Persuasive Speech on Social Networking Essay

Since the Internet has rapidly propagated, social media has progressed rapidly. The widespread use of mobile devices to access the internet gradually transformed the nature of our social interactions. Most people use smart phones, iPhone or mobile internet devices to easily access social network. Since the function that people can interact online through social media, chat or share information with each other. It helps us contact friends, family, and other people even if they live far away. The service they can receive by using it are very impressive, most of people have their own account for participating. Although social media leads people to have more interaction and promotes long-distance relationships, it has a lot of bad things that make us out of control. see more:social networks and our young generation. Many of social media users are addicted and they became more isolated by using social media. Social media has many advantages; nevertheless, it can be abused in moments by young children if we are not careful, because they can easily access social media. We need to understand and regulate the use of social media by young children. My own view is that we should understand and regulating the use of social media by young children, because overusing social media can create strong addictions, develop mental or physical disorders, and waste our time. First of all, social media, such as Facebook, are very addictive. Especially, people who are lonely can become easily addicts. Human is social animal, so they want to make relationship with others. People would say drug or alcohol is more addictive and harmful for children than social media; social media addiction is not a big problem. Unfortunately, it is not true. Social media can lead to compulsive behavior. A report of the social media addiction by University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business says: â€Å"There is evidence to show as well that social behaviors like hugs and smiles are associated with dopamine release †¦ it’s possible that social media is pleasurable and becomes addictive via the dopamine mechanism just as drugs or alcohol can.† In the light of these facts, surely social media can make addicts, and it is hard to escape. The problem is most people who have an addiction to social media and do not even realize it. Children, also, can easily get mental and physical disorders through using social media. People might think social media does not contribute to disorders. They argue that social media is good for mental diseases because it help them express their  feelings or thought easily. Also, through social media, they can be more connected with each other. However, as stated above, if children become addicts, naturally we could think they have emotional instability. Social media offers limited real interaction, through online contact. On the Mental Health Blog, psychologist, Aric Sigman claimed â€Å"Spending too much time online could lead to social isolation, loneliness and a negative outlook. These types of psychological symptoms could eventually lead to more serious health concerns, such as heart disease, cancer and dementia. (Sigman)† Using social media disturbs make deep relationship with others. When they are using social media they do not need to move or be active. As a result, it leads to mental and physical disorders. Social media can become handicap in our life. In this sense, social media can hinder people to improve their talents. People think social media is good place to show their talents or works what they did. For example, they argue people can share video clip what they playing the instruments or dancing or singing. However, if you are not good at those things and if you spend time to do social media, it would be hard to improve your talents. Using social media steals your time what really want to do. If you do not pay attention, your time would go very fast, and it could not be returned. If you read books, or study, exercise, or practice something that you want to do instead of using social media, it would be much better for you and your future life. I conducted surveys about relationships between using social media and studying last semester. Most students answered using social media is not helpful for studying. Also, students who got good grades spent just a little time to use social media. These results can be adjusted to young children because they are more easily influenced by social media. Especially, the young generation and children are easy to be exposed to environments which using social media. Social media are favorite not only along with teens or youngsters; it is growing among working people and also adults. Social media is regarded as an addiction and many people are becoming addicts every day. It can occur mentally and physically and make  you waste time. As you can see, we need to understand and regulate the use of social media by young children. The most famous social networks, YouTube, Facebook and Skype are included. It is important to know why people have to use social media carefully and need some restrictions when using it. Many people love social media because of its wide connectivity and functions that people can receive it for free; it does not require money to make an account and use it. Facebook is the most visible among various social media. First thing that people get impressed is, Facebook makes possible to create a deep networking between users. Since each user has a right to accept or refuse the friend request, the interest by people is high enough. Moreover people tend to allow the other’s friend request who have same thoughts and characteristics, by this reason it is able to maintain an intimate relationship. Not only users can leave comment on other’s post and the other user reply to that comment, by doing this continuing communication can be accomplished. So, it is a same response of users that deep networking can be made naturally. The second benefit is, it is good in long distance relationship. The survey from the â€Å"Telegraph† which is a famous newspaper in United Kingdom, tells that Social networks such as Facebook are helping to inspire a boom in long distance relationships. The number of people who have a partner that lives mor e than two hours away increased about twice in the last 10years. Three quarters of them say that by using social network such as Facebook and MySpace where everything can be shared, they were able to maintain their long-distance relationship. In my case, I am not living with my family. I live in Utah and my family live in Korea. It is hard to contact each other and I cannot know what my family is doing their country and also they do not know what I am doing in this country. But after we started to use Skype, we can check each other what we daily do. If I want to see my family’s face, I can see by using videophone. Even though I and my family live far away about 5500miles, we can check each other’ status whenever we want because of development of social media. Even if Facebook and MySpace, those kinds of social media have various advantages, it receives less attention than the bad effects of social media. The most serious problem of social media is addiction. One reporter described that â€Å"Text messaging is no longer the biggest t eenage obsession, and long gone are the days where the biggest worries for parents were celebrity crushes, massive phone bills from  ridiculously long phone calls and chocolate overloads. These teenage obsessions still exist, but in today’s day and age, and in comparison to the Facebook craze, they seem rather insignificant This huge issue also applied to me and my friends. When I came to Utah first, I had a hard time conversing with the people in this country. For learning English I decided to do Facebook rather than reading books or watching television, which is effective but not fun method. Because of Facebook’s worldwide connection, I was able to have more time and chance to communicate with my school friends. Soon, I could talk with Utah friends about private things and school work. As my relationship gets stronger, the time I spent doing Facebook extended, chat on-line and do applications already took a place in my life. I felt logging on Facebook was the best time ever in Utah since it helps me to learn language, to make friends, and to escape from boring life on abroad. But, the problem began with doing Facebook actively. My primary work of the d ay was doing Facebook. I preferred doing Facebook more than any other important work, including doing homework, exercising, sleeping, and even going to school. When I realized there was a problem, it was after I was addicted to Facebook. With my cousin’s help I could get away from Facebook, the dangerous social network. But some of my friends are still suffering from a Facebook with addiction. Another thing is that some person becomes lonelier after using social media. Most people might think that because social media have a benefit that give more opportunity to people to have more interactions through social network, people can strengthen relationship with their friends by chatting and leaving comments on each other’s wall and even people could make new friends by online meeting. Opposed to their thoughts, it is not. According to interview with Dr. John Cacioppo, who is a professor in neuroscience at the University of Chicago, tells that â€Å"â€Å"You can end up online so much that you end up sacrificing face-to-face contact. Having 4000 friends on Facebook might make you feel that you have lots of friends, but you have no face-to-face contact. In that case, loneliness INCREASES (Johnson).† It is not possible to make real relationship if people do not meet face to face. The people who were not talkative and social would be worse. One of my friends could example of this. He was poor at interacting with friends, he could not participate in our conversation and if we initiated a conversation, he stepped behind and went to his place. After he started using social media, the number of interaction with friends decreased. And he even did not make new friends through social media and he became less social. It led him to feel more loneness and seriously he tried to suicide once. It was one of happening events around me result of using social media. It is a really serious problem in this society. It is related to human’s life. This big problem is not facing to us. In conclusion, although social media has lots of benefits that are attractive and helpful to us, it usually gives more harmful influences than good effects. Like an addiction and fraud advertising, it is not anymore a small problem that can be ignored. To make better future, it is really important to use social media carefully. All things are depended on you.

Farhenheit 45

Literary Analysis Could you ever imagine living in a world where books were not allowed, houses were fireproof, and firemen started fires instead of putting them out? Ray Bradbury created this dystopian society of backwards thinking in his novel Fahrenheit 451. When he wrote the book, during the Cold War, the United States was beginning to censor many things and his fear of what it would turn into inspired him to write this novel. In Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury overly exaggerates a future society from where the United States in the 1950’s was heading through loss of humanity from television and the theme of censorship by; yet, the symbol of rebirth detracts from the overall effect of exaggeration. In Fahrenheit 451 Mildred, Guy Montag’s wife, is a mindless human being. She has a television show that she calls her â€Å"family† and she insists on watching it every time it is on. For example when she is arguing with Montag about reading she says, â€Å"Books aren’t people. You read and I look all around but there isn’t anybody!†¦ Now my family is people. They tell me things: I laugh, they laugh! And the colors!†¦ Why should I read? What for! † (73;ch. 2). This quote illustrates the fact that all she does is sit around and believes to be interacting with people, when in fact she is just talking to a television show. When she wants another television installed she tells Montag â€Å"Its only two thousand dollars and I think you should consider me sometimes. If we had a fourth wall, why it’d just be like this room wasn’t ours at all, but all kinds of exotic people’s rooms† (20;ch. 1). This line spoken by Mildred shows the reality of her mindless television show consuming her life and that she no longer thinks like a human being. Society’s goal in essentially hypnotizing its citizens was successful. Any person with sense such as Montag would know that it is outrageous to buy another screen when they cannot afford it. Mildred is a perfect example of a mindless person who allows the government to control her and thinks books are harmful. People like her make this society achieve its goals in censorship by burning books. In several cases the narrator is just as mindless as Mildred. For example, the book burning process is supported when the book states, â€Å"You were simply cleaning up. Janitorial work essentially,† and â€Å"they pumped rooms full of [kerosene]† it is supporting the book burning process (37-38;ch. 1). These statements are guilty of sustaining book burning. Also when Captain Beatty, the chief of the fire department, says, â€Å"I want you to do this all by your lonesome, Montag. Not with kerosene and a match, but piecework, with a flame thrower. Your house your clean up,† it illustrates how he is asking a horrible task be done (116;ch. ). Burning books, the only source of unchanging knowledge, is a horrific task to take on. Burning books is like taking away freedom and because they are no longer physically available humans have to memorize them. When Montag gets caught for having books he runs away. He does such a good job that even the mechanical hound can’t find him. When the search for him is seeing no hope they kill a random man alone on the street. At this point Granger, one of the traveling book men, says to Montag, â€Å"Welcome back from the dead† (150;ch. 3). This quote resembles the rebirth and final transformation of Montag from a regular in society. It detracts from the exaggeration because it symbolizes the life of memorizing books, which is the total opposite of eradicating them. Another time when rebirth is mentioned is when Granger tells Montag about the phoenix, â€Å"There was a silly damn bird called a phoenix back before Christ, every few hundred years he built a pyre and burnt himself up†¦ but every time he burnt himself up he sprang out of the ashes, he got himself born all over again† (163;ch. 3). This example takes away from Bradbury’s effect because it symbolizes new life, which the government does not want; they want it to stay the way it is. Ray Bradbury creates a dystopian society in the novel by expressing loss of humanity, censorship, and rebirth through many examples in the book. Throughout Fahrenheit 451 everyone is trapped under the government’s supervision except for the ones who are smart enough to escape through the knowledge of books, such as Montag. During the entire novel Mildred is an example of an individual consumed by the government’s rules and loss of humanity from TV.

