Sunday, September 15, 2019

My career as a Computer Technician Essay

In today’s time, some of the best career choices can be found within technology. A significant part of technology, computers, is an ever changing field, constantly growing and expanding to make newer, faster, better computers. One of the best fields within this division is Computer Technician. There are many reasons why this position is a position that is strived for, and a high demand job position within the workforce. I will explain the three top reasons why anyone would want to be a Computer Technician, and why it’s the best job choice for you. As you begin to look into the career choice of becoming a Computer Technician, you find out that it is a field in which you repair computers, whether it be hardware or software related. Also, you find out there are requirements needed to become one. First, you have to undergo education. â€Å"You can begin preparing to become a computer technician while still in high school. Many high schools offer certification training courses or credit towards a 2-year college degree or an associate’s degree. High school graduates can choose to pursue either a 2 or 4 year college program. Many community colleges offer computer technician training programs that focus directly on the actual jobs you will be doing out in the real world. The most important training courses you will need to take are those courses that prepare you for your certification exams! These courses can be taken as part of a degree program or on a stand-alone basis.† (n.d.3.) Coming from education, if you receive the right amount of it, the rewards can be great. â€Å"According to the BLS, the median wage of computer repair technicians is $36,000 as of 2011. The highest wages are found in technical and trade schools, at a mean wage of $67,000. Earnings are highest in states on the East Coast, specifically in the northeastern states where the mean wage can reach $41,000-$47,000.† (n.d.2.) This is a very rewarding job, considering the education requirements and the actual pay wage, this is a great start into the field and a great way to get paid! The salary, benefits, and 401k plan that are usually offered are available in this career, as well, depending on which company or place of business you work for. Coming from benefits and rewards of becoming a Computer Technician, it is also a very flexible field. Hours can be full or part time, pay can be salary or hourly. Considering there is an increase within the job market for Computer Technicians, the flexibility of having more choice in hours and pay is a significant pro to this career choice, as other jobs in other industries do not always allow such flexibility. This career choice is truly an easy one to adapt to. The requirements of becoming a Computer Technician might be a bit steep, and somewhat tedious to sit through and complete, but the benefits of becoming one are too high to ignore. The ability to stay on the cutting edge of technology, alone, is worth it, but the financial aspect of this career choice is also not one to dismiss as not worth it. Computer Technicians overall are a very admirable field to choose as a career choice, because it truly is a field in which doesn’t require years upon years of education, and the benefits are well worth reaping. REFERENCES QuinStreet Inc. (n.d.1). Retrieved from http://www.computertrainingschools.com/career-training/computer-repair-technician/ (n.d.2). Retrieved from http://diplomaguide.com/articles/Computer_Repair_Tech_Career_Overview.html (n.d.3). Retrieved from http://www.citytowninfo.com/education-articles/career-guides/how-to-become-a-computer-technician

