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.

Muar 211 Study Guide

MUMedieval Period * Hildegard von Bingen: Columba aspexit * Genre = plainchant * Text = sacred, Latin * Texture: monophonic throughout * Performance practice: responsorially, that is, the performance alternates between a single singer (soloist) and the larger choir, which â€Å"responds† * The piece becomes more melismatic as it continues. * Ensemble: female vocal soloist, female vocal choir, droning instrument that plays out one note (the final) * Guillaume da Machaut: Dame, de qui toute ma joie vient * Genre = chanson (general term for French secular song) * Text = vernacular (language French), secular Texture = non-imitative polyphony (four voices with four independent melodies that never repeat the music of another voice part) Ensemble: a cappella Renaissance Period * Guillaume Dufay: Ave maris stella * Fauxbordon style: a form of harmonization in three parts in which the second line follows the top line a perfect fourth below. The voices are often â€Å"moving in parallel thirds,† a relatively new sound and texture at the time. * Based in the Dorian mode Homophonic/homophonic texture (multiple parts that move mostly in homorhytm, therefore creating a succession of chords) * The top line is an elaborated form of a Gregorian chant melody ie the top line is a cantus firmus. Latin * Genre: Hymn (harmonized hymn) b/c it is sacred and the same music is repeated over and over for changing verses of that sacred text * Josquin Desprez: Kyrie from Pange lingua Mass * Genre: Kyrie from a late Renaissance Mass * Texture: 4 part polyphony; imitative polyphony * Ensemble: a cappella; 4 part choir; SATB Text: Ancient, sacred Greek prayer (only part of Mass in Greek); First part of Mass Ordinary Baroque Period * H enry Purcell: â€Å"Thy hand Belinda† from Dido and Aeneas, Act III final scene. * Libretto is an abbreviated English-language adaptation (by librettist Nahum Tate) of an episode from the Aeneid, the Latin epic written by Virgil in the 1st century BC (between 29 and 19 BC) that tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Trojan who traveled to Italy, where he became the mythical ancestor of the Romans. Aeneas and his men are shipwrecked at Carthage on the northern shore of Africa.Dido, the Queen of Carthage, and Aeneas fall in love, but Aeneas cannot forget that the gods have commanded him to continue his journey until he reaches Italy (where it has been foretold that he will found a great empire, Rome). A much as he hates to hurt his love, the Queen Dido, he knows that he must leave and continue his quest. He leaves, as heroes must. * In her grief, Dido decides she cannot live with her grief and slashes her wrists. She then sings the moving recitative â€Å"Thy hand, Belinda,â⠂¬  and the aria that follows (a Lament aria), which is the culminating point in the opera, followed by a final chorus * Homophonic Antonio Vivaldi: Violin Concerto in G, La stravanganza, op. 4 no. 2, first and second movements http://youtu. be/WftbiFpZszU * First movement: Spirito e non presto (spirited but not presto) The first movement of this work is a RITORNELLO FORM: the music played by the orchestra appears both at the beginning, end, and several times during the movement. This ritornello is alternated with the SOLOS, played by the featured violin soloist. * Second movement: Largo (slowly)This movement is a THEME & VARIATIONS FORM, which means that the melody (theme) heard at the beginning is followed by alternative versions of that same melody. Johann Sebastian Bach * Brandenburg Concerto No. 5, first movement http://www. youtube. com/watch? v=49IOKnhX0Sk&feature=youtu. be * Genre =concerto grosso, since the work requires three soloists – the flute, violin & harpsich ord – plus the orchestral accompaniment * First movement: Allegro. Form of 1st movement = ritornello form (the music played by the orchestra appears both at the beginning, end, and several times during the movement) * Polyphony and homophony at the same time * Imitation in the soloists Fugue 1 in C Major from The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 1 http://www. youtube. com/watch? v=RLZd_36puXAFugue begins at 2:09 * Is a collection of solo keyboard music. He first gave the title to a book of preludes and fugues in all 24 major and minor keys * Fugue (second half) of this work is part of the required listening for Exam #1. A fugue needs to be able to play more than one note at a time * Imitative polyphony (also called imitative counterpoint) in the work.There is no accompaniment Cantata No. 4, Christ lag in Todesbanden, nos. 4, 5 & 8 http://youtu. be/aVaV0spMDVg * Bach based this cantata on the words and music of a chorale composed by Martin Luther in 1524. Luther’s chorale me lody was based on an Easter hymn from the 12th century. Bach used the melody of Luther’s chorale in every movement of his cantata as a cantus firmus. Text is proper, for certain times of the year * Sacred Cantata * 0:00-1:55 4th movement: tenor aria, â€Å"Jesus Christus, Gottes Sohn . . . Note the texture of this movement: the tenor voice and the busy ‘obbligato’ violin part both move rather independently over the accompaniment provided by the basso continuo. Therefore, the movement is basically homophonic, because it has an accompaniment, despite the fact that there are multiple ‘upper parts’ (the tenor voice and violin). The texture of High Baroque music (1700-1750) can often be complicated in this manner—a combination of both polyphony (in the upper parts) and homophony (because of the accompaniment). * 1:59-4:24 5th movement: SATB quartet w/ continuo, â€Å"Es war ein wunderlicher Krieg.The texture of this movement is much more polyphon ic than the first, and the four vocal parts (soprano, also, tenor and bass) ‘imitate’ each other contrapuntally; in other words, the texture of this movement is ‘imitative polyphony. ’ Note also that the instrumental parts ‘move parallel to the voice parts’ (meaning that the instrumental parts play the exact same thing the three vocal soloists are singing); therefore the instruments take part in the polyphony * 7:04-8:23 8th movement: chorale with orchestra, â€Å"Wir essen und leben wohl . . † This final movement is set very simply, in a purely homophonic texture. All of the voice parts move in homorhythm—i. e. , they all move to