Friday, January 31, 2020

ACC557 †Financial Accounting Essay Example for Free

ACC557 – Financial Accounting Essay 1. Analyze each company’s history, product/services, major customers, major suppliers, and leadership and provide a synopsis of each company. The Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO ) vs. PepsiCo (NYSE: PEP ) war is one of the greatest rivalries in corporate history, just like Apple vs. Microsoft. Coca-Cola and Pepsi are the two most popular and widely recognized beverage brands in the world. They have been competing in the soft drink sector for over a century and both companies enjoy a high degree of brand consciousness globally. Both companies try to market as part of a lifestyle. At the same time, these two soda giants are among the most popular and respected dividend growth companies in the market, so lets take a look at the Coke vs. Pepsi debate from an investors perspective. Coca-Cola uses phrases such as â€Å"Coke side of life† in their website, while Pepsi uses phrases such as â€Å"Hot stuff† in their web, to promote the idea that Pepsi is â€Å"in sync† with the cool side of life. Ironically, both Pepsi and Coke have similar beginnings: both were created in the 19th century and both were the results of the experimental work of innovative pharmacists. Coke was created in 1886 by Atlanta pharmacist John Pemberton while Pepsi was developed in 1898 by North Carolina pharmacist and drugstore owner, Caleb Bradham. The history of Pepsi began with a man named Caleb Davis Bradham. He was born in Chinquapin, North Carolina on May 27, 1867. He graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and attended the University of Maryland, School of Medicine, around 1890. After returning to North Carolina, Mr. Bradham taught public school for about a year, and later opened a drug store on the corner of Middle and Pollock Streets in downtown New Bern. In 1902, Bradham launched the Pepsi-Cola Company in the back room of his pharmacy and on December 24, 1902 the Pepsi-Cola Company was incorporated in the state of North Carolina. The business began to grow, and on June 16, 1903,  Pepsi-Cola was officially registered with the U.S. Patent Office. In 1910 there were 250 Pepsi-Cola franchises in 24 states and in January of that year the Pepsi Cola Company held their first Bottler Convention in New Bern. In 1926, Pepsi received its first logo redesign since the original design of 1905. In 1929, the logo was changed again. In 1931, at the depth of the Great Depression, the Pepsi-Cola Company entered bankruptcy. Assets were sold and Roy C. Megargel bought the Pepsi trademark. Megargel was unsuccessful, and soon Pepsis assets were purchased by Charles Guth, the President of Loft, Inc. Today PepsiCo, Inc. (PepsiCo) is a global food and beverage company. Through the Companys bottlers, contract manufacturers and other partners, the Company makes, markets, sells and distributes a range of foods and beverages in more than 200 countries and territories. PepsiCo is organized into four business units: PepsiCo Americas Foods (PAF), which includes Frito-Lay North America (FLNA), Quaker Foods North America (QFNA) and all of its Latin American food and snack businesses (LAF); PepsiCo Americas Beverages (PAB), which includes all of its North American and Latin American beverage businesses; PepsiCo Europe, which includes all beverage, food and snack businesses in Europe and South Africa, and PepsiCo Asia, Middle East and Africa (AMEA), which includes all beverage, food and snack businesses in AMEA, excluding South Africa. In 2011 the company had revenues of $66.504 billion and a net income of $6.462 billion. The company has around 29700 employees worldwide. PepsiCo is also listed on the NYSE and is also a part of the Dow Jones Industrial composite. Pepsi Co’s current chief executive is Indra Krishnamurthy Nooyi who has been at the helm since 2006. The history of Coca-Cola began with Col. John Pemberton. He was wounded in the Civil War, became addicted to morphine, and began a quest to find a substitute to the dangerous opiate. The prototype Coca-Cola recipe was formulated at Pembertons Eagle Drug and Chemical House, a drugstore in Columbus, Georgia, originally as a coca wine. In 1885, Pemberton registered his French Wine Coca nerve tonic. In 1886, when Atlanta and Fulton County passed prohibition legislation, Pemberton responded by developing Coca-Cola, essentially a nonalcoholic version of French Wine Coca. By 1888, three versions of Coca-Cola – sold by three separate businesses – were on the market. A co-partnership had been formed on January 14, 1888 between Pemberton and four Atlanta businessmen: J.C. Mayfield, A.O. Murphey; C.O.  Mullahy and E.H. Bloodworth. Charley Pembertons record of control over the Coca-Cola name was the underlying factor that allowed for him to participate as a major shareholder in the March 1888 Coca-Cola Company incorporation filing made in his fathers place. More so for Candler especially, Charleys position holding exclusive control over the Coca Cola name continued to be a thorn in his side. Today The Coca-Cola Company is an American multinational beverage corporation headquartered in Atlanta Georgia. It is best known for its flagship product Coca-Cola. The Company owns or licenses and markets more than 500 nonalcoholic beverage brands, primarily sparkling beverages but also a variety of still beverages, such as waters, enhanced waters, juices and juice drinks, ready-to-drink teas and coffees, and energy and sports drinks. It owns and markets a range of nonalcoholic sparkling beverage brands, which includes Coca-Cola, Diet Coke, Fanta and Sprite. The Companys segments include Eurasia and Africa, Europe, Latin America, North America, Pacific, Bottling Investments and Corporate. In January 2013, Sacramento Coca-Cola Bottling Company announced that it had been acquired by the Company. Effective February 22, 2013, Coca-Cola Co acquired interest in Fresh Trading Ltd. In November 2013, Coca-Cola Company and ZICO Beverages LLC announced that Coca-Cola has acquired the ownership interest in ZICO. The company offers more than 500 brands in over 200 countries and serves over 1.7 billion servings per day. The company’s stock is listed on the NYSE and it is a part of the DJIA, SP index and the Russell 1000 index. The company had revenues of $48.01 billion in the year 2012 and a net income of $9.01 billion. Coca-Cola has a total asset base of $86.17 billion and 146,200 employees worldwide. Pepsi and Coca-Cola customers include authorized bottlers and independent distributors, including foodservice distributors and retailers. Both companies normally grant their bottlers exclusive contracts to sell and manufacture certain beverage products bearing the respective trademarks within a specific geographic area. These arrangements provide both companies with the right to charge their bottlers for concentrate, finished goods and bottled water (Aquafina Dasani) royalties and specify the manufacturing process required for product quality (Wyatt, 2012). Since The Coca-Cola Company and PepsiCo do not sell directly  to the consumer, they both rely on and provide financial incentives to their distributors to assist in the distribution and promotion of their respective products. For the independent distributors and retailers, these incentives include volume-based rebates, product placement fees, promotions and displays. For their bottlers, these incentives are referred to as bottler funding and are negotiated annually with each bottler to support a variety of trade and consumer programs, such as consumer incentives, advertising support, new product support, and vending and cooler equipment placement. Consumer incentives include coupons, pricing discounts and promotions, and other promotional offe rs. New product support includes targeted consumer and retailer incentives and direct marketplace support, such as point-of-purchase materials, product placement fees, media and advertising. Pepsi supplies its concentrates to restaurants that they have contracts with. Another market segment that Pepsi targets are grade schools, colleges and universities. PepsiCo main suppliers include; Sandora, Sadochok and Toma juice brands which supply Pepsi’s concentrate, while G.D Searle and company supplies PepsiCo with NutraSweet for PepsiCo diet soft drinks. Ball Metal Beverage Packaging produces Pepsi’s aluminum cans. Amcor produces PETS for Pepsi. It also manufactures plastic bottles for Gatorade (Wyatts, 2012). PepsiCo products generate approximately $108 billion in cumulative annual retail sales. Here are PepsiCo products which had revenues of over $1 billion as of 2009; Pepsi cola, Mountain Dew, Lays, Gatorade, Tropicana, 7up, Doritos, Lipton teas, Quaker foods, Cheetos, Miranda , Ruffles, Aquafina, Pepsi max, Tostitos, Sierra mist, Fritos and Walker’s. PepsiCo foods generated 63% of the net worldwide revenues while 37% of the revenue came from beverages in 2012. Pepsi brand generated the most revenues with about $20 billion in revenues, followed by mountain dew with around $12 billion, the others followed in the order they are listed in above with Walker’s potato chips being the last of the 21 brands listed above. PepsiCo distributes its own product in parts of Europe while it uses contract manufacturers in other areas (PepsiCo, 2013). The main target markets for PepsiCo include the age group 14-30 which has always been the main target market for Pepsi. Historically, Pepsi has always targeted teens with heavy advertising, teen-oriented ads. Coca-Cola customers include large international chains of retailers and restaurants and small independent  businesses. Coca-Cola works with them equally to create mutual benefit. Together with their bottling partners, they serve their customers through account management teams, providing services and support tailored to their needs. Coca-Cola’s suppliers offer different services from packaging, information technology services, bottles and package labeling. The Coca-Cola Company’s main suppliers include; Alcan packaging which offers plastic bottle labels, Alcoa plastic caps, and Cannon provides steam boilers, water treatment systems and plastic products. EDS provides information technology services to Coca- cola for its operation in Latin America. Coca-Cola purchases syrups and concentrates from TCCC and other licensors to manufacture products. They also purchase their raw materials, other than concentrates, syrups, mineral waters, and sweeteners, from multiple suppliers. The beverage agreements with TCCC provide that all authorized containers, closures, cases, cartons and other packages, and labels for the products of TCCC must be purchased from manufacturers approved by TCCC. Leadership at PepsiCo Indra Nooyi is the CEO of Pepsi she describes her leadership style as â€Å"Performance with Purpose,† a mantra that has become central to the PepsiCo journey over these past seven years. Nooyi has chronicled five leadership lessons that together form the roadmap for global leaders in the 21st century (Snyder, 2013). 1. Balance the short-term and long-term. Today’s leaders are, all too often, driven only by short-term quarterly results, yielding decisions that are counterproductive for the longer-term health of the organization and society. Effective leaders must strike a balance. 2. Develop a deep understanding of public/private partnerships. Nooyi points out that many private sector leaders treat the public sector (NGOs, governments) as the enemy—and vice versa. † She believes that NGO leaders do their jobs as a â€Å"labor of love.†Ã‚  Treating them with respect and understanding, as opposed to distain and condescension can go a long way (Snyder, 2013). 3. Think global, act local. Nooyi argues this is not an outdated clichà ©, but instead, sounds advice that can yield innovative, out-of-the box solutions. She showed part of a nine-minute commercial video, produced for the 2012 Chinese New Year. 4. Keep an open mind to adapt to changes. The art of asking probing questions to facilitate dialog and exploration. All-too-often, leaders close their minds to dissent, cutting off much needed debate. To lead in an ever-changing world, Nooyi  says, leaders must adapt and stay nimble (Snyder, 2013). 