Report about my industrial placement Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Report about my industrial placement - Essay Example Starbucks coffee is popular in all customer types, irrespective of what age group customers belong to. Customers love to spend not only leisure time but important business decisions are taken while sipping Starbucks coffee. Market for retail coffee is highly competitive but the only competitor from revenue earning perspective has been Nestle S.A. Competition in the coffee industry is determined by the price and quality of products against the product range. Thus, from earning potential angle, Starbucks is second only to Nestle S.A. The table below shows that the product line breadth of Starbucks is high relative to its competitors like Dunkin Donuts and McDonalds showing moderate breadth while other competitors including Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Kraft Foods, Inc. And Nestle S.A. are low in product line breadth (Brown and Nwabueze, 2011). Table1: Direct Competitors to Starbucks Firm Product line Breadth Revenues (2010) in Millions % of Total Group Revenues Starbucks High 10,707 27% Dunkin Donuts Moderate 5,500 14% McDonald's Moderate 2,400 6% Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Low 803 2% Kraft Foods, Inc. Low 3,100 8% Nestle S.A. Low 17,700 44% Source: Harold Brown 2011 Competition in the coffee retail segment is going to be severe with all the leading players bent on capturing new global markets. Starbucks is very well positioned with networked marketing, technology usage, Starbucks rechargeable payment cards and mobile apps for quick and easy order placing and payment (Brown and Nwabueze, 2011). Starbucks has successfully adhered to its policy on corporate social responsibility by identifying coffee farmers as critical partners in the growth history of the company. Starbucks has evolved and strengthened its relationships with all stakeholders and partners, including customers, employees, suppliers and communities over the years (Harnrungchalotorn and Phayonlerd, 2010). The organisational chart of Starbucks has gained significant growth by 1991 with the incr ease in profitability. It prompted Schultz to initiate a new employee programme for the long-lasting success of the Company – a stock option plan for all employees. The purpose was to create a link between their positive role and the rising market value of the Company. Stock options were awarded on the proportionate basis to base pay. Yet another programme, the Bean Stock, was offered for employees benefit. Even part-time employees could also benefit from this programme of the Company. It helped the Company to recruit motivated people with above-average capabilities and good work habits not only due to its fringe benefit programme but also its pay scale. Starbucks has experienced low turnover rates relatively to other companies because of its initiatives for creating a good work environment. The competitive retailers had high turnover rates for store employees in the range of 150 to 400% a year while the turnover rates for Starbucks’ baristas were near to 65%. For the position of store managers, the Company turnover rate was near to 25% relative to approximate 50% for other chain retailers. Schultz’ management of Starbucks through the values and principles has increased the brand performance in the desired way. Employees feel high on morality. There is respect for all, irrespective of the designation one holds. One can see the impact of increased level of

Critically analyse the extent to which the classical doctrine on Essay

Critically analyse the extent to which the classical doctrine on communication of acceptance is relevant in modern contractual relations - Essay Example eement.1 The acceptance of an offer is crucial to formation of contract and question arises how and why an offer must be accepted to become a contract. Because there should be meeting of minds. An agreement can be verbal or in writing and in both cases how the acceptance reaches the offeror is important. The doctrine of communication of acceptance requires that it should be made within a reasonable time. In the following pages, the position relating to communication of acceptance is discussed. While dealing with acceptance, it is necessary to discuss the other ingredients of agreement. The objective test employed by the courts for an agreement having been reached is the presence of â€Å"offer and acceptance. 2 As is well-known, an offer is said to be made when one person proposes to another to do or abstain form doing some thing in order to get the consent of the other to the act or abstinence. An offer can be verbal, in writing, by conduct or by combination of these forms.3 An offer also can be made to an individual, a group of persons or to the world at large.4 An acceptance is made when the person to whom the proposal is made signifies his consent thereto and it should be absolute and unqualified. The acceptance must be communicated in the usual and reasonable manner except when the offeror stipulates a particular manner of acceptance.5 In other words, the acceptance of the offeree implies that the offeree has accepted the offer in the same terms and conditions of th e offeror without any reservation.6 Thus, it follows that an agreement comes into existence only when acceptance is received by the offeror so as to ensure that the offeror is not bound by his offer without his knowledge. The place of receipt of acceptance is generally regarded as the place of conclusion of contract. This applies to instantaneous methods such as verbal, telephone, telex and facsimile.7 In such forms of messages, the sender is notified as to its receipt or otherwise by the

