Thursday, November 28, 2019

WordPress vs Drupal SEO, Security, Extensions ... All Compared

When it comes to content management systems, there are two names that stand out: WordPress vs Drupal. Each has its own loyal community, a long list of popular websites that it powers, as well as a wide range of features and functionality.It is common knowledge that WordPress is easier to use and more popular, as compared to Drupal that has a smaller community and a steeper learning curve. But apart from that, what really separates the two? In this article, I shall attempt to compare WordPress vs Drupal across a given set of fields.WordPress vs Drupal: 4-round comparisonWordPress vs Drupal usage stats, according to https://w3techs.com/technologies/overview/content_management/all1. Search engine optimizationSearch engine optimization, or SEO, is of utmost importance for the health of your website. If your site does not do well in terms of page ranks and search results, your online presence will suffer, badly.As a matter of fact, both WordPress vs Drupal are good with SEO. To be honest, Google (or any other search engine for that matter) does not truly care which platform you are using, as long as your content is in order and you follow the SEO norms. However, Matt Cutts of Google has stated that WordPress is a good choice in terms of SEO, as shown in this video:And of course, WordPress users have the luxury of amazing plugins such as All in One SEO Pack and Yoast SEO that can help in terms of SEO.However, it is also worth pointing out that Drupal is not a minnow when it comes to search engines Yoast SEO, for example, is available for Drupal as well. Furthermore, it is often unknown to non-users of Drupal, but the software comes with SEO-friendly features that WordPress lacks in the absence of external plugins. For instance, native caching is supported by Drupal out of the box, whereas WordPress needs additional plugins for caching. Page caching leads to faster load times and that, obviously, is a very useful metric to boost your pagerank.All things considered, W ordPress wins the SEO round due to the number of available plugins that can help your sites SEO in many different ways.2. SecurityFor anything on the internet, security is a concept that is really vital, but can never be absolutely achieved. Nothing on the internet is 100% safe or secure, nor can it ever be. We can only try to achieve a great level of security, and the same applies to both WordPress and Drupal, as well as any other similar piece of software.Drupal has, over the years, earned a reputation for its secure and robust performance. While it has had its own share of issues, such as numerous SQL injection vulnerabilities, the community has been quick to respond and for the most part, Drupal has fared well in terms of combating security threats. The fact that the likes of The White House and The Economist prefer to rely on Drupal is a testimony to this effect.WordPress, however, is not weak in terms of security either. While this is a known fact that WordPress gets way more security threats and malware attacks than any other software, this has more to do with WPs popularity and less to do with any potential lack of security practices.Yet, all said and done, there is less margin for error in terms of security when using Drupal as compared to WordPress, simply because there is a ridiculously large number of plugins and themes that are readily available for WordPress, and are poorly coded and can pose a security issue for your website. The WordPress community is very quick to respond to any such issue, but there is still a window for error as an obsolete plugin can compromise a website. Since the number of such plugins and themes is smaller for Drupal, the window for error too becomes smaller.This round goes to Drupal.3. Ability to extend and customizeWordPress is backed by a large number of themes and plugins (both free and premium) that you can use to extend its functionality and features. You can create eCommerce stores, news sites, portfolio sites, an d a lot more with WordPress by using the right combination of plugins and themes.Drupal too is backed by extensions and modules that can help you extend its functionality, but this number is comparatively smaller. This does not mean you cannot customize Drupal; you still can do a lot with it, but the learning curve is steeper, and you require a lot more efforts when accomplishing something unique with Drupal as you might when doing the same with WordPress. That said, as a developer, you can tweak Drupal to your hearts extent, and this is probably why we see many Drupal sites with a very unique nature. But for non-developers, WordPress is still the way to go when thinking WordPress vs Drupal.This round goes to WordPress.4. Content management and performanceBoth Drupal and WordPress can do a lot in terms of content management and performance. While user interface and ease of use are a matter of perspective, as what is usable and familiar for one user might be unusable for the other, t here are certain areas where each of these two CMSs can prove its worth.In terms of resources, both WordPress vs Drupal are universally supported, coded mostly in PHP, and work well on even the lesser powerful servers or shared platforms. Of course, installation of additional modules or plugins can cause either of the two CMSs to bloat down a WordPress installation with 45 plugins is definitely likely to slow down, and the same applies to Drupal. But there has been a tendency among Drupal users to rely on lesser modules this can be attributed to the fact that the Drupal community has a larger number of developers, whereas WordPress user base has a very lenient distribution of end users as well.All said and done, Drupal has a very noticeable downside as compared to WordPress. Basic tasks such as updating your CMS are more time-consuming in Drupal and way easier in WordPress. Plus, the fact that there are more publications and outlets for WordPress-related content is another advanta geous situation: you can learn about WordPress at a faster pace as compared to Drupal.The final round goes to WordPress.ConclusionDrupal offers a lot of a features out of the box, such as page caching, and a lot more. It is a flexible system, and once you master the ropes, you can virtually create any genre or nature of website using Drupal.But WordPress is still highly usable and in a better overall situation than Drupal. It is more popular (and therefore better supported), and easier to use and deploy. By using the right combination of plugins and themes, WordPress can serve your web design and development projects very well.As you look at the points above, WordPress takes it today in our WordPress vs Drupal comparison. But were probably a bit biased, in all honestyWhat do you think? Are WordPress and Drupal capable of running equal websites and serving their users with the same level of quality? Share your thoughts in the comments below!Free guide5 Essential Tips to Speed Up Your WordPress SiteReduce your loading time by even 50-80% just by following simple tips.

