Marketing Metrics Answers

Metrics Mastery Worksheets are designed to be in class exercises that your students can work on in class. This is a master document that provides all worksheets questions and answers. You can modify or change it as needed in order to prepare one page two sided exercises for your students to hand out in class. You can also easily turn the answers into powerpoint slides to review the answers in class. Table of Contents Worksheet: Metric 1 Expense Types2 Worksheet: Metric 2 Percentage Change5 Worksheet: Metric 3 Market Share & Market Analytics8 Worksheet: Metric 4 Contribution Margin11Worksheet: Metric 5 Mark-up & Margin14 Worksheet: Metric 6 Pricing Wholesale to Retail17 Worksheet: Metric 7 Break-Even20 Worksheet: Metric 8 Return on Marketing Investment (ROMI)23 Worksheet: Metric 1 Expense Types 1) The Comfy Chair Company makes reclining chairs at its plant and sells them exclusively through its own retail store. It has the following expenses: Plant rent and taxes = $12,000. 00 Office and management expenses = $220,000. 00 Machinery and equipment purchased = $100,000. 00 Direct materials = $27. 00/chair Direct labour = 4 hours/chair @ $14. 00/hour Transportation = $5. 0/chair Commercial store front unit purchase = $500,000. 00 Advertising costs = $100,000. 00 Sales staff wages before commissions = $250,000. 00 Commission = $12. 00/chair a) Identify the Comfy Chair Company’s variable costs. b) What is the total cost to produce and sell each reclining chair? c) Identify the Comfy Chair Company’s fixed costs. d) What are the total fixed costs? e) Identify the one-time fixed costs incurred by the Comfy Chair Company. f) What are the total one-time fixed costs? Answer: (a)Direct materials = $27. 00/chair Direct labour = 4 hours/chair @ $14. 0/hour Transportation = $5. 00/chair Commission = $12. 00/chair (b)$100. 00/chair (c)Plant rent and taxes = $12,000. 00 Office and management expenses = $220,000. 00 Advertising costs = $100,000. 00 Sales staff wages = $250,000. 00 (d)$582,000. 00 (e)Machinery and equipment purchased = $100,000. 00 Commercial store front unit = $500,000. 00 (f)$600,000. 00 2) Thompson Toiletries, Inc. has developed an addition to its mens’ cologne line tentatively branded Ode d’Toad Cologne. It costs 45 cents to produce each 60mL bottle, and heavy advertising expenditures in the first year would cost $900,000.Ode d’Toad Cologne is priced at $7. 50 for a 60mL bottle. a) What is the variable cost per unit to produce a bottle of Ode d’Toad? b) What are the total fixed costs to produce and sell Ode d’Toad? Answer: (a)Variable cost per unit = $0. 45 (b)Total fixed costs = $900,000 3) Executives of Radical Recordings Ltd. produced an album entitled Sunshine/Moonshine by the Starshine Sisters Band. The cost and price information was as follows: |Album cover |$1. 00 | |Songwriter’s royalties |$0. 0 | |Recording artist’s royalties |$0. 70 | |Direct material and labour cost s to produce each album |$1. 00 | |Cost of producing the album (studio fee, advertising, promotional|$100,000. 00 | |expenses, etc) | | |Selling price |$7. 00 | ) Identify the variable costs, and amounts, that go into producing each album b) Identify the fixed costs, and amount, for producing the album Answer: a) Variable costs: Album cover$1. 00 Songwriter’s royalties$0. 30 Recording artist’s royalties$0. 70 Direct material and labout$1. 00 Total Variable Cost per Unit$3. 00 b) Fixed costs: Cost of producing the album = Total Fixed Costs = $100,000. 00 4) You are the owner of a travel agency that sells trips to university students. You are creating a package to sell an overnight trip to Blue Mountain. Identify the fixed and variable costs associated with the package ased on the information below. After identifying the costs, calculate the total cost based on 3 full busses of students. The package will include ski lift tickets, access to a VIP party and one night†™s hotel accommodation. It will cost you $300 to print 1,000 full colour posters and another $400 to purchase party supplies for the VIP Party. Each room costs $80 per night, with four people per room. A bus holds 40 people and the bus company will charge you $500 per bus. The ski hill is offering you a rate of $20 per ski lift pass. You also know that you need to purchase a ? page ad in the campus paper at a cost of $100 per week for 6 weeks. Variable Costs |Total |Fixed Costs |Total | |(description & Unit Cost) | |(Description) | | |Busses ($500/bus) |$1500 |Posters |$300 | |Hotel Rooms ($80/room) |$2400 |Party Supplies |$400 | |Ski lift passes ($20/pass) |$2400 |Newspaper ad ($100/wk) |$600 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |Total Variable Costs |$6300 |Total Fixed Costs |$1300 | Worksheet: Metric 2 Percentage Change 1) Ed’s is a small deli, which has had great success in its second year of operation. Revenues in Year 2 are $570,000, compared with $380,000 in Year 1. What is Ed’s year-over-year sales growth rate? Answer: Year-over-Year Sales Growth = (Year 2 – Year 1) / Year 1 * 100% = ($570,000 – $380,000) / $380,000 * 100% = 50% 2) A pair of jeans that normally sells for $75 is marked down 30% and then reduced at the cash register another 10%?Is this a total reduction of 40%? If not, what is the percent reduction? Answer: Let Price 1 be the initial price of $75, let Price 2 be the price after the 30% mark down, and Price 3 be the price after additional 10% reduction at the cash register. Initial Reduction = -30% = (Price 2 – Price 1) / Price 1 -0. 3 = (Price 2 – $75) / $75 -0. 3 * $75 = Price 2 – $75 Price 2 = -0. 3 * $75 + $75 = $52. 50 Second Reduction = -10% = (Price 3 – Price 2) / Price 2 -0. 1 = (Price 3 – $52. 50) / $52. 50 -0. 1 * $52. 50 = Price 3 – $52. 50 Price 3 = -0. 1 * $52. 50 + $52. 50 = $47. 25 Total Percent Reduction = (Price 3 – Price 1) / Price 1 * 100% = ($47. 5 – $75) / $75 * 100% = 37% 3) A small retain chain posts impressive percentage growth figures, moving from $58 million to $107 million in sales from one year to the next. Despite this dynamic growth, however, analysts cast doubt on the firm’s business model, warning that its existing stores’ growth measure suggests that its concept is failing. Based on the chart below, and assuming that stores were opened on the first day of Years 1 and 2: What is the retail chain’s year-over-year sales growth rate? What is the year-over-year sales growth or decrease for each store, as appropriate? What is the same store (existing and not expansion) year-over-year growth? Store |Opened |Revenue Year 1 (millions) |Revenue Year 2 (millions) | |A |Year 1 |$10 |$9 | |B |Year 1 |$19 |$20 | |C |Year 1 |$20 |$15 | |D |Year 1 |$9 |$11 | |E |Year 2 |n/a |$15 | |F |Year 2 |n/a |$12 | |G |Year 2 |n/a |$7 | |H |Year 2 |n/a |$18 | | | |$58 |$107 | Answer:Chain-wide Year-over-Year Sales Growth = (Year 2 – Year 1) / Year 1 * 100% = ($107 – $58) / $58 = 84. 5% Store A Year-over-Year Sales = (Year 2 – Year 1) / Year 1 * 100% = ($9 – $10) / $10 = -10% Store B Year-over-Year Sales = (Year 2 – Year 1) / Year 1 * 100% = ($20 – $19) / $19 = 5. 26% Store C Year-over-Year Sales = (Year 2 – Year 1) / Year 1 * 100% = ($15 – $20) / $20 = -25% Store D Year-over-Year Sales = (Year 2 – Year 1) / Year 1 * 100% = ($11 – $9) / $9 = 22. 22% Same Store Sales Year 1 = $10 + $19 + $20 + $9 = $58 million Same Store Sales Year 2 = $9 + $20 + $15 + $11 = $55 million Same Store Year-over-Year Growth = (Year 2 – Year 1) / Year 1 * 100% = ($55 – $58) / $58 = – 5. 17% ) Do you agree with the analysts’ position regarding the retail chain in question 3, why or why not? If you were the owner of the retail chain would you continue to open stores? If not what would you do? Answer: – Agree with the analysts. Existing stores sales decreased from Year 1 to Year 2; growth declined 5. 17%. – I would not continue to open stores. I would address the decline in revenue / find out why the stores have negative growth in year 2. Worksheet: Metric 3 Market Share & Market Analytics Use the industry overview below to answer the questions that follow: Mobile Phones in the United States The mobile phone market in the United States covers the sales of mobile phone devices, smart phones, and PDAs (personal digital assistants).Table X below provides the annual sales volume of mobile phones from 2004 to 2009. Table XX details the market share of the top handset manufacturers. Table 1: US Mobile Phones: Sales Volume & Value 2004-2009 | |2004 |2005 |2006 |2007 |2008 |2009 | |‘000 units |66,556. 1 |87,543. 1 |110,228. 1 |120,629. 4 |130,309. 9 |134,673. 5 | |US$ bn |4. 1 |5. 4 |6. 9 |8. 3 |10. 1 |10. 6 | Table 2: Mobile Phones Company Shares 2005-2009 % retail revenue share |2 005 |2006 |2007 |2008 |2009 | |Samsung America Inc |15. 7 |15. 1 |17. 3 |22. 1 |25. 4 | |L. G. Electronics USA |15. 9 |16. 5 |15. 2 |20. 6 |21. 5 | |Motorola Inc |30. 4 |34. 8 |33. 5 |22. 8 |16. 4 | |Kyocera International Inc |5. 4 |4. 9 |4. 0 |9. 2 |9. 9 | |Research in Motion Ltd |0. 7 |1. 1 |2. |6. 0 |9. 0 | |Apple Inc |- |- |- |4. 9 |7. 4 | |Nokia United States |15. 4 |18. 1 |12. 5 |7. 5 |6. 5 | |Sanyo North America Corp |4. 3 |4. 2 |4. 5 |- |- | |Apple Computer Inc |- |- |1. 4 |- |- | |Others |12. 1 |5. |9. 0 |6. 9 |3. 8 | |Total |100. 0 |100. 0 |100. 0 |100. 0 |100. 0 | 1) What is the annual 2009 revenue in dollars of the top 4 mobile phone companies? Answer: Revenue Market Share (%) = Revenue ($) / Total Market Sales Revenue ($) Revenue ($) = Revenue Market Share (%) * Total Market Sales Revenue ($) Samsung America Inc: Revenue = 25. 4% * $10. 6 billion = 0. 254 * $10. 6 billion = $2. 6924 billion L. G. Electronics USA: Revenue = 21. 5% * $10. 6 billion = 0. 215 * $10. 6 bill ion = $2. 279 billionMotorola Inc: Revenue = 16. 4% * $10. 6 billion = 0. 164 * $10. 6 billion = $1. 7384 billion Kyocera International Inc: Revenue = 9. 9% * $10. 6 billion = 0. 099 * $10. 6 billion = $1. 0494 billion 2) If the performance of the US mobile phone market is expected to continue to grow from 2009 to 2012 at a rate of 5% per year, what will the size of the market be by the end of 2012? Answer: Revenue 2009 = $10. 6 billion Revenue 2010 = Revenue 2009 + 5% * Revenue 2009 = $10. 6 billion + 0. 05 * $10. 6 billion = $10. 6 billion + $0. 53 billion = $ 11. 13 billion Revenue 2011 = Revenue 2010 + 5% * Revenue 2010 = $11. 13 billion + 0. 05 * $11. 13 billion = $11. 3 billion + $0. 5565 billion = $11. 6865 billion Revenue 2012 = Revenue 2011 + 5% * Revenue 2011 = $11. 6865 billion + 0. 05 * $11. 6865 billion = $11. 6865 billion + $0. 584325 billion = $12. 270825 billion = $12. 271 billion 3) Large retail chains form a leading distribution channel in the US mobile phone marke t, accounting for 28% of the total value in 2009. In comparison, wireless service providers account for 23%, independent retailers 15%, and other sources account for 32%. Based on the 2009 revenues for the mobile phone market in the US, what is the share of revenue in dollars for each of the different distribution channels? Answer:Revenue Market Share (%) = Revenue ($) / Total Market Sales Revenue ($) Revenue ($) = Revenue Market Share (%) * Total Market Sales Revenue ($) Large Retail Chains: Revenue = 28% * $10. 6 billion = 0. 28 * $10. 6 billion = $2. 968 billion Wireless Service Providers: Revenue = 23% * $10. 6 billion = 0. 23 * $10. 6 billion = $2. 438 billion Independent Retailers: Revenue = 15% * $10. 6 billion = 0. 15 * $10. 6 billion = $1. 590 billion Other: Revenue = 32% * $10. 6 billion = 0. 32 * $10. 6 billion = $3. 392 billion 4) Calculate the Three Firm Concentration Ratio and the Herfindahl Index for the US Mobile Phone market (using 2009 market share values).What can you infer about the market concentration from these two metrics? Answer: Three Firm Concentration Ratio = 25. 4% + 21. 5% + 16. 4% = 63. 3% Herfindahl Index = Sum ([market share)(2] = Sum (. 254(2 + . 215(2 + . 164(2 + . 099(2 + . 090(2 + .074(2 + . 065(2 + . 038(2) = 0. 167 With the top 3 companies accounting for 63. 3% of the market and a Herfindahl Index of 0. 167 the market is not highly concentrated. 5) You have just become the Director of Retail Sales for a large US retail chain. What impact will the growing sales of mobile phones have on your business? Answer: – With a 5% increase per year, impact will be minor. Large retail chains sell thousands of products. There will likely be a similar increase in related products, such as chargers, skins, cases, travel chargers, prepaid phone cards, etc. – There may be a need to increase inventory levels and shelf space devoted to mobile phones and related products – There may be a slight increase in consumer flow i nto stores, which would affect cross and upselling other products to consumers walking in for mobile phones. Worksheet: Metric 4 Contribution Margin 1) Mohan, an artist, draws caricatures on the waterfront pier. It costs him approximately $5 in materials (paper and markers) for each caricature he makes. He sells each caricature for $20. Calculate the contribution margin in terms of dollars and percent. Answer: Contribution Margin ($) = Revenue – COGS = $20 – $5 = $15Contribution Margin (%) = [Contribution per Unit ($) / Sale Price per Unit ($)] * 100% = [(Sale Price per Unit – Variable Cost per Unit) / Sale Price per Unit] *100% = [($20 – $5) / $20] * 100% = [$15 / $20] * 100% = 0. 75 * 100% = 75% 2) The Hotel Grill Bar sells a set lunch for $12. The food cost of sales used in producing each set lunch is $5. Additional variable costs are $3 per lunch. The fixed costs of the restaurant are $3 per meal. What is the contribution margin expressed in dollars a nd percent? Variable Expenses = $5 + $3 = $8 Contribution Margin ($) = Revenue – Variable Expense = $12 – $8 = $4Contribution Margin (%) = [Contribution per Unit ($) / Sale Price per Unit ($)] * 100% = [(Sale Price per Unit – Variable Cost per Unit) / Sale Price per Unit] * 100% = [($12 – $8) / $12] * 100% = $4 / $12 * 100% = 0. 33 * 100% = 33. 3% 3) You are an online retailer of CDs, promoting sales via a ‘no postage and packaging’ offer. You purchase your CDs from record companies for $18. 75. Packaging and a padded envelope cost $1. 00 per CD; and postage is $2. 00. If you sell the CDs for $25 what is your contribution margin in dollars and percent? Variable Expenses = $18. 75 + $1. 00 + $2. 00 = $21. 75Contribution Margin ($) = Revenue – Variable Expense = $25 – $21. 75 = $3. 25 Contribution Margin (%) = [Contribution per Unit ($) / Sale Price per Unit ($)] * 100% = [(Sale Price per Unit – Variable Cost per Unit) / Sa le Price per Unit] * 100% = [($25 – $21. 75) / $25] * 100% = [$3. 25 / $25] * 100% = 0. 