Thursday, October 31, 2019

Commentary on Nicolas Stargardts article, The Final Solution Assignment

Commentary on Nicolas Stargardts article, The Final Solution - Assignment Example Nazis and Hitler hence blamed the Jews for all the economic and social problems that were experienced in Germany. As the pure race, it was their duty and obligation to exterminate the Jews. Therefore, to a larger extent, anti-Semitism was Nazis idea. Hitler desired to eliminate all Jews. However, the racist idea of the Nazis was supported by many people in Germany. The development of a racist biological anti-Semitism in the 19th century in which the Jews were viewed as distorting the body of politic was the primary cause of the Holocaust Also, the Jews were alleged to be a particular societal problem. This problem hence needed a solution for the nation to survive. Besides this, Jewry was linked to communism. This in turn made the Nazis perceive the Jews as the greatest threat to the middle-class Germans. The Nazis hence set out to eliminate the Jews due to the long, complicated process, in which the Nazis Jewish policy became progressively radicalized2. The presence of the Jews in Ge rmany was regarded as a problem as well as a great annoyance. As a result, they were to be eliminated  so that  the Nazis  could have  a better Germany without the Jews. After all the plans to isolate the Jews failed, but it led to mass killings of about six million Jews, which was the final solution. The Holocaust or the final settlement did not take place suddenly. Rather, it was the result of a long course of anti-Semitism. After gaining power, in 1933, the Nazis used terror and propaganda to enforce their racial and anti-Semitic policies. It was, therefore, the unplanned modeling of the Nazi policies to the Jews that led to the execution of the final solution. The Nazis passed Nuremberg laws that took away all the Jewish human rights. For instance, the Jews were not allowed to attend German universities or schools. They were also not to use sporting facilities, run businesses, or sit on common benches. Additionally, if they happened to leave Germany,

Tuesday, October 29, 2019

HPV Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

HPV - Essay Example Furthermore, by making the vaccine mandatory in public schools, it will be possible to immunize a large number of women and girls against HPV infection. School mandates are known to be huge public health successes and compliance rates for vaccines are often high when they are made mandatory in schools (Young, 2009). School mandates especially for vaccinations in the adolescent population have been very successful because otherwise there is poor compliance with routine vaccination among those in this age range (Young, 2009). HPV vaccination in public schools will therefore ensure that a large number of youth are immunized without the stigma associated with the vaccine. HPV vaccine is shown to prevent cervical cancer in women. The Cervarix vaccine protects against two cancer causing strains, namely HPV 16 and HPV 18 that are known to be responsible for 70% of the cases of cervical cancer (Donahou, 2013; immunizationinfo.org, 2008). The Gardasil vaccine protects against HPV types 16, 18, 6 and 11 (Donahou, 2013). The HPV vaccine works best before the individual is infected with the virus. The vaccine is rendered useless when administered to a woman already infected with the HPV vaccine strain because it cannot confer protection to a previously infected individual. Because the virus spreads through sexual intercourse, it is best for the vaccination to be administered before the initiation of sexual activity. Administration of the vaccine in public schools is thus beneficial because statistics suggest a large number of school going students engage in sexual behavior by the end of high school (immunizationinfo.org, 2008). Some contend that introducing the vaccine in public schools will promote sexual behavior among school students (immunizationinfo.org, 2008). Pro-abstinence groups and social conservatives argue that vaccinating youth in schools against HPV vaccine sends out a â€Å"subtle message condoning sexual

