Thursday, October 31, 2019

The negative and positive effects of outsourcing to developing Essay

The negative and positive effects of outsourcing to developing countries - Essay Example Outsourcing can be taken to refer to the downsizing of an organization's workforce, whereby those tasks previously performed by these individuals are alternatively performed by automation or the tasks are exported to another base for completion especially overseas where the tasks can be completed cheaply For instance, India and china are known to provide the largest pool of labour in the manufacturing industry, most notably the clothing industry. For the purpose of this report, however, outsourcing is defined as the provision of domestic tasks or assignments from internal production to an external organization particularly in the area of fashion (Eriksen, 2005). This definition can be supported by Ross (2004) who argues that many immigrants, especially from developing countries work in the apparel industry toiling in sweatshops where the violation of laws governing their wages, safety and child labour is rife (Ross, 2004). According to him, there are about a quarter million sweatshop workers in the United States all employing immigrants from the third world, hence producing a competitive race to the bottom among low-wage countries. Since its inception, therefore, outsourcing has become a phenomenon that has taken the world by storm (Haynes, 1999). Accordingly, it has brought about the growth of information technology, assisted globalization thereby generating multinational societies that have necessitated certain situations where stiff competition tends to take control of our lives (Eriksen, 2005). A manifestation of this cut- throat competition is witnessed in the frenzy with which research and development are occurring in business and most notable in fashion where trade mark names in the clothing industry are the order of the day. Take for instance labels like Van-Heusen, Marks and Spencer, Nike and Adidas just to mention but only a few. You are not fashionable if you don't don any of these household names (Rosen, 2002). Other areas where outsourcing is taking centre stage include computer programming positions, administrative works and production assignments, with third world countries such as India and China ending up being the highest end-users for this outsourced work (Haynes, 1999). The same competition is also found in the efforts shown by companies in cutting expenditure and attempting to offer the best of services ever, which has finally catapulted itself into outsourcing. This situation is becoming more frightening each waking day because more and more companies are emulating their rivals in business (Eriksen, 2005). On the other hand, outsourcing is considered by majority of business people as a win-win state of affairs but regrettably has not been always the case. In fact it is associated with plenty of shortcomings that are beyond the understanding of most people. The current major disadvantage of outsourcing is that the first world nations have policies in place governing outsourcing that are too inclined to one side to be able to offer a level playing ground for big and small companies alike, thus leaving the only alternative open for them to outsource (Haynes, 1999). Given that outsourcing generally leads to lowering of the prices for products and services, then most organisations are forced to outsource so as to remain in business. This outsourcing makes sure that products and services that are produced are both cheaper and of high quality and at the same time get better sales than those with only quality but costing a fortune, consequently making profits sky rocket (Haynes, 1999). Evidence available indicates that for the previous couple of years, the United States economy has emerged as a budding economy, significantly and irretrievably impacting strongly on the global market (Haynes, 1999). One of the most momentous impacts of this robust economy lies in the area of outsourcing to foreign countries. That is why the developed