the same rhythm nearly all of the time. However, they are not singing the same part, but are singing different pitches at the same time, thereby creating a series of chords. The continuo players (the instrumental accompaniment) follow along with the voices, adding there timbres to the overall sound. * Ba ch’s sacred cantatas often end with a homophonic presentation of the chorale melody: i. e. in a presentation of a harmonized chorale. The final movement is set in this simple style so that the congregation could participate in singing the final movement. All of the earlier movements are much more complicated, and would have been performed by professional singers employed by the church. * Note regarding this work on Exam #1: You need to be able to identify the texture and subgenre (aria, SATN quartet, and chorus) of each movementGeorge Frideric Handel * La giustizia† from Julius Caesar â€Å"There were Shepherds† and â€Å"Glory to God† from Messiah * http://youtu. be/SZN6VmKBxPQ * 0:00 – 0:10 secco (‘dry’) recitative; the continuo accompaniment here is very sparse and sometimes completely absent. * 0:10 – 0:29 accompanied recitative (entire orchestra accompanies) * 0:30 – 1:32 secco recitative again (continuo only again; c ello and harpsichord) * 1:13 – 1:32 accompanied recitative (entire orchestra); note that this portion goes straight into the following choral number. * 1:33 – 3:23 â€Å"Glory to God† chorus TERM LIST Medieval Period: 450-1450 Sacred Culture: anything intended to serve as part of worship. Earliest musical manuscripts contain sacred music exclusively because only members of the church was literate, peasants couldn’t write down secular music * Secular Culture: everything else (ie not serving as a part of worship, including art for entertainment only) * Liturgy (as in Roman Catholic liturgy): the system of prayers and worship of a particular religion, dictates how to worship, when to worship, what songs to sing and when.Considered a higher authority * Plainchant / chant / Gregorian Chant: Text: Latin (language) and SACRED (function) * Nonmetrical (ie rhythmically free, no discernible beat or meter) * Based on church modes of the Medieval Musical/Theoretical System * Usually performed with a MONOPHIC TEXTURE (texture: how many parts and what is their relationship), although other practices are possible * Usually performed A CAPPELLA (type of ensemble) * Metrical (has a discernable beat) /Nonmetrical (has no discernible beat or meter) * Divine Office Mass: relatively private worship service in convents and monasteries * Mass: large worship service for all Proper of Mass (or Mass Proper): of material into those parts of the text that always remain the same * Ordinary of Mass (Mass Ordinary) material that change according to the particular day in the liturgical year. * Kyrie (a simple prayer), Gloria (a long hymn, beginning), Credo (A recital of the Christian’s list of beliefs, beginning), Sanctus (another, shorter hymn), Agnus dei (Another simple prayer) * Church modes (Medieval Modes): the basis of the harmonic system. A collection of pitches that are organized within a piece of music to emphasize one particular pitch, called the final.These pitches also represent a collection of specific intervals * Responsorial Performance: a manner of performing chant in which a solo singer or leader performed verses of the text and the entire congregation answered each verse with the following verse or with a response or refrain. Common responses were amen and hallelujah, but others were more expansiveu * Hildegard von Bingen (1098-1179): was well known in her day and her musical works poetry and other writings were widely copied and disseminated. Visionary, mystic, and prolific writer.CONVENT ABBESS: founded her own convent in Rupertsburg (eastern Germany). Her visions and prophecies made her famous throughout Europe, also known for her writings on science and music, very well educated and powerful woman in her time * Drone: a single two note chord running continuously. Found in Hildegard von Bingen’s Columba Aspexit * Also in the 12th C * Earliest manuscripts of secular music: musical settings of original poetry written by learned men and women (courtiers, monks, nuns, priests) for entertainment in royal courts.Composers were known as troubadours, trouveres, or minnesangers. These secular songs were notated monophonically, but were probably performed with improvised instrumental accompaniment. The poetry of these songs is most often in the vernacular language of the court. Songs dealt with courtly love/chivalry, as well as war and some deal with topics of sexual love * Earliest manuscripts of instrumental music: nearly are all courtly dances such as the Estampie or Salterello, notation suggests a regular rhythmic organization: metric or metered.These manuscripts were created by literate musicians, although dance music was often performed by jongleurs * Earliest manuscripts of polyphonic music: organum the earliest genre of medieval polyphony music (the simultaneous combination of two or more melodies) * Organum: the earliest genre of medieval polyphony music (the simultaneous combination o f two or more melodies) * Troubadour (south of France)/trouvere (in the north)/Minnesanger (Germany): noble poet composers of court songs who also performed the songs themselves.Among them were kings, prices, and even kings. Troubadour society (but not trouvere) allowed for women composers and performers. Literate classes of people (typically are courtiers). Not for public * Jongleur: popular musicians – Some noble songwriters only penned the words, leaving music to be composed by jongleurs. Popular musicians at the time, the music is relatively simple. Jongleurs played instruments while trouveres sang.Musicians of common status, typically illiterate, who traveled played a memorized repertory, improvising, getting paid when possible, occasionally organizing into guilds * Courtier: someone at a royal count, music for elite class * Chanson: French for song, a genre of French secular vocal music * Cantus Firmus: the way to create new sacred music, in the medieval era, a cantus f irmus was a pre-existing plainchant melody (therefore a sacred melody setting a sacred text) that has been recycled into a new composition ie a cantus firmus is chant melody that serves the basis for new musical creation * Notre Dame School: school of polyphonic music, not actual school setting, but they did influence one another. Group of composers working at or near the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris in late 12th and 13th centuries. * Ars antiqua/ars nova: contemporary terms for the â€Å"old technique† of the 13th century organum and the new polyphonic music of the 14th C. * Guillaume da Machaut (c. 1300 – 1377): was cleric and courtier, a widely celebrated poet and musician. Active at a variety of courts, including the Court of Charles, Duke of Normandy, who later became king of France.Widely known as the greatest musician of his time; renowned ever long after his death – the foremost composer of the ars nova style: the new style of complicated polyphonic mus ic in the late 14th C. This term was used to contrast the new music with the older Notre Dame polyphonic music of the 13th C. known as the ars antiqua * Notre Dame Mass (significance): composed the earliest extant complete setting of the mass ordinary. The five individual parts are based on some of the same borrowed and original musical material so they are musically liked to one another. Earlier complete settings were no doubt created as well, but this is the oldest to survive intact, due to its popularity and wide dissemination Renaissance Period: 1450-1600 Humanism: an intellectual movement and ethical system centered on humans and their values, needs, interests, abilities, dignity, and freedom, emphasizing secular culture in a rejection of the sacred * Moveable type printing press c. 1450: music printing soon followed, greatly expanded affordable access to vocal and instrumental music of all genres, both sacred and secularLutheran Reformation early 16th C: Martin Luther. The sep aration of protestant Christian sects from the Roman Catholic Church leads to a great diversity in post 1500 sacred music (not all sacred music is Latin) * Counter Reformation, late 16th C. : The Roman Catholic Church responded to the revolt led by Martin Luther by reforming church practices in the spirit of â€Å"true Christian piety. This was the RCC’s attempt to regain the loyalty of its people, as well as regain the loss of power and wealth that had resulted from the â€Å"split† of the church (MUSIC REFORM) * Council of Trent (musical significance): issued general recommendations in favor a pure vocal style that would respect the integrity of the sacred text. (The composer considered to best uphold the reformed ideal of church music was Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina)Fascination with and study of Greek and Roman antiquity: once the concern of medieval theologians and scholars only—becomes more common among the ever-larger literate classes; the architectu re, visual arts, poetry, and music of the renaissance demonstrates this influence. Word Painting: the music itself is composed in such a manner that the sound of the music reflects the meaning of the text (words such as fly and glitter were set to rapid notes, up and heaven to even higher ones) * Point of Imitation: a brief passage of imitative polyphony usually using a single musical motive (based on a single theme, or on two used together (used by Josquin Desprez) * Guillaume Dufay (c. 1400-1474): Born and received early musical training in northern France. However, he spent more than 25 years in Italy, as a musician and composer at the courts of various powerful families, or in major cathedrals, including the Papal Chapel in Rome.Dufay composed music in all the sacred and secular genres common to his day— masses, motets, Magnificats, hymns, and chants in fauxbordon style (see below), as well as secular songs of all types—using a rich musical language that combined t echniques of earlier masters (the Ars Nova) with the new techniques, textures and textual sensitivity of the emerging Renaissance aesthetics. Fauxbourdon passage in Dufay’s harmonized hymn, Ave maris stella * Harmonized hymn: it has a sacred text, and (2) the same music is repeated over and over for changing verses of that sacred text. Works intended for congregational singing often use this simply form. * Josquin des Prez (1440 – 1521) Born and received early musical training in northern France, moved to Italy where he served in several courts. He composed both sacred and secular music, setting both sacred texts and contemporary poetry. Achieve international fame; known to Martin Luther as the greatest living composer.Returned to northern France in his late life * Claudio Monteverdi (1567 – 1643): the most important musician in the late 16th and early 17th century Italy. Wrote nine books of madrigals, composed operas. Composed high Renaissance and early Baroque music, was a transitional composer who bridged between these two musical style periods writing in and epitomizing the styles and genres of both periods. * Madrigal: a polyphonic secular vocal genre of the Renaissance, a short composition set to a one stanza poem – typically a love poem, with rapid turnover of ideas and images). The most important secular vocal genre of the late renaissance and early baroque.Madrigals were settings of secular poetry on a variety of topics in the vernacular language (originally Italian). Were a genre of â€Å"high art† meaning it was intended for the entertainment of royalty, commoners would rarely be exposed to such music * Giovanni Palestrina (1525 – 1594): worked as an organist and choirmaster at various churches including St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, Pope Julius II appointed him to the Sistine Chapel Choir, wrote over 100 settings of he Roman Catholic Mass, Palestrina’s music was known to later generations, mos t importantly Bach who considered it the epitome of sacred music in the â€Å"old style,† was considered the best composer to uphold the reformed ideal of church music Baroque Period: 1600-1750 Monody: literally ‘one song’ characterized by a solo vocal melody with instrumental accompaniment * basso continuo / continuo / figured bass : one, two or more instruments that provide an accompaniment for one or more vocal or instrumental soloists, reading from a musical part that is called the figured bass, because it is notated as a single line of music (the base line) over which numbers (the figures) indicate the other notes to be played on.At least one of the basso