Bob Roberts essays

Bob Roberts essays The movie Bob Roberts is a political satire based on one mans campaign for a seat in the Senate. A British documentary crew is on hand to film Roberts' campaign and captures the frightening possibilities of a steamrolling campaign and all it can experience along its trail to Washington. Of course Bob Roberts the character is about as real as an honest politician, however the film's fiction comes closer to fact than many of todays politicians would like us to believe. Writer-director Tim Robbins plays Bob Roberts in this thought-provoking dramatic and political satire about a 1990 Pennsylvania race for the U.S. Senate. At first, it's easy to laugh at Roberts' phony-baloney public facade as he strums pro-capitalist folk songs such as "I Want to Be Rich" and "This Land Was Made for Me." Later, though, the laughs fade as we get a glimpse behind Roberts' hospitable mask and witness a snake pit of guns-for-drugs trades, cash looted from failed savings-and-loan institutions and ex-CIA campaign managers. A documentary filmmaker is along for the ride and captures Roberts sound-bite campaign against liberal incumbent Senator Brickley Paiste (Gore Vidal.) The rest of the cast is sprinkled with such notable actors as James Spader, Helen Hunt, Susan Sarandon, Fred Ward and Peter Gallagher in cameo roles. Most of them play television news reporters that are as biased as Bob Roberts campaign is crooked. This is how the film allows the media to portray itself throughout. During the film the media is very biased towards both campaigns. One particular example of this is when Bob Roberts is about to go on the show Good Morning Philadelphia. Right before he goes on, the host of the show tells him that she does not support his views. This leads to the two of them having an exchange on the air about differing points of view. While this seems to be an uncomfortable moment for the candidate, it ...

Scare Quotes Should Be Scarce Quotes

Scare Quotes Should Be Scarce Quotes Scare Quotes Should Be Scarce Quotes Scare Quotes Should Be Scarce Quotes By Mark Nichol Many writers- professionals and creators of casual composition alike- employ a form of emphasis that is usually unnecessary and often clumsily intrusive. Scare quotes, pairs of quotation marks placed around a word or phrase for emphasis, are valid when writers frame wording they are using ironically or mockingly, when they wish to imply that the enclosed word or words are not valid, or to communicate that they are reporting but not endorsing a term or expression. In any case, by using scare quotes, writers are making a statement and therefore calling attention not only to the wording but also to themselves. However, the use of scare quotes to superfluously bracket slang or figurative language is a hallmark of amateurish prose, and anyone who wishes to be taken seriously as a writer should avoid this misuse of a tool that is best employed in appropriate circumstances and in moderation. Examples of extraneous scare quotes follow: The tech industry has a history of hiring so-called â€Å"booth babes† to attract passersby at big trade shows. So-called and scare quotes are redundant, so employ one form of emphasis or the other, but not both: â€Å"The tech industry has a history of hiring so-called booth babes to attract passersby at big trade shows† or â€Å"The tech industry has a history of hiring â€Å"booth babes† to attract passersby at big trade shows.† (Because many people consider the phrase â€Å"booth babes† demeaning, it is probably better to employ so-called, which exonerates the writer, who is merely reporting the term and attitudes behind it, not suggesting his or or her approval of the term.) A â€Å"shoot the messenger† environment is a toxic environment. Metaphorical phrases need no special emphasis (but the figurative wording, a phrasal adjective, requires connecting hyphens): â€Å"A shoot-the-messenger environment is a toxic environment.† There are things organizations can do in the meantime to â€Å"hit the ground running.† Again, phrases that refer to nonliteral actions (as here, where no impact, surface, or speedy perambulation actually occurs) require no quotation marks: â€Å"There are things organizations can do in the meantime to hit the ground running.† Online crime will continue to â€Å"follow the money† and attempt to disrupt legitimate payment processes or divert digital funds in order to take advantage of the next online crime wave. The figurative phrase â€Å"follow the money† is understood as such and need not enclosed in quotation marks for emphasis: â€Å"Online crime will continue to follow the money and attempt to disrupt legitimate payment processes or divert digital funds in order to take advantage of the next online crime wave.† Manufacturers that have so far taken a â€Å"wait and see† approach with big-sata analytics and similar digital innovations have the benefit of learning from the missteps of early adopters. â€Å"Wait and see† requires no special emphasis, though because it is a phrasal adjective modifying approach, it should be hyphenated: â€Å"Manufacturers that have so far taken a wait-and-see approach with big-data analytics and similar digital innovations have the benefit of learning from the missteps of early adopters.† In a rapidly changing environment, this behavior creates lethal â€Å"blind spots† in an organization. Readers understand that the reference to blind spots does not pertain literally to the sense of sight, so the phrase does not need to be emphasized to signal its figurative use: â€Å"In a rapidly changing environment, this behavior creates lethal blind spots in an organization.† This action was intended to purge â€Å"black money,† or illegal cash holdings, from its financial system. When a potentially unfamiliar term is introduced with a gloss (a brief parenthetical definition), as here, quotation marks should not frame the word or phrase: â€Å"This action was intended to purge black money, or illegal cash holdings, from its financial system.† The government action to remove these notes from circulation (known as â€Å"demonetarization†) voided most of the cash in circulation. Again, a term introduced with a definition requires no emphasis: â€Å"The government action to remove these notes from circulation (known as demonetarization) voided most of the cash in circulation.† The NASA mission’s lead scientist described the asteroid, known as â€Å"16 Psyche,† as the remnant of the core of a planet. Introduction of a proper name does not merit enclosure of the term in quotation marks: â€Å"The NASA mission’s lead scientist described the asteroid, known as 16 Psyche, as the remnant of the core of a planet.† Her new band, â€Å"Tempest,† has just released its debut album. Again, proper names have no need for framing quotation marks: â€Å"Her new band, Tempest, has just released its debut album.† A related, and also regrettable, use of scare quotes is frequently seen in advertisements and signs- when, for example, one sees â€Å"Sale† or the name of a product in quotation marks, as if to say, â€Å"This sale is not real† or â€Å"These ‘widgets’ are not actual widgets.†) So, how does one use scare quotes appropriately? Examples follow: â€Å"He ignores women he considers unattractive, and he talked to me, so I guess that means I’m ‘hot.’† â€Å"Evidently, in this upwardly mobile, uptight neighborhood, that is not ‘proper’ behavior.† â€Å"This strategy is reminiscent of the ‘pacification’ of a village achieved by bombing the hell out of it.† Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Punctuation category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:What is the Difference Between "These" and "Those"?Comma Before ButWords Often Misspelled Because of Double Letters

