Issues Involving Racial Inequality in Society Today

In today’s society there are many issues involving racial inequality. One major issue affecting college students and high school seniors is affirmative action. Affirmative action is a policy favoring those who tend to suffer from discrimination, especially minorities. Affirmative action started in the 1970’s and its purpose is to help universities better diversify their campus with different demographics. At the time, affirmative action was a means of restitution for human rights abuse African Americans suffered for generations. Today, affirmative action is not limited to blacks, and is a controversial issue due to higher competition with college acceptance rates. Those who argue in favor of affirmative action argue that the policy is necessary because it allows universities to maintain diversity and strip campuses of racial barriers to reflect a better-integrated society. Affirmative action compensates for opportunities lost to minorities and racism. Supporters also argue that affirmative action benefits all students, not just minorities. It does so by allowing students to better integrate with one another to prepare them for the workforce. Opponents of affirmative action argue that it violates the 1964 Civil Rights Act because prohibits discrimination or segregation on the ground of race, color†¦or national origin in federally funded programs and activities. Opponents of this policy declare affirmative action beneficiaries eventually drop out of the more competitiveShow MoreRelatedRacism And The American Criminal Justice System1584 Words   |  7 PagesToday, African Americans and other minorities are over-represented in the criminal justice system, but under-represented politically in the United States of America. Since well before its inception in 1776, the United States of America has been a nation characterized by white supremacy. 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The Human Quest to Belong is Characterized by Both Belonging and Alienation Free Essays

Belonging involves triumphing over failure to belong. This is seen in Peter Skrzynecki’s anthology Immigrant Chronicle. The poem St Patricks College explores the persona’s struggle to overcome alienation in his search for belonging. We will write a custom essay sample on The Human Quest to Belong is Characterized by Both Belonging and Alienation or any similar topic only for you Order Now The poem Feliks Skrzynecki explores the persona witnessing his fathers triumph to belong. The picture book The Lost Thing by Shaun Tan explores the things initial failure to belong, which is then overcome. St Patricks College explores the personas failure to belong into the school society. The imagery â€Å"our lady watched/ with outstretched arms† gives the persona hope that he will belong in this school. This gives an early sense of triumph in his quest to belong. This is then inverted when the statues face is seen to be â€Å"overshadowed by clouds†. This use of pathetic fallacy gives early warning that the school will not be a place where he belongs, but a place were he will fail to belong and become out casted. The personification heightens this feeling of exclusion by having a personal bond created between the two, which is then broken by the clouds. This gives a further feeling of isolation from the school. The persona then tells of his exclusion from the school when he reminisces on his bus trips. â€Å"caught the 414 bus/ like a foreign tourist/ uncertain of my destination†, in this line the simile is coupled with the use of tautology. The simile of the persona being a foreign tourist gives him a lack of permanence in society, that he is a nomad with no sense of place. This is then contrasted with the repetition of â€Å" eight years† which shows how in this time he should have found a sense of belonging. The persona referring to himself as a tourist, also shows how he is out casted from society and not accepted. This also gives a feeling of exclusion faced by the persona. The tautology of â€Å"foreign tourist† is used to increase the feeling of exclusion. At the end of the personas schooling he reflects on his time at the school and the effort that his parents had gone though to get him through it. He still feels that it had not been a worthwhile sacrifice, but hopes that after school he could o something to make it worthwhile for them. that the darkness around me /wasn’t â€Å"for the best†/ before I let my light shine†. This line uses the imagery of darkness surrounding the persona to show his regret and alienation that he faced from his schooling. He then repeats his mother’s line of â€Å"for the best† but this time showing her how she had been wrong. This puts a negative tone on the line. Hope is then gained for the persona when he state s, â€Å"before I let my light shine†, which indicates that in the future he will triumph and belong into society. Feliks Skrzynecki explores the personas failure to belong in society, and his father triumph over belonging. The father is seen to have â€Å"kept up only with the Joneses/ of his own minds making†, the alliteration of â€Å"minds making† helps add emphasis to he line. This reinforces the feeling of his belonging in is own mind due to the added emphasis now placed on â€Å"mind†. The quote also utilises the cliche of â€Å"keeping up with the Joneses† as a metaphor for people conforming to societies expectations in a search for belonging. Feliks however, chooses to belong only within his own mind, and not conform to society. This shows how he has a sense of belonging within his own mind. Feliks is seen to have â€Å"loved his garden like an only child†. This quote utilises the simile to portray the message of his belonging within the garden. Comparing the garden to an only child turns Feliks’ instincts to love and protect onto the garden. This is then reinforced later in the stanza when he is seen to walk around the garden from â€Å"sunrise to sleep†. The quote also utilises the high modality word love which gives added depth to just how strong the connection between the two are. A father and son share a unique bond, utilised in this line, where father and son belong together, this is now placed on the father and garden. This also acts to create a sense of jealousy between the son and the father, as the father cares for the garden not his son. This shows how the son has failed to belong with the father. â€Å"like a dumb prophet/ watched me pegging my tents/ further and further south of Hadrian’s wall†, this quote uses the extended metaphor of Hadrian’s Wall as his old culture. The persona is seen to be moving away from his old culture as he attempts to embrace the Australian Culture. The paradox of the father being a dumb prophet indicted not him being stupid, but silent as he watches his son move further away from him and their Polish heritage. By using the word â€Å"tents†, the persona describes himself as unsettled and impermanent, this gives the impression that he still belongs nowhere. The repetition of further and further indicate that the father and son are growing apart and will never return to their previous feelings of belonging. The Lost Thing by Shaun Tan explores the journey of the â€Å"thing† as it attempts to find a place of belonging. Initially, it is seen to be alienated from the rest of society by a high angle shot of it at the beach. This shot allows for the whole scene to be viewed and for greater contrast to be made. The thing is seen I the middle of the beach, however it stands out from the rest of the beach goers. Its bright red colour is in contrast to the rest of the grey people and grey city. The high angle shot is able to show the hundreds of people who all belong together in grey clothing, while also showing the insignificance of the thing as it sits alone. The thing is then later seen walking through the streets. All of the people surrounding it are the same height and wearing the same black suits, showing how they all belong to this conformist society. The thing however is seen at least three times as tall as the people, and in bright red, completely opposing the people of the city. This flat angle shot shows how the thing is still alienated from society. In the final pages of the book the thing triumphs over its quest to belong when it finds its new home. The low angle shot of the area shows the size and excitement of the place. It shows for the first time in the book colours, which give the thing a sense of belonging, as it now no longer stands out. The sky is seen to be blue and sunny, giving the place a feeling of happiness. The thing is seen to finally have triumphed over its quest for belonging. Belonging involves triumphing over failure to belong. This is seen in Skryzynecki’s anthology Immigrant Chronicle and Shaun Tan’s The Lost Thing. How to cite The Human Quest to Belong is Characterized by Both Belonging and Alienation, Papers

Looking at Amtrak Sunset Limited Derailment Accident free essay sample

Corporate Social Responsibility: Looking at Amtrak Sunset Limited Derailment Accident Stakeholders are people that are affected by business decisions and/or who make those business decisions. Concerning the Case Study: Amtrak Sunset Limited Derailment, the confluence of events led to a great tragedy and in return there were many who were affected by the decisions of all parties involved. Sunset Limited Case Study Stakeholders The stakeholders in this case vary. They include: Amtrak, the passengers of the Sunset Limited, crew members of the train including Engineer Michael Vincent, Billy Rex Hall, and Ernest Lamar Russ, the families of the crew members and the passengers (who were not with them), Warren Carr, Ronnie Seymour, CSX Co. , Town of Prichard, Mobile, Coast Guard, NTSB, WGN Inc. (M/V Mauvilla towboat owner), Capt. Andrew Stabler, Willie Odom (Pilot), and the U. S. District Court for Southern Alabama District. Interests Safety. Amtrak, CSX, WGN Inc. We will write a custom essay sample on Looking at Amtrak Sunset Limited Derailment Accident or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page and their employees safety at work, proper training, and promoting public image of safe, economical travel while overcoming this tragedy. Employees’ interests lie in returning home safely to their family and friends, being able to work and provide for their family, and overcoming this tragedy. NTSB needs to rectify the situation to prevent future instances and taking proper steps to ensure safety. Townsfolk wish to avoid such tragedies in the future. The U. S. District Court wish to see future tragedies prevented while helping to ease the suffering of those who lost. Corporate Social Responsibility Legal Compensating victims and surviving family members per the judgment of the District Court and abiding by all laws concerning safety, emergency response, and training. Economic Continue profitability in light of this tragedy. That could mean PR campaigns promoting safety of travel, renewed training programs for employees, rededication to customer service and alleviating fears. Ethical Abide by ethical codes of conduct concerning not only their stakeholder’s profitability but also those affected by the outcome of the trip and proceeding court case(s). Profitability should be maintained but not at the cost of ethical behavior. Philanthropic This case is ripe for a philanthropic cause such as creating a victims and survivors charity to help family members, grievance counseling, and similar avenues of help. Recommendations I would recommend that the corporation’s get together and compensate the people who lost loved ones because of this incident and those who were injured in this incident. This does not bring loved ones back, but it may ease any financial burdens that may arise. The government should place more noticeable landmarks by the river to let mariners know that there is a bridge near. Plus it should be that during heavy dense fog, mariners shouldn’t travel because of limited visibility. The Amtrak should maybe install an automatic break locking system on its train and the tracks to stop the train when something goes wrong on the tracks.

