The Blind Side Movie Review - 1072 Words

THE BLIND SIDE Movie Review ‘The Blind Side’ is the real life story about Micheal Oher, an Afro-American football player and his struggles from being an abandoned kid growing up in a foster home to a NFL (National Football League) player after being adopted by the family, the Touhys, who were white skinned Americans. What makes ‘The Blind Side’ such a compelling story is the fact that it tells the true life story of a boy with little or no prospects. It is a film about human relationships, the need to reach out to the ones less fortunate, but most importantly, its a film about believing in oneself and following one’s convictions even when the whole world might be against you. One only has to see the movie and absorb as well as digest†¦show more content†¦This is very common for children living in inappropriate environment. The incidents they experience are like scars in their life. But these also make the children aware of right and wrong. This was one of the major reasons why Michael did not get involved in drugs abuse. Another major significance that the movie highlights is the existing and growing problem of gang fight deaths. The youth are at a constant threat of being dragged into a life that is on the danger zone. This is most likely for kids who grow up in a dysfunctional environment and extreme poverty. Having experienced violence on the home front and left with meager opportunities for education, teens are easily influenced to join gangs usually involved in drug trafficking which can cost them their lives. In the movie, Michael has been exposed to the same kind of environment and may have fallen victim to the same deaths that his hometown buddies experienced if it had not been for the saving grace of the Touhy family. Acceptance is a major virtue preached by the selfless concern and love that the family extended to Michael which was reciprocated by protective love that was inherent in him. The topic on racism was indeed slightly touched by the movie when Leigh Anne Touhys socialite friends sarcastically praised her on her charitable action but at the same time, warned her of the possibility that her daughter may be violated by Michael. Leigh Anne brushed this off and her familys acceptanceShow MoreRelatedThe Blind Side Movie Review1083 Words   |  5 Pages THE BLIND SIDE Movie Review ‘The Blind Side’ is the real life story about Micheal Oher, an Afro-American football player and his struggles from being an abandoned kid growing up in a foster home to a NFL (National Football League) player after being adopted by the family, the Touhys, who were white skinned Americans. What makes ‘The Blind Side’ such a compelling story is the fact that it tells the true life story of a boy with little or no prospects. It is a film about human relationships, theRead MoreMovie Review - the Blind Side2732 Words   |  11 PagesMovie Analysis The Blind Side John Lee Hancock Submitted by: Redeem B. Tamayor BABA-1 A Summary The Blind Side was a 2009 American semi-biographical drama film written and directed by John Lee Hancock, and based on the 2006 book The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game by Michael Lewis. It featured Michael Oher, an offensive linesman who played for the Baltimore Ravens of the NFL. Homeless and traumatized, Michael â€Å"Big Mike† Oher was absorbed in Wingate Christian School through theRead MoreCritical Review of the Blind Side Movie1461 Words   |  6 PagesA Critical Review of The Blind Side â€Å"A person’s self-concept is shaped by his/her communication with significant others.† Self-concept is how a person has the knowledge of oneself. According to the Social Issues Reference(n.d.), self concept is the accumulation of the knowledge about the self, such as beliefs regarding personality traits, physical characteristics, abilities, values, goals and roles. Self-concept is knowledge about how someone define themselves, either the similarity orRead MoreStages of Development: a Review of the Movie, the Blind Side1847 Words   |  8 PagesThis movie-The Blind Side talks about how Michael Oher achieved his self-esteem during his adolescent time. Between the plots of the movie, we also included some development theories such as Erik Erikson’s psychosocial cognitive theory; Maslow’s hierarchy needs theory and also the operant conditioning theory that associated with Michael’s development. As an introduction, Michael Oher was a famous Black American football player that came from a poor family that consist of thirteen childrenRead MoreStages of Development: a Review of the Movie, the Blind Side1838 Words   |  8 PagesThis movie-The Blind Side talks about how Michael Oher achieved his self-esteem during his adolescent time. Between the plots of the movie, we also included some development theories such as Erik Erikson’s psychosocial cognitive theory; Maslow’s hierarchy needs theory and also the operant conditioning theory that associated with Michael’s development. As an introduction, Michael Oher was a famous Black American football player that came from a poor family that consist of thirteen childrenRead MoreThe Blind Side1521 Words   |  7 Pagesholding the hand of an oversized football player leading him onto the field, the movie â€Å"The Blind Side† made skeptics of moviegoers. Challenged by most energy-packed movies that hit the screens in 2009, the movie at hind sight did not do much visual stimulation. However, being a movie that faithfully represents the real life experience of famed football star Michael Oher, it did not fail to raise a lot of eyebrows from both movie fans and critics. The fact that it is a success story of an African AmericanRead MoreEssay Critical Analysis of Blind Side Movie1089 Words   |  5 PagesThe Blind Side: Making All the Right Calls When asked to think of an inspirational drama in recent years, one movie comes to mind projecting lives of people that follow their dreams from a under privileged lifestyle to a well known role model. An inspiring movie has to give the audience that unique sense where they themselves have a different outlook on life. That outlook hits them right in the heart where some people leave the movie theaters with tears of joy in their eyes. In John Hancock’s â€Å"TheRead MoreArt in Raw Form1434 Words   |  6 Pages The movie industry is for entertainment purposes. For many people, going to the movies is an escape; time to sit back and become someone else. However, once in a rare moment then a movie comes out that is not just foe entertainment and dares to address a controversial issue. â€Å"The Blind Side† and â€Å"Precious† are two movies that I was very surprised at my reaction to them. My reasons for wanting to see both movies were as different as night and day. I went to see the â€Å"Blind Side† because itRead MoreThe Great Escape Movie Review1001 Words   |  5 PagesThe Great Escape Movie Review Yash Desai *POW = Prisoner of War â€Å"The Great Escape† directed by John Sturges is a movie of high standard and excellence. This action packed adventure, released in 1963, takes place in Germany at the peak of World War II. Taking us back to 1942, The Great Escape documents the escape of 76 prisoners from a special Stalag (prison camp), designed specifically for them. By contrasting color cinematography with a classical soundtrack, the movie successfully blends theRead MoreFilm Study of the Blind Side2000 Words   |  8 PagesPeter Shelton Film Case Study of The Blind Side The Blind Side was based on the life of Michael Oher a teenage African American boy whose mother was battling drug and alcohol addictions, in the projects of Memphis Tennessee. Mike as he is know in the movie was in foster care several times and always ran away to his Mother, thinking that no one could ever love him the way his Mother could, even with her ongoing addiction. Mike often slept at his fathers friends home, but even he could not give

Stanley Milgram s Theory Of Group Conformity, The Power...

Stanley Milgram was born in 1933 and was raised in New York. He graduated from James Monroe High School in 1950. Milgram then went on to earn his bachelor s degree from Queens College in 1954. His profound love of city life which was reflected in his 1970 article for Science on The Experience of City Living. Milgram later went on and furthered his studies at Harvard where he earned his Ph.D. Milgram was interested in social issues when it came to sociology. Milgram spent 1959-1960 at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton with Solomon Asch. Solomon Asch was known for his classic experiment of group conformity, the power of peer pressure: the Asch experiment. In this experiment it required individuals to select lines judged to be the same size. The correct choices that would have been made were offset by counterfeit alternatives that were selected by the Asch himself. These conflicting opinions induced the selection of lines that were not even close to the same length as the ot her. Milgram changed the design from lines to shocks and conducted his famous series of studies on obedience to authority, which came to be known as the power of authority: the Milgram experiment. The Milgram experiment was to test the power authority has on the common human being. Milgram performed the experiment with two individuals at a time. Two individuals show up for a study and are taken to a room where one is strapped in a chair to prevent movement and an electrode is placed on hisShow MoreRelatedHistory Of Obedience And Conformity1729 Words   |  7 PagesObedience and Conformity With the utterance of â€Å"research in obedience,† Stanley Milgram is the epithet in social psychology. 56 years ago, Milgram tested the limits of a person s ability to commit deeds that would normally be directionally challenging to their moral compass when commanded to act by an authority figure. Just 15 years after the World War II Holocaust, the Milgram experiments was a social psychology response to a topic of â€Å"particular relevance† during that time (Milgram, 1963): WereRead MoreThe Impact Of Social Norms On The People And The World Around Us Essay1694 Words   |  7 Pages Social roles are the different positions a person can become within a group. These roles are important because each role is a different set of behaviors. When individuals grow and mature, their role may change. Some roles change for the better, some change in an undesirable way. Social norms are defined as a set of unwritten rules about how we behave. The behaviors that fulfill a social norm is called conformity. Conformity can be defined as the change in behavior due other people’s influences (AronsonRead MoreSocial Influence4418 Words   |  18 PagesSocial influence occurs when ones emotions, opinions, or behaviors are affected by others.[1] Social influence takes many forms and can be seen in conformity, socialization, peer pressure, obedience, leadership, persuasion, sales, and marketing. In 1958, Harvard psychologist, Herbert Kelman identified three broad varieties of social influence.[2] 1. Compliance is when people appear to agree with others, but actually keep their dissenting opinions private. 2. Identification is when peopleRead MoreOrganizational Behaviour Analysis28615 Words   |  115 PagesNature and Scope of Organisation Theory Levels of Analysis The Metaphorical Approach Organising Processes Understanding Change Conflict, Negotiation, and the Politics of Change Group and Team Working Cultures and Leaders as Cultural Agents Trust Linking the Themes Introductory Notes on Organisational Analysis Understanding Organisations The Limits of Rationalism Levels of Analysis: The SOGI Model Limitations of the SOGI Model The Individual Level The Group Level The Organisation Level TheRead MoreStephen P. Robbins Timothy A. Judge (2011) Organizational Behaviour 15th Edition New Jersey: Prentice Hall393164 Words   |  1573 Pagesand permission should be obtained from the publisher prior to any prohibited reproduction, storage in a retrieval system, or transmission in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or likewise. To obtain permissi on(s) to use material from this work, please submit a written request to Pearson Education, Inc., Permissions Department, One Lake Street, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458, or you may fax your request to 201-236-3290. Many of the designations by manufacturersRead MoreDeveloping Management Skills404131 Words   |  1617 Pagesbuilt-in pretests and posttests, focus on what you need to learn and to review in order to succeed. Visit www.mymanagementlab.com to learn more. DEVELOPING MANAGEMENT SKILLS EIGHTH EDITION David A. Whetten BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY Kim S. Cameron UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN Prentice Hall Boston Columbus Indianapolis New York San Francisco Upper Saddle River Amsterdam Cape Town Dubai London Madrid Milan Munich Paris Montreal Toronto Delhi Mexico City Sao Paulo Sydney Hong Kong Seoul Singapore

Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation Free Essays

CPR is an important lifesaving method that was developed since the twentieth century and it have been improving since then. CPR stands for cardiopulmonary resuscitation and is used to revive heart attack victims. The practice of mouth-to-mouth resuscitation dates back to the eighteenth century, while performing chest compressions goes back to the early twentieth century. We will write a custom essay sample on Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation or any similar topic only for you Order Now The term â€Å"CPR† emerged in the early 1960s, and the idea became recognized by organizations such as the American Heart Association.Since then, CPR has been taught to millions of people, including grade-school children Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is a method that was developed in the early 1960s for restoring the circulation and respiration in a patient who has suffered cardiac arrest, often leading to heart attack. Lack of oxygen to the brain causes loss of consciousness, which then results in abnormal or absent breathing. Brain injury is likely if cardiac arrest goes untreated for more than five minutes.If there is no medical provider around to give quick medical care, the cardiac arrest may lead to brain injury. The only mean is to keep the blood circulating by providing quick CPR. This May help victim stay alive until proper medical care to take over. The history of CPR dates back to the 17th century. It was later on promoted to the public to learn the basic rescue breathing and chest compression. James Otis Elam and Peter Safar is the two researchers who contributed significantly to the development and understanding cardiopulmonary resuscitation or CPR.Together Elam and Safar developed mouth-to-mouth breathing which is now known as mouth-to-mask ventilation, and head tilt and chin lift method which we still use today (Safar). Since their development, other researchers have been working hard to contribute to it. New technique tools to help improve or supports life. The mean purpose of CPR is to bring oxygen to the victim’s lung, brain and keep blood circulating so oxygen can get to very parts of the body until emergency care arrives.A person’s heart and ability to breath regularly can stop during a medical emergency, such as when a person has a heart attack or when he has been under water too long. Performing Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) on the person can prevent his death. Back in the eighteenth century Amsterdam a city in Europe introduced resuscitation method to respond to the deadly heart disease which killed as many as 400 people per year. Within four years, 150 people were saved. Here are some examples of resuscitation techniques advocated by the Amsterdam Society: To instigate warmth in the victim.Placing the victim in the Trendelenburg position, head lower than the body. Applying manual pressure to the belly to help force inhaled water out of the lungs. Providing respirations, mouth-to-mouth or mouth-to-nostril, using a handkerchief to cover the mouth if preferred; occasionally bellows were used. Stroking or tickling the victim’s throat. Using nicotine to â€Å"fumigate† the victim, rectally or orally (History). Some of the ideas were sound and are still used today and even more advances. Today some of our working places such as teaching, child care and so no require CPR. How to cite Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation, Papers

Crime and Social Issues free essay sample

Many crime problems in my area which are creating difficulties for peoples day by day. I have seen many crimes have been done in my area. * Snatching * Drugs dealing * Shop lifting * Stabbing * Gang fighting * Theft and robbed * The area where I live is ok; I have been robbed for my money a couple of times – nothing too bad. But my friends live in a really bad estate. Theres always stuff going on there. People are shot and stabbed all the time. * It all starts with people getting rude with each other. One person is rude to someone else, and then the victim goes and gets their gang for revenge.Sometimes its just two gangs fighting and punching each other. But on this estate, its nearly always killing. Guns and knives are everywhere. * Its always worse when the gang hires someone else to do the killing. They only give a description of the person they want taken care of. We will write a custom essay sample on Crime and Social Issues or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page So the hit man hasnt even seen the guy hes going to shoot before. Sometimes they shoot the wrong person. Then, if the person who was killed by mistake was in a gang, their gang goes and gets revenge. So it never ends. * Im most worried about knife crime, because you can get knives anywhere – from the kitchen, shops and people from round the estates.My friend’s big brother was stabbed in the chest with a knife, because he was involved in some bad stuff. * In my school its not so bad because they check us for weapons. The only weapons were allowed are compasses. * Im not so afraid of gangs, because they dont have a reason to go after me. But my friends Dad got involved in drugs. Now hes got some gangs after him because of some trouble that happened. * When I visit my mates on the estate, I feel more protected than afraid, because I know my friends and their brothers are looking out for me.People there recognise me now, so I know even the drug dealers would look after me on their patches. They know Im not causing any trouble. But Id be very; very afraid for my life there if no-one was looking out for me. Snatching: About 10 houses in front of me was this young lady walking by a car parked along the grass patch outside one of the terrace houses. As she was reaching the rear end of this clean decent looking Silver Proton Waja, I noticed the engine started and the left rear passenger doors window was being wound down.Suddenly a man emerged out of the rear passenger doors window his entire torso! And making a grab of this ladies handbag!!!! As this man emerged from the cars window, the Silver Proton Waja was pulling out of its parking position slowly not in a hurry with the man from within just dragging the lady and her handbag along until she gave it up!! Then they drove off slowly no hurry!!! Conclusion: My report about crime problem in my area which I have describe in my report, we should do safety every time and inform to police about any crime or suspicious activiti es in area or any surrounding area.

In Many Countries, the Proportion of Elderly People Is Increasing Steadily. Does This Trend Have More Positive Than Negative Effects on Society free essay sample

In many countries, the proportion of elderly people is increasing steadily. Does this trend have more positive than negative effects on society? ================================================================== It is undeniably believed that the developed technology and sufficient welfare have magnificently provided a great chance for having mankind life extended. Combining with the fact that young couples tend not to breed, elderly individuals are now occupying an increasing percentage of the world population. Supported by a number of sociologists and economists, aging population issue will generate negative impacts on the world such as enlarging the government expenditure and reducing the workforce efficiency. First of all, subsidizing senior citizens costs governments and tax-payers massive amount of money. For instance, it was stated by The Economist that pension is now the largest expense of social welfare budget of European governments. Despite the advantages it brings, this amount of expenditure is an insurmountable burden to the government deficit and can therefore, slow down the growth of national economy. We will write a custom essay sample on In Many Countries, the Proportion of Elderly People Is Increasing Steadily. Does This Trend Have More Positive Than Negative Effects on Society? or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Hence, a high proportion of aging population can do harm to already harsh national economy, especially during the recent economic recession in Europe. Additionally, aging population can also reduce the efficiency of labor force. Going into details, according to The Economist, one senior citizen needs two or more juniors to be taken care of, particularly the sick. As a result, looking after aging people expends a great amount of labor forces which could otherwise profit companies and governments. Therefore, provided that labor force could be emancipated from caring the elderly, a more efficient and productive society could thereby created. To sum up, it is evident that the positive effects of high aged ratio are moot in comparison of its negative impacts. Nevertheless, it is strongly suggested that the government is entitled to provide comfortable living condition to the old as a basic social welfare

Bull Sharks Essays

Bull Sharks Essays Bull Sharks Paper Bull Sharks Paper Staniels, L. K. and Facey, D. E. 8. Osmoregu;ation and Excretion. lt;www. cartage. org. lbgt;. Kennedy, J. About. com Guide. April 2010 lt;marinelife. about. comgt;. Marine Life. April 2010 lt;marinelife. about. comgt;. De Alessandro, M.. SHARKS The Perfect Predators. Sunnyside, Aukland Park: Jacana Media (Pty) Ltd, 2008. Marine Bio. April 2010 lt;marinebio. orggt;. Merriam-Websters Medical Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, Inc. Dictionary. com. 2007. April 2007 lt;dictionary. reference. comgt;. NOAA FISHERIES FACT SHEET. April 2010 lt;www. nmfs. noaa. govgt;. Pillans, R D. UQ eSpace. 2006. April 2010 lt;espace. library. uq. edu. augt;. Shark Attacks. April 2010 lt;www. bugbog. comgt;. Statistics Versus Myths. April 2010 lt;www. sharkattacks. comgt;. The case of the New Jersey Man-Eater. April 2010 lt;www. elasmo-research. orggt;.

Type 1 diabetes Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Type 1 diabetes - Research Paper Example This causes deficiency of insulin in the body. Introduction Type 1 diabetes is a major disease in young adults and children. Experts previously recognized it as juvenile diabetes because those diagnosed were mostly young people. Type 1 diabetes describes a diabetic condition where the body lacks producing any insulin. Insulin is necessary in converting starches, sugar and other foods into energy that the body requires. This type of diabetes is not common among people suffering from diabetes. Only around five percent of diabetes patients suffer from type 1 diabetes. The best treatment for the condition is insulin therapy. This type of therapy and various treatments allows a person to manage the condition and live a healthier life (Drake, Smith, Betts & Crowne, 2002). The paper looks at how lack of insulin causes the development of type 1 diabetes and for the best treatment recommended in managing the condition. Type 1 Diabetes Type 1 diabetes forms when the pancreatic glands produce l ess or no insulin when a person suffers from type 1 diabetes. Insulin is a hormone produced that lets sugar enter cells to generate energy. When the body starts resisting insulin effects, it results to type 2 diabetes. The various signs and symptoms of type 1 diabetes include extreme hunger, enhanced thirst, recurrent urination, fatigue, and weight loss. Some causes of type 1 diabetes include exposure to specific viruses or genetics. However, the exact cause of this condition is not clear. Most people develop type 1 diabetes because their immune system starts destroying insulin instead of fighting viruses and other harmful bacteria, which mainly occur due to genetics (Garg, 2011). The condition may be prevalent in young people, however; it can also develop during adulthood. There has been a lot of research carried out to determine the best treatment for diabetes. However, there is no cure for the condition. The best a person can do is to manage it and prevent severe cases such as ty pe 2 diabetes. Insulin Types of insulin depend on their speed of effectiveness, when they peak and the amount of time they last. The strengths of insulin have different levels with the most general being U-100 (Gillespie, 2006). The United States manufactures insulin, however; it is possible to use animal insulin (Gillespie, 2006). The pancreas has beta cells that make and release insulin hormones with every meal. Insulin assists the body in using and storing blood glucose it receives from food. A person suffering from type 1 diabetes no longer produces insulin because the beta cells in the pancreas no longer work. The difference between type 1 and type 2 diabetes is that type 2 diabetes produces insulin, but the body fails to respond to it (Drake, Smith, Betts & Crowne, 2002). The best way to receive insulin medication is through direct injections into the fat under the skin. There are different types of insulin that a person can inject to manage type 1 diabetes. Rapid-acting insul in starts working five minutes after its injection and continues for about four hours afterwards. Regular insulin is short acting since it gets to the bloodstream after 30minutes, but it is more effective than rapid-acting insulin because it continues to work for six hours. There is intermediate and long acting insulin that work four hours and ten hours after injection, respectively (Gillespie, 2006). The longer the time any type of insulin takes to starts acting the