13 * 100% = 13% 4) You are the owner of an exclusive nightclub that is considering holding a New Year’s Eve party. You have determined that you need a minimum contribution margin of 40% in order to turn a profit for a single night event at your club.Additionally, in hosting all-you-can-eat and all-you-can-drink events in the past, you know that the food cost is $20 per person and the beverage cost is $17 per person. Finally, the house band charges a fee of $5 per person in attendance. What should you charge for a ticket? Answer: Variable Expenses = Food + Beverage + Band = $20 + $17 + $5 = $42 Contribution Margin (%) = [Contribution per Unit ($) / Sale Price per Unit ($)]* 100% = [(Sale Price per Unit – Variable Cost per Unit) / Sale Price per Unit] * 100% 40% = [(Sale Price per Unit – $42) / Sale Price per Unit] * 100% 0. 0 * Sale Price per Unit = Sale Price per Unit – $42 $42 = Sale Price per Unit – 0. 4 * Sale Price per Unit $42 = (1 – 0. 4) * Sale Price Per Unit Sale Price per Unit = $42 / 0. 6 Sale Price per Unit = $70 5) As the owner of the nightclub in question 4, you learn that a neighbouring nightclub is selling tickets for their New Year’s Eve party at $60/ticket, which is making your event less attractive. Should you lower your ticket price to match theirs given the variable costs in question 4 and knowing that your fixed costs will be $20/person? If not, why not and what might you do to increase tickets sales? Answer: No. The nightclub would lose $2 per ticket sold if they matched the neighbouring club’s price.To increase sales: – Reduce ticket price and reduce variable costs (lower priced food, drink, band) – Ensure that event is differentiated in a way that justifies the premium ticket price – Perhaps the other club is not offering all-you-can-eat or all-you-can-drink, or the b and is not as well-known, if that’s the case, ensure that your potential customers are aware of the differences Worksheet: Metric 5 Mark-up & Margin 1) A computer software retailer uses a markup rate of 40%. If the retailer pays $25 each for computer games sold in its stores, how much do the games sell for? Answer: The markup is 40% of the $25 cost, so the markup is: (0. 0) * ($25) = $10 Then the selling price, being the cost plus markup, is: $25 + $10 = $35 Therefore the games sell for $35. 2) A golf pro shop pays its wholesaler $40 for a certain club, and then sells that club to golfers for $75. What is the retail markup rate? Answer: The gross profit in dollars is calculated as sales price less cost: $75 – $40 = $35 The markup rate is then calculated: Markup (%) = Gross Profit / Cost *100 = $35 / $40 *100 = 87. 5% 3) A shoe store uses a 40% markup on cost. Find the cost of a pair of shoes that sells for $63. Answer: The cost of the shoes is calculated as follows: Se lling Price = Cost + Markup ($) Cost + (Markup (%) * Cost) $63 = Cost + (40% * Cost) $63 = Cost + (0. 4 * Cost) $63 = (1 + 0. 4) * Cost $63 = 1. 4 * Cost Cost = $63 / 1. 4 = $45 4) In 2009, Donna Manufacturing sold 100,000 widgets for $5 each, with a cost of goods sold of $2. What is the company’s margin? Identify a way that Donna Manufacturing can increase its profit margin? Answer: First we have to calculate the gross profit: Gross Profit = Selling Price – Cost of Goods Sold = $5 – $2 = $3 Now we can calculate the margin: Margin (%) = Gross Profit / Sales * 100 = $3 / $5 * 100 = 60% Ways to increase the profit margin: – Decrease cost of material – Decrease cost of manufacturing Increase sales price per unit – Decrease COGS 5) If a product costs $100 and is sold with a 25% markup at a retail store, what would be the retailer’s margin on the product? What should be the markup and selling price if the retailer desires a 25% margin? Why might the retailer be seeking to increase their margin? Answer: a) To calculate the margin, we first have to determine the sales price: Markup ($) = Markup (%) * Cost = 25% * $100 = $25 Selling Price = Cost + Markup ($) = $100 + $25 = $125 Margin (%) = Markup / Price * 100 = $25 / $125 * 100 = 20% Therefore the retailer’s margin would be 20% when the product is sold at a 25% markup. ) To calculate the markup and selling price at a 25% margin: Selling Price = Cost / (1 – Margin (%)) = $100 / (1 – 25%) = $100 / (1 – 0. 25) = $133. 33 Markup ($) = Selling Price – Cost = $133. 33 – $100 = $33. 33 Markup (%) = Markup ($) / Cost * 100 = $33. 33 / $100 * 100 = 33. 33% Therefore to obtain 25% margins, the product would have to be sold at $133. 33 with a markup of 33. 33%. c) Reasons for increase include: – Increase in fixed costs (rent, tax, commission, wages, etc. ) – Increase in demand and/or decrease in supply – Other compet itors/retailers charge more for the product and the higher margin is a result of increasing sales price to match Worksheet: Metric 6 Pricing Wholesale to Retail ) You are a manufacturer of widgets that sells your products to a wholesaler who in turn sells directly to retailers. You have developed a new widget and you know that your competition’s product retails for $23 in hardware stores. You know yours is slightly better, and are pretty sure your product could sell for $27. Assuming a retail margin of 33. 3% and a wholesale margin of 25%, what is the wholesaler’s selling price, and how much can you sell the widgets to the wholesaler for? Answer: If the suggested retail price of the widget is $27, then: Wholesaler Selling Price ($) = Retail Selling Price * [1 – Retail Margin (%)] = $27 * (1 – 33. 3%) $27 * (1 – 0. 333) = $18. 00 Manufacturer Selling Price = Wholesale Selling Price * [1 – Wholesale Margin] = $18. 00 * (1 – 25%) = $18. 00 * (1 – 0. 25) = $13. 50 2) As a small appliance manufacturer, your cost to manufacture and package your coffee maker is $10/unit. You want this to be a cash cow, so you decide to sell the coffee maker to your wholesaler for $19/unit. You know that the wholesaler’s margin is 25%, and that retailers typically take 33. 3% margins on small appliances. What will your coffee maker retail for rounded to the nearest whole number? Answer: Manufacturer Selling Price = Wholesale Selling Price * [1 – Wholesale Margin]Wholesale Selling Price = Manufacturer Selling Price / [1 – Wholesale Margin] = $19 / (1 – 25%) = $19 / (1 – 0. 25) = $25. 33 Wholesale Selling Price = Retail Selling Price * [1 – Retail Margin] Retail Selling Price = Wholesale Selling Price / [1 – Retail Margin] = $$25. 33 / (1 – 33. 3%) = $25. 33 / (1 – 0. 333) = $37. 98 Therefore the coffee maker will retail for $38. 00 3) A bearing manufacturer buys raw ma terials for $0. 50 per unit, turns the raw materials into a roller bearing, and then sells the bearings to a wholesaler for $1. 00 per unit. The wholesaler then sells the bearings to retailers for $2. 00 per unit, and finally consumers buy the bearings for $3. 00 per unit.What is the per unit margin in dollars for the manufacturer, wholesaler and retailer? What is the percentage margin for the manufacturer, wholesaler and retailer? What is the per unit margin in dollars and percentage margin for the entire chain? Answer: (a) Manufacturer margin ($) = $1. 00 – $0. 50 = $0. 50 Wholesaler margin ($) = $2. 00 – $1. 00 = $1. 00 Retailer margin ($) = $3. 00 – $2. 00 = $1. 00 (b)Manufacturer margin (%) = $0. 50 / $1. 00 * 100 = 50% Wholesaler margin (%) = $1. 00 / $2. 00 * 100 = 50% Retailer margin (%) = $1. 00 / $3. 00 * 100 = 33. 3% (c)Chain margin ($) = $3. 00 – $0. 50 = $2. 50 Chain margin (%) = $2. 50 / $3. 00 * 100 = 83. 3% 4) If the raw material cost goes up by $0. 5 per unit for the bearing manufacturer in question 3, what will be the retail price charged to consumers if all members in the chain maintain the same percent margin? What is the effect of the raw material increase to the consumer? Why is it important to understand channel margins and pricing practices? Answer: (a) Manufacturer margin = 50% Wholesaler margin = 50% Retailer margin = 33. 3% Raw material cost = $0. 50 + $0. 25 = $0. 75 Manufacturer margin = (Price – Cost) / Price * 100 50 = (Price – $0. 75) / Price *100 0. 5 * Price = Price – $0. 75 $0. 75 = Price – 0. 5 * Price $0. 75 = Price (1 – 0. 5) Price = $0. 75 / 0. 5 = $1. 50 Therefore the manufacturer sells the bearings for $1. 50 Wholesaler margin = (Price – Cost) / Price * 100 50 = (Price – $1. 0) / Price *100 0. 5 * Price = Price – $1. 50 $1. 50 = Price – 0. 5 * Price $1. 50 = Price (1 – 0. 5) Price = $1. 50 / 0. 5 = $3. 00 Therefore the whol esaler sells the bearings for $3. 00 Retailer margin = (Price – Cost) / Price * 100 33. 3 = (Price – $3. 00) / Price *100 0. 333 * Price = Price – $3. 00 $3. 00 = Price – 0. 333 * Price $3. 00 = Price (1 – 0. 333) Price = $3. 00 / 0. 667 = $4. 50 Therefore the retailer sells the bearings for $4. 50 (b) The price has increased by $1. 50 to the consumer (or 50% increase). (c) To evaluate the effects of price changes within the channel to the end consumer. Worksheet: Metric 7 Break-Even ) Apprentice Mousetraps wants to know how many units of its â€Å"Magic Mouse Trapper† it must sell to break even. The product sells for $20. It costs $5 per unit to make. The company’s fixed costs are $30,000. Answer: Break-Even Volume (#) = Fixed Costs ($) / Contribution per Unit ($) Contribution per Unit = Sales Price per Unit – Variable Cost per Unit = $20 – $5 = $15 Break-Even Volume (#) = $30,000 / $15 = 2,000 mousetraps 2) Apprentice Mousetraps wants to know how many dollars’ worth of its â€Å"Deluxe Mighty Mouse Trapper† it must sell to break even. The product sells for $40 per unit. It costs $10 per unit to make. The company’s fixed costs are $30,000. Answer:Break-Even Revenue ($) = Fixed Costs ($) / Contribution Margin (%) Contribution Margin (%) = Contribution per Unit / Selling Price per Unit Contribution per Unit ($) = Price per Unit – Variable Cost per Unit = $40 – $10 = $30 Contribution Margin (%) = $30 / $40 * 100 = 75% Break-Even Revenue ($) = $30,000 / 75% = $40,000 -OR- Break-Even Revenue ($) = Break-Even Volume (#) * Price per Unit ($) Break-Even Volume (#) = Fixed Costs ($) / Contribution per Unit ($) Contribution per Unit = Sales Price per Unit – Variable Cost per Unit = $40 – $10 = $30 Break-Even Volume (#) = $30,000 / $30 = 1,000 units Break-Even Revenue ($) = 1,000 * $40 = $40,000 3) John’s Clothing Store employs three salespeople.It gene rates annual sales of $1 million and an average contribution margin of 30%. Rent is $50,000. Each sales person costs $50,000 per year in salary and benefits. How much would sales have to increase for John to break even on hiring an additional salesperson? Answer: If the additional fixed cost of a salesperson is $50,000 and with an average contribution margin of 30%, then: Break-Even Revenue ($) = Fixed Costs ($) / Contribution Margin (%) = $50,000 / 30% = $166,666. 67 Therefore sales would have to increase by $166,666. 67 for John to break even on hiring an additional salesperson. 4) A corn farmer wishes to identify how many bushels of corn he must sell to cover his fixed cost at a given price.The farmer has costs consisting of $500 in real estate taxes, $700 interest on a bank loan, and $800 in other fixed expenses. The variable cost per bushel is $1, and covers labour, corn seed, herbicides and pesticides. If the price per bushel is $2, how many bushels must he sell to break even? Answer: Break-Even Volume (#) = Fixed Costs / Contribution per Unit Fixed Costs = $500 + $700 + $800 = $2000 Contribution per Unit ($) = Price – Variable Cost per Unit = $2 – $1 = $1 Break-Even Volume (#) = $2000 / $1 = 2000 bushels 5) If the farmer in question 4 sells only enough bushels to break even, what is his annual profit? Identify two ways the farmer could increase his annual profit.Answer: Farmer’s annual profit = $0. The farmer could increase his profit by: – Growing more corn – Increasing the price he charges per bushel – Reducing his costs: – Pay off loan or find lower interest rate – Reduce labour costs – Find lower seed costs – Find lower herbicide and pesticide costs – Changing to a more lucrative crop – Find alternative use for the land that offers a better return Worksheet: Metric 8 Return on Marketing Investment (ROMI) 1) A marketer is evaluating two marketing campaigns. It is esti mated that Campaign 1 would generate incremental revenues of $250,000, at an incremental cost of $50,000 and a contribution margin of 30%.Campaign 2 would generate incremental revenues of $50,000, at an incremental cost of $20,000 and a contribution margin of 50%. If the marketer is basing their decision solely on ROMI, which campaign should they go ahead with? Answer: ROMI for Campaign 1 is found by: ROMICampaign1 = (Incremental Revenue * Contribution Margin – Cost) / Cost = ($250,000 * 30% – $50,000) / $50,000 = 50% ROMICampaign2 = (Incremental Revenue * Contribution Margin – Cost) / Cost = ($50,000 * 50% – $20,000) / $20,000 = 25% Therefore the marketer should select Campaign 1. 2) A clothing retailer is considering investing in a newspaper advertising campaign to generate more sales.The campaign is expected to cost $3,000 in creative agency fees and $9,000 in circulation costs, while increasing revenues from $110,000 to $170,000. The retailer’s contribution margin averages 25%. What would be the return on the marketing investment of the newspaper campaign? Answer: Incremental Revenue = $170,000 – $110,000 = $60,000 Marketing Costs = $3,000 + $9,000 = $12,000 ROMI = (Incremental Revenue * Contribution Margin – Cost) / Cost = ($60,000 * 25% – $12,000) / $12,000 = 25% 3) An alternative option for the clothing retailer (in the previous question) is to invest in a direct mail campaign targeting previous customers – only a fraction of the reach of the newspaper campaign .The cost of the direct mail campaign would be $1,000, but would only result in increasing revenues to $150,000. What is the return on marketing investment in this case? Answer: Incremental Revenue = $150,000 – $110,000 = $40,000 ROMI = (Incremental Revenue * Contribution Margin – Cost) / Cost = ($40,000 * 25% – $1,000) / $1,000 = 900% 4) If the clothing retailer (in the previous questions) decides to execute both the newspaper and direct mail campaign what would be the combined return on marketing investment. Answer: Newspaper Incremental Revenue = $60,000 Direct Mail Incremental Revenue = $40,000 Total Incremental Revenue = $60,000 + $40,000 = $100,000 Total Cost = $12,000 + $1,000 = $13,000ROMI = (Incremental Revenue * Contribution Margin – Cost) / Cost = ($100,000 * 25% – $13,000) / $13,000 = 92. 31% 5) Which campaign should the clothing retailer in the previous questions execute for maximum return on marketing investment? If the retailer is more concerned with maximizing revenue growth, should they execute the newspaper campaign, direct mail campaign or both? Why? Answer: a) Direct mail campaign (900% ROMI) as it is significantly greater than the newspaper campaign (25%) and combined execution (92. 31%). b) Execute both as the revenue increase is $100,000; greater than the $60,000 as a result of the newspaper campaign and the $40,000 as a result of the direct mail campaign .