The Three Different Types of Hatred and Discrimination Essay Example

The Three Different Types of Hatred and Discrimination Essay Shakespeare gives us the example of that in his book of Romeo and Juliet. In this book, there are two families who hate each other due to past conflicts. The Montague and the Caplet family. In this book, the son of the Montague falls in love with the daughter of the Capsules. A love so deep that they get married In privacy. Because them getting married biblically, would cause their parents to greatly punish them. One night, Juliet tells Romeo Deny thy father and refuse thy name; or If thou will not, be but sworn my love, and Ill no longer be a Caplet. (Shakespeare 34-36. Her father wants her to get married to a man who she does not want to marry. The day of her marriage, she fakes her death. Romeo believing she is dead kills himself out of grief of losing her. All this hardship because the parents hate each others names and cannot bear their kids being together. This is Just one example of misjudging one by the name. In this case judging one by his name has resulted in death. Osama is another example. This name is stereotyped because Osama Bin Laden the most wanted man in the world carries it. It does not signify a lion jumping on its prey. And et that is how It Is seen In todays society around the world. We will write a custom essay sample on The Three Different Types of Hatred and Discrimination specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on The Three Different Types of Hatred and Discrimination specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on The Three Different Types of Hatred and Discrimination specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer And so if a boy or a man were to carry this name, he would have much difficulty In getting a Job. Just for carrying that name. Therefore Judging one by his name affects everyone In one way or another. In Harper Lees book To Kill a Mockingbird, the author puts in evidence the amount of racism that was present in the southern Alabama state of America; back in the sass. In this book, the most part of the white community of Macomb mistreats the black community by firstly by calling them Negroes and secondly by accusing one of them falsely. In this case, the accused is Tom Robinson. A black man accused of violently abusing and raping a white woman. Although his lawyer Tactics Finch defends him with strong evidence, the jury goes against him by Judging him guilty. The white society did not stand up for him, but Just let It pass. They forgot all about this case within two days. After his death due to a failed escape from Enfield Prison Farm, a member of the white community Judges him as Typical of a Niger to cut and run. Typical of Ruggeris mentality to have no plan, no thought for the future. Just run blind the first chance he saw. (Lee page 24) Lee just shows us one example of racism. Still today In southern part AT ten USA tanner are groups AT ten ASK won are still advocating white supremacy. This causes many deaths of non-white people. The Arab race is another example. Arabs are now stereotyped as terrorist ever since the 911 incident. If one person of any race is wrong, it does not mean that all the people of that race are wrong as well. One should not be Judged by his race but by his character. Racism causes many problems to individuals that are part of a stereotyped race or people that are simply discriminated due to their skin color. Therefore racism must take a stop. Often, people with physical disabilities or differences are misjudged or underestimated by those who have none. Either if they have an extra toes, half a finger or are shorter than average. That can cause not getting hired at a Job. Gender can also be a problem. For instance if a girl would want to work in construction, she would be made fun of and greatly under estimated because she might not have the physical strength for the work or the roughness of a man. In todays society in North America, gender has become a minor problem. Men get to work in fashion and girl tortes, Just as women can work at a garage or as police officers. However physical disabilities are still discriminated. In John Handsaws book The Chrysalis, he talks about a girl named Sophie who is believed to be a blasphemy or deviation of some kind because she has six toes. The inspector in the story warns David (the main character) not to be friends with Sophie because she is made by the devil. She has no soul. David is forced to report her to the authorities so they can send her to Finchs land. Muff know, David concealment of a Blasphemy not reporting a human aviation is a very very serious thing. People go to prison for it. It is everybodys duty to report any kind of offence to me even they arent sure so that I can decide. Its always important, and very important indeed is it is a Blasphemy. And in this case there doesnt seem to be any doubt about it unless young Ervin was mistaken. Now he says she has six toes. Is that true? (Yamaha page 51) Those who are physically disabled could be very qualified for something. For instance many people who see a physically disabled person would most likely Judge him as mentally ill. And that is a problem in our society. Employers could miss the chance of having a top quality employee such as a sales manager Just because he is in a wheelchair. The fact of discriminating on physically disabled people can cause us to lose chances of meeting very valuable people. They should not be underestimated and should be considered. Therefore ignoring them can affect many people. The various aspects of misjudging, discriminating or underestimating one by his name, race or physical ability can truly affect everyone in various ways. One must learn to accept others the way they are. And if one would Judges someone else, he should Judge him by his character and not by his appearance. This goes for the same with the famous expression Dont Judge a book by its cover. Shakespeare, Harper Lee and Yamaha have each covered one of these aspects and put it in a scenario. The examples are set and so are the lessons. Now all one can do is read and learn. Bibliography I en occasionally. London: a Penguin KICK, BIBB, pup SSH William. Romeo and Juliet. Toronto: Harcourt Shakespeare series, 1999, IPPP LEE, Harper. To Kill a Mockingbird. New York: Warner Books Edition, 1982, IPPP

Airbus Overview essays

Airbus Overview essays Setting the standards This philosophy is used by everyone at Airbus since 1967 and continues to hold true to this day. By Setting the standards they mean anticipating the market, offering innovation and greater value, focusing on passenger comfort and creating a true family of aircraft. Airbus, the first truly European company, is one of only two aircraft manufacturers in the market for large commercial airliners. The central office for Airbus is located in Toulouse, France; just being in Europe creates a large advantage in the airline industry. European aircraft builders have a proven track record of innovation, being the first to produce a jetliner, the first turbojet engine, and the first successful supersonic airliner. Because of the size of all of the U.S. companies there was no manufacture in Europe that had the resources to compete alone, so European aircraft manufactures had to co-operate to compete. By overcoming national divides, sharing development costs, collaborating in the interests of a greater market share, and even agreeing on a common set of measurements and a common language, Airbus changed its face and now became a big player in the market. The pioneers who started Airbus had an image of what the airline industry would become and what it was lacking at the time. What the industry was lacking at the time was an aircraft that had the ability to carry 220 to 300 passengers in comfort. Then in 1969 they came out with the program for the A300 it held 226 passengers was the first twin aisle, twin-engine jetliner that provided passengers with a real wide-body comfort and allowed operators the flexibility of seating passengers in three classes. It also had the LD 3 containers side by side in the underfloor cargo compartment witch became industry standard. The airlines had been wanting this for quite some time but no manufacturer could supply it. Looking at thin...

Lagosuchus - Facts and Figures

Lagosuchus - Facts and Figures Name: Lagosuchus (Greek for rabbit crocodile); pronounced LAY-go-SOO-cuss Habitat: Woodlands of South America Historical Period: Middle Triassic (230 million years ago) Size and Weight: About a foot long and one pound Diet: Meat Distinguishing Characteristics: Tiny size; bipedal posture; long hind legs About Lagosuchus Although it wasnt a true dinosaur, many paleontologists believe Lagosuchus may have been the genus of archosaur from which all dinosaurs subsequently evolved. This tiny reptile certainly had plenty of dinosaur-like characteristics, including long legs, large feet, a flexible tail, and (at least some of the time) a bipedal posture, giving it an uncanny similarity to the first theropods of the middle to late Triassic period. If you doubt that a mighty race of dinosaurs could have evolved from a tiny creature that weighed about a pound, keep in mind that all of todays mammalsincluding whales, hippopotamuses, and elephantscan trace their lineage back to comparably tiny, shrew-like mammals that scurried under the feet of huge dinosaurs a hundred million years ago! (By the way, among paleontologists, the genus Marasuchus is often used interchangeably with Lagosuchus, since its represented by more complete fossil remains.)

Vinatex and Arvind Mills Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Vinatex and Arvind Mills - Essay Example The model is divided into two steps, where in the first phase, the group of successful industry players are plotted for ten important trading countries. At the second stage, the historical competition of certain industries is reviewed, towards exposing the dynamic processes involved in the creation of competitive advantage (Rugman and D'Cruz, 1993). The review entails the historical analysis of the industry and the industry players. SWOT analysis is a structured planning model used during the evaluation of the environment of a business – both internal and external (Hill and Westbrook 1997). The areas reviewed include the internal strengths of the entity and the internal weaknesses of the entity. The other two aspects reviewed are the external surroundings of the entity, particularly, the opportunities available to the business and the threats that face it (Hill and Westbrook 1997). Vinatex Textile Company is a textile company based at Vietnam, and it is one of the largest comp anies in the country. It covers 50 joint stock corporations and 40 joint venture corporations in its productive sector – mainly in the manufacture of textiles. ... The company manufactures different fabrics, and is the fourth-largest manufacturer and exporter of denim. The company runs a mega-art and a value retail chain, all of which stock the brands of the company. Porter’s Diamond Model of Vinatex Textile Company The factor conditions of Vinatex Textile Company include the wide employee base of more than 120,000, which is about 5% of the total employee count for the entire industry. Factor conditions also comprise of diverse company’s production sector, across the 50 joint stock and the 40 joint venture corporations (Do 2008). The diversity of its production sectors enables the company to increase and expand its production to different product lines. The factor conditions in favour of the success of the company include its diverse sectors, including fashion design, fashion magazine, universities, vocational schools, supermarkets, and real estate. These different sectors improve the company’s competitiveness locally and i nternationally. Examples of the competency areas created from the different sectors include that the company uses the fashion magazine to market its fabrics and other product lines. In addition, it uses the university and the vocational training centres to develop the talent required to recruit high-potential talents, which can increase its productivity (Do, 2008). The company uses its supermarket outlet to market its products and fabrics, which enable it to offset the threat of its competitors. The demand conditions are favourable for Vinatex, as Vietnam’s full membership into the world trade organization (WTO), in 2007, opened the production of the company and the country in general, to the world. Following the acquisition of the membership, all restrictions on the trade of textiles were

Gender violence and human rights Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Gender violence and human rights - Essay Example X was too scared to go back, she was scared her husband and his family would kill her. After hearing about Newham Asian Women's Project from a friend, X came to see us at the Advice Service. We tried to find a refuge space for X but none was available, particularly as X did not have access to public funds in the UK due to the nature of her spousal visa. For centuries and millennia, women had been suffering the brunt of physical abuse by their spouses in grim silence. But as shocking as it may sound to us, domestic violence never even was much of a social issue until the advent of the feminist movement in the 1970's. The myth of family harmony and bliss exploded as the ugly face of domestic violence was finally exposed. It was only in the late 60's and early 70's that the enormity of this problem started coming to light, thanks to the vehement articulations of women's groups bringing the issue out of closet and into the public awareness. The struggle for change and transformation in the lives of all women was the hallmark of the feminist movement which emerged in the UK and the US at the end of the wildly rebellious decade of 1960's. The awareness of and the movement for abused women gradually went global (Dobaash and Dobash, 2001). On the basis of this spreading awareness of women's abuse in home settings, feminist activists sought social and political change, urging the state to intervene in order to provide support and relief for the abused women. Since then a lot of progress has been made that militated against domestic violence. As can be surmised from the case study cited above, there is presently a very impressive degree of support available for victims of domestic abuse in the UK. On a more basic level, however, the prevalence of domestic violence even within the Western countries can be seen to be raging unabated. On the one hand, there have been many radical changes beginning with the increasing recognition and acknowledgement of this problem over the past couple of decades, this awareness in itself being a phenomenon of fundamental importance in tacking the issue. The fact that it is becoming increasingly unacceptable for a man, in the common ethos of the society, to use physical or sexual violence against his female partner, is in itself an impressive achievement. However, on the other hand, in spite of the positively changing ethos and perceptions, a favourable justice system, policy intervention, and the tremendous support provided by social service and voluntary agencies, the actual extent of the problem continues to be a major concern for feminists, human rights activists, and all responsible

