Pseudomonas Aeruginosa and Nosocomial Infections

Bielecki et al. Research Paper Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a Gram-negative bacteria, particularly known for causing nosocomial infections (1). As a pathogen, it effectively causes disease by acquiring resistance to antibiotics that would otherwise inhibit growth (2). Reported rates of infection range from 0. 6 to 32% across various clinical environments because Pseudomonas aeruginosa has gained multi-drug resistance (2). Certain strains of Pseudomonas aeruginosa treated with gamma rays can break down the hydrocarbons in crude oil and are thus useful in cleaning up oil spills (3).The genome of Pseudomonas aeruginosa is 6. 3 million base pairs long, which is the largest bacterial genome to be sequenced (4). It contains about 5,570 open reading frames (4). Argyrin is a naturally synthesized antibiotic peptide extracted from myxobacteria (1). It has cytotoxic properties, suppresses the immune system, and is a highly active antibiotic used against Pseudomonas strains (1). Figure 1. Argyrin A structure. Bielecki et al chose to isolate these resistant clones in order to observe the mechanisms by which the P. eruoginosa acquires resistance to Argyrin A within the fusA1 gene (1). They isolated these clones by growing Pseudomonas aeruginosa strains on agar that contained Argyrin A (1). After incubation, the colonies that formed were able to grow in the presence of argyrin; these colonies were then streaked onto plates with Argyrin A again to ensure accuracy of obtaining resistant strains (1). A point mutation is an alteration of one base pair within a DNA sequence (5). The point mutations, which caused changes in the amino acid sequence within the fusA1 gene, were different among the six isolates (1).They might have conferred resistance because the mutations caused the same impact on the resulting protein (1). The gene was identified by sequencing the whole genome of Pseudomonas aeruginosa strains with the bacterial target of Argyrin A, which showed mutations within fusA1 that encode for the elongation factor EF-G in resistant strains of Pseudomonas aeruginosa (1). The diagram below illustrates the process of elongation during the translational phase in EF-G along with EF-Tu (12). Figure 2. Elongation during ribosome-catalyzed translation (12). Bielecki et al confirmed the identity of the gene by using genetic maps. This required sequencing the resistant strain a second time to make a reference strain to compare the genes at a specific loci (1). Adding a mutation into the sensitive Pseudomonas aeruginosa strain demonstrated a resistance phenotype (1). Surface plasmon resonance is a lab technique that involves aiming a beam of light at a thin metal sheet, which catalyzes a reaction by causing movement in the molecules behind the metal sheet (6).SPR was useful in this experiment because it confirmed that fusA1 is the target gene for Argyrin A, rather than fusidic acid, the antibiotic previously recognized (1). A heterologous protein, or a heterologue, is a protein that differs in structure and function relative to a given protein; not all proteins with different amino acid sequence necessarily differ in function (7). N-terminal His6-tags were fused to the fusA1 genes before undergoing the SPR experiments, causing the production of heterologous proteins in relation to the original fusA1 (1).According to Bielecki et al, the SPR procedures supported that Argyrin A binds to fusA1 by the resulting KD value (1). This shows that Argyrin A has a target on the heterologous protein (1). It is important to compare the variations made in the mutations because the other bacteria may have a different sequence that can still achieve resistance (1). It cannot be assumed that all bacterial strains will be identically resistant or sensitive because they all contain differences in their genomes (1). By mapping the mutated genes, the authors found the locations of the mutations in different domains (1).They deduced that the mutations exhibiting resi stance to Argyrin A in Pseudomonas aeruginosa are found on opposite sides of the domain, despite the fact that most mutations involving fusidic acid and Argyrin A are located on the same side of the domain (1). This shows that the binding sites for fusidic acid and Argyrin A must be independent of each other (1). Both fusA1 and the second gene, fusA2, encode for the elongation factor EF-G (1). The fusA2 gene was expressed 30 times less in the strains of Pseudomonas aeruginosa than in the fusA1 gene, as shown by RNA sequencing (1).Homology modeling uses the model of a target protein to produce an estimated structure of a homologous template protein (8). After creating a homology model of Argyrin A’s protein structure, Bielecki et al concluded that it â€Å"most likely binds to a site distinct from that of fusidic acid, indicating a new mode of protein biosynthesis inhibition by Argyrin A† (11). Multi-drug resistant pathogens pose a very big risk on the world because the y can easily mutate their genomes to adopt resistance to a given antibiotic and persist in causing harmful diseases (1).The authors used MDR clinic isolates in order to observe the mechanisms by which these pathogens mutate to build resistance to Argyrin. The fact that eleven of the twelve isolates showed sensitivity to Argyrin suggests that Argyrin is a useful antibiotic in preventing infections by Pseudomonas aeruginosa (1). There are other factors besides the uptake and export of Argyrin that affect Pseudomonas aeruginosa’s sensitivity to Argyrin, such as efflux pumps (1); however, the uptake and export of Argyrin in other bacteria does play a role in its sensitivity (9).A proteasome is a hollow protein complex with active sites that break down proteins by proteolysis (10). The degraded peptides that are produced can be used for other functions in the cell (10). Argyrin A is a factor used to inhibit proteasome function, yet there is no distinct evidence that Argyrin A bind s to the site on the proteasome (1). This paper is important because it analyzes the resistance and sensitivity to Argyrin A in various strains of Pseudomonas aeruginosa.This bacteria has been a leading cause in nosocomial infections, so it is important to determine which antibiotics best work to stop the spread of disease (1). About ten percent of patients in hospitals across the United States obtain a significant nosocomial infection (13). Although there are effective methods to prevent the spread of pathogens in clinical environments (13), it is important to study how bacteria acquire resistance, so that scientists can develop ways to inhibit the spread of nosocomial infections by multi-drug resistant pathogens.Bibliography Bielecki, P. , Lukat, P. , Husecken, K. , Dotsch, A. , Steinmetz, H. , Hartmann, R. W. , Muller, R. , and Houssler, S. (2012) Mutation in elongation factor G confers resistance to the antibiotic Argyrin in the opportunistic pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Che mbiochem. 13, 2339-2345. Obritsch, M. D. , Fish, D. N. , MacLaren, R. , and Jung, R. (2005) Nosocomial infections due to multidrug-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa: epidemiology and treatment options. Pharmacotherapy. 25, 1353-1364. Iqbal, S. , Khalid, Z. M. and Malik, K.A. (1995) Enhanced biodegradation and emulsification of crude oil and hyperproduction of biosurfactants by a gamma ray-induced mutant of Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Lett. Appl. Microbiol. 21,  176–179. C. K. Stover, X. Q. Pham, A. L. Erwin, S. D. Mizoguchi, P. Warrener, M. J. Hickey, F. S. L. Brinkman, W. O. Hufnagle, D. J. Kowalik, et al. (2000) Complete genome sequence of Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1, and opportunistic pathogen. Nature. 406, 959-964. Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Point mutation. Accessed 17 Oct. 2012 http://www. britannica. om/EBchecked/topic/54744/point-mutation Manfield, I. (2009) Biacore surface plasmon resonance. Univ. of Leeds, Astbury Centre for Structural Molecular Biology. Accessed 1 8 Oct. 2012 http://www. astbury. leeds. ac. uk/facil/SPR/spr_intro2004. htm Jackson, J. H. (1999) Terminologies for gene and protein similarity. Michigan State Univ. , Dept. of Microbiology. Accessed 19 Oct. 2012 https://www. msu. edu/~jhjacksn/Reports/similarity. htm Bevan, D. R. (2003) Homology modeling. Virginia Tech, Dept. of Biochemistry. Accessed on 19 Oct. 012 http://www. biochem. vt. edu/modeling/homology. html Sasse, F. , Steinmetz, H. , Schupp, T. , Petersen, F. , Memmert, K. , Hofmann, H. , Heusser, C. , Brinkmann, V. , von Matt, P. , Hofle, G. , and Reichenbach, H. (2002) Argyrins, immunosuppressive cyclic peptides from myxobacteria. I. Production, isolation, physico-chemical and biological properties. J. Antiobiot. 55, 543-551. Rape, M. , and Jentsch, S. (2002) Taking a bite: proteasomal protein processing. Nat. Cell Biol. 4, 113-116. Bielecki, P. , Lukat, P. , Husecken, K. , Dotsch, A. Steinmetz, H. , Hartmann, R. W. , Muller, R. , and Houssler, S. (2012) Mutation in e longation factor G confers resistance to the antibiotic Argyrin in the opportunistic pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Chembiochem. 13, 2340. Simonovic, M. and Steitz, T. A. (2009) A structural view on the mechanism of the ribosome-catalyzed peptide bond formation. BBA Gene Reg. Mech. 1789, 612-623. Abedon, S. T. (2009) Nosocomial infections. Ohio State University. Accessed on 27 Oct. 2012 http://www. mansfield. ohio-state. edu/~sabedon/biol2053. htm

