Information Technology Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5000 words

Information Technology - Term Paper Example of the future that will guide how various pieces of new technology are either successfully integrated within the scope of any given project, or are discarded as being unnecessarily and waste of resources. As you know, Magnum Enterprises has enlisted my to head the information technology management team. As such, I wish to outline my understanding of what this important role entails, and how such an effective management of new software and hardware to implemented company wide can help to facilitate a more streamlined and profitable business model in the end. Not all software and hardware is created equal. Software developers and hardware engineers, for example, do not necessarily concern themselves with the practical applications of their various inventions. Instead, they are tunnel visioned on creating the best product they can, regardless of the end user or industry that will eventually make use of them. These individuals are sorely needed in the information technology realm of the modern age, yet recent history has shown us that they are not necessarily equipped to adequately manage the effective implementation of such products with the scheme and scope that defines Magnum Enterpri ses. In fact, some software packages and hardware tools may the best available, yet be determined to be inefficient within the working organisation that we ourselves have created. As such, it will be my role to work with my team to determine the very best products on the market that will truly push us forward with maximum efficiency and productivity. In my estimation, that is the role of the information technology manager. The first task our team should accomplish is to analyze the needs and priorities that we have in each division at Magnum. We need to ensure that we understand these critical areas in order to effectively manage the software and hardware that we incorporate into these areas to meet the objectives of each respective team (Benamai, 2007). In essence, the

Virginia Marketing Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Virginia Marketing - Case Study Example This case study is about the Virginia Tourism Corporation which is considered as a creative and dynamic organisation taking the advantage of historical relevance and beauty of the Virginia state. The corporation is also considered as one of the most important organisations in Virginia State and has been continuously involved into the various important innovative techniques of doing business which has capitalized the way tourism business has been done in the country. Due to its romantic appeal, Virginia has remained a hot spot for the tourists and it is because of this reason that Virginia Corporation is engaged into delivering tourism services to the many tourists coming from around the world to visit the aesthetic beauty of the region. As discussed above that the marketing mix is a combination of various marketing tools of strategic nature which when combined produce the results which attempt to support the organisational goals and objectives. Marketing communication techniques are basically the tools which are used by the organisation's different departments i.e. marketing, product development etc to decide upon the various important parameters. For a service oriented organisation, it is very critical that the various elements of marketing communication mix fit together to achieve the maximum results. ... oduct could have on the mindset of the customer may not be achieved through offering a service therefore service oriented organisations have to travel extra mile to reach and delight their customers and deliver value to them through combination of excellent marketing communication techniques. For this purpose, organisations therefore need to be more proactive as well as innovative in their approach to deliver value to the customers. This is achieved through the use of various tools available such as pricing through innovative means, initiating promotional activities which ensure that more and more customers come to use your services, broadening the base of channels used to generate the sales as well as engaging into effective public relation efforts so that all elements when combined deliver value to the organisation's stakeholders as well as the customers. This work will attempt to study and analyse the marketing communication techniques adopted by the organization as its effort to better place itself strategically against the competition and deliver value to both its customers as well as stakeholders besides ensuring that the organisation hold highest ethical values and social responsibility while working in an strongly service oriented industry. Analysis of Virginia Tourism Corporation The case study provided for preparing the analysis of the various marketing communication techniques relate to the Virginia Tourism Corporation. Virginia due to its natural beauty as well as historical context is considered as one of the most popular tourist spots in the country. It is very important to discuss here some of the basic characteristics of the Virginia state before discussing the various marketing communication techniques adopted by the VTC. Before discussing what is

Marketing Communications Plan and Press Release for Viejas Essay

Marketing Communications Plan and Press Release for Viejas - Essay Example In this essay, the researcher develops a marketing communication plan for the Viejas Outlet Center in order to increase visitor numbers to the center so that it can survive the current recessionary downturn. The marketing plan includes such strategies, which will play their role in creating awareness among the public about the facilities and entertainment provided by Viejas Outlet Center as well as the new stores’ opening. The creation of a marketing plan is very vital for any business enterprise because it helps to create the entire business plan which is like the route map of the business. The major goals and objectives regarding development of marketing plan include increase in market share, achievement of market dominance, gaining competitive edge over the rivals, seasonal promotions, market penetration, and creating awareness among the public about the facilities and entertainment provided by the outlet. The researcher of this essay prepares a well structured marketing pl an, which will eliminate all flaws that exist in the existing marketing plans of Viejas Outlet Centre. Such modes of advertising will be used which will make every person aware of the new facilities and entertainment stuff provided by the centre. The researcher then concluds that in order to let the public know about the entertainment facilities to be provided by the Viejas Outlet Center, we will use different forms of media, such as, television, social websites, and radio regarding the openings of the new stores throughout the year.

