Monday, September 30, 2019

What Is the Bayeux Tapestry?

The Bayeux Tapestry What is it? A band of white linen 70m long and 49. 5cm wide, embroidered with yarn, that depicts the events that led to William of Normandy’s conquest of England and his victory at the Battle of Hastings. What was the Battle of Hastings? A battle fought in south Sussex in October 1066 that determined the successful outcome of the invasion. Harold, then-new King of England, had legitimately succeeded King Edward the Confessor, but William felt the crown was rightfully his because of promises made to him by both Edward and Harold. AuthenticityThis has never been questioned – * Style is consistent with other 11th-century Anglo-Saxon needlework * First referred to in 1476 – displayed once a year at Bayeux cathedral * Halley’s comet appears; astronomers have confirmed this. This detail would not have been known by someone who was not closely connected to the event. Origin (Commission and Creation) Bishop Odo, by general consensus, for the fo llowing reasons: 1. His inclusion in scenes in which he may be considered dispensable 2. The tapestry’s close association with Bayeux cathedral, his ecclesiastical seat. 3.Three minor Norman knights, recorded in the Doomsday book as holding Kentish land from him, are named General consensus is that it was manufactured in England. Evidence for this includes: 1. Stylistic similarity with other Anglo-Saxon art 2. International reputation of English needlework at the time 3. Influence of English language – written in Latin with English syntax; English folk names appear, eg. ?lfgyva Age Potentially 946 years old. Was made between 1067 and 1082 if Bishop Odo was the commissioner – he fell out of favour with William in 1083. Bias It is generally agreed that there is a strong Norman bias.The evidence for this includes: 1. The small amount of attention paid to Edward’s legitimising of Harold and death 2. That a common alternative title, William the Bastard, is nev er used or referred to The attempted justification of the campaign – William is portrayed as reclaiming what was rightfully his and Harold as an untrustworthy oath-breaker, in spite of the strong English case for his kingship, the arguments for which include: a. That King Edward wished him to be successor and legitimately passed it on b. That Harold was a wise, experienced governor c.That William had no claim by descent to the throne It is difficult to determine exactly what has been changed or omitted as empirically-written information is non-existant and the single existing closely-dated English account, The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, is brief. The only other source that mentions the main contentious point, Harold’s oath, is Norman (Deeds of Duke William, William Poitier). Value to Historians The tapestry provides tremendously important and interesting information to historians about significant Norman characters, their motives and a colourful narrative of an extremely i mportant battle.It is, however, demonstrative of the problem of history-fixing by the victorious side in a controversy. William would have had any unfavourable accounts destroyed had the minority of literate English had the courage to create them. Hence, historians are forced to accept that their only major sources are biased to an unknown degree and compare them with the few facts from other primary sources, eg. dates from gravestones, to develop a somewhat empirical account. References Stenton, Frank. The Bayeux Tapestry. London: Phaidon Press, 1965. Print. 25 Mar. 2013. â€Å"Edward. † Encyclop? dia Britannica.Encyclop? dia Britannica Online Academic Edition. Encyclop? dia Britannica Inc. , 2013. Web. 25 Mar. 2013. . BBC. â€Å"The Battle of Hastings 1066. † Online video clip. Youtube. Youtube, 3 April 2010. Web. 25 Mar. 2013. â€Å"The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. † The Bayeux Tapestry: A Guide. n. p, n. d. Web, 25 Mar. 2013. â€Å"William I. † Encyclop? di a Britannica. Encyclop? dia Britannica Online Academic Edition. Encyclop? dia Britannica Inc. , 2013. Web. 27 Mar. 2013. . â€Å"Harold II. † Encyclop? dia Britannica. Encyclop? dia Britannica Online Academic Edition. Encyclop? dia Britannica Inc. , 2013. Web. 27 Mar. 2013. .

High Museum Project

I chose to do my review project in â€Å"The High Museum†, in Atlanta GA. It was found in 1905 and its very first name was Atlanta Art Association. Also it is the one of the most visited art museum in the world. While, visiting High museum, I was drawn to two particular pieces from two very different artists. The Chest and drawers by Teyo Remy, gained my attention because of creative design and deep meaning. My other favorite piece is â€Å"The beginning of Life in the Yellow Jungle†, by Thorton Dial. I will be comparing two artist from Modern and Contemporary Art period.Teyo Remy was part of a group of young Dutch designers who came to the forefront of the international design scene with works that had a political awareness and also sense of humor. Chest and drawers piece was design in 1991, which was based on twenty drawers which each of those had a story with them. Very first drawer represents a jewelry box that was a gift to the young woman from the father. The enti re piece is held together by a furniture mowers strap that represents nature of life. Basically a strap would be a reference of us humans holding on the important things in life that matter to us.The reason I like this is because it connects to me with memories of my past and experiences I went through. To me, each drawer represents a memory in my life that has thought me to make better decisions in the future. I also like this design of art because it is amazes me how Teyo Remy managed to make a design that held twenty drawers together and none of them fell off. The color selections of the drawers are matte and plain colored that you see in your everyday life. This was a good selection because it made the piece more relatable. â€Å"You Can’t Lay Down Your Memory†, is a perfect title for this design as it shows the importance of past.Thorton Dial was born in 1928, Emelle, Alabama. He endured a life of poverty and hard labor. This self-taught artist has made astonishin g master pieces that represent history, politics, and power. He overcame many obstacles such as being illiterate, coming from poverty, and he also had a late start as an artist in his fifties. One of his famous pieces is â€Å"The Beginning of Life in the Yellow Jungle†, designed in 2003. Some of the materials he used for that particular design are plastic soda bottles, doll, clothing, bedding, wire, found metal, and rubber glove.Yellow color represent coming together of all â€Å"races† and working with each other in peace. Plastic soda bottles represent a new born that is innocent and pure in this world of chaos. The reason I chose this artwork is because initially it looked very disturbing, distorted, and mysterious. After a few minutes of looking at it, it began to speak to me. I begin to realize what Dial was trying say. To me this art represents a brighter side of the future. Through many life’s struggles and hardships I endured, there seems to always be a greater hope for better life.I also believe that this represent the beauty in struggles we encounter in our lives. In comparison, these two artists are very different but yet share a similar view on life. They come from very different backgrounds but these two particular pieces have an underlined connection. Dial basis his work on his experiences which are captured in his memory. He is able to express his views, struggles, and experiences from his past. On the other hand, Remy’s chest of drawers represents each of his memory in a tight space of drawers. And also, memories can be used as a stepping stone in a pathway to a greater life.

Saturday, September 28, 2019

Idea and City Council

Everest University Abstract It’s very important for commissioners and city councils to understand the importance of forensics. When the commissioners and city council understand forensics they will have a clear idea of what the cost and what it takes for the forensic team. Having an idea and understanding gives you knowledge of the forensics. It’s very important that commissioners and city council member to appreciate the value and the hard work of a forensic team.It is very important for the city council and commissioners to understand and appreciate the value of forensic evidence because all funds have to be approved by elected officials and they have to provide oversight for LEO to help prevent violations of funds. Forensic processing and evaluations can be costly and failure to conduct a timely use can lead to a law suit against the city and county. Neither city nor the commissioner wants a law suit against them.Forensics is very important for the commissioner, city council and other people that’s have something to do with running a town to appreciate and understand the value of it. Forensic gives an insight on someone innocent or to prove them guilty and the commissioners should be appreciative of that. Communication between all those that are not involved with the forensic but have some say so in the money funds should communicate with each other very well so that way the city council and the commissioners will know exactly how the funds are being spent and that it’s to prove someone innocent or guilty.An uncoordinated approach can lead to misunderstanding on either end. I don’t think the city commissioners are involved in the knowing of crimes as much as they should be but they do make decisions on the funds and I think they do appreciate the value of forensic evidence. They just can’t be there on the scene and do hands on but they do appreciate it I think. References Article: Mabelle Dec. 9 (2009) Article: May, 29 (2010) www. mycriminaljusticecareers. com www. bls. gov

Friday, September 27, 2019

Comparison Matrix Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Comparison Matrix - Essay Example This is a pertinent question in investigating the role of an organization’s structure on transformational leadership. This is because complexity in an organization’s structure lowers the chances of practicing transformation leadership. On the other hand, Emery and Barker enquires into the impact of transformational and transactional leadership on employee attitude. This is crucial because that impact translates into how employees attend customers and goes a long way to determining customer satisfaction. Hillen, Hanneke, Haes and Smets deviates from the previous two groups of authors by probing into the perception of physicians on patients trust. This probe brings in a dimension of the impact of customers’ (patients) perception on the success of the service received (cancer treatment). Wright and Pandey’s sample of 1,322 high-level public administrators working in municipalities with more than 50,000 residents was a proportionate sample. Picking these administrators from municipalities with such populations was particularly effective because the many residents would provide varied responses hence giving the researchers more materials to gauge the administrators’ leadership behaviors. High-level administrators were a good group to work with because they reflect the leadership practices of those in public sectors. Emery and Barker used a sample of 124 respondents, 77 of whom were branch managers from 3 regional banking organizations and the rest 47 were store managers from one national food chain. Sampling from two service industries is Emery and Bakers’ added advantage with their sample more so because they are not related and can therefore provide different dimensions to their topic. Regional leadership is an upgraded version of the one at the national level. There are ample chances of capturing elements of leadership prevalent in both banking and food industries, and at different levels of leadership. Hillen,

