Dyslexia Essays - Educational Psychology, Special Education

Dyslexia Whether we graduate from highschool or college we all hope to find a challenging career that will propel us forward in today`s society. For those suffering from dyslexia this only adds to the frustration and fears associated with seeking employment. Many adults with dyslexia or other forms of learning disabilities never disclose their disability in interviews or once employed for fear of being discriminated against. Several investigators have noted, however, that many persons with learning disabilities adjust well to the demands and complexities of adulthood. (Greenbaum et al. 1996). The basic cause of dyslexia is still not known, however, much research is being done to determine the problems underlying dyslexia. In many cases, dyslexia is highly inherited. Studies have shown a number of genes that may set the stage for its development. Characteristics of dyslexia are now more apparent to educators than ever before. Early educational interventions are helping individuals to manage their dyslexia. There have been some studies that attend to accommodating persons with learning disabilities in post-secondary and occupational settings. Only a few articles will be reviewed having been found worthy of this subject. However, before reviewing the articles, in order to gain a greater understanding of the types of learning disabilities people face lets define one of the most significant learning problems: dyslexia. A Type of Learning Disability: What is Dyslexia? The word dyslexia is derived form the Greek dys (meaning poor or inadequate) and lexis (works or language). Dyslexia is a learning disability characterized by problems in expressive or receptive, oral or written language. Problems may emerge in reading, spelling, writing, speaking, or listening. Dyslexia is not a disease; it has no cure. Dyslexia describes a different kind of mind, often gifted and productive, that learns differently. Dyslexia is not the result of low intelligence nor is the problem solely intelligence. An unexpected gap exists between learning aptitude and achievement in school. Dyslexia is not truly a visual or auditory problem, but a language problem. Dyslexia results from differences in the structure and function of the brain. People with dyslexia are unique; each having individual strengths and weaknesses. Many dyslexics are creative and have unusual talents in areas such as art, athletics, architecture, graphics, electronics, mechanics, drama, music, engineering, and medical professions. Dyslexics often show special talent in areas that require visual, spatial, and motor integration. Their problems in language processing distinguish them as a group. This means that the dyslexic has problems translating language to thought (as in listening or reading) or thought to language (as in writing or speaking). After looking at what dyslexia means and some characteristics of this disability now lets look at a study of learning disabilities in the workplace. Research by Greenbaum, Graham, and Scales (1996) adults with learning disabilities in the work place indicate that most adults adjust well to the demands and complexities of adulthood. The purpose of this study was to identify occupational and social status of adults with learning disabilities once after college. This study was conducted at the University of Maryland. Only eighty-one students with learning disabilities received assistance from the office of Disability Support Services during a twelve-year span from 1980 to 1992. In the study conducted by Greenbaum, Graham, and Scales (1996), out of the 81 former students, 49 adults with learning disabilities agreed to be interviewed about their current employment and social status. The study was based on increasing reports of adults with learning disabilities in recent years and the questions about the efficacy of special education services. As Patton and Polloway (1992) cited by Greenbaum et al. (1996) noted, the scenario for many adults with learning disabilities is characterized by unemployment, low pay, part-time work, frequent job changes, non-interaction with community, limitations in independent living, and limited social lives. Several investigators within this study noted persons with disabilities adjust well in adulthood years. Greenbaum et al. (1996) found that a number of adults with learning disabilities were employed in white-collar jobs (e.g. lawyer, urban planner, and real estate investor). Thirty seven percent of adults with learning disabilities studied by Gerber et al. as cited by Greenbaum et al., classed as highly successful in their job, eminence within their occupation, earned income, job satisfaction and education. Within all three studies, one factor for success for adults with learning disabilities was the level of education. Persons with mild learning disabilities who dropped out of high school are often employed at a lower rate than persons with mild disabilities who graduated. (Edgar, l987; Hasazi, Gordon, Zigmond & Thornton, l985). Persons with learning disabilities who graduated from college are

World Wrestling Federation Essay Example

World Wrestling Federation Essay Example World Wrestling Federation Paper World Wrestling Federation Paper The World Wrestling Federation (WWF) become the worlds dominant international entertainment business by the creative management of Vince McMahon. Wrestling used to be restricted to perform only in its territory and respect other domain, but McMahon neglected the rules and started to monopolise the business. McMahon was a brilliant promoter who innovate the WWF as varities wrestling show. The WWF joined with music, movie and television business. Many merchandises were produced under the WWF brand. After several years of the WWF domination, the WCW were established and started to be a big threat for McMahon.Many of his wrestlers were recruited to the WCW under new management of Eric Bischoff. The competition was getting worse for the WWF when Bret Harts contact was about to expire. However, retaining Hart in the WWF couldnt change the situation. Finally, Hart was released to the WCW. Strategy alalyse. 1. Medias such as television and cable networks were effective in order to expose a new product (the WWF) to aware American consumers. Providing varieties of the WWFs wrestlers distinguish this crowd from others. 2. McMahon put a lot of effort to create characteristic for his wrestlers. These produced charmful wrestlers for the fans.In the other word, they are qualities product from the WWF. Scripts and costumes were neatly selected for each character, emphasizing attractive persona. 3. Leaving the Georgia territory was the biggest mistake of McMahon. To monopolise the business, it is very important to make sure that the business is difficult for anyone to enter. But the WWF abondoned the territory leaving a chance for Ted Turner to enter the business. 1. Introduction 1. 1 Background of Wrestling World Wrestling Federation (WWF) is one of the most well known association in the world, especially, among men and boys.Many people may misunderstand that it is a gentlemen fighting club as well as other ones such as WBA, WBF or K-1. However, according to its owner, Vince McMahon Jr. , WWF is in an entertainment business, not wrestling one. The wrestling, originally showed in circus, has long history in American entertainment business. There are several regional wrestlers and promoters. Their domains are clearly divided and the gentlemens agreement to respect their domain and others had ruled for two decades, until Vince McMahon Jr. entered into the business.About Vince McMahon Vince McMahon Jr. followed his father footsteps became a wrestling promoter after he had struggled in bitter life with his stepfathers. Despite his father firstly discourage him to join the business, McMahon Jr. was fulled with inspiration and ambition to succeed in this business. Being trained by his father provided him valueable experiences which cannot be acquired through other promoters espectially the McMahons domain covered big cities like Washington, D. C. , Boston and New York City.Operating wresting matches in Madison Square Garden would be a great classroom for young McMahon, and also had a chance to study the television side of the operation. One fortunate day, he had a chance to try ring announcer because an absence of his fathers ringside announcers and his talent was recognised. By taking up this position full time, McMahon started to understand viewers wants. When McMahon Sr. was retiring as a result of cancer, McMahon Jr. had to buy the WWF outright instead of take it over from his father.The first move of McMahon was harsh and beyond the line of wrestling promoters that borders are no longer respected. 