Frictions between Parents and Children Essay Example for Free

Frictions between Parents and Children Essay Family is an essential part of every person’s life and of our society. Family is a little world with its own values and priorities. Close families share dreams, ideas, hopes and even possessions, and it’s a good side of being a family. However, as usual, every good thing can have its drawbacks. Same with families: they can often have different types of problems. One of the most frequent and common problems is the misunderstanding between parents and children, due to the difference of generations. This problem is especially acute with teenagers, who want to have more freedom, to express their self-identity in a way they want to. Honour your mother and father and you will live long and be well, if not, you will die — says the Bible. Some families are happy, some are dead. It seems to me the reason is misunderstanding of each other in the family. One more thing, teenagers can take on most of the rights and responsibilities of adulthood. Before this occurs, however, they go through the period of adolescence and most of them experience conflicts at that time. They change rapidly both physically and emotionally and they search self-identity as they grow up and become more independent. Sometimes teenagers develop interests and values different from those of their parents. That sets a conflict between two generations, which leads to a gap in mutual understanding. Traditional disagreements are: the time to come home at night, doing work about the house and the friends to spend time with. Id like to point out, that teens face a number of problems: drinking alcohol or using drugs. Moreover, some children run away from their homes. Most of them return after a few days or weeks, but some turn to crime and become juvenile delinquents. Im convinced that sometimes parents do not care about their children. It is exactly at that age when young people need a piece of advice or help. Parents should help their children and find the right approach to them so as to make everything clear. Being able to view the problems more rationally, they should try to do their best to resolve them. We need to learn to talk our problems over in our family. If we are able to do it, everything will be all right.

How Procter And Gamble Manages Business Essay

How Procter And Gamble Manages Business Essay Nowadays every business is trying to expand its market to the world. There are many factors that help the company to achieve in the business world such as generating new products, a good marketing plan and knowing the important factor of cultural diversity in each country. Procter and Gamble (PG) is one of the most successful companies in the world. Resulting from effective business operation through cultural diversity, PG has become one of the most successful organizations. PG is the largest consumer goods production company in the world and well known around the world with a long history. PG is concerned about cultural diversity and they place an importance on it. Robert Mcdonald, Chairman of the Board, President and CEO and Linda Clement-Holmes, Past Chief Diversity Officer, and Senior Vice President, Global Business Service mention that Even during a challenging business climate, Diversity Inclusion remains a key priority. We believe diversity and inclusion is a competitive adva ntage.  [1]  Therefore PG is a good example in the education of young business workers and other companies to succeed in international business. This paper focuses on the issue of a global workforce by relating how PG manages a global workforce and remains successful in international business. II. Company Overview: Procter and Gamble (PG) is a company focused on consumer goods production. The company provides brands and packages goods involved in Beauty, Grooming and Household Care. The company was founded by William Procter and James Gamble in 1837 and is headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio. PG is the largest company in the world that serves 4.6 billion consumers globally, produces and markets more than 300 brands and sells in more than 180 countries. To better support the global marketplace, PG divided their geographic structure into four regions North America, Asia, Latin America, and Europe/Middle East/ Africa.  [2]   PGs History William Procter who was candle maker and James Gamble who was soap maker both of them immigrated from England and Ireland. They are located to Cincinnati Ohio. After that, their father-in-law persuaded them to joins a business partners. Therefore, Procter and Gamble was founded in 1837.  [3]   In the 1880s, the company produced a new product named Ivory. Ivory was a cheap soap that did not sink in water. During the American Civil War in 1858-1859, the company signed to provide the Union Army with soap from Procter and Gamble. In addition, to increase profit and product demand, it developed a lot of product lines that were related to soap such as for hair, laundry and dishwashers.  [4]  Moreover, in 1887, PG began a profit sharing program for company workers. This program helped the workforce join their crucial duty with the companys success.  [5]   In 1915, PG started to build factories outside the United States because of the demand for products. PG opened another product facility in Canada for soap and Crisco.  [6]   Radio grew more popular in the 1920s and 1930s, and PG sponsored radio programs. That is the origin of the word soap operas. Moreover, PG is the first company to manage data based market research with customers. This research helps the company enhance customer understanding and respond to consumer needs.  [7]   PG is the first company that instituted the Consumer Relations Department to respond and connect with the consumer in 1941. In addition, in 1973, the company created a toll-free phone number an e- mail in the 1980s to improve customers ability to contact the company.  [8]   In 1984 PG was one of the top 100 Best companies to work. Each year, the company receives many global honors for diversity, value, and improvement of lives.  [9]   PG obtained the honors from the U.S. Governments National Medal of Technology in 1996. Since PG is the company that improved and created advance technology for response to the consumer needs.  [10]   In 2010, PG understood the consumer needs and created the modernization program for help touch, on consumers needs. This enhanced consumers lives to complete the companys goal. Moreover, PG was one of the sponsors of the London Olympic Games in 2012.  [11]   Products For more than 170 years, PG has provided 50 leading brands around the world and 25 brands have more than $1 billion in annual sales. About 4.6 billion consumers use PG products every day. For consumers better life style and brand loyalty, PG tries to improve their products by observing and testing in order to get the best suitable products for their customers. PGs brands can be divided into two groups: Beauty and Grooming; and Household Care. The top products include the following  [12]  : Beauty and Grooming: Gillette, Olay, SKII, Head and Shoulders, Herbal Essences, Pantene, Rejoice, Safeguard, Always Ivory, Oral-B, Gucci Fragrances, Dolce Gabbana Cosmetic and CoverGirl. Household Care: Duracell, Mr. clean, Swiffer, Pampers, Tide, Downy, Dash and Gain.  [13]   Figure 1: PG Popular Products  [14]   PG SWOT Analysis  [15]   Strengths Most important market position collected on a convincing brand portfolio Significant RD and marketing investments Durable cash productivity Weakness High instance of product recalls Opportunities Future increase plans with focus on growth attention on its essential good-looking business and improving its consumers base Increase investment in production ability in developing countries Threats Rising inflation could cause considerable increase in the work cost Fake goods SWOT Analysis Overview PG is the largest consumer products company in the world. From past until now PG still leading market position collected on a strong brand portfolio with incomes of $78,938 million and serves products to 4.2 billion people. Moreover, PG also provided significant research and development and marketing investment to investigation the products for respond the market. PG invested a lot of money with RD part and marketing. The company use RD by attempt to connect with customer around the world for research and learn customer behavior and focused on consumer understanding.  [16]   However, PG is the company with a difference kind of product and large size but sometimes mistakes can happen in production. Some product brands are often recalled such as in November 2009 PG recalled Vicks Sine X nasal spray from Germany, UK and US because of the company found bacteria B. Cepa cia from product that produce in Germany. Later in March 2010 PG recalled Pringles the potato ship because of Food and Drug Administration (FDA) found the Salmonella bacteria that cause of hazard with healthy. Repeated products are often recalled cause the company less in consumer trust and impact with company financial.  [17]  Moreover in the future PG has plan to focused on growth attention on its essential good-looking business and improving its consumer base for maintain the company that largest consumer product in the world. The attractive point from analysis is how PG adapt and develop diversity challenges to be its strength for improve business becomes to strength business strategies and develop products for respond consumer around the world. The particular issue the company has to face in global workforce Over its 175 -year history and professional background, the other factors that make PG success in the world is understand with its employees, consumers behavior and culture diversity. Although PG is an American company but it has strong growth from the mid 1940s to 2000 on international. PG products are available in North America, Latin America, Central and Eastern Europe, Western Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, New Zealand and Australia.  [18]  Therefore the one essential challenge of PG is a Global Workforce. Although PG has encounter with global workforce and culture diversity, understanding the difference and issue of culture diversity and context of international business can help PG is successful in global market. Moreover company must have learned how to improve and how to solve the issue to the company for success in business world. When the company wants to work in different culture, employees must have to understand and consider about the culture in each country. Employee should be considered which country is low context or high context by observing the people behavior in each country. If the employees understand the culture and known how it contrast with each other it is the important step to complete intercultural proficiency and increase ability to working in global workplace.  [19]   If the company wants to be successful in global business, there are various types of behavior suggestion that should be applied and avoided in order to increase a performance of intercultural communication. Therefore, the following recommendations will help the company improve and develop the culture diversity obstacle for company successful in international business. Obstacle of intercultural communication  [20]   Stereotype is a distorted attitude of groups of people related to their race, nationality and sexual orientation. As stereotypes lead to bias and disregarded the diversity within groups, stereotypes should be avoided. Prejudice is an aggressive attitude about some people or group of people. Prejudice is not based on experience but based on misunderstanding and generalization. Ethnocentrism is belief in your own culture that right, reasonable and better than the other cultures. Discrimination is the obvious action to except, bypass or break up oneself from the other groups. Language Differences is people who from different culture or different country may pick up the vocabulary of a new culture. This situation lead to misunderstanding between people. Suggestions for develop communication among diverse work place audiences  [21]   Seek training. Particularly in international organizations that face to diversity problems. Companies should provide training to employees about workforce diversity and increase employees skill about intercultural communication. Understand the value of differences. Diversity makes n organization creative. If the company recognizes the difference and importance of each customer groups, the company will be able to run it. Make fewer assumptions. Companies should not assume that all customers wants the same products or like the same products. Companies should produce product variety for customers option. The Companys solution to the issues: How PG manages a global workforce How PG apply suggestions for develop communication among diverse workplace audiences with the PGs case. Seek training In order to understand the culture and behavior of customers is not easy because different culture, difference group and difference age it makes different demand of customers. Therefore PG recognizes the importance of employees diversity training. At PG diversity training is one part of management programs that explain different about diversity attitude that make the company successful.  [22]  PGs employees must learn the goodness of diversity culture through program called Cultures At Work. This program is taught about culture context that consist of high context cultures such as Asia cultures are more likely thoughtful and instinctive and low context cultures such as German and North American communicators are more likely to use linear logic.  [23]   Understand the value of difference A lot of companies such as Wal-Mart must failed when expand the branch to foreign country because of culture diversity. Like PG the important problems of PG are face with diversity workers and communication problem in international employees. The essential of company strategy PG want to support employees culture diversity by established the seven corporate affinity groups for understand about workers culture and behavior in each group. Corporate affinity groups are consist of African Ancestry Leadership Network (AALN), Corporate Womens Leadership Team (CWLT), Gay, Ally, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Employees (GABLE), Asian Pacific American Leadership Team (APALT), Hispanic Leadership Team (HLT), Native American Indian Leadership Team (NAILT), and People with Disabilities (PWD).  [24]  PG understand the value of diversity board chief. Thus 11 board members of PG are consist of two are Black, one is Asian, one is Latino and four are women.  [25]   Make fewer assumptions. Procter and Gamble avoid the idea that the product is available in one country will be available to other countries. From errors in the past such as in Mexico PG produced the Downy Single Rinse this product help to clean clothes. However PG did not think about the differences washed clothes way between American customers and Mexican customers. American use washing machine while Mexican washed clothes in rivers. Therefore, this product was failed in Mexico from this case it makes the PG try to research customer behavior and exert time and money for explore target market.  [26]  As a result, PG design to run the Living It campaign in order to authorize company workers to live with consumers in their home, go to shopping with consumers for notice consumer behavior when they want to buy some products. Moreover, PG design another associated campaign Working It campaign in order to support Living It campaign by company workers hang out the small shop and observation about shopper behav ior and products in shelves for assemble information and bring it to develop company product in the future.  [27]  From this campaign bring the PG become to success in the business market and can expand the product through a lot of countries. Conclusion PG global workforce problem can be solved by the company tries to understanding and developing the culture diversity and international communication. Another factors that makes the PG complete in global market is research the customer behavior, develop and improve the product that support the customer want. As many of cases of the past PG always to researches and studies about customer culture in each country and develop the new products for support the customer and find the way to run business across cultural. In addition, PG applying the methods for enhancing communication between diverse workplace that help the company to handle with the problem of the global workplace and improve employees ability to work in international market.