Management Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Management - Coursework Example The definition of management is viewed in varied perspectives. Initially, it was viewed as an art of getting the work done. But this view has evolved in course of time as management is seen as something more than just getting things done. It was strongly believed that a good management should pave the way for the growth and development of the organization rather than merely focusing on job done by the employers. Harold Koontz sees "management as the art of getting things done through and with people in formally organized groups." (Akrani 2011). It is an art of creating an environment where employees perform their allocated tasks optimally as separate individuals yet cooperate among themselves with a view of attaining the organizational objectives. Later, management was seen as a process by which managers create, direct, maintain and operate purposive organizational goals through systematic coordination and cooperation. It is the distinct process by which managers plan and carry out a ll the activities of the organization in order to accomplish the goals by the efficient use of the manpower and other resources in hand. When we refer to the management, we not only refer the group of managers who organize and plan, but also the continuous set of processes that aids the managers to develop different strategies for the organization. Although, Steve Jobs was not alive when iPhone 5 was released this year, the pre-set processes developed by him and his management only facilitated its launch. Better handling of the process with cooperation will ensure better management. At the same time, strategy formulation is not the end of the task of the management, they have to aptly implement or operationalize it. This indeed improves the organizational as well as the managerial abilities of the concern. â€Å"The failure to balance the tensions between strategy and operations is pervasive: Various studies done in the past 25 years indicate that 60% to 80% of companies fall short of the success predicted from their new strategies.† (Kaplan and Norton 2008). A complete analysis of the strategies as well as its implementation process by the management will bring out better operational goals by the organization. Overall, management brings together all the resources of any business concern such as the manpower, money, machines, methods and market as a whole, and uses it optimally for success. Thus optimum utilization of the resources by the management will ensure better results in achieving the organizational objectives. In short, the term management is concerned with the goal determination, policy formulation, strategic planning and overall control of the organizational activities. Characteristics of Management â€Å"Management is the art of getting things done through and with people in formally organized groups, the art of creating an environment in such an organized group where people can perform as individuals and yet cooperate toward attainment of group goals† (Koontz 1961). Thus, management consist of a group of individuals or an individual who keenly analyze all the resources, formulate ideas, utilize the existing abilities and take the strategic decision that would serve for the betterment of the organization. Thus managerial ability is not a technical skill to be attained but involves a

How managemnet team cam have agood fight Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

How managemnet team cam have agood fight - Essay Example From this perspective it was argued that from these disagreements comes a better range of opinions which as necessary to effectively operate in todays business environment. However, this conflict often becomes unproductive and it is the task of managers to keep the healthy disagreements from evolving into dysfunctional conflict. The paper highlighted that in the past, a case study was conducted on top management teams in technology based companies. Conflict was not really observed in four of the twelve companies and of the remaining companies four had effectively managed to avoid interpersonal conflict and the other four had been unsuccessful in this endeavour. The authors of the study had identified that the successful companies (That we able to separate substantive issues from interpersonal issues) had exemplified six tactics which were that they worked with more information and debated on the basis of facts, they developed multiple alternatives, they shared commonly agreed upon goals, they maintained a balanced power structure, and they were able to resolve issues without having to force consensus. As such the focus of the paper was based on delineating the strengths of these aforementioned characteristics. In regards to basing discussion on current, factual information, it is a common belief that generating more information and working with too much data is likely to increase the likelihood of conflict by providing more issues for debate. However the opposite generally held true insofar as having good data encourages people to focus on issues and not personalities. Several examples were given to highlight how this tactic held true but for a contrary argument it was postulated by the authors that in scenarios where there is a absence of quality information people tend to argue over issues of opinion (Which is a foundation to interpersonal conflict). By avoiding scenarios where management is forced

Porters Five Forces Analysis Marketing Essay

Porters Five Forces Analysis Marketing Essay Introduction The main purpose of applying the five forces analysis is to identify the key factors in the industrial environment that influence the organizations capabilities to position itself in order to merit competitive advantage. It is a framework for industry analysis and business strategy development formed by Michael Porter. An industry is a group of firms that market products which are close substitutes for each other (e.g. the car industry, the hotel industry).Some industries are more profitable than others, the answer lies in understanding the dynamics of competitive structure in an industry. Porters Five Forces Model is one of the most influential analytical models for assessing the nature of competition in an industry. Porter explains that there are five forces that determine industry attractiveness and long-run industry profitability. These five competitive forces are the threat of new competitors entry, the threat of substitutes, the bargaining power of buyers, the bargaining power of suppliers, and the degree of rivalry between existing competitors. Porters five forces diagram. http://www.b2binternational.com/china/images/stories/sections/porters_five_forces.gif Source: www.valuebasedmanagement.net Introduction to hotel industry A hotel is an institution that provides a short-term paid residence. In the past, hotels were just a small room with a bed, cupboard, and a table, but now it has totally changed to something else. Nowadays hotels are luxurious residences that include different types of facilities. Most of the hotels now include spas, swimming pools, fitness centers, conferences rooms and international restaurants. Even the rooms are now bigger and include many comfort facilities. Malaysian Association of Hotels (MAH)  was established in 1974. It is now being officially recognized as a National Hotel Association. Now it sets the regulations and minimum acceptable levels for being a legal verified hotel in Malaysia. It has 2,184 registered members and 17 more hotels in the next 3 years. Table: Hotels and rooms supply 2010/2011 Bargaining power of suppliers The term suppliers comprises all sources for inputs that are needed in order to provide goods or services. The two key suppliers to the Hotel industry are labors and real estate Over all the suppliers in this market are defined as property owners, developers and real estate companies, interior design and furnishings companies, architects, management and training service providers, marketing companies, industry consultants and ICT manufacturers. Category Rating 1-10 Remarks Number of suppliers 6 (medium) Considerable no. of local and Chinese contractors Small number of quality training providers and skilled employees. Availability of substitute 6(medium) Substitutes for property (real estate agents), designers, and employees are available. Switching cost category 2 (low) -substitute for hotel are few.. Suppliers threat of forward integration 2 (low) Suppliers are highly unlikely to forward integrate into the hotel business Industrys treat backward integration 5 (high) -hotels could backward integrate to own real estate company. They could have their own training wing. Contribution to quality 5 (high) -Property development and real estate companies add to the quality so does skilled labor and quality training Contribution to cost 2 (low) -Most suppliers are much smaller companies compared to hotel companies. -Hence hotel companies have a much higher bargaining power. suppliers contribution to cost is low Overall, the number of suppliers for the Hotel industry is quite large and each supplier is very small in size compared to the leading players in the industry. These few powerful players are indispensable to the suppliers. Substitutability of the suppliers is also quite feasible and inexpensive. Switching between real estate agents is not goingto affect a particular Hotel company significantly. However in terms of quality, training centers for employees and ICT manufacturers who provide IT systems thatfor property management are relatively more difficult to replace. Therefore in terms of substitute suppliers industry attractiveness is moderately high. Unlike the supplier is threat of  forward integration, Industry is threat of backwardintegration is pretty high since large hotel chains like ITC or IHCL  would have no qualms expanding into the real estate  business or developing employee training facilities in-house. Similarlythe industry is contribution to both cost and quality isrelatively high. Overall bargaining power of suppliers is low and industry is attractiveness in terms of supplier bargaining power is high (4). BARGAINING POWER OF BUYERS The bargaining power of buyers determines how much customers can impose pressure on margins and volumes. The end-users of the high-end hotel industry are:- Leisure traveler Business traveler Customers who require space for conferences or other events Category Rating 1-10 Remarks -Number of Buyers 7(high) -Buyers are numerous and small in size.- Losing one customer cannot going to make a difference. Their bargaining power is low -Availability of substitutes: (medium) -Multiple substitutes for a given hotel or brand is available -Informal accommodation for friends and family is available alternative -Corporate guest houses for the business traveler -Switching cost: 2(low) -Switching costs arenegligible Buyers are price sensitiveexcept in the -Buyers threat of backward integration: 5(high) Customers are will notconstruct a hotel or buy a place of residence for each place they visit. -Contribution to quality 2(low) Additional facilities suchas spas, gyms etc. are usedmy hotels to improve thequality of customers stay -contribution to cost 5(high) Brand image is veryimportant in this industry and leads to extra cost, Additional amenities,training of staff, locationrent (like close to airport)etc. -Buyers profitability 2(low) Low buyers profitability- In the mid -segment, there are numerous buyers, of very small profitability In the premium segment, buyers are very affluent, and they have greater bargaining power comparedto the mid-segment Industrys threat of forward integration. 4(medium) -low chances or forward integration This industry has many customers who are relatively very small in size. Loss of a single customer has little impact on a hotel company and this drives down the buyers bargaining power. Similarly buyers threat of backward integration is almost impossible and so the industry is under threat of forward integration. However the industry does have several substitutes such as camping and recreational vehicles for tourists, corporate guesthouses for business travelers and other informal means of accommodation with friends and family. Switching cost for all these options is very low, except for the RV. Apart from the provision of accommodation, hotels also provide additional facilities and services such as restaurants, gyms, spas, conference halls, ball rooms, lounges etc. Therefore their contribution to quality as well as cost for the buyer is very high. Barriers of entry Category Rating 1-10 Remarks Economies of scale 5(high) High economies of scale- Very important to operatea chain of hotels in multiplelocations, especially for the premium segment. This reduces thedependence on tourismtrends at any given location Product differentiation 4(medium) Highly differentiated- Brand names and valuesare very important in attracting and retaining customers -brand identity 4(medium) Brand is very important. -switching cost 2(low) -low switching cost -capital requirement 4(medium) -capital intensive. -staff, dà ©cor, infrastructure e.t.c is very expensive. -Access to technology 3(moderate) -ICT is very important for property management. -Access to raw material 4(medium) -Labor, land and other essentials are easy to obtain. -government protection 3(moderate) -The tourism industry receives government. -exit barriers 2(low) -High exit barriers. Specialized assets for the industry. Brand names are very important in the hotel industry. Companies use their strong brand names to attract new customers and retain old ones. Besides, economies of scale are also a huge factor in this industry. Profitability of hotel chains is drastically higher than individual operations. A new entrant cannot compete with established players in terms of quality, price and even services. If they cannot establish significant economies of scale.Being a capital intensive industry with a large amount of it tied down in fixed costs, makes entry more difficult. Similarly high exit barriers due to specializedassets make the industry less attractive.The hospitality industry is strongly influenced by travel and tourism trends. Government protection for the tourism industry is very high and this in turn rubs off on the hotel industry making it thereby making the industry attractive in general. Competitive power of rivalry players This aspect describes the intensity of competition between existing players (companies) in an industry. High competitive pressure results or leads to pressure on price margins and on profitability for every single company in the industry. The following table shows the analysis of the rivalry between hotels. factors Ratings (5) Remarks. No. of competitions 4 (high) Small number of large operators Industry growth 3 (medium) Annual growth rate of 15% Fixed cost 1 (low) Highly capital intensive differentiations 4 (high) Strong brand name commands a very high price premium. Switching cost 2 (moderate) Low cost switching to similar brands Openness to terms of sale 4 (high) Price, taxes etc. are known Excess capacity 2 (moderate) Only 70% rooms occupied Strategic stakes 2 (moderate) Although large hotel companies have diversified they still have a majority stake in the hotel industry. Summary Porter Five Forces Factor Current Future Rating(5) Key Rationale Rating Key Rationale Threat of New Entrants 4   reasonable     5 sensible   Competitive Rivalry 4   reasonable   5 sensible   Threat of Substitute Products 3 average   4 reasonable   Supplier Relative Buying Power 5   sensible   4 reasonable   Buyer Relative Buying Power 4        reasonable 4   reasonable Conclusion Porter five forces analysis was used effectively to determine the hotel industries in Malaysia based on treat of new entrants, competitive rivalry, and treat of substitute products, suppliers-relative buying power, and buyer-relative buying power. Hotel is a very flourishing industry in Malaysia with not so many substitutes so the treat of substitute products is very low. Rivalry between hotels is not very high because rivalry is based on classification (5-star hotels compete against other 5-star hotels). Finally in the future relative buying powers will decrease because there will be many new entrants.

