Saturday, December 28, 2019

Oedipus Rex A Tragic Journey Of Self Discovery - 1804 Words

Both wisdom and folly, truth and falsehood are different forms of the same thing: the relationship between light and darkness. To the ancient Greeks, whether one is in darkness or light is determined by their ability to see spiritually, which they believed the physically blind were capable of. This contrast between spiritual sight and mere physical sight is a major theme in Oedipus Rex, a Greek tragedy written by the legendary Sophocles, a Greek playwright so skilled that he won at the Festival of Dionysus approximately twenty times with his masterfully crafted tragedies (Buller). Set in the city-state of Thebes in Ancient Greece, Oedipus Rex is a tragic journey of self-discovery as King Oedipus uncovers his origins and how he unwittingly†¦show more content†¦Upon learning the damning revelation that he himself is responsible for Laius’ death, Oedipus adamantly refuses to accept the prophecy and boasts about his credentials in a vain attempt to divert the accusation: There was a riddle too deep for common wits; A seer should have answered it; but answer came there none From you; bird-lore and god-craft all were silent. Until I came – I, ignorant Oedipus, came – (36-37) Oedipus’ speech about his accomplishments exposes his arrogant nature and reveals the fact that Oedipus revels in the glory of his achievements; blinding himself to his vices as a consequence. In addition, Oedipus’ sudden flash of rage at Teiresias upon the seer’s refusal to prophesy, despite the seer’s warnings of the pain and anguish the prophecy would bring demonstrates the very rash, quick-tempered nature that led Oedipus to kill his own father Laius (48). Oedipus certainly is very knowledgeable, but he lacks wisdom as he refuses to see his faults and heed the warnings of others. For this reason, even Oedipus calling himself â€Å"ignorant† can be seen as mere false humility, as his rash, arrogant nature reveals itself yet again when Oedipus accuses Creon of being the â€Å"proved plotter† against his life and a â€Å"thief† trying to steal Oedipus’ crown (40). Despite Creon handling such an outrageous accusation with care a nd producing sound arguments as to why he would not be interested in the throne, Oedipus clings to his argumentShow MoreRelatedEpic Journeys towards Improvement in The Epic of Gilgamesh and Oedipus Rex670 Words   |  3 Pagesreadings, The Epic of Gilgamesh and Oedipus Rex, both protagonists embark in an epic journey to either better themselves, or their kingdoms. Gilgamesh slays a monster with the help of Enkidu for fame, but then leaves his kingdom of Uruk to go on a quest for immortality. Oedipus outsmarts a monster and saves the city of Thebes once, but then has to save it once more by leaving Thebes. Both protagonists have similarities and differences in each of their journeys. Oedipus and Gilgamesh both similarly haveRead MoreA Dolls House As A Tragic Hero Analysis967 Words   |  4 PagesA tragic hero is defined as a person â€Å"who has achieved, or who has the ability to achieve greatness but who through a weakness, or tragic flaw in his character, falls into the depths of misery and often to his death† (Ingham 1). Within Oedipus Rex, Sophocles laid the foundation for what is now considered the ideal tragic hero. Within A Doll’s House, Ibsen creates a modern hero in Nora Helmer; a woman who was oppressed for going against social rules for saving her husband. Nora follows the AristotelianRead MoreOedipus Tragic Hero Analysis936 Words   |  4 Pagesqualities that make a king rise above his citizens may be the exact characteristics that lead to his downfall. This concept could be correlated to the acclaimed work of Sophocles, Oedipus Rex, whereby the epitome of a tragic hero is created in the main character, Oedipus. Moreover, Sophocles has characterized Oedipus to be the embodiment of a respectable leader, possessing both extreme pride and relentless determination, which later proves to be the fatal flaw leading to his eventual, inescapableRead MoreJane Eyre And Oedipus Mason Essay915 Words   |  4 Pagesof everything she desires; likewise, Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex contains a devil figure, ironically Oedipus himself, who causes the loss or poisoning of all he holds dear. In Jane Eyre and Oedipus Rex, the hidden demon serves as a vehicle for the downfall of the protagonist. Bertha Mason, simply through her existence prevents Jane’s hope for joy from being realized by preventing her marriage to Mr. Rochester, leaving Jane to choose to be alone and self-sufficient. While Bertha does not consciously chooseRead MoreEssay about Oedipus the King1164 Words   |  5 Pagesto Websters Dictionary, fate is defined as A power that supposedly predetermines what is to happen (257). In the play Oedipus Rex each character is touched by fate directly or indirectly. The author of the play Sophocles pens the story of a man who was destine from birth to be both martyr and hero, he could never be one without the other. Another view of Oedipus Rex is that some critics view him as a tyrant and not a hero because he did not come into power by natural succession, butRead More The Strong Character and Unavoidable Destiny of Oedipus Rex Essay938 Words   |  4 PagesUnavoidable Destiny of Oedipus Rex    Oedipus the King, by Sophocles is about Oedipus, a man doomed by his fate. Like most tragedies, Oedipus the King contains a tragic hero, a heroic figure unable to escape his own doom. This tragic hero usually has a hamartia, a tragic flaw, which causes his downfall. The tragic flaw that Sophocles gives Oedipus is hubris (exaggerated pride or self-confidence), which is what caused Oedipus to walk right into the fate he sought to escape. Oedipus pride pushes himRead MoreLight And Darkness In Oedipus Rex1467 Words   |  6 Pagesphysically blind were capable of. This contrast between spiritual sight and mere physical sight is a major theme in Oedipus Rex, the Greek tragedy written by the legendary Sophocles, a Greek playwright so skilled that he won the Festival of Dionysus approximately twenty times with his masterfully crafted tragedies (Buller). Oedipus Rex is a tragic journey of self-discovery as King Oedipus uncovers his origins and how he unwittingly fulfilled the oracle that he will marry his mother Jocasta and kill hisRead MoreThe Journey of the Mind in Shakespeares Hamlet757 Words   |  3 PagesThe Journey of the Mind A journey begins with a single step, or rather, for the protagonists of Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex and Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, a single truth. While these works of literature are separated by years, each similarly exhibits the archetype of journeys. However, to voyage as these characters have is not simply by knowing the contours of the road they travel, but to trace a profound transformation on an internal level. For unfortunate King Oedipus and a likewiseRead MoreOedipusBeowulfFinalDraft Essay1667 Words   |  7 PagesMr. Weeg 21 October 2014 Oedipus and Beowulf Compare and Contrast Essay Oedipus Rex and Beowulf are two entirely different works in terms of the cultures that they were written for. Oedipus Rex was written by the Greek playwright Sophocles in about 430 B.C., and Beowulf was written a few hundred years before 1000 C.E., when it was transcribed from the Anglo-Saxon language. Despite these obvious differences, the two works share identical archetypes. Not only do Oedipus Rex and Beowulf include evilRead MoreSelf-Discovery and the Pursuit of Truth in Sophocles Oedipus1138 Words   |  5 PagesSelf-Discovery and the Pursuit of Truth in Sophocles Oedipus It is said that the truth will set you free, but in the case of Sophocles’ Oedipus, the truth drives a man to imprison himself in a world of darkness by gouging out his eyes. As he scours the city for truth, Oedipus’ ruin is ironically mentioned and foreshadowed in the narrative. With these and other devices Sophocles illuminates the king’s tragic realization and creates a firm emotional bond with the audience

Friday, December 20, 2019

The Ballot Or The Bullet By Malcolm X - 1352 Words

The Civil Rights Movement is a period of the United States history that most people see as an era in the past. The Civil rights movement brought about reform and change that made people of all races and ethnicities equal in society; however, some 60 to 70 years later, there is struggle for true equality for all races and ethnicities in America. In Malcolm X’s speech â€Å"The Ballot or the Bullet,† Malcolm X believes that civil rights are human rights, and all African Americans are â€Å"justified in seeking civil rights, if it means equality of opportunity†(Malcolm X 362). When using Malcolm X’s definition of civil/human rights, it is clear that even in society today, not all races have reached equality. African Americans are still fighting for†¦show more content†¦The ballot is a powerful tool and, as described by Malcolm X, â€Å"It was the black man’s vote, that put the present administration in Washington, D.C. Your vote, your dumb v ote, your ignorant vote, your wasted vote put in an administration in Washington, D.C.†(358). Malcolm X is attempting to prove to African Americans that their votes truly mater, and if a majority supports a cause, then they will have the ability to change it. Presently, African Americans are doing their part to bring about change and in the most recent presidential elections 66.2% of eligible African Americans casted votes (usnews.nbcnews.com). The more African Americans that vote means stronger support for their social issue and potential for progression in the African American search for equality. One Problem that Malcolm X argues which African Americans need to protest and push for is unsegregated schools and communities. Malcolm X believes that segregated schools produce â€Å"children who, when they graduate, graduate with crippled minds† (369). Even today, years after education reform and the official desegregation of schools, segregation still exists in America’s public school system. According to a research study by The University of California, 74% of African Americans attend schools that contain 50-100% minorities. Even more startling is the fact that 38% of African Americans attend schools that are

