Y2k Vs. Stock Market Crash :: essays research papers

The stock market shoot of 1929 and the year 2000 bug be very similar. Black atomic number 90 was non one of the brightest days in American History. This day was the cause of a nation downward spiral that shut 4000 banks, starting the great depression, and leading to stock that at one time would decrease 89% to the value some had bought.The cause of the stock market crash was largely due to over investment. The problem was people who didnt have the resources, investing from credit to buy into the short-lived age of wealth. Many people now be investing data in computers that is irreplaceable. They leave the data there assuming it will be there the next day or whenever they need it. In an age of information this might not be a wise idea. People argon buying information on margin. They buy easy interfaces same Turbo Tax and Windows 98 that come to a computer user with almost no skill. The data is invested by these Computer Dummies. It is the assumption that the data will be righ t that will hurt computer users worldwide. It will happen sooner or later which is what people in 1929 knew about the stock-market crash.Many believe the most lawful date for this data crash is January 1st, 2000. Many know about it and the possible infections the Year 2000 bug could cause to our every day life. Little is being through to solve this problem, considering its monstrosity. One might believe that in the year 2000 havoc will be spread and a depression will occur because of this glitch. other theory is that we will eventually run out of places to store data. Another date for an eventual breakdown would be February 29th, 2000 because most century years are not leap years. Many people have created ways to save the stock market and banks from another financial breakdown, however computer programmers have not invented a way to stop a massive data breakdown. The biggest problem is that the breakdown wont occur over a few days, like the Black Thursday through Black Tuesday did , it will occur over seconds.On Black Thursday 12,894,650 shares of stock were sold. On Monday Oct. 28th , 1929 9,250,000 shares were sold. On Black Tuesday 16,410,030 shares were sold. These three days added up to over $26 billion dollars of damage to the economy, and by the end of the month $100 billion dollars.

Hacking :: science

HackingDescribe a negative aspect of ICTs impact on the information society. Describe how ICT has brought this about and what society is has done in response to it. AbstractHacking has been and still disease different societies suffer from. The essay aims to provide the reader with knowledge regarding the effects hacking caused to our society, and how the society responded and tried to solve or minimize those effects.Different issues regarding hacking are discussed, such as the motivations that were behind guiding hacks who were at first computer professional to perform unauthorized activities, at the selfsame(prenominal) time a discussion about the types of attacks can be found.The society response to hacking attacks lacks till this moment the ability to stop or completely proscribe attacks from happening because as long as security tools are developed, to a greater extent sophisticated hacking attacks are invented. Thats why we should start to think about hackers psychology as th e main way to prevent and stop attacks by understanding their needs or desires.IntroductionThe Oxford English Dictionary defines hacking as cut or chop roughly mangle cut (ones way) to its present definition as gain unauthorized access (to data in a computer). Banks (199711) defines hacking as something that boring mainframe computer operators did to improve performance and battle boredom. Here banks focuses on boredom as the reason of hacking. A more technical definition of hacking according to Digital Guards data base (2001) is unauthorized use, or attempts to circumvent or bypass the security mechanisms of an information system or network. Darlington (2001) believes hacking is not limited to accessing data or information but also includes an attack on the privacy of all people. Almost all different opinions go on the illegality of hacking.On the other hand the word hacker is the agent of hack or hacking and it was defined as a person who enjoys accessing files whether for fun, i mposing strength or the interest related to the accessed files or data according to Taylor (1999). While Marotta (in Taylor, 1993) has a negative view of the hacker as a data lord, a barbarian who takes what he wants. Himanen (2001) defines hacker as any person who performs illegal actions whether they were related to computer or not which means the usage of a twist apart from its functionality. Seems hacking according to Himanen is related to any illegal or unauthorized action. Seebach (1999) finds hacker as a person who feels delighted and full of joy when existence able to access a system and break the security utilities but Himanen (2001) doesnt consider hacker as a thief.

The Role of the Modern Woman Essay -- Women

Diana Spencer, more commonly known as Princess Diana or even Princess Di to some was with out a doubt one of the most influential women of our lifetime. Diana represented what the woman of the 20th Century could become. Strong willed, independent and gorgeous all at once. Not in recent history had royalty, oft less that of the United Kingdom, connected so well with the people. She was the first of all member of the royal family to travel the globe and meet with children victim to land mines and HIV/AIDS. Diana held so much power and was loved so much by her people that at her funeral, some referred to her as the Queen of the People. It is verbalize by some that because of her extraordinary influence over the English nation, she suffered an untimely death.Diana was with out question adored by the English people, as well as by foreigners. However, the role she gyped which she did with extreme grace was a relatively new one. matchless hundred, fifty, even twenty years ago, w omen were not expected to play the role Diana played. There was no such thing as divorced royalty traveling to devastated parts of the third world countries raising awareness of peoples plights. One hundred years ago, women played extremely different roles than they do now. Most educated people are aware of this, however, the evolution of the role women partake in society is one that is not told often. In the past hundred years, two periods really stand out as periods where women made advances in how they were seen by society. The first was in the 1920s when they were granted suffrage. The second was in the 1970s with the rise of the Modern Feminist Movement. The evolution of societys view of women is best illustrated in the visual publications of the last hu... ...ositions in the government, large corporations, even in certain religions. Women have made large and permanent advances that are milestones in this country. Though much needs to be done in other parts of the world even within the United States progress is inevitable. Sooner of later, one way or another, change will come.Works CitedThe Modern Woman A Look at Who She Is and How She Got Therehttp//www.ellisparkerbutler.info/epb/pic/womans_world_1913_09_a.jpghttp//images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/B0000AIZ63.03.LZZZZZZZ.jpghttp//www.thespiderawards.com/AwardsPass/WINNERS-NOMINEES/PRO-fashion/images/Flapper.jpghttp//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacqueline_Lee_Bouvierhttp//www.archives.gov/exhibits/powers_of_persuasion/its_a_womans_war_too/images_html/images/we_can_do_it.jpghttp//www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&se=gglsc&d=5002183556&er=deny

Robert E. Lee :: essays research papers

The idol of the South to this day, Virginian Robert E. Leehad some difficulty in adjusting to the new make believe of warfarethat unfolded with the Civil war, but this did not preventhim from keeping the Union armies in Virginia at bay foralmost three years. The son of Revolutionary contend hero"Light Horse" Harry Lee-who fell into disrepute in his afterwardyears attended West Point and graduated second in hisclass. During his four years at the military academy he didnot earn a single demerit and served as the cadet corpsadjutant. Upon his 1829 graduation he was posted to theengineers. Before the Mexican War he served onengineering projects in Georgia, Virginia, and New York.During the war he served on the staffs of John Wool andWinfield Scott. in particular distinguishing himself scoutingfor and guiding troops, he won three brevets and wasslightly wounded at Chapultepec. Following a stint in Baltimore Harbor he becameoverseer of the military academy in 1852. When themou nted arm was expanded in 1855, Lee accepted thelieutenant colonelcy of the 2nd Cavalry in order to missfrom the painfully slow promotion in the engineers. Orderedto western Texas, he served with his regiment until the1857 death of his father-in-law forced him to ask for aseries of leaves to settle the estate.In 1859 he was called upon to lead a force of marines, tojoin with the militia on the scene, to put an end to JohnBrowns Harpers Ferry Raid. Thereafter he served again inTexas until summoned to Washington in 1861 by WinfieldScott who tried to retain Lee in the U. S. service. But theVirginian rejected the command of the Unions field forceson the day after Virginia seceded. He then accepted aninvitation to visit Governor John Letcher in Virginia. Hisresignation as colonel, 1st Cavalry-to which he had recentlybeen promoted-was accepted on April 25, 1861.His Southern assignments include major general,Virginias land and naval forces (April 23, 1861)commanding Virginia forces (April 23 July 1861) brigadiergeneral, CSA (May 14, 186 1) general, CSA (from June14, 186 1) commanding Department of NorthwesternVirginia (late July-October 1861) commandingDepartment of South Carolina, Georgia and Florida(November 8, 186 1-March 3, 1862) and commanding the States of Northern Virginia June 1, 1862-April 9, 1865). In charge of Virginias fledgling military might, he wasmainly involved in organizational matters. As a Confederatebrigadier general, and later full general, he was in charge ofsupervising all Southern forces in Virginia. In the originsummer of the war he was given his first field command in

the role of the church in the Kosovo crisis :: essays research papers

After the Dayton peace accords in 1995, terminating the civil war in Bosnia-Hercegovina, the attention of the world turned to Kosovo. The multinational agreement terminating the Bosnian War handle the problems of Kosovo, where the Albanian majority cl endeavored independence. As their complaints were not addressed, the Kosovars turned from a policy of passive resistance of their moderate leadership to guerilla tactics and violent acts against the Serbian authorities conducted by the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA). Their activities prompted the State Department to label them a "terrorist group" in February 1998. A year later, however, the Western powers invited the KLA, not the anterior moderate leaders, to represent Kosovo at Rambouillet.As our subject is the role played by the Serbian Church under the leadership of Patriarch Pavle, we will assay its activities here. Among the spokesmen we must single out Bishop Artemije of the Raska-Prizren Diocese, who has been particula rly articulate in expressing the views of the church in Kosovo. We must also mention Father Sava of Decani, who speaks English, commands the computer, and has played a of the essence(p) role in outreach.The church assembly convened in Prizren in August 1997 criticized the activities of the Serbian special forces as well as of the Albanian KLA. As for the KLA aim of independence for Kosovo, they warned that this "would immediately produce large scale instability in the whole region, resulting in a disastrous multiethnic war." The church urged that ethnic Albanians would be able to find a satisfactory status in a "democratic Serbian state." They recognized that this ideal was far from the Milosevic regime.By 1998, the conflict was in full force. Church spokesmen repeatedly criticized the excessive use of force by the Milosevic police and paramilitaries in Kosovo, but also denounced the KLA, which had started murdering Serbian policemen and ethnic Albanians who they th ought were cooperating with Serbian authorities. They strongly condemned the role of the KLA in abducting civilians. Three months before bombing started, the KLA clearly had already declared war on the Serbs in Kosovo.In February 1999, the international community called a meeting in Rambouillet, outside Paris, to stop he conflict. The negotiators were dealing with the self-appointed KLA leaders and representatives sent by Milosevic. As the representative of the Patriarch, Bishop Artemije seek to reach the negotiators. He tried to represent the viewpoint of the local Serbian population and the church in this ecclesiastical center, even to be an observer, but was rebuffed by Milosevic and by the diplomats.

the role of the church in the Kosovo crisis :: essays research papers

After the Dayton peace accords in 1995, terminating the civil war in Bosnia-Hercegovina, the attention of the world glowering to Kosovo. The international agreement terminating the Bosnian War ignored the problems of Kosovo, where the Albanian majority claimed independence. As their complaints were not addressed, the Kosovars turned from a policy of passive resistance of their bear leadinghip to guerilla tactics and violent acts against the Serbian authorities conducted by the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA). Their activities prompted the State Department to label them a "terrorist group" in February 1998. A year later, however, the Western powers invited the KLA, not the previous moderate leaders, to represent Kosovo at Rambouillet.As our subject is the role played by the Serbian church service under the leadership of Patriarch Pavle, we will stress its activities here. Among the spokesmen we must single out Bishop Artemije of the Raska-Prizren Diocese, who has been partic ularly articulate in expressing the views of the church in Kosovo. We must too mention Father Sava of Decani, who speaks English, commands the computer, and has played a crucial role in outreach.The church assembly convened in Prizren in August 1997 criticized the activities of the Serbian special forces as well as of the Albanian KLA. As for the KLA aim of independence for Kosovo, they warned that this "would immediately produce large scale instability in the whole region, resulting in a disastrous multiethnic war." The church urged that ethnic Albanians would be able to find a satisfactory status in a "democratic Serbian state." They recognized that this ideal was far from the Milosevic regime.By 1998, the conflict was in full force. Church spokesmen repeatedly criticized the excessive use of force by the Milosevic police and paramilitaries in Kosovo, just now also denounced the KLA, which had started murdering Serbian policemen and ethnic Albanians who they tho ught were cooperating with Serbian authorities. They strongly condemned the role of the KLA in abducting civilians. Three months before bombing started, the KLA clearly had already state war on the Serbs in Kosovo.In February 1999, the international community called a meeting in Rambouillet, outside Paris, to stop he conflict. The negotiators were dealing with the self-appointed KLA leaders and representatives sent by Milosevic. As the representative of the Patriarch, Bishop Artemije tried to reach the negotiators. He tried to represent the viewpoint of the local Serbian population and the church in this ecclesiastical center, even to be an observer, but was rebuffed by Milosevic and by the diplomats.

