Citizenship of Organization, Nation and Planet-Rights and Responsibilities Essay

It has been rightly said by someone-â€Å"The price of freedom is eternal vigilance.† Eternal vigilance for the citizen must take many forms. There are many varied definitions for Citizen, but in this context it can be said that Citizen is the person who represents the country-legally and Citizenship describes the status of belonging somewhere and it implies both rights and responsibilities (Graham, 1991). When a Citizen get the power to enforce his rights and responsibilities, then it can be said that â€Å"With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility†. A Citizen needs to take full responsibility towards Organization, Nation as well as Planet-main three forms towards which the Citizen should be eternally vigilant. Many Management literates have investigated the notion of Citizenship from three perspective-an Organizational Citizenship (where the efforts are undertaken by the employees to behave as good citizens within their organization); from a social perspective with the notion of Corporate Citizenship (where initiatives are undertaken by businesses to act responsibly in society in particular and the Nation in general) and last but not the least from the planet perspective with the notion of Environment Citizenship (where efforts should be undertaken by Individuals/entity to be responsible towards environmental protection). Organization Citizens are employees in organizations who may or may not act as good corporate citizens. Organizational citizens behave in a manner that is helpful to the organization. In this case, the Company is always the main winner while the beneficiaries of Corporate Citizenship are mainly the Organizational Stakeholders. (Clarkson, 1995; Maignan, Ferrell and Hult, 1999). In as much as Corporate Citizenship may be desirable for society as a whole, it is unlikely to be embraced by a large number of organizations unless it is associated with concrete benefits. On the basis of managerial survey, Maignan, Ferrell and Hult (1999) have extended research to the potential effects of Corporate Citizenship on employees. They show a positive relationship between proactive Corporate Citizenship and Employee’s Commitment. Organizational citizenship is a concept that all companies wish to have but very few can actually achieve. It is rooted in individual employees’ view of the c ompany and how they associate themselves with it. Some of the examples of Organizational Citizenship are as follows: Assisting coworkers: An employee can take time from their work to help another to get their job done, as they know it’s important to the company and to the other employee. We have all potentially had situations where others pitched in to get a job done that had nothing to do with their specific job, outside of wanting to help the company and a fellow worker. Working for the future: So many employees look at what they are going to get right now and do not look far into the future. Those who practice organizational citizenship believe there will be rewards down the road and do not focus on the short-term; rather, they focus on the long-term. This viewpoint also makes them long-term employees, which are desirable to any company. Being a company representative: When some employees leave for the day, the company they represent stays behind them in the office. An organizational citizen represents their company 24/7 a nd has no problem talking to others about how their company might help them. Thus, it can be said that organizational citizenship is the perspective that employees have whereby they extend their behaviors beyond the normal duties of their position. It is an extremely desirable goal for any company, and if we think about it, it shows how much a company cares about their employees. Corporate citizenship refers to an organizations responsibility to create business value by caring for the well-being of all stakeholders including the environment (Glavas & Piderit, 2009). Due to its voluntary nature, organizations engage in many different types of corporate citizenship from making philanthropic donations to establishing volunteer programs with non-profit organizations to preserving environmental resources to using core competencies to create products or services that help solve social issues. It can be said the citizenship towards the environment forms the subset of the Corporate Citizenship. In fact there have been studies which show that the Corporate Citizenship impacts the Organizational Citizenship via Employee Engagement. Research has found that engagement boosts operating income, increases employee productivity, lowers turnover risk, provides a greater ability to attract top talent and leads to higher total returns (Irvine, 2009). There is also confirmation that employees with favorable opinions of their organization’s socially responsible activities are more engaged, confident and likely to state an intention to stay with the organization (Kenexa, 2010). Accordingly, some organizations are making long-term commitments to corporate citizenship as part of their pledge to increase employee engagement. More corporations will support their communities via employee volunteer programs instead of just writing checks during tough economic times (McPherson, 2012). Corporate citizenship opportunities often begin with someone who has an idea and puts it into action. An employee may decide that too many plastic cups are discarded daily and take it upon him/herself to put a sign on the water cooler asking co-workers to bring in reusable glasses. Another employee may decide that printing single sided is an inefficient use of resources and speak with the operations department about changing the printer default setting around the office to double sided. The possibilities are unlimited. And as a Good Citizen we need to