Brief description of Elio Engineering Essay Example for Free

Brief description of Elio Engineering Essay Elio Engineering is a company founded by Paul Elio and Hari Sankara for development and creation of late 1990s-era car seats. Paul? s seat was part of a special class of automotive seats in the industry called all-belts-to-seat (ABTS), and it was named NC seat (NC for No Compromise). Paul design seat called NC No Compromise since this seat would revolutionize the automotive industry making performance, weight and costs better than the competition. Presently due to its high cost, ABTS was used mostly in luxury and high end vehicles but with the design and idea of Paul, this technology becomes cheaper and can be implemented across all vehicle types for increased safety and comfort. A typical conventional front seat is priced around $500, lower cost compared with the ABTS seat that is like $750. One complete system costs an average of $2500. The seat mechanism, consisting of recliner and tracks, constitutes the technological core of the seat system. †¢ An ABTS integrates the seat belt directly into the seat that is potentially safer because it â€Å"hugs† the occupant in the event of rear collision. †¢ Ease of use, higher comfort level, more attractive appearance and maneuverability of removable seats. In order to launch their product, and knowing that Bostrom was looking for and ABTS, Elio achieved an agreement with the firm, so they could use their site and their facilities (the computers and electronic equipment to warrant the quality of the seat, meet FMVSS and NHTSA standards) to develop the product, otherwise Elio wouldn? t have enough resources to produce and set up the seat. Bostrom planned to unveil the NC Seat at an annual trade show in March of 1999 in Louisville, Kentucky. The size of the US truck Market in that year was expected to be around the 500. 000 units, with the company commanding a market share of 50%, the European Market was about the same size, but Bostrom had no presence there. Elio expected to be able to get 2 to 5 % royalties on sales in the truck industry. However, Paul had concerns if Bostrom is the right partner in this venture where the ABTS seat has the potential to save millions of lives. Potential Market Size for Elio ABTS Seat Technology Elio’s ABTS seat system with its new technology, lighter weight, lesser components, higher safety and reduced costs has the potential to revolutionize the automotive industry and become the technology of choice for OEMs. The market potential in Northern America is 17 million units and up to 53 million units worldwide. As mentioned in the blue ocean strategy of six paths analysis, Elio can also look at alternate industries like heavy trucks, aircraft and passenger trains for its ABTS seat systems (Kim Mauborgne, 2006). Partnership with OEMs While the ultimate users of automotive technology are the customers who buy the cars, it is the OEM’s who make the decision on the seat system that needs to be selected for their vehicles. The OEM’s expect the seat system not only to fit the body of a particular car model but for it to become a part of the total interior design. The three biggest OEM players in the US market are GM, Ford and Diamler Chrysler with 29%, 25% and 16% of the market share. These OEMs use complex and sophisticated market segmentation technics based on demographics and lifestyles to design car interiors and seat systems. These OEMs wield enough power to dictate to the suppliers their requirements at very small operating margins of 2 to 5% (Burgelman, Christensen, Wheelwright, 2008). Also, it is particularly pertinent in engineering driven companies that assume developing new innovative products would generate fabulous success, which is not the case. The product might be successful, however the innovator might not. Considering the aforementioned points, it is important for Elio not to disclose their exact costs to OEMs and also do not rely totally on the innovation of their new ABTS seat system for continued success without a complimentary car interiors option (Kim Mauborgne, 2006). As a result, it is not recommended for Elio to directly approach the OEMs with their ABTS business proposition. Partnership with Competitors Elio Engineering began their initial collaboration with Bostrom Seating, a wholly owned subsidiary of Johnstown America Industries, Inc. (JAII) for prototyping and testing their design of ABTS for FMVSS and NHTSA standards adherence. While their results were successful and the partnership appeared lucrative, JAII’s capabilities in terms of OEM relationships, global presence, acquisition capability, existing alliances, JIT inventory, comfort engineering, CAD/CAM/CAE, benchmarking, research development, product development process, interior systems capabilities, total program management, vertical integration, purchasing, in-house design, system level testing and financial growth were either weak or non-existent (Burgelman, Christensen, Wheelwright, 2008). In this regards, for Elio Engineering, JAII can be seen as early adopters (Moore, 2002), but for Elio to move towards dramatic growth, they will need an early majority (Moore, 2002). In Northern America, Johnson Controls (JCI), Lear Corp. And Magna are the big tier-one players. They have about 60% of the market share. JCI is a global diversified technology and industrial leader in automotive seating, overhead systems and interior electronics (JohnsonControls, 2010). JCI has a strong to adequate positions in OEM relationships, global presence, acquisition capability, existing alliances, JIT inventory, comfort engineering, CAD/CAM/CAE, benchmarking, research development, product development process, interior systems capabilities, total program management, vertical integration, purchasing, in-house design, system level testing and financial growth. Lear Corp. is weaker than JCI in engineering and manufacturing abilities but compensated on systems integration and tier-two relationships. Magna did not excel in any particular area but it had adequate capabilities in most areas. Additionally, JCI and Lear Corp. have a strong global presence too with 27% and 25% respectively in Europe. All the three tier-one companies have the research development and manufacturing capabilities to transfer know-how to develop commercially viable products (Burgelman, Christensen, Wheelwright, 2008; White Bruton, 2007). For Elio Engineering, partnering with a tier-one operator is the practical option due to the following reasons : †¢ Easy access to extensive manufacturing capabilities. †¢ Access to global markets. †¢ Access to sophisticated research and development facilities. †¢ Strong relationships with OEMs. †¢ JIT Inventory and efficient supply chain management. †¢ Good tier-two relationships. For Elio Engineering, partnering with Lear Corp. would be the better than JCI for the following reasons : †¢ JCI has strong RD set-up and they would have their in-house development for ABTS technology. Hence, Elio will have less bargaining power with JCI and possible conflict from JCI’s in-house team. However, Lear Corp’s R D is weak and they would opt for the ABTS technology from Elio to be able to better compete with JCI. This will enable Elio to have the better hand in negotiations. †¢ Lear Corp has the second largest market share in both Northern America and Europe after JCI. Lear Corp will be able to take advantage of Elio’s ABTS solution to increase their market share. †¢ Earlier attempts to associate with JCI were not successful for Paul. The above points indicate that with Lear Corp, Elio will be able to engage in equal terms and be in a â€Å"win-win† situation more than with JCI. References Burgelman, R. , Christensen, C. Wheelwright, S. (2008).Strategic management of technology and innovation (5th ed. ). New York: McGraw-Hill Irwin. Johnstown Controls. (2010). Company and Businesses. Retrieved from http://www. johnsoncontrols. com/ Kim, W. C. Mauborgne, R. (2005). Blue ocean strategy: How to create uncontested market space and make the competition irrelevant. Boston: Harvard Business School Press. Moore, G. (2002). Crossing the chasm (Rev. ed. ). New York: HarperCollins Publishers. White, M. , Bruton, G. (2007). The management of technology and innovation: A strategic approach. Mason, OH: Thompson South-Western.

