The History of the Guidance Movement in the United States Essay

The History of the Guidance Movement in the United States - Essay Example In the United States the history and development of guidance and counseling was influenced by various events and personalities. Before guidance and counseling was formally introduced in the country, the formative years began in the latter half of the 18th century. During this period, there became more humane care for the mentally disturbed and greater awareness in application of treating human behavior. (Myrick, 2003) The formal history of guidance and counseling in the United States dates back to 1908 when Frank Parsons established the Boston Vocational Bureau. The objective of Parsons in establishing such institution was to provide the youth with vocational assistance in school. Because of his contributions, Parsons was named as the father of the guidance movement. According to Blocher, "The Guidance Movement developed from the need to help these early school leavers develop a rational plan with which to begin their careers." (2000) Guidance and counseling in the United States bega n as vocational counseling. The primary objective of counseling during such time was to help students determine their career of choice and future plans. Another influential person in the development of guidance and counseling was Jesse B. Davis.

Multitouch Gesture Generation and Recognition Techniques

Multitouch Gesture Generation and Recognition Techniques Abstract: A huge number of users are using smart phones to communicate with each other. A smart phone user is exposed to various threats when they use their phone for communication. These threats can disorganization the operation of the smart phone, and transmit or modify user data rather than original [1]. So applications must guarantee privacy and integrity of the information. Single touch mobile security is unable to give efficient performance for confidential data. Hence we are moving towards multitouch mobile security for high security. In computing, multi-touch is authentication technology that enables a surface to recognize the presence of more than one touch points of contact with the touch screen [2]. By using multiple touch points to authenticate user for access confidential data in mobile phones. we are presenting our study about biometric gestures to authenticate user through multitouch finger points for more security [1]. Keywords: Multitouch, biometric gesture, authentication, security, smart phone Finger-tracking, Android Operating system. Introduction Todays IT admins face the troublesome task of managing the unnumberable amounts of mobile devices that connect with enterprise networks a day for communication through network. Securing mobile devices has become increasingly important now days as the numbers of the devices in operation and the uses to which they are put have expanded in world wide. The problem is compounded within the enterprise as the ongoing trend toward IT users or organizations is resulting in more and many more employee-owned devices connecting to the corporate internet. Authentication is a nothing but process in which the credentials provided are compared to those on file in a database of valid users information on a operating system. If the credentials match, the process is completed and the user is granted authorization for access to the system. The permissions and folders came back outline each the surroundings the user sees and also the method he will move with it, as well as the amount of access and differ ent rights comparable to the number of allotted cupboard space and different services [1]. The generally a computer authentication process is to use alphanumerical usernames or text based and passwords. This method has been shown to have some  disadvantages. For example, users tend to pick passwords that can be easily guessed and recognized by other hard to remember. To device this problem, some researchers have  developed authentication techniques that use multitouch biometric gesture as passwords for authentication. Multi-touch, in a computing environment, is an interface technology that enables input gestures on multiple points on the surface of a device. Although most generally used with touch screen devices on handheld devices, such as smart phones and tablets, and other multi-touch has been used for other surfaces as well, including touch pads and whiteboards, tables and walls [2]. In other words, multi-touch refers to the capability of a touch screen (or a touchpad) to recognize two or more points of contact on the surface simultaneously. The constant following of the multiple points permits the portable interface to acknowledge gestures, that modify advanced practicality similar