1. 3 Rising of the WWF In the first year of taking control the WWF, McMahon started to create next generation fans focusing on kids in town and tried to eliminate the border idea which had ruled wrestling for years. Television is the strongest and most effective influnce in such big country like the U. S. Soon, half of the country on the eastern coast could see the WWF at home. Certainly, McMahons breach of borders caused conflicts with other promoters.However, to win the competition was not as tough as it seemed. McMahon accurately estimated his competitors were lack of business experience. Most of them were former wrestlers and overestimated McMahon by the tremendous presence of the WWF in TV. As a result, these rivals gave up their territories and the WWF now broadcast across the country. After TV media achieved the WWF to counquer national territory, McMahon then move forward to cable network with a vision that this can increase revenues by pay-per-view, at the same time, it extends fan-club base.Merchandises and licensing revenues such as action figures, foam fingers, cereals and many other toys generated enomous amount of money from the popularity of the WWF. The WWF was not about only wrestling things anymore, opening the matches with rock concerts, explosions and excitement of speculators fascinate speculators and attracted millions of viewers at home. Growing together with the cable, the WWF became world-wide wrestling team. Japanese, Mexican and Canadian wrestlers were imported to the WWF and these contenders dared to do more dare-devil actions for fames and fortune.WCW: A New Challenger Ted Turner owned a cable television empire and broadcasted the WWF programme in his TBS station. Turner wanted to join the business with McMahon but the agreement could not happen, followed by the move away of the WWF from TBS and McMahon sold a territory out. Ted Turner then bought the territory and established the World Championship Wrestling (WCW). The WCW was an out-of-leage competitor at the first, but with capital reserve, cable networks and patience, he turned up to be a dangerous competitor McMahon ever faced.Eric Bischoff was a hero brought the WCW to superior the WWF. Bischoff attcked the weak point of the WWF which, at that time, struggled with the governments investigation of a steroid drug distribution scandal. As a result, many of WWF wrestlers were recruited to the WCW camp, started from former WWF superstars like Hogan and Savage, then stars on the stage like Lex Luger. The competition was getting intense for the WWF when a contract of its greatest wrestler, Bret Hart, was about to expire. McMahon offered an undenieable contract to Bret Hart to keep majority of the WWFs fans.Unfortunately, the outcome of the contract did not pay out. Fans strangely started to like a vilainous wrestler and Harts popularity was declining. Bret Hart turned not to be as worth as his paid. Hart could be neither a perfect hero nor a horrible villain. McMahon decided to cut the losses by shifting Hart to the WCW. Worse than that, conflicts between Hart and Shawn Michaels got too far to be just scripted. The competition between the WWF and the WCW had points to analyse and learn from it. 2. Case Analyses 2. 1 How did vince McMahon Build the WWF?Wrestling used to be stricted by a gentlemens agreement that not to invade other promoters domain. But Vince McMahon was a liberated promoter who started to break the agreement. McMahon took advantages of medias, his weak opponents and his territory was likely giving him better oppotunity. 1. Medias Firstly, he convinced a regional television station to broadcast his shows. The taped programme is possibly more attractive than live program because the shows is more intense, scenes are selected and exciting point can be replayed, zoom up or even re-filmed to make it better.In addition, almost everyhouse in the U. S. has television. Wrestling can be seen in by every one in the area, as easy as push a remote-control button. McMahon had a vision to use cable network to broadcast the WWFs shows. Cable was not only to extend the WWFs domain to oversea, but also unexpectedly bring back dare-devil wrestler from oversea. In addition, television was common way all over America to enter the others domain. Regardless of differences in states, American people are likely addicted to television. RAW, a Monday Night programme, was the extended programme from McMahon to tide fans with the WWF.Weak Opponents McMahon analysed his opponents correctly. Because he had been trained with his father before, this provided him deep understanding of other promotors background. In every competition, well understanding of opponent are crucial in order to defeat rivals. Most of promotors were former wrestler, lack of business experience. Moreover, at that time, wrestling was not the business generate revenues for the promotors so much thus low capital reserve was the other factor reduced endurance to compete in the business.McMahons opponents might think that it was not worth to compete with big promoter like McMahon for a low-income business, plus, they might not have knowledge to compete. 3. His territory McMahon had such a resourceful territory where cover major metropolitan on the eastern coast. Firstly, McMahons income would be relatively higher than other promoters due to a great number of population in the area. Dealing events with large corporates in New York City would give him incredibly greater experience than other promoters to organise business in environment that competition is cruelly intense.McMahon learned to use medias to manipulate market trend as same as other companies in New York do. McMahon had opportunities to learn, try and develop his business strategy. So, with his vision to dominate the business, his position provided him abundant resources to do so. Innovatively, the WWF presented viewers more than typical wrestling like others. McMahon carefully created fascinasting characters for his wrestlers. Each character has its own distinctive charisma. Wrestlers are clearly seperated into two groups: babyface (good guy) and chief heel (bad guy).Matches were about competing between good and evil, full of enthusiasm spectators cheered their wrestler. Regardless of the fact that the result of the fight were decided by McMahon, viewers were still keen to watch it because of charmful characters. Costumes also accent the characters personality. And the WWF was not only about wrestlers on the ring any more, but also the WWF wrestlers lifestyle were broadcasted, showing ordinary people participated in their life to show on TV, helping fans keeptrack of the alliances.This strategy wisely increased enthusiasm in the WWF fans, and create brand loyalty. McMahon expose wrestlers in his camp variously in other entermaint business such as movies and music. On the other hands, celebrities in these business were brought to present in the WWFs matches opening. The WWF matches provided more exciting shows than others: started with the rock concert, explosions, elevated platforms and breathtaking matches that everyone waiting for.Many wrestlers in the WWF becomes rock stars or movie stars. Hulk Hogan was a famous one and the recent one is the Rock who has several movies in Hollywood. Sometimes, the wrestlers were invited to present in talk shows, telling fans about their private life. This marketing strategy is to repeatedly shows the product (the WWF wrestlers) to consumers, generating familarity and increase visibility of product which increase purchasing possibility, in the other words, viewers become the WWF fans.