Rwanda Report :: essays research papers

Rwanda Report Rwanda is an African country in East Central Africa. Rwanda is just a very little degrees below the Equator which is not too shabby in my mind. Below the Equator would be in the south and so it is actually in south central. Get it South Central (get it)HA!HA! In Rwanda there are about seven hundred and ten per square which in my mind a whole lot of people I don't think even San Bernardino has that many but what do I know. Rwanda is twenty six thousand three hundred and eighty eight miles squared which in my mind is tiny but I'll say again what do I knows. So to figure out what the exact population of this measly little country you must multiply seven hundred and ten by twenty six thousand three hundred and eighty eight and you get a whole lot but when I looked in the book it said seven million two hundred twenty two thousand people. This enormous number doesn't look right but I am too lazy too get up and get a calculator too check so I'll take their word of it. The capital city in Rwanda is Kigali which is also the biggest city in Rwanda I can't find how big it is but it must be bigger than twenty miles square and under twenty six thousand three hundred and thirty eight square miles. The official name of Rwanda is called The Republic Of Rwanda. Rwanda is also landlocked which doesn't help much either. Since it is landlocked I will tell you which countries it is surrounded by on the north it is by Ughanda, on the east by Tanzanian the south by Burundi and finally on the west it is next to Zaire. Rwanda is one of the poorest countries in the world and it is one of the most densely populated country in the world. One of the reasons for Rwanda being in such a bad state of poverty is that there was a Civil war between the Hutu and the Tutsi which fought for stupid reasons. Well at least I think that they are stupid reasons but to them it was probably some serious stuff that they don't take very lightly. The Hutu are very short people that make up about ninety two percent of the population. The Hutu are not pygmies but they are very short people that are about three feet tall a piece which is about two feet shorter than I am and now that is pretty short in my mind.

