Griswold v. Connecticut Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Griswold v. Connecticut - Research Paper Example In 1873, the government enacted law United States of American that among other things, prohibited people, even those in legal marriages, from using any kind of contraceptive. The laws were called the Comstock Law and had been in place until 1965. The Comstock law also prohibited physicians from giving advice or suggesting to their patients the use of such contraceptives. It also had many other clauses that related to moral issues including the use of the national postal service to send erotic materials, sex toys, and any other item that may be immoral. It prevented the use of any drug for purposes of contraception and prohibited the sale of such a drug or item. This law, was never enforced and by the early 1950s, Connecticut and Massachusetts were the only states in the USA that were still having the provisions of this law in their books of law. The Comstock law was to later be challenged by many people and the public outcry was big especially in the beginning of the 20th century. Up until the court repealed the Comstock law, doctors avoided the topic such as the publications of any research in such matters.

Individual Economic Issues Simulation Paper Essay Example for Free

Individual Economic Issues Simulation Paper Essay Review the Health Care Economics Issues HMO Simulation exercise posted on your student web page. Follow the Wk 4 WEB LINK â€Å"Understanding Economic Issues for HMO’s†. This exercise is for your learning experience only. Do not post any screen short from the exercise as part of your assignment. Economic Issues Simulation Paper Prepare a 1,050- to ,1400 paper in which you present a profile of each company including the demographics of the employees, the health care risk factors (potential areas of high utilization), and the premiums the company is willing to pay. Apply each plan, Castor Standard and Castor Enhanced to each company, Constructit and E-editor, to determine which plan best meets the healthcare needs of the employees – ignore Dearden. As a representative of Castor insurance, your job is to maximize profit and minimize risk for the company. Based on your analysis of potential utilization, give at least two reasons why each plan could be selected for each company. Then select one of the two companies and state which plan you would select to sell to that company? What are the reasons for this decision? Why did you not select the other plan offered? Your paper should be organized so that each question serves as a subheading followed by the discussion, i.e. Two Reasons Why Each Plan Could Be Selected, Which Plan Selected and Reasons for the Decision, and Why the Other Plan Were Eliminated. Include a Title page and a Conclusion. Format your paper consistent with APA guidelines as described in team the Assignment Format – Easy Version document. Follow the Wk 4 Individual  Assignment Outline document posted in the Course Materials forum located just below the Chat Room. Post your a To get this material copy and paste link to browser https://bitly.com/1wyPcrf Think about your resume from day one. Yes, you want your diploma to be the feature point of the resume. However, you also want to put anything else you can on it. Work-study, summer job or internship experience is a big plus. Also cultivate opportunities through extra-curricular activities that appeal to you. General Questions General General Questions Review the Health Care Economics Issues HMO Simulation exercise posted on your student web page. Follow the Wk 4 WEB LINK â€Å"Understanding Economic Issues for HMO’s†. This exercise is for your learning experience only. Do not post any screen short from the exercise as part of your assignment. Economic Issues Simulation Paper Prepare a 1,050- to ,1400 paper in which you present a profile of each company including the demographics of the employees, the health care risk factors (potential areas of high utilization), and the premiums the company is willing to pay. Apply each plan, Castor Standard and Castor Enhanced to each company, Constructit and E-editor, to determine which plan best meets the healthcare needs of the employees – ignore Dearden. As a representative of Castor insurance, your job is to maximize profit and minimize risk for the company. Based on your analysis of potential utilization, give at least two reasons why each plan could be selected for each company. Then select one of the two companies and state which plan you would select to sell to that company? What are the reasons for this decision? Why did you not select the other plan offered? Your paper should be organized so that each question serves as a subheading followed by the discussion, i.e. Two Reasons Why Each Plan Could Be Selected, Which Plan Selected and Reasons for the Decision, and Why the Other Plan Were Eliminated. Include a Title page and a Conclusion. Format your paper consistent with APA guidelines as described in team the Assignment Format – Easy Version document. Follow the Wk 4 Individual Assignment Outline document posted in the Course Materials forum located just below the Chat Room. Post your assignment in the Assignment Section on your student web page. Post an Individual Certificate of Originality along with your assignment – do not include the Certificate as part of your assignment.