Challenges of Electronic Records Management Program

Therefore, we design the system need to consider many issues when using the system, now we are going to discuss some cases and solutions about this topic. Email with attachments is the lower cost way to keep records. For example: order confirmation, quotation, invoice†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦etc. Many small organizations may not have a faultless email filing plan, they just provide email account which is using POP3 to receive email from SMTP server, even they won’t keep any copy on server if make sure the mail already transmitted to user’s PC. User can print out the hard copy if they think it is a record or they can press delete button on any mail they think it is not useful. But this method have some issues need to beware, if user just pressed the wrong button on some mail, then this mail will not be found anymore. Because we have not any extra copy of this mail, so must be keep the copy on mail server for back up use, we can create destruction period of these extra mail copy, maybe three or six months, it is depends on different company practice. Also, we can provide staff training to teach end user how to operate and fully use email tools to storage email records. Back up schedule for email system also necessary. Some organizations will create shared drive at their work place’s PC network to store or share some centralized files to let multi users read, modify†¦.. etc. This is best way to let users to get the updated information. We need to concern the security and how to protect records consistency, before to create home group network, we need concern how to set up permission of individual user, permission means the user can read, modify, delete files or folder on the network. In general, server’s administrator is allowed to full control the files and folders on shared drive, we won’t allow â€Å"everyone† to full control shared drive’s folder and files. This can avoid someone to destroy any data on shared drive. Also, all data on shared drive need to do the route back up; this avoids the hardware shut down suddenly. Back up can do by manual, copy and paste to external drive, or upload to cloud storage space, or other storage media which can be archival easier. Some organizations need invested many sources and IT support to manage their electronic records management systems (ERMS). For example, hospital and bank, they need storage and process many confidential and private records by daily work. Also, these electronic records system also need link up database to make sure records keep consistency. ERMS can let user to track and store records easier and centralize all the records. User can use sort function to search the records what they need. ERMS can allow multi users to login database. Therefore, should need set up some retractions when design the program. For example, if a record was modifying, system will alert other user this is not updated record. Also, ERMS need keep maximum protection of system to protect any attack from hacker or viruses oppositely. Therefore, these ERMS should need IT support team to monitor the systems daily operation to maintenance systems are operated smoothly and provide urgent support when the system was shut down and solve the trouble issues immediately. Some organizations start to change their paper-based records to digital images. Scanner is the common and user friendly. Their output files can be PDF, TIF†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦etc. We need use software (Adobe reader or window defaulted software) to open related files. Normally all scan copy should need contain at lease 200 dpi to ensure the soft copy quality. Digital images record is most convenience way and lower cost way to let user search for records and keep long storage life, avoid data will affected by storage environment. But also need select storage media carefully. We need select storage media consider on records’ retention period and activity level. We suggest keeping same retention period record on same storage media, please don’t mix up different retention period records together. Also, if save the records on external storage media, CD-Rom or DVD, it’s need consider the records privacy level, don’t put the storage media to public place, it is easy to disclose the private data if the record is confidential. For confidential records, we suggest to store or archival records use password to meet the protect purpose. Up to now, store electronic records is seldom, many organizations were developing their own electronic record management system. In fact, build up the new system is so easy, but going to maintenance system is hard task. Organizations should be concern and set up some policy is suit for own company to follow. Moreover, disposition procedure of electronic records also very important. If organization decide to use electronic record management system, design workflow of handle electronic records is necessary. Also, staff training is good way to teach end user to use systems to match their daily work for seeking records. This is direct affect records are storage or use well. If electronic records were stored properly, it is totally save organization cost to keep paper-based records and increase staff efficiency. Therefore, build up the faultless system can bring organization many advantages for business, of course need follow above solutions to improve system. If organization can managed electronic records very well, it is bring some confidence to customer; it can earn some goodwill value for business. For the future, we believe paper-less business will be more popularize, that’s why well prepare electronic record management system is very valuable. This can bring organization much future contribution.

Porters generic strategies Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Porters generic strategies - Essay Example â€Å"Total quality management operates under the principles of continuous improvement of quality as opposed to maintenance of a static level† (Gattorna, 1998). It aims at approaching quality at an increasing scale. This is possible through training and motivation of employees so as to better quality. It is therefore paramount for the top management to state their commitment open to all employees. The advantage of the mode is that it has the ability to immediately detect and correct quality problems. It doesn’t rectify problems after occurrence. â€Å"Just in Time† is a philosophy in management that seeks to eliminate manufacturing wastes by producing right quantity at the right time and at the right place. Its main goal is to do away with non-value adding operations during production. Lean production or stockless production is a philosophy that aims at reducing inventory levels to an absolute minimum. Looking closely at the three aspects, Just in Time increases production, performance and quality in manufacturing industry. Lean, controls stock levels to avoid unnecessary production while Total Quality Management works towards good quality of products. The three aspects support each other in a manufacturing environment. â€Å"Toyota manufacturing industry adopted this principle which saw a reduction in manufacturing defects and parts storage problem† Management in transnational organisations is a challenging task especially in decisions making pertaining to supply chain.

Public finance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Public finance - Essay Example ng maximum output from its resources, whereas, parreto efficiency occurs where it is impossible to make one better off without making at least one worse off. The efficiency in the public sector is distorted by market failures. Market failures are those situations where conditions necessary to achieve the market efficient solution fail to exist or are repudiated somehow. Some the examples of market failures include the existence of public goods and externalities, imperfect competition, incomplete information, uncertainty and many more. When market fails in the public sector, inefficiencies are at its peak and intervention from a vast external force is much needed, this is the part where government intervenes in the market. The intervention of the government involves the four branches known as the Musgrave’s 4 branches which are; allocation branch, distributional branch, stabilization branch and regulatory branch. First, the allocation branch is activated when one of the following four principles are violated; a lucid system of property rights, complete information to buyers and sellers, excludable principle and rivalry in consumption. So for commodities where property rights cannot be assigned to a single individual, these common property resources fail the market due to the problem called tragedy of the commons, as these goods are for free and individuals’ tend to over use them. This over usage of the goods would mean rapid deterioration of the goods and that less of the goods would be available to others. This is a violation of the principle of having a clear system of property rights. The allocation branch corrects this inefficiency by communally owning the property rights rather than rights being privately owned and this means for each resource government allocates the right to use that resource. In addition, inefficiency also arises from pure public goods that are non-excludable and non-rival in consumption. In the case of non-excludable you cannot

Present situation analysis Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Present situation analysis - Assignment Example The demand for aged care services is driven by strength of health facilities in a country. It has been evaluated that by the year 2026, demand for aged care services is to go up by 12000 to 20000 citizens (Grant Thorton, 2010). This is triggered by the expected rise in population by 20% between 2006 and 2026 (Grant Thorton, 2010). It has been estimated that population above the age of 65 shall go up to 944000 from 512000, showing a rise of about 84% (Grant Thorton, 2010). Such massive increment in aged population shall require a commensurate rise on the supply side and it is estimated that by 2026, there shall be a requirement of about 78-110% in aged care services in New Zealand (Grant Thorton, 2010). In the present scenario, aged care services generate insufficient revenues to support the projected infrastructure demand. The financial returns have been highly subsidized and there is a huge demand for increasing the existing facilities to build new capacities and replace outdated stock. The paper is aimed at making a comprehensive analysis of the present situation and future scope of the aged care service sector in New Zealand. It makes a service profile analysis, an environmental study and a Budget analysis to present a view of the current situation of aged care division in the country. The future strategies and models of care are devised on the basis of such analysis of dismal situation of older population care in the country. New Zealand is in need of a large scale revolution in the aged care division. The sector was highly unregulated with presence of untrained workforce in the division. The aged population needs a plan for individualised care, instead of the residential care model that had been followed until presently. The demand for residential care has as a result gone down. The aim of aged care in New Zealand is to lower usage of institutionalised care and move forward to expand alternatives in development

Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Case Study Example Rasinghe has to consider the social consequences of taking a difference stance than the group. I believe that it would take a lot of courage for Rasinghe to vote against the motion. There is peer pressure involved in the decision of the group. The courage that Rasinghe needs must come from within. He can take pride in his past accomplishment such as complete a college education and use those things as an inspiration that will allow him to make the decision that is in his heart. Going against the group might not be popular, but Gehan has to be his own individual and make the decision that is right for him. I believe that the current rating system is flawed. It is a bit biased and needs greater participation from outsiders that make evaluation based on the skills, abilities, and leadership of each of the individual members. The participants of the program should not be rating each other because the program is supposed to be competitive training program in which the best candidates are trying to show who is more deserving of a promotion. If I was in Rasinghe’s position I would tell the upper management the truth about rating system. The opinions of my colleagues are irrelevant, thus I would vote against the motion. True leaders have to make tough decisions based on what is in the best interest of the company. This case study illustrates a scenario in which a young businessman is faced with a dilemma concerning loyalties to a group. In reality the group was supposed to be formed of the best young leaders in the organization. It is possible that some of the member of the group might be receiving promotions at the completion of the program. Gehan Rasinghe is the protagonist of the case study. His upraising within the organization followed a unique path that started with him being a bit of reject due to his shyness and awkward accent. He overcame those obstacles to become a leader within the organization. The situation in the case study could be

Pilando Golf Resort Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Pilando Golf Resort - Essay Example There are usually some bookings during lunch hours especially on weekends and during dinner hours. The hotel serves a range of dishes due to the diverse nature of the clientele. Besides serving food to guests and other recreational facilities, the hotel offers golf tournaments to its clientele. My experience at the facility as a volunteer exposed me to the various operations of business and the relations with guests at the facility. The experience at the resort exposed to various processes that relate to businesses. An important aspect of the business involved the development of a range of strategies including communication skills. Good communication skills are important in handling of the customers. Customers are different are usually relate to workers in different ways. In the hospitality industry, it is necessary for waiters to develop good communication skills in order to attract and retain the clients. Pilando Golf Resort has a very strong work ethic. Workers are usually motivat ed to provide their best services in order to attract and retain the clientele. The management also helps the workers to develop key skills that are necessary for proper handling of the guests. Usually, the management handles most of the issues that concern the welfare of the guests. The organizational structure of the resort involves a team of managers at the top, followed by supervisors, and finally the workers. The top-level management usually handles decision-making at the resort. Various departments coordinate to ensure the smooth running of the facility. Some of the departments include customer care department, finance department, planning department, and many others. Each department operates according to the mission and vision of the business.

How does your understanding of Postcolonial Theory inform your Essay

How does your understanding of Postcolonial Theory inform your interpretaion of Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children and Tsitsi Dangarembga's Nervous Condition - Essay Example Post colonial theory was based on the two theoretical concepts of the time, related to identity, i.e. ‘otherness’ and ‘hybridity’. The colonized people were diverse in their nature and tradition .They are ‘other ‘to the colonizers but are different from one another also. Such a drastic situation was meticulous to India and Africa. Both the countries had shared the common pain of identity and tradition. A comprehensible understanding of the political and cultural aspects of the countries is needed to unravel the stories in its full meaning. ‘Midnights Children’ and ‘Nervous Condition’ are such great novels of the time dealt successfully with the postcolonial theory and there by the self search of the natives Salman Rushdie’s ‘Midnight’s children’ is a novel about Indian independence, the partition and their aftermath. The novel is Rushdie’s interpretation of a period of about seventy years in India’s modern history dealing with the events leading to the partition of India and beyond .The novel encapsulates the experiences of three generation of Sinai family living in Srinagar, Amritsar and Agra and then in Bombay and finally migrating to Karachi. Tsitsi Dambengara’s Nervous condition’ is set in the post colonial Rhodesia of 1960s. The narrator and the main character, Thambu, expresses her experience with colonization, as a child growing up from a poor African community, with tremendous correctness and detail. She is anything but typical. A great deal of the novel reveals the development of Thambu as she becomes a young lady and the relationship with her cousin Nyasha .As they mature we can identify the difference in their characters . Tsitsi also adopt the method of narration as Saleem in ‘Midnights children’ .Saleem works in a pickle factory by day and records his experiences in the night hoping that one day the world would taste the pickle of history. Alongside of

Environmental Law in India Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4250 words

Environmental Law in India - Essay Example Indian government had desires to boost its economy. Boosting the agro based and agro supporting industries was one of her key economic preferences. However, the government, to achieve the abovementioned aims, ignored all the safety measures that should have been taken. In 1969, Union Carbide (UCC-the parent company) set up a small plant (Union Carbide India Ltd.- UCIL) in Bhopal, the capital city of Madhya Pradesh, to formulate pesticides. The United Carbide also had no risk management plans nor did the government bothered to ask them to develop any. This intentional ignorance led to more than 20000 causalities. BBC - On This Day.3rd December,1984.In Context, Bhopal Disaster. The MIC facility was located in the existing Carbide plant adjacent to an existing inhabited locality and hardly two kilometers from the railway station. Although Union Carbide claims that the "squatter settlements" around the plant arrived only after the inception of United Carbide, modern research has convinci ngly rejected the claim. As described earlier, in 1960's and 1970's, the developing countries were in a desperate desire for the economic growth through the industrial promotion. The Indian economy is mainly based on agriculture. It thus required the growth in agro based and agro supporting industries in order to boost their agricultural sector in general, and the economy on the whole, in line with the modern technologies. Since these countries lack the essential infrastructure (for example, training, communication, education etc.) required to maintain the emerging technology, they are specially at the greater degree of vulnerability. As a result of it, these nations often find themselves competing for international investors and during this race to excel in attracting the foreign companies, they tend to ignore, sometimes without significant deliberation but often deliberately, the health and environmental violations in which these multinational corporations engage in. "Developing countries confer upon MNC's a competitive advantage because they offer low-cost labor, access to markets, and lower operating costs. Once there, companies have little incentive to minimize environmental and human risks. Lax environmental and safety regulation, inadequate capital investment in safety equipment, and poor communications between companies and governments compound the problem." (Cassels 279). This happened with India too. They also ignored the safety, health and environmental violations by the Union Carbide on a mass scale. A. UNION CARBIDE AND THE INTRODUCTION OF PESTICIDES The Indian economy was based on agriculture. This project was the part of India's Green Revolution. During the late sixties and early seventies of the twentieth century, the total agricultural production increased dramatically by the use of pesticides. The government wanted to have the plants for the pesticides within India in order to gain self sufficiency in the agricultural production without losing significant amount of foreign exchange. (Cassels 39) In 1969, a small plant was set up at Bhopal with the name Union Carbide India Limited,

