`` Weapons Of Math Destruction `` By Cathy O Neil Essay

Becoming Numbers No one thinks that they have an impact on the world. But everyone does; everyone is a number in some algorithm. Each one of us is turned into numbers and those stats become data and are used by scientists to either do good or in some cases, bad. The book â€Å"Weapons of Math Destruction†, Cathy O’Neil talks about the dangers of turning people into numbers and how people don t even know that it is happening. A lot can go wrong when people are no longer people and they are turned into the just number. People could be placed in the wrong group because they went through a rough time for a short period, and that could ruin their lives, but computers only see numbers, not the person the number represents. Job interviews that should have happened, didn t because the computer passed over them because of a certain number, not the actual person. A person could also be called in for a job because they may have seemed perfect, but they were the opposite of what they needed. And be ing in a certain area could then mean that a person is now associated with that group even though they never were. The scientist turns people into numbers so that they are easier to cataracts and target, even if those categories are unknown to the public and is causing harm. The idea of Big Data is not new. It is only new to most people who never thought about it until an article shows up when they scroll down their Facebook newsfeed. The history of Big Data goes all the way back to 18,000 BCEShow MoreRelatedProject Mgmt296381 Words   |  1186 PagesT. Hercher, Jr. Developmental editor: Gail Korosa Associate marketing manager: Jaime Halterman Project manager: Harvey Yep Production supervisor: Carol Bielski Designer: Mary Kazak Vander Photo researcher: Jeremy Cheshareck Media project manager: Cathy Tepper Cover image:  © Veer Images Typeface: 10.5/12 Times Roman Compositor: Aptara ®, Inc. Printer: Worldcolor Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Larson, Erik W., 1952Project management: the managerial process / Erik W. Larson, Clifford

The Negative Portrayal Of Public Relations - 1924 Words

Starting to purse an education in Public Relations, I received a lot of comments like, â€Å" you won’t even get a job, you’re taking a degree to learn how to manipulate people, isn’t that just planning parties?† after a while I’ve came up with some pretty keen responses to these uneducated comments made by uneducated people. When learning I had to do a research paper, I figured what better thing to look into but why the public relations profession is viewed so negatively. My findings? Media. Public relations is viewed so negatively in the media why would people think anything differently? When you type public relations into Google things like manipulator, Sex and the City, and scandal come up just to name a few. In my paper I want to get down†¦show more content†¦The negative portrayal of public relations in media has created a bias for those entering the field and working in the field. This impacts society by giving them a negative view w hen they’re really just uneducated on the profession. My grandmother, being 85 when explaining to her what I was planning to do with my life I made sure that public relations sounded exciting and useful and that stuck with her and that is what she will tell her friends, and our relatives. But for example when someone researches on it and finds only negative things, they will spread that, they will repeat the negative things they read and the key terms like â€Å" manipulator, schemer, controller† will be used and thought of pertaining to the profession. Media has an extreme influence on everyone these days, especially the newer generations to come. Why when looking for a future job would someone follow a path of something people view as negative? As a joke, As a wedding planner with no jobs? Media is ruining the reputation of public relations with its harsh assumptions, its movie characters with their easy, boring, unchallenging careers, and just uneducated people writ ing stories on how they’ve been â€Å"manipulated† by someone in the public relations profession. To begin with, the view of public relations in television shows and movies can have a large

Your Role in a Small Team Free Essays

* * Your Role in a Past Small Team and Group Paper * * â€Å"Whether you are one of those people who likes group work or one who finds it frustrating and a waste of time, evidence suggests that groups are here to stay. Human beings collaborate. We are raised in groups, educated in groups, and entertained in groups; we worship in groups and work in groups. We will write a custom essay sample on Your Role in a Small Team or any similar topic only for you Order Now † (Beebe, Beebe Ivy, 2013) A team is any group of people organized to work together interdependently and cooperatively to accomplish a common purpose or a goal. Everyone will come into a situation in life where they are obligated to work in a team or group setting. The team that I am going to reference is one that I am apart of daily. As a manager at my current job I am apart of a team of higher management. There are currently four members of our management team; our store manager, and three assistant managers. As management, are duties are to ensure that everything runs smoothly and associates complete tasks. In addition, it is our responsibility to set a good example to our team of associates so that we can lead by example. Us as a management team have different qualities then let’s say a team for school or a sport would be. All of us started at different times and at different positions. Because we all come from different backgrounds and experiences we all look at our job a little differently but we still have one goal in common. In the beginning stages of our career we were eager to learn and take on task that we had never come in contact with before. Everything was a new experience and each day was a new lesson. Now as we have progressed in our position and the basic are down some of us have lost interest in our position and feel the need for advancement. Recently, as a team we can’t seem to work together and agree on a common goal for the business. As I mentioned, we are all in different stages of our career so some of us seem to posses more ambition and passion then others. Seeing the frustration mount, I suggested that we hold a store meeting to address any issues and express our feelings to one another. After our meeting I feel like a lot of animosity and stress towards each other and our job were greatly reduced. We were able to talk about our strengths and weaknesses individually and as a team. My store manager and myself have been with the company the longest so we are usually the ones to take on the leadership role. By us being the leaders of our team we saw that there was an issue and we knew we needed to resolve it. By us taking the lead and organizing a meeting we were able to resolve the issues. Unfortunately, the other two managers lack leadership, which does affect the team as a whole. Our team was not effective, but now it is. We did not all have a common goal among us and roles were not taken seriously. Now we are a team that works together and learned to compromise with one another. Everyone in our team is a understanding and loyal member so that made it easier to build and grown as a team. Communication is such a huge factor in a successful team. Without communication a team will fail and cannot advance. Thanks to our teams constant communication we were able to resolve our negatives and build our strengths. Since we are all different and diverse we had a lot of different opinions among us but that was a good thing. Instead of always thinking â€Å"My opinion is right and everyone else is wrong† we were able to hear each others argument and see everyone’s point of view more clearly. Without a goal a team has no purpose. When a team or a group has a goal in common it gives them motivation and drive to work together and get what needs to be done, done. Everyone in a team should have a role. Weather it’s a leader of the team or just a member every aspect is imperative to a successful team. It’s good to assign one team member as a leader so there is someone to provide structure and make sure assignments or projects are done on time and correctly. According to Beebe, Beebe Ivy, 2013 â€Å"The role of leader, a person who influences others in the group, is a special kind of role, and more than one person can assume it. † Ground rules should be put in place to ensure everyone is on the same page. Groups and teams are dynamic. A variety of factors influence the ever-changing nature of members’ interactions in groups and teams. References 1. Beebe, S. A. , Beebe, S. J. , Ivy, D. K. (2013). Communication: Principles for a lifetime (5thed. ). How to cite Your Role in a Small Team, Papers

Composer Report free essay sample

Antonio Valid was recognized as a great composer but mostly as an excellent violists. He as so great, that he was made Into a violin teacher; this says a lot about him, he was a very talented musician. When listening to Vivaldi music, Like The Four Seasons for example, It Is completely Ingenious how Valid was able to Incorporate the feel of the different seasons Into a violin concerto.For example, for the winter, you can hear those harsh and cold notes from the violin. Vivaldi was Just so Inspirational that the music that he composed became popular, and I can see as to why. Vivaldi was very dedicated. From a young age he wanted to be a musician like his father, and in the ND this is exactly what he did and that, I thought, was very inspirational. I say inspirational because he stayed dedicated to becoming a great musician like his father. We will write a custom essay sample on Composer Report or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Vivaldi, in my opinion, had a warm heart. He had to have had a warm heart since he decided to teach music to orphan children and he would even write music for them and include them in some of his work. Vivaldi, like most composers, wrote according to what the audience liked to hear or how he, himself felt emotionally. For example, when Vivaldi was not doing well economically, his music became very depressing.

The Whole Towns Sleeping by Ray Bradbury Essay Example For Students

The Whole Towns Sleeping by Ray Bradbury Essay Literature presents insights into many aspects of life but is also a conveyor of values, naturalising certain ways of understanding ourselves and the world. This is especially true of The Whole Towns Sleeping by Ray Bradbury. Built on the dominant ideologies of the time, the text through its representations, language, and plot constructs what was normal or acceptable behaviour for men and women. The Whole Towns Sleeping reveals a society where women are weak, fragile and vulnerable, They were the victims of violence inflicted by men, and had to constantly be alert and wary, guarding themselves from any possible danger. While it was considered totally safe and normal for men to go out alone at night, women only belonged in the day, and with darkness were expected to lock themselves away from awaiting threats. This brings across the idea that women should always be protected, and that any woman who ventures out without any form of protection is foolish. We will write a custom essay on The Whole Towns Sleeping by Ray Bradbury specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now Though Lavinia tries as hard as she can to conceal her inferiority, she is still very much a woman, and is thereby vulnerable (The heat pulsed under your dress and along your legs with a stealthy sense of invasion. ). The story endorses the idea that women who do not take proper care of themselves, and try to be independent are to blame for whatever happens to them. The blame is shifted on to the victim, and little fault is attached to the male who commits the crime. The story shows that it was foolish for Lavinia to try to be strong and independent and that she can never deny the fact that she is woman, and thereby weak and vulnerable. She can never be as strong or powerful as a man and is destined to the weaker subservient position. Lavinia, despite her strong appearance, gets frightened (Lavonia felt her heart going loudly within her and she was cold too) when she sees the dead body, and can only try to forget it. The story is constructed in such a way that as it progresses, Lavinia is confronted with even more danger, and her apparent confidence is gradually stripped away. Though she starts of just not afraid it is soon turned into panic and she admits her inferiority (If I get home safe I will never go out alone, I was a fool), conforming to the patriarchal ideology on the innate weakness of women. Men on the other hand are constructed as menaces, which prey on pretty, unmarried maidens for their own pleasure. They are sly (Behind her, in the black living-room, someone cleared his throat. ), unsuspected (Eliza Ramsell has disappeared) and gruesome (strangled four of them their tongues sticking out of their mouths). Agreeing to the essentialist assumptions that all men are potentially violent and naturally evil. The story also presented the idea that all men are distrustful (not one of the three male characters in the story was trusted). Thought Officer Kennedy was a policemen, Lavinia did not trust him (I wont walk the ravine with any man. Tom Dillon too was not trusted, and thought he was their friend Helen still suspected him to be the Lonely One. Though the three maidens did not say the man at the drugstore to be distrustful, he was careless to give away Lavinias address, which put her in a lot of potential danger. Ray Bradburys construction of small town society, and particularly the gender roles found within, showcases the opinions of both Bradbury and the society ot the time. This presentation of opinion is most likely not intentional and simply a reflection of the 1950s society attitude towards gender roles.

