Telecommuting Essay Example for Free

Working from home Essay Working from home or telecommuting permits representatives of an organization to telecommute or some other remote area other than an office. Working from home expects representatives to have the option to get to the entirety of the PC applications they have accessible to them at work so as to play out their occupations satisfactorily. The organization ought to give Internet access to workers at their homes and ensure they have the suitable hardware to run and access organization gave programming. While a few specialists contend working from home is more cost-proficient, may expand profitability and make a superior work/life balance, others state the expense of diminished publicity collaborators, impact it has on laborers left at the workplace, and its inability to satisfy a portion of its desires could make it a less alluring alternative. By actualizing working from home, an organization has the likelihood to spare fundamentally. Due to telecommuting, representatives will have the option to work from remote areas and won't have a need to come into the workplace. This will dispense with the requirement for a physical area for most workers, which will bring about a huge investment funds for each month. Every representative can utilize their PC at home or be given one by the organization. By executing working from home, it would forestall the need to extend physical areas later on. Reserve funds would likewise increment dependent on the absence of service bills related with the physical area, dropping T1 lines, and landline telephones. Every worker can speak with one another and clients by means of their organization mobile phone, which as a rule is as of now gave to them or their home landline telephone in the event that they wish. The organization will at that point be liable for their Internet association as a repayment. The figure above blueprints the complete expenses of every game plan. Obviously working from home can possibly set aside an organization more cash very quickly after usage. This is genuine just if each individual in the organization works from home. As certain organizations working from home arrangements state, the worker who works from home must answer to an incorporated work environment for a part of time every week. On the off chance that this is valid, working from home isn't as cost effective as it appears. Transportation costs are additionally definitely decreased for representatives. Since they would no longer need to drive to the workplace ordinary, costs related with a day by day drive would be definitely diminished. This would likewise set aside cash for the organization. The national government offers charge motivating forces to organizations who put forth attempts to diminish their carbon impression. By executing working from home, any organization would be qualified for the duty motivators the extremely one year from now. In an examination directed at the Kentucky American Water Company, performed from 1998-2003, it was reasoned that a noteworthy investment funds could be made per representative (Butler, Aasheim, Williams, 2007). The article calls attention to that for the Kentucky American Water Company, â€Å"savings incorporate decreased costs for office space and stopping, and a decrease in protests dealt with by the administrators. † In an outline delivered in the investigation, it looks at the expenses and reserve funds of executing the working from home procedure in the call place bit of the organization. All things considered, was working from home will spare KAWC $1,361 per representative (p. 102). Examination has demonstrated that telecommuting is identified with higher occupation fulfillment and an assortment of positive representative outcomes,† composes Karen Fonner for the Journal for Applied Communication Research (Fonner Roloff, 2010, p. 340). Telecommuting assists representatives with dealing with their own and work lives more successfully than working in an office setting. By discharging representatives from the limitations of a physical office, they are enabled to make their own calendars to achieve work all the more successfully. This strengthening empowers representatives to take responsibility for position and will otivate them to perform as well as could be expected. With the capacity of representatives to make their own calendars nonstop, it will profit organizations by permitting the worker to have an adaptable timetable to adjust to the requesting calendars of business in the new thousand years. Another advantage of working from home is less non-attendance at work. In the event that a representative has a doctor’s arrangement, they can set their work routine around the arrangement and remember it for their timetable around both individual and work arrangements. If they somehow happened to answer to a physical area and be compelled to be fixed for a set measure of time in an office, the worker would be slanted to take the whole vacation day for the doctor’s arrangement. With the adaptability of telecommuting, the representative would not be slanted to cancel would in any case have the option to work when the arrangement. The equivalent is valid for representatives who require imagination breaks in the middle of meetings of working. The adaptability of telecommuting empowers increasingly visit breaks with the goal that representatives can utilize the time put in a safe spot for work to be generally effective. Working from home additionally removes representatives from the stressors of the workplace. Workplace issues assumes an enormous job in worry at work and is a colossal interruption for representatives. â€Å"By working remotely most of the time, telecommuters can maintain a strategic distance from or overlook a portion of the unreasonable practices inside the association, for example, cronyism, self-intrigued conduct, and weight against taking a stand in opposition to those in power,† composes (Fonner, 2010, p. 361). Without the politicking at work, representatives who telecommute can utilize their vacation for increasingly gainful individual errand that don’t prompt more weight on their activity. In a study directed at the telcom organization Ericsson in July of 2006, respondents were posed a progression of inquiries identified with working from home. Representatives who were not as of now working from home were asked what significant components would convince them to work from home later on (Borjesson Markus, 2006, p. 526). The most appraised sparing time as the most powerful motivation to adjust media transmission with expanding productivity, lessening pressure, and having more autonomy in their every day life as the best four reasons (Borjesson Markus, 2006). Amusingly, diminishing voyaging costs had the littlest measure of supporters. Representatives at Ericsson put more accentuation on strengthening as their primary motivation to pick working from home over financial reasons. Furthermore, its a significant instrument for drawing in a more youthful age of representatives who anticipate that adaptability and more noteworthy feeling of command over their lives, says Danette Campbell, senior counsel for telecommuting with the U. S. Patent and Trademark Office in Washington when talking about telecommuting in the article â€Å"Washington Tapping Into Telework For More Flexibility† (Silver, 2010, p. 0). Including working from home as a working environment alternative will make any organization a progressively alluring manager. The Kentucky American Water Company study demonstrated remote workers are more gainful specialists than their on location representatives (Butler, Aasheim, Williams, 2007, p. 101). The examination estimated profi tability dependent on four variables, â€Å"amount of work; force of work; proficiency of work; and alterations for extra expenses related with working from home, (for example, costs for gear, innovation support, preparing, administrative help, thus forth)† (2007, p. 101). The investigation found, â€Å"the normal profitability of remote workers in the 13 months following the â€Å"go live† period expanded by 154%, while the normal efficiency of in-office operators fell by 13. 3%. Since generally speaking client assistance improved extensively (the level of deserted calls diminished from 12. 2% to 3. 6%)† (p. 102). Understanding that all positions at the KAWC call focus can be performed utilizing media transmission, equals can even now be drawn from call focus work and the sort of work performed by most organizations. Most of day by day work performed by most representatives comprises of speaking with customers and collaborators. All correspondence in many occupations doesn't depend on a worker being in a unified workspace. By permitting workers to work from home, they will be allowed to meet with clients and customers during whenever of the day, accordingly permitting them to be progressively gainful and accessible to them. Numerous customers and clients have issues meeting during a typical â€Å"9-to-5† workday since they are additionally grinding away. By actualizing working from home, representatives will be allowed to meet with them at night when they for the most part wouldn’t be at â€Å"work† on the off chance that they worked in a concentrated area or during business hours on the off chance that they have to. Working from home likewise requires the utilization of innovation to perform work from remote areas. â€Å"People who utilize more IT in their work are progressively beneficial, and by its very nature working from home requires more utilization of IT,† composes Ralph Westfall in his article â€Å"Does Telecommuting Really Improve Productivity? † (Westfall, 2004, p. 95). By executing working from home at an organization, they will be compelled to refresh their innovation and train individuals to utilize the new innovation adequately. In doing this, workers will be compelled to turn out to be progressively profitable dependent on their new information and the utilization of new innovation. A contention against working from home is the absence of human communication engaged with the â€Å"Employees who worked away from their workplaces for at least three days seven days detailed declining of their associations with coworkers,† expressed Pam Willenz for the American Psychological Association (Willenz, 2007). Representatives may appear to be disappointed from their associates who report to an office, which effectsly affects worker resolve to all workers. Working from home likewise could effectsly affect advancements for representatives. The thought behind â€Å"out of sight, out of mind† assumes a huge job in the dread that workers who work from home have more outlandish of an opportunity to get advanced from their present position due to their absence of publicity with su

Titus, Hamlet And Prospero Are All Characters That Plot Revenge Agains Essay Example For Students

Titus, Hamlet And Prospero Are All Characters That Plot Revenge Agains Essay t those whowronged them. There are similitudes and contrasts in the manners they choose todeal with their retaliation. Both Titus and Hamlet use demise as their wellspring of vengeance. Titus murders the Queen of the Goths child, Alarbus, similar to Hamlet who executes the Queen of Denmarks spouse, the King, Claudius. Both of them both execute for a relative so they can find happiness in the hereafter. Titus for his children, and Hamlet for his dad. Be that as it may, Titus executes Alarbus rapidly and decisively. Then again, Hamlet moves gradually to slaughter Claudius ensuring he is the one to execute. Titus and Hamlet murdered out of adoration for their blood. We will compose a custom exposition on Titus, Hamlet And Prospero Are All Characters That Plot Revenge Agains explicitly for you for just $16.38 $13.9/page Request now Hamlet and Prospero both managed their circumstance contrastingly despite the fact that the result was the equivalent, they got the retribution they needed. Hamlet utilized his blade for retaliation and everybody winds up passing on aside from those picked not many. Alternately, Prospero utilizes his enchantment to show his exercise and nobody passes on. Conversely, they are comparative since the two of them made everybody think something contrary to what really was. Hamlet made everybody think he was insane. Prospero had everybody accepting he was dead. The two were both double-crossed by their own blood and dealt with the case in an alternate manner. Titus and Prospero both know precisely what they have to do. Neither one of them stop or postponed their retribution, no superfluous time was lost. Differently, with Titus everybody appears to kick the bucket, be that as it may, with Prospero passing isn't in his arrangement. To retaliate for his children demise is the thing that Titus needs. Prospero needs to recover his dukedom. The two of them recognized what they needed done and did it. Accomplishing vengeance for what they accept is a trademark that they all offer. Despite the fact that their techniques contrast the outcomes are similar in the manner that every one of the three achieved what they expected to proceed onward.