Causes of World War Essay Example for Free

Causes of World War Essay World War 1 was the first war in history that had most of the world dragged into conflict against one another. There were many causes of WW1 the main one that actually started it was a short term cause, the assassination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand of the Austria-Hungary Empire. But there were a lot of long term causes that were building up to war like the arms race with military sections such as navy being built up especially between Britain and Germany. Also Imperialism was a great cause because Germany had only just unified in comparison to the rest of the world they wanted to get themselves on the map in regards to some colies but there wasnt much free space rest in the world, also there was the alliance systems that actually pulled everyone into the war. Nationalism also played a role, basically its patriotism so it cone sides with the alliance system especially to do with Britain and all its colonies such as Australia and Canada, they join the war because of the alliance but also because Britain is basically there mother so even though they were independent they still were going to help out their oldest and greatest ally at that time. The only short term cause was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand on June 28 1914, this act committed by Gavrilo Princip in Sarajevo; Bosnia was the match that started the fuse that led to war. The reason for this assassination was mainly because he and his group wanted to break free of the Austria-Hungary Empire and have an independent Yugoslavia. This caused the spark of the war because Austria-Hungary found out that Serbia helped to provide some equipment and weapons. So they decided to teach Serbia a lesson by going to war with them and were planning on crushing them but they couldnt because Serbia was allied with Russia but they did anyway pulling there ally, Germany, in and causing the whole conflict to kick off. The death of one royal family member and the actions of one man to commit that murder ended up getting approximately 16 million people killed in the process. The arms race then ensued when Germany started to build its navy in compaction with Britain use 4,532,000 tonnes of iron and other materials and had 63 separate Dreadnoughts built. Those figures were just for the dreadnoughts that does not include other ships like destroyers and torpedo boats. That shows the pure magnitude of the want that Germany had to out-class and over power the amazing and massive British Navy that had been dominate in the oceans of the world for hundreds of years. There is a reason for the saying Rule Britannia, Britannia rules the waves. The whole arms race was because Germany wanted to become the world power over Britain and to do that they needed a navy but they couldnt really build massive ships in secret so the British found out and started to up there navy power as well, to stay ahead. One of the main ways they did that was by introducing the HMS Dreadnought; it was a new design that was faster and stronger than any other ship that had been built to date. It was launched on the 10th of February 1906 starting a new class of ships, the Dreadnought class. The whole naval arms race was a product of Germanys imperialism and want to become a major world power but because they had only unified in 1871 they didnt have much of a chance to get many colonies but they got a few and needed a navy to defend them but they had other plans on what to do next. There was also an arms race on land/ sky but it was no were near as large or cost as much because ships are a lot bigger and more expensive. But ever since wright brothers flew their first plane the military was interested in using them as weapons and they did, Biplanes made their combat debut during WW1 and it was the first time battles had taken to the skies and there was more than just ground forces to consider when planning out tactics. Also it was during but there was also the invention of the Tank or as it were first called Land ships. Imperialism was a major stir between the European powers as they were all trying to get more colonies and more land, but during this time Germany still wasnt Germany it was Prussia and because they unified late they didnt have a chance to colonies the world but they did do it in time to participate in the scramble for Africa and its resources. The reason for it being a part of the build up to WW1 was that Germany was envious of the rest of the European powers and how many colonies they possessed, especially Britain. This might not seem that important but to be a world power you needed influence around the world or a lot of land (like Russia) but Germany had neither but the wanted to be conceded a world power but they couldnt really because there was not much land left that the Germans could Colonise. Germany was also involved in the Morocco crisis because they wanted equal economic benefits from Morocco including Moroccos natural resources. This whole situation was a big problem between the European power and who would control Morocco. Nationalism is just patriotism on an extreme level, during the early 1900s all powers in Europe had their populations tricked because they all thought their ideologies were the best and their army could crush any opponent. Basically the major powers thought they were the biggest and the best. This was especially important between Russia and Germany the main reason Germany agree to support Austria-Hungary is because the tension between Russia and Germany was building. But because of nationalism was so strong in Germany they thought, well war is inevitable so we may as well crush them now. But Russian people had the same idea. On the outbreak of war Germanys mobilised with the strength of 3.8 million in there general army compared to Russias 5.25 million. You can see that Russias military was a lot bigger but Germany had it going through their minds that they could win anyway, even though on the outbreak they sent most of their troops towards France to destroy them quickly, that was the plan anyway. The whole reason most empires/ countries got involved was because they thought their armies were so amazing that their contribution would end the war in under a year, which was not true because of the stalemate that old tactics with new equipment caused, because as soon as machine guns were introduced trench warfare was outdated. The alliances were the main long term cause of WW1 they are what brought everyone into the war making it a world war, because it involved most of the world. The first treaty that was called upon was Serbia calling on Russia because of the treat from Austria-Hungary and Serbia could definitely not stand up on its own to such a large empire such as Austria-Hungary. There  was no signed treaty but Russia wanted to keep the peace in the Bucklands area and to do that they need to mobilise their military. And the mobilising of Russias military marked the start of many chain reactions of treaties/ alliances that would be called upon that cause one assassination to turn into the First World War. The Duel Alliance was the defence agreement between Austria-Hungary and Germany it was brought in, in case Russia attacked which was most likely at the point when the treaty was signed in 1879. Also ironically it was signed to limit war but it did the exacted opposite. But even though it was called upon for an offensive movement it was still defensive from Russia because Austria-Hungary invaded Serbia cause the Russians to move there army towards Austria-Hungary so they called for support from Germany and they got it. These were the first two alliances call upon and they started the First World War. The Franco-Russian Alliance was between Russia and France it was mainly to contain the threat of Germany because if Germany decaled war on either of them they would have to fight on two fronts because France and Russia were right next to Germany but on opposite geographical sides. It was signed in 1836 and its purpose was to dissuade Germany it worked for a while but ultimately it failed and Germany declared war on both of them. The Treaty of London was signed 1839 and its point was to recognise and guarantee Belgiums independence and Neutrality. Because it was so old Germany called it The Scrape of Paper and when Germany planned to disregard Belgiums neutrality by going through Belgiums boarders to invade France they expected no one to care or act upon it. Not only was this seen as war mongering but Britain stayed true to their word to Belgium and got involved in the war because of that. And with the entry of Britain brought all her allies from her colonies; Australia, Canada, India, New Zealand, South Africa. With that most of the world was involved and it truly had become a World War. Then finally there was America. America was not obliged to join the war at any point by a military alliance but as soon as Germany announced unrestricted submarine warfare in 1917 trying to restrict shipping to Britain and force them to surrender by starving them American shipping was in danger because America shipped food and other goods to help them in the war effort indirectly. But with their shipping naval personnel in danger they didnt have much of a choice to declare war on Germany thus America entered the war. In conclusion there were many reasons for WW1 to start but most of them had been building up for years behind the scenes it just took the match of the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand to light the fuse and the world exploded into chaos and destruction with roughly 16 million people dead, 20 million wounded, and 8 million missing it was one of the biggest wars in the worlds history. BIBLIOGRAPHY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5YREY33W24 Published on 4 Aug 2014 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njINCi9iIrA Published on 25 Jun 2010 http://www.schoolhistory.co.uk/gcselinks/wars/firstwwlinks/worksheets/causeswwi.pdf Published on (No date found) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Causes_of_World_War_I Published on 29 Aug 2014 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archduke_Franz_Ferdinand_of_Austria Published on 29 Aug 2014 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_of_Archduke_Franz_Ferdinand_of_Austria Published on 27 Aug 2014 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gavrilo_Princip Published on 5 Aug 2014 http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/archduke-franz-ferdinand-assassinated Published on (No date found) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglo-German_naval_arms_race Published on 19 Jul 2014 http://alphahistory.com/worldwar1/imperialism/ Published on (No date found) http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/moroccan_crisis_1905.htm Published during May 2012 http://alphahistory.com/worldwar1/nationalism/ Published on (No date found) http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=3415778 Published on 24 Sep 2013 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russia%E2%80%93Serbia_relations Published on 11 Jun 2014 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dual_Alliance_(1879) Published on 2 Aug 2014 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franco-Russian_Alliance Published on 23 Aug 2014 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_London_(1839) Published on 23 Aug 2014 http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/america_and_world_war_one.htm Published during 2006 The First World War, Robin Lobban, Oxford University Press Text book from school, page 91 (white)

China One Child Policy Essay Example for Free

China One Child Policy Essay Imagine a world where one can’t just simply go to the supermarket because there is not enough food. A world where pollution is a daily reality, the air too thick to even breath and the water virtually undrinkable. A place you can no longer buy consumer goods because there isn’t enough materials to make them. This could become a reality, but preventing it has always been on the minds of the Chinese government. War and epidemics had struck China for years, but after the founding of the Peoples Republic of China, sanitation and medicine improved and prompted rapid population growth. This combined with the movement created by Mao Zedong, China’s previous communist leader, led to rapid population growth that gave China’s monumental population. This monumental mistake took its toll in the food supply when Mao emphasized steel production over farming, food supply slipped behind population growth; by 1962 a massive famine had caused some 30 million deaths. After the population leveled off, the government continued the camping to reduce China’s population. In 1979 the Chinese government introduced a policy requiring couples from Chinas ethnic Han majority to have only one child. Depending on where they lived parents can be fined thousand of dollars for having an extra child without a permit and can be forced to abort the child and then be sterilized. With all this in mind I not only believe that the one child policy with some adjustments can be a good solution to the overpopulation and issues related to it but also it is a necessary policy. With changes to the policy will greatly improve China’s people living environment and standards. Without this policy we can face serious issues concerning food supplies, depletion of natural resources at a rapid rate, poverty,spreading of diseases due to lack of proper medical care, overcrowded cities that can lead to heavy pollution, inadequate housing, lower life expectancy and higher death rates, educational facilities may not meet the population requirements,and finally lower employment opportunities that lead to unequal distribution of wealth. All of this could become a reality without the proper population control provided by the policy. Society a highly structured system of human organization for large-scale community living that normally furnishes protection, continuity, security, and a national identity. Some essential things that are required for the flourishment of a society are essentials such as food and water. This are non debatable requirements for cities to rise, survive and thrive. Over population can bring many obstacles and difficulties that could impede us from thriving as a society. Some include heavy pollution that is caused by factories that are needed to meet the demands of the big population. This pollution can be precipitated into the water sources can lead to the spread of diseases such as cholera and typhoids. Although higher population number will produce more food the earth can only support so much. Even with genetically modified (GMC’s) the land can only be used so much before it runs put of nutrients and then become useless. The overuse of the land will lead to soil erosion from trying to meet the food demands of a huge population. Air pollution can cause the spread of diseases such as asthma, COPD, cystic fibrosis, heart disease and even diabetes. This will lead to millions of death and could potentially wipe out entire populations and cause poor living conditions. The lack of proper medical care will be one of many factors also contributing to the decline of living standards and lower living expectancies which means higher death rates. Thomas Malthus wrote theories that predicted living conditions over many centuries. He stated that over population will cause more disadvantages that will outweigh the advantages. Some might said that in his theory he didn’t take into account the advances in technology that is essential to the prosperity of a country. I don’t argue that Malthus may not have taken that into account but it still doesn’t change the fact that earth has a finite carrying capacity. No matter how technology progresses or gets better it will be limited by the resources that we can get. Resources are limited. Technology could provide ways of using this resources more efficiently but no matter what we do it will always lead to the depletion because of higher demand caused by overpopulation. Although technology can solve many of our problems it has a great limitation. That limitation is us. The overcrowding of cities may lead to educational facilities not being able to provide the proper learning environment and fail to teach the population. This will cause high levels kids falling behind and not be able to contribute and move on to high level jobs in science, math or engineering which will slow down the rate of progression in technology, and without it we won’t be able to meet the demands of a large population. Over population can cause lower employment opportunities that will leave many families in poverty. This will cause and uneven distribution of wealth that can cause the crime rate to go higher. Less jobs means the economy would be very limited or there will be a lot of jobs but minimum wage jobs. Families would be forced to sends their children to work so they can help support the family instead of sending them to school. With a smaller population more high level jobs can be given and more money means better standard of living and high life expectancy levels. Wealth can provide many things such as medical care, adequate housing,etc. All of this can be avoided with population control policies such as the one child policy. There is a lot of disadvantages that can cause a disastrous future. So we need to ask ourselves if that will be a life wen want to live in. The answer will always come down to no. The one child policy has harsh effects that are controversial. The forced sterilization and abortion of women is one of the horrid realities that the policy makes possible. But this doesn’t change the fact that the policy is a necessity. I completely agree that this must be change. New regulations can be put into place that are more passive and more widely accepted by the majority. The one child policy is a necessity that helps our society in many ways. The advantages of having this policy far outweigh the disadvantages. It keeps China’s prosperity and encourages great economic wealth and progression. So I urge you to consider all of the points made and see that the one child policy is not only a smart choice but also a great one.

