Blade Runner

Texts offer insights into the human experience by conveying the values and attitudes predominant in society at the time. The context in which a text is composed affects the ideas that are explored and how they are presented. Invariably, texts from differing contexts cause the composers to have different intents and present different notions due to the change of audience and the difference in values and attitudes they hold. However, some issues remain universal issues that transcend time. The human experience is how humanity perceives and conducts themselves, and the values and attitudes that are predominant in their nature at the time. These values and attitudes change in accordance to context, due to the ever evolving nature of the environment around us and humanity itself. Examples of issues that have changed in value over time are the ideas of nature and the environment, and the concept of science and religion. These notions are explored and can be compared and contrasted in Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner (The Director’s Cut) and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. The 19th century was a period of upcoming scientific & technological advancement, due to prominent scientists proposing controversial ideas, which defied the strict religious conventions of the period. Scientists such as Luigi Galvani, Giovanni Aldini and Erasmus Darwin put forth theories that placed man in the perceived almighty position of God, which in turn questioned the authenticity of the religious beliefs that society held. These theories, such as Galvanism, are evident in Shelly’s work, most prominently in the animation of Frankenstein’s monster. This allusion to Giovanni Aldini’s public experiments, where he manipulated electricity to cause corpses to move, conveys to the responder a similar message to which Aldini did. Both Shelley and Aldini cause the society in which they were in to question the source of life, by presenting the notion that electricity was the â€Å"spark of life†. However, this idea was perceived as work against God, as shown in Frankenstein through the quote â€Å"the beauty of my dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart†. The juxtaposition of the positive and negative connotations of â€Å"beauty† and â€Å"disgust† convey to the responder that the theories which catalysed the Scientific Revolution were initially considered beneficial to society, however, due to the controversy it caused, it was also considered blasphemous, and to an extent, the work of the devil. It is through this that an insight into the human experience is gained, an insight which reveals the value humanity placed on religion at the time and how the questioning of these values were becoming increasingly common. Blade Runner Texts offer insights into the human experience by conveying the values and attitudes predominant in society at the time. The context in which a text is composed affects the ideas that are explored and how they are presented. Invariably, texts from differing contexts cause the composers to have different intents and present different notions due to the change of audience and the difference in values and attitudes they hold. However, some issues remain universal issues that transcend time. The human experience is how humanity perceives and conducts themselves, and the values and attitudes that are predominant in their nature at the time. These values and attitudes change in accordance to context, due to the ever evolving nature of the environment around us and humanity itself. Examples of issues that have changed in value over time are the ideas of nature and the environment, and the concept of science and religion. These notions are explored and can be compared and contrasted in Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner (The Director’s Cut) and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. The 19th century was a period of upcoming scientific & technological advancement, due to prominent scientists proposing controversial ideas, which defied the strict religious conventions of the period. Scientists such as Luigi Galvani, Giovanni Aldini and Erasmus Darwin put forth theories that placed man in the perceived almighty position of God, which in turn questioned the authenticity of the religious beliefs that society held. These theories, such as Galvanism, are evident in Shelly’s work, most prominently in the animation of Frankenstein’s monster. This allusion to Giovanni Aldini’s public experiments, where he manipulated electricity to cause corpses to move, conveys to the responder a similar message to which Aldini did. Both Shelley and Aldini cause the society in which they were in to question the source of life, by presenting the notion that electricity was the â€Å"spark of life†. However, this idea was perceived as work against God, as shown in Frankenstein through the quote â€Å"the beauty of my dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart†. The juxtaposition of the positive and negative connotations of â€Å"beauty† and â€Å"disgust† convey to the responder that the theories which catalysed the Scientific Revolution were initially considered beneficial to society, however, due to the controversy it caused, it was also considered blasphemous, and to an extent, the work of the devil. It is through this that an insight into the human experience is gained, an insight which reveals the value humanity placed on religion at the time and how the questioning of these values were becoming increasingly common.

