647 W6D Project metrics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

647 W6D Project metrics - Essay Example The two most effect project metrics are retrospective metrics and diagnostics metrics. 1. Diagnostic Metrics: These are drawn from the existing information to analyse the current situation of the project. Using this metric, project managers may detect anomalies or forecast risks that might surface in the future (Kendrick, 2003). Diagnostic and retrospective metrics are used when the project is running and can be used to solve issues there and then. Diagnostic metrics alert the project managers regarding risks that are emerging during the course of the project. Retrospective metrics provide conclusions to the project reports and tell the managers if there are any risks expected in the future. Both types of metrics make the processes more efficient and risk free. Scarlat. E. et. al, n.d, ‘Indicators And Metrics Used In The Enterprise Risk Management (ERM),’ Department of Informatics and Economic Cybernetics, Acessed online, < http://www.ecocyb.ase.ro/20124pdf/Emil%20Scarlat%20%28T%29.pdf

Research Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words - 1

Research - Assignment Example Interviews: Are a good method of data collection as they are in the form of a one on one conversation and both the interviewer and interviewee play an important role to come up with a solution to the problem or the research study topic: Interviews are useful in communicating on deep and lengthily research topics as they provide more insight to a problem and they open up a good platform or discussion between the interviewer and interviewee. They produce a higher response rate from the interviewee. Lastly the data collected has a high probability to be accurate as compared to the other qualitative research methods. Some of the disadvantages of interviews include. First, the interviewer may not deduce the right data if they are not consistent with the questions. Secondly, it may be time and energy consuming setting up the interview. Thirdly, interviews are best done on a one on one perspective, thus limitation in the numbers. Fourth, great interviews require great and skilled interviewe rs. Lastly the interviewer may ask biased questions and get the wrong replies thus could lead to a complication in the data collected (MBAOFFICIAL, 2010). What is the importance of interviews with regard to the business research topic? Interviews are used so as to find out information from customers about the products that are recommended and their importance. The main question a consumer could want to know from the company is whether the products do work or not and if they have a guarantee on safety. Interviews can act as a form of gathering information from the company that manufactures the product and can be used to enhance a discussion and share the benefits of using the products, thus the interview in this scenario acts as a point of creating awareness about the product to its consumers. When the consumer wants to know more about the nutritional products that they can use and supplement, interviews on the product(s) can be used to give such information in depth and with clarity . Focus groups: Are also referred to as focussed interviews or group depth interviews are structured in a manner where a group of people are asked more information about their opinions about a particular topic, product or idea. This is an open kind of discussion with the other members in the group. The researcher in this case their work is to give opportunity to people to speak and air their views and the researched also manage the group or acts as the group moderator. The advantage of a focus group is the personal experience and touch of experiences shared among the members. They do provide information based on experiences. Secondly, if a company has new products that it want to project to the market, focus groups could be used to test the product and get the opinion of the product entry in the market and acceptance by other consumers. Thirdly, if a product company wants to introduce a new product to the market, then a focus group is better place to determine the competitors and al so come up with solutions that could help keep at par with the competing product in terms of packaging, pricing and advertisements. The disadvantage of this is that the researcher has little control over the group as compared to a one on one interview. A second disadvantage is that too much time can be wasted on issues that are not relevant to the topic. Thirdly, the information collected may not be related to the topic since the group members may add additional comments to

Contemporary Issues In Administration And Management Management Essay

Contemporary Issues In Administration And Management Management Essay As according to the case study about the Accent hotel Group (AHG), which is a family owned business. It has got 7 hotels running four in two major capital cities(4star) and three at an international airport (two 3 star and one 4 star) . The Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of AHG is Daniel Rycart which is also followed by the eight boards of directors. The hotel is operated as a semi-autonomous profit centre and supported by in-house and outsourced services. There are 800 rooms in each hotel and they employ 800 staffs. The hotel offers a number of high class facilities like indoor swimming pool, gym, sauna, bar, restaurants etc. For the quality standards of the hotels, Daniel (CEO) has set a vision of commitment to excellence for the group. Administration: Administration as design and implementation of systems and procedures instigated by management to help meet stated objectives (Mullins, 2007.p.414). So in other words Mullins states that administration is very important in the organization as it performs day to day operational activities to achieve the organizational goals and targets with the different types of departments operating in the organization. Like in the Accent hotel group there are CEO, IT Department, Finance department, Hospitality Hotel services, Human Resource Department, Legal Service Department, Operational Department, Risk Management Department, and Sales Marketing Department who has major roles in administration process. So administration helps them in strategic planning process in order to formulate or implement the strategy through proper guidance and coordination. According to (Richman Farmer, 1977) administration connects all the departments from top level to lower level so there is a flow of information with the necessary suggestions and feedback that helps the top level management to plan for the future. Without the administration it is very difficult to operate because there are number of routine decision-making, operational activities, internal controlling and observation and formulation of strategies and goals takes place (Richman Farmer, 1977). Generally effective administration means the process and systems of administration being run smoothly through proper coordination and controlling of activities, staffs and information in an efficient and effective manner (Richman Farmer, 1977). Through the effective administration, the organisation is benefited in number of ways as it stores the necessary documents of the organization like record keeping, utilizes the resources efficiently and effectively, there is a satisfaction of customer and employees and makes the brand image of the organisation (CfA, 2001). According to the research conducted by the CfA (2003), an organization (Accent Hotel Group) can provide effective administration through: 1. Effective Communication: Communication is the act of exchanging views, news, ideas, process, information, etc. between the sender and receiver (Hartley and bruckmann, 2002). In the organization communication plays a vital role because without the communication, the organization cannot operate its activities. As we know communication helps to send information throughout each and every department. While communicating, ones should use proper language to be effective. Daniel Rycaart could communicate properly with different department (Human Resource, Finance, Operational, etc) so that the information or instructions or rules laid down by him are correct, understandable and to the point so that it will bring effective administration otherwise miscommunication leads to disputes, employee turnover, etc. 2. Resource Allocation: Resources are assets that are required by an organization. For the Accent Hotel Group (AHG) to run smoothly it requires raw materials, human resources, financial resources, etc. These resources need to be managed properly taking in consideration the efficient use of time as a resource. For example if there is lack of resources (i.e. computers, heating, chairs, etc.) then the works will be delayed because of bad working environment and no interest of employees at work might be witnessed. So, allocating the resources and time management helps to make administration effective. 3. Training and Development: According to Torrington et al. (2007) in order to provide effective administration for an organization (like AHG), their staff should be well trained which can be done by providing different types of on-the-job or off-the-job training to increase their capability, knowledge and make them flexible in handling or dealing with different types of problems that are met by the AHG. This brings the commitment to the organization from the employees (Rae. L, 2000). 4. Performance Management: It is very much necessary for the AHG to measure the performance of their staff as low performance could decrease the quality standard of the AHG. It is a forward looking and developmental as it provides the platform for the managers to help or support their staff (Armstrong. M, 2000) 5. Culture As of the case study culture plays a vital role in planning, process and systems of the AHG. Culture helps in understanding the behaviour and working background of the organisation because it teaches us through the experience and develops ourselves (Handy. C, 1993). Like if the organization has a culture of helping each other while tackling or facing the problems , good communication between the staffs or co-workers instead of being rude or showing attitude openness then the future staff will also follows the same culture and in the end they will be committed towards the excellence (Schien. E. H, 2004) Conclusion In conclusion, we can conclude above points that administration helps the organization to perform its day to day activities and in strategic planning process in order to achieve the organizational goals and objectives (Mullins, 2007). In order to attain the organizational goals and objectives the administration needs to be effective. Effective administration provides coordination and control of staffs and activities, records documents and information, satisfies the customer and employee, etc (CfA, 2001). So in the Accent Hotel Group, effective administration can be achieved through effective communication, resource allocation, training and development, performance management and culture (CfA, 2003). Hence commitment to excellence can be achieve through effective administration. PART B Commitment to Excellence In commitment to excellence there are two words commitment and excellence in which commitment refers to the act of devoting oneself towards the accomplishment of something and excellence refers to a valuable quality by which one excels (brainyquote.com). So, commitment to excellence in business terms it means being committed towards the achievement of quality standard in terms of price, products, services, materials, etc that highlights the company images and development (Hannagan. T, 2007). According to Hannagan (2007), commitment to excellence is a very useful strategy that is used by many organizations like AHG has also used commitment to excellence in order to make the professional image and develop the organization internally. Because once all the employees are committed then their full interest, positive attitude and behaviour towards the accomplishment and development of organizational goals and objectives can be drawn which is the good advantage for the AHG. Overall it is abo ut diverting towards committing with less freedom in order to achieve quality. So commitment to excellence can be achieved in following ways through: 1. Motivation: Motivation is the desire within a person causing that person to act (Mathis. R.L and Jackson. J.H, 2008.p.72). In other words motivation is the act of influencing the employees behaviour towards the achievement or fulfilment of goals and objectives. It increases the performance, goodwill and overall image. Motivation helps the employees to motivate towards their work which can be done by providing salaries, rewards, promotion, recognition, etc and also through job design, job rotation and job enrichment (Torrington et al, 2007). So when employees would be motivated then they would be fully committed to work towards achieving the excellence. 2. Learning and Development: In regarding to Argyris and Schon (1978), they have defined learning as a process in which the mistakes and errors are ascertained by the organisation and correct their mistakes by improving or increasing their knowledge through learning from experience database. Organization can do so by providing training that develop skills, efficiency, better opportunities, job satisfaction, better inter-personal relationship, etc in order to avoid mistakes and errors in the output result so that quality can be achieved (Torrington et al, 2007). In the office if a person knows what to do, what not to do, what are their targets and goals, etc then it is more likely that they will be committed towards the excellence 3. Leadership: Leadership is defined as the ability to influence people towards the achievement of a common goal (Amandi et al, 2003.p.1077). Leadership is very much important in the organization as it guides, leads or motivates all the organizations staffs towards the goals and targets. So a leader should be visionary, creative, flexible, imaginative, decisional, etc so if an organisation has a leader with that quality then the people working under it will be organized, cooperative, and together and satisfied to be committed to the organization. Continuous Improvement Continuous improvement can be defined as a concept of being or remaining excellent in the field with whatever the circumstance to be in (hutchins.co.uk). It is about continuously finding out even if there are small mistakes or errors and resolving them by eliminating completely from the system or process for the improvement. It helps in growth and development of the organization because it improves products, services and processes. Continuous improvement can be achieved by using: 1. Kaizen (Japanese Management): According to Torrington et al (2008), Kaizen it is a Japanese strategy used as a continuous improvement of the organization. The techniques like Just in Time (JIT) technology which is used for continuous improvement. This teaches the business to start from the very ground level and taking small steps towards improving even small things to big things with the involvement of everyone i.e. managers and workers also. It tells everyday there needs to improvement of something. 2. Total Quality Management (TQM): TQM is defined as comprehensive approach to improving competitiveness, effectiveness and flexibility through planning, organising and understanding each activity and involving each individual at each level (Oakland, 1994.p.40). TQM mainly focuses on the quality control, quality assurance and quality management through which it satisfies the customers, less faulty products, motivates employees and competes with rivals with the chance of expansion and diversification. Since TQM is a continuous process that facilitates employee empowerment, involvement and participation, is customer focused and all that helps in continuous improvement of an organization (Torrington et al, 2007). 3. Benchmarking: In contrast with the Oakland (1994), benchmarking can be defined as improving the performance of the organisation by marking its progress to other leader competing in the market place. It is basically setting targets or goals of another successor that he/she/organization will achieve to set targets in a certain time in order to increase their performance or growth and development. It is also a continuous process as it compares the other companies process and systems and how they are operating in order to design plan to improve their performance and be continuously innovative at all the times (Torrington et al, 2007). It also facilitates the creation of organizational culture that is outward-looking and learning oriented which means comparing the other companies systems, process, etc (Hannagan, 2008). Conclusion From the above information what it says is commitment to excellence helps the organization to be committed towards excellence that is quality, develops the performance of the staff and makes the professional image of the company (Hannagan, 2007). So Accent Hotel Group can achieve commitment to excellence by motivating the staff, leading the staff and providing learning and development to the staff. Continuous improvement helps the organisation to develop consistently and to be or remain best in the field (hutchins.co.uk). Continuous improvement can be seen in the Accent Hotel Group through total quality management, benchmarking the success and using Japanese strategy-Kaizen. REFRENCES Mullins, L. J. (2007) Management and Organisational Behaviour. London: Financial Times-Prentice Hall. Richman, B. M. and Farmer, N. (1977) Leadership; Goals and Power in Higher Education. Jossey-Bass. Council for Administration (2001, 2003) Business and Administration Skills Survey. London Hartley, P. and Bruckmann, C. G. (2002) Business Communication. London: Routlegde. Rae, L. (2000). Effective Planning in Training and Development. London: Kogan Page Limited. Armstrong, M. (2000) Performance Management: Key Strategies and Practical Guidelines. 2nd Edition. London: Kogan Page Limited. Handy, C. (1993) Understanding Organisation, 4th Edition. USA: Oxford University Press Schien, E. H. (2004) Organizational Culture and Leadership, 3rd Edition. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Hannagan, T. (2007) Management: Concepts and Practices, 5th Edition. Financial Times/Prentice Hall. Mathis, R.L and Jackson, J.H. (2008) Human Resource Management, 12th Edition. USA: Thompson South Western Inc. Argyris, C. and Schà ¶n, D. (1978) Organizational Learning: A Theory of Action Perspective. Addison-Wesley Amandi, B., Oppedisano, J. and Sherman, H. (2003) Leadership Theory and Practice: A Case in Point, Management Decision, 41(10): 1076-1088 Torrington, D., Hall, L. and Taylor, S. (2007) Human Resource Management, 7th Edition. Europe: Financial Times/Prentice Hall. Oakland, J. (1994:40) cited in MDP (2010) BSc (Hons) Management and Business Administration: Contemporary Issues in Administration and Management, Part 2. Bangor: MDP Hannagan, T. (2008) cited in MDP (2010) BSc (Hons) Management and Business Administration: Contemporary Issues in Administration and Management, Part 2. Bangor: MDP http://www.brainyquote.com/words/ex/excellence162353.html Accessed on: 08/03/11 http://www.brainyquote.com/words/co/commitment146024.html Accessed on: 08/03/11 http://www.hutchins.co.uk/tr_contimp.aspx Accessed on: 08/03/11