Relationship Between Schistosomiasis and Hepatitis C

Relationship Between Schistosomiasis and Hepatitis C Schistosomiasis is a chronic parasitic disease in tropical and is associated with a variety of clinical syndromes that may lead to severe morbidity (Bahgat et al., 2010). Due to control program over the last decade, a decline in the prevalence of human schistosomiasis in Egypt has been reported (Barakat et al., 1998; Bahgat et al., 2010); however, the disease is still endemic in many foci (El-Sahn et al., 2002; Bahgat et al., 2010). The common used method in the diagnostic of schistosomiasis is stool examination, using the Kato-Katz method (Carvalho et al., 2011); However, this method presents limitation for the detection of positive individuals, when the intensity of infection is low; it is less effective in determining the prevalence in low endemic areas (Feldmeier and Poggensee 1993; Kongs et al., 2001; Carvalho et al., 2011). And a relatively time consuming nature of this method in application for epidemiological assessment and clinical use (Van Etten et al., 1994; Hamilton et al., 1998; Corachan , 2002; Van Dam et al., 2004). And it is difficult to detect ova in rectal biopsy specimens in chronic infections due to the intense fibrosis present around the eggs (Attallah et al., 1999). Several schistosome serodiagnostic assays designed for the detection of specific anti-schistosome (antibodies) (Doenhoff et al., 1989; Maddison, 1987; Attallah et al., 1999). Prepatent and early infections may not have stimulated a detectable antibody response and Positive tests do not necessarily denote an active (living) infection. Antibody tests are also prone to cross reactions with other infections (Strrouk, 2001). HCV is a serious public health prob ­lem affecting 170 million carriers worldwide. It is a leading cause of chronic hepatitis (Thong et al., 2014). In Egypt, the older generations have a higher HCV prevalence than younger ones. Geographically, areas near the Nile River continue to exhibit very high rates of infection (Sievert et al., 2011). Chronic HCV infection may cause liver cirrhosis and (HCC) over the course of two or more decades (lee et al., 2008), and is the primary cause for liver transplanta ­tion worldwide (Thong et al., 2014), There is no vaccine available for prevention of HCV infection due to high degree of strain variation (Ashfaq et al., 2011). A previous study by Albeldawi et al (2010) reported that the patients with risk factors for HCV infection and abnormal liver enzyme levels, HCV infection is probable but not certain. In the present study 275 serum samples were tested for anti-HCV antibodies and 205/275 only contain anti-HCV antibodies with percent (74.5%) and the remaining 70 samples (25.5 %) were negative for anti-HCV antibodies. Anti-HCV antibodies alone cannot discriminate patients who are infectious from those who have resolved the infection. The active infection confirmed by detected HCV-NS4 antigen in serum samples using ELISA according to Attallah et al., (2012) in which sensitivity and specificity of this method to detect HCV-NS4 antigen were high (90 and 96%, respectively), HCV-NS4 antigen was detected in 205( positive for anti-HCV antibodies) against 32 healthy (negative control) by using ELISA with detection rate 85.0% for CHC patient positive for anti-HCV antibodies, and 0.0% detection rate for healthy control, this mean that 174/205 only has Anti-HCV and HCV-NS4 (HCV patient) , there was extremely statistically significant between (pGhany et al (2009) reported that ALT value differs by age, race, and gender, and by body mass index, it has been suggested that the upper limit of normal (ULN) for ALT should, in fact, be 30 IU/L for men and 19 IU/L for women, but many laboratories continue to set the ULN of ALT at about 40 IU/L. In the present study, 174 HCV have high increased in transaminase enzyme as ALT, AST, and there was extremely statistically significant between (p As is customary the transaminase enzymes are biomarker of liver health. Elevated serum levels of ALT during chronic hepatitis C are associated with an increased risk of liver fibrosis progression (Hui et al., 2003; Maasoumy and Wedemeyer, 2012); lower progression rates of fibrosis were reported in patients with normal ALT levels (Mathurin et al., 1998; Maasoumy and Wedemeyer, 2012); However, there are reports of marked fibrosis (5%-30%) and even cirrhosis (1.3%) in persons with normal ALT values (Ghany et al., 2009). Normal ranges of ALP were 40-129 U/L for males and 35-104 U/L for females, ALP is elevated in a variety of diseases as bone disease, bile duct obstructed and liver disease (Bodlaj et al., 2010), and in current study ALP was elevated in CHC patient and there was statistically significant between (p0.05) platelets in CHC patients and negative control, Furthermore, T. Bilirubin was elevated in CHC patient and there was statistically significant between (p0.05) between INR-prothrombin time in CHC patient and control. A Previous study by Attallah et al (1999) reported that Schistosoma circulating antigens were used for the detection of active infection. And the detection of Schistosoma antigens was initially based on the use crude soluble egg antigens (SEA) and soluble adult worm’s protein (SWAP) (Dunne et al., 1984). And another study reported that the circulating antigens could be released from the schistosome surface or gut to the blood circulation of infected host and consequently excreted in urine (Deelder et al., 1994; Attallah et al., 1998). Several investigators have isolated and characterized many of the schistosomiasis antigens in different developmental stages of the parasite that have a potential application in immuno diagnosis (Attallah et al., 1999). And more than 100 schistosome antigens have been identified (Siddiqui et al., 2011). In The present study we aimed to detect the 63-KDa circulating antigen of Schistosoma parasites in serum samples by SDS-PAGE, immunoblotting, and ELISA technique, The antigenic target was identified by western blotting technique by using specific Mab; an intense sharp band was appeared in serum samples of infected patients with S. mansoni at 63-kDa, and no reaction with healthy sample. Consistent with these findings previously study by Attallah et al (1999) also identified a 63-kDa antigen in different extracts of Schistosoma mansoni cercariae, adult worms, and eggs and in the urine of S.mansoni-infected individuals by specific monoclonal antibody in urine patient sample. ELISA is a serological test useful for epidemiological studies, due to its high sensitivity for the diagnosis, depending on the S.mansoni antigen used in the test (Sorgho et al., 2002; Ishida et al., 2003; Alarcà ³n de Noya et al., 2007;Luo et al., 2009; Carvalho et al.,2011), and the possibility for automating the process (Carvalho et al.,2011), previous study Attallah et al (1999)used the Fast Dot-ELISA as a diagnostic tool for the detection of 63-kD circulating antigen and sensitivity of this assay was 92% among proven S. mansoni-infected individual, the specificity was 84%, PPV = 94%, and NPV = 81%. In the current study, the cutoff of 63-KDa of Schistosoma antigen was calculated, and the cutoff level = 0.33, mouse monoclonal antibody specific to S. mansoni was used as a probe in ELISA to detect 63-kDa S. mansoni antigen in serum samples from CHC patients, the 63-kDa S. mansoni antigen was detected in 118 out of total 174 chronic hepatitis C patients with detection rate (67.8%) All of the 32 controls were negative for 63-kDa S. mansoni antigen with detection rate (0.0 %) and there was extremely statistically significant between (PS.mansoni antigen in CHC patient and control. In the present study we determined the relation between 63-KDa S. mansoni antigen and laboratory parameters in the 118 serum samples from CHC patients determined, and serum ALT levels tended to increase as the level of 63-KDa antigen increased and there was extremely statistically significant between 63-KDa