Gainesboro Machine Tools Corporation Essay

Synopsis and Objectives In mid September 2005, Ashley Swenson, the chief financial officer (CFO) of a large computer-aided design and computer-aided manufacturing (CAD/CAM) equipment manufacturer needed to decide whether to pay out dividends to the firm’s shareholders, or to repurchase stock. If Swenson chose to pay out dividends, she would have to also decide upon the magnitude of the payout. A subsidiary question is whether the firm should embark on a campaign of corporate-image advertising, and change its corporate name to reflect its new outlook. The case serves as an omnibus review of the many practical aspects of the dividend and share buyback decisions, including (1) signaling effects, (2) clientele effects, and (3) the finance and investment implications of increasing dividend payouts and share repurchase decisions. This case can follow a treatment of the Miller-Modigliani1 dividend-irrelevance theorem and serves to highlight practical considerations to consider when setting a firm’s d ividend policy. Suggested Questions for Advance Assignment to Students The instructor could assign supplemental reading on dividend policy and share repurchases. Especially recommended are the Asquith and Mullins article2 on equity signaling, and articles by Stern Stewart on financial communication.3 1.In theory, to fund an increased dividend payout or a stock buyback, a firm might invest less, borrow more, or issue more stock. Which of those three elements is Gainesboro’s management willing to vary, and which elements remain fixed as a matter of the company’s policy? 2.What happens to Gainesboro’s financing need and unused debt capacity if: a. no dividends are paid? b. a 20% payout is pursued? c. a 40% payout is pursued? d. a residual payout policy is pursued? Note that case Exhibit 8 presents an estimate of the amount of borrowing needed. Assume that maximum debt capacity is, as a matter of policy, 40% of the book value of equity. 3. How might Gainesboro’s various providers of capital, such as its stockholders and creditors, react if Gainesboro declares a dividend in 2005? What are the arguments for and against the zero payout, 40% payout, and residual payout policies? What should Ashley Swenson recommend to the board of directors with regard to a long-term dividend payout policy for Gainesboro Machine Tools Corporation? 4. How might various providers of capital, such as stockholders and creditors, react if Gainesboro repurchased its shares? Should Gainesboro do so? 5.Should Swenson recommend the corporate-image advertising campaign and corporate name change to the Gainesboro’s directors? Do the advertising and name change have any bearing on the dividend policy or the stock repurchase policy that you propose? Supporting Computer Spreadsheet Files For students: Case_25.xls For instructors: TN_25.xls Hypothetical Teaching Plan 1.What are the problems here, and what do you recommend? The CFO needs to resolve the issue of dividend payout in order to make a recommendation to the board. She must also decide whether to embark on a stock repurchase program given a recent drop in share prices. The problems entail setting dividend policy, deciding on a stock buyback, and resolving the corporate-image advertising campaign issue. But numerical analysis of the case shows that the problem includes other factors: setting policy within a financing constraint, signaling the directors’ outlook, and generally, positioning the firm’s shares in the equity market. 2.What are the implications of different payout levels for Gainesboro’s capital structure and unused debt capacity? The discussion here must present the  financial implications of high-dividend payouts, particularly the consumption of unused debt capacity. Because of the cyclicality of demand or overruns in investment spending, some attention might be given to a sensitivity analysis cast over the entire 2005 to 2011 period. 3.What is the nature of the dividend decision that Swenson must make? What are the pros and cons of the alternative positions? (Or alternatively, Why pay any dividends?) How will Gainesboro’s various providers of capital, such as its stockholders and bankers, react to a declaration of no dividend? What about the announcement of a 40% payout? How would they react to a residual payout? The instructor needs to elicit from the students the notions that the dividend-payout announcement may affect stock price and that at least some stockholders prefer dividends. Students should also mention the signaling and clientele considerations. 4.What risks does the firm face? Discussion following this question should address the nature of the industry, the strategy of the firm, and the firm’s performance. This discussion will lay the groundwork for the review of strategic considerations that bears on the dividend decision. 5.What is the nature of the share repurchase decision that Swenson must make? How would this affect the dividend decision? The discussion here must present the repercussions of a share repurchase decision on the share price, as well as on the dividend question. Signaling and clientele considerations must also be considered. 6.Does the stock market appear to reward high-dividend payout? What about low-dividend payout? Does it matter what type of investor owns the shares? What is the impact on share price of dividend policy? The data can be interpreted to support either view. The point is to show that simple extrapolations from stock market data are untrustworthy, largely because of econometric problems associated with size and omitted variables (see the Black and Scholes article) .4 7.What should Swenson recommend? Students must synthesize a course of action from the many facts and considerations raised. The instructor may choose to stimulate the discussion by using an organizing framework such as FRICTO (flexibility, risk, income, control, timing, and other) on the dividend and share repurchase issues. The image advertising and name change issue will be recognized as another  manifestation of the firm’s positioning in the capital markets, and the need to give effective signals. The class discussion can end with the students voting on the alternatives, followed by a summary of key points. Exhibits TN1 and TN2 contain two short technical notes on dividend policy, which the instructor may either use as the foundation for closing comments or distribute directly to the students after the case discussion. Case Analysis Gainesboro’s asset needs The company’s investment spending and financing requirements are driven by ambitious growth goals (a 15% annual target is discussed in the case), which are to be achieved by a repositioning of the firm—away from its traditional tools-and-molds business and beyond its CAD/CAM business into a new line of products integrating hardware and software—to provide complete manufacturing systems. CAD/CAM commanded 45% of total sales ($340.5 million) in 2004 and is expected to grow to three-quarters of sales ($1,509.5 million) by 2011, which implies a 24% annual rate of growth in this business segment over the subsequent seven years. In addition, international sales are expected to grow by 37% compounded over the subsequent seven years.5 By contrast, the presses-and-molds segment will grow at about 2.7% annually in nominal terms, which implies a negative real rate of growth in what constitutes the bulk of Gainesboro’s current business.6 In short, the company’s asset needs are driven primarily by a shift in the company’s strategic focus. Financial implications of payout alternatives The instructor can guide the students through the financial implications of various dividend-payout levels either in abbreviated form (for one class period) or in detail (for two classes). The abbreviated approach uses the total cash flow figures (that is, for 2005–2011) found in the right-hand column of case Exhibit 8. In essence, the approach uses the basic sources-and-uses of funds identity: Asset change = New debt + (Profits − Dividends) With asset additions fixed largely by the firm’s competitive strategy, and with profits determined largely by the firm’s operating strategy and the environment, the remaining large-decision variables are changes in debt and dividend payout. Even additions to debt are constrained, however, by the firm’s maximum leverage target, a debt/equity ratio of 0.40. This framework can be spelled out for the students to help them envision the financial context. Exhibit TN3 presents an analysis of the effect of payout on unused debt capacity based on the projection in case Exhibit 8. The top panel summarizes the firm’s investment program over the forecast period, as well as the financing provided by internal sources. The bottom panel summarizes the effect of higher payouts on the firm’s financing and unused debt capacity. The principal insight this analysis yields is that the firm’s unused debt capacity disappears rapidly, and maximum leverage is achieved as the payout increases. Going from a 20% to a 40% dividend payout (an increase in cash flow to shareholders of $95.6 million),7 the company consumes $134 million in unused debt capacity. Evidently, a multiplier relationship exists between payout and unused debt capacity—every dollar of dividends paid consumes about $1.408 of debt capacity. The multiplier exists because a dollar must be borrowed to replace each dollar of equity paid out in dividends, and each dollar of equity lost sacrifices $0.40 of debt capacity that it would have otherwise carried. Whereas the abbreviated approach to analyzing the implications of various dividend-payout levels considers total 2005 to 2011 cash flows, the detailed approach considers the pattern of the individual annual cash flows. Exhibit TN4 reveals that, although the debt/equity ratio associated with the 40% payout policy is well under the maximum of 40 in 2011, the maximum is breached in the preceding years. The graph suggests that a payout policy of 30% is about the maximum that does not breach the debt/equity maximum. Exhibits TN5 and TN6 reveal some of the financial reporting and valuation implications of alternative dividend policies. Those exhibits use a simple dividend valuation approach and assume a terminal value estimated as a multiple of earnings. The analysis is unscientific, as the case does not contain the information with which to estimate a discount rate based on the capital asset pricing model (CAPM).9 The discounted cash flow (DCF) values show that the differences in firm values are not that large and that the dividend policy choice in this case has little effect on value. This conclusion is consistent with the Miller-Modigliani dividend-irrelevance theorem. Regarding the financial-reporting effects of the policy choices, one sees that earnings per share (EPS on line 30 in Exhibits TN5 and TN6) and the implied stock price (line 31) grow more slowly at a 40% payout policy, because of the greater interest expense associated with higher leverage (see the cumulative source on line 22). Return on average equity (unused debt capacity on line 28) rises with higher leverage, however, as the equity base contracts. The instructor could use insights such as those to stimulate a discussion of the signaling consequences of the alternative policies, and whether investors even care about performance measures, such as EPS and return on equity (ROE).10 Risk assessment Neither the abbreviated nor detailed forecasts consider adverse deviations from the plan. Case Exhibit 8 assumes no cyclical downturn over the seven-year forecast period. Moreover, the model assumes that net margin doubles to 5% and then increases to 8%. The company may be able to rationalize those optimistic assumptions on the basis of its restructuring and the growth of the Artificial Workforce, but such a material discontinuity in the firm’s performance will warrant careful scrutiny. Moreover, continued growth may require new product development after 2006, which may incur significant research-and-development (R&D) expenses and reduce net margin. Students will point out that, so far, the company’s restructuring strategy is associated with losses (in 2002 and 2004) rather than gains. Although restructuring appears to have been necessary, the credibility of the forecasts depends on the assessment of management’s ability to begin harvesting potential profits. Plainly, the Artificial Workforce has the competitive advantage at the moment, but the volatility of the firm’s performance in the current period is significant: The ratio of the cost of goods sold to sales rose from 61.5% in 2003 to 65.9% in 2004. Meanwhile, the ratio of selling, general, and administrative expenses to sales is projected to fall from 30.5% in 2004 to 24.3% in 2005. Admittedly, the restructuring accounts for some of this volatility, but the case suggests several sources of volatility that are external to the company: economic recession, currency, new-competitor market entry, new product mishaps, cost overruns, and unexpected acquisition opportunities. A brief survey of risks invites students to perform a sensitivity analysis of the firm’s debt/equity ratio under a reasonable downside scenario. Students should be encouraged to exercise the associated computer spreadsheet model, making modifications as they see fit. Exhibit TN7 presents a forecast of financial results, assuming a net margin that is smaller than the preceding forecasts by 1% and sales growth at 12% rather than 15%. This exhibit also illustrates the implications of a residual dividend policy, which is to say the payment of a dividend only if the firm can afford it and if the payment will not cause the firm to violate its maximum debt ratios. The exhibit reveals that, in this adverse scenario, although a dividend payment would be made in 2005, none would be made in the two years that follow. Thereafter, the dividend payout would rise. The general insight remains that Gainesboro’s unused debt capacity is relatively fragile and easily exhausted. The stock-buyback decision The decision on whether to buy back stock should be that, if the intrinsic value of Gainesboro is greater than its current share price, the shares should be repurchased. The case does not provide the information needed to make free cash flow projections, but one can work around the problem by  making some assumptions. The DCF calculation presented in Exhibit TN8 uses net income as a proxy for operating income,11 and assumes a weighted-average cost of capital (WACC) of 10%, and a terminal value growth factor of 3.5%. The equity value per share comes out to $35.22, representing a 59% premium over the current share price. Based on that calculation, Gainesboro should repurchase its shares. Doing so, however, will not resolve Gainesboro’s dividend/financing problem. Buying back shares would further reduce the resources available for a dividend payout. Also, a stock buyback may be inconsistent with the message that Gainesboro is trying to convey, which is that it is a growth company. In a perfectly efficient market, it should not matter how investors got their money back (for example, through dividends or share repurchases), but in inefficient markets, the role of dividends and buybacks as signaling mechanisms cannot be disregarded. In Gainesboro’s case, we seem to have the case of an inefficient market; the case suggests that information asymmetries exist between company insiders and the stock market. Clientele and signaling considerations The profile of Gainesboro’s equity owners may influence the choice of dividend policy. Stephen Gaines, the board chair and scion of the founders’ families and management (who collectively own about 30% of the stock), seeks to maximize growth in the market value of the company’s stock over time. This goal invites students to analyze the impact of the dividend policy on valuation. Nevertheless, some students might point out that, as Gaines and Scarboro’s population of diverse and disinterested heirs grows, the demand for current income might rise. This naturally raises the question: Who owns the firm? The stockholder data in case Exhibit 4 show a marked drift over the past 10 years, moving away from long-term individual investors and toward short-term traders; and away from growth-oriented institutional investors and toward value investors. At least a quarter of the firm’s shares are in the hands of investors who are looking for a turnaround in the not too distant future.12 This lends urgency to the dividend and signaling question. The case indicates that the board committed itself to resuming a  dividend as early as possible —â€Å"ideally in the year 2005.