Business planning Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4750 words

Business planning - Assignment Example Contributing to competitive edge 14 5. Marketing Research 15 5.1. Targeted customers 15 5.2. Market Share 16 6. Marketing Strategy 16 6.1. Marketing Mix strategy 16 6.2. STP Strategy 18 7. Processes 19 7.1. Quality Control 19 7.2. Equipments 20 7.3. Policies 20 8. Personnel 21 8.1. Management team 21 8.2. Organizational Chart 21 9. Finance 22 9.1. Financial Projections 22 Conclusion 23 References 24 1. Executive Summary ‘The Fresher’ is an exciting start-up logistic business with unique approach to helping large scale supercentres and hypermarkets across London to provide its customers with freshest fruits and vegetables than those that are presently available in large retail outlets. The business idea behind this start-up is that customers across London are extremely concerned about fresh, natural, genuine and quality fruits as well as vegetables distributed by both large and small scale retailers, but they hardly get satisfied. The Fresher takes it not only as an oppor tunity to be commercialized, but also as a social responsibility to meet customers’ specific need for farm-fresh goods. In today’s highly competitive business contexts, marketers need to think strategically to develop certain strategies to help them achieve competitive advantage and to survive in the market. It is also required for a start-up business to be successful. ‘Going global’ is a very significant and effective strategy for that it widens the market potential and helps the firm grab further marketing opportunities. The Fresher begins its business from farmers across different countries and extends its services to local retailers in London to provide farm-fresh goods, and therefore, it not only goes global but also comes back to local to gain maximum advantages of logistics. The Fresher’s market involves customers who come to large as well as small to medium sized retailers to buy fruits and vegetables. The Fresher is going to bring wide vari ants of foreign fruits and vegetables that were never before available in London market and this adds up to the market potential of the company. The financial projections show that the company will generate quite impressive profitability within the first year. Strategic marketing activities, extensive R&D, integrated communication and promotion activities will help the company build a strong brand image among its customers. 2. The Industry 2.1. The industry Overview For the last two decades, fresh fruits and vegetables represented the most important product category in the UK market. According to United Nations Publication (2003, p. 231), out of the total turnover of the organic food in UK, 33 or more percent are generated by fresh fruits and vegetables in 2001 and more than 85 percent of all the organic fruits and vegetable sales were taken place in supermarket chains. As of 2006, fruits and vegetable represented 27 percent of UK’s organic food segmentation and 75 percent of the organic food sales were carried out by Supermarkets (UK Organic food, 2006). Almost all the large scale retailers, mainly Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Waitrose already offer core assortments of organic fruits and vegetables. UK’s fresh fruits and vegetables market has been valued as worth an estimated ?9.52 billion in 2010, with an increase of 4.3 percent from the previous year figures despite the fact that the market has been severally affected by rising food-price inflation. The industry in 2010 reported an increase of 29.5 percent total turnover in comparison

Contemporary Scenario of Service Industry Essay

Contemporary Scenario of Service Industry - Essay Example In this paper, the researcher has discussed on various strategies and models adopted by service industries to attain competitive advantage and identifying the key success factors of the behind accomplishing their corporate image. The service sector is the portion of the economy that generally produces intangible goods. Throughout the world, service sector faces a high level of competition as there are many buyers and seller in the market. Producing service trend generally requires less natural capital and more human capital. One of the major benefits of growing service sector is less pressure on the local and global environment (Reed and DeFillippi, 1990). Presently developing countries give more emphasis on service sector in comparison to the other sectors. In the modern world, the growth of service sector is particularly important as it allows employing educated labor force and thus, reducing unemployment and economic crisis. In the service sector, service quality is one of the basic tools to gain competitive advantage. As defined by West and DeCastro (2001), there is no proper definition of the service quality due to the existence of discrepancies among the people. Measuring service quality is the most recurrent topic in management literature. However, (Youndt et al. 1996) described that perceived service quality by the people is the best way to measure attributes of the service over which the company has control. Youndt et al. (1996) developed a conceptual framework of service quality where they identified five major gaps that could impact customer’s evaluation of service qualities in various industries in service sectors, for instance, banking, tourists, event,  and hospitality. These gaps were: Service firms may not always understand what service or features they must have in their product to meet needs of the customers, or what level of features needed to be added in order to deliver high-quality service. This gap arises when firms positively identify wants of the customers, but the means to deliver service according to their expectation does not exist (Godard, 2001).