Differences between Child and Adult

Differences between Child and Adult In recent days, using of Internet has totally changed the environment in which where we live, learn and work. Simultaneously, children are frequently using the Internet and all are always accessing the online. Notably, children have limited knowledge for browsing the information what they want and more difficult to search and retrieve the results than the adults. So, young children are being forced to manage the designs that require complex typing, accurate spelling, advanced reading skills, and understanding of abstract concepts or content knowledge that lies beyond their still-developing abilities (Moore and George, 1991; Solomon, 1993; Walter et al., 1996). Based on Jakob Nielsen et al. (2010), the differences between children and adult in applying the design are the children use Internet for entertainment although the adult is used for communication with people and their communities, children usually use 12, 14 point and adult use 10 point (up to 14 for seniors) for font size, ch ildren have slowly typing and poor mouse control than the adult who can do like as expert, children like animation and sound effects for their design but adult mostly disliked and age-targeted design is importance between child groups but not necessary for adult. 1.2 Investigating preferences of children According to Dina Demner et al. (2001), children use computers and Internet for different purposes and functions which are depend on their like, dislikes, ages, interest, behavior, characteristics and habits. The group of children can be classified into four groups: 3-5 years old pre-readers (only memorize the data that they learned before a day), 5-8 years old beginning readers (start to play cooperatively with other people), 8-12 years old children (become more concentrate on connection between people) and teenagers (willing to analyze the new things but usage of Internet is less than the adult person). Currently, developers who designed for children do not consider the childrens skills and preferences. As a result, the applications may not be easily learned and used by children who have rare knowledge (Hutchinson, Bederson, 2005). Besides that, majority of the tools available are for the expert users which are not suitable for novice users like as children particularly for children who have very limited knowledge in computer. The interactions of children with the technologies depend on their age levels. Based on (Acuff and Reiher, 1997), the children between 8 and 12 change their interests from fantasy to reality. They start to understand more abstract terms, longer terms and more complex terms. Researcher (Inkpen, 2001) studied that the children who ages from 9 to 13 like point and click rather than drag and drop. Moreover, (Read, J.C., MacFarlane, S.J., Casey, C, 2001) discussed the various kinds of text input techniques for children. This research is restricted and compared to t he corresponding research for adults. In addition, colour preference is also one of the key issues to investigate the preference of children. Colour has a great impact on our live from early childhood onwards. Colour alters, evokes emotions, and affects our perception. Besides, preferable colour can increase the cognitive processes (Boyatzis, C.J., Varghese, R. 1993). An experiment (Chung, H. Y., et al. 2009) implemented the colour preferences among children revealed that boys preferred vivid colours for yellow, red, and blue, and bright light tones for yellow, green, and purple. On the other hand girls preferred light tones for yellow, green, and purple and pale tones for red and blue. Design should be based on its targeted users rather than emphasize on discussion with users and the children are not interested in the User Interface design guidelines (Shneiderman, 1998). Therefore, designers should be focused on searching the useful designs which will provide for childrens preferences such as development, health, socia l activities. 2.1 Why sport important for children Exercise can reduce stress that the children who has stress, depression, anxiety as adult have. However, sport, not exercise, encourages growth and contributes to improve physical and emotional health. Sport psychologist: (Dr. Glyn Roberts of the University of Illinois) emphasizes that sport is an important thing to learn the environment for children. Besides, sport provides various kinds of functions and can attain valuable things that can apply in their life. They learn to work hard for winning, study how to cope with life if face with problems, how to continue after failing, learn to listen, to stay concentrated, to obey rules and regulations and many things that can help them to grow into mentally healthier persons. Another benefit is emotional development which contains how to cope with winning and losing, how to try again if it is fail. In addition, team sport also provides the friendship skills that mean if the children want to win, he or she must help other members to finish their part of work and that can help to success in their daily life and also future life. Sport provide healthy, physically and socially growth of children as well as emotionally and social skills. Moreover, the attitudes and behaviour taught to children in sports carry over to adult life. Participation in sports can get many benefits from being physically active for children. It can improve health, develop quality of strong bones and muscles and reduce obesity to maintain a healthy weight, reduce obesity to maintain a healthy weight, improve cardiovascular fitness, provide friendship among people, reduce stress and help relaxation, improve self-esteem. 2.2 Sport sites for children Sport sites in Internet are very useful for children because every child can contribute from its contents. Besides, it does not need to have materials that support for sport and can play just only have computer and broadband internet connection and developing mobile services. There are many available sport sites for children in Web. In our paper, we address some useful sport sites for children called http://www.nflrush.com and http://bettersoccermorefun.com. These websites are official sites and made especially for children. It contains about the positions for football, how to play them, information about fun facts, getting advices and tips. Figure1: Main Form of nflrush website Figure 2: Main Form of Bettersoccermorefun website 3. Design a sports site for children 3.1 Usage of internet by children With the ubiquitous internet access, children have more opportunities been exposed in the light of internet and carried out various online activities. According to Livingstone and Helpsper (2007), the amount of children accessing the internet has continuously increased and internet has become an indispensable tool for them to acquire information and communicate. Comparing with traditional resources, web source is more preferred and used by children (Bilal, 1998). Some data about childrens web use has been analyzed, for instance, one survey (Johnson, 2010) investigated among children whose average age is 10.7 revealed that most children prefer playing online games and visiting websites in a community place like peers house. 