Fin 419 Week 5 Team Assignment with Answers

Principles of Managerial Finance FIN/419 P12. 4 Break even analysis. Barry Carter is considering opening a music store. He wants to estimate the number of CDs he must sell to break even. The CDs will be sold for $13. 98 each, variable operating costs are $10. 48 per CD, and annual fixed operating costs are $73,500. A) Find the operating breakeven point in number of CDs. Q= FC / P- VC Q= 73,500 / 13. 98 – 10. 48 Q= 21,000 CDs B) Calculate the total operating costs at the breakeven volume found in part a. EBIT= Q x (P – VC) – FC EBIT= 21,000 x (13. 98 – 10. 48) – 73,500 EBIT= 21,000 x 3. 5 – 73,500 EBIT= 0 C) If Barry estimates that at a minimum he can sell 2,000 CDs per month, should he go into the music business? 2,000 CDs per month x 12 months = 24,000 CDs. Since the operating breakeven point in number of CDs is 21,000, this means that Barry will sell 3,000 more CDs that will be a profit. Depending on Barry’s outcome of the music store, if he were to go into the music business and sell 2,000 CDs a month, he would make a profit. The profit would not be that much more above the operating breakeven point; however, it will still be a profit. I would take the chance and go into the music business. D) How much EBIT will Barry realize if he sells the minimum 2,000 CDs per month noted in part c? EBIT= Q x (P – VC) – FC EBIT= 24,000 x (13. 98 – 10. 48) – 73,500 EBIT= 24,000 x 3. 5 – 73,500 EBIT= 10,500 P12-11 a. $0. 38 b. $1. 28 c. $1. 94 Ebit| | | | $24,600| $30,600| $35,000| less interest| | | $9,600| $9,600| $9,600| Net profits before taxes| | $15,000| $21,000| $25,400| Les Taxes| | | | $6,000| $8,400| $10,160| Net profits after taxes| | $9,000| $12,600| $15,240| Less preferred stock dividends| $7,500| $7,500| $7,500| Earings available for common| | $1,500| $5,100| $7,740| Earings per share| | | $0. 8| $1. 28| $1. 94| | | | | a| b| c| P12-24. : Integrative–optimal capital structure Intermediate a. Debt Ratio| 0%| | 15%| | 30%| | 45%| | 60%| EBIT| $2,000,000| | $2,000,000| | $2,000,000| | $2,000,000| | $2,000,000| Less: Interest| 0| | 120,000| | 270,000| | 540,000| | 900,000| EBT| $2,000,000| | $1,880,000| | 1,730,000| | $1,460,000| | $1 ,100,000| ? Taxes @40%| 800,000| | 752,000| | 692,000| | 584,000| | 440,000| Net profit| $1,200,000| | $1,128,000| | $1,038,000| | $ 876,000| | $ 660,000| Less: Preferred dividends| 200,000| | 200,000| | 200,000| | 200,000| | 200,000| Profits available to ?common stock| $1,000,000| | $ 928,000| | $ 838,000| | $ 676,000| | $ 460,000| # shares outstanding| 200,000| | 170,000| | 140,000| | 110,000| | 80,000| EPS| $ 5. 00| | $ 5. 46| | $ 5. 99| | $ 6. 15| | $ 5. 75| b. Debt: 0%Debt: 15% Debt: 30%Debt: 45% Debt: 60% c. The optimal capital structure would be 30% debt and 70% equity because this is the debt/equity mix that maximizes the price of the common stock. Chapter 16 Problem 16. For each of the loan amounts, interest rates, annual payments, and loan terms shown in the following table, calculate the annual interest paid each year over the term of the loan, assuming that the payments are made at the end of each year. Loan| Amount| Rate| Annual Payment| Term (in years)| Interest Paid Y ear 1| Year 2| Year 3| Year 4| Year 5| Year 6| A| $14,000| 10%| $4,416| 4 | $1400| $1098. 40| $766. 64| $401. 70| | | B| 17,500| 12%| 10,355| 2| 2100| 1109. 40| | | | | C| 2,400| 13%| 1,017| 3| 312| 220. 35| 116. 79| | | | D| 49,000| 14%| 14,273| 5| 6860| 5822. 18| 4639. 06| 3290. 31| 1752. 3| | E| 26,500| 16%| 7191| 6| 4240| 3767. 84| 3220. 13| 2584. 80| 1847. 80| 992. 89| Problem 16. 5 Lease versus purchase Northwest Lumber Company needs to expand its facilities. To do so, the firm must acquire a machine costing $80,000. The machine can be leased or purchased. The firm is in the 40% tax bracket, and its after-tax cost of debt is 9%. The terms of the lease and purchase plans are as follows: Lease The leasing arrangement requires end-of-year payments of $19,800 over 5 years. All maintenance costs will be paid by the lessor; insurance and other costs will be borne by the lessee. The lessee will exercise its option to purchase the asset for $24,000 at termination of the lease. Purchase If the firm purchases the machine, its cost of $80,000 will be financed with a 5-year, 14% loan requiring equal end-of-year payments of $23,302. The machine will be depreciated under MACRS using a 5-year recovery period. (See Table 3. 2 on page 108 for the applicable depreciation percentages. ) The firm will pay $2,000 per year for a service contract that covers all maintenance costs; insurance and other costs will be borne by the firm. The firm plans to keep the equipment and use it beyond its 5-year recovery period. a. Determine the after-tax cash outflows of Northwest Lumber under each alternative. Year| Lease after-tax outflows| Purchase after-tax outflows| 1| $11,880| $13,622| 2| 11,880| 10,459. 71| 3| 11,880| 15,391. 10| 4| 11,880| 18,512. 89| 5| 35,880| 19,516. 93| b. Find the present value of each after-tax cash outflow stream, using the after-tax cost of debt. Year| PV of outflows (Lease)| PV of outflows (Purchase)| 1| $10,893. 96| $12,491. 37| 2| 10,002. 96| 8,807| 3| 9,171. 6| 11,881. 93| 4| 8,411. 04| 13,107. 13| 5| 23,322| 12,686. 00| Total| $61,801. 32| $58,973. 51| c. Which alternative—lease or purchase—would you recommend? Why? The alternative that I would recommend is the purchase option because it has the lower present value of after-tax cash outflows as well as the most desirable. It is the most desirable because by purchasing the machine would be a less costly alternative. Reference s Gitman, L. J. (2009). Principles of Managerial Finance (12th ed. ). Retrieved from https://ecampus. phoenix. edu/content/eBookLibrary2/content/eReader. aspx.

Oedipus Rex – Entrapment of Mankind Through Reasoning

For example, when Alias and Oedipus Rexes were reveled with their prophecies, they tried to divert themselves away from it. As a result, they reverted themselves into the prophecy, therefore fulfilling it. Although man tries to control their own fate, in reality, such control is impossible and cannot be possessed. Through the use of Oedipus' life decisions, diction, and connotation of words to display the idea that man's most powerful attribute fails mankind. In other words, through Oedipus Rexes, Sophocles shows that reasoning cannot give mankind the power and control they sire. Therefore, such control and power for mankind does not exist.Oedipus Rexes proves that man's most powerful attribute Is reasoning. Sophocles gives his readers the idea that mankind is trapped through their most powerful attribute. Oedipus Rexes believed that he could escape the reality of his prophecy through his attempts to reason throughout it. However, his aim to avoid the prophecy using reason failed him . As the prophecy was revealed to Oedipus, he believed he could avoid it by leaving Corinth and the family whom he believed was his own blood. However, this thought of his is what failed him and lead to Oedipus actually fulfilling the prophecy.This decision leads mankind to believe that they can control their life through reasoning. As Oedipus moves onto Thebes, he crosses through the road where three roads meet. At this exact road, he meets Alias, his father, whom he does not know. Alias and Oedipus begin a feud start brawling with one another. Thus, completed. Although Oedipus continues onto Thebes and solves the sphinx's riddle, his success leads him into the second part of his prophecy being fulfilled as he meets Coast, marries her, bears children with her, and birth children of incest.In spite of the fact that Oedipus' best characteristic is his constant attempt to reason, it's his exact reasoning and questioning that lead him to the â€Å"truth† of the prophecy. Despite Oedipus' failed attempts to control the prophecy, Alias is also another culprit of failed attempts to reason. Alias, King of Thebes, birth a child with Coast and believed that he could become the next ruler of Thebes. However, a prophecy was told to Alias that his own son would soon murder him and take over. At this very moment, he decides It's best to bind Oedipus' feet and send him away to die.He does not realize, however, that this decision leads him Into the entrapment of his own life. He fulfills the actual prophecy when he tries to take Oedipus out of his life. This Is another failed attempt of reason. Therefore, man's most powerful attribute of proves that reasoning brings mankind doom. As Alias did not want his baby to kill him, he sends the baby away. The Old man sees the baby and picks it up because no mortal being would see a baby hurt and abandoned without having to pick it up. He gives the baby to his King of Thebes because he knows they cannot bare a child, feeling pi ty for them all.Oedipus himself hears about the prophecy and runs away from it. All these people, all these steps were made from attempts to reason and control the world, when in reality, it ultimately failed. Mankind cannot use their so- called â€Å"most powerful attribute of reasoning† to control their lives. If reasoning brings doom to mankind, what is the purpose of reasoning itself? Sophocles answers this question by proving through Oedipus Rexes that reasoning traps mankind, making mankind limited. The Chorus, whom supports Oedipus the most out of all characters of the play, reveal their thoughts and true emotion towards the doom of Oedipus.Through their character, Sophocles conveys the pity one may feel towards Oedipus whom was a great man dealt with UN inevitable doom. In a passage by the Chorus on pig. 18, they stated, â€Å"A prince of men/ Whose loot what citizen/ Did not with Emmy see,] How Deep the billows of calamity/Above him roll/Watch therefore and regard t hat supreme day;/And of no mortal say/That man is happy,† datelined by no grievous ill/He pass Life's goal In this passage, the Chorus shows how great of a man Oedipus was, nonetheless, how great of a King he was.He was not only great because of his role as King, he was great because he reasons. However, this characteristic of constant reasoning, to pursue and search for the truth leads to the fulfillment of the prophecy. When the Chorus says, â€Å"billows of calamity', they talk about the mass destruction Oedipus was placed in. On that day, he was realized he entrapped himself into the prophecy. Therefore, Oedipus acts as a representation of mankind, conveying the idea that seasoning dooms us all and traps mankind. Mankind is under the illusion that control exists and reason works.Through the first half of the stanza, the Chorus exemplifies their support for Oedipus. He was a Prince out of all the men, who gained respect and order from his people. After Oedipus discovered h is tragic state in the prophecy, such a situation could not be explained. It was disastrous, catastrophic, devastating, but all these words do not show how grievous this day was for Oedipus. He believed he escaped the prophecy and lead to be a King, a King of whom many honored. He set out to believe that he must save his city from disaster, from the plague, when he was the plague himself.The Chorus tells the readers to watch the day Oedipus fell into the prophecy and learn that no human being is lucky. No man has a goal, for their most powerful attribute fails them ultimately. Therefore, no man is lucky until they are dead. Sophocles shows through Oedipus Rexes that reasoning cannot give mankind the power and control that they desire. Through the understanding of the way Alias and Oedipus both failed at their attempts to reason and the Journey Oedipus invests myself into throughout the play, readers are able to see how Oedipus portrays a representation of mankind.Through his represe ntation, one may find that although doom upon him. This leads to the idea that reasoning fails mankind and the purpose of reasoning is invalid. Sophocles uses Oedipus life decisions, diction, and connotation of words to display the idea that man's most powerful attribute fails mankind. Although man tries to control their own fate, in reality, such control is impossible and cannot be be possessed.

