Worker compensation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Worker compensation - Essay Example nd the companies with modified duty programme to be better, and for these reason insurance companies normally lower the business workers’ compensation premiums for such companies. Placing the injured employees into modified work programme makes the employees to realize that time off of work is a rare event, and not a paid vacation. This move in consequence discourages the employees dishonestly requesting for paid vacations. Another advantage of implementing modified duty programme is that the employees will work within their ability, thus helping the Company to getting productive work its employees; the modified duty programme also makes the employees to return to their regular jobs faster. Modified duty programme also allows the employees to easily get into their normal routine, thus preventing the employees from being overwhelmed with work. This programme also makes the employees to feel important and appreciated by the Company for which they work. The employees under the mo dified work programme are paid by the Company and they are allowed to resume their work earlier. Modified duty programme also helps Companies to maintain a well-informed workforce, which of big advantage to the Company. An effective light/modified duty programme gives a detailed description of each work done in the work place. Since supervisors and managers are aware of the work being done within a business organization, they can make a list of all work done in the business organization. There is need for uniformity on the format for how everything is written down and described in the Company. With this kind of information, employees can easily find jobs that suit injured employees. Bearing in mind the common workplace injuries, the employees can plan beforehand on what kinds of jobs can be done with the employees with certain injuries. There is need for effective communication between the medical providers and the Company in which the Company informs the medical providers of the kind

Portfolio Managemnt Essay Example for Free

Portfolio Managemnt Essay Overview KBIM Investment Inc. is a leading investment company incorporated in Barbados and licensed under the Companies Act cap 308 of the laws of Barbados. Founded in the year 2000, the company seeks to provide its investors with risk-adjusted returns in a management structure that closely aligns the  interests of investors and managers. Further, KBIM has continued to evolve from a dedicated private equity investment firm to a diversified management company. The fund buys US and Canadian stocks from the New York Stock Exchange as well as from the Toronto market. The fund has been equally divided among the following four industries; financials, technology, pharmaceuticals and energy. To assure that efficiency is maintained, the net assets are calculated weekly at the end of each week (Friday) of all stock market transactions. Global Economic and Market Outlook The global economy is in a dangerous new phase. Global activity has weakened and become more uneven, confidence has fallen sharply recently, and downside risks are growing. Against a backdrop of unresolved structural fragilities, a barrage of shocks hit the international economy this year. Japan was struck by the devastating Great East Japan earthquake and tsunami, and unrest swelled in some oil-producing countries. At the same time, the handover from public to private demand in the U.S. economy stalled, the euro area encountered major financial turbulence, global markets suffered a major sell-off of risky assets, and there are growing signs of spillovers to the real economy. The structural problems facing the crisis-hit advanced economies have proven even more intractable than expected, and the process of devising and implementing reforms even more complicated. The outlook for these economies is thus for a continuing, but weak and bumpy, expansion. Prospects for emerging market economies have become more uncertain again, although growth is expected to remain fairly robust, especially in economies that can counter the effect on output of weaker foreign demand with less policy tightening. World Economic Outlook (WEO) projections indicate that global growth will moderate to about 4 percent through 2012 from over 5 percent in 2010. Real GDP in the advanced economies is projected to expand at an anemic pace of about 1 ½ percent in 2011 and 2 percent in 2012, helped by a gradual unwinding of the temporary forces that have held back activity during much of the second quarter of 2011. However, this assumes that European policymakers contain the crisis in the euro area periphery, that U.S. policymakers strike a judicious balance between support for the economy  and medium-term fiscal consolidation, and that volatility in global financial markets does not escalate. Moreover, the removal of monetary accommodation in advanced economies is now expected to pause. Under such a scenario, emerging capacity constraints and policy tightening, much of which has already happened, would lower growth rates in emerging and developing economies to a still very solid pace of about 6 percent in 2012. Strategic Objectives KBIM Investment Inc endeavours to provide an above average, long-term total return fund by investing in small capitalization stocks listed from within the US stock exchanges. The fund’s investment style of small capitalization values the investment objective of growth funds. A growth fund seeks to find companies that are expected to show rapid future growth in earnings, even if current earnings are poor, or possibly non-existent. The latter is directed towards more aggressive investors seeking good performance in an expected market rise. KBIM Investment Inc places heavy emphasis on asset allocation which is a very important decision for any investor in terms of portfolio construction. Fund managers have decided based on strategy and policy of the fund to utilize tactical asset allocation. This approach is performed routinely as part of the ongoing process of asset management. Using this approach, market risk is insulated, where exposure to a particular market is increased when its performance is expected to be good. On the other hand there is decrease exposure to the market when performance is expected to be poor. An investor’s fate is basically determined by having allocated funds to asset classes. Risk, expected