Metapath’s capital structure Essay

Questions: 1. Analyze Metapath’s capital structure, in particular the various forms and prices of preferred stock from the previous rounds of financing. How has this capital structure affected the offer from Robertson & Stephens? How would RSC’s participating preferred interact with the other tranches of preferred stock? Up to the date in issue, Metapath has raised $9m in four rounds of financing, of which two occurred simultaneously in the beginning. The two participating investors, Bessemer and STI, which supplied the initial funds, received redeemable preferred for the total amount of $1.6m, the third and fourth rounds brought in $1m and $7m respectively (in both cases preferred convertible were issued), with the calculated price for common being the same for the first three rounds ($1.05) and higher ($1.62) for the fourth round. In case of non-conversion, the last issue was supposed to be paid out first, then the last but one, finally, the first two issues, on a pro rata basis. All of the issues had demand registration rights provision, however, the third and the fourth issues, had more leeway in the exercising of the rights (not only on request of 50%+ of all the issues, but also after-IPO or specific date (July 31, 1999), whichever is earlier), thus protecting the interests of the holders. That said, in fact the holders of the two first issues in many respects enjoyed the position of debt holders, with a scheduled payment of principal and dividends. Given the structure and the fact the managers hadn’t invested from their own pockets, RSC suggested investment in participating convertible preferred shares supposed to protect RSC from possible early sale, which would enrich the management disproportionally and leave RSC abused. Through PCPT, RSC would be able to keep both liquidation preference (with the right to receive the first payment in the amount of invested capital and accrued, not unpaid dividend (8%), before any other security holders receive their part) and equity participation along with other investors (after payment of similar to its own liquidation preference), thus, staying in a highly beneficial position. 2. How do you analyze the RSC offer? In particular, what is the value of the  participating preferred feature of the RSC syndicate? What are the risks to the Metapath shareholders if the board accepts the RSC offer? Even though the company has only projected its activity one quarter forward, is it possible to assess the reasonableness of the valuation? (The ten-year treasury rate in September 1997 was 6.21%). To value the participating feature, first, calculate the options’ values for $11.75% and $87.75 million exercise prices. For calculation, assume: ten-year option price; 40% volatility (corresponding to the middle stock volatility range 20-40%); abovementioned exercise prices ($11.75% and $87.75 million); valuation of $87.75 million is reflective of a true â€Å"asset† value; interest rate of 6.21% (as suggested). Apply Black-Scholes model to receive prices of $81.44 and $49.44 million for the two strikes respectively. For $11.75 is 13.4% of post-money $87.75, the price of the issue is $10.91 and $6.62 million respectively; hence, the participation feature’s value is c. $4.29 million. Therefore, the corresponding share of the company, which makes choice irrelevant is $81.44*0.134/$49.44=22%, that is concession of 22% of the company without the participation feature will make Series E holders equally happy, the corresponding price is 0.134/0.22*$6=$3.65 per share. Acceptance by the board of the RSC’s offer will put Metapath shareholders will add a new senior holder to claim the proceeds, both in case of early liquidation and in case of successful exist. This offer will reduce shareholders’ wealth not only by capital dilution, but also by the absolute amount of investments of Series E holders even in the case of future success. With negative earnings and absence of predictable cash flows, one can do the rough check on the basis of P/Sales ratio (given both companies’ (Metapath and Celltech) similar capital structure, the proxy seems reasonable). With the last quarterly figures as of June 1997, when numbers were available for both Celltech and Metapath, and considering the market cap of Celltech of approximately 260 million, the valuation of around 130 million could be used, which means the company might be worth more. The projections per se, however, don’t tell the story as the two segments (system sales and services) are expected to demonstrate different dynamics, so further investigation is needed. A cautionary note on Black-Scholes model application should be made: 3. Is the Celltech offer reasonable? How should the Metapath board view the Celltech stock? What are the risks for the Metapath shareholders if the board accepts the Celltech offer? While the Celltech’s offers seems to be more reasonable in terms of price offered, the shareholders may face additional risks, including the risk of Celltech’s stock price. While possible liquidity within near future (90 days plus other possible restrictions, which is considerably less than its own IPO in 1+ years) as well as lack of dilution appealed to the managers, the fluctuation in the price of Celltech may wipeout the fortune (the stock had only a short history and the view of insiders doesn’t seem to strongly support Celltech). Furthermore, the fit of the Metapath and Celltech’s businesses is questionable, with Metapath potential possibly higher than that of Celltech, which on the other hand may have a limited upside. 4. If you were on the Metapath board, which option would you support? While the offer of RSC is restrictive in many ways, it is more attractive for a team that will manage to perform. With a set of potential liquidity and financial risk questions, which may arise from Celltech’s financing, Metapath board should not only consider the price, but also other terms (which eventually will incentivize the management in the long-term success and keep its interest in business). With this in mind Metapath board will be better off with the RSC’s proposal, rather than Celltech’s.

Formal linkage mechanisms Essay

Formal linkage mechanisms such as mergers and joint ventures are supposed to reduce transaction costs in a business enterprise. However, sometimes companies can experience increased cost if the management fails to lay down proper strategies (Jones, 2006). It is worth noting that joint venture refers to two or more parties coming together to carry out business activities. In this case, these parties agree to share revenues and expenses. On the other hand, mergers entail two or more companies joining but each maintains their identity. The likely causes of increased costs In both mergers and joint ventures, there is the possibility of â€Å"double running of the departments†(Jones, 2006). This comes about by failure of the companies to do away with similar operating departments. For instance, when the joined and merged companies each maintain their human resource department, the results are increased expenses in running the departments. Increased company cost can also result from uncertainty about the future by the trading partners. In this regard, the resulting merger or joint venture has to cater for the associated risks. For instance, the possibility of one or more parties pulling out will result to increased cost since the ratio of sharing cost changes. Conclusion and Recommendations The above factors would contribute to an upward trend in the company’s transactions costs. Therefore, it would be of significance for the computer company to consider the following recommendations. The companies should review their former organizational structure by joining departments that perform similar functions to avoid duplication. Moreover, the companies in the merger should work out a plan towards reducing uncertainty costs such as increasing the number of partners in the merger (Jones, 2006).

Gran Torino monologue on Ashley Kowalski Essay

Hello and welcome to this workshop on writing a monologue on the film, Gran Torino, from 2009, with Clint Eastwood who stars and directed in the film. This workshop will show what techniques are used in writing a monologue. This monologue will be written from Ashley’s point of view. As well as showing what the character, Ashley Kowalski is feeling at the time when her and her family are at the funeral of her grandfather, Walt Kowalski, also the part after the ceremony when there is the reading of the will, and who gets to keep Walt’s car, the Gran Torino. Ashley of course wants the Gran Torino, but does not end up getting it, and instead Thao, Walt’s neighbour, gets the car. I can’t believe this. Why didn’t I get the car, I mean it pretty much belongs to me because I am the eldest out of my brothers and I so I’m pretty much the rightful owner. Instead, that kid who was my grandfather’s neighbour got the car, which is completely unfair. I don’t even know him, and I don’t understand why my grandfather would become friends with him, and how, I mean he was a grumpy old man, he was rude and didn’t care about any one so it didn’t make any sense. How could he end up with his car? My car, it should belong to me, I am the one who wanted the car. I even asked my grandfather if I could have his car when he died, mainly because I needed a car so I wouldn’t have to waste money buying my own, but also because it’s an awesome looking car. I wish that I had been able to persuade him before he died into giving me his car. By the way the car had looked, I think that my grandfather didn’t even drive in the car, because it was in really good condition. My mother and I had already talked about the car, she said that I would be the one to get the car. I had already told her that I asked grandfather about the car, and what he wanted to do with it after he died. I had asked him about the car at my grandmother’s funeral, that’s when I found out that he had the car. I tried to be nice when I asked for the car because I really wanted it. I am quite popular at school and having a car like this would be great for my image. Girls like me at school and in town have cars or are about to get them so I should be getting one, it only makes sense. I was disappointed that my grandfather was dead. I can tell that my dad and my grandfather weren’t close, they hardly saw each other. I wish that they had been closer, so then grandfather would have definitely given me the Gran Torino. We were at the church for a long, long time, just talking about my grandfather, it was very uninteresting. About the time when the priest came out I was already getting annoyed he was saying things like how my grandfather knew a lot about life and death, what does that even mean? I don’t know, and frankly I don’t care. I just wanted to hear the reading of the will, it was killing me that I had to wait for so long to hear it. When the ceremony was finished I was the first one up and out, finally it’s over. After the ceremony my family and I went to the place where they were going to read the will, this is what I had been waiting for, I was thrilled. When we got to the will reading place I just couldn’t wait until I got my hands on the keys to my future car, I started to skip into the office but then my mother stopped me and said that I shouldn’t because I should be in grief, but how can I be depressed when I am about to get my own car. I acted so it looked like I was sad on the inside, but truthfully I was overjoyed. I had to sit through the whole entire will reading to get to the part about the Gran Torino. I noticed that over my shoulder in the corner was standing that weird Asian kid who lives next door to my grandfather’s house, I was puzzled as to why he was in the room but I thought that he must be there only to be jealous when I was going to get my car. I thought to myself, maybe the reason that my grandfather died was because of him, maybe he had something to do with his death, and if this is true then why is he here? He shouldn’t even be in the same building. I wasn’t listening to the man telling us my grandfather’s final wishes, I heard him saying something about his house and charity or something, but I didn’t really care. Then the man started talking about the Gran Torino, I was so anxious about it, but I don’t know why because I knew that it was going to be mine. The man said that my grandfather was giving it to his friend; I wouldn’t have referred to myself as ‘my friend’, but I guess that I will accept that for the car. When the man said that the car was being given to Thao, at first I thought it was a mistake but then the man went on about how Thao couldn’t do anything to it. I was so shocked; I thought that it was completely unfair. I mean I have known my grandfather since I was born, well I’ve been alive when he  has, and I’m even related to him and the boy only knew him for a week or something. I couldn’t believe that I didn’t get the car; I told my grandfather that I wanted it. I hope that the kid does something to it so it becomes mine.

