Regulatory Genes Lab Report Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Regulatory Genes - Lab Report Example For the second experiment, the mutant and wild type cDNA was constructed. The cDNAs and GST genes were inserted into an expression vector. This stage was carried out to synthesize fusion proteins of LHX3a, LHX3bY116C, LHX3aY111C and LHX3b all fused to GST. Glutathione S-transferase (GST) is known to be a protein which aids in the purification and isolation of proteins of interest. The controls were set up by isolating the GST proteins only. The fusion proteins were later separated with the use of electrophoresis and the proteins were used as a substrate for the binding assay. Purified radio-labeled Pit-1 and NIL were later added to the gel that had the mutant and wild type fusion proteins.In this case, if there were binding sites(No mutation effect), the Pit-1 and NIL proteins could bind to the proteins(LHX3).The presence of the bound Pit-1 and NIL were visualized with fluorography. The binding of Pit-1 and NIL were then quantified by scintillation counting (electrophoresis gel band intensity measurement).The first experiment aimed at determining if mutations in the LXH3 gene can interfere with LHX3a and LHX3b’s ability to binding to DNA promoters and reporter genes. As indicated in figure 1, both mutation types affected the activation of alpha GSU gene (red bars). The truncated mutations with no DNA binding domain were not able to activate the reporter gene, while on the other hand, point mutations with altered amino acid in the LHX3 protein interaction domain, had reduced activation.

Staples - Goodwill Report Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Staples - Goodwill Report - Research Paper Example The company has its stores operating all around the world and delivering quality goods and services to the customers worldwide. It manages its goodwill and credible position through effective communication channels, proper employee management, valuing loyal customers and building a successful network of honest stakeholders for the organization. An effective management o the organizational plans and strategies, is what constitutes the goodwill. Besides this, being loyal and honest to the customers and maintaining a customer-centered attitude forms the basis of an advanced and organized goodwill plan. Thus, we can assume that the overall management and implementation of goodwill plan is the absolute need of an organization to operate successfully. This element has given rise to many success stories, such as that of Staples Incorporation. An elaborated goodwill plan of Staples is discussed ahead in this paper. Table of Contents Staples Incorporation 4 Communication 5 Customers 7 Employe es 7 Environment 8 Conclusion 9 Recommendation 10 Works Cited 11 Appendix 12 Appendix A 12 Appendix B 13 Appendix C 14 Illustrations Direct Competitor Comparison    SPLS PVT1 ODP OMX Industry Market Cap: 11.05B N/A 1.12B 626.71M 319.51M Employees: 52,919 N/A 40,000 30,000 2.75K Qtrly Rev Growth (yoy): 1.90% N/A -3.20% -2.80% 5.90% Revenue (ttm): 24.66B N/A 11.53B 7.10B 447.72M Gross Margin (ttm): 30.09% N/A 28.80% 25.63% 35.50% EBITDA (ttm): 2.09B N/A 235.86M 222.22M 26.40M Operating Margin (ttm): 6.47% N/A 0.25% 1.79% 4.32% Net Income (ttm): 891.42M N/A -116.36M 55.22M N/A EPS (ttm): 1.23 N/A -0.42 0.63 0.15 P/E (ttm): 12.59 N/A N/A 11.55 18.87 PEG (5 yr expected): 0.77 N/A -7.84 1.30 0.98 P/S (ttm): 0.44 N/A 0.10 0.09 0.75 Pvt1 = Lyreco Group (privately held) ODP = Office Depot, Inc. OMX = OfficeMax Incorporated Industry = Specialty Retail, Other Business organizations are operating in a very tough corporate environment these days. They are struggling hard to maintain their comp etitiveness along with being resilient, flexible and rulers at the same time. For this purpose, it becomes necessary for them to keep up their goodwill and take care of the performance and reputation in the market among tough rivals and cutting edge competition. Staples Incorporation Not every company is a success story. There are many organizations, both large and small scale, which are working in the rigid business environment. Similarly, staples is one such company which is attempting to pave its way through managing in building goodwill amongst the other market leader. The Staples Incorporation is one of the larger office supply chain store, which has more than 2,000 operational stores which are working in around 26 countries. The store has its main foundation in United States, Framingham, Massachusetts, and has its large network of retail stores operating all across the world. The retail outlets of Staples are all also involved in the business dealings and transactions with sev eral firms in numerous European countries and this is commonly referred to as the Staple Advantage (Bloom Energy, Online). The organization has built up its reputation in the market of furniture, supplies, promotional products, office machines, technology and other services to various businesses in both, physical stores and

Essay on my Favourite Book Snow White

