Managerial Finance Essay

ASSIGNMENT BMMF5103 MANAGERIAL FINANCE 15 July 2013 QUESTION 1 a) Maximizing shareholder wealth is a â€Å"moral imperative† for financial manager means managers are supposed to work for shareholders who are the actual owners of a company or corporation. Shareholders elect company directors who in turn hire managers to run the company on day to day basis with the view to make profit for the company. Managers are paid for their services rendered to the company whereas the shareholders own the company. As such morally managers should pursue policies that enhance shareholder value with the primary objective focused on stockholder wealth maximization. b) Managers make key day-to-day decisions to maximize shareholder value. But how do the owners of a business know that managers are operating to maximize shareholder value? This lack of information is known as the principal-agent problems. The agent performs the tasks on shareholders’ behalf yet the shareholders cannot ensure that the agent performs precisely the way the shareholders would like. Agency costs as related to a corporation refers to the costs of preventing agents (e.g. managers) pursuing their own interests at the expense of shareholders. There might be conflicts between shareholders and the company managers. Shareholders who are owners want the managers to make decisions which will increase the share value. Managers who receive salaries prefer to expand the business with the view to increase their salaries which may not necessarily increase the share value. Thus, agency costs tend to decrease the value of a corporation because the rising costs make the share price low when there is substantial debt involved. Costs of monitoring will increase and thus reduce wealth maximization of shareholders. c) Business ethics is the acceptable set of moral values and corporate standards of conduct in running a business organization. It includes proper business policies and practices such as corporate governance, as a check against insider trading, bribery, discrimination and covers corporate social responsibility and fiduciary responsibilities. Business ethics is a basic framework providing proper conduct, it may be guided by law or put in placeso as to gain public confidence and acceptance. An example of business ethics is when an employee lie to a potential client to get him to sign for services or purchase the product offered. Business ethics is important to a corporation because it will determine its reputation. It will give public confidence towards the corporation. It is essential for the long-term survival and success of the corporation in business. Implementing an ethical program will foster a successful corporation culture, values and enhanced profitability. Business ethics will also influence the way the corporations conduct its business and affect all including customers, employees, suppliers, competitors, etc. d) Advantages i) There is no maturity period in common stock. Thus, eliminating future repayment obligation and enhances the desirability of common stock financing. ii) There is no obligation for repayment of the funds. Instead, there are others to share the risk of the business investment with. Since there is no debt obligation, there is no finance fee. iii) Issuing common stock can increase firm’s borrowing power.The more common stock is sold, the larger the firm’s equity base. Therefore, the more easily and cheaply long-term debt financing can be obtained. iv) Once capital is raised through stock, the corporation is free to use the proceeds in any way it pleases. Disadvantages i) Involves high cost.It may be the most expensive form of long-term financing. Dividends are not tax-deductible and common stock is a riskier  security than either debt or preferred stock. ii) Potential effects of dilution on earnings and voting power. When a company or corporation issues more shares, its financial results must be divided by a larger number of shares, causing dilution. This is because selling of shares of the company means giving each investor a piece of ownership. Because they own the share of the company, the investors have the right to demand explanations and justifications for business decisions. iii) Market perception that management think. Management issues involve examining perceptions about management and perceptions by management. It includes various judgments regarding the competence of current and future management team as well as issues related to insider buying such as future strategies to increase operations and market share.When management makes large purchases of their own stock with private funds, investors may feel that the company is undervalued or that a favorable company event will occur soon. e) The three main users of ratio analysis i) Owners: The owners of a firm are mainly interested in the firm’s profitability, liquidity and hence survival. Therefore, they need financial ratios to test the performance of their company such as profitability ratios to find outwhether management is able to convert sales dollars into profits and cash flow. The common ratios are gross margin, operating margin and net income margin. The gross margin is the ratio of gross profits to sales. The operating margin is the ratio of operating profits to sales and net income margin is the ratio of net income to sales. The return-on-asset ratio, which is the ratio of net income to total assets, measures a company’s effectiveness in deploying its assets to generate profits. The return-on-investment ratio, which is the ratio of net income to shareholders’ equity, indicates a company’s ability to generate a return for its owners. These ratios are useful to owners of companies. ii) Creditors Creditors are interested in a firm’s ability to pay their debts over a short period of time.The ratio analysis will evaluate the firm’s liquidity  position. Creditors use liquidity ratio, which is the ratio of current assets to current liabilitiestogauge the ability of the company to pay its short-term bills. A ratio of greater than one is usually a minimum because anything less than one means the company has more liabilities than assets. iii) Management Management team comprising financial managers regularly use ratio analysis to evaluate financial policies and decisions they have made. It is the overall responsibilities of the management team to make sure available resources are used most effectively and efficiently and that the financial positions of the company is sound.Management uses profitability ratios to analyze the company’s ability to convert sales dollars into profits and cash flow. For example, the return-on-investment ratio, which is the ratio of net income to shareholders’ equity, indicates a company’s ability to generate a return for its owners. Examples of ratio formula: Example 1: Gross margin ratio Gross Margin = Gross Profit Revenue Gross profit and revenue figures are obtained from the income statement of a business. Alternatively, gross profit can be calculated by subtracting cost of goods sold from revenue. Thus gross margin formula may be restated as: Gross Margin = Revenue − Cost of Goods Sold Revenue Example 2: Operating margin ratio Operating income is same as earnings before interest and tax. Operating income and revenue figures is available from the income statement of a company. Operating Margin = Operating Income Revenue QUESTION 2 a) There are five different categories of financial ratios. They are: i) Liquidity ratio is used to measurecompany’s ability to pay its short-term debt obligations. As such, they focus on the firm’s current assets and current liabilities on the balance sheet.The most common liquidity ratios used is the current ratio mainly to give an idea of the company’s ability to pay back its short-term liabilities such as debt and payables with its short-term assets such as cash, inventory and receivables. ii) Debt ratio is used to measure company’s ability to meet its long-term debt obligations. The ratio indicates what proportion of debt a company has relative to its assets. The measure gives an idea to the leverage of the company along with the potential risks the company faces in terms of its debt-load. iii) Financial leverage ratio measure the extent to which a business or investor is using the borrowed money. A company having high leverage is considered to be at risk of bankruptcy in the event the company is unable to repay the debts. The most common financial leverage ratio is the debt-to-equity ratio calculated as total debt divided by shareholders equity iv) Asset efficiency or turnover ratios measure the efficiency a company uses its assets to produce sales. The most common asset efficiency ratios are the inventory turnover ratio, the receivables turnover ratio, the days’ sales in inventory ratio, the days’ sales in receivables ratio, the net working capital ratio, the fixed asset turnover ratio, and the total asset turnover ratio. v) The profitability ratios measure the company’s ability to generate a profit and an adequate return on assets and equity. The ratios measure how efficiently the firm uses its assets and how effectively it manages its operations. An example is the Net profit margin ratio is a ratio of profitability calculated as after-tax net income (net profits) divided by sales (revenue). It shows the amount of each sales dollar left over after all expenses have been paid. Limitations of financial ratios i) Although financial ratios can be effective tools for gauging financial performance and managerial effectiveness, they rarely provide answers. Ratios will not say why something is going wrong and what to do about a particular situation; they only pinpoint where a problem is. ii) There is no international standards on the use of financial ratios. Limitation of ratios interpretation emerges when a particular set of ratios of a company is compared to other company or business. For example, for calculating the inventory turnover one company may use the cost of goods sold as the numerator, while another may use its sales figures. A company may use the operating profit to calculate its total assets turnover, while another may use the net income after taxes. iii) Benchmark for assessing company’s financial position is needed. Different operating methodologies may be employed to run a company may render the comparison of financial ratios irrelevant. Example, a company prefers to lease most of its assets while another company may own them. Thus, some of the ratios, such as debt to total assets, fixed-charge coverage, total assets turnover, and return on total assets, would be unrelated. iv) The inflation factor can make the ratio of a particular company look good or bad. Inventory turnover may have deteriorated over a three-year period; the problem may not due to the increase in physical inventory, but rather, to increase in the cost of the goods. b) Effect of an increase in a company’s debt ratio to its return on equity. An increase on debt-ratio will be increase in the return of equity. If a company finances itself through debt, the creditors shoulder the risk. If the debt results in increased earnings, the return on shareholder investment is exponential. Total liabilities include both the current and non-current liabilities. The formula to calculate the debt ratio is: Debt Ratio = Total Liabilities Total Assets Return on Equity is expressed as a percentage and calculated as: ROE = Net Income/Common Equity c) Long-term interest rate = (RM13,000,000) (8/100) = RM1,040,000 Short-term interest rate = RM1,300,000 – RM1,040,000 = RM260,000 Short-term interest rate = RM260,000/RM1,546,000 = 0.168 Rate of interest on notes payable is 16.8% d) Changes in value of equity (in millions) (RM in millions) Shareholders’ beginning equity 537 Shareholders’ ending equity 485 Difference beginning & ending equity 52 Net income 128 Less: Paid dividends 57 Difference 71 Stock/shares purchased in the year (52+71) 123 Shares purchased throughout the year is RM123 million e) If the current ratio of corporation is 5.65 when industry average is 1.42, this disparity means that the corporation is having: i) an excess build-up in inventory. When the corporation holds a high level of inventory, it ties up business funds that could have been used in other areas such as in development or marketing. The cost of the inventory is not recovered by the corporation until it sells the inventory. ii) aged account receivables which is the amounts owed to the company by its customers. The corporation’s account receivables reports will identify problems with receivables management process and identify accounts that require collection action. QUESTION 3 a) Although ownership of stock represents ownership in a company, not all stock is created equal. Therefore there are two basic types of stock: common stock and preferred stock. Preferred stock is sometimes referred to as a hybrid security because it has features of common stocks and bonds. A company’s preferred stock trades independently of its common stock and offers preferred stockholders a different set of benefits. Preferred stocks paid amount of dividends just as fixed interest bond. It is not debt but equity like common stocks. b) Preferred stock par value of RM100 with annual dividend 10%. Annual rate of return is 11.5%. i) RM100 X10/100% = RM10. Yield of 11.5% 11.5%/100 = 0.115 = RM86.96 ii) As the risk-free rate increases, the required rate of return will increase and the price will drop. When rates increase, the price of the preferred stock will likely fall. If price falls, the issuer will likely call the preferred stock and replace it with a new preferred stock issue at a lower rate, conventional debt, or perhaps even common stock c) RM4.63(1+0.05)/(0.12-0.05) = 4.8615/0.07 = 69.46 The value of the company’s stock if the required rate of return is 12% is RM69.46 d) Before change in price per share, r =5% + (8% -5%) beta 1.3 = 8.9% After change in price per share, r = 4% + (10% – 4%) 1.5 = 13% Therefore, the change in price per share is RM4.87 e) Formula for constant growth is rs = r RE + (rm – rRE)b = 6% + 5% (1.4) = 13% 2013 = RM0 dividen 2015 = RM1.00 2016 = RM1.00 (1.2) = RM1.20 2017 = RM1.00 RM1.44 2018 = RM1.00 RM1.728 2019 = RM1.00 RM1.849 Calculate growth between constant rate = The price of the stock is RM20.16 QUESTION 4 a) Needs RM40,000/year during retirement period n = 10 yrs, i = 9 % PVA = PMT (PVIFA) = RM40,000 (9.129) = RM365,160 PV = RM365,160 (0.422) = RM154,097.52 The Mirians should deposit RM154,097.52 b) Model A: PV = PMT (PVIFA) = RM5,000 (3.993) = RM19,965 Model B: Year Payment (RM) PVIF PV 1 7,000 0.926 6,482 2 6,000 0.857 5,142 3 5,000 0.794 3,970 4 4,000 0.735 2,940 5 3,000 0.681 2,043 Total: 20,577 I would purchase/buy model A because it is cheaper by RM612 compared to model B. c) Which option to be chosen? Option 1 PMT = RM3,500/2.487 = RM1,407,318.05 Option 2 PMT = RM3,500/3.102 = RM1,128,304.32 Option 3 PMT = RM3,500/3.605 = RM970,873.79 The company should choose option 3 because lower by RM157,430.53 compared to option 2 which is second lowest d) Present value is exact invest of the compound interest calculations. Applying compound interest calculation is to find the future value of a present amount. Using the present value calculation a present value amount is found to be received in future. e) Over certain period the principle amount increases as a result of the installment payments resulting in lower amount of interest that is charged by the bank. QUESTION 5 a) When an investor buys a bond, the investor is lending money to the bond issuer, which could be a government, corporation, etc. The issuer promises to pay a specified rate of interest during the life of the bond and to repay the principal, also known as face value or par value of the bond, when it â€Å"matures,† or comes due after a set period of time. Thus bonds provide interest payment and principal payment. Payment of interest is done annually or semi-annually. Coupon payments are paid periodically. When bond matures a principal sum is paid which is a lump sum payment. b) Bond prices and interest rates are related. Interest rates and bond prices have â€Å"inverse relationship†, when one goes up, the other goes down. If interest rates is high enough, bond prices would fall. If interest rates is low, bond prices would rise. Prices of short-term bonds do not fluctuate  more often compared to long-term bond. Premium bond is sold when the stated rate of interests exceed the required rate of return. Example, if rates dropped to below original coupon rate of 7% for RM1,000 bond, it would be priced at a premium since it would be carrying a higher interest rate than what was currently available in the market. A bond will sell at a discount when the stated rate of interest is less than the required return. Bond is sold equal to the par value when the stated rate of interest is equal to the required return. c) Param does not have enough money to buy 10 bonds if the required rate of return is 9%. This is because the required rate of return which is 9% is less than the coupon rate of the bond which is 10%. The price of the bond is greater than the par value of RM1,000. Considering there are 10 bonds, the total price is greater than RM10,000. That is the reason why Param would not have enough money to buy the 10 bonds. d) FV = RM1,000 PMT =150 N = 10 PV = RM1,250 1/YR = 10.79% e) Interest rate risk is the risk of decline in bond values due to the increase in interest whereas reinvestment risk is the risk of an income decline due to a drop in interest rates. Bond holders who bought long-term bond is greatly at risk to the interest rate risk. QUESTION 6 a) [(RM18+RM4+RM3+RM2-RM24)/24] X 100% = 12.5%. Therefore, Billie jean’s realized rate of return during the three years holding period is 12.5% b) (i) Stock 1 8 + 0.8 (12 – 8) = 11.2% Stock 2 8 + 1.2 (12 – 8) = 12.8% Stock 3 8 + 0.6 (12 – 8) = 10.4% (ii) Stock 3 is undervalued due since E (R) ≠¥ RR c) Beta is the measurement for market risk which is non-diversifiable. The risk must be dealt with by the portfolio manager. Diversifiable risk should be diversified away by portfolio manager so that it would not pose a problem to the investment. As such all market risks is all relevant to the portfolio manager since it is his job and responsibility in balancing the likely risk and return. d) The situation suggest that investors are more risk adverse compared to before the shift taking place. On the portfolio, a risk premium of 11% (16% – 5%) is required whereas previously 10% (15% – 5%). If slope were to change downward, it means investors are less aversion to risk. e) Expected return: 0.9(12%) + 0.1 (20%) = 12.8% Beta: 0.9(1.2) + 0.1(2.0) = 1.28%

