Ford Motor Solution Essay

I. Strategic Profile Company overview: Ford Motor Company is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world which Henry Ford is the founder. The company manufactures and distributes automobiles in over 200 markets across six continents. The company’s strong brand portfolio gives it a significant competitive advantage. However, less vehicle production in developed markets would reduce demand for the company’s products, and have negatively impacting its financial performance. The Situation Analysis The US auto market was saturated, faced the decrease in product demand and increased competition from foreign manufacturers. Japanese cars such as Toyota, Nissan, and Honda had come and took market share in US market. Because of the rising gasoline price, the demand of customers had shifted from US manufacturers to more fuel efficient car like Japanese car. The economic downturn in US had also affected Ford to face loss. These made Ford sales decrease. Then, Ford has to reduce the cost. Ford has lay off workers, close assembly plants, reduce vehicle models, and restructuring plan. Ford reduced the number of retail outlets from almost 4,400 to 3,424. GM reduced its dealer to 4,500 and Chrysler reduced to 2,311. Most of Ford’s cuts were from larger metropolitan markets and the elimination of the Mercury brand. Also, cut approximately 35% of its Lincoln dealers. Ford also implements ONE Ford plan and its mission is ONE Ford, ONE Team, ONE Plan, and ONE Goal. In order to increase sale, Ford has develop marketing strategy by provide large amount of information about the car such as price, quality and style on the internet for the customers to access to those unlimited information to compare products and choose the vehicles that meet their needs. The General environment Economic: Economic crisis in 2006 that affected all the auto industry. Many of the company had to bankruptcy or close the business. Ford also had to close many factories, lay off workers, and reduce the dealership to save cost. Rising of gasoline prices make it more expensive for consumers. That makes Ford’s sales decline and less revenue returns. Even the economic in US is decrease but because of globalization. It increases the international opportunities to Ford mostly in emerging market such as China and India. Technology: Ford has invested heavily in the development of premium technology to better serve its customers and to improve the safety, security, fuel efficiency, and design. These technologies will help company to save cost, increase reputation, build good image, serve customers want, and can compete with competitors. The Industry environment Five Forces Analysis 1. Threat of new entrants There are many factors that restrict new comers to entry the industry. Being in the automobile manufacture, it required high capital to invest. The companies have to invest a lot in research and development to create new technology all the time. For example; Ford invested $135 million to design, engineer, and manufacture key components for its hybrid, plug-in hybrid and battery electric vehicles. The companies such as Ford, GM, and Chrysler are all has the reputation in the name itself. And those three are called as the Detroit Three, they claimed about 50.1% of the US auto market in June 2011.So, it is difficult for new rivalry to build the name and compete with. Moreover, they have more experiences and can produce vehicles that more closely matched consumer needs. Even thought, Japanese cars had come to take market share due to the rise up of gasoline price and environment concerns. So, some consumers had turn to them. 2. Threat of substitute products As the population increases and global warming problem, people have found alternative transportation methods such as trolleys, Dial-A-Ride, taxis, bicycles, and walking. Enhancing public transportation systems such as rail systems and subways is to develop urban areas. These might lead private car less necessary to people. Also, we have to be careful of the environment. Therefore, it creates the hybrid engine and fuel saving motor. 3. Bargaining power of suppliers Many suppliers had been close due to the recession. And because suppliers have to cooperate with automobile industry, when automobile companies’ sales reduce suppliers will also affected. Therefore, there are highly competitive in suppliers. Ford chose to make a long term agreement with select strategic global suppliers to obtain best technologies and materials. 4. Bargaining power of buyers The gasoline price is affected the customers to purchase cars. And their preferences are design for car produced and sold. Ford has to concern about the customer living life, style and what they want. So they can provide a car that answer the customers’ want to satisfy them the most. Buyers have power to control the price and design. Ford had used many media methods to reach the customers including newspaper, radio, television advertising, as well as social media. Buyers also make the price competition in industry. Ford had to produce at low cost to sell at low price. 5. Rivalry among competing firms There are high competitions in automobile industry in both domestic and international. There are many competitors in this business. Even, The Detroit Three took a biggest share in market the industry is still growing very fast due to new technology development. The competition from foreign manufacturers such as Toyota, Nissan, and Honda makes its more intense. It forced Ford to compete with others by maintain quality standard, new innovation, energy-efficient in order to increase the revenue and reduce cost. Internal Analysis (SWOT) 1. Strengths Ford has strong brand recognition as they are one of the biggest companies in industry. Ford has huge investment in research and development to create new technology and has capability for engineering. Ford operated business over six continents and has large group of customers in both domestic and international. Ford had wide network of distributors and dealers. The company change to use pull strategy to give higher priority in customer satisfaction and driven by customer demand and preferences. Moreover, Ford gets many awards about technologies they had invented. We can see the success of Ford from the global sales of the latest generation model Fiesta, available on five continents that sold more than 1 million. 2. Weaknesses Ford had recalled about 300,000 cars because of the possible fire danger from engine overheating problems. This might affect the image of Ford and the perception of customer toward company. 3. Opportunities Even the demand for vehicle in US had fell but it can replace by globalization. Ford has made attentions to emerging market in China and India. These two markets expected to grow very fast and become ranking to first three largest markets which have China, India and US. In addition, Ford has joint venture with many companies in foreign to create more strength. The population is now increasing rapidly so demand for car will be higher. And because there are trend of saving fuel, environmental, economic issues and increasing demand for dual fuel vehicles, Ford new hybrid vehicle model will gain a lot of interest. 4. Threats Asian car had come to take market share in US market. The prices of Asian cars are obviously lower. The demand for Japanese car has increase. This made Ford to reduce the price to maintain the market share and had to reduce the cost of production. Economic slowdown in US and Euro zone was also one factor that created Ford net losses. Competitors’ environment

Canadian Politics Essay

Some historical theorists say that the dissimilarities between America and Canada are established in the Revolution of America, a subject that dominated most studies in the history of Canadian. With the creation of the US, the core founders of the US supported republicanism, refusing the Westminster structure of parliamentary democracy. Republicanism that inspired Americans pressured independence, an aversion to corruption, and innovation, counterbalanced by an apparent need for loyalty to public duty. Many Americans in planning a unique American path, freighted, and therefore refusing, a sturdy nation, which is central government. This paper looks into the different ways to which the Canadian political structures differs with those of the US. America and Canada are both governed under constitutions; Canada’s constitution is partly conventional and partly written, and that of the US fully codified. The ultimate interpreter of the constitutions of both countries is their own supreme courts. Nevertheless, the High Court of the US has a more stretched history of constitutional implementation than the High Court of Canada. Canada’s Constitution contains of Acts of both the legislature of the UK and the National Assembly of Canada, but because of the Canada’s federalism, several Acts of regional parliaments like the lawmaking Assembly of Ontario. The Constitution was altered in 1982, at which the Canadian Charter of Rights, Freedoms and amending formulas were included. The other one basic concept on these differences is the dissimilarity between the US congressional system and the Canadian parliamentary system. More differences occur from the legal/political perception of division of powers and the authority of the head of state. The President of the US is the head of government and head of state, while Canada’s Prime Minister is not head state but only head of government (Charlton, 1998). Another distinction is the Governor General and his or her cabinet ministers- also playing roles as legislators, represent the combination of power in Canada’s system, with the part of the monarch. Ministers of the crown are normally directly elected by their respective electorates known as ridings who advise the monarch or the Vice Governor General on how to practice his Crown authority and as Members of the legislature in the Canadian House of Commons. Even though neither the Governor general nor monarchs are lawfully required to select his or her cabinet Members from the House. This indicates those in charge of executive duties also contribute as legislators in the policy discussions and lawmaking process features of their duties as Members of National Assembly. By contrast, the US president has no official duty as a legislator, but only implementing and enforcing laws passed by Congress. The President of the US contributes in only informal, occasional, gatherings with Senators and Representatives. Only formally, addresses once in a year in the two term of his Presidency the gathered houses of the Congress, the Cabinet, and the Justices of the High Court of the US (James, 2004). The checks and balances in Canada are very opposite from those in the US, it can be debated that within Canada that the Prime Minister has additional authority than the US President. Canada’s executive and legislative branch draw from each other, the viceroy hardly uses their powers without the consent of the Prime Minister. This only occurs from situations brought on by constitutional crisis. To ensure the firmness of government, the Governor must always select for his Prime Minister a member who has the biggest group of followers in the Canadian Common House. The Prime Minister must resign or order the General to call for an emergency election or be forced out by the governor general if a big number of the house vote against the government on serious matters of the country. The Prime Minister of a marginalized government is in a much dangerous situation than any United States president, which his presidency term is secured by the law. Often times of cohabitation are also there in the US known as divided government. Happens when different group than the White house directs congress. The President has incomplete control over the members of the House and must regularly make deals for there support. This leads to a stalemate that greatly slows down the law-making process (Charlton, 1998). It is known that the lack of individual identity which characterizes the resulting efficacy of the combined policy activity of the individuals participating in, and influencing the progression of, the US separation-of-powers system in contrast to the personal identity that characterizes the resulting efficacy of the aggregate policy activity of individuals participating in, and influencing the progression of, the Canadian fusion-of-powers system that truly makes this distinction meaningful. An example (putting federalism aside, arguendo) would be the one political actor in Canada responsible for motivating national defense policy decisions for Canada, the Minister of National Defense, contrasted with three(the Secretary of Defense, and the two chairs of the Senate Committee on Armed Services and House Committee on Armed Services) sometimes adverse political actors responsible for the direction of national defense policy Centralization of power in Canada has some benefits and legal responsibility when matched with the United State system. A good line of authority/power showing to whom the government is accountable for any particular duty Unlike the U. S. (James, 2004). There is also the issue of political parties whereby the Canadian House of Commons has seats for four political parties while US has only two political parties in Congress. Both Canada and the US use first post system to elect their representatives. This type of a system can sometimes exaggerate regional interests and disparities, e. g. Dixiecrats and Quebec of the southern. The meltdown of progressive Conservation party and the rise Quebecois party changed the political field in Canada. At the past only two parties dominated federal politics like the US, these parties were the Progressive Conservatives and the liberals, the Liberal held power for most of the 20th century until they were known as Canada’s natural governing party. Different from the US, Canadian third parties have always been able to get Members of parliament elected into the National Assembly since 1921, at times succeeding one of the two main parties as Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition or forming casual coalition governments (Paul, 1992), In my opinion there are great differences regarding the way political cultures in Canada and the US. This is clearly shown on how the different political institutions in both countries are being managed and the structure through which these institutions are developed. Therefore, it would be appropriate for one to say that the Canadian political culture is not and has never been Americanized even though there are some aspects of similarity in other government structures References Charlton, Barker (1998). Crosscurrents: Contemporary Political Issues Edition 5. ITP Nelson, Michigan Collins, Richard. (1991). Culture, communication and national identity: The case of Canadian television. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. James Bickerton, Alain Gagnon (2004). Canadian politics. Broadview Press, New York John C. Pierce, Nicholas P,(2000). Political culture and public policy in Canada and the United States: only a border apart? Edwin Mellen Press, Michigan Paul Attallah (1992), Richard Collins and the Debate on Culture and Polity, Canadian Journal of Communication, Vol 17, No 2 Nelson Wiseman (2001) Pathways to Canadian Political Culture consensus, Retrieved on 14th March 2009 from www. ubcpress. ca/books/pdf/chapters/2007/insearchofcanadianpoliticalculture. pdf

