Advantages and Disadvantages of the Different Types of Investment Essay

Checking Account Basic – In this type of account, one is presented less services and low cost. The disadvantage of this type of account is that banks usually do not pay interests. Moreover, if used excessively, the owner of the basic checking account may pay additional charges (â€Å"Types of Accounts Typically Offered by Banks,† 2008). Interest Bearing – compared to the basic checking account, the interest bearing account is broader in terms of services and cost. Interest bearing accounts offer unlimited number of checks. Negotiable Order of Withdrawal (NOW), a type of interest bearing account, offers interest depending on how large the money a person has deposited in the bank   (â€Å"Types of Accounts Typically Offered by Banks,† 2008). Money Market Account The money market account is a savings account that is protected by the federal government. This is the most liquid and safe account, but it offers low interests. In this type of account, a person’s money is invested in a short-term debt. Examples of short-term debts are commercial paper and treasury bills. Commercial papers are unsecured commitment that is given by banks to back up their needs such as accounts receivable and inventory.   Money market accounts also give higher interests than interest bearing checking accounts (â€Å"Types of Accounts Typically Offered by Banks,† 2008). This type of account is given a number of checks. If an account of this type fails to maintain a minimum balance the bank will enforce a service charge (â€Å"Types of Accounts Typically Offered by Banks,† 2008). Savings Account The savings account is the most basic type of investment. In this type of investment, one is eligible to withdraw and deposit money in the bank but one cannot use checks to transact with the bank. Banks usually give higher interests in this type of account than checking account, but it is much lower than certificate of deposit and money market accounts. The bank also charges the depositor a certain amount if the balance falls from its required minimum. This type of investment usually uses passbooks to record each and every transaction (â€Å"Types of Accounts Typically Offered by Banks,† 2008). Certificate of Deposit Also known as Time deposit, the owner of a certificate of deposit agrees with the bank to hold his or her money for specified amount of time. The longer the duration specified in this type of account, the bigger the interest it will get. However, the owner of this type of account cannot withdraw the money until the end of the specified duration. Once he or she withdraws the money when the duration is still not finished, the bank will penalize him or her. If one cannot live without his or her money then it is best not to enter this type of account (â€Å"Types of Accounts Typically Offered by Banks,† 2008). Analysis of the Advantages and Disadvantages of the Various Types of Accounts In checking account, one disadvantage is that the interest given is very little compared to other accounts. Nevertheless, the advantage of this is that one can use check whenever he or she needs money. One disadvantage of a savings account is that one cannot use the money in his or her account whenever he or she needs money by accident. However, the advantage of this account is that the owners can monitor their money through their passbook. The advantage of the money market account is that it gives a higher rate of interest compared to checking account. However, the disadvantage of this is that it requires a high minimum balance. In the case of the certificate of deposit, its advantage is that it gives a higher interest rate compared to the three other types of account. However, the downside of this account is that one cannot withdraw his or her money until the specified time agreed by him or her and the bank. Considering the advantages and drawbacks of the aforementioned accounts, I can say that the certificate of deposit, otherwise known as the time deposit, is the best investment to choose. We invest our money to get big money. Hence, we should aim for the highest interest as it means higher profit for us. Given the formula for compounded interest, we can actually estimate the money that will be accumulated when we invest $1,000 dollars in a certificate of deposit: A = P(1 + r/m)mt Where A = accumulated amount at the end of conversion period, P is the principal amount, r is the normal interest rate per year, m number of conversion period per year, and t is the term or the number of years (â€Å"Exponents, Logarithms, and Applications to Compound Interest,† n.d.). Whatever the number of conversions per year, if the rate and the number of terms are increasing, then the accumulated amount will always be higher in certificate of deposit (CD). As we are only given a certain amount of money, the only thing that we have is the time. As long as the money stays in the bank and is accumulating interest, then it will still profit. That is why the CD is the best account to invest your money with.