Negative Effects of Privatizing Social Security

Bush administration’s continuous emphasis on the issue of privatization of social security services has generated much hype in the recent years. Many a social security scholars and workers take into account its bad effects on the socio-cultural sector and economic domain of United States rather than eulogizing it. They put forward many negative effects of this privatization of social security. One of the prime negative effects is that a system that is carved out to offer benefits to employees and their kin upon retirement, disability, or bereavement is going to be treated like a commodity. It is a public service and is not a commercial service. From the very start of social security system in 1935, the program was based on the basis principle that magnitude of the remuneration package would depend on the income of employees over their professional time span. Contrary to this, Bush administration’s new privatized security system would take into account the   Ã‚  amount of funds that a worker would invest in his or her own personal account. Ultimately, this will lower the magnitude of benefit and there would be a great uncertainty on the part of the workers about their investments, margin over investments and remuneration. This would not only result into socio-economic maladies for their but psychological and mental health of the workers would be in danger too. Some scholars are of the view that â€Å"Rate of return† calculations, made by the proponents of privatized social security overlook the â€Å"value of Social Security's insurance protections†. So privatization of Social Security would divert the money that is currently used to finance existing insurance program into investment accounts (this proposed to be created for each worker). So from what sources this amount, that is being used to carry on current payments to recipients of a variety of Social Security insurance and other benefits, will be collected? It would generate a cause and effect phenomenon. For example Treasury of States have to borrow huge amounts from the private sectors and other financial institutes instantaneously in order to pay the insurance and other retirement benefits to the already retired and/or their families. This would cause negative impact on the national economy and federal deficit would go up. National saving would decline and it will effect the long-tern economic development. Another negative impact of the privatization of social security is that remuneration on the finances of workers through individual accounts would be totally dependent on the market trends. Furthermore scholars argue that individual investors are more prone to perform badly in the market than collective investments. In the above case brokerage houses, banks and mutual funds would be beneficial. Social Security programs does not take into account the gender differences and its patterns and procedures treat men and women on equal terms, But is a biological and cultural truth that women get the worst provided by the social security. So in this way, she will be the most hard-hit in the privatization process of social security. Caroll L. Estes as early as 2004 take into consideration the negative impact of privatization of Social security and says; Negative effects are particularly harsh for those older women who do not conform to the model of family status as married with male breadwinner and for those already disadvantaged by race, ethnicity, and class. (Estes, 2004) References Anrig Grig, Jr., ; Wasow, Bernard. Twelve Reasons Why Privatizing Social Security is a Bad Idea. The Century Foundation. 2004. Available online: http://www.socsec.org/publications.asp?pubid=503 Estes, Caroll L. Social Security privatization and older women: A feminist political economy perspective. Journal of Aging Studies. Vol.18. No. February 2004, Pages 9-26 Feldstein, Martin. Privatizing Social Security. Journal of Economic Literature, Vol. 37, No. 2 (Jun., 1999), pp. 685-686 ; ; ;

Stone Cold Definitions: What is a Family?

