Evaluation on Companies’ Social Accounting

Evaluation on companies’ social accounting Executive summary This report explains the concept of â€Å"social accounting† and analyzes the execution of social accounting in the two companies Corning incorporated and AM-PM Glass Company. The analysis is based on the â€Å"good† principles of social accounting and the accordance to the global standards.And the analysis shows that Corning’s sustainability has a better understanding and consideration about the requirement of social accounting and it makes its own evaluation system based on ISO 14001, and build up a series of standards, but the standards of EMS can not match with GRI on the completeness and concreteness. AM-PM begins well in the practicing of social accounting. But it is not that easy to do well in all aspects of the social accounting, so it has only considered four â€Å"good† principles.While AM-PM takes both AA1000 and GRI as the evaluation standards to assess its performance, and got clear and systematic report results and good reference to its development in the future. Contents Evaluation on companies’ social accounting1 1. Introduction3 2. Definition and explanation of the concept of Social Accounting3 2. 1 Definition and development of concept3 2. 2 Reasons for producing social accounting4 2. Principles of â€Å"Good† and global standards5 3. Critical evaluation on quality of social accounting of two glass companies5 3. 1 Corning Incorporated6 3. 2 AM-PM Glass & Mirror Company8 4. Conclusion10 Reference12 1. Introduction Social accounting is a voluntary process that organizations use to account for their environmental and social impacts. There are both pros and cons telling why organizations decide to engage with this concept of social accounting.The purpose of the report is to evaluate the two glass companies Corning and AM-PM’s social accounting according to the â€Å"good† principles and global standards of social accounting. 2. Definition and explanation of the concept of Social Accounting 2. 1 Definition and development of concept Social accounting refers to the process dealing with organizational assessment and communication of its impacts and activities on relevant issues related to ethics, society and the environment with their appropriate stakeholders (Yanovsky, 2006).It aims to address companies’ social and environmental impacts. Social accounting is also known as social and environmental accounting, corporate social responsibility reporting, or sustainability accounting, and different individual companies usually give different titles, like in Corning, it is called corporate social responsibility report, and in AM-PM Glass & Mirror, it is called sustainability report. The concept of social accounting has got more than 40 years’ development.Abt Associates is among the earliest social accounting practitioners, its social concerns included contribution to knowledge, environment and so on, but there is no specific definition for social accounting. In 1980s, the short book â€Å"Social Audit- A Management Tool for Co-operative Working† is the basis of the early private sector companies’ social responsibility reporting (Spreckley, 1981), and â€Å"Social responsibility reporting† is the early relative formal concept.And in this book, an internal organizational social accounting and audit model are designed to measure individual companies’ social and environmental performance. And with the development of economy and society, the concept of social accounting also gets to a broad and deep domain, which includes the evaluation about every aspect of companies’ social and environmental impacts (Rohinson, 2001; Schwartz and Carroll, 2003). 2. 2 Reasons for producing social accountingThe reasons that individual companies develop social accounting and related reports are as follows. On the negative aspect, employees’ internal pressur es in their urge of wanting to report the environmental and social impacts of the company (Crane and Matten, 2007) can make companies practice the social accounting; and external forces by government agencies, non-governmental organizations, consumers or investors as they seek the company to disclose its impacts of social accounting can also lead to the social accounting.On the positive aspect, social accounting can help individual companies identify and utilize opportunities for cost effectiveness, introduction of profitable eco-friendly products and services, energy saving and environmental protection (Defourny and Thorbecke, 1984). Also, both current and future concerns of stakeholders forewarn companies about any possible area of conflict. Yanovsky (2006) further claimed that companies become aware of the probable risk factors that are capable of affecting their business operations, which afford the chance for companies to prepare the coping mechanism. . 3 Principles of â€Å"G ood† and global standards â€Å"Good† accounts must accord a series of principles. In general, good principles of social accounting have to be inclusive, involving dialogue with stakeholders; to be complete, highlighting the key areas of the individual company’s activities; to be embedded within the organization; to be comparable, undergo external verification, and give room for continuous improvements.These principles should take both companies own management practices and the performance measurements comparison with other companies into consideration (Montgomery and Porter, 1991). Such principles have to be incorporated within the organizational structure, be verified by external auditors and be reviewed on regular basis in order in relation to the targets of its performance and cost effective business opportunities. There are some global standards that are available for companies’ social and environmental reports.For example, Social Accountability Inter national produced SA8000, and it provides workplace issues standards; AccountAblility developed the AA1000S Assurance Standard; The SAN framework, which is suitable for third-sector organisations; ISO1400, which are series of international standards that deal with issues related to environmental management (Porter, et. al. 2009) and Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), which is one of the most practiced standards across the globe and is in its third generation format (G3). 3.Critical evaluation on quality of social accounting of two glass companies This report provides a critical evaluation of two case studies of how the organizations have made use of social accounting concept. The Corning Glass and AM-PM Glass & Mirror Company will be used as examples of companies which have fully put into consideration the social accounting concept. It is a reflection of organizational values and evidence-based actions they undertake towards showing concern to their stakeholders in dealing with thes e issues.The evaluation about the two companies is mainly focus on analyzing the adoption of the â€Å"good† principles and their accordance to the global standards. 3. 1 Corning Incorporated Corning is a multinational company which has about 160 years’ history. Corning is among the best social responsibilities practitioners. The history practicing social responsibilities began before World War One. The chairman James Houghton laid out Corning’s seven Corporate Values: Quality, Integrity, Performance, Leadership, Independence, Innovation, and the Individual.Corning’s strategies are based on the attributes of collaboration, risk-taking, and long-term thinking and so on. According to Corning’s strategy and value system, the best form of corporate social responsibility is equal to â€Å"simple good business† or â€Å"enlightened self-interest† and the good business is constructed by a series of good behaviors including constant interacti on with customers, local communities and government. The social accounting in Corning is named sustainability report. 3. 1. 1 The adoption of â€Å"good† principlesFirst, Corning emphasizes the care and feeding of its major stakeholders, especially the care and feeding for its customers and employees, according to Houghton’s speech in 2004’s company strategy conference. Corning clearly obeys its seven values and takes a set of stakeholders into consideration. It puts attention to labor, women and minorities. Since 1970s, Corning began made efforts to employee women and minorities (Graham, 2010). Second, Corning has complete consideration on social accounting, and highlights impacts of the company’s producing activities to the society and environment.Corning put attention to working conditions, products safety and efficacy, and the environment. According to Corning’s sustainability report, the central elements of the companies’ operation exce llence are protection safety, health and environment (Graham, 2010). Specifically, in order to protect the air, Corning produces ceramic substrates for catalytic converters and tries to eliminating hazardous chemical materials. Third, Corning has a continuously improvement in practicing the social responsibility. Since 1970 to now, Corning consistently shows its care to its stakeholders and the environment.The recent sustainability report is also planed for a long period, and forms a completed environmental protection system, which is including mission, vision, strategy and specific action plans. In process of the energy management, Corning track and measure its greenhouse gas emission, and conducts its related inventory, also, corning launched a global energy management program to guarantee the energy productivity and environmental negative influence. Fourth, Corning has got verification from external organization.Corning reports its previous greenhouse gas emission and got the Reg istry from California Climate Action and the Registry can give a consistent supervision on the continuous execution of the environmental protection and energy management. Fifth, Corning emphasize find the potential improvement, especially those related to performance targets, cost-saving and profitable business opportunities. Corning commits to maintain a long period view of energy and the advanced view require its facilities to utilize energy in a cost-effective and environmentally responsible way.Sixth, corning has embedded professionals related to the social accounting in the process key to success. Corning’s approach embeds an environmental, health and safety professional in the designing group. This embedibility enhance the safety and facilitate the health management system in Corning. 3. 1. 2 Accordance to the global standards In the year of 2004, Corning developed and deployed an Environmental Management System, short for EMS, whose format and substance follows ISO 140 01(Corning Environmental Health & Saftey Brochure, 2007).ISO 14001 is a very series of recognized global standards, and it affords clear and specific requirement for the corporate environmental control group in Corning. Corning facilities have gained many benefits through instituting and adopting the management systems, and due to the rigorous execution, the bad influence to the environment has been reduced. Corning has a pyramid system about EMS, the ISO 14001 stands in the center of the pyramid. And the pyramid shows clear the social accounting procedures. 3. 2 AM-PM Glass & Mirror CompanyAM-PM Glass & Mirror is a residential and commercial glass company that provides exceptional craftsmanship, unsurpassed satisfaction to their customers and gives prompt service through their sustainable innovation and social accounting concept. The company recently outlined its values and objectives in the annual sustainability report, which encompass support to community trade of glass products and its internal judgments on environmental and social performance in relation to achieving its objectives (AM-PM, 2012). 3. 2. 1 The adoption of â€Å"good† principlesAM-PM Glass & Mirror Company follows the three principles of completeness, materiality and responsiveness. First, AM-PM’s sustainability report relates to complete contents of the social responsibilities. It has put attention to both inside and outside of the organization, for example the employee relationships, the sexual and racial ratio, the consideration of the disabled people inside of the organization; and the communication with communities, the campaigns to protect environment outside of the organization. Second, AM-PM’s emphasize the materiality of the action.It stresses that social responsibilities should not only be written in the sustainability report, it must be based on specific actions first, the real practice result and data of the protection, but not only the plans in the report. T hird, responsiveness is the main part that is stressed in the report, it means that AM-PM not only like to be the pioneer in the practice of environmental protection, but also would like follow other companies’ environmental steps. Forth, the values reported in the sustainability report have been externally verified by auditors and a panel of stakeholders.The customers, employees and the communities all give positive comments on the values and actions of AM-PM. 3. 1. 2 Accordance to the global standards AM-PM Glass & Mirror values follow the AA1000 standards of assurance. And its three principles are from these standards. Also, the company values are compliant with the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Level A guidelines. And the third generation version of GRI gives a series of very clear standards for AM-PM to evaluate its performance comprehensively, which is with respect to specific assessment according laws, codes, norms, and voluntary initiatives.Specifically speaking, the compilation of AM-PM Glass & Mirror Company report was based on covering all the company activities that is vital as far as environmental and social impacts are concerned (AM-PM, 2012). Its social accounting also responds to issues that arise out of its previous reports. The wholesomeness of this report is also realized in that it covers all the areas that the company operates on as required by global reporting initiative which covers the company management approaches, overall company profile, and the categories for measuring performance. . Conclusion In summary, it can be deduced that social accounting is a voluntary process that organizations use to account for their environmental and social impacts. Both pros and cons exist why organizations decide to engage with this concept of social accounting. The analysis of Corning Glass Company and AM-PM Glass & Mirror gives a specific evaluation about their execution of social responsibilities. The result shows that the two organizati ons both have embraced the concept of social accounting.Corning incorporated is a big multinational which has long history of practicing social responsibility, and it has enough experiences to evaluate what kinds of actions would do well to both the company and the environment, and afford benefits to all the shareholders. So in the adoption of â€Å"good† principles, Corning’s sustainability report shows that it has a better understanding and consideration about the requirement of social accounting. In the accordance to the global standards, Corning makes its own evaluation system based on ISO 14001, and build up a series of standards.Corning has not used GRI as its standards to evaluate performance. To some extent, the standards of EMS can not match with GRI on the completeness and concreteness. AM-PM is also a glass company that has short history. It enters the glass industry in a new age that stresses environmental protection and the full communication with sharehol ders. So, it begins well in the practicing of social accounting. But to a new company, it is not that easy to do well in all aspects of the social accounting, so it has only considered four â€Å"good† principles.While AM-PM did well in the accordance to the global standards, it takes both AA1000 and GRI as the evaluation standards to assess its performance, and got clear and systematic report results and good reference to its development in the future. Reference 1. Spreckley, F. (1981). Social Audit: A Management Tool for Co-operative Working. Wales: Beechwood College. 2. Rohinson, S. et al. (2001). â€Å"Updating and Estimating a Social Accounting Matrix Using Cross Entropy Methods†. Economic Systems Research. Vol. 13, No1:47-64. 3. Schwartz, M. S. , Carroll, A. B. (2003). Corporate Social Responsibility: A Three-Domain Approach†. Business Ethics Quarterly. Vol. 13, No. 4:503-530 4. Defourny, J. , and Thorbecke, E. (1984). â€Å"Structural Path Analysis and Mu ltiplier Decomposition within a Social Accounting Matrix Framework†. The Economic Journey. Vol. 94, No 373:111-136 5. Graham, M. B. W (2010). â€Å"Corporate Responsibility at Corning. Incorporated†. History of Corporate Responsibility Project. No. 7 6. Crane, A. , and Matten, D. (2009). Business Ethics. New York: Oxford University Press, p. 9-286. 7. Montgomery, C. A. , and Porter, M. A. 1991). Strategy: Seeking and Securing Competitive Advantage. New York: Harvard Business Press. 8. Porter, M. E. , Kramer, M. R. , and Zadek, S. (2009). Corporate Social Responsibility (HBR Article Collection). New York: Harvard Business Press. 9. Yanovsky, M. (2006). Accounting Systems. London: Transaction Publishers. 10. Corning Environmental Health & Saftey Brochure, 2007. Available at http://www. socialfunds. com/csr/reports/Corning_Incorporated_2007_EHS. pdf [Accessed 10th JUNE 2012]. 11. AM-PM. , 2012. Available at http://www. ampmglass. com/ [Accessed 10th March 2012].