Sunday, November 24, 2019

Medical Research and Ethics essays

Medical Research and Ethics essays Medical ethics tends to be a problematic issue, particularly where certain types of research are concerned. Indeed, some practitioners hold the public good in such high regard that they violate human rights for its sake. Of particular importance here is patient consent. Indeed, this issue is central to whether medical ethics are being violated or not. If patient consent is obtained, and researcher has provided full disclosure of the nature and risks of the study, the ethical requirements of the study have been met. Some researchers are however tempted to violate these requirements for the sake of results. An extreme case of such a violation is the Tuskegee syphilis study, which as become widely publicized as an example of gross human rights violations in favor of medical research. Another case to be addressed later is the one of a doctor taking blood samples from children without full disclosure to their parents. The General Medical Council (1998) is very clear on the ethical requirements for consent in the case of children or those who are incapable of making their own medical decisions. According to the General Medical Council (1998), the physician is to establish decision-making capacity prior to proceeding with medical investigation or treatment. It emphasizes the need to seek the help of the appropriate professional bodies if this appears to be necessary. In the case of fluctuating capacity, the Council suggests that physicians continually assess the patients understanding and the consistency of his or her compliance with the proposed procedures. In the case of mental incapacity, the physicians assessment of the patients best interest is subject to the Mental Health Act of 1983 and the Code of Practice of the Mental Health Commission. Controversial or experimental treatments that are unconnected to the mental disorder are subject to court approval. Mentally incapacitated patients therefore enjoy ...

Thursday, November 21, 2019

Peer response Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 7

Peer response - Assignment Example Further, one also agrees that there is no such thing as a perfect study. This is the reason why limitations should be noted to take into consideration those aspects that could be incorporated in future research. Researchers should have the hindsight to anticipate that the studies undertaken are made possible with utmost regard for objectivity to address the questions at hand. Yet, in no case would the conclusions be finite and further studies could be undertaken to improve on the results or verify whether the outcome would be consistent despite addressing the limitations which were previously noted. The initial reaction to your post is the widely encompassing scope of your proposed topic on remedial education. The research questions, though highly interesting, should be justified in terms of the new learning on the subject matter. The suggestion I could propose is to streamline your topic from a particular perspective: would your research focus on remedial education from the point of view of students taking remedial classes? Or would your research thrust emphasize the factors that impact the success (or failure) of remedial education? Another suggestion is to explore the relationship between students who took remedial classes to their ability to gain future employment. The point is to decide which point of view you would like to focus on and to streamline the variables to be used in the proposed

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

Reading response Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 26

Reading response - Essay Example The meaning, that is used by Shames regarding the American culture, is that having more is and has been an essential idea of the country. From my reading of â€Å"The More Factor†, Shame has the opinion that it is already part of the culture of Americans to desire for more, however, I should say that most people desire for more in their lives and not only Americans. This is true because even me I desired and still desire for more in my life. Most of all, I felt greatly surprised by what Shames described as like Americans have lost focus in what is very important as he says â€Å"Americans have been somewhat backward in adopting values, hopes, ambitions that have to do with things other than moreâ€Å". It surprised me because all, what Americans have done, is to find ways to grow and expand. Shames puts it out clearly that lost focus because they became selfish and greedy since they only bothered to help themselves and not others. In any event in 1800,s the speculators built towns and would pay individuals to move into their town and provide for them a home to live in. The fact of the matter was to build the railroad for a real town to develop. I feel that the idea of "more" is not such a terrible thing. I mean it is useful for individuals to need to have a better life and succeed, to goals and aspirations. However, it is my opinion that everything ought to have a limit, or in any event, we ought to know when to stop and enjoy life. I believe that everybody needs to live a life that is full of commodities. I do so as well. I need to go to visit new places around the globe, have things I didnt have and provided my family a home, as well as a better life. Shames’s idea of the concept of more reminds me of my childhood friend. We used to share a lot, do almost all things together; however, the guy did not accept defeat. He was ever competing and always liked to be in the front line in everything. I used to pity him because no

