Retail Marketing and Distribution Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5000 words

Retail Marketing and Distribution - Essay Example Retailing has been a prevalent activity over the years but its systematic study has been necessitated in the present times because of the alterations in the components of retailing along with the conditions in the marketplace. Marketing is considered to be one of the most significant areas for any of the retail operations because of the fact that retailing tends to comprise the activities that are generally involved in the marketing as well as distribution of the goods and the services. The success of the retailer depends upon the marketing efficiency along with the capability of the retailer to comprehend and to serve the needs and the demands of the customers. Retailers are not only considered to be one of the most essential parts of the marketing channel but they are also considered to be creating an essential association between the customers and the manufacturers. The economic conditions of the countries as well as the economical structures of the communities are shaped by the r etailers. Furthermore, retailing has a direct influence upon the social life. It can be stated that though retailing has its roots in conventional societies by means of trading of goods and services however, it has been formalized and it has become a branded activity in the present times. In the context of demand driven societies, the retailers play a significant role as one of the chains in the channels of distribution. It can be observed that the ways customers tend to dominate the entire marketing as well as supply chain management, similarly the retailers also attain a significant role and they are found to be exerting their power by choosing their brand that they want to sell based upon their marketing demands and their strategies. Retailers are found to occupy a significant position in the distribution channel. The success of the channels of distribution generally depends upon the availability of the right kinds of goods and services, in right amount at the right place at the right time along with the procurement of the product from the right kind of sources. It can be stated that branding can be of great importance in the retail industry in order to impact customer perceptions and hence drive store choices and loyalty. Furthermore, retailer distribution plays a significant role in creating proper brand image among the consumers1. The main objective of the study is to investigate the way retailer branding strategies within retail stores impact the retailer sector. The study shall also aim at comprehending the meaning of retail branding strategies along with the forms of retailer branding strategies and their characteristics. It shall also highlight the role of retail branding in retailing. The study shall further progress with determining the current trends in retailer branding strategies and will discuss regarding the pros and the cons that have been recognized in the literatures regarding the use of the numerous approaches to retail branding. Definitio n of Retail Branding Brand can be considered

Macroeconomics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 5

Macroeconomics - Essay Example s New Zealand’s low rate of unemployment related to its slow economic growth, or is the low rate of unemployment related to its high rate of inflation? Is tight monetary policy contributing to the slow economic growth of the country? Is the high inflation contributing to low economic growth? These and many other questions remain unanswered. This paper aims at providing answers to the above questions. The paper intends to do this by gathering relevant information on unemployment, economic growth, inflation and monetary policy in New Zealand and evaluate it in relation to relevant theories so as to gain a reasonable basis for explaining seeming controversies identified above. The rest of the paper is organised as follows: section 2 provides information on economic growth, inflation, unemployment, monetary and fiscal policies in New Zealand; Section 3 provides a discussion of the facts outlined in section 2 in relation to relevant economic theories; and section 4 provides some conclusions and recommendations. According to Evans et al. (1996) New Zealand launched into a sequence of economic reforms following a constitutional and foreign exchange crisis in 1984. These reforms have been described by David Henderson (1995) cited by Evans et al. (1996) as â€Å"one of the most notable episodes of liberalisation that history has to offer†. The economic reforms included macroeconomic stabilisation and structural change. According to the OECD (2007) New Zealand began economic reforms 2 decades ago, which have laid the foundations for entrepreneurship and innovation in the country. The country maintains a well functioning product market, as well as a flexible labour market. In addition, the economy has been very open. (OECD, 2007). New Zealand also maintains world-class Public research organisations in many areas, especially in education and health. (OECD, 2007). Despite these positive aspects of the economy, the country has failed to maintain record levels of economic

Digital signature

Digital signature I. Introduction The main role of digital signature primitive is to preserve the data integrity of electronic document and to accomplish the requirement of authentication and verification. Only one signer using his/her private key generates an ordinary digital signature scheme. However, in some practical application, a document requires all group members to generate a signature together. These schemes are called digital multisignature schemes [2], in which all group members sign the same document by using their private keys. The multisignature scheme has three characteristics, refer to [2, 4]. For generating an efficient multisignature, the verification cost and the size of a multisignature might be almost as same as that of an ordinary signature. In the past decade, several multisignture schemes were proposed based on the factorization, discrete logarithm problems or a combination of both. Moreover, there are a few schemes proposed based on the identity-based cryptosystem. A normal multisignature scheme is called a multisignature with undistinguished signing authorities, as each group member has the same responsibility for signing the document. However, there are some situations when each member should have his/her own distinguished signing authority [4, 5, 7, and 15]. In this case, the multisignature scheme is called a multisignature scheme with distinguished signing authorities For constructing a multisignture scheme with distinguished signing authorities, Harn [4] proposed the first scheme come out with this characteristic. In this scheme, each member only has his/her distinguished signing responsible for his/her subdocument. The partial contents can be easily verified without revealing the whole message. However, Li et al. [9] claimed that Harns scheme is not secure against insider attack. Moreover, Hwang et al. [7] pointed out that, in the Harn scheme, no evidence could be used to distinguish the signing authorities; this is due to the fact that all individual signatures and multisignatures are produced on the same hash digest of all the partial subdocuments. In the same paper, Hwang et al. [7] proposed a scheme based on the Harn scheme. In the expose, they claimed that their scheme overcomes the weaknesses of the Harn scheme. However, this is increasing the cost of generating multisignature. Huang et al. [6] proposed two multisignatures with distinguish ed signing authorities for sequential and broadcasting architectures. One year later, Yoon et al. [15] showed that Huangs scheme is unsecure since an attacker can derive a users secret key and forge the multisignature of the scheme on arbitrary message. All of those schemes are based on the factorization or discrete logarithm problems or a combination of both. In 1998, Shamir [12] introduced the concept of an identity-based (ID-based) cryptosystem to simplify the key management problem. In general, the main idea of identity-based cryptosystem is that the public key of a user is inferred from his/her identity. Each user needs to register at a private key generator (PKG) by identifying his/herself before joining the network. Later, the PKG will generate a secret key for that signer which is related to his/her identity. The secret key is sent to the user via a secure channel. Shamir proposed an ID-based signature (IBS) scheme from RSA primitive [11]. The security of IBS was not proved or argued until Bellare et al. [1] proved that the IBS is secure against forgeability under chosen-message attack. In the literature, there is only one ID multisignature with distinguished signing authorities for sequential and broadcasting architectures based on the identity-based cryptosystem. Wu et al. [14] proposed two ID-based multisigntures with distinguished signing authorities, relying on the Wus [13] ID-based multisignature scheme, which however is shown to be unsecure [8]. Chien [3] showed that Wu et al. [14] two ID-based multisignatures have the security weakness by two attacks; insider attack and partial document substitution attack. More recently, Harn [5] proposed a new efficient ID-based RSA multisignature relying on IBS. Their scheme has constant signature length and verification time independent of the number of signers. They proved that their scheme is secure against multisignature collusion attack, adaptive chosen-ID attack and forgeability under chosen-message attack. In this paper, we propose an efficient ID-based multisignature with distinguished signing authorities based Harns multisignature [5]. We modify the Harns scheme to be suitable as a mutlisignature with distinguished signing authorities for broadcasting architecture. We use Wus mechanism of generating a multisignature with distinguished signing authorities only for broadcasting architecture. We suppose that the signing group U1, U2,†¦, Ul , to l the number of signers, want to generate the multisignature for the document D which can be divided to meaningful subdocuments d1, d2,†¦, dl . The member Uj is only responsible for signing partial subdocumentdj, forj=1,2,†¦,l. The rest of this paper organized as follows. In section 2, we review of Harns multisignature scheme. Section 3, we describe our proposed scheme. The security analysis of the proposed scheme is discussed in section 4. The paper is concluded in section 5. II. Review of Harns efficient identity-based RSA multisignature A. PKG keys The PKG picks two random large primes, p and q by run probabilistic polynomial algorithm Krsa, then calculates n=p.q, after that chooses a random public key e such that gcde,∅n=1 and computes the private key d=e-1 mod∅n. B. Multisignature generation 1) Signer secret key generation In this algorithm, the signer gets a copy of his secret key from the PKG through a two-step process: 1. A signer submits his identity to the PKG. 2. The PKG, with its private key d and the corresponding public key e, signs the message digest of the identity, denoted as ij, by generating a secret key gj, such that gj=ijdmod n. 2) Message signing To generate an identity-based multisignature, each signer carries out the followings steps: 1. Chooses a random integer rj and computes tj=rje mod n 2. Broadcasts tj to all the signers. 3. Upon receiving of tj, j=1,2,†¦,l, each signer computes t=j=1ltj mod n and sj=gj.rjh(t,D) mod n 4. Broadcasts sj to all the signers. 5. After receiving of sj, j=1,2,†¦,l the multisignature component s can be computed as s=j=1lsj mod n The multisignature for a document D is ÏÆ'=t,s. C. Multisignature verification To verify a multisignature ÏÆ'=t,s of a document D of signers whose identities are i1, i2, †¦, il one verifies the following: se=i1.i2†¦.il . th(t,D) mod n (1) If it holds, the identity-based multisignature is valid, otherwise it is invalid. III. Our proposed scheme Our proposed scheme as same is the same as Harns scheme in the model description which follows the model proposed in Micali et al. [10]. In our modification, there are two new players; a document issuer (DI) and a document collector (DC). The DI is responsible of dividing the document into l smaller subdocuments such that D=d1d2†¦dl and the DC is responsible of collecting the partial signature and issue the multisignature. A. PKG Keys The PKG picks two random large primes, p and q by run probabilistic polynomial algorithm Krsa, then calculates n=p.q, after that chooses a random public key e such that gcde,∅n=1 and computes the private key d=e-1 mod∅n. B. Extract Signer key generation Through this algorithm, a signer collects his private key by dealing with PKG in two steps: 1. A signer submits his identity to ij the PKG. 2. The PKG, with its private key d and the corresponding public key e, signs the message digest of the identity, denoted as ij, by generating a secret key gj, such tha gj=ijdmod n. C. Message signing To generate an identity-based multisignature with distinguishing signing authorities, each signer carries out the followings steps: 1. Chooses a random integer rj and computes tj=rjemod n 2. Broadcasts tj, htj, djto all the signers and DC. 3. Upon receiving of tj, j=1,2,†¦,l, each signer computes t=j=1ltjhtj, dj mod n H=h(t,D) And generats hisher partial signature sj=gj. rjH.h(tj,dj) mod n 4. Broadcasts sj to all the signers and DC. 5. DC verifies all partial signatures by holding the following : sje=ij . tjH.h(tj,dj) (2) 5. After that for all sj, j=1,2,†¦,l the multisignature component s can be computed as s=j=1lsj mod n The multisignature for a document D is ÏÆ'=t,s D. Multisignature verification To verify a multisignature ÏÆ'=t,s of a document D of signers whose identities are i1, i2, †¦, il one verifies the following: se=i1.i2†¦.il . tH mod n (3) If it holds, the identity-based multisignature is valid, otherwise it is invalid. E. Correctness s=j=1lsj= j=ilgj. rjH.h(tj,dj) mod n s=g1.g2†¦.gl .j=1lrjH.h(tj,dj) mod n se=g1e.g2e†¦..gle.j=1l. rjH.e.h(tj,dj) mod n se=g1e.g2e†¦..gle.[ j=1ltjhtj, dj ]Hmod n se=i1.i2†¦.in.tHmod n IV. Security Analysis Our proposed scheme is an efficient improvement on Herns multisignature (IBMS), which is suitable to meet the property of distinguishing signing authorities. Therefore, the proposed scheme construct based on Shamir identity based signature (IBS) scheme. Without lost generality, both scheme are proved secure based on RSA cryptosystem, refer to [5], [12]. Our proposed scheme inherits the security aspects from its root schemes; therefore, those aspects are still applicable and approvable to our scheme. Next, we will discuss some potential and essential attacks against our scheme. Attack 1. An existential forgery under adaptive chosen-message attack, which an adversary attempts to forge a multisignature or a partial signature for a chosen document or subdocument adaptively without knowing any private key. Essentially, the standard Shamir IBS scheme is secure against forgery under adaptive chosen-message attack, according to Berllare et al. [1]. Thus, it is easy to get the proposed scheme secure against this type of attack, due to both schemes having the same identical forms and assuming one-wayness of the underlying RSA crypotsystem. Attack 2. The adaptive chosen-ID attack, which an adversary (adversaries) tries to adaptively choose identity (identities) and forge private key from the PKG, therefore, it can forge a multisignature or partial signature. Harn et al. [5] introduced the concept of the adaptive chosen-ID attack and proved that their IBMS scheme is secure against this attack. Our scheme resembles Harns scheme, this result in our scheme also secure against adaptive chosen-ID attack. V. Conclusion We have proposed an efficient ID-based RSA multisignatures with distinguished signing authorities for broadcasting architecture based on Shamirs IBS scheme and Hern et al. IBMS scheme. The proposed scheme is secure against forgeability under adaptive chosen-message attack and adaptive chosen-identity attack.