3.2 Sports sites for children The fun and learning opportunities that provided by the Web sites is the big concern of children between 6 and 14 years old according to Baumgarten (2003). Besides, a good site should also consider expanding somewhat extent of complexity to meet childrens self-recognition and different developmental levels (Demner, 2001). Therefore, a high quality sports site can go far beyond providing sports related knowledge and skills, actually, it has much to offer to children, for instance, fun, relaxation, chances of communicate and collaborate with peers and develop their interests. This perspective may give a guideline to the designers and help them understand better about the users tasks and adjust design to meet their goals. Therefore, understanding our users, testing and maximizing the degree of usability of the site is critical. After analyzing the particular aspects of children and their unique features, all these should been given high consideration when designing the sports sites. Based on the data (Livingstone Helpsper, 2007) collected among Britain children between 9-19 years old, it has been found that generally boys and young-age teenagers use the internet more often and spend more time on it when comparing with girls and older teens. Another widely accepted fact is that boys spend more time in football games ( ), thus as the main users of the site, the site design should cater for their favours, while at the same time not ignoring their female counterparts. Thus the features of boys should be the focus of designers. 3.3 Usability of web sites As the definition of usability (ISO 9241), it presents the effectiveness, efficiency, and satisfaction with which specified users achieve specified goals in particular environments. Brinck et al. (2001) has proposed some features that a successful web design should include, it should support independent exploration and communication, encourage the users accomplishing their objectives in a fast, efficient and easy way. All these features can also be considered when trying to design a sports site for children. Many existing studies have adopted participatory deign with children, which means the children actively and directly involved in the design process and act as design testers and partners, have found productive results (Read, 2002). The usability engineers in Microsoft (Hanna, L. et.al, 1999) have researched in usability testing by working with groups of children, and have concluded several design guidelines of computer products in the criteria of activity, instruction and screen design. For instance, the activities provided should be interesting and constitute some reward scheme to encourage children to interact with, and supportive instructions should be easy to comprehend. All these can be adopted for planning a sports site for children. Considering the inhibited reading skills and comprehension ability of children, web contents transferred through intuitive formats like animation and audio is necessary. An experiment (Kà ¤hkà ¶nen Oyaska, 2006) implemented among children has revealed that children are more likely to learn from animation instructions, as they expect to explore the functionality and have fun from the site. However, according to their research achievement, a combination with simple textual instructions is also important, as children may confused and feel lose something if only animation can be shown. 3.4 Interaction and collaborative learning of web sites In a survey (Jonson, 2010), researchers have found that, respectively 60.7% and 62.9% of investigated children prefer to visit web sites and play online games in peers houses. Allen (2003) also pointed that the social motivation, sense of attachment, winning friends and recognition, for instance, is a vital factor for sports involvement of children in teenage. In addition, football is a team sports, most children may seek online role play games together. Therefore, entertainment feature of collaborative learning and interaction of the site is another essential matter before beginning the design step. Based on the research approach of a collaborative learning project (Ivan Michal, 2006), maintaining connection among participants, recording their characters and behavior, and then establishing efficient communication tools for them is the premise for formulating an effective collaborative online environment. Just putting this into practice, a football site for children may construct me mbership scheme to attract participation, diverse role play games which can arouse enthusiasm, intuitive interactive activities, in addition, a corner for children to communicate with each other, like discussion boards, online chat rooms are also praiseful. 4. Childrens online behaviour 4.1 childrens online seeking behaviour From the perspective of designers, identifying how children use the internet and their online behaviours is crucial as all these things will directly influence the design issues. Many studies have been done in this area, for instance, in one investigation carried out among British children between 9-19 years old, Livingstone and Helpsper (2007) have found that, the frequency and time spent of internet using by boys and young-age teenagers is much higher when comparing with girls and older teens. Another finding is that boys accessing to the internet in more places than their female counterparts. During the research process of childrens online behaviour, Bilal (2000) has found that invalid switches (e.g. frequently shifting back and forth, visiting sites), continual looping and minimal navigation are the prevalent problems encountered among childrens using of the sites. The main reason has been attributed to the abstract and complex representation of the web information. In this context, straightforward icons and childrens familiar metaphors can be used to alleviate frustration of iterate actions and support their efficient navigation in the site, as well as a good arrangement of content categories. According to the outcome released by another experiment (Kà ¤hkà ¶nen Oyaska, 2006), researchers found that due to the limit learnability of help function, most children rarely use this part in the web sites. However, considering the cognitive capacity of children and their levels of computer experience, a useful help function is necessary and it is a critical part for their acceptance of a sports site. Thus, for this special group, the help part should be provided in a directive and intuitive way, long and tedious texts, abstract concepts, ambiguous categories should be avoided. Besides, effective real time help is more helpful. 