Cultural relativism Essay Example for Free

Cultural relativism Essay The issue of universalism of human rights vs. cultural relativism has been a focal point of heated debate for the last several decades. As globalization is bringing nations together, cultural differences and peculiarities become increasingly more salient. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the United Nation in 1948, lists several categories of rights that the peoples of the world have agreed to accept and recognize. These rights include the right to life, liberty and security of person; the right to be free from slavery and servitude; the right not to be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or arbitrary arrest, detention or exile; the right to marriage with the free and full consent of the parties; the right to own property; the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religionm; and the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favorable conditions of work (United Nations, 1948). These rights are universally recognized because they protect the dignity of an individual and the basic social institutions which are present in virtually every culture. However, their universality is still contested, as â€Å"human rights as laid out in the international covenants ignore the traditions, the religions, and the socio-cultural patterns of what used to be called the Third World† (Tharoor, 1998, para. 1). For example, in some African societies, â€Å"group rights have always taken precedence over individual rights, and political decisions have been made through group consensus, not through individual assertions of rights† (Tharoor, 1998, para. 4). There are many instances when traditional practices conflict with universal human rights. For example, female genital mutilation, practiced by some African and Asian people for cultural and communal reasons, translates into irreversible lifelong health risks for females (UNICEF, 2008). The debate whether human rights are universal is perennial. It is important to recognize, however, that an effective framework for the protection of human rights can be developed only using a bottom-up approach, giving the broad support of a society where human rights are promoted. References Tharoor, Shashi. (1998). Are Human Rights Universal? World Policy Journal, 16(4). Retieved June 11, 2009, from http://www. worldpolicy. org/journal/tharoor. html UNICEF. (2008). Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting. Retrieved June 11, 2009, from http://www. unicef. org/protection/index_genitalmutilation. html United Nations. (1948). The Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Retrieved June 11, 2009, from http://www. un. org/en/documents/udhr

Alice Kyteler Sorcery Trial Essays -- Witchcraft European History Essa

Alice Kyteler Sorcery Trial The sorcery trial of Alice Kyteler was an important aspect and a contributing factor of the European With-Hunt. The trial helped to set a precedent and a point of reference for later witch-hunts and later trials. The trial of Alice Kyteler helped make the link between heresy and witchcraft, helped in making witchcraft a crime punishable under heretical laws, helped define what the acts of witchcraft are, and allowed for the authority of the church in matters of witchcraft, such as torture, to be defined. Heresy and witchcraft are interrelated and in some cases, one in the same. The charge of sorcery and witchcraft against Alice Kyteler helped to solidify the correlation drawn between magic and heresy. The sorcery trials that where held in Ireland where centered around the idea that the magic that was being performed somehow made the practitioners heretics. William Outlaw was accused of, â€Å"aiding, abetting and harboring heretics†¦usury, perjury, adultery, murder of clergy, and excommunications, to the total of thirty-four separate counts.†1 William Outlaw, son of Alice Kyteler, had the charges of heresy and helping those who where heretics combined to include other charges that fell under witchcraft. Outlaw was accused of helping heretics, who where also being charged with heresy, and using sorcery for the use of evil. In Nicholas Eymeric’s, written fifty years after the Kyteler trial, lists that â€Å"†¦some others, however, are magicians and di viners who are not pure chiromantics, but are contracted to heretics, as are those who show the honor of latria or dulia to the demons.† Eymeric also wrote that, â€Å"These people,† referring to the magicians, â€Å"are guilty of manifest heresy.†2 This s... ... Alan Kors and Edward Peters (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1972), 85. 3. Brian Levack, The Witch-Hunt in Early Modern Europe (London: Longman Group, 1995), 37. 4. Davidson, 26-27. 5. William Cardinal of Santa Sabina, â€Å"Magic and the Inquisition,† in Witchcraft in Europe 1100-1700, Alan Kors and Edward Peters (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1972), 81. 6. Davidson, 28 & 30. 7. Davidson, 82. 8. Heinrich Kramer and Jacob Spenger, â€Å"The Malleus Maleficarum,† in Witchcraft in Europe 1100-1700, Alan Kors and Edward Peters (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1972), 130. 9. Davidson, 28. 10. Heinrich Kramer and Jacob Spenger, â€Å"The Malleus Maleficarum,† in Witchcraft in Europe 1100-1700, Alan Kors and Edward Peters (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1972), 132. 11. Davidson, 62. 12. Levack, 77.

Movie Review of Secret (2007 Taiwanese Film) Essay

Casts: * Jay Chou as Ye Xianglun – A music student majoring in piano and lives with his father * Kwai Lun-mei as Lu Xiaoyu – A music student who lives with her mother * Anthony Wong Chau-sang as Xianglun’s father – Xianglun’s father and the discipline teacher at his school * Alice Tzeng as Qing Yi – Xianglun’s classmate who is in love with him * Yuhao Zhan as Yu Hao – A music student and talented piano player, nicknamed â€Å"Prince of the piano†, he had a â€Å"piano battle† with Xianglun Secret is an amazing movie to look at and to listen to. The film tells a â€Å"simple but very beautiful† love story which is tied between past and present. The story, the music, the talent – you’ll really be amazed and be in love with it when you see it yourself. You can’t imagine that it would be magical. It’s a unique story, unpredictable and interesting. What’s more interesting is there is more to it than what meets the eye. Careful attention must be paid to all scenes, or else the story won’t click and the end won’t be as good. Here’s the spoil. Ye Xianglun is a budding musical genius whose way with piano keys makes him a hit with the ladies, and even the guys, who recognize talent when they see it. Ye arrives at Tanjiang Art School and already he’s being watched, but his eyes and heart are immediately stolen by Lu Xiaoyu, an elegant, charming flirt who first happens upon Ye in the school’s aged piano r oom. The two begin a cute, casual romance that’s defined by secrets. Basically, Lu keeps them, starting with her name, then extending them to other things like where she goes, what she does, and why she’s always absent from class. Since she’s so effervescent and attractive, Ye is immediately smitten. Ye has a secret too, but I’ll give it away: his dad is a teacher at the school, and he’s played by Anthony Wong in an amusing performance that’s vintage Wong. Ye also has some friends at school who aren’t as amusing, and even qualify as annoying and bothersome. Some of these characters are played by Chou’s Taiwanese pop music pals. Since this is a Jay Chou (Ye Xianglun) production (besides starring and directing, he penned the original story and contributed the music), it’s only understandable that Chou make room for some of his buddies  as well as his pet obsessions, especially music. Ye becomes the class celebrity when he kicks ass in a â€Å"piano battle†, which is as entertaining as it i s patently manufactured. Basically, Ye outfoxes his opponent on the ivory keys, winning the hearts of the girls and the guys, while still remaining cool and sheepish in that inimitable Ye Xianglun way. Chief among his admirers is the pretty Qing Yi, who starts to crush on Ye big time. But Ye only has eyes for Lu. Or does he? Despite getting along swimmingly with Ye, Lu soon gets the idea that Ye is two-timing her with Qing. This is due to your standard crossed wires and mistaken circumstances, but the misinterpreted event is enough to throw a massive crush-killing wrench into their puppy love. That would probably be a terrible thing to behold if not for the fact that the relationship up until then was hardly inspiring. Ye Xianglun and Lu Xiaoyu have decent chemistry, but the relationship between their characters never seems that deep. There’s a manufactured quality to the dialogue that makes their supposed love a bit unconvincing, and without more acute emotions the film begins to drag. Sadly, part of this is the fault of Ye Xianglun, the actor. Ye possesses a certain likable charm, but his presence hardly screams â€Å"passion.† His demeanor is just too remote; Ye tr ies hard, but he can’t convey a complete range of emotions. Shoring things up, however, is Lu Xiaoyu. When she initially appears, she acts too much like an idealized good girl flirt to be real; it’s like she’s some manufactured idea of what perfect high school romance should be. However, as it turns out, there’s a reason for her bizarre flirtatious behavior, and as the film divulges more of the how’s and why’s, Lu is given a chance to convey emotions that prove heartbreaking. Her screen presence is refreshing and her emotion’s genuinely moving; if Secret manages to affect, Lu Xiaoyu is a large reason why. The revelation of the film’s eponymous secret is what gives Lu the chance to really affect the audience – and yet it’s also when the movie starts to lose its credibility. The mechanism behind the film’s secret is never known, but the logic of how it works is explained explicitly, such that every incident and action in the film needs to fit a set of rules explained by the characters and depicted by the events thems elves. But the film ultimately doesn’t adhere to its convictions, eventually twisting events to fit desired emotions and skirting around the rules that they’ve laid out for us. The film gives us a denouement, but it’s  only touching because it fits some sort of predetermined audience expectation, and not because it surprises or really affects. Some people may be happy with how Secret ends. But does the film earn its ending? I don’t think that it does. At least Secret is a very pretty ride. On artifice alone, the film is aces, serving up beautiful art direction, cinematography and music. Ye Xianglun (Jay Chou) really knows how to compose a tune; the film’s original music is genuinely stirring, and preexisting pieces are well-chosen and evocative of the film’s innocent romantic mood. Secret serves the senses exceptionally well – so much so, that it’s almost tragic when it ultimately throws logic out the window. Ye Xianglun and company have created a nice little valentine, but their desire to give the film more weight eventually leaves it adrift. The film barrels towards its intended goal with little regard for common sense, leaving the audience with nothing besides the pretty pictures and people to shore it up. Amazingly, that gambit is more successful than not, and Lu Xiaoyu (Kwai Lun-mei) practically drags the film across the finish line herself. Without her the film would probably sink beneath its own self-importance, as its manufactured sheen and occasionally miscalculated choices render the film little more than a superficially gorgeous pure love diversion for teen girls and the boys they drag to the cinema along with them. That’ll probably do just fine for most, since â€Å"manufactured diversion† seems to be a standard expectation for many modern moviegoers. Secret will probably score well with its intended teen audience, especially if they take in the film as a single, one-off experience. Further viewings would only reveal the film’s holes to be gaping and perhaps intolerable, but upon first glance, Secret is pretty and polished enough to charm. You should watch it too!