Coronary Heart Disease Essay

Coronary Heart Disease (CHD) is the leading cause of death in the United States. There are many types of heart diseases that fall into this title. Two of the most popular forms of cardiovascular diseases are heart attack and stroke. The increasing amount of exposure of known risk factors for these diseases to young adults is why I feel it is necessary to promote what it takes to lead a heart healthy lifestyle in order to avoid becoming another statistic. I feel as though I did not choose this topic as much as it chose me, as 2 years ago my Father was hospitalized and underwent a Quadruple Heart By-pass surgery in order to remove the blood clots in his 4 main arteries. Knowing that this disease is partly hereditary I feel as though it is important to educate myself and others with early intervention steps that could keep you from being affected by any heart diseases. In my research I plan to introduce how heart diseases are caused and also the best prevention techniques to ensure that the number of people affected by Coronary Heart Diseases, specifically Heart Attacks, is falling each year instead of climbing. In my research I came across an article provided by the ProQuest Research Library entitled â€Å"Coronary Heart Disease: Primary and Secondary Prevention†. This article is a published study done by The College of Pharmacy and Drug Topics of the University of Florida and discusses the many â€Å"do’s† and â€Å"don’ts† in order to lead a heart healthy life. The focus of this article is to prevent your body to become a future hot spot for a heart disease. The article counters these risk factors with ways to prevent the â€Å"modifiable factors† from occurring. The article states that risk factors are classified as modifiable or non-modifiable. â€Å"Non-modifiable risk factors include age, family history, and gender. Modifiable risk factors include smoking, diet, obesity, physical inactivity, hypertension, dyslipidemia, diabetes mellitus, and metabolic syndrome† (Brenner, Michael, and Allison Butcher). Most of these factors are obvious but some may be less known. Hypertension is the occurrence of high-blood pressure in your body, while dyslipidemia is the occurrence of high cholesterol. Diabetes mellitus can increase the risk of developing a heart disease by 2 to 4 times as likely. A second article I found through ProQuest was the scholarly journal provided by The New England Journal of Medicine titles â€Å"Cardiac rehabilitation and secondary prevention of coronary heart disease†. This article provides a more detailed look into some prevention techniques used in order to stay healthy in both the physical sense, but in the long term heart health. An idea that this article brought the table was the â€Å"Prescription of Exercise†. â€Å"Preliminary data suggest that a regimen of low-intensity, prolonged, daily exercise, called â€Å"high-caloric training† because it maximizes the expenditure of calories, results in greater fat loss and greater modification of risk factors than does a regimen of more intense but briefer exercise sessions.† (Ades, Philip A) As mentioned in the statement, maximizing the length of time that you are exercising maximizes the fat/calories being burned in your work-out. This in the long run brings my researc h back to the facts stated in my first source, which states that improving the modifiable factors like obesity and physical inactivity can greatly reduce your risk if developing a heart disease. A third article that I found through the ProQuest Research Library was a scholarly journal published by the British Medical Journal entitled â€Å"Triggering a heart attack†. This article allowed me to shine a different light on my research as it discusses momentary impacts on your heart. This article was done in response to numerous news headlines that involved fatalities due to unexpected heart attacks and strokes during a physically and/or emotionally strenuous activity. This study focused on activities like jogging, shoveling snow, and swimming that have been commonly lead to cardiac death due to vigorous physical effort. This idea relates very similarly to that of the â€Å"Prescription of Exercise† idea stated in my other source. The relation between the two stems from the idea of the less beneficial short and strenuous activities and exercise in correlation to the recommended longer low-intensity activities and exercise. This article is proving that not only are the more strenuous and shorter periods of activity less beneficial, but they can also become fatal when asking the body to do too much. Coronary Heart Disease is the leading cause of death in The United States which is why I believe that it is crucial to educate others about the many risks that factor into such a group of fatal diseases in the heart. Thru ought my research I learned that it is often the less suspecting individual that can become a victim of a Coronary Heart Disease simply because he/she did not know what steps to take to lead a heart healthy lifestyle. In order to stop the constantly rising number of fatalities caused by heart disease, we must first become educated on how to prevent them from occurring in the first place. Works Cited Ades, Philip A. â€Å"Cardiac Rehabilitation and Secondary Prevention of Coronary Heart Disease.† The New England journal of medicine 345.12 (2001): 892-902. ProQuest Research Library. Web. 23 Oct. 2012. Brenner, Michael, and Allison Butcher. â€Å"Coronary Heart Disease: Primary and Secondary Prevention.† Drug Topics 153.12 (2009): 50-9. ABI/INFORM Complete; ProQuest Research Library. Web. 25 Oct. 2012. â€Å"Know Your Facts.† York Weekly Record: 14. Jun 13 2006. ProQuest Research Library. Web. 23 Oct. 2012 Petch, M. C. â€Å"Triggering a Heart Attack.† British medical journal 312.7029 (1996): 459-. ProQuest Research Library. Web. 23 Oct. 2012. â€Å"Study: Treatment Reduces Risk of Heart Attack by 70 Percent.† FDA consumer 2002: 7-. ProQuest Research Library. Web. 23 Oct. 2012 .

Book Review on Life Strategies for Teens Essay

This book tells about the ten Life Laws that the author’s father has written about, but into a way that teens can easily understand. These Life Laws are to get us understand more why our lives are like this at the moment, what we have done has led our lives to be like this. The Laws are to help us to get back onto the right track with life, dealing with the problems we face, creating our own lives and future. It tells us that it is up to ourselves to create a life that we want; it is all by our control. I haven’t learnt really much, in a narrow speaking definition, of studying in this book, as it most tells me about the attitude and things to do, concerning our whole lives but not just on studying. But Life Law Four ‘You cannot change what you do not acknowledge’ did help me to see that there are actually more I can do to improve my results and to achieve success. I came to know that I should have done much more. As it says in the book that ‘Life rewards action’ as Life Law five, I came to realize that I have much more that I want to achieve than I had even thought of. As I get to know that not until I do it, I would never know what is out there waiting for me. There are always greater possibilities than we could ever imagine for ourselves. We should always aim for more and higher, as long as you have the desire and is willing to do the things you want to do, you always can, in one way or the other. So after reading the book, there are a few things I would like to achieve. I would, of course, want to keep up with my result, as the curriculum will only be harder and requires more effort to be paid. Schedule is expected to be filled up with homework, tests, exam and revision, as well as projects of different subjects. Apart from keeping up my result and a GPA of 3. 5 or above, I would like myself to do more extra work for studying, like to prepare more before the lesson, read some more extra information about that topic, or even do more drilling papers. History is the subject that I would like myself to work extra hard on, not for getting an ‘A’, but to enrich myself with the subject and be more passionate about it. Other subjects are to be work hard on as well, but I will just put more effort on History, as t is what I want to do and is able to do. I should really strive the best and to exceed myself for my goals. Also, in a broader meaning of studying, I have learnt much about my life from this book. It somehow teaches me to have a better attitude on different aspects in life, with friends, with parents, in school, and most importantly me. About what I should do for the rest of my life, how I should deal with problems, face difficulties, and to go through the life journey with a smile on my face, as least knowing why everything would happen in such a way, and to change it into the way I want life to be. Both the first Life Law and the second Life Law, which are ‘You either get it, or you don’t’ and ‘You create your own experience’ it is just so true in my life. I really I had been struggling before I made the decision of switching school a year ago. I wasn’t doing so well in my school or with my classmates. I felt so ‘whatever’ all the time, thinking that this is just what I get, I have to go with it, I have to suffer it, etc. I didn’t think that I could have changed it, I didn’t think that I could change my own life into a better way. It wasn’t until one day, while chatting with my friend, she was talking all about the fun things she experienced in school, and I was thinking ‘Oh, I just wish I could be like her as well. ’ Then, she asked me ‘Hey, how is your school going? ’ I was astonished. I was thinking that I had told my friends a thousand times that my school isn’t going well and I simply hate it, why could she ask me like this? So, I asked her ‘I told you it isn’t so great, why you are asking again? ’ She shrugged ‘Well, I don’t know if you may have changed it or do something with it, as to make yourself happier or what. I froze there, wondering why on earth she thought I could have changed my life into a happier stage. Then I started to think hard, is there something I can change? Is my life really having no hope at all? From there, I thought as hard as I could ever have. Then, I gradually understand why I had my life so miserable and I chose to change it with the decision of switching school. By now, I have proven that I have my own control with my life. I see the change in myself, from not knowing what I am going to do with my life, to having a clear goal on my life and being optimistic with my own life. I have more friends, I work harder in school, I started to get better results, etc all these I can see myself changing and it proves that I really do have the power to change my life into a better way. After reading the first two Life Law, now I understand more on my life. I now get to know how I have chosen for myself to be happy. It is always good to know that you have done something right, isn’t it? And I am now more sure of how to make myself happy in my life. Now, here comes the third Life Law of ‘People do what works’. It tells that people, teenager here, sometimes found themselves doing something stupid over and over again. In this chapter, it stated that the people continue to do these things because they are getting ‘payoffs’. I get to realize why I still come back home later than my mum expected and I always knew that I am going to be scolded or even punished, but still I continued to be late at home. After reading this chapter and know more about it, I got to understand that my ‘payoffs’ is having more time with friends and don’t need to be home under my parents’ control. As I got to know what is my ‘payoffs’ and what I have in return, I can now balance the two things that I want. I can now tell myself that if I go back home punctually and always tell where I would go to my parents, they’d trust me and give me more degree of freedom and I could have more time with my friends. I now see another way to get what I want. Life Law Six: There is no reality, only perception. It somehow tells me that sometimes how I think of other people may not be the exact way that they think. I now get to know that I can choose how I think of other people and myself. By knowing this, I can now choose how to think others and the way I treat them. If I can always look at the good side of people, I can be happier with them, since I know they are good people with good intension. My life could be happier. As my emotions would be affected by my perceptions about people around me. I also learn that I should be influence by my personal view on a person, as there is always a great possibility that I would misjudge them. For the rest of the Life Laws, they are also useful and can be applied to my life, as to make my life happier and more meaningful. By ‘We teach people how to treat us’; I know that how I should do to earn my parents’ trust, and y own freedom. More importantly, I now understand how I should do to get a good impression with people. All the ten Life Laws have brought me to a deeper understanding of my present life, not just how I study but my life being myself and what I should live my whole life. Life Law Seven ‘Life is managed, it is not cured’ it emphasized once again that we are the one who controls our lives. We should always choose for ourselves, the way we treat others, the way we treat ourselves. This book has taught me much about life, not just studying in school but studying through my whole life.

A Direct Marketing Campaign for a Consumer Product Essay

A Direct Marketing Campaign for a Consumer Product - Essay Example   The marketing plan ¨ will target audiences from the ages of twelve years old to twenty-one years old. Only the students from high schoolsïÆ'’, colleges and university of this age group will be chosen in the first marketing phase within the Los Angeles Area. The private high schools are Loyola High School, Immaculate Heart High School, Rose and Alex Pilibos Armenian School, Windward School, Sheenway School, Daniel Murphy High School, Marymount High School, Shalhevet High School and Green Pastures Academy. The public high schools will be John Marshall High School, Los Angeles High School, Dorsey High School, Eagle Rock High School, and Belmont High School. The Colleges included in our school visits are Academy Pacific Travel College, Agape Christian   The Lipton Green Tea (LGT) will be portrayed as having the beneficial health ingredients such as the much-needed vitamins and minerals and its natural product with no preservatives, additives, and food coloring thereby eliminating the possibility of having harmful side effects will be the main theme of the marketing plan. This marketing strategy to attract a particular target audience will be implemented from January 2006 to June 2006. Free one bottle samples will be given to the prospective youngster.   They will then fill up a survey questionnaire to determine their taste comments and other comments and suggestions. Colorful expensive brochures and flyers will be given to each free sampling student advertising the many health benefits taking the Lipton Green Tea to make them familiar with the products. The LGT will have the same selling price as a Coke product. This means the LGT will have a very optimistic projection of its marketing strategy to corner a big portion of the beverage consuming market.