The History of Schizophrenia

The History of Schizophrenia Schizophrenia is a severe psychiatric disorder with symptoms of emotional instability, detachment from reality, and withdrawal into the self. The word â€Å"Schizophrenia† is less than 100 years old. However the disease was first identified as a discrete mental illness by Dr. Emile Kraepelin in the 1887 and the illness itself is generally believed to have accompanied mankind throughout its history. There are documents that identify Schizophrenia can be traced to the old Pharaonic Egypt, as far back as the second millennium before Christ. Depression, dementia, as well as thought disturbances that are typical in schizophrenia are described in detail in the Book of Hearts. The Heart and the mind seem to have been synonymous in ancient Egypt. The physical illnesses were regarded as symptoms of the heart and the uterus and originating from the blood vessels or from purulence, fecal matter, a poison or demons. Some recent study into the ancient Greek and Roman literature showed that although the general population probably had an awareness of psychotic disorders, there was no condition that would meet the modern diagnostic criteria for schizophrenia in these societies. At one point in history, all people who were considered â€Å"abnormal,† whether due to mental illness, mental retardation, or physical deformities, were largely treated the same. Early theories supposed that mental disorders were caused by evil possession of the body, and the appropriate treatment was then exorcising these demons, through various means, ranging from innocuous treatments, such as exposing the patient to certain types of music, to dangerous and sometimes deadly means, such as releasing the evil spirits by drilling holes in the patient's skull. One of the first to classify the mental disorders into different categories was the German physician, Dr. Emile Kraepelin. He used the term â€Å"dementia praecox† for individuals who had symptoms that we now associate with schizophrenia. The nonspecific concept of madness has been around for many thousands of years and schizophrenia was only classified as a distinct mental disorder by Kraepelin in 1887. He was the first to make a distinction in the psychotic disorders between what he called dementia praecox and manic depression. Kraepelin believed that dementia praecox was primarily a disease of the brain, and particularly a form of dementia. Kraepelin named the disorder ‘dementia praecox' (early dementia) to distinguish it from other forms of dementia (such as Alzheimer's disease) which typically occur late in life. He used this term because his studies focused on young adults with dementia. The Swiss psychiatrist, Eugen Bleuler, coined the term, â€Å"schizophrenia† in 1911. He was also the first to describe the symptoms as â€Å"positive† or â€Å"negative. † Bleuler changed the name to schizophrenia as it was obvious that Krapelin's name was misleading as the illness was not a dementia (it did not always lead to mental deterioration) and could sometimes occur late as well as early in life. The word â€Å"schizophrenia† comes from the Greek roots schizo (split) and phrene (mind) to describe the fragmented thinking of people with the disorder. His term was not meant to convey the idea of split or multiple personality, a common misunderstanding by the public at large. Since Bleuler's time, the definition of schizophrenia has continued to change, as scientists attempt to more accurately delineate the different types of mental diseases. Without knowing the exact causes of these diseases, scientists can only base their classifications on the observation that some symptoms tend to occur together. Both Bleuler and Kraepelin subdivided schizophrenia into categories, based on prominent symptoms and prognoses. Over the years, those working in this field have continued to attempt to classify types of schizophrenia. Five types were delineated in the DSM-III: disorganized, catatonic, paranoid, residual, and undifferentiated. The first three categories were originally proposed by Kraepelin. These classifications, while still employed in DSM-IV, have not shown to be helpful in predicting outcome of the disorder, and the types are not reliably diagnosed. Many researchers are using other systems to classify types of the disorder, based on the preponderance of â€Å"positive† verses â€Å"negative† symptoms, the progression of the disorder in terms of type and severity of symptoms over time, and the co-occurrence of other mental disorders and syndromes. It is hoped that differentiating types of schizophrenia based on clinical symptoms will help to determine different etiologies or causes of the disorder. The evidence that schizophrenia is a biologically-based disease of the brain has accumulated rapidly during the past two decades. Recently this evidence has been also been supported with dynamic brain imaging systems that show very precisely the wave of tissue destruction that takes place in the brain that is suffering from schizophrenia. The 1800's saw a slow progression towards an eventual schizophrenia definition. From the 1800's on, schizophrenia history begins to gain ground as researchers began to understand the nature of the disease: Although the nineteenth century saw great strides towards a schizophrenic definition, â€Å"lunatic asylums† of the time were often little more than human zoos. For a fee, well to do ladies and gentlemen could tour the asylums, viewing the patients. No doubt the psychotic behavior of schizophrenics made them popular â€Å"attractions† during these degrading tours. Schizophrenia in Recent Times The start of the twentieth century saw, for the first time in schizophrenia history, a practical schizophrenia definition and the birth of effective treatments. In 1911 Eugene Beuler first used the term schizophrenia, and his schizophrenia definition includes symptoms such as blunted emotions, disordered thoughts, and loss of awareness. Then in 1957, Kurt Schneider created the schizophrenic definition still in use today, and is the first person in the long history of schizophrenia to list the currently accepted features of schizophrenia. Schizophrenia definitely has a very significant genetic component. Those who have a third degree relative with schizophrenia are twice as likely to develop schizophrenia as those in the general population. Those with a second degree relative have a several-fold higher incidence of schizophrenia than the general population, and first degree relatives have an incidence of schizophrenia an order of magnitude higher than the general populace. The History of Schizophrenia Treatment in the Twentieth Century Schizophrenia history abounds in unusual treatments and bizarre â€Å"cures. † Indeed, the twentieth century stands apart from the rest of schizophrenia history because it saw the first effective schizophrenia treatment: the first antipsychotic drug was created in 1952. The twentieth century also saw some controversial schizophrenia â€Å"cures. † Portuguese doctor, Egus Moniz, developed the lobotomy in the 1930s. Moniz won a Nobel Peace prize for his work in 1949. The lobotomy procedure cut the nerve fibers from the frontal lobe to the interior of the brain, where emotions are generated. Patients were less agitated and aggressive after a lobotomy. Of course, patients were also left indifferent and with blunted emotions, but this didn't squelch the lobotomy's popularity as a schizophrenia treatment. Patients could be released from hospitals after lobotomies, saving both hospitals and family members money. Lobotomy procedures varied. American neurologist John Freeman created perhaps the most bizarre procedure. Freeman traveled America performing lobotomies for the benefit of audiences comprised of journalists and medical professionals: to call him a medical showman isn't stretching the truth much. Freeman's lobotomies were simple, quick, and medically preposterous. With the patient under anesthesia, Freeman placed an ice pick (yes, you read that correctly) into an area just above the eyeball. Using a hammer, he drove the ice pick into the patient's brain to a depth of approximately one inch. Lobotomies fell into disfavor as people noticed patients often died from lobotomy-induced epilepsy or surgical infections. Severe brain damage was also shown in many cases (not that it should have required a study to prove an ice pick to the brain caused extensive damage). Still, between the 1940s and the 1950s over 40,000 Americans were lobotomized. Shock therapy was developed at the same time lobotomies were darkening schizophrenia history. Approaches to shock therapy varied. Some doctors used insulin injections; others preferred Metrazol or electricity. Insulin often left patients in comas. Both Metrazol and electricity caused seizures, and electric shock therapy often caused memory loss. Surprisingly, electroconvulsive therapy is still used to treat some cases of schizophrenia and severe depression. Current techniques are supposed to be much safer, but many medical professionals consider electroconvulsive therapy very dangerous, and something that should only be used as a last resort. Since schizophrenia may not be a single condition and its causes are not yet known, current treatment methods are based on both clinical research and experience. These approaches are chosen on the basis of their ability to reduce the symptoms of schizophrenia and to lessen the chances that symptoms will return. Medications For Schizophrenia: Antipsychotic medications have been available since the mid-1950s. They have greatly improved the outlook for individual patients. These medications reduce the psychotic symptoms of schizophrenia and usually allow the patient to function more effectively and appropriately. Antipsychotic drugs are the best treatment now available, but they do not â€Å"cure† schizophrenia or ensure that there will be no further psychotic episodes. The choice and dosage of medication can be made only by a qualified physician who is well trained in the medical treatment of mental disorders. The dosage of medication is individualized for each patient, since people may vary a great deal in the amount of drug needed to reduce symptoms without producing troublesome side effects. The large majority of people with schizophrenia show substantial improvement when treated with antipsychotic drugs. Some patients, however, are not helped very much by the medications and a few do not seem to need them. No frames is difficult to predict which patients will fall into these two groups and to distinguish them from the large majority of patients who do benefit from treatment with antipsychotic drugs. A number of new ntipsychotic drugs (the so-called â€Å"atypical antipsychotics†) have been introduced since 1990. The first of these, clozapine (Clozaril), has been shown to be more effective than other antipsychotics, although the possibility of severe side effects – in particular, a condition called agranulocytosis (loss of the white blood cells that fight infection) â€⠀ requires that patients be monitored with blood tests every one or two weeks. Even newer antipsychotic drugs, such as risperidone (Risperdal) and olanzapine (Zyprexa), are safer than the older drugs or clozapine, and they also may be better tolerated. They may or may not treat the illness as well as clozapine, however. Several additional antipsychotics are currently under development. Antipsychotic drugs are often very effective in treating certain symptoms of schizophrenia, particularly hallucinations and delusions; unfortunately, the drugs may not be as helpful with other symptoms, such as reduced motivation and emotional expressiveness. Indeed, the older antipsychotics (which also went by the name of â€Å"neuroleptics†), medicines like haloperidol (Haldol) or chlorpromazine (Thorazine), may even produce side effects that resemble the more difficult to treat symptoms. Often, lowering the dose or switching to a different medicine may reduce these side effects; the newer medicines, including olanzapine (Zyprexa), quetiapine (Seroquel), and risperidone (Risperdal), appear less likely to have this problem. Patients and families sometimes become worried about the antipsychotic medications used to treat schizophrenia. In addition to concern about side effects, they may worry that such drugs could lead to addiction. However, antipsychotic medications do not produce a â€Å"high† (euphoria) or addictive behavior in people who take them. Another misconception about antipsychotic drugs is that they act as a kind of mind control, or a â€Å"chemical straitjacket. † Antipsychotic drugs used at the proper dosage does not â€Å"knock out† people or take away their free will. While these medications can be sedating, and while this effect can be useful when treatment is initiated particularly if an individual is quite agitated, the utility of the drugs is not due to sedation but to their ability to diminish the hallucinations, agitation, confusion, and delusions of a psychotic episode. Thus, antipsychotic medications should eventually help an individual with schizophrenia to deal with the world more rationally. Treatment of schizophrenia depends upon a life-long regimen of both drug and psychosocial, support therapies. While the medication helps control the psychosis associated with schizophrenia (e. g. , the delusions and hallucinations), it cannot help the person find a job, learn to be effective in social relationships, increase the individual's coping skills, and help them learn to communicate and work well with others. Poverty, homelessness, and unemployment are often associated with this disorder, but they don't have to be. If the individual finds appropriate treatment and sticks with it, a person with schizophrenia can lead a happy and successful life. But the initial recovery from the first symptoms of schizophrenia can be an extremely lonely experience. Individuals coping with the onset of schizophrenia for the first time in their lives require all the support that their families, friends, and communities can provide. ———————– 1

Predicting Formulas of Ionic Compounds Example Problem

Predicting Formulas of Ionic Compounds Example Problem This problem demonstrates how to predict the molecular formulas of ionic compounds. Problem Predict the formulas of the ionic compounds formed by the following elements: lithium and oxygen (Li and O)nickel and sulfur (Ni and S)bismuth and fluorine (Bi and F)magnesium and chlorine (Mg and Cl) Solution First, look at the locations of the elements on the periodic table. Atoms in the same column as each other (group) tend to exhibit similar characteristics, including the number of electrons the elements would need to gain or lose to resemble the nearest noble gas atom. To determine common ionic compounds formed by elements, keep the following in mind: Group I ions (alkali metals) have 1 charges.Group 2 ions (alkaline earth metals) have 2 charges.Group 6 ions (nonmetals) have -2 charges.Group 7 ions (halides) have -1 charges.There is no simple way to predict the charges of the transition metals. Look at a table listing charges (valences) for possible values. For introductory and general chemistry courses, the 1, 2, and 3 charges are most often used. When you write the formula for an ionic compound, remember that the positive ion is always listed first. Write down the information you have for the usual charges of the atoms and balance them to answer the problem. Lithium has a 1 charge and oxygen has a -2 charge, therefore2 Li ions are required to balance 1 O2- ion.Nickel  has a charge of 2 and sulfur has a -2 charge, therefore1 Ni 2 ion is required to balance 1 S2- ion.Bismuth has a 3 charge and Fluorine has a -1 charge, therefore1 Bi3 ion is required to balance 3 F- ions.Magnesium has a 2 charge and chlorine has a -1 charge, therefore1 Mg2 ion is required to balance 2 Cl- ions. Answer Li2ONiSBiF3MgCl2 The charges listed above for atoms within groups are the common charges, but you should be aware that the elements sometimes take on different charges. See the table of the valences of the elements for a list of the charges that the elements have been known to assume.

MCAS essays

MCAS essays The whole Mcas testing is simply the plot of anxious politicians trying to make themselves look appealing in the lime light. They put kids like us through this horrible stress and agony so they will have an education reform to make. They give huge curriculums that are near impossible to accomplish unless school was extended by 2 hours a day and by excluding summer vacation. Teachers are never ready to teach all of this, half of it they were never taught themselves. Also, making it a requirement to pass high school is eronious. To say that a child has to know the field excavation plan of a ecologically stable grassland is completely irrelevant to the future they may plan in culinary arts. The MCAS are unfair, outrageous, and just a way for politicians to boost their ...

Ethics issue in end of life decision making Essay

Ethics issue in end of life decision making - Essay Example According to Dartmouth and the Mayo Clinic, Medicare provides between $25,000 and $50,000 for end of life care, due to the common need for older citizens to receive multiple specialist care in their last years of life (Abelson, 2009). These are very high payments in an already-strained Medicare system and, if the end of life care goes on for many years, families might be forced to take on the financial burden when government-sponsored healthcare payments are refused. Because approximately 30 percent of the population is over the age of 50, the scope of the problem is massive, especially during a period where Medicare payments are going to be reduced by the government in the next ten years. The Baby Boomer generation makes up 74 percent of all prescription drug spending, which is a $100 billion market (Reece, 2010). This is big business for pharmaceutical companies and various health care providers and contributes highly to their profit margins. Profit earned from this high-consuming, aging group of citizens helps different hospitals and pharmaceutical companies expand their business practices and make certain capital improvements. This professional group, as well as certain retailers, would likely be satisfied to see more aging citizens in the health care system, as older Americans also spend more on personal care products and health products than any other consumer group (stlouistimes.com, 2007). High concentrations of end of life care could spell regional or nationwide profit margins in many retail organizations, health care providers, and hospitals. There are considerable ethical concerns in this situation, as multiple specialist care might be provided to aging cit izens when such analyses are not required simply to ensure profit and receive continuous governmental payments through Medicare. At the political level, the current health care reform package

Compare Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 5

Compare - Essay Example In the US, students are allowed to be active participants rather than passive ones. They are allowed to question the teacher and are more involved in group discussions. On the other hand, education in UAE revolves around the teacher and the educational institutes. In such universities students are expected to follow a conformist style of education where they are expected to belief that what they are being taught is accurate and enough for them. Furthermore, there is even a major difference in the teaching methods of both the educational arenas. In the United States students are involved more in application based learning, while in the UAE students are expected to focus on the books and application is given no or very less importance. Furthermore, the people studying in the educational institutes of US experience a diverse range of students who belong to both eastern and western cultures, while students of UAE educational institutes mostly belong to Eastern regions. Bahgat, Gawdat. "Education in the Gulf Monarchies: Retrospect and Prospect." International Review of Education/internationale Zeitschrift Fuer Erziehungswissenschaft/revue Internationale De Leducation. 45.2 (1999): 127-36.