American Imperialism Essay

Identify the countries or areas where the United States engaged in imperialistic actions during the period from about 1870 to 1914. Discuss why each area was important to American empire building (political, economic, and social). Explain America’s expansionist ideals. What were some of the factors that justified American imperialist actions? Identify the current political status of these places in relation to the United States. Age of Imperialism: 1870 to 1914 Place Why was there interest? U.S. actions Status today China The United States wanted to sell American Goods to their market. Treaty of Wanghsia in 1844 opened several Chinese Ports for American trade. The United States is currently China’s greatest Ally. Samoa The United States wanted to support naval fleets in the Pacific. 1872; United States was granted a naval base at Pago Pago. In the 1880’s the United States, Germany as well as Britain jointly signed treaties of occupancy. 1899 the treat was revised giving the United States a protectorate over the Eastern islands which became U.S territory.  Unincorporated Territory of the U.S; now called American Samoa Hawaii The United States wanted to construct a naval base and wanted their sugar plantations. 1875; The United States signed a trade agreement with Hawaii. In 1887 the United States was allowed to construct a naval base at Pearl Harbor. In 1890; the U.S tariff policy placed heavy tax on exports from Hawaii. American rebels over threw the Queen and Hawaii didn’t receive annexation to the United States in 1898; after going into a Pacific War with Spain. Incorporated into the United Sates and the people became U.S. citizens in 1990. The Philippines The United States wanted the Philippines; in its effort to attain global power and to become a market for American manufactured products. The United States acquired the Philippines from Spain in 1898 after the Spanish-American War. In1899 a Filipino leader Agunaldo led a war against the U.S. which resulted in the country being an unorganized territory. The Philippines is currently an independent country. Cuba The United States wanted Cuba for their sugar plantations and its rich resources. The Spanish-American War of 1898 prompted the United States to declare war against Spain that resulted in the Cuban War of Independence. This war was started by Spain’s harsh treatment of the Cuban people which was unsuccessfully fought for decades. The Teller Amendment was legislation passed by congress which barred the United States from annexing Cuba; forcing the U.S to leave it independent once the war was over. Currently; the United States has imposed an embargo on Cuba in 1960 and broke diplomatic relations in 1961 following the Castro regime. The U.S has attempted to reach out to the Cuban government in regards to their human rights policies; in doing so the U.S implemented the 1994-1995 U.S- Cuba Migration Accords. Currently, the U.S still remains Cuba’s largest supplier of food. Puerto Rico The United States wanted to use Puerto Rico for it’s natural rich resources and for naval purposes. Towards the end of the Spanish-American War the U.S invaded Puerto Rico which at that time belonged to Spain. In December of 1898; the treaty of Paris was signed which ended the Spanish-American war and gave the U.S power over Puerto Rico. Commonwealth of the United States. Part 2 Answer each of the following prompts with a response of at least 200 to 300 words: Trace the path of American imperialism during the period from about 1870 to 1914 through political, military, and economic events. Why was the United States interested in expansion in these areas? Why was America building a global empire? What were the benefits of America’s imperialistic actions for the people in these countries or areas? What were the disadvantages? How would you describe their experiences in terms of being conquered, assimilated, or marginalized? What were the moral implications of American imperialism? How did Imperialists justify their actions? How did the Anti-Imperialists justify their position? Consider the role of race, economics, science, and religion. What significance did the Spanish-American War have in the development of the United States as an empire and world power? Do you think the United States is currently an imperialist country? Why or  why not? Cite and reference all information sources consistent with APA guidelines.