Essay on my Favourite Book Snow White Snow White was the heroine of the first full-length animated film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, in 1937. Snow White is young, pretty, virginal, sweet-natured and obedient. She doesnt mind housework because she is sure that a rich young man will soon come and take her away. When Snow White is afraid, she runs away and falls down in tears. When she finds shelter in a dirty little house in the woods, she immediately cleans it from top to bottom. When she lives there, she continues to do the housework: the group of (small) working males who live in the house clearly need a mother to clean for them, so this is Snow Whites natural role. SHELTER is something that protects you and keeps you safe from weather or from dangers Snow Whites only enemy is her wicked and powerful step-mother. (Another typical Disney character is the evil older women, who has a lot of power. She is always destroyed.) WICKED: bad, evil A STEP-MOTHER is a woman who marries someones father after their mother died Snow Whites wicked step-mother tricks Snow White into eating a poisoned apple and she falls into a coma. The dwarfs cannot help her. Snow White must wait until she is rescued by the kiss of a handsome prince, and then she rides off happily with her new love. TRICK: (v) to fool or deceive When someone is in a COMA, they are completely unconscious and cannot be awakened This is typical of Disneys movies. Young women are naturally happy home-makers; they wait (like Snow White in her coma) until a man comes along to give them life. Something is TYPICAL if it has the usual qualities of a type of thing. After Snow White, Disney used other fairy tales for his movies, for example Cinderella (1950) and Sleeping Beauty (1959). The heroines and their stories were very similar to Snow White. FAIRY TALES: stories that are told to children about magical places and people Then, in 1966, Walt Disney died and the Disney Company did not produce any good animated films for a long time. Then, in 1989, the company produced a new, and very successful, cartoon feature film, The Little Mermaid. FEATURE FILM: a full length movie The Little Mermaid Ariel, the mermaid, is the heroine of the movie. It seems that Disney did not pay much attention to the Womens Movement: Ariel is the same as the earlier Disney heroines, except that she is somewhat sexy and wears a bikini made from shells. And the answer to all her dreams is to get her man. Ariel will do anything to make the prince fall in love with her. She even gives up her voice so that she can have legs. (What message does this movie give to young girls Keep quiet and be beautiful?) But Disney movies have happy endings, and so Ariel gets her voice back and she keeps her prince. On the other hand, she loses everything else. When she becomes human and marries the prince, she must leave behind her underwater home, her father and her friends. She gives up everything in her life for romance. Thats OK for a fairy tale, but it is not a good idea for young girls in real life. MERMAID Mermaid Many women complained to Disney about The Little Mermaid, and Disney promised to think more carefully about womens roles in future. They hired a female screenwriter for their next movie, Beauty and the Beast (1991). Disneys publicity people promised that Belle, the heroine, would be modern, active, and even feminist. SCREENWRITER: the person who writes the words of a movie Beauty and the Beast The press thought Disney had done a good job, but the only real improvement is that Belle likes reading! BELLE is the main woman character in Beauty and the Beast However, the most important problem in this movie is not the Disney companys idea of an independent woman. The problem is how Disney changed the hero, and the message of the story. In the original story, the Beast looks terrible and frightening, but he is really kind and gentle. The message of the story is that you should not judge someone by what they look like. An ugly outside can hide a loving heart. Disney changed this. The company decided to create a Beast with a very serious problem. Disneys Beast terrifies his household and frightens Belle, his prisoner. The Beast does not attack Belle, but the threat of physical violence is present. In the Disney movie, Belle changes the character of the Beast. Her beauty and her sweet nature change him from a beast into a prince, from someone who is cruel, into someone who is kind. So the movies message is very different from the message of the fairy tale. SWEET-NATURE: being kind and pleasant The movie says, if a young woman is pretty and sweet-natured, she can change an abusive man into a kind and gentle man. In other words, it is a womans fault if her man abuses her. This is another dangerous message for young girls because it is not true: if Belle lived in the real world, she would almost certainly become a battered wife. Someone who is ABUSIVE treats people very badly ABUSE: (v) to treat someone very badly BATTERED: badly beaten Aladdin Princess Jasmine, the only female character in Aladdin (1992), is a lot like Disneys other women. But there is