Sunday, October 27, 2019

Underpricing in Turkey: a Comparison of the IPO Methods

Underpricing in Turkey: a Comparison of the IPO Methods Abstract This paper addresses the question of what kind of selling and underwriting procedure might be preferred for controlling the amount and volatility of underpricing in the Istanbul Stock Exchange (ISE). Using 1993-2005 firm and issue data, we compare the three substantially different IPO methods available in the ISE. One is very similar to the book building mechanism used in the U.S., another is the fixed price offer, and the third one is the sale through the stock exchange method. The empirical analysis reveals significant first day underpricing of 7.01% in fixed price offer, 11.47% in book building mechanism, and 15.68% in sale through the stock exchange method. Finally, we also show that fixed price offers can better control the impact of market information on underpricing than sale through the stock exchange method. 1. Introduction Extensive amount of research from a variety of different markets have documented the presence of first-day underpricing upon the listing of initial public offerings. The evidence is well documented by Loughran, Ritter, and Rydqvist (1994) and Ritter1 (1998), (2003) in many developed and emerging markets. In developed markets, in the absence of restrictions on intra-day price movements, first-day underpricing is observed in broad price bands. However, in emerging markets, in the presence of daily volatility limits, first-day underpricing is observed in narrow price bands. In contrast to the daily price limits, significant positive short run returns are observed in a number of emerging markets and substantial amount of money is â€Å"left on the table by issuers. Besides empirical evidence, most of the theoretical models explaining IPO underpricing are grouped under four broad headings by Ljungqvist (2005), these are (i) information asymmetry between the investors, the issuing firm an d the underwriter, these models assume that one of these parties knows more than the others, (ii) institutional reasons, institutional theories focus on three features of the marketplace: litigation, banks price stabilizing activities once trading starts, and taxes, (iii) control considerations, control theories argue that underpricing helps shape the shareholder base so as to reduce intervention by outside investors once the company is public, (iv) behavioral approaches, behavioral theories assume either the presence of irrational investors who bid up the price of IPO shares beyond true value, or that issuers suffer from behavioral biases causing them to put insufficient pressure on the underwriting banks to have underpricing reduced. These theoretical models almost always end with the conclusion that the average IPO is undervalued at the offer price, where the initial investors, in most cases, benefit from possessing information by receiving allocations of shares in IPOs and earn the largest first-day returns. The expectations of issuing firms, investors and underwriters in IPO pricing are considerably different. In an offering, the issuer generally wants to receive the highest possible price to maximize cash flows to the firm. Investors like to purchase shares at a deep discount so that they can realize positive returns *Baskent University, Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, Baglica Kampusu, Ankara, 06530, Turkey, + 90 (312) 234 10 10 /1728, [emailprotected] 1 Ritter (1998), (2003) provides an update on the compilation of Loughran, Ritter, and Rydqvist (1994) in a short investment period. Underwriters, acting as an intermediary between investors and issuing firms, suffer from a dilemma, if an underwriter determines IPO prices too low, where the foreseen amount of money left on the table will be huge, the issuing firm may withdraw or switch to another underwriter. On the other hand, if an underwriter determines IPO prices relatively high, investors will hesitate to buy new issues, which would result in low commissions and an unwanted effort in aftermarket stabilization activities. Underwriters, however, have an incentive to underprice the shares to ensure that they can sell the offering, and, unsurprisingly, there is extensive evidence that IPOs are, on average, underpriced. Hence, pricing of stocks in IPOs may be the most critical stage of the IPO process. More recently, the literature on IPOs, both theoretical and empirical, focuses on the efficiency mechanisms of the following methods for pricing initial public offerings. At the center of this literature, book building, auctions and fixed price offers differ mainly in price-discovery and share allocation process. Book Building in which the underwriters do road shows and take non-binding orders from Auctions in which the company sets a price range to be used as a non-restrictive guideline for investors, than accepts bids, each specifying a number of shares and a price the investor is willing to pay for them, finally, the market-clearing price set by the investors approximates the real price the shares will command in the market. Fixed Price Offer in which the issue price is set first and than orders are taken from investors who typically pay in advance for part or all of the shares that are ordered. Sale through the Stock Exchange in which the sale is initially conducted in the primary market of the stock exchange by a designated underwriter. Those investors who buy the shares in the primary market must wait until the shares trade in the secondary market in order to sell their shares. The price designated at the time of registration with the securities exchange commissions is set as the opening price. Hybrid Offerings in which the underwriters combine the preceding IPO methods, and design auction/fixed price, auction/book building and book building/fixed price hybrids. For most hybrids, the most common combination is the book building/fixed price offer, where the underwriter uses the book building method to set the price and allocate shares to institutional and foreign investors, and retain the fixed price offer to the domestic retail investors who do not participate in the price-setting process. This paper addresses the question of what kind of selling and underwriting procedure might be preferred for controlling the amount and volatility of underpricing in the Istanbul Stock Exchange (ISE). In this regard, we first compare the three IPO methods available in Turkey. One is very similar to the book building mechanism used in the U.S., another is the fixed price offer, and the third one is the sale through the stock exchange method. Then, we estimate a binary probit on the issuers choice between fixed price offer and sale through the stock exchange method, however, because of the declining importance of the book building mechanism in Turkey, we excluded the book build IPO sample from our binary probit estimations. Finally, we determine the factors that are expected to have an effect on the IPO returns. Our results indicate that, the comparison of the two mechanisms yield that for certain values, namely first day underpricing, IPO amount and fractions of equity sold, fixed pric e offer outperforms the sale through the stock exchange method. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first empirical study on the comparison between fixed price offer and sale through the stock exchange method in the IPO literature. The uniqueness of the data and the availability of the sale through the stock exchange method in the ISE make it possible to conduct a study on the comparison between these two methods. The remaining part of this paper is organized in six sections. In the next section, we provide a comparison of the theoretical and empirical research conducted on IPO methods across many countries around the world. In section 3, we describe the three important Turkish IPO market selling procedures. In section 4, we describe the data and the methodology we used in our empirical tests. Section 5 documents the relationship between market conditions and underpricing of IPOs in different time series and the last section concludes. 2. Comparison of the IPO methods in the literature: Theory and Evidence The efficiency of the IPO methods has been the subject of an academic research over a decade, both empirical studies and theoretical models have tried to explain the advantages of one method over another. The argument that is often made in favor of IPO methods is often empirical as well as theoretical. Researchers studying on the efficiency of the IPO methods try to answer the most challenging question, â€Å"Which one of the IPO mechanism is the most efficient?2. However, according to our comprehensive literature research, both empirical studies and theoretical models listed in Table have some mixed answers. 1. Book Building vs. Fixed Price Offer and/or Auctions Comparison of the IPO methods in the literature goes back to Benveniste and Spindt3 (1988), (1989) and Spatt and Srivastava (1991), they suggest that the American bookbuilding procedure is efficient since it encourages investors to reveal their beliefs about the issues value at a cost of initial underpricing. Book building allows investors to collect information about the value of the stock and price the issue more accurately. To compensate the investors who reveal information, underwriter will favor them when allocating shares. However, fixed price mechanism does not utilize any information about realized buyer valuationsin setting the issue price and is generally inefficient. Loughran, Ritter and Rydqvist (1994) present the first international evidence on the short-run and long-run performance of companies going public in many stock markets around the world. They document that the fixed price method is associated with greater underpricing because of the greater probability of the issue failing and the increased uncertainty associated with the longer time delay between offer and issuance time. Chowdhry and Sherman (1996) point out that two features of fixed price offers tend to lead to greater underpricing, relative to the book building method. The first one is the length of the bidding process, as the time gap between the offer and first day market price widens â€Å"price information leakage occurs, the second one is the common requirement that investors pay in advance for their entire order. Benveniste and Busaba (1997), extend Welchs4 (1992), model of information cascades in investment decisions and present a theoretical comparison of the fixed-price and book-building mechanisms. They exhibit that issuers with a greater concern for risk will prefer a fixed-price offer, because book- building might generate higher expected proceeds, and exclusively provides an opportunity to sell additional shares at full value but it also exposes them to higher risk. Ritter (1998) demonstrates that countries that use bookbuilding typically have less underpricing than countries using f ixed-price offerings, more underpricing under fixed-price offering procedures can be attributed to informational cascades. However, Loughran, Ritter and Rydqvist (1994) and Ritter (1998) point out that IPOs with discretionary allocation (Fixed Price Offering and Book-building) are underpriced more than those with non-discretionary allocation (Offer for sale and Auctions), especially in Auctions. Under discretionary allocation, the first day price increase averaged 37% in fixed price offerings, 12% in book building. Under non-discretionary allocation, the first day price increase averaged of 27% in Offer for sale and 9% in Auctions. 2 In terms of controlling the amout and volatility of underpricing, share allocation and pricing. 3 The literature on underpricing in initial public offerings goes back to Logue (1973), Ibbotson (1975), Chalk and Peavy (1987), Miller and Reilly (1987), Ritter (1984), Rock (1986), Allen and Faulhaber (1989), Benveniste and Spindt (1988, 1989), Grinblatt an d Hwang (1989), and Welch (1989). However, the mechanism by which initial issues are sold has largely been ignored until Benveniste and Spindt (1988), (1989). 4 Welch (1992) focuses on the fixed-price procedure used in some non-US countries, and shows that this procedure can cause informational cascades: investors who observe the investment choice made by previous investors can update their beliefs about the value of the issued shares. Sherman (2000), (2002) shows that fixed price offer, can lead to higher underpricing than book building. Contrary to the fixed price offer and the auction method, in book building underwriters discriminate investors in the allocation of shares to establish long-run relationship with intermediates. Book building gives the underwriter greater flexibility in designing a solution that reflects the individual issuers preferences. By controlling investor access to IPO shares, book building controls both the winners curse problem that affects discriminatory auctions and the free rider problem that affects uniform price auctions. Book building also reduces uncertainty for both issuers and investors. In a study that covers 47 countries, Sherman (2002) has found that in all countries in which the bookbuilding mechanism has been introduced, pre-existing auction systems have decreased in popularity or disappeared altogether. Ljungqvist, Jenkinson and Wilhelm (2000) use a unique dataset containing information on 2,051 initial public offerings in 61 stock markets around the world, during the period of 1992-1999. The authors examine the relative direct and indirect costs of offerings carried out by book building and fixed-price methods. They find that, the direct costs of book building are typically twice as large as direct costs for fixed-price offers. Compared to fixed price offerings, book building efforts though more expensive produce far less underpricing. Nevertheless, fixed price offering is still an extremely common method that is not likely to be abandoned by the underwriters completely. Compared to book building efforts, fixed price offering is an efficient, low cost way to distribute shares to retail investors, avoiding the high fixed costs of road shows. Aorsio, Giudici and Paleari (2000), Guidici and Paleari (2001) present an empirical study conducted on the Milan Stock Exchange companies bet ween 1985 and 1999. Authors distinguish between fixed- price offers and open-price offers with bookbuilding and find different underpricing levels and statistically significant determinants. They state that if the offering is preceded by book building, the underpricing is significantly lower (8.32 % vs. 28.33% in fixed-price offerings), this method allows the issuing parties to collect information from the institutions and to signal good news or bad news to retailers through the revision of the prospectus price range. Therefore, the cost of raising private information is reduced and the requested underpricing is lower. The evolution of the placing procedure, from fixed price to book building, has considerably improved the efficiency of Italian IPO market. Biais and Faugeron-Crouzet (2002) analyze and compare the performance of book building, fixed price offering, uniform price auction, internet-based Open IPO mechanism, and an auction like mechanism called the Mise en Vente in France. Conclusions emerging from their analysis are; Fixed price offerings lead to inefficient pricing and winners curse. Dutch auctions can also lead to inefficiencies, to the extent that they are conductive to tacit collusions by investors. The book building and an auction like mechanism Mise en Vente can lead to optimal information elicitation and price discovery. Chahine (2002) investigates the relationship between underpricing and the investors interest prior to and after the IPO day on 305 French issues. Empirical results show that book-built issues have a lower underpricing, on median, but a higher variance level, than the auction-like and fixed-price offerings. Despite the high initial underpricing of some book-built issues, book-building procedure appears to better control the information gathering from investors participating in the offering, and to be a more efficient pricing system than the auction-like procedure. Paney (2004) examines the initial returns, characteristics of issuers and long run performance of Indian IPOs on a sample of 84 Indian IPOs between 1999 and 2002. In terms of initial returns or underpricing, Paney (2004) finds that fixed price offering yields higher initial returns on average, as compared to book building. In terms of issuer characteristics, Paney (2004) finds that fixed price offering are used by issuers of fering large proportion of their capital by raising a small amount of money. In contrast, book building is opted for by issuers, offering small portion of their stocks and mobilizing larger sums of money. Kutsuna and Smith (2004) present an empirical study conducted on the Japanese IPOs between 1995 and 1999. Using a sample of 163 book-built and 321 auctioned IPOs by JASDAQ companies, authors document that average total issue cost, measured as a percent of aftermarket price, was significantly higher in the book-building regime than in the earlier auction regime. However, when results are weighted by issue size, the estimated aggregate costs of auctioning and book building are similar. This outcome favors book building over auctions for two reasons. First, auction-method estimates do not reflect opportunity costs related to underinvestment. Second, issue cost estimates ignore other benefits of the more-accurate pricing that book building affords. Anand (2005) examines the differences between book building and Dutch-auction, and shows that the bookbuilding method of offering securities is superior to the Dutch-auction IPOs. Stated by Anand (2005), while the Dutch-auction may seem to lea d to efficient price discovery based on investor demand, recent transactions suggest that price discovery is not always accurate and that, indeed, underpricing occurs even in the Dutch auction. Further, even if the Dutch auction is more fair than the bookbuilt process in terms of allocating securities, the Dutch auction can lead to less capital market efficiency overall and can therefore be questioned as a basis for promoting this type of offering. Jagannathan and Shermans (2005) research on the efficiency of IPO mechanism show that hybrid bookbuildings5, unlike auctions, have proved effective in many different countries, cultures, time periods, and market conditions. Jagannathan and Sherman (2005) propose a new IPO mechanism that could overcome the problems with standard auctions. A method that retains the advantages of bookbuilding, while modifying it to increase transparency. Although not a direct comparison between book building, auctions and fixed-price offers, Cornelli and Gol dreich6 (2001), (2003) examine a unique data set of international book building allocations and find that the underwriter favors both regular investors and investors that supply information on the value of the issue. Degeorge, Derrien and Womack (2005) have presented empirical evidence from Frances IPO market that underwriters employing the bookbuilding process implicitly committed to providing more favorable coverage to the companies they took public in the aftermarket. Authors find convincing empirical evidence that in addition to placing the IPO shares with investors, underwriters employing book-building implicitly commit to providing more favorable coverage to the companies they take public in the aftermarket. Specifically, analysts, affiliated with the lead underwriter of the offering, issue more favorable recommendations for recent book-built IPOs than for auctioned offerings. 2.2. Fixed Price Offer vs. Book Building and/or Auctions The pricing of Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) in the short-run has been analyzed by several theoretical and empirical studies referring to the major international stock markets. Extensive research has revealed that the fixed-price offering all over the world suffer from IPO underpricing especially in these major markets. However, studies conducted by Busaba and Cheng (2001), Bierbaum and Grimm (2003), Chemmanur and Liu (2003), Hsu and Hung (2005) present some evidence on the efficiency of fixed price offering over book building and auctions. Busaba and Cheng (2001) show that the bookbuilding process elicits much information from informed traders at the IPO stage by promising larger allocation of valuable stocks to investors who truthfully reveal their information, and therefore reduce the impact that such informed traders have in the after- 5 In the hybrid bookbuilding offers, all retail investors are allowed to place orders in a public offer tranche, and all have an equal chance of getting shares. The prices, however, are set by professional investors who are given incentives to attend the road show. Jenkinson and Jones (2004), cast some doubts about the findings of Cornelli and Goldreich (2001) upon the extent of information production during the bookbuilding period. market trading. In contrast, the fixed price method, that does not elicits such private information at the IPO stage, enables informed traders to use such information in the after-market at the expense of the uninformed traders. In this regard, if the underwriter building a book can not successfully target a subset of the informed investors, a simple fixed price strategy that involves allocating the issue to retail investors produces higher proceeds on average. The comparatively high adverse selection problems associated with the fixed-price method will spill over from the IPO stage to the after-market. This in turn means that liquidity will be relatively more important for IPOs carried out via a fixed- price method than via bookbuilding. Authors show that, compared with a fixed-price offering, the bookbuilding process elicits more information from informed traders at the IPO stage, and therefore reduce adverse selection problems in the after-market trading. However, by the same toke n bookbuilding may require larger informational rents to be paid at the IPO stage. This suggests that underpricing should be larger for IPOs carried out via bookbuilding than via a fixed-price method. Bierbaum and Grimm (2003) compare the fixed price and the uniform auction in a game theoretic framework. The comparison of the two mechanisms yields that for certain parameter values, namely a low variance of the asset and, at the same time, a sufficiently high probability of low demand, fixed price method outperforms the auction in terms of revenue. Moreover, the revenue in the fixed price mechanism is typically less volatile than the revenue in the auction. Chemmanur and Liu (2003) model the effect of costly information production on issuers choice of a fixed-price offer or a uniform-price auction with exogenous entry of bidders. Their model predicts that IPO auctions will exhibit a significantly lower mean and variance of underpricing compared to fixed- price offerings. This is due to the fact that the offering price in an IPO auction aggregates the information produced by outsiders to a significant degree, so that this offering price is greater for higher intrinsic-value firms and lower for lower intrinsic-value firms in IPO auctions than in fixed- price offerings. At the same time, there is less information production in IPO auctions compared to fixed-price offerings where the offering price is set by insiders to induce the optimal degree of information production, so that a lower amount of information is reflected in the opening price of the shares listed in the stock market. Thus, Chemmanur and Liu (2003) demonstrated that, in many situations, firms will prefer to go public using fixed-price offerings rather than IPO auctions in equilibrium, since such offerings allow the firm to induce the optimal extent of information production. Hsu and Hung (2005) present an empirical study conducted on the Taiwanese companies between 1996 and 2000. Using a sample of 280 pure fixed-price offers and 84 hybrid auctioned, authors find that, Taiwanese hybrid auctions are associated with less under-pricing and with a lower variance of under-pricing than versus the pure fixed-price offers, but these differences are not statistically different. On the other hand, we find that the market index returns prior to the IPO pricing date have a strong influence on the under-pricing of Taiwanese IPO auctions and of the pure fixed-price offers. Authors provide empirical evidence of how Taiwanese issuers make the choice of IPO method. Taiwanese issuers that float large IPOs, or which have a pricing conflict with underwriters, will likely use a hybrid auction to distribute shares. On the other hand, when the relative risk level of IPO auctions to fixed-price offers has increased, the issuers will likely avoid an IPO auction. Empirical evidenc e also explains why Taiwanese IPO auctions have lost market share to fixed-price offers. Further results reveal that Taiwanese IPO auctions are not associated with less under-pricing and with a lower variance of under-pricing, nor are they better at incorporating recent market information into the IPO price than the pure fixed-price offers. Authors examination on issuers choice of hybrid auctions or fixed-price offers indicates that Taiwanese issuers condition their choice of IPO method not only on firm characteristics, but also on IPO size and on market conditions. This is why Taiwanese issuers prefer a pure fixed-price offer to a hybrid auction are based on market volatility and the pricing conflict. In doing so, under a volatile market where Taiwanese hybrid auctions have become much riskier relative to the pure fixed-price offers, issuers will prefer a pure fixed-price offer to a hybrid auction, resulting in a lower popularity of Taiwanese hybrid auctions. As listed in Table 1, Fixed Price Offering seems to be the less favorable method comparing to Book building and Auction Methods. It is a fact that, the worldwide introduction of book building method during the 90s has promoted efficiency in the major equity markets. However, Sherman (2002) states that stock markets listing few IPOs each year, fixed price offering is still be the optimal method. 2.3. Auctions vs. Book Building and/or Fixed Price Offer Using a sample of 108 French firms marketed on the Second Marchà © between 1984 and 1991, Leleux and Paliard (1995) show that initial returns are significantly higher for firms issuing through the fixed- price procedure than for firms using auction-like procedures. Leleux and Paliard (1995) state that the auction mechanism is associated with less underpricing and thus more efficient, since this procedure is able to incorporate more information from recent market momentum into the pricing of the IPO. Beierlein (2000) compares the book-bu ilding method to two commonly used auction mechanisms, the discriminatory price auction and the uniform price auction in terms of underpricing and the long run performance of IPOs relative to the market. Using data from Japan, Israel and the U.S., author finds evidence that the U.S. book building is less efficient than the auction mechanisms are. Specifically, underpricing is significantly higher in the U.S. than it is in Japan or Israel and bookbuilding appears to incorporate less demand information into the offer price than the auction mechanisms do. Bennouri and Falconieri (2001) suggest that auction mechanisms are the optimal way to sell new shares because auction procedures are more informationally efficient than bookbuilding. Assuming ex ante uncertainty about the firm true value, then auction mechanisms are able to elicit and incorporate more information from the market as well as from investors into the pricing of IPOs. Draho (2001) suggests that underpricing in bookbuilt IPOs is due to the uncertainty about the price on the secondary market rather than about the firm value, as most of the literature assume. Nonetheless, his results indicate auction-like mechanisms as the most efficient ones, since they are open to all investors who are moreover required to submit price-quantity bids. McDonald (2001) examines the efficiency mechanisms of the sealed-bid uniform-price auctions over book building method in a theoretical framework and concludes that the uniform-price auction, due to its generalized Vickrey auction properties, is indeed an efficient auction mechanism especially for the sale of IPOs over the Internet. Biais, Bossaert, and Rochet, (2002) study the optimal IPO mechanism by which the seller can extract private information to maximize the expected net IPO proceeds. They find that the optimal mechanism they characterize is similar to auction-like IPO procedures used in the U.K. and in France. Kaneko and Pettway (2003) examine the Japanese initial returns before and after the introduction of book building, and find that underpricing in book building method is significantly higher than auctions, especially during hot markets. Results suggest that the move from auction-priced to underwriter-priced IPOs using book building in Japan has significantly reduced the wealth of issuing companies while increasing the wealth of underwriter-selected investors. Derrien and Womack (2003), use the French IPO data for the 1992-1998 period and compare the three underwriting/selling mechanisms available on the French market. One is very similar to the book building mechanism used in the United States. Another is a fixed price procedure. The third one is an auction-like procedure. Authors show that the auction procedure is better than the others at controlling underpricing in general as well as the variance of underpricing of the issued shares in â€Å"hot versus â€Å"cold markets. Fixed price offering method is indeed inefficient and leads to greater underpricing compared to IPOs sold through book-building and auctions. However, the main empirical comparison in this paper is between the two main procedures auction and book building. Authors find evidence that during hot markets auctioning is associated with less underpricing than book building. They attribute the result to the auction methods ability to incorporate more information about recent market performance into the offer price. This result provides empirical support for the theoretical work by Biais, Bossaerts, and Rochet (2002) who suggests the auction procedure is optimal. In line with the evidence of Derrien and Womack (2003) that an auction procedure is more efficient in incorporating recent market momentum in the offer price compared to fixed price procedure, Vandemaele (2003) uses the French IPO data for the 1984-1995 period and points out the factors that may influence issue procedure choice. Results indicate that, firms facing relatively high valuation uncertainty are high likely to opt for an auction-like procedure and the likelihood of opting for an auction increases as the investment bank reputation associated with the issue decreases. Although not a direct comparison between auctions, book building and fixed-price offers, studies in Pettway and Kanekos (1996) examination on Japanese auctions, Kandel, Sarig and Wohls, (1999) examination on Israeli auctions, and Liu, Wei and Liaws (2003) examination on Taiwanese auctions seem to suggest that IPO auctions lead to less under-pricing. Biais and Faugeron-Crouzet (2001) show that a uniform price auction can prevent tacit collusion among bidders and can truthfully elicit information from investors in much the same way as book building. Bulow and Klemperer (1998) also show that it can be optimal in an auction to set a price at which there is excess demand. 2.4. Research on IPOs in the Istanbul Stock Exchange (ISE) Firms in Turkey may offer their shares to the public through, book building, fixed price offer and sale through the stock exchange method, however, they are mainly underwritten and sold using the fixed- price offering method; a method which is very common world w ide is becoming much less common, particularly for more active markets. Recent empirical studies, focused mainly on the initial returns and under pricing, condu

