Thursday, October 31, 2019

Has the US lost the plot in Latin America Essay

Has the US lost the plot in Latin America - Essay Example He is described as one of the most important intellectuals of our time. "US Perspectives and Foreign Policy in Latin America" homes in on the Heritage Foundation. Wikipedia describes Heritage's stated mission as to: "formulate and promote conservative public policies based on the principles of free enterprise, limited government, individual freedom, traditional American values, and a strong national defense." "Venezuelan "Bolivarian Revolution" and Bolivia's "Movement Towards Socialism" lays down the ideological basis of the emerging economic models of both Bolivia and Venezuela. The Power and Interest News Reports (PINR) [url: http://www.pinr.com/ ] was chosen as the main source for its largely unbiased views. "Left versus Left'" offers glimpses of how a radical socialist criticizes other avowed leftists or center-left politicians. James Petras, a Latin American expert and self-described "revolutionary and anti-imperialist" activist and writer, was chosen for his controversial views and mastery of Marxist political economy. "Prognosis" lays down the conclusions of the main themes: (1) "Does the rise of left wing presidents in Latin America represent a threat to the US," (2) "Focus with a case study of Bolivia; the rise of anti neo liberal leaders - could they combine to create an alternative model for development Compare to empirical evidence and the rise of populism in the past;" and (3) "Examining the prospects of an 'alternative' to capitalism; the search for a non dependent model is back on the agenda because of the wave of anti American feeling and the rise of relations for example between Brazil and China." Has the U.S. lost the plot in Latin America "There is trouble ahead for Uncle Sam in his own backyard. Big trouble. It is one of the most important and yet largely untold stories of our world in 2006. George W Bush has lost Latin America. " -- British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), April 2006 1 I. Introduction The BBC, the world's largest broadcasting corporation, ran a series on Latin America early this year. The BBC asserted that while the U.S. government has been busy implementing its war against terrorism in Iran and Afghanistan, its relations with Latin America turned sour, from Mexico down to Peru. Strong anti-American feelings, or what one Peruvian leader called "the neo-liberal economic model that has failed to benefit our nation", converted into a string of electoral victories by what the West perceives as left-leaning governments. 2 A "leftward" drift is apparent in Latin America's southern hemisphere since the start of the decade. In Venezuela, leftist Hugo Chavez garnered 56.93% of the votes in 30 July 2000. In Brazil, center-Left Luis Inacio LULA da Silva won 61.27% in the second round of elections in October 27, 2002. In Argentina, left-leaning Nestor Kirchner was sworn in as president on May 25, 2003 to a four-year term of office after his rival, Carlos Menem, decided

Tuesday, October 29, 2019

RED BULL COLA CASE STUDY Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

RED BULL COLA CASE STUDY - Essay Example The fast changing socio-economic paradigms and advancing technology has tremendously changed the dynamics of market strategies. In the contemporary times, the customer has become much more informed and technology has provided him with more options within the similar product lines, but produced by different companies. UK market is one such market where the companies face cut throat competition. In such a highly competitive environment, Red Bull needs to base the market segmentation according to psycho-demographic pattern so as to maximise the initial impact and create a creditable position within the UK market. Psycho-demographic is chosen as the focus area primarily because of the fact that the competition within the industry demands a creation of a niche market for Red Bull cola to become a success. Red Bull cola faces stiff competition from the already established brands like Pepsi and Cola Cola. Psychographic or lifestyle pattern categorises the market according to which people exhibit a well defined way of living, maintaining a set of standard and displaying a typical purchasing behaviour. Since Red Bull has already a dominant market position in the energy drinks, launching of its Cola version would become easier within this particular market segment as it has many differentiating elements in its cola product which can be easily promoted within this group. Provide better tool to develop strategies and make significant inroad into the UK market for non alcoholic Red Bull Cola. Of the various demographic characteristics, the most useful would be the income and age-wise identification of the group that could be targeted through intense media blitz and other market techniques to attract them and make them a committed user and purchaser. The mixed segmentation is hugely popular in the contemporary times and gives a big

Sunday, October 27, 2019

Social and Ethical Responsibility: New Belgium Brewery

Social and Ethical Responsibility: New Belgium Brewery Introduction How do we judge if a company is good or bad? There are many ways that can be used to define greatness. The company might pay out high dividends to investors or the company may have a huge net income on its monthly yearly statements. Really there is an endless amount of ways to judge how good or bad a company is doing, but probably one of the most critical ways to decide if a company is first-class is how ethically and socially responsible the company is. One such company that not only meets these standards but exceeds them is New Belgium brewery. In the following case study we will answer the following questions, how would you describe operations management at new Belgium, why is it important to engage employees in ownership to enhance quality and efficiency, what does alternatively empowered mean to you, and do you think New Belgiums focus on environmental responsibility and sustainability in its production process is a major cost or benefit that enhances profits of the company. Aft er reading this case study you will be able to judge for yourself if New Belgium is a great company by meeting its social responsibility be lessening the companys ecological foot print. 1. How would you describe operations management at New Belgium Brewing? New Belgium Brewery has an open book management policy which means that its employees can see the companys financial statements, and can take part in making decisions for the company. New Belgium Brewery provides financial training to its employees, in order for them to understand how to make sense of the business side of business. The employees also have a say in the production of new types of beers that are being introduce to the public. Employee contribution affects the companys profitability, from the different brewed beers they choose to produce to their vote on company projects. In 1995, New Belgium Brewery designed themselves a state of the art custom-built facility. They ensure quality and productivity in their products, and also the efficient and environmentally friendly way the beer is produced at their plant. Quality assurance is critical in operations management, especially when it will be produced in large volumes. It is difficult to maintain a consistent product, but in the brewery employees constantly monitor every step, from receiving the hops, to brewing and finally bottling to ensure the highest possible quality of its product. At New Belgium Brewery their employees expertise, knowledge and their passion helps the companys profitability. By having cutting edge technology implemented in their plants thanks to the vision of the companys management and employees has helped the company to cut costs and also help the environment in the process. 2. Why is it important to engage employees in ownership to enhance quality and efficiency? Employee involvement is creating an environment in which people have an impact on decisions and actions that affect their jobs. Employee engagement is not the goal nor is it a tool, as practiced in many organizations including The New Belgium Brewery. At New Belgium Brewery employee engagement is the key ingredient in High Involvement Culture. They consider ideas from over 300 unique perspectives with their coworkers. This helps the Brewery to operate more intelligently while recognizing everyones unique gifts. Forty three percent of New Belgium is owned by the employees through an ESOP (Employee Stock Ownership Plan). After one year of employment with the company, employees become employee-owners, which give them an interest in the success of the company. Source: Textbook pg 404 New Belgium opens all of the books to employees and provides financial training so people can understand the business of doing business. Trusting each other with this level of detail also helps them to feel appreciated, empowered, and ultimately more fulfilled. Employees have the opportunities to ask questions, provide feedback and share their ideas with one another. Engaged employees create loyal customers who in turn create Bigger Profits. Richard Branson at Virgin says: We embarked on consciously building Virgin into a brand which stood for quality, value, fun and a sense of challenge. We also developed these ideas in the belief that our first priority should be the people who work for the companies, then the customers, then the shareholders. Because if the staffs are motivated then the customers will be happy, and the shareholders will then benefit through the companys success. Sources: www.maganement-issues.com The New Belgium Brewery employees are considered area leaders, and everyone is responsible to ensure that each product is of the highest possible quality and ensuring that quality remains high. In other words, it is very important to New Belgium Brewery to engage employees in ownership to enhance quality and efficiency for the companys success and benefits for everyone who worked hard to improve and growth of the company. 3. a) What does Alternatively Empowered mean to you? What being alternatively empowered means to me is doing activities in a way that minimizes social and environmental impacts by protecting natural resources. For instance activities like reusing and recycling bottles and cans, reducing paper by using e-bills and turning off equipment not in use to save energy, and reduce water by reprocessing and filtering. These three examples reduce costs while allowing them to carry out tasks efficiently and productively. Respecting coworkers and employees is also important, this gives motivation to everyone involved in a business to feel responsible and get involved in their job. Utilizing and preserving natural, technical, human resources by minimizing the costs to ensure quality and progressive results while making any business decisions. Therefore, coming up with quality outcomes in an effective way is what alternatively empowered means to me. b) Comment on New Belgium Beliefs are related to being Environmental Stewards? Todays growing industrialization and development has resulted in pressures on the environment. Therefore its a businesss responsibility to conserve them, New Belgium Strives to care for the planet on which they sustain their business. New Belgiums method of reducing coal-fired electricity prevents air pollution. Burning coal is the leading cause of smoke, acid rain and global warming; most heart and breathing disorders results from coal power. New Belgium supports innovative technology by utilizing their facilities, they have also employed an innovative waste water reclamation plan, and this allows them to use waste water to create some of its own energy. New Belgium also supports involvement of their employees, each employee acts as an owner within their own departments, which contributes to their successful environmental project implementations. c) Utilized Green Design throughout our Building By starting so small, New Belgium was able to be more focused into the quality of the beer and any decisions that needed to be made almost in an instant. But with a lack of resources, their process at the time was not efficient in meeting their demands from consumers. By the time they were able to purchase a new location; they designed a state-of-the-art custom built facility and is considered more efficient than standard brewers. With the new available resource, they were able to increase production efficiently while maintaining the quality their customers expect. Taking advantage of the abundant sunshine in Fort Collins, the company maximizes the amount of light produced by the sun with sun-tubes, UV blocking windows, and light shelves. Using evaporative coolers to condition their 55,000 square foot packaging hall instead of compressors uses less energy which lowers the power consumptions, and in it return reduces costs. Pine beetles kill 98% of their lodge pole pines, so New Belgi um uses the fallen trees as materials for various jobs. Maximizing their productivity, the company can fully utilize their facilities and employ new and innovative technologies such as the waste water reclamation plan, which converts the waste water from the plant into energy that can be used in the factory. With other major brewers already established, the technology New Belgium acquired goes a long way in giving the company an edge over its competitors by lowering their power consumption, reducing their costs, carbon foot print, and being recognized within their community as a green company. d) Wind -Powered Electricity since 1999 Becoming the largest private consumer of wind-powered electricity in 1999, New Belgium made a ten year commitment to buy all of their electricity through the city-sponsored wind program in Colorado. Un-wanted judgment from the community reflexes bad on a company and destroys its reputation so New Belgium goes out of their way and employs wind power as a source of power. Instead of polluting the environment and continuing their commitment, also reducing unnecessary cost and improving efficiency. Sustaining this mandate as a leader in green efficient energy brewers, many other brewers may follow in their carbon free foot prints and continue to grow and expand as a newer, smarter, and greener industry. As a work in progress, there are many other technologies that can be implemented in the business as another step to be more green such as solar panels on the roof from the sun, or capture heat underground as geothermal and reducing their heat bill while staying nice and toasty during the winter times. With much improvements over the years as a green leader in the brewing business, leaving the pollutant past behind and leading the way with a greener future is beneficial for both the industries and consumers. 4. Do you think New Belgiums focus on the environmental responsibility and sustainability in its production process is a major cost or benefit that enhances the profits of the company? New Belgium Brewerys focus on environmental responsibility and sustainability during its production process is a major benefit that enhances the profits of the company. New Belgiums focus on the environment has helped the company grow their customer base as well as their brewery, by using such technologies as wind power, water recapture, turning waste water into energy, energy efficient brew kennels, spent grain going to a local cattle farm, 98% landfill diversion rate, constructing the factory from reclaimed timber, and recapturing steam are among some of the methods New Belgium uses to be environmentally friendly. These choices that New Belgium brewery has made have helped to grow the brewerys clientele. This has been done with much success because of all the attention that is being given to the health of our planet. By being the first brewery to adopt such methods in the United States, New Belgium was able to gain consumers from other more prominent breweries through environmental stewardship, and in turn the customers have given New Belgium their unwavering support. As it turns out going green does cost money, but it actually saves money in the long run, and has made New Belgium extremely profitable. This is obvious from New Belgiums humble beginnings in a basement to its new brewery state of the art brewery; this can also be seen because New Belgium is the third largest craft brewery and ninth largest brewery in the US. New Belgium Brewery has secured its place in the American brewing industry and will continue to gain a loyal following in the future thanks to cutting edge technology, it can produce the highest quality product while at the same time being sustainable. The outcome of this is very big profits Conclusion To wrap things up, New Belgium Brewery is ethically responsible to its employees and socially responsible through its environmental stand point that is instilled in the company from its infancy to maturity. New Belgium is a first-class company by these standards of being ethically and socially responsible as was shown through the management, employee ownership, environmental responsibility sustainability, and earning profits at the same time. Will New Belgium be able to meet and exceed its ethical and social responsibilitys? That remains to be seen, but if New Belgium Brewerys past and present have bearing on the future then the company probably will.