another very worrying thing about this movie, its racism. Listen to some of the songs, for example: I come from a land. where they cut off your ears if they dont like your face. Its barbaric, but hey, its home. RACISM: the belief that people of your race are better than people of other races BARBARIC: violent and cruel And look at the characters. The evil characters, like Jafar, look very Arabic. On the other hand, Aladdin, the hero, looks and sounds like a fresh-faced American boy: his skin is much paler, and he asks people to call him Al, an American name, not an Arabic name. FRESH-FACED: clean and innocent. Something is PALER than something else if it is lighter-colored or whiter. Of course, Disney does not intend to offend people that would be bad business. Most people who watch the movies are probably caught up in the Disney magic and dont notice these things. But thats the problem. One way in which Disney creates the magic is by using stereotypes that people respond to without thinking. Aladdin looks right for a hero; Jafar looks right for a villain. We dont think about it. If you are CAUGHT UP IN something, you are very involved and interested in it. STEREOTYPE: a fixed image or idea of what a type of person is like. By using quotation marks [RIGHT for a hero], the writer makes clear that she means this ironically. The Lion King The Lion King does the same thing. The characters are animals, but their voices show racist stereotypes. Even though The Lion King takes place in Africa, two white American actors are used for the voice of Simba, the hero. However, the hyenas who are bad characters in the film, speak non-standard English and are played by actors like Whoopi Goldberg and Cheech Marin. The villain, Scar, suggests homosexuality. And, of course women (the lionesses) are weak and need a male hero: when Simba runs away, the lionesses cannot protect themselves from the evil Scar and must wait for years until Simba returns to save them. RACIST STEREOTYPES: a fixed idea of what people of different races are like. HYENAS: an African animal that feeds on dead animals; its cry sounds like a laugh. SUGGESTS HOMOSEXUALITY: gives the idea that he might be homosexual. Pocahontas After The Lion King, Disney became interested in the idea of multiculturalism and made Pocahontas in 1995. This movie mixes Disneys favourite story of the princess- in-love with a real story from Native American history. That is a problem because Pocahontas was a real woman, and she was very different from the Pocahontas that Disney invented. To give only one example: in real life, Pocahontas was a child when she first met the hero John Smith and there was no romance between them. When Pocahontas met Smith again years later, she called him father. MULTICULTURALISM: the idea that it is a good thing to include people from many different cultures. But there are even more serious problems with the Disney version of Pocahontas and the video follow-up, Pocahontas II. The movies ignore the real fate of both Pocahontas and her people. The first movie ends cheerfully with peace between the colonists and natives; in fact, many, many of the Powhatan Nation (Pocahontas people) were later killed. COLONISTS: the first groups of people who came from Europe to America, to settle and make a home for themselves IGNORE: do not show As for the real Pocahontas, she was kidnapped and held hostage. She was forced to become a Christian and behave like a civilised white woman. She was married to a colonist who believed that the civilisation she grew up in was evil. Later, Pocahontas was taken to England, to help advertise the colony of Virginia. In England, she was homesick. She became ill and died before she could return to her homeland. CIVILISED: from a more advanced society. The quotation marks around the word show that the writer is being ironic. HOMESICK: feeling sad because you are away from home None of this is in Disneys movie. And that is very worrying, because many people believed that they were learning about history when they watched Pocahontas. Mulan Disney has done a similar thing with Mulan (1998), the story of a Chinese hero. The real Hua Mu-Lan lived so long ago that her story has become a Chinese legend a legend that Disney has reinvented so that it fits the pattern of a young woman in love. LEGEND: a famous story about a great hero Disney created Shang, a male hero for Mulan. He is her commanding officer. In the movie, Mulan is wounded in battle and everyone finds out that she is a woman. Her punishment is death but Shang cannot kill her, so he sends her away. After the war he comes to find her and marry her. In the military, your COMMANDING OFFICER is the person who gives you orders. Disney has done it again. Brave, kick-boxing Mulan does not look like Snow White but, in fact, the life of a Disney heroine has not changed very much. Men still have power over them (Shang quite literally decides whether Mulan will live or die); and the best thing that can happen to them is to marry the hero and live happily ever after. KICK-BOXING: a kind of fighting that uses both punching and kicking.