How to Write an Essay

How to Write an EssayMany students want to know how to write an essay, but they aren't sure what the best approach is. The best approach depends on your intent and how you intend to use the essay as a final grade. What I will do is give some examples of what is right for various purposes.The most common way to approach how to write an essay is to write an outline. You want to start out with a clear objective and figure out how to organize the materials that you will need. When you do this, don't skip ahead. Write in order, one paragraph at a time.It is hard to figure out how to write an essay when you are caught in a writer's block. When that happens, you might want to start with an overview and then move onto the argument. When writing from the point of view of an argument, don't skip around because you may end up writing the essay without the argument.Writing about yourself or other people can help you understand how to write an essay, and when the essay is completed. It can also h elp you to see where you could have been clearer or to draw a distinction between two opposing viewpoints. If you think of yourself as a contributor to the paper, for example, then you can look at the others in the group and compare the different opinions to help form the perspective you need.When you understand how to write an essay you can also focus on the two sides of an argument and use both sides as your own opinion. Try doing this with a lawyer in your class who is in support of the war. Start by presenting both sides of the arguments and let your opinion dictate your writing.There are many resources for teaching writing out there that are just available because of the Internet, and this opens up a whole new dimension to learning how to write an essay. Some of these resources are learning guides, while others are video programs. Be sure to take advantage of all the resources that are available to you, and don't be afraid to try something new.There are many different ways to a pproach writing an essay, and I'm sure you are just as curious as I am about how to write an essay. Don't be afraid to ask for help, and if you do feel like you need someone to show you how to write an essay, I recommend that you check out the Resource Center for Writing Excellence. This website offers free tutorials in writing an essay and offers many other writing tools that you can use.How to write an essay is just a part of the skill set that students need to learn if they want to get good grades in school. Learn about the different approaches to writing, and you will be able to successfully write your essay and help your classmates to do the same.

The Satsuma Rebellion

The Meiji Restoration of 1868 signaled the beginning of the end for Japans samurai warriors.  After centuries of samurai rule, however, many members of the warrior class were understandably reluctant to give up their status and power.  They also believed that only the samurai had the courage and training to defend Japan from its enemies, internal and external.  Surely no conscript army of peasants could fight like the samurai!  In 1877, the samurai of the Satsuma Province rose up in the Satsuma Rebellion or Seinan Senso (Southwestern War), challenging the authority of the Restoration Government in Tokyo and testing the new imperial army. Background Located on the southern tip of Kyushu Island, more than 800 miles south of Tokyo, the Satsuma domain had existed and governed itself for centuries with very little interference from the central government.  During the latter years of the Tokugawa shogunate, just prior to the Meiji Restoration, the Satsuma clan began to invest heavily in armaments, building a new shipyard at Kagoshima, two weapons factories, and three ammunition depots.  Officially, the Meiji Emperors government had authority over those facilities after 1871, but Satsuma officials actually retained control of them. On January 30, 1877, the central government launched a raid on the arms and ammunition storage areas in Kagoshima, without any prior warning to the Satsuma authorities.  Tokyo intended to confiscate the weapons and take them to an imperial arsenal in Osaka.  When an Imperial Navy landing party reached the arsenal at Somuta under cover of night, locals raised the alarm.  Soon, more than 1,000 Satsuma samurai appeared and drove off the intruding sailors.  The samurai then attacked imperial facilities around the province, seizing weapons and parading them through the streets of Kagoshima.   The influential Satsuma samurai, Saigo Takamori, was away at the time and had no knowledge of these events, but hurried home when he heard the news.  Initially he was furious about the junior samurais actions. However, he soon learned that 50 Tokyo police officers who were Satsuma natives had returned home with instructions to assassinate him in the case of an uprising.  With that, Saigo threw his support behind those organizing for a rebellion. On February 13 and 14, the Satsuma domains army of 12,900 organized itself into units.  Each man was armed with a small firearm  Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã‚  either a rifle, a carbine, or a pistol  Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã‚  as well as 100 rounds of ammunition and, of course, his katana.  Satsuma had no reserve of extra weapons and insufficient ammunition for an extended war.  The artillery consisted of 28 5-pounders, two 16-pounders, and 30 mortars. The Satsuma advance guard, 4,000 strong, set out on February 15, marching north.  They were followed two days later by the rear guard and artillery unit, who left in the midst of a freak snowstorm.  Satsuma daimyo Shimazu Hisamitsu did not acknowledge the departing army when the men stopped to bow at the gates of his castle.  Few would return. Satsuma Rebellion The imperial government in Tokyo expected Saigo to come to the capital by sea or to dig in and defend Satsuma.  Saigo, however, had no regard for the conscripted farm boys who made up the imperial army. He led his samurai straight up the middle of Kyushu, planning to cross the straits and march on Tokyo.  He hoped to raise the samurai of other domains along the way. However, a government garrison at Kumamoto Castle stood in the Satsuma rebels path, manned by about 3,800 soldiers and 600 police under Major General Tani Tateki.  With a smaller force, and unsure about the loyalty of his Kyushu-native troops, Tani decided to stay inside the castle rather than venture out to face Saigos army.  Early on February 22, the Satsuma attack began. Samurai scaled the walls repeatedly, only to be cut down by small arms fire.  These attacks on the ramparts continued for two days, until Saigo decided to settle in for a siege.   The Siege of Kumamoto Castle lasted until April 12, 1877.  Many former samurai from the area joined Saigos army, increasing his force to 20,000.  The Satsuma samurai fought on with fierce determination; meanwhile, the defenders ran out of artillery shells. They resorted to digging up unexploded Satsuma ordinance and refiring it.  However, the imperial government gradually sent more than 45,000 reinforcements to relieve Kumamoto, finally driving the Satsuma army away with heavy casualties.  This costly defeat put Saigo on the defensive for the remainder of the rebellion. Rebels in Retreat Saigo and his army made a seven-day march south to Hitoyoshi, where they dug trenches and prepared for the imperial army to attack.  When the attack finally came, the Satsuma forces withdrew, leaving small pockets of samurai to hit the larger army in guerrilla-style strikes.  In July, the Emperors army encircled Saigos men, but the Satsuma army fought its way free with heavy casualties. Down to about 3,000 men, the Satsuma forces made a stand on Mount Enodake.  Faced with 21,000 imperial army troops, the majority of the rebels ended up committing seppuku (surrendering by suicide).  The survivors were out of ammunition, so had to rely on their swords.  Just about 400 or 500 of the Satsuma samurai escaped the mountain slope on August 19, including Saigo Takamori.  They retreated once more to Mount Shiroyama, which stands above the city of Kagoshima, where the rebellion began seven months earlier. In the final battle, the Battle of Shiroyama, 30,000 imperial troops bore down upon Saigo and his few hundreds of surviving rebel samurai.  Despite the overwhelming odds, the Imperial Army did not attack immediately upon arrival on September 8 but instead spent more than two weeks carefully preparing for its final assault.  In the wee hours of the morning on September 24, the emperors troops launched a three-hour-long artillery barrage, followed by a massed infantry assault that began at 6 am.   Saigo Takamori likely was killed in the initial barrage, although tradition holds that he was just gravely injured and committed seppuku.  In either case, his retainer, Beppu Shinsuke, cut off his head to ensure that Saigos death was honorable.  The few surviving samurai launched a suicide charge into the teeth of the imperial armys Gatling guns, and were shot down.  By 7 o clock that morning, all of the Satsuma samurai lay dead. Aftermath The end of the Satsuma Rebellion also marked the end of the samurai era in Japan.  Already a popular figure, after his death, Saigo Takamori was lionized by the Japanese people.  He is popularly known as The Last Samurai, and proved so beloved that Emperor Meiji felt compelled to issue him a posthumous pardon in 1889. The Satsuma Rebellion proved that a conscript army of commoners could out-fight even a very determined band of samurai  Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã‚  provided they had overwhelming numbers, at any rate.  It signaled the beginning of the Japanese Imperial Armys rise to domination in eastern Asia, which would end only with Japans eventual defeat in World War II almost seven decades later. Sources Buck, James H. The Satsuma Rebellion of 1877. From Kagoshima Through the Siege of Kumamoto Castle. Monumenta Nipponica. Vol. 28, No. 4, Sophia University, JSTOR, 1973. Ravina, Mark. The Last Samurai: The Life and Battles of Saigo Takamori. Paperback, 1 edition, Wiley, February 7, 2005. Yates, Charles L. Saigo Takamori in the Emergence of Meiji Japan. Modern Asian Studies, Volume 28, Issue 3, Cambridge University Press, July 1994.

