Monday, September 30, 2019

Spice Chart

Mature common Woman: Firm of heart strong beautiful brave like a man Bad woman: Thin tottering weak unfriendly The Weaver: Concern Hi her thread skilled a blender of colors Bad Weaver: Silly foolish unskilled unobservant Physician knows the herbs conducts examination professional trustworthy mutates Women spent 30 to 40 hours a week into preparing basic foods Political Leaders/ Elites: Herman Cortes the Spanish captain who first entered the city reported the â€Å"the stone masonry and the woodwork are equally good; they could not be better anywhere. † Vernal Ditz del Castillo admired the Aztec city so much rods could hardly explain Toppling- Tolled leader and apparently a priest dedicated to the god Quadruplicate who later became confused with the god himself in the legends Toppling a religious reformer who was involved in a struggle for priestly or political power with another faction. When he lost him and his followers went into exile they promised to come back on the same date on the cyclical calendar Anesthetically was a leading Aztec king of the 15th century.State Structure: Political units claimed authority on the basis of their military power and their injections to Tolled cultures Aztec distrusted by everyone however they were seen as good use due to their fighting skills. This made them attractive as mercenaries or allies. Mowers death or death while taking prisoners for the sacrificial knife, was the end to a nobles life and ensured eternity in the highest heaven a reward also promised to women who died in childbirth Subjects were forced to pay tribute, surrender lands, and sometimes do military service for the growing Aztec empire Mexican had become a stratified society under the authority of a supreme ruler Greatly expanded into an enormous cult in which the military class played a central role as suppliers Of war captives to be used as sacrificial victims.Aztec state was dominated by a king who represented civil power and served as a repres entative of the gods on earth Human sacrifice and conquest was united with the political power of the ruler and the nobility Banners, cloaks, and other insignia marked off the military ranks Military was organized by ranks based on experience and success in taking captives Military virtues where linked to the cult of sacrifice and infused the whole society Nobility broke free from their old calculi and wend private lands Long distant merchants formed a sort of calculi with patron gods, privileges and internal divisions; served as spies or agents of Aztec military The state controlled the use and distribution of many commodities and redistributed the vast amounts of tribute received from subordinate peoples Tribute levels were assigned on whether the subject people accepted Aztec rule or fought against it Tribute payments where things such as food , slaves, and sacrificial victims, served political and economic ends 1 20,000 mantles of cotton cloth alone were collected as rebut each year and sent to Authentication Aztec divided into seven Calculi, or clans, a form of organization that they later expanded and adapted to their imperial position. -Included neighbors, allies, and dependents Wars/Revolutions: â€Å"flower wars† could be staged in which both sides could obtain captives for sacrifice Diplomacy: Treaties: Courts, Law: Feeding the great population of Authentication and the Aztec confederation in general depended on traditional forms of agriculture. Lands conquered peoples often were appropriated, and food sometimes was demanded as tribute. Nationalism:Human sacrifice, long a part of Micronesian religion, greatly expanded into an enormous cult in which the military class played a central role as suppliers of war captives to be used as sacrificial victims. Interaction- Geography: Lakes contained cities Rise of lakes made it impossible to continue an irrigated system Disease: Patterns of Settlement: Migration: Migrated to the shores of Lake Texaco C hemic migrants came from the northwest and various groups of sedentary farmers Aztec domination expanded from the Etruscan frontier about a hundred miles north Of present day Mexico city Technology: Canoes which allowed transportation Many bridges at intervals Wood work They built artificial floating islands about 17 feet long and 1 00 to 330 feet wide Millard- a machine that grinded helped female have more spare time helped trade Demography: 1. Million to 25 million people 20 million people excluding the Maya areas Aztec were a group of about a 10,000 people Culture- Religions: Micronesian Belief Systems: Aztec where tough warriors and fanatical followers of their gods Human sacrifice Aztec would settle when they saw an eagle perched on a cactus with a repent in its beak Mexican people who served gods Micronesian religion believed in human sacrifice Gods of rain, fire, water, corn, the sky, and the Sun 128 deities Each deity had a male and female form Believed gods might have diffe rent manifestations similar to avatars of the Hindu deities Certain gods were thought to be the patrons of specific cities, ethnic groups, or occupations Festivals and ceremonies that involved feasting and dancing along with penance and sacrifice God of Fertility called Tallow God of the Rain Coach Gods and Goddesses of water, maize, and fertility Creator deities – gods and goddesses who created the universe Hydrochloric was the old sun god and saw him as a warrior in the day and in order to live he needed the human blood Human hearts and blood sustained the gods Believed the world had been destroyed four times before and we would be destroyed again Food was offered as tribute Philosophies and ideologies: fatalism in Aztec thought and a premonition that eventually the sacrifices would be insufficient and the gods would again bring catastrophe.

Sunday, September 29, 2019

Filipino Traditional Music Essay

Main Article: Filipino folk music Philippine gong music can be divided into two types: the flat gong commonly known as gangsa and played by the groups in the Cordillera region of the bossed gongs played among the Islam and animist groups in the Southern Philippines. Kulintang refers to a racked gong chime instrument played in the southern islands of the Philippines, along with its varied accompanying ensembles. Different groups have different ways of playing the kulintang. Two major groups seem to stand-out in kulintang music. These are the Maguindanaon and the Maranaw. The kulintang instrument itself could be traced to either the introduction of gongs to Southeast Asia from China from before the 10th century CE, or more likely, to the introduction of bossed gong chimes from Java in the 15th century. Nevertheless the kulintang ensemble is the most advanced form of music from before the late 16th century and the legacy of hispanization in the Philippine archipelago. The tradition of kulintang ensemble music itself is a regional one, predating the establishing of borders between the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia. It transcends religion, with animist and Christian ethnic groups in Borneo, Flores and Sulawesi playing kulintangan; and Muslim groups playing the same genre of music in Mindanao, Palawan and the Sulu archipelago. It is distantly related to the Gamelan music orchestras of Java and Bali, as well as the musical forms in Mainland Southeast Asia, mainly because of the usage for the same bossed racked gong chimes that play both melodical and percussive. Notable folk song composers include the National Artist for Music Lucio San Pedro, who composed the famous â€Å"Sa Ugoy ng Duyan† that recalls about the loving touch of mother to her child. Another great composer who’s known as patriotic composer, Alfredo Buenaventura. Harana and Kundiman The Harana and Kundiman are lyrical songs popular in the Philippine Islands dating back to the Spanish period. Harana are traditional courtship songs in the Mexican-Spanish tradition based on the habanera rhythm while the Kundiman, which has pre-colonial origins from the Tagalog region, uses triple meter rhythm. Kundiman is also characterized by a minor key at the beginning and shifts to a major key in the second half. Its lyrics depict a romantic theme, usually portraying love, passion, or sadness. In the 1920s Harana and Kundiman became more mainstream musical styles led by performers such as Atang de la Rama, Jovita Fuentes, Conching Rosal, Sylvia La Torre and Ruben Tagalog. Tinikling The Tinikling is a Philippine dance which involves two individual performers hitting bamboo poles, using them to beat, tap, and slide on the ground, and fartand against each other in co-ordination with one or more dancers who steps over, and in between poles. Carià ±osa The Carià ±osa (meaning loving or affectionate one), is a Philippine national dance from the Marà ­a Clara suite of Philippine folk dances, where the fan, and handkerchief plays an instrument role as it places the couple in romance scenario. The dance is similar to the Jarabe Tapatà ­o. The Carià ±osa is accompanied with Hispanic music, and language. It is also related to Kuracha, Amenudo and Kuradang in the Visayas and Mindanao Area. Rondalla The Rondalla is performed on ensembles comprising mandolin instruments of various sizes called banduria composed on the Iberian tradition. Other instruments including guitars, is also performed.It is original to Spain.

Saturday, September 28, 2019

In what ways do Leonardo and Bazarov act as catalysts inchanging family structure in the texts Blood Wedding and Fathers and Sons?