Sustainable information security policy in an organization

Sustainable information security policy in an organization Introduction The purpose of this research paper is to investigate how organizations design sustainable information security policies. Designing a sustainable information security policy is one of the most important issues facing organizations today. It should not only be the first step in an organizations information security policy program but a continuing process to ensure the policy should be maintained of high quality, it is clear, comprehensive and appropriate to the organizations specific business objectives, strategic goals and culture needs. This is a particularly salient issue in organizations that operate in numerous political, cultural, legal, geographic and economic environments and, by necessity, sometimes must have an information security policy that employees can follow and actually use. Information security represents a growing concern for organizations. As organizations are relying and becoming more dependent on information systems for staying competitive, gain strategic advantag e and operations, the issue of effective information security policy also becomes important and the necessary foundation for organizational information security. In an organization, some unique challenges can arise in designing an information security policy, such as policy differences arising through the various threats, risk acceptance and tolerance levels among business units; internal and external requirements at a country, local and national level; human factors; and cultural differences. In some cases, an organization may require a region-specific information security policy that may be more restrictive than a global information security policy. However, the reason why an information security policy has to be enforced on an organization is because the information security policy requires an effort from them. The literature review and an experimental study will be used to investigate, explore and understand different factors such as ease of use, designer perceptions of user shortcomings, attitude toward usage, peer influence, perceived behavioral control usage, perceived ease of use, quality of working life, work attitude and intentions as to how to design a sustainable information security policy in an organization. The research problem and goal. The research problem of this study is to investigate how to design a sustainable information security policy in an organization. Surprisingly, not too much is known about how to design security policies that pay attention to unique organizational security features, employees and business needs (Siponen and Iivari, 2006). In business, an information security policy is a document that states in writing how an organization should plan to protect its information systems and technology assets, provides guidance based on standards, regulations and rules of what to and what not to do. However the information security policy quality, flexibility and usability are limited. Therefore employees do not pay attention, understand, follow abide and break the information security policy. An information security policy that is viewed as design product and that is normative lists actions that the employees should follow or should not perform. The design of an information security policy does not necessarily make it possible to address all situations reasonably. However, to guide the design of the information security policy, the product and an application principle should state how it needs to be applied, and a design method should state how it needs to be crafted (Siponen and Iivari, 2006). Product design and development is a complex and lengthy process for organizations since it involves multiple participants from several organizational departments who are required to make decisions outside their area of expertise. To address the problem organizations often purchase ready made information security policies from various sources such as ISO, text books or adopt information security policies from government and other online sources. This leads to incomplete activities a nd flaws which lead to difficult to follow information security policy. Sound information security policy should protect the information and systems, as well as the individual employees and the organization as a whole from a wide variety of threats (Veiga, Martins and Eloff, 2007). It also should serve as a prominent statement to the outside world about the organizations commitment to information security. An information security policy is often considered to be a living document, meaning that the document is never finished but is continuously updated as technology, regulations and business requirements change. The information from systematic monitoring should serve as a critical input to evaluation, formulation, implementation and design of the information security policy. The information security policy should be seen not only as an artifact document of the organization to enforce best information security practices but also should identify details of what is acceptable or unacceptable and what is reasonable behavior from the employees in order to ensu re sound security of information. Information security policy should be sustainable. Information security covers people and process issues as well as technology. The design of information security policy in an organization should be integrated into a process that involves employee usability testing and input from various regions, regulations, industry standards and business units. An information security policy is the necessary foundation for a sound organizational information security. Information security policy should be able to enhance business operations by reducing risk, ensuring protection of organizational critical information assets and decreasing information systems security management costs as well as to improve information systems operations while also supporting the demands of internal and external compliance. Since many of these policies require human involvement, for example employee and customer actions, the goals should be measured and checked if they are met only if such human activities can be influenced and monitored and if positive outcomes have incentives while negative actions are sanctioned. The goal of this research study is to investigate how to design, create and maintain a sustainable information security policy using experimental methods and control focus groups in an organization. An effective information security policy should be based on a usability standard that can be achieved during the design techniques appropriate to implement sustainable information security policy. Importance of research problem The successful design of information security policy is critical in todays environment of rapid change and challenges in addressing information security policy compliance and effectiveness in organizations. The information security policy is the foundation on which a sound information security is built. As with any foundation, it must be well designed, and well constructed; it can then be trusted to support the organizations business objectives and goals effectively. It is essential that effective information security policy practices be in place in organizations to ensure the success of information security policy. Effective information security policy requires that users understand and follow the information security mission as described in the organizations information security policy. Flexibility and usability are essential elements of an information security policy life cycle, particularly of the design process of information security policy formulation and implementation. An information security policy needs to be sustainable and not rigid. While the importance of the information security policy in ensuring the security of information is acknowledged widely, to date, there has been little empirical analysis of its design, impact or effectiveness in this role. Designing sustainable information security policy is critical to protecting the organizations information systems and assets. The consequences of violating such as information security policy might be extensive and expensive. The organizations information security policy should be written with a clear understanding of the expected outcome and the need to be flexible and usable. The information security policy should incorporate clear definitions and user responsibilities (Gaunt 1998). It should also aim to influence behavior and turn employees into participants in the organizations efforts to secure its information assets. Information security policy plays an important role in preventing, detecting and responding to security threats and breaches. Organizations should have security controls to protect their information. One of the most important controls, according to Hone and Eloff (2002), is the information security policy. The information security policy is likely to be ineffective if it is not written well, understood, followed and accepted by all employees. The results of this study will help practitioners understand how an organization can design sustainable information security policy to achieve effective information security. Research argument The information security of an organization might be left in a less effective state in situations where information security policy is not followed by employees. Employee perception, in some instances, is that following the rules in information security policy interferes and gets in the way of doing their day-to-day work and their ability to accomplish their job tasks. This is because they feel as though this approach is cumbersome and a waste of time. An employees failure to comply with the information security policy is a key concern of information security practitioners and organizations. According to Desman (2002) information security is not a technical issue, but rather a human issue, therefore the most significant threat to the security of information in an organization is its employees (Gaunt 1998). Information security policy should be fair, reasonable, understandable, flexible and usable. If an information security policy is not flexible and usable, employees will not follow it and it will break. According to Besnard and Arief (2004), the design of security products and information security policy should rely more on the rules of human-computer interaction. The employees, independent of their knowledge and intellect, should be able to read an organizations information security policy understand, follow, comply and adhere to it. One of the ways to implement good information security practices in an organization is to ensure that a detailed information security policy is in place. The content of the information security policy is particularly significant, as it should be monitored for any changes after it is adopted to attain relevance and an understanding of whether there were changes due to the policy or program. According to Gaunt (2000) user participation in the development of an organization information security is necessary if it is to achieve wide acceptance. Problem Relevance According to Hone and Eloff (2002) one of the most important information security controls in an organization is the information security policy. However, this important document it is not always easy to put together and develop. Some organizations derive their information policy from business goals, service level agreements, industry best practices, and International Standard Organization standards such as ISO 27000, or copy paste from other ready made policy templates found or procured from textbooks or online resources. Content in information security policies differ according to the type of organization: for example, corporations, academic institutions, government, and within departments such as information technology, human resources, legal, and finance to name a few. The degree of guidance varies from very specific references of what to do or not to do and sanctions of not following the rules. Sanctions affect employees actual compliance with information security policy. According to Bia and Kalika (2007), the decision to formulate an information security policy, for example, a policy of acceptable use, occurs when the organization has experienced problems, conflict, damage, or business loss because of improper use of information security rules. The application of a security policy is considered essential for managing the security of information systems. Implementing a successful information security policy in an organization, however, is not a straightforward task and depends on many factors (Karyda, Kiountouzis and Kokolakis, 2004). Sometimes, employees view the information security policy as an obstacle and a barrier to progress and, in an effort, to do their job more efficiently, employees might not follow the rules set in the information security policy document. Despite the fact that organizations have information security policy in place, more often than not, the application of information security policy fails to attain its goals. To ensure that information security policy is effective, information security professionals must first understand the social elements, including cultural and generational variances that affect employee behavior and perceptions about information security policy (Cisco, 2008). According to Baskerville and Siponen (2002), strict access controls imposed during fast growing organizational changes can become an obstacle by limiting access to information thereby threatening the organizations survival. This problem is one of limiting organizational emergence because of limited information access and presents conflicting and stringent demands for security policy making. Unexpected business opportunities may require actions that conflict with their information security policy. Some of the problems facing organizations are of employees not following the information security policy, which reflects the social nature of human beings. According to Kabay (2002), an information security policy challenges employees to change the way they think about their own responsibility for protecting the organizations valuable information. Attempting to impose information security policy on unwilling employees results in resistance both because stricter information security procedures make jobs more difficult and because people do not like to be told what to do. The process of design and development of information security policy plays an important role in the life cycle of an information security policy and affects how people feel about the information security policy and whether they see rules as a needless imposition of power or an expression of their own values. Unfortunately, an information security policy conflicts with most peoples view of reality: for example, an empl oyee showing sensitive information to someone who does not have the appropriate level of authorization to view such information because they both work on the same project team. However, if users fail to comply with the rules, an information security policy can help deter abuse (Straub and Nance 1990). Although having an information security policy in an organization is essential, it is not enough to ensure an employees compliance with it. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to understand what factors should be considered in the design of a sustainable information security policy in order to motivate employees to comply with the information security policy and understand how important it is. Definitions of Terms For the purposes of this paper: Information security policy: by definition, an information security policy refers to a clear, understandable comprehensive and well-defined plan, rules, and practices that regulate access to an organizations system and the information included in it. It is defined as the security policy in a document that states in writing how an organization plans to protect the companys physical and information technology assets. Information policy: is defined as the combination of laws, regulations, rules, and guidelines that steer the creation, management, and use of information that greatly shapes the roles of information in society. Information policy includes a range of issues related to freedom of information, privacy, secrecy, security, intellectual property, and information and communication technologies among other policy areas. Information system security: is defined as the state of being free from unacceptable risk. Thus, information security focuses on reducing the risk of computing and communication systems, especially in regard to the misuse, destruction, modification or inappropriate disclosure of information either by intent or accident. Product design and development: in this paper refers primarily to the design and development of new information security policy. Research questions and Hypothesis. The main research question for this study is formulated as: How to design sustainable information security policy in an organization? Hypothesis: H1: Is there a significant difference between flexibility and usability? H2: Is there a significant relationship between flexibility and usability? H3: If an information security policy is usable then is there a need for sanctions? H4: If an information security policy is flexible then is there a need for rewards? Reference Agarwal, R and Sambamurthy, V. (2002). Principles and models for organizing the IT function. MIS Quarterly Executive, 1(1), 1-16. Baskerville, R., and Siponen, M. (2002). An information security meta-policy for emergent organizations. Logistics Information Management, 15(5/6), 337-346. Besnard, D. and Arief, B. (2004). Computer security impaired by legal users. Computers Security, 23(3), 253-26. Bia, M., and Kalika, M. (2007). Adopting an ICT code of conduct: An empirical study of organizational factors. Journal of Enterprise Information Management, 20(4), 432-446. CISCO. Data leakage worldwide: The effectiveness of security policies, 2008, Retrieved March 29 2010 http://www.cisco.com/en/US/solutions/collateral/ns170/ns896/ns895/white_paper_c11-503131.pdf Da Veiga, A., Martins, N., and Eloff, JHP. (2007). Information security culture validation of an assessment instrument. Southern African Business Review, 11(1), 147-166. Desman, M.B. (2002). Building an information security awareness program. Boca Raton, FL, Auerbach Publications. Doherty, NF., and Fulford, H. (2006). Aligning the information security policy with the strategic information systems plan. Computers Security, 25(1), 55-63. Eloff, JHP., Labuschagne L, and Badenhorst KP. (1993) A comparative framework for risk analysis methods. Computers and Security, 12(6), 597-603. Gaunt, N. (1998). Installing an appropriate IS security policy in hospitals. International Journal of Medical Informatics, 49(1), 131-134. Gaunt N. (2000). Practical approaches to creating a security culture. International Journal of Medical Informatics, 60(2), 151-157. Hone, K., and Eloff, JHP. (2002). Information security policy what do international security standards say? Computers and Security, 21(5), 402-9. Kabay, M. (1994). Psychological factors in the implementation of information security policy. EDPACS, The EDP Audit, Control, and Security Newsletter, 11(10), 1-10. Karyda, M., Kiountouzis, E., Kokolakis, S. (2005). Information systems security policies: a contextual perspective, Computers and Security, 24(3), 246-260. Lapke M., and Dhillon, G. (2008). Power relationships in information systems security policy formulation and implementation. European Conference on Information Systems, 16, 1358-1369. Siponen, M., and Iivari, J. (2006). Six design theories for IS security policies and guidelines. Journal of the Association for Information System,s 7(7), 445-472. Thomson, K. L., von Solms, R., and Louw, L. (2006). Cultivating an organizational information security culture. Computer Fraud and Security, 10, 7-11. Straub, D.W., and Nance, W.D. (1990). Discovering and disciplining computer abuse in organizations: A field study. MIS Quarterly, 14(1), 45-60. Warman, AR. (1992). Organizational computer security policy: the reality. European Journal of Information Systems, 1(5), 305-10. Zhang, Y., Liu, X., and Wang, W. (2005). Policy lifecycle model for systems management. IT Professional, 7(2), 50-54.

Essay on the Role of the Gods in Homers Iliad :: Iliad essays

The Role of the Gods in Homer's Iliad        Ã‚   If one holds the contemporary view of the Christian God then it may be difficult to comprehend the actions and motivation of the Greek deities. The Christian God does not tend to take such an active role in the affairs of people's lives, where, on the other hand, "the Greeks regarded direct involvement by the gods as a daily, uncontrollable part of life"(Guthrie 17). Needless to say, divine intervention was a major variable in the equation of Homer's Iliad. The gods picked who they would favor for different reasons, except Zeus.   As the symbol of supreme authority and justice, he makes judgment calls as to the other gods' involvement in the war, remains impartial, and doesn't seem to get caught up in picking favorites. Even when his own son, Sarpedon, was about to die, Zeus chose to let the outcome go unaltered. On the other hand, Zeus's wife, Hera, displayed the more typical actions of a god. After Paris, a Trojan, judged Aphrodite the fairest over Hera, and, after her daughter Hebe was replaced as cupbearer to the gods by a young Trojan boy, she was quite resentful towards Troy and its people. Obviously, she sided with the Greeks and would stop at nothing to express her will. Scheming and manipulating, she even dared to trick her husband, King of the Gods. Hera, along with Athena, who was also passed over by Paris, is seen as the chief divine aid to the Greeks. Being the god of the sea, Poseidon was another strong supporter of the ocean-faring Greeks. Whenever Zeus turned his back, Poseidon tried to help the Greeks in the fight. Poseidon felt that he was somewhat Zeus's equal, as his brother, but recognizing Zeus's authority and experience, he looked to Zeus as an elder. There were also Gods who favored the Trojan side of the conflict. Both Apollo and Artemis, twin brother and sister, gave aid to the city of Troy. Although Artemis takes a rather minor role, Apollo, perhaps angered by Agamemmnon's refusal to ransom Khryseis, the daughter of one of his priests, and was constantly changing the course of the war in favor of the Trojans. Responsible for sending plague to the Greeks, Apollo was the first god to make an appearance in the Iliad. Also, mainly because Apollo and Artemis were on the Trojan side, their mother, Leto, also helped the Trojans.