Management Organisational Design and change Essay

Management Organisational Design and change - Essay Example A summary of the main points discussed will be given in the conclusion at the end of the paper. 1. Basically, strategic planning can be defined as the process of attempting to strike a balance between the organisation’s objectives and resources and its changing opportunities (Mintzberg, 2000). It tries to set the direction for the use of all resources and this direction will remain valid for a period of time. As such, analysing scenarios and using them as a strategic planning tool is beneficial for planners to rank them and attempt to identify commonness in possible futures and potential pathways. Thus, scenario review involves engaging in a systematic conjecture concerning potential futures and is mainly based on scanning the environment in which the organisation operates, interpreting signals and making predictions about what might happen next. This allows the organisation to be better positioned to formulate ideal strategies that can be implemented to meet the changing dema nds of the environment in which the organisation operates. It is important for the planners to rank these scenarios given that they often differ in their order of importance. Some scenarios would require immediate actions while others would require long term plans. It is also important for the planners to identify the commonness of these scenarios in possible futures and potential pathways so as to enable them to ensure that they do not waste resources on scenarios which would otherwise require the same strategy to be solved. The planners have to first identify the scenario then followed by choosing the appropriate pathway that can be taken to fulfil the strategy. Pertinent scenarios to the organisation are often given priority and it is the duty of the planner to anticipate the intended destination of the strategy to be implemented. 2. Strategic drift is a scenario that is witnessed when a strategy manager has failed to monitor and keep pace with its changing external environment. There are certain issues for managers when they prevent strategic drift and some of them involve the following: establishing the capacity of the organisation to make the strategy happen, availability of resources as well as fear for worsening the situation. The environment in which organisations operate is dynamic and at times, unprecedented scenarios which are unfavorable to the organisation may emerge the reason why managers ought to prevent such issues from happening (Kleynhans et al 2007). In most cases, the managers prevent strategic drift by weighing their capability of making the strategy happen. Indeed, there may be changes in the external environment and it is the role of the strategy managers to ensure that the organisation has the capability to meet these changes. In order to prevent strategic drift, the managers ought to deploy strategic decisions that will ensure that the organisation may remain viable in the face of changing environment so as to be able to be better po sitioned to keep pace with the changes. The availability of resources and time may be the other issues for the managers when preventing strategic drift. It is the duty of the manager to ensure that they channel adequate resources that enable them to monitor the environment to avoid

Economic Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 5

Economic - Essay Example This has caused increase in demand for Iron-ore to carry out the firms production and produce the resulting output. Price is derived by the crossing of supply and demand. (Figure 3) The resultant market price is dependent upon both of these basic components of a market. A transaction of goods or services will occur when so ever buyers and sellers can agree on a certain price. When a transaction occurs, the agreed upon price is called the "market clearing price† or "equilibrium price". As the population of China has grown, the demand for minerals and metals has risen. This has pushed the price of iron ore (and complementary products) up and also spurred the development of iron, accelerating the quantity of iron supplied as well. We can see the demand increase in Figure 1 below, that represents an increase in the demand of iron-ore. In the figure, supply and demand have been short formed as S and D. Demand begins at D1 and is moves to D2 provided that supply remains the same. We see that the equilibrium price even increases from p1 to p2, and the quantity moves from q1 to q2. The figure clearly shows that increase in demand for iron ore would clearly cause an increase in price. As the quantity of iron ore increases so would the resultant price provided supply remains constant. In order to meet the increasing demand the quantity of iron ore production would even have to be increased. An increase in supply results about from a decrease in the marginal cost as like the marginal cost of production. As a result, an increased in production is represented by a line to the right on the supply and demand graph. The effects of an increase in production are illustrated in Figure 2. The supply line goes from S1 to S2 that represents a lesser marginal cost. Moreover in this case, the quantity also rises from q1 to q2 and price falls from p1to p2. As the demand of