Explain giving examples how Woolworths should go about HR Planning? :: Business and Management Studies

Explain giving examples how Woolworths should go about HR Planning? Human Resource Planning (HR) is the identification of the future labour requirements needed by a company and how these are going to be met. It is the process by which a company ensures that it has the right number and kind of people, in the right places at the right time, doing the things for which they are economically most useful. It is a method for determining future human resource requirements and developing action plans to meet them. It is defined as a strategy for the requisition, utilization, improvement and retention of an enterprise’s human resources and it encompasses the subject concerned with the developing range of manpower policies, including those for recruitment, deployment, development and retention. The use of HR planning is a big issue for any company if they are to have enough staff to meet the future demand that the company may receive. The main issues to do with HR planning at Woolworths is that the company has a high labour turnover with many people moving on to a higher status job and the idea that people do not really want to work for the company which has resulted in large numbers of staff leaving the company. This is mainly due to a large number of the staff being part time students who are looking for temporary employment whilst they are finished their A level or decree courses. The four stages of HR planning that the business will need to consider are: * Stock taking * Forecasting the supply of labour * Forecasting the demand for employees * Implementation and review The first stage of HR planning that Woolworths will need to consider is the use of the Labour stock take. The purpose of the labour stock take is to find out exactly how many staff that the company has available to them after taking into consideration the number of staff that are leaving the company and the quality of the staff available to the company. When using a labour stock take, Woolworths should use a combination of job analysis and performance review, the use of a skills audit will be of little benefit to the business as this method assesses the skills and qualifications of the employee and little qualification is needed to work in the retail area that the business operates in, a combination of the performance review, this involves looking at the performance of all the employees within the organisation in order to identify staff potential and to identify where staff have more training needs. This will enable the business to. The use of the job analysis will enable the business enables the

Dell vs. Hp Performance & Finanical Analysis

Financial Analysis Common-Size Analysis Common-Size Income Statement Analysis The common-size income statement for Dell shows a relatively flat history for cost of goods sold compared to sales from 82. 27% in 2006 to 82. 49% in 2010. Dell’s five year average for cost of goods sold to sales was 82. 23%, which is bit higher than HP cost of goods sold to sales five year average of 75. 96%. This in turn gives HP higher gross revenue than Dell most likely through means of obtaining raw materials and goods at lower costs, giving HP greater ability for an increased profit margin.This increased profit margin can allow for HP to offer more discounts then Dell may be able to afford, or increase spending in areas of investment for the company. Another area of interest within the common size income statement is related to selling, general and administrative to sales. Overall through the years 2006 to 2010, Dell saw an increase in this area growing from 9. 05% in 2006 to 12. 22% in 2010. M eanwhile, HP experienced the exact opposite effect, with this category declining from 12. 29% in 2006 to 9. 99% in 2010. According to Dell’s annual report, the major increase was due to the acquisition of Perot Systems.It also appears that over the last five years, Dell’s strategy of products directly to customers has been adopted by many competitors, allowing the competitors to decrease some of their overhead and commissions paid to retailers, all the while increasing sales. In the same time span as competitors partially adopted the strategy that made Dell prominent, Dell began to place more products in retail stores to compete directly on the front lines with its competition, as mentioned in their Management’s Discussion and Financial Analysis meetings.This approach FINANCIAL ANALYSIS OF DELL AND HP has caused a good percentage of the sales revenue to go to retailers and distributors, thus straining the ability to maximize net income for the present. Research, development and engineering for Dell as a percentage to sales were 0. 82% in 2006 and slightly grew to 1. 18% in 2010. HP research, development and engineering to sales is roughly 3 times the amount that Dell dedicated; however, HP has drawdown their research, development and engineering to sales from 3. 92% in 2006 to 2. 35% in 2010.The five year average in this category for Dell was 0. 99% and HP was 3. 04%. Even with HP’s much higher research, development and engineering to sales percentage than Dell, HP has a higher operating expense, but since their cost of goods sold to sales is lower, it gives HP the edge in producing a higher operating income than Dell. Overall net income to sales decreased for Dell throughout 2006 to 2010, with a major decrease happening in 2010 and overall having a five year average of 4. 