American society is an interesting place: we value individualism and celebrate freedom, and strive for being the best in all that we do.   The road to achieving this is not an easy one, but as a nation, we understand this.   We train our children gradually by setting small tasks for them.   These tasks are designed to help our children â€Å"practice† for their imminent involvement in the â€Å"real† world, and it is the hope of those who create these â€Å"practice† sessions that children will grow into adults who are well-adjusted, productive Americans. This training includes learning to do a variety of things—from the mundane to the complex—primarily by trial and error.   We put training wheels on bicycles; we spread education out over a period of twenty-plus years; we encourage part-time jobs before careers and raising a pet to learn the value of life and the seriousness of responsibility; however, when it comes to creating a family, we act like it is an all-or-nothing affair.   We define it in a single way, and access it as â€Å"successful† only in the extremist of circumstances.   American society may value individualism, celebrate freedom, and strive for perfection, but it can be an extraordinarily judgmental place for those who fall outside the parameters of the traditional definition of â€Å"family.† Barbara Kingsolver examines the definition of â€Å"family† in her piece, â€Å"Stone Soup: What Does It Mean To Be a Family, Anyway?†Ã‚   Her conclusion: that the defined parameters are simply too narrow and that America’s continuing to use this false standard is detrimental to all people. There can be little doubt that the United States values individualism; however, it seems as though individualism is only acceptable if the involved party conforms to preconceived norms and moral standards set by the majority when exercising this right to be â€Å"individual.†Ã‚   Barbara Kingsolver asks readers â€Å"in the catalog of family values, where do we rank an occasion such as this?† (305). She is referring to a child’s soccer game and the fact that the child in question is surrounded by primary and extended family members—an entire cheering section of his own, but that social construct calls his family â€Å"broken† (305).   Obviously, â€Å"Andy† is not suffering for lack of anything while playing soccer—there is nothing at all â€Å"broken† about him or the people who make up his family.   Kingsolver’s point is powerful, and she demands each of us step back and consider the reason for family and the parameters by which the success of this configuration of people is judged. The point of people joining together to create a unified structure (i.e. a â€Å"family†) is to strengthen the one by adding others.   The make-up of the family structure is rather arbitrary, and as Kingsolver points out, in other countries as well as in America’s past, the presence of several generations under one roof was commonplace (308).   Modern society has changed the basic dynamic of â€Å"family,† expecting the branching out of children as they reach adulthood, and the defining of parenting â€Å"success† by an offspring’s financial and familial productivity out in the world. This does not sound at all like the makings of a strong â€Å"individual†; it sounds very much like a cookie-cutter environment churning out cookie-cutter people.   Kingsolver points out that â€Å"there's a current in the air with ferocious moral force [. . .] claiming there is only one right way to do it, the Way It Has Always Been† and expresses how nonsensical this attitude is (305). If we operated under the guise of â€Å"the Way It Has Always Been,† we’d still have slavery, children working in sweat shops, women who had no control over their own money, legalized domestic violence, etc.   Part of this nation’s strength comes from its ability to recognize flaws in its operations, make the necessary changes, and move on.   Why are we so slow to apply this to family?   As Kingsolver puts it, â€Å"this narrow view [of family] is so pickled and absurd I'm astonished that it gets airplay† (305).   Simply put, a group of people who join together to perform everyday tasks, including caring for a child/children, paying bills, maintaining a home, and caring for one another is a family. People who were born before the internet, cellular phones, and the microwave oven survived, and many of them continue to do so without having adapted or integrated any of those items into their daily lives.   Those of us who make use of modern technology are not harmed by the lack of understanding or participation of those who choose to remain â€Å"behind† the times. However, those who insist on the â€Å"traditional† definition of â€Å"family† and persist in applying derogatory terms to the variety of familial make-ups that have become more prevalent are harming those who choose to acknowledge familial advances.   â€Å"Divorce, remarriage, single parenthood, gay parents, and blended families simply are. They're facts of our time† (307). It seems odd that in a nation that is so sold on individuality and freedom of choice that it has  begun to package cheese in balls, slabs, individually wrapped slices, and sticks that we shy away  from a multi-faceted definition of family.   Perhaps the problem is the way in which people look  at things.   Can it be that only a single parent struggling to get by understands that the slab is  cheapest, and that it has the added benefit of one’s being able to cut it and wrap it in a variety of  sizes and shapes that can be determined based on need?   Isn’t this a simple, physical example of  the old adage that anyway you slice a thing, it is still the thing?   Does it really matter what the  make-up of the family is as long as it fulfills it goals?   There are legitimate reasons for the  changes seen in the modern family. â€Å"Some of the reasons listed by sociologists for these family  reconstructions are: the idea of marriage as a romantic partnership rather than a pragmatic one; a  shift in women's expectations, from servility to self-respect and independence; and longevity† (Kingsolver 307). Prepare a list of the things a person might fight hardest for in terms of â€Å"freedom,† and the freedom to choose a life partner has got to be near the top, and this freedom is not about one’s orientation: it is about one’s freedom—period.   Whether straight or gay, single or married, the freedom to enter into or leave a relationship seems fundamental. Barbara Kingsolver discusses her preconceived notion of marriage and divorce: a notion that was constructed by the society in which she grew up—the society that continues to exist in America (306).   She admits to her naà ¯ve belief that in choosing a mate one could not err, and admitted that â€Å"once upon a time [she believed . . ] that everyone who [divorced] could have chosen not to do it.   That it's a lazy way out of marital problems.   That it selfishly puts personal happiness ahead of family integrity,† but having lived her life and gone through a divorce, she now sees that this is simply not true. This bursts not only the bubble of her expectations, it places the rest of her family, including her children, into a category that implies imperfection and an inability to perform up to expected standards.   Kingsolver equates the â€Å"judg[ing of] a family’s value by its tidy symmetry is to purchase a book for its cover† (308).   Oddly, the â€Å"children of divorce† are profoundly unaffected in many ways, and where adults see defeat, they see the opportunity to have two different homes and two sets of things as advantageous.   Certainly this isn’t always the case—as it is not always the case that a child raised in a â€Å"traditional family† goes unscathed.   Each situation and each experience is—dare I say—individual. The closing anecdote in Barbara Kingsolver’s piece places the term Stone Soup in to context, and it is in this recollection that real advice can be seen.   While the story hinges on the soldiers’ plan, what happens all around them is of equal importance.   The message in the story is that both sides must be ready and willing to accept their opposition: the hungry soldiers gave in to the townspeople who in turn gave in to the hungry soldiers, and in the end, everyone is better for having shared. The same is true of the modern family.   No one should be forced to give up the ideal of â€Å"family† anymore than anyone should give up the ideal of having a cupboard filled with food; however, everyone has got to be willing to acknowledge that their definition of â€Å"family† is relative—much like the â€Å"full† cupboard, and often simply adding to the pot what you can is sufficient. Work Cited Kingsolver, Barbara.   â€Å"Stone Soup: What Does It Mean To Be a Family, Anyway?†Ã‚   The McGraw-Hill Reader: Issues Across Time.   8th ed.   Ed. Gilbert H. Muller.   LaGuardia: City U. of New York, 2003.   305-310.

Younger Bus Lines Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Younger Bus Lines - Research Paper Example Kelm Company purchased a new machine on October 1, 2008, at a cost of $120,000.The company estimated that the machine will have a salvage value of $12,000. The machine is expected to be used for 10,000 working hours during its 5-year life.Brainiac Company purchased a delivery truck for $30,000 on January 1, 2008. The truck has an expected salvage value of $2,000, and is expected to be driven 100,000 miles over its estimated useful life of 8 years. Actual miles driven were 15,000 in 2008 and 12,000 in 2009.Journalize all entries required on the above dates, including entries to update depreciation, where applicable, on assets disposed of. Ingles Company uses straight-line depreciation. (Assume depreciation is up to date as of December 31, 2007.) (List multiple debit/credit entries in descending order of amount.)Beka Company owns equipment that cost $50,000 when purchased on January 1, 2005. It has been depreciated using the straight-line method based on estimated salvage value of $5,0 00 and an estimated useful life of 5 years.In recent years, Juresic Transportation purchased three used buses. Because of frequent turnover in the accounting department, a different accountant selected the depreciation method for each bus, and various methods were selected.For the declining-balance method, the company uses the double-declining rate.

Jet blue technology Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Jet blue technology - Research Paper Example Traditionally, firms depended on management and market forces to streamline their strategies but currently they have found the need to be abreast with innovations which in most cases have been necessitated by advances in technology and the unpredictable consumer tastes and preferences. This has led to a continuous process of integration by people around the globe brought about by increased interdependence due to the need to exchange information, ideas, opinions, goods and services and the cultural aspects. The unpredictability of consumer tastes and preferences have influenced the manner in which firms approach business opportunities and influenced by the rapid inventions in science and technology and innovations in business policies and mechanisms, firms have been competing to stay relevant in the market over their rivals. Aviation industry on the other hand has been putting so much emphasis on technology from their carriers to innovations that enhance smooth delivery of their servi ces to the large and growing customer base and competition. This include construction of planes that offer cargo and passenger services which are later mechanized or customized to incorporate features that distinguish a certain firm from the other for competitive advantage. This is further coupled with onboard and off board services to the passengers and other marketing strategies that ensure the firm stays relevant in the industry by acquiring a substantial market share in form of client base while it manages the incorporation of these innovations with the market returns. These technological advancements comes with barriers with which firms need to evaluate first to ascertain the overall cost and the general impact of the strategy to the firm’s position in the industry and its long and short term objectives. This has in the long run helped management to devise integration measures between the technological innovations and the existing labor force within these firms maintaini ng profitability and continuity of these firms. By adopting science and technology in the service delivery within the aviation industry has streamlined contractual aspect of transacting partners more so in the cargo section by providing timely response to both parties which has helped reduce legal tussles and in turn improving on the convenience and reliability aspects. Furthermore, innovations have brought solutions to many problems within the aviation industry right from marketing, client and portfolio management, human capital and firms’ organization. For instance, applying technological innovations within management section and in the research and development sections of any given firm ensures timely response to the arising matters more so in the service industry such as aviation which promotes real time course of action. Introduction Jet Blue is an airline company that has undergone several transmissions in a bid to strengthen its management and improve on service delive ry to its growing client base by merging and partnering with supplementary and complementary firms. The firm has had a strong organization culture from management to employees which has seen the firm accomplish long term and short term goals concurrently, improving on the customer attraction and retention and the overall service delivery by the airline. The firm has incorporated science and technology in almost all of its operations for convenience, reliability and outreach so as to improve