Journalism Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Journalism - Research Paper Example Both of the victims had criminal records and were not armed at the time of their deaths in the hands of police officers. A white police officer killed Michael Brown, a black teenager, while a Black police officer killed Taylor; a White who was two years older than Mr. Brown was, two days later. Understanding the cases as inter racial conflict would attract equal media criticism and coverage in a bid to condemn the conflict. Perceiving Taylor’s case as retaliation against the murder of a Black unarmed man by a White police officer could have even elicited greater reaction to Taylor’s murder but this was not the case. Responses to Taylor’s murder, posted days apart, illustrate the under-coverage or media blackout that the case received. A post, on a Thursday, criticized the liberal media for failing cover the story and another social media post, on a Sunday, noted that limited information had been published on the killer and no arrest had been made. This is contrar y to feelings that one person expressed that like the Brown case, people, and the media, by implication, needed to be angry over the Taylor murder (Richardson, 2014). The Brown case was considered an outlier and explains bias of the media because data shows that intra-racial crimes are more than inter racial crimes for Blacks and Whites, an observation that suggests that an incident of inter racial crime should not attract extreme levels of reaction. A crime in which the victim and the criminal are from the same race should therefore attract greater media attention for criticism and inter racial crimes in which the offenders are from different races should attract similar levels of criticism. While the Ferguson case attracted global mainstream media and serious riots, the Utah case attracted minimal riots that only the local media covered. The media is also blamed for a possible active role in fueling the Ferguson riots that escalated racial tension and promoted the false

Critical Disagreement Essay Example for Free

Critical Disagreement Essay Few modern writers reveal a more consistent intellectual development than Ernest Hemingway. In both his themes and the meaning he has found in them he has moved steadily and even logically from the earliest work of In Our Time to the significant orientation of The Fifth Column. The logic of this development has for the most part remained unnoticed by critics who have failed to realize that Hemingway, far from being a child of nature, is in fact an intellectual. They have presented him, consequently, as a sort of savage endowed with style, gifted but brainless. A Farewell to Arms ( 1929) takes us to the Italian front and includes a vivid account of the terrible retreat from Caporetto. An American lieutenant in the Italian Red Cross falls in love with an English nurse and she with him. Both have previously suffered more attrition than human nerves can stand, and in their passionate attachment they find a psychological refuge from the incessant horror of war. They escape to brief happiness in Switzerland, but in giving birth to a child the girl dies. The ending is far from inevitable. It is a comment on the looseness of Hemingways artistry that the moving picture version of this novel was equipped with alternative sad and happy conclusions. In A Farewell to Arms it is society as a whole that is rejected, social responsibility, social concern. Lieutenant Henry is in the War, but his attitude toward it is purely that of a spectator, refusing to be involved. He is leading a private life as an isolated individual. Even personal relations, of any depth or intimacy, he avoids; he drinks with the officers and talks with the priest and visits the officers brothel, but all contacts he keeps, deliberately, on a superficial level. He has rejected the world. Such an attitude is possible only to a sensitive and reflective person. Henry is no naive barbarian. He was studying architecture in Italy when the War began; he makes ironical remarks about sculptures and bronzes; his reflections and conversation contain allusions to Samuel Johnson, Saint Paul, Andrew Marvell, and Sir Thomas Wyatt. His flight from responsibility is the ultimate of the flight that Jake and Brett and Mike were trying to effect with drink and bullfights and sex. He is evading responsibility and emotion, taking refuge in simple primary sensations. Successfully, so far as the War is concerned: I was always embarrassed by the words sacred, glorious and sacrifice and the expression in vain . . . Abstract words, such as glory, honor, courage, or hallow were obscene beside the concrete names of villages, the number of roads, the names of rivers, the numbers of regiments and the dates. Characterization Hemingways greatness lies not in the range of his characterization or the suppleness of his style but in the astonishing perfection of these limited objectives. As Wilhelm points out, â€Å"the oppressive weight of death and anxiety in this object composition, subtly framed for the readers perusal, undercuts the scenes mask of well-beingtwo wartime colleagues bonding rather sophomorically in their desire for women. Henry imbues the elements of this expansive still life with symbolic import, foreshadowing events to come. Because objects are frequently used for characterization, Henrys possessions provide visual clues to the reader, but only as fragments in the larger narrative that withhold their essential meaning until the texts conclusion†. (Wilhelm) The very intensity of Hemingways nihilism in his first stories and novels proved, however, that his need for an ideal expression in art was the mark of a passionate romanticist who had been profoundly disappointed. The anguish of his characters was too dramatic, too flawless; it was too transparent an inversion. The symbols Hemingway employed to convey his sense of the worlds futility and horror were always more significant than the characters who personified emotions, and the characters were so often felt as personified emotions that the emotions became sentimental. The gallery of expatriates in The Sun Also Rises were always subsidiary to the theme that the period itself was lost; the lovers in A Farewell to Arms were, as Edmund Wilson has said, the abstractions of a lyric emotion. Hemingway had created a world of his own socially more brilliant than life, but he was not writing about people living in a world; he was dealing in stock values again, driving his characters between the two poles of a tremulous inner exaltation and an absolute frustration. What he liked best was to invoke the specter of damnation. But A Farewell to Arms is a tragedy, and the lovers are shown as innocent victims with no relation to the forces that torment them. They themselves are not tormented within by that dissonance between personal satisfaction and the suffering one shares with others which it has been Hemingways triumph to handle. A Farewell to Arms, as the author once said, is a Romeo and Juliet. And when Catherine and her lover emerge from the stream of actionthe account of the Caporetto retreat is Hemingways best sustained piece of narrativewhen they escape from the alien necessities of which their romance has been merely an accident, which have been writing their story for them, then we see that they are not in themselves convincing as human personalities. And we are confronted with the paradox that Hemingway, who possesses so remarkable a mimetic gift in catching the tone of social and national types and in making his people talk appropriately, has not shown any very solid sense of character, or indeed, any real interest in it. The people in his short stories are satisfactory because he has only to hit them off: the point of the story does not lie in personalities, but in the emotion to which a situation gives rise. This is true even in The Sun Also Rises, where the characters are sketched with wonderful cleverness. But in A Farewell to Arms, as soon as we are brought into real intimacy with the lovers, as soon as the author is obliged to see them through a searching personal experience, we find merely an idealized relationship, the abstractions of a lyric emotion. Against the gaiety, the warmth of A Farewell to Arms, Hemingway portrays, of course, the cumulative degeneration of the human temperament under the conditions of war. The novel is a series of human defeats within one continuous and terrible sequence: the rains, the cholera, the soldiers who mutilate themselves rather than go on fighting, the growing weariness of the Italian army which led up to Caporetto, the degeneration of Rinaldi himself who is symptomatic of the novels pattern, and at its start is so quick and alive. Contrasted against this in turn, in the love of Lieutenant Henry and Catherine Barkley we have another antithesis of increasing joy. The love and the despair are constantly related, intensely intertwined, and in the end almost gain the feeling of life and death themselves: the death preying upon the living organism of the lovers hope, eating into the flesh and destroying the form from page to page. Yet each change of form, each advance of destruction makes the life of the novel more vital, the life we know must yield, but in the manner of its yielding asserting itself beyond its destruction. A Farewell to Arms in this sense lies quite outside of the pattern of Hemingways development which we have been showing. For the feeling of tragedy in the novel comes precisely from the struggle to participate in life despite all the odds, from the efforts of the lovers to fulfill themselves in a sterile world, from the exact impact of the human will which Hemingway has negated. Yet even here we must notice that Lieutenant Henry turns his back upon our society after Caporetto. Following his personal objectives he abandons his friends, his responsibilities as an officer, the entire complex of organized social life represented by the army and the war. This farewell to arms is accomplished without request or permission. Lieutenant Henry, in fact, deserts, and his action is prophetic of his authors own future movement. You and me, says Nick to the Rinaldi of In Our Time, weve made a separate peace. And Hemingways separate peace was to embrace the woods of Michigan as well as Caporetto, the activities of normal times as well as war, and even at last the ordinary purposes of the individuals life within his society, as well as the collective purposes of society as a whole. Conclusion A Farewell to Arms is even more strictly the story of one man; here, even more than in The Sun Also Rises, the reader feels the cleft between the primary and secondary figures. Both books have the foreshortening of time which is more properly the privilege of the drama than of the traditional novel a technique toward which, since Hemingway demonstrated its immense value, American fiction has been striving with remarkable persistence. Back in the nineteenth century, when people like Henry James and Paul Bourget were taking such distinctions seriously, books like these would have been classified as novelas. I have some difficulty in feeling any wide gap between books in which Hemingway is reporting upon young men who are in character-tastes, occupations, age very much like himself, and books in which he drops the pretense of fiction in order to discuss the same materials in definite reference to himself. And why, to come directly to the main question, do we have to consider Death in the Afternoon and Green Hills of Africa such failures, anyway? One may not be particularly interested in bullfighting and still find that the considered statement, by an accomplished artist, regarding the effect on his own personality of the study of the worlds most stylized form of violence is a document of extraordinary interest, particularly if the artist is making a special effort to see himself clearly at the time. We can also agree with Edmund Wilson that as a book about animals Green Hills of Africa is dull, as we can agree with Max Eastman that as a manual of tauromachy Death in the Afternoon is silly, and still be passionately interested in Hemingways report on himself as a killer. I imagine the answer is that we were concerned by the apparent disappearance of a novelist who seemed to be losing his grip. Hemingway himself was aware of the danger and discoursed upon it for the benefit of the German traveler in the beginning of Green Hills of Africa. He also seemed to feel the danger of losing his memory for sharply characterized sensations, so essential to his kind of writing. In the books after 1930 he seems disproportionately intent on catching things before he forgets them. Works Cited Balbert, Peter. Courage at the Border-Line: Balder, Hemingway, and Lawrences the Captains Doll. Papers on Language Literature 42. 3 (2006) Bloom, Harold, ed. Ernest Hemingways a Farewell to Arms. Philadelphia: Chelsea House Publishers, 1987. Giles, Todd. Simon and Schusters Hemingway Audio Collection. The Hemingway Review 26. 1 (2006) Onderdonk, Todd. Bitched: Feminization, Identity, and the Hemingwayesque in the Sun Also Rises. Twentieth Century Literature 52. 1 (2006) Trodd, Zoe. Hemingways Camera Eye: The Problem of Language and an Interwar Politics of Form. The Hemingway Review 26. 2 (2007) Wagner-Martin, Linda, ed. Seven Decades of Criticism Seven Decades of Criticism. East Lansing, MI: Michigan State University Press, 1998. Whitlow, Roger. Cassandras Daughters: The Women in Hemingway. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1984. Wilhelm, Randall S. Objects on the Table: Anxiety and Still Life in Hemingways A Farewell to Arms. The Hemingway Review 26. 1 (2006)