Friday, October 25, 2019

Compare and Contrast From the Motorway and The Pylons :: English Literature

Compare and Contrast From the Motorway and The Pylons The poems From the Motorway and The Pylons both share the same similarities between their subject matter, themes and tone, however the writes use different literary techniques to convey their message. The two poems warn the reader about the spreading of modern urban life. From the Motorway states how man has made Britain uniformly dull and removed her beauty. 'asleep in the promise of being nowhere anyone would like to get to' This quote shows places that have not been touched by the growth of the motorways and how quaint and tranquil they are. 'this dwarfs our emerald country by its trek' This quote fromThe Pylons tells the reader how the pylons are travelling across the country, not realising the damage they cause. However From the Motorway has amore jovial tone and uses a lot of irony to include humour: 'Britain is mending her desert' This is ironic because Britain is actually making herself into a desert and destroying rather than mending. The Pylons has a more serious tone 'Now over these hills they have built the concrete That trails black wire; Pylons' This quote explains how the hills were peaceful until the pylons had taken over and that the land had been desecrated by concrete, which was not of the natural ground. The structure of The Pylons is of five stanzas, each of four lines, each stanza with a change in mood. 'That turned on sudden hidden villages. Now over these small hills, they have built the concrete' The last line of the first stanza is describing a peaceful village , part of the countryside and the first line of the second stanza tells the reader of the desecration of the stone, the tone completely shifting. From the Motorway has a structure that is all in one sentence so that it sounds like the ongoing motorway 'among rich and ragged, sprinter and staggerer' This quote simulates traffic using unpronounceable alliteration. In the beginning of The Pylons, the fist stanza is an almost dream location in the middle of the country, before they were destroyed 'The secret of these hills was stone, and cottages Of that stone made' These first two lines sound biblical. The hills are as if they had been in this way forever and the cottages had been made in equilibrium with them, of the local natural stone. 'And crumbling roads That turned on sudden hidden villages' The villages and roads had been made without changing the landscape in any way; the villages so in tune with nature that they were part of the landscape, and could suddenly appear round a corner on a windy country road. The beginning of From the Motorway is more upbeat.