return, market expectations, risk tolerance and goals of the fund is reflected in the allocation of weights The following characteristics should be present for companies in which the fund invests: 1. The company’s share price is depressed after a period of negative growth 2. An acceptable level of financial strength, efficient control and effective management of business assets should be exhibited by the said Company. KBIM Investments Inc reserves the right to rebalance the portfolio after decisions have been made from review of the portfolio ever quarter. Rebalancing reduces the risks of sharp losses and is less volatile than a portfolio not rebalanced. At any time where the fund liquidates or suitable equity investments are absence, KBIM investments Inc will seek investments in short term debt securities or money market instruments. Risk KBIM investment equity fund is specifically for an investor who seeks to attain high returns and by doing this is willing to tolerate high risk to receive the maximum benefit from their investment. Investors must take into consideration that investments in only one portion of the economy may offer greater risk than a highly diversified fund. In addition to the above, a fund that invests in well-established companies may be less risky than one that favors start-up companies. Limitations Investors must take into consideration the impact of taxes on the portfolio. Further, changing tax laws imposed can become bothersome in terms of forecasting future tax rates. Investors must also abide by regulation requirements imposed by state and federal agencies. The latter specifies the actions an investor should take in terms of achieving objectives, given the preference of the investor and any constraints imposed. Benchmark To evaluate portfolio performance, the following questions should be answered; the first being whether or not the return on the portfolio was adequate after all expenses was taken care of? Next the amount of risk taken by the investor or portfolio manager in creating and managing the portfolio should be assessed. Finally what return should have been earned on the portfolio, given the risk taken and the alternative returns available to be earned from investments over the same period. KBIM will be benchmarked against the SP 500 small cap index. The stocks for the fund were selected based on the following criterion: ROE 10 Market cap 1,000,000,000 Six month return 0 P/E 15 Competitive Advantage The fund managers of KBIM, are committed to offering returns above average of similar portfolios. Through our investment strategic policies, we hope to attract investors who are seeking to hedge funds. Here at KBIM we also value enhancement services such as risk management, insurance reviews, consulting and corporate governance. The firm’s comprehensive offerings provide private equity clients with numerous competitive advantages throughout the private equity life cycle, including fund development, portfolio growth and divestiture. Fee Details Annual charges: Annual Management charges: 1.65% of net asset value Fund Administrative charges: 0.05% Registrar charges: 0.13% Fund expenses: 0.2% Commission: Sales charge of 1.85% will be charged on amounts invested into the fund. During the first week of investing, KBIM Investment Fund grew by 3.5%, as U.S stocks rose, driving the Standard Poor’s 500 Index to its longest winning streak since February, amid optimism Europe’s leaders would announce a plan to contain the debt crisis and after McDonald’s Corp. (MCD) joined companies beating profit estimates. Financial shares in the SP 500 added 3.9 percent as European finance ministers began negotiations to prevent a Greek default and shield banks. The SP 500 climbed 1.1 percent to 1,238.25, the highest since Aug. 3, and had risen three straight weeks. It had surged 13 percent since Oct. 3, when it closed within 1 percent of a bear market, or 20 percent plunge, from its high in April. The Dow Jones Industrial Average also rose a fourth straight week, gaining 164.30 points, or 1.4 percent, to 11,808.79. Equities rose as European finance ministers approved a 5.8 billion Euro loan to Greece, and France retreated in a clash with Germany over expanding the bailout fund. Talks are to continue through Oct. 26. The SP 500 also gained after 74 percent of companies that reported quarterly results topped the average analyst  projection. During the second week of investing, KBIM Investment Fund grew by 4.54% amidst a week which ended with most U.S. stocks falling, as data on consumer confidence and spending failed to boost equities a day after European leaders expanded the region’s bailout plan. Stocks pared losses in the final minutes of trading on Friday, with the Standard Poor’s 500 Index erasing a decline as it completed a fourth straight weekly advance, the longest streak since January. About four stocks declined for every three that rose on U.S. exchanges at 4 p.m. New York time on Friday. The SP 500 rose less than 0.1 percent to 1,285.09, after rallying 3.4 percent on Thursday. It was up 3.8 percent since Oct. 21. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 22.56 points, or 0.2 percent, to 12,231.11. The Russell 2000 Index of small companies retreated 0.6 percent. U.S. equity options expired Friday. Stocks rose Thursday, extending the best monthly rally since 1974 for the SP 500, as European leaders agreed to expand a bailout fund and U.S. economic growth accelerated. Earlier this month, the index came within 1 percent of extending a drop from its peak in April to 20 percent, the common definition of a bear market. Since then, it has risen 17 percent. The SP 500 rallied above the average strategist forecast for its closing level on Dec. 31, the third straight year that stocks ran ahead of projections. The index closed above the year-end forecast on Nov. 4 in 2010 and on June 2 in 2009, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that the debt crisis won’t be over â€Å"in a year.