To properly document and collect footwear evidence, a number of specific tools and equipment is needed. In particular, a camera and a tape measure are required. A camera set on a tripod can be used to accurately capture the texture and size of tracks from different angles. Tape measures can further provide context to the evidence, and put the size into understandable perspective. When measuring, width, diameter and other qualities relevant to either foot or tire tracks should be recorded. Potential size and style of tires/footwear should also be recorded and written down.
Freehand simulation is a type of forgery that involves a person trying to write another person’s signature by themselves, without tracing the original. It is one of the more straightforward ways of faking a signature, and can be used to replicate a person’s signature either from memory or direct reference. I have tried to utilize this method for myself, but the process has turned out to be far more difficult than anticipated. When simulating while seeing a real signature, it was hard to concentrate on making the forgery appear natural, as most of my concentration went to replicating it’s curves. The end result looked more stiff than the original and the pressure was put on wrong parts. The pen line looked even from every part, making it feel more intentional than intended. When forging from memory, I ran into similar problems. As an added complication, I had trouble keeping the curvature and lettering as accurate to the original as I had hoped. I think that this method is not ideal, as it relies purely on a person’s skill in faking signatures.
Fiji Water Case Study Analysis
Identification of the Main Problem
Brandon Miller aims to establish a business that is the distribution of Fiji water for Monroe and Wayne market areas. However, before making a decision, he intended to conduct a quantitative and qualitative analysis to ensure that this opportunity is an affordable and profitable one. He made a set of researches and identified all the significant data necessary to conduct calculations. It is vital to estimate the market size and share Brandon can count on to ensure the demand is stuffiest to cover his business’s expenses. Then, it is necessary to determine the price at which water will be sold and calculate fixed and variable costs. Finally, calculations and comparisons of breaking sales and expected volumes shall be conducted to define the volume that shall be sold to cover expenses and discover if there is potential profit. In addition, qualitative factors shall be considered to determine beneficial and deteriorative ones and make a decision.
Quantitative Analysis
Market size and market share estimation
It is possible to begin conducting the quantitative analysis with market size estimation, as this indicator allows to determine the potential opportunity of the market to buy a product. It is vital for understanding if there is an opportunity for a company to grow further. As it is known, the annual consumption of water per capita from 2008 to 1012 varies from 27.6 to 29.7 gallons, with an average of 28.6 gallons approximately. Simultaneously, the total population for the two-county market area together equals 823 thousand people approximately. It implies that the annual consumption of bottled water is 28.6 gallons multiply 823 thousand people, which equals 23,537,800 gallons. Market share is part of the market a company owns, or how many units of the product of a company comprises a total volume of all the units sold. It is known that the Fiji water market share was 3.4$ in 2013, with a tendency to grow by 0.2% per year. Therefore, the next year this rate is expected to be equal to 3.6% which is 847360.8 gallons of bottled water. It is possible to state that the volume of water sold Brandon can count on equals 847361 gallons approximately.
Price discussion
With respect to price, it is possible to determine the wholesale price that will be competitive in the current market, based on retailer survey results and the price for one case of water produced by different brands. It is known that brands “Aquafina” and “Dasani” have the highest rates of % retail sales by value and % of a retailer who carries each brand, equals 22.7% and 23.6%, and 47.9 and 46.2%, respectively. Therefore, for a new distributor, it is advisable to try to maintain a similar price. Wholesale prices for the mentioned brands equal 3.87$ and 4.20$ respectively, which means that the price of around 4.00 is an appropriate one, considering that 88.7 % are interested in stoking Fiji water. Therefore, as one case is 12 1-liter bottles or equivalent, one 1-liter bottle’s cost is 0,33$. According to the ratio is 2.0: 1.8: 1.3: 1.0, the costs of other sizes of bottles per liter are 0.254$, 0.457$, 0.508$, with the average price per liter of 0.438 approximately, or 1.658$ per gallon. The average price was calculated considering that 80% of sales are 0.5-liters bottles, and the other three sizes have equal amounts of sales.
Fixed and variable costs
Calculations of fixed and variable costs are also vital for the analysis to determine if the expected revenue exceeds expenses. It is known that total investments equal 1,600,000$, considering a 3,2% annual rate of interest is 51,200$ annually. Salaries equal 200,000$ annually, and other expenses equal 180,000$ annually. Therefore, fixed costs equal 431,200$ annually. With respect to variable costs, 2% of sales are expected to be spent on commissions for Brandon’s salespeople. Simultaneously, taxes are 0,06$ per gallon.