Microeconomics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 4

Microeconomics - Essay Example The worst thing about monopoly is that the seller gets market command by which he may exploit the customers either by charging high rate or sacrificing product quality. Though, monopoly is not a good thing in the market, it cannot be avoided from the market. Suppose, when the seller has a monopoly over certain resources which are used for producing a particular item such as oil, minerals etc. Sometimes, when a seller is equipped with a unique skill, which others in the same industry lack. In certain occasions, monopoly is legally attained for the patent or copy right for a product/service. Government also allows certain organisation to have sole power over certain product/service by legislation. One such organisation is what this paper is going to discuss about. Indian Railway comes under the department of Indian Government, which came into being in1853. It is the world’s second largest rail network. All the rail operations are managed by the state-owned Indian Railways, which fall under the jurisdiction of Ministry of Railways. Rail transport is one of the common modes of the transport for large population of the country. Its network spreads across 28 states and 3 union territories with limited services to places like Nepal, Bangladesh and Pakistan. (Indian Railways, para. 4) It is the second largest commercial employer in the world and has more than 1.54 million employees and runs as many as 11,000 trains daily. (Official web site of Indian Railway). It has been assisting the growth of Indian economy directly and indirectly since its inception. During the many ups and downs of the country’s economy in the past, railway has been an integrating force to stabilize the economy and maintain economic growth of the country. Indian Railway is not a private corporate body. It operates under the Railway Department of Ministry of Railways of Government of India. But, in the recent times it is striving to attain the professionalism in

Performance Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 2

Performance Management - Essay Example Performance management systems make use of the fact that performance is increased on the part of all concerned and there is no shortfall as concerns to commitment, dedication and devotion when at work. What this performance management system does is to ensure that the right people get the bonuses, incentives and so on as well as point out the ones who have fallen short on the company’s expectations over a period of time. This would help in giving them rewards and incentives which will eventually make one and all happy at the end. Also this will continue their desire to achieve more and more within a specified period of time and thus come into the good books of the company. In return, they can be given all these rewards so that they could be encouraged in line with their work attitudes. Moreover, the people who lag behind with regards to their work schedules and dedication levels will stand up and take notice and thus would want to be counted as the effective and efficient ones within the company as well. The role of organizations in the maintenance of these systems is also very paramount. The difference from the annual appraisals and so on lies in the fact that the traditional manner of doing things relies more on the basis of paper work where a lot of time, effort and money is rather wasted to state the least. The role played by the organizations in advancing their performance management systems is immense since a lot of the population depends on them for their needs and wants. This is met in a fair manner courtesy the E-government initiative adopted by several different companies and organizations. All such innovations which help and facilitate the related process must indeed be given thumbs up since these try to solve the miseries of the people and it is because of these people that the performance management systems are put into place originally. This further pinpoints the fact that the deployment of an efficient performance management

Predestination Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Predestination - Essay Example As such, he places the human beings where he wants them to be for fulfillment of his purpose because God made every human being with his own intentions and therefore, no one has the right to abuse it. On the other hand, determinism is based on the notion that everything that happens has a reason and is influenced by something else. The decisions made by people on how they want their lives to turn out, or the results they expect from their behaviors are based on something which happened earlier and influenced their lives. As such, determinism is not influenced by religious affiliations and beliefs, but rather by choices and consequences. This means that life is free and has no preset conditions which influence the fate of humans. The choices made determine the kind of life’s outcome to expect. Eliot’s Silas Marner is a book that starts with predestination and ends with determinism. The book is set in two different places - Lantern Yard and Raveloe. Lantern Yard is highly religious and salvation is highly predestined there. Cleanliness in faith is not a guarantee that you are predestined to serve God. This is because there are already those who are predestined to serve God there even when they are very unclean. For instance, William, who demonstrates the opposite of the faith he claims to exercise is predestined to serve God while Silas is predestined not to exercise salvation despite being very innocent and pure. In Raveloe, people’s lives are controlled by determinism as morals as opposed religion are upheld. As such, people suffer the consequences of their own actions. Predestination is witnessed through the analysis of the character of Silas Marner. He seems to be born with a predestined personality and no matter what he does, he has no control to change the course his life is taking. Religion in Lantern Yard is very strict and salvation seems to the based on predestination. Silas is a very staunch believer of faith but he loses

Diverse Theatre Movement - Asian-American Theatre Research Paper

Diverse Theatre Movement - Asian-American Theatre - Research Paper Example These theater companies provided opportunities to different actors, writers and directors to pursue different genres of the Asian theater in America and they defined the Asian American theater for almost four decades, till now. By 1990s the number of Asian American theater companies grew up, with producers and directors experimenting with different artistic creations. Asian Americans have established their mark on the general American theater arena and are now appearing in roadway and regional theaters and also winning awards nationally and internationally. In the beginning most of the participants of the Asian American Theater were prominently from the East Asian descent, but in the 90’s and 2000’s many artists originating from South Asia and South East Asia started joining the community and making Asian American theater one of the most readily evolving and pioneering sectors in the American Theater. In today’s age of theater, Asian American theater companies ar e moving rapidly past stories, exploring the themes of generation gaps and cultural differences, and finding identity. These topics dominated the theater of the Asian American Community and pioneers like David Henry Hwang and Philip Kan Gotanda made these topics the principle theme of their plays during the 80’s and 90’s. In Hwang’s first play, F.O.B., a conflict between a Chinese immigrant and a Chinese American from the viewpoint of culture is explored, while another of his play shows the conflict between the ideologies of the East and the West between three generations of a Chinese American Family. Modern Asian American Theater is exploring different aspects of Asian American life, and expanding the horizon and definition of the Asian American life. According to the Asian American Theatre Revue website, as of today, there are more than 80 companies affiliated with the Asian American Theater across the United States of America. Many groups from these companies were experimenting with different genres such as comedy and improving, which were unheard of 30 years ago because of their commercial practicability. As Asian American artists became fascinated with different non-traditional genres and venues, many rebellious movements came into being and defied traditional themes such as drama occurring in the Asian American theater. According to Darryl Chiang, an interim executive director of the Asian American Theater Company: "The original way Asian American theater manifested itself was through very political pieces that explored what it means to be Asian American, specifically addressing identity, which today is not the most important issue† (Lau, 2) Lauren Yee, the author of Ching Chong has said that even though Asian Americans are looking at the past work, such as Shakespearean literature, because they feel as if the audience is familiar with Shakespeare and his plays. She comments that: "That's the only place authences are OK with a multicultural cast, like seeing an Asian daughter with a white father" (Lau, 2) Asian American Theater has been approached in a completely different way by some of the Asian American companies, one of which is the National Asian American Theatre Company. They are unique in a sense that all of their topics

The impact of socioeconomic inequalities on mother-child HIV Thesis

The impact of socioeconomic inequalities on mother-child HIV transmission and the therapeutic intervention in South Africa - Thesis Example Absolute poverty in this case is the inability for one to meet basic need while relative poverty is whereby individuals and the community lag behind in welfare. According to Mail Guardian (2011), almost half of South Africa population lives below the poverty line, surviving on just over R500 a month. Though poverty levels have been decreasing over time, the country still lags behind due to the high level of unemployment. It is estimated that only 41% of adults are employed (Mail Guardian 2011). According to Cox (2008), poverty has caused a significant effect on the financial power of the affected women than men. According to Rosenweig et al. (1998), lack of adequate finance, affordable housing, and skills have exposed single parents to engage in dangerous promiscuity like prostitution hence increasing their risk of contracting HIV and Aids. In South Africa, women accounts for more than 57% of individuals living with HIV (Henry 2005). Moreover, majority of women living with HIV are within 25 to 35 years (Henry 2005). This is a childbearing age hence; there is a very high likelihood of having mother-to-child HIV transmission. In response to the effect of HIV and mother-to-child transmission, the government of South Africa has come up with various intervention strategies. Among them is public health education, advocating for Caesarean section during delivery, substituting breastfeeding after delivery, use of antiretroviral drugs for the infected mothers and tax waive on antiretroviral drugs (Haarmann 2000). However, Antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) are the most popular of all the interventions on mother-to-child HIV transmission (Chigwedere et al. 2008). It increases child survival and decreases HIV related morbidity and mortality. For a pregnant mother to be able to use ARVs, the person goes through several phases with screening for pregnancy being the first stage. Upon