Investment And Financial Data On Non Financial Firms Finance Essay - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 6 Words: 1789 Downloads: 9 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Finance Essay Type Narrative essay Did you like this example? Table 1 provides descriptive statistics on the investment and financial data for the sample of the 15 listed non-financial firms during the period 2000-2009. The sample consists of firms operating in 4 different sectors. It is to be noted furthermore that for the purpose of the descriptive analysis, the use of LOG was not taken into account. Inspection of the table reveals a high variation of investment among the listed non financial firms. The mean of the ratio of investment to total assets is 0.046, while the standard deviation is 0.072 which is about one and a half times the mean. The sample average Tobins Q of 0.72 reflects market expectations of quite strong growth opportunities for the firms. The mean of the leverage is 0.13 which suggests there is not so much reliance on long term debt finance and thus firms are not so highly leveraged. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Investment And Financial Data On Non Financial Firms Finance Essay" essay for you Create order 5.2 Table 5: Correlation among Independent Variables Investment Leverage Profitability Cash Flow Sales Tobins Q Investment 1 Leverage -0.09 1 Profitability 0.29 -0.08 1 Cash Flow 0.29 -0.07 0.85 1 Sales 0.74 0.10 0.42 0.48 1 Tobins Q -0.07 0.18 0.09 0.12 -0.05 1 Table 3 presents Correlation Coefficients for the variables used to assess the impact of leverage on firm investment. Investment is negatively correlated with leverage and Tobins Q. Except for Tobins Q where a positive relationship was expected, the other variable support the theory and gives the expected results as the case of leverage supporting the Agency Theory. But this negative related Tobins Q can be explained using the Low and high growth firms statement. This positive relation for profitability and business size is consistent with the pecking order theory and trade-off theory. Cash flow For instance, profitability may be positively related to cash flows since high cash flows may help in day to day running of a firms business. As seen in the above table, the correlation between profitability and cash flow are high, which is 0.8489. Fixed or random table Table: Random and Fixed tests Variables Fixed Random Coefficient p-value Coefficient Leverage -0.23 0.00 -0.22 Profitability 0.22 0.30 0.21 Cash flow -0.30 0.25 -0.30 Tobins Q 0.57 0.04 0.42 Sales 0.72 0.00 0.75 R-square = 0. 5886 Prob F = 0.0000 corr(u_i, Xb) = 0 No of Observation: 150 No of Company: 10 The Random Effect Model as well shows that not all variables are significant. However, the value of R-squared (R-sq) is 0.5886. This shows that the independent variables of the current model explain 58.86% of the investment opportunities of Mauritian firms. In fixed effect test, leverage, TobinQ, sales are significant in explaining investment. In the random effect model, only leverage, and sales are significant. Table 3: Hausman Test Hausman Probchi2 = 0.65 According to the Hausman test the Probchi2=0.65 as seen in Table 3. The result obtained show that the random effect model is the appropriate model to use. The random effect assumes that the error term is uncorrelated with the dependent variables. Random effect tests Table: Random test Variables Coefficient p-value t-ratios Leverage -0.21 0.00 -9.94 Profitability 0.14 0.03 2.15 Cash flow -0.22 0.00 -2.78 Tobins Q 0.17 0.07 1.84 Sales 0.76 0.00 32.97 The results, shown on the Table , are rather encouraging since the significance of the overall regression illustrates the existence of a relationship between investment opportunities and the determinants analysed. Apart from Tobins Q, all the other determinants are significant to the model. The most interesting factor, however, is given by the fact that all of the coefficients of the exogenous variables have the predicted sign except cash flow which is negative. Leverage Our variable of interest, i.e., the leverage is statistically significant at 1% and is negatively related to net investment as 1 unit increase of leverage ratio leads to a 21.43 % decrease in net investment suggesting that capital structure plays an important role in the firms investment policies. This implies that as leverage increases, firms in the sample struggle to increase investment. In fact, net investment decreases, as firms tend to become more dependent on debt as a source of long term financing. T The negative effect of leverage of firm investment tallies with the underinvestment and overinvestment theory and furthermore, As Myers (1977) stated earlier, that leverage is negatively related to investment because of an agency problem between shareholders and bondholders. If managers work in the interest of shareholders, they may give up some positive net present value projects in the interest of shareholders due to debt overhang. The theories of Jensen (1986), Stulz (1990) and Grossman and Hart (1982) also claimed leverage to have a negative effect on investment but their arguments are founded on agency problems between managers and shareholders. They believed that firms with free cash flow but low growth opportunities may invest or overinvest such that the manager may take on projects with negative NPV. But, such strategy is not costless to the manager, especially if the capital market takes into account such potential opportunism or if there is a take over of the firm by anothe r company, managers tend to increase leverage and pay out cash as interest and principal. Furthermore, there are direct costs involved in raising external funding, such as underwriting and administrative fees. There is also potential financial distress costs associated with using external finance. For example, as leverage increases, other things being equal, there may be a higher probability of the firm facing financial distress. In this case, the firm may incur direct bankruptcy costs such as legal expenses and trustee fees and indirect costs such as the disruption of operations, loss of suppliers or customers and the imposition of financial constraints. The present value of these expected costs should be reflected in current financing costs. Finally, there are issues of taxation, shareholder dilution, control of information, the need to maintain flexibility and liquidity that may also have an impact on a firms financing choices. Financial factors may therefore affect the cost and availability of capital and so influence the investment decision Profitability The coefficient for profitability is 13.79 which is statistically significant at 3.1% and is positively related to investment. It indicates that the operating efficiency of the total funds over investments is positive. Usually, high profitability also attracts funds from investors for expansion and growth. Furthermore, it contributes towards the social overheads for the welfare of the society and there is an effective use of capital. This result is consistent with the empirical literature whereby Myres, 1984 stated that firms prefer to finance new investments from retained earnings and raise debt capital only if the former is insufficient, the availability of internal capital depends on the profitability of the firm. This fact is in line with the pecking order theory Cash Flow From the results obtained from table above, it can be noted that cash flow is significant at 1% but it is negatively related to investment opportunities since as 1 unit increase of cash flow ratio leads to a 22.47 decrease in net investment. The overall negative and significant coefficient of cash flow suggests that overinvestment is severed in overinvesting firms if they hold more cash. According to Jensen (1986) as the free cash flows of overinvesting managers increase, so should the overinvestment, as they have more funds to waste The contradicting and statistically weak result might be explained by the fact that cash holdings for the funding of projects are of relatively little relevance to the studied group of firms, since the studied firms should have favorable access to external capital by being listed. Thus, the firms might fund their projects directly by share or debt issues, instead of building cash reserves. Possessing free cash flow is rather beneficial for a firm, but having excessive dormant cash flow is relatively is not good. When free cash flow is present and shareholding monitoring is incomplete, the typical manager-shareholder monitoring agency problem arises. Managers have a tendency to overinvest even in negative NPV projects while shareholders would prefer dividends to eliminate the free cash flow. Cash flow is rather used maybe for paying out dividend, debt-finance share repurchase, and the like. As argued by Whited (1992), Gomes (2001), Alti (2003), Cummins et al. (2006) among others, one important caution in the analysis that might explain the contradictory findings in the literature is that cash flow might convey information about the firms future investment opportunities. When this is the case, a significant cash flow and investment relationship might be observed that reflects increased investment opportunities rather than signalling financing frictions. In other words, the observed relation between cash flow and investment might be a spurious effect resulting from the inability to control for investment opportunities in the underlying investment equation. The investment of firms with higher leverage may be more sensitive to cash flows than that of firms with lower leverage. The increased debt servicing obligations resulting from higher leverage mean that the available cash flows of higher-geared firms are smaller and thus they have less of a buffer against disturbances. Sales It can be seen that firms are utilizing their total assets efficiently and it reflects the ability in producing large sales volume. The estimates of sales is 75.94 and the variable is statistically significant at 1%. Sales revenue does not support the popular belief that firm with more debt are investing to a lesser degree than their sales would suggest. This finding corresponds to that of Kopcke and Howrey (1994) who found that investment of 396 companies was not dependent on the sales revenue of the firms. Tobins Q From the table, it can be seen that Tobins Q is statistically insignificant at 6.5% and is positively related with investment. The regression estimate is 17.44. Firms which have a propensity to expand the scale of the business and managements ability to carry out such a policy is constrained by the availability of free cash flows and this constraint can be further tightened via financial leverage. The issuance of debt engages the firm to pay cash as interest and principal, forcing the managers to service such commitments with the funds that may have otherwise been allocated for investment projects. Hayashi (1982) explained that the Tobins Q variable should be an adequate enough variable to explain firm investment. However, if a major impact of Tobins Q is the presence of bubbles, forms of irrationality such as herding and other factors, then it might not be a statistic that captures the relevant information about profitability of projects invested in. In addition, he assumes that the market is fully efficient, the firm exhibits constant returns to scale and importantly, these firms have no market power. HIGH AND LOW GROWTH FIRM Arrellano and Bond Test Table: Arrellano and Bond Variables Coefficient p-value t-ratios Investmentlag -0.18 0.79 -0.26 Leverage 0.04 0.82 0.23 Profitability -0.33 0.94 -0.07 Cash flow 0.50 0.91 0.11 Tobins Q 0.73 0.78 0.27 Sales 0.06 0.97 0.04 The GMM results show that investment lag is not significant. There is no causality in investment. Sargan Tests Sargan p-value : 1.000 The p-value is above the 0.05. It indicates that the model is valid. The model passes the sargan test. Abond test abond p-value Order 1 Order 2 0.79 0.26 The p-value for both of Order 1 and Order 2 is greater than 0.05. There is no evidence of serial correlation in the dataset.

The Hawaiian Monk Seal, Or Monachus Schauinslandi

The Hawaiian monk seal, or Monachus schauinslandi, was one of the original species to be placed under the Endangered Species Act that was enacted in 1973. As of 2010, the population of the monk seal is approximately 1,100, with an annual decrease of approximately 4.5%. The Hawaiian monk seal is primarily found on the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands that are made up of coral reef atolls, seamounts, banks, and shoals. This is due to the fact that the monk seals primarily forage on the barrier reefs of the atolls, on submerged reefs, and on banks further from the atolls (Curtice et al, 2011). The monk seals are primarily benthic forgers and will search for food in a broad depth range up to 500m and over different substrates (National Marine†¦show more content†¦The population decline in monk seals is due to several different factors with the biggest reason due to the low pup and juvenile survival rates (Curtice et al, 2011). At the Kure Atoll on the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands , 32 pups were observed in 1964 and 30 pups were observed in 1965. Of these pups born, all but one died or disappeared within 60 days after birth. This was also seen in the 1970’s at Green Island and Kure Atoll, where a mean population of 17 and 14 seals, respectively, was counted on these beaches, with a birth total of 10 showing a population decline of 70% (Gilmartin et al, 2011). The juvenile survival rate is still seen today with one in five monk seals surviving to the reproductive age, with one year old seals having the highest mortality rates (Norris et al, 2011). One of the reasons this is occurring is due to human interaction. Adult females who are near birth or who have just given birth are very sensitive to disturbance (Gilmartin, Johanos, DeMaster, Henderson, 2011). In 1960, the U.S. Coast Guard built a station on Green Island that was previously unoccupied to humans, and as a result of this the female monk seals would encounter humans almost daily causing the fe male monk seals to leave that preferred hauling and birthing sites and go to beaches that were highly affected by flooding, shark predation, and