4.2. Participation of Parents Parents participation is very important for children, according to the Eccles expectancy-value model (Eccles Harold, 1991), parents influence their child choices by providing differential levels of support for activities. They also proposed that the level of support is based on expectations of the likelihood that their child will be successful in that area, and the personal beliefs about the value of success in that domain. The degree of involvement of parents in their children sport activities is also important. Most of the parents under involve and most of the parents over involve in their children activities. Under involvement means parents watch on sidelines and they do not actively participate in their children programs. Over involved parents excessively involve in the running program of their children. They emphasize on winning and motivate their children to get success in their running programs. Parents participation in their children sport make the child to get competitive a dvantage, the children can actively involve and can do happily their activities with the support of their parents. (include features for the participation of parents , teachers, interactive games, information the site provided) 5. Design Principles for Children Since designers design the system, they must know clearly Who are the users using the system? If the system is for various users who have different knowledge about it, they need to focus on from different perspective like what are the user needs and interests depending on users profiles and personas.(children) Norman (1988) defined user-centered design as a philosophy based on the needs and interests of the users, with an emphasis on making products usable and understandable. He added that easy to understand and easy to use of the products are pointing out the user to let them know what to do and the user can clearly understand what is going on. According to the Rubin (1944), user-centered design is techniques and procedures for designing usable systems with the user at the centre of the process. User-centered design principles place increased attention on developing products that are ease of use and ease of understand by focusing on the user throughout the design process (Dumas Redish, 1993; Eason, 1988; Gould Lewis, 1985; Shackel, 1991). If users are elderly, text font size should be larger than usual as they cannot see the small font size clearly, voice output should be provided more longer than as usual or instead of voice output, text output with large text font should be used as the elderly may be lost in hearing.For users with disabilities, the system designers need to use more flexible computer software in order to support special tools for them. For low vision or blind users, voice output should be provided instead of message output. For the users who have trouble in hand function, using mice and trackballs can be a problem for them. Instead of using these input devices, speech recognition device like voice input can solve the problems for disabled children. There are many important interaction design principles and there are many way to apply those principles. As our paper focuses on children, we will describe some of the principles and point out what designers should take into account when designing the interface design for children. According to the (Heim, 2007), two main categories can be used to present the principles in a systematic and structured way: namely effectiveness principles and efficiency principles. He defined efficiency as a design that enable users to accomplish their tasks in the easiest and quickest way as much as possible without having to do overly complex or extraneous procedures. Efficiency and effectiveness are the principles that support usability. According to the (Usability), the term usability means The level of ease with which people can employ a particular device in order to attain and increase usability. There are many design principle that are applied in human computer interaction. There are three main d esign principles which support usability such as learnability, flexibility and robustness. Under each of these categories, there are many sub principles that affect them (usability). Among these principles, the principles that are required for children will be discussed. Learn ability is the primary goal of the user interface design and it is the very important design principles for children. It they do not know clearly how to use the system and if it is very difficult for them to use, they can get confusion and they will not use this system anymore. For example, if too many clicks are required to complete a task, children cannot memorize at once and it can get them confused. Next time they visit back, they will not be sure how to go through to complete their tasks. Responsiveness is also one of the design principles in which the response time of the system should not take long as users are children. If system response time is slow, they may think that the system cannot provide what they want and it cannot work properly. Children cannot memorize many things at one time like the adult. They can memorize well only one thing at a time. For example, when installing the software, many steps are required to finish. Users need to click on Next button to move forward and need to choose location to place the installed softwares icon. After all the steps have been done, users need to click Finish button. Software installation process should not be different. It should be consistent. If installation process for different software is not the same, it can be problems for users to memorize what should they do for this software to install and what should they perform for other software. If the installation process is similar for different software, users can predict how should they move on by calling memory on past interaction history. As the focus users are children, the designers should know the characteristics of children and should design the site to allow them ease of use and should provide required functionality. From the examples of Heim (2007), the design for a drawing program should enumerate all of the tools required to create digital drawings, another example is that in a website, all the information must be provided that are required by the visitor in order to accomplish his or her goals. For the children who are less than five year cannot read the instructions in the form of message. Designers need to consider this factor. Instead of displaying instruction in the form of message, audio, video, animation should be used to let them know what should they do to complete their tasks. For younger children rather than older children, Sears Jacko (2008) stated that To eliminate the need for mouse clicking, the cursor is transformed into a big yellow star with room for five small stars inside it. As the mouse is held over a target, the small stars appear once at a time. When the fifth star appears, it counts as clicking on that target. If the child does click, the process simply moves faster. For the adult, double-clicking is not a problem for them. For the kids, they do not know the action of double-clicking. Single click action should be provided instead of double clicking. Conclusion The following are design issues for children that should be considered when designing the system for children. Multiple navigations should be avoided because it can be a problem for children and they can get confusion on it. In sport sites, if text font size of guideline instructions such as rules and regulations for each sport is 12, they cannot focus on it. So, text font size should be larger than as usual. Youngest kids do not know how to scroll up and scroll down. This is the big problem for them. Instead of using scrolling, multiple pages should be used. Radio buttons and checkboxes should not be used as they do not have ability which option to choose. Search box should not be provided. They do not know how to search and they are slow in typing. Instead of search box, the required functions should be put together on the screen.

