Coral Divers Resport

Mr. Jonathan Greywell is contemplating a business decision in which there are four realistic options. He is the owner of Coral Divers Resort, located in the Bahamas on the island of New Providence. He caters to customers looking for a resort package that includes diving. This case discusses a decline in revenues for the three-year period of 2005-2007. His options include: selling the resort, partnering with another business, focusing on higher margin business, or improve his current business to be more competitive. Selling Coral Divers ResortThe most significant reason to sell the business is the declining revenues. However, Greywell would need to find another means of income such as another business venture or a new location for a similar business. Greywell could have a business valuation done, but since his equity in the business is low, he would not have much left over to start another business venture. Greywell has built a lifestyle around the Coral Divers Resort business and enj oys it. At this time, I recommend that he focus on his other options and keep the business. Partnering with Rascals in ParadiseEntering into a business agreement with Rascals in Paradise would change the direction of Greywell’s business to a more family-oriented business. In addition to rebranding Coral Reef Resort to target families, there would be additional capital improvement expenses. Cottage renovations would be nearly $50,000. The addition of a playground is estimated at $15,000. The wages expense to hire a chef could vary based on the quality and experience of the chef. However, making use of an existing facility such as the kitchen and dining room would add an additional stream of revenue and would help to offset the additional costs.In my opinion is it unrealistic for the resort to be at 100% capacity on a regular basis. Therefore, if we look at realistic numbers using historical Coral Reef Resort data, we can reasonably predict a 90% capacity in the high season â⠂¬â€œ an improvement over the current 70%. The revenue generated from this increase is approximately $100,000. Another factor to consider in making this decision is whether Rascal’s is worth the 30% commission. The fees for families (i. e. more people per room, etc. ) when compared to the operation expenses keep the profit margin the same with the added benefit of a unique identity in the market.Higher Margin Adventure Diving Adventure diving generates a higher margin and therefore it is a good idea for Greywell to consider adding it to the mix of dive offerings. However, it cannot be considered without weighing the risks involved. Coral Divers Resort has an excellent reputation and careful consideration should be given as to how to protect this intangible asset. Adventure dives would need specifically trained and experienced dive masters. Simply training existing employees might pose an additional risk since they aren’t too excited about diving with sharks and also la ck experience that might be helpful for safety issues.Within an hour’s distance away, competitors are already a part of this market and bringing in $115 per adventure dive which is $50 above the regular dive experience. An additional $600 per week can be earned on two days per week with an average of 6 customers each of those days. Despite hiring or training costs and additional $31,200 in revenue can be generated, after the expenses for shark food and the special dive suit. Perhaps more adventure dive business is possible, yet this estimate would need to remain conservative until the demand can be established and adjustments made accordingly.Improving Existing Coral Divers Resort Greywell should look at running the business more efficiently to see where he can lower expenses such as operating costs and both fixed and variable costs. However, improved efficiency alone will solve Greywell’s current problem of reduced revenue. He needs to be looking at additional revenue sources by bringing in more customers for existing business or new offerings. While it is a good benefit to customers to get free services such as afternoon rides, many of those customers would also pay to go.If he had an average of 9 free-ride customers per week pay only $25 for the ride, he would generate another $225 per week in revenue. He could add a box lunch for purchase, a snack package, or a cocktail option. Having more offerings will help to increase revenue. Although I don’t expect these food and beverage items on the boats to bring in much revenue and could be more work for too little reward. Greywell would certainly not want to be distracted from his core business. Conclusion Greywell should go with the Rascals in Paradise partnership. They can help rebrand and market the resort driving up occupancy rates.While increasing profits through occupancy and additional revenue streams are a positive move, Greywell will still need to solve his issue of high debt in orde r to make the renovations needed. In addition, he should already be running the business efficiently and regularly seeking out ways to maintain a high level of efficiency. I would not recommend that Greywell enter into the Adventure Diving segment of the business under the Coral Divers Resort name. The risks of injury are too high and an accident can have a very adverse effect on the business reputation.Also, in my opinion, a family business and an adventure business would serve different segments and have different branding messages. Having both under the same resort name will dilute the message and negatively impact the more profitable business segment. Instead, if Greywell feels passionate about pursuing the adventure business, I recommend he wait until his partnership with Rascals shows results and then begin a subsidiary or a separate business with its own branding that caters to the adventure diving market. This way, his businesses can feed each other and the marketing message s for each remain clear and focused.

Facebook: Social Network or Social Disaster

Facebook: Social Network or Social Disaster Your busy day is done. You head home open up your laptop or head over to your desktop and turn it on. After impatiently waiting for everything to load on your computer you open up your web browser. You go to the top of the page and type in www. face and arrow down in the drop box to http://www. facebook. com/. As the website loads you wait in anticipation. When the blue bar at the top of the page loads you immediately look to the left hand corner of that bar.You glance over the first icon which is a silhouette of two people. Any friend requests? You then skim over to the next icon, a picture of two message bubbles. They remind you of the ones you would see in a cartoon. Any messages? You then proceed to direct your eyes over to the last icon, the world icon. Any Notifications? You click on these icons and with that click you begin a social interaction with someone. For many people, what I described above is an action they do everyday. Over 500 million people worldwide live their lives on Facebook. † (Fletcher and Ford, 32) After reading this quote I asked myself one question, â€Å"Is it the communication aspect of facebook that causes everyone to be addicted to facebook or is there more to this addiction? † I know I go on Facebook almost everyday without fail but why? Do I go on to communicate and use Facebook as a social network or do I go on it mainly to get the dirt on others and what is going on in their lives?I came to the conclusion that Facebook is definitely a good place to keep in communication with people, however, in many ways, Facebook has definitely been misused and become gossip central. When you think about Facebook what is the first thing that comes to your mind? The first thing for me is friends. Right now I have 933 friends on Facebook and friends are a very important part of everyone’s lives. Facebook, like any other social network, gives you the ability to communicate with frie nds, coworkers, family members, and people from all over the world.You request to be their friend and wait for them to accept that request. There are so many people on Facebook today it would be rare to turn next to the person that sits next to you in math class and for them not to have a Facebook account. It is a very easy way to get in contact with those whom you may not have seen in a while. Old friends that over the years have become acquaintances or even friends that you can’t talk to on a regular basis because they live in a completely different country then you.For many of my high school years I went on missions trips to Mexico to help out at an orphanage down there. I met many different people and as the years went by I looked forward to seeing my long lost friends. Because of Facebook, I no longer have to call them my long lost friends because I can keep in contact with them through Facebook. I think it is great that so many of my friends are on Facebook and this is another way that I can communicate with them. However, one danger of having friends on Facebook is that some of the friends you accept may be quite superficial. Muise, Christofides, Desmarais, 442). I have almost a thousand friends on Facebook do you really think that I am as close to all of them as I am with my best friend? No, that is ridiculous. However, because Facebook is such an open social network and give us many different ways to communicate with others it has a tendency to give us a more open look at life so people tend to share more intimate aspects on life over their facebook status’. It has changed our social DNA, and made us more accustom to openness (Fletcher and Ford, 33).When we share these intimate aspects we are not necessarily thinking, â€Å"I hope everyone sees this. † We are just thinking about the friends we usually interact with on facebook, but the problem is anyone that you have accepted as a friend can see that status change. For example, I am friends with my mother on Facebook and when I asked her what her favorite thing about Facebook was she replied, â€Å"My favorite part about Facebook is that I can look on my kids profile and see what they have been up to. I got a similar response from a friend that said she likes Facebook because it keeps her in on the latest gossip. This is why we need to be careful when on facebook. Not everyone’s intent while on Facebook is to enhance communication. Some people use Facebook as their center for gossip and you never know who has this outlook while interacting over Facebook. Facebook offers many different ways to communicate with others. Status updates is just one of the many different services facebook offers. Status updates are a nice way to communicate what you are doing from a day to day asis or share short quotes that you found interesting. These status updates definitely help communication between people. Another service Facebook offers to communicate with others i s the message service. If you want to have a private conversation with one or more people you can use the message service. This message service is somewhat like an email in the sense that you can send and receive messages that no one but the intended recipient can see. This is helpful if you want to plan a surprise party for some one and only want certain people to know about it.This service is a very good way to have an intimate conversation with others, and I think that it is a very good service. However, many people don’t use the message box as much as they should. This creates problems over Facebook. Another conversation method that is used on facebook is posting on others wall. The only problem with this is that everyone can see your wall. This can create many social mishaps. â€Å"While social networks sites provide the opportunity to reunite with long lost friends, they also allow people to make their information public within their circle of friends. (Muise, Christof ides, Desmarais, 442) Anyone that is your friend can look at your wall posts and read into it wrong and start a huge rumor about you that ruins your reputation. It is that easy for a simple post on Facebook to be turned into a rumor and soon enough it will be all over your wall and all your friends will see it, making Facebook a center for gossip. That is why I believe if the wall posting service is used unwisely it can turn Facebook into a social disaster waiting to happen. Facebook makes it easy to see what is going on in everyone lives.It gives you notifications when anyone does something such as post on your wall or make a comment on your status or pictures. On your home page it gives you a play by play of what everyone of your friends are doing over Facebook. It tells you when they are online so if you wanted to have a brief conversation with them you could just click on their picture icon and a little chat box will pop up. Also on the home page all your friend’s status changes will be listed on it and you can freely comment or like them whenever you would like.I think these notifications are very helpful ways to quickly send out a conversation to someone so you can keep up a relationship with someone even when our lives are hectic and we don’t have time to sit down with them for coffee. However, Facebook is very addicting. Tynee Seno from the Philippines quotes, â€Å"On average, I spend about four hours a day on Facebook- more time then I spend outside. † (Facebook and You, 34) From personal experience, I can suspect that Tynee is not just conversing with others over facebook for the whole four hours he is on Facebook everyday.When I spend an overwhelming amount of time on Facebook I’m usually looking for an â€Å"in†. I don’t know how many times I have read something over Facebook and went immediately to my phone to text someone about what I had read over facebook. â€Å"Did you see what she posted on his wall ? † And as simple as that, another gossip chain has begun. For many, it is not intentional to start this gossip chain. As humans, we are just very curious beings and sometime I even believe that jealousy can get involved. â€Å"Facebook may expose an individual to potentially jealousy-provoking information. (Muise, Christofides, and Desmarais, 443) Like I said before, we don’t do this on purpose. It is just in our human nature to do this. However, I want to encourage you that next time you read something on Facebook that wasn’t meant for you to read, instead of going and sharing it with the world, try to look past it. Just think how you would feel if you posted something without thinking who all would see your post and it ended up getting spread around in a nasty rumor. If we can avoid this we can avoid making Facebook a place where simple socialization can turn into a disaster.So my advice is, next time you sit down at that computer and go straight to Facebook be careful because you wouldn’t want a simple post to be the start of a social disaster. I think that overall Facebook has great potential in helping people communicate with others. It helps me communicate with people from Mexico by allowing me to be friends with whomever I want, as well as helping me keep in touch with people through its different venues for communicating with people. I think that Facebook is a great social network, however, I believe that it can be made into a social disaster if it were to be misused.Works Cited â€Å"Facebook and You. (Cover story). † Time 175. 21 (2010): 34-35. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 2 Nov. 2010. Fletcher, Dan, and Andrea Ford. â€Å"Friends Without Borders. (Cover story). † Time 175. 21 . (2010): 32-38. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 2 Nov. 2010. Muise, Amy, Emily Christofides, and Serge Desmarais. â€Å"More Information than You Ever Wanted: Does Facebook Bring Out the Green-Eyed Monster of Jealousy?. † CyberPsychology & Behavior 12. 4 (2009): 441-444. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 2 Nov. 2010