Jim Morrison :: essays research papers

Mr. Mojo Risin’ and Fallin’: The Life and Death of Jim Morrison He is often referred to as the "electric poet" for his tantalizing words and mesmerizing music, and called to be the "Lizard King" for his deep obsession for all creatures of nature. His name is James Douglas Morrison. Jim Morrison is one of the most influential artists in history. His life brought inspiration to many young people’s lives, and his death continues to weave us into the mysteries that he left behind for us to break through. One certain mystery happened the night his soul passed on. No one really knows what happened to Jim that made him leave the world that night. There are rumors of death from natural causes, a heroin overdose, or even that he is still alive and well keeping the rest of his life a secret to us all. To better understand Jim Morrison himself, a background of his life and especially his character is necessary. James Douglas Morrison was born on December 8, 1943, in Melbourne, Florida (Hopkins 5). He was the first child of George Stephen Morrison and Clara Clark Morrison. He had two younger siblings, Anne and Andrew ("James" 1). His father was an officer in the United States Navy and his mother remained a housewife to act as the "dominant parent" over the three kids (Hopkins 22). After graduating from Florida State University, he attended film school at the University of California at Los Angeles in 1964, where he met Ray Manzarek. A year later, the two form a band called The Doors with Robbie Krieger and John Densmore after Jim reveals to Ray some songs that he had written (Rocco 172). Jim Morrison was on vocals, Ray Manzarek on organ, Robbie Krieger on guitar, and John Densmore on the drums. The Doors became a very successful band, recording fourteen albums al together, not including bootleg recordings (Rocco 184). In 1971, the four Doors break up after Jim decides to move to Paris to pursue a writing career. Jim Morrison was intelligent, intimidating, sensitive, wild, just about everything a person could be rolled into one. In a publicity bio recorded by Elektra, Jim says, I’ve always been attracted to ideas that were about revolt against authority-- when you make your peace with authority, you become an authority. I like ideas about the breaking away or overthrowing of established order---I am interested in anything about revolt, disorder, chaos, especially activity that seems to have no meaning (Hopkins 107).

How Grammar Is Taught in Task Based Language Learning Method

How Grammar Is Taught In Task Based Language Learning Method The purpose of this essay is to investigate how grammar is taught in task based language learning method at upper secondary high school and what guidance experienced teachers have to offer. This is done by studying task based language learning method and current practice of teaching grammar at upper secondary high school . Task based language learning claims that learners discover the language system when they communicate. This claim is built upon the assumption that language is acquired through communication. Task- based learning focuses on learning about how language works in discourse as an input to new language production; the language input is language data, spoken and written texts, rather than language models presented as targeted structures. The whole issue is how to design tasks which help learner to use the language to learn it, in other words, to develop their communicative competence. To make the design of this method, the teacher uses â€Å"tasks† as instruments to investigate how second language learning takes place and what makes language learning successful respectively. The teacher also investigate which types of tasks contribute to the development of which kind of competence in learners. It is essential to define what a task is so that curriculum developers and language educators can design genuine tasks that stimulate language use. In this section of procedure, the teacher must carry out three stages: pre-task, task- cycle and language focus. How do I teach grammar in task based language teaching ? My students are from fifteen to nineteen years old. They are Vietnamese students and they are not good at English. The number of students in my class is overload of about forty- five. Since my students frequently come into contact with English, they are not thought to need grammar rules as much. Since they learn the language in a native-like way almost, they repeatedly make some mistakes. So I need to choose an effective method, task based learning language, to teach grammar. I find it important to answer the following questions when teaching grammar. First, what structure do I teach ?. Second, how do I give students input?. Last , how do my students produce output? First, what structure do I teach ? It was important to listen to the students and see what they needed to practice, and try to find things that interest them. They also need to be aware of why they are learning the structure. For example; Because I know my students want to say about their ability to do something, I decide to teach them auxilary verb â€Å"can† in the structure â€Å" subject + can + bare infinitive verb† Grammar teaching has become integrated with activities focusing on meaning and is taught more through examples than by using grammatical terminology. Then , how do I give my students input?. I have to try to find something that makes it more interesting to give my students grammar input. It was encouraging for the students to be aware of what they are going to know, what they are good at, bad at, what they can improve. Additionally, it is helpful for the students to know how they learn the best. What I believe communicative exercises mainly provide is fluency. The students are encouraged to watch a short video clip. The father is going with his son in a zoo. Father(F) : What can you see ? son(S): I can see a tiger . (F) : And what can you see ? (S): I can see a bird. (F) : And what can the bird do ?. (S) : It can sing. (F): Oh, can you see a snake? (S): Yes, I can. (F) : Can it sing? .(S): No , it can’t. Motivation was often mentioned as very important for the students to be successful. Therefore, as a teacher to be able to motivate the students seemed to be a valuable asset. Communicating with them in this way also gave the teacher a chance to see what the students wanted to achieve. Grammar learning is essential for it gives students the tools for developing their language. For students to learn grammar through communication seems the more natural way of approaching a language than studying rules in isolation. However, when the same errors are repeated, teachers have to bring the students? attention to those specific structures. are many approaches, and what might not work on one occasion might work on a different one

Risky Business: Consent, Safety, and Firefighter Culture

A child’s world is full of violence. It appears in video games, films, and TV programs and many parents in the hope of removing their children from some of this violence are encouraging and sometimes pushing their children into participating in sports. Some parents are losing sight of why these children are playing- and that to the children is what they are doing: â€Å"playing. † Many parents come to their child’s practice or game with their own agenda of win, win, win at all costs.These unreasonable expectations of winning, not messing up, being the star player, and making mom and dad proud are everything. †These parents expect perfection from their children. †(Sachs, 2000, p. 62) The major problem seems to be that these parents are not considering what the children want. According to a â€Å"Kid think† survey conducted by Jerry Kirshenbaum for sports, the kids want things like ‘unlimited free throws until they miss in basketball, every one having a turn to play, less violence in hockey, using their hands in soccer, and to have fun†(p. 2). Perhaps the parents should listen to the children on this issue. Originally, the purpose of organized sports for young children was to teach them the basics of the game and skills needed to play, to practice good sportsmanship, and to have fun. If we look back to the beginnings of organized sports over 100 years ago, the purpose then was to get the growing numbers of rowdy children off the streets and to teach them values.Children’s sports are supposed to teach them skills and values-such as fair play, working with others and dealing well with adversity-which kids can draw upon throughout their lives. What has gone wrong with that purpose? Where has this sense of sportsmanship, learning, and fun gone? The incidence of violent behavior among sports parents is increasing throughout the United States and Canada and it needs to be stop. The age range of the children obse rving these incident is 6 to 12 years old, and some as young as 4 and 5 ee these outbursts. Athletic associations and organizers of youth sports are attempting to educate parents on the needs of young athletes, but this effort needs to be expanded to all organized youth sports. (Nack & Muson, 2000; Gardner, 1999) Many organized athletic associations are now requiring parents to attend sportsmanship classes, adhere to parental conduct handbooks, sign codes of conduct, and observe silent Saturdays.Many groups are working to return youth sports to a time of teaching fundamental skills, developing fitness and promoting the development of positive attitudes, values, and self-esteem. Parents across the United States and into Canada need to let go of their own agendas, and athletic associations need to enforce parental codes of conduct through classes and training. As a result, the world of youth sports can be returned to the children where they can all learn to enjoy a sport, learn the sk ills of sport, play, and most of all have fun.