Tuesday, October 29, 2019

Life as a Teenager in 2014 Essay Example for Free

Life as a Teenager in 2014 Essay When I was younger, I always thought my parents knew everything and were never wrong. I believed that they never made mistakes, they were too old and wise. The same went for my teachers, older members of our extended family and just adults in general. I felt so safe, comforted by the fact that they knew and were in control, so I didn’t have to be. The older I became, the more I realized how faulty my ideas were. I never did become any wiser as I grew up; I had information and data that bombarded my brain and knowledge on how I must act to be socially accepted. I was told what I could do and what I mustn’t do. Perhaps I do know more about life and the world, but I don’t understand it; perhaps that is for the better. I remember when I first heard the song ‘Teenagers’ by My Chemical Romance, and I began to think about the meaning behind it. ‘Theyre gonna clean up your looks†¨With all the lies in the books†¨To make a citizen out of you†¨Because they sleep with a gun†¨And keep an eye on you, son†¨So they can watch all the things you do Because the drugs never work†¨Theyre gonna give you a smirk†¨Cause they’ve got methods of keeping you clean†¨Theyre gonna rip up your heads†¨Your aspirations to shreds†¨Another cog in the murder machine They say that teenagers scare the living s*** out of me†¨They could care less as long as someonell bleed†¨So darken your clothes or strike a violent pose†¨Maybe theyll leave you alone, but not me The boys and girls in the clique†¨The awful names that they stick†¨Youre never gonna fit in much, kid†¨But if youre troubled and hurt†¨What you got under your shirt†¨Well make them pay for the things that they did’ The song did change my view on how teenagers are seen by society, but not in a way that I expected. I think that the singer, Gerard Way, is exploring how society wants to change teenagers to make them do as they are told and fit in and do well at school. However, the more they do this, the more teenagers rebel. In the chorus, Way expresses his fear of teenagers, of their tendency to perhaps be unpredictable and violent. ‘So darken your clothes or strike a violent pose Maybe they’ll leave you alone, but not me’ I  think he is trying to put forward the idea that society might ignore them or leave them alone if they act threatening and imposing, but as he is an adult, he is expected to stay in line and meet the expectations of society. I think it’s difficult being a teenager. People don’t seem to realize or might have even forgotten. I am at the age where I am too old to rely on others and make mistakes but not old enough to take control of my life and look after myself. This time in my life that makes up my teenage years is important, and I want to make the most of that but I find myself overwhelmed by set backs and a severe lack of control. There are so many aspects of my life the government wants to control. They want to cram so many exams and so much work into these few short years of our lives that we find ourselves snowed under it all. It seems that these years of our lives are the most important. They define us and decide what our future holds. The pressure is on: if you fail your science G.C.S.E then you won’t be able to take it for A level. If you can’t take it for A level, you won’t be able to study it at university, or get a PHD, or ever become a doctor. The government has decided that exams mean everything. An A and an A* could mean the difference between your dream job and being unhappy for the rest of your life, stuck with a boring job that perhaps pays decently, becoming miserable and dying a failure. It’s too much. This has to be the reason why we find that more and more teenagers each year are turning to drugs, self harm, eating disorders and depression. Why does everyone question the rise in the number of these cases? Is it not obvious? Iâ€℠¢m sure it also has something to with the rise of the internet and everything that we are being exposed to. Quite frankly, we can’t cope with it. It seems that no one understands but teenagers themselves. Of course, it’s all quite a cliche to say that no one understands teenagers, but it does seem to be true. I wouldn’t say that all teenagers can’t cope and I realize that some cope better than others, but I know that our system isn’t working. Not the corrupt government with its exams and heavy pressure on students, and the not the corrupted internet with its social networking sites and pornographic images that seem to be everywhere. The adverts that tell us what a perfect person looks like are crushing and I find them insulting. There is a silent reminder that lingers in the air telling us to be normal, a clone of everyone else and to fit in. Some people come to a point in their life when they decide that enough  is enough and they wear what they want and act how they like. I have a theory that people are like sling shots: the more they are pulled back and restrained, the further they go when they are let go. They get to a point where they cannot be pulled back any further. This is when people pierce and tattoo their bodies or wear socially unacceptable clothing to show the world that they are not going to be told what to do. There are also the quiet ones who starve themselves to be in control, take drugs to take away the pain or self harm to prove that the pain they are feeling is not just in their heads, its real and they can control it. There are even people who work themselves sick to be in control of their future. What I find interesting is that every generation is different: each has its own pressures that differ from the last. Not long ago, I would have been expected to get married not too soon from now and raise a family, possibly with a man I didn’t even love. Only recently has homosexuality become socially and legally acceptable. So before, teenagers would have had trouble fitting in, or would have had to pretend to be heterosexual. We as teenagers never really have been in control and with a personality like mine, that can be extremely overwhelming. It seems now we are finding our voice and are able to express ourselves. I can see that there are positive aspects about being a teenager in this day and age: some of us turn to positive hobbies to take our minds off the stress of exams. More and more teenagers are relying on their great passion in life and developing it to take their mind off their diffic ulties. This might be music, cooking, writing, designing, drawing or sport. I still remember the first time I played the drums and I’ve never looked back. They made me love music even more and I started playing the guitar as well. I wrote songs and started to sing. Music became my obsession and it is one aspect of my life that I can control. I can do it myself without having to listen to the people who tell me what I should be listening to, what I should be playing or what I should be writing. I do believe that if nothing is going to change, then we all need something to turn to in life that reminds us we can cope. I know that it wouldn’t work for everyone, but perhaps people who take drugs could start drawing or painting. Instead of people focussing on their body weight they could start to cook their own food and be in control of that instead. People who self harm could write down their feelings or express it through music, or even go out and run off  their sadness. I think people need to remind themselves what makes them happy and if nothing does then they should find something. I know nothing will change for some time, but in the meantime we need to find a way to make the most of our teenage years.