and ALT, serum AST levels tended to increase as the level of 63-KDa antigen increased and there was extremely statistically significant between 63- KDa and AST. Furthermore, there was negative correlation between serum albumin and 63-KDa antigen, but there was extremely statistically significant between 63-KDa and serum albumin, serum ALP levels tended to increase as the level of 63-KDa antigen increased but this was not statistically significant, total bilirubin levels tended to increase as the level of 63-KDa antigen increased but this was not statistically significant, there was negative correlation between PLTs count and 63-KDa antigen and this was not statistically significant, INR-prothrombin time levels tended to increase as the level of 63-KDa antigen increased but this was not statistically significant. Both HCV and schistosomiasis are highly endemic in Egypt and coinfection is frequently encountered (Abdel-Rahman et al., 2013). The prevalence of HCV/S.mansoni association ranged from 0.8 to 50.0% among the studies, with the highest ranges in Egypt (10 to 50%) (Van- Lume et al., 2013). A previous study by Blenton et al (2002) mentioned that Coinfections might influence disease expression. HCV has been implicated in some studies as a factor influencing the severity of schistosomiasis (Mohamed et al., 1998; Blenton et al., 2002). And, in turn, an influence of schistosomiasis on HCV severity has been suggested (Kamal et al., 2000; (Blenton et al., 2002). Another study suggests that Schistosomiasis weaken anti- HCV immune responses and worsen liver disease (Kamal et al., 2000; Kamal et al., 2001; Osada and Kanazawa, 2011). It is worthy to notice that another study by Abdel-Rahman et al (2013) reported that HCV/schistosomiasis coinfected patients have more rapid progression of hepatic fibrosis than those with HCV mono-infection encountered, the effect of such coinfection on hepatic and response to therapy remain unclear. In light of the previous by Bahgat et al (2010) real time PCR findings from, soluble egg antigen (SEA) should be considered as a potential stimulatory factor for HCV RNA that may have influenced the early detection of HCV RNA as SEA can stimulate viral replication. The higher morbidity that is observed in patients coinfected with schistosomiasis and HCV is related, at least in part, to direct stimulation of viral replication by SEA. Another study by Vanlume et al (2013) reported that when schistosomiasis and hepatitis C association is established, the clinical course develops into severe hepatocellular damage. Viral persistence and hepatic cirrhosis can develop faster than in mono-infected people. The association between schistosomiasis and hepatitis C has been studied by many investigators due to its important but, the object of current study was undertaken to determine a correlation between HCV and schistosomiasis infection in relation to evaluation of HCV-NS4 in CHC patient only and S.mansoni/HCV co-infection , from our finding r = 0.407, this means that, there was positive association was observed between 63 KD-a S. mansoni antigen and HCV-NS4 antigen, and there was extremely statistically significant between (p S. mansoni antigen and HCV-NS4 antigen, it is of interest that our study is the first to focus on the relation between 63-KDa S. mansoni antigen and HCV-NS4 antigen. In present study, we made comparison between investigated blood markers in CHC patient co-infected and HCV only, from our finding there was increase in activities of ALT, AST in CHC patients co-infected than HCV only, On the other hand, there was decrease in serum albumin level, platelets count for CHC patients co-infected compared with non-infected with S. mansoni group and there was extremely statistically significant between (pS.mansoni/HCV) co-infected and non-infected with S. mansoni (HCV only), but this was not statistically significant between ALT in CHC patients (S.mansoni/HCV) co-infected and non-infected with S. mansoni (HCV only). The transaminase enzymes are indicator of liver fibrosis, this may be that co-infection accelerate tissue damage and liver fibrosis, there was no statistically significant between ALP in CHC patients (S.mansoni/HCV) co-infected and non-infected with S. mansoni (HCV only), this was no statistically significant between bilirubin in CHC patients (S.mansoni/HCV) co-infected and non-infected with S. mansoni (HCV only), there was no statistically significant between Albumin in CHC patients (S.mansoni/HCV) co-infected and non-infected with S. mansoni (HCV only), there was no statistically significant between PLTs count in CHC patients (S.mansoni/HCV) co-infected and non-infected with S. mansoni (HCV only). In the previous study by reported that S.mansoniinfection is known to induce hepatocellular injury, which in turn, leads to the release of enzymes from the injured hepatic cells into the blood circulation (Dkhil,  2014). In current study, showed that an increase in the level of HCV-NS4 antigen in patient with S.mansoni/HCV than level of HCV-NS4 antigen in  patient with HCV only. In conclusion, the 63-KDa was the antigenic component of S.mansoni, our study showed increased activity in transaminase enzyme and decreased activity in Albumin and PLTs in S.mansoni/HCV coinfection than HCV only, and 63-KDa antigen S.mansoni has a positive correlation with HCV-NS4 antigen

America Must Awake from the Nightmare of the Past to the Light of a New

America Must Awake from the Nightmare of the Past to the Light of a New Day Nostalgia is America's fatal disease. We love to "go back," to talk of the good old days, to wish we could return to an era forever gone. This rhetoric that warms our hearts, though, is, ironically, the impetus for our national self-destruction. Nostalgia valorizes a past that never was, casts a dark shadow of distortion across the present, and prevents us from projecting a viable, sincere vision of a better future. When we, as a nation, say we want to go back to a time past, that's very often what happens, for such talk sends us into a regressive downward spiral that prevents critical social progress in America. The American political scene is shot through with the rhetoric of nostalgia. A growing movement in the United States, led by conservative and neoconservative politicians, scholars and spokespeople, heralds a return to an America they believe has died in the tumult of recent social change. This America, they say, was one where we all worked hard and took care of our own. It was a harmonious place where everyone, from presidents to janitors, shared common values on community, family, government, and life. We need the American Dream back, the rhetoric goes. Way back when, with some elbow grease and a little ingenuity, everyone could have a house in the suburbs and a new white dress for their daughter on Easter Sunday. Enough of this social chaos, where everyone complains about everything, and they're all looking for a free handout from the government. We need to go back to when things were right_to when fair was fair, everyone believed in the family, and people had their heads on straight. Sounds nice, doesn't it?! ... ...edom_beyond that which any peoples have ever before experienced. This chaos is difficult and always challenging, and leaves us with nothing to hold onto. The answer to these challenges, though, is not to turn in this chaos for a new white dress and a home in the suburbs. Rather, we must create a new color of virtue, find a new place of hope. We need not out of fear go back to our past, as American nostalgia tells us to. We must shed our fears and strive for a new order, one forged in chaos and grounded in freedom. New cultural and political norms, on structures from family to government, are waiting to be born, and it is our job to create and nurture them. It is time to lay our fear of the unknown aside and jump headlong into the darkness of the future. Only then can we hope to someday awake from the nightmare of the past to the light of a new day.

