Analyzing Brain Function Using Voxel -based Morphometric...

Analyzing brain Function Using Voxel –Based Morphometric Scanning Method A recent study shows, two groups of students, one group is comprised of 21 art students, and the other group consisted of 23 non artists. The process used to analyze brain function is known as voxel –based morphometric scanning method. The first group observed, was the artists group. They two variables of interest that were observed, was their drawing ability. This encompasses their overall ability to construct 3 dimensional objects, and draw them with 3D perspective, to include a viewpoint, edges, and corners. (See figure 2) The other interest of area studied, was whether the participant was an art student, or belonged to the group that belonged to the art group. The art students, and non- art students were shown to have large differences. The research concluded that the group of students that were artists, had a substantially more mass or gray matter in the parietal lobe’s peroneus area. According to Chamberlain, this part of the brain I most likely inked to creativi ty and visual imagery. This part of the brain helps the artist to manipulate objects in their brain, and help them to take it apart in order to understand its basic foundations. When comparing these two groups, according to ( Makuuchi et al. (2003), Miall et al. (2009) and Schlegal et al(2012) , research shows that the regions of the brain that are associated with visual-spatial and motor processing, are shown to be not only

Essay The Current Status of Medical Marijuana - 1929 Words

In the year 2008, Michigan voted in the use of marijuana for medical purposes. I will be exploring two papers, the first is Prohibition Works: Keeping Marijuana Illegal, the second is Legalization of Marijuana. In the paper Prohibition Works the author discusses numerous reasons marijuana should be kept illegal, and the second paper Legalization of Marijuana the author makes many valid points on why marijuana should be legalized for medical use. Michigan now joins 15 other states that have passed laws for consumption of marijuana for medical purposes. Both marijuana and medical marijuana are the same substance. In this paper I will discuss how the federal government views the use of marijuana, how doctors argue their case whether they are†¦show more content†¦WebMD has an article that lists the psychological effects of marijuana over a short time are: paranoia, time distortion, anxiety, depression random thoughts, and memory loss. There is also withdrawal in some patients ca n include: appetite loss, anxiety, depression, and aggression (Amal Chakraburtty, 2010). These side effects hold true to users of marijuana whether they use it legally with the medical marijuana card or if they are using this drug without the medical marijuana card. The federal government does not seem to be changing their laws when it comes to marijuana. Andre Kratzer makes reference to some doctors that believe marijuana is good for pain reduction, it can increase appetite, and calms down nausea (Kratzer, 2004). Even though some of the side effects are negative doctors look at the negatives and positives and weigh them out. If the positive effects are more of a benefit than the negative then they will suggest medical marijuana for that patient. The list for benefits of marijuana include but are not limited to cancer patients being treated with chemotherapy, AIDS patients that have lost their appetite, it is also said to be helpful in the relief of pain for MS patients, along with helping to slow the progression of glaucoma. However, doctors that are against the use of marijuana look at the bad side effects and decide that there is no medicalShow MoreRelatedLegalizing Marijuan The Blunt Truth1461 Words   |  6 PagesBlunt Truth When we imagine the uses of marijuana, we see the dazed hippies of the 1960s and 70’s, but really the first written record of cannabis goes back to 2727 B.C. by Chinese Emperor Shen Nung and it has been dated through almost every historic time. Not only was cannabis used for recreational and medicinal properties, but hemp was also used for cloth and textiles, paper, soap and hygiene products, food, and even industrial products such as fuel. Marijuana is not just the idolized drug mentionedRead MoreMedical Marijuana Should Not Be Banned1439 Words   |  6 Pageshomes? Medical marijuana is a common phenomenon that is acceptable in more than half of the 50 states. Individuals of all ages are affected by the new regulations of the once illegal substance and exposed more than one might think. Marijuana is introduced through schools by peers as a parent struggles to ensure their child will maintain an