† The board’s letter charges this dividend decision with some heavy signaling implications: because the board previously stated a desire to pay dividends, if it now declares no dividend, investors are bound to interpret the declaration as an indication of adversity. One is reminded of the story, â€Å"Silver Blaze,† written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle featuring the famous protagonist Sherlock Holmes, in which Dr. Watson asks where to look for a clue: â€Å"To the curious incident of the dog in the nighttime,† says Holmes. â€Å"The dog did nothing in the nighttime,† Watson answers. â€Å"That was the curious incident,† remarked Sherlock Holmes.13 A failure to signal a recovery might have an adverse impact on share price. In this context, a dividend—almost any dividend—might indicate to investors that the firm is prospering more or less according to plan. Astute students will observe that a subtler signaling problem occurs in the case: What kind of firm does Gainesboro want to signal that it is? Case Exhibit 6 shows that CAD/CAM equipment and software companies pay low or no dividends, in contrast to electrical machinery manufacturers, who pay out one-quarter to as much as half of their earnings. One can argue that, as a result of its restructuring, Gainesboro is making a transition from the latter to the former. If so, the issue then becomes how to tell investors. The article by Asquith and Mullins14 suggests that the most credible signal about corporate prospects is cash, in the form of either dividends or capital gains. Until the Artificial Workforce product line begins to deliver significant flows of cash, the share price is not likely to respond significantly. In addition, any decline in cash flow, caused by the risks listed earlier, would worsen the anticipated gain in share price. By implication, the Asquith–Mullins work would cast doubt on corporate-image advertising. If cash dividends are what matters, then spending on advertising and a name change might be wasted. Stock prices and dividends Some of the advocates of the high-dividend payout suggest that high stock prices are associated with high payouts. Students may attempt to prove that point by abstracting from the evidence in case Exhibits 6 and 7. As we know from academic research (for example, Friend and Puckett),15 proving the relationship of stock prices to dividend payouts in a scientific way is extremely difficult. In simpler terms, the reason is because the price/earnings (P/E) ratios are probably associated with many factors that may be represented by dividend payout in a regression model. The most important of those factors is the firm’s investment strategy; Miller and Modigliani’s16 dividend-irrelevance theorem makes the point that the firm’s investments—not the dividends it pays—determine the stock prices. One can just as easily derive evidence of this assertion from case Exhibit 7. The sample of zero-payout companies has a higher average expected return on capital (24.9%) than the sample of high-payout companies (average expected return of 9.4%); one may conclude that zero-payout companies have higher returns than the high-payout companies and that investors would rather reinvest in zero-payout companies than receive a cash payout and be forced to redeploy the capital to lower-yielding investments. Decision The decision for students is whether Gainesboro should buy back stock or declare a dividend in the third quarter (although, for practical purposes, students will find themselves deciding for all of 2005). As the analysis so far suggests, the case draws students into a tug-of-war between financial considerations, which tend to reject dividends and buybacks at least in the near term, and signaling considerations, which call for the resumption of dividends at some level, however, small. Students will tend to cluster around the three proposed policies: (1) zero payout, (2) low payout (1% to 10%), and (3) a residual payout scheme calling for dividends when cash is available. The arguments in favor of zero payout are: (1) the firm is making the  transition into the CAD/CAM industry, where zero payout is the mode; (2) the company should not ignore the financial statements and act like a blue-chip firm—Gainesboro’s risks are large enough without compounding them by disgorging cash; and (3) the signaling damage already occurred when the directors suspended the dividend in 2005. The arguments in favor of a low payout are usually based on optimism about the firm’s prospects and on beliefs that Gainesboro has sufficient debt capacity, that Gainesboro is not exactly a CAD/CAM firm, and that any dividend that does not restrict growth will enhance share prices. Usually, the signaling argument is most significant for the proponents of this policy. The residual policy is a convenient alternative, although it resolves none of the thorny policy issues in the case. A residual dividend policy is bound to create significant signaling problems as the firm’s dividend waxes and wanes through each economic cycle. The question of the image advertising and corporate name change will entice the naive student as a relatively cheap solution to the signaling problem. The instructor should challenge such thinking. Signaling research suggests that effective signals are both unambiguous and costly. The advertising and name change, costly as they may be, hardly qualify as unambiguous. On the other hand, seasoned investor relations professionals believe that advertising and name changes can be effective in alerting the capital markets to major corporate changes when integrated with other signaling devices such as dividends, capital structure, and investment announcements. The whole point of such campaigns should be to gain the attention of the â€Å"lead steer† opinion leaders. Overall, inexperienced students tend to dismiss the signaling considerations in this case quite readily. On the other hand, senior executives and seasoned financial executives view signaling quite seriously. If the class votes to buy back stock or to declare no dividend in 2005, asking some of the students to dictate a letter to shareholders explaining the board’s decision may be useful. The difficult issues of credibility will emerge in class with a critique of this letter. If the class does vote to declare a dividend payout, the instructor can challenge the students to identify the operating policies they gambled on to make their decision. The underlying question: If adversity strikes, what will the class sacrifice first: debt, or dividend policies? To use Fisher Black’s term, dividend policy is â€Å"puzzling,† largely because of its interaction with other corporate policies and its signaling effect.17 Decisions about the firm’s dividend policy may be the best way to illustrate the importance of managers’ judgments in corporate finance. However the class votes, one of the teaching points is that managers are paid to make difficult, even high-stakes policy choices on the basis of incomplete information and uncertain prospects. Exhibit TN1 GAINESBORO MACHINE TOOLS CORPORATION The Dividend Decision and Financing Policy The dividend decision is necessarily part of the financing policy of the firm. The dividend payout chosen may affect the creditworthiness of the firm and hence the costs of debt and equity; if the cost of capital changes, so may the value of the firm. Unfortunately, one cannot determine whether the change in value will be positive or negative without knowing more about the optimality of the firm’s debt policy. The link between debt and dividend policies has received little attention in academic circles, largely because of its complexity, but it remains an important issue for chief financial officers and their advisors. The Gainesboro case illustrates the impact of dividend payout on creditworthiness. Dividend payout has an unusual multiplier effect on financial reserves. Table TN1 varies the total 2005–2011 sources-and-uses of funds information given in case Exhibit 8, according to different dividend-payout levels. Exhibit TN1 (continued) Table TN1 Exhibit TN1 (continued) As Table TN1 reveals, one dollar of dividends paid consumes $1.40 in unused debt capacity. At first glance, this result seems surprising—under the sources-and-uses framework, one dollar of dividend is financed with only one dollar of borrowing. The sources-and-uses reasoning, however, ignores the erosion in the equity base: A dollar paid out of equity also eliminates $0.40 of debt that the dollar could have carried. Thus, a multiplier effect exists between dividends and unused debt capacity, whenever a firm borrows to pay dividends. Choosing a dividend payout will affect the probability that the firm will breach its maximum target leverage. Figure TN1 traces the debt/equity ratios associated with Gainesboro’s dividend-payout ratios. Figure TN1. Plainly, the 40% dividend-payout ratio violates Gainesboro’s maximum debt/equity ratio of 40%. The conclusion is that, because the dividend policy affects the firm’s creditworthiness, senior managers should weigh the financial side effects of their payout decisions, along with the signaling, segmentation, and investment effects, to arrive at their final decision for the dividend policy. Exhibit TN2 GAINESBORO MACHINE TOOLS CORPORATION Setting Debt and Dividend-Payout Targets The Gainesboro Machine Tools Corporation case well illustrates the challenge of setting the two most obvious components of financial policy: target payout and debt capitalization. The policies are linked with the firm’s growth target, as shown in the self-sustainable growth model: gss = (P/S ï€ ªÃƒâ€" S/A Ãâ€" A/E)(1 − DPO) Where: gss is the self-sustainable growth rate P is net income S is sales A is assets E is equity DPO is the dividend-payout ratio This model describes the rate at which a firm can grow if it issues no new shares of common stock, which describes the behavior or circumstances of virtually all firms. The model illustrates that the financial policies of a firm are a closed system: Growth rate, dividend payout, and debt targets are interdependent. The model offers the key insight that no financial policy can be set without reference to the others. As Gainesboro shows, a high dividend payout affects the firm’s ability to achieve growth and capitalization targets and vice versa. Myopic policy—failing to manage the link among the financial targets—will result in the failure to meet financial targets. Setting Debt-Capitalization Targets Finance theory is split on whether gains are created by optimizing the mix of debt and equity of the firm. Practitioners and many academicians, however, believe that debt optima exist and devote great effort to choosing the firm’s debt-capitalization targets. Several classic competing considerations influence the choice of debt targets: 1.Exploit debt-tax shields. Modigliani and Miller’s theorem implies that in the world of taxes, debt financing creates value.1 Later, Miller theorized that when personal taxes are accounted for, the leverage choices of the firm might not create value. So far, the bulk of the empirical evidence suggests that leverage choices do affect value. 2.Reduce costs of financial distress and bankruptcy. Modigliani and Miller’s theory naively implied that firms  should lever up to 99% of capital. Virtually no firms do this. Beyond some prudent level of debt, the cost of capital becomes very high because investors recognize that the firm has a greater probability of suffering financial distress and bankruptcy. The critical question then becomes: What is â€Å"prudent†? In practice, two classic benchmarks are used: a. Industry-average debt/capital: Many firms lever to the degree practiced by peers, but this policy is not very sensible. Industry averages ignore differences in accounting policies, strategies, and earnings outlooks. Ideally, prudence is defined in firm-specific terms. In addition, capitalization ratios ignore the crucial fact that a firm goes bankrupt because it runs out of cash, not because it has a high debt/capital ratio. b. Firm-specific debt service: More firms are setting debt targets based on the forecasted ability to cover principal and interest payments with earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT). This practice requires forecasting the annual probability distribution of EBIT and setting the debt-capitalization level, so that the probability of covering debt service is consistent with management’s strategy and risk tolerance. 3.Maintain a reserve against unforeseen adversities or opportunities. Many firms keep their cash balances and lines of unused bank credit larger than may seem necessary, because managers want to be able to respond to sudden demands on the firm’s financial resources caused, for example, by a price war, a large product recall, or an opportunity to buy the toughest competitor. Academicians have no scientific advice about how large those reserves should be. 4.Maintain future access to capital. In difficult economic times, less creditworthy borrowers may be shut out from the capital markets and, thus, unable to obtain funds. In the United States, â€Å"less creditworthy† refers to the companies whose debt ratings are less than investment grade (which is to say, less than BBB2 or Baa3). Accordingly, many firms set debt targets in such a way as to at least maintain a creditworthy (or investment grade) debt rating. 5.Opportunistically exploit capital-market windows. Some firms’ debt policies vary across the capital-market cycle. Those firms issue debt when interest rates are low (and issue stock when stock prices are high); they are bargain-hunters (even though no bargains exist in an efficient market). Opportunism does not explain how firms set targets so much as why firms deviate from those targets.