Gun control does not reduce violence Thesis Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

Gun control does not reduce violence - Thesis Example Gun control is seriously considered as one of the solutions to end violence because it is thought of as tool of violence, it being a weapon that can indeed harm, mutilate and even kill an individual. This concern is not without basis because there are incidences of crimes and violence that are gun related. The proponents of this solution posit that if the tools or weapons that were used in those crimes and incidence of violence did not become available, then violence will be reduced. While this may seem to be a plausible solution to reducing violence, gun control may pose a problem of infringing on our basic rights as Americans to bear arms as stated in the Second Amendment of the Bill of Rights contained in the Constitution of the United States of America. The Second Amendment contained in the Bill of Rights of the Constitution of the United States exegetes that â€Å"A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed†.... tate regulation such as a provision in the Firearms Control Regulations Act of 1975 law in the District of Columbia that requires all firearms including rifles and shotguns to be kept "unloaded and disassembled or bound by a trigger lock. The Firearms Control Regulations Act of 1975 also contained a provision that prohibits the residents of the District of Columbia from owning handguns except those that were registered prior to 1975. As expected, the law was challenged and was elevated in the Supreme Court. Until finally on June 26, 2008 the Supreme Court made a decision to affirm the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in Heller v. District of Columbia. The Court of Appeals had initially made a decision to remove two provisions in the Firearms Control Regulations Act of 1975 as unconstitutional. The provisions that were removed as unconstitutional were the provision that prohibits the residence of District of Columbia from the ownership of handguns except prior 1975 and the provis ion that requires all firearms to be "unloaded and disassembled or bound by a trigger lock" at all times. The decision elaborated that the Second Amendment â€Å"protects an individual right to bear arms† further stating its decision was "premised on the private use of arms for activities such as hunting and self-defense, the latter being understood as resistance to either private lawlessness or the depredations of a tyrannical government† (Library of Congress, 2012). Further, this right help preserve a citizen militia â€Å"the activities [the Amendment] protects are not limited to militia service, nor is an individual's enjoyment of the right contingent upon his or her continued or intermittent enrollment in the militia." (Guncite.com, 2010). With regard to handgun ownership, the Supreme

ASC Research F Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

ASC Research F - Essay Example The rationale behind treating this division as discontinued operation and held for sale has been discussed here and reporting of the position of financial statement for such division has been explained. A component of an entity can be considered discontinued operation if it does not have any involvement with the operation of the component after the disposal transaction. The sale of such asset or disposal group is probable or likely to occur and the transfer of such asset is expected to qualify for recognition as a complete sale within one year. Again the sale has been actively marketed at a reasonable price in relation to its current fair value. The period in which such transaction has occurred, the income statement of a business entity or statement of activities for not-for-profit entity (NFP) for current and prior periods should report the result of operation of component along with the gain or loss recognized in discontinued operations. The result of operation of a component of an entity either been disposed of or classified as held for sale will be reported in discontinued operations on the fulfilment of following conditions: On occurrence of the disposal transaction, the operation and cash flow of the component is required to be eliminated from the continuing operations of entity. Further, the entity is not required to have continuing involvement with the operation of the component after such disposal transaction. In a period in which the component of entity which has been disposed of or classified as held for sale, the income statement of the business entity or statement of activities of not-for-profit (NFP) entity should have the result of operation of component and gain or loss incurred in discontinued operations. The result for discontinued operation less income taxes applicable should be reported as a separate component of income before extraordinary items. Any adjustment to any amounts that has been previously reported under discontinued operations a nd is directly related to the disposal transaction in prior period is required to be separately classified under discontinued operations in current period. Such type of adjustments may arise in circumstances like resolution of adjustment of purchase price, retaining of product warranty and environmental obligations by seller, settlement of obligations of employee benefit plan provided the settlement should be related directly to the disposal transaction if there is a demonstrated relationship of direct cause and effect and the disposal should occur within one year following the disposal transaction unless delayed by circumstances beyond the control of entity. The business memorandum entailing the underlying principle for mining division of ABC Company which is to be sold off has been enclosed. BUSINESS MEMORANDUM ABC COMPANY MEMORANDUM TO: MATT ROGERS, CFO FROM: STAFF ACCOUNTANT DATE: 6/3/2013 SUBJECT: REPORTING OF MINING DIVISION INTRODUCTION It is known that ABC Company having six major divisions has recently decided to sell off its mining division. The company is actively seeking a buyer and has priced the division at fair value of the division’s assets and liabilities and it expects that the division will be sold during the next fiscal year. However, the division has been considered an operating segment; this memorandum entails the details of reporting the mining division in financial statement. BODY Research has been made on this issue from Accounting

Nike's Dilemma Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Nike's Dilemma - Case Study Example The on-going recession poses a serious threat to expansion of sports businesses. The only option left is to increase their advertising and improving the quality of the service they give to their customers. Titleist and other competing companies dealing with golf products could have taken advantage of this by raising promotions targeting clubs currently buying from Nike. As quoted on the Wall Street journal, â€Å"in 2009, sales of clubs and other support tools fell in by 11.9 %, which is three quarters of total golf sales Bustillo† (web). However, two other Nike golfers won two crucial matches in the same year helping Nike to regain the lost credibility. The drop in the golf sales and the recessionary period may hinder Nike to venture into new golf products, but this is advisable. Nike needs to work hard in rebranding Woods. This is one of the best ways of securing sales in golfing market since Woods is still influential despite the presently tainted image. The idea of introduction of new golf balls, t-shirts, and shoes that do not bear the old names that Woods used. They â€Å"Have you learnt anything?† Commercials by Nike helped in gathering people’s views on the scandal after engaging them to respond. Nike was supporting Woods to rejoin his family and achieve both corporate and personal penance. This approach by Nike was not much of a help since the companies sales still went down. According to National Golf Foundation, there is a decrease in golf sports. Since 2000, the number of those involved in this sport fell from 26 million to 30 million. Additionally, the persons who played this sport for 25 times a year fell to 4.6 million in 2005 from 6.9 million in 2000 (Vitello

The prevelance of obesity in children with physical disability Dissertation

The prevelance of obesity in children with physical disability - Dissertation Example Obesity is an increasing problem right across the population in western societies, but is perhaps especially a problem if overeating becomes an established habit in childhood at a time when others control what food is chosen and available to a great extent. Ells, Lang et al point to the possible links between obesity and disability. In particular they link the two in cases of muscular skeletal problems and in those with learning difficulties. This is confirmed by the findings of Stewart et al in Scotland when they surveyed ambulatory boys with intellectual disabilities, which often occurs in those with cerebral palsy and Down’s syndrome. According to Clinton Smith there is considerable evidence which indicates that if children with particular risk factors can be identified and the correct action subsequently taken then the situation can be improved. What is clear is that excess body weight in children, whatever their physical condition, presents a significant risk factor for m any conditions that may occur in later life. These include heart attacks, cerebral vascular accidents, diabetes, cancer, disease of the gallbladder disease and arthritis. According to the American Department of Disability and Human Development. ( 2007) there is evidence that the conditions which lead ultimately to conditions such to stroke and heart disease most often have their origins in childhood, where they manifest themselves as high blood pressure or levels of cholesterol which are higher than the norm. For these reasons, no matter what a child’s physical ability levels or inclinations it is important for children to lead as a physically active a lifestyle as possible. Obesity results when a person's calorie intake regularly exceeds their energy needs for such bodily functions as metabolism, the thermal effect of the food consumed , the person’s physical activity level and capabilities and their growth. The majority of energy obtained from food ( roughly 60%) is required for normal metabolic activity. Physical activities require another 25% , the thermal effect of food digested uses 10% and growth requires some 5%.(Spina Bifida Association 2009) Just as eating less than the body requires leads to weight reduction so eating more than required will lead to weight gain. Obesity is therefore more likely than usual to occur in those with restricted mobility, low metabolic levels and who are of restricted growth. In the U.S.A., according to Rogozinski, ( 2007) more than 17% of American children are obese. Parents naturally want to please their children and to care for them. It is when this becomes distorted into bad eating habits that obesity emerges. Also, once established as a habit, it can

Strategies for Success in the Online Learning Environment Essay

Strategies for Success in the Online Learning Environment - Essay Example â€Å"In online learning environment, most communications will be done in written format† (Harvard, 2010). Therefore, every student studying in online environment should be able to communicate with teachers through writing. Another way for students to achieve success in online learning environments is to get perfection in web navigation. As most of the communication between teachers and students is done through internet, so students should be proficient in using different internet applications. Perfection in web navigation is essential in order to participate in online discussions and online quizzes and assignments. Time management is also necessary for online learning students. Students studying in online environments need to schedule their time properly in order to avoid mismanagement. Time management plays an important role in the success of students because they have to submit quizzes and assignments within deadline considering all technological issues, such as, network failure or site overload. Before going into the discussion regarding online learning, let us get a better understanding of what online learning environment actually is. Online learning refers to the environment where students and teachers communicate with each other using communication technologies, such as, video tapes, television, and internet. â€Å"Distance learning is a course or program completed remotely from the school or university which offers the educational opportunity† (Rogers, n.d.). Online learning is getting more and more fame these days because it is proving to be very beneficial for students. It not only helps students manage their studies in accordance with other commitments of life but also provides a good way to the students to learn independently. To be successful in an online learning environment, a student needs to have some key skills and abilities. There exist a number of strategies for students to prosper in online learning environments. Some of the main