effective future. This particular drug is dangerous and can have intense effects to the body. To reduce the exposure of the harmful effects of marijuana, physiciansRead MoreShould Marijuana Be Legalized?1311 Words   |  6 Pagesotherwise known as Marijuana, is illegal in most parts of the world including the United States. However, the drug is now gaining acceptance worldwide as evidenced by the number of countries that are reducing or lifting penalties for possession of small amounts of marijuana. In the United States, there are a growing number of Americans demanding that marijuana be legalized medically. Although the federal government is presently opposed to legalizing marijuana, its legal status is changing on a stateRead MoreShould Marijuana Be Legalized?1405 Words   |  6 Pageslegalization of marijuana in the United States is on an upward trend, although, there is much uncertainty if and when we will see National legalization. Legalizing marijuana will have a positive effect on crime, politics, the economy, and provide many health benefits. The negat ive effects of marijuana being classified as a schedule 1 controlled substance are numerous, including racial profiling and users being labeled as deviant. One of those most prolific findings is that in states where marijuana is legalRead MoreLegalization of Marijuana for Medicinal Usage800 Words   |  4 PagesLegalization of Marijuana for Medicinal Usage The legalization of marijuana for medical purposes is a question that seems to be scourging many states. Have you ever experience excruciating pain? Or have you ever witnessed someone suffering from agonizing morning sickness? Then still there are those that feel plagued with the chronic arthritis pain, or the nausea and vomiting, which often accompany chemotherapy. These individuals would welcome the use of marijuana for medicinal usage. Medical marijuanaRead MoreMedical Marijuana Is A Drug Misunderstood By Many Nation Wide1507 Words   |  7 PagesMarijuana is a drug misunderstood by many nation wide however, most people do not consider it s legitimate medicinal application. Medical marijuana defined by Drugfacts refers to the use of the whole unprocessed plant to treat a disease or illness. The Drug Enforcement Administration has listed it under the schedule I classification which is the same classification that heroin, LSD, ecstasy and many other drugs are under. The clas sification identifies the drug as a dangerous substance that hasRead MoreIssue on Marijuana Essay example658 Words   |  3 PagesLegalization of Marijuana in the United States is an ongoing topic that has been going on for several years. There are vast majority of Americans who are for this move and against this move. While each side has several good arguments to defend their case, neither one has a distinct advantage over the other. I will be going over several arguments or point of views as well will have several facts about the effects of Marijuana whether it is good or bad. Marijuana is a very prominent and controversialRead MoreThe War Over Marijuana1862 Words   |  7 Pagesrogue elephant in the game room everyone running for president pretends not to see. (Steigerwald) The present works aim is to analyze the concerns which revolve around the marijuana state and federal legalization debate, with special emphasis on its positive outcomes. The majority of clinical research studies concerning marijuana use and its effects unravel the uncertainty which surrounds the subject and present the common pattern of insisting that further clinical enquiry is necessary. MeasurableRead MoreEssay about Should We Legalize Marijuana in Canada?1081 Words   |  5 PagesTo Legalize or to Not Legalize: The Debate Behind Marijuana in Canada The legalization of marijuana is an issue that consistently discussed and debated, not only in North America, but throughout the entire world. Despite being illegal in every country, marijuana remains the most widely used illicit drug in the world. The popularity of this drug is the cause for the continuous legalization debate, resulting in various legislations pertaining to the consumption of the substance. Every country hasRead MorePublic Health Effects Of Medical Marijuana1368 Words   |  6 PagesPublic Health Effects of Medical Marijuana Legalization in Colorado Over the last few decades, the controversy over marijuana has been heightened, specifically in the last decade or so, with the legalization of medicinal and recreational marijuana for parts of the United States. Now with increasing acceptance and with its counterpart scrutiny, research is being implemented to analyze whether the benefits truly outweigh the possible health effects to individuals and communities. In this article