Fathers role in molding his sons adolescence

Fathers role in molding his sons adolescence Over the years so many theories have made it evident that the father is a role model to his children, especially his son during the adolescence years. But none have discussed in what manner he affects, what are the domains in which he is influential and what factors play role to have these effects. Even after being the third in the mother-child dyad, how come the father becomes so important once the child is in his/her puberty, more importantly the son. This paper is an attempt to analysis the findings of the earlier studies done in this domain, to summate their findings and conclude the role of the father in molding his adolescent sons life. According to Freudian psychoanalytical view the father is considered to be a fear instigating factor in a sons life due to which he identifies with him. In a research study based psychoanalytical view of role of father as being the one who castrates shows the importance of identification with him as a gender role model for son for healthy development of sexual orientation later in life (Ceccarelli and Horizonte, 2003). This study explains that the lack/absence of a father who demands respect from the son and lay strong secure base for him to project his oedipal complexes by constantly defining limits, can lead to the construction of the nostalgia of the fathers protection as the transformation of this father into the symbolic father and his projection of his need for a father figure onto his sexual partners and also defining his sexual preference (the cases described in the study were of sons who had homosexual orientation). Therefore a male role model needs to be present for the son to develop sexual preferences which invariantly becomes prominent during the pubertal years, as the boy experiences new bodily changes. According to Zoja (2001) in his book The Father: Historical, Psychological, and Cultural Perspectives with Jungian analytical view, points that a single mother can assume the role of a father in preadolescent years of the child because the woman has been able to reconcile her role of mother with her role of lover, but later due to change in group dynamics and development of concept of gender-identity in adolescent years, need for an actual male father figure arises, for these adolescents form gangs which have a crude and regressive masculine psychology and its unconscious function is to challenge the father just as the gangs of animals are placed in masculine hierarchy. Sipsma, Biello, Cole-Lewis and Kershaw (2010) show that sons of adolescent fathers were 1.8 times more likely to become adolescent fathers than were sons of older fathers, as they l acked proper father figure in their life as their father themselves have not been mature enough to provide them with the strong security which is associated with a father. Adolescent boys with their father-present have higher male sex- role preferences than father-absent boys, though both father-present and father absent adolescent boys imitate male sex-role and female sex-roles which is not in correlation to their sex-role preferences. Moreover the masculine preferences are well established by age seven, more in father-present boys than in father-absent ones (Bandaines, 1976), showing clearly the role model that a father assumes quite early in his sons life. According to findings of Almeida and Galambos (1991), fathers acceptance of adolescent son increases with time, and as they get more involved in each other life, a better understanding may develop helping the adolescent child to deal with his conflicts. Moreover in single-earner families fathers tend to spend more time with the ir sons than their daughter which may be it being easy to identify with the same sex both ways. Thus it is clear that the presence of fathers who involve in their adolescent sons can lead to better feeling of acceptance in the child. Jones, Kramer, Armitage and Williams (2003) showed that the perceived quality of father-son (and mother-son) relation was negatively correlated with psychological separation: better the perceived quality, the less psychologically separated they were. Adolescent boys with non-resident fathers who had more frequent contact with their fathers experienced less psychological separation and more of overall healthy separateness. studies show that males who experience separation from their fathers early in life (before age 5yrs), even though they developed unhindered masculine preferences, experience high rate of low self-esteem and self-confidence, while those who are separated from their fathers later in life due to divorce of parents are less likely to marry and more likely to have common-law relationships (Covell and Turnbull, 1982). Robertson (1999) in his study found out that, variation in family structure, lack sense of attachment to family or parents, lack of shared leisure experiences with adolescent sons beyond age 10yr, and lack of interest in the adolescent sons live, especially by fathers lead to increased rated of delinquency in these boys. In a study done on African-American adolescent males involved in delinquent activities showed that, there was a detrimental effect of low socioeconomic-status on the delinquent activities of father-absent pubertal boys than those living in dual-parent families. Moreover the study showed that the parental monitoring done by the fathers was inversely correlated to the delinquent acts of the adolescent as these adolescent males benefited from being in a dual-parent family where they received paternal supervision besides maternal control (Paschall et al. 2003). With emergence of adolescence, drugs-use becomes a major concern and the experimenting youth become easy prey to such addiction. In such times the father can be a major influential factor in his sons life, who can either make him more prone to adapt to the habit or easy for him to stay away from such indulgence. Brook et. al.(1983) findings show that affectionate, emotionally supportive, attentive, involved in their sons life and engaging in meaningful conversation fathers have sons who dont smoke. Moreover fathers of nonsmokers have higher expectations from their sons and help to cultivate their ideas therefore may be encouraging their need for independence, which foster in their sons a sense of competence and achievement. On the other hand adolescent boys who smoked were unable to identify with their fathers beliefs and values and more identified with the stereotypical macho-masculine roles and that helped them to compensate for the poor paternal masculine role, which tend to spend less quality as well as quantity of time with their sons, and most of them smoke themselves. Apart from these the smokers differed from the nonsmoker adolescent boys on many personality traits; they tend to be less frustration tolerant, less compliant to family situations, less responsible and more rebellious and impulsive. The smoking behavior helps them to compensate for the feeling of low self-esteem, which develops due to a poor paternal role model. In another study Brook et. al (1981) found that adolescent marijuana users are less likely to perceive their fathers as less affectionate and child-centered, and they lack paternal control. Another domain in which fathers make a big contribution to adolescent sons is the area of subjective well-being and values-judgments. James R. Barclay (1980) in his study defines the role of a father in his adolescent sons development of values as that of, the masculine role model, the communicator (listening to different views and offering problem-solving methodologies), the moral model (striving to live somewhere between the absolutist and complete relativist) and the fallible reinforcing agent. Further studies show that fathers support is positively related to the psychological well-being of adolescent boys, especially those who are constantly bullied at school or by their peer group. (Flouri and Buchanan, 2002). In men positive parenting(by both or either parents) influenced psychological functioning by lowering psychological maladjustment in adolescence and increasing the odds of being partnered in midadulthood, it protected against psychological distress by promoting educationa l attainment and physical health in adolescence and young adulthood, and by increasing the odds of being religious and partnered in midadulthood, and it predicted life satisfaction by lowering psychological maladjustment in adolescence. (Flouri, 2003) Thus the involvement of father in a childs adolescent years, especially the son is more important so as to provide him with better gender role; help in developing better self-esteem and confidence, overall feeling of subjective-wellbeing and trust in long term commitments; and thus keeping a check on childs maladaptive behaviors such as that of engaging in early sexual relations, committing delinquency and abusing substances. Refrences: Almeida D. and Galambos N. Examining Father Involvement and the Quality of Father-Son Relations. Journal Of Research in Adolescence. 1991. 1(2), 155-172. Bandaines J. Identification, Imitation and Sex-Role Preference in Father-Present and Father-Absent Black and Chicano Boys. The Journal of Psychology, 1976. 92, 15-24 Barclay, J.R. Values of Adolescent Males and Father-Son Relations. The Personnel and Guidance Journal, 1980, 267-269 Brook J. et.al. The Role of the Father in His Sons Marijuana Use. The Journal of Genetic Psychology, 1981. 138, 81-86 Brook J. et.al. Fathers And Sons: Their Relationship And Personality Characteristics Associated With The Sons Smoking Behavior. The Journal of Genetic Psychology, 1983. 142, 271-281. Covell K. and Turnbull W. The Long Term Effects of Father Absence in Childhood on Male University Students Sex-Role Identity and Personal Adjustment. The Journal of Genetic Psychology, 1982. 141, 271-276. Ceccarelli and Horizonte, May I Call You Father? Int. Forum Psychoanal., 2003, 12, 195-203 Flouri E. Subjective Well-being in Midlife:The Role of Involvement and Closeness to Parents in Childhood. Journal of Happiness Studies 2004. 5: 335-358. Flouri and Buchanan. Life Satisfaction in Teenage Boys: The Moderating Role of Father Involvement and Bullying. Aggr. Behav. 2002. 28:126-133 Jones et al. The Impact of Father Absence on Adolescent Separation-Individuation. Genetic, Social and General Psychology Monographs, 2003, 129(1), 73-95 Knafo, A. and Shwartz S.H. Parenting and Adolescents Accuracy in Perceiving Parental Values, Child Development, 2003, Vol.74.2, 595-611 Paschall M., Ringwalt C. and Flewelling R. Effects Of Parenting, Father Absence, And Affiliation With Delinquent Peers On Delinquent Behavior Among African-American Male Adolescents. Adolescence, Spring 2003. 38:149, 15-34 Robertson. Leisure and Family: Perspectives of Male Adolescents who engage in Delinquent activity as Leisure, Journal of Leisure Research. 1999,Vol.31(4), 335-358 Sipsma et al. Like Father, Like Son: The Intergenerational Cycle of Adolescent Fatherhood, American Journal of Public Health, March 2010, Vol. 100.3, 517-524. Zoja, Luigi. The Father : Historical, Psychological, and Cultural Perspectives. Taylor Francis Routledge, 2001 .