Wednesday, December 11, 2019

Marketing and Market Research free essay sample

The ability to collect information and data about the business environment, markets and customers has been transformed by technological advances. The main research challenge today is to find the best information amongst a large amount of data, rather than finding scarce data, as was the case in the past. Market research is carried out in all areas of marketing activities and the information collected concerns customers, markets, responses to existing and planned marketing campaigns and the general business environment. This means that the process needs to be continuous so that trends, opportunities and threats are identified. In this unit learner knowledge of the main types and sources of market research will be developed. They will learn about the main research methods used to collect data and how to decide on the most appropriate method for a given situation. This will take into account organisational objectives and the constraints that businesses work within. Learners will also learn how data is analysed, interpreted and presented so that the research objectives are met. Learners will have the opportunity to plan and carry out some simple market research activities and to interpret their findings. Learning outcomes On completion of this unit a learner should: 1 2 3 4 Understand the main types of market research used to make marketing decisions Be able to plan research Be able to carry out research Be able to interpret research findings. Edexcel BTEC Level 3 Nationals specification in Business – Issue 2 – June 2010  © Edexcel Limited 2010 1 Unit content Understand the main types of market research used to make marketing decisions Primary research: observation; experimentation; surveys, eg face-to-face, postal, email, telephone; e-marketing research; focus groups; panels; field trials; piloting; appropriateness of each method eg fitness for purpose, cost, accuracy, time, validity, response rate Secondary research: internal sources eg data records, loyalty schemes, EPOS (electronic point of sale), website monitoring, e-transactions, acco unting records, production information, sales figures, sales personnel, Delphi technique; external sources eg internet, Government statistics, libraries, universities, company reports, specialist agencies eg Mintel, Datastream, Dun Bradstreet; trade journals; criteria for selection eg checking of validity; use of ICT applications eg storing, organising, retrieving and reporting data Qualitative and quantitative research: importance and use of each; triangulation Marketing strategies and activities: eg strategic, technical, databank, continuous, ad hoc research 2 Be able to plan research Stages: brief; defining the issue; setting objectives; planning data to be collected, eg methods of collection, who is to collect it, timings; types of data, eg internal, external, secondary, primary; target population Research stages: proposal/brief; defining objectives; planning; forecasting; collection of data; analysis and evaluation of data; presentation of findings; making recommendations; re-evaluation of marketing activities Purpose of research objectives: understand customer behaviour, buying patterns, preferences, satisfaction, sales trends; brand awareness; advertising awareness; product development success; new product opportunities; changes in the market; emergence of new markets; PESTLE (political, economic, social, technological, legal, environmental); competitor activities Be able to carry out research Census versus sample: sample size, choosing the sample; probability sampling, eg random, systematic random, stratified random, multi-stage, cluster; non-probability, eg quota, convenience, observation, focus group, judgement; implications of different samples; cost and accuracy of information Questionnaire: design, questions to be asked; types of questions eg sequencing, dichotomous, multiple choice, scaled, open ended; length of questionnaire; bias; relevance; response; pilot stage Survey: design; objectives, eg of what, where, when, how; difference between survey and questionnaire 4 Be able to interpret research findings Statistical procedures: arithmetic mean; median; mode; range; inter-quartile range; scatter diagrams; times series; trends; use of spreadsheets for analysis Presentation of findings: oral reports; written reports eg formal, informal; visual aids eg computer graphics, graphs, charts; presentation of conclusions and recommendations; audience; effectiveness; quality of information; facilities Diagrammatic analysis and presentation: pictograms; pie charts; bar charts; frequency curves; histograms; line graphs; scattergrams; appropriate use of techniques; interpretation of results Limitations of research: excess of information through customer databases; problems of e-business feedback overload; reliability of sample; accuracy, bias; subjectivity 2 Edexcel BTEC Level 3 Nationals specification in Business – Issue 2 – June 2010  © Edexcel Limited 2010 Assessment and grading criteria In order to pass this unit, the evidence that the learner presents for assessment needs to de monstrate that they can meet all the learning outcomes for the unit. The assessment criteria for a pass grade describe the level of achievement required to pass this unit. Assessment and grading criteria To achieve a pass grade the evidence must show that the learner is able to: To achieve a merit grade the evidence must show that, in addition to the pass criteria, the learner is able to: To achieve a distinction grade the evidence must show that, in addition to the pass and merit criteria, the learner is able to: P1 P2 describe types of market research explain how different market research methods have been used to make a marketing decision within a selected situation or business [CT] plan market research for a selected product/service using appropriate methods of data collection [CT, SM] conduct primary and secondary research for a selected product/service making use of identifiable sampling techniques [IE, TW, EP] interpret findings from the research presenting them clearly in an appropriate format. RL, TW] M1 explain, with examples, how different market research methods are appropriate to assist different marketing situations M2 explain the reasons for choosing the particular method of data collection for a selected product/service D1 evaluate the market research method used by a selected organisation P3 P4 D2 evaluate the findings from the research undertaken. P5 M3 analyse the research findings and make recommendations on how marketing strategies could be adapted or implemented. PLTS: This summary references where applicable, in the square brackets, the elements of the personal, learning and thinking skills applicable in the pass criteria. It identifies opportunities for learners to demonstrate effective application of the referenced elements of the skills. Key IE – independent enquirers CT – creative thinkers RL – reflective learners TW – team workers SM – self-managers EP – effective participators Edexcel BTEC Level 3 Nationals specification in Business – Issue 2 – June 2010  © Edexcel Limited 2010 3 Essential guidance for tutors Delivery This unit builds on and extends learners knowledge and understanding of the market research process from original brief to presenting of findings. Learning outcome 1, allows learners to establish what market research is about, how to categorise research data and activities (primary/secondary, quantitative/qualitative) and ways of gathering data. Learning outcome1 links to the aims and objectives within a selected organisation. It is vital from the outset that learners can differentiate between bona fide market esearch, and salespeople who purport to be researching the market in order to sell their product. This unit involves tutor-led delivery which will focus on the reasons for market research and how this is ongoing and integral to the success of a business. This will lead on to more learner-centred activities. Learners will need to understand concepts such as: ? ? ? strategic research: knowledge needed to guide decisions which are likely to have long-term implications tactical research: eg specific actions of competitors or adjustments in prices databank research: incorporating and updating all relevant market information. Learning outcome 2 develops the learning outcome 1 with the planning of research. An exercise could look at the differences between primary and secondary research, the main research methods, the advantages and disadvantages of each, how appropriate they are, and whether they produce mainly quantitative or qualitative data. It is important that learners have access to paper-based and internet-based sources of secondary information such as company reports, economic trends, consumer trends, and census data. The Bized and Office for National Statistics websites are very useful here. The importance of information and communications technology for collecting and analysing information should be emphasised. A mind mapping exercise relating to market research objectives would encourage learner interaction, particularly with regard to local, national or global companies and products familiar to learners. In learning outcome 3, questionnaire design could offer opportunities for active learning such as using a brief to find out, the lifestyle of a particular market group. By designing questionnaires in pairs, and then using the ‘snowball method’, learners can gain constructive criticism from their peers and come up with a group questionnaire to pilot. This can then be used for learning outcome 4. Learners’ personal experiences of using the internet can be used to demonstrate how important data is that can obtained from competitors websites (for example, their products or promotions), from their own customers’ buying patterns, and customer comments on products (for example, www. thetrainline. com, www. tesco. com, www. goski. com). It is also important to recognise the danger of ‘drowning’ in data. Learners need to be aware that selecting appropriate data is more important than volume. Learners may need support with the statistical procedures required for learning outcome 4. The learning outcome links well with Functional Skill requirements, and learners should be encouraged to use statistical techniques in the context of market research so that they do not perceive it as ‘number-crunching’. Learners should understand manual collation and the use of spreadsheets by using software such as Microsoft Excel. The analysis of the questionnaire from learning outcome 3 will personalise the exercise. Analysis of learners’ own questionnaires may be useful as the limitations of their own research can be used in discussion to identify an organisation’s possible limitations. Producing individual reports can allow learners to benefit from constructive criticism from their peers and see how they could improve their assessed assignment. 