Saturday, August 31, 2019
Jing-Mei Woo: The Joy Luck Club Essay
In this chapter we are introduced to the Joy Luck Club which originated all the way back in China when Jing-Mei Woo’s mother Suyuan was in the city of Kweilin. At the Joy Luck Club a group of old Chinese women sit around and eat and after that they sit down in a table to play a friendly game of Mah-Jong. At the Joy Luck Club there are 4 major members, Lindo Jong, Ying-ying St. Clair, An-Mei Hsu, and Suyuan Woo. In the beginning of the chapter we learn that Suyuan has died and Canning Woo, Jing-Mei’s father and Suyuan’s husband has asked Jing-Mei to take her mothers place at the Mah-Jong meeting. In this chapter we learn of how Suyuan had lived in China and during the war as the Japanese were slowly invading China, she had to take her family and leave for the city of Kweilin while her husband, Suyuan’s first husband that is, goes off to Chunking to fight the Japanese. In this chapter we learn about the other Mah Jong players, Lindo Jong, mother of the young girl Waverly, Ying-ying, a woman married to a white man and An-Mei Hsu. In the end of the chapter they old ladies tell Jing-Mei how they have contacted her long lost sisters and they want to send her to China to meet them. The story is quite interesting so far, its interesting to see how the women in this story resemble the way my own Chinese grandmother acts. Its quite funny too actually be able to know what Mah Jong is although I have been so white washed. I was born here in America so all I’ve ever known is American culture and although I look 100% like a Chinese kid would, when I went to visit China for the first time I felt so different from them. An-Mei Hsu: Scar We learn how An-Mei’s father is long gone and that her grandmother who has been a predominant figure in her life is slowly dying. While An-Mei is describing her dying Grandmother (Popo), she talks about her real mother who had dishonored the family by going off to marry a man with many wives thereby getting herself disowned by her own family. As the grandmother is dying, An-Mei’s mother comes back and as a last resort, tries to save grandmother by cutting off a piece of her own flesh and sticks it into a soup that she tries to feed to her mother (the grandmother). I thought it was interesting to see an example of an old Chinese remedy for something. I kind of wonder if that was even a real remedy, rather harsh and repelling if you ask me. Lindo Jong The Red Candle In this story Lindo, the mother of Waverly Jong, the National Chess Champion talks about her own struggles. In China Lindo was forced to marry a man named Tyan-yu whom she didn’t love at all. When she was finally married to him, she would avoid him and the groom’s mother realized this and hired a marriage counselor type of person to help fix things. The marriage counselor lit a candle and said if it was still lit the next day without going out then the marriage will last forever and even if the groom dies, Lindo may never remarry again. Upset, Lindo tries to blow out the candle and succeeds but the next day the servant lies about the candle not going out. Lindo now becomes desperate and tries to devise lies to help her get out of there and finally succeeds and the husband eventually marries one of the pregnant servants and Lindo is sent to America. The odd part of this story was how I was able to empathize with the other characters in their discussions of their hardships when they were younger while I couldn’t with Lindo. Maybe I’m biased because of how Lindo is so harsh and headstrong towards the other characters in this story. She in my mind seems to be a great description of the family members in my own life, for they are all harsh and headstrong towards each other. Ying-ying St. Clair: The Moon Lady In Chapter 4 we learn about Ying-ying. As a child Ying-ying came from a wealthy family. Unlike she is now Ying-ying was once a very problem child, because she was so spoiled by her family she never thought twice about doing things and because of that she ended up getting lost at what was called â€Å"The Moon Festival†. At the Moon festival she watches a play about the Moon Lady whom she takes as the real person but then realizes her own stupidity and leaves the festival and if finally found by her family. An important part of this chapter is how Ying-ying ends it with the words â€Å"I wished to be found†. Those words to me tell me how she wants to be closer to her daughter and if granted one wish from the Moon Lady that would be it. Ying-ying doesn’t like how her daughter is ashamed of her and has abandoned all of their Chinese traditions In the prelude to The Twenty Six Malignant Gates I found it amusing to see how the little girl like all young children are headstrong and seem to think they are impervious to the dangers of real life and she ignores her mothers advice until it is too late when she falls off the bike like her mother said would happen Waverly Jong- Rules of the Game In this chapter we learn about Waverly’s life and how her mother has taught her â€Å"the art of invisible strength†which has allowed Waverly to do well in life especially in the world of Chess where she became National Chess Champion at a very young age. Waverly however hates her mother for even though she adopted her mother’s quality of â€Å"invisible strength†she dislikes everything about her mother from their culture to the way her mother acts. Waverly unlike her mother doesn’t like to brag about herself and is very upset at her mother who is always comparing her child to everyone else’s and using Waverly’s fame to her own advantage. Lena St. Clair- The Voice from the Wall This is the second story told from eyes of the daughters. Lena in this chapter describes the life of her mother when she was younger. Lena describes Ying-ying as a paranoid and somewhat psychotic person who married her father Clifford St. Clair, and Englishman who spoke very little Chinese and was found unable to understand what her mother was saying half the time they were together. Towards the end of the story Lena describes what is seems like her mother Ying-ying had a miscarriage and Ying-ying who was already mentally unstable blames the death of the unborn child on herself and becomes even more unstable. In this chapter we learn about Lena’s childhood neighbor who was always getting into fights and because in her own Chinese culture when the children would argue with their elders, the argument would ensue a beating from the parents so she always imagined her neighbor to look very beat up since they seemed to argue all the time but to her astonishment when the neighbor sne aked into her house one day, the young girl was unharmed and that same night could be heard laughing with her mother whom she had an argument with a few hours earlier. Jing-Mei Woo â€Å"2 Kinds†I thought it was funny to see how Jing-Mei’s mother wanted her daughter to be like â€Å"Shirley Temple†but then again it makes sense, Shirley Temple was America’s Sweetheart in the early 90’s so it would be fitting since everyone wants the best for their children. It was also interesting to see June’s interest in piano after watching a Chinese girl play the piano on the television but she quickly lost interest in the piano ever since she found out her teacher was deaf and therefore she stopped practicing. Lena St. Clair â€Å"Rice Husband†In this chapter we look into Lena’s life and find out that she is married to a white man named Harold. At first they had a true love and enjoyed their life together and decided to share all their costs but lately the marriage has begun to fall apart and the only thing still concrete in their marriage is their sharing of the costs of things they use and that have become the root of most of their problems. Waverly Jong â€Å"Four Directions†Waverly who is trying to look for a way to tell her mother that she is getting married to her fiancà © Rich, takes her mother out for lunch but ends getting scrutinized by her mother like always. With a certain un-eagerness Waverly invites Rich to meet her mother at her mothers house for dinner and although the dinner was a complete disaster for Rich, Waverly in the end found out that her mother did approve of Rich and that event brings all three of them closer together than before. In the beginning of the chapter we learn that Waverly is a smart young child but her mother has an iron grip on her life and Waverly’s first marriage falls apart completely because of her mother and how she began to see things the way her mother did about her husband. Rose Hsu Jordan â€Å"Without Wood†Rose for once doesn’t believe what her mother says, which was about her husband Ted cheating on her which he really did do. The husband after filing for divorce tries to bully her but Rose stays strong and is able to keep the house and keep her ex-husband in check. Jing-Mei Woo â€Å"Best Quality†In this chapter we learn how Suyuan hurts Jing-Mei, enough that Jing-Mei begins to doubt her mothers love for her but when New Years Eve comes along, Suyuan proves Jing-Mei wrong and then Jing-Mei realizes how much her mother really loves her at dinner. Because of her mothers love for her, Jing-Mei never takes off the pendant Suyuan has given her before she died. An-Mei Hsu â€Å"Magpies†In this chapter An-Mei is taken away to live with her mother. In this chapter both An-Mei and her daughter Rose wonder if their culture has made them weak in the eyes of society. An-Mei was upset at Rose earlier because of Rose’s unwillingness to do anything about her husband request for a divorce. In this chapter we see how Chinese women couldn’t do much with their lives, if they were unhappy all they could do was cry about it so when faced with these types of problems in America, the both of them wouldn’t know what to do although being in America they could do whatever they want. Ying-ying St. Clair â€Å"Waiting Between the Trees†Ying-ying in this chapter reflects on her childhood and from her mistakes she wants her daughter Lena to learn from. Ying-ying wants her daughter to lead a happy life, that her marriage is going to fall apart and she wants her daughter to be strong when this happens. Lindo Jong â€Å"Double Face†In this chapter we see the two cultures, the American culture represented by Waverly and the traditional Chinese culture represented by her mother Lindo Jong. Waverly who was uncertain of herself, thinks she’ll be easily seen as a foreigner but Lindo says she won’t be noticed. Later in the chapter both mother and daughter become closer after Lindo decides to ask Waverly why the year before when Lindo went to visit China, that they knew she was a foreigner despite all of her Chinese styles and traditions still in tact with her. Jing Mei-Woo â€Å"A Pair of Tickets†The last chapter of the book ends with the final daughter and mother couple coming together for Jing is able to finally discover who she really is, for as American she is, she’s also just as much Chinese.