continuo instruments plays the bass line as written by the composer, while the other (or others) improvises chords on that bass line * In the Baroque and early Classical periods, the keyboard instrument in the basso continuo was almost always the harpsichord * ‘continuo group’: the instrumentat ion of the basso continuo (also called the continuo r the continuo group) was never specified in the music. Musicians and composers of the period were very practical with regard to performance practices. Therefore, their music was designed to accommodate a wide variety of performance situations * to ‘realize a figured bass’ * improvisation * Ornamentation: the practice (both vocal and instrumental) of spontaneously adding (improvising) short decorative flourishes to the written music during performances). These additional notes are generally called ornaments or embellishments * Score (as in musical score): a piece of music that shows all of the parts in a given piece, all together on each page: also called a full score.Some small ensemble music commonly appears in such a format, but it is not practical for larger ensembles. Full scores of large ensemble works are generally used only by conductors and for study * Part (as in printed musical part): a piece of music that s hows only one portion of the overall performing ensemble, usually just the music of a single instrument or vocalist * Opera (time & place of its invention): Opera was originally created in the wealthy Italian courts of Florence in approximately 1600 by a group of intellectuals; poets and musicians who were attempting to recreate the ancient Greek dramas, which they determined had been sung in a very declamatory (i. e. , speech-like) style. * Two types/subgenres of song in opera:Recitative: a song that imitates and rhythms and pitch patterns of natural speech; usually carries the action and dialogue of an opera; used to forward the action of drama. Not very lyrical and melodious; sounds more like speech or recitation. Good for expressing text, in which the meaning is important, usually does not have long melismas or repetitions of texts. Rhythmically free or nonmetrical. Usually accompanied by only one or two instruments, the basso continuo, which closely follows the singer * Aria: a song for solo voice, often with a larger ensemble playing the accompaniment. Strongly metrical (ie has a strong and recognizable beat).A melodious or lyrical song which expresses an outpouring of emotion, thereby developing the character of the person singing the aria; very lyrical often epeating fragments of the text and containing melismas that ‘show off’ the technical and expressive abilities of the star singers * Both recitatives and arias were also composed as ‘stand alone’ works: as works that were performed alone without being part of a larger work * Libretto / librettist: the libretto is story or text of an opera, written by the librettist almost never the composer himself, but rather someone with literary and poetic skills. Operas were intended as entertainment and use secular text in a vernacular language. The subject matter of librettos vary widely, the earliest operas drew their subject matter from the myths, dramas, and histories of ancient Gr eece and Rome. * Castrato: Male singer castrated before puberty in order to retain the pre-adolescent high vocal range. The most important category of vocal soloists in opera (and other vocal genres) during the baroque, although most of them were employed by Italian churches.Many leading operatic roles for men—whether hero or romantic lead—were written for castrati. Castrati also commonly performed women’s roles. The â€Å"rock stars† of their day, the most successful castrati enjoyed great popularity and financial reward. We know many of their names, careers, and personal exploits today. Today, the operatic roles and other vocal parts originally composed for castrati are sung by (1) women or (2) countertenors or falsettists (male sopranos). * Overture (as in opera): the instrumental piece (for the orchestra alone) that introduces an opera. It is the first thing you hear at the beginning of the opera, often before the main opera characters come on stage.O vertures often contain musical themes from the vocal pieces to follow, sort of ‘foreshadowing’ the action of the opera * Traits of the baroque orchestra: During the Baroque Era that our modern conception of the orchestra, as a group centered around a group of bowed strings, was first developed. However, baroque orchestras were much smaller than the orchestras used in later art music, usually included only 10 to 25 people, and often consisted of nothing but bowed strings and perhaps a harpsichord or organ. Wind instruments (brass and woodwinds) could be used and often were, including a limited array of percussion, but the bowed strings were the CORE of the orchestra from its earliest inception. Henry Purcell (1659-1695): Often referred to as the first great English composer of international acclaim. Worked as a singer, organist and composer in the courts of Charles II (reigned 1660-85), James II (r. 1685-88), and William and Mary (r. 1689- 1702). Purcell’s instrum ental works rank among the finest musical achievements of the middle Baroque. * Lament / lament aria: A poem (or, when set to music, a song) expressing grief, regret or mourning. As a musical subcategory of recitative and aria, it was very popular in the 17th century and after. * Basso ostinato / ground bass: Baroque lament arias often feature a basso ostinato (also known as a ground bass), which is a bass theme that repeats over and over.The basso ostinatos or ground basses of lament arias typically consists of a descending, chromatic figure (often descending from tonic to dominant in the key of the piece) in a slow triple meter. * Recorder: * Harpsichord * Lute (archlute) * Organ viol (viola da gamba) * MULTI-MOVEMENT WORK: a musical work under one title that is actually several separate musical pieces that are always played together in the same order. Each of the individual pieces that comprise a multi-movement genre is called a MOVEMENT. It is typical that the various movements of a multi-movement instrumental work all employ the same ensemble, although there are some exceptions.On the other hand, large-scale vocal/instrumental genres (such as operas, cantatas and oratorios) often