Intellectual Property: Response to Question Essay

Ones claim all over something that may be considered as intellectual veraciousty, such as parcel, is non automatically established upon the completion of the software. In this sense, there are steps that are required to be taken in order to gain puritanical claim over the software produced. There are two methods in attaining a secure or a patent for a given software which may protect the intellectual property created although there are differences in the scope, the length and ease of filing the application are present between the two (U.S. Congress Office of Technological Assessment USC-OTA, 1990).Given that ownership to a certain software and having exclusive rights to its distribution and use requires patent or copyright application, then in the situation given wherein my uncle asked me to write a certain software and have not charged him for the services, the question is whether I have apply for either patent or copyright before giving a copy to my uncle.In this sense, if I have at least applied for a copyright, then my uncles actions of freely giving out copies of the software to his peers should be paid for, at the same time requiring my uncle to ask for my permission beforehand. However, if I al matchless made the software and give it to my uncle, then I should not be concerned if he gives copies of the software for his peers to use since I have no proper claim over the software and in a sense I have just given my uncle complete flexibility as to what may be done to the software.Possibly, one may not immediately consider a software to be his or her own intellectual property if the law or regulations are concerned. Of course, when disputes over intellectual property is considered, laws pertaining to it are most often used to resolve the issue. Therefore, considering that applying for copyright is relatively easily accomplished (USC-OTA, 1990), then if one believes that the software completed is worthwhile and useful then it would be best to apply for a copyright in order to lay claim over the intellectual property.