German Story Sandskulpturen Is Great Language Prep

German Story 'Sandskulpturen' Is Great Language Prep One of the best ways to study German- or any foreign language for that matter- is to simply wade into a story and try to translate it. So, grab a good German dictionary, a strong Tasse Kaffee (cup of coffee) and a pencil and paper, and situate yourself in a quiet spot, such as your Kà ¼chentisch (kitchen table) or a Bibliothek (library). Then try your hand at translating this brief story. First, read this short story in German, about a trip to the beach and sandcastles, and then check your comprehension against the English translation that follows.   Sandskulpturen Story Text This brief story is from Quizlet, a student-and-teacher online learning community that provides free and fee-based learning tools and information. Es war ein super-schwà ¼ler Tag. Wir konnten die Hitze kaum ertragen und entschlossen uns deshalb zum Strand zu gehen. Wir haben den richtigen Samstag gewhlt, denn es gab ein Sandskulpturen-Wettbewerb bei dem Strand. Was fà ¼r tolle Kreationen! Das linke Foto ist eine Sandskulptur von einem Amateur und das rechte von einem Profi. Diese Skulpturen waren so unheimlich detailliert und haben zirka vier Tage gedauert zu bauen. Ich habe auch probiert etwas aus dem Sand zu schaffen, aber anstatt ein Kunstwerk, sah meine Skulptur mehr wie einen Sandberg aus. Wenn ihr wirklich Sandmeisterwerke sehen wollt, dann besucht diese Webseite, Wenn Profis Sandburgen bauen, die das grà ¶ÃƒÅ¸te Sandskulpturenfestival in Deutschland beschreibt. English Translation   Some of the translation of the above story is not literal. The phrasing has been changed where needed to enhance the flow of these passages. It was a super-sultry day. We could barely stand the heat and decided to go to the beach. We chose the right Saturday because there was a sand sculpture contest at the beach. What great creations! The photo to the left is a sand sculpture made by an amateur and to the right by a professional. These sculptures were so incredibly detailed and took around four days to build. I also tried to make something out of sand  but instead of a piece of art, but my sculpture looked like nothing more than a mountain of sand. If you really want to see sand masterpieces, visit this website, Wenn Profis Sandburgen bauen (When Professionals Build Sandcastles),  which describe the largest sand sculpture festival in Germany.

terror in french revolun essays

terror in french revolu'n essays The Terror, generally recognised as being the time period of 1793 1794, saw a dramatic escalation of violence as desperation intensified, and the ideals were always the driving force behind the brutality; their significance did not diminish, but rather grew in strength as they justified the violence. The ideals that led to the Revolution and thus its Terror phase originated in the Age of Enlightenment, which was, as Wikipedia describes, an intellectual movement in 18th Century Europe. This period involved the criticism of existing status quo, which meant challenging established institutions such as the church and the government. These intellectuals believed that solution to the worlds problems was rational thinking, and therefore shunned religion and social structures like feudalism in favour of deism and republics. The ideas from the Enlightenment about religion and the government were carried through into the Revolution, and the Terror, where resistance to them was met with brutality. In order to fully appreciate the Terror of the French Revolution, the revolution itself must be explored. There were several causes for the revolution, including the resentment of the Kings absolutist powers, bitterness toward the unfair feudal system by the lower classes, the introduction of Enlightenment ideals, unmanageable national debts (both due to and exacerbating the taxation system), and extreme food shortages in the years directly before the revolution. Franà §ois Mignet says this of the revolution: To some extent the old order succumbed to its own rigidity in the face of a changing world; to some extent, it fell to the ambitions of a rising bourgeoisie, allied with aggrieved peasants and wage-earners and with individuals of all classes who had come under the influence of the ideas of the Enlightenment ... As the revolution proceeded and as power devolved from the monarchy to legislative ...

A Proposal for the Solution to Economic Abuse in Puerto Rico

A Proposal for the Solution to Economic Abuse in Puerto Rico How to Start the Ending of Economic Abuse in Puerto Rico Through the years, Puerto Ricans have been living the era of Economic, Social, and Political Crisis in the island. Most of the society does not pay attention to those situations or to the problems presented. All the three types of crisis connect at one point. Through my proposal I want to explain and expose the cause and effect of two situations that Puerto Rico has and is going through, and those are the increase of the salaries of different city mayors, and the abuse of those who â€Å"need† financial assistance. On February 23, 2009, the Autonomous Municipalities Act was created in order to ensure more control over the different mayors’ decision. It was set out in Article 3.012 of the Act, the concerns dealing with the authorization of increases in salaries of mayors. In this part of the Act, Hernà ¡ndez (2009) states the following: â€Å"A mayors salary will be established depending on the time of its term and the population of his municipality. A mayor, in his/her first term, can earn a salary of three thousand ($ 3,000.00) to five thousand dollars ($ 5,000.00)†¦ In a municipality with a population over one hundred thousand (100,000) occupants, one Mayor re-elected may earn a salary of five thousand ($ 5,000.00) to nine thousand dollars ($ 9,000.00).† A serious problem with this Act is that it provides too much freedom or autonomy to those municipality leaders who do not have the capacity of attending in a correct manner the financial needs. A couple of examples to support this statement are the case of the mayor from Villalba, who was conducted in an investigation for using the money to go on a trip to New Jersey; the increase in the salary of the mayor of Rio Grande, Eduardo Rivera Correa, from $3,900 to $7,500 because he thought that the salary he earned at first was not enough for his living expenses. According to Fonseca (2013), â€Å"the ones who can lower the salary of the mayors are the legislators, and they will not want to confront the mayor of the municipalities. But, how can these mayors say that their salary is not enough for their cost of living when the income per capita of any citizen is of $1,600 to no more than $3,000 monthly.† He does have a point. Most mayors do not have the expenses that most of the cit izens have. If the money they receive was used to better the status of their municipality then it would be understandable that their income would be increased, but the facts do not prove that. In the case of the mayor of Rio Grande, it was found that the municipality had $2.2 million dollars in deficit in 2010-11, after the increase of his income. The mayors are one problem, but the society is another. Puerto Rico provides financial assistance for those who needed. But the question would be, do they truly need that help? One of the most famous helps that the government gives is the Nutritional Assistance Program also known as PAN, which is a family credit card that receives a monthly payment where part of that money can only be used for grocery shopping. Out of 3.7 million people that compose the population, 1.5 million receive this help. Those 640,000 families receive a payment of $150 up to $650 monthly, where 25% of that money can be taken as cash for other expenses. Most of the people that receive this financial assistance live in public housing or as we Puerto Ricans call them the residenciales. In 2009, the Project 894 was presented which established the â€Å"Special Law for Justified Tariffs for Utilities for Public Housing† that presented the ways the different funds would be used for the maintenance of the r esidential. The funds provided $70,438,000 were $68,728,000 came from federal funds, and the other $1,710,000 came from loans and bonds. Most of that money can be used for the improvement of other difficulties like for schools, roads, community programs, etc. Those people, besides receiving the financial assistance they get, they live in the public housing with fixed monthly payments in two appeals: water and electricity. Their monthly payments on water is only $19.71, and on electricity just $30, which in reality most of them do not pay because they put a trap o better known as un pillo de luz y agua which gives them the â€Å"privilege† of having no expenses. All of these problems stated have an effect on the future society, especially on college students and the ones who soon are going to go into college. Although most of the college students receive financial aid like scholarships and grants, most of them try to find a job during their first four years or their bachelor years so they can start saving money for their masters and doctor’s degree. There is the problem. Society today is suffering a crisis of unemployment where the facts state that 30% of the populations of 15 to 24 years old are unemployed because most of the jobs presented today have high requirements that most of them do not have, like having a bachelor’s degree in the specific branch the job asks for. The solutions I want to present are simple but require more effort in the work of those who control the salaries of the mayors, which would be the legislature, and those who control the financial assistance, which would be the Family Department. The solution I provide is that do not approve a request without first making a background investigation of the person. Investigate the cause or reasons the person wants that money, what that person wants it for, how will they use it, etc. If the background investigation presents valid reasons then approve the request, but do not stop there. Keep a watch on that person to see if he/she is truly worthy of maintaining that support or financial assistance. If after a month or two the person shows bad use of the money, then cancel that support and give it to somebody else. But stop wasting money on things, in this case people that do not deserve it because they do not know how to properly use the money they are receiving. Money is not something to give away especially when the country is suffering an economic crisis. The economic abuse that the people, from the poor to the ones in the power, have over the money that the government does not have would be consider the biggest part of the base of the economic problem in Puerto Rico. The government should take better control over the money that is left or that they receive, and learn how to handle it that would benefit the people and the country’s status. But the society needs to learn that they cannot abuse of the money they receive, because they have the â€Å"privilege† of receiving that financial aid when they do not truly need it. There are families out there who NEED that help but they are not among the poor, they are instead hidden among the middle class of the society.