to pinch-to-zoom, pinch. wherever gesture recognition is much of deciphering human gestures via mathematical algorithms. Gestures will originate from any bodily motion however normally originate from the face or hand and alternative human biometric gestures but the identification and recognition of posture, and human behaviours is additionally the topic of gesture recognition techniques. We used Equal Error Rate (EER) to measure accuracy. This is the rate at which False Acceptance Rate (FAR) and False Rejection Rate (FRR). To find out whether using multiple gestures would improve the systems performance, we combined scores of 2 different gestures from the same user in the same order and evaluated the EER of the combined gestures as: FAR= FRR= Developing a Gesture Authentication Technique Biometric systems are an effective way to authenticate valid users generally based on the something they are property [2] in mobile authentication. The goal of biometric identification is that the automatic verification of identity of a living person by proving over some distinctive gestures that solely he possesses in authentication method. Figure1: Multitouch behavior The biometric authentication system has two phases: enrollment phase and authentication phase. If new user must first record his secret hand signs at the first enrollment phase to the system. The process is performing the hand signs at the users discreet choice with sufficient space for hand movement during registration phase. Gesture Taxonomy [1] 1. Parallel: All fingertips are moving in the same direction during the gesture. For example, a bush swipe, during which all 5 fingers move from left to right the screen. 2. Closed: If all fingertips are moving inward toward the center of the hand. For example, a pinch gesture. 3. Opened: All fingertips are moving outward from the center of the hand. For example, a reverse pinch gesture. 4. Circular: All fingertips are rotating around the center of  the hand. For example, a clockwise or counterclockwise  rotation [1]. Figure1: Single touch Matching Touch Sequences to Specific Fingers: Hidden Markov Models [3] Hidden Markov Models (HMMs) are statistical models and simplest versions of dynamic Bayesian Networks, where the system being modelled is a Markov process with an unobserved state. It is a collection of finite states connected by transitions, much like Bayesian Networks. Each state has two probabilities: a transition probability, and an output probability distribution. Parameters of the model are determined by training data [4][5]. Figure2: Hidden Markov Models hidden states, as well as N dimensional observable symbols. Figure3: Multitouch Movement The conventional HMM is expressed as the following [4]. HMM is the mathematical tool to model signals, objects à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ that have the temporal structure and follow the Markov process. HMM can be described compactly as ÃŽÂ » = (A, B, à Ã¢â€š ¬) (Figure 4b) where, Figure 4: Conventional Hidden Markov Model A = {aij}: the state transition matrix aij=P[qt+1=sj|qt=si], 1à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¤ià ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¤Naij=P[qt+1=sj|qt=si], 1à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¤ià ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¤N B = {bj (k)}: the observation symbol probability distribution bj(k)=P[Ot=vk|qt=sj], 1à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¤jà ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¤N, 1à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¤kà ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¤Mbj(k)=P[Ot=vk|qt=sj], 1à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¤jà ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¤N,1à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¤kà ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¤M à Ã¢â€š ¬ = {à Ã¢â€š ¬i}: the initial state distribution à Ã¢â€š ¬i=P[q1=si]à Ã¢â€š ¬i=P[q1=si] Set of states: S = {s1s2, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦, sN} State at time t: qt Set of symbols: V = {v1, v2, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦, vM} Given the observation sequence OT1=O1O2OTO1T=O1O2OT and a model ÃŽÂ » = (A,B,à Ã¢â€š ¬), how do we efficiently compute P(O | ÃŽÂ »), i.e., the probability of the observation sequence given the model. Now let us consider following two states: Training: based on the input data sequences {O}, we calculate and adjust ÃŽÂ »=ÃŽÂ »ÃƒÅ'„ ÃŽÂ »=ÃŽÂ »ÃƒÅ'„ to maximize likelihood P(O | ÃŽÂ ») Recognizing: based on ÃŽÂ »ÃƒÅ'„ =(AÃÅ'„ ,BÃÅ'„ ,à Ã¢â€š ¬ÃƒÅ'„ )ÃŽÂ »ÃƒÅ'„=(AÃÅ'„,BÃÅ'„,à Ã¢â€š ¬ÃƒÅ'„) for each class, we can then assign the class in which the likelihood P(O | ÃŽÂ ») is