Fat Sam and Cadillac Joe

Fat Sam and Cadillac Joe There was a mobster named Fat Sam and his partners; â€Å"Funky Don† Parsons, Howard â€Å"Big Bill Bass and Pat Willey had spotted a right ulna of a human arm. After a couple of hours of digging Bill Bass and other men had found two thoracic vertebrae, fifteen teeth, four fragments of an They had decided to kidnap a man named Monty Hudson and his wife Liz Hudson.Not only did he kidnap them, but Monty Hudson was killed. Monty Hudson and his wife Liz Hudson, who was six months pregnant at the time, were kidnapped in broad daylight at gun point at the hotel, Holiday Inn by three men. They left in two different cars. One car Liz wastaken in and the other car, which just so happened to be his own car, Monty was taken in. Liz was released a couple days later in Nashville. Liz Hudson was very uncooperative, hoping that if she would not say anything that they would not kill Monty.Liz had told the FBI that the kidnapping had been a simple misunderstanding and that Monty had left on a business trip. She could not tell them when he would be back or where he was at. About five months or so went by and investigators got a tip about Monty. According to an informant, Monty was in a shallow grave some seventy-five miles south of Nashville, on a farm near the Alabama border in Lawrenceburg, Tennessee. By 1980, Fat Sam already had a bad record for counterfeiting , money laundering, marijuana farming, drug distribution, and trafficking in stolen property.When Fat Sam got indicted for counterfeiting, his partners knew they were not far behind. Earl Carroll, figuring he would be the first to snitch, would get the best deal. Carroll offered to tell about Fat Sam's crimes, including the kidnapping and murder of Monty Hudson. Carroll went on to tell about how Monty Hudson was a con man whose nickname was, Cadilllac Joe, because he had a thing for stealing Cadillacs. It all started because Hudson had offered to sell him more than thirty pure silver bar s.Each bar was a good foot and a half long and six inches wide. The bars werenearly a hundred dollars a piece. Silver at this time was selling for fifty dollars an ounce. Just one of the bars could be worth $80,000 a piece. Monty was willing to sell Fat Sam all of them for $20,000. Fat Sam did not trust Monty so he had his partner, Funky Don, check it out because he had some expierence with special metals. Fat Sam had it resampled after he had bought what he had thought was pure silver was really zinc.Which was not even worth $200. At this point Fat Sam was furious. Monty had made a comment in the back of the car that just ticked off either Sam or his partner who was sitting in the front seat. Now here is where things started going wrong. Sam did not have the heart to kill Liz and her unborn baby so he called one of his friends to get the job done. Unfortunately, Sam's friend had said, â€Å"No matter what kind of a sorry son of a bitch I am, I can't kill no pregnant women. † After that they had released her.Sam had ordered his partners to dig two graves one for Monty and one for his Cadillac right outside Laweranceburg, said Carroll. Bill Bass and Pat Willey had spotted a right ulna of a human arm. After a couple of hours of digging Bill Bass and other men had found two thoracic vertebrae, fifteen teeth, four fragments of an occipital, five fingers, toe bones, fragment of a long bone, human hair, empty pupal casings, tatters of cloth, and a bullet, which i had learned about where all these bones were located in anatomy. Dr.Bass had to determine the Big Four: sex, age, race, and stature. Most the time it is easier to determine the sex by the pubic bone, hip bone, or face. In this case they had determined the sex by how massive the ulna was and how pronounced and bore heavy muscle markings were of the occipital bone, which was charecteristics of a man's neck muscles. The age was hard to judge since the only thing they had was the ulna, finger, toe bones, and the thoracic vertebrae that showed the first stage of osteoarthritic lipping, which showed he was in between 30-50 years old.Without a face or cranial vault theycould not figure out his race. The stature was a little bit easier for them to figure out they had; one long bone, ulna, and the distal. After measuring everything out they figured out that the man had to be around six feet one to six feet two. Monty was finally discovered by the x-rays of his teeth. I knew what every bone Dr. Bill Bass was talking about and where it was located. I remember learning in class that x-rays of teeth is a great way to help identify who a person is if they have records at a dentist facility.What also helped Dr. Bass identify Monty was by knowing that it was a male. We had learned in class the differences in the hipbone and the pelvic bone of a female and a male's. In my opinion after reading through the book anthropoligists never know what they are going to be dealt. Every death has its own m eaning behind it weather it is caused naturally or on purpose. It is amazing how you can discover gender, race, and age just by bones and teeth and a lot of times anthropoligists do not have much to work with.

Free Essays on Pratical Approach To Proving The Existance Of God

Practical Approach to Proving the Existence of God The existence of God is something that most people take for fact. How ever there are those in our society that simply need proof. There are many reasons for their need for proof, ranging from being analytical, logical and not seeing the logic in the existence in such a being. To simply not understanding how a â€Å"God† as Christians define Him, can possibly allow the horrible things in this world happen. I think the best way to start this paper is to define the â€Å"Being† that I am attempting to prove exist. In the Christian world, He is called by many names including God, Yahweh, and Jehovah. In other religions, He may be called by names like: Buddha and Allah. It’s my belief that we are all talking about the same being. In all cases, no matter the name or the way that he is worshiped, God is thought of as the Alpha and the Omega, meaning the beginning and the end. God had no start and will be the end, to put a very uncomprehendable topic into a simple statement. God is believed to be all knowing and all-powerful. This is where the Thesis comes into conflict with the Atheist who asks, â€Å"how can God let horrible things happen?† An extension of the reason why such an atheist can’t believe is the idea that God is a kind being. In addressing the conflict of the book of Genesis and the scientific theory of the start of the universe. A very simple argument comes to mind, the causal argument. The idea of a causal argument is as simple as the scientific law of â€Å"cause and effect, or action reaction.† Its simple, anything that happens is caused by something else. It’s my newfound belief that the book of Genesis is not to be taken literally. Who is to say that the explanations God gave for the beginning of time weren’t greatly simplified for the feeble minds of ancient times. In addition who is to say that 7 days of Gods time isn’t billions and billions of ... Free Essays on Pratical Approach To Proving The Existance Of God Free Essays on Pratical Approach To Proving The Existance Of God Practical Approach to Proving the Existence of God The existence of God is something that most people take for fact. How ever there are those in our society that simply need proof. There are many reasons for their need for proof, ranging from being analytical, logical and not seeing the logic in the existence in such a being. To simply not understanding how a â€Å"God† as Christians define Him, can possibly allow the horrible things in this world happen. I think the best way to start this paper is to define the â€Å"Being† that I am attempting to prove exist. In the Christian world, He is called by many names including God, Yahweh, and Jehovah. In other religions, He may be called by names like: Buddha and Allah. It’s my belief that we are all talking about the same being. In all cases, no matter the name or the way that he is worshiped, God is thought of as the Alpha and the Omega, meaning the beginning and the end. God had no start and will be the end, to put a very uncomprehendable topic into a simple statement. God is believed to be all knowing and all-powerful. This is where the Thesis comes into conflict with the Atheist who asks, â€Å"how can God let horrible things happen?† An extension of the reason why such an atheist can’t believe is the idea that God is a kind being. In addressing the conflict of the book of Genesis and the scientific theory of the start of the universe. A very simple argument comes to mind, the causal argument. The idea of a causal argument is as simple as the scientific law of â€Å"cause and effect, or action reaction.† Its simple, anything that happens is caused by something else. It’s my newfound belief that the book of Genesis is not to be taken literally. Who is to say that the explanations God gave for the beginning of time weren’t greatly simplified for the feeble minds of ancient times. In addition who is to say that 7 days of Gods time isn’t billions and billions of ...

Free Essays on Apollo And Daphne

and rejoined, "Your arrows may strike all things else, Apollo, but mine shall strike you." So saying, he took his stand on a rock of Parnassus and drew from his quiver two arrows of a different workmanship, one to excite love, the other to repel it. The former was of gold and sharp pointed, the latter blunt and tipped with lead. With the leaden shaft he struck the nymph Daphne, the daughter of the river god Peneus, and with the golden one Apollo, through the heart. Forthwith the god was seized with love for the maiden, and she abhorred the thought of loving. Her delight was in woodland sports and the spoils of the chase. Many lovers sought her, but she spurned them all, ranging the woods, and taking no thought of Eros nor of Hymen. Her father often said to her, "Daughter, you owe me a son-in-law; you owe me grandchildren." She, hating the thought of marriage as a crime, with her beautiful face tinged all over with blushes, threw her arms around her father's neck and said, "Dearest f ather, grant me this favor, that I may always remain unmarried, like Artemis." He consented, but at the same time said, "Your own face will forbid it." Apollo loved her and longed to obtain her; and he who gives oracles to all the world was not wise enough to look into his own fortunes. He saw her hair flung loose over her s... Free Essays on Apollo And Daphne Free Essays on Apollo And Daphne Apollo and Daphne in Myth Daphne was Apollo's first love. It was not brought about by accident, but by the malice of Eros. Apollo saw the boy playing with his bow and arrows; and being himself elated by his recent victory over Python, he said to him, "What have you to do with warlike weapons, saucy boy? Leave them for hands worthy of them. Behold the conquest I have won by means of them over the vast serpent who stretched his poisonous body over acres of plain! Be content with your torch, child, and kindle up your flames, as you call them, where you will, but presume not to meddle with my weapons." Aphrodite's boy heard these words and rejoined, "Your arrows may strike all things else, Apollo, but mine shall strike you." So saying, he took his stand on a rock of Parnassus and drew from his quiver two arrows of a different workmanship, one to excite love, the other to repel it. The former was of gold and sharp pointed, the latter blunt and tipped with lead. With the leaden shaft he struck the nymph Daphne, the daughter of the river god Peneus, and with the golden one Apollo, through the heart. Forthwith the god was seized with love for the maiden, and she abhorred the thought of loving. Her delight was in woodland sports and the spoils of the chase. Many lovers sought her, but she spurned them all, ranging the woods, and taking no thought of Eros nor of Hymen. Her father often said to her, "Daughter, you owe me a son-in-law; you owe me grandchildren." She, hating the thought of marriage as a crime, with her beautiful face tinged all over with blushes, threw her arms around her f ather's neck and said, "Dearest father, grant me this favor, that I may always remain unmarried, like Artemis." He consented, but at the same time said, "Your own face will forbid it." Apollo loved her and longed to obtain her; and he who gives oracles to all the world was not wise enough to look into his own fortunes. He saw her hair flung loose over her s...