Morality and Egos in Radcliffes The Italian Essays -- Italian Essays

Morality and Egos in The Italian      Ã‚   The gothic tradition loves to play with the morality of a character and this explains one's egotistical tendencies.   In Radcliffe's Italian, no matter which side of the morality tree a character stands on, Satan has slipped a little pride in everyone's apple.   The role of doubles begins before Poe popularizes it.   Radcliffe works hard to create evil twins and/or corresponding halves to some of the characters in order to demonstrate the power of pride.   The gender roles of both male and female characters in The Italian do not always correlate to an archetype.   Radcliffe bends not only the gender rules, but also the stature expectations of the reader to show each character's true moral state and domineering personality through actions the reader would not usually expect.   Ã‚  Ã‚   Some male characters in this book have values that do not draw parallels with their stature in life.   For example, Schedoni is a monk, supposedly a loving and caring individual who spreads the word of God.   In reality, he conspires with the Marchesa (in a church) to commit a mortal sin, by telling her, "...this girl is put out of the way of committing more mischief..." (173).   This action shows his true color, usually green, and   through his large ego, this jealous nature reveals itself.   If he is secure as a person, these petty grievances against Vivaldi would be just that, petty.   Bonarmo's personality does not correspond to his stature either.   He is a servant whose loyalty to his master deserts him.   He is too independent and too intelligent to be in servitude to a master whom he does not believe superior to himself.   These characters possess too much pride and ego to live in a world where they are not always in co... ... self indulgence is knowing that she saved a young woman's life and contributed to her happiness (luckily, Ellena is her daughter).      Ã‚  Ã‚   The characters in this novel entertain conflicting notions of morality and pride.   Sometimes, these characteristics are at odds with one another, creating the immoral and "evil" characters.   Other times, they cooperate to create realism in these people.   The moral characters are good, but still have enough pride to be dignified, yet not arrogant.   Sometimes, when the evil twins (or other halves) run amuck, things get out of hand and troubles abound.   Though most of the time these troubles spring from the discrepancy between pride and morality,   at other points, dignity and morality work hand in hand to create reliable and realistic characters.    Works Cited Radcliffe, Ann.   The Italian.   Oxford University Press. 1968.

”Who’s for the Game” by Jessie Pope Essay

Who’s for the Game† was written by Jessie Pope to encourage young men to fight. This was basically propaganda; it exploited the idea that it was a young man’s duty to go and fight for their country. This is apparent in the first two lines of the poem; the author makes us feel that war is not excruciating pain, but â€Å"just a game†Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ â€Å"Who’s for the game, the biggest that’s played†, â€Å"The red crashing game of a fight†. These opening lines make us feel that war is a big game, and fighting is just people playing games to enjoy themselves, therefore this portrays the idea of war as being enjoyable, almost like a pastime. When people read this poem it makes them think subconsciously that war is enjoyable. Jessie Pope also promotes patrotism by saying that going to war is â€Å"giving your country a hand†. â€Å"Who’ll give his a country a hand† she appeals to their passion for fighting their country, over their fear of being killed. There was such an affinity with patriotism that by reading just this one line would make men join the war because they wanted to help their country. Jessie Pope also feels that war is like a big show and that the people staying at home are merely the audience, and not being part of this show, i.e. not playing a part in leading their country to victory. â€Å"Who wants to turn to himself in the show?† and â€Å"Who wants a seat in the stand†. Jessie Pope thought of war as a mindless riot and the only motivations for men going to war was to shoot someone and hold a gun, this is shown when she wrote â€Å"yet eagerly shoulders a gun†. The writer thinks that men would want to come back with a crutch, or some injury, as this would be their ‘souvenir’ from the war. She thinks that every man would want an injury as evidence of their bravery/suffering, rather than lying in the trenches and being out of the so-called ‘fun’. Jessie Pope also thinks that men who have returned unscathed from war didn’t have any fun; she thinks wars’ are all fun and games. â€Å"Who would much rather come back with a crutch than lie low and be out of the fun† â€Å"Your country is up to her neck in a fight, and she’s looking and calling for you†. This is a subliminal message that audience will rise to the challenge. Perhaps this is not an appropriate style of communication to describe war. The repetition of the word â€Å"who† followed by a question; she is questioning the audience and in the finnal two lines of the poem she tells us, who this  Ã¢â‚¬Å"who† is. It is a direct appeal to you, the audience. She uses this direct appeal to the audience to emphasise She personifies the country as being feminine, as it is every man’s duty to protect or save their women. It is also therefore every man’s duty to protect their country; thus making them a hero. Throughout the poem she uses simple language, that everyone can understand, to appeal to a widespread audience. The poem is written so that the reader feels Jessie Pope is actually speaking to them, and therefore has an immediate effect. (As the poem was published in the Daily Mail, it would have been read by thousands of people). The tone of the poem is positive and seems like an idealistic adventure story, which is totally opposite to the realities of war. I feel that when men read this poem they would be by her patronising and threatening powers of persuasion. They would feel manipulated into feeling guilty for not â€Å"doing their duty†. The poem would probably have been read with a buoyant, upbeat tone of voice. I feel that the writer was naive about war and felt that she could explain war without actually experiencing it. As war progressed, the feeling of patriotism gradually diminished, as the death-toll was escalating daily, people came to realise that war was not all glorious and began to take in the realities. It was harder to comprehend the ideals of patriotism and duty when soldiers were returning with their true accounts of what had actually happened, and poetry was written to explain war and how it really is.