Integer Programming Problem Formulation Essay Example for Free

Integer Programming Problem Formulation Essay This approach is advantageous compared to SVMs with Gaussian kernels in that it provides a natural construction of kernel matrices and it directly minimizes the number of basis functions. Traditional approaches for data classi? cation , that are based on partitioning the data sets into two groups, perform poorly for multi-class data classi? ca- tion problems. The proposed approach is based on the use of hyper-boxes for de? ning boundaries of the classes that include all or some of the points in that set. A mixed-integer programming model is developed  ¤Computer Scientist, Defence RD Org. , Min of Defence, Delhi-110054. email:[emailprotected] drdo. in, dhamija. [emailprotected] com, a k [emailprotected] com. Home- page:www. geocities. com/a k dhamija/ for representing existence of hyper-boxes and their boundaries. In addition, the relationships among the discrete decisions in the model are represented using propositional logic and then converted to their equivalent integer constraints using Boolean algebra. Image Contrast Enhancement and Image Recon- struction are being used for extracting knowledge from satellite images of the battle? ld or other terrains. This method has already been described in LP problem formulation in I semester assignment. Keywords: Integer linear Programming ,Pattern Classi? cation ,Multi Class data classi? cation , Image Reconstruction ,radial basis function (RBF) classi? ers , sigmoid function , SVM , Kernel and propositional logic 1 Pattern Classification Via Integer linear Programming Given the space in which objects to be classi? ed are represented, a classi? er partitions the space into dis- joint regions and associates them with di ®erent classes. If the underlying distribution is known, an optimal artition of the space can be obtained according to the Bayes decision rule. In practice, however, the underlying distribution is rarely known, and a learning algorithm has to generate a partition that is close to the optimal partition from the training data. The RCE network (1) is a learning algorithm that constructs a set of regions, e. g. , spheres, to represent each pattern class. It is easy to see that, with only a few spheres, there is a great chance that the training error will be high. With an excessively large number of spheres, however, the training error can be reduced, but at the expense of over? ting the data and degrading the performance on future data. Similar problems also exist in the radial basis function (RBF) networks and multi-layer sigmoid function networks. Therefore, a good learning algorithm has to strike a delicate balance between the training error and the complexity of the model. Existing Methods Used Various existing methods like Simulated Annealing , Neural Networks , Genetic algorithms and other classi- ?cation methods of supervised as well as unsupervised learning are being used. 1. 2 Proposed Method : ILP Problem Formulation Given a set of training examples, the minimum sphere overing approach seeks to construct a minimum num- ber of spheres (3) to cover the training examples cor- rectly. Let us denote the set of training examples by D = f(x1; y1); :::; (xn; yn)g where xi 2 Rd and yi 2 f? 1; 1g: For notational simplicity, we only consider the binary classi? cation problem. The task is to ? nd a set of class-speci? c spheres S = S1; :::; Sm such that xi 2 [ y(Sj)=yi Sj and xi =2 [ y(Sj )6=yi Sj ; 8i = 1; :::; n (1) where each sphere Si is characterized by its center c(Si), its radius r(Si) and its class y(Si). An exam- ple xi is covered by a sphere Sj , i. e. , xi 2 Sj , if d(xi; c(Sj))  · r(Sj ). A set of spheres S that satis? es the conditions in Eqn. (1) is called a consistent sphere cover of the data D. A sphere cover is minimal if there exists no other consis- tent sphere cover with a smaller number of spheres. We restrict ourselves to constructing a consistent sphere cover with spheres that are centered on training ex- amples, although in general spheres do not have to be centered on the training examples. In order to mini- mize the number of spheres in the sphere cover S, each sphere in S should cover as many training examples as possible without covering a training example belonging to a di ®erent class.