Medical Tourism: Study Case of Ijn

Medical touristry Sustainability through the Export Market Orientation Behaviours The Case Study of Institut Jantung Negara (IJN) Ili-Salsabila Abd-Razak1 and Asmat Nizam Abdul Talib Universiti Utara Malaysia, Kedah, MALAYSIA The inclusion of touristry field as one of the 12 acknowledge national key frugal beas (NKEA) for the 10th Malaysia Plan represent the sectors prospect in not only driving the nations economy, but also transforming the orbit into a high-income economy by 2020. With approximately 10 grades left, many interested groups are keen to know how this will be achieved.This paper aims at exposing the prospects of aesculapian touristry as an essential subsector of tourism which would offer a figure of speech of proven benefits, and hence contribute to accomplishing the governing body aspiration of transforming the nations economy via the said sector. In discussing the subject, the case study method is employed involving Institut Jantung Negara (IJN) as an emer ging health check tourism provider in the country. Findings of the case study are presented herein. Key words medical checkup tourism, economy, Institut Jantung NegaraIntroduction The promising prospect of tourism as an economic stimulator has modifyd it to be included in the list of 12 National Key Economic Areas (NKEA), which has been preciseally drafted to transform the Malaysian economy into high-income economy by year 2020. While there are tremendous numbers of tourism categories, ranging from environment, cultural, sports, and entertainment, to name a few, this paper intend to highlight on the prospects of medical tourism as a significant tourism-related economic contributor in this country. Connell (2006) defined medical tourism as health-related tourism involving specific medical intervention. Among the most pop medical tourism products are orthopaedic and cardiac surgery, which are very popular among Asian medical tourism providers, as well as executive health evaluati ons, cosmetic surgery, joint replacement, and similar complex medical, surgical and dental procedures (Horowitz and Rosensweig, 2007).Therefore this is a distinguished attention than that of the wider health tourism industry which involves tourists travelling to front for spas, yoga and meditation, or any other forms of health tourism (Connell, 2006 Garcia Altes, 2005). 1 Email ili. emailprotected com 169 In a relatively detailed account of medical tourism organic evolution which began in 1800s, Schroth and Khawaja (2007) proposed that the modern phenomenon is distinguish adequate to(p) due to the unique combination of international demand and supply within the international medical market.As observed in the region, this offer is regarded as well-founded. The present maturement of medical tourism in the international market is very unique, manifested by the escalating statistics of actors, patients and revenues generated around the globe of late. How Malaysia is positioned within this backdrop, and how it would affect the culture of this fast emerging economy, are among the focus of discussion of this paper. The Statistical Development of Medical Tourism Medical tourism has been a very significant industry over the years.By judging from its health travel umbrella, the sector is expected to generate some handsome revenue of RM240 million (roughly USD73 billion) in 2010, with ASEAN contributing RM9. 6 billion (roughly USD3 billion) (PEMANDU, 2010). Specifically focusing on medical tourism industry, the anticipated revenue to be generated in Asia is RM14. 2 billion by 2012 (roughly USD4. 3 billion), with Malaysia is expected to start out in RM2. 1 billion (roughly USD64 million) from that amount (Ang, 2009).As a comparison, India, another top Asian medical tourism destination, expects to gain USD2 billion by the same year (Connell, 2006 Horowitz and Rosensweig, 2007). These statistics surely are translated by a growing number of medical tourists arou nd the globe. The movement of medical tourists is another significant indicator of this trend. At the orbiculate stage, approximately 350 000 medical tourists moved from developed nations to less developed countries for treatment in 2003, trance a year later 1. 18 million patients travelled to India alone and another 1. million to Thailand for the same reason (Horowitz and Rosensweig, 2007). Glancing at the local development, the Association of Private Hospitals of Malaysia (APHM) has been projecting for a stable 30% growth of counter from foreign patients until 2010. This is apparent from the steady augment of foreign patients to Malaysia which recorded a total of 39 114 patients in 1998 and 374 063 patients ten years later (APHM Liow, 2009). In ground of revenue, RM14. 1 million was documented in 1998 before jumped to RM299. million in 2008 (APHM Liow, 2009), and is expected to contribute to another RM540 million in 2010 (Leonard, 2009). The revenue per patient has just abou t tripled from RM360 in 1998 to RM800 in 2008 (Choy, 2010). In the latest development, medical tourism is expected to generate RM4294. 4 million of Gross National Income, to bring downher with 5295 jobs in 2020 (PEMANDU, 2010). This item has readily attracted a number of giant MNCs with diversified structure such as General Electric (GE) to invest hike in the industry (Panjanadan, 2010). The variety of Medical TourismThe presented statistics did not appear by chance. The numbers occurred out of plausible factors. The development of medical tourism industry is indeed different (Horowitz and Rosensweig, 2007). As mentioned earlier, Schroth and Khawaja attributed the singularity of the industrys current development to the forces of markets demand and supply, which is in resonance with Horowitz and Rosensweig (2007) who ascribed it to the movement of patients from industrialized nations to less developed countries. Connell (2006) argued that medical tourism is a niche which 170 xper ienced quick growth and has become an industry. The said paper also enlisted several factors promoting the development of medical tourism, such as the number 1 costs factor, the long waiting list, the relatively affordable international air travel and favourable exchange rate, plus the aging of the baby boomers generation. These factors are also often cited in a number of studies regarding medical tourism such as Hansen (2008), Herrich (2007), Horowitz and Rosensweig (2007), Garcia Altes (2005), Marlowe and Sullivan (2007), and Schroth and Khawaja (2007), to name a few.Apart from these popular factors, other notable factors motivating the development of the industry spotted in the literature extent are the use of internet and mobility of technology, the unavailability of certain procedures in the local market, and the reduced trade barriers further the mobility of workforce. Hansen (2008) argued that the revolution in medical tourism today is consumer-driven. This is in line with Horowitz and Rosensweig (2007) who argued that the industry is market driven with complex involvement of multitude medical, economic, social and political factors.While the progress of the industry securems to be very promising, the general overview of Malaysias involvement at the international level is not very charming. Even though medical tourism experienced an astounding per annum growth of 22% from 2004 to 2009, the global share is still considered as small with RM350 million in 2010 (PEMANDU, 2010). Furthermore, PEMANDU also report that while the global health care travel is a multi-million dollar industry, Malaysia is yet to get a sizeable share.The said industry is expected to generate USD75 billion of revenue in 2010 at the global level, while Malaysia is expected to shake up about USD0. 1 billion. The statistics provide a brief sight on the development in the country weighted against the global development. Malaysia should therefore be proactive enough to catch up with the global progress to stay competitive in the industry. To enable this, the players and responsible parties must quickly recognize potence constraints that can hamper the development and address the issues well.The Required Expertise and the Potential Economic Opportunities Based on anterior arguments, medical tourism offers bountiful opportunities and chances. In order to re principal(prenominal) competitive at the global stage, merchandise strategies should be revised against the present circumstances. market the medical expertise and offerings should be distinctively conducted. The primary concern of quantifying an excellent marketing strategy is the effectiveness of the strategies implemented.StuartKregor (2005) argued that defining marketing rectitude for medical-related industry is different with that of the commercial-based industry. As client is the centre of marketing excellent in the industry, the paper suggested that the effectiveness of marketing strategies should then be done by measuring the customers satisfaction over the service provided. Therefore, all other marketing excellence measured by considering the profit, return on investment or gross sales as in any other commercial industries should be changed to be more customer-oriented rather than organizationaloriented. Building he strategies can be done by developing, communicating and delivering the right emotional benefits to the targeted customers (Stuart-Kregor, 2005, pp. 117). The right emotional benefit here is viewed as brand by Stuart-Kregor (2005). This paper is in agreement with the argument, which is to develop the marketing strategies by focusing on the emotional benefits (brands), and assess the effectiveness of the strategies by measuring the satisfactions of the customer. Further discussion on this is available in the next section. 171 The intelligence of excellent marketing strategies would be wasted without a good delivery system.The state of local expertise, technologi es and facilities must be attended to in order to assess the quality of the service offered against the global level. This is where the industry should strive to be as similar as other excellent providers. The commodification of medical tourism (Chee, 2007) is an seeming(a) of this occurrence. Dunn (2007) argued that patients are making choices on medical tourism destinations based on how similar is the service delivered, especially concerning patients from industrialized nations, and the service is expected to come with untold trim price.Consequently, it is observed that patients are not looking for low cost products at the expense of the quality in the industry. Successful players realize this and capitalize on the factors well. This explains the rapid movement of workforce and technologies across the four corners of the world. India as an example has been successful in luring its medical doctors who have been trained and worked abroad to return with their internationally recog nized expertise and work in the country.Thailand and United Arab Emirates have been successful in rearranging for international collaboration in the industry (Schroth and Khawaja, 2007). Through these strategies, the countries have been able to clasp their expertise, technologies and facilities up with the global standard. Proposed Strategies of Reviving and Sustaining Medical Tourism The Case of IJN With the national governments involvement recently (Chee, 2007 Noor Hazilah, Roslan Johari and Kadar, 2010 PEMANDU, 2010), the industry has been attracting the interest of many concerned parties.Since the medical tourism is fast becoming a commodity (Chee, 2007), its marketing strategies should be focusing more on brands and less on products to be distinctive than other providers. As in Malaysia, the country is overt of offering similar products with the rest of other players in the world. While Malaysia has been focusing on cost all this while, it is suggested then for the country to deliver a unique brand which is capable of attracting the interest of potential medical tourists, without desecrating the cost advantage.In order to do so, it is particularly important for the players to implement the exporting market orientation behaviours within their organization, which are generating, disseminating and responding to the export market intelligence (Cadogan, Diamantopoulos and de Mortanges, 1999). Consequently, Malaysia is expected to be able to woo medical tourism patients even more. Hazilah et al. (2010) reported that a medical tourist spends double than a regular tourist while they are in the country. This high buying power therefore is capable of generating more economic opportunities.The medical tourist needs are also offering a lot of opportunities for Malaysian. Apart from medical attention, they need to have appointment for their accompanying family members. New jobs have been underway to better serve the medical tourists, such as the health care broker . A healthcare broker assists the patient to recognize a medical set up and arrange for the patients needs while in here, including visa, accommodation and holiday arrangement. Thanks to the internet, these can be set up prior to the patients arrival in the country.To describe more of these strategies and opportunities, this paper choose to present the IJN as a case study virtue the discussion. The National Heart Institute or Institut Jantung Negara (IJN) has been established in 1992. The privatization of the institute was done on many premises, especially concerning the potential it has to carry its expertise and to modify the 172 financial capabilities of the institute. IJN did not take long to materialize that. A year after its privatization the institute has been able to be financially liberalized and hence reduce the government intervention in its administration.By now, IJN has accomplished a great number of medical milestones recognized not only in the country and the reg ion, but also internationally. To further advance ahead in medical industry, IJN is joining its local peer private institutions to take part in the global medical tourism industry. The previous mentioned factors of global medical tourism industrys progressive development served as the basis for IJN to be a part of the industry. Besides, like Singapore, the medical tourism industry in Malaysia is receiving a lot of governments assistants.Being a nationally structured industry, medical tourism therefore is regarded as a potential industry in which would be able to position IJN better. The Malaysian government has been playing an active role in developing the industry in Malaysia since 1998. The main driver of this is to revive the private medical industry after the 1997 Asian economic downturn which has affected the industry very badly. The success story of Thailand which managed to get the industry out of the crisis by focusing on delivering the service to foreign patients has prompt the government to encourage private players to do the same.Consequently, while Thailand has been restructuring the industry without much government involvement, Malaysia and Singapore has been leveraging the industry well with cooperation between the public and the private sectors. IJN has been viewing this very positively and has since become a significant player in the region. While being rapidly developing the industry, the players recognized several study constraints which are able to slow down the progress. Coordination is a key constraint. To increase coordination, the Association of Private Hospitals of Malaysia (APHM) was formed to increase coordination between the private players.The steadily increasing number of foreign patients and revenues generated since 1998 as shown in Table 1 is an evident of the successful strategies implemented. However the industry, weighted against the global development, was still considered as insignificant. Resulting from the governments ent husiasm towards medical tourism as a prospective economic driver industry, and the intensity and potentials portrayed by private sectors, the Malaysia Healthcare Travel Council (MHTC) was established in July 2009.The main purpose of the council is to coordinate promotional activities of medical and healthcare tourism industry in the country. As a part of the economic transformation broadcast, the industry is expected to shift their attention to generate higher patients volume, expand the target market beyond Indonesia which is currently the main market of the industry, create alliance across border, and enhance customer experience in the first leg of the strategy. In the following phase, more attention is given on mproving the infrastructure and specialists capacity to attract the more profitable in-patient segment (PEMANDU, 2010). 173 Table 1. The Volume of outside Patients and Revenue Generated by Medical Tourism Industry in Malaysia Year 1998 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 Medical Tourists/Foreign Patients 39,114 75,210 84,585 102,946 174,189 232,161 296,687 341,288 374,063 Revenue (RM million) 14. 1 n/a 35. 9 58. 9 105. 0 150. 9 203. 66 253. 84 299. 1 Another strategy to improve the medical tourism performance is through focusing on specific players.There are approximately 223 private hospitals operating in the country in 2008 (Frost & Sullivan, 2009). Of this number, the government has decided to focus on 35 private hospitals to capitalize on the industry with several characteristics outlined. The characteristics include being a member of APHM, has obtained the Malaysian Society for Quality in Health (MSQH), ISO or other international accreditations, offers major specialties and/or some sub-specialties, provides for a minimum 50 beds, and has its own websites.IJN has been one of the selected 35. The commitment demonstrated by IJN towards the industry is paramount. In order to be internationally recognized, the institute has been striving hard t o be in the same par with the other international organizations. IJN has been accredited by JCI in 2009, which is a recognition of the sozzled culture of safety and quality within the organization. The internationally recognized accreditation is expected to improve IJNs international positioning in the future.IJN realizes that in order to make the most of the industry, it needs to build a customer-oriented system. Beginning in 2006, the institute has been conducting the Customer Focused Program. The program was aimed at transforming IJN into a global centre of excellence by ensuring customers satisfaction. In 2008, the institute launched what was designed as the second phase of the program, called Customer Focused Culture. While the CFP was initiated to increase awareness of ensuring customers satisfaction, the CFC aimed at internalizing the institutes shared values across the rganization. IJN also comprehend its capacity constraint which is becoming the largest hindrance from goin g big in the global medical tourism industry. Apart from improving on its culture system, the institute has been adamant in enhancing its infrastructure capabilities. A major extension work has been carried out at IJN to expand its capacities from 270 beds to 432, eight wards to 13, 23 outpatient clinic rooms to 59, and an international patient centre, to improve its service for customers.This is in line with numerous governments incentives offered to the private hospitals embarking on medical tourism industry to expand their infrastructure capacities. In August 2009, IJN has its new wing officiated by the Malaysian Prime Minister, who acknowledged that the institute has undergone RM230 million expansion program since 2005. In the same ceremony, the Prime Minister has also announced the proposal for IJN to become a research and development institute, measuring itself against the international best affectionateness institute such as the Cleveland Clinic Heart Centre in the US.These are all evidences of how IJN has been greatly employing the export market orientation behaviors within its organization. In commenting the current development of the industry, IJN has expressed its concern for the country to be more progressive towards promoting medical tourism. 174 The IJN Holdings Group Managing Director, Datuk Mohd. Radzif Mohd. Yunus mentioned that the failure for Malaysia to capitalize on its capabilities in the industry would declaration to the loss of human capital as they will migrate to other countries with better offers.This is also reiterated by Datuk Syed Hussien Al-Habshee, the Secretary General of National Chambers of business and Industry Malaysia (NCCIM) who said that the country need to step up its marketing efforts of medical tourism if it wants to catch up with Thailand and Singapore. PEMANDU (2010) has confirmed the assertion by reporting on the stronger growth of the industry by neighboring Thailand and Singapore. The set up of MHTC and sever al other initiatives are therefore deemed as timely to help Malaysia to turn in the industry at the global stage.Conclusion and Recommendation As exemplified in the discussion, medical tourism offers a lot of economic opportunities and hence is indeed a potential contributor to economic growth. However, Malaysia, while has been enjoying the growth of the industry vehemently over the pass few years, has not been capitalizing the industry well compared to the other global players. Therefore, the Malaysian players need to revise their marketing strategies and delivery system, as represented by IJN.The cooperative efforts between the public (government) and the private sectors too must be further carried on, especially for the sake of protecting the interests of the local society and the survival of the medical tourism players. It is strongly suggested for medical tourism players in the country to leverage on their expertise by focusing the marketing strategies on brands rather than on products, as well as enhancing on their infrastructure and culture systems to be more export market-oriented. In doing so, however, the players must not disregard the countrys current edge, which is the competitive cost.In terms of theoretical development, this paper is believed to be able to expose the medical tourism niche and its economic opportunities, as well as the marketing strategies fitting the industry. Quite a number of studies involving Malaysian medical tourism industry have been conducted. Nonetheless, this paper presents the scenario from the view of a single case study. It is highly suggested for similar studies to be conducted with the presence of empirical data to see the quantifiable aspects of the industry in the future.With such studies, it is expected that further theoretical contributions can be made, and hence the progress of the industry can then be expedited even more. Reference Ang, Elaine. Malaysian Medical Tourism Growing. The Star, February 14, 2009. C adogan, J. W. , Diamantopoulos, A. , & de Mortanges, C. P. (1999). A measure of export market orientation Scale development and cross-cultural validation. Journal of internationalistic Business Studies, 30(4), 689-707. Chee, H. L. (2007, January). Medical tourism in Malaysia internationalistic movement of healthcare consumers and the commodification of healthcare. ARI Working Paper, No. 3. Retrieved from www. ari. nus. edu. sg/pub/wps. htm Choy, L. B. (2010, April 13). Medical tourism good for Malaysias health. discussion Straits Times. Retrieved from http//findarticles. com/p/news-articles/newstraits-times/mi_8016/is_20100413/ medical-tourism-malaysias health/ai_n53130944/ 175 Connell, J. (2006). Medical Tourism Sea, sun, sand and surgery. Tourism Management, 27. 1093-1100. Dunn, P. 2007. Medical Tourism Takes Flight. Hospitals and Health Networks, 81(11) 40-44. Frost & Sullivan (2009, October 28). Frost & Sullivan Growing healthcare tourism in Malaysia. Retrieved from http//ww w. alaysiahealthcare. com/ Garcia-Altes, A. (2005). The development of health tourism services. Annals of Tourism Research, 32 (1) 262-266. Hansen, F. (2008). A revolution in healthcare. Review-Institute of Public Affairs, 59(4), 43-45. Health and medical tourism will boost growth Datuk Liow Tiong Lai. The Star, November 08, 2008. Retrieved from http//www. wellnessvisit. com/liowhealth-and-medical-tourism-will-boost-growth. php Herrick, D. M. (2007, November). Medical tourism Global competition in health care. NCPA Policy Report, No. 304. Retrieved from www. ncpa. org/pub/st/st304 Horowitz, M. D. Rosensweig, J. A. , & Jones, C. A. (2007). Medical tourism globalisation of healthcare marketplace. Medscape General Medicine, 9(4), 33. Leonard, T. (2009, October 28). Medical tourists to bring in RM540mil by 2020. Retrieved from http//www. malaysiahealthcare. com/ Marlowe, J. , & Sullivan, P. (2007). Medical tourism The ultimate outsourcing. HR. Human Resource Planning, 30(2), 8-10. Noor Hazilah Abd Manaf, Roslan Johari Dato Mohd Ghazali, & Kadar Marikar. (2010). Positioning Malaysia in Medical Tourism. Paper presented at the International Conference on Marketing (ICMAR), June 2010, in Kuala Lumpur.Panjanadan, S. (2009, August 9). GE looking into enhancing presence in tourism Retrieved from healthcare. http//bernama. com/bernama/v5/newsbusiness. php? id=519842 PEMANDU (2010, September 21). Healthcare-EPP Panels. Retrieved from http//www. pemandu. gov. my/index. php? extract=com_content&view=article&i d=619&Itemid=139&lang=en Schroth, L. , & Khawaja, R. (2007). Globalization of healthcare. Frontiers of Health Services Management, 24(2), 19-30. Speech by YB Dato Sri Liow Tiong Lai, Minister of Health Malaysia, at the APHM International Healthcare Conference and Exhibition at KLCC,