Differences between terrorists and guerillas essays

Differences between terrorists and guerillas essays In what ways do the methods of guerrillas differ from those of terrorists? Many different writers have devised their own meaning for terrorism. It is a definition which cannot be finalised, as there are so many factors constituting what a terrorist and what terrorism actually is. Likewise is the term guerrilla. Often terrorists and guerrillas are referred to in the same light. Indeed it is true that there are striking similarities in the methods of both terrorists and guerrillas. However there are also some fundamental differences between the two, which I will look at further in my essay. Critics offer many different variations on the meaning of terrorism. Jenkins describes it like this: Terrorism is violence for effect. The victim may be totally unrelated to the terrorists cause. Fear is the intended effect, not the by-product of terrorism. Jenkins is saying that the effect of a terrorist act is to instil fear in the civilian population. Terrorists throughout the years have used different methods in order to instil fear; assassinations, bombs and murder to name a few. Although fear may be an effect of terrorism, terrorists have varying aims. Often they have political motives. Thornton describes terrorism as: A symbolic act designed to influence political behaviour by extra normal means, entailing the use of or threat of violence. An example is perhaps the PIRA in N.Ireland. They use terrorism as a method to make political gains, with an eventual aim of a united Ireland. However some terrorists also have aims of personal gain, and others simply criminal motives. Therefore we can conclude that terrorists normally have a political agenda, although often they fight for other reasons. They use a wide variety of methods in order to achieve what they want, and the effect of these methods is a feeling of terror from the civilian population or a specific group in society. &qu...

Language And Culture Of Anishinaabe People Essay

Language And Culture Of Anishinaabe People - Essay Example Children learn their language, governance, the judicial system, culture, religion, and citizenship. This culture was overshadowed by Christianity and modernization, but the remaining descendants teach their children about their ancestors in order to ensure the continuity of their culture. It is difficult to maintain ethnic identity without the existence of language. The Anishinaabe descendants struggle to maintain continuity of their language by teaching their children. The learning process begins by explaining the meaning of the verbs in the seven teachings (Apple, 2008). The seven pronouns are set in the teachings called the seven grandfathers. These are Nbwaakaawin (wisdom), Zaagi’idiwin (love), Minaadendamowin (respect), Aakwa’ode’ewin (bravery), Debwewin (truth), Dibaadendiziwin (humility) and Gwekwaadiziwin (Honesty). These are part of the original words of the ancestors that form the roots of the language. Understanding language helps to understand the cultural practices, institutions, and social festivities observed by the Anishinaabe. The elderly in the communities act as reference points for teachers and learners of the language. Their dialect and understanding of the language have not been overly diluted by the English language, as is t he case among the young people (Eigenbrod, LaRocque and DePasquale, 2010). The Ojibway language, part of the Algonquian language group, is the most frequently spoken Aboriginal language besides Cree and Inuit languages. It is usually expressed in syllabics or the Roman orthography. The syllabics were invented in 1840 by James Evans, a missionary working in Hudson’s Bay. Some Anishinaabe people claim that he did not invent the symbols, but he incorporated them into the writing system.

Discuss how the molecular clock hypothesis (gene clock, evolutionary Essay

Discuss how the molecular clock hypothesis (gene clock, evolutionary clock, or molecular clock) can be used to explain the diver - Essay Example This paper will discuss the manner in which the molecular clock hypothesis can be utilised to explain the divergence evident in species. The molecular clock hypothesis focuses on the idea that molecular evolution typically takes place at a roughly uniform rate over the course of time. The molecular clock bases its processes on the contention that to date the materialization of different species, it is assumed that the degree of molecular evolution is primarily homogeneous among duplicable proteins as well as species. The molecular clock, which focuses on the molecular clock hypothesis, refers to a system used in molecular evolution, which utilises fossil constraints, and the extent of molecular change achieved to foresee the time in geologic history when taxa diverged or two independent species diverged. In essence, the molecular clock approximates when key events such as radiation and speciation took place. The molecular information used to make these calculations primarily include nucleotide sequences for amino acid and DNA sequences in proteins (Ayala 1996, p. 11731). The molecular clock is also from time to time referred to as the evolutionary clock or gene clock. Rather than calculating hours, minutes and seconds, the molecular clock computes the extent of mutations and changes that build up within the genetic order of various species over time. This means that evolutionary biologists can take advantage of this data to conclude the method through which species evolve, and to construe the time when two species diverged, particularly with regard to the evolutionary timeline. The molecular clock is comparable to a normal wristwatch so as to appreciate how the molecular clock works in providing information on the divergence of species. Notably, while a wristwatch measures time from ticks, which are essentially regular changes in time (seconds), a molecular clock, on the other hand, measures time using random changes such as DNA mutations. The originators of th e molecular clock, biologist Emile Zucherkandl and chemist Linus Pauling posit that the concept of the molecular clock centres on the notion that although genetic mutations take place rather randomly, they typically occur at a moderately constant rate. As a consequence, the number of differences noted between any two gene sequences continues to increase with time. This led to the conception that the degree of mutations within a certain DNA stretch can be used effectively to measure the time of species divergence (Britten 1986, p. 1394). However, similar to other clocks, the molecular clock also needs to be calibrated. Therefore, setting a molecular clock starts with known information such as the fossil record for a certain species. Subsequently, when the rate of mutation is ascertained, calculating the species’ divergence time becomes rather straightforward. For instance, if the rate of mutation in a certain species is five every millennium and 25 mutations exist in the speci es’ DNA, then it becomes quite clear that the species’ sequences diverged five million years ago. A prominent element of molecular clocks

Text analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Text analysis - Essay Example If an individual believes something is right, or moral, they will act in a way to show the belief. When one is immoral, they will deliberately break belief and create an opposing viewpoint of morality through conscious actions. The concept of amoral is when one won’t make a judgment based on the moral distinction with lack of sensibility toward right or wrong. Action toward personal preference or situation is done instead. The last application to morality is of nonmorality. When one is acting with nonmorality, there is no sense or judgment of right or wrong (Thiroux, 2006). 2. Consequentialist, or teleological ethics, is based on ethics in which one acts upon as a sense of duty and rules. A nonconsequentialist, or deontological view of morality won’t act out of duty or responsibility. Instead, the actions come from the belief that acting in a certain way is the right thing to do and is because one values something. The difference between these two is based on the intent and thought process. While the end action is the same, the thought process of why the morals should be implemented differs. 3. With ethical egoism, one takes a moral position based out of self – interest, profit, return or benefit. The contract to this is psychological egoism, which states that an individual always acts or reacts to a situation out of their self – interest or happiness. The difference in situations is based on the desired outcomes. With ethical egoism, the self interest is to get a benefit while the psychological egoism is based on the happiness one believes they will get by acting in an ethical way while psychological egoism has self benefits from the mind. 4. The cost – benefit analysis, or end – justifies the means approach to morality is one which an individual uses logic of what will happen in the end to approach actions. For instance, one will decide on actions that are either moral or immoral with