Big Data as an e-Health Service

Big Data as an e-Health Service Abstract: Bigdata in healthcare relates to electronic health records, patients reported outcomes all other data sets.It is not possible to maintain large and complex data with traditional database tools. After many innovation researches done by researchers Big Data is regenerating the health care, business data and finally society as e-Health .The study on bigdata e-health service. In this paper we come to know why the current technologies like STORM, hadoop, MapReduce can’t be applied directly to electronic-health services. It describes the added capabilities required to make the electronic-health services to become more practical. Next this paper provides report on architecture of bigdata e-health services that provides meaning of e-services, management operations and compliance. Keywords: Introduction to big data, different types of technologies of bigdata, advantages of bigdata, applications of big data, solutions of e-health services, big data as a service provider, e-health data operation management. Introduction: What is bigdata? Bigdata consisting of extremely huge amount of data sets which consists all kinds of data and it is difficult to extract. It can be described by the characteristics like variety, velocity, volume and variability. Variety It consists of data like structured, unstructured and semi structured data Structured data consists of databases, small scale health personal records, insurances, data wares, Enterprise Systems(like CRM, ERP etc) Unstructured data consists of analog data, Audio/video streams. Treatment data, research data Semi Structured data consists of XML, E-Mail, EDI. Velocity Velocity depends on time Sensitivity   It also depends on streaming Volume   It may consists of large quantities of files or small files in quantity   for example , now a days single person can have more than one Gmail account. When he wants to login into a gmail accounts the system generates log files . If a person login into gmail account multiple times through his different accounts then , the system generates huge number of log files that is stored in a servers using bigdata. Variability   It shows the inconsistency of data depends on variation of time period .It may be a problem for analyzing the data. Historically Bigdata in health care industries generate huge amount of electronic health datasets are so complex and difficult to manage by using the traditional software’s or hardware nor by using some database management tools. Now the current trend is to make these huge amount of data as Digitalization so that this whole digital healthcare system will transform the whole healthcare process will become more efficient and highly expensive cost will be reduced. In other words Bigdata in healthcare is evolving into a propitious field for providing perception from large set of data and it produces outcomes which reduces the cost. Bigdata in healthcare industry is stunning not only because of huge volume of datasets like clinical records of patients health reports, patient insurance report, pharmacy, prescriptions , medical imaging , patient data in electronic patient records etc but also multiplicity of data types and the speed of increasing the records. Some of the reports generated by researchers on the health care systems shows that, one of the health care system alone has reached in 2011, 150 Exabyte. At this rate of increase of growth, in future the bigdata reaches Zettabyte scale and soon it reaches to Yottabyte from various sources like electronic medical records Systems, social media reports, Personal health reports, mobile health care records, analytical reports on large array of biomedical sensors and smart phones. The electronic-health medical reports generated by single patient generates thousands of medical reports which includes medical reports, lab reports, insurances, digital image reports , billing details etc.All these records are needed to be stored in database for validating , integrating these records for meaningful analysis. If these reports are generated by multiple patients across the whole world of healthcare processing system then we have to combine these whole data into a single system which is a big challenge for Big Data. As the volume and Source of storing the data increases rapidly then we can utilize the e-health data to reduce the cost and improves the treatment. We can achieve it by investigating the big data e-health System that satisfies Big Data applications. BIG DATA FOUNDATIONS FOR E-HEALTH : The Following Figure 1 shows the bigdata service environment architecture that provides the support for electronic-health applications from different sources like testing center, individual patients, insurance facilitator and government agencies .All these produces some standard health records are connected commonly to a national healthcare network. Figure 1. e-Health Big Data Service Environments Different types of Data sources : The different types of data sources may include structured database, unstructured datasets and semi structured information Some of the standard structured data that deals with the drug insurance policy by NCPDP (National Council for Prescription Drug Program) and NCPDP SCRIPT for messaging the electronic prescription for validating the interaction between drug to drug, medical database records, dosage of drug, maintain the records. The semi structured data related to radiology pictures are changed over the IP networks is provided by DICOM(Digital Imaging and communication in Medicine). The e-Health system store, gather the medical information, patient information to the doctors unexpectedly includes medical information, vaccination details, diagnostics’ reports. HDWA Healthcare Data Warehousing Association it provides the environment for from others. They work collaboratively which helps them to deliver accurate results or solutions from their own organizations A strong relationship and interaction from test facilitators and technical team is maintained within the organization. We have to face the challenges for utilizing the unstructured data related to different concepts, sharing and accessing the data. Big data solutions and products: Bigdata investigation requires knowledge about storing, inspecting, discovering, visualizing the data and providing security by making some changes to some of technologies like Hadoop, MapReduce, STORM and with combinations. STROM: STROM is a distributed, open source , real time and fault-tolerant computational system. It can process the large amount of data on different machines and in real time each message will be processed. Strom programs can be developed by using any programming languages but especially it uses java , python and other. Strom is extremely fast and has the capability to process millions of records per second per node as it is required for e-health services. It combines with the message queuing and database technologies. From the figure 2 we can observe that a Strom topology takes huge amount of data and process the data in a typical manner and repartitioning the streams of data between each stage of process. A strom topology consists of spout and bolts that can process huge amount of data. In terms of strom components the spout reads the incoming data and it can also read the data from existing files .if the file is modified then spout also enters the modified data also. Bolt is responsible for all processing what happens on the topology , it can do anything from filtering to joins, aggregations, talking to database. Bolts receive the data from spout for processing. Figure 2. Illustration of STORM Architecture (ref: https://storm.apache.org/) Some of the important characteristics of Strom for data processing are: Fast-It can process one million 100 bytes per second per node Scalable-with parallel calculations that runs across the machine Fault-tolerant-if a node dies strom will automatically restart them Reliable-strom can process each unit of data alleast once or exactly once Easy to operate-once deployed strom can be operated easily (ref: http://hortonworks.com/hadoop/storm/) Hadoop for batch processing: Hadoop was initially designed for batch processing i.e., it takes inputs as a large set of data at once, process it and write the output. Through this batch processing and HDFS(hadoop distributed file system) it produce high throughput data processing.Hadoop is another framework , runs on MapReduce technology to do distributed computations on different servers. (ref diagram: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apache_Hadoop) Figure 3. Hadoop Processing Systems From the figure 3 we can observe that a hadoop multi-node cluster , it consists of single master node and slave node. A master node has different trackers like task tracker for scheduling the tasks , job tracker server handles with the job appointments in a order. Master also acts like a data node and name node. The slave node acts like a task tracker and data node which process the data only by slave-node only. HDFS layer deals with large cluster of nodes manage the name node server which prevents the corruption of file by taking the snapshots of the name node memory structure. Many top companies uses the hadoop technology plays a prominent role in the market.The Vendors who uses Hadoop technology will produce accurate results with high performance, scalability in output and cost is reduced. Some of the companies like Amazon, IBM, Zettaset, Dell and other uses Hadoop technology for easy analysis, provides security, user friendly solutions for complex problems.( http://www.technavio.com/blog/top-14-hadoop-technology-companies) MAPREDUCE: In 2004, Google released a framework called Hadoop MapReduce. This framework is used for writing the applications which process huge amount of multi-terabyte data sets in parallel on large number of nodes. MapReduce divides the work loads into multiple tasks that can be executed parallel. Computational process can be done on both file system and database. (ref: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MapReduce) MapReduce code is usuallay written in java program and it can also can write in another programming languages. It consists of two fundamental components like Map and Reduce. The input and output generated by MapReduce is in the form of key and value pair. The map node will take the input in the form of large clusters and divides it into smaller clusters were the execution process is easy. Rather Mapreduce provides support for hadoop distributed file system can store the data in different servers. This framework provides support for thousands of computational applications and peg bytes of data. Some of the important features of mapreduce are scale-out architecture , security and authentication, resource manager, optimized scheduling, flexibility and high availability. Additional tools are needed to add and should be trained for e-Health files to reduce the complexity because some of the compressed files like electronic-health DICOM picture file should be mapped to a singler Map Reducer so it reduces the BigdData effectiveness. The Hadoop big data applications has imposed a limitations on big data technologies has focused on the applications like offline informatics systems. 4) Programming Tools: The other solution for the e-Health bigdata is MUMPS, it is an programming tool. MUMPS is abbreviated as Massachusetts General Hospital Utility Multi-Programming System. It is also known as M programming language. M is a multi user and it is designed to control the huge amount of database. M programming can produce high performance in health cares and in financial applications. M provides simple data considerations in which the data is given in the form of string of characters and the given data is structured in a multidimensional array. M requires support for sparse data.Accorrding to the research done by the scientist in US hospitals they are maintaing the electronic Health records (HER) using M language including Vista(Veterans Health Information Systems and Technology Architecture) which manages all hospitals care facilities run by the Department of Veterans. (ref: http://opensource.com/health/12/2/join-m-revolution) In future some of the analytical algorithms are developed to solve the problems faced with the big data applications Additional e-Health (Big Data) Capabilities: The additional capabilities provided by the Big data e-Health services are Data Federation and aggregation, Security and Regulatory Concerns and Data Operational Management. The bigdata provides the services which helps to organize and store the huge amount of data. Those data is is digitalization , consists of large amount of datasets consists information related to patients all reports. 1) Data Federation and Aggregation: Data Federation is a type of software which collections the data from the multiple users and integrates the data.Typically traditional software cannot given the solution to store the huge amount of data in hardwares or by some database management tools.But the Data federation will provide a solution based upon the bigdata architecture is based by collecting the data inside and outside of the enterprise through the layer. Some of the important data federation tools are Sysbase federation, IBM InfoSphere Federation server and so on. (ref: http://etl-tools.info/en/data-federation.html) 2) Security and Regularity Concerns: Security is one of the important requirement to describe bidgata e-health services.Security plays a important role because patient share their personl information with the doctors which help the physician to give the correct treatment 3) Data Operational Management