The Work And History Of Green Day Music Essay

The Work And History Of Green Day Music Essay Its something unpredictable, but in the end its right. I hope you had the time of your life. Most people have heard this song on the radio at some point or another as it gets played frequently. This is one of Green Days biggest hits called Good Riddance, from the album Nimrod. Every Green Day fan at some point must have wondered how Green Day went from being a local band filling tiny clubs with a few hundred fans to an international best-selling band filling huge stadiums for their shows. It sure wasnt an easy road. Things were tough in the beginning. They never gave up even though they were hardly making any money for a few years. Green Day had a huge influence on music throughout the 90s, so heres their story. Billie Joe Armstrong was born on February 17, 1972. His father Andy Armstrong played drums in a jazz band and was a truck driver to make money. Five year old Billie Joe began singing in childrens hospitals and old peoples homes to keep them company. He was already developing his musical abilities at such a young age. This marked his entrance into the world of music. Later that year, he recorded his first studio song called Looking for Love. Right before Andy passed away, he bought young Billie a 1956 Fender Stratocaster copy made by Fernandez. This really sparked an interest in the promising musician-to-come. He called this guitar Blue, and he played it till it could be played no more. He really wore this guitar down, and later had copies of it created so he could still use his trademark guitar while playing shows. Next, came along Mike Dirnt on May 4, 1972. His mother was a heroin addict that had separated from his father, so he was adopted soon after birth. He was born with an enlarged mitral valve in his heart, which would cause him to have panic attacks and nervousness later in life. One night, his mother brought home a new guy and he was to be Mikes new step-dad. They never hit it off until Mikes mom moved away. But his sted-dad passed away when Mike was 17, so he moved back in with his mother. Mike was a tall, skinny, energetic kid and was also a class clown. He met Billie Joe in 1983 at school, and the two hit it off because they had a similar sense of humor. They bonded over their love for The Ramones. Mike had been messing around on the guitar, but then switched over to bass. He and Billie Joe wrote their first song together called Best Thing in Town. Both came from very poor families, and they had barely any money to afford records or instruments. The only way for them to hear music w as to play it. So Mike saved up for a bass. Tre Cool was born on December 9, 1972. His dad had flown helicopters in Vietnam. Wanting to get away from civilization, his dad moved them near the town Willets up in the mountains where their closest neighbor was a mile away. Turns out this neighbor would be a huge influence on Tre Cool. Larry Livermore, a punk rock fan, magazine writer, and musician would let Tre Cool hangout at his house and listen to his records. One of Larrys friends had moved to Brazil and left his drum set at Larrys house. Tre Cool started to play it occasionally and became interested in drumming to punk rock right away. Eventually, Larry recruited Tre to play drums and a local named Kain Kong to play bass. They formed the punk band called The Lookouts. They released their debut 12/cassette single, One Planet One People, on Larrys newly created Lookout! Records. They went on to record a few more albums/eps with Tre on drums. During April 1986, a venue was discovered at 924 Gilman Street, which was a run-down industrial area. Many local punks helped clean up the venue and begin turning it into a real venue; not some run-down abandoned building. After passing the health, safety, and fire inspections, it held its very first show on December 31, 1986. This venue quickly became the staple for many punk bands. A lot of punk bands that made it big in the 1990s started playing shows at Gilman Street. One of these bands was the precursor to Green Day, Sweet Children. Sweet Children formed sometime during 1987. It consisted of Billie Joe, Mike, and they recruited a drummer by the name of John Kiffmeyer, aka Al Sobrante. After a few practices, they played their first show in 1987 at the side lounge at Rods Hickory Pit to about 30 friends and a few patrons wondering what the noise was. The show went over well, and Rod sold enough ribs to invite the band back for a second show. Afterwards, they began playing shows wherever there was a power supply- house parties, garages, and at school. It was at one of these shows that the band first met Larry Livermore. Sweet Children played in front of five people, but they played their hearts out which drew Larrys attention. On November 26, 1988, Sweet Children had their first gig at Gilman Street. They were so well-received that they played again on January 1, 1989, and a third time on February 11, 1989, supporting Chrimpshrine at the bands last show ever. They played their fourth show at Gilman in 3 months on February 24, but this time they were second on the bill, as opposed to opening. In early 1989, Sweet Children went into a local studio and recorded four tracks. Displeased with their current name, they played their last show as Sweet Children on April 1, and changed it to Green Day shortly afterwards. The name was inspired by a remark made by the character Ernie on Sesame Street. They released their first single in April 1989 on Lookout! Records. It was entitled 1,000 Hours, and they released in under their new name Green Day. On March 20, 1989, Operation Ivy played their final show and Green Day also played this show as the first with their new name. Billie Joe had enough of home life by 1989, and he moved out to join Mike living in an abandoned building on West 7th and Peralta, located in West Oakland. He also dropped out of school on February 16, 1990; the day before his 18th birthday. This was a good career move for Billie Joe because it allowed him to focus all his attention to Green Day. After seeing the success of 1,000 Hours, Larry Livermore signed Green Day to Lookout! Records. On December 29, 1989, Green Day entered the studio to begin recording their first full-length and the recording started at 4:30 p.m. By January 2nd, the album was mixed and mastered. The total cost was $675 for the studio time. To test how well the album would do, Larry recorded another single called Slappy, and released that sometime in 1990. It was generally well-received and built their fan base even further and solidified the idea of releasing their first full-length. Early in 1990, Green Days first full-length was released on vinyl, cassette, and CD. The name was 39/Smooth. It was pulled from the band constantly saying smooth. Also, it was Billie Joes brothers 39th birthday and he jokingly mentioned that they should add this somewhere in the title. Billie Joe had one goal in 1990: keeping the band going at all costs. He concentrated on booking a 45-date US tour for the band, and he managed to do so. As soon as Mike graduated school, they left for the tour. On the inlay of the Slappy EP, it read the following: To raise spending money for the tour, Mike shucked clams, Billie Joe flipped pizzas, and John drove a diaper truckà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ During this tour, Billie Joe met a girl in Minnesota named Adrienne, and he fell for her pretty fast. He booked a few tours afterwards around seeing her. While they were touring in Minneapolis, they went into a local studio and recorded four songs for an EP in a low-budget and quick manner. Sweet Children EP was r eleased on Minneapoliss Skene! in late 1990. During July 1990, the Lookouts played their final show. They decided to call it quits because they simply lived too far away from each other to schedule practices. But they also left behind IV, a four track single that featured Billie Joe on lead guitar and backing vocals, which was released in January 1991. Al Sobrante decided to quit Green Day in autumn 1990 in order to go to college full time. Dave EC from Filth and the Wynona Ryders filled in on the drums for a few weeks, but he quit on his own. Finally in November 1990, the two asked Tre Cool to play drums for them. He agreed, and the line-up for Green Day was finally solidified. He fit right in the band with his quirky sense of humor and his energy. They embarked on their first US tour with Tre in 1991. One night after a New Orleans show, they returned to their van only to find that someone had broken in and stolen their money and most of their possessions. Even after that, the band drove through the night to get to their next show in Auburn, Alabama, where fans donated clothes and money to the young band members. On that first tour with Tre, they were supposedly approached by IRS Records, a major record label. But with some self-restraint on Mikes part, they turned down the offer because they knew that the label would have screwed them over in the end. They entered the studio for the first time with their new drummer Tre Cool in 1991. Thanks to the small-time success of their previous album, they had a larger budget, $2,000. Recordings were split between two short sessions in May and September of 1991 with producer/engineer Andy Ernst helping, a total of four days of recording. That autumn, they bought plane tickets to Europe and flew over, while each band member was still only 19. They funded the trip from their modest royalty checks from their Lookout! releases and any U.S. touring profits to pay for basic necessities such as airfare and van hire. Using equipment borrowed from other bands every single night, they played sixty-four shows over the span of three months. We snuck copies of our records over by hand to sell, recalls Mike. To get our own T-shirts made we had to sneak over the photo negative and get a screen made in Germany so we could print them as and when we needed to. Then we had our amp heads, which were hell-heavy to carry. Mine lasted a week and Billies a total of one day. In Denmark if they like you they throw beer at you, so that was very much. Our instruments were toast. There would be anywhere between 50 and 500 people in places like Germany, Poland, and Spain. If they were lucky, theyd get paid above their guarantee of $170, but some shows theyd only get paid with some beer or communal chili. On December 17, 1991, Green Day received the first finished copies of their sophomore album. They decided the show they were playing in Southampton was going to double as a Kerplunk! release party. January 17, 1992 marked the official release of their second album. It was released by Lookout! on CD, vinyl, and cassette. For their next tour in support of Kerplunk!, Tres father bought a former mobile library. He ripped out the interiors and installed bunks, equipment racks, and the odd attempt at home comfort and also, for a while at least, became their new designated driver. In August 1992, at a show at Gilman, Green Day brought out a couple of new tunes. Longview and Better Not Come Around (which was the early version of When I Come Around) received great reactions from the crowd, and the songs sounded like their best and tightest material to date. After touring without management, they decided this needed to change. They contacted Cahnman Management, a company run by two attorneys, Elliot Cahn and Jeff Saltzman, who had previously worked with Primus, the Melvins, and Mudhoney and had impressed Green Day. So they hired them for the job. Immediately, their managers began approaching major record labels, tempting them with a band who sold over 50,000 albums based on just raw talent alone. The members of the band were all living together in the basement of a large, ramshackle, student-dominated Victorian house at 2243 Ashby Street, which was just down the block from the pristine entrance to the esteemed University of Berkeley. They were getting many calls from major record labels, who heard that this young cult had now sold a total of 60,000 copies of their cheaply recorded independent releases and wanted this band to sign to their roster. Warner Bros., Geffen, Sony and everybodys mother wanted to sign us, said Tre, but we held off for quite a long time. Why? Because David Geffens money was paying for us to go to Disneyland. We kind of milked them. We wanted to hold out until we got complete artistic control. We wanted to be the bosses and not let somebody else tell us what to do. Of course, the first offer is bull****, the second slightly less, the third still kind of sucksà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦we thought F*** this, its our lives. Its like getting married or something. This would all change when they met Rob Cavallo of Reprise Records, a subsidiary label of Warner Brothers. He was different than all the other higher ups; he actually played guitar and came from a musical background. Also, he had worked with other punk bands such as Jawbreaker and the Muffs, and this had sparked Green Days interest. The way he got through to them was he brought his guitar and joined them in jamming, then later went out for ice cream with them. It was that day that he convinced them to join the roster. Finally in April 1993, they signed to Warner Bros./Reprise for an initial deal of five albums, with the plan that Cavallo would produce their major label debut. Also, they made sure that Lookout! would still own the rights to their first two albums, the idea being that the indie labels support would earn them money even if Green Day was no longer with them, a move which has paid off very well for Livermore and Co. over the past 10 years. Although Lookout! had just lost their most profitable band, the combined sales of 39/Smooth and Kerplunk! had reached the one million mark by the close of 1995, so they were still making money off Green Day. They played their last two shows at Gilman Street that year, never to look back. While recording their next album Dookie, they had a much larger budget and more time to lay down tracks in the studio. When the album was completed, they played a bunch of dates over the summer with Bad Religion on their Recipe for Hate tour. Dookie was finally released on January 11, 1994. The lead single from the album was Longview. It quickly topped the Billboard Modern Rock chart. Billie Joe was the first in the band to get married. He tied the knot with his long-time lover Adrienne in a quick ceremony in July. The next day, his wife revealed that she had been feeling somewhat different recently, so they stopped to pick up a pregnancy test. A few minutes later, the newlyweds discovered they were about to become parents. The same year, Green Days popularity was on the rise. They were asked to replace the opening band the Boredoms in Lollapalooza 1994. Another huge deal for them was when they were asked to play Woodstock 94, as a late addition. This was a day to go down in history. They arrived in upstate New York on August 11, and it had been raining continuously. The ground was completely churned up and all mud. As they began playing songs, the crowd went nuts and began flinging clumps of dirt and mud everywhere. Billie Joe caught the first clod and put it in his mouth. Eventually, he took off his pants as the crowd went even wilder. Fans began climbing on stage to get closer, and soon a riot broke out. The band had to be hauled away in a helicopter to escape the crazed fans. The summer of 1994 was a busy time for them. Their music video for Longview had been nominated by the 1994 MTV Video Music Awards at the Metropolitan City Opera House for Best Group Video and Best Alternative Video. The next night they had a show in Ohio. The whole summer consisted of flying all over the US from show to show, night after night. Their next big stint was a show in September set up by a Boston radio station that attracted about 100,000 people. Within minutes of hitting the stage, the crowd had surged forward and knocked over safety barriers and havoc broke out. They were concerned that the entire lighting rig was going to come down, so the promoter pulled the plug. This just made the crowd riot even harder and spill out onto the streets of downtown Boston. The night concluded with 60 arrests and dozens of injuries. A very respectable thing to do, the band had a policy that door prices were to be kept affordable with a ceiling price of $20, even though they could charge much more. Sometimes shows even went as low as $5, and their official t-shirts cost a maximum of $10. They were still receiving much controversy from the punk community though. People were claiming that they had sold out when they signed to a major record label and that they had compromised their music. Sometime in 1994, someone was so opposed to Green Day signing that they wrote Billie Joe Must Die on a wall at 924 Gilman Street. One night, a fan asked Billie Joe Whats punk? He then kicked over a garbage can and exclaimed, Thats punk! So the fan kicked over a garbage can too and replied, Thats punk? And Billie Joe then replied, No, thats trendy. Billie Joe still knew what punk was and still had it in him, even though his band was selling millions of albums and quickly becoming the hottest band of the 1990s. They had lived the lifestyle of true punks for many years before they struck it big. One would think that their dedicated fans would be happy for them being successful after sticking it out through the tough times; going through years of having no money. If anyone deserved to make it huge, it was definitely Green Day. Since its release, Dookie has sold over 16 million copies worldwide and is the bands top selling album. They have sold over 65 million copies worldwide and are undeniably one of the biggest rock bands there are today. If it wasnt for their music, the whole music scene might be a lot different than it is today. Punk wouldnt have taken the mainstream spotlight in the 1990s, and most punk bands that formed around the same time as Green Day wouldnt have made it as big as they did. Green Day single-handedly changed the direction of music in the 1990s.

Hydromaint Year Essay -- Essays Papers

Hydromaint Year During Hydromaint's audit, you and Pam had a number of discussions. You, Pam, and Mike Johnson are generally satisfied that the accounts are in accordance with GAAP and are supported by underlying facts. Pam tested Jerry's pension accounting (which she found to be correct) by preparing a pension worksheet based on data contained in the actuary's report: Current service cost $1,064,043 ABO at 12/31/X7 2,840,000 Interest on the PBO 8% Interest on plan assets 8 Jerry has agreed to adjust his accounts and note disclosures for all corrections proposed by C & L. Pam raised a number of questions that may require adjustment. No other matters were found to be questionable. Pam's questions are as follows: 1. Accounting for R&D does not appear to be in compliance with SFAS No. 2. The work is of the nature described in SFAS No. 2, para. 9, and is not being conducted for others under contract. 2. Pam also noted that warranty contracts are given on all sales of pumps and valves. LS-Pump/Valve and now Hydromaint, have accounted for warranties only on the costs to "make good" when warranty claims were actually filed by customers. If warranty costs had been recognized as sales were made, the liability at January 1, 20X7, would have been $500,000. Pam noted, however, that Nick Riley and Ray Ballard were aware of the warranty contracts and took these into account in valuing the acquisition of LS-Pump/Valve. Nick and Ray did ...