Causes of changes in wheat prices

Causes of changes in wheat prices Since the summer of 2010, we have seen the price of wheat significantly increasing. In this essay I will outline the possible reasons why wheat prices have shot up in recent months and also introduce methods of intervention that can be used to try and contain the price rises. This year has seen irregular weather patterns considerably affecting harvests in many major wheat producing countries. This has in fact manufactured the recent spike in wheat prices across the globe. Russia’s harvest has been the most significantly affected by the weather. During the summer, Russia and the Ukraine had been experiencing severe droughts and wildfires which have prevented the growth of crops, also destroying a third of their produced wheat. As a consequence, Russia announced a ban on all exports of their grain from the 15th August – end of December, which was then extended into 2011. After the failure of the Russian harvest alone wheat prices shot up by 20% alone, illustrating a rest riction in supply of the grain. After this announcement the US Department of agriculture cut its projections for the next year’s world production of wheat by 15.3m tonnes to 645.7m tonnes. However, it is important to note that wheat stocks are higher still than crisis levels witnessed in 2007-08. This projection and halted production have caused wheat prices to increase on the future markets to their highest levels since the last crisis. Canada, the 2nd largest wheat exporter in the world has been severely affected by heavy rains which have prevented farmers planting seeds and also destroying hectares of land, considerably damaging next year’s harvest. India, the 2nd largest wheat producer, was hit by severe monsoon rains in August which heavily affected their wheat storage. They had insufficient storage, causing around 10m tonnes of wheat to be at risk of rotting due to it being exposed to the rain. Also, Egypt, Serbia, Australia and Pakistan have been hit by major fl oods which have destroyed up to a fifth of the countries crops, reducing supply further and aiding the price increases. The combined effect of these weather disasters is shown in the diagram below: The diagram shows that supply has fallen from S1-S2. This has reduced output from Q1-Q2 and increased the price from P1-P2. Here you can see that the change in price is considerably larger than the change in output. This is due to the fact that wheat is a necessity and therefore is price inelastic, which is represented by the inelastic demand curve. This means that with a reduction in the supply of wheat, even if it is below crisis levels seen in 2007-08, there will be a large increase in price. Another reason why prices have been rising lately is because of the rapidly increasing global population. The global population is rising so fast because emerging countries have the fastest increasing population rates. Many emerging countries are becoming wealthier meaning that demand for grains i s increasing faster than the population. However, it may be argued that recent spike in wheat prices has been caused by uncertainty in the market and panic buying, as a result of export restrictions and a fall in supplies. It may also be argued that recent price rises have been exaggerated due to ‘Speculators’. These are investors who purchase wheat on the commodities markets expecting further price rises and are compressing supply whilst making profits from doing so. This results in short term increases in the price of wheat, which is what we have witnessed in recent months.

Articles of Change Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Articles of Change - Research Paper Example Labor Market Effects of Wal-Mart Expansion, by Basker (2008), the rationale for change entails trends in the labor market as Wal-Mart operations expand. Need for change is influenced by variant factors in the organizational setting. In Aparna, Hui, and Hyuntak’s text, streamlined employment laws and regulations act as the external pressure driving the underlying change. On the other hand, change in Basker’s text is driven by market forces in the labor market as business expansion creates job opportunities. In the contemporary times, globalization is increasingly becoming a critical pressure behind need for change. In the two publications presented above, this pressure is essentially in play. International linkages and relations have redesigned labor markets across the globe, and they have also influenced global demographics in the workplace (Leslie & Linda, 2012). The chosen publications exhibit both commonalities and differences. Both articles address trends in the labor market. While the first one focuses on workplace demography, the second one evaluates growth and development of the labor force subject to organizational expansion. Therefore, different approaches are employed to capture trends in labor demand and supply. Change in the organizational context is designed to enhance organizational performance. In this respect, an organization pursues change as it deems it necessary relative to the set organizational goals and objectives. Therefore, all organizational changes are legitimate, but what matters is their urgency. The urgency of organizational change is influenced by the actual operations that constitute the change. In the light of the chosen publications, changes regarding workplace demography are more urgent than shifts in labor demand and supply that are triggered by organizational expansion. This is because expansion plans can spread over a long period of time, within which workplace demography is

Summary Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 2

Summary - Coursework Example For instance, an immigrant child is able to communicate by both their native language and the foreign language. In addition, a child is enabled to understand different languages easily due to their versatile minds. This ability also increases their suitability to balance the requirement to speak with different languages at different contexts. Sorace & Ladd (2015) assert that this is easily attainable regardless of the assumption that children may confuse their language selection. The article develops the assumption that children learn better in natural environments. This eradicates the need to educate children on different language. Sorace & Ladd (2015) point out that children learn easily through natural exposure regardless of their age and native language. The author further points out that as they develop they evaluate the importance of each language in their social life. At this point, parents are required to provide a balanced exposure to the languages a child is exposed to. From the article, the advantages of bilingual children is sensitized. The article disregards numerous misconceptions that children may suffer from the effects of bilingual skills in their language development efforts. Conclusively, bilingual children are massively benefited, and have the ability to balance their bilingual

Handling a Virus Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Handling a Virus - Essay Example B cells are also a part of the immune system but are produced in the bone marrow of the subject thus the letter B is used to denote them. Millions of variations of these cells are produced by humans and they circulate the body to produce antibodies once they are activated. A B cell has to come across its respective antigen and on the reception of a chemical signal from a T cell it can change itself to create an immune response. Knowing that HIV enters the body to inject macrophages and CD4+ T cells through glycoproteins on the surface to the receptors on other cells shows us that the Virus is attacking the very cells which could possibly envelop and destroy it (ADARC, 1999). Therefore, we would have to seek out ways in which certain T cells or B cells could be created which recognize what the virus actually is instead of simply attaching themselves to the virus to be destroyed. Since the creation of these T cells requires research on the virus itself, we would require live as well as dead samples of the virus that could be used on various mammals to see how their bodies respond to the virus and to see if any particular cells are generated by the subject which could lead to a cure for the virus in the shape of a vaccine. The surface point which would be a good target for the researchers could be the glycoprotein gp120 that normally connects to healthy cells in order to affect and infect them.

Speech Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Speech - Essay Example With this idea in mind, she further stressed that their own government, who is supposed to be the one protecting their rights as citizens of this country, is treating women unjustly. Per the Fourteenth Amendment that was adopted in 1968, no legal rights could be denied to any individual born in the United States. Anthony decided to question the government against the context of the amendment by stating that women born in this country are citizens, and are hence entitled to their rights including the right to vote. The ultimate purpose of her speech is to encourage all citizens, both women and men, to come together and fight for a cause. In the following pages, the different concepts of persuasive speech will be used to critically analyze Anthony’s speech. To obtain her purpose, one could say that Anthony used both pathos and logos effectively in her rhetoric. As a backgrounder, pathos is one of the three modes of a persuasive rhetoric. It is the element that appeals to the emotions of the audience. Logos, on the other hand, is the element that appeals to the logical side of the audience. It is also one of the three modes of a persuasive rhetoric. Anthony started her speech by saying â€Å"friends and fellow citizens† to appeal to the emotions and logic of the listeners --- â€Å"friends†, to connect to the listeners’ emotions, and â€Å"fellow citizens†, to subtly hint that they are all equal, holding the same set of rights and privileges, and governed by one set of laws. She stated her argument in a way that expressed her anger, disgust, and rationale. She referred back to the preamble of the Federal Constitution and stressed out that the â€Å"we† that pertains to the people of the United States m eans every individual regardless of gender. She emphasized it further in the fourth paragraph by repeatedly pointing out

1 page synopsis that you think embodies the notion of skepticism Essay

1 page synopsis that you think embodies the notion of skepticism - Essay Example He believes that huge advancements made in scientific research would enable us to meet the aliens on equal footing. The author actually means that as history of civilization has shown, development of society vis-Ã  -vis education, science and technology and democratic pattern of society has made us more tolerant and inclusive society that thrives on understanding and mutual respect. So the more advanced aliens would also behave in similar way and would prefer to understand and corroborate rather than destroy us. It is for this reason that he is skeptic of Stephen Hawking’s prophecy that aliens would be like nomads who would be colonizing planets when they reach there. The article is interesting because it discusses aliens’ invasion or their encounter with us in future. He has doubts about Stephen Hawking’s belief about the nature of encounter with aliens because of his idea that advancements have made us more civilized! Indeed, it has resulted in development but today, we have more wars and acts of violence which have become lethal due to technology. So aliens could be violent species and we should be prepared for that. (words:

Russian Imperial Culture Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Russian Imperial Culture - Essay Example Imperialism is an exploitative system of administration in which certain group comes to a territory and exploits the people of their wealth. Fundamentally, however, monopoly and finance capitalism are logical developments from free, competitive capitalism; political imperialism is a logical development of monopoly capitalism; war is a logical development of imperialism. Wars were therefore very important aspects of imperial Russian culture. The Russian state persistently battled against Nogai-Horde and Crimean khanat which were successors of the Golden Horde. Russians captured by nomads were sold on Crimean slave markets. In 1571 the Crimean khan Devlet-Girei, with a horde of 120 thousand horsemen, devastated Moscow. Annually thousands of Russians became victims of attacks by nomads. Tens of thousands of soldiers protected the southern borderland - a heavy burden for the state which slowed its social and economic development. In the beginning of the 16th century the Russian state set the national goal to return all Russian territories lost as a result of the Mongolian invasion and to protect the borderland against attacks of hordes. The noblemen, receiving a manor from the sovereign, were obliged to serve in the army. The manor system became a basis for the nobiliary horse army. Russians emraced nobility as a... In 1648 the Cossack Semyon Dezhnev discovered the strait between America and Asia. The greater and more expansive Russian Empire was born. Muscovite control of the nascent nation continued after the Polish intervention. Peter the Great, brought ideas and culture from Western Europe to a severely underdeveloped Russia. Catherine the Great, enhanced this effort, establishing Russia not just as an Asian power, but on an equal footing with Britain, France, and Germany in Europe. She enlarged the Russian empire by the Partitions of Poland. Russia had now taken territories with the ethnic Belarus and Ukrainian population, earlier parts of the medieval Kievan Rus'. As a result of the victorious Russian-Turkish wars, Russia's borders expanded to the Black Sea and Russia set her goal on the protection of Balkan Christians against a Turkish yoke. Russia and the Georgian Kingdom (which was almost totally devastated by Persian and Turkish invasions) signed the treaty of Georgievsk according to which Georgia received the protection of Russia. After Peter the Great, Russia emerged as a major European power. Examples of its post-Peter European involvement includes the War of Polish Succession and the Seven Years War. These wars were necessary to preserve the Russian empire and preserve the sovereignity of the Russian people. Each well-developed national mythology has produced what can be called the culture of the ordinary. It has to do with everyday life of men and women over a period of time. It could be said that the culture of imperial Russia was based on wars and economic exploitation. Museums could capture the dress (uniform), the weaponry and