maximized. The observation symbol probability distribution P[Ot = vk | qt = sj] can be discrete symbols or continuous variables. If the observations are different symbols. B(i,k)=P(Ot=k|qt=si) B(i,k)=P(Ot=k|qt=si) If the observations are vectors in RL, it is common to represent P[Ot | qt] as a Gaussian: P[Ot=y|qt=si]=N(y;ÃŽÂ ¼i,ÃŽÂ £i) P[Ot=y|qt=si]=ÃŽÂ (y;ÃŽÂ ¼i,ÃŽÂ £i) N(y;ÃŽÂ ¼,ÃŽÂ £)=1(2à Ã¢â€š ¬)L/2|ÃŽÂ £|1/2exp[à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬â„¢12(yà ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ÃƒÅ½Ã‚ ¼)TÃŽÂ £Ãƒ ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬â„¢1(yà ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ÃƒÅ½Ã‚ ¼)] ÃŽÂ (y;ÃŽÂ ¼,ÃŽÂ £)=1(2à Ã¢â€š ¬)L/2|ÃŽÂ £|1/2exp[à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬â„¢12(yà ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ÃƒÅ½Ã‚ ¼)TÃŽÂ £Ãƒ ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬â„¢1(yà ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ÃƒÅ½Ã‚ ¼)] A more flexible representation is a mixture of M Gaussians: P[Ot=y|qt=si]=à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬Ëœm=1MP(Mt=m|qt=si)ÃÆ'-ÃÆ'-N(y;ÃŽÂ ¼m,i,ÃŽÂ £m,i) P[Ot=y|qt=si]=à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬Ëœm=1MP(Mt=m|qt=si)ÃÆ'-ÃÆ'-ÃŽÂ (y;ÃŽÂ ¼m,i,ÃŽÂ £m,i) where Mt is a hidden variable that specifies which mixture component to use and P(Mt=m|qt=si) =C(i,m) is the conditional prior weight of each mixture component. In our approach, we both implement continuous and discrete output variable distribution for 1st and 2nd HMM stages respectively [3][6]. Dynamic Time Warping Dynamic Time Warping (DTW), introduced by Sakoe and Chiba in 1978, is an algorithm that compares two different sequences that may possibly vary in time. For example, if two video clips of different people walking a particular path were compared, the DTW algorithm would detect the similarities in the walking pattern, despite walking speed differences, accelerations or decelerations. [3][7] Figure 4: Dynamic time warping The algorithm begins with a set of template streams, describing each gesture available in the system database. This results in high computation time, and hence, limitations in recognition speed. Additionally, the storing of many templates for each gesture results in costly space usage on a resource-constrained device. Consider a training set of N sequences fS1; S2; : : : ; SNg, where each Sg represents sample of the same gesture class. Then, each sequence Sg composed by a set of feature vectors at each time t, Sg = fsg1; : : : ; sgLgg for a certain gesture category, where Lg is the length in frames of sequence Sg. Let us assume that sequences are ordered according to their length, so that Lgt1 _ Lg _ Lg+1; 8g 2 [2; ::;N ], the median length sequence is _ S = SdN2 e. This sequence _ S is used as a reference and the rest of sequences are aligned with it using the classical Dynamic Time Warping with Euclidean distance [4], in order to avoid the temporal deformations of various samples from an equivalent gesture class. Therefore, once the alignment method, all sequences have lengthLdN2 e. We define the set of warped sequences as ~ S = f ~ S1; ~ S2; : : : ; ~ SNg. Consider a training set of N sequences fS1; S2; : : : ; SNg, where each Sg represents a sample of the same gesture class. Then, each sequence Sg composed by a set of feature vectors at each time t, Sg = fsg1; : : : ; sgLgg for a certain gesture category, where Lg is the length in frames of sequence Sg. Let us consider that sequences are ordered according to their length, so that Lgt1 _ Lg _ Lg+1; 8g 2 [2; ::;N1], the median length sequence is _ S =SdN2 e[4]. This sequence _ S is used as a reference, and the remaining of sequences are assigned with it using the classical Dynamic Time Warping with Euclidean distance [3], in order to remove the temporal deformations of different samples from the same gesture category. Hence, after the alignment process, all sequences have lengthLdN2 e. We define the set of warped sequences as ~ S = f ~ S1; ~ S2; : : : ; ~ SNg [3]. Input: A gesture C={c1,..cn} with corresponding GMM model ÃŽÂ »={ÃŽÂ »1,..