Coloniaism, Development, Culture and Resistance Essay

Coloniaism, Development, Culture and Resistance - Essay Example The New World inhabitants had accumulated a lot of golden treasure throughout the eras, besides the first deluge of "novel" gold into Europe and Spain came because of the  conquistadores  Ã¢â‚¬ËœSpanish for "conqueror’ take hold of this accumulation (Cole, 2002)  . Through the takeover of Peru by Pizarro Francisco, novel gold started to be excavated; and, through the unearthing of the silver in Mexico, vast quantities of silver started to surface. The European voyagers started to search mainly for gold. Therefore, as silver and gold reached in Europe from the New World, the value of everything started to rise gradually. The perpetual increase of silver and gold in Europe caused what historians term as  the price revolution (Diffie, 1977) and (Armesto, 2006). This paper will discuss the economic advantages that Europeans gained from their conquests in the ‘New World’. Food The new-fangled plants, which were initiated from the New-World, provided adequate fo od supplies for the growing population in Europe. The Europeans began to plant corn and potatoes from the New World. Although it was hard to get accustomed to corn, some Europeans, for instance, the Italians finally became adjusted to corn; nevertheless, it was utilized mainly as food for geese, chicken as well as other fowl as well as for pigs. The potatoes introduction created a revolution of calories, while the reception of corn created a revolution of proteins (Cole, 2002) and (Armesto, 2006). As Europe’s land could now yield more foodstuffs, the value of foodstuffs began to decline. The land production capacity had kept up with the populace, as well as the common European could at the moment eat more. In turn, the Europeans, initiated corn into the Africans as well as sweet potatoes to the Chinese, where these novel foods also altered conditions dramatically (Donkin, 2003) and (Armesto, 2006). The French brought in  tomatoes that they termed as "apples of love," and ut ilized them for decorative purposes within their flower parks. They believed that they were toxic. In time, nevertheless, the poison-producing tomato capacities were kept out, in addition the tomato turned out to be one of the highly popular supplements to European food (Donkin, 2003) and (Armesto, 2006). There were numerous other food vegetables transported back to Europe -- mainly many selections of  squash,  pumpkins,  beans,  peppers  -- that started a welcome diversity, along with a wide variety of vitamins, to the European cuisine. The healthiness of the common European started to improve, as well as his weight, height, and potency increased. While As this transpired, his endurance to illness grew (Cook, 1998) and (Armesto, 2006). Drugs A lot of awareness is directed to the dreadful death toll amongst the native populaces of the New-World instigated through the European's initiation of novel diseases that were incurable (Cook, 1998). It should as well be observed tha t majority of Europeans arriving to the New-World died in a year, generally from some illness, as well as that the demise toll amid Europeans within the central of Africa was very huge that it stayed largely uncultivated by them up to the 19th era (Dunton, 1896) and (Armesto, 2006). The Europeans were hasty to utilize native medicines for their illnesses, and the cinchona tree’

REFLECTION REPORT. Evaluation of Research and Analysis, gets students Essay

REFLECTION REPORT. Evaluation of Research and Analysis, gets students to reflect upon the case study based research project they - Essay Example The business problem being analyzed in this case study is the decline in the number of people who are undertaking Project Management training courses in the recent years. It is important that CUPE Ltd address this trend if they want to continue to grow and become successful. The purpose of this reflection report will be to provide a reflection of the process of researching a business problem. Additionally, this study will be aimed at critically demonstrating our knowledge and understanding level of the various processes involved in research and analysis while at the same time evaluating our own performance in the area of researching a business problem. This problem will be also addressing on how we chose the research and analysis methods that were used in the investigation of the business problem while at the same time addressing the strengths and the limitations of our research and the processes we adopted. Additionally, the report will critically address the various changes we woul d like to make in our approach to researching and analyzing the business problem given another chance to work on the project. ... dertaking Project Management Training include the decline in the number of project management jobs, the increased emphasis on prospective employees having experience as opposed to training, the increased number of competitors in the market, the presence of new innovative ways of delivering training including the growth in popularity of online training and the availability of various new and innovative ways marketing the courses. How the research and analysis methods used to investigate the business problem were chosen In business research, it must be understood that the questions asked at all times need to be not only valid, but also fair and must also directly relate to our need for information. What this generally implies is that it is important to have very clear objective purpose while conducting business research right from organizing for the research, through conducting the actual research to the end where there is report writing (Martyn, 2013: 142-149). Additionally, we unders tood of the importance of collecting information in a fair and systematic manner and the analysis of the data not only with great care, but also in a systematic way. It is the rigour of the analysis that determines the validity of the research results (Pia, 2013). While choosing the research question, we first started by first broadly discussing areas in management which were of particular interest to us and which most of the group members thought were practical and needed to be further studies into. We consequently did a literature review on various case studies to do with management before settling on CUPE Ltd which was not only practical, but also was related to the interests of all the members of the group. To refine the topic to investigating the decline in the number of people

(SAVE OUR STUDENTS) SCHOLARSHIP PERSONAL STATEMENT

(SAVE OUR STUDENTS) SCHOLARSHIP - Personal Statement Example As we all know, health insurance will cover only a partial amount of medical needs, and since my mother fell ill we have seen the medical bills pile up faster than expected. Our out of pocket costs were larger than my father could have ever imagined, and he was forced to dip into my college fund to cover the amount of money needed to help lower my mothers medical expenditures. This situation was not something that could have totally depleted my college fund though. Another event happened that has finally pushed my familys finances over the edge. In what can only be called a double whammy of bad luck, my father has been injured at work. This work-related injury has sidelined him from the workforce and has depleted our family savings in the process. Needless to say, my parents’ medical needs take priority over my college education. So it comes as no surprise that my college fund went from helping keep me in the college to helping keep food on the table and bill collectors at bay. At this crucial stage of my health science educational career, it is imperative that I stay in school. I am only a number of units shy of graduating from my chosen major, which I hope to parlay for a nursing education in 2013. However, I can afford to pay for my school fees this coming school year only if I manage to obtain some financial aid. Due to the situation of my parents, I am not in a position to look for a full-time job that will allow me to attend college on my days off. These days, I help augment the family income by working on a part-time basis as a cashier and delivery person. Part-time jobs will not help me pay for my college bills and the needs of my family. That is why I have chosen to become pro-active and to apply for financial aid and scholarships whenever possible. My grades in schools are pretty decent. I have been able to keep up my grade point average despite the situation that I find myself in at home. I managed to

None Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

None - Assignment Example Further to this, the prompt gives other fallacious statements of the reasons why individual and other Americans should own guns. For instance, it cites the border threats posed by immigrants from Latin America and other forms of gangs. It argues that the borders have become porous hence allowing job seekers, al-Qaida agents, as well as other terrorist organizations. Moreover, it asserts that the border has increased insecurity by allowing individual committing criminal activities such as robbery, kidnapping, murder, rape among others (Rick 17). Therefore, the prompt believes that owning a gun is the only solution towards the increased insecurity in the US specifically in the southern border. There are many fallacies that are emanating from the above prompt. For instance, many US citizens believe that owning a gun can be the only solution to their insecurity. This is not the case because guns do not ensure security, but are for shooting and killing (Lunger 67). Owning a gun does not ensure the security, but threatens and intimidate those living around and who dont own. In many cases, people have been killed even when they have guns. For instance, law enforcement agents have been killed when in patrol through being ambushed (Goss and Cook 133). This is an indication that owning or possessing a gun does not guarantee the security. There are many ways citizens can protect themselves other than owning a gun. Secondly, the prompt asserts that the porous US borders more so in the south have led to insecurity by allowing immigrants. This is a fallacy; not all illegal immigrants are security threats. There are many who have been of help to the US government by offering labor in areas where citizens cannot reach (Goss and Cook 133). Some immigrants are in US legally hence should not be viewed as illegal immigrants. Instead, they should be viewed as people who can contribute positively to the US economy. Lastly, there are a number of cases when the gun owners

The British Government Essay Example for Free

The British Government Essay Censorship played a vital role in hiding the negative effects of the war and controlling public opinion. Censorship is hiding or deleting parts of information. Photos, texts, statistics and information were all edited. The government had overtaken the media and carefully selected positive information and sometimes-irrelevant information to mislead civilians and control peoples opinions. Censorship was a strategic military action to mislead the enemy into thinking Britain was winning. The most important factor for censorship was to prevent the enemy from getting too much information. It was used to boost civilians morale because if they knew the truth, they might riot in the streets, forcing the government to surrender. One of the most significant and successful methods of censorship was the use of the radio. Many people had radios. It broadcasted happy and patriotic songs to keep up the morale. Demoralizing information was censored and statistics were exaggerated to their advantage. A good example of the need for censorship is the Bethnal Green Tube station incident where 173 people suffocated because a woman fell over. They censored information similar to this because they didnt want people to stop using shelters and people dying, if they died trying to reach safety, they might feel nowhere is safe and it would lower morale. If it wasnt censored, the Germans would exaggerate it to be a huge victory and the British would assume they were losing. The government blamed it on the bombing reassured people that it was safe. Censorship didnt quite boost morale but it definitely kept it from going down, propaganda was used mainly for boosting morale. Propaganda is information that is spread to promote a cause. The most important reason for propaganda was to boost morale in times of hardship. Also, it was used so people would contribute to the war effort. Even though sometimes the items werent used, but it made people feel as though they had done their bit. It was used to pressure parents to send their children away to the countryside. Most propaganda was positive and mostly funny also, to keep spirits high and to show the enemy they were surviving. It was also funny because it was uplifting and not to frighten people. Some propaganda used fear to make people do what the government wanted such as recycling. Propaganda was suitable for everyone and gave instructions incase of attacks. Another important use of propaganda was to make people obey the governments advice for example building a shelter or a wartime garden. Propaganda was also used to ensure civilians to use resources sparingly so that Britain could be self-sufficient because sailors getting the foreign goods were often at risk. Propaganda was shown in many ways such as films, the radio and posters, which were everywhere. The most significant and successful method of propaganda was posters because they were everywhere and it promoted safety precautions. They were designed to have catchy phrases and made people laugh, this would make them remember the message within the poster. Propaganda also promoted unity so that people wouldnt turn on each other. Normal life was also promoted so people didnt panic and cause riots. The duty of women was emphasized because they were important in keeping the family together. Stories were invented and victories of the R. A. F were exaggerated to again, boost morale. Statistics were also exaggerated, perhaps in an attempt to trick the enemy into believing they were losing.