Analysis of Health Club Market in UK Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Analysis of Health Club Market in UK - Essay Example In the first part of the project, an industry analysis of the health club market in the United Kingdom will be done. In the next part, an opportunity and a threat analysis will be performed for the major players in the health club market of the United Kingdom. Finally, in the third part, the business strategies of these competitors will be described. There are a large number of health clubs operating in the United Kingdom. An industry analysis of the health club market will be done to understand the threat that these companies possess from one another. The industry analysis will be done using Porter’s Five Forces Model: Rivalry from Existing Firms - In an industry, there are a large number of competitors competing in order to achieve competitive advantage. The intensity of this competition is one of the major determinants of the industry analysis. The business strategies of a firm help it to distinguish from the competitors. The merger activities of the health clubs have increased the competition in the market. Whitbread Plc has acquired David Lloyd Leisure in the year 1995. Canon and First leisure have also merged their fitness and health clubs. The merger or acquisition of the companies helps in the market extension as well. Thus the threat from the competitors in the health and fitness industry is very high. A threat of New Entrants- If the existing market yields high return to the companies operating in the market, it attracts new entries. But the entry of the new firms results in the decrease in the profitability of all the firms operating there. If barriers are not provided to these new entrants, the profitability of the firms will show an abnormal decrease.  

Summary Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 100

Summary - Essay Example As a point of departure, the purpose of this research is to test for both first and second level intermedia agenda-setting interrelationships among news media. The content analysis methodology is used in this article. Hypothetical analysis on the public response and interrelationship between salience issues of in the Obama Campaign ads and the salience of issues in Obama in 30 seconds ads were created (Ragas & Kiousis, November 01, 2010). Several other hypotheses that relate salience of issues in MoveOn.org ads wit salience of issues in Obama campaigns ads were also created. In the essence, the methodology is hypothetical. This implies the hypothesis is tested based on the primary data used in this article. Random sampling was used to select the subsamples of the ads. For instance, second trainer examined 20% of the subsample of ads. On the same regard, the primary data collected and the samples selected were analyzed by the use of Spearman’s rho correlation. The statistical tests were used to compare the agendas that regarded the issues and the attributed salience (Ragas & Kiousis, November 01, 2010). The study remains one of the first analyses to analyze the communication efforts of web-based political activist group during the initial stages of an election contest in a close range. In addition, the study associates the efforts to the schedules of activists and a candidate’s campaign. It can be concluded that, the article consists of the original research findings because primary data is used in the hypothetical analysis (Ragas & Kiousis, November 01,

International risk management Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

International risk management - Assignment Example The paper looks at these strategies together with a contingency plan for the product we seek to develop. This strategy seeks to completely eliminate the risk of a project to level 0. With this strategy minimum allowable risk is zero (Darity, 2008). In other words risk avoidance will imply that the developers avoid undertaking the project if it has been identified to have a component of risk in it. The strategy is rarely used in risk mitigation because almost all projects to be undertaken have a risk component in them. If the strategy is employed to mitigate risk in the product, the developers will have to avoid the development of the product since it has inherent risks. Some of the inherent risks include; the power failure on the leds, the small switches failing to work, risk that the product wouldn’t gain market approval among other risks. Thus since the developers aim to go ahead with the entire project cycle, this mitigation strategy wouldn’t be advisable. Risk sharing as another mitigation strategy used as a suitable way of reducing the possible negative outcome inherent to developing a product. It is one of the most common strategies employed in risk management. Risk sharing according to Bolton and Harris (2010), is defined as a risk management strategy which aims at reducing risk exposure by ensuring that the risk component in a project is first identified. After identification, the burden of possible loss is spread among several entities, units of enterprises or other partners critical to the particular project development. This risk management method is also called risk retention. The technique is a way of self-insuring the risks taking into consideration a multiplicity of entities. In developing the product that seeks to increase the safety of those riding bikes in the urban areas either at night or in the early morning hours, risk sharing as a method of mitigating risk suggests the need to look for other entities that might be interested in

Biometric Identification and Privacy Implications Essay

Biometric Identification and Privacy Implications - Essay Example As compared to older technologies, the rate at which unique biometric identifiers can be inputted, reviewed, and confirmed dwarfs that of the way in which other personal markers of recognition have been stored and utilized in the past. One of the most effective biometric scans that work best to avoid/prevent security threats is that of the palm sensor. Within such a device, the individual fingerprints or palm prints of the individual are not scanned. Instead, it utilizes a complex sensor that determines the exact measurements of the hand or fingers as a means of ascertaining whether or not the individual has clearance to operate within a given role. Although such an approach is not immune to security threats, the overall level and complexity of the information that a hacker or leaker could pose would be somewhat minimal; as the measurements of a person’s hand or fingers alone are not sufficient to represent a clear breach of privacy. Other tactics, such as fingerprinting and/o r retinal scanning can easily be seen as a more â€Å"unique† identifier of an individual and as such represent a higher security threat in the case that the information is compromised, hacked, or unwillingly

Into the Question of the Art Nature Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Into the Question of the Art Nature - Assignment Example It defines art as works created by artists: paintings, sculptures, etc., which are created to be beautiful or to express important ideas or feelings Painting is the process of applying a pigment, paint or a colour to a surface by use of a brush. In art, painting may be used to mean the action and the result of the action. It is a mode of creative expression and has numerous forms. Paintings can be representational and naturalistic, abstract, photographic, or be loaded with symbolism, narrative content or just emotional in nature. It has the elements of colour tone, intensity and a lot of nontraditional elements (Arnheim, 2009). A sculpture is a branch of visual arts. It is one of the oldest kinds of art, having existed before most of the other art forms. There were durable forms that used carving and modelling, but modernity has led to freedom in the ways that it’s done, in terms of the materials used and the process. Carving involved removal of parts of the material used, whereas modelling involved the addition of the material such as clay. Architecture is the form of art, and arguably a science, that deals with designing of building and non-building materials. It involves a lot of creative manipulation and coordination of technology and materials. We have the ancient architectures forms and the modern forms of architecture, which implies that architecture could also be as old as painting. (Ralph, 1998) Photography is the art and science of creating images. Light or some other electromagnetic radiation is recorded either chemically by use of a light-sensitive material such as a photographic film or electronically by use of an image sensor. A lens is always used to focus the light emitted or reflected from objects into the real image on the light-sensitive part of the camera.   Printmaking is a form of fine art. It is the process of making works of art by printing basically. Prints always have an element of originality. It is possible to create a multiplicity of prints of the same piece.  Ã‚  

Knowledge Management and Strategy Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Knowledge Management and Strategy - Case Study Example In this case the Australians Mango Industry Association Ltd. (AMIA) must look for ways in which they can create, capture, organize and eventually distribute knowledge from one part of the world to another. Consequently, the latter association needs to ensure that they can easily distribute this knowledge and that it is in fact available to other future users. Knowledge transfer mechanisms are quite different from communication mechanisms because they are more complex. AMIA needs to look for ways in which it can accumulate all the relevant knowledge for entering the Chinese market because there knowledge does not exist in just one form. The association's members could play a contributory role. Additionally, certain sub networks exist that could facilitate knowledge transfer. On top of this, it is likely that the tools and tasks prevalent within the association could go a long way in ascertaining that the company is itself one of the most respectable ones in the business. The latter association needs to put in mind that fact that a large portion of knowledge required to export mangoes to China is tacit hence the need to appropriate transfer mechanisms. There are a series of issues th... Argote (2000) states that the major weaknesses that can hinder knowledge transfer mechanisms are the informal networking activities. The following areas can facilitate these; Task forces Teams Managerial efforts Etc Since AMIA is venturing into unknown territory, then these informal networks have not yet been set. They may present problems in the transfer of knowledge. Additionally, the current situation may prove to be sticky in terms of knowledge transfer because of certain knowledge related factors. These factors can impede progress by AMAI owing to the fact that certain forms of knowledge may be too context specific. This means that there may be knowledge that applies only to Australia and cannot be exported to other parts of the world. This eventually makes such efforts futile. In other scenarios, certain forms of knowledge cannot be transferred by AMIA because it is too ambiguous to derive any form of usefulness from it. In order to acquire knowledge, it is important for people to be motivated to acquire it. In other words, the association needs to look for ways in which it can motive people to want to acquire knowledge. (Shaw, 2001) The need for motivation is important in any country or organization owing to the fact that increased knowledge can cause a disruption in the current working routines and also in the type of organizational practices prevalent within those areas. AMIA needs to dedicate considerable amount of resources and time in allowing them to deal with the issues as they are. Another major problem that is facing AMIA is with regard to the social cultural and also the structural distance between the two countries i.e. Australia and China. The latter association will have difficulties in communication because the two countries speak different