Psychiatric Nursing Reflective Journals Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Psychiatric Nursing Reflective Journals - Essay Example She appeared inattentive to my instructions and needed three repetitions of what I had said for her to understand me. When she had obeyed my instructions, I admired volubly her pretty appearance and hugged her. To my queries, she had just stared at me as if she was scared but today she called me up. Seizing the opportunity, I moved up. Nervously pulling me to her side and looking around to ensure that nobody was within hearing distance, she whispered in my ear. Her neighbor was plotting to kill her and her husband, it seemed. She had heard noises from her backyard which sounded like gunshots when she had been in the kitchen at home. Her movements appeared jerky and speech was not incoherent but appeared monotonous. Realizing that her suspicious and guarded nature was characteristic of her condition, paranoid schizophrenia, I pretended to be a good listener to gain her confidence. She claimed that the neighbor of around her age was attracted to her and was eyeing her sexually. Several times he had approached her for sexual favors. She had told her husband about this but he did not believe her. At times the neighbor had thrown stones at her house when she was alone and had rung the doorbell several times. Each time she went to the door, there would be no one. Saying all of this at one go, she quickly pushed me aside when she noticed the nursing supervisor arriving. When the supervisor had left, Mrs. Jones again strode up to me and caught my attention. She told me that her husband was a good man but he did not believe her stories and told me to keep what she told a secret. Half an hour later, Mrs. Jones did not appear to want to talk with me. When I smiled at her, she seemed to have no recognition. I was a little taken back by the stony look on her face. Her husband had told me that she was a receptionist in a hotel and very much appreciated by the others and customers. Believing that she was then well, she had stopped her treatment. He had not noticed the medicin es not being taken. This had triggered this episode. She had also not kept her appointments with the psychotherapist. Anyone would have believed this lady the way she told the stories. They would have been credible had they come from a normal person. The fact that she was admitted for paranoid schizophrenia reminded me that the stories could be delusions. Though I had studied about schizophrenia and its various forms and symptoms, this was the first time that I was in close contact with a person with schizophrenia. Having no physical deficiencies, Mrs. Jones could easily pass on the road without anyone realizing the depth of mental illness that she had, the extent of trouble that she could create and the magnitude of suffering that she went through. What she needed was sympathetic people around her and proper pharmacological and psychological treatment. A person who did not know her to be a patient could even irritate her unknowingly. This was the situation for most psychiatric diso rders. When we were taught psychiatry, we never realized that most psychiatric patients became ill only occasionally and that most of their lives; they were presumably fine and able to work like Mrs. Jones. Treatment allowed them to be a part of normal society. However the treatment schedules should never be missed. I also noted that psychiatric patients should never be allowed to consume drugs without supervision. A family member had to take responsibility. This was another of my new learning. It would serve

The preaching ministry of Heinrich Bullinger Research Paper

The preaching ministry of Heinrich Bullinger - Research Paper Example Life of a Preacher 5. Highs and Lows of his Life in Zurich 6. Conclusion 1. Introduction Heinrich Bullinger was a well-known Swiss reformer who was the head of the Zurich church as the successor of Huldrych Zwingli. Most researchers show how different he was form the earlier generation of reformers such as Martin Luther and Ulrich Zwingli. Bullinger was rather a consolidator; he added his own perspective to the theology and was a genius to think beyond just gathering the gospel riches that the people of Switzerland craved. Hence, it is believed after being long underestimated, that without him, the shape of theology of England in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth century would have been unimaginable1. Bullinger is known for being one of the most influential theologians in the history and specifically in the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century. The life of Bullinger indicated how he had been raised for priesthood. His father was a Catholic priest and though he was a prie st, he had married, mainly because of the loose enforcement of the vows of celibacy. Bullinger was the youngest of five sons. Bullinger’s parents are not much discussed, but the fact the Bullinger’s father came to confess on the doctrines of the Reformation when he was very old, is known. This may be probably because of the influence of his gifted son2. 2. Early Life Eventually Bullinger started with his formal education in the school of The Brethren of the Common Life in Cleves. While his education, his father gave him no money as he believed that his poverty is necessary for him to develop good habits and responsibilities in his life. However, like Luther, Bullinger was also subjected to sing to earn his living. Bullinger also wanted to enter a Carthusian monastery during his studies, but he was put off against his brother. And he rather set off to Germany to attend the University of Cologne when he was 15 years of age, as his parents expected him to follow the clerg y just as Luther3. Bullinger went through many of the experiences and formations of his life while he was in Germany. It was in Cologne when he started studying about the scholastic theologians of the middle Ages. Soon he became disgusted of them, and rather turned his way to the church fathers, specifically Chrysostom and Augustine. He was involved in the lives of the church fathers and eventually became inspired by their writings, especially by their abundant use of Scripture. Prompted by the determination of the church fathers to ground all their doctrine in God’s Word, Bullinger turned his direction to the study of Scriptures4. Thus, as he involved himself more in the pleasure of reading Scriptures, he went through the writings of Martin Luther and used to be inspired by them greatly. These writings used to revolve throughout Germany at that time and thus Bullinger involved himself immensely in this world. It is these years of study in Germany that Bullinger spent and bec ame one of those whose life was surrounded by the winds of reform that were let loose by Luther5. On returning to Switzerland with his master’s degree in 1522, Bullinger accepted the call by Wolfgung Rupli to teach in the cloister school. As he was already influenced by the thought of Reformation, he taught the monks form the New Testament and from Philip Melanchthon’s Loci Communes, which was considerably the first systematic theology of the Reformation. He also initiated the systematic

Climate Change Affect Plants Essay Example for Free

Climate Change Affect Plants Essay Historical climate change has had a profound effect on current biogeography, so we can expect our ongoing and rapid climate change, to have as great an effect. Climate change has important implications for nearly every aspect of life on Earth, and effects are already being felt. * Temperatureeffects–average, minimum or maximum can be important determinants of plant distribution For example the Palmae/Arecaceae are cold intolerant as their single meristem is susceptible to frost. Conversely, boundaries between vegetation types (e. g. Arctic treeline) are generally determined by summer warmth * Rainfall is also an important determinant: for example it affects the balance of grasses to woody vegetation * Other factors such as soil type or herbivory may also be affected by climate change. Effects on Plant Diversity * Species ‘left behind’ as they are unable to change distribution fast enough. Species with long life cycles and/or slow dispersal are particularly vulnerable. Some isolated or disjunct species are particularly vulnerable, as they may have nowhere to go. These include Arctic and alpine species, and Island endemics Coastal species which will be squeezed between human settlements and rising sea levels. * Plant genetic composition may change in response to the selection pressure of climate change. * Some plant communities or species associations may be lost as species move and adapt at different rates. Increased invasions by alien species may occur, as conditions become more suitable for exotic species whilst native species become less well suited to their environment (for example, Bromus is more invasive in wet years (Smith et al, 2000)). This is especially true given human interventions which have deliberately and accidentally facilitated the spread of species across the globe. * Many plant communities act as sinks (store carbon), which helps to offset carbon emissions. However, over the next 70 years, the effects of climate change on plants mean many terrestrial sinks may become sources.