A Study On Triumph Of Will

A Study On Triumph Of Will The ultimate aim of documentary is to find the perfect way of representing the real is what Stella Bruzzi believes is the function of a documentary. As she states it herself, the ‘aim is to ‘find the perfect way of ‘representing reality. The three underlined words are themselves hypothetical terms that are not certain, hence this is the first indication that documentary might not necessarily achieve its aim. Documentary style of films are still under debate as to how ‘real can they be, this probably why Stella Bruzzi uses the word ‘find instead of a more commanding and certain word. Therefore, what is really a documentary according to different theorists? John Grierson, the first writer to use documentary as a term in his review of Robert Flahertys Moana, came up with his famous dictum that documentary is ‘the creative interpretation of actuality. Griersons essayFirst Principles of Documentary argued that documentary was cinemas potential for observing life could be exploited in a new art form; that the original actor and original scene are better guides than their fiction counterparts to interpreting the modern world; and that materials thus taken from the raw can be more real than the acted article. Contrary to Bruzzis idea of ‘representing reality, Grierson believes in ‘interpreting it. Interpretation can be in form of re-enactment. So the question that arises is how realistic is a documentary that has actors and scenes â€Å"guiding† the flow of the film? Any re-enactment or borrowed situations can be manipulated to reflect the directors idea, which leaves hardly any space for 100% reality. The term ‘documentary stems from the verb ‘to document to convey information on the basis of proof and evidence to support it, according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary. In the realm of films and cinema, a documentary is a film that is an attempt, in one fashion or another, toshowreality as itreallyis. Another way of defining documentary is the necessity to capture life as it is as it naturally appears. It needs to be filmed surreptitiously, while the goal is to capture lifes unawareness and natural beauty.The term has expanded to encompass many additional aspects than its original definition. ‘Documentaries was a term used to describe movies shot on film stock, which is a term used to describe the discovery of celluloid a product much less fragile than the paper film previously used. It has now come to involve video and digital productions, whether for private use, made-for-TV or for the big screen. The continuing goal of documentaries is to constantly work to identify a film making practice that captures life as it truly is, create a cinematic tradition that remains interesting and lively, and finally, to gain and maintain a connection with the audience. There are several types of documentary, but for this essay, I will pit two completely different ‘documentaries and analysis which of these two, make it closest to the above different definitions. Triumph of the Will a propaganda film made by Leni Riefenstahl and Super Size Me is a documentary by Morgan Spurlock are the two documentaries I will take into account because their genres are completely different from each other, and this could lead to an interesting analysis of the documentaries purpose and what they attain in the end. Triumph of the Will/ Triumph des Willens In 1934 Hitler suggested that Leni Riefenstahl film the party rally of that year. Hitler wanted a first-rate filmmaker to direct the film of the party rally, having insisted several years earlier that he wanted to exploit the film as an instrument of propaganda in such a way that the audience will be clearly aware that they are going to see a political film. It nauseates me when I find political propaganda under the cloak of art. Let it either be art or politics. Riefenstahl demanded that the film be made by her own company rather than by the Ministry for Peoples Enlightenment and Propaganda. Hitler agreed to this demand and promised not to interfere with the filming; he granted her complete freedom to make the film she desired. Although ostensibly her company financed and distributed Triumph of the Will, there is little doubt that the Nazi party actually provided the funds as well as the setting and every facility possible for unimpeded film recording of the event. This reflects gre atly on the biasness that is present in the film. Hitlers SA and SS were known for generating fear, and even if promised to have interference in her documentary, if Riefenstahl did show something negative about the Nazi Party, it could only mean either her disappearance or concentration camp. Moreover, the title of the film was suggested by Hitler himself, implying that after all it was not independent of any political pressure. The camera crew used thirty cameras and were dressed as SA men so that they would not be noticeable in the crowd. Although there are at least twelve sequences in the film where the wary spectator can detect cameras at work, in general the crew working the film is very well disguised. Triumph of The Will (1935) is not only a masterpiece entirely on its own, divorced from political or propagandist considerations, but in its emotional manipulation of the audience represents the very heart of what propaganda is all about. (Barsam, 1992, 130) Riefenstahl is able to create a glorified representation of the NSDAP, or Nazi party, with the use of a music score that invents Hitler as heroic. Her ability to represent a political party so triumphantly is noted in the moving and chilling pieces of cinematography when Hitler gives his final speech and compares his party to a holy order. She captures an essence far purer than the NSDAP, and in a way does more than justice to the partys attempts of propaganda. On the other hand, her achievements in portraying the NSDAP as glamorous can be seen as misrepresenting and a line can be drawn between fact and fiction as to, whether her glorifications are unjust and morally wrong. For the Nazis, the euphoria of a perfect Germany according to them can be portrayed with proper film aesthetics but without directly referring to the contemporary society of the 1930s. The what it would be like if Nazis ruled agenda can be portrayed with the use of abstract visuals and other techniques as long as the real is not referred to, as societies in Germany were not of pure race. The idea of creating a pure race and portraying this in a film is almost mythical, yet alone absurd. In order to portray an Aryan world blatant lies and imaginative discourse would be called for. The ethical implications behind this, is that the people themselves must change in order to create this ideal society. The overly repeated Flag Bearer image depicts symbolism connected to Nazism; the inclusion of a flag bearing the Nazi Swastika symbol represents the militarized power of the party. As a trend in Nazi propaganda, there is enormous emphasis on military symbols in Triumph of the will, triggered deeply felt emotions associated with Germanys former military might. Leni Riefenstahls editing provides an insight into the status of Triumph of the Will as Nazi propaganda. For example, one sequence during Hitlers arrival in Nuremburg is composed of four shots; the first two shots show the old buildings of the city and then a German flag therefore representing the old, traditional Germany. The following two shots depict Hitler and then a Swastika. This sequence typifies how Riefenstahl has represented the Nazi ideology of a return to a mythical epoch by linking the ideals of the traditional dogma with a visionary future. Similarly, before the scene of the city awakening Riefenstahl links a shot of an old church to represent Volakis thought, with the rally camp site to signify the new Germany. Incidentally Hinton suggests that as result of these sequences, Triumph of the Will is more than a document of the 1934 Nazi Party Rally; it is a document of the city of Nuremburg where the viewer gains a sense of the beauty and history of the medieval centre. F urthermore, the use of German and Nazi flags ties in with the use of military symbols inherent in the propaganda of the Third Reich. She also states that; ‘In my cutting room, it was the most difficult work of my life describing the task that took at least five months to fulfil. She explained that she did not care much about chronological accuracy on the screen and that she intuitively tried to find a unifying way to edit the film in a way which would progressively take the viewer from act to act and from impression to impression. With political pressure, adoration for Adolf Hitler, and clearly a propaganda film, Triumph of the will does portray reality in terms of the images used, they are all live and not re-enacted by Riefenstahl. However, it is a biased documentation of the reality. I believe it would have been a real documentary if only there was not so much of glamour shown about the Nazi rallies, and the darker side such as the Holocaust and ghettos were also covered. The latter would have made it a more objective piece of work, making it more of a documentary instead of a propaganda tool. Super Size Me Morgan Spurlock decided to make this documentary to investigate the fast food companies, and the effects of certain fast food chains products, particularly McDonalds, on the health of society. This Documentary explores the United States growing epidemic of obesity and diabetes as well. Morgan decides to eat nothing but McDonalds food for thirty days. He must eat one of everything on the menu at least once, and when asked to super size his meal he must do so. Another stipulation of Morgans experiment is that he can only take 5,000 steps a day to replicate the exercise that most average Americans get on a daily basis. He must also eat three meals a day, no exceptions and if McDonalds doesnt serve it Morgan cant eat it.Morgan enlists three doctors to assist him through his thirty day documentary. A cardiologist, gastroenterologist, and a general practitioner all check him out at the beginning of the experiment which makes it credible because there is science supporting and bringing logi c to the results of the experiment. Critics of the film, including McDonalds, argue that the author intentionally consumed an average of 5,000 calories per day and did not exercise, and that the results would have been the same regardless of the source of overeating. He was eating solely McDonalds food in keeping with the terms of a potential judgment against McDonalds in court documents highlighted at the beginning of the film. The film addresses such objections by highlighting that a part of the reason for Spurlocks deteriorating health was not just the high calorie intake but also the high quantity of fat relative to vitamins and minerals in the McDonalds menu, which is similar in that regard to the nutritional content of the menus of most other U.S. fast-food chains. About 1/3 of Spurlocks calories came from sugar. His nutritionist, Bridget Bennett RD, cited him about his excess intake of sugar from milkshakes and cokes. It is revealed toward the end of the movie that over the course of the diet, he consumed over 30 pounds of sugar, and over 12 lbs. of fat from their food. The nutritional side of the diet was not fully explored in the film because of the closure of the clinic which monitored this aspect during the filming of the movie. Spurlock claimed he was trying to imitate what an average diet for a regular eater at McDonaldsa person who would get little to no exercisewould do to them. Spurlocks intake of 5,000 calories per day was well over twice the recommended daily intake for a sedentary adult male, which would amount to only about 2,300 calories. A typical man consuming as many calories as Spurlock did would gain nearly a pound a day (which is roughly how much Spurlock gained), a rate of weight gain that could not be sustained for long periods. Additionally, Spurlock did not demonstrate or claim that anyone, let alone a substantial number of people, eats at McDonalds three times per day. In fact McDonalds is mentioned during the movie to have two classes of users of their restaurants: There are the Heavy Users, (about 72% of the customers, who eat at their restaurants once or twice a week), and the SUPERHeavy Users (about 22% of the customers, who eat McDonalds 3 or more times a week). But no one was found who ate at McDonalds three times a day. Spurlock said that he was eating in thirty days the amount of fast food most nutritionists suggest someone should eat in eight years. Though Spurlock provokes fear of fast food, he fails to acknowledge that poor diet is not the only cause of obesity, and that the â€Å"toxic environment† he describes is reason enough to consider that the responsibility should in fact be in the corporations hands. What Spurlock does exactly is that he reflects his own ideology. Before going for the experiment and documenting it he was clear as to what he wanted to show by the end of it and worked towards it, hence it can be debated that he made the documentary with his biasness to his idea, and giving more coverage to the latter instead of bringing about more balance reflection such as the influence and pressure on Americans by the constant advertisements about fast food. Comparison of both documentaries From the information given above about the documentaries in question the first thing that is important to note is the fact that Triumph of the Will was an idea suggested by Adolf Hitler whereas, Super size Me was the idea of an ordinary American filmmaker Morgan Spurlock. This is an important fact to be taken into consideration because eventually the ideology and aim intended by Adolf Hitler and Morgan Spurlock is what will ‘direct the ideas reflected in the documentary, hence, objectivity can be compromised. For reality to be completely present in order to have a real documentary there should be ideally, no draw backs on objectivity in the portrayal of ideas. Adolf Hitler was a Nazi dictator ruling over a powerful country like Germany, his influence and power to pressurise Leni Riefenstahl was unquestionable. On the contrary, Morgan Spurlock was just an independent director. What kind of objectivity and impartiality (two very important subjects to reflect reality) can one expect from a director working under a dictator who controlled the population through fear? The purposes of both documentaries are extreme opposites. Triumph of the Will was intended to be a propaganda political film. Propaganda is after all; a form of communication aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position. As opposed toimpartially providing information, propaganda in its most basic sense, presents information primarily to influence an audience. Propaganda often presents facts selectively (thus possiblylying by omission) to encourage a particular synthesis, or uses loaded messages to produce an emotional rather than rational response to the information presented. The desired result is a change of the attitude toward the subject in the target audience to further apolitical agenda. In comparison to this, Super size Me was more to do with creating awareness amongst people. Creating awareness is the state or ability to perceive, to feel, or to beconsciousof events. In this level of consciousness, sense data can be confirmed by an observer w ithout necessarily implyingunderstanding. This suggests that Spurlock was not aiming at influencing people to completely revolt against fast food but at least beware and conscious of the harmful effects of it. He leaves it upon the audience to make their choice without brainwashing them. The presentation of Triumph of the Will is what documentary forefather, John Grierson would categorise under Poetic mode. Such documentary thrive on a filmmakers aesthetic and subjective visual interpretation of a subject, in addition to it different music is selected for different scenes, just like in the Triumph of Will. By contrast, Super Size me is what Grierson would categorize under participatory mode, in which filmmakers move from behind the camera and appear as subjects in their own work like Spurlock carries out his experiment himself and becomes the main subject of the documentary. The time period in which both documentaries are set in are also crucial points to be noted. Triumph of the Will was set in 1935 in Germany, where people were in the middle of Nazi revolution and political chaos. In contrary to 2004 America where Super Size Me is shot, the taste of the audience has changed dramatically. Audiences of Super Size Me are not only in America but world around, which wasnt the target audience of Triumph of the Will, the latter was meant for only the Germans. To add to this, Germans in 1934 were comparably less educated than the audience of 2004, because one of Germanys major issues at that time was low education. Hence, propaganda movies worked to its full potential as people would not question or form their own opinions; however, the same cannot be expected from liberal thinking people in 2004. The taste of what audience around the world want now is completely different from what was expected in 1930s. Nowadays, reality and truth in the form of controversy is what really gets peoples attention. One may wonder if 1930s audience would have liked to watch real documentary, what if Triumph of the Will was to include scenes from the concentration camps, how would have the audience responded to the documentary? Lastly, editing plays a big role in representing reality. The camera can capture all the truth there is to be captured, but the audience eventually see what is presented to them after much chopping done in the editing room. Directors choice of scenes, images and music is what is eventually reflected in the documentary. In other words, only one or a few peoples choice or ideology is selected and presented to the audience. The directors selection does not necessarily have to reflect the reality. Therefore, how is reality ever represented in documentaries? Conclusion Bibiolography:  · Stella Bruzzi, New Documentary: A critical Introduction, Routledge, 2000  · Paul Ward, Documentary: The margins of reality, Wallflower Press, 2005  · Bill Nichols, Introduction to Documentary, Indiana University press, 2001  · Michael Renov , Theorizing Documentary, Routledge, 1993 * Lee, J., 2008-08-06Propaganda Techniques in Early Documentary Films: An In-depth Analysis with Seven DevicesPaper presented at the annual meeting of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, Marriott Downtown, Chicago, ILOnline.2009-05-23fromhttp://www.allacademic.com/meta/p272071_index.html * Henrik Juel, Defining Documentary Film, http://pov.imv.au.dk/Issue_22/section_1/artc1A.html * Malene Jorgensen, What is a Documentary? Defining the Characteristics of a Documentary Film, http://documentaryfilms.suite101.com/article.cfm/what_is_a_documentary, Sep 11, 2009 * http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leni_Riefenstahl * Jill Godmilow, in conversation with Ann-Louise Shapiro, How real is real is the reality in documentary film? http://www.nd.edu/~jgodmilo/reality.html * http://classes.design.ucla.edu/Spring04/161A/projects/Wes/Exercise_B/mainpage.html * Helen Abbott, Movie analysis: Nazi ideology in Leni Riefenstahls Triumph of the Will, http://www.helium.com/items/468495-movie-analysis-nazi-ideology-in-leni-riefenstahls-triumph-of-the-will * Caoimhe Crinigan, Movie analysis: Nazi ideology in Leni Riefenstahls Triumph of the Will, http://www.helium.com/items/1463308-the-nazi-filmmaking-of-leni-riefenstahl-to-be-deplored-and-respected * http://www.oppapers.com/essays/Supersize-Me-Conceptual-Analysis/141479 * http://www.megaessays.com/viewpaper/28660.html * http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propaganda * http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Awareness * http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Documentary_film * http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Documentary_mode * http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Size_Me