Automated Diabetic Retinopathy Detection System

Automated Diabetic Retinopathy Detection System ABSTRACT DETECTION OF EXUDATES USING GUI Automated diabetic retinopathy detection system is an essential requirement due to developing diabetic retinopathy patients around the globe. The primary intention of the research is to detect exudates in digital fundus image for diabetic retinopathy. In this particular study, we provide an efficient method for identifying and classifying the exudates as soft exudates and hard exudates. Apart from these, this study compares three methods namely Contrast Limited Adaptive Histogram Equalization, Histogram Equalization and Mahalanobis Distance for enhancing a digital fundus image to detect and choose the best one to classify exudates in Retinal images by adopting graphical user interface with the help of MATLAB. From the findings of the study, in the image enhancement application of blood vessels, Mahalanobis distance is recognized as the best algorithm. It was evident from the analysis that the monitoring and detecting exudates in the f undus of the eye are essential for diabetic patients. Moreover, it shows that hard and soft exudates are a primary tool of diabetic retinopathy that can be quantified automatically. In addition to these, it appears that drawbacks must be resolved to predict an appropriate detection method for exudates in digital fundus images. From the findings, it was evident that suitable algorithm has to be selected and verified on several images which provide likely and excellent outcomes. LIST OF TABLES Comparison of Histogram Equalization (HE), Contrast Limited Adaptive Histogram Equalization (CLAHE) and Mahalanobis Distance(MD)†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦14 LIST OF FIGURE Image before enhancement Histogram before enhancement Image after histogram equalization Histogram after HE Image after CLAHE Histogram after CLAHE Image after Mahalanobis distance enhancement Histogram after Mahalanobis distance enhancement Flow chart of the method CIELab color space Input image K- means clustered image Morphological image Dilated image Eroded image Optic disc detection Exudates image   Hard and soft exudates Input DFI   Enhancement methods of DFI Step-1 of exudate detection Step-2 by giving input image Step-3 enhancing input image Step-4 exudates image of abnormal eye Normal eye output displaying no exudates LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AHE Adaptive Histogram Equalization CIE Commission Internationale de l’Eclairage CLAHE Contrast Limited Adaptive Histogram Equalization CMYK Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Key DRD iabetic Retinopathy DFI Digital Fundus Image HE Histogram Equalization MD Mahalanobis Distance MM Mathematical Morphology RGB Red, Green, Blue RRGS Recursive Region Growing Segmentation Chapter 1 Introduction Research Background: Diabetic retinopathy is a common disease nowadays that can prevail in anyone having type 1 or type-2 diabetes. The opportunity of being influenced by this d isease relies on the time duration of a person having diabetes. Long-term diabetes leads to greater blood sugar level that causes harm by changing the flow of blood in retinal blood vessels. It is similar that in the previous stage DR shows no symptoms and hence without facing medical investigation it is not feasible to predict the existence of the disease. Exudative retinopathy is a condition referred by the occurrence of yellow or white mass that exists due to leakage of proteins and fats along with water from vessels of blood in the retina. It is important to predict the exudates occurrence in fundus oculi because the collection of these exudates may lead to complete loss of vision (Manpreetkaur, 2015). Walter et al. (2001) has mentioned that the disease of DR evolved exudates in eye fundus. The physicians regard exudates as one of the primary indicators of DR severity. Exudates are yellow spot resided in fundus. This disease of diabetes causes leakage of fluid from vessels of bl ood. For a long time, uncontrolled diabetes may evolve as exudates in eye fundus. The exudates initiate to develop in little number and size. If the diabetes is not monitored or controlled for a long time the number and size of exudates will grow. The exudates growth in eye fundus may cause blindness. Tasman and Jaeger (2001) have stated that exudates seem as bright deposits of yellow-white on the retina due to lipid leakage from abnormal vessels. Their size and shape differ with various stages of retinopathy. These lesions are related to many diseases of retinal vascular involving DME (diabetic macular edema), DR (diabetic retinopathy), retinal venous obstruction, hypertensive retinopathy, radiation retinopathy and retinal arterial microaneurysms, capillary hemangioma of retina and disease of the coat. Welfera et al. (2010) have stated that exudation is a hazardous case because it can lead to a loss of vision when existing in the central macular area. Thus such lesions must be pred icted, and appropriate medical intervention must be acquired to avoid damages to visual acuity of the patient. Automatic exudates detection in DR patients’ retinas could enhance early prediction of DR and could support doctors track the treatment progress over time. Thus it can be inferred that exudates detection by computer could provide a precise and rapid diagnosis to specialist examination and support the clinician to acquire timely decision