Friday, October 25, 2019

Australia In The Vietnam War :: essays research papers

The only time Australia has come under direct attack from another country, was when Japan bombed Darwin and sunk a number of ships in Sydney, during World War 2. The question then has to be asked, why Australia has been involved in so many conflicts. A number of recent conflicts in this century come to mind, they include, The Boer War, World War One, World War Two and The Vietnam War. By far the conflict that drew the most outrage from Australian citizens was the Vietnam War. Australia has been drawn into these conflicts through a number of treaties and alliances made with other countries. Often it is not the conflicts that have drawn most outrage from Australian citizens, rather the insistence of other countries, for Australia to accept large numbers of post-war refugees. The introduction of conscription into Australia during the Vietnam War, caused much outrage in the Australian public. Vietnam was the first war ever to be properly televised, the public saw for the first time the true brutality of war. The public started to question Australia’s involvement in the war. Moratoriums were held around Australia in protest against conscription and Australia’s involvement in the war. Much of the protesting was done by students and the younger generations, there was still support for the war effort. This was reflected in the November 1966 elections, when there was a landslide victory for the Liberals. Conscription did have an effect on the Liberal governments popularity, a few months after a complete troop withdrawal in 1972 from Vietnam, the Whitlam Labour government replaced the McMahon Liberal government. Historically, one of the influencing factors of the Liberal’s election loss was the Governments choice to get involved in a war that h ad little to do with Australia. Australia’s involvement in Vietnam came about due to the South-East Asia Treaty Organisation(SEATO). Australia was a country involved in SEATO. After Americas request, South Vietnam requested Australia’s help in the Vietnam Conflict. Australia’s involvement in this organisation was an important one, if South-East Asia fell to communism, then it’s northern shores would be vulnerable. Having said this, Australia’s involvement in this conflict was not purely for this reason. Political ambition was a major contributing factor in Australia’s involvement. After all, it was a chance to help one of the most powerful countries in the world out, and this would strengthen Australia’s political alliances with America.