Manila and Jose Rizal Essay Example for Free

Manila and Jose Rizal Essay Jose Rizal is our national hero but seriously i don’t know a lot about him. But when I watched the film about Dr. Jose Rizal I was shocked and amazed because of his sacrifice for our country. I though the he was a brilliant individual. He served as an inspiration to all Filipino. During his lifetime, he spent many years outside the Philippines, enriching himself through education, especially in Madrid, Spain. The distance did not diminish nor reduce his love for his country. Far from his motherland, he looked across the seas to find its strength, as well as its weaknesses, in order to uplift it from the abuses of foreign rule. One of the problems and this I feel strongly, with our current approach to Rizal is that it removes him from our ability to relate. But to continue to hold that up as a reason why he should be admired is kind of ridiculous. Because of how we approach Rizal, with all these misguided attempts at humanizing him, we fail to approach him as he would have wanted: Through his ideas, his dreams, his hopes, his understanding in the Philippines, his words that inspire many Filipinos. His real words, not those carefully edited. Not the number of women he supposedly slept with. And most definitely not in the number of languages he spoke. Rizal and I shared the same belief that students must be urged by patriotic ideals and by their passionate love for their country, the Philippines, love for truth and proper values of education. Dr. Jose P. Rizal had given proof of desiring liberty for his country, and he set down as a premise, the education of the people. His teachings greatly influence in me. Like him, I believe in people power and consider myself a modern Rizal youth of today, as the hope of my motherlands tomorrow. He is very nationalistic and I want to reserve my nationalism as well. Like Rizal, Im proud to be a Filipino.

The History Of Visual Effects

The History Of Visual Effects The moving images has always enthralled and surprised its viewers. Since the first ever video of horse running to prove his animal feature to the latest video featuring Akon or Eminem, or to the latest film avatar which took 10 long years for its completeion, this medium of Moving Visual Images has come a long way and still far more to go and explore. The most influencial among these moving images is the medium of cinema. I has a strong hold on people, they never get tired of movies. This is the key thought behind movie making . If the people are showing any hesitation towards the movies, the makers would soon come up with new ideas and technologies. If the Improvement is in the field of technologies it would certainly be containing the word Effects in its priority list. Effects is the most important and key part behind the film Industry now. More than 90% of films releasing today has a Special or Visual Effects sequence in some part of its running time or may be the entire movie would be VFX showcase. The first film screening was done on December 28, 1895 showing 10 short films of 20 minutes in total was held in the basement launch of the Grand cafe on the boulvard des capucines in Paris, and the inventers of this technique of capturing and projection of sequence of images were by the Lumere Brothers. And now A single film is releasing world wide on the same day in more than thousands of theatres. The growth of the Industry was in tick of a time but this tick of time has a lot more to say. Louis Lumiere once said about cinema Cinema is an invention without any future. He might have been right when he made this statement, The period of invention, Invention of usabel electricity, steel and petroleum products which inturn lead to the second Industrial revolution. But that statemnt of Louis Lumiere would be a joke at this poit of time, In this era of technologies and development, A period when manpower is questioned by the machines. Experiments were the key to improvement, innovation and inventions. The technologies dint come up by itself There is a lot of hard work and lot of man power behind it. A small brief of the eveolution of Effects. Special Effects Smokes and mirrors were the first visual effects tool used in the begning of movie making to create Effects. The smoke and mirrors with the help of tricky camera techniques startled the audience. This was achiedved with the help of human inablity of vision, that they will see sequence of images as they are in motion and not as single images. These was scientifically called as the persistance of vision. These simple techniques were produced within the camera, such as simple jump-cuts or superimpositions, or were created by using miniatures, back projection, or matte paintings. The first ever Special effect used ina motion picture is called Stop trickand It was the first type of photographic trick in motion pictures. The trick is simple,Executed by Alfred Clarke in 1895. While filming a reenactment of the beheading of Mary, Queen of Scots, Clark instructed an actor to step up to the block in Marys costume. As the executioner brought the axe above his head, Clarke stopped the camera, had all of the actors freeze, and had the person playing Mary step off the set. He placed a Mary dummy in the actors place, restarted filming, and allowed the executioner to bring the axe down, severing the dummys head. George Melies a French magician is a personality whom I shouldnt miss when speaking about the History of Special Effects. He is also reffered as the Cinemagician. George melies accidently discovered the same Stop trick. While he was filming in the streets of paris, his camera got jammed. And later when it was screened He found that Stop Trick has caused a truck turn into a hearse, Pedestrians to change direction and men turned into women. Melies the stage manager at the theatre Robert-Houdin, was inspired to develop na series of more than 500 short film, between 1896 and 1914, in the process developing or inventing such techniques as multiple exposures, time-lapse photography, dissolves, and hand painted color. Because of his ability to seemingly manipulate and transform reality with the cinematography. He used this trick when shooting his eight-and-a-half minute famous Nickelodeon based on Jules Vernes From the Earth to the Moon. This video featured a combination of live action andanimation, and also incorporated extensive miniature and matte painting work. Introduction To Visual Effects Visual Effects or VFX is a subsidiary part of special effects. What is VFX Visual Effects (Visual FX/VFX) is the various process by which imagery is created or manipulated outside the context of a live action footage. Visual Effects involve the Integration of computer generated Realistic Environments, characters or Effects which is dangerous, costly or simply impossible to capture on film. The technique of Visual Effects is now commonly used in Big Budget films as the generation is a costly business. The Availability of affordable Compositing and 3D softwares creates a wave among the amateur film makers to include these techniques in their films too. Different Techniques Involved or Integrated with Visual Effects Animation: Animation is the technique by which images which would be 2D or 3D artwork or model position shown in a sequence such that it creates an illusion of motion. This is due to the optical illusion of motion which is in turn by the persistence of vision of our eye. The most common method of presenting this would be motion picture or a video program although there are plenty of other methods. Chroma key: Chroma key compositing or Chroma Keying is the technique of compositing two images or frames together in which a color or small color range from the above image is removed or made transparent revealing the image behind it. This technique is also referred as Colr keying or Color separation overlay green screen or Blue screen. Compositing: Compositing is the combining of of visual elements from various sources to one image, creating an illusion that all these elements are the part of the same scene. Live action shooting for various compositing are called, chroma keying, green screen, blue screen etc. All compositing involves replacing one part of an image with another part from another image. In the digital method of compositing the software command designates a narrowly defined color as part of an image to be replaced. Then every pixel from the source image is replaced by the pixel from the image which has to be in place. That should be aligned in such a way that the whole composition should look like a single image or frame. Computer Generated Imagery: Computer Generated Imagery or CGI is the application in the field of Computer graphics or more precisely 3D computer graphics to special Effects in films, Television programs, Commercials etc. CGI is used for films because its controllable than the other physical processes like Constructing miniatures or calling Extras for the crowd sequence. And the advantage CGI has over other mediums is that It can be controlled and edited by one individual/CG Artist without the help of Actors, Expensive set pieces or Costly props. Matte Painting: A matte Painting is the painted representation of a landscape, Set or Distant location that allows filmmakers to create an illusion which would rather be very much expensive, impossible to visit or shoot on a live action film. During the course of time since its first usage, The artist have used and experimented different techniques on matte painting. But the quality of output of matte painting is seamless and is directly proportional to the skill level of the artist and his imaginations. Rear Projections: Rear Projection is an in- Camera special effect technique used in film productions to combine foreground performance with pre-filmed backgrounds. It was widely used and still being used to show background motions like driving or a distant Background motion. The projector is placed behind the screen which is called plate and casts a sequence of images on to the screen. As the projector is behind the screen a reversed image is casted which makes the image looks fainted or washed out . A large area of space is occupied for this kind of projections as the projector is kept at a distance from back of the screen. Since the screen is called plate, Roll Plate was the command given to the crew to roll the projector according to the time. Front Projection Effect: In contrast to rear projection, in front projection the background image is projected onto both the performer and a highly reflective background screen, with the result that projected image is bounced off the screen and into the lens of a camera. This is achieved by having a screen made of a retroreflective material such as Scotchlite, a product of the 3M company that is also used to make screens for movie theaters. Such material is made from millions of glass beads affixed to the surface of the cloth. These glass beads reflect light back only in the direction in which it came, far more efficiently than any common surface. The actor (or subject) performs in front of the reflective screen with a movie camera pointing straight at him. Just in front of the camera is a two-way mirror angled at 45 degrees. At 90 degrees to the camera is a projector which projects an image of the background onto the mirror which reflects the image onto the performer and the highly reflective screen; the image is too faint to appear on the actor but shows up clearly on the screen. In this way, the actor becomes his own matte. The combined image is transmitted through the mirror and recorded by the camera. Schà ¼fftan process: Its a special Effect technique used in the first of 20th century before being completely replaced by traveling matte. This process is named after its Inventor Eugen Schà ¼fftan(1893-1977)Schà ¼fftan placed a plate of glass at a 45-degree angle between the camera and the miniature buildings. He used the cameras viewfinder to trace an outline of the area into which the actors would later be inserted onto the glass. This outline was transferred onto a mirror and all the reflective surface that fell outside the outline was removed, leaving transparent glass. When the mirror was placed in the same position as the original plate of glass, the reflective part blocked a portion of the miniature building behind it and also reflected the stage behind the camera. The actors were placed several meters away from the mirror so that when they were reflected in the mirror, they would appear at the right size. . Visual special effects techniques in rough order of invention practical effects in-camera effects miniature effects Schà ¼fftan process matte paintings rotoscoping Dolly zoom optical effects travelling matte aerial image effects optical printing bluescreen prosthetic makeup effects motion control photography Audio-Animatronic models digital compositing wire removal morphing match moving Virtual cinematography Landmark movies 2001: A Space Odyssey (Pioneer in spaceships models) Amadeus (Old age stipple, era effects) The Birds (Male/Female Matte developments) Buddy (Animatronics) The Day After Tomorrow (Prolonged digital shots, playing with weather effects) Independence Day (Digital effects combined with small-scale models) Jurassic Park (Large animatronics, creating creatures from scratch) King Kong (2005) (Motion Capture) The Lord of the Rings film Trilogy (Created Massive Software, prosthetic work, digital effects, motion capture) The Matrix Trilogy (Bullet Time) Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Mans Chest (Motion capture from a 2D image) Star Wars (Creation of original, practical effects, destruction effects, pioneer in spaceships models) Superman (Human flight) Terminator 2: Judgment Day (3-Dimensional Morphing and 3D Human Body) The Terminator (Digital effects) Titanic (Model work, computer generated water, motion capture) Toy Story (Complete Computer Animation) Tron (Computer animation, virtual sets) The History Of Indian Cinema History Of Indian Cinema The first ever screening In India was held in Bombay at Wastons Hotel in the year 1886, six soundless short films were screened by Lumiere Cinematographe just on year after the first ever screening by Lumiere Brotheres in Paris. Soon after, Hiralal Sen and Bhatavdekar started making films in Culcutta(now Kolkatta) and Bombay(now Mumbai) respectively. First acuality films were made by Bhatavdekar in 1899 just like the Lumieres did. Thogh there were many efforts in making feature films since the introduction of Film in India, The first feature film Raja Harishchandra was made in the year 1913 by Dada Sahab Phalke, He was later known as the Father of Indian Cinema.By the year 1920, The begning of Indian film Industry was started and started with 27 films per year, reached 207 films in 1931 and today India makes about more than 1000 films per year. A world record has been set in 2009 by producing about 2961 films on cellulloid which includes a staggering figure of 1288 feature films. Visual FX in India The History of Indian Visual FX dates back to the silent era, At the same time as hollywood films were experimenting and Executing VFX, India has also closely followed and caught on. Dada Saheb Phalkes silent movie Kalimardhan in the year 1919 is one example wit such work. Later came movies like Padhala Bhairavi and Mya Bazar which took VFX to greater heights. The Golden Era(1940-1960) Of Indian Cinema: This was the era when Indian films where well acclaimed and Appreciated along with the growth of world Cinema. The films were treated well in the Industry. This nourished and helped the Indian film makers to Explore and Experiment both technically and story base. There were many experiment in the field of cinematography innovating new techniques and experimenting with new Ideas. Cinematographers like Subrata Mitra were pioneers in that. His techniques had an Impact on the cinematography of the world cinema. His techniques included Bouncing the light thats using the daylight on the sets. Then came the major twist, which has made the Indian films to lack behind in Techniques. The reason are many, But two main reasons would be The usage of computer generated technologies in world cinema where Indian filmmakers were drawn back, as the Indian Scientists and technologist may ot have helped the field of cinema in improving its quality. The second reason would be, Eventhough the scientists and Technologists were keen in helping the Indian film for producing the special effect techniques, Indian film makers might have more preferred creating Masala Movies( A colocial word used for the Typical Indian Commercial Film) fledged with Darama, songs, Tragedy and all. As the medium of cinema is a Pure process of Business through Entertainment. Even then Few movies were released in Indian Cinema with magnificant Films with special Effects, Makers being the pure lovers of Cinema, and whoe adored the growth of world Cinema. The 90s: Begning of The Visual FX The 90s has to be considered as the milestone decade for the Visual FX Of Indian Cinema. This decade show us first that Indian Cinema has the strengh and courage to Compete with the world cinema in Visual FX. The first live action movie incorporating animation in India was O Faby in 1993, A malayalam feature film. Then Came a film in the year 1994 where the lead Actor was dancing with his heroine for the song Mukkala Mukkabula but the surprise was that only his clothes were visible and his body parts were just blank or Invisible. This was the first time when Indian Audience as well as the makers were experiencing such a technique in an Indian cinema. The Indian Government had been too impressed with this dance I think, From the next year onwards, 1995 The rajat Kamal or Silver Lotus for Special Effects have been Included in the National Film Awards. The first award went to none other than the creator of this piece of Effect Mr. Venky. Venky has shown his talent in the 1993 released film Gentleman and did some charisma in the movie, and then he came to work in Kadhalan and grabbed the award. But it would be too Unfair If I dont mention the Director Both the films, which is the same person, who has shooked each and everyfilm maker in the country with his love toward Visual FX, with his love towards Cinema, with his belive in the Visual FX, and shooked the whole country with his latest film Endhiran/Robo( 2010), Simple but fledged with Innovative ideas Mr. Shankar.

