‘Of Mice and Men’ By John Steinbeck Essay

Its like my weekends never change, it’s like a daily routine being alone and cold with no one to talk to. Books, all I have is books, I read so much my head hurts sometimes. Line after line, headache after headache, in a way imp already used to it. It’s a Saturday night and all the men have gone to the whore house in town or should I say Suzy’s place. I wonder sometimes why I can’t go but it’s always the same because I’m black. Why would anyone want to dance with a black man? Why would anyone want to sleep with a black a man? Why would anyone want to drink with a black man? I’m just so alone. I actually got a bit of company today from a guy called Lennie. Lennie is a huge man, shapeless face, with large pale eyes, with wide sloping shoulders and he walked heavily, dragging his feet a little, the way a bear drags his paws. He came in while I was rubbing ointment on my back. At first I felt angry and that my rights were being invaded. I told him that he wasn’t allowed in but me being a black man and him being white it was like he had power over me so I let him in. A big guy like him and a crooked man like me I could have never stopped him. The only people that have entered my room are the boss and slim and when they have entered I have been powerless to stop them. Well, Lennie came in and I started to question him on his relationship that he had with George which realty intrigues me. I was jus talking and he was just laughing at me because he didn’t understand what I was talking about. I asked him what he would do if George never came back, what if George dies what would he do, but Lennie was adamant that George would be safe and that he was careful. He started to approach me and I felt so scared and small that I leaned back into my corner, I told Lennie that George would be alright and that he was safe. I didn’t expect Lennie’s response to be so aggressive. It jus shows how close Lennie and George are. I didn’t really want to upset him but I did, I just wanted him to feel how lonely my life is. I have no one to confide in and I only have my judgment to rely on. I explained to him that I jus kept all my feelings and my worries inside and that I start to feel sick because I have no one to express my emotions to. Lennie is so dumb to understand it felt like I was talking to myself for at least 10 minutes. I told him about my child hood with the company of my brother when we used to live on a farm and that my father didn’t like us paying with white children and that we had each other so we should play together. I didn’t think about what friends I had when I was younger but now I realize why my father told us not to play with them. I was telling him this because I wanted him to know what life was like for a black man but obviously it was like I was talking to myself again. After I had told him all of this I felt like I had made a friend and that all the stress I had kept in had gone out of my system. I didn’t feel so lonely after all but I had a gut feeling that by the time Lennie had gone I would be back to my old ways again. Lonely, depressed and in need of a friend. At that particular moment I felt really good about myself. About 10 minutes later Candy came in looking for Lennie. He looked really uncomfortable about coming into my room. I know that me and candy have been on the ranch for a long time but he has never come into my room. When he came in him and Lennie were talking about getting their own piece of land which Lennie had been talking about before. While candy was talking I was starring a him thinking about how isolated I am compared to everyone else who have lived in one room but with the company of each other. I joined in with their conversation about getting their own land, they were very convinced that they would get it but I thought different, I told them about all the other ranchers that have wanted the same thing but have never as far as a step to getting their own land. Even when they heard the stories of other ranchers they were still adamant that they would get it. I still disagreed with them, but when Candy told me how close and hard they have worked to get this land I gave up and asked if I could join them. I didn’t really have much future on the ranch so the thought of being free was very tempting. We were all very excited and then Curley’s wife came in as usual looking for her husband Curley. We all looked at her scornfully and didn’t take any notice of her when she spoke. She asked again if we had seen Curley and Candy told her to get out because she wasn’t wanted and that her husband wasn’t here. I kept myself quiet because she didn’t listen to Candy and she surely wasn’t going to listen to me. For a while it felt like we had united together to stop her from coming in, but she was still at the door peering in. Then I attempted to get her to go away but she came back with a vengeance saying that I should keep my mouth shut and that she could get me strung on a tree so easily. It was like she tore through my defence. Candy tried to defend me but there was no stopping her. We had to face it that we were powerless to stop her. Candy then told her that all the men were back from town and then she went in a flash. I felt so small that I crawled back into my corner again because I knew that what Curley’s wife was saying was true. There was no point in fighting back, that’s one thing I dislike about Curley’s wife is that she is always putting people down. By the time she had left George came back. I was staring scornfully at Candy and Lennie even though Candy had tried to defend me I had lost every bit of friendliness towards them. George looked at me like he could tell something had gone on. After a couple of minutes of awkward silence they were leaving, while they were going a told them I didn’t want to join them on their farm and George looked confused then they left. I went back to rubbing ointment on my back. I changed my mind about the farm because it just seemed odd for three white men to share a house with one black man. They could turn on me jus like Curley’s wife did and I didn’t want to take any chances, suppose they chucked my out where would I go I couldn’t get a job anywhere else because there is so much unemployment in California. There isn’t a lot of banks and I would be left without money for food, clothes and rent like the millions of other people in California. I had heard of farmers losing their land and the banks dispossessed their families and were left homeless. If a get left on the street I would be picked up and taken away and beaten or taken to a refugee camp. I would hate to be taken to a refugee camp because I don’t want to end up lining up in a big queue waiting for food. I like the ranch because I have my own room, I have lots of possessions and my room is neat and tidy, although it is next to the manure heap. I don’t like the ranch because I get left out and can’t join in with all the other games the ranchers play. I don’t have any regrets in life because before I got kicked in the back by the horse I tried to live my like to the fullest and the best way I could. Now they have all gone, I have time to reflect on what has happened tonight and my life. I have time to think about what I’m going to do tomorrow. I can read a few books if I please without being disturbed. If I had the power, I would make everyone have equal rights, all the white and black people not to fight and make them get along together. I would want everyone to have their own piece of land and that they could work under their own rules. Everyone to be happy and live life to the fullest, I would like there to be a rule that any black man could go into a whore house and have a drink any time he wants and not worry about getting criticized because of the colour of their skin and last of all I will make violence an offence and that anyone that engages in violence will be sent to prison.

Cloud Computing Pros and Cons Essay

Cloud computing is able to offer a distinct advantage to companies willing to move into this growing arena. This is not without its drawbacks. Even in the definition of Cloud Computing by the National Institute of Standards and Technology, (NIST) clear advantages exist. The definition includes the following terms: on demand self-service, ubiquitous network access, location independent resource pooling, rapid elasticity and measured service. Cloud Computing: Advantages On demand self-service is a hugely important aspect of cloud computing. It allows for individuals using the service to be able to use all of the functions immediately. This ties in with the advantages of network access where you can access the functions of the cloud computing system that you are using immediately, from anywhere, on any device. The rapid elasticity is also a major advantage of cloud computing as it can be updated at the core location and then this update transfers down to the individual users, so they do not need to have a significant change on their device. Cloud computing is able to offer many distinct advantages in the business environment. Cloud computing exists in two primary forms. The first of these is using a cloud computing service to perform functions within a business. This can either be done directly by a company, or it can also be done as an outsourcing operation to another firm. The second option is when cloud computing is used as a service that can be provided directly to firms for service or to general consumers for usage in day to day life, business or not. One huge advantage of cloud computing is the ability to reduce the overall IT costs by using cloud computing versus the current systems that use the huge amount of physical servers. Without cloud computing, the amount of physical servers, computer systems, and software systems pose a huge cost to any organization attempting to do business. Without cloud computing, physical software and hardware must be purchased and maintained so that the cost of having and maintaining an IT infrastructure is drastically higher than that of having cloud a computing system. Having a traditional IT infrastructure also requires the need to have a much higher amount of either IT professionals on staff or to outsource IT professionals from another firm. This labor expense is drastically reduced in that either the entire cost is outsourced to a firm that preforms all of these operations. Cloud computing allows for a significant drop in costs from both the increased efficiency it brings in having the lowered capital cost of computers servers, and other network connections. Another way in which cloud computing is an advantage is that it is scalable. Companies or individuals using the services of a cloud computing network pay for the amount that they use. This allows for this to be a more accessible source for small businesses, which makes it an effective for both buyer and seller. Large companies also use cloud computing, as it allows them to save so many of above mentioned resources. Cloud computing also brings into effect one huge factor: Accessibility. You can use cloud computing form any device, anywhere. You do not have to install the software onto the device that you’re using. Cloud computing allows for employees to work away from work. This is not only on their home machine either. Cloud computing allows for accessibility from mobile devices, all computers connected to the internet, and anything else you can access the internet from. Cloud Computing: Disadvantages Cloud computing is a great resource that is able to change how business operate, but this does not mean that it is perfect. Cloud computing is a new system, and many people do not fully trust it. One problem that some subscribers face the possibility that if the system crashes, then your entire business could be left without usage to that service for however long this would occur for. This has huge ramifications as with a software system that is installed on all devices, if one device when down, there was only a localized problem. In using cloud computing, especially if for multiple applications, the entire service goes down a business could be without an entire series of applications necessary to their day to day function for however long it takes to get the system up and working. This, especially if utilized on a large scale, could cause massive issues. Another issue with cloud computing is how protected is your data and what happens to your data if the company you subscribe to no either goes out of business or if you no longer subscribe to them. Additionally, some uses do not like becoming dependent upon cloud computing, prescribing to the â€Å"don’t put all of your eggs in one basket† Additionally, the issue of privacy of the information bothers some, as giving all data to a company that shares data with many other companies, some of which could be competitors, could end up causing a fear of privacy. On that note as well, companies may also worry about the unethical usage of their information. The potential problems of cloud computing all mostly deal with the negativities associated with cloud computing. The first of these is the system crash. This is the most difficult problem that cloud computing faces, and it leads to a great deal of problems. The best solution would be to have some backup form in place, possibly that would run partial processes so users would not be totally left out by this problem The second problem that can be associated with cloud computing is the problem of data storage when outsourcing cloud computing to another firm. The primary way to avoid this would be to have a local back up source. This would increase the cost somewhat, but it also allows for you to have insurance that your data would not be lost. The third and final major issue with cloud computing is privacy. The maid way to implet pricacy is for the host system to be in proper working order, and to have regulations maintaining that it is ethical. Overall, cloud computing is a revolutionary ability that can change the ways companies do business and MIS. Cloud computing does have its draw backs, but they are far outweighed by the possibilities that cloud computing presents.

Auditor Crazy Eddie

Auditor Crazy Eddie Question: What specific mistakes (apart from failure to notice â€Å"red flags†) did the auditor make? For each mistake, describe what the auditor should have done. If you were the Managing Partner for the CPA firm and had full knowledge of all the facts and events in this case, what changes in policy or procedures would you implement to make sure this audit failure does not occur in the future? The Crazy Eddie’s financial statements had many fraudulent over and understatements done in many ways that the auditors should have caught. They created fictitious revenues by a number of means. They prepared phony invoices showing sales which overstated their revenues to show the company was growing faster than they actually were. Their vendors collaborated in the fraud by lying to the auditors when the auditors attempted to confirm some of these receivables. The auditors were not diligent when they verified these invoices. They should have probed further into the vendors to v erify that these sales occurred. They also should have understood the relationship between Cray Eddie’s and their vendors to understand if there were motives for fraud. They overstated their assets by overvaluing inventory. They would borrow merchandise from suppliers to inflate the ending inventory. The suppliers would ship the merchandise to the Crazy Eddie’s stores and hold the billing until after the end of the accounting period. The employees of Crazy Eddie went to great extents to deceive the auditors. They would move inventory to the stores or warehouses that were being audited to conceal the shortages. The auditors should have caught that the merchandise was not billed and understood what accounts they charged in the books when the merchandise was received. Another means of overstating the inventory was they shipped inventory from one store to another store so it could be double counted. This should have been caught by the auditors by having the entire inventor y verified in parallel. The employees included in their inventory consigned merchandise and goods being returned to suppliers. This could have been found by understanding the details of Crazy Eddie’s inventory. The auditor should have identified the consigned merchandise and goods being return to separate it from the normal inventory. Crazy Eddie used the accounting periods to overstate assets and income. They held off closing the books past the end of the accounting period to overstated assets and income by boosting sales. The other means used was to reduce liabilities and expenses by not recording them until the next period. The auditors should have verified books at the end of the accounting periods to make sure that all transactions were recorded. The auditors needed to verify the transactions around the end of the period to verify their timing accuracy. Another category of fraudulent activities was when they were completing their financial statements. They didn’t adequately disclose facts in the financial statements according to GAAP. The footnote during one period stated that certain income was recognized when received and the following period disclosed that income was recognized when earned. The auditors should have added an explanatory paragraph or a modification of wording for lack of consistent application of GAAP.

Autobiography Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Autobiography Paper - Essay Example The class meetings provided me with an opportunity to reflect upon my beliefs, attitudes and values with regards to sexuality. Specifically, the discussion on love and communication in intimate relationships enabled me differentiate the types of love I have for different people. The difficulty in coming up with a universal definition of love made me appreciate why I always find it difficult when my love partner asks me to define love. As noted, love has numerous varied meanings to different people. To me, I know I am in love with the person that we deem to be in a relationship because my heartbeat rises when we meet in addition to getting elated, excited and a feeling of ecstasy. This is what Crooks and Baur (2012) define as passionate love. However, this passion has been slowly declining but I just realized that I am getting so intimate, perhaps in line with Sternberg’s triangular theory of love. From our interaction as students, it is common to get attracted to someone of the opposite gender, though at times I have witnessed my peers of the same gender being attracted to each other. This is particularly so during leisure, say for instance during sports. I have always believed that sexual arousal comes from what we see. Vision causes one to be attracted to what they consider good-looking, the initial process to sexual arousal. However, it came as a surprise to me when this course offered a scientific meaning to this, further arguing that it takes all the five senses for sexual arousal to occur. It could therefore be vision or any of the other four or even a combination of more than one of these senses. Thus, even touch, smell, hearing and taste could result in sexual arousal (Crooks & Baur, 2012). This understanding has made me appreciate that looking good alone is not enough to attract the person I am attracted to. I would probably have to encompass aspects of saying the ri ghtful things, smelling good and even being tender

Research report explainin a recent innovation in your area of intrest Paper

Report explainin a recent innovation in your area of intrest or expertise - Research Paper Example Google provided the platform of using android in cell phone (Jackson 6). The top ten android phone available in India are LG-G3 , Sony Xperia Z3 , HTC One M8 , Motorola Moto X , HTC One E8 , Sony Xperia Z3 (compact) , Samsung galaxy S5 , LG Nexus 5 , Oppo Find 7a , Xiaomi Mi3. Android mobile phones are the most powerful and the only big competitor of apple I phone. Android have become so powerful that it provides the customers to customize the operating system as per their requirement. The android phones are tested and checked by the digital test laboratory before it is introduced in the market. Android has undergone a lot of improvement and several updates were done to improve the operating system. It has also included new additional, features for its customers. HTC has joined hands with Google to launch the first nexus smart phones in collaboration with Google. Google have considered or announced Nexus and smart phones as their flagship product. Android possess the ability to run the operating system which leads to the changes in the default launcher. Android has facilitated the user for quick downloading, installing, removing and updating the applications from his/ her own devices (Murphy 35). Android has become a part of our life, since it operates on battery. Android is designed in such a way so that the consumption of power will be minimal. When working on the android is stopped, the operation cannot be performed but the application is open. Android has the quality of managing, storing and maintaining the memory automatically even when the memory of the device is less. It will automatically delete or remove the applications that are used rarely and it helps the user to maintain all the data automatically, sometimes the valuable application may get deleted. Open Handset Alliance is the main development and beneficial for the developers of android. Open Handset alliance allows or facilities the developer to spread

Respond to 4 students with no more than 60 words with 2 references Coursework - 1

Respond to 4 students with no more than 60 words with 2 references each - Coursework Example This made it possible for the author to convince the reader on the merits and demerits associated with each kind of level of measurement (Manheim, Rich, Willnat, & Brians, 2008). With that, decision making for researchers became much easier when it comes to the selection of measurement of validity for individual researchers (Reynolds, 2007). A major shortfall that characterisitcally shows up with reference to the author’s work has to do with the fact that not much background was given to the various levels of measurement of validity, namely nominal level, ordinal level, interval level, and ratio level (Frankfort-Nachmias & Nachmias, 2008). This not withstanding, much work was done by the author in giving a generalized background to research situations where the need to measure validity is more useful and this was sighted as quantitative study (Garger, 2010). Garger, J. (2010). 4 levels of measurement in social science.Methodology. Retrieved September 23, 2012 from http://johngarger.com/articles/methodology/4-levels-of-measurement-in-social-science-research Clearly, the author was more emphatic on some of the levels, particularly, the nominal and ratio than others. As this was done, it would have been more appropriate if specific instances where researchers could best use these two levels were also discussed into detail. Though much detail was given on the merits of the nominal level (Frankfort-Nachmias & Nachmias, 2008), not much specification was done for researchers who would want to settle on this type measurement to test the validity of their works (Farcao,

Discussion Questions_Service Operations management Assignment

Discussion Questions_Service Operations management - Assignment Example As a regular client, I did not expect to be served after one hour and forced to eat a cold food in a company of strangers with whom I was told to share a table. This was a disservice that not only affected me, but also affected the waiter and the hotel as a whole. After recording a complaint to the manager, the waiter was warned. It was a bad experience that really damaged the repudiation of the hotel. I realized that this happened because of lack of proper coordination in the hotel. The poor management of the hotel was to blame for it. So, to eradicate such problems, I would like to suggest that Hilton Hotel should have a strong team of motivated supervisors to monitor the activities of the staff (Allen, 2001). All the cooks, chefs, waiters and serves should not be fatigued, but be properly remunerated so as to motivate them to deliver their best services to the hotel’s

Psychology Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Psychology - Assignment Example Psycho-analytic theory of personality says that our personality is the product of unconscious drives, while behaviorist theory proposes that a person’s conditioning develops his or her personality. But humanistic theory of personality speaks on the importance of self growth and self actualization. It gives freedom for the persons to choose, while other theories are of the view that we are limited in many ways. This is the reason for choosing this idea and this theory changed my attitude that every individual has his or her freedom that would bring self growth and self actualization. The father of modern psychology Sigmund Freud has identified eight stages of life span in the theory of psycho-analysis. They are prenatal, infancy, early childhood, late childhood, adolescence, early adulthood, middle adulthood and late adulthood. It speaks that every individual belongs to each stages. Prenatal stage of development is the state from conception to birth. Infancy, which is the second stage, ends up with eighteen months. Early childhood is from eighteen months to six years in which the cognitive development of a child occurs. Late childhood starts from six years to thirteen years in which the child becomes sexually matured. The stage of adolescence is between thirteen years to twenty years. Early adulthood stage begins from twenty years to thirty years in which the individual’s important things in life are getting over such as marriage, rearing children etc, Middle adulthood starts from thirty years and ends up at the age of sixty five. The last stage, which is known as late adulthood, is above sixty five. As far as this life span is concerned for each individual, it is very important and each one of us goes across these stages. The personality of a person is influenced by the cultural and social atmosphere around the person. Difference in family context

New product Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

New product - Research Paper Example This pricing strategy allows the business to attract customers through using persuading the customers emotionally in terms of the pricing messages (Schlag & Schade, 2003). The business set the prices of their offerings at prices points that seem unusual which makes the customers feel that the prices offered are los. For instance, more consumers will go for the products with prices set at $29.99 rather than $30. This pricing strategy will attract the customers who usually look for value of the product. The preference of this method is due to the chance that if gives to the business allowing it to attract more customers without changing the content of the product. This pricing strategy allows the business to adjust pricing in favor of the customers with reference to variety of circumstances. The differential pricing may come in form of discounts coupons or rebates. The discounts will increase the number of customer since it attracts those who might not be able to afford the original price. The differential pricing serves as a form of incentive to the customer since it relieves them of the supposed high prices. This is a pricing strategy used by firms, which would like to sell different products in the same product range and at different prices points based on the features and benefits (Smith, 2012). It is suitable for the business since it would like to offer mobile grooming services that always come with multiple products. Mobile grooming is the primary while other product arises from this such as maintaining friendly environment for the pets. This strategy is suitable for Pyramid Solution business since it involves the firm being flexible in their prices (Smith, 2012). This pricing strategy allows the business to reduce the price of offering in the quest of attracting customers. It applies to almost all existing industries hence it will be suitable for the business. Road transport involves the use of the motorway network to transport goods to

Business Project Dissertation Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5000 words

Business Project - Dissertation Example The company is also known for its innovation strategies, such as ThinkPad. The company currently employs a total of around 27,000 employees worldwide. The company sells its products in nearly 160 countries and specifically targets the technological markets by way of manufacturing various innovative technology products, which outsells in the market as compared to many of its competitors. The company has been able to gain all round market recognition and popularity. The products manufactured by the company are considered to be of high quality and is widely sold in the global market. The company has also been able to establish itself as a well-known brand in the global market (Schuman, 2009). This paper entails a detailed study about the key factors concerning about the company’s competitive position in the global marketplace. The industrial position acquired by the company in the present marketing scenario, along with its past performances will also be reviewed in the further di scussion of this paper. The discussion in this paper will also encompass various subjects relating to cross-cultural issues that persist in the working environment of Lenovo. The project will highlight upon all those factors that will represent the company’s current position in relation to various aspects, such as balancing pressures that occur while managing different activities in a large-sized multinational company including marketing and sales, financing activities, supply chain processes and other activities related to administration and support. The report will also emphasise various activities relating to the corporate social responsibility of the company performed to suffice the need of the overall society. It will also highlight those factors, which relates to the profitability of the company and the various procedures that the company can follow in order to raise the profitability and also for fulfilling the demands of the consumers. This paper would thus provide a great aid to acquire a detailed outlook about the actual operations and management policies of the company and help in assessing the actual position of the company in terms of various factors including its financial position, output ratio, level of competency along with its market positioning among various other factors. Chapter 1: Lenovo’s Competitive Position in Its Various Markets In this section, all those aspects that are associated with the competency levels of the company in the global markets will be studied. This part will rigorously analyse the company’s present position and the degree of its stability, as compared to the other players of the global consumer technology industry. From a generalised point of view, reviewing the current trends in the global consumer technology industry, the company is seen to have a favourable position. The company is a renowned business firm with a huge customer base. Reviewing the strategies of the company, it can be observed that Lenovo’s organisational leadership framework is well versed with the demands of the customers, moving in parallel to the ever increasing demands and following numerous processes of advancement in the features of its products. Accordingly, the company has

Pipeline Systems Essay Example for Free

Pipeline Systems Essay Drawbacks of the Pipeline for Alberta Oil mining is the pillar industry in Alberta and building pipeline system is the most efficient way to transport oil into other areas. However, whether pipeline systems are appropriate technology has been debated for many years. Appropriate technology means the ‘technology that is designed with consideration to the environmental, ethical, cultural, social,political, and economical aspects of the community it is intended for. ’ [1] Many people believe that the Conduit System pipeline is not appropriate technology. The reason is that though it is profitable , it decreases the motivation of developing new environmental-friendly power systems. Also some of the First Nations think it is so ridiculous to sell the precious resources which is given by our ancestors and nature. Moreover it is not a environmentally beneficial system. This paper will support the point of view that the conduit system is actually an inappropriate technology by illustrating examples in such three perspectives. In the first place,the project is certainly â€Å"a tremendous display of the short sighted thinking†[2] because it only thinks about the short-time economic gain without considering the environmental problems. Also the construction of Pipeline system decreases the motivation of developing new environmental-friendly power systems. Once the conduit system pipeline is built up,more and more companies would follow and build more of the pipelines, since it is a profitable and a most easy way to transporting oil. However, once the pipelines are set up, the companies has to run it rapidly, otherwise the construction cost would never be recovered. Under this situation, it limits the sustainable economy development . Thus the construction of pipeline system are strongly discommended. Furthermore, the conduit system pipeline leads to disagreements and conflicts with the Canadian society, especially between the First Nation and the government. Every individual and social group has their own belief and way of life. We do not support this pipeline project. We believed that the project has the potential to harm our environment ,as well as our way of life. We hope that our voice is heard and taken into consideration. †[3] said by the First Nations leaders. It contradicts the economy growth valued by the Conduit company, as well as the government, therefore confits appears. Therefore, it is obvious that the Conduit company pipeline would trigger dispute between First Nations and other social grou ps. Lastly, it is not environmentally beneficial for the human race to build the pipeline system in the long term. Oil spilling is a serious challenge for oil transporting industry, especially for long distance pipeline system. The Enbridge oil spill [4] is a strong example, over 190000 liters oil seeped out. The impact of oil spill is catastrophic. Carbon dioxide will be released to atmosphere increasingly, the green-house-effect will be more serious. At the same time the eco-system will be ruined, the fields can not be grown in 10 years or more. It is a disaster for both human and nature. â€Å"An oil spill from this pipeline will have major media coverage, which would effectively destroy Canada’s reputation. †[5] said the politician. Furthermore the oil of Alberta is non-renewable energy resource, it can not be produced in thousands years. Though the pipeline system is the most efficient way to transport the resources, what we can leave to our next generations if the oil is exhausted. Overall, it is obvious that the conduit system is actually not an appropriate technology for Alberta. According to the examples and analyses above, the pipeline system is a immature technology which creates social conflict,damages the planet and leaves even more environmental issues to the younger generations. [6] Consequently, the applying of the conduit system still needs more consideration. (1)Engineers Without Borders -Case Study Conduit Systems https://eclass. srv. ualberta. ca/mod/resource/view. php? id=551299 (2)http://www. cbc. ca/news/canada/story/2012/07/28/enbridge-wisconsin-spill-pipeline-closed. html (3)Engineers Without Borders -Case Study Conduit Systems https://eclass. srv. ualberta. ca/mod/resource/view. php? id=551299

Statistics and Computing Essay Example for Free

Statistics and Computing Essay 1.0Introduction This report will cover the distribution of final exam results for BSB123 and what factors influence the results. Factors that will be considered are the gender of the student, whether the student is studying a double or single degree, the results from the weekly quiz’s and the grade achieved on the mid semester report. The presence of outliers will be determined to help analyse the accuracy of the data. There are an infinite number of internal and external factors that contribute to the outcome of a single exam result. Beaty, Barling (1982) explains how factors such as stress and anxiety can contribute to low test results and they give several self help solutions of how to boost ones success. This report will focuses mainly on quantitative data that can be easily analysed and allows for clear observations to be given about the correlation each evaluated factor has on the final exam result. 2.0 Outliers The first step in analysing the data is determining if outliers exists within the data. The presence of outliers must be evaluated because their existence could distort the data and make it inaccurate. In order to determine if outliers exist the average and standard deviation must be calculated in order to calculate the Z score, which will show, wither or not outliers exist. In this instance to outliers where found present in the data set as all of the data fell within the +3,-3 range, the largest positive outlier was 2.46 and the largest negative outlier was -1.90. It is important to note the even if any outliers where found they would not necessarily make the analysis more accurate as (Baragona, Battaglia, Poli, 2011, p. 159-197) explain it all depends about the interpretation of the data. 3.0 Distribution of final exam results This section shows the varying levels of final exam results from students in BSB123. The figure below shows the different grades from the 705 students. They are represented using a bar chart. Figure 1.0 The distribution shown here is a simple measurement of how the exam results are distributed among the students. The data is an asymmetrical right skewed or positive distribution of 0.46. The greatest amounts of score are seen in the right tail above the mean with a much smaller amount of score being observed in the left tail. If an understanding of the data is to occur an elementary approach must be taken. If all of the 705 final exam scores are averaged we can see that the average score is 28.51 with is anything but impressive. The box plot below shows the Min, Q1,median, Q3 and the Max Figure 2.0 4.0Bivariate Analysis This section will discuss the possible factures that may have an effect on the student’s exam results. The following factors and there impacts will be analysed, they are the gender of the student, wither or not the student is in a double degree, there quiz results and there report grade. Let’s begin. 4.1Gender It can be seen from the data that there is at best a marginal difference in the way that gender affects the final exam results. The covariance between the too only varies from 0.16 to 0.11 the difference is less than one therefore it is seen as insignificant. Figure 3.0 The difference in the distribution seen here has no impact on the final exam results therefore the next factor will be analysis in on the next page. 4.2Double Degree The impact of whether or not the student is taking a double or single degree offers some helpful insight for the first time in this report this report about what if anything is influencing the student’s final exams. Figure 4.0 The graph above shows a noticeable difference in the exam outcomes between  the two groups. The students what where enrolled in a double degree scored somewhat higher than the students that where only undertaking one degree. This may be to the fact that they are more focused and probably not working full time or even part time. We will continue our analysis on the following pages by looking at academic factors within BSB123. 4.3Quiz Results Analysing the effect that the weekly quiz results have on the final exam results can help to understand if high quiz results mean high exam results. Figure 5.0 The data in the above scatter plot shows that there is a correlation between the quiz results and the exam results. R ² = 0.536, which indicates that about 54% of the variation in the average of the quiz is accounted for the linear relationship with the exam results. In other words, about 46% of the variation is not explained by the least-squares regression line. 4.4Report Results The last exam factor that will be addressed in the bivariate section is the impact of the results from the mid semester report on the exam results. Figure 6.0 The correlation between the report results and the final exam results in not over whelming storage. The trend line in the graph can be seen as slopping upward from left to right showing that. It can be seen that the majority of students that achieved well on the report also achieved well on the exam 5.0Trivariate analysis Trivariate analysis compares tree factors against each other in order to help better understand the exam out comes. 5.1 Degree vs. Exam Quiz Figure 7.0 Figure 7.0 states that students who are doing a double degree achieve higher marks compared to the students who are doing a single degree. On average it  can be seen that over all quiz results do not have a significant impact on the outcome of students final exam results, on the other it can be seen that double degree students outperform other students at an average of 4.61%. Correlation for single degree student are 0.514 which is 51% of the variation compared to correlation of double degree students are 0.578 which is 58% of the variation. Further information relating to this discussion can be found in the appendix labelled figure 2.0. 6.0 Conclusion After the brief analysis of the exam results it can be seen that some of the factors discussed do impact the exam results while others do not. The data set was seen as having a right skewed distribution with no outliers. Gender appeared to have no impact on the exam results. Students in a double degree average a score of 4.61% higher than other students. Quiz results showed a good indication of what a student’s exam results would be. The report results had almost no bearing on exam results. This report although brief has offered some insight into what factors impact final exam results for student’s studying BSB123. References Beaty, D. Barling, J.(1982) Positive exam results—Without stress Retrieved from: http://www.sciencedirect.com.ezp01.library.qut.edu.au Baragona,R, Battaglia, F, and Poli, I. (2011). Evolutionary Statistical Procedures: Statistics and Computing, (pp 159-197). Retrieved from: http://link.springer.com .ezp01.library.qut.edu.au

Evaluation Methods in Empirical Economics

Evaluation Methods in Empirical Economics Evaluation methods in empirical economics fall into five broad categories; each provides an alternative approach for constructing the counterfactual. Alternative evaluation methods depend on several criteria like; a) nature of the program i.e. whether the program/policy is local or national, small scale or global, b) nature of questions to be answered, and c) nature of data available (Blundell and Dias 2000). Heckman et.al (1997, 1998a,b) showed that data quality is also a crucial ingredient for the determination of the appropriate estimation strategy. Both in the case of large scale and small scale impact evaluation work, randomized assignment is often used. It is a fair allocation rule. Because the program manager ensures that, every eligible person or unit has the same chance of receiving the program. When the observation will be very large, any characteristic (either observed or unobserved) will flow through treatment and comparison group; if they are created through randomised assignment. An evaluation is internally valid; if it uses a valid comparison group; and when the impact estimated in the evaluation sample can be generalised to the total population, that evaluation will be called externally valid. Randomized assignment is used, when there exists excess demand for a program and when a program needs to be phased until it covers the entire population. (Gertler et.al 2011). In the Progresa program, where cash was transferred to poor mothers in rural Mexico for their children’s enrolment in school; Schultz (2004) based on the randomized assignment found that, educational grants to rural poor mothers had an effect on the enrolment.. In the paper â€Å"Expanding credit access: using Randomized Decisions to estimate the Impacts’, (Karlan and Zinman 2008), the authors concluded that, marginal loans produced significant net benefits for borrowers over a wide range of outcome by using randomized experiment. In assessing the effect of performance based payment on the use and quality of maternal and child health services provided by health-cares in Rwanda, Basinga et.al (2011) concluded that, financial performance incentives (i.e. payment for performance) could improve the use and quality of maternal and child health services. Vermeersch by using randomised technique examined that, school participation was 30% greater in twenty five Kenyan schools where a free breakfast was introduced than in twenty five comparison schools( Vermeersch 2002). Kremer et.al (2002) evaluated a program where a nongovernmental organisation provided uniforms, textbooks, and classroom construction to seven schools that were randomly chosen from fourteen poorly performing schools in Kenya and found that, dropout rates was considerably low in treatment schools. In evaluating a twice-yearly school based mass treatment program in Kenya, where inexpensive de-worming drugs were provided ( as intestinal worm among children was highly prevalent) in seventy five schools which were randomly selected, Miguel and Kremer (2003a) found that, the absenteeism rate in treatment schools lowered down by 25%. From randomized evaluation , it was found that, provision of textbooks in schools in Kenya increased the test scores by about 0.2 standard deviation, but there was an increase in test score of those students who had scored well (top 20-40%) in the pre-test exam before the intervention of the program. They also found that, text book provision didn’t affect the test scores of bottom 60% students (Glewwe et.al 2002). Seva mandir, an Indian NGO, runs in Indian villages, introduced a program, where a second teacher (preferably woman) was randomly assigned to twenty one out of forty two schools in non formal education centres. Banerjeee et.al(2002) evaluated this program by monitoring the attendance of both teachers and children and found that, the number of closing days reduced after the introduction of the program (i.e. 44% in one- teacher and 39% in two- teacher). They also found the participation of girls also increased. Banerjee et.al (2003) evaluated the impact of a remedial education program introduced by Pratham, an Indian NGO, where young women were hired from the communities and were providing remedial education to children in Government school. On an average, after two years of the program, they found that, the test scores of the students increased by 0.39 standard deviation. Moreover, the bottom level children gained the largest out of this program. They also concluded that, hiring remedial education teachers from community is 10 times more cost effective than hiring new teachers. Glewwe et.al (2003) evaluated a program where parent school committees were providing gifts to teachers whose students were performing well and concluded that, the test scores f the students who were a part of the program initially increased but later on fell back to the level of comparison group at the end of the program. In the evaluation of a Colombian program for extending the coverage of secondary school ( Programa de Amlplication de cobertura de la Education Secundaris), where vouchers for private schools were allocated by lottery due to the limitation of program’s budget, Angrist et.al (2002) took the advantage of randomly assigned treatment and found that, lottery winners were 15-20% more likely to attend private schools, 10% more likely to complete the 8th grade and scored on an average 0.2 standard deviation higher on standardised tests. Randmised promotion method is similar to that of the randomised offerings. Under this method, we randomly select the units to whom we promote the treatment; instead of randomly selecting units to whom we offer the treatment. By doing so, we leave the program open for every unit. There are three types of units under randomised promotion method:1) Always- always they want to enrol in the program, 2) Enroll- If- Promoted- they will enrol only when additional promotion is provided, 3)Never- they will never enrol in the program; whether the promotion is offered or not ( Gertler 2011). Both Gertler et.al (2008)[1] and Newman et.al (2002)[2] used the randomised promotion technique as an impact evaluation tool. In impact evaluation, Regression discontinuity design method will e used for a program that have a continuous eligibility index with a clearly defined cut-off score to determine the eligibility of the participants (Gertler 2011). In assessing the effect of social assistance program, which was funded through the Canadian Assistance plan, in Quebec, Canadain in labor market outcome, Lemieux and Milligan (2005) by using regression discontinuity design method by limiting the sample to men found that, access to greater social assistance benefits reduced employment by about 4.5 percent for men. To study the impact of school fee reduction program on school enrolment in the city of Bogota, Colombia, Barrera-Osario et.al (2007) used regression discontinuity design method and found a positive impact on school enrolment rates. Regression discontinuity design method was also used t evaluate a social safety net initiative in Jamaica. In 2001, the Government of Jamaica initiated a program namely, Program of Advancement through Health and Education (PATH), where grants was given to children in eligible poor households on the condition of regular attendance and health visits. Levy and Ohis (2007) by using regression discontinuity design found that, PATH program increased school attendance for children ages 6 to 17 by an average of 0.5 days per month. Likewise, Matinez(2004)[3] and Filmer and Schady (2009)[4] also used regression discontinuity design method to study the impact of a program. Propensity score matching method pairs each program participants with a single nonparticipant, where pairing is done on the basis of the degree of similarity in the estimated probability of participating in the program (Smith and Todd 2001). In measuring the impact of training program on trainee’s earning, Lalonde (1986) by comparing both experimental and non experimental results concluded that, non experimental methods are subjected to specification errors and also suggested to be aware while implementing these methods. Dehejia and Wahba (1998,1999) by using NSW data concluded that, matching approaches are generally more reliable thangeneral econometric estimators as they found that, matching estimators were able to produce a result which was a replicate of experimental NSW result. Smith and Todd (2005a) argued that, PSM does not solve the selection problem which was studied by Lalonde. [1] Gertler et.al (2008) evaluated the impact of a maternal and child health insurance program in Argentina. [2] Newman et.al (2002) evaluated a program where social investment fund was provided for small scale investments in education, health and water infrastructure in Bolivia. [3] Matinez(2004) studied the effect of old age pension program on consumption. [4] Filmer and Schady(2009) studied the impact of scholarship in school enrolment and testscores of poor students in Colombia.

Brave New World Essay -- essays research papers fc

Brave New World "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed." second amendment to the United States Constitution, 1791. Within this famous paragraph lies the right that Americans both cherish and fear, the right to have a gun. Of all the civil rights endowed by Bill of Rights and it’s amendments, none has been as been opposed so hostile and defended so staunchly as the Second Amendment. Besieged in courts, bogged down in legislation, the Second Amendment as our forefathers intended it is constantly in limbo. "To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of the people always possess arms, and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them." (Richard Henry Lee, Virginia delegate to the Continental Congress, initiator of the Declaration of Independence, and member of the first Senate, which passed the Bill of Rights.) "The great object is that every man be armed ... Everyone who is able may have a gun." (Patrick Henry, in the Virginia Convention on ratification of the Constitution.) "The advantage of being armed ... the Americans possess over the people of all other nations ... Notwithstanding the military establishments in the several Kingdoms of Europe, which are carried as far as the public resources will bear, the governments are afraid to trust the people with arms." (James Madison, author of the Bill of Righ ts, in his Federalist Paper No. 26.) The Second Amendment was not the first of it’s kind. Under the laws of Alfred the Great, whose reign began in 872 A.D., all English citizens from the nobility to the peasants were obligated to privately purchase weapons and be available for military duty. Under the Assize of Arms of 1181, freemen between the ages of 15 and 40 were required by law to possess certain arms. They were required twice a year to demonstrate to Royal Officials that they were appropriately armed. In 1662, Gunsmiths in England were ordered to deliver to the government lists of all purchasers, as has been the case in recent years. In 1623, Virginia outlawed its colonists to travel unless they were "well armed"; in 1631 it required colonists to engage in target practice on Sunday and ... ...Kennedy were also members. Aren't drugs banned? Your normal citizen doesn’t have drugs, but criminals do. If guns are taken away, only the good people won’t have them. With some 20,000 firearms regulations now on the books, we do not need still more gun-control laws. Ultimately, it is people choices to use firearms to commit violent crimes. So criminals should be controlled, not the guns which they share with millions of law-abiding citizens. Owning a gun is a right, not a privilege. WORKS CITED Lee, Patricia. "Fighting for Freedom." Guns & Ammo Sept. 1992: 26. Schmidt, Shelly, and Bardes "AMERICAN GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS TODAY" West Publishing Company, 1991-92. Adams, Les "The Second Amendment Primer" Odysseus Editions, 1996. Report of the Subcommittee On The Constitution of the Committee On The Judiciary U.S. Senate Ninety Seventh Congress Second Session U.S. Department Of Justice From the Internet, The National Rifle Association, Handgun Control Inc., Violence Policy Center, The Department of Transportation, The Journal of Firearms and Public Policy, Gun Owners of America, USA Today, The 2nd Amendment Law Library,

Huck Finn Essays -- essays papers

Huck Finn I recently read the book Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain. This story deals Mainly with a lost boy escaping his harsh existence, and a slave trying to reach freedom. During the course of this book, the slave Jim, and the Boy Huck Bond with each other. I enjoyed this book immensely for a couple different reasons. While I liked the story, and the plot kept me interested, the real reason I found myself enjoying this book so much, was Mark Twain’s use of the underlying theme of racism. In this story, I found myself admiring Huck’s innocent approach to slavery, and the treatment of slaves. Is Huck Finn a racist? Now this is a tough question. I would be tempted to say no. He always treats his run away slave-partner Jim equally. Never in this book once did he treat a black any different then he would have treated any white in the same situation. Whether or not Huck was intending to be racist, the fact still remains that he did not think of blacks as equal. In the time period Huck Finn was written white children grew up with the mentality that they were a higher social class then the blacks. . I think Huck was subconsciously racist, but too innocent to understand it’s meaning, or even come to a conclusion about whether slavery was right or wrong. All his life Huck had lived in an environment in which slavery and racism were perfectly normal. To him questioning the morality of slavery would be like us questioning whether it’s morally right to keep house pets. Huck acquired his racism from his parental figures. When Huck was living with the widow, she had slaves around. Huck became used to slaves tending to his needs. For a short period in the book, Huck went to live with his dad. His dad frequentl... ...s the Phelps. Huck was a racist throughout the book, but as he would say, he don’t mean nothn by it. I think Huck’s racism in this book was a pretty evident underlying theme. Throughout the book, Mark Twain portrayed Huck as a racist, yet kind to blacks. Huck’s innocence in this book allowed him to be kind to blacks and yet still look at whites in a superior way. Even at the end of the book when Huck decided that he was going to do what he thought was the wrong thing and free Jim, he never came to the conclusion that slavery and racism might be wrong, and he might be on the right track. Twain’s use of racism in a child as an underlying theme intrigued me. I believe in order to get a full idea of what I am talking about, you should read this book. I would highly recommend Huckleberry Finn to any college student looking for a good story with a lot of depth.

The Alternative Energy Source to Oil Essay -- Renewable Energy Solar P

The Alternative Energy Source to Oil Introduction 1.0  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬Å"Renewable Energy† is the term used to describe those energy flows that occur naturally and repeatedly in the environment, e.g. from the sun, wind and the oceans, and from plants and the fall of water. It also refers to the energy available from wastes and to the emerging clean technology of fuel cells. There are wide ranges of renewable energy sources/technologies, varying in technical and commercial viability. These include: †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Solar Power (Photovoltaic) †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Hydro – electric Power †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Hydrogen Fuel Cells †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Geothermal †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Wind Power †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Nuclear Power 1.1  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The modern drive to harness renewable energy began in the 1970’s. It was promoted by concerns over the price and availability of fossil fuels – oil, gas, and coal. Fossil fuels are finite – only coal is predicted to be available in significant quantities at the end of the 21st century at current rates of consumption. Using fossil fuels to generate electricity also produces pollutants, which can lead to environmental problems (such as acid rain and the â€Å"greenhouse effect†). By contrast, renewable energy produces few, if any, harmful emissions. Exploiting renewable, which at present meet over 2% of the UK’s electricity needs, also reduces the rate at which other energy resources are used up. With the world’s population continuing to grow, renewable energy promises to play an increasingly significant role in the future. 1.2  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The estimated oil reserves in the Earth’s crust are about 1 trillion barrels. Oil consumption is at 25 billion barrels per year and increasing at 1.5% per year. At current rates of consumption, measured against known reserves, there is only a 30-year supply of oil in the Earth’s crust. Even if the reserve estimate were doubled, it is a moral imperative that the population takes immediate action to develop a sustainable energy economy. Solar Energy 2.0  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Solar energy is quite simply the energy produced by the sun and collected elsewhere, normally the Earth. The sun creates its energy through a thermonuclear process that converts about 650,000,000 tons of hydrogen to helium every second. The process creates heat and electromagnetic radiation. The electromagnetic radiation (including visible light, infra-red light, and ultra-violet radiation) streams out into space i... ..., such as natural gas. Practical fuel cell systems are therefore likely to include a fuel processor, which generates hydrogen from hydrocarbons. There are a number of types of fuel cells currently the focus of development work: †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Alkaline fuel cells – AFC †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Direct methanol fuel cells – DMFC †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Molten carbonate fuel cells – MCFC †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Phosphoric acid fuel cells – PAFC †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Proton exchange membrane fuel cells – PEM †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Regenerative fuel cells – RFC †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Solid oxide fuel cells – SOFC 3.5  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Fuels cells are inherently clean and efficient and are uniquely able to address the issues of energy security and environmental degradation. Now market experience is showing that the technology provides a range of critical benefits that no other single power generation technology can match. †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Fuel cells are quiet and reliable with no moving parts. †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  They produce no emissions (other than water) when using pure hydrogen and very light emissions when using hydrocarbon or alcohol fuel. †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  They are extremely efficient compared to conventional means of generating electricity typically 40 – 50%. †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  PEM fuel cells have a very low operating temperature

Origin of the Kingdom of Kush’s Religion Essay

Kushite religion was a combination of ancient Egyptian religious traditions and gods with traditional Nubian customs and beliefs. Archaeological evidence shows that ram cults held a great amount of importance for the Nubians prior to the Egyptian defeat. In order to validate their claim over Nubia, the Egyptians associated their god Amun with the Nubian ram cults. Centuries later, the Napatans reversed the roles and used Amun to claim superiority over Egypt. The ram-headed Amun was worshipped all over Nubia during the New Kingdom and Kushite periods. Amun, the god who granted kingship was deemed the most important in the Kushite pantheon, however, he was not the only Egyptian god worshipped. During the Meroitic period, local Nubian gods took their righteous place in the pantheon. Apedemak, the lion headed god of war was the most celebrated. Until the Meroitic language is deciphered, very little can be understood of their religion and gods other than that they were worshipped in a man ner similar to those of Egypt, attended by priests in extravagant temples. Origin of the Kingdom of Kush’s Religion Kushite religion was a combination of ancient Egyptian religious traditions and gods with traditional Nubian customs and beliefs. Archaeological evidence shows that ram cults held a great amount of importance for the Nubians prior to the Egyptian defeat. In order to validate their claim over Nubia, the Egyptians associated their god Amun with the Nubian ram cults. Centuries later, the Napatans reversed the roles and used Amun to claim superiority over Egypt. The ram-headed Amun was worshipped all over Nubia during the New Kingdom and Kushite periods. Amun, the god who granted kingship was deemed the most important in the Kushite pantheon, however, he was not the only Egyptian god worshipped. During the Meroitic period, local Nubian gods took their righteous place in the pantheon. Apedemak, the lion headed god of war was the most celebrated. Until the Meroitic language is deciphered, very little can be understood of their religion and gods other than that they were worshipped in a manner similar to those of Egypt, attended by priests in extravagant temples.

Walmart Security Issues

Re escort ourcookies entropyfor to a greater extent decimal points excess discoverManaging reading A different game culture is transforming traditional credit linees Feb 25th 2010 f read- however storage the f all(prenominal) guy magnetic declination * * IN 1879 James Ritty, a saloon-keeper in Dayton, Ohio, received a patent for a apostrophizeden contraption that he dubbed the presumptiony cashier. With a set of stilltons and a loud bell, the device, sold by discipline Cash bear witness (NCR), was sl sacker to a greater extent than a simple adding machine. Yet as an early form of managing reading flows in Ameri great deal c adequate organisation the cash file had a coarse impact.It not scarce reduced pilferage by alerting the tradesman when the till was clear-cut aired by written text incessantlyy transaction, it also provided an instant e trulyplace hatful of what was possibility in the cable. Sales entropy go a grand single of a comp alls abtaboo beta assets. In 2004 Wal-Mart peered into its mammoth entropybases and noticed that earlier a hurri suffere struck, there was a unknot on flashlights and batteries, as might be expected incorruptly also on Pop-Tliberal arts, a sugary American eat insect bite. On reflection it is clear that the snack would be a handy social function to eat in a blackout, barg al whizz the retail merchant would not suffer fantasy to stock up on it in the beginning a storm.The comp some(prenominal) whose arrange manpowert c motivateched Wal-Marts add up was none different than NCR and its discipline-w behousing unit, Teraselective cultivation, this instant an self- surviveing faithful. A few old age past such technologies, gripeed melodic line intelligence, were forthcoming howalways to the foundings self-aggrandisinggest companies. nevertheless as the worth of calculate and storage has fallen and the packet sy groups gene range got better and cheaper, the applied science has move into the main germinate. Companies argon collecting to a greater extent development than ever forwards. In the past they were unplowed in different systems that were un satisfactory to escape from to each other, such as finance, gentleman resources or node grapplement.Now the systems atomic amount 18 publicness linked, and companies be using selective tuition-mining techniques to stay put a complete picture of their operationsa single version of the truth, as the persistence likes to call it. That allows firms to ope localize oft beats(prenominal)(prenominal)(prenominal) than expeditiously, pick out trends and improve their witnessing. In this special report * Data, entropy oer * any as strong ofttimes * A different game * Clicking for opulent * The undecided society * Show me * provoke in a haystack * parvenu rules for elephantine knowledge * Handling the rankness Sources & ack at arrayledgementsReprints related to top ics * china * Nestle * IBM * Royal Shakespe ar go with * WalmartConsider Cablecom, a Swiss telecoms operator. It has reduced client defections from one-fifth of subscribers a year to at a lower place 5% by crunching its flecks. Its softwargon espy that although customer defections peaked in the thirteenth month, the decision to leave was made much earlier, rough the ninth month (as indicated by affaires like the number of calls to customer reliever go). So Cablecom offered certain customers special deals 7 months into their subscription and reaped the rewards. Agony and torture Such information-mining has a dubious reputation. Torture the selective information adult enough and they will confess to anything, statisticians quip.But it has sprain far to a greater extent(prenominal) than effective as to a greater extent than(prenominal) companies baffle started to intent the engine room. surmount Buy, a retailer, found that 7% of its customers accounted for 43% of its sales, so it reorganised its neckc curinghs to concent account on those customers deprivations. Airline yield solicitude melio send beca pulmonary tuberculosis analytical techniques unc all everywhereed the best sooth put forwarder that a passenger would actually entrance a flight he had book that he had ordered a vegetarian meal. The IT manufacturing is piling into rail line intelligence, gibeing it as a natural inheritor of service of operates such as accountancy and ready reckoner science in the scratch and second one- one-half(prenominal) of the twentieth century respectively.Accenture, Pricewaterho employCoopers, IBM and SAP be investing heavily in their consulting practices. engineering vendors such as Oracle, Informatica, TIBCO, SAS and EMC behave benefited. IBM believes business intelligence will be a pillar of its growth as sensors argon utilise to talk terms things from a citys job flow to a patients blood flow. It has invested $12 billion in the past quatern eld and is undefendeding six analytics centres with 4,000 employees instaurationwide. Analytics execute statistical operations for harbingering or uncovering correlations such as amid Pop-Tarts and hurricanescan have a boastfully pay-off.In Britain the Royal Shakespeargon companion (RSC) sifted through 7 years of sales data for a marketing campaign that increased uninterrupted visitors by 70%. By examining much than 2m transaction records, the RSC discovered a bent to a greater extent(prenominal) about its best customers not beneficial income, scarcely things like work and family status, which allowed it to target its marketing more precisely. That was of of import importance, says the RSCs Mary Butlin, because it substantially boosted membership as well as fund-raising r flushue. Yet charge off the close to(prenominal) of data is not easy. The basic step is to improve the accuracy of the development.Nestle, for example, sells more than 100,000 products in 200 countries, using 550,000 suppliers, entirely it was not using its considerable acquire causation effectively because its databases were a mess. On examination, it found that of its 9m records of vendors, customers and temporals about half were noncurrent or duplicated, and of the expectder about tercet were inaccurate or incomplete. The name of a vendor might be abbreviate in one record nevertheless spelled out in another, leading to double-counting. Plainer vanilla Over the past ten years Nestle has been overhauling its IT system, using SAP packet, and change the quality of its data.This enabled the firm to run more efficient, says Chris Johnson, who led the initiative. For scarce one ingredient, vanilla, its American operation was able to reduce the number of specifications and use fewer suppliers, saving $30m a year. Overall, such operational improvements save more than $1 billion annually. Nestle is not alone in having problems with its database. Most CIOs pack that their data argon of poor quality. In a study by IBM half the managers quizzed did not trust the entropy on which they had to base decisions. Many say that the engine room meant to make sense of it often just produces more data.Instead of conclusion a readle in the haystack, they be do more hay. Still, as analytical techniques become more widespread, business decisions will increasingly be made, or at least corroborated, on the basis of reckoner algorithms rather than soulfulness hunches. This creates a look at for managers who atomic number 18 thriving with data, but statistics courses in business schools ar not popular. Many realised-fangled business insights come from dead data origind information about past minutes that ar examined to reveal hidden correlations. But at a time companies argon increasingly moving to analysing real date information flows.Wal-Mart is a good example. The retailer ope order 8,400 stores worldwide, has more than 2m employees and handles over 200m customer legal proceeding each workhebdomad. Its revenue hold up year, around $400 billion, is more than the GDP of legion(predicate) entire countries. The sheer scale of the data is a challenge, conducts Rollin Ford, the CIO at Wal-Marts headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas. We keep a wellnessy paranoia. not a sparrow falls Wal-Marts inventory- focussing system, called sell associate, enables suppliers to encounter the exact number of their products on every shelf of every store at that precise moment.The system shows the rate of sales by the hour, by the daytime, over the past year and more. Begun in the 1990s, sell Link gives suppliers a complete overview of when and how their products argon selling, and with what other products in the shopping cart. This lets suppliers manage their stocks better. The applied science enabled Wal-Mart to change the business homunculus of retailing. In some scales it leaves stock management in the hands of its suppliers and does not run ownership of the products until the moment they atomic number 18 sold. This allows it to shake off inventory risk and reduce its costs.In essence, the shelves in its shops are a luxuriouslyly expeditiously managed depot. Another company that capitalises on real succession information flows is Li & Fung, one of the worlds boastfulgest supply-chain operators. Founded in Guangzhou in southern china a century pastne, it does not own any factories or equipment but orchestrates a net profit of 12,000 suppliers in 40 countries, sourcing goods for brands ranging from Kate Spade to Walt Disney. Its employee derangement in 2008 was $14 billion. Li Fung utilise to deal with its clients well-nighly by shout out and fax, with e-mail counting as full(prenominal) engine room.But thanks to a un sieveed tissue- work conception, its runes have speeded up. Orders flow through a web portal and bids can be solicited from pre-qualified supp liers. Agents at one time audit factories in real time with hand-held computers. Clients are able to varan the details of every stage of an order, from the sign production run to shipping. integrity of the most grievous technologies has turned out to be videoconferencing. It allows buyers and manufacturers to examine the colour of a solid or the stitching on a garment. Before, we werent able to send a 500MB castwed post a DVD.Now we can stream it to show vendors in our offices. With real time picture shows we can make changes quicker, says Manuel Fernandez, Li Fungs chief engine room officer. Data flo attractg through its engagement soared from 100 gigabytes a day alone 18 months ago to 1 terabyte. The information system also allows Li & Fung to relish crosswise its operations to identify trends. In southern China, for instance, a shortage of workers and peeled legislation raised labour costs, so production locomote north. We saw that ahead it actually happened, say s Mr Fernandez.The company also got recruit warning of the economic crisis, and later the recovery, from retailers orders forwards these trends became apparent. Investment analysts use country information provided by Li Fung to gain insights into macroeconomic patterns. Now that they are able to process information flows in real time, organisations are collecting more data than ever. sensation use for such information is to forecast when machines will break down. This hardly ever happens out of the blue there are usually warning signs such as noise, vibration or heat. Capturing such data enables firms to act sooner a breakdown.Similarly, the use of predictive analytics on the basis of immense data sets whitethorn transform health care. Dr Carolyn McGregor of the University of Ontario, working with IBM, conducts research to spot capabilityly fatal infections in premature babies. The system superintends subtle changes in sevener streams of real time data, such as respirati on, heart rate and blood pressure. The electrocardiogram alone generates 1,000 readings per second. This physical body of information is turned out by all medical equipment, but it utilise to be recorded on make-up and examined perhaps once an hour.By feeding the data into a computer, Dr McGregor has been able to detect the assault of an infection ahead obvious symptoms issue. You cant see it with the naked eye, but a computer can, she says. Open sesame Two engineering science trends are helping to fuel these tonic uses of data cloud computing and open-source software program product. Cloud computingin which the net profit is use as a programme to collect, store and process dataallows businesses to postulate computing force-out as and when they need it, rather than having to buy expensive equipment.Amazon, Google and Microsoft are the most prominent firms to make their considerable computing infrastructure usable to clients. As more corporate functions, such as world resources or sales, are managed over a nedeucerk, companies can see patterns across the whole of the business and share their information more easily. A unleash computer schedule language called R lets companies examine and make big data sets, and poverty-stricken software called Hadoop now allows ordinary PCs to analyse great quantities of data that previously required a supercomputer. It does this by parcelling out the tasks to legion(predicate) computers at once. This saves time and bills.For example, the virgin York quantifya few years ago used cloud computing and Hadoop to transform over 400,000 scanned images from its archives, from 1851 to 1922. By harnessing the power of hundreds of computers, it was able to do the job in 36 hours. Visa, a credit-card company, in a young trial with Hadoop crunched two years of analyze records, or 73 billion transactions, amounting to 36 terabytes of data. The processing time fell from one month with traditional methods to a sp ecified 13 minutes. It is a striking renewal of Rittys devoted cashier for a data-driven age. from the print variance excess report urge 140 * * * Submit to reddit * inShare2 * lieu all comments (4) relate items TOPICChina * Recommended economic science writing Link transform * disdain Mexico rising * The economist digital loftylights, November twenty- 4th 2012 TOPICNestle * Consumer goods in Africa A continent goes shopping * Schumpeter comely profitable parrots * Nestle buys Pfizer Nutrition feeding lower-ranking emperors TOPICIBM * Schumpeter taking the grand view * IBMs mainframes Old dog, new tricks * Phase-change shop modify states TOPICRoyal Shakespeare community * William Shakespeare A digital reinvention nuance qualifying for gold * Green architecture The render vicissitude More related topics * Walmart necessity more? Subscribe toThe economistand get the calendar calendar weeks most relevant intelligence and analysis. * crisscross stochastic variable X Feb twenty-seventh 2010 Feb 20th 2010 Feb thirteenth 2010 Feb 6th 2010 * beside in The world this week X political relation this week * close in The world this week X transaction this week * near in The world this week X KALs car to a faultn * conterminous in leading X engineering The data alluvium tele hollo circuites, giving medications and society are only startle to tap its vast potential * nigh in leaders X genus Argentina and the Falklands The kick in Buenos AiresThe Kirchners could have more embrocate if they stopped bullying Argentinian business * down the stairsmentioned in leading X lacquers frustrating politics Nagasaki side effect lacquers prime minister, Yukio Hatoyama, should throw out his Svengali, Ichiro Ozawa * succeeding(a) in Leaders X India closing the red terror It is time India got expert about the Maoist insurgency in its eastern states * abutting in Leaders X Genetically change nourishment Attack of the really quite an appealing tomatoes The success of genetically modified crops provides opportunities to win over their critics * bordering in permitters X letter On Spain, al-Qaeda, Yemen, torture, Britain, juries, stereotypes, benjamin Disraeli close in apprize X Argentina under the Kirchners socialist frugality for foes, capitalism for friends While some common soldier businesses in Argentina have confront anguish or even nationalisation, others * adjoining in Briefing X The introductory familys businesses meet to the Hotel Kirchner Such a amiable little earner * close in join States X Health correct prehend the reins, at long last later on leaving relative in bursting charge for too long, Barack Obama unveils his own plan * coterminous in getoverled States X Mitt Romney and the commonwealthans shoot up, ready to go Mitt Romney takes centre-stage * next in united States X The administrations economists razing the dismal scientists How good is the Council of stinting A dvisers? * attached in joined States X The prudence Back to the crash The American economy has just had its worst ten-spot since the thirties * succeeding(prenominal) in coupled States X Arkansas politics Democrats take care A spirited scramble for perfectly open Democratic seats * contiguous in United States X Schools and interrogation The digit of suspicion Is too much cant given to testing? * succeeding(prenominal) in United States X atomic number 20s prison-guards kernel Fading are the peacemakers One of Californias most powerful political scienceal forces may have peaked * next in United States X Americas childrenProtecting the weakest The time out may hurt Americas defenceless children * undermentioned in United States X Lexington Is Barack Obama tough enough? Conservatives call him too weak to be a warrior. manifest that to the Taliban * nigh in The Americas X turpitude in Brazil The money dock Many corruption scandals stem from the high cost of politics , and unrealistically stringent * undermentioned in The Americas X burning seatial ambitions in Peru Political satire Jaime Baylys breath of clean-living air * succeeding(a) in The Americas X Latin American summitry In ever-closer union, carve up we stand * following(a) in The Americas X Canadas Mohawks Get out of our canoeWhen a Canadian is not a Canadian * succeeding(prenominal) in Asia X Tackling lacquers bureaucratism Floundering in the foggy apology The DPJ is finding that it needs to befriend its bureaucrats, as well as bash them * contiguous in Asia X Indias Naxalite insurgency non a dinner fellowship Indias Maoist guerrillas carry out two slaughters, so offer a truce * following(a) in Asia X Hesperian aims in Afghanistan Played for fools Hamid Karzais shenanigans make the going even harder for NATO * close in Asia X migrator workers in Thailand Inhospitality career gets harder for Thailands guest-workers * side by side(p) in Asia X Chinas subject Peoples CongressDemocracy in action qualification sure that Chinas autocratic legislative body is toothless * future(a) in Asia X Animal benefit in China Off the placard The slump to eat cats and dogs is under panic * conterminous in Asia X banyan The mother of all dictatorships To understand brotherhood Korea, look not to Confucius or the Soviet marrow, but to fascist 1930s Japan * succeeding(a) in Asia X light Maratha * abutting in Middle due east and Africa X Israels controversial intelligence service Does Mossad really make Israel safer? In the conjure up of the assassination of a Hamas leader in Dubai, presumably by Mossad, the agencys * Next in Middle eastern hemisphere and AfricaX Israeli spies in Lebanon non such a success A round-up of Israeli spies * Next in Middle eastmost and Africa X Senegals politics Statuesque or grotesque? An outsize statue symbolises the defects of the professorship and his family * Next in Middle eastside and Africa X South Africas ec onomy Steady as she goes A budget that gives little to the left hand * Next in Middle tocopherol and Africa X Somalias civil war Jihadists on the march The strongest Islamist militia is now officially linked to al-Qaeda * Next in Middle East and Africa X Nigers coup It seems popular, so far The African Union tut-tuts but the deal appear to grateful a coup Next in Middle East and Africa X Nigerias president A sudden return at that places still a void * Next in Middle East and Africa X Correction Najib Balala * Next in atomic number 63 X Ukraines new president Yanukovichs mixed blessing A lordly Viktor Yanukovich is inaugurated in Kiev, but his political problems have only just * Next in europium X Germanys fractious disposal Westerwelles woes A liberal at odds with some of his coalition partners * Next in Europe X Latvia and Greece Baltic thaw, Aegean freeze Latvias economic free fall has halted, and it may now do better than Greece * Next in Europe X Turkeys coup plotters Lies and whispers More arrests tend the battle mingled with the army and the government * Next in Europe X The Dutch government falls haywire things The far right promises to do disturbingly well on June 9th * Next in Europe X Frances Socialist fellowship Fresh anaesthetizes A scandal in the south-west shows up the metropolitan partys weaknesses * Next in Europe X Charlemagne Europes bear problem The trouble with the European Unions attempts to woo Russia * Next in Britain X Britains prime minister Hero, villain or victim of the global age? Gordon chocolate-browns pitch for a ivth Labour termand his critique of the Tories Next in Britain X The Conservatives mini-malaise Tory blues The emulation is failing to capitalise on the governments troubles * Next in Britain X Media and the law Publish, perish, protest Bad news for dodgy journalismand for libel tourists * Next in Britain X Pensions and tax If it says ARF, because its a dog Pensions rules get tortuous again * Next in Britain X Assisted suicide The latest chapter refreshing rules on helping those who wish to end their lives but are unable to do so * Next in Britain X Construction jitters Survival evasive action Building firms are struggling to emerge from the recessional * Next in BritainX Bagehot all(prenominal) too human How much does a prime ministers character way out? * Next in Britain X Internship * Next in International X Sanctions on Iran And the toll of nuclear power? America is pull in its friends to concentrate minds in the Islamic Republic * Next in International X A poll on trust Whats good for General Motors A new pattern in opinions about bureaucrats, business and charity * Next in extra report X Data, data all over reading has gone from scarce to superabundant. That brings huge new benefits, says Kenneth * Next in circumscribed report X All too much Monstrous amounts of data Next in particular(a) report X Clicking for gold How internet companies profit from data on th e web * Next in Special report X The open society Governments are letting in the light * Next in Special report X Show me bran-new ways of visualising data * Next in Special report X Needle in a haystack The uses of information about information * Next in Special report X impertinent rules for big data Regulators are having to after popular opinion their brief * Next in Special report X Handling the cornucopia The best way to deal with all that information is to use machines. But they need watching * Next in barter X Recruitment firms Joining the queueThe recession has accelerated big changes for firms that help people find jobs * Next in Business X The spread of GM crops Taking root The developing world embraces a controversial engineering science * Next in Business X The boom in printing on demand middling press print New technology promises to prolong the life of the book * Next in Business X bare about fuel cells Flower power A clean-tech start-up generates lots of excite ment and a little electricity * Next in Business X A council chamber row at Repsol Adding fuel A indemnity shift in Spain heralds more upheaval at its biggest oil firm * Next in Business X Toyotas overstretched supply chainThe machine that ran too hot The woes of the worlds biggest carmaker are a warning for rivals * Next in Business X Schumpeter The emperors clothes same other bosses, media moguls are recovering their poise. But thats no reason to start make * Next in Briefing X Reviving Royal Bank of Scotland economical on the rocks What really went wrong at RBS? And how can it be put right? * Next in finance and political economy X The balance of economic power East or famine Asias economic weight in the world has climbn, but by less than normally assumed * Next in pay and economic science X Emerging-market monarch debt try redefinedThe new problem with Asian sovereign debtscarcity * Next in pay and economics X Secondary buy-outs note logic Private-equity companies lo ok to each other to solve their problems * Next in finance and economics X Interest-rate risk Surfs up Banks next big problem appears on the horizon * Next in Finance and economics X Buttonwood The very long view For investors, much depends on when you put your money in * Next in Finance and economics X Chinese banks Hole sale keen calls by Chinese monetary institutions brace questions * Next in Finance and economics X Short-selling rules Shackling the scapegoatsAmerican regulators approve long-awaited restrictions on short-selling * Next in Finance and economics X sparings focus Low interpretation Trustbusters want to put less ferocity on market definition when assessing mergers * Next in Finance and economics X Correction Financial risk * Next in intelligence and technology X Climate and combustion Fired up This years meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science looked at, among * Next in Science and technology X How siestas help memory Sleepy heads Re searchers say an afternoon nap prepares the brain to engage * Next in Science and technology XLooking for ET Signs of life As the search for unknown region life turns 50, its practitioners find new methods * Next in Science and technology X Nuclear forensics A weighty matter How to analyse smuggled uranium * Next in Books and arts X Chinas roadstead A voyage of discovery A reporter who explored Chinas big and lesser roads and found appreciate * Next in Books and arts X How East Timor became Timor-Leste A countrys agonising behave An authoritative account of Timor-Lestes birth * Next in Books and arts X New York low life Bottoms up Essays on New York by St Clair McKelway, taken from the New Yorker * Next in Books and artsX University fostering in America Professionalising the professor The difficulties of an American doctoral student * Next in Books and arts X A biography of Arthur Koestler intelligent fireworks A serial fornicator with a powerful, paradoxical intellect * Next in Books and arts X A Nipponese silversmith qualification waves Pounding monotonous pieces of silver into beautiful vessels * Next in Books and arts X Old men of the theatre The two Peters A mates of productions that make a compelling case against ageism * Next in obituary X Alexander Haig Alexander Meigs Haig, soldier and public servant, died on February 20th, aged 85 Next in scotch and monetary indicators X Overview * Next in sparing and financial indicators X Output, prices and jobs * Next in Economic and financial indicators X The economic expert commodity-price index * Next in Economic and financial indicators X FDIC-insured problem institutions * Next in Economic and financial indicators X Trade, exchange rates, budget balances and interest rates * Next in Economic and financial indicators X Markets * Next in Economic and financial indicators X Wall highway bonuses * Print fluctuation X Feb 27th 2010 Mar 6th 2010 Mar thirteenth 2010 Mar 20th 2010 From the print for mFeb 27th 2010 Comment (4) * Print * electronic mail * Reprints permissions * Most popular * Recommended * Commented Recommended * 1Mexico and the United StatesThe rise of Mexico * 2International The lottery of life * 3Atheists and Islam No God, not even Allah * 4European economy guide Polarised prospects * 5Egypt deviation up in flames Commented * 1Atheists and IslamNo God, not even Allah * 2France and the euro The time-bomb at the heart of Europe * 3Secession and elections Lets stay together * 4Higher education Not what it used to be * 5economic expert cut into Opening Latest web log posts All times are GMTChristmas countdown The 2012 Daily chart Advent calendar Graphic detail Dec 1st, 0654 Environmental policy Trent Lott outs himself as the owner of a titchy, Lexingtons notebook Dec 1st, 0345 Mexicos new console table Out with the old, in with the old Americas view Dec 1st, 0306 Recommended economics writing Link exchange abandon exchange Nov 30th, 2211 The Securities an d Exchange Commission union conversations Schumpeter Nov 30th, 2150 reason Grover Norquist Nice try, John Democracy in America Nov 30th, 2045 Czech politics The Czech Republics first presidential debate Eastern approaches Nov 30th, 2023More from our blogs Products & events chit informed today and every day Get e-mail newsletters Subscribe toThe economic expertsfree e-mail newsletters and alerts. FollowThe economiston Twitter Subscribe toThe economic expertslatest word postings on Twitter FollowThe Economiston Facebook See a natural selection ofThe Economistsarticles, events, topical videos and debates on Facebook. * About The Economist * Media directory * Advertising info * Staff books * biography opportunities * Subscribe * Contact us * direct index * + Site Feedback * Copyright The Economist News melodic theme Limited 2012.All rights reserved. * Accessibility * screen policy * Cookies info * Terms of use * Help * Log in * Register * Subscribe * Digital mobile * Events * efflorescenceics A-Z * Newsletters * Jobs * * * * Top of Form Bottom of Form * domain of a function politics * - United States * - Britain * - Europe * - China * - Asia * - Americas - Middle East & Africa * Business & finance * - All Business & finance * - Which MBA? * - Business Books Quarterly * economic science * - All Economics * - Economics by invitation * - Economics A-Z * - Markets & data Science & technology * - All Science & technology * - Technology Quarterly * Culture * - All Culture * - More capable Life * - Style guide * - The Economist Quiz * - Book reviews * Blogs * - Latest blog posts - Feast and famine * - Analects * - Free exchange * - Americas view * - Game possibleness * - Babbage * - Graphic detail * - banian * - Gulliver * - baobab - Johnson * - Blighty * - Lexingtons notebook * - Buttonwoods notebook * - Newsbook * - Cassandra * - Pomegranate * - Charlemagne * - Prospero * -Democracy in America * - Schumpeter * - Eastern approaches * Debate * - Econo mist debates * - What the world thinks * - Economics by invitation * - garner to the editor * - Ideas arena Women & work * The field in 2013 * Multimedia * -World * - Business & economics * - Science & technology * - Culture * - Events * - The Economist in audio * Print edition * Current issue * Previous issues * Special reports * Politics this week * Business this week * Leaders * KALs cartoon * Obituary This identify uses cookies. By continuing to browse the rate you are agreeing to our use of cookies.Review ourcookies informationfor more details Special reportManaging information A different game Information is transforming traditional businesses Feb 25th 2010 from the print edition * * IN 1879 James Ritty, a saloon-keeper in Dayton, Ohio, received a patent for a wooden contraption that he dubbed the incorruptible cashier. With a set of buttons and a loud bell, the device, sold by National Cash Register (NCR), was little more than a simple adding machine. Yet as an early for m of managing information flows in American business the cash cross-file had a huge impact.It not only reduced pilferage by alerting the shopkeeper when the till was opened by transcription every transaction, it also provided an instant overview of what was disaster in the business. Sales data remain one of a companys most important assets. In 2004 Wal-Mart peered into its mammoth databases and noticed that ahead a hurricane struck, there was a run on flashlights and batteries, as might be expected but also on Pop-Tarts, a sugary American eat snack. On reflection it is clear that the snack would be a handy thing to eat in a blackout, but the retailer would not have thought to stock up on it before a storm.The company whose system crunched Wal-Marts song was none other than NCR and its data-warehousing unit, Teradata, now an freelancer firm. A few years ago such technologies, called business intelligence, were available only to the worlds biggest companies. But as the price of computing and storage has fallen and the software systems have got better and cheaper, the technology has moved into the mainstream. Companies are collecting more data than ever before. In the past they were kept in different systems that were unable to talk to each other, such as finance, human resources or customer management.Now the systems are being linked, and companies are using data-mining techniques to get a complete picture of their operationsa single version of the truth, as the industry likes to call it. That allows firms to operate more efficiently, pick out trends and improve their forecasting. In this special report * Data, data all over * All too much * A different game * Clicking for gold * The open society * Show me * Needle in a haystack * New rules for big data * Handling the cornucopia Sources & acknowledgementsReprints Related topics * China * Nestle * IBM * Royal Shakespeare Company * WalmartConsider Cablecom, a Swiss telecoms operator. It has reduced custome r defections from one-fifth of subscribers a year to under 5% by crunching its numbers. Its software spotty that although customer defections peaked in the thirteenth month, the decision to leave was made much earlier, around the ninth month (as indicated by things like the number of calls to customer support services). So Cablecom offered certain customers special deals seven months into their subscription and reaped the rewards. Agony and torture Such data-mining has a dubious reputation. Torture the data long enough and they will confess to anything, statisticians quip.But it has become far more effective as more companies have started to use the technology. shell Buy, a retailer, found that 7% of its customers accounted for 43% of its sales, so it reorganised its stores to concentrate on those customers needs. Airline yield management change because analytical techniques uncovered the best predictor that a passenger would actually peer a flight he had book that he had ordere d a vegetarian meal. The IT industry is piling into business intelligence, seeing it as a natural successor of services such as accountancy and computing in the first and second half of the 20th century respectively.Accenture, PricewaterhouseCoopers, IBM and SAP are investing heavily in their consulting practices. Technology vendors such as Oracle, Informatica, TIBCO, SAS and EMC have benefited. IBM believes business intelligence will be a pillar of its growth as sensors are used to manage things from a citys profession flow to a patients blood flow. It has invested $12 billion in the past four years and is opening six analytics centres with 4,000 employees worldwide. Analytics playing statistical operations for forecasting or uncovering correlations such as between Pop-Tarts and hurricanescan have a big pay-off.In Britain the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) sifted through seven years of sales data for a marketing campaign that increased level(p) visitors by 70%. By examining more than 2m transaction records, the RSC discovered a lot more about its best customers not just income, but things like ancestry and family status, which allowed it to target its marketing more precisely. That was of authoritative importance, says the RSCs Mary Butlin, because it substantially boosted membership as well as fund-raising revenue. Yet making the most of data is not easy. The first step is to improve the accuracy of the information.Nestle, for example, sells more than 100,000 products in 200 countries, using 550,000 suppliers, but it was not using its huge buy power effectively because its databases were a mess. On examination, it found that of its 9m records of vendors, customers and materials around half were out of date or duplicated, and of the remainder about troika were inaccurate or incomplete. The name of a vendor might be brief in one record but spelled out in another, leading to double-counting. Plainer vanilla Over the past ten years Nestle has been overh auling its IT system, using SAP software, and up(p) the quality of its data.This enabled the firm to become more efficient, says Chris Johnson, who led the initiative. For just one ingredient, vanilla, its American operation was able to reduce the number of specifications and use fewer suppliers, saving $30m a year. Overall, such operational improvements save more than $1 billion annually. Nestle is not alone in having problems with its database. Most CIOs admit that their data are of poor quality. In a study by IBM half the managers quizzed did not trust the information on which they had to base decisions. Many say that the technology meant to make sense of it often just produces more data.Instead of finding a goad in the haystack, they are making more hay. Still, as analytical techniques become more widespread, business decisions will increasingly be made, or at least corroborated, on the basis of computer algorithms rather than individual(a) hunches. This creates a need for ma nagers who are flourishing with data, but statistics courses in business schools are not popular. Many new business insights come from dead data stored information about past transactions that are examined to reveal hidden correlations. But now companies are increasingly moving to analysing real-time information flows.Wal-Mart is a good example. The retailer operates 8,400 stores worldwide, has more than 2m employees and handles over 200m customer transactions each week. Its revenue last year, around $400 billion, is more than the GDP of many entire countries. The sheer scale of the data is a challenge, admits Rollin Ford, the CIO at Wal-Marts headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas. We keep a healthy paranoia. Not a sparrow falls Wal-Marts inventory-management system, called sell Link, enables suppliers to see the exact number of their products on every shelf of every store at that precise moment.The system shows the rate of sales by the hour, by the day, over the past year and m ore. Begun in the 1990s, retail Link gives suppliers a complete overview of when and how their products are selling, and with what other products in the shopping cart. This lets suppliers manage their stocks better. The technology enabled Wal-Mart to change the business framework of retailing. In some cases it leaves stock management in the hands of its suppliers and does not take ownership of the products until the moment they are sold. This allows it to shed inventory risk and reduce its costs.In essence, the shelves in its shops are a highly efficiently managed depot. Another company that capitalises on real-time information flows is Li & Fung, one of the worlds biggest supply-chain operators. Founded in Guangzhou in southern China a century ago, it does not own any factories or equipment but orchestrates a electronic engagement of 12,000 suppliers in 40 countries, sourcing goods for brands ranging from Kate Spade to Walt Disney. Its turnover in 2008 was $14 billion. Li Fung used to deal with its clients mostly by phone and fax, with e-mail counting as high technology.But thanks to a new web-services platform, its processes have speeded up. Orders flow through a web portal and bids can be solicited from pre-qualified suppliers. Agents now audit factories in real time with hand-held computers. Clients are able to monitor the details of every stage of an order, from the sign production run to shipping. One of the most important technologies has turned out to be videoconferencing. It allows buyers and manufacturers to examine the colour of a material or the stitching on a garment. Before, we werent able to send a 500MB imagewed post a DVD.Now we can stream it to show vendors in our offices. With real-time images we can make changes quicker, says Manuel Fernandez, Li Fungs chief technology officer. Data flowing through its network soared from 100 gigabytes a day only 18 months ago to 1 terabyte. The information system also allows Li & Fung to look across its operations to identify trends. In southern China, for instance, a shortage of workers and new legislation raised labour costs, so production moved north. We saw that before it actually happened, says Mr Fernandez.The company also got advance warning of the economic crisis, and later the recovery, from retailers orders before these trends became apparent. Investment analysts use country information provided by Li Fung to gain insights into macroeconomic patterns. Now that they are able to process information flows in real time, organisations are collecting more data than ever. One use for such information is to forecast when machines will break down. This hardly ever happens out of the blue there are usually warning signs such as noise, vibration or heat. Capturing such data enables firms to act before a breakdown.Similarly, the use of predictive analytics on the basis of large data sets may transform health care. Dr Carolyn McGregor of the University of Ontario, working with IB M, conducts research to spot potentially fatal infections in premature babies. The system monitors subtle changes in seven streams of real-time data, such as respiration, heart rate and blood pressure. The electrocardiogram alone generates 1,000 readings per second. This sweet of information is turned out by all medical equipment, but it used to be recorded on paper and examined perhaps once an hour.By feeding the data into a computer, Dr McGregor has been able to detect the plan of attack of an infection before obvious symptoms emerge. You cant see it with the naked eye, but a computer can, she says. Open sesame Two technology trends are helping to fuel these new uses of data cloud computing and open-source software. Cloud computingin which the internet is used as a platform to collect, store and process dataallows businesses to engage computing power as and when they need it, rather than having to buy expensive equipment.Amazon, Google and Microsoft are the most prominent firms to make their coarse computing infrastructure available to clients. As more corporate functions, such as human resources or sales, are managed over a network, companies can see patterns across the whole of the business and share their information more easily. A free programming language called R lets companies examine and present big data sets, and free software called Hadoop now allows ordinary PCs to analyse huge quantities of data that previously required a supercomputer. It does this by parcelling out the tasks to numerous computers at once.This saves time and money. For example, theNew York timea few years ago used cloud computing and Hadoop to qualify over 400,000 scanned images from its archives, from 1851 to 1922. By harnessing the power of hundreds of computers, it was able to do the job in 36 hours. Visa, a credit-card company, in a novel trial with Hadoop crunched two years of test records, or 73 billion transactions, amounting to 36 terabytes of data. The processing time fell from one month with traditional methods to a mere 13 minutes. It is a striking successor of Rittys incorruptible cashier for a data-driven age. rom the print edition Special report * Recommend 140 * * * Submit to reddit * inShare2 * View all comments (4) Related items TOPICChina * Recommended economics writing Link exchange * Trade Mexico rising * The Economist Digital highlights, November 24th 2012 TOPICNestle * Consumer goods in Africa A continent goes shopping * Schumpeter Pretty profitable parrots * Nestle buys Pfizer Nutrition Feeding little emperors TOPICIBM * Schumpeter Taking the long view * IBMs mainframes Old dog, new tricks * Phase-change memory Altered states TOPICRoyal Shakespeare Company William Shakespeare A digital reinvention * Culture Going for gold * Green architecture The retrofit revolution More related topics * Walmart Want more? Subscribe toThe Economistand get the weeks most relevant news and analysis. * Print edition X Feb 27th 2010 Feb 20th 2010 Feb 13th 2010 Feb 6th 2010 * Next in The world this week X Politics this week * Next in The world this week X Business this week * Next in The world this week X KALs cartoon * Next in Leaders X Technology The data deluge Businesses, governments and society are only starting to tap its vast potential * Next in LeadersX Argentina and the Falklands The beef in Buenos Aires The Kirchners could have more oil if they stopped bullying Argentine business * Next in Leaders X Japans frustrating politics Nagasaki fallout Japans prime minister, Yukio Hatoyama, should jettison his Svengali, Ichiro Ozawa * Next in Leaders X India Ending the red terror It is time India got serious about the Maoist insurgency in its eastern states * Next in Leaders X Genetically modified food Attack of the really quite likeable tomatoes The success of genetically modified crops provides opportunities to win over their critics Next in Letters X Letters On Spain, al-Qaeda, Yemen, torture, Britain, juries, stereotype s, Benjamin Disraeli * Next in Briefing X Argentina under the Kirchners Socialism for foes, capitalism for friends While some private businesses in Argentina have faced harassment or even nationalisation, others * Next in Briefing X The first familys businesses Welcome to the Hotel Kirchner Such a lovely little earner * Next in United States X Health reform Seizing the reins, at long last After leaving Congress in charge for too long, Barack Obama unveils his own plan * Next in United StatesX Mitt Romney and the Republicans Fired up, ready to go Mitt Romney takes centre-stage * Next in United States X The administrations economists Grading the dismal scientists How good is the Council of Economic Advisers? * Next in United States X The economy Back to the crash The American economy has just had its worst decade since the 1930s * Next in United States X Arkansas politics Democrats beware A spirited scramble for suddenly open Democratic seats * Next in United States X Schools and test ing The finger of suspicion Is too much weight given to testing? * Next in United States XCalifornias prison-guards union Fading are the peacemakers One of Californias most powerful political forces may have peaked * Next in United States X Americas children Protecting the weakest The recession may hurt Americas vulnerable children * Next in United States X Lexington Is Barack Obama tough enough? Conservatives call him too weak to be a warrior. Tell that to the Taliban * Next in The Americas X Corruption in Brazil The money trail Many corruption scandals stem from the high cost of politics, and unrealistically tight * Next in The Americas X Presidential ambitions in PeruPolitical satire Jaime Baylys breath of fresh air * Next in The Americas X Latin American summitry In ever-closer union, divided we stand * Next in The Americas X Canadas Mohawks Get out of our canoe When a Canadian is not a Canadian * Next in Asia X Tackling Japans bureaucracy Floundering in the foggy fortress The D PJ is finding that it needs to befriend its bureaucrats, as well as bash them * Next in Asia X Indias Naxalite insurgency Not a dinner party Indias Maoist guerrillas carry out two slaughters, then offer a truce * Next in Asia X Western aims in AfghanistanPlayed for fools Hamid Karzais shenanigans make the going even harder for NATO * Next in Asia X Migrant workers in Thailand Inhospitality Life gets harder for Thailands guest-workers * Next in Asia X Chinas National Peoples Congress Democracy in action Making sure that Chinas imperative legislative body is toothless * Next in Asia X Animal social welfare in China Off the posting The right to eat cats and dogs is under affright * Next in Asia X Banyan The mother of all dictatorships To understand pairing Korea, look not to Confucius or the Soviet Union, but to fascist 1930s Japan * Next in Asia X