Monday, November 18, 2019

Critically evaluate Karl Barth's theology of religion and work Essay

Critically evaluate Karl Barth's theology of religion and work - Essay Example Barth work resulted to great effect on how the society interprets and apply Christian teachings. The unpopular and radical approach of Barthian theological thinking about work and Sabbath earned him great criticisms from the mainstream society but his work remains an important component of the current theological scholars and knowledge about Christianity faith. Barth claims that work or human labor is solely utilitarian intended to keep us alive. In this regard, he emphasizes on the importance of observing Sabbath, in order for man to resist the temptation of worshipping work at the expense of serving God (Hughes, 2007). In Barth ideology of Sabbath, the command to rest does not validate man to work for the remaining days of the week. He argues that Sabbath should take precedence of all other activities that man does for the service of God, so that He can reveal His purpose for him. Therefore, Sabbath day according to Barth (2009) gives the meaning and direction of man’s activ ities for the rest of his working days in the week. During Sabbath, man should not consider it as leisure or passive time but rather a day to join God in celebrating His Creation (Barth, 2009). Work or active life is not entirely, what God requires from man, but an activity that man does for survival (Barth, 2009). In this case, Barth argues that Jesus Christ called his disciples to abandon their work and follow him in his ministry but not join work. From his arguments, it is not necessary for man to work because it is worldly and cannot lead to salvation. I disagree with Barth’s opinion on work and Sabbath. When God was creating the universe, all Creations were made in six days and on the seventh day, He rested (Alister, 1999). In this case, God did not rest and then proceed to the work of creation. Though man’s activities do not add up to God’s creations, his actions have a profound effect on the entire universe and its inhabitants. God created man to be the m aster of the universe and its creations, and to fulfill the purpose, man must work not only for his own survival, but for the sake of other creations (Alister, 1999). In poor and underprivileged societies, rest days are liability to such people who struggle hard to afford even a single meal in a day. To such people, taking a break from work in Sabbath amounts to starvation, psychological suffering including anxiety, self-humiliation and depression. Thus, considering economic and social status of people, Barth idea of work and Sabbath is a luxury only the rich can afford. A true Sabbath should result after six days of working earnestly, without deceit or oppression, so that all people regardless of their economic status can fellowship with God and celebrate His Creation. 2. Critically evaluate an issue affecting employers or employees in relation to religious faith and practice Different religions have distinct practices that they instill on their followers and believers. These pract ices normally dictate their daily activities such as mode of dressing, nutrition, duties and responsibilities, health, ways of praying among other behaviors. Alister ( 1999) noted that strict observation of these practices determine the commitment of the believers and more importantly, their desire to attain the highest form of spiritual purity dictated by the teachings of the respective religious denomination. Many religious teachings from diverse backgrounds contain punitive measures meted on followers who fail to comply with the said practices. The punishments are normally carried out by the leaders and/or, adherents of the particular religious grouping on the errant followers (Alister, 1999).