History of Cookies

The first cookies were created by accident Cooks used a small amount of cake batter to test their oven temperature betore baking a large cake, The earliest cookie-style cakes are thought to date back to seventh-century Persia. Persia was one of the first countries to cultivate sugar. The word cookie originally came from the Dutch keok]e, meaning â€Å"little cake†. Dutch first popularized cookies in the United States. The British incorporated them in the 19th century in their daily tea service and calling them biscuits or sweet buns, as they do in Scotland.Sometime in the 1930s, a Massachusetts Innkeeper ran out ot nuts vvhlle making cookies. she substltuted a bar of baking chocolate, breaking It Into pieces and adding the chunks of chocolate to the flour, butter, and brown sugar dough. The Toll House Cookie was then Invented and became a big hit. Ruth Wakefield was credited with inventing the chocolate chip cookie, an American Classic. Cookies are made with sweet dough or bat ter, baked in single-sized servings and eaten out-of-hand. Perfect for snacking or as dessert, cookles are consumed In 95. ercent ot u. s. households. Americans alone consume over 2 billion cookies a year or 300 cookies for each person annually. cookies are most often classified by method of preparation – drop, molded, pressed, refrigerated, bar and rolled. Their dominant ingredient, such as nut cookies, fruit cookies or chocolate cookies, can also classify them. Whether gourmet, soft or bite-sized cookies, new categories are always cropping up as the American appetite for cookies contlnues to grow. A drop cookle Is made by dropplng spoontuls ot dough onto a baking sheet.Bar cookies are created when a batter or soft dough Is spooned Into a shallow pan, then baked, cooled and cut into bars. Hand-formed cookies are made by shaping dough by hand into small balls, logs, crescents and other shapes. Pressed cookies are formed by pressing dough through a cookie press to form fancy s hapes and designs. Refrigerator cookies are made by shaping the dough into a log, which is retrigerated until firm, then sliced and baked. Rolled cookies begin by using a rolling pln to roll the dough out flat; then It Is cut Into decorative shapes with cookie cutters r d pointed knife.Other cookies, such as the German springerle, are formed by Imprinting designs on the dough, either by rolling a special decoratively carved rolling pin over it or by pressing the dough into a carved cookie mold. The Southern colonial housewife took great pride in her cookies, almost always called simply â€Å"tea cakes. † These were otten flavored with nothing more than the finest butter, sometimes with the addltlon of a few drops of rose water. In earlier American cookbooks, cookies were given no space of their own but were listed at the end of the cake chapter.

Raymond Carver - Short Stories with Depth Research Paper

Raymond Carver - Short Stories with Depth - Research Paper Example Precisely why we have very few accomplished short story writers in English literature. In this essay we are going to analyse two stories written by one such accomplished writer Raymond Carver. We are going to compare and contrast these stories and also discuss Raymond Carver’s style of writing. The stories we are going to compare are, ‘Nobody said anything’ and ‘Will you please be quiet please?’ Life of Raymond carver Carver was born in Oregon, in a small mill town. His father was a skilled sawmill worker. His mother supported the family by working as a waitress and retail clerk. Carver got married when he was nineteen and his wife was barely sixteen. Their first child, a daughter was born six months after they got married and a son followed next year. All this time Carver supported his family by doing odd jobs. He later moved to California where he completed his BA and also attended a creative writing workshop conducted by John Gardner. Gardner held profound influence on Carver’s life and career. Carver kept moving his family from one state to another. His wife supported him by doing various odd jobs such as cocktail waitress, salesperson, administrative assistant and even as local school teacher. She supported Carver’s heavy drinking and life as a writer even though he kept teaching in universities across America. She also completed her degree and began to do better jobs to support Carver. Carver took to bottle and by his own admission has stated that in those years of heavy drinking he rarely wrote and only immersed himself in alcohol. Even when his friend Cheever stopped drinking due to diagnosis of cancer, Carver continued to drink. He had resorted to drinking so much that he needed medical assistance thrice to help him back to life. Eventually with the help of Alcoholics Anonymous Carver stopped drinking and took control of his life again. He divorced his first wife and married Tess Gallagher in the year 1982 . He died at the age of fifty due to cancer. Reflection of his life in his work Carver came from a blue collared working family. He came typically from lower middle class background which is seen in his stories. He saw life of blue collared workers very closely. Like couple of his contemporaries Carver painted a picture of lower middle class people on his writing. He highlighted their misery, their problems, their losses, love, relationships, and compromises all in his stories and poetry. He developed a matter of fact approach of stating their lives in his works. For a writer it is difficult to overcome the influences of his life while writing. Personal experiences and feelings do find place in the work they produce. One has to look beyond words to understand and feel what the writer actually wants to convey as deeper meaning to the picture he is creating. All his life till forty Carver struggled with his life by doing odd jobs, teaching and writing. He saw life from close end of th e pavilion and hence all those experiences found place in his work. Carver’s style of writing Carver is said to have a style of ‘dirty realism’ in his work. He was a minimalist writer using words only when necessary. John Gardner whose writing workshop Carver attended mentored Carver to use minimum words required to express him. It was Carver’s publisher Gordon Lish who pushed this minimalist writing to the brim by further cutting down the number of words Carver wrote. Carver later broke the agreement with Lish

Pfizer Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Pfizer - Research Paper Example The two principles that are covered for this submission is the Labor Principle 1: The elimination of discrimination in respect of employment and occupation and the Environment Principle 2: Encourage the development and diffusion of environment friendly technologies. These two principles cover the aspects related to the internal human resources policies followed by the organizations (Pfizer in this case) and the way in which the company goes about encouraging newer technologies to enter the market that are environmentally friendly and â€Å"green† according to the principles laid down by the global compact. If we examine the first principle of ending discrimination at the workplace, we find that Pfizer has been proactively reaching out to its internal stakeholders i.e. its employees and educating them about the need to foster a workplace environment that is free from harassment and gender specific targeting. Towards this end, Pfizer has undertaken a series of initiatives that deal with these issues. Some of them include the institution of a strict workplace policy that prohibits discrimination on the basis of any factor be it gender, ethnicity, race or physical disabilities or lifestyle preferences. This has come in the form of a directive from top management with its implementation being tracked for success at all levels and grievance redressal mechanisms and anonymous complaint registration being made available to all the employees. As the following excerpt from the company’s website points out, â€Å"the education of employees has included executive memos, stories about the Global Compact on Pfizer’s online worldwide news service for employees, and a two-day global meeting of senior employees focused on stakeholder engagement. In addition, the company’s mandatory education for all employees on Pfizer’s Code of Ethics included segments on corporate citizenship, with reference to the Global

Planning in Ireland. Does Planning Ensures Economic Growth Essay

Planning in Ireland. Does Planning Ensures Economic Growth - Essay Example The city Dublin, founded as a Viking settlement, the city has been Ireland's primary city for most of the island's history since medieval times. Today, it is an economic, administrative and cultural centre for the island of Ireland, and has one of the fastest growing populations of any European capital city. The economic boom years have led to a sharp increase in construction, which is now also a major employer, especially for immigrants. Redevelopment is taking place in large projects such as Dublin Docklands, Spencer Dock and others, transforming once run-down industrial areas in the city centre. This would have not been possible if there had not been strategic planning with visionary economic ambitions. Hence, the supreme justification of planning lies with its expected output. Otherwise no economy would accomplish its strategic design based on the available resources and its management. In the 1920s and early 1930s, the Republic of Ireland pursued a low-tax, low-spending, non-interventionist approach under the government of W. T. Cosgrave and Cumann na nGaedhael, focused mainly on agriculture, livestock farming being of primary importance. The only notable expense the government went to during this time was for the rural electrification scheme, which saw 5,000,000 being spent constructing the Ardnacrusha hydroelectric power station on the river Shannon. During this period, 97% of trade was done with Britain. This government favored free trade. However, this proved inadequate after the Wall Street Crash of 1929. Ireland, as we know, is the third largest island in Europe and the twentieth largest island in the world. Politically, the Republic of Ireland covers five sixths of the island, with Northern Ireland, part of the United Kingdom, covering the remainder in the northeast. According to Government census carried out in 2007 the population of the island is slightly under six million with almost 4.25 million in the Republic of Ireland, 1.7 million in Greater Dublin and an estimated 1.75 million in Northern Ireland, 0.6 million in Greater Belfast. This is a significant increase from a modern historical low in the 1960s, but still much lower than the peak population of over 8 million in the early 19th century, prior to the Great Famine. In 1932, Eamonn De Valera's Fianna Fil party defeated Cosgrave's party with a solid majority. De Valera's policy was of economic nationalism, a belief in self-sufficiency, and attempted industrialization. The economic war resulted in widespread hardship for Irish farming, which was the backbone of the economy, and which relied on exports to English cities for a market. The tariffs resulted in price increases for many essential manufactured goods, and an increase in the cost of living. High unemployment in richer English speaking countries made emigration from Ireland less of an option, decreasing wages. Northern I reland experienced a boom during World War II, as a result of demand for its principal industries, shipbuilding and linen making, and got a lot of support from the British government thereafter. Purpose built industrial estates was developed in most large towns. Rural Electrification, the division of large estates, and agricultural scientific education resulted in dramatic increases in agricultural output in the 1960s. In 1972, secondary level education was made free and compulsory. The Republic applied to join the European