Thursday, September 26, 2019

Drupal Open Source Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Drupal Open Source - Research Paper Example This paper explores the component and contribution to the root concept. High-level vision An Application where developers are able easily to organize, manage and publish their content, with an endless variety of customization. Basic Rationale Availability of Apache Solr integration module. The taxonomy concepts are easily hooked onto Apache Solr for filtering based on meta-information, such as tags, authors, publications, etc. in Drupal, an author can be part of a taxonomy and user profiles can be made for these authors - by default ability to write Themes using PHP Template, instead of depending upon Typo script Ability to handle a large quantity (over 1000) of diverse sites Central management tools Integration with Active Directory Stakeholder group In general, man, woman, students, working people. Computer programmers Starting assumption Improvements and re-designing will be done from the existing versions to a more stable and user-friendly application. Field Study Guides extracte d from the user's e-mail forums 1. How many people use Drupal? Why? 2. How many sites have been created using Drupal? 3. How often is Drupal used? 4. Which difficulties are encounter during usage?  5.  What do users like most about Drupal? 6. Is Drupal a viable solution for the user’s website? Does it have any limited functionality? 7. Do users encounter problems when Installing Drupal? Which are they? 8. What are the most important features Drupal has? 9. Is there anything that users do not like about Drupal? If so, what are they? 10. Under what conditions users don’t like Drupal and why? Examples. 11. What are the additional features Drupal does not have but users consider important and can improve the situations? Field data collection(answers to the Field Study Guides extracted from the user's e-mail forums) 1. What is the function of Drupal and why do users choose to use Drupal? Drupal is used to create websites. It is used because of Advanced URL Control, Cust om Content Types, and Views, Revision Control, User Management, Excellent Documentation, Large and Friendly Community 2. How many sites have been created using Drupal? Drupal has been used to create several very important website which includes; The United, Nations, Warner Brothers Records, The Discovery Channel, Forbes, The Grateful Dead, AOL, Yahoo, Lime.com, The New York Observer, The Onion, Aaron Wall's SEObook.com 3. How often is Drupal used? Drupal is used often in the creation of the website. 4. Which difficulties are encounter during the usage? There are several problems that are encountered as during the use of Drupal application. They include obscure terminologies, lack of realistic previews, limited functionalities. Among others What do users like most about Drupal? Because of: well interaction of plug-in with its core, it is secure, Drupal can do blogging 5. Is Drupal a viable solution for the user’s website? Does it have any limited functionality? Yes, although i t has some limited functionality 6. Do users encounter problems when Installing Drupal? Which are they? Yes, uninstalling modules fails; whenever a user attempts to install Drupal he gets this "Table variable already exists" 7. What are the most important features Drupal has? Flexibility, Good Governance, Contributed Code, Large Vendor Pool, Scalability  

Battle of Antietam in Maryland-1862(bloodiest day in all of recorded Essay

Battle of Antietam in Maryland-1862(bloodiest day in all of recorded American History. 23,000 American deaths...even more than D-Day invasion in World War II) - Essay Example The lesson learnt from the Battle of Antietam has been vivid through the following lines and it is for one and all to comprehend what actually went into the actual battle that took place between the United States of America and the Confederates. The Battle of Antietam is also known by the name of The Battle of Sharpsburg. This battle was fought on the 17th day of September in the year 1862 near Maryland in Sharpsburg which is close to the Maryland Campaign. This indeed marked the initial basis for any kind of war to have taken place on the North American soils after the American Civil War had started. Nearly 23,000 casualties speaks volumes about the war being the bloodiest day in the history of America as it played an indirect yet tactical role in giving President Abraham Lincoln the much needed power to have his ‘Emancipation Proclamation’. Each year, the battle is commemorated at the Antietam National Battlefield. The result of the war without any shadow of a doubt was that it was tactically full of loopholes and it entailed a strategic victory for the union. The main combatants in the war were the USA and the Confederate States of America. The commanders at both ends were George B. McClellan for USA and Robert E. Lee for the Confederates. The USA outnumbered the Confederates by double the men, where the former had 87,000 while the Confederates had only 45,000 to contend with. There were around 12,401 casualties at US end, which included 2,108 men killed and another 9,540 wounded badly. 753 were either captured or missing in the whole scenario. At the end of the Confederates, there were 10,318 casualties which included 1,546 as killed and another 7,752 injured. 1,018 men were either captured or missing. Coming to the original topic at hand and finding out as to why this battle began in the first place, we find out quite a few things

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

A research into Sick Building Syndrome who suffers more male or female Coursework - 1

A research into Sick Building Syndrome who suffers more male or female - Coursework Example When twenty percent or more of a building’s occupants complain of these conditions, it is said that these individuals may be suffering from sick building syndrome (Akovali, 2007). Sick building syndrome is described as a condition wherein a group of people in the same building or similar structure experiences acute health symptoms which improves or disappears once they go out of the building. These symptoms include headache; irritated eyes, nose, and throat; cough; dry and itchy skin; dizziness and nausea; inability to concentrate; sensitivity to odours; and fatigue. Its underlying cause remains unclear. However most attribute the phenomenon to inadequate building ventilation, contaminants and stress (Fraser, 2008). According to the study by Bischof and Bullinger (1998), symptoms of sick building syndrome were reported on both air-conditioned and naturally-ventilated buildings. However, incidents of SBS were more evident in poorly maintained air-conditioned buildings. Inadequate building ventilation. At the start of the 20th century, building ventilation standards set the ventilation rate to 15 cubic feet per minute per occupant. However, the oil crisis in the 1970s caused a reduction of ventilation rates to 5 cfm. The reduced flow of outdoor air was discovered to cause discomfort and acute health symptoms among the building’s occupants. In order to minimize energy use and attain an acceptable Indoor Air Quality level, the American National Standards Institute / American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers had updated its ventilation standard to 20 cfm for office spaces (Environmental Protection Agency, 1991). Airborne contaminants. Ventilation systems for office buildings usually acquire air from the outside. As outdoor air gets inside the building, it also brings airborne contaminants. Sources of contaminants include motor vehicle fumes, plumbing and building exhausts;

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

Oppose National Identification Cards Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Oppose National Identification Cards - Essay Example Ultimately, the Act was intended to prevent terrorism by creating rigorous and consistent standards with regard to state-issued IDs for all the states to follow. States are commissioned to renovate the drivers’ licenses and non-drivers’ identification cards such that uniform security features could be included in them across the whole country (PFAW Capitol Hill). The law repealed Section 7212 under Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004, a regulation targeting the issue of national standards for drivers’ licenses and personal identification cards where minimum standards were set and certain information were disclosed in the identification cards left to each of the states’ discretion, thus sacrificing the consistency of the categories and criteria on who are eligible to obtain the drivers’ licenses across the whole country. The new law as such reformed this by replacing each of all the states standards with a specific national one ( Hann). Technically, states are not mandated to accept these federal standards. But, refusing to do so would mean that their residents would be refused employment, then denied having social security or disallowed air travel. In a sense, instead of imposing a direct order on the states, the federal government is threatening them into complying underhandedly. Combating terrorism is the primary reason behind all these. But, proponents of these are actually forgetting that the criminals do not care about laws, not so much as to breaking them anyway. A terrorist would not so much bat an eyelash when he is not going to be dutifully able to obtain a federal ID card. People who disregarded the nation’s immigration laws would not care so much if they were to disrespect these ID requirements, especially when any card can be forged and any regulating agency could

Monday, September 23, 2019

Mary Todd and Abraham Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Mary Todd and Abraham - Essay Example The letter reveals that the First Lady was more than a wife to the President. During that time, she was also his adviser, assistant, and bearer of blessings for the people. Where Abraham cannot be, Mary Todd is there so that the people will have someone to talk to about their problems and woes. Mary Todd is given the liberty to act out on her own, but she does not abuse it and still calls to Abraham for the final say. Their relationship as a couple and as partners is a healthy give-and-take one. The letter reveals that Abraham Lincoln regards his family just like he would do his country. Mary Todd knows that Abraham is not accustomed to writing, yet she still writes to update him, and although no reply is imminent, she still intends to tell him what is going on with their family. In return, Abraham expresses his love for his family by making sure that they are well and that they have everything that they need. When Mary Todd asked for money, she assumed that Abraham will send it, whi ch means that Abraham tends to their needs just like he oversees the needs of everyone. After reading the letter, it can be concluded that the study of primary documents is important because it conveys a lot about the writer of the letter and the intended recipient.