† Italy’s borrowing costs rose to a euro-era record at a sale of three-year bonds, driving yields higher amid concern that efforts to contain the sovereign crisis won’t be enough to safeguard the region’s third-largest economy. Fitch Ratings said part of the plan to contain debt turmoil amounts to a Greek default. European leaders may struggle to maintain the euphoria that drove the euro to its biggest one-day gain in more than a year as scrutiny deepens on their latest attempt to stem the region’s turmoil. During the third week of investing, KBIM Investment Fund fell by 3.28%. U.S. stocks fell, driving the Standard Poor’s 500 Index to its first weekly decline since September, as a disagreement on Europe’s resources to fight  the debt crisis offset a drop in the American unemployment rate. The SP 500 dropped 0.6 percent to 1,253.23 as of 4 p.m on Friday, November 4, New York time, after falling as much as 1.8 percent earlier. The gauge was down 2.5 percent this week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slid 61.23 points, or 0.5 percent, to 11,983.24. Benchmark gauges tumbled earlier this week as Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou announced on October 31 a parliamentary confidence vote and his desire to hold a referendum on a European Union aid package needed to avert default. Equities rebounded on Thursday as Greece abandoned the referendum, moving closer to accepting the bailout. Global stocks slumped on Friday as the Group of 20 nations failed to agree on increasing the International Monetary Fund’s resources to fight Europe’s debt crisis. Ruling party lawmakers urged Papandreou to step aside and allow the formation of a new government that can approve the bailout plan for Greece. The unemployment rate unexpectedly fell to a six-month low of 9 percent from 9.1 percent, even as the labor force expanded. The 80,000 increase in payrolls followed gains in the prior two months that were revised up by 102,000. Financial stocks had the biggest decline in the SP 500 among 10 industries, falling 1.4 percent as a group. During the fourth week of investing, KBIM Investment Fund rose by 1.17%. U.S. stocks rose this week, restoring the year-to-date gain for the Standard Poor’s 500 Index, as improving economic data and leadership changes in Greece and Italy bolstered investor optimism. The SP 500 rose 0.9 percent to 1,263.85, overcoming a 3.7 percent decline on Nov. 9 that was the largest one-day loss since Aug. 18. The Dow advanced 170.44 points, or 1.4 percent, to 12,153.68 this week. Stocks resumed the rally that drove the SP 500 up as much as 20 percent since the first week of October. Equities gained after U.S. consumer confidence improved and Italy’s Senate approved debt-reduction measures, paving the way for a new government led by former European Union Competition Commissioner Mario Monti. Greece swore in Lucas Papademos to head a unity government. The SP 500 has rebounded 15 percent from a 13-month low on Oct. 3 as the Citigroup Economic Surprise Index for the U.S., which gauges whether reports are beating or trailing estimates, climbed to a seven-month high. The benchmark measure of U.S. equities rose 2 percent on Thursday, preventing a second weekly drop, after  a gauge of consumer sentiment topped estimates in November and reached the highest level since June. The Labor Department said on Nov. 10 that the number of Americans filing applications for unemployment benefits fell to the lowest level in seven months. Stocks tumbled on Nov. 9 as yields on Italian government bonds surged, fueling concern European leaders will struggle to fund bailouts. During the fifth week of investing, KBIM Investment Fund fell by 3.71%. U.S. stocks fell, sending the Standard Poor’s 500 Index to its worst weekly loss in two months, as Spanish, French and Italian bond yields rose and Fitch Ratings said Europe’s debt crisis poses a threat to American banks. The SP 500 decreased 3.8 percent, the most since the week ended Sept. 23, to 1,215.65. The index closed at the lowest level since Oct. 20. The Dow fell 357.52 points, or 2.9 percent, to 11,796.16. Equities slumped this week as higher government bond yields in Spain, France and Italy spurred concern the European debt crisis is intensifying outside Greece. The SP Financials Index slumped 5.6 percent this week, the biggest drop among 10 industries, after the Fitch report spurred speculation the European crisis poses a threat to earnings. The SP 500 advanced one day this week, on Nov. 15, amid speculation Mario Monti would succeed in forming a new Italian government to battle the debt crisis, while growth in retail sales bolstered optimism in the economy. Yesterday, he won a final parliamentary confidence vote, granting full power to his new government after pledging to spur growth and reduce debt in the euro-region’s third-largest economy. The benchmark measure of U.S. stocks erased gains yesterday after Deutsche Presse-Agentur reported that Germany’s Foreign Ministry said the nation was considering the possibility of â€Å"orderly defaults† beyond Greece. The index had rallied after a measure of leading U.S. indicators signaled the world’s biggest economy will keep growing in 2012. During the sixth week of investing, KBIM Investment Fund fell by 4.07%. The euro touched a seven-week low against the dollar, falling for a fourth week, as Italian borrowing costs jumped to the highest level since 1997, adding to speculation Europe’s sovereign-debt crisis is spreading. U.S. stocks tumbled in the worst Thanksgiving-week loss for the Standard Poor’s 500 Index  since 1932 as concern grew that Europe’s debt crisis will spread and American policy makers failed to reach agreement on reducing the federal budget. The SP 500 slid 4.7 percent to 1,158.67, closing at the lowest level since Oct. 7. The Dow fell 564.38 points, or 4.8 percent, to 11,231.78 this week. The SP 500 has fallen for seven days, the longest streak in four months, and has tumbled 7.6 percent so far in November. U.S. equities erased an early advance on the final session of the week as SP lowered Belgium’s credit rating and Reuters reported that Greece is demanding private investors accept larger losses on their debt. The cost of insuring European sovereign bonds against default rose to a record this week as Germany failed to find buyers for 35 percent of the bonds offered at an auction. German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said market turbulence sparked by the euro region’s sovereign-debt crisis will last for â€Å"a few months.