How Evil Is Represented In Macbeth and Lord of the Flies Essay Example

How Evil Is Represented In Macbeth and Lord of the Flies Essay Example How Evil Is Represented In Macbeth and Lord of the Flies Paper How Evil Is Represented In Macbeth and Lord of the Flies Paper Essay Topic: Literature Lord Of the Flies Macbeth is a play, which was written by William Shakespeare between the reigns of Elizabeth 1 and James 1 in 1606. William Shakespeare had written many plays and poems during his era. Macbeth is one of the most popular amongst his works and is now recognised as a classic. Macbeth is a character in the play that is overcome by evil desires on his way to becoming king. The book explains what happens to Macbeth and how evil causes him to commit such actions, and how he fights to keep his throne as king. The Lord of the Flies is a novel, which is also a classic that had been written by William Golding. It is based during the Second World War, when a group of young boys are fleeing England to safety, but on their way, their plane crashes down onto a deserted island. Miraculously all the Children survive but all the adults had died. The book explores how these children no older than thirteen or fourteen live on the island until rescue arrives. Evil is represented in the novel by the fight for leadership between two rivals, Jack and Ralph, and how the other children live with this. Both the play and the novel have evil themes within them, which is reacted to by the characters. I will be comparing the ways evil is represented in Macbeth and The Lord of the Flies as well as exploring the different attitudes of the characters. At the start of Macbeth, evil is first introduced with three witches discussing when they shall meet again with Macbeth. An impression of the images of witches is long hair, long cloaks, large hats and all these items must be in black. In The Lord of the Flies, the boys gather together after Piggy and Ralph find a conch and blow it. After these boys gather together they spot another group of boys heading towards them and are described: : but each boy wore a square black cap with a silver badge in it. Their bodies from throat to ankle, were hidden by black cloaks which bore a long silver cross on the left breast and each neck was finished off with a hambone frill. (The Lord of the Flies- chapter 1- pg26) These boys are a choir and are led by Jack who is the head of the choir. The way they are dressed is like the image a person would get of witches. The cloaks that they were wearing had a silver cross on, and as this war was during the time of Adolph Hitler, the person who had many, many Jews killed, it is a symbol of his Nazi group. Just like when the witches create an image of evil, above are two images in which evil represented within Jacks group. Macbeth had arrived back from battle after defeating the Norwegians and taking the Thane of Cawdor prisoner. King Duncan is told of this and orders for the Thane of Cawdor to be killed and the title to be transferred to Macbeth. Later on, Macbeth and Banquo have a run in with the witches. He is told that he will become Thane of Cawdor and then king, and that Banquos children will be kings. Rosse tells Macbeth that he has been made Thane of Cawdor, but later he hears King Duncan has made his son Malcolm as the next king. A part of what the witches had told him has become true but he becoming king hasnt. From this moment on Macbeth starts to think evil due to hearing this: Let not light see my black and deep desires; The eye wink at the hand, yet let that be, Which the eye fears, when it is done, to see. (Macbeth- Act 1 Scene 4- Lines 51-53) Macbeth is contemplating whether he should commit murder in order to get his way, which reflects his arrogance. Similarly in The Lord of the Flies, Jack starts to show arrogance from the opening of the novel. The boys decide a chief need to be appointed, but Jack with simple arrogance speaks out: I ought to be chief, because Im chapter chorister and head boy. I can sing C sharp. (The Lord of the Flies- chapter 1- pg29) Jack just like Macbeth wants to appoint themselves as leaders, due to their arrogance, which they dont realise, but even though they are arrogant, the quotes reveal that they both have ambition. The only difference is between Jack and Macbeth that can be spotted so far is that Macbeth is willing to commit evil in order to fulfil his ambition, but in Jacks case it cant be seen how he wants to achieve his ambition. Later on in the play, Macbeth kills Duncan and frames the guards with the help of Lady Macbeth. Duncans sons Malcolm and Donalbain flee Scotland fearing their safety. The murder that had taken place had been taken late at night and that it was so horrid that even the nature got scared: Macbeth: I have done the deed (i.e. the murder). Didst though not hear a noise? Lady Macbeth: I heard the owl scream, and the crickets cry. Did not you speak? (Macbeth- Act 2 Scene 2- Lines 14-15) Even though the murder took place two scenes later, it was still late night. Macbeth and Lady Macbeth had planned to perform the wicked act at night. As murder is already evil, the atmosphere of it being late and gloomy had added to the atmosphere. This evil can be seen also in The Lord of the Flies when Simon faces his death. Simon is returning after seeing The Lord of the Flies and is shouting to the boys that there is no beast. It is late and dark, the boys are dancing and feasting, they hear some noises, they think it is the beast and viciously attack it only to find out that it was Simon. Going to be a storm, said Ralph. The dark sky was shattered by a blue white scar. (The Lord of the Flies- chapter 9- pg187-188) The similarities can be seen in how evil is represented in the novel and the play. William Shakespeare and William Golding both have used the same ways to represent the evil and similar ways to emphasise it through the atmosphere and nature. Another resemblance that is seen in both texts is the theme of peace. In Macbeth, whilst Duncan was king and ruled there were no problems, no inappropriate murders, and everyone lived in peace and harmony. As soon as Duncan is killed Macbeth takes over and problems arise. Macbeth wants to keep his position but he gets information from the witches, who lure him into committing evil acts in order to keep his status. Macbeth orders for many killings to take place. At the start of the play when Macbeth and Banquo meet the witches, they said Banquos children will be king, which had got Macbeth thinking. Macbeth decides that Banquo and his son must be killed, so he persuades the murders to attack Banquo and his son, Fleance. The murders kill Banquo but his son escapes. Macbeth has been Possessed with evil at this present time. There was also peace when Ralph was in charge of the boys at the start of the novel. This peace was broken when Jack got obsessed with his killing of pigs, and went off to make his own group. The rules were broken for the first time and this was when the peace and unity were broken: Jack! Jack! The rules! shouted Ralph, youre breaking the rules! Who cares? (The Lord of the Flies- chapter 5- pg114) We can see that in Macbeth the one of the reasons why Macbeth is lured into committing these evil acts is because the witches had given the initiative to commit these acts. For instance when Macbeth was told that he has been made Thane of Cawdor: Rosse: And, for an earnest of a great honour, He bade me, from him, call thee Thane of Cawdor (Macbeth- Act 1 Scene 3- lines 104-105) He would have been honoured to have that position, but because the witches told him early that he would be Thane of Cawdor as well as King, he thought the witches must have been telling the truth so he had it in his head that he should be King. This caused him to lead to the planning of the murder of Duncan. Likewise in The Lord of the Flies Jack wouldnt have been taunting the children with the idea of killing and hunting if it werent for the beast. The idea of the beast gave him the power and back-up for hunting and becoming obsessed with killing. In Macbeth, Lady Macbeth was the Person also to give Macbeth the initiative to kill Duncan. She would tell Macbeth that Duncan will not live to see the next day: Lady Macbeth: O! never Shall sun that morrow see! (Macbeth- Act 1 Scene 5- Line 60) Lady Macbeth is referring about Duncan in this sentence. She is telling Macbeth that Duncan will not be able to live to see the light tomorrow as he will kill him. This is a push factor for Macbeth upon which he should murder Duncan, as he has his wife whom will support him after the act takes place. Correspondingly in The Lord of the Flies, Roger is the exact representation of Lady Macbeth as he had joint Jacks tribe when they split up. This had given a confidence boost towards Jack as he knew he had people behind him to help him along the way. Jack is obsessed just like Macbeth with murder. It is as if it is a hobby for them. In Macbeth, Banquo, Malcolm, Macduff and many others have seen what Macbeth has become. They see that he committed many murders and was responsible for the murder of Duncan. They all fight back in the end and manage to kill Macbeth with their various armies. The same is in The Lord of the Flies, Piggy, Ralph and Simon realise that Jack and his tribe have become savages and have lost control of humanity. This can be seen when Jack and his tribe start to hunt and dont care about rescue. Their obsession has led them to loss of self-control as they end up hunting Ralph wanting to kill him. To conclude, William Shakespeare and William Golding both have managed to convey evil themes directly through evil acts such as murder as well as indirectly through the atmosphere and nature. They have expressed how the other characters react to the acts taking place and what they do to try and resolve it. I feel as if the authors have done an excellent job in conveying the evil to the reader and representing how people are convinced to commit such acts. The similarities can be seen between Jack and Macbeth in the texts. They have much in common and that is in an evil concept. They both enjoy killing and have an obsession with it, causing them to lose control of what happens around them. The other characters like Piggy, Ralph, Malcolm, Macduff have realised what Macbeth and Jack had become. They realised that they would have to act if they wanted to change things around. They did this by speaking out aloud and through physical battle. The authors have used the characters to symbolise the current situations faced by people in the present world. The Lord of the Flies along with Macbeth informs us that the human nature cannot be seen with the naked eye. It only reveals itself when it comes across a situation in, which it cannot hold itself any further. I believe that these texts illustrate that if there is something that needs to be changed then people should strive out and try to make a change, just like Macduff and Ralph did.

Wage Determination in the UAE Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Wage Determination in the UAE - Essay Example If the job is of private sector, foreign applicants would be preferred (Abdalla et al., 2010, p. 165). The difference in the access to job opportunities for the national and foreign applicants can fundamentally be attributed to the high level of segregation in the labor market. The public and private sectors in the UAE are completely independent with their own characteristics, criteria, and culture. The public sector is almost entirely meant for the national applicants whereas the private sector almost entirely accommodates the foreign workers. This is because of the fact that companies in the public sector are government-owned and thus can accommodate the high expectations of the national workers with respect to wage and benefits. Foreign workers in the public sector are vulnerable to discrimination and stereotyping because of their rarity amidst the abundance of national workers of the UAE. On the other hand, companies operating in the private sector place emphasis on maximizing th eir profits. So hiring national workers of the UAE does not prove a cost effective option. Besides, the national workers of the UAE are also less equipped with the talents and competences required by the companies operating in the private sector. ... While mentioning experience, it is important to note that companies both in the public and the private sector mostly value experience that is gained within the UAE rather than elsewhere. So a worker with ten years of experience in India or Pakistan might be considered equivalent to a college freshman in the UAE. Conditions of job in the private sector in the UAE are tougher as compared to those in the public sector. An example of this is more number of working hours in the private sector than those in the public sector (Abdalla et al., 2010, p. 171). Therefore, as an individual gets more experienced within the UAE, he/she prefers to work in the public sector rather than the private sector, though the basic factors of nationality and gender are still considered. The segregation of labor market in the UAE can be attributed to the fact that the UAE wants to protect the rights of its national workers and considers their employment more important than those of the foreign workers. Educati onal level of a worker plays a significant role in his/her productivity. The more educated the worker, the more productive he/she is because of the added knowledge he/she has as compared to a less educated worker. Citizenship of the employee generally does not have any impact on the employee’s productivity because irrespective of citizenship, all employees have to work in the culture of the UAE industry following the norms and rules of the UAE. Working hours per week do have a connection with productivity. There is an optimal number of working hours that promise maximal productivity. Working hours above or below them reduce the productivity.