Visual Literacy Essay Example for Free

Visual Literacy Essay Visual Literacy throughout the history of our world has been important; dating back to cave drawings and carvings, and developing all the way to automated street signs signaling vehicles when to slow, stop, or go. Visuals are a part of our daily lives today as much as they were at the beginning of man’s time-and other living beings’ time-and his, first ability to communicate, visually. Communication was not something that was first spoken or written, it was something shown or demonstrated; such as dance for instance, while someone else was viewing/watching, to portray a message or a feeling to that other person. Whether the Visual Literacy or communication is hand signals-similar to sign language, facial expressions-as simple as the way an individual winks at another individual today, a nod to another person, or something as complex as an artists’ message through a painting, sculpture, other, or not; Visual Literacy is and always will be the first mode of communication in the past, present, and future. Visual Literacy can be a considered a universal language because everybody, or most individuals understand pictures, drawings, artwork, or hand signals/sign language of today. â€Å"The only individuals who do not understand visuals are the blind community-however, this handicap is adapted by the body and other the other body senses become enhanced greatly† (B. Kennedy, 2010). Perhaps sign language varies throughout different regions of the world, but the basics will always be well-known, regardless. For example, pointing to oneself means me, no matter what country you are residing in. A simple sign such as this is a basic way to communicate, and is universal. If two individuals from different countries who did not understand each other were to sit down together and draw a picture of a house, hut, or dwelling of some sort; each individual would understand the drawing, or picture of a dwelling as a home. This is considered Visual Literacy, as well. These two individuals may not be speaking with their mouths, or sounds, but they are communicating with visuals. Brian Kennedy provides an excellent portrayal of what he believes Visual Literacy to be in today’s world. However, our text provides a wonderful explanation of Visual Literacy within the business world today as well, and between both of these resources is a wealth of information. Mr. Kennedy takes a very literal look at Visual Literacy- no pun intended. Kennedy believes that what we view each day through sight is a way that we can learn and communicate if we pay attention. Most of the time, however, we do not pay attention. In fact, he states, â€Å"everything we see is an image, but unless we connect cognition and memory, we do not remember what we see† (B.  Kennedy, 2010). We see hundreds of images everyday throughout our lives, but unless we have some connection to the image, we do not retain it. However, if we â€Å"slow-look, we can look, see, describe, analyze, and interpret or construct meaning† (B. Kennedy, 2010). As with this prior quote, Mr. Kennedy made many other interesting statements within his presentation. For instance, â€Å"we read non-text 60,000 times faster than written text,† and â€Å"90% of what we learn is taken in visually† (B. Kennedy, 2010). Regarding our text, and the definition provided regarding Visual Literacy compared to the video containing Brian Kennedy speaking about the subject, our text is more business oriented, or technically derived. The text this week seems to focus on the high-tech aspect of Visual Literacy. This includes television, billboards, computer images, etc. Also, there almost has to be a difference between the two definitions because one was presented visually, and the other was presented in a written format. Within the text, there are other terms for Visual Literacy, such as media literacy, for example. Also, within our text (W.Ryan, 2012), are two authors (Avgerinou and Ericson, 1997) featured who present this opinion of the definition of Visual Literacy along with 9 other definitions, but will not get into in this paper: â€Å"Visuals may be objects, events, actions, pictorial representations, nonverbal or digital symbols, written words, or numbers. They then argue that visual literacy refers to the use of visuals for communicating, thinking, learning, constructing meaning, creative expression, and aesthetic enjoyment. For example, supplementing a business meeting with visuals created in PowerPoint or Prezi communicate information in a manner alternative to the  spoken word, may engage visually literate audience members in critical thinking about the message, and help them learn more than they may have if they had only heard the message. When these media are used effectively and appropriately, they may stimulate creative thinking and generate affects or liking among audience members through the use of charts, graphs, audio, images, and video† (Avgerinou and Ericson, 1997). It seems that our text is much more technical as far as addressing the definition of Visual Literacy, than the video created by Brian Kennedy. Perhaps it seems that way because the definition that Brian Kennedy offers is visual, as well as audible, but it does seem that he offers a much easier explanation. Communication, through visuals such as photographs for example, have been a way of communicating across borders, oceans, and continents over the decades. One photograph that finds its way on a national magazine cover can convey much more than an entire book devoted to a certain topic. A wonderful example of this comes from our text this week, and that is The National Geographic cover of â€Å"Afghan Girl† that was the cover of the magazine when this girl featured was just 17. It touched many people, and many lives, enough for the photographer to search her out years later without even knowing her name. She was found, and reunited with the photographer, but how does a girl who did not want her picture taken to begin with, react to a huge worldwide reaction to her picture so many years ago, and now with so much attention? She never even knew, or saw her picture. That says quite a bit, as well, as far as Visual Literacy. Perhaps it does not reach as far as we think it does. Globally, perhaps we are not there yet, with our Visual Literacy-or, as easy of a definition, communicating visually. Perhaps we are still a bit Visually Illiterate when it comes to the way we want to portray others, our art, our people, or people from other countries. Also, we should be aware of the way that other countries present us visually. That is something that The United States has not really worried about too much, it seems. We find ourselves upon a pedestal at times and just burst in and start snapping pictures, or slapping paint, etc. The story regarding â€Å"The Afghan Girl† was a reminder of that. We, as a Great Big Beautiful, Wonderful, Intelligent Country believe that all of our media reaches every crevice in the entire world, yet it does not, by any means. We must be mindful of that, while still trying to see everything we are looking at†¦. References: Avgerinou, M. , Ericson, J. (1997). A Review of the Concept of Visual Literacy. British Journal of Educational Technology. Kennedy, B. (2010). Brian Kennedy’s TedTalk: Brian Kennedy: Visual Literacy and Why We Need It . Retrieved From: (http://www. youtube. com/watch? v=OefLEpds5Is). Ryan, W. (2012). Visual literacy: learning to see. San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc.