Medicinal Herbs and Pharmaceutical Drugs :: Health, Medication

A herb-drug interaction is defined as any pharmacological modification caused by a herbal substance(s) to another exogenous-chemical (e.g. a prescription medication) in the diagnostic, therapeutic or other action of a drug in or on the body (Brazier and Levine, 2003). This relates to drug-drug interactions, herb-herb interaction or drug-food interaction. A herb can potentially mimic, magnify or reduce the effects of co-administered drugs and the consequences of these interactions can be beneficial, undesirable or harmful effects (Fugh and Ernst, 2001). It should be pointed out that both the putative active ingredient(s) and other constituents present in that herbal mixture have the potential to interact with various classes of drugs (Miller, 1998). Many medicinal herbs and pharmaceutical drugs are therapeutically active at one dose and toxic at another. Interaction between herbs and drugs may increase or decrease the pharmacological or toxicological effects of either component. Synergistic and therapeutic effects may complicate the dosing of long-term medication. e.g. herbs traditionally used to decrease glucose concentrations in diabetes could therapeutically precipitate hypoglycemia if taken in combination with conventional drugs (Fugh, 2000). Plausible cases of herb-drug interactions include: bleeding when warfarin is combined with ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba), garlic (Allium sativum), danshen (Salvia miltiorrhiza) and decreased bioavailability of digoxin, theophylline, and cyclosporine when they are combined with St. John’s wort (Hypericum perforatum) etc.,(Shu-feng et al., 2007). Health–care practitioners should caution patients against mixing herbs and pharmaceutical drugs (Fugh, 2000). Cardiovascular diseases particularly myocardial toxicity is one of the leading causes of mortality. Risk factors for cardiovascular diseases are many, like hypertension, atherosclerosis, drugs like doxorubicin & catecholamines like isoproterenol, isoprenaline etc (Gupta et al., 2004). Doxorubicin/Adriamycin (Dox) is a powerful, well established and highly efficacious drug in the fight against many kinds of cancers like solid tumors, leukemia’s, soft tissue sarcoma, breast cancer, small cell carcinoma of the lung and esophageal carcinomas. But its clinical usefulness is still restricted due to its specific toxicities to cardiac tissues (Zhon et al., 2001). Congestive heart failure, cardiomyopathy, and electrocardiographic changes were demonstrated after cumulative Dox administration (Lenaz and Page, 1976). The possible mechanisms proposed for myocardial toxic effects of Dox include free radical induced myocardial injury, lipid peroxidation (Myers et al.

Does Competition Benefit in Business? Essay -- Business, Competition

Does Competition Benefit in Business? Do businesses want to grow and advance, or remain at a standstill with production? Most say they want to grow and advance. This topic is important in the business standpoint. Shall business managers promote competition or not? â€Å"Smart business professionals use competition to their advantage† (Pearson 1). Businesses who use competition notice the positive effects later down the road. Seeking to thrive and grow, businesses need to promote competition and compete against the other firms in their business. â€Å"There’s nothing like a little competition to suddenly boost productivity† (qtd. in Penn 1). Although some critics argue that competition may develop a negative atmosphere in the workplace, businesses should promote competition in order to function in a changing society, establish efficient performance, and enhance their customer’s satisfaction. Businesses should promote competition in order to function in a changing society. America seems to grow bigger structurally and technologically everyday. Businesses need to keep up with these advancements. Designing and selling top quality products for America, competition challenges businesses to create a better future. When competition arises between two industries, the sight of competing drives consumer business to the industry that successfully lowers the prices on their products. Successful industries remain up-to-date with society becoming top-notch in the field they compete in. Competition teaches businesses what will work in their market and what will not work. The consumer demand for products always appear no matter what. How industries produce that product determines how successful the business operation becomes. â€Å"Compet... ...ometimes goes another route and leads to productivity decrease. If business professionals enforce competition in their business, the aspect of getting the job done efficiently reappears almost instantly. In this day and age, the human society with the will to win is absent. People are lazy and avoid the competition. If employers employ the right people for the job with the right mindset who are willing to work diligently and efficiently through all struggles involving business, then they want competition in and around their firm. Competition, tough and non-regrettable, is not for the lazy worker, so if employees want to see productivity in their business then they find the right people who know how to work hard. So if a business wants to see itself grow and establish, then the right answer to see these gains involves a little bit of external competition.

Gulf War :: essays research papers

The United States was just in sending military aid to Kuwait during the Persian Gulf War. Kuwait was invaded by Saddam Hussein and taken over in six short hours due to the lack of strength in Kuwait’s Army. Once Hussein took control he seized Kuwait City, airports, army barracks, and oil fields. This left Kuwait helpless and in desperate need. Therefore, the U.S. invaded after, Hussein’s control of Kuwait for six months.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The U.S invaded for many reasons; Hussein was a threat and currently is to the Middle East as well as the world. He was beginning to build up an arsenal of chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons, which are very deadly and even dangerous to the environment. If they are used, they leave harmful waste for many years such as radiation or hazardous chemicals. He was also dumping oil from Kuwait into the Persian Gulf because he couldn’t sell it due to embargoes. This was an immediate threat to the environment. Hussein alone is a very dangerous man and one of the missions of the war was to kill him. However, we were unsuccessful, and today he is a huge threat.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Hussein’s control of Kuwait affected the U.S. economically. All of Kuwait’s oil was in Hussein’s power and the U.S. was unable to trade with him because of sanctions. Therefore, oil based product prices raised 50 percent due to the lack of oil and a high demand for it. The U.S. was also giving financial aid to the Middle East to help drive out Hussein. These attempts were hopeless which gave the U.S. even more reason to send military aid into Persian Gulf.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The final reason the U.S. sent military aid to the Persian Gulf was because of the lack of success of the UN. The UN made many resolutions and sanctions to drive Hussein out of Kuwait; however, he was not moving and nothing was happening. It took the U.S, to send in ground troops. Then other nations followed, and then Hussein was driven out. Although many nations helped by sending in ground troops, the U.