explore the possibilities-so as to make a difference. Does the following instances ring any bell: A bird-watcher walking in the woods sees chemical waste flowing through a stream, traces the source to a neighbouring factory, and alerts government agencies to the factory’s violation of its emissions discharge permit. A local citizen group in a small town near a coal mine suggests to a state mining agency practical ways, based on the citizens’ own observations of the mine in operation, of making environmental standards for mines easier to administer and enforce. A city resident notices that municipal buses are emitting noxious fumes, sues the bus company, and wins a court order requiring the company to place pollution control devices in the bus exhaust systems. These are just a few examples of the many and varied influences citizens can have on the process of environmental enforcement. In a hierarchy of rights associated with national citizenship, ordinarily the right to participate in governance (the right to vote and the right to hold office) is ranked at the top. The right to move internally within a country, the right to Protection also forms a crucial part of citizenship towards nation. In fact there is another way of understanding the rights and responsibilities towards the nation and i.e. by educating the nation. The political history of India has no dearth of examples to show how the importance of providing education has evolved over the period of time. Even the Constitution of India requires that the nature of education in the country be maintained as secular. In fact, Coal India is celebrating â€Å"Shiksha Diwas†this year. Thus, the goal should be to balance environmental, economic and societal concerns. The ‘five capitals framework’ offers a way of thinking about these concerns so that action plans can be developed (Porritt, 2006). Resources required for human progress can be divided into five forms of capital from which we gain benefits: †¢ Manufactured capital – all things made by humans, e.g. buildings, roads, machines etc †¢ Social capital – all systems by which people live and work together, e.g. families, businesses, communities, parties, voluntary groups etc †¢ Human capital – people’s knowledge skills, health, motivation etc †¢ Natural capital – this consists of natural resources (both renewable and non-renewable) and services such as the powerful natural waste processing cycles †¢ Financial capital – money and other financial assets that enable other types of capital to be owned and traded. In this model, investme nt in all five forms of capital is necessary for a sustainable society. The above instances clearly requires the paradigm shift from Consumer to Citizens, People to Policies, Government to Governance, Charity to Justice and By-Chance to Choice to be able to form a Global Platform for balancing the act of a Citizenship towards Organization, Nation and Environment.

Just in Time Concept

Financial AccountingS. Das Income Measurement and Accrual Accounting Recognition and Measurement in Financial Statements DEFINITIONS Revenues:inflows of assets or reductions in liabilities from selling goods and services Expenses:outflows of assets or increases in liabilities used up in generating revenues. Recognitionformal recording of an item in financial statements, in words and numbers Measurementquantify the effects of economic events numbers unit is money – dollars historical cost – recorded for simplicity, verifiability, reliability Current cost-relevant but less reliableOnly an estimate until item is sold Net income= Revenues-Expenses. Incomeamount of resources available for consumption at the end of a period and yet be as well off as it was at the beginning of the period. CASH BASIS Versus ACCRUAL ACCOUNTING So if we DEFINE PERIOD to be lifetime of a firm (which can only be defined for a firm with a finite life) then we are only interested in the earnings of a firm over its lifetime. In that case: a. just wait until the firm dissolves. b. Add up all the cash inflows over its lifetime other than those for sale of own stock. c.Add up the cash outflows over its lifetime other those for stock repurchase or dividends. d. Find the difference between cash inflows and outflows and YOU HAVE NET INCOME. e. THE ABOVE IS ALWAYS TRUE. However, if you DEFINE PERIOD TO BE ANY INTERVAL SMALLER THAN THE LIFE TIME when you wish to get information on earnings as intermediate feedback, then there is the following problem: -transactions may not be complete on a cash to cash basis – because the earnings process is continuous – Period1buy inventory for $5 Period2pay for inventory Period3sell and deliver inventory for $15Period4receive payment from customer. KEY QuestionWhen should revenues and expenses be recognized? One possibility is the cash basis recognize revenues at time of receiving cash and recognize expenses at the time of paying cash. E xample: A toy retailer starts business on January 1, 2000. The retailer Mr. XYZ pays two months rent in advance on his store for $2000. He also purchases and pays for toys worth $35,000. However, during the month of January, he sold no toys. During February, he sells all the toys he has for $45,000 but collects only $5000 of that in cash.He expects the neighborhood children to pay the remaining $40000 in March. JanFebruary Revenues—————– Less: Expenses Cost of toys—————– Rent—————- Total Expense—————- Income—————– Limitations of Cash basis 1. expenses are not aligned in time with the revenue that they produce. 