Article Analysis: Foreign Bank Penetration to Nordic Market

Article Analysis: Foreign Bank Penetration to Nordic Market ABDULAZEEZ OLUWAFUNMIKE ASMAU ASSIGNMENT: Journals of international financial markets, institutions and money, vol.11 (1); 53-63 by Engwals, L., Marquardt, R., Pedersen,T. and Adrian E Tschoegl (2001)‘foreign bank penetration to the newly opened market in the Nordic countries. To explain the aims of the research and how the researcher carried out theses aims. Critically analyse the article from a methodology perspective. (1000 WORDS) Abstract This work is based on the research articles of Lars Engwall, Rolf Marquardt, Torben Pedersen, Adrian E Tschoegl (2001). The authors research is to determine the impact of foreign bank in the newly opened market in some Nordic countries which includes Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden. The opening of foreign bank in these Nordic country provides them with the opportunity to study the analysis of the foreign bank sector in the case where the sector had a specific start date. Three hypothesis were examined and the result leads to how parent market and the difficulty facing the domestic competition is fully in agreement in the situations of Denmark, for Finland and Norway it’s mixed and indeterminate, and fully disagree in the situation of Sweden. The result were consistently with the Stiglits – Weiss argument that the foreign banks bought entry by accepting worse lending risks. (Engwals, L., Marquardt, R., Pedersen,T. and Tschoegl, A., E. 2001). Introduction This research focuses on how foreign bank gain access to the newly opened market in some Nordic countries. Denmark in 1971 was the first to deregulate its domestic banking markets and the entry of foreign banks. Just one foreign bank entered initially and the number of foreign banks grew slowly over time. Finland opened next (1978) but no foreign banks entered until four years later when further deregulation made entry attractive. Norway (1984) and Sweden (1985) opened after Denmark in more than a decade and a number of banks all entered at once. After falling from its peaks, the number of foreign banks and their share of each countrys banking system assets are recovering. (Lars Engwall, Rolf Marquardt, Torben Pedersen, Tschoegl, A., E. 2001). Foreign bank was developed with the evolution of an economy or a technology in the Nordic countries not until the government removed the barriers. Opening up to foreign bank in Nordic countries exist to the process of deregulation which leads to competitive turbulence. Foreign banking was welcome by the authorities for the competition and also new capabilities which they establish to the domestic market. However, the effect of the entrant on monetary policy, credit control and soundness of the existing domestic banks are the concerns of the authorities. (Engwals, L., Marquardt, R., Pedersen,T. and Adrian E Tschoegl 1999). The objective state to examine the determinant of the evolution of the foreigner market share of the asset of the banking system as a whole, not the survival and success of the individual banks. The three hypotheses related to the determinant of foreign bank sectors was formulated, which they relates the foreign banks’ market share to a time trend, to each host countrys trade balance, and to the banking systems loan loss experience. (Engwals, L., Marquardt, R., Pedersen,T. and A,. E,Tschoegl 2001). The first variable captures learning and selection, the second proxies for access to business related to the foreign banks’ access to their home markets. And the last captures the effect of a possible crisis-induced lack of competitiveness of the host-country banks. The result shows that in Denmark it is fully in agreement, for Finland and Norway it’s mixed and indeterminate, and fully disagree in the case of Sweden.(Engwals, L., Marquardt, R., Pedersen,T. and Tschoegl, A., E. 2001). Literature reviews Foreign direct investment in banking has drawn substantial theoretical and empirical attention over the last two decade and empirical attention. Engwals, L., Marquardt, R., Pedersen,T. and Adrian E Tschoegl(2001), Williams (1997) provides a comprehensive survey of the theoretical literature. However, the literature on the market share of the foreign banks is sparse and almost entirely cross-sectional in nature. Some other authors like Walter (1992) argue that bank-oriented financial systems are hostile to new entry, whether that of banks or markets. In line with Walter’s argument, Steinherr and Huveneers (1994) provide evidence that foreign bank penetration of loan markets is lower in countries where a small number of domestic banks dominate the banking sector. Yafeh and Yosha (1995) propose a model in which domestic banks respond to foreign bank entry by increasing the resources that the domestic banks devote to the formation of ties with firms. (Engwals, L., Marquardt, R., Pedersen,T. and A., E, Tschoegl 2001). Hypotheses The literature reviewed provides the basis for the three hypotheses about the influences of learning, access to parent-country related business, and the effect of impediments to the competitiveness of host-country banks. The foreign banks can be subject both to selection and evolutionary learning (Baldwin and Rafiquzzaman 1995). (Engwals, L., Marquardt, R., Pedersen,T. and A., E. Tschoegl 2001). Firstly, the time trend captures a second effect that has a debateable implication for the sign of the variable. (Engwals, L., Marquardt, R., Pedersen,T. and A., E. Tschoegl 2001). H1: The longer foreign banks have been present, the larger their market share. Second, they expect the foreign banks’ market share of banking system assets in a country to correlate positively with imports to the country and negatively with exports (Heinkel and Levi 1992). (Engwals, L., Marquardt, R., Pedersen,T. and A., E. Tschoegl 2001) H2: The market share of foreign banks should wax with a trade deficit and wane with a trade surplus. Lastly, financial crises should correlate positively with an expanded role for the foreign banks. (Engwals, L., Marquardt, R., Pedersen,T. and A., E. Tschoegl 2001). H3: The foreign banks’ market share should wax when domestic banks are facing loan losses and wane when the domestic banks are less burdened. Methodology and Result OLS regression was use to examine the three hypotheses with time trend, trade balance losses and the financial crisis) the three hypotheses served has an independence variances. Their results shows that in Demark all three independent variables had the correct sign and all were statistically significant at the 5% level and beta coefficients from the regression on the standardized variables shows TIME as the most important variable and TRADE BALANCE having a larger effect than LOSSES. (Engwals, L., Marquardt, R., Pedersen,T. and Tschoegl, A., E. 2001). In Finland country, TIME had the correct sign, but the other two variables had perverse signs. All three variables had a large impact in the sense that a one standard deviation change in the independent variable. As for Norway, TIME was the only important factor. For Sweden, TIME had a negative effect but was not an important factor. (Engwals, L., Marquardt, R., Pedersen,T. and Tschoegl, A., E. 2001). Conclusion In all four Nordic countries, the survival rate among the initial foreign entrants appears low. Absent acquisitions of domestic banks, the foreign banks have not carved out a large role in any of the four Nordic countries. The result is consistent with what they would expect from theory based on the role of relationships in banking and from Steinherr and Huveneer’s (1994) argument and empirical results. The difference is congruent with differences in the elapsed time since opening; to recapitulate, the order of opening to foreign banks was Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden. (Engwals, L., Marquardt, R., Pedersen,T. and A., E. Tschoegl 2001). Word count; 1007 Bibliography Engwals, L., Marquardt, R., Pedersen,T. and Adrian E Tschoegl (2001) ‘foreign bank penetration to the newly opened market in the Nordic countries, ’Journals of international financial markets, institutions and money, vol.11 (1); 53-63. Engwals, L., Marquardt, R., Pedersen,T. and Adrian E Tschoegl (March, 1999) ‘foreign bank penetration to the newly opened market in the Nordic countries. pg. (1-38) 1 Does the EU Suffer From a Democratic Deficit? | Essay Does the EU Suffer From a Democratic Deficit? | Essay The overall goal of EU integration has been to create an ever closer union in which decision are taken as closely as possible to the citizen (Cini, Michele, Borragan, 2010). However, still the most enthusiastic backers of the EU must accept that it has been more a progression commencing and sustained by elites, than by a popular front for change. The claim that the standard European citizen has virtually no possibility of directly affecting the work of the EU, along with the negative impact of integration on popular support for the EU, has given rise to the term the democratic deficit. Although there is no one single definition, the concept behind the notion of the democratic deficit is that decisions in the EU are insufficiently representative of, or accountable to, the nations and the people of Europe (Lord, C, 2001, p165). It is not merely an additional layer of governance, further removed from the peoples of Europe but as a result of such an organisation, each Member State can n o longer claim to be the source of its own legitimacy (Eriksen, Fossum, 2002, p401). It is important to make a distinction between two different types of theories behind the democratic deficit. The institutional perspective focuses on the institutional power sharing and on institutional reform as a solution to the perceived problems of EU level democracy (Cini, 2010, p378). The socio-psychological viewpoint, however, places much emphasis on the lack of a European civic identity and the absence of a European demos. The classical argument, through a socio-psychological point of view, of cases where it can be said that the EU suffers from a democratic deficit is that the nonexistence of representative and direct democracy within the EU. The set up of the EU results in policy-making being dominated at the European level by executive actors, state based ministers in the Council, and government appointments in the Commission. This does not inevitably lead to democratic deficit; unless, as happens, the decisions taken by the executive departments at the European stage are outside the authority of domestic parliaments. Even with the creation of European Affairs Committees in every national parliament, ministers when conversing and voting in the Council, national representatives when constructing policies in The Council and bureaucrats in the Commission when drafting or implementing legislation, are much more isolated from national parliamentary scrutiny and control than are national cabinet ministers or bureaucrats in the domestic policy-making process (Follesdal, Andreas, Hix, Simon, 2005, p2). As a consequence, governments are able to successfully disregard their parliaments when deciding upon policies at the European level. Therefore, European integration has resulted in a reduction of the influence of national parliaments and an enhancement to the authority of executives. Perhaps the institution to come in for the heaviest criticism from the Eurosceptics is the Commission which is seen as an archetypal undemocratic institution, in that it is a civil service composed of appointed members (Cini 2010, p381), who contain extensive policy-making powers. In spite of its authority over initiating and developing new European laws, the Commission is subject to little direct or even indirect public accountability (McCormick, John, 2008, p124). Appointments have to be accepted by Parliament, but apart from that they are made lacking reference to the electorate. The President of the Commission is selected as an outcome of behind the scenes bargaining and conciliations directed by the leaders of the member states. The commission also stands for the views of the EU in numerous international forums devoid of a mandate from the citizens. Moreover, there are very modest openings for people to take part in or contribute to the deliberations of the Commission and only l imited occasions for the EP to hold it accountable for its decisions; although this has increased, being seen most clearly by the parliaments new powers under the Lisbon Treaty. Secondly and associated to the first aspect, the majority of commentators on the democratic deficit claim that the European Parliament authority is insufficient. The movement of legislative powers from national parliaments to the EU institutions has not been matched by an equivalent degree of democratic accountability and legislative input on the part of the European Parliament (EP) (Cini 2010, p380), the solitary directly elected body at EU level. In the 1980s, many analysts argued that there was a direct trade-off between the powers of the European Parliament and the powers of national parliaments (Follesdal, Hix, p 4), where any addition to the authority of the European Parliament would result in a concomitant decrease in the powers of national parliaments (Holland, 1980). However, by the 1990s, such an argument had departed as academics began to understand European integration as a decline in the authority of parliaments at the national level relative to executive powers. The ans wer, most claimed, was to increase the power of the European Parliament relative to the governments in the Council and the Commission (Williams, S. (1991). One of the key the arguments against the claim that authority has moved to the executive, is that national governments are the most directly accountable politicians in Europe. As Moravcsik claims The democratically elected governments of the Member States, dominate the still largely territorial and intergovernmental structure of the EU (Moravcsik Andre, 2002, p112). According to this argument, the EU is still principally an intergovernmental institution; where the verdicts at the European Council and the Council of Ministers are as accountable to EU general public as the policies of national cabinets. Furthermore the New Lisbon Treaty has increased the national parliaments capacity to contribute along with the European institutions in the work of the EU. A new clause clearly sets out the rights and duties of the national parliaments within the EU. It deals with their right to information, the way they monitor subsidiarity, and for reforming the treaties.The EU can be seen to strength en the state, challenging arguments of a democratic deficit, as the democratically elected national executives play an increasingly dominant role in the EU. Against the claims that the executives are outside the power of elected institutions, the most noteworthy institutional progress in the EU from the 1980s, has been the enlarged influence of the EP in the legislative progression and in the appointment of the Commission. The EP now has veto-power over the choice of the Commission and is progressively more prepared to employ its muscle against heavy lobbying from national governments, as was seen with the Parliaments veto of the first proposed line-up of the Barroso Commission in October 2004 (Follesdal, Hix, p 20). Also, the alterations in the use of the co-decision procedure which started under the Maastricht Treaty of 1996 and has only been increased by the last three treaties, has developed from the idea of merely cooperation first commencing under the SEA in 1986, legislation cannot be passed under the co-decision procedure without majority support in both the Council and the European Parliament (Follesdal, Hix, p 22). The extensio n of the co-decision procedure can be seen in the areas including legal immigration, penal judicial cooperation (Eurojust, crime prevention, alignment of prison standards, offences and penalties), police cooperation (Europol) and some aspects of trade policy and agriculture. It can therefore be argued that the EU has addressed the democratic deficit by significantly increasing the powers of the EP and in giving it a role in almost all lawmaking, in turn weakening the powers of the less representative institutions. Despite the extension of the co-decision procedure under The Lisbon Treaty it remains true that the EP does not possess several of the powers of a real legislature. For one it is unable to increase revenues or initiate novel laws and has a highly restricted ability to keep the Commission accountable for its judgments. While the EP may have the ability to veto national governments selection for the Commission President and the group of the Commissioners, the governments rem ain the agenda-setters with regards to the appointments of the Commission and in any new policy implemented in the EU. The trouble with the institutional approaches to the democratic deficit is that they ignore the equally significant socio-psychological viewpoints of this uncharted occurrence. The bigger dilemma is the connection, or lack of it, between the rising democratic politics inside the EU institutions and the opinions of the public. In spite of the rising influence of the EP, there are no European elections, largely as a result of there being no European demos. EU citizens vote for their governments, who represent them in the Council and nominate Commissioners. EU citizens also elect the EP. Nevertheless, none of the domestic elections neither the EP elections are actually European; elections: they are not fought over the personalities and parties at the European level or the direction of the EU policy agenda (Follesdal, Hix, p 4). State based elections are about national as opposed to European concerns, as parties collude to keep the issue of Europe off the domestic agenda (Hix, S, 1999, p 78). EP elections also tend to be decided on issues unrelated to Europe, as parties and the media treat them as mid-term national contests (Follesdal, Hix, p7), this can be shown recently by the success of many radical fringe parties in the 2009 election as a sign of discontent with the political elite and the failures of many government parties, notably the Labour party in the UK. Protest votes as a way of voicing displeasure with parties in government and increasingly failing turnout at European elections signify that as described of the first EP elections as second-order national contests (Reif K, Schmitt H, 1980, p44), is increasingly relevant. Although many national states have also endured their own form of democratic deficit, the perception remains that the trouble is considerably stronger in the EU, which has given way to a disturbing detachment between the EU institutions and its citizens. Psychologically, the EU is so unlike the national democratic bodies that citizens struggle to identify with it. As a result the institutions often appear distant and mysterious, meaning it is certainly not unexpected that anti-European media are capable of engendering public suspicion and resentment towards the EU. The Lisbon Treaty has attempted to give a more influential voice to its citizens; thanks to the Citizens Initiative, one million citizens from a number of Member States have the possibility to call on the Commission to bring forward new policy proposals. Only time will tell if this policy has the desire effect, but if it would have to be an unexpectedly successful policy for it to make any real impact with regards to voter enthusiasm for the EU. In conclusion, whether there is a democratic deficit depends partly on how the EU is understood. If it viewed as a Federation, or has a desire to turn into one, in that case the necessary links between citizens and the EU institutions are indeed weak. But if it is viewed as a confederation, then the links are unusually strong (McCormick, 2008, p126). indispensable links connecting citizens and EU institutions are certainly too frail; however, if understood as a confederation then the links are remarkably tight; where they are only expected to be indirect with national governments representing their citizens at the central authority. There may well be a persuasive case claim that the EU is not deficient with regards to democratic practices or formal legitimacy, but a question mark does linger over the unions social capacity. Democratic or not, the EU doesnt yet seem to have won over the hearts and minds of its citizens'(Smith, Julia, 2003, p3); meaning that no new constitution will on its own solve the problem of a democratic deficit within the EU. Why Was Marie Antoinette So Hated? Why Was Marie Antoinette So Hated? Assess the arguments raised by Zweig, Fraser, Lever, Dunlop, Amand as to why Marie Antoinette became such a hated figure? The following will assess and discuss the arguments raised by Zweig, Fraser, Lever, Dunlop and Amand as to why Marie Antoinette became such a hated figure in France before, during and after the revolution of 1789. The arguments of these historians will raise common and different factors that contributed to the unpopularity of Louis XVI’s Austrian born wife. The arguments raised by Zweig, Fraser, Lever, Dunlop and Amand could also be used to assess the hatred aimed towards Marie Antoinette and the effect this had upon the stability of the Ancien Regime in France. The factors and arguments that these historians have raised about Marie Antoinette are based around her personal qualities and faults, as well as upon political, social, and economic factors that were arguably outside her direct control. The assessment of the arguments raised will go into greater detail than whether Marie Antoinette became such a hated figure in France just because she was an Austrian and she had advis ed her poorer subjects to eat cakes when they did not have any bread. Above all else the arguments that are assessed will demonstrate whether her position as a hated figure was based upon justifiable reasons, fact or misplaced perceptions of her influence on events and her role within the monarchy. Marie Antoinette’s marriage to Louis XVI had been a diplomatic and dynastic match that had been intended to maintain peace between France and the Habsburg Empire, political motives came ahead of popularity amongst the French people. Like all royal families during the 18th century, the Bourbon dynasty in France did not believe its future depended on its public popularity or whether its Queen was a hated figure. Stefan Zweig argued that the reasons behind Marie Antoinette being a hated figure in France were due to her personal faults, her perceived arrogance and lavishness, combined with a dislike