ÃŽÂ »m}, its similarly threshold value  µ, and the testing seprate Q={q1,..qn}, Cost Matrix M is defined,where N(x), x =(i,t) is the set of three upper-left location of x in M. Output:Working path of the dected gesture, if any. //Initialization for i=1:m do for j=1:à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã… ¾ do M(i,j)=v end end for j=1:v do M(0,j)=0 end for t=0:v do for i=1:m do x=(i,j) M(x)=D(qi,ÃŽÂ »i)+minà ¡Ã‚ µÃ‚ ªÃƒ ªÃ… ¾Ã…’à Ã‚ µ N(à ¡Ã‚ µÃ‚ ª)M(à ¡Ã‚ µÃ‚ ªÃƒ ªÃ… ¾Ã…’) End end if m(m,t) W={argminà ¡Ã‚ µÃ‚ ªÃƒ ªÃ… ¾Ã…’ à Ã‚ µ N(à ¡Ã‚ µÃ‚ ª)M(à ¡Ã‚ µÃ‚ ªÃƒ ªÃ… ¾Ã…’)} Return End end [4] Artificial Neural Networks Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) are networks of weighted, directed graphs where the nodes are artificial neurons, and the directed edges are connections between them. The most common ANN structure is the feed forward Multi-Layer Perceptron. Feed forward means that the signals only travels one way through the net [4][8]. For input pattern p, the i-th input layer node holds xp,i. Net input to j-th node in hidden layer: Now Output of j-th node in hidden layer: Then Net input to k-th node in output layer: Finally Output of k-th node in output layer: Network error for p: Neurons are arranged in layer wise, with the outputs of each neuron in the same layer being connected to the inputs of the neurons in that layer . Finally, the output layer neurons are assigned a value. Each output layer neuron show the particular class of gesture, and the record is assigned to however classs neuron has the highest value During training, the gesture class for each neuron in the output layer is known, and the nodes can be assigned the correct value. Critical Analysis A critical analysis based on the results achieved by is shown in this section. ANNs, HMMs, and DTW algorithms were implemented on a mobile phone, and measured in performance according to recognition speed, accuracy and time needed to train [3]. Since Bayesian Networks are a super class of HMMs which have been tweaked towards gesture classification, they are not considered. Thus according to recognition, accuracy and training time we can say that DTW gives better performance as compare to HMM and ANN. These results are summarized below: Table 1: Comparison between different algorithms [3] No. Algorithm Recognition Speed Accuracy Training Time 1 HMMs 10.5ms 95.25% Long 2 ANNs 23ms 90% Medium 3 DTW 8ms 95.25% No Training Finger Tracking: Firstly we need adjust finger tracking parameters, thats why we need to activate the calibration in the tab in on-screen display [5][9]. a. Projection Signatures: Projection signatures are performed directly on the resulting threshold binary image of the hand [5]. The core process of this algorithm is consists of adding the binary pixels row by row along a diagonal (the vertical in this case). Previous knowledge of the hand angle is therefore required. A low-pass filter is applied on the signature (row sums) in order to reduce low frequency variations that create many local maxima and cause the problem of multiple positives (more than one detection per fingertip). The five maxima thereby obtained correspond to the position of the five fingers. b. Geometric Properties: The second algorithm is based on the geometric properties and, as shown on line 3 of figure 5, uses a contour image of the hand on which a reference point is set. This point can be determined either by finding the centre of mass of the contour (barycenter or centroid) or by fixing a point on the wrist [6]. Figure 5: Hand Movement Euclidean distances from that point to every contour point are then computed, with the five resulting maxima assumed to correspond to the finger ends [5]. The minima can be used to determine the intersections between fingers (finger valleys). The geometric algorithm also required filtering in order to reduce the problem of multiple positives. c. Circular Hough Transform: The circular Hough transform is applied on the contour image of the hand but could as well be performed on an edge image with complex background if no elements of the image exhibit the circular shape of the fingertip radius. This can be done efficiently for finger ends by eliminating points that are found outside the contour image. The inconvenient is that the set of discard points contains a mix of finger valleys and false positive that cannot be sorted easily [5]. d. Color Markers: While the three previous algorithms rely only on the hand characteristics to find and track the fingers, the marker algorithm tracks color markers attached to the main joints of the fingers. Each color is tracked individually using colour segmentation and filtering [5]. This permits the identification of the different hand segments. The marker colors should therefore be easy to track and should not affect the threshold, edge or contour image of the hand. Respecting these constraints makes it possible to apply all algorithms to the same video images and therefore to compare each algorithm degree of accuracy and precision with respect to the markers [5]. Comparisons: Properties Projection Signature Geometric Properties Circular Hough Transform Color Makers Locates fingers Good Good Good Good Locates fingertips Poor Normal Normal Good Locates finger ends and valleys Poor Good Good Good Work with complex background Poor Good Normal Good Precision Good Good Good Good