I have chosen to analyse two Wordsworth poems, “Composed Upon Westminster Bridge” and “The World is Too Much With Us”

At one stage in his life, Wordsworth was greatly influenced by William Godwin, a philosopher who claimed that salvation lay only in reason perfected by education. Wordsworth adopted these Neo classic views for four years until he nearly suffered a nervous breakdown. Neo classicist writers believed that poetry had to be â€Å"fancier† than prose; they did not think of nature as a teacher as the Romantic writers did, they thought that reason was the prime source of inspiration and emotion was inferior to thought and they thought that poetry should be about people in high society; humble life was contemptuously ignored. After four years Wordsworth turned his back on Neo classicism and turned towards Romanticism. Romanticism was the idea that nature teaches the only important knowledge to man. The next philosopher to influence Wordsworth was Hartley, who taught that the mind was a â€Å"blank slate† until sensation introduced ideas into it, that sensation was the basis of all knowledge. Wordsworth, in his preface to the Lyrical Ballads insisted that poetry should be about the evocation of emotion and the inculcation of awareness through the artistic examination of immediate experience – poetry should be about how we emotionally respond to our experiences. For Wordsworth, the earth was not a dead thing, but full of life, full of the breath of the infinite Being. Composed upon Westminster Bridge shows Wordsworth apparently appreciating the beauty of a great city – though it is characteristic of his love for solitude that the poem is set in the early morning, when there is no noise or bustle. It has a calm, slow rhythm, which could represent the river, which adds to the relaxed atmosphere of the poem. The World is Too Much With Us embodies one of the main ideas of Romantic poetry – that in our daily life we have lost touch with the renewing powers of nature. The slow rhythm adds to the sombre, bitter mood of the poem. Both poems are written in the form of a Petrarchan Sonnet, which is divided into an octave (eight lines) and a sestet (six lines) by the rhyme scheme abbaabba cdcdcd. The essence of the Petrarchan sonnet is the unequal relationship between the octave and sestet. This structure is one of observation and conclusion, or statement and counter statement. In the octave of Composed upon Westminster Bridge, Wordsworth seems to be praising the city of London but the turn after the octave is a shift of feeling that develops the subject of the poem by surprise to its conclusion. In the sestet, Wordsworth praises the beauty of the morning that envelops the city. What seemed to be a celebration of London is actually a celebration of the beauty of the morning. The octave of The World is Too Much With Us plays with the idea that we have sold our souls to the material world and in doing so broken our bonds with nature. The sestet offers a solution to the problem, to go back to a less cultured, out of date society, the Pagans, and worship nature. Wordsworth was writing during the Industrial Revolution when society was becoming increasingly reliant upon mass production and there was a growth of towns and cities. These circumstances obviously affected Wordsworth – the majority of Romantic poetry is about nature whereas Composed upon Westminster Bridge is about the beauty of a city in the morning. Wordsworth used simple, everyday language that ordinary man could understand. The title â€Å"Composed upon Westminster Bridge† could be a pun; the word â€Å"composed† might also represent how the poet is feeling. Wordsworth suggests that people would have no sensibility if they could â€Å"pass by/ A sight so touching in its majesty. † The words â€Å"touching† and â€Å"majesty† suggests how powerfully this scene affects him. The words â€Å"now doth† seem to suggest that this is a transitory moment of beauty that will soon pass. The simile â€Å"This city now doth, like a garment, wear/ The beauty of the morning;† hints that the poem is celebrating the beauty of the morning before man wakes up and pollutes it. The words â€Å"bright and glittering† make this sight seem valuable; the â€Å"b† and â€Å"g† and the repetition of the â€Å"i† sounds makes it sound crisp. Wordsworth then compares the city to the country saying that â€Å"Never did sun more beautifully steep/ In his first splendour, valley, rock, or hill. † The awe-inspiring image of this moment touches him and he feels that it is the most beautiful thing he has ever seen. He uses the metaphor â€Å"that mighty heart is lying still,† as when the people have woken up the city is beating and pulsating. The overwhelming nature of the scene resonates within him and he teaches us that we too should be still and appreciate nature. What at first seemed to be a celebration of London is ostensibly a moral lesson on standing still and appreciating nature. Wordsworth was writing The World is Too Much With Us during the Agricultural Revolution when meadows and woodlands began to disappear. The title â€Å"The World is Too Much With Us† means that we are too concerned with the material world. Wordsworth uses the image of â€Å"getting and spending† to show the greed of our society. Our â€Å"powers† are our ability to appreciate nature and what she has to offer. â€Å"Little we see in Nature that is ours,† seems to suggest that if we don't own it, we don't want to know about it. â€Å"Sordid boon† suggests how bitter Wordsworth feels about how we have â€Å"given our hearts away† to the material world and betrayed nature. Wordsworth uses sensual imagery – â€Å"This Sea that bares her bosom to the moon,† and the simile describing the wind â€Å"like sleeping flowers† helps to add to the sombre mood of the poem and effectively describes nature as a thing of beauty. For our ignorance, we are â€Å"out of tune;† we are lost in the wrong environment and have lost the harmony between nature and ourselves, man is trying to dictate to nature. Wordsworth would â€Å"rather be a Pagan;† he would rather go back to an out of date society to become less cultured but closer to nature. He feels â€Å"forlorn† because he is out of tune with nature, he has to reject cultured things and be a Pagan to be truly happy. Proteus and Triton were sea gods in the â€Å"outworn† beliefs of Greek mythology. Wordsworth finds it appealing that the Greeks had gods of nature. This shows how they revered and appreciated nature. The poem teaches us that we should be getting back to nature instead of concerning ourselves with material possessions. Both poems address the same aspect of Wordsworth's poetry – that we have become desensitised towards nature and don't stop long enough in our daily lives to appreciate the beauty around us, instead we are concerned with â€Å"getting and spending,† although they do so in different ways. Like most of Wordsworth's poetry they both comment on man's complex relationship with nature and the world around us. Composed upon Westminster Bridge celebrates the beauty of the morning and how it can make the city of London more beautiful than â€Å"valley rock or hill† and how man cannot appreciate this whereas The World is Too Much With Us describes how we â€Å"lay waste our powers† and destroy nature.

Five Accounting Unethical Issues Essay

Unethical Methods are performed to manipulate the financial records of a bussiness firm. And following are the few methods: Legal : Misuse of law in case of compensation Statistics : Exaggerating revenue and profits to mislead/confuse Tax : Avoiding to pay actual tax Transperency : Trying to counterfeit/falsifying in case of investigation Exploitation : Misuing funds These issues arises due to competition between the bussiness firms to raise their numbers. Greed to have more money and violate the law. Opportunity makes thiefs when offered the bribery. Individuals who work for a giant corporate company, fails to think out of the box when considering rest of the world. Performing unethical behaviour and claimimg it as ignorance, which is not true. Transparent code of ethic which should be professinally implemented in the firm, and as well as among the employees. Maintaining healthy competition betwwen the firms. Publishing actual financial data. Responsible to pay tax. Awarding the apraisal and rewards for ethical behaviour. Legally there should be strict laws for unethical behaviour. Kimmel, P.D., Weygandt, J.J. & Kieso, D.E(4 Ed) Financial accounting: Tools for business decision making Rajeev, L.L. (2012). Ethical and Unethical Business Practices. Article of Buzzle, Business Ethics. Retrived from http://www.buzzle.com/articles/ethical-and-unethical-business-practices.html Oseni, Abubakar Idris. (2012). Research Journal of Finance and Accounting ISSN 2222-2847 (Online) Vol 2. Retrived from http://www.iiste.org/Journals/index.php/RJFA/article/view/188

“5th grade autobiography” and “the writer” Essay

Both Dove’s and Wilbur’s poems are written from the perspective of an older writer looking back at youth. Although in â€Å"5th Grade Autobiography† the author writes of her own youth from a first person perspective whereas the in â€Å"The Writer† the author writes about his daughter’s youth from an outside perspective, both wonderfully impart the blissful feeling of childhood through vivid descriptions of the soft and pleasant nuances that make childhood so blissful. Rita Dove shows us her  world through the lens of a fifth grader. She envies her older brother despite the fact that he is depicted as young and inexperienced, shown by his poor choice to squat in poison ivy. Her grandparents have a very strong presence and are given just as lively a role as her young brother. Pictures of luminous felines come to mind when she describes her grandmother, a youthful and vibrant staple in her world. Grandfather smells of lemons, a bright, zesty, lively smell, and is imprinted in her life memories of Christmases. Richard Wilber manages to conjure a similarly blissful/childish world encompassed by the sounds of a typewriter, beautiful linden windows, and the majestic and dreamlike positioning of his daughters room. He pulls us further into this blissful illusion by using words and descriptions alluding to a ship, drifting into the deep open water away from the rest of the world. After bringing us into the peaceful settings of a child’s world, both authors send us plummeting into deep thought. Dove does so by abruptly letting us knowthat this grandfather is no longer alive but his memory or â€Å"hands† still exist in our  minds as it did when it was written in this 5th grader’s autobiography. What does this say about her grandfather’s existence and death? Perhaps that recording it through a photo or even the writing of a 5th grader, it has become eternal. This pushes us to think about the sheer power of writing our thoughts and experiences down on paper. Richard also makes us consider the strength and power that writing has even for youth. The setting of his daughter’s writing turns into the prison trapping the delicate starling. The heart-wrenching struggle of the songbird to free itself from the  confines of the room, smashing its delicate body against the window until it finally slips free, it equated to the daughters struggle to get her words on the page. The young writer continuously pauses her finger-smashing to collect herself and continue on in her writing, similar to the bird repetitively picking up and trying again to find freedom. The humped and bloody bird is seen as his daughter, fighting with all its life force to free itself from the constraints we humans feel as writers until we finally break free, the same struggle his daughter faced in that very room.

Zero Waste

Article – Nudging Recycling From Less Waste to None Talks about an antigarbage strategy known as â€Å"zero waste† †¦.. The movement is simple in concept†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦to Produce less waste. What is the zero waste? Zero waste that the entire concept of waste should be eliminated. Instead, waste should be thought of as a â€Å"residual product† or simply a â€Å"potential resource†. †¢ A residual product OR COMPOSTABLE ITEMS†¦.. Bioplastics like the forks (at Yellowstone) made from plant materials like cornstarch that mimic plastic, are used to manufacture a growing number of items that are compostable.For example, a polystyrene foam containers(Plastic plates, forks, cups,coffee cups) /AREBEING MADE OF CORNSTARCH- Corn starch is basically white flour made from corn. You can find it anywhere they sell regular flour. Corn starch is a starch or a starchy flour made from corn and used for thickening gravies and sauces. For example, ! (1)a city in California called Santa monica which bans the use of polystyrene foam containers, Yellowstone and some institutions have asked manufacturers to mark some biodegradable items with a brown or green stripe.SUCH AS THE PLASTICS THAT THEY SERVE US IN THE CAFETERIA ARE BEING MADE CORNSTARCH. When u throw away this kind of plastics and end up in the garbage landfills. After days of the sun hitting these things they rELEASE METHANE. when sealed in landfills without oxygen, organic materials release methane, a potent heat-trapping gas, as they decompose. If composted, however, the food can be broken down and returned to the earth as a nonchemical fertilizer with no methane by-product.Americans are still the undisputed champions of trash, dumping 4. 6 pounds per person per day While the U. S. shares only 4. 7 % of the total population in the world, we produce more 33% of the total waste in the world. About 97. 5% of the solid wastes produced by the U. S. are industrial, and 1. 5% are from hom es and businesses in or near urban areas (municipal solid waste). BUT this 1. 5 % is not as small as you would first think! The U. S. produces about 506 billion pounds of garbage every year.The amount doubled in the last 30 years. â€Å"This is enough waste to fill a bumper-bumper convoy of garbage truck encircling the globe eight times† (Miller, P369). We are producing an average of 1800 pounds of garbage per person every year. We are wasting more than any other countries in the world! In other words, we are ruining the Earth by wasting resources, polluting the environment, or destroying the ecosystem more rapidly than any other time in the history, and no one has ever caused more damage to the earth than the US has. BENEFITSSince waste is a sign of inefficiency, the reduction of waste usually reduces costs. For example, Hewlett Packard in Roseville, CA reduced its waste by 95% and saved $870,564 in 1998. Epson in Portland, OR has reduced its waste to zero and has saved $300 ,000. Interface, Inc. in Atlanta, GA has eliminated over $90M in waste. Xerox Corp. , Rochester, NY has had a Waste-Free Factory environmental performance goal since the early 1990s. The criteria include reductions in solid and hazardous waste, emissions, energy consumption, and increased recycling.Savings were $45M in 1998. A Zero Waste strategy improves upon â€Å"cleaner production† and â€Å"pollution prevention† strategies by providing a visionary endpoint that leads us to take larger, more innovative steps The vision of Zero Waste can be seen as a solution to these needs and a key to our grandchildren's future. Zero solid waste, zero hazardous waste, zero toxic emissions, zero material waste, zero energy waste and zero waste of human resources will protect the environment and lead to a much more productive, efficient, and sustainable future.Zero Waste promotes not only reuse and recycling, but also, and more importantly, promotes prevention – designs that consider the entire product life cycle. These new designs will strive for reduced materials use, use of recycled materials, use of more benign materials, longer product lives, repairability, and ease of disassembly at end of life. A Zero Waste strategy is a sound business tool that, when integrated into business processes, provides an easy to understand stretch goal that can lead to innovative ways to identify, prevent and reduce wastes of all kinds.It strongly supports sustainability by protecting the environment, reducing costs and producing additional jobs in the management and handling of wastes back into the industrial cycle. A Zero Waste strategy may be applied to businesses, communities, industrial sectors, schools and homes. (2)new San Francisco ordinance requiring residential and commercial building owners to sign up for recycling and composting services officially kicked on last Tuesday. but growing evidence already suggests that the law has had an impact.Since June, when the ordinance was signed into law, the amount of compostables collected from residents and businesses in special green-colored bins had jumped to 500 tons a day, according to Recology, the city’s waste collection company. San Francisco officials felt an ordinance making recycling and composting mandatory was needed to meet the city’s goal of diverting 75 percent of its already substantial collection of recyclable materials (the city has a 72 percent recycling rate, the highest in the nation) away from landfills by 2010.

Project Portfolio Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Project Portfolio Management - Essay Example According to Todd (2003) having a strong program for portfolio management can significantly lower risks and maximize the value of projects. It can strengthen communications between projects teams business leadership, encourage teamwork & responsibility in management of projects, permit efficient scheduling of project resources and eliminate project redundancy. The ultimate result is profitability and maximum value out of projects. It is crucial to follow best practices and key steps of project management. Firstly it is important to have an inventory of projects so as to have all the projects the organization is running in a single database. Second is to identify those projects matching strategic business objectives and then categorize the projects based on their scores. It is also crucial to proactively manage the projects and identify potential hurdles in good time. The article is very useful especially to persons involved in project management. While the author appreciates there one specific approach to portfolio project management, he points pins out aligning projects with strategy and embracing best practices as key success factors. The article also maps important activities that must be implemented while managing projects and therefore the information is very useful to project management teams but also business leaders and students of

AppLIED 3000 word Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

AppLIED 3000 word - Essay Example The report also includes a proposed budget for the year 2010-11 which will help to give an idea about the decisions taken by the management to improve the situation. Hard cash or liquid cash is required by any business organization to survive or to run successfully. Normally, most of the companies keep a lump sum amount of cash at their disposal for the daily expenses of the business. It ensures the smooth running of daily business operations. But, the financials of Cyclermate Ltd gives a shocking picture. There is only 675 pounds of hard cash left in the bank. With such a meager amount as its savings the company cannot even run a single day’s operation. The company is on the verge of close down. Mismanaged budget, uncontrolled cost and lack of proper supervision have lead to such a dismal situation. It is clear from the income statements of the last five years that selling price and total sales of the articles have gone down while total costs have shown a steady rise. The financial ratios also bring out the same poor condition of the company. The company’s Acid Ratio which is the relationship between the current assets (stocks not included) and current liabilities is 0.76:1. The Acid Ratio of 0.76:1 shows that the company will not be able to any financial problems nor needs that may rise in the near future (Netmba, 2010). The relationship between revenues and total assets is known as Asset Turnover Ratio. This company has an Asset Turnover Ratio of 2.06:1. The main reason for this ratio to be so high is the poor profit margin. There is also a possibility that the company is following a faulty a pricing strategy for its products. From the income statement of the past five years the return on capital employed is calculated as low as 0.11. The company is getting only a return of 11% on the capital it is employing which is not at all satisfactory. The debtors to the company generally

WOMANS SUFFRAGE MOVMENT Annotated Bibliography Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

WOMANS SUFFRAGE MOVMENT - Annotated Bibliography Example t ran a historical analysis of this occurrence and allowed for a biopic into how women’s suffrage has impacted the United States and the world since that time. Although it is clear that the United States was not the first system to allow women’s suffrage, the article argues for the fact that its global position of power and dominance helped to spread this practice and acceptance faster than it would otherwise have been spread. Similar to the 100th anniversary discussion that was engaged, the 75 anniversary piece was included due to the fact that it helps to detail the differential in understanding women’s suffrage that has taken place within the past 25 years. Through such a unit of analysis, the reader is able to appreciate the evolutionary process by which an understanding of the suffrage movement has changed and shifted within the recent past. Fraser, Steve, and Joshua B. Freeman. "IN THE REARVIEW MIRROR: The Counter-Revolution Against "Mobocracy."  New Labor Forum (Murphy Institute)  21.2 (2012): 105-108.Academic Search Complete. Web. 12 Oct. 2013. This article references the main argument that many men of the era made against allowing women the right to vote; namely the belief that allowing women to vote would result in a type of â€Å"mob rule†. Naturally, by deconstructing this argument and showing how this ultimately did not come to pass, the author is able to shed additional light on the way in which antagonism towards women voting was evidenced during the turn of the century. This particular article discusses the fact that the United States was unique in the fact that it gave certain minorities the right to vote prior to women. In discussing the topic in such a way, the reader is made aware of the obvious levels and overtones of sexism that existed within the United States and caused the women’s suffrage movement to be delayed as long as it

Latino film Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Latino film - Essay Example Similarly, the character of Frida Kahlo in 2002 Frida film (dir. Julie Taymor) is a central figure in a movie that tells the story of Frida Kahlo’s life. This character, despite some major differences from the character of Rosa, is able to fight for her own happiness and evolves as a strong representation of a Latin American woman. THESIS STATEMENT: Although women in El Norte and Frida are represented through completely different stories, time periods, and in totally different contexts, they have several important things in common. First of all, they both struggle against life circumstances; they both set out on a quest for happiness; they both evolve as strong personalities; and they both face untimely deaths without having found happiness on earth. Rosa in the Movie El Norte Rosa and her brother Enrique are the protagonists of El Norte, an epic movie about immigration and cultural conflicts and the quest for happiness. At its simplest, the movie may be perceived as a chronic led attempt of two Guatemalan teenagers to escape the brutalities of the military regime in Guatemala through illegal emigration to the United States. Rosa (Zaide Silvia Guierrez), a teenage Guatemalan girl, is portrayed epically, through a range of events in her life. She thinks, decides, acts, and eventually occupies the leading position in the film: when she dies, Enrique’s (David Villalpando) life goes empty and he supposedly commits a suicide. In this section of the paper, the focus will be put on the character of Rosa: what role it has in the film, how she changes throughout the film, how she struggles for her happiness, and how she evolves as a strong personality in due course of the film. Rosa’s central role in El Norte is evidenced by her clear decision-making part and her drive to find a better place to live, to achieve happiness and peace. An Indian woman by origin, she takes the decision to take her chances and flee to the U.S. with her brother Enrique. The off-spring of the Maya who have lived in Guatemala for centuries, Rosa makes up her mind to seek peace and happiness in a totally different culture. Raised on myths of the Mayan people, who have their own perception of the world and their own vision of life, Rosa makes a really tough decision. For her, to go to the United States or to go el norte means to enter the world totally alien and appallingly different. Yet she takes this step driven by her desire to find a home far away from the place where she was born and raised. Indeed, Guatemala failed to be her home, so Rosa hopes to find another one. While these dreams are not devoid of practical background (Rosa gets to know from Enrique that in the United States even poor people own their cars), her decision is more romantically inspired than carefully developed. Anyway, in the empty house where she and Enrique are under the threat of being murdered or abducted (just as their parents were), no one waits for them, except for the gho sts of their ancestors. Thus, there is no choice. Yet, there is hope. Hence, Rosa’s central role is displayed through her decision-making, which proves central to the whole movie. As a female character, Rosa constructs her character through a series of morose events and happenings, all of which leave an imprint on her tender yet resolute self.

Immigration Analysis To Society Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Immigration Analysis To Society - Essay Example In the early seventeenth century, the first immigrants consisting of English, French, Spanish, and Dutch people arrived here. Later on, thousands of people coming from all over the world immigrated to America and formed the country of the United States of America, known later as the U.S.A. In the year 1776, â€Å"fifty-six men signed their names to the Declaration of Independence establishing the United States as one of the separate national entities in the world† (Chatterjee, pp. 23-25). America truly is a country of immigration, among different ages, genders, colors, and nations, unnumbered people who hold dreams contribute to this country. Therefore, America is a place of opportunity, prosperity, and happiness. In particular, it is an opinion of this paper that immigration is a beneficial notion that results in advantages for the American society and thus, the discussion will be an attempt to justify such thesis of the researcher. Negative Impact of Immigration It is an obs ervation that increased rate of illegal activities by the immigrants has resulted in a negative impact of immigration on minds of the local citizens, and thus, there has been a negative perspective about all the immigrants in the USA. In particular, illegal immigration is the foremost factor that has caused negative impact in the minds of local citizens. Studies have indicated that a major part of the illegal immigrants living in the United States is originally from Mexico, and approximately, 13.2 million illegal immigrants are Mexican-Americans. This number is almost one-fifth of the total population of all immigrants, many people are either uneducated or less educated, and they do not have any skills, abilities, or qualification to get jobs. About such immigrants, writer of ‘Illegal Immigration’, Karen Kenney, states, â€Å"these people either do not have enough money or are not aware of the US legal process, both of which are necessary to get legal immigration to th e United States† (pp. 12). This indicates the reason of huge number of immigrants entering into the United States illegally. One of the second most common factors of such a negative impact is drug trafficking that has been causing illegal immigration of thousands of people for the sake of their business and profits. The link between illegal immigration and drug trafficking has become almost indisputable that have created crime-related issues for the law enforcement officials (Bailey, pp. 97). As many of the illegal immigrants do not either have financial support from their employment or from the government, drug trafficking is a short way to make money. However, experts have indicated that drug trafficking does not only harm the immigrants indirectly but also results in harmful impact on roots of the society. According to an online writer, Pauline Go, she asserts, â€Å"drug use and its consequences threaten and affect the nation and its people from every socio-economic backg round, geographic region, and people with any level of education† (Go, 2008). Constructive Aspect of Immigration Apart from increase in the rate of illegal immigration and drug trafficking, immigration allows a country to benefit significantly from it, and thus, people should not acquire a negative perspective about every immigrant. In particular, reports have indicated that only a small percentage of immigrants consist of individuals that are involved in illegal activities. In the

Technology in diplomacy Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Technology in diplomacy - Research Paper Example This has resulted in Austria shifting to paperless records, during late 1990s, while MFA of Latvia was awarded for the best web-site in 2003.(â€Å"Information and Communications Technology† 193) Foreign ministries around the world are still struggling to engage the benefits of information technology in their management of external affairs. However, some of the countries have realized the potential of using â€Å"Web 2.0†. A good example in this direction is Denmark, which has created a â€Å"virtual working group†. The function of the group is to arrange meetings of all members, from all corners of the world, using video-conferencing. This way the working group has better coordination; as it has members from all units, which are relevant to the working of country’s MFA, along with its branches in Africa, America, UN and EU countries. Utilizing the full potential of information communications technology (ICT), Denmark has identified the five principals of E-management, mainly applicable to a MFA manager. These include usage of intranet, on daily basis, for sharing ideas and communication. The concerned manager is required to make use of best practices, using IT tools, to set an example for the staff. In addition, the manager must ensure that the staff members are fully familiar with information technology, having the required skills. The manager is required, personally, to be fully conversant with the E-Government Strategy of MFA; while understanding its contents, perfectly well, which would help in contributing to the policy guidelines, in a positive manner. Canada, being the other country, which is utilizing the full potential of ICT, started an e-exercise, called ‘Public Diplomacy Network’, which involves offering of suggestions and other tips to the government on its foreign affairs policy. Accordingly, public awareness has been created among the people, through this network, regarding the government policies on inte rnational issues. Mexico is yet another country, which has growing network of foreign consular posts, in United States, sharing the best consular practices, while mutually learning, through the foreign ministry’s intranet. (â€Å"Information and Communications Technology† 194-5) With the rapid developments in the field of ICT, it is essential that all concerned keep pace with same, while understanding the changes, in a positive manner; which can help solving the problems, almost instantaneously. The social network sites, like face-book, have set an example for others, regarding best use of ICT. ICT applications After the use of computers as simple machines, their versatility increased with use of ‘local area network’ (LAN), which made inter-connections possible. Hence, many MFAs are using this technology even now, to stay connected. Then came the use of ‘wide area network’ (WAN), which meant keeping different ministries and departments of a co untry connected. Most European countries have adapted to this technology, in 1990s. However, many are still hesitating to use it, as they fair leakage of sensitive data, particularly pertaining to their MFAs. ‘Virtual private network’, or intranet, has been used to cover all the embassies of a country, as it widens the scope of WAN. However, many smaller countries are not able to go for such technology, due cost and skilled manpower constrains. Countries like China, Japan and India have

Risk aversion Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Risk aversion - Assignment Example Generally, the extent of risk aversion is the degree to which the individual prefers the certain income over the uncertain income. In terms of a utility function, this translates to the distance between the utility generated by the certain income and the utility generated by the gamble which has an expected income equal to the certain income. Obviously, for a concave utility function, the utility of the certain income will lie above the utility of the uncertain income with the same expected value. For a convex utility function this will be reversed. These are explained in the diagram below (figure 1). Figure 1: Risk Aversion and the curvature of the utility function In the diagram above, a rational individual is considered whose preferences are represented by the utility function U(.) defined over money incomes X. Suppose the individual has a choice of either playing a lottery with two possible outcomes: X1 and X2, where X2 > X1. To keep things simple let us further assume that both outcomes equally likely to occur. That is, both outcomes X1 and X2 have a probability of occurrence = ?. Thus if X1 is realized the individual gets U(X1) and if X2 realizes, the individual derives U(X2). Then, the expected income from the lottery is ?[X1+X2] and the expected utility is ? [U(X1) +U(X2)]. Now, observe that whether the utility derived by the individual from a certain income of ?[X1+X2] which is equal to U?[X1+X2] lies above ? [U(X1) +U(X2)], the expected utility from the lottery with an expected earning of ?[X1+X2], depends upon the curvature of the function. When the utility function is concave, . This shows that the individual prefers a certain income over and above a lottery with an expected income that is equal to certain income. Extending this logic it is simple to show that a risk loving individual will have a convex utility function while a risk neutral person will have a utility function that has a constant slope. Also, greater the distance between U?[X1+X2] an d ? [U(X1) +U(X2)], the more risk averse is the individual, since the preference for the certain income is even greater in that case. This implies that the more concave the utility function the greater will be the risk aversion of the individual. Similarly, greater the convexity of the utility function, greater will be the individual’s love for risk. Therefore, it can be generally agreed upon that a risk-averse person will have a concave utility function while a risk lover will have a convex utility function. A risk neutral person’s preferences will be designated by a utility function with a constant slope. Now, Mr. D’s Utility function is: Then, and, Since , and thus, Mr. D’s utility function is positively sloped. A positively sloped utility function implies more income is preferred to less by Mr. D. For his attitude towards risk, the curvature (sign of the second order derivative) of the utility function has to be considered. Now, and, Therefore, the ut ility function is convex if the value of the positive parameter and it is concave if the positive parameter . If the utility function is concave, Mr. D is risk averse while if the utility function is convex, then Mr. D is in nature a risk loving person. Therefore, regarding the attitude of Mr. D towards risk, we conclude the following: Mr. D’s attitude towards risk depends on the value of the parameter . If , Mr. D loves

INTIMACY, LOVE AND FRIENDSHIP Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

INTIMACY, LOVE AND FRIENDSHIP - Essay Example Love and intimacy are two basic pillars of modern marriage. Nevertheless, the issues of property are often challenging for the modern couples. In a sound modern marriage it is relevant to have a well-balanced relations in marriage, which are full-fledged at different levels of a marriage. Modern philosophers on love, intimacy and property In the book written by Laura Kipnis "Against Love" the author claims that there are societal bounds, which connect two spouses together. The concept of marriage is much wider, than it was a century ago. Now, it is a long-term romantic relation (gay, lesbian or straight). The concept of love and intimacy are often correlated with the concept of marriage. From the political perspective relation in a marriage facilitate governmental management over individuals (Kipnis, 2006). Kipnis in accordance with Freud underlines that â€Å"basic repression is necessary for any civilization to survive (Csencsitz, 2008). Currently, equal civic stability is an enfo rced compliance between the modern political and social system. Marriage exerts influence on love in order to "maximize submission and minimize freedom." (Kipnis 2006, p. 53). Kipnis defines love in the following way: â€Å"love is the nearest most of us come to glimpsing utopia in our lifetimes† (Kipnis, 2006). Therefore, currently marriage is considered to be an integrative component of spouses. Nevertheless marriage was previously considered as the relations between two spouses and they combined their mutual assets. Nowadays in Australia the number of one-person households increased and currently 9 per cent of Australians live alone (Classen, 2004). Very often it is possible to meet the couples in Australia, which do not have money for their own mansion. They live in the households of their own. Therefore, women do not want to risk their properties and neither do men. In the work presented by Susan Maushart an interesting interrelation between the concept of property and m arriage is discussed. Thus, it is described the way family lived through without technology (Shumway, Sterling, Kimball, Korinek, and Arredondo, 2007). Therefore, in the modern world a family and a marriage cannot exist without many external factors. Political factors, technological advancement are crucial issues in the existence of marriage and family. As far as we can see, modern people are dependent on different issues of the world. Another author Marilyn Yalom in her book â€Å"The History of the Wife† presents a changing nature of roles of women in the modern world (Yalom and Carstensen, 2002). Women work outside of home more than earlier. Women are turning into more independent; they have turned into a competitive workforce. Modern women want to have marriage and to be beloved women, but they lack role models. The icons of modern women are different. Popular culture represents them from different points of view. A different interpretation of marriage in the modern world Consequently, intimate relations and marriage is presented from an unusual perspective. Currently, modern love should be considered in the modern context. The earlier representation of romance currently coexists with intimacy. In accordance with Shumway the literature of love is focused on a perverted representation of love. Therefore, unlike â€Å"romantic marriage†, which existed after the period World War I, there is a high degree of intrigue and courtship in the modern marriage. In accordance wi

Qatar Foreign Policy Towards the Middle East Essay Example for Free

Qatar Foreign Policy Towards the Middle East Essay Qatar is located in Arabian Peninsula in boarders with Saudi Arabia, with only 225,000 citizens in a population of 1. 7 million. Qatar follows a conservative religious ideology, Wahhabism. While some refer to Qatar as the â€Å" Second Wahhabi Emirate,† it is traditionally known as â€Å"the most boring place in the gulf† or â€Å"the country known for being unknown (Roberts, 2012). † However, Qatar emerged as a strong state actor with extended networks of alliances in the world. The mediator role that Doha plays today is crucial in the region, particularly after the Arab Spring (HRW, 2013). Indeed, Qatar supported the Arab Uprisings across the region in 2011. In addition, Qatar invested between $65 billion and $100 billion to the FIFA world cup that it will be hosting in 2022. The Emir founded a number of humanitarian projects in Sudan, South of Lebanon, Gaza and Asia. In this paper, I attempt to answer the question of what are the driving motives of Qatar’s foreign policy in the Middle East? And why, unlike its neighboring countries, Qatar’s leadership supported the Arab appraisals of 2011? Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad Al Thani, stated, â€Å"we support those who demanded justice and dignity,† when asked about his country’s role in the Arab revolutions in an interview in 60 Minutes . In response, President Barak Obama thanked the Emir for promoting democracy in the Middle East (Al Thani, 2012). Ironically, Qatar is an absolute monarchy described as an â€Å" authoritarian regime† that is ranked 138th out of the 167 countries by Democracy Index 2011. In addition, the Freedom House lists Qatar as â€Å" not free† (freedom house), (Democracy Index, 2011). Therefore, Qatar’s lack of rule of law, freedom of speech and political rights contradict â€Å"the Emir’s efforts to promote democracy† and delegitimizes his political statements. In relevance to this hypocrisy, Qatar’s foreign policy in general and its support of democratic transitions in the Arab region in specific serves its ambitions to secure itself from threats, maintain its status quo of an independent state and take a leadership role in the region. Political Emancipation and the Saudi Threat: Al Thani family ruled Qatar for more than 150 years. Qatar attained its independence in 1971, when the British-mandate came to an end and after its refusal to join the United Arab Emirates federation. Since that date until the 1990s, Saudi Arabia acted as the de facto protector of Qatar. Consequently, the Emir took policy directions from Al Saud. However, this relationship witnessed a change in the early 1990s as tensions in bilateral relations between the two countries began to arise. After the invasion of Kuwait and Sadam’s threat to attack the Suadi kingdom, Saudi quickly reached out to western coalitions in aim of protection. As Suadi presented itself as weak and unable to defend itself, the Qataris began to doubt Saudi’s ability to protect the Qatari entity and decided to pursue a strong alliance with the US. Therefore, between 1990-1992, Qatar signed a military agreement with the United States to host its military base in Al-Odead. In response, Saudi worked to block Qatar’s pipeline exports of gas to United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Oman. As a result, tensions between the two countries intensified. Later, in 30 September 1992, Saudi attacked the Qatari boarders leaving three soldiers dead (2012). However, the clashes did not stop there. In1995, Shiekh Hamad Al Thani, the Crown Prince back then, seized power after a bloodless coup d’etat against his father. Of course, Saudi Arabia did not welcome the coup d’etat because of Hamad’s known strong motives to maintain his country’s autonomy. Instead, Saudi financially supported another coup against the current Emir. Then, Qatar detained a number of Saudi and Qatari citizens who cooperated with the Saudi government to bring the ousted prince back into power. These tensions led the Saudi-Qatar relations into a deep freeze until rapprochement happened in 2008 (2012). Since then, Shiekh Hamad Al Thani led the modernization process to create a brand name of Qatar. In its foreign policy, Qatar adopted diplomacy as a foreign policy tool that allows it to take on the mediator role in a number of regional disputes. In addition to its diplomatic activism and small size, the Qatari wealth that is invested in mediation efforts paves the way for Qatar to be a head in the political game today. A Theoretical approach on Qatar’s Mediation: The tribal nature of the Qatari society and the hierarchal system of the government lends the leadership absolute power to form the country’s economic-political agenda and foreign policy. The major two agents that determine the political strategies of Qatar’s foreign policy are its national security and its desire to establish a brand name for itself. Hence, the main key element of Qatar’s foreign policy is mediation, which is apparently is not a new political tool as the â€Å"early Al-Thanis were forced to become experts negotiators quickly in anarchic corner of the Middle East (Roberts). According to Jacob Bercovitch in his book, Studies in International Mediation, countries engage in mediation for various reasons that include â€Å"(a) a genuine desire to change the course of a long-standing conflict to promote peace, (b) a desire to gain access to major political leaders and open channels of communication, (c), a desire to spread one’s ideas and enhance standing and professional status, (d) the wish to preserve intact structure of which they are part, (e) viewing mediation as a way of extending and enhancing their own influence and gaining some value from the conflict (Roberts). Therefore, from this perspective, Qatar’s employs mediation for the enhancement of its professional status and the acquirement of power. From here, Qatar mediated a number of disputes in the region including the Hezbollah dispute with the Lebanese government, the rebellion disputes with the Northern Sudanese government and the Huothis dispute with the Yemeni government. Moreover, Participation in mediations between states is of great advantage to Qatar. Internationally, it promotes a peaceful image as a peacekeeping state in an attempt to gain worldwide respect (Roberts). Peterson argues in his work, Qatar and the World, â€Å"The fundamental advantage, however, is that it assures the legitimacy of the micro state. This in turn leads to the single most important factor: increased awareness of and legitimacy accruing to Qatar- in domestic and external terms- enhances the prospects of the states’ survival†(Roberts). Qatar neutral position and its small size makes non-threatening to other state to except negotiation with compare to Saudi which has interests in regional conflict, which leads political parties to refuse its negotiation, e. . Saudi support of the government in Yemen and rivalry with Hezbollah. On the other hand, Qatar established diplomatic relations with almost everyone. Qatar’s Foreign affairs minister, Shiekh Hamad bin Jasem Al Thani, in an interview on Al –Jazeera, was asked by Ahmed Manosur, Al Jazeera presenter, â€Å"I just want to understand one thing! In Qatar you have relations with the devils and the angels, with the Iranians and the Americans, with the Israelis and Hamas, he continued, how can we understand this policy? (Mansour, 2012). Today, Qatar unlike other state in the region, calls Tehran in the morning and Tel Aviv in the afternoon â€Å"(Roberts). It was the first state in the gulf to host trade office of Israel, established good relations with Hamas, opened communications with Hezbollah, the Emir of Qatar was the first to invite Ahmadinejad to attend the 28th Gulf Cooperation council summit in 2007. While other Arab states alienated Islamists, Qatar was in good terms with Arab oppositions, particularly Islamic groups. For example, Yusuf Al Qaradawi is an influential Islamic leader, resident of Qatar since 1960s is the main guest who taken the Qatari citizenship is Al Jazeera chief religious show. Also, other Arab political dissidents were welcomed and took Qatari citizenship such as Mohammed Hamed Al Hamari from Saudi Arabia who organized Youth Role in Change in the Arabic Gulf; young activists from across the gulf attended the conference (Al Qassemi, 2012). Al Jazeera as foreign Policy tool Part of â€Å"Brand Qatar† project, is to spread ideas and enhance Qatar’s status. The establishment of Al-Jazeera in 1996 came to serve that goal. Al Jazeera is an important tool of Qatar foreign policy, with its slogan the â€Å" The Opinion and the other Opinion† and the channel shameless criticisms to Arab leaders and programs on democracy and political rights. Al Jazeera soon gained the respect of Arab public compare to other media alternatives that are state sponsored (Khtib, 2013). The channel broadcasted the revolutions across the Arab spring countries – except the appraisals in Bahrain . The spread of revolutions were feared by Arab states, yet Qatar seemed to support the revolutions through Al Jazeera. That is said to be reason that inspired the youth in Egypt, Libya, Syria and Yemen to rebel against their governments and demand freedom and dignity. Nevertheless, The channel neutrality was under question, during the Egyptian elections, Al Jazeera hosted members of MB like Khirat Al Shater, and Moahhmed Mosri. Sultan Al Qassimi, a, wrote about Al Jazeera’s Arabic love ffaires with MB, he discussed some of his observations, that Muslim Brotherhood supports were given the chance to express their views on through the channel while critics towards Muslim Brotherhood were barely heard in the channel (Al Qassemi, 2012). Recently, Waddah Khanfar the director – general of Al Jazeera was replaced with Shiekh Ahmed bin Jasem Al Thani, who holds degree in petroleum (Al Qassemi, 2012). This suggests that Al Jazeea is becoming less free to represents Qatar’s government preferences and its support to Muslim brotherhood. Apparently, Qatar calculations towards the Arab spring were opposite to its neighbors who supported Mubarak regime. It saw an opportunity to ally itself with revolutions to promote for its image as â€Å"Pro- Arab public † and play regional role in Arab-Arab relations despite the policy risks its taking incase these revolutions were not successful. Through Qatar’s Money, Al-Jazeera, regional mediations and international pressure, Doha was successful in making the Arab Spring an opportunity so that it plays valuable role and take a leadership role in the region. Qatar in the Arab Spring: Qatar natural position had to be changed when it realized that change will topple the former leaders to stay at the head of the game head of Saudi, After Mubarak’s fall, Qatar supported Muslim brotherhood in Egypt. Shiekh Hamad Al Thani, the foreign minster of Qatar state that his country won’t allow Egypt to go bankrupt, Doha transferred five billion dollars to Egypt to meet its financial obligations. In addition to the financial support, Al Jazeera members’ Muslim brotherhoods are regularly interviewed to spread their influence. Middle Ease Scholar, Alain Gresh calls Al Jazeera the mouthpiece of Muslim brotherhood (Khatib, 2013). Furthermore, Rashid Al Ghanushi of Al Nahdha party of Tunisia, stated in an interview with Al Arab newspaper that Qatar is a major partner of the Arab spring revolutions hence it’s also a partner in next period of democratic transition and development since it offers development projects to support the economy of the Arab spring states (2012). Qatar had to intervene in Libya and Syria to sustain its leading regional position. It was the first country to lead the international action against Gaddafi. Qatar supplied the rebels with total US$2billion. On the other hand, Qatar involved in arming Syrian rebels like the Free Syrian Army. Also, it was successful in unifying the Syrian opposition. The importance of Qatar involvement in the latter is to counter Iranian influence by allying with opposition while Assad regime is backed by Iran (Khatib, 2013). In contrast to this, Al Jazeera was silent towards the uprisings in Bahrian. Qatar has been selective in backing uprisings there. The reason behind that, is Saudi Arabia influence that views the situation as â€Å"Shi’a uprising â€Å" and regional rivalry with Iran, hence any intervention from Qatar’s side in Bahraini issue would result tensions (Roberts, 2012). In conclusion, Qatar had different view towards the Arab Spring compare to its neighbors. Its objective to play a valuable role in the region, made Doha change its position as neutral state and take foreign policy risks. Although the question of weather Qatar made the right policy decisions or not remains unanswered yet. However, Doha succeeded in playing regional role a head of regional power like Saudi and influenced the Arab countries to take collective action towards Libya and Syria. In addition, Qatar foreign policy faces challenges; among these challenges is the reliance on money donations to support Post Arab Spring countries that would hinder progress in Qatari diplomacy. On the other hand, the lack of democracy and rule of law domestically puts Qatar legitimacy to promote for democracy under question. Moreover, making policy changes internally such as guarantee of political and civil rights to citizens hold parliamentary elections and protection freedom of speech will give Qatar legitimacy and enhance its image in international community.