American Home Products Corporation Essay

1. How much business risk does American Home Products face? How much financial risk would American Home Products face at each of the proposed levels of debt shown in case Exhibit 3? How much potential value, if any can American Home Products create for its shareholders at each of the proposed levels of debt? A combination of business risk and financial risk shows the risk of an organization’s future return on equity. Business risk is related to make a firm’s operation without any debt, whereas financial risk requires that the firm’s common stockholders make a decision to finance it with debt. a) American Home Products has been operating on four main lines of business that are less uncertainty about product demand; for example, one of its business lines is food products because whenever people buy foods. It means that AHP’s business risk is low. As mentioned above, if a firm does its operation activities regularly without leverage, it means that its busines s risk is not significant high. Thus, ratio of cash to total assets is calculated by following: According to Figure 1, AHP’s cash was about 23% of total assets, rose constantly since 1978 to 1981, and reached 28.2% in 1981; thus, it has enough cash flow to finance its daily operation.  Also, return on assets can show that a firm’s ability to cover its operating cost by generating income. According to the calculation below, American Home Products Corporation’s ROA was stable and approximately 19.2 % in 1981; consequently, AHP earned sufficient amount of income to cover its operating cost. Figure 2 Return on Assets of Amercan Home Products Corporation, 1972-1981 ($ in millions) Add to these above explanations, Exhibit 1 shows that AHP’s peak annual growth in sales was 14.1% in 1978 and compare to it, annual growth in sales decreased by 5.3% in 1981; as a result, it became disadvantage to AHP because consumers started to interest into competitors’ products. Risk aversion was the most fundamental component of AHP’s culture; consequently, they prefer to acquire or take license of previously developed goods or produce similar products with its competitors rather than to develop new-products. Although it seems to save R&D expenses, acquisition cost or a cost of time response to steal other’s innovation would be still appeared. Thus, AHP should try to improve its sales. b) Financial risk is related to business risk, so we measured NOPAT, ROIC, ROE whose uncertainty future can determine a firm’s business risk in Figure 3. Figure 3 Pro Forma 1981 Results for Alternative Capital Structures ($ in millions except ratios) Above pro forma illustrates that total debt and financial risk have straight correlation with each other and AHP’s total debt increased, so its financial risk would rise. Then if American Home Products Corporation could not pay its loan and interest by schedule, it would meet the financial risk and the risk of bankruptcy. According to Exhibit 4, AHP used excess cash of 233 million dollars on each of the proposed levels to repurchase stocks and remaining amounts were financed by debt; thus, its common shares outstanding would decreased by 19.8 million shares on 30% dept ratio and 36.6 million shares on 70% debt ratio. It means that equity will goes down, so its return on equity will rise. AHP should consider about financial risk to change the capital structure. American Home Products Corporation can save taxes to pay by increasing debt. Figure 4 illustrates that its taxes savings can be advantage to AHP if it uses heavier capital structure. Figure 4 Pro Forma 1981 Taxes Savings ($ in millions) According to Figure 4, if the company’s capital structure is 70% debt to total capital, comparing to 30 % debt to total capital structure, it can save approximately 1.9 times greater money; thus, its shareholders would benefit from it. 2. What capital structure would you recommend as appropriate for AHP? What are the advantages of leveraging this company? The disadvantages? How would leveraging up affect the company’s taxes? How would the capital markets react to a decision by the company to increase the use of debt in its capital structure? Most appropriate capital structure for American Home Products is 30% debt to total capital. Several reasons will explain the reason why this structure gives advantage to AHP. The first, as using 30% debt ratio, the company would be able to be recapitalized; hence, common shares outstanding of 19.8 million can be repurchased. The second, according to Figure 4, AHP would have advantage to save taxes of 37.8 million dollars and its sha reholders benefit by getting more values. Exhibit 2 shows that Warner Lambert company’s debt ratio is approximately 32% and its bond rating is AAA or AA. It means that if AHP uses 30% debt and 70% equity, its bond rating will be same as Warner Lambert; consequently, bond interest to pay will not increase much due to bond rating. Addition to these reasons, AHP would face less risk to compare heavier capital structures. Finally, AHP’s annual growth in sales decreased in 1981 by 2.9% from previous year, so getting debt could be helpful to manage its operation effectively and increase its sales growth. Besides above advantages, using 30% debt and 70% equity capital structure has disadvantages. First of all, if a firm has a loan, it has to be responsible to pay its principle and interest as a schedule; otherwise, it would be reason to bankruptcy; thus, same rule works on case of AHP. In addition to the risk of bankruptcy, if the company’s daily operation requires more investment after recapitalization, gettin g new loan for it would be more difficult. In final, using debt can be reason to increase its financial risk, so it has to be more careful to manage its operation. According to Figure 4, leveraging the company by using 30% debt to capital structure would decrease its taxes of 37.8 million dollars to pay. The capital market would react positively to a decision by the company to use of 30% debt in its capital structure. The company had almost no debt and had excess of cash or higher liquidity and Mr. Laborte who was chief executive of the company was near to give his position because of retirement, so most analysts expected the company to change its conservative capital structure. Also, Figure 5 shows the market positive reaction on the stock price. Figure 5 Stock Price of AHP ($ in millions except per share datas and ratios) According to Figure 5, AHP’s stock price will increase to 31.5. In order to calculate new stock price, we used average price/earnings ratio of both American Home Products Corporation and Warner Lambert Company in Exhibit 2 because exhibit 2 illustrates that while P/E ratio of AHP is 10.6%, 8% for Warner Lambert and unlike Warner Lambert, AHP has less financial risk. All though AHP’s risk will increase after getting leverage and its P/E ratio will decrease, AHP would have better financial position than Warner Lambert, so investors would be interested to buy AHP’s stock rather than stock of Warner Lambert. 3. How might AHP implement a more aggressive capital structure policy? What are the alternative methods for leveraging up? AHP should use heavier capital structure which means that increase to use more debt instead of conservative capital structure; consequently, AHP’s capital structure might be more effective and aggressive. The alternative methods for leveraging up are innovating new products, using better technology, and motivating labor. 4. In view of AHP’s unique corporate culture, what arguments would you advance to persuade Mr. Laporte or his successor to adopt your recommendation? According to Mr. Laporte, his company works in order to increase shareholders wealth, so as using 30% debt to capital would give possibility to save 37.8 million dollars from taxes; thus, its shareholders would benefit getting higher dividends per share. Even though after using debt, its price/earnings ratio might be decreased, its attraction of investors will be still powerful because of stock price increase. Also, if the company uses more debt to the operation, it will be possible to repurchase common stocks of 19.8 millions of shares from market.