The Effect Of Cooperation On Efl Learners Education Essay

This paper will look into the consequence of cooperation on EFL scholars ‘ reading comprehension. The consequence will be examined in three subdivisions harmonizing to the surveies done in the field. First, the consequence of student-student cooperation will be explored. Second, the consequence of student-teacher cooperation will be studied. Last, the consequence of student-reading specializer will be considered. Nevertheless, before traveling to the point at that place will come some elucidation about cooperation. Research in the field of schemes and scheme categorizations ( Oxford, 1990 ; cited in Brown, 2007 ) has classified cooperation as a societal scheme and has defined it in footings of collaborating with others and collaborating with adept users of the new linguistic communication. This â€Å" adept users of the new linguistic communication † can consist both instructors and the specializers of the new linguistic communication. As supported by surveies ( Almanza, 1997 ; Fehring, 1987 ; Jacobs, 2000 ; Sen, Burns, & A ; Miller, 2009 ) student-student cooperation affected the scholars ‘ or pupils ‘ reading comprehension positively. By student-student cooperation, we mean several pupils collaborating and join forcesing with each other during the reading procedure. One manner to bring forth student-student cooperation is through concerted acquisition. â€Å" Concerted acquisition is agreement in which pupils work in mixed-ability groups and are rewarded on the footing of the success of the group † ( Woolfolk, Winne, & A ; Perry, 2003. p. 329 ) . To hold effectual concerted acquisition, groups must be concerted ; i.e. all members must take part ( Woolfolk et al. , 2003 ) . Almanza ( 1997 ) supported the effectivity of student-student cooperation by her findings, which revealed that pupils ‘ accomplishment in reading comprehension could be improved by doing usage of concerted acquisition. Fehring ( 1987 ) is besides in favour of concerted acquisition and its effects on scholars ‘ linguistic communication acquisition in general including reading comprehension. Jacobs ( 2000 ) confirms the effectivity of concerted acquisition in reading, excessively. In his work, Jacobs ( 2000 ) asserted five grounds why concerted acquisition or student-student cooperation is effectual and should be added to extensive reading ( ER ) which involves pupils in mutely reading big measures of reading stuffs. The five grounds include: Students can infect each other with enthusiasm for reading. Students can propose good ER stuffs for each other. The more adept pupils can assist other pupils. Peers provide an audience with whom pupils can portion about what they hold read. The other manner supplying student-student cooperation is through holding pupils or scholars help each other learn by learning each other. Harmonizing to Sen and co-workers ( 2009 ) , â€Å" holding other pupils work with the pupil holding trouble in reading was among the most normally cited schemes in Chinese Taipei, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Singapore, and Trinidad and Tobago † ( p. 3 ) . The consequence of student-teacher cooperation on reading comprehension of the scholars is the following subdivision to be examined. Student-teacher cooperation refers to any sort of interaction and activity established between the pupil and the instructor, which has been indicated to be constructive and affect positively the overall linguistic communication acquisition of the scholars, reading comprehension included. Instructional conversation, which refers to â€Å" state of affairs in which pupils learn through interaction with instructors and/or other pupils † ( Woolfolk et al. , 2003. p. 335 ) , is considered to be an effectual manner in developing Student-teacher cooperation, which accordingly will hold pupils learn from their instructors and better their linguistic communication acquisition development, reading comprehension included. Harmonizing to Sen and co-workers ( 2009 ) , there are two types of Student- instructor cooperation, which are among the school-support schemes that help pupils develop their overall linguistic communication larning abilities: The instructor spends more clip working with the pupil separately. The pupil works in the regular schoolroom with a teacher-aide. Both of these two types of Student-teacher cooperation appeared to be effectual in linguistic communication acquisition development ; nevertheless, the first 1 was proved to be among the most normally cited schemes used and the 2nd 1 was found to be among the least normally cited schemes used in the bulk of states around the universe. The last subdivision analyzes the consequence of student-reading specialist cooperation on scholars ‘ reading comprehension. Reading specializer is the 1 who is a sort of expert in reading and its comprehension, is the 1 who is adept and experienced in the field. Student-reading specialist cooperation is a cooperation that is established between the pupil and the reading expert. This type of cooperation has been proved to be a constructive and effectual 1 in linguistic communication acquisition development ( Woolfolk et al. , 2003 ; Sen et al. , 2009 ) as will be discussed following. Cognitive apprenticeship has been shown to be an effectual manner in overall linguistic communication acquisition development, reading comprehension included, as student- reading specialist cooperation. Woolfolk and co-workers ( 2003 ) defined cognitive apprenticeship as â€Å" a relationship in which a less experient scholar acquires knowledge and accomplishments under the counsel of an expert † ( p. 337 ) . It was believed to be an effectual signifier of instruction in general and linguistic communication acquisition in peculiar, reading comprehension included ( Woolfolk et al. , 2003 ) . The other manner of set uping student-reading specializer cooperation in order to hold an enhanced comprehension among scholars is through holding pupils work with a reading specializer whether in a remedial schoolroom or in the regular schoolroom. Research ( Sen et al. , 2009 ) has shown that both of the schemes were proved to be effectual in heightening the reading comprehension of the scholars ; nevertheless, none of them was among the most normally cited schemes used in the bulk of the states.

Beliefs Related To Health Care Essays

Beliefs Related To Health Care Essays Beliefs Related To Health Care Paper Beliefs Related To Health Care Paper Traditionally the family must be involved from the start, to deal with any terminal illness. Some families, relative and friends may wish to prevent the communication of the diagnosis and prognosis from medical professionals to the dying person. The families of a few patients insist on being informed of bad news first, but the patient is usually told as well. Emotions may be displayed openly. For instance; anger, despair, depression. This is an acceptable means of behavior and is sometimes expected. Anger may sometimes be directed towards health care  workers. Emotional support is generally not sought, as this is considered to be an ‘in house’ matter. Morphine should only be used when other medications are ineffective. Some Italians may accept morphine while others may express many fears associated with its use. The strong Roman Catholic belief of the Italian community leads them to reject euthanasia. Pain is greatly feared since it is viewed as evil, unnatural, and deprivation. It is also openly discussed. Breathing difficulty is seen as a sign of dying and fatigue is perceived as depression. Illness may sometimes allow patients to feel guilty because they may feel they are being unproductive. Many Italians use alternative therapieshomeopathic medicine, acupuncture and massage. Traditional cures are often used for instance lemon for colds and flu, garlic for high blood pressure, and canarino, an herbal teach by boiling a few bay leaves together with some lemon rind, to treat a stomach ache. Some Italians believe that stomach poorly absorbs medicine or may believe that stomach is sacred for food, and prefer medication through injection. It is important to carefully educate patients on medication and procedures. Death and Afterlife: Death is not greatly feared, it is viewed as right of passage. There is a belief in life after death. Families may want to take dying member home to care for. When death occurs, the family wants to be there and relatives visit at homes of deceased persons family. Families want to see the body and may want to touch the body. Funeral home prepares the body. Major Industries Italy began to industrialize late in comparison to other European nations, and until World War II was largely an agricultural country. Tourism is one of Italys most important industries and a major source of foreign exchange. Manufacturing is centered in the north, particularly in the golden triangle of Milan-Turin-Genoa. Italys economy has been gradually diversifying, shifting from food and textiles to engineering, steel, and chemical products. The chief manufactures include machinery; iron, steel, and other metal products; chemicals; motor vehicles; clothing and footwear; and ceramics. Although many of Italys important industries are  state-owned, the trend in recent years has been toward privatization. The service sector has growing importance in Italy and employs well over half of the labor force. Education of nurses In most countries in the WHO (World Health Organization) European Region, 12 years of education is required before entry into an educational program in nursing and midwifery. Many countries recognize the need for academically prepared nurses and midwives, and the proportion of university-educated nurses and midwives, in comparison to those who received vocational  training, is slowly increasing. Nevertheless, the number of nurses whose education has prepared them to take over advanced practice roles is currently not sufficient. This deficiency is expected to continue through the next decade. Although progress is being made in standardizing professional education in the European Union, in 2009 attaining a bachelor’s degree requires three years of study for nurses in Italy. Heath Care System in Italy The National Health System of Italy, called the Servizio Sanitario Nazioanale, offers  inexpensive healthcare to all European citizens. In-patient treatments which are covered include tests, medications, surgeries during hospitalization, family doctor visits, and medical assistance provided by paediatricians and other specialists. The health system is also responsible for drugs and medicines, out-patient treatments, and dental treatments. Regardless of where one comes from, it is imperative that you have health insurance form the moment you arrive in Italy. Without it, issuance of a permesso di soggiorno (permit to stay) is not possible.

Anne Bradstreets Poetry

A literary review of the collection of poemsThe Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in America by Anne Bradstreet who is thought to be the first genuine poet to develop in the English speaking New World. This paper discusses the poetry of Anne Bradstreet (who was only published once during her lifetime and without her knowledge ). Bradstreet had emigrated to New England as a young wife in 1630, and her poetry exemplifies a variety of themes related to home and hearth in the New World.Bradstreet offers more in-depth philosophic and religious analysis in other poems.Bradstreets poem Contemplations is an aptly-named poetic meditation with a didactic purpose.The poet uses images of nature such as could be seen in a given day as a way of evoking a sense of God and of the connection between the human lifespan and the larger metaphysical realm of God.The poem is in the first person, with the poet-narrator explaining her views as she observes nature and makes links between the images she sees there and her inner religious beliefs.This use of the first-person personalizes the narrative and brings the reader into the consciousness of the poet directly.We are brought by the poet into her contem plations.We know that the experiences she relates about nature are her own, and we know that the thoughts that these encounters engender are her own.