Virginia Marketing Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Virginia Marketing - Case Study Example This case study is about the Virginia Tourism Corporation which is considered as a creative and dynamic organisation taking the advantage of historical relevance and beauty of the Virginia state. The corporation is also considered as one of the most important organisations in Virginia State and has been continuously involved into the various important innovative techniques of doing business which has capitalized the way tourism business has been done in the country. Due to its romantic appeal, Virginia has remained a hot spot for the tourists and it is because of this reason that Virginia Corporation is engaged into delivering tourism services to the many tourists coming from around the world to visit the aesthetic beauty of the region. As discussed above that the marketing mix is a combination of various marketing tools of strategic nature which when combined produce the results which attempt to support the organisational goals and objectives. Marketing communication techniques are basically the tools which are used by the organisation's different departments i.e. marketing, product development etc to decide upon the various important parameters. For a service oriented organisation, it is very critical that the various elements of marketing communication mix fit together to achieve the maximum results. ... oduct could have on the mindset of the customer may not be achieved through offering a service therefore service oriented organisations have to travel extra mile to reach and delight their customers and deliver value to them through combination of excellent marketing communication techniques. For this purpose, organisations therefore need to be more proactive as well as innovative in their approach to deliver value to the customers. This is achieved through the use of various tools available such as pricing through innovative means, initiating promotional activities which ensure that more and more customers come to use your services, broadening the base of channels used to generate the sales as well as engaging into effective public relation efforts so that all elements when combined deliver value to the organisation's stakeholders as well as the customers. This work will attempt to study and analyse the marketing communication techniques adopted by the organization as its effort to better place itself strategically against the competition and deliver value to both its customers as well as stakeholders besides ensuring that the organisation hold highest ethical values and social responsibility while working in an strongly service oriented industry. Analysis of Virginia Tourism Corporation The case study provided for preparing the analysis of the various marketing communication techniques relate to the Virginia Tourism Corporation. Virginia due to its natural beauty as well as historical context is considered as one of the most popular tourist spots in the country. It is very important to discuss here some of the basic characteristics of the Virginia state before discussing the various marketing communication techniques adopted by the VTC. Before discussing what is