Friday, August 30, 2019
Free-Speech on College Campuses Essay
           Thesis Statement:             The prohibition of hate-speech or any speech which constitutes a â€Å"clear and present danger†to students on college campuses is a good and necessary policy.            Summary of Opinions:            The issue of free-speech on college campuses poses a complex debate. Key factors of the controversy include: the rights to personal safety and free expression, as well as factors of racial and gender tolerance. The volatile nature of the issue ensures adjudication at the highest levels and also a far-reaching historical set of precedents, none of which has successfully â€Å"answered†the issues of free-speech and civic welfare. It seems prudent that the US Constitution should provide the framework by which all policies of free-speech are reckoned. â€Å"The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution states, in part, that â€Å"Congress shall make no law . . . abridging the freedom of speech.†This freedom is deemed a fundamental right, because it assures individual self-fulfillment or autonomy,†(Zingo 17) .            Zingo discusses how the 1st amendment serves many interests: â€Å"it is a means of advancing knowledge and searching for truth; it gives all members of society an opportunity to participate in the political process of self-governance; and it provides a safety valve for society[†¦] because suppression of discussion is injurious to society.†(Zingo) With that in mind, it is also useful to peruse counter-arguments which posit a more modernist interpretation of the First Amendment. â€Å"Media-law experts attempt to impose the eighteenth-century ideals of freedom of speech and press on the modern world as if no changes have taken place. Today, First Amendment doctrine assumes that governmental censorship still poses a greater and more real threat to our rational self-governing ideal than self-gratification,†(Collins, and Skover 25).             However, the Constitutional and judicial basis for restrictions on free speech stands far aside from this contention: â€Å"the Supreme Court ruled on a case challenging speech regulation[†¦] question in every case is whether the words used are used in such circumstances and are of such a nature as to create a clear and present danger that they will bring about the substantive evils that Congress has a right to prevent. It is a question of proximity and degree,†(Zingo 18). Questions and Rhetorical Strategies Key questions: 1) What constitutes â€Å"clear and present danger?†2) What are methods for enforcing legislation. 3) How have prior Supreme Court first amendment cases been decided? 4) How to define a hate-crime. Rhetorical strategies:                To convince that racism, sexism, and hate-crimes constitute a â€Å"clear and present danger†to students on college campuses will require evidence and citation from legal opinions and legal precedent. The â€Å"hate-crime†according to preliminary research seems to be a well-established fact, backed by substantive evidence and scientific study. â€Å"Despite the tremendous strides resulting from civil rights legislation, racism remains one of the most pressing social problems in the US[†¦] Hate crimes have been prominent on university campuses for the last two decades but vary widely in their targets and severity.†(Marcus et al.) Whether or not a college chooses to restrict the freedom of speech based on the Constitutional premise of â€Å"clear and present danger†there is a question as to whether or not prohibition of discriminatory speech, alone, will curtail racist and discriminatory practices. â€Å"In recent years, attempts to curtail racially discriminatory activities have focused largely on speech codes to limit inflammatory presentations (Altman, 1993) but these attempts have not been well received.†(Marcus et al.)            Audience            I believe that prohibition of hate-speech or any speech which constitutes a â€Å"clear and present danger†to students is an important issue for all citizens, but especially to those who may be impacted directly by hate-crimes. Most minority students wqill probably be sympathetic to my thesis while â€Å"conservatives†will see it as an infringement of civil rights. Ironically, liberals may also view it this way, or even more ironically they may not view it this way and in so doing, they will have become sympathetic to a restraining of free-speech.                                                            Bibliography Collins, Ronald K. L., and David M. Skover. The Death of Discourse. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1996. Marcus, Ann, et al. â€Å"Perceptions of Racism on Campus.†College Student Journal 37.4 (2003): 611+. Zingo, Martha T. Sex/Gender Outsiders, Hate Speech, and Freedom of Expression: Can They   Say That about Me?. Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers, 1998. Jacobs, James B., and Kimberly Potter. Hate Crimes Criminal Law & Identity Politics. Oxford:            Oxford University Press, 2001.
Thursday, August 29, 2019
Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain Essay
â€Å"A pure natural friendship uncorrupted by social prejudice†In light if this comment discuss the relationship of Huck and Jim. Huckleberry Finn is a novel of the pastoral genre written by Mark Twain in 1885, a time when slavery was rampant. The novel follows the journey of the protagonist, a white boy named Huck Finn who coincidently begins a journey with a run-away slave Jim, filled with trials and tribulations. Although this may be a coincident the pair slowly form a relationship described as a friendship and others even go to the extent of describing it as father-son relationship. One of the many ways in which the friendship can be viewed is the fact that it is a pure and natural friendship as shown by Huck who claims he wouldn’t want to be â€Å"nowhere else but here†hence displaying the satisfaction and content he feels with the situation of being friends. However other aspects of the novel allow the reader to describe the friendship as corrupt rather than pure due to the way in which Huck refers to Jim by the use of the term â€Å"nigger†, an offensive term used by society to belittle black people. One of the central issues outlined by Twain in the novel is â€Å"Racism†. White people believed that they were superior and combined with superstition believed that black people were evil as a result black people were given very little rights. Huck holds these similar values which are presented when he refers to Jim as a â€Å"nigger†numerous times. In addition, the way in which Huck’s attitude and behaviour presented, consist of various elements of prejudice in which Huck feels he is far more intelligent and superior than Jim. Huck says â€Å"you can’t learn a nigger to argue.†The use of irony allows the reader to understand the view that white people held and how foolish the view was because in reality the argument presented by Jim in the first place is indeed stronger however due to society’s corrupt views Huck is influenced therefore he is unable to recognise the fact that Jim has a strong argument. Look more: satire in huckleberry finn essay However, it has to be considered that Huck is still a young boy who has been brought up by the society which holds the view that white people a superior consequently, Huck has been socialised to act the way he is and referring to Jim as a â€Å"nigger†may just be the norm and not at all used in a criticising manner. Although Huck takes time to accept Jim, Twain constantly shows how Jim encourages the friendship and praises Huck by referring to him as a â€Å"de ole true Huck; the only white gentlemen.†Although Huck is a boy Jim refers to him as a gentleman, a description which increases Huck’s confidence and displays a relationship developing between the two. The fact that Jim is encouraging the friendship shows how he is emerging from society’s conventions as the norm would be to indeed act like a slave and not even considering pursuing any other sort of relationship apart from the known slave-master relationship. Huck’s attitude towards Jim is v ery similar to Pap’s. At the beginning of the novel Pap says â€Å"why looky here there’s a free nigger from Ohio- a mulatter, must as white as a white man†Pap refers to Jim as though he is an object of very low status or a meaningless object rather than actual human being. He considers himself to be of a very high status despite his drunkard and abusive nature. The way in which Twain represents Hucks tone of voice and attitude displays how he holds a similar ideology of the fact that white people are superior. He says â€Å"it was fifteen minutes before I could work myself up to go humble myself to a nigger†his tone of voice signifies his disappointment and half-heartedness in accepting the fact that he was wrong. He refers to Jim as â€Å"a nigger†which in itself shows how he feels regarding Jim. He refers to Jim as though he is an inanimate object who has no feelings and to be â€Å"humble†towards a nigger was a disgrace hence displaying the social prejudice that existed between the pair. However, due to the bildungsroman form of the novel, Huck undergoes a not just a physical journey but also a psychological journey in which he learns the true importance of friendship. Throughout the novel Huck is constantly facing an internal struggle another important focus of the novel. He is struggling to make a decision regarding Jim. Should he hand Jim over or go against societies conventions and protect and help his new friend. In the climax of the novel Huck is finally forced to make a choice and has to â€Å"decide, forever†and in the end decides to go against societies views of social prejudice and the extent of the decision he made is presented through his inner thoughts and ironically he feels that he will be shunned by his community accepts the fact that he’ll â€Å"go to hell†just for protecting Jim and accepting Jim as his friend. The catalyst for Huck’s decision was the sale of Jim back into slavery and as a result Hucks internal struggle finally meets an end and his search for his conscience ends therefore allowing the reader to understand that although their relationship may not have started out as a pure natural friendship, through the various adventures they faced finally come to an end. His decision to recognise Jim’s humanity is not shared by the rest of society. In conclusion, the relationship of Huck and Jim can be described as not an entirely pure natural friendship uncorrupted by society prejudices as Huck takes a physical and psychological journey consisting of many events all adding up to one big adventure that allows him to gain insight on the true meaning of friendship and loyalty.