Applying Lean To E-Commerce Business Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Applying Lean To E-Commerce Business - Essay Example The typical example of such well-known e-commerce business with production problem is Disney Shop.Disney Store uses e-commerce as a mainstream approach to the sale of the variety of products through online stores. Users of the online store login, create the account, select preferred items, go through a payment system, and have the products shipped to them within an identified time. Financial records from the business, however, shows production related problems whereby the companies are recording increases in revenues but still have declining profits (Disney Stores, 2014). Hines (2008) noted that a typical cause of such a situation is the high level of waste in the production system, reducing the productivity and efficiency levels of the company significantly. With such reduced productivity and efficiency, the company will be making more revenue but due to high expenditure, the income does not balance the expenditure and so there are losses. The overall aim of lean thinking is to ensure that there are high benefit and value from production through the elimination of waste (Womack, Jones & Ross, 1990). The reason lean is seen as useful in solving the problem is that it will ensure that all forms of waste that have created unwarranted expenditure will be done away with. In any typical organization such as Disney Store, when lean is adopted, there are seven major types of wastes that are targeted for elimination. These include production defects, overproduction, unnecessary transportation, long waiting, unnecessary inventory, unnecessary motion, and over-processing (Hines, 2008). For most companies, once these forms of wastes are available, they would be seen to be making a lot of sales but in reality, they lack profitability. The reason for lacking profitability is because the wastes bring about the huge cost of production that consumes the sales.

Adolescent Literature Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Adolescent Literature - Essay Example However, since the mid 19th century, adolescent literature has come under sharp criticism where the critics are saying that the adolescent literature is using sex, violence, romance, melodrama and conflicts to attract more attention and hence are creating a bad picture of life in front of the adolescents. Trites has quoted Perry Nodelman, a critic of adolescent literature, when he describes â€Å"the characters in the adolescent fiction as people who live ordinary lives, but see them in terms of melodrama† (Trites 1985. p.3). However, let us understand that sex, violence, romance and power issues are part of life and the aim of the adolescent literature is to help children grow and understand the life as it is and not make false promises. Hence, when adolescent literature uses fantasy characters, melodrama, superheroes, kings, queens, fairies and demons in their stories, they are doing nothing but helping the children grow and learn everything about life through the world they understand the best, and that is the fantasy world. People think that the children should be introduced to something different from the life in the adolescent literature. Parents say that children have seen enough of violence, hatred and anger in their real lines and hence they don’t want their children to read the same things again in the books (Weiner and Stein 1985. p.6). However, the fact remains that even if the fantasy characters enter the fantasy world, the issues remain the same as they are in the real world. There is a good and the bad side of life and there are situations in the stories a where the character is made to take a stance. Because

Project management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 20

Project management - Essay Example The vision of ASAP entails; realizing a peaceful, prosperous and sustainable Africa, through high quality education. The main objective of the project is to improve the quality of public education in East Africa. In order to achieve its mission and objectives, and work towards realizing vision, the company has adopted effective strategies. The strategies entail seeking the expertise of fulltime and volunteer staffs, and the financial support from international donors. The financial support has enabled ASAP to partner with the community to build schools; for instance, Miririni Secondary School and Chole Primary School. The volunteer program enables groups of Americans to visit during the summer, and assist in building or renovating a school in rural Africa. ASAP has partnered with several international partners, to ensure the success of its quality education activities. The organization is a member of the Clinton Global Initiative. The project used the Millennium Development goals as a guideline, and also benchmark for monitoring and evaluation

The Hyper Globalist Perspective

The Hyper Globalist Perspective The aim of this assignment is to evaluate the hyper-globalist perspective on globalization using examples from the obesity. The first part of the assignment will define globalization and then briefly summarise what the hyper-globalist perspective says on globalization. The second part of the assignment will critically analyse the hyper-globalist perspective on globalization with reference to obesity and compare it to what other perspectives say about globalization. Several related cases from newspapers and journals will be used to make points as well as statistics as evidence to support the arguments and then finally incorporating all the information to make a conclusion. Globalization is defined as a process or set of processes which embodies a transformation in spatial organization of social relations and transactions, assessed in terms of their extensity, intensity, velocity and impact, generating transcontinental or interregional flows of networks of activity, interaction and the exercise of power, (Held, 1999 pp. 16). However, there are several other definitions of globalization because it believed to be difficult to define for some reason (Zadja and Rust, 2009). In 1998 alone, globalization had 3000 definitions (Zadja et al, 2008). There are different approaches to globalization and these are globalist (optimist or pessimist), inter-nationalist and transformationalist, however the author will stick to the optimistic-globalist approach on obesity. Optimistic globalist also known as the hyper-globalist approach welcomes the idea of globalisation but focuses on the potential of interconnections and stretched social relations to bring people together, improve the quality of everybodys lives, global village promoting the sharing of cultures and intermingling of peoples across the world in cities and towns, so that we are all become world citizens through global communication, travel and work flows. They admit that there are global problems too, but believe new technologies and global ideas can reduce the threat of global pollution. They say that global structures can do a better job at tackling big economic and social problems than nations and countries (Stiglitz, 2008). Obesity can be defined as having a body weigh t more than 20 per cent greater than recommended for the appropriate height and an individual can be at risk from several serious illnesses including Diabetics and Heart Disease (Nice Guidelines, 2009). World Health Organisation (2003) defines it as the presence of high levels of stored body fat. From the globalist perspective, globalization potential benefits are to improve the quality of everybodys lives. This is not so on the subject of obesity because statistics show that between 1988 and 1999, percentage of total energy intake from fat increased from 23.5% to 30.3% and between 1984 and 1998, purchases of refined carbohydrates increased by 37.2% (Rivera et al, 2002; Rivera et al, 2004;). Although the absolute increases of fat were higher in the wealthier north and Mexico City (30-32%), the poorer southern region also experienced a significant increase (22%). At the same time, trends in obesity and diabetes are reaching epidemic proportions. Overweight/obesity increased 78% between 1988 and 1998, from 33% to 59% (Rivera, 2002). Obesity is now quite high in some poor rural communities (Sanchez-Castillo, 2001): the greatest relative changes occurred in the poorer southern region (81%) compared to the wealthier north (46%). More recent figures estimated overweight/obesity at 62.5% in 2004. While the obese clearly consume sufficient energy, the same cannot be said of micronutrients: women who are underweight, normal weight or overweight/obese are equally likely to suffer from anaemia (Eckhardt et al, 2005). Obesity is also giving rise to an epidemic of diabetes which is rising fastest in the poor regions (Jimenez-Cruz et al, 2002). Over 8% of Mexicans now have diabetes, which the WHO estimates costs the country US$15 billion a year (Barcelo et al, 2003; Martorell, 2005). In 2001 Obesity was estimated to impact about 1 billion people in the world (WHO, 2002) and in 2010, it was still viewed as a global epidemic with its prevalence increasing in both developed and developing countries (Meetoo, 2010). Recently, globalization has been applauded for increasing peoples wealth but also increasing their waists lines (www.hsph.harvard.edu). An estimated 500 million adults worldwide are obese and 1.5 billion are overweight or obese (Finucane, 2011) and if recent t rends continue unabated, nearly 60 per cent of the worlds population, 3.3 billion people could be overweight (2.2 billion) or obese (1.1 billion) by 2030 (Kelly et al, 2008; Popkin 2006). It is evident that globalization has created a toxic environment (Brownell, 1994; Battle and Brownell, 1997). The term toxic refers to the unprecedented exposure to energy-dense, heavily advertised, inexpensive and highly accessible food, and this, when combined with a sedentary lifestyle, results in obesity (Gortmaker et al, 1996). Examples of the toxic environment include fast-food restaurants (Harnack et al, 2000; Nielsen et al, 2002), large portion sizes (Harnack et al, 2000; Smiciklas-Wright et al, 2003),fast-food franchises, buffet restaurants, minimarkets in petrol filling stations (Foreyt and Goodrick, 1995) and the use of microwave ovens to cook relatively cheap prepared meals with high fat and caloric content (Mintz, 1996). From the above statistics it shows that hyper-globalists are not wrong to say globalisation improves the quality of everybodys lives. Internationalists agree to this statement by saying there have been increases in global flows of money and trade around the world, (Hirst Thompson, 1999). It has improved peoples lives to some extent by increasing their wealth but as Gotmaker et al, (1996) says it has created a world of cheap food, therefore increasing peoples waist lines. Statistics still show that obesity is on the rise therefore the statement that globalisation improves the health of peoples lives is not exactly true. Transformationalists suggest that globalization is real, important and should not be underestimated (Held and McGrew, 2003), this is somehow true because if the statistics ate showing that obesity is a global epidemic, then it means the effects of globalization cannot be underestimated. The fact that there is cheap fast food everywhere around the globe according to Gotmaker, then it means globalization is real and very important and should not be underestimated because the cheap fast food it created is causing obesity around the globe. Pessimistic globalists believe that there are many groups and individuals who are the victims of globalization, such as women, unskilled manual labourers, and local tribal people, amongst many others Bauman, 1998. This seems to be true according to (Jimenez-Cruz et al, 2002) who says obesity has given rise to an epidemic of diabetes which is rising fastest in the poor regions. Pessimistic globalists are right to say some regions are victims of globalization because the poor regions mentioned by Jiminez-Cruz et al (2002) are affected by globalization and therefore; their health is not being improved but being made worse, which goes against the statement of hyper-globalists of globalisation improves the health of peoples lives. Transformationalists suggest that the impacts of globalization are uneven and distinctive. This is true when looking at the statement by Finucane, (2011) who calculated an estimated 500 million adults worldwide are obese and 1.5 billion are overweight or obese. One could argue and say 500 million is a distinctive number of people living with obesity and even the 1.5 billion people who are overweight. The unevenness of globalization is what has been already discussed in the paragraph above whereby poor regions are victims. It seems hyper-globalists have exaggerated the goodness of globalization by saying new technologies and global ideas can reduce the threat of global pollution. Looking at microwaves (new technology) they have been accused of making life easy for people to heat ready- made high calorie food causing obesity, diabetes and hypertension as mentioned above. They also said global structures can do a better job at tackling big economic and social problems than nations and countries. This statement is difficult to digest because obesity (health hazard) is on the rise which shows that globalisation has not done a better job at tackling this problem. To summarise, transformationalists are right to say they want new and progressive structures to evolve at the global level that are not present now. New and progressive structure that may deal with obesity will be ideal because obesity will not just end as obesity but will bring a lot of complications in peoples lives such as heart disease, diabete s, hypertension which is not healthy. Internationalists support transformationalists by saying that the global structures can be challenged to do a better job in tackling problems like pollution, trafficking and poverty, amongst others (obesity). In conclusion, globalization has improved the quality of life for many people in the developing world by increasing their wealth; however, it has also increased access to cheap, unhealthy foods and generated more sedentary, urban lifestyles. From a public health perspective, the combination of these changes is creating a perfect storm, a catastrophic and costly rise in obesity and obesity-related diseases in countries that, at the same time, are still struggling with malnutrition and high rates of infectious diseases. 1501 Words References Barcelo, A., Aedo, C., Rajpathak, S., Robles, S (2003) The cost of diabetes in Latin America and the Caribbean. Bulletin of the WHO, 81:27. Bauman, Z. (1998) Globalization: The Human Consequences, Columbia University Press Brownell, K.D (1994) Get slim with higher taxes (Editorial) New York Times 15 December 1994: A-29 OpenURLBattle, E.K., Brownell, K.D. (1997) Confronting a rising tide of eating disorders and obesity: treatment vs prevention policy. Addictive Behaviour 21(6): 755-65 Eckhardt, C.L., Torheim, L.E., Monterrubio, E., Barquera, S., Ruel, M. (2005): Overweight women remain at risk for anemia in countries undergoing the nutrition transition. Presentation at the 18th International Nutrition Congress, Durban: South Africa Finucane MM, Stevens GA, Cowan MJ, et al. (2011) National, regional, and global trends in body-mass index since 1980: systematic analysis of health examination surveys and epidemiological studies with 960 country-years and 9.1 million participants. Lancet, 377:557-67. Foreyt JP, Goodrick GD (1995) The ultimate triumph of obesity. Lancet, 346(8968): 134-5 Gortmaker, S.L., Must, A., Perrin, G.A. et al (1996) Television watching as a cause of increasing obesity among children in the United States, 1986-1990. Arch Pediatric Adolescent Medicicine 150: 356-62 Harnack, L.J., Jeffery, R.W., Boutelle, K.N (2000) Temporal trends in energy intake in the United States: an ecologic perspective. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 71: 1478-84 Held, D. (1999) Global Transformations: Politics, Economics and Culture, Stanford University Press: London Held, D., McGrew, A. (2003) The Great Globalization Debate, in D. Held and A. McGrew (eds.) The global transformations reader, Cambridge: Polity. Hirst, P.Q., Thompson,G. F. (1999) Globalization in Question: The International Economy and the Possibilities of Governance, 2nd Edition. Cambridge: Polity Press Jimenez-Cruz, A., Bacardi Gascon, M., Jones, E. (2002) The Fattening Burden of Type 2 Diabetes on Mexicans. Diabetes Care 2002, 27:1213-1215 Kelly, T. Yang, W., Chen, C.S., Reynolds, K., He, J. (2008) Global burden of obesity in 2005 and projections to 2030. International Journal of Obesity: London, 32:1431-7 OpenURLMartorell, R. (2005) Diabetes and Mexicans: Why the Two Are Linked. Preventing Chronic Disease, 2:1-5 Meetoo, D. (2010) The imperative of human obesity: an ethical reflection, British Journal of Nursing, Vol. 19, No. 9 pp.563-568 Mintz, S. (1996) Taking Food, Tasting Freedom: Excursions in Eating, Culture and the Past. Beacon Press: Boston Nielsen, S.J., Siega-Ritz, A.M., Popkin, B.M. (2002) Trends in energy intake in U.S. between 1977 and 1996: Similar shifts seen across age groups. Obesity Research 10: 370-8 National Institute of Clinical Excellence, NICE (2006) Obesity: the prevention, identification, assessment and management of overweight and obesity in adults and children, London: NICE http://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/CG43 last viewed 05/12/2012 Popkin, B.M. (2006) Global nutrition dynamics: the world is shifting rapidly toward a diet linked with non-communicable diseases. American Journal of clinical Nutrition, 84:289-98 Rivera, J.A., Barquera, S., Campirano, F., Campos, I., Safdie, M., Tovar, V. (2002) Epidemiologial and nutritional transition in Mexico: rapid increase of non-communicable chronic diseases and obesity. Public Health Nutrition, 5:113-122 Rivera, J.A., Barquera, S., Gonzalez-Cossyo, T., Olaiz, G., Sepulveda, J. (2004) Nutrition Transition in Mexico and in Other Latin American Countries. Nutrition Reviews, 62: S149-S157 SÃ ¡nchez-Castillo, C.P., Lara, J.J., Villa, A.R., Escobar, M., Gutierrez, H., Chavez, A., James, W.,P.,T (2001) Unusually high prevalence rates of obesity in four Mexican rural communities. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 55: 833-840 Description: OpenURLSmiciklas-Wright, H., Mitchell, D.C., Mickle, S.,J (2003) Foods commonly eaten in the United States, 1989-1991 and 1994-1996: are portion sizes changing? Journal of American Diet Association 103: 41-7 Stiglitz, J (2008) Economic Foundations of Intellectual Property Rights, 57 Duke Law Journal 1693 World Health Organization, WHO (2002) The World Health Report 2002: Reducing risks, promoting healthy life. WHO, Geneva World Health Organization, WHO (2003) Diet, Nutrition and the Prevention of Chronic Disease. Report of a Joint WHO/FAO expert consultation. WHO, Geneva Zajda, J.L., Davies, L. Majhanovich, S (2008) Comparative and Global Pedagogies: Equity, Access and Democracy in Education, Springer Zajda, J.L., Rust, V.R. (2009) Globalisation, Policy, and Comparative Research: Discourses of Globalisation, Springer