Comparing Financial Ratio Analysis Between Two Companies Finance Essay

Comparing Financial Ratio Analysis Between Two Companies Finance Essay A financial report or the financial statement is known as an official record of the financial activities of a person, a business, or any other entity. In the British English also including the United Kingdom company rule; a financial statement is frequently mentioned as an account, even though the word financial statement is also mostly used, mostly by the accountants. In a business enterprise, all the related financial evidence, presented in a structured method and in a form that is really easy to copy and understand by others, are called the financial declarations. They normally contain four basic financial declarations, escorted by a management analysis and discussion. Statement of cash flows: reports that shows the cash flow activities of a company, normally its operation, financing and investing activities. Balance sheet: this is also referred as the statement of financial condition or position, reports that show the companys  assets, ownership equity, and the  liabilities at a given period of time. Statement of retained earnings: this explains the changes in the retained earnings of a company over its reporting period. Income statement: this is referred to as a Loss and Profit statement, income reports of a company, profits, and expenses over a certain period of time. Loss and Profit account is provided with information on the process of the enterprise. These include the various expenses and the sale that acquired during the dispensation state. For the large organizations, these statements are often difficult and may include a wide-ranging set of notes to the financial statements and analysis and management discussion. The notes are usually describing each item on the cash flow statement, balance sheet, and income statement in more detail. All notes to financial declarations are considered an integral part of the financial declarations. Two companies are compared and contrasted. This will show the difference of everything between both these companies. It shows the different income ane different profits earned by these companies. It also shows that even different companies have many things that do not come in common. FORMULA TIME ENGINEERING BERHAD WONG ENGINEERING CORPORATION BERHAD Liquidity Ratios Networking Capital= Current Assets Current Liabilities = 358618 113715 = 244903 = 51929026 1517900 = 50411126 Current Ratio= _Current Assets__ Current Liabilities 358618 / 113715 = 3.15 = 51929026 / 1517900 = 34.21 Quick Ratio = Current Assets (Inventory+Prepaid Expense) Current Liabilities = 358618 ( 72 + 35220 ) 113715 = 358618 ( 35292 ) 113715 = ( 323326 ) 113715 = 2.843 = 51929026 ( 19423010 + 175601 ) 1517900 = 51929026 ( 21179021 ) 1517900 = 3721752.23 Assets Utilization Ratios Accounts Receivable Turnover ( Net Credit Sales + Average Accounts Receivable) = 256536 . [ 64657 + (24970 / 2) ] = 256536 . ( 64657 + 12485 ) = 256536 77124 = 3.32 N / A Average Collection Period = Accounts Receivable Daily Credit Sales = 24970 . ( 68643 / 365 ) = 24970 118.06 = 132.7 = 133 days = 1777208 . ( 11995710 / 365 ) = 1777208 32864.96 = 54.08 = 54 days Inventory Turnover Ratio = Cost of Goods Sold Average Inventory = 64651 . ( 40964 / 2 ) = 64651 20482 = 3.16 = 63297596 . ( 19423010 / 2 ) = 63297596 9711505 = 6.52 Fixed Assets Turnover = Net Sales . Total Fixed Assets = 999132 2248486 = 0.444 = 2370124 . 147201386 = 0.016 Leverage Ratio Debt Ratio = Net Sales . Total Assets = 999132 2248486 = 0.444 = 0.444 x 100 = 44.4 % = 2370124 . 147201386 = 0.016 = 0.016 x 100 = 1.6 % Equity Ratio = Total Liabilities . Stockholders Equity = 1249165 959625 =1.301 = 15446858 129147162 = 0.120 Times Interest Earned Ratio = Earnings Before interest and Tax Interest Expense = 106497 7218 = 17.53 = 18 times N / A Profitability Ratios Gross Profit Margin = Gross Profit Net Sales = 200887 999132 = 0.201 = 0.201 x 100 = 20.1 % = 6900285 2370124 = 2.911 = 2.911 x 100 = 291.1 % Return on Total Assets = Net Income . Average Total Assets = 68643 . ( 2248486 / 2 ) = 68643 1124243 = 0.061 = 70197881 . ( 147201386 / 2 ) = 7019881 73600693 = 0.095 Return Common Equity = Earning Available to Commons Stockholders Average Stockholder Equity = 39696 959626 = 0.041 N /A Market Value Ratios Earnings per Share = Net Income-Preferred Dividends . Total Common Shares Outstanding = 24970 56490 = 0.442 N /A Dividend Yield = Dividend per Share Market Price per Share N / A N / A Conclusion Those are the following latest reports of financial reports of two different companies. As what we can see above is that WONG ENGINEERING CORPORATION BERHAD (WECB) has better network and better income compared to TIME ENGINEERING BERHAD (TEB). But both companies are from the same industries. Both of these companies are in the engineering field. They both sell products regarding engineering. By comparing these companies we can clearly see which company is much more successful and which is not. As you can see that the amounts of WONG ENGINEERING CORPORATION BERHAD is very high compared to TIME ENGINEERING BERHAD, but (WECB) has no income at all. They suffer from loss. Even though (TEB) has low income they do have some profit at the end of the day. This makes it clear that amount is not enough to make a company successful; a company needs skills to do so. Therefore the companies are compared and contrasted.

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens :: Great Expectations Essays

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens Coursework Question: In the extract where Pip, a boy from a very humble background meets Miss Havisham, a rich but eccentric lady dickens wants the reader to feel sympathetic towards Pip. How does he make us feel this way? In this assignment, I will analyse, discuss and comment on the techniques Charles Dickens (Dickens) uses as a writer to gain sympathy for the main character Pip. I will look closely at setting, language, characterisation, the opening and closing of the extract. I will also quote ideas and phrases from the text to help me analyse and explain. Pip, the main character, is a lonely orphaned child. He lives with his sister and her husband the blacksmith. We know that Pip’s family is poor because they live of a blacksmith wages, not very much. The novel is set in the Victorian era where social status played a major role in daily life; we see this in the novel. Pip’s sister brought him up by ‘hand’ and finds he is a burden on her. Dickens chose to make the main character, Pip, lonely and poor to gain our sympathy. This novel is written in the voice first person, as if it were Pip telling the story. Dickens wrote this novel from Pip’s point of view. Pip is telling us the story when he is much older, as if he were thinking back to when he was a child. The fact that Dickens chose to make Pip, the main character, the narrator instead of another character creates a bond between Pip and us, the readers. In this extract Pip is sent by Mr Pumblechook, a distant relative, to see Miss Havisham (Havisham). Mr Pumblechook is not of higher class, but mingles well with them. Mr Pumblechook believes Havisham will take to Pip like she took to Estella, which would secure Pip’s future. Although another reason is that Pips sister finds he is a burden on her and wouldn’t mind getting rid of him. Pip is warned to behave, as Havisham is of higher social class and his sister doesn’t want him to ruin his chances. When Pip enters Havisham’s house we have hope for Pip that Havisham will take to him like she did to Estella. Havisham, as she is of higher, lives in a more lavish house than Pip. Dickens uses the setting to gain sympathy and to keep us interested. Pip enters a large room, he very observant. For example he mentions, ‘pretty large room, well lighted with wax candles.’ The description creates a mental image in our minds of where he is, immediately we