Sunday, October 27, 2019

Netflix Marketing Plan and SWOT Analysis

Netflix Marketing Plan and SWOT Analysis Brand or Company Description   Netflix is subscription service on the internet that offers a variety of TV shows and movies. Netflix is a forerunner in the internet delivery of TV shows and movies, launching its streaming service in 2007. Since this time, the company has developed a wide variety of internet-connected devices and has licensed increasing amounts of content that enable consumers to enjoy their favorite TV shows and movies no matter where they are at because they can access this content on their TVs, computers or mobile devices. As a result of these efforts, Netflix has experienced growing consumer acceptance of and interest in the delivery of TV shows and movies directly over the Internet (Netflix, 2018). Core Products or Services   Subscribers can watch unlimited TV shows and movies instantly. Content can be streamed over the Internet to their TVs, computers and mobile devices and, in the United States, subscribers can also receive standard definition DVDs, as well as Blu-ray discs, delivered  directly to their homes. Netflix markets its service through various channels, including online advertising, broad-based media, such as television and radio, as well as various strategic partnerships. In addition to various marketing strategies, the company offers free-trial memberships to new and rejoining members. According to Netflix, rejoining members are an important source of subscriber additions (Netflix, 2018). A Brief History   Netflix is an American entertainment company founded by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph  on August 29, 1997, in Scotts Valley, California. The company expanded into film in 2016 as well as television production and online distribution. The company is headquartered in Los Gatos, California. As of January 2016, Netflix is operating in over 190 countries and has greatly expanded the production of both film and television series. Netflix released an estimated 126 original series or films in 2016, more than any other network or cable channel. As of January 2018, Netflix had 117.58 million paying subscribers worldwide, including 54.75 million in the United States (Netflix, 2018). Key current competitors   The market for entertainment video is competitive and changes rapidly. Competitors  have the ability to launch new businesses at relatively low costs. Many consumers maintain subscriptions to multiple entertainment video providers at once and can easily shift from one provider to another. Netflix competitors include multichannel video programming distributors with free TV everywhere and video-on-demand content including cable providers, such as Time Warner and Comcast. Direct broadcast satellite providers, such as DIRECTV and EchoStar, as well as telecommunication providers such as AT&T and Verizon, are also key competitors for Netflix. Internet movie and TV content providers, such as Apple’s iTunes, Amazon.com, Hulu.com and Google’s YouTube are also sources of competition.  DVD rental outlets such as Blockbuster and Red-box also are also included in the list of key competitors that Netflix faces (Netflix, 2018).  Ã‚   SWOT Analysis   SWOT Analysis: Strengths   1.  Brand Name   After ten years, Netflix has become the sole brand name for online streaming content with a share price increase of over 6000% since 2007 (Bradshaw  & Bond, 2017). Often consumers are much more likely to go with a brand name they know and trust than an off-brand that may or may not be a better value for their money. This is one way Netflix can capitalize and grow their business. Being the known familiar service provider puts them at a greater advantage of not only keeping their customers but attaining new ones. 2.  Large customer base Through serving 190 countries, Netflix has access to over 100 million subscribers. This strength gives the company bargaining power when in talks with studios to secure exclusive content (Bradshaw  & Bond, 2017).  The popularity and convenience of Netflix is one of its greatest strengths. This makes them able to accommodate and appeal to a very large customer base and has the ability to further expand and develop in more areas, including partnerships and expansions in various areas and with various companies in a variety of countries. Growth will likely continue as the company goes forward and continues to expand. Customers are opting for the convenience of consuming entertainment online and Netflix continues to expand internationally. 3.Original content Through careful acquisitions, Netflix have secured numerous original shows that have appealed to audiences. In 2017, two Netflix shows are so popular they have pushed subscribers from 83m to over 100m in one quarter (Bradshaw & Bond, 2017). The House of Cards was a game changer for Netflix. All episodes of the first season of the show were released at the same time, and the response of the critics was overwhelmingly positive. The House of Cards not only attracted many new users but also proved that the key to their customers’ loyalty is a unique and abundant content library. The company continues to working on adding new shows such as 30 kids’ shows, ten new feature films, 12 documentaries, and ten stand-up comedy specials (Netflix, 2018). SWOT Analysis: Weaknesses   1.  Cost of original content While its original content creates a competitive advantage for the company, the cost continues to grow  in order to  support this content. In 2017, it is expected for Netflix to invest $2.5 billion  solely on securing original content rights.  To keep prices competitively low, Netflix  will need  to find a balance between maintaining good relationships with the distributors and aggressively negotiating content licensing costs with them. This type of dependence can result in a vulnerability that could prove to be very costly (Bradshaw, 2017). 2.  Lack of rights to original content   Unlike many traditional television studios, Netflix does not own most of their original programming. Due to this, rights usually expire after a year and the original content can be shown on rival services (Bradshaw, 2017). This is an area that serves as a potential weakness especially related to retaining customers and keeping costs low. 3.  Environmental cost   Netflix has been ranked poorly in terms of environmental awareness. This has given them bad publicity for the company as rival competitors such as Amazon and Facebook use over 40% renewable energy with their services (Lewis, 2016). SWOT Analysis: Threats   1.  Increased competition Facebook is the latest to try and take on traditional media by launching its own original content. Amazon, Hulu, HBO, and YouTube are all competing for audiences to subscribe to their platforms. For Netflix, this will continue to develop as more companies seek to buy the latest original content exclusively for their platform (Bradshaw, 2017). 2.  Digital Piracy For more than 30 content providers, including Netflix, piracy has led to 5.4 billion  downloads of media content in 2016 alone. This threatens Netflixs business model and ability to fund content in the future (Opam, 2017). The ability for viewers to get the same content basically for free is a huge potential threat for Netflixs bottom line and ability to continue to dominate the market. SWOT Analysis: Opportunities   1.  Expansion into China Difficulties with licensing has left Netflix unable to enter China through traditional means. The company must find a joint-venture to capitalize on the 500 million  Chinese users who currently stream media content (Russell, 2017). 2.  Partnerships in Europe   To meet new European laws, Netflix can partner with the BBC and Canal Plus to gain access to a wealth of native-language European content and grow customers in local markets (Murgia & Bond, 2017). 3.  