The Life Of King David :: David Goliath Religion History Essays

The Life of King David In this essay I will be talking about the life of King David. He was a man who went from being a giant slayer, to a king, to a man in exile and, then he went back to being a great man. As a boy, David was a shepherd. He took care of his father's sheep. He was a very courageous boy. When a wolf tried to steal a sheep, he didn't run, he stood his ground and killed the wolf. One day his father told him to go to the land where his brothers were fighting a war against the Philistines. When he got there, he saw the giant Goliath cursing God and making fun of the Hebrew warriors. David was the only person there with enough courage to fight Goliath. With God's help David killed Goliath with a sling and a stone from a brook nearby. When he killed Goliath, the Philistines were really scared. They all fled for their lives and the Hebrews won the war. During David's life he makes many friends. One of the people who was David's friend was king Saul. David played his harp for Saul and made him feel better when life was getting him down. David also becomes good friends with, Jonathan, Saul's son. Saul gets envious of David because the people of Saul's kingdom really like David. Saul tried to have David killed but, Jonathan finds out about the plot and saves David's life. Later on in life David became king of all Israel. One day David was up on the roof of his palace and he saw Bathsheba bathing on her roof. Instead of turning away from his sinful thoughts, he had her called to his chamber where he lay with her, and had sexual intercourse. David didn't think before he acted and he got Bathsheba pregnant. He had no idea how to get out of the predicament he was in. David summoned Bathsheba's husband Uriah back from battle. He told Uriah to go lay with his wife for the night, but Uriah was loyal to King David and would not leave the King's side. That night Uriah slept with the rest of the King's warriors, instead of his own wife who he hadn't see in days. The next night David tried to get Uriah drunk so he could trick him into lying with his wife. But still Uriah remains loyal to David and, he will not leave his King. Then David came up with an idea to have Uriah fight in the front