Autism Spectrum Disorder Dissertation Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Autism Spectrum Disorder - Dissertation Example The project will be using children and adults with varying degrees of ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder). In working with children and/or adolescents the researcher must also want to work with the parents. The researcher will now devise various questions and activities that the participants may be able to do or not. This will also show the parents during their observation periods what their children can do and get a better understanding of the disorder their child has been diagnosed. This project will also need to be reliable and valid for the future, that teachers and other professionals will be able to use this project in their care of the child or children. The researcher will be conducting interviews with many different activities that will show what the participants know and teach them new skills that will help them in their life. The research will also have various questionnaires for the parents and caregivers to fill out. These questionnaires will provide sections for personal inf ormation, degree of autism, activities that they can do and skills that they cannot do, medications that they may have been on and the medications they are taking now, we will also have to know what treatments and interventions that have been used before and those that seem to work and treatments that did not work. The researcher must decide on how all these aspects of the research will progress through the study. The researcher must want to see other records that pertain to the participants of the study. The researcher must let the parents know what is going to occur throughout the study and must be given informed consent and told about confidentiality. (Corey, 2011) The researcher must need to know how the participant(s) were affected by previous treatments and medications. This study will be quantitative and qualitative for the project will be using various children and adolescents. The quantitative aspect would involve how the participants will interact (strengthen or weaken) th e effects at the different levels between the variables and the initial effects that do not change. It is also qualitative for there will be reverses to the effect depending on what occurs in the study. (Nolan.2011) Variables of this study will be the children, the parents and caregivers, and the past and future interventions that will be used and created. The researcher must also look at age, culture, grade level if school age and if working what kind of occupation they have if they are older and the independent variable being the activities that the dependent variables, the participants, will accomplish during the research process. (Cozby, 2004) Timeline for Doing Research Doing a Literature Review In doing research on Autism Spectrum Disorder the researcher must proceed with a ‘radical looking’. This is when researchers do a general literature review to see what has been done in the past and what possibly could be done in the future. When doing research, researchers must keep their ears and eyes open for new developments and suggestions that just might help to progress the research. This is when the researcher can attend conferences, listen to interviews from others about the disorder and gather information that could be used to progress the study. This can also be a time to listen for new suggestions about the disorder. This is known as ‘radical listening’

Philosophy Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 5

Philosophy - Assignment Example Through this statement, we are able to know that human beings are superior when compared to animals, i.e. pigs (Hamilton, 73). Furthermore, through this statement, we are able to know that within human being, there are classes, and this class is between the wise and the fools. Socrates is a well respected philosopher, and he is considered as one of the wisest men, to have ever lived, and therefore, through this statement, Mills uses him as a symbol of wisdom. The principle of utility denotes that the behaviors or actions of people are right and good, only if they are able to promote the pleasure or happiness of an individual. This principle further denotes that the actions or behavior of people are unjust, if they are able to produce pain, or unhappiness. As a human being, there are instances whereby I have been faced with the moral dilemma (Troyer, 12). An example is a circumstance, when I was in a restaurant, and unfortunately, I had forgotten to carry my wallet with, which consisted of money. I ordered food, with the knowledge that I would pay, but unfortunately, I realized that I had no money, and a wallet had just fallen down, and the owner did not realize it. This situation, was a dilemma to me, because I had two choices, the first choice is to pick the wallet, remove money, and pay for my bill, while the second option was to pick the wallet and return to the owner (Troyer, 12). While analyzing these options, I had to choose an opt ion, that would make us both happy, my-self, and the owner of the wallet, and this option was to return the wallet. Utility appears in this sense, when I was able to act rightly, satisfying my conscious, and the happiness of the owner of the wallet, when I returned it to him. This theory denotes that workers will lose the control of their lives, and this is because of the loss of control over the work that they are doing. Therefore, a worker ceases

Problems of Defining and Measurement of Development Essay

Problems of Defining and Measurement of Development - Essay Example There are many geographers that measure the development in the terms of countries Human Development Index. On the other hand in various countries economists link the development with the developed or either with developing countries economies and use the GNP (Gross National Product) and GDP (Gross Domestic Product) for measuring it (Pieterse 2009). As the definition of development, it is important that technological justice and improvements are even interrelated features that require being considered. The study has been conducted for defining the problems that occur while defining the development taking place in the economy and the various measures adopted by the economists for measuring it on the specific index. The study will also include different theories that are applied in the development for defining it. The study will also include examples drawn from various countries for defining the development, as most of the countries use the income level for defining the development taking place in different countries (Jaffee 1998). The term development has been used from the past few decades and there are several definitions which are associated with the training, seminars, workshops, certificate programs, college and degree programs and also the books and other reading materials. The term development when initially discussed was treated as the synonym of the term improvement of individuals of a lot of individuals in society. With the passage of time, with the emergence of new initiatives and innovations, there is an addition to the confusion in the definition of the term development. There is confusion in the terminology that is used for defining the term â€Å"development†. From the international perspective, it can be said to be as an integral part of a large and broader process of the social and community change (Love and Guthrie 2011). The goal of this change is to bring in the efficiency and improvement in the activities related to economic and social justice.  

Marketing Audit Report for MAC COSMETICS Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Marketing Audit Report for MAC COSMETICS - Essay Example The essay "Marketing Audit Report for MAC COSMETICS" discusses the marketing report for Mac Cosmetics to analyze the various operational aspects that are involved in ensuring the company competes. Marketing can be defined as the achievement of corporate goals through ensuring the operations meet and exceed customers’ needs better than the competition. Marketing for different products provided by different companies within the same industry is conducted with the aim of beating the competitors through the market share and achieving high profits for the organization. The development of a strategic marketing plan is essential in ensuring that the products of the company are able to compete effectively in the market. Competitive markets require organizations operating within the industry to adopt intensive marketing strategies to ensure that they compete effectively within the market. The mission statement of an organization can be defined as a brief statement that defines the purpose of establishing the business while identifying the reasons behind the existence of the company. The mission statement for the company seeks to provide products which fit individuals of different demographic states. Within the mission statement of the company, it states clearly the goals which the company seeks to achieve and the responsibilities of the company to the customers. The mission statement is important to the company because it establishes the direction of the company in terms of defining the goals and targets.

Argumentative Essays (MEDIA) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

The Role and Authenticity of Wikipedia - Essay Example As the paper outlines, the example of Wikipedia, an online information source, can be deemed as vital to understand the importance of media, especially in the field of research. It has been observed that Wikipedia is an internet-based encyclopedia that works on the principle of collaborative editing. The source provides information to internet users all over the world in different languages. Furthermore, analyses suggest that since its inception, this internet-based encyclopedia has been providing more than 30 million articles in over 200 distinct languages to its users all around the world. However, the authenticity, as well as the reliability of this source, has been under the scanner, especially on the grounds of authenticity (Clark, â€Å"Wikipedia: What Is It Good For?†). This thesis will, therefore, present an argumentative essay which will adopt both supportive as well as criticizing stand on the authenticity and the role of Wikipedia in supporting the modern day resear ch needs. The presence of online published sources is enhancing with every passing day in various fields including research; may be academic or business oriented. The ability of these sources to provide information about every topic and in distinct languages has gathered popularity from millions of users all around the globe. Concerning these features, the position of Wikipedia can be considered as exemplary which further places it among the successful internet sites used to gather adequate information regarding a vivid range of topics and aspects. However, the biggest threat for the source in its successful operation has been the increasing criticism it faces on the basis of authenticity and reliability of the information published in comparison to other academic and peer-reviewed sources. This is owing to the fact that this internet source renders due significance to collaborative editing by engaging its users which is again not restricted on the basis of any particular eligibilit y criteria. In simple words, anyone who has the desire to share their knowledge regarding any topic can use Wikipedia as a platform; not only to publish new information but also to edit the previously published data. Thus, the high possibility exists for the data, published in Wikipedia in an editable form, to be exaggerated. The source does not demand any sort of expertise from the editors or neither has it set any sort of criteria for the users to express their knowledge through the source. Owing to its principle of being open for editing, the information provided by the source is often considered to be unreliable and unauthentic. Besides, the source can also be criticized on the basis of the fact that some of the information edited or provided by the users involves maximum plagiarism, i.e. the information published by unauthorized editors are often copied and pasted from other sources which again increases the risks of infringement of intellectual rights held by the publishers of that information. Consequentially, the information cannot be considered authentic as well as a quality work to support a research process, especially in an academic field. The source is also criticized due to the fact that much false information is being embedded in most of the articles published through Wikipedia and similar sources in the absence of any rules.  

Defined the Three Different Types of Breach of Contract Essay Example for Free

Defined the Three Different Types of Breach of Contract Essay In Contracts there are many terms used that sometimes may get confusing. Other times it is hard to tell which words mean what and how to use them properly in a sentence; the word condition being one of them. There are so many uses for the word and it may be used as a form to explain more in-depth in a contract, so that there is no confusion, or questions asked in what was meant by in a statement. Conditioned is defined in a contact as a future uncertained event that creates or destroys rights and obligations. A condition is a contact clause that modifies the basic agreements between the parties. Conditions can be complexed as â€Å"if you do this†¦, I’ll do that†¦Ã¢â‚¬ . There are different types of conditions, including implied, express, condition precedent and condition subsequent. It is legal and very common for contracts to have conditions. A condition can modify or rescind a contract. Conditions can also be based on certain action either of the parties themselves or some other outside action. A contract with no condition is â€Å"I promise to pay you $2,000 for your car†. A contract with a condition is â€Å"I promise to pay you $2,000 for your car, if a mechanic certifies it has no major mechanical problems. How can you tell if a contact has a condition you may ask, well its very simple, if the statements requires action to be taken for the contract to be enforced. An implied contract is one that is not stated in the contract and an expressed contract is one that is stated.