Christianity vs. Greek Mythology Essay

Throughout many ages religion has been a very important part of history. It shaped many cultures and allowed us to better understand many civilizations. Two of these cultures are those of the Christians and Greeks. Both have similarities and differences in their religious beliefs that have been compared often and I have chosen to discuss the similarities and differences of Christianity and ancient Greek mythology. Christianity is a monotheistic religion, or belief in only one God, and spiritual practices are based on the Old Testament and the teachings of Jesus as written in the New Testament of the Bible, with the role of Jesus as savior and the Son of God. Greek mythology is a polytheistic religion, which is the belief in and worship of multiple deities, called gods and goddesses, belonging to the culture of ancient Greece. Even though their definitions are different, the faith of Christianity and one God and the culture of the Greeks in mythology of many gods are alike in a number of ways. To begin, in both religions humans believe that there are speakers for their God/gods. These people include pastors, priests and nuns in Christianity, and storytellers or prophets in Greek times. Furthermore, the people believe that their God or gods are above humans. Both cultures believe a god is above all mortal and of this earth, and he or she listens to people when they need help, and have supernatural power to help. This is why both the Christians and the Greeks pray to their God and gods for forgiveness. Another similarity between the religious beliefs of these two cultures is that they have explanations for many of ancient mysteries of life and major events on earth. The ancient Greeks and early Christians tried to find an explanation for the evil in the world, and both blame a woman for man’s downfall. Greeks believe a woman named Pandora opened a forbidden box and released all evil into the world. Christians believe a woman named Eve released evil after eating from a forbidden tree. Also, in both the ancient Greek and Christian beliefs of the early world, there exist stories of great floods that destroyed most of humankind. In Greek mythology, Zeus orders a man named Deucalion to make a chest in which he and his family can survive  the flood Zeus was going to bring upon the earth. In the Bible, the account of Christian beliefs, God orders a man named Noah to build an ark in which he and his family, and two of each animal, can survive the destruction from a flood God was going to send. War was also a common characteristic of both the ancient Greek world and of the Biblical world. For example, the Trojan War is a major event in Greek history, and is written about most famously in Homer’s Iliad. The gods always seemed to play important roles in this war, especially Zeus, Ares the god of war, and the other and goddesses living on Mount Olympus. Wars between Greek city-states were also common, with gods and goddesses almost always involved in them in some way. In similar comparison, the Bible accounts many stories of wars between different countries and religious groups, with God being involved in some way in the outcome or fate of the peoples. One of the most famous examples is the war between the Philistines and the Israelites. In this war, God interfered and sent a small shepherd boy David to save the Israelites. David does so by killing the giant Goliath, a super-human thing he would not have been able to accomplish without God’s help. These examples show the cross-cultural belief that war was an important event in the ancient world, and the gods, and God, played significant roles. While Christianity and ancient Greek mythology have many similarities, there are key differences. The main and most obvious difference is that Christian belief is about only one God, and its beliefs and commandments are written about in the Bible. Christians regard the stories told in Bible as actual historical accounts of important people, events and concepts of faith. Greek mythology had 13 major gods and goddesses, and many lesser gods. Different Greek cities also worshipped different deities. There is no book like the â€Å"Bible†, rather many collections of stories that shaped early Greek culture. In short, Greek mythology was created to be the Greek’s science for why things happened. Once they thought they figured out how things really happened, the belief in gods and goddesses faded away from Greek culture. The final difference I want to discuss to compare the ancient Greek creation story and that of Christian belief. In the ancient Greek story, at first there was only Chaos, a shapeless mass of darkness and meaninglessness. Out of Chaos came Nyx (night) and Erebus (the unfathomable deep). The first god to come into existence was Gaea, Mother Earth, though no one knows where she came from or how she came into being. Uranus, Father Sky, was born of Gaea as she slept. He became her husband, and together they had many children. One of these first gods’ descendants was Zeus. After much war between the gods and goddesses, Zeus became most powerful and assigned two lower gods the task of populating the earth with mortal creatures. With that task, one of the two gods granted so many gifts on the lower animals that when the time came to create man, there was nothing left. The beasts already had the sharp teeth and claws, the warm fur and feathers, the tough, protective hides, the wings and shells, speed, size, and strength. The wiser of these two lower gods was given task to figure out what gifts to bestow on man. The gods gave man a more noble, upright stance, so man would be above the beasts, with his face turned toward the heavens rather then down toward the ground. He also gave man an intelligence that reached much higher than the beasts’ mere cunning. In the Christian creation story, God was present in the beginning and He created the universe. At first the earth was shapeless and covered in darkness, and God’s spirit hovered over the waters. God said, â€Å"Let there be light†. And there was light. God divided the day from the night, naming them ‘ day’ and ‘night’. On the second through fifth day God made the heavens, commanded the waters to fill with living creatures and the air to fill with birds. On the sixth day God commanded the earth to bring forth all kinds of living creatures and He saw that it was good. God then said † Let us make man in our own image†. So God created man and woman in his own likeness and gave them authority over all living things. Adam, the first man, was created by God out of soil and given life by God’s breath. Adam named all the animals and birds that God had made, But Adam had no companion of his own so God caused Adam to fall into a deep sleep and created woman – Eve- from one of Adam’s ribs. In addition, unlike the beginning void of Chaos in Greek mythology, God is not a void of nothingness, but the beginning of all  things. God also remains the ruler of the entire world in Biblical stories, while the Greek Chaos is forced out by several actual divine beings, the most important and permanent of those being Zeus. In conclusion I found there to be many interesting similarities between Christian faith and ancient Greek religious culture, but one final difference is that Christianity is practiced today and the Bible widely read in many countries and published in many languages, while ancient Greek belief system has faded away and become the stories of fantastical books, myths and legends.my

Ethnographic observation report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Ethnographic observation report - Essay Example Cultural constructs are also well observable in the eventual assessment of the data. There was extreme exposure of cultural issues from the entire field (DeWalt & DeWalt, 2011). Data that was obtained through the entailed participant observation served as check against participants’ prejudiced reporting on regards to what they believe or even do. Undertaken participant observation availed very constructive data for gaining a well understanding of the varying social, physical, cultural, and economic perspectives of the population from which group study participants reside; the relationships amongst and between populace norms, contexts, ideas and outlined events; and their behaviors or activities (AranhaÃŒÆ'o & Streck, 2003). With regards to observation entailed, the data regarding appeal to fashion was highly varying regarding the altering or changing intergenerational segments of the community entailed in the research. Old generation people or old persons exhibited dressing models that indicated less exposure or nakedness while the young people were noted to have dressed in cloths that were very much exposing. The model of eating was well notable as many young people always walked along with snacks in hands while the old people restricted their eating habits to hotels or did not do at all while walking. The access to behaviors of various groups in the process was very comfortlessly possible. Young people or mainly teenagers, old people, drivers, law enforcers and normal working class people were all covered in the process. Teenagers exhibited very risky modes of behavior entirely in the program for the permitted time under which the data collection was taken. They were noted driving while under the influence of drugs or mainly alcohol, instances of driving when apparently fatigued and over speeding were regularly notable thus prompting transport accidents. Other substances similar to

Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 32

Case Study Example They even put their own ego aside just to make sure that the work flows smoothly. Their commitment to the task leads them to using a variety of resources so that the task is achieved in time. So it cannot be said that success of a group should be attributed to all group members playing different roles. However, the extent to which different group members contribute also depends upon the leadership and supervision of the group. Having different personalities as part of the team helps in the development of a holistic approach toward the achievement of goals. Personality depicts the thoughts, opinions, perceptions, and reactions of an individual toward the challenges at hand. So when people with different personalities ponder over a matter, they are able to identify far more opportunities than anyone could have done individually. For example, a person who is very social can easily form ties with others. His/her oratory skills and friendly personality helps him/her acquire the most suitable resources for the task at hand. Social people are also generally very friendly, so people find it easy to approach them and discuss all kinds of issues with them. This helps deter confusions and promotes mutual understanding among the group members. On the other hand, people with dominating and aggressive personalities help a group achieve its goal by keeping everything on track. They have the power to command others, and thus are skilled in taking work from others. Balancing a team of people with different personalities is a leadership skill. A leader should have a fair understanding of the personalities of different group members, and he/she should decide and assign them roles accordingly. For example, a leader should give more authority to sharks and dolphins compared to the puffer fish. When forming a task force, a leader should ensure that there is at least one member of each kind of fish in it. It

Mask Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Mask - Research Paper Example Ergo, as social beings, we persistently and painstakingly strive to maintain a vivid distinction between our inner and outer selves. Thus, in ordinary day-to-day living, people take refuge in masks for a two-fold purpose: to ward off unpleasant social criticism and to gain social acceptance. In effect, a mask functions as a protective cocoon – one that serves to conceal the essential inner self of an individual that is wounded and crippled by: personal misfortunes, character deficiencies, moral failings and shameful or objectionable desires; thereby, projecting a well-integrated and a thoroughly appealing persona of the mask wearer in front of the outside world. This premise will be substantiated through the following discussion. It is note-worthy that offenders or serial killers frequently resort to the use of masks or personas to avoid legal persecution and penalty. For the notorious Ted Bundy, the varied social disguises assumed by him, facilitated him in embarking on a journey of unrestrained violence and horrific homicides. What surprises one in Bundy’s case is the incongruity that existed between his pleasant and charming demeanour as a college student and his hauntingly lustful obsession with committing atrociously heinous murders of defenceless and vulnerable women. He himself claimed that, â€Å"I grew up in a wonderful home with two wonderful and dedicated parents†¦We regularly attended church†¦I was a normal person†¦I led a normal life† (Bundy). However, this apparent normalcy displayed by Bundy was merely a representation of his pseudo self or the persona. It was a disguise adopted by him in order to overshadow the destructive tendencies tumultuously bubbling within h im. Similar to a predator waiting to devour its prey, Bundy would calculate every manipulative move in advance with immense precision. He paraded a highly likable persona of himself in front of his victims and his peers. In return, he was granted an

Critically evaluate the status of Offender profiling as a Essay

Critically evaluate the status of Offender profiling as a psychologically - underpinned technique - Essay Example an either be â€Å"proactive or reactive.† Investigators use reactive profiling when solving crimes that have already happened while proactive profiling involves an attempt to interdict and foil crime before it happens. Profiling provides the police investigators with a personality snapshot or typology helpful in identifying and apprehending a suspect. It assists the police with a set of unique behavioural habits and personality characteristics. Alison and Canter (1999) say that profiling almost always takes place after a crime scene has been examined. Dr. Canter’s studies related to the link between Action versus Characteristics ( A v C ) of the offender including his criminal history, background and relationships to others has become known as the ‘profiling equations’ and has given rise to criminal behaviour identification which is crucial to models of inference related to investigations. Unlike detective fiction, these inference models operate at the thematic level. To collect information and test hypothesis for inductive reasoning; is at the heart of empirical science and investigative psychology where a wide range of empirical studies aims at providing objective bases for investigative inferences. Studies related to inference are slowly beginning to provide a basis for a general theory of offender consistency. But it would be unwise to rule out the possibility, that if the offender is intelligent, he’ll often alter his M.O. (Modus Operandi or method of operation) to avoid detection as in the case of Yorkshire Ripper; who used a screwdriver in his early killings and later changed to using a ligature. To help the police generate detailed information, psychologists have developed processes and guidelines for ‘cognitive interviews’ but to measure their precise relevance and accuracy, varies between situations. Similarly, psychologists are involved in studies and procedures to help reconstruct faces from memory. They have also contributed to the