Investors and Hedge Funds Essay -- Business, Investment

Are hedge funds suitable for retail investors? There are many different reasons that mankind save and invest for. Generally, pension fund is the best choice for investors who are not keen to take risks. The pension fund is by far the highest number of investment that is low risk for many people. However, the pension fund is low return as well. â€Å"At annuity rate 8% of per annum (p.a.), a pension of  £20,000 a year requires a pension fund of  £250,000† (Redhead, 2008:1). In 1949, the first hedge fund was created by Alfred Jones. However, over the past 5 years, the expansion of the hedge funds is really incredible. According to the published statement, there was an increase in the number of hedge funds from 1,435 to 2,073 in 2005. Furthermore, in globally, the estimation of hedge funds is around 12,000 in 2006 (Strachman, 2007). Making a great deal of return in every market is an objective of hedge funds, that being able to make profit in any conditions whether positive, negative or stable. Hedge funds are usually a small private group which is suitable for wealthy people who accept high risk and keen to accept limitless liabilities for losses (Liang, 1999). The investment skills of the hedge funds managers may relate to the performance of hedge funds rather than market performance. Hedge funds use flexibility of investment strategy and style and also seek optimistic profits with irrespective to the way of markets. Short-selling, leverage and derivatives are often used by the managers of hedge fund. Flexibility, self-rule with admiration their investment plans and secrecy are desired by the most of hedge funds managers (Redhead, 2008:351). Shleifer and Vishny (1997) mentioned that the investors, invested in hedge funds, who ign... ...ured by kurtosis and skewnessâ€Å"(Redhead, 2008: 356). Gregoriou (2002) achieved with a survival study of hedge funds. It evaluates the possible life of whole and surely looks for the affected factors of the length of its life. He estimated that the mean life of them was 5.5 years. It also has several related factors which linked with long life such as large size, high returns low leverage, and low minimum purchase requirements. Because of poor performance was major cause to make the hedge funds be defunct initially. Baquero et al. (2005) also informed that great hedge funds with high returns were a reduced amount of result probable to pay a debt. As a result, investors who are investing with the hedge fund should deeply learn and concentrate on information of hedge funds’ life because the funds cannot be withdrawn throughout investment (Redhead, 2008:355). Investors and Hedge Funds Essay -- Business, Investment Are hedge funds suitable for retail investors? There are many different reasons that mankind save and invest for. Generally, pension fund is the best choice for investors who are not keen to take risks. The pension fund is by far the highest number of investment that is low risk for many people. However, the pension fund is low return as well. â€Å"At annuity rate 8% of per annum (p.a.), a pension of  £20,000 a year requires a pension fund of  £250,000† (Redhead, 2008:1). In 1949, the first hedge fund was created by Alfred Jones. However, over the past 5 years, the expansion of the hedge funds is really incredible. According to the published statement, there was an increase in the number of hedge funds from 1,435 to 2,073 in 2005. Furthermore, in globally, the estimation of hedge funds is around 12,000 in 2006 (Strachman, 2007). Making a great deal of return in every market is an objective of hedge funds, that being able to make profit in any conditions whether positive, negative or stable. Hedge funds are usually a small private group which is suitable for wealthy people who accept high risk and keen to accept limitless liabilities for losses (Liang, 1999). The investment skills of the hedge funds managers may relate to the performance of hedge funds rather than market performance. Hedge funds use flexibility of investment strategy and style and also seek optimistic profits with irrespective to the way of markets. Short-selling, leverage and derivatives are often used by the managers of hedge fund. Flexibility, self-rule with admiration their investment plans and secrecy are desired by the most of hedge funds managers (Redhead, 2008:351). Shleifer and Vishny (1997) mentioned that the investors, invested in hedge funds, who ign... ...ured by kurtosis and skewnessâ€Å"(Redhead, 2008: 356). Gregoriou (2002) achieved with a survival study of hedge funds. It evaluates the possible life of whole and surely looks for the affected factors of the length of its life. He estimated that the mean life of them was 5.5 years. It also has several related factors which linked with long life such as large size, high returns low leverage, and low minimum purchase requirements. Because of poor performance was major cause to make the hedge funds be defunct initially. Baquero et al. (2005) also informed that great hedge funds with high returns were a reduced amount of result probable to pay a debt. As a result, investors who are investing with the hedge fund should deeply learn and concentrate on information of hedge funds’ life because the funds cannot be withdrawn throughout investment (Redhead, 2008:355).

Macbeth - Characters In The First Three Acts :: essays research papers

Compare and contrast the characters of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth in the first three Acts of Macbeth. Macbeth, the tragedy, is a penetrating, concentrated, and harrowing study of ambition. The play itself tells the story of a man, urged by his wife and foretold by prophecy, who commits regicide in order to gain power. His ostentatious appetite for domination only leads to his triumphal downfall deeming he and his wife naught but the, "dead butcher and his fiend like queen." However, the final analogy is a product of circumstantial change made evident in the first three acts. Macbeth is a basically good man who is troubled by his conscience and loyalty though at the same time ambitious and murderous. He is led to evil initially by the witches' prophecies, and then by his wife's provocation, which he succumbs to because of the unrequited love he has for her. In retrospect, Lady Macbeth, whilst appearing patronising and manipulative, is in essence, a good wife who loves her husband. She is also ambitious but lacks the morals and integrity her husband posesses. To achieve her ambition, she rids of herself of any kindness that might stand in the way. However, she runs out of energy to supress her conscience and commits suicide. A foundation reputation for Macbeth is fashioned before he comes on to the stage. The Sergeant who has fought on his side harps about Macbeth’s valour in war, "But all’s too weak | For brave Macbeth – well he deserves that name"(Act I, scene II). We then hear from Ross, who consistently speaks of Macbeth’s courage in battle, "The Thane of Cawdor, began a dismal conflict | †¦Point against point, rebellious arm ‘gainst arm | Curbing his lavish spirit: and to conclude | The victory fell on us - "(Act I, scene II). These accounts imply a mighty, patriotic warrior and a loyal subject to the King. As the plot thickens, Macbeth falls short of these expectations, as a cloud of suspicion hangs over his conspicuous relationships with the Three witches. The suspicion grows when he (aside) confesses his "black and deep desires"(Act I, scene IV). Macbeth knows in order to obtain the throne he must kill Duncan yet acutely acknowl edges the duty he owes to Duncan. He knows to kill Duncan would ultimately be an enormous sin, a crime against heaven and therefore Macbeth is restrained.

Discovering Freedom in Kate Chopin’s The Story of an Hour Essay

Discovering Freedom in Kate Chopin’s The Story of an Hour As humans, we live our life within the boundaries of our belief systems and moral guidelines. Yet, one unexpected event can suddenly knock us out of our comfort zone and thrust us into a completely different arena. Such is the case of the central character in Kate Chopin’s â€Å"The Story of an Hour.† Louise Mallard, upon hearing the news of her husband’s tragic death then subsequent revelation of its fallacy, finds herself quickly moving from grief, through a sense of newfound freedom, and finally into the despair of the loss of that freedom. After learning of her husband’s death in a railroad disaster, Mrs. Mallard sinks into a deep state of grief, as one would be expected to do upon receiving such news. She weeps uncontrollably until she can weep no more. Finally, she seeks refuge alone in her room, accepting comfort from no one. Physically and emotionally drained, Mrs. Mallard sits in a chair in front of an open window. Through that window begins a realization that haunts her as it creeps into her consciousness, and mo...

Alternative Education

Alternative Education is expected to meet the needs of those students who are not ensuing in conventional setting. Students are provided with several options that can lead to graduation. They are offered with support services that are essential to their success (Fantini, 2005). Alternative education has models, which are based on the programs philosophy and the desires of the students (Fantini, 2005). There are those that follow a community affiliation model that features alliance with the larger community.Some combine academics with a vocational intervention that focuses on making school more meaningful at the same time preparing students for the workforce (Cantrell, 2001). The programs offered range from actual schools to programs within schools to single classrooms. By year 2000, it was estimated that over 15 percent of the students enrolled in public education and in some countries, a student attended a public school that he wanted.Since 1500, there have been private schools, ins ular schools or home schooling alternatives for those, who could manage to pay for himself or herself or whose beliefs dictated an exacting loom to education. Current history Alternative schooling has become widely important especially in public schools. It originated in United States but it is gaining popularity in other nations (Greene, 2006). The developments that we see in these schools originated from an effort of parents and teachers.They were experimenting how they can discover better ways of educating their sons and daughters and amalgamate educational ideas from some of the acknowledged educational leaders. It is important to note that practices developed in early schools of choice are contributing to local, state, and national efforts to improve public education in all countries (Fantini, 2005). Alternative schooling that has succeeded for more than thirty years is not only considered to be effective in teaching all kinds of students but also highly attractive to parents a nd students (O’Brien & Thesing, 2001).