Health Essays Power Empowertment Promotion

Health Essays Power Empowertment Promotion Power and empowerment in health promotion: Discuss the implications of power and empowerment in community based health promotion. Chronic disease is now a major concern for the western world. No longer are infectious and acute diseases the leading causes of death in the UK, but chronic diseases such as cancers and obesity related disorders have now taken over as the biggest health threats to the general population. Many chronic disorders are a result, to some degree, of behavioural factors like lifestyle choices or diet. Lung cancer from smoking and Type II Diabetes through poor diet (obesity) and sedentary lifestyle are prime examples of the link between modern life and a shift towards chronic disease. As a result of this partially behavioural foundation to illness, there is the opportunity to change open to many people, and ultimately the ability to improve health and health outcomes such as life expectancy or quality of life. Health can thus be seen to be potentially determined by our actions. One way of letting people know what they should be doing to stay healthy or to improve their health is through health promotion. As set out in the Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion (WHO, 1986), health promotion can be defined as the process of enabling people to increase control over, and to improve their health. To reach a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being, an individual or group must be able to identify and to realize aspirations, to satisfy needs, and to change or cope with the environment. The strategies used in health promotion programmes have been reported as diverse, through engaging in; awareness, information provision, influencing social policy, fighting for change and intervention type programmes. (Speller et al 1997) Traditionally health promotion has focused around education, prevention and protection interventions (Tannahill, 1985) and has been designed, implemented and evaluated from a top-down approaches and programmes. This is where behaviour change is generally the focus of outcome, and the issues that are being investigated are set by some form of authority, like a local health authority or even at a national level through the Government. Top down is thus where a small number of select people make the choices for people lower down the chain effectively a minority with power over the majority. Health promoters who operate in this capacity can thus be seen to hold and exert power over the population or different communities through their setting of the health promotion programmes, and through acting as gatekeepers of the information they choose to share. People in such decision-making positions may also have control over issues such as resource allocation and funding or who is given decision-making responsibilities (Laverack Laonte, 2000) and all of these factors work to take away power from the grass-roots / individual level. Real power is possessed by those who define the problem. (McKnight, 1999) Decision makers such as health promoters or authorities that dictate what people need, and what they can and cannot have in relation to health information, promotion and intervention also exert power over the population through creating individual dependency on health professionals for maintaining and responsibility for their health and wellbeing. The Ottawa Charter highlighted the need for health promotion to move beyond what is an essentially person-passive approach of receiving health promotion information and interventions, to one where individuals are enabled to become much more active participants with greater control over their health and well-being, and through instigating greater action on a community and group level. A concept known as empowerment with roots in social psychology constructs such as self-efficacy and health locus of control, refers to processes of social interaction of individuals and groups, which aim at enabling people to enhance their individual and collective skills and the scope and range of controlling their lives. (Erben, Franzkowiak Wenzel, 2000) Empowerment can thus occur at both individual and group levels, such as within communities. The basis of empowerment is essentially associated with the so-called bottom-up approach to health promotion (where the decision making process begins at the individual or group level, and these ideas are taken up the chain for approval and implementation) which has given focus to issues of concern to particular groups or individuals, and regards some improvement in their overall power or capacity as the important health outcome. (Laverack Labonte, 2000) Empowerment is seen as a particularly important strategy in enabling more marginalized groups of society, those who may be powerless in many other aspects of their lives as well as in regards to control over their health (Bergsma, 2004). The Ottawa Charter (WHO,1986) outlined the 8 fundamental pre-requisites it believed were necessary for attaining improvement in health and well-being; peace, shelter, education, food, income, a stable natural environment, sustainable resources, and lastly social justice and equity. People from marginalized groups or those who are from a lower socio-economic-status (SES) background may have the basics of these elements, but not in the quantities or to the levels of those from higher SES groups. Difficulties in these areas that are common amongst marginalized and low SES groups each in themselves have implications for health (Bergsma, 2004). Low income families are more likely to have an unhealthier and less nutritious diet. This is thought to stem from financial considerations of buying some foods, but may also be a consequence of poorer education. Low SES neighborhoods are also generally found to be more stressful places to live. Higher crime rates, poorer community facilities and educational institutions have the potential of confounding the problem further. Types of work amongst different SES groups can affect health some of the blue-collar jobs types associated with low SES groups are catergorised as some of the most stressful work environments; those with low control and low decision authority such as factory work are thought more stressful than typical white-collar jobs like managerial work. Stress is well established as linked to poorer health through work like PNI (psychoneuroimmunology) where psychological stress can be translated by the body into physiological responses and cause short-term and long-term health problems (Karasek, Baker, Marxer, Ahlborn Thorell, 1981) as well as psychological distress. As factors such as low income (money worries) crime rates (living in dangerous neighborhoods) and work all and feelings of powerlessness and have the potential to cause high levels of stress, those that are experiencing a good number of these factors are likely to have poorer health (Bergsma, 2004) than those who do not have such worries or uncontrollable stressors. These factors can thus be seen to be to a large extent, difficult to control, and as such people can feel powerless to make any changes in regards to such difficulties, either through feeling that they would be unable to make any change especially making change as a lone individual (Erben, Franzkowiak Wenzel, 2000) or where through education or poor health people are not aware of what changes could help them, or being in a position to take any action. It is for reasons such as these that research have found that change in knowledge did not necessarily translate into behaviour change through action, or ultimately improved health of those within health promotion education programmes. Health promotion at an individual level may thus not be effective for all individuals who come to the education or intervention with different experiences or backgrounds. Educational level may dictate the level to which people can understand health promotion campaigns or the medical reasons why they may need to alter their behaviour. Health education promotion may also be unable to interest everyone due to the different motivations for change that people may have someone who is struggling to pay the mortgage bills to keep their house may have less motivation to ensure they are eating healthily to make sure they do not develop diabetes. These individual differences in regards to health may exert a potentially large detrimental effect on the efficacy of health promotion programmes when decision making in regards to targeted behaviour, resource allocation etc, have been made without consultation with those the intervention is designed for, as is the case in typically top-down programming approaches. Some authors have however argued that top-down and bottom-up programmes for health promotion need not necessarily operate on a mutually exclusive basis. (Laverack Labonte, 2000) These authors argue that the way in which bottom-up approaches can be incorporated into top-down programmes is through more subtle targeting of behaviours for change. The example provided by Laverack Labonte (2000) is through concern more with the group members experiences of empowerment in terms of the quality of their social relationships and self-identities than with changes in specified health behaviours. Programmes with this focus may create an environment conducive to, and a support network for people to begin to critically evaluate their health behaviour. A study involving a sample of lower income women and their concerns about themselves (body image, parental ability, managing household budgets etc) found that within the supportive environment of the group, the women began to perceive they had more control over their situation and through this an increased feeling of self-esteem through which they began to evaluate health concerns such as smoking. (Labonte, 1996; Kort 1990) In this capacity health promoters and authorities can retain control of resources and project design, although the direction of the project will be guided by a need raised by the community. Greater priority is thus gained from understanding what a group or community needs through its participation in early stages, and not assuming what may be effective (Laverack Labonte, 2000). Through this kind of design stra tegy the powerless are becoming empowered to participate in the orientation and type of health promotion they receive. Empowerment within health promotion can thus be seen to involve enabling people to take more control over their health, through teaching them the skills they need to do this; developing self-efficacy (confidence in ones ability to perform / complete a task) decision making and problem solving skills, and life skills like communication, in general. Empowerment reestablishes the individual with autonomy over their health. (Hubley, 2002) Implications of empowering people on an individual level with their health, means that people have the chance to assess what is important to them, and to be in a position of making an informed choice about what they could do to improve or resolve their health problem, and to have the skills and knowledge of knowing where to start in the correction process if they come to the decision that they do want to change. Giving someone the capacity to make an informed choice over their health does not however guarantee that they will always make the same choices as health promoters or authorities may wish them to, simply that the power has been given back to them on deciding how to proceed. Empowered individuals may subsequently decide to give up drinking but continue smoking for example. There will be consequences of individual decisions at higher levels resulting from empowerment; those that continue to engage in unhealthy behaviours that have also received empowering health promotion interventions have used health promotion resources as well as potentially needing healthcare resources such as hospital stays, surgery or palliative care later on in their life as a result of behaviours they engage in. People may also experience guilt and psychological distress after making decisions that result in a poor health outcome, or may feel under stress from the responsibility of making choices that can affect their health. Those that through empowerment have taken positive action in regards to their health may reduce their future needs for resources from the health service, and may spread knowledge such as health dieting and exercise engagement with their family and friends. There are therefore both positive and negative implications for enabling people to take the driving seat in decision-making for their health. Western contemporary society does however favor the notion of personal control rather than state control, and this therefore is complimentary to the notion of health empowerment within the health promotion perspective. Personal empowerment can be complemented through community empowerment. This model from a bottom-up approach, takes into account the many social inequalities that exist within society, and the effect that such inequalities have on the health outcomes for minority / marginalized or low SES groups, and the extent to which they can bring about change in themselves and their situations socially. Community empowerment looks at re-establishing peoples power in relation to these factors at a social and community level that is theoretically proposed as benefiting health. A community can be defined as a geographical construct, but can also relate to a group of people who share a sense of social identity, common norms, values, goals and institutions. (Bergsma, 2004) The community empowerment construct seeks to help people develop these skills within small groups or communities, in order to allow them to be in a position to participate in the decision making process within their wider community, over issues that will affect their health and their lives and control over personal, social, economic and political forces in order to take action to improve their lives. (Israel et al, 1994) One way through which communities can do this is through participatory action research, which is when professionals work in collaboration with communities to define issues, designing the research questions gathering and evaluating the data, and designing resolutions to the problems investigated and finally in acting out the change required. (Gebbie, Rosenstock Hernandez, 2002) Action within a community setting towards health is one of the five principles that were outlined in the Ottawa Charter, as the WHO believed that people needed to hold some degree of control over their living and working conditions in order to develop lifestyles conducive to health, (WHO, 1986) as community empowerment health promotion allows individuals to gain mastery and impact the social, environmental ad economic conditions that determine their health (Bergsma, 2004). Implications of working from a community empowerment model within a bottom-up health promotion strategy, can be seen to be more informed decision makers within health authorities and those in charge of resource allocation, through being better informed about community level need through the use of local knowledge. Through this strategy a number of positive implications are potentially viable in comparison to tradition top-down programmes. Decisions based on local knowledge of need are likely to result in better health change and outcome as resources are more appropriately targeted with a better understanding of the people the services are aimed at. Closer collaboration between health authorities and communities is likely to create stronger collaborative relationships, which can create an environment of trust and openness. This has positive implications two ways, firstly through a more open relationship individuals within a community may more honestly assess their health behaviours and need through which authorities will be able to target resources even more efficiently. Within the community itself, collaborative work will continue to empower individuals allowing community participation to evolve to higher capabilities over time. On the more negative side, community empowerment initiatives that do not reflect the community perspective are likely to be construed as a waste of time by those who have participated, and this may cause distrust within the community towards health authorities and future health promotion initiatives, through the community disengaging with the health authority, health services, or future research, or resisting health promotion programmes. In summary, traditional top-down health promotion programmes can be seen to have operated in a way in which a minority had power over those which it aimed to help, through the control it exerted in regards to targeting health behaviours for change, resource allocation, information gate keeping, and dependency of health professionals to make decisions over individual health. This is compounded further for groups who are already marginalized within society, who have little control over other aspects of their living and working conditions, which have the potential to influence their health status power is associated with health to the extent to which those with the least power, have the poorest health. Bottom-up approaches to health promotion have begun to readdress the balance of power, through the use of empowerment strategies on both an individual and community level, in order to get people back involved (and capable) of making decisions about their health. It is found that empowerment on both these levels has a number of implications (positive and negative) for the individual and society in general, although it is felt that empowerment is more conducive to our notion of what society should be, and the power that individuals should have of making informed decisions over their own health. REFERENCES Bergsma, L (2004) Empowerment education American Behavioural Scientist Vol.48, 2Erben, R. Franzkowiak, P Wenzel, E (2000) People empowerment vs. social capital. From health promotion to social marketing Health Promotion Journal of Australia ol.9, 3Gebbie, Rosenstock Hernandez (2002) cited in Bergsma, L (2004) Empowerment education American Behavioural Scientist Vol.48, 2Hagquist, C Starrin, B (1997) Health education in schools from information to empowerment models Health Promotion International Vol.12, 3Hubley, J (2002) Health empowerment, health literacy and health promotion putting it all together Review paper, LeedsIsrael et al (1994) cited in Judd, J. Frankish, J Moulton, G (2001) Setting standards in the evaluation of community-based health promotion programmes a unifying approach Health Promotion International Vol.16, 4Judd, J. Frankish, J Moulton, G (2001) Setting standards in the evaluation of community-based health promotion programmes a unifying approach Health Pr omotion International Vol.16, 4Karasek, Baker, Marxer, Ahlborn Thorell (1981) cited in Bergsma, L (2004) Empowerment education American Behavioural Scientist Vol.48, 2Kort (1990) Laverack, G Labonte, R (2000) A planning framework for community empowerment goals within health promotion Health Policy and Planning Vol.15, 3Labonte (1996) cited in Laverack, G Labonte, R (2000) A planning framework for community empowerment goals within health promotion Health Policy and Planning Vol.15, 3Laverack, G Labonte, R (2000) A planning framework for community empowerment goals within health promotion Health Policy and Planning Vol.15, 3Laverack, G Wallerstein, N (2001) Measuring community empowerment: a fresh look at organizational domains Health Promotion International Vol.16, 2McKnight (1999) cited in Bergsma, L (2004) Empowerment education American Behavioural Scientist Vol.48, 2Speller et al (1997) cited in Laverack, G Labonte, R (2000) A planning framework for community empowerment g oals within health promotion Health Policy and Planning Vol.15, 3Tannahill (1985) cited in Laverack, G Labonte, R (2000) A planning framework for community empowerment goals within health promotion Health Policy and Planning Vol.15, 3WHO (1986) Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion First International Conference on Health PromotionWHO (1997) New players for a new era Leading health promotion into the 21st century Jakarta Declaration