4 Edexcel BTEC Level 3 Nationals specification in Business – Issue 2 – June 2010  © Edexcel Limited 2010 Outline learning plan The outline learning plan has been included in this unit as guidance and can be used in conjunction with the programme of suggested assignments. The outline learning plan demonstrates one way in planning the delivery and assessment of this unit. Topic and suggested assignments/activities and/assessment Introduction to the unit and the programme of learning Substantiate understanding of types of research findings Formal input Group discussion about selected businesses or products Online research about current situation of product/service/business Assignment 1: Setting the Scene Plan research campaign Carry out research Group work Produce and analyse results Visits and speakers to/from businesses Assignment 2: Trailblazer Input on interpretation of results Research and group work Assignment 3: They Think it’s All Over Assignment completion, with review and feedback Supervised assignment work Non-supervised study time and completion of assignments Assessment For P1, learners should describe the different types of market research. For P2 they should explain how these have been used to make a marketing decision in a given situation, for example as applied to the market development of a selected product or service. They will need to understand how both quantitative and qualitative data complement each other. For P3 learners need to choose an appropriate method of data collection and plan research for a selected product or service. P4 requires learners to conduct both primary and secondary research, making use of an identifiable sampling method. For M1 and M2, the skills demonstrated in P1, P2 and P3 may be brought together as learners analyse the effectiveness of the research, including appropriate data collection and sampling methods. P5 requires learners to interpret findings from their own research and to present them verbally, diagrammatically, graphically or in writing. Diagrams could be of established models such as the Boston or Ansoff matrices. For M3, learners should analyse their own research findings, drawing conclusions and making recommendations as to how marketing strategies should be adapted to accommodate research findings. Work for D1 and D2 should draw together work from M1, M2 and M3 as learners evaluate the application of selected research methods and make recommendations for improving in research methodology based on their findings. In this respect learners are refining their strategies for market research as well as the marketing strategies themselves. Edexcel BTEC Level 3 Nationals specification in Business – Issue 2 – June 2010  © Edexcel Limited 2010 5 Programme of suggested assignments The table below shows a programme of suggested assignments that cover the pass, merit and distinction criteria in the assessment and grading grid. This is for guidance and it is recommended that centres either write their own assignments or adapt any Edexcel assignments to meet local needs and resources. Criteria covered P1, M1 Assignment title Setting the Scene. Scenario The school/college is looking for a step-by-step guide to the terminology and use of types of market research. ‘State of the Art’ thinks there is a market for a re-sealable plastic drinks container to replace cans. It wants a thorough investigation into the viability of the product before proceeding to production, pricing and promotion. Assessment method User manual. P2, P3, P4, M2, M3, D2 Trailblazer. Questionnaires. Verbal presentations supported by slideshow handouts. Numerical and graphical images to justify judgements. A marketing plan. D1 They Think it’s All Over. The finance department has a Formal report to the finance different view and wants a report department. outlining the lessons learned from the research. Links to National Occupational Standards, other BTEC units, other BTEC quali? cations and other relevant units and quali? cations This unit forms part of the BTEC Business sector suite. This unit has particular links with the following unit titles in the Business suite: Level 2 Business Online The Marketing Plan Level 3 Introduction to Marketing Creative product Promotion Relationship Marketing Internet marketing in Business This unit also links to the following draft National Occupational Standards for Marketing and Sales for Non-Specialists Units 1 and 2. 6 Edexcel BTEC Level 3 Nationals specification in Business – Issue 2 – June 2010  © Edexcel Limited 2010 Essential resources Access to a range of information resources to complete investigative assignments and case studies will be essential, including relevant CD ROMs and the internet, as will be access to computers for research. This will enhance the delivery of this unit. Also, being able to see computerised accounting packages in operation in business would be beneficial. Learners will also need access to relevant paper-based research material and books. Employer engagement and vocational contexts The unit provides rich opportunities for the use of visits, speakers and work-based projects. Indicative reading for learners Textbooks Dibb S, Simkin L, Pride W M and Farrell O C – Marketing Concepts and Strategies (Houghton Mifflin (Academic), 2005) ISBN 061853203X Hall D, Jones R and Raffo C – Business Studies, 3rd Edition (Causeway Press Ltd, 2004) ISBN 1902796837 Hill E – Foundations in Marketing (CIM Publishing, 2001) ISBN 0902130994 Proctor T – Essentials of Marketing Research (FT Prentice Hall, 2005) ISBN 0273694944 Websites www. bized. ac. uk Provides interactive and online models and simulations for teachers and learners, and provides valuable direct access to company reports in the UK and around the world The Chartered Institute of Marketing Mintel is a global supplier of consumer, media and market research MarketingOnlineLive. com Free marketing resources for learners, teachers and professionals www. cim. co. uk www. mintel. com www. marketingonline. co. uk www. marketingteacher. com Edexcel BTEC Level 3 Nationals specification in Business – Issue 2 – June 2010  © Edexcel Limited 2010 7 Delivery of personal, learning and thinking skills The table below identifies the opportunities for personal, learning and thinking skills (PLTS) that have been included within the pass assessment criteria of this unit. Skill Independent enquirers Creative thinkers Reflective learners Team workers Self-managers Effective participators When learners are †¦ nvestigating the characteristics of sampling techniques in da ta collection generating ideas about which business/product to investigate and where suitable research could be obtained reviewing the outcomes of the data collection and recommendations and reflecting on whether suitable methods were used working with others to collect, collate and analyse data planning the stages and carrying out market research Organising resources to meet all targets set collecting suitable primary and secondary research that is fit for purpose. Although PLTS are identified within this unit as an inherent part of the assessment criteria, there are further opportunities to develop a range of PLTS through various approaches to teaching and learning. Skill Independent enquirers Creative thinkers Reflective learners Team workers Self-managers Effective participators When learners are †¦ lanning market research carrying out market research processing the data collected interpreting the research findings analysing the data collected in terms of usefulness evaluat ing the methods of collection and whether they were fit for purpose collaborating on the production and refinement of questionnaires taking responsibility to assist others managing all resources to achieve set targets selecting and reviewing secondary data sources for fitness for purpose making valid marketing recommendations based on collected evidence making useful recommendations for improvements. 8 Edexcel BTEC Level 3 Nationals specification in Business – Issue 2 – June 2010  © Edexcel Limited 2010 Functional Skills – Level 2 Skill ICT – Use ICT systems Select, interact with and use ICT systems independently for a complex task to meet a variety of needs Use ICT to effectively plan work and evaluate the effectiveness of the ICT system they have used Follow and understand the need for safety and security practices Troubleshoot researching websites for secondary information for a selected market research task interpreting the data collected using software systems using appropriate software to present findings ensuring data is kept safe by using passwords and/or encryption ensuring data is kept in a physically secure environment creating back-up copies of data in case data is lost loss from one source collecting primary data via questionnaires collecting complementary secondary data for the same task extracting relevant information from websites evaluating the findings of research for suitability When learners are †¦ Manage information storage to enable efficient retrieval creating suitable file and folder structures ICT – F ind and select information Select and use a variety of sources of information independently for a complex task Access, search for, select and use ICT-based information and evaluate its fitness for purpose ICT – Develop, present and communicate information Enter, develop and format information independently to suit its meaning and purpose including: ? interpreting the results of market research presenting the results of market research creating questionnaires text and tables images numbers records ? ? ? Bring together information to suit content and purpose Present information in ways that are fit for purpose and audience analysing the results of investigations presenting the results of market research Evaluate the selection and use of ICT tools and facilities processing the data collected using software packages used to present information Select and use ICT to communicate and exchange information safely, responsibly and effectively including storage of messages and contact lists communicating with other group members on questionnaires Edexcel BTEC Level 3 Nationals specification in Business – Issue 2 – June 2010  © Edexcel Limited 2010 9 Skill Mathematics When learners are †¦ Understand routine and non-routine problems in a wide collecting quantitative data from market research range of familiar and unfamiliar contexts and situations questionnaires Identify the situation or problem and the mathematical methods needed to tackle it Select and apply a range of skills to find solutions Use appropriate checking procedures and evaluate their effectiveness at each stage Interpret and communicate solutions to practical problems in familiar and unfamiliar routine contexts and situations Draw conclusions and provide mathematical justifications using techniques such as addition, division and average to arrange the data using these techniques to create useful information by processing the data using software such as spreadsheets to automate actions to improve efficiency and accuracy creating graphical representations of data to aid understanding arranging and using data numerically to support recommendations carrying out group work to create questionnaires making pre sentations about the interpretation of data working in a team where appropriate reading data about the task set collected from secondary sources selecting which data to use and which to reject English Speaking and listening – make a range of contributions to discussions and make effective presentations in a wide range of contexts Reading – compare, select, read and understand texts and use them to gather information, ideas, arguments and opinions Writing – write documents, including extended writing writing report on research findings of the research pieces, communicating information, ideas and opinions, writing analyses of the findings effectively and persuasively using standard layouts to make recommendations eg Boston Matrix justifying research methods. 10 Edexcel BTEC Level 3 Nationals specification in Business – Issue 2 – June 2010  © Edexcel Limited 2010