Saturday, September 14, 2019

Industry Report – Hotel & Tourism

However, the easing of the Australian dollar has been a welcome development. The latest Mastered-OTF sentiment survey indicates that international industry sentiment remains relatively stable. Notably, however, 50% of those surveyed saw the Australian dollar as having a high impact on their business, highlighting the potential upside of the local currency easing. Growth In International visitor arrivals continues to Impress International visitor arrivals grew 4. 9% over the year to March while International visitor nights grew 7. 2%, significantly outpacing average growth of the last decade. While this growth has been largely led by the emerging Asian economies, particularly China which accounted for more than a third of total growth in visitor arrivals, there has also been a sustained pick up in visitor arrivals from the US. ; Increasing length of stay by Japanese visitors was also a key contributor to visitor night growth. The outlook for international visitors remains robust ; Des pite a marginally weaker economic outlook, Dolomite Access Economics continues to project solid growth in international visitor arrivals and nights over the next three years, with arrivals forecast to grow by 4. 5% p. A. ND nights by 4. 9% p. A. ; While the outlook for growth in Chinese visitors has moderated slightly, China is expected to remain the single largest contributor to growth, with visitor nights forecast to grow by 6. 7% p. A. Over the next three years. Overall, Asia is projected to account for two thirds of forecast growth In International violators nights. ; In an encouraging sign for the nation's larger regional tourism destinations, recent trends have revealed Chinese travelers Tropical North Queensland are now frequented more commonly by Chinese leisure visitors than by international leisure travelers generally.The domestic visitor market entities to expand After a decade of weak or negative growth, the domestic tourism market rebounded strongly in the first half of 2012. While this rapid rate of growth has not been maintained, the domestic market has continued to expand, with visitor nights increasing 2. 2% over the year to March 2013. Strengthening leisure market forecast to be the key driver of domestic growth Corporate travel has been the predominant driver of domestic tourism growth over the last decade.However a softer domestic economic outlook and signs of a continued pick-up in holiday travel indicate the leisure segment playing a more reorient role in driving domestic tourism over the next few years – particularly if the Australian dollar continues to recede. ; Holiday visitor nights grew 1 1. 6% in the March quarter and by 3. 7% over the year to March. This represents the fastest rate of growth since before the SGF and considerably narrowed the gap with outbound leisure travel, which grew by 4. % over the same period. ; Overall, Dolomite Access Economics forecasts domestic visitor nights to grow at an average rate of 1. 6% p. A. Over the next three years. Hotel occupancy rates in Brisbane and Perth ease while mailer markets record strong growth ; In a clear sign that travel associated with the mining sector is slowing, the last two quarters saw a softening in occupancy rates in Brisbane and Perth with average occupancies for the year to May 2013 around 2% lower than the previous year. However, growth in domestic holiday travel has been good news for destinations such as the Gold Coast where occupancy rates continue to improve, while Tropical North Queensland has benefited from strong growth in international visitor nights. A softer domestic economic outlook is moderating growth recasts for several major hotel markets ; Growth in occupancies and room rates in markets associated with mining-related corporate travel, such as Brisbane and Perth, is forecast to be more subdued, as the resource-related construction boom reaches its peak.At the same time, the weakening of the Australian dollar is forecast to pr ovide further support for room rates and occupancies in leisure-oriented markets. ; Nevertheless, and despite a strengthening investment pipeline, demand is forecast to outstrip supply and, accordingly, occupancy rates are forecast to grow 2% and room rates by 3. % p. A. Nationally over the three years to December 2015. Tourism and Hotel Market Outlook – Half yearly update 2013 2 The macroeconomic context with the US dollar since early 2011, the Australian dollar lost significant ground in May.By the end of May, the Australian dollar had fallen to IIS$O. 96, while the Trade Weighted Index (TWIT), which measures the strength of Australia's currency against its trading partners, fell from 78. 2 on the 1st of May to 74. 0 by the end of the month. At the time of writing the Australian dollar had fallen to IIS$O. 92 and the TWIT had fallen to 71. 2. The decline in the Australian dollar against its major trading partners was partly precipitated by the Reserve Banks decision in May to reduce the official cash rate to 2. 5%, while an announcement by the Federal Reserve of a possible tapering' of its quantitative easing strategy has caused a more recent drop against the US dollar. The decline in the Australian dollar is good news for local tourism operators. Previous Dolomite Access Economics research for Tourism Australia found that the value of the Australian dollar has a relatively modest impact on the decision to visit Australia. However, it has a more pronounced impact on the level of spending undertaken by visitors once they arrive, which is likely to be of greater importance for many tourism operators.The moderation of the Australian dollar is also likely to further slow growth in outbound travel by Australians as the overcompensation's of local destinations improves. Despite the pace of the recent moderation, the longer term outlook for the local currency remains relatively unchanged with the Australian dollar projected to remain at IIS$O. 80 from 2018-1 9. The global outlook The moderation of the Australian currency relative to the US dollar as been driven in part by an improved outlook for the US economy.The most recent figures from the US show that real GAP grew by 0. 6% in the March quarter up from the 0. 1% recorded in the December quarter. Over the year to March, US real GAP grew by 1. 8%. Moreover, the US housing market continues to strengthen, with the S&P Case Sheller 20-City Composite Home Price Index rising by 10. 9% over the year to March 2013 and housing approvals rising almost 21% since May 2012. Encouraging figures have also appeared from the US labor market, with the unemployment rate falling to 7. % in April (though it edged up to 7. % in May). However, looking beyond the headline data reveals a labor market which remains soft. This is especially evident in the employment to population ratio (capturing both unemployment and workforce participation), which remains essentially unchanged from the depths reached in late 2009. This data suggests that the falling unemployment rate has mainly been due to individuals dropping out of the labor force rather than strong employment growth.These emerging signs of recovery – along with recent improvements in consumer confidence – suggest that, although fiscal consolidation ill limit the speed of the nation's economic recovery, the US is better placed than previously to handle the impact of $85 billion in budget cuts associated with the ‘sequester' and a 2% increase in payroll tax. By comparison, the outlook for Chinese growth is slightly weaker than forecast six months ago with growth falling from 7. 9% over the year to December 2012 to 7. 7% over the year to March 2013.Growth continues to be supported by infrastructure spending and housing construction with recent growth in real estate prices prompting renewed concerns about the potential or a housing price bubble in China. Growth in both consumer spending and the longer term, China wil l need to rebalanced its growth towards higher wages and increased consumer spending, which is likely to imply a slower but more balanced growth trajectory. The COED Economic Outlook forecasts Chinese growth to remain at 7. 8% in 2013, before rising to 8. 4% in 2014 on the back of an acceleration of global trade.In Europe, fiscal austerity has continued to hamper growth with unemployment in the region climbing further. While austerity measures have increased the level of lattice instability in some member states, the European Central Banks actions in purchasing government bonds has reduced the risk of a severe collapse over the last eighteen months. The COED expects growth in the Euro area of in 2013 before recovering to 1 . 1% in 2014. By comparison, the outlook is slightly stronger for Japan as monetary easing has led to a depreciation of the yen since November 2012, although the COED is forecasting growth of only 1. % in 2013. On the whole, the global outlook remains broadly simi lar to six months ago, with more promising signs f recovery in the US being counterbalanced by a slightly softer outlook for China's economy and continued weakness in the Rezone. The domestic outlook In Australia, concerns have been growing about the capacity of the non-mining sectors to sustain growth once the resource-related construction boom peaks. The economy grew by 0. 6% in the March quarter to be up by 2. 5% over the year, but growth was largely driven by an improvement in net exports.A decline in new engineering construction in the quarter has prompted increasing concerns that the mining construction boom has begun to peak. While Dolomite Access Economics expects resource-related construction to plateau for some time before receding, alternative sources of growth must be forthcoming if an economic slowdown is to be avoided. While there is evidence that housing construction and the retail sector are beginning to grow, the recovery in both sectors has been relatively mild to date. Residential construction activity grew by only 2. % over the year to March, while retail expenditure grew by 3. 1% over the year to April. The decision by the Reserve Bank to cut interest rates to a record low of 2. 75% in May should act to Arthur stimulate the housing and retail sectors. At the same time, while the decision by the Federal government to delay a return to budget surplus to 2015-16 has been welcomed, indicators suggest business confidence has weakened in recent months due to concerns about the impending peak in construction activity in the resources sector.

