Sunday, November 24, 2019

Terra Amata - Neanderthal Life on the French Riviera

Terra Amata - Neanderthal Life on the French Riviera Terra Amata is an open-air (i.e., not in a cave) Lower Paleolithic period archaeological site, located within the city limits of the modern French Riviera community of Nice, on the western slopes of Mount Boron of southeastern France. Currently at an altitude of 30 meters (about 100 feet) above modern sea-level, while it was occupied Terra Amata was located on the Mediterranean coast, near a river delta in a swampy environment. Key Takeaways: Terra Amata Archaeological Site Name: Terra AmataOccupation Dates: 427,000–364,000Culture: Neanderthals: Acheulean, Middle Paleolithic (Middle Pleistocene)Location: Within the city limits of Nice, FranceInterpreted Purpose: Red deer, wild boar, and elephant bones and tools used to butcher animals obtained by huntingEnvironment at Occupation: Beach, swampy areaExcavated: Henri de Lumley, 1960s Stone Tools Excavator Henry de Lumley identified several distinct Acheulean occupations at Terra Amata, where our hominin ancestor the Neanderthals lived on the beach, during Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 11, somewhere between 427,000 and 364,000 years ago. Stone tools found at the site include a variety of objects made out of beach pebbles, including choppers, chopping-tools, handaxes, and cleavers. There are a few tools made on sharp flakes (debitage), most of which are scraping tools of one sort or another (scrapers, denticulates, notched pieces). A few bifaces formed on pebbles were found in the collections and reported in 2015: French archaeologist Patricia Viallet believes the bifacial form was an accidental result from percussion on semi-hard materials, rather than the deliberate shaping of a bifacial tool. The Levallois core technology, a stone technology used by Neanderthals later in time, is not in evidence at Terra Amata. Animal Bones: What was for Dinner? Over 12,000 animal bones and bone fragments were collected from Terra Amata, about 20% of which have been identified to species. Examples of eight large-bodied mammals were butchered by the people living on the beach: Elephas antiquus (straight-tusked elephant), Cervus elaphus (red deer) and Sus scrofa (pig) were the most abundant, and Bos primigenius (auroch), Ursus arctos (brown bear), Hemitragus bonali (goat) and Stephanorhinus hemitoechus (rhinoceros) were present in lesser amounts. These animals are characteristic to MIS 11-8, a temperate period of the Middle Pleistocene, although geologically the site has been determined to fall into MIS-11. Microscopic study of the bones and their cutmarks (known as taphonomy) shows that the residents of Terra Amata were hunting red deer and transporting the entire carcasses to the site and then butchering them there. Deer long bones from Terra Amata were broken for marrow extraction, evidence of which includes depressions from being banged (called percussion cones) and bone flakes. The bones also exhibit a significant number of cut marks and striations: clear evidence that the animals were being butchered. Aurochs and young elephants were also hunted, but only the meatier portions of those carcasses were brought back from where they were killed or found to the beach- archaeologists call this behavior schlepping, from the Yiddish word. Only claws and cranial fragments of pig bones were brought back to camp, which may mean the Neanderthals scavenged the pieces rather than hunted the pigs. Archaeology at Terra Amata Terra Amata was excavated by French archaeologist Henry de Lumley in 1966, who spent six months excavating about 1,300 square feet (120 square meters). De Lumley identified about 30.5 ft (10 m) of deposits, and in addition to the large mammal bone remains, he reported evidence of hearths and huts, indicating the Neanderthals lived for quite some time on the beach. Recent investigations of the assemblages reported by Anne-Marie Moigne and colleagues identified examples of bone retouchers in the Terra Amata assemblage (as well as other Early Pleistocene Neanderthal sites Orgnac 3, Cagny-lEpinette and Cueva del Angel). Retouchers (or batons) are a type of bone tool known to have been used by later Neanderthals (during the Middle Paleolithic period MIS 7–3) to put the finishing touches on a stone tool. Retouchers are tools are not typically as frequently found in European sites in the Lower Paleolithic, but Moigne and colleagues argue that these represent the early stages of the later developed technology of soft-hammer percussion. Sources .de Lumley, Henry. A Paleolithic Camp at Nice. Scientific American 220 (1969): 33–41. Print.Moigne, Anne-Marie, et al. Bone Retouchers from Lower Palaeolithic Sites: Terra Amata, Orgnac 3, Cagny-Lepinette and Cueva del Angel. Quaternary International  (2015). Print.Mourer-Chauvirà ©, Cà ©cile, and Josette Renault-Miskovsky. Le Palà ©oenvironnement des Chasseursde Terra Amata (Nice, Alpes-Maritimes) Au Plà ©istocà ¨ne Moyen. La Flore et aa Faune de Grands Mammifà ¨res. Geobios 13.3 (1980): 279–87. Print.Trevor-Deutsch, B., and V. M. Bryant Jr. Analysis of Suspected Human Coprolites from Terra Amata, Nice, France. Journal of Archaeological Science 5.4 (1978): 387–90. Print.Valensi, Patricia. The Elephants of Terra Amata Open Air Site (Lower Paleolithic, France). The World of Elephants- International Conference. Ed. Cavarretta, G., et al.s.: C.N.R., 2001. Print.Viallet, Cyril. Bifaces Used for Percussion? Experimental Approach to Percussion Marks and Functio nal Analysis of the Bifaces from Terra Amata (Nice, France). Quaternary International  (2015). Print.