A Woman Of No Importance monologue Essay Example For Students

A Woman Of No Importance monologue Essay A monologue from the play by Oscar Wilde NOTE: This monologue is reprinted from A Woman of No Importance. Oscar Wilde. London: Methuen Co., 1916. MRS. ARBUTHNOT: I will never stand before God\s altar and ask God\s blessing on so hideous a mockery as a marriage between me and George Harford. I will not say the words the Church bids us to say. I will not say them. How could I swear to love the man I loathe, to honour him who wrought you dishonor, to obey him who, in his mastery, made me to sin? No; marriage is a sacrament for those who love each other. It is not for such as him, or such as me. Gerald, to save you from the world\s sneers and taunts I have lied to the world. For twenty years I have lied to the world. I could not tell the truth. No, Gerald, no ceremony, Church-hallowed or State-made, shall ever bind me to George Harford. Men don\t understand what mothers are. I am no different from other women except in the wrong done me and the wrong I did, and my very heavy punishments and great disgrace. And yet, to bear you I had to look on death. To nurture you I had to wrestle with it. Death fought with me for you. All women have to fight with death to keep their children. Death, being childless, wants our children from us. Gerald, when you were naked I clothed you, when you were hungry I gave you food. Night and day all that long winter I tended you. No office is too mean, no care too lowly for the thing we women loveand oh! how I loved you! And you needed love, for you were weakly, and only love could have kept you alive. Only love can keep any one alive. And boys are careless often, and without thinking give pain, and we always fancy that when they come to man\s estate and know us better they will repay us. But it is not so. The world draws them from our side, and they make friends with whom they are happier than they are with us, and have amusements from which we are barred, and interests that are not ours; and they are unjust to us often, for when they find life bitter they blame us for it, and when they find it sweet we do not taste its sweetness with them. . . . You made many friends and went in to their houses and were glad with them, and I, knowing my secret, did not dare to follow, but stayed at home and closed the door, shut out the sun and sat in darkness. My past was ever with me. . . . And you thought I didn\t care for the pleasant things of life. I tell you I longed for them, but did not dare to touch them, feeling I had no right. You thought I was happier working amongst the poor. That was my mission, you imagined. It was not, but where else was I to go? The sick do not ask if the hand that smooths their pillow is pure, nor the dying care if the lips that touch their brow have known the kiss of sin. It was you I thought of all the time; I gave to them the love you did not need; lavished on them a love that was not theirs. . . . And you thought I spent too much of my time in going to Church, and in Church duties. But where else could I turn? God\s house is the only house where sinners are made welcome, and you were always in my heart, Gerald, too much in my heart. F or though day after day, at morn or evensong, I have knelt in God\s house, I never repented of my sin. How could I repent of my sin when you, my love, were its fruit. Even now that you are bitter to me I cannot repent. I do not. You are more to me than innocence. I would rather be your motheroh! much rather!than have been always pure. . . . Oh, don\t you see? don\t you understand! It is my dishonour that has made you so dear to me. It is my disgrace that has bound you so closely to me. It is the price I paid for youthe price of soul and bodythat makes me love you as I do. Oh, don\t ask me to do this horrible thing. Child of my shame, be still! .u353eda88a390c780db09e65f0685c7d4 , .u353eda88a390c780db09e65f0685c7d4 .postImageUrl , .u353eda88a390c780db09e65f0685c7d4 .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .u353eda88a390c780db09e65f0685c7d4 , .u353eda88a390c780db09e65f0685c7d4:hover , .u353eda88a390c780db09e65f0685c7d4:visited , .u353eda88a390c780db09e65f0685c7d4:active { border:0!important; } .u353eda88a390c780db09e65f0685c7d4 .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .u353eda88a390c780db09e65f0685c7d4 { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .u353eda88a390c780db09e65f0685c7d4:active , .u353eda88a390c780db09e65f0685c7d4:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .u353eda88a390c780db09e65f0685c7d4 .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .u353eda88a390c780db09e65f0685c7d4 .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .u353eda88a390c780db09e65f0685c7d4 .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .u353eda88a390c780db09e65f0685c7d4 .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .u353eda88a390c780db09e65f0685c7d4:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .u353eda88a390c780db09e65f0685c7d4 .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .u353eda88a390c780db09e65f0685c7d4 .u353eda88a390c780db09e65f0685c7d4-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .u353eda88a390c780db09e65f0685c7d4:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: The Sorceress Monologue Essay