† Congress’s special debt-reduction committee failed to reach an agreement this week, setting the stage for $1.2 trillion in automatic spending cuts and fueling concern that economic- stimulus measures that are set to expire will not be renewed. Still, SP reaffirmed it would keep the U.S.’s credit rating at AA+ after stripping the government of its top AAA grade on Aug. 5. Stocks fell Nov. 22 as revised Commerce Department figures showed that gross domestic product climbed at a 2 percent annual rate from July through September, less than projected and down from a 2.5 percent prior estimate. U.S. stock exchanges were shut Nov. 24 for Thanksgiving and closed three hours early on Nov. 25. Evaluation of Fund KBIM FUND PERFORMANCE WEEK 1-6 Initially, the first two weeks of the portfolio’s performance did exceptionally well. Due to extreme market conditions in Europe (European Debt Crisis), the fund was affected. The weaknesses of Europe’s common currency area, ranging from its design to a persisting dearth of bank funding and anemic economic growth, weren’t properly addressed in the measures revealed on to stem investor panic. Consumer confidence unexpectedly rose in October from the previous month, indicating the biggest part of the economy will help keep the U.S. recovery intact.  Performance fell in week 3 but stabilized in week 4 due to improving economic conditions in Europe (leadership changes in Greece and Italy), thus restoring confidence in the market. Week 4 and 5 dropped to record lows in the SP 500. This was due to the negative result of the sale of government bonds in Germany, as investors lacked the confidence it once had in what is arguably the strongest economy in Europe. The fact that the German economy was unable to raise the money it expected to with the sale spoke volumes, as it was the one country in Europe which seemed to be stable and assisted in the bailout of its struggling member countries (Greece, Italy and Spain). This also led to a huge dip in the value of the Euro currency. Overall, the fund’s performance was below expectations. There was, however, directly related to unexpected market conditions, which affected the global market adversely. Invariably, that was passed down to the portfolio. During the six week period KBIM started out with $999,984.84 and ended with $977,853.00, thus making a loss of $22,131.82. Total return was then a negative return of 2.21%. The decision was taken to hold of the selling of equities with the portfolio. Instead, the strategy opted was one of riding the storm out, and in some instances, even buying more stock, as the markets were down and the share prices down as well. This would allow for the fund to make substantial profits when the market recovered or improved, as it could only improve from this point. Bibliography Jones, Charles P. Investment Analysis and Management, Eleventh Edition John Wiley and Sons 2010 http://www.bloomberg.com http://www.imf.com

The Time Traveller by H G Wells. :: English Literature

The Time Traveller by H G Wells. 'Time Travel' For my English Coursework Wide Reading Assignment I have read two S F novels. Even though they were written over 50 years apart they are similar in some ways and different in others. Both the books were based around 'time travel'. The first was the Time Traveller by H G Wells. A scientist had discovered a way to travel through time and when he travels to the future he finds that civilisation has broken down. The other book I read was 'The Sound of thunder' by Ray Bradbury, this was about a group of people who travelled back in time to hunt and kill animals. I think that this shows how Bradbury perceives the way we use the technology we have. It does not seem to be for the benefit of all mankind just as a toy for those who can afford it. It could be used for so much more than hunting dinosaurs. Both authors deliberately make their characters two-dimensional. This may be because the stories are about time travel and civilisation rather than the individuals in the narrative. When Wells wrote his novel there were no telephones or aeroplanes, technology was not so advanced and the reading public would be sceptical about time travel His characters are professional men who will convince the reader that Wells' ideas are possible: QUOTE (the professional bit) It is strange that much of what Wells wrote has come true, even though people may have felt it was far fetched over 100 years ago. In 100 years from now perhaps those 'far fetched' stories of today may come true. It could be that people like Wells and Bradbury had a real insight into the future. Perhaps they saw the way civilisation was going in their own time. Bradbury is more contemporary than Wells and his vision, though fantastical in its own way does not seem so far fetched to a late 20th Century audience. Ray Bradbury generally just uses the character's surname in the story. This keeps a more macho feel to the 'hunting' activities and there are no women. The characters described are hunters: Quote (opening advert) There are several men who have paid their money to travel back to Jurassic times to hunt and kill the dinosaurs: Quote (rules) The tenor of the story remains masculine with the rules reinforced in a curt way: Quote (speaks to Eckles etc.) Bradbury's short story focuses more on the effects of time travel than Wells. In Bradbury's tale when the travellers go back to the past Eckles goes off the suspended path and stands on a butterfly causing great changes when they travel back to their own time.

Customer Satisfaction in E-Commerce

In Proceedings of the 17th IEE UK Teletraffic Symposium, Dublin, Ireland, May 16-18, 2001 QUANTIFYING CUSTOMER SATISFACTION WITH E-COMMERCE WEBSITES Hubert Graja and Jennifer McManis1 Abstract E-commerce is an increasingly significant part of the global economy. Users of E-commerce Web sites often have high expectations for the quality of service, and if those expectations are not met, the next site is only a click away. A number of performance problems have been observed for E-commerce Web sites, and much work has gone into characterising the performance of Web servers and Internet applications.However, the customers of E-commerce Web sites are less well studied. In this work, we discuss a way of assessing satisfaction for different customer types with a Web site according to various different parameters. Individual measures may be scaled for simple comparison, and combined to give an overall satisfaction rating. This methodology is applied to three Irish E-Commerce Web sites. 