of her husband and declining respect for the monarchy itself. Zweig argued that Marie Antoinette’s emergence as a figure of hatred was strongly related to her being Austrian. As already noted she had been married to Louis XVI to seal the alliance between France and Austria. France had been the enemy of Austria for the best part of three hundred years; a great deal of hatred towards the Habsburgs still persisted in France. It was only natural that hatred should be directed towards Marie Antoinette once she married Louis XVI. Louis XVI himself was not believed to like Austria or Austrians with the exception of his wife. The Queen’s popularity was not helped by the failure to have children at the early stages of her marriage, although that was due to the King’s medical condition, rather than disliking his wife. Throughout her time in France though her Austrian birth did not help her popularity (Zweig, 1932 p.21). Zweig argued that Marie Antoinette inadvertently made herself a hated figure by influencing royal and therefore government policy. Here was a case in which the public perception of her influence was greater than her actual influence. Although that was because previous Queens had virtually influence at all. Louis XVI was more prone to influence from his wife than previous French Kings’ had been by their wives. Interfering in state affairs did not endear the Queen to her subjects, especially those that wanted reform. Marie Antoinette’s interference in politics may have been carried out with good intentions, yet it proved disastrous for the French monarchy. From the start many suspected that Marie Antoinette would only interfere to serve her selfish interests or those of Austria. As opposition to the monarchy increased, the number of people that were prepared to believe that Marie Antoinette’s interventions in government were either inept or directly contrary to Fre nch interests also increased. Marie Antoinette did not intervene in politics as frequently or as successfully as her opponents believed or stated she did. At the end of the day once her children had been born she wished to concentrate on her role as a mother, although her position as Queen meant that she was not able to do so (Zweig, 1932 p. 144). Zweig argued that Marie Antoinette helped to make herself a hated figure due to the lavish lifestyle she led. The Queen enjoyed a luxurious standard of living and liked to appear very wealthy. Marie Antoinette was regarded as being frivolous, fun loving and even uncaring. People grew to hate the displays of wealth and believed she knew little and cared even less about the harsh conditions that the poor had to endure. The Queen did her popularity no favours with allegations and rumours concerning her love life. Respect for her and the monarchy was weakened by such rumours. Her relationship with Fersen was far from discreet with questions raised about the paternity of her children. There were also rumours about affairs with other men including an Archbishop (Zweig, 1932 p. 144). The Queen’s reputation was severely damaged by the ‘Diamond Necklace Affair’, although she did not do anything wrong the verdicts and testimonies heard at the Paris Parlement were disastrous (Zweig, 1932 p. 170). Zweig argued that the faults of Marie Antoinette and the well-publicised rumours or the intrigues of those that disliked her made her hated. However, these factors would not have proved catastrophic if circumstances had been different. Unfortunately for the Queen all circumstances conspired against her. Poor harvests, the failure to reform the economy combined with government insolvency, the return of veterans from the American War of Independence, and finally a weak King proved a recipe for revolution. Zweig contends that these events and factors were critical in turning Marie Antoinette from being unpopular with some of the people into a woman hated by a majority of the people (Zweig, 1932 p. 156). Antonia Fraser put forward the arguments that Marie Antoinette’s decline from popularity to been a figure of hatred were due partly to how she was perceived by the French public and also due to circumstances beyond her control. Fraser argues that the French disliking foreign-born princesses and Queens had been customary before Marie Antoinette married the future Louis XVI. Previous princesses and Queens though had the advantage of maintaining a lower profile than Marie Antoinette did, whilst Louis XIV and Louis XV were more forceful than the indecisive Louis XVI was. The flamboyant Marie Antoinette stood out from her reserved husband; from her arrival in France she attracted both admirers and detractors. Unfortunately for her the ridicule and dislike that some regarded her with turned into being hated by the masses (Fraser, 2001 p. 44). Fraser points out that Marie Antoinette should have taken her mother’s advice to behave impeccably, obey her husband, and give no cause for scandal or rumours. Marie Theresa believed that avoiding scandal was the best way for her daughter to remain popular and not become a hated figure. The Empress also believed that Marie Antoinette could serve Habsburg interests more effectively if she was a popular Queen. The future Queen was also advised not to get too close to her future subjects, least they lose respect for her and the French monarchy. Whilst Marie Antoinette could keep away from her subjects, her knack of getting embroiled in scandal or upsetting people without intending to do so contributed to her becoming a hated figure. Fraser does note that Marie Theresa was partly to blame for some of her daughter’s faults. Marie Antoinette’s ability to be a good and successful Queen was hampered by a lack of education. She did not always know how to act like a Queen should, neither could she deal with complicated political issues. When she arrived in France she was naà ¯ve in many respects about politics and courtly intrigues (Fraser, 2001 p. 46). Marie Antoinette did not keep herself free of scandal and rumour. Such court rumours and tabloid pamphlets turned her innocent activities at court into orgies that never took place and the widespread circulation of them could not be prevented. Pamphlets that originally contained unfounded gossip would later prove more damaging in making her a hated figure. Louis XVI attempted to have such publications banned, although censorship was bypassed by using Dutch and British presses (Fraser, 2001, pp. 134-35). For a time after the birth of her eldest son, Marie Antoinette seemed to have achieved a measure of popularity amongst her subjects. The pamphleteers continued to try to undermine her popularity by spreading rumours about the child’s paternity and later the paternity of her other children. The motives of pamphleteers would change from making profits to attacking the monarchy and making the Queen hated (Fraser, 2001, pp.178-79). The Queen did not help matters by buying the palace at Saint Cloud for the royal family to live in; this showed insensitivity during a time when people were suffering from worsening economic conditions. People were shocked about how much was spent on the palace, the actual amounts spent was high enough yet rumours about its costs dented the Queen’s popularity further. Those that knew how precarious the royal finances were regarded it as unjustified expenses. Others regarded it as being another sign of Marie Antoinette’s power over the King and her pretensions to hold power in her own right. The Queen simply believed that the purchase was needed for her expanding family (Fraser, 2001, p.203). Fraser argues that Marie Antoinette’s reputation never recovered from the Diamond Necklace Affair, in which Cardinal de Rohan had been tricked into buying a necklace supposedly for the Queen. The Parlement in Paris reached verdicts that punished the conspirators, yet their testimonies tarnished Marie Antoinette’s reputation, even though she was cleared of any wrong doing (Fraser, 2001, p.225). Marie Antoinette became a hated figure amongst the nobility due to her being blamed for the monarchy’s financial deficits. Fraser however, argues that the Queen was not to blame for the spending cuts and the reduction in the number of prestigious court positions (Fraser, 2001, p.236). Fraser mentions that a factor that made Marie Antoinette a hated figure was that people had no qualms about expressing their hatred for the Queen, whilst they still felt unable to say things about the King (Fraser, 2001, p.251). The dislike of Marie Antoinette would further increase after Austria, Prussia, and Britain went to war against France. The Queen was still disliked for being foreign, which was coupled with the fear that the armies of Austria and Prussia could restore the monarchy which meant that the republican regime wished to execute her (Fraser, 2001, p.383). Marie Antoinette was executed following a show trial in which the charges against her were almost entirely false. She acquitted herself well; her spirited denials that she had never abused her son met approval in the court, although she had no hope of being acquitted in such a biased trial. Her execution was meant to symbolise that the monarchy would never return (Fraser, 2001, p.425). Evelyne Lever presents Marie Antoinette in largely favourable terms, particularly when putting forward the arguments as to why the Queen became such a hated figure in France. Lever argues that Marie Antoinette inadvertently began the process of being a hated figure by not realising how to behave at the Court of Versailles. Whilst Louis XV was still alive the future Queen had attempted to snub his mistress Madame Du Barry, only to be told by her mother to stop, in order to influence the King. She also set powerful noble families against her by not paying them enough respect (Lever, 2000, pp. 42-43). Lever notes that Marie Antoinette was popular in Paris before she became Queen, for her beauty and her good -humoured nature (Lever, 2000, p.52). Lever argued that a cause of Marie Antoinette becoming a hated figure was that Louis XVI did not have mistresses. In previous reigns the King’s mistresses were frequently detested and blamed for unpopular government decisions. Mistresses were usually scapegoats for the King, if Louis XVI had a mistress then perhaps she would have become hated instead of the Queen. Marie Antoinette was instead detested and used as a scapegoat for her husband’s faults and policies as well as her own actions (Lever, 2000, p.64). Marie Antoinette’s busy social life in the early years of her husband’s reign attracted much attention and criticism. The Queen gave a great deal of scope for gossip and those that wished to spread more malicious rumours had ample opportunities to do so (Lever, 2000, pp.110-11). Marie Antoinette lost respect and gave people cause to hate with her behaviour and attitudes. For instance: gambling was a frequent event, especially in the early years of her being Queen (Lever, 2000, p. 119). Marie Antoinette became a hated figure, especially amongst the poor, due to the amount of money she spent. Lever cites the cost of changing the Trianon Gardens, the expense of dances and fetes, as well as the provision of royal pensions to her closest friends and other hangers on (Lever, 2000, p.121). Marie Antoinette did not choose her friends wisely, nor try to limit the dangers of ignoring powerful families or stopping the spreading of rumours. The Queen did not use her patronage sensibly, for instance: the Comtesse de Polignac’s friends and family were given honours and pensions for doing services to the Queen of France yet doing nothing good for their country (Lever, 2000, p.160). Ian Dunlop presents a more sympathetic view of Marie Antoinette than most historians including the other four whose arguments are assessed here. Dunlop stresses that Marie Antoinette’s faults usually receive more attention than her attributes have done, that she was in fact more capable than her contemporaries often admitted, or historians have given her credit for. Dunlop comments upon the initial popularity of Marie Antoinette in France, particularly in Paris. She was originally regarded as having the qualities that a Queen needed. She was beautiful, loyal to the King and she looked the part. Her expensive clothes and lifestyle were not viewed with horror at that point (Dunlop, 1993, p.146). However, Marie Antoinette’s initial popularity declined for various reasons. Along with Louis XVI, the aristocracy and the higher clergy, Marie Antoinette lived in luxury, whilst many French people faced poverty and harsh living conditions. Although the Queen’s extravagance had not been widely resented at the start of her husband’s reign, it contributed to a growing hatred of Marie Antoinette as economic conditions went from bad to worse to disastrous. Opposition to the monarchy had the chance to be heard with the first gathering of the States General since 1614 in 1789. For the Queen it also coincided with the death of her eldest son. Such was the desperation of the political situation that the royal family gained no sympathy for the loss and faced increasing hostility (Dunlop, 1993 p.254). The monarchy and the French State headed towards bankruptcy due to the failure to achieve economic reforms and the costs of supporting the American War of Independence. The monarchy’s near bankruptcy was coupled with a series of bad harvests, which meant that more French people found it harder to survive. Marie Antoinette still appeared to be excessively privileged and wealthy to the poor that could not afford to feed themselves. The Queen became a h ated figure due to the fact she could still eat as much as she wished. Poverty and jealousy fuelled hatred, not only of Marie Antoinette but also the King, the aristocracy and the higher clergy. The claim that she said the poor should eat cake if they could not afford bread appears to have been made up. However the believe that she said it maximised the number of people that hated her (Dunlop 1993 p.258). Dunlop argues that the belief that Marie Antoinette interfered with how France was ruled contributed to her becoming such a hated figure. Dunlop argues that Marie Antoinette had tried to keep out of politics and concentrate solely on being the Queen consort. When she did become involved it was to protect her family’s interests and in her view those of France. To supporters and detractors of the monarchy the Queen was seen as more capable than her weak and indecisive husband was. Opponents of the crown targeted the Queen, their propaganda greatly contributed to her growth as a hated figure. The desperate poor, especially in Paris, readily accepted that their Austrian Queen was misguiding the King to feather her own nest at their expense. The fact that Marie Antoinette was Austrian reinforced their perceptions that she was an enemy of France and to blame for their plight. After the revolution radicals promoted campaigns against the Queen, they saw her as a danger to change. Her links to the Habsburgs meant that if she lived she could attempt to restore the monarchy with foreign help (Dunlop 1993 p. 385). Amand’s arguments concerning the unpopularity and hatred of Marie Antoinette can be regarded as being more traditional in stance than the others assessed simply because his book first appeared in 1891. Amand’s biography also differs from the other historians mentioned above as he was only writing about the events of 1792 and 1793. Amand argued that the hatred of Marie Antoinette was a significant factor in the fall of the French monarchy as she was hated more than the King. That hatred had been fuelled by years of negative rumours and propaganda against the Queen. The Queen’s weaknesses had contributed to some of those rumours whilst elements of the revolutionary movement were highly skilled in turning the population against her. This was the period in which the hatred of the French masses towards their Queen reached its fatal conclusion. The facts that France was at war with Marie Antoinette’s native Austria further antagonised the revolutionary elements of the French population against her. She was widely regarded as being a traitor, which further intensified her being a hated figure. Marie Antoinette could be stripped of her crown, her wealth, and all her titles, yet she would always remain an Austrian (Amand, 1891). Amand argued that Marie Antoinette became a hated figure due to the wealth and extravagance that she had formally displayed. Revolutionary propaganda portrayed her as been rich, selfish, and uncaring. Her unpopularity was promoted by jealousy and poverty. Hearsay and rumours were more important than fact in making her a hated figure. The Queen arguably made herself a hated figure by attempting to persuade the King to take decisive action. Radicals believed Marie Antoinette alongside her brother-in-laws bore the main responsibility for Louis XVI trying to resist revolutionary change. However the King’s indecisiveness meant that consistent and successful counter-revolutionary policies were never fully implemented. The Queen’s position as a hated figure was increased whenever the King had tried to reverse the revolution. Perhaps the one act that sealed the fate of the monarchy was the attempt to escape France that resulted in the royal family’s capture at Varennes. That failure to escape meant the revolutionary government could accuse the King and Queen of treachery. Hating the Queen was therefore a revolutionary and patriotic duty (Amand, 1891). There are some convincing arguments as to why Marie Antoinette became such a hated figure in France. Her Austrian origins were always going to be a potential banana skin. France and the Habsburgs had a long history of war and rivalry; therefore it was not surprising that members of the royal family, the nobility and the French people did not always trust her. Mistrust of the Queen’s intentions and loyalty to France were frequently played upon by opponents of the monarchy in general as a means of targeting Marie Antoinette to increase her unpopularity. She was an unpopular and later a hated figure as it was believed she was serving Austria’s best interests rather than those of France. Although Marie Antoinette did try to influence French foreign policy to suit the Habsburgs interests, she was as the frequent complaints from Vienna attest, particularly ineffective at doing so. Of course, once the revolutionary France was at war with Austria, it further increased hate towa rds the Queen. Radical elements successfully took advantage of the fear that Marie Antoinette would use her family connections to reverse the revolution. The royal family’s unsuccessful escape bid meant that they were hated even more. Accusations of treachery and duplicity certainly made the Queen a detested figure. Opponents of the monarchy regarded Marie Antoinette as a figure to be hated, as they believed she was a threat to their ambitions of reform or revolution. They used propaganda, such as pamphlets to discredit her. Her private life allowed them to spread many rumours, although with the exception of Fersen these would appear to be unfounded. Perhaps the most damaging rumour was that she said ‘let them eat cake’ when grain was scarce and the cost of bread was too high for the poor. France’s severe financial problems certainly made a contribution to Marie Antoinette becoming a hated figure. Much more than that, these factors acted as a catalyst for revolution. The Queen could not be blamed for the bankruptcy of the Crown or food shortages, but all the factors noted already meant that a majority of the French population saw her as a scapegoat who needed to be punished before their lives would get any better. Her apparent greed, adultery, conservative political outlook, and the belief that she was looking after Austrian interests all combined to make her hated. In Marie Antoinette’s defence it has to be mentioned that she was not the cause of France’s long-term problems and that there was little she could have done to solve them. Louis XVI was a weak and indecisive man, completely unsuited to be a King. The cost of the Seven Years War and the American War of Independence were the main cause of the Crown’s crippling debts and not the Que en’s expenditure. The government was certainly unable to deal with food shortages, yet that was mainly due to the scale of the problem than deliberate neglect. As Queen, Marie Antoinette performed her main duties of being the King’s consort and producing heirs to the throne. After the revolution she attempted to protect her family’s position and later their lives. She acted in a way that the majority of her royal contemporaries did. She was hated as much for what she represented, as opposed to who she was. To conclude, Zweig, Fraser, Lever, Dunlop, and Amand present common and different arguments as to why Marie Antoinette became a hated figure. They all point out the Queen’s personal faults as important causes of her unpopularity. Zweig attempts to explain those faults by the argument that Marie Antoinette was just an ordinary woman that through the accidents of birth and marriage became the Queen of France in a period in which its monarchy faced many problems. Fraser, Dunlop, and Lever attempt to account for the Queen’s failings by pointing out that she was inadequately educated for her roles. Dunlop is sympathetic to Marie Antoinette in that he argues that circumstances conspired against her. Fraser, Lever, and Zweig are more critical of her shortcomings, although also sympathetic to her position. As Amand concentrated on the years 1792-1793 he argued that hatred of Marie Antoinette was promoted by the war against Austria, Prussia, and Britain. She was hated for trying to prevent the revolution destroying her family, even if she could not prevent the end of the monarchy. All the historians argued that Marie Antoinette was hated due to the rumours and propaganda that was spread against her. Before the revolution the government had tried to censor such publications. After the revolution, particularly once the monarchy was abolished, the revolutionary government targeted Marie Antoinette. Ironically enough, Marie Antoinette was a bigger political threat after Louis XVI was executed. Her trial featured all the crimes or errors she had committed since arriving in France, greed, immorality, treachery and being of foreign birth. Bibliography Dunlop I, (1993) Marie Antoinette, Sinclair Stevenson, London Fraser A (2001) Marie Antoinette, Weidenfeld Nicholson, London Lever E (2000) Marie Antoinette: The Last Queen of France Saint- Amand I (1891) Marie Antoinette and the Downfall of Royalty Zweig S, (1933) Marie Antoinette: The Portrait of an Average Woman