Breaking sales volume. Comparison of volumes
Summarizing all the findings together, 847361 gallons Brandon expects to sell, with an average price per gallon equals 1.658$. Therefore, 1,404,924.54$ is expected revenue. Considering variable costs, mentioned above, taxes equals 50,841.66$, and commissions equals 27,081.66$. Therefore, the net expected annual revenue with all expenses considered equals 895,801.22$. B/E volume that would cover the fixed annual costs also shall be calculated as fixed costs divided by selling price per unit minus variable cost per unit, and it equals 275,556 gallons. Thus, breaking sales volume is about three times less than the expected volume of sales.
Qualitative Issues
There are some unmeasurable factors that shall be considered during decision-making to support the quantitative analysis. What is beneficial for Brandon’s potential business is that it is not expected that customers will have an impression that Fiji water is of bad quality because of the affordable price, as it is quite competitive, based on the main competitors’ products. Moreover, most retailers are willing to stock the water which shows a positive attitude toward this brand, and it is known that Fiji has high-quality standards. Therefore, the reputation of the brand and the quality of the product are sufficient. What might deteriorate the results of selling is that customers might tend to buy sparkling water, while Fiji does not provide this type. Therefore, industry growth trends might not be considered appropriately.
Survey On Opioid Crisis In Anytown
Summary
A survey is a valuable research instrument allowing for the in-depth examination of different problematic situations, conditions, or topics of interest by querying a specific group of people and analyzing the gathered data. In this regard, surveys help scholars or organizations to raise discussions about disturbing issues, reveal solutions, build effective strategies, and make decisions. In the case of Anytown struggling with opioid misuse and widespread incidents of pneumoconiosis due to work in coal mines, the most appropriate type of survey is an online survey. The rationale for this choice is that online surveys are both simple for a researcher in terms of design and application and comfortable for respondents. As a result, their simplicity allows for questioning a larger population.
Questions
The intended survey will consist of several types of questions, including closed-opened, multiple-choice, and open-closed questions. The first questions will concern the background information of participants to determine their name, age, sex, and employment. Demographic data can help detect the most vulnerable group of people exposed to opioid use and some important differences in answers in terms of sex and age.
- What is your name?
- How old are you?
- What is your sex?
- Where and how long have you been working (your position)?
- Do you have children? How many?
The last question aims at determining the potential impact of parents’ opioid use on children. The following unit of questions is related to reasons and circumstances contributing to opioid use or abuse.
- When did you first begin using opioids? At what age?
- What reason or circumstances urged you to turn to drugs (chronic or acute pain, illness, including pneumoconiosis)? Was it connected with your work conditions?
- Have you ever heard about opioid dependence?
- Did your doctor warn you about this severe problem? – Questions 8 and 9 will help evaluate the population’s awareness of this issue.
- Did you use opioids during pregnancy? – This question is explained by that the number of newborns experiencing abstinence syndrome because of opioid use during pregnancy has increased over the last years (“What is,” 2021).
- What narcotic(s) do you use on an everyday basis?
- Have you ever used heroin and synthetic opioids, such as fentanyl or methadone? What do you know about their side effects? – These questions are stipulated that the death rate for synthetic opioids has increased by 15% from 2018 to 2019, even more than the rate for heroin grown by 6% (“Understanding the epidemic,” 2021).
- How many times per day or week do you use a drug(s)? In which cases?
The next two questions are addressed to doctors.
- How often do you prescribe drugs to patients? What are the most frequent causes?
- Have you ever suggested drugs containing fentanyl for individuals? Are you aware of the potential harm of this substance?
The last question will concern the potential strategies that respondents consider effective and helpful:
- How do you think which practical interventions or activities are needed to mitigate or resolve the current situation?
Distribution and Validity of the Survey
Since the opioid crisis in Anytown has acquired an alarming scope, the given survey should be distributed through all possible means of communication. Specifically, invitations can be sent to the citizens’ emails, primarily healthcare providers and those who work in coal mines. Additionally, it is relevant to publish the post about the survey on the town’s website, including on social media, and in local newspapers to enhance people’s awareness. The data will be collected using both a paper form and SurveyMonkey, an Internet-based program, the access to which can be performed via personal computers or smartphones. The survey’s validity will be ensured and assessed by asking respondents and experts whether the questions correspond to their primary intention (Tsang et al., 2017). The survey’s reliability will be estimated by repeating the same survey over a particular period of time. The extensive coverage of participants due to online instruments will also give added value to the study.
References
Tsang, S., Royse, C. F., & Terkawi, A. S. (2017). Guidelines for developing, translating, and validating a questionnaire in perioperative and pain medicine. Saudi Journal of Anaesthesia, 11(1), 80–89. Web.
Understanding the epidemic. (2021). Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Web.
What is the U.S. opioid epidemic?. (2021). The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Web.