Friday, September 13, 2019

Tommy hilfiger casestudy Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Tommy hilfiger casestudy - Coursework Example The CEO at Hilfiger shifted the bulk of design output to the European headquarters and this led to an overall price hike. For one thing, the costs of production in Europe are higher. Operational and distribution costs are also very high in Europe compared to the United States based on the different retail and wholesale systems. In the U.S., mid to high tier department stores are utilized to stock the merchandise and reach the customers. Due to the â€Å"mall† culture of United States, this strategy worked very well and at lower distribution costs the company could easily reach its target market. In contrast, the retail culture in Europe is very â€Å"small boutique†, where shoppers go to small, exclusive shops to buy clothing rather than bigger departmental chains. These chains, such as Galeries Lafayette in France, are costly distribution options. As a result, the associated costs spiked. To compete with European brands that are tagged at higher prices (up around $50 o n average on a single T-shirt, for example) Hilfiger merchandise was priced higher in Europe to make them competitive. Lastly, to convey the message of premium quality and compete with higher end European brands such as LV, Prada and Gucci, the company positioned the product in the top tier category and had to mark prices accordingly. In branding, the Law of Quality described by Al and Laura Ries (2009) shows that the higher the price of a brand, the greater the perception of quality. This law was seen in practice in the European Hilfiger market. The company has been able to establish a European customer base and market presence. As a result, the European market accounts for 40% of the total sales of the company. The American market has suffered due to lower pricing strategy and inability to compete on the fronts that the Hilfiger brand was traditionally known for. Competing on different price levels in different regions does not have as big an impact if the two are compared; howeve r, as standalone businesses, the European region has benefitted and North American region has suffered. 2. Hilfiger’s CEO would like to harmonise the European and U.S. collections by having Hilfiger move more upmarket in the US. What problems might the company face in doing this? What might it do to make this strategy successful? Building on the tested idea that higher prices are equated with higher quality, associations that the Hilfiger brand strives for, the company intended to move more up-market in the U.S. The major problems that might result from this strategy are mentioned below: Changes might hurt the overall brand. Branding is achieved through a consistent face of the company and its products. With standard designs in collections, it would be damaging in the long run for a brand to have a changed strategy and pricing policy in Europe and US. Resistance from the traditional buyer of Hilfiger. The traditional buyer comes to Hilfiger expecting the All-American, classic casual wear that is affordable. A higher price tag will disillusion the buyer, making him think the brand he loves to wear has changed and is not what he has always wanted. This will result in lost sales for the company. Lose the essence that made it famous. A higher price tag will demand a change in the design strategy also because charging a premium for the standard material and design will confuse the buyer. For example, when the company changed the logo design, a Hilfiger trademark, the company faced lower