The Importance of Ion Channels Essay -- Disease, Disorders

Oculocutaneous albinism is the lack of color in an individual skin hair and eyes. This is a condition that exists from birth. This a The Importance of Ion Channels: An Analysis of the Long QT Syndrome Inheritance method Long QT Syndrome (LQTS) is an uncommon congenital heart condition in which patients affected by this syndrome are at high risks for cardiac arrest and sudden cardiac death due to mutations in cardiac ion channels (Crotti et al., 2008). There are two particular variants to the Long QT Syndrome; one is called the Jervell and Lange-Nielsen Syndrome (J-LN), which is associated with deafness, and the other has been named the Romano-Ward Syndrome (R-W), in which there is no connection with deafness (Crotti et al., 2008). The Romano-Ward Syndrome is known to be the more common type of LQTS and is autosomal dominant (Russell et al., 1996), whereas the Jervell and Lange-Nielsen Syndrome is less common and is autosomal recessive (Crotti et al., 2008). Gene(s) responsible or implicated in the disorder The research community has divided the Long QT Syndrome by types, depending upon the different mutations in four of the cardiac ion- channel genes, KVLQT1, HERG, SCN5A, and KCNE1 (Zareba et al., 1998). Mutations within these voltage-gated ion channels ultimately disrupt the normal nerve impulses that take place within myocardial cells. Sodium and potassium channels play key roles during action potentials as it is through these channels that their respective ions are able to enter and leave the cell in order to generate electrical excitation or inhibition throughout. Such channels are composed of subunits of proteins, and damage within even one subunit can alter the overall function of the action potential, which will alte... ...ed. Philadelphia, Pa: Saunders Elsevier; 2007: 52. Priori, S., Napolitano, C., Schwartz, P., (1999). Low penetrance in the long-qt syndrome. Circulation 99, 529-533. Russell, M., Dick, M., Collins, F., Brody, L,. (1996). KVLQT1 mutations in three families with familial or sporadic long QT syndrome. Human Molecular Genetics 5, 1319-1324. Westenskow, P., Splawski, I., Timothy, K., Keating, M., Sanguinetti, M., (2004). Compound mutations: a common cause of severe long-QT syndrome. Circulation 109, 1834-1841. Zareba, W., Moss, A., Schwartz, P., Vincent, M., Robinson, J., Priori, S., Benhorin, J., Locati, E., Towbin, J., Keating, M., Lehmann, M., Hall, J., Andrews, M., Napolitano, C., Timothy, K., Zhang, L., Medina, A., MacCluer, J., (1998). Influence of the genotype on the clinical course of the long-QT syndrome. The New England Journal of Medicine 339, 960-965.

Physiological manipulation in novel Essay

Aldous Huxley is a visionary in every sense of the word, as he paints a vivid picture of the future that is second to none. His imagination is almost prophetic as he boldly presents his idea of futuristic society and the direction of mankind. Huxley’s imaginary society in the ‘Brave New World’ controls citizens through physiological manipulation during birth, psychological conditioning while growing up and a hallucinogenic drug called ‘Soma’ to provide instant gratification (Huxley 15). Although these techniques are said to eradicate class discrimination, religion and unhappiness, it paves the way for a lackluster, grey world deprived of any real life and creative ideas. Huxley’s visions of technology of the future such as genetic engineering, mind-altering drugs and bio-technological advances are quite startling. In spite of having classic science-fiction traits, there is a Shakespearean character as well as weak-minded and strong-spirited human characters in the book that one can relate to. The ‘Brave New World’ is a book with several subtle layers that is entertaining and enlightening at the same time. Although the subject matter of the book is quite dense, it is presented in satirical fashion. Huxley’s Ford analogy explains how technology is also an illusion to exercise control, which has been put in place to replace previous control mechanisms such as religion. Huxley’s political commentary describing an anti-utopian society controlled by a totalistic government is relevant, even in today’s context. Although the centralized world government’ claims technology to be advancing, it merely improves upon existing technologies and fails to make any new breakthroughs in science, thereby keeping people ignorant. The manipulative government also restricts reproduction and promotes polygamous physical relationship, thereby killing meaningful family values and moral gratification. One of the most intriguing issues raised by Huxley’s work is the true meaning of happiness. It makes one reexamine life and realize that happiness is not merely avoidance of pain, conforming to societal norms and amassing wealth. Huxley, through the depiction of the totalitarian government, tries to explain the evils of people losing power and one body exercising absolute control over the masses. Although the book is over seventy-five years old, it is still very relevant in our contemporary political scenario. Huxley’s work also seeks out to enlighten the world about the importance of individuality and freedom of thought. It ultimately makes a statement that blind conformity backed up by fear will only lead to complete surrender of the human mind and soul. On careful analysis, one would come to realize that the fictional society portrayed in Brave New World is not merely a work of Huxley’s fantasy, but actually an extrapolation of our degrading societal values such as greed, meaningless relationships and hyper- consumerism. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein tells us about the consequences of technology over-stepping the nature’s boundaries. It shares recurring themes with Brave New World such as scientists creating life by going against the laws of nature. In both the books, the characters try to use technology to better mankind, but eventually end up making things worse. Both the authors feel that unchecked growth of technology could lead to dire consequences. In the book ‘On the Genealogy of Morals`, Nietzsche reveals the moral crisis that industrialization had brought to the lives of people. Though he believes that human life would be better without religion, he feels human beings need a moral frame of reference to be disciplined. Nietzsche and Huxley share a common view on religion keeping down humans from realizing their true potential. Again, nihilism of established standards and belief systems to enhance human life are common in both the authors’ works. Fyodor Dostoevsky in ‘The Grand Inquisitor’ portrays the return of Jesus Christ and his arrest by the Spanish Inquisition. God is blamed for bestowing freedom upon human beings and thereby making them suffer (Dostoevsky 249). The Church starts to work with the devil to end human suffering, wherein only a few posses freedom while the rest live and die blissfully in ignorance. This theme in Dostoevsky’s parable parallels the Brave New World’s totalitarian government ruling over the ignorant people of the world who are free from pain. I believe our world is moving towards Huxley’s prediction of universal singularity. We are witnessing our freedoms being taken away right under noses by the government, under the pretense of security and progress. We are seeing the decline of families and a blind urge for physical gratification running rampant driven by mindless television entertainment. We are also observing alarmingly higher levels of consumption as well as production, while original thought is gradually deteriorating. Technology is growing exponentially and becoming more and more pervasive by the day. However, in spite of all this, people do not seem to be enjoying true ‘happiness’ and are turning towards anti-depressants to relieve stress, thereby reiterating Huxley’s vision again. Works Cited Page Dostoevsky, Fyodor. â€Å"The Grand Inquisitor†. The Brothers Karamazov. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2000. 246-264. Huxley, Aldous. Brave New World. Harper & Row Publishers, 1969. Nietzsche, Friedrich. On the Genealogy of Morals. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999. Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein. New York: Pocket Books, 2004.