5. Lead with your head and your heart. Leaders must develop deep emotional intelligence, and bring â€Å"their whole selves to work every day.† They must continually remind themselves that everyone who works for them is a unique human being and seek to strengthen this human connection and bond. Leadership at Coca-Cola is expected from the CEO Muhtar Kent. He runs his company by being an entrepreneur and focusing on cash. He calls his leadership philosophy constructively discontent. (Bhasin, 2012). – According to Kent his preferred description of his leadership – means Its all about an entrepreneurial mentality. Injecting entrepreneurial religion involves getting Cokes 146,000 employees to think like owners. â€Å"People need to feel like they are chasing pennies down the hallway.† Its about the respect for cash,† Kent told Sellers. His devotion to that manifests itself in many ways. For instance: And at Coke, managers have to pay $15 a month if they want to use their cellphones for personal calls (and yes, that rule applies to the CEO too). When you dont see cash, all sorts of things go wrong, he told Sellers. You overspend as an individual and overspend as a company. Kent suggests that people need to be connected with the cash impact of choices and decisions in order to make rational choices. 2. Based on the stock price for the timeline listed below, present a graph that illustrates the stock price of each company. Indicate conclusions that can be drawn based on the trend: a. The day of its initial public offering b. January 1, 2012 c. January 1, 2011 d. January 1, 2010 PepsiCo’s initial public offering was $23 a share in 1999. Coca-Cola’s initial public offering was in 1919, by a consortium of businessmen led by Ernest Woodruff, Robert W. Woodruffs father, purchased The Coca-Cola Company for $25 million. The business was re-incorporated as a Delaware Corporation and its stock was put on public sale on the New York Stock Exchange, with common stock at $40 per share, and preferred stock at $100 per share. The chart below shows the changes in the stock prices of the organization from January 1, 2010, January 1, 2011 and January 1, 2012. While PepsiCo has outgrown Coca-Cola in terms of revenue over the last five years, Coke is doing better than its rival when it comes to earnings-per-share growth over the same period. Coke has considerably higher profit margins than Pepsi, in the area of 21.8% at the op Even if both companies have seen decreasing margins due to bottler acquisitions over the last years, Cokes dominance in drinks seems to provide an advantage when it comes to margins on sales. As incomes rise, so does health awareness. But does any of this actually matter to Coke and Pepsi shareholders? Pricing here is complicated. Coke may have the most valuable brand in the world, and Pepsi’s brands are also quite valuable. It is the value of these brands that allows the stocks to trade at premiums to the market even while their basic products are seeing weak demand. 3. Research and summarize at least two (2) news events (this may include mergers, acquisitions, or political issues) that occurred from 2010 to the present day and the potential impact on the stock price of each company. Indicate how this influences your investment decision related to the company. Events that occurred in 2013 and the potential impact to be on the stock price for both PepsiCo and Coca-Cola. A New York Times article, published October 1st 2013 by Keith Bradsher, expressed concern about land grabs related to the sugar industry and the companies that supplied from it. The advocacy group Oxfam has accused three big international food companies of buying sugar from what they described as a plantation that had unfairly taken land from farmers in Cambodia and Brazil without proper compensation (Bradsher, 2013). Oxfam, called on the food and beverage companies to disclose more about the sources of their sugar supplies. It contended in a report that sugar, soybeans and palm oi l were the three crops producing the fiercest competition for land by large, often foreign, investors. The group’s report assailed three companies by name: Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and Associated British Foods. Coca-Cola stated that it asked suppliers â€Å"to recognize and safeguard the rights of communities and traditional peoples to maintain access to land and natural resources. According to† Amanda Rosseter, a company spokeswoman, Coca-Cola does not buy sugar directly from farms but from larger suppliers. These purchases have included buying from Tate Lyle Sugars, which in turn has bought limited quantities from Cambodia, but Tate Lyle Sugars has already said that it has no further plans to buy from Cambodia. PepsiCo stated in a  statement that it also paid attention to social responsibility issues in its contracting. The company added that it had â€Å"reached out to the suppliers; they have assured us they are in compliance with applicable laws.† How will it impact the stock price of Coca-Cola and PepsiCo being associated with the idea of taking land away from indigenous poor people so they have access to cheap sources of sugar? In another New York Times article published December 12th 2013 by Stephanie Strom, PepsiCo sealed an unusual deal that goes far beyond the soda wars, PepsiCo is expected to announce soon that it is unseating Coca-Cola as the beverage supplier to one of the nation’s hottest restaurant chains, Buffalo Wild Wings (Strom, 2013). The deal, which will start with the introduction of Pepsi, Mountain Dew and other drink brands in 2014, is the biggest sign so far of how PepsiCo is deploying its thriving snacks business and Quaker, which it also owns, to offset declines in its traditional soda business. â€Å"But what this partnership does is give Buffalo Wild Wings a full access pass to all that PepsiCo has to offer.† And the deal also allows Buffalo Wild Wings to capitalize on PepsiCo’s relationships with major sports organizations like the National Football League and Major League Baseball. 4. Provide an overall financial analysis for each company that highlights the key characteristics for investment and how this may impact an investor’s decision. While PepsiCo has outgrown Coca-Cola in terms of revenue over the last five years, Coke is doing better than its rival when it comes to earnings-per-share growth over the same period. Coke has considerably higher profit margins than Pepsi, in the area of 21.8% at the operating level for the soda giant versus 14.3% for the salty snacks leader. Even if both companies have seen decreasing margins due to bottler acquisitions over the last years, Cokes dominance in drinks seems to provide an advantage when it comes to margins on sales. Coca-Cola has also done better than PepsiCo in terms of reducing share count via stock buybacks; the company has reduced the amount of shares outstanding by 4.6% over the last five years while Pepsi has not managed to reduce its share count by more than 1.3% over that period. On the other hand, the trend could be reversing in the middle term as Pepsis buyback program for 2013 will likely have a bigger impact on shareholders returns. As of the third quarter of 2013 Coke had spent $2.8  billion in stock buybacks during the first nine months of the year, and the company is planning to end 2013 with a repurchase of between $3.0 billion and $3.5 billion for the full year. Pepsi is planning to end 2013 with nearly $3 billion in buybacks. Even if Coke repurchases $3.5 billion during the year, that would represent roughly 2% of the companys $174.8 billion market cap. While Pepsis buyback would still be smaller in absolute terms, $3 billion would account for a slightly higher 2.3% of the co mpanys market value around $130.1 billion. Cokes buyback program has been bigger in recent years, but the company may be losing that advantage over PepsiCo in 2013, so its hard to tell which company will return more capital to shareholders via repurchases in the coming years. 5. Based on your review of the financial data for each company, indicate the accuracy and reliability of the data for making investment decision. Provide support for your conclusion. When the ratios of the two companies are compared, Coca Cola has a higher return on asset ratio, a higher dividend yield and a higher dividend growth rate over the last five years. Coca Cola also has a higher P/E ratio but PepsiCo has a higher EPS compared to Coca Cola. From the above information I would advise an investor to buy Coca Cola stock as compared to PepsiCo. My recommendation is based on expected earnings from the stock in terms of dividends and dividend yield, return on assets and the P/E ratio. A higher return on assets shows that a company is utilizing its assets effectively and efficiently in generating earnings. A higher P/E ratio also shows that the investors expect more earnings from the stock. Both Coca-Cola and PepsiCo are Dividend Aristocrats, meaning they have been able to increase dividends over the last 25 consecutive years. Coke has an amazing track record of 51 consecutive dividend increases in a row, while Pepsi has a smaller but still impressive trajectory of 41 consecutive dividend increases. When it comes to dividend growth, however, Coke has a better trajectory than Pepsi over the long term, and the company also delivered a bigger increase for 2013 with a 10% hike versus Pepsis 6% dividend rise for the year. 6. Recommend which company you consider as the better investment for your client and how you will present your recommendation. Support your recommendation with data from your analysis. Recommendations for Investment In order to make an investment in a particular organization, it is necessary for the investors to make sure  that, the investors consider certain key things. The points to be considered by the investors include earning per share, net income and trend in movement of the price of the security of the organization (Pogue, 2010). The price of the stock of the organization Coca Cola Company is $37.67 whereas; the price of stock of PepsiCo is $70.27. This shows that, PepsiCo has a better stock price in comparison to Coca Cola. The earnings per share of PepsiCo is $3.76 whereas, the earnings per share of Coca Cola Company is $1.91. PepsiCo has net income of $6443000 whereas; Coca Cola Company has net income of $8572000. Both Coca-Cola and PepsiCo have earned their rights to be among the most popular dividend growth names in the market due to their rock-solid competitive strengths and time-tested dividend growth trajectories. However, Coke has been able to deliver superior dividend growth over the last few years thanks to its higher profitability and earnings growth rates. Valuations are very similar so, for the same price of a Pepsi, Im having a Coke. Therefore, from this, one can make a conclusion on the expected future earnings and capital gains. The information deducted from the ratios presented above show that Coca Cola is the best buy. This therefore, shows that before buying a stock there is a rigorous exercise that must be undertaken to gather financial information and from that deduct the effect that information will have on the stock prices. (Cardenal, 2013). References 1. Bhasin, Kim (2012). Coca-Cola CEO Muhtar Kent Explains Why Everythings All About Cash. Retrieved on March 14, 2014 http://www.businessinsider.com/coca-cola-ceo-muhtar-kents-leadership-philosophy-2012-5 2. Bradsher, Keith (2013). Worried About Land Grabs, Group Presses 3 Corporations to Disclose Sugar Purchases. Retrieved on March 12, 2014 http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/02/business/3-corporations-pressed-to-disclose-data-on-sugar-purchases.html?ref=pepsicoinc_r=0 3. Cardenal, Andres (2013) Better Buy: Coca-Cola vs. PepsiCo. Retrieved on March 12, 2014 http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2013/11/06/better-buy-coca-cola-vs-pepsico.aspx 4. -Cola (2013). Bloomberg Business Week. Retrieved on March 12, 2014 investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/financials/ratios.asp? 5. â€Å"History of Pepsi vs. Coke Rivalry at Rivals4Ever†. Rivals4ever.com.