The Picture of Dorian Gray :: Literary Analysis, Wilde

Throughout the novel The Picture of Dorian Gray, author Wilde's talks about the influence of Henry that causing the effect of the Henry characterization toward the point of view regard to women, marriage and love. In the text, Dorian exposes to the influence of Henry. For instance, after Sibyl's death incident causing Dorian having an emotional breakdown. At this moment, Henry offering Dorian some suggestions, however, the reflection of Dorian emotion afterward can seem a drastic change from sympathy to indifference toward the incident of his lover sibyl's, thus Henry represented a strong imagine of influences of Dorian. His advise for Dorian can penetrate deeply goes into his mind. One way that Lord Henry influences Dorian by using his advised to manipulates him. For example, "You can come to my sister's box. She has got some smart women with her'' (113). Wilde's implies that Dorian shouldn't regret about Sibyl death, but rather he should get engage of knowing other females from his sister's box. Initially, Dorian views the Sibyl's death as his fault. His presence is the solely reason that behind the death of Sibyl's. Wilde's expresses his view of women when Dorian's mention '' You are shallow and stupid. My God! How mad I was to love with you! What a fool I have been"(102). Wilde view that women without any artistic talent are considered worthless. Another example, Dorian asks forgiveness from Sibyl's before he heard the news about the death of Sibyl's by writing a letter to expresses his absurd action as sorrow, regret and forgive ."He covered page after page of wild words of sorrow and wilder words of pain" (111). The contrast between the Dorian whom have his own thought and the Dorian follow thoroughly what Henry says can be seen as a greater diverge person. Once Dorian established the root of what the Henry tells him, and Dorian will follow the road that causing Basil to view him differently. For example, Dorian responds of '' I met Lady Gwendolen, Harry's sister, for the first time. We were in her box. She is perfectly charming"(122). Wilde's implies, Dorian is a creature that easily controlled by the hand of Henry's and he can change his behavior and action after he's listening to Henry advise of Sibyl's death. As the novel progressive, Basil engages further conversation with Dorian's. He realizes Dorian's is not the same Dorian he knew when Dorian says '"A man who is master of himself can end a

Disasters Do Not Cause Effects. The Effects Are What We Call a Disaster

Humans are the most developed of all the living beings. They think and learn. It is in human nature to minimize the errors in anything and everything as much as possible and to try to reach as near to perfection as can be. However, humans are creatures of mistakes. No matter how small or how large, every individual makes many mistakes in their lives on personal, social, environmental, educational, professional or other levels.In this world, there is a set process and procedure for everything and for things to remain in a balance and keep functioning and working properly and appropriately, it is important that these processes and procedures keep going on in the normal usual way. When there is a disruption in these processes and procedures, disasters occur. These disasters may be on personal level, national level or global level. They may be social, political, economic, natural or of some other type. Technically, a disaster is any event, whether natural or caused by humans, that has a negative impact on the society or the world.The word â€Å"disaster† is derived from two Greek words â€Å"dis† meaning â€Å"bad† and â€Å"astro† meaning stars. It means that when the stars are in a bad state or are aligned in a wrong manner, bad things will happen. In a disaster, the victims suffer. People die or huge losses are incurred or both take place. When classified under broad categories, disasters can be divided in two types; natural disasters and disasters caused by humans. A natural disaster is any event that occurs naturally and humans have a very little or absolutely no control over it.Some examples include earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, floods, typhoons, cyclones, tornados, natural fires, etc. however, human vulnerability plays a great part for a natural hazard to turn into a natural disaster, that is, a natural hazard like an earthquake, fire, tsunami etc will not be considered a â€Å"disaster† if it occurs in such an area that is not occupied by humans or no human is affected by it or both. The greater the impact of the hazard on the human environment or the humans themselves, the greater is the disaster.In such a calamity, a good emergency management system (also known as a disaster management system) can help save lives and reduce the losses incurred, while a weak or unplanned emergency management system or the lack of one can result in huge financial, economic, social and human losses. It has however been observed that the developed nations tend to have considerably better emergency management systems and therefore incur less losses be it on the financial and economic front or the social and human front.Researches show that about 90 to 95 percent of the losses incurred due to these natural disasters every year are incurred by the underdeveloped or the developing nations especially the South East Asian countries. The second type of disasters is the disaster caused by humans. A human-made disa ster is any disaster that is caused by the mistake or misunderstanding of processes by humans. The causes may be human negligence or ignorance, a mechanical failure or any other human action. Human made disasters are further divided into two types; technological disasters and sociological disasters.Technological disasters are all those disasters that are caused by a mechanical, engineering or technical failure and include disasters like a transportation disaster (like a plane crash) or a collapse of a building or bridge (due to engineering or technical faults etc) etc that causes loss of lives or resources or both. Sociological disasters are all those disasters that are backed by a powerful human motive (be it criminal acts, revenge, religious reasons, terrorism, wars etc. ).In recent times, terrorism and wars are the types of such disasters that are most prevalent and claim most of the lives of people dying these days. The powerful are trying to suppress and oppress the weak and in order to take over them and their resources, attack on them (a good example of that would be the on-going America-Iraq war), while on the other hand, the suppressed and oppressed try to defend themselves and raise their voice, which results in riots and similar incidences. Another type of the disasters can be a combination of both human-made and natural disasters.That would include any disasters that have both the human reasons as well as the natural hazards behind them. An example of such a disaster would be an aircraft crash due to sudden turbulence in weather. The natural factor here would be the bad weather while the human error would be the lack of a proper contingency plan. When defined broadly, a disaster is any event or occurrence that has a negative impact on at least one human being. Keeping this definition in mind, a disaster can be on many levels.The lowest level of a disaster would be on a personal level. This may include