The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea: True Order Exists in the E

The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea: True Order Exists in the Exposed Core The seas refuse to obey any of man's laws. Winds, storms and currents shift and distort the massive waters, shaping the land that lies within them. Unexplored in regions, the black depths mimic dormancy prior to rising up at unpredictable moments of torrential strength. The ocean's murder, rape and disregard of life is not punishable by any law or code of morality, and in Yukio Mishima's The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea, it exemplifies the perfect order of existence. Surviving according to nature's impulse, the ocean is the model of a raw, reactionary being. To the youths in the story, this emotionless lifestyle is the only means by which one can become aligned with the perfect core of existence. To betray oneself to feelings, morals and similar illusions created by adults is "falling from grace" with one's own distinct, perfect role. In The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea, the preceding theories are explored by a group of six young Japanese scholars, and a 13-year old "Chief" leads this band. The story is told from the point of view of the "middle genius," Noboru, who is delineated as "Number #3" of the six scholars. Thus, Noboru's number has a significant reflection on his perception of the Chief's teachings (the necessity of abolishing emotion). Though working to incorporate the Chief's theories, Noboru has yet to detach himself completely from his subjective nature. Once this has been accomplished, his stature will rise in the group, denoted by a higher number. The Chief, or "Number 1," is the giver of knowledge (comparable to the asp in the Garden of Eden). His morbid ideas entail that the perfect core of existence... ... further anchor their own hearts into the current of existence. About the Author: Yukio Mishima was born in Tokyo in 1925. Translations of his works have appeared in over 15 countries, and he has composed plays, novels, short stories and numerous articles. Many of his works, including the one explored in this paper, have been converted into motion pictures. At the peak of his career, Mishima committed seppuku (ritual suicide) on the afternoon of the completion of his masterwork, The Sea of Fertility. Oddly, this compilation of works is a literary drill of Mishima's own suicide; perhaps he had fallen from grace with his role as a writer. Works Cited Mishima, Yukio. The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea. New York: Perigee Books, 1965. The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea. Twentieth Century Fox. Starring Sarah Miles, Kris Kristofferson, 1976.

Life and Death Themes in the Sandbox and Everyman

Research Paper – Life and Death Themes in The Sandbox and Everyman COURSE # ENGL-102_D22_200940 COURSE TITLE: English 102 SEMESTER OF ENROLLMENT: D Fall 2009 NAME Glen MacDonald Glen MacDonald Professor Smith English 102 December 5, 2009 Research Paper – Life and Death Themes in The Sandbox and Everyman This paper explores the perception and treatment of death at points in history some 500 years apart by using two dramatic plays as a portal into their respective time periods.The anonymously written 15th century play Everyman and the 1959 Edward Albee play, The Sandbox provide two extreme points of contrast to demonstrate the significant changes and similarities in man’s living conditions and his perceptions and treatment of death. An overview of life in medieval England about the year 1500, and life in America in 1959 is provided up front to establish the realities of the time period in which to review each play.Both plays will be examined by referencing research regarding their respective authors, the works themselves and by incorporating other materials that provide insight into their significance and meanings. The paper will conclude by providing a summary of insights and points of interest regarding the perception and treatment of death during both eras. Life in 16th century medieval England was considerably different than American life in 1959.In addition to the substantial difference in day to day living conditions, such as a roof over ones head or heat and light, life in medieval England was brutal by today’s standards. Many aspects of daily existence that we take for granted in modern American cities such as sanitation, nutrition and medical care were mostly non-existent in a medieval English city. The limited availability of health and basic services, contributed to high rates of disease which reduced the average life expectancy to approximately 40 years old.According to Carolyn Freeman Travers, a Research Manager with Plimo th Plantation, the rate of infant mortality and death from childhood disease was much higher during that time period than it was in 1959 (1). Travers points out that many people did live to be older than the 40 year average, but it was only if they survived childbirth and then navigated the disease prone childhood years to make it to adulthood (1). By comparison, life in America in the late 1950’s was much easier, as is reflected by the life expectancy statistics.According to the U. S. Department of Health’s, Life Tables for 1959, the average life expectancy in the United States in 1959 was approximately 70 years of age (76). This 30 year or so difference in life expectancy, although significant on its own, when combined with the medieval childhood death statistics and the fact that death most often occurred within one’s home, the average medieval adult would have likely had a great deal of personal experience with death, likely within their own families.This is not the case in 1959 America where death often happened in a hospital setting or where the mature funeral business quickly whisked a body away from the home setting. Another interesting reference point for the two time periods is religion, and the level and significance of participation in organized religion. According to Chris Trueman, a British history teacher religious participation has changed dramatically during the past 500 years. The Medieval Church played a far greater role in Medieval England than the Church does today.In Medieval England, the Church dominated everybody's life. All Medieval people – be they village peasants or towns people – believed that God, Heaven and Hell all existed. From the very earliest of ages, the people were taught that the only way they could get to Heaven was if the Roman Catholic Church let them. Everybody would have been terrified of Hell and the people would have been told of the sheer horrors awaiting for them in Hell in the weekly services they attended. (1) (Trueman, Chris. â€Å"The Medieval Church. History Learning Site. N. p. , n. d. Web. 14 Dec. 2009. ) Although accurate estimates for religious participation in the United States in 1959 were not readily available, it is likely that between 80% – 90% of Americans participated in regular religious activities during that period of time. Even though this participation number is not significantly lower that the medieval participation number, it is evident that organized religion no longer