Friday, November 15, 2019

Religious Views On Abortion Religion Essay

Religious Views On Abortion Religion Essay Abortion is defined in different ways by different people; the medical dictionary defines abortion as a premature exit of the product of conception from the uterus. It is the loss of pregnancy (MedicineNet.com, 1998).Religion is a key factor in the control of morality in the society today; in examining the concept of abortion and the perspective of the religion on abortion one must find how the different religions in the society influence this concept. Within the various religious circles, it is argued and continuously debated whether a fetus is a living being. The main argument is on when or at what stage does the state and religion consider a fetus to be a living being. Some religions argue against the state with the point that a fetus is not a living person. The arguments on the morality of abortion are often based on the religious beliefs. On the grounds of religion, each religious belief has its views on the concept of abortion, In Christianity abortion is considered a bad omen, an evil practice and non-acceptable by God, the Roman Catholic Church teaches that abortion is wrong and any member of the church found involved in the practice can be excommunicated from the church. The Jehovah witness also do share the common belief with the catholic that abortion is wrong, it is concluded that in most Christian denominations, abortion is highly prohibited and at no time accepted in the churches. Like other fellow Christian communities, the protestant churches does not allow abortion, in the Northern Ireland the catholics as well as protestants have come together to oppose the concept of abortion, this does not imply that all the Christians denominations against the act and concept abortion (SPUC,2010). Some of the Christian denominations are pro abortion and believe that abortion can help save lives if carefully carried out with the help of doctors and professionals in the field of medicine such as in the Baptists and Methodists churches. In these cases, a woman was not disgraced after having an abortion unless she went against the advice of a professional. The consistency of the Catholic Church against the abortion has raised questions; however this question was answered by catholic theorist James McCarthy. His argument was based on whether the life of a child begin ate the point of conception or not. It is however clear that there has been no clear church teaching on this matter, there has been lots of argument at what point does a fetus become a human being. Others argue that a person is more than just the biological parts, and believes that a living person has more advance characteristics that a fetus do not posses, like the ability to think and make relationships with other people (McCarthy,1996). The pro -life proponents also argue that the ability of a fetus to exist independently defines it as a person, there argument is based on the right to life and they believe that the fetus can live given time and good environment just like any other human beings. It is however realistic that the Catholics will still view abortion evil no matter what argument are brought forward (Dombrowski, 2000). From this argument we can easily conclude that the Catholics has viewed and will always view abortion as evil regardless of any positive contribution it has in the society; it is also not clear whether they view fetus as a living human being. It therefore raises questions as to why the Catholics carry out fetal baptisms, which were practiced early 1700s. The contradiction is clearly evident, the McCarthy claims that a fetus is not a human being and the early church carried out fatal baptism (McCarthy,1996).From this argument it is evident that most of the religious belief and concept on abortion is based on the human life, and the point at which it is considered to begin. Hinduism view In the Hinduism faith, abortion is considered evil; however some of the Hindus texts prove abortion to be a necessary evil, since it save lives. The Hindu scripture reference the act of abortion as gorha-batta meaning womb killing, the abortionist is referenced as the greatest sinner in the society as described by Atharva Veda. It is therefore clear that in the Hindus faith abortion is an abormination. The Vedas does not show when life begins or whether a fetus is a living being but it is clear that abortion is a sinful activity.This is as outlined in the part of the Aryan scriptures is in the Vedas which states; Whpe off, O Pushan [Lord], the sins of him that practiseth abortion. (Sacred Books of the East). Another compelling evidence that abortion is unacceptable in the Hindu religion is contained in the books of Chandrasekhar (1974) in which he pointed out that induced abortion, which he referred to as bhrunahatya (foetus murder) is a sin. He pointed out that according to Vishnu Smriti (c. 100 B.C. to 100 A.D.) ,the act of abortion which is the destruction an embryo can be considered as the killing of a holy person (Chandrasekhar,1974) Christian view The concept of abortion in the Jewish law is not as strict as the Christian way; the Jewish legal authorities have not established principles by which to determine the morality and validity of abortion in the society. The issue is complex and always refers back to the bible. The Bible on the other hand has a lot to say regarding the concept of abortion, the Biblical arguments indicated that the unborn child is a human being and constitutes Gods creation. God came up with three creations. The conceived life on the conception of God is a living, after conception the result is referred to as the child in the likeness of God, as per the Bible the infant, child, son or daughter refer to the same thing since they are all creation of God. Other phrases of the Bible indicates that when men fight and one of them hit a woman who is expecting with the result of a miscarriage, the responsible person will be charged based on the womans husband judgment, but if other issues occur, the penalty will be life for life (Bible Exodus 21:22). Life for life indicate the miscarriage is the loss of life, the life loss as a result of miscarriage is equivalent to the life of the responsible person. It is therefore concluded that the stands of the Bible on the miscarriage or abortion is defined clearly, in loss of life through abortion is equivalent to the life lost for an existing human being. It is however not easy to simplify what the Bible state concerning abortion, several scholars has indicated that it is not easy to determine the real knowledge on the matters relating to abortion. Most of the Christians however, are just told that abortion is prohibited and not allowed in the society. This concept just simplifies what is hard to comprehend in our society. It has become a matter of doing what God requires from his disciples, no matter what the consequences are to the living and the unborn; the final judgment is however the Almighty God. (Ward,1978). In summary it is evident that the Bible controls most of the judgment in the Christian faith concerning abortion. This is however only true if the decision is in congruence with Gods demands as outlined in the Holy Bible Buddhism view Buddhism on the other hand has a more relaxed approach to abortion. This is evident in the Buddhas way of life, as it tries to get away from making finalization and judgment on matters. Buddha advised his followers not to accept or believe in any teaching from other religions not even Buddha himself. His emphasis was to investigate the teaching on how abortion is viewed from the people themselves and the society of the Buddhist. If an individual within oneself finds a teaching to be true, then he should practice the teaching, but not trust any teaching by simply trusting them. Buddha first percepts state I will not harm any living creature this does not only apply to the human being community but to all animals, once a fetus is alive the Buddhism faith protest not to harm the fetus and protect the fetus. The Buddhist approach to ethical and social issues relating to abortion is based on the concept on compassion. The concept of compassion is important to the Buddhist than any other doctrines r laws set by the land. It is therefore important on any judgment as to whether abortion is good or evil in the land of the Buddhist one should bring in light the concept of compassion to the fetus before any argument is made. Most Buddhist feel that in relation to the concept of compassion abortion is wrong, and regrettable, it is viewed as the act of depriving the unborn the compassionate right to live, however the compassion should be both to the fetus and the mother, it may be to a level where the compassionate on the fetus may deprive the mother the right to life. In this case Buddha then indicates that you do what I feel is right, such circumstances are allowed so that each individual arrive at the right conclusion and not judgmental. In conclusion, reviews of literature from various Buddhist ethicists do bear a universal consensus that education is the best policy in tackling abortion. In this light, they advocate birth control as well as encouraging the use of contraceptives (Tsomo,1998) Discussions This research however makes me to misunderstand the result of engaging in abortion, it relays that if a woman from the Buddhist faith engages in the act of abortion, she should be comforted with compassion rather than judgment and punishment.These religious have had their share of impact in different societies, and they have brought different views on the concept of abortion example, most of the United States population claims to be Catholic (Dombrowski, 2000); however there is no religion that stick to there rules and doctrines. It would be hard to say that religious factors are insignificant considering Roman Catholicism is the leading opponent of abortion (Abernethy, 1994). Hindus had been very firm and so many people. The Catholics have always been strict and against the act, but it is evident that most of the faithful indulge in such activities and the church assume not to know as a result of not losing the faithful. The religion has therefore left us in the dark whether abortio n is good or not allowed within the church. It therefore calls for a personal judgment and that why this question, Is abortion Right? Is an open ended question that can be answered based on the individual judgment and not religious grounds and the doctrines of the church. Conclusions On my opinion the concept of compassion brought in the Buddhist faith, is more appealing, however abortion should be carried out with the assistant of a health professional, and only when it is dangerous to either the mother or the child. The mother side should be given precedence since she is a living being in existence as to the un-born as believed by the Buddhist. It is therefore depended on individual judgment whether to carry out abortion or not. The Buddhist vie of abortion is more liberal this is because it leaves the decision to the person who engages in the act to a large extent. The contemporary society is fuelled largely by the freedom of personal choice and technology. These doctrines seem to be well illustrated in the Buddhist view of abortion. To support my choice for Buddhist way of handling the abortion issue, I present the general universal consensus that the various Buddhist ethicists have advanced. In fact their approach to abortion has been considered by other sch olars and organizations as being the best as pointed out by SPUC (2010). Tsomo (1998) further points out that Buddhists do recognize the level of incongruity that exists in the ethical theory of abortion as well as in the actual practice of the abortion. They however do not in any way condone the inappropriate, meaningless and taking of life. They therefore use their views of morality of abortion to advocate for a universal understanding as well as the expression of compassion towards all forms of living things. Their views are nonjudgmental while respecting both the rights as well as the freedom of all human beings in the making of their own choices.