America The Beautiful :: essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  A terrible terrorist act was committed on American soil on September 11, 2001. Airplanes were hijacked, taken to important cities, and crashed into important buildings. This dreadful happening shocked all of America. Most are still in denial and grieving over the tragedy. It seemed that America was getting little support from other countries; unlike the support America gives many other nations when they are in trouble. One reporter from Canada, Gordon Sinclair, thought this was a terrible injustice. In a report given by Sinclair, many times America has helped out, even its enemies, were pointed out. Sinclair points out the fact that America has some of the best technology, the fact that America has helped its enemies with restitution after wars and bombings, as well as the fact that America is a watchdog that helps those who have domestic problems.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬Å"You talk about Japanese technocracy, and you get radios. You talk about German technocracy, and you get automobiles. You talk about American technocracy, and you find men on the moon – not once, but several times – and safely home again,† states Sinclair. This statement shows the vast amount of technologies America possesses. Later in the same paragraph, Sinclair remarks about the fact that America did not even pursue its draft dodgers for the fact that they ran to Canada. This shows that America’s domestic problems are not as important as helping others around the world. America lays its scandals on the table for all to view. To speak more on the issue of technology, America is the largest producer of airplanes in the world. America does not boast about its technological advances, it merely allows other nations to share in its glory.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬Å"This Canadian thinks it is time to speak up for the Americans as the most generous and possibly the least appreciated people on the earth. Germany, Japan, and to a lesser extent, Britain and Italy were lifted out of the debris of war by the Americans who poured billions of dollars and forgave other billions in debts,† states Sinclair. This quote refers to the restitution mentioned in the beginning of this expose. After bombing Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II, America gave much money to the Japanese to help rebuild their cities. Can a country that rebuilds its enemies be that bad, or is it simple minded and blind? In my opinion, America is just a good neighbor.