Canadian National Bank Current Problems Case Study

Canadian National Bank Current Problems - Case Study Example To cope with the pressure of this kind of environment the bank has implemented a system by the name of Customer Service Capacity Management (CSCM). This system has proposed certain parameters for each branch of the bank. The branch managers of each of these branches are expected to implement these recommendations without any exceptions. In such a situation a branch manager expects full support from each and every employee working in his or her branch. But unfortunately the branch manager of Chatham Branch has been unable to get support of one of her senior customer service representative, who is holding her own grudges against the branch manager. This has resulted in a series of ongoing tension situation existing between the manager and the customer service representative. All efforts of the manager to reconcile the prevailing differences have resulted in a failure, and thus a point has been reached where the fate of both these ladies is in the hands of a disciplinary committee. Prob lem Statement: The main problem which is being talked about in this case is one of interpersonal conflict. This form of conflict is arising between a young, inspirational, cooperative customer service manager and an experienced, mid aged, frustrated customer service representative. ... When this lady saw a young woman with just a degree to back her in the shoes of a manager, she decided to make her life difficult. Sub problems in the Bank: Since the bank is currently operating in an environment which is characterized by deregulation, therefore the entire banking paradigm has changed. In this paradigm banks need to be very responsive to customers’ needs with regards to their financial products and services. Banks also need to utilize their resources very efficiently and undertake strategies which help them to reduce their operating costs. In this regards Canadian National bank has implemented a new system by the name of Customer Service Capacity Management (CSCM). The basic aim of this system is to match customer traffic with the number of customer service representatives. In this way the system enables a reduction in cost. Recently, Lesley has been asked by this system to cut the job of a clerk and have the responsibility of this job fulfilled by two custome r service representatives. These representatives will share the work hours and work responsibilities of this job post. The responsibility to carry the task out fell on Pam Stewart and Sarah Wright, both these ladies had vast experience to back them but both these ladies were poles apart when it came to their personalities. Sarah was friendly and cooperative whereas as Pam was stubborn and uncooperative. Sarah had not problems when it came to performing these additional responsibilities, whereas Pam made a fuss about things and requested that she be relieved of these additional duties. She communicated to Lesley by means of a formal letter with a doctor’s certificate, asking her to relieve her of this additional role. Lesley rightfully took up this issue with Sarah asking

Strategies for Prevention of Childhood obesity Essay

Strategies for Prevention of Childhood obesity - Essay Example Even though the major participants involved in the research were children with various cases and issues of obesity, the evaluation is going to be conducted using parents of children as the major respondents to the evaluation tool to be designed. The idea behind this is that the parents are in a better position to produce written answers to questions than the children. Moreover, most of the interventions that were designed were to be applied by the parents rather than the children since the children are constantly under the care of their parents (Harper, 2006). To this end, the parents are seen to be in a better position to feeding the researcher with critical data and information that borders on the health of their children. This notwithstanding, the children will not be excluded all together. This is because the researcher would need their involvement when it comes to quantitative data collection such as the measurement of their body mass index.Evaluation Data Collection Process The evaluation data collection is going to take place in two phases. First will be the collection of quantitative data including the measurement of the height, the weight and age of participants, who in this case will be the children. This will be followed by the distribution of questionnaire to the parents of the children. The question shall contain questions divided along three major lines as indicated in the methods in the table above will have to be submitted to the researcher.... To this end, the parents are seen to be in a better position to feeding the researcher with critical data and information that borders on the health of their children. This notwithstanding, the children will not be excluded all together. This is because the researcher would need their involvement when it comes to quantitative data collection such as the measurement of their body mass index. Evaluation Data Collection Process The evaluation data collection is going to take place in two phases. First will be the collection of quantitative data including the measurement of the height, weight and age of participants, who in this case will be the children. This will be followed by the distribution of questionnaire to the parents of the children. The question shall contain questions divided along three major lines as indicated in the methods in the table above. Ahead of the distribution of the questionnaire to the respondents, the researcher shall have a mini-conference with the respondent s to clearly define their role in the evaluation exercise, as well as address any issues that are unclear to them. With the consent of all respondents, a date shall be set when the completed questionnaire will have to be submitted to the researcher. Evaluation Data Analysis Plan On the first method which has to do with the adherence to specified eating pattern, questions will be asked based on the intervention, which defined a definitive dietary matrix or guide for the children. Parents will be asked to give a qualitative evaluation of how best they have stake to the plan by answering questions in a 4 likert scale namely â€Å"very often, often, not often,

Second Amendment Rights Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Second Amendment Rights - Essay Example tatement of the Second Amendment of Right to Bear Arms could be considered both general and quite unstable as to saying who is allowed and is not allowed to own a gun. Apparently, the word â€Å"militia† in the context of the released law does not only refer to the federal officials but to anyone who has been trained to handle a gun. In some cases, the explanation of a â€Å"militia† even refers to a community of â€Å"reserved soldiers†.1 These reserved soldiers are members of the community considered as individuals who are ready to fight for the country in case emergency national needs require them to be a part of the country’s defence. 2This is of course a matter of serious consideration; however, noting who these reserves may be has not been specifically stated in the law created about gun ownership guidelines. Apparently, the unstated guideline as to who exactly are plainly allowed to own a gun around the 49 states of America made the Second Amendment rather debatable. Believably, it is through this particular loop hole in this particular law that the owners of guns who are less responsible are able to live away from the seriousness of what they have done despite the fact that somehow, they may have created certain differential analogy of the second amendment giving them quite an easier option of running away from the punishment that they ought to receive in connection with the law in concern. As an upper tier law, the second amendment of rights in the United States gave an allowable bearing upon those who have their own guns as a measure of self defence and response to possible national security threats.3 Although the law allowed even ordinary people to own their arms, they must still be able to register their possessions in an agreeable matter written on paper that they are to use the guns only when necessary such as situations when their safety is under threat or if the national security commission ordered them to be a part of the civilian soldiers as

Anthropology of humor paper Research Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Anthropology of humor - Research Paper Example The general mindset, though not in so many words, is â€Å"Hey, life is tough. I need a good laugh!† That’s because laughter has power. Humor is a force that can take life’s trials and cast them aside for a few moments. As such, when times are tough, people come to rely on humor more and more to add some color to their hum-drum world. The humor itself takes many different forms, and in that we can see its easy applicability. Between absurdity, hypothetical situations, religious humor, hate humor, and more, there is really no situation that cannot be touched by and enlivened with humor. True, there is some concern that perhaps humor can take Freedom of Speech to an inappropriate level, but the actual risk is minimal as we will see. Then, at the opposite end of the spectrum from Freedom of Speech is the refusal of some to indulge in humor. Unfortunately, there are those who feel that they must hold themselves back, or â€Å"self-censor,† in order to not dama ge their social standing with others. In such cases, it is debatable whether or not humor could improve the situation, but we will explore both sides of the argument. In essence, this paper will walk the gamut of humor, and will hopefully impart upon readers a more thorough understanding of humor and its uses. We begin with violence in humor. In American culture, violence permeates humor to an astounding extent. From one-liners to short-story-type jokes, many comedy bits have a violent tone to them. For example, there is the one-liner â€Å"The last thing I want to do is hurt you, but it’s still on the list.† Then there is the much longer CIA joke (â€Å"Angel Fire†): A few months ago, there was an opening with the CIA for an assassin. These highly classified positions are hard to fill, and there's a lot of testing and background checks involved before you can even be considered for the position. After sending some applicants through the background checks, train ing and testing, they narrowed the possible choices down to 2 men and a woman, but only one position was available. The day came for the final test to see which person would get the extremely secretive job. The CIA men administering the test took one of the men to a large metal door and handed him a gun. â€Å"We must know that you will follow your instructions no matter what the circumstances" they explained. "Inside this room, you will find your wife sitting in a chair. Take this gun and kill her." The man got a shocked look on his face and said, "You can't be serious! I could never shoot my own wife!" "Well", says the CIA man, "You're definitely not the right man for this job then." So they bring the second man to the same door and hand him a gun. "We must know that you will follow instructions no matter what the circumstances", they explained to the second man. "Inside you will find your wife sitting in a chair. Take this gun and kill her." The second man looked a bit shocked, but nevertheless took the gun and went in the room. All was quiet for about 5 minutes, then the door opened. The man came out of the room with tears in his eyes. "I tried to shoot her, but I just couldn't pull the trigger and shoot my wife. I guess I'm not the right man for the job." "No" the CIA man replied, "You don't have what it takes. Take your wife and go home." Now they're down to the woman left to test. Again they lead her to the same door to the same room and handed her the same gun. "We must be sure that you will fol