Thursday, September 12, 2019

Islam Way of Life Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Islam Way of Life - Research Paper Example Today, more than 1.75 billion people are following this religion of Islam that makes them more than twenty-four percent population of the world. Analysis (Haddad, pp. 23-25) has indicated that like other revealed religions, such as Christianity, Judaism, etc, Islam also has similar principles of ethics, equality, patience, impartiality, etc; however, Islamic way of life has been confronting a number of issues due to opposite practice of few Muslims around the globe. In other words, terrorism is one of the major issues that have resulted in wrong image of Islam in Western countries due to the concept of Jihad in Islam that actually calls Muslims to fight in the name of Allah (God); however, few uneducated Muslims took this in actual phrases and began to breed terrorism in the name of Islam. On the other hand, a huge number of Muslims in various parts of the globe are practicing their lives on the fundamental principles of Islam and consider Jihad as a fight with one’s own self for improvement rather than someone else. It has been an observation that everything passes through a face of alteration during its existence that is the true law of nature. In this regard, religions undergo the same process of continuous change. Christianity confronted such phases, and that has been same for Islam as well. According to sacred scriptures (Haddad, pp. 29-34), Islam encourages an astonishing form of unity and pluralism, and that has been one of the reasons of higher level of cultural diversity of Muslim population in different parts of the globe. In this regard, this paper is an endeavor to discuss different ways of Islamic life that will enable the readers in better understanding of this monotheistic and religion with second largest global population. Scrutiny has indicated that sixteenth century began the existence of Islam in the United States with the arrival of

Wednesday, September 11, 2019

Brain and Physical Injuries Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Brain and Physical Injuries - Essay Example The researchers found that most of the family members were less psychologically distressed. However, people suffering from brain injury had poorer psychological outcomes than their relatives did. The study also found that spouses of patients with brain injury were subjected to trauma and psychological distress. Bell, Kathleen R., Nancy Temkin R., Peter Esselman C., Jason Doctor N., Charles Bombardier S., Robert Fraser T., Jeanne Hoffman M., Janet Powell M., and Sureyya Dukem. â€Å"The Effect of a Scheduled Telephone Intervention on Outcome after Moderate to Severe Traumatic Brain Injury: A Randomized Trial.† Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation 86.5 (2005): 851-856. Print. The authors studied the effectiveness of telephone interventions in counseling and education for brain injury patients. These interventions, coming from home, were compared with the standard follow-ups conducted after one year. The researchers found that constant telephone interventions made patients feel better than interventions that come after a long time. Esser, E., Valencia, E., Conover, S., Felix, A., Tsai, W.Y. and Wyatt, R. J. â€Å"Preventing recurrent homelessness among mentally ill men: a "critical time" intervention after discharge from a shelter.† American Journal of Public Health 87.2 (2007): 256-262. Print. The authors set out to establish strategies that can protect mentally ill persons from becoming homeless. They sought a bridge between community care and mental institutions. They sampled 96 men with severe mental illness, including brain injury and gave them critical care in an institution. The researchers discovered that most of the men longed for home and families despite the good care they received at the institution. The researchers sought to determine the factors that predict family system functioning after one member of the family experiences brain injury. The

Tuesday, September 10, 2019

Analysis of Annual Audited Report for Boeing Corporation Assignment

Analysis of Annual Audited Report for Boeing Corporation - Assignment Example Over its eventful history, the company has been responsible for a number of innovations like the Boeing B-1, B-8 and Monomail, Model C, Boeing 80 and the 737. Boeing earned a profit of $4.018 billion for the year ended December 30, 2011 and had total assets of $79.986 billion on the same date. Since 2005, the company’s Chairman, President and CEO have been W. James McNerney Jr. The company has a total of 164,545 employees worldwide and the top 1.5 % of them go through the Technical Fellowship program, which sets the technical direction for the company. We will now move on to the analysis of Boeing’s financial statements as given in their Audited Annual Reports for 2011. Their accounts have been audited by Deloitte & Touche LLP, one of the Big Four accounting firms in the world. The report is unqualified and this means that Boeing Company has met the financial standards for record keeping and presentation as required by the FASB and other relevant authorities. Analysis o f Net Income and Cash Flows According to the financial statements for the year ended 30 December 2011, Boeing has reported net income from sales of products and services for fiscal year 2011 of $ 4.018 billion. According to their Consolidated Statement of Cash Flows, cash provided from operating activities for 2011 was $5.844 billion (Boeing Annual Report 2011, 55). The difference between the two numbers can be explained on the basis of accrual accounting principles where revenue is recognized when it is earned and expenses are recognized when they are incurred (Porter & Curtis, 2013). Meigs, Meigs and Meigs further distinguish the importance of assessing operating activities through the measure of operating cash flow. Using accrual-based net earnings can lead to ambiguous performance indications, unless a company can convert its revenues/profits into cash (Meigs et al., 1995). Thus from a comparison of Boeing’s net earnings and net cash from operating activities in 2011, it can be concluded that the company is effectively converting their profits into cash. Ratio of Net Income to Net Revenue Looking further at the Consolidated Statement of Earnings, the following figures give a comparison of Boeing’s Net earnings to Net sales for the three years ending in December 2009, 2010 and 2011 respectively. All dollar amounts have been shown in millions: 2011 2010 2009 Net Earnings $4,018 $3,307 $1,312 Net Sales 68,735 64,306 68,281 Ratio 5.84% 5.14% 1.92% (Source: Boeing Annual Report, 2011) Wood and Sangster (2008) state that an efficient business is one who can keep the costs of providing their products or services relatively low compared to their selling price of those products or services. That said, the numbers in the above table are indicative of a fairly efficient business. While Boeing’s net sales had decreased from $68 billion in 2009 to $64 billion in 2010, yet the company managed to increase its net earnings from $1.3 billion to $3.3 bi llion over 2009-2010. The net sales and net earnings both show an increase in 2011 being $68 billion and $4 billion respectively so the company has once again done well Company Assets A further inspection of the Boeing Company’s Consolidated Balance Sheet for 2011 shows that their three largest assets are Inventories ($32.24 billion), Cash and cash equivalents ($10.049 billion),

Bioterrorism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Bioterrorism - Essay Example Not only were soda bottle with fruit juices, carbonated drinks or colas attacked, but also bottled mineral water, beer bottles and even cans. The terrorist had a few units where the botulism toxin was manufactured on a large scale and just a few milliliters of the toxin had to be introduced into each bottle of soda. Even milk was supposed to be attacked and milk bottles were found to be infected (Wein 2005). People across the US feel sick on consuming the contaminated food product. Some of the common symptoms that were noted included double vision, slurring of the speech, drooping of the eyelids, difficulty in swallowing, muscle weakness, berating difficulties, dry mouth, general body weakness, etc (CDC 2012). Young children and adolescents who especially consume high amounts of these drinks were the targets and required immediate hospitalization. Many of the patients with serious respiratory problems need admission to the ICU and ventilator support. The mortality rates were also hig h. In total, there were about 3200 cases of botulism reported throughout the US within the first 5 days, about 2300 people required admission to the hospital, 450 were critically ill and required ventilator support and 400 had mortalities. ... It may strongly be suspected that the people involved in these attacks may have introduced certain toxic substances into dairy animals across the US in order to demonstrate that the contamination of food and other products were linked to the animal deaths due to infections. However, the biggest evidence to demonstrate that the outbreak of botulism was a suspected terrorist attacks was the contamination of soda drinks and sodas. The water being used for manufacture and drinking water was also suspected. However, a majority of the US cities and soft drink manufacturers used chlorinated water and there are no chances that botulism contaminates naturally. 2. Describe how the outbreak characteristics would have been different in the above scenario, if the outbreak had been natural, rather than intentional. A natural outbreak of botulism already has mechanisms by which ultimately the people who consume the products are not infected. For example, water that may be contaminated would be trea ted with chlorine. Soft drinks are prepared using chlorinated water and milk is pasteurized before being packaged. Even some of the foods are disinfected before reaching the ultimate consumer (Medinet 2012). The second most startling fact that the outbreak was intentional was that it occurred through various cities in the US simultaneously. More than 10 major cities in the US were attacked and most of these cities were high consumers of soft drinks and dairy products. The last fact that suggested that this was an intentional outbreak was through various molecular laboratory tests conducted on the contaminated food product, the microorganism isolated was one particular strain, and this strain was one of the most virulent strains that produced large quantities of the