Monday, January 27, 2020

Bangladesh Liberation War: Conflict Analysis

Bangladesh Liberation War: Conflict Analysis Conflict Analysis Case Study –Bangladesh Liberation War Background and Internal Factors West Pakistan had four provinces: â€Å"Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan, and the North-West Frontier.† Province number 5 was East Pakistan, and it was the largest province out of all. West Pakistan had control over all the provinces, and used up most of the resources. â€Å"Between 1948 and 1960, East Pakistan made 70% of all of Pakistans exports, while it only received 25% of imported money. In 1948, East Pakistan had 11 fabric mills while the West had nine. In 1971, the number of fabric mills in the West grew to 150 while the number in the East went down to 26. About 2.6 billion dollars of resources were also shifted over time from East Pakistan to West Pakistan. Although East Pakistan had the largest population among all the provinces, it had much less political power than West Pakistan. Although the economy was an issue, there was also the issue of language that caused East Pakistan and West Pakistan to have dispute for several years.† (bdallinone) In 1948, Mohammad Ali Jinnah announced that Urdu was the official language for Pakistan. However, this was not fair because only the people in the West and the Bihari’s in the East spoke Urdu. Majority of the West Pakistanis spoke Punjabi and Sindhi, while East Pakistanis spoke Bangali. Therefore, East Pakistan was against the movement of Urdu being the official language for Pakistan. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the leader of the Awami League (top political party in support of East Pakistan), wanted more economic and political power, all of these political changes resulted in the war of independence. The war involved two parts of Pakistan: East Pakistan VS West Pakistan in a war for liberation and freedom from West Pakistan. The war lasted throughout March 26th – December 16th 1971. The Pakistan Army began a genocide called â€Å"Operation Searchlight† by attacking the innocent Bangaladeshi’s of Dhaka city (Dhaka is the capital city of the province Bengal). The Pakistani army massacred 40,000 Bengali people, whether they be poets, teachers, police officers, etc and ignited a brutal war against the Bengalis of East Pakistan to stop them from being independent. They also invaded homes and held families on gun point, burned down schools, destroyed sacred architecture and purposely ruined 80% of agriculture lands, which caused Bangladesh to be in a famine. They killed sons and daughters and raped women and the West Pakistani army got away with ALL these crimes, and nothing was accounted for until at least 30 years ago, when activists convinced the police department to open up old cases. East Pakistan didn’t have an army since it was not yet officially a country, so they were just a group of freedom fighters. Eventually, India joined in to support East Pakistan’s Freedom Fighters, and then they formed the Mukhti Bahini, which translates to The Liberation Army. They used the guerrilla method and just basic armed forces, which they got from the support of the Indian Army, and through a lot of gruesome war, they eventually fought until they gained their liberation, and Bangladesh was declared an independent nation. The West Pakistani government was not willing to make peace with the East Pakistani government due to political differences such as political power due to economic, language and racial issues, since West Pakistan was considered one large province, the politicians that were on the West Side did not allow East Side of Pakistan to develop their own stable government since the East Side always got outweighed. External Factors Throughout the war, there was involvement from several other countries such as India. India played an active role. Indira Gandhi (Prime minister of India) wanted to protect Bangladesh. Since India had a lot of protection (bombs, nuclear weapons, great military), they â€Å"mounted a three-pronged movement on Dhaka from the Indian province West Bengal, Assam, and Tripura. The Indian soldiers, Air Force, and Navy defeated the Pakistani army, while the Bangladeshi Navy helped India. On the ground, three groups of Mukti Bahini and Indian forces fought the Pakistanis. The Pakistanis attempted to fight back and they did not give up, but failed to resist them and ended up surrendering† (Murtala Sadeh) This surrender was the largest surrender from an army since World War 2. This was not a proxy war because the East Pakistan and West Pakistan communicated directly with each other, and did not use any other source to have the war fought for them; they fought on each other’s land. International Response: United Nations Pakistan’s plan to invade and bomb India’s land got the United Nations involved, and they stepped in and tried to force India to agree to a cease-fire. The â€Å"UN Security Council† came together on December 4 1981 to talk about the situation and find any possible way of making peace. After much convincing and long discussions, on 7 December, the United States came up with the idea for an immediate ceasefire and withdrawal of troops. Stalinist Russia rejected the resolution twice. In light of the Pakistani atrocities, Britain and France restrained and kept their distance from the situation. The Indian army quickly overran the country. Pakistani forces were unable to effectively fight the brutal attacks, since â€Å"they had been deployed in small units around the border to counter guerrilla attacks by the Muhkti Bahini. Unable to defend Dhaka, the Pakistanis surrendered on 16 December 1971, the largest surrender since the Second World War. Bangladesh gained adm ission to the UN with most voting in its favour, but China rejected this as Pakistan was its key ally, as was the United States, which was one of the last nations to accord Bangladesh recognition. United States of America â€Å"The US administration feared that an Indian invasion of West Pakistan would mean the domination of the region by Stalinist Russia. That, in turn, would seriously undermine the global position of the US and the regional position of America’s new tacit ally, China. In order to demonstrate to China the reliability of the US as an ally, and in direct violation of the US Congress-imposed sanctions on Pakistan, Nixon sent military supplies to Pakistan, shipping them through Jordan and Iran. China was encouraged to increase arms supplies to Pakistan†. (Wikipedia) The Nixon government completely uncared for the reports it received of the genocidal and brutal activities that the Pakistani Army was getting involved in (to dominant the Bengalis), including all the deaths of innocent Bangali’s and all of the rapes. However, Russia supported the Indian army and Mukti Bahini during the war because they knew that the independence of Bangladesh would make their rivals weaker. It also assured India that if the US or China tried invading India, Russia would have their back. Therefore, the Indo-Soviet friendship treaty was signed in August 1971 during the Bangladesh Liberation War. When Pakistan’s defeat was obvious, â€Å"Nixon sent the aircraft carrier, USS Enterprise, to the Bay of Bengal, a move which ratcheted up nuclear tensions in the region. USS Enterprise arrived on station on 11 December 1971. On 6 and 13 December, the Russian navy sent out two groups of ships, armed with nuclear missiles, from Vladivostok. They trailed the US task force in the Indian Ocean from 18 December until 7 January 1972. At the end of the war, the Warsaw Pact countries of Central and Eastern Europe were the first to recognise Bangladesh as an independent country.† (Wikepedia) Stalinist Russia gave credit to Bangladesh on 25 January 1972. The United States also eventually gave them credit in April. â€Å"On 2 July 1972, the Simla Accord was signed between India and Pakistan, which stated the goal to normalise relations between India and Pakistan, including the return of Pakistani prisoners of war. Pakistan officially recognised Bangladesh in 1974†. (Wikiped ia) China Since China is an ally of Pakistan, the Peoples Republic of China reacted with productively towards situation in East Pakistan and the prospect of India invading West Pakistan. They know that an Indian attack was about to happen, so Richard Nixon (President of U.S.A) encouraged China to gather together its armed forces along India’s border. The Indian Army was prepared and had deployed eight mountain divisions to the â€Å"Sino-Indian border to guard against such an eventuality.China instead threw its weight behind demands for an immediate ceasefire.† (Wikipedia) When Bangladesh wanted a place to get involved in the United Nations in 1972, China rejected their application because of two United Nations resolutions regarding the repatriation of Pakistani prisoners of war and civilians had not yet been implemented.