Wednesday, December 4, 2019

Financial Risk Management Telstra Corporation Limited - Free Sample S

Question: Discuss about theFinancial Risk Managementfor Telstra Corporation Limited. Answer: Introduction Financial risk management is considered to be the ultimate practice of economic value in a company by using instruments so as to manage risks exposure such as market risk, credit risk, and liquidity risk (Black, Kirkwood, Williams, Rai, 2013). Financial risk management usually occurs when a particular investor or a fund manager analyzes and attempts to quantify the probability of losses in securities and they undertake the proper action given their risk tolerance and investment objectives. This assignment discusses the aspect of financial risk management in Telstra Corporation Limited and how the company uses Hedge accounting rules in its operations. Telstra Corporation Limited Overview and Business Activities Telstra Corporation Limited is known to be the biggest media and telecommunication company domiciled in Melbourne, Australia. The company makes and operates telecommunication systems and markets mobile, pay television, internet access, voice, and various other telecommunication products. The company was formed in 1901 as a result of Australian Federation. Telstra Corporation Limited has a long history in Australia as it initiated its operations as a government department and later was privatized as it has been undergoing a change strategy in order to become more consumer focused under its CEO, David Thodey. In the FY2016, the company had revenue of A$27.1 Billion, operating income of A$6.3 Billion and a net profit of A$5.8 Billion respectively. The company is considered to be the leading Technology and Telecommunication Company in Australia that basically offers a full range communication products and competing in all the communication markets (Telstra Corporation Limited annual repo rts, 2015, 2014 2013). The company offers about 17.2 Million mobile phones, 7.0 Million fixed voices products and 3.4 Million retail fixed broadband products. Telstra Corporation Limited has faced competition from Optus which is the Australian second largest communication firm and a number of small providers. The company usually operates through four divisions; Telstra Retail division that provided telecommunication services and products (Chang, Gonzlez Jimenez, 2013). Global Enterprise and Services division that offers sales for both government and business clients, Telstra Wholesale division that provides a range of telecommunication services and products delivered via Telstra Corporation Limited network and carriage services providers. Financial risks Telstra Corporation Limited exposed to According to the companys FY2015 reports, the risks associated with the firm operations comprise of credit risks, market risks and liquidity risks. Market Risk According to the firm, a market risk is considered to be the risk that the future cash flows or fair value of the firm financial instruments will basically fluctuates because of variations in the market prices (Christoffersen, 2012). Interest rate risk: The aspect of interest rates usually keeps fluctuating thus exposing the company to floating interest rate Credit Risk Credit risk is another risk that a company may not be able finishes its obligations under a financial security that leads to the company making a financial loss. The company faces credit risk exposure on all financial assets that include statements of financial position and assets. Yes, the company is exposed to these risks next year (Black et al. 2013). According to the company financial report, these risks are assessed as significant for the company within the next year because it assists the firm evaluate its operation success and allow the firm to maximize profits as it minimizes expenses on diverse activities that do not produce any return on investment. Liquidity Risk Liquidity risk is another risk that is basically associated with the company operations that includes the diverse arising from the company operations. These kinds of risk usually cause the company incapable to settling any financial obligation or even reposes financial assets at all. Primary Offsets to Mitigate Risks As most of Telstra Corporation Limited activities are exposed to diverse financial risks, the company executives seek to mitigate these risks through employing diverse finance instruments such as securities. The company uses the following aspects as primary risks for mitigating risks; Fair value interest rate risk management: In order to manage the interest rate risk, Telstra Corporation Limited decides to maintain the proper mix between the fixed and floating interests borrowings and also using the interests rate swap contracts (Dong, Kouvelis, Su, 2014). These types of activities are often evaluated so as to make sure that hedging techniques are aligned with interests rates views. Management of credit risks: For the company to minimize this kind of risk, the company only deals with the creditworthiness counterparties. The credit trustworthy and the credit rating is often monitored by the aggregate cost of the concluded transaction which is basically separated among approved business partners since there is no vital credit risk exposure to a single partner (Hull, 2012). Telstra Corporation Limited mitigates this kind of risks by ensuring that its business operations are performed effectively. Management of Liquidity Risks Telstra Corporation Limited management assesses its short term and long term funding since it is usually their responsibility. Adequate banking facilities, reserves, and reserve borrowings are basically maintained by the firm so as to minimize the liquidity risks as it is often monitored to make sure that the firm has sufficient resources to avoid this type of risks. Financing plans such as taking unsecured bank overdrafts and unsecured banks facilities are basically maintained so as to ensure that the company has enough resources for utilization. Overall Approach for Managing Risks The following are the approaches that form the overall risks management; Development of risk management framework: This framework is developed and implemented in Telstra Corporation Limited as it is inconsistent with the accounting standards used in Australia (Brigham, Ehrhardt, 2013). The Risk management framework identifies, monitor and assesses the risks. The aspect also develops and implements the process of risk management. Enhanced responsibilities: According to the aspect of risk management, responsibilities are categorized among the Audit and Risk Management member, board and the company management. Each group embraces its responsibilities as they will make sure that the company mitigates its risks at all levels. Review: The risk management policies and framework are often monitored are regular bases to measure its success (Conway, 2012). Telstra Corporation Limited often monitors and evaluates its risk management frameworks so as to check for effectiveness and replace any framework and policy that is ineffective. Adoption: Telstra Corporation Limited adopts the risk management policy and framework so as to ensure that the company productions are enhanced. Telstra Use of Hedge Accounting Rules Hedging describes the manner in which Telstra uses the financial instrument and in this case the derivatives to manage the exposure to financial risks. The gain or loss that is accrued to the underlying item that is an item that has been hedged is anticipated that it moves in a reverse direction to the gain or loss incurred on the derivative that is a mechanism that has been hedged hence offsetting the risk position of Telstra. Hedge accounting for this case heightens a technique that enables a perspective where the gains or losses to be matched with the instruments and items that have been hedged in the equivalent period of accounting to minimize the unpredictability in the income report (Kaplan, 2012). The standard of accounting that is applicable for Telstra is AASB 9-Financial Instruments which necessitates that certain norms are encountered in order for the application for hedge accounting. Telstra is also obliged by AASB Financial Instruments; Revelations to deliver some precise exposes in respects to the activities for hedging. Types of Hedges Fair Value Hedges Fair value hedges objective is to transform the interest borrowings that are fixed to rate of interest rate borrowings that is floating. Telstra enters into interest rate and swaps in cross currency to moderate the acquaintance of the company to fair value of the long term borrowing changes. AASB9 permits a component of the borrowing margins for Telstra with the cross currency swaps to be submitted in equity. The element is included in the interest on borrowing in the income report over the outstanding maturity of the borrowing. Hedge for Cash Flows The objectives of Telstra hedging for cash flow are to hedge the revelation that ascends from the inconsistency in future for cash flows of interest and foreign currency arising from borrowings that accept interest at adjustable rates or are foreign currency denominated. Hedging for cash flow is also encapsulated to alleviate the exposure of foreign exchange that arise from foreseen connections in the future (Klettner, Clarke, Boersma, 2014). The contracts of forward foreign exchange for Telstra are used to hedge a certain quota of the highly likely projection dealings that are denominated in foreign currency. The contracts in hedging for foreign currency risk for Telstra that arises from changes in the spot rates. 2015 2014 2013 High probable forecasts Millions Non Capital Items Within 1 year ($801) ($306) ($431) Capital Items Within 1 year ($135) After 1 year ($2) Borrowings Within 1 year ($539) ($1,156) ($264) Within 1-5 year ($4,168) ($2,485) ($3,768) After 5 years ($4,559) ($4,055) ($4,465) ($10,204) ($8,002) ($8,928) Hedges of Net Investment in Foreign Operations The exposure of foreign exchange for Telstra ascends from investment in operations in a foreign country. The possibility ascends from the transaction of the net assets of the enterprises from their functional currency in AUD. The enterprise term the contracts for forwards in foreign currency, swaps that are cross currency and borrowings made in foreign legal tender as hedges for the risk. Derivatives not in a Designated Hedge Relationship Telstra hold some financial instruments derivatives that are not legally designated in hedging relations as normal offsets realizes substantial the equivalent accounting outcomes. The primary composition include the contracts of forward in foreign currency that are encapsulated to economically hedge the movement of fair value that is attributable to fluctuations in the rate of exchange which include trade creditors from trading activities and other obligation and balances of assets that are denominated in foreign currency. Method of Determining Hedge Effectiveness The implementation of AASB 9 (2013) has led to a smaller amount ineffectiveness being recognized as definite cost of hedging may now be left out from the relationships that are designated for the hedges (Mayorga, Sidhu, 2012). The company utilizes the preference to disregard foreign currency base extents from the designated fair value and cash flow associations. The reserves for cash flow hedge is attuned to the lower of the collective gain or loss on the hedging mechanism and the cumulative alteration in fair value of the hedged time. The alteration does not effect in any ineffectiveness that is material. References Black, S., Kirkwood, J., Williams, T., Rai, A. (2013). A history of Australian corporate bonds.Australian Economic History Review, 53(3), 292-317. Brigham, E. F., Ehrhardt, M. C. (2013). Financial management: Theory practice. CengageLearning. Conway, S. L. (2012). Guidelines for Corporate Governance Disclosureare Australian listed companies conforming?. Journal of the Asia-Pacific Centre for Environmental Accountability, 18(1), 5-24. Chang, C. L., Gonzlez-Serrano, L., Jimenez-Martin, J. A. (2013). Currency hedging strategies using dynamic multivariate GARCH. Mathematics and Computers in Simulation, 94, 164-182. Christoffersen, P. F. (2012). Elements of financial risk management. Academic Press. Dong, L., Kouvelis, P., Su, P. (2014). Operational hedging strategies and competitiveexposure to exchange rates. International Journal of Production Economics, 153, 215-229. Hull, J. (2012). Risk Management and Financial Institutions,+ Web Site (Vol. 733). John Wiley Sons. Kaplan, R. S., Mikes, A. (2012). Managing risks: a new framework. Klettner, A., Clarke, T., Boersma, M. (2014). The governance of corporate sustainability: Empirical insights into the development, leadership and implementation of responsiblebusiness strategy. Journal of Business Ethics, 122(1), 145-165. Mayorga, D. M., Sidhu, B. K. (2012). Corporate disclosures of the major sources of estimationuncertainties. Australian Accounting Review, 22(1), 25-39. Telstra Corporation Limited annual reports. (2015, 2014 2013). Retrieved fromhttps://www.telstra.com.au/content/dam/tcom/about-us/investors/pdf-e/2016-Annual-Report.pdf Telstra Corporation Limited risk management. Retrieved fromhttps://www.telstra.com.au/content/dam/tcom/about-us/investors/pdf%20D/governance-at-telstra.pdf

Thursday, November 28, 2019

The Importance of Translation in International Business free essay sample

Translation is an activity comprising the interpretation of the meaning of a text in one language — the source text— and the production, in another language, of a new, equivalent text — the target text, or translation (Axistranslations). Normally, translation is done by human. As technology become higher and higher, some simple translation can be done by machine and computer nowadays. Translation is aim to transfer exactly the same meaning between source language and target language. Of course, translating has to abide by the rule of target language, such as grammar and formats of writing. International business International business conducts business transactions all over the world. These transactions include the exchange of goods, services, technology, and capital among individuals and businesses in multiple countries (Akrani, 2011). International business can also be a specific entity, such as multinational corporation or international business company that engages in business among multiple countries (international business). Translation in international business Translation is inevitable especially for companies that operate in multiple countries. We will write a custom essay sample on The Importance of Translation in International Business or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page It is necessary to translate when the parent company passes information or collect from all the employees of subsidiaries across the world. Proper translation of proposals and demands are needed when companies have to negotiate terms with international governments or other local companies. Marketing Because of the globalisation and intergration of the world economy, translation has become more and more important. There are different languages in different countries. When doing business within countries that use different languages, translation is crucially needed. Translation plays an important role in marketing. It will be not only embarrassing but potentially very costly to the company if wrong translations are used at international marketing as part of its marketing communication campaign. There are some examples of translation bloopers such as the sign at a Scandinavian airport â€Å"We take your bags and send them in all directions† or the one in a Swiss restaurant â€Å"Our wines leave you nothing to hope for† or the note in a doctor’s office in Rome â€Å"Specialist in women and other diseases† (ocean Translation). These kinds of translations make people feel strange, and just like one example as above â€Å"our wines leave you nothing to hope for† people will not go to that restaurant and order wine, because the ads said their wine leave people nothing to hope for. Business meeting For making international business a success, it is inevitable to obtain a relationship with the companies overseas. Relating to another company that is able to make you marketable in a foreign country, you will not only receive help from your partner to open your marketplace, but will also make â€Å"friends† with companies in that country, which you can get into the country easier and make profits together in the future. However, for making this requisite relationship, companies will need to be dependent on business meetings in order to deeply talk over the aims of the ambitious company, and also make mutual consent in specific terms and requirements. When they are faced with language barriers however, this can be near to an impossible task. (Axistranslations) International businesses often look for translation services attempt to provide their customers better service and keep pace with their demands. As this world gets more and more competitory, its necessary that international businesses deliver their messages expressly and precisely to their customers. Translation mistakes can potentially affect a companys reputation and result in financial loss (streetdirectory. com). Translators and interpreters Translators and interpreters play an important role in international business. They enhance communication by transferring information accurately from one language to another in different countries around the world. Their jobs are in different forms, translators deal with written communication, interpreters deal with verbal communication. There are different kinds of translators and interpreters, actually they are specific in different zones. Translators are needed when translate documents like financial statements, all kinds of reports and proposals into target language. Interpreters usually show in conferences. As is mentioned above, business meeting whose participants come from different countries and speak different languages will need interpreters to translate for them during the meeting. Finding the right translation service As translation is so important in communication when doing business, and translators and interpreters are needed urgently, choosing the right translation service becomes significant. Good language translation services need to above all be accurate. This requires the translator to be not only proficient in source language but excel in target language. And if you want to find the most suitable language translation services for your company, you should try to find one whose translators are comfortable with the ins and outs of this type of industry. For example, assume that your company deals in the financial industry, you will want to find translators that have been especially educated to know financial-related terms and lingo in that particular country, along with the typical issue. Or else you may lose important time when the translator verifies spelling, pronunciation, and other crucial information. Or even worse, you’ll face the risk of getting abjective messages from your assistant. Conclusion With the globalization of business, market become larger, companies have more opportunities to make more profits. In order to success all over the world, translation is needed in marketing and business meetings. Companies should find the right translation service to make accurate communication and avoid ranslation mistakes. References AkraniGaurav. (09/2011). what is internation business? meaning,features and article. date: 04/2013,source: kalyan-city. blogspot. com. Axistranslations. date: o4/2013,source: www. axistranslations. com. international business. date: 04/2013,source: BusinessDictionnary. com. oceanTranslation. date:04/2013,source:www. ocean-translation. co. nz/the-significance-of-Translation-in-International-Business-Communications. streetdirectory. com. date:04/2013,source: www. streetdirectory. com.