Accuracy Poor Good Good Good Table 2: Comparison between different techniques [5] All the presented algorithms have succeeded, in various degrees, in detecting each finger. The projection signatures algorithm can only roughly identify a finger, but the circular Hough transform and geometric properties algorithms can find both finger intersections and finger end points, it is important to note that in the case where finger are folded, the end points dont correspond to the fingertips [5]. Conclusion: We have plot three prominent strategies that comprehensively characterize the signal acknowledgment that should be possible on advanced mobile phones Artificial Neural Networks, Dynamic Time Warping and Hidden Markov Models were optimized, and tested on resource constrained devices (in this instance, cellular phones), and compared against each other in terms of accuracy, and computational performance. ANNs proved to have the slowest computation performance due to the large size of the neural network. HMMs performed better, but the DTW algorithm proved to be the fastest, with comparable recognition accuracy. DTWs also did not require training, as is the case with HMMs and ANNs. References [1] Kalyani Devidas: Deshmane Android Software based Multi-touch Gestures Recognition for Secure Biometric Modality [2] Memon, K. Isbister, N. Sae-Bae, N. and K. Ahmed, Multitouch gesture based authentication, IEEE Trans. Inf. Forensics Security, vol. 9, no. 4, pp. 568-582, Apr. 2014 [3] Methods for Multi-touch Gesture Recognition:Daniel Wood [4] http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.5772/50204 [5] Finger Tracking Methods Using EyesWeb Anne-Marie Burns1 and Barbara Mazzarino2 [6]https://www.cse.buffalo.edu/~jcorso/t/CSE555/files/lecture_hmm.pdf [7]DWT: Probability-based Dynamic Time Warping and Bag-of-Visual -and-Depth-Words for Human Gesture Recognition [8]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificial_neural_network [9]http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/gesture-recognition Prof. Ramdas Pandurang Bagawade, Miss Pournima Akash Chavan, BE Computer Pursuing degree in PESs College of Engineering Phaltan. Miss Kajal Kantilal Jadhav, BE Computer Pursuing degree in PESs College of Engineering Phaltan

Monaco Building of the Paris 1889 Exposition Essay examples -- Archite

The Monaco Building of the Paris 1889 Exposition The Exposition Universelle de 1889 in Paris was meant to commemorate the centennial of the French Revolution. It boasted new architectural styles, as well as the more generous use of electricity in the pavilions. In the earliest world's fairs, all the displays were housed collectively under one roof. This eventually changed to a different type of organization, where exhibits were separated into categories based on their content, as was already the case at the 1873 Vienna exhibition. At the 1876, 1878 and 1889 fairs, countries presented their own individual pavilions. While at first the international community seemed a bit hesitant to participate in a fair meant to celebrate a Revolution, many countries decided to participate and erect a special pavilion. Countries such as Japan, Siam, Persia, Turkey, Russia, Greece, as well as many Latin American nations presented national exhibits. When the 1889 Paris Exhibition is first mentioned, most people immediately think of the construction o f the famed Eiffel Tower. This striking monument, enhanced with nighttime lights, brought the admiration of many and earned itself a place as a permanent fixture and international symbol for Paris. The fair was known for its impressively modern constructions of iron and glass, such as Machinery Hall. The pavilion for the Principality of Monaco can be noted at this fair, not for its grand scale or modern appeal, but for its delicate return to a classic style which turned attention to a small, yet sophisticated nation. Its proximity to the Eiffel tower symbolized the ongoing relationship between France and Monaco. There were several reasons why Monaco received such attention at the fair, with its p... ...ch 1890, Volume 39, Issue 2 Making of America Collection, Cornell University Library http://www.boondocksnet.com/expos/paris1889.html "Impressions of the International Exhibition of 1889" The Century, December 1889 Making of America Collection, Cornell University Library http://www.boondocksnet.com/expos/paris1889.html "Paris Panorama of the Nineteenth Century" The Century, December 1889, Volume 39, Issue 2 Making of America Collection, Cornell University Library http://www.boondocksnet.com/expos/paris1889.html "Monaco" by Gale Force of Monaco http://monaco.mc/monaco/index.html "General Informations" by Monte-Carlo Multimedia, 2000 http://www.monte-carlo.mc/principalitymonaco/globalinformations/ Masson, Georgina. Italian Villas and Palaces. New York. Abrams.1966 Ree Paul van der. Italian Villas and Gardens: a corso di disegno. Amsterdam. Prestel.1992