OOP Features Added to Oracle Database Assignment

OOP Features Added to Oracle Database - Assignment Example OOP Features Added to Oracle Database All programming languages and particularly database programming languages need to be comprehensively stable and dynamic in adapting to ever changing developmental environments. Like any other programming language SQL*Plus has shown a lot of flexibility and strength to adapt to the features of Object Oriented Programming while keeping its own shape in tact and without losing the core strength of being an ideal structured query language. In the early 1990 the Object Oriented Programming model begin to gain accelerated acceptance as a major programming approach and most of the database and programming languages begin to extend features that support this model. The approach of extending SQL *Plus for Oracle Database was centered around the efforts to find ways and mean which can provide an integrated support for the objects, object identifiers and inheritance structures within relational language. The approach was followed rigorously but until the release and shipment of SQL3, the extensions of OOP model were not quite mature. The efforts of finding a better integration between OOP model and structured relational languages continued, â€Å"Another approach in this the category is an extension of a conventional SQL that is used to retrieve and manipulate data. For example POSTGRES (Stonebraker, 1986) provides an extended SQL called POSTQUEL query with the ability to capture the concept of abstract data types (encapsulated data structures and methods), inheritance structures and object identity. † (Wenny, Annier & Pardede , 2005, p. 17).... † (Wenny, Annier & Pardede , 2005, p. 17). a) Object-Relational Methodology The extension of object oriented features in relational languages is commonly referred as the object-relational model. â€Å"A Persistence Layer connecting objects in an object-oriented system to data stored in a relational database†. (Object-Relational, 2012). The term, object - relational is not limited to the study of OOP features that can be mapped to SQL rather this section will focus the object - relational model as whole. b) Mapping Objects and Tables Objects are the core constructs of object oriented modeling, therefore, object-relational modeling for Oracle DBMS will require the definition of objects and methods to handle them. The objects will then be converted object tables (relations). So, this provides the basis on which we can formulate our object-relational for Oracle DBMS. However, it must be noted that this model does not necessarily require each object translated into a correspo nding object table in SQL because, there can be alternatives to this approach. For an example, a solution may be designed on the object - relational model which may use SQL views (instead of tables) to simulate objects. Therefore, two possible strategies to accomplish the object-relational modeling includes the creation of object tables directly from the objects defined in OOP model, alternatively the object-relational model can also be built upon an existing relational database by defining SQL *Plus Views in terms of objects. c) Mapping Objects Types and Data Types Secondly the object types of an object oriented model can be utilized to define the user

Knowledge Management paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Knowledge Management paper - Essay Example Knowledge is, to an enterprise or an individual, the possession of information or the ability to quickly locate it. This is essentially what Samuel Johnson, compiler of the first comprehensive English dictionary, said when he wrote that: "Knowledge is of two kinds: we know a subject ourselves, or we know where we can find information upon it." (Source website http://searchcio.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,sid19_gci212448, 00.html) This knowledge is spread over the length and breadth of the company and may be part of a network, a database, in manually documented files or simply as intellectual capital. When knowledge actually present in the organisation is not structured, it is not leveraged upon and therefore causes redundancies, because of the repetitiveness of the tasks performed to acquire the same knowledge. This creates inefficiencies. Within the evolving dynamic environment in which current businesses operate, the ability to create, acquire, retain and organize knowledge assets and put it to recurring use is highly beneficial. Knowledge does not occur instantly. It takes time, effort and resources to be gained and is therefore valuable. There are numerous ways in which knowledge management has been defined. ... Shared knowledge is vital component of the knowledge management systems. This is not solely the responsibility of the infrastructure alone that serves to transfer explicit knowledge; nor is it a good substitute for transferring tacit knowledge that people are capable of. Why do we need knowledge management Possession of the right knowledge is indispensable in the competitive market place. Companies long neglected the value of knowledge but have now understood the significance of it. The environment is constantly evolving and therefore knowledge must keep pace and be updated. For example when companies lay off workforce, the workers leave with their valuable knowledge. If this knowledge is stored then it is available for the future. Similarly, growth forecasts are predicted by knowledge of customer preferences and changing trends and sufficient knowledge resources will ease the process. Globalisation has done away with geographic boundaries and therefore when similar projects are undertaken across the globe, knowledge sharing allows them to be executed with lesser risks due to practical knowledgeable experiences being available. (Source from website http://www.media-access.com/whatis.html#why) Communities of practice A Community of Practice is a group of individuals who regularly engage in sharing and learning based on their common interests or methods of working. Members of a Cop interact closely leading to better knowledge sharing (Wenger, 1998). CoP's often bridge the gap between documented processes and actual practical feasibilities. There is often a dilemma as to whether existing CoP should be geared to wards the task or whether creation of

A Latin Christmas Essay Example for Free

A Latin Christmas Essay In Martin Espadas Latin Night at the Pawnshop, the poet examines the Latin culture during Christmas time in a young, but still growing community of Latino immigrants. The poem proposes that during some time in America, people of Latino descent could not enjoy themselves during the holidays as they would if they were in their own country. Therefore, the theme of the poem is heavily influenced by the demise of Latin culture in America. Espada augments his poem to make the theme clear by using the following elements of poetry: diction and tone, symbols, and imagery. Diction and tone play a critical role in Espadas poem. In the first line, Espada uses what I think to be the most important word in the whole poem, apparition, to bring about a vision he has of a salsa band through the window of a pawnshop. The word apparition means a ghostlike image. By evaluating this word and its context, the poem itself has created a tone right away. We can say that the mood of this poem is very gloomy and depressing when all one can see is a ghost and nothing else. The poem then continues with descriptive words to describe other aspects. For instance, the word gleaming is introduced. The word gleaming means to shine brightly. By introducing this word, the poet draws emphasis on how important this salsa band is to him during Christmas. However, locked in the shop are gleaming instruments that cant play no more and Christmas to him is left in utter silence. Moreover, Espada mentions two distinct colors, a golden trumpet (line 4) and a silver trombone (line 5). Both silver and gold help represent the time of Christmas. Almost all Christmas trees use silver and gold ornaments as a decorative feature. Also, the poem ends with another word worth noting, morgue. A morgue is a place where dead bodies are kept. Ironically, during Christmas, we dont associate death with such a joyful time. However, in this poem, a connotation for the word morgue could include death. Now, putting all these elements together, we can conclude that Espada is revealing a very dark Christmas he had gone through. A Christmas where there was no trumpet blowing, no trombone playing, no congas drumming, no maracas swinging, no tambourines shaking, and that all present was just the thought of it-no real Christmas. Espada also uses symbols to further develop his point. The three major symbols in this poem are indeed the pawnshop, the instruments, and the price tags. First, the essence of the pawnshop itself is important because it tells a story, beyond itself. Sometimes money gets in the way of a persons happiness. As a result, we pawn the stuff we really cherish for a quick buck. Espada is trying to explain that on top of the struggles Latinos face, they also must sacrifice the things they love. Second, the instruments tell us a great deal about the demise of Latin culture in America. Instead of being played and making great music during the holidays, they sit there unused. Espada in his poem creates an unwanted feeling. Lastly, the price tags that resemble that of a dead mans toe are equally important. The tickets symbolize the presence of death where there should be life. The Latin culture in the town of Chelsea is completely dead. Latinos have given up on their culture in place where its not truly accepted. These elements create the point Espada is trying to express. Imagery is also an important aspect to this poem. The poet creates imagery that attacks several senses and by doing so, it also helps pinpoint the importance of different ideas. Espada writes, gleaming in the Liberty loan pawnshop window, (line 2). As one reads, you cant help but imagine seeing this bright light coming out through a window and showing you a salsa band. Furthermore, Espada mentions several instruments. With this inclusion, one can imagine hearing the sounds of these lovely instruments playing coherently and in sync together. However, Espada also writes, all the price tags dangling like the city morgue ticket on a dead mans toe, (lines 7,8,9). This image develops a kind of chilly and nervous feeling about whats actually going on in the poem. All in all, by putting these sources of imagery together, you notice what the poet is trying convey. Espada is drawing our attention to a salsa band and all of its instruments, but in the end things arent always what we want or expect. The Latino culture is nothing more than an illusion, in a land that does not treat its immigrants well. Thus, in Latin Night at the Pawnshop, Espada creates a poem that expresses  his concerns about Latin culture in Massachusetts in the late 1980s by using different elements of poetry. The power of diction and tone, symbols, and imagery, enrich the central theme the poet wants to make. Espada does a great job converting one simple moment, into a thousand words and ideas.