to take proper treatment. Problem Statement: Diabetes is a rapidly developing common disease among people globally which causes various organs dysfunction. Diabetic retinopathy is the primary blindness cause in adults. Sometimes, due to long-term diabetes, the retinal blood vessels are harmed, this eye disease is known as diabetic retinopathy. It is essential to automatically predict the lesions of diabetic retinopathy at an early stage to hinder further loss of vision. Exudates are significant diabetic retinopathy symptoms. Exu dates are bright lesions that are an important sign of this disease. It is the major signs of DR a major vision loss cause in diabetic patients. Primary concern of the research Aim: The primary goal of the study is to analyze an automated way for exudates in eyes. Objectives: To examine the causes of exudates in diabetic retinopathy patients. To analyze the types of exudates used in digital fund images. To evaluate the different enhancement methods used to predict the exudates in fundus images. To determine the drawbacks of enhancement methods of exudates in digital fundus images. To propose a promising algorithm to detect the exudates in digital fundus images. Limitations of the study: This study is limited to diabetic retinopathy patients. This study is restricted to exudates detection only. This study evaluates an automated way for exudates in eyes. The structure of the thesis This argument is made up of the following five chapters: Chapter 1: This is the introduction section that gives the necessary research background andconcepts related to the research. Chapter 2 : This chapter is the review of literature that analyzes several existing worksrelated to finding an automated way for exudates in eyes. Chapter 3: This chapter describes the design of the system that explains in detailabout the enhancement methods applied in digital fundus image for detection of diabetic retinopathy. Chapter 4: This chapter discusses the implementation plan of digital fundus images and compares different researches done by authors and depicts the results of the proposed system. Chapter 5: This is the conclusion section that gives the outcome of the research byanswering the research questions and recommendations for future improvement. In addition to that, this thesis has bibliography containing the sources used in collecting secondary data in the study and an appendix that has tools like questionnaires are utili zed in the gathering primary data for the research. Chapter-2 Literature Review Introduction : This chapter provides an overview on the detection of exudates in digital fundus image for diabetic retinopathy. This chapter discusses in detail about the digital fundus image. In addition to these, this chapter discusses in detail about the classification of exudates in retinal images. Apart from these, this study provides the comparison of Histogram equalization (HE), contrast limited adaptive histogram equalization (CLAHE) and Mahalanobis distance (MD) methods to enhance the digital fundus image for detection. Literature on Digital fundus images The benefits of digital imaging are rate of access to information (images), quick and accurate duplication, chronicling and transmission, and prompt access to the outcomes. The imaging technique can be rehashed if the nature of the underlying result is deficient. Despite the fact that film-based images can be digitized (to registe r macular color thickness conveyance from two different wavelength-based pictures or to evaluate the status of the optic nerve), quick access to the images is unrealistic, as it is important to build up the film first. This deferral keeps the picture from checking the outcomes and in this manner redressing any issue in the procurement procedure, which can be efficiently accomplished in digital imaging at no extra cost. The digitization of fundus photos was tended to by (Cideciyan et al., 1991) who proposed a nonlinear rebuilding model fusing four parts: the eye, the fundus camera, the film and the scanner. Scholl et al. (2004) observed digitized images to be valuable for evaluating age-connected maculopathy and age-connected macular degeneration. Comparison Table 1: Comparison of Histogram Equalization (HE), Contrast Limited Adaptive Histogram Equalization (CLAHE) and Mahalanobis Distance (MD) Histogram equalization Contrast limited adaptive histogram equalizatio n Mahalanobis distance This technique is based on the specification of the histogram. CLAHE is considered as the necessary preprocessing step, and it has the tendency to generate the images for extracting the features of a pixel in the classification process. This method has carried out by identifying the pixels of the background images only by leaving the foreground images. HE is relatively straightforward technique and an invertible operator. Indiscrimination is one of the biggest disadvantages of this method. CLAHE is also denoted as the automatic and efficient method to detect the exudates effectively. The selective enhancement of MD has created the fewer artifacts for further processing than HE and CLAHE. HE has used the neighborhood-based approach on the pixels, and it has the tendency to operate based on the modification of histogram to obtain the new images efficiently. The technique of CLAHE has the capabilit y to provide the green channel image enhancement with high quality. This method can produce the similar curve to the Gaussian-shaped curve ideally. HE