Brachytherapy Source Calibration

Question: Discuss about theBrachytherapy Source Calibration. Answer: Dose Combination polarity is the application of both polarities ( i.e., negative and positive for the dose in Electrometer. This makes it easier to determine and note the amount ionization of different dose at different media used be it water or Perspex. In this application we form a polar molecule when one part is positively charged while the other one has a negative charge, making it form electrical poles. In some cases, we can use water and ethanol to form a solution since both are a polar molecule(Jack Venselaar 2012, p. 112). Discussion The combination of radiography and visual picture verification very crucial in the experiment as it helped to know well-chamber ionization chamber integrity. During the expectation of radiography, there was no physical damaged noted. From our experiment, the leakage currents were recorded for the regular time of 10/(factor/100) of the well-ionization chamber of the average of 29.30nA from different readings. There was corrections elimination of the leakage current in the electrometer background during the AKS reading. The experiment was carried at a temperature of 20.80C and a pressure of 1019.7 Hpa(P Mayles 2007, p. 211). From these values we were able to calculate ptf as follows; Ptf={(temperature +273.15) * 1013}/(293.15*pressure ; Ptf={293.95*1013}/(293.15*1019.7 Ptf=297771.35/298925.055 Ptf=0.09961 We managed to calculate the amount of Air kerma strength as follows Air Kerma Strength= Average readings (A) *Nk*ptf*Pion Air kerma Strength=(29.30*0.09961*1.00*1.57) Air kerma Strength=4.582cGym2hr2 Chambers well-type ionization are made to have a high sensitivity to photons which are scattered, and it is very important to eliminate these contributions of scattered photons when readings are taken. In most cases, it is recorded that there is an overestimation of current by about 1.1% if only it is put close to the walls. And these effects increases when the well-ionization chamber is put on the floor. Our experiment we found our ion collection efficiency (Aion) to be 1.00 which is 100% and is taken to be perfect(Peter Hoskin 2011, p. 255). Our measured value is within the range of that in literature which is 98.9% for most welltype ionization types. The value of the collected current of ionization did not depend on the voltage sign of polarizing. The Air-kerma rate determined in our experiment using BDS 1000 in chambers of well-type ionization through cross-calibration which was calculated and found to be 4.582cGym2hr2 as seen above. Our calculated value is in the range of tolerance with the activity value which is 4.76 cGym2hr2 (Sonja Dieterich 2015, p. 342). We also managed to calculate the apparent Activity (Ci) as; (Ci)= Average reading* Nc*pion*ptf (Ci)= 29.3*3.85*1.00* 0.09961 (Ci)=11.23 Cl Literature value of Cl is given as 11.7 Cl , and from that we can get the percentage error ( deviation ) as For Air-kerma rate; (4.76-4.582)/ 4.76 = 0.178/4.76 0.037394*100; 3.739%. For apparent Activity (Ci) ; (11.7-11.23)/11.7. =0.47/11.7 =0.040170*100 =4.017% So for the both values of apparent Activity (Ci) and Air-kerma rate lie within the range of 5% as they have a tolerance of 3.379% and 4.017% respectively. The sensitivity of the well-type ionization chambers are affected by the by the volume and the source energy(Yves Lemoigne 2009, p. 342). Conclusion In conclusion, we were able to get more familiarized with the use and parts of farmer chambers in full-scatter photons. Good applicators adaptors and calibrations were used with commercial standard, for any reading the chamber must be connected to a sensitive PTW electrometer. We also realized that the chambers of welltype are the best for the calibration of high dose rate and pulsed dose rate. We also managed to know how to eliminate attenuations in the chambers of well-type ionization. They are made to have high sensitivity to photons which are scattered, and it is very important to eliminate these contributions of scattered photons when readings are taken(Sonja Dieterich 2015, p. 278). Bibliography Jack Venselaar, ASMDBPJH 2012, Comprehensive Brachytherapy: Physical and Clinical Aspects, Taylor Francis, Stoke. P Mayles, ANJCR 2007, Handbook of Radiotherapy Physics: Theory and Practice, CRC Press, Waashington. Peter Hoskin, CC 2011, Radiotherapy in Practice - Brachytherapy, OUP Oxford, London. Sonja Dieterich, EFDPJZ 2015, Practical Radiation Oncology Physics: A Companion to Gunderson and Tepper's Clinical Radiation Oncology, Elsevier Health Sciences, Beijing. Sun I. Kim, TSS 2007, World Congress of Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering, Springer Science Business Medi, Tokyo. Yves Lemoigne, AC 2009, Radiotherapy and Brachytherapy, Springer Science Business Media, London.