Social Costs and Externalities of Indonesian Palm Oil

Indonesia is the leading producer and exporter of palm oil across the globe. Oil palm is of high economic status throughout Indonesia, Africa, and most of the East because of its abundance in the region, richness of nutritional and mineral components, and high yields of edible and technical oils. The extensive development of oil palm industries in many tropical countries is due to its extremely high potential productivity. The steady demand of the oil has existed for integration into processed oods, personal care products, and home-cooked meals.Correspondingly, with increased interest in substitution of fossil fuels, palm oil is being demanded for biofuel energy production. The issues with palm oil extraction are many; One including that the high demand from developed nations has lead to the push of cultivation into the rainforests, destroying habitat. Additionally, the production and extracting gives opportunities for small land-holders to participate in the cash economy, but often time big banks and companies acquire their land without notification or compensation. Migrant workers and imported laborers are said to legally conflict with extraction processes.Regardless, a large majority of the rural- poor, working class of Indonesia relies on income from palm oil production. With that, the entire population could be lifted out of poverty. The central obligation Indonesia holds is to lift their unemployed and impoverished majority from those circumstances and boost sustainable economic growth. Since the economy of the country is heavily dependent primarily of the agriculture, forestry and mining sectors, the opening up of forests and further extraction of their natural esources are the most reliable sources toward reaching their financial goals.In relation, externalities and social costs must be taken into account because local production, global markets, and climate change are ever connected in the race to seize reproductive function of renewable resources. Wit h that in mind, Indonesia is the third largest emitter of greenhouse gases in the world as a result of their deforestation, peat land degradation, and forest fires for their expanding industry of palm oil extraction (Business Watch Indonesia, 2007).Meanwhile, Indonesia is a low-lying coastal area and is vulnerable to the climate ffects that they, in fact, are contributing their greenhouse gases to. Additionally, with Indonesia's longitudinal positioning on the equator, it is most susceptible to the sink dynamics resulting from climate change. However, because there is an influx of demand for palm oil for food and industrial consumption, Indonesia has Jumped onto the opportunity to expand their already leading production to meet demand and bring rise to each worker's GDP.Indonesia holds close to 50 percent of share-hold global production on palm oil and to keep up with their plans on extending the ountries production from 22 million tons to 40 million tons by 2020, they are using thi s opportunity to establish programs for promotion of biofuels (Buschmann, The Case of Indonesian Palm Oil, 2011). While rich countries put forth effort to specialize in environmentally friendly production and are implementing boundaries of sustainability in their own economies, they are attracted to productions that are environmentally harmful in developing regions.This shifts the environmental costs from importer to exporter and ultimately leads to unequal ecological exchange from ttempting to make the shift to renewable energy and meet the standards of the Kyoto and Montreal Protocols within their own boundaries. Wealthy nations are continuously working to cut emissions with increased awareness of global climate change. However, the Kyoto Protocol fails to commit those high producing developing nations to those same standards, (BWI, 2010). This is an issue in that rich nations emission reduction is based on their economic development and status.What such nations are not willing to assist in is the sustainable development and growth of the eveloping nations they are importing from through fair trade, technology transfer, and overall financial and technical assistance. Without respect to the natural capital or the environment, Indonesia is doing quite well in terms of progressing as an economically sustainable country. Palm oil and its global importance in the newer- found relation to biodiesel is a valuable asset in providing a brighter quality of life in regards to revenue for more than three million Indonesian workers and their families (Waltermann & Streubel, BWI, 2010).Commonsensically, more people working in a rowing biofuel-centered sector would lead to increasing incomes and overall economic achievement. In the case of Indonesian palm oil, there is a central assumption that represents complex, crisscrossing issues that encompass the different levels of action from a varying range of contributors with multiple interests. This means that although the loc al production is paying the native workers, local production, international trade, and global climate change are all interconnected.The directives put in place by developed economies look to reach a final level of renewable energy consumption. Palm oil is seen for its energetic, technically renewable â€Å"biofuel† use and can have a positive effect on economic growth for both palm oil producers as well as energy producers, at the expense of exploited natural resources and forest habitats. There are undoubtedly counterproductive consequences accompanying the demand for sustainable crude palm oil and the general switch from fossil fuels to â€Å"renewable† fuels.By converting national accounts to â€Å"green economies† (budgets with money for renewable energy allotted into them), there is an alleviation on the debate of translating environmental concerns into conomic variables, but only when applied to sustainable concepts. This is faulty because it rides on the idea that all forms of capital can substitute each other regardless of how the stock of the capital is composed. This means that well-off the while overextending a resources productive capacity (OECD, 2005) The concept of environmental Justice or â€Å"strong sustainability' has limitations on the previously noted substitution of capital.Because there are boundaries on forests' reproductive capacity, the continuity of economic systems are at risk. Most â€Å"westernized† overnments have reached the manufactured and natural capital equilibrium, where they have the ability to access both forms of the goods, and any rise in one will have an expense on the other. Forest products, and in this case palm oil from the Indonesian forests, are shown to have short-term economic gains by conversion of forest to agricultural use in the over-exploitation of the products. This typically leads to long-term loss in income and biological productivity.Also in the case of Indonesian palm oil an d forest loss, the production is exceeding the value of ready-for- production, mature sources. The graph below demonstrates the progression of palm oil production and how Indonesia was able to reliably supply roughly 57 percent of the annual increase with its vast land resources and a suitable climate. However, it is clear that production has extended beyond the mature supplies and gone into areas beyond suitability to reach demand from international markets and an increased interest by native small farm-holders to erect their own private plantations (USDA, Foreign Agricultural Service, 2009).Social and external costs are largely associated with export and import rates, overnment investment and tax systems in the international market. One abrogating externality is the non-tariff trade barriers applied by developed importers. To assure some security when and if free trade is effective and ecological standards go down, these barriers work to restrict the exporters in the market when s upply cannot meet demand. On the other hand, for small farm-holders to establish their plantations, they must qualify for subsidizing credit provided by the Government of Indonesia and prioritize with other startup costs.Because of this possibility the palm oil roduction sector has experienced strong development and expansion across the country, with an average of 8-13% annual growth rates in palm areas over the last decade (USDA, 2009). The Indonesian government, over the past decade, has provided these loans to encourage smallholders' expansion, at rates below market interest. Alongside the enabling of non-commercial plantation ownership, the Government has advocated ownership with programs that provide smallholders with improved seed, fertilizers, and techniques for growth.Additionally, land-use permits ave been reevaluated to allot more time for companies to control profits earned by a plantation. These interventions have brought positive change in the market significantly; non- commercial palm oil farms now account for 44 percent of the total area in the country, second to private commercials (Foreign Agricultural Service, 2009). A major effect of these implementations is the establishment of processing plants. Because fresh fruit bunches require processing within 48 hours of harvest, oil refining plants have been constructed near major concentrations of harvest land.Construction and operation of each plant represents a significant fixed cost for the developer, and typically ends up servicing both commercial and smallholder palm producers that surround it† (Foreign Agricultural Service, 2009). The investment in in contributor in the success of Indonesia's palm oil business. At the expense of the environment's health, and with the push from changes in government economic and political policies, historical highs have been reached leading Indonesia to the number one spot in exporting and producing of palm oil.Nonetheless, without regard to its ommunal u se and benefits to the servicer, service emissions are still added to the atmosphere, more resources and forests are eliminated, reducing the amount of the fruit available for use by the farmers and ruining the habitat of accompanying wildlife. Further success rates in the palm oil sector I believe, at this point, rely on the clarification of one all-encompassing issue. That is, whether or not ecological economies can lead to different assessments of how economic growth, open trade, and the environment can be positively or negatively associated.Investors and roducers have optimistic expectations of improving their economies despite being built on the depletion of a natural capital and possibly misleading those civilians toward a downward trend.