Sunday, November 24, 2019

Free Essays on TS Eliots Wasteland

In â€Å"The Waste Land† Eliot suggests that a man can be reborn if he gives, sympathizes, and has self-control. There are many characters within American Literature that could have benefited from this advice. Characters such as Amanda Wingfield , the personas in â€Å"Home Burial,† and Daisy Miller exemplify people, that if this advice was readily accessible, could have understood circumstances and could have been figuratively been reborn. In the previously noted characters lives, they let either society or their own regression take over instead of their own self-assurance and capabilities to empathize with others. By taking the advice with a grain of salt they would have been more prepared for the situations that made their lives tumultuous. However there are characters in literature that are the personification of this advice. The character Huck Finn is the personification that by giving, sympathizing, and demonstrating self-control one may be reborn. By his abil ities to do all of the previously mentioned actions he went through an initiation story of him growing into a kind and capable man. Amanda Wingfield, the personas within â€Å"Home Burial,† and Daisy Miller are the antithesis of the above advice, while Huck Finn is its exemplification. By learning to give, sympathize, and demonstrate self-control, the characters afore mentioned would have, or have already, furthered their actions and outcomes greatly. Amanda Wingfield, a deserted wife and the mother of Laura and Tom, is the protagonist of the play â€Å"The Glass Menagerie.† She is to be pitied, for she lives in a world of dreams and illusions. She has preconceived ideas about what is right for her son and daughter and tries to make her dreams for them come true; she wants Tom and Laura to bring her the happiness that her husband failed to give her. She does this by not giving her daughter the sympathy needed to nurture Laura with her handicap, by refusing to give support to... Free Essays on TS Eliot's Wasteland Free Essays on TS Eliot's Wasteland In â€Å"The Waste Land† Eliot suggests that a man can be reborn if he gives, sympathizes, and has self-control. There are many characters within American Literature that could have benefited from this advice. Characters such as Amanda Wingfield , the personas in â€Å"Home Burial,† and Daisy Miller exemplify people, that if this advice was readily accessible, could have understood circumstances and could have been figuratively been reborn. In the previously noted characters lives, they let either society or their own regression take over instead of their own self-assurance and capabilities to empathize with others. By taking the advice with a grain of salt they would have been more prepared for the situations that made their lives tumultuous. However there are characters in literature that are the personification of this advice. The character Huck Finn is the personification that by giving, sympathizing, and demonstrating self-control one may be reborn. By his abil ities to do all of the previously mentioned actions he went through an initiation story of him growing into a kind and capable man. Amanda Wingfield, the personas within â€Å"Home Burial,† and Daisy Miller are the antithesis of the above advice, while Huck Finn is its exemplification. By learning to give, sympathize, and demonstrate self-control, the characters afore mentioned would have, or have already, furthered their actions and outcomes greatly. Amanda Wingfield, a deserted wife and the mother of Laura and Tom, is the protagonist of the play â€Å"The Glass Menagerie.† She is to be pitied, for she lives in a world of dreams and illusions. She has preconceived ideas about what is right for her son and daughter and tries to make her dreams for them come true; she wants Tom and Laura to bring her the happiness that her husband failed to give her. She does this by not giving her daughter the sympathy needed to nurture Laura with her handicap, by refusing to give support to...

Thursday, November 21, 2019

Nurse Praqctitioner Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Nurse Praqctitioner - Essay Example The primary care nurse practitioner executes detailed assessments, elevate health and obstruct sickness and injury. The primary care nurse practitioner works in collaboration with other healthcare professionals to deal with the disease and take charge of patient’s health program. Mirr & Zwygart-Stauffacher (2010) says that primary care nurse practitioner could also get involved in research, consultations and speak in favor of the patient that is individuals, families, groups and community (p. 11). This may be in hospitals, clinics, and mobile clinics. The primary care nurse practitioner can play the role of the pediatrician in a clinical setting (Reuter-Rice & Bolick, 2012). According to Mezey et al. (2003), the duties of acute care nurse practitioners vary and can be explained in two models (p. 290). The first model has the acute nurse practitioner carryout care to disease-specific patient group. An example of this group is cardiology, diabetes and cancer. The second model consist a problem-based approach to care, where acute nurse practitioner give specialized wound care, management of acute and chronic pain, give nutrition aid and manage patients unable to contain urine. The acute care nurse practitioner in the surgical intensive care carries out the following roles: mandate suitable laboratory and radiographic investigation, carryout intubation, placement of catheters (central lines, arterial lines and pulmonary artery) and chest tubes. The acute nurse also give follow-up care to the patient and advice on neurosurgical, cardiothoracic, urology, ear-nose-throat and orthopedic. The acute nurse practitioners educate patients, families, nursing staff, m edical students, community and are involved in clinical research studies. In administration, acute care nurse is involved in the development of strategies and management (Mezey et al., 2010). The acute care nurse practitioner can work well in a well-equipped busy hospital and research

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

The invitro effect of sildenafil citrate on the outcome of pregnancy Literature review

The invitro effect of sildenafil citrate on the outcome of pregnancy in mice and offsprings - Literature review Example Other medications that can be put to use to make infertile women conceive a baby includes the controlled ovarian stimulation, intrauterine insemination (IUI), and ovulation induction. Although the use of ART can result to a successful pregnancy, not all women who undergo ART can become pregnant. Infertility may occur in all types of species; whether human or animals. This chapter tries to investigate the expression of PDE5 in the pre-implantation embryos and the effect of sildenafil citrate (Viagra) on pre-implantation murine embryo development in vitro. Sildenafil is a special drug with a nitric oxide effects on vascular smooth muscles. Randomly selected mice were divided into two groups. One group was hyper stimulated group whereas the other was hyper stimulated plus sildenafil citrate group. The mice were injected with human menopausal gonadotropin (HMG), and later they received human chorionic gonadotropic (HCG) hormones. Afterwards, two female mice were put in one cage with one male mouse for mating process (Rashidi, Rad, Roshangar, & Mira, 2012). For a period of three days, the hyper stimulated plus sildenafil citrate group was injected with three mg of sildenafil citrate after every 24 hours. This was done after the mice had received the HMG injection. Ninety six hours of HMG injection later a cervical dislocation was done, and their urine specimens were prepared for laboratory tests; electron microscope studies. After the study, it was realized that there was long and short microvilli in the control group while no observable pinopodes development. On the other hand, the other hyper stimulated plus sildenafil citrate group experienced pinopodes development after injecting the mice with HMG after four days. This study brings to the attention on how import hyper stimulation of mice with sildenafil citrate can be. For instance, it helps in formation of pinopodes and implantation. Failure of implantation is one of the major problems in infertility treatment. In addition, implantation is believed to be one of the most interesting biological events. Implantation failure can be as a result of impaired uterine receptivity caused by high concentration of serum estradiol, which is induced by an ovulation induction treatment. Appearance of pinopodes is a specific morphological marker that has been associated with window of implantation (Rashidi, Rad, Roshangar, & Mira, 2012). The pinopodes are found in mice and rats but lack in other animals and humans. These are surface projections of the endometrial cell, which are involved in uterine pinocytosis. These pinopodes are essential in the implantation window, and for this reason, it is of note for them to be developed in mice at-time to facilitate implantation. The use of sildenafil citrate can maintain effectively the vasodilatory effects of the Nitrogen Oxide by blocking the breakdown of cGMP. Reducing the problems associated with the development of a foetus is possible through proper facilita tion of blood to the endometrial lining. In addition, enhancing the flow of blood to the endometrium lining will help reduce the risk of maternal hemodynamic complications. Also known as Viagra TM or RevatioTM,