Evaluation of Orica in Terms of Environmental Concerns

Evaluation of Orica in footings of environmental concerns Executive sum-up This study will analyse the Orica’s ethical public presentation and its fiscal statement in order to assist the investor to do informed determinations. The study focuses on the rating of the ethical issue associating to environmental concerns and the portion monetary value history over last decennary. This study finds that Orica has some unethical issues on environment. Furthermore, it is found that Orica’s portion monetary value cold increased limited, it is because of their late mean stock monetary value. Therefore, this study recommends that Orica may non be a good pick for investing due to its hapless ethical and fiscal public presentation. Introduction The purpose of this study is to measure Orica for client on the footing of ethical public presentation and fiscal statements. Ethical investment is defined as the commercial activities of those investings in the company, which do non hold negative effects on society and the environment ( Cambridge Business English Dictionary 2011, p.297 ) . It means that earlier ethical investor makes investing determinations, they will see both ethical issues and fiscal return. Orica was established in 1874. Its chief merchandises are ‘‘commercial explosives’’ and ‘‘blasting systems’’ . Orica is the largest provider of mineral and infrastructural markets. Orica has more than 12,500 employees and its concern operates more than 100 states ( Orica 2015 ) . Harmonizing to Orica’s 2014 one-year study ( 2015 ) , last twelvemonth it earned $ 602.5 million of Australia dollars. This study will concentrate on two facets. The first portion is ethical issues associating to environmental concerns and the other portion is about the illustration of the portion monetary value history. This recommendation for the investor in this company is presented at the terminal of this study. Evaluation of Orica in footings of environmental concerns The success of modern endeavors non merely depends on the company profitableness, environmental ethic s are besides the standards of the company’s success. Environmental ethic means that worlds and the environment maintain the harmonious dealingss ( Jeffery, Michael ) . In other words, the successful company should accomplish environmental sustainability. Environmental sustainability means that the company’s commercial activities cause no pollution and harm to the environment ( Slack et.al 2010, p. 634 ) . However, excavation and metal industry are inseparably with environmental devastation. Harmonizing to Biello ( 2011 ) , more than 4.7 million people are exposed to the injury of quicksilver for a long clip due to the pollution from excavation. Furthermore, this research besides shows that approximative 10 million to 20 million workers suffer from the amendss from their working environment, such as toxicant gases. Therefore, as the giant of excavation chemicals, the en vironmental issue is the challenge to Orica. Orica’s chief merchandises are mining chemicals that have negative consequence on environing environment and residents’ wellness. Groundwater taint is the chief issue that caused by Orica. Botany industrial park is one of the contaminated sites, which is located in the Banksmeadow of Sydney and is merely 11 kilometres from the Sydney cardinal concern territory. From 1942 to 1980s, due to Orica’s hapless environmental direction and waste intervention, about 16000 tones of hexachlorobenzene and a larger figure of Ethylene Dichloride were stored in Botany ( Suckling 2013 ) . Harmonizing to Chan ( 2006 ) , contaminations bit by bit contaminated dirts and underwater, which caused more than 1000 occupants suffer from the wellness menaces, such as the tegument, nervus, liver and kidneys harm. The contaminated H2O is a relentless organic pollutant, which could defy the biodegradation ( EPA ) . Furthermore, Orica’s safety accidents occurred often, which made people disquieted. At the terminal of 2011, a twine of chemical leaks happened in Koorangang Island. In February 2012, another leak happened at Newcastle ( Harris 2013, Para. 1-3 ) . Particularly, the Koorangang incident was a serious accident to the occupants who lived about the chemical works ( Kennedy 2014 ) . Harmonizing to Nicholls ( 2011 ) said that about 30 blocks of occupants suffered from the harm of hexavalent Cr gas which was released from the Orica’s works. However, Orica reported this accident to the authorities until 17 hours after this incidents happened, which were an unacceptable hold. The toxicant gas release was a serious accident ; hence, Orica should be responsible for this accident instantly. Apparently, Orica tried to demo their best attitude to the populace and the media, like finishing the works to decide the pollution jobs. However, Orica really evaded the issues. It means that Orica did non pay adequate attending on the possible hazard during the production and the duty to the public wellness. Therefore, the public presentation of Orica was non good on environmental moralss. Evaluation of Orica in footings of portion monetary value history Figure 1 shows the portion monetary value of Orica from May 2005 to June 2015 ( Australian security exchange 2015 ) . The perpendicular axis indicates the portion monetary value in Australian dollars while the horizontal axis represents old ages. Figure 1: Orica’s portion monetary value May 2005 – June 2015 As can be seen from the graph, Orica’s portion monetary value has increased by about $ 7 over the past decennary, although it experienced many important fluctuations during that period. In May 2005, the portion monetary value of Orica was around $ 14.674 ; nevertheless, its monetary value increased reasonably by $ 8.976 in May 2006. Although, the portion monetary value fluctuates, it was still around $ 23 from April 2006 to February 2007. From March to April in 2007, there was a dramatic addition in portion monetary value of Orica from $ 22.332 to $ 30.454. This monetary value was the highest monetary value over the past decennary. This rise was caused by ‘‘a private equity consortium’’ intend to do investings to Orica ( Woolrich 2007 ) . From June 2008 to February 2009, portion monetary value decreased aggressively from $ 27.876 to the lowest point $ 12.369, which was due to the world-wide fiscal crisis in 2008 ( Orica 2009 ) . After that, Orica†™s portion monetary value increased well to $ 25.539 in April 2010. This growing was due to the rapid growing of concern in emerging markets, such as China and Russia ( Orica 2010 ) . The portion monetary value was around $ 25.5 from April 2010 to the terminal of 2012. Then, the portion monetary value experienced a little addition to $ 26.76. It fell to $ 18.894 during February and August in 2013, which was due to deteriorating market conditions ( Wilkins 2013 ) . From the terminal of 2013 to show, Orica’s portion monetary value rose with some fluctuations to $ 21.723. Overall, Orica’s portion monetary value fluctuate wildly between 2007 and 2010, nevertheless, from 2010 to late, the portion monetary value has some different alteration, it ever around $ 22.25. Therefore, it could anticipate limited top for Orica ‘s portion monetary value. Additionally, the restriction of this study is that this fiscal statement merely focuses on portion monetary value. Recommendation In drumhead, Orica’s moralss public presentation is non good, because of some unethical issue in the environment concern. Although they ever has complete program to better the pollution, the hold is could non be acceptable. Furthermore, depend on the analysis of Orica’s portion monetary value history, it can be seen that Orica’s portion monetary value is addition in recent twelvemonth ; nevertheless, the rise is limited in the hereafter. Therefore, this study advised the investors carefully put this company. Therefore, this study advised the investors carefully put this company. Reference list Biello, D 2011, ‘World ‘s 10 worst toxic pollution problems’ ,Scientific American, November 2011, viewed 5 June 2015, & A ; lt ; hypertext transfer protocol: //www.scien tificamerican. com/article/10-worst-toxic-pollution-problems-slide-show/ & A ; gt ; . Cambridge Business English Dictionary2011, 1stedn, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, England. Chan, N 2006, ‘The Worst Groundwater Contamination Incident in the Southern Hemisphere- A Case Study of Orica’s Botany Industrial Park’, Pacific Rim Real Estate Society Annual Conference. Harris, M 2013, ‘Issues persist at Orica plant’ ,Newcastle Herald,4 December, Para. 1 – 3, viewed 6 June 2015, Expanded Academic ASAP database. Kennedy, J 2014, ‘Orica fined $ 768,000 over chemical spills and safety breaches in NSW’ ,ABC intelligence, July 2014, viewed 3 June 2015, & A ; lt ; hypertext transfer protocol: //www.abc.net.au/ news/2014-07-28/company-orica-fined-over-chemical-spills-and-safety-breaches/5629974 & A ; gt ; . Nicholls, S 2011, ‘Orica leak enquiry to concentrate on delays’, The Sydney Morning Herald,August 2011, viewed 10 June 2015, & A ; lt ; hypertext transfer protocol: //www.smh.com.au/environment /orica-leak-inquiry-to-focus-on-delays-20110817-1iy7l.html & A ; gt ; . Woolrich, N 2007, ‘Orica a coup d'etat target’ ,Australian Broadcasting Corporation,Australian Broadcasting Corporation, viewed 5 June 2015, & A ; lt ; hypertext transfer protocol: //www.abc. net.au/lateline/business/items/200704/s1900884.htm & A ; gt ; . Wilkins, G 2013, ‘Orica portions tumble after net income warning’ ,Business twenty-four hours,20 July, viewed 12 June 2015, & A ; lt ; hypertext transfer protocol: //www.smh.com.au/business/orica-shares-tumble- after-profit-warning-20130719-2qa2t.html & A ; gt ; . Orica 2009,Annual Report 2009, viewed 7 June 2015, & A ; lt ; hypertext transfer protocol: //www.orica.com/ Investors/company-reports & A ; gt ; . Orica 2010,Annual Report 2010, viewed 15 June 2015, & A ; lt ; hypertext transfer protocol: //www.orica.com/ Investors/company-reports & A ; gt ; . Orica 2015,Annual Report 2014, viewed 3 June 2015, & A ; lt ; hypertext transfer protocol: //www.orica.com/ Investors/company-reports & A ; gt ; . Slack, N, Chambers, S, Johnston, R, 2010,OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT,6Thursdayedn, Pearson Education Limited, United Kingdom. Suckling, L 2013, ‘Residents near Botany Industrial Park and Port Botany fright safety’ ,The Daily Telegraph, July 2013, viewed 5 June 2015, & A ; lt ; hypertext transfer protocol: //www.daily tele graph.com.au/newslocal/city-east/residents-near-botany-industrial-park-and-port-botany-fear-safety/story-fngr8h22-1226679727083 & A ; gt ; , pp. 7-8. United States Environmental Protection Agency ( EPA ) ,‘Consumerdegree Fahrenheitactsheet on: Hexach lorobenzene’, viewed 5 June 2015. 1 Yujiang Pu ( Steven ) 35104