Economics - Short Answers Essay Example for Free

Economics Short Answers Essay Answer #1 One of the problems that concern me right now would be the continuous increase of prices of petroleum products in the market which greatly affected my budget. Moreover, the said hike of oil prices causes our economy to perform badly for the past quarters which indirectly affects the prices of major commodities in the market like sugar, coffee, rice etc based from what I have read from the news papers and magazines. In this regard, oil price hike imposes negative externalities on our welfare –consumers. But to some extent, oil price hike also bring benefits to our economy in a form of forcing our federal government to find ways of providing alternative sources of energy aside from crude oil like bio-fuel. If it not for the price hikes of petroleum products in the market for the past decades, authorities would make no effort to find other sources of energy especially one that would serve as substitute for crude oil. After a few more decades, prices of petroleum products will start to decline as a consequence of emerging alternative sources of energy like bio-fuel as what I have said a while ago. Answer #2 One of the best examples of monopolists that currently exist in the market would be Microsoft Company. Microsoft Company serves to be the sole provider of Windows – software being used by almost all of personal computers around the globe. In this regard, the absence of other provider of Windows other than Microsoft makes the latter a monopolist catering for a large pool of buyers. Moreover, since Microsoft is the sole provider of Windows which we are all using nowadays, there is a great possibility for Microsoft to charge higher prices due to the absence of substitute goods for Windows. Furthermore, monopolists, because of its large market influence, can easily prevent new players to enter the industry of Software production giving them enough room to enjoy sole player in the market. Answer #3 Based from the negative effects that monopolists imposes not only to consumers but also to other market players, the federal government made necessary laws that would restrict the action of monopolists in the market creating enough way to protect the welfare of the consumers and other market players. One of the said laws could be the Anti-Trust Law. Anti-Trust Law is a bulk of laws that forbid unfair market competitions and anti-competitive behaviour of monopolists through illegalizing some practices of the latter that believed to hurt either or both businesses and consumers (U. S. Department of Justice, 1996). As for the case of labor monopolization of giant unions, I think we could also consider them as a source of potential negative effects just like of Microsoft as well as the misallocation of economic resources. The main reason here would be that, having a giant union monopolizing laborers in the market, there is a tendency that they will have a higher bargaining power on private firms of various industries, such as salary increase, which imposes negative effects on the operation of the businesses. At the end of the day, it is the consumers who will suffer from the actions of giant unions since the tendency of the private firms is to pass what ever the added costs they will incur from the said increase of bargaining power of labor unions. Answer #4  Another type of market structure aside from monopoly would be oligopoly. Oligopoly is a type of market structure wherein there is a few sellers and many buyers in market. As compared to monopoly, there exist market competition in oligopoly which improves the quality and quantity of goods and services in the market and so with the consumer welfare. One possible example of oligopoly would be Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart is a retail stores and tagged as â€Å"the Giant Store† which leads the industry of retailing due to its large size relative to other retail stores in the industry. The only down turn here in oligopoly would be the possibility of collusion between those â€Å"few sellers† in the market in order for them to minimize competition and have control on the price level in the market. The said collusion of oligopolists is called cartel and this act in the market just like a monopoly. This is the reason why federal government is keeping an eye on oligopolists to prevent such scenario since cartel is no difference with monopoly. Answer #5 Yes, the local phone service market, which was dominated before by Bell, has a great possibility of reaching competitive market due to the forces of competition. With the existence of competition, the local phone service industry members would have to compete to one another in order to attract more customers in terms such as higher service quality and lower price. Those improvements in the service quality and lower price of local phone service would make the said industry competitive since consumer welfare will surely improve; and at the end of the day, societal welfare will start to improve along side with the local phone service industry itself. Answer #6  One of the ways for us to determine if the product differentiation of competitive firms us wasted or not would be to know if the consumers possess brand loyalty which is the main target of differentiating product from one another. Product differentiation serves as the â€Å"identity† of any firm belonging to the competitive market and that identity will stand as the â€Å"brand† for the private firm. Now, if consumers in the market do not have the sense of â€Å"brand loyalty†, then, there is a big possibility that the product differentiation of private firms will be deemed unsuccessful in penetrating its target consumers. Answer #7  OPEC has been successful in controlling the production of oil since it has a bargaining power superimpose on the government of various countries that supplies oil in the market. OPEC determines the market demand and supply existing in the world market and either they increase or decrease the oil supply depending on the season, economic stability of their member countries and volume of supply of oil-producing countries to the organization, moreover, there are times that OPEC regulated the supply of oil for precautionary reasons like during the times of war and during the times of potential shortage in the coming period. The only negative effect of OPEC’s intervention on our welfare, especially during the times when they cut the supply of oil in the world market, would be the high prices of petroleum products on our domestic market. Therefore, the reason why there is existing oil price hike in the market would be either OPEC cut the supply of oil in the world market which creates pressure for the prices of petroleum products to increase, or because of the economic and political instability of oil-producing countries which creates threats for oil supply shortage in the world market. At the end of the day, consumers will carry the burden of that economic and political instability of other country through the intermediation of OPEC in the world market for petroleum products. Answer #8 The reason behind the success of Wal-Mart for the past years lies on its market share and size which provide rooms for further lowering down the prices of their goods relative to their competitors. Because of the large market size and share of Wal-Mart, they have been able to have more bargaining power to their suppliers in a form of price discounts since once Wal-Mart buys products to their suppliers; millions of volumes of goods are at stake. This is the reason why suppliers would want to supply Wal-Mart due to large volume of order that they can get once they were able to close a deal with the management of the Giant. At the end of the day, those price discounts that Wal-Mart was able to receive from their suppliers will give them enough room to further set the prices of their products lower as compared to their competitors, thereby, attracting more customers which eventually lead to experiencing high company growth in terms of profitability and sales volume.