2. recognition of revenue is unduly postponed. A Second possibility is the use of Accrual basis – depends upon when some critical event occurs. What happens to income (accrual basis) using same example? JanFebruary Revenues—————– Less: Expenses Cost of toys—————–Rent—————- Total Expense—————- Income—————– Comparing the Cash And Accrual Bases of Accounting -Basic difference one of timing Recognize Revenue whenRecognize Expense when Cash Basis cash is received cash is paid Accrual Basisrevenue is earned it is incurred Exhibit 4-2 transparency Accrualmatching of expenses with the corresponding revenues OR match resources used (expired assets- expenses)to generate revenue. The accrual concept forces accountants and managers to focus on changes in owner’s equity rather than merely reporting changes to the cash or other assets.The realization concept underlies the decision rules that accountants use in determining when revenues should be recognized and expenses matched to them. The Revenue Recognition Principle Revenue:Increase in Asset Or Decrease in Liability from Delivery of Goods Or Services Realized:Goods Or Services Exchanged for Cash Or Promise of Cash . Earned:Revenue earned when realization is complete or no significant obligations left How are Revenues recorded? †¢At the same time as cash is collected. †¢Before the time cash is collected. †¢After the time cash is collected. Possible Interpretations of Recognition Principle:Percentage of Completion:For long term projects, revenue recognized as stages are completed, based upon proportion of total cost incurred, Franchises: Initial fee recognized as revenue only FAS 45 â€Å"substantial performance† of its obligations B&J 32 Production MethodCommodities – Traded at established price; so revenue recognized when they are produced. Installment Method:opposite of production method: no reasonable basis to estimate collectability, so revenue on sale recognized as cash is collected Continuously:such as rent and interestThe criteria used in accounting to decide the recognition of revenues is : †¢A firms has performed all, or a substantial portion, of the services it expects to provide. †¢The firm has received cash, a receivable, or some other asset whose cash equivalent it can objectively measure. Expense Recognition and the Matching Principle The matching concept relates revenues and expenses so that owner’s equity is neither overstated nor understated at any points in the steam of events that constitutes operations. Expensewhen an Asset Has No Future Benefit i. e. It Is Used Up [Or] a Liability Is Incurred.Matching:Associate Revenues with Costs (expenses) Necessary to Generate them UnexpiredSometimes not done with specific items of product sold, but with period in Assets which they were sold eg. sales clerks' salaries are expensed in the period in which employees worked. Expired Some things never go through asset stage, since benefit is seen to expire as soon Assets as costs expended (purchased) = Period Costs; eg. utilities costs, telephone, fuel for vehicles (not asset) Two examples: 1. Expired asset versus 2. Expensing of benefits/ resources that never went through asset stage.A. Depreciation Expense estimated useful life and eventual salvage or resale value Manipulation to increase or decrease income Salvage deducted before calculating periodic expense because it is expected to be recovered and will remain an asset. B. Research ; DevelopmentDell Computer in its 1995 Annual Report list â€Å"Research, development and engineering† of $65,361,00 as operating expense on Income Statement. – an expense is an asset whose usefulness to the company is complete – it is deemed that R;D has no future benefit left hence out right expense without going through asset stage.For an accrual based company, Statement of Cash Flows provides information on Sources and Uses of Cash. Accrual basis necessary because we divide the earning of income, a process that takes place over a period of time, into artificial segments (reporting periods). Example: In the 1995, Income Statement Maytag Corporation had a net loss of $20,476,000. Their Statement of Cash Flows showed an increase in cash equivalents of $30,811,000. Cash provided by operating activities was $319,979,000. How can a company with a net loss have a gain in cash?This is possible if expenses exceeded revenues since Income statement is on accrual basis. It contains revenue amounts that may not have been realized in cash (still in accounts receivable) and expenses that may not have been paid for such as depreciation, and unpaid purchases. Also look for income from continuing operations versus loss due to extraordinary items and disposal of existing business. (As was the case in Maytag 1995) Accrual Accounting and Adjusting Entries: at end of period – Four Types: 1. Deferred Expense: Cash Paid before Expense Is In curredAsset created; as asset expires it becomes an expense, via adjusting entry Entry DuringAsset End of Expense period Cash period Asset eg. * prepaid rent becomes rent expense, a month at a time * Depreciation allocates cost of asset over its useful life – does not measure decline in value ? Based on estimates of salvage value and life of asset ?Periodic expense= [actual cost – est. salvage value]/estimated life ? debit is depreciation expense ?credit is not to asset account, which will always reflect cost, ? but to accumulated depreciation- contra account that is, an asset account with a credit balance 2. Deferred RevenueCash Received before Revenue Is Earned Liability Created Because Goods Or Services Still Owed EntryDuringCashEnd of Liability period Liability period Revenue ?Eg. unearned â€Å"the other company† from deferred expense entries ? for example, The landlord who received the prepaid rent has a deferred revenue ? liability is reduced, revenue inc reased, as time passes ?magazine subscriptions received in advance, earned as magazines mailed 3. Accrued LiabilityExpense incurred before Cash Is PaidOpposite of deferred expense EntryDuring-End of Expense period- period Liability Eg. taxes, payroll, utilities; interest for short term loan paid at maturity with principal 4. Accrued AssetRevenue Earned before Cash Is Received Opposite of deferred revenue EntryDuring-End of Asset period-periodRevenue ?both rent and interest are earned as time goes by, regardless of when cash received ? need adjusting entry if payment is not received. Exhibit 4-5 (text pp. 165) Example: P4-2 REVISITING THE ACCOUNTING CYCLE Steps taken to collect the necessary information to prepare financial statements (Exhibit 4-8) . Collect and Analyze 2. Journalize Events 3. Post to Ledger Accounts(Results in Unadjusted Trial Balance) 4. Journalize and Post adjustments(Results in Adjusted Trial Balance) 5. Prepare Financial Statements 6. Journalize and Post Closing Entries(Results in Post-Closing Trial Balance) 7. Post Closing Trial Balance 8. Optional: Reversing Entries The Closing Process: Two types of accounts:Balance Sheet= real accounts = permanent Income Statement= nominal accounts = temporary (Includes Dividend account) Purpose of closing entries:-Close temporary accounts -transfer net income (loss) to retained earningsProcess of closing: Debit Each Revenue Account: Sum Up a Single Credit to Income Summary. Credit Each Expense Account, Sum Up a Single Debit to Income Summary. Debit Income Summary If It Has a Credit Balance (Company Had Net Income) ORCredit Income Summary If It Has a Debit Balance (Company Had Net Loss) Credit Dividend Account, Debit Retained Earnings Exhibit 4-9 (text pp. 171) Example 1:E4-23. Ben ; Jerry’s Example 2:Let us look at McDonald’s Corporation’s 1998 Statement of Income shown on Page 139 of your text. Notea. Retained Earnings at the beginning and end of 1998 were $12,569 and $13,879. mil lion respectively. b. Total dividends paid to common and preferred shareholders were $239. 5 Use the numbers from the Income Statement to Reconstruct the relevant account balances. Then Close them to Income Summary and from there to Retained Earnings. EXAMPLE P4-10 Post-closing Trial Balance will only contain Balance Sheet accounts.When is a sale a sale? In an article concerning troubled MiniScribe Corporation (The Wall Street Journal September 12, 1989 – MiniScribe’s Investigators Determine That â€Å"Massive Fraud Was Perpetrated†. ) it was stated that â€Å" †¦ he company dramatically increased shipments to three warehouses, booking $56. 4 in sales and gross profit of $5. 4 million. † (Note that the warehouses being shipped to belonged to MiniScribe) The volume of shipments only called attention to the problem – it was not the problem. Problem is it is not Customer’s warehouse but MiniScribe’s – shipping goods to ones? own warehouse is not a sale – but a relocation of inventory – must be an arm’s length transaction.This was one among many violations – MiniScribe was also shipping bricks to an fictitious company, and recording them as sales revenue. 1. Claiming Tomorrow’s Profits Today, Forbes, October 17, 1988, p 78. Case 4-1:Ben ; Jerry’s Revenue Recognition – Initial Franchise Fee Footnote on 147 of text. FASB SFAS 45 allows franchisor to recognize initial franchise fee as revenue only when â€Å"substantial performance† of its obligations and when collection of the fee is reasonably assured. Revenue Recognition: The Company recognizes franchise fee as †¦.. when services required by the franchise agreement have been substantially performed†¦. 1. Consistent with SFAS 45.The footnote refers to certain mandatory services that the company promises to perform for the new stores. Performance of these services is the basis for recognizin g the fee as revenue. Note that the footnote specifically uses the wording substantially performed. 2. The company recognizes the franchise fees as revenue in proportion to the stores for which the required services have been substantially performed. 3. Franchise fees are not large relative to net sales in any of the years. Franchise fees are less than 0. 4% of net sales in each of the three years. Unearned Revenue: Realizability Vs.Earned criteria – realized BUT has it been earned?. 1. Case 4-2:Gateway- Revenue Recognition Refer to page 30 of Gateway’s Annual Report, under â€Å"Summary of Significant Accounting Policies† 1. Gateway recognizes revenue from product sales when products are shipped. Revenue from separately priced extended warranty programs is deferred and recognized over the extended warranty period. 2. â€Å"Extended warranty programs† are contracts to service products for a period beyond the original warranty. These contracts are purchase d for an additional amount above the product purchase price. . The revenue from the extended warranties is recognized over the warranty period because it is earned over the entire period, as coverage is provided. 2. Case 4-3: Sears, Roebuck, ; Company – Revenue from Service Contracts. 1. Under the accrual basis, revenue should be recognized when it is earned, rather than when cash is received. Since the retailer incurs costs to repair damages over the life of the service contract, the revenue from the contract is also earned over the life of the contract. 2. Revenue to be recognized each year: Year 1 Year 2Year 3Sales Revenue Service Contract Total revenue Typically, for service contract you receive cash or payment, for future services, that creates a liability. Thus one has an unearned revenue account. In this particular example, the liability account would contain XXX at the end of year 1 and XX at the end of year 2 reported under current liability as unearned revenue on th e balance sheet. Sears, Roebuck, ; Company 1998 Annual Report Footnotes to Revenue Recognition The Company sells extended service contracts with terms of coverage between 12 and 36 months.Revenue and incremental direct acquisition costs from the sale of these contracts are deferred and amortized over the lives of the contracts. Costs related to servicing the contracts are expensed as incurred. 3. American Airlines: 1996 total revenues of $17,753 million. Balance sheet reported ? Air traffic Liability? of $1,889 million. – unearned revenue (~~11%) from ticket sales. -when retired – Retired when ticket holders are provided transportation. -Refundability a factor -What if carrier cannot provide service due to strike or storm. -When is revenue earned ? – when ticket is bought when passenger boards – when plane takes off – when the round trip is complete. AMERICAN AIRLINES 1998 Annual Report (Summary of Significant Accounting Policies) (Note 1) PASSENGE R REVENUES Passenger ticket sales are initially recorded as a component of air traffic liability. Revenue derived from ticket sales is recognized at the time transportation is provided. However, due to various factors, including the complex pricing structure and interline agreements throughout the industry, certain amounts are recognized in revenue using estimates regarding both the timing and the amount of revenue to be ecognized. Actual results could differ from those estimates.In 1998, American showed revenues of $17,449 million and recorded â€Å"Air traffic liability† of $2,163 million on its Balance Sheet. Time Warner Inc. According to Annual Report they publish 26 different magazines. At end of 19985 unearned subscription revenue was $741 million. -included in their is your paid subscription to Time for issues that you have yet to receive. -magazines are sold at different rates depending on how you subscribed and for how long. – how to keep track of when earned. when does the earnings process complete When subscription received – if main source of revenue is advertising. When production is complete and delivery is made. A combination of these two. Note that Time does not have difficulty to keep track since subscription price variations and customer records are all kept by computers – closely monitor the process from payment to through unearned revenue to delivery and revenue earned. Time Warner Inc. 1998 Annual Report (Note 1) The unearned portion of paid subscriptions is deferred until magazines are delivered to subscribers.Upon each delivery, a proportionate share of the gross subscription is included in revenues. E 4-81. AugustCash Subscriptions Received in advance (Unearned Revenue) To record collection of 900 subscriptions Assets =Liabilities+ Owner’s Equity 2. August 31. Unearned revenue Subscription revenue To record subscriptions earned during August. Assets=Liabilities+Owner’s Equity 3. Net income for t he month of August would be under stated / overstated by XXX if the accountant forgot to make the entry to recognize revenue earned. (Self Note: Also see Magazine Subscription case) E 4 -9

The Compare and Contrast Microsoft DOS with UNIX

As is suggestive of its name, an operating system (OS) is a collection of programs that operate the personal computer (PC). Its primary purpose is to support programs that actually do the work one is interested in, and to allow competing programs to share the resources of the computer. However, the OS also controls the inner workings of the computer, acting as a traffic manager which controls the flow of data through the system and initiates the starting and stopping processes, and as a means through which software can access the hardware and system software. In addition, it provides routines for device control, provides for the management, scheduling and interaction of tasks, and maintains system integrity. It also provides a facility called the user interface which issues commands to the system software. Utilities are provided for managing files and documents created by users, development of programs and software, communicating between users with other computer systems and managing user requirements for programs, storage space and priority. There are a number of different types of operating systems with varying degrees of complexity. A system such as DOS can be relatively simple and minimalistic, while others, like UNIX, can be somewhat more complicated. Some systems run only a single process at a time (DOS), while other systems run multiple processes at once (UNIX). In reality, it is not possible for a single processor to run multiple processes simultaneously. The processor of the computer runs one process for a short period of time, then is switched to the next process and so on. As the processor executes millions of instructions per second, this gives the appearance of many processes running at once. User programs are usually stored on a hard disk and need to be loaded into memory before being executed. This presents the need for memory management, as the memory of the computer would need to be searched for a free area in which to load a users program. When the user was finished running the program, the memory consumed by it would need to be freed up and made available for another user when required (CIT). Process scheduling and management is also necessary, so that all programs can be executed and run without conflict. Some programs might need to be executed more frequently than others, for example, printing. Conversely, some programs may need to be temporarily halted, then restarted again, so this introduces the need for inter-program communication. In modern operating systems, we speak more of a process (a portion of a program in some stage of execution (CIT, 3)) than a program. This is because only a portion of the program is loaded at any one time. The rest of the program sits waiting on the disk until it is needed, thereby saving memory space. UNIX users speak of the operating system as having three main parts: the kernel, the shell and the file system. While DOS users tend not to use the term kernel and only sometimes use the term shell, the terms remain relevant. The kernel, also known as the â€Å"Real Time Executive†, is the low-level core of the OS and is loaded into memory right after the loading of the BIOS whenever the system is started. The kernel handles the transfer of data among the various parts of the system, such as from hard disk to RAM to CPU. It also assigns memory to the various system-level processes that occur whenever the computer does anything. The kernel is also responsible for scheduling the CPU†s operations and for letting the shell access the CPU (PC Mag, 1). The shell is the visible user interface to the OS and is a program that loads on top of the operating system and offers users commands that lets them access the OS. Strictly speaking, the shell is an input utility that offers access to the operating system. Technically speaking, the shell, being a separate program, is not a part of the OS at all. In the UNIX world a number of shells are available, among them the Korn shell, the C-shell, the Bourne shell and the Bourne Again shell (yes, really). In DOS, the standard shell is COMMAND. COM, again nothing more than a program. As different versions of command. com came with different versions of DOS, each added new commands and new things that could be done by the user. For example, DOS 4†³s COMMAND. COM added theP switch to DEL to verify each deletion, and DOS 5†³s COMMAND. COM provided the ability to sort the output of the DIR command. An acronym for disk operating system, the term DOS can refer to any operating system, but is most often used as shorthand for MS-DOS. Originally developed by Microsoft for IBM, MS-DOS was the standard operating system for IBM-compatible computers. The initial version of DOS was somewhat uncomplicated and resembled another operating system called CP/M. Subsequent versions have become increasingly sophisticated, however DOS remains a 16-bit operating system without support for multiple users or multitasking. The earliest forms of DOS were crude and utilized only a few commands, but as computers became more advanced, so did DOS. By keeping up with technology, DOS was implemented into more â€Å"user friendly† operating systems. However, as more sophisticated operating systems were released, DOS became less important. Today, cyberpunks involved with the latest OS trends joke that DOS stands for ‘Dad†s Operating System†Ã¢â‚¬  (Comerford, 23). In 1980, IBM asked the Microsoft Corporation to produce the operating system for its first personal computer, the IBM PC. Prior to this, a company called Seattle Computer Products had sold an operating system called 86-DOS to Microsoft. Microsoft hired the author of 86-DOS, Tim Paterson, in April of 1981 to modify the system, and renaming it MS-DOS (Microsoft Disk Operating System), it was released with the IBM PC. Thereafter, most manufacturers of personal computers licensed MS-DOS as their operating system (Brittanica, 1). Limitations of the early PC†s hardware were a big influence on MS-DOS. Although the 8088 model computer had a 1Mb address space, IBM decided to allocate the first 640K of this to RAM, and the rest to ROMs, video boards and other things. Consequently, MS-DOS was set up to support programs whose maximum size was 640K. Version 1. 0 of DOS was released along with the IBM PC in August 1981. It occupied 12K of the systems 640K of memory, was somewhat compatible with CP/M and, much like CP/M, supported only a single directory. By contrast, even the first version of UNIX had a full hierarchical file system. In addition, Version 1. 0 supported only a 160K single sided 51/4-inch floppy diskette. Version 1. 1 was released by Microsoft in October 1982 and supported double sided 320K diskettes. Aside from fixing some bugs, this release was similar to Version 1. 0. Releases such as 1. 1, in which the number to the left of the decimal point is the same as the previous version depict relatively minor changes from the previous release. By contrast, Version 2. 0 was largely a new system. In March 1983, IBM introduced the PC/XT, its first personal computer with a hard disk. It came with a new variant of MS-DOS, Version 2. 0. In this version, Microsoft incorporated many ideas from the UNIX system for which it was also a vendor. For example, incorporating minor changes, the MS-DOS file system was taken largely from UNIX. In addition, the shell was improved, and Version 2. 0 supported a new floppy diskette format, the 360K as well as user installable device drivers, print spooling, system configuration and memory management. At this point, MS-DOS was established as the dominant operating system in PC market. In August 1984, IBM released its first 286 chip based PC, the PC/AT. The PC/AT supported memory up to 16 Mb and had the ability to run multiple programs at once. However, the version of MS-DOS that shipped with the PC/AT was 3. 0, which supported neither of these. Rather, it ran the PC/AT in a mode that simulated the 8088, only faster. Since the PC/AT came with a 1. 2Mb disk drive, battery backup clock, and configuration information in the CMOS, support for these devices was added. What's more, hard disks larger that 10Mb were now supported. In addition, the command processor (shell) was removed from the operating system and made into a separate program. In November 1984, 3. 0 was replace by 3. 1 which provided the first support for networking. In 1987, IBM came out with the PS/2 line of PC which shipped with MS-DOS 3. 3, providing support for both 720K and 1. 44Mb 31/3 floppy disk drives. With Version 4. 0, Microsoft added the DOS shell, a menu driven shell rather than the previous keyboard driven ones. In addition, it now provided support for hard drives larger than 32 Mb. A major new release, MS-DOS Version 5. 0 was shipped in April 1991. Although this was the first version that made any serious use of the extended memory, it still had the restrictions that programs could not exceed 640K. However, it had the ability to locate most of MS-DOS itself in extended memory, so about 600K of the lower 640K was now available for user programs. Version 5. 0 also came with a useful HELP utility, to aid new users. For the first time, MS-DOS was sold in stores to the public (previous versions were only sold to computer vendors who delivered them with their machines) (CIT, 1-3). The MS-DOS 6 family provided more memory management for applications such as Microsoft Windows. In addition, newer utilities were provided for disk-defragmentation, file compression, file backups and anti-virus checking. Other variations of MS-DOS exist, such as PC-DOS by IBM, DOS-V, Dr. DOS and others. There is even a FREE DOS available on the Internet as an MS-DOS clone. Although it can still be found on many computers, MS-DOS is technically an obsolete operating system, being replaced by Microsoft Windows. For personal computers, MS-DOS is a single user, single tasking operating system. Single user means only one person uses the computer at a time. Single tasking means that it essentially runs one application program at a time, and has no inherent support for running more than one application program simultaneously (CIT, 2). If we want to look at the basic DOS operating system itself, there is no need to look further than three system files, command. com, Io. sys and (in DOS6. x and earlier) Msdos. sys. These files are crucial in DOS versions up to 6. 22. Io. sys represents the lowest level of the interface and contains the routines necessary for interfacing the OS with the system†s BIOS. It implements MS-DOS as seen by the hardware and has default drivers for console display and keyboard, printer, serial communications, clock, and a boot disk drive. Msdos. sys handles the higher-level routines such as converting commands from applications into instructions for Io. sys. It implements MS-DOS as seen by application programs. It supports file and record management, memory management, character device input and output, execution of other programs, and access to a real-time clock (CIT, 3). Both of these files are in the root directory, and both are hidden from view by default. The idea is that you are not suppose to see them, so that you don†t do anything destructive to them (such as deleting them). They are also read-only so that they can†t be deleted accidentally. Command. com is the shell program which interprets user commands, presents the shell prompt, and contains a set of internal commands. The rest of MS-DOS consists of a number of utility programs. Although DOS had cornered the PC market, UNIX was still dominant on the larger workstations. The birth of UNIX in 1969 provided the world with its first modern operating system. An interactive multi-user operating system, UNIX was initially developed by programmers for their own use. Working for Bell Laboratories, Ken Thompson and Dennis Ritchie created UNIX as an operating system for the PDP-7 computer. Designed as a simplification of an operating system named Multics, UNIX was developed in Assembly language, a primitive computer language specific to one type of machine (Osiris, 1). However, Thompson developed a new programming language â€Å"B† which Ritchie enhanced to â€Å"C†, and in 1973 this was used to rewrite UNIX which lended the OS portability (Linux Intl. , 1). The original design philosophy for UNIX was to distribute functionality into small parts, the programs (Theochem, 1). In this way, functionality could be achieved by combining the small parts (programs) in new ways. Moreover, if a new program were to appear, it could be integrated into the system. UNIX was slow to catch on outside of academic institutions but soon was popular with businesses as well. The first five versions were part of an internal research effort of Bell Labs, and it was not until the sixth version, called UNIX Timesharing Sixth Edition V, that UNIX was widely distributed (Osiris, 1). Relatively recent developments are graphical interfaces (GUI) such as MOTIF, X Windows and Open View. UNIX has two major versions. One, jointly developed by UNIX Systems Laboratories (USL) and by AT&T researchers together with Bell Labs, generically known as System V, is the commercial version and is the most widely distributed by major manufacturers. The second, developed by the University of Berkley and Berkley Software Distribution (BSD), is the educational version and is completely focused on research. The USL version is now on its fourth release, or SVR4, while BSD†s latest version is 4. However, there are many different versions of UNIX besides these two. The operating system has been licensed to several manufacturers who in turn developed their own versions of UNIX, based on System V or BSD, but adding new characteristics. Most versions of UNIX developed by software companies are derived from one of the two groupings and, recent versions of UNIX actually incorporate features from both of them. However, UNIX has had an unregulated history with over 200 versions (Berson, 16) existing today. The UNIX system is made up of three primary components, the kernel, the shell, and the utilities (which includes the file system). The central part of the OS, the kernel is the first program to start when the system is turned on and the last program to do anything when the system is halted. In addition to scheduling tasks, it manages data/file access and storage, enforces security mechanisms and performs all hardware access. The name â€Å"KERNEL† represents the fact that it is a program designed as a central nucleus, around which other functions of the system were added. The heart of the operating system, it not only interacts directly with the system†s hardware, but presents each user with a prompt, interprets commands typed by a user, executes user commands and supports a custom environment for each user. The two most common shells are the Bourne shell, default for the System V, and the C-shell used mainly with the BSD version (Osiris, 1). The utilities consist of file management (rm, cat, ls, rmdir, mkdir), user management (passwd, chmod, chgrp), process management (kill, ps) and printing (lp, troff, pr).

Change Management Plans for Secure IT Systems (CSOs role in approving Essay

Change Management Plans for Secure IT Systems (CSOs role in approving changes) - Essay Example This includes the issue of online business transaction where IT and network are key components in ensuring efficient and effective transactions. Teams on network operations are trying to make improvements to the quality of the IT quality for the reason of meeting customer needs. These organizations and industries, therefore, to achieve the improvements have examined the processes in the areas of change management that the network changes are a source of downtime (Peters, 2000). These management changes need to be done due to various reasons. These reasons include; The change management in this sector ensures that there are efficient and prompt standardized ways and procedures in handling of all changes. It also leads to recording of configuration items and the changes to service assets in the management system. There is also support for business goals and wants due to the authorized changes, and business risk is reduced. Then the changes are managed to reduce the exposure of risk, reduce the impact of interruption and enhance successfulness of the management changes (Jacques, 2005). Management change provides required information and provides guidance on different size and kinds of organizations and changes that are either simple or complex changes for each lifecycle stage. It also shows the major and minor changes and the different levels of funding and budget to enhance effective change. The change management ensures that the business changing customers’ requirements are met by maximizing the value, minimizing the incidents, interruption, maximizing, and improving the network. It ensures the IT and businesses want requests are met, and there is a large room for information technology. There is management change in modifying, adding or removal of authorized service to meet the effective demands. This need for change erupts due to various reasons aimed at effectiveness. These

Leadership for personalization in mental health Assignment

Leadership for personalization in mental health - Assignment Example They also have to focus on professional duties to meet the ever-increasing complexity of the nature of patient the team. Participation is a multifaceted concept that appears complex from the surface that derives vague and different definitions. Highly variable definitions often generate inappropriate applications. Synonymous terminologies with participation are compromise, co-operation, alliancing, teamwork, multi-agency, multidisciplinary, inter-professional, as well as joint planning among many more.  Applying participation inappropriately leads to confusion that interferes with the consistency and usefulness in the team. It is varied and diverse while putting it in practice. It brings together among other issues intra-disciplinary sets on people through to multi-agency working operations. The practices include among others service planning and group planning among the team and local authorities. Taking part in Every Child Matters is essential because the inherent connections bet ween services, educational frameworks, community, and agencies are crucial in enhancing academic achievements, social and the team options available to children, families, as well as young members (Allen, Gilbert & Onyett 15). An essential component of multi-agency participation is power. Other scholars hold that the arrangement between organizations and community organizations especially minority sets comes with many problems. The likely cause is the imbalance of power between participating parties. Big the team organizations.

Key Learning Outcomes of the Module Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Key Learning Outcomes of the Module - Essay Example It shall reflect on how the process of working on my assignment in the group improved my understanding of the issues that have been raised. Reflection on Key Outcomes It can be stated that reflection lies around the notion of learning. Reflection is referred as the process of working upon what has been already been known. It is essentially done in order to consider the acquired learning in greater details. It can be considered as a mental processing that can be utilised in order to fulfil the objectives or attain certain probable outcomes (Moon, 2001). The overall study was a learning experience for me. It helped me to identify the ways to work in a group. I recognised the fact that it is quite significant for the senior members of the audit team to review all the pertinent matters taking place from the audit and also to reconsider the financial statements. Furthermore, it came to my understanding that internal control system tends to comprise the control environment as well as contr ol procedures. Moreover, it further comprises all the procedures as well as policies in order to ensure that the business is conducted in an efficient and effective way. However, I also came to the conclusion that internal controls offer reasonable assertion due to the innate limitations such as human error taking place because of the mistakes in judgement and distractions (ICANIG, 2012). It came to my understanding that there are a few steps of the audit that need to be maintained by the auditors. The first step is the pre-engagement phase which is required for serving the client’s best interest with competence as well as professionalism. The auditor is also required to prepare letter of engagement whose chief purpose is to confirm terms of the engagement. The other step in the audit process is the planning phase where the auditor is required to obtain an understanding of the client. While undergoing the course, I was aware of the fact that the auditors undergo both legal as well as professional duties. The auditors are needed to carry out investigations that will permit them to create an opinion. They are further required to audit the accounts with adequate skills and care. I recognised the fact that the auditors are required to minimise the expectation-performance gaps in order to offer the firms with consistent financial statements and to minimise the frauds and errors in such statements (Hayes & Schilder, 2012). I came across the terms such as auditor’s independence and its significance for the auditors. It came to my understanding that the auditor independence is one of the most significant aspects of the auditing profession. It tends to add value to the audited financial statement. However, I was astonished by the fact that there are several threats to the auditor’s independence. One of the threats that I came across in the study was the intimidation threats that tend to take place while the auditor is prevented from acting objectiv ely in relation to actual threats from the customer. The other threat that I learnt from the study was the advocacy threats that are likely to occur when the auditor makes an attempt in order to promote the clients’ opinion. Familiarity threats take place when the auditor is found to become too concerned with the interests

Biodiversity Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

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