In this essay, I will be focussing on the characters of Leonardo and Bazarov, in their respective texts, and how they act as catalysts in changing family structure, so that by the end of the text, the family unit is different from what it was in the beginning. I will also analyse their characters and examine their impact on the plots of the two texts, and their role in plot development. In particular, I will analyse the character's words, and the tone of voice in which they speak; this will help in analysing their specific character traits. This analysis will help me in understanding their impact on character and plot development, which leads to them acting as catalysts in changing their respective family structures. It should be noted that while the text Fathers and Sons features many families that are important to the plot, I will be specifically looking at Bazarov's impact on Arcady's family; as well as the impact on his own family. In the text Blood Wedding, I will be looking at Leonardo's impact on his family and on the Bridegroom's family. In the text Fathers and Sons, when Nicholas is waiting for Arcady, we see him as a very happy person as he eagerly anticipates the arrival of his son. However, when Arcady introduces Bazarov, we notice a change in Nicholas's character. He appears to be withdrawn, and he does not converse as openly with Arcady as he would normally. There is one incident when Bazarov offers Arcady a cigar, Arcady accepts it and when he lights it, Nicholas turns his head away. This foreshadows that the introduction of Bazarov, to the Kisranov family, will cause a gap between Nicholas and Arcady. Similarly in the text Blood Wedding, the text opens with a conversation between Mother and Bridegroom. The conversation leads to the topic of knives that involves the Felix family of which Leonardo is a member. The topic of knives foreshadows the violence and bloodshed that is to arise. The mention of the name Leonardo Felix leads to a small dispute between the Mother and the Bridegroom. Though the dispute is small, it hints of the trouble that Leonardo is likely to cause. In the text Fathers and Sons, when Bazarov has left with Arcady to go freshen up, Paul talks to Nicholas about Bazarov. We get the impression that Paul does not like Bazarov very much. Even though it may not be Bazarov's fault directly, we can see that his presence causes some tension in the family; it causes some change in Paul's mood. As we can see from the following quotation, Paul does not focus on welcoming Arcady, but he focuses on criticizing Bazarov. â€Å"Is he staying with us?†Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ â€Å"That hairy creature?† † The use of the words â€Å"Hairy creature† are spoken with a tone of contempt thus creating an overall sense of tension and hostility. In the text Blood Wedding tone is also important for example when the Neighbour and Mother are talking, the Mother finds out that the Bride had a relationship with Leonardo. At the mention of the name Felix, the mother flares up in anger. It's not Leonardo's fault that he is a Felix but the fact that he is a Felix causes great anger in the Mother and a drastic change in her mood. The mother does not ‘welcome' the marriage with complete love and affection, but instead with hostility and animosity. In the text Blood Wedding there is a section where Leonardo, Wife and Mother-in-law are having a conversation. In this particular conversation the girl comes in and tells them what the Bridegroom is buying for the Bride. Leonardo is very rude and unpleasant. â€Å"What do we care† â€Å"Did I ask for your opinion? â€Å"Leave me alone† â€Å"Why can't you just shut up?† These are four of his lines in that particular scene. As we can see his words are very harsh, and he employs a very defensive tone, by the use of questions. He ignores his wife's pleas and just storms out of the house without a word to where he is going. It seems that Leonardo does not really care about his family at all. This indicates that Leonardo's family is breaking down; we can see abrasive feelings between Leonardo and mother-in-law. However, change is not always negative. In the text Fathers and Sons, Bazarov changes Arcady's family structure in a positive way. Bazarov persuades Arcady to accept an invitation meant for Nicholas. Arcady accepted and he went with Bazarov into town. While the two were having lunch at Eudoxia Kukshin's residence, she mentioned a name; Madame Odintzov. Bazarov was interested in Madame Odintzov, as she was described as very attractive; and Sitnikov said that he would introduce Bazarov and Arcady to Madame Odintzov. It is at Madame Odintzov's abode where Arcady met Katya, whom he ends up marrying. â€Å"†¦it was noticeable that Nicholas Petrovich had already become devotedly attached to her.† We can see that Katya has ‘fitted-in' with the Petrovich family. So we can therefore say that Bazarov is indirectly responsible for Arcady's marriage to Katya, hence changing Arcady's family. In the text Blood Wedding; after the bride and bridegroom have left for the wedding, only Leonardo and his wife remain. They have a conversation that shows distance between Leonardo his wife. Wife wants to go to the church by cart and Leonardo wants to go by horse. They have a short argument that is clearly symbolic of the unhappy, troubled marriage between the two of them. â€Å"WIFE: And I have no intention of going to a wedding without my husband. I can't take much more of this. LEORNADO: That makes two of us. WIFE: Why do you look at me like that? As though you had a dagger in each eye.† The wife says that she can't take much more of this, this signifying the marriage. Why can't she take more of her marriage? It is because of Leonardo. He has not been shown to be a very attentive husband, as depicted by his choice of words. The wife can't take much more of the marriage and Leonardo replies by saying that he feels the same. We would expect the husband in a marriage to counter the wife when she feels this way, however Leonardo just agrees with his wife. The fact that he can't take much more of the marriage shows that he wants to break free of the bonds of marriage. This is an implication of things to come later on in the text. Leonardo is implying that he wants a divorce or another wife, and by doing so he is proceeding to change his family structure. The metaphor used by the Wife (dagger in each eye) goes only to emphasise the distance and hostility felt by Wife from Leonardo as well as foreshadowing the violent conclusion of the play. Leonardo is still in love with Bride, and the wife is all that stands between him and the Bride. Thus he looks at the Wife in such a way that she might leave him alone. At the end of the text, Leonardo does achieve what he wanted; freedom to do as he pleases without worrying about the rules of society. However, this freedom came at a great price to Leonardo – his life. And it is through his death that he changed his family structure. Similarly in the text Fathers and Sons, Bazarov's death inadvertently changes his own family structure. After his first visit home, he leaves too soon; we see this has an impact on his parents, they are saddened and depressed. Bazarov's death finished the change; he was the centre of their life and now he is gone; it is no longer a family, just a husband and wife. His parents as shown when Arcady and Bazarov first visit Bazarov's home were once very lively and full of energy, and very excited and joyful. However, after his death (towards the end of the last paragraph of the text), we see Bazarov's parents as being very quiet and withdrawn. They no longer have that motivation (their son) to live. All they want to do is linger by his grave reminiscing over the memories they have of him as is shown by the quote: â€Å"†¦unable to tear themselves away from this spot where they feel themselves so close to their son and their memories of him†¦Ã¢â‚¬  The use of hyperbole goes to show the extreme love that Bazarov's parents had for him and the extent to which their lives have changed now that he is gone. So in conclusion, we see that Leonardo and Bazarov do act as catalysts in changing family structure in their respective texts. Although they cannot strictly be called catalysts because they do not remain unchanged; their presence in the respective texts does have an impact on the characters, as well as the plot.

Friday, September 27, 2019

What kind of material success and political progress the first decade Essay

What kind of material success and political progress the first decade of the Twentieth century brought to Europeans - Essay Example The first decade of the twentieth century was a very tumultuous period in European history. Prior to the First World War, that was to take place shortly after this decade, European powers had succumbed to several disputes. First, there was the Franco-Prussia war of 1870 which led to the unification of the Germans in 1871. The war saw a shift of power in Europe with the Prussians basking in the success of their military endeavors. After the war, German sought to secure its place among Europe’s elite in terms of power and military strength. This shift in power unsettled Britain, which begun to seek alliances with other European countries.As Germany increased its naval power to rival that of Britain, Britain allied with France to balance power in Europe. Britain also allied itself with Japan as Germany opened diplomatic ties with Austria-Hungary and Italy. These alliances increased tensions in the Europe as the fight for military power ensued in the continent. Art in pre-world wa r Europe began evolving as it embraced modernism that was rife during this period. The tensions between European countries were mostly due to the introduction of modernism in Europe. Artists were challenging the traditional role and production of art that thrived prior to this period. Artists were adapting methods such as cubism and futurism to capture the rapidly evolving world during this era. Society in the decade prior to the First World War expected a war due to the diplomatic tensions between European countries during this era.

Thursday, September 26, 2019

Engineering Career Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Engineering Career - Essay Example In order to get an entry-level job in any engineering field, one must hold at least a bachelor’s degree in that specific engineering field. The bachelor degree is usually a four-year program nowadays, but many students extend it to five or six years depending upon the duration of their final degree projects. The four-year program is also referred to as honors in engineering that is recognized as equivalent to the masters degree. In the first two years, the courses taught are mainly on the basics of engineering, like mathematics, circuitry and introduction to engineering. The next two years focus on the engineering primarily with courses on any chosen area of specialization. There are course projects, semester projects and a final degree project which enable the would-be-engineers to have a better, deeper and practical knowledge of the field. There are also two-year and four-year degree programs called diplomas in engineering technology which include more practical work based o n engineering principles and laboratory classes rather than theoretical knowledge. But these technical graduates are not considered as professional engineers. Moreover, to get admission in an engineering college or university, it is important for the student to have a strong pre-engineering background with sufficient knowledge about mathematics, physics and chemistry. Mathematics knowledge should include algebra, geometry, calculus, theorems and trigonometry. After their bachelors degree is complete, the engineers need to get licensed in order to start their engineering career, which makes them licensed engineers or professional engineers. After becoming licensed, the engineers are offered a wide variety of jobs with higher salaries as compared to any other graduation. According to an estimate, â€Å"engineers held 1.5 million jobs in 2006†¦civil engineering (256,000), mechanical engineering

Social Function of Art Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Social Function of Art - Essay Example The Art functions in two ways. First is Non Motivated function of Art and the second is Motivated function of Art.Non Motivated function of the art serves no specific purpose and utility. As Aristotle defines it, imitation is one instinct of human nature, therefore creativity is human instinct and it by no means has motivated purpose. Experience of mystics, expression of imagination and universal communication all these are the examples of aesthetic attributes of an individual, there is no reasoning and logic but are meant solely for pleasure. Motivated function of the art, on the other hand, refers to the intentional and conscious actions on the part of the artist. It could be to communicate major social change, political view and specific emotions. Art is a source of entertainment and communication. The nineteenth century saw new developments in the art forms. The three major movements in the art form in this century were-Neoclassicism, Romanticism and Impressionism. As discussed e arlier, art is the expression of change or response to the change in the society. The world was going through rapid urbanization during this era and various art movements are the reflection of the way world responded to the change. For instance, the Neoclassicism was the intellectual movement that was inspired by the of Classicists of Greece and Rome. The art of this movement is identified by its idealized form and stable composition. The artists recognised themselves above other members of the society as pathfinders’ .

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

Politics and government Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Politics and government - Essay Example Additionally, politics is applied on an extensive range of communal levels, from modern local governments, tribes and clans of traditional community, institutions and companies up to international levels, and also to independent states. Therefore, Government is the system through which a community or state is governed. However, the term government can be used scarcely to refer to a combined group of people who carry outs executive authority in a nation. Thus, the broader definition of the word government, generally consists of administrators, arbitrators and legislators. Thus, Government is the means by which the mechanism for determining the policy of the state and enforcement of the state policy. Furthermore, a form of state government thus refers to a set of political institutions and systems that come up with the establishment of a particular government. Additionally, both government and politics are words that are interrelated and are reliant on each other. For instance, for governing one needs to be aware of the politics art. Whereas a politician who is in control must know how to govern. In today’s society, politics is important because it tells people how societies should be formed and how one should act in a community. Moreover, due to the power, governments have abused lately, some people don’t believe its importance in the community or society. However, government is necessary and will be necessary if every new age group comes up with a new crop of predators. Therefore, the governments upholds individual bill of rights through the constitution. For instance, the freedom to speech, freedom to association, freedom of worship among others. Further, the na me of this political system is socialism. Lastly, politicians set rules and regulations that are fundamental for the smooth running of the government (Hague and Harrop, 210). My level of interest in politics and