Most Americans should not use credit cards Essay

Most Americans should not use credit cards - Essay Example Yet, while banks use this threat of increased risk to justify the higher interest rates, the same institutions also charge significant late fees, overdraft penalties, and debt-collection surcharges on consumers when they miss payments or go into default. These additional fees are included in the fine print of credit card agreement statements that few people bother to read or study before signing up with a bank. Consequently, credit cards can lead to significantly higher charges over time for the same retail items than if the identical goods were purchased with cash or second-hand at a discount. Because many retail purchases such as electronics, automobiles, or other appliances can lose as much as 50% of their value against new item prices when they are used, there often is no opportunity for consumers to resell goods purchased with credit for the same price as the original item. These factors combine to make credit card use personally inadvisable for most consumers, though society pr esents few options in alternative to this form of lending. Economists, financial advisors, and analysts have been warning consumers for decades about the serious consequences that the use of credit cards for purchases can have on a family budget. However, the use of credit cards can also have wider and more subtle social effects that even change the fundamental values of a culture. George Ritzer (1995), author of â€Å"The McDonaldization of Society,† described some of these issues, writing about the globalization of consumer credit card culture and its values, which leads to â€Å"†¦consumerism and indebtedness, fraud, invasion of privacy, rationalization and dehumanization, and homogenization stemming from increasing Americanization.† (Ritzer, 1995) Consumerism can be viewed as a value system which replaces traditional community symbols such as those found in religion, nationalism, and ethnic identities with a status-based symbolic hierarchy founded in displays of wealth through conspicuous consumption. In its crudest form, the person who has the most wealth has the greatest amount of power and status in a society, and this is reflected in mainstream values by the subtle distinctions made between individuals based on their manner of dress, collection of consumer gadgetry, or other symbolic displays of purchasing power. While some individuals may reject this value system in favor of more traditional or forward-thinking models, the stereotypes of consumerist behavior are repeated incessantly through popular media where advertising and entertainment are joined with a consumerist worldview that values people based upon what they buy rather than what they create or express. Critically, it can be argued that such a transition impoverishes America and the world when it is exported, in that these values are false, manipulated, and designed to fuel corporate profits for a minority of society rather than promote what is good and progressive for the greater whole of the global community. Paul Heidhues and Boton Koszegi discussed the manipulation of consumer behavior in the sale and marketing of credit cards within the larger consumerist system of values in their study â€Å"Exploiting Naivete about Self-Control in the Credit Market†. (Heidhues and Koszegi, 2010) These researchers argue that the cultural programming of individuals to seek â€Å"

BRITISH ELITE ATHLETE DEVELOPMENT AND ITS ORGANISATIONAL PERSPECTIVE Research Paper

BRITISH ELITE ATHLETE DEVELOPMENT AND ITS ORGANISATIONAL PERSPECTIVE - Research Paper Example In light of such representation at high profile events, the role of managers has become a matter of interest to stakeholders in athletics. Managers are highly trained individuals in the theory and practice of athletics. Different managers specialize in different fields. Managers in athletics have the task of overseeing the development of athletes from average performers to elite performance with the ability to perform competitively with the best athletes from all over the world. In light of the competitive nature of elite sport, the biological, psychological and physical development of British athletes is crucial to the attainment of expertise and successes in representing Great Britain in both international and local sport events. To achieve this, Managers have a crucial role to play. Good athletes’ management involves the benchmarking of every aspect of the athlete’s performance management with a view to ensuring their transition into elite level performers. In addition to that, good management of athletes involves a review into factors such as effective athletes’ management in such areas as training, coaching, leadership, social support, skills dissemination, among others and its influence in the achievement of goals among British athletes. In the collection of data for this research, the primary research involved designing a questionnaire, which was administered to a selected group of elite British athletes. Interviews were also conducted to carry out the survey. The analysis of the interviews and questionnaires clearly demonstrates that effective management of British athletes has a relationship with success in international and local sports events. This is in line with the hypothesis of this research. However, there were some limitations to the collection of data such as the small sample size and the limited number of respondents to the interviews and questionnaires. Further, while the researcher has identified that

Sales Management project Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Sales Management project - Essay Example For sales managers it is a very difficult task to select the people who will turn out to be great at what they do. Over the years a lot of scholarly work and research has been conducted about the recruitment processes that will ensure person-job fit at the managerial levels but very little attention has been paid on emphasizing and devising a proper strategy that ensures that the right people are hired on a sales force. According to Cravens et al (1997) one of the main marketing expenditures in the business-to-business marketplace is the field sales force and even then, little is done to make absolutely sure that the right people are hired on sales forces. According to Rich and Smith (2000) â€Å"The greater the skill used in evaluating potential salespeople, the more effective will be the hiring process; effectiveness being measured by lower turnover and greater productivity over an extended period of time†. Most organizations pay little or no attention on a standardized recruitment procedure that ensures that the right sales people are selected for the jobs even though most researches show that higher sales are generated by salespeople who are motivated and well-suited for their job. For organizations whose work centers around retailing of products and services, their sales force plays the most important of tasks of determining its success. Fort a better, more well-matched person to be inducted into a company’s sales force, it has been observed that a better recruitment process is necessary. According to Pitt and Ramasheshan (1995),â€Å"In the sales force recruitment process in most organizations, the organization’s requirements are typically positioned as the primary consideration†. Which generally means that more emphasize is laid on generalizing the demands of the organization so as to attract a larger number of people to apply for the jobs.