Verbal

Best Books for SAT Critical Reading / Verbal SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips What are the best books for the SAT critical reading section (which used to be called the verbal section)? Here we review a few of the top books that we feel helps students the most. We discuss which skills you should be learning from books, and which you should instead be learning from flashcards or practice. You can get these books online, or better yet from the library. What is the Critical Reading? Start with Sentence Completion. By now you understand what the Critical Reading is about. About a third of it is sentence completion, which is a vocabulary test by any other name. As background, the SAT Critical Reading section used to be called the Verbal section, which many years ago used to be almost all based on vocabulary. Vocabulary has fallen in importance on the SAT from around 50% of the entire test (in the 1990s) to just about 10% today, and will even be lower with the new SAT in 2016. Thus, sentence completion represents a vestigial portion of the SAT. Since it's all about vocabulary, the best books for sentence completion, in our opinion, are books that directly target this. Bonus: Money-Saving Tip: Most of these books can be reused by many students. It's better to get more of these books and see what works for you, and instead of shelling out money for new, latest-edition copies of every single of these books consider 1) Borrowing these books from the library many well stocked town libraries have these books 2) Buying used or older editionsof the books: the SAT test has been relatively stable from 2006-2015, used or old versions can real tough or 3) Finding free analogues online, many sites online offer the all the major ideas and tips in the books for free, oftentimes summarized. Best Books for SAT Sentence Completion: #1 Book in Sentence Completion: Direct Hits, Vol #1 and Vol #2 This book is seen as one of the best books for SAT vocabulary studying for one simple reason: it has an incredibly high hit rate compared to others. The words in this book consistently show up more on future SATs than other lists online. It uses real vocabulary tested in past SATs most often, therefore explaining its high predictive power for future SATs. Another reason this book is great is that it's so concise: there are only 200 words in each volume. This makes it easier to memorize than the thousand-word lists, and ensure that the authors can concentrate on only the most important vocab words. My professional advice is this: if you can only remember 200 words for the SAT, make it Direct Hits Volume 1. If you can only remember 400 words, for the SAT, make it Direct Hits Volume 2. You'll get more mileage out of these than any other books. If you can't get your hands on the direct hits book, then base the first 200-400 of your vocab studying off of a list that is constructed based on past SAT tests as well, such as our free vocab cards of 400 most frequent SAT words. The old saying is true: the past predicts the future well. #2 Book in Sentence Completion: Barron's SAT Vocab Flash Cards This is the new edition of the word list I personally used to study for the SAT and get a perfect on it back in the day when it was much more vocab, which is high praise for this word list. Barron's consistently manages to be the best book studying for high achieving SAT students, and this book (actually a flashcard pack) is no different. With word count at 500, it's bigger than Direct Hits. All independent word lists likely have some overlap, but this is definitely the list to go onto after the Direct Hits, and together with Direct Hits this forms about a thousand words that will take about 20 hours to memorize. If you have an SAT study plan that spans in the hundreds of hours, this set of flashcards is certainly worth it. SAT Critical Reading: Passages Passages constitute the rest of the Critical Reading SAT section. Much of passages is about understanding the meaning of a story what the author's feeling are, the main idea the author is trying to convey, how the author communicates. Thus, understanding this is very important. I want to dispel what I believe is a myth about Critical Reading Books at this point. Myth: the best way to improve on SAT Passages for Critical Reading is by reading more English Literature books. The myth goes: read Dickens, Austen, Fitzgerald, and Shakespeare to improve your reading skills fastest. Hogwash! First, reading is NOT the same thing as English literature (analogous to the reason here). Likewise, literature passages only form a small portion of the SAT Critical Reading passages. Second, reading English literature is incredibly inefficient. Pride and Prejudiceby Austen may take a dozen hours to read. In that same time, you could have practiced a hundred short passages. Moreover, you'll be caught up in the story, and you'll rarely be practicing effective SAT relevant skills: quicklydissecting separate, small passages. Once you figure out Austen's intent once, you never have to figure it out again. In 12 hours, you get one practice swing and figuring out author intent, whereas you could be practicing 100 times instead. This motivates our choice of books: The Best SAT Critical Reading Passage Books #1 Book in Passages:Real SATs from the Past: I don't just mean the latest College Board Official SAT prep guide, but also the 1997, 2000,2003, and2005, editions, and more versions that you can find if you're resourceful. Why would I recommend such outdated material? Because passages themselves haven't changed that much through time. The SAT has changed up analogies, writing, and a lot of other things, but the format of short, self-contained passages has been maintained for decades. Like I mentioned before in 24 hours, you can read either two novels, or do 40 passage sections from the past tests. It is important while reading, whether passages like suggested above, or longer format text like short stories or essays, to focus on SAT type questions. The most common are: 1) what is the author's opinion about the subject? 2) what's the author's emotion? 3) does the author have any motivations that might skew his opinion? Keep these in mind no matter what you read! #2 Book in Passages:Barron's Critical Reading Again, this book is best for high scorers, but it explicitly points out the types of tricks and strategies often used on the SAT. The great thing about this book is that it dissects the passages out for you, and doesn't patronize you at all. The authors are perfect-scoring level professionals who clearly know the material cold, and they're targeting students aiming for a perfect 800 as well. I wouldn't recommend this for students starting below a 550, as it can be intimidating and the techniques may not be optimal for students starting out. #3 Book in Passages:Kaplan's Critical Reading At this point, we're getting into pretty standard run-of-the-mill explanations for critical reading. However, Kaplan's book is stellar at being a general introduction to Critical Reading, especially if your starting score is 350-550 region. It won't cover strategies for perfectionists well, and the writer often seems to lack full understanding of the toughest concepts, but it's a very gentle introduction for students starting in this range. You might also say at this point what if I'm starting out below a 350? In this case, there might be some basic English language deficiencies at play perhaps English was your second language. We'll have another article out for this range soon! What's Next? The college admissions process has become so competitive that it's helpful to plan well in advance for SAT/ACT prep during high school. Here are a few guides to help your thinking: Want to improve your SAT score by 240 points, or your ACT score by 4 points?We've written a guide about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. Download it for free now:

The Bre-X Gold Scandal, History and Resources

The Bre-X Gold Scandal, History and Resources Start with the biggest deposit of gold ever reported, in the headwaters of the Busang River in the steaming jungle of Borneo. The Canadian company Bre-X Minerals Ltd. didnt know about that when it bought rights to the site in 1993. But after Bre-X hired a high-living geologist to map the ore body, the deposit, along with the fever dreams that accompany gold, grew to monster size- by March 1997 that geologist was talking about a 200-million-ounce resource. You do the math at, say US$500 per ounce in mid-1990s dollars. Bre-X prepared for big times ahead by building a gold-plated website, where you could generate your own Bre-X stock chart to follow its meteoric rise. It also had a chart showing the equally meteoric rise of the estimated gold resource: together, those two pages could infect anyone with gold fever. The Sharks Arrive Bigger mineral companies took notice. Some made takeover offers. So did the Indonesian government, in the person of president Suharto and his powerful family. Bre-X owned more of this lode than seemed prudent for such a small, inexperienced foreign firm. Suharto suggested that Bre-X share its fortunate surplus with the people of Indonesia and with Barrick, a firm tied to Suhartos ambitious daughter Siti Rukmana. (Barricks advisors, among them George H. W. Bush and ex-prime minister of Canada Brian Mulroney, also favored this scheme.) Bre-X responded by enlisting Suhartos son Sigit Hardjojudanto on its side. An impasse loomed. To end the contretemps, family friend Mohamad Bob Hasan stepped in to offer all sides a deal. The American firm Freeport-McMoRan Copper Gold, led by another old Suharto friend, would run the mine and Indonesian interests would share the wealth. Bre-X would keep 45 percent of the ownership and Hasan for his pains would accept a share possibly worth a billion or so. Asked what he was paying for this stake, Hasan said, There is no payment, no nothing. It is a very clean deal. Trouble Arises The deal was announced on 17 February 1997. Freeport went to Borneo to start its own due-diligence drilling. Suharto was ready to sign a contract after this step, locking in Bre-Xs land rights for 30 years and starting the flood of gold. But just four weeks later, Bre-Xs geologist at Busang, Michael de Guzman, exited his helicopter that was 250 meters in the air at the time- an evident suicide. On March 26 Freeport reported that its due-diligence cores, drilled only a meter and a half from Bre-Xs, showed insignificant amounts of gold. The next day Bre-X stock lost almost all of its value. Freeport brought more rock samples to its American headquarters under armed guard. Bre-X commissioned a review of Freeports drilling; the review recommended more drilling. Another review focusing on the chemical assays caused Bre-X to clam up completely on 1 April, and Suhartos signature was postponed. Bre-X, in a novel strategy for the time, blamed the Web. CEO David Walsh told a fawning Calgary Herald reporter that the meltdown began when scurrilous local rumors in Indonesia were picked up by one of the ghostwriters on the Internet on the chat page or whatever. Further reviews took the rest of April. Meanwhile, disquieting details began to arise. Industry journalists soon found evidence that the Busang ore samples had been salted with gold dust. Salting of the Earth On Friday 11 April, Northern Miner magazine put a news flash on its site laying out three lines of evidence that Bre-X had been duped. First, contrary to company statements, the Busang core samples had been prepared for assay in the jungle, not in the testing lab. A videotape made by a visitor to the field site showed the humble machines common in assay labs- hammer mills, crushers, and sample splitters. Well-labeled sample bags clearly had finely crushed ore in them. Security was lax enough that samples could easily have been spiked with gold.Second, the local inhabitants had begun panning for gold in the Busang River, but in two years they never found any. Yet Bre-X claimed that gold was visible, a sign of unusually rich ore. And de Guzmans technical report, confusingly, called the gold submicroscopic, which is typical of hard-rock gold ore.Third, the assayer that tested the samples said the gold was predominantly in visible-sized grains. Also, the grains showed signs consistent with being typical river-panned gold dust, such as rounded outlines and rims depleted in silver. The assayer dodged the 64-billion-dollar question, saying that there were indeed ways for hard-rock gold grains to acquire rounded edges- but that argument was a fig leaf. The Curtain Falls Meanwhile, a storm of securities lawsuits arose around Bre-X, which vigorously protested that this was just an unfortunate series of misunderstandings. But it was too late. The collapse of Bre-X cast a cloud over the gold mining industry that lasted into the next century. David Walsh decamped to the Bahamas, where he died of an aneurysm in 1998. Bre-Xs chief geologist, John Felderhof, eventually went on trial in Canada but was acquitted of securities fraud in July 2007. Apparently in selling part of his stock holdings for $84 million in the months before the scandal hit he had not been criminal, just too stupid to catch the fraud. And I have been told that Michael de Guzman has been seen in Canada, years after the scandal. The explanation would be that, as was rumored at the time, an anonymous corpse was thrown from the helicopter. You could say the very jungle had been salted as well as the ore bags.