Gold Fluctuation Essay Example

Gold Fluctuation Essay It provides insurance against extreme movements that often occur like war, economic crisis, changing monetary policies and so on. Individual or institutional investor tend to invest more in gold in order to diversify their portfolio by not only holding the US dollar as a reserve but also gold as well to hedge against the falling price of US dollar, to hedge against inflation, to provide higher liquidity at the time of urgency and to provide insurance and economic security against unexpected events like the recent economic crisis. There are certain factor that influences the price f gold from time and again. Some of these factors are US dollar currency, central bank policies, inflation, US economy, demand and supply of gold and other macro economic variables. Many Asian countries like India, Russia, Sri Lanka, and China are presently making a great initiative towards buying out more gold to protect their wealth and to hedge against the falling price of US dollar. Gold is regarded as o ne of the highly traded commodity in the commodity market. Recent economic crisis that has started from the US has led to some fluctuation on the gold price. This is because the weakening of the US dollar currency and strengthening of the gold price has led the international investor to focus more on investing on the gold rather than foreign currencies especially US dollar. So, there has been an increase in the commodity market for trading of gold and other commodity in international market. Likewise, the gold investor are also increasing in Nepal with some of the commodity market already started trading the gold and other commodities. Purpose/ Objective of the Study: The purpose of the study is to make in depth analysis of the factors that influence the gold future. Since, the change in the price of the gold has major influence on other commodities and currencies so it is very important to understand the gold and its relationship with various other factors like US dollar, inflation, demand and supply, central bank policies and other macro economic variables. This study is mainly conducted to know how the gold price fluctuates irrespective of the change in the dollar value, inflation, demand and supply and central bank policies around the world. Methodology: We will write a custom essay sample on Gold Fluctuation specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Gold Fluctuation specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Gold Fluctuation specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We base our study on the secondary source of information available in the market, articles, journal, and webpage and research paper. This study also comprises some of the opinion from the experts in the gold futures, which are included in the part of our analysis.. Scope of the Study: Some of the major scopes of the study are listed below: †¢ This study is conducted to understand the common factors that influence the gold futures price in the world financial market. †¢ We don’t recommend basing any investment decision in the results of this study, and this study is only for the academic purpose. The study is done only for academic purpose, which is based on the secondary information from different journals, articles, research papers and web pages. So, this doesn’t include detail research on the actual market. However, some of there will be some of the practical example illustrated on the relevant topic wherever necessary. †¢ The study reflects the gold pr ice relationship with the factors that are common in overall world economy not only to those factors that are specific to the particular economy. Limitation of the Study: This project report is prepared under considerable limitations and some of those are listed below: †¢ Time constraint: Due to limited time, we have not been able to explore the other component of our study like numerical calculation and trend analysis of the factors that influences the gold future. †¢ Information source constraint: The limited information in this study does not serve as a basis for the investor for investing in the real market. We did not have enough access to more relevant and valuable articles. The investor need to have further detail analysis and research before investing in the gold future in real market. Scope constraint: We have limited the scope of our study by identifying and focusing in six factors that influences the gold price. There can be factors other those mentioned in this study that have effects on the gold price. From our preliminary web-based analysis we identified six factors that affect the gold price. Structure of the paper: The study of this paper begins with first identifying the major common factors that influence the gold price in international level. These factors are then further analyzed and elaborated with some theoretical concept, practical insight and evidences. The factors identified are as common to the world economy, however there might be other factors than those identified, which might influence the gold price and might differ from country to country. Finally, we have drawn some conclusion based on our analysis and a brief highlight on the gold future market in Nepal. Chapter II CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK There has been a tremendous increase in the trading of gold in the international commodity market. People are more attracted towards investing more on the gold market primarily because of the following reasons: Gold as a hedge against inflation Gold is considered as the hedge against inflation. Inflation is basically caused by the increase in the supply of currency. The value of the currency is decreased when there is monetary inflation. And we know that the price of gold increase when there is monetary inflation. So one can keep gold as reserve to safe from the inflation risk. The most consistent factor determining the price of gold is inflation-the price goes up with the rise in inflation rate. It has negative correlation with other investment portfolios like stocks bonds, bills. etc. E. g. at the end of world war II, when there was highest inflation rate, the rate of return on stocks was ighly in negative but the price of the gold was far positive. Oil, Inflation and Gold Though the price of the oil and the gold are far different, it is no doubt that the price of oil reflects to the price of gold. If oil prices rise or fall sharply, investors can expect a corresponding reaction in gold prices as well. When the oil price climbed from 325%, $2. 44 to $10. 36 in between 197 2 and 1974, gold price had rose 268% from $47. 45 to $174. 76. Gold as a hedge against declining the dollar In the international market, the price of gold is determined in the value of dollar. With the decline of the value of the dollar, the price of gold rises. The U. S. dollar is the worlds reserve currency, it is the primary medium for international transactions and the currency held as reserves by the worlds central banks. Now it has been backed by the gold, the dollar has been only the medium. Gold as a safe haven There are myriad of tensions in the world economy, anyone can erupt with little or no warning. Gold has been considered as the crisis commodity because it safeguards the other investments. Every factor that causes other investments to suffer may let the price of gold to rise. When there is any crisis specially or there is banking crisis, public begins to distrust paper assets and turns to gold for a safe haven. When all else fails, governments rescue themselves with the printing press, making their currency worth less and gold worth more. Gold has always raised the most when confidence in government is at its lowest. Gold as a store of value Warren Buffet has said about Gold: It gets dug out of the ground in Africa or someplace. Then we melt it down, dig another hole, bury it again and pay people to stand around guarding it. One major reason investors look to gold as an asset class is because it will always maintain an intrinsic value. E. g. if one could purchase a set of the cloth with the value of 1 ounce of then fashion, he can also purchase the set of cloth but of modern design and fashion with the same 1 ounce of gold at this time. It means that Gold act as the storage of the wealth. Gold as a portfolio Diversifier Gold is negatively correlated with the dollar value and hence negatively correlated with all other financial market, such as stocks and bonds. So it is the most effective way of diversifying the portfolio by investing into the gold. It is the safest way of investment; it protects the wealth from total loss because there will be the intrinsic value in any time in future. But there is a chance of complete eruption of total money due to crisis in other investments. Gold is an safe part of a diversified portfolio because its price increases in response to events that erode the value of traditional paper investments like stocks and bonds. Chapter III FACTORS INFLUENCING GOLD FUTURES Present days we see that there has been a great fluctuation in the price of gold, with increase in its price. This has alerted all the gold investor either individual investor or institutional investor or country to think once again. So, as a rational investor we need to understand the basic idea behind the gold price upward and downward movement. To understand this movement in the gold price we need to understand all those common factors that influence the gold futures. So, some of these factors that influence the gold futures like US dollar currency, central bank policies, inflation, demand and supply and macro economic variables are illustrated below with some practical insight linked with the theoretical concept as well. Factors that Influence the Gold Future: 1. US dollar and gold price 2. Central bank reserve policy and gold price 3. Demand and supply of gold and its effects in the price 4. Inflation and gold price 5. Investment demand and gold price 6. Geopolitical scenario, macroeconomic changes, and gold price 1. US dollar and gold price: When we talk about gold and US dollar, it is important to reassess how gold really relates to the dollar. The fact is that gold almost never changes in value. It is the dollar that revalues in relationship to gold. For example, in 1920 a good quality mens suit could be purchased with a typical $20 gold piece. A similar quality suit today can be purchased with about the same amount of gold. There exists a reciprocal relationship between the gold price and dollar. The reason that gold and the dollar generally trend in opposite directions is that in one respect gold is just another currency. As a result, when the dollar weakens on the foreign exchange market over an extended period then the US dollar gold price will generally rise during the same period; and when the dollar strengthens over many months then US dollar gold price will usually fall. This is the real scenario which we have been observing currently in the world financial market, where the dollar is weakening and the price of gold is sky rocketing. It doesn’t mean that the percentage change in dollar has equal percentage change in gold price, but when we look over the charts of the dollar and gold and compare, it quickly becomes apparent that the two have been inversely correlated since the floating currency system came into being in the early 1970s. But to our surprise, if we see the data of gold and dollar from May through December 1993, the traditional relationships prove to have broken down. Gold has long been regarded by investors as a good protection against depreciation in a currencys value, both internally (i. e. against inflation) and externally (against other currencies). In the latter case, gold is widely considered to be a particularly effective hedge against fluctuations in the US dollar, the worlds main trading currency. The reason for the inverse relationship between gold and the US dollar is because both are seen as a global, worldwide currency. Pre 1971 the two colluded as a world gold standard whereby the US dollar and gold were pegged together. At that time one Troy ounce of gold could be swapped for US$35. Before 1971 any central bank in the world could ask America to settle its debts in gold. But post 1971 they could only ask for US dollars. When the central bank demands more gold or began to hoard more gold as a reserve than the price of the US dollar falls and vice versa. These days the value of dollar is declining due to the central banks around the world are making an initiative to hold more gold as a reserve against the dollar, which has resulted an influence in the US dollar currency. The figure below indicates the gold price and US dollar movement from 1970s to 2000s, which shows that there is inverse relationship between the trends. When US dollar is declining then ther is rise in gold price and vice versa. Although the percentage change is not same, but there still exists an inverse relationship between gold price and US dollar. [pic] Fig: Relationship between US dollar and Gold price 2. Central bank reserve policy and gold price: Since central banks typically buy US dollars to store their foreign exchange reserves but recent days there has been shift in the decision of the central bank around the world to hold more reserve of gold against the world’s sole eserve US dollar to hedge against the fall in US dollar value. So central banks around the world are investing more in gold to hedge against the falling price of US dollars from the foreign currency reserve they hold. This decision of the central banks around the world had led to increase in the price of the gold. Some of the recent example of such decision undertaken by the central bank around world can be Reserve Bank of India, Russian Central bank a nd many other central banks of Asian countries including China. The decision to further increase the gold reserve by the central bank of Asian countries including China as a hedge against the bullish trend of gold has led to further increase in the price of gold. Asian central banks hold 2. 6 trillion US dollars in foreign exchange reserves. So, most of these reserves are expected to be invested on the buying gold as an alternative reserve to US dollar, which will definitely led the price of gold to rise with the fall in US dollar. Recent steps undertaken by some of the central bank that influenced the price of gold are: Federal Reserve: The present initiative undertaken by the Federal Reserve to keep the interest rate low and increase the money supply whenever it feels necessary to improve liquidity has resulted the pressure on the dollar price and benefited the gold price against the dollar. So, such decision and actions undertaken by the Federal Reserve influence dollar value with the resulting impact on the gold price. †¢ Indian central bank: After India’s central bank—the Reserve Bank of India (RBI)—bought 200 tons of gold from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) last month has made some positive fluctuation on the price of gold. At the same time more central banks are taking various initiatives to step up their gold reserves. †¢ Russian central bank: Central bank of Russia decision to buy out 30 tons of gold from its own gold mining has also led to influence the price of the gold. †¢ China’s central bank: Central bank of china had built up its gold reserves by 454 tons since 2003 to 1,054 tones, making it the world’s sixth largest holder of the precious metal. Russian central bank has also given an initiative on buying more gold in the near future as diversifying reserves because of the fall in the dollar price. This also shows that Russia’s gold reserve probably rose by $790 million to $23. 1 billion, which has a great influence on the gold price. †¢ Sri Lankan’s central bank: Central bank of Sri Lanka has bought 10 tons of gold worth $375 million as part of a restructuring of IMF financial resources †¢ Mauritius Central Bank: Mauritius bought 2 tons on for $71. 7 million from IMF also has led to increase on the price of gold. The IMF executive board approved the sale of 403. 3 tons of gold in September. IMF currently holds roughly 3,000 tons of gold, is the worlds third-largest official holder of the precious metal after the US and Germany. This decision of IMF to sale the gold to different central banks has led to influence the gold price. Why do central banks hold more gold? Its influence on the gold price As we have seen from the recent examples that most of the central bank are moving their decision towards holding more gold reserve as an alternative to world’s sole reserve currency US dollar. The reason for central bank for holding more gold can be one of the following reasons: †¢ Diversification: As we have popular saying that don’t put all your eggs in one basket. So, recent days the central bank wants to minimize their risk by diversifying their reserve into gold holding. As the dollar and gold price represents the world’s reserve. So, holding the reserve in gold will minimize the risk of falling price of US dollar i. e. in simple sense to hedge against the falling price of gold. Thus, central bank makes take an initiative to hold gold as a diversification to minimize risks. †¢ Economic Security: Gold is a unique asset in that it is no one elses liability. Its status cannot therefore be undermined by inflation in a reserve currency country. Nor is there any risk of the liability being repudiated. Gold has maintained its value in terms of real purchasing power in the long run and is thus particularly suited to form part of central banks reserves. In contrast, paper currencies always lose value in the long run and often in the short term as well. Because of this the central bank holds gold. †¢ Hedge/ Insurance against uncertain events: This can be best illustrated with the present economic crisis that led to affect the international monetary system. Owning gold is thus an option against an unknown future. It provides a form of insurance against some improbable but, if it occurs, highly damaging event. Such events might include war, an unexpected surge in inflation, a generalized crisis leading to repudiation of foreign debts by major sovereign borrowers, a regression to a world of currency. In emergencies countries may need liquid resources. So, gold is liquid and is universally acceptable as a means of payment and can also serve as collateral for borrowing. Because of this the central bank holds gold. Some of the largest gold reserves holding countries of the world as of December, 2009 are listed in the table below: Rank |Country/ Organization |Gold (tonnes) | |1 |US |8,133. 5 | |2 |Germany |3,407. 6 | |3 |IMF |3,005. 3 | |4 |Italy |2,451. 8 | |5 |France |2,435. 4 | |6 |China |1,054. 0 | |7 |Switzerland |1,040. | |8 |Japan |765. 2 | |9 |Netherland |612. 5 | |10 |Russia |607. 7 | So, when then central banks of these major gold reserve holding countries make a decision to buy or sell t he gold reserve, then there arises a change and fluctuation on the price of the gold and the US dollar. 3. Demand and supply of gold and its effects in the price The price of gold has also been influenced by the demand and supply of gold in the international market. This demand and supply of gold and its influence on the gold price are discussed below: Demand of Gold The demand of the gold is extensively high in today’s market. It may be due to the less supply and its vast uses in many sectors. The demand of the gold is diverted mostly in the industries, jewelry fabrication and to some extent to the lines of credit. The extensive functionality and the physical/chemical properties of the gold are the main reason behind its increase in demand. Some of the major sectors where there is large demand of gold are: a. Jewelry demand The demand of gold in jewelry accounts about 2/3 of its demand in world. Jewelry has been the world’s largest category of the consumer goods. The demand in jewelry is driven by a combination of the affordability and desirability of consumers. It rises during the period of price stability and declines when there is price volatility. The jewelry consumption has been increasing, though there is a steadily trend of rising price. The demand of gold for jewelry is high especially in Asian countries like India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal and others. b. Investment Demand There is no doubt that the investment in gold has been increased considerably in recent years. The trading of gold in international commodity market has been increasing drastically in recent days. It is not easily measurable of the gold demand in over the counter market. However, the increase in investment has represented the strongest growth in demand. There are wide ranges of reasons why the people seek to invest in gold. The major reasons are the positive price outlook and expectations that the demand will continue to outstrip its supply. The investment in gold can take many forms, some investor trade it in contract without physical delivery. c. Industrial demand Gold’s extensive property like resistance to corrosion, high thermal and electrical conductivity, high malleability and ductility explained why its demand has been increasing in the electronic components and human surgery. Gold is used in the medical applications due to its compatibility, resistance to bacterial colonization and corrosion. Several researches have uncovered a number of new practical uses of gold such as catalyst in fuel cells, in chemical processing and controlling pollution. The uses of gold in electronics, metal plating and coatings, cancer and heart treatment are the exciting areas of its uses. . Other forms of gold demand The central bank keeps the reserve either in dollar or gold. There is a great chance of lowering the value of dollar rate thus creating the great risk. So in order to minimize that risk the central bank has started to deposit the gold as their reserve. Similarly, the Chinese government has started to put their trade surplus in the form of gold. The chinese government has also allowed their citizens to own and keep gold with them. These scenarios has also created the scenario to increase the demand of gold. Gold is taken as the â€Å"crisis hedge†. There is a great threat from the country’s turmoil and the inflation risk, which is out of the control of anyone. So people are scared about the assets in the paper form. They started to keep gold as the reliable asset. This trend has also created the demand of gold in consumer level. Supply of the Gold a. Mine production The main source of the gold production is mining. Gold is produced almost in all continents. The global mine production is relatively stable because mining in new places just serve as the replacement of the current production. There is no significant growth in the total production. The average global production is approximately 2485 tonnes per year over the last five years. The lead time of the gold mining is relatively longer (i. e. longer than 10 years), so production is inelastic and the changes in price don’t have the quick response. b. Recycled gold There is the supply of the gold through the recycled gold compensating to the less production. This has helped to stabilize the supply and price. In between 2004 and 2008, the recycled gold has contributed an average 28% to annual supply. The gold has great recycling property; it can be molded and remolded by melting down and reuse without losing much of its physical and chemical properties. c. Central banks The supranational organizations such as International Monetary Fund (IMF) and central banks hold the stocks of gold as reserve assets. The government also holds around 10% of its official reserves as gold but the proportion varies in different countries. This source has been a net seller since 1989 contributing an average of 447 tonnes to annual supply. However the sales rom these sources are decreasing in recent years. In 2008, it was just around 246 tonnes. d. Gold Production Gold is extracted from its ore. The extracted ore is treated, processed and refined. The largest ore is the Rand refinery in Germiston, South Africa in terms of largest capacity. The largest ore in terms of output is the Johnson Mathew, USA. The gold refined is sold to the bullion dealers who trade it to the jewelry or industry or the inves tors. The bullion dealers facilitate the free flow of gold and underpin the free market mechanism. Supply/ demand in western gold market Annual   western   world   gold   supply   (a) + (c) |Annual   western   world   gold   demand   (a) + (c) |Annual   western   world   gold   | | | |deficits | Y e a r |Annual mine production (b) (metric tons) |Annual production growth rate   (%) |Annual consumer demand (b) (metric tons) |Annual consumer demand growth rate   (%) |Demand (metric tons) |Supply (metric tons) |Prod. Deficit (a) (metric tons) | |1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 |1382 1446 1698 1686 1814 1948 2145 2020 947 2089 2069 1992 |13. 8 4. 6 17. 4 (0. 7) 7. 6 7. 4 10. 1 (5. 8) (3. 6) 7. 3 (1. 0) (3. 7) |1529 1571 1786 1688 1942 2340 2478 2590 2891 2763 2700 3007 |1. 9 2. 7 13. 7 (5. 5) 15. 0 20. 5 5. 9 4. 5 11. 6 (4. 4) (2. 3) 11. 4 |1529 1571 1786 1688 1942 2340 2478 2590 2891 2763 2700 3007 |1382 1446 1698 1696 1814 1948 2145 2020 1947 2089 2069 1992 |-147 -125 -88 -2 -128- -392 -333 -570 -944 -674 -631 -1015 | | The demand of the gold is growing while the supply through mine production is flat -more or less constant production. The 10 year supply/demand data show that the gold demand exceeded to the supply in all years. In 1995 the demand exceeds the supply by 1. 5 times and the deficit is 1015 tonnes. The deficient of the gold can be observed in the US and India where the shops are completely bare of gold, Indian Banks was empty of gold and silver. US Mint has suspended coin production. 4. Inflation and the gold price: As we have already discussed that there exists the inverse relationship between the gold price and US dollar currency. So, when the inflation of the US economy goes up then the dollar becomes weaker as a general economic sense, which will ultimately led to increase in the price of the gold. This is because the central bank around the word will buy out more gold as a reserve in order to hedge against the falling value of US dollar. Thus, the inflation in the US economy has a chain reaction which will ultimately led to increase in the gold price with weakening US dollar. Some of the empirical data from the past shows how gold price responded to the inflation in the US economy. From the peak in1980 the inflation rate declined but cumulative inflation climbed steadily upward. But rather than keeping up with inflation the price of Gold fell from the peak of $850 per ounce down o under $300 in 2001. But in inflation adjusted dollars the scene is even worse. The 1980 peak in 2007 inflation adjusted dollars was over $2100 and it fell to under $346 losing a whopping 84% of its value. So even though inflation rose gold fell because the fear level was low (and possibly because governments worldwide manipulated the price). While gold prices do tell us some-thing about the inflation rate, it need not be either that inflation raises gold prices or that higher gold prices cause inflation. Some third factor, such as the money supply, may influence both. The monetary policy of central bank s to adjust their inflation rate in the economy has certain influence on the gold price. As for instance in the US economy, a monetary policy designed to bring down inflation, as in the early 1980s, might have a different impact than one promoting a stable, low-inflation environment, like that of the 1990s. Thus, we can observe that the price of gold movement and Inflation has positive relationship. It means that when the inflation increases then the price of the gold also moves upward. 5. Investment demand and gold price: Investment demand of gold is a relatively new concept which is gaining popularity among investors in later years. We have seen that traditionally demand of gold basically came from- central bank holdings and jewelry demand. But due to growing geopolitical tension, power shift, and many other reasons, investors are investing in gold as a hedge against macro economic downturn, more specifically against the inflation. People take gold as a safe heaven investment and belief in its long term store value. This changing perception of people is supported by the availability of various types of instruments through which they can invest in gold. The kinds of investment alternatives for gold are: a. Gold futures b. Shares of gold exchange traded funds c. Shares of gold mining companies As the purpose of this study is to discuss about the factors affecting the gold prices, we will not be discussing all these alternatives further. To put things in perspective, it is necessary to state that the total amount of gold derivative traded every day around the world is more than 1000 tonnes of gold. Whereas, the total value of physical gold traded every year is around 10000 tonnes. This implies that the physical gold market is less than 2% of gold derivative market (Understanding Gold; Paul Van Eden; theMiningweb. com; 2000). Gold futures contract and the gold exchange traded funds are the most popular forms of gold derivatives. In 2009 alone the investment demand for gold went up by massive 25% (Ajay Mitra; World Gold Council; Dec 2009). This sort of additional demand is putting more pressure on the price of the gold and is one of the major reasons behind the recent rise in the price of gold in 2009. Recent rise in gold price can be attributed Reasons behind rise in investment demand of gold: The reasons are very simple. First the returns on gold have left far behind the returns on other investment alternative, such as stocks and bonds. In 2009, average returns on gold investment stood between 25-35%. A close analysis of average returns from gold and SP since 1999 will show that, had anyone invested $10,000 in gold in 1999 that would have grown to $33,754 (i. e. a profit of 238%). And had that investment was made in SP then it would have incurred a loss of $3,987 (i. e. a loss of 40%). These data show that gold investments are beating stock market in terms of returns and this is switching investors from stock market to the gold investment market. Following bar diagram summarizes the average returns on gold and SP 500 from 1999 to 2008. Comparison of returns of gold and SP 500 between 1999 2008 [pic] It is clear from the above table that gold (G) have beaten SP 500 (S) in seven out of ten years. In 1999 the returns were equal and SP 500 produced higher returns only in 2000 and 2001. MEX (Mercantile Exchange Nepal) gold futures, a real life example of investment demand: Since MEX started its operation about a year ago, a significant number of Nepalese investors have traded on gold futures contracts: bought and sold. As of today MEX does not allow settlement of contract by physical exchange of gold so all the trading is settled through taking the opposite position. Here we see, nobody has purchased or sold actual gold but they have through their long positions they have added to the total demand of gold. Similar activities are observed in most of the emerging nations- India, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, and others. The impact of such activities is that they have all prov