David Berman Essay

David Berman reviewed the macroeconomic numbers on inventory turns as he prepared for his regular appearance on CNBC’s â€Å"Squawk Box† as a morning co-host. A leading expert on â€Å"consumer related† stocks, Berman and his colleagues including portfolio manager Steve Kernkraut, a seasoned retail executive and analyst, were frequent contributors to various TV shows. On April 4th 2005, Fortune magazine ran a story on Berman called â€Å"King of the Retail Jungle†, and on December 13th, 2004, Barron’s ran a story called â€Å"Smart Shopper† where Berman’s four stock picks as identified, appreciated 30% on average over the next quarter. â€Å"Off air† he was a fund manager as well as founder and president of Berman Capital (which managed proprietary funds) and founder of and general partner in New York-based Durban Capital, L.P. (which managed outside and proprietary capital). Glancing at his notes on macro trends in retail inven tory turns, Berman wondered if he should talk about his impressions on the show. Berman held a bachelors degree in finance and masters equivalency in accountancy from the University of Cape Town in South Africa. He had also passed the South African chartered accountant and the United States CPA examinations. Berman obtained his CPA qualification in California while an auditor for Arthur Andersen and Company where he examined the financial statements and operations of a number of retail clients. He had been the auditor of Bijan, the notable men’s upscale clothing store on Rodeo Drive and 5th Avenue. Prior to starting his own funds Berman worked as a portfolio manager and analyst primarily at two Wall Street firms. He evolved his investment style under the tutelage of Michael Steinhardt of Steinhardt Partners, which he joined shortly after graduating with distinction from Harvard Business School in 1991. From 1994 to 1997 Berman worked in consumer-related stocks at another large hedge fund. He subsequently launched Berman Capital in 1997 and Durban Capital i n 2001. Professor Ananth Raman of Harvard Business School, Professor Vishal Gaur of the Stern School of Business at New York University, and Harvard Business School Doctoral Candidate Saravanan Kesavan prepared this case. Certain details have been disguised. HBS cases are developed solely as the basis for class discussion. Cases are not intended to serve as endorsements, sources of primary data, or illustrations of effective or ineffective management. Copyright  © 2005 President and Fellows of Harvard College. To order copies or request permission to reproduce materials, call 1-800-545-7685, write Harvard Business School Publishing, Boston, MA 02163, or go to http://www.hbsp.harvard.edu. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, used in a spreadsheet, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise—without the permission of Harvard Business School. Copying or posting is an infringement of copyright. Permissions@hbsp.harvard.edu or 617-783-7860. 605-081David Berman Berman believed that his training as an accountant together with his MBA and practices he developed over the years to refine accounting estimates enabled him to notice aspects of retail accounts that would be missed by most investors. The relationship between inventory and earnings and therefore share price, for example, while obvious to a retailer, was seldom recognized by analysts or investors. â€Å"This relationship,† Berman observed, â€Å"is ASTOUNDINGLY powerful, but surprisingly few understand why. Most think it’s just a function of inventory risk. It’s not. It’s primarily a function of how the operating margins can be manipulated by management in the short term by playing around with inventories†. â€Å"For example,† said Berman, â€Å"if a retailer’s inventories are growing much faster than sales, then gross margins would be higher than they ordinarily should be, as the retailer has not taken the mark-downs that a solid disc iplined retailer should take.† â€Å"Interestingly,† Berman beamed, â€Å"there is no law in GAAP that limits the number of days’ inventory to any â€Å"norm,† and as such, the practice of increasing inventories beyond any â€Å"norm† goes unfettered.† Berman continued â€Å"managements sign-off on the inventories as being fairly valued, and the auditors pretty much rely on their word.† Berman believed that â€Å"from an investor’s perspective, it’s a game of musical chairs; you don’t want to be the last person standing. In other words, you don’t want to be an investor when sales slow and when mark-downs of the bloated inventory finally need to be taken to move the goods†. The relationship of inventories to sales was also an important one that Berman focused on. â€Å"In a period of rising inventories on a square foot basis†, Berman says â€Å"it is quite obvious that same store sales should rise as the offering to the customer is that much greater. Simply put, the more offerings you put in a store, ceteris paribus, the bigger sales should be.† â€Å"It is at this time,† Berman argued, â€Å"that the stock price rises, as investors place higher valuations on retailers with higher sales, despite that this higher valuation is achieved primarily due to the higher inventories†. An excellent example of the inventory to sales relationship was Home Depot: In 2001 and 2002 Home Depot’s new CEO, Bob Nardelli1, seemed to struggle in managing the transition from a cash-flow GE-type philosophy to a retailer Home Depot-type philosophy. In his DeeBee Report2 dated June 10th 2003, Berman stated: â€Å"Bob Nardelli learned the power of inventory the hard way. In focusing on cash flow improvement, he dramatically lowered inventories – and yes, increased cash balances – only to see a huge decline in same store sales, and in its stock price {the stock went from around $40 to $22}. And so, under immense pressure, Nardelli reversed course and focused intensely on increasing inventories. Since Q2 of last year, inventories had been building until they were up 25% year over year. And yes, same store sales did improve, as did the stock price.† Recognizing this as potentially a short-fix, Berman continued â€Å"Now the cynical would view this increase in sales with skepticism, noting that it wasn’t of â€Å"high quality† as it was due, in part, to the massive inventory build. It is, however, pleasing to note that Home Depot simply got inventories back to â€Å"normal†, in that it now has turns similar to its’ competitors†. The stock, following the same store sales and earnings increases, which in essence followed the inventories increase, rose from $22 at the start of 2003 to $36 by the end of 2003. When asked about this â€Å"fix†, Berman responded â€Å"it will be more challenging for Nardelli to increase same store sales and margins going forward because his increasing inventories and therefore same store sales is arguably a one-time benefit and is essentially what caused the â€Å"fix†. Berman concluded by 1 Nardelli had worked at General Electric (GE) before taking over as CEO of the Home Depot. 2 A periodic report where Berman discusses his thoughts on retail, focusing on inventories. Given his insights as articulated, Berman believed his fund could value firms more accurately through better valuation of inventory. This was pivotal to his investment strategy. â€Å"You see,† Berman elaborated, â€Å"Wall Street basically ignores inventory. It’s actually quite amazing to me! This gives us one of our edges.† Comparing recently gathered retailer numbers that examined total sales in the U.S. economy to total inventory, for almost 300 retailers, Berman remarked: â€Å"The total sales to total inventory numbers is also a crucial relationship over time, and it gives us a macro edge, if that’s possible to believe. Indeed, at the end of Q2, 2003 I knew there would be serious inventory rebuilding in the economy going forward, as overall sales had grown at a faster rate than inventories. Indeed, in Q3, 2003 we saw a rapid and unexpected increase in GDP from 2.3% to 3.5% thanks in part to inventory rebuilding. This increase continued through Q1, 2 004 when GDP growth reached 5%.† Berman loved to discuss investment opportunities he had spotted by looking carefully at firm inventory: One of the clearest examples was Saucony (Nasdaq: SCNYA), a shoe company based near Boston, MA. Berman identified this company as a strong buy when he noticed in 2003 that even though sales were flattish, inventories had declined about 20% year over year. To Berman, this bode well for future gross margins. He started buying the stock at $14 in late 2003 due primarily to these lean inventories, despite that the stock was illiquid thus presenting greater risk, and despite that management was remarkably coy about sharing information. A year later, the stock had doubled. During this time period, sales rose, as did inventories, and of course, the gross margin expanded significantly, as expected. Earnings per share rose from $0.85 in 2002 to $1.29 in 2004. Berman’s selling, which came shortly after management asked him to ring the Nasdaq bell with them, was again based on a function  of his inventory analysis. This time it was the opposite scenario – inventories were now growing at the same pace as sales, so the trend of sales to inventories had deteriorated – and Berman was worried. To make matters worse, calls to management were not being returned. Sure enough, in March 2005, before Berman had gotten out of this illiquid position, Saucony announced it would miss earnings estimates and the stock cratered 20%. Yet another clear example was Bombay (NYSE: BBA). In November 2003, Bombay Company, a fashionable home accessories, wall dà ©cor, and furniture retailer, announced that sales were up 19% with inventories up 50% year over year. While the retailer beat earnings estimates, the company spoke of early November sales weakness, and the stock declined 20% that day to $10. Despite the decline, and noticing that inventories were up way too much, Berman felt the â€Å"music had stopped.† â€Å"Going into Q4 it was clear they would have to miss numbers again unless the consumer saved them, which would be a shocker†, he said. Just over two weeks later they lowered earnings again and the stock crated another 20% to $8. Remarkably, just four weeks later, after Christmas, management lowered earnings yet again, and the stock declined yet another 20%. â€Å"It was so sweet† exclaimed Berman, â€Å"to see the classic inventory / earnings relationship at work so quickly.† In just one and a half months, the stock declined 50% primarily because of inventory mismanagement along with weaker sales. As Berman prepared to leave for the studio, Christina Zinn, a young apprentice he had just hired from Harvard Business School, walked in and presented him with a stack of papers containing the valuation of John B. River (John B. River Clothiers, Inc. NASDAQ: JONR). â€Å"JONR is undervalued,† Zinn remarked, â€Å"and I think we should invest in this stock. Sales were up 24% in 2004 over the previous year, and gross margins, having risen for four straight years, seem to have peaked at 60% (one of the highest gross margins in all of US retail). 2005, the company’s price/earnings ratio is less than that of its primary competitor, Men’s Wearhouse, which is at 17.5 times estimated earnings. This is particularly strange given that John B. River has been growing faster than Men’s Wearhouse during the last few years.† Inventory Productivity in the Retail Sector Inventory turnover, the ratio of cost of goods sold to average inventory level, was commonly used to measure the performance of inventory managers, compare inventory productivity across retailers, and assess performance improvements over time.3 But wide variations in the annual inventory turnover of U.S. retailers year to year not only across, but also within, firms made it difficult to assess inventory productivity in practice, as evidenced by the following example and questions. Between 1987 and 2000 annual inventory turnover at Best Buy Stores, Inc. (Best Buy), a consumer electronics retailer, ranged from 2.85 to 8.53. Annual inventory turnover at three peer retailers during the same period exhibited similar variation: at Circuit City Stores, Inc. from 3.97 to 5.60; at Radio Shack Corporation from 1.45 to 3.05; and at CompUSA, Inc. from 6.20 to 8.65. Given such variation how could inventory turnover be used to assess these retailers’ inventory productivity? Could these variations be correlated with better or worse performance? Could it be reasonably concluded from this example that Best Buy managed its inventory better than Radio Shack? Inventory turnover could be correlated with other performance measures. Strong correlations, as between inventory turnover and gross margin, might have implications for the assessment of retailers’ inventory turnover performance. (Figure 1 plots the four consumer electronics retailers’ annual inventory turnover against their gross margins (the ratio of gross profit net of markdowns to net sales) for the period 1987-2000.) Relationships among Management Measures Relationships among inventory turns, gross margins, and capital intensity were central to deriving suitable benchmarks for assessing corporate performance. (Figure 2 presents a simplified view of an income statement and balance sheet. Table 1 presents mathematical definitions for inventory turnover, gross margin, capital intensity, return on assets, sales growth, and other management measures based on Figure 2 .) Whereas return on assets, sales growth, return on equity, and financial leverage tended not to vary systematically from one retail segment to another, variation in the components of return on assets was observed between and within industry segments. (Table 2 lists retail segments4 and examples of firms.) Table 3 presents gross margins, inventory turns, GMROI5, and asset turns for supermarkets, drugstores, convenience stores, apparel retailers, jewelry retailers, and toy stores.) Retailers with stable, predictable demand and long product lifecycles such as grocery, drug, and convenience stores tended to have better â€Å"efficiency ratios† (asset turns and inventory turns) than other retailers, retailers of short lifecycle products such as apparel, shoes, electronics, jewelry, and An alternative measure of inventory productivity, days of inventory, could be substituted for inventory turnover for the