Comparison of behavior and its consequential rewards or punishments Term Paper

Comparison of behavior and its consequential rewards or punishments and how it is treated by the author, in Dante's inferno, Boc - Term Paper Example These already difficult circumstances were intensified by seven terrible waves of the Back Plague between years 1347 and 1400, which killed at least a third of the European population. On top of that, Western Europe was shattered by a long and exhausting war between England and France: the Hundred Year’s War. On such a dark background, full of sorrow and turmoil, the Church became incapable to maintain its position as a spiritual leader, as a source for relief and as a provider of ideas to help society to recover and rebuild itself. With epidemic and famine spreading everywhere and the church officials, which fell into corruption and hypocrisy, incapable of providing spiritual shelter as they previously used to, the people in Europe downgraded into some sort of cosmic insecurity. Thus, they started to screen their society for faults and wrongs, questioning the absolute power of the Catholic Church and trying to approach God not through priests, monks and other representatives of the Church, who became rich, greedy and corrupt, but through their own readings and interpretations of the Bible2. In England, John Wyclif3, distinct philosopher and theologian, criticized the wrongdoings of the Church and their corrupt ways to gain wealth and power. Therefore, the emergence of such new, progressive and obviously, heretic opinions were a clear evidence that change in scholastic and common thought was occurring. The great writers at that time could not, given the circumstances, remain indifferent to that complicated, yet fascinating scenery of the 14th century. Dante Alighieri, Giovanni Boccaccio and Geoffrey Chaucer decided to incorporate all the main aspects of the 14th century society and religion in their works, creating elaborate mirrors of social conduct, behavior, spirituality and other main concerns at the time. In this paper, I will analyze and compare the relationship between behavior and punishment in Cantos III and XII from Dante's Inferno, Tale Nine, Day Two from Boccaccio's Decameron and The Pardoner’s Tale from Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. The Canterbury Tales are considered to stand for Chaucer’s masterpiece, in which he portrays the English society at the time, reuniting representatives from each social class who tell a tale in their own language, style and manner of thought. The Pardoner’s tale is told by a pardoner4 who introduces his story with a confession about the deceptive character of his occupation and he reveals secrets of his profession, explaining the fact that he was selling useless things as holy relics. Therefore, Chaucer presents the corrupt and immoral nature of such practices, which sold people fake hope and did nothing else but create more wealth in the name of the Church. The tales commences with the presentation of the main characters- three young men who were leading sinful lives. Their immoral behavior is generously described: they were men who liked to party excessively, spend time in bars drinking and eating in an excessive manner and worst of all, they did not see any wrongdoing in the way they lived: â€Å"And each of them at others' sins would laugh† (Chaucer 14). On top of that, they swore, cursed and used God’s name in vain, while indulging themselves in sexual activities with young dancers, singers and other women. This detailed description aims to present the three young men as

Effective Communication Skills Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Effective Communication Skills - Essay Example Effective communication skills are thus necessary to provide effective services in health care. Paul Leagans defines communication as the process by which two or more people exchange facts, ideas, impressions and feelings so that each person gains understanding of use, intent and meaning of the message (Schuster, 1999). Communication includes verbal as well as non-verbal exchange of information. It is necessary to practice effective communication skills in nursing so as to understand, empathize and support patients (Carrol and Dolly, 2008). This paper will elaborate on two elements of effective communication and the skills pertinent to these elements. It is crucial to develop effective communication skills so as to overcome the various barriers to communication. In nursing practice, barriers to communication include physiological, personal, cultural, psychological and physical barriers. Physiological barriers, for example, altered mental state may interfere with the patient’s ability to interpret information. The nurse’s attitude, knowledge and feeling towards a patient may also impede communication. Physical barriers include noise, distance and other environmental factors that may impede communication (Schuster, 1999). The elements of effective communication include the sender, message, channel of communication, receiver and feedback (Schuster, 1999). The sender (source) formulates programs and broadcasts the information, which they want to communicate. The effect of the message is dependent on the sender’s attitude, knowledge, social status and communication skills. The message is the information in physical form conveyed to the audience. The channel of communication is the media used by the source in facilitating communication to the receiver. The receiver decodes, translates the meaning and acts upon the information received. Feedback is the reaction to the information conveyed by the sender. This paper will focus on the message and the channel and the skills therein. There are various forms of message. They include words, signs, symbols and pictures. It comprises of message code, content and treatment (Schuster, 1999). Message code defines any form of signs and symbols that are structured in a meaningful format to the same people. This includes the use of language to convey information. Message content defines the material that is in the message. This is selected by the sender in putting across his information. On the other hand, message treatment shows the decisions which the source undertakes to select and arrange the codes and content. The message communicates the sender’s feelings, intentions and attitudes towards the audience (Balzer, 2007). In nursing practice, information is conveyed from one person to another within a short time. Effective communication skills are necessary to avoid errors in vital information, for example, treatment of a patient (Balzer, 2007). In effective communication, a messag e should elicit the desired action from the audience. It must be clear, timely, specific and in line with the intended objectives. This means that the nurse should ensure that the message is brief, accurate and meets the objectives of its purpose. In addition, the message should be conveyed in a language that the audience can understand. The use of complex vocabulary to explain the patient’s disease and treatment will interfere on the patient’s ability to understand as well as accept their condition. Nursing practice also involves gathering information about the patient, symptoms and their effects to the patient. The use of a common language will enhance understanding between the patient and the nurse (Christie and Robinson,

Incredible Journey of Development Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Incredible Journey of Development - Essay Example While some theorists hold that children develop smoothly and continuously, others contest this by their belief in the stage-wise development of children, where each stage can be distinguished from the other and is recognizably stable. But both agree that there are certain periods of a children's development when they are capable of learning to perform certain tasks better than at any other age, for example, infants and toddlers have better language grasping abilities. It is also generally agreed that each child is a unique individual, and would pick up skills according to a unique pace and pattern. The first of these developmental theories was by Sigmund Freud, which though considered inaccurate is important because it formed the basis of later theories to mark this field. He held that the way children's basic sexual and aggressive desires are handled by its parents would dictate the development of their future personalities and traits. Freud divided the developmental stages of children in terms of their sexual development and named them Oral, Anal, Phallic, Latency, and Genital stages. Freud's theory formed the basis of Erik Erikson's work which suggested a theory of human development in stages from birth to death in terms of how children begin to gain a sense of identity, as well as develop self-belief allowing them to become productive and successful members of society in their future life. Erikson associates each stage with a particular stretch of life span and goes from trust- versus-mistrust which lasts from birth to one year; autonomy-versus-shame and doubt which can be said to last from one to three years; initiative-versus-guilt which goes from three years to six ; and so on in stages such as industry-versus-inferiority; identity-versus- identity confusion; intimacy-versus- isolation; generativity versus stagnation; and integrity versus despair, each of which corresponds to a particular age.

National Security, Energy Resource Scarcity and Climate Change in the Essay - 2

National Security, Energy Resource Scarcity and Climate Change in the upcoming decades - Essay Example The negative consequence associated with having a diverse group is group conflict which may take place due to difference in knowledge, experience, age and expertise. According to a study conducted on homogenous and diverse groups showed that both groups were performing exceptionally well but people from the diverse groups had lower satisfaction from their group members, lack of group consistency existed within the group and this group had higher level of conflicts as compared to the members of the group that contained homogenous individuals (Robbins, 2003, p.234). Similar studies even proved that if individuals of diverse groups are able to overcome the conflict that they experience during the early stages of group development, then diverse groups can perform in a much better manner (Sommers, 2006, p.610). A group consisting of members that have different educational backgrounds and cultural backgrounds is said to have the ability to come up with various ideas and opinions. Great importance is given to the identification of various solutions for a particular problem, this portion of the decision making process can be satisfied by having people from diverse backgrounds making decisions (Hansen, 2006). Hansen, Z. K., Owan, H., Pan, J., & National Bureau of Economic Research. (2006). The impact of group diversity on performance and knowledge spillover--an experiment in a college classroom. Cambridge, Mass: National Bureau of Economic Research. Phillips, K., Northcraft, G., & Neale, M. (January 01, 2006). Surface-Level Diversity and Decision-Making in Groups: When Does Deep-Level Similarity Help?. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, 9, 4, 467-482. Sommers, S. R. (January 01, 2006). On racial diversity and group decision making: identifying multiple effects of racial composition on jury deliberations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 90, 4,

Homers Achilles Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Homers Achilles - Essay Example Achilles was killed by Paris of Troy who was avenging his brother Hector's death. Paris has been termed a coward in some literature because he took advantage of Archilles' weakest spot and killed him by an arrow to his heel. Sophocles' Greek character, Philoctetes, resembles Achilles because he was wounded in his foot. His injury did not cure. Philoctetes was about to participate in the Trojan war when he was bitten by a snake on his foot. He suffered great pain and the wound smelled bad. His superior, Odysseus, betrays him and leaves him behind on an island called Lemnos. It seems Philoctetes' has an 'Achilles heel' too because his weak spot on his foot refused to heal. However, Philoctetes, unlike Achilles, does not die from his foot injury. It seems that the pain in his foot was linked to his reception of Heracles' bow. For when Neoptolemus tried to deceive Philoctetes and steal his Heracles' bow, the pain in his foot magnified. Neoptolemus took pity upon him and returned his bow. Philoctetes fought in the Trojan war. As a reward from the gods, his foot was cured of pain, smell and disease. Antigone was the daughter of Oedipus. She was a brave heroine who tried to bury her slain brother Polyneices, against the orders of Creon, Haemon's father. Her lover, Haemon, defended her actions and committed suicide after her death. Haemon's mother, Eurydice, killed herself because of grief. Creon gives up his life to his enemies.

Employee resourcing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words - 1

Employee resourcing - Essay Example The contrast between these two classifications is that in external selection process, employments are not constrained like corporate recruiters (Tong & Shivanand, 2005). Companies have taken up advanced methods to perform their human resource practices like recruitment, selection, preparing and promotions and appraisals, execution evaluation and so forth. Online recruitment is successful regarding fast data accumulation of seeker, giving definite and uniform information to the petitioner sand efficient (Internet Recruiting: Is It Right for you, July 2001). This discovering is further backed by Hopkins & Markham (2003) study which contends that to accelerate the recruitment process, online recruitment is acknowledged as the best practice. Online recruitment is likewise compelling regarding performing ability administration process (Burbach & Royle, 2010). These discoveries are tested by the report dependent upon the point of view of top official. It states that top executives normally stay away from web selecting because of their hesitance towards the utilization of web to seek work (Top Executives Shun Internet Recruiting, April 2000). As stated by these executives, web does not give itemized impression of their encounter that is essential for indicating their learning range. It could be contended starting here that still there is a need to enhance the discernment of top executives to make them understand that online recruitment and choices are powerful. It is additionally recognized that Davenport Management Limited, a UK firm has attained colossal profits after the execution of contracting administration framework (HMS), an online recruitment and choice regarding diminished recruitment expense, employing of value hopefuls and speedy determination process. At NHS, E-recruitment methodology takes after an orderly approach to enroll individuals in a practical manner and spares time of applicants (Recruitment