Checks And Balances And Seperation Of Powers

The Constitution nowhere contains an express injunction to preserve the boundaries of the three broad powers it grants, nor does it expressly enjoin maintenance of a system of checks and balances. Yet, it does grant to three separate branches the powers to legislate, to execute, and to adjudicate, and it provides throughout the document the means by which each of the branches could resist the blandishments and incursions of the others. The Framers drew up our basic charter against a background rich in the theorizing of scholars and statesmen regarding the proper ordering in a system of government of conferring sufficient power to govern while withholding the ability to abridge the liberties of the governed.The Theory Elaborated and ImplementedWhen the colonies separated from Great Britain following the Revolution, the framers of their constitutions were imbued with the profound tradition of separation of powers, and they freely and expressly embodied in their charters the principle.2 But the theory of checks and balances was not favored because it was drawn from Great Britain, and, as a consequence, violations of the separation–of–powers doctrine by the legislatures of the States were common[p.64]place events prior to the convening of the Convention.3 As much as theory did the experience of the States furnish guidance to the Framers in the summer of 1787.4The doctrine of separation of powers, as implemented in drafting the Constitution, was based on several principles generally held: the separation of government into three branches, legislative, executive, and judicial; the conception that each branch performs unique and identifiable functions that are appropriate to each; and the limitation of the personnel of each branch to that branch, so that no one person or group should be able to serve in more than one branch simultaneously.To a great extent, the Constitution effectuated these principles, but critics objected to what they regarded as a curi ous intermixture of functions, to, for example, the veto power of the President over legislation and to the role of the Senate in the appointment of executive officers and judges and in the treaty–making process. It was to these objections that Madison turned in a powerful series of essays.Madison recurred to â€Å"the celebrated† Montesquieu, the â€Å"oracle who is always consulted,† to disprove the contentions of the critics. â€Å"[T]his essential precaution in favor of liberty,† that is, the separation of the three great functions of government had been achieved, but the doctrine did not demand rigid separation. Montesquieu and other theorists â€Å"did not mean that these departments ought to have no partial agency in, or controul over, the acts of each other,† but rather liberty was endangered â€Å"where the whole power of one department is exercised by the same hands which possess the whole power of another department.†That the doct rine did not demand absolute separation provided the basis for preservation of separation of powers in action. Neither sharply drawn demarcations of institutional boundaries nor appeals to the electorate were sufficient.7 Instead, the security against concentration of powers â€Å"consists in giving to those who administer each department the necessary constitutional means and personal motives to resist encroachments of the others.† Thus, â€Å"[a]mbition must be made to[p.65]counteract ambition. The interest of the man must be connected with the constitutional rights of the place.†

Ex- football player Kavin Plank Essay

Under armor was founded by American ex- football player Kavin Plank in 1996. Its headquarters are in Baltimore, Maryland, USA. Plank started the business in his grandmother’s basement. The word of mouth publicity brought revenue and ultimately in two years time Plank started reaping profit. The main objective of the company was to design a superior quality t- shirt which instead of absorbing sweat, provides perspiration and compression. But it ended up producing various other sports products such as footwear, apparel and accessories. Armor happens to be the designer of performance apparel which it claims would maintain body temperature and improve performance. (Under Armour  ® 2010) Under Armour UA’s mission is to make the customer feel comfortable while wearing its products. Its aim is to make all athletes feel better in their uniforms with the help of science and innovation. Providing comfort to the customers is the first and foremost priority of UA. For that purpose, Heat Gear and Cold Gear products