Leiningen Versus The Ants Essay -- English Literature Essays

Leiningen Versus The Ants Would you risk your own life and the lives of another 400 people just so you might have a chance at saving a coffee plantation? Well that’s what Leiningen did in the short story â€Å"Leiningen Versus the Ants†. And by doing so he has proved himself to be an over confident, persuasive, and sexist man. And is not a person to be admired. In this story Leiningen has shown himself as an extremely over confident person. From the time he was aware of the impending danger of the ants, to when he was almost willing to give it all up he still believed that he could conquer them. This is show on the very first page of the story where Leiningen says â€Å"Decent of you, paddling all this way just to give me the tip. But you’re pulling my leg of course when you say I must do a bunk. Why, even a herd of saurians couldn’t drive me from this plantation of mine.† A second sign of his over confidence is when he says â€Å"And don’t think I’m the kind of fathead who tries to fend lightning off with my fists, either. I use my intelligence, old man. With me, the brain isn’t a second blind gut; I know what it’s there for. When I began this model farm and plantation three years ago, I took into account all that could conceivably happen to it. And now I’m ready for anything and everything---including your ants.† These two statements show him as thinking he has planned for the worst and knows all that lies ahead of him but in truth, he knows the least of what will actually happen...

Manchester United Ltd

1. 0 INTRODUCTION Whether, we realized it or not, from the moment we are brought in this world and growing up in our everyday live we are living in and going through a life a full of organization with a certain mission and goal to achieve. We can take something that is truly close to our heart as an organization, our dearest family. A family has a systematic structure as an organization; we have our father who sit at the top and make most of the important decision, our mother who is second in command.And also their children who assist in accomplish the goal and purpose. Even thought this is just how I see a successful organization, but what is truly the meaning of organization thought the eye of a book. An organization defines as a systematic arrangement of people brought together to accomplish some specific purpose. A common characteristic of organization are have a distinct goal and purpose, comprise people working together to accomplish certain objectives, a systematic structure a nd an aim to serve the society.Through this assignment we are going to look into an organization of a company and look through all the characteristics in making them an organization. For my organization I have chosen Manchester United Football Club Limited as my choice of organization. Almost all part of the world, where ever you step your feet in this world people will recognize the global brand of Manchester United so this include them as one of the biggest organization in the world. The reason I choose Manchester United because of my passion for this club and my enthusiasm in football as a leading market in sport or maybe even the world.Other than that, Manchester United is also a perfect family oriented company, where their responsibilities is not just for the owner, director and staff but also to the supporters and fans of the club who gave almost everything to our beloved club. They have the obligate not just for the owner and director but also to the fans. MANCHESTER UNITED F OOTBALL CLUB LIMITED 2. 0 Introduction The club was formed as Newton Heath L&YR F. C. in 1878 as the works team of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway depot at Newton Heath, changing its name to Manchester United in 1902.Prior to the 2005 takeover by the Glazer family the company had traded as Manchester United plc on the London Stock Exchange since 1991 and prior to flotation was registered as Manchester United Football Club Limited. Manchester United is one of the wealthiest and most widely supported football teams in the world. As of July 2011, the club is number one in Forbes magazine's annual ranking of the world's 50 most valuable sports teams, valued at $1. 86  billion. 2. 1 Nature of business Manchester United business revenues come in from mainly five sources: 1.Match-day Income (money made from home games through ticket sales and other match-day activities) 2. Broadcasting Rights 3. Commercial Tie-ups (sponsorships, etc) 4. Merchandise 5. Catering Manchester United main nature of business is football. Ticketing for Football matches play a big part in generating income for Manchester united. And with this Old Trafford was build to accommodate football matches for Manchester united. With Old Trafford's having capacity boosted to 75,800. The crowds of about 250,000 should generate match day revenue of ? 2. 8m on each occasion, more than ? . 1m of that figure from corporate sales. And with match-day ticket prices having doubled since over the past few years, United can make a bulk of their earning through ticket sales. As we all know football match is play on television all around the world and Manchester United is not excluded from this. In England the Football Association is the one responsible in collectively sells TV rights for the English football club. Because higher league placement results in a greater share of television rights, success on the field generates greater income for the club.Since the inception of the Premier League, Manchester Un ited has received the largest share of the revenue generated from the  BSkyB  broadcasting United have also significantly income in their Commercial revenue, through sponsorship deals with AON and NIKE. Also the whopping ? 10m/yr training kit deal with DHL given that the AON deal for the jersey itself is ? 20m/yr. Manchester United has also consistently enjoyed the highest commercial income of any English club. The club's commercial arm generated ? 51  million. A key sponsorship relationship is with sportswear company  Nike, who manage the club's merchandising operation as part of a ? 03  million 13-year partnership established in 2002. Through  Manchester United Finance  and the club's membership scheme,  One United, those with an affinity for the club can purchase a range of branded goods and services. Additionally, Manchester United-branded media services – such as the club's dedicated television channel,  MUTV  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ have allowed the club to expand its fan base to those beyond the reach of its Old Trafford stadium. Other than that, the opening of red devils cafe at the stadium and around the world helps in exploring a new kind of business and also revenues.Figure 1. 1 Manchester United: Revenue source and percentages 2. 2 Country of origin. Manchester United was formed in Newton Heath, United Kingdom in 1878 as Newton Heath LYR Football Club by the Carriage and Wagon department of the  Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway depot. But the club changed its name to Manchester United in 1902 and moved to  Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, United Kingdom in 1910. 2. 3 How long has it been in business? Manchester United was formed is 1878 and it is still operating of as now. So the company have been in business for 134 years. . 4 How global is the company. Manchester United globalization is a very special one indeed. Football main customers in business are the fans, Manchester United is not just broaden England but across the world i n that fact. But how did this happen? From a small railway team into one of the leading global brand in the world. It all started in 1956, Manchester  United  became the first English club to take part in the European cup, a competition that are watch all over the world, thru this showing the growth in the club and how it is started in becoming ore global and In 1968 Manchester  United  became the first English club to win the European cup and opening the eyes of people. Since that, Manchester United have been a hugely dominating force in the worlds scene, in England, in Europe, and ultimately around the world. Another reason is the ownership of the club. Manchester  United  generally tended to be owned by hundreds of shareholders, primarily from the UK and Ireland. However in 2005, after J. P. McManus  and John  Magnier (two Irish men) sold their shares in the club to Malcolm  Glazer he brought his stake in the club up to 75%, thus gaining control.Glazer is an Ame rican business tycoon, this contributed in the spread of Manchester United  to America. The globalization of Manchester  United  can certainly be seen through the companies that sponsor the club. Out of the 12 main sponsors of the club, not one is British, instead coming from America, Germany, Switzerland, Turkey, Russia, China, Korea, Malaysia and the Middle East. We can also see the globalization thru the squad Manchester united, out of 30 players, 17 are not from the UK, instead, coming from places such as Brazil, Portugal, Spain, Serbia and Bulgaria, amongst others.We take Park Ji Sung as an example, a Korean player. Park is a mega star in his home country and thus has increased Manchester United's fan base significantly in Korea, and Asia. But there were other events that contribute to the Manchester United Globalization such as the Munich Air Disaster in 1958, were the Manchester united plane crash after a match in Munich. People felt sorry for the club and public heart was touched thus creating more fan base. 2. 5 Market values Estimated value: $1. 83 billion (? 1. 19 million)United have reaped the financial benefits of lucrative sponsorship deals with the likes of Nike and Aon, as well as a myriad of other income-generating endeavours such as their in-house television channel MUTV, which is currently beamed into over 190 million households worldwide to secure themselves an estimated global value of over $1. 8 billion (? 1. 1 billion). United are thought to have upwards of 333 million followers across the world, with a core contingent of 139 million supporters 2. 6 Top management of the company Owner: Glazer family via Red Football Shareholder Limited[136] * Honorary president:  Martin Edwards[137] Manchester United Limited * Co-chairmen:  Joel Glazer  &  Avram Glazer[138] * Chief executive:  David Gill[138] * Chief operating officer: Michael Bolingbroke[138] * Commercial director: Richard Arnold[139] * Chief of Staff: Ed Woodward[140] * Non-executive directors:  Bryan Glazer, Kevin Glazer, Edward Glazer & Darcie Glazer[138] Manchester United Football Club * Directors:  David Gill,  Michael Edelson,  Sir Bobby Charlton,  Maurice Watkins[140] * Club secretary:  John Alexander[141] Global ambassador:  Bryan Robson[142] Coaching and medical staff * Manager:  Sir Alex Ferguson[143] * Assistant manager:  Mike Phelan[144] * First team coach:  Rene Meulensteen[145] * Goalkeeping coach:  Eric Steele[146] * Fitness coach:  Tony Strudwick[147] * Reserve team manager:  Warren Joyce[148] 2. 7 Shareholders. Malcolm Glazer is a US based businessman who bought 100% of Manchester United PLC and delisted United from the London Stock Exchange in 2005, through a holding company called Red Football. The Glazers purchased their first share of Manchester United on 2 March 2003, spending around ?   million on a 2. 9% stake. On 26 September 2003, it was reported that he had increased his share to 3. 17%,  tak ing his shareholding above the 3%. By 20 October, he had increased his shareholding to 8. 93%,  and on 29 November it was reported that he owned around 15%. On 12 February 2004, Glazer increased his stake in the club to 16. 31% and the following day's  Financial Times  reported that he had instructed  Commerzbank  to explore a takeover bid. Glazer increased his shareholding to over 19% the following June, although he was still not the largest shareholder.His shareholding continued to increase, nearing 30% by October 2004. Upon reaching 30%, Glazer would have to launch a formal takeover bid. On 12 May 2005, Glazer reached an agreement with  shareholders  J. P. McManus  and  John Magnier  to purchase their 28. 7% stake in the team, giving him a controlling stake with just under 57% of the team's shares. He then managed to secure the stake of the third largest stakeholder, Scottish mining entrepreneur Harry Dobson, taking his share to 62% of the club. Just hours lat er, Glazer had bought a further 9. 8% stake taking his total ownership to 71. 8%.On 16 May 2005, Glazer took his shareholding in Manchester United to 75%, allowing him to end the club's  public limited company  (PLC) status and delist it from the  London Stock Exchange, which he did on 22 June. On 14 June 2005, Glazer successfully increased his share in the club to 97. 3%, sufficient for full control. On 28 June, he increased his share to 98%, enough for a compulsory buyout of all remaining shareholders. The final valuation of the club was almost ? 800  million. 2. 8 Stakeholders Manchester United has a number of stakeholders. Stakeholders are an individual or group with a direct interest in an organisations performance.The main stakeholders are the employees, owners, customers, suppliers, financer, fans and the local community. Manchester United employees apart from the football players also consist of   employees that are responsible in sales, marketing, communication, h uman resources and finance. These departments exist in football clubs as well as in traditional companies. From the employees their main interests are to get pay rises and to get better training, the team players for example want better training so they can perform better and more effectively.The fans main interests are, that Manchester United play good games, watch good players and win as much possible, and the owners get more profit. The main interests of the financers, example the sponsors wants to make sure there brand name gets advertised and their company logo is seen on the players shirts, they also want a team that wins the matches so that their company can be associated with a winning champion team. The suppliers are also stakeholders and their main interests are that Manchester united keep-purchasing products from them so they will be making lots of profits. . 9 Corporate Social Responsibilities. The Club’s mission is to be the best football club in the world, both on and off the pitch. It also believes that Manchester United should be a part of the community in the widest sense and that its success should not only be measured in the number of trophies it wins, but also by the impact it has on the community in which it exists. Manchester United as it has taken great strides towards achieving a number of off-field goals which have supported its ambition to be a socially integrated and responsible organisation.Manchester United is committed to tackling environmental and social issues at regional, national and international level, using the Manchester United brand to leverage support and create awareness of the issues facing the planet. Here is some of Manchester United CSR program: 1. Hub of the Community: Hub schools are based in secondary schools within Partington, Wythenshawe and Salford. Each has up to 12 feeder primary schools and the structure of the programme allows for a long term relationship to be developed. The participants benefit fr om consistent provision with sessions being delivered both within and in addition to the curriculum. . Something to Chew On: An interactive project aimed at teaching 7-8 year olds about their own health and wellbeing. 3. Premier Men’s Health: Aims to use football to deliver key messages about health and encourage men over 18 to lead a healthier lifestyle. 4. KICKZ: The Foundation has run KICKZ since 2006. The project uses the power of football and the appeal of the Manchester United brand to target hard to reach and challenging communities. The project aims to create safer, stronger and more respectful communities by developing young people’s potential. 5. Girls Centre of Excellence:The Manchester United Foundation Girl’s FA Centre of Excellence aims to provide opportunities for girls to play at the highest level, with the eventual view of developing them into international players. 6. Disability Centre of Excellence: The Foundation runs a Centre of Excellence f or disabled players in partnership with the Manchester FA, with the specific aim of developing the more talented players from the Ability Counts leagues into the national squads. 2. 10 Employees Being successful off the pitch as well as on it requires Manchester United to have employees who are as committed to the success of the company.Manchester United currently employing around 505 people including manager, backroom staff and players. 3. 0 Conclusion Manchester United can be proud of every achievement that came in their way. Started from only a railway football team that focus just to play some football into one of the biggest football team, company and brand in the world. The dedication and spirit of the players and community to see their team perform at the highest level is truly something to be wandered, although have nothing to gain from it just pride that came in their mind.From the management of the company to the staff and players, they all made this happen. Without the pe rformance of the football player in the pitch, the organization of the backroom staff and also the fans all of this cannot be achieve, Manchester United is truly a one united company. As conclusion, of course if given an opportunity to work with them it will be a big pleasure. Although not as a footballer but as Director or Head of Marketing Strategy ( Asia) will be an honour for myself.