† (Wikipedia) China was one of the last countries to recognise the liberation of Bangladesh and denied to until 31 August 1975. Effect of Temperature on Plant Physiology | Experiment Effect of Temperature on Plant Physiology | Experiment Abstract The physiological processes of many organisms are sensitive to temperature. In order to see this effect of temperature, we examined the heart rate of a Daphnia magna over a range of different temperatures. Being an ectothermic animal, the Daphnias body temperature is dependent on water temperature. It was hypothesized that since most physiological processes are faster at higher temperatures, the Daphnias heart rate will be faster at higher temperatures and slower at low temperatures. This was, in fact, true and a pattern was evident which showed that heart rate increased as temperature increased. The Q10 was high at higher temperatures which show elevated sensitivity at higher temperatures. Clearly, Daphnia have an optimal temperature range outside which they do not function to their full potential. A Daphnias heart rate, then, was proved to be dependent on temperature. Introduction Daphnia magna is a widespread freshwater zooplankton. Since Daphnia are ectothermic animals, their body temperature fluctuates with environmental temperature. Hence, these animals are ideal to study the effects of temperature. Most such animals function well at certain specific temperatures. They have an optimal temperature range, outside which they are unable to perform physiological processes effectively (Lamkemeyer et al. 2003). It is believed that most physiological processes take place more rapidly at higher temperatures and that changes in temperature can influence physiological rates (Ziarek et al. 2010). In order to investigate this, we questioned whether the heart rate of a Daphnia is different at different temperatures. Q10, which is the temperature sensitivity of a reaction, was a useful tool. We hypothesized that the Daphnia will have different heart rates at different temperatures and hence that temperature will affect heart rate. It was also hypothesized that Q10 will d iffer at different temperatures. This hypothesis was tested by exposing the Daphnia to different water temperatures, letting it equilibrate to the water temperature and counting its heart beat in a systematic way. Since most physiological processes increase at higher temperatures, we predicted that if the temperature is higher (close to 35 °C) then the heart rate of the Daphnia will be faster and if the temperature is low (close to 5 °C) then it would be slower. In addition, we predicted that Q10 will be higher at low temperatures and lower at high temperatures. In view of the fact that Daphnia had an optimal temperature range, it would be understandable if the Daphnia was more sensitive to temperatures outside this range and consequently reacted by altering its heart rate. Methods A Daphnia was placed on a small smear of Vaseline on the bottom of a culture dish (Olaveson and Rush 2011). Aged water at room temperature was added to the dish. Five minutes were allowed for the Daphnia to adjust to the water temperature and the temperature of the water was measured and recorded. Under a dissecting microscope, the Daphnia was placed and the 4X lens were used to locate the heart and count the heartbeats. The number of beats was counted over a 10 second period which was followed by a 10 second pause in counting and then 10 seconds of counting again. In order to get 9 measurements of the heart rate, this pattern was repeated for 3 minutes. Then, ice and water were mixed in a beaker to make a water mixture between 5 °C to 10 °C. To replace the tap water in the culture dish with chilled water, a Pasteur pipette was used. Five minutes were allowed for the Daphnia to reach equilibrium and then the heart beat was counted to obtain 9 measures of heart rate (heartbeats/ 1 0 seconds). The values were recorded. The temperature was then increased in 5 °C increments till 35 °C and heart rate was measured at each point. Small amounts of the colder water were replaced with the warmer water (obtained from a water bath) till the desired temperature had been reached. Five minutes were always allowed for equilibration and using the same method, 9 measures of heart rate were recorded. The 9 estimates of heart rate taken at each temperature were used to find the average heart rate at each temperature. These values were entered into an excel document by all students and later used for analysis. Results Statistical analysis and data processing shed light upon the effect of temperature on the heart rate of a Daphnia. The Statistical t test analysis proved that the Ho could be rejected for all the three tests proving that temperature does have a significant effect on the heart rate of a Daphnia. The Q10 as well as the average heart rates at different temperatures provided evidence that supported the hypothesis that temperature would affect Daphnia heart rate too. At the temperature interval of 4 °C to 14 °C, the Q10 was found to be 1.31 (Table 1). Although this was not the highest Q10 value and hence not the most sensitive temperature interval, a decrease in heart rate was evident at the lower temperature of 4 °C compared to other higher temperatures (figure 1). The heart rate at 4 °C was found to be 106.74 beats per minute where as the heart rate at 14 °C was 140.10 beats per minute. The significant decrease in heart rate at 4 °C compared to heart rate at the ambient temperature (24 °C) was supported by the t test analysis (sample t statistic: 14.3938; critical t statistic:1.978; df:136; p = 0.05). The temperature interval from 14 °C to 24 °C showed increased sensitivity (Q10:1.40). This indicated the increase in heart rate at 24 °C compared to lower temperatures (figure 1) and was supported by the t test analysis as the Ho (hypothesis that no change in heart rate would be evident) was rejected (t statistic: 8.6519; criti cal t statistic:1.978; df:136; p = 0.05). During the temperature interval from 24 °C to 34 °C, the highest Q10 was noted (table 1). This sensitivity to high temperatures was obvious when heart rates at the two temperatures were compared (heart rate at 24 °C: 196.32 beats/min; at 34 °C: 277.92 beats/ min). The H0 was hence rejected (t statistic: 9.7792; critical t statistic: 1.978; df: 136; p = 0.05). All the three tests provided evidence that suggested that temperature had an effect on the Daphnias heart rate. At higher temperatures, the heart rate was faster and at lower temperatures, it was slower. Generally, as temperature increased so did the Daphnias heart rate (figure 1). Discussion All organisms have an optimum temperature range over which they function best. Consequently, at certain temperatures, the physiological processes of a Daphnia magna are at its utmost potential. Some hypothesized that Daphnia optimize their fitness by allocating the time spent in the different habitats depending on the temperature gradient (Kessler Lampert, 2004). Hence, evidently temperature has an effect on the performance of a Daphnia. Specifically, as hypothesized, temperature affected the heart rate of Daphnia. It was noticed that the Daphnias heart rate increased at higher temperatures (close to 34 °C) and decreased at lower temperatures (close to 5 °C). Since Daphnia are ectothermic, their body temperature varies with environmental temperature. Since Daphnia cannot thermoregulate, their body temperature experiences variance following à ¯Ã‚ ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å¡uctuations in the environment (Ziarek et al. 2010). Hence as the temperature of the water increased, so did the Daphnias heart rate. The data supported this prediction. This is simply because most physiological processes take place more rapidly at higher temperatures. In addition, research has shown that increases of heart rate by significant values were measured in D. Magna as a function of temperature (Paul et al. 2004). One reason why the heart rate of Daphnia increases with temperature would be because less oxygen is present in the warmer water. Consequently, lack of oxygen could result in insufficient amount of oxygenated blood and hence the heart would have to work harder to pump blood around the body. For this purpose, it makes sense that the heart rate would increase. Very little research has been done about oxygen levels at different temperatures and Daphnia heart rates and perhaps more such research will provide more clarity on this topic. The little research that has been done, though, suggests that a reduced aerobic scope allows only time-limited survival at temperatures outside the optimal ran ge (Lamkemeyer et al. 2003) in organism such as Daphnias. Other research has also shown that high temperatures increase a Daphnias metabolic rates by increasing their heartbeat rates (MacArthur Baittie, 1929), and consequently their oxygen demands (Ziarek et al. 2010). It is also important to note that although it was predicted that Q10 would be higher at low temperatures and lower at high temperatures, the data did not support this prediction. The opposite, in fact, was evident. At higher temperatures the Q10 was higher and at lower temperatures it was lower. This could be possible merely because the Daphnia was more sensitive to changes in temperature at higher temperatures. It could also be possible that Q10 was higher at higher temperatures because of other errors. For instance, when the ice was added to the water in order to obtain low water temperatures (5 °C), it was difficult to obtain the exact temperatures. Although the temperature obtained (about 8 °C) was lower than room temperature (or ambient temperature), it is possible that it wasnt low enough to trigger major physiological changes. A significant fact to keep in mind is that since temperatures are increasing due to global warming, water temperatures are going to increase as well . This could lead to problems for organisms such as Daphnia which cannot function well outside of their optimal temperature range. It has been suggested that rising temperatures associated with global warming present a challenge to the fate of many aquatic organisms (Doorslaer et al. 2009) In conclusion, Daphnia heart rate is affected by temperature and tends to increase at high temperatures and decrease at low temperatures.