Growth of technology With the growth of streaming content, Netflix must continue to come up with new ways to allow customers to access their content and provide further competitive advantages. A growing market for content is foreign-language programming. Partnerships with local-language content will help Netflix to be able to be a rival for local streaming services and help them to be a leader among this (Mintel, 2016). Marketing Plan Focus   Based on my SWOT analysis, I believe there is an opportunity to expand internationally by partnering with telecommunications companies such as Samsung to make the application readily available for customers on their devices in overseas markets. For this marketing plan, I’ve come up with an idea to incorporate the Netflix application into Android devices. This would target a particular demographic, and could help to begin to solve the issues Netflix faces internationally. The app would have early childhood development movies and songs that would help little children and as well the already existing list of unending movie for all ages. Segmentation Approach   For this marketing plan, I’ve opted for a straightforward demographic approach to segmenting the market given my desire to target a specific age group. I considered a behavioral approach based on past purchase history as captured via use of the McDonald’s app. However, the app was only introduced in late 2015 and age is not captured in the registration process (unless a social media log ­in is used). Furthermore, I don’t want to limit my audience to just existing customers. Given the broad appeal of the McDonald’s concept and its national footprint, I did not feel geographic targeting or formal psychographic targeting was needed. Target Definition   My target for the Netflix K is families with young children and adolescents ranging from the age of 2 to 12 years old. An interest in learning and technology would allow for further media targeting. Positioning Statement   Netflix K A time for parents to have quality moments with their children while watching them learn, grow and excel academically in the privacy and comfort of home. Marketing Mix Discussion   Marketing Mix: Product This marketing plan is centered around education and the benefit of families coming together and sharing quality moments with the thrill of old favorites and new exciting learning opportunities. The core idea is to use advertisement to create awareness in between episodes and popups advertisement when the application is not in use or in between episodes when in use.   With the already exiting approach of having it available to Android devices it would help market itself by being readily available Marketing Mix: Price   Netflix strategy would be to retain its already existing customer base by offering 10% discounts on yearly subscriptions and 15% discount to customers that have been a Netflix member for more than 3 years. Included in the price new series would be offered at a 50% off rate compared to its competitors such as Hulu.com and Amazon Prime in order to be able to win and secure future customers. This is characterized as skimming as they are trying to take business from their competitors by offering the same service at a reduced rate. Marketing Mix: Promotion   In addition to the promotional pricing deal discussed above, there would be an opportunity to redeem a promotion code to save money on a family night out package based on local available retailers. This would be a way for Netflix to partner with local companies in order to help them gain acceptance internationally. Marketing Mix: Place   I would make use of a dedicated Netflix K microsite where customers could go to learn more about the promotion and app and to have the possibility to win promotion codes and save additional money on family nights out as well as the possibility of earning months free towards their Netflix subscription. This would also encourage additional downloads of the Netflix K app and promotion of a larger and growing customer base. Potential Success Metrics   Customer Satisfaction Knowing if people are actually satisfied with the service or product is very important.   Customer satisfaction can be a helpful metric in guiding a marketing campaign. Getting feedback directly from customer is an easy way to measure satisfaction. One way to do this would be to add a standard Google consumer survey to the app or site for free. With a few simple questions, you can find if  your customers are satisfied with the app or site, what they dont like about the app or site, and whether or not they will continue using the app. User Engagement   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Tracking visits and signups is important, but focusing on how much time a user spends on your website or app is important as well. This has the ability to provide a realistic view and can base future success around this consideration. Progress It is always important to keep moving forward and having a forward momentum. If a company is making strong progress on a day to day basis, then it will likely be creating new opportunities and growing the business overall. This will allow the company to accomplish its overall goal and keep them on track. International Considerations   Netflix faces the challenge of being able to make their international segment profitable. Netflix will need to invest in local content and better streaming quality over low bandwidth connections in order to attract subscribers. Netflix will have to expand this base quickly in order to be able to recover the associated costs. Netflix will also have to consider the competition of other providers such as Amazon and YouTube who are also looking to capture this segment of the market. Another challenge Netflix faces related to international markets such as India, is lower internet penetration and existing connections with low bandwidth. These factors limit its target consumers in these countries to the small section of the population that have access to high speed internet. Viewing preferences is another consideration that will have to be addressed as these differ from country to country and even between different regions of the same country. In order to attract subscribers, Netflix needs to have a broad content library catering to the preferences of the diverse audience (Bradshaw & Bond, 2017). Conclusion   The Netflix K marketing plan should be approved for funding because it has the opportunity to generate a great deal of business and success in entering many foreign markets not previously entered in. Associating Netflix with current technology such as Samsung and then appealing to a customer base of families with children has the possibility of building a strong business base in this target population and areas abroad. This will also help build affinity and rapport with local businesses in foreign destinations helping Netflix to become a top international company not just a top American company. References Bradshaw, T. (2017) Netflix boosted as viewers outside the US tune in.  Financial Times.  Retrieved from   https://www.ft.com/content/e8c742f2-6b34-11e7-b9c7-15af748b60d0. Bradshaw, T., and Bond, S. (2017). Netflix looks to become worlds entertainer as it hits   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   milestone.  Financial Times.  Retrieved from   https://www.ft.com/content/06b55bb8-6d0c-11e7-bfeb-33fe0c5b7eaa. Lewis, D. (2016). Will the internet of things sacrifice or save the environment?  Guardian   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Business.  Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2016/dec/12/will-the-internet-of-  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   things-sacrifice-or-save-the-environment. Mintel, J.  (2016). Music and Video Streaming-UK-April 2016.  Mintel Academic.  Retrieved   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   from  http://academic.mintel.com/display/770307/. Murgia, M., and Bond, D. (2017). Netflix seeks European crown in local content push.  Financial   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Times.  Retrieved from https://www.ft.com/content/c286c25e-04d5-11e7-aa5b-6bb07f5c8e12. Netflix Inc. business description. (2018).  CSIMarket.com.  Retrieved   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   from  https://csimarket.com/stocks/NFLX-Business-Description.html. Opam, K. (2017). HBO, Netflix, other Hollywood companies join forces to fight piracy.  The Verge.  Retreived from  https://www.theverge.com/2017/6/13/15791688/hbo-netflix-hollywood-ace-fight-piracy. Russell, J. (2017). Netflix enters China via licensing deal with top video streaming service iQiyi.  Tech Crunch.  Retrieved from  https://techcrunch.com/2017/04/25/netflix-china-iqiyi/.