Flannery OConnor’s The Enduring Chill :: OConnor Enduring Chill Essays

Flannery O'Connor’s The Enduring Chill Flannery O'Connor’s story, "The Enduring Chill." focuses on Asbury, a young man who fancies himself as a writer but who is convinced he is going to die young. Right from the very start we have the feeling that, as in the other stories, Christ/God is present through the figure of the sun: The sky was a chill gray and a startling white gold sun, like some strange potentate from the east, was rising beyond the black woods that surrounded Timberboro. (82) As the story proceeds it centres on the relationships between Asbury, his mother and Dr Block who attends Asbury and Asbury's growing conviction that he is shortly going to die, hence the title of the story, "The Enduring Chill." Another major symbol in the development of Asbury's obsession figures through the watermark or the water stain on the ceiling of Asbury's bedroom: When she was gone, he lay for some time staring at the water stains on the gray walls. Descending from the top moulding, long icicle shapes had been etched by leaks and, directly over his bed on the ceiling, another leak had made a fierce bird with spread wings. It had an icicle crosswise in its beak and there were smaller icicles depending from its wings and tail. It had been there since his childhood and had always irritated him and sometimes had frightened him. He had often had the illusion that it was in motion about to descend mysteriously and set the icicle on his head. He closed his eyes and thought: I won't have to look at it for many more days. And presently he went to sleep. (93) Clearly what is being suggested here is the peace of the Holy Ghost. In what is the climatic centre of the story, Asbury has a visit from a Roman Catholic Priest who accuses him of ignorance: "How can the Holy Ghost fill your soul when it's full of trash?" the Priest roared. "The Holy Ghost will not come until you see yourself as you are-a lazy ignorant conceited youth!" he said, pounding his fist on the little bedside table. (107) This is confirmed as the story proceeds because we find out that Asbury isn't really that sick at all: he only has a form of undulant fever and is going to live. At the very end of the story Asbury seems to give up his aspiration to be a great writer as he accepts the presence and power of Christ instead:

Financial Accounting 504 Final Project Essay

As noted in Wikipedia Oracle is headquartered in Redwood, California. It was founded in 1977 and is the world’s third largest soft wear developer in sales. According to Yahoo Finance Oracle is a multi-faceted operation. Oracle provides a vast amount of services for the internet and computer. It provides cloud applications, IT consulting services, licenses middleware software which includes database and database management. It has 115,000 full time employees and is run by co-founder, CEO Larry Ellison who has been the only CEO of the company since it’s inception. Also noted in Wikipedia he is the top paid CEO in the world. In 2013 Oracle currently has an operating cash flow of 13.72B with revenues of 37.15B which can be found in Yahoo Finance. Microsoft is a leading software company started by Bill Gates and Paul Allen in 1975. The company’s headquarters is located in Redmond, Washington where like Oracle it develops, licenses, manufactures and support a wide range of computing sources, as documented in Wikipedia. Yahoo finance reports that in addition to licensing and manufacturing software over the globe it also designs hardware and has recently entered into the hardware industry with it’s new tablet. It also has a entertainment division which is responsible for the manufacturing of Xbox360 gaming and consoles, Kinect for Xbox and video games among other products. It has a total of 94,000 full time employees and can be credited for creating 3 billionaires and 12 millionaires from the company’s operations. Microsoft currently has a cash flow of 73.79B with revenues of 76.01B for 2013. Interpretation and Comparison between the two companies’ ratios (Reading the Appendix of Chapter 13 will help you prepare the commentary) Oracle Corporation Microsoft Corporation Earnings per share As given in the income statement $1.69 Basic Common $2.73 Microsoft has shown to have a higher EPS than Oracle. Current ratio Current assets Current liabilities $39,174 $14,192 = 2.76 $74,918 $28,774 2.60 Oracle is showing more favorable current ratio than Microsoft. This ratio depicts for every dollar of current liabilites it has the respective amount in current assets. Gross Profit Ratio Gross profit Net Sales Gross Profit = net sales – COGS Oracle: 35,622 – 8,398 = 27,224 Microsoft: 69,943 15,577 = 54,366 $27,224 $35,622 = 76.4% $54,366 $69,943 77.7% Microsoft’s Gross Profit Ratio is slightly better than Oracle. Profit margin ratio Net Income Net Sales $8,547 $35,622 = 24.0% $23,150 $69,943 33.1% Microsoft has a better Profit Margin Ratio than Oracle. Inventory Turnover Cost of Goods Sold Average Inventory Average Inventory: 2011 + 2010/2 Oracle: 303 + 259/2 = 281 Microsoft: 1,372 + 740/2 = 1056 $8,398 $281 29.9 times $15,577 $1,056 14.8 times Oracle shows a significantly higher turnover than Microsoft. Days in Inventory 365 days Inventory turnover 365 29.9 = 12 days 365 14.8 25 days Oracle has better result than Microsoft Receivable Turnover Ratio Net credit sales Average Net Receivables Average Net Receivables: 2011 +2010/2 Oracle: 6628 + 5585/2 = 6107 Avg NR Microsoft:14987 + 13014/2 = 14001 Avg N $35,622 $6,107 = 5.8 $69,943 $14,001 5.0 Microsofts Receivable Turnover is faster than Oracle. Average Collection Period 365 Receivable Turnover Ratio 365 5.8 = 62.6 days 365 5.0 73.1 Oracle has a better result on the collection period. Assets Turnover Ratio Net Sales Average Total Assets Average Total Assets = 2011+2010/2 Oracle: 73535 + 61578/2 = 67557 Microsoft: 108704 + 86113 = 97409 $35,622 $67,557 = 0.53 $69,943 $97,409 0.72 Microsoft shows a better ratio. Return on Assets Ratio Net Income Average Total Assets $8,547 $67,557 = 12.7% $23,150 $97,409 23.8% Microsoft has a better return on their assets. Debt to Total Assets Ratio Total Liabilities Total Assets $33,290 $73,535 = 45.3% $51,621 $108,704 47.5% Microsoft is slightly higher so Oracle has a better ratio. Times Interest Earned Ratio Net Income + Int Expense + Tax Expense Interest Expense $12,219 $808 = 15.1 28,366 295 96.2 Microsoft has a much healthier ratio than Oracle. Payout ratio Cash dividend declared on common stock Net income $1,061 $8,547 = 12.4% $5,180 $23,150 22.4% Microsoft has a higher rate of dividend pay outs Return on Common Stockholders’ Equity Net income – Preferred stock dividend Average common stockholders’ equity Oracle Avg SE: 40245 + 31199/2 Microsoft Avg SE: 57083 + 46175/2 8,547 35,722.00 = 23.9% $23,150 $51,629 44.8% Microsoft earned more on the dollar of their net income for each dollar of the stockholder’s equity. Free cash flow Cash provided by operations minus capital expenditures minus cash dividends paid $9,703 = $9,703 $19,459 $ Microsoft has a considerable amount more Free cash 19,459 flow than Oracle Current cash debt coverage ratio Cash provided by operations Average current liabilities $11,214 $14,442 = 0.78 $26,994 $27,461 0.98 Microsoft has a better ratio of paying debt within the year. Cash debt coverage ratio Cash provided by operations Average total liabilities $11,214 $31,835 = 0.35 $26,994 $45,780 0.59 Microsoft has a better ratio. Price/Earnings ratio Market price as of 06/30/2011 EPS as of 06/30/2011 $34.22 $1.69 = 20 $26.87 $2.73 10 Oracle fairs better than Microsoft with the investor’s projection of the strength of future earnings Liquidity: Overall Oracle has shown to a better liquidity ratio than Microsoft. Some areas the two companies are relatively close in liquidity performance as depicted in the current ratio. In other areas Oracle proves to have much better performance than Microsoft as depicted in the inventory and days in inventory ratios however and current ratio. Oracle also has a faster collection period than Microsoft as reflected in the average collection period ratio. I would declare Oracle as having a better liquidity standing than Microsoft. Solvency: Microsoft is superior to Oracle in this ratio category. Although Microsoft has a little more risk than Oracle in the debt to current assest ratio which means that if necessary Oracle has a better opportunity to convert assets in to cash with a 45.3% while Microsoft is at 47.5% however; this is the only ratio that Oracle is more favorable than Microsoft. With Microsoft’s free cash flow of $19,459 billion versus Oracle’s $9,703, Microsoft is least likely to have the need to liquidate their assets. Free cash flow ratio gives insight to a company’s acquisition power, ability to eliminate or minimize debt and allows for a higher dividend payout. Microsoft has a better current cash debt to current liability ratio as well. For evey $1 in liability Microsoft as .98 cash from operating activities while Oracle has .78 from operating activities for every $1 of current liability. Given these analysis Microsoft has a better overall solvency status than Oracle. Profitability: This category of ratios is the more focused one by investors  because it gives the most accurate prognosis of a company’s most gain out of investmens from investors. Beginning with Gross Profit ratio the two companies are very close with Microsoft showing a 77.7% and Oracle showing a 76.4% they both fair pretty well in gross profits. Microsoft has an advantage over Oracle in all ratios in this category except for Price earning sharing ratio. The payout ratio and the return on common stockholder’s equity ratio are significantly higher than Oracle’s but Oracle has a higer price earnings per share ratio as stated earlier which signifies that investors believe that Oracle’s stock is going to increase over a period of time. Conclusion: Although based on the ratios Oracle seems to be a safer investment and deemed by investors for the fiscal year of 2011 to have higher potential in the market and as noted by Eddie Beverage in an online article on Five Capital website Oracle has shown consistency over the past decade than Microsoft with trending increases. However; given that Microsoft has a substantially higher payout and higher return on stockholder’s equity I would take the risk and go with Microsoft. Beverage, E. (2011, Oct 21). Microsoft V Oracle: You know you want one. Retrieved from Seeking Alpha. Oracle Corporation. (n.d.). Retrieved from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oracle_Corporation Weygandt, J., Kimmel, & Kleso, D. (2011). Financial Accounting. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Yahoo Finance. (n.d.). Retrieved June 22, 2013, from Yahoo: http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=ORCL Yahoo Finance. (n.d.). Retrieved June 22, 2013, from Yahoo: http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=MSFT Wikipedia. (n.d.). Retrieved June 22, 2013, from Microsoft: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft Wikipedia Oracle Corporation. (n.d.). Retrieved June 22, 2013, from Wikipedia: