Effect of Stimulus Uncertainty Essay Example for Free

Effect of Stimulus Uncertainty Essay Participants The participants of the card sort experiment, were twenty-one psychology students enrolled in psychology 213W. Four of the students were male and seventeen of the remaining students were female. Students participated in this experiment to satisfy a course requirement. Setting The experiment took place in room 337, the experimental psychology lab room in the science building of Queens College, CUNY. Materials The participants used a standard deck of playing cards, which had 52 cards in four suits. Participants used cellular devices with 1 second precision, as time keeping devices and a pencil or black or blue ink pen to record data on a piece of paper. The internet based program VassarStats was used to calculate the T-Tests. Experimental Design A within-subject counterbalanced experimental design was used for this study (ABBA). In this design, each participant received each condition and served as his or her own control. The independent variable in this experiment was the method of sorting; condition A was a 2-sort alternative and condition B was a 4 sort alternative. The dependent variable in this experiment was the change in the response time, which was measured in seconds. Response time was the time it took the participant to sort all cards into corresponding piles, until the last card is on the table and no longer in the hand of the participant. The Null hypothesis in this study was the differing levels of the independent variable will produce no change in the dependent variable. The alternative hypothesis was the changes in the independent variable would result in changes of the dependent variable. Procedure The twenty-one participants divided into groups of two, because there was an odd number, there was a group of three. When groups were settled into their cubicles, one participant counted the cards, to make sure the deck contained 52 cards. Once the participant finished counting, cards such as joker and informational cards were taken out. The cards were than shuffled, three times, for randomization. Before the experiment could start, one student would take on the role as a participant and the other as the time keeper. The time keeper used their cellular device to time all 4 trials. Before the experiment could begin, the students counted the cards, to make sure that there were 52 cards. After counting the cards, a student used the bridge method to shuffle the cards. Each trial began when the time keeper said â€Å"go!† For all four trials, the experimenter timed the participant once he/she began sorting the cards and stopped the time once the participants hand was no longer hold ing the last card. Trial 1 (A), included the participant holding the deck of cards face down , and he/she must sort the deck of card into 2 piles, one pile being a black suit pile and the other a red suit pile. In between the trials, the experimenter (also the time keeper) shuffled the cards. Trail 2 (B), again, holding the deck of cards, face down, the participant is asked to sort the cards into 4 piles this time, one for each suit; diamonds, clubs, spades, hearts. Once Trial 3 (B) is finished, the cards are shuffled again and handed to the participant. Trial 4(A), is a repeat of trial 1, the participants had to separate the deck of card into 2 groups, by alternative color. For each trial, the participant was timed as to how long it took them to complete the sorting, for each trial. The results were recorded on a piece of paper. Once all four trials were completed the experimenter and the participants switched roles. The procedure was repeated for the new participant. After the data was collected, the groups, calculated their means. Results Sorting by color (M(mean)=48.33 seconds) was significantly faster then sorting by suit (M(mean)=66.43 seconds). The results were significant at t(-11.78), with p.0001. Figure 1 shows the means of the 2 sort groups and the 4 sort groups. The participants were able to sort the cards in condition A significantly faster than condition B. Therefore, we accept the alternative hypothesis and reject the null hypothesis. Figure Figure SEQ Figure \* ARABIC 1 The Y-Axis represents the averages of the groups. The X-axis shows the two types of sorting methods. Group means were lower for the color sort (2 sort), than for the suit sort (4 sort).