Wednesday, August 28, 2019
Content Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 2
Content Analysis - Essay Example sisting of the messages, production techniques, medium, sources quoted or referred to, and circumstance, and the job of content analysis is to inflict some kind of order on these phenomena†(Shoemaker & Reese) with the intention of explaining their meaning. The website of the ‘American Idol’ shows that it has been one of the best entertainment programs for the past nine successive seasons. â€Å"American Idols judges include Paula Abdul, accomplished choreographer and music superstar; Simon Cowell, multi hit record producer and head of A& R at BNG Records; and Randy Jackson, a Gammy Award-winning 20-year music industry veteran and former A& R executive at MCA Records†(American Idol: The Search for A Superstar 2005). The qualified age-range for competitors in American Idol is currently 15 to 28 years old. The initial age limit was 16 to 24 in the first three seasons, but the upper limit was raised to 28 in season four. It could also be seen that the lower li mit was decreased to 15 in season ten (J. Atsu Amegashie 2009) Sociological theory on medicalization recommends that women, girls and other less powerful groups are more and more subject to medicines authority over their health, bodies and lives as well. This is due to the fact that during the adolescent period girls suffer a considerable drop in their self-esteem and may become especially or particularly vulnerable to medicalization. Simon Cowelll and Paula Abdul are the two judges of American Idol. Simon Phillip Cowell is an English television producer, A&R executive, industrialist and a very popular television personality. As a judge, Cowell is recognized for his blunt and frequently controversial criticisms, wisecracks and insults regarding contestants and their performances. He is also known for synchronizing actions and events of both the music and television industries, having encouraged singles and records for various artists that have grown to become celebrities. Cowell has been engaged in
Tuesday, August 27, 2019
Career Wheel Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words
Career Wheel - Assignment Example Almost every organization or government agency has more than one financial managers responsible for overseeing the preparation of financial reports. There are more than 80 positions involving banking, insurance and finance. These positions are divided into six categories: accounting, banking and corporate finance, investment banking and securities, money management and supervisory agencies. Let us take the position of account executive for example. The duties involved in this position are: building broker network through networking, cold calling, soliciting residential mortgage loans originated by mortgage brokers and other financial institutions and prospecting. An alternate title which can be given to this person is Wholesale account manager, mortgage broker channel manager etc. The salary range is $50,000 to $100,000. The employment prospects are good as well as the advancement prospects (Fitch). For one to take up such a responsibility, a four-year college degree is required and three years of mortgage banking experience. The special skills required are: a detailed knowledge of mortgage origination process and a working knowledge of the pc programs. One is needed to work independently and he should have excellent communication skills. It is wonderful to shoulder the responsibilities of managing the national sales efforts of a mortgage broker network. The account executive acts as the primary liaison with mortgage brokers. The marketing industry is one that is diverse in many ways. Many people have taken up the marketing career. People like it so much because it is one of the careers that provides a good pay and it does not consume as much time as other careers such as medicine and engineering. However, this has made the industry to be a competitive one. It is hard to get a job in this sector. One has to be very determined. If one is not a
Political cultures of texas Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words
Political cultures of texas - Research Paper Example This culture establishes the outer boundary of all the possibilities within the political dominion. According to ‘Texas Politics, today’ (Maxwell et al., pp. 20-39), the political culture of Texas consists of three sub-cultures: traditional, individualistic, and moralistic. The individualistic culture stresses minimum government intervention that should be limited to safeguarding individual rights while other social and political relationships should be upon private sector. One the other hand, moralistic political culture urges government intervention in social and economic matters for the well-being of the people and general welfare. Traditional subculture, however, has a different viewpoint. It states that since the political power lies in the hands of the dominating or elite group therefore role of the government should be limited to maintaining the social order and tradition. The traditional subculture dominates in East Texas while other subcultures dominate in the r est of Texas. The political culture and philosophy is elaborated under three philosophical streams: classical liberalism, social conservation, and populism. Firstly, Classical liberalism’ focus is to place political value on political measures which helps an individual to exercise full liberty until and unless others are not limited by it. It often forms opposition to the use of the government to attain social goals. They press for the market forces or private motives to provide the best outcome. Moreover, historically Texas also supported religious acceptance for civil liberties for both individualism and entrepreneurship. One of the classic examples of reputation in Texas is H. Ross Perot (political candidate and rich businessperson). Other examples also include Willie Nelson and several Texans who disobeyed social values, rejected the acceptance of race and gender like Barbara Jordan (Maxwell et al., pp. 23-25). Social conservatism came out of classical conservatism viewed liberalism with distrust and appreciated traditional hierarchical social relations. This has rooted in feudal English and European thinking. Moreover, in contemporary forms, the idea of government intervention to reinforce social relations is very well substantiated by the social conservatives. They value traditional practices such as religious beliefs and respect traditional authorities, which can include business or religious leaders. While on the other hand, socially conservatism continues to influence within Democratic Party since decades although their ideology is under the ideas of Republican Party. Populism, the third category, is concerned with well being of ordinary people and has both political and social dimensions. Popular will is the quality of doing what is right and avoiding what is wrong in political position. The idea of Populism supports government politically in managing society and the economy. Populism depends on the style and rhetorical appeal to its audience rather than on the content of the policies of the political candidates. Populism can also take socially conservative forms in its support to the political leader. Thus, populism has different positions to support, which depend on the context. Moreover, it ignores the traditional views
Monday, August 26, 2019
Effect of trampling on length of Cranesbill leaves Coursework
Effect of trampling on length of Cranesbill leaves - Coursework Example We make the assumption, for instance, that for a given distance along the transect, the soil and other relevant conditions are similar. Moreover, we can take it that if the data is any good, then standard deviations along any point of data collection along the transect (one meter intervals) should be small. This is to be expected too, given that for every measurement point along the transect there is only one reading for the soil compaction level, and several readings for the leaf length. Therefore, if soil compaction is correlated with the leaf length, then one can assume that the variations in length sizes along any measurement point in the transect should be small, or at least not significant enough to cause worry and doubt as to the validity of the data and of the alternative hypothesis being accepted (Statistics Canada 2011). Indeed, looking at the range of the standard deviation along the different measurement points in the transect, one sees that there is somewhat of a variati on along the measurement points, by a factor of 3 in some measurement points compared to others. There are several ways to interpret this. On the one hand, looking at the standard deviation figures, within the measurement points it is not conclusive that the standard deviation magnitudes are enough to cause worry as to the data validity. On the other hand, one can also investigate that maybe the wide variances in the sample data of leaf lengths within the measurement points may have something to do with the standard deviation being large or small. For example, looking at measurement point 8, or the measurement of leaf lengths at the point of eight meters from the start of the transect, one sees that the standard deviation is unusually large, in fact larger than any other standard deviation figure for the rest of the measurement points. Examining the data for this measurement point, one sees that compared to the other measurement points, there is a wider variation of measurement data for leaf lengths (1.5; 2.8; 2.8; 2.7; 2.3; 2.5). Looking at the measurements of leaf lengths at point 0, where the transect begins, one sees that the variation in measurements is somewhat smaller, or to put it another way, the leaf lengths are closer to each other, or varies less in comparison to measurement point 8 (1, 0.8; 0.8; 0.7; 0.7). This is borne out by the computed standard deviation for this measurement point, which is about a factor of three smaller than the standard deviation for point 8. The point is that within the measurement points, the standard deviation for the measurements vary in magnitude, and in some measurement points quite larger in comparison to the other measurement points. Judging by the standard deviation alone therefore, one comes to suspect whether the correlation between soil compaction and leaf length exists, and if the established correlation is valid. Of this, more will be said with regard to the inherent limitation of the study (Statistics Canada 2011; Wolfram Research 2012) Looking at ambient data, or data that is related to soil quality or pH, soil temperature, and the amount or intensity of the light present, this paper makes the assumption that more study needs to be done to either factor in or discount each of these variables as being correlated or associated with leaf length.