Tsunami Resisting Structure Design

Tsunami Resisting Structure Design Tsunami waves Abstract: In the past Lebanon has experienced some major earthquakes and tsunamis. Kids are taught at school that Lebanons capital Beirut was buried 9 times because of these catastrophic events. However, other than manmade disasters, modern situation has been calm and this small Mediterranean country has been tsunami free for quite some time. Unfortunately studies show that this situation will not remain as calm in the future and that the Lebanese coast is in danger of re-experiencing these waves. In this paper the historic Tsunami activity around the world will be reviewed and evidence shall be given on why this event will strike Lebanon after 1500 years of absence. In addition, the behaviors and characteristics of tsunamis will be presented, how they start and how they destroy and by knowing the effects they have on buildings and the damages they cause to their elements, we are able to design a structure with the purpose of resisting these loads. The aim of this study is to design a Tsunami Resisting Structure in accordance with the current guidelines and complying with the existing Standards and Codes, that is expected to provide safe refugee from Tsunami and earthquakes. An example shall be given and the applied loads shall be calculated in the following pages. Introduction: It is said in the bible that the Lord told Noah that a flood of waters shall be brought upon the Earth to destroy mankind, both man and beast shall drown (Genesis 6:17). Tsunamis have been happening since the beginning of time, in the past as well as in our days when that event occurred, as part of evacuation technique or simply by instincts for survival people try to escape by going inland or trying to reach higher altitudes. But the wave hits the land with great energy and speed that basically trying to race it horizontally is practically impossible and most casualties that happen during a tsunami is when people try to flee the coast and move inland to higher altitudes. In some areas an evacuation is not possible in time and the best chances people have is through a vertical evacuation by moving upwards to higher levels in a tsunami resisting structure. (FEMA P646A, 2009) The idea of a vertical evacuation structure came to be after the tragic Sumatra earthquake and Indian Ocean tsunami in December 26, 2004. 300,000 lives were lost in the boxing day tsunami (Christian Meinig et al.,2005), and that number would have been so much worse if Reinforced Concrete Structure did not act as shelters for survivals. (FEMA P646A, 2009) We learnt from past events, and if a concrete multistory house was able to resist, even it was temporarily, even if it was for a short term, then a structure can be designed to withstand Tsunami as well as earthquakes, because in most cases, these two hazards are connected. Definition: The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) explain tsunami as: A Tsunami is a naturally occurring series of ocean waves resulting from a rapid, large-scale disturbance in a body of water.). They can be caused by either volcano eruption under water, or earthquake or landslides etc. (FEMA P646A, 2009). When they travel in the ocean the waves and fast but short in height, but when they reach the coast, the waves gain in height. It was believed that a number of events led to these oceanic waves however after the study of past events it was concluded that the major cause for tsunami generations was due to tectonic movements. Katsuyuki Abe in his publication Tsunami and Mechanism of great earthquakes explains the relationship between these waves and earthquakes. Katsuyuki Abe said: tsunamis are generated by tectonic deformations rather than by large submarine landslides and slumps. (Katsuyuki Abe, 1972). When tectonic plates are active, plate deformation induces seismic activity that cause earthquakes (Stein and Klosko, 2002) and The source of the tsunami/earthquake can be tracked back to its origin by analyzing the arrival date of the first wave to the shore. The boxing day 2004 Tsunami went down in history as the deadliest tsunami, with more than 230,000 casualties across 14 countries The earthquake triggering the tsunami was of magnitude 9, the most powerful earthquake in 40 years (ABC news, 2014). With its epicenter located at the Sumatra coast, between 2 tectonic plates, the Indian plate and the Burma plate. The two plates were so stressed that the earthquake happen when the Indian plate slipped under the Burma plate. (Sudhir et al., 2005) Tsunami in Lebanon No matter where we read or heard it, whether it was in the findings and studies published by the National Council for Scientific Research, Beirut, Lebanon or National Center for Geophysics, Lebanon or even in the August issue of the journal Geology 2007 or National Geographic News or Discovery News channel or the local newspapers, the context were the same: It is just a matter of time before a destructive tsunami hits this region. An underwater survey placed Lebanon near an active fault that could generate an earthquake in the seafloor causing a devastating tsunami in the region. Elias Ata and colleagues researched that the same fault that was responsible for the strongest earthquakes in the Mediterranean is active and is in danger of producing a tsunami wave just like it did thousands of years ago in the 551 A.D. tsunami in Phenecia now known as Lebanon (Elias et al, 2007). They confirmed the presence of fresh seismic breaks in the sea floor and argued that the Mount Lebanon thrust is identified as repeated earthquakes with 1500 years of return. Since the last earthquake was in 551 A.D. with an active fault line and a 1500 recurrence period, an earthquake in water is bound to happen any day now, and a tsunami will hit the entire Lebanese coast from north to south. Fortunately complying with the Lebanese building code for construction and design is deem to satisfy conditions for earthquake and seismic analysis, but the law does not impose tsunami design to developers and consultants and the idea of a tsunami resisting structure or a vertical evacuation model was somehow absurd in the region. However now that we have solid proof of a predicted tsunami, that idea doesnt look absurd anymore. Structural system A basic concept design of a Tsunami/Earthquake proof structure follows a number of consideration and guidelines. After observing past events, we can conclude that the major element that contributes to the survival of houses was the material used. While most small residences in Australia are timber and lightweight systems or even brick veneer and load bearing wall system, the most robust model that can resist important horizontal or vertical loads is reinforced concrete and or Steel structures. Multistory building are heavier and thus can prevent sliding when horizontal action is applied and because above levels are not submerged they aid to resist lateral loads. Another key component is Orientation, when buildings are constructed in a direction parallel to the ocean, the wave will have a greater surface of contact, and therefore the lateral force will hit the plan faà §ade with the lowest inertia. When they are built perpendicular to the ocean, the contact surface is smaller and the pressure will act upon a direction of highest inertia.   An ideal design is to not resist entirely the wave and have the structure with 800mm thick reinforced concrete wall. It must be a combination between a robust design combined with weak members. In other word, the wave should pass through the building, without causing the collapse of above stories. In order for the wave to flow though the ground level, non-load bearing walls have to breakaway to make passage for the wave. These breakaway walls are masonry block walls, they collapse once struck by the wave.   (FEMA TB9, 99) How vulnerable Structures are? Observation to partially damaged houses indicated that all elements can fail under tsunami load. Foundation can be uplifted and soil can be scoured. Columns can be sheared causing one story collapse or leading to progressive collapses of all upper levels and impact force can completely dislocate columns. Beams can be bent lateraly due to horizontal action and were majorly cracked. Joints connecting two elements, such as vertical support with slab and foundation can fail entirely. Shear and bending failure in walls have been detected, and punching shear where an axial element punches through a plan system was observed as well. However studying only the elements that failed is not enough; engineers must also consider the components that survived. For instance, it was that facades that had openings such as windows and doors did not crumple as opposing to sides there were completely closed and thus have been ruined by the wave. Calculation example This example consists of determining the actions caused by a tsunami on a structure of 2 basements, parking of area 1800 m2 each, Ground Level , Mezzanine and ten stories. The site is located 200 m from the shoreline, at elevation 5 m from the sea level near Beirut, Lebanon Elevation profile indicating the different slopes and location of the structure, taken from Google  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚   Earth 3D The slope of the terrain is essential to determine the wave parameters, specially height. The Federal Emergency Management Agency FEMA, has set guidelines to design structure from tsunami waves, FEMA P646 and FEMA P646A, 2005 shall be demonstrated in the below paragraphs to calculate all the loads generated on our structure. But first we need to determine the waves properties. A tsunami wave is defined by its inundation elevation R*, with is the height of the wave at its maximum penetration. Given the topography of our project, the wave will reach the steep slope and retrieve back, thats 510m from the shore. To determine the height, we will assume that the height is 10m Tsunami Loads As per FEMA P646A, 2005 8 forces are acted upon the structure: Hydrostatic, Buoyant, Hydrodynamic, Impulsive , Debris impact, Debris damming and Uplift forces, not to mention Additional gravity loads from retained water on elevated floors. Hydrostatic force in the basement is when the water from tsunami is retained in the basement, and cannot escape because the basement wall outline prevent seepage, the water is trapped and the basements are compared to water reservoirs since the two basements are completely filled with water. A static analysis on reservoir will therefore be conducted with water height 12m (=6m+8m) Fluid density à Ã‚ s = 1.2 à Ã‚ water = 1200 kg/m3 pc is the hydrostatic pressure, pc = à Ã‚ s.g.h pc (at GL ) = à Ã‚ s. h = 1200 x 8 = 9.6 T/m2 pc (at 1st Bas. ) = à Ã‚ s. h = 1200 x (8+ 3) = 13.2 T/m2 pc (at 2nd Bas.) = à Ã‚ s. h = 1200 x (8+6) = 16.8 T/m2 Buoyant Force The uplift force as per Archimedes principle is as follow: The reinforced concrete has a specific gravity of 2.5 T/m3, in our case the slab isnt a solid slab but made of hollow blocks with self weight equal to 0.63 T/m2 Specific gravity of a 32 cm slab of hollow blocks is = 1.97 T/m3 Water has a specific gravity of 1.2 T/m3 When immersed in the water the slab wont weight the same actuality it would weigh less due to the fact it has a buoyant force acting upward making it lighter. And so in water, the specific gravity of the slab will become 1.97 T/m3-1.2 T/m3 = 0.77 T/m3 If we take into consideration the thickness of the slab 32 cm it becomes   0.77 T/m3 x 0.32m = 0.246 T/m2 The buoyant pressure decreased the specific gravity of the slab from 0.63 T/m2   to 0.246 T/m2 so it must be equal to 0.63 T/m2   0.246 T/m2 = 0.384 T/m2 The buoyant force will be applied upwards as uniform surface load 0.384 T/m2 acting on floors of  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚   1stBasement, Ground level, Mezzanine and first floor.