Management and the Cultural Industries Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Management and the Cultural Industries - Essay Example Music industry has as well attracted many followers and new artists are coming up every now and then hoping to make a living out of it. Features of music industry Diversity Music is one industry that has attracted people from all walks of life. No one is taken to be an alien in music since it incorporates all and inspires all regardless of gender, race, tribe or even age. It is so diverse that anyone can choose what they want to listen to (Abraham, 1974, p.292). It is not limited to only one theme but is diversified to accommodate all people so that everyone feels accommodated in this industry. Use of rhythms Any song produced is characterised by a certain way of presenting the lyrics to the audience. This way matters a lot since some musicians may sing off key and thus their music may not sell much. It is the organization of the beats and singing in a rhythmical way that makes all the difference. One can’t just present a song in any way and expect to change the audience. One rule should be: ‘present with audience in mind’. Practical Music is so applicable in our day to day lives and affects the way we lead our lives day in day out. One can identify with a certain song and be positively influenced maybe to stop a certain bad habit. Music is not a past tense event but one we live with thus assists in making our lives better if well applied where possible. Variety of compositional structures Music has several structures of composition since it could be solo or choir depending on the preference of the artist. Passages of homophonic chords could also be applied to make it livelier. This is could have a harmonic accompaniment which could be applied at the introduction, dynamic build up, and others at the climax (Dahlhaus, 1991, p.260). Reality of work in music cultural industry Music industry has grown pretty fast in this century as compared to how it was few decades ago. Much improvement has been made to ensure that this industry competes well w ith other industries. Players have been sensitised on how to ensure that their music is marketable and can reach many people and help them in various issues of life other than entertaining them. Players ought to concentrate very well to make sure that they are not carried away by fame and forget that music is self-employment and earns a living to them who take with the seriousness it deserves. Taking music as work is one character that will greatly assist the artists and make them realise that it needs to be taken seriously. It calls for one to work very hard and avoid many interruptions to concentrate with it. It could even land one to other side jobs such as master of ceremony in other events if taken seriously and accorded maximum concentration and dedication. In normal business life, working with dedication is suicidal to one’s business as well as life. It is imperative that business people learn to work hard just as music industry players do. Thus, a business person and one who works in the music industry get connected in that both have to work hard to their level best to ensure that they get maximum

Second Amendment Rights Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Second Amendment Rights - Essay Example tatement of the Second Amendment of Right to Bear Arms could be considered both general and quite unstable as to saying who is allowed and is not allowed to own a gun. Apparently, the word â€Å"militia† in the context of the released law does not only refer to the federal officials but to anyone who has been trained to handle a gun. In some cases, the explanation of a â€Å"militia† even refers to a community of â€Å"reserved soldiers†.1 These reserved soldiers are members of the community considered as individuals who are ready to fight for the country in case emergency national needs require them to be a part of the country’s defence. 2This is of course a matter of serious consideration; however, noting who these reserves may be has not been specifically stated in the law created about gun ownership guidelines. Apparently, the unstated guideline as to who exactly are plainly allowed to own a gun around the 49 states of America made the Second Amendment rather debatable. Believably, it is through this particular loop hole in this particular law that the owners of guns who are less responsible are able to live away from the seriousness of what they have done despite the fact that somehow, they may have created certain differential analogy of the second amendment giving them quite an easier option of running away from the punishment that they ought to receive in connection with the law in concern. As an upper tier law, the second amendment of rights in the United States gave an allowable bearing upon those who have their own guns as a measure of self defence and response to possible national security threats.3 Although the law allowed even ordinary people to own their arms, they must still be able to register their possessions in an agreeable matter written on paper that they are to use the guns only when necessary such as situations when their safety is under threat or if the national security commission ordered them to be a part of the civilian soldiers as

Management and the Cultural Industries Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Management and the Cultural Industries - Essay Example Music industry has as well attracted many followers and new artists are coming up every now and then hoping to make a living out of it. Features of music industry Diversity Music is one industry that has attracted people from all walks of life. No one is taken to be an alien in music since it incorporates all and inspires all regardless of gender, race, tribe or even age. It is so diverse that anyone can choose what they want to listen to (Abraham, 1974, p.292). It is not limited to only one theme but is diversified to accommodate all people so that everyone feels accommodated in this industry. Use of rhythms Any song produced is characterised by a certain way of presenting the lyrics to the audience. This way matters a lot since some musicians may sing off key and thus their music may not sell much. It is the organization of the beats and singing in a rhythmical way that makes all the difference. One can’t just present a song in any way and expect to change the audience. One rule should be: ‘present with audience in mind’. Practical Music is so applicable in our day to day lives and affects the way we lead our lives day in day out. One can identify with a certain song and be positively influenced maybe to stop a certain bad habit. Music is not a past tense event but one we live with thus assists in making our lives better if well applied where possible. Variety of compositional structures Music has several structures of composition since it could be solo or choir depending on the preference of the artist. Passages of homophonic chords could also be applied to make it livelier. This is could have a harmonic accompaniment which could be applied at the introduction, dynamic build up, and others at the climax (Dahlhaus, 1991, p.260). Reality of work in music cultural industry Music industry has grown pretty fast in this century as compared to how it was few decades ago. Much improvement has been made to ensure that this industry competes well w ith other industries. Players have been sensitised on how to ensure that their music is marketable and can reach many people and help them in various issues of life other than entertaining them. Players ought to concentrate very well to make sure that they are not carried away by fame and forget that music is self-employment and earns a living to them who take with the seriousness it deserves. Taking music as work is one character that will greatly assist the artists and make them realise that it needs to be taken seriously. It calls for one to work very hard and avoid many interruptions to concentrate with it. It could even land one to other side jobs such as master of ceremony in other events if taken seriously and accorded maximum concentration and dedication. In normal business life, working with dedication is suicidal to one’s business as well as life. It is imperative that business people learn to work hard just as music industry players do. Thus, a business person and one who works in the music industry get connected in that both have to work hard to their level best to ensure that they get maximum

The Economic Reality of Hybrid Vehicles Essay Example for Free

The Economic Reality of Hybrid Vehicles Essay The high price of gas at the pump has many Americans looking for alternates to their gas powered vehicles. One of the most popular option right now is a hybrid vehicle. The question that comes to mind is, are hybrid vehicles worth it? With record high gas prices due to the price of oil, most car owners out there have major concerns over their gas usage. Over the past ten years, the cost of gasoline has grown 250%! The price of oil has doubled since January of this year. The high prices of oil and gas is the driving factor for most of the people to trade their gas powered vehicles for hybrid vehicles. These vehicles promise to give consumers more mileage per gallon, the truth is that only a few vehicles currently in the market actually make any sort of financial sense. There are quite a few issues with buying hybrid vehicles, even with gas prices at more than $4 a gallon. First, these vehicles are much higher in price than their gas powered counter part so, the premiums attached to their price tags do not justify extra mileage that you get. In some cases car dealers are selling popular vehicles at much higher prices than MSRP. Second, there are no laws and regulations controlling the technology, price, and the mileage per gallon required out of these vehicles. Currently, there are hybrid vehicles in the market that offer an improvement of 3MPG to 18 MPG over their gas powered counterpart. This is a huge range that needs to be controlled. Third, the demand of these vehicles is driving the prices of the vehicles even higher, if people knew that it would take many years for fuel savings to pay back the hybrid premium on many models, the demand on these models would be much lower, driving the prices down. The solutions that I would like to propose is the government to work with auto manufacturers to develop a standard for hybrid vehicles. This standard should control the minimum mileage offered per gallon, and control the premium allowed to be charged by the manufacturers. There are vehicles in the market that offer only a marginal benefit over the gas powered vehicles and yet the manufacturers charge thousands of dollars premium. Background: Today people all around the world are facing unusually high oil price hikes. Oil has become so very expensive that people are trying all kinds of extreme measures to lower the price. The hike in price has affected every nation; the entire world is trying to find a way out of the soaring prices. Thanks to the oil prices, travel expenses have increased, not just flying being expensive, driving your own car is very expensive. The chart below shows a trend in oil prices since 1990 with some of the major events leading to this increase. Note that since January of 2007 the oil prices have increase by 162%. With high gas prices, hybrid cars are a more affordable option than ever in terms of gas mileage, but only a handful of hybrid cars make solid financial sense, and only for some consumers, according to a new study by NADAguides. com, a vehicle pricing and information website. Using current gas prices for ten major metropolitan areas, the company studied the number of miles needed to recoup the extra cost of buying a hybrid car over its gasoline-only counterpart. The study showed, for example, that a driver in Los Angeles, the city with the highest gas prices in the study, will break even about 18 percent faster than a driver in Houston, the city with the lowest gas prices, assuming both are driving the same miles. The study found that, even at todays high gas prices, only a handful of hybrid cars make financial sense for a consumer who buys a new car every five years or less and drives an average number of miles per year. Even at Los Angeles-area gas prices, there are only five hybrid cars that would allow consumers to recoup their additional investment before they sold the car, assuming they drive an average of 15,000 miles per year. In order of shortest time to break even, they are: 1. Toyota Camry Hybrid 2. Chevrolet Malibu Hybrid 3. Nissan Altima Hybrid 4. Toyota Prius 5. Honda Civic Hybrid Following is a chart of the top five hybrid cars with the greatest return on investment and the number of miles to break even in 10 major metropolitan areas at current gas prices. Issue: Even with gas prices at more than $4 per gallon, there are quite a few issues with buying hybrid vehicles. Issue 1: High Prices Hybrid vehicle prices are higher than their gas powered counterpart. The demand for these vehicles in the last year has increased a lot, increasing the prices even further. In some areas people are actually paying premium over MSRP and waiting for more than two years to get some vehicles. The price premium attached to the hybrid vehicles are just too great to be considered a cost savings relative to purchasing their gasoline counterpart. If people knew how long it would take them to pay off the increased premium the demand for the hybrid would be lower than what it is now, decreasing the prices. Issue 2: High Prices The second issue with the hybrid vehicles is that there are no laws and regulations controlling the technology, price, and the mileage per gallon required out of these vehicles. Currently, there are hybrid vehicles in the market that offer an improvement of just a few miles per gallon over their gas powered counterpart, yet the manufacturers are charging thousands more for the premium for a so called hybrid technology. The table shows the amount of time it would take a buyer to offset the hybrid premium by fuel savings. The table also shows the miles per gallon and annual gas savings. These numbers clearly show the need to have some regulations to control the miles per gallon offered and the amount of premium that is charged by the manufacturers. Let’s look at some vehicles: Starting with the worst of the bunch, the Lexus LS600H. The premium charges on this vehicle is about $19,000, yet it only offers about 20 to 22 miles per gallon. It would take almost a century to break even. The next worst seems to be the Saturn Aura which only offers an annual gas savings of $171. The best one seems to Toyota Prius, but this car is so popular these days that in some areas there is a wait list of two years. In areas where it’s available, the dealers are charging more than $5,000 over MSRP. Solution: ?Better education to customers about the ownership costs of a hybrid vehicle ? Government should offer incentives like tax break to buy hybrid vehicles ? Have a standard to develop hybrid vehicle to encourage mass production, bringing the vehicle prices to even less than current gas-powered vehicles ? Force auto makers to sell hybrid vehicles at no more than, about 10%, premium to the customers Conclusion: Reference: Web Site: Bespoke Investing Group http://bespokeinvest. typepad. com/bespoke/.