Sunday, November 17, 2019

Withholding and withdrawal of Medical treatment decisions from Case Study

Withholding and withdrawal of Medical treatment decisions from Children and neonates - Case Study Example Parents, doctors, the health care team have a common goal in ensuring good health and sustaining the life of children and neonates. Although advanced technology makes it possible to prolong life, prolonging life beyond a meaningful point in some neonatal and children's cases involves making difficult decisions on when and how life sustaining treatment is to be withheld or withdrawn. The Ethics Advisory Committee of the Royal College of Pediatrics and Child Health (EAC - RCPCH) has defined five categories in which the withholding or withdrawal of life sustaining medical treatment can be done.With holding or withdrawing does not even mean that the child will receive no care. Such a decision is followed by palliative care for the child. The withholding and withdrawing decisions is made by only experienced senior doctors. Clinical situations of these decisions include Non-resuscitation of a baby at birth with congenital abnormalities like anencephaly, making the child incompatible for su rvival; Non- resuscitation of a baby born with a gestational period of twenty three weeks or less making the baby neurologically impaired; withdrawal of ventilation from the baby with birth asphyxia leading to brain damage.The frequency of selective non treatment of extremely premature, critically or mal formed infants in Level III intensive care nursery (ICU) and the reasons documented by neonatologists for their decisions to withdraw or with hold life support has been well documented (Wall, 1997). They reviewed all the medical records of 165 infants who died at a level III (ICN) during 3 years. One hundred and eight infant deaths were found to be due to withdrawal of life support and thirteen deaths due to withhold of treatment. End of life decisions in new born with incurable diseases are difficult for pediatricians. In Netherlands, deliberate ending of life can be acceptable choice if a life full of severe and sustained suffering that cannot be relieved by any other means is expected of the child (Verhagen 2005). During a study for the period from January 1988 through December 1991, of 529 neonates admitted in Sophia Children's Hospital, Rotterdam, the Netherlands, 524 had been found dead of which 28 were due to the disease and 24 cases due to withdrawn or withheld treatment. In 15 of the 24, treatment was withdrawn due to severe congenital anomalies; in 9 of the 24, treatment was withdrawn because of serious complications. But in all the cases withdrawal was done unanimously after lengthy discussions between doctors, nurses and the parents (Hazebroek, 1993). Withdrawal of treatment in pediatric intensive care units accounts for between 43% and 72% of deaths in U.K (Mcmillan 2000). The Law:- All such professional decisions are done within the framework of law. The children Act (England and Wales 1989) safeguard the children's welfare. The Act also introduces the concept of parental responsibility. A number of judgments on withholding or withdrawing life sustaining treatment have proved that there is no obligation on part of the doctors to give treatment which is futile and burdensome and such a treatment could be treated as an assault. They have also given enough scope for the treatment goals to be changed in case of a dying child. These judgments have legalized the withdrawal of feeding and medical treatment In such cases in the best interests of the children. Withdrawal of life sustaining treatment in appropriate cases is not active killing, nor does it breach the article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights. Decision Making: Initially the medical team must wait for enough information about the clinical status of the child. The decision making process involves all members of the Health Care Team and the parents. In practice, a decision to withdraw treatment is usually a matter of consensus. However such major decisions always require a second opinion, legal as well as clinical.

Friday, November 15, 2019

Environment Essay: Mitigation Measures

Environment Essay: Mitigation Measures Chapter 3: Reducing Emissions From Deforestation Forest Degradation (REDD) 3.1 Genesis and emergence of REDD The current international climate change framework is a long way from delivering the emissions reductions required for a global stabilisation target necessary to give the world a realistic chance of limiting global warming to 2 ºc equivalent to atmospheric CO2e at 445-490ppm or lower. Further strong and urgent concerted international action will be needed from both developed and developing countries to meet this goal across all sectors: Increase energy efficiency Reduce demand for emissions intensive goods and services Switch to lower carbon technologies for transport and industrial sectors Action on non-energy emissions such as deforestation. Different mitigation measures are required for different sectors as mentioned above with emphasizing more on forests sector which is the main scope of this paper. It is estimated that in the absence of any mitigation efforts, emission from the forest sector alone will increase atmospheric carbon stock to around 30ppm by 2100, at which the current atmospheric CO2e levels stand at 433ppm according to the analysis of Eliasch Review (2008). Thus there is certainly urgency for forests to be a central part of any global climate change deal by placing it in the top priority as it is increasingly accepted that mitigation of climate change will not be achieved without the inclusion of forests fully into the framework in post 2012. Part of the explanation for this is that forests offer the greatest single opportunity in tackling climate change and to reduce carbon emissions immediately and cost-effectively as opposed to developing and inventing expensively new technological infrastructure and when compared with abatement in other sectors. This is confirmed by reports from Stern Review (2007) and IPCC AR4 (2007) in which deforestation accounts for nearly a fifth of global carbon emissions (18-25%), surprisingly a very significant and greater share second only to energy. Forests including woodlands play many roles in climate change mitigation through carbon sequestration, emission reductions, and carbon substitution. It has been estimated that 80% of the total emissions savings agreed under the current protocol of the convention would be wiped out if the current forest loss in forested developing countries such as Brazil and Indonesia to continue until 2012 (Stern, 2008). Given this significant rate of forest loss worldwide, thus reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD) would undeniably make a major contribution to meeting an emission stabilisation target by complementing measures such as afforestation, reforestation and restoration. These measures would increase global carbon stocks by sequestering and storing atmospheric carbon when new forests are planted and grow. Additionally, natural forests maintain carbon stocks and transfers, and act as a carbon sink besides other co-benefits including biodiversity conservation, ec osystem services, poverty alleviation and livelihoods. The increased use of wood-based biofuels and wood products with bioenergy crops plantation are options for carbon substitution. Currently developing countries have no obligations under UNFCCC to mitigate GHG emissions although most cases of deforestation are originating from tropical developing countries which accounts for over 1Gt per year of emission resulting from deforestation in the tropics (Stern, 2007). However, developing countries can contribute to global emission reductions by hosting projects under the CDM which include both afforestation and reforestation projects. Measures on REDD were initially excluded from the land use, land use change and forestry sector (LULUCF which is now referred to as agriculture, forestry and other land use (AFOLU) within the IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories as of 2006 for technical consistency) within the UNFCCC’s CDM during CoP7 in Marrakesh. The explanation on REDD exclusion was due of the possibility that if incentives were provided for individual projects, the result would be displacement of deforestation activity elsewhere within a co untry, with little or no net gain. Discussions for the inclusion of REDD was initiated at CoP11/MoP1 in Montreal during late 2005, which marked the first step for entry into force of the Kyoto Protocol on 16 February 2005. However, during the CoP13/MoP3 which was convened in Bali in December 2007, agreed to what is known as the Bali Roadmap. The main advances in the roadmap are the commitments to be negotiated including: emphasising the development of appropriate policy approaches and positive incentives that would lead to REDD and the role of forest conservation in the carbon trading regime, sustainable forest management and the forest carbon stock enhancement; Financing the adaptation needs of developing countries; and Funding the transfer of low-carbon technologies to developing nations. The inclusion of REDD in the roadmap is seen as a way to address environmental destruction by assigning value to intact forest ecosystems including peatlands and swamps. REDD has the potential to shift the balance of underlying economic market forces that currently in favour of deforestation, by allowing incentives and ultimately payments for the ecosystem services provided by forests in the tropical regions. REDD credits offer the opportunity to utilise funding from developed countries to reduce deforestation in developing countries despite question on how to reward forest conservation for the following approaches to pay countries: for reducing deforestation relative to a baseline of past deforestation rates, and/or future projections of deforestation; according to a fixed formula based on forest area and/or the carbon stock represented. In general, forest destruction takes place because forest countries can make more money by using the land for intensive agricultural activities, as they capture the value of standing natural timber, then annual harvests of agricultural produce such as beef, palm oil and soya beans (Tickell, 2008). Thus reward payments would therefore have to be sufficient to protect forests from competing land uses and he suggested that countries would be rewarded based on maintaining agreed areas: for pure conservation, with no exploitation save that of indigenous or long-established peoples; for limited, sustainable exploitation focussed on non-timber products; for more intensive exploitation, including for timber but subject to certification for sound management; of plantation, but including measures to protect soils, water and biodiversity; of degraded and destroyed forest undergoing restoration and rehabilitation to one of the above categories. The deadline for reaching an agreement on the specifics of an international REDD mechanism, at least as regards to it being implemented in the short and medium term, is the CoP15 which will be held in Copenhagen in December 2009. REDD still faces many challenges especially in implementation as there are particular problems with regards to controlling these emissions owing to: their dispersed nature, making them hard to control, and hard or indeed impossible to measure with accuracy. The difficulty of distinguishing with certainty between emissions that are of natural origin, and those that are due to deliberate human interventions; Issues of national sovereignty in which some forest rich developing countries do not take kindly to other countries telling them what they may and may not do with their forests. These three factors make it inconceivable that these emissions should be controlled at source in the same way as emissions from other sources. There are also many problems with the approach currently being developed under the framework to protect forests, which is to incorporate REDD within the carbon trading regime. While much of the deforestation under consideration is the result of legal land-use change and logging, there is also a significant proportion that is illegal. If avoided deforestation is to become a credible element of an international system for controlling greenhouse gas emissions, forest areas will have to be managed over the very long term and be subject to effective legal enforcement.   It is not yet clear whether the necessary investment in standing forests will come from a public fund or private markets, but, if the latter is the case, it is likely that carbon captured in countries with effective forest law enforcement will be valued more highly than in those with poor sectoral governance. 3.2 Expectation for global climate deal at CoP15 Talks on commitments for the post 2012 period are on-going since CoP13/MoP3 in Bali in December 2007. Forest carbon emissions together with emissions from other sources are a global negative externality. The cost of each unit released into the atmosphere is not borne by the emitter. Instead the costs are imposed on the international community as a whole in the form of exposure to the carbon toxification and damaging effects of climate change. There is currently no comprehensive system that rewards REDD efforts although it brings global benefits. Thus it is reasonable that any international climate change framework should internalise the emissions from forests in order to incentivise forest nations to protect and conserved their natural standing forest from deforestation and degradation. According to the Eliasch Review (2009), there are likely three criteria that a successful international climate change framework should meet: Effectiveness to deliver the emission reductions at required scale by tackling three major challenges, that is, leakage, additional and permanence.  Issues range from permanence (whether a county can ensure that forest carbon savings are permanent) to leakage (what happens when carbon conservation in one area drives deforestation in another?) to baseline data establishment (how does one measure historic deforestation to establish a baseline for calculating reduction?). Efficiency to minimise the overall cost of achieving the emissions reductions; and Equitable to ensure that the benefits of international action are distributed fairly.  questions over land rights (will REDD trigger a land rush by industrial agriculture giants and forestry firms?) as well as how local communities will benefit There is also ongoing squabbling between a coalition of forest nations and Brazil, which sees REDD as an attempt to limit its economic development of the Amazon rainforest. Some forest-rich countries that have low deforestation rates have expressed concern they will be left out of the process since their forests are not under immediate threat. 3.3 Sources of funding Despite various concerns mentioned above, it appears likely the REDD initiatives will move forward. According to ITTO  ( ), funds are starting to flow to tropical countries via international REDD initiatives and voluntary carbon offset projects. The potential to channel resources to tropical countries under any successor to the UNFCCC’s Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012, will have to be improved significantly over present arrangements in order to have any impact. The level of assistance provided to tropical forests through the existing CDM has so far been a bitter disappointment to many. The negative experience of the CDM in the relatively straight forward areas in which it has operated to date inspires little confidence in its ability to encompass the far trickier area of emissions from deforestation. Last week nine industrialized governments announced plans to put US$165 million (â‚ ¬114 million) toward the World Banks newly created Forest Carbon Partnership Facility, a scheme that will offer tropical countries carbon offset credits to preserve forests. The U.S. did not pledge any funds but some 30 tropical countries in Africa, Latin America and the Asia-Pacific stood to benefit from what the World Bank called the first financial mechanism to pay countries for saving their tropical forests. In the spirit of the progress on REDD, Governors from the Brazilian state of Amazonas and the Indonesian provinces of Aceh, Papua and West Papua agreed to a moratorium on logging until the carbon values of their forest lands is assessed. 3.4 Linking to carbon markets Kyoto includes defined flexible mechanisms such as Emissions Trading, the Clean Development Mechanism and Joint Implementation to allow annex I economies to meet their GHG emission limitations by purchasing GHG emission reductions credits from elsewhere, through financial exchanges, projects that reduce emissions in non-annex I economies, from other annex I countries, or from annex I countries with excess allowances. In practice this means that non-annex I economies have no GHG emission restrictions, but have financial incentives to develop GHG emission reduction projects to receive carbon credits that can then be sold to annex I buyers, encouraging sustainable development. [4]In addition, the flexible mechanisms allow annex I nations with efficient, low GHG-emitting industries, and high prevailing environmental standards to purchase carbon credits on the world market instead of reducing greenhouse gas emissions domestically. Annex I entities typically will want to acquire carbon cre dits as cheaply as possible, while non-annex I entities want to maximize the value of carbon credits generated from their domestic Greenhouse Gas Projects. While there is an urgent need to reduce emissions from deforestation, there are considerable dangers in including forests within the carbon trading regimes. This is because GHG emissions need to be cut both from forest destruction and from fossil fuels, that is not to trade the one off against the other. By putting carbon credits from REDD into the Kyoto Protocol’s carbon trading regime, the Annex 1 parties will be able to continue to pollute at will provided they offset their pollution by REDD elsewhere. Developing countries are not expected to de-carbonize their economy unless developed countries supply enough funding and technology. Setting no immediate restrictions under the UNFCCC serves three purposes: it avoids restrictions on their development, because emissions are strongly linked to industrial capacity, they can sell emissions credits to nations whose operators have difficulty meeting their emissions targets, they get money and technologies for low-carbon investments from the developed countries in Annex II. Developing countries may volunteer to become Annex I countries when they are sufficiently developed. Common but differentiated responsibility The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change agreed to a set of a common but differentiated responsibilities. The parties agreed that: the largest share of historical and current global emissions of greenhouse gases originated in developed countries; per capita emissions in developing countries are still relatively low;  Brunei do have a high per capita emission the share of global emissions originating in developing countries will grow to meet social and development needs. China, India, and other developing countries were not included in any numerical limitation of the Kyoto Protocol, because they were not main contributors to the greenhouse gas emissions in the pre-treaty industrialization period. China has since become the largest greenhouse gas emitter.However, even without responsibility under the Kyoto target, developing countries were to share the common responsibility of all countries to reduce emissions. The protocol defines a mechanism of compliance as a monitoring compliance with the commitments and penalties for non-compliance The five principal concepts of the Kyoto Protocol are: commitments to reduce greenhouse gases that are legally binding for annex I countries, as well as general commitments for all member countries; implementation to meet the Protocol objectives, to prepare policies and measures which reduce greenhouse gases; increasing absorption of these gases and use all mechanisms available, such as joint implementation, clean development mechanism and emissions trading; being rewarded with credits which allow more greenhouse gas emissions at home; minimizing impacts on developing countries by establishing an adaptation fund for climate change; accounting, reporting and review to ensure the integrity of the Protocol; compliance by establishing a compliance committee to enforce compliance with the commitments under the Protocol. 3.4 Institutional aspect for Designated National Authority (DNA) Among the annex I signatories, all nations have established Designated National Authorities to manage their greenhouse gas portfolios; countries including Japan, Canada, Italy, the Netherlands, Germany, France, Spain and others are actively promoting government carbon funds, supporting multilateral carbon funds intent on purchasing carbon credits from non-annex I countries, and are working closely with their major utility, energy, oil and gas and chemicals conglomerates to acquire greenhouse gas certificates as cheaply as possible. Virtually all of the non-annex I countries have also established Designated National Authorities to manage the Kyoto process, specifically the CDM process that determines which GHG Projects they wish to propose for accreditation by the CDM Executive Board.