Thursday, January 23, 2020

Essay --

The Black woman and her unique life experience have long since been neglected by mainstream media, historical accounts of events, and law makers just to name a few. For example, David Baker’s â€Å"Female Lynchings in the United States: Amending the Historical Record† emphasizes the carelessness and, as a result, inaccuracies of accounts taken of female lynchings from the early 1800s to the mid 1900s. The discrepancies, disorder, and missing information in the accounts Baker pulled from were all reminders of the frequency in which disrespect and disregard for Black Women and their experiences occurred. In modern day America, the Black woman’s experience is still lacking in the media. A prime example of the lack of presence of Black Women’s issues in the media is in Michelle Alexander’s â€Å"The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness.† The book discusses mass incarceration as the new way in which Blacks are systematical ly controlled in America. Alexander makes a convincing argument that through colorblind racism, the criminal justice system as a whole strives to methodically control Black men. What Alexander, like so many other authors of critical race theory, fails to mention, is the ways in which Black women are systematically oppressed throughout the criminal justice system. Along with bearing the brunt of stigmatization, Black incarcerated women also often find themselves facing health problems that stem from life circumstances—some that also are racially influenced—outside prison-life, but are magnified once they are incarcerated. The reason Black incarcerated women’s health becomes more pressing during this period, other than the fact that they do not have their freedom, is that there is a large flaw in the way... ...s incarceration, this is referred to as the "conspiracy of silence" (Miller, pg. 133). The child may not want to openly discuss where their mother has gone. The child may also evoke develop negative social traits because of their inability to talk about their incarcerated mothers, which can potentially widen the gap between them and their incarcerated mother. We can all recognize the importance of children being able to spend a certain amount of time with their mothers, but in prison that time is often cut short or non-existent which hinders the relationship between the mother and child. Some states are unwilling to provide children's visitation at their correctional facilities, and as a result the child becomes a victim of the criminal process. The child is paying for the crime that their mother committed by not being able to spend enough quality time with them. Essay -- The Black woman and her unique life experience have long since been neglected by mainstream media, historical accounts of events, and law makers just to name a few. For example, David Baker’s â€Å"Female Lynchings in the United States: Amending the Historical Record† emphasizes the carelessness and, as a result, inaccuracies of accounts taken of female lynchings from the early 1800s to the mid 1900s. The discrepancies, disorder, and missing information in the accounts Baker pulled from were all reminders of the frequency in which disrespect and disregard for Black Women and their experiences occurred. In modern day America, the Black woman’s experience is still lacking in the media. A prime example of the lack of presence of Black Women’s issues in the media is in Michelle Alexander’s â€Å"The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness.† The book discusses mass incarceration as the new way in which Blacks are systematical ly controlled in America. Alexander makes a convincing argument that through colorblind racism, the criminal justice system as a whole strives to methodically control Black men. What Alexander, like so many other authors of critical race theory, fails to mention, is the ways in which Black women are systematically oppressed throughout the criminal justice system. Along with bearing the brunt of stigmatization, Black incarcerated women also often find themselves facing health problems that stem from life circumstances—some that also are racially influenced—outside prison-life, but are magnified once they are incarcerated. The reason Black incarcerated women’s health becomes more pressing during this period, other than the fact that they do not have their freedom, is that there is a large flaw in the way... ...s incarceration, this is referred to as the "conspiracy of silence" (Miller, pg. 133). The child may not want to openly discuss where their mother has gone. The child may also evoke develop negative social traits because of their inability to talk about their incarcerated mothers, which can potentially widen the gap between them and their incarcerated mother. We can all recognize the importance of children being able to spend a certain amount of time with their mothers, but in prison that time is often cut short or non-existent which hinders the relationship between the mother and child. Some states are unwilling to provide children's visitation at their correctional facilities, and as a result the child becomes a victim of the criminal process. The child is paying for the crime that their mother committed by not being able to spend enough quality time with them.