Thursday, October 24, 2019

Media Production: Television and Radio

Analyse the selected television news extracts (from the screening) showing your understanding and ability to apply Personalisation and impartiality to your own critical discussion. In this essay I will analyse ITV 1, BBC 1 and Channel 4’s News programmes. I will give detailed definitions of impartiality and personalisation; I will investigate the concepts of personalisation and impartiality and use them to critically evaluate the news. I will examine how these three news broadcasters incorporate personalisation and impartiality into their news programmes. I will now discuss the concepts of personalisation and define what personalisation is. ‘Personalisation wherever possible, events are seen as the actions of people as individuals thus the NHS cuts may be put on an agenda by Baby X not getting the operation s/he needs,’ (Branston & Stafford, 1996: 138). Branston and Stafford, imply that personalisation within the news is reporting the news and relating it to the general public or a social issue. This example of the NHS making cuts, and effecting baby x can be reported in a certain way that it affects the general public. For example, ‘you’ the viewer can suggest an individual person or social group being affected by something in the news. In this case the subject of a baby provides a human interest in the news story. Williams claims that, ‘There is no subject, no abstract thing that cannot be translated in terms of people’ (Williams, 1958: 220). An example of this concept in recent news is in The Sun newspaper, there is a story about the recent re-imprisonment of one of Jamie Buglers killer. ‘The Sun’ have set up a petition demanding the government to reveal the official reason for his return to jail. The newspaper then encourages the readers to add their names to a petition which they had set up on their website www. thesun. co. uk. This is an attempt to directly involve and engage with the reader, emotionally pulling them in by personalising the language. Private personalisation within the news has resulted in the news becoming dumbed down and info-tainment. There is an increasing amount of news broadcasters using personalisation in the news, wether it is citing the public, polls, public opinion, texts, online forums emails, vox pops, or the use of celebrity personalities, by using Twitter, Facebook or the broadcast forums. The infotainment debate is an argument about the relationship between television and public life†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦according to the prevailing wisdom, TV news ought to conform as much as possible to the existing generic format of a serious newspaper’ (Creeber, 2001: 118-119). An example of infotainment can be seen when the news of John Terry’s affair was published. This story received more press converge than the upcoming general election. This asks the question, is the general public more interested in the sex life’s of footballers than an election that will affect their lifes? I will now move onto define the word impartiality; impartiality is defined as a, ‘sound practice that makes clear distinction between news reports and expressions of opinion. News reports should be free of opinion or bias of any kind’ (American Society of Newspaper Editors, 1923 in Allan 2004:22) In other words news broadcasters are legally required to broadcast unbiased and balance news reports. Ofcom state that news broadcasters have ‘to ensure that news, in whatever form, is reported with due accuracy and presented with due impartiality’. (www. ofcom. org. k/tv/ifi/codes/bcode/undue/) Impartiality associated with objectivity ‘the word objectivity is rarely used by regulators, but is substituted by words such as ‘impartially’, ‘accuracy’, ‘balance’ and ‘fairness’ ‘they use a set of devices that they can argue that their reporting is unbiased’ (Creeber, 2001: 117) Habermas (cited in Brom ley) argues that, â€Å" in social democracies such as Britain,TV news, because of its institutional position of (quasi) independence from the state and its statutory obligations towards impartiality and public service ideals,can serve to facilitate that ‘realm of social life’ which is available to all citizens and in which and through which ‘something approaching public can be formed. (2001:61) I will now move on to analyse the BBC, Channel 4, and ITV news programmes, discussing the broadcaster views and policies and how they use personalization and impartiality in their news broadcasts All the news broadcasters mentioned Andy Murrays win at the Australian open, the presenters all used words like â€Å"we† can win and it’s â€Å"our† time the news broadcasts were all very patriotic and involved the viewer in the story. I noticed how the BBC used personalisation in their story about the two children found dead in the boot of their mother’s car in east Sussex, the news reader introduced the story with a soft sympathetic voice to set the tone of the story, they showed two still images one image of the children and one of the mother which gives an insight into what people has been effected by this atrocity. The BBC also asked the neighbours opinion on the story all of these tequnices are used by the BBC to involve the viewer in the story and to make the viewer think that this could have been there next door neighbour with such quotes as â€Å"it’s the same old story you would never it would happen in a place like this. ITVs take on the murder of the two children is a great deal more dramatised than the BBCs the reporter narrates â€Å"she is a happy little girl there is no clue no sign in this picture of the fate she faces why would there be† the reporter asks questions in the narration to make the viewer answer and become more involved in the story, there is shot of a mum and a young girl walking into a nursery school which basically sends the message to the viewer that this should have been the young girl and her mother. This was a good insight into what happened to the young children as the reporter points to the house to set the scene then recreates the journey the mum took by filming inside the car as the drivers point of view. ITV also asked the neighbours about their views on the situation, and the last image was very personal as it showed a message from the public or a family member saying sleep tight little babies. I noticed the similarities between ITV and Channel 4 news as their reports were very similar and so was there running order. After careful research I found out that both their news is provided by ITN who say they are ‘the world’s leading independent content provider, producing news, entertainment and factual content across a range of platforms. I found that ITN’s news was dramatized compared to the BBCs this is due to the fact that the BBC prides its self in being impartial and the most respected News broadcaster in the world. After watching the BBC news I spotted some impartiality between the different news stories, in the first story about the war in Afghanistan, the picture behind the news reader shows the British and Afghanistan leaders standing side by side which implies that both leaders are together in their fight to have peace in Afghanistan. The first couple of minutes showed pictures of solders and the military winning the fight against the Taliban. The reporter mentions in the story the number of British solders killed at war and is Impartial because it doesn’t mention anything about any innocent civilians killed. The public views on the war in Afghanistan are mixed but I felt that the BBC were in favour of the war as the reporter said â€Å"in a country where most can’t read or write† the solders have brought roads hospitals and schools to the area. And footage of a solder saying â€Å"we’re winning†. Even though the BBC supported â€Å"the troops† they were negative against both leaders saying â€Å"the leaders can’t guarantee to deliver on what they agreed today, the past few years in Afghanistan have been littered with failures. This was very impartial compared to the story of president Obama and his great American recession and job opportunities speech. The BBC report used positive words such as â€Å"not broken but bruised† and great programs failing to mention that he hasn’t delivered on many policies that he promised in his election speech. This story also got more airtime than the segment on the recent job losses in Sunderland and Burnley which asks the question is the BBC more concerned about the American recession or the U. K recession. The Obama story got more airtime because it is infotainment as Obama is a celebrity president and is associated with celebrities such as jay Z. Galtung and Ruge conducted an analysis of newspapers in which they identified certain factors as being worthy of the news. These factors included things such as frequency, the time medium in which the event could be reported, threshold, the proximity of the story in relation to the reader; elite persons and nations, stories concerning powerful people or places and personalisation as well as others. The more of these criteria a story fills the more news worthy it is. Cited in Harcup and O’Neill,2001, p 279) This format of selecting the news is repeated regularly as an example the ITV news again selects stories about elite people The ITV had a different view on the policy against the Taliban the news report used words such as bribe and buy off the Taliban negative words to suggest that the policy is not a good idea. The first shot was footage of a dead solders coffin being laid to rest. It used words such as â€Å"the man he died for† suggesting the solder gave his life for the Afghanistan president it then showed clips of the Taliban firing rockets at the solders. This was a completely different view compared to the BBCs images of the solders winning battles and the solders being surrounded by children. The ITVs short report on the troops in Afghanistan was similar to the BBCs as it was very much supporting the troops but disagreeing with the government. With quotes from a dead solders farther saying â€Å"I don’t think all his (Tony Blair) stories about fighting for a democracy are true† it leads us to believe that the government’s decision to go to war isn’t as supported as we might believe. While watching the Channel 4 news broadcast on the ‘Taliban buy out’ as the presenter called it I noticed a lot of tongue and cheek comments against the government’s initiative, the first shot behind the anchor man was of Gordon Brown and president Hamid Karzai shaking hands which implied deal done, the main argument of the Channel 4 news was basically the war has failed for example they said throughout the broadcast â€Å"the war has failed so far† and â€Å"after marching eight years in Afghanistan to nowhere†. And that this new strategy is rubbish, by calling it â€Å"plan B† and â€Å"the big Taliban buy out† the anchor man put the question to Gordon brown saying â€Å"why should the tax payers pay the Taliban who killed their sons to stop fighting and how do you know some people won’t pretend to be in the Taliban for the money? Gordon browns response was pretty poor which led me to believe that this mandate isn’t a good idea and isn’t going to work. I found that the Channel 4 news were very sarcastic even to the extent of saying â€Å"the UN, Nato, and †¦. the USA of course† implying that the USA involve themselves in everything, yet in my opinion the USA have as much say over the war in Afghanistan as the UK. It seems that all the news broadcasters when they were reporting about the war in Afghanistan were very careful not to say a bad word about the army, yet most of their quotes from the reporters or general public were negative against the government. It is hard to be impartial when broadcasting the news due to individual believes and values, organ, culture, political and social pressures pulse the time of when the event is happing. We are all bias to opinion so there is no such thing as impartiality In conclusion In this essay I have defined both personalisation and impartiality looked in-depth into television news showing how news broadcasters show impartiality and personalisation in their broadcasts. I have given recent examples to back up my arguments and given academic quotes to back up the theories I use in this essay.