Thursday, November 21, 2019

Journal Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 3

Journal - Assignment Example omic) and ethical (social)- create the transactions or flows which resolve market separations and result in exchange and consumption† (What is Marketing?). A skilled manpower has potential to raise the business in the market but if the skill is not sufficient to convince and persuade the customer’s need then the business finds it difficult to excel in the competitive market. With the advances in technology and development of communication skills, advertisements trends in markets are changing. The good marketing skill requires a deep understanding for the philosophy of the trend and also the customer’s requirement. Thus marketing concept encompasses the customer focused philosophy (What is marketing?). Futuristic view is the hallmark of the good marketing strategy. A successful business always gives a keen insight to the customer’s orientation and tries to cover long range of customers with deep and thorough understanding as well as anticipation of the requirements (What is marketing?). Advent of computerization and globalization in the marketing trends is changing the perspectives of the marketing. The world has come closer in terms of economics, availability of funds, availability of raw material and also the finished products along with the promotion of sales through advertising. This has raised the demands of the consumers and has given a new twist in the marketing strategies. The world markets are connected through internets and are updated about the latest trends (Has the Definition of Marketing Changed?). This has proved to provide both, positive and negative implications on the customers. Every business strive to provide helpful commodities to the customer, to prove its supremacy and dominance in the market they adopt different marketing strategies along with the price tags and various schemes and offers that were not prevalent in the past. Different companies endeavor different policies to retain their customers. This changing scenario is

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

Cost Accounting Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Cost Accounting - Essay Example The budget is not only the widely used instrument for managements planning but is also the fundamental accounting model of management control. The development of the budget requires the participation of many individual who are made responsible for the control of their planned costs within a company. The ever increasing use of standard cost provides a necessary measure of what cost should be. These standard costs permit an early preparations and presentation of short run cost reports to operating management and summary statements to executive and middle management, highlighting the deviations from planned goals. Standard cost should ideally be the integral part of budget in its preparation as well as its use as a control device. Cost accounting can assist management's levels in planning and control duties by providing information via analytical tools that express more vividly and forcefully multidimensional aspects of managerial problems. Break even analysis offers another method that permits managements to judge the over all plan on a pragmatic and convenient bases. The budget is one method of securing reliable and prompt information regarding the operation and control of an enterprise. When manufacturing are based on standard for material labor and overhead, a strong team of possible control and reduction of costs is created.

Monday, November 18, 2019

Online Dispute Resolution Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Online Dispute Resolution - Essay Example This paper will explain some of the advantages and disadvantages to the ODR scheme. One of the advantages of ODR over other dispute resolving methods, such as face-to-face arbitration, mediation and litigation is the cost factor.2 This factor is especially important, as many of the cyber disputes involve small dollar amounts. Many online problems would never be resolved if it were not for cost-saving. Inherent in this analysis is that the parties involved in the dispute do not have to hire attorneys, nor do they have to travel, which can add up to considerable costs in traditional dispute resolutions.3 Therefore, ODR has a great social implication, in that it ensures that everybody in the on-line world has access to justice. The prohibitive expense of litigation is a hindrance to this basic principal, because individuals without financial means cannot afford traditional litigation. But in the wonderful proletariat world of on-line dispute resolution, everybody has a fair shot in getting their disputes resolved, as the costs are minimal and attorneys are not necessary. It might be the great equalizer. Two different entities exemplify the cost-benefit analysis examined above: one is the WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center, which is the dominant dispute resolution service provider with the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Number (ICANN) under its Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP).4 This entity is basically the go-to service for individuals with a domain name dispute, and has resolved some 9,000 such disputes since its inception in 1999. The other method examined is the SquareTrade, which is an ODR method that predominantly assists buyers and sellers on Ebay.5 In the ICANN and UDRP systems, a complaint by a trademark holder is deemed served upon the holder of the domain name if it is sent to his registered e-mail address. If the holder of the domain name

Friday, November 15, 2019

Examining The IS System Of KFC

Examining The IS System Of KFC Purpose of the report: The Management of KFC Parramatta has requested an investigation regarding the use of their Information System in relation to their business decision making for competitive advantage and to make recommendations for changes and/or improvements as required. KFC Parramatta is one of the branches of a huge franchise that is famous worldwide. Being a fast food restaurant it faces competition from many other similar restaurants for instance Hungry Jacks, McDonalds, Dominos and every single restaurant be it small or big. Therefore their information system plays a big role in their decision making process and their competitive advantage over their rivals. Knowing how to make improvements in their business using information systems is a major advantage and it is what a the profitability of a business relies on (J.A Senn 1996). Many retail businesses lack an information system making it quite difficult for them to make critical decisions therefore their competitors have a complete advantage over them and in most cases the retail business loses many customers due to the lack of correct information. According to Tutor2u (2010) competitive advantage is an advantage over competitors gained by offering consumers greater value, either by means of low er prices or by providing greater benefits and service that justifies higher prices. Information systems help achieve this because they help the business know what is required and when it is required (Barney 1995) and by using this the business can make decisions such as how many staff to employ during a specific day for instance on Christmas; how much stock is required; what product to stock most; the average business profit during a certain period and its trend i.e. whether the business is going at a profit or lost and such information. The decision making process usually relies on the higher level management not the manager of the branch itself, however without information from the smaller branches it is almost impossible for the top level management to make a decision and thats why a good information system has to exist. Methodology: Taking the above information in mind a research was conducted on KFC Parramatta. A weekly interview was organised with one of the managers, Vinod Patel, mostly on Fridays and Saturdays just outside the restaurant. The information collected was carefully analysed and organised and some of it is presented in this report in the form of graphs and diagrams. Research site: KFC Parramatta is a local restaurant located at Westfield Shopping centre in Parramatta, New South Wales. Being a fast food restaurant, all they sale is food products such as chicken burgers, chicken nuggets, fries and other related products. It is very close to other food courts in the same area and faces a lot of competition from nearby fast food restaurants hance the need for a good IS system. Findings: From the interviews it was found that KFC Parramatta has an information system in place. The information system was used almost in all instances of the business. The following are the key areas where their information system is used: Recording sales data (the product sold, time it was sold , cost of the product, number of products sold and amount sold) Calculating the daily pay for staff members depending on their number of hours. Analysing the performances of the shift supervisor and other staff members ( this is done automatically in the computer where it calculates the total sales and divides it by the number of hours giving a sales per hour figure) Generating the daily, weekly and monthly reports on the performance of the business. It was found that the decisions are made in three levels and as follows: Operational level (store managers): they make the decision on how many staff to employ, assigning jobs to employees, responsible for the daily management of the business and they handle customer complaints. Middle level of management (area managers): they overlook the running of the stores and ensure that nothing is going wrong. Top level of management (executive managers): they are the ones that decide what product to remove from the market, what product to add to the market (as an example the manager illustrated the grilled chicken), at what price to sell it and where to locate new restaurants. Analysis of findings: The sales are done on cash or credit card basis but everything is automated. The cash process is simple and less time consuming as a staff member can easily take cash and give back the required change. The credit card sale basis is a little more time consuming but almost similar to the cash system. Additionally the staff member has to wait till the transaction is approved since the credit card has to be checked to see whether the customer has money in it or not. The order data (the product sold, time it was sold, cost of the product, number of products sold and amount sold) all goes into the server once it is approved and it is stored there. The staff members collecting the data from customers can only input data and once an order is placed modifications to the order can only be done by the authorisation from managers. This acts as a security measure and prevents the staff member from editing any data after it is approved. Another security measure was the existence of a safe to keep all the cash and every staff member is supposed to keep the cash in the safe once it reaches a certain amount. Additionally being located in a shopping mall there are security cameras and even security guards around and this helps keep surveillance around the restaurant. The data stored on the web server can only be accessed by managers of that store (operational level management), the executor management and the administrative level management since they are only ones that have a password needed to log in to access the data. Since the data is all being stored directly on the web server there is a rare chance of the data being inaccurate if any. Figure 1: An example of a monthly sales report of KFC Parramatta From the report it can be seen that KFC Parramatta makes more sales on Thursdays. One of the main reasons for this is because of the long hours they are open. This graph is just one of the few generated by their information system. Without the information system, it would be so hard to analyse data and make a sales graph and therefore it is important that an information system exists. Figure 2: An example of the business operation and decision making process Data is automatically recorded on to the main server Graphs Reports are analysed used to make decisionsuntitledj0196400 sales Data is automatically converted into: Daily, weekly and monthly Reports Stock reports Main problems with the system: Although the information system at KFC Parramatta is designed perfectly, there are minor flaws that could prove critical if not addressed. 1) One of them is the manual ordering of stock. Stock at KFC Parramatta is ordered twice a week on Tuesday and Saturday and this is done manually. The store manager counts the stock manually and orders as required. This leads to time consumption as the store manager has to manually count each and every box. Additionally, during the research it was also found out that during one of the busy days they had run out of stock for fries and chicken because the manager had forgotten to count the stock the day before and failed to place an order. This lead to delays with customer orders since they had to wait get stock from another store nearby. How did this affect the business? Many customers left angrily as they could not withstand the waiting delays. A few of the patient ones waited for an hour before they could get what they ordered. Loss of customers meant loss of profits and even a one hour delay in such a big restaurant causes a major crisis and leads to loss of profits. Located next t o many other similar restaurants, some of the customers even bought from nearby restaurants as they could not withstand delays. This meant the other restaurants gained a slight competitive advantage over them during that period. 2) Another key area is the preparation of the daily roster. The daily roster is prepared manually by the store managers. They do this by calling a team member and confirming their shifts for the next day. The problems associated with this? Firstly, every team member has to be called and this means an added expense. Moreover the roster is not available online and as one incident happened two team members may report for a single shift. Recommendations Figure 3: Example of automatic stock ordering systemKFC Parramatta should get there ordering system automated. They should monitor their stock using barcode scanners, how much goes in and how much goes out. When the stock goes below a certain level the system automatically orders stock. This would help them in getting their stock in time and before the need for it, keeping them on the safer side. According to me below is an example of what I would preferably implement something as follows: Estimated required stock (8 boxes) Current stock (8 boxes) System orders more stock (3 boxes) Stock goes below estimated required level (5 boxes) Additionally they should have a system where the rosters are prepared online and this way team members can see what day their shifts are on, plan their timetable from a convenient location, notify everyone of last minute changes and this way they can prevent many problems. This keeps the other team members aware of their duties and who they work with. Finally they should establish a customer relationship management system (CRM). CRM, or Customer Relationship Management, is a company-wide business strategy designed to reduce costs and increase profitability by solidifying customer satisfaction, loyalty, and advocacy (Reynolds, 2010) .In case a delay happens their customers are loyal to them. This can be established by bringing in a point system for instance buying at KFC Parramatta earns you some points and after you have collected enough points you get to select a meal of your choice and use your points to buy it. Conclusion In conclusion, KFC Parramatta has the potential of being the best restaurant in their area if they slightly modify their current information system. Adapting to some new changes in the information system, an automated ordering process and customer relationship management systems they can gain an absolute competitive advantage over their rivals. Using the information system wisely has lead to it being one of the supreme commanders and with a little more changes they can make decisions more quickly and accurately, and this can lead them to having more customers than other local restaurants. The automated ordering system will ensure they get the goods on time and with customers being loyal to them they can maximise their current profits. (2110 words)

Wednesday, November 13, 2019

Safe Alternative to Toxic Chemicals Used in Agriculture :: Environment Environmental Pollution Preservation

Safe Alternative to Toxic Chemicals Used in Agriculture    "Let the earth bring forth vegetation: every kind of plant that bears seed and every kind of fruit tree on earth that bears fruit with its seed in it. ‘And so it happened: the earth brought forth every kind of plant that bears seed and every kind of fruit tree on earth that bears fruit with its seed in it. God saw how good it was’" (Genesis 1:11-12). The world once consisted of a "Garden of Eden" where all was good and pure. Weather or not you believe in the Catholocists theory of how the earth was created is irrelevant. What we do know from research, technology, and tradition among cultures is that there was a period of time, in the beginning of time, where productivity did not rely on the "necessities" of a modern world. Although the world of technology has improved many aspects of the lives of humans and other fortunate creatures on this earth, it is also causing the destruction and extinction of other entities. The good earth that once occupied the land of this existing world is one of the unfortunate recipients of tragedy caused by the advancements of the improving world we live in. We live in an environment that is altered in every way by man. Every piece of material used each day is contaminated from humans trying to "improve" the normal lifestyle. This community we live in is no longer a natural one due to the products being used and the food being processed. Through the destruction of man, by man, an increase of deaths by serious illness has expanded. Humans should have reason to question the causes of these fatalities. The solution to this problem needs to be sought. It is pertinent that we educate ourselves and take interest in what is happening to the earth in order to ensure our future. The first goal that needs to be met is to determine and evaluate the chemicals that exist in the agricultural environment. Certain criteria such as evaluating statistics of illness and death caused by these chemicals, how government officials are regulating pesticidal use, and establishing alternative methods of living need to be included when evaluating this dilemma. The Industrial Revolution although a time of immense prosperity for the United States brought such inventions and chemicals to society that changed the world forever. The chemical and pesticide use on crops after World War I also contributed to the decline of the quality of