Wednesday, November 13, 2019

Comparing Confucianism and Christianity Essay -- Christianity Confuciu

Comparing Confucianism and Christianity The premise of Confucian teachings are centered around the idea of Jen or the  ³virtue of humanity (Ching 68). ² To accomplish this divinity, five relationships must be honored: ruler and minister, father and son, husband and wife, elder and younger brother, and friend and friend (Hopfe). These relationships led a push for a revolution of the political system to adopt the methods of Jen. Confucius sought to revive the ancient Chinese culture by redefining the importance of society and government. He described a society governed by  ³reasonable, humane, and just sensibilities, not by the passions of individuals arbitrarily empowered by hereditary status ² (Clearly). He felt that this could be achieved through education and the unification of cultural beliefs. He believed that a nation would be benefited by citizens that were  ³ cultivated people whose intellects and emotions had been developed and matured by conscious people ² (Clearly). He felt that those born into the feudal system were had a personal duty to excel socially by means of power. Those who were of lesser class should also seek out education to better themselves. All purposes for betterment of man and society as one whole is known as Li. Li means  ³the rationalized social order ² (Yutang). Confucius felt that love and respect for authority was a key to a perfect society; this strict respect was practiced through rituals and magic (Smith). The Confucius traditions have caused a tradition to set within its institution and is extremely active. It has, unfortunately, allowed the political institution to manipulate the Confucius system. As with Christianity. Christianity also preaches a divine, brotherly love. Modern Christianity seeks to discover a  ³rational understanding of the person ² as did Confucius (Ess ed. 381); yet, Christianity feels that faith in the Jesus Christ as a personal savior is essential to this enlightenment. It was also under the guise of Christianity that it had to confront totalitarian systems  ³[dehumanize] uses of power in its sphere of influence (state and church, and [these] systems triumphed under the banner of de-Christianization (Ess ed. 384). Unlike Confucius reformers of their corrupt state pushed the beliefs of the true ideals of Confucius, Christians believed in an  ³Absolute against all absolvi... ...942. Hughes, E. R. and K. Religion in China. Hutchinson's University Library, London; 1950. Kelen, Betty. Confucius: In Life and Legend. Thomas Nelson INC., New York; 1971. King. Hans and ed. Christianity and the World Religions. Doubleday, New York; 1986 McCuen., Gary E. The Religious Right. Hudson, Wisconsin; 1989. O'Briare, S. J. Fifty Years of Chinese Garment. Lutterworth Press, London; 1951. Siu, R. G. H. The Man of Many Qualities: A Legacy of the I Ching. Smith, Huston. The Religions of Man. Harper & Row, New York; 1958 Smith, Howard. Confucius. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York; 1973 Soper, Edmund Davison. The Religions of Mankind. Abingdon Press, New York; 1966. Toynbee, Arnold. Christianity Among the Religions of the World. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York; 1957 Weber, Max. The Religion of China. The Free Press, New York; 1951. Wieger, L. History of Religious Belief and Philosophical Opinions in China. Catholic Mission, Hsein-sein, China; 1927. Yang, C. K. Religion in Chinese Society. University of California Press, Berkeley and Los Angeles; 1961. Yutang, Lin. The Wisdom of Confucius. The Modern library, New York; 1938.