contain movements that contrast with regard to the ensemble used. The individual movements with any multi-movement genre are designed both to complement and contrast with one another with regard to key, tempo, and musical material. * Sonata * Trio sonata: multi-movement genre for TWO instrumental soloists and basso continuo. Be careful about this one, because the ensemble can vary widely. Since the basso continuo part might be played by one, two or three people, the total ensemble of a trio sonata could include from 3 players (2 soloists + 1 continuo player) to 5 players (2 soloists + 3 continuo players) or even more.Solo concerto: multi-movement (usually three but not standardized in the baroque era) genre for a single instrumental soloist (of any type) and orchestra (including basso continuo) * Concerto grosso: multi-movement (usually three but could be more) genre for two or more instrumental soloists and orchestra (including the basso continuo). Many such works were written for two violinists and basso continuo (the solo group) accompanied by a larger group (the orchestra, which usually also consisted of strings only). Part of the interest in such works is the exciting contrast of the smaller solo group with the larger orchestra. During the Baroque Era, concerto grosso (concerto grossi is the Italian plural) were NEVER titled Concerto Grosso.They were usually titled simply ‘concerto,’ and are therefore difficult to differentiate from a solo concerto by title alone. * Suite / dance suite / baroque dance suite: a multi-movement genre for orchestra without any particular featured soloists. Usually each movement is named after and is an example of a particular dance type, although some movements might have other inspirations and be unrelated to dance. SUITE, by definition, means a multi-movement collection of dances. Dance suites could be used for dancing or simply as concert works for listening enjoyment. * Multi-movement instrumental work for orchestra alone (in baroque also w/ continuo group) * The number of movements was not very standardized during the Baroque period.Some examples of the genre have as many as nine (for instance, Handel’s Suite No. 2 in D major, popularly known as part of the Water Music). * The individual movements are often evocative of DANCE TYPES and have dance-related names (Minuet, Bourree, Gigue, Hornpipe, etc. ), although there are also other types of names as well (especially ‘Air,’ a title that implies a lyrical, slow piece with song-like qualities). * The prominence of this genre during the baroque period highlights the importance of dance during the period. * Fugue * An entire piece or distinct subsection of music that employs imitative polyphony in a strictly prescribe d manner.A fugue can be a genre (if an entire piece or movement contains nothing but that fugue), but it is also possible for a subsection of a piece to be described as a ‘fugue’. * Fugues may be written for any instrument capable of polyphonic solo playing, or for any combination of voices or instruments, or instruments and voices together. * The first musical theme of a fugue is called the SUBJECT. After its first appearance in a single voice or part, you will then hear that same melody again and again in the other parts. Not really a genre because it doesn’t tell you the ensemble. * J. S. Bach’s music is generally regarded as one of the greatest artistic achievements of the Baroque Period.At the end of his life, however, his musical style was rather old fashioned, for the newer style of the early classic period was already being composed by a number of younger composers, including Bach’s own sons. These younger composers of the new classical styl e were not sympathetic to complex polyphony, preferring a more simple, homophonic texture. Ritornello form: the music played by the orchestra appears both at the beginning, end, and several times during the movement. * Theme & variations form: the melody (theme) heard at the beginning is followed by alternative versions of that same melody. * Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) * Must know J. S. Bach’s death date (1750) marks the end of the Baroque Period.German, Lutheran composer and one of the most influential figures in western music history. Born into a family of musicians. Eventually known as a virtuoso organist (expert of construction and maintance). * At age 23, J. S. Bach was appointed his first important position: court organist and chamber musician to the Duke of Weimar. He later worked for five years at the court of the Prince of Anhalt-Cothen, where he wrote some of his most famous instrumental works, including The Brandenburg Concertos. * J. S. Bach also composed h is very famous suites (a multi-movement collection of dances) for unaccompanied violoncello (i. e. , cello) during his time working for the Prince of Anhalt-Cothen. * At age 38 J. S.Bach was appointed his most prestigious position when he became CANTOR (i. e. , the music director) at St. Thomas Church in Leipzig * Cantor: music director, head of choir * Sacred Cantata (as composed by J. S. Bach between 1700 and 1750) * A fairly large-scale, multi-movement vocal/instrumental genre, typically consisting of six to eight movements, used in the worship services of German Lutheran Churches. * Sacred cantatas are NOT a dramatic presentation like opera; a cantata (whether sacred or secular) features no plot, acting, costumes, stage movement, etc. ), although it is divided into choruses, arias, recitatives, duets, and instrumental pieces etc. just like an opera or oratorio.The ensemble of a sacred cantata consists of a smallish choir (12 or so), vocal soloists, an orchestra (10-20 or so) and an organ, although larger groups of singers and instrumentalists were used on special occasions (like major feast days in the liturgical calendar). * Texts are in the vernacular language (German) * Lutheran chorale * Hymn-like songs used for congregational singing in the Lutheran Church, composed in a rather simple, four-part (SATB) texture. It is a sacred genre that was (and is) sung during the worship service by the congregation along with the professional choir (the latter of whom would have performed the sacred cantata during the worship service). Many chorales date back to Martin Luther (1483-1546) himself, although new ones were continuously