Asian American history Essay

There are so many Asian American cultural productions, such as import automobiles, fashion, and art. However, the most important cultural production is food because cooking and eating have been the oldest human activities since human evolution started. Spreading of the different cultures’ and races’ food became more like art and fashion, but it still remains a fundamental part of our daily lives. Fashion and art vary in style by their origin, and each of them shows the aspects of their culture very strongly, but not as strongly as their food. Unlike fashion and art, traditional food impacts people’s physical traits. Many countries have their own traditional food, such as China which is well known for its Chow-Mien, Japan for its Sushi and India for its Curry. These different food from the different regions, have strong effects on people who live in that region. All traditional food has small differences in their nutrition, but that small difference can cause a big difference, if they are consumed daily. As an example, American food has higher fat percentage than Japanese foods or Indian foods. This results in Americans having higher chances of becoming obese than Japanese or Indians. It means each region’s symbolized food determines their characteristics or the identity of their race. In Rush Hour 3, there was a scene where, Lee and Carter were having a relationship conflict. Lee, who is Chinese, ordered fried chicken on the phone while Carter was in China town ordering Mu-Shu for his dinner and they were both recollecting each other. This scene in the movie strongly shows each character’s cultural and racial identity; Black people delivering KFC and Chinese people’s take-out food. â€Å"As the modern Asian American population continues to develop and evolve, we are also witnessing a fascinating transformation of Asian ethnic cuisine as it blends traditional and contemporary aspects into a uniquely Asian American creation.† Many American and Latino children in the United States tend to be more overweight than any different races living in the United States. The spread of childhood obesity is related to the spread of modernization and it’s advertisement on television. Race is a crucial aspect in the study of media and nutrition for two important reasons. The first reason is â€Å"nutritional problems such as childhood obesity are more prevalent among African-American children than among White children in the United States.† The second reason is that the â€Å"food advertisements aimed at African Americans tend to associate Blackness with less healthy food options.† Stereotypes of races are also applied in food as well, which is White priority. In Neil Gotanda’s article of Multiculturalism and Racial Stratification, she stated, â€Å"how multicultural techniques can function to maintain the centerpiece of the old racial order- white privilege.† (Wu & Song, Pg.380) Today, a variety of cooking shows, cookbooks and restaurants become the new place for multiculturalism. Combining of different cultural foods in one dish is not just great. By putting several cultures into one single dish causes more troublesome issues like â€Å"Asian American’s complicated historical and symbolic relationship with food production, distribution, and preparation.† (Nguyen & Tu, Pg.179) Some of the strong American heartland cities like Chicago refuse to admit Chinese and Middle Eastern food as regular food because of Asian American’s cultural blur of their origin. Asian Americans came to the United States to fill the necessity for the cheap labor in the agricultural industry and to work as meatpackers and take-out delivery men in the modern day period. The long history of Asian American labor in the food production and service industries caused invisibility in the pleasures and presence of Asian, especially Chinese, cuisine. Martin F. Manalansan IV, the author of the article, ‘Cooking up the Senses’, stated â€Å"Asian Americans’ relationship with the material and symbolic aspects of food is part of their continuing marginal and abject status in the American cultural imaginary.† (Nguyen & Tu, Pg.180) Despite the blurriness of their cultural identity, Asian Americans are symbolically and stereotypically linked to their food, which is neither fully Asian nor American. Fusion cuisine has been very popular today because of its bright and modern idea. However, its bright and modern idea is good in one point of view, but bad in another. â€Å"The topic of fusion cuisine became an important source of conversations about cultural in authenticity.† (Nguyen & Tu, Pg. 186) The show ‘East Meets West’, run by the host, Ming Tsai, is a famous Asian American cooking show. From the comment of this forty-five year old Indian man, the Asian dish is not incongruent to the atmosphere of the show, which is very American. Other Asian Americans also commented on the irony of the show, where Ming Tsai, who has a typical Asian-looking appearance, speaks just like the big Irish men who work in Wall Street. â€Å"Despite the Chinese-ness of Tsai’s image and body, and the recipe ingredients, music, and other show accoutrements overtly marked as Asian, participants evaluated the chef and the show as being very American and Western.† (Nguyen & Tu, Pg. 186) The mixing of all different kinds of cultural ingredients is too chaotic and they were making everything culturally illegible. The most important cultural production in one’s race is food. Cooking was very simple before the early civilizations. However, as the civilizations developed, people started to separate themselves by forming communities. Each community tended to have different cultures depending on their region. Each region has its own symbolic food determining their characteristics or determining the identity of their race. Food production is one of the most unique ways to express one’s cultural identity, which becomes a basis of one’s racial identity. However, the mixed ingredients of all different cultures make food culturally illegible and blur its racial identity.

The Importance of Chemistry essays

The Importance of Chemistry essays We are surrounded everyday by Chemistry. Chemistry was responsible for you car to get you to work, your furnace to heat your home, and your body to turn your breakfast into energy. The coke you drank with your lunch was flavoured by chemistry. Chemistry is often called the central science, because it is vital in the sciences of physics and biology. For example a living organism is a complex chemical factory; by understanding the chemical behaviour scientists can find new ways to treat disease. Chemists have even made it possible to produce crops of food plants that are hardier than the parent strains. Chemists have been able to make lots of useful inventions by using their knowledge of Chemistry. They discovered by mixing some twenty odd chemicals together they could flavour something with the flavour of peaches with out that item of food coming in contact with a single peach. Blend together a few different chemicals and you can create a pleasant smelling liquid, thus revolutionizing the perfume industry. Chemists discovered certain compounds can be used as a non-toxic food perseverant. When we tan is the sun it is a chemical reaction between our skin and the UV rays of the sun. Chemists use their knowledge of the properties of this reaction to create effective sunscreen. ...

The Garden City Movement, how it occurred and the influences on planning today Essays