1) In troduction The World Wide Web is one of the most important Internet services, and has been largely responsible for the phenomenal growth of the Internet in recent years.An increasingly popular and important Web-based activity is ECommerce, in which various types of financial transactions are carried out or facilitated using the Web. It is widely expected that E-Commerce activity will continue to grow and that it will be a significant component of the global economy in the near future. A number of performance problems in E-Commerce systems have been observed, mainly due to heavier-thananticipated loads and the consequent inability to satisfy customer requirements. This has resulted in a lot of work attempting to characterise the performance of Web servers and Internet applications e. . [1]? [4]. However the customers of these E-Commerce systems are less well studied. Some surveys show considerable dissatisfaction with current E-Commerce and Web servers; for example, it has been repor ted that as many as 60% of users typically cannot find the information they are looking for in a Web site, even though the information is present [5]. In an area such as ECommerce, customers demand a high quality of the service they receive, since it is easy to move away to another site if they perceive the current one to be unsatisfactory. An important issue in designing E-Commerce systems is to characterise the ustomer's requirements for satisfactory service. Parameters which affect a customer's satisfaction with an E-Commerce system include the response time, number of clicks needed to find what they want, amount of information they are required to give, and predictability of the service received. This leads to the idea of customer classification, where customers in the same class would value parameters in a similar fashion. Customer classification may be performed either based on how they judge their satisfaction with an E-Commerce system, or on some other way (e. . large/medium /small budget; type/speed of Internet connection the customer has to the server; frequent/previous/new customer). Here we briefly present a methodology for measuring the satisfaction of customer classes. This methodology is applied to a test case consisting of three Irish E-Commerce Web sites in the telecommunications sector. We are able to demonstrate different levels of customer satisfaction among the Web sites, and also different levels of satisfaction with various parameters for each individual Web site. 2) MethodologyIn our methodology, we identify customer classes reflecting groups of customers with different behavioural characteristics, and Web site parameters relating to features of the Web site which will potentially affect customer satisfaction. We then seek to measure customer satisfaction with the various parameters in a consistent and quantifiable way. This methodology is summarised below; a more detailed discussion of the methodology may be found in [6]. 2. 1) Customer Classification Customers may be classified in various ways, such as their behaviour or according to how they measure satisfaction with a Web site.However this classification is made, a representation of the customer class must then be made. This representation has two components: first, customer behaviour; and second, customer satisfaction measures 1 Performance Engineering Laboratory http://www. eeng. dcu. ie/~pel School of Electronic Engineering, Dublin City University, Dublin 9, Ireland [email  protected] dcu. ie, [email  protected] dcu. ie for various Web site parameters. We define customer behaviour in terms of the interaction with the Web site. A trace behaviour is defined as the series of clicks and other information that the customer exchanges with the site.Typically, behaviour for a customer class is defined as one or more traces. For a customer class, a weighting may be associated with the traces indicating how likely it is for the customer to perform that particular trace behaviour. That is, some behaviour may be exhibited more frequently by a user in a class, and this behaviour should be given higher weighting. 2. 2) Customer Satisfaction Measures The factors which might affect customer satisfaction with a Web site are contained in a parameter list.It is important that for each parameter in the list satisfaction should be quantifiable. Some quantification measures are easily defined. For instance, if the parameter is the number of clicks, the quantification may be defined as an integer value. Other parameters may have more subjective quantifications. For instance, how does one quantify the â€Å"quality† of information available at a Web site? In order to compare the satisfaction measured for different parameters, the quantifications must be mapped to a fixed scale. For instance, all measures could be mapped to a scale of 0 to 10.This mapping is what allows us to represent customer valuation of the same parameters. For instance, some cu stomers will tolerate delay better than others. This may lead to one customer mapping a download time of 5 seconds to 10 and another mapping a download time of 5 seconds to 0. Studies such as [7] indicate that this mapping can be complex and context dependent. 2. 3) Analysis of Customer Satisfaction for a Web Site Using the above, for each trace it is possible to associate a satisfaction value with every parameter.The trace weightings may then be used to arrive at a weighted average of the satisfaction values associated with the parameters. This gives a measure of how satisfied a given class of customers is with a given parameter. Finally a weighting of parameters can be defined, allowing for an overall satisfaction measure of a class for the Web site. By varying this weighting, we can study how different parameters affect customer satisfaction. 3) Test Results The most difficult part of this exercise is in relating customer trace behaviour to the satisfaction vector. How parameter satisfaction is measured nd how it is mapped onto a fixed scale must be addressed on a case-by-case basis, although experience using the methodology may lead to the definition of some standard cases. Also, since multiple executions of the same trace may lead to different values, some statistical analysis may be required. We have applied our methodology to three Irish E-Commerce Web sites in the telecommunications sector (designated here as Web sites A, B, and C). 3. 