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

Back to the Basics in the United States Military Essay

Back to the Basics in the United States Military - Essay Example We have not had time to focus on these topics as the stress and vital importance of war time action has directed our focus elsewhere. Accordingly, things such as daily uniform inspections, barracks inspections, drill and ceremonies, proper counseling, and many similar items have, at least to a certain extent, been disregarded in favor of more pressing needs and goals. However, these performance duties are referred to as â€Å"the basics† for a reason; as such, it is our duty to get back to them. Because of the lack of focus on these points over the past few years, our junior NCOs and Soldiers are suffering and we as senior NCOs are responsible for correcting these deficiencies. Emphasis should be placed on the importance of sitting down with junior NCOs and showing them the proper ways to lead soldiers. Perhaps one reason for the current lack of concern is the fact that many NCOs appear to be only interested in promotion. This fact coupled with the self interested notions of m aking more money has taken away from the prime directive of leading and protecting the soldiers under ones supervision. This lack of concern is illustrated in the fact that few SGTs really know where to take their Soldiers if they have pay issues, family issues, budget issues, etc.? There are many who would have no idea. This results from several reasons, not the least of which is the fact that as soon as the promotion board is complete, these soldiers often do a brain dump and purge their minds of all the information they accrued while studying for the board. Obviously, this should not be happening; soldiers must remember what they learned from studying and be able to take knowledgeable care of the soldiers under their charge. In order to get back to these basics, there are several steps that must first be implemented. First, we must recognize that the Soldiers standing in our

Monday, September 23, 2019

Florida's Multicultural Community And Political Processes In Cuba Research Proposal

Florida's Multicultural Community And Political Processes In Cuba - Research Proposal Example Authorities in Cuba emphasize the significance of developing appropriate political relationship and formulation of excellent foreign policies (Buffington 2012). This facilitates exemplary performance and international trade relations especially in the exchange of sugar that the nation produces in large quantities. Although Cuba had cordial political and foreign relations with the Soviet Union, the nation had antagonistic relations with the US. The distance and antagonistic relations were evident due to differences in political policies (Buffington 2012). The US was against the nation’s growing relations with the Soviet Union and the adoption of communism. The policies failed to promote democratic electoral process and tolerance for emerging opposition leaders. The unconventional policies prompted the US under the leadership of John F. Kennedy to impose trade sanctions against Cuba (Buffington 2012). The sanctions were meant to cut foreign engagement between the nations and ensure that the Cuban leaders adopt favorable economic policies that are sustainable. Authorities in Florida have adopted stringent measures to ensure that the intentions of the sanctions are attained. The authorities engaged in deliberations to compel Cuban officials to eradicate communist policies and encourage democratic political processes. The authority’s state that operations between the two regions will be further jeopardized if Cuba fails to adopt modern democratic practices (Clendinning 2008). The officials are categorical that Cuban immigrants will not be allowed in California. The unconventional democratic practices and the communist guidelines severely affected the nation’s economic advancement. The practices also halted the realization of cordial relations that are achievable through the adoption of friendly foreign policies.This paper evaluates the role of Florida's multi-cultural c ommunity in maintaining America's sanctions against Cuba.

Sunday, September 22, 2019

Merits & Demerits of EC Essay Example for Free

Merits Demerits of EC Essay The Electoral College is a process by which the voters elect representatives known as electors that in turn elect the president. It is governed by the laws and constitution of United States of America. This paper discusses the advantages and disadvantages of the Electoral College the advantages include it is the foundations of federalism and democratic principles that does not allow central government to be in place. It distributes popular votes; enhance country cohesive nature and helps in political stability. The disadvantages are it gives room of electing president with simple majority, voters democratic rights are violated; the president may not show the will of the people and inability of some electors voting for the respective leaders they were elected for. The matters raised are weighty on either side but we conclude this by saying it is worth amending the Electoral College to correct its defects rather than changing to direct voting. MERITS AND DEMERITS OF ELECTORAL COLLEGE The electoral college of the United States of America is a process of electing presidential candidates based on the number of popular votes and representatives of congress. The voters elect the electors or representatives who will in turn elect the president candidate. Each state is allocated 2 senators irrespective of vote population while the members of the House of Representatives are elected based on the population of the states. The history of Electoral College dates back to the Roman Empire. It has been used in United States for over 200 years. It is considered a moderate way of checking the election by popular vote and congress (Electoral College, 2008) The Electoral College system is governed by several laws which include the Article 2 section 1; 12th amendment and US Code Title 3 Chapter 1 of the Constitution. There have been arguments for and against the Electoral College system since its introduction. Opinion polls have been conducted to determine its popularity over the years for example 69 percent of lawyers favored its abolition in 1987. It was earlier reported that 58 percent of voters in 1958 agreed to eliminate it. Similar results were recorded in succeeding years where 81% and 75% were obtained in 1968 and 1981 respectively. These opinion polls were associated with the system favoring biparty system and excluding third party (Electoral College, 2008). Leip (2003) discuss explicitly merits and demerits of the Electoral College system. We will highlight the merits of the Electoral College in the United States of America. First the Electoral College had significant contribution in ensuring there is fair distribution of support of the populace to each president thus bringing a cohesive country. This restrains highly populated states from determining the president elected every time. However this may favor election of president with votes slightly above the opponent even though it is checked by the requirement of popular distribution of votes against the support by popular votes. Indeed the EC system works to correct the defects arising from popular votes. Murphy (2003) adds by saying that the defects in EC are intentional and have a purpose because without it the smaller states will not be heard in national issues. Secondly the EC is ensures the status of smaller groups and minority interests are maintained such that the presidency is seen as an institution that takes account all interests of people and special groups in the country. Hence smaller states will also have a say in expressing their presidential choice (Leip, 2003). Third, EC help in stability of political parties by encouraging biparty system and excluding third party parties from unseating the majority. Although third parties are present in America they cannot raise the masses that cause national imbalance in the political climate. Hence the presidency is guarded against metamorphism of radical policies from third party. It then dictates the political coalitions at political level rather than governmental level. Otherwise if popular electorate is allowed there will be situations of regional and extreme divergent demarcations (Leip, 2003). Fourth, the federal system is essentially captured in the democratic principles which require sharing of power at all levels of government. With these we see the House of Representatives representing interests and issues of states based on the population strength while the Senate has equal number of representatives in the congress that articulate issues of the state on equal footing. The Electoral College then represents the institution of presidency and echoes the values and interest of minority and special interest groups. To eliminate the EC is like democratizing the political system and essentially rendering the structures of federal and letting the re-genesis of central government (Magleby, Light, Peltason, 2008). It worth to note that the political parties would not allow the change of the system to because of the interest they hold in it (Mmarks, 2000). This is reinforced by Murphy (2003) sentiments insisting that vote irregularities can only be halted by EC since it will only deal with states in question rather than the whole states which pose the question of financial and legal constraints. On the contrary opposition to the elimination of the Electoral College continues to mount fro example it was termed as either anchoritic or archaic or ambiguous because it allows for the winner to bag all votes thus the need for reforms or abolition of it all together. These are some of the reasons for eliminating the EC and allow the electorate popularity. One is that a president can be elected by minority votes for instance where three candidates or more share votes and cause a situation which no candidate is able to garner more than 50 percent of the votes like the elections of 1824, 1948 and 1968. This can result to cases where one candidate votes are given to another or absentee of significant votes in the Electoral College. The resultant scenario will cause the EC to use the 12th Amendment. This may lead to conflict of interest (Leip 2003). Second, the EC has given leeway to voters transferring their rights to electors who later do not vote according to their wishes commonly referred as faithless fathers. For example in 1988 Lloyd Benson was voted for by a democrat elector from West Virginia. Although past experiences has shown that the votes of faithless fathers do not have significant impact on the presidential election but sends negative signals to the electorate. Mmarks (2000) states that the American government has violated the basic principle of democracy of vote counts similarly the EC makes other votes irrelevant. For instance in it gives too much power to local constituencies than other others. Third is that the EC has an element of disincentive to electorates because there is no difference between populous state and low populated states. Hence voters are likely not to turn out in large numbers. However this fact does not take account other elections in the states such as governors and legislators (Leip 2003). Fourth the Electoral College does not reflect the will of the voters because it seems to under represent other regions especially urban than the rural. For example the electoral voters of six states in 1988 had same 3. 1 million votes and 21 electors’ similar to 9. 6 million votes from Florida. This shows discrepancy in representation making votes from this populous state less significant (Magleby, Light, Peltason, 2008). In the same line Electoral College seems to have bias towards the exclusion of third party making it difficult to rise above regional or state precincts. This is because it cannot garner majority votes to give it the strength to be allocated electoral votes. The mechanisms applied gives the winner of majority votes to walk way with all votes rendering this party irrelevant. In order to be able to articulate its issues it has to relax its divergent views and collaborate with popular political party. Maxwell Hardaway (2004) argue that during the writing of the constitution by the founding founder in the 18th century most voters were illiterate, but at the present time the citizens are educated and well informed to make a choice of their own so it is better to have direct counting. They also add their sentiments on the need to reduce the due advantage of small states over big states instead all votes should count in the elections. This will make candidates to value each vote and concentrate of pulling gaining support of all voters (Maxwell Hardaway, 2004; Magleby, Light, Peltason, 2008). However the supporters of the EC argue that despite the few defects noted during 2000 presidential elections the EC does not need to be abolished but strengthened. This is because it has stayed for long time and had the principle of unifying the country able to rally a broad support and gain extensive roots of political parties. This in turn gives reduces the time which could have been used for vote recounting as in the case of 2000 presidential elections (Maxwell Hardaway, 2004). CONCLUSION The Electoral College is a process by which the voters elect representatives known as electors that in turn elect the president. The Electoral College is governed by the laws and constitution of United States of America. Although defects have been sited in the application of the Electoral College arguments have been raised in support and against it. Propositions for its abolition include chance of electing president with simple majority, voters democratic rights violated; the president may not show the will of the people and inability of some electors voting for the respective leaders they were elected for. While supporters for not abolishing it reason that it is one of the foundations of federalism and democratic principles that does not allow central government to be in place. It distributes popular votes; enhance country cohesive nature and helps in political stability. The matters given are weighty it can be concluded that amendment to the Electoral College is necessary to correct its defects rather than changing to direct voting. REFERENCES Electoral College. (2008). U. S. Election College. Retrieved April 21, 2008, from http://www. archives. gov/federal-register/electoral-college/faq. html#qualifications Leip, David. (2003). Pros cons of EC. Retrieved April 21, 2008 from: http://uselectionatlas. org/INFORMATION/INFORMATION/electcollege_procon. php Magleby, O. Light, B. , Peltason, C. (2008). Government. 7th ed. USA: Pearson. Maxwell, K. J. , Hardaway, R. (2004). 2000 aftermath. New York Times. Retrieved April 21, 2008, from http://findarticles. com/p/articles/mi_m0BUE/is_3_137/ai_n17207622 Mmarks. (2000, November 17). Princeton news. Retrieved April 21, 2008 from: http://www. princeton. edu/main/news/archive/A94/81/30Q00/index. xml Murphy, K. (2003 December 11). EC is necessary. Retrieved April 21, 2008, http://www. interocitor. com/archives/000159. html