Rugby School Essay Example

Rugby School Paper Salman Rushdie was born in Bombay, India to a Muslim family. At the age of fourteen Rushdie was sent to Rugby School in England. In 1964 Rushdies parents moved to Karachi, Pakistan. During this time there was a war between India and Pakistan, and the choosing of sides. Rushdie wrote his novel East, West based on the cultural similarities and difference and the relationship between east and the west. The theme of his work shows many connections, disruptions, migrations and shows the contrast between the religion, influence and identity between the Eastern and Western world. The first three stories are set in India; they involve the section titled East. In the short story The Free Radio Rushdie shows a comparison between the Indian society, its classes and its backwardness. The main priority of the Indian lower caste people being wanting to rise above all even if it means giving up their manhood. The story is about, a young boy, Ramani(symbolizes the Indian people) who is characterized as a teenage boy, and gets married to a thiefs widow(Indira Gandhi), who looks only for his downfall. Ramani, who is uneducated and is from the lower caste society, gives up his manhood in order to get a free radio which was promised, but never arrives. During the time of the Emergency (1975-1977) the basic rights and freedoms were taken away from the people. India had problems with over population hence, men were forced to give up their manhood (vasectomy) if not voluntarily then they will be forced to do so. We will write a custom essay sample on Rugby School specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Rugby School specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Rugby School specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer Ramani in this case who did this voluntarily showed that the lower caste society would do anything for a little money or satisfaction, they also dont think about their actions and consequences and does things willingly and not ready to accept what they did was wrong. This proves that Indira Gandhi was trying to destroy the lower caste society since they werent of much use. This is an image of no unity among the people of India they did what they thought was best for them. They were so driven by the idea of having a free radio that didnt exist. The radio could also be a symbol of the unity of India. Since thats the only medium in which they can communicate. Since it wasnt possible to get the free radio it meant that it was never possible to achieve unity among the people. Ram always had the rare quality of total belief in his dreams, and there were times when his faith in the imaginary radio took us in, so that we half-believed it was really on its way, or even that it was already here, cupped invisibly against his ear as he rode his rickshaw around the streets of the town. (Rushdie. East, West. 27). This meant that there was a dream that was believed by everyone but for the benefit of one person everything could be destroyed. The tone of this story is like of a fable. He uses this tone because it was a way of showing what happened in India was wrong and it didnt do much good to people or the nation. And it is written in a way that he lets you decide if what happened was right or wrong. The diction and syntax in the stories of the east is that of an Indian lower class English that was influenced by the british and many words are derived from hindi/Arabic or Sanskrit like pukka.