composed for centuries. *Chorales are STROPHIC: i. e. , each verse of text is sung to the same repeated music. * George Frideric Handel (1685-1759) * German-born composer who created numerous works in every genre of his day, including orchestral dance suites, organ concertos, and concerti grossi, but he is most remembered for his 39 Itali an-style operas and his oratorios for English audiences. * Unlike most professional musicians of his day, Handel was not from a musical family, but he studied with a local organist and composer from a young age. At 18 he worked as a violinist and harpsichordist in the orchestra of an opera house in Hamburg; at 20 he produced his first successful opera. * At 21 he went to Italy, where he further studied the Italian opera style; he also composed and successfully produced operas in Italy. * In 1710 Handel took a well-paid position as music director for Elector Georg Ludwig of Hanover, who became Handel’s patron. A friend of the arts, this patron allowed Handel to travel extensively and promote his music on the international stage. * Handel made several trips to London to produce his operas, and he eventually moved there in 1712 and remained in England for the rest of his life. * Handel became London’s most important composer and a favorite of Queen Anne.* Oratorio: Much l ike n opera, a large-scale music drama for vocal soloists, chorus and orchestra; oratorios are multi-movement works that contain arias, recitatives, duets, trios, choral numbers, and interludes for orchestra alone. * Usually based on a narrative libretto with plots and characters (one of whom is usually a narrator); however, unlike an opera there is no acting, scenery, or costumes. * Handel’s oratorios are usually based on stories from the Old Testament: for example Handel’s oratorios Israel in Egypt and Joshua. * Secular genre composed and performed for entertainment purposes; usually performed in an opera theater or other large, secular, public venue. * Da capo aria form: a specific type of ternary form (A—B—A). Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741): The â€Å"Red Priest† Famous and influential as a virtuoso violinist and composer. Born in Venice, Italy, the son of a violinist employed at St. Mark’s Cathedral. Known as the â€Å"Red Priest† b ecause he was indeed a priest and had rather wild red hair. Worked as a violin teacher, composer, and conductor at the Music School of the Pieta, orphanage for girls. The orchestra and chorus at this school was one of the finest in Italy, and much of Vivaldi’s music was composed for them to perform. Although he composed operas and church music, he is best known for his 450 or so concertos (both solo concertos and concertos grosso; see following notes).General Terminology & Concepts Genre: a specific category of musical composition as defined by its musical characteristics or traits; for instance a Gregorian chant, a string quartet, an art song * Ensemble/medium: the instruments, voices, or anything else that makes sound and takes part in music making. A. k. a. instrumentation (but don’t forget about the voices). Some particular types of ensembles became standardized within a given genre culture and become associated with more or less specific social settings, functions , or musical styles * Range of Human Voices (Soprano, Alto, Tenor, Base) * SATB choir: defining the voices required by a chorus or choir to perform a particular musical work. Pieces written for SATB, the commonest combination and that used by most Hymn tunes, can be sung by choruses of mixed genders, by choirs of men and boys, or by four soloists. A cappella: (Italian for â€Å"in the manner of the church† or â€Å"in the manner of the chapel†) music is specifically solo or group singing without instrumental sound *Monophony/monophonic texture: a musical texture involving a single melodic line, as in Gregorian chant, as opposed to polyphony * Polyphony/polyphonic texture: musical texture in which two or more melodic lines are played or sung simultaneously * Imitative polyphony: (continuous imitation) brief usually fragments of melody (motives) are passed from voice to voice (or instrument to instrument) within the performing group, so that these motives are heard again and again within close proximity of each other making the music easier to comprehend and follow * Non-imitative polyphony: four voices with four independent melodies that never repeat the music of another voice part. Non-imitative polyphony is the ideal and most common texture in Medieval polyphonic music * Homophony/homophonic texture: music that is harmonic, chordal texture, a musical texture that involves only one melody of real interest combined with chords or other subsidiary sounds * Melody + accompaniment * Homorhythm/homorhythmic texture: a musical texture in which all of the parts move together rhythmically.Renaissance music often alternates between polyphonic passages (in which all of the parts are independent) and homorhythmic passages (in which all of the parts move together) * Two types of text setting * Syllabic: each syllable of text is set to only one pitch (syllable by syllable) * Melismatic: text setting that contains melismas; a melisma is a single syllable of te xt that is set to large groups of pitches * Pitch: a sound producing vibration that oscillates at a definite and prescribed rate of speed. Are named using the first seven letters of the alphabet (A B C D E F G) * Equal Temperament * The man made division of the octave into 12 equal intervals (measured in ? steps) * The man made division of the octave in 12 half steps (12 half steps per octave) *Equal temperament tuning Accidentals: a note whose pitch is not a member of a scale or mode indicated by the most recently applied key signature. In musical notation, the symbols used to mark such notes, sharps (? ), flats (? ), and naturals (? ), may also be called accidentals. An accidental sign raises or lowers the following note from its normal pitch, * Sharp, raises half step ? * Flat, lowers half step ? * Natural, cancels sharp and flat ? * Metrical (has a discernable beat) /Nonmetrical (has no discernible beat or meter) * Tempo: refers to the relative speed of the beat in music * Prest o: very fast * Allegro: fast * Moderato: at a moderate rate * Adagio/adante: slow * Dynamics: refers to the relative loudness or softness of the music. * Forte = f = play loudly Mezzo forte = mf = somewhat loudly (less loud than f) * Mezzo piano = mp = somewhat softly (less loud than mf) * Piano = p = play softly * Crescendo = < = to become gradually louder * Descrescendo = > = to become gradually softer Recap of Genres Studied * Chanson: French Secular Song * chorale (Lutheran chorale): * concerto grosso * fugue * hymn / harmonized hymn * madrigal * Mass * motet * opera * oratorio * organum * plainchant / chant / Gregorian Chant * sacred cantata * solo concerto * sonata (solo sonata) * suite / dance suite / baroque dance suite * trio sonata Sinfonia: in the 18th Century sinfonia and overture were used interchangeably. Later on the symphony was a genre was created