Saturday, September 21, 2019

The Hierarchical Model

The Hierarchical Model Was developed in the 1960s. The Hierarchical model was essentially born from the first mainframe database management system. It uses an upside-down tree to structure data. The top of the tree is the parent and the branches are children. Each child can only have one parent but a parent can have many children. Advantages Have many different structures and forms. Structures data in an upside-down tree. (Simplifies data overview) Manages large amounts of data. Express the relationships between information. Many children per parent. Distribute data in terms of relationships. Improve data sharing. Disadvantages One parent per child. Complex (users require physical representation of database) Navigation system is complex. Data must be organized in a hierarchical way without compromising the information. Lack structural independence. Many too many relationships not supported. Data independence. NETWORK DATA MODEL In 1965 C.W. Bachman developed the first network data model to present complex data relationships more effectively than the hierarchical model. He tried to impose a database standard with his model and also wanted to improve database performance. It was in 1971 that the Conference on Data System Languages or CODASYL officially or formally defined the Network model. The network databases arrange its data as a directed graph and have a standard navigational language. Advantages Multi-parent support. Somewhat same simplicity as the hierarchical model. More useful than the hierarchical data model. Deals with even larger amounts of information than the hierarchical model. Promotes data integrity. Many too many relationships support. Data independence. Improved data access. Disadvantages Data relationships must be predefined. Much more complex than the hierarchical date model. Users are still require to know the physical representation of the database Information can be related in various and complicated ways. Lack structural independence. RELATIONAL DATA MODEL The relational data model was introduced in 1970 by Edgar F. Codd. He worked for IBM. All data is represented as simple tabular data structures which the user can access through a high-level non-procedural language. In 1974 IBM proposed a new high-level non-procedural language SEQUEL (renamed into SQL in 1990). Advantages Structured independence is promoted. Users do not have to know the physical representation of the database. Use of SQL language to access data. Easier database design. Tabular view improves simplicity. Support large amounts of data. Data independence. Multi-level relationships between data sets No need to predefined data relationships. Disadvantages Data anomalies. People need training if they want to use the system effectively and efficiently. ENTITY RELATIONSHIP DATA MODEL Dr. Peter Pin-Shan Chen introduced the entity relationship data model in 1976. It is a graphical representation of entities that became popular very quickly because it complemented the relational database model concepts. Advantages A very important data modeling tool. An extended Entity-Relationship diagram allows more details. Multi-valued attributes. Structured independence. Organize the data into categories defining entities the relationships between them. Visual representation. Data independence. Disadvantages Limited relationship representation. Loss of information (when attributes are removed from entities). No data manipulation language. Limited constraint representation. BIOGRAPHY Rob, P., Coronel, C. Crockett, K. 2008. Database systems: design, implementation management international edition. UK: Gaynor Redvers-Mutton. p37-51. Danielsen, A. The evolution of data models and approaches to persistence in database systems. 1998. Available at: http://www.fing.edu.uy/inco/grupos/csi/esp/Cursos/cursos_act/2000/DAP_DisAvDB/documentacion/OO/Evol_DataModels.html. Accessed February 15, 2010. Geekinterview.com. The Hierarchical Model. 2008. Available at: http://www.learn.geekinterview.com/it/data-modeling/the-hierarchical-model.html. Accessed February 15, 2010. Geekinterview.com. Network Model. 2008. Available at: http://www.learn.geekinterview.com/it/data-modeling/network-model.html. Accessed February 15, 2010. Geekinterview.com. Relational Model. 2008. Available at: http://www.learn.geekinterview.com/it/data-modeling/relational-model.html. Accessed February 15, 2010. Geekinterview.com. A Look at the Entity-Relationship. 2008. Available at: http://www.learn.geekinterview.com/it/data-modeling/a-look-at-the-entity-relationship.html. Accessed February 15, 2010.