Snow Leopard essays

Snow Leopard essays The Snow leopard is a wonderful and majestic endangered animal. There are anywhere between 4,510 and 7,350 left in the wild. This diminutive number of Snow Leopards resides mainly in the countries of China, Kyrgyzstan and, Mongolia in Central Asia. The snow leopard occupies an extremely patchy and fragmented realm of long narrow mountain systems and islands scattered throughout a vast region surrounding the Central Asian deserts and plateaus. Though this region is quite large, 2.3 million km2, only about 1.6 million of that is occupied by the snow leopard. Though most snow leopards are associated with arid or semi-arid shrub lands and grasslands, some are located mountains of Russia where they are also to be found in open coniferous forest, though disdain dense woodland. The diet of the Snow leopard consists mainly of wild sheep and goats (blue sheep, Asian ibex, markhor and argali), marmots (often taking advantage of spring population explosions of this small rodent), pikas, hares and game birds (partridge and snow cocks.). Snow Leopards usually make large kills every 9 to 14 days, staying in the kill area for 3 to 4 days; once that time period expires they usually move the activity to a relatively distant piece of their territory. The snow leopard is a victim of over hunting by the natives of many regions of the high Central Asian mountains. It also suffers from the large scale pika and marmot poisoning programs that have been put into action in the Tibetan plateaus. Another cause for the depletion of the snow leopard is the demand for leopard bones for use in Chinese medicine. Traders have been known to pay up to $190 U.S. currency for a snow leopard skeleton in Tibet. The pelts of the snow leopard are highly prized as well, in fact, the money that can be gained by the sale of a snow leopard pelt is more than a native farmer would make in an entire year. The Snow leopards still left in the wild are being looked ...