1) Customer Classification Customers for the three Web sites we examined have been divided into two distinct classes: Private and Business.Traces are associated with searching for specific information that the customers might be interested in. Six customer tasks are identified in Table 1 and for each Web site a trace is devised to perform the task. For the sake of convenience, we call all traces associated with a given task by the same name, even though the trace is obviously specific to the Web site. Data services is sp lit into T4a and T4b because Web site B provided different pages depending on whether the customer was private or business.Trace T1 T2 T3 T4a T4b T5 T6 Task Where to buy a phone Coverage Tariffs WAP Data Services Data Services for Business Roaming List Business Tariffs Table 1: Tasks The Private and Business customer classes are defined as a collection of the above tasks, and an associated weighting is given which is indicative of the relative likelihood of customers of a given class seeking to perform that task. Trace weightings for the Private and Business classes are given in Table 2. The interpretation is that for a group of Private users roughly half might want to know where to buy a phone, 30% might want to know about tariffs, 10% ight want to know about coverage and 10% might want to know about WAP services. The Business users exhibit different behaviour with 30% wanting to know about coverage, 30% being interested in the roaming list, 20% being interested in data services an d 20% being interested in business tariffs. Customer Class Private Trace T1 T2 T3 T4a T2 T4a, T4b T5 T6 Trace Weighting 0. 5 0. 1 0. 3 0. 1 0. 3 0. 2 0. 3 0. 2 Business Table 2: Trace weightings for different customer classes 3. 2) Satisfaction Measures Three parameters were identified: Complexity, Time, and Quality.Complexity was measured as the number of clicks to reach the destination. Time was measures as total download time in seconds. Quality was a subjective measure of the quality of the information contained in the site (could the information be found, and how easy was it to find? ). Quality was measured using a small-scale user survey where the users were asked to examine the end page for each task and rate their satisfaction with the information they found there on a scale of 0-100%. A scale of 0-10 (with 0 being worst and 10 best) was chosen for a uniform comparison of satisfaction values.The measured satisfaction values were mapped onto the 0-10 scale as follows: Complex ity: Time: Quality: 10(20-(n-1)/10), where n is the number of clicks 10(10-t/60), where t is the trace download time in seconds x/10, where x is the average value of user satisfaction with the quality of the page For Quality a straightforward linear mapping was applied. More complex mappings were employed for Complexity and Time, and are shown in Figure 1. Examining the Time mapping we see that 60 seconds is regarded as an unacceptable download time, and even 30 seconds leads to a fairly poor rating.Similarly, for Complexity, 10 clicks is regarded as unacceptable, and even 5 clicks is fairly poor. Note that we have chosen one among many possible mappings. It is up to the tester to decide how to choose a mapping that best reflects customer preferences. Also note that, in this case, all customers use the same mappings, and thus are seen to perceive the parameters in a similar fashion. It is an easy extension to attach different scale mappings to different customer classes or to differ ent traces. Figure 1: mapping time and complexity measures to a 0-10 scale 3. ) Satisfaction Measurement for Web Sites Once the satisfaction measures are determined, it remains to test the Web sites and compare results. Data was gathered using the Web Performance Trainer 2. 1 tool [8] to execute each of the traces on the Web site in question. This was necessary solely to take time data, and was carried out on a weekday. The other two satisfaction values can be determined by an examination of the Web sites. Tables 3, 4, and 5 summarise the satisfaction measures for the three Web sites respectively. Web Site A Customer Class Trace Complexity rawSatisfaction Measures Time raw 37. 6 34. 0 34. 7 28. 6 34. 7 46. 9 28. 6 38. 7 scaled 2. 4 2. 7 2. 6 3. 3 2. 6 2. 6 1. 7 3. 3 2. 3 2. 4 Quality raw 80 72 67 68 61 69 66 64 scaled 8. 0 7. 2 6. 7 6. 8 7. 5 6. 1 6. 9 6. 6 6. 4 6. 5 scaled 4. 1 3. 0 4. 1 4. 1 3. 8 4. 1 3. 0 4. 1 4. 1 3. 8 Private Business T1 T3 T2 T4a weighted avg. T2 T5 T4a T6 wei ghted avg. 4 5 4 4 4 5 4 4 Table 3: Customer Satisfaction for Web Site A Web Site B Customer Class Trace Complexity raw scaled 4. 1 7. 4 5. 5 5. 5 5. 4 5. 5 4. 1 4. 1 7. 4 5. 2 Satisfaction Measures Time raw 16. 7 11. 2 17. 1 13. 9 17. 1 14. 39. 7 12. 3 scaled 5. 3 6. 5 5. 2 5. 9 5. 7 5. 2 5. 7 2. 2 6. 2 4. 9 Quality scaled 8. 6 7. 6 7. 6 7. 4 8. 1 7. 3 7. 5 6. 4 7. 6 7. 2 raw 86 76 76 74 73 75 64 76 Private Business T1 T3 T2 T4a weighted avg. T2 T5 T4b T6 weighted avg. 4 2 3 3 3 4 4 2 Table 4: Customer Satisfaction for Web Site B Web Site C Customer Class Trace Satisfaction Measures Complexity Time raw scaled 4. 1 5. 5 7. 4 5. 5 5. 0 7. 4 7. 4 5. 5 7. 4 7. 0 raw 14. 0 13. 0 11. 1 12. 4 11. 1 10. 2 12. 4 10. 9 scaled 5. 8 6. 1 6. 5 6. 2 6. 0 6. 5 6. 8 6. 2 6. 6 6. 5 Quality scaled 8. 1 6. 8 6. 8 5. 8 7. 4 6. 1 5. 3 6. 5. 3 5. 7 raw 81 68 68 58 61 53 60 53 Private Business T1 T3 T2 T4a weighted avg. T2 T5 T4a T6 weighted avg. 4 3 2 3 2 2 3 2 Table 5: Customer Satisfaction for Web Sit e C The overall satisfaction measures are summarised in Table 6. Some interesting conclusions can be drawn from these measures. Firstly, for all Web sites and all parameters, there was a variation in satisfaction levels between the customer classes. Thus, not all users find the Web sites equally good. This is most noticeable for the Quality parameter: Private users rated Quality higher than Business users in all cases.If Business customers are considered valuable, this gap is not desirable. There is also a large difference in satisfaction ratings for the Time parameter of Web site B, again favouring Private customers over Business customers. Secondly, for all users and all measures, there are a range of values across the Web sites. For instance, the Time satisfaction for Business users varies from 6. 5 for Web site C down to 2. 4 for Web site A. This indicates that Web site C might have an edge in attracting Business customers. Finally, for a given user class and Web site, different satisfaction levels are observed.For example, Private users of Web site A have a Time satisfaction value of 2. 6 and a Quality satisfaction value of 7. 5. The exact interpretation of this is difficult, since the different parameter satisfaction values are dependent on the mapping of the raw data, which of necessity, differs for each parameter. However, it does perhaps indicate a favouring of form over efficiency. Customer Class Satisfaction Customer Web Site Class Web site A Private Web site B Web site C Web site A Business Web site B Web site C Satisfaction Measures Complexity Time Quality 3. 