Sunday, September 22, 2019

Capital punishment Essay Example for Free

Capital punishment Essay Capital punishment, also dubbed the death penalty, is the pre-meditated and planned taking of a human life by a government in response to a crime committed by that legally convicted person. Passions in the US are sharply divided, and equally strong among both supporters and protesters of the death penalty. Arguing against capital punishment, Amnesty International believes that The death penalty is the ultimate denial of human rights. It is the premeditated and cold-blooded killing of a human being by the state in the name of justice. It violates the right to lifeIt is the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment. There can never be any justification for torture or for cruel treatment. Arguing for capital punishment, the Clark County, Indiana Prosecuting Attorney writes that there are some defendants who have earned the ultimate punishment our society has to offer by committing murder with aggravating circumstances present. I believe life is sacred. It cheapens the life of an innocent murder victim to say that society has no right to keep the murderer from ever killing again. In my view, society has not only the right, but the duty to act in self defense to protect the innocent. And Catholic Cardinal McCarrick, Archbishop of Washington, writes the death penalty diminishes all of us, increases disrespect for human life, and offers the tragic illusion that we can teach that killing is wrong by killing. Death Penalty in the U.S. The death penalty has not always been practiced in the U.S. although ReligiousTolerance.org states that in the U.S., about 13,000 people have been legally executed since colonial times. The Depression era 1930s, which saw a historic peak in executions, was followed by a dramatic decrease in the 1950s and 1960s. No executions occurred in the US between 1967 to 1976. In 1972, the Supreme Court effectively nullified the death penalty, and converted the death sentences of hundreds of death row inmates to life in prison. In 1976, another Supreme Court ruling found capital punishment to be Constitutional. From 1976 through June 3, 2009, 1,167 people have been executed in the U.S. Latest Developments The vast majority of democratic countries in Europe and Latin America have abolished capital punishment over the last fifty years, but United States, most democracies in Asia, and almost all totalitarian governments retain it. Crimes that carry the death penalty vary greatly worldwide from treason and murder to theft. In militaries around the world, courts-martial have sentenced capital punishments also for cowardice, desertion, insubordination and mutiny. Per Amnesty Internationals 2008 death penalty annual report, at least 2,390 people were known to have been executed in 25 countries and at least 8,864 people were sentenced to death in 52 countries around the world: Executions in 2008, by Country †¢China 1,718 †¢Iran 346 †¢Saudi Arabia 102 †¢United States 37 †¢Pakistan 36 †¢Iraq 34 †¢Vietnam 19 †¢Afghanistan 17 †¢North Korea 15 †¢All others 66 Source Amnesty International As of October 2009, capital punishment in the US is officially sanctioned by 34 states, as well as by the federal government. Each state with legalized capital punishment has different laws regarding its methods, age limits and crimes which qualify. From 1976 through October 2009, 1,177 felons were executed in the U.S., distributed among the states as follows: Executions from 1976 Oct 2009, by State †¢Texas 442 (38%) †¢Virginia 103 †¢Oklahoma 91 †¢Florida 68 †¢Missouri 67 †¢Georgia 46 †¢Alabama 44 †¢North Carolina 43 †¢South Carolina 42 †¢Ohio 32 †¢Louisiana 27 †¢Arkansas 27 †¢All others 149 Source: Wikipedia States and U.S. territories with no current death penalty statute are Alaska, Hawaii, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Rhode Island, Vermont, West Virginia, Wisconsin, District of Columbia, American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and U.S. Virgin Islands. New Jersey repealed the death penalty in 2007, and New Mexico in 2009. Background The case of Stanley Tookie Williams illustrates the moral complexities of the death penalty. Mr. Williams, an author and Nobel Peace and Literature Prizes nominee who was put to death on December 13, 2005 by lethal injection by the state of California, brought capital punishment back into prominent public debate. Mr. Williams was convicted of four murders committed in 1979, and sentenced to death. Williams professed innocence of these crimes. He was also co-founder of the Crips, a deadly and powerful Los Angeles-based street gang responsible for hundreds of murders. About five years after incarceration, Mr. Williams underwent a religious conversion and, as a result, authored many books and programs to promote peace and to fight gangs and gang violence. He was nominated five times for the Nobel Peace Prize and four times for the Nobel Literature Prize. Mr. Williams was a self-admitted life of crime and violence, followed by genuine redemption and a life of uniquely and unusually good works. The circumstantial evidence against Williams left little doubt that he committed the four murders, despite last-minute claims by supporters. There also existed no doubt that Mr. Williams posed no further threat to society, and would contribute considerable good. The case of Stanley Tookie Williams forced public reflection on the purpose of the death penalty: †¢Is the purpose of the death penalty to remove from society someone who would cause more harm? †¢Is the purpose to remove from society someone who is incapable of rehabilitation? †¢Is the purpose of the death penalty to deter others from committing murder? †¢Is the purpose of the death penal

Saturday, September 21, 2019

Coca Cola Stakeholder Report

Coca Cola Stakeholder Report Goodstein, Nolan, and Pfeiffer states in their book that A mission defines the organisation existence and it covers four areas, firstly what is the purpose, for whom, how and why organisation exists. A mission statement provides framework to the organisation in which it will operate. A profit oriented organisation purpose is to satisfy needs of market and for non-profit oriented organisation it is to serve for community. For whom will be the customer of organisation and in non profit organisation the community at large. How covers the strategy the organisation will pursue in providing quality product or service to its potential customers. The answer of why of profit oriented organisation would be maximisation of profit and achieving growth by seizing new opportunities. A non-profit organisation has no concern with profit and focus on providing service to community. Organisation culture is belief, attitude and values. It provides basis for the way organisation will perform its activit ies. Values are important part of organisation and it sets organisation traits, its actual and required competence and quality of work. Its gives foundation for decision making, guidance of how work will perform, what kind of people are needed and areas needed more care. Values are basis of organisation decision. (Goostein, Nolan, Pfeiffer 1993) Organisation performs value scanning and stakeholders for effective decision making. Stakeholder holds powers and can significantly influence organisation decision. Stakeholders include shareholders, employee, customer, community, lenders, suppliers and Government. Shareholders and lenders can effect decision of organisation as they have significant interest and power. Second important stakeholder is customers of organisation and holder tremendous power and interest. Thirdly, the employees that require proper salaries and benefits against their services. All three stakeholders can influence the decision of organisation; therefore organisatio n should perform stakeholder analysis before making strategic decision to achieve its long term objectives. Typically organisation objectives are long term gaols which it wants to achieve. Normally those are maximisation of wealth of shareholders, providing quality products and increase in market share. As from the case of Coca Cola, its objectives includes Market leader in its industry Worldwide growth Provide reliable and quality product In order to achieve those objective, it has values which is based on teamwork, precision and bringing together its employee to strive to achieve its objectives. Objective of Three Stakeholders Coca cola has achieved the objectives of its three important stakeholders Customers, it has provided quality product to its customers and put forward customers trust at top priority. Coca Cola has heavily invested in its research and development area to produce high quality beverages. Employees, it has recognised its employees as an asset and understand the fact that a motivated employee strives for the growth of the company. It has taken different measures to satisfy its employees needs and provide them route to communicate and express their feelings. Shareholders, they want high return on their investment. As it is apparent from the growth and development of coca cola. It is working hard to maximise the wealth of shareholder. 1.3 Strategies employed by organisation and Government as stakeholder Its organisation is responsible to develop strategies to meet stakeholders objective. Every stakeholder has different set of objectives associated with the organisation. The interest of shareholders is maximisation of wealth and company growth. It is appearent from the case that Coca cola has achieved significant growth over the years and expand its business world as it serving customers over 200 countries and product range is 400 non aphonic beverages. Customers want value for money. Coca cola research and development has produced product to meet the demand of customers and marketing development has increased over the years. Coca cola adhere that customers trust is vital for the success of organisation. Coca cola has been meeting the legal and regulatory requirement nationally and internationally. In any business Government is always a major stakeholder as it holds significant power to disrupt organisation plans. So its necessary for organisation to prepare its strategies in compliance with law and regulations. Employees are major stakeholders of organisation; organisation should prepare strategies for training and development of its human resource and provide opportunity to excel. 2.1 Economic system and use of resources The central economic problem is shortage of resource, which includes land, labour and capital. It arises due to high human demand, scarcity does not arrive itself it is human wants and desire who brought them. Some of the resources problems are solved by the introduction of new technology as a substitute, where as other resource are still limited (Dhillon 2007) Economic system is concerned with effective use of resources. Economic system depends on the availability of resources and its demands. The types of economic system are as follow. Command system All resources are controlled by the government itself. Government prepare plans for resource allocation for industry and people. In this system government is owner of resources and make decision for what is needed to produce and way to produce. Free market economic system: In this decision are made by private individuals and industrialist. All resources are owned by private individuals. In a pure free market there would be no government involvements. America is biggest example of it where all resources are owned by firms. Capitalism is the astounding belief that the wickedest of men, will do the wickedest of things for the greatest good of everyone. (Keynes 2000) Mixed Economic System In mixed economic system some resources are controlled and owned by government and some resources are managed by private firm. This is very famous system and it combines the characteristics of both systems. Transitional economies In this system, it is changing from planned to free economy and involve market decide the price and barriers of trade are removed. 