51%. In 2006 the net income to sales was 6. 46%, then in 2009 it dropped to 4. 6%, but in 2010 was when the major drop happened, resulting in net income being jus t 2. 71%. The main contributor to the drop in net income to sales was from operating expenses, with one component being the increase in research, development and engineering, but the primary increase coming from the selling, general and administrative category. Increased operating expenses are reflective of Dell’s push of broadly branching out into the retail market. HP’s net income to sales remained flat during the same time span, with a five year average of 6. 88%.The basically net zero increase in net income can be attributed to the economic downturn, and its rippling effect on customers. Common-Size Balance Sheet Analysis The common-size balance sheet of Dell reflects a current assets to total assets five year average of 74. 91% and shows a short term liabilities to total liabilities and shareholders’ equity five year average of 63. 72% covering years 2006 to 2010. Dell’s current assets and current liabilities both decreased from 2006 to 2010, but the ir current liabilities decreased at a faster rate than their current assets did.The gap between the two in 2006 was roughly 7% and had increased to 16% by 2010, providing plenty of opportunity to grow and develop the company further in their plans. HP common size balance sheet represents a different story. Their a current assets to total assets five year average was 49. 45% and short term liabilities to total liabilities and shareholders’ equity five year average was 42. 37% across years 2006 to 2010. Both accounts FINANCIAL ANALYSIS OF DELL AND HP 7 decreased slightly over the years, and by 2010, HP had a gap of current assets to current liabilities of only 4%.Potential investors will focus on this close margin because HP may start to become too heavily leveraged, which could hinder their ability to expand. It could also pose the problem of decreasing the percentage amount that HP reinvests back into the company, due to using assets to pay off short term liabilities. Within Dell’s current assets, short term investments to total assets decreased from 8. 67% in 2006 to 1. 11% in 2010. Many of these short term investments had matured and were sold. The additional cash on hand helped decrease accounts payable, which decreased from 42. 4% in 2006 to 33. 80% in 2010. Reducing its liabilities strengthens Dell financial health, yet further liquidity and asset utilization ratio test should be conducted to determine if their more solid financial standing is long term or simple a one year over year change. Dell’s inventory to total assets remained mainly the same over the five year span with 2. 53% in 2006 and 3. 12% in 2010. This is a reflection Dell’s strategy of keeping on hand inventory levels low and only producing the amount able to quickly sell. HP inventory to total assets changed substantially from 9. 5% in 2006 to 5. 19% in 2010. The drop in inventory percentage to total assets is a representation of HP improved strategy to minimize holding periods by taking delivery of inventory and manufacturing immediately prior to sale or distribution of product to customers. It is also reflective of the aggressive discounting that HP conducted as a result of the economic downturn. Dell’s long term debt to total liabilities and shareholders’ equity increased substantially from 2. 69% in 2006 to 10. 15% in 2010 with average long term debt of 4. 71%.The major increased indicates that the company was dependant on long term debt to finance its acquisition of Perot Systems in 2010. HP long term debt to total liabilities and shareholders’ equity followed the same path by increasing from 3. 04% in 2006 to 12. 26% in 2010. This increased in total debt is explained in their annual report as being spending on acquisitions and share repurchases. Debt to equity ratios are needed to be further evaluated to determine the risk factor for this increased level of liabilities. Comparative Analysis Comparative Income Sta tement AnalysisDell’s net revenue sharply declined from 2008 to 2010, going from 6. 47% to (13. 42%), as a result of the economic downturn, as individual customers put off luxury purchases such as computers and commercial customers put off bulk computer orders for a later to be determined FINANCIAL ANALYSIS OF DELL AND HP 8 date. On average, the net revenue growth was 1. 86% while cost of goods sold was 2. 05%. Cost of goods sold increased faster than sales, lowering its potential gross profit. Even though selling, general, and administrative was reduced substantially from 2008 level of 26. 3% down to (8. 97%) in 2010, its growth rate averaged 9. 45%, which outpaced net revenue on average. The drop in selling general and administrative was due to decreases in compensation, advertising expenses and improved controls during the downturn. The growth rate of cost of goods coupled with the economic downturn, found Dell with a (31. 91%) operating income for year 2010. A large decre ase in the market yield of over 200 basis points from 2009 was the cause for the (210. 45%) for investments and other income n 2010. Net income average was (10. 8%) over years 2006 to 2010, with major causes for this being lower sales due to economic downturn, decreases in investments, increases in tax liabilities and higher cost of a hedging program. Much like with Dell, the economic fallout had its effects on HP. Their net revenue severely decreased from 13. 