Descriptive and Informative Abstracts

Descriptive and Informative Abstracts Free Online Research Papers This handout provides definitions and examples of the two main types of abstracts: descriptive and informative. It also provides guidelines for constructing an abstract and general tips for you to keep in mind when drafting. Finally, it includes a few examples of abstracts broken down to isolate their component parts. What is an abstract? An abstract is a self-contained, short, and powerful statement that describes a larger work. Components vary according to discipline; an abstract of a social science or scientific work may contain the scope, purpose, results, and contents of the work. An abstract of a humanities work may contain the thesis, background, and conclusion of the larger work. An abstract is not a review, nor does it evaluate the work being abstracted. While it contains key words found in the larger work, the abstract is an original document rather than an excerpted passage. top Why write an abstract? You may write an abstract various reasons. The two most important are selection and indexing. Abstracts allow readers who may be interested in the longer work to quickly decide whether it is worth their time to read it. Also, many online databases use abstracts to index larger works. Therefore, abstracts should contain keywords and phrases that allow for easy searching. Selection Say you are beginning a research project on how Brazilian newspapers helped Brazils ultra-liberal president Luiz Igncio da Silva wrest power from the traditional, conservative power base. A good first place to start your research is to search Dissertation Abstracts International for all dissertations that deal with the interaction between newspapers and politics. Newspapers and politics returned 569 hits. A more selective search of newspapers and Brazil returned 22 hits. That is still a fair number of dissertations. Titles can sometimes help winnow the field, but many titles are not very descriptive. For example, one dissertation is titled Rhetoric and Riot in Rio de Janeiro. It is unclear from the title what this dissertation has to do newspapers in Brazil. One option would be to download or order the entire dissertation on the chance that it might speak specifically to the topic. A better option is to read the abstract. In this case, the abstract reveals the main focus of the disse rtation: This dissertation examines the role of newspaper editors in the political turmoil and strife that characterized late First Empire Rio de Janeiro (1827-1831). Newspaper editors and their journals helped change the political culture of late First Empire Rio de Janeiro by involving the people in the discussion of state. This change in political culture is apparent in Emperor Pedro Is gradual loss of control over the mechanisms of power. As the newspapers became more numerous and powerful, the Emperor lost his legitimacy in the eyes of the people. To explore the role of the newspapers in the political events of the late First Empire, this dissertation analyzes all available newspapers published in Rio de Janeiro from 1827 to 1831. Newspapers and their editors were leading forces in the effort to remove power from the hands of the ruling elite and place it under the control of the people. In the process, newspapers helped change how politics operated in the constitutional monarchy of Braz il. From this abstract you now know that although the dissertation has nothing to do with modern Brazilian politics, it does cover the role of newspapers in changing traditional mechanisms of power. After reading the abstract, you can make an informed judgment about whether the dissertation would be worthwhile to read. Indexing Besides selection, the other main purpose of the abstract is for indexing. Most article databases in the online catalog of the library enable you to search by abstracts. This allows for quick retrieval by users and limits the extraneous items recalled by a full-text search. However, for an abstract to be useful in an online retrieval system it must incorporate the key terms that a potential researcher would use to search. For example, if you search Dissertation Abstracts International, using the keywords France revolution and politics, the search engine searched through all the abstracts in the database that included those three words. Without an abstract, the search engine would be forced to only search titles, which, as we have seen, may not be fruitful, or else search the full text. I would bet that a lot more than 60 dissertations have been written with those three words somewhere in the body of the entire work. By incorporating keywords into the abstract, the author emphasizes t he central topics of the work and gives prospective readers enough information to make an informed judgment about the applicability of the work. When do people write abstracts? * when submitting articles to journals, especially online journals * when applying for research grants * when writing a book proposal * when completing the Ph.D. dissertation or MA thesis * when writing a proposal for a conference paper * when writing a proposal for a book chapter Most of the time the author of the entire work (or prospective work) writes the abstract. However, there are professional abstracting services that hire writers to draft abstracts of other peoples work. In a work with multiple authors, the first author usually writes the abstract. Undergraduates, most often in seminar-style classes, are sometimes asked to draft abstracts of books/articles for classmates who have not read the larger work. Types of abstracts There are two types of abstracts: descriptive and informative. They have different aims, so as a consequence they have different components and styles. There is also a third type called critical, but it is rarely used. If you want to find out more about writing a critique or a review of a work, see the UNC Writing Center handout on writing a review. If you are unsure of which type of abstract you should write, ask your instructor if it is for a class, or read other abstracts in your field or in the journal where you are submitting your article. Descriptive abstracts A descriptive abstract indicates the type of information found in the work. It makes no judgments about the work, nor does it provide results or conclusions of the research. It does incorporate key words found in the text and may include the purpose, methods, and scope of the research. Essentially, the descriptive abstract describes the work being abstracted. Some people consider it an outline of the work, rather than a summary. Descriptive abstracts are usually very short- 100 words or less. Informative abstracts The majority of abstracts are informative. While they still do not critique or evaluate a work, they do more than describe it. A good informative abstract acts as a surrogate for the work itself. That is, the writer presents and explains all the main arguments and the important results and evidence in the complete article/paper/book. An informative abstract includes the information that can be found in a descriptive abstract (purpose, methods, scope) but also includes the results and conclusions of the research and the recommendations of the author. The length varies according to discipline, but an informative abstract is rarely more than 10% of the length of the entire work. In the case of a longer work, it may be much less. Here are examples of a descriptive and an informative abstract of this handout: Abstracts, UNC-CH Writing Center, Descriptive abstract: The two most common abstract types- descriptive and informative- are described and examples of each are provided. Informative abstract: Abstracts present the essential elements of a longer work in a short and powerful statement. The purpose of an abstract is to provide prospective readers the opportunity to judge the relevance of the longer work to their project. Abstracts also include the key terms found in the longer work and the purpose and methods of the research. Authors abstract various longer works, including book proposals, dissertations, online journal articles, and internal office communication. There are two main types of abstracts: descriptive and informative. A descriptive abstract briefly describes the longer work while an informative abstract presents all the main arguments and important results. This handout provides examples of various types of abstracts and instructions on how to construct one. Which type should I use? Your best bet in this case is to ask your instructor or refer to the instructions provided by the publisher. You can also make a guess based on the length allowed; i.e., 100-120 words = descriptive; 250+ words = informative. top How do I write an abstract? The format of your abstract will depend on the work being abstracted. An abstract of a scientific research paper will contain elements not found in an abstract of a literature article, and vice versa. However, all abstracts share several mandatory components, and there are also some optional parts that you can decide to include or not. When preparing to draft your abstract, keep the following key process elements in mind: Key process elements: 1. Reason for writing: What is the importance of the research? Why would a reader be interested in the larger work? 2. Problem: What problem does this work attempt to solve? What is the scope of the project? What is the main argument/thesis/claim? 3. Methodology: An abstract of a scientific work may include specific models or approaches used in the larger study. Other abstracts may describe the types of evidence used in the research. 4. Results: Again, an abstract of a scientific work may include specific data that indicates the results of the project. Other abstracts may discuss the findings in a more general way. 5. Implications: What changes should be implemented as a result of the findings of the work? How does this work add to the body of knowledge on the topic? (This list of element is adapted with permission from Phil Koopman, How to Write an Abstract, ece.cmu.edu/~koopman/essays/abstract.html.) All abstracts include: 1. The full citation of the source preceding the abstract. 2. The most important information first. 3. The same level of language found in the original, including technical language. 4. Key words and phrases that quickly identify the content and focus of the work. 5. Clear, concise, and powerful language. Abstracts may include: 1. The thesis of the work in the first sentence. 2. The background that places the work in the larger body of literature. 3. The same chronological structure of the original work. How not to write a abstract: 1. Do not refer extensively to other works. 2. Do not add information not contained in the original work. 3. Do not define terms. If you are abstracting your own writing When abstracting your own work it may be difficult to condense a piece of writing that you agonized over for weeks (or months, or even years) into a 250-word statement. There are some tricks that you could use to make it easier, however. Reverse outlining: This technique is commonly used when you are having trouble organizing your own writing. The process involves writing down the one main idea that is in each paragraph on a separate piece of paper. For the purposes of writing an abstract, try grouping the main ideas of each section of the paper into a single sentence. For a scientific paper, you may have sections titled Purpose, Methods, Results, and Discussion. Each one of these sections will be longer than one paragraph, but they are grouped around a central idea. Use reverse outlining to discover the several ideas in each section and then distill them into one statement. Cut and paste: To create a first draft of an abstract of your own work you can read through the entire paper and cut and paste sentences that particularly capture key passages. This technique is useful for social science research with findings that cannot be encapsulated by neat numbers or concrete results. A well-written humanities draft will have a clear and direct thesis statement and informative topic sentences for paragraphs or sections. Isolate these sentences in a separate document and work on revising these disparate sentences into a unified paragraph. If you are abstracting someone elses writing When abstracting something you have not written you do not have the luxury of cutting and pasting. Instead, it is up to you to divine what a prospective reader would want to know about the work. There are a few techniques that will help you in this process: Identify key terms: Search through the entire document for key terms that identify the purpose, scope, and methods of the work. Pay close attention to the Introduction (or Purpose) and the Conclusion (or Discussion). These sections should contain all the main ideas and key terms in the paper. When writing the abstract be sure to incorporate the key terms. Highlight key phrases and sentences: Instead of cutting and pasting the actual words, try highlighting sentences or phrases that appear to be central to the work. Then, in a separate document, re-write the sentences and phrases in your own words. Dont look back: After reading the entire work, put it aside and write a paragraph about the work without referring to it. In the first draft you may not remember all the key terms or the results, but you will remember what the main point of the work was. Remember not to include any information you did not get from the work being abstracted. Revise, revise, revise No matter what type of abstract you are writing, or whether you are abstracting your own work or someone elses, the most important step in writing an abstract is to revise early and often. When revising, delete all extraneous words and incorporate meaningful and powerful words. The idea is to be as clear and complete as possible in the shortest amount of space. The Word Count feature of MS Word can help you keep track of how long your abstract is and help you hit your target length. top Example 1: Humanities abstract Kenneth Tait Andrews, Freedom is a constant struggle: The dynamics and consequences of the Mississippi Civil Rights Movement, 1960-1984 Ph.D. State University of New York at Stony Brook, 1997 DAI-A 59/02, p. 620, Aug 1998 This dissertation examines the impacts of social movements through a multi-layered study of the Mississippi Civil Rights Movement from its peak in the early 1960s through the early 1980s. By examining this historically important case, I clarify the process by which movements transform social structures and the constraints movements face when they try to do so. The time period studied in this dissertation includes the expansion of voting rights and gains in black political power, the desegregation of public schools and the emergence of white-flight academies, and the rise and fall of federal anti-poverty programs. I use two major research strategies: (1) a quantitative analysis of county-level data and (2) three case studies. Data have been collected from archives, interviews, newspapers and published reports. This dissertation challenges the argument that movements are inconsequential. Indeed, some view federal agencies, courts, political parties, or economic elites as the agents dri ving institutional change. Typically these groups acted in response to movement demands and the leverage brought to bear by the civil rights movement. The Mississippi movement attempted to forge independent structures for sustaining challenges to local inequities and injustices. By propelling change in an array of local institutions, movement infrastructures had an enduring legacy in Mississippi. Now lets break down this abstract into its component parts to see how the author has distilled his entire dissertation into a ~200 word abstract. What the dissertation does This dissertation examines the impacts of social movements through a multi-layered study of the Mississippi Civil Rights Movement from its peak in the early 1960s through the early 1980s. By examining this historically important case, I clarify the process by which movements transform social structures and the constraints movements face when they try to do so. How the dissertation does it The time period studied in this dissertation includes the expansion of voting rights and gains in black political power, the desegregation of public schools and the emergence of white-flight academies, and the rise and fall of federal anti-poverty programs. I use two major research strategies: (1) a quantitative analysis of county-level data and (2) three case studies. What materials are used Data have been collected from archives, interviews, newspapers, and published reports. Conclusion This dissertation challenges the argument that movements are inconsequential. Indeed, some view federal agencies, courts, political parties, or economic elites as the agents driving institutional change. Typically these groups acted in response to movement demands and the leverage brought to bear by the civil rights movement. The Mississippi movement attempted to forge independent structures for sustaining challenges to local inequities and injustices. By propelling change in an array of local institutions, movement infrastructures had an enduring legacy in Mississippi. Keywords Civil Rights Movement Mississippi voting rights desegregation top Example 2: Science abstract Luis Lehner, Gravitational radiation from black hole spacetimes Ph.D. University of Pittsburgh, 1998 DAI-B 59/06, p. 2797, Dec 1998 The problem of detecting gravitational radiation is receiving considerable attention with the construction of new detectors in the United States, Europe and Japan. The theoretical modeling of the wave forms that would be produced in particular systems will expedite the search and analysis of the detected signals. The characteristic formulation of GR is implemented to obtain an algorithm capable of evolving black holes in 3D asymptotically flat spacetimes. Using compactification techniques, future null infinity is included in the evolved region, which enables the unambiguous calculation of the radiation produced by some compact source. A module to calculate the waveforms is constructed and included in the evolution algorithm. This code is shown to be second-order convergent and to handle highly non-linear spacetimes. In particular, we have shown that the code can handle spacetimes whose radiation is equivalent to a galaxy converting its whole mass into gravitational radiation in one s econd. We further use the characteristic formulation to treat the region close to the singularity in black hole spacetimes. The code carefully excises a region surrounding the singularity and accurately evolves generic black hole spacetimes with apparently unlimited stability. This science abstract covers much of the same ground as the humanities one, but it asks slightly different questions. Why do this study The problem of detecting gravitational radiation is receiving considerable attention with the construction of new detectors in the United States, Europe and Japan. The theoretical modeling of the wave forms that would be produced in particular systems will expedite the search and analysis of the detected signals. What the study does The characteristic formulation of GR is implemented to obtain an algorithm capable of evolving black holes in 3D asymptotically flat spacetimes. Using compactification techniques, future null infinity is included in the evolved region, which enables the unambiguous calculation of the radiation produced by some compact source. A module to calculate the waveforms is constructed and included in the evolution algorithm. Results This code is shown to be second-order convergent and to handle highly non-linear spacetimes. In particular, we have shown that the code can handle spacetimes whose radiation is equivalent to a galaxy converting its whole mass into gravitational radiation in one second. We further use the characteristic formulation to treat the region close to the singularity in black hole spacetimes. The code carefully excises a region surrounding the singularity and accurately evolves generic black hole spacetimes with apparently unlimited stability. Keywords gravitational radiation (GR) spacetimes black holes Research Papers on Descriptive and Informative AbstractsAmerican Central Banking and OilMy Writing ExperienceDistance Learning Survival GuideIs the Use of Psychotropic Drugs in the Treatment ofContrasting Berthe Morisot and Jan van EyckHenderson the Rain KingQuebec and CanadaMr. Obama and IranExempt vs Non-Exempt EmployeesGlobal Distributive Justice is Utopian