plays the dominant role in the daily life of western culture that it did during medieval times.It seems that even though the majority of people continue to participate in organized religion, that adherence to traditional Christian based beliefs, rituals surrounding death, personal morals and family values all have deteriorated significantly in western culture since medieval times. An example of this change in family values is evident by the way in which we car e for elderly parents today and how in many cases parents are treated with the out of sight out of mind mentality which is very pervasive in western society today.This trend is highlighted by the significant increase in the number of old age homes springing up across America. As Ruiping Fan reported in The Journal of Medicine and Philosophy in 2007, â€Å"Across the world, socio-conomic [sic] forces are shifting the focus of long-term care from the family to institutional settings, producing significant moral, not just financial costs (1). Fan goes on to discuss the increasing move away from filial piety (respect and responsibility for parents), which had been a staple in eastern culture, towards more western oriented cultural norms, which includes institutional care for elderly parents (2).Fan explains the reasons for these cultural changes saying, â€Å"It is just not feasible for most of us to undertake family care in today’s society because most of us are living in a ho usehold where both husband and wife are working to support the household† (7). In looking at how the author of Everyman perceives and treats death, one must keep in mind that the primary purpose of medieval morality plays was to communicate the religious message of the day to the mostly uneducated and illiterate population.In this case the play’s author demonstrates the high significance of his message regarding death by immediately and dramatically introducing death in Everyman. He accomplishes this by quickly and specifically orienting the audience to the play’s theme of death and by introducing the Death character to the audience. The introduction of Death takes place at the end of God’s speech where He calls upon death by saying â€Å"Where art thou, Death, thou mighty messenger? † (line 63). This is somewhat nusual for a play of this time as Allen Goldhamer notes in his 1973 journal article where he says: In order to understand the play’ s greatness, one should bear in mind that Everyman’s presentation of death is highly unusual. The dramatization of death usually occupies the latter portion of the final act of a play and is often handled sensationally or sentimentally. In Everyman the hero begins to die near the opening of the play, and the focus of the drama is on a man involved in the stages of death. (87) (Goldhamer, Allen D. Everyman: A Dramatization of Death† Quarterly Journal of Speech 59. 1 (1973): 87. Communication ; Mass Media Complete. EBSCO. Web. 10 Dec. 2009. ) For those attending a circa 1500 performance of Everyman, the dramatic delivery of this play combined with the pertinent messages of redemption and salvation along with the death theme would have both captivated the audience and instilled extreme fear in them. As noted by Dennis Moran in his 1972 paper on â€Å"Everyman,† in speaking about the play’s character Death, he notes that â€Å". . .Death physically quits the stage with four-fifths of the play remaining and the terror aroused by his summons almost wholly subsides with Everyman’s return to sanctifying grace† (324). Speaking in today’s terms, this would have translated into a prime time television commercial for the Roman Catholic Church, representing the only way in which one could access God’s salvation, achieve eternal life and not be dammed to hell. It is also interesting to note the evident Roman Catholic theme regarding Good Deeds as the measuring stick of one’s earthly life, the price for salvation and entry into heaven upon death.This is highlighted when Good Deeds says â€Å"All earthly things is but vanity: Beauty, Strength, and Discretion do man forsake, Foolish friends, and kinsmen, that fair spake – all fleeth save Good Deeds, and that am I† (lines 870-73). As you read this play and visualize watching the play from the audience’s perspective or maybe even being placed dire ctly in Everyman’s literal situation, one becomes aware of the specific knowledge the author portrays regarding the mental manipulation involved in dying.This is evident as the play’s author leads Everyman through the initial stages associated with his impending death, first where he demonstrates a lack of recognition of Death, then by asking Death for more time and then by attempting to bribe Death with ? 1,000, all which happens before he starts to consider and then later accept his fate. As Goldhamer notes in his paper, this process closely parallel’s modern psychological thinking on death as he alludes to when he says â€Å"There is no reason for us to assume that earlier ages possessed any less profound insight than our own in the matter of death† (88).In complete contrast to Everyman is Edwards Albee’s 1959 play The Sandbox, where death is turned into the farcical backdrop for this generational satire. The death of Grandma is used to highligh t the absolute nonsense that goes on in many multi-generational family relationships, and highlights how elderly parents are often treated like children or even worse, like pets, by their own children. Unlike in Everyman, where death pursues our protagonist based on God’s command to do so, in The Sandbox, Albee uses the aggressive Mommy and the meek grumbling Daddy characters to drag Grandma to her death.They bring her on stage against her will dumping her cockeyed in the sandbox where the Angel of Death is hovering near by. According to Mathew Roudane in his book about Albee, he notes Albee’s use of death as a common theme in many of his plays and then adds that â€Å"Albee continually returns to exploring the darker side of the human soulscape† (6). Later Roudane makes reference to comments from an interview with Albee regarding his perception of death, here he recounts Albee as saying â€Å"how we lie to ourselves and to each other, how we try to live withou t the cleansing consciousness of death† (23).Although one could interpret Albee’s comments a number of ways, he is pretty clear that he feels death is an important theme in â€Å"The Sandbox† and in his other plays. It appears that he uses the death theme to tell people to wake up and live life completely, because life is short and ends abruptly with death. The life and death contrast he is alluding to is made evident in The Sandbox by how alive Albee makes the soon to die elderly Grandma character appear in contrast to the emotionally dead characters of Mommy and Daddy. Aside from the Angel of Death played by the young man, The Sandbox contains no directly visible religious references.In a literal sense, Grandma’s death is portrayed as strictly the physical act of dying, much like the treatment of death in modern American culture where rituals associated with death and the proceedings at some funerals appear to be surreal. However, Albee has built additio nal metaphors into this play by using the somewhat simple stage setup including the background of sea and sky along with the sandbox and a few chairs. As Lucina Gabbard states in her 1982 review of The Sandbox: â€Å"In this play, the sandbox is the entrance hall of life, the hospital dying room, and the grave.It is located on a sandy beach near the sea, whose waters symbolize both birth and death† (28). Gabbard goes on to point out