Joseph Campbell’s analysis of Myth Essay

What is a myth? This question-and the vast concepts that go along with it-doesn’t come up very often, if at all. Perhaps this is due to the fact that myths are not popularly observed in depth; therefore, the answer to such a simply-put, yet broad question usually doesn’t exceed a standard myth’s generalities. Most people will conclude that a myth is fiction and neglect to realize that the overall definition goes far beyond that. According to Joseph Campbell, neither a myth nor the hero’s story from within the myth is manufactured by its author; moreover, a myth is a collective and unconscious exploitation of the mind in which it dwells. It thrives off of representations and ideas from within the mind of the author, who unconsciously desires such happenings in reality. Campbell’s reference to the unconscious is similar to that of Sigmond Freud’s, who has referred to the unconscious time and time again. He stated that the unconscious is what our memory cannot retain; for instance, they are things we dream of, or memories that we may forget. With that in mind, the myth comes into play. Campbell states that myths are primarily based on the hero and his journey. He goes on to say that the hero’s journey consists of three parts: his retreat from the world, trials and victories he makes along the way, and his return. Some may disagree with this idea, convinced that Campbell holds the belief that all myths are the same. However, that disagreement is a mere misunderstanding of Campbell’s explanation, which is not that myths are exactly alike, but that their general construction follows the same idea. Even with that clarification, still, some may wonder if there is true evidence that myths solely rely on the journey. Without a doubt, any myth could promptly defend Campbell’s theory, but two that most prominently demonstrate the truth behind his perception are the stories Ramayana and Yeelen. As Campbell concludes, the journey of a hero begins with his first mission: retreating from the world. When Campbell says this, he means that this is the phase where the hero begins to put emphasis on his internal motives instead of his external motives. Rama’s retreat begins in in Ramayana when he is banished from the kingdom by his stepmother. Rama is the oldest of his siblings, so he is destined to become king once his father’s reign comes to  an end. However, Rama’s stepmother does not accept this unwritten rule; she wants to see her son, Bharata, (one of Rama’s brothers) take the throne. She recalls that prior to coming upon this desire, the king promised to grant her two wishes in her lifetime. Consequently, she demands the king to banish Rama from the throne, and then declares that Bharta will take over, as she had desired. Since Rama becomes banished, he leaves the kingdom without question and right then and there, his journey begins. In Yeelen, Niankoro is portrayed as a young and powerful man. Nevertheless, he is still cursed by his evil father, who is able to reach out to him with help from prayers to the gods. Niankoro’s mother does not like that his father has this ability, so in order to make it more difficult for them to come into contact, she sends Niankoro to his uncle’s to escape. Niankoro’s escape from his father (which is condoned by his mother) is defined as his retreat from the world, whereas Rama’s retreat is the consequence of banishment from his father, who could not deny the desires of his stepmother. Although the reasons for each of their retreats is different, it is notable that in both, their mothers play key roles. The third part of the journey is when the hero returns, but this part of the journey, as Campbell explains, doesn’t hold very high significance. Even so, the second and third part of the journey have a tendency to go hand in hand, which is why Ramayana and Yeelen are better explained with both pieces in alignment. The third piece of the journey has a lot to do with the hero’s grapple with the place of all humans in the universe, as it is better known as the hero’s spiritual reality. In both stories, the idea of â€Å"return† correlates with the stronger morale each hero develops due to a significant event that takes place along each of their separate journeys. Rama’s spiritual reality comes about after the second part of his journey. Things become climatic when Rama’s wife, Sita, is taken in by the hands of a demon. Sita goes with Rama on his journey in the first place because she sees her accompaniment as a stepping stone to achieving her dharma. With that in mind, Rama allows Sita to come with him. When Rama faces the devastation of losing Sita, he realizes his own dharma, which is to his life and those that are close to him. He shows this by doing everything in his power to save his wife from the demon. Eventually, Hanumen, a monkey god, saves Sita. The fact that Sita saw her dharma as an important aspect of life strongly influences the way Rama begins to see his own. Although he was banished, Rama’s absence from the kingdom helps him find his moral strength, especially when he has Sita by his side. This incident shows Rama that his power is influenced by his response to the things happening around him, as well as how he treats those he values. In Yeelen, there is stress put upon corruption in relation to power, which is blatantly stressed in the second part of Niankoro’s journey. In this portion of the story, Nianankoro goes through a series of trials and tribulations. In doing so, he comes to the aid of many; for instance, he uses his special powers to help a tribe in need of defense from warriors, and he even cures the king’s youngest wife of infertility. At the same time, he faces internal struggles, with the most conspicuous one being the affair he has with the king’s wife. However, a light shines through this unethical act; with the internal knowledge Niankoro builds from it, he ultimately finds his morals and thus, he becomes remorseful of his actions. Mainly, the story shows Nianankoro’s relentless struggle to witness (and take part in) a corrupt society, which results in knowledge for everyone, even himself. It is clear that both Ramayana and Yeelen fully support Campbell’s theory, and with that, they show that each piece of the journey is fundamental to the understanding of the final outcome of the hero. Both myths explain the major theme of spiritual reality, and how each hero realizes that their priority is their morale. The importance of morals and values is not only demonstrated in these two myths, but these two in particular elaborately display the truth behind Campbell’s ideas. To conclude, Campbell’s description of the myth focuses on the three part journey, but leaves readers to dig in and find their own understanding of where the journey leads. Surprisingly enough, a myth is like a map of a hero, and the journey usually ends at a door of internal inquisition. Is that a coincidence? Perhaps yet another journey is necessary to find the answer.