Financial Aid Appeal Essay Example for Free

Financial Aid Appeal Essay Dear Office of Financial Aid, My name is and I am writing to appeal my suspension from financial aid. I hope that you will reconsider your decision and grant my financial aid. I would like to begin thanking you in advance for taking the time to read this letter and consider my request to reinstate my financial aid at Metropolitan State University at Denver. I admit, I took so many credit hours in college, but I would like to explain the reason. As Spanish person, and because I speak English as a second language, I had to take ESL(English as a Second Language) classes for my first two years (four semesters) at CCD (Community College of Denver). The ESL program was not something that I had chosen, but something that I had to get done in order to follow my general education. I did not mean to spent so much time in college and take so many credit hours, but I did not have other options. Now that I have completed the ESL program, I feel so excited and motivated about taking regular classes. I love being student at Metropolitan State University at Denver and it would mean so much to me if I was able to finish my degree and graduate at this school. I already had completed most of general course, I’m done with my Math and some major course. I am currently registered for next spring 2013 classes and a few classes for the upcoming to get done with my degree. Thank you for taking the time to read this letter, and I assure you that my education is, and will continue to be, my main priority. I just hope you’d help me achieve my goals quicker by reinstating my Financial Aid. Thank you for your time and consideration.

Catcher In The Rye Essay Example for Free

Catcher In The Rye Essay A journey is more than a physical movement from one place to another. All journeys no matter how arduous entail setbacks and barriers that must be met. In doing so the traveller experiences a more significant inner journey of self growth. This is evident in the journey from adolescence to adulthood during which setbacks and barriers may entail a loss of innocence. J. D Salinger’s novel the Catcher in the rye explores this concept through various literary techniques. ( thesis) Loss of innocence as a major issue within the concept of a rites of passage is explored by J. D Salinger through the protagonist Holden Caulfield. His journey appears to be one self destructive act after another. This adult world into which Holden is forced into disturbs him profoundly. In his view, the adults who dwell this world, seem to be filled with phoniness, pretence and social compromise. He finds it almost intolerable to communicate with most adults and peers. This is prevalent throughout the book when he constantly brings up the question of what happens to the ducks in winter. The adults’ response to this recurring question is of contemn and expectation to know the answer, therefore never giving him an adequate explanation. This clearly demonstrates how his innocent mind conflicts with this phony adult world, and his response, is to rebel against this whole society. â€Å" quote† Holden expresses his rebellion through his inability to progress in life and his hatred of people. It is really only in children that he sees the true simplicity of honesty- and that is his escape from this adult phony world. Salinger portrays the transition from adolescence to adulthood as a quest for self identity and self discovery. For Holden however, his journey is a bombardment of obstacles in his search for connection with others, thus highlighting the angst of growing up. Holden finally breaks down with the constant disappointments and let downs he encounters. â€Å"quote ans technique† From his fight with Stradlater to Maurice’s exploitation of a prostitute, to Mr Antolini’s behaviour, Holden just cannot handle any more letdowns so his odyssey is one of loneliness and cynicism. An example of this is when Holden abruptly gives Sally an ultimatum to leave their current lives behind and build a future without the promise of stability. Sally’s refusal to this proposal results in Holden lashing out at her hence elucidating Holden’s naivety. And, just like a kid, he thinks that everyone is to blame except for him. The inability to meet setbacks and barriers and accept a loss of innocence within the jouney from adolescence to adulthood will inevitably lead to ones downfall. The deliberate irony is that Holden strives to act as a grown up but constantly acts like a child is seen in his provocation of his peers and his irrational thinking. â€Å"quote † The title of the book, â€Å"Catcher in the Rye,† is more than just a pretty ditty. It is Holden’s dream to be the catcher in the rye, thus save little children from falling off the cliff into adulthood. Anyway, I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all. Thousands of little kids, and nobodys aroundnobody big, I meanexcept me. And Im standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliffI mean if theyre running and they dont look where theyre going. I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. Thats all Id do all day. Id just be the catcher in the rye and all. I know its crazy, but thats the only thing Id really like to be. Holden is adamant on playing the adult role of protecting children and their innocence that gets lost in the adult phony world. He envisions protecting and shielding children from the evils of society, when he himself is one who is in a state of conflict between adolescence and adulthood. However, it is through the telling of his story that Holden eventually gains control of his disturbed past. His search for self identity and discovery can be seen as a search for tolerance, acceptance and understanding- something that he finally experiences in the final scene with Phoebe riding the carrousel. When he see’s Phoebe on the carrousel, he accepts that he is not a child anymore indicating that he is perhaps more accepting of change. Towards the end, Holden has found some wisdom when he claims to â€Å"sort of miss everyone. † There was some light for him at the end of the tunnel- and that light is hope and acceptance that he doesn’t live in such an evil world that he made out to be. Holden wants desperately to protect this idealistic life but perhaps he realises at the end that it is not possible and that maturity is a means of accepting what life throws at one. How he deals with obstacles along the way conveys Holden’s journey from adolescence into adulthood.