has uniformly distributed the output histogram by using the cumulated histogram like the mapping function. CLAHE has limited the process of amplification by clipping the histogram at the predefined value. MD algorithm has given better histogram result when compared to HE and CLAHE Research gap : This study examines about the detection of exudates in digital fundus image for diabetic retinopathy. The research gap predicted in this study is that there are many studies on the detection of exudates in digital fundus image for diabetic retinopathy. But no studies have clearly determined the successful approaches towards the detection of diabetic retinopathy in fundus images. Detection and classification of diabetic retinopathy pathologies in fundus images have been investigated by Agurto (2012). He s tudied the effects of image compression and degradation on an automatic diabetic retinopathy screening algorithm. In addition to these, the Agurto et al. (2012) investigated the detection of hard exudates and red lesions in the macula using the multi-scale approach. Walter et al. (2002) carried out an investigation to contribute the image processing to the diagnosis of diabetic retinopathy. Authors also focused on automatic detection of diabetic retinopathy from eye fundus images (Manpreetkaur, 2015). There are also studies that are focused on coarse-to-fine strategy for automatically identifying exudates in color eye fundus images. Chapter-3 Research Design Introduction: This part examines the design of the study to determine an automated way for finding exudates in eyes. This study compares three methods namely CLAHE (Contrast Limited Adaptive Histogram Equalization), Histogram Equalization (HE) and Mahalanobis Distance (MD) for enhancing a digital fundus image to detect and choose the best one to classify exudates in Retinal images by adopting graphical user interface in MATLAB. Research design: The reason of the study is to detect exudates in digital fundus image for diabetic retinopathy. In this particular study, we provide an efficient method for identifying and classifying the exudates as soft exudates and hard exudates. The retinal image seen in the CIELab space of the color is pre-processed for eliminating noise. Further, a network of blood vessels is removed for facilitating detection and removing the optic disc. At the same time, optic disc is removed using the technique of Hough transform. Candidate exudates are identified using the method of k-means clustering. At last, exudates are categorized as the soft and hard one by their threshold and edge energy. Developed method has yielded better outcomes. Histogram Equalization: Histogram equalization is a technique for adjusting image intensities to enhance contrast. HE is an operatio n that is based on histogram specification or modification to obtain new pictures. The objective of this contrast enhancement technique is to get a new enhanced image that has a uniform histogram that only plots the frequency at each gray-level from 0 (black) to 255 (white). Each histogram represents the frequency of occurrence of all gray-level in the image. Figure 1: Image before enhancement Figure 2: Histogram before equalization Figure 3: Image after histogram equalization Figure 4: Histogram after histogram equalization Contrast Limited Adaptive Histogram Equalization: CLAHE is considered as a locally adaptive method for contrast enhancement. CLAHE is an enhanced version of adaptive HE (AHE) method. The technique AHE has a realistic restriction that homogenous part in the image leads to over-amplification of noise due to thin series of pixels are plotted to a whole range of visualization. In the meantime, it was noticed that contrast limited AHE (CLAHE) was designed for preventing this noise over-amplification in homogenous regions. CLAHE restricts the sound amplification in the image in such a way that image looks like very real. Figure 5: Image after CLAHE Figure 6: Histogram after CLAHE Mahalanobis Distance: Image enhancement using the Mahalanobis distance method is performed by identifying the background image pixels and eliminating them, leaving only the foreground image. It is based on the assumption that in image neighborhood N, the background pixels has significantly different intensity value than those of the foreground pixels. For each pixel (x, y) in the picture, the mean  µn (x, y) and the standard deviation à Ã†â€™n (x, y) of the statistical distribution of intensities in N are estimated. The sample means;  µn is used as the estimator for  µn (x, y) and the e sample standard deviation; à Ã†â€™ n is the estimator for à Ã†â€™n (x, y). If the intensity of pixel (x, y) is close to the mea n intensity in N, it is considered to belong to the background set ÃŽÂ ². As defined mathematically in Eq. 1, the expression implies that pixel (x, y) belongs to ÃŽÂ ² if the stated condition is satisfied. Those images would later be combined to evaluate the MD image, which can be segmented using the threshold t to identify the background pixels. Figure 7: Image after MD enhancement Figure 8: Histogram after MD enhancement Summary: This research compares three methods namely CLAHE, HE, MD to enhance a digital fundus image to detect and choose the best one to classify exudates in Retinal images by adopting graphical user interface in MATLAB. It was evident from the above findings that candidate exudates are identified using the technique of Mahalanobis Distance enhancement.