2.2 Social welfare and industrial initiatives Social welfare policies include health, education, social works, education, pension scheme and housing schemes. Theaker (2004), states in his book that there are different types of rules developed by societies. These rules provides framework for an organisation in preparing its strategies. The objective behind rules and policies are that organisation should be proactive. It implies that organisation should be not focused on self interest and work for the benefit of its employees, community at large etc. Moore (2002), states in his book that the government is responsible for unemployment, employee housing and wage levels. Government hold power and should prepare policy to protect the community. Social welfare involves equal distribution of wealth. If wealth is distributed equally then there will be no poverty. Social welfare has strong history in UK; the government has prepared different laws and policies to protect citizens of UK which includes the poor law 1834, the welfare state in Britain 1948, housing policy, education policy etc. Industrial policy Industrial policy concerned with growth and development. Its objectives are Sustainable growth of industry Raise in employment rate Efficient and effective use of Human resource development Country growth and development in making it world player UK five productivity drivers are (Budget 2005) Increasing competition Enterprise promotion by minimising barriers to entry Research and development Skills and competence Investment decision These policies and measures can significant impacts on industry and organisation to achieve growth and development. Government strives to promote and protect its industry and community by making effective laws and policies. 2.3 Macroeconomics policy and influence of global economy Macroeconomics policy measures and control output, spending and income. Country national income provide basis for measuring the output, spending and income which helps to draw monetary and fiscal policy. Fiscal policy It has detrimental impact on consumer buying decision. Fiscal policy is used as tool to control government spending, demand level, output and taxation. A rise in income tax and NI will affect the income after tax and more they work and more they will pay tax and vice versa. A change in tax will affect pattern of demand of customer. Increase in duty will reduce the buying as in case of Cigarettes. Government subsidies are used to improve the production capacity and growth of industry to increase employment rate and government revenue. Monetary Policy of UK A monetary policy involves that the government changes the base rate to change the growth rate and aggregate demands. Monetary policy used as a measure to control inflation, interest rate and supply of money. In UK the monetary policy is managed by Bank of England that is responsible for controlling inflation, price stability and to provide growth and employment. Influence of global economy Globalisation and international trade has changed the direction of industry. Earlier organisation has to compete nationally, now it has to compete with international player and that has overall structure of industry. The ultimate benefit goes to the end users in terms of low prices due to competition. Globalisation has increased the level of uncertainty among domestic producer. Product development, marketing and prices are changing rapidly due to international trade. Government has put significant attention in drawing fiscal and monetary policy to cope with such uncertainties which could lead them to either inflation or recession. The economic decision about what to produce and how to produce and to whom to produce becomes a matter of judgement and need flexibility in it. 3.1 Market structure Market structures are as follow Perfect market Imperfect market Perfect market Wessels express in his books about the conditions that lead to a perfect competition market which are Extensive numbers of companies are operating in the market Many substitutes are available to customers Buyers knows the prices of every supplier to make rational decision Easy exits are available to companies In perfect market structure buyers can insert pressure on companies. Globalisation and international trade has changed the structure of industry all over the world. There are so many buyers and produces are available and high competition in the market. Imperfect market In imperfect market, there is few number of producer and hold significant power to insert pressure on consumer. In this structure, consumer has limited number of choices to buy product. Organisation can change the price and make high margin profit out of it. In imperfect market it has different types, Monopoly Mankiw (2006) states, A monopolist can impose the price of product. Customers have no other choice except the buying from the single producer. Consumer prefers to have perfect competition where there is large number of suppliers. It can change prices any time as it is a sole producer of product. Oligopoly Mankiw (2006), It is simplest form, in which there are few sellers in the market and producing, offering the same products which are very much identical in nature and durability. Monopolist competition Mankiw (2006), It is almost similar to the oligopoly, there are few seller in the market and producing the same product but in this products are not identical in nature. In this structure all firms are having monopoly in its particular products and competing with each other over same customer base. Duopoly It is simplest form of oligopoly, in this both producer coordinate with each other and decide the price and output and make changes accordingly. 3.2 market forces and organisation response Organisation is a separate entity and it is subject to influence of external environment. The market forces includes customer demand, change in taste of customer, each party holds some power to influence organisation decision. It can Supply and demand Economist focused on Supply and demand. These are main forces in the economy that make market works. Supply and demand determines the price and quantity to be produced. High demand lead to a rise in price, as company has to increase its capacity to meet the demand of market. The demand of commodity is influenced by customer taste, customer perception, income, price of related product, expectations of customers and quantity demanded. Elasticity The behaviour of demand and price has direct relationship with supply. A rise in demand will directly impact on relative decrease in supply and which lead the demand at par. Similarly a rise in demand will lead to relative rise in price. Customer perception and actions It has strong influence on buying and selling of product. A buyer is itself a seller. A buyer wants a product at low price and sells it at a high price and again the buyer or end user wants to buy product at low price. The buying behaviour strongly influenced the product price and product. In a perfect competition market its makes more competitive and lead to price war and heavy marketing activity. Monitory and fiscal policy Change in monetary and fiscal policies significantly impact organisation operations and its policies and which also lead to rise in product price. Response Supply for product A rise in demand put pressure on organisation to provide the required supply. Where organisation doesnt have spare capacity of production it will require a high investment in manufacturing. Economy of scale A certain rise in demand provides opportunity to achieve economy of scale by producing more products to meet the market demand and enjoy the benefit of economy of scale. Working capital A certain rise or fall in demand put pressure on organisation working capital. Organisation holding, transportation and storage costs are significantly influence by the rise or fall in demand. 3.3 Competitive Strategies Porter 1998 states that organisation prepares its strategy to distinct itself from its competitors to gain competitive advantage such strategies able an organisation to provide different set of values to its customers. According porter generic competitive strategies, Organisation can gain competitive advantage and it can outperform its competitor as being A low cost producer It involves producing goods at low cost, achieving economy of scale and cost cutting by lowering marketing, product development cost and responding to the market requirement. A differentiator Differentiation can be achieved by producing innovative product, increasing promotion and making brand image. A focus It involves dealing at lower level by identifying a niche market and producing product according to the requirement of specific market. Every company focus on achieving competitive advantage to outperform its competitor which often lead organisation to price war, heaving investment in promotions and pursuing wrong practices to capture market and gain growth. Role of Competition commission and regulatory bodies The role of competition commission is determined by stature, it is concerned with investigating and reporting on wrong practices. The main objective is to overcome incorrect practices of companies in gaining market share and making profits and forcing fair trading policies and anticompetitive practices. (Seven 2001) 4.1 Importance of International trade International trade and globalisation has brought significant advantages. This includes Balance of Payments International trade has allowed countries to improve their balance of payments. Lower production cost Production cost in developing countries is lower due to low labour cost, raw material as compare to UK, USA or European countries and international trade has allowed them to get advantage of lower production cost. Comparative advantage Some countries are specialised in producing product. Due to International trade and globalisation, countries are buying product from those countries that are specialised in producing product at lower cost. Such as India is providing outsourcing services to UK, USA, Australia, Canada etc. Non financial benefit International trade has brought non financial benefit to the countries such as it has lead countries to make strong political relations, understanding each other culture and work together. Indonesia, India, Pakistan, China has strong relationship with UK. Increase competition It has lead to increase competition in the market. Countries are getting benefits from high competition as it leads to low price product to capture market. 4.2 Impact of Two European Union Policies on UK business European Union has implemented different policies but the main two are World Trade Organisation (WTO) The main impact of European Union policies includes the introduction of free trade, world trade organisation, which has significantly affected the UK economy. Free trade has lead to increase competition in the European Union markets. Flow of migrant The major economic impacts of European policies are flow of migrant. It has lead to low skill labour to fill the gap in labour market. However significant flow of migration in UK has increased unemployment. (D2) Single owner Business International trade and global economy has brought significant competition in the market. There are many suppliers available to provide a long range of products and product substitutes are easily available. Those customers who prefer to buy less expensive product can easily get the products of their choice. The globalisation and international trade may have impacted the market at macro level but the small market is still safe to some extent. However at macro level, globalisation has strongly affected the GDP, which has put pressure on government monetary and fiscal policies to respond to those forces. 4.3 Economic Implication of Entry into EMU The economics of Europe has affected the market of its member and has brought significant changes in it. These includes Singly currency Euro is major currency in major parts of Europe which is used daily by 60% of Europe citizens. A single currency has minimised the exchange cost and eliminate exchange risk. Price Stability It has improved the price stability by keeping the interest rate and inflation rate at a low level. European Single Market Act The introduction of WTO, the goods will be traded freely between the euro zone has minimise the import duties and payments are being dealt in singly euro currency has minimise the cost of trading between different countries. (D3) Convergence into Europe EMU has introduced fine convergence criteria for members Inflation rate should not exceed 1.5%. Interest rate should not rise more than 2% Budget deficit should not exceed 3% of Gross Domestic product market price National debt should not exceed 60% of gross domestic product market price. Exchange rate should remain at normal ERM Bands for two years.

Friday, September 20, 2019

Agent orange in Vietnam: Effects and remediation

Agent orange in Vietnam: Effects and remediation ABSTRACT Many types of herbicides were used during the Vietnam War for the purpose of destroying the forests, where Vietnamese soldiers sheltered. Among them, the chemical that was used the most and most hazardous was Agent Orange. This paper, based on secondary research, will discuss some main issues of Agent Orange in Vietnam. In particular, three facets are mentioned, including the effects of Agent Orange on the environment and human in Vietnam, the manner of overcoming its consequences and the struggle for justice for Agent Orange sufferers. Overall, the paper draws the conclusion that the remediation of Agent Orange effects is gradually carried out, but it requires a lot of time and manpower to basically clean-up the remainder of the toxic. Agent Orange In Vietnam: Effects And Remediation Introduction. In Vietnam War, the U.S. Army used a chemical substance called Agent Orange to reveal Vietnam soldiers’ cover and shelters during their chemical warfare in Vietnam. Agent Orange is a name of the herbicide established for military, which contains a dangerous chemical contaminant called dioxin. Dioxin in Agent Orange is a highly toxic and it can cause disabilities, birth defects, diabetes and even cancer. The main purpose of using this deadly substance is to destroy dense terrain in jungles, where Vietnam Armies may be hiding; and to devastate Vietnam’s vegetation and sources of food. It is noteworthy that Agent Orange was sprayed up to about 50 times concentration recommended by manufacturers for eliminating plants in agriculture. The Agent was sprayed over South Vietnam by trucks, boats, infantryman backpack sprayers, and mostly by cargo aircrafts. In fact, not only the environment was destroyed, but human who exposed to the chemical could also be associated with seriou s health issues. It affected both Vietnamese people, and U.S Army veterans, who directly spread this substance into environment. This paper discusses the tremendous impacts of Agent Orange on environment as well as on people in Vietnam, how to remedy its consequences and describes the struggle for justice for Agent Orange victims. Effects of Agent Orange in Vietnam. Effects of Agent Orange on environment. For the first time in human history, a kind of noxious herbicide was used on a large scale in Southern Vietnam, and it caused severe consequences for the ecological environment. In fact, about 72 liters of herbicides (include 44 liters of Agent Orange) was sent out by U.S Army. 86% of the toxic was sprayed directly onto forest land, while 14% remaining was sprayed straight onto agriculture land, where mostly planted rice (H.T 2005). Such enormous amount of these fatal herbicides had created many terrific impacts on environment in Vietnam. From 1965 to 1971, the U.S Military sprayed Agent Orange over approximately 24% of Southern Vietnam, at least 5 million acres of forests and 500,000 acres of crops were destroyed (Vo, cited in Joseph 2011), corresponding to 12% of forest cover and 5% of arable land in total area (H.T 2005). As said by Stellman (cited in Vo 2009, unpub.), they sprayed the herbicide repeatedly in high concentrations, which comprised 3-4 mg/l, much higher than in circumstance of large-scale production and emergency. As a result, this chemical toxin had killed trees, animals, caused ecological imbalance and did great damage to forest resources. The abundant rainforest ecosystem completely vanished, and replaced by a ragged ecosystem. Various types of forests and natural resources in Southern Vietnam were influenced. Animals’ natural habitat was also heavily affected. A lot of plants in forests died and this led to the depletion of genetic resources of a number of rare species. The use of Agent Orange and some else herbicides in Vietnam War had devastated vast areas of forests, which is a very essential basis for stable development of Vietnam. Besides the ecosystem, the soil was also contaminated as a result of the herbicides. The nutrient composition of the soil was damaged and the topsoil became exhausted. When the forests were exterminated, the soil would no longer be covered, and this brought about soil erosion. Research have pointed out that 3.3 million hectares of natural land, including 2 million hectares of domestic forest land were affected by herbicides. In many large areas, land has not been able to be used for cultivation and grazing livestock because the toxic have absorbed deeply into the soil. Since the contaminant dioxin is not broken down quickly and easily in soil, even today, traces of dioxin are still found in soil in many parts of Southern Vietnam. Effects of Agent Orange on human. A. Schecter J. Constable wrote that â€Å"There is no doubt that during and after the war, many Vietnamese absorbed this very toxic material (dioxin). It is our belief from toxicological research and epidemiological studies from many countries that this dioxin probably resulted in significant health effects in Vietnam.† Dioxin, even with infinitesimal amounts could seriously damage human’s health and reduce the lives of people exposed to it as well. In fact, dioxin can cause a great deal of diseases, such as Hodgkin’s disease, mental disorders, soft-tissue sarcoma, diabetes and several kinds of cancer (Martin 2009). Additionally, there is a potential that it can create several legacies for future generations. According to War Legacies Project (Dwernychuk et al. n.d.), herbicides, including Agent Orange had compromised about 4.5 million Vietnamese civilians and 2.8 million U.S veterans. Among them, it is estimated by the Vietnamese Red Cross that up to 3 million Vietnamese have suffered health effects and 150,000 children were born with birth defects (Fawthrop, 2004). The truth is there are so many people were killed by Agent Orange that there are not any firm statistics of the number of people died after exposing to this chemical toxic. With people who survived in the chemical warfare, dioxin would exist in their body for at least 10-12 years. Consequently, their offspring might be at risk of legacies, although they were born many years after war and far from battlefields. There are some kinds of birth defects namely cleft lip, cleft palate, fused digits, muscle malformations and paralysis; and some developmental disabilities as stated by NAS (cited in Dwernychuk et al. n.d.). More dangerous, plants and animals, which are sources of human’s food might consumed dioxin in soil and water, then the toxic may enter bodies through food chain, destroying human from cells. In short, the consequences of Agent Orange/Dioxin are enormous, long lasting and not been thoroughly studied. For those reasons, there have not been any ways to overcome its effects completely and swiftly. Remediation of the consequences of Agent Orange. Process of overcoming Agent Orange’s effects on environment and human. To surmount the consequences of Agent Orange/Dioxin in Vietnam, it requires both effort from this country and the U.S government. The very first thing needed is starting an afforestation program to green the area destroyed by Agent Orange. Scientists have planted rapidly growing trees to create the necessary coverage for bare land, and then they intercropped native plants to recover the featured ecosystem. Furthermore, a project called â€Å"Training for local human resources to restore forest ecosystem and reuse of degraded land due to the effects of toxic chemicals during the war† was launched with the financial support from Ford Foundation (Vo 2009). On the U.S Government’s side, they have also launched a project to clean up Agent Orange in Vietnam. Accordingly, they are providing $43 million to diminish the contamination degree in an area of 73,000 meters square from 2013 to 2016 (Ho, cited in Perry 2012). A decontamination clean-up site was established in Da Nang to allow the clean-up and Vietnam and the United States are looking at new sites in Dong Nai and Binh Dinh in the near future. Both of the two nations also hope to reach the target of fundamentally resolving the aftermath of Agent Orange/Dioxin by 2020. Besides, addressing health issues is also an integral part on the way eradicating Agent Orange/Dioxin in Vietnam. A report in the Make Agent Orange History (2012) revealed that in an effort to remedy health effects, Vietnamese government makes a grant of about $40 million each year to Agent Orange victims. The Vietnam Red Cross has also raised a donation of more than $22 million to assist Vietnamese affected by the toxic herbicides. Likewise, the Ford Foundation, UNICEF along with other organizations and contributors has given $39.1 for health care and other services for the sufferers. An amount of $40.1 million had also been distributed for remediation and health programs by the U.S Congress The struggle for justice for Agent Orange victims. For many years, Vietnam has tried to require the U.S government to take responsibility for environmental and health consequences of Agent Orange used in Vietnam. Nevertheless, the negotiations are still not getting anywhere. As a consequence, a group of Vietnamese scientists decided to sue 39 chemical companies and those people who responsible in a number of courts in America (Dinh 2005). However, the lawsuits were judged unfairly and all dismissed. Although did not achieve the goal, the lawsuit has helped many people around the world have a closer look at the tragedy of Agent Orange. In the meantime, Vietnamese community has launched a campaign to appeal for the support from people around the world by collecting signatures. Fortunately, public opinion is supporting the lawsuit very strongly. The more good news is, in 2009, the Tribunal of Conscience concluded that the using Agent Orange of the U.S government is a war crime against humanity and a genocide crime human and environment and Vietnam. Accordingly, the U.S government and 39 chemical companies must take full responsibility and compensate the victims of Agent Orange (Hoang 2009). That is the biggest success so far of the Vietnam Association of Vi ctims of Agent Orange so far. However, the struggle to find justice for the victims is still challenging. Vietnamese people have to be persistent, thus, it requires the help of millions of people to heal the â€Å"Orange Pain†. Conclusion The above analysis has pointed out a great deal of massive consequences of Agent Orange on both the environment and human in Vietnam. Numerous negative effects caused by this chemical toxic still remain until now and they are likely to continue to exist in many, many years. Meanwhile, the process of overcoming the consequences is still carried out step by step by Vietnam, along with the help of the USA as well as many other organizations. What is more, the fight for the rights of casualties also has achieved certain success. However, these are the very first steps. In order to completely eliminate the effects of Agent Orange, this process need a lot more time and effort as well as the assistance of millions, even billions of people around the world. REFERENCES Dinh Vuong 2005, ‘Và ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ ¥ kià ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬ ¡n cà ¡Ã‚ »a cà ¡c nà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ¡n nhà ¢n chà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ¥t Ä‘Ã ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â€ž ¢c da cam/Dioxin Vià ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬ ¡t Nam Hà  nh trà ¬nh Ä‘Ã ²i cà ´ng là ½Ã¢â‚¬â„¢, Khoa Hoc Phap Ly Magazine, vol. 3, viewed 22 February, 2014. Dwernychuk, W Bailey, C., n.d.,‘Health effects of Agent Orange/Dioxin’, War Legacies, viewed 15 February, 2014, http://www.warlegacies.org/health.htm. Fawthrop, T. 2004, ‘Vietnams War against Agent Orange’, BBC News story, viewed 18 February, 2014, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/3798581.stm. H.T, 2005, ‘Chà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ¥t Ä‘Ã ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â€ž ¢c mà  u da cam huà ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ · dià ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬ ¡t mà ´i trÆ °Ãƒ ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ ng à ¡Ã‚ »Ã… ¸ Vià ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬ ¡t Nam nhÆ ° thà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ¿ nà  o?’, Khoahoc, viewed 12 February, 2014, http://www.khoahoc.com.vn/doisong/moi-truong/tham-hoa/606_Chat-doc-mau-da-cam-huy-diet-moi-truong-o-Viet-Nam-nhu-the-nao.aspx. Hoang Nghia 2009, ‘Toà   à ¡n LÆ °Ãƒâ€ Ã‚ ¡ng tà ¢m Nhà ¢n dà ¢n thà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ¿ già ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬ ºi: Cà ´ng là ½ là   lÆ °Ãƒâ€ Ã‚ ¡ng tri nhà ¢n loà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ¡i’ [online] Available at URL: http://www.tapchicongsan.org.vn/Home/Binh-luan/2009/1887/Toa-an-Luong-tam-Nhan-dan-the-gioi-Cong-ly-la-luong.aspx (Accessed 23 February, 2014) Joshep, J. 2011, ‘Là ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬ ¹ch sà ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ ­ chà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ¥t Ä‘Ã ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â€ž ¢c Da cam và   Dioxin à ¡Ã‚ »Ã… ¸ Vià ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬ ¡t Nam’, viewed 10 February, 2014, http://www.aspeninstitute.org/vi/policy-work/agent-orange/history. ‘Make Agent Orange History 2012’, ‘Solutions for Agent Orange In Vietnam’, viewed February 20, 2014), http://makeagentorangehistory.org/agent-orange-resources/background/solutions-for-agent-orange-in-vietnam/. Martin, M.F., 2009, Vietnamese Victims of Agent Orange and U.S.-Vietnam Relations, United States Congressional Research Service, p.10, viewed 14 February, 2014 Perry, M. 2012, ‘U.S. starts its first Agent Orange cleanup in Vietnam’ [online] Available at URL: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/08/09/us-vietnam-usa-agentorange-idUSBRE87803K20120809 (Accessed February 20, 2014) Vo Quy, 2009, Report in the cahier of Agent Orange, 2nd at United States House of Representatives, viewed 14 February, 2014. `

Thursday, September 19, 2019

Why did the Weimar Republic fail? :: World War II History

Why did the Weimar republic fail? After World War One ended and Germany was defeated, they returned to their country with heavy losses, a 6.6 billion pound reparation cost and a feeling of being let down. The country suffered huge economical losses and the country fell into poverty and starvation. Any government ruling a country like this already would have a very hard time keeping alive. At this point the Emergency Weimar Republic constitution was adopted by three parties, the Social Democratic Party, the Catholic Center and the German Democratic Party, in early 1919 they won 76 percent of the vote and began to govern Germany. The Weimar Republic was modelled around the imperial constitution and was written in Weimar. People had to blame someone and they blamed the republic for everything, for loosing the war, to the situation they were in now. One of the main reasons the Weimar republic fell from power was the treaty of Versailles, the German people thought all the bad things that had happened to them and their cou ntry were a result of it. In addition to this there were parties from the left and right challenging them. A bi product of the treaty of Versailles was the huge economic lose in their country; this gave the German people more reason to blame and loathe the Weimar republic. The third and final main reason was Hitler's raise to power, he offered the countries people freedom from the Weimar rule and they gradually accepted it. After world war one ended and the treaty of Versailles was signed, German troops returned home feeling angry. They felt that there was no need to call an end to the war, as it didn't seem as though they had the lower hand and Germany had not been invaded. They were bitter because they couldn't fight on and knew it had all been for nothing and they hadn't gained anything. In fact they lost a lot; during the peace conference they were forced to, most importantly; redefine their Western borders and give over a lot of land (13%), pay for damages amounting to $33 billion us dollars, hugely diminish their army and navy and destroy their air-force, donate some of their coal mines (26%) to France as compensation for destroying theirs and accept full responsibility for the war. The German people found the treaty hugely unfair and unjust.