Sunday, August 25, 2019
Artists transform what were originally oral and literary stories into Essay
Artists transform what were originally oral and literary stories into images - Essay Example example is that to consumers who were viable to be being swindled by different financial institution, the act required that they were to be given credit counseling before being asked to sign any document (American Law Institute-American Bar Association Committee on Continuing Professional Education., 2005). This prevents against such occurrences like surrendering homes because one is not capable to pay up his or her mortgage. The Act has created awareness and as such foolish decisions which were taken by the consumers in the past like loan problems and challenges in meeting credit card payments have been properly addresses as everything is now understand to consumers in a clearer language than it used to be in the past. The Act exists to ensure that there is a debt reaffirmation agreements between the debtor and creditor, limits the lien stripping and tightens the discharge rules on claims thus making the Act effective in the both the development and well being of both parties involved. American Law Institute-American Bar Association Committee on Continuing Professional Education. (2005). Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005: ALI-ABA course of study materials. Philadelphia, Pa: American Law Institute-American Bar Association Committee on Continuing Professional
Saturday, August 24, 2019
Taping over uneven ground Lab Report Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 3
Taping over uneven ground - Lab Report Example Given the product’s uniqueness, it is rather difficult to find one made of cheap material and thus the tough nylon cover. Some measuring tapes have temperature affecting them and consequently offer non-accurate results. However, this product is temperature proof. Moreover, the product is very strong and can persevere however kinds of usage in the field. The reinforced crank handle makes it easy to carry around while at work. 3/9 inch blade minimizes wind drift and the weight of the tape. The image above is that of a plumb bob. This equipment is used in the contemporary engineering environment to determine the vertical aspect or rather the vertical properties of a commodity or area. Many people do not understand that this equipment is used not only in the construction field but also in the field to measure the amount of uneven ground at some particular point. There are areas where the level of the ground is too steep to measure with other equipment and the person carrying out the survey has to use these plummet to determine the vertical measure of the particular location (Ceaser 37). In all circumstances, this plumb bob is attached to a string so that the person working on the calculation can measure the angle and consequently offer advice on whether to continue with a project or not with the angle being the basis. There are different kinds of plumb bobs used in the engineering environment depending on the particular engineering field where they are involved. The plu mb bobs present in the image are those of field engineering where they have to be sharp to the point and this is critical to ensure that the centre of gravity remains high on the bob to eliminate false results. The above image is that containing plain marking flags. These flags are very important and not only in this kind of project but for many other engineering endeavors. These flags assist the surveyor or other
Friday, August 23, 2019
The uses of sonar in medicine Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words
The uses of sonar in medicine - Essay Example In 2D ultrasound technology alone, many improvements have occurred with reference to resolution, image quality, range of indications and availability. In 3-D scanning, the sound waves are sent in different angles and a sophisticated computer program is used to reconstruct a 3-dimensional volume image using the reflected echoes, thus allowing one to gauge not only the height and width of the organs but also the depth. 3D ultrasound has applications in cardiovascular scanning also. The technology allows quantification of the volume of the plaque and direct visualization of arterial atherosclerosis. 3D ultrasound has has applications in interventional sonology, both in operative interventions and minimally invasive procedures. Therapeutic applications include lithotripsy, tumor ablation, acoustic targeted drug delivery, phacoemulsification, cleaning of teeth, sclerotherapy, lipectomy and elastography. Thus, sonar has wide range application in medical field. Introduction Sonar, commonly known as ultrasound, is a cyclic sound pressure delivered at a frequency that is much above the upper limit of hearing of human beings. Sound waves above 20 kilohertz fall into this category. Sonar is applied for several uses in many fields including medicine. In medicine, sonar is mainly used for diagnostic purposes and is called ultrasound. The method of diagnosis is known as ultrasonography. There are 2 types of sonography, 2D and 3D. 2D is more commonly used. It has has several therapeutic applications. 2D ultrasound is useful to visualize tendons, muscles and many internal organs in order to capture the size, structure and pathological lesions through real time tomographic images. In 2D ultrasound technology alone, many improvements have occurred with reference to resolution, image quality, range of indications and availability. In 3-D scanning, the sound waves are sent in different angles and a sophisticated computer program is used to reconstruct a 3-dimensional volume image using the reflected echoes, thus allowing one
Thursday, August 22, 2019
Virtue ethics Essay Example for Free
Virtue ethics Essay Boxing is a violent sport full of hate where the only objective is to knock your opponent unconscious. This is a very quick and biased view of boxing because if you study boxing closer it helps teach the person about their moral character. Boxing helps teach people to â€Å"get off the canvas and roll with the punches†(Marino, 2010, para 8) and to face their fears, two important lessons to get through life. Throughout the article written by Marino, he educates about Aristotelian ethics and uses boxing as a real-life example. I believe that Marino’s invocation of Aristotelian ethics is well articulated, and I agree with his application through boxing relating it to your life. Aristotelian ethics and boxing can relate to the rights and responsibility lens; boxing can help develop our moral lives and can clearly define and educate people about Aristotle’s definition of courage. The sport of boxing and comparing it to real-life morals and virtues is extremely well done by Gordon Marino using Aristotelian ethics. The moral virtues that Aristotle preached such as â€Å"qualities, temperance, justice, pride, and truthfulness†(Marino, 2010, para.11) all can be directly applied to Kantian ethics and the rights/responsibility lens (DesJardins, 2012). Boxing is a man versus man, woman versus woman sport which â€Å"can compel a person to take a quick self-inventory and gut check about what he or she is willing to endure and risk†(Marino, 2010, para. 4). The rights and responsibility lens are all about the self, honesty, responsibility, temperance, completing your duties and following the rules (Ethics games, 2012). All these values and characteristics are important in boxing and are all needed to find out who you truly are. Boxing teaches individuals self-discipline, responsibility, courage, and â€Å"what physical and psychic powers they possess – of how much, or how little, they are capable†(Marino, 2010, para. 5). Marino (2010) writes that Aristotle while talking about excellence, states â€Å"it is not enough to know, but we must try to have to use it†(para. 10). Boxing, unlike many other sports, accomplishes this within the first sparring session. Boxing is not only a sport that allows individuals to release anger but can also help improve ones moral character. As Marino (2010) states, life requires toughness and resiliency because it is filled with blows. Being inside a boxing ring will teach you about your own toughness and resiliency and let you face fear. Facing these fears, no matter how big or small, will make you come out with a greater understanding of your moral self. Boxers are faced with fear, but after months of training they are able to cope with their fears and can start to see things that emotions blinded them from earlier. â€Å"By getting into the ring with our fears, we will be less likely to succumb to trepidation when doing the right thing demands to take a hit†(Marino, 2010, para. 14). In doing this, you realize what it takes to overcome fear and will not crumble to this pressure when faced with real-life situations. Boxing is the best sport to use to enhance Aristotle’s view of courage because boxing is all about building up yourself, learning what you are made of, identifying your breaking point to go past it, and to face fear and move past it. All these values help individuals deeper understand Aristotle’s definition of courage. According to Marino (2010), Aristotle’s definition of â€Å"courage is a mean between rashness and cowardliness; that is, between having too little trepidation and too much†(para.12). This means you need to find a middle ground between having too much fear that something may happen and having no fear at all. In order to find this happy medium a person must practise, experience, and face fear to develop their courage. Boxing is perfect for developing Aristotelian courage because boxers â€Å"become more at home with feeling afraid. Fear is painful, but it can be faced, and in time a boxer learns not to panic about the blows that will be coming his way†(Marino, 2010, para. 13). This means that with time, boxers find that perfect mean between rashness and cowardliness. Marino’s invocation of Aristotelian ethics is thoughtful, and his application to real-life through boxing is the perfect match. Boxing is said to help develop our moral lives and can be a clear cut definition of Aristotle’s definition of courage. The moral virtues taught by Aristotle align with the rights and responsibility lens and focuses on the self, honesty, temperance, and completing your duties. Boxing helps an individual face their fears, identify their breaking point, struggle to exceed that point, and get through anything. This will allow a person to develop their moral character by not crumbling under pressure in real-life situations and by finding the perfect middle between rashness and cowardliness. References DesJardins, J. , (2014). An Introduction to Business Ethics. New York, NY: The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Ethics Games, (2012). Ethical Lens Inventory. Retrieved from http://www. ethicsgame. com/Exec/Eli/EthicalLensResults. aspx? R=1 Marino, G. , (2010, September 15). The New York Times. The Opinionator: Boxing Lessons. Retrieved from http://opinionator. blogs. nytimes. com/2010/09/15/boxing-lessons/? _php=true_type=blogs_r=0.
Wednesday, August 21, 2019
What is evaluating Essay Example for Free
What is evaluating Essay Evaluation is an assessment of something or making an observation of the outcome whether good or bad. An example of evaluating is after the Year 8 disco, was the year 8 pupil’s filing out an evaluation form on how they thought the event went. There are many different ways to evaluate such as minutes of meeting, questionnaires, post-event papers and circulation list. Minutes of meeting Meetings normally have formal minutes attached to them or they have notes. When taking minutes of a meeting the information given and any actions that need to be taken are recorded so that what is needed to happen before the next meeting does. Minutes need to be told to the people attending ASAP so that they can look through them, check that it is accurate and carry out any actions if needed. The main advantage of minutes of meeting is that more of what is needed to be said is said this is good because everyone’s ideas can be shared. Another advantage of minutes of meeting is that everyone who is needed is there so that no one misses out on the information that has been given. The final advantage of minutes of meeting is the privacy, this is good because the information said will only be between the people who are present in the meeting. There are also disadvantages to minutes of meeting they are that everyone present in the meeting may all have disagreements this may lead to not having what is needed to be done, done. Another disadvantage of minutes of meeting is that people present may be shy and won’t feel like sharing their ideas. The final disadvantage to minutes of meeting is that the information given at the meeting may be said to quick so that everyone cannot be taken down in time. When planning the Year 8 disco we wrote down the minutes during the meeting. This helped us as a group because everyone knew what they needed to do before the next meeting. For example as the event manager I would inform my deputy manager when they need to go into the Year 8 assembly to inform them what is happening, when it is happening and to give them the information needed to them about the event. If we did not do this then everyone would be confused on what they had to do to prepare for the event, and also everything that needed to be taken care of so that event was a success was done. Questionnaires A questionnaire is research which involves a number of different questions to gather information from the people who are filling it in. Questionnaires are designed as a way to find out what people are thinking. An advantage of questionnaires is that it is very practical because it is quick to collect information from the people filling out the questionnaire. Another advantage of questionnaires is that the same questions is asked to everyone filling the questionnaire out so easy to sum up. The final advantage to questionnaires is that large information can be collected. There are also some disadvantages to questionnaires which is that there is no way of telling how much though someone who is filling the questionnaire out has put it. Another disadvantage is that the person filling it out may forget what has happened to fill it out so it won’t be reliable. The final disadvantage to questionnaires is that there is no way to tell how truthful a respondent is being. As a way of evaluating the Year 8 pupil’s event, we created questionnaires for the Year 8 pupils who attended to fill in. This helped us because the information we had been given back told us why they enjoyed the event and what they thought could have gone better. It was important for us to create questionnaires for the year 8 pupils, so we know how well our planning of the event went, and also to know what went wrong. It also helped us to know what to do and what not to do if planning another event. The questionnaires advantage was the way it was set out, it was set out in a way where if any of the Year 8’s had a lot of feedback from one question then there was space for them to write it down. Post-event report Most conferences and exhibitions usepost post-event reports contain details of what the event will be like, and what it has to offer. Because of post-event reports it is becoming very common to share post-event reports For planning the Year 8 pupils event we did not use any post-event reports because it would not work as we invited all of the Year 8 pupils to the event. If we did use post-event reports than it would be useful to us as it would be away of informing the Year 8 pupils what the event is and what sort of stuff is on offer at the event. Circulation lists A circulation list is a way of giving out information to delegates who attend the past event. The event is a useful way of engaging delegates to attend more events by the holder. Because of this it is becoming more often to have e-lists, or email lists that can be used to send information to the delegates. There are more ways that event organisers can put a circulation list which is through a website with a password so that previous delegates can access. An advantage of circulation list is that you have a list of people who are certain to attend all other events which are being held by you. However a disadvantage to circulation list is that it takes time having to create a website to make an e-list. When planning the Year 8 pupils event we did not use a circulation list invite a certain number of pupils to the event. If we did use circulation lists then it would be useful because if we had another chance to plan an event, then there would be a number of pupils who would definitely attend. Overall, evaluating can contribute to future planning of events by many different ways. Using questionnaires is the easiest way to evaluate information. This is because instead of evaluating at the end of something you can also evaluate at the beginning and find out information of what people want. By doing this you would find out information about what the attendees are looking for in the event, by knowing this planning the event will be easy because you know what is wanted. Using a circulation list as part of your evaluation is also good because it means that you already have people who are certain to attend. This will mean not having to worry about no one showing up. Taking minutes at meetings is very important so that everyone is participating knows what they are doing and everyone knows what they need to do by the next meeting. If no minutes at meetings were taken than the people planning the event will all get confused on what is needed to be done, which means nothing will be done to make sure the event is successful. In conclusion to evaluation it is very important to do after anything that has been done. This is because it informs you on how well something happened and how it can be improved. It was important we did an evaluation for the Year 8 event because we wanted to know how the pupils attended found it, if they enjoyed it or if they did not. Evaluation helps a lot because if wanting to plan another event you will know what to do and what not to do for people to enjoy.