events like a divorce, loss or death of someone very close and beloved like parents or spouse, heavy losses in business etc that can have immense effects on an individual’s life, and in some cases, can even change the entire course or outlook of one’s life, and can revolutionize that individual’s mentality and thinking. A higher level would be on the organizational basis which might include failure of business projects or liquidation or bankruptcy etc. hen there might be some other levels like national, regional and global as well. According to Wolf Dombrowski, â€Å"Disasters do not cause effects.The effects are what we call a Disaster. † What he means to say is that it is not the disaster in itself in totality that is harmful for us; the humans, it is not just the very incident that has a negative impact on our lives and it is not just a particular event that causes a severe blow to the masses. It is actually a whole series of after effects of any particular event that decide if that event is a disa ster or not.This can easily be understood by the fact that if a hazard (a natural disaster in this example, like an earthquake) hits an uninhabited area, it will not be considered a disaster; the reason being that it did not have any â€Å"effect† on any human or human environment. On the other hand, had the same earthquake hit a largely populated urban area, it would have been the source of massive destruction and would have claimed several human lives. In addition to this, it would have caused huge financial and economic losses as well.All these negative impacts are the â€Å"effects† of the earthquake, which made it a disaster or else, it would have been just an earthquake in a distant uninhabited piece of land. Consider another example of the personal level of damage. What is wrong with a divorce? A divorce is nothing but a separation between spouses who no longer wish to live with one another. This should have been a good thing with positive impacts since the peop le who do not want to stay with each other can now live the way they want.However, this is not the case. Not at least most of the times. The reason being that a divorce always, or most of the times, has many negative â€Å"effects† on the separated spouses, their children and other closely related individuals like parents of the two spouses, and thus the whole family suffers. Therefore, a divorce was not bad in its essence and could not have been classified as a disaster on a personal level, but, due to its â€Å"effects† it turned into a disaster.The examples described above and many other examples make it pretty clear that the disaster and its effects are very closely linked and there is such a thin boundary between then that it is almost impossible to clearly differentiate between them. The disaster is due to its effects and the effects are due to the disaster. So it shows that there is no clear distinction between a disaster and its effects and that they are nothin g but two faces of the same coin and it is the effects that we actually call a disaster.One thing that with the disasters be it natural or human, which renders the humans helpless in this regard, is the very low predictability of these disasters. Moreover, the disasters are not under much of human control, even if they are human made disasters. Due to this fact, the losses incurred are greater and more lives are wasted. The availability and functionality of a proper emergency management system can, however, help minimize the damage, if not eliminate it. When talking about emergency management, which is also called disaster management, there is a step to step process that is involved.There are four phases to establish an emergency management system, being, mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery. Discussing briefly, mitigation is the long-term planning to prevent a hazard from turning into a disaster or to reduce the impact on the masses as much as possible. The elimination or reduction of potential risks is also included in mitigation. Mitigation may either be structural (technological solutions etc) or non-structural (like insurance etc). Contingency planning is a major part of the mitigation phase of emergency management.The second phase, preparedness, deals with the strategies to prepare the masses in case of a hazardous situation to minimize the disaster. It includes strategies like first-aid training and inventory management and stock piling, etc. Casualty prediction (prediction of deaths that should be expected from the catastrophe) is another important aspect of preparedness phase. Coming to response, the third phase of emergency management, this phase explains how one should respond or react to the calamity on hand in the first place.It requires emergency services, NGOs and other voluntary organizations, rescue teams and other relevant departments to have a complete plan of how to respond to a particular disaster, but the volunteers should be really committed to help in times of disasters or else they can prove to be a hindrance instead of help. The last phase of disaster management (or emergency management) is the recovery phase that actually takes place after the disaster when the effects have spread and its time to try bringing things back to normal as soon as possible.While response phase helps to deal with the impacts of the disaster during the disaster, the recovery phase deals with facing the aftermath and restoring the affected area or people to the previous state (that is the state before the disaster). It includes efforts like rebuilding of the destroyed property and estate, reemployment of the affected masses and the rehabilitation of those who are psychologically struck by the incident, etc. The International Organizations that respond in emergency situations include United Nations, World Bank, Red Cross, Red Crescent, International Association of Emergency Managers, etc.Let us now take some examples and disc uss the notion â€Å"Disasters do not cause effects. The effects are what we call a Disaster† further, in the light of those devastating events. The events that the discussion would be focused on would be: a) Indian Ocean Tsunami – 2004 b) The 9/11 incident of The World Trade Centers – 2001 South East Asia, especially the coastal areas, is the part of the world which is gifted by nature’s great bounties.Hundreds of thousands of tourists, especially from Australian and European nations, travel to this region every year to spend their vacations in the beautiful days and the peaceful nights of these God-gifted lands and these tourist activities contribute a major chunk to the revenue generated by these underdeveloped or developing countries, annually. December 26, 2004 was a nice sunny day of the beautiful winters of this South East Asian region. The sea shores were crowded with both, he locals and the tourists and everyone was enjoying the amazing winter of f the coast when suddenly, there appeared a wall of water right at the shore.Within seconds, the huge wall-like wave of water crashed on the shore engulfing numerous people who were peacefully having fun in the sun not very long ago. The fun and peaceful environment turned into a sight of immense chaos and destruction and the gigantic waves did not take longer than a few minutes to travel up to kilometers inside the cities. A tsunami had hit the shores of the Indian Ocean. Let us first shed some light on what a Tsunami actually