Co Founder Chairman And Ceo Of Apple Media Essay

Co Founder Chairman And Ceo Of Apple Media Essay Steven Paul Steve Jobs was an American entrepreneur. He is known as the co-founder, chairman, and CEO of Apple Inc. Through Apple, he was widely recognized as a pioneer of the personal computer revolution. Jobs also co-founded and served as chief executive of Pixar Animation Studios; he became a member of the board of directors of The Walt Disney Company in 2006. After a power struggle with the board of directors in 1985, Jobs left Apple and founded NeXT. In 1986, he acquired the computer graphics division of Lucasfilm. He was credited in Toy Story (1995) as an executive producer. He served as CEO and held majority of the shares until Disneys purchase of Pixar in 2006. In 1996, after Apple had failed to deliver its operating system, Apple turned to NeXT Computer. Jobs returned to Apple as an advisor, and took control of the company as an interim CEO. Jobs brought Apple from near bankruptcy to profitability by 1998. As the new CEO of the company, Jobs oversaw the development of the iMac, iTunes, iPod, iPhone, and iPad, and on the services side, the companys Apple Retail Stores, iTunes Store and the App Store. The success of these products and services provided several years of stable profitable returns. In 2003, Jobs was diagnosed with a pancreas neuroendocrine tumor. Though it was initially treated, he reported a hormone imbalance, underwent a liver transplant in 2009, and appeared progressively thinner as his health declined. On medical leave for most of 2011, Jobs resigned in August that year, and was elected Chairman of the Board. He died of respiratory arrest related to his metastatic tumor on October 5, 2011. Jobs has received a number of honors and public recognition for his influence in the technology and music industries. He has widely been referred to as legendary, a futurist or simply visionary, and has been described as the Father of the Digital Revolution, a master of innovation, and a design perfectionist. PERSONAL LIFE Jobss birth parents were Abdulfattah John Jandali, from Syria, who taught in University of Wisconsin and Joanne Carole Schieble who was a student. In December 1955, ten months after giving up their baby boy (Steve Jobs), Schieble and Jandali got married and in 1957 they had a daughter, Mona. They divorced in 1962. In the 1980s, Jobs found his birth mother, Joanne Schieble Simpson, who told him he had a sister, Mona. They met for the first time in 1985 and became close friends. After deciding to search for their father, Simpson found Jandali managing a coffee shop. In a taped interview with his biographer Walter Isaacson, aired on 60 Minutes, Jobs said: When I was looking for my biological mother, obviously, you know, I was looking for my biological father at the same time, and I learned a little bit about him and I didnt like what I learned. I asked her to not tell him that we ever metnot tell him anything about me. Jobs was in occasional touch with his mother Joanne Simpson, who lives in a nursing home in Los Angeles. Jandali stated in an interview with the The Sun in August 2011, that his efforts to contact Jobs were unsuccessful. Jobs demonstrating the iPhone 4 to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on June 23, 2010 Jobs once dated Joan Baez for a few years. Elizabeth Holmes, a friend of Jobs, believed that Jobs was interested in Baez because she had been the lover of Bob Dylan (Dylan was the Apple icons favorite musician). Jobs confided in Joanna Hoffman his concerns about the relationship. She would later tell his official biographer She was a strong woman, and he wanted to show he was in control. Plus, he always said he wanted to have a family, and with her he knew that he wouldnt. Jobs was a fan of The Beatles. He referred to them on multiple occasions at Keynotes and also was interviewed on a showing of a Paul McCartney concert. When asked about his business model on 60 Minutes, he replied: My model for business is The Beatles: They were four guys that kept each others negative tendencies in check; they balanced each other. And the total was greater than the sum of the parts. Great things in business are never done by one person; they are done by a team of people. In 1982, Jobs bought an apartment in The San Remo, an apartment building in New York City, only to sell it almost two decades later to U2 singer Bono. Jobs never moved in. In 1984, Jobs purchased the Jackling House, Spanish Colonial mansion designed by George Washington Smith in Woodside, California. Although it reportedly remained in an almost unfurnished state, Jobs lived in the mansion for almost ten years. According to reports, he kept a 1966 BMW R60/2 motorcycle in the living room, and let Bill Clinton use it in 1998. From the early 1990s, Jobs lived in a house in the Old Palo Alto neighborhood of Palo Alto. President Clinton dined with Jobs and 14 Silicon Valley CEOs there on August 7, 1996, at a meal catered by Greens Restaurant. Clinton returned the favor and Jobs, who was a Democratic donor, slept in the Lincoln bedroom of the White House. Jobs usually wore a black long-sleeved mock turtleneck made by Issey Miyake (that was sometimes reported to be made by St. Croix), Levis 501 blue jeans, and New Balance 991 sneakers. Jobs told Walter Isaacson he came to like the idea of having a uniform for himself, both because of its daily convenience (the rationale he claimed) and its ability to convey a signature style. He was a pescetarian. Jobss car was silver Mercedes-Benz SL 55 AMG, which did not display its license plates, as he took advantage of a California law which gives a maximum of six months for new vehicles to receive plates; Jobs leased a new SL every six months. Jobs contributed to a number of political candidates and causes during his life, giving $209,000 to Democrats, $45,700 to associated special interests and $1,000 to a Republican. 1.3 Health issues In October 2003, Jobs was diagnosed with cancer, and in 2004, he that he had a cancerous tumor in his pancreas. The prognosis for pancreatic cancer is usually very poor; Jobs stated that he had a rare, far less aggressive type known as islet cell neuroendocrine tumor. Despite his diagnosis, Jobs resisted his doctors recommendations for mainstream medical intervention for nine months, instead consuming a special alternative medicine diet in an attempt to thwart the disease, before finally having surgery in July 2004. According to Harvard researcher Ramzi Amri, his choice of alternative treatment led to an unnecessarily early death. He eventually underwent a pancreaticoduodenectomy (or Whipple procedure) in July 2004 that appeared to successfully remove the tumor. In early August 2006, Jobs delivered the keynote for Apples annual Worldwide Developers Conference. His thin appearance and unusually delivery and his choice to give significant portions of his keynote to other presenters, caused a wildfire of media and Internet speculation about his health Two years later, similar concerns followed Jobss 2008 WWDC keynote address. Apple officials stated Jobs was victim to a common bug and was taking antibiotics, while others explained his appearance was because of the Whipple procedure. In April 2009, Jobs underwent a liver transplant at Methodist University Hospital Transplant Institute in Memphis, Tennessee. Jobss prognosis was described as excellent. On January 17, 2011, a year and a half after Jobs returned from his liver transplant, Apple announced that he had been granted a medical leave of absence. Jobs announced his leave in a letter to employees, stating his decision was made so he could focus on his health Jobs resigned as Apples CEO on August 24, 2011. Unfortunately, that day has come, wrote Jobs, for he could no longer meet his duties and expectations as Apples CEO. Jobs became chairman of the board and named Tim Cook his successor. Jobs continued to work for Apple until the day before his death 1.4 PROFFESIONAL LIFE Wealth Jobs only earned $1 a year as CEO of Apple, Jobs held 5.426 million Apple shares worth $2.1 billion, as well as 138 million shares in Disney (which he received in exchange for Disneys acquisition of Pixar) worth $4.4 billion. Jobs quipped that the $1 per annum he was paid by Apple was based on attending one meeting for 50 cents while the other 50 cents was based on his performance. Forbes estimated his net wealth at $8.3 billion in 2010, making him the 42nd-wealthiest American. Stock options backdating issue Steve Jobs and Bill Gates at the fifth D: All Things Digital conference (D5) in 2007 In 2001, Jobs was granted stock options in the amount of 7.5 million shares of Apple with an exercise price of $18.30. It was alleged that the options had been backdated, and that the exercise price should have been $21.10. It was further alleged that Jobs had thereby incurred taxable income of $20,000,000 that he did not report, and that Apple overstated its earnings by that same amount. As a result, Jobs potentially faced a number of criminal charges and civil penalties. The case was the subject of active criminal and civil government investigations, though an independent internal Apple investigation completed on December 29, 2006, found that Jobs was unaware of these issues and that the options granted to him were returned without being exercised in 2003. Reality distortion field Apples Bud Tribble coined the term reality distortion field in 1981, to describe Jobss charisma and its effects on the developers working on the Macintosh project. Tribble claimed that the term came from Star Trek. Since then the term has also been used to refer to perceptions of Jobss keynote speeches. The RDF was said by Andy Hertzfeld to be Steve Jobss ability to convince him and others to believe almost anything, using a mix of charm, charisma, bravado, hyperbole, marketing, appeasement, and persistence. Although the subject of criticism, Jobss so-called reality distortion field was also recognized as creating a sense that the impossible was possible. Once the term became widely known, it was often used in the technology press to describe Jobss sway over the public, particularly regarding new product announcements. Inventions and designs Jobss design style was influenced by Joseph Eichler, and the designs of Brauns Dieter Rams. His designs were also greatly influenced by the Buddhism. His sense of intuition was also influenced by spiritual people. Even while terminally ill in the hospital, Jobs sketched new devices that would hold the iPad in a hospital bed. He also despised the oxygen monitor on his finger and suggested ways to revise the design for simplicity. The Macintosh Computer The Macintosh was introduced in January 1984. The computer had no Mac name on the front, but rather just the Apple logo. The Macintosh had a friendly appearance since it was meant to be easy to use. The Macintosh was identified as a computer that ordinary people could understand. The NeXT Computer After Apple let Jobs go in 1985, he started a company that built computers. The NeXT Computer was introduced in 1989. Sir Tim Berners-Lee created the worlds first web browser on the NeXT Computer. The NeXT Computer was the basis for todays Macintosh OS X and iPhone operating system (iOS). iMac Apple iMac was introduced in 1998 and its innovative design was directly the result of Jobss return to Apple. Apple boasted the back of our computer looks better than the front of anyone elses. Described as cartoonlike the first iMac, clad in Bondi Blue plastic, was unlike any personal computer that came before. iPod The first generation of iPod was released October 23, 2001. The major innovation of the iPod was its small size. The capacity of the first generation iPod ranged from 5G to 10 Gigabytes. The iPod sold for US$399 and more than 100,000 iPods were sold before the end of 2001. The introduction of the iPod resulted in Apple becoming a major player in the music industry. Also, the iPods success prepared the way for the iTunes music store and the iPhone. After the 1st generation of iPod, Apple released the hard drive-based iPod classic, the touchscreen iPod Touch, video-capable iPod Nano, screen less iPod Shuffle in the following years. iPhone Apple began work on the first iPhone in 2005 and the first iPhone was released on June 29, 2007. The iPhone created such a sensation that a survey indicated six out of ten Americans were aware of its release. Time magazine declared it Invention of the Year for 2007. In June 2009, the iPhone 3GS, added voice control, a better camera, and a faster processor was introduced by Phil Schiller. A major feature of the iPhone 4S, introduced in October 2011, was Siri, which is a virtual assistant that is capable of voice recognition. Philanthropy Arik Hesseldahl of BusinessWeek magazine stated that Jobs isnt widely known for his association with philanthropic causes, compared to Bill Gatess efforts. In contrast to Gates, Jobs did not sign the Giving Pledge of Warren Buffett which challenged the worlds richest billionaires to give at least half their wealth to charity. In an interview with Playboy in 1985, Jobs said in respect to money that the challenges are to figure out how to live with it and to reinvest it back into the world which means either giving it away or using it to express your concerns or values. Jobs also added that when he has some time we would start a public foundation but for now he does charitable acts privately. After resuming control of Apple in 1997, Jobs eliminated all corporate philanthropy programs initially. Jobss friends told The New York Times that he felt that expanding Apple would have done more good than giving money to charity. Later, under Jobs, Apple signed to participate in Product Red program, producing red versions of devices to give profits from sales to charity. Apple has gone on to become the largest contributor to the charity since its initial involvement with it. The chief of the Product Red project, singer Bono cited Jobs saying there was nothing better than the chance to save lives, when he initially approached Apple with the invitation to participate in the program. Through its sales, Apple has been the largest contributor to Product REDs gift to the Global Fund, which fights AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, according to Bono. 1.5 ERA 1955: Stephen Paul Jobs is born on Feb. 24. 1972: Jobs enrolls at Reed College in Portland, Oregon, but drops out after a semester. 1974: Jobs works for video game maker Atari and attends meetings of the Homebrew Computer Club with Steve Wozniak, a high school friend who was a few years older. 1975: Jobs and Wozniak attend Homebrew Computer Club meetings. 1976: Apple Computer is formed on April fools Day, shortly after Wozniak and Jobs create a new computer circuit board in a Silicon Valley garage. A third co-founder, Ron Wayne, leaves the company after less than two weeks. The Apple I computer goes on sale by the summer for $666.66. 1977: Apple is incorporated by its founders and a group of venture capitalists. It unveils Apple II, the first personal computer to generate color graphics. Revenue reaches $1 million. 1978: Jobs daughter Lisa is born to girlfriend Chrisann Brennan. 1979: Jobs visits Xerox Palo Alto Research Center, or PARC, and is inspired by a computer with a graphical user interface. 