50% in 2008 to (3. 22%) in 2009. The dollar depreciation to the euro played a large part in this drop for its European sales. However, unlike Dell, HP rebounded in 2010, increasing sales up to 10. 02%, which can be attributed mostly in part to HP’s acquisition of EDS. HP’s annual cost of goods averaged 7. 4%, which was lower than their net revenue average of 7. 96%. This led to a more favorable net income on average, indicating HP’s ability to better control its operating income through successful marketin g or more effective investment approaches over the years. Comparative Balance Sheet Analysis Dell’s five year average total current assets growth rate was 7. 75%, which was higher by a slim margin over average total current liabilities of 7. 27%. The relationship was consistent with the common size analysis giving support to Dell’s capability to cover short term liabilities with current assets.However, caution should be raised and solvency ratios further investigated as Dell’s current assets dipped below its current liabilities in 2010 by a comparison of 20. 32% to 27. 60%. Its competitor HP current liabilities growth rate average is out pacing its current assets growth by almost double with rates of 10. 88% to 4. 68%, respectively. This should bring caution to HP to get control of its short term liabilities growth rate, but not be too alarming, considering that by its common-size comparison, the company presently has enough current assets to pay for its short t erm liabilities.FINANCIAL ANALYSIS OF DELL AND HP 9 Dell’s accounts receivable rate of growth was 11. 90% on average, growing faster than the company’s average sales rate, 1. 86%. This relates to the increase in the collection period in days also increasing over this five year span. The category of property, plant and equipment grew for Dell at an annual rate of 6. 12%, with the majority of this growth happening in years 2006-2008. Plant, property and equipment declined in years 2009-2010, (14. 66%) and (4. 2%) respectively, which coincides with the company’s declining sales growth over these same years. On average, Dell’s total liabilities grew 11. 36% annually, compared to its total liabilities and shareholders’ equity growth rate average of 8. 21%. This highlights the company’s candidacy for potentially becoming a long-term solvency risk. Financial Ratio Analysis Liquidity Current Ratio and Acid Test Ratio Average current ratio for Dell w as 1. 19 and the acid test ratio was 1. 14. These averages are better in comparison to HP’s current ratio of 1. 17 and acid test ratio of 1. 0, which tells that Dell has more current assets to cover its short term liabilities and makes Dell a safer and more financially strong company. HP had a risky year in 2008 when its current ratio fell below 1. 00, ending at 0. 98, but shouldn’t be focused on too much considering that their net revenue in sales averages 7. 96% growth rate and is averaging a 39. 33% net income growth rate. Collection Period Dell’s ability to collect customers payments on accounts receivable is stronger than HP’s, with Dell taking 32. 04 days on average compared to HP’s 49. 74 days.While both companies collection period was longer than the normal business benchmark of 30 days, Dell was much more successful in collection from its customers and thus reduced the liability for risky accounts receivable. The shorter period for collect ion also enables Dell to pay for its inventory and not have to expose them to greater amounts of short term debt through increased working capital financing. Days to Sell Inventory Dell inventory holding period was much shorter than HP, with Dell having days to sell inventory ratio of 6. 70 on average and HP having an average ratio of 32. 2. Dell operates in a FINANCIAL ANALYSIS OF DELL AND HP 10 slightly leaner production manner than HP and is able to quickly move inventory through its distribution networks. The quicker a company is able to sell its inventories, the quicker the clock begins to receive payment to be able to pay back money owed on inventories acquired and sold, and not have to increase your working capital financing. Capital Structure and Solvency Debts to Equity Ratios Dell’s five year average of total debt to equity was 5. 23, compared to HP lower average ratio of 1. 5. This shows that Dell had more debt (creditors) financing than equity (shareholders) finan cing. Long term debt for to equity on average for Dell was 0. 29 and HP was 0. 22. While many feel that debt from creditors is more harmful because of the interest paid on the principle borrowed, the advantage here is that once the creditor is paid back, they are gone and off the payroll. Whereas equity financing involves more shareholders owning parts of the company, which reduces the dividend payout per shareholder as well as waters down earnings per share.Dells approach to being more heavily financed through debt than equity may be in an attempt to keep earnings per share at an increased level. Return on Investment Return on Assets and Return on Common Equity An important ratio is the return on assets ratio for its ability to measure earnings per dollar from its assets. The five year average for return on assets of Dell was 13. 06% while HP’s was 9. 07%. This higher percentage for Dell reflects a more efficient use of its assets and higher earnings from products sold per c ompany asset.Both companies have strong return on assets that goes to show the loyal base of customers each brand name of the two companies has. Return on common equity is another important profitability ratio. This ratio measures the earnings success of its capital investments through common shareholders. The return on equity for Dell averaged 81. 