Friday, October 25, 2019

Essays --

Yiwu (China Commodity City) is located in the central area of Zhejiang province with a total land area of 1,105 square kilometers. The whole city governs 8 towns and 5 subdistricts, has a population of 670,000 registered as local domiciliary and 600,000 as external temporary Observation: †¢ Even after being such a big market, it was so well organized †¢ This was the main advantage for all the people requiring so many quantities at wholesale price †¢ This should be a learning for us B.2.8 KEQIAO TEXTILE MARKET: Shaoxing Keqiao textile town, known as China textile town Observation: †¢ It wasn’t a great experience for us †¢ And all the students were not happy as we were not expecting something like this CANTON TRADE FAIR: The Canton Fair is a trade fair held in the spring and autumn seasons each year since the spring of 1957 in Canton (Guangzhou, China). The Fair is co-hosted by the Ministry of Commerce of China and People's Government of Guangdong Province, and organized by China Foreign Trade Centre. There are three phases per session; two sessions per year. Spring session: April 1...

Thursday, October 24, 2019

Quick Books Essay

.Rissy Montoya Acct 31 Information Technology (IT) is a foundation for conducting business today. It plays a critical role in increasing productivity of firms and entire nation. It is proven that firms who invested in IT have experienced continued growth in productivity and efficiency. Many companies' survival and even existence without use of IT is unimaginable. IT has become the largest component of capital investment for companies in the United States and many other countries. Accounting/Finance application systems and QuickBooks let you manage your business with a little or no experience.All three application systems allow the users to manage the companies' capital including bookkeeping, inventory, non-inventory & service items, sales orders, purchase orders, and reports. It allows the companies to keep tracking of the financial assets and at the same time have the information the accountant needs. Using the accounting/finance application system, makes it easier to enter and proc ess the data rather than manually enter and process the data.. QuickBooks is an accounting software package which is developed by Intuit, Inc. It was launched in the 90's and since than it is one of the market leaders in accounting software.The software was designed to help the small business owners who had no formal accounting training. Very shortly after the introduction, there was no doubt that the product is going to be a hit. With a deep focus for the non-accountant, and a lower price than the competitor's products, it outsmarted its competitions. Intuit states that the company's mission is to create new ways to manage personal finances and small businesses that are so profound and simple, customers cannot Imagine going back to the old way QuickBooks created an application that is most commonly used accounting product for small businesses QuickBooks ProThe world today is in the computer age. Almost everyone now has a computer or access to a computer. Now that almost everyone kn ows how to use a computer, almost every business has one. Business’s before had to rely on people to do all the accounting by hand, and doing the accounting for a business used to take a lot of man-hours to complete. Business’s slowly moved into letting computers do a lot of the work for them, but they still had people to check on the computers because the applications that they were using would sometimes screw up and cause a lot of confusion or even loss of money.With the latest application QuickBooks Pro 2011, there is little need for any backup measures. This application does everything that the business needs to do, manage your business, track time, do payroll, develop estimates, and much more. QuickBooks Pro 2011 quickly finds the reports you need with the Report Finder, shows you critical information about your business at a glance with Company and Customer Centers, and track Features of QuickBooks that will help the company implement sound internal control polic ies and procedures; Access to accounting records should be limited to designated individuals.Once a transaction has been entered, the ability to change or delete it entirely should be limited to some other individual, preferably an accounting manager. Financial statements should be prepared monthly, with gross profit percentage and expense percentages, so that management can question apparent errors or omissions. The monthly financial statements should be comparative, i. e. show last year’s figures alongside this year’s, preferably with percentages as well as dollar amounts, to make apparent any significant variations in revenue or expense items that should be investigated for possible error or even fraud.Budgets should be prepared, and variances between actual and budgeted figures should be shown on budgetary income statements each month. The deficiencies with this program for internal control starts when you initially set up your accounts, you enter in your beginning account balance amounts (unless you are a brand new company with no activity). The problem is that if you do not input an amount, or input an amount correctly, the difference will go to Opening Balance Equity.If it is not fixed, it will stay there indefinitely. QuickBooks will allow you to enter a transaction for any date that you wish. While this is convenient for purposes of making projections, it can have bad consequences if you go backwards. QuickBooks retains every transaction you enter from the day you started using it. While this is useful to get historical information, on a practical basis, the file sizes can easily get large enough to be unmanageable and slow your computer. Conclucion