8 5. 4 5. 0 3. 8 5. 2 7. 0 2. 6 5. 7 6. 2. 4 4. 9 6. 5 7. 5 8. 1 7. 4 6. 5 7. 2 5. 7 Table 6: Customer Class Satisfaction for Web sites A, B, and C Finally, an overall assessment of customer satisfaction may be found by weighting the various parameters. Table 7 displays the overall satisfaction results under several different weighting schemes: Weighting 1 gives all parameters equal weighting ; Weighting 2 gives Time and Complexity equal weighting and Quality zero weighting; Weighting 3 considers Time only (zero weighting for Quality and Complexity). These weightings reflect possible values the tester places on the various parameters.We can see that for all the weightings, Business users have a clear order of preference, ranking Web site C highest, then Web site B, and finally Web site A. The order of preference for Private users varies according to the weighting used, although Web site A is worst under all three weightings. Customer Class Satisfaction Customer Web Site Class Web site A Private Web site B Web site C Web site A Business Web site B Web site C Satisfaction Measures Weighting 1 Weighting 2 Weighting 3 4. 6 6. 4 6. 1 4. 2 5. 8 6. 4 3. 2 5. 6 5. 5 3. 1 5. 1 6. 8 2. 6 5. 7 6. 0 2. 4 4. 9 6. 5 Table 7: Customer satisfaction with a Web site ) Conclusions Modelling customer satisfaction with Web and E-commerce sites is not as well studied as Web server modelling, but determining whether and how the customers of these sites are satisfied with their interactions is becoming increasingly important as the Web matures. We have proposed a methodology for estimating how satisfied defined classes of customers are with a Web site. Our approach recognises that customer satisfaction is a complex issue and includes factors which are not easily measured. We have applied our methodology to the study of three Irish E-Commerce Web sites.These sites were chosen for representative purposes only and the results do not necessarily generalise to other Web sites. Choices for the tester include not only what customer categories and what Web site parameters to examine, but also how to interpret the measured data such as download time. The flexibility of the methodology means that it will be necessary for the tester to carefully consider all of their options. The next step is to investigate whether ‘generic’ categories of users can be defined, and/or wh ether they care about ‘generic’ Web site parameters (e. . it seems download time will always be a factor in user satisfaction). Given a specific Web site, we will explore methods for mapping these generic user types and satisfaction parameters into the site's content. If an analysis of the resulting satisfaction measures shows that there is a disparity in the satisfaction of different user types, we will study how the Web site designer or administrator should take this into account, and whether their reaction can be determined dynamically while the user is interacting with the site.References 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. Nakamura et al, `ENMA: the WWW Server Performance Measurement System via Packet Monitoring', INET99. Cottrell et al, `Tutorial on Internet Monitoring and PingER at SLAC' available from http://www. slac. stanford. edu/comp/net/wan-mon/tutorial. html Kalidindi and Zekauskas, `Surveyor: An Infrastructure for Internet Performance Measurements', INET99. Hava and Murphy, `Performance Measurement of World Wide Web Servers' Proc. f 16th UK Teletraffic Symposium, May 2000. http://www. ecai. ie/usability_online. htm Graja and McManis, ‘Modelling User Interactions with E-Commerce Services’, to be presented at ICN01, Colmar, France, July 2001. Bouch, Kuchinsky, and Bhatti, ‘Quality is in the Eye of the Beholder: Meeting Users’ Requirements for Internet Quality of Service’, HP technical report HPL-2000-4, http://www. hpl. hp. com/techreports/2000/HPL-2000-4. html Web Performance Incorporated, http://www. Webperfcenter. com

Drug Addiction and Thesis Statement

Drugs addiction is a problem faced by many people of the world, it is a topic that interests many writers, and they wish to write an essay on drugs for this topic. Drugs are very harmful and keep the capability of dragging an individual towards death and destruction. People all over the world want to eradicate the adverse situation of drug addiction from this world and this is the reason why they are busy in writing essays on drugs.Essays on drugs are of many types such as war on drugs essay, essay on performance enhancing drugs in sports, essay on drug abuse, essay on illegal drugs, essay on drug addiction, essay on drug use, essay on drugs and alcohol and essay on drug testing, etc. The essays on drugs should be initiated by bringing in the information related to the topic of the essay on drug. You should know what drugs are.In an essay on drugs, you will have to write about drugs, their affects and the reasons due to which people use them, you have to include the information about why the drugs are so famous and how harmful are they. A persuasive essay on drugs will be one, which will be according to the topic of the essay on drugs. It should have a full-fledged introduction, which should introduce the topic completely. The introduction should also have a thesis statement that should be the main idea of the essay on drugs.A thesis statement should be based on the essay question to which your essay on drugs is an answer. A thesis statement of an essay on drugs can be one sentence or more than one sentence but it is suggested that it should be only one sentence. Essays on drug abuse or essays on drug addiction should be written by arranging the ideas in a format that should be understandable. You should divide your ideas in different paragraphs for an essay on drug abuse or for war on drugs essay.One paragraph should contain one idea and should not go towards a second idea, as it will reduce the comprehensiveness of the paragraph of essay about drugs. The essa ys on drugs should be written by researching the topic of drugs thoroughly so that the writer can depict information knowledgably. If you feel disturbed by an exercise of writing an essay on drugs, you can also get plagiarism free essays on drugs from custom writing websites, which are there for your assistance and support in terms of writing essays on drugs.