1980: Apple goes public, raising $110 million in one of the biggest initial public offerings to date. 1982: Annual revenue climbs to $1 billion. 1983: The Lisa computer goes on sale with much fanfare, only to be pulled two years later. Jobs lures John Sculley away from Pepsico Inc. to serve as Apples CEO. 1984: Iconic 1984 Macintosh commercial directed by Ridley Scott airs during the Super Bowl. The Macintosh computer goes on sale. 1985: Jobs and Sculley clash, leading to Jobs resignation. Wozniak also resigns from Apple this year. 1986: Jobs starts Next Inc., a new computer company making high-end machines for universities. He also buys Pixar from Star Wars creator George Lucas for $10 million. 1989: First NeXT computer goes on sale with a $6,500 price tag. 1991: Apple and IBM Corp. announce an alliance to develop new PC microprocessors and software. Apple unveils portable Macs called PowerBook. 1993: Apple introduces the Newton, a hand-held, pen-based computer. The company reports quarterly loss of $188 million in July. Sculley is replaced as CEO by Apple president Michael Spindler. Apple restructures, and Sculley resigns as chairman. At Next, Jobs decides to focus on software instead of whole computers. 1994: Apple introduces Power Macintosh computers based on the PowerPC chip it developed with IBM and Motorola. Apple decides to license its operating software and allow other companies to clone the Mac, adopting the model championed by Microsoft Corp. 1995: The first Mac clones go on sale. Microsoft releases Windows 95, which is easier to use than previous versions and is more like the Mac system. Apple struggles with competition, parts shortages and mistakes predicting customer demand. Pixars Toy Story, the first commercial computer-animated feature, hits theaters. Pixar goes to Wall Street with an IPO that raises $140 million. 1996: Apple announces plans to buy Next for $430 million for the operating system Jobs team developed. Jobs is appointed an adviser to Apple. Gil Amelio replaces Spindler as CEO. 1997: Jobs becomes interim CEO after Amelio is pushed out. He foreshadows the marketing hook for a new product line by calling himself iCEO. Jobs puts an end to Mac clones. 1998: Apple returns to profitability. It shakes up personal computer industry in 1998 with the candy-colored, all-in-one iMac desktop, the original models shaped like a futuristic TV. Apple discontinues the Newton. 2000: Apple removes interim label from Jobs CEO title. 2001: The first iPod goes on sale, as do computers with OS X, the modern Mac operating system based on Next software. Apple also releases iTunes software. 2003: Apple launches the iTunes Music Store with 200,000 songs at 99 cents each, giving people a convenient way to buy music legally online. It sells 1 million songs in the first week. 2004: Jobs undergoes surgery for a rare but curable form of pancreatic cancer. Apple discloses his illness after the fact. 2005: Apple expands the iPod line with the tiny Nano and an iPod that can play video. The company also announces that future Macs will use Intel chips. 2006: Disney buys Pixar for $7.4 billion. Jobs becomes Disneys largest individual shareholder, and much of his wealth is derived from this sale. 2007: Apple releases its first smartphone, the iPhone. Crowds camp overnight at stores to be one of the first to own the new device. 2008: Speculation mounts that Jobs is ill, given weight loss. In September he kicks off an Apple event and says, The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated, making a play off a famous Mark Twain quote after Bloomberg News accidentally publishes, then retracts, an obituary that it had prepared in advance. 2009: Jobs explains severe weight loss by saying he has a treatable hormone imbalance and that he will continue to run Apple. Days later he backtracks and announces he will be on medical leave. He returns to work in June. Later it is learned that he received a liver transplant. 2010: Apple sells 15 million of its newest gadget, the iPad, in nine months, giving rise to a new category of modern touch-screen tablet computers. Jan. 17, 2011: In a memo to Apple employees, Jobs announces a second medical leave with no set duration. Cook again steps in to run day-to-day operations. Jobs retains CEO title and remains involved in major decisions. Aug. 24, 2011: Apple announces that Jobs is resigning as CEO. Cook takes the CEO title, and Apple names Jobs chairman. Oct. 5, 2011: Jobs dies at 56. Apple announces his death without giving a specific cause. 2.1 FIRST THINGS FIRST: Definition: The most important task gets priority, as in I very much wanted to see that movie, but first things first the papers due tomorrow. This adage was first recorded in 1545. Steve jobs always focused on the issues which he considered to be the most important. Focus and determination was ingrained in his personality. He filtered out what he considered to be distraction. Colleagues and family members would at times be exasperated as they would try to get his attention towards some other issues which they considered important such as a legal problem, bills or medical diagnosis but yet he did not respond to such issues. He never let these issues hinder his performance at work or snatch away his attention. He would always give a cold stare and refuse to shift his laser like focus from the issue which he considers to be more important until he was ready to do so. 2.2 STRESS MANAGEMENT: What is stress? Stress is the bodys reaction to a change that requires a physical, mental or emotional adjustment or response. Stress can come from any situation or thought that makes you feel frustrated, angry, nervous, or anxious. Stress is caused by an existing stress-causing factor or stressor Stress management: Stress management refers to a wide spectrum of techniques and psychotherapies aimed at controlling a persons levels of stress, especially chronic stress, usually for the purpose of improving everyday functions. Stress produces numerous symptoms which vary according to persons, situations, and severity. These can include physical health decline as well as depression. In 1985 after a powerful struggle with the board of directors Jobs left Apple and formed NEXT a computer platform development company specializing in the higher education and business markets. In 1996, after Apple had failed to deliver its operation system, Copland Gill Amelio turned to NEXT computer and the NEXT step platform become the foundation of Max Osx. Jobs returned to Apple as an advisor and took control of the company as an interim CEO. At this stressful situation Jobs instead of making more blunders and creating more problems, he dealt it in the most effective manner. It was only due to his ability to manage stress that he was able to brought Apple from near bankruptcy to profitability by 1998. 2.3 INNOVATION: According to an editor: Steve Jobs belongs in the pantheon of Americas great innovators along with Walt Disney and Thomas Edison. The creation of ipod explains the talent of Steve Jobs as many other companies were manufacturing MP3 players but the success of ipod is the result of a great insight coupled with brilliant execution after Napsters game was found ultimately illegal Jobs saw that the same technology could create a legal market by ensuring music industry a stream of revenues and huge market as it would allow music lovers to download the songs of their own choice at a very reasonable price. He then created a product that was easy to use and more stylish which he could sell at a high price with huge margins. By far the best selling MP3 player ever the ipod lifted the Apple brand to unprecedented heights giving boost to the Mac sales and reestablishing the image of the company. The greatest weapon against stress is our ability to choose one thought over another. William James 2.4 CREATIVITY: The creativity of Steve Jobs is evident from the fact that every Monday morning he would review all the products and the challenges of designing and executing them. Its one of his social processes for connecting multiple discipline to create compelling products and he was doing it since dozen of years rigorously. He spent time building metal and relationship capital by connecting the newest ideas and brilliant and passionate minds. He was one of the few CEOs doing this practice of connecting the dots. It was due to his creativity that Jobs turned into a hard driving cash generating machine. 2.5ABILITY TO BRING CHANGE AND MANAGE CHANGE: What is change management? Change management is an approach to shifting/transitioning individuals, teams, and organizations from a current state to a desired future state. The quality of Jobs of bringing new ideas and taking the risk of bringing change makes him quite different from others. In a special board meeting Jobs walked in and saw Apples roughly 2 dozen current products were on display. He began taking them down one by one. When he was done only four were left and those were the ones he said that would give Apple a new life by differentiating it in the market place. He once said: Deciding not to produce is as important as deciding what to produce Our only security is our ability to change John Lilly 2.6 CHARISMA What is charisma? Charisma involves a relationship between the leader and the people being led. He points to the different communication styles of charismatic leader as charisma is a key aspect of leadership qualities.jobs had command over his tongue and he had that talent to fold the audience under his wrap by delivering extraordinary speeches using metaphors, Analogies and storytelling. See how he used his interpersonal skills and assertive nature to get hold of the audience and over his employees as well. Further I would like to add an incident in which he used his innovative mind. The story behind ipad.one day he was sitting on the sofa reading a newspaper on Sunday like an ordinary man, but unlike us he came up with an idea why not convert these pages into the digital format, why not make it more handy and make them more comfortable to use, why not do other tasks while reading the newspaper, he noted those points in his mind and came up with the idea of the Ipad. See how jobs us ed his brainstorming skills. By creating these stories in our head he communicates the advantages of his products most efficiently. His charisma enables him to whip up the enthusiasm of his employees (job involvement) to achieve more by doing seemingly impossible tasks, and also convince customers to buy Apple products 2.7 PERSONALIZED LEADERSHIP He type could be explained as being personalized. In Jobs case this means that he does not only motivate by storytelling but also by force. Jobs is described by some as being manipulative, dishonest, and boorish. An indication for this can be found, when he says, for instance: My job is to not be easy on people. My job is to make them better. My job is to pull things together from different parts of the company and clear the ways and get the resources for the key projects. And to take these great people we have and to push them and make them even better, coming up with more aggressive visions of how it could be. With this thought of jobs we can easily comprehend his nature and his mindset. The only thing on which he used to concentrate were his products and on the efficiency.in the above speech he indirectly stated that no matter what I can compromise on the quality and the efficiency of labor .furthermore his aggressive was reflected when he said that I can also swipe the staff if they dont work according to my needs. He wants people to follow him, expects obedience and much of it seemingly out of the self-interest, since working at Apple is what he considers a valuable goal in his life. Getting the job done is highest on his priority list.jobs was an autocratic leader. But sometimes he also gave preference to his employees decisions so that they feel motivated. Jobs can be described as being enthusiastic and a visionary, being impatient and having a strong will for achievement. Additionally, Jobs has taken risks and seized on opportunities many times in his career, for instance when leaving Apple (though being forced to) and leading Pixar to success, just to come back to Apple some years later and saving the day for a company in dire straits at the time. 2.8 PERSONALITY TRAITS OF STEVE JOBS Steve jobs was an innovative business leader with all the qualities that charismatic leaders have. He was goal-oriented and a man of vision. His qualities: 1) Vision and articulation: He had the ability to express his vision and ideas to others in terms that are understandable to others. 2) Personal risk: He was always willing to take personal risks and engage in self sacrifice to achieve his vision. 3) Unorthodox behavior, do things which are not considered as norms. 4) He was sensitive and responsive to others needs and feelings The most important quality about him was that he had vision with degree of clarity which was not unparalleled and ambiguous. Steve Jobs was such leader known for his highest degree of clarity in perceived vision. Walter Isaacsons biography of Apples co-founder, Steve Jobs: The exclusive biography describes Jobs as an obsessively detail-oriented man who got obsessed with the details of the design of the case for the Apple II, the shape of the windows on the Macs GUI, the colour of iMac blue in its first ad campaign, the machine having a CD slot not a tray, and the lighting at his launch keynotes As a leader, he managed his organizations human capital well. Managed his intellectual capital perfectly by giving proper direction to the knowledge assimilated in the organization in order to generate innovative ideas and develop them into final products. SUGGESTIONS Jobs have been dead for nearly a year, but the biography about him is still a bestseller. Indeed, His life story has emerged as an odd sort of Holy Scripture for entrepreneurs-a gospel and an anti-gospel at the same time. To some, Jobs life has revealed the importance of sticking Firmly to ones vision and goals, no matter the psychic toll on employees or business associates. To others, Jobs serves as a cautionary tale, a man who changed the world but at the price of alienating almost everyone around him. The divergence in these reactions is a testament to the two deep and often contradictory hungers that drive so many of us today: We want to succeed in the world of work, but we also want satisfaction in the realm of home and family. For those who, like Jobs, have pledged to put a dent in the universe, his thorny life story has forced a reckoning. Is it really worth being like Steve? Here in this article; Steve Jobs work is seen from two different perspectives: Acolyte, Rejector. Acolytes: Theyre business people who have taken the life of Steve Jobs as license to become more aggressive as visionaries, as competitors, and above all as bosses. Theyre giving themselves over to the thrill of being a general-and, at times, a dictator. Work was already the center of their lives, but Jobs story has made them resolve to double down on that choice. Rejectors: These are entrepreneurs who, on reading about Jobs since his death, have recoiled from the total picture of the man-not just his treatment of employees but the dictatorial, uncompromising way that he approached life. In one camp, Jobs has taught people that only work is the thing in this w