The Garden City Movement, how it occurred and the influences on planning today Essays The Garden City Movement, how it occurred and the influences on planning today Paper The Garden City Movement, how it occurred and the influences on planning today Paper In 1902 a book was published, entitled: Garden cities of To-morrow. It was written By Ebenezer Howard and it set out his plan for creating better neighbourhoods, cities, regions, nations and a better society. It did this through diagrams and explanations of his ideals. Some describe it as a dream, an impossible utopia. Yet it is one of the greatest influences of Town planning today. So how did Howard, a man who had very little town planning background, create such a book? His influences are many. If you were to look chronologically at past models of city ideals you could start with that of the Greeks with Miletus, a complete planned city. Or the Kaogongji, of the ancient Chinese. Principle traditions to create perfect cities. Indeed Plato was the one of the first to set out plans for utopian cities and would probably have influenced Howard, even slightly, with theories of population limits and balancing urban areas and country settings. But Howards influence started with the stories in the bible. City layouts as described for Levitical cities of Palestine in the 15th century by Moses and Ezekial. These cities had cubits or perimeters. They were also surrounded by country and pasture grounds. The Roman empire echoed this with the Pomerium (Space either side of the city walls)and Ager Effatus (designated fields.) Some influences upon Howards thinking were the literary utopias that man has thought about for hundreds of years. Sir Thomas Mores Utopia was a set of rules, but no plans for an ideal city. He stated that towns should have distance between them, children should have access to the countryside. He was against sprawl over the countryside, instead opting for green belts. He also thought of neighbourhood units and communal buildings. But he lacked details and plans. In 1817, Robert Owen, started a town a New Lanark with his own social philosophy. He believed that humans could influence the character of society. Though work and education they could achieve genuine values. Owens thinking was radical and he did a lot of work, creating The institute for the formation of character. He experimented with his ideas, published them and became a famous social thinker. He was a strong influence on Howards ideas, yet Owens thinking was too communal and his plans were not perfect. J S Buckingham, also a keen influence for Howard, Created plans for his ideal city at Victoria. It was a compact city, but everyone would have easy access to all parts of the city. The use of parklands and belts emerged famously in the planning community from Col William Light, in Australia, 1837. With the planning of Adelaides park belt, which was very successful. But earlier signs of the green belt ideas were shown in Christopher Wrens plans for the rebuilding of London after the great fire of 1666. The most recent influences leading up to Howards publishing were the model experimental cities created by capitalists in the 19th century. Sir Titas Salt, with Saltaire in Yorkshire. Lord Leverhulme with Port sunlight and George Cadbury with Bournville. The latter two examples were impressive for Howard. Bournville and Port Sunlight were created for the workers of the factories that were owned by the capitalists. Leverhulme, with his soap company, built the city to house workers and provided art galleries, open spaces and gardens. Although his motives were primarily to increase production, he created better living conditions for his workers. Cadburys town, situated near Birmingham, provided quality semi-detached housing, gardens and open spaces. Yet he also sought for the town to have residents who did not work for him. He was less controlling and sought to improve morale and quality of his workers lives. These experiments in town planning and Howards observations of the over crowded, poor urban living conditions in England pushed him to write his book. Initially entitled to-morrow. It was not an instant success, but under its 1902 re-release it did attain a following of influential people, who were not ignoring Englands town planning problems. To put Howards plans into practice a company was formed in 1901. Initially the company was unimpressive, yet with the addition of Ralph Neville, an influential lawyer as chair it soon gathered pace as The Garden City Pioneer Company ltd. With Neville, Alfred Russell Wallace, George Cadbury and Lord Leverhulme the company was able to purchase land for the worlds first Garden City. After dismissing many proposed sites, they decided upon Letchworth, a town 40 miles from London. Putting Howards ideas into a plan, were the architects Raymond Unwin and Barry Parker. Unwin had experience in town planning, went on to write a book Town Planning in practice which discussed housing, architecture and town layouts, using cul de sacs and aesthetic qualities. The Pioneer company released a pamphlet, describing the architecture for the builders. Housing was to be Simple, yet well built. But suitably designed to promote a special charm, without pointless ornament. This vague description led to some uniformity of the town and some ugly buildings. The city also failed on other accounts. It was not circular, as it had to conform to the landform. The industry became scattered, and the project was under-funded. This, along with the world war bringing munitions factories, raised the house values- meaning it was unaffordable for some workers, who then had to travel far to work. Its successes were few, it did retain some of Howards ideals of open space, use of parklands and a certain charm, yet it didnt house enough municipal owned land and affordable housing due to under-funding. Building cities from scratch is extremely expensive, especially when trying to make affordable housing. In 1906 Parker and Unwin worked on Hampstead, a garden suburb. It was a new direction in the garden cities movement, yet veered from a lot of Howards ideas. It was entirely sufficient on the city for work and amusement. It was also very uniformed in its architecture and, although picturesque, it was static and contrary to Howards versatile plans. The garden suburb was successful, mainly because of its small size and links to the city. Undeterred by the failures of Letchworth, it seemed that the company was actually doing well. Letchworth was a step in the right direction and a good laboratory for the garden city movement. So in 1919, enough capital had been raised to buy and develop Welwyn. This was a site, much closer to London. The first houses built here followed Letchworths example of simple design, yet were regarded as slums by critics. De Soissons was appointed as architect. He used similar designs as Unwin. Informal winding roads and cul de sac communities. This time the company was in a stronger position to support the architect and be more precise about the housing development. Hence the rural, town country composition worked. The existing trees were conserved where possible, planting was used to individualise streets and a green belt was formed between Welwyn and London. Yet there were still criticisms about the town. It was misunderstood as a satellite town in which industry clung around London. But it was not this sort of satellite town. But it was again under-funded, leading to a lack of amusements and community buildings and it had to follow landform wherever possible, to cut costs. Welwyn grew slowly, but these two first Garden cities were successful in another way. They acted as excellent testing ground for the garden city movement and started to inspire the world, which had populations, migrating to urban centres. Many countries had to address the problems of overcrowding. Howards ideas were put into practice, yet they filtered down. Many cities now used green belts or cul de sac communities, but it is yet to be achieved on a regional, or national planning level. In England, a man inspired by Hoards work and other previous cities set about creating his own. Started before Letchworth, but after the release of Howards book, Rowntree began work on his town of New Earswick. It was primarily for his workers at his factory, yet he had his own ideals. He wanted open spaces and affordable housing as in Howards book. Yet he also wanted the families to be able to grow their own food and supplied each with gardens and fruit trees. New Earswick was, and is a successful town, even though many of the residents are very poor. Even now houses are built with gardens and fruit trees. In the mid 20th century new problems were emerging. This was becoming the age of the motor car. America was inspired by Howard and a garden city association emerged there. With supporters such as Olmstead, who later worked on Central Park, NYC, the association became the RPAA. (The regional planning association of America.) Henry Wright, Clarence Stein and Alexander Bing, began plans for garden cities; primarily around New York. They wanted to achieve a regional plan of all areas, as Howard described. They had projects such as the Appalachian Trail. Which was to promote growth along eastern USA, with farming, timber and regional communities. The CHC (city housing corporation) also emerged in the USA to tackle the housing shortages. Together they worked on the first garden suburb in the USA, at sunnyside gardens, Queens. A practical experiment, it followed a filtered version of Howards ideas. After little success they started on the next, major project of Radburn, New Jersey. They used superblocks, which were developed at sunnyside. A core of open space surrounded by a network of cul de sacs. This city had a degree of self sufficiency, but its main success was tackling the road issues. Traffic was separated from pedestrians by planting and overpasses. Path systems were created, with parkways and open spaces. Later when recession his the USA, the CHC and the RPAA disappeared, but valuable lessons were learned from the city experiments. All these influences have lead to todays town planning. In the UK towns like New Earswick continue to thrive. New towns are clearly influenced by filtered versions of the Garden Cities of To-morrow, such as: Alkrington Hall Estate (from 1911), Bristol Garden Suburb (1909), and also in Cardiff, Coventry, Romford Ilford, Methyr, Oldham Southampton, Warrington, etc .Indeed, for much of the 20th Century the main ideals embodied in Howardà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½s work have influenced planners. Moreover, the Garden City Association provided valuable support for the town planning movement and was an important pressure group in lobbying for greater planning legislation. Its most significant contribution however was demonstrating that town planning ideals could be successfully applied in practice. Yet in conclusion to the question given on the legacy of the garden cities movement, I find myself asking, what are we moving towards? A regional plan of surbria? Where garden suburbs and towns spread like tentacles over every undeveloped area of England. Is this what we really want? To be five minutes in reach of the mall and golf course, living in crime free, simple perfect suburban homes. Becoming gas guzzling, land eating, money driven people; ruled by corporations. I think that we need to do more that what Howard dreamt of. New problems have arisen and we need to address the core of them, ourselves, our needs, not our desires. The needs of the next generations. I find myself thinking that, yes, we do need open spaces, yes, we need countryside, towns and communities. But we do need to change. Why cant we learn to dream again, to think imaginatively before we build too much, too fast and live to regret it?

The Logical Fallacy of Stacking the Deck

The Logical Fallacy of Stacking the Deck The term stacking the deck is a  fallacy in which any evidence that supports an opposing argument is simply rejected, omitted, or ignored. Stacking the deck is a technique thats commonly used in propaganda. It is also known as special pleading, ignoring the counterevidence, slanting, or one-sided assessment. Examples and Observations People sometimes make decisions by folding a piece of paper in half, and listing reasons in favor on one side, and reasons against on the other; then they decide intuitively which side has stronger (not necessarily more) reasons. This method forces us to look at both sides of an issue before we decide. In the incorrect form, we just look at half the picture; this is called stacking the deck. (Harry J. Gensler, Introduction to Logic. Routledge, 2002)Gamblers stack the deck in their favor by arranging the cards so that they will win. Writers stack the deck by ignoring any evidence or arguments that dont support their position. I once experienced stacking the deck when I went to buy a used car. The man trying to sell me the car talked only about how wonderful the car was. After I bought the car, another man tried to sell me an extended warranty by pointing out all the things that could break down. (Gary Layne Hatch, Arguing in Communities. Mayfield, 1996) Deck Stacking in Arguments for and Against the Legalization of Drugs [A] recent ABC show on drugs . . . distorted, omitted or manipulated drug reality. What was piously described as an attempt to open discussion on different approaches to the drug problem was simply a long promotion for legalization of drugs. . . .The program dwells with utmost respect on legalization efforts in Britain and the Netherlands. But it omits evidence of failure. It gives no time to British and Dutch experts who say they have been a disaster, or to Zurichs decision to close its infamous needle park, or to the rise in crime and drug addiction in the Netherlands, or the fact that Italy, which decriminalized possession of heroin in 1975, now leads Western Europe in per capita heroin addiction, with 350,000 addicts.The deck is stacked like a monte game. The advocates of some form of legalization include a judge, police chiefs, a mayor. But nothing is said about the great majority of judges, police officers and mayors who are opposed to legalization by any alias. (A.M. Rosentha l, On My Mind; Stacking the Deck. The New York Times, April 14, 1995) When the White House issued a statement last night saying that marijuana should remain illegalresponding to our pro-legalization editorial seriesofficials there weren’t just expressing an opinion. They were following the law. The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy is required by statute to oppose all efforts to legalize any banned drug.It’s one of the most anti-scientific, know-nothing provisions in any federal law, but it remains an active imposition on every White House. The drug czar, as the director of the drug control policy office is informally known, must take such actions as necessary to oppose any attempt to legalize the use of a substance that’s listed on Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act and has no approved medical use.Marijuana fits that description, as do heroin and LSD. But unlike those far more dangerous drugs, marijuana has medical benefits that are widely known and are now officially recognized in 35 states. The drug cza r, though, isn’t allowed to recognize them, and whenever any member of Congress tries to change that, the White House office is required to stand up and block the effort. It cannot allow any federal study that might demonstrate the rapidly changing medical consensus on marijuana’s benefits and its relative lack of harm compared to alcohol and tobacco.(David Firestone, The Required White House Response on Marijuana. The New York Times, July 29, 2014) Stacking the Deck on Talk Shows Biased talk-show hosts often stack the deck in their discussions of controversial issues by choosing more qualified and dynamic guests to represent the viewpoints they favor. If, by chance, the other guests seem to be overcoming the disadvantage, the host will interrupt and make it a two-on-one debate. An even more outrageous form of stacking the deck is for talk-show hosts and program directors to ignore entirely the side of the issue they disagree with.(Vincent Ryan Ruggiero, Making Your Mind Matter: Strategies for Increasing Practical Intelligence. Rowman Littlefield, 2003)

Select 2 research studies published in peer-reviewed, refereed Proposal

Select 2 studies published in peer-reviewed, refereed journals in your discipline - Research Proposal Example Still more meaningful and unfortunate is the percentage of Catholic children in public high schools. About one-third of Catholic students attend Catholic secondary schools. It is more than evident to all concerned that religious instruction must be made available. The article by Barnard et al is based on a randomized experiment conducted in New York City. A one-way analysis of variance design, employing three randomized groups of subjects, which corresponds to the three conditions of high, low, and no self-disclosure, was utilized. After district approval to conduct research in the schools had been obtained, elementary principals were contacted by letter and phone to request school participation. When participation was secured, teachers were contacted by letter and asked to volunteer approximately 30 minutes of their time to participate in the viewing and rating of a videotaped consultation intervention. Consenting teachers were then scheduled for a viewing at their convenience. Subjects were assigned randomly to one of four conditions: technical language with teacher involvement, technical language without teacher involvement, nontechnical language with teacher involvement, or nontechnical language without teacher involvement. The article by Henthorn is based on qualitative analyses interviews and historical data was used. Just as reliability is estimated by calculating the internal consistency of a test form, a similar measure can be derived from a structured interview schedule. Control over the timing, the environment, and the question order is possible where no such control is possible with questionnaires. To the extent that these controls enhance validity, they fulfill reliability requirements by definition. For nonstructured interviews, no such reliability estimates are possible. The hypothesis of Barnard et al is to investigate â€Å"the