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

New Strongly Robust DWT Based Watermarking Algorithm Computer Science Essay

Abstract- In this paper we have presented two watermarking algorithms. First one is a new strongly robust strategy for right of first publication protection. This strategy is based on ‘Discrete Wavelet Transform ‘ , by implanting scrambled water line in HL subband at degree 3. Direct burdening factor is used in water line embedding and extraction procedure. This scheme consequences in exact recovery of water line with standard database images of size 512Ãâ€"512, giving Correlation Factor peers to 1. The Correlation Factor for different onslaughts like Noise add-on, Filtering, Rotation and Compression ranges from 0.90 to 0.95. The PSNR with burdening factor 0.02 is up to 48.53 dubnium. This is nonblind and embeds binary water line of 64Ãâ€"64 size. The 2nd technique is traditional method of watermarking. We besides tried to compare advanced strategy of first type with traditional method and recommended our advanced strategy. Keywords-DWT, Scrambling, Arnold Transform, Copyright.IntroductionIt has become a day-to-day demand to make transcript, transmit and distribute digital informations as a portion of widespread usage of multimedia engineering in cyberspace epoch. Hence right of first publication protection has become indispensable to avoid unauthorised reproduction job. Digital image watermarking provides right of first publication protection to image by concealing appropriate information in original image to declare rightful ownership [ 1 ] . Robustness, Perceptual transparence, capacity and Blind watermarking are four indispensable factors to find quality of watermarking strategy [ 4 ] [ 5 ] . Watermarking algorithms are loosely categorized as Spatial Domain Watermarking and Transformed domain watermarking. In spacial sphere, water line is embedded by straight modifying pel values of screen image. Least Significant Bit interpolation is illustration of spacial sphere watermarking. In Transform sphere, water line is inserted into transformed coefficients of image giving more information concealment capacity and more hardiness against watermarking onslaughts because information can be spread out to full image [ 1 ] . Watermarking utilizing Discrete Wavelet Transform, Discrete Cosine Transform, CDMA based Spread Spectrum Watermarking are illustrations of Transform Domain Watermarking. The remainder of the paper is organized as follows: Section II focuses on study of bing digital image watermarking algorithms. Section III focuses on importance of Discrete Wavelet Transform. In subdivision IV, we have presented two watermarking strategies: In first strategy a new strongly robust DWT based algorithm is presented and 2nd strategy is traditional technique. Section V shows Experimental consequences after execution and Testing for both strategies. In subdivision VI, we have concluded and urge our foremost DWT based strategy.SurveyIn traditional watermarking attack some LSB based every bit good as watermarking methods with pseudo random generator are proposed [ 3 ] . In transform sphere methods, watermarking utilizing CWT, merely DWT, merely DCT or combined attack of DWT-DCT are proposed. In CWT, Calculating ripple coefficients at every possible graduated table is immense sum of work, and it generates a batch of informations. There is extremely excess information every bit per as the Reconstruction of the signal is concerned. Due to the attractive characteristics of Discrete Wavelet Transform, researches have been focused on DWT [ 15 ] . Wang Hongjun, Li Na have proposed a DWT based method [ 14 ] in which water line was embedded in in-between frequence coefficient utilizing I ± as flexing factor with I ± =I? |m| , where m is average value of all coefficients watermarking embedded. But this method does n't supply adequate security. The method proposed in [ 14 ] utilizing DWT was extended in [ 15 ] to heighten security of algorithm by utilizing Arnold ‘s Tran sform pretreatment for water line. But this method can be extended to better PSNR and security degrees. As given in [ 16 ] , two stage water line implanting procedure was carried out utilizing DWT. Phase 1: Visible water line logo embedding, Phase 2: Feature extracted water line logo implanting. The algorithm was based on Texture Based Watermarking. A Integer Wavelet Transform with Bit Plane complexness Segmentation is used with more informations concealment capacity. [ 2 ] . But this method needs separate processing for R, G and B constituents of colour image. As given in [ 17 ] utilizing DWT, host image is decomposed into 3 degrees recursively. In flat one we get 4 sub sets. In degree 2, each subband of degree 1 is divided to 4 bomber sets to give entire 16 bomber sets. Finally, each subband of degree 2 is once more divided into 4 sub sets each to give entire 64 bomber sets. Then ‘ Generic algorithm ‘ was applied to happen the best subband for water line implanting to supply perceptual transparence and hardiness. But the procedure is excessively drawn-out and clip consuming. The common job with DCT watermarking is block based grading of water line image alterations scaling factors block by block and consequences in ocular discontinuity. [ 1 ] [ 6 ] . As given in [ 13 ] , J. Cox et. Al had presented ‘Spread spectrum based watermarking strategies ‘ , Chris Shoemaker has developed.DISCRETE WAVELET TRANSFORMDWT has become research workers focus for watermarking as DWT is really similar to theoretical theoretical account of Human Visual System ( HVS ) . ISO has developed and generalized still image compaction criterion JPEG2000 which substitutes DWT for DCT. DWT offers mutiresolution representation of a image and DWT gives perfect Reconstruction of decomposed image. Discrete ripple can be represented as ( 1 ) For dyadic ripples a0 =2 and b0 =1, Hence we have, J, K ( 2 ) Image itself is considered as two dimensional signal. When image is passed through series of low base on balls and high base on balls filters, DWT decomposes the image into sub sets of different declarations [ 11 ] [ 12 ] . Decompositions can be done at different DWT degrees. Fig 1: Three Level Image Decomposition At degree 1, DWT decomposes image into four nonoverlapping multiresolution bomber sets: LLx ( Approximate sub set ) , HLx ( Horizontal subband ) , LHx ( Vertical subband ) and HHx ( Diagonal Subband ) . Here, LLx is low frequence constituent whereas HLx, LHx and HHx are high frequence ( item ) constituents [ 7 ] [ 8 ] [ 9 ] .To obtain following coarser graduated table of ripple coefficients after degree 1, the subband LL1 is further processed until concluding N graduated table reached. When N is reached, we have 3N+1 subbands with LLx ( Approximate Components. ) and HLx, LHx, HHx ( Detail constituents ) where ten scopes from 1 to N. Three degree image decomposition is shown in Fig:1. Implanting water line in low frequence coefficients can increase hardiness significantly but maximal energy of most of the natural images is concentrated in approximate ( LLx ) subband. Hence alteration in this low frequence subband will do terrible and unacceptable image debasement. Hence water line is non be embedded in LLx subband. The good countries for water line embedding are high frequence subbands ( HLx, LHx and HHx ) , because human bare eyes are non sensitive to these subbands. They yield effectual watermarking without being perceived by human eyes. But HHx subband includes borders and textures of the image. Hence HHx is besides excluded. Most of the watermarking algorithms have been failed to accomplish perceptual transparence and hardiness at the same time because these two demands are conflicting to each other. The remainder options are HLx and LHx. But Human Visual System ( HVS ) is more sensitive in horizontal than perpendicular. Hence Watermarking done in HLxOUR WATERMARKING METHODOLOGIESScheme-1This strategy is betterment of algorithm presented in 2008 by Na Li et. Al, given in [ 15 ] utilizing Discrete Wavelet Transform with Arnold Transform. The betterment is made in following facets: The security degree is increased by presenting â€Å" PN Sequence ‘ depe nding on Arnold cyclicity and depending on threshold value absolute difference of Arnold Transformed-Watermark-images is embedded. Alternatively of ciphering flexing factor related to intend value of coefficients of water line image, here straight appropriate weighting factor is selected. The Image decomposition is done with ‘Haar ‘ which is simple, symmetric and extraneous ripple. Watermark Scrambling: Watermark Scrambling is carried out through many stairss to better security degrees. Different methods can be used for image scrambling such as Fass Curve, Gray Code, Arnold Transform, Magic square etc. Here Arnold Transform is used. The particular belongings of Arnold Transform is that image comes to it ‘s original province after certain figure of loops. These ‘number of loops ‘ are called ‘Arnold Period ‘ or ‘Periodicity of Arnold Transform ‘ . The Arnold Transform of image is ( 3 ) Where, ( x, y ) = { 0,1, †¦ ..N } are pixel co-ordinates from original image. ( , ) : corresponding consequences after Arnold Transform. Cyclicity of Arnold Transform: The cyclicity of Arnold Transform ( P ) , is dependent on size of given image. From equation: 3 we have, ( 4 ) ( 5 ) If ( mod ( , N ) ==1 & A ; & A ; mod ( , N ) ==1 ) so P=N ( 6 ) Implanting Algorithm: Measure 1: Decompose the screen image utilizing simple ‘Haar ‘ Wavelet into four nonoverlapping multiresolution coefficient sets: LL1, HL1, LH1 and HH1. Measure 2: Perform 2nd degree DWT on LL1 to give 4 coefficients: LL2, HL2, LH2 and HH2. Measure 3: Repeat decomposition for LL2 to give following degree constituents: LL3, HL3, LH3 and HH3 as shown in fig 1. Measure 4: Find Arnold cyclicity ‘P ‘ of water line utilizing equation 6. Measure 5: Determine ‘KEY ‘ where. Then bring forth PN Sequence depending on ‘KEY ‘ and happen the amount of random sequence say SUM. Measure 6: If SUM & gt ; T where, T is some predefined Threshold value, so happen two scrambled images using Arnold Transform with KEY1 and KEY2, where, ,, .Now, Take absolute difference of two scrambled images to give ‘Final Scrambled image ‘ . Measure 7: If SUM & lt ; T, so use Arnold Transform straight to watermark image with ‘KEY ‘ to acquire ‘Final Scrambled image ‘ . Measure 8: Add ‘Final Scrambled image ‘ to HL3 coefficients of screen image as follows: ( 7 ) Where, K1 is burdening factor, New_HL3 ( I, J ) is freshly calculated coefficients of level3, Watermark ( I, J ) is ‘Final Scrambled image ‘ . Measure 9: Take IDWT at Level3, Level2 and Level1 consecutive to acquire ‘Watermarked Image. Extraction Algorithm: The proposed method is nonblind. Hence the original image is required for extraction procedure. The simple algorithmic stairss are applied are given below. Measure 1: Decompose Cover image utilizing ‘Haar ‘ ripple up to 3 degrees to acquire HL3 Coefficients. Measure 2: Decompose ‘Watermarked Image ‘ utilizing ‘Haar ‘ ripple up to 3 degrees to acquire HL3 ‘ . Measure 3: Apply Extraction expression as follows: ( 8 ) If Otherwise Measure 4: Perform ‘Image Scrambling ‘ utilizing ‘Arnold Transform ‘ with ‘ KEY ‘ that we had used in implanting procedure to retrieve the Watermark. Figure: 2 Watermark Embedding Figure: 3 Watermark ExtractionScheme-2This spacial sphere, watermarking is traditional strategy of watermarking. Here water line is embedded by straight modifying pel values of screen image as given below. Watermark Embedding Measure 1. Read grey scale Cover Image and Watermark. Step2.Consider double star of pel values of Cover Image and do it ‘s n Least Significant Bits 0 e.g. For n=4, Binary of 143= & gt ; 10001111 and Making 4 LSB 0 = & gt ; 10000000= & gt ; 128 is denary equivalent. Measure: 3 Consider double star of pel values of Watermark and right displacement by K spots where k=8-n. For n=4, K will be 4. Binary of 36= & gt ; 100100 and after right displacement by 4: 000010= & gt ; 2 is denary equivalent Measure 4: Add consequence of measure 1 and step 2 to give watermarked image. E.g. Add 128+2= & gt ; 130. This gives pixel value of watermarked image= & gt ; 10000010 Figure: 4 Pixel of Cover image ( Original Image ) , Watermark, Watermarked Image and Extracted Watermark Watermark Extraction: Take pels of watermarked Image and left displacement by K spots where k=8-n. e.g. Left displacement by 4= & gt ; 00100000 = & gt ; 32. This gives pels of Extracted Watermark. The sample values of Pixel of Cover image, Watermark, Watermarked_Image and Extracted Watermark are shown in fig.4.EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS AFTER IMPLEMENTATION AND TESTINGConsequences of Scheme- 1: The undertaking is implemented in Matlab and standard database images with 512Ãâ€"512 sizes as screen image and 64Ãâ€"64 size binary water line images are used for proving. The public presentation Evaluation is done by two public presentation rating prosodies: Perceptual transparence and Robustness. Perceptual transparence means sensed quality of image should non be destroyed by presence of water line. The quality of watermarked image is measured by PSNR. Bigger is PSNR, better is quality of watermarked image. PSNR for image with size M x N is given by: ( 9 ) Where, degree Fahrenheit ( one, J ) is pixel grey values of original image. degree Fahrenheit ‘ ( I, J ) is pixel grey values of watermarked image. MaxI is the maximal pixel value of image which is equal to 255 for grey graduated table image where pels are represented with 8 spots. Robustness is step of unsusceptibility of water line against efforts to take or destruct it by image alteration and use like compaction, filtering, rotary motion, grading, hit onslaughts, resizing, cropping etc. It is measured in footings of correlativity factor. The correlativity factor measures the similarity and difference between original ‘watermark and extracted water line. It ‘ value is by and large 0 to 1. Ideally it should be 1 but the value 0.75 is acceptable. Robustness is given by: ( 10 ) Where, N is figure of pels in water line, wi is original water line, Wisconsin ‘ is extracted water line. Fig 5 ( a ) Cover Image ( B ) Watermarked Image ( degree Celsius ) Recovered Watermark Here, we are acquiring PSNR 48.53 dubnium and =1, for burdening factor K1=0.02. The PSNR and for ‘standard database images ‘ with coeresponding trial image and recovered water lines are shown in Table 1. The grey scale ‘lena ‘ image is tested for assorted onslaughts given in Table 2. Here, we are acquiring within scope of 0.90-0.95 for assorted onslaughts. This shows that ‘watermark recovery ‘ is satisfactory under different onslaughts. Table 1: Experimental consequences for standard database images with size 512Ãâ€"512 Table 2: Experimental consequences for assorted onslaughts with K1=0.07, ‘Lena ‘ image, size 512Ãâ€"512 Consequences of Scheme- 2: This algorithm has simple execution logic. We have tested with PSNR less than 23 for different onslaughts as shown in figure 6. Figure: 6: Experimental consequences with PSNR for Noise Attacks with assorted strengths.CONCLUSION.First strategy presented here is a new strongly robust ‘Digital Image Watermarking ‘ with increased security degrees and bring forthing exact recovery of original water line for standard image database, giving correlativity factor peers to 1 and PSNR up to 48.53 dubnium. Experimental consequences have demonstrated that, this technique is really effectual back uping more security. As per ISO ‘s norms, the still Image Compression criterion JPEG2000 has replaced Discrete Cosine Transform by Discrete Wavelet Transform. This is the ground why more research workers are concentrating on DWT, which we have used for execution. The presented ‘Digital Image Watermarking ‘ methodological analysis can be extended for ‘color images and pictures ‘ for hallmark and right of first publication protection. Hence we are strongly urging our DWT based strategy which is presented here.RecognitionWe are grateful to BCUD, Un iversity of Pune for supplying ‘Research Grant ‘ for the undertaking â€Å" Transformed based strongly Robust Digital Image Watermarking † in academic twelvemonth 2010-2011.