Sunday, January 19, 2020

Aeneid and Odyssey - A Comparison between Aeneas, Achilles and Odysseus

Aeneid and Odyssey - A Comparison between Aeneas, Achilles and Odysseus      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   A comparison between Virgil's hero, Aeneas, and the Homeric heroes, Achilles and Odysseus, brings up the question concerning the relevance of the difference between the Homeric heroes and Aeneas. The differences in the poets' concerns are explained by the fact that Virgil lived many years after Homer, giving Virgil the advantage of a more developed literary and philosophical society than Homer had at his disposal. But the question remains: how are the differences between the Homeric heroes and Aeneas relevant to the epic at large? This question will be answered by first pointing out the differences between Greek and Roman society, then explaining how those differences relate to the heroes of the three epics at hand, and finally explaining how these differences allow Virgil to portray the Roman values and way of life as more structured and oriented towards a greater-good.    The differences in Greek and Roman societies arise primarily because of the different time periods in which they existed. But the geologic characteristics of Greece also played a role in the particularities of Greek society. The Greek peninsula is a mountainous region with neighboring islands that are known for their individualistic nature; in Homer's Odyssey islands are often occupied either by very few people or by people that are socially inept such as cannibals or the Cyclops. The Greek society, which was composed of various individual and independent city-states, followed from its geological surroundings since communication was such a difficult task. The few cultural aspects of life, such as language and religion, were the only things that gave... ... between Aeneas and the Homeric heroes, given an account of the historical and mythological background of Rome and demonstrated that the Roman way of life is necessarily more structured and community oriented than the Homeric Greek way of life.   Virgil wrote The Aeneid as an ode to the greatness of Rome, we could imagine that as he wrote it he was in constant competition with Homer because The Aeneid was a proclamation of greatness for the Romans as the Homeric epics were for the Greeks. But Virgil took advantage of the flaws that the Homeric Heroes had and gave the corresponding virtues to Aeneas thus ensuring Aeneas' superiority and consequently Rome's superiority.    Works Cited and Consulted: Homer. The Odyssey. Trans. Robert Fagles. New York: 1996 Virgil.   The Aeneid.   Translated by Robert Fitzgerald.   New York: Vintage Books, 1990.   

Wednesday, January 15, 2020

Ap Euro Martin Luther Conservative or Revolutionary Essay

â€Å"Luther was both a revolutionary and a conservative.† Evaluate this statement with respect to Luther’s responses to the political and social questions of his day. Martin Luther was one of the greatest monks, priests, and theological teachers of Germany, along with being the symbol of the Protestant Reformation. He did not start off so religious however. One day he was caught in a frightening and dangerous storm. He prayed to God begging not to be killed, and vowed to become a monk if he survived. He did live, upholding his word to the lord, and joined a monastery. He joined an Augustinian friary in 1505, where he suffered from anfechtung, or spiritual anxiety. He never knew if he was doing enough good works to achieve salvation and gain entrance to the kingdom of heaven, as it was believed by the Catholic religion that it took good works along with faith in order to enter. To take his mind off of his religious worries, he was recommended to a teaching post at the University of Wittenberg. There, he taught theology and was quite popular among his students. Luther suffered from constant constipation, so he often read the bible while on the toile t. One day while doing this a certain passage from the epistle of St. Paul to the Romans: â€Å"the just shall live by faith,† which led to Luther’s core belief of sola fide, or faith alone. Through this belief, Luther believed that the only thing needed to achieve salvation was to live by faith alone, which challenged the Roman Catholic Church’s theology that both faith and good works were necessary. Luther shared his beliefs with the people of the Holy Roman Empire, demanding change to the way theology was widely taught. He agreed with parts of the current teachings and was conservative, wanting to keep parts of the religion the same. He kept the sacraments, however reduced the amount of them from 7 to 2. He was also like many Roman Catholic religious figures, anti-Semitic. Lutheranism, as his religion came to be called, became more submissive to the state as well. However Luther also had many revolutionary ideas, which angered those of the RCC. In response to the political problems, he wished to do away with the process of indulgences, which were  no more than pieces of paper in his eyes as works had nothing to do with salvation. His nailing of the 95 Theses highly angered the church authorities, as it went against everything they taught and believe. However in his response to the social problem of the Peasant’s Revolt, he told the princes to crush those who rebelled, as social revolution was not his intention. After careful evaluation, Martin Luther has proven to be both a revolutionary as well as a conservative. Luther proved himself time and again of his revolutionary approach to religion. His best example of this was the 95 Theses. Johann Tetzel, a German Roman Catholic priest, was selling an expensive indulgence as a fund-raising idea of Pope Leo X to finance the building of St. Peters basilica. When one of Luther’s parishioners came to confession, he presented an indulgence he had paid for, claiming he no longer had to repent of his sins, since the document promised to forgive all his sins. Luther was outraged, and wrote up the Ninety-Five Theses, protesting the sale of indulgences, which he proceeded to nail to the door of All Saints’ Church in Wittenberg Germany. He did this on a major Catholic holiday, All Saints Day, which struck at the core of the Catholic religion. The most prominent, challenging, and well known was Theses 86 which read â€Å"Why does the pope, wh ose wealth today is greater than the wealth of the richest Crassus, build the basilica of Saint Peter with the money of poor believers rather than with his own money?† He said indulgences did not do what the Church said it did because salvation was granted by sola fide. The ideas in the Ninety-Five Theses quickly spread throughout Europe via the moveable type printing press. Another time Luther engaged in revolutionary actions was at The Disputation at Leipzig. He was invited to participate in the Church-sponsored debate, as the Church wanted a dialogue concerning Luther’s challenges to Catholic doctrine and practices. RCC leaders at Leipzig declared that Luther’s ideas were wrong because the pope and Church traditions could not be wrong. Luther then shocked everyone, denying the authority of the pope and church councils. He declared that the only authority on matters of faith for Christians was the Bible. He said that sola scriptura, or scripture alone, determined the belief of Christians, not the teachings of the Pope. Upon the conclusion of the meeting at Leipzig, Luther was threatened with a papal bull of excommunication, which he burned in protest. Luther also showed revolutionary idea at the Diet of Worms. He  was called to attend by Charles V, the recently elected Holy Roman Emperor. At the assembly, Luther was asked if he had written the â€Å"Ninety-Five Theses,† â€Å"The Address to the Christian Nobility,† â€Å"The Babylonian Captivity of the Church,† and other works. Luther accepted the accusations and acknowledged that he had written them, and when asked to recant his ideas or suffer the consequences, he requested a night to think about his decision. When Luther returned the next day, he stood firm when asked if he would recant and proudly declared â€Å"Here I stand, I can do no other.† Luther was then declared a heretic and became a marked man. Troops of Frederick the Elector rescued Luther and took him to safe hiding in Wartburg Castle, where he proceeded to translate the Bible into the vernacular, which was highly against the teachings of the church and very illegal. He also declared that monks and nuns were not obligated to uphold their vows. Luther not only acted revolutionarily towards political religious issues, but towards the social issues of the time as well. The most well known was the Peasants’ Revolt. Some religious leaders twisted and perverted Luther’s ideas to benefit their own causes, with the most prominent being Thomas Mà ¼ntzer. They wrote the â€Å"Twelve Articles†: a petition of peasant demands and sent it to the Swabian League that called upon the Holy Roman Emperor to help the peasantry deal with economic and religious issues. When Charles V ignored the â€Å"Twelve Articles,† preachers led by Mà ¼ntzer stirred the masses to revolt against the nobles. Luther believed the peasants were way out of line, as he was adamantly against mixing religious reformation with political and social revolution. He disassociated himself with Mà ¼ntzer and the revolting peasants. He urged the princes to work together to â€Å"slaughter the swine,† or the peasants. He argued that reli gious subjects must be subordinate to their secular authorities. Luther proved himself a revolutionary over and over through many acts throughout his religious life. Though Luther was a revolutionary, many of his actions also dictate a conservative approach, wanting to keep some things the same or even go back to the way they used to be. An important message Luther delivered was that good Christians owed obedience to established authority in worldly matters. Lutheranism viewed the state with more respect than other religions did. Lutheranism was much more submissive to the state. He insisted that Christian liberty was an internal freedom, known only to God. Luther wanted the church teachings to  go back to how they used to be, based on sola scriptura or scripture alone, without the need of outside interpretation by the pope, bishops, abbots, etc. He was conservative in that he made many alliances with princes who liked his ideas, spreading them to their own kingdoms. He didn’t side with armed rebellions, citing his name, against the nobility in regions of Germany, instead he backed the nobility, telling them to work together to â€Å"slaughter the swine.† He did not want to do away with the sacraments, however he did want to reduce them from seven to two. This showed how he did not want to change all parts of the Roman Catholic religion, only parts. Also, like most religious figures of the time Martin Luther was anti-Semitic. He wanted all the Jewish people to convert to Lutheranism, as he did not believe the Jewish religion was correct in its teachings and be liefs. He restricted the right of private judgement in matters involving conscience, but never denied it. A conservative in the way he did things, Luther was truly a great leader. Luther believed that the only thing needed to achieve salvation was to live by faith alone, which challenged the Roman Catholic Church’s theology that both faith and good works were necessary. Luther shared his beliefs with the people of the Holy Roman Empire, demanding change to the way theology was widely taught. He agreed with parts of the current teachings and was conservative, wanting to keep parts of the religion the same. He kept the sacraments, however reduced the amount of them from 7 to 2. An anti-Semitic, Luther displayed similarities with other religious officials. Lutheranism became more submissive to the state, as Luther believed that in worldly matters religion has to listen to authority. However Luther also had many revolutionary ideas, which upset those of the RCC as it went against the basics of Roman Catholic teachings. In response to the political problems, he wished to do away with the money robbery of the selling of indulgences, which were no more than pieces of paper in his eyes as works had nothing to do with salvation. His nailing of the 95 Theses made the power of the church authorities fluctuate, as it went against everything they taught their followers and everything they had been taught.. However in his response to the social problem of the Peasant’s Revolt, he told the princes to crush those who rebelled, as social revolution was not his intention. He meant to keep the matters of social or political problems separate from religious reform. After carefully evaluating his actions,  Martin Luther has proven to be both a revolutionary as well as a conservative on multiple occasions.