LOréal Internal and External Influences

LOrà ©al Internal and External Influences The beauty industry has always been on a rapid move either it being the consumers or the competitors whereby on stake lies millions of dollars to be griped on by the producers of the beauty products. LOreal being the worlds largest beauty firm employing around 50,000 employees worldwide and revenues worth 17.47 billion dollars in 2009. LOreal has created an international brand portfolio for consumers with wide range of incomes and tastes in 140 countries and we know that LOreal has certainly occupied a unique position in the fast pace global beauty environment. The road to success was difficult as a lot of barriers had to be overcome and LOreal manage to that as well as winning the hearts of millions of consumers and therefore being the King in the Industry. (B).THE INTERNAL EXTERNAL INFLUENCES ON LOREAL (B.1). INTERNAL INFLUENCES Mission and Vision LOreal operates with a distinctive global vision and market approach that have all been oriented to the fast growing global personal care market whereby their core values always have lied in integrity, responsibility and respect for the people and environment and thus satisfying and empowering the consumers further and thus allowing them to become a leader in Corporate Consumer Responsibility. Goals and objectives LOreal goals and objectives have always made them outstanding in the rest in the market as it always focused its strategy on achieving internal growth which was largely influenced by the ideas of acquisitions either it being strategic or tactical it has clearly lead to the overall growth of the business. Organisation Structure- LOreal has had a unique matrix structure as a result of this it has lead to effective communication throughout the whole organisation as well as developing effective market strategies and new product ideas. The matrix structure improved coordination with the rest of the departments in the organisation as well as on shared technologies and allowed information to move easily and feedback. Employees This has been a major influence on the organisations success as all employees are treated as assets in the company and all most all the employees have developed trusting relationships with their jobs as a result better working relations. Decision making- Decision making tends to be decentralized in the organisation thus allowing faster decisions to be made. Fast and flexible decision making willing to take risks has led them implore onto new opportunities in the market. Culture- LOreal has been built on strong values which have shaped culture and have guided the organisation throughout the life of the company whereby customer culture has always been emphasized as product safety and quality is paramount at all times and so becoming the leading beauty company .LOreal culture tends to cover all aspects of beauty for all consumers. The customer oriented culture has thus allowed LOreal to distinguish itself from competitors like PG. Research and Development- LOreal invested merely around à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬581 billion in 2008 as per (LOreal .com) so as to promote sustainable innovation and safer to products to its consumers. (B.2). EXTERNAL INFLUNCES Demographics- The demographic shifts really influence a companys products with the recent trends whereby ageing population in the western hemisphere, aspiring consumers in emerging markets and other trends all this but LOreal responded to this trends better than its rivals and as a reason to this being the only cosmetic group present in every distribution channel . Competition- Rivals such as Procter Gamble (PG) , Estee Lauder and Unilever have always had a fierce and cut-throat competition in the industry and as per Corbett (2004) who said that competition brings out the best in organisations and it certainly did with LOreal grabbing the most opportunities and winning over consumers hearts with new and innovative products. Political- Government rules and regulations always come into the picture and tend to change bring about a lot of changes and as well as in the 1970s where the French government wanted to control Frances top companies and because of this Gesparal was formed as holding company otherwise LOreal could have add problems because sometimes state run companies are lack inefficiency as well as innovation. Because of LOreal being a globalized company laws, rules , legislation and business practises vary in different countries and so LOreal faces the problem to try to adopt to various governmental rules in order for it to be favourable for the organisation Customer Tastes and Preferences Customers are seen as ever changing until they find one product which they prefer and become royal to the same applies in the beauty industry where consumers will jockey between brands but having notices all these LOreal designed products that meted every specific groups needs and wants as well s meeting up with the increasing demand of beauty of products in this decade and simply outsmarting its rivals. Social Influences- With the new trends and urban flairs changing around lifestyle plays a key role as well as the question of only celebrities are used in advertisements and so cannot relate to an ordinary woman in society keeps on posing s serious question. Economic- Cosmetics are normally considered as a luxury product well during times of a dismal economy LOreal could face the problem of lack of consumer demand and so try to look into other countries plans and policies to try lifted the country out of recession. Technological Business operates in a world of rapid technology and so LOreal has to keep up with the pace otherwise could lose its market position. Advances in technological methods has had a positive intake from the companies as it allows them to reduce product obsoleteness and so advances in production methods have created products with longer life spans.eg the creation of the express finish fast dry nail enamel really became popular having huge amounts of sale everywhere Globalization Has been the major driving factor to many of the external influences as it has allowed the spreading of production, communication and technologies. (C).HOW GLOBALISATION INFLUENCES POLICIES AND DECISION MAKING IN LOREAL The world we live in is a different place from what it was 30 years or 40 years ago this is simply been because of what writers like to call an invisible earthquake i.e. Globalisation. Therefore we are living in a world of increasing instantaneity and every individual is influenced by globalisation so what to speak about organisations especially like LOreal. Globalisation is the spread and connectedness of production, communication and technologies across the world that spread has involved the interlocking of economic and cultural activity. According to Held and McGrew (2007) globalisation is seen as a stretching of social, political and economic activities across political frontiers and therefore all this factors have to be included in the policies and decision making of LOreal. One major influence that would always change their decision making was going to be how LOreal would cope- up with the new markets and new customers as well as reflecting upon wide variations between countries and cultures in their concepts of beauty and levels of personal hygiene had to be really considered because as per Peppers and Rogers (2004) said that every customer is different in a market and therefore each customer needs and wants will differ and so LOreal had to adjust themselves and try meeting those needs if not they could end up losing out customers to their rivals. Therefore LOreal was trying to make sure that global plans are compatible with the rest of the markets across the world. Over the years a centralized decision making was supported but at the speed globalisation was going to decision making certainly had to become decentralized so as to allow faster decision to be made as well as to reduce the levels of authority because all organisations were going to function in a very pacing environment and if decisions took longer to make it could pose severe problems in the future Pathak (2005) also favoured the point that a decentralized decision system could also be the key to success in a globalised economy. Globalisation brings in new aspects of managing human capital and treating human capital as assets is the key to success as well therefore LOreal had changed their policies towards employees and not only that they tried developing employees skills and tests on a level not only of being profitable but creating successful business for the long term. Cherunilam (2007) said that technology has been the major driving force to globalisation and therefore once a technology is developed it soon becomes available everywhere in the world integrating this main function into the decision making process is crucial. The aspect of growing use of internet had to be considered and therefore after the growth in technology and users of internet LOreal had to change policies and start to create online stores where it was not a must for the customers to physically come to the store to purchase goods it could be done anywhere and so technology had to be encompassed in the decision making process. Globalisation is bound to bring in new international rules and regulations. LOreal decision to move into international markets tended to be really cautious to acquire new assets amidst and industry wide consolidation then underway in the world beauty industry. Because of this new rules and regulations it could take a long time before mergers and acquisitions could be finalized i.e. the acquisition of Kiehls took 3 years to finalise because it was under courtship therefore LOreal have to consider all the political laws and judicial precedents . Because of the emergence of the global village according to Griffiths (2008) it is the duty of every organisation to be a good corporate citizen and so he went on to outline the importances of any organisation to become a good corporate citizen and to take upon corporate social responsibility as its a growing importance to any organisation and if not practised by the organisation could lead to reduction in profits as well as customers therefore globalisation changes how an organisations aligns their values and behaviours with the expectations and needs of the stakeholders and therefore policies are certain to change because LOreal had to also be called accountable for their impact of activities on the society and the environment. Globalisation meant that social changes and lifestyles also had to be integrated in the decision making process i.e. The way stores were designed had to simply change and therefore new store designs were put into place and try to forge links either with the local community and so to be relevant to the customers. Increasing competition within the beauty industries is certainly going to bring out the best of all companies and therefore according to Lindstedt and Burenius (2003) the first step towards a profitable business is intelligent market segmentation, targeting and positioning. Increasing globalisation together with customer demands had to be watched carefully and careful segmentation and targeting had to be carried out so as to understand consumers needs if LOreal were to win over the hearts of customers therefore globalisation certainly placed major influences on policies and decision making in terms of how marketing would be carried out because LOreal was not only dealing with the French population it was dealing with over billions of people all around the world with different needs and desires thus LOreal would have to take markets and divide them into narrower and narrower segments .Although sustaining brand positioning was going to pose a difficult challenge but LOreal were up for the task that awaited them. Organisations have to change from a profit oriented culture to customer oriented culture if they wanted to succeed in a globalized village. Long term planning is not the goal with the pressures of globalisation therefore LOreal will have to move away from a traditional approach of long term planning i.e. for 10 years what has been to done is making plans so as to adopt or respond to the environmental changes as soon as possible i.e. coming up with new strategies have to worked out. (D). THE EFFECTIVENESS OF LOREALS RESPONSE LOreal dint have an accessibly priced genuinely popular brand with a global potential which it could start selling to the rest of the world and that posed a problem and so we will now discuss how effective LOreal was in its response to Globalisation. And therefore LOreal set out to have a portfolio of products which was attractively priced proposition not just to fill the hole in any country but so as t go around the whole world and in all new markets. Marketing was going to be a key role in the globalisation process and so it did play its role LOreal started identifying areas on improvement and in marketing nothing more is important than informing your customers about your products and services as per Lee and Johnson (2005) and so LOreal started spending huge amounts on advertising e.g. after the acquisition of Maybelline which was having a few problems in that customers would saw Maybelline was something their mothers wore and so LOreal clearly applied their expertise and technology to improve Maybellines products , its marketing and it spent around $70 million in advertising as well as it had to change the tagline of the products. According to White (2007) a tagline plays an important persuasive role in a campaign and therefore LOreal shifted its tagline to because youre worth it and after the changes to the acquisition it gave LOreal the passport to enter even new markets. As a result of this LOreal established a reputation for quality among US products and was able to sell products for a higher price than its competitors. LOreal started with having an organisational structure, marketing strategy and culture well oriented to the fast growing global personal care market. The marketing campaigns were always successful for LOreal as they used high profile celebrities in its ad campaigns and thus able to enhance global image. According to Yang (2005) said that the selection of an appropriate channel of distribution is very important because of the association that is created between the image of the channel and that of the brand. And so LOreal improved on their distribution channels as they were going to reach out to more consumers then ever and therefore the concept of selling beauty through several channels of distribution was very carefully watched as it corresponded to economic levels as well as psychographic .And therefore it was a able to create a strong presence in every distribution channel of each division Consolidation is an important competitive strategy in the beauty industry and for LOreal to become a leader it would have to be the leader in the American beauty industry and so acquisition became an internal growth strategy that will help LOreal to expand product portfolio and revenues because being big in States meant you are big worldwide and so the over the years LOreal went onto purchase many of the big names in the American market so at to be a leader and added its magical touches on all of them so as to become a global leader the major companies LOreal bought in USA were Redken and as a result of purchasing Redken it gave them the ability to implement strategy of acquiring US brands to complement European brands also the purchase of Maybelline allowed LOreal to obtain 17% of share of the $2.3 billion U.S. mass cosmetics industry. Frensch (2007) said that acquisitions aimed to extend product lines are more likely to lead to synergies and that swat exactly was happening as LOrea l was able to cut production costs down rapidly. As well as to that the acquisition of the top two US ethnic hair care manufacturers Soft Sheen and Carson allowed LOreal to obtain 20% of the fragmented ethnic hair care market. The other major response was the acquisition of Kiehls and Matrix. Matrix was the leading US hair care brand in the professional market while Kiehls acquisition tended to strengthen LOreals position in the speciality store high end segment of the business where LOreal had not been an important player.Helena Rubinstein and Ralph Lauren Fragrances and Cosmair allowed them to fill up the portfolio of products as well. And that Lancà ´me and Garnier which were purchased in 1964 also had a major role in the globalisation process as sales from Europe came from Lancà ´me and Garnier. For a firm to prevail in the market an edge over rivals must be sustained as well as a customer orientation for manufacturing organisations according to Prasad (2009) and because of this LOreal had a strong commitment to Research and development that many consider still consider still to be the firms most distinctive values and advantage over its rivals. LOreal spent $600 million in the year in 2003 which allowed them to later on reduce costs of products and creation of new products like the most famous being the Garnier Fructis Shampoo. And that LOreal has a portfolio of more than 20,000 international patents. LOreal certainly had many strategies under their sleeves they tended to rebrand many of the products that were not performing well and the rebranding lead to increase in sales and increase n customers e.g. Rebranding Maybelline New York grew up sales by 93% as well as dropping a few brands but mainly was that LOreal was acquire new brands and developing those brands effectively. Helena was reintroduced in the market as a more up scaling product and that lead to increase in sales. After considering the competition LOreal tended to establish international brand management teams which were responsible for creating new products and developing market positions and strategies. Technology was embedded as an advantage and LOreal started setting up online stores and so customers could purchase any product any time thus convenient to them. As per Griffiths (2008) who said that every organisation must be a good corporate citizen and so did LOreal adopt to the Corporate Social responsibility approach really positively and one of its acquisitions i.e. Kiehls mission was very much CSR oriented whereby it was making profit as to improve the quality of the community to which it is committed. As result of the major acquisition by 2004 LOreal was enjoying its 19th consecutive year of double digit growth and also recorded over 18 global brands which have helped to strengthen customer brand loyalty. (E). AREAS OF IMPROVEMENT IN LOREALS RESPONSE LOreal being the leader in the beauty industry is always at risk of competition and therefore to still stay ahead of competition areas of improvement still have to be undertaken a few areas are going to be discussed. Strong competition from major rivals that include Proctor and Gamble ( P G) as well as Revlon could always strike an attack and therefore LOreal still has to constantly be innovative so as to maintain its market share and knowing that LOreal spends around $600 million in Research and Development as per the case companies such as Toyota although in another industry spends on average 1 million per hour in research and development as per (www.thetruthaboutcars.com) so as to deliver better products and services to its consumers similarly Proctor Gamble are said to invest around $ 5 million a day in research and development according to (www.pg.com) whereby PG believe one of their major reasons of success is the amounts they have spent on RD which have lead to innovations and at the end of the day with increasing sales market share will increase therefore for LOreal to still be a leader in the years to come it will have to invest heavily in Research and development so as to become more a nd more innovative than its rivals and simply stay ahead of the competition. Improvements in areas like Customer Relationship Management are essential because according to Sayer Bruce (2007) who said that customers are always changing and therefore these patterns must be watched carefully, therefore if LOreal will want to sustain its high performance in the beauty industry one way of doing that will be by sharpening knowledge of its customers through a better and efficient company- wide customer relationship management (CRM) management. Therefore they will surely have to become more customer focused because as competition increases business growth can be stunted by customer switching.CRM can be achieved by various ways in LOreal , the firm will have to identify divisions which already have a ideal customer foundation and once it has a fully integrated CRM system the knowledge can be gathered from different channels and segments according to values and behaviours and this will lead to an end to end process from consumer analysis and segmentation to creation , execution and measurement of the success of marketing campaigns. Production costs can still be lowered by LOreal as a result of the benefits it derives from economies of scale as we are told in the case it was able to produce mascaras for 20cents in its huge Little Rock plant and therefore areas in production can still be improved and thus the benefit being passed down to the consumers who will accept it with happiness. Lets not forget the danger the environment is faced with as a result of the risky chemicals components used in production and other areas as well i.e. toxic products which could soon pose a major problem not saying that LOreal is not doing anything at the issue in concern but if LOreal could promote policies on recycling, reducing their energy consumption , using green electricity and certainly reduce the use of volatile solvants so as to have an environmental policy that drives towards innovation. LOreal should also develop a new business strategy that will give them a better competitive advantage against Estee Lauder, PG maybe by going to segment and catering to a further range of ethnic groups and so try to apply a differentiation strategy and be successful Another area that still needs to be closely patched up is regarding its marketing strategy towards males because according to research shows that men are becoming increasingly concerned with their appearance and skin care and so it is an opportunity for LOreal to grip on before its rivals do. (F).CONCLUSION LOreal have been in the beauty industry for a hundred years and their reach to the peak of the mountain was slow and steady and very thoughtful as to be the global leader in the beauty industry problems are bound to show up from time to time and LOreal have been able to take the pressures faced from competition and globalisation aspects and tried to make the best out of them so as to be the King in the beauty industry but even though the journey does not end over here for LOreal as there still lies areas of improvement in the organisation so as to remain the King for the years to come. (G).REFERENCES Brooksbank, R.( 2002) Hot Marketing ,Cool Profits .Australia :Mc-Graw Hill. p.72-73 ,164-166. Cherunilam, F.( 2007) International Business: Text and Cases . 4th edition. New Delhi: Prentice Hall of India . p.21 Corbett , M. E. ( 2004) The Outsourcing Revolution , Kaplan Publishing , p.8 Frensch, F.( 2007) The Social Scale Of Merger and Acquisition :DUV Gabler Edition Wissenschaft.p.45. Goldsmith,M. , Greenberg, C.L., Robertson,A. Hu-Chan , M (2003) Global Leadership: The Next Generation :Pearson Education Prentice Hall. P 11-13, 19, Griffiths, A. (2008) 101 Secrets to Building a Winning Business. Australia: Griffin Press. p.180. Held, D. McGrew, A. (2007)Globalization/Anti-Globalization: Beyond The Great Divide .2nd Edition. Cambridge: Polity Press. p.2. Lee, M. Johnson,C ( 2005)Principles of Advertising : A good Perspective . 2nd edition. Binghamton: Haworth Pres Lindstedt, P. Burenius, J.( 2003) The Value Model: How to Mater Product Development Create Unrivalled Customer Value. Sweden: Bimba. P.134-7. Pathak, J.( 2005) Information Technology Auditing : An evolving Agenda.p.88-90. Peppers,D. Rogers, M. (2004) Managing Customer Relationships: A Strategic Framework. New Jersey: John Wiley Sons, Inc. p.10. Prasad, K .(2009) Strategic Management : Text and Cases. New Delhi. Prentice Hall India. P.188. Ray , L.J. (2007) Globalization and everyday Life .New York :Routledge. P.1 Sayer , J, N. Williams, Bruce ( 2007) Lean for Dummies .Indiana. Wiley Publishing Company. p.28. White, A.W.( 2006) Advertising design and typography .New York: All Worth Press. p . 188. Yang, K.( 2005) Design for Six Sigma for Service :Mc-Graw Hill p.220-222. Web References http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSLDE61E20C20100215 July 24th 2010 http://www.loreal.com/_en/_ww/html/sustainable-development/chairman-and-ceo/our-vision-for-the-future.aspx July 26th 2010 http://www.loreal.com/_en/_ww/html/company/pdf/code_of_ethics_us.pdf July 24th 2010 http://www.loreal.com/_en/_ww/html/sustainable-development/loreals-commitments/research-development.aspx July 24th 2010 http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2002/09/30/329290/index.htm July 26th 2010 http://blogs.saschina.org/christine02px2010/case-study-body-shop-2/ July 24th 2010 http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/does-toyota-really-spend-one-million-dollars-per-hour-on-safety/ August 3rd 2010 http://www.pg.com/jobs/corpinfo/consboss.shtml August 3rd 2010 http://www.loreal.com/_en/_ww/pdf/RDD_2008_SuppliersRelation.pdf July 24th 2010 (H). BIBLIOGRAPHY Bauman, Z. (2000), Globalization: The Human Consequences, Cambridge: Polity Press Gray, J. (2002), False Dawn. The Delusions of Global Capitalism, London: Revised edition , Granta Publications Hutton, W. (2003), The World Were In, Abacus Mittelman J (2001) The Globalization Syndrome: Transformation and Resistance, Princeton: Princeton University Press. Stiglitz, J. (2003), Globalization and Its Discontents, London: Penguin Books Scholte, J. (2005), Globalization: a Critical Introduction, Basingstoke: 2nd edition Palgrave Macmillan