The Experts Guide to the AP Chemistry Exam

The Expert's Guide to the AP Chemistry Exam SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips AP Chemistry is a challenging subject, and many students feel nervous about taking on the exam at the end of the school year. But if you have a sense of what to expect on the AP Chemistry test well in advance, you'll be able to prepare appropriately for it. In this guide, I'll lay out the structure and content of the AP Chemistry exam, give you examples of different types of questions you'll see on it, and tell you how to study effectively for it! How Is the AP Chemistry Exam Structured? Like other AP tests, the AP Chemistry exam has two sections: a multiple-choice section and a free-response section. On both sections, you will have access to a periodic table of the elements as well as a chart listing any formulas and constants you might need for your calculations. The Multiple-Choice Section Here is a brief overview of the multiple-choice section on AP Chemistry: Number of Questions: 60 questions with four answer choices each Time: One hour and 30 minutes Scoring: Worth 50% of your total AP Chemistry score Calculator Use: Prohibited Be aware that some of these questions will exist as a part of question groups (which consist of a few questions that ask about one set of data), whereas others will stand on their own. The Free-Response Section Next up, here is an overview of the free-response section on AP Chemistry: Number of Questions: Four short-response questions and three long-response questions Time: One hour and 45 minutes Scoring: Worth 50% of your total AP Chemistry score Calculator Use: Allowed Question Topics Finally, here are the main topics you'll be tested on with the AP Chemistry exam: Experimental design Analyzing data and identifying patterns or explaining phenomena Creating or analyzing atomic and molecular views to explain observations Articulating and then translating between representations of data Following logical/analytical pathways to solve a problem The entire AP Chemistry exam is three hours and 15 minutes long. This year, the test will be administered on Thursday, May 7, 2020, at 8 am. You'll probably have to wake up at least this early on the day of the AP Chem test. Also, this corded monstrosity is what people used to set alarms before smartphones. Horrifying, I know. How Is the AP Chemistry Exam Scored? As mentioned above, the multiple-choice and free-response sections are each worth 50% of your total score. No points are taken off for incorrect answers on either section (i.e., there is no guessing penalty). To calculate your raw multiple-choice score, add up all of your correct answers. This means you can earn a maximum of 60 points on the multiple-choice section. While the free-response section is a little more complicated, you should be able to figure out how many points you’ve earned if you have scoring guidelines. Short-response questions are worth 4 points, and long-response questions are worth 10 points, meaning you can earn a maximum of 46 points on this section. Next, convert these raw scores into numbers out of 50 so that they each make up half your final raw score. Say you got 40 out of 60 multiple-choice questions correct. You would convert this score to the equivalent fraction of 33 out of 50. Then, if you got 30 out of 46 points on the free-response section, you would convert that score to the equivalent fraction of 32 out of 50 points. Finally, add the two scores out of 50 together to get your final raw score out of 100. You can use the conversion chart below to estimate how your raw score might translate to an AP score (on a scale of 1-5). In this case, your raw score of 65 would be right in the middle of the 4 range. We can’t be absolutely sure that these raw score ranges will correlate exactly with these AP scores because the curve is slightly different every year. If you find you’re close to the bottom of your goal score range in practice testing, don't get complacent! You should probably put in a little more studying so you can feel more secure. Raw Score AP Score Percentage of Students Earning Each Score (2017) 72-100 5 10.1% 58-71 4 16.2% 42-57 3 26.1% 27-41 2 26.2% 0-26 1 21.4% Source: The College Board What Do You Need to Know for the AP Chemistry Test? The AP Chemistry test centers around six major themes, or big ideas, which encompass all the topics covered in the AP Chemistry course. I list them here to give you an overview of what kinds of ideas you should be familiar with before taking the test. Big Idea 1: Chemical Elements and Matter The chemical elements are fundamental building materials of matter, and all matter can be understood in terms of arrangement of atoms. These atoms retain their identities in chemical reactions. In terms of specific topics, here's what this idea covers: Compounds in atomic molecular theory Using mass data to identify the composition or identity of a chemical substance Units in chemistry: particles vs. moles vs. mass vs. volume Electrons (distribution in atoms and ions, energy levels, Coulomb’s Law, classic shell model vs. quantum mechanical model) Structure of the periodic table Mass spectrometry Spectroscopy/light absorption and chemical composition of a solution The Law of Conservation of Mass Gravimetric analysis and titration Dude, I'm telling you, this is what everything looks like if you zoom in far enough. Big Idea 2: Chemical and Physical Properties of Materials With this big idea, both the chemical and physical properties of materials can be explained by the structure and arrangement of atoms, ions, or molecules and the forces between them. This idea covers the following topics: Molecular structure and its connection to a substance’s properties Phase changes (solids, liquids, gases) Chromatography Interactions between solutes and solvents London dispersion forces Polarity of atoms and molecules Coulomb’s law and the interactions of ions Chemical bonds and why certain atoms form certain types of bonds Bond polarity Properties of metallic elements Lewis diagrams and VSEPR Properties of ionic solids Properties of metal alloys Metallic bonding and the electron sea model Properties of covalent solids Properties of molecular solids Salt: what a square. Big Idea 3: Changes in Matter Changes in matter involve the rearrangement and/or reorganization of atoms and/or the transfer of electrons. Specifically, this big idea encompasses the following topics: Writing balanced chemical equations Stoichiometric calculations to predict outcome of reactions Bronsted-Lowry acids and bases Redox reactions Difference between physical change, chemical change, or ambiguous change Galvanic or electrolytic reactions Half-cell reactions/potentials and Faraday’s laws Matter is always making changes to be its best self. Good for it. Big Idea 4: Rates of Chemical Reactions With this idea, rates of chemical reactions are determined by details of the molecular collisions. Here are some important topics included in this idea: Factors that impact rates of chemical reactions (temperature, concentration, surface area) Calculating rate of a zeroth-, first-, or second-order reaction How half-life relates to rate constant in a first-order reaction Rate law and molecular collisions Catalysts and their impact on chemical reactions Molecular collisions are a lot like car collisions except smaller! Aren't you glad I'm here to enlighten you? Big Idea 5: The Laws of Thermodynamics It's important to know that the laws of thermodynamics describe the essential role of energy and explain and predict the direction of changes in matter. These laws encompass the following topics: Thermal energy transfer Relating the magnitudes of energy changes in two interacting systems (direction of energy flow, type of energy) How energy changes relate to heat capacity, enthalpy of fusion, enthalpy of reaction, PV work Calorimetry Enthalpy of reactions and connection to chemical bonds Noncovalent interactions between molecules Whether reactions are thermodynamically favored or not Gibbs free energy calculations Le Chatelier’s principle Equilibrium constants This is a star, or, more scientifically, "a crazy-hot ball 'o energy." Big Idea 6: Bonds and Intermolecular Attractions Any bond or intermolecular attraction that can be formed can be broken. These two processes are in a dynamic competition, sensitive to initial conditions and external perturbations. This big idea covers the following topics: How changes to chemical reactions affect Q and K Relative rates of forward and reverse reactions Equilibrium constant (K) and how to calculate it Calculating equilibrium conditions of a system Direction of the shift resulting from stresses placed on a system at chemical equilibrium Design a set of conditions that will optimize a certain reaction outcome The distinction between strong and weak acid solutions with similar pH values Interpreting titration data to determine the concentration of the titrant/pKa/pKb Calculating the pH of a solution and its makeup Acid/base reactions Buffer solutions - design, identification, reactions Labile protons and how they affect pH Solubility of salts and Ksp Equilibrium constant in terms of ââ€" ³G ° and RT Join these kooky characters in the new hit dramedy Bonds: They're Stuck Together. Oh man, you've never seen chemistry like this before. Will they? Won't they? Who cares? Sample AP Chemistry Questions + Explanations Here are examples of each type of question you'll see on the AP Chemistry test. I’ll also walk you through the answers to give you an idea of how to approach and solve them. Sample Multiple-Choice Question Many questions on the AP Chemistry exam ask you to make predictions about chemical properties or reactions based on data like this. In this case, the answer is A. The coulombic attractions are weaker in NaCl than they are in NaF because the ionic radius of F- is smaller than that of Cl-. The attraction between molecules will be greater in NaF, and the bonds will be harder to break. Sample Short Free-Response Question In this question, part a requires an understanding of why or why not reactions might occur between molecules. First, you need to explain how collision energy affects whether two molecules will react with each other. Only collisions with enough energy to overcome the activation energy barrier (typically represented by the variable Ea) will reach the transition state and break the F-F bond. Next, you need to identify one other factor besides collision energy that influences the likelihood of a reaction between two colliding molecules. You could say that in order for a collision to be successful, the molecules must have the correct orientation. You would need to mention the specific bonds being formed and broken. Only molecules with the correct orientation can start to form the N-F bond and break the F-F bond. The molecules have to contact each other in very specific places for the transition to take place. Part b is about rate laws, and the first part is pretty straightforward. You have a 50/50 chance of circling the right one even if you have no idea what the answer is. For the record, it's the second option, rate = k[NO2][F2]. You then need to explain why you made your choice to get the last point on this question. The second rate law is the correct answer because Step I is the slower, rate-determining step in the reaction mechanism. Step I is an elementary reaction, so its rate law comes from the stoichiometry of the reaction molecules, NO2 and F2. Sample Long Free-Response Question In part a of this question, you’re asked to write two net-ionic equations. Writing balanced equations based on experimental scenarios is an important skill for the test. For part i, the neutralization reaction is H+ + OH- = H2O (liquid). For part ii, the precipitation reaction is Ba2+ + SO42- = BaSO4 (solid). In part b, you need an understanding of what causes electrical conductivity in chemical substances and why the conductivity decreases at first in the situation described. For part i, the solution is conducting electricity as the first 30 mL of the H2SO4 are added due to the presence of Ba2+ and/or OH- ions that haven’t yet been scooped up for the reactions (you could mention either one and still get a point). For part ii, you could say that the conductivity decreases because these two types of ions are steadily removed by the precipitation and neutralization reactions (Ba2+ ions are taken to form BaSO4, and OH- ions are taken to form water). Side Note: The conductivity goes back up after the equivalence point because of the additional H- and SO42- ions that now exist in solution after all the Ba2+ and OH- ions have been used up by the reactions. Part c requires some attention to detail in unit conversion as well as a logical assessment of the information you’re given. Molarity is moles per liter, so the question is how many moles of Ba(OH)2 were there per liter in the original solution without the added H2SO4. Since the conductivity starts going back up after 30 ml of H2SO4 are added, that means that at that point the number of moles of H2SO4 is equal to the number of moles of BaOH2 in the original solution. We can calculate that 30 mL of 0.10 M H2SO4 is equivalent to 0.0030 moles (0.10 moles/liter multiplied by 0.030 liters). There should be the same number of moles of BaOH2 in the original solution, so we can divide 0.0030 moles by the original 0.025 L (25 ml) to arrive at our answer of 0.12 moles/liter or a molarity of 0.12 M. Part d requires you to use Ksp (the solubility product constant) to determine the amount of Ba2+ ions that remain in solution at the equivalence point. The question tells us that for BaSO4, Ksp = 1.0 x 10-10. The solubility product constant equals the product of the number of ions of each component of the precipitate. Each of these is raised to the power of its coefficient in the original net ionic equation, which in this case is 1 for both: Ksp = [Ba2+] x [SO42-] At the equivalence point, the amount of each of these ions is equal. This means that [Ba2+] x [SO42-] = [Ba2+]2 and [Ba2+]2 = 1.0 x 10-10. The number of Ba2+ ions would be the square root of Ksp, which is 1.0 x 10-5 M. Part e asks you to explain why there is a lower concentration of Ba2+ ions in solution as the amount of H2SO4 added increases past the equivalence point. In this case, you would need to mention the common ion effect and the fact that if you add sulfate ions to an equilibrium reaction involving other sulfate ions, the reaction will consume the added ions to reach a new equilibrium. This means that more of the precipitate (BaSO4) is formed, and more Ba2+ ions are taken out of solution to contribute to it. Equilibrium must be reached. Transition from doing ... to being (I've been getting into yoga lately even though I can't touch my toes without feeling like my whole body is being ripped apart). As you can see, the questions on the AP Chemistry test range from short and sweet to long and moderately evil. An important thread that runs through all of them is that you need to know basic background information about why certain substances act the way they do. For example, why do some substances have higher boiling points than others? What does collision energy have to do with molecular reactions? Why do some chemical substances conduct electricity? Being able to justify your answers is very important. Make sure you never lose sight of the fundamentals as you get into more complex calculations and concepts. How to Study for AP Chemistry: 6 Key Tips Here are some additional tips that will help you prepare for the AP Chemistry exam appropriately and improve the efficiency of your studying! #1: Always Ask Why Don’t gloss over questions you got right through lucky guesses. If you don’t understand exactly why the correct answer is correct, you need to review the concept until you do.Chemistry builds on itself, so if you don’t get the fundamental reason your answer was correct or incorrect, you could be in for a whole mess of trouble in the future. For example, you might have memorized that a certain molecular compound has a higher boiling point than another, but that doesn’t mean you necessarily know why this is the case. Make sure you always know why certain properties occur based on molecular and atomic structure so that you can justify your answers and adapt your knowledge to a variety of scenarios. #2: Memorize Formulas You should memorize all the formulas you need to know for the test. Even though you’ll get a formula sheet, it’s going to be much easier to get through the questions if you don’t have to keep consulting it. For each formula, make sure you know the types of questions it will help you answer and how else it could come into play on the test. #3: Review Your Labs Labs are critical in AP Chemistry because they show you the real-life implications of the facts you’ve been studying. You’ll see many questions on the exam that deal with lab scenarios, and it’s much easier to understand these types of questions if you’re somewhat familiar with the setup. It’s crucial to understand why you got the results you did for each lab and to be able to connect them to facts about chemical reactions and properties of different substances. #4: Learn to Estimate The multiple-choice section of the AP chemistry exam doesn’t let you use a calculator. This is kind of scary for some people, but it shouldn’t be a big obstacle if you’re well prepared. You’ll save yourself a lot of time if you practice doing multiple-choice questions and estimating logical answers without going through long calculations. The more familiar you are with the mechanics of chemical reactions, the easier it'll be to estimate the answers to these problems. #5: Practice With Official Materials The College Board offers free downloadable AP Chemistry materials you can use to get more used to the content of the exam and to practice real multiple-choice and free-response questions. All free-response questions include sample answers as well as commentary that explains what is particularly good (and not so good) about the response. #6: Get a Review Book This is one of the AP classes for which it’s extremely helpful to have a review book to guide your studying. Since the material is complicated and there are a lot of different things you need to know how to do, a review book can help ground you and give you a better handle on how to structure your review overall. You’ll also get a lot of additional practice problems and answer explanations. While you should still use your labs and notes from class, a review book will help you better organize your thoughts. Here are a couple of books I recommend: 5 Steps to a 5: AP Chemistry 2018 (about $10 on Amazon) Barron’s AP Chemistry (about $10 on Amazon) For practice questions, you can also get the book Sterling AP Chemistry Practice Questions (about $20 on Amazon). It’s not technically a full review book, but it will give you more practice resources to use as you study the material on the test. Sometimes this is how your mind acts when you're trying to study something complicated. Let a review book guide your way so the journey toward enlightenment is less anxiety-ridden! Conclusion: How to Study for the AP Chemistry Exam In summary, here are the basic logistical facts to keep in mind about the AP Chemistry exam: Test Date and Time Thursday, May 7, 2020, at 8 am Total Time 3 hours and 15 minutes # of Questions 60 multiple-choice questions 7 free-response questions (4 short, 3 long) Scoring Long free response: 10 points Short free response: 4 points Calculator? Multiple choice: Not allowed Free response: Allowed Point Penalty for Wrong Answers? No penalty %age of Points Needed to Score a 5 Around 70% As I’m sure you've noticed, there’s a lot of material to learn for the AP Chemistry test (six big ideas compared with AP Biology’s four big ideas! What!?!?!). This is why starting your studying early and keeping up with the progress of your class throughout the year are so strongly connected to your level of success on the test. Here’s a quick review of my top six tips for preparing for the AP Chemistry exam: Always ask yourself why the answer is correct on practice questions Memorize all the formulas Review your labs, not just your notes Learn to estimate on multiple-choice questions Practice with official AP Chem materials Use review books to organize your studying If you’re focused and diligent, nothing on this test will be a chemystery to you because you’ll be a regular Sherlock Coulombes ('cause you’ll know all about London dispersion forces. OK, I’m done now). What's Next? Chances are, if you're taking AP Chemistry, you're also planning to take a couple of SAT Subject Tests. Check out our guide to learn about the differences between AP tests and Subject Tests! If you get a 5 on AP Chemistry, what does that mean for you? Find out how AP credit works at colleges. If you read this article, you're probably taking AP Chemistry. But your final high school schedule might not be set in stone just yet. Read this article for comprehensive advice on how many total AP classes you should take in high school to reach your goals. How can you use your knowledge of chemistry to help clean your stuff? Read up on muriatic acid (and what not to combine it with) here. Want to improve your SAT score by 160 points or your ACT score by 4 points? We've written a guide for each test about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. Download it for free now:

A System Analyst essays

A System Analyst essays A Systems Analyst analyses, designs and implements the information gathered previously to a system, the final product which is a report of yearly sales, profits, etc. The first thing a Systems Analyst does is to interview the company which wants the report, (called the user) to find out what kind of report they want, format, etc. They must find whether the report is feasible or not, and to find out, they do an analysis of the project. To analyze the project, they must find out where are they going to get the information, how, when is the project going to be done, etc. They then design the system, which is to make a 'skeleton' of the project. They write specifications, of what is to be in the final report. They do flowcharting, specifications for the programmers of the report, and development control. Development control is where the Systems Analyst works with the programmers along a critical path. A critical path is like a due date, if the report is to be done in thirty days, the Systems Analyst makes sure the report is done in thirty days. The Systems Analyst also follows the first analysis of when the project will be finished. The critical path also calculates how many man hours it will take to finish, etc. A critical path flowchart also helps the programmers along. After the development is finished and a prototype of the report is finished, the Systems Analyst helps the programmers in testing the program for bugs. This is similar to quality control. The Systems Analyst helps to makes sure the work is done until the final report is achieved. Once the final report is finished and free of bugs, it is sent to the user. The Systems Analyst has a big job to do, he/she is responsible for the design, the development, and implementation of the report, ie: what purpose will it serve, presentation, etc. The Systems Analyst creates and helps finish the final product, making all the specifications and charts for what ...