present analysis. Classification of segments is based on S&P’s Compustat database. GMROI is defined as gross margin return on inventory investment. Variation in gross margins, inventory turns, and SG&A expenses within and between segments ROE could be decomposed into gross margin and inventory turns, and further into the relationship between capital intensity and inventory turns (see below).Anticipating roughly similar ROE measures for different retailers, all else remaining equal, a change in any of the component metrics on the right side of the equation would be expected to result in a compensating change in some other component metric. For example, for ROE among retailers to be equivalent a retailer with higher gross margins would need to experience a compensating change in some other component, such as inventory turns. Gross margin and inventory turns: Gross margin and inventory turns were expected to be negatively correlated, that is, an increase in gross margin was expected to be accompanied by a decrease in inventory turnover. A retailer that carried a unit of product longer before selling it (i.e., a retailer with slower inventory turns) would expect to earn substantially more on its inventory investment than a retailer that carried the inventory item for a shorter period. For example, Radio Shack, which turned its inventory less frequently than twice a year,  was expected to realize higher gross margins on each sale than retailers such as CompUSA, which turned its inventory more than eight times per year. Retailers such as Radio Shack were said to be following the â€Å"profit path† (i.e., earning high profit with each sale), retailers such as CompUSA the â€Å"turnover path† (i.e., earning quickly after making an inventory investment small profits with each sale). Retailers within the same segment were expected to achieve equivalent inventory productivity. Inventory productivity could be estimated as the product of a firm’s gross margins and inventory turns, termed gross margin return on inventory investment or GMROI (pronounced â€Å"JIMROY†). If GMROI remained stable within a segment an inverse relationship between gross margin and inventory turns would be observed. (Figure 3 depicts the expected relationship.) A correlation between gross margin and inventory turns, although expected, did not, however, imply a causal relationship between the two variables. That is, a firm that increased its gross margin by better managing its inventory turns would not necessarily decline commensurately. The correlation between gross margin and inventory turns could instead reflect mutual dependence on the characteristics of a retailer’s business. Capital intensity and inventory turns: Investments in warehouses, information technology, and inventory and logistics management systems involved capital investment, which, being accounted for as fixed assets, was measured by an increase in capital intensity. Firms that made such capital investments often enjoyed higher inventory turns. Hence, inventory turns could be positively correlated with capital intensity. That an increase in inventory turnover and concurrent decrease in gross margin was not necessarily indicative of improved inventory management capability suggested limits to the use of inventory turnover in performance analysis. If, however, two firms had similar inventory turnover and gross margin values but different capital intensities the firm with the lower capital intensity might possibly have better inventory management capability. It was thus desirable to incorporate changes in gross margin and capital intensity into evaluations of inventory productivity. Zinn’s Analysis of John B. River Berman fidgeted in his chair. He enjoyed opportunities to evangelize to and educate television audiences, but found the wait in the studio tedious. Until called to hold forth on various aspects of managerial performance and investment strategy he would, he decided, wade through the report Zinn had prepared for him. Company Background On November 8, 2004 John B. River Clothiers, Inc., a leading U.S. retailer of men’s tailored and casual clothing and accessories, opened its 250th store. The retailer employed, in addition to the physical store format, two other channels: catalogs, and the Internet. Production of John B. River’s designs according to its specifications was contracted to third party vendors and suppliers. John B. River’s product suite, intended to dress a male career professional from head to toe, was identified with high quality and value. Its upscale, classic product offerings included tuxedos, blazers, shirts, ties, vests, pants, and sports wear. Excepting branded shoes from other vendors, all products were marketed under the John B. River brand. Trends in workplace clothing were an important determinant of John B. River sales growth. Thus, the early 1990s trend towards acceptability of informal clothing in the workplace was cause for concern to a retailer that emphasized men’s formal suits. But in the early 2000’s the pendulum seemed to swing back, with increasing numbers of employees preferring to dress more formally for the workplace. The material in this section is from John B. River Clothiers, Inc’s 2004 10-K Statement Retail stores were John B. River’s primary sales channel. Eighty percent of store space was dedicated to selling activities, the remaining 20% allocated to stockroom and tailoring and other support activities. Tailoring was a differentiating service highly valued by the retailer’s clientele. John B. River catered to high-end customers and so located its retail stores in areas with appropriate demographics. Its seven outlet stores provided a channel for liquidating excess merchandise. John B. River’s catalog and Internet channels accounted for approximately 11% of net sales in fiscal 2003 and 12% of net sales in fiscal 2002. Approximately eight million catalogs were distributed over these two years. Catalog sales were supported by a toll-free number that provided access to sales associates. The primary competitors of John B. River were Men’s Wearhouse Inc. (Ticker: MW) and Brooks Brothers (privately held). Apart from competing with these  specialty retailers, John B. River competed with large department stores such as Macy’s and Filenes, which enjoyed substantially greater financial and marketing resources. Supply Chain John B. River’s merchandise buying and planning staff used sophisticated information systems to convey product designs and specifications to suppliers and third party contract manufacturers and manage the production process worldwide. Approximately 24% of product purchases in fiscal 2003 were sourced from U.S. suppliers. Mexico accounted for 15% and none of the other countries from which products were sourced accounted for more than 10% of purchases. An agent was employed to source products from countries located in or near Asia. All inventory was received at a centralized distribution center (CDC), from which it was redistributed to warehouses or directly to stores. Store inventory was tracked using point-of-sale information and stock was replenished as necessary. John B. River expected to spend between $3 and $4 million in fiscal 2004 to increase the capacity of its CDC to accommodate 500 stores nationwide. Growth Strategy and Risks John B. River had developed a five-pronged strategy for achieving growth. First, it planned to further enhance product quality by elevating standards for design and manufacture. Second, it planned to expand catalog and internet operations. Third, it intended to introduce new products. Fourth, it was moving towards eliminating middlemen from the sourcing of products Fifth, it was committed to providing consistently high service levels by maintaining high inventory levels. Anticipating that growth relied on opening new stores, John B. River planned to expand to 500 stores. Approximately 60 stores were opened in fiscal 2004, increasing store count to 273, and about 75 to 100 stores were planned from  2005-08. Upfront costs associated with opening a new store included approximately $225,000 for leasehold improvements, fixtures, point-of-sale equipment, and so forth and an inventory investment of approximately $350,000, with higher inventory levels during peak periods. John B. River’s growth strategy was sensitive to consumer spending. John B. River relied on its emphasis on classic styles to retain a niche in men’s suits, a strategy that rendered it less vulnerable to changes in fashions but dependent on continued demand for classic styles. Zinn’s Analysis of John B. River’s Financial Statements Inventory: John B. River used the first-in-first out method to value inventory. During price increases FIFO valuation generated higher net income than LIFO valuation. John B. River’s inventory had been growing rapidly over the past four years. Zinn was surprised by the inventory growth, especially that inventory had grown faster than sales. Although inventory grew by 54% in 2003, corresponding sales growth was only 23%. In 2004 however, sales grew 24% while inventory grew by only 4%. Inventory at the end of 2004 however continued to be high at 303 days. Further the days’ payables increased from 54 days in 1998 to 82 days in 2004. Payables as a percentage of inventory however had declined from roughly 33% in 1998 to roughly 27% in 2004. But Zinn was not sure these concerns had much impact on her valuation of the company. Financial ratios: Current ratio and quick ratio had been hovering around 2 and 0.2, respectively.10,11 The large difference between these two ratios reflected the fact that most of John B. River’s current assets were inventory. Obsolescence costs would consequently be fairly high and could place the retailer in financial distress. The other financial ratios were indicative of a healthy company. ROE had increased from 15% to 27% since fiscal 2000. This increase had been largely fueled by an increasing profit margin (0.7% to 5.5% over the same period). John B. River had enjoyed rapid growth in sales over the last few years. Annual Sales growth had increased from 9% in 1998 to 24% in 2004, fueled by sales growth in existing stores (approximately 8% per year) as well as the opening of new stores and increased sales from the retailer’s catalog and internet channels. John B. River enjoyed a healthy increase in gross margins from 51% to 60% over the same period. Tables 4 and 5 provide key operational metrics for John B. River and Men’s Wearhouse. Prospective Analysis: Zinn had taken the Business Analysis and Valuation (BAV) class at HBS and discovered the â€Å"BAV tool.†12 She had used this tool to create a simpler model (used in the present analysis) to capture key aspects of valuation. Table 6 provides some key historical operational metrics for John B. River that Zinn used for her prospective analysis. Current ratio, defined as the ratio of current assets to current liabilities, was an indicator of a company’s ability to meet short-term debt obligations; the higher the ratio the more liquid the company. Quick ratio (or acid-test ratio), defined as the ratio of (cash + accounts receivable) to current liabilities, measured a company’s liquidity. The BAV tool was an Excel-based model developed by Harvard Business School faculty for valuing companies. Key assumptions made by Zinn in performing the prospective analysis of John B. River included the following. 1) Time horizon: Zinn chose a five year time horizon from 2005 to 2009 based on expected sales growth (derived from management projections). Beyond 2009 Zinn assumed the company to have reached a steady state defined by terminal values. 2) Sales growth: Zinn assumed that management’s projections for new stores were reasonable and that the new stores would be equivalent in size and productivity with the retailer’s existing stores. Using growth assumptions about stores and same store sales, Zinn computed sales growth for fiscal years 2005-2008 to be 18% (based on 15% square footage growth and 3% same store sale growth), and 10% for 2009. Sales after 2010 in Zinn’s analysis were expected to grow at the 4% industry standard for retail apparel stores13. 3) Gross margin: Gross margin had been steadily increasing; Zinn expected it to hover around 60% for the next five years and then assumed gross margin to reach its terminal value to reflect increased competition. 4) Other assumptions about the income statement: Zinn assumed that SG&A to sales and other operating expenses to sales would continue at the 2004 levels for the near term (till 2008). 5) Assumptions about the balance sheet: Zinn assumed that current assets to sales, current liabilities to sales, and long term assets to sales would continue at their 2004 levels, that is, the company would maintain a similar capital structure and remain as productive with its long term assets as in 2003. Zinn obtained terminal values from industry norms for â€Å"Men’s and boys’ clothing stores†14. The market risk premium was assumed to be 5%, risk free rate 4.3%, marginal tax rate 42%, and cost of debt 4.5%. Based on these assumptions, the value of a JONR share was estimated to be $43.58. Given the current (April 11th, 2005) closing price of $34.37 (see Figure 4 for historical stock prices of JONR), Zinn rated the stock a â€Å"strong buy.† You’re On the Air in Five Minutes! Berman knew he had to return to thinking about the bigger questions that would be posed by the host of the TV show. Yet he could not take his mind off of Zinn’s analysis. Berman smiled, knowing that his apprentice’s results were diametrically opposed to his own intuition. He recollected his conversation with the CEO and CFO of John B. River during one of the quarterly earnings calls when he was trying to learn about the retailer. When questioned about the steep increase in inventory, the CEO had mentioned that John B. River was planning to grow inventory in certain basic items like white shirts, khaki pants etc. as well as increase product variety to enhance service levels to its customers. Berman was not sure about this strategy of John B. River and wondered if the company’s gross margins were temporarily inflated based on increased inventories over the years. On the other hand, inventory management had improved of late. As reported on the 4th April 2005, Q4, 20 04 sales had increased 24% while inventories were up only 4% year over year.