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Prospects for the Measurement and Management Essay

Research Assessment Exercise is an exercise that is carried out at an interval of about five years aimed at evaluating the quality of research that is undertaken by British higher education institutions. The exercise is undertaken basically on behalf of the four United Kingdom funding councils of the higher education. The research Excellence Framework came as a successor to the Research Assessment Exercise as a method of assessing the research of British higher education institutions. As a mew framework it is expected to produce a robust indication of research excellence for all disciplines following the failures of its predecessor. Both have faced much criticism from scholars who feel that the mode of operation of these assessment exercises is not standard and is marred with misleading information that has grave consequences to the value of higher education n the country. How they operate Research Assessment Exercise uses specialists in the particular fields of research to make submissions to the councils that are ranked by the review panel. The assessment process places much emphasis on the quality of research outputs which includes the papers published in academic journals as well as conference proceedings. The process of assessment also takes into consideration the environment on which the research was carried out as well as indicators of esteem. Each discipline of study that the research is based on has a panel that is well vast with that discipline that determines the rules that will be used as the general guidelines of the assessment exercise. The institutions are also invited to submit their research outputs that are published over a given period. The Research Assessment Exercise takes into consideration the research outputs made by full time members of staff in the research that have been selected for the inclusion. The Research Excellence Framework came as a successor to the Research Assessment Exercise that had highly been criticized by academics in the United Kingdom. It substituted Research Assessment Exercise as a method of assessing the research carried out by British higher education institutions. As a new assessment strategy it is aimed at producing an indication of research excellence in higher education institutions that is robust and can be used as a benchmark quality adjacent to international standards. It also aims to provide a basis that can be used in the distribution of funds to research institutions reducing the administrative burden on institutions. It aims to avoid creating an undesirable behavioral incentive and promote equality and diversity by providing a stable framework on which there will be continued support of a world-leading research foundation within higher education institutions. Both are considered important based on their operations in the society. This is based on the fact that they give insight to the funding councils on the way that they will fund the higher education institution based on the credibility of the research of each institution. They as well show the excellence of the different higher education institutions which helps the public in monitoring the progress of the education institutions in the country (Business Video News, 2010). Criticism The Research Assessment Exercise has highly been criticized on the basis of the fact that happens to ignore the publications made by many full time researchers in the United Kingdom. This has been attributed to the fact that most of these researchers whose publications are ignored are employed on basis of contracts that have a fixed term. The guidelines made by Research Assessment Exercise of the year 2008 attribute that most research assistants are not eligible to be attributed as research active staff (Andrew, 2008). It also excludes the publications made by researchers on fixed term contracts from the assessment exercise unless they can be credited to a staff member who is eligible for the assessment exercise. Criticism has also been raised on the expertise of the panel to evaluate the quality of the research outputs. This is on the basis of the fact that the performance of experts happens to be less when they work in fields that are outside their specific areas of specialization. The Research Assessment Exercise has also been criticized on the basis of the impact that it has on the institution of higher education. This is based on the outcomes of the assessment exercise that have led to the closure of departments that have strong research profiles as well as adequate student recruitment. This has led to massive loss of jobs, demoralization of staff as well as narrowing of the opportunities of research over concentrating funds leading to the undermining of the relationship between teaching and research. The assessment exercise has been criticized as an exercise that has the impact of destruction of the higher education system in the United Kingdom raising its opposition by academics. The criticism to both Research Assessment Exercise and Research Excellence Framework has highly been centered on the fact that the research that is made by the higher education institutions is usually rewarded on the basis of the economic impact that it has. This has been based on the idea that these research assessment exercises assess the research made by the institutions and rank them on the basis of the economic impacts that their research outcomes have on the economy of the country (Chanson, 2007). Based on the economic impact of their research, the institutions are then funded by the funding councils and this has raised much of the criticism. The basis of many academics opposing these assessment structures is the thought of the economic emphasis that is placed on their researches (Felipe, 2009). This has raised the high opposition of both assessment exercises by the academics on the basis that the exercises require them to place much emphasis on research that have an economic benefit. The argument of the academics is the fact the research assessment exercises focus their attention on one aspect of their research that is economic. The feel of the academics is that the assessment exercises are discriminatory on the basis that their attention is on the economic impact that the research has on the society rather than the significance of the research itself. This makes the academics have the idea that their field of research is compromised in the sense that they have to make research findings that have an economic benefit on the society. The indication that research proposals should indicate the economic impacts that the research has on the society has been viewed as a move that limits their scholarly freedom. This is on account of the fact that the indication of the economic impact of the research limits the field of the research. This is on account of the fact that it creates a bias situation in which the researchers are bound to give improper reports on their research. This is in regard to Research Excellence Framework which has it that it will allocate a quarter of United Kingdoms university research funding on the basis of the impact of the research (Andrew, 2009). This is viewed as to create a loophole in which higher education institution may carry out research with the aim of meeting the impact rather than the educational goal of the research. It is also viewed as a factor that has the potential of leading to mislead research reports that are geared at creating the economic impact targeted by the assessment exercises in order to get the funding. It is seen as a move that limits the freedom of education on the grounds that it seeks to appreciate education on the basis of its economic impact in the society (An open letter to Research Councils UK, 2009). This is on the basis that academic researchers are responsible for the impartial pursuit of knowledge a factor that is undermined by the recommendations made by Research Excellence Framework. This is seen as a limitation in the field of education on the grounds that it interferes with the policy making in the scientific field. This is viewed to have the impact of limiting success in the scientific field on the basis that the freedom of research has been tampered with. This has led to academics opposing the assessment exercises feeling that they limit their freedom of pursuit of knowledge. This is on the grounds that it limits their field of research on the basis that they have to direct their research in a way that they have an economic benefit in the society. The limit is on the basis of the fact that science is a global discipline that has held non-interference policies that have led to the discovery of many important aspects in the field that have had much significance in the human life. The recommendation by the assessment exercises are viewed as a devastating move in the sense that some of the research made must not have an economic benefit in the society but may have massive impact in the society. This creates a situation in which the researchers cannot make some of their research reports owing to the fact that they do not have an economic benefit in the society. The scientific research has also been known to make findings that are hard to predict on the basis that their impact depend on certain factors that may change over time. This creates an uphill task for the researches on the account that they have to calculate the economic impact of their research that is at times dependant of the way that the research is applied in the society. The economic impact that is taken into consideration is also hard to determine as well as measure. This is based on the fact that there has not yet been an invention made that can be used in the determination as well as measurement of the economic impact that something has in the society (Jessica, 2009). This creates a situation in which what is considered as the economic impact is an assumption that is bound to change depending on factors that surround the operation of the research. The measurement of the economic impact that the findings have in the society is the main point of argument based on the fact that it is hard for this impact to be accurately measured. This raises a question of the criteria in which the assessment exercises use in the calculation of the economic impact that the reports from the research have in the society. The basis of argument is the fact that a clear calculation cannot be easily made raising concerns over the criteria that is used by the panel in the determination of this. This creates a situation in which the assessment panel is viewed as biased on account of the fact the economic impacts made are assumption thus the firm seen as to favor the research of the academics that they have interest in. The fact that academics are opposed to the assessment exercises does not necessarily mean that they are no longer to be managed. This is due to the fact that lack of their management can lead to the misuse of the funds allocated to them as well as carrying out of unwanted research that has less significance. This calls for the need of their management as a move that is aimed at their regulation as well as monitoring their activities. However, the management ought to be in a systematic way that does not limit their freedom of pursuit of knowledge. This is based on the fact that poor management strategies can be applied leading to the destruction of the learning process that is accompanied with the academics. The management ought to be directed on the distribution of the funds as well as monitoring the usage of the funds. This is aimed at avoiding embezzlement of the funds as well as the use of the funds in projects that are of less significance to the goal of academics. The management ought to give freedom for research based on the fact that academics are aimed at acquiring knowledge and this can only be achieved with the freedom to carry out research on any field. This is despite the impact that their findings have in the society and this should not be used as the basis of their funding. Some of the research is significant to the life of human beings but may not have economic significance which can not be used as the basis of funding academic research. Academic research is really a matter of serendipity on the basis that serendipitous discoveries play a significant role in the advancement of science. This is based in the fact that they offer a foundation on which important intellectual leaps of understanding are made. This is based on the fact that accidental discoveries reveal information that when contemplated can be developed into an important scientific discovery (Science Daily, 2009). Conclusion The assessment plan is an important idea that helps the public in the monitoring of the way the higher education institutions utilize the funds allocated to them by the funding councils. It also plays an important role in helping the public monitor the activities of the higher education institution so as to tell their progress in the pursuit of knowledge. However the criterion that has been used by the assessment exercises RAE and REF have been discriminatory and not beneficial to the academics leading to the destruction of the research activities of these higher education institutions. This is based on the fact that they lay much emphasis on certain aspects of the research such as their economic impacts which offers misleading information to the funding councils. This has raised the criticism that the exercises have faced from the academics. The measurement of the economic impacts of the research has also raised concern questioning the criteria used by the panel to determine the economic impact. This is based on the fact that there is no known criterion that can be used in the determination of this aspect of research findings that is used in the assessment exercise. Bibliography Andrew M. (2008). The researchers the RAE forgot. Viewed August 1, 2010 from Andrew O. (2009). REF should stay out of the game. Viewed August 1, 2010 from An open letter to Research Councils UK. (2009). Only scholarly freedom delivers real ‘impact’ 1. Viewed August 1, 2010 from Business Video News. (2010). David Willetts announces review of the impact requirement in the Research Excellence Framework. Viewed August 1, 2010 from Chanson, H. (2007). â€Å"Research Quality, Publications and Impact in Civil Engineering into the 21st Century. Publish or Perish, Commercial versus Open Access, Internet versus Libraries? † Canadian Journal of Civil Engineering, NRC, Vol. 34, No. 8, pp. 946-951 Felipe F. (2009). Poisonous impact. Viewed August 1, 2010 from Jessica S. (2009). Humanities research threatened by demands for ‘economic impact’. Viewed August 1, 2010 from Science Daily (2009). Accidental Discovery Produces Durable New Blue Pigment for Multiple Applications. Viewed August 1, 2010 from < http://www. sciencedaily. com/releases/2009/11/091116143621. htm>