Tuesday, November 12, 2019

JC Penney Company, Inc. :: Marketing Research

JC Penney Company, Inc. J. C. Penney Company, Inc. Is one of America’s largest department store, drugstore, catalog and e-commerce retailers. Providing merchandise and services through department stores, catalogs, and the Internet. Their targeted customers are â€Å"Modern Spenders† and â€Å"Starting Outs†, who shop for apparel, accessories, and home furnishings through the centers where JCPenney is located and through the convenience of catalog and the Internet. Starting Outs  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚    ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Less than 35 years of age  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚    ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Singles, young families  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  0-1 children  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Shopping patterns & relationships emerging  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  No strong retail loyalties  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  28% of U.S. households.  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Currently 16% of sales  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Potentially 30% of sales  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Modern Spenders  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  35-54 years of age  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Dual-earner households  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  0-2 children (often includes teenagers)  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Consumption oriented  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  No strong retail loyalties & relationships  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Retail loyalties more likely  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Established shopping patterns  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Time-starved  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  27% of U.S. households  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Currently 43% of sales  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Potentially 50% of sales Distribution *Catalogs J.C. Penney is the nation’s largest catalog merchant, with the most modern facilities and the largest privately owned telemarketing network in America. Serving this $4 billion catalog business are nearly 2,000 catalog departments in JCPenney department stores, Eckerd drugstores, freestanding sales centers and independent catalog merchants. *Internet J.C. Penney is in only its second year of Internet sales, and its going strong and growing. Sales jumped from $15 million to $102 million since the beginning of jcpenney.com. *Department Stores JCPenney has more retail space in major regional shopping centers than any other department store retailer in America, with about 1,140 department stores located in all 50 states. JCPenney’s drugstore ECKERD has over 2,600 stores in operation in 23 states. PROMOTIONAL OFFERS  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Direct mail. An invitation to shop mailed to selected catalog customers. These promotions may be associated with a holiday or other special savings event, including many of our storewide events  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Sunday Supplement. JCPenney color inserts that are delivered with your Sunday or late-week newspaper.  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Newspaper Ads. Promotional offers are often supplemented by ads in your local newspaper.  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Catalog Inserts. Many of our Sale and JCPenney â€Å"Signature Series† catalogs contain special offers for limited-time savings that are bound into mailed copies.  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  E-mail Promotions.