Top 5 Inventions Since 1945

Top 5 Inventions Since 1945 Free Online Research Papers Top Five Innovations Since 1945 Imagine your life with no cell phone , computer or Internet, wouldnt you go crazy?Where would the world be without the cell phone the satellite, the M.R.I., the personal computer, or the Internet? Without these innovative objects the world would be at a standstill. There would be no cellular communication, people would not know if they had brain tumors or cancer, or other various diseases. Without the M.R.I, without personal computers people would not be able to accomplish tasks required in their day to day jobs, and without the Internet, well we wouldnt be able to do extensive research for this project. The cell phone provides people with the necessary communication needed for their lives. Cell phones allow everyone to stay adequately connected with one another. The first cell phone was created in 1973 by Dr. Martin Cooper. Nowadays, cell phones do far more then just calling, they allow the user to text message, email, listen to music, take pictures, and access the Internet. All with blazing fast speed getting faster every day with the new 3G networks. With all these features, a cell phone enhances productivity, such as emailing clients on the go or checking show times at a movie theater when a computer is not present. If people lose their cell phones, they would not know what to do. Communications between people would be cut off. The world would not allow proper cellular communication. Another important invention since 1945 is the M.R.I. Another very important invention is the M.R.I. M.R.I. stands for Magnetic Resonance Imaging. The M.R.I. was invented by Dr. Raymond V. Damadian in 1973. The M.R.I offers people a new way to take a closer look at peoples brains, hearts, arteries, and other bodily parts for microscopic analysis. The M.R.I looks much more extensively beneath the humans skin to see even the littlest things that could affect a humans life, such as blood clots, and tumors. Without M.R.I. technology many people would suffer from unknown deformities within their body. The M.R.I. has helped many people out and has developed a tremendous amount over the past years. The results of the M.R.I. are very thorough and can show details of the scan that would never be seen even by the best doctors in the world. Another thing about the M.R.I. is that the machine is relatively compact for its greatness. The clarity of the scans is what places this machine above all others. Moreover, the personal computer also helps a nd create convenience to many people. The personal computer is necessary for everyday personal and business related tasks. A personal computer is used to program and control everything from machinery to writing a paper of the top five inventions since 1945. Personal computers allows communication between business related work as well as personal matters. Personal computers also provide entertainment for its users. This includes videos, games, music, and photographs. Before the personal computer, typewriters were the method that someone would use to create a typed word documents. However, personal computers make creating word documents a breeze. Personal computers allow a user to create various programs and share them with one another. Personal computers, could be argued to be, the best invention in the history of the world. Another invention that impacted the world to many degrees, that would not be possible without the computer, is the Internet. The Internet is a central intelligence base for virtually everything that exists in the world today. The Internet allows people to communicate, share files such as, music, pictures, and videos. The Internet also provides a second part to many people businesses. The businesses can conduct more business than what they already do in the store on-line. The Internet can increase the productivity of almost everyone who has a computer. If you are working on a project it is much quicker to just go to Wikipedia or Google than it is to search through an actual encyclopedia page by page, until you find every last detail you need. Therefore this makes a students very stressful life a lot easier. Another new great thing that the Internet has to offer are sites such as Facebook that allow people of all ages to communicate and chat post pictures and videos and set a real time status of what theyre doing. People think it would be easy to give up the Internet, but in fact a lot of peoples lives are spent on the Internet. Without satellites communications would be nearly impossible. The Satellites that we have in space today control almost every wireless device. The first satellite that was launched into space was the Sputnik launched by the Russians in 1957. Every wireless cell phone signal, call, email, or text message goes through the Satellites. The satellites also control television for the television providers such as DirectTV. The world would enter a kind of Stone Age with no satellites because without it these cell phones would not work, Internet would not work, and t.vs would not have service. As you can see, it is clear as to what the five greatest inventions are since 1945. All the above stated are what make up are highly technological society. Without these innovative inventions our society would consist of corruption and unnecessary hardships geared towards everyday activities. Our modern day society would not function properly, if we were lacking these five best innovations. These five innovations not only provide a luxury and a form of convenience, but also provide a sense of security during your day to day lives. These five beneficial innovations provide a world with a better understanding and a higher level of convenience that without, would crumble into pieces. Research Papers on Top 5 Inventions Since 1945Incorporating Risk and Uncertainty Factor in CapitalThe Project Managment Office SystemBionic Assembly System: A New Concept of SelfGenetic EngineeringWhere Wild and West MeetMarketing of Lifeboy Soap A Unilever ProductAnalysis Of A Cosmetics AdvertisementAnalysis of Ebay Expanding into AsiaRiordan Manufacturing Production PlanPETSTEL analysis of India