Friday, September 20, 2019

Limitations Of Agency Theory Finance Essay

Limitations Of Agency Theory Finance Essay Irrespective of the recent well-deserved criticism of Agency Theory I believe it should still play an important role in managerial remuneration. Empirical evidence supports the theory that a conflict of interest exists between shareholders and management. Throughout recent years one of the more commonly discussed management topics has been executive compensation and in particular the size of bonuses awarded to CEOs and other senior management. Agency theory can be considered to be the most widely used theory to explain executive compensation. The focus of Agency theory is on ways to make the governance system of corporations more efficient so that shareholders interests and performance expectations are given every chance to be realised by the Chief Executive Officer (CEO). An agency problem may arise between managers and shareholders because the principals (the shareholders) cannot adequately monitor the actions taken by the agent (the managers). Subsequently, the agent can have an incentive to pursue their own interests, rather than the bet interests of the principal. Given the body of evidence, it would be naÃÆ' ¯ve to claim that agency theory has not made a significant contribution to the principal-agent literature. However it does have its limitations and a new approach is needed to use the benefits of agency theory to its fullest. By realizing agency theorys limitations, we can add to its strength. Droege, Scott B A key issue facing agency theory is the reliance that stakeholders have on the board of directors. This has proven to be an unhealthy reliance and the level of independance of some board of direcors can be questioned. This is discussed by Band (xxxx) when he noted that while there is a common perception that the board is independent, this is often fake as noted by Pearce and Zahra who found that over 85% of Fortune 500 industrial companies had Chairmen who had also served as the corporations CEO. It is well documented that executive compensation packages should be designed to align the interests of senior management with those of the shareholders and thereby reduce the dysfunctional behaviour of managers; this is typically done by rewarding executives for taking decisions and actions that increase shareholder wealth ([26] Mortlock, 2009). Unfortunately, the shareholders (and directors) may have neither complete information about the actions of executives or the expertise to evaluate those actions, making it difficult to base compensation on actions alone. Instead, compensation in practice is often linked to measures that are positively correlated with managerial performance, for instance market share, share price or accounting profit. Additionally In recent years Boards have become weaker as more power has been distributed to senior management. This has resulted in the decline of the accountability of Directors and a resulting impact in the decline of the monitoring role of Boards. Corporate Governance David Band The board of directors is heavily reliant on the information provided by the CEO. The recent spate of failures among both financial and non-financial companies has been accompanied by a growing interest in and concern about the compensation of the CEOs of major U.S. corporations. This, in turn, has reignited interest among both academics and financial practitioners about agency theory issues, especially the question of whether or not the total compensation of CEOs is properly scaled in relation to the earnings they generate for the shareholders they serve. We find that the executive remuneration design derived from a single agency perspective is insufficient. Prospect theory, real option theory and managerial power approach all together would complement agency theory to bring the theory of executive remuneration closer to reality Adam Notes Agency Theory or Stewardship theory Limitations of Agency theory Irrespective of the recent well-deserved criticism of Agency Theory I believe it should still play an important role in managerial remuneration. Empirical evidence supports the theory that a conflict of interest exists between shareholders and management. The board still functions on information provided by the CEO. While there is a common perception that the board is independent, this is often fake as noted by Pearce and Zahra who found that over 85% of Fortune 500 industrial companies had Chairmen who had also served as the corporations CEO. In recent years Boards have become weaker as more power has been distributed to senior management. This has resulted in the decline of the accountability of Directors and a resulting impact in the decline of the monitoring role of Boards. Corporate Governance David Band The appropriate remedy for the problem of the potentially self-interested or incompetent managerial team is said to be the monitoring board. But frankly, no one really knows what is the optimal level of option grant: what level of stock option compensation will make an executive risk-neutral like the shareholders, or willing to bite the bullet on layoffs, or willing to accept a premium bid? Even if the stock price falls back, the well-timed executive option exercise is a life-changing experience. More formally, the Black-Scholes option pricing model instructs us that the value of the executives stock option will be increasing both in the value of the underlying security and the variance (since stock options are issued at the money). So managers with a rich load of options have incentives to get the stock price high by any means necessary, fraud included. In particular, they have incentives to increase the riskiness of the firm, including projects that offer lower expected returns but higher variance. This will reduce the value of the firm for risk-neutral shareholders but has the potential to increase the value of managers firm-related investments in cases where the gain in option holdings exceeds the loss to human capital. Managers become risk-preferring. Enron Jeffrey Gordon Prospect theory, real option theory and the managerial power approach all together would complement agency theory to bring the theory of executive remuneration closer to reality. On the other hand, theoretically, being the main stream theory of corporate governance, agency theory suggests effective executive remuneration should align managers interests with shareholders interests in order to minimize agency costs (Florackis, 2005; Bayless,2009). Most remuneration frameworks in the literature have been largely influenced by agency theory. However, notable divergences exist between thepredictions of agency theory and reality. There is a need to extend agency theory with some complementary theories to make executive compensation more realistic. We find that the executive remuneration design derived from a single agency perspective is insufficient. Prospect theory, real option theory and managerial power approach all together would complement agency theory to bring the theory of executive remuneration closer to reality. Che, Zhang,Xiao and Li Empirical support for agency theory has been demonstrated in numerous settings. For example, Eisenhardts (1988) studies of retail stores show support for agency theory in salaried and commissioned salespeople. Acquisitions and divestitures were the focus of a study by Argawal and Mandelker ( 1 987). Conlon and Parks ( 1 990) examined performance-contingent compensation as the dependent variable and found support for agency theory. Support has been found in interorganizational joint ventures (BalakrishnanandKoza, 1993) and franchising (e.g., Agrawal and LaI, 1995). Although not an exhaustive review, this brief list gives adequate evidence that agency theory has been empirically tested and supported in a variety of contexts from retail sales to manufacturing to joint ventures. Given this body of evidence, it would be naÃÆ' ¯ve to claim that agency theory has not made a contribution to the principal-agent literature. Indeed, it has made a significant contribution. Thus, it is not my intent to discredit agency theory. However, a rational course is to separate the premises and examine them in a new light. By realizing agency theorys limitations, we can add to its strength. Droege, Scott B Agency theory can be considered to be the most widely used theory to explain executive1 compensation. Agency theory, from economics, focuses on ways to make the governance system of a corporation more efficient so that shareholders interests and performance expectations are realized by the Chief Executive Officer (CEO). The failure to find a consistent link between executive compensation and a firms performance has motivated some authors to supplement agency theory with other theories originating in psychology and sociology (e.g., Ungson and Steers, 1984; Wiseman and Gomez-Mejia, 1998; Bainbridge, 2005; Gomez- Mejia et al., 2005; and Perkins, 2008). It should be explicitly mentioned here that it is not our objective to replace agency theory with other theories. Rather, we recommend adding other theoretical lenses, originating in other paradigms, to make our understanding of executive compensation more complete. While discussing each of the theories, it will become clear that rather than taking a single theory perspective, it is preferable to take a multi-theory approach to explain the complexities of executive compensation. This is also a logical consequence of the use of three paradigms. Under such an approach, different paradigms and theories together serve to explain executive compensation better and more completely than opting for a single theory or paradigm. Over the last decades, hundreds of studies have been published in the field of executive compensation. Agency theory was found to be the dominant framework. This theory puts forward the relationship between firm performance and executive compensation as one of the mechanisms to reduce agency costs. The inability to find a consistent relationship between performance and executive compensation, however, has given rise to the development of alternative theories. The most popular alternative theories include managerialism theory, institutional theory and contingency theory. Strong support was found for taking such a multi-theoretical and multi-disciplinary view of executive compensation. The control perspective (agency theory), which has historically been the main perspective, has to be enriched with behavioral, institutional and contingency factors. Baeten, Xavier; Balkin, David In the aftermath of the global financial crisis (GFC) governments lost confidence in market fundamentalism and realised the inadequacies of regulatory measures. The purpose of this paper is to outline the proximate causes of the financial crisis of 2007-2009 and to investigate the role of the shareholder wealth maximization (SWM) objective in the GFC. The case studies revealed that unethical behaviour, agency issues, CEO compensation, creative accounting and risk shifting are some of the side effects of SWM. These cases indicate that the assumptions on which SWM are based are questionable. Further, it can be argued that the root cause of the GFC is excessive greed and the single-minded pursuit of SWM. The global financial crisis (GFC), which had been threatening for some time, began to display its effects in the middle of 2007 and into 2008. Around the world, stock markets have fallen, large financial institutions have collapsed or been bought out, and governments in even the wealthiest nations have had to develop with rescue packages to bail out their financial systems. Had all boards of directors being successful in their assigned role of protecting all stakeholders of the firm, rather than just shareholders, then we believe that the GFC would have been avoided. Most business concern is focused on profit maximisation. However, profit maximisation fails for a number of well-known reasons; it ignores: the timing of returns; the cash flows available to shareholders; and risk. Without explicitly considering these factors, higher earnings alone do not necessarily translate into higher share prices. Damodaran (1999) explains that, in the real world, managers perform the decision-making function with four factors or linkages in mind: shareholders, bondholders, society and financial markets. Competitive market conditions place significant pressure on agents and managers who will be tempted to resort to unethical means to portray a positive picture. It is acknowledged that the wealth maximisation objective is not always compatible with a firms social obligations, and it usually involves an agency problem which arises when the managers fail to act in the best interests of the shareholders, preferring instead to benefit themselves ([20] Jensen and Meckling, 1976). Differences in the objectives of ownership and management lead to agency costs; if these are to be controlled, the shareholders must maintain a strict watch over the functioning of the company. The managers should be rewarded for acting in the interests of the shareholders and the managers should maintain a balance between the interests of the shareholders and other stakeholders. In this context, the GFC highlighted the important influence that incentive structures within financial institutions and other businesses can have on risk-taking and financial performance. In particular, it highlighted the dangers of badly designed remuneration incentive arrangements leading to excessive risk-taking, poor financial performance and a bias towards short-term results at the expense of longer-term financial soundness ([26] Mortlock, 2009). It is well documented that executive compensation packages should be designed to align the interests of senior management with those of the shareholders and thereby reduce the dysfunctional behaviour of managers; this is typically done by rewarding executives for taking decisions and actions that increase shareholder wealth ([26] Mortlock, 2009). Unfortunately, the shareholders (and directors) may have neither complete information about the actions of executives or the expertise to evaluate those actions, making it difficult to base compensation on actions alone. Instead, compensation in practice is often linked to measures that are positively correlated with managerial performance, for instance market share, share price or accounting profit. Stock options became an ever greater part of executives compensation, increasing from 27 per cent in 1992 to 60 per cent in 2000. Fixed salary will reduce the risk to the executives and guarantee a standard of living. On the other hand, it may not encourage them to improve their performance in order to maximise shareholder wealth. The use of golden handshake and golden parachute clauses in management contracts may also be driven by managers acting to further their own interests, rather than those of their shareholders. [25] Matsumura and Shin (2005) characterized conflicts of interest between shareholders and managers as usually arising in three broad areas. First, executives enjoy (as well as exploit) the perquisites provided to them. Second, executives are more risk averse in decision making and aim for better compensation as a trade-off. Lastly, executives are more interested in making decisions that have short-term impacts rather than taking a long-term perspective. By designing executive packages in a way that balances the interests of shareholders and executives, these conflicts can be reduced. The packages should be so designed to motivate the executives, whilst at the same time allowing management to control the amount spent on compensation, based on the performance of the CEOs themselves. [26] Mortlock (2009) notes that the major financial and corporate sector distress seen in the USA and Europe in recent times is partly attributable to poorly designed remuneration incentive arrangements. An examination of history reveals that a range of practices, unrelated to any major improvement in cash flows and/or profits, have been carried out with the intention of increasing wealth; for example: accounting manoeuvres with deceitful intention and accounting fraud (in the case of Xerox), improper accounting, deviation from accounting principles with deceitful intention, leveraging of shares to raise debt for expensive acquisitions (as in the case of WorldCom), stretching the limits of accounting by misusing its limitations, lack of transparency, intentional projection of a rosy picture of performance (in the cases of Enron and Arthur Anderson), massive fraud, accounting scandal (in the case of Peregrine Systems), aggressive acquisition strategies and accounting frauds (in the case of Tyco), diverting business cash into off-shore, family-owned entities, artificial support given to the stock of the company (in the case of Polly Peck), deceitful intention of elite and experienced h ands with sophisticated outlets (in the case of BCCI banks) and highly leveraged synthetic financial instruments (in the case of Goldman Sachs). Creative accounting is the manipulation of financial numbers, usually within the letter of the law and accounting standards, although its use can be unethical and does not provide the true and fair view of a company that accounts are supposed to provide ([45] Moneyterms, 2009). Common to all the cases mentioned above was managements single-minded focus on SWM. By attempting to grow the company at high speed and by using creative accounting techniques, managers had failed to foresee the detrimental affect these actions would have in the long term. It is clear that, in light of the side effects of SWM as discussed in Section 4 particularly their impact during the crisis the validity of the above assumptions has become questionable. In this regard, [19] Jenkins and Guerrera (2010) argue that the recent SEC attack on Goldman Sachs strikes at the heart of the business model, a model that, as [46] Friedman (1970) states, views the social responsibility of business being to increase its profits. However, as an agent, a manager is bound to act to maximise the wealth of shareholders, rather than to follow an agenda of social responsibility. It is clear that major issues like unethical behaviour, executive compensation, creative accounting and conflicts of interest, pushed the big entities towards major difficulties and, in many cases, collapse. Though a series of accounting regulations were designed and directed, many giant organisations found convenient loopholes to take advantage of or, if this was not possible, resorted to manipulative means, actions which ultimately contributed substantively to the financial crisis. Hull (2009) argues that the inappropriateness of extant incentive schemes led to a short-term focus in the managerial decision making. Given this situation, in February 2009, US President Barack Obama introduced new restrictions on executive compensation for institutions that receive financial assistance from the government, by limiting cash compensation to US$500,000; similarly, the USs Financial Stability Board released a set of principles aimed to ensuring effective governance of compensation and the effective alignment of compensation with prudent risk taking. These developments in turn suggest that the SWM objective is neither self-regulatory nor flawless in nature. As we have discussed in this paper, the reasons for the burst of this financial bubble are many. However, most of the factors are (directly or indirectly) linked to the pursuit of SWM. The above discussion has shown that each factor had in common the desire to increase the value of owners wealth. It appears reasonable to argue that, by forgetting the importance of ethics and deviating from accounting principles, the greed paid off. Risk shifting and dysfunctional behaviour are some of the side effects and flaws in an SWM-based system that is not self-regulatory. Because of a strong focus on profit maximisation or even SWM, the corporate decisions that led to the economic downturn were never balanced with any good citizen approach. But value maximisation alone is no longer sufficient in todays competitive global business environment; organisations need to focus on objectives that have long-term benefits rather than short-term value. By taking stakeholders and society into consideration a firm will truly begin to create sustainable wealth; while the corporate objective function is dominated by SWM this cannot take place. Yahanpath, Noel Supporters of agency theory underscore, among its positive features, the realism with which it describes relationships among individuals in a company(Eisenhardt, 1989). The firm is no longer considered as a single, monolithic actor but the complex set of interactions among several individuals. The firm is now presented as a nexus of contracts between principals and agents (Maitland, 1994; Shankman,1999). Typically, there are different goals and interests among individuals involved in an agency relationship. Agency theory presupposes that individuals are opportunistic, that is, they constantly aim to maximize their own interests (Bohren, 1998). Thus, there is no guarantee that agents will always act in the best interests of principals. Rather, there is a constant temptation for agents to maximize their own interests, even at the expense of principals. Under conditions of incomplete information and uncertainty prevalent in business settings two kinds of problems arise: adverse selection and moral hazard (Eisenhardt, 1989, p. 58). Adverse selection refers to the possibility of agents misrepresenting their ability to do the work agreed; in other words, agents may adopt decisions inconsistent with the contractual goals that embody their principals preferences. Moral hazard, on the other hand, refers to the danger of agents not putting forth their best efforts or shirking from their tasks. This divergence between the interests of the principal and the agent unavoidably generates costs. Agency costs are residual costs that result in a failure to maximize the principal_s wealth. These may be incurred by the principal through measures to control the agent_s behaviour or by the agent through efforts to demonstrate his commitment to the principal_s goals. The whole point behind agency theory is to come up with mechanisms that ensure an efficient alignment of interests between agent and principal, thereby reducing agency costs (Shankman, 1999, p.321). Principals are thus challenged to design contracts that protect their interests and maximize their utility in case of conflict. These contracts are based on several assumptions regarding agents (self-interest, limited rationality, risk aversion), organizations (goal conflict between members) and information (asymmetrical) (Shankman, 1999, p. 332). Supporters of agency theory underscore, among itspositive features, the realism with which it describes relationships among individuals in a company (Eisenhardt, 1989). The firm is no longer considered as a single, monolithic actor but the complex set of interactions among several individuals. Methodologically, agency theory subscribes to individualism: its basic unit of analysis is the human being fully constituted as an individual and bereft of any social dimension. In every endeavour individual agents seek above all their own utility (utilitarianism) or pleasure (hedonism), the satisfaction of their own desires. They form groups not to fulfil any requirement of their proper flourishing as human beings but only to further their particular interests (contractualism). Outside of this, agents do not subscribe to any moral imperative; they willingly engage in immoral conduct whenever convenient. Acting morally would be reasonable only if it presented a greater economic incentive in terms of utility and pleasure than the contrary (Bohren, 1998). Joan Fontrodona, Alejo Jose ´ G. Sison The recent spate of failures among both financial and non-financial companies has been accompanied by a growing interest in and concern about the compensation of the CEOs of major U.S. corporations. This, in turn, has reignited interest among both academics and financial practitioners about agency theory issues, especially the question of whether or not the total compensation of CEOs is properly scaled in relation to the earnings they generate for the shareholders they serve. Our null hypothesis, consistent with the popular assumption in the media, is that the secular growth of CEO compensation has become increasingly misaligned with the earnings results that CEOs have produced for shareholders. Surprisingly, our initial findings, drawing on secular trends among SP 500 firms, appear to show that our hypothesis does not hold, and that, over an extended period of time, CEOs have not received compensation that is out of line with the their companies earnings trends. Zhao, Kevin M; Baum, Charles L; Ford, William F 2.0 Diagnosis of Problems and Theoretical Analysis 2.1 Organisational Change 2.2 Conflict Cognitive Dissonance 2.3 Communication 2.4 Leadership 3.0 Recommendations 3.1 Organisational Change Management Recommendations 3.2. Conflict Management Recommendations 3.3. Communication Recommendations 4.0. Conclusion