Sunday, November 10, 2019

Amazon.com Company Essay

Amazon.com is an e-commerce company based in Seattle, Washington. Founded by Jeff Bezos in 1994, Amazon was one of the first companies to sell goods on the internet. After it launches, it has been the largest retailer on the worldwide web with its fast growths. Amazon is classified as Consumer Discretionary sector and also Internet Retail industry which sells a broad range of items from books to consumer electronics to home and garden products. Today, Amazon, now became one of Fortune 500 company, was ranked 35th among the largest U.S corporation. The company’s management team consisted of Jeff Bezos who is Chairman of the Board of Amazon.com and also Chief Executive Officer, and an eight-member board of directors. Amazon.com started its business with only a unit of book. Jeff Bezos decided to sell books for first on his website with some special reasons. In 1994, when he started Amazon.com, customer’s reliability on e-commerce was rather lower, so people used to be afr aid of getting delivered wrong products from internet purchases. Therefore, people used to keep aloof from buying products online. Considered this, Jeff Bezos selected books that people could be guaranteed same quality of product regardless of where they purchase. One more interesting about Amazon.com is that it launched in 1994, but the actual transaction happened a year after, in 1995. They established databases of enormous amount of books and convenient purchasing services for a year. In result, Amazon.com was able to carry more than 110 M kinds of book. Amazon.com has brought $ 74,452M revenue which is an increase of 17.9% from 2012. Amazon.com controlled $32.555M in 2012 and $40.159 in 2013. It also profits $274 M which is an increase of 114% from 2012. In 2013, their total cost of goods sold was $18.806 M and gross markup reached to 27.2%.By introducing two new product categories every year for almost a decade, its market share represents one third of U.S e-commerce sales. Amazon.com is often referred as The Everything Store. As we can notice from its second name, Amazon.com carries every items that web retailer could sell. Its top three business units are including books, electronics and Toy & Games. Book has been one of the bestselling categories of Amazon.com. As demand of e-book is going up, electronic book also has recorded high sales (actually, higher than its book sales). With Its own table for e-book and various kinds of books they carry, Amazon not only has competitive advantage among its competitors, but also has already been making high sales on them.  Another bestselling product of Amazon.com is tablets. Amazon has launched its own tablet ‘Fire HD’ which has similar feathers and its own OS but price is much cheaper than any other tablets currently selling in the market. Currently, Amazon has 5.8 percent shares and it maintain in third place following after Apple and Samsung. With its own tablet, Amazon is increasing their market shares on tablets. Amazon already has its own game studio to produce video games and its own Fire receiver, so that they attracted many gamers. Recently, Amazon is planning to take over the video game streaming video platform twitch TV to start their new game business. With so many different products and services, Amazon has a divisional structure. In a divisional structure, different departments for different products and services allow department heads to appropriately focus their resources and results, as well as monitor the organization’s performance. This structure is best for such a large organization because it is the most flexible. Amazon’s organizational structure is comprised of CEO and founder Jeffery Bezos and an eight-member board of directors. The CEO oversees the Chief Financial Officer, the Chief Technology Officer and the 8 departments: Business Development, e-Commerce Platform, International Retail, North America Retail, Web Services, Digital Media, Legal & Secretary, and Kindle. The CFO oversees the Real Estate and Control department. International Retail oversees three separate departments: China, Europe and India. North America Retail oversees the following five departments: Seller Services, Operations, Toys, Sports & Home Improvement, Amazon Publishing and Music & Video. The Web Services department oversees Amazon S3 and Database Services. Other departments include Product Development & Studios, Europe Operations, Global Advertising Sales, Computing Services, and Global Customer Fulfillment. 1.3 E-businesses are rapidly evolving and intensely competitive. The principal competitive factors in its retail businesses include selection, price, and convenience, including fast and reliable fulfillment. Additional competitive factors for its seller and enterprise services include the quality, speed, and reliability of our services and tools. As consider these factors, the two top competitors of Amazon.com are E-bay.inc and Google.com. First, between Amazon and Google, the two companies now compete in a wide range of areas such as online advertising, distribution, mobile terminals, cloud computing. Currently, Google is challenging to amazon’s main businesses which are shipping and shopping. So, Google recently has launched its own shipping service ‘Google Shopping Express’ which feathers same as like Amazon prime but with cheaper annual membership fees to enhance its competitiveness. Amazon.com also entered to ‘cloud’ market which Google has strong power on the market to compete. Amazon is expanding the territory of business, so that it is becoming integrated IT enterprise like google. Therefore, of the two companies, are expected to go over further intensify competition. If we put those groups in comparison by company performance, Amazon.com made $ 74,452 M and Google had $59,825M revenues in 2013 which means Amazon.com has more revenue than Google by 19.6%. On the other hands, for the profit and total asset of companies, Google is in the higher position. Google controls $110,920M of total asset, while Amazon controls $40,159M. In addition, Google profits $12,920M, while Amazon is a mere $745M. For number of employees, Google has 52,069 employees and Amazon.com has 132,600 employees. Second, between E-bay and Amazon, E-Bay is always been pointed out as amazon’s top competitors. eBay Inc., (stylized as e bay), is an online auction and shopping website in which people and businesses buy and sell a broad variety of goods and services worldwide. E-bay has same feather as it is running retail business with Amazon.com, but there is critical difference in that e-bay has auction-style sales. When we look at E-bay’s company performance, it has less revenue which is $16,047M than any its competitors referred above. However, it controls $41,488M which is bigger than amazon has for their total asset. Also, E-bay profits $2,856M in 2013, while Amazon.com did $274M, meaning E-bay made 10times more profits than Amazon.com. E-bay has made 33,500 employees. Alibaba which is noticed as a big foreign competitor of Amazon is a company founded in china. Alibaba’s consumer-to-consumer portal Taobao, similar to eBay, features nearly a billion products and is one of the 20 most-visited websites globally. The Group’s websites accounted for over 60% of the  parcels delivered in China by March 2013, and 80% of the nation’s online sales by September 2014. Alipay, an online payment escrow service, accounts for roughly half of all online payment transactions within China. China’s huge trading merchant Ali Baba’s company value has estimated as $215 billion dollars by IPO. This is astounding figure which is higher than Amazon and e-bay combined and also because other its competitors such as Google and Amazon.com have made better sales than Ali Baba. Investors focus on its high profit and fast growth. Also, it possesses many its stores in china and it has still a high potential for growth within China. Amazon.com,10K, 2013 Emil Protalinski â€Å"IDC: Apple’s iPad fell to 33.8% tablet share in Q4 2013, Samsung took second with 18.8%, Amazon third with 7.6%† from TNW blog. Google.com/finance (income statement, annual data) www.Amazon.com/ investor relation (Annual Reports and Proxies and officer and directors) Ryan mac â€Å"Amazon Pounces On Twitch After Google Balks Due To Antitrust Concerns† on Forbes http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alibaba_Group (Amazon.com main financial performance for 2013) from google finance (E-bay main financial performance for 2013) from google finance (Google.com main financial performance for 2013) from google finance