Personal issue Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Personal issue - Essay Example issue of such a sleep problem as insomnia, for it relates to me extremely directly for a long time, and I believe I know the true reason of its occurrence, but let’s see am I right or not. Insomnia is the most frequent manifestation of a temporary malfunction of the nervous system in response to various stressors. There is no specific nature of insomnia appearance, as in different cases it can peer out in different ways. â€Å"While theres no standard definition for insomnia, suggested criteria include taking more than 30 minutes to fall asleep, waking up too early, or sleeping less than 6 1/2 hours a night...† (Beals). This is three types of the disease. Many factors may cause the problem including chronic disease of different kinds, overwork, overexcitement, and all this is worsened by unhealthy lifestyle, negative attitudes towards the world and people on the whole, and oneself in particular. If to cast a bit detailed glance at seeds of insomnia, the most frequent among them are psychological problems, violation of the usual regime, as well as other diseases (heart, liver, etc.), or the use of psychotropic drugs, alcohol, or a cup of strong coffee before goi ng to sleep, overeating in the evening hours, especially junk greasy food. Insomnia can be affected by intense mental work, noisy games, compulsive reading at bedtime or even smoking. It also occurs in the cases of constant expectation of poor sleep and related experiences, as well as can be a result of insufficient physical activity. The specific side of the disease is connected with the fact that â€Å"Although many patients can link the start of their insomnia to a particular cause, others have a form of insomnia with no underlying connection to another disorder† (The New York Times). In such a case there is a need of seeking medical advice if a sleep is not normalized in short terms. Depending on duration of disturbance, there are three forms or phases of insomnia, namely: a transient or episodic one

Constructivism Theory of International Relations Essay

Constructivism Theory of International Relations - Essay Example Based on these articles, I would like to point out that these scholars conducted a well organized and extensive research. They had to choose to carry out a research on this theory in order to create more awareness and inform their respective audiences on all the contributions, controversies and the gaps in this theory which need more researchers to study. In the choice of their methodology, I would like to recommend that it was properly done. It seems that they knew about the main objective of their research. Thus, they identified and used the most appropriate variables which would help them in answering their research questions and the hypotheses. Both of these scholars knew about the predictions that would determine their findings. This explains why there was no failure in the whole of their research. After identifying the research topic/issue, they settled on literature review in which they conducted several documentary analyses in order to get more information about this theory. They did this by choosing the most appropriate and relevant set of documents to use. Thus, their work became more credible and authoritative to be relied upon by other scholars for carrying out their future researches (Rodney, B.H., 2009). This area or f research is quite important for these scholars. Although several scholars have researched on it, because, as Richard and Christian suggest, a lot still need to be done in order to fill up the missing links. Based on their findings that this theory is valuable for the contemporary society.

Applying the Laws of Sines and Cosines Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Applying the Laws of Sines and Cosines - Essay Example For both solutions of the ambiguous case the third angle is found and the rest sides are calculated (Aufmann and Nation, 2014). SSS and SAS cases are solved applying the law of cosines. According to the law of cosines, the square of any side of the triangle is equal to the sum of squares of the rest sides subtracting double product of these sides and a cosine of the angle between these sides (Aufmann and Nation, 2014). For instance, For SSS case, the cosine of each angle can be found from the equation, and the corresponding angles can be calculated. For the SAS case the unknown side is found from the equation initially. Then, the rest angles are found using the procedure for SSS case (Aufmann and Nation, 2014). Thus, the general guidelines for any triangle are to define the problem or the case (SSS, SSA) encountered. For the ambiguous case, the number of possible triangles has to be found. Afterward, the solution for the triangle can be found using the procedures described

Hills Like White Elephants Essay Essay Example for Free

Hills Like White Elephants Essay Essay 1. I believe â€Å"the American and the girl with him† were talking about having an abortion, and how it would change their relationship if they were to have a baby. He was saying that it is the only thing â€Å"bothering† them and making them â€Å"unhappy.† The girl appears undecided, and scared of losing the man. 2. Nothing really happens, except a rehashing of their relationship, which seems to consist of looking â€Å"at things and try[ing] new drinks.† 3. Their relationship is not about communication, but about the girl following everything the man says   because she doesn’t care about herself. She just wants him to love her. He tries to manipulate the girl to agree to the abortion, saying that things between them will not have to change, and that â€Å"things will be like they were,† when she felt he loved her.   He keeps speaking about â€Å"letting the air in,† which makes me think that he wants there to be â€Å"air† in the relationship, and that the non-operation would make him—not them happy again. He feels stifled, and this pressure is reflected in the hot day. The relationship is â€Å"airy† and superficial, without direct communication, because the man does not truly care about her and is concerned only with his interests, and the girl doesn’t care about herself, so she decides to want to do what he thinks is best. 4. The conflict of the story is resolved when the girl decides to have the abortion. The climax is when Hemmingway uses the adjective â€Å"reasonably,† when describing the people waiting for the train. It is a commentary that the man was thinking â€Å"reasonably,† but not from love, even though he says he is. He made his decision out of reason, and she out of emotion. 5. The hills are described as very fertile and the opposite landscape as very barren, and it seems to represent the barrenness of their relationship, as well as the discussion about abortion. 6. I would like to know why the girl said, â€Å"’I’ll scream.’†