Brittle Stars and Basket Stars

Brittle Stars and Basket Stars Theres no question as to how these creatures got their common names brittle stars and basket stars. Brittle stars have very fragile-looking, worm-like arms and basket stars have a series of branching arms resembling a basket. Both are echinoderms that belong to the Class Ophiuroidea, which contains thousands of species. Due to this classification, these animals are sometimes referred to as ophiuroids. The mouthful of a name Ophiuroidea comes from the Greek words ophis for snake and oura, meaning  tail - words that presumably refer to the animals snake-like arms. There are thought to be over 2,000 species of Ophiuroids.   A brittle star was the first deep-sea animal to be discovered. This occurred in 1818  when Sir John Ross dredged up a brittle star from Baffin Bay off Greenland.   Description These marine invertebrates are not true sea stars, but have a similar body plan, with 5 or more arms arranged around a central disc. The central disk of brittle stars and basket stars is very obvious, since the arms attach to the disc, rather than joining to each other at the base like they do in true sea stars. Brittle stars usually have 5, but may have up to 10 arms.   Basket stars have 5 arms that branch into many slender, highly mobile arms. The arms are covered with calcite plates or thick skin. The central disk of brittle stars and basket stars is usually relatively small, under one inch, and the whole organism itself may be under an inch in size. The arms of some species can be quite long, though, with some basket stars measuring over 3 feet across when their arms are extended. These very flexible animals can curl themselves into a tight ball when they are threatened or disturbed. The mouth is located on the animals underside (oral side).   These animals have a relatively simple digestive system that is made up of a short esophagus and a sac-like stomach.   Ophiuroids do not have an anus, so waste is eliminated through their mouth. Classification Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Echinodermata Class: Ophiuroidea Feeding Depending on the species, basket stars and brittle stars may be predators, actively feeding on small organisms, or may filter-feed by filtering organisms from the ocean water. They may feed on detritus and small oceanic organisms such as plankton and small mollusks. To move around, ophiuroids wriggle using their arms, rather than using the controlled movement of tube feet like true sea stars. Although ophiuroids have tube feet, the feet dont have suction cups. They are used more for smelling or sticking to small prey, than for locomotion.   Reproduction In most ophiuroid species, animals are separate sexes, although some species are hermaphroditic.   Brittle stars and basket stars reproduce sexually, by releasing eggs and sperm into the water, or asexually, through division and regeneration. A brittle star may purposely release an arm if it is being threatened by a predator - as long as a portion of the brittle stars central disc remains, it can regenerate a new arm fairly quickly. The stars gonads are located in the central disk in most species, but in some, they are located near the base of the arms.   Habitat and Distribution Ophiuroids occupy a wide range of habitats, from shallow  tide pools  to the  deep sea.  Many ophiuroids live on the ocean bottom or buried in mud. They may also live in crevices and holes or on host species such as corals, sea urchins, crinoids, sponges or even jellyfish. They are even found at hydrothermal vents.   Wherever they are, there are usually a lot of them, as they can live in dense concentrations.   They can be found in most oceans, even in the Arctic and Antarctic regions.   However, in terms of numbers of species, the Indo-Pacific region has the highest, with over 800 species. The Western Atlantic was second-highest, with over 300 species.   References and Further Information: Dubinsky, Z. and N. Stambler. 2010. Coral Reefs: An Ecosystem in Transition. Springer Science Business Media. 552pp.Mah, C. 2009.   The Basics: How to Tell Sea Stars (Asteroids) from Brittle Stars (Ophiuroids).   The Echinoblog. Accessed April 28, 2016.Paterson, G.L.J. 1985. The deep-sea Ophiuroidea of the North Atlantic Ocean. Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History) Zoology 49(1): 1-162.Stà ¶hr, S., O’Hara, T. Thuy, B. (Eds) 2016.  World Ophiuroidea Database. Accessed April 26, 2016.Stà ¶hr, S, OHara T.D.,, Thuy, B. 2012. Global Diversity of Brittle Stars (Echinodermata: Ophiuroidea). PLoS ONE 7(3): e31940. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0031940University of California Museum of Paleontology.   Introduction to the Ophiuroidea. Accessed April 28, 2016.

Free Essays on Fatal Poison

A Fatal Poison The possession of power is a tainted possession indeed. To have complete power over another human being is arguably one of the worst. â€Å"When I went there, she was a pious, warm, tender-hearted woman. There was no suffering for which she had not a tear. She had bread for the hungry, clothes for the naked, and comfort for every mourner that came within her reach.† (Douglass 50) When Fredrick Douglass came to Baltimore, this was his description of his new mistress, Mrs. Hugh, a kind gentle woman who had no ill will towards any human being, including slaves. Her manner was like no other woman Douglass had ever known. Eye contact was something a slave was never allowed with a white person; she allowed it. Slaves were expected to cower in the presence of their masters; she despised it. Douglass had no instruction for this kind of treatment. He had never been treated as a real human by any white person, especially white women, in his whole life. This appearance of equ ality did not last long however. To this Douglass states, â€Å"But alas! this kind heart had but a short time to remain such. The fatal poison of irresponsible power was already in her hands, and soon commenced its infernal work.† Mrs. Hugh had forever changed. This fatal poison that Douglass speaks of is detrimental to both slave and slave owner. The first being the obvious. Any person denied there freedom and rights lives a tormented and depressing life. Imagine having the right to eat when you would like, or to sit when you would like, or to do any other thing you desire for that matter, stripped away from you. A life of no freedom is no life at all. This is the life a slave led. A day primarily consisted of a long period of hard labor, an inadequate meal and a very short night of sleep. To make matters less bearable, those who tried to embrace any of these presently unalienable rights, were severely punished. By physical and ment... Free Essays on Fatal Poison Free Essays on Fatal Poison A Fatal Poison The possession of power is a tainted possession indeed. To have complete power over another human being is arguably one of the worst. â€Å"When I went there, she was a pious, warm, tender-hearted woman. There was no suffering for which she had not a tear. She had bread for the hungry, clothes for the naked, and comfort for every mourner that came within her reach.† (Douglass 50) When Fredrick Douglass came to Baltimore, this was his description of his new mistress, Mrs. Hugh, a kind gentle woman who had no ill will towards any human being, including slaves. Her manner was like no other woman Douglass had ever known. Eye contact was something a slave was never allowed with a white person; she allowed it. Slaves were expected to cower in the presence of their masters; she despised it. Douglass had no instruction for this kind of treatment. He had never been treated as a real human by any white person, especially white women, in his whole life. This appearance of equ ality did not last long however. To this Douglass states, â€Å"But alas! this kind heart had but a short time to remain such. The fatal poison of irresponsible power was already in her hands, and soon commenced its infernal work.† Mrs. Hugh had forever changed. This fatal poison that Douglass speaks of is detrimental to both slave and slave owner. The first being the obvious. Any person denied there freedom and rights lives a tormented and depressing life. Imagine having the right to eat when you would like, or to sit when you would like, or to do any other thing you desire for that matter, stripped away from you. A life of no freedom is no life at all. This is the life a slave led. A day primarily consisted of a long period of hard labor, an inadequate meal and a very short night of sleep. To make matters less bearable, those who tried to embrace any of these presently unalienable rights, were severely punished. By physical and ment...