Addiction to Drugs and Alcohol Essay -- Drugs, Alcohol Essays

There are many affects that drugs and alcohol can have on the body, and on the life of a person. Thousands of jobs, homes, and families are lost annually through the addictions of drugs and alcohol. Children grow up without parents, spouses are forced to raise their children as single parents, and grandparents become legal guardians for a second time, due to the effects of substance abuse and dependence. Exactly how addiction is defined and diagnosed is an on-going issue and one that will be discussed in this paper. While there are eleven different categories that substances are arranged, this paper will be focusing specifically on alcohol and cannabis. An estimated 126 million Americans over the age of 12 reported being ongoing alcohol drinkers in 2005 (Smith & Stevens, 2009). According to the Treatment Episode Data Set (TEDS), over 42 thousand homeless adults over the age of 50 were admitted to substance abuse treatment in 2008, and sixty five percent were being treated for alcohol abuse (TEDS, 2010). Excessive alcohol consumption may have been accepted in the beginning of the twentieth century, but currently, a male who consumes more than 14 drinks in a week or more than four drinks day, and a woman who has more than 13 drinks a week 3 drinks on a day, is considered â€Å"at risk† of being an alcoholic (Burge & Schneider, 1999). Cannabis, better known as marijuana, is the most abused illegal drug in America (Smith & Stevens, 2009). It also had the highest level of abuse and dependence in 2005 with over 4.1 million people affected (National Institute on Drug Abuse, 2006). Marijuana is usually smoked as a cigarette, known also as a joint or blunt, and is also used in a pipe or bong. There is a more potent and unpoll... ... Mendelson, J., & Mello, N. (Eds.). (1985). The diagnosis and treatment of alcoholism. New York: McGraw-Hill. National Institute on Drug Abuse, (2006). Marijuana. Bethesda, MD: Author. Retrieved August 11, 2010, from http://drugabuse.gov/infofacts/marijuana.html Smith, R.L. & Stevens, P. (2009). Substance abuse and counseling. Theory and Practice. (4th ed.). Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (2007). The Surgeon General's Call to Action to Prevent and Reduce Underage Drinking. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Surgeon General. Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/HealthyYouth/alcoholdrug/index.htm US Department of Justice (1988). Drug Enforcement Administration, "In the Matter of Marijuana Rescheduling Petition" (Docket #86-22). Retrieved from http://drugwarfacts.org/cms/?q=node/30

Forecasting the Adoption of E-Books Essay

The size of the market for e-books in the long-run: 293.7 million x 46.7% x 8% = 10.973 million (Total US population x percentage of US population reading literature x Percentage of traditional paper books purchased online in 2003) It will take 10 years to reach 95% penetration of the potential market. Question 2 I predict that the sale of the e-book when it first became available is 0.751milion (pm) (Assumption: each innovator buy one book.) Question 3 The long-run total adoption of e-books would be 10.973 million. (Total US population x percentage of US population reading literature x Percentage of traditional paper books purchased online in 2003) Question 4 I do expect the market for e-books tend to be guided by imitators rather than innovators. According to the table above, I found that the weighted average for e-book of q (0.0684) is larger than p (0.2990). In addition, the word of mouth takes an important role in the adoption of e-books. The information about the e-book from the innovators contribute much to the adoption of e-books since people tend to hesitate to change their old reading habit. Question 5 S(t)=[p+(q/m)N(t-1)][m-N(t-1)] Year 1: [0.0684+(0.2990/10.973) X (0)][10.973-0] = 0.751 million Year 2: [0.0684+(0.2990/10.973) X (0.751)][10.973-0.751] = 0.908 million Year 3: [0.0684+(0.2990/10.973) X (1.659)][10.973-1.659] = 1.059 million Year 4: [0.0684+(0.2990/10.973) X (2.717)][10.973-2.717] = 1.176 million Year 5: [0.0684+(0.2990/10.973) X (3.893)][10.973-3.893] = 1.235 million Question 6 The adoption of e-book will be very different from digital music obtained online. The adoption of e-books face more challenges when comparing to the adoption of digital music. To most of the listeners, there is not much difference in experience between listening to a song from an iPod and a CD player. Therefore, they have a relatively low switching cost and more willing to change their habits. On the contrary, to most of the readers, it is definitely very different from reading an e-book to reading a printed book. The feelings of holding a printed book and flipping over a physical book are irreplaceable. So readers are loyal to printed book and hesitate to switch from traditional books to e-books. Hence, it is reasonable to predict that the pace of adopting digital music is faster than the pace of adopting e-books. Question 7 I think both of the attitudes about reading and purchasing e-content have changed a lot in recent years. In the old time, people could read e-content via PC only. Nowadays, people are able to read e-content through various mobile devices. Therefore, they spend more time on reading e-content especially during leisure time and even commuting time. However, the quality of the reading effort is diminishing as the overload of e-content available on Internet. In addition, people tend to rely more on the e-content since it is very convenient, environmentally friendly, high mobility and high accessibility. For the attitude about purchasing e-content, more people are willing to pay for the e-content in recent years. The advanced online payment system plays an important role. People feel more secure and also convenient when dealing online ever than before. Moreover, more well-known and large-scale publishers offer more choices of e-content for readers. Besides, in the light of the prevalent of mobile device, people have more time and chances to read the e-content regardless of the time and places. Thus, people are more willing to spend on e-content than before. Question 8 The hardware plays a paramount important role in the adoption of e-books. No matter how amazing the e-content is, the e-books would not be popularized if the hardware were not user-friendly. However, a good hardware is very likely to boost sales of the e-books. It is because the hardware is a fixed cost while the e-books are the variable cost to the readers. A portable hardware with proper size of monitor and high capacity is very attractive to the readers. They no longer need to neither carry the bulky printed books nor spare some places for storage. Moreover, the hardware enables readers to read comfortably when comparing to read via PC or smart phone. It is good for the readers’ eyes. Last but not least, the hardware contributed to protecting the environment as it saves much paper. Only when the hardware preforms better than the tradition printed books, the adoption of e-books will be success. Question 9 I do expect the size and also the pattern of diffusion are quite different globally as compared to the United States. The size and the pattern of diffusion depend on many factors. Population, culture, attitude to new products, technology and even literacy could be one of the variables of the size and pattern of diffusion. Take Africa as an example; though the population size of Africa is much larger than The United States, the potential size of the market for e-books must be obviously different from the United States. So it is not difficult to understand that the size and pattern of diffusion of various places will not be similar to the United States.

Effects Of Social Media On A Job Seeker From Their Sick...

This made it illegal for employers to exclude pregnancy and childbirth from their sick leave and health benefits plans. But what policies are currently in place to protect a job seeker from social media discrimination by an inquisitive employer who using the findings in a damaging way. Rosemary Haefner, vice president of human resources at CareerBuilder, states, â€Å"Because social media is a dominant form of communication today, you can certainly learn a lot about a person by viewing their public, online personas†¦however, hiring managers and human resources departments have to make a careful, determined decision as to whether information found online is relevant to the candidates’ qualifications for the job.† Only a few years ago, employers reacted quickly (and perhaps hastily) to the development of social media and their employees’ use of social media. Initial policies were restrictive and negative basically not allowing the use of social media sites by employees at all possibly limiting the growth of the company. Recognizing employees’ increased use of social media as a business and networking tool, however, the typical employer’s reaction to employee use of social media shifted and tempered to some degree. Now, the typical social media policy provides employees with guidance on ‘‘best practices’’ for postings on the internet, whether such postings occur on a social media site, a blog, or any other public or private forum on the internet. Despite the problems created by theShow MoreRelatedBaderman Island Organization Staffing Strategies Paper4211 Words   |  17 Pagesthe Baderman purchased twenty-six hundred acres of farmland around the Kelsey river valley. The Baderman farmhouse is built on 1600 acres of land nearly surrounded by a long bend in the Kelsey River. 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Charlie Chaplin, Legendary Movie Comedian

Charlie Chaplin (1889-1977) was an English filmmaker who wrote, acted, and directed his films. His Little Tramp character remains an iconic comedy creation. He was arguably the most popular performer of the silent film era. Fast Facts: Charlie Chaplin Full Name: Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin, Knight of the British EmpireOccupation: Film actor, director, writerBorn: April 16, 1889 in EnglandDied: December 25, 1977, in Vaud, SwitzerlandParents: Hannah and Charles Chaplin, Sr.Spouses: Mildred Harris (m. 1918; div. 1920), Lita Grey (m. 1924; div. 1927), Paulette Goddard (m. 1936; div. 1942), Oona ONeill (m. 1943)Children: Norman, Susan, Stephan, Geraldine, Michael, Josephine, Victoria, Eugene, Jane, Annette, ChristopherSelected Films: The Gold Rush (1925), City Lights (1931), Modern Times (1936), The Great Dictator (1940) Early Life and Stage Career Born into a family of music hall entertainers, Charlie Chaplin first appeared on stage when he was five years old. It was a one-time appearance taking over from his mother, Hannah, but by age nine, hed caught the entertainment bug. Chaplin grew up in poverty. He was sent to a workhouse when he was seven. When his mother spent two months in an insane asylum, the nine-year-old Charlie was sent with his brother, Sydney, to live with his alcoholic father. When Charlie was 16, his mother was committed to an institution permanently. At age 14, Chaplin began performing on stage in plays in Londons West End. He quickly became a noted comedy performer. In 1910, the Fred Karno comedy company sent Chaplin on a 21-month tour of the American vaudeville circuit. The company included another notable performer, Stan Laurel. English comic actor Charlie Chaplin (center) with other members of the Caseys Circus music hall comedy troupe, UK, 1906. Michael Ochs Archive / Getty Images First Movie Success During a second vaudeville tour, the New York Motion Picture Company invited Charlie Chaplin to be part of their Keystone Studios troupe. He began working with Keystone under Mack Sennett in January 2014. His first appearance on film was in the 1914 short Making a Living. Chaplin soon created his legendary Little Tramp character. The character was introduced to audiences in February 1914 in Kid Auto Races at Venice and Mabels Strange Predicament. The films were so successful with audiences that Mack Sennett invited his new star to direct his own films. The first short directed by Charlie Chaplin was Caught in the Rain, released in May 1914. He would continue to direct most of his films for the rest of his career. November 1914s Tillies Punctured Romance, starring Marie Dressler, included Charlie Chaplins first feature film appearance. It was a box office success causing Chaplin to ask for a raise. Mack Sennett thought it was too expensive and his young star moved to the Essanay studio of Chicago. While working for Essanay, Chaplin recruited Edna Purviance to be his co-star. She would go on to appear in 35 of his movies. By the time the one-year contract with Essanay expired, Charlie Chaplin was one of the biggest movie stars in the world. In December 1915, he signed a contract with the Mutual Film Corporation worth $670,000 a year (approximately $15.4 million today). The Rink (1916). George Rinhart / Getty Images Silent Star Located in Los Angeles, Mutual introduced Charlie Chaplin to Hollywood. His stardom continued to grow. He moved to First National for the years 1918-1922. Among his memorable films of the era are his World War I movie Shoulder Arms, which placed the Little Tramp in the trenches. The Kid, released in 1921, was Chaplins longest film to date at 68 minutes, and it included child star Jackie Coogan. In 1922, at the end of his contract with First National, Charlie Chaplin became an independent producer laying groundwork for future filmmakers to take artistic control over their work. The Gold Rush, released in 1925 and his second independent feature, became one of the most successful movies of his career. It included key scenes such as the Little Tramp, a gold rush prospector, eating a boot and an impromptu dance of dinner rolls speared on forks. Chaplin considered it his best work. Charlie Chaplin released his next film The Circus in 1928. It was another success and earned him a special award at the first Academy Awards celebration. However, personal issues including a divorce controversy, made the filming of The Circus difficult, and Chaplin rarely spoke about it, omitting it entirely from his autobiography. The Circus (1928). Bettmann / Getty Images Despite the addition of sound to films, Charlie Chaplin resolutely continued to work on his next movie City Lights as a silent picture. Released in 1931, it was a critical and commercial success. Many film historians considered it his finest achievement and his best use of pathos in his work. One concession to sound was the introduction of a musical score, which Chaplin composed himself. The final mostly silent Chaplin movie was Modern Times released in 1936. It included sound effects and a musical score as well as one song sung in gibberish. The