is. The word tsunami is derived from two Japanese words; â€Å"tsu† meaning â€Å"harbor† and â€Å"nami† meaning â€Å"waves†.A Tsunami can be described as an immediate immense after effect of an earthquake or mass movements in the land under the ocean. When an earthquake or mass movements occur in the ocean bed, due to any reason (being a volcanic eruption, underwater explosions, landslides or underwater earthquakes themselves), they generate huge amounts of energy that causes the water waves to move at large mean and extreme positions and thus create gigantic waves that appear to be walls of water when the strike the shore before the crash down on land and engulf everything that there is.The height or the amplitude of the waves of a Tsunami off the shore is much smaller than what it suddenly becomes the instant it strikes the shore. This is because while the water under the surface of the ocean is full of energy emitted by the earthquake or mass movements in the ocean bed and continues to undergo very fast movements, the water of the surface is comparatively very calm. The moment the water reaches the shore, these two layers merge and give rise to the gigantic waves of water capable of engulfing the whole area in a matter of mere minutes and thus create the walls of water, a characteristic the Tsunamis are famous for.In the Tsunami that occurred in the Indian Ocean in 2004, the cause was determined to be a n earthquake, with its epicenter (point of generation) off the west coast of the Sumatra Island of Indonesia. That is why Indonesia was the country to suffer from this calamity the most. The magnitude of the earthquake was recorded to be between 9. 1 and 9. 3 by different sources on the Richter scale or a Seismograph. The earthquake was so powerful that it generated a series of tsunami waves that hit various shores along the Indian Ocean and created many powerful gigantic waves that caused a lot of destruction.The Tsunami affected about eleven countries and created waves up to a hundred feet in height. The earthquake was of the second highest magnitude to be recorded on a seismograph, ever, and the tsunami was recorded to be one of the deadliest natural disasters in history claiming lives of more that 350,000 individuals and causing losses of billions of dollars.The countries most affected include Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, Thailand, the Maldives, Somalia, Myanmar, Malaysia, Seych elles, etc. n addition to this, many citizens of various Australian and European nations lost their lives while spending their vacations on the shores where the disaster struck. The disaster did not end here. The actual problems started after the major outbreak when the rescue mission started. Many were saved yet many lost their lives. Many were left missing who would have died eventually hoping and praying, waiting for a rescue team to come and save them.The areas where the calamity hit were totally destroyed and needed to be rebuilt. As the days passed, the temperature dropped further. This caused more casualties due to the chilling effect of winters. There was an outburst of many epidemics and other diseases while the health resources were minimal and the hygiene conditions were adverse. Food, clothing, shelter, water, medicines and other health supplies and other basic necessities of life were needed immediately in huge quantities.Many were injured and needed medical facilities to be treated quickly in order to prevent more casualties while those who remained safe were now reaching adverse conditions due to lack of resources. These and many other immediate after effects needed to be looked after as early as possible to prevent further losses. This clearly shows that the disaster was not â€Å"just† the Tsunami waves but the effects that it left on the areas that it hit, were equally disastrous.Another event that can easily be deemed disastrous is the 9/11 incident that took place in 2001. It was a peaceful morning, a regular American day in New York. Many people had already reached their workplaces while others were in a hurry to reach theirs when a plane smashed straight into one of the two tallest towers of the World Trade Center, New York. Not much time had passed when another plane crashed in the second tower. Fire broke out in the two towers and a state of emergency was created.In the mean while, an attack on the Pentagon took place as well. It was a series of attacks by Al-Qaeda (a terrorist organization) on America in which they used passenger airplanes as their weapons. The whole world’s attention was diverted towards America, the Super Power in the world, since no body could imagine something like this happening there. No matter what the motives and the caused were, thousands of innocent people lost their lives and it took months for even a country like America to overcome the immediate devastating effects of this incident.However, this incident, in the long run, changed the complete outlook of the world. America started a war against terrorism which resulted in attacks on Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon, etc, some of which are still going on. Various treaties and agreements took place between various nations and many alliances were formed. Many Strategies were formulated and the concept of Emergency Management, Crisis Management and other similar concepts changed altogether, which is very evident from the compariso n of the books published before and after the disaster.All in all, this incident had a huge impact on almost the entire world and it’s after effects were, and still are, actually greater and more devastating than what it was that day. This example too, clearly shows that the disaster was not just what happened that particular day, but also what happened after it and what is still happening, especially in the regions that were and/or are the subject of the war against terrorism. Thus the statement of Wolf Dombrowski, that â€Å"Disasters do not cause effects. The effects are what we call a Disaster† holds true

Managing Financial Principles and Techniques

Managing Financial Principles and Techniques Assignment 2 Part 1: Financial Appraisal techniques Part 2: Forecasting Part 1-Financial Appraisal Techniques Task 1. NET PRESENT VALUE (NPV) Year PROJECT X ? 000Project Y ? 000Discount FactorXY 0-200-200-200-200 1352180. 90931. 815198. 162 280100. 82666. 088. 26 390100. 75167. 597. 51 47540. 68351. 2252. 732 52030. 62112. 421. 863 229219 1)NET PRESENT VALUE (NPV) X= 229-200=29 Y=219-200=19 PAYBACK PERIOD: Cumulative Cash Flow Year PROJECT X ? 000Project Y ? 000XY -200-200-200-200 135218-165-18 28010-8528 39010538 47548042 520310045 10045 TASK 2: Net Present value The present value of an investments future net cash flows minus the initial investment. If positive, the investment should be considered (unless an even better investment exists), otherwise it should not. It is a calculation based on the idea that ? 1 received in ten years time is not worth as much as ? 1 received now because the ? 