Benjamin Franklin’s Life and Study Essay

The following discussion is based on an obligate, Franklin, Modernity, and Themes of Dis move in the Early Modern Era by Carla Mulford from Modern language Studies, Vol. 28, No. 2. (Spring 1998), pp. 13-27. This has been taken from JSTOR Archives. JSTOR Archive is a trusted digital repository for academic journals and scholarly literature around the world. It is supported by Libraries and Scholar Societies. The article discusses active Franklins views on Religion, Metaphysics and Deism. One can see how dissent was meant in Franklins days and how its perceived like a shot.Creation of American Dream, consume around socio metaphysical ways of leading a life and several facets of Franklins views on religion can be seen here. Franklin was a precursor among graphic scientists and his work on natural philosophy is also discussed here. Also his association with his wizards daughter as a tutor and assisting her to pursue her study on natural philosophy and his views on historical pro duction can be examined. He was more a deist than an atheist but stack see him more as an atheist in his days and some of his family members too were of the same view.His similarities with George Whitman and other personalities are discussed. His spoofs on religion, advice to people to indulge in philosophy and to be useful to fellow beings, his facts about Bible and Christianity during her grand fathers days can be examined here. Franklin was a pi iodiner in more than one field and he was also a successful businessman and a diplomat. In authors view, history production involves some assumptions about the chivalric and some relevance to national myth making and silencing the past.Since the stories of the past are forever expandable, the accumulation of multiple stories blocks a nations ability to gibe stories of other sort which might disrupt the conventional and accepted wisdom about their founding fathers. She quotes Trouillot suggestion that if the producers of the stories in the past lived inequalities then the stories yield nonequivalent historical power (Carla Mulford, P 13). In the same context she says, US citizens who knows much about benjamin Franklin doesnt know about his son and who standard of measurement him and the records which exist are silent on this issue.Also when people speak about confederation and constitution, they tend to speak about Anglo-American debates and the Civil war kind of of the native people representing the six nations. Also she quoted Benedict Andersons words US community alienates themselves from conventional ideas of dynastic empires, absolutisms, serfdoms, ghettoes and is more inclined to republican institutions, nation-states (Carla Mulford, P 15). Benjamin Franklin was a Scholar, Deist, Philanthropist, Writer, Diplomat, Journalist, Civil Leader and a Scientist. There is more to his astounding brilliance in every respective field.Franklin and Religion His was a prude family and it had much influence on him. His religious views were simple and straightforward. According to him, religion should make people do more veracious and help our fellow beings. Deists get int believe in Orthodoxy and age old superstitious customs. Although he was a deist, he was more outspoken and sometimes confesses that this doctrine though true is less useful in making people virtuous. He always believes that service to mankind is service to God. He had Unitarian views and sometimes visits Unitarian Churches along with his friends.However he can non be included among the Unitarians as he never openly stated about his inclination towards Unitarianism. He used to go to Unitarian Churches with his friends. According to Wikipedia, Deism is a religious philosophy and movement that derives the existence and nature of god from reason and personal experience in contrast to theism. He rejects orthodox Christian views. In a way he dissents the principles of Church. In his days, dissents were those who speak against church . Religion used to be associated with almost everything and hence to speak against something orthodox was treated as dissentious.Explaining about the dissenting nature of his family he says how his Great Great Grandfather c at onceals the English Bible from the officers of the spiritual court. He admires the Evangelist Preacher, George Whitefield. He says religion should be the best way in explaining morals to the people. In Geoffrey Sills lines of similarity between Franklin and Whitman Their strong interest in science and technology and America was a radical experiment in democracy and their similar views on religious dissent. Thus Franklins view of religion as a moral freedom brings closer outlook on the religion disciplines which people follow.He had friends among Unitarians, Deists and other religions. He treats all religions the same. When he supported his friend to setup a Unitarian Church he stated that whoever leader comes irrespective of religion should be allowed to prea ch. On his funeral, people who thronged to see him were a mix of all religions. There were views in those times that people who believe in science doubt religion. Franklin doesnt agree to this. Instead he sometimes confesses the virtues of religion. Franklin, a Scientist Franklin was arguably the first American Scientist. He crossed the Gulf Stream and he used to take weather forecasts on his horse ridings.He studied storms and discovered Electricity. He was also the founding father of Civic Science in America. One can see Franklin flying a increase in their school text books. Being a Civic Scientist, he did public service and organized sermons. He formed the JUNTO, a discussion base for his friends, leaders and business people. He promoted Libraries, Civic Societies and Education, Hospitals and Schools. He developed Mail Delivery System and Dead Letter Office. With one of his French friends, he once queried, What signifies Philosophy that doesnt apply to some use? He regards inse cts worthy of an enquiry and research because, as per him, even appropriate use of insects can returns humans. He says one should never neglect ones essential duties in keeping line with the study. He wrote in Poor Richard for October, 1750, Hide not your Talents, they for use were made, / whats a Sun-Dial in a Shade He invented Franklin stove and bi focal lens. He also studied sea peeing luminescence and ocean temperatures. He explained about the dangers of Lead Poisoning and hypothesized about Wave Theory of Light. Franklin, a DiplomatHe encourages Education. He wasnt sent to school due to his fathers poverty. He was mostly self educated. He worked in a printer shop initially and then subsequently shifted to work in a press. He was one of the founding fathers of America. His role in American Revolution is still remembered. Franklin was courageous and bold and had very good rapport with French and resolved most of the issues during the war. Franklin with all his diplomacy skill s worked in forming a pause treaty during the war with French. He helped in the establishment of dadas first State University.A town was named after him due to his services. He was also famous for his anecdotes. Conclusion This article covers almost all aspects of Benjamin Franklin, his personality and his achievements. I can clearly examine his views on religion and how he was a dissent among his people. Till date whenever I hear of Franklin, I can only imagine a bald guy flying a kite and running as this should be the case with most of the people. Our schools memorize Franklins discovering Electricity in thunder storms. Its only after reading the essay that I found the innumerable qualities and facets of his life.I came to know now that he was not only a scientist but a diplomat. You would see him in almost every walk of life. There is no surprise to celebrate his name under every subject. Apart from Electricity I usually hear his name linked with American Revolution, his dipl omacy in having a peace treaty with France. Now I can imagine how great a personality like him would be. His life spanned over eighty years ranging from a writer to a scientist and to a Legislative member. He was the founding father of the concept of Great American Dream. Ive also found out from this essay about his works on Natural Philosophy.Ive also learned about his role as an educationist and in promoting Women Education. Also I came to know about his friends among several religious groups and about his mutual interest in both deism and Unitarianism. He is famous for his wit and humor. There was a story that during genius Writing which Franklin resolved a hard stop by asking the Ministers in the Council to pray for a few minutes. Most of them didnt agree and he resolved the issue without a prayer. America would remember Franklin as long as they remember Martin Luther King.Work CitesWorld Wide Web 1) Ben Franklin Scientist and Philanthropist. http//www. nps. gov/ enumeration/in de/Franklin_Court/Pages/franklinscientist. html 2) Franklins Contributions to the American Revolution as a Diplomat in France. http//www. ushistory. org/valleyforge/history/franklin. html 3) Lane, Neal. Benjamin Franklin, Civic Scientist. October 2003, page 41. http//www. physicstoday. org/vol-56/iss-10/p41. html 4) Rev. Clear, Bruce. THE religion OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. Sunday. May 1. 2005. All Souls Unitarian Church. Indianapolis. http//allsoulsuuindy. org/ser20050501. htm.