Is It Worth Partnering With A Book Marketer

Is It Worth Partnering With A Book Marketer Is It Worth Partnering With A Book Marketer? Since starting Reedsy, I’ve heard time and again that â€Å"what authors need most help with is marketing.† But that’s akin to saying startups like us primarily need help with fundraising; to me, it’s a startup founder’s job to raise funds when the company needs them, just as it’s a writer’s task to sell his or her book. Sure, help would be appreciated, but going as far as outsourcing? The best startups don’t do that.Of course, I can see the case for bringing on a marketing specialist, particularly when an author is not technically savvy or familiar with social networks and communities. Still, this raises the question: who is best placed to promote an author’s work? If promotion isn’t done by the creator himself, isn’t there a chance the message will get lost?These are several of the questions I asked author Jonathan Gould, who decided to partner with book marketer Mike Doane for the promotion of his latest book, Magnus Opum.Book marketer: it begins with strategyâ€Å"It begins with strategy,† says Gould. â€Å"I have very little idea about how to strategize a book selling campaign. That’s where Mike comes in. From the very beginning, we discussed my goals as a writer, and the sorts of books I like to write. From that, Mike can not only give me advice on which readers I should be reaching out to but also suggestions on how to reach them. Together we are in the process of developing an overall strategy that should help get my name out and define me as a writer with a distinct style and voice.†I’ve gotten to know quite a few authors just like Jonathan: they blog on a regular basis, spend time on Twitter and Facebook, do Goodreads giveaways, and write to bloggers and reviewers. But not everyone takes time to assess their objectives with each of these marketing tasks.A good book marketer can (or should) help you identify your target audience, find ways to reach out to it, and measure the results of your efforts in each marketing â€Å"channel† so you can focus on the ones that work. You end up doing the work (reaching out to reviewers, interacting with readers, etc.), so it doesn’t endanger your brand image or your relationship-building. And you know why you’re doing what you’re doing.Mike Doane explains: â€Å"I think a lot of authors do those things they’re supposed to do without knowing the reasons why. ‘I blog once a week’ is not a strategy, it’s a tactic. What’s even worse is not being able to measure the outcomes, let alone produce outcomes to measure. This is my job. I’m supposed to help Jonathan understand why he’s using the tactics he’s using, plus find new tactics and help him test them.†Essentially, that’s what a â€Å"marketing plan† is all about, and there is a certain skill to putting one together that not every author has taken the time to learn. That said, there is a vast amount of content out there around â€Å"book marketing†, whether in the form of blog posts, podcasts, webinars, online courses, or even books. Our initial thought was that there is no reason why an author couldn’t learn this on his own (while in contrast, specialized skills like editing and design can take years to learn and perfect). So I asked several authors on forums: what does hiring a personal book marketer bring that you couldn’t achieve on your own with enough time and effort?Personalized advice, moral support, and an extra pair of legsAs indie author and marketing consultant Debbie Young told me: â€Å"Authors often have very unrealistic expectations of how hard it’s going to be to market a book. Too often authors get discouraged and stop trying to market at all, but with a little direction and encouragement of the kind I’m able to offer, they discover that actually there is a lot they can do after all, and they are re-enthused to do it.†The degree of moral support a personalized marketing consultant can give you might actually be the most valuable part of that collaboration. The same way a good content editor can help you gain confidence in your craft, a good book marketer should be able to teach you how to promote your book in a more confident and effective way.Plus, as Jonathan puts it, â€Å"It’s nice to have an extra pair of legs when it comes to chasing promotional opportunities such as guest posts, interviews, or paid promotions.† This touches on the subject of personal VAs (Virtual Assistants), which was brilliantly covered on Joanna Penn’s blog recently.Flat fee remuneration or royalty-share?Of course, this extra pair of legs doesn’t come for free. And how much (or even how) you should pay for marketing help is a slightly controversial question.Jonathan and Mike have contracted on a royalty-share basis. This is something that you rarely see for editing or design services, but is a much more frequent occurrence in narration (audiobook) or translation services.The logic behind it is pretty simple: a marketer’s only job is to generate sales for your books, so it makes sense to index the marketer’s remuneration on the results of their work. However, in nearly every other marketing-related profession, such as publicity, flat fees are the norm. I don’t know of one good book publicist who works on a royalty-share basis. Mike explains why: â€Å"Any author-publicist contract that’s based around sales is foolish. It’s like those SEO companies that promise a #1 position on Google for a given keyword. That’s extremely hard to deliver, especially on a budget. Publicists can’t promise things like reviews or sales. There are just too many factors involved.†As marketers develop deeper, longer-lasting relationships with the authors they partner with, royalty- share might make more sense for them than for publicists or SEO specialists. Whether it makes sense to the author is another question, and one that largely depends on sales, budget-consciousness and risk-aversion. Mike suggested to me that he would like to see a flexible model where authors and marketers can choose to work together on a mix of fee and royalty-share.This would have the advantage of keeping a bonus element (royalty) to incentivize the book marketer, while assuring that he gets paid a decent remuneration even if the book fails to sell well. There is no guarantee in book marketing and asking the marketer to assume all the risk makes little sense. In that sense, a hybrid model is certainly worth exploring.Follow Ricardo, the author of this article, and Reedsy on Twitter: @RicardoFayet  and  @ReedsyHQDo you have any questions about book marketing and whether it makes sense at your stage to hire a professional marketer? Leave us your thoughts in the comments below!

Does the theories of ecquivalence play a useful role in professional Essay

Does the theories of ecquivalence play a useful role in professional translation - Essay Example These theorists have studied equivalence in relation to the translation process, using different approaches, and have provided fruitful ideas for further study regarding this topic. Our first study is on the theory introduced and expounded by Nida and Taber about formal correspondence and dynamic equivalence. Formal correspondence focuses attention on the message itself, in both form and content, unlike dynamic equivalence which is based upon "the principle of equivalent effect" (1964:159). A more detailed explanation of each type of equivalence is provided in the second edition (1982) of their work, but a brief analysis will be discussed in this paper. Nida, in consultation with other pioneers in the field, developed the theory of "dynamic equivalence" or "functional equivalence," which stressed the importance of transferring meaning, not grammatical form (Poythress, 2004). Formal correspondence consists of a TL item which represents the closest equivalent of a SL word or phrase. Dynamic equivalence is defined as a translation principle according to which a translator seeks to translate the meaning of the original in such a way that the TL wording will trigger the same impact on the TL audience as the original wording did upon the ST audience. (Nida and Taber, 1982: 200) In dynamic equivalence, translation is done by the translator's use of his/her own words and expressing it in the TL, the impact should be the same as it was in the ST. The sentences are not the literal interpretation, but rather a different wording seeking to arrive at the same impact as in the original text. Nida was also concerned of delivering the "fullest meaning" instead of a bare minimum (Nida, 1947, cited in Poythress, 2004). The distinction between the two - formal correspondence and dynamic equivalence - is that in the former a word can have an equivalent to an SL word or phrase, whilst in the latter, equivalence is achieved by giving the meaning of the words or phrases from the original. Both can achieve equivalent effect. In formal equivalence, the problem lies in not getting an equivalent word in the two languages. Fawcett (1997) criticizes this theory because he argued that the use of formal equivalents might at times have serious implications in the TT since the translation might not be easily understood by the target audience. Formal correspondence distorts the grammatical and stylistic patterns of the receptor language, and hence distorts the message, so as to cause the receptor to misunderstand the message (Fawcett, 1007: 201). Nevertheless, Nida and Taber argue that "the form of the original text is changed; but as long as the change follows the rules of back transformation in the source language, of contextual consistency in the transfer, and of transformation in the receptor language, the message is preserved and the translation is faithful" (p. 200). Nida is in favour of the application of dynamic equivalence, as a more effective translation procedure, considering that he has been into Bible translation. Nida is much more interested in the message of the text or, in other words, in its semantic quality. He strives to make sure that this message remains clear in the target text (hence, dynamic equivalence). But herein lies the contradiction as far as Bible translation is concerned.

Violence Among American Youths Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Violence Among American Youths - Essay Example ates, homicide resulting from violence committed by or suffered by the youth has been identified as being identified as the second leading cause of death among American people aged between 15-24 years old. The increasing violence has also been identified as having a number of negative economic effects on the country’s economy. By exploring the different causes and effects of increasing levels of violence among the youth and children, this paper will seek to show that increasing violence among children and youth across the entire United States is having an adversely negative impact on the country’s economy. Media Exposure and Aggressive and Violent Behavior: There has been an intensely raging debate over the years as to the extent to which media violence has served to contribute as a major cause of children and youth violence and aggression. The exposure youth and children in the United States get to violent media has been noted to be extremely high. Different bodies have presented reports and advisories against media violence but these have largely been ignored. Some of these bodies include the AMA and the APA (Escobar-Chaves & Anderson, 2008). There have been numerous empirical studies conducted that have been able to establish links between aggression and media violence. These studies have all managed to reach the conclusion that media violence definitely increases aggressive behavior among youth and children. Poor Parenting: Various aspects of parenting have been identified as possibly contributing to the increased violent behavior among children and youth in the United States. These include poor supervision, parental disharmony in the home, limited involvement by parents in a child’s activities such as school plays and games, erratic and harsh discipline as well as the rejection of a child (Seifert, Ray & Schmidt, 2012). The effect of these poor parenting traits is that parents who exhibit these behaviors often tend to engage in various parent-child

Analysis of Wimps, Whiners, and Weekend Warriors Essay

Analysis of Wimps, Whiners, and Weekend Warriors - Essay Example He cements his claim by pointing at the mythical hero in of ‘true men’ exemplified in Rambo, Wayne and Superman. He furthers his point of reason by George Bush’s sentiments in 1984 debate in which he said that he kicked had a little ass the previous night. Lastly, he postulates that, the males apparent wild tendencies is more than mere feelings but it is also a fervent such for the â€Å"would be† lost boyhood. In the above discos, kimmel’s argument is a farce because it satirizes boyhood. For example, he alludes to bullying in his schools, assenting to a specified dietary detail for a true man and giving import to Bush’s retrogressive sentiments which taint rather than build a descent image of males. Finally, from the movies such as close encounters and full metal jack he draws a conclusion that men leave their families in the desperate search of their lost inner childhood man. In conclusion the excerpt is ridicule on perception of male chauvinism an endeavors to liberate the male dominant society by asserting the relevance of feminism while he defangs the critical crisis masculinity per