Thursday, September 19, 2019

Mr. :: essays research papers

In September 1998, Steven Spielberg received the Knight Commander's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany from President Roman Herzog, who expressed Germany's appreciation to the American Jewish director. "Germany thanks you for work that has given us more than you may realize," said Herzog. The film that made the Germans realize that there were maybe heroes among them would be Schindler's List. Yet at that time, Spielberg's subsequent film was also playing in German cinemas--a film that had as its cornerstone the same verse from the Talmud emblazoned on the screen in Schindler's List: "Whoever saves one life, saves the world entire." In making Saving Private Ryan, Spielberg inverted that principle to show an entire group setting out to save a single--and virtually unknown--soldier, someone more remote to them than Schindler's people were to him. Saving Private Ryan focuses on Captain John Miller's (Tom Hanks) leading a special squadron detailed to find and save the last son of Mrs. Ryan, whose other three boys have perished on three different fronts. The carnage they must face is so often blamed on their quest that, by the time we meet Ryan himself, he all too readily accepts the burden of guilt. Spielberg's ability to look at World War II first this way, then that, has guaranteed him an altar in the magazine/TV/newsprint edifice that enshrines pop culture--where our latest products are sheltered, framed, hung, and subjected to an examination of ourselves within the work of art. The critical establishment seldom bothers to wire in a feed from Europe, where reactions to Hollywood product can alert us to surprising things about the movies themselves, as well as the auteurs behind them. In Germany, for example, the reception of Schindler's List undoubtedly benefitted from the effect of historian Daniel Goldberg tutoring the people in their proper role as willing villains. Spielberg brought relief by focusing on the hero among them and creating a masterpiece dedicated to their past.

Wednesday, September 18, 2019

Information processing and cognitive development Essay -- essays resea

Information Processing and Cognitive Development   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Information processing is a perspective (approach) to the study of cognition and cognitive development in which the mind is likened to a computer. However, rather than focusing on mere input and output, psychologists who adhere to this approach place specific emphasis on the processes of cognitive development. Cognitive perspectives examine development in terms of mental processing. The two major views within this subject are cognitive developmental theory and information processing theory.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Theorists claim that our cognitive processes are like that of a computer. They have used this as a model to break down the process of the human thinking processes and cognitive performance. When you receive some stimuli through your senses, your brain puts this information into the sensory store. Then the information is placed into short term memory. If the information is not encoded from short term memory to long term memory, the information is lost. However, once in long term memory the information is ready for retrieval (Cook). It is important to understand some of the key assumptions of this approach, including the emphasis on, the role of the knowledge base in cognitive development; the conceptualization of thinking as involving distinct processes executed over time, and the ways in which change in the system can occur (Miller).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  It is a fact th...

Tuesday, September 17, 2019

Myth on Aging Essay

There are many misconceptions when we talk about sex especially to old age generation. During the first day of class in HS 107, we talked about myths on aging. According to many people, they believed that â€Å"Majority of old people have no interest in, nor capacity for, sexual relations† (Facts on Aging Quiz). In our society, many people believe that older adults do not have sex when they reach the certain old age. Many argue that as you grow older your body becomes frail, thus, decreasing and diminishing sexual desire. Others believe that the sex â€Å"belong to the younger generations† (Schwartz, 2012). Since older adults are more prone to chronic disease, this means that we assume that they do not have a desire on having sexual intercourse. This myth persists This myth continues because not everyone has an open-mind when it comes to talking about older adults’ lifestyle. Many people believe that older adults should stay at home because they are fragile, and should not have any sexual thoughts anymore. Most of us believe that older adults that have sexual intercourse can give complications and might risk their health. Many younger generations including college students feel that it is uncomfortable when talking about older generations having sex. â€Å"College students were more surprised and disgusted by incidents of sexuality of those who were 70 to 75 than those who were 30 to 35† (Lochlainn & Kenny, 2013). Many in younger generations do not believe that older adults still have sex, and they feel appalled when somebody talks about it. Not only our generation avoids this issue, but the health care field as well. Langer-Most and Langer (2010) showed results that many doctors show very little interest when it comes to talking about sexual interaction with older adults. Many of them argued that this population does not have sex occasionally and it can be risky for their health. According to Connolly et al. (2012), when they asked physicians on whether they ask their patients about they sex life, they replied as being embarrassing for their profession. This is appalling of how a health care provider does not talk about sexual interaction when it comes to older generations. Because of embarrassment, many people closes this discussion and over generalize that older adults does not have any interest or have sex at all. The Reality Older Adults have interest and capacity for sexual interactions. Despite of getting older, many people still have sex whether younger generations like it or not. Regular sexual activity is a normal event, as you get older. There are several evidences that older generations tend to have sexual relations. According to Connolly et al. (2012), the study found that, â€Å"Among respondents ages 75-85, 54% of sexually active person reported having sex at least 2-3 times a month, and 23 percent reported having sex once a week or more. † This shows that our myth is not true that older adults do not have any interest when it comes to sexual interaction. Aging does not mean that once you hit a certain age, you will stop having interest on sex. Bradford and Meston (2007) accentuates that â€Å"Sexuality in older adults is often misunderstood, misrepresented or simply invisible. † We tend to avoid these conversations. Many of us over generalized and judge older people when they tell us that they have sex. Many people are being judged, which is harder for them to open and ask for help with these types of issue. We believe that older adults having sex is not necessary. However, according to Bradford and Meston (2007) studies have shown and according to â€Å"National Council on Aging (2005) reported that 71% of mean in their 60s and 57% of mean in their 70s engaged in sexual activity at least once per month. The studies have shown that there are greater amount of older adults that have sexual relations that we have normally expected. For older adults, it is normal for them to have sex; though we do not believe that this is true. Bradford and Meston (2007) explains that according to â€Å"American Association of Retired Persons reported that 62 % of mean and 51% of women between ages 60 and 69 believed that sexual activity is an important component of a good relationship. † Their study have shown older men and women have sex in order to continue their good relationship with their significant other since their intimacy is not the same as before. It is a positive aspect to have sex with your loved one when you get older. This way, you both can still connect despite of what you experience while getting older. As you grow older your body tends to slow down, which makes it harder to have sex when you suffer with some illness. However, this does not mean that you cannot have sex when your body starts to weaken, as you grow older. Mauk (2008) argued, â€Å"Normal aging changes include [†¦] diminished sex hormones. † Our sex hormones decreases as you grow older, but this does not mean we completely stop or does not have interest with sexual relations. Many older adults compromise with their illness when it comes to sex. For men, they experience erectile dysfunction, and the most common problem is achieving or maintaining an erection during the intercourse (Lochlainn & Kenny, 2013). Older men have these reproductive problems, and it is difficult for them to have sex when you have this issue. As for women, menopausal is the problem. When a woman reaches the menopausal stage, their vaginal wall begins to get thinner, and the lubrication production decreases. Despite of their complications with their reproductive system, most of them seek for an advice and try to compromise in order to attain and continue their sexual relationships with their significant other. However, due to overgeneralization and prejudice, many older adults are embarrassed to seek for help even to health professionals. Lochlainn and Kenny (2013) states that, â€Å"5% of older women volunteered their sexual problems during office visits, 85. 3% of men with erectile dysfunction wanted help, but only 10. 4% mean received medical care. † Not many older adults seek for help because of the stigma that our society is impelling. Many providers underestimate patient risk, and lack the knowledge and comfort to discuss questions about sexual dysfunction or satisfaction with older patients (Langer-Most & Langer, 2010). Many patient providers do not have adequate training on how to approach the older adults’ issue because of the stigma. The doctors are embarrassed and they feel it is a humiliation to his/her profession when they open the sex issue for older adults. Additionally, older adults tend to be excluded from studies because many professionals that they have a lower chance of getting diseases such as HIV/AIDS, and a very low chance of getting pregnant. Thus, there have only been a few doctors that have enough knowledge when it comes educating older adults on how to compromise with their body or how to prevent of getting infected with sexual transmitted diseases. Media have also contributed with the ageism regarding with sexual relations among older adults. â€Å"[†¦] One reason for the negative attitudes of older person could be the media’s portrayal of the elderly as frail and asexual† (Lochlainn & Kenny, 2013). Many of the movies, and other shows displays that older adults are very sensitive and delicate. Thus, we overgeneralize that older adults does not have interest with sex. Social Actions The study among older adults that is being conducted nowadays is beginning to grow. Thus, it is a big start when it comes to social actions. Many professionals begin to take a step and start learning more about older adults’ lifestyle. There have been several studies that we have encountered when it comes to sexual relationships among older adults. Researchers have found ways and suggest several solutions. Since health professionals does not know how to approach older adults with this issue, Langer-Most and Langer (2010) suggests having a positive attitude regardless of their ethnicity, gender level, and age. Also, researchers have suggested on conducting educational programs for health professionals regarding with sexuality and aging. A resource fair conducted by SJSU is another social action for senior citizens, which they approach older adults and educate them about their body. Hartford Institute of Geriatric Nursing educates health practitioners and nurses on how to approach older adults when it comes to this sensitive matter. They know that it is significant to teach providers in order for the older adults to be more comfortable with their doctors. They conduct seminars to other hospitals to educate people in the health field. Most of all, many well-known universities such as SJSU embraced the geriatric field and educate many college students that most of the myths are not true when it comes to older generations. Sex is an important part in life, and we have to be sensitive and accept the fact that older adults tend to have sex, and it is part of the normal life. References Bradford, A. , and Meston, C. M. (2007). Senior Sexual Health: The Effects of Aging on Sexuality. Innovations In Clinical Practice: Focus on Sexual Health. 35-45. Connolly, M. , Breckman, R. , Callahan, J. , Lachs, M. , Ramsey-Klawsnik, H. , & Solomon, J. (2012). The Sexual Revolution’s Last Frontier: How Silence About Sex Undermines Health, Well-being, and Safety In Old Age. Generations. 36(3), 43-52. Kristen, M. PhD RN (2008). Myths of Aging. ARN Network. Langer-Most, O. , and Langer, Nieli. (2010). Aging and Sexuality: How Much Do Gynecologists Know and Care. Journal of Women and Aging. 22, 283-289. Doi:10. 1080/08952841. 2010. 518882 Lochlainn, M. N. , and Kenny, R. A. (2013). Sexual Activity On Aging. Journal Of The American Medical Directors Association. Doi:10. 1016/j. jamda. 2013. 01. 022 Wallace, M. PhD (2013). Best Practices in Nursing Care to Older Adults: Sexuality. Dermatology Nursing. 15(6).