Tuesday, August 20, 2019
A Financial Analysis Of Starbucks Coffee
A Financial Analysis Of Starbucks Coffee The aim of this financial analysis of Starbucks is to obtain a deep knowledge of annual financial reports and other corporate information, which can provide us measurable conclusions about the company. It is essential to understand the nature of companys business, by analyzing its economic and financial environment and strategy choices made in the past. This report will begin with industry and company description, followed by financial performance overview and projection of company development over the next two years. Conclusions drawn from above analysis will support managers in making a decision whether to invest in the company. 2. The industry description The coffee industry is growing since 2002, and in recent years there was a boom caused by consumers becoming more educated about espresso-based drinks and how they are made (H. Holmes, 2004). The coffee industry includes 20,000 outlets with combined revenue of $11 billion. Approximately 20 million people work in the coffee industry worldwide. Market is very concentrated at the top with the 50 companies taking up 70% of the sales, and fragmented at the bottom. Starbucks is the market leader (Franchise direct, 2010). 2.1. Starbucks description Starbucks Corporation is involved in: purchasing, roasting, and sale of whole bean coffees, cold-blended beverages, various food items, selection of teas, and beverage-related accessories and equipment, primarily through its company-operated retail stores. It was established in 1971 in Seattle, Washington. In 1986 Howard Shultz, Retail Sales and Marketing Manager, left the company to start his own retail coffee outlet, Il Giornale. In 1987 the original investors of Starbucks bought Peets Coffee and sold Starbucks to H.Shultz, who renamed Il Giornale to Starbucks. Firm expended with shops in Chicago and Vancouver. Starbuck was the first coffee company to offer employee stock options in 1991 and went public in 1992. In 1990s Starbucks started distributing coffee through department stores, bookstores, hotels, supermarkets and online; it signed contract with PepsiCo, AOL and Dyers and opened stores in Japan, Singapore, and UK. (Hoovers.com, 2008) Starbucks has built one of the worlds most powerful and recognizable brands and the image of a unique Starbucks Experience. Its mission statement was to revolutionize the coffeehouse industry by building a perception of a coffee shop as the third place between work and home. Wi-fi internet access in all stores makes it a place where customers can work. The companys goal was to make each location a community center for higher-income crowd of the young and college-educated, a group that tends toward higher luxury-consumption levels. (Wikinvest.com, n.d.) 2.2. Competition Starbucks close competitors include other specialty coffee shops, doughnut shops, and restaurants. Starbucks holds a dominant position in the coffeehouse market which is dispersed among the thousands of independent or small-chain coffee shops. Their largest direct competitors are Dunkin Donuts and McDonalds. Both offer specialty coffee at a lower price. Main competitors short description: Dunkin, specializes in fresh baked goods, but began offering coffee in 2005. Their level of sales is at $4.3b. Currently, their coffee sales start to exceed food sales, 5-10% of total sales are from espresso-based drinks. Dunkin has a 22.9% market share. (Starbucks in the aggregate category controls a 24.7% market share) McDonalds entered the coffeehouse industry in 2007, offering coffee at its flagship stores and opening its espresso-centric McCafe concept in some markets. McDs coffee sales generate $813m in additional annual income. Current revenue from coffee is around $490m, about 6-6.5% of Starbucks coffee sales. Their price point is at 18% discount on Starbuckss. The two competitorss targets are slightly different from Starbucks. They focus on cheaper coffee to go, whereas Starbucks is providing a premium experience for a luxury price. Consequently, they compete with each other more directly than with Starbucks, however McCafe has a negative impact on Starbucks. Analysts believe that competitors will settle into separate niches, McDonalds being the better value proposition and Starbucks offering higher quality experience. 3. Financial Performance 2007-2009 3.1. Overview of Starbucks performance 2007-2009 In the fiscal year 2007, Starbucks achieved a solid performance. All goals like new stores opening, total revenue growth, comparable store sales growth and considerable cost rises from dairy products were completed. The consolidated operating income in 2008 was $503.9 and operating margin 4.9%. This was a significant decrease compared with the past few years, the reason for decrease was a changing of structure. In 2009, Starbucks faced many challenges caused by unexpected economic environment and more intense competition, which had impact on the revenue, comparable store sales, operating income and margins. 3.2. Income statement analysis 2007-2009 While net revenues of Starbucks havent been stable from 2007 to 2009 (first increasing then decreasing), its total operating income have also been moving in 2008 it decreased by 52,2% and it was $503.9 million, 4.9% of total net revenues. The reason for decrease was high distribution costs and high rent expenses. In 2009 it increase again by $58.1. Main reason for this improvement was the restructuring charges which contain: assets impairment, lease exit and severance costs. In 2008 and 2009 while net revenues were $10,383 million and $9,774.6, total operating expenses were $9,992.7 million in 2008 and $9,334.5 in 2009 that means expenses were highly eating up more than 96% of the net revenues. The company suffered a major loss of 113.185% in net earnings between 2007 and 2008. Starbucks realized that he need to re-think its business strategy. In 2008, the company incurred restructuring charges of $266.9 million due to store closures in the US and Australia and reduction of the work force. Starbucks Company derived 84% of total net revenue from the company-operated retail stores. They opened 681 new stores in the last 12 months and this offset -3% losses in comparable store sales. Total net revenue of 2009 was showed a decrease of 5.9%, stayed at $9,774.6. The company-operated retail also went down. In detail, there was a change of nearly 6.7% in comparable, for 4% decrease in transactions and a 2% decrease in the average value per transaction. Figure 1: Net Revenue of Starbucks 2007-2009 (Starbucks annual financial report) Figure 2: Operating Income of Starbucks 2007-2009 (Starbucks annual financial report) Figure 3: Net earnings of Starbucks 2007-2009 (Starbuck annual report) 3.4. Balance sheet In term of assets, the total assets for the three years kept staying around $5,600 million. The total current assets in 2009 were $2,036 million. This was higher than in 2008 and 2007 due to the high cash and cash equivalents in 2009. The marketable securities in 2007 were $157 millions so in 2007 the company had more short term investment. On the other hand, the total liabilities in 2008 were the highest in three years because of the commercial paper and short-term borrowing in 2008. Additionally, there was no short-term debt in 2009 but it was the highest accrued expenses during the three years. The shareholders equity in 2009 was the highest in three years owing to the additional paid-in capital. 3.4. Ratio analysis: By doing ratio analysis, the company performance would be evaluated more clearly. As we can see the current ratio for the 2009 was higher than 2008 and 2007. In 2008 and 2007, the current ratio was under 1. That means Starbucks was not in good financial health in these two years. However, this situation didnt exist for a long time but it was not a good sign. The current ratio for 2009 was 1.29, so the company had 1.29 times more current assets than current liabilities. That means Starbucks was able to cover its own obligations. As the Exhibit 1 shows the quick ratio was low for 3 years that is all below 1. This indicates that the company had difficult to turning their inventory into cash like a short-term liability which the company could not pay off immediately. In 2007, the profit margin of Starbucks was 7.15%. This means 7 cents of each dollar is companys profit. In the next two years, the profit margin decreased by nearly 3 percent. That means the net income in 2009 was visibly lower than 2007. It may mainly caused from the increase of the restructuring charges. The return on assets ratio in the year 2007 was 13.77% while the ratio declined to 6.95% in 2009. From this we know Starbucks earned more in 2007 and the net income in 2007 was higher than in 2009. The reason for this decrease results is also from increase cost of the restructuring and innovation in 2008 and 2009. In terms of leverage ratio, to measure its ability to meet financial obligation from 2007 to 2009 the debt ratio was around 50%. That means nearly 50% of funds for assets came from debt. This does not seem good for the company and the most liabilities were long-term liabilities. The debt to equity ratio from 2007 to 2009 was pretty high and the highest point was in 2007, so in 2007 more debt was used. Interests earned ratio in Starbucks during the 3 years was extremely high like in 2007, the ratio was nearly 28 times, but finally in 2009 the ratio was around 15 times a year. It could be a really good margin since the company was able to cover its interest expenses 15 times with operating income. 3.5. Cash flow Operating activities: the net cash provided by operating actives in 2009 was highest during the 3 years. The main part of activities was depreciation and amortization. Same as in 2008 the company spent $604.5 thousands on depreciation and amortization. Investing activities: the net cash used by investing activities in 2007 was $-1201.9 thousands. The main costs here were addition to property, plant and equipment and the company also spent money on purchasing available-for-sale securities. But in 2009 the net cash used by investing activities was $-421.1 thousands. This was much less than in the 2007. The reason for this was the company spent less money on additions to property, plant and equipment. Financing activities: the net increase/ (decrease) in cash and cash equivalents in 2009 was $330.0 thousands. That means Starbucks gained money from financing activities in 2009 while in 2008 and 2009 they had losses in financing activities. The reason for the gain of money in 2009 was the profit in short-term borrowing and nothing spent on the issuing of long-term debts. 