ARO Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

ARO - Assignment Example Ebola cuts across nearly all the mutual commitments of global health, medicine, and science anthropologists. This is because the tragedy exposed the political economy of illness and health, demonstrates how the movement of technology and science ceases or flows, and exposes the drawbacks of thrilling solutions to structural issues (Abromowitz, 2014). Additionally, Ebola emergency brings to light the outcomes of health with regard to reconfigured social relations created by the development and health regimes of governance. Ebola also tragically emphasizes racialized reasoning that determines the lives that count. As anthropologists, action-centered attitude is fundamental during such emergencies, since such approach would improve ethnographic expertise response in the affected nations. In order to improve the current situation of Ebola in West Africa today, Abromowitz (2014) suggested several things that anthropologists can use to connect the local and global populations in understanding the crisis. First, anthropologists can train epidemiologists on death counting in this region. This would work well in closing the gap between actual deaths and counted Ebola deaths, thus offering crucial information on movement, patterning, and expansion of the tragedy. Additionally, community anthropologists can observe the Ebola response systematically and report on, interpret, and explain existing local approaches. This will make it possible to make sense of local concepts and ideas, behaviors, and beliefs and suggests ways that are actionable. Given the noise around Ebola, anthropologists are expected to detect and track emerging risks amidst Ebola noise such as black market flows. Within the affected areas, anthropologists can hold multidisciplinary university based groups t o assist in real time tracking of the disease (Abromowitz, 2014). The role of such groups would be to evaluate the political,

MicroFHess Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

MicroFHess - Essay Example Example: as more and more fertilizers are employed by the famers, production of crops may increase by the same unit of fertilizers employed, ceteris paribus. 3. Economic profit is the difference between revenues received from the sale of output and opportunity cost (Mankiw, 1998). For example, the difference between incomes received from selling a car and forgone alternatives of making that car. 4. Law of diminishing returns states that when other factors are held constant any additional unit of input leads to an increase in output at a declining rate till at a certain point where any additional input leads to a decline in output (Hall and Lieberman, 2010). For example, if more fertilizers are added in the production of wheat the output increases till a certain point when any additional unit of fertilizers added leads to a decline in output of wheat. 5. Marginal product of labour is the additional amount of output that is being produced when a firm decide sto employ additional labour in the production process (Hall and Lieberman, 2010). For example, a firm may produces 10 units of output with a labour of 5 people, and after adding another 5 people output may increases to 20 units. 6. Monopolistic competition. Is a type of market structure with many sellers selling similar but differentiated products whereby each seller has the freedom of setting his or her own selling price (Mankiw, 2011). Example: in the United States numerous sellers differentiate their products and the prices for those products (Mankiw, 2011). 7. Sunk cost refers to the amount of money that has already been spent and can not be recovered (Hall and Lieberman, 2010). For example: Amount of money incurred by investor to start and operate a business. 8. The principal-agent problem refers to a conflict of interest that arises when the agent pursues the same interest as his principal (Mankiw, 2011). Example: car dealer hires an agent to sell his cars to particular

Claiming feminism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Claiming feminism - Essay Example A feminist woman is, thus, someone who does not appear to be agreeable in any way and who indulges in fighting over every little issue, making it, it seems her worldview to argue with everyone. This stereotype has done quite a lot to damage the cause of feminism, and thus women liberation. Moreover, it is because of this stereotypical feminist that not only men, but women also, find themselves considering feminism and everything related to it in a very negative light. The myth is ever present and there seems to be a need to end it, however, just how it is to be done successfully, and just how one can convince the general population about the pivotal role of feminists when it comes to changing the worldview regarding women in general are questions that need to be answered with a lot of thought and consideration. During the 1970s and 1980s, the feminist movement found much success; women joined a struggle to create a world where they were the equal counterparts of men, and where they were not discriminated against based on their sex. These women, the pioneer feminists one can call them maybe, paved the road for those that came after them; they fought for equal rights when it came to employment, for wages that were equal to their male counterparts, for protection against sexual harassment against women. In short, all matters that were considered to be an issue for any women were considered to be part of the feminist agenda as well. The feminists were at a war-path, so to speak, to eradicate all forms of sexism found in their society. This was, indeed, a noble cause, however, it has been much maligned and misunderstood, and perhaps that is the reason of it being suspect to a lot of people. In her article â€Å"Fear of Feminism,† Lisa Maria Hogeland discusses just how hard it is for the woman of today to join the feminist movement. Many women of today do not

MicroFHess Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

MicroFHess - Essay Example Example: as more and more fertilizers are employed by the famers, production of crops may increase by the same unit of fertilizers employed, ceteris paribus. 3. Economic profit is the difference between revenues received from the sale of output and opportunity cost (Mankiw, 1998). For example, the difference between incomes received from selling a car and forgone alternatives of making that car. 4. Law of diminishing returns states that when other factors are held constant any additional unit of input leads to an increase in output at a declining rate till at a certain point where any additional input leads to a decline in output (Hall and Lieberman, 2010). For example, if more fertilizers are added in the production of wheat the output increases till a certain point when any additional unit of fertilizers added leads to a decline in output of wheat. 5. Marginal product of labour is the additional amount of output that is being produced when a firm decide sto employ additional labour in the production process (Hall and Lieberman, 2010). For example, a firm may produces 10 units of output with a labour of 5 people, and after adding another 5 people output may increases to 20 units. 6. Monopolistic competition. Is a type of market structure with many sellers selling similar but differentiated products whereby each seller has the freedom of setting his or her own selling price (Mankiw, 2011). Example: in the United States numerous sellers differentiate their products and the prices for those products (Mankiw, 2011). 7. Sunk cost refers to the amount of money that has already been spent and can not be recovered (Hall and Lieberman, 2010). For example: Amount of money incurred by investor to start and operate a business. 8. The principal-agent problem refers to a conflict of interest that arises when the agent pursues the same interest as his principal (Mankiw, 2011). Example: car dealer hires an agent to sell his cars to particular

Applying Theory to Practice Essay Example for Free

Applying Theory to Practice Essay Theory offers procedure and arrangement to nursing knowledge and provides a methodical way of collecting data to define, clarify, and forecast nursing practice (McEwen Willis, 2011). Nurses use nursing theory to develop a certain outlook about patient care. Nursing theories serve as a shared groundwork for nursing practice across all settings to develop better patient care outcomes. This paper will explore childhood obesity and then apply to practice a mid-range and a borrowed nursing theory to the practice problem. Childhood obesity is a national problem that crosses all economic and social lines. Overweight children and adolescents are in jeopardy of having heart disease, such as hyperlipidemia or hypertension. In a varied group trial of 5- to 17-year-olds youths, 70% of overweight youth had at least one risk factor for heart disease (Freedman, Zuguo, Srinivasan, Berenson, Dietz, 2007). Overweight youth are at higher risk to develop Type II diabetes (Li, Ford, Zhao, Mokdad, 2009). Type II diabetes increases the risk of long term complications such as renal disease, visual impairment, cardiovascular disease, amputation, neuropathy, up to and including death. Youth that are overweight are also at higher risk for musculoskeletal issues, sleep disorders, socio-economic problems due to families inability to obtain medications and treatment. Overweight youth are also at risk of psychological problems such as being bullied in school, depression, suicide, and poor self-esteem (Dietz, 2004). Children and adolescents who are obese often carry this into adulthood and become obese adults. This sets them up for the likely hood of adult health problems such as heart disease, diabetes, stroke, and osteoarthritis (Guo Chumlea, 1999). Some of the long term ramifications of childhood obesity include but are not limited to many types of cancer, including cancer of the breast, colon, endometrium, esophagus, kidney, pancreas, gall bladder, thyroid, ovary, cervix, and prostate, multiple myeloma and Hodgkin’s lymphoma (Kushi et al., 2006). There are so many short term and long term emotional and physical ramifications associated with childhood obesity that it warrants research and study. Childhood obesity is preventable and treatable. As a society it is time that measures were put into place to reduce the ever increasing numbers of children dealing with childhood obesity on a daily basis. There also seems to be a tendency for obesity to be passed down from generation to generation not because of genetics alone, but because of the learned lifestyle of the family. To treat children and adolescents for obesity it is going to take educating and treating the entire family unit. References Dietz, W. H. (2004). Overweight in childhood and adolescents. New England Journal of Medicine, 350(), 855-857. Freedman, D. S., Zuguo, M., Srinivasan, S. R., Berenson, G. S., Dietz, W. H. (2007). Cardiovascular risk factors and excess adiposity among overweight children and adolescents: the Bogalusa heart study. Journal of Pediatrics, 150(1), 12-17. Guo, S. S., Chumlea, W. C. (1999). Tracking of body mass index in children in relation to overweight in adulthood. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 70(), 145-148. Kushi, L. H., Byers, T., Doyle, C., Bandera, E. V., McCullough, M., Gansler, T. (2006). American cancer society guidelines on nutrition and physical activity for cancer prevention: Reducing the risk of cancer with healthy food choices and physical activity. CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians, 56(56), 254. Li, C., Ford, E. S., Zhao, G., Mokdad, A. H. (2009). Prevalence of prediabetes and its association with clustering of cardiometabolic risk factors and hyperinsuline mia among US adolescents. Diabetes Care, 32(). McEwen, M., Willis, E. M. (2011). Theoretical basis for nursing (3 ed.). Philidelphia, PA: Wolters Kluwer .