Market Segmentation In The Dessert Food Service Industry Marketing Essay

Market Segmentation In The Dessert Food Service Industry Marketing Essay The Sweet House will be located in the Mid Valley shopping centre, the cafà © will are created for customer to rejuvenate, relax and relate with friends. Besides that, our business type of desserts will divided three main variety, which are Asian dessert Western dessert and Custom dessert. Asian dessert is more suitable to middle-age people and Chinese people. For example, Pak Kor Fu Chuk, Longan Xue Yee, Kacang Merah, Bubur Cha Cha and so on. The Western dessert is more suitable to the young man or young age people, because Western desserts are more colorful and more variety to attract the young people. For example, Mango Lolo, Honey Dew Lolo, Durian Cendol, Cendol Pulut and so on. Custom dessert is let customer choose their need of variety taste, such as Mango and Kiwi Lolo, Yam Sweet Corn, Sea Coconut Fruit Cocktail, Mix Fruit Lolo and etcà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦As a result, our business will sold these three main types of variety to our customer target. Financing: Our business is established from a partnership. So I and my partner will put a total of RM 80,000 into startup of the business. The remaining RM 40,000 is the amount that we are requesting for bank financing. This is because; our business needed quite more equipment such as, machinery, furniture, fixtures and so on. So, we are requesting for bank financing for our business. Executive Summary Sweet House is a shop outlet dessert inside the Mid Valley. In the dessert industry, our competitive advantage, is that our goods all is 100% organic and come from farm ourselves. Besides that, our business will use coal cook system to maintain 100% taste. Sweet House target market is the young man adults, PMEB (Professional, Manager, Executive, and Businessman) and tourist. Our business also will create a special price for customer when starting lunch time. Television and radio advertising is used to increase customer awareness of Sweet House. Our business will create a web site to customer for join our member know our news or information. This Web Site also provides a discussion board or feedback where customers can post a suggestion or respond to their needs. Finally, our business also has provided some training program to our employee. For example, management skill, communication skill and customer services seminar and so on. Our business operation time will begin at 10.30am until 9.00pm and open 7 days a week business time. 3.0 Market Segmentation in the Dessert Food Service Industry The Dessert Industry can be broken down into two major segments based on customer characteristic and price. Price is one of more important factors in determining market segmentation, as it influences the consumer to buy the goods. Customers have come to demand reasonable of price what they pay for. It is important to note that the majority of customers look for value, which is a key component of Sweet Houses mission. Second factor which will influences market segmentation is age of the customer. The age range of the dessert industry is quite large, ranging from young man to old men, and different marketing strategies will attract a variety of patrons. For example, Sweet Temptation fulfill demand of the young man, because the Sweet Temptation will sold the dessert such as AisKacang dessert, ABC dessert and smoothie dessert. Besides that, Jonker Sweet Dessert is different between the Sweet Temptation, because their sold the products are suitable to the old people and middle-age people. For example, KacangMerah dessert, Bubur Cha Cha dessert and etcà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦So they will feel this will more healthy than the ABC dessert. Nowadays desserts are most competitive industry in worldwide, because different dessert has different characteristics. This type of dessert industrial is more liquidity, for example is Cendol dessert, there is convenience to family-style. So the customer no needs to go outlet to purchase the goods. Besides that, Independence stall will set in shopping center middle or beside, the independence stall the place will smaller, and not enough facilities, the product price will cheaper than shop outlet, the independence stall sell product is limited but there have a special thing, for example Petaling street air matakucingmoutak ding this is a independence stall their sell the special thing can achieve health, detoxifying feature. This kind of stall is self-services, so that the customer will feel not satisfy for this customer services. Finally, shop outlet also one type of dessert industry. Shop outlet will give customer comfortable environment place to eat dessert, because will better than the first two dessert industrial. For example is Sweet Temptation, not only sell the dessert, they also have sold smoothie dessert. So different desserts have different customers will purchase the goods. 4.0 The Target Market Sweet House target market is the young man and PMEB (Professional, Manager, Executive, and Businessman). Our will believe that this an important segment, as a young man will more consumer our goods, because sometimes they will have gathering, party, dating and so on. PMEB people also will buy our goods, because when lunch time, they have enough purchasing power to purchase our goods. Besides that, they also will feel more relax and dont have working stress. 5.0 Competitive Sectors 5.1Type of dessert industrial Now a day dessert industrial have many type, but the major type of dessert are separate three major type, 1)Mobile vendors, 2)Independent stall 3) Dessert specially outlet. Mobile Vendors The mobile vendors sell their dessert on van have given more customer convenience, for example is mat tou you dessert, there is convenience to family-style. Family no need go to dessert restaurant. The product price also will cheaper than shop outlet and more attracting the customer to purchase, because they allow the customer to customize their like the favor food to add in dessert based on price. For example is RM3.80 will give 5 favor to customize, RM5.90 will give 8 favors to customize, etcà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦. Due to this, some mobile vendors have differentiated themselves and positioned in the customers mind. Independent Stalls Independence stall will set in shopping centre middle or beside, the independence stall the place will smaller, and not enough facilities, the product price will cheaper than shop outlet, the independence stall sell product is limited. Independent stalls attract large crowd based on location and some have developed strong reputation. For example Petaling street air mata kucing mou tak ding this is a independence stall their sell the special thing can achieve health, detoxifying feature. They use publicity in newspaper to promote their special thing, tell the people after eat can achieve health and detoxifying. Specially Dessert Outlets Shop outlet will give customer comfortable environment place to eat dessert, this is shop outlet advantage. For example, koong woh tong, not only sell the dessert, their also have sell health food like kui ling gao this food can coupling to dessert and then can achieve detoxifying feature, and every day have sell the limited special dessert, because the price is more cheaper. Some dessert outlets operate on a franchise or chain. They have do advertisement for their product, so their reputation will increase by advertisement. 