New Heritage Company

NEW HERITAGE DOLL COMPANY Capital Budgeting NEW HERITAGE DOLL COMPANY Capital Budgeting Brief Case Brief Case Brief Case Brief Case Brief Case Brief Case Brief Case Brief Case To: CFO (New Heritage Doll Company) From: Date: 11/16/12 RE: NEW HERITAGE DOLL COMPANY To: CFO (New Heritage Doll Company) From: Date: 11/16/12 RE: NEW HERITAGE DOLL COMPANY Here a composite report is advanced on the toy industry, New Heritage Doll Company and the evaluation of its investment projects. Here a composite report is advanced on the toy industry, New Heritage Doll Company and the evaluation of its investment projects. Index Index | | 1. Introduction| 4| | | | | | 2. The Doll Industry| 6| | | | | | | 3. New Heritage Company| 9| | | | | | | 4. Capital Budgeting| 11| | | | | | | 5. Investment Proposals| 17| | | | | | | 6. Projects analysis| 20| | | | | | | 7. Election of one project| 26| | | | | | | 8. Exhibit. 1. Match My Doll Clothing| 32| | | | | | | 9. Exhibit. 2. Design Your Own Doll| 35| 1. Intro duction 1. Introduction ————————————————- ————————————————- 1. 1 New Heritage Doll Company: Capital budget In September 2010 Emily Harris was considering two proposals for investment for the company New Heritage Doll Company.As always, there are certain financial constraints that force the choice of a project and discard the other. The evaluation process for each project is hard, there are many details to consider, other data are not known with certainty and the only thing that can be done is an estimate as closely as possible. Our role here is to help interpret information, work with it, develop surveys and help clarify the dilemma so that the end result is the choice of the most suitable investment project for New Heritage Doll Company. Sport toys Sport toys 2. The doll industry 2. The doll industryNew Heritage has created a durable franchise for its line of heirloom dolls. New Heritage has created a durable franchise for its line of heirloom dolls. Revenue in the toy industry in the United States were 42 billion in 2008 and is expected to grow 4. 6% per year to reach 52. 5 billion in 2013 (graph 1). The market is divided into two broad segments: video games (48%) and traditional toys and games (52%) (Figure 2). The second segment is further divided into preschool toys (14. 5%), wrist (14. 1%), sports toys (12. 3%) and other toys and games (59. 1%) (Figure 3). Figure 2 Figure 2 Toys segmentsToys segments Figure 1 Figure 1 Sport toys Sport toys Figure 3 Figure 3 Traditional toys and games Traditional toys and games Preschool toys Preschool toys Sport toys Sport toys Other toys Other toys Dolls Dolls Sport toys Sport toys Sport toys Sport toys 3. New Heritage Company 3. New Heritage Company By the year 2009, New Heritage had grown to 450 em ployees and generated approximately $245 million of revenue and $27 million of operating profit. By the year 2009, New Heritage had grown to 450 employees and generated approximately $245 million of revenue and $27 million of operating profit. ———————————————— 3. 1 New Heritage Dolls The New Heritage Dolls Company was founded in 1985 by Ingrid Beckwith, a retired psychologist specializing in child development and the grandmother of two young girls. Figure 4 Figure 4 It sought to extend the New Heritage brand and capitalize on high levels of customer loyalty by selectively licensing the company’s doll characters and themes to a variety of media that reached the firm’s target demographic of toddler to pre-teen girls. New Heritage Dolls Production DivisionNew Heritage Dolls Production Division 4. Capital Budgeting 4. Capital Budgeting ———â⠂¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€- 4. 1 Capital budgeting Capital budgeting is the planning process used to determine whether an organization's long term investments such as new machinery, replacement machinery, new plants, new products, and research development projects are worth pursuing. It is budget for major capital, or investment, expenditures. ————————————————- 4. 2 Ranked Projects The real value of capital budgeting is to rank projects.Most organizations have many projects that could potentially be financially rewarding. Once it has been determined that a particular project has exceeded its hurdle, then it should be ranked against peer projects. The highest ranking projects should be implemented until the budgeted capital has been expended. ———————â €”————————- 4. 3 Need for capital budgeting 1. As large sum of money is involved which influences the profitability of the firm making capital budgeting an important task. 2.Long term investment once made cannot be reversed without significance loss of invested capital. The investment becomes sunk and mistakes, rather than being readily rectified, must often be born until the firm can be withdrawn through depreciation charges or liquidation. It influences the whole conduct of the business for the years to come. 3. Investment decision are the base on which the profit will be earned and probably measured through the return on the capital. A proper mix of capital investment is quite important to ensure adequate rate of return on investment, calling for the need of capital budgeting. 4.The implication of long term investment decisions are more extensive than those of short run decisions because of time factor involved, capital budgeting decisions are subject to the higher degree of risk and uncertainty than short run decision. ————————————————- 4. 4 Capital Budgeting at New heritage Doll Company Currently the capital budgeting process in New Heritage is conducted by a panel consisting of the CEO, the CFO, the COO, the controller and the division of presidents. Historically, capital budgeting was about 15% of Ebitda. Three formal methods are used in New Heritage capital budgeting: 1.Net Present value (NPV). 2. Payback period. 3. Internal rate of return (IRR). These methods use the incremental cash flows from each potential investment, or project. Under accrual accounting, revenues and expenses are reported based on accounting principles. This means that revenues are reported when they are earned, and expenses are matched to the periods of the revenue. In other words, revenues and expenses are not reported on the income statement when the money is received or spent. Further, the revenue and expense amounts are not adjusted for the time value of money because of the monetary unit assumption.Capital budgeting decisions should be based on cash flows that are adjusted for the time value of money. The time value of money recognizes that a dollar received or spent in the future is less valuable than a dollar received or spent in the present. Calculations such as the internal rate of return or net present value include adjustments for the time value of money. In these calculations present value factors, financial calculators, or computer software are used to discount the cash flows to their present values. ————————————————- 4. Incremental cash flows They are additional operating cash flows that an organization receives from taking on a new project. A positive incremental cash flow means that the company's cash flow will increase with the acceptance of the project. There are several components that must be identified when looking at incremental cash flows: the initial outlay, cash flows from taking on the project, terminal cost or value and the scale and timing of the project. A positive incremental cash flow is a good indication that an organization should spend some time and money investing in the project. ———————————————— 4. 6 Free cash flows A measure of financial performance calculated as operating cash flow minus capital expenditures. Free cash flow (FCF) represents the cash that a company is able to generate after laying out the money required to maintain or expand its asset base. Free cash flow is important because it allows a company to pursue opportunities that enhance shareholder value. Without cash, it's tough to develop new pro ducts, make acquisitions, pay dividends and reduce debt. FCF is calculated as:EBIT (1- Tax rate)| | | + Depreciation ; Amortization| – Change in Net Working Capital| – Capital Expenditures|   | Free Cash Flow| | | Where: Current assets| – Current liabilities| Net working capital| Where: Cash| | | + Accounts receivable| + Inventories| | Current assets| | It is important to note that negative free cash flow is not bad in itself. If free cash flow is negative, it could be a sign that a company is making large investments. If these investments earn a high return, the strategy has the potential to pay off in the long run. ———————————————— 4. 7 Sunk cost It is a cost that has already been incurred and thus cannot be recovered. A sunk cost differs from other, future costs that a business may face, such as inventory costs or R&D expenses, because it has alre ady happened. Sunk costs are independent of any event that may occur in the future. ————————————————- 4. 8 Opportunity cost It is the best return that could be earned on assets the firm already owns if those assets are not used for the new project.Now suppose the initial cost shown in each project was based on the assumption that the project would save money by using some equipment the company now owns and that equipment would be sold for certain amount of money, after taxes, if the project is rejected. The amount is an opportunity cost, and it should be reflected in our calculations. We would add that amount to the project's cost. The result would be an NPV- Asset value. ————————————————- 4. 9 Terminal value The terminal value of an asset is its anticipated valu e on a certain date in the future.It is used in multi-stage discounted cash flow analysis and the study of cash flow projections for a several-year period. The perpetuity growth model is used to identify ongoing free cash flows. The exit or terminal multiple approache assumes the asset will be sold at the end of a specified time period, helping investors evaluate risk/reward scenarios for the asset. An asset's terminal value is a projection that is useful in budget planning, and also in evaluating the potential gain of an investment over a specified time period. 5. Investment proposals 5. Investment proposals ————————————————- . 1 Match My Doll Clothing (MMDC) line expansion This line consisted of a set to match clothes for girls and dolls and some accessories. Due to the good publicity, it is thought to be a good time to expand this line. It is believed that this expansio n will be profitable because the current line is very popular and allows charging premium prices. This project involves the expenditure of large sums for research and development, market research and marketing. Table 1 Table 1 Initial expenditures ($ thousands)| 2010| Upfront R&D| $625 | Upfront Marketing| 625| Investment in Working Capital| 800|Property, Plant ; Equipment| 1,470| Total| $3,520 | The R;D and marketing expenditures would be deductible for tax purposes ta New Heritage’s 40% corporate tax rate. ————————————————- 5. 2 Design Your Own Doll (DYOD) Research suggested that many loyal customers would purchase yet another doll if they could customize the doll’s features to create a â€Å"one-of-a-kind† addition a girl’s or family’s existing collection of dolls. However, even a limited degree of customization increased manufacturing complexity and expense. Table 2 Table 2 Initial expenditures ($ thousands)| 2010| 2011|Upfront R;D| $841 | | Upfront Marketing| 360| | Investment in Working Capital| | 1,000| Property, Plant ; Equipment| 4,610| | Total| $5,811 | $1,000 | As with Match My Doll Clothing, the required R;D and marketing costs would be tax deductible. To complete development work, it is planned to use some of the company’s existing IT staff. The majority of the work would take place during calendar 2011. The number of people is shown in the table below. Table 3 Table 3 Application Development Personnel Costs| Number| Salary| Total| Web Application Developers| 1| $150 | $150 | Database Manager| 1| 160| 160|Systems Integration Specialist| 1| 125| 125| Total Cost| | | $435 | If this project stumbled for some reason, New Heritage risked damaging relationship with its best customers. 