Saturday, January 11, 2020

Legalizing gambling Essay

Gambling is legal in many places, it’s not either a criminal or dangerous activity provided it is done responsibly, and in accordance with the law. Have you ever wagered on a game? If so you were gambling and should have been fined. Lawmakers have decided that it is evil to gamble, they have justified it as a means to scam billions from citizens in order to compensate for their mismanagement of tax revenue. They pass laws that could put a taxpayer in jail for placing a single dollar wager on a pool game. Legalizing gambling nationally could potentially benefit our economic situation. All gambling was once legal. Looking back only 75-100 years ago most of our states had lotteries in place. Over the past century, as a result of abuse and moral fervor the majority forms of gambling have been prohibited. The history of gambling in the United States evolved from Europe. The Puritans and Quakers took little time to create first laws against gambling in 1638. Casino gambling is becoming increasingly popular especially in southern states. Native Americans are allowed to establish bingo parlors and casinos on their reservations, although Las Vegas and Atlantic City remain gambling tourist top destination choice. Many states allow horse and dog racing tracks and then there’s the people who bet on sporting events, card games, and almost anything you can imagine in the privacy of their own home. The first thing to do is to regulate gambling, both land-based and online. After the legislative base is created and regulation covers every aspect of the gambling industry, it’s half way to being legalized. I don’t see why we should lose a couple dollars to a pool hustler, when we could be hustled legally by the state. Gambling offers individuals the adrenaline rush that greater opportunity lies within their own hands. People should not be denied an activity that they enjoy partaking in. Government can earn revenues from legalized gambling which can be diverted towards bettering our society. Legalizing gambling would increase employment opportunities in society which could help to reduce the amount of working capable people out of a job. Gambling establishments have shown to increase employment opportunities as well as improve tourism in the right areas. The presence of gambling establishments is also beneficial to society because they can contribute the revenues to local governments which then could use the profits for social programs that would benefit both gamblers and non gamblers. Legalized commercial gambling is becoming an increasing controversy within our state governments. There is no doubt that many different forms of legalized gambling has exploded in the region and around the country, if the government gives full support of legalization they will be doing all US citizens a favor. Some argue that gambling is an addiction, one that can become dangerous and harmful to the general public. The truth is that like all other influenced jobs it can be a way of making a living for yourself and your family. Though there are a lot of people that struggle with an addiction to gambling, there are probably just as many people who are responsible gamblers and have enough self control to moderate there wagering hobbies. Legalizing gambling nationally will help stimulate our struggling economy in many ways. If our government would be willing to try to implement new laws to legalize and regulate it theres no way a short time period of testing these ideas would leave any permanent damage on our nation.

Tuesday, January 7, 2020

Reading and Writing Newspaper Articles ESL Lesson Plan

Students often read newspapers for a wide variety of reasons, not least of which is to keep informed in English. As you know, newspaper writing style tends to have three levels: Headlines, leading phrases, and article content. Each of these has its own style. This lesson focuses on calling students attention to this type of writing style on a deeper, grammatical level. It ends with students writing up their own short articles with a follow-up listening comprehension opportunity. The Lesson Aim: Improved writing skills and understanding newspaper writing style Activity: Writing short newspaper articles Level: Intermediate to upper intermediate Outline: Use the provided example newspaper article, or take a newspaper into the class.Ask students to read the newspaper article and summarize the contents.Have students analyze the difference between the headline, leading sentence and article content in terms of tense usage and vocabulary in small groups (3 to 4 students).As a class, check that the differences between headline, leading sentence and article content are clear. Here is a short guideline to the main differences:Headline: Simple tenses, idiomatic, flashy vocabulary, no use of function wordsLeading sentence: Present perfect tense often used to give general overview.Article content: Proper tense usage, including a change from present perfect to past tenses to give detailed, specific information about what, where and when something happened.Once the differences have been understood, have students split up into pairs or small groups (3 to 4 students)Using the worksheet, small groups should write their own newspaper articles using t he headlines provided or come up with their own stories.Have students read their newspaper articles aloud allowing you to incorporate some listening comprehension into the lesson. FAKE VAN GOGH SELLS FOR $35 MILLION A fake painting supposedly by Vincent Van Gogh has been sold for $35 million in Paris. Paris June 9, 2004 Imagine this: Its the chance of a lifetime. You have the necessary cash and you have the opportunity to buy a Van Gogh. After purchasing the painting and placing it on your living room wall to show to all your friends, you discover that the painting is a forgery! Thats what happened to an anonymous telephone bidder who purchased Sunflowers in the Wind at the Peinture Company in Paris, France. The first (supposed) Van Gogh painting to have been auctioned since last years record sale of $40 million, the forgery was sold for $35 million. The painting had also been reported to be the last ever offered for sale, Britains Daily Times reported Thursday. Unfortunately, shortly after the masterpiece had been transferred to the buyers home, the Academy of Fine Arts released a statement saying that Sunflowers in the Wind was a fake. Upon further investigation, the report proved to be true. The unlucky buyer was forced to recognize that he or she had indeed purchased a forgery. Choose a Headline and Write Your Own Newspaper Article Newspaper Article 1 TRUCK CRASHES INTO LIVING ROOM Leading sentence: Provide your leading sentence. Article content: ​Write at least three short paragraphs about the incident. Newspaper Article 2 LOCAL COUNCIL: ACTION NOT PROMISES Leading sentence: Provide your leading sentence. Article content: Write at least three short paragraphs about the incident. Newspaper Article 3 LOCAL FOOTBALL PLAYER WINS BIG Leading sentence: Provide your leading sentence. Article content: Write at least three short paragraphs about the incident.