Wednesday, September 18, 2019

Terrorism and Forces of Change :: Essays Papers

Terrorism and Forces of Change For millennia, the globe has throbbed with human loss due to acts and motivations of terrorism. Today, in the front hall of Buntrock Commons, a mural hangs above the door. Within the last 20 years, international terrorism has escalated to fantastically catastrophic proportions. Today, we look with wider eyes upon the replica of Pablo Picasso’s Guernica. One year ago, terrorists pulled our country into the reality of the world with a horrific act of violence. Grim and gripping, Guernica is now before us. What forces have changed in our world to bring this 75-year-old Spanish mural to hang in our hall with renewed significance? We have finally recognized international terrorism as part of our country’s reality. We are now forced to account for desperate acts of terrorism in real, personal terms. According to Hughes, there exist roughly nine forces of change in the political world today. As outlined in Continuity and Change in World Politics: Competing Perspectives, each force offers some inference into the reality of intercontinental dynamics. Yet this framework of forces cannot be of use without establishing a simple understanding: Where there is dissatisfaction with life prompted by greed, injustice or other source within a minority, and a specific and ruthless will among the dissatisfied to seek violence as a means of change, there will be terrorism. Modern threats to our governments today are simply the escalation of this violent will across continental boarders. In accounting for terrorism, the truly relevant and crucial questions at hand are thus: how do we prevent horrific acts of violence mot ivated by social unrest and how do we administer and alleviate the unrest? Hughes does not offer a response, but does seek to describe our political world of today. The dynamics of political demographics, food sufficiency, the transition of our energy uses, and the reactions to human choices in our environment are forces that contribute to our current global system. No number of individual inquiries into singular forces will produce a profound understanding of international terrorism. It is only when these forces are viewed in conjunction with Hughes’ forces of Global Economic Reconstructing and the Rise and fall of the Global position that a context for international terrorism emerges. The rise to power of one country through the strengthening of its economy and the profitable produce of its population can hinder or even cripple another country, thus creating turbulence among groups of people.

Tuesday, September 17, 2019

Oligopoly versus monopoly competition Essay

Differences Between Oligopoly and Monopolistic Competition Market Structures Market structure refers to the interconnected characteristics of a market, which include the number of firms, level and forms of competition and extent of product differentiation (Business Dictionary, 2012). Based on these parameters, several market structures are defined and this essay will focus on two of them, namely monopolistic competition and oligopolistic markets, by discussing the differences among them and their impact on the customers. Oligopolistic market is defined as a market that is dominated by few large firms, and that these firms are mutually dependent, where they have to monitor the actions of other competitors closely and act accordingly in response to that (Ison and Wall, 2007). These firms target bigger markets, at regional, national and even international level. Examples of oligopolistic markets include airline, petroleum and bank industries (Economics Online, 2012). On the other hand, monopolistic competition market refers to a market with large number of firms, each producing slightly different product, i. e. their products are unique in its own right and hence the firms have a certain degree of monopoly power (Ison and Wall, 2007). In general, these firms target a smaller market size, say at a local or regional level (Economics Online, 2012). For example, restaurants, hair saloons and boutiques are all examples under this market structure. Firms in oligopoly market have a certain degree of control over the price of their products (Ison and Wall, 2007). However, there is interdependence in price making between the firms. For non-collusive oligopoly, any price making decision will have to take into account the likely reaction of the other firms to ensure market share (Economics Online, 2012). Hence, there is a potential for price war, where the firms try to beat each other by lowering the price, without any increase in demand for their products, as illustrated by the Kinked Demand Curve (Figure 1; Economics Help, 2012). Such circumstance is undesirable as their profits might be diminished and the consumers will be the only beneficiaries. In contrast, in the case of collusive oligopoly, the firms collude among themselves by agreeing on a price of products to avoid price war. Owing to the significant market share they own, they can set the price high to gain supernormal profit (Geoff Riley, 2006). Figure 1. Kinked demand curve (Economics Help, 2012). In monopolistic competition, the firms have only little control over the price (Ison and Wall, 2007). This is because the extensive differentiation of products means the firms face constant competition from others, and may easily be replaced if their price is deemed unreasonable, despite certain unique features of their products. Oligopoly and monopolistic competition market structures also differ in term of profit making. Firms in oligopolistic can make supernormal profit all the time and there are several reasons to this (Ison and Wall, 2007; Amos Web, 2012). Firstly, they own significant market share in a huge market, therefore the sales volume is high. Secondly, average cost of production is low as they produce in bulk. Thirdly, as discussed before, they have the ability to set price, especially in the case of collusive oligopoly (Amos Web, 2012). For instance, Tesco is a chain supermarket that is found everywhere in the UK (hence huge market size) and as they purchase their products from suppliers in bulk, the cost is kept at minimum, thereby maximising their profits (Mearday, 2009). In contrast, for monopolistic competition, profit making is not for sure. However, theoretically speaking, there are two stages to the profit making by firms in monopolistic competition (Ison and Wall, 2012; Bized, 2001). In short run, the firms can set the price high to obtain supernormal profit (represented by shaded region in Figure 2A). As the abnormal profit they make in short run attracts many potential rivals, the firms must then set the price low to stay competitive in long run (Figure 2B). For example, in Canada, the price of personal computers was very expensive when they were first introduced into the market, but as the number of computer manufacturers increased, the price of personal computers has been declining over the past decade (Figure 3; Statistics Canada, 2011). B B A A Cost Cost Price Price Figure 2. (A) Profit maximisation in short run in monopolistic competition. (B) Normal profit making in long run in monopolistic competition (Bized, 2001). Figure 3. Change of computer price by different purchasers. (Statistics Canada, 2011). Mode of competition is also different between the firms in oligopoly and monopolistic competition. Oligopoly is characterized by imperfect competition, mainly due to high barriers for entry to market (Economics Online, 2012). This is due to various reasons including exclusive resources ownership, extensive relevant knowledge, patent and copyright, other government restrictions, managerial challenge and high start-up cost. (Economics Online, 2012; Amos Web, 2012). Airline industry is a typical example of that, as setting up an airline companies requires huge financial resource and compliance to strict rules and regulations imposed by the authority (Amos Web, 2012). For example, in Malaysia, the second airline, AirAsia was only established in 2001 (AirAsia, 2012), 46 years after the establishment of Malaysia Airline in 1947 (Malaysia Airline, 2012). In contrast, there is near perfect competition in monopolistic competition market, as there is freedom to enter or exit the market due to low entry barrier (Economic Online, 2012; Amos Web, 2012). As opposed to oligopolistic market, the start up cost for firms in monopolistic competition market is much lower, as the market size they target is smaller (Ison and Wall, 2007; Economic Online, 2012). Also, as discussed before, product differentiation in this market means each firm has a somewhat unique product, fulfilling the demand of a certain group of consumers in the market. Moreover, there is less restriction from the government and starting firm does not require exclusive knowledge. For example, one can easily open a restaurant, as long as he or she has a unique menu to offer. In conclusion, oligopoly and monopolistic competition represents two distinct market structures. From consumers’ point of view, monopolistic competition is more preferable. Through monopolistic competition among the firms, consumers enjoy to choose from a wider range of products, which are available at more competitive prices. This is because the firms always try to enhance their products with better innovation and keep their prices down to attract customers. Oligopoly on the other hand is less desirable for consumers as products can often be overly-priced since the firms have a greater control over price. References: 1. Business Dictionary (2012) Market Structure. BusinessDictionary. com. Retrieved on 6th March 2012, from: http://www. businessdictionary. com/definition/market-structure. html#ixzz1olN7AqYq . 2. Mearday, J. (2009) Characteristic of Monopolistic Competition – Welker’s Wikinomi. Retrieved on 2nd March 2012, from: http://welkerswikinomics. wetpaint. com/page/Characteristics+of+Monopolistic+Competition 3. Riley, G. (2006) Oligopoly – Overview. Tutor2u. Retrieved on 5th March 2012, from: http://tutor2u. net/economics/revision-notes/a2-micro-oligopoly-overview. html. 4. Riley, G. (2006) Monopoly & Economic Efficiency. Tutor2u. Retrieved on 12th March 2012, from: http://tutor2u. net/economics/revision-notes/a2-micro-monopoly-economic-efficiency. html. 5. Amos Web Encyclonomic (2012) Oligopoly, Characteristics. AmosWeb Encyclonopic Webpedia. Retrieved on 7th March 2012, from: http://www.amosweb. com/cgi-bin/awb_nav. pl? s=wpd&c=dsp&k=oligopoly,+characteristics . 6. Amos Web Encyclonomic (2012) Monopolistic Competition, Characteristics. AmosWeb Encyclonopic Webpedia. Retrieved on 8th March 2012, from: http://www. amosweb. com/cgi-bin/awb_nav. pl? s=wpd&c=dsp&k=monopolistic+competition,+characteristics . 7. Ison, S. and Wall, S. (2007) Economics (Fourth Edition), Prentice Hall, London. 8. Malaysia Airline (2012) Cooperate Info – Our Story. Malaysia Airlines. Retrieved from 12th March 2012 http://www. malaysiaairlines.com/uk/en/corporate-info/our-story. html 9. AirAsia (2012) Company Profile. Airasia. com. Retrieved on 12th March 2012. http://www. airasia. com/gb/en/corporate/corporateprofile. page. 10. Economics online (2012) Oligopoly. Economics Online. Retrieved on 12th March 2012, from: http://economicsonline. co. uk/Business_economics/Oligopoly. html. 11. Economics online (2012) Monopolistic Competition. Economics Online. Retrieved on 12th March 2012, from: http://economicsonline. co. uk/Business_economics/Monopolistic_competition. html . 12. Statistics Canada (2011) Computer prices continue their decline. Statistics Canada. Retrieved on 13th March 2012, from http://www. statcan. gc. ca/pub/11-402-x/2011000/chap/information/information02-eng. htm . 13. Economics Help (2012) Oligopoly. Economics. Help. Retrieved on 13th March 2012, from: http://www. economicshelp. org/microessays/markets/oligopoly. html . 14. Bized (2001) Monopolistic Competition – Short run to long run. Biz/ed. Retrieved on 13th March 2012, from http://www. bized. co. uk/reference/diagrams/Monopolistic-Competition—Short-Run-to-Long-Run.