Eigen Value Equation: Dirac Particles and Dirac Oscillators

Eigen Value Equation: Dirac Particles and Dirac Oscillators The thermodynamic entities with the GUP for Dirac particles  and Dirac oscillators Xin-feng Diao,  Chao-yun Long,  Guang-yu sun,  Yuan-sheng wang,  Hongling liu Abstract In this paper we studied the Eigen value equation for Dirac particles and Dirac Oscillators, considering the spin and Generalized Uncertainty Principle. Then we calculated the thermodynamic entities for them with the Generalized Uncertainty Principle corrected. We find that an electron of mass m and spin 1/2 in relativistic quantum mechanics confined in a box with the length L which the eigenvalues were related to the length of box and the correction terms of the Helmholtz free energy tend to increase the thermodynamic quantities. PACS number: 03.65.-w, 11.10.Nx Key words: GUP; Dirac particles ; Dirac Oscillators; thermodynamic entities. Introduction Various candidates of quantum gravity such as string theory and black hole physics concern the existence of a minimum measurable length. When energies of particles are much smaller than the scale of Planck mass [1, 2], it gives rise to the so-called Generalized Uncertainty Principle that results in a minimum observable length [3] (1) where is the GUP parameter and is a positive constant which depends on the expectation value of the momentum operator. On the other hand, Braun Majumder has discussed the harmonic oscillators following Maxwell-Boltzmann statistics by solving the Schrà ¶dinger equation[4]. However for the high energy particles we should consider the relativistic effect, so that it is important to study the effect of the Generalized Uncertainty Principle for Dirac particles and Dirac oscillators. Further more, the canonical partition function and other thermodynamic quantities for the relativistic particles following Maxwell-Boltzmann statistics should be involved. We discused the aspects in this paper. The Generalized Uncertainty Principle can be obtained from the deformed commutation relation, (2) where . The limits andcorrespond to the ordinary quantum mechanics and extreme quantum gravity, respectively. +Email: [emailprotected]. Now let us consider an electron of mass m and spin 1/2 in relativistic quantum mechanics, confined in a box of length L. The boundaries of the box are located at and. The wave function of the particle satisfies the following GUP corrected Dirac equation inside the box, where potential energe while and outside. The Dirac equation can be given as à ¯Ã‚ ¼Ã‹â€ 3à ¯Ã‚ ¼Ã¢â‚¬ ° where and are the Dirac matrices with the following representation , à ¯Ã‚ ¼Ã‹â€ 4à ¯Ã‚ ¼Ã¢â‚¬ ° Using the Jacobi identity [5]. And we can solve the equation with the method in the paper [6]. By defining , à ¯Ã‚ ¼Ã‹â€ 5à ¯Ã‚ ¼Ã¢â‚¬ ° considering the boundary conditions, we can get the energy Eigen value à ¯Ã‚ ¼Ã‹â€ 6à ¯Ã‚ ¼Ã¢â‚¬ ° Wrong calculation And we utilized the GUP corrected energy spectrum to calculate the canonical partition function and other thermodynamic quantities for the relativistic particles following Maxwell-Boltzmann statistics. So, we first calculated the GUP corrected partition function and it can be expressed as à ¯Ã‚ ¼Ã‹â€ 7à ¯Ã‚ ¼Ã¢â‚¬ ° So the partition function is wrong too with the. For the case of indistinguishable particles we use the relation of Helmholtz free energy with partition function . For the Helmholtz free energy and it comes out to be à ¯Ã‚ ¼Ã‹â€ 8à ¯Ã‚ ¼Ã¢â‚¬ ° where N is total number of Dirac particles. We found that the correction terms tend to increase the thermodynamic quantities. Then, we consider the Dirac oscillator and get the exact solution under a harmonic term. Firstly, Dirac equation is written as [7] (9) where U0 and V0 denote scalar and vector interactions, respectively, and the matrices are à ¯Ã‚ ¼Ã…’ (10) The spin wave function can be written as (11) We expand the equation and get the coupled equations (12) Then, (13) Pluging in to (12), we can obtain (14) (15) Here, we consider the harmonic term Using the operator relation (16) the equation becomes (17) à ¯Ã‚ ¼Ã…’ And we can get (18) With the method of [2], the energy of the equation (18) will be obtained . (19) If we set , the result becomes , which was well agree with non-relativistic quantum mechanics. And then we calculate the thermodynamic entities with the GUP corrected energy eigenvalue equation for the Dirac Oscillators. The partition function can be evaluated as . (20) We do this sum in a perturbative sense to distinguish the à ¯Ã‚ ¬Ã‚ rst term as the partition function of Dirac Oscillators, the equation can be rewritten as with. This equation guides us to write the GUP modified Helmholtz free energy as . (21) Simply, we write the expressions for the entropy internal energy as (22) where N is total number of Dirac oscillators. Summary In this paper, we studied an electron of mass m and spin 1/2 in relativistic quantum mechanics, which was confined in a box with the length L, We found that the eigenvalues were related to the length of box and the correction terms of the Helmholtz free energy tend to increase the thermodynamic quantities. We consider the Dirac oscillator and get the exact solution under a harmonic term, although the GUP corrected Hamiltonian of the harmonic oscillator has investigated[7-10]. We consider the different operator relation and get the partition function for the Dirac Oscillator. Moreover, we calculated the thermodynamic entities with the GUP corrected energy Eigen value equation for the Dirac Oscillator. So exploring relations in the basic foundations of the GUP is worth interesting [11]. This work was Supported by the Project of Guizhou Province Science and Technology OfficeNo. [2013]2255 and Guizhou Normal College project: 12YB005 . References [1] K. Konishi, G. Paffuti, P. Provero, Phys. Lett. B 234 (1990) 276. [2] M. Maggiore, Phys. Lett. B 304 (1993) 65. [3] A. Kempf, G. Mangano, R.B. Mann, Phys. Rev. D 52 (1995) 1108. [4] Barun Majumder , Sourav Sen. Physics Letters B 717 (2012) 291–294 [5] H. Hassanabadi a, S. Zarrinkamar b, A.A. Rajabia. Physics Letters B 718 (2013) 1111–1113 [6] A. Kempf, J. Phys. A 30 (1997) 2093. [7] Pouria Pedram. Physics Letters B 710 (2012) 478–485 [8] P. Pedram, Phys. Rev. D 85 (2012) 024016, arXiv:1112.2327. [9] K. Nozari, T. Azizi, Gen. Rel. Grav 38 (2006) 735742; K. Nozari, H. Mehdipour, Chaos Solitons Fractals 32 (2007) 1637; K. Nozari and A.S. Sefidgar, Chaos, Solitons and Fractals 38 (2008) 339. [10] B. Majumder, Phys. Lett. B 701 (2011) 384. [11] S. Kalyana Rama, Phys. Lett. B 519 (2001) 103.

Lucid Dreaming Essays -- Reserach Dreaming Dreams Essays

Lucid Dreaming Austin based filmmaker Richard Linklater recently released a movie that is a dream. By that I mean both that it is about a dream, and that it is dreamlike. "Waking Life" received mixed reviews, but it also sparked new interest in an idea that has actually been around a long time: lucid dreaming. In this paper I intend to explore the concept of lucidity in dreams, and to concentrate on the research of Stanford University's Stephen LaBerge, who has used lucid dreaming as a tool to better understand the biological phenomena of sleep and dreams. Basically, "lucid dreaming" is being aware that you are dreaming(1). In the late 19th century, Frederik van Eeden published his observations about his own lucid dreams. He reported the sensation of "being able to freely remember the circumstances of waking life, to think clearly, and to act deliberately upon reflection, all while experiencing a dream world that seems vividly real(2) (3)." Lucid dreams are not reported often, although a 1988 study by Snyder and Gackenbach indicated that as many as 58 % of people report having had at least one lucid dream in their life time, with 21 % having them as regularly as once a month(2). LaBerge was the among first scientists to provide scientific evidence supporting the phenomena in the early 1980s(4). His research has shown several techniques to be successful tools to help an individual learn how to become lucid in a dream. Lucid Dreaming: Fact or Fiction? Scientific debate regarding the validity of lucid dreams has existed for some time. Some believed that so-called lucid dreams were not dreams at all, but brief arousals from the sleeping state analogous to day dreaming. As recently as 1985 David Foulkes ... ...ry, dream lucidity appears to be a valid phenomena and one many people hope to achieve for themselves. Whatever your interest in the topic, you are sure to find an outlet for it in the plethora of internet resources available on the topic. Internet Sources: 1)Lucidity For All http://www.ld4all.com/index.html 2)The Lucidity Institute Site: "Lucid Dreaming: Psychophysiological Studies of Consciousness during REM Sleep, by Stephen LaBerge, Ph. D. http://www.lucidity.com/SleepAndCognition.html 3) The Lucidity Institute: "A Study of Dreams" , by Frederik van Eeden http://www.lucidity.com/vanEeden.html 4) "Waking the Dreamer", Levity.com http://www.levity.com/mavericks/lab-int.htm 5) "Dreaming: Lucid and Non Lucid" , by David Foulkes http://www.sawka.com/spiritwatch/dreaming.htm 6) The Lucid Dreaming Guild http://www.geocities.com/lucidguild/

Patas Monkeys and Company :: essays research papers fc

Patas and Company   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  A hip, hop, hibbety-hop, another quick jump, and the small yet very scared (LaRoe 84) monkey had gone from one tree to the next. With a fuzzy white stomach, small, pointy ears, and a â€Å"red hat† on top of his head, this was a renowned Patas monkey that lived in Kenya’s wild grasslands. The small monkey, with his big eyes wide open, searched around the neighbhoring trees for some nuts. He stretched his neck out as much as he could to look at every nook and cranny of the trees nearby, until he finally spotted a big juicy red nut (Woodland Zoo 1). His small snout immediately turned into a sort of grin, which the Patas are actually able to do. The little monkey (Clouting 138-139) suddenly got a running start from the branch and jumped like a bolt of lightning and hit the next tree. His quickness, jumping from tree to tree was amazing, with his small body and his long gummy like arms and legs (Woodland Zoo 2). After a couple of quick jumps and hops, he had arrived at the tree to be, the one with the big red juicy nut. He quickly grabbed it and jumped. Holding the nut in one hand, the little monkey hit the ground and took off running. The sunlight in the Kenya grassland had started to dim, and the little monkey knew he had to get home before it turned dark and all the bigger and scary animals came out to get their own food. As the little monkey was running, he noticed something in the clear distance. It was big, yellow, and had an uncountable number of black spots on it. Knowing that he would probably mean lunch for this yellow menace, he little monkey slowed down to a walk. The sun was seen less and less by the minute and it was halfway dark already. He had to think of a way around because the yellow menace did not look like it would be moving anywhere anytime soon, or anytime soon enough for the little monkey to get home before it got dark. The grass bushes of the Kenya grassland were very tall, and it was hard for him to see, but the made a run for it anyway. Jumping and running as quick as his little feet could carry him, the little Patas monkey tried to run around the danger ahead.

Meaning of Life and Personality Essay

What is personality? Personality is defined as a ingrained and relatively enduring patterns of thoughts, feeling and behavior. How can anybody be certain how his or her personality is going to turn out. I think people go through many different types an stages of personality throughout life. I think there no way to judge a personality, and that’s if you go by what researchers go by. Do researchers gather all the people in the world and judge the way they act, think, and go through what they do? I think everybody chooses their own personality, what I mean is there personality goes through what prson want it to be. People change their personality many times, at different times. People change their personality through the environment they go to everyday. There is really is no defintion to me, because personality changes too many times and people change each time to a new social world. A personality is very unique to a person, because it defines a person characterstics toward life. Personality usually has to constitute the meaning of that person and the way he or she lives in the world. Personality has to be with that person at all times, because it will help it will help distinguish you from other people. Personality is a key element for a person to establish his or hers in the social world. One person can not only have on personality because that person thakes on a different personality of the series of things that a person is going about. This all comes to point how does personality develops in a person. Reasechers think personality develops in the enviroment and is through heredity.

Meeting Conflicts and Interventions

Meeting Conflict and Intervention We spend a lot of our working lives in meetings; some are fruitful and some, less so. Meetings are often called to discuss a project or an idea so it is almost inevitable that conflict will arise; there is certainly a strong potential as it is unlikely that everyone will be in agreement. Let us first define what is conflict: Conflict refers to some form of friction, disagreement, or discord arising within a group when the beliefs or actions of one of more members of the group are either resisted by or unacceptable to one or more members of another group.Conflicts in meetings. Many of us have experienced tension and conflict in meetings. This can be exciting, energizing and helpful, but it can also hurt the team's progress, morale and be very disruptive. Remember, conflicts are disagreements. If the person who is disagreeing with you is raising valid questions, it may benefit the group to address the issues they are presenting. In fact, by listening t o them, you may gain valuable insight into what is and what is not working within your organization.However, if the person continues past the point of disagreement to the point of disruptiveness, specific steps should be taken. If you're in charge of a meeting and onflict occurs, what is your role? How do you restore peace? How can you assure that these conflicts dont harm your work? While you can't always prevent conflict in meetings, there are things you can do to deal with disagreements from damaging your team's wider goals. Dealing with Conflict. Conflict resolution is a way to diplomatically settle disputes by finding the root of an issue and creating a solution that all parties can agree upon.This can be a complicated process, especially if the conflict is personal (three main areas where conflicts occur: in interpersonal one-on-one relationships; in meetings; nd in negotiations), however it is important to recognize and address issues that arise. Identifying and Mitigating Co nflict. When conflict arises the first step is to identify the cause and ensure that it does not adversely disrupt other scheduled activities. Below is guidelines to help your meetings stay on track when conflict occurs. . Allow the opposing party to state their issue – Find some â€Å"grain of truth† in the other person's position that you can build upon. 2. Identify the problem to the best of your ability – Identify areas of agreement in the two positions. 3. Check with veryone in attendance for opinions/suggestions – See if someone else in the meeting has a response or recommendation. 4. Present any ideas or comments you may have, but do not make demands – Present your view, but do not force agreement.At this point it is possible that the conflict has been quickly resolved and the meeting can that progress is not being made it may be time to table (defer the subject to later in the meeting to handle) the discussion or schedule a special meeting to discuss the conflict. When tabling an issue until the next meeting remember to; a. Ensure the meeting minutes include all arguments b. Make resolving the conflict the first topic for the next meeting c. Avoid tabling an issue if you feel it will be tabled at the next meeting When scheduling a special meeting: i.Hold the meeting at a neutral location/ground, such as a conference/war room. it. Plan multiple meetings for more complicated issues iii. Keep regular business and conflict resolution separate And to conclude, always remember that the goal is to reach a compromise that all parties can live with. Online References: www. cs. ucla. edu/†klinger/articles/conflicts. html some portion are adapted from The University of Michigan Managing Conflict online handout