how the characters support these additional metaphors as she writes â€Å"As the action of the play proceeds, the symbolism deepens. Mommy and Daddy, seated opposite the sandbox, perform two rituals simulta-neously [sic]: baby-sitting and death-watching† (28). Albee stretches out the play’s climatic event, the death of Grandma, with extreme patience, all the while emphasizing each character’s role and thought processes.For Grandma, she recounts her life from a serious perspective as a wife and mother when talking about living on the farm with her now deceased husband and then from a less serious perspective when she says â€Å"I had to raise that big cow over there all by my lonesome† (1068). The offstage noises signal that Grandma’s death is looming closer, which causes the silly dialogue between Mommy and Daddy to increase, thereby focusing the audience on the contrived nature of Grandma’s disposal from the family.Finally after Mommy and Daddy prepare to leave and Grandma is nearing her end, Mommy says â€Å"We must put away our tears, take off our mourning . . . face the future. It’s our duty† (1069). The ending and ultimate death of Grandma incorporates the only noticeable moment of love in the entire play, this kiss between the Angel of Death lets Grandma leaves the world with a final contented line â€Å"You’re . . . you’re welcome dear† (1069). In the end Albee treats the death of Grandma with the love and compassion you would hope for and ex pect in real life.Although these two plays, Everyman and The Sandbox appear at opposite ends of the spectrum in many ways, they both deal directly with issues surrounding death and provide insight and a historical perspective of the prevailing culture. At the time that Everyman was first playing, the Roman Catholic Church held the monopoly on the rituals associated with death, and they were striving to educate the population on how to live within the context of honoring Church and God.Although this is meant to be a very serious play, the dry humor and embedded entertainment value is made evident by how the plot and characters combine to ensure salvation for Everyman. At the other end of the scale, Albee establishes a very novel approach to communicate his message of abandonment and how American culture has evolved into a self-centered miserable existence for the masses. This play makes the point that without a purposeful, intentional life including thought and reflection regarding o nes own death and even one’s eternal life, that life itself can become an irrelevant meaningless struggle.Both these plays hit the cultural mark of their respective historical periods by providing enlightening insights into death and other relevant issues of the day by incorporating some comedic value into the entertaining dramas.Works Cited Albee, Edward. â€Å"The Sandbox. † 1959. Perrine†s Literature: Structure, Sound, and Sense. 10th ed. Ed. Thomas R Arp and Greg Johnson. Boston:Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2009. 1064 – 1070. â€Å"Everyman. † Everyman and Medieval Miracle Plays. Ed. J M Dent. North Claredon: Tuttle Publishing, 1993. 197 – 225. Fan, Ruiping â€Å"Which Care? Whose Responsibility? And Why Family? A Confucian Account of Long-Term Care for the Elderly. † Journal of Medicine and Philosophy 32. 5 (2007): 495-517. Philosopher's Index. EBSCO. Web. 14 Dec. 2009. Freeman Travers, Carolyn. â€Å"Myth and Reality. † Pli moth Plantation. N. p. , n. d. Web. 13 Dec. 2009. . Gabbard, Lucina P. â€Å"Edward Albee's Triptych on Abandonment. † Twentieth Century Literature: A Scholarly and Critical Journal 28. 1 (1982): 14-33. Hofstra University 10 Dec. 2009 Goldhamer, Allen D. â€Å"Everyman: Dramatization of Death† Quarterly Journal of Speech 59. 1 (1973): 87 – 98. Communication & Mass Media Complete. EBSCO. Web. 10 Dec. 2009. Moran, Dennis V. â€Å"The Life of Everyman. † Neophilologus. 56. (1972): 324-30. MLA International Bibliography. Gale. Liberty University. 11 Dec. 2009 . Roundane, Mathew C. Understanding Edward Albee. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1987 Trueman, Chris â€Å"The Medieval Church. † History Learning Site. 1. , n. d. Web. 14 Dec. 2009. . U. S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare. Public Health Service. â€Å"New York State Life Tables: 1958-61. Vol. 2. Washington: n. p. , 1966. 76. Center for Disease Control Web. 13 Dec. 2009 . .

Inner city redevelopment and regeneration – London’s Dockland case study

* During nineteenth century, London was the busiest port of the world. But due to changes such as better technology, they became abandoned and derelict. * Larger ships could not reach the port and containerization did away with the need of large number of dockers. * By that time the area had very few jobs, the docks had closed and over half of the land was derelict, many of the houses needed urgent repair, transport was poor and there was a lack of basic services, leisure amenities and open space. * The London Dockland's Development Corporation (LDDC) tried to improve the economic, social and environmental conditions of the area. Changes ; Physical: derelict land reclaimed, trees planted, open space created and conservation areas created. ; Economic: improved transport systems means faster journey. Improvements in roads. Employment and businesses increased e.g. The Guardian and Daily Telegraph. High tech firms came due to the low rates of the enterprise zone. These were followed by firms wishing to relocate in new office blocks. ; Social: more than 20 000 homes created. Former docks converted into luxury flats. Large, modern shopping complexes built. Other activities such as marina for water sports and indoor sports centre built. Several areas cleared and converted into parks and area of open space. Almost 100 million pounds has also been spent of health, education, training and community programmes. Reasons for success You can read also Costco Case Study * Extremely high prices of land for new offices and residential development. * The potential of leisure activities and scenic views along the riverside. * Funding of some of the infrastructure by the government. * Initiatives taken by entrepreneurs like John Mowlem, whose company built the London City Airport. * The development of the Dockland Light Railway. * The setting up of the Isle of Dogs Enterprise zone to attract industry. * The development of the airport bringing easy journeys. Groups involved in this * Local housing societies helped by gaining home improving grants. * The local Newham council built affordable houses and improved local services. * The LDDC were responsible for planning and redeveloping dockland. * The national government created enterprise zone with its reduced rate. It encouraged private investment and improved transport systems. * Property developers were responsible for building large office blocks and converting derelict warehouses into luxury flats. * Conservation groups supported tree planting and other schemes. Opinions ? School leaver: happy because there are more new jobs available. ? Local shopkeepers: happy because they will have wealthier customers. ? Local retired people: bad, because the prices in the area rise sharply. ? Former docker: bad because no appropriate manual jobs created. ? Social worker: bad because local community is broken by newcomers. ? Elderly: bad because there is no sufficient services such as hospitals. ? Local people: bad, they wanted jobs and affordable houses. ? People living in Birmingham: happy as their houses were improved along with new facilities provided with them. Nupur Jain 5F Geography case study