46% while HP averaged 23. 91. An observation of this profitability measure shows that Dell is possibly much more attractive for potential investors for its ability to effectively manage and use funds generated through shareholders equity.Operating Performance Profit Margin Ratios Dell’s gross profit margin average of 17. 77% was lower than HP’s average of 24. 04% HP controls a larger portion of the computer market as represented through this ratio. Dell also FINANCIAL ANALYSIS OF DELL AND HP 11 posted lower operating profit margins and pretax profit margin compared to HP. Dell’s higher selling, general and administrat ive expenses are cause for lower operating and pretax profit margins, partly due to new retail and certain global distribution relationships.As expected from the precursors above, net income was also lower for Dell when compared to HP. Dell needs to encroach more forcefully into HP’s large market share to positively influence its sales. Operating expense components should be addressed as well to find cost savings measures to increase operation income in order to ultimately increase its net income. Asset Utilization Cash Turnover The measure of how efficient a company utilizes its cash and cash equivalents to create sales revenue is depicted with the cash turnover ratio. In respect to this ratio, Dell averaged 5. 0, while HP averaged 7. 09. This showed that HP used its cash and cash equivalents more efficiently to build revenue. On the other hand, it shows that HP used its cash and cash equivalents while Dell refrained from using its cash and cash equivalents, as evident in th e common size analysis, showing that Dell retained on average 31. 77% of cash and cash equivalents to assets while HP averaged 12. 41%. Inventory Turnover Inventory turnover represents how fast companies turn their inventories into sales revenue. Dell had a much slower inventory turnover on average, 58. 8, than HP’s 11. 86. Over the past five years more companies have became better at the Dell model of sales direct to customers which has overall effected Dell’s sales as evident in the comparative analysis showing on average Dell grew sales by 1. 86% while HP grew at 7. 96%. Also, HP has become more efficient in their inventory distribution cycle and the amount of inventories held in relation to total assets, dropping from 9. 45% in 2006 to 5. 19 by 2010. Dell’s turnover ratio was directly affected by its increase in inventory to total assets growing from 2. 53% in 2006 to 3. 2 % by 2010. The increase in Dell’s inventories to total assets percentage couple d with declining sales growth over the past five years was a cause for their much higher inventory turnover rate. Total Assets Turnover Total assets turnover measures how efficiently a company utilizes total assets to create sales revenue. On average, Dell’s ability to generate more profit from its assets was roughly FINANCIAL ANALYSIS OF DELL AND HP 12 double that of HP, being 2. 15 to 1. 07 respectively. This shows that for overall assets held, Dell had a better record of generating sales.Market Measures Price to Earnings Ratio and Earnings Yield The price to earnings for Dell on average was 16. 35, lower than HP’s 18. 52. From this statistical ratio, HP is able to show that its investors have higher expectations of their company performance by being committed to paying a higher price per share to own HP stock over the past five year time span. However, with Dell showing better results when it came to liquidation and return on investment, they are able to portray to potential investors that they are the better buy at a lower price per share when compared to HP.Earnings yield represents the amount of earnings generated for every dollar invested. Here, Dell has a better showing on average with 7. 02% compared to HP’s 6. 25%. This ratio can be another point of persuasion that Dell is the better buy for it being properly priced when talking of earnings yield over the years 2006 to 2010. Summary of Financial Performance and Suggestions for Improvement Both Dell and HP have the financial statistics showing why they are strong competitors in an ever evolving industry.In an industry that attracts potential customers by offering the latest, fastest and greatest products, Dell needs an increase their amount of research, development, and engineering to sales percentage. Dell can no longer rely on just offering cheaper products because offering the newest technology and quality of product has moved to the forefront of consumers’ minds. It wou ld be wise for Dell to focus on precise areas where they have a strong competency and not try to be all things to everyone. One area they may rethink of pushing into is their expanded exposure into retail stores.Considering that Dell is fairly new to the retailing segment, their ties to the retailing market are not as strong as many of its competitors who have long withstanding relationships with retailers. These long withstanding relationships with retailers give companies like HP an advantage over new comers to retail stores, such as Dell, and possible over the next year or so, Dell should rethink this new part of their strategy. At the moment, the amount of increased funds used on selling, general and administrative has not equally translated into higher sales revenue.