Bigfoot Essay Research Paper Bigfoot Yeti and free essay sample

Bigfoot Essay, Research Paper Bigfoot, Yeti, and Sasquatch are all fabulous elephantine apes. The elephantine animate beings stand seven to nine pess tall and weigh between 600 and 900 lbs. The United States Bigfoot has been seen everyplace throughout the Northwestern portion of the United States. The Yeti is a elephantine ape thought to brood around the Himalayas, particularly near a town called Katmandu by Mount Everest. The Sasquatch is the elephantine ape thought to roll throughout Canada. These three animals are all fundamentally the same fabulous animal for the credence of being in separate countries of the Earth. There is small known information on these animate beings, but at that place have been many sightings. This is what makes this animal a phenomenon. Scientific grounds on Bigfoot footmarks is one of the few pieces, or difficult scientific grounds that tells scientists that there must be a Bigfoot out at that place. Footprints are the lone difficult grounds of Bigfoot because exposure can be staged, faked, or hoaxed. We will write a custom essay sample on Bigfoot Essay Research Paper Bigfoot Yeti and or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Since most of the Bigfoot imprints are normally the same size, they can non be merely merely staged. In an attempt to turn out that large pes is in fact existent, many experts continue to seek to happen difficult, solid, scientific grounds to turn out the theory of the Bigfoot fable. There have been many sightings of Bigfoot, Sasquatch, and Yeti, but most of them are non really existent at all. There are the exceeding few that are said to be true. Peoples have been describing Bigfoot sighting in the US and Canada since 1884. Bigfoot got its name # 8220 ; Bigfoot # 8221 ; from a route crew working in Northwest California in 1958. Nighttime work at the work site attracted a large visitant, which the route crew nicknamed # 8220 ; Bigfoot # 8221 ; . They threw gasolene armored combat vehicles all around the site to seek to maintain the elephantine ape off and it did in fact leave. When the workers looked throughout the margin, they found elephantine manlike footmarks all over. This Bigfoot incident became national intelligence. Bigfoot is really a Bigfoot animal that lives throughout Canada. It has been seen chiefly around the Western seashore of Canada, but at that place have besides been a few Sasquatch sightings in the cardinal country of Canada. Many Native Americans in that country have seen this elephantine animate being # 8220 ; Sasquatch # 8221 ; as a God I n their civilization and society. They have been idolizing this fabulous ape for 100s of old ages. Many spying have been reported in Canada and the hunt for Sasquatch continues. Sightings of Yeti have been really abundant throughout Nepal and the Himalayan countries. The first credible study of Yeti was in 1925, when a Greek lensman, N.A. Tombazi, pointed out a animal traveling about at some lower inclines of the mountains. The unusual animate being was around a 1000 pess off in an country with an height of 1,500 pess. The unusual animate being looked much like a human because it walked unsloped and it on occasion stopped to pick some wild mountain berries. Tombazi knew that it was in fact an ape because it showed up dark against the snow in the country. That meant that it had to be an ape of some kind. When he told the townsfolk of Katmandu, the townsfolk told him that it was a elephantine ape, Yeti. Many scientists say that there is a really little opportunity of Bigfoot being. The ground for that determination is the fact that adult male keeps traveling into uninhabited parts of the state. Because of that, many experts feel that even if there was a Bigfoot, person would hold caught it on movie, or really taken a Bigfoot exposure that wasn # 8217 ; t a fraud. Ninety-eight per centum of all Bigfoot images or movie s are proven to be a fraud, and or trick picture taking. The other two per centum can non be figured out, but they can besides non be proven to be existent. Due to the Bigfoot phenomenon in this state, experts feel that there is no opportunity of any Bigfoot or giant, hairy, manlike animals in North America. In decision, Bigfoot, Sasquatch and Yeti are all myths, or great animals that have been worshipped by many different types of people throughout clip. These animate beings are a large portion of this universe because this fantastic animal fascinates people. Although many scientists say that there is no opportunity of a elephantine ape to be out at that place, some people still have a batch of hope. This is one of many myths that are unresolved enigmas. Will we of all time come up with a definite decision or truth when it comes to the being of the Bigfoot? We will merely larn more as clip progresses. Until so, the worlds of the universe remain intrigued, and confused about what to believe.