International Business Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 13

International Business - Essay Example CEO Steve Jobs has also gained an iconic status for his intriguing nature. Steve Jobs transformed the failing image of Apple Company into one of the most successful wealthiest company in the history. The growth of apple began four years later after Jobs’ return as the CEO. This growth is also attributed to innovative products from the iPod to iPhone and iPad, which have changed the lives of people. With these products, it has integrated communication and information technologies for use in day to day life. Globalization involves various ongoing interrelated processes that include internalization of finance and trade (Dedrick, 2009.). Globalization affects business in many ways. Globalization has affected Apple Company both positively and negatively and amongst the positives, the major being increased profits. Apple operations have benefited from globalization in the several ways. Apple Company has mostly utilized advanced strategies relying mostly on importing, exporting and outsourcing. Apple Inc. realized the benefit of expanding both its market and operations all over the world especially in high potential markets. By July 2013, the company had opened 417 retail stores in 13 countries. It also established online stores in 38 countries (Dedrick, 2009). Globalization has led to emergence of new markets enabling apple to expand its operations outside America maximizations of sales and revenues. In 2013 fiscal year, Apple revenues had grown by 14.73% within the first two quarters of the year. This translated to $98.115 billion dollars. Most of this revenue was collected from overseas markets. Only 35%of the revenue was from American market (Freeland, 2011). Globalization has led to creativity in employing human resources at Apple. It has created few employee opportunities in America than in other countries. For example, the company

The Sheald of achilles Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The Sheald of achilles - Assignment Example In this context, after hearing the news of the death of Patroclus, Achilles broke into grief. Others including his mother also cried out loud after hearing the death of Patroclus against the Trojans in the war. Achilles’s armour was also unable to save the life of Patroclus. The entire kingdom turned into sorrow. After a certain time period, Achilles and others left the cave and thus headed towards Myrmidons wherein the tents were placed (Prezgonzlez 150-162). After reaching Myrmidons, Achilles shouted and spoke in anger and stated that Patroclus was more important and dear to him than any other. In this similar context, he stated that Hector will need to pay for killing his son Menoetius. By considering this fact, Thetis answered that the armour of Achilles is with Hector who bears upon his shoulder. Thus, Achilles’s mother decided to visit the workman of Vulcan and shall ask for splendid armour for his son. On the other hand, the Achaeans were in the verge to punish the murderous Hector. Later Iris, the god royal spouse of Jove irked Achilles about the death of Patroclus. However, in this particular circumstance, Achilles answered that he has no armour without which he could not fight against Hector (Prezgonzlez 150-162). Iris influenced Achilles to visit the battle ground bare handed without his armour so that his Achaeans could get some relief. Achilles led his comrades against the Trojans in the subsequent period. Hector warned to go back to the city since he thinks himself to be stronger than Achilles. Achilles’ mother begged at the knees of Vulcan to provide his son a shield helmet that can be worn by a true comrade. In this regard, Vulcan answered that he will provide a shield to Achilles, which will be great and strong. The shield was indeed made with five thicknesses and a helmet was also made, which was closed with the brow of Achilles. Moreover, apart from these, Breastplate was

Human Resource Management Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Human Resource Management - Term Paper Example The supermarket has been able to divide all its stores into five major segments depending on the location and demands of the customers. These segments are Superstores, metros, express hyper, additional home plus and anything else can be found under one roof. The express hyper shops are small in size and are located in the neighborhoods to offer food stuffs and they normally have high margins due to the small sizes of the shops while the metros are usually located at the city center. At the international level, these stores are found in the United Kingdom, Ireland, South Korea, Poland, Kenya, France, China and Hungary. Their major competitors include You deserve the best, Between us, The place to be and Amongst us supermarkets (Armstrong, 2003). The supermarket has a corporate strategy which helps it appeal to all segments of the market that is the up market, middle age and the low market range. The strategy for You n Us supermarket has been its ability to include the finest brands, middle and low priced products so as to meet all the demands and expectations of the customers. Since 2001, the supermarket has been able to market itself using the phrase â€Å"Home for Your Value† slogan to describe its principles, mission and core values both locally and internationally. It has also been able to advertise both locally and internationally using the slogan â€Å"you need it, we have it†. Most of its advertisement is done in major billboards along major highways, electronic media and the print media. In the television advertisements, they have been able to engage the services of major actors and actresses such as Look Brooke, James Upright and Young Heart (Armstrong, 2003). The supermarket is committed to corporate social responsibility by offering some of its pre-tax profits to charitable organizations, schools and community based activities. It has started a computer school for the disadvantaged in the

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COURSE REPORT - Essay Example In the writing of any work, acknowledgement of the source of material is necessary (Ng 93). Through the course teaching, I have come to have an in-depth understanding of how to cite in Modern Language Association (MLA) citation style. As a result, I was able to reflect on the mistakes I have made in previous assignment and how I could have avoided them. Since personal interview is a source of information, which could be used in writing an essay, its coverage in the course, provided me with more knowledge. There are numerous forms of writing, contract essay being included. The course gave an in depth analysis of writing intermediate level compressing contract essays. This was essential in the formation of my strong base, which will be very helpful in handling other levels of essays. In addition, the course gave an intensive coverage of grammar. This enhanced my sentence structure and word choice, which has continuously been reflected in my writings. In writing of any piece of work, not all views on a subject/idea are the same. As a result, it is usually necessary to take into consideration the opposing views, which usually give a new dimension of looking into issues. Through the course training, I got an understanding on how I would effectively write an opposing view. The contribution of the course to my personal and professional development cannot be neglected. It improved my grammar and citation proficiency as well as providing me with more knowledge on writing essays. As a result, I would to appreciate all persons who contributed to its successful delivery either directly or

Sexual Harassment Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 3

Sexual Harassment - Research Paper Example The issue of sexual harassment affects the whole society and requires joined efforts to combat it. The starting point of handling the issue of sexual harassment is conducting research about the issue and understanding the various perspectives and contexts upon which sexual harassment takes place. This paper will start by discussing the origins, the evolution, and the global context of sexual harassment. It will also offer possible solutions of ways to decrease sexual harassment that is occurring in selected countries. Sexual harassment is an issue experienced by men and women of all ages, races, religions and nationalities, all over the world. The number of sexual harassment reports around the world continues to increase. The threat of sexual harassment affects the lives of millions, especially women, worldwide. Victims of sexual harassment often find it hard to recover from the trauma. They usually exhibit mental stress, depression, and low self-esteem. As such, the effects of sexual harassment may ultimately affect the lives of these people. â€Å"Incidences of sexual harassment are on the rise in most parts of the world particularly towards women† (Kenny, Samah and Chan 296). In Bahrain, most of the reported cases of sexual harassment are towards women, especially foreigners working in the country. In order to comprehend and know the dynamics and the importance of addressing the issue of sexual harassment, it is vital to assess the global trends of the matter in order to understand its severity. Most of the global research on sexual harassment has focused on women. Due to the increasing rates of sexual harassment in the world, there is a need for governments, organizations, and the international community, to take affirmative action towards the issue. â€Å"The world should not view incidents of sexual harassment as isolated incidences but as a construed aggression against the rights of people† (Akhtar 55). The world today is increasing

COURSE REPORT Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

COURSE REPORT - Essay Example In the writing of any work, acknowledgement of the source of material is necessary (Ng 93). Through the course teaching, I have come to have an in-depth understanding of how to cite in Modern Language Association (MLA) citation style. As a result, I was able to reflect on the mistakes I have made in previous assignment and how I could have avoided them. Since personal interview is a source of information, which could be used in writing an essay, its coverage in the course, provided me with more knowledge. There are numerous forms of writing, contract essay being included. The course gave an in depth analysis of writing intermediate level compressing contract essays. This was essential in the formation of my strong base, which will be very helpful in handling other levels of essays. In addition, the course gave an intensive coverage of grammar. This enhanced my sentence structure and word choice, which has continuously been reflected in my writings. In writing of any piece of work, not all views on a subject/idea are the same. As a result, it is usually necessary to take into consideration the opposing views, which usually give a new dimension of looking into issues. Through the course training, I got an understanding on how I would effectively write an opposing view. The contribution of the course to my personal and professional development cannot be neglected. It improved my grammar and citation proficiency as well as providing me with more knowledge on writing essays. As a result, I would to appreciate all persons who contributed to its successful delivery either directly or

Public Health and Health Care Essay Example for Free

Public Health and Health Care Essay Public health is one the of the science that improves and protects the health care of the communities and families through promotions of healthy lifestyles, research for injury and disease prevention and detection and control of infectious diseases. Public health professionals try and prevent issues from happening or recurring through implementing educational programs recommending policies, manage services and conducting research. Such as contrast to clinical professionals doctors, and nurses, who will focus primarily on treating people after they become injured or ill. Public health also works to limit health care disparities. A greater part of public health is promoting health care equity, accessibility and quality (International Health Conference, 1946). How CDC Contributes to Public Health The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is the nation’s disease prevention and wellness promotion agency, protecting individual’s safety and health, giving credible information to enhance health care decisions, and improving health care through strong organization. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) work includes wide range health care threats, including infectious chronic diseases, birth defects, injuries, water safety food, environmental hazards, safety and occupational health. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) also administers funding for local health departments and state, community based companies and academic institutions for a wide array of public health programs and research. Daily Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) experts work both behind the scenes and on the frontlines to improve individual’s daily lives and respond to health care emergencies. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is h eadquartered in Atlanta and has just about 14,000,  full-time, part-time and contract employees located all through the U.S. and in 54 countries (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2012). Specific Ways CDC Influence/ Roles of CDC Agency Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) contribute with its partner around the world to detect and investigate health care problems, monitor health, conduct research to enhance prevention, develop and advocate sound public health policies, and provide leadership and training. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) develops a system design recognizing information and sources that best tackle a surveillance goal, be familiar with who will have rights to use information, by what technique and under what circumstances; also improving analysis or action by improving the surveillance system communication with other information systems Using data group recognizing possible bias linked with another collection technique cultural approach in the direction of technology or telephone use, recognizing suitable use of structured data compared with free text, more useful, data standards and language and suggest technologies such as global radio-frequency and positioning systems i dentification to maintain faster, higher-quality data and easier, access in the field. Information management and collation recognize ways to share data across different computing technology proposal linking new information with data from legacy systems; and be familiar with and remedying information quality issues as making certain information security and privacy. â€Å"Analysis recognize suitable statistical and image applications, put together algorithms to prepare users to aberrations within health care events also leveraging high routine computational resources for large data sets or difficult analyses† (Dixon, Gamache, Grannis, 2013). Understanding the value of evaluate information from one surveillance plan with other information time, place, person, or condition for new viewpoint and merge data of other quality to give a background for explanation and foundation. Diffusion suggest suitable let somebody see information users and the best technique to reach the proposed audience, smooth the progress of data finding; and recognize benefits for information providers (Lundstrom, Pugliese, Bartley, Cox, Guither, 2002). Application to public health programs assessing the utility of having surveillance data directly flow into information systems that support public health interventions and information elements or standards that facilitate this linkage of surveillance to action and improving access to and use of information produced by a surveillance system for workers in the field and health-care providers (Dixon, Gamache, Grannis, 2013).