6.0 Competitive Advantage Sweet House differentiates itself from other competition through 100% organic, traditions cooking process and price. Our raw material of the dessert is 100% organic, such as yam, sweet potato, sweet corn, red bean, and etcà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦. For example, yam and sweet potato form the Bubur Cha Cha, this will planted the raw material by our farm. That as would be expected, that organic crop, do contain higher levels of trace minerals, vitamin C, and antioxidant phytonutrients. Besides this, there do not have any insecticides and any chemicals to influence our raw material. This is because; our raw material is fresh and 100% natural. So when our produced it, which is 100% organic and fresh for send into our business. Besides that, our also use traditions cooking process. Every dessert also cook by the coal, normally is using gas to cooking dessert, but this not enough ¼Ã…’because gas cannot cook 100 percent taste, but use coal can attain the 100 percent taste. So this is our advantage of the dessert process, which will more attract the customer to purchase our goods. 7.0 Description of Venture Sweet House is shop outlet in the Mid-Valley, so I will designed a natural organic environment for our shop outlet, that will let our customer relax and no more working stress to enjoy our desserts. For example, Purple Cane Chinese Tea is designed a purple color environment, let customer feel particular and relax to enjoy their Chinese tea. So that will attract more customer to purchases our dessert. Besides that, I will also establish the E-Commerce in our business. We create a Web Site in which customers are join our member can search and browsers or order our goods. Once a customer logs in with his or her username and password, a customer will be able to order our goods and search what the customer needs. The Web Site also provides a discussion board or feedback where customers can post a suggestion or respond to their needs. 8.0 Operation Plan When the customer comes to our Sweet House, he or she will able to order the dessert, as well as have the option to custom their own dessert. Furthermore, our Sweet House can give customer order first. So the customer no need spend more time to waiting our goods preparation. Therefore, most dessert will be prepared on the premises. Our employees will be designed for the high standard of sanitary efficiency and cleaned daily. For example, our cleaner will clean by two shift, morning shift and night shift. So we will give customers a comfortable environment to enjoy the dessert. Besides that, our Sweet House Dessert operation time will begin at 10.30am until 9.00pm and open 7 days a week business time. So our business will closed by Chinese New Year and 31 Aug National Day. Our businesses also have provided some training program to our employee, like customer services courses, communication courses and so on. The employee will be trained out not only in our specific operations duties i n the philosophy and application of our concept. So our employee will provide high standard of services to serve the customer of demands. Our Sweet House dessert distributes inside the Mid Valley shopping Centre is a 2400 square foot space. Besides that, our facilities have tables, chairs, bars, and counters, refrigerator and machine or requirement of equipment. A big emphasis is being placed on extensive research into to quality of our purity dessert price and inventory control will be handled by our system and checked daily by management. Our Sweet House has a lot employee, but the qualification of employee minimum is SPM level. So that we can provide some training for improve their skill and knowledge. Finally, we plan for establishing services, attitudes and policies. We will provide 100 percent good service and encourage customer give our feedback. Feedback can help our improved and make better. 8.1 Floor layout 9.0 Marketing Plan Goals and Objectives Sweet House will be a full services dessert kiosk. Our financial goal is to attain of $100,000 sales in the first year. Sales will increase 50 percent sales in the second year and third year another 30 percent. Based on the first two goals, continue want to expand to two stores by the third year of the business, after expand to two stores, we want to plan increase patronage by 30 percent per year and increase Sweet House restaurants popularity as a dessert Sweet House objective is to provide high quality dessert in a comfortable atmosphere. We also need to make enough profit to generate a fair return for investors and to finance continued growth, to enhance development in quality products, we also maintain a friendly, fair and creative work environment, which respects diversity, new ideas and hard work. Sweet House include 1) give back to the community we can sales for charity in any charity event and we also can provide dessert to orphanage children, because our dont have present children after try our dessert can feeling the happiness 2) ongoing employee education and recognition programs, we have provide employee some training programs to improve employee knowledge 3) Dedication to the finest quality ingredients, we dont use any pigment and Preservative in our dessert 4) Produced raw material by ourselves, our raw material is make it ourselves, so that we dont use the pesticide in to raw material, we use the Organic fertilizer, so that our raw material is 100 percent natural. Strengths and weaknesses Sweet House strengths are 100 percent natural material, because we dont use pigment, preservative and pesticide, so that our dessert use has a health body traditional Chinese medicine add in our dessert, so that can achieve health, detoxifying and pretty, special thing is cook by coal, give customer fair product price and enjoy the high quality dessert. The main weaknesses are our distribution is limited stores, and very insufficient money for start-up business and limited expansion, we also face the employee training problem, the last is time and cost, because we want spend more time to manage business and the cost budget issue must be manage properly. Opportunities and Threats Nowadays, all family also dun like eat in home. So they will like consume more outside food. This is because; they feel not convenience and feel food cooking by family in home so weary. So they will more come to consume outside food. Our business also has provided the training program and seminar about organic food for our employees. This is because, nowadays the education level is very high, and so our business will provide the about the organic food of seminar or speech to our employees. As a result, our employees can easily to communicate or solve from our customers who have the problems. Our desserts are come from our farm, so all raw materials are 100% natural organic. So that is our desserts of advantages. However, in Dessert Industry, our business has quite high competitors in the market. For example, mobile vendors, independent stalls and specially dessert outlet shop. So, our business should be come out a new product and win the customers of loyalty. Besides this, our stocks are limited keeping fresh, this is a big problem we should be faced, because our stock if not fresh, then that stocks are cant sold to the customer. Finally, after 2010, government taxes rate will increase, so a lot of customer will feel the government taxes of fee is quite high then will decrease the customer purchasing power. . 