4. Forecasting 2010-2011 In order to project the next two fiscal year performance of Starbucks, particularly to construct the pro forma income statements of 2010 and 2011, establishing the revenue (or sales) projection should be the first task of all. In the next steps, the rest items of the statement would be projected by the percent of sales method since it does provide simple, logical estimate of many important variables (Higgins, 2009). In fact, there was a visible growth of Starbucks revenue in both volume and speed during the period of time from 2000 to 2009. Especially, from 2000 to 2007, the annual company sales increased in steady pace in the range of 20% to 29%. This impressive growth of Starbucks revenue was a sophisticated proof for its great business strategies during the beginning of this decade. However, the story had some changes since 2008. At the end of this fiscal year, Starbucks finished with $10,383 million revenue, in comparison with 2007, the growth ratio was 10.3% only, the lowest rat io since 2000. Continuously, in the midst of the US economic crisis, Starbucks sales got negative growth at 5.9% after finish the fiscal year 2009, stay at $9,744 million. Figure 4: Starbucks Sales chart in 2000-2009 (in Millions) Obviously, the trustable estimation should be the sophisticated one, that normally came from data base statistic analyses. Specifically, with the availability of the last ten years data of Starbucks revenue, it was possible to apply most of time series forecast methods such as moving average, weighted moving average, exponential smoothing, and so on. Since each method had its own advantages and limitations, it is necessary to compare how every method would reflect the same provided data (Exhibit 4). The value of W3 (for the Weighted moving average method) and ÃŽÂ ± (for the Exponential smoothing method) were decided high at 0.6 and 0.3 due to the emphasis of the closest time period in term of its impact to the next following year. As a result, the forecasts for 2010 sales were quite low though there was still a slightly growth than 2009. Among the three methods, the weighted moving average method seems to be the most appropriated one since it had the smallest value of the Mean Absolute Deviation. Basically, it proved that this method had less forecasting error than others and might be the best choice of all. To be clear, the plot chart was established base on the result of the three forecast methods in Figure X. Figure 5: Plot of Actual Sales and Forecast Sales for 2010 in three different models (in $ Million) Visibly, the line created from weighted moving average method was the closest one to the actual sales line. Its trend reflected almost similarly to the actual during the period of time from 2003 to 2009. That is why this method was chosen to determine the 2010 Starbucks sales instead of the two methods remaining. Objectively, $9,920.81 million may not be a number that Starbucks shareholders and investors really expect, even it showed slightly growth at 1.5% than 2009. However, in some levels, it seems to reflect quite appropriately the reality of the economic conditions as well as the Starbucks status. In spite of many positive signs of the economic recovery, Starbucks is still continuing its plan to close 800 retail stores over two year 2009 and 2010. Since the 566 stores had already released in 2009, another 244 are expecting to be cleared in fiscal year 2010. Thus, it could be hard to see a rapid growth in revenue of Starbucks at the end of fiscal year 2010. In regard to fiscal year 2011, since all of the three forecasting method above only allowed forecaster to see the result of 2010 revenue, the Linear Regression method was applied to estimate the sales in 2011. By collecting the sales data from the last three years (2007 to 2009) in quarterly, by the calculation of the regression line (Exhibit 11), the value of a ( the y intercept) and b (slope of regression line) were found. These two values were use to determine the dependent variable (y). The regression forecast of sales in equation is: y = a + bx (Exhibit 5 ). The forecast results of $10,078.21 and $10,189.41 for each year of 2010 and 2011 once again confirmed about the growth trend of Starbucks sales in the next two year. Nonetheless, base on the Starbucks plan of opening over 500 new stores in US and over sea during 2011, there should be a stronger increase in sales of Starbucks in this year. Subjectively, the authors believed that Starbucks revenue would increase no less than 15% in 2011. In other words, if the 2010 revenue was forecasted at $9,920.81 million, the same item in 2011 would be around $11,408.93 million. This result was also determined base on many positive factors that Starbucks could get benefits from such as the economic recovery in higher volume and speed, the more effective operating of Starbucks after the reorganizing process in its retail stores system as well as the objective increase in customers demand. Moreover, the volume of average transaction would be higher due to the increase in cost of goods sold and the im pact of inflation. In the Exhibit 6, all the operating performances of Starbucks from 2005 to 2009 were displayed in detail by the percent of total revenue. Base on those historical data and theirs visible trends, it was possible to anticipate logically the operating results for next two fiscal years 2010 and 2011 (Exhibit 7). According to the Exhibit 14, the net income of Starbucks stays at $466.27 and $479.18 million for each of 2010 and 2011. This may be considered as the acceptable results in regard to the challenges of the current circumstance. In fact, the forecast net income of 2010 is 19.3% higher than 2009. Since the revenue of 2010 did not rise in a strong level (only 1.5%), this impressive net income mainly came from the reducing the stores operating expenses and the more effective tax rate. In 2011, the operating expenses are expected to increase and stay at 95.2% of total sales, this is an objective fact that many items in operating expenses areas are in trend of steady increase year by year accompany with the business enlarge strategy of Starbucks, such as store operating expenses or general and administrative expenses. However, this ratio might be less in the next following years if the restructure process of Starbucks would get its aims of improving efficiency of cost control in various act ivities. Conclusion and recommendation Starbucks has been the largest specialty coffee retailer in its industry, but due to the problems with our economy, it has been seeing an effect on its sales and profits. The economic situation has affected consumers spending at Starbucks and other luxury goods. Starbucks also raised prices by an average of 9 cents a cup in July of 2007, causing U.S. customers who face higher food, fuel and housing expenses to go to McDonalds and Dunkin Donuts for cheaper coffee. These issues have affected Starbucks stocks performance in the market and are slowly making this stock an unfavorable one for potential investors. My recommendation for potential investors would be to hold off on purchasing stocks from Starbucks at this moment because now is not a good time to invest in them. I would advise these investors to keep looking into this stock until they see a positive change in its market pattern and that would be when I would advise them to purchase the stock; before its price increases higher t han the average market price. My recommendation for investors holding the share of the company would be to hold on to it until they can see for certain if Starbucks stocks will continue to go down and become a loss or maybe potential go back up and become profitable as they once were. After conducting my research, I believe the Starbucks stock will eventually start going up again after they put into effect their plans for the upcoming year. This stock is definitely a valuable one that I would not let go of if I owned shares in it. Starbucks hold value to its stock, which is why my advice to shareholders is to hold off on selling their shares until they see how the upcoming year goes for the company. In a response to the McDonalds challenge Starbucks is teaming up with Burger King, which has announced that by September 2010 it would begin selling Starbucks Seattles Best Coffee in about 7,250 U.S. outlets it would launch its first national advertising campaign.
Hamlets Relationships with Women in Hamlet by William Shakespeare Essa
Hamlet's Relationships with Women in Hamlet by William Shakespeare When reading Hamlet it becomes clear right from the beginning that Hamlet has a deep relationship with his mother, Gertrude, because he loves and respects her so much. In the opening scene we can see Hamlet and Gertrude engaged in tender, loving behaviour. But as the play develops we see this relationship suffer some great dents. Gertrude?s role in Hamlet is to show us how Hamlets insanity develops, her actions are a big part of what drives Hamlet mad. Because when she marries his uncle so soon after his fathers death Hamlet feels she is acting in such a betraying way that he is almost incapable of forgiving her. He has difficulties in coping with his fathers sudden death and to see his mother kiss and cuddle her new treacherous husband almost drives Hamlet over the edge. Hamlet, not wanting to offend his mother by telling her about his disapproval, hides his true feelings about the marriage. His disapproval then grows into hatred and is not let out until Hamlet approaches his mother boldly by taunting he...
Monday, August 19, 2019
The Constitution of the United States Essay -- Papers History USA Gove
The Constitution of the United States When the Constitution of the United States was first created in 1787, its purpose was to unify our country. However, by 1850, the United States had become 'source of sectional discord and tension and ultimately contributed to the failure of the union it had created.' What happened during the 63 years after it was first established to 'contribute to the failure of the union it had created?' One must look at what the Constitution promoted to make the country unified and what it did to make it disunified. Compromises such as 3/5, the Missouri, and the tariff of 1850 all helped to unify and shape our country. However, compromises such as the Fugitive Slave Law, Popular Sovereignty, and the slave trade all led to disunify our country. The large populous states naturally wanted the number of representatives in the new Congress to be based on population. The Virginia Plan provided that there would be two houses of Congress and that in each one representation would be based on population. Li ke many other ideas that have made history, it was remarkably simple. Why not divide the Congress into two houses? In one house (the Senate) each state, regardless of population, would have the same number of representatives. In the other house (the House of Representatives) each member would represent the same number of people. 'Quite appropriately this came to be called the Great Compromise. Other major compromises came on slavery and on the control of commerce. The southern states, where the slaves were really treated as property, still wanted the slaves counted as people for the purposes of representation in the New House of Representatives. Some delegates argued that if one kind of property was counted f... ... a truce that announced the opening of fight to the finish. The Missouri Compromise preserved sectional balance for over 30 years and provided time for the nation to mature. The Fugitive Slave Law however, helped lead to the disunification of both the country and the Constitution. The F.S.L. stated that any captured person who claimed to be a free black and not a runaway slave was denied the right to trial by jury. Popular Sovereignty held the greatest possibility maintaining the unity of the Democratic Party and national unity, but that like a lot of other things was proven to be wrong. Buchanan presumably premeditated the Dred Scott Decision but no one really proved it. In conclusion, like stated in the thesis, there were many factors that led to the nation's sectional discord and the unity within the nation. Some of which are still around today but work better.