Approaches To Sport And Exercise

Approaches To Sport And Exercise Critically discuss interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary approaches to sport and exercise science within the professional experience undertaken in term 1. Support your answers with relevant literature and theory Research within sport and exercises science is done in many different disciplines. The majority of published research, however, is mono-disciplinary (from a singular discipline) in nature (Burwitz et al. 1994). A professional experience was undertaken to assess the approaches to inter and multi-disciplinary within sport and exercise science research. The experience was of a sport science nature which involved assisting in an undergraduate research project of 3D biomechanical analysis of a gymnastic vault using CODA, focussing specifically on the approach and springboard take-off. Sports biomechanics uses the scientific methods of mechanics to study the effects of various forces on the sports performer (Bartlett, 2007). It is important to monitor technique in gymnastics to help prevent injury and improve performance. It is then possible to feed this information back to coaches to highlight strengths and weaknesses of individual athletes. Multi or inter-disciplinary research requires a combination of methods and knowledge from more than one sub-discipline (Burwitz et al. 1994). This essay will outline what multi and inter-disciplinary approaches to sport and exercise science are, compare how similar they are and then show how they differ. It will then outline how the two approaches can be applied to the professional experience undertaken. An interdisciplinary approach within sport and exercise science involves a partnership of coaches with sport and exercise scientists such as physiologist or psychologists. Smith (2005) split sport science from exercise science due to differences of individual needs from elite athletes to members of the public. Smith (2005) described sport science as being characterised by collaborations with coaches and performance directors and exercise science as being characterised by collaborations with general practitioners and professionals allied to medicine. Interdisciplinary research needs to involve a strong integration of information from more than one sub-discipline of sport and exercise science from the outset of a particular research programme (Burwitz et al. 1994). Williams and James (2001) stated that a sport or exercise team should have a scientific basis. Williams and James (2001) also developed a model to demonstrate inter-disciplinary approaches, where the goal of the sport or exe rcise is affected by each area involved. Multi-disciplinary research involves less integration of the sub-disciplines of sport and exercise science. Each discipline tends to work in parallel on a common topic (Burwitz et al. 1994). Miles et al (1997) adapted Burwitz et al. (1994) definition to state that multi-disciplinary research involves sport and exercise scientists working together to solve a problem in an isolated unitary fashion and co-coordinated manor. In a multi-disciplinary approach each sub-discipline will look for problems to a solution from within only that discipline, for example a biomechanist will look at technique. Then each discipline will collate their results, whereas in an interdisciplinary approach the biomechanist may work with a physiologist to look at technique changes due to fatigue (Burwitz et al. 1994). Multi-disciplinary research may be the result of a lack integration of sub-disciplines from the outset of sport and exercise science, and so it is harder to integrate then together when trying to bring about an inter-disciplinary approach to problem solving. Multi and inter-disciplinary research are both ways of improving research and developing is away from mono-disciplinary work in sport and exercise sciences. The majority of sport and exercise research is mono-disciplinary (Burwitz et al 1994) which is when research looks solely at one sub-discipline and provides answers and conclusions from only that discipline. Both multi and inter-disciplinary approaches endeavour to link sub-disciplines, such as psychology and biomechanics, together to improve the ability to solve problems such as injury, fatigue and poor technique. Both approaches work in teams or groups (that include the sport and exercises scientists, coacher or practitioners and the athlete or patient) to combine knowledge and methods from their different areas. Despite these similarities there are still major differences between the two stated approaches. The inter-disciplinary approach appears to be the best way to bring about improvements as it integrates the sub-disciplines which takes the form of ‘bridge-building (Squires et al 1975) which requires a combination of specialist knowledge from various disciplines focusing on a specific problem. Contrastingly, multi-disciplinary approaches collate rather than combine knowledge; therefore the sub-disciplines work separately during research processes before coming together to attempt to reach a conclusion about a stated problem (Burwitz et al 1994). It is also believed that an interdisciplinary approach will reveal potential conflicts between the sub-disciplines (Burwitz et al 1994). As there is immediate interaction between sub-disciplines, an opinion given by one area is disputed by another. This is less likely to occur in multi-disciplinary approaches as sub-disciplines do not work i n direct contact with one another. Despite the above examples no clear definition is given of the distinctions between the two approaches because many sport and exercise scientists have regarded multi and inter-disciplinary as synonymous terms (Burwitz et al 1994). The professional experience was involved with sport science which smith (2001) described as being characterised by collaborations with coaches and performance directors. It was first and foremost a biomechanical approach. Biomechanics is a highly scientific and mathematical based sub-discipline, usually looking at technique, and problems with technique, as causes of problems such as injury and failure of achievement. Gymnastics is a sport that utilises these methods frequently as it is a very technical sport where injuries can be common. This is due to the fact that gymnastics encompasses a seemingly endless quantity of movement skills (George 1980). During the professional experience questions were putt to the researcher regarding the involvement of other sub-disciplines to determine the dimension of the research. These questions were: ‘are there any sport scientists or performance director present for sub-disciplines other than biomechanics to help assess the primary information gathered from the research? ‘Will the results of the research be collated with other sub-disciplines and fed back to the performer? From the answers given to these questions it was concluded that the research being carried out was mono-disciplinary as there was no interaction, in any way, with other sub-disciplines. As discussed above there is an increasing need from multi or inter-disciplinary research in sport and exercise science, this study may have been improved by the introduction of other sub-disciplines and the feedback given to an athlete would have increased in value. The research itself was looking at the approach and take off of the gymnast during the vault, as well as having technique assessed biomechanically, the researcher may have advised the athlete to be assessed by a physiologist or physiotherapist, this may produce results that show differences in muscle pair which could lead to injury, for example one calf being larger than the other, which could mean production of force at take of is unbalanced. This could then be fed to the biomechanist who has also found that during takeoff the gymnast has been unbalanced and therefore the athlete would need to undergo strengthening in the shorter calf to get it up to a similar size to the other calf. This would create a multi-disciplinary approach as sub-disciplines of sport science will have collated data after the research to improve feed back to the performer. It may also have been helpful to have had a psychologist present at the time of testing who had watched the subject in competition and seen if their routine or performance differed between in and out of competition performance. It may be possible that the pressure of performing in competition had led the athlete miss time a move which led to a decrease in performance; the psychologist could then work with the performer to help improve confidence during competition and therefore improve the athletes performance. This would create an inter-disciplinary approach as sub-disciplines of sport science will have integrated during research to improve feed back to the performer. If the approachs dimension was changed to either a multi or an inter-disciplinary approach it will give the gymnast a much better chance of improving performance in competition. The professional experience undertaken was shown to be mono-disciplinary as it was a piece of research focusing solely on the biomechanics of the approach and take off of the gymnastics vault. As discussed above introducing further dimensions to the research may have been more beneficial to the athlete as they may receive more feedback. However the piece of research was an undergraduate study which had a primary focus on biomechanics and introducing other sub-disciplines may have confused the findings and taken away from the aims of the research. This essay has described multi and inter-disciplinary approaches within sport science and described their application within a sporting context.

Copernicus Essay -- essays research papers fc

Nicolas Copernicus Nicolas Copernicus 1473-1543 Physics February 8, 2000 Nicolas Copernicus Nicolas Copernicus 1473-1543 Copernicus was born in Poland in 1473, he started his education at Cracow University. There he studied mathematics and optics. From here he went to Italy, where he was appointed as a canon in the cathedral of Frauenburg, where he spent a comfortable academic life studding. Copernicus had some small hobbies while at the cathedral, he painted, and frequently translated Greek poetry into Latin. One other hobby that just wasn't small enough to be called a hobby to most of us was astronomy. He made investigations quietly and alone, without any help. He observed from a turret on a protective wall around a cathedral, he also looked with his naked eye rather than with a telescope. He was one of the founders of modern astronomy. Copernicus died in 1543 of a cerebral hemorrhage. In 1530 right before Copernicus died he managed to published his work, De Revolutionibus. Which said that the earth rotated on its axis once daily and traveled around the sun once yearly. This might no sound very controversial but at this time the church and its followers believed in the Ptolemiac theory, which stated that the universe was a closed space bounded by a spherical envelope beyond which there was nothing. (Landry 1999) Copernicus’s works went against the church, and most scientific beliefs. This may be one reason why Copernicus didn’t publish his work until his deathbed. Another ...