underlying political commentary on the dangers of automation in the workplace prompted criticism from some viewers. While praised for its physical comedy, the movie was a commercial disappointment. Controversial Films and Reduced Popularity The 1940s became one of the most controversial decades of Charlie Chaplins career. It began with his broad satire of the rise to power of Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini in Europe before World War II. The Great Dictator is Chaplins most overtly political film. He believed that it was necessary to laugh at Hitler. Some audiences disagreed, and the film was a controversial release. The movie included the first spoken dialogue in a Chaplin piece. Successful with critics, The Great Dictator earned five Academy Award nominations including for Best Picture and Best Actor. The Great Dictator (1940). Bettmann / Getty Images Legal difficulties filled most of the first half of the 1940s. An affair with aspiring actress Joan Barry resulted in an FBI investigation and a trial based on an alleged violation of the Mann Act, a law prohibiting the transportation of women across state boundaries for sexual purposes. A court acquitted Chaplin two weeks after the trial began. A paternity suit followed less than a year later that determined Chaplin was the father of Barrys child, Carol Ann. Blood tests that concluded it wasnt true were not admissible in the trial. The personal controversy intensified with the announcement in 1945, amidst the paternity trials, that Charlie Chaplin married his fourth wife, 18-year-old Oona ONeill, the daughter of acclaimed playwright Eugene ONeill. Chaplin was then 54, but both appeared to have found their soul mates. The couple remained married until Chaplins death, and they had eight children together. Charlie Chaplin finally returned to movie screens in 1947 with Monsieur Verdoux, a black comedy about an unemployed clerk who marries and murders widows to support his family. Suffering from audience responses to his personal troubles, Chaplin faced the most negative critical and commercial reactions of his career. In the wake of the release of the film, he was openly called a Communist for his political views, and many Americans raised questions about his reluctance to apply for American citizenship. Today, some observers consider Monsieur Verdoux one of Charlie Chaplins best movies. Exile From the United States Chaplins next film, Limelight, was an autobiographical work and was more serious than most of his movies. It set politics aside but addressed his loss of popularity in the twilight of his career. It includes the only onscreen appearance with legendary silent film comedian Buster Keaton. Charlie Chaplin decided to hold the 1952 premiere of Limelight in London, the setting for the movie. While he was gone, U.S. Attorney General James P. McGranery revoked his permit to re-enter the U.S. Although the Attorney General told the press that he had a pretty good case against Chaplin, files released in the 1980s showed there was no real evidence to support keeping him out. Limelight (1952). Bettmann / Getty Images Despite European success, Limelight met a hostile reception in the U.S. including organized boycotts. Chaplin did not return to the U.S. for 20 years. Final Films and Return to the United States Charlie Chaplin established a permanent residence in Switzerland in 1953. His next film, 1957s A King in New York, addressed much of his experience with accusations of being a Communist. It was a sometimes bitter political satire, and Chaplin refused to release it in the U.S. The final Charlie Chaplin movie, A Countess from Hong Kong, appeared in 1967, and it was a romantic comedy. It co-starred two of the worlds biggest movie stars, Marlon Brando and Sophia Loren, and Chaplin himself only appeared briefly. Unfortunately, it was a commercial failure and received negative reviews. In 1972, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences invited Charlie Chaplin to return to the U.S. to receive a special Oscar for his lifetime of achievements. Initially reluctant, he decided to return and earned a 12-minute standing ovation, the longest ever at the Academy Awards ceremony. Famed comedian Charlie Chaplin, recipient of an honorary Oscar, during acceptance speech at the 44th annual Academy Awards presentation ceremony at Los Angeles Music Center. Bettmann / Getty Images While he continued to work, Chaplins health declined. Queen Elizabeth II knighted him in 1975. He died on Christmas Day, December 25, 1977, after having a stroke in his sleep. Legacy Charlie Chaplin remains one of the most successful filmmakers of all time. He changed the course of comedy in film by introducing elements of pathos and sadness that deepened the emotional impact of his work. Four of his movies, The Gold Rush, City Lights, Modern Times, and The Great Dictator are often included on lists of the best films of all time. Modern Times (1936). Hulton Archive / Getty Images Sources Ackroyd, Peter. Charlie Chaplin: A Brief Life. Nan A. Talese, 2014.Chaplin, Charles. My Autobiography. Penguin, 2003.