Sunday, August 18, 2019
Colonial Rule of the Dominican Republic Essay -- History Historical Do
In The Beginning The first instance of colonialism forced upon the inhabitants of the Dominican Republic was the â€Å"discovery†by Christopher Columbus on October 12, 1492. Ernesto Sagas and Orlando Inoa presented the interaction in their book The Dominican People: A Documentary History. The confrontation between these two diametrically opposed cultures proved to be â€Å"far from equal; the Amerindians’ Stone Age culture was no match for European military technology. The initial encounter took place on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, part of which is now the Dominican Republic†(Inoa pg. 1). This was the first step in a trek through five and a half centuries of Dominican Republic history, and unfortunately much of it was filled with the horror of colonialism. In fact, the Dominican Republic became the â€Å"hub†for the colonization of the America’s, and acted as the stepping-stone for European colonizers into a vast, never before exploited goldmine for both natural and human resources. As Sagas and Inoa discuss, the island of Hispaniola, "became the center of the Spanish colonial enterprise in the New World. It was in Hispaniola where the first major contacts between Europeans and Amerindians took place, where the first exploitative economic activities in the New World were developed, where Europeans first established permanent settlements and colonial institutions, and where the stage was set for the colonization of the rest of the New World (Inoa pg. 1.)." Thus the groundwork was established for colonialism not only for the Dominican Republic, but for the entire hemisphere. According to Sagas and Inoa, colonization was inevitable because interaction with Europeans was predictable. They wrote, â€Å"[i]f Christopher Columbus had... ...l developments taking place in the Eurasian land mass. The encounter was far from equal;†(Inoa pg. 1). It began as an unequal interaction, and has remained to this day a relationship of aggressor versus defender. Bibliography The Center for Strategic Studies. Dominican Actionâ€â€1965: Intervention or Cooperation?. Washington, D.C.: The Center for Strategic Studies, 1966. Chester, Eric Thomas. The U.S. Intervention in the Dominican Republic, 1965-66: Rag-Tags, Scum, Riff-Raff, and Commies. New York: Monthly Review Press, 2001 Inoa, Orlando, and Sagas, Ernesto. The Dominican People: A Documentary History. Princeton: Markus Wiener Publishers, 2003. Lundahl, Mats, and Lundius, Jan. Peasants and Religion: A socioeconomic study of Dios Olivorio and the Palma Sola Movement in the Dominican Republic. New York: Routledge: Taylor & Francis Group, 2000.
Saturday, August 17, 2019
Speech: Adolescence and Higher Risk
The amount of teenages getting pregnant around the age of 15-17 is quite concerning . Although most Teenage Pregnancies are unintentional . It still means there are chances of them becoming pregnant. At the same time,Teenage Pregnancies associate with social issues. Finally they come to a time when they need help and support. Well , My name is Taylah and by now you should know my speech will be about Teenage Pregnancy. Firstly most teenage pregnancies are unintentional.Women of all age may have unintended pregnancies , but some groups , such as teens are at a higher risk. A lot of teenagers who become pregnant sometimes wish they weren't . This happens because they either dont want to be parents or they know it's not the right time. By the time they find out they are pregnant they start stressing out because it was never meant to happen and also because they dont want thier parents to know or to find out. Teenage Pregnancies associate with social issues , such as lower educational le vels and higher rates of Poverty.This happens because when they are pregnant they drop out of shcool and just worry about their baby. Although they are unemployed they go on a benefit which is when money is given by the goverment. Why do the young mums still lead a poor life inspite of money given by the goverment ? Well , they lead poor life because they dont think about the future , instead they spend all their money on their child. They don't save up any money and they keep buying things for themselves and their child. Finally they come to a time when they need help and support with their child.They need support with their child so they live a happy life and they need support from their family so that they dint get stressed out and start abusing their baby,and they also need help with buying the right items such as nappies ,food,clothes e. t. c. In conclusion,Teenage Pregnancy need to decrease as it is making NZ look very bad because the rate of Teenage Pregnancy is the highest i n NZ as compared to other countries in the world. In the end I would like to say that teenagers should stay in school and study so that they have a brighter future and can give a very dignified life to their families.
Friday, August 16, 2019
Modern World History Essay
The children had very different reactions to the policy of evacuation. They all had a lot of different experiences. Some liked it and felt as if it was an adventure for them, everything was new to them so they enjoyed it especially the ones who lived with wealthy hosts, some did not want to leave. It was like a holiday. But for these children some felt scared and didn’t like the change, for example this is Source I, taken from the Modern World History Heinemann textbook page 138, ‘Everything was so clean in the room. We were given face flannels and tooth brushes. We’d never cleaned out teeth until then. And hot water came from the tap. And there was a lavatory upstairs. And carpets. And clean sheets. This was all very odd. I didn’t like it. It was scary. ‘ This shows hard and weird it must have been for the children, all the changes would be very confusing. It was even worse though for the children who were mistreated, here is Source M from the same book and page. ‘Clarence and I used to sleep together and poor Clarence used to wet the bed because he was a very nervous kid. She (the foster mother) could never tell who’d done it so she used to bash the daylights out of both of us. So, of course, the more Clarence got hit the more he wet the bed. It was then we started to get locked in the cupboard. ‘ This source tells us how hard it must have been for children like Clarence. First of all they leave their family behind, leave the city they grow up in and don’t know what to expect just that it would be safer than the cities. Then they end up getting beaten by the foster parents. They would feel terrified and would probably wish they had never moved. It would also be very hard for children as they would miss their family and for little kids of about 5 and 6 it would be even harder. They would feel lost and not know what to do. For the mothers and fathers it would be probably be a sad experience letting your children go and live with strangers. You only knew that your children would be safer than in the city and hopefully wouldn’t be killed. You yourself wouldn’t know what to expect and would probably fear the worst. All you knew was that you had a job to do in the war and had to work hard. You didn’t know who you children were staying with or what they were like so it would be a traumatic experience for the parents as well as the kids. Only mums with babies were allowed to evacuate out of the cities with them otherwise they had to work. But at least you knew you were doing your bit and hopefully the hard work would take your mind off things and stop you from worrying. The parents knew the policy was a good idea but probably still had their doubts about it. Another reaction was from the emergency services. They seemed to like it. It gave them a lot more time to concentrate on the war and big things rather than having little kids causing trouble. They liked the situation and it helped them out a lot which was another reason why the evacuation itself took place. There was a lot less people in the cities, less crimes, fires etc. which made their job a lot easier which I’m sure they appreciated. They definitely liked the policy. So this shows the different reactions about the policy. There were a lot of mixed opinions on whether it was good or not. Some liked it some didn’t, but in my opinion it was a good thing but maybe if I was there I might have a different reaction to it.