Cubism Essay -- essays research papers

Pablo Picasso Pablo Picassso was probably the most famous artist of the twentieth century. During his artistic career he created a large body of work that consisted of sculptures, prints and ceramics, while experimenting with several different materials. Today Picasso is known as one the forefathers of the artistic movement known as Cubism. Pablo Picasso was born on October twenty-fifth 1881, in Malaga, Spain, to Jose Ruiz and Maria Picasso. Rather than adopt the common name of his father, Picasso took the more unique last name of his mother as his own. "An artistic prodigy, Picasso at the age of fourteen, completed the one month qualifying examination of the Academy of Fine Arts in Barcelona in one day." as stated by ( ). From there he went to the Academy of San Fernando in Madrid, returning to Barcelona in 1900. goes on to state that," Picasso attended one of the cities most famous cabarets of intellectuals and artist, El Quatre Gats." ( ). During the year of 1901 until 1904, Picasso went through what is now regarded as his "Blue Period". Picasso Became fascinated with unique characters as his subject manner. He began to paint images that were full of anger and sorrow. Some believe that Picasso was experiencing an early mid-life crisis because of the content of his work. All that changed in 1905, when Picasso began to paint in a more colorful manner. He became intrigued by the lifestyle of traveling circus acts. He started to paint in mid...

Odysseus, The Hero :: essays research papers

An individual’s characteristics are the key to their behavior. Homer’s The Odyssey takes place about 700BC in the Mediterranean, near Greece. The epic tells of a man who left his home twenty years earlier to fight in the Trojan War. His mission now is to make his way home to Ithaca. Odysseus shows good and bad traits throughout the epic that influence his way home .   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  (65 words) The courage and wisdom of Odysseus help him survive through the whole epic. For example, Odysseus kills the Cyclops while the giant is asleep, even though the monster ate two men minutes before (P.110). Odysseus has courage to stand up for his beliefs and never lets the opinion of others keep him from doing what is right. Some think Odysseus shows his courage throughout the epic because he is proud and does not want to leave any job unfinished. Furthermore, Odysseus by plugs the sailors’ ears with wax when going through the Sirens, whose sweet singing lures sailors to there doom (p. 141). Odysseus often hesitates before acting, because he uses reason to evaluate the situation, which saves him and his men many times. Odysseus knows that there is no progress without the wisdom to back it up. Using courage and wisdom throughout life allows a person to see greatness in life. As great as he was, Odysseus still had some weaknesses, most importantly that of his pride and sensualness, that prolongs his voyage back to Ithaca. This is clearly evident in the episode on the Cyclopes’ Island when Odysseus and his men are safely away from the island when Odysseus brags about his exploits making Polythemus hurl giant boulders almost sinking the ship (P. 114). This incident hurt Odysseus more than just losing a few men, because Poseidon makes his travel home very long and arduous. This proud characteristic shows Odysseus has a lack of respect for others and that he is selfish. Furthermore, Odysseus stays with Circe for one year before his men remind him of home (p.

Unipolarism

Unipolar is a system with only a single major actor, which is usually a single state that dominates all the other smaller states in the global political system. In other words to discuss the idea of Unipolar in the contemporary International system, I would briefly trace the advert of modern International system in the view of polarization. The advert of the modern international system could be traced back to the peace of Westphalia in 1648, which signify the end of the 30 years war in Europe.This treaty established the state as the main actor in the global politics and declared that the sovereign leader of each nation – state could do as she/he wished within the border’s. During this period many great powers existed in Europe, this is a system refer to as Multipolar. Multipolar is a system, with multiple power centers. By the late 19th century. The system has changed for multi – polar to what some scholars refer to as a tight Bipolar system, in which the power i n Europe allied in two rival groups before the 1st World War, which is the triple alliance and the triple entente.By the end of the 1st World War, the tight Bi- polar system has weakened. Before the beginning of 2nd World War the world has become polarized again into another tight Bi –polar consisting of the allied and axis power. Immediately after the 2nd world war, a brief Unipolar system emerged, where United States of America was the only power in Europe with the Nuclear Power, and other European Power were very weak because of the devastation of the war. But this was short lived, because the system became Bipolar with US and USSR has the two superpower power with Nuclear weapons.This period was refer to as the Cold War Era. With the fall of USSR and the end to the Cold War, clearly the Bipolar system is gone. What is not certain is how to characterized the current, still evolving system. Some scholars argued that we are in a Unipolar system because only one super power r emain, while some scholars argued or labelled the new international system as Multipolar pointing out to the increasing economic power of some European and Asian States.To some extent both terms are  accurate, the US has the world’s powerful military, which supports the Unipolar view, but the US economy is not as powerful, relative to the rest of the world , lending credence to the Multipolar view. The new system is then referred to as Multipolar or Unipolar, depending on which side of the argument scholars favour. This is argument in the early post Cold War Era. To describe the contemporary system as a Unipolar or Multipolar system is a bit unreasonable because the contemporary international system is a bit of both.The contemporary international system cannot appropriately be described a Unipolar, since that suggest the existence of one single dominant power and many small powers, and there are of course a number of â€Å"major power† in contemporary world politics such as Russia, China, Japan and the European Union, together with a number of smaller but no less important regional powers, such as India, Brazil and South Africa. Nor can the system be describe as Multipolar for the gap between the United States and the various major powers is simply too large. Unlike a true Mutipolar system, where there are a number of comparably sized powers.The present system features a single power seeking hegemony over all other, and a number of major powers which have the desire to resist the hegemonic impulses of the United States, but neither the strength nor the desire to challenge the United States directly and a large number of small powers. While the US would clearly prefer a Unipolar system in which it would be the hegemony, major power on the other hand would prefer a multipolar system. With my research, and in relations with situation of events in the global system I would say we are far from being in a Unipolar system and what we have presently is a Multipolar system.Thou we have US has the hegemony. The future configuration of world powers is difficult, beyond the safe bet prediction that US hegemony like that of every other great power in history, will end. In conclusion therefore, I would say that what we have presently in the international system is definitely not a Unipolar system. It could therefore be called a mulltipolar system, but a proper Multipolar system will evolve when the United States becomes an â€Å"ordinary major Power†.

Lab Results Fermenter

I. OBJECTIVES: To determine the amount of anti-microbial peptide production by Staphylococcus warneri under various conditions when 2L and 10L Fermented. To Test the effects of one uncontrolled parameters sush as pH, Temperature or dissolved Oxygen and compare findings. To produce anti-microbial activity from Staphylococcus warneri. II. INTRODUCTION: Staphylococcus warneri is a member of bacterial genus Staphylococcus, consisting of Gram-positive bacteria with spherical cells appearing in clusters. Colonies of S. warneri are usually tan, yellow and about 2-4mm in diameter after 48 hours incubation at 35 °C.It is commonly found as part of the skin flora on humans and animals. S. warneri rarely causes disease, but may occasionally cause infection in patients whose immune system is compromised. S. warneri is known to produce antimicrobial peptide activity in the form of Nisin. The optimum conditions for this to occur are pH 7. Nisin is a polycylic antibacterial peptide with 34 amino a cid residues used as a food preservative. It is produced by bacterium and which contains antimicrobial activity and which is known as a bacteriocin. Nisin has been found to have properties that can control spoilage caused by lactic acid bacteria.It is used in processed cheese, meats, beverages, etc. during production to extend shelf life by suppresing Gram-positive spoilage and pathogenic bacteria. In food it is common to use Nisin at levels depending on the food type regulatory approval. Nisin cannot be produced chemically therefore it has to be synthesised using fermentation. During fermentation various stages of growth occur and as a result different conditions can occur during this fermentation process, eg pH, most organisms produce acid as they grow and therefore in the Lag phase ( a period of adptation for the cells to their new environment, new enzymes are ynthesized) and in the lag phase can produce alkaline substances and therefore pH plays an important role in efficient fe rmentation. As acid is produced alkaline substance needs to be added to the process to maintain the optimum pH of 7 and likewise in the lag phase when alkaline substances are produced, acidic substance needs to be added to maintain the pH, temperature, and oxygen. III. MATERIALS AND METHODS:â€Å"As per manual. † IV. RESULTS: TABLE 1. 1 History Plot Vessel 1 – 2L NO Temperature control: TABLE 1. 2 History Plot Vessel 2 – 2L NO Air Flow: TABLE 1. History Plot Vessel 3 – 2L NO pH control: TABLE 1. 4 History Plot Vessel 4 – 2L Optimum conditions: TABLE 1. 5 History Plot Vessel 5 – 10L Optimum conditions: TABLE 1. 6 Fermentation conditions for each Vessels 1 – 5: Parameter Vessel Number Vessel 1 Vessel 2 Vessel 3 Vessel 4 Vessel 5 (10L) pH 7 7 No control 7 7 Agitation Speed (RPM) 150 150 150 150 150 Temp oC No Control 37 37 37 37 Airflow (L/min) 2 No air flow 2 2 2 TABLE 1. 7 Results for antimicrobial peptide activity in 2 L or 10 L ferme nters: Time (post inoculation) Vessel 1 Vessel 2 Vessel 3 Vessel 4 Vessel 5 3:00 (4. 5 hours) No activity No activity Neat Neat Neat; 1:2 14:00 (5. 5 hours) No activity Neat; 1:2 Neat; 1:2 Neat; 1:2 No results 15:00 (6. 5 hours) No activity Neat; 1:2 Neat Neat; 1:2 Neat; 1:2; 1:4;1:8 16:00 (7. 5 hours) No activity Neat Neat;1:2;1:4 Neat; 1:2 Neat; 1:2; 1:4;1:8 9:00 (24. 5 hours) No activity Neat Neat;1:2;1:4 Neat;1:2;1:4;1:8 Neat; 1:2; 1:4;1:8 V. DISCUSSION: In this practical, Fermentation is used to scale testing in laboratory. The fermenters in the Laboratory are based on a batch system, with feeds to control the pH and Oxygen levels and Temperature.All parameters are controlled using sensor probes in the vessels connected to a data logging software system. The vessels 4 and 5 are controls where the optimum environmental growth parameters for the strain are kept. To determine the results obtained in each vessels are as follows: Vessel 1: No antimicrobial peptide activity seen at a ny of the time intervals. This indicates that when temperature is not controlled the temperature can increase significantly. As shows in TABLE 1. 1 History Plot Vessel 1 – 2L NO Temperature control. Vessel 2: No antimicrobial activity seen at 13:00.However antimicrobial activity seen in both neat and 1:2 sample at 14:00 and 15:00. Antimicrobial activity seen in neat sample at 16:00 and 09:00. When air flow is not controlled the reduced air content reduces the rate of fermentation, As Oxygen is required for cell growth and when air is in reduced quantity this slows down rate of cell reproduction as shows in TABLE 1. 2 History Plot Vessel 2 – 2L NO Air Flow. Vessel 3: Antimicrobial activity seen in neat sample at all time intervals. Antimicrobial activity seen in 1:2 sample at 14:00, 16:00 and 09:00.Activity seen in 1:4 for the first time at 16:00 and 09:00. There is greater anti-microbial peptide activity with temperature and air controls which shows that the pH does no t have significant effects as the other two parameters. The fermentation was not affected to the same extent by pH as shown in TABLE 1. 3 History Plot Vessel 3 – 2L NO pH control. Vessel 4: Antimicrobial activity seen in neat sample at all time intervals. Activity seen in 1:2 sample at 14:00, 15:00, 16:00 and 09:00. For the first time see antimicrobial activity in 1:8 sample at 09:00.This shows the three uncontrolled vessels has greater anti-microbial peptide, where in fermentation took place on its fastest rate as all conditions are maintained at most favourable for the organism to grow and reproduced as shown in TABLE 1. 4 History Plot Vessel 4 – 2L Optimum conditions. Vessel 5: (In error no result recorded for 14:00 time interval) Antimicrobial activity seen in neat and 1:2 sample at all time intervals. Activity seen in 1:4 and 1:8 (for the first time) at 15:00, 16:00 and 09:00. The effects produce the highest level of anti-microbial peptide activity of all the syst em.The organism has greater supply of oxygen and nutrients and temperature and pH has a lesser effect due to the larger volume as shown in TABLE 1. 5 History Plot Vessel 5 – 10L Optimum conditions. VI. CONCLUSIONS: In this practical the results was successfully determined that Temperature is the most important parameter to control in relation to microbial growth. Therefore, if temperature was not controlled, NO amount of anti-microbial peptide activity produced by Staphylococcus warneri. While in Oxygen level and pH level if NOT controlled S. warneri will still grow and produced the anti-microbial peptide.

Historical Development of Continental Philosophy’s Existentialism

Historical development of Continental philosophy’s existentialism and phenomenology as a response to Hegelian idealism Absolute Idealism left distinct marks on many facets of Western culture. True, science was indifferent to it, and common sense was perhaps stupefied by it, but the greatest political movement of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries— Marxism—was to a significant degree an outgrowth of Absolute Idealism. (Bertrand Russell remarked someplace that Marx was nothing more than Hegel mixed with British economic theory. Nineteenth- and twentieth-century literature, theology, and even art felt an influence. The Romantic composers of the nineteenth century, for example, with their fondness for expanded form, vast orchestras, complex scores and soaring melodies, searched for the all-encompassing musical statement. In doing so, they mirrored the efforts of the metaphysicians; whose vast and imposing systems were sources of inspiration to many artists and co mposers. As we have said, much of what happened in philosophy after Hegel was in response to Hegel.This response took different forms in English-speaking countries and on the European continent—so different that philosophy in the twentieth century was split into two traditions or, as we might say nowadays, two â€Å"conversations. † So-called analytic philosophy and its offshoots became the predominant tradition of philosophy in England and eventually in the United States. The response to Hegelian idealism on the European continent was quite different however; and is known (at least in English-speaking countries) as Continental philosophy.Mean while, the United States developed its own brand of philosophy—called pragmatism—but ultimately analytic philosophy became firmly entrenched in the United States as well. Within Continental philosophy may be found various identifiable schools of philosophical thought: existentialism, phenomenology, hermeneutics, dec onstruction, and critical theory. Two influential schools were existentialism and phenomenology, and we will begin this chapter with them.Both existentialism and phenomenology have their roots in the nineteenth century, and many of their themes can be traced back to Socrates and even to the pre- Socratics. Each school of thought has influenced the other to such an extent that two of the most famous and influential Continental philosophers of this century, Martin Heidegger (1889–1976) and Jean-Paul Sartre (1905 –1980), are important figures in both movements, although Heidegger is primarily a phenomenologist and Sartre primarily an existentialist.Some of the main themes of existentialism are traditional and academic philosophy is sterile and remote from the concerns of real life. Philosophy must focus on the individual in her or his confrontation with the world. The world is irrational (or, in any event, beyond total comprehending or accurate conceptualizing through phi losophy). The world is absurd, in the sense that no ultimate explanation can be given for why it is the way it is. Senselessness, emptiness, triviality, separation, and inability to communicate pervade human existence.Giving birth to anxiety, dread, self-doubt, and despair as well as the individual confronts as the most important fact of human existence, the necessity to choose how he or she is to live within this absurd and irrational world. Now, many of these themes had already been introduced by those brooding thinkers of the nineteenth century, Arthur Schopenhauer (see previous chapter), Soren Kierkegaard, and Friedrich Nietzsche. All three had a strong distaste for the optimistic idealism of Hegel—and for metaphysical systems in general. Such philosophy, they thought, ignored the human predicament.For all three the universe, including its human inhabitants, is seldom rational, and philosophical systems that seek to make everything seem rational are just futile attempts t o overcome pessimism and despair. This impressive-sounding word denotes the philosophy that grew out of the work of Edmund Husserl (1859–1938). In brief, phenomenology interests itself in the essential structures found within the stream of conscious experience—the stream of phenomena—as these structures manifest themselves independently of the assumptions and presuppositions of science.Phenomenology, much more than existentialism, has been a product of philosophers rather than of artists and writers. But like existentialism, phenomenology has had enormous impact outside philosophical circles. It has been especially influential in theology, the social and political sciences, and psychology and psychoanalysis. Phenomenology is a movement of thinkers who have a variety of interests and points of view; phenomenology itself finds its antecedents in Kant and Hegel (though the movement regarded itself as anything but Hegelian).Kant, in the Critique of Pure Reason, argu ed that all objective knowledge is based on phenomena, the data received in sensory experience. In Hegel’s Phenomenology of Mind, beings are treated as phenomena or objects for a consciousness. The world beyond experience, the â€Å"real† world assumed by natural science, is a world concerning which much is unknown and doubtful. But the world-in-experience, the world of pure phenomena, can be explored without the same limitations or uncertainties.

Security Services Administration and Management

Security Services Administration and Management The historical development of private security in the United States has changed drastically over the centuries. The need for private security has grown as well. There are many gaps and areas for intrusion within the current public law enforcement system, almost mandating the necessity for private security. As the need and expectations for the private security grows, so will the qualifications for these positions. Understanding the history of the industry development creates a way to learn from the past, and make necessary changes for the future.Private security is the backbone of the American culture, and will continually evolve to prevent and protect society from any type of potential harm. In past times, the private security industry was utilized as a means of backup to public law enforcement in resourcefulness and manpower. History dating back to the 1800’s shows that the police departments were few and far between and found t o be commonly corrupt which created the necessity for private security. The people of these times had to utilize vigilante justice to enact some type of law enforcement.There was a need and a demand for private security. It was not until 1851 that the first national private security and investigation service was established by Allen Pinkerton (Ortmeier, 2012). After this, many individuals implemented other forms of security. For example, in 1853 August Pope had the first burglar alarm patented, and in 1858, Edwin Holmes produced the first central station burglar alarm (Ortmeier, 2012). Also, in 1958, Washington Brinks designed the first armored carriage for safe transportation of valuables. In 1899 SWAT was formed under the private sector classification.In 1909, William Burns created an international detective agency (Ortmeier, 2012). Essentially these private agencies have been around as long as the public agencies in the United States. In today’s society, these private secu rity agencies are essential for the protection and survival of businesses, individuals, and even government sectors. History has shown with the implementation of a new form of private security comes new threats against them. Private security does not mean just being a mall cop; there are thousands of private agencies in use today.There are certain factors that lead to the need to implement a significant growth within private security. This can be dated all the way back to the pre-Civil War era where the lack of public police was evident and resulted in the private industry to suffer a large monetary loss. In today’s society, this threat has grown to a new extreme. After the horrific events that transpired during 9/11, it became apparent that the United States needed to make changes to prevent terrorism from happening on its soil again. Technology crimes are at an all time high; this creates a potentially greater need for global security.What started with a handful of private security options has grown into a significant number of agencies. â€Å"Private security is becoming a more significant force in public security and safety. 678,160 workers employed in private security compared with only 580,428 in public law enforcement. Private security in this country would continue to grow, increasing at a faster pace than public law enforcement. It is clear based on statistics, that private security in this country is larger than public police agencies and will play a more important role in crime prevention and security in the future† (Clede, 1993).This need will continue to grow because public law enforcement’s numbers will always be regulated, and essentially there will never be enough manpower to meet the demands associated with it. As private security continues to grow, it continues to move toward professionalism. As the need grows so do the expectations. â€Å"Today private security is moving toward a new professionalism. In defining the des ired professionalism, most authorities often cite the need for a code of ethics and for credentials including education and training, experience, and membership in a professional society† (Fischer & Green, 2004).Public law enforcement employees are put through excessive training to be able to adequately do their job and serve the public. They are not just handed a gun and a badge and told to protect the public. There are so many things that can go on when it comes to crime and corruption that individuals have to learn how to personally think and react properly when in a situation. This can be even more essential in many of the different private security areas. Colleges offer four-year training programs to aid in preparing that individual for their position in the private security industry.There are also certification programs that ensure that training is given properly for the agency’s employees. Previously, the typical security guard was undertrained, underpaid, and un regulated. If there were no noticeable breaches, these guards would have to interact without any type of supervision. However, when events transpired, the company had to address the ill preparation given in providing this private security to whatever company they were protecting. Another factor that is changing the professionalism in private security is the demands associated with the position.There are many different private security agencies that deal with technology and specifications. This is an industry that virtually changes on a daily basis. The only way that these private security employees can successfully do their job is to have the proper education, training, and continual instructional feedback. The national security, financial industry, and personal privacy of the United States could potentially fall victim to a threat if these private security agencies are not fully capable of providing the necessary protection.In today’s society, security professionals should t ake a special interest in the history of the industry’s development. Part of the improvement is dependent upon knowing what has and has not been successful in the past. History has a way of repeating itself, sometimes in different variations, but the outcome is similar. For private security professionals they need to know specifics regarding the history and progression within their individual agency. It could also be beneficial to gain the same knowledge on similar agencies as well.The history of a private security agency can also create a way for potential improvements. Employees can see the progression and understand that they are a vital part of the future. The changes that protected them yesterday will most likely be obsolete tomorrow. This necessity for advancement will allow them to see the equation that got them to their modern day practices and keep private security agents one step ahead of what they are trying to defend against. History is an important part of any pr ofessional’s development; this is even truer when it comes to private security and its ability to protect and enforce.Private security is the backbone of the American culture, and will continually evolve to prevent and protect society from any type of potential harm. Over the past couple centuries this concept has gone from nonexistent to a dominate necessity for America’s overall wellbeing. The private security industry has grown to be so significant because of the overwhelming corruption and dishonesty that is plaguing society. As the needs change so will the expectations, education, and requirements for the employees to effectively be able to facilitate the security demands.Private security agencies will continue to go with the demands to fill in the gaps that are left with the public law enforcement divisions and provide a much needed security that would not have been there otherwise. References Clede, B. (1993). Security officer's manual. Minocqua, WI: Lakeland Pu b. Fischer, R. J. , & Green, G. (2004). Introduction to security. Amsterdam: Butterworth-Heinemann. Ortmeier, P. J. (2012). Introduction to security: Operations and management (4th ed. ). Boston: Pearson.