Study On British Airways And Iberia Airlines Merger Management Essay

Study On British Airways And Iberia Airlines Merger Management Essay This case study seeks to explore why MA is taking place between British airways and Iberian airlines, taking into consideration globalisation, rationalisation and modularisation. Introduction British airways are U.K incorporated airline firm and is known for its world-class services in the airline industry. It was formed in the 1970s as the result of a merger between BOAC (British Overseas Airways Corporation) and BEA (British European Airways).From the past three decades British airways has been the flag career airline of the United Kingdom. The main headquarter is located near to  London Heathrow Airport. British airways is the largest airline in the UK based on the size of its fleet, international flights and international destinations. On the other hand Iberian airlines are Spain based airline firm and are the countrys largest air transport group and the fourth-largest in Europe. Iberia is listed in the Ibex 35 of Spanish stock market. It is the only European Airline to report a profit continuously till past 13 years and one of the three airlines to be listed in Dow Jones Stock index. In addition, the company carries its social responsibility in a better and a distinguished manner. From the year 1927 the airline is operating its business successfully and conducts mainly three operations: Transport of passengers  and  cargo Aircraft maintenance Handling  services in airports Both the airlines firms have had their share of success but are now facing a number of industrial problems due to recession and globalisation. Problems of the companies There used to be a time when British airways (BA) was said as the worlds favourite airline, as its banners conceitedly confirmed. However, taking the present economic scenario BA is undergoing a number of problems in the industry. British airways are still struggling with the legacy of state ownership even after it has been privatised for last twenty years. Even recession has hard-hit the airline industry and to overcome the losses that British airlines had faced during recession; it had decided to cut down on its cost by reducing cabin crew and by discouraging an increase in the salary. However this acted as a catalyst in the industrial disputes and the effect of which is still very much felt in the daily business of BA; there have been a number of deadlocks and strikes within the airlines which have left passengers to decide on for other airlines.(ECONOMIST, 2009). Due to economic crisis business coming from North American routes was hard-hit due to a fall in the business-class travel. However, this could be recovered with the recovery of American economy as well as reviving the long-haul travel which makes a major part of BA profits. One of BAs major problems is Pension Deficit. BA has also been facing tough competition from low-cost airlines that have been providing customers with cheaper fares on short-haul travel. So, the only cure to overcome such losses is seen in creating or teaming up with a low cost partner. (ECONOMIST, 2009) Iberian airlines have been suffering from lower air cost travel demand as well. It has reported a trouncing of 16.4 million euro in the third quarter compared to revenue of 30.4 million euro earned in the earlier quarter. The standard fares of this airline have declined by 14% and even the load factor i.e. how filled the air-crafts are, declined to as much as 1.1% points to 82.1%. To cope up with the credit crunch it has decided to freeze the wages for 2010 and 2011 thus enhancing annual savings up to 37 million euro by 2011. It also plans to create new airline to cater to the needs of the traffic of Madrid Hub. (MENAFN, 2009) British airways decided to join hands with Iberian airlines as a result of credit crunch. By coming together they would come in the league of big European airlines. The merger with the Spain based airlines was looked upon as an appealing blend a year ago. However, taking the present state of affairs it seems to be worth a joint rescue process. This is so because both of their airlines economies are still under the influence of financial crisis; struggling with costs higher than the income. Iberia is still not moved by Mr. Willie Walshs, chief executive of BA, disagreements with the union. It still holds optimistic view towards BAs major problem of Pension Deficit. However if we consider the articles or the memorandum of the merger which was signed in November 09 between the two companies, Iberia has the right to call of the contract if BA is unable to meet up to the requirements of the trustees concerning the two pension funds. As recalculated on December 14th 09 by the trustees, the shortage of the two funds was declared to be at  £3.7 billion, based on March 31st 09 valuation. Presently BA is putting in cash worth  £131m a year. The Pension Regulator is helping to conclude whether the valuation performed by the trustees is satisfactory or not and what further actions are required to overcome the credit crunch. In this context, Iberian airlines say that it can decide to call of the deal if BA lands up paying more cash. (ECONOMIST, 2009) Airlines mergers and acquisitions are based upon strategies which involves several conditions. Airlines MA is beneficial for both travellers and airline employees. The issues which are considered while aviation MA are time, approvals, efficiency, competition, passenger benefits, and conflicts. Mergers and acquisition in airline industry is an emerging development across the world. But such MA are extremely planned and several important factors are considered. Such important factors are: The area covered by the airline The services and image of the airline Partnership of the airline with a rival group of airlines. Merger: A strategic plan The BA and Iberia pact will create a carrier of $25 billion, for instance. This deal makes a lot of sense and will cement the leading positions of the big three European network players. The merger seems to take place when the airline sector is badly hit by the decrease in number of passengers and cargo traffic. Apart of that the merger became the need of the hour, British airways reported a 20% decline in revenues to 4.1 billion pounds resulting in an operating loss of 111 million pounds in the six month period ending at September 2009. According to analyst Tony Shepard at the British brokerage firm Charles Stanley, the company is likely to report a 400 million pound loss for its full fiscal year ending in April 2010. British airways important North American routes and business have been hard hit by the collapse in business-class travel. This could bounce back quickly with economic recovery in America and, provided that cost increases from environmental measures are not too onerous; the long-haul travel on which BAs profitability depends should revive in time. But, like all former national carriers in Europe, it is facing devastating competition on its short-haul flights from low-cost airlines. .On the other hand the merger is definitely in need by Iberia also as the airlines faces hardships because airline sector in Spain is facing exceptionally difficult conditions amid the economic crisis and competition from high-speed rail. Iberian airlines financial position is quite weak as the company had plunged into the red in the second quarter of 2009, recording a huge net loss of 72.8 million Euros. Afterwards the company declared its third quarter results where it reported a loss of 16.4 million Euro s (24.4 million dollars. Due to such extreme losses and no signs of recovery in the market, the merger was seen as a best strategic move by Iberia. The planned merger with Iberia, the Spanish airline, looked as if it would be a winning combination a year ago when it was first mooted. Today it seems more like a mutual rescue operation. Both airlines national economies are still in the doldrums; both firms are struggling with costs greater than their revenues. It is also reasonably sanguine about BAs other big problem: its enormous pension deficit. But according to the merger memorandum signed, Iberia can call off the wedding if BA cannot reach a satisfactory agreement with the trustees of its two pension funds. As on 9th November 2009 there was an official announcement that both of them (British airways and Iberian airlines) reached an initial agreement for a merger which is planned to be completed by late 2010.As per the market this merger, which will need the European Commissions s eal of approval, will lead to the creation of the worlds third biggest airline. The deal would see the new company being split with Iberia being allocated a 45% stake and BA the remaining 55%. The new business would have 419 aircraft and over 200 destinations. In their last financial years, their joint revenues are approximately à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬15 billion. The airlines believe there is a compelling strategic rationale for the transaction, which is expected to generate annual synergies of approximately à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬400 million, and benefit both companies shareholders, customers and employees. The new group will combine the two companies leading positions in the UK and Spain and enhance their strong presence in the international long haul markets, while retaining the individual brands and current operations of each airline. In July 2008 there was news of pair being in talks for an all-share merger. But, because of issues such as the balance of control and the size of BAs pension-fund deficit the discussions were put at a stop. Market situation As per the current market scenario passenger traffic appears to have stabilized, and airlines have been able to convince their workforces that the industry is in crisis, pushing through some labour concessions and reducing capacity. BA is making genuine progress in lowering costs, says analyst Nick Cunningham of Evolution Securities. As per the British airways ongoing activities it seems the situation of the company has started improving after announcement of the merger, the company has recapitalized; following a convertible bond offering over the summer last year and now has a cash balance of 1.5 billion pounds. In addition the company has seen an increase in long haul flights which is one of the major areas where airline companies make most of the profit. But still after all the positive changes British airways still face a number of issues related to their workforce. Competitors in the market have a very mixed reaction towards the merger of both the airline. Virgin Atlantic which as per the market view faces the biggest competition from this merger its official said in a statement that the merger will increase BAs dominance at Heathrow with 44% of takeoff and landing slots this winter, and added its impossible for any other airline to replicate their scale. Other airline companies have the view that the deal could actually help them win business. Michael OLeary, CEO of discount Irish carrier Ryanair, told CNBC that the deal was like two drunks holding each other up on the way home. All you get when you put two high-fare, loss-making airlines together is even higher fares and even bigger losses. Mr. Leary operates a regional carrier and doesnt compete on long-haul flights against carriers like BA. Though these statement can be said as speculation in one sense as the true effect of this merger is still to be seen. But as per in a public announcemen t by BA chief executive Willie Walsh The merger will create a strong European airline well able to compete in the 21st century. The deal would create Europes second biggest airline by stock market capitalisation, and third biggest by income, with around 60 million passengers per year, As per market experts. The Times quoted various news on different dates regarding job cuts which were likely at existing head offices in London and Madrid, in maintenance facilities and the merged sales forces. In review of news Mr. Walsh will be chief executive, and Iberia airlines chairman Mr. Antonio Vazquez will be chairman of the new company to be based in London and listed on the London Stock Exchange. MR.Vazquez hailed the agreement, saying they were laying the foundations of what will be one of the most important airlines in the world, a real global airline.It is said that if the merger results fruitful and the economy begins its recovery in 2010 or maybe 2011 then it will be a major boost to both of them. One thing can be predicted that If the deal gets successfully executed the customers are going to have a wide variety of destinations as BA customers would gain access to up to 59 new destinations, of which 13 will be in Latin America, while Iberias customers would gain up to 98 new destinations across the BA network. In addition to it the effects of merger will result in combined stock market capitalisation of some 4.9 billion Euros (4.3 billion pounds, 7.2 billion dollars). Ways to deal with problems British Airways, the UK flag-carrier pension deficit was revealed and it was found that the deficit was more than double amounting to 3.7 billion pounds at the end of March, which was higher than analysts expected but it is not a bug enough to be a reason for ending up of the merger with Spanish airline Iberia. As told to Reuters by a source in Iberia airlines Were not surprised by this figure. It falls within the expected range, As it is already implied before, BAs pension deficit is the crucial area in the negotiation of merger and Iberia has the right to pull of the merger if the payment of this deficit turns to be too big. Moreover, there are chances that the deficit figure could arise till the time the valuation process is completed in next year in June because as per Britains Pensions Regulator the assumption which is used to calculate the deficit are too optimistic. In view of this BA said in a statement The regulators provisional view is that the technical provisions may be m aterially below a level it feels appropriate, As per the problem the British airways management is trying to figure out different ways to solve the problem. As per in one of the announcements BA said that the company and the pension trustees will work together to develop a recovery plan, a process through which the company will consult its employees and their trade unions and will try to take out a decision from it by the end of June 30, 2010. The strategy which is employed now is to change the nature of any pensions deal BA can strike with its staff and calculating the proportion of gap which can be covered by the company. As said by Deutsche Bank The Company may be forced to renegotiate pension benefits with employees if it is to avoid using more shareholders cash, Merger: Theory Practice The reality that only 20 per cent of the acquisitions actually succeed and the rest erodes shareholder wealth (Grubb and Lamb, 2000) can highly contravene with examples of successful takeovers like Swiss by Lufthansa in 2005.Talking about mergers, they create shareholder value with most of it accruing to the resultant company. One of the important reasons behind merging a company is that it helps in increasing shareholders value much above the sum total of the two companies.(Watson and Head,2007) The optimistic impact of mergers extends to and involves economies of scale or synergies, helps to gain power in the markets by creating monopolies, manages agency costs and manages risk for undiversified managers ( Gregor Anrade, Mark Mitchell, Erik Stafford, 2001). Mergers create synergies, reduce operational costs and enhance market share. On the other hand it results in the genesis of agency problems as the managers can cause mergers for their own benefit. It also results in decentralisation of power that reduces responsibility and accountability. Merger which can be defined as when two (or possibly more) business combine. In other words one can say that merger is defined as a situation when two companies/firms decide by mutual agreement to combine the businesses. The term takeover holds a different meaning in comparison to merger. It means when a larger business takes over control of a smaller business and the smaller business gets immersed by the larger business. But in todays era it is not cleared that whether the business has been merged or it has been taken over. According to the relationship between the businesses being merged, mergers and takeovers can be divided into three parts and they are : Horizontal merger occurs when two businesses in the similar industry, and at the Same point in the production process decides to combine. Vertical merger occurs when two businesses in the similar industry, but at different points in the same production process decide to combine. Conglomerate merger occurs when two businesses in unrelated industries decide to combine. As it can be implied from the academic studies supporting the article the merger between British airways and Iberia airlines is Horizontal type of merger as both the companies are from the airlines sector leading to same production process and they have got high presence at international level. According to research, the last few years werent an acceptable period for the air line industry as a result of rapidly increasing fuel costs and due to economic downturn. Airline mergers and acquisitions have clustered and most of the airline bosses exclaimed consolidation is inescapable. The prominent examples of merger and acquisition in the industry are Air France KLM in 2003, Swiss- Lufthansa in 2005, US Airways-America West in 2005 and Delta- Northwest in 2008. The Europeans lead the way in establishing mega-carriers. By revenue Air France-KLM is the world leader with $34 billion, followed by the Lufthansa Group at $30 billion. (The Mating Game.  Airline Business, 02687615, Jan2009, Vol. 25, Issue 1). At the same time, US Airways and America West merger drained their expenses by over $250 million a year and created a company better able to weather $100-a-barrel oil. US  Airways, the nations fifth-largest carrierearned $427 million on revenue of $11.7 billion. (A Cautionary Tale for Airline Mergers, Palmeri, Christopher, Business Week; 3/17/2008) Therefore it can be determined that mergers and acquisitions had sustained airline industry during the economic downturn achieving significant synergies and economies of scale. Although the mergers and acquisitions prevented air lines from liquidation, adverse impacts can also be emphasized. Even US Airways exists bankruptcy; the expanded company still face the internal struggle of affiliating two separate airlines. The main obstacles are employee dissatisfaction and customer complaints (A Cautionary Tale for Airline Mergers, Palmeri, Christopher, Business Week; 3/17/2008 ) However the worlds airlines are forming themselves into huge alliances. Does this matter? Yes: the risk is that the airline industry is moving from one extreme and its time to worry about the competition. Conclusion According to our studies and research it can be seen the airline industry has been hit by the economic downturn. They struggled with the cost hikes higher than their incomes. Both the airlines have been faced by the problems of industrialization and globalization, the competition of other airlines such as low cost airlines and rail services like Euro Star. Most of the airlines restructured and merged and gave them a competition as well. Pension black hole is one of the main current problems occurring in the British airways and some of the analysts say that they need more time to recover from the deficit than their estimated time of 2016.(in practice)Longer time is required for the closure of the deficit according to some analysts. But in the situations of cash in hock the company can consider making non-cash contributions such as non-monetary incentives instead of cash. If the company utilizes its assets for pension funds it might cripple the company with the same forces reducing its net worth. The impeccable size of the deficit is not known by the BA and at the same time they have released before announcing the recovery plan the size of the deficit effectively. However, airline and trustees are now working together to develop a recovery plan to negotiate with employees and trade unions. Unless and until BA manages come up with a solution to determine the pension deficit the merger will remain unsettled.