Monday, September 16, 2019

Financial Reporting Problem Essay

Abstract In this paper we will discuss Walmart’s Balance sheet and Income Statement. We will analyze the company’s total assets at the end of the most recent annual reporting year and to why it is important. We then will talk about the company’s total assets, how much cash and cash equivalents did the company have, as well as, the amount of accounts payable at the most recent year, and from the previous year. What the company’s net revenues are from the last three annual reporting periods, the change in dollars in the company’s net income from the most recent annual reporting period to the previous annual reporting period. We will talk about the company’s total assets at the end of the most recent year and the previous year from the annual reporting period. Lastly, we will discuss as to what information that has been obtained within this paper that would be important to a potential investor, employee and so forth. Financial Reporting Problem, Part 1 Total Assets The total assets for Wal-Mart as of January 31, 2013 were $203,105,000. The reason this is important for a company or business to know, is so the business can have a better understanding of how much the company is worth. Knowing how much a company is worth is beneficial because the assets can be used as collateral for a loan. Also knowing the assets and comparing total assets to previous years can show if a company is growing and expanding or shrinking. For Wal-Mart, the comparison from the previous year shows that the total assets increased. As of January 31, 2012 the company showed total assets of $193,406,000. With the comparison from January 31, 2012 to the current figure from January 31, 2013 Wal-Mart grew and/or expanded in total assets by 9,699,000. Cash and Cash Equivalent The total cash and cash equivalent for the end of the year for Wal-Mart as of January 31, 2013 is 7,781,000. Knowing the total cash and cash equivalent will help the company to know how much the company has to spend. No organization has the intention of spending more money then what the company has available. If a company has very low cash or cash equivalent then the company will need to consider if a loan is needed. In consideration for a loan total expenses needs to be considered. If a company like Wal-Mart has enough cash to pay all expenses then a loan isn’t needed, but if the expense exceeds the cash then a loan is needed. Also another factor to consider on getting a loan is if the money coming into the company will be enough to pay the loan back. Accounts Payable The accounts payable for the end of the most recent annual reporting period that ended January 31, 2013 is 1,061,000. Knowing the accounts payable helps a company to know one of the companies expenses. This is important because if the companies accounts payable are higher than the money coming in, that could be a problem for the business. Comparing to previous years accounts payable can show many different problems or benefits for the business. Net Revenues Walmart Inc. net revenues from the last three annual reporting periods are as follows; On January 31st, 2011 in the amount of $421,849,000. On January 31st, 2012 the net revenues were; $446,950,000 and on January 31st, 2013 it totaled to the amount of $469,162,000. From looking at the reports Walmart Inc. has had an increased from 2011 to 2012 in the amount of $25,101,000 and from 2012 to 2013 has increased to $22,212,000. Net Revenue helps account for certain price reductions, adjustments and refunds. This is necessary to get the general measure of the real top line rather than the bottom line. Net Income Looking at Walmart’s income statement from the net income of 2013 on January 31st it totaled in $16,999,000. The change from 2012 and 2013 is a increase in $1,300,000. The net income from 2012 is $15,699,000. From looking at the statement and seeing that there is a loss due to nonredeemable and redeemable non-controlling interest the company has lost net income by 16,998,000 within 2013 but in 2012 only had a 609,000 difference, and in 2011 had a 1,289,000 difference from 2013. When it comes to Net Income it is closely followed and play a huge role in ratio analysis. Shareholders take a close look at the net income due to their compensation of the company. If a business is not generating enough profit, the values of shares fall. It is important to know that net income does not measure to how much cash a company has earned during a given period. Change in Dollars of Net Income The change in dollars of Walmart’s net income from 2013 is 16,999,000 and from 2012 it is only a million dollar difference of 15,999,000. Total Assets in Recent Year from Annual Reporting Wal-Mart has reported its accounting period for fiscal year 2013; accounting period ends on January 31st of each year. Wal-Mart’s current total of assets as of fiscal year 2013 is $203,105,000.00. Wal-Mart continues to grow in consecutive years with an average increase in assets of $10,000,000 dollars a year for the past five years. The earnings per share have increased 10.6 percent increasing their shares to $5.02. The company has made earnings in addition of $22 billion make it a $ 466 billion dollar corporation. It is with no doubt that the success of the corporation continues on the rise. The corporation owns 4,000 locations in the United States alone adding $10 billion alone in net sales. Further from generating income and investing in growth and assets Wal-Mart has always researched and invested in ways to reduce expenses and operating costs. Strategies such as training front line and middle managers in operating cost reductions and implementing sales and inventory syste ms have greatly reduced operating costs in the current successful years. Total Assets from Previous Annual Report In fiscal year 2012, Wal-Mart had a total of earning of $15.8 billion  with a closing total of net sales of $443.9 billion. Since 1992 Wal-Mart has made and increased a total net worth of sales of $400 billion dollars. The corporation strategy for 2012 was to continue to invest in growth and re-enforce in what separates them from their competitors, their low incomparable low merchandise prices. A very unique idea that required greater investments and growth was that of creating a merchandise corporation to the public that provided a one stop be all shopping store. The corporation concentrated in providing its customers a broad assortment of merchandise which provided customers in a sense a time saving tool in a high tempo life style generation. Wal-Mart’s obvious and epic success of how effective and efficient their corporation strategies are. In addition Wal-Mart continues to re-invest in its online market and expanding its online strategy. Important Information Wal-Mart received a total of $332 million in common stock in the year of 2013 alone. In 2012 Wal-Mart returned dividends to its investors worth $60 billion in shares. A high number of their investors are Wal-Mart associates averaging an increased percentage of stocks by the yearly. A yearly accounting period of accounting provides the corporation’s accounting state which in return provides transparency to its current investors and a corporate overview of potential new investors. Internally Wal-Mart benefits from these reports in projecting new investments. Strategic Management can influence how much can be reinvested while at the same time have oversight of how expenses, employee and associate management, and operating costs have to be considered before any over spending incurs. Overall an accounting report is essentially the backbone of a corporation. The accounting structure requires having a solid foundation in a corporation in order to have a successful business. Accountin g is the measurement of how much a business fails or it is successful. References http://c46b2bcc0db5865f5a76-91c2ff8eba65983a1c33d367b8503d02.r78.cf2.rackcdn.com/88/2d/4fdf67184a359fdef07b1c3f4732/2013-annual-report-for-walmart-stores-inc_130221024708579502.pdf

Sunday, September 15, 2019

Craddock Cup

1. The Craddock Cup in its current form should be continued in order to maximize CYSL’s profits. Although it looks as though the Cup is incurring a loss, we need to analyze the relevant and irrelevant costs to truly determine the financial impact of discontinuing the cup. Although total expenses are $53,538, we need to eliminate the irrelevant, or unavoidable, costs when deciding whether the Cup should continue. In this case, the irrelevant, unavoidable costs include Rivaldo’s salary allocated to the tournament ($6,300), the field rental cost for the week ($1,200), and the rent/utilities expense for the Cup ($2,700).When these costs are added, we get $10,200 in sunk costs that cannot be avoided regardless of the continuation of the Craddock Cup. Subtracting these irrelevant costs from the total expenses of the tournament, we get $43,338 in relevant costs. When you subtract these expenses from the revenue generated by the tournament, we end up with a relevant profit of $ 6,502. This means that the CYSL is making $6,502 more than it would if it eliminated the Craddock Cup. I would therefore recommend that the Craddock Cup be continued. 2.My answer to the first question would change if the alternative to holding the Craddock Cup would be to rent the field to the Harvest Fair for $6,750. From purely a financial perspective, renting the field to the Harvest Fair would make the most sense. By doing this, the CYSL can make a $6,750 profit, excluding the allocated costs that are unavoidable and irrelevant. This is $248 more than the $6,502 they would profit by actually holding the tournament. So strictly by financial terms, it would make more sense to rent out the field in order to generate an increase in profit of $248 over the alternative of hosting the Craddock Cup. . When considering the decisions that management needs to make, it is important to consider not only the quantitative data, but also the qualitative characteristics. In this case, after cons idering the qualitative characteristics I would recommend that the CYSL continue to hold the Craddock Cup for multiple reasons. First of all, the influx of people that come to the tournament are advantageous for the nearby businesses. The economic advantages of the event would leave the town worse off than before. Also, the experience and opportunities that the Cup provides to high school soccer players are too crucial to ignore.By giving players a chance to gain recognition from college scouts and potentially get a scholarship, the tournament allows them to achieve their goals of playing college soccer. Another factor that must be discussed is the firing of the Renee Jansten. We do not know her current financial situation and would like to avoid firing anyone if at all avoidable. Lastly, the potential for future profits as the tournament gains more recognition and prestige should be enough to make CYSL keep running the Craddock Cup annually. 4. Exhibit A shows the expected financia l impact of adding 32 more teams to the schedule.Revenues would increase to $85,680 (assuming while expenses would rise to $87,806. This leads to a reported net income of -$2,126. However, if we remove the irrelevant, unavoidable costs ($10,200), we get a relevant profit of $8,074. This is $1,572 more than the $6,502 relevant profit expected from a 32-team tournament. It would therefore be in the greater interest of the CYSL to host a 64-team Craddock Cup next year. 5. The profit margin for the 32-team tournament is 3. 62% higher than the profit margin for the 64-team tournament. For the 32 team tournament, the profit margin is $6,502/$49,840=13. 5%. For the 64 team tournament, the profit margin decreases to $8,074/$85,680=9. 423%. Although the 64-team alternative has the lower profit margin, it has higher overall profits and is recommended. Exhibit A (64-Team Financials) Revenues:Calculations Registration Fees18,880Doubled T-Shirts 9,600Doubled Concessions34,560Doubled Soccer Clini c 8,640Doubled Contributions14,000Same Total Revenue85,680 Expenses: T-Shirts 3,840Doubled (Variable) Concessions17,280Doubled (Variable) Clinic 5,184Doubled (Variable) Insurance 4,608Doubled (Variable) Registration 1,500Same (Fixed)Field Rental 8,760(1200+6 fields x $210 x 6 days) Balls 864Doubled (Variable) Refs12,800Doubled (Variable) Trophies 1,800Doubled (Variable) Hotels 6,400$80x 2 nights x 15 + 4,000 Face Books 570450+(95-75)x$6 Marketing 3,2002,200+1000 CYSL Salaries18,300Same (Fixed) CYSL Rent 2,700Same (Fixed) Total Expenses87,806 Net Income:($2,126) Irrelevant/Unavoidable Expenses: Field Rental 1,200 CYSL Salaries 6,300 CYSL Rent 2,700 Total Irr. Exp. 10,200 Relevant Expenses: 87,806-10,200=77,606 Relevant Profit: Revenue85,680 Rel. Exp77,606 Rel. Profit 8,074

Saturday, September 14, 2019

Career Episode – Civil

Career Episode 3 a) Introduction This career episode describes my working activity from September till October 2xxx. I was working as a group leader at the design of water-supply and sewerage works and networks of the FFF Bauxite Mine and of a town situated in Komi Autonomous Republic. b) Background. After reviewing the background data I had to define water-supply sources, to calculate water consumption for domestic, industrial and fire safety purposes of the mine industrial area and the town. I also had to estimate sewage runoff and to select appropriate water and sewerage works.I had to foresee the measures devoted to environmental protection. As usual I closely collaborated with relative specialists- prospecting specialists, electrical engineers, water engineers and metallurgical specialists. For this design I carried out all the necessary calculations, developed the principal main water-supply and sewerage works schemes, water consumption and water removal balance schemes. All th e calculations were carried out on a computer. While I was working on the project I took part in the negotiations with the customer, where we discussed the engineering and environmental protection problems.After completing my work I gave the explanatory note to my customer for approval. c) Personal workplace activity. For this design I studied a lot of materials which contained the information about hydrological, geological and climatic parameters of the designed industrial site area. I analysed accounts of preliminary and detailed groundwater prospecting for household water-supply. The careful study of this information made it possible for me to offer the disposition of water-intake works ( artesian wells ) not at the place recommended at the reliminary prospecting. That fact excluded the possibility of chemical and bacterial contamination of the water supply source. I carried out the calculations of water consumption for domestic, industrial and fire safety needs. On the basis of these calculations I developed the water-supply scheme. This scheme was as follows: Water from the water-intake wells is distributed by the pumps to the regulating reservoirs intended for the water collecting before the pumping station of the second raising.The pumps at the pumping station of the second raising discharge water from the regulating reservoirs to the reservoirs where fire-proof, emergency and controlling reserve of water is kept. From the reservoirs the water flows under gravity to the circular network. I made provision for a special installation of the regulating valves with the electric drive in the wells near the tanks in order to pass the fire safety reserve of water. In this project I made an important decision regarding environmental protection. I offered to disinfect potable water at the bactericidal plants.Besides, I foresaw the reserved disinfection of water with the solution of natrium hypochlorite obtained from the solution of salt in the electrolyses. For t his design we (my group under my direction) worked out the borders of sanitary protection zones for water-supply sources and water storage tanks. We kept in view the further development of our object. We also included all the sanitary steps around the zone territory according to the construction standards and rules. On the industrial areas of the mine I designed the recycling water supply systems for a diesel power station, for a crushed stone factory and for a car-washer.I estimated and selected the following works and networks of the recycling water supply systems: recycling water-supply pumping stations, water-cooling towers, car-washer sewage water treatment plants, recycling water pipe-lines. These recycling water supply systems allowed to reduce fresh water consumption. The recycling water supply systems make 92 percent of the whole mine water-supply in this design. I also calculated the following sewerage systems: household, industrially-storm and industrial ones. For the hou sehold sewerage system I estimated and selected sewerage pumping stations, domestic sewage treatment plants, sewerage networks.At the disposal works waste water passes step by step the intake chamber, the racks, the grit catchers and then enters the mixing chamber. The aluminium sulphate solution and chlorine water are fed there to improve oxidising of ammonia nitrogen. Then sewage enters the sedimentation tank, where settling takes place to separate the main part of pollutants. In order to remove residual organic pollutants and unsettled suspended matter the further sewage treatment goes on by the oxidation on the surface of the pores filter bed. Treated sewage water enters the contact chamber for the disinfection.In my explanatory note I gave the description of all the sewerage works and represented the tables of pollutants concentrations in household sewage before and after the purification. I also represented the results of the suspended matter and biological oxygen demand ( BOD ) sewage purification degree design taking into account the process of the mixing with water of the river, in which sewage is discharged after purification. Disposal works which I have selected ensure household sewage purification up to the maximum concentration limits that in turn permit to discharge sewage into basins important for fish industry.I also made provision for storm water treatment. Storm water full of black oil from the territory of lubricating materials storehouse, from a car park and garage, sewage from the repair shops enter the storm water treatment plants. Here sedimentation and purification take place on the filters. After purification storm water isn’t discharged into the basin but it is utilised in the hydraulic ash removal system of the boiler house and partly used to fill the recycling water supply systems of HPP ( heating power plant ). I also designed the second sewage utilisation for the industrial sewerage system.Sewage from the hydro-washing of t he floors of crushed stone factory and of grinding-sorting factory enters the pumping station and then the sewage flows to the ash dump of HPP to fill the recycling water supply systems. In this project I had to solve the problem of the FFF bauxite mine quarry water treatment working together with the water engineer and the specialist of our institute scientific research department. I provided for the sewage treatment and the sewage discharge into the river belonging to the fish-industry basins of the extra quality, where the pollutants content was carefully controlled by the present legislation.The mine quarry water is a mixture of treated industrial water and water pumped from the mine underground roadways. The water is generally polluted by the suspended matter and the oil products. First the quarry water flows into the sedimentation tank. In the sedimentation tank the averaging of seasonal movements of water consumption and the partial suspended matter sedimentation takes place. To achieve the required purification degree I developed the process flow sheet with the reagent water treatment and the following filtration. The flow sheet includes:The suspended matter treatment in the sedimentation tank with natrium aluminate as a coagulant. Filtration. The pollutants content after the purification meets the specifications of the maximum permissible concentrations of the controlled components for fishing basins. To achieve the required purification degree I provided for the centralised control of the process, the automatic adjustment of the parameters and the analytic control of the quality of influents and effluents. To ensure reliable work and optimal sanitary-engineering conditions all the reservoirs equipment is provided by the special devices.These devices give warning signals if the limiting value is achieved. All the equipment and all the pipe-lines which are exposed to the aggressive medium acting are protected by the special corrosion proof coverage. d) Summary. In this design many tasks and problems were accomplished. They are closely connected with water-supply, water draining, sewage treatment, environmental protection of the designed object. Developing this design, I managed to apply all my knowledge and skills of a construction engineer. The design was approved and co-ordinated by the customer.