Implementation of International Legal Standards in The Investment Assignment

Implementation of International Legal Standards in The Investment Legislation of Uzbekistan - Assignment Example Uzbekistan has freedom and independence in development of industry in line with national goals. In addition, there is also an opportunity for Uzbekistan becomes the main investment location preferred by both regional and foreign investors. There is also an opportunity for Uzbekistan to become a base for production in the regional market. Its central location provides a large market especially the home market. The country has freedom in the utilization of new resources as a result of the development of new export markets and advanced technological progress. Law for in foreign investment Uzbekistan allows investors (foreign) to engage in wide range business opportunities that are not legislatively prohibited. Foreign investors investment in Uzbekistan through legal means that include branch establishment, real property acquisition and buying of shares. There are no legal preconditions stipulating nationals to have interests of ownership in foreign investments except in banking sector. The government encourages joint ventures of local partners and foreign investors. Foreign investors have to register with Justice Ministry to get legal rights as persons. These imply that foreign investment laws in Uzbek have opened the door to all forms of business investors in the available business opportunities. Entry requirements for foreign investors are therefore straight with minimal performance requirements. In Uzbekistan, the right for investors to exit and repatriation of funds are guaranteed. However, in practice, entry requirements for investors especially individual investors are controlled by the government. The investors will have to negotiate with Uzbek government on key issues that relate to joint agreements of a joint venture, acquisition of government-controlled assets, application for tax incentives and raw material importation rights.  

Racial profiling in nj and ny among 18 -32 year males Essay

Racial profiling in nj and ny among 18 -32 year males - Essay Example In the two states, the issue has been documented on several occasions. In New Jersey, law enforcement was shaken in 1999 when state police commanders admitted to using racial drug-courier profiles to stop motorists on the New Jersey Turnpike and the Garden State Parkway. In New York, incidents such as the beating and sodomizing of Abner Louima by Police Officer Justin Volpe and the police shooting of Amadou Diallo on the steps of his Bronx apartment building raised a public outcry from minority communities. President George Bush addressed the issue before congress where he reported that he had asked Attorney General John Ashcroft to develop specific proposals to end the practice, Claudia Perry, (2008). My hypothesis for this research is that: Arbitrary police searches and investigations are targeted at 18-32 year-old males who belong to minority races in New York and New Jersey. The independent variable here is arbitrary police searches and investigations (racial profiling) while the two dependent variables are being an 18-32 year-old male and belonging to a minority race such as African America, Hispanic, Oriental or Arab. Previous studies that have been carried out on racial profiling helped to expose the problem and focus attention on it. One such study carried out by Gene Callahan and William Anderson on the practice of racial profiling found that the practice is more prevalent in investigations involving drugs and victimless crimes in general. They found that most of those targeted by law enforcement agents for field and station interrogation were from minorities. The 55% of the victims were Hispanics with roots in South America and Mexico. However, the main limitation of their research was that it only concentrated on drug related cases and suspicions, Gene Callahan and William Anderson (2002). Another study was carried out by Thevenot Chad of the Criminal Justice Policy Foundation in 1999. The foundation monitors abuses of the American legal

Different Approaches to Romantic Poetry Essay Example for Free

Different Approaches to Romantic Poetry Essay 1- Introduction For passion or profession, for hobby or obligation, for delight or duty, for this reason or another, one takes his pen and devotes few minutes he steals from time to trace expressive words on paper. I am among many, in ruptures about literature and this study day comes as a golden opportunity to show how much my fancy is caught and how far my love is increased when the heart excitingly beats and the feeling increasingly grow, to ask the self to enjoy a travel by means of distinct words along the path of different ideas for the sake of a visit to some parts of poetical world. Two enquiries draw our attention: which approach to adopt to clear up an idea in mind about this or that line from a poem mostly sounding melodious nevertheless its grasping is a difficult experience that represents a real challenge for most of us?, the second is that criticism with all its schools and theories is a helpful tool to manage in a way or another interpretation and then appreciation of the piece of poetry; but does it with all its complexities dull the meaning, and obstruct any attempt to get it. If so, it gives a tedious attempt to elucidate clumsy verses and anything that is unclear is involuntarily unlovable and of course unrewarding. 2- Poetry and Criticism  It is almost admitted that the poem is an elevated thought expressed in a beautiful way to rouse the emotion and mind of the reader, listener or the poet himself. However it is not usually easy to define a poem if you link any perception of it to Criticism Traditionalists for example do not recognize the talent of any poet unless he can have the capacity to visualize any particularity as universal, any specific to more general and any momentary to eternal; besides he has to have the art to transmit the message of his poem intelligibly to others arousing by that their emotions and stirring up their minds. Joseph Conrad once said that his task through the power of the written word is â€Å"to make you hear, to make you feel, it is above all to make you see† (Christopher Gillie: 38) William Wordsworth from his part insists in  preface of Lyrical Ballads on poets to visualize life more than critics because â€Å"it is the honourable characteristic of Poetry that its materials are to be found in every subject which can interest the human mind. The evidence of his fact is to be sought, not in the writings of Critics, but in those of Poets themselves†. On the other hand, Mathews Arnold disagrees with Wordsworth in the Function of Criticism at the Present Time (1865) when he says â€Å"almost the last thing for which one would come to English literature is just that very thing which now Europe most desires—criticism† The approach in this school focuses mostly on traditional elements such as: diction, sound, imagery, rhetoric, rhythm, genre, stanza, and sentence structure all form organic unity for ,aesthetic purposes and an independent entity sharing relationship with real life and poems may seem transcendental going beyond any expectations. Furthermore this approach insists that poetry is an aesthetic representation of life according to social needs because it is not a private pleasure since it induces in us a response up to the circumstances of the world Modernists rather exclude poetry from being a representation of reality and that is out of social purpose and then detached from historical context because poems are only fiction and uncommon to what is exact and sensible. Henceforward, modernism did not develop traditional poetry but was instead characterized by a deviation from the norms, a rejection of the past, an anti realism using myth, a rejection of conventional plot and a support to individualism and intellectualism, and so writing poetry is cerebral than emotional and it is a work that is open ended and searches to pose questions rather than answering them. All of E.Pound: Hugh Selwyn Mauberly and T.S.Eliot: the waste Land, and W.Stevens: Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Black Bird are good examples of these characteristics. Post modernists from their part gives great importance to the reader response and only for him can the final say of interpretation be referred, Walter Slatoff in his book â€Å"with respect to readers† thinks that no one can deny the effective existence of reader and reading even those who insist on the autonomy of the literary work. (R.Wellek/A.Warren:145). Some views insist on good reading as a quality that â€Å" has nothing necessarily to do with something one writes or says or anything else one does apart from reading† (G.Strickland:6) Post modernists also claim that poems are complex but they create a pattern out of that chaos, that they are trivial and  disheartening but clever pieces and original. Schools of Criticism They are cited as follows âÅ"“ Traditional: it gives information about the writer and his time in order to broaden understanding and meaning. âÅ"“ New Criticism: it highlights the lyric, it detaches the poem from biography or history and directly moves to analysis of diction, imagery, meaning of unfamiliar words âÅ"“ Rhetorical: it focuses the art of persuasion through different arguments, truth evidence. In order to understand the content with great appeal to the reader âÅ"“ Stylistic: great importance is given to the peculiarities of diction and imagery âÅ"“ Metaphorical: a deeper interest to metaphor as part of meaning âÅ"“ Structuralist: clarity is drawn from sociology and anthropology that represent important factors in a given society âÅ"“ Post structuralist: evading organic unity and interdependence âÅ"“ Myth theory: it derives from Northrop Frye placing the poem to categories and sub categories up to the hero’s myth, fall, and enemies âÅ"“ Freudian: a sexual imagery is concerned, struggle for the superego. Oedipus complex âÅ"“ Jungian: recurring poetic images, symbols and imagery as related to patterns from life âÅ"“ Historical: historical context and data are concerned âÅ"“ Biographical: the writer’s psychology and biographic data are concerned âÅ"“ Sociological: include society and social factors in a poem âÅ"“ Political: the different political movements the poet supports âÅ"“ Marxist: a political correctness .i.e. to assess the poem according to the support for workers against capitalist’s exploitation âÅ"“ Moralist: to assess the poem according to religious convictions, tolerance and social justice âÅ"“ Cognitive scientific: relate poems to brain functioning, but it’s an approach that is still in its infancy. 4- Practical Analysis to Shelley’s Ode to the West Wind and Keats’s Ode to a Nightingale in fact in spite of all the complexities of criticism it opens doors to suspect different levels of meaning and significance and if we arte drifted towards confusion out of the many schools of criticism we are as well lucky to have them but selection of which approach to adopt should be made precise and practical and out of my experience in teaching poetry and sometimes writing it. I infer that being eclectic is is the best approach that may serve in a  good way analysis of poems by incorporating several approaches in one article to better approach the poem for the sake of evidence, that can never be easy without truth evidence transmitted in a beautiful performance Bibliograghy 1- Matthew Arnold. The Function of Criticism at the Present Time, Essays in Criticism. London and Cambridge: Macmillan and Co., 1865. Pp. 1-41. 2- C.Gillie. Movements in English Literature 1900-1940, Great Britain: CUP, 1978 3- G.Strickland, Structuralism or criticism, New York: CUP 1985 4- R.Wellek/A.Warren, Theory of Literature, Great Britain, 1978. 5- William Wordsworth, Lyrical Ballads, with a Few Other Poems. London: Printed for J. and A. Arch, 1798. Web Library. WWW.poets.org En.wikipedia.org