Zidovudine for the Prevention of HIV Transmission

Zidovudine for the Prevention of HIV Transmission Introduction Zidovudine is an antiretroviral drug which is a nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor; it is used as treatment with other antiretroviral drugs against the Human Immunodeficiency Virus. Additionally, zidovudine can be utilised as a means of reducing the risk of transfer of HIV from a pregnant woman to her child. Furthermore, zidovudine is used in post exposure prophylaxis in order to lower the chance of being infected with HIV in people who have been exposed to the virus. (AHFS Drug Information, n.d.). Name Of Drug, Structure, Formula and Functional Groups Zidovudine is also known as azidothymidine and, in short, AZT (Joint Formulary Committee, 2010). The molecular formula of the compound is C10H13N5O4 (The Merck Index, n.d.) and zidovudine has a molecular weight of 267.25, as calculated using the ISIS ChemDraw package (Cambridge Soft, n.d.). Analysing the compound shows that zidovudine is made up of a thymine group bonded to a 2,3-dideoxyribose group with an attached azide group. Therefore the systematic name of zidovudine is 3†²-azido-2, 3†²-dideoxythymidine (The Merck Index, n.d.), as the oxygen of the hydroxyl group on the 3 carbon of the ribose ring has been removed, giving 3-deoxyribose, and has been replaced with an azide group and the oxygen on the 2 carbon has also been removed. The azide group on the ribose ring is the reason why zidovudine acts as a nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (AHFS Drug Information, n.d.). In order for zidovudine to carry out its role, it must be phosphorylated by an enzyme called thymidine kinase; this is due to the fact that reverse transcriptase includes the triphosphates produced into the HIV DNA chain being formed during HIV replication. Consequently, after the triphosphate has been included, 5, 3-phosphodiester bonding in the DNA chain is not possible, because of azide group in the triphosphate, and therefore DNA formation cannot continue (Foye et al, 2008). Formulations and Packaging The generic form of zidovudine is available as hard capsules (Electronic Medicines Compendium, n.d.) in two strengths of 100mg and 250mg (Joint Formulary Committee, 2010). Both strengths are packaged in foil blister packs and plastic bottles and need to be kept in these; they have an expiry date of 2 years from the date of manufacture (Electronic Medicines Compendium, n.d.). Zidovudine is also available under the brand name of Retrovir ® in the form of capsules, oral solution and injection solution (Joint Formulary Committee, 2010). All of the Retrovir ® formulations need to be kept below 30 degrees and in their original outer boxes (Electronic Medicines Compendium, n.d.). The capsules are hard capsules (Electronic Medicines Compendium, n.d.) in strengths of 100mg and 250mg (Joint Formulary Committee, 2010); they have an expiry date of five years from the date of manufacture and are packaged in a blister pack or a bottle (Electronic Medicines Compendium, n.d.). The oral solution consists of a 50mg in 5ml dose (Joint Formulary Committee, 2010) and is packaged in an amber bottle made of glass. The oral solution has an expiry date of two years from the date of manufacture but should be disposed of after the bottle has been opened for one month (Electronic Medicines Compendium, n.d.). The injection solution is available in the dose of 10mg per 1ml and is used for intravenous infusion (Joint Formulary Committee, 2010). It is packaged in a glass vial which is amber or clear in colour. The solution has an expiry date of three years after the date of manufacture however, once opened, it must be used straightaway and any remaining solution disposed of (Electronic Medicines Compendium, n.d.). According to Martindale: The Complete Drug Reference (n.d.), all the formulations of zidovudine need to be shielded from sources of light and need to be kept in air tight containers. Stereochemistry and Conformation As highlighted in the diagram drawn using ISIS ChemDraw (Cambridge Soft, n.d.), zidovudine has a total of three chiral centres and hence zidovudine has eight possible stereoisomers. The 1 carbon of the ribose ring is of the R configuration whereas the 3 and 4 carbons are of the S configuration (Novak et al, 2003). Zidovudine has a specific optical rotation value of +99 ° in water (Merck, n.d.) and hence rotates the plane of polarized light clockwise; consequently zidovudine is optically active (Freeman, 2010). Synthesis Zidovudine was made by Jerome Horwitz in 1964 (Weeks et al, 2010). It can be formed from thymidine, however, this is a costly method and therefore a more cost effective technique is used to make zidovudine on a large scale by using D-Mannitol as the starting compound (Saunders, 2000). The process has been drawn below using ISIS ChemDraw (Cambridge Soft, n.d.) with reference to Top Drugs (2000). In the first stage, a derivative of D-glyceraldehyde is formed from D-mannitol using acetone and a source of protons and refluxing. Lead (IV) acetate is then added. In the second stage a Wittig reaction is carried out and PH3P=CHCO2Et and methanol are added. In the third step hydrochloric acid is added, producing a lactone. In the fourth stage the lactone is protected and the azide group is added on through a Michael addition reaction. The reagents used to protect the lactone are t-Bu(Me)2SiCl, imidazole and dimethylformamide. The reagents for the Michael addition reaction are lithium azide, tetrahydrofuran, acetic acid and water. In the fifth stage the lactone is reduced to a lactol at minus 78 degrees using Diisobutylaluminium hydride and dichloromethane. The hydroxyl group is activated to form a sugar intermediate using acetic anhydride and pyridine. In the sixth step, Vorbruggen conditions are adopted and a condensation reaction is performed with the sugar intermediate and silyla ted thymine which produces alpha and beta anomers. The reagents are di-trimethylsilyl-thymine, trimethylsilyl trifluoromethanesulfonate and EDC. In the seventh step, the silyl protecting group is taken off and the anomers are uncombined to obtain zidovudine. The reagents used in this step are n-Bu4N+F- and tetrahydrofuran (Saunders, 2000). Drug stability: Potential sites of chemical instability and metabolism Zidovudine decomposes greatly in the presence of light because of the azide group and the product formed from the breakdown is thymine. This is because two nitrogen atoms are removed from the azide group, forming nitrene. An insertion reaction takes place and aziridine is made. Water, as a nucleophile, attacks aziridine. The amide anion formed causes the thymine group to be nucleophilically displaced and hence thymine is produced as the degradation product (Dunge et al, 2004). Therefore as zidovudine is mostly affected by light it is advised that the various formulations of zidovudine are kept away from light sources (British Pharmacopoeia, 2010). Zidovudine has a bioavailability of 63%. This is due to the fact that zidovudine undergoes glucuronidation, giving zidovudine glucuronide which is more water soluble than zidovudine due to a sugar group being added, and is renally excreted (Burton et al, 2006). UDP-glucuronyl transferease is the enzyme which catalyses the reaction (Veal et al, 1995). Zidovudine can also be converted to 3-amino-3-deoxythymidine due to the azide group being reduced (Veal et al, 1995); 3-amino-3-deoxythymidine can affect the action of zidovudine against HIV and is possibly toxic (Burton et al, 2006). Lipinskis Rules For Orally Active Drugs According to Clarkes Analysis Of Drugs And Poisons (n.d.) the Log P value of Zidovudine is 0.05 and the molecular weight is 267.25 as calculated on ISIS ChemDraw (Cambridge Soft, n.d.). Zidovudine has a total of two hydrogen bond donor sites and a total of nine hydrogen bond acceptor sites (Lipinski et al, 1997). As a result, zidovudine follows Lipinskis Rules of Five as it has a molecular weight of less than 500, a Log P value of less than 5, there are less than five hydrogen bond donor sites and there are less than ten hydrogen bond acceptor sites (Lipinski et al, 1997). As the Log P value of zidovudine is 0.05 (Clarkes Analysis Of Drugs And Poisons, n.d.) it can be seen that the drug is slightly polar. Zidovudine contains aromatic and large aliphatic regions which are hydrophobic; the polar character arises from the hydroxyl group, an amide region, an ether link and azide group, which are all hydrophilic regions. Therefore as there is a slight imbalance of more hydrophilic groups to hydrophobic groups, zidovudine is slightly hydrophilic and slightly polar and therefore is water soluble and has less affinity to cross the lipid membranes (Bichenkova, 2010). pKa and Ionization State At pH 2, 7.4 and 10 and Solubility According to the International Agency for Research on Cancer (n.d.), the pKa value of Zidovudine is 9.68 and hence it is weakly acidic. Using the equation for the percentage of ionization, which has been derived from the Henderson-Hasselbalch equation, I am able to calculate the percentage amount of ionization of zidovudine at various pH values. The equation used consists of: % ionization of an acid = 100/ 1 + antilog(pKa pH) (Freeman, 2010). At pH2, the equation will read % ionization = 100/ 1 + antilog (9.68 2). This gives the value 2.0910^-6 %. Hence it can be seen that in the stomach only a very small amount of zidovudine will be ionized and generally it will be largely unionized. The percentage of zidovudine unionized at pH2 is 99.99% and hence as zidovudine is highly unionized at pH 2, it will be absorbed from the stomach. At pH2 2.0910^-6% of zidovudine is ionized as the azide group can be protonated (Chemicalize, n.d.). At pH 7.4 the calculation gives a value of 0.52%. Hence in the blood stream zidovudine will be largely unionized as the percentage of zidovudine that is unionized in the blood stream is 99.8%. In the bloodstream 0.52% of Zidovudine will be ionized as the azide group can deprotonate (Chemicalize, n.d.). As zidovudine is largely unionized at pH 7.4, it can be absorbed from the bloodstream into the CD4 cells where it carries out its role as an antiretroviral (Foye et al, 2008). At pH 10 a value of 67.63% is obtained. Therefore in basic conditions, zidovudine is largely  ionized as the azide group is deprotonated and the amide group of thymine is deprotonated (Chemicalize, n.d.). The percentage of zidovudine unionized in the blood is 32.37%. Zidovudine is absorbed very quickly in the body (Burton et al, 2006) and this can be seen through the fact that zidovudine is greatly unionised in the stomach and blood stream and hence can quickly enter the CD4 cells in the blood (Foye et al, 2008). Conclusion As zidovudine has an azide group it is able to stop HIV replication (Foye, 2008). Zidovudine follows Lipinskis Rules and hence is well absorbed in the body (Lipinski et al, 1997). As zidovudine has a pKa of 9.68, the drug can be absorbed from the stomach as it will be largely unionised in the stomach. This is also the case for the drug in the bloodstream and hence zidovudine can be taken up quickly by the cells and carry out its role as an antiretroviral despite being slightly polar. The bioavailability of zidovdine is limited however by the fact that some zidovudine is glucuronidated and hence is lost; some zidovudine is also affected by the azide group being reduced as the product formed can affect zidovudines role as an antiretroviral and could be toxic (Burton et al, 2006). As zidovudine degrades in the presence of light, the drug is packaged in blister packs or plastic bottles and all formulations of the drug need to be kept out of light and in the packaging they came in (Electr onic Medicines Compendium, n.d.).

Wars Between Spain And France :: essays research papers

The wars between England and Spain was a shifting of power in Europe. A cause of the wars was the imprisonment and execution of Mary Stuart Queen of Scots. The Netherlands wanting to break away from Spain was a cause of the war. Elizabeth sending aid and troops to the Netherlands was another cause of the war. Mary Stuart was the direct heir of Scotland. She was a Catholic. Many people in England wanted to see Mary the Queen and make England a Catholic nation. This worried Queen Elizabeth and had Mary put under house arrest for nineteen years. There were many plots made trying to assassinate Queen Elizabeth involving Mary. The final plot called the Babington plot had enough proof to convict Mary and execute her. Queen Elizabeth knew the consequences this would create throughout the Catholic world. And this was the last straw between Spain and England. The Netherlands wanted to abolish the control Spain had over their nation. They wanted to get rid of the Spanish Inquisition. Two-hundred nobles, in the Netherlands, formed a league, and they petitioned King Philip II not to use the Spanish Inquisition. He refused and a revolt broke out. William of Orange led the united seventeen provinces of the Netherlands against Spanish authority. Queen Elizabeth lent aid to the Netherlands in their war with Spain. She sent over 6000 troops in 1585. Don Juan became the general of the Netherlands and planned an invasion. After Don Juan's death the Union of Utrecht was formed breaking the solid front of the 17 provinces of the Netherlands. When Spain tried to invade England they were defeated. The great Spanish Armada was beat by small, quick fleet of English and Dutch ships. English and Dutch pirates raid the Spanish ships also. The weather played a role in the war. A bad storm wiped out many ships of the Armada. England gained a great deal from this battle with Spain.