Thursday, October 24, 2019

Vladimir Ilich Ulyanov Biography

Lenins political finesse, his understanding of the strength of the peasantry and his rewriting of the communist thought are the characteristics which made Lenin one of the greatest leaders of Russia. Vladimir Ilich Ulyanov, was born on April 22, 1870, in Simbirsk, on the bank of the Volga river. Ilya Nikolayevich Ulyanov, a man with high cheek bones, a dark complexion and dark brown eyes, all of which Lenin inherited, was Lenins father, and was the director of schools in Simbirsk province. Lenins mother, Maria Aleksandrovna Blank, was a woman who was very devoted to her six children who all eventually became evolutionaries, except for one who died before she could follow her siblings. Lenin overall had a good childhood. He liked to play chess, swim, hike, and hunt. Although Lenin had no close friends, he did look up to his brother, Alexander, a great deal. When Lenin entered school in 1879, at the age of 9 he became a brilliant student and this was acclaimed to a teacher who came into the Ulyanov home before Lenin could enter school, and taught him to read by the age of five. During Vladimirs young years Russia was quite quiet, although not for him. In 1886 Lenins father died and in 1887 his rother Alexander, whom Lenin looked up to, was involved in an unsuccessful plot to kill the czar and was hanged for doing so. The death of Alexander came as a great blow to Lenin. About his brothers death Lenin simply said â€Å"Ill make them pay for this! I swear it! † The same year his brother was hanged, Lenin finished school at the age of 17 and received a gold medal for excellence in studies. During the fall of that year Lenin was admitted to Kazan University to study law there. Three months after Lenin had settled in Kazan he was expelled from the University for joining in a student meeting protesting the ack of freedom the students were given in the school. Over the next three years Lenin tried many more times to regain admission to the university, but was unsuccessful on all attempts, until 1890 when he tried to gain acceptance to St. Petersburg University. He was admitted as a student but he was not, however, permitted to attend classes, though he would be permitted to take the examinations after studying on his own. In 1891 after studying on his own and taking the final examinations Lenin received a law degree from St. Petersburg University and united with a law firm in Samara. While still in university Lenin was introduced to the works of Karl Marx, Marx being a major contributor to the Communist Philosophy. In early 1893 Lenin became part of the Social Democratic band, a Marxist establishment. In the latter part of that year Lenin reallocated to St. Petersburg and got a start on his revolutionary career. While in St. Petersburg Lenin found that the quality of leadership came to him easily and he quickly became the leader of a Social Democrat group. Lenin came across as a bright intelligent man. All of Lenins written work was very precise, intensely specific, and crystal clear. In 1897 Lenin was banished to Siberia, after being held for questioning for more than a year, after he was caught by the Czars Secret Police while preparing a revolutionary newspaper, The Cause, in December of 1895. During Lenins interval in Siberia he married Nadezhda Konstantinovna Krupskaya. As banishment to Siberia did not mean confinement and Lenin took advantage of his freedom by carrying on his propagandist writings and also wrote one of his more dominant accomplishments, The Development of Capitalism In Russia (1899). During the span of 1898, while Lenin was in expulsion from Russia, a collection of concealed Russian Marxist groups allied to form the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party. In the ensuing period following Lenins Siberian expulsion, January 1900, he received authorization to leave the country and go to Germany to assist with the founding of the parties newspaper, The Spark, of which the first issue appeared on December 24, 1900. In 1902 Lenin wrote a pamphlet called â€Å"What Is To Be Done† and from this pamphlet came the base of what is called Leninism. The following year the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party broke into two separate, equal, collectives over a ontention about party membership. Lenin became the leader of the Bolsheviks, which translates to â€Å"The Majority†, which suggested that his group was larger. The Bolsheviks desired that membership to their party be confined to a small member of full-time revolutionaries. The other group, The Mensheviks, which translates to The Minority, desired that party membership be less restrictive and did not prefer a dictatorship, as the Bolsheviks did, but rather to practice more democratically. Just as all this was taking place a vitality of insurrection was taking place across Russia fronting the Czar Nicholas II. The Russian people wanted land, higher wages, and increased political rights including a legislation. Included in these revolts was an incident called â€Å"Bloody Sunday† which happened when an Orthodox Priest led a march of â€Å"peaceful† peasants to the home of the Czar, on Sunday January 22, 1905. When they reached the palace the Czars head man panicked at the sight of the many people and had his troops fire on the defenseless crowd, slaying and damaging hundreds. By the fall of 1905 a full strike of nearly all workers stupefied the country compelling the Czar to give the people a Duma, which is a ower level Parliament. By the end of 1905 mammoth strikes commenced and was followed by a brimming revolution to which the Czar quickly put a stop to. After this Lenin found it quite arduous to proceed with revolutionary actions in Russia and exhausted most of his time from 1906 until 1908 publishing radical leaflets and attending party congress in England, Germany and Sweden, chiefly with the intentions of keeping the party together, but also to expand the distance between the Bolsheviks and the Mensheviks alleging that the Mensheviks did not want revolution. On August 1, 1914 Germany declared war on Russia and World War I commenced. As Lenin was in Austria at that time, the Austrian government arranged for Lenin to be transported to Switzerland who did not participate in the war. It has been noted that many extremists desired a victory for Russia, but it has also been noted that others wanted peace lacking a victory for any one country, but a victory of peace for all involved. Lenin, however, desired that his country suffer a defeat, and that would bring about revolution in the country. During the war Lenin and his cause were aided financially by the German government, by performing this the Germans felt that they were eroding the Russian war endeavor. By this time most of Lenins supporters had deserted him, indicating as their more popular reasons that Lenin was using assets intended for the assemblage for himself, and that his apparent seizure of power was unwilful by some. This period in Lenins career was suggested by Krupskaya, his wife, as the loneliest point in Lenins career, and as a time when Lenin would transfigure his passions into a surely revolutionary conclusion. It had been three years since the start of the war and the countries were still attling, Russia had lost many of her battles and the country was in annoyance. Food shortages were occurring all across the country, mainly in the cities, but bread was especially shortly yielded. In early February 1917 bread was nowhere to be found in Petrograd and immense lines aside the bread shops collected and the tensions increased. By the end of the first quarter of February approximately two hundred thousand workers were on strike and demonstrating in the capital. On the fifteenth day of March nineteen- seventeen, the Czar Nicholas II, gave up his throne and also gave up the throne or his son. This left the throne to the Nicholass brother who did not want the throne, thus ending three hundred years of autocratic rule. With no one in power of the country a democratic provisional government was formed. For a duration the governing power was shared by the provisional government with the Petrograd Soviet, but before long the Bolsheviks, although very unorganized demanded that all ability be granted to the soviets. At the present time Lenin was still in Switzerland and was pondering a way to return to Russia. The German government was willing to allow Lenin passage through Germany, by way of rail. The only thing the German government was, however, worried about during Lenins trek was of him agitating the German workers. Because of this the German government had Lenin ride in a single sealed train car that was deemed, for the duration of his trip, Russian territory. On the sixteenth day of April nineteen seventeen Vladimir Ilich Ulyanov returned to Russia landing in Petrograd and receiving a welcome fit for a hero. After arriving in Petrograd Lenin abruptly took back control of the Bolsheviks and ordered the overthrow of the provisional government. Lenin was unable to take control of the provisional and upon the reorganization of it, Alexander Kernsky took control and decreed Lenins arrest on the account that he was a German agent, and Lenin quickly fled to Finland. The rest of the Bolsheviks also quickly dispersed or were taken into custody. After living in Finland for about three months, during this time writing The State and Revolution, which was considered to be one of the most important of his labors in which he described how to come about power by way of revolution, Lenin returned to Russia, October 1917, as he felt it was necessary to bring about the revolution. Upon Lenins arrival in Petrograd he strongly recommended to the Bolshevik Central Committee to take advantage of Kerenskys weak government. The Central Committee decided to take action while they had the chance. The Bolshevik president of the Petrograd Soviet, Leon Trotsky, managed to gain control of some government troops and some Naval crews who supported the uprising, and then with minute amount of brutality the Bolsheviks captured Petrograd on October twenty fifth, nineteen seventeen. The Bolsheviks now only had one more thing to do before they were to hold all power of the government, capture Moscow. The capturing of Moscow proved to be more difficult and rougher, but at any rate Moscow was seized and the Bolsheviks had taken power. November 8, 1917 was the day that the Second All-Russian Congress opened with representatives from all across the country in attendance. At the meeting of the congress, which was controlled by the Bolsheviks, Lenin was appointed chairman of The Council of Peoples Commissars, and therefore he became head of the new Russian State. When Lenin ade his first appearance before the congress he asked to be allowed to ask Germany for a three month truce, and for the eradication of private land ownership, both of these requests were authorized. Soon after Lenin took control he found himself in a battle to stay in control, as the Red Army had broken apart, German forces were advancing deeper and deeper into Russia, and also other opposing forces were gathering large groups in parts of Russia. Lenin believed that if the Bolsheviks were to stay in power then the war with Germany would have to come to an end soon and at any cost. It was the third day of March 1918 when the battles between Russia and Germany ended with the signing of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. This treaty made it obligatory for Russia to give up a lot of land, which in effect hurt her, until the end of World War I when Germany lost and the treaty became void. In order to put his government further away from German power, in the territory that Russia gave up, Lenin moved the countrys capital to Moscow from Petrograd. In December of 1917 Lenin brought into existence the Cheka, which was a political police force setup to se extreme force to control anyone with an opinion that differed from that of the Bolsheviks. Most of the people that the Cheka arrested were imprisoned, murdered, or sent to the Gulag, which was a system of prison labor camps where most died. In 1918 Lenin suggested to the Bolshevik Central Committee that they change the name of the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party to the Russian Communist Party and this was done. In July 1918, for fear of the former Czar making an uprising, the Bolsheviks had the Czar and his entire family, including servants, slayed. About a month after the Czar was killed, Lenin as at a factory giving a speech to the employees and he was shot twice by Dora Kaplan, who was a member of a Socialist Revolutionary Party. After quickly recovering from the bullets Lenin had Dora Kaplan executed and to set an example for others he had hundreds of others executed, claiming they were hostages. The revolution was like a speeding locomotive in the cites, but was slower to catch on in the more remote parts of the country and in these parts of the country resistance was becoming a major problem and civil war was breaking out. The two enemies in the war ere the Red Army, which Lenin had created in January 1918 and named after the color of the world Communist movement, and opposing them were the whites, who were for the most part democrats, Russian Nationalists and those who opposed change in any form. The Whites had a major problem though, this problem was that they lacked any organization. The Bolsheviks easily won this civil war by 1920, although not untouched. By the end of this war the Russian economy was in shambles and millions of Russians had left to go afar, or died. But yet still the Communist government survived. Although Lenin had successfully taken control of Russia he had not yet accomplished his true goal that he had set out to achieve many years before, which was the goal of a Communist world revolution. In 1921, in a radical attempt to regain control of his country, Lenin instituted a program called the New Economic Policy. This policy replaced a lot of the measures that were put in place when the Bolsheviks took power, it allowed small businesses to continue to operate, peasants to sell food to private customers, free trade was reinstated, and foreign business was invited to invest in Russia. By this time Lenins health had also started to suffer from the stress, among various other things. Although foreign nations were invited to invest in Russia few did and by this time, also, no major country still held diplomatic relations with Russia. In the month of May in 1922 Lenins health took a turn for the worse and he endured a stroke. Lenin then, opposing his doctors advice, kept on working. It was the December of 1922 that Lenin suffered his second stroke and that same month the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was established by the Bolshevik government. On March 9, 1923 Lenin suffered from a third stoke and his ability to speak clearly was impaired. Less than a year later, on January 21, 1924, Lenin died of a brain hemorrhage, thus ending his rein of power. Lenin used the strength of the peasantry in revolution by appeasing some of their demands, such as implementing the New Economic Policy. The masses supported Lenins beliefs and showed their unrest in ways such as striking. Lenin also utilized his fellow politicians in his bid to accomplish the first part of his goal, to bring communism to Russia, y finessing them into his turn of mind via his personal fervor and his writings. Lenins vision of communism included bringing theories into practice. He also brought widely varied classes of people to his conclusions. Thus by using any and every means possible, Lenin brought communism to Russia, although it took far longer that he expected and he died before reaching his ultimate goal of World Communism. Whether or not communism is or was beneficial to a society, Lenin was a great leader in as much as he reshaped an entire country and its ideals.