Understanding What Zai Na Li Means in English

Understanding What Zai Na Li Means in English The Mandarin question word for where† is Ã¥Å" ¨Ã¥â€œ ªÃ¨ £ ¡, written in the traditional form, or Ã¥Å" ¨Ã¥â€œ ªÃ©â€¡Å', written in simplified form. The pinyin is zi nÇŽ li. This term is particularly useful to know if you are traveling in China and want to learn or ask about new locations to explore.   Characters The term for where is made up of three characters: Ã¥Å" ¨ (zi)  which means located at, and the two characters å“ ªÃ¨ £ ¡ / å“ ªÃ©â€¡Å' (nÇŽ li) which put together means where. Combined, Ã¥Å" ¨Ã¥â€œ ªÃ¨ £ ¡ / Ã¥Å" ¨Ã¥â€œ ªÃ©â€¡Å' (zi nÇŽ li) literally means, â€Å"Where is it located?† The term å“ ªÃ¨ £ ¡ / å“ ªÃ©â€¡Å'  (nÇŽ li) is sometimes used by itself as a single-word question. Pronunciation With regards to tone marks, Ã¥Å" ¨ (zi) is in the 4th tone and å“ ª (nÇŽ) is in the 3rd tone. è £ ¡ / é‡Å' is usually pronounced in the 3rd tone (lÇ ) but when used as a question word for where it takes on an unaccented  neutral tone (li). Thus, in terms of tones, Ã¥Å" ¨Ã¥â€œ ªÃ¨ £ ¡ / Ã¥Å" ¨Ã¥â€œ ªÃ©â€¡Å' can also be referred to as zai na li. Examples WÇ’ de shÃ… « zi nÇŽ li?我的æ› ¸Ã¥Å" ¨Ã¥â€œ ªÃ¨ £ ¡? (traditional form)我的ä ¹ ¦Ã¥Å" ¨Ã¥â€œ ªÃ©â€¡Å'? (simplified form)Where is my book? WÇ’ men zi nÇŽ li jin?我們åÅ" ¨Ã¥â€œ ªÃ¨ £ ¡Ã¨ ¦â€¹?我ä » ¬Ã¥Å" ¨Ã¥â€œ ªÃ©â€¡Å'è § ?Where are we going to meet? Yà ºnnn shÄ›ng zi nÇŽ li?é› ²Ã¥ â€"çÅ" Ã¥â€œ ªÃ¨ £ ¡Ã¤ ºâ€˜Ã¥ â€"çÅ" Ã¥Å" ¨Ã¥â€œ ªÃ©â€¡Å'?Where is Yunnan province? ShnghÇŽi zi nÇŽ li?ä ¸Å Ã¦ µ ·Ã¥Å" ¨Ã¥â€œ ªÃ¨ £ ¡?ä ¸Å Ã¦ µ ·Ã¥Å" ¨Ã¥â€œ ªÃ©â€¡Å'Where is Shanghai? NÇ  yo qà ¹ nÇŽlÇ  lÇšxà ­ng?ä ½  Ã¨ ¦ Ã¥Å½ »Ã¥â€œ ªÃ¨ £ ¡Ã¦â€"…è ¡Å'ä ½  Ã¨ ¦ Ã¥Å½ »Ã¥â€œ ªÃ©â€¡Å'æâ€"…è ¡Å'Where do you want to travel?

Crown Cork and Seal in 1989 Essay Example

Crown Cork and Seal in 1989 Essay Example Crown Cork and Seal in 1989 Paper Crown Cork and Seal in 1989 Paper 1. What are the key strategic issues that Avery (the incoming CEO) needs to consider? What strategic options are open to him? A. Since this is the time to show Avery’s worth he must consider renewed marketing strategies to remain competitive in the business circle. Strategies such as expansion and innovation can be greatly considered. Adapting to manufacturer’s ideas using distinctive designs, shapes and materials through innovation can bring effective symbolism to the product and offers a more active marketing strategy. For one, Continental Can offers a great opportunity to Crown and their merging would mean larger market distribution of their products. Once the line is in broader international market, this is where innovation is needed. Packaging is always synonymous with the use of technology and innovation. Crown has already manifested its product years ago and has proved their marketability. But trying another endeavor would not hurt the company but instead could offer broader and greater opportunities.? 2. What is the appropriate industry to analyze in which Crown competes? A. What is in line with Crown’s business does not solely focus on metal container packaging on colas and other beverages but the whole packaging industry as well. All kinds of food, perishable products, chemicals, detergents and other home and industrial products now come with different containers, designs and materials. Packagers are always on the run to hook many manufacturers as many as they can because manufacturers have the option to choose the best and most reliable packagers, which could offer something new for their products.? 3. How attractive has the metal container industry been over the years? (NOTE: Carry out a straightforward ‘five forces’ structural analysis of the industry. ) A. In the case of aluminum can containers they are still the most popular and preferred containers for beverages because they can be recycled easily, redesigned, put attractive logos and carry the message of the product. There are no other metal containers that can outlast its advantages because it is lighter over glass, steel and plastics and can preserve the products freshness more efficiently (Bradley, 2005).? . In your opinion, how well did Crown Cork founder John Connelly (the outgoing CEO)? What were the keys to its success? A. John Connely has proved himself successful even though he was being criticized for being strict. But he revolutionized the industry not because of his unique style of management, which resulted in redefining the Crowns position on the metal can industry. Many people view his decision as one daring move in putting accountabilities to his regional plant managers. But this idea worked pretty well. Now that it is Averys era, it is time for him to gather courage and try little changes and prove his own style and identity (Bradley, 2005).? 5. What significant changes were taking place in the industry at that time? How should the new CEO, Bill Avery, address these changes? Is it finally time to change the Connelly strategy that had been successful for over 30 years? A. Whatever needs is taking place in this industry is dictated by what people expect. The international market is being run by the most modern technology being use in marketing and expanding of products. Bill Avery should consider using this technology resource that is only within his reach. Crown has surpassed the test of time for many years and still successful. Now that Avery is at the helm, it does not mean changing Connely’s strategy but redefined it. Taking challenges for example at precautionary level will not harm the company but will provide further experience be it becomes a failure or probably another breakthrough.