Vineyard

Calaveras Vineyards Calaveras Vineyard was originally established in 1883 to keep back drink for the Catholic Church. They occupied 220 acres in California out of which 175 acres was occupied by the vineyard. They had now expanded into production of t fitted wines for retailers and restaurants. It had changed terzetto ownerships in the last nine years. The most recent owner was Stout Plc. which was looking to sell Calaveras and the management of Calaveras was the interested party in this transaction.The main schema from 1987 was broadening the telephoners position on premium brand category and this is evident from the fact that they were now concent evaluate on wines in the premium and super-premium category. The vanadium C? s analyses is an important approach to evaluate the creditworthiness of a potential client. The five measureds that entrust be analyzed ar character, capacity, capital, conditions, and confirmatory. Character will translate the quality of the management team and major owners and how these major players be begin related to business.Related to Lynna Martinez, she has a high level of education and is graduated from important universities in France and USA. She has done researchers in the field and has develops as a professional in the industry, being Vice president of Calaveras Vineyard since 1987. The other partner Peter New some, has a degree in Business Administration and has experience in the field in different areas of this industry, such as ope evaluation and purchasing. It is possible to say that this metric is maybe one the most important for the future of this business since both of them accept strong experience in the field.Related to the capacity compendium, it is unclear, based on historic data, the ability of the phoner in handle a high debt level, since there no information about Calaveras Vineyards Team none 1 18-Feb-2013 debt from the balance sheet. However, the ships company has a signifi standt position as cu rrent assets what provide quick liquidity for the business as well as a strong exculpate notes flow in both considered scenarios to repay the loan, even though the free bills flow in 1994 is negative. The apital metrics will measure whether the company has enough capital, in this point also matter the commitment of the owners with the business. In the management leveraged buyout, the new owners will have $ 1 million invested and thus they would have invested 25% of the come up demanded fund. It seems that the new owners are putting an great effort on this business since they are buying a company that they have experience in and they believe it can do better than what the previous owners were doing.The economic conditions for the wine business seems to be in a good moment, even though the alcoholic securities industry has been stagnated, the wine grocery store has grown by 7. 4%, new researches about the benefits of wine has driven the demand up and thus the market is being ben efited. Based on the Pro Forma Historical Financial Statements, it seems that the management team is able to control the expenses and cost of goods change as the sales join on and decrease. It is possible to see it using the decreasing trend of the COGS related to sales and the SG&A related to sales that has been the same (14. 9%) for the last 4 years. The company has as collateral, the Accounts Receivables and fixed assets. In 1993 the company had $316,782 as receivables, $2,332,241 as inventories and $4,487,193 as gross fixed assets. In case of liquidation, the Receivables may be sold at 85% of the face value, or $292,264 Inventory can be sold at 75% of its face value or $1,749,180. The fixed cost can be sold by 40% of the book value that is $1,794,877. This liquidation would provide a total of $3,836,321 which is more than Calaveras Vineyards Team no 1 8-Feb-2013 the total loan provided in 1994 ($3,122,000). It provides a good standard for the potential creditor of this compa ny. Moodys SGL framework can also be used to assess the creditworthiness of Calaveras Vineyards. The rating system gives a score ranging from SGL-1 to SGL-4, where one represents companies with very good liquidity and four represents companies with weak liquidity. There are several characteristics that are evaluated in rating a company using this framework. The first point is the capacity for financing capital expenditures and net working capital internally.Calaveras has an expected negative free cash flow in 1994 based on Anne Clemens projection ( record 3), so it will not be able to fund internally. However, the company still has the flexibleness of drawing money from its revolving credit line since the borrowing base has sufficient amount. Exhibit 3 also shows that the negative cash flow is due to a significant addition to net working capital. The addition is larger than average because the company is increase its sales to the same level of 1992. The company is projected to have positive free cash flows starting in 1995 and will be able to finance internally.The EBIT/(interest and principal) ratio is moderate in 1994 but projected to add-on throughout the years (Exhibit 3) and has an average of two. The second characteristic that needs to be analyzed is the flexibility of the company in generating cash from selling its assets in propagation of distress. Anne Clemen expected that Calaveras numbers receivable would able to generate 80% of book value and inventory for 85% of book value, while land, plant and equipment would only generate 40%. However, these assets are crucial to the operations of Calaveras and cannot be sold.Thus, the company has no flexibility in generating additional cash flow. Additionally, the assets mentioned before are used as collateral for both the term loan and the revolving credit. This relates to the final characteristic that is the extent Calaveras Vineyards Team No. 1 18-Feb-2013 in which the companys assets are encumbered. Cal averas is expected to prepare its term loan through land, plant and equipment, and its revolvers borrowing base is equal to 85% of receivables and 75% of inventories. In other words, most of Calaveras assets are encumbered and this limits the financial flexibility.After analyzing Calaveras through the SGL framework, we believed that the company should receive a score of SGL-3. The increase in the size of the wine market is an opportunity for Calaveras to increase their market share especially in the premium and super-premium category where the company has secure brand position and stable relationships with the distributors. It is heavily dependant on two dealers who account for 50% of their sales. It might bode well for them to increase their dealership base. Financial ratio analysis To better understand Calaveras Vineyards financial ondition, we analyzed those financial ratios that Anne prepared. EBIT coverage ratio and current ratio in 1994 were already larger than 1 and was inc reasing from 1994 to 1998, indicating this company was profitable enough to pay off its interest expense and short-term obligation. Although current ratio was not so good compared with comparable companies, it was improving through years. The debt ratio was less than 1 and reduced quickly from 1994 to 1998, which was a good signal to investor and creditors that the risk of this company was decreasing.In addition, its decreasing assets/equity ratio indicated the quick increase of equity, which was the result of quick increase of net income. The return on sales and return on assets were much higher than the comparable companies and were increasing from 1994 to 1998, indicating this Calaveras Vineyards Team No. 1 18-Feb-2013 company had good profitability in the industry. Its increasing sales/assets ratio showed an improvement of its ability to generate sales revenue from each dollar of asset, indicating this company operated more and more efficiently.Through analysis, we found these ratios looked good and some of them were even better than the industry level. The ratio analysis showed Calaveras Vineyards was a healthy company and had an optimistic future. New Scenario A new scenario was drawn in order of battle to assess how the financial health of the company would be if the COGS and SG&A were higher than the predicted by the company initially. In this situation, it is possible to see that the company is still able to operate under the conveants imposed by Goldengate Capital.Additional consideration and recommendation We based our analysis on the ratio analysis done by Anne Clemen. The ratio analysis shows us favourable trend about financials about this company. The leverage ratio goes on reducing and the times interest earned as well as Profit margin show favourable forecasts. Based on our current analysis, we think Calaveras had good profitability and has enough ability to service the debt, and we agreed that Anne Clemens should accede in the loan. However , there are still some factors that can influence our evaluation of Calaveras.For example, if the price of its wine decreased quickly because of intensive competition or there was a big drop in the production of grape due to some catastrophe, the sales revenue will decreased dramatically, which would result in a shrunken free cash flow and influence its ability to pay back the loan. In Calaveras Vineyards Team No. 1 18-Feb-2013 addition, if the cost of goods sold increased quickly because of a sudden increase of material price or the SG&A soared up for expanding marketing and advertising to compete with competitors, the free cash flow would also decreased dramatically.So we suggested Anne to keep monitoring these unstable factors carefully to see whether Calaveras would have a credit risk. Additionally, to decrease the default risk, Anne could also make covenants with Calaveras to regulate its financial ratios and make part of its assets as collaterals. Calaveras Vineyards Team No . 1 18-Feb-2013 Exhibit 2 Calaveras Vineyards Team No. 1 18-Feb-2013 Calaveras Vineyards Team No. 1 18-Feb-2013 Exhibit 7 New Forecasted Income Statement 1994 1% Sales Revenue Cost of Goods Sold Estates Selected chardonnay grape California Generic Special Accts.Winery intact Gross Profit Selling, General and Admin. Amortization of Organizational Costs EBIT sake Expense (avg. balance) Profit Before Taxes Tax Expense web Income Dividends to Common Shareholders Retentions to loveliness $ $ $ $ $ $ $ 448,180 272,027 432,977 179,934 224,371 655,916 90,130 $ $ $ $ $ $ $ 594,307 325,923 535, cd 121,580 233,639 683,012 93,853 $ $ $ $ $ $ $ 678,342 383,808 645,546 126,603 243,291 711,228 97,730 $ $ $ $ $ $ $ 706,365 399,663 733,324 131,833 253,341 740,608 101,767 $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ 31,406 416,173 763,618 137,279 263,807 771,203 105,971 2,081,995 (966,861) (60) 1,115,074 (134,514) 980,559 362,807 617,752 617,752 $ 3,707,423 1995 1% $ 4,199,960 1996 1% $ 4,693,764 1997 1% $ 4,984,664 $ 1998 1% 5,371,451 $ (2,303,533) $ (2,587,715) $ (2,886,547) $ (3,066,901) $ (3,289,456) $ 1,403,889 $ 1,612,246 $ 1,807,216 $ 1,917,763 $ (667,336) $ (755,993) $ (844,877) $ (897,239) $ $ $ (60) $ 736,493 $ (60) $ 856,193 $ (60) $ 962,279 (60) $ $ $ 1,020,463 (109,625) $ (214,987) $ (198,101) $ (170,752) $ $ $ $ $ $ 626,869 231,941 394,927 394,927 $ $ $ $ $ 641,206 237,246 403,960 403,960 $ $ $ $ $ 764,178 282,746 481,432 481,432 $ $ $ $ $ 849,711 314,393 535,318 535,318 $ $ $ $ $ Calaveras Vineyards Team No. 1 18-Feb-2013 Exhibit 8 Forecasted Balance Sheets (At Closing) currency Accounts Receivable Inventory Organization Costs- online fit Current Assets Land Plant and Equipment Gross PP&E Accum. Depreciation clams PP&E Organization Costs-Noncurrent sum total Assets Payables & Accruals Debt-Current Portion LTD Revolving Line of Credit sum total Current Liabs.Debt, non-current Total Liabilities Common Stock Retained Earnings Total Equity Total Liabilities & Equity Memorandum Borro wing base (85% AR, 75%Inv) Revolver $ $ $ $ 2,255,917 2,304,288 $ $ 2,521,907 2,218,955 $ $ 2,699,146 1,949,595 $ $ 2,890,789 1,643,991 $ $ 3,025,581 1,187,490 $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ 1,124 60 1,184 1,124 582 1,706 1,706 240 3,130 130 400 530 1,600 2,130 1,000 1,000 3,130 $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ 1994 50 370,742 2,587,715 60 2,958,567 1,124 832 1,956 116 1,840 180 2,960,587 258,771 400 2,304,288 2,563,459 1,200 2,564,659 1,000 394,927 395,927 2,960,587 $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ 1995 50 419,996 2,886,547 60 3,306,654 1,124 1,082 2,206 283 1,923 120 3,308,697 288,655 400 2,218,955 2,508,010 800 2,508,810 1,000 798,887 799,887 3,308,697 $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ 1996 50 469,376 3,066,901 60 3,536,387 1,124 1,332 2,456 499 1,957 60 3,538,404 306,690 400 1,949,595 2,256,685 400 2,257,085 1,000 1,280,319 1,281,319 3,538,404 $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ 1997 50 498,466 3,289,456 60 3,788,033 1,124 1,5 82 2,706 766 1,940 3,789,973 328,946 400 1,643,991 1,973,337 1,973,337 1,000 1,815,637 1,816,637 3,789,973 $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ 1998 50 537,145 3,425,344 3,962,539 1,124 1,832 2,956 1,082 1,874 3,964,413 342,534 1,187,490 1,530,024 1,530,024 1,000 2,433,389 2,434,389 3,964,413 Calaveras Vineyards Team No. 1 18-Feb-2013Exhibit 9 Forecast Assumptions Key Assumptions Case Sales $/Case Gross Margins Estates Select-other Chardonnay California Generic Special Accts Winery Dividend Payout Now-1996 1997&After 0 0 0. 47 0. 35 0. 37 0. 35 0. 26 0. 35 0. 46 Exhibit 11 Exhibit 11 Cash Minimum (m) AR/Sales INV(T)/COGS(T+1) CL(T)/COGS(T+1) SGA/Sales Depreciation Capital Expenditures Interest Rate Tax Rate largeness Rate Real Price Growth 50 0. 1 1 0. 1 0. 18 5-yr, S-L 250 0. 095 0. 37 0. 031 0. 01 Amortiz. Organization Costs 5 years. Calaveras Vineyards Team No. 1 18-Feb-2013 Exhibit 10 Solvency ratio EBIT/ (Interest and Principal) Current ratio Debt ratio Assets/Equity Efficiency ratio Sales/Assets Profitability ratio Return on sales Return on assets Return on equity 1994 1. 32 1. 24 0. 67 3. 6 0. 75 11% 8% 28% Anne Clemens balance Analysis 1995 1996 1997 1. 53 1. 8 2. 05 1. 24 1. 33 1. 48 0. 59 0. 5 0. 39 2. 82 2. 22 1. 8 0. 79 12% 9% 26% 0. 85 13% 11% 24% 0. 88 14% 12% 21% 1998 2. 48 2. 16 0. 25 1. 45 0. 94 15% 14% 20% Comparables ratio Upper Quartile Median Lower Quartile 5. 5 0. 97 2. 5 0. 99 1. 5 0. 995 1. 04 7. 30% 8. 10% 16. 60% 0. 73 2. 80% 2. 30% 7. 70% 0. 35 -0. 20% -0. 10% 1. 10% Calaveras Vineyards Team No. 1 18-Feb-2013 Exhibit 11 Cash lam Components accumulative unembellished or dearth Cash diminish Cash period Components Cumulative Surplus or Deficit Cash Flow Cash Flow Items Initial Inputs last(a) Results Initial Inputs Net Results in operation(p) Inflows (Net Sales) Operating Outflows COGS Depreciation SGA Exp Taxes another(prenominal) Total Operating Outflows Total Net Operating Cash Flow (NOF) budges in work Capital Receivables (AR) Inventory (INV) Other Current Assets (OCA) Accounts Payable (AP) Other Current Liabilities (OCL) Total limitings in Net Working Capital (NWC) Surplus or Deficit Cash Flow after Working Capital Investment Capital Investment win over in Net Fixed Assets Depreciation Net Investment Flow Free Cash Flow to Firm Surplus or Deficit (FCFF) Interest Income (II) Fixed insurance coverage Expenditures (Interest) (FCE) Surplus or Deficit Cash Flow Avaiable for Dividends Dividends (DIV) $ 2,836,062. 00 $ 1,899,853. 00 $ 528,456. 00 $ $ $ 2,428,309. 00 $ 407,753. 00 $ 43,356. 00 $ 654,835. 00 $ (7,012. 00) $ (121,880. 00) $ $ 569,299. 00 $ 977,052. 00 $ 4,193,000. 00 $ 2,294,000. 00 $ 587,000. 00 $ 287,000. 00 $ $ 3,168,000. 00 $ 1,025,000. 00 $ (49,000. 00) $ (281,000. 00) $ $ 28,000. 00 $ $ (302,000. 00) $ 723,000. 00 $ 268,332. 00 $ (394,512. 00) $ (126,180. 00) $ 850,872. 00 $ $ $ (83,000. 00) $ (167,000. 00) $ (250,000. 00) $ 473,000. 00 $ $ (308,000. 00) $ 165,000. 00 $ $ 850,872. 00 $ Calaveras Vineyards Team No. 1 18-Feb-2013 Cash Flow Statements Contd.Surplus or Deficit Cash Flow Avaiable for Dividends Dividends (DIV) Managements Discretionary Cash Flow Surplus Financial Cash Flow Change in long Debt Change in Short-Term Borrowing Change in Preffered Stock Change in Common Stock Change in Other Total Change in Net Finncial Cash Flow (NFF) Goodwill/Other Assets & Other Liabilities Change in Goodwill & Other Asset Change in Other Liabilities Change in Gwill&OAssets & Other Liabilities Surplus or Deficit Cash Flow (Sum of 13 Cash Flow Components) Change in Cash (Cash) Surplus or Deficit after all Cash Flows $ $ 45,006. 00 13,241. 00 $ 850,872. 00 $ $ 850,872. 00 $ $ $ $ (729,402. 00) $ $ (729,402. 00) $ (400,000. 00) $ 236,000. 00 $ $ $ $ (164,000. 00) $ 165,000. 00 $ $ 165,000. 00 $ (153,235. 00) $ $ (153,235. 00) $ (31,765. 00) $ $ $ $ $ $ 1,000. 00 1,000. 00 Calaveras Vineyards CASH FLOW line 1000 Dec-96 Cash Flow Items Initial Inputs N et Results Cash Flow Components Cumulative Surplus or Deficit Cash Flow Initial Inputs Dec-97 Net Results Cash Flow Components Cumulative Surplus or Deficit Cash FlowOperating Inflows (Net Sales) Operating Outflows COGS Depreciation SGA Exp Taxes Other Total Operating Outflows Total Net Operating Cash Flow (NOF) Changes in Working Capital Receivables (AR) Inventory (INV) Other Current Assets (OCA) Accounts Payable (AP) Other Current Liabilities (OCL) Total Changes in Net Working Capital (NWC) Surplus or Deficit Cash Flow after Working Capital Investment Capital Investment Change in Net Fixed Assets Depreciation Net Investment Flow Free Cash Flow to Firm Surplus or Deficit (FCFF) Interest Income (II) Fixed reporting Expenditures (Interest) (FCE) $ 4,681,000. 00 $ $ 2,526,000. 00 $ 655,000. 00 $ 349,000. 00 $ $ 3,530,000. 00 $ 1,151,000. 00 $ (49,000. 00) $ (169,000. 00) $ $ 17,000. 00 $ $ (201,000. 00) $ 950,000. 00 $ 4,967,000. 00 $ $ 2,644,000. 00 $ 695,000. 00 $ 394,000. 00 $ $ 3,733,000. 00 $ 1,234,000. 00 $ (29,000. 00) $ (208,000. 00) $ $ 21,000. 00 $ $ (216,000. 00) $ 1,018,000. 00 $ (34,000. 00) $ (216,000. 00) $ (250,000. 00) $ 700,000. 00 $ $ $ (280,000. 00) $ 17,000. 00 $ (267,000. 00) $ (250,000. 00) $ 768,000. 00 $ $ $ (235,000. 00) Calaveras Vineyards Cash Flow Statements Contd.Surplus or Deficit Cash Flow Avaiable for Dividends Dividends (DIV) Managements Discretionary Cash Flow Surplus Financial Cash Flow Change in Long-Term Debt Change in Short-Term Borrowing Change in Preffered Stock Change in Common Stock Change in Other Total Change in Net Finncial Cash Flow (NFF) Goodwill/Other Assets & Other Liabilities Change in Goodwill & Other Asset Change in Other Liabilities Change in Gwill & Other Liabilities Surplus or Deficit Cash Flow (Sum of 13 Cash Flow Components) Change in Cash (Cash) Surplus or Deficit after all Cash Flows $ $ $ 420,000. 00 $ $ 420,000. 00 $ (400,000. 00) $ (20,000. 00) $ $ $ $ (420,000. 00) $ (400,000. 00) $ (132,000. 00 ) $ $ $ $ (532,000. 00) $ 533,000. 00 $ $ 533,000. 00 $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ 1,000. 00 1,000. 00 Calaveras Vineyards Team No. 1 18-Feb-2013 CASH FLOW STATEMENT Dec-98 Cash Flow Items Initial Inputs Net Results Cash Flow Components Cumulative Surplus or Deficit Cash FlowOperating Inflows (Net Sales) Operating Outflows COGS Depreciation SGA Exp Taxes Other Total Operating Outflows Total Net Operating Cash Flow (NOF) Changes in Working Capital Receivables (AR) Inventory (INV) Other Current Assets (OCA) Accounts Payable (AP) Other Current Liabilities (OCL) Total Changes in Net Working Capital (NWC) Surplus or Deficit Cash Flow after Working Capital Investment Capital Investment Change in Net Fixed Assets Depreciation Net Investment Flow Free Cash Flow to Firm Surplus or Deficit (FCFF) Interest Income (II) $ 5,348,000. 00 $ 2,803,000. 00 $ 749,000. 00 $ 461,000. 00 $ $ 4,013,000. 00 $ 1,335,000. 00 $ (38,000. 00) $ (126,000. 00) $ $ 12,000. 00 $ (400,000. 00) $ (552,000. 00) $ 783,000. 0 0 $ 66,000. 00 $ (316,000. 00) $ (250,000. 00) $ 533,000. 00 $ Calaveras Vineyards Team No. 1 18-Feb-2013Net Investment Flow Free Cash Flow to Firm Surplus or Deficit (FCFF) Interest Income (II) Fixed Coverage Expenditures (Interest) (FCE) Surplus or Deficit Cash Flow Avaiable for Dividends Dividends (DIV) Managements Discretionary Cash Flow Surplus Financial Cash Flow Change in Long-Term Debt Change in Short-Term Borrowing Change in Preffered Stock Change in Common Stock Change in Other Total Change in Net Finncial Cash Flow (NFF) Goodwill/Other Assets & Other Liabilities Change in Goodwill & Other Asset Change in Other Liabilities Change in Gwill&OAssets & Other Liabilities Surplus or Deficit Cash Flow (Sum of 13 Cash Flow Components) Change in Cash (Cash) Surplus or Deficit after all Cash Flows $ $ $ $ (250,000. 00) $ 533,000. 00 $ (173,000. 00) $ 360,000. 00 $ $ 360,000. 00 $ $ (360,000. 00) $ $ $ $ (360,000. 00) $ $ $ $