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Case Write-Up: The Investment Detective Essay

Case Summary The purpose of this case is to become a capital budgeting analyst and evaluate which set of free cash flows for 8 projects will result in the most effective investment for a firm’s capital. The objective given is to rank the four best that the company should accept. The case is broken down into three separate steps including the given information about estimated cash flows (inflows & outflows), determining the appropriate discount rate, and evaluating the cash flows using the IRR (Internal Rate of Return), MIRR (Modified Internal Rate of Return), NPV (Net Present Value), and other metrics. Each project is chosen solely on the basis of the quantitative analysis. Here are some factors to consider for this case: Each project has the same initial investment of $2 million; in addition, all are believed to be of the same risk class. The managers have determined that projects 7 and 8 are mutually exclusive. The issue is that the WACC has never been officially estimated and in the pas t the discount rate has been assumed at 10 percent (however, certain officers have asserted the discount rate to be higher). Ranking Projects Ranking projects simply through the inspection of cash flows is inadequate due to the time value of money and cost of capital of companies; the only piece of information that can be derived from looking at the cash flows is the amount of time it would take to be paid back (regular payback period). There are several capital budgeting tools that can be used, including IRR, MIRR, and NPV. These three can be used to see if a project exceeds the expected rate of return or the cost of capital for a company. We also refer to payback, discounted payback period, and a profitability index to help assist the decision-making process for which projects should start to commence. In addition, qualitative factors must be considered for any project given outside of this case, to cover the bases and have successful implementation. A company could find that having a negative NPV is acceptable due to the critical nature of the project. Experimenting in new markets to identify potential favorable businesses should be taken into consideration. Finally, cash flows are estimated in most projects so a  consideration has to be made for the quality of estimation. Therein lies one of the critical issues in capital budgeting; that there is a margin of error in the calculation of cash flows, whereas in the example above, the margin of error (typically larger with uncertain outcomes) could mean there would be a positive NPV for that critical project. Typically, NPV is the foremost choice for determining the investing worthiness of a specific project; NPV, determined by the sum of discounted cash flows compared against the cost of the investment. NPV allows anyone to see how much value above the initial investment. MIRR, would be the next best choice, as it is measures profitability of a project as a percentage (IRR does this as well). The reason MIRR is of higher significance is it has the extra part of assuming cash flows being reinvested at the WACC rate; additionally MIRR eliminates the problem of IRR having two potential rates. Quantitative Ranking Methods We ranked each project by the various methods stated above. Below, in Exhibit 1, are the metrics ranked by highest amount or percentage, except for payback and discounted payback periods which are ranked from low to high, signifying the shortest amount of time that the initial investment is recovered. The answer to determine which project is best to invest in is dependent on the variables and requirements that management deems necessary, meaning the qualitative content that is supplementary to the cash flow data. Typically, firms will decide to invest on the project that produces the highest NPV, and for this case if we are to rank by NPV, project #3 is the clear winner. Ranking by profitability index gives the same answer for each project number (it is indirectly related to NPV through the sum of discounted cash flow benefits). However when we look at the other values for project #3, it is  lower down the order. This is a result of the only cash flow being in the last (15th) year; due to the time value of money, this lowers the IRR and MIRR substantially, and obviously the payback period is the longest of all the projects. The next prosperous project based off of NPV but also ranked 2nd highest for IRR, MIRR, and PI, is project #4. At first glance, when considering the two mutually exclusive projects: project #7 and #8, the NPV and PI for project #8 is higher, while the IRR and MIRR are higher for project #7. Additionally the payback and discounted payback periods are shorter for project #7. This presents a dilemma in which it appears project #8 should be selected, yet #7 seems to be more favorable overall. There is a continuity of this dilemma as the cash flow streams are unequal for each project. To solve for this issue, we used a replacement chain analysis to determine which project between the two is the best investment decision. Below, in Exhibit 2, is an analysis of each project using replacement chaining. We excluded the last cash flow of $70 at T15, because for project #8’s last cash flow is after 7 years (project #7’s last cash flow is after 5 years), so we repeated that to T14. As shown above, when using the replacement chain method, we can see the change in outputs when the cash flows are repeated  through time. The decision between each project is now much clearer once the cash flows are repeated to the same* time-frame. Project #7 is the clear-cut investment decision when deciding between those two projects. Alternative Courses of Action There are always numerous ways to see a problem and decide how to react. The investor could choose any of the above mentioned methods (NPV, IRR, MIRR, payback, discounted payback, or Probability Index) to choose an investment project. Due to the mutual exclusivity of projects #7 and #8, the investor can choose whatever criteria method deemed most significant. Other factors for consideration include the project’s proposing manager’s track record for success, the proposing manager’s confidence in the project, the timing of the project’s cash flows, the project’s ability to protect market share, or the proposing division’s track record of success. Recommendation Based on these options, and the previously detailed analysis, we recommend that the project be selected based on the NPV ranking shown in Exhibit 1. With mutually exclusive projects, conflicts may arise in choosing between using the NPV, IRR, and MIRR. In this case, the NPV is the best choice for selection because it chooses the project that maximizes value for the firm. If managers are interested in the expected rate of return on the project, the MIRR or IRR will be more likely to demonstrate the rates that are actually earned if the project’s cash flows are reinvested in future projects, but this should be supplemental to the NPV during the decision process.

Tuesday, October 22, 2019

Exploring Business Purpose Essays

Exploring Business Purpose Essays Exploring Business Purpose Essay Exploring Business Purpose Essay Why businesses set aims? Businesses set aims to make profit, provide goods and services. An aim also helps the business survive and expand. Maximise sales or improve quality and be environmentally friendly. All business has aims that they want to achieve and objectives that help them they have to do to achieve those aims. And aims are the overall goals and purposes that the business was set up to fulfil. Aim should always be appropriate to the business achieve and size of the business. Also aim is to provide a focus for the business also development and achievement of key areas of business. Why businesses set Objectives? Objectives: Objectives are steps which help to achieve an aim; they are broken down aims so that they can be easier to achieve them. They also should be monitored to be regularly checked if the achievement is successful. OBJECTIVES also are specific targets that must be achieved if the business is to fulfil its aims. Also objectives are to break down the aim so that they are easier to achieve and its step which to achieve aim. All objectives mast is monitored regularly to check achievement. Mission statement A Mission Statement sets out the business idea and values that enables employees, managers and customers and even suppliers to understand the basics for the actions of a business. The beast objectives are SMART SMART stands for: Specific There is a clear definition often including a number for example saving à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½20 a week. Measurable- This means achievement can be checked. Banking your saving mean your bank statement will record and measure your achievement. Achievable- This means you attain your target if you stretch yourself a litter- so saving à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½20 a week may be achievable without having to make too many sacrifices. Realistic-This means the target is sensible so that you stand achance of achieving it you could not save à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½20 a week if you did not have a job that paid at least that amount. Time-related- Every objective should have a time limit in which it should be accomplished. Therefore you can set a time limit to review your performance to see your objective progress. SMART objectives: SMART objectives are accessable and help business to plan and monitor its aim and objectives. For example if a business aim is to make profit and their objective is to make 12%profit they have to sell more products which is specific. They can compare the current years product sold record to previous and calculate that they are selling more each month that is measurable. Management giving the permission or create the plan is agreed. Time helps manager to monitor and plan and also to see where they are that time is constrained. SMART objectives also known as management tools it helps manager to prioritise work load. By breaking down the aims into smaller achievable goals help the business to plan and monitor these smaller goals and see progress toward achieved long term aims. Richer sounds Mission statement. The reason for having aims and objectives is to keep moving the business forward. At Richer Sounds they have a mission statement. This states our business aims in simple terms. Having a mission statement helps us to ensure that everyone in the organisation is working to achieve the same aims. RICHER SOUNDS MISSION STATEMENT 1. To provide second to none service and value for money for our customers. 2. To provide ourselves with secure well paid jobs working in a stimulating and equal opportunities environment. 3. To be profitable to ensure our long term growth and survival. The current goals and Objectives of Richer Sounds. 1. Consolidate the business and improve our profitability. 2. Develop the audiovisual home cinema range and increase the sales of plasma TVs and L C Ds. 3. Keep the business fun. We measure the success of this through our yearly Colleague Attitude Survey. 4. Keep the level of excellence of customer service above 90% for the company as a whole. Richer sounds measure the success of this through our customer till receipt questionnaires. 5. Control them costs through the cost control group to keep these to budget levels. How Richer Sound Achieve they Aims richer sounds didnt change the mission statement but often change the way they try to achieve they aims. They change product line so that richer sounds continue to ensure our customers receive value for money. Also richer sounds have a suggestion scheme. Every member of staff has a suggestion pad and every single suggestion is read by our Chairman Julian Richer. The idea is that everyone can contribute towards ideas for future improvement. Often the smallest ideas can be the most effective and richer sounds try to implement every plan which would provide a positive benefit. So they are trying to improve the way richer sound operate all the time to cope with changes in technology, new product developments, changing customer needs and economic changes. The OBJECTIVES of Richer Sounds one goal is always to keep the fun and to continue to reward people for working hard. We like to think of new ways of doing this, to keep all our colleagues motivated at work. Other issues will vary from one year to another, depending upon external influences, suggestions richer sounds have received and other developments. At the end of the year they check how far we achieved our goals. We look at which goals havent been achieved and why. We then set new goals for the next year. However, in between times we will also adjust, change or alter our goals the key point is that we are constantly moving forward. This is very important in they business. Technology develops new products come on to the market. There are new ways of doing business such as through our web site. New competitors may enter the market and some may Oxfam Mission Statement Oxfam is an international charity group of organizations working together with over 3,000 partnerships in more than 100 countries to find long term solutions to poverty, sufferings and injustice. With many cases of poverty in caused by nature, the members of the global Oxfam international believe they can achieve a greater impact through their joint efforts. Aims: Oxfams vision on the world is where there is no poverty and where everyone gets justice, and to help ensure that every individual is guaranteed of. A sustainable livelihood: this means that they can earn a reasonable living over many years to support themselves and their families. Education and health: this means that they access the basic service for example learning the basis education and health and safety. Life and security: this means that the poor should have a shelter and security when conflict and natural disasters strike. An equal right: this means that the poor should not be judged by their gender or ethnic identity. Long term goal for Oxfam and Richer Sounds The long time goal for Oxfam is to ensure the rights income security that is sustainable for their future. Oxfam want to see the part of people living in extreme poverty on less than $1a day halved, by 2015 in all countries of sub-Saharan Africa, South and East Asia, and America. Richer Sounds is a Public Limited Company, this means that they gain a profit. It is owned by Julian Richer who also is the chairman of Richer Sounds. The head office richer sound is in London, there are over 50 retailing shops in the UK and in Ireland. Richer Sounds are specialists retailers of audio equipment and separates- such as DVD players, CD players and amplifiers. Richer Sounds think it is very important that all our staff enjoy working here and are well rewarded for their achievements, they employ nearly 400 colleagues. Oxfam is a charity and all the money made excluding the wages of the staff are given to the charity organization for the poor. It is a non- government agency dedicated to fight poverty and related injustice around the world. Oxfam has 42 shops throughout Ireland selling goods donate by the public as well as 3 shop committed to sell Fair Trade crafts and food products. Oxfam have over 40 full time staff working in 2 head offices (Dublin and Belfast) and nearly 70 staff involved in running shops around the country. Oxfam also have a field office in Tanzania with a full time staff.

Monday, October 21, 2019

Free sample - Edith stein. translation missing

Edith stein. Edith stein1. What type of experience does Stein argue for the temptations of Jesus of Nazareth? Stein argues that the temptations of Jesus were right from the beginning meant to open the doors of life without end for human being. She continues to argue that, following the temptations that Jesus underwent, Christians can only pay back by being strong not to be tempted just like Jesus. Prayers are the only surest way to resist temptations. Was the experience a historical event, vision, or subjective experience? Her experience on this was like a subjective experience because she even wrote a book on the same. Although she did not finish writing it she concluded it basing it on truth of temptations she had experienced so many times. She strongly believed that, as the disciple of Christ, temptations were a daily thing. What arguments does she use to support her answer? The fact that she had suffered so much in the hands of the then government due to her denomination made her to argue that, temptations usually come but they are not meant to last.   She also argues that, just like Jesus underwent temptations and did not give up, she is also not ready to give up. 2. What are the three temptations faced by Jesus? The first temptation is when Jesus was required to manufacture bread form stones. The second requires him to let himself fall from a cliff and let the angels rescue him. Finally the devil requests him to worship him and by so doing he will give him authority over the world. How do the temptations differ in Mark, Matthew and Luke? To begin with, Luke and Mathew differ on how the second and third temptations are arranged. In the gospel of Mark Jesus’ temptations are not even clear unless one clearly reads with a lot of keenness. The two books which one can easily read the temptations of Jesus and understand are Mathew and Luke. 3. According to Stein how are we to understand the term, â€Å"wilderness†? Wilderness according to Stein can be likened to the hardships that Christians are experiencing while serving Christ. Just like Jesus experienced hardships in the wilderness Christians are no exception as Jesus serves as role model. 4. What is the meaning of each temptation according to Stein? The first temptation serves as a wake up call on Christians to resist the worldly things just like Jesus because they will soon come to an end just like bread. The second temptation according to Stein is that Jesus set a classic example by not testing his father. She calls upon Christians not to do things deliberately looking forward to Christ to save them. That to her, is a sin. In the third temptation, although she is not specific, she says that many people have been driven by promises from friends and people close to them and have abandoned the word of god and have followed them. Just like Christ, she calls upon those people to remember eternal life cannot be compared to any worldly thing. 5. How does Stein understand Jesus’ concept of the â€Å"Kingdom of God†? She categorically said this about Jesus’ concept of the kingdom of God, that the kingdom is God in us and us in Him. The kingdom is God manifesting himself in Christians and Christians in return manifest themselves in Christ. 6. What is the significance of calling God, â€Å"Abba†? The significance of Abba in her life was that even when she is experiencing embarrassment, suffering and loneliness of the cross, she experiences Christ love and being there for her which gave her a back up when he really needed it. Abba is the one that protects her therefore having a sense of security. She continues to say that, in the arms of Abba, she feels like a child being protected by strong hands of the father. This sense of security has enabled her to commit herself fully to the work of Christ. Works cited: E. Stein: St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross. Rome 1998

Sunday, October 20, 2019

Breast Cancer

Breast Cancer Essay INCIDENCE Breast Cancer Essay is the most common malignancy among women and has the highest fatality rate of all cancers affecting this sex. It is the leading cause of death among women aged 35-54. In 1999 an estimated 175,000 women were diagnosed with breast cancer. That is one woman every three minutes. At the same time 43,000 will die, at the rate of one every two minutes. The incidence of men diagnosed with breast cancer is rare, however it does occur. Approximately 1,300 men a year are diagnosed, and 400 die annually due to the disease. A total of 75% of all breast cancers occur in women with no known risk factors. 80% of breast cancers occur in women aged 50 and up. The mortality rate would decrease if every woman over 50 was informed and followed guidelines. When confined to the breast, the survival rate is 95%. Studies have shown that more white women than black women get breast cancer, however more black women die of breast cancer because they are not diagnosed at an early stage. SIGNS AND SYMPTONS Most breast cancers appear as a slowly growing, painless mass, though a vague discomfort may be present. Physical signs include a retracted nipple, bleeding from the nipple, distorted areola or breast contour, skin dimpling over the lesion, attachment of the mass to surrounding tissues including the underlying fascia and overlying skin, and enlarged lymph nodes. In most advanced stages of the disease the skin nodules with ultimate breakdown and ulcer formation may be seen. Metastases should be sought immediately so that further spread will not be a factor. Among the common sites of metastases are the lungs and pleura, the skeleton (specifically the spine, pelvis, and skull), and the liver. Whenever possible, distant spread of the disease should be confirmed by a lymph nose biopsy, by x-ray, or by liver and bone scans using radioactive isotopes. WHO IS AT RISK? All women and men are at risk of getting breast cancer. However personal history with family members having breast cancer adds an increase to the risk factor. Contradictory to this though studies have shown that 75% of breast cancer occurs in women with no history and no known risk factors. Not ever having children, or having ones first child after 30 yrs., also increases the risk of breast cancer in women. Heavy alcohol abuse is a risk factor as well. Studies have also shown that women who began menstruation early, twelve years or less, and women who began menopause late, fifty-five years plus, also have a greater risk of breast cancer. PREVENTION There are three ways to attempt to detect prevention, however since there is no cure, one cannot determine what actions to take to prevent. The most common technique for early detection is by a regular doctors examination. The second technique at detecting breast cancer is by a breast self-examination (BSE), and lastly, by mammogram. BSE should begin when a woman is eighteen or older, so that the breast is fully developed. During the BSE women should begin to learn what is normal and what is not in their breasts. Mammography is the best method at detecting breast cancer. A woman should have a mammogram when she is 40 yrs. old, and then one every two years until she is 50 yrs. old. Once a woman is 50 yrs. old she should have a mammogram annually because as ones age increases, so does the risk of getting breast cancer. Many women also need to be educated about the risks of breast cancer and how to detect it early. The majority of women with breast cancer do not know about the fortunateness of detecting breast cancer early, never mind follow the detection guidelines. TREATMENT Therapy depends mainly on the extent of the disease and the patients age. If there is evidence of wider metastasic spread, treatment will be palliative. This means that treatment will lessen the severity of pain, however it will not cure. READ: Israel Economy Essay When there is no evidence of spread, the treatment of choice is total mastectomy and modified radical mastectomy. This is an entire or partial removal of the affected breast. In the best circumstances, the 10 yr. .

Saturday, October 19, 2019

EFEECTS OF CGI (COMPUTER GENERATED IMAGES) IN THE MEDIA INDUSTRY Essay

EFEECTS OF CGI (COMPUTER GENERATED IMAGES) IN THE MEDIA INDUSTRY - Essay Example Computer generated images in digital media has also acted as a source of information, which has encouraged a participatory culture. This is by ensuring that the political process is more democratic and less elitist (Bennett and Strange, 2011). This paper aims at finding out how computer generated images impact on the media. Political campaigns usually capitalize on new means of communication in order to reach voters. This was evident in the 2008 U.S presidential elections whereby candidates used computer generated images and internet technologies to conduct their campaigns. Many political analysts liken the way President Obama used the internet in 2008 presidential campaigns to President Kennedys first use of television in presidential campaigns in 1960 (Bennett and Strange, 2011). Utilization of new media in political processes has mostly been viewed as a tool of reaching voters, especially the youth who are always reluctant to turn out and vote. Some digital media analysts have maintained that the effect of social sites like Facebook on political behavior of young voters is still largely unknown The proportion of candidates using digital media for electoral processes has been increasing since 1996 when the internet was initially used in the U.S during campaigns, but the use was extremely limited. The first substantial use of the internet for political campaigns occurred in 2000 during the presidential campaigns of Bush and Gore; these campaigns had sophisticated websites (Bennett and Strange, 2011). By 2008, features of digital media were more advanced and widely used in political processes than in previous years. Political analysts observe that the failure to include new media in campaign strategies can adversely affect campaigns. This is because social media has become relevant and cost effective tool for political mobilization and support. For instance, candidates who fail to utilize digital

Friday, October 18, 2019

Recycling Plastic Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Recycling Plastic - Assignment Example may not have been recycled as much can be attributed to the lack of specialized containers for plastics being insisted upon like there are special containers for glass bottles or even metallic bottles. The presence of such bins would act as a reminder to people to separate the plastics from the rest of the trash hence making not only recycling possible but increasing the number of plastics being recycled in the country (Kreiger, et al 2011). The other reason based on research that plastics are not recycled as much is because there are different types of plastics making it hard for people to know which plastics are supposed to be recycled or are able to be recycled and which ones cannot (Esterl, 2011). An example is having destroyed electronic equipment like a mobile phone that needs to be discarded, and then there are empty juice containers and water bottles as well as empty containers previously holding hair or body lotion and oils and plastics cutlery. All these are different types of plastics and people get confused as to what to put aside as plastic. They therefore end up throwing away some other types of plastics such as the electronic gadgets and hence this continues to reduce the amount of plastics being recycled. Talks by Mike Biddle have revealed that it is possible to recycle all types of plastics and hence people should not fear about sorting out their plastic trash and separating it. Anything that is made from plastic should be completely separated from the trash and when it reaches the recycling plant, the experts can be able to sort them out and follow Biddle’s 30 processes to extract the plastic and eliminate the impurities (Biddle, 2011). This revelation should act to increase the amount of plastics being recycled and reduce the amount being wasted for lack of knowledge. Research by Viscusi, Huber & Bell, (2012) reveals that in order to also increase the amount of plastics to be recycled, each home should be encouraged to have separate trash

Case study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 65

Case Study Example Therefore, for the company to counter the effect of unreliable profits, it should start introducing some other products. For example, USB drives, this because a wide range of products will increase the company’s sales (Milkovich et al., 2013). In addition, the company can build more companies in different continents. This will reduce the risks associated with currency exchange rates. The type of reward system that the company should give this group of employees should be based on money (Milkovich et al., 2013). This is because according to recent studies, some of the best performing companies reward their employees well. Employees who are rewarded very well are motivated and tend to be more creative and work with minimum supervision (Milkovich et al., 2013). In summary, there should be a component of large incentive, if the company wishes to retain the employees. One of the human needs is to live a good life, and most psychologists have argued that employers who invest in their employees’ wellbeing always tend to have very productive

Thursday, October 17, 2019

Developing self-awareness Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 1

Developing self-awareness - Essay Example At the same time, continuous self-examination of feelings and emotions within a person opens a way to self-mastery. This paper is an examination of the â€Å"self† and â€Å"others† processes. It directly discusses my self-awareness skills and how I can understand and improve it in my daily interactions. I understand that both positive and negative feedback are important to me and in order to improve, I should share with others what I feel. I am not aware of my cognitive style and how I process information and this needs improvement. My emotional maturity is not much improved and I only show the capacity to develop it. I struggle a lot to hide my emotions and try to rationalize them. However, sometimes I become emotional before thinking which lands me in saying unintended things to others. This has made me try my best to withhold my emotions as much as I can and dealing with them later by confronting myself. I do not like being uncertain about everything and I try my best to master situations otherwise I quit. I realize that I am quite principled in my behaviour because I have tried my best to nourish it since my early age. I also like being aware of what happens around me and rarely feel angry, depressed or anxious without knowing the reason. Sometimes I annoy others unknowingly an d I like apologizing where possible. I like having someone close to me to share my personal feelings When upset, I look into the problems without sometimes facing the real persons. I am concerned with others and like remaining in touch, though am less group-oriented. I like consulting others just as I tell others what I do not like. I like helping people opposed to each other to find something they can agree upon. In situations needing my attention such that I have to leave work early, I tend to exaggerate a bit to my colleagues of a duty I cannot fail to attend. I do not like people who yell at me when they are angry and

Epidemiology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 3

Epidemiology - Essay Example This entails food safety to ensure monitoring of food to avoid causing foodborne diseases. Therefore, the research question is â€Å"what can consumers do to protect themselves from foodborne illness. The study is purely cross-sectional and investigates the control measures used to enhance prevention of foodborne illness among the consumers. First the study identifies the community, who are the consumers. Some of the basic steps towards prevention of foodborne illness include buy of foodstuffs from reputable sources to enhance any follow-up in case of an emergency. The consumer should ask the supplier of the standards they normally impose to ensure food safety (Lindell & David, 2001). The consumer must choose foodstuff that is wholesome and appears fresh. Any unfamiliar color or odor causes for alarm, and any produce with excessive soil or dust on edible portions must be avoided. The foodstuff should be stored in dry and cool place, and the consumer should follow all directions for use. Washing of hands should be exercised before preparation of any food. All produce must be washed in a clean colander or sink under running water. The cutting boards should be washed in warm water, and any raw produce like fruits should not be chopped in a board used for poultry or raw meat (Lindell & David, 2001). The cross-sectional design involves the collection of data at a definite time to assess the prevalence of chronic or acute conditions. The study involves the collection of special data like the questions about past, and they rely on the originally collected data (Lindell & David, 2001). The design is relatively easy and quick to conduct, and the collection of data on all variables happens at once. This is because the design involves observing the entire population. The method is applicable where the prevalence can be measured for all the factors investigated. Also, multiple outcomes can be studied. The prevalence of any health related characteristics or

Wednesday, October 16, 2019

Capital Punishment - Pro and Contra Research Paper

Capital Punishment - Pro and Contra - Research Paper Example Capital punishment is of very old origin. The word capital is derived from the old Latin word ‘caput’, meaning head. Capital punishment, therefore, refers to beheading or decapitation as a method of execution. Today, the term ‘death penalty’ is used interchangeably with the term capital punishment. Capital punishment originated in England, it was then transported to colonies in America during the 17th and 18th centuries. The English legal system considerably relied on capital punishment; this was partly because imprisonment of people for different periods of time was not developed until the late 18th century. For about four centuries, capital punishment has been practiced in America has been a basic part of its history. The first execution in the United States took place in James town in 1608. Latzer and McCord point out that it has accounted for â€Å"at best estimate, about 20,000 executions† (2011, p.1).   However, the method of execution has undergone remarkable changes over time. In the 17th and 18th century America, men, women, and children would attend a public and solemn occasion where death was imposed by hanging. Execution in public was aimed at frightening members of the public in order to avoid crime, administering justice to the accused, and giving the convicted a chance to repent and gain salvation after death. Hymn singing, sermons, and a speech by the condemned accompanied hanging. During the 17th and 18th century, the number of capital crimes was very big. However, there was a great deal of leniency although most trials took less than a day and appeals were not permitted until the 19th century. A benefit of clergy was sometimes granted to the accused resulting in the pardon of certain death sentences. State governors sometimes granted executive clemency to the accused. For example, in New York City, over half of the condemned were granted clemency. According to Latzer and McCord (2011) â€Å"there were even ‘mock hangings’ to empathetically deliver the message, but spare the life of the offender† (p.2).

Epidemiology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 3

Epidemiology - Essay Example This entails food safety to ensure monitoring of food to avoid causing foodborne diseases. Therefore, the research question is â€Å"what can consumers do to protect themselves from foodborne illness. The study is purely cross-sectional and investigates the control measures used to enhance prevention of foodborne illness among the consumers. First the study identifies the community, who are the consumers. Some of the basic steps towards prevention of foodborne illness include buy of foodstuffs from reputable sources to enhance any follow-up in case of an emergency. The consumer should ask the supplier of the standards they normally impose to ensure food safety (Lindell & David, 2001). The consumer must choose foodstuff that is wholesome and appears fresh. Any unfamiliar color or odor causes for alarm, and any produce with excessive soil or dust on edible portions must be avoided. The foodstuff should be stored in dry and cool place, and the consumer should follow all directions for use. Washing of hands should be exercised before preparation of any food. All produce must be washed in a clean colander or sink under running water. The cutting boards should be washed in warm water, and any raw produce like fruits should not be chopped in a board used for poultry or raw meat (Lindell & David, 2001). The cross-sectional design involves the collection of data at a definite time to assess the prevalence of chronic or acute conditions. The study involves the collection of special data like the questions about past, and they rely on the originally collected data (Lindell & David, 2001). The design is relatively easy and quick to conduct, and the collection of data on all variables happens at once. This is because the design involves observing the entire population. The method is applicable where the prevalence can be measured for all the factors investigated. Also, multiple outcomes can be studied. The prevalence of any health related characteristics or

Tuesday, October 15, 2019

Basket Exercise Essay Example for Free

Basket Exercise Essay Georgina Ryan, HR Director SUBJECT: Speaking engagement next week Ms. Williams, Mr. Armstrong has been transferred to a new location, earlier than expected. My apologies, however, if you would allow me to fill in for Mr. Armstrong, I would be honored to address the Business Club It is common for a large number of calls to come in all at once. When this happens, the customer relations–contact employee is supposed to take the customer’s phone number and get back to him or her within an hour. We’ve found in the past that this is a reasonable target since, after a big rush of calls, things usually settle down for a while. But when we check up on the contact employees, we find that they get back to the customer within an hour only about one-third of the time. Sometimes they don’t get back to the customer until the next day! I sent a memo to all contact employees about a month ago reminding them of the importance of prompt responses on their parts, but it did very little good. We need a training program from your department to improve this critical performance area. Can we get together early next week? MEMO TO: Ralph Herzberg, Manager of Customer Relations From: Georgina Ryan, HR Director. New Training Program Ralph, we will definitely have to address this situation. Let me get with my training program administrator and work out a training session/schedule for your department. I will get back with you on a date and time for next week.

Monday, October 14, 2019

Case Study On Marketing With Facebook

Case Study On Marketing With Facebook 1. Introduction What makes Facebook so successful and why it is used by all companies today for marketing? These are the two questions are going to be answered in this paper. There are other social networks available like Friendster, Orkut, Myspace etc. still Facebook is preferred due to the number of users using Facebook, amount of customization provided and peer pressure to stay in competitive in the market. With more than 500 million users and many adding many more adding every day, Facebook has become the preferred choice of marketers who are looking for more innovative ways to outsmart their rivals in all fronts. Mark Zuckerberg is the founder of Facebook and it was started in 2004. It was open to all users worldwide in 2006 and it has grown in such a speed that if Facebook was a country it would have been 6th most populated country in the world. According to marketingcharts.com, US market share of Facebook in Social networking websites and forum is 61% of the total market share is for Facebook. 1.1 What is Facebook? Facebook is a social networking site which was started in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg. It has 500 million active users. Any person who is 13 years old or more and who have a valid email address can create a user profile in Facebook. Users can create a profile page, add others users in Facebook, can add their common interest groups, communicate with each other, can share photos etc, see news feed, applications etc. According to December 2010 report of Alexa.com an Internet market research company, Facebook is the second most visited website in the world just behind Google. To visit Facebook visit the link www.facebook.com and it looks as shown below. 1.2 Introducing Facebook Marketing to Business The question all the companies ask is how it will help them. What will be ROI on investing in Facebook for marketing? Anyone can create a Facebook page, but an official representative of a business can create a Page and can serve it as an admin to the page. Admin can have security given to the Page like approval needed by admin to join the page or denying permission for user from a particular demographic region. Pages are designed to provide basic information of the page and can have discussion boards, ability to comment by user assessing the page and also uploading user generated contents. Benefits for Business to Consumer marketers are that they can use this page to generate more interests in their customers. B2C were the first marketers to realize the potential of using Facebook for marketing as they can use this page to generate interests in their new products, or generating news feed using user participation which allowed them to generate more participation and also word mouth to increase their popularity. It also allowed company to improve companys search engine rankings. Benefits for Business to Business Marketers are using Facebook as a feedback loop where customer can ask any questions or can participate in appreciating a product which will help to leveraging new customers. It can also used by Big companies to share knowledge and help employee communication. To create a Page in Facebook Page, go to http://www.facebook.com/pages and give the necessary details required. 2. Using Facebook in business 2.1 Creating a Page for Business Before you can start marketing in Facebook, you need to be part of Facebook user community. It gives lot of opportunities to organizations to get exposure. In Facebook, your ability to connect and influence the users can be the main factor in success or failure in achieving your objectives. Unlike other marketing fronts, marketing with Facebook is a 2 way model where customer and companies can communicate and share the ideas. You can create an account in Facebook by going to the home page of Facebook which is www.facebook.com. When creating a Page in Facebook main thing to note will be what is the objective of the page and how can you achieve your objective. Facebook doesnt limit the number of users who can become fan of your page. To access a page, the users must become fan of the page. It is a term used by Facebook for the users to connect to a particular page. 2.2 Creating a Facebook Marketing Strategy First step for creating a Marketing Strategy would be to have a nice Facebook page. Facebook pages come in three categories. Local: These pages are for business that would benefit from a strong local market presence. A restaurant or a cafà © can be example for the same. Brand, Product or Organization: These pages are for larger businesses which can include also non-profit organization. Example for the same would be SAP, Versace, and Red Cross etc. Artist, Band or Public Figure: These pages are used by popular artist or celebrities. Barack Obama and Kraftwerk can be good examples for the same. The best way to create a good Facebook page would be to keep some points in mind like keep it simple, fresh, specific to the product or company and main would be to think about the fan base. If these points are considered thought fully we can create a very good page. Please see an example of a page. This is a Facebook page of Nike football Deutsch. You can create a page by going on the link http://www.facebook.com/pages and once created we can start with customizing of the page. Apart from some basic element we can customize Facebook according to our liking. There are many tabs which are present in your page like wall tab where users can comment on your page, Info tab is used to give information about the company, and other tabs can be used according to companies requirement. For example we can have event tab where we can show upcoming event of the company or products, some other tabs are videos tab and photos tab. You can also have applications in your tab. We can have discussion tab for users to use effectively communicate about our existing product or upcoming products. Once we have created a page, next step would be to think about the privacy. We can have different privacy ranging from limiting users from a certain demographic area to limiting users based on age group. 2.3 Advertising your Facebook page Now that we have created a page, we need to advertise our page. We need to have more user interaction in our page that gets noticed. There are many ways to promote our page in a smart way. The following are the smart ways to promote. Adding Application One of the ways is to add application to our page. We can do by posting in our wall and also in the news feed of users who are there in your page. Facebook has different apps for different categories like Business, Entertainment, and Sports etc. Posting information We can post some link of the company newsletter or blogs which are interesting news about your company or business. Commenting on Discussion tab By commenting to members discussion or your page shows that you are engaged in the feedback and this adds value to the discussion. This will make your customers more eager to discuss various things and will show your transparency. When a user become fan of our page, it is shown on their wall and can be seen by others who have not seen your page and this can help in promoting your page indirectly and this can be effective as this can be a way for endorsement of our product or business. 3. Strategies for Advertising Success There are different ways to advertise in Facebook. Some of the key strategies are as follows. Our marketing strategy should be based on following objectives like Building brand awareness, Increasing Sales, and active participating in discussions with the customers. 3.1 Different Advertisement Strategies Building brand awareness A brand is something how you define your business or product. It is a major factor in defining marketing goals which can help in creating more brand awareness in our existing and potential customers. Here you can discuss with your customers to know about customer needs. You can promote about your presence in Facebook by using your company website or using printed newsletter. You can also sent email to people who are not in Facebook about your page. Increase Sales Main aim of advertising is increasing sales. Facebook page can be used to promote various offers and discount in your products. You can have a link in Facebook which will lead the customers to your company website where they can read more about special offers and various things about your brand. Facebook Marketplace can also be a nice place to advertise if your products are tangible goods. You can have some exclusive events to Facebook customers using events tab. This way you can show them you are taking the Facebook customer seriously and it can also increase the fans for your page. Participating in discussion You can discussion with your customers from your page. There is a discussion tab which can be used for many things. We can use these results when we are thinking about launching a new product. Facebook ads are like online banner ads. But here when a user clicks on the ad it will redirect them into your page, Facebook ads are made of image, some information and a title. Ads on Facebook are purchased with pay for clicks (CPC) and pay for impression (CPM). You can buy Facebook ads by going on the link www.facebook.com/advertising. If you go to the link you can make the advertisement. You can have your specification listed like what demographic region you are targeting and other specifications are needed and then Facebook will calculate the cost for the advertisement. Below is the way how you can create an advertisement on Facebook. Next step in advertising on Facebook is deciding on the budget you want to spend on advertising. For example, a Blog will cost nothing, a podcast can cost around $2000 but for advertising using Facebook is free unless you add some apps or have dedicated advertising created using Facebook advertising. The real cost of creating a steady stream of content in your website which has to be managed. 3.2 Buying and Selling in Facebook Marketplace This is a free service from Facebook where you can buy and sell products. Here users can have classified ads for the following category like For Sale, Housing, Jobs, Rentals etc. We can access this website from the link www.facebook.com/marketplace which is as shown below. Here we can sell anything which is advertising our Tangible goods. This can be a good way for selling goods as this is free service and we dont need to spend any money on the same. So whatever goods sold in this way can be added to our profit. 4. Facebook Viral Marketing Facebook Apps have become the most important tool for the marketers. There are more than 52000 apps in Facebook according to Facebooks Statistics. Facebook apps are the software application that we can integrate in our Facebook page or profile which can add a unique personality to our page. We can either create our own apps or we can use other apps. There are many apps which is available for free and also we can have a pay per install model. In this model we need to pay when a user installs the apps. To see the list of apps go to the link www.facebook.com/apps/directory.php which can seen as below. There are different categories of apps available and we can select apps according to our needs. 4.1 What is Viral Marketing? Viral Marketing means how your marketing suddenly gets popular among the customers. The sudden rise in popularity of your brand can be termed as viral. When you offer good incentives, customers get excited and through word of mouth your brand will get popular. 4.2 Different ways to promote Facebook Viral Marketing The main aim of viral marketing is to create more brand awareness and to increase sales. Keeping this in mind, we can have Contest, free gift etc. In the end we can have more customers visiting our Facebook page and also can visit our company website. We can have the following things keep in mind while making the promotional contest. Keep it simple Keep the competition simple. Dont try to put complicated rules. If the competition is simple more users will try the contest. Offer an exciting price Customers are always excited when the price you give is nice. Better the gifts more customers will try the contest. Price neednt have to be pricey. We need to think about giving some unique prices like pre event party tickets, meeting a celebrity or putting the winner in companys new advertisement. Use existing fan base Getting noticed with a promotional event is the hardest part in Facebook contest. You need to promote this event using your company website or through the Facebook pages wall etc. Run the promotional event for a month The promotional event should run for at least a few weeks up to a month. We need time for word of mouth advertising. The more time we keep the promotional event active more users will check the event. But it also has some drawbacks like it shouldnt be running for more time as it can also have a negative feedback from the customer as they might think we are not updating our Facebook page regularly. Integrate it with media campaign This is the most important part for making the event successful. We need to promote the event on our company website and other mediums through which we do our advertising. In this way we can have more users using this event and we will also generate a viral effect. We can use Facebook ads to promote our event which can be visible by larger audience and we can be sure of the event turning out to be a large success. There were many companies who tried to use this promotional event for getting popularity increased. The best example for the same is recent promotional campaign launched by Burger King. In this campaign they asked all the users to delete 10 friends from their friend list to get a free whopper burger from Burger King. This promotional event became so popular that they had to shut down the event. These are just examples which show that you dont need to spend high money or give away cost prices to attract more people. We can use surveys to collect statistics for market research. This can be done in Facebook and it will also be more cost effective and accurate than the normal way to data gathering. There are many free Facebook apps available for survey like Polls, Daily experience survey, YouGov etc. We can use these survey apps integrate into our page and can be used effectively to know more about what customer thinks about our brand and can interact with them directly to find more ideas for improvement. Below is one of the example of how survey application look like. We need to join this application to add this to our page. You can use Facebook connect to have broader reach of the viral marketing to Third-party websites, devices or applications. Facebook connect was launched in December 2008 and since then more than 15000 websites, application and devices have implemented it successfully. Facebook connect is a feature through which you can extend your Facebook platform to other websites and ask Facebook users to use their login of Facebook to connect to that Facebook- Connect enabled website. The best of Facebook Connect is that it is free of cost. The main feature of Facebook Connect is that using this facility, Facebook users can interact on other websites which will be reflected in the Facebook. The best part of Facebook Connect is that it eliminates the users from registering to a new website for accessing them. This makes users more convenient to surf your websites, blogs etc. For example, if you want to upload or wanted to comment in CNN.com previously it was necessary to have a username and password but now using the Facebook connect facility users doesnt need to have a registered account with CNN. If you have a Facebook account you can directly access the website by giving your Facebook account details which is shown as below. To integrate this Facebook connect feature to a website, we must register and receive an API (Application Programming Interface) key via Facebook Developer Apps page. To get more insights of Facebook Connect visit the following link http://developers.facebook.com/docs/guides/web. It is free to register for a Facebook API key. Once we have the API Key, we can create a Facebook app and configure it to point it our website. This is termed by Facebook as Callback URL field. The above mentioned features are mainly responsible for creating Viral marketing of our brand. This if done properly can surge our sales to amazing levels. 5. Social Media Optimization (SMO) In the last couple of years search engine has become an important tool for online business but these days Social media optimization (SMO) has become most popular techniques to promote products and services in the market by the mediums of various social media book markings and Facebook has provided a unique and new medium for the marketer to innovate and reduce their cost of advertising. Search engine optimization techniques can be broadly classified into two Categories into two which are on-page optimization and off-page optimization; these techniques are very helpful for improving traffics for a website. Some point should be included in social media optimization Know how to target your audience create content create a SMO strategy Book marking and tagging Increase your link ability SMO should be a continuous process 6. Advantages of using Facebook in Business Facebook platform has turned out to be one of the most powerful platforms for business since the invention of Adwords by Google. Below are the key benefits of using Facebook. More Activities in our Facebook page can work as a SEO for search engine Any users in Facebook can find about our brand with the help of Facebook page. Marketing is not limited to a demographic region in Facebook Attracts more Clients Run promotional events for Fans Can Sync our company website to our Facebook Blog Can deal with unsatisfied customer more conveniently 7. Conclusion As we can see marketing with Facebook can never be termed as highly complex thing. It is simple and easy way to attract more customers in this modern competitive world where competitors are constantly trying to outsmart their rivals to gain more market share. Creating a Facebook page is a free and easy way to increase your visibility of your brand. Using different techniques like Events, Facebook Ads, Promotion, Discussions and all a company can increase their reach globally. There are more than 500 million of users and to advertise to these users using old marketing way of TV, Radio and all can be very expensive. So this is a cost effective and latest way to improve your Sales using the latest technology trend which is Facebook.

Sunday, October 13, 2019

Use of Symbolism in Cynthia Ozicks The Shawl :: Symbol Analysis The Shawl

In The Shawl, Cynthia Ozick uses descriptive details to engage the reader. The story describes the horror of Nazism. The setting of the story is a concentration camp. The three main characters are Rosa, who was a mother of two daughters, Stella who was fourteen and Magda who was fifteen months. The plot of the story surrounds a magic shawl. The shawl is a major part of the complication, climax and resolution of the story. The magic shawl is the only thing the three starving women have keeping them alive and eventually leads to their demise. The plot of The Shawl ends with a camp guard tossing the infant Magda onto an electrified fence. Ozick's use of symbolism is very important to the story. The author uses symbolism abundantly to help the reader envision the setting. In the beginning of the story, Ozick refers to the baby Magda as, "someone who is already a floating angel" (Jacobs 299). Ozick refers to Magda as an angel throughout the story, "smooth feathers of hair nearly as yellow as the Star sewn into Rosa's coat" (Jacobs 300). Other symbolism within the story, talks of the shawl as the "milk of linen" (Jacobs 300). Beyond the concentration camp, outside of the steel fence, "there were green meadows speckled with dandelions and deep-colored violets: beyond them even father, innocent tiger lilies, tall, lifting their orange bonnets" (Jacobs 301). Past the steel fence was beauty or maybe heaven., but not the poor conditions of the death camp. Of the three characters in The Shawl, Stella is a flat character. She is only part of the story to allow the author to get to the climax. The climax comes when Stella becomes cold, and takes the shawl for warmth. Again, the author uses symbolism, Stella is cold or cruel. Magda is the most dynamic character. She is presented to us first as a quite baby, who is hungry and does not cry. Magda simply sucks on the shawl. When her shawl is taken, she cries and walks wobbly into the yard.

Saturday, October 12, 2019

Personal Narrative- Victim of Robbery Essay -- Personal Narrative

Personal Narrative- Victim of Robbery My story started about a week ago. I was heading to bed early, because I was tired from a long day with plans to wake up a few hours before class to review for a test. As I closed my books for the evening and headed to bed around midnight, little did I know something was going on outside. A little later that night someone entered my garage, which was so conveniently unlocked. They first rummaged through my dad’s van outside and I think they stole his coat, a tape and a few rolls of film. They also sifted through my mom’s car looking for something to steal, only to find a few motivational tapes. Surprising enough they passed those including one on "Getting Rid Of Guilt." When they got into my car however, they decided to take most of what I had. They stole my CD player, taking part of my dash with it. They also took most of my CD collection and the liner to my new Columbia coat. They even took my flashlight. They then vanished as quickly as they had come. My mom woke me the following morning. She had decided to bring me breakfast in bed...

Friday, October 11, 2019

Brian Nichols

Brian Nichols was accused of shooting and killing four people in 2005. The incident occurred at the Fulton County Courthouse in Atlanta, Georgia. He was also charged with rape and false imprisonment as a result of actions immediatly following the alleged murders. Nichols has a varied history having grown up in a middle class home in rural Pennsylvania where he attended college and played football. Nichols was employed as an engineer for UPS. His yearly income is reportedly about 100,000 per year. He was active in his church. Those who knew him say they were surprised by the behavior as it as uncharacteristic of the Nichols they remembered.Nichols has a history of legal involvement including disorderly conduct charges and terrorist threat charges for the early 1990’s. He was awaiting trial on a rape charge at the time of this incident. In the incident in question, Nichols is alleged to have attached a deputy as she removed his handcuffs to allow him to change clothing. Nichols was in a holding ell at the time awaiting a trial. The deputy was critically injured, but survived. Nichols alleged ran across the sky bridge in the courthouse facility. . He had the deputy’s firearm with him.He allegedly entered Judge Barnes courtroom and shot and killed the judge, a deputy and the court reporter. Nichols managed to escape the facility and carjacked a vehicle at gunpoint, after assaulting the cars owner. though he never actually took the car. He allegedly stole another car, this time taking owner with him. William allegedly killed a US Customs Agent the following day and then approached women at an apartment complex and entered her apartment, tied her up and kept her hostage. The women, Ashley Smith read from the bible and attempted to convince Nichols t turn himself in to police.She pled with him to be reasonable and he ultimately allowed her to leave the apartment he following morning, at which time she called 9-1-1 Nichols eventually surrenders when law e nforcement arrives. Nichols was indicted but pled not guilty. Nichols mental health issues will be used in the defense. The police chief has admitted a number of errors in the initial search for Nichols that occurred in the search for Nichols initially. It is unclear how Nichols could have escaped custody, found his may to the courtroom and then outside to the parking garage where he stole a car and drive thirty miles until he met with Ashley Smith.Civil suits by the victim’s families are likely. . It is likely that Bran Nichols had a substantial drug use history and or a serious mental heath issue. The lack of appropriate security measure and protocols allowed Nichols to escape from holding cell and murder three people. Issues with funding for the defense in this trial has resulted in delayed hearings and it is possible that Nichols could ultimately allege that he was denied a competent and credible defense.The mounds of evidence against Nichols including tapes and video fro m he courthouse, makes this a particularly complicated and difficult case for the defense. References Atlanta Police Admit Mistakes in Brian Nichols' Case By Jeralyn, Section Crime in the News Posted on Fri Mar 18, 2005 at 04:39:33 PM EST CNN Law Center. Nichols Makes Court Appearance. http://www. cnn. com/2005/LAW/03/14/atlanta. shooting/ Court TV, Ga. judge delays courthouse shooting trial because of problems funding defense http://www. courttv. com/news/2007/0227/brian_nichols_ap. html