Sport injuries (athletes) Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Sport injuries (athletes) - Research Paper Example For better understanding of the rise of the sports related injuries, a graph has been mentioned that shows the difference between the numbers of sports injuries recently compared to 2004. Finally the research paper has been concluded by proving the thesis statement mentioned in the introduction. Sports injuries have been very common during athletic activities. Sport injuries can occur as a result of acute trauma or from overuse of a body part. Traumatic injuries generally occur as a result of high contact sports, such as football, rugby, ice hockey, American football etc. Collisions with other players and ground objects can lead to unexpected dynamic forces on joints and limbs, which can result in occurrence of injury on a single or multiple body parts. Strain, sprain, contusion, bone fracture, wound, spinal cord injury and head injuries are some common form of sports injury observed among the athletes and sports icons. Several prevention programs have been initiated by the sports authority in the modern world, in order to reduce the risks associated with injuries. This research paper illustrates the thesis statement. Sports injuries are very common symptom observed among athletes. In the year 1985, Ronnie Lott a famous NFL Football player misplaced one of his fingers as a result of a dangerous collision that occurred during the sport. Lott cut his finger off so that he could complete his sport season successfully. Super Bowl is an American sports event i.e. enjoyed by most of the people. American Super Bowl sometimes becomes very dangerous for players as it involves greater chances of accidents. In the year 1998, Terrell Davis a player from Denver Broncos got injured and fainted in the field while carrying the Super Bowl in his hand (Walker 72). This incident led to several complications and the player finally recovered completely after a good amount of time. Similar accidental case occurred in the soccer field and famous sportsman Anthony

Public Administration Theory application Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Public Administration Theory application - Essay Example Included in the paper will be a theoretical perspective of the problem and theory selected. Various areas that may be specifically impacted and a problem analysis addressing the rates of graduation and test scores, additionally a solution analysis will be included with hypothetical returns based on current observations and available data. Ohio High Schools and the need for change Public education in Ohio In the school year ending in 2006 approximately 74% of all students in Ohio high schools graduated with a regular diploma. One contributing factor in this may be the earnings gap that exists with those not graduating generally making $10,000 less annually. (Alliance of an excellent education, 2009) In a 2008 report by the Americas Promise Alliance education group found that there was a large disparity in urban graduation rates versus suburban graduation rates, Columbus Ohio for instance averaged 40.9% graduation rate while the suburban districts had an average graduation rate of 82.9 % showing a glaring disparity in the two geographical areas. (Swanson, P.h.D, 2008 p. 12) This glaring disparity does bring the idea that there may be race related issues as well, though it is likely it is simply the result of economic changes and geographical location. As can be seen with the available information there is a difference between urban and suburban locations and school districts. Overall scores in the state of Ohio increased in the school year ending in 2008 from the school year ending in 2000; however, these scores were down from the school year ending in 2006 from 92.9 to 92.3. (Ohio Department of Education, 2008) More importantly the disparity in graduation numbers still exists, which while the test scores are improving the reduced graduation in urban areas remains a problem. There have been local attempts at improving the level of education and rates of students graduating specifically from Cleveland Ohio. One of those efforts encompasses the philosophy that livin g away from home may in fact assist with the student’s ability to learn. Educational Options LLC., offers a private solution for a public issue. The founder Ms. Simon offers a service which locates educational opportunities for teens with learning disabilities, from oppositional behavior through Autistic Spectrum Disorders. (Simon, 2011) Organizational theory, symbolic interactionism relating to the disparity of rates Symbolic interactionism as a theory focuses on the individual versus the more general societal implications of organizational theory. Within the public school system specifically within the Ohio High School public education program this approach would be a positive benefit. Sociologist Herbert Blumer defined the theory with three core principles. The first was meaning which states that humans act or react based on the meaning they have given those people or things they are reacting to. The second was language, which allows humans a means to negotiate through the meanings they have devised for the objects or persons. This further allows the basis for society as we understand it. The third principle is thought, each person’s thoughts changes the meanings of the symbols and or language. (Nelson, 1998 np) This administration approach applied within the school system would allow for a more specific approach which could assist in preventing the large disparity

Exaggerated Global Warming Essay Example for Free

Exaggerated Global Warming Essay Global warming is worldwidely experienced climatic phenomenon; but the question is, is it really that serious? Global warming has been a major issue as a result of industrialization as well as human progress since the past few decades. The cry to bring global warming to an end has been carried on by private in addition to international organizations since the initiative was first put forward. Global warming occurs as a result of devastating factors that negatively affect the climate. There are numerous sources that give details about the causes and effects of global warming. Each and every living organism has been negatively affected by the current global warming. This paper will evaluate various sources in order to demonstrate the dangers of global warming. Introduction Gupta asserts that global warming is primarily a change in the climatic conditions of the earth (p, 4). These climatic conditions differ as a result of various reasons; both internal and external. Changes to climatic conditions and thus global warming can occur as a result of natural, for example volcanic emissions and solar activity, or man-made circumstances, such as deforestation. The issue concerning global warming in the United States has in the past few years generated heated debates in the political arena. The former U. S. Vice President, Al Gore, an anti-global warming crusader, through the U. S. National Assessment of Global Warming as pointed out by Harmon, convinced a lot of people that global warming manifest an evident and current danger to the United States (p, 29). However, Al Gore’s report was termed as a misrepresentation claiming that it portrayed deliberate scientific deceit for the purpose of political agenda (Johnston para, 7). Many people, according to Johnston, claim that Al Gore failed the movement for climatic change and that his negligence resulted in an irreplaceable harm to the climate (para, 8). All in all Al Gore notes that global warming is an overwhelming danger currently facing the United States and the world at large. Gore asserts that left uncontrolled, global warming will tremendously affect the future of humankind (Harmon p, 36). Exaggerated Global Warming Global warming occurs as a result of a combination of numerous factors. The solar variation theory, according to DSilva, states that the suns energy has been increasing day by day over the past sixty or so years (para, 1). This theory states that the sun may now be acting as a major cause of global warming. Studies, as illustrated by DSilva, have revealed that the amount of sunspots in a particular area directly affects the amount of time taken by the nearby earth to cool (para, 1). The sun acts as the main source of energy to the earth. The earth takes in a very large percent of the earth’s solar flax. As a result of this flax, the earth, land, and ocean’s atmospheric temperatures increase drastically (Sinha p, 89). Orbital forcing, as Sinha states, is the other factor believed to be a natural cause of global warming (p, 90). The slow tilting of the axis of the earth is also believed to have some negative effects on the climate. This tilting causes the sun to be positioned at different angles than normal, thereby causing it to hit the icebergs. The most significant cause of global warming is the greenhouse effect (Sinha p, 91). Green house effect is the increase in earth’s surface temperature as a result of infrared radiation from the atmosphere. Green house effect has led to an in crease in the atmospheric temperature by about 24%. Increase in carbon dioxide is the main factor that results in greenhouse effect (Gupta p, 8). Methane is the other gas that is linked to global warming. The other factor that may lead to global warming is solar variations; these are the changes that occur in the quantity of radiant energy emitted by the sun. Rapid industrialization is the other factor, in addition to natural causes, that result in an increase in global warming presently. Global warming is believed to have first been experienced about 8,000 years ago with the start of agriculture (Maslin p, 40). Forests were cleared, a factor that increased the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Industrialization is believed to increase the release of gases, including carbon dioxide and methane, which lead to global warming to the atmosphere. Forests are cleared in order to establish industries. Cutting down of trees results in an increase in the amount of carbon in the atmosphere as trees contain a very high quantity of carbon. Burning of fuel fossils is the other humankind activity that increases the amount of carbon dioxide in the air and, thus an increase in global warming. Over the past two decades the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere that results in global warming has increased by about 80% (DSilva para, 5). Although global warming is believed to cause numerous negative environmental effects, it is hard to link specific conditions to global warming. It is also hard to tell whether the link between the global warming and the tremendous global effects attributed to it are true. The former vice president of the United States, Al Gore, was highly criticized for publishing work that many claimed over exaggerated the effects of global warming for political gains (Harmon p, 41). However, the effects of global warming are dangerous and real. The two major effects of global warming are increase in the atmospheric temperature by approximately 3Â ° to 5Â ° C, and the rise of sea level by about 25 meters (Roleff p, 54). Increase in global temperatures result in a wide range of changes including rise in sea levels as a result of thermal expansion of the ocean, along with melting of the land ice. The numbers as well as the patterns of climatic phenomenon predictions are changing at a very high rate as a result of global warming (Maslin p, 45). The total power of hurricanes has increased as a result of global warming; this is due to the increase in their average intensity and duration. Extreme changes in temperature and patterns of prediction increase the frequency, duration, and magnitude of other climatic events such as floods, tornadoes, heat waves as well as draughts (Roleff p, 68). Hurricanes as well as other storms are likely to become more and more intense if the current rate of global warming is not checked (Gupta p, 16). Global warming leads to a drastic reduction in agricultural production. It also leads to glacial retreat, lesser summer street flows, and extinction of certain species. Some species are moving from regions experiencing adverse effects of global warming to cooler regions. This if left unchecked will result in tremendous changes in the ecosystems. Global warming is also believed to cause diseases, which had been eradicated in certain places, to return with severe consequences (Schneider p, 57). On average, precipitation has increased across the world. Schneider notes that the amount of fresh water drastically reduces with increase in global warming (p, 75). This leaves a lot of people as well as animals which rely on it for drinking water and power production without a source. Scientists predict that heat waves, hot extremes in addition to heavy precipitation will become a common phenomenon (Roleff p, 51). Scientists argue that the sea will become more acidic as a result of taking up more carbon dioxide (Schneider p, 79). Global warming, as asserted by Kriengsak, causes devastating economic effects to the U. S. as well as the whole world (para, 1). Kriengsak argues that tornadoes and hurricanes in addition to other storms result in bullions of dollars in damage, disease and control of conflicts that may arise (para, 4). Global warming, according to Roleff, is also believed to be the major cause of extreme cold weather that has recently afflicted the eastern and southern regions of the United States (p, 87). This is believed to be as a result of movement of cold polar air masses to the southern regions. Global warming is also attributed to heavy snow falls. This is due to the fact that higher temperatures results in more evaporation of water in addition to higher humidity content in the atmosphere, and therefore to heavier snows incase the warm, humid air comes across cold air masses moving to the southern regions from the polar regions. The real exaggeration of global warming as a result of man-made related factors must be somehow greater than a factor of two, due to the fact that most of the rise in atmospheric temperature occurred before 1940, but carbon dioxide in addition to other green house gases entered the atmosphere after 1940 (Maslin p, 65). This may lead to a conclusion that the effect of green house can only be accountable for only a few proportions of the observed rise in temperature. Exaggeration of global warming for the last few years, as argued by Maslin, is important as it acts as a resource of the forecasts of a devastating global warming in the next century (p, 112). Conclusion It can therefore be concluded that global warming, which is primarily a change in the climatic conditions of the earth, is a real danger to not only the united states, but also to the rest of the world. Private as well as international organizations have been in the forefront in the fight against global warming. The former vice president of the U. S, Al Gore, though was highly criticized, clearly illustrated the effects of global warming to humankind. The two major effects of global warming are increase in the atmospheric temperature by approximately 3Â ° to 5Â ° C, and the rise of sea level by about 25 meters. Global warming has also resulted in an increase in the total power of hurricanes due to the increase in their average intensity and duration. Global warming leads to a drastic reduction in agricultural production. Global warming causes devastating economic effects to the U. S. as well as the whole world. It also leads to glacial retreat, lesser summer street flows, and extinction of certain species. Work Cited: DSilva, Roy. What Causes Global Warming? N. d. viewed on May 4, 2010 from http://www. buzzle. com/articles/what-causes-global-warming. html Gupta, KR. Global Warming, ISBN 8126908815: Atlantic Publishers Distributors, 2008 Johnston, Robert. Falsehoods in Gores An Inconvenient Truth, 2006 viewed on May 4, 2010 from http://www. johnstonsarchive. net/environment/gore. html Kriengsak, Global Warming: The Economic Risk Factor, n. d. viewed on May 4, 2010 from http://blog. nationmultimedia. com/print. php? id=1693 Maslin, Mark. Global Warming: Causes, Effects, and the Future, ISBN0760329656: Voyageur Press, 2007 Roleff, Tamara. Barbour, Scott. and Swisher, Karin. Global warming: opposing viewpoints, ISBN 1565105125: Greenhaven Press, 1997 Schneider, Stephen. Global warming: are we entering the greenhouse century? ISBN 0718828151: James Clarke Co. , 1990 Sinha, PC. Global Warming, ISBN 817488954X: Anmol Publications PVT. LTD. , 1998 Harmon, Daniel. Al Gore and Global Warming, ISBN 1404217614: The Rosen Publishing Group, 2008