Spatial Rhythm and Poetic Invention in William Carlos Williams Sunday

William Carlos Williams was fascinated by the ways in which living organisms and inert matter occupy space--how they move in it, or cannot move, are cramped or allowed to roam freely--and how the space inside organisms and matter is charted, perceived, and manipulated. Williams's preoccupation with actual space in the material world is paralleled by his formal experimentations with the placement of words on the page. "Without invention nothing is well spaced" (P 50), Williams writes at the beginning of "Sunday in the Park," raising the question, what does "well spaced" mean for Williams? How can the world and how can poetry be well spaced? The aim of this paper is to look at the relationship between Williams's use of what I will call spatial rhythms and the vision of poetry that emerges in "Sunday in the Park"--a section of Paterson particularly important for thinking about Williams's late poetic style because it contains the famous section beginning "The descent beckons / as the asc ent beckoned," marking Williams's invention of the triadic stanza with "variable foot," a form he would begin to use frequently in the 1950's. My hope is to offer a new perspective on Williams's poetics by showing how it is rooted in a conception of space, both external and internal or biological, that is constantly moving in a rhythmic fashion. Although William Carlos Williams's epic poem, Paterson, is about the city of Paterson and a man, also named Paterson, who is that city, the actual physical space of that city tends to be elusive throughout the poem, becoming most concrete in the second Book, "Sunday in the Park," which, however, does not deal with the city itself, but with the park above it. The park is both a part of the city of Paterson (... ...s: A New World Naked (McGraw-Hill, 1981), 462-63 and 466-67.[Hit the "back" button on the upper left hand corner of your browser to return to the text] 4. Mariani, 462-63.[Hit the "back" button on the upper left hand corner of your browser to return to the text] 5. Kenneth Burke, "The Thinking of the Body" in Language as Symbolic Action (Berkeley: U of California P, 1966), 340-41.[Hit the "back" button on the upper left hand corner of your browser to return to the text] 6. The last two descending sequences I have quoted †¹ the first beginning with "She was married with empty words" and the second with "The descent beckons" †¹ are also reminiscent of Marcel Duchamp's "Nude Descending Staircase." On Williams's interest in cubism and in Duchamp in particular, see Reed Whittemore, William Carlos Williams: Poet from Jersey (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1975), 113-124.

Young Goodman Brown Essay -- essays research papers

â€Å"Evil is the nature of mankind.†(Nathaniel Hawthorne). The story of â€Å"Young Goodman Brown† depicts what Hawthorne believes the nature of mankind is, which is evil. Goodman is a man of attempted good who comes face to face with the supposed inherent evil of humanity. He cannot realize, through any normal means, whether or not this awareness is something of his tormented mind, or based on something he stumbled upon while deep within dreary, haunted forests. Faith who seems to be good appears not to be after Goodman sees her in the forest. Faith is Goodman’s wife. She was also young and she was beautiful. She had a lot of faith in God and her religion. In the beginning she didn't want Goodman to leave, but because she had faith in him she agreed. She seemed to be worshiping the devil and has...

Good Earth Book Review :: essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In the critically acclaimed novel The Good Earth, Pearl S. Buck depicts the trials and tribulations of Wang Lung, a humble farmer, and his family. The novel begins on the day of Wang Lung's marriage to a woman that he purchases from the great House of Hwang. He is shamed that he has to buy a wife since the richer people always have marriages arranged. His wife, O-Lan, is a very resourceful and hard working woman, making life a lot easier for Wang Lung and his father. One day, O-Lan tells Wang Lung that she is pregnant and months later delivers, to Wang Lung’s delight, a boy. Thanks to O-Lan’s presence in the house, Wang Lung is able to produce a hearty harvest and allows him to store a surplus of silver to use when necessary. Upon returning to the House of Hwang to show off his wife and newborn, Wang Lung decides to purchase more land from the now-dwindling house. Wang Lung’s status in the town grows after his wife has another boy and he has an even better harvest the next year, allowing him to store even more. Unfortunately, Wang Lung’s prosperity does not last. His lazy uncle comes to his house to ask for money for his daughter’s dowry and on the same day O-Lan gives birth to another child, this one a girl. Famine soon strikes the family due to lack of rain and with O-Lan giving birth again, the family is in ruins. The baby mysteriously dies, with bruises on her neck, and Wang Lung does not feel sadness. Wang Lung decides to move the family to a city in the south to raise money. Against his uncle’s wishes, Wang Lung does not sell his land before he leaves, determined to return to his only solace in life, his land. The family finds the conditions in the city to be terrible, living in a makeshift hut on the outskirts of a wealthy house. Wang Lung longs for his land, praying for the day that he can make enough money to return to his property. The turning point of the story occurs when the doors of th e wealthy house are opened to the common people, who immediately loot the rich. Wang Lung, caught up in the frenzy, finds a cowering rich man who he threatens with his life if he does not give Wang Lung money. Good Earth Book Review :: essays research papers   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In the critically acclaimed novel The Good Earth, Pearl S. Buck depicts the trials and tribulations of Wang Lung, a humble farmer, and his family. The novel begins on the day of Wang Lung's marriage to a woman that he purchases from the great House of Hwang. He is shamed that he has to buy a wife since the richer people always have marriages arranged. His wife, O-Lan, is a very resourceful and hard working woman, making life a lot easier for Wang Lung and his father. One day, O-Lan tells Wang Lung that she is pregnant and months later delivers, to Wang Lung’s delight, a boy. Thanks to O-Lan’s presence in the house, Wang Lung is able to produce a hearty harvest and allows him to store a surplus of silver to use when necessary. Upon returning to the House of Hwang to show off his wife and newborn, Wang Lung decides to purchase more land from the now-dwindling house. Wang Lung’s status in the town grows after his wife has another boy and he has an even better harvest the next year, allowing him to store even more. Unfortunately, Wang Lung’s prosperity does not last. His lazy uncle comes to his house to ask for money for his daughter’s dowry and on the same day O-Lan gives birth to another child, this one a girl. Famine soon strikes the family due to lack of rain and with O-Lan giving birth again, the family is in ruins. The baby mysteriously dies, with bruises on her neck, and Wang Lung does not feel sadness. Wang Lung decides to move the family to a city in the south to raise money. Against his uncle’s wishes, Wang Lung does not sell his land before he leaves, determined to return to his only solace in life, his land. The family finds the conditions in the city to be terrible, living in a makeshift hut on the outskirts of a wealthy house. Wang Lung longs for his land, praying for the day that he can make enough money to return to his property. The turning point of the story occurs when the doors of th e wealthy house are opened to the common people, who immediately loot the rich. Wang Lung, caught up in the frenzy, finds a cowering rich man who he threatens with his life if he does not give Wang Lung money.