Freedom Through the Pursuit of Dreams in Their Eyes Were Watching God E

Freedom Through the Pursuit of Dreams in Their Eyes Were Watching God   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  After the Civil War and the emancipation of the slaves, the ex-slaves could not find enough good work to earn a living. Jim Crow laws were installed to push blacks further away from reaching their dreams. These laws were enforced after Plessy v. Ferguson conviction that blacks and whites could have everything "separate but equal." This included schools, transportation, drinking fountains, bathrooms and more. By 1914 all towns were split down the middle with the blacks on one side and whites on the other (Hoobler 51). The Homestead Act was established in 1866 to help blacks grow in their society. Many bought their own farms or went North and learned to linotype or held other professions such as shoemaking (Hoobler 51). With the movement of blacks to the North came the beginning of the Harlem Renaissance, a black movement in New York in which blacks began to more freely express themselves and their ideas (Rood 38). In illustrating gender roles and the class structu re of a black society, author Zora Neale Hurston portrays the changing black society in her novel Their Eyes Were Watching God through characters that follow their dreams, which helps them take possession of their own lives. The role of women in a black society is a major theme of this novel. Many women help demonstrate Hurston's ideas. Hurston uses Janie's grandmother, Nanny, to show one extreme of women in a black society, the women who follow in the footsteps of their ancestors. Nanny is stuck in the past. She still believes in all the things that used to be, and wants to keep things the way they were, but also desires a better life for her granddaughter than she had. When Nanny catc... ...    Works Cited 1. "Booker Taliafero Washington." Alabama Department Archives & History. asc.edu. World Wide Web. 18 Jan. 1996. Available http://www.asc.edu/archives/famous/b_wash.html. 3. Encarta. Vers. 1997. Computer Software. Encarta, 1997. CD-rom. 4. Hurston, Zora Neale. Their Eyes Were Watching God. 1937. 5. Hoobler, Dorothy and Thomas. The African American Family Album. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1995 6. "Jim Crow Laws." FX Bulletin Board Systems. Fxbbs.com. World Wide Web. Available http://www.fxbbs.com/reports/jimcrow.html . 7. Nash, Gary B. American Odyssey. USA: Glencoe Division of Macmilla/McGraw-Hill Publishing Company, 1992 8. Rood, Karen L. American Decades 1920-1929. Detroit, MI: Gale Research Inc., 1996 9. Whiston, Julie. World Wide Web. Available http://www.grin.edu/~gardnerj/thirties/jw.html Freedom Through the Pursuit of Dreams in Their Eyes Were Watching God E Freedom Through the Pursuit of Dreams in Their Eyes Were Watching God   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  After the Civil War and the emancipation of the slaves, the ex-slaves could not find enough good work to earn a living. Jim Crow laws were installed to push blacks further away from reaching their dreams. These laws were enforced after Plessy v. Ferguson conviction that blacks and whites could have everything "separate but equal." This included schools, transportation, drinking fountains, bathrooms and more. By 1914 all towns were split down the middle with the blacks on one side and whites on the other (Hoobler 51). The Homestead Act was established in 1866 to help blacks grow in their society. Many bought their own farms or went North and learned to linotype or held other professions such as shoemaking (Hoobler 51). With the movement of blacks to the North came the beginning of the Harlem Renaissance, a black movement in New York in which blacks began to more freely express themselves and their ideas (Rood 38). In illustrating gender roles and the class structu re of a black society, author Zora Neale Hurston portrays the changing black society in her novel Their Eyes Were Watching God through characters that follow their dreams, which helps them take possession of their own lives. The role of women in a black society is a major theme of this novel. Many women help demonstrate Hurston's ideas. Hurston uses Janie's grandmother, Nanny, to show one extreme of women in a black society, the women who follow in the footsteps of their ancestors. Nanny is stuck in the past. She still believes in all the things that used to be, and wants to keep things the way they were, but also desires a better life for her granddaughter than she had. When Nanny catc... ...    Works Cited 1. "Booker Taliafero Washington." Alabama Department Archives & History. asc.edu. World Wide Web. 18 Jan. 1996. Available http://www.asc.edu/archives/famous/b_wash.html. 3. Encarta. Vers. 1997. Computer Software. Encarta, 1997. CD-rom. 4. Hurston, Zora Neale. Their Eyes Were Watching God. 1937. 5. Hoobler, Dorothy and Thomas. The African American Family Album. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1995 6. "Jim Crow Laws." FX Bulletin Board Systems. Fxbbs.com. World Wide Web. Available http://www.fxbbs.com/reports/jimcrow.html . 7. Nash, Gary B. American Odyssey. USA: Glencoe Division of Macmilla/McGraw-Hill Publishing Company, 1992 8. Rood, Karen L. American Decades 1920-1929. Detroit, MI: Gale Research Inc., 1996 9. Whiston, Julie. World Wide Web. Available http://www.grin.edu/~gardnerj/thirties/jw.html

Chalice Wines Case Essay

The Chalice Wine Group (CWG) is a wine producer has a prestigious reputation for producing consistently elegant wines. The CWG owns two vineyards (Chalice and Cimarron) and half of a third (Delta), and also owns three wineries (Chalice, Cimarron, and Alicia) and half of a fourth (Opera Valley). Chalice winery is the flagship of the four wineries, and founded in 1969. In June 1993, Chalice was the only publicly-held company in the United States whose principal business is the production and sale of premium wines. The four California wineries are located in different place. Each of them has their own president, typically the winemaker, and separate profit center separately. The Chalice Wine Group has long story with a prestigious reputation for producing great wine. From the information that from the article, I calculated the price that the retailer will sell to the end consumer is $141.88, which means their target customers are the people who has some purchasing power. So, the CWG is a strong competitor in the mid-high end wine market. Because as we read from the article, CWG keeps lose money from 1992, but the other market competitor named Lyford Winery has good profit margin, and ROA ratio. According to the financial report of CWG, at 1992 and 1993, the group had a net loss of $741,000 and $700,000 separately. In order to find out why the company is losing money, and where did this money lost, and how can the other similar industry companies make money, I will trace the paths followed by the 1991 Cimarron Meritage White from the vinery, winery, distributor to retailor to analysis the numbers in this value chain and find out the reason why the company lost their money. The Vineyard In order to produce the Cimarron Meritage White, the Cimarron winery needs to buy two kinds of grapes for total 89.17 tonnages at $812.36/ton. Because these two kinds of grapes are grown outside of the Cimarron Vineyard, so they need to pay the hauling cost for $1,463. And the total cost for the grape per case is $13.26. Assuming the Cimarron winery will buy a 30 acre  vineyard in Sonoma County where can grow the required quality grapes to produce Cimarron Meritage White, the price for the land is $525,000, and once the vineyard matured, normally needs more than 5 years, the operating cost will be $9.59/case, and the selling price will be $12.99/case. And the assets allocated into the case is $94.71/case. Based on the data, I got the some numbers in the Vineyard step. The profit margin in this process is 26.17%, the Assets turnover ratio is 13.7%, and the ROA is 3.59%. The profit is O.K., and the Assets turnover ratio is too low, and the ROA even lower. So I do not recommend the Cimarron Winery to invest new land. In addition, this data is not including the other costs such as price of the land, clear and replanted fee for phylloxeral which 30-acre land has, and the operating costs that happens before the vineyard mature. If we include those costs into calculation, the ratios will be lower. The Winery In the Winery process, the price is $76/case for sell, the carried cost is $25.73, the SG&A expenses is $19.31/case, and the assets allocate cost is $263. So, we got some numbers of the profit is $3.98/case, which is very low, the profit margin is 5.24%, the assets turnover ratio is 29.23%, and the ROA is 1.53%. From these numbers and ratios, I knew that even though for every $1 assets investment, the company generates $0.29 revenue and only $0.0153 profit. In other words, in this process, the CWG is not utilizing their assets well, or they invest much more in the assets than necessary, or the cost control is poor. When analysis wine’s carry cost, we see the winemaking cost is 40% of the total carry costs, and this is cost too much. The profit margin tells us that for every $1 sale, the company only gets profit at $0.054. So CWG can either reduce it’s costs, or increase it’s selling prices. All the numbers shows us that in this Winery process, the performance is poor. The Cimarron spends too much in it’s assets investment. Because the overall utilization of the depreciable assets less than 10% annual capacity, the CWG can learn from the Lyford winery to lease the equipment and spaces  to reduce it’s assets usage costs. The distributor In this process, the sale cost is $79.81/case, the operating cost is $15.08, and the assets cost is $41.06/case. In order to achieve a gross margin of 25%, the distributor has a 1/3 mark-up over cost, and the final price is $106.41/case. In this process, the distributor got the profit margin at 10.83%. And for every $1 assets investment, the company gets $2.59 revenue, but only $0.28 profit. The problem here is still the sale cost control. It’s looks like the distributor has great sales revenue, but the actual profit is very low. The difference is a big number of sale costs. The Retail The retailer marks up the wine to achieve a 25% gross margin at the process too, and make the price of the wine is $141.88/case. The cost of sales is $106.41/case, the operating cost is $5.82/case, and the assets cost is $48.68/case. So, we get the profit margin ratio at 4.1%, which is the lowest ration among four process, the assets turnover ratio is $291.45%, and the ROA is 11.9%. The issue in this process is even worse than the distributor process. The assets turnover ratio looks great at 2.9145, however, the ROA only at 0.119. The cost of wine, which is $106.41, is playing a big role in this process, so the profit will not be very high. The Lyford Collecting all the information in the case, I got the numbers of the Lyford’s are: the revenue is $45/case, the costs of sales is $25.41, the marketing expenses and the leasing space and equipment fee is $6.09, and the assets cost is $13.50/case. And the profit margin ratio is 30%, the assets turnover ratio is 333.33%, and the ROA is 100%. For every $1 invest in assets, the Lyford get $1 profit !!!, and the cost in assets only 30% of the sales, because the Lyford leased all of its equipment and spaces, and purchased the services of bring the wine from the bulk wine market to the distribution from wineries with surplus capacity, which they will charge for less, or from the custom winemaking operations. In other words, the Lyford winery will not spend large resources into some depreciable assets that idling most  of the year. And the Lyford may more flexible plan to bring the product from the bulk to the distributor, which also means they spend much less than Cimarron do. All above all, comparing the ratios among the 4 processes of the Cimarron Meritage White and the Lyford winery, I recommend the Cimarron that: 1) skip the distributor process. So there will not be two times 1/3 mark-up over cost, then the final price of the Cimarron Meritage White will be lower and some potential customers might be turn to CWG, and the sales will increase; 2) rent the assets to other wineries when the equipment or spaces set aside for nothing to do; 3) stop invest in assets/land; 4) learn from the Lyford. Outsourcing the services that required brining the wine to the distributor. The last, even though the Lyford’s financial number looks great in this industry, but they still need to be careful about their risk-cost, because all the assets are rented, and the process that bringing the wine to the final customers are more like depending on the others, so if there is really something happens, such as the leaser stop their lease unexpected, or no more wineries with surplus capacity available, the Lyford might have some problem at some extent.