Analysis Of Factors Influencing Activities Of Bmw Marketing Essay

Analysis Of Factors Influencing Activities Of Bmw Marketing Essay This text is an analysis of factors influencing the activities of BMW in its efforts to enhance the participation in national and international markets. At the very beginning of the text, the link between profitability and competition is briefly outlined. The nest phase provides a brief insight into the background of the firm, followed by a brief insight into the Mintzberg’s and Whittington’s views on emergent school of strategy formation. The history of the BMW is scrutinised to identify an event which has presented the firm with the strategic paradoxes discussed by Mintzberg. The next chapter of the report consists of an analysis of the external environment with the aid of a PESTLE and Porter’s Diamond Framework and a look into the impact of home market condition on BMW’s international activities. The final chapters of the report outlines the key strategic decisions that BMW will have to take in the near future and the implementation issues related to t he decisions concern. Table of Contents 1.0 Introduction 1 2.0 Organisational background 2 3.0 Scope 3 4.0 Strategy paradoxes in BMW’s history 3 5.0 External environment 5 6.0 Internal strengths and weaknesses 8 7.0 Key strategic decisions or recommendations 10 8.0 Implementation challenges 10 9.0 Conclusion 11 10.0 References 13 12.0 Appendices 14 Appendix A – BMW Group in Figures 14 List of Figures Figure 1: BMW Group Revenues by region 2 Figure 2: BMW Group Deliveries of automobiles by region and market 2 Figure 3: Oil price trend 5 Figure 4: Exchange rates compared to the Euro 6 Figure 5: BMW Group in figures 14 1.0 Introduction An organisation can increase upon its profitability either by locating an attractive industry or by establishing a distinct competitive advantage over its rivals. Over the years with increasing competition across all the industries, very few industries environments guarantee definitive secure returns. Establishing a competitive advantage, t hus, has become the primary goal of devising any strategy within an organisation. A successful organisation makes its balance sheet stronger by establishing and sustaining competitive advantage. The secret of sustaining competitive advantage in a firm lies in its expertise at keeping their competitors away from imitating successful strategies. The greater the difficulty that rivals face in analysing the resources and capabilities required in order to imitate the source of competitive advantage, the greater is the sustainability of the firm’s competitive advantage. Resources and capabilities, thus, are fundamental to a company’s strategy and decision-making. However, in an international context, a firm’s potential for competitive advantage not only lies in its resources and capabilities but also by the government under which it operates, the legal policies in those countries, exchange rates and a number of other factors. Thus, in order to decide whether an organi sation should participate more at national and international level necessitates a thorough analysis of two factors – (i) the industrial attractiveness of the overseas market and (ii) the firm’s capability of effectively transferring its resource and capabilities to the new location. While I put forward my arguments and analysis, I would like to follow a structured approach. I would first provide a brief organisational background followed by the scope of this report. Next, I would touch upon the organisational history and highlight couple of critical incidents to illustrate some of the strategy paradoxes by some of the leading commentators from the emergent school of thought. I would then perform an external environment analysis in order to identify the threats and opportunities in the industry followed by an internal analysis to ascertain the strengths and weaknesses of the organisation. This would lead to the key success factors and finally I would come up with the ke y strategic decisions that the company need to take and the implementation challenges associated with it before concluding this report.

Report style Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Report style - Essay Example One of the most important target audiences would be teens and adults that embrace a healthier lifestyle, and as such it is the case that a soft drink could be developed to match the needs of this demographic. A few considerations should be made as to what people would be looking for. Should a drink be made no-calorie, mid-calorie or standard-calorie? If designing a drink around health benefits one is naturally inclined to desire a no-calorie drink however this may draw attention from consumers who are opposed to using aspartame or other non sugar based sweeteners. Moreover the company does not want to draw comparisons with their last mid calorie drink launch ‘Coke Blak† which more or less was a ultimately withdrawn from the market owing to the fact that he company had a poor marketing strategy and the product generally had a displeasing taste. In this regard the company could look to a full calorie beverage but the question remains as to how a healthy image could be promo ted? In this regard, Coca-Cola should look to creating a natural version of its drink which has all of the same properties of its current beverage but without using high fructose corn syrup, preservatives, colouring and utilizing naturally sourced ingredients. From this perspective the company can compete head on with Pepsi-Raw but it can still be promoted as a healthy alternative to most soft drinks. Why this proposal would be successful is two fold. Firstly this product satisfies a need in the market owing to the fact that most soft-drinks and energy drinks are either saturated with standard sweetning agents or with sugar substitutes where there has been very little presence of a ‘all natural’ soft drink. Moreover this product could appeal to a generation of people that are still interested in treating themselves to a soft-drink yet do not want to drink all of the related chemicals assuming an effective marketing and promotion strategy is

Japan Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

Japan - Essay Example Today the process of reclamation of land from the sea is going on but it is faced with resistance from environmentalists that argue the bay is more important as an ecological buffer for both the land and the commercial fishing industry. Future land development is this area will now have to deal with balancing environmental concerns and the need for space in the face of limited supply on Japan's Island nation. This paper will explore the alternative ways in which Land reclamation project in Tokyo bay could proceed in light of all the competing motivations that exist. After introducing the history of land reclamation in Tokyo Bay it will look at the the way in which construction would ideally have to be implemented using the ideas of famed Japanese Architect Kenzo Tange. It will look at the arguments for conservation projects in the area that would perhaps be more attractive to the Japanese population than monolithic construction projects and it will touch on the possibility of using f loating structures to expand construction. In exploring these alternatives this paper will place the rationales for these approaches in their appropriate historical, social, cultural and scientific context. Tokyo Bay formed about 12000 years ago following the last glacial age(1, Tomoyuki). Over the millenia an intricate network of coral grew in the pattern of coral in all coastal regions. This coral today provides a vital role in the protecting the delicate ecosystem that exist in the area. There are many life forms that presently exist. Major groups of corals were only discovered within the last decade but now there is found to be an extensive network of coral all throughout the area. Indeed the bay is teeming with life. A rich population of plankton that have ironically thrived on the treated sewage waste that has been released into the bay provide the food base for a number of fish that live in the area, including bass, parrot fish,and shrimp to name just a few. The area has long been noted to produce fish stock at a higher rate than the surrounding ocean precisely because of the plankton. The problem has been that the encroachment by land reclamation has also claimed much of the fl at land that surrounds the bay. Over 90 % of this land has been reclaimed in the last 50 years(4 , Mason) . The reasons for this expansion are rooted in Japan's need for more space. There are 127 million people in Japan living in a geographical area the size of only five times the size of Britain(6, Mason). Land reclamation therefore is almost an historical inevitability. The earliest example of land reclamation occurred in the Edo era over 400 years ago. While this reclamation undoubtedly effected the delicate ecosystem the scale was small enough that the system was able to absorb the shocks. This remained the case till the postwar period when industrialization proceeded at a rapid pace. Ironically the first widespread utilization of land reclamation arose out of a need to curb pollution. The Asanao Cement Corporation was the principal culprit in the the pollution of the inland areas of Fukagawa. A plan was therefore devised, ill conceived in retrospect, to reclaim land along the Tokyo bay and situate much of the heavy industry in this area(5, Amazaki). This was in 1912 and the growth expanded during the years of World War II, but only really dramatically increased in the post war rapid economic expansion. Amazaki describes the

Psychedelic Rock Concert Posters Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Psychedelic Rock Concert Posters - Essay Example There were kinds of agreed upon art, music, literature, religion, lifestyles as well as social patterns (Albright 234). This brought about the capability of all of this aspects being combined into some fresh kinds which could have no limitations. With the superficial trappings of the happenings going to influence the styles and famous cultures of the world, most of the participants felt that there was no deeper import in this practice. One of the most influential rock guitarists of that time, Gary Duncan and his band moved out of that culture citing that the culture was something different that the people never understood. What was underground was more than what was not known. The rock band who were seen to be forefront on several reordering carried out in the society, most of the philosophical changes were seen more in the body of the posters that the artists produced as they were advertising their concerts. The rock bands turned out a big series of the images which called for changes in the musical, social and cultural creations happening during that time.

No texting on your cell phone while driving Essay

No texting on your cell phone while driving - Essay Example Many new rules and regulations have been issued to prevent this matter in most parts of the world. This position paper focuses on the idea that people should not do texting on their cell phones while driving it is injuries for one’s life. This statement is supported by concentrating on three main point’s i.e. distracted driving videos, laws and rules of using cell phones and college student’s perception on texting. 1.2 Distracted driving Distracted driving is very risky and injuries for peoples life. Many videos on distracted driving have been launched by US transportation in order to create awareness among people. According to agency group (2011), â€Å"Faces of distracted driving is mainly a series of video which focuses on the dangerous consequences of texting on cell phone while driving.† This means that use of cell phone and texting has become quite common among people while driving and leads to accidents. In 2009, around half a million people got inj ured and 5,500 people died due to texting on cell phone while driving. Many websites are encouraging to upload distracting videos in order to educate people of the society about the threats related to texting while driving such as USDOT, face book, you tube etc. Video US department of transportation introduced a video on the facts of distracted driving. This video concentrated on Brown family, emphasizing on their 17 years old daughter, Alex. She got killed in an accident in 2009; the reason was that she was doing text message on cell phone while driving in Texas. This family also appeared on ABC extreme makeover: Home Edition in order to raise the awareness of dangers related to distracted driving, so that this thing does not happen in any other family. Presidential order on distracted driving US president gave an order on distracted driving in December 2009, which prohibited four million employees from doing text messages on cell phone while using government vehicles. This order w as passed to make people familiarize of the dangers of distracted driving (Agency Group, 2009). 1.3 Laws and rules Some of the laws and regulations made in relation to texting on cell phone while driving are described below: FRA (Federal Railroad Administration) passed a rule to prohibit the use of cell phones to rail employees while they are on duty. This rule was issued after the rail crash in California which killed 25 people. FMCA (Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration) passed a rule in September 2010 in which text messaging on cell is prohibited while using a commercial motor vehicle. PHMSA (Pipeline and Hazardous Material Safety Administration) restricted the use of any electronic device during driving a motor vehicle in December 2010 (Agency Group, 2011). Most recently, in January 2010, a federal guidance was issued by US transportation secretary in which commercial vehicles such as busses and trucks drivers were prohibited from texting messages while driving and if any one was caught in doing this practice a penalty of $2,750 would be charged on the driver. Eighteen states have banned texting messages while drivers from November 2009. Most of them have imposed fine on drivers who are caught texting while driving. 1.4 College students and text messaging Presently College students are frequent drivers. Large numbers of students drive by their own to go to colleges and universities. According to Harrison Marissa A, (2011). â€Å"It has been identified that 91% of college students do text messages while