Overview of the Indian Economy

Overview of the Indian Economy The Indian economy has shown a remarkable growth after the adoption of liberalization policy. The opening up of the Indian economy in the early 1990s led to increase in industrial output and simultaneously raised the inflation Rate in India. There was an immense pressure on the inflation rate due to the stupendous growth rate of employment and industrial output. The main concern of the Reserve Bank of India (the central bank) and the Ministry of Finance, Government of India was the prevalent and intermittent rise of the inflation rate. Increasing inflation rate could be detrimental to the projected growth of Indian economy. Thus, the Reserve Bank of India was putting checks and measures in various policies so as to put a stop to the rising inflation. The Indian business community and the general public were assured by the central bank that the inflationary rise was harmless but still certain apprehensions existed among them. The pricing disparity of agricultural products between the producer and end-consumer was contributing to the increasing Inflation Rate. Apart from this the steep rise of prices of food products, manufacturing products, and necessities had also catapulted the Inflation Rate. As a result of all this, the Wholesale Prices Index (WPI) of India reached 6.1% and the Cash Reserve Ratio touched 5.5% on 6th January, 2007. The Reserve Bank of India gave top priority to price stability in its recently drafted monetary policy so as to arrest the panic and discomfort amongst the Indian business circles. It also aims to sustain the stupendous rate of economic growth of India. The Reserve Bank of India raised the Cash Reserve Ratio and used it as a tool to arrest the increasing Inflation Rate. Rationalizing the pricing disparity between the producer and the consumer is the only solution to this problem. Only this will ensure inflation stabilization and thus sustainable economic growth of India. From the beginning of FY2008 the Indian economy faced a rise in the prices of vegetables, pulses and other basic food stuffs. All this was accompanied with sharp rise in the prices when the annual policy statement for 2008-09 was unveiled on April 29. Inflation increased steadily during the year, reaching 8.75% by the end of May and in June when this figure jumped to 11% then there was an alarming increase in the prices. There were many reasons for it but one of the main driving forces was reduction in government fuel subsidies, which lifted gasoline prices by an average 10%. Indeed, by July 2008, the key Indian Inflation Rate i.e. the Wholesale Price Index touched the mark of 12.6%, highest rate in past 16 years of the Indian history. This was almost three times the RBIs target of 4.1% and almost doubled as compared to last year. This continuous rise slipped back to 12.4% by mid-August. Since the beginning of 2008 combination of various internal and external factors led to steep domestic inflation and the resultant steps taken to control it in were slowing the pace of expansion. These factors included the marked rise in the international prices of oil, food, and metals, moderating the rate of capital inflows, worsening current and fiscal account deficits, increasing cost of funds, minor depreciation of the Indian rupee against the dollar, and slow growth in industrial economies. The Indian economy was at a critical juncture where policies to contain inflation and ensure macroeconomic stabilization have taken center stage. In the first quarter of FY2008 (i.e. April -June), growth rate of GDP slowed down to 7.9% from 9.2% in the corresponding prior-year quarter, for the slowest expansion in three and a half years. The most remarkable decline was in industry where growth rate fell to 6.9% this was mainly because of cutting in the manufacturing growth rate to 5.6%. The slowdown was widened when agriculture and services sector showed a negligible growth of 1.4% and 0.9% points, below their performances of the year-earlier quarter.Over the medium term, the main objective of the government was to bring down inflation to 3%. The Repo and Reverse Repo Rates remained unchanged whereas Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) was increased by 0.25 percentage points. A survey of manufacturing companies was conducted by the Reserve Bank of India in June 2008 which indicated a moderation in business optimism. This was corroborated by the composite business optimism index for July -September 2008 that was prepared by Dun and Bradstreet, which shows a decline of 11.2% as compared to the previous quarter. In July, the BBB- rating on foreign currency debt was confirmed but downgraded the viewfor Indias long -term local currency debt from stable to negative, with a noticeable deterioration in the fiscal position.Growth of the broad money supply (M3) had to be moderated in the range of 16.5 to 17 per cent. While deposits were scheduled to rise by 17% and non-food credit disbursements by banks will grow at a slow rate of 20% as compared to 22.5% in 2007-08. Credit disbursed by banks last year was less as compared to the previous period. Bank credit had grown by a scorching 30% every year for consecutively three years beginning in 2004-05. The combined budget deficits of the central and state governments have been substantially reduced over the past 5 years. This reflected sincere efforts by the government to adhere to fiscal responsibility legislation. For FY2008, the central Governments deficit is budgeted at 2.5% of GDP and the states at 2.1% (4.6% of GDP on a consolidated basis). The major factors that strengthen the appreciable fiscal consolidation from the base were a wider tax base supported by a buoyant economy and improved compliance. Two main situations that must be overcome before achieving the deficit targets for the FY2008 are: a slowing economy that may limit the revenue buoyancy seen in recent years and continuous pressure by the Central Government to raise the salaries of its employees by 21% (about 0.3% of GDP) in response to recommendations of the Sixth Central Pay Commission. Similar wage increases were announced immediately by half a dozen states and others were following the suit. On the other hand provision for these salary increases was not budgeted. EFFECTS Inflationary pressures in any economy leads to depreciation of its domestic currency. This is what our Indian economy was facing due to the running inflation and as a result Indian rupee depreciated by about 20% since April 2008. Inflation affects- 1.Common man: Inflation effects a common man in different roles such as a consumer: Products such as crude oil, fertilizers, pharmaceutical products, ores and metals, or use imported components such as Personal Computers and laptops are directly imported. Due to depreciation of the Indian Rupee all these goods became very expensive. Components in computers such as processor, hard disk drive and motherboard are also imported. Products such as mouse, keyboard and monitor also witnessed an impact on their prices due to Rupee depreciation. Inflation may rise in an economy when the input costs increase. As an investor: Depreciation of rupee makes imports of various components, capital goods and raw materials more expensive. As inputs and other equipment that are imported get costlier and reducing the profit margins. Companies that import goods in bulk and those with heavy foreign currency borrowings may be marked down in the stock market as the rupee depreciates. As a Wage-earner: During inflation this class of common man suffered a lot because of two reasons- Increase in wages and salaries failed to keep pace with the rising prices. Wages increased during inflation but there is always a time lag between the rise in price and increase in wages. As a result common man looses during the intervening period. Export companies: Due to depreciation of domestic currency exporters receive better prices for their goods and services when sold in foreign markets. Foreign Investors: Depreciation of Indian Rupee reduced the returns that foreign investors used to earn by investing in Indian companies. Depreciation of a currency triggered FII outflows. NRI investors, who previously invested their money in India under various deposit schemes due to high interest rates, started finding those schemes less attractive on account of rupee depreciation. Countrys Balance of Payments: One of the drawbacks of depreciation of Rupee is that exports become cheap in terms of foreign currency and imports become costlier. Current account deficit widened because Indian imports basically constitutes essentials such as crude oil, natural resources and many capital goods. Depreciation of Indian Rupee made the exports more competitive globally and as a result higher exports covered up the trade deficit. Farmers: The prices of the primary commodities such as minerals, diesel oil and fuel, power light and lubricants went up significantly. This disparity affected the agricultural sector in two ways- It had a restrictive effect on investments in farming and affected the production efficiency. On one hand the agricultural commodity prices were falling or stagnant and on the other hand increasing prices of agriculture inputs and other daily life commodities led to deterioration in the living standard of the farmers. Prices paid by the consumer have impacted by the cost of living of the entire value chain, which grows on the inefficient markets and this adds to the final cost of the material. For example, high energy cost itself has contributed to the increase in the cost of inputs required for agriculture besides pushing up the marketing costs of farm products. IT companies: The IT sector is amongst the highest recruiters in the Indian economy and a depreciating rupee spells good news for the sector. Bills for Information Technology companies are basically prepared in dollars or in other foreign currencies. Depreciation of the rupee increased their realizations and bodes well for their margins. The main reason for the good performance in the second quarter of Infosys Technologies and Satyam Computers was the depreciation of the Indian Rupee. An estimate suggests that a 1 per cent depreciation in the rupee expands an IT companys margins by 0.30-0.40 per cent. CONCLUSION Majority of Indias population lies close to the poverty line and inflation acts as a à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬-Poor Mans Tax. More than half of the income of this group is spent on food and this effect is amplified when food prices rise. The dramatic increase in inflation will have economic as well as political implications for the Congress Government, with an election due within a year. Economic growth rate in the emerging markets have slowed down but is far from over. The BRIC countries i.e. Brazil, Russia, India and China alone account for more than 3 billion people and with consumption rate increasing every year. It is expected that the high inflation rates will be there for a long period of time which is worrying news for the Indian Government. Direct regulatory measures such as the reduction in import tariffs were adopted in order relax the supply-side pressures on various agricultural commodities. While adopting the direct measures, the Government realized that the relaxation of supply-side pressures would dampen inflationary expectations by increasing supplies in the commodities market. The RBIs attempt to control excess liquidity in the market byraising the interest rates pushed up real-estate prices as well as the commodity prices, thus fuelling inflation. A closer look at certain commodities would reveal that the prices of sugar and wheat were managed by the Government through various market intervention mechanisms. As a result the physical market’s role in effective price discovery was affected. Trade in the commodities market operated in an asymmetrical information situation from both the supply and demand sides. Hence, market operations could only benefit segments that were privy to the available information. The existing agricultural market ecosystem revolves around the traders and to some extent the producers with no say from side of consumers. Hence, at the end both consumers and producers are often at a loss. Generally, traders keep a heavy margin to compensate for the physical and financial risk involved in carrying the commodity for short as well as long term.