Legacy of Algeria

Algeria remains hotshot of Frances most valuable possessions during the colonial period. The country was a cut small town for over a century until the early 1960s when nationalist agitation ca wasting diseased independence to be granted to the country. This form of revolt, which began gathering momentum in 1954 and lasted work 1962, is what became known as the Algerian contend. Even though this struggle ended since 1962, the memories of the War are still present especially in France. Moreover, this state of war appears to be the most significant percentage of Frances involvement in Algeria.This essay will therefore look at the legacy created in France as a result of their involvement in Algeria. The essay will also examine the considerable debates and controversies created by memories of the war in France. Aspects of brutality by the French natural law will equally be examined.Torture was a significant part of the Algerian and this aspect has sparked a series of debates an d controversies in France ever since the war ended. During the more(prenominal) than one hundred thousand Algerians were tortured1 by European born French police officers and pro-French Algerians who had been known to be very brutal when they handled matters relating to French Algerians in Paris. Several dubiousness centers were created and the torture of Algerians by French auxiliary police was synonymous to these interrogation centers. Methods used where water torture, impaling on bottles and electric shocking.2 It was incidents like these that made the Algerian War to be labeled the most brutal in all colonial battles that France got involved in. In fact the conduct of the war welcomed a lot of criticisms from the French public without even bordering about the goals of the war. It is therefore no surprising that French men termed the war, dirty war.3Torture was so common to the extent that General capital of Minnesota Aussaresses, whom at the time of the war was working with th e French Special Service in Algeria and who took part in the battle of Algiers, which was aimed at hunting and destroying Algerian fighters hold the use of torture when he held that,Among the operations in which I participated, most led to interrogations.Others to simple liquidation, which occurred on the spot. . . . Those whoarrived in Tourelles an interrogation center were considered to be so dishonored that they did not leave alive. . . . Torture was used systematically ifthe prisoner refused to talk, which was often the case. Rarely were prisonerswho were interrogated at night alive in the morning. If they talked ornot,they were generally neutralized. . . . Summary executions were an integralpart of the task of maintaining order4The employment of torture by French police in the Algerian war created a significant move in France, years later the War was over. To begin with, it sparked up a huge debate in France and the issue was whether torture was used during the Algerian war. This debate has been leaving ever since the war ended. For instance, in 1979, the issue about torture became so popular, to then that public opinion had to be sampled to see those who believed that torture was part of Frances colonial hulk in Algeria. More than 50% of opinions sampled confirmed that they believe torture had been part and parcel of the Algerian crisis.5 In later year the issue received more recognition to the extent that, opinion polls showed 94% of the population holding the belief that torture had been employed by French police during the Algerian War.The legacy left(p) behind by the Algerian had serious ramifications in French politics. The question on torture again received recognition for the role it contend during presidential campaigns in France. This was the case of the presidential elections in France in France in 2002. During campaigns major candidates were demanded to justify their stance with regards to the use of torture Algerian war.6 Majority of t he candidates in this case were out rightly against torture.7 In fact, ever since the war ended, the manner in which the war was handled has always aroused criticisms with emphasis placed on the use of torture. How ever, it is important to understand that French citizens have never really criticized the motive behind their involvement in Algeria. Instead, they criticize the manner in which the government reacted when things started going wrong in Algeria.The Algerian case also left it trade mark in the legal department in France. This is because, years after the incident, virtually of the perpetrators of what has been considered as cowardly acts have been brought before the court. Moreover, mental testings of this kind have drawn a lot of attention from the press. A case in point is the trial of Maurice Papon, who was the brainchild behind the suppression of Algerian demonstrators. Papon was a government functionary in Frances possessions in North Africa during the 1940s and 50sTh is case was presided over in Bordeaux by Jean Louis Castagnds.8During this trial, Papon asserted that he was never in support of the use of torture. He pointed out the he was never in direct of the military, the main perpetrators of these acts, therefore, there was little he could do to stop them.9 Even though Papon was freed for medical reasons, this case went further to strengthen the legacy of the Algerian detail in France. For instance the case pushed writers to work and in the process a number of works on Papon were produced. General works were also written on Papon and his trial. One of such works was marc Olivier Bruchs scholarly study of the French administration under Vichy, titled Pour Servir lEtat Francaise.On the commercial level around of these works gained a lot of grounds. This could be seen in the steady variety of books, movies and television shows, which came out to help bring to light the degree of torture undergo during the Algerian adventure. One of these mo vies, perhaps the most commercially successful, titled Avoir Vingt ans dans lAures released in 1971 and the documentary La Guerre dAlgerie and a lot of other documentary revealed the hidden practices of the of the French army in Algeria.10In fact Pascal Ory has tried to summarize central theme underlying most of the French movies and documentaries on the Algerian war when hen he writes, French cinema did everything it could to give the image of the Algerian War as a dirty war Also, another(prenominal) history of French movies holds the position that Torture obsesses the cinema of the Algerian War.11 Most of these movies and documentaries have gained a lot of grounds on the commercial level.Another legacy left by the Algerian war in France has been the commemorations in France marking the 1961 massacre. This incident occurred when dozens of Algerians were peacefully marching in Paris on October 17 1961. These of Algerians were ruthlessly killed. During the early years of the French government acknowledged the need for regular commemorations to mark this incident. The most outstanding was that held on the occasion of the 40th anniversary. This event was commemorated with demonstrations, exhibitions, exposure showings, and a colloquium held in the National Assembly, with distinguished panelists and some of the survivors of the event.12The legacy created by the Algerian questions in France has created a lot of controversy in France. For instance, national asking came demanding that the 1961 massacre be labeled a crime against humanity. This petition was welcomed by many intellectual elites amongst them were Pierre Bourdieu, Maurice Agulhon, Madeleine Rbrioux, Jacques Derrida. Such calls pushed the Paris metropolis Council to affix a plaque on the Seine Bridge where several Algerians were dumped in to the river Seine on the day of demonstration. It even took time before the determination on what was to be written on the plaque. The wordings were carved on the p laque affixed on the left bank of the bridge crossing River Seine To the reminiscence of all the Algerians killed during the bloody repression of the peaceful demonstration of 17 October1961.13 Many human right groups and leftist have also welcomed the position that that the massacre be considered a crime against humanity.Another area of controversy in the Algerian crisis is centered on the proper word to term it. The French never wanted to consider it a war, instead they less hard phrases such a move to maintain order have always been preferred. However, a new understanding stemming from the rising concerns of the occurrences during the passage of arms made the French parliament in 1999 to label the Algerian case a war. This new development seems to have weakened the stance of many with regards to the horrors of the conflict.14 This indicates the impact created by the Algerian crisis in France if one considers the fact that the conflict has been a call for concern right in the Fr ench Assembly.Another area of controversy has been on the impact of trials like the case of Maurice Papon. People have been asking questions on whether it is necessary to try somebody for a crime committed some litre years back. The French government sees it different. For instance, France which is one of those countries championing the course of democracy and human has to do something keep her credibility towards these this course.Moreover, it is imperative for trials of this kind to take place so that they could act as preventive measure for those who ever find their self in situations like the case in Algeria.Above all, there has also been a huge debate on the impact trials of this kind could have at the level of pedagogy.From the above, it is clear that the Algerian question has left a big scar on the French society judging from the memories of the war, which keeps circulating in France and among French people and Algerians. Moreover, some people still remain divided on certain aspects of the war and it is this situation that has sparked up controversies when talking about the Algerian war.ReferenceCohen, William B. The Algerian War and the Revision of Frances Overseas Mission.Project Muse.Golsan, Richard J. Vichy Afterlife recital and Counter floor in Postwar France.Lincoln and London University of Nebraska Press, 2000.1 William B. Cohen, The Algerian War and the Revision of Frances Overseas Mission, Project Muse, 228. 2 Richard J. Golsan, Vichy Afterlife History and Counter History in Postwar France (Lincoln and London University of Nebraska Press, 2000), 167. 3 Cohen, The Algerian War , 229. 4 Ibid, 232. 5 Ibid, 230. 6 Ibid, 236. 7 Ibid. 8 Golsan, Vichy Afterlife, 158. 9 Ibid, 162. 10 Cohen, The Algerian War , 229 11 Ibid, 229. 12 Ibid, 234. 13 Ibid, 235. 14 Cohen 231

East and West in Antony and Cleopatra Essay

Shakespeare used as his source for the play Norths translation of Plutarchs Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans. Plutarch, along with other Greek and Roman authors, saw an opposition between the conquering West, standing for moral and political virtue, and the conquered East, representing high life and decadence.Do you agree that this is essentially how Shakespeare presents the opposition between East and West in Antony and Cleopatra?Rome and Egypt induct significance far beyond physical locations they symbolise two oppositional value systems essential within both society and the psyche. The world of Antony and Cleopatra is riddled with polarised opposites, such as civilisation and nature, public and private, and, perhaps most importantly, heating system and honour.The inability of the East and West to reconcile their values inevitably causes conflict, forcing Antony, the tragic protagonist, to choose between the spheres. In suicide, he transcends the limitations the world thr usts upon him joined later by Cleopatra, who finally discovers the significance of Western values, in a triumphant death.The notion of either sphere having moral superiority to the other is moot Shakespeare passes no concrete judgement, and no simple platitude of good and evil could suffice to explain the complex behaviour of the principal characters.Neither Egypt nor Rome seems to be truly virtuous, despite the moralising of the Roman characters. In Rome the traditional system of honour is rapidly being subjugated beneath Caesars cold quest for individual supremacy. subjection now belongs only to the winner, and individuals such as Lepidus and Pompey are sacrificed in the imperialistic drive of Octavius. A certain misogyny is Rome, with women denounced as whores, and the harsh treatment that Cleopatra would have faced as a captive indicates the presence of violence in the Roman psyche.Nor is Egypt an ideal of purity. A society wrinkled deep in snip, its preoccupation with emotio n leads it to recklessness (such as when Cleopatra flees the Battle of Actium). Theatrical and dramatic, the lifestyle at court is extremely decadent, often approaching vulgarity. Cleopatra is cosseted by her courtiers, and encouraged towards vanity, narcissism, triviality and self-indulgence,The notion of a duality is more important than the probity of either force by being opposites, East and West become inextricable. Without East in that location would be no concept of West, and vice versa, and this pattern is applicable to all the converses that the antithetical spheres represent.Both are equally important in the development of abounding humanity the values that West and East represent should be in harmony within both society and the human psyche. In Antony and Cleopatra they seem to be inherently conflicted, and the subsequent polarisation causes the demise of the lovers, which allows them to, paradoxically, conquer the hearts of a world that has tried to conquer and restri ct them.The structure of the play serves to highlight the antithesis, with patronise changes between the machinations of Rome and the hyperbole of Cleopatras court emphasizing both the opposition of the value systems and the effect that exposure to both has upon Antony.

Socrates – Wisest Man

Wisest is he who endures that he does non Know. This was iodine of the statements attri scarceed to Socrates who is regarded as one of mankinds sterling(prenominal) teachers and the wisest man who ever lived. He was also considered as one of the most enigmatic figures in the history of philosophical system. Socrates was a very ugly individual. He was potbellied, had a protrude eyes and a snub nose. He did non write anything down. Everything that we know about him was because of Plato and other philosophers alike(p) Xenophon who discussed Socrates in their dialogues.What is surprising is that he acquired the stature of being one of the most influential person in the history of school of thought without writing a single philosophical article. (The Bluffers Guide to Philosophy, p 10) This gougevas checks to prove that Socrates was indeed the wisest man who has ever lived in this cosmea. In the third subsection, I beat back to present my arguments and reasons why I think S ocrates is the wisest man who has ever lived. In the fourth subsection, I aim to present the antithesis to my arguments.In the concluding part, I aim to synthesize wholly the arguments taking into consideration the antithesis. II. Sophists To empathise Socrates however, it is important that a discussion be devoted to the so-called Philosophers during his beat. They were known as the Sophists. The Sophists were famous during his date. They were not Athenian citizens but they wandered from city to city to deliver their lectures on philosophy for a fee. Philosophers like Socrates, Plato and Aristotle criticized the Sophists for professionalizing the commercializing education. Sophists The starting time of Western Philosophical Ethics) Socrates was very critical against the Sophists. It is said that Socrates defended philosophy and the society against the Sophists. Michael Curtis, in the Great political Thinkers Volume 1, asserted that Socrates criticized the Sophists as a group f or professing false familiarity, not in the mother wit of misleading or incorrect information, but in not penetrating sufficiently the significance of the yield they were treating. (Curtis 26) One of the leading Sophists was Protagoras.They theorized that oecumenic principles do not exist and if ever they existed man is not surefooted of versed them. The Sophists therefore advocated a philosophy of relativism. Jostein Gaarder in Sophies World attributed the statement part is the Measure of all things (Gaarder 49) to Protagoras. He meant that man has no capability of knowing what is good or notional which is universally reasonable for anyone regardless of place and time. To know whether an make out is good or bad will entirely consider on that particular individual.If an make out is good for him, then it is considered good. Thus whether an act is good or bad will have to be considered in relation to mans needs. (Gaarder 50) III. Socrates as the Wisest Man Socrates should be considered the wisest man because he changed the method of education. Emphasizing the value of education he discussed with his students for free. He did not press a large sum of money to his students unlike the Sophists who commercialized the education of the youth in capital of Greece by exacting from them fees in exchange for conducting lectures.He should be regarded as the wisest man in the introduction because of his method of teaching which is called the Socratic Method. Socrates compared his method to a midwife. Midwifery is defined as the art & make of attending upon women in childbirth (Midwifery). A midwife does not herself give birth to the child but she merely helps in the childs delivery. Socrates used the same method. He did not teach students by giving lectures because for him experience must contend from within. True experience according to Socrates is a two-way process. It cannot come from the teacher alone.Plato in his work Theaetetus discussed the similari ty of Socratic method with the art of tocology, to wit Well, my art of midwifery is in most respects like theirs but differs in that I attend men and not women, and I look after their souls when they are in labor, and not after their bodies, and the triumph of my art is in thoroughly examining whether the thought which the fountainhead of the young man brings forth is a false idol or a noble and true birth. (Theaetetus) The Socratic Method consists of two processes. Socrates argued that the first step to acquiring knowledge is to clear the mind of all the biases and prejudices.There must be a humble acceptance and exculpation of ignorance. Socrates at a time said that there is only one thing that I know and that is that I know nothing (Gaarder 53). True knowledge will only be acquired after one has accepted his ignorance. The flake step will be the maeiutic process. The term came from the Greek word maieutikos wherein Socrates attempted to draw out of the students mind the kno wledge. Socrates then engaged his students in a debate. Socrates questioned his students the purpose is to get the foundations of the views and opinions of his students until a contradiction in their views is discovered.Thus, in this process Socrates hoped to destroy the incorrect propositions and assumptions and develop and improve the correct propositions. Socrates should be considered the wisest man who ever lived because he stressed the dangers of ignorance. According to Socrates, ignorance consisted in not knowing that there exists universal principles and that man is capable of knowing them. True knowledge consisted in knowing that universal principles exist. Socrates thus sought to liberate the people from the relativist philosophy of the Sophists. For Socrates, to uphold the Sophists view society will be in chaos.For who will now determine which act is good or bad for the society. A person can therefore perform any act which he deems right for himself regardless of its effec t on other people. In contrast, Socrates argued that there exist universal norms and principles which are valid regardless of place and time. Socrates argued that Knowledge is Virtue. He argued that man is inherently good. He will not purposely do evil. If one knows what is good then man will do good. If ever man does evil it is because he does not know any better or because his knowledge is imperfect or inadequate.Thus, Socrates explains the great problem of evil evil which is mostly moral evil is overdue to ignorance or the limitation and imperfection of mans perfect knowledge. This is affirmed by Garth Kemerling in his essay Socrates Socrates argues here that knowledge and virtue are so closely related that no human gene ever knowingly does will we all invariably do what we believe to be best. Improper conduct, then, can only be a product of our ignorance rather than a symptom of weakness of the will. (Kemerling) IV. Socrates is not the Wisest ManIf there are people who believ e that Socrates was the wisest man some people believe that he is not the wisest man because of his erroneous assumption that knowledge will rid the world of evil. Lack of knowledge is not the only propeller that drives man to do evil. I think Socrates may have failed to consider the position of instinct and passions that are capable of making man pay evil. It cannot be denied that against all wisdom and normal sense man still is forced to commit evil. Some people have been gifted with the greatest minds in the world but they still commit crimes and lead immoral lives.Consider the terrorist attacks our countries have experienced. The attackers preferably of using their intelligence to avoid violence are spearheading the attacks against our country. V. Conclusion The philosophy of Socrates was unique for his time. He went against the frequent tide and told the Athenian people that if they continue to believe the Sophists, Athens was headed for destruction. The objection that man despite its knowledge continuously commits evil is precisely because of the limitation and imperfection of his knowledge.The terrorists thinking that they have noble cause commit these atrocious acts not knowing that they are committing a grave and serious evil. Socrates taught us all to look back ourselves and our deeply cherished belief. He invited us to question every belief, opinion and subject them to scrutiny. Most of the time we get too involved with what we thought we knew where in fact we know nothing about it. It is time for us to free ourselves from our biases and prejudices. Biases and prejudices if left unexamined could shape our lives without us knowing it. They affect how we see the world and how we resolve to it.Liberating ourselves from our own biases and prejudices will help us better understand our lives and our place in this world. Socratic philosophy is in reality an invitation for us to know ourselves. It is because of this reason that I think Socrates is the wisest person Socrates inspires us to once more see the world from the eyes of the child. Most of the time we are so used to the world that we begin to accept things as they are. What could be worse than a man lives his bearing full of biases and prejudices. An unexamined life is not worth living.