Monday, September 16, 2019

The Love Song of Alfred J. Prufrock by T.S. Eliot

â€Å"The Love Song of Alfred J. Prufrock† is a poem written by T. S. Eliot, who introduces to the readers an overwhelming question, which pertains to whether the main character, Alfred Prufrock, should overcome his indecisiveness and fear or continue in his comfortable and dull existence. Prufrock is not happy with the decisions he has made in life, and that fact is very clear, as he tortures himself with internal conflict throughout the poem. In the beginning lines of the poem, he enthusiastically invites the reader, or possibly his alter ego, on a journey in the night.However, he later describes â€Å"half deserted streets† holding â€Å"insidious intent;† this hardly paints a pleasant picture (Eliot 4,9). The streets seem to represent Prufrock’s internal debate; an internal debate that prevents him from taking action in the conflict Eliot uses to portray Prufrock’s struggle, opening up to a women. Unfortunately, Prufrock’s tendency is to have â€Å"a hundred visions and revisions,† and eventually â€Å"turn back and descend the stair† (Eliot 33,39). This refusal to act is the consequence of his apparent fear of rejection and failure.His fear is simply a product of thought as he overly calculates his life, leaving a life unlived. To justify his decision, Prufrock says that he has â€Å"known them all already,† suggesting that all the women are the same, but in making the decision to not act, he delves deeper into a depleting future with no purpose (Eliot 49). Essentially, Prufrock convinces himself that he is satisfied with a secondary role in his own life, based on the fear that he will fail and be rejected. Therefore, Prufrock answers his question in a very unsatisfying way, as he chooses to remain comfortable.

Sunday, September 15, 2019

Hamlet the Passive Intellect

The actions and events in Shakespeare’s Hamlet revolve around Hamlet’s inactivity. Without Hamlet's hesitation, constant thought, and internal deliberation, the plot would proceed directly from Hamlet’s meeting with the Ghost to his murder of Claudius. Hamlet’s philosophical strifeheightens the complexity of his life issues and intensifies the depth of his dilemma. Hamlet’s over-intellectualization coupled with his passive tendencies paralyzes his ability to act, locking him in an inescapable prison of his own inner consciousness. Hamlet's over-intellectualization begins with his questioning of the ghost's identity. When first told by Horatio that the ghost of his father haunts the battlements, Hamlet interrogates him obsessively to obtain every relevant detail to satisfy his intellectual curiosity. He  fires  a volley of questions at Horatio, ranging from whether his countenance is â€Å"pale or red† to how long it â€Å"fixed eyes upon [Horatio]† (1. 2. 250). His desire to dispel uncertainty and further his knowledge escalates in the physical encounter with the ghost. Rather than accepting his vision for granted, Hamlet examines the validity of his perceptions by debating whether the ghost of â€Å"a questionable shape† is â€Å"wicked or charitable† (1. . 45-46). Hamlet initially pronounces to the ghost that he will â€Å"wipe away all trivial, fond records, all saw of books, all forms, all pressures past, that youth and observation copied there,† declaring his resolution to act (1. 4. 108). However, when he reconvenes with his friends, he entreats them â€Å"never make known what you have seen tonight† (1. 5. 160). Instead of seeking for an immediate collective action to avenge his father’s â€Å"unnatural murder,† he chooses to prolong the process to devise an elaborate scheme within his own mind. He forestalls action—be it his friends’ or his own—to contemplate the implications of his experience. He concludes by cursing the fact that he â€Å"was born to set it right†Ã‚  Ã‚  (1. 5. 211). The ghost’s revelation places him in a position where he must be the agent of action, whose filial responsibility is to affect justice and kill Claudius. Hamlet’s dilemma, then, stems from the need to become an avenging son while being a naturally passive intellectual. Hamlet addresses his dilemma in greater depth by engaging in a rigorous, intellectual process, which ironically perpetuates the vicious cycle of inactivity. In his conversation with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, he confesses, â€Å"thinking makes it so. To me it is a prison† (2. 2. 270). Hamlet finds himself imprisoned by his intellect, as he â€Å"must like a whore unpack [his] heart with words† (2. 2. 614). He cannot act by heart because he is bound to â€Å"unpack† his actions with reason first. He berates himself as â€Å"a rogue and peasant slave† and â€Å"John-a-dream, unpregnant of my cause, and can say nothing† (2. 2. 576-595). Hamlet recognizes that he is not taking any decisive action to dutifully avenge his father’s death in staying within his comfort zone of intellectualism. As he articulates and explores his conflict of conscience, he concludes, â€Å"Thus conscience does make cowards of us all and thus the native hue of resolution is sicklied o’er with the pale cast of thought, and enterprises of great pitch and moment†¦lose the name of action (3. 1. 91-96). Hamlet reaffirms that his constant moralizing and philosophizing stymie the very action he strives for. The inexorable clash between his predisposition for sedentary contemplations and the filial imperative to actively seek revenge results in such strong feelings of self-loathing that he considers â€Å"shuffl[ing] off the mortal coil† (3. . 75). Committing suicide would proactively end his suffering, but he problematizes even that possibility as an unacceptable transgression against â€Å"[God’s]  canon ‘gainst self-slaughter! † (1. 2. 136). Ironically, this very soliloquy devoted to meditating on his passivity epitomizes his inaction; rather than coming u p with pragmatic solutions to end his dilemma, he explores and wallows in self-pity, which in turn exacerbates the intensity of his conundrum. Hamlet is so preoccupied with the enormous intellectual activity in his head that he closes himself off from all action in the external world.

Saturday, September 14, 2019

Thomas Sophonow

January 7, 2013 Thomas Sophonow Background Thomas sophonow has two siblings a brother and a sister. The brother Philip is the oldest and his sister Catherine the second oldest and Thomas being the youngest. His parents had divorced which made the mother responsible for taking care of the children. They became a poor family and he and his brother would steal fruits and vegetables for his family. Thomas was placed in foster homes and in juvenile detention facilities.At one point in his life he was involved in a group called the Neo-Nazi party and then the Hare Krishna with the joining of these two groups he wanted to find a place for himself in society. Childhood Conviction Thomas has had a criminal record due to offences that were generally minor and none that had any aspect of violence. His last conviction was several years before his arrest of the charge of murder. He had been charged with a drug offence and these charges had been withdrawn. Relationship When Thomas was young he had a relationship with a woman and even fathered a child that he has never seen nor supported.He was married to Nadine on June 19, 1978 and had a daughter named Kimberly. He and Nadine had separated and did not contribute to support of Kimberly. Thomas wanted to give Kimberly present that he got from Vancouver but could not make the arrangements that were satisfactory to both Nadine and him so he left the present with his brother and sister in-law. Work Record Thomas worked as a labourer at Ocean Cement for 4 to 6 months in 1972. He was a bouncer at the Smiling Buddha Cabaret in the mid 70’s and worked at Wagner Engineering in Vancouver from 1976 to 1978.In 1980-1981 he worked at R&T landscaping with his brother in law which proved that he was good with his hands and liked what he did while landscaping and gardening. At his other jobs that were mentioned he advanced from floor sweeper to apprentice machinist at Versatile which means he has the ability to work at jobs which requ ires skill and training. Summary of the Case Barbara Stoppel was working at the Ideal Donut Shop when around 8:30 in the evening twine has been placed around her neck in which then she was strangled. She had died a few days later at St. Boniface Hospital.Sophonow was charged with the murder based on a jailhouse informant. After this Thomas underwent three trials. First trial was a mistrial as the jury was unable to reach a unanimous decision. At the second and third trials he had been convicted. Thomas was released from prison after 45 months of wrongful imprisonment. In 1998, the Winnipeg Police Service undertook a reinvestigation of the murder of Barbara Stoppel. On June 8th, 2000 Winnipeg police announced new evidence had been shown to clear Sophonow of the crime and the suspected had been identified. Innocence Proved byThomas’s innocence had been proven by the absence of evidence that caused his conviction to be reversed in 1985 by the Manitoba Court of Appeals that order ed his acquittal. Compensation On November 5th, 2001 the Manitoba Justice Minister released a report recommending he receive a payment of $2. 6 million Canadian. Work Cited http://forejustice. org/db/Sophonow–Thomas. html http://www. gov. mb. ca/justice/publications/sophonow/compensation/workrecord. html http://www. gov. mb. ca/justice/publications/sophonow/compensation/tsbackground. html http://www. cbc. ca/news/canada/story/2009/08/06/f-wrongfully-convicted. html#sophonow