Anishnabe homeland Personal Statement Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Anishnabe homeland - Personal Statement Example The Anishinabe is one of the dominant native tribes in North America that occupies the greatest geographical area. Indeed, the Anishinabe ancestral homeland entails five American States and three Canadian Provinces (Minnesota Historical Society 1). The Anishinabe still live in this ancestral homeland. However, this ancestral land has since reduced after the coming of the Europeans. Accordingly, this native tribe claimed that it originated from the northeast and settled by the great sea. Notably, wars, migrations, and trade influenced the Anishinabe homeland. The Anishinabe valued their expanse homeland and referred it as a reward from their ancestors. The ancestral homeland belonged to all Anishinabe people. The Anishinabe guarded the homeland with pride and resisted all attempts aimed at removing them from the land. Apparently, the initial ancestral homeland of the Anishinabe was huge since it stretched from the northern reaches of the plains to the southeastern shores of the Great Lakes (Minnesota Historical Society 2). Specifically, sub-Arctic tundra bounded the homeland from the north while the Mackenzie River bounded the homeland from the west (Minnesota Historical Society 2). The Mississippi River bounded the Anishinabe homeland from the south while the seaboard bounded the homeland from the east (Minnesota Historical Society 2). Anishinabe homeland extended from Central Saskatchewan to southern Ontario (Minnesota Historical Society 2). Moreover, the Anishinabe homeland entailed the northern Minnesota, northern Dakota corner, and dominated Michigan City (Minnesota Historical Society 2). Currently, most Anishinabe people are farmers and ranchers who live in reservation communities in northern Minnesota and Wisconsin (Minnesota Historical Society 2). The Anishinabe have subdivided into four groups according to their location. The plains Anishinabe reside in Saskatchewan, western Manitoba, North Dakota, and Montana while the northern Anishinabe reside

MARKETING Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 2

MARKETING - Essay Example The consistent general theme in the advert is financial sobriety in the young generation. The most consistent features in the advert are saving, financial education, banking choices, giving to charity, financial issues and unemployment. The advert, feed the pig, is related with the leading article. The advert encourages saving among the young generation whereas the article talks about financial issues. There is no competition for this advertisement simply because the advertisement is a government initiative. The advert is for the American young adults who are subject to financial crippling and unemployment. The advert categorically asks the reader to teach about money and encourage teens and young adults to start saving from the little they have in piggy banks or financial institutions (ADWEEK Web). This is a good investment in that ADWEEK being a national magazine covering all issues including those relating to the teens it will thus provide a basic avenue for the advert to reach the young adults and guardians. In conclusion, I find this advert very positive to the financial aspects of the young people and the entire economy. The government initiative has placed this advertisement in the right place and therefore a worthwhile endeavor. ADWEEK â€Å"CBS’. â€Å"Moonves Eyes $4 Million Super Bowl Spot Bullish network boss sees record rates for NFL gem† Web, 16 February 2012.

Agriculture Industry Linkages in the Economy of Jammu and Kashmir Essay Example for Free

Agriculture Industry Linkages in the Economy of Jammu and Kashmir Essay Agriculture plays an important role in contributing to socio-economic development in many countries. It is the primary source for employment, livelihood, and food security for the majority of rural people. The success of this continuation depends largely on the direct impact it has on the national economy as well as how the agricultural sector stimulates the growth of other sectors in the economy. Consequently, understanding the role of agriculture and its linkages to the rest of the economy is important. The inter-relationship between agriculture and industry has been a long debated issue in the development literature. In the Indian context the issue has acquired interest since industrial stagnation in the mid 1960s. Over the years the Indian economy has undergone a structural change in its sectoral composition: from a primary agro-based economy during the 1970s, the economy has emerged as predominant in industry. This has triggered an interest in readdressing the analytical and methodological aspects of the interlinkages between the two sectors the service sector since the 1990s. This structural changes and the uneven pattern of growth of agriculture, industry and service sector economy in the post reforms period is likely to appear substantial changes in the production and demand linkages among various the economy. At the same time the growing integration with the rest of the world in the post-reform period (post 1991 period) and the recent spurt of service sector led growth are also likely to have significant impact on the linkages between the agriculture and industry. This has triggered an interest in read dressing the analytical and methodological aspects of the interlinkages between the two sectors. That agriculture and industry being integral component of development process due to their mutual interdependence and symbiotic relationship, the contribution of agriculture to the economy in general and to industry in particular is well known in almost all the developing countries. However, the degree of interdependence may vary and also change over time. In the theory and empirical literature, the inter-relationship between agriculture and industry has been discussed from different channels. First, agriculture supplies food grains to industry to facilitate absorption of labour in the industry sector. Secondly, agriculture supplies the inputs like raw cotton, jute, tea, coffee etc. needed by the agro-based industries. Thirdly, industry supplies industrial inputs, such as fertilizer, pesticides, machinery etc. to the agriculture sector. Fourthly, agriculture influences the output of industrial consumer goods through demand. Fifthly, agriculture generates surpluses of savings, which can be mobilized for investment in industry, and other sectors of the economy. Sixthly, fluctuations in agricultural production may affect private corporate investment decisions through the impact of the terms of trade on profitability, whereas some of these channels emphasize the agriculture-industry‟ linkage on the supply side or production side, others stress the linkages through the demand side. The production linkages basically arise from the interdependence of the sectors for meeting the needs of their productive inputs, whereas the demand linkage arises from the interdependence of the sectors for meeting final consumption. Further, the linkages between the two sectors can also be categorized into two groups based on the direction of interdependence. One is the backward linkage, which identifies how a sector depends on others for their input supplies and the other is the forward linkage, which identifies how the sector distributes its outputs to the remaining economy. More importantly, these two linkages can indicate a sector’s economic pull and push, because the direction and level of such linkages present the potential capacity of each sector to stimulate other sectors and then reflect the role of this sector accordingly. As far as Jammu and Kashmir is concerned Agriculture is the predominant sector of the economy. Directly and indirectly, it supports about 80 per cent of the population besides contributing nearly 60 per cent of the state revenue, which adequately explains the over-dependency of the population on agriculture. The overall economic growth of the state depends largely on the progress of the agricultural sector, the development of which becomes even more important in the context of the very nominal progress it has made in the secondary sectors. With the introduction of planned development in the state during 1951-56, production of foodgrains and fruits has increased considerably. During 1998-99, the state produced 15.50 lakh quintals of food grains against 4.53 lakh quintal in 1950-51. Of this, Kashmir region contributed 27.20 per cent, Jammu region 72.14 per cent and Ladakh and Kargil region 0.66 per cent Industries play a vital role in the development of an economy. In this regard unfortunately, JK has not been able to attract investments in industries and remained as an industrially backward state. The state does not have a strong industrial base, because geographical location of the state is such that the setting up of large industries with a large Capital base is not feasible, besides adverse environmental consequences. Nevertheless, many small and medium-scale industries have come up basically in the traditional sectors along with areas like food processing, agro-based units and metallic and non metallic products. Thus in such an sectoral environment were industrial sector has low opportunity, Agriculture provide basic linkages in its development . Thus the state of Jammu and Kashmir were main source of income is agriculture for masses of people, the linkages between Agriculture and Industry is very important to study in order to know the potential of Agriculture to develop an industrial environment in the state. In mean while it is important to study the dependence of agriculture on industry, so that both sectors will flourish the development in the state of Jammu Kashmir. The macroeconomic linkage between the agricultural sector and industrial growth has been one of the most widely investigated in the development literature. In the early stages, researchers paid great attention in studying the relationship between the agricultural and industrial sectors, and how these sectors were inter-related. They argued that agriculture only plays a passive role; which is to be the most important source of resources (food, fiber, and raw material) for the development of industry and other nonagricultural sectors (Rosenstein-Rodan, 1943; Lewis, 1954; Ranis and Fei, 1961). Many of these analysts highlighted agriculture for its resource abundance, and its ability to transfer surpluses to the more important industrial sector. India being a predominantly agrarian economy and an agro-based industrial structure, the interrelationship between agriculture and industry has been one of the major issues for the researchers and policy makers since the beginning of the planning period. In the pre and early post-independence period, the industry sector had a close relationship with agriculture due to the agro-based industrial structure (Satyasai and Baidyanathan, 1997). Satyasai and Viswanathan (1999) found that the output elasticity of industry with respect to agriculture was 0.13 during 1950-51 to 1965-66. Rangarajan (1982) has found that a 1.0 percent growth in agricultural production increases industrial production by 0.5 percent, and thus, GDP by 0.7 percent during 1961-1972. However, the industrial sector witnessed a slow growth, stagnation since the mid 1960s, which was largely attributed to the stunnedagricultural growth and favourable agricultural TOT, among other factors (Patnaik, 1972; Nayyar, 1978 and Bhatla, 2003).10 In fact the interdependence between the two sectors has found to be weakened during the 1980s and 1990s (Bhattacharya and Mitra, 1989; Satyasai and Viswanathan, 1997). For instance, Bhattacharya and Rao (1986) have found that the partial output elasticity of industry with respect to agriculture has declined from 0.15 during 1951/52 – 1965/66 to 0.03 during 1966/67-1983/84. Contradictorily, Satyasai and Viswanathan (1999) found that the output elasticity of industry with respect to agriculture has increased from 0.13 during 1950/51-1965/66 to 0.18 during 1966/67–1983/84, and then remained at the same level 0.18 during 1984/85-1996/97. The deteriorating linkages between agriculture and industry have been primarily credited to the deficiency in demand for agricultural products, decline in share of agro-based industries coupled with slow employment growth (Rangarajan, 1982; Bhattacharya and Rao, 1986; and Chowdhury and Chowdhury, 1995). Sastry et al. (2003), for the period 1981-82 to 1999-2000, found that the forward production linkage between agriculture and industry has declined, whereas backward production linkage has increased. They also found significant impact of agricultural output on industrial output, and that agriculture’s demand linkage to industry has declined, while that of from industry to agriculture has increased. Economic and Political Weekly August 26, 1989 1963 wean agriculture and merely the set of industrial consumption goods like clothing, footwear, sugar and edible oils, it may be concluded that the overall intersectoral linkages appear quite modest. The early writers, for example Rosestein-Rodan (1943), Lewis (1954), Scitovosky (1954), Hirchman (1958), Jorgeson (1961), Fei and Ranis (1961) and others emphasized the role of agriculture only as a primary supplier of wage goods and raw materials and abundant labour supply to industry (Johnston and Mellor, 1961 and Vogel, 1994). The role of agriculture in the transformation of a developing economy was seen as ancillary to the central strategy of accelerating the pace of industrialization (Vogel, 1994). Kalecki (1976) also pointed out the importance of investment and technological advances in agriculture for the rapid development of industry. The traditional literature on inter-sectoral linkages in the growth process generally emphasises the role of agriculture as a primary supplier of wage goods and raw materials to industry (supply-linkage on the one hand and as a provider of major output for in- dustrial goods (demand linkage) on the other [Johnston and Mellor, 1961 and tertiary sector in a modern economy. Further, it may be noted that with growing mechanization of agriculture it becomes dependent on industry for basic inputs, like, fertiliser, power, pesticides, etc. Incidentally the agriculture-industry relationship becomes more complicated in this process. A slow growth of net availability of food- grains or alternatively the movement of inter-sectoral terms of trade in favor of the agricultural sector is believed to cause deceleration of the industrial sector. However, empirically speaking there was no slow down in the growth of production of food- grains after the mid-sixties [Ahluwalia: 1985]. Nor was there any fall in the marketed surplus of agriculture [rhamarajakshi: 1977] so as to be related to the industrial decelera- tion. But, so far as the agriculture vis-à  -vis industry terms of trade is concerned, one en- counters a series of mixed evidence. Whe Thamarajakshi [1977], and Mitra [1977] visualised a favouralJe terms of trade for the agricultural sector during the mid-sixties andearly seventies, Khalon and lyagi [1983] obtained evidence that stand quite contrary to others view. Mundle [1977], however main- tains that in terms of intersectoral resource flow-of which terms of trade is just a single component-the industrial sector has been undergoing loss since the mid-sixties. Prior to that it was agriculture which was experiencing an outflow of resources. Rangarajan [1982a] in his macro econometric model makes an attempt to capture the demand linkage between agriculture and industry. He identifies a positive impact that agricultural output has on the demand for industrial consumption goods. The effect of foodgrain terms of trade on industrial products has been negative but elasticity is negligible. Both agricultural output and terms of trade had a positive influence on household saving and investment. Keeping in view such segmented impact of agriculture on industry zplaining the behaviour of indugtrial produc- tion purely in terms of agricultural performance .Bhattacharya and Rao [1986] emphasisesthe sluggishness that continued in the per-formance of industry even after the relative relaxation of the wage goods constraint that occurred during the green revolution period. Thus, the theoretical literature in the â€Å"agriculture-industry linkages † has broadly highlighted the place of agriculture and non-agriculture sector, especially industry in the development process and contribution of each in augmenting growth of output and employment. Most of the theoretical literature has largely focused only on one side of the â€Å"agriculture-industry linkages ’’ i.e. either the supply side linkages or demand side linkages. However it is both the demand side and supply side linkages that work together in an inter-sectoral framework, which determines the interlinkages between the two sectors. In this respect Bhaduri (2003) and Bhaduri (2007) are two important contributions in the literature. Bhaduri (2003) extends Kaldor’s model by considering the role of the agricultural surplus from the supply side as well as the importance of the demand side effect for industrial goods. In this set up, both the sectors grow in tandem, reinforcing and reinvigorating each other’s growth impulse, by resolving each other’s potential realization problem (Jha, 2010). Further, Bhaduri et al. (2007) have extended the Kaldor’s model by contrasting between the supply side and demand side linkages of the two sectors from the TOT point of view. Thus there has been lot of researches, publication and models on the topic â€Å"Agriculture industry linkages in the economy† given by many renowned economists, and peoples associated with this field. Everyone concluded that there is an unlimited linkage between two sectors which not only develop one other but also give birth to other sectors as well. Thus to conclude it can be said that in an economy mostly there is a l arge number of linkages originated from a primary level and put economy to those sectors which keep it in the level of developed ones.

Review of Resisted Sled Towing for Sprint Training

Review of Resisted Sled Towing for Sprint Training Sprinting consists of three phases: acceleration phase, transition phase and a maximal velocity phase (Cronin Hansen, 2006). Acceleration is a major component in making a successful performance in many different sports and it can also be seen as potentially pivotal in determining the outcome of a sports game. Therefore training for acceleration is an essential component of many athletes’ strength and conditioning programme (Kraemer et al. 2000). When choosing methods to improve sprinting certain parameters need to be considered. The acceleration phase includes a longer stance time, increased trunk and knee flexion and greater propulsive forces (Kraemer et al. 2000). The muscular structure of the lower leg needs to have the necessary capacity to contribute to the acceleration performance and this is done through specific strength training activities. When an athlete improves strength, it produces greater force and decreased ground contact time which increases stride frequency (Spinks et al. 2007). Various training modalities including sprint loading improve the elastic energy during the support sage of the sprint cycle, increasing stride length. Resisted sprint training is a basic conditioning method used by coaches to lengthen running stride (Makarur et al. 2013). It is carried out by adding an external load to the athlete, such as pulling a tyre, a loaded sled, running up hill or using parachutes. Hunter et al. (2005) observed that running velocity and increasing strength are greatly increased by resisted sprint training due to the increased strength and power of the leg extensor muscles in the acceleration phase. This critical review will analyse previous studies and their findings when using resisted sprint training using weighted sleds on athletes. Lockie (2003) and Letzelter et al. (1995) stated that towing causes acute changes in sprint kinematics of acceleration phase. Certain loads may be more appropriate for sprints performed from a block start compared to a standing start. Mero and Komi (1990) found mean contact time of foot to floor in the acceleration phase after a block start to range from 0.15s to 0.22s. This coincides with Spinks et al. (2007) findings of decreased contact time of first step of acceleration phase in the resisted sprint group of 11.8% and recording 0.15s to 0.19s contact time. Spinks et al. (2007) also found that the biggest increase in overall velocity was achieved in the 0-5m interval. Rimmer and Sleivert (2000) found that carrying out 8 weeks of sprint and plyometric training improves the velocity over the first 10m of the sprint. However Kafer et al. (1993) studied resisted sled training and found that there was a significant improvement of 0.35 seconds (P Harridge et al. (1998) found that resisted sled towing can alter myosin heavy chain expression of muscle fibres. Increases in speed occur due to a shift in fibre type distribution and speed of shortening cycle which might contribute to increased power generation. 8.4% significant increases were found on resisted sprint trained athletes when compared to a control group (Spinks et al. 2007). If power output of knee extensors are increased, improved ground contact time results in greater propulsive acceleration efforts. However Maclean () disproved this as he found that after testing this hypothesis across 6 weeks of training increase in muscle performance occurred without any significant change in myosin heavy chain or fibre type distribution. Letzelter et al. (1995) after studying 16 female sprint performances found that performance was decreased by 8% and 22% respectively for the loads of 2.5 kg and 10 kg. Results showed that this was predominantly due to the reduced stride length in athletes. Decreases in stride length by 5.3% and 13.5%, stride frequency 2.4% with 2.5 kg load and 6.2% with a 10 kg load. Across all loads were found to be an increased stance time to lean and hip flexion angle. Lockie et al. (2003) reported similar findings when testing 20 males’ field sport athletes. Athletes performed 15m sprints using no resistance, 12.6% or 32.2% of body mass load. These were chosen as previous findings show a decrease in 10/20% of max velocity. Decrease in stride length of 10% +24% were documented. Stride frequency was only found to decrease by 6% in each load. In agreement with Leztler et al. (1995). Makurak et al. (2013) found running stride length increased in their resisted sled training group when compared to the standard training group. Findings were also supported by Delecluse (1997). Increasing stride length is said to be the result of performing fuller extension at the knee found by the increased knee angle at toe off. This change could be directly due to the strength between hip and knee extensors. Bhowmick and Bhattacharyya (1988) suggest the horizontal acceleration of the arm swing increases stride length and during ground contact time the vertical element enhances the leg drive. Ropret et al. (1988) tested adding load to the athlete’s arms however no significant reduction in initial acceleration over 30 m was found. Lockie et al. (2003) state that 32.2% body mass was better for the development of upper body action. As the load increases shoulder range of motion increases. However Spinks et al. (2007) in terms of their study of upper-body kinematics found that it had little impact on acceleration performance. The critical analysis of various studies showed that results were contradictory. More investigations into optimal load, changes in strength shortening cycle and training distances should be undertaken to find ideal training focus. References Bhowmick, S., Bhattacharyya, A. (1988) ‘Kinematicanalysis of arm movements in sprint start.’ Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness; Vol: 28: pp315–323. Cronin, J., Hansen, K. (2006) ‘Resisted sprint training for the acceleration phase of sprinting’ Journal of Strength and Conditioning; Vol: 28 (4), pp.42-51 Delecluse, G. (1997) ‘Influence of strength training on sprint running performance: Current findings and implications for training’ Journal of Sports Medicine; Vol. 24 (3), pp.147-156, Harridge, S.., Bottinelli, R., Canepari, M., Pellegrino, M., Reggiani, C., Esbjornsson, M., Balsom, P.,Saltin, B. (1998) ‘Sprint Training, In Vitro and In Vivo Muscle Function, and Myosin Heavy Chain Expression’. Journal of Applied Physiology; Vol 84: pp.442-449. Hunter, J., Marshall, R., McNair, P. (2005) ‘Relationships between ground reaction force impulse and kinematics of sprint-running acceleration.’ Journal of Applied Biomechanics; Vol: 21(1), pp.31-34 Kafer, R. Adamson, G., O’Conner, M., Faccioni, A.(1993) ‘Methods of maximising speed development’ Strength and Conditioning Coach; Vol. 1, pp.9-11 Kraemer, W., Ratamess, N., Volek, J., Mazzettil, S., Gomez, A. (2000) ‘The effect of the Meridian Shoe on vertical jump and sprint performances following short-term combined plyometric/sprint and resistance training.’ Journal Strength Conditioning Research. Vol; 14: pp.228–238 Lockie, R., Murphy, A., Spinks, C. (2003) ‘Effects of resisted sled towing on sprint kinematics in field sport athletes;. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research; Vol 17: pp760-767 Mero, A., Komi, P. (1990) ‘Reaction time and electromyographic activity during a sprint start.’ European. Journal of Applied. Physiology and Occupational. Physiology; Vol: 61:pp. 73–80. Rimmer, E., Sleivert, G. (2000) ‘Effects of a plyometrics intervention program on sprint performance.’ Journal of Strength and Conditioning. Research; Vol. 14: pp. 295–301. ROPRET, R., M. KUKOLJ, D. UGARKOVIC, D.MATAVULJ, AND S. JARIC. ‘Effect of arm and leg loading on sprint performance.’ European Journal of Applied Physiology and Occupational Physiology; Vol: 77: pp.547–550. Spinks, C., Murphy, A., Spinks, W., Lockie, R. (2007) ‘The effects of resisted sprint training on acceleration performance and kinematics in soccer, rugby union and Australian football players’ Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research; Vol: 21 (1), pp.77-85

UK Books and Publishing Industry Analysis

UK Books and Publishing Industry Analysis Table of Contents 1. Introduction5 1.1 Objective5 1.2 Reasons for Choosing the UK Books and Publishing Industry6 2. Industry Overview9 2.1 Market Size and Attraction10 2.2 Market Sectors10 2.2.2 Paperback11 2.2.3 Electronic11 2.2.4 Fiction11 2.2.5 Non-fiction11 2.3 Industry Target Markets12 2.4 Market Sales, Performance and Activities14 2.4.1 Domestic Market14 2.4.2 Export Sales15 2.4.3 Imports16 2.5 Publishing Companies17 2.6 Employment19 2.7 Distribution20 2.8 Major Trends and Developments21 2.8.1 Emerging Book Formats21 2.8.2 Emerging Distribution Channels and Markets22 2.8.3 Developments in Technology and Concerns in Copyright and Production23 3. Industry Analysis – PESTEL24 3.1 Using the PESTEL Analysis24 3.2 Political Factors24 3.2.1 Taxation24 3.2.2 Pricing24 3.3 Economic Factors25 3.3.1 Global Economic Factors25 3.3.2 UK Economic Trends25 3.4 Social Factors26 3.4.1 Consumer Preferences26 3.4.2 The Internet and Technology26 3.4.3 Reading Habits27 3.5 Technological Factors27 3.5.1 The Digital Age27 3.6 Legislative27 3.6.1 Copyright and Intellectual Property27 3.6.2 Market Regulations for New Entries28 3.7 Environmental 28 3.7.1 The Issue of Paper28 3.7.2 Other conservation measures29 4. Industry Analysis – Porter’s Five Forces Model29 4.1 About Porter’s Five Forces Model29 4.2 Rivalry29 4.3 Supplier Power29 4.4 Buyer Power30 4.5 Threats of Substitutes30 4.6 Barriers to Entry30 5. Conclusion31 References34 List of Tables Time Spent of Main Activities, by Sex, 20058 Total Book Sales 1998-200210 Projected Book Sales: 2002-200710 Unit Book Sales by Format: 1998-200211 Projected Book Sales by Format: 2002/200712 Value Book Sales by Target Market: 1998-200213 Projected Book Sales by Target Market: 2002/200713 Publishers’ Export Sales: 1998-200116 Book Imports: 1998-200117 Leading Publishers Ranked by Total Retail Sales 2001/200218 Total Employment in the Publishing Industry 1998-200220 Retail Distribution21 The UK Books and Publishing Industry Analysis 1. Introduction According to the Encyclopaedia of Global Industries (‘Book Publishing’, 2007), global spending on books increased from US$85.3 billion in 2000 to US$104.6 billion in 2005. This is despite the fact that the global demand for books had significantly dropped for a number of reasons. One of the major reasons cited for this drop was the September 11 terrorist attacks in the United States. In contrast, the United Kingdom (UK) is currently one of the world’s leading players in the world of publishing. However, it remains behind to major global producers the United States, Japan and Germany. UK is followed by another European major publisher, France In 2002, the UK book and publishing industry reached the value of à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¤2.5 billion (‘Books and Publishing – United Kingdom’, 2003) and continues to be the major location of European publishing’s central operations and the U.S. publishing’s gateway across the Atlantic. 1.1 Objectives The UK books and publishing industry is one of the UK’s distinct industries. As stated above, UK ranks among the world’s major book and publication producers. Readers across the globe are familiar with the UK’s contribution to the publishing world . UK writers have long been one of the more famous sets of writers in the classic and modern histories. Ranging from William Shakespeare to J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter franchise, the UK books and publishing industry continues to play a significant role, especially among the English-language readers across the globe. However, the new media forms that have been emerging lately such as electronic and online forms of publishing currently challenge the publication preferences of the consumers today and UK print media too has got impacted. The present study is an attempt to analyse the UK books and publishing industry. The objectives of this industry analysis are as follows: Provide an overview of the UK books and publishing industry, its current status and projected directions. Analyse the factors that influence the current and future operations of the industry by using the tool of PESTEL analyses. Assess the books and publishing industry and its impact and performance in the market by using market analysis tools of Porter’s Five Forces. Determine the critical factors that can determine the future of the UK books and publishing industry. 1.2 Reasons for Choosing the UK Books and Publishing Industry The UK remains to have a healthy and dynamic book and publishing market; not only does the UK contain one of the significant market shares in the global book market, it boasts of a number of in-demand authors. Books and publishing in the UK highlights the society’s inherent love for books . What is interesting in the UK book and publishing industry can be seen in the following factors: (1) UK has had a significant role in the publishing world especially among English-language readers across the globe; however, in terms of industry size, UK remains behind book producing giants the United States, Japan and Germany. These three countries have a competitive production advantage: the United States has strong media and entertainment industry which has also influenced its publishing sector; Japan is known for its graphic novel and books publication, as driven by the strong manga culture and demand; Germany’s media corporate giant, Bertelsmann, has managed to own and merge with large publishers, which makes this German company a significant player in the global industry (‘Book Publishing’, 2007). (2) New forms of media, electronic publishing and the Internet, have emerged which have challenged the conventional publishing forms. Electronic publishing and the Internet has become a challenge in a number of areas including the redefinition of publication format (electronic or published through the Internet) and publication access (self-publishing has become popular online). This also influences the amount of interest the public continues to have in books especially when more recreational forms have evolved which may be preferred over picking up a magazine or a book. Besides, recent times have also witnessed a rise of online / virtual schools and other forms of virtual reality which has now given way to emergence of digital versions of these books or e-books. (3) Emerging markets brought by globalisation also affect the expansion of UK publishers to other parts of the world. This is in addition to the increasing demand for English-language learning courses in non-English speaking nations can encourage the publication of books. Regional authors too can increase the interest of the global readers, and it is interesting to see how the UK publishing industry has responded to these new opportunities. In addition to this, it is interesting to evaluate the performance of this huge industry that reaches different global markets and at the same time, is serving a more particular sector of the people’s reading habits. Based on a survey on leisure activities in 2005 by the National Statistics Office’s, reading has been cited as constituting a negligible part of how people spend their time every day. Reading, on an average, only accounts for 23 minutes among men and 26 minutes among women. The following table illustrates how this industry has been catering to a fraction of people’s average daily activities: Time Spent of Main Activities, by Sex, 2005 (‘Time Use Survey’, 2006) As can be seen in the table, reading has taken a backseat as compared to the time people spend watching television or having a â€Å"social life†. A similar survey conducted in 2001 among full-time workers on how they spend their free time, reading emerged as the third highest activity whereas games/hobbies/computing came in close behind (‘Lifestyles’, 2004). Evidently, in the previously cited more recent survey, games/hobbies/computing activities have overtaken reading. However, this peculiar development holds true among males who spend an average of 37 minutes in playing games, indulging in hobbies or working on computers whereas women tend to be ardent readers, thereby spending more time reading than other hobbies. It should also be noted that reading does not only limit itself to the products of the book and publishing industry as the Internet has also become a significant source for information. 2. Industry Overview 2.1 Market Size and Attraction According to the Confederation of British Industry, the book sector has been one of the significant drivers in the overall UK retail sales growth, along with furniture and groceries (‘Books and Publishing – United Kingdom’, 2003). This shows that books are among the main purchases that people make in a combined demand in the leisure and educational sectors. The UK books and publishing industry reached the à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¤2.5 billion mark in 2002, making this industry having a positive overall outlook. Volume and value gains were seen rising from 2001 to 2002 at 12.1% and 16.8% respectively. The 12.1% volume increase reflected the 323.8 million units sold by 2002, which contributed to the compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 2.9%. Positive developments were also experienced, which started from the late 1990s up to the beginning of the millennium, with strong value gains eventually contributing to the 4% CAGR since the surge in sales in 1999 (‘Books and Publishing – United Kingdom’, 2003). Total Book Sales 1998-2002 ( Euromonitor International: Country Market Insight) Projected Book Sales: 2002-2007 ( Euromonitor International: Country Market Insight) According to the Publishing Industry Market Review 2006, the total publishing market was worth 18.63bn in 2005, having increased by 7.6% across the review period (2001 to 2005). The Publishing Industry is defined by Newspapers, Magazines as well as Book publishing. Newspaper publishing accounts for the largest share of the markets total value, followed by magazine publishing and book publishing. Within the books and publishing industry in 2004, retail book sales were  £3.98bn which represents a 3.2% increase on 2003.( UK Publishing Industry 2005,) Since 1999, the market has grown by a total of 16% and around 67% of the markets value is consumer books. The UK Publishing Industry 2004 report indicates that the UK publishing market is expected to grow by 12.9% between 2004 and 2008. Magazine revenues are likely to rise by 17.3%, newspaper revenues by 15.2% and book publishing by 14.7%. (UK Publishing Industry 2004,). 2.2 Market Sectors The commercial publishing industry extends far beyond books and journals. Products are available in electronic as well as print form. The overall book and publishing industry (‘Books and Publishing – United Kingdom’, 2003) can be classified on the basis of format and category Format: 2.2.1 Hardbacks Hardback formats are hardbound books. This format can be commonly found among books for children, new releases, and non-fiction books. 2.2.2 Paperback Paperback or softback is the most common format . This dominantly makes up the books targeted for commercial and educational purposes. 2.2.3 Electronic The electronic formats are the non-paper based products available on CD-ROM, or as audio books, e-books etc. Category: 2.2.4 Fiction The fiction category includes children’s books, novels across genres (crime, Western, thriller), historical, romance, etc. 2.2.5 Non-fiction The non-fiction category includes educational, academic and professional books, reference books, travel guides, DIY, etc. The performances of these different sectors (by format) are illustrated in the following table (‘Books and Publishing – United Kingdom’, 2003): Unit Book Sales by Format: 1998-2002 (Euromonitor International: Country Market Insight) Projected Book Sales by Format: 2002/2007 (Euromonitor International: Country Market Insight) Based on the performance of the two main categories, fiction and non-fiction, the latter continues to dominate the book sales and continues to grow (‘Books and Publishing – United Kingdom’, 2003): 2.3 Industry Target Markets Books can also be classified on the basis of the target market: consumer and institutional (‘Books and Publishing – United Kingdom’, 2003). The consumer market is the mainstream book market which includes regular readers and individual buyers. The institutional market for books is defined by institutions or organisations that buy books for specific purposes such as libraries. It also includes the books bought by the education sector. There is a potential confusion as to the identification of the consumer and the institutional market as the consumer market also includes publications for academic and professional purposes. However, institutional books are mostly identified by means of prevailing theme and the market segment, such as in the case of libraries and field-specific institutions (i.e. law books collection) whereas the consumer market’s main source of distribution channel are bookshops, online stores, etc. In terms of performance, the consumer market has a significant market share over the institutional market. The total sales brought by he consumer market in 2002 was at à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¤2.0 billion, thereby having 80.3% of the overall book market share. Average growth was cited at 17.4%, with the surge of sales throughout the year usually picking up during the last quarter (‘Books and Publishing – United Kingdom’, 2003). The institutional market has been also experiencing positive growth at 14.3%, with its sales reaching à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¤490.6 million and comprising 19.7% of the overall market sales. Educational sales continue to dominate the institutional sales at 63.4% whereas contributions from the library sector continue to fluctuate. As can be observed from the table given below, there was a significant drop in library sales from à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¤114 million to à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¤101 million from 1998 to 1999, with this particular sector experiencing fluctuations until 2002 (‘Books and Publishing – United Kingdom’, 2003). Value Book Sales by Target Market: 1998-2002 (Euromonitor International: Country Market Insight) Projected Book Sales by Target Market: 2002/2007 (Euromonitor International: Country Market Insight) 2.4 Market Sales, Performance and Activities The UK books and publishing industry relies on various market forces in order to maintain its dynamism; this can be attributed to its performance mainly on domestic sales, and then through the export and import volume and sales. 2.4.1 Domestic Market As previously mentioned, the consumer market mainly comprise of the industry’s domestic sales. Strong performance has been seen across sectors and categories, with positive developments in fiction as well as non-fiction books. Sales in fiction category experienced an average increase of 56% from 1998 to 2001, although non-fiction remains to have the significant market share (‘Books and Publishing – United Kingdom’, 2003). A number of market strategies have emerged in order to have the publishers improve their performance. It has been noted that UK has even adopted an American market strategy framework which includes book tours and taking advantage of the different media channels to increase exposure and promotion such as online book ordering promotions and book superstores (‘Book Publishing’, 2007). It can be observed that this has been apparent in the franchising sector in which UK fictional giant, the Harry Potter franchise, have further ventured into film and consumer products. In a way, books have established a force to create a peripheral market sector which relates the books to other relevant industries. However, the opposite takes place when classic British books such as J.R.R. Tolkiens’ The Lord of the Rings and C.S. Lewis’ The Chronicles of Narnia were made into movies, and because of the success of this channel, book sales for these works have also experienced a significant increase as this has become a promotional means in order to sell more books. Such strategy is not only felt in the UK domestic sector but also in other global sales as well. 2.4.2 Export Sales UK books are exported throughout the world and a cited increase of 4.4% was seen from 1998 to 2002. As per a Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) report, the export market is worth approximately  £1.4bn a year. However, UK’s main export competition comes from the United States, which also produces English-language books. Some exporting strategy can be also seen through the industry (‘Books and Publishing – United Kingdom’, 2003, p. 19): Although the worldwide Harry Potter phenomenon had a strong impact on exports, particularly over the 1999/2000 period, non-consumer publishing book sales were also a mainstay of export performance. English is the world language for titles in the scientific/technical/medical category and as such, the UK dominates the field internationally in terms of sales. For publishers of these kinds of texts exports can account for up to 60.0% of sales, particularly to the US, and it can be of great advantage for a publisher to have an American arm or to be part of an American-controlled group in terms of securing US rights of publication. In this case, despite the stiff competition with the US titles, UK books have also been performing fairly well in the United States; the UK mainly exports to the United States. In fact, UK has been the largest exporter of books to the United States books market. The performance of the UK publishers’ export sales are as follows (‘Books and Publishing – United Kingdom’, 2003): Publishers’ Export Sales: 1998-2001 (Euromonitor International: Country Market Insight) 2.4.3 Imports The UK also imports books from overseas markets such as the United States. Interestingly, Asian markets have been contributing significantly to UK book imports. The second largest imports, after the United States, come from Hong Kong, and the fourth largest market is Singapore; China too is also among the top sources, gaining the eighth import source position in 2001 (‘Books and Publishing – United Kingdom’, 2003). Interestingly, UK imports increases industry competition, with its value rising at 16.6% within the period 1998-2001. The following table shows the import value during this time period (‘Books and Publishing – United Kingdom’, 2003): Book Imports: 1998-2001 (Euromonitor International: Country Market Insight) 2.5 Publishing Companies Each of the three sectors of publishing in UK-newspapers, magazines and books- is dominated by around a dozen companies. Only a few companies are active in more than one sector. In fact, only Pearson PLC is involved in all three markets in a significant way. News Corporation, which publishes newspapers and which owns the book publisher Harper Collins too has entered the magazine market early in 2006. The UK publishing industry is still primarily UK owned. However, in the magazine market, there are several foreign-owned companies. These include the following: The Conde Nast Publications Ltd Hachette Filipacchi (UK) Ltd IPC Media Ltd The National Magazine Company Ltd The Readers Digest Association Ltd and VNU Business Publications Ltd. As indicated in Books and Publishing – United Kingdom 2003 The UK is not the home base of any major media player, such as Bertelsmann, Vivendi or AOL Time Warner. The regulations on media ownership make it easier for new entrants from abroad to establish a presence in the UK than for UK companies to substantially enlarge market share. Most of the major players in the book industry are owned by international multimedia publishing concerns, and therefore the most helpful form of comparison is to analyse leading publishing houses, and the results of the consolidated groups which own them. (‘Books and Publishing – United Kingdom’, 2003, p. 23) Thus, the books and publishing industry in the UK is characterised by a handful of global conglomerates or international companies, such as Reed Elsevier Group PLC, Pearson PLC, The Random House Group Ltd and Harper Collins Publishers Ltd. The leading publisher in the UK, HarperCollins, is a merger of British publisher William Collins Sons and Co Ltd. and the American publisher Harper Row. Today, HarperCollins is owned by the American media conglomerate, News Corp., although HarperCollins UK is the UK’s leading publishing house (Books and Publishing – United Kingdom’, 2003; ‘Harper Collins’, 2007). In the recent years, many other companies have been acquired and merged. For instance, in 2004 a major development was the acquisition of Hodder Headline from WH Smith by the French publisher Hachette Filipacchi in 2004. This merely added to further internationalisation of UK publishing. Hachette already owned Orion which further owned Weidenfeld Nicholson. This has lead it to become the UKs second-largest consumer book publisher. Macmillan and Random House are both owned by German companies. These main drivers of these developments have been the business strategies applied by these corporations. These strategies can be observed to be influenced by forces such as globalisation and certain deregulations when it comes to foreign operations. Besides these, other major publishers are Blackwell and the university presses of Oxford and Cambridge. The following table shows the leading publishers in the UK according to sales (Books and Publishing – United Kingdom’, 2003): Leading Publishers Ranked by Total Retail Sales 2001/2002 (Euromonitor International: Country Market Insight) 2.6 Employment By 2002, the books and publishing workforce, which also include employees in the printing sectors, were recorded at 352,000; according to the National Statistics, this figure was at 366,000 in 2001 (Books and Publishing – United Kingdom’, 2003; ‘Harper Collins’, 2007). In 2004, approximately 280,000 people were employed nationally and about 15% work part time. It has been cited that the books and publishing industry has not offered a very promising development to its workforce in terms of pay and employment confidence (Books and Publishing – United Kingdom’, 2003, p. 22): †¦ In a recent survey by Bookcareers.com, 66% of employees in the industry said that they had lost colleagues to redundancy. There is widespread discontent in the industry, particularly over the issue of pay. Levels of pay, especially for starting salaries, are notoriously low, particularly bearing in mind the level of education required for publishing work, and starting salaries can be as little as  £15,000 a year. Pay is a factor in most employees’ lives, particularly because most of UK publishing centres around London and the South East, where house prices are simply unaffordable for people earning average salaries in the industry. In addition to this, professional development does not sound as promising in this industry due to the lack of training initiatives and specific professional skills. Professionals in this industry are mostly managerial in nature. Hence, in terms of skills development, the demand has not been as impressive in this sector. It is therefore not as surprising that the number of employees in the industry has been discouraging in terms of rate, and employment has been also bleak due to redundancies. Total Employment in the Publishing Industry 1998-2002 (Euromonitor International: Country Market Insight) 2.7 Distribution In the past consumers were buying books through a variety of distribution channels such as large chain bookstores book clubs and independent and small chain bookstores, mass merchandisers, mail order, food and drug stores, discount stores, used books etc. The traditional bookshops have been losing their influence and as a result such booksellers have been also starting to fold up. The Internet is becoming one of the most active distribution channels for books and publications. Although the Internet does not have as much distribution share at this point, it continues to contribute significantly in this area as it also continues to increase as a highly-used distribution channel. Book retailers continue to dominate the product distribution; these retailers include chained retailers and independent bookshops. As compared to independent bookshops, in recent times, , bookshop chains are starting to increase its market grasp and influence (Books and Publishing – United Kingdom’, 2003). Another distribution source is through book clubs. The UK’s leading book club, BCA, combines to book club concept and its mail-to-order scheme, in addition to smaller subdivision of smaller book clubs. The book retail distribution trends have been presented in the following table: (Books and Publishing – United Kingdom’, 2003): Retail Distribution (Euromonitor International: Country Market Insight) It can be observed that there has been significant increase in sale through Internet and multiple (chained) booksellers whereas there has been a decrease in distribution through independent booksellers and book clubs/mail-to-order. 2.8 Major Trends and Developments The dynamism of the books and publishing industry in the UK can be determined by the key trends and developments that can eventually affect how the industry operates and performs. 2.8.1 Emerging Book Formats As previously mentioned, new formats such as e-books, CD-ROMs and audio books have now entered the market. Among the three, e-books have been creating a stir due to a number of reasons: it is in digital format that can be easily downloaded. What also works well with the emergence of e-books is the emergence of technologies.. For example, PDAs have now developed into small, handheld computers that can carry a substantial amount of data; e-books, which are usually in the PDF can be easily downloaded in PDAs and accessed through PDF reader (Microsoft Reader and Adobe Acrobat). Hence, people do not have to carry large books around as they can easily access them through their devices. As per the statistics from an online download source for public domain books, manybooks.net, PDF downloads have reached almost 140,000, not including the other electronic book formats such as eReader and RTF, and downloadable text in HTML format (Nagle, 2007). In any case, the number of downloads can reach hundreds of thousands, and this only includes books from one website and works within the public domain. Another popular source of free e-books is Project Gutenberg (Project Gutenberg, http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page) which claims to have over 2 million downloads every month. 2.8.2 Emerging Distribution Channels and Markets As discussed in the distribution channel section, the Internet is becoming to impress its influence among UK consumers; book sales online experienced an 11% growth in 2001 and continues to be significant till date. Although some online start-ups wanted to take advantage of the UK market, most of them were adversely affected by the dotcom bubble in the 1990s. Expectedly, Amazon.co.uk is the top online seller of books in the UK (Books and Publishing – United Kingdom’, 2003). 2.8.3 Developments in Technology and Concerns in Copyright and Production Technological developments have largely affected the books and publishing industry. As previously mentioned, technolo

Comparing The Enthalpy Change Of Combustion Of Different Alcohols :: GCSE Chemistry Coursework Investigation

Comparing The Enthalpy Change Of Combustion Of Different Alcohols The aim of my experiment is to investigate the enthalpy of combustion of a range of alcohols. The standard enthalpy of combustion is the enthalpy change that occurs when 1 mole of a fuel is burned completely in oxygen under standard conditions – 1 atmosphere pressure and 298K. All combustion reactions are exothermic which is why I am expecting all the values for the enthalpy change of combustion to always be negative. Prediction ========== I predict that the greater the number of carbon atoms there are in the alcohol molecule, the greater the enthalpy change of combustion it will have. This is because in a chemical reaction energy is needed in order to break bonds and energy is released when bonds are made. If I were to look at these two values; the energy required to break the bonds of the reactants and the energy released when the bonds of the product are made then I am able to work out the enthalpy change of combustion of the alcohol. In order to do this we need to know the bong enthalpies of the bonds in the process. The quantity of energy needed to break a particular bond in a molecule is called the bond enthalpy. Below is a table containing the bond enthalpies of the bonds that occur in the combustion of an alcohol. Bonds We use the average bond enthalpies as the exact value of a bond enthalpy depends on the particular compound in which the bond is found. GRAPH DH1 By looking at the equation for the reaction that occurs when an alcohol burns, we realise that the reaction involves both breaking bonds and making new ones. From the equation of the process we can tell how many of the different number of bonds are broken and made and so work out the enthalpy change of combustion. We can work out the enthalpy of combustion of methanol by using the bond enthalpy values: CH3OH + 1.5O2 CO2 + 2H2O We can use the enthalpy cycle above to work out the value for the enthalpy change of combustion of methanol, represented by DH1. The calculation is done as shown below: DH2 = enthalpy change when bonds are broken = 3 Â ´ E(C-H) + 1 Â ´ E(C-O) + 1 Â ´ E(O-H) + 1.5 Â ´ E(O=O) = 3(413) + 358 + 464 + 1.5(498) = 2808 kJ mol-1 DH3 = enthalpy change when bonds are made

Love in Othello Essay examples -- Othello essays

Love in Othello  Ã‚        Ã‚  Ã‚   In William Shakespeare’s tragic drama Othello, love comes in many colors. Consider Othello’s love of Iago; the ancient’s so-called love for Emilia; Desdemona’s spotless love for the general; Bianca’s love for Michael Cassio; Brabantio’s love for his daughter. This essay will explore the various types of love as portrayed in this tragedy.    Initially the play presents a very distorted type of love. Act 1 Scene 1 shows Roderigo, generous in his gifts to the ancient, questioning Iago’s love for the former, whose concern has been the wooing of Desdemona. Roderigo construes Iago’s love for him as based on the ancient’s hatred for the Moor. Thus the wealthy suitor says accusingly, â€Å"Thou told'st me thou didst hold him in thy hate.† And Iago responds, â€Å"Despise me, if I do not.† Partly out of hatred for the general and partly out of proving his faithfulness to Roderigo’s cause, Iago asserts in detail the reasons for his hatred of Othello, who has given the lieutenancy to Michael Cassio, a Florentine. Secondly, Iago suggests that Roderigo and he awake and disturb Brabantio, the father of Desdemona:    Call up her father,   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Rouse him: make after him, poison his delight,   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Proclaim him in the streets; incense her kinsmen,   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   And, though he in a fertile climate dwell,   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Plague him with flies: though that his joy be joy,   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Yet throw such changes of vexation on't,   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   As it may lose some colour. (1.1)    Thus a hue and cry is raised in front of the senator’s residence – partly for the sake of Iago proving his love for Roderigo so that the financial rewards will continue coming to the soldier. Once the senator has been awakened, Iago makes a series of loud... ...  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   They do not point on me. (5.2)    The Moor straightway suffocates his innocent wife. Shortly, Emilia comes upon the scene, and Desdemona revives just enough to tell her friend that she dies a guiltless death. Her final words are ones of kindness for Othello, â€Å"Commend me to my kind lord: O, farewell!† Emilia exonerates Desdemona and accuses Iago of causing the murder. She actually gives her life for her lady since Iago stabs her to death for revealing the truth. Othello, grief-stricken by remorse for the tragic mistake he has made, stabs himself and dies on the bed next to his wife, his sorrow being as deep as his love for Desdemona prior to Iago’s machinations.    WORKS CITED    Shakespeare, William. Othello. In The Electric Shakespeare. Princeton University. 1996. http://www.eiu.edu/~multilit/studyabroad/othello/othello_all.html No line nos.

How Education Shapes Life Chances Essay

Education in the largest sense is any act or experience that has a formative effect on the mind, character or physical ability of an individual. In its technical sense, education is the process by which society deliberately transmits its accumulated knowledge, skills and values from one generation to another. In sociology we have various schools of thoughts or theories and each of these have their own view on the impact of sociology on â€Å"life chances† Functionalist one of the â€Å"theories† of sociology are mainly concerned with the function of education to society and to seek solution to the following questions, â€Å"what is the relevance of education to the social system and â€Å"what are the relationship between education and economic system†. The functionalist believe strongly in value consensus, value consensus is a social contract entered into by members of the society on how best they can leave together. They believe education is aimed to produce social stability, to keep society smooth and to resolve conflict. In the words of a functionalist the individual has to submit to this higher order, which exist outside them and which was there before they were born and will continue after their deaths. That goes to say that the functionalist believes that every human being should succumb to this great order since the society is greater than any individual. Moore and Davis (2006) claimed that education carry’s out three major far-reaching functions which are firstly, socialization, where youths per take in key cultural values such as achievement, individualism, competition, equality of opportunity, social solidarity, democracy and religious morality. â€Å"Emile Durkheim† on the other hand argues that increase in individuality has an optimistic relationship to deviancy and could threaten social solidarity among members of the society and especially the youth who are more prone to these circumstances. But â€Å"Talcott Parsons† an American sociologist believes that the main social significance of education is its capacity to channel a viaduct between the family and broader society by aiding children to drop the particularistic standard of the family and adapt to the universalistic values of the wider society, which is solely grounded on achievement and not attribution, since all students are provided with equal chances. Functionalist Davies and Moore argued further as their second point that â€Å"meritocracy† influences success and failure and this would show the position of all individual level. Highly endowed and skilled persons would take up the most tasking challenges and would be sufficiently compensated. Making some people above or placed high on the social ladder, as every student is handed the same equivalent opportunity to prove their talent they won’t have the feel swindled for any social inequality that would be produced. So no matter your class or gender, race so far you are possess any skill and you are willing and able to strive hard you would succeed in life. Talcott Parsons also believed that education is an instrument for the assigning of roles in the society. Examinations and qualifications are created to show, establish and to make known of students talents to skill and capacities to the career which is best well-matched for them. The school is therefore a tool to assign these positions hence the school is a â€Å"microcosm of macrocosm†. In reference to the functionalist education teaches skill need for industrial society, it might be general skill that everyone requires such as numeracy and literacy or the specific skill needed for particular work. For Marxists the education system is seen as an important part of the superstructure in society. This is along with other institutions such as the media, religion and the family. They also argue that education does not give everybody a fair chance and that it uses the â€Å"alienation of schoolwork†, (the idea that children will do the work if they are rewarding for doing so), to socially control people until they are ready for â€Å"exploitation† in the world of work. Schools are considered to be unfair on working-class children because they are generally middle-class institutions and so middle-class children will generally do better. Marxists also strongly believe that â€Å"the hidden curriculum† is being used too strongly by schools. By teaching pupils to follow instructions (e. g. â€Å"sir† and â€Å"miss† and folding their arms) they are preparing them for the â€Å"exploitation† during work of when being asked to do something and then automatically doing it. This means that workers could be â€Å"used† in the process and then fined out about the capitalist system that we live in the hard way. While Marxists do share many ideas of functionalists e. g.the fact that education prepares us for out acceptance of the values of society they also see how the education system is alienating children. Functionalists, on the other hand, seem unable to see this and believe that the education system can only do well to children by teaching them norms and values. The interactionist theory believes that the teacher is the most significant tool to pupil’s educational achievement. It implies that teaches assess pupils not by ability or intelligence, but by traits that relates to class, gender and ethnicity, such as attitude, appearance and behavior. According to an internationalist the way pupils are influenced by teachers include: labeling-involves two people in an interaction with one have the power to label stick on the other. For example when teacher tag students as â€Å"smart and bright† or as â€Å"troublemakers and lazy† this forms a mirror through which the students skills and performance is viewed, when there is an occurrence of any mishap in the school those labeled as trouble makers would be called first also when the teachers when marking the works of those label bright tend to have pity for them. A This can cause what is known as self-fulfilling prophecy; this signifies a situation whereby an individual student will behave in the way that he or she has been labeled. For instance the bright labeled children would have a high esteem while others would be discouraged and may not prepare properly for school work and some may resolve into cheating and this would result into trouble. Also students might have different teachers and therefore each teacher might have a different labeling for the same child . Peer groups label might have a different label from that of the teachers, for example the teacher label some students as smart and bright but in peer group label they can be labeled as nerd or dweebs and lose respect from peers. Students also label teachers normally in accordance to their strictness or openness, rule enforcement, punishments given and the amount of worked handed to the students by the teachers this would determine which category either good or bad is the label for the teacher. These labels can be negotiated, that is the ‘bright’ child might start misbehaving or the ‘trouble-maker’ might turn , Life chances refer to the opportunities open to individuals to better the quality of life of themselves and their families. Therefore this definition suggest that there are opportunities available for individuals and families to improve their lifestyles, and suggests that this is possible if there is no poverty, and for people to be socially inclusive. The concept was introduced by German sociologist Max Weber. These opportunities refer to length to which an individual gain’s access to resources, such as food, clothing, shelter, health care and our main area of study education. How does education (shape) people’s life chances? The question appears to be seeking an investigation into the relationship between the education a person receives and the opportunities which it provides. The (key) words seem to be education, shape and life chances. shape strikes me as a very definite word, defined in the (merriam-webster dictionary as meaning, form,create, especially. to give a particular form or shape to). For the purposes of this essay I am going to look at education in the sense of learning opportunities provided by the state and concentrate on issues of social class, race and gender. Life chances is a very vague phrase which could be construed as having a variety of different meanings, but in this case I would interpret it to mean opportunities of economic and social (That goes to say that education is an opportunity given to an inidivial to improve his or her life quality). Aside the fact that education might be considered boring, expensive, stressful and time consuming. From a personal view I (believe) that education surely does improve or aids to better one’s life chance, education Serve the ruling class to shape people’s thinking, also to improve the level of people so that from a natural person into a social person, education brought (rise of r technological advancements) , education brings about understanding and this has helped in settlements of many disputes also wars amongst countries, education helps to improve the welfare of the individual and the society, It promotes civilized, progressive, competent and efficient development of the individual and the society and lastly Dissemination of culture, transforming culture, and create a culture, to intellectuals to raise people’s literacy. These and many more is how education has helped. Education also (comes) in, in its relation to the economy.