9.1 Product Sweet House desserts will divide three main product lines, which are Asian dessert Western dessert and Customized dessert. Asian desserts include Pak Kor Fu Chuk, Longan Xue Yee, Kacang Merah, Bubur Cha Cha and so on. That is targeted to Chinese and middle-aged. Chinese are more like to consume the Asian dessert, because the Asian dessert has some traditional culture for the Chinese people. The Western desserts are Mango Lolo, Honey Dew Lolo, and so on. Target of Western desserts are male and female. That is because, Western desserts are more colorful and more specially to attract the young age customer to purchases it. Finally, custom dessert is let customer choose their need of variety taste, such as Mango and Kiwi Lolo, Yam Sweet Corn, Sea Coconut Fruit Cocktail, Mix Fruit Lolo and etcà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦. of our dessert. For example, Mix Fruit Lolo have 3 three types of custom ways, the first is three favor of variety is RM 5.90, four favor of variety is RM 6.90 and five favor of va riety is RM 7.90 to give more choices to our customer. 9.2 Promotion Pull Strategy Sweet House desserts will use pull promotional strategy that attracts consumers on advertising to buy or demand for desserts. So our business will advertise more advertisement to satisfy the customer needs. As a result, consumers will receive directly information from the media on newspapers, radio and Internet. Advertising We will use advertising to communicate to consumers. Moreover, it classifies its segmentation to communicate directly to young man and middle-age people. Sweet House will use the TV to promote the desserts, because all people will watch Astro channel, Astro channel advertising will give all customer information. Besides that, our business will use celebrity (Fish Leong) to promote the dessert, that will increase our business brand name and reputation. TV advertising of advantage is: 1) customer will easy to get information 2) country-wide coverage. That can increase awareness of Sweet House brand name and the reputation and build traffic. Moreover, we can also use newspaper advertising and magazine, such as newspaper can promote dessert to attract PMEB (Professional, Manager, Executive, and Businessman) to buy. Nowadays they very like read magazine, so that also can promote our dessert in the magazine. So we will apply the newspaper inserts to advertise all dessert in the newspaper. Besides that, we will also advertising into the City Foam magazines to promote the dessert. Public relationship Corporate social responsibility is public relationship. To give back to the community, we will hold some activity with the local humane society. So our dessert also have provide free to Cheras orphanage inside the orphan and poor families on during the every holiday season. Moreover, average for food columnist to review our shop. Sales Promotion Sweet House has promoted its product through different sale promotional strategies. We will use catalogue promotion to make sales promotion, because customer can clear to read what the desserts are got promotion, discount and voucher. Sales promotion will make discount to customer, so the price will cheaper than normal price and promotion will also special price. For example is Honey drew Lolo and Durian Lolo will discount to 20% so the normal price is RM 5.90 will discount to RM4.70. This kind of the discount, customer should be apply our member then can get this amount of the discount. At the non-member also will discount by 10%, so the normal price is RM5.90 will discount to RM 5.00. Besides that, we will make some promotion for non-pease time. That also can to attract customers to consume the desserts. For example, Kiwi Lolo is RM 5.90, and then within in sale promotion 3pm-5pm, the price will decrease like RM 4.90. Advertising our dessert on online catalog Sweet House also will advertise on the online catalog, such as banner, forum and create a web site to promote and given some news and update new information for the customer. So customer can read its information more clearly before consuming. We also will used the social networking to attract the customer for Sweet House, such as Facebook pays for Sweet House and we will apply a membership club to customer joined our membership. 9.3 Price In general will our price level be lower than competitor. So we will used penetration pricing strategies to attract customer to consume the dessert. Optional product pricing We will make a Dessert top-up package, so who customers will purchases of Western Dessert RM5.90 but top-up RM1 will refreshment (yam cake). For example, Kiwi Lolo is RM 5.90, if customer top-up RM1, he or she will get a yam cake. So, the total price is RM6.90. If customer didnt top-up RM1, the Kiwi Lolo will sold back the normal price (RM6.90). Buddle pricing We will make a few packages for customer; those are A2+1 package and W2+1 package. A2+1 package are who customer purchases of three Asian desserts such as Bubur Cha Cha RM3.90, Kacang Merah RM3.50 and Pak Kor Fu Chuk RM 3.50, total prices of customer purchases are RM 10.9. So the customer will get the nice package price is RM9.50. W2+1 package are who customer purchases of three Western desserts such as Kiwi Lolo RM5.90; Honey drew Lolo RM5.90 and Mango Lolo RM5.90, so customer will get from Sweet Houses W2+1 package is RM 15.00. Promotion Pricing For example is Honey drew Lolo and Durian Lolo will discount to 20% so the normal price is RM 5.90 will discount to RM4.70. This kind of the discount, are only entitled for members. At the non-member also will discount by 10%, so the normal price is RM5.90 will discount to RM 5.00. 