Financial Statement

Financial Statement Companies use several tools such as a balance sheet to make sound business decisions. A balance sheet is a quantitative summary of a company's financial condition at a specific point in time, including assets, liabilities and net worth. The first part of a balance sheet shows all the productive assets a company owns, and the second part shows all the financing methods (such as liabilities and shareholders' equity) Also, called statement of condition. On a balance sheet, assets are equal to the sum of liabilities, common stock, preferred stock, and retained earnings. Another tool used by companies to make decisions is a company's Income statement. An income statement is an accounting of sales, expenses, and net profit for a given period. The purpose of this report is to view the company's performance (profits and losses) over a designated period of time. It lists the company's revenues and its debts during operational and non operational periods. The balance sheet works in conjunction with the income statement: both deals with matters that concern investors. The next tool used is called a retained earnings statement. A retained earnings statement is a financial statement that lists a firm's accumulated retained earnings and net income that has been paid as dividends to stockholders in the current period. Also can be known as, statement of retained earnings. It is important for everyone to understand that retained earnings do not represent surplus cash or cash left over after the payment of dividends. Rather, retained earnings demonstrate what a company did with its profits; they are the amount of profit the company has reinvested in the business since its inception. These reinvestments are either asset purchases or liability reductions. Next in line is the statement of Cash flows. Statement of cash flows is a summary of a company's cash flow over a given period of time. What can the statement of cash flows tell us? It’s simple, because the income statement is prepared under the accrual basis of accounting, the revenues reported may not have been collected. Similarly, the expenses reported on the income statement might not have been paid. You could review the balance sheet changes to determine the facts, but the cash flow statement already has integrated all that information. As a result, savvy business people and investors utilize this important financial statement. A company also uses comparative statements to track gains, losses, and trends over a given time period. This allows that company to forecast future performance in order to make sound business decisions. Viewing and researching how a company did last year, or the year before, or an average over the past five years can ease doubt, assist with finding solutions, and either make or break a company's financial future. References †¢This is the site used for definitions under financial statements, http://www. investorwords. com/1957/financial_statement. html †¢This is the site I read about each topic, some topics are in other topics. http://www. accountingcoach. com/explanations. html Financial Statement In this week, learning and understanding how import the financial account in the company’s financial performance is very important in becoming a manager. This account, records all financial information to which management, creditors, stockholders, potential investors and regulatory agencies understand the financial consequences of a company’s decision and actions. Whether the company has an increasing revenue or losing assets, the company’s credit worthy ness, complying with taxation and regulation of the agencies and government, financial statement is data recorded of the company’s activities (Cleaves, Hobbs, & Noble, 2012).In creating a financial statement, one must understand the three fundamentals. The first one is an income statement which commonly known as profit and loss statement. It shows the number of profits produced by the company over a given time, let say 1 year. By subtracting the sales or revenue from cost of goods sold to yield to profits. Balance sheet is the second statement which deliver a snapshot on a specified date of a firm’s financial position, giving its asset holdings, liabilities, and owner-supplied capital (stockholders’ equity).In an equation form, total debt (liabilities) plus total shareholders is equal to total assets. The total assets characterize the resources own by the company while liabilities and shareholder’s equity suggest how those resources had financed. By law, the company needs to report the amount of the company’s numerous assets in the balance sheet by using the actual cost of obtaining them to show the historical transaction at their cost. There are two types of analysis used in comparing information in the balance sheet, horizontal and vertical.Horizontal or trend analysis pertains to item by item comparison with a number of quarters within a fiscal year or other years. Vertical analysis uses percentage to compare an each item against total asset of financia l statement. The last statement is cash flow recognizes the sources and expenditures of a company’s cash. In measuring cash flow, we can use two approaches, statement of cash flows and free cash flows or financing cash flows.Statement of cash flows identifies the bases and expenditures of cash that describe the change in the company’s cash balance reported in the balance sheet. Once the company has compensated all of its operating overheads and taxes and completed all of its investments, any residual cash is free to be dispersed to the creditors and shareholders. On the other hand, if the free cash flows are negative, manager will have to procure financing from creditors or shareholders (Keown, Martin & Petty, 2014). Financial Statement In this week, learning and understanding how import the financial account in the company’s financial performance is very important in becoming a manager. This account, records all financial information to which management, creditors, stockholders, potential investors and regulatory agencies understand the financial consequences of a company’s decision and actions. Whether the company has an increasing revenue or losing assets, the company’s credit worthy ness, complying with taxation and regulation of the agencies and government, financial statement is data recorded of the company’s activities (Cleaves, Hobbs, & Noble, 2012).In creating a financial statement, one must understand the three fundamentals. The first one is an income statement which commonly known as profit and loss statement. It shows the number of profits produced by the company over a given time, let say 1 year. By subtracting the sales or revenue from cost of goods sold to yield to profits. Balance sheet is the second statement which deliver a snapshot on a specified date of a firm’s financial position, giving its asset holdings, liabilities, and owner-supplied capital (stockholders’ equity).In an equation form, total debt (liabilities) plus total shareholders is equal to total assets. The total assets characterize the resources own by the company while liabilities and shareholder’s equity suggest how those resources had financed. By law, the company needs to report the amount of the company’s numerous assets in the balance sheet by using the actual cost of obtaining them to show the historical transaction at their cost. There are two types of analysis used in comparing information in the balance sheet, horizontal and vertical.Horizontal or trend analysis pertains to item by item comparison with a number of quarters within a fiscal year or other years. Vertical analysis uses percentage to compare an each item against total asset of financia l statement. The last statement is cash flow recognizes the sources and expenditures of a company’s cash. In measuring cash flow, we can use two approaches, statement of cash flows and free cash flows or financing cash flows.Statement of cash flows identifies the bases and expenditures of cash that describe the change in the company’s cash balance reported in the balance sheet. Once the company has compensated all of its operating overheads and taxes and completed all of its investments, any residual cash is free to be dispersed to the creditors and shareholders. On the other hand, if the free cash flows are negative, manager will have to procure financing from creditors or shareholders (Keown, Martin & Petty, 2014).

Freemasonry and United States Essay

Freemasonry, teachings and practices of the secret fraternal straddle officially known as the Free and received masons, or Ancient Free and accredited Masons. Organizational Structure There argon approximately 5 million members worldwide, loosely in the coup take States and other English-speaking countries. With adherents in al approximately every dry land where Freemasonry is not officially banned, it forms the largest secret baseball club in the world.There is no fundamental masonic permit jurisdiction is divided up among autonomous national authorities, called grand stand bys, and umteen another(prenominal) concordant organizations of higher- head Masons. In the joined States and Canada the highest authority rests with state and provincial grand nightspots. fashion is the supreme authority of the assemble, and there atomic shape 18 elaborate symbolic rites and ceremonies, most of which l intercept oneself the instruments of the stonemasonthe plumb, the squ ar e, the level, and compassesand apocryphal events concerning the building of powerfulness Solomons Temple for allegorical purposes.The principles of Freemasonry view as traditionally been liberal and democratic. Andersons Constitutions (1723), the bylaws of the marvellous Lodge of England, which is Freemasonrys oldest extant lodge, cites sacred toleration, loyalty to local government, and political compromise as primary to the masonic ideal. Masons are expected to believe in a Supreme Being, use a divine book appropriate to the religion of the lodges members, and maintain a blaspheming of secrecy concerning the orders ceremonies.The basic unit of Freemasonry is the local Blue lodge, generally housed in a Masonic temple. The lodge consists of three Craft, Symbolic, or Blue Degrees Entered learner (First Degree), Fellow Craft (Second Degree), and maestro Mason (Third Degree). These gradations are meant to correspond to the three levelsapprentice, journeyman, and lordof the m edieval stonemasons guilds. The average Mason does not rise above earn Mason.If he does, however, he has the choice of advancing finished about 100 different rites, embrace some 1,000 higher degrees, throughout the world. In the United States, the two most democratic rites are the stinting and the York. The Scottish eucharist awards 30 higher degrees, from Secret operate (Fourth Degree) to Sovereign Grand Inspector universal (Thirty-third Degree). The York Rite awards ten degrees, from Mark Master to Order of Knights Templar, the latter being mistakable to a Thirty-third Degree Scottish Rite Mason.Other pregnant Masonic groups are the Prince Hall Grand Lodge, to which many a(prenominal) African-American Masons belong the Veiled Prophets of the enrapture Realm (the fraternal fun order for Blue Lodge Masons) and the Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine (Thirty-second degree Masons who, as the Shriners, are noted for their psychedelic parades and support of childrens hospitals). There are also many subsidiary Masonic groups, including the Order of the Eastern Star, limited to Master Masons and their female relatives De Molay, an organization for boys and Jobs Daughters and Rainbow, two organizations for girls.many of the orders maintain homes for senior members. Development of the Order The order is eyeshot to exhaust arisen from the English and Scottish fraternities of practicing stonemasons and duomo builders in the too soon Middle Ages traces of the alliance have been found as early as the 14th cent. Because, however, some documents of the order trace the sciences of masonry and geometry from Egypt, Babylon, and Palestine to England and France, some historians of Masonry deal that the order has roots in antiquity.The validation of the English Grand Lodge in London (1717) was the beginning of the widespread public exposure of speculative Freemasonry, the present-day fraternal order, whose rank and file is not limited to wor king stonemasons. The sextuplet lodges in England in 1700 grew to about 30 by 1723. There was a analog development in Scotland and Ireland, although some lodges remained unaffiliated and open only to practicing masons. By the end of the 18th cent. here were Masonic lodges in all European countries and in many other parts of the world as well.The first lodge in the United States was founded in Philadelphia (1730) Benjamin Franklin was a member. Many of the leadership of the American Revolution, including John autograph and Paul Revere, were members of St. Andrews Lodge in Boston. George Washington became a Mason in 1752. At the epoch of the Revolution most of the American lodges broke away from their English and Scottish antecedents.Freemasonry has continued to be important in politics 13 Presidents have been Masons, and at any given time quite a large number of the members of Congress have belonged to Masonic lodges. historied European Masons included Voltaire, Giuseppe Mazzini , Giuseppe Garibaldi, Franz Joseph Haydn, Johann von Goethe, Johann von Schiller, and many leaders of Russias Decembrist revolt (1825). Opposition to Freemasonry Because of its naming with 19th-century bourgeois liberalism, there has been much competition to Freemasonry.The most violent in the United States was that of the Anti-Masonic party. Freemasonrys anticlerical attitude has also led to strong opposition from the Roman Catholic Church, which first expressed its anti-Masonic attitude in a bull of Pope tender-hearted XII (1738). The Catholic Church allay discourages its members from joining the order. Totalitarian states have of all time suppressed Freemasonry the lodges in Italy, Austria, and Germany were forcibly eradicated beneath fascism and Nazism, and there are now no lodges in China.