Sunday, November 10, 2019

Macbeth’s Letter Essay

I am writing to you as I know that you will keep the contents of this letter a secret. The last few days have been very strange and unreal to me. I cannot believe how much my life has changed in such a short space of time. I ask you to please destroy this letter once you have read it and not tell a soul about what it contains as I have committed a terrible crime. A couple of days ago I was a noble warrior fighting against Norway and now I’m king of Scotland. With â€Å"my brandish’d steel† I approached the leader of the Norwegians, Macdonald, and â€Å"unseam’d him from the nave to th’chaps and fix’d his head on our battlements† to show everyone he was dead. Norway were defeated. After the battle, Banquo and I walked along the moors and we came across three weird sisters that looked nothing I had ever seen on this earth. They greeted me by saying â€Å"All hail Macbeth, hail to thee Thane of Glamis, All hail Macbeth, hail to thee Thane of Cawdor, All hail Macbeth that shalt be king hereafter.† At this greeting I was rather shocked and confused. True I was Thane of Glamis but Thane of Cawdor and king? The Thane of Cawdor lived and as was the king. I was puzzled. Were these prophecies real? Whilst I was lost in my thoughts, Banquo asked them to predict something for him as they had for me. They told him that his children shall be kings but he will not be king himself. I ordered them to stay and tell me more but they were unwilling to be ordered by me and vanished into thin air. I do not think Banquo believed his prophecies as much as I did mine. We carried on walking and talked about the witches. Then we saw two men coming towards us. They said that the king had sent them because he had heard of my success in battle. One of the men said the king bade him to call me Thane of Cawdor! I asked him why he was dressing me in â€Å"borrow’d robes†. He explained to me that the old thane of Cawdor was a traitor and would be executed. I could not help thinking that the greatest was behind. I then thought a terrible thought. Murdering king Duncan to become king. I pushed the thought out of my head and told myself â€Å"if chance will have me king, why chance may crown me without my stir.† I did not have to get involved in order to become king. We made our way to the kings headquarters and king Duncan told me how grateful he was for what I had done in battle. I told him it was an honour to fight for him and I felt it was my duty to him. He then made a startling announcement. His eldest son Malcolm was named the Prince of Cumberland! I could not help feeling angry on hearing this. Malcolm stood in my way of becoming king. I felt as though I was not in control of my feelings. One minute I was loyal and the next I had these evil thoughts. They disturbed me but I could not stop them. I pleaded, â€Å"stars hold your fires, let not light see my black and deep desires.† I did not want anyone to see these terrible thoughts I had. Duncan said that he was to stay at my castle that night so I left at once to inform my wife of his arrival. I sent a letter on to Lady Macbeth to inform her of the meeting with the witches, their prophecies and my becoming Thane of Cawdor. I know she thinks that I cannot act on my ambitions and that I am too kind to act on the information that the witches gave to me. When I arrived I told her I told her about Duncan coming to stay. She encouraged the idea of murdering him. She told me to â€Å"look like th’innocent flower but be the serpent under’t.† I was to look innocent but be ready to strike. I felt she was taking control of this situation. She overpowered me. I was not allowed to speak. I told her I needed to think about it but she did not listen and told me to leave all the rest to her. When Duncan arrived, Lady Macbeth greeted him as my mind was too full with other thoughts. I know she showed gratitude towards him and showed fake loyalty. I could not have been false to his face. I left the feast to be alone. I thought that if I were to murder Duncan it would be best to do it quickly. But how I hoped it would be the end of it without any consequences because I knew that with murder would come horrible consequences. I was confused as to what I should do. I was his subject. I looked up to him as king. I was his host. I should be protecting him not murdering him. I thought Duncan is no enemy of mine. He is my king. He has been a good king so far. If he was to be murdered then everyone would be horrified and there would be a wild protest. Everyone would be looking for the murderer. The only thing I had to make me murder him was my ambition and that alone is not alone. Lady Macbeth came to me and I told her â€Å"we would proceed no further in this business.† She called me a coward and said that if I told her to kill her child then she would do so. She had managed to change my mind. â€Å"If we should fail?† I asked her. She told me we would not fail and that Duncan would sleep easily after his long journey. She then said that she would convince his two guards to have some wine. They would be unaware of what is happening. Then when Duncan was dead we would smear blood on their limbs and let them â€Å"bear the guilt of our great quell.† At that moment I could not help admiring Lady Macbeth. I told her she should only have male children for she has great strength and courage. She told me that no one would suspect us because we would be distraught with sadness at the news of his death. My mind was made up. I told her that every bit of me was going to work at this murder. Part of me wanted to show I could do this and that I was not a coward. I was walking around the castle later that night when I came across Banquo and his son. Banquo told me he dreamt of the witches and how their prophecies had come true for me. I lied to him and told him that I did not think of them. I had to lie as I was about to kill the king. After Banquo left I saw in front of me a dagger. It looked as real as the one I had in my belt. It was pointing towards Duncan’s chamber. I saw blood on the dagger that was not on there before. My disturbed mind was showing me things that were not there. Suddenly a bell rang and I made my way towards Duncan’s chamber. When I returned to my wife from Duncan’s chamber I heard her say that she would have murdered him herself if he did not remind her of her father. I was anxious. I looked at my hands. It was â€Å"a sorry sight.† Lady Macbeth tried to get me to snap out of it. I told her that as I came out of the chamber I had heard someone saying their prayers in their room and how I could not even bring myself to utter the word amen. I felt cursed. She told me I should not think about it. I could not help thinking that it was the end of me. My wife warned me that to dwell on these things would make me mad. I felt mad at that moment. I had lost all control. I had murdered sleep. I did not think I would ever be able to sleep again. My wife told me to go and wash my hands. It was then that she noticed I still had the daggers. She ordered me to go and put them back. I told her I would not go back into that room. I was frightened. I couldn’t find any ounce of bravery within me. I could not face going in there again. She was disgusted with me and told me I was acting like a child. She told me to leave it all to her. She took control once again. She returned the daggers and smeared the guards with Duncan’s blood. I became jumpy. I looked down at my hands again. I believed that I had so much blood on them that it could change the whole sea red if I were to put them in it. I felt a sense of disgust as I stared down at the blood. Lady Macbeth returned from the chamber and her hands too were covered in blood. She called me a coward. She seemed so certain that â€Å"a little water† would clear us of this deed. I was not so sure. I did not feel like myself anymore. I did not feel like the noble warrior I once was. I heard knocking and wished that it would wake Duncan up and rewind this whole tragedy. Now I am king. I will not bore you with how it all happened. I fear that people will suspect me. I think Mcduff already does. I fear that I will have to kill again to ensure that Lady Macbeth and myself are not found out. I only hope you will be able to forgive the terrible sins I have committed.

Friday, November 8, 2019

What Is the Distributive Property

What Is the Distributive Property SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips What is the distributive property? Did you go over the distributive property definition in school but still aren’t sure what it is or why it’s important? The distributive property is a key mathematical property you’ll need to know to solve many algebra problems. In this guide, we explain exactly what the distributive property is, why it’s important, when you should use it, what other math rules you need to know for it, and we also work through several examples so you can see the distributive property in action. What Is the Distributive Property? The distributive property, sometimes known as the distributive property of multiplication, tells us how to solve certain algebraic expressions that include both multiplication and addition. The literal definition of the distributive property is that multiplying a number by a sum is the same as doing each multiplication separately. In equation form, the distributive property looks like this: $a(b+c) = ab + ac$ (Remember, in math, when two numbers/factors are right next to each other, that means to multiply them.) Like many math definitions, the distributive property is easier to understand when you look at a few examples. Here’s a simple one: $$5 (2 +7)$$ Normally, if you had a problem like this, you’d add 2 and 7 together to get 9, then you’d multiply 5times 9 to get 45. This is the simplest way to solve the equation, and it also follows the order of operations, which tells you to simplify whatever is in the parentheses first before moving onto other operations like multiplication. Solving that equation using the distributive property would look like this: $$5 (2+7)$$ The distributive property means doing multiplication before the addition within the parentheses, so we’d distribute the 5 to both values within the parentheses: $$5(2) + 5(7)$$ Work out the multiplication: $$10 + 35$$ Then add the two numbers together: $$10+35=45$$ We get the same answer as we did solving the problem with the first method, which shows that the distributive property works. Now, why would you want to use the distributive property when it took longer than the first method? The distributive property comes in handy when you have terms within the parentheses that can’t be added together, such as this equation: ${3/4}(a + 2b)$. Because there are variables involved, there’s no easy way to simplify $a + 2b$. In these more complicated equations, the distributive property can help us get the equation into a form that makes it easier to simplify or solve. We’ll see examples of how to do this later on in this guide. 3 Key Rules Related to the Distributive Property When you’re using the distributive property, you’ll often have to use or be aware of other mathematical rules and properties in order to solve or simplify the equations. Here are three of the most important ones to know. Commutative Laws The commutative laws state that you can swap numbers when adding or multiplying and still get the same answer. So $x + y = y + x$ and $x(y) = y(x)$ These are likely intuitive for you by now, but they’re an important part of the distributive property, which wouldn’t work without them. You can use them when you need help simplifying certain equations in order to get them into a more workable form. Order of Operations When you have a complicated equation that looks like it can be simplified in multiple ways, the order of operations gives you the correct way to work through those operations. The acronym PEMDAS makes it easy to remember which operations to work on first. From first to last, here’s the order you should work out operations: Parentheses Exponents Multiplication and Division (do these at the same time, working left to right) Addition and Subtraction (do these at the same time, working left to right) The order of operations is important to know because you’ll often have to remember it when simplifying equations that include a lot of different operations. It can also help you determine whether to use the distributive property or not. Order of operations states the first step you should take when simplifying an equation is to work out whatever is in a parentheses set, but if what’s in the parentheses can’t be simplified, that’s a sign to use the distributive property. Quadratic Formula The quadratic formula states that, for $ax^2+ bx + c = 0$, the values of $x$ which are the solutions to the equation are given by: $$x={-b ±Ã¢Ë†Å¡{b^2-4ac}}/{2a}$$ When using the distributive property, you may be able to simplify some equations into the $ax^2 + bx + c = 0$ form so that you can use the quadratic equation to solve for $\bi x$. Distributive Property of Multiplication Example Problems In this section we go over three examples of simplifying problems using the distributive property. You’ll notice each of them contain variables in the parentheses, which is a key sign that the distributive property is needed. Example 1 $$\bo4\bi x(\bo5\bi x + \bo6) = -\bo7$$ First, we’re going to distribute $4x$ to both $5x$ and 6. $$4x(5x) + 4x(6) = -7$$ Now, multiply those out: $$20x^2+ 24x = 7$$ Add 7 to both sides: $$20x^2+ 24x +7 = 0$$ This equation is now in the proper formula to solve for $x$ using the quadratic formula (x would equal $-0.7$ and $-0.5$), or you might be able to keep the equation in that form if you were just being asked to simplify it. Example 2 $$\bo3\bi x(\bi x-\bo4) + \bo5(\bo4\bi x + \bo6)$$ For this equation, there are two sets of parentheses, so we need to use the distributive property twice. Distribute the 3x to its set of parentheses and the 5x to its set of parentheses: $$3x(x) + 3x(-4) + 5(4x) + 5(6)$$ Multiply it out: $$3x^2- 12x + 20x^2+ 30$$ Add the two $x^2$ terms together to simplify $$23x^2- 12x + 30$$ Example 3 $$-\bo7(\bi x + \bo4) + \bo8(\bo2 - \bo4\bi x)$$ This example is a bit trickier because the 7 has a negative sign in front of it. When the value just outside the parentheses is negative, the negative sign must be distributed to each term within the parentheses. Distribute the -7 to its set of parentheses and the 8 to its set of parentheses: $$(-7)(x) + (-7)(4) + (8)(2) + (8)(-4x)$$ Multiply those out: $$-7x -28 + 16 - 32x$$ Now simplify: $$-39x - 12$$ Summary: What Is the Distributive Property Definition? What is distributive property? The distributive property of multiplication states that $a(b+c) = ab + ac$. It’s often used for equations when the terms within the parentheses can’t be simplified because they contain one or more variables.Using the distributive property, you can simplify or solve equations that would otherwise be difficult to work with. When using the distributive property, remember to distribute negative signs if they’re in front of the parentheses, and keep in mind other important math rules, such as the quadratic formula, order of operations, and commutative properties. What's Next? Are you learning about logarithms and natural logs in math class? We have a guide on all the natural log rules you need to know. What is dynamic equilibrium and what does it have to do with rusty cars? Find out by reading ourcomplete guide to dynamic equilibrium. Rational numbers are another important math concept you should understand.Read our guide on rational numbers for everything you need to know about them!