The Rise And Fall Of Julius Caesar

The Rise And Fall Of Julius Caesar This paper will explain that having absolute control or power over another human- being or, in Caesars case an entire nation is a major responsibility. Caesar had the authority and was convinced that his way was the only way in the end it only produced negative results. Caesar was known in Roman History as the first dictator who was declared as dictator for life with no limits on how long he could remain ruler. Also how Caesar became popular with the lower and middle class and how he was killed by plotters who didnt want to lose their financial gain or political power. Gaius Julius Caesar was born in Rome, Italy on July 12th or 13th in the year 100 BC. Young, Caesar lived through one of the most horrifying decades in the history the city of Rome. The city was assaulted twice and captured by Roman armies, first in 87 BC by the leaders of the populares. The second attack was carried out by Marius enemy of Sulla, leader of the optimates. The patricians were small in numbers and their status was no longer a political advantage. Caesar and his family belonged to one of the original aristocracy; they were neither rich nor influential. Caesar was influenced by his mother and with her blessings he sought out notoriety for his familys name. Caesar became the man of the household after his fathers death at the age of sixteen. Caesar sought out election to the public office so that he could obtain distinction for himself and his family, in 86 with the help of his Uncle Marius Caesar was appointed Flamen Dialis. In 78 B.C. Caesar traveled to Rhodes to study rhetorics and returned in 73 B.C. On his journey his was captured by pirates and he convinced them to raise his ransom after all he was an original aristocracy and that increased his prestige. A naval force overcame his captors and they were later crucified. After his wifes death, Caesar met and fell in love with Pompeia, a relative of Caesars then friend, Pompey. Pompey later married Caesars daughter Julia in 59 BC. Caesars own attachment to Pompey and Pompeys marriage to Julia ended when she died in 54 BC. The marriage to Pompeia ended in 62 BC. Caesar divorced his wife because of the allegation that she had been implicated in the offense of Publius Clodius, who was awaiting trial for breaking into Caesars house the. Previous December. He was disguised as a woman at the festival of the Bona Dea, which no man is allowed to attend Caesar had secured for five years the governorship of three provinces. The provinces were Cisalpine Gaul, Transalpine Gaul, and Illyricum. He left Rome and remained in Gaul until his invasion of Italy. He continued north of the Alps each summer and left his armies there in garrison each winter while he came south to conduct the civil administration of Cisalpine Gaul and Illyricum and to keep in contact with Rome. Caesar became determined to conquer and make a province of the whole of Gaul. After his defeat of the Belgic tribes in the north and the submission of the maritime tribes on the Atlantic seaboard, he believed that the task had all but been accomplished. The optimates in control of the senate now awake to the immense increase in Caesars personal power, wealth, and prestige, kept Pompey in Italy, allowing him to govern his Spanish provinces by deputies. The next year Spain made Caesar there governor. When he finally returned to Rome he joined forces with Pompey and Crassus. With a successful year running Spain Caesar was elected as Consul through political alliance through Pompey and Crassus. They were called the first Triumvirate. Crassus wanted a revision on the contract for collecting taxes in the province of Asia. Pompey wanted ratification on eastern settlement and land for his discharged troops. Where Caesar wanted to gain command of a big military. At a disorderly public gathering the agrarian bill was passed authorizing Pompeys veterans to purchase land in January 59 BC. A fellow consul Calpurnius Bibulus was thrown from the platform and has consular Insignia was broken. Knowing that they were superstitious Bibulus tried everything to stop Caesar and his followers from passing anymore laws, but he was only able to postpone them by saying that the stormy skies wouldnt allow it. Caesar had disregarded Bibulus behavior and allowed the legislative program of the triumvirate to be carried out. With the results of his action Caesar and his friends faced better attacks. The political opponents continued to say that the legislation was unconstitutional as well as invaded. Caesar returned to Rome for a short time in 47 BC before leaving to travel to Africa to crush his opponents. Caesar became increasingly interested in public affairs, and tried to gain the favor of the people. In 65 BC, he was elected to the office of aedile and organized public games. Caesar returned Marius trophies to their former place of honor in the capitol, thus lying claim to leaders of the Populares. Caesar won favor because he spent much money to provide recreation for the people, a lthough he went into great debt doing so. In 62 BC, Caesar became praetor, the office next in rank to consul. Catiline, a dissatisfied Roman politician, plotted a revolt. In breaking up this plot, leading aristocrats sought to disgrace the entire group of popular leaders, including Caesar, but they failed to hurt his political prospects. In 60 BC, Caesar allied himself with Marcus Licinius Crassus and Gnaeus Pompey in the First Triumvirate, an alliance that held considerable power in Rome. Crassus was a man of enormous wealth and political ambition. In 49 BC, Caesar had himself appointed dictator and consul after he defeated Pompeys troops in many battles. From the time that he had first faced battle and discovered his own military genius, Caesar was evidently fascinated and obsessed by military and imperial problems. He gave them an absolute priority over the more delicate, but no less the fundamental task of revising the Roman constitution. He met Pompeys army in Greece where, at Pharsalus in 48 BC, he defeated Pompeys for ces but Pompey escaped to Egypt. Caesar followed him later to find out that Pompey had been murdered. Within sixty days, Caesar became master of Italy. It took him nearly five years to complete the conquest of Pompey and his followers. As an orator, Caesar ranked second only to Cicero, the great Roman statesman and philosopher. Caesar is also famous as a writer. His Commentaries on the Gallic War describe his conquests in Gaul. The clear direct style of his work makes it a model of historical writing. Caesar used wisely the power he had won, and made many important reforms. He tried to control dishonest practices in the Roman and provincial governments. He improved the calendar, cleaning up confusion that had existed for hundreds of years. Caesar gave poor people in Rome an outlet to improve their way of living by establishing colonies, notably at Carthage and Corinth. Caesar had proved he was capable of governing Rome and its vast possessions. Yet, many of Caesars actions offended Roman pride. Caesar treated the Senate as a mere advisory council, and the senators resented this disrespect. He also offended many Romans by assuming the office of dictator. He returned in 78 BC when Sulla died and began his political career as prosecuting advocate. By training, Caesar was a politician rather than a soldier, but he knew he needed military victories to gain greater fame. Caesar gained military force and a loyal army from a campaign to conquer Gaul in 58 BC. It soon became clear that he was a military genius. Caesar had now become undisputed master of the Roman world. He pardoned the followers of Pompey. The people honored Caesar for his leadership and triumphs by granting him the powers of dictator for 10 years. Later, he was made dictator for life. In 49 BC, the conservatives ordered Caesar to give up his army. Caesar did not surrender his army to leave them defenseless, but instead did the opposite. Caesar used his army to invade Britain twice in 55 and 54 BC. He won this battle to lead to the conquering of Gaul, which included present day France, and Belgium, as well as parts of Holland, Germany, and Switzerland in 50 BC. Caesar then led his army of 5000 soldiers across the Rubicon, a stream that separated his provinces from Italy. This caused the start of the Roman Civil War. He conquered all territories east to the Rhine River, drove the Germans out of Gaul, and then crossed the Rhine to show the great might of Rome. He won this war to make Cleopatra ruler of Egypt. After his victory, Cleopatra was driven away from the throne. While this was going on Caesar invaded Alexandria. Caesar had gone to Alexandria in pursuit of Pompey, who was Caesars rival to become the next ruler of Rome. While looking for Pompey Caesar met and fell in love with Cleopatra. Caesar helped her regain power by defeating her enemies. Caesar asked her to return to Rome with him to pursue their love and she did. She gave birth to a little boy named Caesarion claiming that it was for Caesar. While she was giving birth Caesar was off claiming another victory. He then defeated Pharnaces II, King of Pontus. Caesar had a saying Veni, Vidi, Vici meaning I came, I saw, I conquered. Caesar, being unaware of a plot to murder him, took his seat in the senate chair. As the meeting progressed, Caesar was handed a petition by one of the conspirators. As expected, he declined granting the petition, thus making crowds gather around him to urge him to agree upon it. With further reluctance the first blow was struck to Caesars neck. Soon all the conspirators were striking him with their swords. In all, twenty-three swords penetrated Caesars skin, but only one was fatal. Caesars last words, as he looked upon his conspirators, are translated into, And you too, Brutus? . At that moment of recognition, Caesar fell to his death. The body of Julius Caesar lay for some time undisturbed where it had fallen. Of the slaves whom Caesar gathered over time, only three remained. They gathered around his body and examined the wounds. After the examination the slaves decided to carry the body home. They had found a nearby chair to place Caesars body on to carry him home to Calpurnia. After a provocative funeral oration by Marc Antony, Caesars body was burned by the mob in the forum. At the games in his honor the following July, a comet appeared. It was regarded as evidence of his godhead and he was formally renamed as divus Julius, or divine Julius. Octavius, whose name became Caesar Octavianus after his adoption by Caesars will, solved, by his creation of the Roman principate, the constitutional problem that Caesar failed to solve.