Drama and Literacy in the classroom Essay

The widespread saturation of non-literary narrative forms with which students interact in modern society has resulted in a distinct change in the methods and means of literacy skills and education. Researches have discovered that advantages exist for students who are enrolled in cross-discipline curriculums and specific evidence exists to show that the use of drama within a classroom setting provides and ample boost to the educational experiences and efficacy of students. The TES has reported on research from Durham University which found that primary pupils’ academic performance may improve if their schools devote time to drama. Children from inner-London primaries achieved better than expected results in maths and reading tests after their schools took part in an outreach project run by the National Theatre. † (Literacy Trust) Such a boost is the result of the multifaceted levels of engagement and interactivity that drama provides for students. In addition to boosting literacy and math skills, researches have discovered that drama also enhances speaking and listening skills, which, in turn, enhance performances across the spectrum of scholastic activity: â€Å"drama can be a powerful tool to develop children’s speaking and listening skills: National Theatre children learned to speak more clearly and listen more attentively than their matches. † (Literacy Trust) Other cited benefits are: children who participated in drama in the classroom reported an increased enjoyment of school, higher self-esteem and self-confidence, a clearer ability to set and meet goals, and an enhanced understanding and interest in the creative arts: â€Å"When drama is used in literature-based reading programs, it often remains as simulated role play to recall and/or provide an alternative ending for all or part of a story. In order for a drama activity to enhance both literary and literacy development, the activities must engage the children in a thorough reading of the story. † (Hertzberg, 1998) The success of drama-enhanced curriculums may be connected to human brain function, thus demonstrating an organic merit to the dramatic form as a teaching technique and educational aid. â€Å"Education is now beginning to take account of recent research into the way the brain works and the ways in which children learn and to relate this to the teaching and learning of today’s curriculum. The result is likely to be an increase in creative and multi-sensory approaches to teaching, linked to clearly defined learning objectives. â€Å"(Neelands, Baldwin & Fleming, 2003, p. 4) Because drama requires participation in group-work and interaction with sets of individuals all working toward a shared goal, text-work through dramatic readings and performances, â€Å"creates a sense of shared ownership through which children can investigate and develop characters, fill the gaps left in the text, reveal the subtext, and use their imaginations to bridge the divide between writer and reader, integrating and encompassing all aspects of literacy. (Neelands, Baldwin, and Fleming 5) Perhaps most importantly of all, the participation in drama encourages students to engage with texts emotionally, intellectually, and with a vested interest and connection to the material which seems to be absent from traditional learning methods. â€Å"Drama creates motivation for students to participate and facilitates students’ responses in reading instruction[†¦ ]dramatization is a source of scaffolding for emergent readers by providing rich background experiences for future reading[†¦ ] dramatization leads students to develop symbolic representation, which is the same concept children require in order to understand the alphabetic principle. † (Lin,2003). Other benefits certainly exist within the drama enhanced curriculum; only practice of the theoretic techniques and research will fully disclose the potential for this type of dynamic educational process. References Hertzberg, M. (1998). Theory into Practice: Using Drama to Enhance Literacy Development. Australian Journal of Language and Literacy, 21(2), 159+. Neelands, J. , Baldwin, P. , & Fleming, K. (2003). Teaching Literacy through Drama: Creative Approaches. London: RoutledgeFalmer. www. literacytrust. org. uk 3-31-07, accessed 4-9-07. http://www. literacytrust. org. uk/Database/drama. html#test Lin,Chia-Hui. â€Å"Literacy Instruction through Communicative and Visual Arts† The Clearinghouse on Reading, English, and Communication Digest #186 12-03, Accessed 4-10-07. http://reading. indiana. edu/ieo/digests/d186. html

Boo Radley and Tom Robinson essays

Boo Radley and Tom Robinson essays Both Boo Radley and Tom Robinson were outcasts to the society of Maycomb. Boo was locked away in his house, where Tom was a black man. Racism was very bad in the 1930s. No one wanted to be a black mans friend and if someone said he had done something wrong, he had obviously done something wrong. Like in Toms case. Tom had been framed for rape, which he didnt do.Tom never harmed anyone (Lee, 195) Racism led to his punishment, as he was carried away from the courthouse to jail. Tom was an ordinary black man. He had a wife and kids and was stuck in a place full of racism. Boo on the other hand was white and until he stabbed his father in the knee, was ordinary too. Boo was locked up in the courthouse until his father brought him home, where he stayed for many years. He sometimes came out though, but only during the night. He sometimes tried to connect with the outside world by putting gifts in the trees for Jem and Scout (Lee, 278), only to be cut off by Nathan Radley Tom and Boo both had similar qualities they both had affects on different characters in the story. Like Atticus for example. Atticus had to represent Tom Robinson in court for a crime Atticus knew Tom didnt even commit. Atticus also knew that they had probably already lost the case, due to racial prejudice. With all the evidence that Atticus had gathered, none was even considered due to racial discrimination. Mayella was beaten on the left side of her and Toms left arm wasnt even useable (Lee, 179). Boo Radley on the otherhand had helped Atticus, by saving the lives of his children, Jem and Scout. Bob Ewell tried attacking both Jem and Scout, but only hurt Jem. Boo came and killed Bob Ewell by stabbing him under the rib cage with a kitchen knife (Lee, 266). He quickly carried th ...