The Underwater Wireless Communications Information Technology Essay

The Underwater Wireless Communications Information Technology Essay Wireless communication technology today has become part of our daily life; the idea of wireless undersea communications may still seem far-fetched. However, research has been active for over a decade on designing the methods for wireless information transmission underwater. The major discoveries of the past decades, has motivated researches to carry out better and efficient ways to enable unexplored applications and to enhance our ability to observe and predict the ocean. The purpose of this paper is to introduce to the readers the basic concepts, architecture, protocols and modems used in underwater wireless communications. The paper also presents the difficulties faced in terms of power management and security, and the latest developments in the underwater wireless industry. Towards the end, we also discuss a wide range of applications of underwater wireless communication. Index Terms: Underwater Wireless Communication (UWCs), Medium Access Control (MAC), Underwater Acoustic Sensor Networks (UAWSNs). I. INTRODUCTION In last several years, underwater sensor network (UWSN) has found an increasing use in a wide range of applications, such as coastal surveillance systems, environmental research, autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) operation, many civilian and military applications such as oceanographic data collection, scientific ocean sampling, pollution, environmental monitoring, climate recording, offshore exploration, disaster prevention, assisted navigation, distributed tactical surveillance, and mine reconnaissance. By deploying a distributed and scalable sensor network in a 3-dimensional underwater space, each underwater sensor can monitor and detect environmental parameters and events locally. Hence, compared with remote sensing, UWSNs provide a better sensing and surveillance technology to acquire better data to understand the spatial and temporal complexities of underwater environments. Some of these applications can be supported by underwater acoustic sensor networks (UWASNs), which consist of devices with sensing, processing, and communication capabilities that are deployed to perform collaborative monitoring tasks. Fig 1 gives a generalized diagram of an UWASN. Wireless signal transmission is also crucial to remotely control instruments in ocean observatories and to enable coordination of swarms of autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) and robots, which will play the role of mobile nodes in future ocean observation networks by virtue of their flexibility and reconfigurability. Present underwater communication systems involve the transmission of information in the form of sound, electromagnetic (EM), or optical waves. Each of these techniques has advantages and limitations. Acoustic communication is the most versatile and widely used technique in underwater environments due to the low attenuation (signal reduction) of sound in water. This is especially true in thermally stable, deep water settings. On the other hand, the use of acoustic waves in shallow water can be adversely affected by temperature gradients, surface ambient noise, and multipath propagation due to reflection and refraction. The much slower speed of acoustic propagation in water, about 1500 m/s (meters per second), compared with that of electromagnetic and optical waves, is another limiting factor for efficient communication and networking. Nevertheless, the currently favorable technology for underwater communication is upon acoustics. On the front of using electromagnetic (EM) waves in radio frequencies, conventional radio Figure1. Scenario of a UW-ASN composed of underwater and surface vehicles does not work well in an underwater environment due to the conducting nature of the medium, especially in the case of seawater. However, if EM could be working underwater, even in a short distance, its much faster propagating speed is definitely a great advantage for faster and efficient communication among nodes. Free-space optical (FSO) waves used as wireless communication carriers are generally limited to very short distances because the severe water absorption at the optical frequency band and strong backscatter from suspending particles. Even the clearest water has 1000 times the attenuation of clear air, and turbid water has more than 100 times the attenuation of the densest fog. Nevertheless, underwater FSO, especially in the blue-green wavelengths, offers a practical choice for high-bandwidth communication (10-150 Mbps, bits per second) over moderate ranges (10-100 meters). This communication range is much needed in harbor inspection, oil-rig maintenance, and linking submarines to land, just name a few of the demands on this front. In this paper we discuss the physical fundamentals and the implications of using acoustic waves as the wireless communication carrier in underwater environments in Section II, then we discuss an Overview of Routing Protocols for Underwater Wireless Communications in Section III. Section IV we discuss about the two networking architectures of UWSNS. Section V we discuss about acoustic modem technology and will describe Link Quest Incs Cutting-Edge Acoustic Modems in detail.. Section VI gives a comparison between ground based sensors with that of a Mobile UWSNs, Section VII we throw some light on the various applications of UWC. And finally we conclude the paper in Section VIII followed by references. II. ACOUSTIC WAVES Among the three types of waves, acoustic waves are used as the primary carrier for underwater wireless communication systems due to the relatively low absorption in underwater environments. We start the discussion with the physical fundamentals and the implications of using acoustic waves as the wireless communication carrier in underwater environments. Propagation velocity: The extremely slow propagation speed of sound through water is an important factor that differentiates it from electromagnetic propagation. The speed of sound in water depends on the water properties of temperature, salinity and pressure (directly related to the depth). A typical speed of sound in water near the ocean surface is about 1520 m/s, which is more than 4 times faster than the speed of sound in air, but five orders of magnitude smaller than the speed of light. The speed of sound in water increases with increasing water temperature, increasing salinity and increasing depth. Most of the changes in sound speed in the surface ocean are due to the changes in temperature. Approximately, the sound speed increases 4.0 m/s for water temperature arising 1C. When salinity increases 1 practical salinity unit (PSU), the sound speed in water increases 1.4 m/s. As the depth of water (therefore also the pressure) increases 1 km, the sound speed increases roughly 17 m/ s. It is noteworthy to point out that the above assessments are only for rough quantitative or qualitative discussions, and the variations in sound speed for a given property are not linear in general. Fig.2. a vertical profile of sound speed in seawater as the lump-sum function of depth Absorption: The absorptive energy loss is directly controlled by the material imperfection for the type of physical wave propagating through it. For acoustic waves, this material imperfection is the inelasticity, which converts the wave energy into heat. The absorptive loss for acoustic wave propagation is frequency-dependent, and can be expressed as e ®(f)d, where d is the propagation distance and  ®(f) is the absorption coefficient at frequency f. For seawater, the absorption coefficient at frequency f in kHz can be written as the sum of chemical relaxation processes and absorption from pure water where the first term on the right side is the contribution from boric acid, the second term is from the contribution of magnesium sulphate, and the third term is from the contribution of pure water; A1, A2, and A3 are constants; the pressure dependencies are given by parameters P1, P2 and P3; and the relaxation frequencies f1 and f2 are for the relaxation process in boric acid and magnesium sulphate, respectively. Fig. 3 shows the relative contribution from the different sources of absorption as a function of frequency. Fig.3. Absorption in generic seawater Multipath: An acoustic wave can reach a certain point through multiple paths. In a shallow water environment, where the transmission distance is larger than the water depth, wave reflections from the surface and the bottom generate multiple arrivals of the same signal. The Fig 4 illustrates the adverse effects of Multipath Propagation. In deep water, it occurs due to ray Fig 4: Shallow water multipath propagation: in addition to the direct path, the signal propagates via reflections from the surface and bottom. bending, i.e. the tendency of acoustic waves to travel along the axis of lowest sound speed. The channel response varies in time, and also changes if the receiver moves. Regardless of its origin, multipath propagation creates signal echoes, resulting in intersymbol interference in a digital communication system. While in a cellular radio system multipath spans a few symbol intervals, in an underwater acoustic channel it can spans few tens, or even hundreds of symbol intervals! To avoid the intersymbol interference, a guard time, of length at least equal to the multipath spread, must be inserted between successively transmitted symbols. However, this will reduce the overall symbol rate, which is already limited by the system bandwidth. To maximize the symbol rate, a receiver must be designed to counteract very long intersymbol interference. Path Loss: Path loss that occurs in an acoustic channel over a distance d is given as A= dka (f) d, where k is the path loss exponent whose value is usually between 1 and 2, and a(f) is the absorption factor that depends on the frequency f. This dependence severely limits the available bandwidth: for example, at distances on the order of 100 km, the available bandwidth is only on the order of 1 kHz. At shorter distances, a larger bandwidth is available, but in practice it is limited by that of the transducer. Also in contrast to the radio systems, an acoustic signal is rarely narrowband, i.e., its bandwidth is not negligible with respect to the center frequency. Within this limited bandwidth, the signal is subject to multipath propagation, which is particularly pronounced on horizontal channels. III ROUTING PROTOCOLS There are several drawbacks with respect to the suitability of the existing terrestrial routing solutions for underwater wireless communications. Routing protocols can be divided into three categories, namely, proactive, reactive, and geographical. Proactive protocols provoke a large signaling overhead to establish routes for the first time and each time the network topology is modified because of mobility, node failures, or channel state changes because updated topology information must be propagated to all network devices. In this way, each device can establish a path to any other node in the network, which may not be required in underwater networks. Also, scalability is an important issue for this family of routing schemes. For these reasons, proactive protocols may not be suitable for underwater networks. Reactive protocols are more appropriate for dynamic environments but incur a higher latency and still require source-initiated flooding of control packets to establish paths. Reactive protocols may be unsuitable for underwater networks because they also cause a high latency in the establishment of paths, which is amplified underwater by the slow propagation of acoustic signals. Geographical routing protocols are very promising for their scalability feature and limited signaling requirements. However, global positioning system (GPS) radio receivers do not work properly in the underwater environment. Still, underwater sensing devices must estimate their current position, irrespective of the chosen routing approach, to associate the sampled data with their 3D position. IV ARCHITECTURE In general, depending on the permanent vs on-demand placement of the sensors, the time constraints imposed by the applications and the volume of data being retrieved, we could roughly classify the aquatic application scenarios into two broad categories: long-term non-time-critical aquatic monitoring and short-term time-critical aquatic exploration. Fig 5: An illustration of the mobile UWSN architecture for long-term non-time-critical aquatic monitoring applications Fig. 5 illustrates the mobile UWSN architecture for long-term non-time-critical aquatic monitoring applications. In this type of network, sensor nodes are densely deployed to cover a spacial continuous monitoring area. Data are collected by local sensors, related by intermediate sensors, and finally reach the surface nodes (equipped with both acoustic and RF (Radio Frequency) modems), which can transmit data to the on-shore command center by radio. Since this type of network is designed for long-term monitoring task, then energy saving is a central issue to consider in the protocol design. Moreover, depending on the data sampling frequency, we may need mechanisms to dynamically control the mode of sensors (switching between sleeping modes, wake-up mode, and working mode). In this way, we may save more energy. Further, when sensors are running out of battery, they should be able to pop up to the water surface for recharge, for which a simple air-bladder-like device would suffice. Clearly, in the mobile UWSNs for long-term aquatic monitoring, localization is a must-do task to locate mobile sensors, since usually only location-aware data is useful in aquatic monitoring. In addition, the sensor location information can be utilized to assist data forwarding since geo-routing proves to be more efficient than pure flooding. Furthermore, location can help to determine if the sensors float crossing the boundary of the interested area. Fig 6: An illustration of the mobile UWSN architecture for short-term time-critical aquatic exploration applications In Fig. 6, we show a civilian scenario of the mobile UWSN architecture for short-term time-critical aquatic exploration applications. Assume a ship wreckage accident investigation team wants to identify the target venue. When the cable is damaged the ROV is out-of-control or not recoverable. In contrast, by deploying a mobile underwater wireless sensor network, as shown in Fig. 2, the investigation team can control the ROV remotely. The self-reconfigurable underwater sensor network tolerates more faults than the existing tethered solution. After investigation, the underwater sensors can be recovered by issuing a command to trigger air-bladder devices. As limited by acoustic physics and coding technology, high data rate networking can only be realized in high-frequency acoustic band in underwater communication. It was demonstrated by empirical implementations that the link bandwidth can reach up to 0.5Mbps at the distance of 60 meters. Such high data rate is suitable to deliver even multimedia data. Compared with the first type of mobile UWSN for long-term non-time-critical aquatic monitoring, the mobile UWSN for short-term time-critical aquatic exploration presents the following differences in the protocol design. Real-time data transfer is more of concern Energy saving becomes a secondary issue. Localization is not a must-do task. However, reliable, resilient, and secure data transfer is always a desired advanced feature for both types of mobile UWSNs. V ACOUSTIC MODEM TECHNOLOGY Acoustic modem technology offers two types of modulation/detection: frequency shift keying (FSK) with non-coherent detection and phase-shift keying (PSK) with coherent detection. FSK has traditionally been used for robust acoustic communications at low bit rates (typically on the order of 100 bps). To achieve bandwidth efficiency, i.e. to transmit at a bit rate greater than the available bandwidth, the information must be encoded into the phase or the amplitude of the signal, as it is done in PSK or Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM). The symbol stream modulates the carrier, and the so-obtained signal is transmitted over the channel. To detect this type of signal on a multipath-distorted acoustic channel, a receiver must employ an equalizer whose task is to unravel the intersymbol interference. A block diagram of an adaptive decision-feedback equalizer (DFE) is shown in Figure 7. In this configuration, multiple input signals, obtained Fig 7: Multichannel adaptive decision-feedback equalizer (DFE) is used for high-speed underwater acoustic communications. It supports any linear modulation format, such as M-ary PSK or M-ary QAM. from spatially diverse receiving hydrophones, can be used to enhance the system performance. The receiver parameters are optimized to minimize the mean squared error in the detected data stream. After the initial training period, during which a known symbol sequence is transmitted, the equalizer is adjusted adaptively, using the output symbol decisions. An integrated Doppler tracking algorithm enables the equalizer to operate in a mobile scenario. This receiver structure has been used on various types of acoustic channels. Current achievements include transmission at bit rates on the order of one kbps over long ranges (10-100 nautical miles) and several tens of kbps over short ranges (few km) as the highest rates reported to date. VI Mobile UWSNs and Ground- Based Sensor Networks A mobile UWSN is significantly different from any ground-based sensor network in terms of the following aspects: Communication Method: Electromagnetic waves cannot propagate over a long distance in underwater environments. Therefore, underwater sensor networks have to rely on other physical means, such as acoustic sounds, to transmit signals. Unlike wireless links among ground-based sensors, each underwater wireless link features large latency and low-bandwidth. Due to such distinct network dynamics, communication protocols used in ground-based sensor networks may not be suitable in underwater sensor networks. Specially, low-bandwidth and large-latency usually result in long end-to-end delay, which brings big challenges in reliable data transfer and traffic congestion control. The large latency also significantly affects multiple access protocols. Traditional random access approaches in RF wireless networks might not work efficiently in underwater scenarios. Node Mobility Most sensor nodes in ground-based sensor networks are typically static, though it is possible to implement interactions between these static sensor nodes and a limit amount of mobile nodes (e.g., mobile data collecting entities like mules which may or may not be sensor nodes). In contrast, the majority of underwater sensor nodes, except some fixed nodes equipped on surface-level buoys, are with low or medium mobility due to water current and other underwater activities. From empirical observations, underwater objects may move at the speed of 2-3 knots (or 3-6 kilometers per hour) in a typical underwater condition [2]. Therefore, if a network protocol proposed for ground-based sensor networks does not consider mobility for the majority of sensor nodes, it would likely fail when directly cloned for aquatic applications. Although there have been extensive research in groundbased sensor networks, due to the unique features of mobile UWSNs, new research at almost every level of the protocol suite is required. VII

Rwanda Genocide Compared to Blood Done Sign My Name Essay -- literature

From April to July of 1994 terror struck Rwanda as Hutu members of the nation brutally maimed, raped, and killed around 800,000 Tutsi members, along with partial Hutu members. Leading up to the genocide, there was tension between both ethnicities. Over the decades, people of the Hutu ethnicity took power of the country, in fact, Major General Juvenal Habyarimana, a moderate Hutu, took office for over ten years (History.com Staff, 2009). Correspondingly, in years leading up to the Rwanda genocide, in another country called America, the ethnic group of Africa Americans was being harshly discriminated against. In the 1900s, slavery was no longer legal in the states; however, a few decades before the Rwanda genocide, Oxford, North Carolina took a toll against punitive decimation and homicide based on someone’s ethnic group. On May 11, 1970 (fourteen years before the Rwandan genocide), Henry â€Å"Dickie† Marrow was murdered by three white men who, at the time, were very well known men in Oxford. He was brutally beaten and shot before eventually dying while under medical care. Marrow was murdered strictly based on the color of his skin and the where he came from. Although the thirteen amendment was passed in the 1800s, (The Library Of Congress , 2014), it took over to a century for racial discrimination against African Americans to some to a slow. Unfortunately, in smaller areas, such as; Denton, North Carolina, there is still racial discrimination today. During this event, a white boy named Timothy Tyson was watching the events, he later grew up to write a book with stories from different people on what happened, to get the actual facts. The book is now called, Blood Done Sign My Name. The horror began in Rwanda when a plane carryi... ...cide ended when the Rwandan Patriotic Front took over the country. This was a group of Tutsi who were from Uganda and were trained fighters (Rosenberg, 2014). This is into comparison with when the blacks won and the Teel’s where sent to trail and charged. Works Cited Armenian Youth Federation. (2014). Genocide in Rwanda. Retrieved April 30, 2014, from United Human Rights Council : http://www.unitedhumanrights.org/genocide/genocide_in_rwanda.htm History.com Staff. (2009). History.com. Retrieved April 30, 2014, from The Rwandan Genocide : http://www.history.com/topics/rwandan-genocide Rosenberg, J. (2014). A Short History of the Rwanda Genocide. Retrieved 2014, from Rwanda Genocide. The Library Of Congress . (2014, April 10). Primary Documents in American History . Retrieved April 30 , 2014, from http://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/ourdocs/13thamendment.html Rwanda Genocide Compared to Blood Done Sign My Name Essay -- literature From April to July of 1994 terror struck Rwanda as Hutu members of the nation brutally maimed, raped, and killed around 800,000 Tutsi members, along with partial Hutu members. Leading up to the genocide, there was tension between both ethnicities. Over the decades, people of the Hutu ethnicity took power of the country, in fact, Major General Juvenal Habyarimana, a moderate Hutu, took office for over ten years (History.com Staff, 2009). Correspondingly, in years leading up to the Rwanda genocide, in another country called America, the ethnic group of Africa Americans was being harshly discriminated against. In the 1900s, slavery was no longer legal in the states; however, a few decades before the Rwanda genocide, Oxford, North Carolina took a toll against punitive decimation and homicide based on someone’s ethnic group. On May 11, 1970 (fourteen years before the Rwandan genocide), Henry â€Å"Dickie† Marrow was murdered by three white men who, at the time, were very well known men in Oxford. He was brutally beaten and shot before eventually dying while under medical care. Marrow was murdered strictly based on the color of his skin and the where he came from. Although the thirteen amendment was passed in the 1800s, (The Library Of Congress , 2014), it took over to a century for racial discrimination against African Americans to some to a slow. Unfortunately, in smaller areas, such as; Denton, North Carolina, there is still racial discrimination today. During this event, a white boy named Timothy Tyson was watching the events, he later grew up to write a book with stories from different people on what happened, to get the actual facts. The book is now called, Blood Done Sign My Name. The horror began in Rwanda when a plane carryi... ...cide ended when the Rwandan Patriotic Front took over the country. This was a group of Tutsi who were from Uganda and were trained fighters (Rosenberg, 2014). This is into comparison with when the blacks won and the Teel’s where sent to trail and charged. Works Cited Armenian Youth Federation. (2014). Genocide in Rwanda. Retrieved April 30, 2014, from United Human Rights Council : http://www.unitedhumanrights.org/genocide/genocide_in_rwanda.htm History.com Staff. (2009). History.com. Retrieved April 30, 2014, from The Rwandan Genocide : http://www.history.com/topics/rwandan-genocide Rosenberg, J. (2014). A Short History of the Rwanda Genocide. Retrieved 2014, from Rwanda Genocide. The Library Of Congress . (2014, April 10). Primary Documents in American History . Retrieved April 30 , 2014, from http://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/ourdocs/13thamendment.html

evolution of the horse Essay -- essays papers

evolution of the horse ï » ¿For many people, the horse family remains the classic example of evolution. As more and more horse fossils have been found, some ideas about horse evolution have changed, but the horse family remains a good example of evolution. In fact, we now have enough fossils of enough species in enough genera to examine details of evolutionary change. Evolution does not occur in a straight line toward a goal, like a ladder; rather, evolution is like a branching bush, with no predetermined goal. Horse species were constantly branching off the evolutionary tree and evolving along various unrelated routes. There’s no discernable straight line of horse evolution. Many horse species were usually present at the same time, with various numbers of toes, and adapted to various diets. In other words, horse evolution had no inherent direction. We only have the impression of straight line evolution because only one genus happens to still be alive, which deceives some people into thinking that the one genus was somehow the target of all the evolution. Instead, that one genus is merely the last surviving branch of a once mighty and sprawling bush. Tracing a line of descent from Hyracotherium to Equus reveals several apparent trends: reduction of toe number, increase in size of cheek teeth, lengthening of the face, and increase in body size. But these trends are not seen in all of the horse lines. On the whole, horses got larger, bu...

Geologic History of Red Rock Canyon and Valley of Fire

Valley of Fire and Red Rock Canyon Red Rock Canyon is presently located 5 miles west of Las Vegas, Nevada. It is 197,000 acres within the Mojave Desert. The canyon is one of several in the state with the name Red Rock, this one is located on the east side of Spring Mountain, the flat land rises to a great colorful escarpment, formed along a fault zone (the Keystone Thrust) with several peaks over 8,000 feet, and including huge cliffs and ravines composed of bands of gray Paleozoic carbonates, white and red Jurassic sandstone, all heavily eroded. The wide empty plains beneath the hills are studded with Joshua trees and other plants typical of the Mojave Desert, contributing to a most impressive spectacle. Red rock canyon has a fairly complex geologic history. The now national conservation area was at the bottom of a deep ocean basin and the western coast of North America was in present day Utah. Around 542 million years ago, Paleozoic, the area was under a deep ocean. Thick deposits of sediment, about 9,000ft, were lithified. This lithified sediment eventually formed limestone and other similar carbonate rocks. Preservation of marine invertebrate fossils provides evidence for a marine setting for the Paleozoic. Starting around 250 million years ago, the Mesozoic era, the earths crust rose due to tectonic shifts. This forced water out of the area leaving behind rock formations of salt and gypsum, this lead to the exposure of the former sea bed causing the rock to oxidize to the now characteristic red-orange color. The Paleozoic carbonates are dominantly gray in color and only red-orange locally. These pre-existing carbonate deposits were dissolved and oxidized due to sea level drop and sub aerial exposure, creating an unconformable surface (unconformity). The seabed rose slowly somewhere around 225 million years ago, causing streams to enter shallow waters, depositing mud and sand. This later became shale and marine sandstones of the Triassic Moenkopi formation. During Triassic time, the changing landscape trapped several large bodies of water. These meandering streams deposited mud, gravel and other debris like logs. In some cases minerals replaced the organics changing them into petrified wood. These are some of the few fossils found at the foot of the cliffs. These terrestrial deposits make up the Triassic Chinle Formation. Around 180 million years ago the sea levels had dropped leaving the area completely arid similar to the Sahara desert, a large desert with shifting red sands and huge dune fields. Winds shifted the dunes and leveled older ones leaving angled lines in the sand referred to as cross-beds. These in turn were buried by other sediments and eventually cemented into sandstone by iron oxide and calcium carbonate. The sandstone is locally known as Aztec sandstone; it is very hard and forms the prominent cliffs of the Red Rock escarpment. The Aztec equivalent is known as the Navajo Sandstone, which crops out in many of the Utah National Parks, so the migrating sand sea was laterally extensive. The most significant feature of Red Rock Canyon is the Keystone Thrust Fault, a reverse fault with a shallow dip. A thrust fault is a fracture in the earth's crust, resulting in a compressing force driving one crustal plate over the top of another. This results in older rock lying on top of younger. The Keystone Thrust is part of a large system of thrust faults that extends north into Canada. The dark grey Cambrian Limestone of the Bonanza King Formation was moved sideways and above Aztec Sandstone from the Jurassic era. Placing in essence older stone over younger, opposite of what we know to usually happen in geologic time and from the laws of superposition. This thrust fault was most active during the long Sevier Orogeny, a mountain building event, about 70 million years ago. This tectonic activity from the west pushed upper crust eastward; the movement on the Sevier fold-thrust was nearly 100 kilometers. Geologist believe 65 million years ago, during the Larimide Orogeny, that two of the earth's crustal plates collided with such force that part of one plate was shoved up and over younger sandstones. This thrust contact is clearly defined by the sharp contrast between the grey limestones and the red sandstones. The southern Nevada section of the fold and thrust belt was not affected by Larimide deformation just Sevier Orogeny. Like the Larimide, the Sevier Orogeny was also due to collision of earth’s crustal plates at the subduction zone at the western US margin. The stress and strain associated with this collision caused low-angle thrusting further inland, which is embodied by the Rocky Mountain topography that we see today. The reason Nevada is the most mountainous state is because the continental crust was stretched almost 100% in Tertiary time. Southern NV was affected by this extension, as shown by Fig 1 with the thrusts that are split by the strike-slip faults. The thrust faults were emplaced in Late Jurassic to early Tertiary time. Then, during the Miocene, right lateral movement on the LVVSZ split all of the pre-existing thrusts. So, if that is the case, then the rocks that you see at Red Rocks are the same as seen in the VALLEY OF FIRE. However, there are Cretaceous and Tertiary rocks that crop out in the Valley of Fire that don’t exist or are buried and not exposed in Red Rock Canyon. Valley Of fire is located 55 miles Northeast of Las Vegas, Nevada east of Overton. It encompasses 46,000 acres and is Nevada’s oldest state park. The geologic history of this park follows the same time line are Red rock. With only a few differences, the white and red Jurassic sandstone and limestone’s from the Paleozoic era. These are the same sequence of rock units as exposed in Red Rocks The Muddy Mountain thrust of the Valley Of Fire is equivalent to the Keystone thrust in Red Rocks, which brings Cambrian Bonanza King over the Jurassic Aztec. The Willow Tank Thrust is the easternmost thrust, which brings Jurassic Aztec over the Cretaceous Willow Tank Formation (thrust is shown in fig 2). Cretaceous rocks in the Valley of Fire (these rocks were deposited in a foreland basin in front of the thrust belt and thus were preserved due to subsequent burial). The Willow Tank Formation, ~101-98 Ma, dates from a fossil fern and radiometric ages from ash beds, conglomerates, mudstones, ash beds, sandstones in this unit. Which are interpreted to have been deposited in a low-lying floodplain and lake environments. White Member Sandstones and conglomerates are interpreted to be deposited in braided stream and alluvial fan environments, 95-96 Ma, age dates from ash beds. The white color is attributed to the uplift and erosion of the Jurassic Aztec sandstone on the Willow Tank thrust. So this unit is derived from the erosion of that frontal thrust Red Member. Also, sandstones and conglomerates have been interpreted to be deposited in braided stream and alluvial fan environments, ~93 Ma, age date from one ash bed the red color is due to erosion of older units (Triassic-Paleozoic) on the Willow Tank Thrust. Overton Conglomerate Member is dominantly carbonates with subordinate sandstone interpreted to be mainly braided stream deposits which the age not known. The Tertiary units that crop out in the Valley of Fire are basin-fill deposits. While extension was happening (Basin and Range), many valleys were formed and housed river, lake and alluvial fan depositional environments. So the Tertiary Horse Spring and Muddy Creek Formations are basin-fill deposits. The climate in the present day area contributes to the preservation of the outcrops of sandstone. With mild winters I ranging from 0 to 75 degrees and summers exceeding 120 degrees, the arid landscape only has weathering from wind to deal with. The rainfall rarely exceeds 4inches a year. Some of the interesting and peculiar shaped out crops include the Atlatl (at’-lat-l) Rock which is named for an ancient Indian spear that is depicted in many petro glyphs or rock art. There are many of these petro glyphs through out the Valley Of Fire and Red Rock Canyon. Atlatl Rock is located  near the west entrance of the park. It has some outstanding examples of petro glyphs. In order to see it you must climb up a stairway which is about 40 feet high. The petro glyphs at Atlatl Rock are out in the open, visible to passers by, about 40 to 60 feet above the ground. The main panel is a relatively flat surface which faces exactly east. This was verified by taking compass readings from several vantage points. Atlatl Rock shows a set of images which appear to tell some kind of story. There are many interpretations of these images. Some of the interpretations are controversial. No one will ever really know what any petro glyph that was made in prehistoric times means. Through the means of ethnographic analogy, anthropologists try to interpret the possible meanings of these images. Atlatl Rock is intriguing because it contains images that we seem to know the meaning of because they look familiar. The images we think we know are mixed in with images that we can only guess at. The Beehives are so named for their resemblance to beehives. This effect is caused by erosion, mostly wind, or Aeolian processes. Aeolian erosion has two main processes, deflation and abrasion. Nearby is evidence of the process of deflation where sand is removed by wind and transported across the desert forming sand dunes and abrading rock surfaces along the way. Although Aeolian abrasion is not often as significant as the abrasion process in streams or along shores, it is significant over long periods of time. The results are sculpted rocks with unusual shapes due to the in situ erosion. In a fluvial environment erosion results in rounded shapes as rocks are tumbled end over end. The wind based abrasion pits, polishes, facets and shapes the exposed rock surfaces in as many ways as the wind can blow. As the sand is ultimately deposited in dunes somewhere, it takes on the shapes of ripples and waves like sand under flowing water. As the sand piles up, dunes get larger. As the wind continues to blow, the dunes migrate in the direct that it does. The shifting winds and the continuing deposition of sand creates an effect called cross bedding. This is caused by the sand being blown down the slip face or leeward side of the dune. Over time the dunes that were created in this area became fossilized. Geologic process have reveal these fossilized dune fields and exposed them to erosion. At the Beehives we see the process repeat and reveal itself. The wind blown sand abrades the softer rock first articulating the layers of sand originally deposited hundreds of millions of years ago as the courser, leeward deposit remains. One of the most well known is the Seven Sisters, seven free standing rocks all in a single row. The Seven Sisters are called that because of the unusual results of Aeolian erosion on the bright red sandstone. This type of erosion is common in deserts. In the Valley of Fire wind erosion creates nature’s sculptures in numbers. Everywhere are examples of the winds action on the soft red sandstone. As the wind abrades the rocks disarticulating them one grain at a time it leaves its mark on the stone. Each grain freed from its place joins in with the wind to free more of its cohorts. The horde finally rests in dunes and then moves and shifts as the wind pushes it. Over millions of years, what was once a ridge or a mountain, has been reduced by the relentless action of the winter, water, heat and cold, to relatively slender stone pillars. Sometimes they stand together. The Seven Sister's do not actually resemble people in anything but an imagined sense. They are icons sculpted out of red sandstone by nature. They represent the struggle of all forms, animate and stationary against the forces of time and nature. A petro glyph is a mark made into a stone surface by humans to represent some object. This is contrasted to what is often referred to as rock painting, which is a design or image painted or drawn on to the surface of the rock. Those are called pictographs. Petro glyphs images are pecked, scratched or ground into the surface of the rock. In some areas the authors used a hammer stone and a pebble as a chisel. In Southwestern deserts, petro glyphs are found on canyon walls, rocks, on cliff sides where time and weather and the unique chemistry of the rock, adds a color to the rock surface. This coating usually consists of iron and manganese dioxides mixed with other things such as the by products lichens. This is called a ‘desert varnish' or patina. With a patina or varnish the rock surfaces often appear shiny or wet. Sometimes images are also cut into a surface that is not discolored. Some images on are on high, flat canyon walls or steep rock faces sometimes as far from the ground as a dozens of meters. Works Cited 1)†GEOLOGY. † Red Rock Canyon. 30 Apr. 2009 . 2)†Red Rock Canyon Geology. † Prodigy's Personal Web Pages. 30 Apr. 2009 . 3)†Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area -. † Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 30 Apr. 2009 . 4)†Thrust Fault. † About Geology – The Complete Guide to Geology. 30 Apr. 2009 . 5)†Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada. † Desert Biomes by DesertUSA. 30 Apr. 2009 . Interview Kelsey McNamara, grad student at Montana State University, May 2, 2009 via Email