Comments on Civil Disobedience by Henry David Thoreau :: Civil Disobedience Essays

Civil Disobedience by Henry David Thoreau    Thoreau's essay entitled "Civil Disobedience" i was an excellent way of educating the public on why people should not settle for a less than perfect government. His belief in demanding a better government was a great reminder that Thomas Jefferson insisted that it was our "duty, to throw off"(2) an unsatisfactory government in the "Declaration of Independence" ii Thoreau's essay also explained why people choose not to do anything about it. Thoreau stated that people "cannot spare the protection of the existing government, and they dread the consequences to their property and families of disobedience to it" (25). So it makes sense that most people would not be willing to risk losing their property, family, or their life. However, we should not feel this way because Jefferson also stated that "Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just power from the consent of the governed."(2) Jefferson then went on and stated "That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it and to institute new Government" (2). It is not as if people do not have problems with the government. We protest the same things that Thoreau did: paying for wars, services that we personally do not use, corruption in our government, etc. Yet our society today does not use productive means to invoke our "Right of the People" and demand a "better government". There are people who actually do choose to abide by some of Thoreau's suggestions for dealing with our government. Many people refuse to pay taxes. Jefferson did claim that "imposing taxes on us without our Consent"(19) was grounds for a request for new government. Is there actual anyone who enjoys paying taxes? Thoreau did not have a problem with paying "for no particular item in the tax-bill"(36). He just did not want to show "allegiance to the State"(36). He believed that he did not join the "incorporated society"(25) that is the State so why should he pay its debts. The people who refuse to pay today simply prefer to keep their money. So according to Jefferson, that is technically ok. There are others who truly believe that there is a need for an improved government. Comments on Civil Disobedience by Henry David Thoreau :: Civil Disobedience Essays Civil Disobedience by Henry David Thoreau    Thoreau's essay entitled "Civil Disobedience" i was an excellent way of educating the public on why people should not settle for a less than perfect government. His belief in demanding a better government was a great reminder that Thomas Jefferson insisted that it was our "duty, to throw off"(2) an unsatisfactory government in the "Declaration of Independence" ii Thoreau's essay also explained why people choose not to do anything about it. Thoreau stated that people "cannot spare the protection of the existing government, and they dread the consequences to their property and families of disobedience to it" (25). So it makes sense that most people would not be willing to risk losing their property, family, or their life. However, we should not feel this way because Jefferson also stated that "Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just power from the consent of the governed."(2) Jefferson then went on and stated "That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it and to institute new Government" (2). It is not as if people do not have problems with the government. We protest the same things that Thoreau did: paying for wars, services that we personally do not use, corruption in our government, etc. Yet our society today does not use productive means to invoke our "Right of the People" and demand a "better government". There are people who actually do choose to abide by some of Thoreau's suggestions for dealing with our government. Many people refuse to pay taxes. Jefferson did claim that "imposing taxes on us without our Consent"(19) was grounds for a request for new government. Is there actual anyone who enjoys paying taxes? Thoreau did not have a problem with paying "for no particular item in the tax-bill"(36). He just did not want to show "allegiance to the State"(36). He believed that he did not join the "incorporated society"(25) that is the State so why should he pay its debts. The people who refuse to pay today simply prefer to keep their money. So according to Jefferson, that is technically ok. There are others who truly believe that there is a need for an improved government.

Discuss the Art Photography of the British Linked Ring Brotherhood :: essays papers

Discuss the Art Photography of the British Linked Ring Brotherhood The term ‘Art Photography’ was not really recognised during the early days of Victorian photography when the camera was employed and regarded as a medium for purely recording and ‘for looking at’ objects and considered a scientific device. ‘Art Photography’ was the name that was given to the work produced by the very few photographers who found themselves interested in producing photographs in the late 1880’s that had other qualities in mind than just recording information like P.H.Emmerson who took pictures that conveyed mood and feelings. The development of photography as art took significant strides forward with the idea of pictorial photography which emerged around 1896 when the Victorian writer and photograopher Henry Peach Robinson identified the camera as a tool for expression and creativity. More simply he argued strongly that it could be an artistic medium, combined with the dark room, equal to the hand and the brush. His work reflected his ideas about pictorialism which were based on the idea that a photographer could produce a picture that reflected the expression of an individual and an artist and in doing this they leave a particular signiture or mark of the artist that the content or style would suggest. He achieved much of his pictorial work through combination printing, a dark room method of developing several seperate images and combining them into one image that appeared to be a single photo, a creative process that is the forefather of today’s universally recognisable computer features â€Å"cut and paste†. One of his most effective and striking photographs and an excellent example of Robinson’s skilled method of combination printing is ‘Fading Away’ where the image is so smooth and so perfectly put together, in particular the shadowy figure at the window, that you can’t imagine it being made up of five prints. The picture also conveys a very real sense of death and with the knowledge that this is a combination print it comes across as though Robinson has assembled his characters and has arranged them in this tableaux to express his idea of death. There were many like minded individuals living in London and some abroad at this time and it was becoming a growing trend within photogrophy to form a society (an early model for the Ring was the â€Å"sette of odd volumes†) with others who shared the same views.

