $0| $0| Accumulated Depreciation| $0| $0| $0| Total Long-term Assets| $0| $0| $0| Total Assets| $139,126| $506,410| $927,387| | | | | Liabilities and Capital| Year 1| Year 2| Year 3| | | | | Current Liabilities| | | | Accounts Payable| $63,316| $107,452| $117,811| Current Borrowing| $0| $0| $0| Other Current Liabilities| $0| $0| $0| Subtotal Current Liabilities| $63,316| $107,452| $117,811| | | | | Long-term Liabilities| $0| $0| $0| Total Liabilities| $63,316| $107,452| $117,811| | | | | Paid-in Capital| $160,000| $160,000| $160,000| Retained Earnings| ($94,000)| ($84,190)| $238,958|Earnings| $9,810| $323,148| $410,619| Total Capital| $75,810| $398,958| $809,577| Total Liabilities and Capital| $139,126| $506,410| $927,387| | | | | Net Worth| $75,810| $398,958| $809,577| 7. 7 Business Ratios The follow table contains important bus iness ratios for the  physical fitness facilities  industry, as determined by the Standard Industry Classification (SIC) code, 7991. Ratio Analysis| | Year 1| Year 2| Year 3| Industry Profile| Sales Growth| 0. 00%| 94. 44%| 14. 29%| 15. 90%| | | | | | Percent of Total Assets| | | | | Inventory| 39. 14%| 20. 95%| 13. 08%| 3. 60%| Other Current Assets| 0. 00%| 0. 00%| 0. 00%| 31. 10%|Total Current Assets| 100. 00%| 100. 00%| 100. 00%| 39. 00%| Long-term Assets| 0. 00%| 0. 00%| 0. 00%| 61. 00%| Total Assets| 100. 00%| 100. 00%| 100. 00%| 100. 00%| | | | | | Current Liabilities| 45. 51%| 21. 22%| 12. 70%| 34. 80%| Long-term Liabilities| 0. 00%| 0. 00%| 0. 00%| 27. 60%| Total Liabilities| 45. 51%| 21. 22%| 12. 70%| 62. 40%| Net Worth| 54. 49%| 78. 78%| 87. 30%| 37. 60%| | | | | | Percent of Sales| | | | | Sales| 100. 00%| 100. 00%| 100. 00%| 100. 00%| Gross Margin| 40. 13%| 40. 00%| 40. 00%| 0. 00%| Selling, General ;amp; Administrative Expenses| 39. 37%| 21. 53%| 18. 94%| 73. 20%| A dvertising Expenses| 1. 11%| 0. 86%| 0. 5%| 2. 40%| Profit Before Interest and Taxes| 0. 77%| 18. 47%| 21. 06%| 2. 70%| | | | | | Main Ratios| | | | | Current| 2. 20| 4. 71| 7. 87| 1. 10| Quick| 1. 34| 3. 73| 6. 84| 0. 73| Total Debt to Total Assets| 45. 51%| 21. 22%| 12. 70%| 62. 40%| Pre-tax Return on Net Worth| 9. 11%| 81. 00%| 52. 02%| 3. 00%| Pre-tax Return on Assets| 4. 96%| 63. 81%| 45. 41%| 7. 90%| | | | | | Additional Ratios| Year 1| Year 2| Year 3| | Net Profit Margin| 1. 09%| 18. 47%| 20. 53%| n. a| Return on Equity| 12. 94%| 81. 00%| 50. 72%| n. a| | | | | | Activity Ratios| | | | | Inventory Turnover| 10. 91| 13. 08| 10. 56| n. a| Accounts Payable Turnover| 12. 6| 12. 17| 12. 17| n. a| Payment Days| 27| 24| 29| n. a| Total Asset Turnover| 6. 47| 3. 46| 2. 16| n. a| | | | | | Debt Ratios| | | | | Debt to Net Worth| 0. 84| 0. 27| 0. 15| n. a| Current Liab. to Liab. | 1. 00| 1. 00| 1. 00| n. a| | | | | | Liquidity Ratios| | | | | Net Working Capital| $75,810| $398,958| $80 9,577| n. a| Interest Coverage| 0. 00| 0. 00| 0. 00| n. a| | | | | | Additional Ratios| | | | | Assets to Sales| 0. 15| 0. 29| 0. 46| n. a| Current Debt/Total Assets| 46%| 21%| 13%| n. a| Acid Test| 1. 34| 3. 73| 6. 84| n. a| Sales/Net Worth| 11. 87| 4. 39| 2. 47| n. a| Dividend Payout| 0. 00| 0. 00| 0. 00| n. a|