Professional Ethics in the Construction Industry

Professional Ethics in the Construction Industry Introduction The business news headlines of ethical meltdowns of global companies such as Enron, WorldCom, and Tyco, which now have become synonymous with greed, serve as a key reminder to the companies and individuals in business to practice ethical behaviour (Doran, 2004). One of the most frequently reported unethical practices in business is bribery, described as: â€Å"the offering of some good, service or money to an appropriate person for the purpose of securing a privileged and favourable consideration (or purchase) of ones product or corporate project† (Almeder and Humber, 1983, cited in Johnson, 1991: 327). Building professionals have gain integrity and respectability through professional bodies such as the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), Malaysian Institute of Architects (PAM), The Institution of Engineers Malaysia (IEM), and Institution of Surveyors Malaysia (ISM), which reflects the professionals of construction industry. These professional standards and ethics are embodied in codes of practice, which define the roles and obligations professionals (Harris et al., 1995) and are the cornerstone of any ethics programme (Calhoun and Wolitzer, 2001). Ethics and Professionalism The Oxford English Dictionary defines ethics as the moral principles that govern or influence a persons conduct. Ethics, as defined by Doran (2004), is the discipline dealing with what is good and bad about moral duty and obligation; a set of accepted moral principles and values about what ought to be; a theory or system of moral principles governing the appropriate conduct for an individual or group; and a code of morality. Doran points out that â€Å"ethics is something that the industry needs to talk more about, agree on, and put into wider practice† (2004: 4). Hinman (1997) distinguishes morals and ethics by regarding morals as first order beliefs, and practices about what is good and bad which guide behaviour; while ethics as second order, reflective consideration of moral beliefs and practices. Martin (2000), defines professionalism as setting aside personal values, feelings, and benefits in order to fulfill the obligations inhered in professional roles. Ethical behaviour, in construction context, is determined by the level of trustworthiness and integrity with which organizations and individuals perform their business (Mason, 2009). In a survey by Vee Skitmore (2003), it was agreed by 93% of the respondents that â€Å"business ethics† should be driven or governed by â€Å"personal ethics†, where there is a need to maintain the balance of both the requirements of the client and the impact on the public. Greenhalgh (1997), describes the core of professionalism as the self-reliant control of a group of experts possessing honorific status. Ethics have a role to play in general business practice despite the term â€Å"business ethics† being called an oxymoron (Ferguson, 1994). The applicability of general concepts of ethics to business is now realized after the recent appearance of greater consensus on this issue. This has been explained on the grounds that business exists not solely to accommodate certain individuals, but also to serve the society and, conforms to collective and social needs (Cohen and Grace, 1998) and environment in general (Fleddermann, 1999). Put differently, the spirit of a ny literal profession cannot be attained without an ethics element (Bowie, 1991). Professional Ethics in Construction Industry Professional ethics as defined by Martin (2000), consists of moral requirements attached to a profession and imposed on its members, together with ethical dilemmas created when there is a conflict of interest or the requirements are too vague to give guidance. Bayles (1988) describes professional ethics as a system of behavioural norms. Such norms ensure that professional does not take advantage over the client due to the knowledge differential the application of customer protection through self-regulation. Construction professionals, for instance, engineers, architects, project managers, surveyors and contractors, have the fundamental right of professional conscience (Martins and Schinzinger, 1996, cited in Fleddermann, 1999, p.87). Another important feature of ethics in the construction industry is â€Å"personal ethics† often interpreted by construction professionals as just treating others with the same point of honesty that they would want to be treated (Badger and Gay, 1996). Yet, it has been suggested that professionals in general tend to believe that their responsibilities to the client far outweigh the public (Johnson, 1991). An Australian study by Vee Skitmore (2003), demonstrates that most organizations subscribed to a professional code of ethics (90%), and many (45%) had an ethical code of conduct in their employing organizations. Reeck (1982) notes that ethical codes provide guidance for professionals in determining proper action. A South African study based on the work done in Australia shows that a new suite of professional Acts promulgated in 2000 in South Africa had boosted the profile of ethics (Vee Skitmore, 2003). However, Henry (1995) cautions that ethical codes do not solve moral dilemmas but do help to raise the levels of awareness and so encourage ethical practice. Professional Misconduct and its Impact to the Construction Industry The renowned cases of corporate malfeasance such as Enron reflect the unethical business practices that resulted in companies rapidly lose their reputations; shareholders revolt, unemployment, besides causing the whole industries to come under suspicion (Doran, 2004). Dorans research has shown that unethical behaviour affects the publics perception of the industry (61%), and more significantly, it affects the level of trust between clients and contractors (74%), and between contractors and design professionals (60%). As a matter of fact, codes of practice alone are insufficient to ensure ethical conduct in the construction industry. Ethical misconducts continue to happen in the construction industry, for instance, collusive tendering that results in apparently competitive bids, price fixing, or market distribution strategies that prohibit the spirit of free competition and defraud clients (Zarkada-Fraser, 2000), bid-cutting (May et al., 2001), bid-shopping, cover pricing, hidden fees and commissions and compensation for unsuccessful tenderers (Ray et al., 1999; Zarkada-Fraser and Skitmore, 2000), together with â€Å"withdrawal† ( Zarkada, 1998: 36) where a tenderer withdraws their bid after consultation with other tenderers. Other frequently reported unethical practices are related to fraud, breach of confidence and negligence. Deceit, trickery, sharp practice, or breach of confidence, by which it is sought to gain some unfair or dishonest advantage, is the description of the unethical practice of fraud (Bolgna et al., 1996: 9). A common breach of confidentiality is whistle blowing, described as the act of an employee of informing the public or higher management of unethical or illegal behaviour by an employer or supervisor (Johnson, 1991: 32). Negligence is the â€Å"failure to exercise that degree of care which, in the circumstances, the law requires for the protection of those interests of other persons which may be injuriously affected by the need of such care†. (Delbridge et al., 2000). The main sources of negligence are design negligence, design defect, production defect or a combination of these factors (Thorpe and Middendorf, 1980: 75). Barriers that Limit Professional and Ethical Behaviour Brien (1998), states that the cause of ethical failure in an organization can often be traced to its organizational culture and also the failure of the leader to encourage ethical practices among the members. In spite of the fact that personal ethics that constitute to perception of beliefs, values, personality and background, any tendency of an individual towards ethical conduct is strongly influenced by the value systems reflected by the employing organization (Mason, 2009). According to one study by Pearl et al. (2007), the extent to which ethical internal control is exercised within an organization will influence the difficulty facing any professional community. When the participants of the construction industry get caught in a compromising situation, the temptation for them to be unethical can be almost irresistible which is particularly true at the contractor level. The pressure on contractors are emphasized by Stansbury (2005), Chairman of Transparency International (UK) that, the majority of contractors engaged in corruption are forced by the way the industry and the political environment operate. Furthermore, there is no consensus on precisely what constitutes unethical behaviour and what should be done to improve it (Mason, 2009). Improving Professional Ethics in the Construction Industry There are contravening opinions as to whether or not the adoption of ethical codes has enriched ethical standards in the construction industry. Indeed, some commentators have even suggested that an ethical code is nothing more than public relations â€Å"window dressing† (Starr, 1983). Mason (2009), in his research describes that a single-wide code can contribute to the development of ethical standards within the construction industry as â€Å"the first line of defense against corruption† (Uff, 2003). The Code was intended to apply to all professionals of construction industry regardless of their qualification or affiliation. The principles are set out as accepted behaviour benchmark and regroup into seven qualities as honesty, fairness, fair reward, reliability, integrity, objectivity and accountability. Even so, Mason indicates that the change for a better ethical standards of conduct in the industry can only be achieved by reducing the chances for construction partic ipants to consider it a need to draw advantage at someone elses expense. He points out that other measures such as longer term relationships and collaborative working in the industry also play an equally substantial role in ethical improvement. Mason (2009), suggests that one way to improve ethical standards is simply by enforcing the law where unethical conduct is also a breach of the criminal law. This can be illustrated by the enforcement activity in the UK by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT 2007). The OFT aim is to ensure a fair competition during tender bid stages, which regards collusion as a contravention of competition, and the OFT has continues to conduct investigation to battle corruption. Dorans research (2004) has implied that the construction industry should get more training on professional ethics, where 97% thought that ethics training should begin at the collegiate level. Despite the trend towards increased training in the construction industry continues to grow, the initiatives to offer training on ethics is seldom heard. Doran suggests that companies should adopt ethical codes before increasing the training on ethics so that training will be more goal-orientated. References: Bowie, N. (1991). Business ethics as an academic discipline, in Freeman, R.E. (Eds). Business Ethics: The State of the Art. Oxford University Press: New York. Brien, A. (1998). Professional ethics and the culture of trust.Journal of Business Studies, 17, pp.391-409. Doran, D. (2004),FMI/CMAA Survey of Construction Industry Ethical Practices, FMI Corporation, Raleigh, NC. Retrieved October 8, 2009 from www.acce-hq.org/documents/ethics_survey.pdf Fellows, R. (2003). Professionalism in Construction: Culture and Ethics. CIB TG23 International Conference, October 2009, Hong Kong. Ferguson, W.C. (1994). Building a solid ethical foundation in business.The Executive Speaker, 9(1), pp.33-39. Fleddermann, C.B. (1999), Engineering Ethics. Prentice-Hall: Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey. Greenhalgh, B. (1997).Practice Management for Land, Construction and Property Professionals. Chapman and Hall: New York. Hinman, L. M. (1997) Ethics: A Pluralistic Approach to Moral Theory, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. Johnson, D.G. (1991), Ethical Issues in Engineering. Prentice Hall: Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey. Martin, M.W., Schinzinger, R. (1996), Ethics in Engineering, 3rd ed. McGraw-Hill: New York. Mason, J. (2009). Ethics in the construction industry: the prospects for a single professional code. International Journal of Law in the Built Environment, 10(3), 192-204. Retrieved October 5, 2009, doi: 10.1108/17561450911001252 Office of Fair Trading (2007). OFT makes ‘fast track offer in biggest error UK cartel investigation, Retrieved October 19, 2009, from www.oft.gov.uk/news/press/2007/49-07 Pearl, R., Bowen, P., Makanjee, N., Akintoye, A., Evans, K. (2007). Professional ethics in the South African construction industry a pilot study. Journal of Construction Management and Economics, 25(6), pp.631-648. Reeck, D. (1982). Ethics for Professioans: A Christian Perspective, Augsbury: Minneapolis. Stansbury, N. (2005).Construction Environment is Prone to Corruption, Retrieved October 18, 2009, from www.buildingtalk.com/news/tch/tch193.html Starr, W. (1983). Codes of ethics: towards a rule-utilitarian justification.Journal of Business Ethics, 2, pp.99-106. Uff, J. (2003).Duties at the Legal Fringe: Ethics in Construction Law, Fourth Michael Brown Foundation Lecture. Vee, C. and Skitmore, R.M. (2003) Professional Ethics in the Construction Industry, Engineering Construction and Architectural Management 10(2), 117-127. Retrieved August, 28, 2009, doi: 10.1108/09699980310466596

Vlad Dracula - A Makeup Plot :: essays research papers

Character Analysis – Count Vlad Dracula   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The man known as â€Å"Dracula† was Vlad Tepes (the Impaler) - a king in one of the historical parts of Romania. Born in 1431 in Sighasoara, Transylvania, Tepes grew up in a Germanic, and later Turkish atmosphere (as a prisoner from 1444 to 1448), became a tyrannical ruler that was feared throughout the lands, then died in 1476 in a fight defending his country.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Based off of the motion picture â€Å"Bram Stoker’s Dracula†, Count Vlad denounced God after the death of his beloved, Elizabeta. Allegedly, in his rebirth, Vlad (known in legend and in history as Dracula or Dracul) became an unholy demon to avenge Elizabeta’s death for all of eternity.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The form of Dracula that I’m portraying (he had many in the film, including a wolf form, dignified prince, demon, and bat) is seen in the beginning of the picture when he is first introduced in real-time. Jonathan Harker first arrives at the Romanian castle and is greeted by this creepy, cryptic, and subtlety intimidating old man. He is garbed in royal red satin as if he still rules this land and its . . . people. Though visually ancient, his eyes seem much younger than his body and skin present them to be; and his smile – his features crinkle up to this . . . hideous grin.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In the world of makeup design, this version of Count Dracula is quite complicated; the film didn’t win an Academy Award for Best Makeup for nothing! Gary Oldman sat in the makeup chair for a long time for this role. In analyzing his visage, we can see that the ancient face of the Count is aged very carefully by the extensive use of latex. The natural wrinkles of Oldman’s face were heightened drastically. The skin tone itself was of a sickly white – not albino, just white enough to be really old and still slightly human. Oldman’s eyebrows were completely covered (with the latex) and were replaced with slight strands of white hair. His cheekbones, bones on the top of his eyes, and chin cleft were nicely accentuated. Due to their dark and sunken nature, his eyes themselves are quite focused on and almost hypnotic – a well-known characteristic of the Count. Though he is very VERY â€Å"up there† in age, his weathered look give s him a sense of his struggling history and inner strength.