1 received now could be invested for those ten y ears and compound into a higher value. The NPV calculation establishes what the value of future earnings is in todays money. To do the calculation you apply a discount % rate to the future earnings. NPV is said to be short for net present value, it is the present value of net cash flows. It is commonly used for appraisals on projects. The advantage of using NPV is that it tells you if a project will add or deduct value from the business and hence decisions are taken of whether to accept it or reject it. Advantages: It will also give accurate position for commonly special projects. -It gives an absolute value. -NPV allow for the time value for the cash flows considers both magnitude and timing of cash flows †¢Consistent with shareholder wealth maximization: Added net present values generated by investments are represented in higher stock prices. †¢Indicates whether a proposed project will yield the investor’s required rate of return Disadvantages: †¢It is very difficult to identify the correct discoun t rate. Many people find it difficult to work with a dollar return rather than a percentage return because it is hard to directly compare projects unlike say a percentage return as calculated using IRR †¢It needs to be interpreted carefully because the overall NPV reflects the scale of the project as well as the rate of return. IRR Like the NPV method used for capital budgeting, the IRR method also uses cash flows and recognizes the time value of money. NPV and IRR may give conflicting decisions where projects differ in their scale of investment. Advantages IRR allows you to compare projects easily because it is a percentage †¢Also it can direct attention to situations where it might be better to do multiple versions of the same project with a high IRR †¢In calculating IRR it can give an indication of how sensitive the Net Present Value is to changes in discount rate †¢Considers both the magnitude and the timing of cash flows Disadvantage †¢Multiple internal rates of return with unconventional cash flows †¢Any change in sign (+,-) in period cash flows produces as many IRR’s as there are changes in the cash flow directions of the investment, lending or borrowing. Assumes cash flow is reinvested at the IRR rate and this may not be a realistic assumption NPV and IRR compared NPV assumes that project cash flows are reinvested at the company's required rate of return; the IRR assumes that they are reinvested at the IRR. Since IRR is higher than the required rate of return, in order for the IRR to be accurate, the company would have to keep finding projects that would reinvest the cash flow at this higher rate. It would be difficult for a company to keep this up forever, thus NPV is more accurate. NPV method assumes that CFs are reinvested at the cost of capital K IRR method assumes that CFs are reinvested at IRR Can lead to conflicts in ranking of mutually exclusive projects Crossover NPV is superior to IRR when choosing among mutually exclusive investments Payback †¢Ignores the time value of money. This weakness is eliminated with the discounted payback method. Advantages †¢It is very simple †¢Helps prevent cash flow problems †¢Useful where technology changes rapidly or there are other sources of risk as it asks the question how quickly do we get the money back? Measure of risk and liquidity †¢Useful for evaluating small projects Disadvantages †¢Ignores the time value of money †¢Ignores cash flows after the payback period †¢Objective not consistent with shareholder wealth maximization rather it focuses on risk minimization ARR Advantages †¢It clearly shows profitability of a project †¢It allows easy comparison between project s †¢The opportunity cost of investment can be taken into account †¢It can be easily compared to the target return on long term capital employed which is calculated in the same way Disadvantages †¢More complex than pay back It does not take into account the effects of inflation on the value of money over a time period. ARR Advantages †¢It clearly shows profitability of a project †¢It allows easy comparison between projects †¢The opportunity cost of investment can be taken into account Disadvantages †¢More complex than pay back †¢It does not take into account the effects of inflation on the value of money over a time period. TASK 3 PUBLIC SECTOR PROJECTS: Cash In Flows TOIN8% Inflation AdjustmentInflation Adjustment Value T1250001. 0827000 T2250001. 1729250 T3250001. 2631500 T340001. 265040 Cash Out Flow OUT10% Inflation AdjustmentInflation Adjustment Value T01000010000 T11000018000 T1180001. 1020900 T2190001. 2122990 Net Inflation adjusted cash flows NPV INOUTNet Cash FlowNet Present Discount FactorDiscounted Cash Flow T0-1000010000110000 T12700010000170000. 8514450 T1-18000180000. 8515300 T2292502090083500. 726012 T3315002299085100. 615191. 1 T35040-50400. 613074. 4 PART 2-FORECASTING DIXON COMPANY Solution: NOVEMBERDECEMBERJANUARYFEBRUARYMARCHAPRILMAYJUNE Sales/Budgeted Sales Units (Given)10001200140016001800200022002600 Sales budgeted/ sales ? working note 1)50,00060,00070,00080,00090,000100,000110,000130,000 Budgeted Production (Given)12001400160020002400260024002200 Cost Budgeted Manufacturing Cost ? Material (working note 2)31,20036,40041,60052,00062,40067,60062,40057,200 Labour(working note 3)9,60011,20012,80016,00019,20020,80019,20017,600 Variable overheads (working note 4)2,4002,8003,2004,0004,8005,2004,8004,400 Fixed Overheads (Given)5,5005,5005,5005,5005,500 5,5005,5005,500 Total Production Cost (working note 5)48,70055,90063,10077,50091,90099,10091,90084,700 working note 1 Sales budgeted/ sales ? = Sales/Budgeted Sales Units x 50 working note 2 Material = Budgeted Production x 26 working note 3 Labour = Budgeted Production x 8 working note 4 Variable overheads = Budgeted Production x 2 working note 5 Total Production Cost = Material + Labour + Variable Overheads+ Fixed Overheads Work Out Cash Flow Forecast NovemeberDecemberJanuaryFebruaryMarchAprilMayJune Opening Balance35,500 Sales70,00080,00090,000100,000110,000130,000 Less: Material-41,600-52,000-62,400-67,600-62,400-57,200 Labour-12,800-16,000-19,200-20,800-19,200-17,600 Variable Overheads (50%)-6,400-8,000-9,600-10,400-9,600-8,800 Variable Overheads (50%)-6,400-8,000-9,600-10,400-9,600-8,800 Fixed Overheads-5,500-5,500-5,500-5,500-5,500-5,500 Machinery120034000 Closing Balance Task 2 Solution: NOVEMBERDECEMBERJANUARYFEBRUARYMARCHAPRILMAYJUNE Sales/Budgeted Sales Units (Given)10001200140016001800200022002600 Sales budgeted/ sales ? (working note 1)75,00090,000105,000120,000135,000150,000165,000195,000 Budgeted Production (Given)12001400160020002400260024002200 Cost Budgeted Manufacturing Cost ? Material (working note 2)31,20036,40041,60052,00062,40067,60062,40057,200 Labour(working note 3)9,60011,20012,80016,00019,20020,80019,20017,600 Variable overheads (working note 4)2,4002,8003,2004,0004,8005,2004,8004,400 Fixed Overheads (Given)5,5005,5005,5005,5005,5005,5005,5005,500 Total Production Cost (working note 5)48,70055,90063,10077,50091,90099,10091,90084,700 working note 1 Sales budgeted/ sales ? = Sales/Budgeted Sales Units x 75 working note 2 Material = Budgeted Production x 26 working note 3 Labour = Budgeted Production x 8 working note 4 Variable overheads = Budgeted Production x 2 working note 5 Total Production Cost = Material + Labour + Variable Overheads+ Fixed Overheads Work Out Cash Flow Forecast NovemeberDecemberJanuaryFebruaryMarchAprilMayJune Opening Balance35,500 Sales70,00080,00090,000100,000110,000130,000 Less: Material-41,600-52,000-62,400-67,600-62,400-57,200 Labour-12,800-16,000-19,200-20,800-19,200-17,600 Variable Overheads (50%)-6,400-8,000-9,600-10,400-9,600-8,800 Variable Overheads (50%)-6,400-8,000-9,600-10,400-9,600-8,800 Fixed Overheads-5,500-5,500-5,500-5,500-5,500-5,500 Machinery120034000 Closing Balance