Tuesday, October 22, 2019

Labeling Theory Essays - Criminology, Social Philosophy, Free Essays

Labeling Theory Essays - Criminology, Social Philosophy, Free Essays Labeling Theory Labeling Theory Labeling theory is associated with Howard Becket and was introduced in 1963. Labeling theory is the theory of deviance that views deviance as a label assigned to behavior and individuals by particular figures of authority. That means that no one is actually a deviant and no action is deviant unless specified by society. The acts that are considered deviant today, may be acceptable or even normal tomorrow or in another part of the world. This theory doesnt plausibly explain Nevet and Begonias behavior. Strain Theory French sociologist Emile Durkheim (1858 1917) used the term anomie to describe a state of normlessness in society, when many people are unclear as to the expectations others have of them (Durkheim, 1951). The importance of Durkheims study for an understanding of deviance is his focus on the way a society can actually create strains in the lives of its individual members. Anomie theory in essence states that deviant behavior is encouraged by strains builkt into the very fabric or society. Durkheims concept was borrowed from American sociologist Robert Merton in his study of deviance. Merton (1956) analyzed societal strains by pointing out the variety of ways that people might respond to such strain. As the strains occur in all walks of life so too do the (often-deviant) adaptations. The rebellion response to strain explains Nevet and Begonias action by offering that they were encouraged to act deviantly because there was so much strain of them to be perfect