Anna Historic and Ravensong

Ana past is a poetic tonic ab expose a woman named Annie who disc e realplaces Mrs. Richards, a woman of no history, in Vancouvers civic archives. Annie becomes obsess with the possibilities of Mrs. Richards livelihood. The impudent is write by Daphne Marlatt, a Canadian poet. predatesong is a fictional allegory nigh a s even upteen year-old inhering girl who tries to bridge the gap betwixt the traditionalistic ways of her autochthonous closure and discolour-hot societys incursive new values. antedatesong is write by leeward Maracle, a First Nations writer and poet. some(prenominal) of these fabrications piddle brought forth historic issues pertaining to Wo lamforces and Gender Studies such(prenominal) as colonialism, gender, c atomic number 18 of violence, and lesbianism. This paper will focus on the topic of internality and colonialism. These two novels yield further educated me on some(prenominal) things. For example, after reading Ana diachronic, I as certained that there atomic number 18 various communicatory forms and way of lifes other than traditional European models.Daphne Marlatt uses create verbally styles such as ecriture feminine in which feminist writers try to use their induce bodies as a source for piece of writing (Sand 10) and gynesis, which is an aesthetic strategy which puts gender, familiarity and motherliness into public discourse (Sand 10). I to a fault learned how femininity is constructed in a livid middle class surroundings by dint of what is considered appropriate conduct for a woman (Sand 10). After reading preysong, I discovered that in traditional primeval civilization, men neer entered the house of unmarried women without a man cosmos enter (Maracle 103).This novel has also taught me about the important fictional character of Raven, the trickster who is utilize to send away the boundaries between indispensable and white stopping point (Sand 20). The novels are real antithetic in terms of narrative styles, point-of-views, time periods, and how lesbianism and the authority of nature play out in the story. Daphne Marlatt uses a postmodern narrative style, eyepatch lee Maracle uses a combination of native and European narrative approaches. Ravensong is written from the point-of-view of a young native woman, whereas Ana Historic is written from the outlook of a white, middle-class woman.Lesbianism plays out differently in each novel. In Ana Hisotric, Annie slowly comes to terms with her familiarity and last realizes that she is a lesbian. In Ravensong, Staceys friends Rena and German Judy are a lesbian couple. The fiber of nature in Ravensong is indivisible from homo life and landscape (Sand 20), where as in Ana Historic it is a place of repose and cause of dismay (Sand 20). Ravensong takes place in the 1950s and Ana Historic takes place more often than non in the 1950s and 1870s (Mrs. Richards). Colonialism and sex are topics which are closely co r related to. They are two about dominance, standard, discourse and race.Sexuality is delimit as the historical organization and regulation of proneness and versed practices into mixer identities that are constructed as if they emerge from nature (Sand 18). Daphne Marlatt and leeward Maracle deal with this subject in very different ways. In Ravensong, sexual urge is associated with put d possess and suicide. In Ana historic, sexuality is associated with mothering and lesbianism. Colonialism is the extension of a nations sovereignty over territory beyond its b order of magnitudes by the brass section of either settletle colonies or creating administrative dependencies in which native or autochthonal populations are directly ruled (Patel 8).Ravensong is written from the perspective of colonised people whereas Ana Historic is written from the standpoint of the colonizers. In the novel Ana Historic, Inas mothering impacts Annies perception of sexuality. Ina taught her daughte rs sexuality was something to be xenophobic of you taught us your fear, you taught us what you knew about a world where even uncles were not to be trusted. you grew more unnerved as our sexuality came budding to the onwards (Marlatt 34). Annie tries to write her ego out of the patriarchal limitations of heterosexualism that confound bounded her mother Ina to a life of domesticity.She does this by freeing herself from her utilization as supportive house wife and re-writing her relationship with Ina (Sand 10). Annie realizes that feminine behaviour is not actually something natural and inevitable only it is rather an unnatural social construction. Annie writes you taught me the spooky hole in myself and how to cover it up cover girl, the great cover-story women inherit in fashion and makeup. You taught me how i was supposed to look, the feminine act (Marlatt 61). Annie also recognizes the inheritance of mothers (Maralatt 60) that passes on sexual repression from generation to generation.For instance, Ina says to Annie, what do you manage about repression? you were hardly a virginal when you married, were you? I didnt know the primary thing about sex your nan simply refused to discuss it, though i begged her (Marlatt 60). Marlatt avoids heteronormativity which is a belief and a set of cultural/institutional practices that enforce heterosexuality as dominant, essential and natural (Sand 18), by creating a sexualized lesbian relationship between Annie and her friend Zoe.While creating a life for Mrs. Richards, Annie begins to realize that she is attracted to Zoe and she writes her into the story by creating a character named Birdie Stewart. Annie writes about the sexual propensity she aromas for Zoe in her imagined life of Mrs. Richards, you cover intrigued, and your body turning in its ache skirt, is caught in the act, you have caught yourself turning in Birdies eyes (Marlatt 109). Annies inherent fear of sexuality sur spirits in her imagined life for Mrs. Richard. Birdie recognizes Mrs.Richards fear of her witness sexual identity, she says, but youre afraid my dear, afraid of your own twat (Marlatt 135). She addresses her fear of lesbian sexuality when she says You fear what you want. am I right, my love? (Marlatt 139). Mrs. Richards is suddenly hie with desire, she admits the truth of it and feels it written across her face (Marlatt 139). Annie finally gives in to her sexual desire for Zoe and the novel ends with a climatic sexual poem. Annies lesbian sexuality surfaces as a result of the decolonization butt Marlatt inscribes for Annie and Mrs. Richards (Sand 10).In her novel Narrative Deconstructions of Gender, Caroline Rosenthal defines sexual decolonization as a debate on whether women are colonized by compulsory heterosexuality in ways only decolonizing strategies and the practice of deprecative consciousness fecal matter undo (106). Marlatt deviates from the sexual oppression of middle-class white women by revisioning a lesbian life for Mrs. Richards. The hassle of the intersection of women and the oppression of the indigenous presently surfaces in Ana Historic.While Mrs. Richards is walking through the woods she comes across two Siwash men who are simply passing by. Where they rummy? Perhaps they were furious and humblet to do her detriment (Marlatt 41). The assumptions that Mrs. Richards makes about these men are related to negative stereotypes such as the drunk squaw that colonizers created to justify taking over Native land (Anderson 229). In the beginning of the novel Ravensong, Stacey learns that one of her white classmates, Polly, committed suicide. Polly has killed herself in response to the shame she felt about being publicly identified as having been sexually active with some other boy in Staceys class.Stacey becomes very provoked with the reactions of some of her classmates to Pollys lack of excellence (Maracle 28). She couldnt believe how small and mean they all were. So what if Polly had a myopic fun last night? free deal (Maracle 28) Stacey does not understand the social disapproval of Polly because in her nuance sexuality is seen with humour and is openly joked about. For example, Ella the village elderly asks Stacey What you going to save me for, have another baby? The women respond with laughter axiom Sure, why not Ella. You probably shut away like trying. They were on a roll, vexer Ella about her zeal for men (Maracle 50).Raven pushes Stacey to come to grips with the loss of her classmate by guiding her to search Pollys culture and history. Wander around Pollys insides, feel your way through decades, generations of lostness (Marlatt 39). In doing so Stacey discovers that white culture views sexuality very differently than her own culture. She realizes that Polly had a fierce home life and that white townsfolkshipsfolkshipshipsfolk had no support for Pollys mother. In the end what struck her about Judys narrative was t he lack of support in the white community for Pollys mom.Where was the family in all this? (Marlatt 81) Stacey is surprised by this because in her culture sexuality is natural, a collapse of everyday life. People love, laugh and have babies (Marlattt 71). In her thesis Rebelling against discourses of denial and goal, Rachel Deutsch writes that in European ideology, sexuality and sexual acts, particularly involving women, were seen as deviant (30). This ideology starts to make for Stacey to reject some aspects of her own culture such as the anger and offense she feels towards her mother for wanting to remain sexual after the death of her husband.In Kim Andersons article, The construction of a Negative Identity, she states that colonizers created a negative sexual identity for Native women in order to justify taking over Indian land (229). The corruptive squaw image made it easier to cover up the reality of Native women who were merely assay with the increasingly inhuman condi tions on taciturnity (Anderson 231). This negative sexual identity presents itself in the novel when Stacey talks about the racial discrimination she experiences at school.A few of them hurled insults and racial epithets at her, whispered cleutch as she passed them (Maracle 69). A cleutch refers to a Native females private parts. Colonialism first presents itself at the very beginning of the novel when Celia sees a tall(a) ship approaching the village fill with men. In this moment, Celia feels the impending doom of colonialism on her people and culture. Fear, cold and thin, wove itself into Celias self (Maracle 10). Another instance of colonialism experienced by the village lies in the general phlegm of white town towards the flu pestilential that takes galore(postnominal) Native lives.Colonialism also surfaces in the relationship between Stacey and Steve, a white boy from her class. Colonialism led to the eradication and destruction of aboriginal cultures which assist in the description on why the doctors of white town were unwilling to treat the villagers. Stacey believes it is because their lives are deemed slight valuable. Under the shabby arguments about hospitals being full and doctors already overworked lay an hard assumption white folks are more deserving (Maracle 69). Stacey sees Steve and other white people as controlling oppressors.She resists white power (colonization) many times throughout the book. Stacey resists her teachers authority and she also resists Steves desire for her. The slave had just given an order to the master, which made him an ex-master. Neither man knew what it was to be an ex-master, so both were confused and stick out (Maracle 75). Her growing frustration for white towns lack of compassion towards wo(e) villagers is obvious in her attitude towards Steve. Stacey can no longer stand the racism and she tells Steve exactly how she feels.She tells him that he will never know what her and her people have gone(a) through and asks him How did it feel to watch us die, Steve? (Maracle 186). Steve leaves in shame and Stacey realizes that he was not for her. Ana Historic and Ravensong have taught me several things that I was unaware of before reading them. I have learned that there exists many different writing styles and narrative approaches such as ecriture feminine and gynesis used by Daphne Marlatt and the conventions of Native orature (Sand 20) used by Lee Maracle.Ive learned how femininity is constructed in Ana Historic and about the important role that Raven plays in Ravensong. Marlatt and Maracle deal with colonialism and sexuality throughout the novel in a way which allows the reader to self-reflect on their own come ins and understandings of these topics. Non-Native readers are removed from their usual hegemonic position by Staceys objectification of white town in Ravensong (Sand 20). Marlatts experimentation with phrase challenges the reader to both examine and see the world in a differen t way.What impacted me the most about Ana Historic is Daphne Marlatts theory and practice of fictionalysis which is a combination of fiction and analysis used as a means to explore self-identity. Marlatt starts with facts from her own life and from history and uses her visual sense to create an intersecting territory where fact and fiction co-exist (Sand 10). I enjoyed how she used this style in Annies reconstruction of traditional history through the life she makes up for Mrs. Richards. The role that Raven plays in the novel is what impacted me most about Ravensong.Raven acknowledges the gulf between white town and the village and knows that it needs to be bridged in order to prevent further catastrophe. Raven guides the plague of the flu epidemic in attempt to expose white town to the diversity of the world and to teach them to work together. The inability of white town to turn over the lesson leads to the destruction of the indigenous community. Both novels bring important is sues and concerns to women and gender studies and I sincerely appreciate the different perspective that each novel has given me. Ana Historic and Ravensong have contributed important lessons, concepts and theories to this course.