Friday, January 3, 2020

Innovation is Important for International Business - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 7 Words: 1989 Downloads: 9 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Business Essay Type Analytical essay Did you like this example? Innovation is important for international business Innovation must take the reality needs of customers and the possibility of the upcoming big demand or improve as the foundation, or innovation constantly tend to stay in the technology and the ideal level, must come out from the misunderstanding. The base includes the market impetus, market efficiency. Effective embodiment of the new cognition in the market efficiency and the internal and external. Therefore, there is no market, ineffective behavior, can not be attributed to innovation . Innovation must be effectively communicated with information and market awareness. Innovation has 7 external environmental factors, so that to find the demand, make breakthrough and innovation. 1) Found: for example, the design of Sydney Opera House 2) Gap between ideal and realityà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ : MP3 first appeared, music lovers commonly found insufficient memory, unable to meet their enthusiasm for the music, and it is not convenient to move from CD to MP3 format. Then jobs found the customer demand and the actual situation of the gap, we developed IPod, a large capacity, and have the advantages of more functions, and the ITunes platform, simplify the purchase music and then transfer to the MP3 process. 3) Process is simplified to: such as not checked baggage check-in 4) Within the industry market changes: changes in technology innovation or consumer tastes have great influence on the industry and market. Facebook, product Twitter is the advent of the Internet era. Examples of failure: Kodak, Nokia. 5) The change of population structure: such as birth, will establish some related training institutions; aging tends to be serious, open to open some humane, sanatorium high level 6) Change: such as consumers aware of the harm of nicotine, the electronic cigarette is emerging, as the times require. 7) New technology found: R D solar water heater solar technology.  ¼Ãƒâ€¹Ã¢â‚¬  D rucker, 1985 ¼Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ° Innovation is very important for the global economy, for Coca-Cola Co, to different regions corresponding to different customer groups, innovation has played a role of the market, recently in the Internet that, Coca-Cola Co, launched a new flavor beverage in Romania, as shown in fig: When it comes to innovation, it is necessary to mention Apple Corp, its slogan think different already win support among the people, that is IPod saved apple, before IPod Apple also because no new products enough good once on the brink of collapse. The iPod status is very important for Apple Corp, it can be said that changed the consumption of music market, redefine the music position, now has become a kind of symbol, and even can be used as the information age music generation, comparable to CD, in Europe and the United States, the itunes+ipod model was a huge commercial success. The recently launched iPhone, is also a great impact on the mobile phone mark et, has shaken the mobile phone Nokia King status, promote the popularity of smart mobile phone, for now China young people, using Apples mobile phone is a very cool. Apples innovation is the continuous, before doing iMac, people cant imagine PC machine can be like this; before doing the iPod, people can not imagine a MP3 player can be like this; before doing the iTunes, people cant imagine online music store is what appearance; before doing the MacBook, people can not imagine a notebook computer can be like this; before doing the iPhone, people can not imagine a mobile phone can have multi touch technology, can be easily combined with iPod, Internet, telephone the three core functions. Innovation of Apple Corp is not blindly, Apple Corp in 1997 is very critical moment to bring back Jobs. Jobs was the most important things to do, is to was in the R D projects cut half, retaining only a few business. His principle is: Focus. Apple in 1996, is the Jobs regression, operating losses of more than $ 1 billion, while the period of Microsoft, you should know, is very strong, the promotion of Windows 95 when the advertising fee took out $ 500 million in market value, the launch of Windows 98 in 99 years, broke through the $ 500 billion. You know, now the apple at its peak, the market value is only just exceeded 500 billion. Microsoft in 10 years ago reached. When apple in the face of such Microsoft, Jobs to allow apple to stand up, must concentrate on can really put ideas into the Project sales of products. Over the years, apple computer, mobile phone, MP3, seemingly flat and so on all production, seems to be very complex, but each field only a product. The gold standard is 97 years Jobs to Apples success. Apple has been painful; certainly not recommit the same error. It is the enterprise gene, Its very easy to be different, but very difficult to be better. Jonathan Ive (Walter, 2011) in fact, if you really pay attention to apple, will find it every year to apply for the registration of patents for many, but most have not become the actual product. This shows that apple is not innovation, innovation is numerous, in the absence of objective environment allows a hot product, not just to liquidation, nature, the public will know nothing at all. Apple pays more attention to individual consumers, all innovation around the reality demand, looks a bit more practical. After analyzing the Apple Corp as an example, the following from the global economy to illustrate the importance of innovation. This century 50à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s end since the early 60s, with the rapid development of computer industry, the world economy gradually from industrial economy to information economy transition began to appear in information products in international trade. After entering 90 age, modern information network technology is development make a spurt of progress, international trade into an information age, information has become one of the most important factor s affecting the twenty-first Century international trade and development. Especially the naissance and rising of electronic commerce and Internet trade, leads to great changes to the operation of international trade. Through the global network of information flow between countries and regions in the world, promoting international trade development to the direction of information technology, but also opens up a new way for the sustainable development of international trade. Electronic Business is a new business model emerged in recent years in the global scope. In recent years, the rapid development of electronic commerce is the inevitable product of the market, financial, economic globalization trend. The use of Internet technology to enterprises, users, suppliers related to trade and business connection to the existing information technology system, completely changed the traditional operation mode and method, is a global information flow can be realized in the field of internation al trade form. Electronic commerce expanded international trade of space and places, shortens the distance and the time of international trade, simplifies the procedures and process of international trade, the international trade globalization, intelligent, paperless and facilitation, and realized the epoch-making profound changes. According to the China World Trade Center conference estimates, if the use of e-commerce in the global international trade, a year can bring about $1000 billion of revenue, along with the world economic globalization, the whole world import and export trade through electronic commerce will also gradually increase the proportion of. Electronic commerce is a new revolution in the field of international trade. Electronic commerce is the technical foundation of economic globalization, it broke through the countries and regions all kinds of barriers between, make international trade going, caused great changes in the world economy and trade. First of all, g reat changes have taken place in the international trade market transactions, the emergence of the virtual market. E-commerce through online virtual information exchange, opened up a new open, multi-dimensional, three-dimensional space in the market, breaking the traditional market to a certain geographical existence as premise condition, the global information network to link together into a unified big market, promoted the formation of the global market in the world economy the. Factors of production flow of information brought capital, goods, technology and other global accelerated flow, promote the rapid development of the global network economy. Economic and trade ties and cooperation in countries that trade under the environment of network can be greatly enhanced. Secondly, great changes have taken place in international trade management main body, the emergence of the The Virtual Corporation. The core technology of modern information and communication technology by individ ual companies have in their professional field, many companies are connected to the company community network, a company cant bear market function, can be more effective in providing goods and services to the market. The new enterprise organization form does not have the contact force of all the companys power in the capital, but due to undertake certain information collection processing and transfer function seems to have a certain entity. Strategic alliance of Multi-National Corporation is the main form of the The Virtual Corporation, find the resources and alliances through dynamic network combination of the open system, the realization of virtual operation to vary from minute to minute economic competition environment and consumer demand for personalized, diversified into development trend, bring about division of labor, complementary advantages, resource reuse, benefit sharing benefits to the Multi-National Corporation. At present, the development speed of the network trade is speeding up, a huge potential of the emerging market began to form. Can foreknow, trade network in the future in twenty-first Century, will become the trade mode. The trade network objective basis, fundamentally speaking is the great revolution of science and technology development, economic relations between the globalization and integration. Network trade compared with the traditional trade way, basically have the following advantages: (1) the network trade will greatly reduce the transaction costs of both sides. Both parties through the network directly, without the intermediary trade participation, reduce intermediate links of the transaction; the parties involved in the transaction only pay the lower network communication and management costs can be obtained storage, exchange and processing information, save money, reduce cost; the Internet is a global network, in favor of both sides of the transaction to acquire complete information on the market, reduce the search cost, re duce transaction uncertainty; direct transmission of electronic documents on the Internet, which saves the production cost of paper documents, but also can shorten the invoice settlement time, accelerate capital turnover, save interest expense. (2) The network trade to improve work efficiency. The existing network technology to achieve the business user standard format (such as contract, bill of lading, invoice etc.) real-time transmission and exchange, the seller and the buyer can remain within doors on the Internet for ordering, negotiation, signing, customs clearance, inspection declaration, shipping, taxes, payment and settlement of the foreign trade business formalities directly, greatly reducing the transaction time, to the whole transaction is very fast and convenient, which led to the relevant departments of finance, customs, transportation, insurance, improve work efficiency. (3) The network trade is beneficial to the enhancement of enterprise competitive position. Companie s and manufacturers can apply for registering a domain name, set up their own websites on the Internet, introduces the product, service and propaganda enterprise image by Webpage, expand enterprise well knownness, to open up overseas markets and improve the international competitiveness. In addition, the network trade without time, geographical restrictions, affected by natural conditions, can be all-weather trade, the products to the world, increasing trade opportunities, but also contribute to the timely, accurately grasp the market dynamics, closely with business relationships with customers, raise the market competitive position. So the innovation plays an important role in international business, a company want to better access to benefits, it should make innovation and preparation, the companys products to meet the consumers experience as the main objective, to adapt to the international market trend in the operation of the company itself, the sales model to adapt to the de velopment of science and technology, not the total maintains the inherent mode, do not make innovation, will soon be replaced by the new company. References: Drucker, P. F. (1985).The discipline of innovation.Harvard Business Review,63(3), 95-103 Walter,I.(2011).Steve Jobs: A Biography, Simon Schuster Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Innovation is Important for International Business" essay for you Create order