Friday, September 13, 2019

How Have Changes in the World Economy since 1945 Affected the Essay

How Have Changes in the World Economy since 1945 Affected the Strategies of Multinatioanl Firms - Essay Example The General Agreement on Tariff and Trade have not only made it equitable for all international players to be in equal footing with local businesses in a large market but it also made the complicated taxation and tariff levies more simple and standard. The agreement enabled international organizations or entities to sell products at competitive prices that are comparable to the locally produced items. Market discrimination will not be dictated by price but will be governed by the sophistications of the buyer’s taste and preference. Other changes in the last sixty years include added protection of the patents of multi-national corporations. Harmonisation of International Laws that would include the New York Conventions on Arbitrations that applies to contracts between parties of different nationalities and the Cape Town Treaty that specifically governs international assets of multinational companies. The increased presence and respect of the international business community to the International Court of Arbitration have made conducting business in the international market safer and more secure. The available mechanisms and remedy to attain justice if not an equitable settlement is now simpler and straightforward. World Trade Organization The World Trade Organization over the past decades have endeavoured to break down trade barriers that impedes the free flow of goods from one country to another or even between several countries in an emerging market. Its sole aim is to liberalize and supervise international train to ensure that every member country trade and transact equitably and fairly amongst its other members. It provides a framework in the negotiations and also provides an arbitration mechanism to disputes between countries. One of the basic tenets of the World Trade Organization is the Most Favoured Nation Clause that ensures that a country transacting or is engaged in commercial trade in a particular country is given the same treatment as that of its local industry and even its traditional trading partners. To illustrate: Products of multi-national companies dealing in China should have the same treatment as far as its regulation, governance and taxes are concerned with products manufactured within the China. This means that the shelf prices of imported goods should not be far from that of the locally produced products (Bossche, 2005). Multinational companies have capitalized on the new opportunity to expand its market to include the one provided by the other countries where their host or home country has a trade agreement with. The onus of the strategies of multinational companies therefore is to reach a wider market as possible to ensure that market presence for their products includes these new markets. Increased visibility as far as media exposure is concerned to ensure that goodwill and name recall is associated to positive information about the company and the product they manufacture. General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade is a multilateral agreement regulating international trade through the â€Å"substantial reduction of tariffs and other trade barriers and the elimination of preferences, on a reciprocal and mutually advantageous manner† (Barton, et al., 2008). This translates to the reduction of prices or the equality and standardization of tariff and tax rates to all products. The impact of which is the

Thursday, September 12, 2019

Hillside School Case Study Require Document Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Hillside School Require Document - Case Study Example Even with the after care system, fees that pupils pay in the drop-in basis vary depending on the length of time a student will stay and the level of stage a student is. For instance for preschoolers, time blocks exists from noon to 1:30 p.m., noon to 3:30 p.m. and noon to5:30 p.m. For kindergarten students, time blocks exist from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. and 1:30 for 5:30 p.m. For primary school students, the time is from 3:30–5:30 p.m. Even more complications exist in the sense that for pre-registered students not registered for the entire afternoon, the 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. blocks and 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. blocks can be utilized on a drop-in basis. The payment and for that matter billing system does not end with the above discussion. With the payment system, there are different payment options whereby parents who pay the entire amount by August 1 prior to the start of the school year enjoy a 5 percent discount on the total fee. Parents who pay over a 10-month period, starting July 1 prior to the start of the school year do not enjoy such discount. Discount also exists for parents who have more than one child enrolled at Hillside School. Because the payment system is generally cumbersome, the billing system is also very cumbersome and complicated. Presently, monthly bills for fees and â€Å"drop-in† care are due on the first of the month, and are distributed to parents one week prior to their being due. Parents with more than one child receive separate bills. The billing is done by the vice principal who is Susan. Susan does the billing using Microsoft Excel whereby she sets up a new workbook for each academic year. With in the workbook, she creates monthly worksheets to contain payment records. The Excel worksheet contains one line per student and looks somewhat like the diagram below. Manual entry is made for each student as and when payment is done. The entry for each student is updated twice each month, once to prepare the bills and once to record payment.

Metaphors For HCI Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Metaphors For HCI - Assignment Example Unrelentless research in the field of HCI has been mostly successful. Consequently, this has basically transformed computing (Brad, 1999). Metaphors are often used in daily speech. For example, people speak about time like it is currency or money. By employing a metaphor, time which is an abstract concept is made more understandable and familiar. By using this currency metaphor in respect to time, it becomes normal for people to spend, save, waste, give or borrow time. When we look at how system interfaces are designed, we can also view how metaphors play a vital role. The types of user interactions people do, the objects found on the screen, and names associated with commands are mostly based on terms which are familiar. Icons, desktops, windows, menus, pasting, cutting and copying are all part of the virtual interface metaphor. The desktop metaphor has been used by mac windows system from an early age. This led to the windows operating system designed by Microsoft. The current desktop metaphor poses some significant problems to its users. They have difficulty in; finding or organizing information within the hierarchical file systems, managing their reminders and schedules, obtaining a big picture view, and utilizing archived or stored information, which is often discarded by users so that they are not overwhelmed by it. However, these problems have been addressed in Lifestreams. As such, it is a better metaphor than the current desktop metaphor. Lifestream replaces conventional directories and files by adopting a time ordered stream of documents. The human memory too works this way in storing information. It stores information in a stacking order according to time. To locate, organize, monitor or summarize incoming information, Lifestream uses software agents and stream filters. Lifestream solves the difficulties experienced by desktop system users by providing a metaphor

Wednesday, September 11, 2019

Foreign Market Entry and Diversification Research Paper

Foreign Market Entry and Diversification - Research Paper Example Argument for diversification of your business Diversification is a much hyped topic and forms a part of strategic decisions and firm’s needs to decide whether they should diversify or not to diversify. It has been the most debated topic by business and it has been said that firms which has the resources and capability to diversify should g for diversification as most of the businesses planning to go for diversification often fails. Diversification involves the highest level of risk but still firm opt for diversification strategy solely for one reason is to create synergy. The publishing company may diversify for better opportunities, to leverage the competencies as well as capabilities by way of expanding into business where the firm’s resources can be used as competitive assets. Also to some extend diversifying will help the company to minimize the risk but as pointed earlier the risk involved is high. There is no guarantee that the business will succeed (Rao, et al, 2 009, 228). Strategy for diversification indicating the products and industries for the diversification and how synergies may be gained from the diversified activity The publishing company which deals with books and other publishing items should continue with its business and go for related diversification. ... Thus the publishing firm may search for new business whose product, market, distribution is similar to that of its own and where acquisition would result in â€Å"synergy.† Thus the company in order to create synergy should enter into related diversification and share resources and capabilities with its existing business unit. Identification and discussion on the foreign market that the company should enter and the strategy it should use to enter the market With the growth of online and digital media, the publishing business has been undergoing significant changes. Thus considering the current situation the publishing business should diversify its business into emerging and developing countries and at the same time follows the emerging trends in the publishing industry which are like eBooks, blogs, mobile publishing along with self publishing (ICMR, 2007). While diversifying the business the publishing company can opt for strategic alliance. Strategic alliances are formed thro ugh partnership between the firms and combining the resources, capabilities and core competencies and pursue a mutual interest to develop, manufacture and also manufacture goods (KAZMI, 2008. 187). The alliance is a collaboration which aims for synergy where both the partners hopes to benefit from the other alliance and will be greater as compared to individual efforts. Other benefits which the publishing company will receive by adopting the strategic alliances is gain capabilities, much easier way to access the target market, share the financial risk and most importantly achieve synergy and competitive advantage which are the important elements that lead a business to success. Challenges that company may face in the foreign market, and how it might respond

Tuesday, September 10, 2019

Taxation Principles and Concepts (Taxation) Coursework

Taxation Principles and Concepts (Taxation) - Coursework Example A capital allowance refers to the amounts in cash that a business operating in the United Kingdom can deduct from the overall income tax on its profits or the corporate tax. The sources of these sums of money come from certain purchases as well as investments as outlined in the Capital Allowances Act of 2001 (Channer & Rogers 2007, p.xiv). A business or corporate organization can claim capital allowances on the costs of cars, vans and machines purchased for business use, or other assets in the business such as scaffolding, equipment, ladders, furniture, computers, and tools. In addition, a business can also claim capital allowances on the expenditures incurred on plant and machinery, as well as, on facilities and equipment used for research and development, and items that a business operator uses privately before using them commercially. Another capital deduction occurs on the premises used for the company to run its business, such as improving a property, and converting a space abov e a building for rental purposes. As for your case Tobby, you can claim capital allowances on the following items: computers, car, premises and rent for Tamara. The capital allowance on computers is ? 200, car as ? 2,700, premises at ? 12, 5000 and Tamara’s rent at ? 4,000. As such, the total capital allowance that Tobby can claim from the tax authority is ? 19,400 (Dunn & Rogers 2008, p.664). The taxable profits of Lewis include all the expenses as well as the revenues generated by the company. The taxable profits include a deduction of all the expenses that are incurred in the business. These include the rates at 1,500, telephone charges for business calls only at 1,000, light and heat for the whole property at 3,000, NIC contribution for himself at 1,000, wage expenses for lily at 20,000 and for himself at 25,000. The other expenses also included in the expenditure of the company are car-running costs at 6000, depreciation expense on the cars at 4,000, loan repayment costs at 3,500, interests on loans at 5,000, insurance charges at 1,800, advertisement expenses at 1,500. The other additional expenses recorded in the business include parking fines at 1,000, gift aid donations at 1000, membership at a sports club for 900, and donations for lewisham hospital at 1000. He further needs to add an additional expense of wages, which he pays to Tamara at 20000 for the part time job she performs at his corporation. This totals all the business expense to ? 77,200 (Gabay, et al. 2007, p.180). This total expenditure by the business of ? 77,200 shows that the business in incurring a lot of expenses which in turn reduce its level of profitability. In order to calculate the profitability of the firm, this includes a deduction of the expenses from the revenues or incomes made or generated by the firm. The general income made by the business from its business processes and activities is ? 90,102, and a subtraction of the two provides the business profits at ? 12,102. This is the general profit, which is subjected to taxation as the income made by the business during the fiscal year under operation. As such, the profitability of the company for the year ended 31 July 2013 was ? 12,102. The projected assessable profits for the business in the fiscal year ending 2013/2014 were ? 12,102 plus the deductible allowances for the business (Gupta 2003, p.67). The best way to set an accounting year is to position it in line with the financial year of her majesty’