Tuesday, October 22, 2019

Effects of Migration Into Cities Essays

Effects of Migration Into Cities Essays Effects of Migration Into Cities Essay Effects of Migration Into Cities Essay The effects of moving into a new city or town Today everybody is going in the glamorous world of cities where one can progress and make the best use of his or her life. Parents†¦.. Listen to their talks with their children. They say that my son or daughter will settle or go to abroad one day. And with this they start imagining and forcing their child to get highest degree and run away from where they are. Each parent today has this mentality that there is heaven like something in abroad and much else. There are many such examples to discuss. But for now one is enough I think. In terms of living a life in a new city there are many possibilities of advantages as well as disadvantages as can be seen in education, employment and settlement point of view. These three things can be much better improved in a city where there is much scope to put a step forward towards his or her aim. In a city each one who is settled there has only one intention to earn a gallon of paper notes and coins and live a luxurious and easy way of life. This luxurious life is expected by all people. But there is something called feeling of attachment. There is an attachment towards his or her native place. One cannot forget his or her childhood days or their neighbours and the love between them. Emotions are not allowed in a city or the town. Today since all the places are becoming industrialized there is no space for emotions but only profit. And because of this all the people are running after them. There is a great effect on especially the country. Since all the citizens are settled in abroad and the income they earn is of no use to the country, the country’s economic status lowers as compared to other countries. The newer generation is no longer staying in their native country specially India. India is full of corruption, they say. But it is not so. If the abroad based thinkers try, the situation can be changed. The major disadvantage of moving to a new city is the loss of attachment to the native place and their neighbours. From birth we are attached to our villages or town, its nature, its culture and its people. But as we move to a new area, far from ours, we cannot accept its culture and people very easily. We cannot adjust there due to our unforgettable habits with our ulture. As we move to a new city, we have to accept the people, the culture, and their behaviors and accordingly we have to adjust. But it is not so easy. Since the people are keenly interested in earning money and luxurious life they are ready to do anything for this. According to me, I can’t accept the concept of moving to a new place permanently. Because it affects our native place or country. Earlier during the British rule all the intelligent brains of India were sent out to England or the other countries out of India. So that the foreign countries would progress better in terms of technology. But with this, India had to suffer in its progression. Today after British rule is no longer still their mentality always exists in each Indian that to go to abroad but not to stay here in India. The aim of writing this article is to aware the people of not to go to abroad but it is better and much better to stay in your own country and sacrifice your talents to your people and their future. Prachiti Ganpule SYBA, St. Xavier’s college, Mapusa Goa

Monday, October 21, 2019

Free Essays on Rebecca Book Report

Book Report The book Rebecca, is written by Daphne DuMaurier. This story takes place sometime in the early 1900’s. The book is about a simple young woman who marries a widowed man, and their life together and the secrets she finds out about this mans life. The narrator of this story is a very important character. She is never given a name but she is the woman who marries Mr. De Winter, another main character of the story. They meet in Monte Carlo, and they marry shortly after. The narrator is described as a delicate, plain looking woman. The reader gets the impression that she is fairly young and very timid. She describes herself as having ‘mousy hair and thin lips’. The narrator has a huge role in this book because she is the woman that comes in and replaces Maxims (Mr. De Winter) other wife. The other wife’s name was Rebecca. The narrator and Rebecca have nothing in common. Rebecca was a very outgoing, beautiful, evil woman. The narrator is a very shy, reserved, sweet woman. The narrator has a very hard time running the household that she has gained possession over. We see this in the ways she talks to the servants in the house. She seems much more afraid of them, than they are of her. One example is when a charac ter Mr. Favel comes to visit Ms. Danvers and the narrator tries to hide from the two in order to avoid and uncomfortable situation. She seems to often forget that she is the mistress of the house and that she should have control. She is constantly pushed around and verbally abused by Ms. Danvers. Ms. Danvers constantly taunts the narrator with stories of Rebecca and how she received much more love and attention from Maxim. Throughout the book the narrator struggles with her shyness and lack of control. Towards the middle of the book she slowly starts to realize that in order to be respected by her household, she must take control. She starts to order things to be done, and have things her own way. For instance,... Free Essays on Rebecca Book Report Free Essays on Rebecca Book Report Book Report The book Rebecca, is written by Daphne DuMaurier. This story takes place sometime in the early 1900’s. The book is about a simple young woman who marries a widowed man, and their life together and the secrets she finds out about this mans life. The narrator of this story is a very important character. She is never given a name but she is the woman who marries Mr. De Winter, another main character of the story. They meet in Monte Carlo, and they marry shortly after. The narrator is described as a delicate, plain looking woman. The reader gets the impression that she is fairly young and very timid. She describes herself as having ‘mousy hair and thin lips’. The narrator has a huge role in this book because she is the woman that comes in and replaces Maxims (Mr. De Winter) other wife. The other wife’s name was Rebecca. The narrator and Rebecca have nothing in common. Rebecca was a very outgoing, beautiful, evil woman. The narrator is a very shy, reserved, sweet woman. The narrator has a very hard time running the household that she has gained possession over. We see this in the ways she talks to the servants in the house. She seems much more afraid of them, than they are of her. One example is when a charac ter Mr. Favel comes to visit Ms. Danvers and the narrator tries to hide from the two in order to avoid and uncomfortable situation. She seems to often forget that she is the mistress of the house and that she should have control. She is constantly pushed around and verbally abused by Ms. Danvers. Ms. Danvers constantly taunts the narrator with stories of Rebecca and how she received much more love and attention from Maxim. Throughout the book the narrator struggles with her shyness and lack of control. Towards the middle of the book she slowly starts to realize that in order to be respected by her household, she must take control. She starts to order things to be done, and have things her own way. For instance,...

