Technological Innovation Impact on Accounting Field Essay Example for Free

Technological Innovation Impact on Accounting Field Essay Technology innovation is the process through which new (or improved) technologies are developed and brought into widespread use. Innovation can be composed of research, development, demonstration, and deployment. Although it is known clearly that innovation is not a linear process there are various interconnections and feedback loops between these stages, and often even the stages themselves cannot be significantly disaggregated. I don’t think if the phenomenon of technological innovation can become a stumbling block in prosperity of management accounting since through innovation management accounting discipline and career have been significantly improved. These areas are as follows The Information Revolution: in early years it was cost fully to collect, analyses and store accounting information. This was because of inadequacy of infrastructures which were importantly needed for this purpose. Today information technology makes possible sophisticated database accounting systems that are both powerful and flexible in terms of the accounting information that they can collect, organize and report. Even today, however, the cost of designing, implementing, and running cost accounting systems is a substantial obstacle in many organizations; a fact probably underrepresented in business schools. Proliferation of Product Lines: This is not much matters if a company makes only one product, since many cost accounting issues can be resolved. When companies significantly expanded their product lines to gain market share and increase profits, the difficulty and importance of obtaining accurate cost information on individual products increased. Back then companies were allocating costs among products in a manner that led to poor production and marketing decisions. A management accounting tool called activity-based costing was developed to help correct this problem, by improving the accuracy with which costs are allocated among products. Globalization of the Economy: Globalization has several implications for management accounting. First, globalization has resulted in a more competitive environment, which encourages the implementation of accounting systems that provide the most accurate, relevant, and timely information possible. Second, the growth of multinational corporations has increased the importance of transfer pricing. A transfer price is the amount one division of a company charges another division for an intermediate product. Transfer pricing plays a role in taxation, international trade negotiations, and production and marketing decisions within decentralized firms. Finally, globalization has increased the pace of change within the management accounting profession. Many recent innovations in management accounting, as well as in the fields of strategy and operations management, originated in Japan. Direct competition between Japanese and U. S. companies has led many U. S. companies to adopt these Japanese management practices. Innovative Management Practices: In addition to the four economic and technological trends described above, the following three innovations in the fields of strategy and operations management have influenced management accounting systems and practices over the past several decades. Total quality management (TQM): Quality programs go by several names, including TQM, zero defect programs, and six sigma programs. The focus on quality has had a significant impact on many organizations in all sectors of the economy, beginning with the automobile industry and some other industries in the manufacturing sector of the economy about forty years ago. Sophisticated quality programs are found today in many areas of government, education and other not-for-profit organizations as well as in for-profit businesses. The impetus for TQM programs is the assessment that the cost of defects is greater than the cost of implementing the TQM program. Advocates of TQM claim that some costs of defects have been underestimated historically, particularly the loss of customer goodwill and future sales when a defective unit is sold. Some advocates of quality programs believe that the most cost-effective approach to quality is to eliminate all defects at the point at which they occur. If successful, these â€Å"zero defect† programs would not only result in higher levels of customer satisfaction, but would also eliminate costs associated with more conventional quality control procedures, such as inspection costs that occur at the end of the production line, the cost of reworking units identified as defective, and costs associated with processing customer returns. The focus is on preventive controls to prevent the defect from occurring in the first place, as opposed to detective controls to identify and correct the defect after it has occurred. Just-in-time (JIT): During the last two decades of the 20th century, many companies implemented just-in-time programs designed to minimize the amount of inventory on hand. These companies identified significant benefits from reducing all types of inventories—raw materials, work-in-process, and finished goods—to the lowest possible levels. These benefits consist principally of reduced inventory holding costs (such as financing and warehousing costs), reduced losses due to inventory obsolescence, and more effective quality control The relationship between JIT and TQM is important. Many defects in raw materials or the production process can be ignored indefinitely if high-quality materials can be substituted for defective materials, and if additional first-quality units can be produced to replace defective units. In a non-JIT environment, defective materials and half-finished units might be set aside in a corner of the factory. However, under a JIT program, if raw materials received at the factory are defective, there might be no first-quality materials on hand to substitute for the defective materials. In extreme cases, the production line might be shut down until first-quality materials are received. Hence, a JIT program can focus attention on quality control in ways not generally possible in a non-JIT environment. The challenge in a JIT environment is to avoid stock-outs. To meet this challenge, some companies have found ways to decrease production lead times. Shorter production schedules result in less work-in-process inventory, and also allows companies to maintain lower levels of finished goods inventory while still maintaining high levels of customer satisfaction. Early in the 21st century, acts of terrorism (such as the destruction of the World Trade Center in New York City) and natural disasters (such as Hurricane Katrina) prompted some companies to rethink the practice of maintaining extremely low levels of inventories. These companies are concerned that future incidents could result in the disruption of inventory pipelines, particularly for imported materials. Consequently, the advantage of maintaining safety stocks of inventory is receiving renewed interest.

Forecasting And Procurement At Le Club Fran Ais Du Vin Finance Essay

Forecasting And Procurement At Le Club Fran Ais Du Vin Finance Essay Le Club Franà §ais du Vin is founded in 1973 and had grown to a 10 million Euro per year business in 2004. The mission of Le Club is to offer wines of good to very good quality to its customers in France, Switzerland, and Germany, who receive interesting wines delivered directly to their homes. Every member of Le Club receives an offer of wine every two months via a catalog. Le Club Franà §ais du Vin largely carries French wines. The heterogeneity of French wines makes forecasting consumer demand for particular French wine extremely difficult. At Le Club Franà §ais du Vin, a group of professional wine experts create a sales forecast for each wine in the upcoming catalog taking into account both taste considerations and the season of the year in which the wine is offered in the catalog. Once the forecasting process is over, Le Club places an order with the wine grower, which happens months before publishing the catalog and at a point when little information beyond the wine experts personal opinions is available. The Club pays the wine grower 75 days after having received the shipment. If the wine forecast equals the actual demand or comes close to it these payment conditions are very favorable for Le Club. However, such desirable cash flows are not always the case. If Le Club has over forecasted sales for the catalog season, excess bottles are stored in the warehouse and are likely to be discounted in a future catalog (white wines are discounted by 40% of their retail price, and red wines by 30%). There is also an additional handling and shipping cost for discounted bottles of 1.25 Euro per bottle, and 0.10 Euro warehouse operational costs per bottle. The main problem of the company is the mismatch between forecasts and actual customer demand, which results in either excess inventory or unsatisfied customers. For example, the Club had ordered 10,000 bottles of the 2002 St Emilion wine for the companys January 2004 catalog, but only sold 1,704 bottles. On the other side, the Club forecasted to sell 10,000 bottles of the Cà ´tes du Rhà ´ne, but actually experienced a demand of over 11,000 bottles. The Club currently holds over 200,000 bottles of wine in its warehouse. The company has to choose between few options in order to decide how many bottles of each wine to order to maximize expected profit, to generate a certain fill-rate or to achieve a certain in-stock probability. If the manager chooses as an objective to maximize the expected profit, as seen in Exhibit 1, the total expected profit is supposed to be 147,998 Euro. However, the profit-maximizing order quantity may generate some unacceptable fill rate and in-stock probability from the firms customer service prospective. The fill rate varies in the range of 50% to 100%, while the stockout probability varies in the range of 0% to 83%. This scenario will result in a lot of unsatisfied customers who might choose a different supplier in the future. The customers of the Club place their order by mail, phone, fax, or over the internet. If the customers place their order by phone or online they can be informed right away if a particular wine is out of stock. However, as a large portion of Le Clubs customers are in their 60s, orders by mail are most common, and these customers are unaware of the availability of the wine there are ordering. It is very rare for the company to be able to place additional orders for wines that have been under forecasted. As a result all demand for a wine that remains unfulfilled is lost. Given the complications associated with stock-outs, Le Club aims at high availability for its wines throughout the catalog season. That is the reason why the first scenario is not suitable for the company. Let us assume that the company chooses to guarantee a fill rate of 99%, which means that 99% of the demand will be satisfied. As seen in Exhibit 2, the total expected profit is 102,382 , which is about 45, 000 euro less than the profit it generates in the first scenario, however, the in -stock probability is 94.74%. This is a better scenario for the Club, because it is going to guarantee that most of the customers during the season can be satisfied, and there is also a great probability that the customers demand can be satisfied even at the end of the season. The fill rate is a good measure of average customer service because it treats each customer as equally important. So, even though the company might experience some profit loss for certain types of wine, the total expected profit is 102,382 Euro, and along with that the Club can also achieve high levels of fill rate and in-stock probability. The third option for the club is to choose to set as its primary goal to achieve a high in-stock probability (let us assume 97.5% rate). As seen in Exhibit 3, in this case the total expected profit is only 88,138 Euro, which is almost half of the expected profit in the first scenario. The fill rate is 99.57%. We see that achieving a very high in-stock probability can be quite expensive and sets the company at a much lower profit level. This scenario is also unacceptable for the company. The company has to constantly try to balance the cash constraints inherent in holding large inventory positions with the goal of sustaining healthy margins (the club typically enjoys around 50%) while ensuring availability of a broad selection of wines even late in a catalog season. Therefore the club needs to make tradeoff to give up some of its profit in order to obtain higher fill rate and in-stock probability in order to ensure better customer service and to keep its positions in the market. The second scenario seems the most optimistic and optimal for the company it will lose some of its profit, but on the other side will guarantee a greater customer satisfaction, which is very important for the Club that capitalizes on a niche market. Appellation Q that maximizes expected profit Expected profit Fill Rate Stockout probability FAUGERES 12022 16235 88.47% 36.58% GRAVES 803 1847 91.12% 30.32% GRAVES 1149 2076 93.58% 23.77% PESSAC LEOGNAN 3241 11721 100.00% 0.00% CARTON PANACHE 6+2+4 5093 12880 99.38% 3.40% BORDEAUX CLAIRET 3461 3286 81.65% 50.00% CÔTES DE BOURG 1352 1985 90.00% 33.05% ENTRE DEUX MERS 1129 940 74.41% 61.14% BORDEAUX 4535 3063 74.63% 60.84% CARTON PANACHE 5493 5993 84.41% 44.98% Bordeaux 2127 1332 73.05% 62.96% VDP des Cà ´teaux de LArdà ¨che 1651 344 50.59% 83.87% VDP des Cà ´teaux de LArdà ¨che 1412 318 52.08% 82.91% VDP du Comtà © Tolosan 1041 227 48.72% 85.02% CARTON PANACHEE 1692 547 59.22% 77.54% CABERNET DANJOU 2630 2581 82.31% 48.84% SANCERRE 2092 6068 93.93% 22.76% CHINON 4071 4315 83.84% 46.05% ALOXE CORTON 2992 13549 100.00% 0.00% BOURGOGNE ALIGOTE 1013 1505 84.68% 44.44% GIVRY 1734 4028 99.95% 0.38% COTEAUX DU LYONNAIS 2543 2293 80.61% 51.78% CDR Vill RASTEAU 1075 2084 94.73% 20.40% GIGONDAS 2493 5225 100.00% 0.00% CÔTES DU VENTOUX 1052 1032 82.31% 48.84% CARTON PANACHE 3742 7788 95.87% 16.85% CORBIERES (6) 1155 1169 82.94% 47.71% GAILLAC 2248 2347 83.54% 46.60% MINERVOIS 3322 2847 79.57% 53.48% MADIRAN 14445 28372 94.95% 19.75% Total Expected Profit 147,998 Exhibit 1 Appellation Q that guarantees fill rate of 99% Expected sales Expected leftover inventory2 Expected profit (fill rate = 99%) In-stock probability FAUGERES 18121 10280 7841 12379 94.74% GRAVES 1133 642 490 1588 94.74% GRAVES 1510 857 653 1926 94.74% PESSAC LEOGNAN 1963 1114 849 10134 94.74% CARTON PANACHE 6+2+4 4832 2741 2091 12871 94.74% BORDEAUX CLAIRET 6040 3427 2614 1219 94.74% CÔTES DE BOURG 1963 1114 849 1632 94.74% ENTRE DEUX MERS 2265 1285 980 -341 94.74% BORDEAUX 9060 5140 3920 -1022 94.74% CARTON PANACHE 9060 5140 3920 3338 94.74% Bordeaux 4379 2484 1895 -737 94.74% VDP des Cà ´teaux de LArdà ¨che 5285 2998 2287 -3335 94.74% VDP des Cà ´teaux de LArdà ¨che 4379 2484 1895 -2682 94.74% VDP du Comtà © Tolosan 3473 1970 1503 -2623 94.74% CARTON PANACHEE 4530 2570 1960 -2289 94.74% CABERNET DANJOU 4530 2570 1960 1082 94.74% SANCERRE 2718 1542 1176 5678 94.74% CHINON 6795 3855 2940 2252 94.74% ALOXE CORTON 1812 1028 784 11367 94.74% BOURGOGNE ALIGOTE 1661 942 719 863 94.74% GIVRY 1359 771 588 3997 94.74% COTEAUX DU LYONNAIS 4530 2570 1960 663 94.74% CDR Vill RASTEAU 1359 771 588 1985 94.74% GIGONDAS 1510 857 653 5001 94.74% CÔTES DU VENTOUX 1812 1028 784 433 94.74% CARTON PANACHE 4530 2570 1960 7572 94.74% CORBIERES (6) 1963 1114 849 542 94.74% GAILLAC 3775 2142 1634 1181 94.74% MINERVOIS 6040 3427 2614 571 94.74% MADIRAN 18121 10280 7841 27136 94.74% Total Expected Profit 102,382 Exhibit 2 Appellation Q that guarantees In-stock probability = 97.5% Expected profit(in-stock probability = 97.5) Expected fill rate FAUGERES 19745 10565 99.57% GRAVES 1234 1444 99.57% GRAVES 1645 1820 99.57% PESSAC LEOGNAN 2139 10387 99.57% CARTON PANACHE 6+2+4 5265 12876 99.57% BORDEAUX CLAIRET 6582 466 99.57% CÔTES DE BOURG 2139 1450 99.57% ENTRE DEUX MERS 2468 -739 99.57% BORDEAUX 9872 -2297 99.57% CARTON PANACHE 9872 2286 99.57% Bordeaux 4772 -1366 99.57% VDP des Cà ´teaux de LArdà ¨che 5759 -4219 99.57% VDP des Cà ´teaux de LArdà ¨che 4772 -3410 99.57% VDP du Comtà © Tolosan 3784 -3300 99.57% CARTON PANACHEE 4936 -3017 99.57% CABERNET DANJOU 4936 526 99.57% SANCERRE 2962 5391 99.57% CHINON 7404 1450 99.57% ALOXE CORTON 1974 11703 99.57% BOURGOGNE ALIGOTE 1810 606 99.57% GIVRY 1481 4018 99.57% COTEAUX DU LYONNAIS 4936 85 99.57% CDR Vill RASTEAU 1481 1903 99.57% GIGONDAS 1645 5052 99.57% CÔTES DU VENTOUX 1974 210 99.57% CARTON PANACHE 4936 7347 99.57% CORBIERES (6) 2139 304 99.57% GAILLAC 4113 732 99.57% MINERVOIS 6582 -215 99.57% MADIRAN 19745 26076 99.57% Total Expected Profit 88,138   Exhibit 3

Three-Dimensional Grade Control in Road Construction

Three-Dimensional Grade Control in Road Construction Three-Dimensional Grade Control in Road Construction using Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Introduction Contractors have used grade stakes installed on the side of the road at intervals of 100 feet for the vertical grade of the finished ground surface in road construction. The grade stakes are measured based on control points(CPs) which are reference points and markers established by surveyors at the design phase. By using the grade stakes, the contractors align the grade elevation with regulated tolerances which are typically less than 0.05 feet for subgrade and 0.02 feet for roadway surface (Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission 2016). The contractors confirm the final construction layout including as-built cross sections, which are measured by a total station or conventional survey methods such as a level, theodolite, and transit at intervals of 500 feet. The final products should be in reasonably close conformity with the design plans and specifications (Floyd et al. 2013). Figure 1: The conventional grade control using grade stakes (Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission 2016) However, in many cases, the contractors have experienced unsuspected discrepancies between the as-designed model and the as-built model, which cause the project cost and time overrun (Pitman 2001). These discordances could be derived from technical issues or human matters that are issues among people such as a lack of coordination and communication between designers and contractors (Arain et al. 2004). While the problems caused by human issues could be solved easily by involving the contractors and designers as coordinators, the resolving the technical problems, such as a measurement error, still remain challenges because the conventional grade control methods use only a few points to build a final grade layout, which can cause considerable errors at the non-measured area. For this reason, many researchers have studied on the application of new technologies such as a global positioning system (GPS), robotic total station (RTS), and terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) to obtain dense poi nts for the grade control. Despite all these efforts, the contractors are still using the traditional methods for grade control because of the disadvantages of the new approaches regarding the economic and usability. In this regard, unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) is the most reasonable way to overcome such shortcomings (Nex and Remondino 2014). The photogrammetry using UAV is a time-competitive method to generate a digital surface model (DSM) which enables contractors to obtain the dense point cloud of the long-strip roadway construction site without intervals (Chiabrando et al. 2009). Moreover, the UAV allows the user to avoid working in hazardous environments (Barry and Coakley 2013). With such advantages, several researchers apply the UAV to roadway construction, especially for surveying earthwork projects (Siebert and Teizer 2014). The current accuracy of the UAV photogrammetry, however, does not completely meet the particular requirements in road construction such as the grading tolerance which is less than 0.05 feet. This study, therefore, reviews the current state of the three-dimensional grade control in road construction and presents a best practice for applying the UAV for the construction by providing a way to develop the accuracy of the UAV photogrammetry. Moreover, this study verifies the improved accuracy through the field test at an ongoing highway construction site in Georgia, the United States. Literature Review This study has reviewed current studies on the 1) grade control methods in road construction using dense point clouds, 2) applications of UAV for highway construction, and 3) accuracy of UAV photogrammetry. Current study on the grade control in roadway construction As mentioned above, the contractors today perform the grade control in a conventional manner using grade stakes and cross sections because those methods dont require a specialty. However, such methods are conducted sparsely at regular but widely spaced intervals, which can give rise to substantial errors when the contractors build a successive three-dimensional as-built model. To avoid this, many researchers have studied on the way to create a 3D as-built model without intervals as below. 3D grade control using GPS installed on the construction equipment The real-time kinematic (RTK) GPS technology provides a location information for a dynamic motion in real time. The advent of the RTK-GPS technology enables the users to control the machines blade systemically and to build 3D as-built model automatically (Stewart, 2006). For this reason, many global GPS manufacturers, such as Topcon, Trimble, and Leica, present automatic 3D grade control technologies as seen in Figure 2. According to a final report on Implementation of GPS Controlled Highway Construction Equipment in the University of Wisconsin, the use of the GPS to guide construction equipment is time-efficient and cuts costs (Vonderohe 2007). Figure 2: GPS controlled roadway construction equipment Accordingly, many Department of Transportation (DOT) have increased the implementation of the automated machine guidance with GPS (Townes 2013). However, the vertical error of RTK-GPS is typically over 1.5 inches, and sometimes a sudden elevation shift caused by a cycle slip or multipath, which can lead to a significant discrepancy between as-design model and as-built model. Therefore, its impossible to fully adopt the GPS to grade control in roadway construction unless there is an enhancement of the accuracy. Terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) for the highway construction process monitoring The TLS, which measures the location of thousands of points each epoch at ranges of hundreds of meters, is another method to collect high dense point data. The TLS generates more accurate 3D layouts than conventional survey methods (Slattery and Slattery 2013). D. Slattery et al. (2010) demonstrate that the TLS is a feasible means to control the grade in highway construction projects and to calculate earthwork quantities (Slattery and Slattery 2010). Despite the fact that the TLS guarantees accurate point clouds, this new technology faces several operational challenges. One of the primary challenges is that it takes extremely long time to acquire the dense points. In general, the measurement using TLS takes one hour to measure the area of 20,000 square feet. Furthermore, as the scanner is installed on the ground, TLS method forms shadow zones where cannot scan due to obstacles such as trees and hills. In particular, since the roadway construction site is quite long, such drawbacks co uld be fatal. In this regard, the UAV, which is a less time-consuming way of measuring fields, could be an effective alternative. Application of UAV for roadway construction The UAV referred to as a drone, has recently begun to be applied to the construction field with the improvement of the positioning technologies and high-performance digital camera (Turner et al. 2012). With the development of the high-performance UAV, many researchers have successfully applied the UAV for the 3D modeling of the construction site and the measurement of earthwork quantities. S. Siebert and J. Teizer (2014) presents a practice for the application of UAV to construction survey for earthmoving of the construction site. They assert that the UAV technology is a cost- and time-effective alternatives to ground-based survey applications (Siebert and Teizer 2014). Furthermore, M. Daakir et al. (2015) describe that the UAV equipped with GPS receiver can achieve a consistent 3D model with a relatively low cost (Daakir et al. 2015). The studies on the application of the UAV has been limited to the particular construction fields such as earthmoving project and field survey for plan ning the road construction because the accuracy of the photogrammetry using UAV is over two inches which exceed the tolerance for the vertical grade. Thus, the improvement of the accuracy of UAV photogrammetry is required prior to applying the UAV technology to the grade control in roadway construction. Figure 3: The developed UAV systems, S. Siebert and J. Teizer (left), M. Daakir et al. (right) Accuracy of UAV photogrammetry Several researchers have examined innovative ways of improving the accuracy of the UAV photogrammetry. The accuracy of the UAV photogrammetry directly depends on the ground sampling distance (GSD), which is determined by the focal length, flight altitude, and resolution of the camera. In general, higher GSD value indicates that the image would have a lower spatial resolution. Therefore, the altitude of the flight should be performed around 150 m above ground level to obtain images at the GSD of up to 10 cm. (RuzgienÄ- et al. 2015). In addition, the use of geo-referencing methods aligning UAV imagery with known points measured in advance also can improve the accuracy of the photogrammetry. J. Goncalves and R. Henriques (2015) assert that the vertical root mean square (RMS) errors of UAV photogrammetry can be decreased to 5cm by using ground control points (GCPs) as the geo-referencing (Gonà §alves and Henriques 2015). However, a minimum of three GCPs are required for the geo-refe rencing, and generally, more than nine GCPs should be appeared on the imagery to retain redundancy for least squares regression. Moreover, the method that aligns the imagery known as Image registration causes a systematic error which is a cumulative error. In particular, since the road construction site requires extremely long longitudinal measurement, the registration error is theoretically increased in direct proportion to the length of the construction site (Zheng et al. 2016). This study, therefore, proposed a method to correct the systemic error by originating the position of the flying UAV with dual-frequency RTK-GPS and resection method. Figure 4: The GCPs that J. Goncalves and R. Henriques (2015) used Methodology This chapter enumerates the methodology for applying the UAV photogrammetry to the grade control in road construction as follows. Type of UAVs Ground Sampling Distance (GSD) Ground Control Points (GCPs) Positioning of the UAV using space resection method 3D model generation Verification Types of UAV The type of UAVs is classified into three categories: fixed wing type, rotary wing type, and hybrid wing type integrated the fixed wing and rotary type. Fixed wing UAVs have characteristics that they have a simple mechanism and more efficient aerodynamics which allows the fixed wing UAV to fly longer duration at higher speeds than the rotary wing. On the contrary, the rotary wing UAVs have a relatively more complicated structure which may infer that they have lower speed and shorter flight range than fixed wing. The advantages of the rotary wing are that they can conduct vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) and hovering. The fixed/rotary hybrid UAV has both characteristics of the fixed wing type and rotary wing type. The hybrid UAVs can perform VTOL and hovering and fly with little power like the fixed wing UAV. Table 1 shows the differences between the fixed wing and rotary drones. Since the roadway construction site is quite long and doesnt have vertical obstacles, the fixed wing ty pe of UAV is most appropriate for the surveying the road construction area. Most UAV for the land survey is equipped with single frequency GPS receiver for positioning of the flying vehicle. In general, the vertical accuracy of the single frequency GPS is compromised. For this reason, this study suggests mounting a dual frequency GPS on the UAV to improve their positioning accuracy. The vertical accuracy of the dual frequency RTK-GPS is known to be lower than 2cm in general circumstances. This study might use virtual reference station (VRS), which facilitate the RTK/GPS based on National Continuously Operating Reference Station (CORS). Table 1 The differences between fixed wing type and rotary type Fixed wing Rotary wing Purpose Mapping Small area Mapping Inspection Application Land surveying (rural) GIS Construction Inspection Real estate Surveying (urban) Flight Speed High Low Coverage Large Small Flight Duration Times Long Short Wind Resistance High Low VTOL X O Hovering X O Ground Sampling Distance (GSD) As mentioned above, GSD value is related to the flight level, focal length, and resolution of the camera. Since the GSD value directly affects the results of the photogrammetry, it is important to determine the flight altitude. For a given flying height H, the GSD will be given by Where f is the lens focal length, and H is the flight altitude. Typically, in the case of the GSD of 5 cm, the standard deviation of 1 pixel in the parallax may result in a standard deviation of approximately 5 ~ 10 cm in the elevation error. The flight altitude also affects the overlapping rate which is related to the accuracy of the photogrammetry. That is to say, for a given focal length and resolution of the camera, increasing the altitude will increase overlap rate and GSD. Since it is possible to fly the UAV at low altitude in roadway construction site where is a barrier-free area, this study limits the flight height to 100 m or less to maintain the GSD of under 5cm. Although flying at low altitude can cause little overlap rate, the matter of overlapping can be solved by taking more pictures. Ground Control Points (GCPs) In the photogrammetry for field surveying, establishing a network of the ground control points The GCPs installed on the field is employed for the geo-referencing. Although the bundle image adjustment needs to have at least three GCPs, it is necessary to have 9 or more GCPs for providing enough redundancies for the least square adjustment. The GCP photogrammetric targets should be visible in the pictures and have about 5 ~ 10 times the dimensions of the GSD. Since the accuracy of the GCPs is crucial for the accuracy of the final results, the position of the GCPs should be measured precisely by total station or post-processing GPS. M.Chahbazi et al. (2015) state that although a large number of well-distributed GCPs as seen in Figure 5 (left) guarantees the highest accuracy, if it is impossible due to the field conditions, the best practice is to install the GCPs near the ends of the flight strips to be visible in several images from two closest strips. Furthermore, placing the GCPs with height variation is beneficial for the vertical adjustment of the UAV imagery. Figure 5: The methods to set up the GCPs in the article of M.Chahbazi et al. (2015) (left) when there are enough GCPs, and (right) if not. According to the construction survey manual of U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), contractors or sub-contractors should establish control points (CPs), which are semi-permanent reference points built beside the construction site at intervals of 500 feet, to align the horizontal distribution and vertical elevation. Since these CPs are measured from the second-order benchmark, which has a ratio of closure of 1:10000, it is possible to construct accurate GCPs. Positioning of the UAV using space resection method The position of flying UAV has been determined from the GPS embedded on the UAV until now. However, the accuracy of the GPS depends on the satellite signal which sometimes includes serious errors such as cycle slip or multipath caused by the environmental conditions. Moreover, time synchronization between the GPS and images from the Camera can also cause several errors. In this regard, this study proposes a new positioning method that improves the accuracy of the photogrammetric results by applying space resection method. The resection method is to determine an unknown point from two known points. This measurement method is usually used when measuring the location of the device such as total station or theodolite. Figure 7: The concept of the space resection for UAV photogrammetry (Ref. https://dronemapper.com/uas_photo-grammetry_processing) The space resection requires at least two known ground control points per an image, but this study used five ground control points for the least square adjustment. The accuracy of the space resection only depends on the range error of the camera, which is much more accurate than RTK-GPS, and therefore this study expects an improvement in the positioning accuracy of the operating UAV As-built 3D model generation The stereo images extracted from UAV photogrammetry go through the image matching process. The image matching process is usually classified into correlation based method and feature-based method. The correlation based method has various computational processes because they conduct the image matching with all area and pixels. In contrast, since the feature based method adjusts images with edges or corners in the pictures, the processing is faster than the correlation based method. Scale-invariant feature transform (SIFT) is one of the most widely used features detecting method. The SIFT algorithm extracts key points from overlapped area, and align the images by using descriptors which are created from the extracted key points. The 3D structure is built by structure from motion (SfM) algorithm, which is a method to generate 3D structure by calculating the pose of the camera from 2D images. Most commercial software today has used the feature-based image matching and SfM algorithm to cre ate a 3D model. One of the commercial software is Agisoft PhotoScan which conduct image matching with the feature-based method. This study generates the as-built model of the roadway construction site based on the DSM generated from the Agisoft PhotoScan. The final as-built 3D model would be compared to the as-design model. An essential issue in this step is to synchronize the coordinates system used in both as-design model and as-built model. For this reason, it is essential that both models should be on the geographic information system (GIS) based on a global coordinate system. Verification Table 2 The whole process of this study Step 1 Step 2 Step 3 Step 4 Step5 Objectives Planning UAV operation Establishing GCPs Obtaining images from UAV Generating 3D model Verification Details GSD Flight Altitude Overlapping rate The number Location Resection QC of images SIFT, SfM DSM Field Test Error Assessment

Nixons Secret Bombings in Cambodia :: President Richard Nixon

Why did President Richard Nixon decide to have secret bombing in Cambodia in 1969? A. Plan of the investigation: i. Subject of the investigation: Why did President Richard Nixon decide to have secret bombing in Cambodia in 1969? The purpose of investigating Nixon?s secret bombing of Cambodia is to understand his real intentions. Also, to find out why he had to hide this from the Congress and the media. Wouldn?t it mean that he is abusing his power by keeping it a secret and not getting permission to do so from the Congress? Last, but not least, is to understand how Nixon actually destroyed neutral Cambodia. ii. Methods: a. Evidences from the biographical books on Nixon and Henry Kissinger will be used to support my thesis and topic question. b. The internet will be another source to find out information on the backgrounds of Cambodia and the events that were happening during the period when Cambodia was secretly bombed. c. Research for real conversations that Nixon had with his other helping mates about the decision to secretly bomb Cambodia. d. Find out the real issue he had that led him to secretly bomb Cambodia. Especially when he did not get permission from the Congress, and when the public found out, how did they react to Nixon?s actions. B. Summary of Evidence: -George McGovern wrote, ?The secret, unconstitutional bombing of [Cambodia] was the clearest ground for a Nixon impeachment. It was a vastly more serious crime than the break-in at Watergate.?# - ?In 1973, after the bombing was finally discovered, both Nixon and Kissinger maintained?that the secrecy was necessary to protect Sihanouk, who was variously described as? ?allowing? the raids, so long as they were covert. They maintained that the areas were unpopulated and that only Vietnamese Communist troops, legitimate targets, were there.?# -Nixon had already known that the American ground offensive, from the summer of 1966 to the Tet offensive of 1968, had failed to destroy the North Vietnamese (communists). Therefore he had an offensive against the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Cambodia. The Communists were making an effective use of the Ho Chi Minh Trail through Cambodia. Suddenly, Nixon ordered the bombing of the Cambodian sanctuaries. His instincts were to respond violently to the Communist offensive.

Who Is God? Essay -- essays research papers

Who is God? Worshipping is a way to communicate beliefs and feelings of individuals and religious communities. Every society I have every studied from the American Indians to the Ancient Greek have all believed in some form of worship or religion. Altars have been and are in existence in several if not all forms of region. Robert Farris Thompson depicts this for the African population in " Overture: The Concept 'Altar,' " and " With the Assurance of Infinity: Yoruba Atlantic Altars," Face of the Gods: Art and Altars of Africa and the African Americas, through pictures he and others have taken, has well as evidence from assorted books, articles, poems and songs, Thompson shows the meaningful role the Altar had in self expression of the Africans. "The aim is to view black Atlantic art, especially in the New World, in terms of thoughtfully selected [altar] objects belonging to specific philosophic constellations which help to define the face of divinity." Through the oppression of the salve trade, the Yoruba Africans worked to keep there own conception of region intact. "Even under slavery, and under post slavery persecution in the late nineteenth century, the Yoruba of Cuba and Brazil managed to maintain sporadic but precious contact with Africa through networks of friends and traders. They sought the sacred cowries, seeds, and beads of Africa for their religion." This example...

Bullet Proof Vests

The product bullet proof vest is under the manufacturing medical supplies and devices industry which has a total of about 11,000 companies under its umbrella, earning an aggregate income of $75 billion annually. The major players of this industry are Baxter International, Boston Scientific, Johnson & Johnson, and Medtronic, which produces surgical, ophthalmic, and dental instruments and supplies used in the medical field. It is said that the industry is well focused on the hands of 50 largest companies which make up the 75% income of the whole industry.Market Force 1: Technological Forces Armstrong and Kotler (2009) cited that the wonders of technology produce new markets and opportunities, though in some cases hurt other businesses. Technology is now molding the destiny of everyone in a very dramatic manner. Regularly, bullet proof vests must be upgraded when it comes to materials and workmanship, to be in congruence with the fast advancing and high-powered technology in ammunitions being sold in the marketplace.Customers require innovative designs combined with sophisticated and complex functionality for their bullet proof vests. Market Force 2: Demographic forces The world population increases rapidly, affecting the population demographically in terms of age, density, location, gender, race and occupation among others, (Armstrong and Kotler, 2009) . The doubling increase in population yearly has many implications in business, which could be in the form of opportunities or challenges. Since population is people, marketers are very concern and interested in this factor.For instance, crimes are becoming more and more intense and well-organized which calls for more police officers with advance combat gears for protection and safety. Market Force 3: Environmental Forces The natural environment plays a vital role in the production and marketing of bullet proof vests, especially when it comes to the materials being used. Corporate social responsibility and governme nt regulations on environment calls for the use of environmental friendly materials for products being manufactured in order to lessen the impact of pollution to human beings.The use of ApNano materials, for instance in personal safety equipment for saving lives and preventing injuries is a major breakthrough in bullet proof vests production. Strategies to Overcome the Threats The increasing threat when it comes to government regulations in promoting clean environment is also a technological and economic problem. There is a need for political will, large fund and more advanced way of protecting the environment, while making profit. One strategy is to produce practical and affordable products through continuous product development.This way though the product is highly advanced in technology, still more customers will have the capacity to buy the product because it could be offered in a competitive pricing strategy. Strategies to Capitalize on the Opportunities As the technological en vironment changes in a fast phased manner, more and more new products are being desired by customers. New and more advanced technology substitutes the older version, which means a need to produce creative and innovative products.Marketers should watch the technological environment very intimately, at the same time envisioning what most likely will be acceptable in the marketplace in days, months and years ahead. Research and development to come up with fresh and novel bullet proof vests is very essential. Conclusion Since the product bullet proof vests uses a rapidly changing technology, there is a need for tradeoff in order to maximize product performance, cost and reliability, so product development is the appropriate strategy.There is also a need to focus on high level of service and responsiveness to answer to customer requirements of safety and protection while at the same time. There has to be fast product creation which means developing products very quickly in order to start benefiting from these products. References Armstrong, G & Kotler, P. (2009). Marketing: An Introduction, 9th ed. Prentice Hall. www. nanotech-now. com/news. cgi? story_id=29842

Government Essay

Should wealthy nations be essential to sh argon their wealth among unworthyer nations by providing such(prenominal) things as food and nurture? Or is it the responsibility of the governments of poorer nations to way after their citizens themselves? What should a government do for a body politic to bewilder winnerful? Should money be spent on space geographic expedition?Should rich countries forgive wholly debts for poor countries? Does foreign encour get on with help beaverower countries much than the recipients? Should rich countries represent to a vaster extremity for environmental damage? Most risque level jobs atomic human action 18 done by men. Should the government encourage a true percentage of these jobs to be reserved for women? Should growth countries come down on improving industrial skills or should they promote education prototypical? Safety standards argon important when construction muckles homes. Who should be obligated for enforcing strict b uilding codes the government or the slew who build the homes? contend the reinforcement and disadvantage of giving realness-wide aid to poor countries.Should criminals be punished with lengthy jail terms or re-educated and rehabilitated organic evolution community service programs for instance, before cosmos reintroduced to society? In intimately countries disenable commonwealth be not catered for adequately, e.g. buildings are often inappropriately designed. Governments rely as well heavily on charities and voluntary organizations to pr say assistance and funding. What further measures could be taken to assist disabled people? In your look should government intervene in the rights of the individual with regard to family planning? The best way to adulterate the number of craft accidents is to make all young drivers screw a right driving education course before being commissioned to drive.Nowadays doctors merchant ship become very rich. Maybe they should not focus on profitable activities such as ductile surgery or looking after rich patients and concentrate more(prenominal)(prenominal) on patients health, no matter how rich they are? Does travel help to promote brain and communication between countries? In your opinion what factors contribute to a dandy moving picture? ar famous people do by unfairly by the media ? Should they be given more privacy, or is the price of their fame an encroachment into their private lives? Is animal testing prerequisite? Some businesses now say that no one can smoke cigarettes in any of their offices. Some governments have verboten smoking in all normal places. Do you barrack or discord? experience reasons. To what outcome is the work of animals in scientific research acceptable? military man beings do not need to swallow meat in narrate to have good health beca workout they can sop up all their food needs from meatless products and meatless substances. A vegetarian dieting is as heal thy as a diet containing meat. Argue for or against the opinion above. Forests are the lungs of the earth. Destruction of the mankinds forests amounts to termination of the field we currently know. To what extent do you harmonise or dissent? Are our zoos cruel to wild animals? plow.Zoos are sometimes seen as necessary but not poor alternatives to a natural environment. Discuss some of the arguments for and/or against keeping animals in zoos. To what extent depart migration from the development world to the developed world become a social and political act in the 21st century? In Britain, when mortal gets doddering, they often go to live in a home with other old people where there are nurses to look after them. Sometimes the government has to pay for this care. Who should be responsible for our old people? harbor reasons.The first car appeared on British roads in 1888. By the course of instruction 2000 there may be as some as 29 cardinal vehicles on British roads. sel ection forms of dishonor should be encouraged and international laws introduced to aver car ownership and use. What do you imagine? The best way to reduce the number of traffic accidents is to make all young drivers complete a safe driving education course before being licensed to drive. News editors purpose what to broadcast on TV and what to home run in newspapers. What factors do you think fascinate their decisions? Have we become used to prominent news? Would it be better if more good news was reported? TV could you be without it? Discuss.To what extent will migration from the developing world to the developed world become a social and political issue in the 21st century? The megabucks media, including TV, tuner and newspapers, have great regulate in shaping peoples ideas. To what extent do you agree or protest with this disputation? Give reasons for your answer. touristry is becoming increasingly important as a source of revenue to many a(prenominal) countries but its disadvantages should not be overlooked. What are some of the problems of tourism? The mass media, including TV, radio and newspapers, have great influence in shaping peoples ideas. To what extent do you agree or disagree this statement? Give reasons for your answerDoes modern font technology make life more convenient, or was life better when technology was simpler? Will modern technology, such as the internet ever replace the watchword or the written word as the main source of info? We are becoming increasingly dependent on reckoners. They are used in businesses, hospitals, shame detection and even to fly planes. What things will they be used for in futurity?.Is this dependence on computers a good thing or should we be more suspicious of their benefits?Use specific exposit and examples in your answer. In what ways has information technology changed work and working practices in the past 10 years? engine room is making communication easier in straight offs world, but at the disbursal of personal contact as many people choose to work at home in front of a computer screen. What dangers are there for a society which depends on computer screens preferably than face-to-face contact for its main message of communication? Will the Internet chip in people of the world closer together? The first car appeared on British roads in 1888. By the year 2000 there may be as many as 29 million vehicles on British roads. Alternative forms of transport should be encouraged and international laws introduced to control car ownership and use. What do you think? The mass media, including TV, radio and newspapers, have great influence in shaping peoples ideas. To what extent do you agree or disagree this statement? Give reasons for your answer.Should retirement be compulsory at 65 years of age? teleworking refers to thespians doing their jobs from home for part of each calendar week and communicating with their office using computer technology. Telecommuting is gro wing in many countries and is expected to be common for about office workers in the coming decades. How do you think society will be affected by the growth of telecommuting? In some countries the average worker is obliged to retire at the age of 50, while in others people can work until they are 65 or 70. Until what age do you think people should be encouraged to remain in paid employment? Give reasons for your answer.To what extent should economic planning be influenced by the need of environmental conservation? vituperate of the environment is an inevitable consequence of world-wide improvements in the standard of living. Discuss. The rising levels of congestion and air pollution found in most of the world cities can be attributed directly to the rapidly increasing number of private cars in use. In order to reverse this decline in the persona of life in cities, attempts must be made to encourage people to use their cars less and public transport more. Discuss possible ways to encourage the use of public transport.The threat of nuclear weapons maintains world peace. Nuclear power provides cheap and straight energy. The benefits of nuclear technology far preponderate the disadvantages. Do you agree or disagree? Give reasons for your answer.Education is the single most important factor in the development of a country. Do you agree? What are factors which are related to academic success in high-school students? Do the benefits of study abroad justify the difficulties? What advice would you offer to a potential student? The idea of going overseas for university study is an exciting prospect for many people.But while it may offer some advantages, it is probably better to nonplus home because of the difficulties a student necessarily encounters living and studying in a different culture. To what extent do you agree or disagree this statement? Give reasons for your answer. Education is recognized as live to the future of any society in todays world. Gov ernments throughout the world should make education compulsory for all children between the ages of 5 and 15. To what extent do you agree or disagree with this statement? Foreign language instruction should set about in kindergarten. Discuss. Should sports classes be sacrificed in risque School so students can concentrate on academic subjects?