Thursday, August 15, 2019
Record Management
Running head: Records Management Name Instructor Date of submission Executive Summary An effective records management program is an integral part of an organization’s effective business operations. Organizations must consider records management requirements when implementing the system management strategies or whenever they design and augment an electronic information system. Organizations are required by law to â€Å"make and preserve records containing adequate and proper documentation of the organization, functions, policies, decisions, procedures, and essential transactions of the organization. This legal requirement applies to electronic records kept by the organizations as well. Organizations that do not consistently adhere to standard records management practices run the risk of not having records that can be depended upon in the course of subsequent business transactions or activities. This paper focuses on the various methodologies that organizations can implement in order to develop ECM/ERM strategies that are backed with electronic signature systems. It also gives an insight into the various ways through which organizations can implement good IT practices to complement or parallel existing records management practices. In systems implemented in line with ECM/ERM guidelines, developing the most efficient systems will form the core of organizational success. This will be achieved by making electronically signed records the core of organizational IT systems. The organizational IT professionals will come to terms with the fact that signatures are an integral part of the records they keep. If the records need to be preserved, whether for a short duration of time or permanently, then the organization is required to promote integrity of its records by electronically signing them in scheduled series. Additionally, this paper discusses the general principles that govern application of electronic signature technology in organizations. Organizations can accomplish electronic signatures through the use of different technologies such as Personal Identification Number (PIN), smart cards and biometrics. However, some organizations can decide to apply additional technology specific-record management systems. Introduction Records Life Cycle vs. System Development Life Cycle According to Adam (2008), the terms â€Å"records life cycle†and â€Å"system development life cycle†are significant concepts that are often confused in information technology and records management discussions. Records life cycle: The records life cycle refers to the life span of a record from the time it is created or received to its eventual disposition. The process is usually carried out in three main stages: creation, maintenance and use, and eventual disposition (Sampson, 2002). Majorly, this paper focuses on information creation stage since the electronic signature record is created at the initial stage of the records life cycle. The second stage, maintenance and use, is the part in the records life cycle in which the record is maintained at the organizational level while in active use, or is maintained when not in frequent use. The final stage of the records life cycle is disposition, which marks the ultimate fate finish to the record. Most organizational records are categorized as having either a â€Å"temporary†or â€Å"permanent†disposition status (Addey, 2002). Temporary records are held by organizations for stated periods before they are destroyed or deleted. On the other hand, permanent records are initially held by organizations before they are eventually transferred to state and other involved agencies. The eventual disposition of the electronically-signed records is subject to debate between the involved agency and the statutory bodies, in which some organizations may be authorized to dispose some of the records. System development life cycle: The â€Å"system development life cycle†gives a description of the developmental phases that an electronic information system entails. These phases typically include initiation, definition, design, development, deployment, operation, maintenance, enhancement, and retirement. The most important steps in all this are the definition, development, and refinement of the data model, which mostly involves treatment of the records being created or managed (Stephens, 2007). Information systems are developed according to system development methodologies, including those that organizations use to implement the electronic signature as required by the statutory bodies; which govern production and augmentation of existing records. The records life cycle usually exceeds the system development life cycle. When it does the organization involved needs to retain the particular record for a period of time longer than the life of the electronic information system that generated the electronic signature. However, this presents special challenges, such as maintaining the integrity of record in case of system migration. Background Characteristics of Trustworthy Organizational Records Reliability, authenticity, integrity, and usability are the features used to describe trustworthy records from a records management perspective. An organization needs to consider these features when laying implementation plans for ERM programs; such that it can meet its internal business and legal needs, as well as external regulations (Boiko, 2002). The degree of effort that an organization puts into ensuring that these characteristics are attained depends on the organizational business strategies and the structure of the market environment. Transactions that are of great importance to the organization require greater assurance level than those usable with transactions of less criticality to the organization Reliability: A reliable record is one that carries contents that can be trusted as a whole and actual representation of the transactions, activities, or facts to which it refers and can be relied upon in the subsequent transactions Authenticity: An authentic record is one that is proven to be what it purports to be and to have been created or sent by the person who purports to have created and sent it. A record should be created at the point in time of the transaction or incident to which it relates, or soon afterwards, by individuals who have direct knowledge of the facts or by instruments routinely used within the business to conduct the transaction (Wiggins, 2007). To demonstrate the authenticity of records, organizations should implement and document policies and procedures which control the creation, transmission, receipt, and maintenance of records to ensure that records designers are authorized and identified and that records are protected against unauthorized addition, deletion, and alteration. Integrity: The integrity of a record refers to the state of being complete and unchanged. It is essential that a record be protected against changes without signed permission. Records management policies and procedures should specify what, if any, additions or annotations may be made to a record after it is created, under what circumstances additions or annotations may be authorized, and the people authorized to make the changes. Any authorized annotation or addition to a record made after it is complete should be explicitly indicated as annotations or additions. Another aspect of integrity is the structural integrity of organizational records. The structure of a record refers to its physical and logical format; as well as the relationship between the data elements contained in the record. Failure to maintain the structural integrity of organizational records can easily impair reliability and authenticity of the record Usability: These are records that can be located, retrieved, presented, and interpreted. In any subsequent retrieval and use, the record needs to be directly connected to the business activity or transaction which produced it. It should be possible to identify a record within the context of broader business activities and functions. The connection between records which document a sequence of activities should be maintained. These contextual linkages of records should carry the information needed for an understanding of the transaction that created and used them. Preserving Trustworthy Records For a record to remain reliable, authentic, with its integrity maintained, and useable for as long as the record is needed, it is necessary that it’s content, context and sometimes structure is maintained. A trustworthy record preserves the actual content of the record itself and information about the record that draws relation to the context in which it was first designed and used. Specific contextual information will vary depending upon the business, legal, and regulatory requirements of the business activity (e. g. , issuing land use permits on Federal lands). It is also necessary to preserve the structure of the record, as well as the content arrangement. Failure to preserve the content structure of the record will affect its structural integrity. That, in turn, undermines the record’s reliability and authenticity; which is of great essence. There are special considerations when dealing with the preservation of the content, context, and structure of records that are made possible by Electronic Record Management through electronic signatures: †¢ Content: The electronic signature or signatures in a record are part of the content. They give a clear indication on who signed a record and whether that person gave approval for the record content. In organizations, multiple signatures are an indication of initial approval and subsequent approvals. It should be understood that in ERM, signatures should accompanied by dates and other identifiers such as organizational titles. All of these peripherals are part of the content of the record and needs to be kept well. Lack of this information seriously impairs the reliability and authenticity of a record †¢ Context: Some electronic signature technologies are centered on individual identifiers which are not embedded in the record content, trust paths, and other means used to create and verify the validity of an electronic signature. This information is not inclusive of the record content but is nevertheless significant. It provides contextual support to the record since it provides evidence that can be used to support the authenticity and reliability of the record. Lack of these contextual records seriously impairs subsequent attempts to verify validity of the organizational records. †¢ Structure: Preserving the structure of a record means that the physical and logical formats of a record are well drawn. In doing this, organizations must ensure that the physical and logical formats of the record elements remain intact physically and logically. An organization may find it necessary to maintain the record structural form through the use of an electronic signature. In that case, the organization is required to preserve both the hardware and software that created the electronic signature, which can either be encryption algorithms or chips. This ensures that the electronic record can be revalidated at a later time when required Advantages and disadvantages of using ECM/ERM systems in organizations The main advantage of organizations using ECM/ERM approaches in organizations is the fact that it offers the platform to verify the validity of records. There are various approaches that organizations can use to achieve trustworthiness of electronically-signed records within their systems over time. This requires that organizations choose an approach that is applicable, fit for their particular line of business; as well as risk assessment The first approach may involve an organization deciding to maintain adequate documentation of its records’ validity. This involves maintaining of adequate documentation of the records such as, trust verification of records gathered at or near the time of record signing. This record keeping approach enables organizations to retain contextual information through an adequate document processes carried out at the time the record was electronically-signed, along with the electronically-signed record itself. The additional contextual information is then retained for as long as the electronically-signed record is retained. Thus the agency preserves the signature’s validity and meets the adequacy of documentation requirements by retaining the contextual information that documented the validity of the electronic signature at the time the record was signed. Maintaining adequate documentation of validity gathered at or near the time of record signing may be preferable for records that have permanent or long-term retentions since it is less dependent on technology and much more easily maintained as technology evolves over time (Rockley, 2003). However, using this approach, the signature name may not remain readable over time because of bit-wise deterioration in the record or as a result of technological obsolescence. Agencies must ensure that for permanent records the printed name of the signer and the date when the signature was executed be included as part of any human readable form (such as electronic display or printout) of the electronic record. Similarly, an organization may opt to maintain the capacity to re-validate digital signatures. The re-validation approach demands that an organization retains the ability to revalidate the digital signature, together with the electronically-signed record itself. The information necessary for revalidation (i. e. , the public key used to validate the signature, the certificate related to that key, and the certificate revocation list from the certificate authority that corresponds to the time of signing) must be retained for as long as the digitally-signed record is retained. Both contextual and structural information of the record must be retained. This is of benefit to the organization since it can review it records over time effectively (Jenkins, 2005). However, this approach of record keeping is potentially burdensome, particularly for records that are digitally signed records with long retention requirements. Conclusions Record keeping is consistently becoming a priority for many organizations with advancement in technology. The challenging part is keeping up with the drastic options that are being launched within short periods. As discussed in this paper, the most efficient method of managing organizational records is through the adoption of Electronic Content Management or Electronic Record Management systems (Halvorson, 2009). This is mostly achieved by electronically signing records depending on their importance and usage in the organization. In doing this, organizations are able protect the reliability, authenticity, integrity, and usability, as well as the confidentiality, and legitimacy of their records. When implementing electronic signature technology, organizations are expected to accord special consideration to the use of electronic signatures in electronic records that preserve organizational legal rights. This is based on the fact that long-term temporary and permanent electronically signed records have greater longevity than typical software obsolescence cycles, it is certain that organizations will be required to migrate those records to updated versions of software to maintain access to the records (Hackos, 2002). The software migration (as opposed to media migration) process may invalidate the digital signature embedded in the record. This may adversely affect an agency’s ability to recognize or enforce the legal rights documented in those records. References Adam, A. (2008). Implementing electronic document and record management systems. Boca Raton: Auerbach Publications. Addey, D. (2002). Content management systems. Birmingham: Glasshaus, cop. Boiko, B. (2005) Content Management Bible. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons. Hackos, T. (2002). Content management for dynamic web delivery. New York: John Wiley & Sons. Halvorson, K. (2009). Content strategy for the web. Indianapolis: New Riders. Jenkins, T. (2005). Enterprise content management: what you need to know; [turning content into competitive advantage]. Waterloo: Open Text Corp. Rockley, A. (2003). Managing enterprise content: a unified content strategy. Indianapolis: New Riders. Sampson, K. (2002). Value-added records management: protecting corporate assets, reducing business risks. West port: Quorum Books. Stephens, D. (2007). Records management: making the transition from paper to electronic. Alexa: ARMA. Wiggins, B. (2000). Effective document management: unlocking corporate knowledge. Aldershot: Gower.
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