9.4 Distribution Sweet House is a retail outlet which direct to sold to customer. Our business of raw materials are manufacturing by ourself, so that we no need supply material by supplies. We have many raw material need required to use. For example, yam, sweet potato, kiwi, honey drew, durian, strawberry, corn and mango. All raw material is come from our farm.So, we are backward integrated to operate our dessert shop. The raw matearial will delivery everyday into our shop.That can save more cost transportation fee and the cost of the raw material. Our shop outlet will build into the Mid Valley, because Mid Valley is a major Shopping Centre in KL so that we can attract more customers. 10.0 Organizational Plan Sweet House will be established as a partnership. The principal shareholders will each assume an equal stake in the business. A cooperative relationship between people or groups who agree to share responsibility for achieving some specific goal; effective language learning is a partnership between school, teacher and student; the action teams worked in partnership with the government. In the contract between two or more persons who agree to pool talent and money and share profits or losses. Management Team Background Wong Yok Lung- President Wong Yok Lung was born in Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur and graduated near of his class at Kuala Lumpur High School. He is currently a fresh graduated Degree in marketing and management at the New Era College. Besides this, he also is earning a supervisor at Target Fashion Sdn. Bhd. Wong Yok Lung will run monthly meetings with Board and the vice presidents. Ng Hai Loon-Finance Manager Ng Hai Loon was born in Malaysia, Selangor and graduated of his class at Kampar High School. He is currently a fresh graduated Degree in finance and accounting at Help College. Besides this, he also is earning an accountant at certain company. He will be in charge of the financial statement and be responsible in choosing an appropriate accounting firm. Lee Mei Yee-Marketing Manager Lee Mei Yee was born in Selangor, Kajang and graduated of her class at Kajang High School. She is currently a fresh graduated Diploma in marketing at New Era College. She will be responsible for creating promotional activities, monitoring sales, and performing the necessary market research to determine how best to improve the Companys awareness. Yim Ye Wen-Chef Yim Ye Wen was born in Malaysia, Seremban and graduated of her class at Kajang High School. She is currently a fresh graduated Diploma in Hotel Management at Nilai College. She will be responsible for meal preparation. She will have to prepare everything needed for dessert on any given day. This includes mixing dessert, estimating the amount of different raw materials need for the given day, and making the dessert. When closing cook, she will also be responsible for cleaning the kitchen so that the Sweet House will be ready for the next days business. 10.1 Organizational Chart 10.2 Board of Advisors A board of advisors is a small group of people which meets periodically to offer advice and direction to a company. Members of the board of advisors do not usually have a share in the company, and they do not bear legal responsibilities for the companys actions. Generally, small and startup firms use a board of advisors so that they get a firm footing in their market, and people on the board are chosen on the base of expertise and prestige. The Board of Advisors includes: Ms. Chan Kuan Thye- She is professor in the marketing department of New Era College. Her expertise in the field of knowledge is much needed by the Company. Mr. Alan Ng- He is professor in the management skill department of Utar College. His expertise in the field of knowledge is much needed by the Company. Mr. Henry Chua- He is general manager working will Six Happiness Holdings Sdn Bhd. His experience in the field of knowledge is much needed by the Company. 11.0 Assessment of Risk Dessert shop set to open a suitable price is not easy, when sugar prices increase, this will directly affect the price of dessert. Higher price than the competitors, our customers will be reduced, thus reducing sales volume. If dessert costs are too high, this will also increase the risk of business. In addition, if competitors dessert or dessert shops continue to increase, which also allows us to bring some pressure and risk, we must continue to improve, or innovative the desserts to meet the competition in this area, otherwise, our customers are gradually reduced. We have to kept the business improvement, because now the consumers not only want quality requirements, they will be because of the service good or bad to choose their dessert, keep on follow the old scale, consumers will feel no fresh and unhappy, customer reviews on our business image is very important, once the reviews are bad, the customer to patronize the frequency will fall. Cost and profit we also have to control well, the cost cannot be higher than the profits, costs and profits, because we are open a new dessert shop, if handled badly percent rate will eventually lead to business failure. Because we are just only sell the desserts for dessert stores, we do not have a lot of other option, so we have to face with strong competitors, and other conditions are good to compare, that why we must find a way to make our products more outstanding, and try to reduce risk of this area. Financial Plan: SWEET HOUSE PRO FORMA INCOME STATEMENT THREE-YEAR SUMMARY (RM) à £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€š ¬ Year 1 year 2 year 3 SALES 187300 241525 256950 LESS: COGS 32375 47232 50000 GROSS PROFIT 154925 194293 206950 à £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€š ¬ à £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€š ¬ à £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€š ¬ à £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€š ¬ OPERATING EXPENSES: à £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€š ¬ à £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€š ¬ à £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€š ¬ SELLING EXPENSES 3300 3700 3900 SALARIES WAGES 67200 69000 70000 OFFICE SUPPLIES 2400 3000 3100 RENT 60000 60000 60000 UTILITIES 6000 6500 6700 INSURANCE 2400 2600 2600 DEPRECITION 2400 2600 2800 ADVERTISING EXPENSES 2000 2200 2500 à £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€š ¬ à £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€š ¬ à £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€š ¬ à £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€š ¬ TOTAL OPERATING EXPENSES 145700 149600 151600 PROFIT (LOSS)BEFORE TAXES 9225 44693 55350 TAXES (20%) 1845 8939 11070 NET PROFIT (LOSS) 7380 35754 44280 This is a sweet house three year pro forma income statement result, we can see this result have a successful opening in the first three year, first year sales is RM187300, the second year sales is RM241525 and the third year sales is RM256950 so that sweet house after first year have successful. The net profit in the first year is RM7380, but second year will build up to RM35754, so that this result is increase 4.8 times. But the third year net profit is RM 44280. The result is increase 6 times SWEET HOUSE PRO FORMA INCOME STATEMENT FIRST-YEAR BY MONTH à £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€š ¬ JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUNE JULY AUG SEPT OCT NOV DEC SALES 14300 15000 14200 18000 18000 19000 19100 14500 14100 9500 13700 17900 LESS: COGS 2745 2745 2745 2800 2800 3000 3000 2600 2715 1780 2655 2790 GROSS PROFIT 11555 12255 11455 15200 15200 16000 16100 11900 11385 7720 11045 15110 à £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€š ¬ à £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€š ¬ à £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€š ¬ à £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€š ¬ à £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€š ¬ à £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€š ¬ à £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€š ¬ à £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€š ¬ à £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€š ¬ à £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€š ¬ à £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€š ¬ à £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€š ¬ à £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€š ¬ OPERATING EXPENSES: à £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€š ¬ à £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€š ¬ à £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€š ¬ à £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€š ¬ à £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€š ¬ à £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€š ¬ à £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€š ¬ à £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€š ¬ à £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€š ¬ à £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€š ¬ à £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€š ¬ à £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€š ¬ SELLING EXPENSES 1000 100 100 200 200 300 500 100 100 100 100 500 SALARIES WAGES 5400 5400 5400 6000 6000 6000 6000 5400 5400 5400 5400 5400 OFFICE SUPPLIES 200 200 200 200 200 200 200 200 200 200 200 200 RENT 5000 5000 5000 5000 5000 5000 5000 5000 5000 5000 5000 5000 UTILITIES 500 500 500 500 500 500 500 500 500 500 500 500 INSURANCE 200 200 200 200 200 200 200 200 200 200 200 200 DEPRECITION 200 200 200 200 200 200 200 200 200 200 200 200 ADVERTISING EXPENSES 150 150 150 200 200 200 200 150 150 150 150 150 à £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€š ¬ à £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€š ¬ à £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€š ¬ à £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€š ¬ à £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€š ¬ à £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€š ¬ à £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€š ¬ à £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€š ¬ à £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€š ¬ à £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€š ¬ à £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€š ¬ à £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€š ¬ à £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€š ¬ TOTAL OPERATING EXPENSES 12650 11750 11750 12500 12500 12600 12800 11750 11750 11750 11750 12150 PROFIT (LOSS)BEFORE TAXES (1095) 505 (295) 2

Speaker identification and verification over short distance telephone l

SPEAKER IDENTIFICATION AND VERIFICATION OVER SHORT DISTANCE TELEPHONE LINES USING ARTIFICIAL NEURAL NETWORKS Ganesh K Venayagamoorthy, Narend Sunderpersadh, and Theophilus N Andrew gkumar@ieee.org sundern@telkom.co.za theo@wpo.mlsultan.ac.za Electronic Engineering Department, M L Sultan Technikon, P O Box 1334, Durban, South Africa. ABSTRACT Crime and corruption have become rampant today in our society and countless money is lost each year due to white collar crime, fraud, and embezzlement. This paper presents a technique of an ongoing work to combat white-collar crime in telephone transactions by identifying and verifying speakers using Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs). Results are presented to show the potential of this technique. 1. INTRODUCTION Several countries today are facing rampant crime and corruption. Countless money is lost each year due to white collar crime, fraud, and embezzlement. In today’s complex economic times, businesses and individuals are both falling victims to these devastating crimes. Employees embezzle funds or steal goods from their employers, then disappear or hide behind legal issues. Individuals can easily become helpless victims of identity theft, stock schemes and other scams that rob them of their money White collar crime occurs in the gray area where the criminal law ends and civil law begins. Victims of white collar crimes are faced with navigating a daunting legal maze in order to effect some sort of resolution or recovery. Law enforcement is often too focused on combating â€Å"street crime† or does not have the expertise to investigate and prosecute sophisticated fraudulent acts. Even if criminal prosecution is pursued, a criminal conviction does not mean that the victims of fraud are able to recover their losses. They have to rely on th criminal courts awarding restitution after the conviction and by then the perpetrator has disposed of or hidde most of the assets available for recovery. From the civil law perspective, resolution and recovery can just be a difficult as pursuing criminal prosecution. Perpetrators of white collar crime are often difficult to locate and served with civil process. Once the perpetrators have been located and served, proof must be provided that the fraudulent act occurred and recovery/damages are needed. This usually takes a lengthy legal fight, which often can cost the victim more money than t... ...phone speech†, IEEE Signal Processing Letters, vol. 2 no. 3 March 1995, pp. 46 - 48. [2] J.M.Naik, L.P.Netsch, G.R.Doddington, â€Å"Speaker verification over long distance telephone lines†, Proceedings of IEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Speech, and Signal Processing (ICASSP), 23-26 May 1989, pp. 524 - 527. [3] A.L.Mcilraith, H.C.Card, â€Å"Birdsong Recognition Using Backpropagation and Multivariate Statistics†, Proceedings of IEEE Trans on Signal Processing, vol. 45, no. 11, November 1997. [4] G.K.Venayagamoorthy, V.Moonasar, K.Sandrasegaran, â€Å"Voice Recognition Using Neural Networks†, Proceedings of IEEE South African Symposium on Communications and Signal Processing (COMSIG 98), 7-8 September 1998, pp. 29 - 32. [5] V.Moonasar, G.K.Venayagamoorthy, â€Å"Speaker identification using a combination of different parameters as feature inputs to an artificial neural network classifier†, accepted for publication in the Proceedings of IEEE Africon 99 conference, Cape Town, 29 September – 2 October 99. [6] H.Demuth, M.Beale, MATLAB Neural Network Toolbox User’s Guide, The Maths Works Inc., 1996. [7] T.Kohonen, Self-organizing and associate memory Spring Verlag, Berlin, third edition, 1989.