Bio-Terrorism preparedness and response Module 3 case MHE 507 Essay

Bio-Terrorism preparedness and response Module 3 case MHE 507 - Essay Example However the operation is plagued by the lack of qualified and motivated staff members. This paper will seek to study and analyze the LRN. The Laboratory Response Network was created by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as a means of responding to biological terrorism. The CDC established the organization with its partners, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Association of Public Health Laboratories (McGovern, 311). The overall aim was to create an efficient mechanism that would upgrade the American public health infrastructure to respond to bioterrorism. The LRN uses a coordinated effort by government, military, health, and private laboratories to fight against possible bioterrorist threats. It helps to enhance the ability of the country to respond to biological and chemical terrorism. The Laboratory Response Network operates using a multi-tier organizational structure. Each level helps to create a multilayered security mechanism against potential bioterrorist acts. Sentinel laboratories are the first line of defense since they are concerned with identifying and assessing bioterrorism threat agents. They have the responsibility of treating samples in a safe manner (Roffey & Tegnell, 450). Reference laboratories typically have advanced equipment that is used to test and monitor the presence of specific biological threat agents. Finally national laboratories are present in military and government facilities for the purpose of identifying specialized biological agents (Treadwell & Koo, 92). The LRN represents a unique effort to fight bioterrorism because it integrates state, federal, military, veterinary, and international laboratories. Adequate funding has supplemented the efforts by providing the necessary equipment, instruments, and supplies to the network of laboratories. However a major shortcoming is the lack of qualified and talented staff (Inglesby, 1735). This was because qualified scientists and researchers

Public Opinion & Responding to Crisis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Public Opinion & Responding to Crisis - Essay Example These stakeholders can present diverse sources of ideas and opinions that can improve the quality of analysis and problem solving processes. 2. What is a command center and where should it be located? A command center is a place where emergency management team members convene to make decisions during times of crisis and to communicate with others. It is a place where people know who the responders are and what they have to do during times of crisis. It should be located at a room, where there is access to communication lines, such as a telephone or wireless internet. There should also be a secondary command center, in case the primary one is damaged. The secondary command center should be far away from the primary one, so that damage in one school area cannot affect the secondary command center too. 3. Detail information first responders should receive prior to any crisis. First responders should receive detain information about the resources of the school, resources of the community, contact information of different community and public agencies in all kinds of crises, contact information of students and parents, and information about the communication system during times of crises. They should know where all phones are located and what to do when primary communications are all down. First responders should know where command centers are and who its primary members are, as well as their contact numbers. a. Do you think the parents are being unreasonable? The parents are not being unreasonable, because they are thinking only of the welfare of their children. They are also paranoid already and lack trust in the public and school officials. They need something tangible to hold on to, even when their demands may border lack of justifications. They also need to establish communication lines that will help them make better decisions and to earn their trust. b. What is your personal

Equality for animals Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Equality for animals - Essay Example The principle of equality can be considered as one of the major concepts used by Singer in his article i.e. ‘equality for animals’. The concept was supported with different notions which define that the term equality should encompass the practice of a clear understanding of the nature along with its principles concerning equal consideration of interests. Moreover, Singer has also mentioned that the concept of principle of equality denotes that individual concerns for others should be prioritized equally irrespective of their ability or what they are like. Singer has also used the concept of ‘speciesism’ which significantly depicts the notion of different values and rights to each individual in accordance with their species membership. The concept generally is termed by the advocates who are intended to protect animal rights. According to the author, the concept of speciesism is often referred as similar to prejudice which is certainly akin to the term racism . Therefore, the argument concerning speciesism mentioned by Singer has been found to be somewhat vague or ambiguous. This is because the author did not explicitly highlight the appropriate meaning of the term. In relation to euphemisms and code words and double-speak, the author used the phrase â€Å"a matter for old ladies in tennis shoes to worry about† which concealed his feeling in terms of the need for the welfare of animals. With regard to emotive language, the author used the word ‘horrifying’ to express his feelings. In relation to hypostatization, the author has highlighted that the animals are generally treated as distinct beings. Additionally, the author has also observed to use other terms including self-consciousness and human ethics that significantly portray the principle of equality in the nonhuman animals’ perspective. In this regard, the concept of self-consciousness was focused on the article to promote the equality for nonhuman animals through arguing that they also possess adequate rights to independently accomplish their interests. In the context of ethics, it has been observed that the author has focused on significant principles of equally by prioritizing each living creature. According to Singer, the origin of ethics significantly involves a tacit relation between the human beings on behalf of their mutual benefits which is certainly reasonable (Singer 55-69). 