Sunday, October 20, 2019

Changing Business Environment for Model of Airtel-

It is a fact that in order to achieve profit-making opportunities, organizations desire to go international and they adopt several different ways and tactics which they think will provide them competitive advantage. In the foreign markets, the organizations intend to increase the sale of their production and services and therefore, they sell their products and services at very lower cost. The same strategy is used by the Bharti Airtel in its business operation. It expands its business through low-cost models and targets the other emerging countries for more sale of its services (Aggarwal, 2013). The uniqueness of Bharti Airtel lies in the fact that it has entered into the emerging new markets. The very first advantage that it receives is that it can get benefit for the capabilities and resources of those emerging countries that always seek for getting an opportunity for expanding their services. Hence, in most of they get merged along with the leading organizations such as Bharti Air tel (Damodaran, 2013). Curwen and Whalley (2014), have stated that Airtel shares its stake with the other industries in the field of telecommunication like they did with the Warburg pictures in order to ensure better industrial growth. Such a diverse collaboration is indeed an unique approach which is not followed by the other European MNEs. Along with that, the model of Bharti Airtel is regarded as a unique model for the telecom as it is an effective model for every emerging market like China and India. In many countries apart from these, Airtel has emerged as a dominant player because of its innovative and unique method of business as well as strong brand. Most of the companies belonging from the same industries, focus on getting a hold of the Indian markets, while on the other hand, Airtel is continuously thriving to put more concentration on the international markets. The management team of Airtel has realized that the extensive experience of the company that it has gathered fro m the Indian markets, with its distinctive business model will help to grab the opportunity that is provided by the other developing markets. This has resulted in Airtel, claiming the Zain Group’s telecom business in more than ten different countries of Africa (White, 2013). This has given the company a good start in the African continent as well. However there are several other factors that Airtel fouces on and these factors also contribute to the uniqueness of the Airtel. These factors are mentioned below: One of the most unique models of Airtel that makes it different from the other European MNEs is that of its â€Å"minute factory model†, which they have used in Bangladesh after gaining the Warid Telecom (Satanarayana, Sambasiva & Krishnamurthy, 2017). Furthermore, its international corporate level strategies are also unique to that of the MNEs. They are mentioned below: - The primary motive of a brand for attaining competitive advantage and profit-making opportunities are two of the factors that affect the brand recognition in order to develop all over the world. These motives could be achieved by changing the global environment. In this context, Zhu, Sarkis & Lai (2013) have been stated that such an expansion of a business could easily take place through encouraging the development of the organizational performance and minimizing the trade barriers. There are several organizations such as the manufacturing or retail companies that is going hand in hand with the trend and has been adopted the modern technology of computerization in order to reach their customers around the world, notwithstanding the fact that they do not have any outlet or any kind of physical store present in that country. With the same, organization such as the Bharti Airtel always looks forward towards the present of opportunities in order to access the resources from other natio ns around the globe. They search for an opportunity so that those resources could be obtained through acquiring the other companies in the same field of the developing or emerging nations. Deshmukh, Deshmukh and Thampi (2013) have stated that companies such as Bharti Airtel also reduce their cost with an intention that more number of people from the new nation could use their products. Along with that, the stability in the relation of the international organization and the development of technologies that made it so easy to trade in the international market and incensement has also driven the internationalism of Bharti Airtel. Aggarwal, R. (2013). Adjusting to BRICs in glass houses: replacing obsolete institutions and business models.  Thunderbird International Business Review,  55(1), 37-54. Cappelli, P., Singh, H., Singh, J., & Useem, M. (2015). Indian business leadership: Broad mission and creative value.  The Leadership Quarterly,  26(1), 7-12. Damodaran, S. (2013). New strategies of industrial organization: outsourcing and consolidation in the mobile telecom sector in India. Deshmukh, S. P., Deshmukh, P., & Thampi, G. T. (2013). Transformation from E-commerce to M-commerce in Indian Context.  International Journal of Computer Science Issues (IJCSI),  10(4), 55. Moshi, G. C., & Mwakatumbula, H. J. (2017). Effects of political stability and sector regulations on investments in African mobile markets.  Telecommunications Policy,  41(7-8), 651-661. Satyanarayana, D., Rao, K. S., & Naidu, S. K. (2017). The impact of Reliance Jio on Indian mobile industry-A case study on mergers and acquisitions of idea–Vodafone and Airtel–Telenor.  IJAR,  3(3), 209-212. White, L. (2013). Emerging powers in Africa: Is Brazil any different?.  South African Journal of International Affairs,  20(1), 117-136. Zhu, Q., Sarkis, J., & Lai, K. H. (2013). Institutional-based antecedents and performance outcomes of internal and external green supply chain management practices.  Journal of Purchasing and Supply Management,  19(2), 106-117. .com is the only dissertation service provider in Australia that provides cheap dissertation help while maintaining all quality standards. Hence, students, from various Australian cities prefer taking dissertation help from us. Sydney, Brisbane, Perth and Melbourne rank to when it comes to availing dissertation writing assistance from .com. Our dissertation writers, editors and experts work together to provide students highest quality dissertation help solutions. buy dissertation online from to acquire the final degree without any hassle. You are required to write a researched argument essay that convinces persuades the reader of your position / stance. This is an academic, researched and referenced do... Executive Summary The purpose of this report is to elaborate the factors which are considered by individuals before selecting an occupation. Choosing an occupati... Introduction With the increase enhancement in the field of technology, it has been considered essential by the businesses to implement such technology in their b... Executive Summary In a merger & acquisition, role of an HR has emerged as a very critical function. At each stage of merger and acquisition process, HR plays a s... Introduction In this competitive business environment where every business organization is trying to attract the customers of each other, it becomes essential for ... 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Friday, October 18, 2019

Should professors be allowed to advocate their views on political or Essay

Should professors be allowed to advocate their views on political or social issues in the classroom - Essay Example This article would further give an overview about this topic and would clarify the position of professors educating their students rather then indoctrinating them. (Erin 2007) Indoctrination is a word commonly used by the critics of the professors. This word here means that the knowledge which is being given by the professors should not be one sided or unquestionable. It is unto the students to decide as to what knowledge is right and what is not. Thus the students are required to put forward their own views when the professors are teaching. However the criticism by different organizations about the professors has been counterattacked by the professors. These different organizations have urged the professors to bring in any other subject of study which is not relating to their course material. Anything which is related to the other course of study is not to be guide lined by the professor in the class. However the professors in response to his statement have said that every thing which is being stated in the class and is not in the course material has significant importance. And as in Michael Berube describes in his words that he teaches in his class on d ifferent subjects which are not even in mentioned in the course material. However he counters this action by telling that he can co-relate the topics on which he is teaching to the course materials.

Organisation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Organisation - Essay Example Introduction Securing the effectiveness of organizational strategies is one of the most critical challenges for managers in modern businesses. On the other hand, the elimination of threats in a firm’s environment is not feasible. This means that failures cannot be avoided but they should be rather used as indicators of organizational weaknesses that need to be addressed without delay. In practice, it has been proved that the effective management of knowledge within organizations can result to the limitation of failures, either in the short or the long term. The literature published in regard to this subject shows that the establishment of appropriately customized knowledge management systems can help organizations to control all aspects of their activities so that organizational goals are achieved. The practical implications of such project are explained in this paper by referring to Speedo Ltd, a firm operating in the British automotive industry. Since its establishment, in 1 997, the organization had to face a series of critical operational problems. Through the years it was made clear that these problems were related to the firm’s inability to manage knowledge. ... the firm’s existing knowledge management strategy could secure organizational growth, even if the benefits of the relevant project could appear with delay. It should be noted that the knowledge management strategy proposed for Speedo Ltd could be also used, with minor changes, in firms in other industries that face similar problems. 2. Speedo Ltd – Company Overview 2.1 Structure The head office of the organization is in South London. The firm’s branches across UK are estimated to 12, covering all regions of the country. All key decisions are developed in the head office where the strategic planning unit of the organization is located. Managers in branches have the power to make suggestions in regard to a series of operational issues but their potential to influence the firm’s critical projects is rather limited. The central database of the business has been implemented in the head office, where all critical organizational departments, such as the HR depart ment, the PR department and the financial department of the business are based. Employees working in branches do not have full access to the database’s data; the firm’s IT network has been arranged in such way so that the information provided to the user/ employee is filtered as of its necessity for the task assigned to the particular user. This means that each employee/ user is authorized to access specific parts of the firm’s central database. This practice has helped to reduce failures in regard to the safety of the firm’s data. 2.2 Purpose and culture The firm focuses on the sale of news and used cars of different characteristics. The firm’s founder, John Peterson, has tried to promote communication and cooperation across the organization. The phrase ‘Trust and speed in communication’

The product development process Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

The product development process - Article Example Such demands go in details from quality, affordability, reliability, durability and likeability amongst others. The product development process is such that it is inclusive of all the possible features a potential customer in any part of the world may desire. This paper shall analyze how to develop a product at the Apple Inc. The chosen product is phone line for various models of iPhone. Product development process is a critical area in manufacturing that determines the extent to which a firm may be competitive in its target market. Apple’s products go through the normal development process that many businesses also go through. Before the company launches a product, the product passes through pre-development, development, and post-development. At the predevelopment stages, the company has to go through strategic development, marketing analysis and business plan. To begin with, strategic planning revolves around product project plan. For instance, Apple’s strategic product planning takes into consideration what other competitors are offering. It compares its features against those of other manufacturers in a bid to come up with a new product that meets the market demand. Taking a case study of iPhone 6, it is observable that the pre-development stage maintained some features of the previous version as it improved on some features. All that reflects customers’ desire. For instance, the desire for a slimmer device has not changed. Internal memory is another issue that Apple considers. One of the most important features that Apple considerers is the IOS used in the device. The choice of the IOS enables the product to support features that give it a competitive advantage over its competitors. Whereas it is a common practice for companies to design their new products to conform to the budgetary allocations in the manufacturing and the financial departments, Apple’s

Thursday, October 17, 2019

Southeast Medical Center Case Study Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Southeast Medical Center Case Study - Essay Example In addition, other development projects resulted in the establishment of freestanding rehabilitation center with a 59 bed capacity. Moreover, SMC management also established a physicians’ building that served as their office. Besides, in 1989 the hospital acquired medical helicopters and expanded its trauma services. Furthermore, the hospital has grown into a neonatal, transplant care, and burn center within the State. Other strategic plans have led into SMC expansion into a large referral center for both local and international health care. The hospital boasts of more than 800 beds for acute care. In addition, development projects have resulted into establishment SMC community centers in various locations across the State. Consequently, the hospital has specialized in the provision of unique, sophisticated medical services that attracts numerous foreign patients. Moreover, SMC provides ambulatory services and facilities for health plan. The hospital operates an HMO health plan for charity care patients. The health care plan acts as a Medicaid insurance for States citizens who cannot afford health services (Wolper, 2011). SMC has also undergone various changes in its governance form public hospital to a private institution. In 1920s hospital board managed the hospital that later changed to a public authority. After board of trustees voted to turn the hospital over to private management, SMC has remained a not-for-profit academic health facility. Despite expansion of SMC, the hospital struggles from financial shortage. Shortage of finances has resulted from State’s decision of not providing a subsidy for SMC. Shortage of finances has resulted into the hospital loss of competitive advantage in the market. In addition, SMC cannot afford modern facilities relevant for teaching, research, and provision of health care. Consequently, SMC decided to increase costs of medical

Protecting Young Childrens Welfare Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Protecting Young Childrens Welfare - Essay Example The abuse maybe inflicted by adults, caregivers, acquaintances and at times by other children also. (DoH et al 2006). The protection of a child from maltreatment constitutes a step towards the welfare of the child, and it is especially important to take care of small vulnerable children. A child is said to be vulnerable when there is no assurance of satisfactory development of health. (section 17 (10) of the Children Act 1989). It is imperative that all caregivers give paramount importance to the fact that children are being encouraged to develop in conditions which are conducive to their welfare and protection. This will ensure that they enter adulthood with great confidence and on a sure footing. The issue of safety and protection for children has been the focus of child care agencies for a long time, but the crucial role they play and their duty towards children’s welfare has been brought into the limelight by certain tragic cases wherein the child had died due to negligence on the part of the caregivers. The death of Victoria Climbe made the government sit up and take serious note of the issue. Following the report prepared subsequent to the investigations, many hard facts about child safeguard programs have come up for review. The report that was published revealed that although the Children Act of 1989 is comprehensive, it fails due to improper interpretation and inefficient implementation. The staff in Area Child Protection Committees is often hampered due to inefficient authority and lack of resources. Apart from this, very often caregivers do not know whether they should classify the children as â€Å" in need† or as a case for ‘child protection†. Thus , in order to create a system which is effective in containing this defect, organizations have to pool in their resources and come together to improve the child’s safety net. They must guess the need for protection