were introduced which would serve the purpose of ease and satisfy the athletes during the calisthenics, practice or course of game. (Under Armour  ® 2010) Products, goods and services The products range from t-shirts to footwear and accessories. These categories are further extended to all types of sportswear. You name the sport (from baseball to hunting) and you can find the custom design outfits and footwear along with accessories required for that sport. The company introduced Heat Gear, Cold Gear and AllseasonGear products and various other products to entice the customers. (Under Armour  ® 2010) Marketing Strategy and Position in the market Under Armour understood the market at the start of the business. The word of mouth publicity at small scale to ignite the marketing process for a relatively new company was good enough to bring in customers. Till date the company sponsors events such as Under Armour High school All- American Football Game and Senior Bowl. (Ayala 2008) Under Armour also sponsored the ESPYs. At the event, the company also managed to get leads on a pilot and two movies as well. It sponsors various college teams for publicity. The commercials and punch line are catchy and attract many customers. Under Armour products could also been in Video Games. In Flight Night 3, Dallas Cowboy player and spokesperson Eric ‘Big E’ was among the Fighters game players could choose to be. Their marketing strategy is strong and has provided them powerful position in the market. (Walker 2008) Competitors The company saw downfall in 2008. According to today’s financial news the company’s competition is sinking. In 2009 UA made Fiscal Fourth Quarter results’ announcement that are down nearly half of where they were this time next year. Shares of Gilden Active wear and Lululemon went down by 30% and 20% respectively. (Financial news 2008) Luckily, today they are flourishing at increasing speed. The competition and hard time was beneficial in this regard. Their hard work is paying them off. The biggest competitors of UA are Colm and Nike. UA is increasing pace to reap as much revenue as Nike is. Its revenue was calculated to be approximately $885 million a year in contrast to Nike’s $19 billion this year. (Wikinvest 2010) Bibliography About Under Armour, Underarmour. com, Under Armour  ®, 2010, web, July 18, 2010 from http://www. underarmour. com/shop/us/en/affiliate-home Ayala, V. ‘Under Armour: Solid Growth Story’, Seeking Alpha, July 2008, web, July 18, 2010 http://seekingalpha. com/article/87622-under-armour-solid-growth-story-more-visibility-needed ‘Under Armour’s competition sinks’, Today’s Financial News, December 11, 2008, web, July 18, 2010 http://www. todaysfinancialnews. com/us-stocks-and-markets/under-armours-nyseua-competition-sinks-6437. html Walker, K. Andrea, Commercial Alert, ‘Under Armour in public eye’, July 24, 2008, web , July 18, 2010, http://www. commercialalert. org/issues/culture/product-placement/under-armour-in-public-eye Under Armour (UA), Wikinvest. com, Wikinvest, 2010, web, July 17, 2010 from http://www. wikinvest. com/stock/Under_Armour_(UA)

Proposal - change of employee car policy essayEssay Writing Service

Proposal - change of employee car policy essayEssay Writing Service Proposal change of employee car policy essay Proposal change of employee car policy essayThe purpose of this memo is to address the companys existing practice of using private cars of employees for work-related needs. The intention of this document is to review existing policies and to suggest another approach providing corporate cars to employees instead of using their private cars. The strategy of using employee cars has a number of flaws: it limits the number of employees to those who own cars and are willing to use personal cars for work-related travels, it creates a need to track mileage and depreciation associated with work-related travels and might lead to insurance invalidation. Furthermore, some companies offer corporate car as additional benefit, therefore gaining an advantage in the process of hiring and retaining talented employees. These reasons indicate that there is a need to change the approach and offer company car to employees.BACKGROUNDCars are intensively used by the workers of our company both for privat e and corporate purposes. Current corporate policy is the following: employees need to have own car and they have to use this car to fulfill their work responsibilities. Currently the company reimburses the expenses on a per-mile basis, and in addition compensates car depreciation and car damage that happened while fulfilling work-related duties. While such strategy is relatively flexible and allows new employees to start quickly, it has a number of serious flaws that affect the companys competitive position.First of all, such strategy is discriminatory against those persons who do not own a car but have the necessary characteristics for doing the job successfully. In fact, the existing corporate strategy filters out those who are not willing to use personal car for work purposes or cannot do it on some reason along with people who currently do not have a car. In this way, the company might fail recruiting talented people simply because of ineffective car policy. Secondly, since the companys employees sometimes have to carry goods in their cars, which is classified by insurance companies as livery and in most cases invalidates insurance coverage (Gitman and McDaniel 36).It was also determined that some employees elevate depreciation expenses and/or travel expenses to get higher reimbursement and to finance own personal expenses. The company should either improve the process of tracking expenses or adopt a different approach to using cars. One more disadvantage of the current policy is the fact that it can hardly compete with corporate cars offered as benefits by competitors, so the companys HR managers have fewer opportunities to attract talented people or retain them.SCOPEThe analysis of the shortcomings of the current car policy shows that a new policy should be implemented. It is recommended to offer corporate cars to employees. This approach will help to resolve problems with depreciation and fuel expense tracking as all depreciation will be considered wor k-related as well as fuel expenses. Minor personal uses will be also covered. The company will be able to provide decent insurance and to take care of car maintenance and repairing in order to reduce the chances of work-related accidents or injuries (Cushway 56).The new policy will be more attractive to people who currently do not have a car, who do not want to use a personal car for work purposes or who cannot do it on some reasons. Furthermore, the new policy will be more attractive for new employees since they might be able to minimize car-related expenses and maintenance efforts. Corporate car can be offered as an additional perk by the companys HR managers (Armstrong and Murlis 464). This benefit might be used for motivating existing employees and for attracting new talents.CONCLUSIONIt is recommended to change the policy of personal car use by employees for work-related purposes to the policy of offering company cars to employees. In this way, the company will be able to attra ct more efficient employees, will optimize the costs of fuel and depreciation tracking, will manage the parks of car in a more efficient way and will have an additional benefit for recruiting new candidates.

The Articles of Confederation Investigation essays

The Articles of Confederation Investigation essays Throughout the history of civilizations, many constitutions have been used. In America, the present day constitution is law and is used to govern the United States of America yet this was not the first constitution of the United States. That would be the Articles of Confederation. This constitution was in effect from 1781-1789, and it had its ups and downs. Overall the "Articles of Confederation" were good in many cases and bad in economic problems. The Articles of Confederation were a group of documents written by John Dickinson in the late 1700s. It was in favor of the small government and big state power. People were the first part of their states and then part of the country. As seen in Document B, from the years of 1770-1775 the market value of United States exports to Great Britain was greatly increased over the years. Then theirs a break in the chart, this is most likely the time of the American Revolution and the countries overall post-war recollection. Then in 1784, the chart begins again, and the number of market value exports with England has dropped down by about 20 percent. This number then begins to waver up and down as the years go by. Although it is safe to assume that the loss of trade is due to anger between the British and United States yet it is also safe to assume that since the Articles of Confederation does not give the national government the ability to impose taxes, and tariffs, on products, thus subst antially lowering its profit value. People in other countries, especially Great Britain knew that the U.S.' government could not impose taxes and tariffs and a state wouldn't impose a tax on its people because they can just move to another state and rebel on the state. So according to Document B, the Market value of the United States good had substantially lowered during the use of the Articles of Confederation. Admittedly, under the "Articles of Confederation," many good things did happen. The Treaty of Pa...