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning growth regulation

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning growth regulation Should artificial intelligence be regulated? Can it be regulated? And if so, what should those regulations look like? These are difficult questions to answer for any technology still in development stages ? more mainstream regulations, like those on the food, pharmaceutical, automobile and airline industries, are typically applied after something bad has happened, or retroactively, and not in anticipation of a technology becoming dangerous. But AI has been evolving so quickly, and the impact of AI technology has the potential to be so great that legislators prefer not to wait and learn from mistakes, but plan ahead and regulate proactively. Lawmakers and regulators need to look at AI not as a homogenous technology, but instead as a set of techniques and methods that will be deployed in specific and increasingly diversified applications. To be sure, there is currently no generally agreed-upon definition of AI. What is important, however, to understand from a technical perspective is that AI is a rich set of sub disciplines, methods, and tools that bring together areas such as speech recognition, computer vision, machine translation, reasoning, attention and memory, robotics and control, etc. These techniques are used in a broad range of applications, spanning areas as diverse as health diagnostics, educational tutoring, autonomous driving, or sentencing in the criminal justice context. The possibilities are truly endless. But as a growing number of increasingly impactful AI technologies make their way out of research labs and turn into industry applications, legal and regulatory systems will be confronted with a multitude of issues of different levels of complexity that need to be addressed. Both lawmakers and regulators as well as other actors will be affected by the pressure that AI-based applications place on the legal system including courts, law enforcement, and lawyers, which highlights the importance of knowledge transfer and education. Given the speed of development, scale, and potential impact of AI development and deployment, lawmakers and regulators will have to prioritize among the issues to be addressed in order to ensure the quality of legal processes and outcomes?—?and to avoid unintended consequences. Different legal and regulatory regimes aimed at governing the same phenomenon are often closely linked to the idea of jurisdiction. In fact, the competition among jurisdictions and their respective regimes has positive effects by serving as a source of learning and potentially a force for a â€Å"race to the top.† However, discrepancies among legal regimes can also create barriers when harnessing the full benefits of the new technology. Examples include not only differences in law across nation states or federal and/or state jurisdictions, but also normative differences among different sectors. These differences might affect the application as well as the development of AI tech itself. As AI applies to the legal system itself, however, the rule of law might have to be re-imagined and the law re-coded in the longer run. The rise of AI leads not only to questions about the ways in which the legal system can or should regulate it in its various manifestations, but also the application of AI-based technologies to law itself. The future relationship between AI and the law is likely to become even more deeply intertwined. Implementations might take different forms, including â€Å"hardwiring† autonomous systems in such ways that they obey the law, or by creating AI oversight programs (â€Å"AI guardians†) to watch over operational ones. At least some of these scenarios might eventually require novel approaches and a reimagination of the role of law in its many formal and procedural aspects in order to translate them into the world of AI, and as such, some of today’s laws will need to be re-coded.

A History of the Catholic Church on the Death Penalty Research Paper

A History of the Catholic Church on the Death Penalty - Research Paper Example Despite preaching immense love and respect for humanity, Catholicism exhibited extreme views on the death penalty. Going back to the earliest times, Christianity adhered to the concept of vengeance instead of forgiveness. â€Å"An eye for an eye, life for life, limb for limb† had been the doctrine of olden times Christianity. This was the doctrine of the churches and all the popes had been following it until The Church published its approved catechism in 1992 for the first time in over four centuries. Pope John Paul II described death penalty in these words: "the right and duty of the legitimate public authority to punish malefactors by means of penalties commensurate with the gravity of the crime, not excluding, in cases of extreme gravity, the death penalty." â€Å"The 1992 text then asserts that "the primary effect of punishment is to redress the disorder caused by the offense." Finally, it states, "If bloodless means are sufficient to defend human lives against an aggressor and to protect public order and the safety of persons, public authority should limit itself to such means because they better correspond to the concrete conditions of the common good and are more in conformity to the dignity of the human person." The second publication came in Latin in 1997 and to its readers’ surprise, the second version of catechism contained a significant change in the definition of the death penalty. But even before that Pope John Paul II issued a letter titled â€Å"On Human Life† (Evangelium Vitae, 1995). The letter emphasized the importance of the human life and reverence. It also arose many moral issues related to the death penalty. Although Pope John Paul had been favoring the death penalty as per the Capital Laws in the past this new shift surprised the Church’s followers to a great extent. Finally in the 1997 version death penalty was acceptable only in the extreme case of protecting one from the aggressor.