Wednesday, October 16, 2019

Web Development for Information Management Coursework

Web Development for Information Management - Coursework Example System†,â€Å"Boston Pizza†, â€Å"Zuppler Online Ordering Menus†, â€Å"Funny Cow Fast Food†, â€Å"Hoagies & Wings, LA†), it was observed that there is an underlying trend that is generally followed while designing food delivery websites. Usually, a food provider hosts a website with a URL that depicts the food company’s name or some memorable association to it; a name that the customers can easily remember. On the homepage of the website is displayed the logo of the company, contact details and a detailed menu of the company’s food items with pricing, the delivery time, availability and cost for all the items. The customer is given the option to select food items from the menu displayed on the homepage. Whatever item the customer selects, it is added to an item’s cart that displays the total accumulated billing of the order so far along with the items selected. Once the customer is done selecting the items, he/she selects the check-out option from menu. In case, the customer is new, he/she provides some personal information (i.e. contact detail and delivery address) to register to the site and place the order. This information is stored within a database maintained by the food providers. In case, the customer is not new, he/she can use the login details from the past orders. The personal information will be retrieved automatically based on these details and the order will be placed automatically. The payment is done either online by provide credit card details or by hand on delivery. Once the order is placed, a notification is sent to the food provider regarding the placement of an order. This could be through sms, fax or a notification on the system running at the provider’s work area. The orders can be grouped into ‘completed’, ‘active’ and ‘pending’. Once the provider accepts an order, a confirmation is sent to the customer, either through an email or sms. The staff starts preparing the ordered food. Once the food is prepared, it is

Protecting Young Childrens Welfare Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Protecting Young Childrens Welfare - Essay Example The abuse maybe inflicted by adults, caregivers, acquaintances and at times by other children also. (DoH et al 2006). The protection of a child from maltreatment constitutes a step towards the welfare of the child, and it is especially important to take care of small vulnerable children. A child is said to be vulnerable when there is no assurance of satisfactory development of health. (section 17 (10) of the Children Act 1989). It is imperative that all caregivers give paramount importance to the fact that children are being encouraged to develop in conditions which are conducive to their welfare and protection. This will ensure that they enter adulthood with great confidence and on a sure footing. The issue of safety and protection for children has been the focus of child care agencies for a long time, but the crucial role they play and their duty towards children’s welfare has been brought into the limelight by certain tragic cases wherein the child had died due to negligence on the part of the caregivers. The death of Victoria Climbe made the government sit up and take serious note of the issue. Following the report prepared subsequent to the investigations, many hard facts about child safeguard programs have come up for review. The report that was published revealed that although the Children Act of 1989 is comprehensive, it fails due to improper interpretation and inefficient implementation. The staff in Area Child Protection Committees is often hampered due to inefficient authority and lack of resources. Apart from this, very often caregivers do not know whether they should classify the children as â€Å" in need† or as a case for ‘child protection†. Thus , in order to create a system which is effective in containing this defect, organizations have to pool in their resources and come together to improve the child’s safety net. They must guess the need for protection

Tuesday, October 15, 2019

Environmental Factors Leading to Civilization Along the Nile Essay Example for Free

Environmental Factors Leading to Civilization Along the Nile Essay A. ) The two most significant environmental or physical geographic factors that contributed to the development and expansion of the United states had to be the Gold Rush, and the Irish Potato Famine. The Irish potato famine was devistating to Ireland and laid waste to its population, but ended up spurring Irish immigration to the United States, leading to both growth and expansion. The gold rush that took hold in the United States was one of the biggest factors that pushed people west and lead to a greater settlement of the west coast and all areas between. These two major events helped to shape the country that we know today. The Irish Potato Famine was one of the most significant environmental factors that helped develope and expand the United States because it not only lead to a population swell, but contrubuted to our work force due to the large number of immigrants that came to the U. S. as a result of it. Before the famine, the Catholic Irish peasents lived a very poor lifestyle and were constantly under fear of being evicted by their land lords as their farms were downsized and their rents were raised. They grew potato crops in the fertile Irish soil and used those crops to pay their rents and feed their families. This was many families sole source of income and nutrition. When the potato famine began in September of 1845, the potato crops failed universaly in Ireland, something that had never happened before. The poor Irish had been acustomed to a bad crop in a spot or two and they always had adjusted to circumstances before, and there was little loss of life over this previously. From 1845 and for the next 4 years, the crops would fail repeatedly and this caused wide-spread death, from both starvation and opportunistic infections such as typhus, that mowed people down by the thousands in their hunger weakend condition. There were many theories about just why the crops failed, both superstitious and religious, but we know now that it was the fault of a fungus, carried on the winds from England where it had been brough over by the North American ships. This fungus, phytophthora infestans, florished in the damp cool climate of Ireland and consistently ruined the potato crops. By 1847, two years into the Irish Potato Famine, people began to seek greener pastures either as a result of eviction, or the promise of a new and better life in the United States. There had been Irish imigration prior to this, but 1847 was really the first year where major waves of Irish families began to come to the United States. This lead to a population explosion on the eastern coast of the United States and the Irish immigrants who lived through the voyage found little welcome, often being taken advantage of and stolen from. The Irish immigrants brough with them new ideas about culture and religion and provided laborers for road work and other tasks that helped expand the United States. The Civil War is another event in wich the Irish took part. The immigrants joined the Union Army in droves and some atribute the northern victory in that war to the seemingly endless supply of Union troops, composed largely of the immigrant population flooding into the United States at that time. How different would our country be had the famine not happened and the immigrants not come? The other major event that contributed to the expansion and developement of the United States was the California Gold Rush. The Gold Rush was an exciting time in the history of the United States. It lead to a huge amount of expansion and settlement of the western-most poritions of the United States that were largely under-explored wilderness at that time. In May of 1848 gold was found along the banks of the American River near Sacramento, California. By August of that same year the New York Herald published an article about these findings, and so the Gold Rush was born! Men flocked to California to seek their fortunes in the hopes of a better life for themselves and thier families. They left their wives and children and came over land and by sea via Panama. Prospectors seeking to strike it rich brought with them their American ideals and values, and are a big part of the reason that California became a state in 1850. The California gold fields were an exciting and dangerous place to be, with few laws and really no way to inforce those that they had. Prostitution and drunken brawls and shootings were common place and many-a-fortune was won and lost in gambeling at camp. Most prospectors did not, in fact, strike it rich and left disallusioned to either go back to their families, or to settle the area around San Francisco. As a result of the Gold Rush, Californias population swelled from just 25,000 people to well over 220,000, when all was said and done. The population increase helped to settle the area and made San Fransico a major trade port for the Western United States as well as a gateway of sorts for travel and immigration. The influx of interest and travel in the west also paved the way for industries such as mining for silver in Nevada and the building of a transcontinental railroad to the west. The Gold Rush played a huge part in the expansion and development of the United States in that it had such an impact on California and the west. California and the west coast as a whole just wouldnt be what they are today had the Gold Rush not taken place. B. ) The most significant environmental or physical geographic factor that contributed to the development of Egyptian society was the Nile river. The area in question is made up of harsh, sandy desert and mountains. The river Nile flows down through this area and, due to the run-off from melting snow in the mountains each spring, carries with it rich, fertile soil that is really the only soil in the area suitable for crop production. The people in the area could use this fertile soil to plant crops and, based this new-found dependability, begin to settle and build permanent dwellings and villages. Since the villagers could count on two harvests per year, in most years, this would create and excess of product that could then be used for trade. The area near the Nile river is the only area that is very suitable for a sustainable way of life. That is why civilization grew up there due to the ability to grow crops, domesticate animals, and build permanent dwellings. People no longer had to be nomadic and search out food, they could grow and raise their own! The Nile also had a big impact on the religion of the time. Egyptian religion was ploytheistic and Egyptians worshiped many gods, usually based on nature. They had a sun god, a water god, an earth god, and so-forth. Each year when the Nile river flooded, this encouraged the belief in such gods and their devine will. The destruction that the flooding could cause was thought of as punishment for wrong doing and people created rituals to ward off the anger of their gods. A good crop grown from the soil brought down by the flooding was considered a sign of the gods pleasure with their people. The Niles influence could also be felt in its natural ability to be a trade route for Egypt. The arid desert climate makes it anything but an ideal area to travel through, and many found the river was a swift and cool route over wich to do business. The waters brought not only fertile soil for farming, but a measure of wealth and prosperity that contributed hugely to the growth and developement of the civilization. B1. One example of cultural diffusion is the relationship between Egypt and Rome. After being defeated by Rome, Egypt prospered as a province and was the main residence of Augustus Ceaser. This had a huge cultural impact on Egypt because Augustus began to rule the city under Roman laws and this was a whole new way of doing things. There are also the effects on Rome to look at. Egypt was a boon to the Roman Empire due to the trade routes through the desert, the abundant desert minerals that could be mined and later used to make statues and ornaments, and the glass that could be found in Egypt as well. One would have to wonder how different Grecian art would have been without the natural contributions that were made by Egypt. There was a natural diffusion that took place simply by co-existence with people of a different culture and background. The depictions of Egyptian people and gods began to look more Roman in dress and features and, likewise, the Egyptian architecture such as Obelisks became popular in Roman art and architecture.