Victory Junction Gang Camp Fund-raising :: Fundraising Donations Organizations Essays

Victory Junction Gang Camp Fund-raising For four years now, it has been Kyle Petty's dream to build a camp in his son's memory for chronic and life-threatening illnesses of children from ages 7 to 15. Kyle and the NASCAR community have been fund raising for over four years to make this dream come true. Actor Paul Newman and Kyle and Pattie Petty are the founders of Victory Junction Gang Camp (VJG).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The beautiful, natural setting for the VJG is seventy-two acres of land nestled in a hardwood forest. The camp is located in Randleman, North Carolina, approximately fifteen miles outside of Greensboro. Nestled in the foothills of the Piedmont Triad, this site offers a forest with several creeks and woodland streams running through the property. Richard Petty donated the land to VJG.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  When the ground was broken, it cost 3.9 million. This is where the fund-raising begins. Kyle Petty has a charity motorcycle ride that he founded over ten years ago. He has ridden over 31,500 miles and has raised over 4 million dollars. To keep the camp running, it costs 2.7 million dollars a year.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The VJG has resources to raise funds, but it does take effort, time, and money to do this. Roshi Bull-Turner is the Development Associate of VJG, and it is her responsibility to manage the resources from the fund-raising events efficiently and effectively for the camp. This paper will look at the fund-raising aspects. Are there enough corporate donations to keep VJG running? Has VJG advertised enough for the employees of corporations to donate?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  According to Roshi Bull who is an advertising specialist with VJG, ?It was hard work raising the funds to build this camp. The hardest part besides raising money, was speaking to the corporations. The corporations keep the camp running by donating time, money, and goods.? Statement of Problem   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The problem of the study is to investigate the raising of funds to keep VJG up and running for terminally ill children. Corporations need more information on VJG in order to make the decision easier. It takes knowledge, time, and money in order to make this happen. Setting of Problem   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The setting of the problem is how to raise 24.4 million dollars to keep the camp running. VJG will enrich the lives of children with chronic or life-threatening illnesses by creating experiences that are memorable, exciting, fun, empowering, physically safe, and medically sound. This camp is located 15 miles outside of Greensboro, North Carolina.

How To Get Organized Essay

Organization is the key to success in any organization. Individual who are organized in their personal lives are more likely to be organized and efficient in their work place. An organized mind establishes efficiency in all areas of life. They create an organized work environment which leads to overall organizational success. Disorganization is characterized by unnecessary items that need to be grouped together, hidden out of sight, wasted thoughts, energy and time. It starts with an inward motivation to break away from states of confusion and disorder. As the personal assistant in the Elementary School, personal organization is very important in enabling school run its activities without conflict. This research paper aims at seeking ways of addressing the problem of not being organized as highlighted to me by those I constantly interact with. This can be by: avoided too many things in your head, having a work plan of what should be done in a given time, setting priorities right and setting adequate time on each, increasing efficiency in what need to be done through proper planning. The paper aims at identifying ways of improving personal organization skills such as good time management, creating enough space in the work place with the aim of avoiding disorganized and distractive work environment, appreciating the position one is in as a means of creating internal strength to keep on working, setting realistic goals and maintaining to stick to their time guide and at times delegating responsibilities in an attempt to avoid overworking. Its important to note that, failing to plan is in simple terms planning to fail. Self control and a focused mind are important in getting organized thus improving work output in an organization. HOW TO GET ORGANIZED Being organized is the first step towards being efficient and productive in what we do in life. Some of the main obstacles that hold people from getting organized include; Time Management Time managements the key to being organized. It’s important to first admit that I have made mistakes in managing time and work towards improving upon it. The easiest is to have a daily To Do List. The list provides a list of all the tasks to be done within the day such as phone calls to be made, purchases to be made and letters to be drafted, among other numerous activities. The list gives priorities at a glance of all pending jobs and their agency and helps eliminate miscellaneous pieces of paper work with job reminders. A daily planner, mainly a pocket notebook is the most preferred due to its easy portability. The To Do List should be reviewed on a daily basis and all the tasks successively achieved marked out and all items not accomplished for whatever reason transferred to the next day’s list. These items should be prioritized in the next day’s To Do List so as to avoided pushing them further resulting to pile up of unfinished jobs that make people appear disorganized even when they are organized. Dark markers can be used to reinforce major tasks. Several lists should be made for each day, week, month and if possible for a year. Put it back Organizing the work space ensures that all items not in use are thrown away or put it efficiently in storage at a clear and designated place. This helps you in determining the actual amount of space you have within the office, thus eliminating time and money wasted in organizing stuff you do not need. All items frequently used such as envelopes, stamps, stain removers should be easily accessible mainly on the working desk. It is important to set timers for how long an organizing task should take in an attempt to avoid doing a single task for a whole day and help in remaining focused. Once you have placed every thing where it belongs it is very important to develop the habit of placing every thing back to where they belong as soon as you finish working on them. All items with similar usage should be placed in the same place such as keys, phones, all pending jobs and finished jobs so as to eliminate time wastage while searching for items. Similarly combine all similar activities such as make all call at the same time, pay all bills and do all the errands and shopping in one trip. Honesty with Yourself. Incase you feel wasted and not proud of yourself in the position you are in presently, it important to have a realistic look at where you spend your time, way all the pros and cons and see if there is any opportunity to improvement. This gives the opportunity for personal reflection thus encouraging positive energy to take control which will lead to being organized. It’s important to determine what exactly you want to organize, rather than stating that am organized. Draft a list of all things you would like to organize such as schedules over a given period of time and ensure you abide by the list. Delegate responsibilities Delegating responsibilities to other people ensures all or most of the To Do List activities are meet. Doing everything by your self makes it hard to remain organized since you cannot meet all deadlines set out due to emerging pop-ups. Conclusion. Being organized is being in control of all the activities in our lives and the work place. If some aspects of your life are dissatisfying, it is good to get excited since you are aware of what you do not need in life. Create a time frame of when that must be achieved and strictly stick to it. References Bridges, C. Organizational Skills. (2000). [Online]. Available: http://www. at. bridges. com/20010108/skills/main. htm Bordenaro, B. (n. d. ). Being Organized in Not a Trait! [Online]. Available: http://www. ideamarketers. com/library/article. cfm? articleid=7414 Hemphill, B. (2001). Six Ways to Improve Your Office Organization Skills. [Online]. Available: ttp://www. frogpondgroup. com/articles. cfm? articleid=bhemphill04

A Company Profile Of Balfour Beatty Finance Essay - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 4 Words: 1200 Downloads: 6 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Finance Essay Type Narrative essay Did you like this example? Balfour Beatty provides world class services in infrastructure industry. They operate the lifecycle of infrastructure and have a strong position infrastructure markets. They have four brands in leading market-leading these are Professional services Construction services Support services Infrastructure services They provide main services in creation and care of infrastructure that includes investment, project designing, finance, management services, engineering, and construction services. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "A Company Profile Of Balfour Beatty Finance Essay" essay for you Create order Their main customers are in United Kingdom, Europe, United States, South East Asia, Australia, and Middle East. They deliver the highest level of safety, quality and technical expertise. Question No. 1 The companys gearing decision. You should also evaluate the gearing decision of the firm and comparing it with the theoretical and empirical evidences. Answer: Gearing: Gearing tells us about the relationship between the companys debt and equity shareholders funds. It expressed as a percentage and calculated by dividing the companys debt by its equity. Highly geared company means higher risk and means company unable to pay its large debts. There are several reasons of shareholders interest in gearing for example high gearing risk means that there is a risk on liquidation or insolvency, it increases the instability on dividends. If gearing is high then there is a low chance of receiving dividends is company liquidate. Credit agencies analyse very carefully in companys ratio before offering any loan because if company is highly geared they might not pay the interest. Calculation of gearing ratio: It compares the total borrowing of the company with amount of finance invested into the business. It shows the ratio of the capital raised through the borrowing. Following is the formula to calculate the gearing ratio: Capital employed financed means the total debt financed and share holders funds. Using this formula 25% gearing ratio means 25% of finance comes from debt finance and 75% from equity financed. Company is highly geared if 50% + of total capital comes from long term loan. Gearing Ratio of Balfour Beatty: Gearing Ratio Calculation years Non-Current Assets Current Assets Total Current Liabilities Non-Current Liabilities Total Equity Gearing ratio 2007 1673 1686 3359 2165 711 2876 483 147.205 2008 2378 2166 4544 2809 870 3679 788 110.4061 2009 2818 2576 5394 3044 1344 4388 1238 108.5622 Interpretation: Dividends policy Question no 2 The companys dividend decision. You should report on the companys current dividend policy. If the firm announced a dividend between 05/10/2010 and 09/02/2011. How did the market react to the dividend announcement? Compare and contrast yours selected companys policy to the theoretical and empirical evidences. Answer What is Dividend policy? A firm have different choices regarding dividend policy whether they pay to shareholders as cash dividends, how should be it distributed, and much the cash should be. In broader sense dividend policy also means to take the decision whether to distribute cash to investors via share repurchase rather than regular dividends. How dividend policy effect firms value? There are different views on how dividend policy affects companys value: Dividend increase shareholders wealth (Gordon 1959) Dividends are irrelevant (Miller and Scholes 1978) Dividend decrease shareholders wealth (litzenberger and ramaswamy 1979) Recent research from 1983 to 1987 done by cornell, Shapiro, prezas, ravid, says that there is a relationship between investment and financial decision investor stakeholders (suppliers, customers, banks, employees, distributers) influence the financial decision. Dividend policy of Balfour Beatty and reinvestment plan: Balfour Beatty aims over time to grow the dividend broadly in line with the growth in earnings, taking into account the investment needs of the business. The Board has recommended a final dividend of 7.2p in respect of 2009, giving a full-year dividend of 12.0p (2008: 11.1p adjusted), up 8% on last year. Underlying dividend cover for 2009 is 2.9, slightly lower than the cover of 3.1 last year but the Board believes that this is reasonable given the strength of the Groups cash reserves and future prospects. Balfour Beatty has a dividend reinvested plan which allows their ordinary shareholders to reinvest their cash dividends in companys share from through specially arranged share dealing services. Dividends paid over the years Financial Calendar of Balfour Beatty of 2010 Date Event 1 January Preference dividend payable 4 March 2009 Prelim announcement 21 April Ordinary: ex-dividend date 23 April Ordinary: record date 12 May AGM and provisional date for trading update 26 May Preference: ex-dividend date 28 May Preference: record date 1 June Ordinary: last date for form of election (DRIP) 1 July Preference dividend payable July Interim Management Statement 5 July Ordinary: payment date 11 August Half-year results announcement 6 October Interim ordinary: ex-dividend date 8 October Interim ordinary: record date 3 November Final date for DRIP mandate forms in respect of interim ordinary dividend 11 November Interim Management Statement 24 November Preference: ex-dividend date 26 November Preference: record date 3 December Interim ordinary: dividend payment date For 2011 Date Event 1 January Preference dividend payable 13 January Update on trading for year ended 31 December 2010 3 March 2010 full-year results announcement 12 May Annual General Meeting 17 August 2011 half-year results announcement Question no 3 The companys working capital management. By using appropriate ratio analysis evaluate your selected companys management of working capital. Where are its strengths and weaknesses? Compare and contrast with relevant theoretical and empirical literature. Answer Working Capital Management Working capital is a financial tool which helps to understand the operating liquidity available to the organization including government entity. Working capital measures the organization health and efficiency. If working capital of the organization is positive it means that company is able to pay its short term liabilities. But if working capital is negative its means that company is not able to pay its short term liabilities this could be dangerous for company and also affect its market value and share price. Ratios: A financial ratio is a key to understand the financial situation of the company. Most of the ratios are calculated from the information given in the financial statements. Financial ratio can be used by the managers to help in decision making that will help shareholders, creditors, and financial markets. It helps them to understand the strength and weakness of the company. If shares of the company traded in financial market the share price is also used. There are different types of financial ratios Profitability ratio Liquidity ratio Assets turnover ratio Financial leverage ratio Dividend policy ratio Profitability Ratio: It used to measure the companys used of assets and control over the expenses and generate a good rate of return. It measures the success of the firm on profit generating. Profitability ratios calculated as follows: 31/12/2009 GBP 31/12/2008 GBP 31/12/2007 GBP 31/12/2006 GBP 31/12/2005 GBP Profitability ratios Return on Shareholders Funds (%) 26.65 31.36 32.51 32.30 48.29 Return on Capital Employed (%) 11.36 15.56 13.15 12.78 16.32 Return on Total Assets (%) 4.95 5.94 4.67 4.85 6.29 Profit margin (%) 2.98 3.27 2.43 2.79 3.67 Gross margin (%) 8.72 7.66 7.33 8.16 7.69 Berry ratio (x) 1.38 1.39 1.20 2.04 1.80 EBIT margin (%) 2.39 2.17 1.21 2.76 3.41 EBITDA margin (%) 3.72 3.28 2.12 4.10 4.59 Liquidity ratio: It shows the firms ability to meet its short term liabilities and availability of cash to pay its debts. There are two types of liquidity ratio Ratios   2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 Current ratio (x) 0.85 0.77 0.78 0.80 0.90 Liquidity ratio (x) 0.81 0.73 0.75 0.75 0.86 Assets turnover ratio It shows that how efficiently a company uses its assets and generate revenue or sales for the company. Following is the formula to calculate it Financial leverage ratio: Dividend policy ratio: Dividend policy ratio tells about the dividend policy of the company and future growth. There are two different ratio method used to calculate this: Balfour Beatty Trading Update Results for 2010 Balfour Beatty plc will announce their trading results for the year ended 31st December 2010 on 3rd of March 2011. Trading: Their overall performance is regular with their plans. They book high quality book order of  £15 billion which shows the strength of their expertise in technical and integrated solutions. Operational performance: In professional services, performance is more then there