Life of Pi (Unabridged) by Yann Martel Essay -- Life of Pi Unabridge

The son of a zookeeper, Pi Patel has an encyclopedic knowledge of animal behavior and a fervent love of stories. When Pi is sixteen, his family emigrates from India to North America aboard a Japanese cargo ship, along with their zoo animals bound for new homes. The ship sinks. Pi finds himself alone in a lifeboat, his only companions a hyena, an orangutan, a wounded zebra, and Richard Parker, a 450-pound Bengal tiger. Soon the tiger has dispatched all but Pi, whose fear, knowledge, and cunning allow him to coexist with Richard Parker for 227 days while lost at sea. When they finally reach the coast of Mexico, Richard Parker flees to the jungle, never to be seen again. The Japanese authorities that interrogate Pi refuse to believe his story and press him to tell them "the truth." After hours of coercion, Pi tells a second story, a story much less fantastical, much more conventional — but is it more true? Pi, short for Piscine Molitor Patel, is a young Indian boy growing up in South India in the 1970's. His father owns a zoo and, with increasing political unrest in India, decides to sell up and emigrate to Canada. They accompany the wild animals on board the ship on their journey to the new zoos in North America. The ship sinks and Pi finds himself the only human survivor onboard a life raft that contains, rather remarkably, a zebra, a large motherly orangutan, a frenzied hyena and a 450-pound Bengal tiger. Of course, the law of nature eventually rules and Pi ends up as the tiger's last remaining occupant. He must use all his knowledge of zoology and animal behavior to create boundaries and survive. Which he does for 227 days. In Pondicherry, India, Piscine â€Å"Pi† Patel enjoys his childhood as the son of the local zookeeper means plenty of fun things to do. In that role, Pi learns a great deal about the wild beasts that his father keeps. Though a Hindu, Pi also finds pleasure in learning about Christianity and Islam and willingly practices the three belief systems over the objections of his family and religious leaders. Now sixteen, Pi's father decides to relocate to Canada. His dad sells most of the animals, but takes a few with them on their sea voyage. However, disaster strikes with the ship sinking. Pi accompanied by a hyena, an orangutan, a zebra and Richard Parker the 450-pound Bengal share a raft. Richard eliminates the other animals leav... ...mingly endless sea. Soon after, at long last, he reaches land. He attains Enlightenment. The tiger bounds off into the jungle-- Pi's suffering is released completely. He is nursed back to health and lives a relative normal life, with the distinction that his experience has fully awakened him. He walks as a true adult among the many spiritual children of the world. He still has the normal problems, challenges, and disappointments of life; Enlightenment does not mean everything is perfect. But Pi can bring forth what is needed in each moment, and does not suffer from the pains, failures, and sorrows of being human. He lives through them without getting caught in them. (Similarly, he is fully awake for all the wonderful pleasures and intimacies of life. And in all occurrences, he brings a deep compassion and love for all beings). The best part of the story is the end. (Stop reading if you don't want to know). This is a true story. It doesn't need all the longwinded interpretation you just read. It stands on its own as truth. Maybe it's just a story of a boy and a tiger on a boat. Either way, Pi Patel shows us the compelling power of the human spirit in the face of deep suffering.

The Immeasurable Value of Science Essay -- Science, Scientific Theorie

Few people would disagree that the study of science is a vital part of the world we live in. It is when you take a step back and assess why is true that you are able to appreciate science for it’s many contributions to our daily lives. When thinking of science, people commonly think of some high school or college laboratories filled with students working with Bunsen burners and beakers bubbling with colored liquids, but science goes far beyond the walls of these educational facilities. Science can be found not only in laboratories and classrooms, but also outside in a meadow, or in the kitchen of a restaurant, or even in the night sky. From pharmaceutical labs that create medication to helps people fight diseases, to a seventh grade class excited to launch their hand-crafted rockets, to understanding that scientific theories are used to better describe natural occurrences; science is everywhere, and is utilized in all different types of mediums. It is important to remember t hat science plays a crucial role in society and each person individually because constantly effecting us all in so many extraordinary ways. Science is subject in which many people view as a study of creating, building, and experimenting with things to discover and form results. One aspect of science is about creating objects and building knowledge to find results and products that expand on current ideas and devices. A popular television show on the Discovery Science channel, â€Å"How It’s Made,† offers viewer a glimpse into the processes of how objects from our everyday lives are created and assembled. In one episode, the show follows the process from which plastic materials are melted, dyed, molded and then run through a series of machines to produce thousan... ...rough various examples of science thought of, explored, and applied in every day life, it is clear that science holds extreme value for individuals and society. Without science we would be drudgingly stuck with the same thoughts, ideas and products because we were uninterested in thinking rationally about how to improve upon these existing things to create and inspire better. Without science we would not be able to have an intellectual understanding and enjoyment of many processes and occurrences in our every day lives. Of course, without science, the white paper you read from, the shoes you walk in, and the car you drive would not exist. It is important to know that science plays a vital part in all of our lives, every day, at any given moment, and the value of science to the individual and society is immeasurable with all of these many things taken into account.