Blu-ray Vs HD-DVD Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Blu-ray Vs HD-DVD - Essay Example DVD or 'Digital Versatile Disc' or 'Digital Video Disc' has been round the corner for quite a while now, but Blu-ray is a relatively newer technique. With the arrival of every new technique, a debate starts taking place whether the immediate predecessor has lived its useful life or not. Similar debate is taking place in the IT industry with arrival of Blu-ray storage device. Advanced version of DVD is known as HD-DVD. This High Definition DVD or High Density DVD has more storage than a normal DVD. But with the arrival of Blu-ray question marks are being raised on its useful life as well. In fact there's lot more to these types of debates, other than technological issues. Now in the market driven economies, the newer versions of any product/ technology are being patronized by some big corporate house, therefore industrial rivalry takes a central stage on such matters. Similar is the case of Blu-ray Vs HD-DVD. Blu-ray technology developed by Sony and others has started gathering suppor t from companies like Phillips, while Toshiba is going ahead with newer experiments in the HD-DVD series. As always happens consumer happens to be the ultimate beneficiary of this cutthroat competition. In fact the speed of change in technology is so fast and furious that while on the one hand the HD-DVD, introduced in 1997, is still being experimented with for more storage, the Blue-ray Disc (BD) has arrived with a bang. Which way to go The name Blu-ray is in fact a combination of 'blue', for the color of the laser that is used, and 'ray', for the optical ray. It is worthwhile here to mention that the earlier disc recorders, readers use red laser ray. The letter "e" in "blue" was purposefully left off, according to the group of manufacturers, as an everyday word cannot be trademarked, thus Blu-ray was born. Blu-ray Disc (BD), a next-generation optical disc format is jointly developed by the Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA), a group of the world's leading consumer electronics, personal computer and media manufacturers (including Apple, Dell, Hitachi, HP, JVC, LG, Mitsubishi, Panasonic, Pioneer, Philips, Samsung, Sharp, Sony, TDK and Thomson). This format too will support enable recording, rewriting and playback of high-definition video (HD) besides storing large amounts of data. There are basically three types of Blu-ray formats planned: i. BD-ROM for pre-recorded media such as software, games and movies ii. BD-R (recordable) for HDTV recording and PC data storage iii. BD-RE (rewritable) for HDTV recording and PC data storage Some of the distinctive features of Blu-ray are; This format offers more than five times the storage capacity of traditional DVDs and can hold up to 25GB on a single-layer disc and 50GB on a dual-layer disc. That implies more than two hours of high-definition video or about 13 hours of standard video on a single sided BD while enough to hold about 4.5 hours of high-definition video or more than 20 hours of standard video on a double sided BD. BD can record high-definition television (HDTV) without any quality loss The listener/user can instantly skip to any spot on the disc Most interesting feature of this format is that we can record one program while watching another on the disc We can create playlists for quick access to our preferred data bank We an also edit or reorder programs recorded on the Blu-ray disc A BD automatically search for an empty space on the disc to avoid recording over a program. BD

What Have I Learned during the Entrepreneurship Programme and How Can Essay

What Have I Learned during the Entrepreneurship Programme and How Can I Apply this in My Future Career - Essay Example The path-breaking study is basically based on broad field research, some work experience and academic study (Chesbrough, 2003). There are many well known companies who have adopted this approach and got facilitated from it. This open innovation is creating a great opportunity for all the entrepreneurs so that they can learn through their experience and apply all those profit-making strategies in their own business so that they can expand their business and acquire maximum profit. This also led to the enhancement of entrepreneurship since it shows how one man can contribute to the industry and how one individual can show creativity on their own. Open Innovation basically show how organizations can utilize the business model in order to identify a more distinguished role of research and development in the world containing abundant information, make advancement in their existing business, enhanced management and access of intellectual property, and develop their business for future (Mor en, 2010). Companies belongs to different industries must transform in a way similar to the one in which they have commercialize knowledge, and with this open innovation, entrepreneurs can unfasten the hidden economic value with respect to ideas as well as technologies. Who an entrepreneur is? An entrepreneur is actually a person who expands or creates new ideas while taking the risk of establishing a new enterprise in order to produce products and services which satisfy the need of the customers. (Pett, 2006). Every entrepreneur is a business person however; every business persons are not at all entrepreneurs. Let take a look at why every business person cannot be or are not an entrepreneur. Take an example from our daily life, an old woman who sits near your home and sells the same kind of food with same taste and quantity, even the quality remains the same. Her so-called stall remains unchanged which does not at all bring any change in her living standard not even for some apprec iable extent.  

BUSINESS FINANCE Assessment 1 Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4250 words

BUSINESS FINANCE Assessment 1 - Research Paper Example Q3) Face Value = $1000 N= 30 years Coupon rate = 8% (a) YTM if Price is $900. Since Price YTM > coupon rate. Price at 9%: 80 x PVIFA (9%, 25yr) + 80/ (1.09) ^26 + 80/ (1.09) ^27 + 80/ (1.09) ^28 + 80 / (1.09) ^29 + 1080/ (1.09)30 = $ 897.3 Price at 7%: 80 x PVIFA (7%, 25yr) + 80/ (1.07) ^26 + 80/ (1.07) ^27 + 80/ (1.07) ^28 + 80/ (1.07) ^29 + 1080/ (1.07)30 = $ 1123.8 Price at 8%: $1000 By interpolation, YTM = 8% + (1000-900)/ (1000-897.3) YTM = 8.97% (b) YTM if Price is $1000. Since Price = Face value YTM = Coupon Rate Hence YTM = 8%. (c) YTM if Price is $1,100 Since Price > Face Value YTM Price at 7% = $1123.8 Price at 9% = $897.3 By interpolation, YTM = 7% + (1123.8-1100)/ (1123.8-897.3) YTM = 7.11% (d) The relationship between yield to maturity and bond price is that the yield to maturity is that discount rate that makes the present value of the bond's coupon payments equal to its price. Q4) a) Eps = $6, r = 15%, ROE = 15%, G =, Price = (i) Plowback ratio = 0 % g = ROE x Plowback ratio = 0.15 x 0 g = 0% Po = Div/ r -g Since nothing is plowed back in the firm, all the earnings are given out as dividends, therefore Div = 6 Po = 6/ 0.15-0 Po = $ 40 (ii) Plowback ratio = 40% g = ROE x Plowback ratio = 0.15 x 0.4 g = 0.06 or 6% Po = Div/ r -g Since 40% is plowed back, 60% is given out as dividends, therefore Div = 6 x 0.6 = 3.6 Po = 3.6/0.15-0.06 Po = $ 40 (iii) Plowback ratio = 60% g = ROE x Plow back ratio = 0.15 x 0.6 g = 0.09 or 9% Po= Div/r-g Since 60 % is plowed back, 40% is given out as dividends, therefore Div = 6 x 0.4 = 2.4 Po = 2.4/ 0.15 - 0.09 Po = $ 40 b) Eps =$6, r =15%, ROE = 20%, g =, P = i) Plowback ratio 0% g = ROE x Plowback ratio = 0.2 x 0 g = 0% Po =... Since project E has the highest profitability index, it should be chosen first and then project C. Since the investment budget is of $ 8 million, investing in these two projects would also equal to $ 8 million. Since X Ltd has a higher standard deviation, it means there is more risk and a greater variation of returns and thus a high chance that the expected return will not originate. Co-efficient of variance is another measure of determining riskiness of a business and since X Ltd also has a higher co-efficient of variance, it signifies that it's a more risky business. Thus 100% investment in Y Ltd is a better investment. Other than that, if recession hits the economy, X Ltd will completely go out of business. This is one more reason for not opting for investment in X Ltd. d) Value investors are those who use dividends to value their investments. Regular income is wanted by them and they look for quality companies with earnings records and projects they believe the market has under-valued. They tend to hold the under valued stocks for a longer duration and eventually take advantage of the rise in share price that the earnings growth brings in the long run. Growth investors are those who use stock prices to value their investments.

The Trail of Tears Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

The Trail of Tears - Essay Example Many Indians also died while being forced to relocate, a sanitized way to refer to the ethnic cleansing of tribes which were formerly located in the area east of the Mississippi River. The Indian Removal Act of 1830 mandated the relocation of many tribes, predominantly the Cherokee Nation which allowed for a ‘whites only’ America in what constituted the majority of what was the U.S. at that time. The journey out of lands occupied by the Cherokee, comprising thousands of miles and known as the Trail of Tears, is but one example of the injustices suffered by the natives of America brought about by the U.S. government. This distressing episode in American history was not acknowledged by government officials and was not included in school books until somewhat recently. This discussion illuminates this despicable action by the U.S. government, the events leading up to the deadly, forced march, its effects on those driven from their homeland and the overall consequences of eth nic cleansing American style. Ethnic cleansing is an act that is now condemned by the U.S. when perpetrated in other regions of the world but is a morbid reality of American history, perpetrated and endorsed by the American government. It may be hard to imagine the government seizing your home and forcing you, your family, relatives, neighbors and friends to walk halfway across the country in the dead of winter but that is what happened to thousands of native peoples 170 years ago. The American government, established by the people and for the people on the concept of justice for all, subjugated these men, women and children by forcing them off their lands. Those that survived the mass displacement found themselves in unfamiliar territory, a daunting proposition for a people whose survival was entirely dependent on understanding every aspect of familiar territory. Today, the Trail of Tears incident evokes sympathy from the general public but at that time,

Cover letter &Resume Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Cover letter &Resume - Essay Example Likewise, I have already established an education and design company in China, which gives me a competitive advantage through the experiences encountered in start-up and in operating a business endeavor. I came to the United States to earn a degree in Economics, which is a field of discipline I consider of crucial importance to contemporary global organizations. I plan to eventually venture in the international market and my gaining a degree in Economics in a prestigious university in the United States would give me significant advantage to succeed. the identified software programs; as well as navigate the Internet for research and other social activities with exemplary skills. I am also a good team player; I am highly motivated and flexible; as well as manifest the ability to efficiently handle multiple tasks, as required. I am hereby attaching my resume for your perusal. I could be reached at any of the contact numbers indicated therein. I would also be available for scheduled interviews at any of your most convenient time. Rest assured that when considered for the position, our professional relationship would definitely be mutually beneficial. I would be looking forward to hearing from you soon. Objective: My professional goal is to become part of a global organization and to apply the theoretical frameworks gained in the field of economics. As a highly motivated and immensely driven individual, I plan to be an instrumental contributor to future organizations through the application of developed skills in economic policy design, international business and global management, as well as in evaluating micro- and macro-perspectives affecting the organizations’ operations. "Spring 2014 Internship, Economic Security Washington D.C." 2014. The EastWest Institute.

Manage people performance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Manage people performance - Essay Example As the organization is already highly differentiated in terms of market segmentation the overarching company goals are expanding these market elements into larger markets, as well as creating more value for members. Still, within this context of understanding there are specific company goals that further articulate the organization’s strategic initiatives. In these regards, the first company goal has been indicated to be, â€Å"To deliver our core products and services to a standard and quality which meets or exceeds members’ expectations† (‘Racq’). In these regards, the company recognizes that while they achieved significant success, it’s necessary to continue to develop and create customer value in as effective and efficient way as possible. In ensuring that customer expectations are met and exceeded the organization can retain current customers and expand into new markets. A second primary company goal is to develop means of increasing the value of membership in a mutual gains approach for company and customer. While this may seem counter-intuitive, the company understands that in developing greater efficiency measures, strengthened partnerships, and greater strategy, membership can be both expanded as a means of offering greater value to the customer and still retaining an increased profit share. The final company goal is to develop new and sustainable income streams that function within the company’s brand and vision. Since it’s beginnings the Royal Automobile Club of Queensland has been highly successful in not simply gaining members, but also in expanding the membership benefits and sources of revenue. One considers that the company does not simply provide roadside assistance, but also gains revenue from car and automobile insurance. The company then desires to expand into even further markets as a means of gaining profit and developing the organization. There are a number of critical success factors for the

Cover letter &Resume Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Cover letter &Resume - Essay Example Likewise, I have already established an education and design company in China, which gives me a competitive advantage through the experiences encountered in start-up and in operating a business endeavor. I came to the United States to earn a degree in Economics, which is a field of discipline I consider of crucial importance to contemporary global organizations. I plan to eventually venture in the international market and my gaining a degree in Economics in a prestigious university in the United States would give me significant advantage to succeed. the identified software programs; as well as navigate the Internet for research and other social activities with exemplary skills. I am also a good team player; I am highly motivated and flexible; as well as manifest the ability to efficiently handle multiple tasks, as required. I am hereby attaching my resume for your perusal. I could be reached at any of the contact numbers indicated therein. I would also be available for scheduled interviews at any of your most convenient time. Rest assured that when considered for the position, our professional relationship would definitely be mutually beneficial. I would be looking forward to hearing from you soon. Objective: My professional goal is to become part of a global organization and to apply the theoretical frameworks gained in the field of economics. As a highly motivated and immensely driven individual, I plan to be an instrumental contributor to future organizations through the application of developed skills in economic policy design, international business and global management, as well as in evaluating micro- and macro-perspectives affecting the organizations’ operations. "Spring 2014 Internship, Economic Security Washington D.C." 2014. The EastWest Institute.

Secret Intelligence Service and National Security Essay Example for Free

Secret Intelligence Service and National Security Essay The revolution in military affairs has given rise to powerful strategic tools such as effects based operations (EBO), mirrored by the concept of intelligence-led policing in law enforcement. Some advocates of intelligence change argue that the role of intelligence be expanded to provide the analytical power-house for ‘whole of government’ decision-making in relation not just to traditional threats, but also to this new range of threats—a kind of EBO for the whole of government. This article argues for a more limited view of intelligence and its role—one that recognises the inherently human, and hence secretive, quality of intelligence as a means for dealing with human-generated competition. A nation’s intelligence apparatus is only one small part of the wider machinery for delivering policy and executive action. Traditionally, the role of intelligence within this wider structure was to counter threat from some kind of human collective opposition—whether a country, a crime group or a terrorist organisation. Intelligence was regarded as a highly specific undertaking to give advantage over that threat in the form of knowledge, insight and predictive capacity. According to this model, advantage was sought over a human threat capable of learning and adapting. Intelligence therefore needed to be secret to deliver an advantage. To protect the ‘intelligence advantage’, countries also developed counter-intelligence organizations such as the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) and MI5 and encoding and decoding organizations such as the US National Security Agency and the Australian Defence Signals Directorate. Today there is broad consensus that the threats we confront have expanded beyond the typical military or counter-intelligence threats of the past, especially those of the Cold War. This expanded range of threat falls into a major category and two sub-categories. The major category can be termed ‘non-conventional’ threats, ones that do not fall into the state-on-state category. They include environmental threats, threats of pandemic disease, terrorism and transnational crime. Volume 3 Number 3 (August 2007) 55 Security Challenges This broad category of non-conventional threat can be further divided between those threats of a human agency (terrorism, crime, people smuggling and trafficking) and those of a non-human agency (climate change and other types of environmental threat, natural disasters, pandemic disease). These two sub-categories are, however, closely linked, as demonstrated by Thomas Homer-Dixon and others. 1 They are linked in two ways. First, they are linked in the sense that so-called non-human agency threats such as climate change can give rise to instability. Instability can in turn give rise to many of the human generated conventional and non-conventional threats mentioned above. Second, threats like climate change are also linked with human agency in that they are often caused by human intervention. Changes in human behaviour are therefore necessary to remedy such threats. Even though these two sub-categories of threat are linked, they give rise to very different implications for the role of intelligence. On the one hand, the role of intelligence in countering human-related, nonconventional threat is relatively clear-cut and traditional. It includes counterterrorism, police intelligence, customs intelligence, coast watch intelligence and so on. All of these intelligence activities are characterised by the fact that they involve secret information that would be compromised if it were to leak out, and through its compromise would give the opposition (or threat) an intelligence advantage, or sacrifice the advantage enjoyed by the state. On the other hand, the non-conventional threats such as climate change, natural disasters or pandemic disease, entail no such secret, tightly held intelligence response. On the contrary, to counter such threats, especially in a liberal democracy like Australia, governments need to engage in a public dialogue with experts on the threat, whether those experts are scientists, journalists, medical or other experts operating in the public domain. This dialogue has to be public because the public needs to be taken along with the broad strategic changes required to deal with this type of threat. It also needs to be public and transparent because the scientific method is evidence based and depends on the capacity for peer review. Moreover, it is often difficult to achieve major changes in attitude to such threats in liberal democracies unless there is some kind of ‘tipping point’, either in terms of the concrete effects of the threat (catastrophic drought, for example, in the case of climate change) or public consensus on the science, or both. The concept of threat needs to be actualised right through the 1 Thomas Homer-Dixon and Jessica Blitt (eds), Ecoviolence: Links Among Environment, Population and Security, Lanham, MD, Bowman and Littlefield, 1998, ‘Introduction: A Theoretical Overview’. 56 Volume 3 Number 3 (August 2007) Security Challenges community before radical behavioural change can occur. This is because the political system of liberal democracies is usually geared to the short-term advantage of governments according to the political cycle rather than the long-term advantage of the nation. In order to move beyond populist politics, the whole community needs to be aware of the circumstances and prepared to make sacrifices to deal with the threat. Indeed, it is well known by intelligence specialists that long-term assessments, while they may eventually prove accurate, are almost never acted upon by policy. For example, nearly twenty-five years ago a leading Australian intelligence assessment agency employed a scientist—the only person in the organization working on scientific issues at that time. The scientist predicted that overpopulation, scarcity of water and climate change would result in vast changes for the worse in the Middle East, South East Asia and South Asia, forcing major, economically induced out-migration. Such events, he assessed, would eventually challenge Australia’s security. Today such an assessment would be commonplace. But at the time, no action was taken. Although the mandate of the organization was to predict long-term change, the political system was not equipped to deal with uncertain judgements about what was then considered the ‘deep future’. Nor could a secret intelligence report enable governments to deal with such predictions through debate in the public domain. Further, since threats like climate change constitute threats to the ‘global commons’, by definition they can only be addressed by global cooperation rather than competition. A ‘beggar your neighbour’ approach will only lead the globe deeper into trouble. The implications for intelligence are significant. In terms of threats like climate change, pandemic disease and catastrophic economic change, intelligence ceases to concern itself with achieving an advantage over an enemy or competitor. So the question therefore arises: are secret intelligence agencies appropriate organizations to advise on such threats? Despite the intrinsic problems associated with the use of intelligence to analyse threats of this nature, increasingly, intelligence agencies are being coopted to advise on them. For example, we learn from the Sydney Morning Herald of 10 April 2007 that the Office of National Assessments (ONA) has been commissioned by the government to determine the security implications of climate change. We further learn from the ABC news on 23 May 2006, which describes the ONA Director General being quizzed by the Senate Estimates Committee, that ONA has received multiple taskings of this nature. But the public are prevented from accessing the outcome on the grounds that the ONA is an intelligence organization operating in the secret realm. Volume 3 Number 3 (August 2007) 57 Security Challenges True, the ONA is being asked to look at the security implications. But to do so, it would need to make a sound assessment of the nature and extent of climate change. No doubt the ONA now has a few scientifically trained people working on this and similar issues. But no doubt also, it will be locked in earnest consultation with the Commonwealth Science and Research Organisation (CSIRO), the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics (ABARE) and similar agencies and institutions. And it will also be carefully perusing the reports of the International Panel on Climate Change. In other words, ONA is not, in itself, able to report on this issue. Its role is, rather, to organize, validate and valorize all the noise out in the public domain concerning the issue. The same evidently applies in the US. According to Anne Harrington, Director of the Committee of International Security in the National Academy of Science in Washington, If you get the intelligence community to apply some of its analytical capabilities to this issue [climate change], it could be compelling to whoever 2 is sitting in the White House. But why should the Central Intelligence Agency suddenly have authority on this issue when the world’s leading scientific specialists, who have spent lifetimes working on the issue, have been studiously ignored—and some even silenced—by the White House for the past seven years? All this leads us to ask what, exactly, should be the role of intelligence in the so-called ‘new security environment’? And how should intelligence fit in with other government structures to provide an analytical capacity in these areas? Intelligence and Its Purposes The narrower view of intelligence agencies suggested above—that is, organizations that deal fundamentally with human competition and therefore by nature exist in the secret domain—has not so far been widely accepted. The advent of non-conventional threat has generated considerable discussion in the ranks of those advocating intelligence reform. Various commentators have called for a broadening of the informational base of the traditionally tightly held intelligence agencies and a more ‘whole-ofgovernment’ approach. However, very little of this discussion has drawn the distinction between human-induced and non-human induced threat in relation to the role of intelligence. Nor has it distinguished between longterm threat to society and the ‘global commons’ caused by environmental issues and short-term threat generated by problems such as transnational crime and terrorism. 2 Tom Allard, Mark Forbes and agencies, ‘US braces for global warring’, Sydney Morning Herald, 10 April 2007. 58 Volume 3 Number 3 (August 2007) Security Challenges That is not to say that reform is not necessary, but rather that we need to be very clear what role intelligence should play in dealing with such threats and also where it should fit in to the wider ‘machinery of government’. Nor is it to claim that intelligence has no role at all in these matters: one very important role is to assess the security implications of issues like climate change, in order to prepare the state to meet those potential threats. Such a position does not imply, moreover, that some broader reform of the machinery of government would not be advantageous. But in deciding on the nature of that reform, we need to ensure that the tail of intelligence reform does not wag the dog of machinery of government reform. Nor is it to say that a discussion of intelligence reform should be considered in isolation from a discussion of wider issues to do with the machinery of government. Intelligence obviously has to be fitted in with the machinery of government, and how it fits in is important. Rogers correctly argues that the â€Å"practice of strategic intelligence is at its best when it is in counterpoise with strategic thinking [on the part of decision-makers and policy makers]†. 3 It follows that correct structure in the machinery of government should facilitate the connectivity between intelligence and policy on the one hand, and the consequent practice of strategic thinking in policy development on the other. But the problem here is that those involved with structuring intelligence do not necessarily have a say in the structuring of the machinery of government. And in any case, in a liberal democratic, federal structure such as Australia’s, a considerable proportion of government process is dictated by relatively immutable conventions and constitutions. We should also note that this issue of where intelligence sits in organisational structures is relevant both within a particular organization that uses intelligence, and also within the wider structures of state as supported by intelligence. In one case intelligence is embedded within the agency, in the other, it is embedded within the machinery of government. These two types and uses of intelligence may require very different structural approaches. In the case of the latter (intelligence agencies embedded in the machinery of government) it is the role of intelligence agencies to draw intelligence up and enable it effectively to be used in national policy-making. The structures used to ‘draw intelligence up’ are entirely proper considerations of a paper such as this on intelligence. This issue of the drawing up of intelligence covers the question of how a peak agency such as the ONA can best garner the wide range of intelligence that is required in today’s expanded threat environment. This expanded 3 Kevin Rogers ‘Developments in Australian Strategic Criminal Intelligence’ in Ratcliffe (ed) Strategic Thinking in Criminal Intelligence (Sydney: The Federation Press, 2004), p23. Volume 3 Number 3 (August 2007) 59 Security Challenges environment requires that the entire range of agencies producing intelligence be included—agencies such as the Australian Federal Police (AFP), Customs, Immigration, Coastwatch, Quarantine and the Australian Crime Commission (ACC). Structures to support this expanded role were discussed in an earlier paper by this author. But (alluding to the issues raised above), the expanded role for intelligence does not—or rather should not—include agencies such as the CSIRO, ABARE, the Productivity Commission, Geosciences Australia, the Department of Health, and so on. Unfortunately, this distinction is not always recognised or agreed in discussions about intelligence reform. For example, some have begun to questio n whether concepts like effects based operations (EBO), which in turn have been spawned by the new intelligence environment and new technologies, cannot be applied in a ‘whole-of-government’ way. According to this view, the three-way relationship between intelligence, policy and operations could be seen to apply across the spectrum of government decision-making, thus incorporating all departments of state and agencies in an endeavour to achieve a strategic outcome. Although such a project would be ambitious, ‘whole-of-government’ possibly can and should be made to function in a strategic sense. But it should be recognised that intelligence is not central to the process in the same way as it is central to EBO in a military setting or to intelligence-led policing in law enforcement. Indeed, in the author’s view, intelligence is a highly specific function to do with human competition and human enemies. It is not only inappropriate for wider use, but such use could be positively harmful in terms of the needed outcomes in government decision making in a democratic setting. Certainly, good strategic intelligence should be suggestive of courses of action, but only suggestive in the sense that the knowledge brought forward is suggestive. Intelligence can also comment on implications of actions when specifically asked to do so, but should not go the extra step of recommending options. It is not the role of intelligence to present analytical options to decision-makers in the same way as that is the role of a department of state or ministerial staff. The temptation to use intelligence agencies to support a strategic, ‘whole-ofgovernment’ approach is quite strong, however. Traditionally, intelligence agencies have been very close to the seat of power. Indeed, they were born Sandy Gordon, ‘Re-Shaping Australian Intelligence’, Security Challenges, vol. 1, no. 1 (November 2005), pp. 27-58. Brice Pacey, ‘National Effects-Based Approach: A Policy Discussion Paper’, Working Paper, no. 381, Canberra, Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, Australian National University, 2003, passim. Pacey is not, however, arguing for a central role for intelligence in this enterprise. . 4 60 Volume 3 Number 3 (August 2007) Security Challenges of a one-to-one relationship, in which the intelligence chief sat at the leader’s right hand. This was both to provide immediacy and preserve secrecy. The idea of a separation between intelligence and policy is a relatively recent one. The only separation that was once required was that between master and servant. The temptation to use intelligence agencies as analytical determinants of policy is even stronger in situations where there is no real alternative to the analytical powerhouses that some intelligence agencies can bring to bear. Moreover, governments that use intelligence agencies to consider politically sensitive issues like climate change have the added advantage of keeping such consideration outside the public domain and the scrutiny of oppositions. This is because once a matter is within the purview of intelligence, governments can claim they can ‘neither confirm or deny’ questions in respect of them. But as argued above, this is essentially a misuse of intelligence. Intelligence in National Strategic Decision-Making At the moment in Australia, national intelligence exists within a relatively tight framework of the Australian Intelligence Community (AIC), oversighted by a small and powerful group of departments and ministers, particularly Prime Minister and Cabinet (PMC), Defence, Foreign Affairs and AttorneyGeneral’s Department. This tight structure is reinforced by the restricted membership of the National Security Committee of Cabinet (NSCC) and the Secretaries’ Committee on National Security (SCONS), which proffers advice to the NSCC. It is a structure that in its essence was bequeathed by the Cold War, with minor modifications as a result of the Flood Report and other developments. As such, it was designed to deal with state-on-state threat and the threat of spying and political violence rather than the broader range of threats we now confront. Such a tight structure has both advantages and disadvantages. The advantages are that the intelligence agencies of the AIC are well plugged in to the Canberra policy environment and have a nuanced appreciation of what the government wants to know. Equally, this tight structure allows for rapid, consensus decision-making when needed. Further, the agencies of the AIC, particularly the ONA, represent a collection of individuals capable of high-level strategic thinking. The disadvantages of such a tight system are well known. The 9/11 Commission and Butler report chronicled the distortion of the intelligence process to serve particular policy needs, or at least perceived needs. Given the tight inter-relationship between the government, key departments and intelligence agencies in Australia, such distortions are also possible here. Volume 3 Number 3 (August 2007) 61 Security Challenges The Butler committee report also emphasised the dangers of a filtration system such as the UK Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC) standing between the judgements of experts and policy-making bodies. Some of the worst errors evident in the so-called ‘Dirty Dossier’ arose because the expertise in the Defence Intelligence Staff was filtered out or distorted, either as a result of a classic ‘broken telephone’ situation or through pre-judging the policy bias on the part of the JIC. In Australia, the system would be equally vulnerable should the findings of organizations like ABARE and the CSIRO be filtered through a small, nonexpert (in the disciplines involved) organization like the ONA. How suitable is the present Australian structure in light of the changes to the regional, global and technological environments? Before considering this important issue, let us consider the needs of a system designed effectively to operate in the new environment. x As discussed above, such a system would need to delineate a specific role for intelligence, one that relates to human-on-human competition, and that in turn necessitates a secret approach to intelligence. Such a system would also need to be capable of melding the intelligence product with product from other agencies working on issues that do not require secret intelligence and with other open sources. It would need to be flexible. That is, it would need the capacity to draw to a greater or lesser degree on a ‘whole-of-government’ approach for supporting information and judgment, depending on the urgency and nature of the threat and degree of secrecy needed. In other words, it would need to have the administrative means to ‘slide up and down the scale’ between a narrow, decision-making capacity at the top and a broad consensus model below, one that included information and analysis from a range of agencies, not only intelligence agencies but also economic and scientific agencies. In some instances, it would need to shape decisions for the longerterm. Yet it would also need to be capable of making adjustments in light of the evolving evidence. Such decisions would need to be maintained well outside the life span of a typical Australian Government. At times it would need to draw in two, or perhaps even three, levels of government, as already evident in the case of terrorism and pandemic threats such as SARS and ‘Bird Flu’. It would need to be well connected internationally in order to draw on available information and assessment. x x x x 62 Volume 3 Number 3 (August 2007) Security Challenges x Above all, it would need a powerful apex analytical and organisational capacity containing a range of expertise in order to bring together diverse lines of information, identify real problems, set priorities between them and devise viable strategies to deal with those priorities. This role should not be undertaken by existing intelligence agencies, because their role should be confined to the analysis and dissemination of intelligence. To use them in the dual role of policy advice and intelligence analysis and dissemination would be unduly to compromise the intelligence role. How well does the present system meet the needs outlined above? In some respects, quite well. It basically consists of a tight core capable of being expanded to meet a broadening of threat, with the NSCC providing a sort of ‘inner cabinet’, surrounded by a tight supportive framework consisting of key departments, SCONS and the AIC. It is a highly functional arrangement for an environment requiring a high degree of secrecy and relatively rapid decision-making. Where the nature of threat broadens, for example in the case of climate change, the current system is capable of rapid expansion. Members of Cabinet, such as the environment minister, can be brought into the NSCC where necessary. The AFP Commissioner, CEO of Customs and others can also be inducted into the SCONS when necessary. Within PMC, the National Security Division (established in 2003) provides a potential analytical unit that is not confined to intelligence, but that can range over the available government and non-government agencies, given its location on the ‘commanding heights’ of PMC. The present system falls down in a number of respects, however. It is deficient in that certain information deemed intelligence in the narrower sense outlined above is still not fully drawn into the AIC information network and database (AICNET). Nor are the organizations generating this intelligence (such as the AFP, Customs and the ACC) included in the tight deliberative network at the apex of government decision-making, at least not on a day-today basis. These exclusions cause a deficit in knowledge and a nalysis of non-conventional, but human-induced, threat. This deficit was discussed in greater detail in an earlier paper. 6 6 Gordon, op cit. At the time of final preparation of this paper, the government has announced a new system of combining the databases of Customs, Immigration and ASIO. One might well ask why this is only being done now, six years after the events of 9/11? Volume 3 Number 3 (August 2007) 63 Security Challenges x It is not capable of adopting strategic thinking across all levels of government in the federal structure—the so-called ‘EBO of governance’. Because of the requirements of the liberal democratic federal structure, however, this problem may not be amenable to an entirely satisfactory solution. Even given the restraints imposed by our political system, there is inadequate capacity at the top to analyse, identify and give priority order to threat. Although the National Security Division of PMC seems to be set up to undertake this role, according to Pacey, the division is still limited by coordination roles and the need to deal with immediate crises rather than provide long-term analysis. 7 In counter-terrorism, for example, the role of PMC is to provide a multi-government and multi-disciplinary platform. One suspects that this demanding role diminishes its capacity to deliver long-term policy advice. In the absence of an appropriate analytical unit outside the confines of intelligence, there currently seems to be a growing de facto move to recruit the ONA for this top-level analytical role, as discussed above. But, as also argued above, the ‘heavy lifting’ on matters like climate change should not be conducted by a secret intelligence organization at all, but through transparent, evidence-based techniques that are well tried and understood in scientific organizations. Moreover, to place an organization like the ONA at the apex of the policy advice structure is, at least in a de facto sense, to bring it directly into the policy-making apparatus—hitherto considered anathema for an intelligence organization. x x Therefore, if we accept the more limited role for intelligence advocated in this paper, we are left with a potential deficit in terms of an apex analytical unit— the intellectual powerhouse of ‘EBO of governance’. The main candidate for fulfilling such a role seems to be the National Security Division of PMC. And in fact, more and more of the capacity relating to security in areas requiring a multi-disciplinary approach is now located in PMC. This includes terrorism, energy security, pandemic disease, nuclear energy and intelligence. Conclusion and Issues for the Next Government In light of the profound changes in the security environment we have witnessed in recent years, those responsible for shaping the way governments will deal with long-term structural change confront a choice. 7 Pacey, op. cit. , p. 5. 64 Volume 3 Number 3 (August 2007) Security Challenges On the one hand, they can advocate an expansion of the role of intelligence to cover the broader nature of the threat we now confront. In a de facto sense, the current arrangement seems to be drifting toward this kind of arrangement. On the other, they can continue to regard intelligence as an essentially secret function designed to give advantage and deny advantage in terms of human competition, whether of the state-on-state variety or threats from criminal and terrorist groups. In this paper we have argued the latter position. We have done so because of concerns about the nature of intelligence and how it differs from policy analysis, the nature of scientific inquiry and the democratic need for debate and consensus. We have further argued that, while it may be possible to achieve something close to a strategic process on a ‘whole-of-government’ basis, such a process cannot be driven by intelligence; and nor is it correctly placed within a discussion of intelligence and its role. We are of the view that additional analytical capacity required to support ‘EBO of governance’ should exist in the form of an expanded staff specifically advising the NSCC. While the National Security Division of PMC would seem to be the logical candidate for such a role, several changes would be needed to provide the kind of analytical capacity described above. Ideally, a unit of this nature should be administratively removed from the day-to-day, short-term contingencies and coordination functions normally undertaken by a division of PMC. That is not to say that the unit should be entirely administratively removed from PMC. But it might be a statutory body linked in a similar way to the ONA. Or it might be more directly associated with the Cabinet Division. Further, the unit would require an expanded ability to provide advice on a ‘holistic’ basis, with a range of expertise covering scientific, health, intelligence, economic and defence issues. Already the germ of such a capability is contained within National Security Division. The existence of such a support unit would act as a buffer between the Cabinet and intelligence agencies and ensure that the latter continue to function as providers of intelligence rather than strategic advice. It would provide the capacity to meld factual and analytical work from both the intelligence agencies and those agencies outside the AIC, such as the various government scientific and economic agencies and non-government agencies. Its interface with such agencies would be far easier than between intelligence and outside agencies, given the role of intelligence in protecting information from human competition. Volume 3 Number 3 (August 2007) 65 Security Challenges In light of this position, the following issues emerge for the next government: x Australia’s national intelligence database should be expanded more fully to incorporate information and intelligence from agencies outside the AIC, such as the AFP, Customs, Coastwatch and the ACC. Details of how this might be accomplished are set out in an earlier paper by this author. 8 Leaving aside the security aspects of issues like climate change, pandemic disease and radical economic change, government should recognise that such issues in themselves are not conducive to analysis and advice from intelligence agencies. Rather, a ‘whole of government’ analytical and strategic capacity should be incorporated into the advice mechanisms serving the NSCC. This unit should incorporate the work of intelligence agencies, but also range far more broadly across government and non-government agencies. It should posses a ‘holistic’ capability— that is, it should include scientific, health and economic professionals as well as national security experts. It should not be constrained by the day-to-day needs of servicing a busy department like PMC. x Sandy Gordon joined the Australian Public Service in 1977, subsequently working in the Office of National Assessments, AusAID and as Executive Director of the Asian Studies Council and Australian Literacy Council. In 1990 he became a Fellow at the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, Australian National University, where he worked on South Asia and the Indian Ocean. In 1997 he was appointed head of intelligence in the AFP, a position he held until 2000. He then became Co-Chair of the Council for Security Cooperation in the Asia-Pacific Transnational Crime Working Group and a member of the National Expert Advisory Committee on Illicit Drugs. Between 2003 and 2005, he lectured on terrorism and transnational crime at the Australian Defence Force Academy, University of New South Wales. He is currently Associate Professor, Centre for Transnational Crime Prevention, University of Wollongong. [emailprotected] com. au. 8 Gordon, op. cit. 66 Volume 3 Number 3 (August 2007)

Introduction To Microsoft Word Computer Science Essay

Introduction To Microsoft Word Computer Science Essay Microsoft Word is a non-free commercial word processor designed by Microsoft. It was first released in 1983 under the name Multi-Tool Word for Xenix systems. Subsequent versions were later written for several other platforms including IBM PCs running DOS (1983), the Apple Macintosh (1984), the ATT Unix PC (1985), Atari ST (1986), and Microsoft Windows (1989). It is a component of the Microsoft Office system; it is also sold as a standalone product and included in Microsoft Works Suite. The current versions are Microsoft Word 2010 for Windows and 2011 for Mac. HISTORY In 1981, Microsoft hired Charles Simonyi, the primary developer of Bravo, the first GUI word processor, which was developed at Xerox PARC. Simonyi started work on a word processor called Multi-Tool Word and soon hired Richard Brodie, a former Xerox intern, who became the primary software engineer. Microsoft announced Multi-Tool Word for Xenix and MS-DOS in 1983. Its name was soon simplified to Microsoft Word. Free demonstration copies of the application were bundled with the November 1983 issue of PC World, making it the first program to be distributed on-disk with a magazine. Unlike most MS-DOS programs at the time, Microsoft Word was designed to be used with a mouse, and it was able to display some formatting, such as bold, italic, and underlined text, although it could not render fonts. It was not initially popular, since its user interface was different from the leading word processor at the time, WordPerfect. However, Microsoft steadily improved the product, releasing versions 2.0 through 5.0 over the next six years. In 1985, Microsoft ported Word to the Macintosh. This was made easier by the fact that Word for DOS has been designed for use with high-resolution displays and laser printers, even though none were yet available to the general public. Following the precedents of LisaWrite and MacWrite, Word for Mac added true features. After its release, Word for Macs sales were higher than its MS-DOS counterpart for at least four years. The second release of Word for Macintosh, shipped in 1987, was named Word 3.0 to synchronize its version number with Word for DOS; this was Microsofts first attempt to synchronize version numbers across platforms. Word 3.0 included numerous internal enhancements and new features, including the first implementation of the Rich Text Format (RTF) specification, but was plagued with bugs. Within a few months Word 3.0 was superseded by a more stable Word 3.01, which was mailed free to all registered users of 3.0. After MacWrite, Word for Mac never had any serious rivals on the Mac. Word 5.1 for the Macintosh, released in 1992, was a very popular word processor owing to its elegance, relative ease of use and feature set. Many users say its the best version of Word for Mac ever created. In 1986, an agreement between Atari and Microsoft brought Word to the Atari ST under the name Microsoft Write. The Atari ST version was a port of Word 1.05 for the Apple Macintosh and was never updated. The first version of Word for Windows was released in 1989. With the release of Windows 3.0 the following year, sales began to pick up and Microsoft soon became the market leader for word processors for IBM PC-compatible computers. In 1991, Microsoft capitalized on Word for Windows increasing popularity by releasing a version of Word for DOS, version 5.5, that replaced its unique user interface with an interface similar to a Windows application. When Microsoft became aware of the Year 2000 problem, it made Microsoft Word 5.5 for DOS available for download free. As of November 2010, it is still available for download from Microsofts web site. In 1991, Microsoft embarked on a project code-named Pyramid to completely rewrite Microsoft Word from the ground up. Both the Windows and Mac versions would start from the same code base. It was abandoned when it was determined that it would take the development team too long to rewrite and then catch up with all the new capabilities that could have been added in the same time without a rewrite. Instead, the next versions of Word for Windows and Mac, dubbed version 6.0, both started from the code base of Word for Windows 2.0. With the release of Word 6.0 in 1993, Microsoft again attempted to synchronize the version numbers and coordinate product naming across platforms, this time across DOS, Macintosh, and Windows (this was the last version of Word for DOS). It introduced AutoCorrect, which automatically fixed certain typing errors, and AutoFormat, which could reformat many parts of a document at once. While the Windows version received favorable reviews the Macintosh version was widely derided. Many accused it of being slow, clumsy and memory intensive, and its user interface differed significantly from Word. In response to user requests, Microsoft was forced to offer Word 5 again, after it had been discontinued. Subsequent versions of Word for Macintosh are no longer ported versions of Word for Windows. MICROSOFT WORD 2007 Word 95 for Windows was the first 32-bit version of the product, released with Office 95 around the same time as Windows 95. It was a straightforward port of Word 6.0 and it introduced few new features, one of them being red-squiggle underlined spell-checking. Starting with Word 95, releases of Word were named after the year of its release, instead of its version number. Word 2010 allows more customization of the Ribbon, adds a Backstage view for file management, has improved document navigation, allows creation and embedding of screenshots, and integrates with world web application. WORD FOR MAC 2008 ICON In 1997, Microsoft formed the Macintosh Business Unit as an independent group within Microsoft focused on writing software for the Mac. Its first version of Word, Word 98, was released with Office 98 Macintosh Edition. Document compatibility reached parity with Word 97, and it included features from Word 97 for Windows, including spell and grammar checking with squiggles. Users could choose the menus and keyboard shortcuts to be similar to either Word 97 for Windows or Word 5 for Mac. Unfortunately, Word on the Mac in this and later releases also became vulnerable to future macro viruses that could compromise Word (and Excel) documents. Word 2001, released in 2000, added a few new features, including the Office Clipboard, which allowed users to copy and paste multiple items. It was the last version to run on classic Mac OS and, on Mac OS X, it could only run within the Classic Environment. Word X, released in 2001, was the first version to run natively on, and required, Mac OS X, and introduced non-contiguous text selection. Word 2004 was released in May 2004. It included a new Notebook Layout view for taking notes either by typing or by voice. Other features, such as tracking changes, were made more similar with Office for Windows. Microsoft released patches through the years to eliminate most known macro vulnerabilities from this version. Word 2008, released on January 15, 2008, included a Ribbon-like feature, called the Elements Gallery, that can be used to select page layouts and insert custom diagrams and images. It also included a new view focused on publishing layout, integrated bibliography management, and native support for the new Office Open XML format. It was the first version to run natively on Intel-based Macs. Word 2011, released in October 2010, replaced the Elements Gallery in favor of a Ribbon user interface that is much more similar to Office for Windows, and includes a full-screen mode that allows users to focus on reading and writing documents, and support for Office Web Application. Microsoft Words native file formats are denoted either by a .doc or .docx file extension. Although the document extension has been used in many different versions of Word, it actually encompasses four distinct file formats: Word for DOS Word for Windows 1 and 2; Word 4 and 5 for Mac Word 6 and Word 95 for Windows; Word 6 for Mac Word 97, 2000, 2002 and 2003 for Windows; Word 98, 2001, X, and 2004 for Mac The newer .docx extension signifies the Office Open XML international standardfor Office documents and is used by Word 2007 for Windows, Word 2008 for the Macintosh, as well as by a growing number of applications from other vendors, including OpenOffice.org Writer, an open source word processing program. Microsoft does not guarantee the correct display of the document on different workstations, even if the two workstations use the same version of Microsoft Word, primarily due to page layout depending on the current printer. This means it is possible the document the recipient sees might not be exactly the same as the document the sender sees. During the late 1990s and early 2000s, the default Word document format became a de facto standard of document file formats for Microsoft Office users. Though usually just referred to as Word Document Format, this term refers primarily to the range of formats used by default in Word version 97-2003. Word document files by using the Word 97-2003 Binary File Format implement Object Linking and Embedding structured storage to manage the structure of their file format. OLE behaves rather like a conventional hard drive file system and is made up of several key components. Each Word document is composed of so-called big blocks which are almost always 512-byte chunks; hence a Word documents file size will in most cases be a multiple of 512. Storages are analogues of the directory on a disk drive, and point to other storages or streams which are similar to files on a disk. The text in a Word document is always contained in the WordDocument stream. The first big block in a Word document, known as the header block, provides important information as to the location of the major data structures in the document. Property storages provide metadata about the storages and streams in a doc file, such as where it begins and its name and so forth. The File information block contains information about where the text in a Word document starts, ends, what version of Word created the document and other attributes. Microsoft has published specifications for the Word 97-2003 Binary File Format. Word 2007 and 2010 continue to support the DOC file format, although it is no longer the default. The XML format introduced in Word 2003 was a simple, XML based format called WordprocessingML. Word 2007 introduced a new XML-based file format called Office Open XML. The version of OOXML that Word 2007 supports is the ECMA-376 standard, published by Ecma International. After the release of Office 2007, underwent another round of standardization under the International Organization for Standardization . The standard, has two variants. A Transitional variant is intended for legacy compatibility and is not supposed to be used to produce new documents. A Strict variant is based on ISOs revisions and improvements to the ECMA standard. Word 2010 supports reading and writing Transitional documents but only reading Strict documents. This caused consternation among members of the ISO Office Open XML subcommittee, who claimed that Microsoft was only paying lip service to the standards process. In response, Microsoft says that the Strict schema will be fully supported no later than Office 15, the next major version after Office 2010. In August 2009, Canadian firm issued Microsoft before the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas for infringing on a software involving custom XML in a document.In December 2009, the judgment of the district court was affirmed by the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. An injunction was issued that bans Microsoft from selling copies of Word with the code that infringes on the patent after January 11, 2010. Several days after the court ruling, Microsoft released a mandatory patch that brings the software into compliance with the courts decision. In November 2010 the US supreme court agreed to hear an appeal by Microsoft. Opening a Word Document file in a version of Word other than the one with which it was created can cause incorrect display of the document. The document formats of the various versions change in subtle and phenomenon to the base standard. Formatting created in newer versions does not always survive when viewed in older versions of the program, nearly always because that capability does not exist in the previous version. Rich Text Format, an early effort to create a format for interchanging formatted text between applications is an optional format for Word, that retains most formatting and all content of the original document. Later, after HTML appeared, Word supported an HTML derivative as an additional full-fidelity roundtrip format similar to RTF, with the additional capability that the file could be viewed in a web browser. In February 2007, Sun released an initial version of its ODF plugin for Microsoft Office.Version 1.0 was released in July 2007.Microsoft Word 2007 supports PDF and XPS formats, but only after manual installation of the Microsoft Word has a built-in spell checker, thesaurus, dictionary, Office Assistant and utilities for transferring, copy, pasting and editing text, such as PureText. WordArt enables drawing text in a Microsoft Word document such as a title, watermark, or other text, with graphical effects such as skewing, shadowing, rotating, stretching in a variety of shapes and colors and even including three-dimensional effects, starting at version 2007, and prevalent in Office 2010. Users can apply formatting effects such as shadow, bevel, glow, and reflection to their document text as easily as applying bold or underline. Users can also spell-check text that uses visual effects, and add text effects to paragraph styles. Like other Microsoft Office documents, Word files can include advanced macros and even embedded programs. The language was originally WordBasic, but changed to Visual Basic for Applications as of Word 97. This extensive functionality can also be used to run and propagate viruses in documents. The tendency for people to exchange Word documents via email, USB flash drives, and floppy disks made this an especially attractive vector in 1999. A prominent example was the Melissa worm, but countless others have existed in the wild. Nearly all anti-virus software can detect and clean common macro viruses.. These macro viruses were the only known cross-platform threats between Windows and Macintosh computers and they were the only infection vectors to affect any system in 2007. Microsoft released patches for Word X and Word 2004 that effectively eliminated the macro problem on the Mac by 2006. Words macro security setting, which regulates when macros may execute, can be adjusted by the user, but in the most recent versions of Word, is set to HIGH by default, generally reducing the risk from macro-based viruses, which have become uncommon The program was unable to handle ligatures defined in TrueType fonts those ligature glyphs with Unicode codepoints may be inserted manually, but are not recognized by Word for what they are, breaking spell checking, while custom ligatures present in the font are not accessible at all. Since Word 2010, the program now has advanced typesetting features which can be enabled: OpenType ligatures, kerning, and hyphenation. Other layout deficiencies of Word include the inability to set crop marks or thin spaces. Various third-party workaround utilities have been developed. Similarly, combining diacritics are handled poorly: Word 2003 has improved support, but many diacritics are still misplaced, even if a precomposed glyph is present in the font. Additionally, as of Word 2002, Word does automatic font substitution when it finds a character in a document that does not exist in the font specified. It is impossible to deactivate this, making it very difficult to spot when a glyph used is missing from the font in use. If Mirror margins or Different odd and even are enabled, Word will not allow the user to freshly begin page numbering an even page after a section break. Instead it inserts a mandatory blank page which cannot be removed. In Word 2004 for Macintosh, support of complex scripts was inferior even to Word 97, and Word 2004 does not support Apple Advanced Typography features like ligatures or glyph variants. Word has extensive list bullets and numbering feature used for tables, list, pages, chapters, headers, footnotes, and tables of content. Bullets and numbering can be applied directly or using a button or by applying a style or through use of a template. Some problems with numbering have been found in Word 97-2003. An example is Words system for restarting numbering.The Bullets and Numbering system has been significantly overhauled for Office 2007, which is intended to reduce the severity of these problems. For example, Office 2007 cannot align tabs for multi-leveled numbered lists. Often, items in a list will be inexplicably separated from their list number by one to three tabs, rendering outlines unreadable. These problems cannot be resolved even by expert users. Even basic dragging and dropping of words is usually impossible. Bullet and numbering problems in Word include: bullet characters are often changed and altered, indentation is changed within the same list, bullet point or n umber sequence can belong to an entirely different nest within the same sequence. Users can also create tables in MS Word. Depending on the version, Word can perform simple calculations. Formulas are supported as well. As mentioned in Creating Tables, MS Word supports the use of formulas. To The formula function is on the ribbon in the Data section. Click on the Formula icon to open the Formula Dialog box. At the top of the Formula box is a place to enter a formula. Formulas use a similar convention as that used in Excel. Cell references use the reference style. Formulas are written using cell references Word tables dont display column and row, the address must be determined by counting the number of columns and rows. For example, cell appears three columns from the left and four rows down. Once cell addresses are known the formula can be written. Optional Microsoft Word in program called Formula Builder provides cell references in a number of different ways so the user doesnt have to determine it by counting columns and rows. For example, cell references may be added to a formula by double-clicking the cell. As an alternative to using actual cell references as the arguments in the formula, you can use instead which adds a range of cells. There are limitations to this method. The cells in the range must not be empty and they must contain numeric values otherwise the calculation will not include the entire range expected. Another problem is that doesnt recognize negative numbers when the number is surrounded by parenthesis and as a result does not calculate correctly. Word also adds the heading row if it contains a numeric value provided the cells in the range are contiguous and all contain values. AutoSummarize highlights passages or phrases that it considers valuable. The amount of text to be retained can be specified by the user as a percentage of the current amount of text. According to Ron Fein of the Word 97 team, Auto Summarize cuts wordy copy to the bone by counting words and ranking sentences. First, AutoSummarize identifies the most common words in the document and assigns each word the more frequently a word is used, the higher the score. Then, each sentence by adding the scores of its words and dividing the sum by the number of words in the sentence the higher the average, the higher the rank of the sentence. Its like the ratio of wheat to chaff explains Fein. CONCLUSION To conclude with ms office one of the main set up which busy people are using todays world. Microsoft Word is a non-free commercial word processor designed by Microsoft.