1.2 Portray the Basic Argument Structure in the Passage: With reference to the article, it is often observed that the article intended to reflect the brutal scenario faced by the nonhuman animals in the present globalized world. In this regard, Singer had mentioned various arguments with different types of examples from dissimilar grounds. However, the articles have also been witnessed to portray improper justification of the principles associated with equality of each living creature. The integration of dissimilar examples from different scenarios has also been witnessed within the passage which represented various unclear demonstrations relating to the main concept of the topic. Accordingly the concept of defending the equality for nonhuman animals, it has further been observed to include various dissimilar demonstrations which significantly concealed the actual theme of the issue. Although the author has further recognized to integrate undeniable

Last unit Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Last unit - Essay Example For making it successful it needs to have a proper support structure of management, resource allocation, training, measurement, incentive system and reward system (Rank, 2010). Overall the continuous improvement is possible when everyone in the organization is involved in the process and contributes to it. Every employee must be able to adopt and accept the continuous change by which it will be possible for the firm to achieve a competitive advantage in the marketplace. Problem solving is the main driving force behind continuous improvement (Rank, 2010). To survive in the global business environment, it requires the organization to have the capacity to respond effectively and efficiently to continuous changing and emerging economic and political changes even those that might be very complicated to anticipate. To make strategic changes in response to these challenges, the organization must be flexible enough to adopt such changes. Not only for survival but also for the success of the organization in such competitive environment continuous improvement are required for both business performance and for quality of product (Ncube, & Wasburn, 2008). The continuous improvement process of an organization requires its management to appreciate and recognize its history of spirited successes and failures. The need assessment need to be integrated well with the continuous improvement process for success. Need assessment will provide the identification of deficiencies between current and desired results. This will identify gaps between capabilities and needs. Here lies the opportunity for the organizations to implement continuous improvement concept to fulfill the gaps and attain the expected desired outcome. The current performance can be compared to the previous standard and opportunity can be identified to make improvements (Ncube, & Wasburn, 2008). PDCA is a continuous improvement tool

Lidership Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Lidership - Essay Example Please note that your final product will remain on file at WGU. Domain: Graduate-Level Business Core Leadership Subdomain Subdomain 315.1 - Leadership (s0265) Competency 315.1.4: Team Development and Leadership The student understands the process of team development and leadership. Objective 315.1.4-02 Describe how groups evolve into teams. 315.1.4-04 Describe how to build trust among team members. 315.1.5-02 Describe the common management mistakes that lead to team failure. 315.1.5- 03 Describe the common problems for team members that lead to team failure. 315.1.5- 05 Select the type of team (advice, production, project, action) that is appropriate for a given situation. 315.1.5- 06 Justify the selection of a particular type of team (advice, production, project, action) for a given situation. Assignment Instructions Given: Case: Jeanne Lewis at Staples Inc. (A) (Abridged) Write an essay (5-7 pages) analyzing team building and team leadership as it relates to the Jeanne Lewis case. A. There were a number of teams that evolved at Staples. 1. Identify one example of the evolution of a team at Staples 2. Describe three (3) elements that were present and necessary for the evolution of that team. B. Describe the development of trust within one of those teams by using at least three (3) guidelines for building trust among team members. C. There are a number of management mistakes that can lead to team failure in an organization. 1. Identify at least four (4) common management mistakes that lead to team to failure; and, 2. Explain whether any of those mistakes occurred in Lewis's marketing team, using an example to support your explanation. D. There are a number of common... A major element that influenced the effective functioning of this core team can be designated under Bartolomà ©'s number one guideline for building and maintaining trust--communication. According to Professor Bartolomà ©, one needs to "Keep team members and subordinates informed by explaining policies and decisions and providing accurate feedback". Looking at Staples background, one sees that according to Suesse, "they [the founder's core team] hashed out virtually every decision together, early on developing the discipline to back up their intuitions with hard data". Other important guidelines for building trust among team members include support, respect, fairness, predictability and competence. One can see respect in the shared decision-making authority within this team, fairness in their willingness to "hash out" important decisions as equals, instead of a timeframe getting imposed from above, and competence in each member's consummate professionalism. One mistake that Lewis ma de with her transition to the marketing merger team fall under category number two: failed to build group cohesion and trust. This is often a problem when a manager makes a lateral transition into a new department.