Net Present Value/Present Value Index

Net Present Value/Present Value Index The management team at Savage Corporation is evaluating two alternative capital investment opportunities. The first alternative, modernizing the company’s current machinery, costs $45,000. Management estimates the modernization project will reduce annual net cash outflows by $12,500 per year for the next five years. The second alternative, purchasing a new machine, costs $56,500. The new machine is expected to have a five-year useful life and a $4,000 salvage value. Management estimates the new machine will generate cash inflows of $15,000 per year.Savage’s cost of capital is 10%. Required a. Determine the present value of the cash flow savings expected from the modernization program. Using the data from Appendix on page 1169 of our text 15000*3. 790787 = 47,385, which should be the PV cash flow savings expected from the first option of modernization program. b. Determine the net present value of the modernization project. I believe the NPV of the 1st project is calculated by subtracting current machinery, costs $45,000 from the figure above which equals 2,385. 00 c. Determine the net present value of investing in the new machine.This is determined by valuing the future cash flows. Using the same appendix in table 2 data, annual cash flow of 15,000 * 3. 790787 =56862. 00 Salvage cost of 4,000 * . 620921 (table 3 on page 523) = 2484. 00 Total=59,346. 00 less the cost of machinery 56,500 = 2486. 00 as the NPV d. Use a present value index to determine which investment alternative will yield the higher rate of return. PI= $15,000*. 620921/56,500 = . 16 This investment is not acceptable because it has a PI of less than 1. 0 therefore the modernization project or the first alternative will have higher rate of return.Exercise 24-4A Determining the present value of an annuity The dean of the School of Social Science is trying to decide whether to purchase a copy machine to place in the lobby of the building. The machi ne would add to student convenience, but the dean feels compelled to earn an 8 percent return on the investment of funds. Estimates of cash inflows from copy machines that have been placed in other university buildings indicate that the copy machine would probably produce incremental cash inflows of approximately $8,000 per year.The machine is expected to have a three-year useful life with a zero salvage value. Required a. Use Present Value Table 1 in Appendix A to determine the maximum amount of cash the dean should be willing to pay for a copy machine. Years 1 – 3; where N = 1 r at 8%, N =2, [email  protected] 8%, N = 3 r @ 8% 8000*. 925926 = 7,407. 41 8000*. 857339 = 6,858. 71 8000*. 793832 = 6,350. 66 Present Value / Ordinary Annuity = ($) 20,617. 00 Present Value / Annuity-Due = ($) 22,266 b. Use Present Value Table 2 in Appendix A to determine the maximum amount of cash the dean should be willing to pay for a copy machine.Based on table 2 in appendix a, the maximum am ount of cash the Dean should be willing to pay for a copy machine is ($) 20,617. 00 c. Explain the consistency or lack of consistency in the answers to Requirements a & b. The consistency in the answers are so seeing that table 2 in appendix A appears to be the sum of the PV for each of the 3 years in table 1. Exercise 24-8A Determining the internal rate of return Medina Manufacturing Company has an opportunity to purchase some technologically advanced equipment that will reduce the company’s cash outflow for operating expenses by $1,280,000 per year.The cost of the equipment is $6,186,530. 56. Medina expects it to have a 10-year useful life and a zero salvage value. The company has established an investment opportunity hurdle rate of 15 percent and uses the straight-line method for depreciation. Required a. Calculate the internal rate of return of the investment opportunity. YearExplanationCash FlowDiscount Factor 1 (hurdle rate of 15)DiscountDiscount Factor 2Cash Flow @Disc ount 0Cost to purchase some technologically advanced equipment(6,186,530. 56)(6,186,530. 56) 1,280,0005. 01877$6,424,0264. 6565,959,680Net present value$$237,495($226,851) b. Indicate whether the investment opportunity should be accepted. The Internal Rate of Return appears to be higher than the established investment opportunity hurdle rate of 15 percent therefore it would be a good idea to accept this investment opportunity. Exercise 24-6A Determining net present value Travis Vintor is seeking part-time employment while he attends school. He is considering purchasing technical equipment that will enable him to start a small training services company that will offer tutorial services over the Internet.Travis expects demand for the service to grow rapidly in the first two years of operation as customers learn about the availability of the Internet assistance. Thereafter, he expects demand to stabilize. The following table presents the expected cash flows. Year of Operation Cash Infl ow Cash Outflow 2006 $5,400 $3,600 2007 7,800 4,800 2008 8,400 5,040 2009 8,400 5,040In addition to these cash flows, Mr. Vintor expects to pay $8,400 for the equipment. He also expects to pay $1,440 for a major overhaul and updating of the equipment at the end of the second year of operation. The equipment is expected to have a $600 salvage value and a four-year useful life. Mr. Vintor desires to earn a rate of return of 8 percent. Year ExplanationinflowsoutflowsNet Discount @8%Discounted 2006 beginningCost of equipment $ – $ 8,400 $ (8,400)1 $ (8,400) 2006Operational cash flows $ 5,400 $ 3,600 $ 1,800 0. 925926 $ 1,667 007Operational cash flows $ 7,800 $ 4,800 $ 3,000 0. 857339 $ 2,572 2007Major overhaul $ – $ 1,440 $ (1,440)0. 857339 $ (1,235) 2008Operational cash flows $ 8,400 $ 5,040 $ 3,360 0. 793832 $ 2,667 2009Operational cash flows $ 8,400 $ 5,040 $ 3,360 0. 73503 $ 2,470 2009Salvage value of equipment $ 600 $ – $ 600 0. 73503 $ 441 Net present value of Investment Opportunity $ 182 Required (Round computations to the nearest whole penny. ) a. Calculate the net present value of the investment opportunity. . Indicate whether the investment opportunity is expected to earn a return that is above or below the desired rate of return and whether it should be accepted. General rule with NPV is that if NPV of a prospective project is positive, it should be accepted. However, if NPV is negative it should not be accepted. The calculations, If correct present a positive NPV therefore the investment opportunity should be accepted. Problem 19-24A Assessing simultaneous changes in CVP relationships Green Shades Inc. (GSI) sells hammocks; variable costs are $75 each, and the hammocks are sold for $125 each.GSI incurs $250,000 of fixed operating expenses annually. Required a. Determine the sales volume in units and dollars required to attain a $50,000 profit. Sales = Contribution Margin per Unit = Revenues per Unit – Variable Expenses per U nit = 250,000 + 50,000/125 – 75= 6,000 in units Verify your answer by preparing an income statement using the contribution margin format. Break-even Sales Dollars = Sales Price per Unit ? Break-even Sales Units Break-even Point in Sales Dollars = 125 * 6000 = 750,000 Income Statement Green Shades Inc. As of October 17, 2012 Sales750,000 Variable Costs(450,000)Contribution Margin300, 000 Fixed Costs250,000 Net Income 50,000 b. GSI is considering implementing a quality improvement program. The program will require a $10 increase in the variable cost per unit. To inform its customers of the quality improvements, the company plans to spend an additional $20,000 for advertising. Assuming that the improvement program will increase sales to a level that is 3,000 units above the amount computed in Requirement a, should GSI proceed with plans to improve product quality? Support your answer by preparing a budgeted income statement. Income Statement Green Shades Inc. As of October 17, 2 012Sales1,125,000 Variable Costs(765,000) Contribution Margin360, 000 Fixed Costs(270,000) Net Income 90,000 The company might want to consider going forward seeing the likelihood of profitability. c. Determine the new break-even point in units and sales dollars as well as the margin of safety percentage, assuming that the quality improvement program is implemented. Fixed Costs/Contribution Margin per Unit = 270,000/ 125-85 = 6750 Break-even Sales Dollars = Sales Price per Unit ? Break-even Sales Units Break-even Point in Sales Dollars = 125 * 6750= 843,750 Margin of SafetyMeasured in UnitsMeasured in DollarsSales @ Budged 90001125000 Break Even6750843,750 Margin2250281,250 281250/1125000 =. 25 or 25% Problem 18-17B Process cost system cost of production report At the beginning of 2004, Dozier Company had 1,800 units of product in its work in process inventory, and it started 19,200 additional units of product during the year. At the end of the year, 6,000 units of product were in t he work in process inventory. The ending work in process inventory was estimated to be 50 percent complete. The cost of work in process inventory at the beginning of the period was $9,000, and $108,000 of product costs was added during the period.Required Prepare a cost of production report showing the following. a. The number of equivalent units of production. Equivalent units of production ACTUALEquivalent Beginning 1,800 Additional units of product19,200 Total21,000 Ending6,000 @50%3,000 To be transferred15,000 @100%15,000 Total21,00018,000 b. The product cost per equivalent unit. Beginning is 9,000 added to production of 108,000 to total 117,000 c. The total cost allocated between the ending Work in Process Inventory and Finished Goods Inventory accounts. 117,000/18,000 = 6. 50 cost per unit 15000*6. 50 = 97,500 finished goods 000 of equivalent units above*6. 50= 19,500 Total 117,000 Problem 15-17A Identifying cost behavior Required Identify the following costs as fixed or varia ble. Costs related to plane trips between San Diego, California, and Orlando, Florida, follow. Pilots are paid on a per trip basis. a. Pilots’ salaries relative to the number of trips flown. variable b. Depreciation relative to the number of planes in service. variable c. Cost of refreshments relative to the number of passengers. variable d. Pilots’ salaries relative to the number of passengers on a particular trip. ixed e. Cost of a maintenance check relative to the number of passengers on a particular trip. fixed f. Fuel costs relative to the number of trips. variable National Union Bank operates several branch offices in grocery stores. Each branch employs a supervisor and two tellers. g. Tellers’ salaries relative to the number of tellers in a particular district. variable h. Supplies cost relative to the number of transactions processed in a particular branch. variable i. Tellers’ salaries relative to the number of customers served at a particular br anch. Fixed j.Supervisors’ salaries relative to the number of branches operated. Fixed k. Supervisors’ salaries relative to the number of customers served in a particular branch. Fixed l. Facility rental costs relative to the size of customer deposits. Fixed Costs related to operating a fast-food restaurant follow. m. Depreciation of equipment relative to the number of restaurants. variable n. Building rental cost relative to the number of customers served in a particular restaurant. Fixed o. Manager’s salary of a particular restaurant relative to the number of employees.Fixed p. Food cost relative to the number of customers. variable q. Utility cost relative to the number of restaurants in operation. variable r. Company president’s salary relative to the number of restaurants in operation. Fixed s. Land costs relative to the number of hamburgers sold at a particular restaurant. Fixed t. Depreciation of equipment relative to the number of customers served at a particular restaurant. fixed Exercise 15-6B Fixed versus variable cost behavior Professional Chairs Corporation produces ergonomically designed chairs favored by architects.The company normally produces and sells from 5,000 to 8,000 chairs per year. The following cost data apply to various productions activity levels. Number of Chairs5,0006,0007,0008,000 Total costs incurred Fixed$ 84,000 Variable 60,000 Total costs$144,000 Per unit chair cost Fixed$16. 80 Variable12. 00 Total cost per chair$28. 80 Required a. Complete the preceding table by filling in the missing amounts for the levels of activity shown in the first row of the table. b. Explain why the total cost per chair decreases as the number of chairs increases.Exercise 15-12B Effect of cost structure on projected profits Logan and Martin compete in the same market. The following budgeted income statements illustrate their cost structures. Income Statements Company Logan Martin Number of Customers (a) 160 160 Sales Reven ue (n x $75) $12,000 $ 12,000 Variable Cost (n x $0) 12,800 Contribution Margin 12,000 (800) Fixed Cost (6,400) 0 Net Income (Loss) $ 5,600 $ (800) Required a. Assume that Logan can lure all 80 customers away from Martin by lowering its sales price to $75 per customer.Reconstruct Logan’s income statement based on 160 customers. b. Assume that Martin can lure all 80 customers away from Logan by lowering its sales price to $75 per customer. Reconstruct Martin’s income statement based on 160 customers. c. Why does the price-cutting strategy increase Logan’s profits but result in a net loss for Martin? This is so in that when sales to 160 clients at 75 (12,000), more revenue is produced as opposed to sales to a lesser amount (80 clients) at 125 (10,000). Fixed costs contributes to Logans increases in sales revenue. Exercise 16-9A Allocating overhead cost to accomplish smoothingMimosa Corporation expects to incur indirect overhead costs of $72,000 per month and direc t manufacturing costs of $11 per unit. The expected production activity for the first four months of 2007 is as follows. January February March April Estimated production in units 4,000 7,000 3,000 6,000 Required a. Calculate a predetermined overhead rate based on the number of units of product expected to be made during the first four months of the year. MonthJanuaryFebruaryMarchApriltotalEstimated production in units 400070003000600020000 72000*4/20,000=14. 40 per unit b. Allocate overhead costs to each month using the overhead rate computed in Requirement a. MonthJanFebMarchAprilTotal Rate14. 4014. 4014. 4014. 40 Base4,0007,0003,0006,000 Cost57,600100,80043,20086,400288,000 c. Calculate the total cost per unit for each month using the overhead allocated in Requirement b. MonthUnits (A)Overhead (B)Cost (A*11)TotalCost Per Unit (d/a) Jan4000576004400010160025. 40 Feb70001008007700017780025. 40 March300043200330007620025. 40 April6000864006600015240025. 40

THE ECONOMICS OF HEALTH CARE Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

THE ECONOMICS OF HEALTH CARE - Term Paper Example s within the demand and supply model, the factors operating in isolation or together contribute to the shift in demand curve to the right, resulting in realization of higher price and quantity of medical care over time. In addition, expenditure on medical care, the product of price and quantity has at the same time increased (Santerre and Neun, 2009). On the supply side, when wages outpace productivity, the demand and supply curves shift to the left, and as a result, the price of medical care increase; however, since demand for medical care in most cases appear to be price inelastic, the increase in price leads to increase in healthcare (Santerre and Neun, 2009). Another factor on the supply side seen to contribute to increase in healthcare costs has been identified to be cost-enhancing technologies. Information asymmetry has been associated with imperfect market or malfunctioning of the market, as health care suppliers and consumers remain separated with degree of how they know each other. Theoretical economics and empirical data have postulated that an insurance market can distort and result into disequilibrium due to adverse selection whenever there are several plan options offering different benefits and pricing structures (Farley, Wynn and Rand Corporation, 2002). For instance, healthier people usually get inclined towards leaner, expensive plans while sicker people are willing to pay more for richer benefits (Farley, Wynn and Rand Corporation, 2002). As a result, richer plans may experience adverse selection and higher health care costs, which force an increase in premiums to cover for the costs. This leads to more undesirable selection and market segmentation (Farley, Wynn and Rand Corporation, 2002). In the process, some plans are forced to drop out of the market, leavin g high cost consumers with undesirable benefits options (Farley, Wynn and Rand Corporation, 2002). Information asymmetry therefore results into ineffective plan choices, where again,

Law of Contract Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Law of Contract - Coursework Example In the understanding of contract law, an ‘invitation to offer’ is defined as follows: â€Å"An invitation to the offer is a pre-determined proposal which is intended to generate an offer from the bidder of goods for a consideration, in order to effectuate an agreement.† In the case of British Car Auctions v. Wright1, we can further understand the definition of ‘invitation to offer’ in the context to the situation at hand: â€Å"There is no offer to sell, but always an offer to buy.† From this definition, we can analyse the effect of the email sent by Computerland to Cwmfelin University. Applying the definition in the case, the email sent by Computerland was not an offer, since there cannot be an offer to sell, but only an offer to buy. The actions on the part of Computerland further describe that it was a pre determined act, which intended to generate an offer from the buyer of the goods, Cwmfelin University in this context. Therefore, it can n ow be concluded that the mail sent by Computerland, having the intentions to generate an offer from Cwmfelin, was in fact an invitation to offer. The invitation was sent by Computerland, enticing Cwmfelin University to offer them a consideration for the delivery of Computers to the University. The fact that Computerland invited to an offer has now been established as a precedent which shall be followed to solve all the three problems given in Task 1 of the paper. In the first problem, we figure out that Cwmfelin University, after having accepted the offer to invitation from Computerland, offered to buy 50 Avocado machines at the price of 220 Pounds each, which shall be delivered to the University by the 15th September, at the latest. This was the offer made by Cwmfelin University to Computerland. After having received the offer, Computerland replied in this fashion: â€Å"â€Å"Thank you for your fax, which is receiving attention.† An agreement requires two ingredients to be fulfilled in order to be binding on the parties to enter into a contract. These are: a) Offer b) Acceptance of an Offer An ‘Acceptance to the Offer’ is defined as follows: â€Å"The act of communicating the offeror, informing him on the acceptance of the offer made by him, in exactly the same way the offer was made, and abiding by the conditions laid out in the offer.: Applying the law to the facts, we can infer from the statement made by Computerland does not amount to the acceptance of the offer which was delivered to them. The fact that the offer is still receiving attention implies that the offer is being considered either for a counter offer, for the acceptance of the offer or for the declination of the offer. There is no acceptance at this stage of time, and a decision as to what needs to be done is yet to be taken. Therefore, understanding from the principles of law and facts, it should be assumed that there was no agreement between Computerland and Cwmfelin Un iversity. The offer was still under negotiating terms, and Computerland had not made up its mind on the acceptance of the offer. Finally, Cwmfelin revoked the offer from Computerland, asking them not to send the computers. However, Computerland, without communicating its acceptance, did deliver the computers. It involves the performance of a contract which did not exist at the stage of actual performance. Cwmfelin University is safe under this situation, and the act of revocation of the offer stands valid, as