Business Strategy on Ryan Air Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Business Strategy on Ryan Air - Case Study Example Ryan air is one of Europe's largest low-cost carriers and one of the most successful, operating on 262 routes to 22 countries. Its focus is on providing low cost, efficient, frequent connections and consequently offering no other frills or supporting services on their flights. The changes in the nature of the barriers to entry in the mid - 1980s with the deregulation of the airline industry , as well as the adoption of a strategy which was noticeably different from that pursued by the market leader at the time (Aer Lingus) was a credible means for Ryan air to gain entry into the market. O'Leary, the company's Chief Executive Office, adopted the Southwest Airlines model, established by Herb Kelleher which adhered to the following principles: fly one type of plane to keep down engineering costs every year; turn around aircraft as quickly as possible; and concentrate on selling seats by avoiding loyalty schemes or air miles. The airline took several other steps to restructure its business model. It eliminated business class to concentrate on economy class and leisure customers. It stopped serving free meals and beverages on flights - a move which allowed the airline to reduce the number of attendants on each flight from five to two. It also eliminated seat assignments to speed up boarding and stopped carrying cargo, which reduced aircraft turnaround times from 45 minutes to 25 minutes. There has been a revolutionary increase in the number of low-cost airline which are otherwise called the budget airlines in the aviation industry over the last few years. The budget airlines are usually operators who provide low-cost travel options for the passengers. The budget airlines try and cut the indirect costs to the maximum possible extent. Passengers are not offered wet towels, meals etc. Sometimes it may even happen that they do not even offer water to the passengers flying the budget airlines [(Phillip), 2002]. Internal analysis Revenue Generation is one of the most important aspects that Budget airlines give more importance, to the extent that most of the budget airlines have a position that is unique to this particular industry - "Chief Revenue Officer" (AIR DECCAN) whose sole responsibility is to focus on revenue generation from all possible sources. Unlike the scheduled airlines, they sell the maximum possible space they can. They sell space on the aircrafts in order to give advertisements. They even sell the space on the rear side of the boarding passes (Palanikumar). However, despite of the increase of passengers, the company is not so good in managing cost that the company has lose its money. A new management team is brought in to sort it out and re-launch as a "low fares or no frills" airline, closely modelling the Southwest Airlines model in the U.S. And in 1994, Ryan air bought its first Boeing 737 aircraft which carried over 1.5 million passengers. In 1995, Ryan air is the biggest passenger carrier on Dublin-London route, the largest Irish airline on every route being operate and carried 2.25 million passengers in the year (ivythesis). The main areas which have been the focus of the airline's concentration on costs have been: - Fleet commonality (operates only one type of aircraft, Boeing 737- 200s) - Contracting out of services

Chemical Shale Instability & Inhibition Research Paper

Chemical Shale Instability & Inhibition - Research Paper Example From the discussion it is clear that understanding the overall behavior of shale is the core intention of this paper. Furthermore, the discussion is also aiming at understanding various types of shale drilling fluids. This also includes the use of the drilling fluids and their composition. The other key concept explored in te discussion is the mechanism involved in the development of new shale.This essay discusses Shale can be defined as a sedimentary rock which is fine grained and is composed of mineral rich mud. The mineral composition found in this mud is variable. When discussing about shale instability and inhibition. It is prudent to note that the interaction between water and the clay like material forung within the shale is the root cause (REFF). This interaction contributes to wellbore instability which thereafter result in formation of poor gause and many other anomalies. This paper targets discussing issue related to shale instability and inhibition, challenges faced and h ow to prevent such inconvenient precisely when drilling shale. There are many types of drilling fluids that serve different purpose based on the shale being encountered. For example; the drilling fluid can be air, liquid or foam which is colloid of liquid and air (REFF). The role of the drilling mud at this point is to dissipate the heat by circulating the drilling fluids (REFF). Moreover, the drilling mud also lubricates the bits and reduces friction.