Chivalry in Arthurian Legend Essay -- Medieval Times Knighthood Essays

Chivalry in Arthurian Legend Merriam-Webster's on-line dictionary defines chivalry as "the system, spirit, or customs of medieval knighthood." As Leon Gautier, author of Chivalry, defines this "system" and "spirit" of knighthood by identifying rules of chivalry, two of which are well illustrated in Lanval, "TheWife of Bath's Tale," and "The Wedding of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnel:" "Thou shalt never lie, and shall remain faithful to thy pledged word," and "Thou shalt be generous, and give largess to everyone"(qtd. in Chivalry). All three stories seem to suggest the predominant theme of a knight living up to his word. This is shown by the fact that, in each story, the knight's oath is taken very seriously, is treated as a contract, and is trusted implicitly. The generosity of the knight is also portrayed in these works. It is not difficult to see, given the moral overtone of these rules, that the Church had a great deal to do with defining the values of knighthood. "The Wife of Bath's Tale" and "The Wedding of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnell" both follow the story of a knight who makes a "rash promise" on which his life depends. Even under the most difficult of circumstances, these promises are kept. In the story of Dame Ragnell and Sir Gawain, King Arthur is described by the author as a knight who "bare away the honour, Where-so-evere he went"(9). Surely he must be held to any code of honor imposed on a knight! While on a hunting expedition, King Arthur is confronted by a fully armed knight, named Gromer Somer Joure. Arthur is alone, scarcely armed and unable to defend himself against Gromer, who is ready to take Arthur's life. In order to avoid instant death, Arthur is forced to swear to return, alone and "in this same arraye"(87... ...h, defend the king, his land and his people, and be courteous to the ladies. They were honest, distinguished gentlemen. When they gave their word, it was trusted without doubt. They were the epitome of chivalry. Works Cited: "Lanval." The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Seventh Edition. Volume 1. New York: 2000. (127-140). "Merriam-Webster Online: The Language Center." Online. Internet. 2000. Merriam-Webster Incorporated. Available: http://www.m-w.com/ Price, Brian R. "On Knighthood." Online. Internet. 11/22/2000. Available: http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Oracle/7374/knights-2.html "Rules of Chivalry." Online. Internet. 11/11/2000. Available: http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acropolis/5266/chivalry.htm "The Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale." The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Seventh Edition. Volume 1. New York: 2000. (253-280).

Common Criteria for Deciding Whether to Buy or Build

Common criteria for deciding whether to buy or build a software solution would be to take a look at the System Development Life Cycle; Planning, Analysis, Design, and Implementation. Planning or initiation include a business problem, request for proposal, request for quote, and proposal/quote ie. first go/no go decision. Analysis or logistics of implementation include business requirements, technical requirements, and data requirements, and GAP analysis which helps a company compare actual performance with potential performance. Design includes logical/physical, technical specs, process flow/data flow, system architecture, data design, screen layouts, and navigation map/flow. Once these criteria are examined and the complexity is determined, a decision can then be made to buy or build a software solution. Implementation is turning it into a working system that has been tested and put into use including documentation, training procedures, support capabilities, and associated updates. A manager’s selection for off-the-shelf software can be established by deciding if the criteria of cost, functionality, vendor support, viability of vendor, flexibility, documentation, response time, and ease of installation will be greater and a smoother transition than producing an in-house software solution. The two most important aspects of purchasing an off-the-shelf software are vendor support and vendor viability. If a manager chose to produce in-house software, the support is a constant in that the programmers who created the software are available at any time, and know the ‘in’s and out’s of the software’, whereas if there is no vendor support from the purchased software you are taking a gamble which may prove unwise, and the credibility of the manager is no longer. Cost, functionality, flexibility, and documentation are criteria that depends primarily on the specific situation, ie. budget, and needs. Discuss the four phases involved in managing a project. Compare and contrast these phases with the SDLC. Explain any differences. Managing projects of all shapes and sizes requires a fluid, nonlinear framework that has applications across all essential elements of project planning. The four-phase process that suggests how to allow for readjustment between the phases are initiate, plan, execute, and evaluate. Initiate, this first project management phase, the preliminary work is done to clarify the problem or opportunity and how a solution would look. All interested parties are consulted and the project scope – what is in and what is out – is clarified as well as initial costs and timelines. Plan, determines whether the proposed project will be of real benefit to the organization. If it is, the project is approved and more detailed planning starts. Business benefits, project objectives, requirements, governance, scope and project management methods are agreed. The Project Manager draws up the detailed project schedule and task and budget allocations. Execute, project stakeholders are interviewed to ascertain the detailed requirements, possible solutions are discussed and decided upon. Next, the solution is designed, built and finally implemented. Project management activities in this phase also include managing the project budget and schedule, reporting project progress, communicating with stakeholders and responding to project risks, issues and proposed changes. Evaluate, The purpose of this final phase is to determine whether the project was a success and what was learned can be gleaned and applied to future projects ie. , did the project deliver on time, within budget and to scope and quality requirements? Comparing the four phases in managing a project; initiate, plan, execute, evaluate with the SDLC phases; Plan, Analysis, Design and Implement one will see many cross similarities; each describing approaches to a variety of tasks or activities that take place during the process. After each phase is finished, it proceeds to the next one; reviews may occur before moving to the next phase which allows for the possibility of changes. Reviews may also be employed to ensure that the phase is indeed complete; and is ready to progress to the next phase. Explain the three primary project identification and selection phase activities. Who should make the decisions about project approval in a business organization? What information is important to the decision? Project identification and selection consists of three primary activities: identifying potential development projects, classifying and ranking projects, and selecting projects for development. Identifying potential development projects is a process that can be performed by a key member in top management, a steering committee, the head of a requesting committee, the development group or IS manager. Projects by top management reflect broader needs of the organization since there is an understanding of overall business. Projects identified by a top management or steering committee are referred to as coming from a top-down source. Projects designed by individual mangers or the IS group are more focused on the needs rather than a broader scope; projects stemming from managers, or business units are referred to as a bottom-up source. Top-down and bottom-up initiatives are used in identifying and selecting projects, it will vary on the scope and needs of the project. Classifying and ranking projects can be performed by top management, a steering committee, business units, or the IS development group. The project requirements will vary by the organization administering it, one group may choose to meet monthly, whereas another chooses to meet quarterly. Meetings typically consist of reviewing ongoing projects as well as new project requests. Selecting projects for development is the final activity in the project identification and selection phase. Since the criteria for a project can change at any time, numerous factors must be considered when selecting a project; perceived needs of the organization, existing systems and ongoing projects, resource availability, evaluation criteria, current business conditions, and perspectives of the decision makers. Projects can be accepted or rejected which means funding is allocated or the project will no longer be considered for development. A project can be returned to the original requesters who are told to develop or purchase the requested system themselves. Also, the requesters of a project may be asked to modify or resubmit their request after making suggested changes or clarifications. Due to the process of incremental commitment a selected project does not necessarily result in a working product. After each subsequent SDLC activity, the members of the project team will reassess the project. This reassessment will entail a more detailed understanding of the system’s costs, benefits, and risks to determine if the project was a worthy as it was thought to be. How should a project team determine system requirements? What are common sources of requirements? What are the limitations for each? In addition, discuss four types of documents that would be helpful in determining future system requirements. During requirements and determination analysts gather information on what the system should do from as many sources as possible. Sources include users of the current system, reports, forms, and procedures. All of the requirements are carefully documented and made ready for structuring. Structuring includes taking the system requirements during determination and ordering them into tables, diagrams, and other formats that make it easier to translate into technical systems specifications. Some examples of requirement determination include, impertinence, impartiality, relaxing of constraints, attention to details, and reframing. Impertinence is questioning everything. Are all transactions processed the same way? Could anyone be charged something other than standard price? Will employees be allowed or encouraged to work for more than one department? Impartiality is finding the best solution to a business problem or opportunity. All issues must be considered to try to find the best organizational solution. Relaxing of constraints, assuming anything is possible and eliminates the infeasible. Organizations change and all policies and rules should be evaluated. Attention to details, everything must fit into place. If one element is out of place, the whole system will fail. Reframing, looking at the process in a new way. It is easy to assume the project will be the same or similar, but this assumption can lead to failed systems. Constantly challenging yourself will prove beneficial in this process. Specific examples to be gathered at the requirements determination phase are, the business objectives that drive what and how work is done, the information people need to do their jobs, the data handled within the organization to support the jobs, when, how, and by whom or what the data are moved, transformed and stored, the sequence and other dependencies among different data-handling activities, the rules governing how data are handled and processed, policies and guidelines that describe the nature of the business, the market, and the environment in which it operates, and key events affecting data values and when these events occur. It is important that the scope of the system not become to large and expansive that analysis paralysis not occur, this can become costly and time consuming, and can lead to an abundance of work. To deter this from happening analysts must focus on the system in need not the system in place. Documents that are helpful in determining future system requirements are administering written questionnaires ie. surveys to discover issues and requirements, business documents ie. iscover reported issues, policies, rules, and concrete examples, and conducting written interviews with open-ended and close-ended questions. Also directly observing users an give a more objective and accurate review. Read the following online article and discuss two ways to justify IT budgets. How would you explain your IT budget to your CFO? To justify an IT budget is to provide a quality ROI on any new initiative. If the CFO can’t understand the needs of various departments then the only way to their pocketboo k is to present them with a bottom line return on their investment. In the case of procuring an IT budget, executives are often less than forthcoming because of the lack of information they receive from department heads. CEO’s respond most favorably to requests for IT budgets which are cost justified with a simple ROI business case. The business case needs to specifically show how potential costs associated with liability, may be minimized by implementing a sound IT infrastructure. The potential liabilities, such as loss of production and/or loss of reputation are translated into actual dollars in the ROI. A good business case or a good investment analysis will also measure the probabilities of different ROI outcomes. An investment analysis is the examination and assessment of economic and market trends, earnings prospects, earnings ratios, and various other indicators and factors to determine suitable investment strategies. Explaining the IT budget to the CFO you should first examine core needs ie. bandwidth, Internet, phone and staff, and plan to manage them on a minimal investment. Explore reducing excess capacity in the server room, renegotiate vendor contracts and rethink software licenses. Assuring the CFO that you have taken all necessary steps in limiting the IT budget will prove that you have taken all necessary steps to ensure a minimal budget while providing an the required IT services. Revisit past assumptions, you may have a contract that replaces hardware every two years, which could be an unnecessary budget item, and could in return be replaced every four years. Show the CFO how improvements have helped customer experience and saved money. Give him/her a friendly remember that not investing in things that could be and important aspect to IT when the economy turns around can come back to bite you. IT’s value is determined by the relationship between what the organization will pay, ie. cost, and what it will get back ie. benefits. The larger the amount of benefit in relation to cost, the greater the value of the IT project.