6. Projects analysis 6. Projects analysis For each project, three metrics are going to be calculated: 1. Net Present va lue (NPV). 2. Payback period. 3. Internal rate of return (IRR). ————————————————- 6. 1 Net Present Value (NPV) The difference between the present value of cash inflows and the present value of cash outflows. NPV is used in capital budgeting to analyze the profitability of an investment or project.NPV compares the value of a dollar today to the value of that same dollar in the future, taking inflation and returns into account. If the NPV of a prospective project is positive, it should be accepted. However, if NPV is negative, the project should probably be rejected because cash flows will also be negative. For example, if a retail clothing business wants to purchase an existing store, it would first estimate the future cash flows that store would generate, and then discount those cash flows into one lump-sum present value amount, say $565,000.If the owner of the store was w illing to sell his business for less than $565,000, the purchasing company would likely accept the offer as it presents a positive NPV investment. Conversely, if the owner would not sell for less than $565,000, the purchaser would not buy the store, as the investment would present a negative NPV at that time and would, therefore, reduce the overall value of the clothing company. ————————————————- 6. 2 Payback period The length of time required to recover the cost of an investment. The ayback period of a given investment or project is an important determinant of whether to undertake the position or project, as longer payback periods are typically not desirable for investment positions. ————————————————- 6. 3 Internal rate of return (IRR) The discount rate often us ed in capital budgeting that makes the net present value of all cash flows from a particular project equal to zero. Generally speaking, the higher a project's internal rate of return, the more desirable it is to undertake the project. As such, IRR can be used to rank several prospective projects a firm is considering.Assuming all other factors are equal among the various projects, the project with the highest IRR would probably be considered the best and undertaken first. ————————————————- 6. 4 How to work with working capital assumptions To know the value of current assets (cash, accounts receivable and inventories) and accounts payable a set of assumptions are given, with which we must work: 1. Cash Minimum Cash Balance as % of Sales. It is easy to know the amount of cash together by applying the percentage to sales revenue. 2. Days Sales OutstandingIn this case the data is provided are the days. Using the formula of Days Sales Outstanding, we can solve for the value of accounts receivable. DSO = Accounts receivableSales365 3. Days Payable Outstanding. In this case the data is provided are the days. Using the formula of Days Payable Outstanding, we can solve for the value of accounts payable. DPO = Accounts payableCost of sales365 ————————————————- ————————————————- 6. 5 Metrics results for both projects Clarifications: For the terminal value, it has been employed the following formula:Terminal value=FCF10 (1+G)(R-G) Where: * FCF10 is the free cash flow of year 10 (2020). * G is the growth rate. In this case a growth rate of 2% has been used, for New Heritage prefer more conservative forecasting. * R is the discount rate used. T hree different discount rates have been used depending on the level of risk is low, medium or high. ————————————————- 6. 6 Metrics for Match My Doll Clothing Line Expansion These are the results obtained from free cash flows provided by Match My Doll Clothing Line Expansion: Table 4 Table 4 RISK LEVEL| RATE| NPV| PAYBACK PERIOD| IRR|Low| 7. 70%| 7,285. 27| 7. 52| 23. 08%| Medium| 8. 40%| 5,938. 36| 7. 52| 22. 12%| High| 9%| 5,002. 43| 7. 52| 21. 40%| ————————————————- 6. 7 Metrics for Design Your Own Doll These are the results obtained from free cash flows provided by Design Your Own Doll project: Table 5 Table 5 RISK LEVEL| RATE| NPV| PAYBACK PERIOD| IRR| Low| 7. 70%| 9,219. 21| 9. 06| 18. 17%| Medium| 8. 40%| 7,010. 46| 9. 06| 17. 09%| High| 9%| 5,483. 73| 9. 0 6| 16. 29%| ————————————————- 6. 8 Other aspects to consider in capital Budgeting FlexibilityCapital budgeting techniques used by large businesses often run into flexibility problems. Many companies use a standard capital budgeting form where an analyst plugs numbers into specific categories to come up with net present value, cash flows, ROI and other basic results. However, not all costs and revenues from a project fit into such a fill-in sheet and can be difficult to classify. The best type of capital budgeting is the kind that can be customized for each project. Accuracy Capital budgeting depends largely on the quality of information that is used to for the budget analysis.This opens the process up to flaws if the incoming data is incorrect. For example, if someone underestimates a key cost, capital budgeting will show the project as less expensive than it will be. This is a common risk, and managers should always consider that the financial information behind the capital budgeting process is usually not 100 percent accurate. Benefit Type There are two general benefits associated with capital budgeting and projects. Hard benefits directly affect the project and loss statement and have easy, tangible results.There are also soft benefits, which are quantifiable but do not easily affect profit or loss directly. A third group, intangibles, is related to intellectual, emotional and environmental gains. Companies tend to only concentrate on hard benefits and forget that projects can produce other advantages as well. Emotions and Assumptions Capital budgeting is ultimately a tool that can help managers make decisions, not a process for making the decision itself. Managers are susceptible to energy behind a project and may support a project because it appears exciting or the end results are highly noticeable.Sometimes it is better to go with more boring, stable results that will keep the company strong than always moving for flashy projects. 7. Election of a project 7. Election of a project In the case of the Match My Doll Clothing, given the current economic situation and the inherent characteristics thereof, it seems most reasonable to choose the medium risk discount rate (8. 4%). At this rate, the following results are reached: Table 6 Table 6 RISK LEVEL| RATE| NPV| PAYBACK PERIOD| IRR| Medium| 8. 40%| 5,938. 36| 7. 52| 22. 12%|In the case of the Design Your Own Doll, as it has a fairly long payback, it has new unknown processes for New Heritage and because if the project fails the customer relationships will be damaged, it seems that it is more appropriate to assign the high risk discount rate (9%). At this rate, the following results are reached: Table 7 Table 7 RISK LEVEL| RATE| NPV| PAYBACK PERIOD| IRR| High| 9%| 5,483. 73| 9. 06| 16. 29%| Match My Doll Clothing Line Expansion and Design Your Own Doll are Mutually Exclusive P rojects which means that are a set of projects from which at most one will be accepted.For example, a set of projects which are to accomplish the same task. Thus, when choosing between â€Å"Mutually Exclusive Projects† more than one project may satisfy the Capital Budgeting criterion. However, only one, i. e. , the best project can be accepted. Of these three, Net Present Value, Payback Period and Internal Rate of Return, only the Net Present Value and Internal Rate of Return decision methods consider all of the project's cash flows and the Time Value of Money.And, only the Net Present Value decision method will always lead to the correct decision when choosing among Mutually Exclusive Projects. This is because the Net Present Value and Internal Rate of Return decision methods differ with respect to their Reinvestment Rate Assumptions. The Net Present Value decision method implicitly assumes that the project's cash flows can be reinvested at the firm's Cost of Capital, where as, the Internal Rate of Return decision method implicitly assumes that the cash flows can be reinvested at the projects IRR.Since each project is likely to have a different IRR, the assumption underlying the Net Present Value decision rule is more reasonable. Nevertheless, the NPV method has some disadvantages. One major disadvantage is that the method requires a detailed prediction of the project’s future cash flows. It is not that difficult if the project life is four years. But generally the life of a project is much longer. For example, computing the NPV for one these projects would require forecasting cash flows for the entire life of the project.This period could be 20 years, 30 years but we don’t know exactly how many and forecasting revenues for so many years is extremely difficult. A second disadvantage of the NPV method is that it assumes that the discount rate will remain the same over the life of the project. In many instances, the cost of capital, and the refore the discount rate, changes as firms refinance debt. ————————————————- 7. 1 Projects NPV Profiles The figure bellow presents the net present value profile (A graph showing the relationship between a project’s NPV and the firm’s cost of capital)For both Match My Doll Line Expansion and Design your Own Doll projects. To make the profile, we find the project's NPV at a number of different discount rates and then plot those values to create a graph. We can see that at a zero cost of capital, the NPV is simply the net total of the undiscounted cash flow. This value is plotted as the vertical axis intercept. It is also seen that the IRR is the discount rate that causes the NPV to equal zero, so the discount rate at which the profile line crosses the horizontal axis is the project's IRR.When we connect the data points, we have the NPV profile. IRRMMDC IRRMMDC NPV ($) NPV ($) Cost of capital (%) Cost of capital (%) IRRDYOD IRRDYOD DYOD DYOD Crossover rate; conflict if r is to the left, no conflict if r is to the right Crossover rate; conflict if r is to the left, no conflict if r is to the right At r = 10% NPVMMD > NPVDYOD but IRRDYOD > IRRMMD, so there is a conflict At r = 10% NPVMMD > NPVDYOD but IRRDYOD > IRRMMD, so there is a conflict MMDC MMDC The IRRs are fixed, and DYOD has the higher IRR regardless of the cost of capital. * However, the NPVs vary depending on the actual cost of capital. * The two NPV profile lines cross at the crossover rate that is the cost of capital at which the NPV profiles of two projects cross and, thus, at which the projects’ NPVs are equal. * MMDC project has the higher NPV if the cost of capital is less than the crossover rate, but DYOD has the higher NPV if the cost of capital is greater than that rate.Besides, MMD has the steeper slope, indicating that a given increase in the cost of capital caus es a larger decline in NPVMMDC than in NPVDYOD Finally, although MMDC is more sensitive to the variation of the discount rate, we think the most reasonable for New Heritage, as to these two investment proposals, is to choose Match My Doll Clothing Line Expansion for the following three reasons: * NPV is greater ($5,938. 36) than that of Design Your Own Doll ($5,483. 73). * The payback period is shorter (7. 2 years) than that of Design Your Doll (9. 06 years). Years Years * The IRR is greater (22. 12%) than the Design Your Own Doll (16. 09%). New Heritage Doll Company Exhibit 1. Cont New Heritage Doll Company Exhibit 1. Cont New Heritage Doll Company Exhibit 1. Cont New Heritage Doll Company Exhibit 1. Cont | | | | | | | | | | New Heritage Doll Company Exhibit 2. Cont New Heritage Doll Company Exhibit 2. Cont New Heritage Doll Company Exhibit 2. Cont New Heritage Doll Company Exhibit 2. Cont