Does Herodotus believe in Cultural Relativism Essay

For its time and place, The Histories of Herodotus is a work of remarkably expansive scope. To set the stage for the wars between Greece and Persia ( 490-479 B. C. ), Herodotus describes the geographical and cultural background and reviews the political history of Lydia, Media, Babylon, Egypt, Persia, Scythia, Libya, Ionia, and various Greek city-states in Asia Minor, on the Aegean islands, and on the European mainland. To record the results of his â€Å"research† (historie, in Greek) with the greatest vigor and accuracy, Herodotus traveled to many of these places and gathered firsthand data from native informants. For this type of research, in the words of a modern commentator, Herodotus merits the title not only of the father of history; he is also the father of comparative anthropology. Among the various classes of information which Herodotus seems to have emphasized, thus suggesting a pattern for later descriptions, were marriage customs, religious rites, burial practices, and food habits. The description of these four categories of traits, or â€Å"social institutions,† were not necessarily executed in the round for every tribe that happened to stroll across the pages of the Histories; but they were mentioned often enough to indicate the direction taken by his curiosity, and the content of the questions he probably put to informants. Herodotus, the ancient Greek, was a cheerful, inquisitive, rationalistic extrovert who traveled over his world to discover the facts, who took delight in telling a good story but usually avoided the temptation to wander very far from sober common sense. His cultural relativism is well known and much discussed, but it is particularly noteworthy that Greeks and barbarians are placed on a equal footing at the outset. Distinctions between Greek and non-Greek break down as the work progresses: the first barbarian for whom we get any detailed information is the Hellenized Lydian king, Croesus; the divisions of lands customary among the Greeks that separate Greek and non-Greek peoples are purely arbitrary; we learn of the Phoenician descent of Sparta’s kings; and Herodotus states that the descendants of Perseus came to be counted as Greeks. The key dichotomy is not the Hellenic-barbarian bipolarity, but rather the opposition of the ordered society based on law and the arbitrary rule of the despot. But political and social institutions are fragile structures, and Herodotus gives no guarantee that the Greek superiority at the time of the Persian Wars, which was based upon those institutions, will last. In fact his work closes on an ominous note that appears to warn imperial Athens that it is in danger of becoming, if it has not already become, the barbarian. We are presented with the gruesome picture of the crucifixion of the Persian satrap Artayctes at the command of the Athenian commander Xanthippus, father of Pericles, and a piece of wisdom from the Persian founding father, Cyrus, on the dangers of success and affluence. And it is well to remember that Herodotus wrote long after the Persian threat had passed, when Athenian imperial power was at its apogee. Herodotos’ interest in reciprocity is symptomatic of contemporary philosophy, not least in Ionia. Moreover, Herodotos’ very project, his attempt to explain and explore the Persian Wars, can be considered as a study of reciprocity in cross-cultural interaction, not least because those wars were for Herodotos a stage in a reciprocal, cross-cultural process, as he asserts in the proem. Indeed, war itself may be seen as an exchange, a reciprocal undertaking: the tactics of the Skythian Idanthyrsos allow him to wage war while explicitly rejecting the relationship that war usually entails. Herodotos’ origins in western Asia Minor, a key area of interface between Greek and non-Greek culture, may have led him to give particular thought to the issue of cross-cultural reciprocity, as also to the Persian Wars, for which the Ionian Revolt had been the catalyst, if not the cause. At the same time, the justice and injustice of imperialism remained a burning issue through the fifth century into the fourth, and not only Persian imperialism, but also Athenian, Spartan, and Macedonian. The Persian Wars were the great antecedents of the Peloponnesian War, in the early years of which Herodotos seems to have completed his work. The Persians themselves continued to play a major role in the politics of the Greek world: the onset of the Peloponnesian War seems to have inspired new attempts to deal with them, and with other non-Greeks, as indicated in comic style in Aristophanes’ Akharnians of 425 BC. 25 This is understandable, for it was to be Persian resources that would give ultimate victory to the Spartans in that war. Thus, it is quite possible that crosscultural reciprocity was a topical concern in Athens and elsewhere when Herodotos completed his work, though the issue had been close to the centre of Greek preoccupations at least since the time of the Persian Wars, Herodotos’ subject. The Persian Wars had reinforced a Hellenic self-image, defined by contrast with the ‘barbarian’ identity, and had thereby further problematized relationships between Greek and non-Greek. In particular, Greeks (especially Athenians, perhaps) could and did use their defeat of Persia as confirmation of a broader superiority over the barbarian. In exploring the difficulties of forming relationships with the ‘other’, Herodotos’ Histories present readers with failures and disasters, arising primarily from ignorance, over-confidence, and cultural chauvinism. There is a definite element of pessimism in the Histories, for the inability to penetrate beyond contingent nomoi and thereby to see ‘other’ as ‘self’ is taken to be an observable feature of human nature, as manifested throughout the narrative. In particular, wars are seen to be the products of injustice and attendant ignorance. But there is also hope; for the author claims for himself the ability to rise above commonplace failings and offers to provide his readers with a better understanding of themselves, of others, and of reciprocity. Like Kroisos, the reader may pass into a state of deeper understanding through advice confirmed by experience. Where Kroisos had the advice of Solon and suffered personal disaster, the reader has the advice of Herodotos the author and suffers vicarious disaster, ‘experiencing experiences’. Baldry notices that Herodotos calls into question the whole dichotomy between Greek and barbarian, when he presents the Egyptian perspective, according to which barbarians are not those who do not speak Greek, but those who do not speak Egyptian. At the same time, as Laurot has shown, Herodotos displays no interest in condemning barbarians as such, nor in subordinating them to Greeks. Rather, his presentation in the Histories of nomoi of the barbarian ‘other’ offers insights into the nomoi of the Greek ‘self’ (or better, ‘selves’), insofar as the various Greek nomoi constitute Herodotos’ principal frame of reference and benchmark. However, as Rosellini and Said valuably stress, Herodotos does not present the barbarian ‘other’ as a monolithic unity, any more than he presents the Greeks themselves as a unity: rather he ranges across the different nomoi that exist among barbarians and through the complexities of interaction between various barbarian peoples. The Histories are not so much a mirror, as Hartog would have it, but a hall of mirrors with multiple reflections. The key point is that in the Histories cultural differences, however profound they may be, are presented as secondary to a common human nature and a common human condition: in that sense too Greek is barbarian, ‘self’ is ‘other’. The categories of Greek and barbarian are familiar to Herodotos, but on his view, as the proem indicates, they need not entail the subordination of the barbarian, whose achievements are to be celebrated also. For Herodotos, it is humanness that is the natural identity and the group identity that matters, and man-made variations are merely contingent, for all their exotic character and interest. Confirmation of such a view of Herodotos may be found in the condemnatory response of Plutarch, for whom Herodotos is far too positive about barbarians. The ferocity of Plutarch’s response (indeed, his very decision to write a response at all) further indicates the strength of the challenge that Herodotos’ case presented to the smug asseverations of Greek specialness that seem to have developed through the fifth century and which Plutarch in his day assumed to be right and proper. Cross-cultural interaction was central to Herodotos’ project in the Histories. At the same time, the problematic nature of reciprocity the uncertainty that arises from its under-negotiation — is particularly apparent in interaction across cultures. Indeed, Herodotos’ concern with the problematics of reciprocity as a phenomenon can be seen as intimately bound up with his concern with cross-cultural interaction. Of course, Herodotos’ starting-point is a matter of mere speculation. But we can and should observe the organic relationship between cross-cultural interaction, crosscultural reciprocity, and the problematics of reciprocity as a phenomenon. It is precisely within the problematics of cross-cultural reciprocity that the appreciation of cultural relativism is particularly necessary. Therefore, if we move from the claim, already mentioned, that there is a strong sense in which the Histories are about reciprocity to ask why Herodotos should be so interested in the phenomenon, I would suggest that an answer is to be found not in the topicality of reciprocity as a theme in the later fifth century, but in the rationale of Herodotos’ very undertaking. A broadlybased treatment of the Persian Wars by its very nature invites a simultaneous and inherent treatment of reciprocity as a phenomenon. To examine societies is to explore forms of reciprocities. All the more so, when societies invite comparisons through their It also seems clear that Herodotus approached the task of describing manners and customs with a fairly definite idea of what constituted a culture, and a fairly specific set of questions for evoking details from informants. The criteria which separated one group from another and gave individuality to his descriptive portraits were common descent, common language, common religion, and the observance of like manners in the smaller details of living, such as dress, diet, and dwellings. The Argippeans, who lived at the foot of the Ural Mountains, were presented vividly as being bald from birth, speaking a language of their own, using no weapons, dispensing justice in the quarrels of their neighbors, and dressing after the manner of the Scythians. They lived on the juice of a species of cherry, making the lees into a solid cake which they ate instead of meat. They dwell each man,† he said, â€Å"under a tree, covering it in winter with a white felt cloth, but using no felt in summer. † For each group, in other words, seven categories of cultural fact are given. We are told their geographical location and something of their environment. We are told of their language, their dress, their food, their dwellings, their form of self-defense, or their lack of it, their prestige as judges among other peoples. On the other hand, concerning Egypt, one of the more important culture areas, Herodotus says at the outset that he will have to extend his remarks to some length. This country–its climate, its people and animals–was a constant surprise and challenge to the observer, very much as Japan with its customs and Australia with its fauna have challenged the modern traveller. For the Egyptians the number of cultural categories evoked far exceeds the seven used in describing the Argippeans. As for history, Bodin’s belief in its power to confer knowledge concerning the ways of mankind was unfaltering; and much of both the Methodus and the Republique is devoted to the assemblage of documentation to support this contention. Never before perhaps had a writer on politics or ethnography amassed so large a body of dated materials or laid so large a literature under tribute. He was well-read, not only in the law and the Bible, but in the Talmud and the Cabala; in the ancients, including Herodotus, Strabo, Cicero, Tacitus, and Caesar; in the modern historians, such as Joinville, Froissart, Monstrelet, Commines; and in the travelers, Marco Polo, Leo Africanus, and Las Casas. As they err, said he, â€Å"who study the maps of regions before they have learned accurately the relation of the whole universe and the separate parts to each other and to the whole, so they are not less mistaken who think they can understand particular histories before they have judged the order and sequence of universal history and of all times, set forth as it were in a table. †