Journalism, Mass Media and Communication PowerPoint Presentation

Journalism, Mass Media and Communication - PowerPoint Presentation Example Similarly to how significant reputation is to the royal family, it is a prerequisite for every company to guard their reputation considering that this is an extremely valuable asset to the company. Apparently, on the night of her deadly crash, her chauffeur was drunk, while Princess Diana was not putting on a seat belt; on the other hand, Princess Diana, together with her beau, Dodi Al Fayed, were attempting to escape from paparazzi. It is clear that both Diana and Al Fayed sought fame in a way that none of the royal family members did. Nonetheless, the heyday of Princess Diana as a global star seemed to symbolize Princess Diana’s superiority compared to the rest of the royal family. Her lack of self control, together with her helplessness in the appearance of her own desires, which signified her humanity (Adrian & Deborah 2002, p.6). The Establishment that wrangled with Princess Diana no longer even rules England and Wales; according to this organization, their expectation wa s Princess Diana to live in a loveless marriage with Prince Charles, while at the same time bearing the humiliation brought about by his unfaithfulness. With his position, Prince Charles was not only known for his infidelity, but als for his lack of morals, something that the royal family attempted to cover up through all means. However, when Princess Diana filed for divorce, all these dirty secrets came to light. This was a problem to the royalists who have a valid reason to be worried; the constitutional problem in prospect that if Prince Charles marries his long time lover Camilla Parker Bowles, this step sets off alarm bells. This is because, the heir to the throne, who is also the Church of England's leader, happens to be a self-confessed adulterer, who is living unmarried together with another man's ex-wife. On the other hand, if the Queen, together with her advisers make an attempt of blocking the marriage, then the House of Windsor is capable of demonstrating how out of step it is regarding the rest of society. Following the death of Princess Diana, their self-control, as well as refusal to portray emotion in public appeared to be less than human, instead of the summit of human behavior. This led to the natives laughing and poking fun, with the tradition of the stiff upper lip appearing to be risible; resulting to the queen’s accent getting mocked all over the country. Certainly, this is just a change of masks; the Prime Minister Tony Blair, emoting concerning the â€Å"People’s Princess,† turned out to be no more sincere compared to the queen feigning that she had not been wounded by the whole thing. However, beneath that change of mask rests the much deeper, as well as quite irreversible, change of the country from Rome to Italy (Adrian & Deborah 2002, p.24). When Prince William decided to marry Kate, the royal family had to accept his decision for fear of a repeat of what transpired between Princess Diana and her husband. Prince ss Diana had to enter into an early marriage with an old man, i.e. Prince Charles, something that later on resulted in enormous problems since she could not tolerate living in a loveless marriage. However, in the case of the Dutch and Dutchess of England, they are both young and they also love each other; therefore, there is a high possibility that

Examine the roots of the Russian Mafia and account for its influence Essay

Examine the roots of the Russian Mafia and account for its influence in Russia today - Essay Example The Mafia is an illegal organization which is involved in organized criminal activity. Rigid rules, violence and monopoly of illegal activities are some of its attributes. â€Å"Gambetta defines the Mafia as an industry which supplies private protection (Gambetta, 1991:2). The Mafia produce and sells a very special commodity, trust or protection. Like ‘organized crime’ in general, the Mafia aims to produce, advertise and sell protection in conflict with the state. The Mafia operate in those economic transactions and agreements where protection is either inefficiently supplied or cannot be supplied at all by the state†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (The Russian Mafia: Do Rational Choice Models Apply?, date ?: p.7-8). Similar to the claims made by Gambetta, Hobsbawn also maintains that the â€Å"Mafia tends to develop in societies in which citizens regard the authorities as hostile. He argues that the Mafia provides a parallel masculine law and organized power in societies in which the o fficial government is not effective, and most of the citizens in the areas under its influence believe that it is the only effective law and power† (The Russian Mafia: Do Rational Choice Models Apply?, date ?: p.7) The Russian Mafia has often been studied in comparison with the Sicilian Mafia. The emergence of the latter in Southern Italy was due to the uneven transition of the market economy. The Italian citizens lost trust in the Italian state due to the fact that property rights and individual protection was not thoroughly given by it. This led to a rise in the demand for ‘protection’ and this protection was in turn provided by the Mafia. Similarly, part of the emergence of the Russian Mafia owes itself to the undefined transition of its market economy wherein there were no exact rules and regulations to govern the producers, sellers and consumers. Citizens were thus bereft of legal protection and

Gastronomy and Tourism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

Gastronomy and Tourism - Essay Example Gastronomy tourism has become of interest to many people, who would do whatever it takes to travel to the specific areas of interest to sample food and understand their culture of those places, contributing to the development of those regions and contributing to making them gastronomy tourism destinations. Gastronomy Tourism Gastronomy tourism is travelling to foreign countries to sample food and drinks while understanding their culture. The International Culinary Tourism Association terms culinary tourism as â€Å"the pursuit of unique and memorable eating and drinking experiences†. Many people are spending a lot of money just to travel to sample food in different gastronomy destinations. This has been limiting to some people and businessmen have taken advantage of the market demand. They have gone ahead to establish local joints where people can take foreign food and drinks. This has increased gastronomy tourism as people do not have to travel to the regions they have always wished to travel to and sample their food and drinks (Kiveal and Crotts, 2013). However, this act of gastronomy has faced some criticisms from some food experts from the various regions. They point out that food made in another place other than the original place may not meet the preparation, taste and cooking requirements. Some food requires preparing in a certain specific way, which may not be available in the foreign countries where they are prepared. They also state that having food from a certain place or country prepared in a foreign land may not have developmental impact on the locals where that food or drink is from. Despite the criticism, there are restaurants and hotels that have specialized in preparing the various cuisines from different places in the world. There are some hotels that can prepare just about any cuisine. Some people have really appreciated this because it offers them a chance to enjoy foods and drinks from foreign lands without having to travel there. Ga stronomy Tourism Trends Gastronomy is becoming popular among people in different parts of the world. The trend has been on the increase in the last decade as people across the world get interest in the culture of certain jurisdictions and territories. According to the International culinary association, the number of people who are involved in culinary activities in the United States a lone was more than twenty million people in the last three years. The number is higher compared to the data three years back. Tourism across the world has been on the increase. According to the world tourism organization, the number of tourist arrivals in the world increased by four percent to approximately one billion tourists in 2012 alone. The revenues generated by tourists amounted to about one trillion dollars. Of that money, about thirty six percent was spent on food. The international culinary association found out that most tourist spend about a third of their expenditure on food. The increase in the number of tourists across the world has a high impact on gastronomy tourism. The more the number, the more food they will need in the foreign land. They have no option but to take the food available in the countries they have visited playing a role in gastronomy tourism. The number of tourists visiting different places in the world is expected to increase at an average of four to five percent per year as the World Tourist Association points out. As such, gastronomy

Human-Resource Manager Interview Report Assignment

Human-Resource Manager Interview Report - Assignment Example The variables that influence his roles substantially include the store’s formulation of HR initiatives. Emphasizing that the structure of the store was determined by the number of employees, the interviewee expressly noted that the store and his roles employ a HR generalist outlook to administer its HR function areas for the business unit and the different employee teams (Conaty and Charan 34). In responding to the question on the structure of the business, and his office, specifically, he insisted that he prefer HR project teams for the different duties and the initiatives of the store, because they increased the accountability of employees. In a generalized way, he noted that there was limited reliance on cross-functional teams, which are often virtual, and where the HR plays the dominant role. Further, he noted that his office is designed in a way that explores and engages the other functions of the store, because that helps in making better team-based decisions (Conaty and Charan 74). The roles and the responsibilities of the interviewee – according to them – vary from day to day. The interviewee noted that everyday is a fully-engaged workload, where they engage in any or many of the following roles: employee hiring, employee training, reviewing and managing employee relations and firing employees for different reasons. Other roles and responsibilities revolve around the management of employee benefits, payroll review and management, administering employee follow-up and participating in organization-wide decision making meetings (Conaty and Charan 34). Above these roles and responsibilities, the interviewee reviews the human resources, to ensure that they have the required employees, and planning recruitment, where there are gaps. The officer engages in the 45-day review of new employees, together with the departmental managers, which helps improve their orientation and training. The greatest challenge to the HR manager and the organization as a who le is the management of the daily work load. This is a major area of a challenge for the interviewee; because he has to prioritize on the work to be done first, out of the huge load, and delegating other duties to departmental managers and staffs (Conaty and Charan 123). For example, he noted that, in the cases where there is a shortage of sales people, or an employee calls for a sick-leave. He is tasked with the challenge of finding a replacement that can meet the needs of the vacant office. The case becomes more challenging, when they have to call in, employees who are taking their off-days, because many of them are, usually, not willing to accept the duty. Hiring is also a challenge for the officer, because getting wrong candidates for the job can be disastrous to its progress. The most difficult decision they made, while working in the store, was that of reducing the bonuses offered to sales people and the employees in general. Following a detailed outlook of the financial posit ion of the business during the past six months, they had reviewed the financial outlook on the business, and noted that the profitability of the business was being adversely affected by the bonus plans (Conaty and Charan 44). The difficulty in the decision was major, because it was likely to force some employees to leave the business, and many others to lose morale and motivation. The interviewee reported that they liked the roles and the responsibilities of motivating their staffs, training new employees and allocating bonuses and other rewards to the employees. They noted that they liked that aspect, because it helps in tapping the full potential of the staffs. The areas that they dislike for the job are that of

The Site About Animism Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The Site About Animism - Assignment Example The material on this site is biased because it tends to describe more the characteristics of animism and its perspective instead of comparing it with other world major religions to understand its uniqueness and the traits it shares with other religions. The purpose of this website is to inform the reader of what animism is i.e. breath and soul, its early and present perspectives. This site is an acceptable source of information for animism because of the following reasons. First, it defines what animism is. The reader is able to understand the beliefs and tenets of its followers and also why it’s different from other religions of the world. The site has succinctly explained the two perspectives: early and contemporary perspectives. This provides us with enough information that enables us to come up with our own understanding of what animism is by marrying concepts from early perspectives with the contemporary perspective. The characteristics of this religion are well described to distinguish animism from other religions. One major characteristic is that all animate objects have life and do not distinguish soul as separate that, can either enter or leave our bodies. Despite the fact that the site provides more information about animism, it fails to compare and contrast this religion with other religions of the world to understand the practices that it might be sharing with other religion and also how unique it is. It is only through comparison that the reader can understand why it qualifies to be a distinct religion.

Critique on against gay marriage Essay Example for Free

Critique on against gay marriage Essay The modern world is experiencing transition in all aspects of life. This change is being experienced in marriage whereby some people are moving a way from the belief that marriage should only take place between people of same sex. They have gone to an extent of pushing for marriage between people of same-sex to be accorded the same treatment and recognition just like the case with the heterosexual marriage. Some people believe that marriage should be heterosexual while others believe that even homosexuals have a right to marry and live with their partners just like a husband and wife in opposite-sex marriage. This paper presents a critique in support of gay marriage. The society especially in the current state is crippling with many social problems emanating from heterosexual marriage. One of these problems is unwanted pregnancies which arise from irresponsible relationships. This is an incident which can only happen in a marriage between two people of opposite sex. Embracing same-sex marriage would offer a remedy to this problem because there is no chance of pregnancy in a marriage between gays and lesbians. This would also help in reducing the high cases of deaths and abortion which are being witnessed in the society today. Incase homosexuals decide to adopt a child, the possibility of neglect is very low as this would be a decision between two independent people. Same-sex marriage reduces the dominance by one partner which is associated with union between a man and a woman. For fear of victimization, most gays and lesbians are forced into heterosexual marriages against their will. However, they still continue to live their homosexual lives by secretly relating to other homosexuals while staying in the same-sex marriage. Therefore, accepting same-sex marriage will help reduce this unfaithfulness and promote marriage to one partner (Sullivan, A. , 2004). Since the society allows all kinds of people and groups to marry including murderers, thieves as well as marriage between people of different races. Condemning same-sex marriage is discrimination of the minority who are supposed to be protected by the constitution just like any other group. As opposed to what Bennet believes, it would not be the first time that the institution of marriage is experiencing change; Marriage between different races which are happening today never happened several years ago (Bennett, J. W. 1996). The strong position against homosexuality which is adopted by the church is an intrusion into private business. This is because marriage is a personal commitment between the two people involved in the relationship. This marriage therefore hurts no one who is not part of the relationship (Bennett, J. W. 1996). Every element of the society is transforming hence disregarding same-sex marriage is simply refusing to accept the natural changes in the institution of marriage. The acceptance of homosexuality as evident among school pupils is an indication that homosexuality is a thing of the current generation hence nature should be allowed to take its course. Bennet should not argue against adoption by gay and lesbian couples as this would be better that single parenting. The long-term repercussions of same-sex marriage talked about by those against gay marriage are baseless and coming out of fear of the unknown; accepting same-sex union would only serve to create more choices concerning marriage and people would be guided by individual choices. (Bennett, J. W. 1996). Conclusion From the accounts given above, same-sex marriage should be allowed and homosexuals do not deserve the harsh criticism and victimization that they are undergoing in the society. Legislation and rules governing marriage only needs to be adjusted to provide for same-sex union. Reference Bennett, J. W. (1996). Gay Marriage: Not a very good idea. The Washington Post. OP-ED; Pg. A19 Sullivan, A. (2004). Same-sex Marriage, Pro and Con: A Reader. New York: Vintage Books.

Media Use in Identity Construction Essay Example for Free

Media Use in Identity Construction Essay In society today the construction of a personal identity can be seen to be somewhat problematic and difficult. Young people are surrounded by influential imagery, especially that of popular media. It is no longer possible for an identity to be constructed merely in a small community and only be influenced by family. Nowadays, arguably everything concerning out lives is seen to be ‘media-saturated’. Therefore, it is obvious that in constructing an identity young people would make use of imagery derived from the popular media. For example, it is becoming increasingly common for young children to have their own television and music systems in their bedrooms whilst also having easy and frequent access to magazines especially aimed at the ‘developing’ child and/or teenager. Such young people would also have a way of accessing the Internet be it at school or sometimes at home. However, it is fair to say that in some instances the freedom of exploring the web could be limited depending on the choice of the parents or teachers. So, if young people have such frequent access and an interest in the media, it is fair to say that their behaviour and their sense of ‘self’ will be influenced to some degree by what they see, read, hear or discover for themselves. Such an influence may include a particular way of behaving or dressing to the kind of music a person chooses to listen to. These are all aspects which go towards constructing a person’s own personal identity. By close investigation into the popular media, and by using two specific examples of a popular teen magazine and a recent ‘teenage’ hit single that got to number 2 in the British charts, I intend to illustrate the various ways in which young people make use of imagery derived from popular media in the construction of their identities.

Looking At Imperial Identity In Rudyard Kipling English Literature Essay

Looking At Imperial Identity In Rudyard Kipling English Literature Essay The work of Edward Said has long been fuel for much critical debate; In Orientalism, Said argues that the whole notion of the Orient is a body of culture, academic and political work that tries to identify the East as them in terms that have evolved through Western Imperialism. In Orientalism, Said quotes Rudyard Kiplings work as exemplifying colonial attitudes to Oriental peoples. (REF) The aim of this essay is to explore the critical material written about the work of Kipling, in particular Kim and The Jungle Books. By using the work of Said as a foundation and starting point to critique Kiplings work, I plan to explore how Kipling presents his young heroes, Kim and Mowgli. According to Saids analysis, there are two factors that must be kept in mind when interpreting Kim. One being that, its author was writing not just from the dominating viewpoint of a white man in a colonial possession but from the perspective of a colossal colonial system whose economy, functioning, and history had acquired the status of a virtual fact of nature. (162) Kipling assumes an essentially uncontested empire of colonies made up of inferior humans. The division between white and non-white was absolute in India and other colonial areas, and is alluded to throughout Kim as well as the rest of Kiplings work: a Sahib is a Sahib and no amount of friendship or camaraderie can change the rudiments of racial difference. (162) According to Said, Kipling would no more have questioned that difference and the right of the white European to rule than he would have argued with the Himalayas. (163) Similar to Said, S. P. Mohanty in his essay, Kiplings Children and the Colour Line, explores this division between the white and non-white. Mohanty argues that Kim has to be read in terms of racial positions and the imperial project. In particular he focuses on issues of spying, scouting, observing and managing: a distinctly political project shaping racial meanings, identities and possibilities. He suggests that Kim is a white hero who can discard his colour as he wishes: He lives and sleeps and east in the open social world of colonial India against a backdrop of an inter-Imperial war between Britain and Russia, but his identity is never something that ties him down. (241) Kim is of white heritage, yet grew up as a street urchin in Lahore, in the care of a half caste Indian woman. Mohanty argues that it is when we begin to take Kims cultural identity seriously as the character can become real and the reader begins to pay attention to the narratives elusive and mystifying cultural vision and wonder about the sources of its motivation. (242) The critic explains that once we being to question Kims education, direct parallels can be drawn to Kims ancestor, Mowgli. Both Kim and Mowgli learn to adapt to strange surroundings and attain a knowledge that enables them to survive their harsh worlds. (242) Mowgli is adopted by the wolves and befriended by the rest of the jungle animals, yet still holds a level of superiority. However in an example that Mohanty gives, taken from the opening of The Kings Ankus, Mowgli and Kaa the python are playing: the fantasy is here not so much of pure freedom as of involvement without any real implication. Kaa could crush Mowgli with the slightest slip; and what Mowgli plays with, in fact, is precisely this. Their inequality reduces to a game. From the beginning of the story, Kaa acknowledges the young human as the Master of the Jungle, and brings the boy all the news that he hears. (243) It is suggested by Mohanty that Mowgli like Kim reveals the capacity to not only inhabit the jungle through a wishful allegorical fantasy, but also to chart and track it as well both of them have the ability to read the world around them and often better than the natives. The native boys Kim is compared with somehow lack the facility that make reading possible, remarks the critic. Another example he gives of this inequality is when Lurgan Sahib teaches Kim and the Indian boy how to observes peoples faces and reactions, to interpret their behaviour and identify motive, Kim seems to learn it quickly, whilst the native boy is left mysteriously handicapped (244) The second factor is that Said recognises is that Kipling was a historical being as well an author; Kim was written at a specific moment in his career, and at a time when the relationship between the British and Indian people was changing. When we read it today, Kiplings Kim can touch many of these issues. Does Kipling portray the Indians as inferior, or as somehow equal but different? Obviously, an Indian reader will give an answer that focuses on some factors more than others (for example, Kiplings stereotypical views some would call them racialist on the Oriental character) whereas English and American readers will stress his affection for Indian life on the Grand Trunk Road. Sandra Kemp in her 1988 study entitled Kiplings Hidden Narratives, tries to understand and link the relationship between the authors psychology and the authors work. She notes that Kipling was strongly opposed to Indian Nationalism (2) and used his public figure as a writer to draw attention to politics and the political climate in India. Like Said recognises, India was entering a post-Muntiny state and both critics propound the influence of this on Kipling. (2) Baa Baa, Black Sheep, Kiplings semi-autobiographical account of childhood, he reveals recurrent preoccupations as the story dramatizes the difference between the East and West. Throughout his writings Kipling seems to be searching for a structure of belief that would recognise the reality of both love and hate, and the reality of their co-existence. Kemp encapsulates the search for identity within Kim, stating that this structures the action: Who is Kim-Kim-Kim? Quoting this extract from Kim again is Zorah T. Sullivan, who notes that this inner quest and search for an identity suggest possible self-discovery. Sullivan examines Kim and Mowglis mutual [division] between their desire to be loved and their need to control and be feared. (i) Quoting from The Second Jungle Book all the Jungle was his friend, and just a little afraid of him (130). This coincides with Mohantys point regarding Kaa and Mowlgis play fighting. Sullivan identifies that the India Kipling created helped to construct a mythology of imperialism by reflecting both the real and the imaginary relationship between the British and their Indian subjects. (8) By acknowledging the work of Kemp, Sullivan expands upon how Kemp illuminates Foucaults and Saids earlier work on the problems of representing Others: knowledge of others reflects the power of the knowing coloniser who represents natives because they cannot represent themselves. (9) Sullivans work counters Kiplings reputation as bard of empire whose voice represents unproblematically and transparently the discourse of imperialism. Peter Havholm suggests that Saids demonstration of the Orientalism assumed by the implied authors of important English and French novels has set the parameters for much other recent discussion about Kiplings fiction. (2008, 5) According to him, fellow critics such as Sullivan and Moore-Gilbert line up against Saids conclusions; They read ambivalence, anxiety, and a range of complexities in the discourse that may be abstracted form Kiplings stories. (5) Although Saids work added colonial discourse analysis to the art and life of Kipling, this analysis focuses more on the rhetoric of Kiplings fiction than its form. However Havholm observes that the discussion Said started is both productive and fascinating. (4) Bart Moore-Gilbert is another critic who is synonymous with Kipling. In his 1986 study Kipling and Orientalism, Moore-Gilbert seeks to explore Kiplings relationship to the characteristic discourses of Anglo-Indian culture, principally the literary and the political in the 19th Century, as well as providing a critique on Saids Orientalism. Edward Said believes that every form of orientalism is based on simplistic stereotypes that help justify the Wests imperialistic goal of restructuring and dominating oriental cultures. Moore-Gilbert suggests that Saids writing is inadequate and generalises the British relationship to India and Kiplings outlook in his Anglo-Indian writings. Moore-Gilbert acknowledges Saids position. Despite his sympathy for Indian ways, as aforementioned, Kipling feared native rule and was in full support of the British Raj. Moore-Gilbert treats this as a regrettable short-coming, proving that Kipling was a prisoner of his cultural values and proposes that Anglo-Indians and Kipling were not always bigoted imperialists as Said may suggest. Through Moore-Gilberts work, a reassessment of Saids hypothesis of Kiping is formed. John McBratneys article Imperial Subjects, Imperial Space argues that the ordering element of Kiplings vision of empire is the native-born Westerner who inhabits his fictions so insistently. Surrounding the native born is felicitous space or a narrative area in which arising social constraints are suspended and where one can engage in a free experiment of personal identity and social role: Given the tension between juvenile freedom and imperial duty, what finally is the nature of Mowglis identity? (279) Similar to some of the other critics discussed in this essay, McBratney too draws upon Kiplings own identity, and his ability to float between the Anglo-Indian and Indian societies, without religious or social sanctum (282) just like Kim and Mowgli. The special abilities that allow the native-born to play these roles derive from his identity as neither exclusively British nor simply native. This study also provides the most thorough analysis of that figures hybrid, casteless selfhood in relation to shifting attitudes toward racial identity during Britains New Imperialism. illuminates both the complexities of subject construction in the late Victorian and Edwardian periods and the struggles today over identity formation in the postcolonial world. Moore-Gilbert has critiqued the work of McBratney, regearding it as a fine critical text (2000, 100). The focus of the native born which features heavily within McBratneys article leads to Moore-Gilbert praising him for highlighting that Mowgli is in fact Indian born and there a native himself. However studies from Mohanty and Sullivan highlight that regardless of whether Mowgli is Indian, the jungle become an allegorical platform and he is still an outsider in a strange world. From the critical material explored here, the issue of identity in Kim and The Jungle Books can be seen to be a highly debated topic, of which I have only scraped the surface, with the reoccurring issues of race and cultural factors being behind and self-confusion. Kemp, as many of the other critics concur, uses Kiplings self-reflexivity of his stories, and his stories interrogate the other-self of his childhood (1) Kiplings own confusion of racial and cultural identity is reflected within his writing, not only in Kim and The Jungle Books, but across all of his Indian fiction. This is something that maybe needs to be taken into consideration, as Moore-Gilbert does, when assessing the work of Kipling, using Said as critical foundation.

Platos Criticism of Democracy Essay -- Plato

Plato's Criticism of Democracy Do not be angry with me for speaking the truth; no man will survive who genuinely opposes you or any other crowd and prevents the occurrence of many unjust and illegal happenings in the city. A man who really fights for justice must lead a private, not a public, life if he is to survive for even a short time. (Apology 31e-32a) These are the words of Socrates, who spoke before the Athenian jury in the trial that would, ultimately, condemn him to his death. Through works such as the Apology and The Republic, we can see Plato’s distaste of the concept of democracy. Why does he consider democracy to be so flawed? Let us look through his own eyes and see what his individual criticisms are, and determine if the very concept of democracy is as flawed as he believes it to be. One of the contemporary definitions of democracy today is as follows: â€Å"Government by the people, exercised either directly or through elected representatives; Rule by the majority† (â€Å"Democracy† Def.1,4). Democracy, as a form of government, was a radical idea when it manifested; many governments in the early history of the world were totalitarian or tyrannical in nature, due to overarching beliefs that the strong ruled over the weak. Although the Greeks coined the word â€Å"democracy† – the words demos â€Å"people† and kratos â€Å"rule† conjoined together to mean, literally, â€Å"rule by the people† – there is speculation about weather or not certain other peoples, such as the Sumerians and the Indians, managed to engage in democratic methods of governance first. However, the history of democracy is not what is being discussed here; we are focusing on Plato’s criticism of democracy, particularly with regards to the Athenian model and his... ...n life. However, Plato’s criticisms should be kept in mind when determining the merit of a democratic government. Oh, would it not be great to have a democracy of philosophers, who would pursue truth and wisdom! Alas, we are only human, and susceptible to many evils and lies. The trick is to prevent such ignorant people from becoming the majority. At times, it seems nigh impossible to do so; curse our stupidity! WORKS CITED â€Å"Democracy.† Def.1,4. The American Heritage Dictionary. 2nd college ed. 1991. Plato. â€Å"The Apology.† Five Dialogues: Euthyphro, Apology, Cito, Meno, Phaedo. 2nd ed. Trans. Grube, G.M.A. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company, Inc, 2002. 36. Gorgias. Trans. Helmbold, W.C. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill Company, Inc, 1952. 18-19, 32-48. â€Å"Book V.† The Republic of Plato. Trans. Bloom, Allan. New York: Basic Books Inc, 1968. 153-154.

Industrialization :: essays research papers

How far do the sources support the conclusion that, during the period 1780-1914, the economy and society of Britain was transformed, and with remarkably little conflict?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  During the period 1780-1914 Britain witnessed an industrial revolution that put it head and shoulders above other developing countries in Europe as well as the Americas. However, was this transformation the one Karl Marx had predicted, one of a series of steps towards the establishment of the Communist state? If this were true, then the period of 1780-1914 will show transformation with a series of revolutions and wide conflict between the social classes as the growth of the proletariat. However, the liberal view suggests that regardless of all the new innovations and advancements in industry and social structure, there will be little conflict, mostly of opinions only. So how revolutionary was the industrial revolution? This brings us to the subtext of the question, whether this transformation was more liberal or Marxist. Through analysis of the sources, this essay will argue the issue and come to judgement at the end.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Eric J. Svedenstierna, the author of Source 1 describes Manchester as a town at the forefront of the industrial revolution, mainly due to its cotton manufactures and spinning machines. His positive description of the city shows that not only is he impressed with the advancements evident, but is favourable towards the nature of that advancement and therefore can be inferred that his view of the situation was relatively sophisticated and calm. This therefore supports the belief that the transformation was with remarkably little conflict, a contradiction of the Marxist view. However, it can be argued that the revolution was not like the French political revolution in 1789 which took place suddenly, but was a process that took over 50 years. The source is dated at 1802, which was a period that saw relatively slow growth in comparison with the years 1815-1821, where the Corn Laws were introduced and a trade recession created unemployment, poverty and unrest. Marxist hi storians such as E.J Hobsbawm and Friedrich Engels will argue that it is at this point where revolutionary ideas grow among the workers. Yet Source 1 suggests that there was no conflict of any kind and therefore agrees with the conclusion. Source 2 also takes a more liberal approach in terms of the advancement in industry, describing the mills’ conditions as ‘exceedingly favourable’, and ‘toil is not very great nor is it incessant.

Television and Media - Family Life With, and Without TV :: Comparison Compare Contrast Essays

Family Life With, and Without TV Just about everyone in the United States owns and watches television. Consequently, we've become accustomed to a fairly predictable and monotonous home life. Every working day, we come home, pick up the mail, switch on the TV. Every night, we cook dinner, clean up the kitchen, watch some TV. Every weekend, we do the shopping, finish the chores, and settle in to watch a movie. And why not? It's relaxing to hunker down on the sofa at the end of a tiring day and it doesn't take any energy to flip through the channels with the remote control in one hand and a bowl of buttered popcorn in the other. In my family, we grew up with the TV on. Every weekend, we watched Gunsmoke and Bonanza together as a family. Every year, we made special treats for the Wizard of Oz. I wouldn't have developed my love for cooking if I hadn't watched Graham Kerr as the Galloping Gourmet every day after school. I was hooked on Drawing With John Nagy and years later graduated from Kendall College of Art and Design. Television isn't all bad. It placates us and creates a comfortable background while we take care of business at home and when we're tired it lulls us to sleep. TV is a companion for the elderly and a convenient babysitter for the young. It makes burglars think we're home when we're not. It entertains us cheaply with live action sports, incomparable performing arts and singular events of the world all in living color. It educates us about everything from the cells in our body to the galaxies in the universe. Besides, what would life be like without TV? Could we stand the silence? How would we relax? What would we do with so much time on our hands? Let's take a look at how the average American family might react in a sudden shift to life without TV. Mr. and Mrs. Jones decide to unplug the TV and put it in the garage starting Monday night. They want the family to spend more quality time together. No one takes Mom and Dad seriously and the family jokes about it all weekend. There's a little tension in the air Monday night.

Rejuvenating a Mature Business

The last two decades has seen a revolution in management accounting theory and practice due to the challenges of the competitive environment in the 1980s. Kaplan and Johnson (1987) identified the failings and obsolescence of existing cost and performance measurement systems which led to re-examination of traditional cost accounting and management control systems. Conventional financial and management accounting methods have developed primarily as a result of corporate legislation in the 1930s forcing companies to provide externally published financial accounts. Management accounting is primarily focused as a decision making tool for running a business, hence they require more flexibility. According to Kaplan management accounts have become a subset of financial accounts and that they reflect more on the external rather than internal requirements of the company. Most of the managerial decision-making and control systems in use in the late 1980s were described by Johnson and Kaplan as stagnant. As a result, they went onto research in new accounting systems raising the profile of internal accounting systems by use of financial and non-financial measures although their work was seen as controversial by Drury but is now considered of key importance to manufacturing industries aiming to become world class. This essay aims to discuss the ways in which new management accounting techniques can bring life into mature businesses, in particular those using non-financial measures. Most companies still use the same cost accounting and management control systems that were developed decades ago in a competitive environment drastically different from today. These systems have major drawbacks described below: They distort product costs i.e. absorption of production overheads into product costs for the purpose of stock valuation. The external financial reporting process was purely driving this allocation of overheads for stock valuation. They do not produce the key non-financial data required for effective and efficient operations, hence they are of little help to operating managers† seeking to reduce costs and improve productivity. The data produced reflected on external reporting requirements far more than the reality of the new manufacturing environment. Failure to provide accurate product costs as they were distributed by simplistic and arbitrary measures usually direct labour based. The short term profit pressures led to a decline in long term investment. These poorly designed or outdated systems can distort the realities of manufacturing performance. As companies become more efficient by using new technologies, labour costs are accounting for a smaller proportion of a company†s overall cost, hence the allocation of overheads to labour hours will become irrelevant and counter-productive to the company†s operations. The most enduring management accounting innovation was the return on investment (ROI) measure which provided an overall measure of the financial performance of each operating units or the entire company. The ROI, initially developed by Du Pont and General Electric in the early 20th century, came about due to the excessive focus on achieving short-term financial performance. As ROI control was introduced, managers aimed to achieve good performance by making operating and investment decisions on developing new and better products/processes, increasing sales and reducing operating costs. But it later became evident that during hard times, when sales were decreasing and operating costs were increasing, ROI targets could still be achieved through financial entrepreneurship by reducing discretionary expenses and exploiting accounting conventions. The creation of wealth through these activities will not help companies survive as world-class competitors. Problems of ROI are only surfacing now because of: the difference in size of organisations, changes in the competitive environment and the rapid movement of technology less pressure for short-term financial performance in the last two decades current managers have little knowledge of their organisation†s technology hence they rely on creating value through accounting activities Cooper and Kaplan introduce the Activity Based Costing (ABC) systems for manufacturing expenses as a replacement for traditional cost allocation systems. ABC is an internal accounting system designed to track overheads to cost units. ABC attempts to track overhead costs to units as accurately as possible hence the concept of the cost driver is essential to this system. A cost driver is a unit measure of a particular overhead that can be assigned to a user of that overhead. For example, in attempting to allocate administration overheads to products, the cost driver may be the number of invoices generated for that product. Hence the product generating most invoices will acquire the largest share of the administration overhead. There does not have to be one driver per overhead. There can be more drivers per overhead if they are relevant to the organisation. The ABC model is shown below: A more accurate means of allocating overheads means that product costs can now be more accurately assessed. ABC analysis allows companies to discover profitable products that have not been properly exploited because the correct costs had not been appreciated. If unit costs are based on budgeted capacity rather than actual, ABC highlights excess capacity because only consumed capacity is allocated via cost drivers. Hence there is a now a measure of excess capacity. This takes away the focus of meeting budgets at all costs and instead focuses on continuous improvement. Product costing is not the only use of ABC. By finding appropriate drivers and cost units, overheads can be assigned to anything that uses them. This allows sales and marketing costs to be assigned both to the products and customers. Traditional systems do not take into account costs generated by customers. For organisations concerned with customer focus, ABC will give valuable insights into customer behaviour. The other benefits of using ABC are its focus on continuous improvement, its measurement of activities at the process level, its provision of accurate cost data including those generated by the customers, and it is geared for the medium term (3-5 years). An extension of ABC is Activity Based Management (ABM), where using the cost drivers, a deeper understanding of the process is enabled. By measuring activity and costs, ABM has a system to monitor continuous improvement and manages a business from a process perspective rather than a departmental one. Therefore it can make decisions based on accurate process level information. A greater understanding of factors critical to the success of manufacturing organisations is needed. Accounting researchers can play a critical role in this effort by attempting to develop non-financial measures of manufacturing performance like quality, productivity, inventory innovation and workforce . A particular challenge is to de-emphasise focus on short-term financial measures and develop indicators that are more consistent with long-term competitiveness and profitability. The challenge of improving a firm†s manufacturing performance is particularly relevant to managerial accountants as they are supposed to provide information for planning and decision making. Therefore, measurement systems for today†s manufacturing operations must consider the following non-financial indicators of manufacturing performance: Quality is emerging as perhaps the most important factor if companies are trying to excel as world-class competitors. U.S. firms typically inspect quality into products whereas Japanese manufacturing is dedicated to eliminating all product defects. Quality is planned and thought into the product at all stages of manufacture including design and supplier specifications. Further commitment is required in training employees, maintenance of equipment and integrating with suppliers. With this embedded into the processes the goal of achieving zero defects can be achieved. Executives claim that manufacturing costs decrease as quality increases thus a continuous drive to reduce product defects will enhance the long run productivity of the production process . Managers tend to use the economic order quantity (EOQ) model which helps in determining the cost balance between an additional set-up (for a new production run or change of product) to the cost of holding inventory. If set-up costs could be driven to zero and by just-in-time inventory control systems implementation firms would hold less inventory and raw materials. These would result to lesser costs in holding material that has no value being added to it. In addition, reducing uncertainties in deliveries from suppliers through close co-ordination can enable factories to run without any raw materials in stock. Reducing machine breakdowns also contributes significantly toward reducing work-in-process (WIP). Thus by investing in information systems and integrating with suppliers, inventory costs can be reduced significantly and accurate information on the company†s manufacturing performance can be obtained. Productivity measures for manufacturing performance have not yet been considered as part of the information that will help managers in decision making and control activities. These measures should be a supplement to financial measures that highlight improvements. Developing new productivity measures would thus be a fruitful field for accountants. There are companies present whose competitive strategy is based on the introduction of new products with unique characteristics, rather than producing mature products with lower costs. These companies will only succeed if their products are introduced at the right time and have features that are desired by their customers. Companies that are forced to produce these products on existing line, due to lack of space, will have to directly monitor the performance, quality and delivery and disregard traditional measurements which put an emphasis on efficiency. The attitudes, skills and morale of employees are important if companies are to succeed in achieving their goals. Investing in skills training, conducting surveys of employee attitudes etc by human resources are all critical if employees are to share company goals. It is clear from the above indicators of manufacturing performance that non-financial measures are essential in rejuvenating mature businesses to become world-class. Executives are also aware that traditional accounting measures like ROI can give misleading information on continuous improvement and innovation which current competitive environments demand. Managers want a balanced presentation of both financial and operational measures which led Kaplan and Norton to devise a balanced scorecard that incorporated both such measurements. The scorecard aids the building of a comprehensive picture of the company†s health and effectiveness in achieving its goals. The balanced scorecard includes financial measures that produces results on actions already taken and is complemented by operational measures on customer satisfaction, internal business processes, innovation and learning activities. It is these operational measures that will fuel the performance of future financial measures. The balanced scorecard yields several benefits, including the ability to bridge the gap between objectives of high level executives and those of front-line workers whose performance is ultimately responsible for reaching the company†s goals. Rather than focusing on short-term financial results, which can blind management to internal efficiency and lead to continued revenue losses, chief executives can benefit by using the balanced scorecard as a strategic management system for translating strategy into action at all levels of the enterprise.

Breaking DES (Data Encryption Systems)

Data Encryption Standard (DES) is an algorithm for decrypting and encrypting unstipulated information in the United States administration standard. DES is derived from IBM’s Lucifer code and is depicted by the Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) 46, with its current modification being FIDS 46-3 (Conrad, 2007). DES is a mass code that takes a plaintext sequence as a key in and generates a code transcript wording of the same measurement lengthwise.The mass of the DES obstruct is 64 bits which is also the same for the input dimension even though the 8 bits of the key are for the recognition of faults making the efficient DES input amount 56 bits. Because of the progressions in the authority of dispensation in workstations there are weaknesses in the 56-bit key extent presently (Conrad, 2007). In the company of proper hardware, there is a best chance assault on methodical efforts to all the 72 quadrillion hence, there is a possibility of dissimilar inputs.Advanced Encr yption Standard (AES) developed into an innovative FIPS-standard encryption average in 2001, 26th November to replace DES. Statistics Encryption Algorithm explains the definite algorithm as contested to the average. In such circumstances, TDEA is a short form for Triple DES. At the same time, there is a description of Triple Data Encryption Algorithm Modes of Operation ANSI X9. 52-1998 (Clayton & Bond, 2002). History of DES DES was proposed in 1975 and approved in 1977 as a federal information processing standard. It was criticized by the people who felt that it’s 56 key lengths to be insecure.In spite of this, DES remained a strong encryption algorithm until mid 1990. In the year 1998 summer, the insecurity of DES was demonstrated when a $ 250,000 computer which was built by the electronic frontier foundation decrypted a DES-encoded message in 56 hours. This was improved in the 1999 to 2002 hours through a combination of 100,000 networked personal computers and the EFF machi ne. DES remains a de facto standard unless a substitute is found (Landau, 2000, p. 341). A certified DES is obtained from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).This Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) works in three key lengths: 128, 192, and 256 bits. The publication of DES indicated a new era in cryptography. The development in the community of public cryptographers was enhanced by having an algorithm availability of study that the national security agent certified to be secure (Landau, 2000, p. 341). The (DES) Data Encryption Standard A system that encrypts quickly but is essentially what is impossible to break is all what cryptographers have always wanted. Public key systems have captured the imagination of mathematicians because of their reliance on elementary number theory.Public key algorithms are used for establishing a key because they are too slow to be used for most data transmissions. Private key system does the encryption because they are typically fa ster than public key ones (Landau, 2000, p. 341). The data Encryption Standard (DES) workhorse uses private key algorithm besides relying on cryptographic design principles that predate public key. The RC4 in web browsers and the relatively insecure cable TV signal encryption are an exception to DES. DES is the most widely used public cryptosystem in the world. It is the cryptographic algorithm which is used by banks for electronic funds transfer.It is also used for the protection of civilian satellite communications. Still, a variant of DES is used for UNIX password protection. There are three operation of the DES which involves XOR, substitution and permutation. The DES is an interrelated block cipher and a cryptosystem on a block of symbols that sequentially repeats an internal function which is called a round. It encrypts data by the use of a primitive that operates on a block of symptoms of moderate size. Self invert ability is also essential to enable one of the objects to enc rypt and decrypt. When encrypting ordinary text, DES begins by grouping the text into 64 bit block.A number of operations are performed by the DES on each block (Landau, 2000, p. 343). The transformation of how the block is to be carried out is determined by a single key of 56 bits. DES iterates sixteen identical rounds of mixing; each round of DES uses a 48-bit sub key. The DES begins with an initial permutation P and ends with its inverse. The permutations are of minor cryptographic implications but forms part of the official algorithm. The selection of sub keys starts by splitting the 56-bit key into two 28-bit halves and rotating each half one or two bits; either one bit in rounds 1, 2, 9, and 16 or two bits otherwise.The two halves are put back together and then 48 particular bits are chosen and put in order (Landau, 2000, p. 343). Attacks of DES The selection of DES was followed by protests in which case some of the researchers appeared to object to the algorithm small key spa ce. Investors in the key public cryptography claimed that a DES encoded message could be broken in about a day by a $ 20 million machine made up of a million specially designed VLSI capable of searching one key per microsecond while working in parallel.The use of a meet in the middle attack to break a four round version of DES did not extend past seven rounds (Landau, 2000, p. 345). This is evidence that, for all these attacks none of them posed a serious threat to the DES. Other attacks on the DES were performed to poke harder to the innards of DES. This brought anomalies which led to the first attacks that were seen to be more theoretically better than exhaustive search. The attacks were against the block structure system and the need of all block-structured cryptosystems needed to be designed to be secure against differential and linear cryptanalysis.There is a strong attack to DES which is differential cryptanalysis. This is apparently known to the algorithms designers. In order to design a secure cryptosystems, there is a need for a mixture of well known principles, some theorems and the presence of some magic. Attacks on a cryptosystem fall into two categories which are passive attacks and active attacks. The passive attacks are the ones which adversely monitors the communication channel. They are usually easier to mount although they yield less. The active attacks have the adversary transmitting messages to obtain information (Landau, 2000, p.342). The aim of the attackers is to determine the plaintext from the cipher text which they capture. A more successful attack will determine the key and thus compromise a whole set of messages. By designing their algorithms, cryptographer’s help to resist attacks such as cipher text only attack whose adversary has access to the encrypted communications. The known plain text attack which has its adversary has some plain text and its corresponding cipher text. The third attack which can be avoided is the chos en text attack and its adversary chooses the plain text for encryption or decryption.The plain text chosen by the adversary depends on the cipher text received from the previous requests (Landau, 2000, p. 342). Observations about DES The simplicity found in the DES amounts to some fully desirable properties. To start with it is the complementation. To illustrate, allow X to denote the bitwise complement of X. If C is the DES encryption of the plaintext P with key K, then P is the DES encryption of P with key K. In some cases the complementation can simplify DES cryptanalysis by basically cutting the investigating space in half.These properties do not cause serious weakness in the algorithm. The set generated by the DES permutations do not form a group. The group may have at least 102499 elements. There is strength in the DES when it lacks a group structure. It appears to be double encryption where this is twice by two different keys, EK2 (EK1 (P) and is not stronger than single encr yption. The reason is that when meeting in the middle attacks for a given plaintext cipher text pair, an adversary will compute all 256 possible enciphering of the plaintext i. e.EKi (P), and indexes the same. The adversary will then compute all possible deciphering of the cipher text (Landau, 2000, p. 345). Models of DES There are four forms of DES, which are accepted by FIPS 81. They include (ECB) Electronic Codebook form, code mass sequence form (CFB), productivity reaction form (OFB) and system response (CFB). The forms are used to with both DES and Triple DES. Within each form, there are main dissimilarities which are based on the fault proliferation and obstruct vs. tributary codes (Conrad, 2007). Electronic Codebook (ECB) ModeIn this form of encryption, there is sovereign encryption into respective blocks of codes text. It is done by means of Feistel code which generates 16 sub-inputs derived from the symmetric input and also encrypts the plaintext using 16 surroundings of co nversion. Similarly, the development is used in the conversion of code text reverse into simple text with the dissimilarity that, 16 sub inputs are contributed in overturn arrangement. The result of repeated blocks of identical plaintext is the repeated blocks of cipher text which is capable of assisting in the vault investigation of the code wording.In Appendix 1 there is an illustration of the result (Conrad, 2007). The first picture of SANS symbol is the bitmap layout. The second picture is the encrypted logo of SANS bitmap via DES ECB form. The visibility of the model is due to the recurring of masses of the simple wording pixels in the bitmap which are encrypted into masses which are repeated and are of particular code pixels. In this form, faults do not proliferate due to the autonomous encryption of each obstruct. Cipher Block Chaining (CBC) ModeThe CBC form is an obstruct code which XORs every original obstruct of simple wording with the previous block of code wording. This indicates that repeated obstructs of simple wording do not give rise to repeated obstructs of code wording. CBC uses a vector of initialization which is an arbitrary original obstructs used to make sure that two simple wordings result in different code wordings. In figure 2 of the Appendix there is a clear illustration of the same SANS symbol bitmap data, encrypted with DES CBC form. There is no visibility of any prototype which is true for all DES forms apart from ECB.Therefore, in this mode, there is proliferation of faults as each prior step’s encrypted output is XORed with the original obstructing of simple wording (Conrad, 2007). Cipher Feedback (CFB) Mode The Cipher Feedback Mode is a tributary code that encrypts simple wording by breaking into X (1-64) bits. This permits encryption of the level of byte or bits. This mode uses an arbitrary vector of initialization. The preceding elements of code wording are XORed with consequent components of code wording. Therefore, in this mode of CBC there is proliferation of faults (Conrad, 2007).Output Feedback (OFB) Mode Similar to CFB form, the productivity reaction form makes use of the vector of random initialization and also encrypts simple wording by shattering downward into a tributary by encrypting components of X (1-64) bits of simple wording. This form fluctuates from CFB form by generating a simulated-arbitrary tributary of productivity which is XORed with the plaintext during every step. Therefore, the productivity is fed back to the simple wording and because the output is XORed to the simple wording, faults there is no proliferation of mistakes (Conrad, 2007).Counter (CTR) Mode The oppose form is a tributary code similar to OFB form. The main disparity is the accumulation of contradict obstructs. The offset can be supplementary to an arbitrary importance that is used only once and then increased for each component of simple wording that is encrypted. The initial counter obstructs acts as a vecto r of initialization. Therefore, in each surrounding there is XORing of the offset obstructs with simple wording. Accumulation of offset obstructs permits disintegration of encryption into equivalent phases, improving presentation on a suitable hardware.There is no proliferation of mistakes (Clayton & Bond, 2002). (Table 1 in the Appendix summarizes the Data Encryption Standard). Triple DES (T DES) In anticipation of 2030, TDES can be used as FIPS encryption algorithm which is permitted in order to allow conversion to AES. There are three surroundings of DES which are used by TDES which have an input extent of 168 bits (56 * 3). There is a possibility of reduced effective key length of TDES to roughly 12 bits though beast might assaults against TDES re not realistic at present (Conrad, 2007).Architecture for Cryptanalysis All modern day practical ciphers both symmetrical and asymmetrical make use of security apparatus depending on their key length. In so doing, they provide a margin of security to cover from computational attacks with present computers. Depending on the level of security which is chosen for any software application, many ciphers are prone to attacks which unique machines having for instance a cost-performance ratio (Guneysu, 2006).Reconfigurable computing has been recognized as way of reducing costs while also acting as an alternative to a variety of applications which need the power of a custom hardware and the flexibility of software based design such as the case of rapid prototyping (Diffie & Hellman, 1977, pp. 74-84). What this means is that cryptanalysis of today’s cryptographic algorithms need a lot of computation efforts. Such applications map by nature to hardware based design, which require repetitive mapping of the main block, and is easy to extend by putting in place additional chips as is needed.However, it should be noted that the mere presence of resources for computation is not the main problem. The main problem is availab ility of affordable massive computational resources. The non-recurring engineering costs have enabled hardware meant for special purpose cryptanalysis in virtually all practicable situations unreachable. This has been unreachable to either commercial or research institutions, which has only been taken by government agencies as feasible (Diffie & Hellman, 1977, pp. 74-84).The other alternative to distributed computing with loosely coupled processors finds its base on the idle circles of the large number of computers connected through the internet. This method has considerably been successful for some applications. However, the verified detection of extraterrestrial life is considerably still a problem more so for unviable problems with power of computing in a particular organization (Guneysu, 2006). In cryptanalysis some algorithms are very suitable for special-purpose hardware.One main example for this is the search for the data encryption standard (DES) (FIPS, 1977). What this mean s is that a brute- force attack is more than twice the magnitude faster when put in place on FPGA’s as opposed to in software on computers meant for general purposes at relatively the same costs (FIPS, 1977). That notwithstanding, for many crypto algorithms the advantages due to cost-performance of hardware meant for special purposes over those meant for ordinary purposes is not really as dramatic as is usually the case of DES, more so for public-key algorithms (Guneysu, 2006).Arising from the advent of low-cost FPGA families with much logic approaches recently, field programmable gate arrays offer a very interesting way for the thorough computational effort which cryptanalysis needs (Lesnsta & Verheul, 2001, pp. 255-293). Many algorithms dealing with the most important problems in cryptanalysis is capable of being put in place on FPGAs. Code breaking though, requires more additional efforts as opposed to just programming a single FPGA with a certain algorithm (Electronic Fro ntier Foundation, 1998).Owing to the enormous perspectives of cryptanalysis problems, many more resources as opposed to FPGA are needed. This implies that the main need is massively powerful parallel machinery suited to the requirements of targeted algorithms. Many problems are capable of being put in parallel and are perfectly suited for an architecture distributed. Conventional parallel architectures for computing can theoretically be used for applications of cryptanalysis (Guneysu, 2006). An optical Architecture to Break Ciphers The targeted DES brute force attack has several characteristics.To begin with, expensive computational operations which are put in parallel. Next, there is no need of communication between single parallel instances. The next characteristic is the fact that the general expense for communication is not high owing to the fact that the stage of computation strongly outweighs the data input and output stages. According to Blaze et al, (1996), communication is almost entirely used for results reporting as well as initialization. A central control instance with regards to communication is capable of being accomplished by a conventional low cost personal computer, connected simply by an interface.This would imply that there is no need for a high-speed communication interface. The fourth characteristic is the fact that a DES brute-force attack and its following implementation require little memory. The final consequence of the above is the fact that the available memory on present day low cost FPGAs is sufficient (Guneysu, 2006). What this implies is that by making use of low-cost FPGAs, it is possible to develop a cost effective dynamic architecture which is capable of being reprogrammed which would be able to accommodate all the targeted architectures (Blaze et al, 1996).Realization of COPACOBANA Drawing back, the Cost-Optimized Parallel Code Breaker (COPACOBANA) meeting the needs available comprise of several independent-low prized FPGAs, connected to a hosting PC by way of a standard interface such as a USB. Moreover, such a standard interface permits to extend a host-PC with more than one device of COPACOBANA. The initialization of FPGAs, the control as well as the process of results accumulation is carried out by the host. Critical computations are carried out by the FPGAs, which meet the actual cryptanalytical architecture (Schleiffer, 2006).Developing a system of the above speculations with FPGA boards which are commercially available is certainly possible but at a cost. Therefore it is important to put into considerations the design and layout among others in coming up with the above kind of system (Schleiffer, 2006). This would therefore mean that our cost-performance design meant for cost optimization is only capable of being achieved if all functionalities are restricted to those required for code breaking. Arty the same time, many designs choices should be based on components and interfaces which are readi ly available (Guneysu, 2006).Conclusion In conclusion, cryptanalysis of symmetric and asymmetric ciphers is extremely demanding in terms of computations. It would be fair to hold the belief that breaking codes with conventional PCs as well as super-computers is very much costly. Bit-sizes of keys should be chosen in a way that traditional methods of code breaking do not succeed (Rouvroy et al 2003, pp. 181-193). This would mean that the only way to go through ciphers is to develop special-purpose hardware purposely meant for suitable algorithms.In the final analysis, traditional parallel architecture in the end equally appears to be too complicated and therefore not cost saving in finding solutions to cryptanalytical problems. As earlier observed, many of these problems can easily be put in parallel implying that the algorithms which correspond to them are equally capable of being parameterized to lower communication costs (Guneysu, 2006). A hardware architecture which is cost effec tive (COPACOBANA) is the end product of the algorithmic requirements of the intended problems of cryptanalysis.This work represents not only the design but also the first prototype of an effective design which meets the demands of the request. In the final analysis, COPACOBANA would be able to accommodate as many as 120 FPGAs which are less costly. At the same time, it is possible to break data encryption standard (DES) within a period of nine days. This would require a hardware design comprising of reprogrammable logic which could be adopted to accommodate any task, even those not necessarily in line with code breaking (Rouvroy et al 2003, pp. 181-193). References Blaze, M.. , Diffie, W. , Rivest, R. 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