Intangible and Tangible Assets

The value of intangible assets can be much more variable than tangible assets. This variability increases the likelihood of a discrepancy between book and market values. Learn about how investors deal with the differences between the book and market values of tangible and intangible assets. Tangible vs. Intangible Assets Financial statements are historical documents that show what a company was worth at one point in time. Because of standard accounting practices, an asset must be recorded at the value for which it was purchased.Changes in markets, currency, and economic conditions all contribute to discrepancies between book and market values. The longer an asset is held by a company, the greater the chance that discrepancies exist. One factor that affects the market value of an asset is intangibility. An intangible asset is one that does not have a physical form but provides value to the firm nevertheless. Examples of intangible assets include contracts and patents, i. e. assets tha t cost money to acquire but do not have easily-accessible markets through which to buy and sell them.Unlike tangible assets like machinery and automobiles, the lack of secondary markets increases the risk that the intangible asset can not be liquidated at a reasonable price. Assets that are not very liquid, such as plants and proprietary equipment, have secondary markets in which used assets can be sold. These assets typically suffer from low liquidity because there are costs, sometimes high costs, associated with their disposal in secondary markets. Liquidity is based on the ability to sell an item for cash if the need or desire arises.Definition of intangibles www. iprplaza. com Definitions of intangible assets from various perspectives Ads by Google An Example of the Value of an Intangible Asset Suppose a company purchases a patent from another company and for many years enjoys the right to build a product without any competition based on the design specified in the patent. Over time, the value of the patent diminishes because of changes in markets, technology, and processes. The cost of the patent as an intangible asset remains on the books at the cost that was paid for the patent.Throughout the life of the patent, this intangible asset became more valuable because it blocked competitors from developing the same product. However, near the end of the patent’s useful life, its market value falls to nearly zero. Throughout this rise and fall of the patent’s market value, its book value remained unchanged. See the complete Bright Hub Guide to Balance Sheet Basics  » Unlike automobiles which are depreciated using a regular schedule to estimate the asset’s worth, there is no real way to determine the actual worth of an intangible asset that companies investing in tangible assets enjoy.The variability and uncertainty as to whether a company can make valuable use of an intangible asset is what gives rise to discrepancies and the inability to determine the difference between their book and market values. Investors who ignore the value of intangible assets are removing from the valuation process important pieces of information that directly contribute to a company’s value. Unfortunately, valuing intangible assets is not an exact science.One of the best methods of valuing such as asset is to analyze what the company would look like if the asset were not owned by the company and the incremental increase in value by owning it is a reasonable estimate. However, this assumes that the company is using the intangible asset to its maximum potential. Other managers may have been able to exploit it for much more value. Identification o Tangible benefits are quantifiable: A precise amount can be placed on the benefit as a way to weigh its value. This value is almost always fiduciary.The value of the benefit depends on a person’s skill set. For instance, doctors get higher tangible benefits than a fast-food worker. On the other hand, intangible benefits are much harder to measure because of their subjectivity. Intangible benefits derive from how a person feels about their work. Job satisfaction is a main bench marker of an intangible benefit. 3 Tangible: Financial Pay and Benefits o Tangible benefits are those listed by the company in a quantifiable form. Such benefits are usually contractual in nature: Days off, insurance costs, salary and profit sharing are a few.Performing calculations and comparing these benefits with another business tend to be straight forward. When people first start looking for a job, they usually have a better idea of these tangible benefits than they do of the work’s intangible benefits. Steve Pogorzelski, author of the book, â€Å"Finding Keepers: The Monster Guide to Hiring and Holding the World’s Best Employees† also advises for corporations to tout tangible benefits such as gym partnerships to attract quality candidates. o Sponsored Links ? Trad emark Registration Efficient trademark registration services worldwide. www. egistertrademarks. net 4 Intangible: Job Satisfaction o Intangible benefits include all of the qualitative advantages of working for an organization. For instance, friendly coworkers, flexibility and a position that matches the worker’s skill set are intangible benefits. Johanna Schlegel, editor-in-chief of Salary. com advises workers to assess how they feel about the work they performed at the end of the day. Measuring the degree of commitment and agreement with corporate culture are additional ways Schlegel recommends gauging the intangible benefits derived from the job. 5 Considerations Some workers value tangible benefits over intangible benefits and vice versa. Decisions regarding employment typically depend on a worker’s situation. A father who wishes to stay at home with his children and telecommute places a premium on intangible benefits and may be willing to forego a higher salary. An other distinction of these two benefits is that intangible benefits may increase or decrease over time, whereas tangible benefits of a job tend not to fluctuate as much. If a worker tires of performing the same task repeatedly and sees no sign of advancement, her intangible benefits decrease.A business owner or manager incurs costs with nearly every decision. Tangible costs are calculated up front. They are the expected and quantifiable costs of running a business. Tangible costs typically include things a business can buy directly for specific costs, such as labor, materials and space. Other costs, called intangible costs, are harder to measure, but are nonetheless real and could be crucial to a business's success or failure. Such things as lost productivity, a drop in employee morale or a loss of goodwill in the community might count as intangible costs. Sponsored LinkDefinition of intangibles Definitions of intangible assets from various perspectives www. iprplaza. com Tangible C osts Tangible costs include the types of things a business writes checks for: salaries and wages, leases, operational inputs, employee medical benefits, transportation and commercial insurance. These costs have a clear place in the general ledger. The company cannot conduct business or produce a quality product without spending on tangible costs. They are also easy to quantify, so management tends to focus on the manipulation of tangible costs. Sources of Tangible CostsTangible costs consume much of a typical business's accounting efforts. The sources of tangible costs are documented with receipts, contracts or policies. The accounting department assigns tangible costs to specific cost categories, such as the cost of goods sold or overhead costs. Some tangible costs produce obvious benefits, such as the production of the company's product. Others, such as safety training or environmental controls, may produce benefits that are less easily measured, but the costs themselves are concr ete in the sense that they come straight out of the company's bottom line. Addressing Tangible CostsCompanies manage tangible costs by negotiating contracts for services and by getting multiple quotes for inputs and supplies. The purchasing department compares costs of buying or leasing equipment. A large corporation with multiple sites can transfer some pieces of equipment from one site to another. This prevents redundant spending on equipment such as scissor lifts or pressure washers that are only used occasionally. Some companies offer a bonus to department managers who reduce their department's spending. Companies may entice employees to cut costs by offering incentives and recognition to employees who have money-saving ideas.Intangible Costs Intangible costs are less easily measured. Some key and common intangible costs might include a drop in employee morale, dissatisfaction with working conditions or customer disappointment with a decline in service or product quality. Intang ible costs result from an identifiable source, but the costs are often not predicted. They may occur after a new practice or policy is put into effect, such as a cut in staffing levels or in employee benefits. Managers can try to estimate intangible costs as soon as they see a pattern of loss.This estimate will be the basis of a decision to either change or continue a practice that frustrates employees or customers. If a new procedure has injured an employee, the company may need to act quickly to avoid government fines and inspections. Sources of Intangible Costs Intangible costs are not always foreseen. For example, when corporate management puts a new program or policy into place that is not appropriate for a given location, unintended intangible costs may ensue because what works well at a work site in one part of the country may clash with the employee work culture at another location.For example, managed labor systems, which measure productivity automatically and chart it acco rding to a preset standard, may improve productivity at one facility but harm performance at another. A site where the employees take extended lunches and unauthorized breaks could benefit from this type of automated monitoring. The new system could actually improve the morale among conscientious employees who resent their co-workers' lack of effort. The same managed labor system could be a disaster at a site where employees work as a team and already watch their departments' speed and productivity.Workers may become anxious and confused over the new system and how it will affect their pay raises or continued employment. They may refuse to assist their co-workers, afraid that being off task will hurt their own productivity numbers. Addressing Intangible Costs After intangible costs are incurred, management must decide how to address the costs. In general, the company will either decide to absorb the cost or act to eliminate its source. This decision will be based on the best estimat e of the intangible cost management can come up with.The cost of training new employees after long-time employees have left for other opportunities is one variable used to estimate intangible costs. If a company decides to continue an unpopular policy, it may invite employees to informational meetings to reduce employee confusion and discontent. A change that has lowered the quality of customer service may require a public relations outreach to keep customer goodwill, or it may require the company to come up with some other customer benefit to replace what was lost. Sursa: http://smallbusiness. chron. com/tangible-costs-intangible-costs-51412. html Making Intangible Assets  TangiblePosted on December 24, 2011 by swaltersky In 2008, Paul D’Antilio, CEO of Future Point Systems  called to see if I would be interested in   consulting with his company about visual analytics. He had recently become the CEO and knew that we’d been successful commercializing a visual ana lytics product in Attenex Patterns (acquired by FTI Consulting). As it turned out when he called I was in Palo Alto, helping my daughter Elizabeth move to Stanford University to start her post doctoral research in cognitive psychology. We agreed to meet on a hot Bay Area Saturday morning at the Future Point offices in San Mateo, CA.As our discussion ensued it turns out he’d had a very successful career in software product development and was part of the development team at State Street Bank that had developed the mortgage backed securities and received one of the first software patents. As I presented the Attenex Patterns story and did a brief demo and shared how we’d used the tool in electronic discovery and patent analytics, Paul suddenly stood up and said â€Å"this is really interesting. When we did the mortgage backed securities at State Street Bank we were essentially taking a tangible asset and making it intangible and then trading it.What you are talking about is taking intangible assets like patents and making them tangible enough so that they can be traded. It’s the mirror image of what I’ve spent my career working on. † I stared at Paul for a moment as the thought of making intangible things tangible rolled around in my brain. I jumped up and exclaimed â€Å"You have the other half of the knowledge I didn’t know I’d been looking for the last ten years. You understand the valuing transforms back and forth between tangible and intangible assets. † We both knew in that moment that we’d discovered something important, but we didn’t know what to do with it.Paul realized that while it was a potentially big idea he had more urgent topics to deal with. So I agreed to consult with him at Future Point and see what we could do with the PNNL Starlight technology. After a few months we realized that there was not enough capital at Future Point to generate new product lines so we parted ways. H owever, the notion of making the intangible tangible enough to be identified, valued, monetized and traded is ever present in my thoughts. Over the last two hundred years, great wealth resulted from the systematic identification and monetization of new asset classes.The financial services industry has profited from taking tangible assets like mortgages and turning them into intangible assets that can be traded. In the music industry, David Bowie was the first artist to bundle together his future â€Å"hits† into a monetizable asset. In the wine industry, Joe Ciatti put together a REIT to invest in winemaking properties that raised a large fund, but ultimately failed at the execution level. In a different arena, Intellectual Ventures had raised billions of dollars to monetize patents rather than go through the long process of litigation.At the micro level, fine wineries are having difficulty monetizing their customer assets due to the difficulty of marketing their authentic di fferences and their lack of better business models and processes. Inventors face the same difficulties of matching their inventions to customers (enterprises or consumers) who could monetize their ideas. In the electronic discovery market, no lawyers, developers or suppliers view the problem as identifying the few â€Å"assets† in the millions of documents that will prove or disprove their case.Yet, each large scale complex matter is an exercise in systematically identifying the key document assets and then â€Å"monetizing† them by winning the case. The central observations about large scale customer problems are: †¢ The difficulty of recognizing a new asset class soon enough to create a market for it †¢ The focus of asset developers are to create an asset rather than on how that asset can be marketed and sold †¢ Few industries create â€Å"brokers† to trade bundles of assets until the industry matures.The experiences of using clustering and clas sifying mathematics in problems as diverse as mortgage backed securities, legal electronic discovery, patent brokering and licensing, and creating customers for life with biodynamic wineries suggests that there is a common solution to a diverse range of market problems that asset class monetization technology proposes to solve. The following diagram captures my current thinking on Asset Class Monetization. [pic] Asset Class IdentificationAt the core of the model is identifying new asset classes that are not yet recognized as being tradable and for which no â€Å"market† exists and no transparent information about the market exists. Clues to these asset classes are the difficulty in selling the asset or placing a value on the asset. Broad examples of difficult asset classes to value and sell are:   patents, enterprise software from new startups, and the selling of a startup for an exit opportunity. An example is the valuation and selling rocess for a biodynamic winery. Recen tly, a Southern Oregon Winery went through an assessment process to value their holdings after four years as a precursor to taking investment for expansion or sale. They required four different types of assessors (property, equipment valuation, agricultural value assessment, and quality and volume of the wine inventory) and financial experts. This assessment was time consuming (six months from start to finish), expensive, and not very accurate.The above assessment is further complicated by trying to assess the value add (or lack thereof) of the certified biodynamic component of the property. Is this a short term cachet or with the advent of a growing appreciation for authentic fine wine growing that represents the specificity of the place (terroir) and the accompanying slow food movement is this a long term trend? While a little more advanced in its evolution, the patent market appears to be moving from a very difficult arena to monetize using litigation or the very expensive sale p rocess of licensing to the attempt to create a market.Intellectual Ventures and Ocean Tomo are at the forefront of trying to create a market, but their efforts have been primarily aimed at acquiring patent assets or creating an auction for those assets. Little effort is spent at understanding how to value the assets and create a transparent information structure around those assets (like a Morningstar for patents). As a result, Intellectual Ventures is having a far harder time in licensing their patents than in acquiring them. Classification, Clustering, Segmentation and MatchingOnce an asset class is identified, sense must be made of the collection of assets. In most cases with complex assets, this process is expensive and highly dependent on experts. With the large scale adoption of the Internet, this process is now becoming routine, mathematical, automatic and highly scalable. Google Adwords and Adsense are great examples of both the power of the mathematics and on the ability to monetize the mathematics. Wired Magazine had an excellent article on â€Å"Googlenomics† showing how Google monetizes content through massive mathematics. [pic]Recent book length treatments of the processes, techniques and tools for classification, clustering, segmentation and matching are: †¢ Malcolm Gladwell, Tipping Point †¢ Winslow Farrell, How Hits Happen:   Forecasting Predictability in a Chaotic Marketplace †¢ Steven Levitt, Freakonomics:   A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything †¢ John Battelle, Search:   How Google and Its Rivals Rwearote the Rules of Business and Transformed our Culture †¢ Ian Ayres, Super Crunchers:   Why Thinking-By-Numbers is the New Way to be Smart †¢ Stephen Baker,   The Numerati Bill Tancer, Click:   What Millions of People are Doing Online and Why it Matters †¢ Jeff Hawkins, On Intelligence o Numenta is creating a new type of computing technology modeled on the structure and op eration of the neocortex. The technology is called Hierarchical Temporal Memory, or HTM, and is applicable to a broad class of problems from machine vision, to fraud detection, to semantic analysis of text. HTM is based on a theory of neocortex first described in the book On Intelligence by Numenta co-founder Jeff Hawkins, and subsequently turned into a mathematical form by Numenta co-founder Dileep George. HTM technology has the potential to solve many difficult problems in machine learning, inference, and prediction. Some of the application areas Numenta is exploring with their customers include recognizing objects in images, recognizing behaviors in videos, identifying the gender of a speaker, predicting traffic patterns, doing optical character recognition on messy text, evaluating medical images, and predicting click through patterns on the web. The world is becoming awash with data of all types, whether numeric, video, text, images or audio, making it challenging for humans to sort through it and find what’s important.HTM technology offers the promise of making sense of all that data. o Thomas Redman, Data Driven:   Profiting from Your Most Important Business Asset Redman describes the power of being data driven: â€Å"I find looking at an organization through the data and information lens to be extremely powerful. To do so, one examines the movement and management of data and information as they wind their way across the organization. The lens reveals who touches them, how people and processes use them to add value, how they change, the politics surrounding seemingly mundane issues uch as data sharing, how the data come to be fouled up, what happens when they are wrong and so forth. † â€Å"Data and information are most valuable when they are flying from place to place. † Ayres described how he used Google’s Adwords to come up with the book title Super Crunchers. For a fee of $100 in Adwords he saved himself the $50,000 of consulting fees to name the book: [pic] Connections The value of an asset grows as there are more connections to that asset.Whether we are talking about a product with a high sales volume, or a webpage on the Internet (Google Page Rank algorithm), the number of connections to an asset grows the value of that asset exponentially (see Metcalfe’s Law  as described in  Unleashing the Killer App:   Digital Strategies for Market Dominance by Larry Downes and Chunka Mui). 1. Introduction: In present scenario, despite the global change, Human Resource Accounting is major issue for research & analysis in management. Human resource has always been taken as a ‘soft & light issue’ whose contribution generally can not be measured in monetary terms.There is no role of recording investments, benefits rendered by employees, valuation & accounting of human resource in conventional financial accounting. human resources is not considered in the different balance sheet models, and only in the profit and loss statement    human resource costs / expenditure are taken in account, such as salaries and staff welfare expenses (including pensions). The number of employees classified in categories is mentioned only in the explanatory report, the same as the board of directors' payment.Recent literature has focused on a broader measurement, namely that of â€Å"intellectual capital. † Despite those who consider intellectual capital a new approach, it is really an extension of HR accounting since without the underlying concept of HR investment there can be no intellectual capital development. As human resource is being taken as intellectual asset of the organization and worth three or four times the tangible book value. Human capital also provides expert services such as consulting, financial planning nd assurance services, which are valuable, and very much in demand. As it is the combination of HR & Accounting, joint efforts of behavioral scientists, acc ountants and managements are needed for the working and development of HRA. Figure 1. 1 [pic] There are two reasons for including human resources in accounting [Ripoll and Labatut, 1994]. First, people are a valuable resource to a firm so long as they perform services that can be quantified. Second, the value of a person as a resource depends on how he is employed. So management†¦ [continues]