Importance of ‘True and Fair View of Financial Statements

Importance of ‘True and Fair View of Financial Statements Introduction This essay focuses on the definition of the ‘true and fair view’ and how to use in accounting practically. In my opinion, ‘true and fair view’ is essential in the real world of accounting because the company has to provide reliable and relevant information to demonstrate its actual financial situation in financial report. However, from December 2013, the ‘true and fair view’ is not defined in Corporations Act s. 295(4)(d) and other regulations or legislations. This is because it has been a controversial debate towards whether the exact nature of ‘true and fair view’. Therefore, the following essay will explain the importance of the ‘true and fair view’ in terms of the appropriate disclosure of material matters in financial statement and the frustration in terms of the definition as well. What is True and Fair? The ‘true and fair view’ concept is one of two competing but not mutually exclusive legal standards for financial reporting quality that have been subject to debate on their meaning, use and importance. The other is ‘present fairly in conformity with generally accepted accounting principles’ (GAAP). The mainly prescriptive literature suggests that each regime that requires compliance with ‘true and fair view’ tends to address and interpret the concept according to specific historical, social, cultural, political and economic roots and environments (Deegan Michael 2012). The nature of truth, whether absolute or relative, it is the existence of a reality, an unquestionable thing, or as an abstract concept, either dependent or independent of believers. The interpretation equated with the truth and fairness to the relevance together with adequate disclosure in financial report. In accounting concept, ‘True and fair view’ indicates that the financial statement must not contain material misstatement and actually reflect the financial performance and position on the company(Deegan Michael 2012). To be specific, ‘True’ means the financial statement accord with the reality and formal reporting framework such as conceptual framework and free from any unreal information which could mislead the users. ‘Fair’ means the information in financial statement do not include any personal prejudice or bias thus it could reflect the economic substance or transaction. The Importance of True and Fair in Accounting The Corporations Act requires the accountants to provide true and fair information so that the accounts of the company can convey a true and fair view explicitly. Under s. 297, it is required that the financial statements and notes should to give a true and fair value of the entity’s financial position in the financial year. Moreover, s. 308 requires auditors to give a true and fair view in the annual financial statements and comply with accounting standards. Beside to the Corporations Act, Chastney (1975) suggests that fairness means that, in order to achieve a true and fair view financial reports should present information both impartially and in a manner that a reader can understand clearly. The concepts of truth and fairness are of great significance to ensure the accounting information to be reliable. The information reflected in the financial repot includes the measurements of assets and liabilities, the calculation of profit and capital, as well as the actual quantities involved in business activities (Ryan 1988). The information disclosed in financial statements should be fair to shareholders, public and other related stakeholders. Thus, directors and auditors in a company have an obligation to comply with the ‘true and fair value’ in all accounting activities. For example, four particular information should be disclosed in the financial statement. These information are required to be true and fair to reflect the financial performance and position of the company. The four information needs are:capital maintenance, stewardship. Liquidity and net realizable value. From the perspective of true and fair, these four information are required as follows: Capital maintenance need to satisfy the needs of shareholders for disclosing the annual profit legally available for dividend, retained profit and the amount and form of paid-up capital. Stewardship need to satisfy the needs for disclosing the results achieved by directors from the use of funds and whether the investment are following the objective of the company (Power 2010). Liquidity are quired to serve as an indication to the solvency. The information should clarify the abilities of companies to met liabilities in short term, the amount of bank overdraft and the amount of any securities to secured company’s debts (Chastney 1975). Net realizable value disclosure are needed to make sure shareholders do not sell their shares which are parts of net realizable value but was available to the company. Under these interpretations, the measurement of periodic profit based on detail monetary model, which elaborate the demand and actual application of how fairness reflected in the financial statement (Gaffikin, Dagwell Wines 2004). Moreover, all the measurements should be internally consistent and comply with the applying of the accounting System.The value of the true and fair view also reflect the compliance of the transactions with relevant regulations, statutory provision and other accounting standard. For example, the accounting policies applied in the organization should be appropriate to a accompany’s business, and the acquirements and recommendations in accounting standards can be practical in the use of achieving company’s actual financial objectives (Aisbitt Nobes 2001). Specially, AASB 1001 requires the accounting policies should to ensure the substance of the underlying transactions or other events , satisfying the concepts of relevance and reliability (AASB). This demands the actual economic nature and effect of the events to be reported. At last, the truth and fairness also make contributions to the company’s decision making. This is because the relevance and reliability has b een ensured and the managers can predict the future perspective according to the useful information reported in the financial statement (Ijiri Jaedicke 2004). How to define True and Fair? However, True and fair concept is not yet defined by authority, also some way to define that in view of its relationship to the various components of a true and fair. (Lee, 1982) There is also no legal concept prescribe the notion of true and fair. Sometimes the application of ‘true and fair valve’ go far beyond of technical rules of accounting (Aisbitt Nobes 2001). For example, stemming from the meaning of ‘compliance with the facts’, ‘truth’ refers to ‘empirical correspondence’ in accounting terminology. But in practical accounting, the value of truth is not limited to its literal definition. It also expand to deductive validity in audit process. Further more, the application of fair also involved in the appropriate general accounting model for measurement of periodic profit and capital. That is to say, there is no fixed standard to rule what is exactly the meaning of ‘true and fair value’ in practical accounting. On the other hand, although true and fair view is really essential in accounting framework, however, in real life sometimes it is quite hard for the accountant to make absolute right decision in terms of following absolute truth and fairness. For example, in the process of determining the depreciation, several methods are available such as declining balance method, maximum amount method, multi-level method and the basic method (Ryan 1988). In most cases, several options are accessible and reasonable, but different methods could lead to different calculation answers, affecting the estimation of company’s financial performance. When the accountant put the formula into the reality, they have to take into account the company’s position and financial performance target, then making the optimal decision (Lee 1982). In this situation, the concept of ‘true and fair view’ do not have fixed rules and the accountant may use the professional judgment to make the final decision. Conclusion To conclude, true and fair value are of great concern in accounting, especially in financial statements. The idea that true and fair value measurement is part of professional identification in terms of the releasability and relevance of the information disclosed in the financial report. However, in most cases, the technical standard setting of true and fair value are not obvious and uniform, which address impediment to real practicability of the interpretations. This is because the notions of relevance and reliability cannot be defined independently of the whole accounting system and are always subject to changes (Power 2010). Reference list Aisbitt, S Nobes, C 2001, ‘The true and fair view requirement in recent national implementations’, Accounting and Business Research, vol. 31, no. 2, pp. 83-90 Australian Accounting Standard Board 2010, Complied AASB Standard AASB 117, Australian Government Australian Accounting Standards Board, Australia. Chastney, JG 1975, True and fair view: a study of the history and meaning of true and fair and a consideration of the impact of the fourth directive, Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, London Deegan C., 2012 Australian Financial Accounting, 7th ed, McGraw-Hill, Nth Ryde Gaffikinà ¯Ã‚ ¼Ã…’ Mà ¯Ã‚ ¼Ã…’ Dagwellà ¯Ã‚ ¼Ã…’ R Winesà ¯Ã‚ ¼Ã…’ G 2004à ¯Ã‚ ¼Ã…’ Corporate accounting in Australiaà ¯Ã‚ ¼Ã…’ 3rd editionà ¯Ã‚ ¼Ã…’ University of New South Wales Press Ltdà ¯Ã‚ ¼Ã…’ NSW Ijiri, Y Jaedicke, R 2004, ‘Reliability and objectivity of accounting measurements’, The Accounting Review, vol. 41, no. 3, pp. 471–483. Lee, TA 1982, ‘The will-o-the-wisp of true and fair’, The Accountant, vol. 187, no. 5601, pp. 16-18. Power, M 2010, ‘Fair value accountin: financial economics and the transformation of reliability’, Accounting and Business Research, vol. 40, no. 3, pp. 197-210. Ryan, JB 1988, A True and Fair View: A Revised Accounting Interpretation, University of Wollongong, Wollongong

Essay Comparing Masks in A Dolls House and The Stranger (The Outsider) :: comparison compare contrast essays