buy custom Web Search Engines essay

buy custom Web Search Engines essay Google has used the search engine optimization to rise up the ranks of internet preference. A research carried out in the recent past illustrated that more than 80% of world internet users prefer Google. Other internet search engines that have been in use include yahoo, bing, ask, msn. Aol, Lycos, AltaVista and alltheweb. The mentioned search engines have been in use at different times in history. Others have also shared the same historical timings. Technology has always been on the rise from one search engine to another (Bruce 276). While some early versions used manual data allocation, the present search engines have adopted fast transmission of information stored in data bases located in remote parts of the world. The history of search engines dates back in 1945 soon after the end of World War 2 (Trinkle 45). The world was in great need to consolidate and disseminate knowledge in different areas of discipline. The first step was the actual development of the knowledge followed by its dispensation. The pioneers of this concept emphasized on the need to specialize in various areas of study. Writers from all sides were called upon. The collected materials were however stored in the hard copy since computers had not advanced (Trinkle 49). Information was collected and placed in books. People could access information in the books. The present search engines actually work in the same principle. Information is collected and finally stored in data bases located in various servers. People can then locate the information remotely. Archie The earliest form of search engine dates back during the days of Archie. The word Archie was a short version of archive. The former means a storage facility that contains volumes of historical facts. Alan Emtage developed the Archie concept in 1990 while studying at McGill University. This University was located at Montreal in the United States of America. This initial program was meant to assist in accessing information stored in the servers. The process of accessing information was not so difficult then (Trinkle 216). It is also amazing that the files were stored randomly and so they were to be accessed in the same random manner. This random accessibility was only possible because very few files were in use during those days. The few files made it possible to access information in the random manner. Alan Emtage hoped that his product would solve the problem of internet accessibility at that time (Whitmore 74). He used the word Archie and not archives so as to conform to the Unix programming demands. Unix has always been known to use short forms of words. This is the international standard allowed for the UNIX programming (Whitmore 78). Alans invention made it easy to gather information into one place so as to be accessed on a later time. The gathered information was always collected from the then scholars. These were people who had great skill and knowledge in the specific areas. The information that was contributed could be accessed randomly through this Archie method (Whitmore 65). This was the first program to search through the internet for information that FPT had (Whitmore 29). Archie is not a search engine as such like others but it can search a list of files in the internet. When using Archie one has to know the file name that he is searching and then the program will in form you the type of FTP site that the information can be downloaded from the internet (Whitmore 67). File Transfer Protocol File transfer protocol is a type of file searching method that utilized a server side and a client side. This method is also widely known as FTP. Searching the internet was not there before the year around 1990 as there were few websites in place so FTP came in Handy. In regard to this search engine mechanism set up by Tim Lee, files and data are stored in one computer that would also be known as a server (Rognerud 132). The server is the computer in which data is stored. The computer operator then sets the server program to enable other people to access information stored. The persons who are willing to view the information have the obligation of installing a client program that shall enable them to communicate with the server computer. File transfer protocol can take place with or without internet and it used to be searched by word of mouth (Douglas 123). The present File transfer protocol has greatly advanced compared to what Lee developed. This client-server based system can today accommodate the transmission control protocol which uses the internet platform for its operations. The TCP mode brings on board many users and this therefore calls for user authentication mechanism (Rognerud 66). Various authentication methods have been introduced with time. The use of pass words is but one mode of authentication that is common in this present age. Yahoo Yahoo is the first well known and popular search engine that was developed in 1994. It was developed during the web cataloging period by Stanford undergraduates who were working on an Excite project (Andy 48). Another group of Ph.D. students David Filo and Jerry Yang, had some web pages posted in their favorite links, and that is how they came up with Yahoo a name for the pair in their innovations (Rognerud 87). The number of links started to grow hence a better organization of the data and hierarchical listing was developed, and with the pages becoming more accepted, a search page was necessitated and all links were joined together to make a directory (Edward 387). The developments made Yahoo to be the first search engine directory that was popular and easy for data retrieval. The links in the pages were not automatically updated but rather manually by spider or robot, and were further searched by the links developed hence it was not categorized as search engine (Marckini 156). The feature that they created was a simple data base engine, thus it was considered searchable directory. It provided for human compiled explanation in each of the URLs. The directory became so popular and they started charging the commercial sites that were included in the web (Marckini 165). It has automated some of its features lately to give it a distinction between a search engine and search directory by gathering and classifying some of its processes. Yahoo offers a user friendly interface and the ease of understanding the directories makes it to be one of the popular sites in the world of Web. The database is however, small due to the number of users indexing the files of everything that they view while on the sites. Moreover, Yahoo is more effective compared to Wandrer becau se they contain more added expressive information on indexed sites compared to the latter (Fisher 198). Yahoo bought Overture Services Inc, which had the Alta Vista and AlltheWeb search engines. In around 2003 Yahoo became a search engine by combining all its capabilities of the other search engines they had, to a single search engine. WebCrawler The first known full-text search engine is the WebCrawler that was developed at the University of Washington, as an Undergraduate seminar project in 1994 by Brian Pinkerton. The search engine added the accuracy in the web by indexing all the text in the web page compared to other search engines which indexed titles and URL pages only, and this resulted into some keywords not indexed (Marckini 83). This improved ranking relevancy in the producing of results. The search engine allowed users to view what they are searching while, at the same time they enter their queries, and one can able to stop keying and view the results (Handbook 465). The project generated a lot of traffic in the Universitys network system that it almost collapsed because of the popularity it had. The project was taken over by AOL which undertook it to be their network and develop it further. The WebCrawler was bought by Excite from AOL later, but the later still uses the search engine in their NetFind feature (Levene 164). