Saturday, January 25, 2020

Sole trader and partnership business

Sole trader and partnership business http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sole_proprietorship http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/article/0,,id=98214,00.html http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/bdotg/action/detail?type=RESOURCESitemId=1073789609 http://www.myownbusiness.org/s4/ http://www.bytestart.co.uk/content/19/19_1/what-is-a-sole-trader.shtml http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/business/aims/partnershipsrev1.shtml http://www.company-wizard.co.uk/Glossary/Private_Limited_Company.htm Among the similarities between a sole trader and partnership business is that they both have unlimited liability. Unlimited liability means in the event that the business becomes insolvent, the owner will have to be responsible for paying all the debts of the business even if it means selling off his personal assets to settle the debts. In a partnership, a partner will also have to pay off all the debts of the business if other partners become insolvent but if only the business becomes insolvent the debts can be shared among partners. This however is not applicable to the sleeping partner. The way both businesses are financed is also similar. For example, they are financed with bank loans, personal savings and contributions from friends and family. The two businesses need to be registered under the Registration of Business Act and operates in the private sector. This means that none of this structure of businesses is owned by government. The owner of a sole trader and partners in a p artnership are taxed at a personal tax rate according to the profits the business makes. Dealings of both types of business are confidential and only need to be revealed to the government. Both are easy and cheap to set up. Among the differences between a sole trader and partnership business is a sole trader business has only one owner whereas a partnership has 2-20 owners. The sole trader is fully responsible for the running of the business from day to day so, the success of the business is limited to the abilities of the owner. In a partnership, business decisions are made by casting votes among the partners and they assigned specific work in the business. There are more people to contribute skills and expertise. All profits gained in a sole trader business are received by the owner whereas in a partnership the profit is split according to the ratio which was previously agreed in the partnership agreement. When dissolving the business a sole trader can dissolve by himself whereas a partnership needs consent from partners. One of the similarities between sole trader business and private company is that both of them are created to generate profit for the owners. Also both are private companies. Both need to be registered as private entities. Therefore they do not have to make reports on their business to be released to the public. Such reports need only be disclosed to the government. This maintains confidentiality in the business. Among the differences between the two business structures are the number of owners. A sole trader has only one owner while a private company has 1-50 owners which are called shareholders. A private company is a different person from the owner. This means the owner and management of the company is separated. The liability of a sole trader business is unlimited whereas in a private company its limited. This means that in the event that the company goes bankrupt the maximum shareholders of a private company can lose are the amount they have invested in the company. A sole trader business has limited life whereas a private company has perpetual existence. This means that the company will still exist even if there is a change in ownership. A private company business is taxed at a fixed tax rate of 30% whereas the sole trader can get a personal tax rate of 30% or more. Decisions of a sole trader business is made by the sole trader whereas in a private company they are made by the managemen t group. It is easier and cheaper to set up a sole trader business compared with a private company. The Sole Trader can have unlimited borrowings subject to the limit of its financial standing but for the Company, its borrowings are guided by articles as contained in their Memorandum of Association. It is easier for a Private Company to raise finance compared to a Sole Trader. I would advise Lydia to convert the business into a partnership. Assuming that the business hasnt been doing well for the past three years, extra capital that can be raised by potential partners can help the business to acquire better equipment and teachers. Also assuming that the potential partners are experts in the IT field or good businessmen they can bring in fresh ideas and expertise to help the business grow. Fresh ideas will help because a business has to always adjust according to the ever changing needs of consumers and because. Other similar businesses are always improving themselves. Therefore Lydias business has to improve too in order to stay competitive. Extra capital, expertise, and ideas from potential partners will help the business in that way. Not only that, work gets done even faster when there are more people running it. Therefore the running of the business is more efficient. Furthermore it does not take a lot of money to convert the business to a partnership. Assuming that Lydia is a friendly person, personality clashes between partners would be rare. The partnership is not likely to bankrupt assuming that Lydias potential partners have a solid financial background. It is not advisable for Lydia to form a company because it is costly to set up. Since the business has only been running for three years it wouldnt have generated enough revenue to be converted into a company. Moreover turning it to a company will increase government regulation on her business. This will greatly decrease the businesss flexibility.   It is also not advisable for her to stay as a sole trader because she needs new capital to upgrade equipments that have been in use for 3 years now and that is hard to do if she stays as a sole trader. Also assuming that she is married, the business wouldnt have to shut down temporarily because of her taking a maternity leave. This is because her partner would be able to take over the business for the mean time.

Friday, January 17, 2020

Our language our identity Essay

Identity can be perceived through language; is one of the many ideas that are illustrated throughout Gloria Anzaldua’s â€Å"How to Tame a Wild Tongue†. The language you speak is a part of your culture, and your culture is what defines a person the most. Living in a country that is seen to be melting pot of many cultures and heritages, you are bound to encounter someone of another culture but that doesn’t mean we suppress their ability to represent who they are because of their lack of knowledge pertaining to the primary language used in this country. Immigrants use language to preserve their culture heritage and identity in a foreign land but fear of judgment, suppression and linguistic terrorism affect their ability to fit in and be who they are not only by Americans but also by their own people. Linguistic terrorism is a term used by Anzaldua herself to express her strong emotions on the suppression of her language by others. This term is used to describe an action of suppression by a majority group to a minority group because of their values, norms and even language. This occurs because one usually feels dominant and superior over the other. Anzaldua states in her essay that â€Å"Our language has been used against us by the dominant culture; we use our language differences against each other.† (136) Living in a diverse cultural country such as the United States, many immigrants feel the need to learn the appropriate English in order to communicate and fit in with society. Many aren’t able to completely emerge themselves into the American way of doing things without sacrificing a part of themselves through their cultural heritage and identity. Majority of them feel the need to learn English in order to get a job. Even then they are suppressed because they speak with very simple English with heavy accents. Once these immigrants start to feel comfortable with their English, they are often pushed off by their native tongue because of embarrassment and disrespect to their own language. There are times when groups that have tried so hard to fit in with the Americans are looked down upon by their own culture and society. Anzaldua says, â€Å"‘Pocho, cultural traitor, you’re speaking the oppressor’s language by speaking English, you’re ruining the Spanish language,’ I have been accused by various Latinos and Latinas† (133). This portrays how her own people have looked down upon her because the English she speaks now is evident through her Spanish, shaming the language as a whole in their eyes. Such things cause people to feel discouraged and fear being judged by their own culture. This fear of judgment causes people to have multiple consciences. Sociologists use the term double conscience, a term that coined by W.E.B. Du Bois, to explain such phenomena. It is a way of awareness of who you are and a very different awareness of what other people see you as in contrast to that. The way you act at home would be different in terms of your values, social norms and language. Once you leave your home and enter another society, those values, norms and even language change to those that are commonly believed and used in that newer society. Anzaldua notes that â€Å"My ‘home’ tongues are the languages I speak with my sister and brother, with my friends†¦ last five listed†¦ From school, the media and job situations†¦ standard and working class English. From Mamagrande Locha and from reading†¦standard Spanish and standard Mexican Spanish† (134). A double conscience or a multiple on can be used to explain Anzaldua’s reason for using different languages in different parts and areas of her daily life. She talks about how she picked up different languages from different places because it was important for her to fit in and communicate with them, changing her conscience along the way . Gloria Anzaldua is a strong activist when it comes to the connection between language and identity. In her essay â€Å"How to Tame a Wild Tongue† she outlines her strong emotional arguments about the ability for one to conform to a society by disposing their own language or identity. Your identity is determined by language, the language you speak is a part of your culture, and your culture is what defines a person because of their beliefs, norms and values. Even though there will always be Linguistic Terrorism and suppression, it is important to remember that your language is what makes you who you are and changing from one language to another is something you must do but that doesn’t mean you let that change your true language or your true identity. Work Cited Page Anzaldua, Gloria. â€Å" How to tame a wild tongue.† Fields of Reading: Motives for Writing ed. Nancy R. Comley, David Hamilton, Carl H. Klaus, Robert Scholes, Nancy Sommers, Jason Tougaw. Ninth ed. New York; Bedford/St. Martin, 2013. 131-141. Print

Thursday, January 9, 2020

The Invention of the Wheelbarrow

Wheelbarrows are human-powered carts with one wheel to assist in carrying all kinds of burdens, from harvested crops to mine tailings, and pottery to building materials.  Sickly, wounded, or elderly people could be carried to the doctor before the advent of the ambulance. Its one of those ideas that seems so self-evident, once you have seen it in action. Rather than carrying heavy loads on your back or burdening a pack animal with them, you can put them into a tub or basket that has a wheel and long handles for pushing or pulling.  The wheelbarrow does most of the work for you. But who first came up with this brilliant idea? Where was the wheelbarrow invented? The First Wheelbarrow The first wheelbarrows seem to have been created in China—along with the first gunpowder, paper, seismoscopes, paper currency, magnetic compasses, crossbows, and many other key inventions. The earliest evidence of Chinese wheelbarrows is found in illustrations dated around 100 CE, during the Han dynasty. These wheelbarrows had a single wheel at the front of the load, and the operator holding the handles carried about half the weight. A wall painting in a tomb near Chengdu, in Sichuan Province and dated to 118 CE, shows a man using a wheelbarrow. Another tomb, also in Sichuan Province, includes a depiction of a wheelbarrow in its carved wall reliefs; that example dates back to the year 147 CE. Wheel Placement Innovation According to the Records of the Three Kingdoms, written by Chinese scholar Chen Shou in the third century CE, the prime minister of the Shu Han Dynasty in the Three Kingdoms Period—a man named Zhuge Liang—invented a new form of wheelbarrow in 231 CE as a form of military technology. At the time, Shu Han was embroiled in a war with Cao Wei, another of the three kingdoms for which the era is named. Zhuge Liang needed an efficient way for a single person to transport enormous quantities of food and munitions to the front lines, so he came up with the idea of making a wooden ox with a single wheel.  Another traditional nickname for this simple handcart is the gliding horse. This vehicle had a centrally mounted wheel, with loads carried pannier-fashion on either side or on the top. The operator propelled and guided the wagon, but all of the weight was carried by the wheel. Using the wooden ox, a single soldier could easily carry enough food to feed four men for the entire month—or the four men themselves. As a result, the Shu Han tried to keep the technology a secret—they did not want to lose their advantage over the Cao Wei. The Greek Contender There is a tiny bit of evidence that the Greeks may have had a single-wheeled cart as early as the fifth century BCE. A builders inventory from the Greek site of Eleusis contains a list of tools and equipment, listing the hypteria (upper parts) of a tetrakyklos  (four-wheeled vehicle) and one for a monokyklos  (one-wheeled vehicle). But thats it: no description beyond the name, and no other reference to such a vehicle is seen in any other Greek or Roman text. Roman agriculture and architecture processes are well-documented: builders inventories in particular were commonly preserved. The Romans depended on four-wheeled carts drawn by oxen, pack animals, or on humans, who carried loads in containers in their hands or suspended from their shoulders. No (single-wheeled) wheelbarrows. Recurrence in Medieval Europe The earliest consistent and continued use of wheelbarrows in Europe begins in the 12th century CE with an adaptation of the cenovectorium. The cenovectorium (Latin for muck carrier) was originally a cart with handles at both ends and carried by two individuals. The earliest evidence that a wheel replaced one of the ends in Europe is from a tale written in about 1172 by William of Canterbury in his Miracles of St. Thomas a Becket. The story involves a man using a one-wheeled cenovectorium to push his paralyzed daughter to see St. Thomas at Canterbury. Where did that idea (finally) come from? British historian M.J.T. Lewis suggests that the Crusaders might have run across tales of one-wheeled vehicles while in the Middle East, perhaps as stories from Arab sailors who had visited China. Certainly, the Middle East was a huge international trade market at the time. But it seems more likely to have been another suggestion of Lewis: an ad hoc invention, in the same way many other vehicles were invented since the 3500 BCE invention of the axle. Hand carts with two wheels operated by one person (essentially a two-wheeled wheelbarrow), carts with two wheels pulled by an animal, four-wheeled horse- or oxen-drawn wagons, two-wheeled people-drawn rickshaws: all of these and many others were used off and on throughout history to carry goods and people. Sources Lewis, M. J. T. The Origins of the Wheelbarrow. Technology and Culture 35.3 (1994): 453–75.Matthies, Andrea L. The Medieval Wheelbarrow. Technology and Culture 32.2 (1991): 356–64.Needham, Joseph. An Archaeological Study-Tour in China, 1958. Antiquity 33.130 (1959): 113–19.

Wednesday, January 1, 2020

What Freedom Does Literacy Offer in Globalised Society - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 5 Words: 1586 Downloads: 5 Date added: 2017/09/11 Category Education Essay Topics: Literacy Essay Did you like this example? What freedom does literacy offer in globalised society It is so easy for us to say that literacy is the most powerful tool at our disposal to give us freedom of speech, freedom of action and freedom of life. It is more complicated a question to ask what is literacy. In this age of technological advancement, the questions of literacy is continually expanding. From doing the most medial tasks, to trying to convince a nation that the words that are being expressed can be converted to action, the way we use literacy continually develops. We can no longer see literacy as being literate, or illiterate, but must look upon literacy as a way of expression through not only words and writing, but all other avenues of media that are at our disposal. I will look at how literacy gives us freedom in a globalised world through the understanding of different cultures, the use of technology and the literacy tools at our disposal. As Nakamura (2002, p. 64) expressed, â€Å"Globalisation is neither the convergence of westernisation nor Americanisation. What this means is that we must look broader than just Western Europe, or the United States to see what globalisation is, and if we want to have true freedom, we must then understand and work with the cultures that surround us. Victoria is an example with its â€Å"thriving multicultural society. Our population hails from over 230 nations, speaks 180 languages and dialects and follows more than 116 religions† (Department of Education and Early Childhood, 2009). With the ease o f travel, and vastness of communication we can no longer live in a monolingual and monocultural society. The world is rapidly changing and multifaceted. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "What Freedom Does Literacy Offer in Globalised Society" essay for you Create order With this rapid change, the 1 opportunity arises to educate our students to be a part of this change. It is impossible to have a full understanding of all these different cultures, let alone the differences in culture within this. The task would be made even more impossible without the help of literacy, in its many forms. So what is Literacy exactly? Long have the days past that literacy can be expressed beyond simple printed literacy. There have so many forums of literacy to express ourselves, and we can use these different forums to express different purposes and in different context. Literacy can be expressed by reading the newspaper from print or online, listening to the newspaper on the internet and watching stories interactively. We can use literacy to express our views on news stories in so many different ways. We can create blogs and wiki’s so that we not only express our viewpoint, but expect to be critically analised by people we will never meet, let alone know. We can express this viewpoint in our own web sites, that can be viewed by milllions, or by text on social networks such as Facebook (2010), a social network with a population of over 400 million users. We can also use literacy to express ourselves by video and publish our work on sites such as youtube which has over 120 million US members alone. Jarboe (2009) also states that over twenty hours of video information is published every minute of the day. These figures are immense compared to exposure of literature that we have been used to in the past. These vast figures also show that today, literacy is a far easier skill to appreciate and have than before and we can use literacy to give us freedom. 2 Even today we measure literacy skills on how well we read and write. As previously stated, there are so many ways that we can use literacy to express ourselves and hence enjoy freedom that method of testing of literacy is far outdated. Every second year the Australian education system tests our students in grade 5, year 7 and year 9 for their literacy and numeracy skills in a national competency test known as AIMS testing. The results of these tests are published and presented to the public via a website, https://www. myschool. edu. au/. To me this is an absolute contradiction in terms. How can be test literacy by a traditional method of reading and writing and then publish the results for all to read by a ‘modern’ method, via a website which is both graphical and interpretational. We expect our young students to learn how children have learnt for the past 100 years, yet expect parents to interpret information via a method that has been available to us for a few years. The traditional test results for each school are published for the whole world to see. Schools funding schemes and how well a school can look after its students are based on the results that the students acquire via this traditional method. Is this method truly testing our students for literacy, and by not testing the literacy skills that may be more relevant for a proportion of students, are we limiting their literacy skills and so their freedom to advance them in society? As part of Australian government initiative, a focus of the education revolution was to give every child from Year 9 to Year 12 access to a digital device. As explained by the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (2010), Schools spend many hundreds of dollars per student every year on Information Communication Technology. This expenditure by both school, state and 3 federal governments shows us the symbiotic nature of the digital world, and literacy. It is imperative that all students have access to this digital world, and thus literacy, to have freedom in the globalised world. With so many devices that give access to today’s knowledge societies, it should be a priority for any educational system to give access to a digital device. Gone are the days that students are brought to the library to work on 1 of 10 computers sitting in the corner. Students expect to have access to laptops, ipods, PDA’s or tablets at call. As reported by Serpo (2009) Victorian schools have given access to many grade 5 students a netbook. This has proven to be a success, with students finding many different methods to express themselves through writing, graphical analysis, recording sounds or recording video. This is a true offering of freedom in a globalised society. With teachers being able to introduce tools such as Interactive Smartboards the world is brought to the classroom via the internet. ith continued funding, global communication will be made easier for students as they learn. There have already been many projects using video conferencing in the classroom where students can talk to a real astronaut or communicate with fellow students all across the world. All of these developments expand the literacy of students, and with continued funding, give students freedom in a globalised world. With such vast amounts of literacy that are available to us, it is tempting for those in authority to have control over the information that we can see. The ABC (2009) reported that the Australian government will introduce compulsory internet filtering to block international websites at the governments discretion, a move seen by many to take away our freedom in a globalised society. This is a dangerous 4 precedent as any attempt to limit freedom must be. this move has come under the scrutiny of many develop nations, as Australia will be join the likes of China, Burma and North Korea to name a few to filter internet at a government level. Questions that need to be asked about this limitation of freedom will be questions such as what will be filtered and who will decide on this. The ramification of Australia’s position in a globalised society is still unsure, although one would expect that the effect can not be positive. China is a case in point at this time with much debate between China and a private company, Google, the worlds most popular search engine. There has already been talk about the effects that the move of Google leaving China will have on the political relationship with the United States. Surely this is a huge effect that literacy has on China’s ability to be part of a globalised world. The Australian(2010) reported, Without full and fair market competition, there will be no quality, no excellence, no employment opportunities, no stability and no real rise of China With the importance of the Internet and the way that people use it, the structure of the education system and the importance of Information, Communication and technology in our education system and the level of access that people have, literacy plays a huge role in offering freedom to the globalised society. With hundreds of millions of users world wide, even the smallest piece of expression can be viewed by a limitless amount of people. Surely freedom can only be offered to the globalised world through the use of the many literacy tools offered to us in today’s society. 5 Bibliography Nakumura, 2002, ‘Cultivating Global Literacy Through English as an International Language (EIL) Education in Japan: A New Paradigm for Global Education’, International Education Journal, Vol 3, No 5, 2002 Department of Education and Early Childhood, 2009, Education for Global and Multicultural Citizenship A Strategy for Victorian Government Schools 2009 2013, DEEC, Melbourne Facebook, 2010, https://www. facebook. om/press/info. php? statistics, retrieved 25th March, 2010 Jarboe, 2009, We Watch More YouTube Videos than We Conduct Google Searches, retrieved 25th March, 2010 . Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations, 2010, ICT infrastructure budgeting, retrieved 23th March, 2010, Serpo, 2009, Victoria schools begin netbook trial, retrieved 24th March, 2010, ABC, 2009, Green light for internet filte r plans, ABC News, retrieved 24th March, 2010, McDonald, J. , 2010, ‘China without Google: a lose-lose scenario’, The Australian, 17 March, 2010, page unknown 6