Masks in A Doll's House and The Stranger In the real world there exist many different people, of different races and ages, each one unique. Some live secluded lives with few friends and others live very rich and complex lives surrounded by friends and acquaintances. No matter what type of life is led it is human nature to adjust one's external personality to suit the specific situation, much like putting on and removing different masks. People tend to be polite and respectful to others in public even though they may not know the person well or not care for them, yet behind closed doors that mask may disappear and their true feelings may come to the surface. People may adjust their external behaviour and attitudes when around others because they may not like their true selves and either want to change themselves or just merely fit in with society and be liked by others. Another mask that is often worn is the powerful and superior one and so to feel superior when among others pushes them around and becomes a bully. This same person could be gentle, nice and kind when around family but may feel the need to appear superior around other people. This form of adjusting one's personality or mask to suit a situation in life, is also common among characters in novels, dramas, and other forms of literature. In certain characters it is evident in the novel The Stranger and the play A Doll's House . In some instances it is quite easy to notice but other times it may be difficult to identify the changes in character's masks as the changes slowly develop throughout the plot. A form of mask wearing was found at the beginning of the novel The Stranger, where Meursault goes to the beach to go swimming and meets Marie Cardona. She was lying on a float when Meursault was swimming towards it. "She turned toward [him]. Her hair was in her eyes and she was laughing."(20) Later on when both Meursault and Marie go swimming together "She laughed the whole time,"(20) and then on the dock while they were drying themselves off Marie playfully says "I'm darker than you."(20) She puts on a type of giggly, flirty mask when around Meursault, probably

Impact of Family, Gender, and Education on Wuthering Heights :: Charlotte Bronte, Informative

Impact of Family, Gender, and Education on Wuthering Heights  Ã‚   Education of the 18th and 19th century connects closely to the gender association of this period. Men from wealthy families were the only persons provided the opportunity to be educated at the university level. Just as many men use golf to prove their status and superiority today, these gentlemen pursued cricket and rugby.   Another similarity with society today involves the importance of personal connections to further your education possibilities and business opportunities. Social standing was extremely important during this time. "Manners, money, birth, occupation and leisure time were crucial indicators of social standing, determining not only one's place in society but one's freedom to act, speak, learn, and earn" (Longman p. 1886).   Some interesting factors that determined this status, which I personally would love to see more of today, are loyalty, duty and public service. Instead of the elite being chosen by birth, ability and learning became the criteria for administration of society. Frances Cobbe described the boarding school that she attended as a young girl. The tuition cost was 25 times what Charlotte Bronte earned in 1841 (Longman p.1888). Cobbe describes the importance of women from well to do families at this time to be beautiful, and occupied with knitting and gossiping. Intelligence and accomplishments were not pursuits allowed to women. Charlotte Bronte described one of the few occupations permitted women at this time in her book Jane Eyre. As stated previously the income received for such grueling work was one twenty fifth the tuition of Cobbe's tuition for boarding school.

Culture of Pakistan Essay

The 17th century Badshahi Mosque built by Mughal emperor Aurangzeb in Lahore The society and culture of Pakistan (Urdu: Ø «Ã™â€šÃ˜ §Ã™ Ã˜ ª Ù ¾Ã˜ §Ãš ©Ã˜ ³Ã˜ ªÃ˜ §Ã™â€ Ã¢â‚¬Å½) comprises numerous diverse cultures and ethnic groups: the Punjabis, Kashmiris, Sindhis in east, Muhajirs, Makrani in the south; Baloch and Pashtun in the west; and the ancient Dardic, Wakhi, and Burusho communities in the north. These Pakistani cultures have been greatly influenced by many of the surrounding countries’ cultures, such as the Turkic peoples, Persian, Arab, and other South Asian ethnic groups of the Subcontinent, Central Asia and the Middle East. In ancient times, Pakistan was a major cultural hub. Many cultural practices and great monuments have been inherited from the time of the ancient rulers of the region. One of the greatest cultural influences was that of the Persian Empire, of which Pakistan was a part. In fact, the Pakistani satraps were at one time the richest and most produc tive of the massive Persian Empire. Other key influences include the Afghan Empire, Mughal Empire and later, the short-lived but influential, the British Empire. Pakistan has a cultural and ethnic background going back to the Indus Valley Civilization, which existed from 2800–1800 B.C., and was remarkable for its ordered cities, advanced sanitation, excellent roads, and uniquely structured society. Pakistan has been invaded many times in the past, and has been occupied and settled by many different peoples, each of whom have left their imprint on the current inhabitants of the country. Some of the largest groups were the Proto-Indo-Aryans, of which Sindhis and Punjabis descend from and later Iranic peoples which the Baloch and Pashtuns descend from. Other less significant ones include the Greeks, Scythians, Persians, White Huns, Arabs, Turks, Mongols, Buddhists, and other Eurasian groups, up to and including the British, who left in the late 1940s. The region has formed a distinct cultural unit within the main cultural complex of South Asia, the Middle East and Central Asia from the earliest times, and is analogous to Turkey’s position in Eurasia.[1] There are differences in culture among the different ethnic groups in matters such as dress, food, and religion, especially where pre-Islamic customs differ from Islamic practices. Their cultural origins also reveal influences from far afield, including Tibet, Nepal, India, and eastern Afghanistan. All groups show varying degrees of influence from Persia, Turkestan and Hellenistic Greece. Pakistan was the first region of South Asia to receive the full impact of Islam and has developed a distinct Islamic identity, historically different from areas further west.[1] Ancient sites in Pakistan include: Zoroastrian Fire temples, Islamic centres, shi’a shrines/Sufi shrines, Buddhist temples, Sikh, Hindu, and pagan temples and shrines, gardens, tombs, palaces, monuments, and Mughal and Indo-Saracenic buildings. Sculpture is dominated by Greco-Buddhist friezes, and crafts by ceramics, jewellery, silk goods and engraved woodwork and metalwork. Pakistani society is largely multilingual, multi-ethnic and multicultural. Though cultures within the country differ to some extent, more similarities than differences can be found, as most Pakistanis are mainly of Aryan heritage or have coexisted side by side along the Indus River for several thousand years, or both. However, over 60 years of integration, a distinctive â€Å"Pakistani† culture has sprung up, especially in the urban areas where many of the diverse ethnic groups have coexisted and ithe country now having a literacy rate of 55%, up from 3% at the time of independence. Traditional family values are highly respected and considered sacred, although urban families increasingly form nuclear families, owing to socio-economic constraints imposed by the traditional culture of the extended family. The past few decades have seen emergence of a middle class in cities such as Karachi, Lahore, Rawalpindi, Hyderabad, Quetta, Faisalabad, Sukkur, Peshawar, Sialkot, Abbottabad, and Multan. Rural areas of Pakistan are regarded as more conservative, and are dominated by regional tribal customs dating back hundreds if not thousands of years. â€Å"Pakistan’s culture is again unique like the rest of the country. Pakistan’s geography is the meeting point of South Asia, Central Asia and West Asia/Gulf. Its culture could be termed as a combination of sub continental, Islamic, Regional, English, and more recently global influences. Let us consider them piecemeal. The newly born Pakistan had to have a sub continental leaning, having been a part of for last 5000 years of its civilization. However, the Indus Valley, present day Pakistan, culture was different from the rest of North India or South India†. (Quoted Pakistan’s Identity, History and Culture, from the famous book Gwadar on the Global Chessboard by Nadir Mir)

John Donne Essay

The literary heritages of John Donne are famous for their style that distinguishes them from poems of his age, particularly his attachment to sensuality and reality. He is in fact considered to be a ‘metaphysical poet’, and recognized to be ahead of his contemporaries. One of his most notable collections are the Holy Sonnets, which is a reflection of his a primarily religious life. (Stubbs, 2006) The innovative use of language and metaphors are what distinguishes the works of John Donne; he has produced a wide collection of poems, satires, sonnets, translations, and other literary works. The life and struggles of John Donne reflects the rich and meaningful body of literature that he has produced. He was born to a rich family, yet poverty was common for him, as he went to a period of persecution during his process of transfer of devotion to the Anglican Church. He eventually became an Anglican priest, which is said to have considerably influence the writings in the latter years of his life, when he wrote poems and sermons. (Bald, 1970) He became known for a style, which would be known as metaphysical, and often, his work is dubbed as metaphysical conceit, as he cleverly unifies two vastly dissimilar ideas. The most common subjects of his literature are death, love and religion; he employs the use of irony, witty-ness, and cynicism. (Stubbs, 2006) This metaphysical form of literature would refer to the passion for life and pleasures, yet much regard for the emotional dimension. John Donne marked the evolution to a more personal poetry from the classical forms before his time. The early poetry of Donne is mainly criticisms of the problems of the English society during that time, as Britain was plagued by corruption and pretensions of its citizenry and nobility. He used colorful imagery to create satires of this reality of his time, but eventually, he moved on to the topic of religion, which shows that Donne lived a religious life, as he converts from Catholicism to being a devoted Anglican. Donne also produced substantial amount of love poetry, which is said to be addressed to his wife, who died after giving birth to their twelfth child. The poems written at the later stage of the life of John Donne has a more pious and somber tone to them. His poems began to take on a gloomy tone, as he writes about more serious things; for instance, his poem in memory of Elizabeth Drury, symbolizes destruction and the fall of man. (Greenblatt, 2006) Increasingly, he moved towards more religious topics, which exhibited this gloomy nature. The motivation for this shift to religious poems and sermons is his conversion to the Anglican Church, which marked a step to maturity and change in his writing style. These sermons and poems would later on influence English poets and future literature. Towards the conclusion of his fruitful and dynamic life, the focus of Donne’s work shifted to death, as he nears his own death. His works explores this topic, and how humans fear this inevitable occurrence, and the eventual accent to heaven following one’s death. He delivered the sermon Death’s Duel from his deathbed, which shows suffering and pain, yet also salvation and hope. (Bald, 1970) He died in 1631. The literature of John Donne is impressive indeed, and each piece of literature reflects his life and the society that is revolving around him. His work is wide-ranging, from love to death to religion; each shows passion, emotion, and reality. The metaphysical nature of his poems influences the future of English literature, as he cleverly used metaphors, imagery, and language. References Bald, RC. (1970). John Donne: A Life. United States: Oxford University Press. Donne, John. (2006). John Donne’s Poetry. Donald Dickson, Ed. United States: W. W. Norton and Company. Greenblatt, Stephen. (2006). The Norton Anthology of English Literature. United Kingdom: W. W. Norton and Company. Stubbs, John. (2006). Donne: The Reformed Soul. United States: Viking Books. Targoff, Ramie. (2008). John Donne, Body and Soul. United States: University of Chicago Press.