Volleyball :: essays research papers

Title:Blocking in Volleyball Description: Blocking in Volleyball Blocking is a very important defensive aspect of volleyball at higher levels. Blocking is one of the hardest skills to learn, and does not always show direct results. The Body: Blocking in Volleyball Blocking is a very important defensive aspect of volleyball at higher levels. Blocking is one of the hardest skills to learn, and does not always show direct results. The block serves four basic functions. The first is to stop the ball, and hopefully return it to the opponents side for a point or side out. The second is to eliminate as a much of the court for the opposing hitter to hit into, also making the court easier for the back row to defend. The third is to deflect the ball up so that it can be used for an attack. The last function is to force the use of a secondary (possibly weaker) hitter, or a secondary hit such as a tip or half hit. The basics of the block begin at the feet. The feet should be parallel, about fourteen inches from the net, and about shoulder width apart. The weight should be on the inside of the feet, with more weight on the foot opposite the direction of the most likely movement. Knees should be slightly bent. Hands should always be kept at shoulder height, elbows flexed, and the forarms should be parallel to the net. Prior to jumping a half squat position should be assumed, with back straight, leaning slightly to the net. Ater jumping hands should go up and slide over the net as far as possible. The arms and hands should be rigid, with thumbs upward and fingers spread apart. Before contact, the arms, shoulders, and hands should be turned inward to the center of the court. The body should pike. The hands should be open to surround, and try to catch the ball. There are two main methods of movement. These include the side step and the crossover. The side step is meant for covering a short distance. The body stays square to the net. The foot closest to the direction of the movement moves first. The outer foot then follows sliding back to a shoulder width position. Setting the block involves several variables. These include the distance of the set from the net, height of the set, attacker, angle of hitters approach, what hand the hitter uses, and lastly the position of the attacking arm and elbow in relationship to the ball.

How Much Business Risk Does American Home Products Face Essay

1. How much business risk does American Home Products face? How much financial risk would American Home Products face at each of the proposed levels of debt shown in case Exhibit 3? How much potential value, if any can American Home Products create for its shareholders at each of the proposed levels of debt? (See Exhibits 1 and 2 ) American Home Products currently has low business risk due to the conservative nature of their business. They piggyback on first movers to lower their research and development costs. They excel in marketing therefore they concentrate on outselling their competitors. Also, they have low business risk because they are diversified among four product lines: prescription drugs, over the counter drugs, food products, and housewares producing over 1500 products. Three of American Home Products’ product lines (prescription drugs, over the counter drugs, and food products) are within the defensive industries which mean they have little sensitivity to the business cycle. These industries outperform others even when the economy is bad. In addition, through diversification of manufacturing a variance of product lines, if one product line were to experience a decrease in sales, the other lines should theoretically pick up the slack. AMH appears to be a healthy company when looking at its financial statements. AMH’s net worth (total assets-total debt) is 1,472.8 million. They have an excess cash of $233 million. Their ROE, profit margin, ROA, and A/R receivable turnover days all illustrate AMH’s financial strength indicating that they can rapidly generate cash to sustain their current growth rate, at 30.3%, 11.7%, 18.72%, AND 49.73 days respectively. AMH outperforms their industry in all above mentioned ratios. (See Exhibit #1). However it should be noted that their sales have decreased 5.3% from 14.1% in 1978 to 8.8% in 1981. This foreshadows possible risk in the future. This is why AMH is rethinking their conservative and â€Å"tightfisted spending† business approaches. Currently AMH’s financial performance is strong. (Refer to Exhibit #2). Their high return on equity (ROE) at 30.3% illustrates how much profit the company is generating with the shareholder’s investments. In addition, they have low debt to equity and low debt to asset (debt) ratios both at .005. This further signals their financial strength. From the debt ratios we see that a change decrease in sales or an increase in interest payments would not affect AMH because they have plenty of free cash flow. However the debt ratios also indicate that management may not be responsibly growing the company through the use of leverage and forgoing many opportunities for future growth. Therefore when you compare the increase of debt alternatives AMH has you can see an increase in debt to equity and debt to debt to asset ratios. For example the debt to equity ratio increases at each level, 30%, 50%, and 70%, to .17,.32, and .513 respectively. The same is true for the debt to asset ratio. It increases to .15,.24,and .34 at 30%,50%,and 70% respectively. Although these could signal financial solvency issues, the industry’s debt to equity ratio is .32, and their debt to asset ratio is .24. This is consistent with the AMH’s 50% debt alternative option. However, the increase of debt adds value to the company. This is best illustrated when looking at the earnings per share (EPS) and dividend payout ratio. As the debt increases so do both of the above mentioned ratios. EPS consistently increases from 3.18 with no added leverage to 3.33 at 30%, 3.41 at 50%, and 3.49 at 70%. The DPS ratio increase from .597 at no additional leverage to .602 at 70%. Shareholders often interpret an increase in dividends as an increase in confidence of future growth within the company. AMH is financially strong; however, the provided statistics show it would be best for the company to increase its leverage to a certain level to add more value to the stockholders. If it merely utilizes the excess cash flow of $233 million to repurchase stocks it only adds value to the stockholders in the short run. In the long run AMH should increase their leverage investing in areas such as R&D of new and existing products. This will not only increase value for the company but essentially add value to the stockholders. This reduces AMH’s probable future risk of losing market share to competitors. I believe the certain level is the 30% alternative. 2. What capital structure would you recommend as appropriate for AHP? What are the advantages of leveraging this company? The disadvantages? How would leveraging up affect the company’s taxes? How would the capital markets react to a decision by the company to increase the use of debt in its capital structure? I would recommend the 30% capital structure level. One reason I chose this level is because of the already conservative business atmosphere. This level will receive less resistance for acceptance than the higher levels of 50% and 70%. It still keeps them above the industry on all performance ratios. (Recall that the industry is more consistent with the 50% alternative option.) This will increase their DPS from $1.90 to $2.00. This will increase confidence among investors. Their EPS will increase from 3.18 to 3.33 signally they are increasing value for the stockholders. AMH’s dividend payout ratio will increase from .597 to .601. Their stock price should also increase from $30.00 to $35.66. This is forecasted by dividing the total market value of common stock ($4,838.56) by the average common shares outstanding (135.7 million). In addition there are other advantages of increase the firm’s leverage. They include: creating a tax shield, generating more free cash flow for future expansions, generating more free cash flow to repurchase stock, a short run increase in EPS due to repurchase of stocks, and overall an increase to the intrinsic value of the company. As always with advantages, disadvantages are present to. They include: an increase in financial risk. Despite the tax shield, the interest payment will result in a decrease to net income, and the bond rating could decrease to a AA status. The bond rating for a AAA is determined by a 18 Times Interest Earned Ratio. Once AMH increases their leverage to 30%, they will decrease their TIE to 17.50. Whereas, a AA is currently rated around a 9, further debt acquisition could result in a decrease of their bond rating and a decrease in value for stockholders. (Calculation: EBIT/Interest= tie ratio 922.2/52.,7=17.50) Although the increased leverage decreases the amount of earnings available to stock holders from 496.9 million to 451.7 million for a total of 45.2 million dollars, it has a positive affect for the company’s tax structure. It actually reduces the company’s tax liability by 83 million dollars! Without the debt they have to pay 952.5 million dollars in taxes. However after an increase of 30% leverage, the new tax liability is 869.5 million dollars. Although the accounting value of the stock price appears more significant, the market value of the stock price will increase, too. Since you have to factor in the new liability of $362.2 million dollars for the debt, he new stockholders’ equity will be calculated at $4838.86 less 233 less 362.2 in millions arriving at $4,243.66 reducing the number of stock repurchases by 19.126.. Then dividing the new stockholders’ equity by shares outstanding (136.374) and arriving at the new stock price of $31.12. 3. How might AHP implement a more aggressive capital structure policy? What are the alternative methods for leveraging up? The obvious alternative for AMH to implement a more aggressive capital structure policy is to acquire more debt by utilizing the other options at 50% or 70%. Alternative methods for leveraging up include: purchasing shares of outstanding stock at the same time as the company issues bonds, create convertible security options for their stockholders where they can turn in stocks for the new bond securities, buy fixed assets, and utilizing derivatives in hedge funds to leverage the company’s assets. 4. In view of AHP’s unique corporate culture, what arguments would you advance to persuade Mr. Laporte or his successor to adopt your recommendation? The very first thing I will do is show Mr. Laporte my charts that illustrate how increasing debt will bring an increase of overall stockholders wealth. My Laport believes that a company’s main goal is to build value for stockholders, so I will start there. Since, I know he will be still be reluctant, I next will show him how the debt can be repurchased by AHP at a later date if he feels necessary. I will show him that the earnings available at the end of the year for common stockholders are more than the total debt amount. I will further show him that the net worth of the company is $1,654.5 which also could absorb the costs. (The second option would actually be the better of the two options for repurchase of debt.) Then, I will show Mr. Laporte how the tax advantage will save the company 83 million dollars in the first year! I will reassure him that the financial ratios already illustrate that he has superb management skills and can efficiently and effectively manage the company’s assets, thus he will excel with the new capital structure. Furthermore, the new leverage will still keep the company outperforming competitors within the industry. I will show him the industry ratio chart below. Lastly, I will suggest the increased free cash flow can also be utilized in research and development and perhaps gain a new absolute advantage!