Friday, November 8, 2019

Electromagnets essays

Electromagnets essays Hans Christian Oersted was the first scientist to study electromagnetism. He was a physics professor at the University of Copenhagen. In 1819 he discovered that a magnetic needle is deflected at right angles to a wire carrying an electric current, thus initiating the study of electromagnetism. This discovery, which showed a connection between electricity and magnetism, was followed up by the French scientist Andr Marie Ampre, who studied the forces between wires carrying electric currents, and by the French physicist Dominique Franà §ois Jean Arago, who magnetized a piece of iron by placing it near a current-carrying wire. In 1831 the English scientist Michael Faraday discovered that moving a magnet near a wire induces an electric current in that wire, the inverse effect to that found by Oersted: Oersted showed that an electric current creates a magnetic field, while Faraday showed that a magnetic field can be used to create an electric current. The English physicist James Clerk Maxwell, who predicted the existence of electromagnetic waves and identified light as an electromagnetic phenomenon, achieved the full unification of the theories of electricity and magnetism. The Briton William Sturgeon invented the first electromagnet in 1823. An electromagnet is a temporary magnet, where the magnetic field only exists when electric current if flowing. An electromagnet is a device consisting of a solenoid (usually a cylindrical coil of insulated wire wound in the form of a helix), in which an iron core is placed. An electric current passed through the coil induces a strong magnetic field along the axis of the helix. When the iron core is placed in this field, microscopic domains that can be considered small permanent magnets in the iron align themselves in the direction of the field, thus increasing greatly the strength of the magnetic field produced by the solenoid. The electric current around the sol ...

Wednesday, November 6, 2019

Blah, Blah, Blah

Blah, Blah, Blah Blah, Blah, Blah Blah, Blah, Blah By Maeve Maddox Since ancient times, speakers of every language have made up nonsense syllables to indicate contempt for what other people were saying to them. We’ve even inherited the ancient Greek nonsense syllables bar-bar-bar in the word barbarian: The Greek word barbaros meant â€Å"foreign, strange, ignorant.† According to the OnlineEtymology Dictionary, the word barbaros was an onomatopoeic formation echoing the unintelligible speech of a foreigner. The most common nonsense syllable used to represent empty talk in the United States is blah: The earliest OED documentation of blah in the sense of â€Å"meaningless, insincere, or pretentious talk or writing; nonsense, bunkum† is 1918. Blah is usually repeated when the sense is â€Å"empty talk†: When big data is just so much â€Å"blah, blah, blah† Getting Past â€Å"Blah, Blah, Blah† When Talking to Prospects Sometimes a single blah means the same thing: Ive been overwhelmed by the amount of jabber in the world – its a vast cloud of blah. As a plural noun, â€Å"the blahs† are a state of despondency: You’ve got the blahs.   You’re not feeling hopeless, but you’re not feeling good either. As an adjective, blah means â€Å"lethargic, unenthusiastic, listless, or torpid†: What to Do When You Feel Blah About Your Job â€Å"Blah, blah, blah† recently found its way into the news when a political candidate in Oregon blasted a newspaper reporter who demonstrated his lack of interest in what another candidate was saying by writing down â€Å"blah, blah, blah† instead of her actual words. And perhaps the longest sequence to date of this string of nonsense syllables occurs in a television ad in which actor Gary Oldman holds a telephone to his ear and says â€Å"blah blah blah† for five seconds straight. Another set of nonsense syllables is â€Å"yada yada yada.† Variations of this utterance are documented in the OED beginning in 1947. I first heard it on the Jerry Seinfeld show where I understood it to mean â€Å"details too boring to mention.† Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Expressions category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:50 Incorrect Pronunciations That You Should AvoidThe Four Sounds of the Spelling OU"To Tide You Over"