Human Resource Outsourcing in India Essay

This article attempts to discuss HRO in Indian context and the possible future of HRO in the Indian line scenario. Certain preparatory actions are in addition prescribed to effectively used HRO as a strategic business tool. HRO HRM Architecture Today, as we meet moved into expediency parsimony, dealing with knowledge and knowledge workers is very historic as gentlemans gentleman jacket cr give has become a critical success factor for organizations. HRM is seen as a distinct identity, separate from organisation and Facilities section of the establishment. This can be clearly seen from the importance being given to HRM Architecture.In addition to the handed-down roles for HR, over the years, in the IT and ITes sectors, distinct roles have emerged such as corporate HR, business HR, generalist HR, techno operational HR, etc. The job holders in these roles are expected to give disparate deliverables as related to their structural aspects. It is pertinent to note that a 199 8 survey by center for effective organization at university of Confederate Californias Marshal School of business shown that 79% of HRM managers describe themselves as business partners and 53% of line managers agreed that HR managers are now performing the roles of business partners.Thus, today HRM is getting fountainhead embodied into business functions such as marketing, finance or operations. This can be, in a way, considered as a starting point of HRO, because, from this, emerges the charter for HR function to work smart for business results whether by doing functions and activities each on their own, or by getting some of them d matchless through outsourcing. Additionally, it overly puts air pressure on HR function to find partners who can take over specific transactions and processes at a wiped out(p)er cost. In this way, HR will get focused on tangible results (which was one of the complains against HR in the past).Thus, to some extent, it will help forego up time fo r core-HR activities that result in improvements which positively influence the bottom line. A word of caution though that it may not free up time, and should not free up too much time. After all, HR is essentially a personal touch button of the organization and too much outsourcing might result in deprivation of personal touch and decreased human interaction which may frustrate the employees. HRO Evolution HRO is ever an evolutionary exercise for the organization. Initially, companies are reluctant to outsource, they prefer to do every act in the own backyard.As the organization grows in terms of its life cycle, slowly, experimentation phase will begin when they start outsourcing reliable simple transactions or processes. Sometimes, they may thus far take a parallel run with the v haltor. When the run through is positive and as they make progress, companies may make decisions to penetrate further into the HRO space. According to Everest Research appoints annual HRO study, th e just about normally outsourced HR functions include Pay roll Benefits Employee data worry Info systems Contact centers.As the companies find that on that point are substantial realises from outsourcing, they feel attracted to go in for deeper penetration. Thus, it is possible to categorize companies adopting different levels of HRO in their organization. (See Table 1) Table 1 LevelActivities OutsourcedType of HROBenefits 1Admin services, pay roll, pension, PF mgt. , etc, temporary staffingTransactionCost energy 2L1 + rearing, new employee induction and executive searchProcessStandardization Cost Replication of unplayful practices 3L1 + L2 + campus hiring, online assessments, HR audits, employee surveys etc. functionQuality Cost, benchmarking etc. HRO in Indian Business The debate on HRO in India still hovers some the spare-time activity questions Has HRO really arrived in India? Are we missing the HR outsourcing bus? Should companies outsource their HR functions? We also seem to be aware that The New Mantra is HR Outsourcing In this maze of debates and arguments, some facts privation to be cleared. HR outsourcing in India has not seen the required momentum and is limited to trickle effect, with companies outsourcing a few selected, low end HR processes Says Anil Mahajan in an interview for an article on HRM.In India, most common outsource processes are related to educate, pay roll processing, benchmarks studies and legal compliance. Some HR consultants feel that in Indian HRO scene, quality is an issue. It is reported that some MNCs wanted to outsource end to end HR solutions, but could find a suitable vendor and hence decided to set up its own outsourcing centre. While many experts in the field believe that there is a good scope for HRO in India, it is a fact that our present share in the global market of US $ 80 bn. is lone(prenominal) a minuscule.Estimates show that size of HR outsourcing in India is about US $ 2. 5 3. 5 bn. neverthel ess another study shows flat markets in HRO world wide between 2005 2007 but 2008 promises to be different In the flat world of today, as India becomes more and more global in business and economy it will be a compelling need for companies to resort to outsourcing in the interest of survival and growth. Thus, even though, as of now, HRO in India has not caught up sufficiently time is right for making rapid strides to project up and make best use of the opportunities presented by the wave of HR outsourcing.HRO as Double keen Weapon In India, we are fortunate to have the double advantage of HRO as we all know, HRO operates in an environment where there are abundant takers and abundant givers. HRO activities have two edges one as the service provider and another as a client who is outsourcing the process / transaction. At present many Indian companies are acting as service providers as a natural step, India with its vast millions of English speaking, trainable spring chicken who are willing to learn and serve clients as and idle platform to take on the HRO wave.Thus, India may finally become the outsourcing centre for HR services. The growth in the HRO itself may trigger further developments. all HRO companies may, in turn, begin to outsource some of their process to another service provider. Thus, a virtuous HRO business cycle may get activated. After all, We Are All in Services Now (Prof. jam Teboul). According to him, the process, people and credibility are 3 key elements in the making of value proposition. stack interaction may place a sort of limitation on HRO spreading without a human faceThe basic tenet of HR philosophy should be that HRO must be implemented with extreme regard to Human face of activities being outsourced. This is because of the uniqueness of the HR issues. There cannot be a straightjacket solution for all human issues hence human interaction element needs to be always kept in mind and given a priority. We need to get over trus ted drawbacks as a community of employers in order to benefit from the HRO wave. If we have to shape up, good future we need to know aht we should to and what we should not so that our progress is never stalled.Hence, it is necessary to appreciate the barriers identified for the spread of HRO in our country. The following are some of the barriers identified in literature on the subject ethnic breakout and snuff it management thinking Confidentiality and cost factors Lack of awareness on cost-to-benefit equation of HRO Quality of end results. A word or two about separately of these barriers will clear the aspect. Cultural lurch requires us to trust and be trusted. The two parties involved, namely service provider and client, need to trust each other not only about confidentiality but also about the capability to delay it. more employers and top management feel that it is better to have own HR persons dealing with all the issues kind of of outsourcing. Reasons may be many for su ch out see, but there is a need to change in order to think professionally and ethically. If we can trust an advocate or a doctor or the tax consultant, why not HR service provider? Confidentiality and cost factors relate to the ability of HR service provider to handle information professionally and confidentially. Ethics both personal and corporate run across a great role.If we think proper work ethics can be created through good leadership, we need to develop and nurture such leaders appropriately. Lack of awareness among persons about cost / benefit equation needs to be overcome by education right from the top level to look at HRO as a hard core business option and to quantify the benefits correctly. Lastly, quality issues need to be addressed again through building a quality culture by following the total quality management (TQM) practices.Internal and external customer orientation among all and education and training for all on TQ practices and bring about improvement in qual ity. The Indian experience of TQM is quite adequate in this regard and there is a bright chance of success for improving the quality aspects of HRO. preceding(prenominal) Activities While is it necessary to be clear about changes that we need to make on an individual or a company basis, it is equally important to focus on the preparations needed by us a community of service economy.For any service economy to grow, especially in the network era of today, there is a need for adequate preparation so that ultimately, the environment of business responds favorably to the needs of the market. In this regard, certain preparatory activities have to be undertaken immediately. The heterogeneous activities for this purpose can be broadly assort as Infrastructural Educational Business/ operational Social Under each of these, there are various elements that have to be taken under consideration. The following matrix will show these points clearly.As most of these items are self explanatory in nature, a detailed description of individual items is not do in this article. However, it has to be emphasized that these sub elements are very important contributions to the climate of HRO in a microeconomic sense. The elements given in the matrix are only illustrative and are not exhaustive. preparatory activities needed for HRO Infrastructural / Technical Telecommunications and network accessibility Roads TransportEducational Training Related Curriculum in colleges HRO training centers E Learning transactions / process Counseling centers Business Related Performance parameters Quality measures Feedback Relationships / Cultural sensitivitySocial Quality of the work Life balance Stress management Time management Security at workplace Conclusion In conclusion, it may be said that HRO is going to slowly but steady become a part of business strategy. HR professionals will drive the initiatives of HRO, of course with support from top management. The time is now ripe for HRO to suc ceed in view of HRM being seen and treated as an important element of business resources in the service economy of today.Certain new roles have emerged which confirm this position. though the Indian share of the revenue pie today is very small, there is a very good chess opening of our riding high on the HRO wave that is round the corner. As a community, it is necessary to pose barriers and identify the changes or adjustments we need to make as individuals and companies. As HRO operates as a subset of BPO and overall business environment, certain preparatory steps need to be taken as a community in general. With all this, it is possible to ride high on HRO wave in the next few years.