Monday, November 4, 2019

Research and Discuss the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 Term Paper

Research and Discuss the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 - Term Paper Example Key Components and Primary Objectives of the Act: The basic matters identified and revised in the act included the creation of regulatory board to oversee the activities of the public accounting audit firms, revised standards for auditor’s independence and audit committee, requirement of certification of the SEC’s reports by the executives of the public companies, restricts the rules to prevent insider dealings by the directors and executives, increase in the liability for the non-compliance to the federal securities laws and imposes additional responsibility of the attorney to report non compliance and conflict of interests. (Lipman & Lipman. 2006) 1. Establishment of Public Company Oversight Board: Sarbanes Oxley Act established the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board to oversee the audits of the public listed companies. It was established to regulate the activities of the auditing firms including the issues of quality control, ethics and independence of auditor s. The aim for its establishment was to increase the confidence of investors and general public. 2. Auditor’s Independence: It focused on strengthening the auditor’s independence by prohibiting the provision of non-audit services (book keeping, internal audit, management, HR functions etc.) to the public companies by the external auditors, mandating the rotation of audit partners on a five year basis and rotation of registered public accounting firms and ensuring no ethical issue arises between the external auditors and the company such as conflict of interest. 3. Enhanced Corporate Governance Requirements: The corporate governance requirements were enhanced in many areas which included the role of audit committee which nave been responsible for the appointment, compensation and oversight of the work of external auditors, who are required to directly report to the audit committee. Further the audit committee should be made up of independent non- executive directors. Sa rbanes Oxley Act further prohibits the maintenance of any credit or loan or extension of the same to directors or executives of the public companies. The Act even requires the executives such as CEO and the CFO of every public company to certify in each annual and quarterly report to the SEC that the reports have been reviewed and make the representation of the effectiveness of controls specified. 4. Enhanced Disclosure Requirements: Sarbanes Oxley Act enhances the disclosure requirements for the public companies which included increased reporting on the effectiveness of internal controls and financial reporting procedures, disclosures on codes of ethics and explanations in case of non-compliance and disclosures about the transactions by the directors, management and other stakeholders that can cause security concerns. 5. Commission Resources and Enhanced Authority: In order for the SEC to work effectively, provision of additional funding was ensured. Apart from that more power and authority was given to SEC and federal courts to be exercised on companies and individuals where prohibitions are required. It requires the federal regulatory bodies to conduct researches and make reports about the credit rating agencies, roles of investment banks and financial advisors, consolidation of accounting firms and some other matters etc. 6. Enhanced Accountability: The Act strict the rules and regulations and imposes stricter and larger penalties regarding the breach of law, exercising improper

Friday, November 1, 2019

Case portfolio Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Case portfolio - Essay Example iii. Compact Disk: This disk similar to the first evidence could have been used to store data which might have appertained to the pending case. This disk can also be preserved in a tamper proof evidence material/bag while awaiting transportation to the law enforcement agency or pending analysis. iv. The Hard Disk Drive: This material is always used to store all the information in a computer system. As the primary storage source, this evidence could reveal most of the data required in determining this case. In storing this, the data in the drive can be copied to another independent one for precautionary reasons. The disk should also be stored in a tamper proof material awaiting analysis or transfer to the law enforcement agency. v. The telephone: Mr. Didit might have used this phone for his communications and as such this item would be major evidence in the case. The call history should be tapped and stored in a safe and permanent place. Obtaining the call logs will reveal the information he was communicating and the recipients of the same and whether in his communications he talked of child pornography at all. The internal memory of the phone should be able to reveal all the evidence pertaining to this case if there is any made. vi. The computers: Since it is the computers that were mainly used in the major communications, these computers in the office provide crucial evidence as to the validity of the case. Together with their components, they should be analyzed to determine the information in their internal memories and as well be kept safely without being moved by unauthorized personalities. I secured the computers and components and transported the same to the law enforcement authority. vii. The computer mouse: This is used to input specific commands especially when accessing file. The fingerprints of the user can be traced on it which can then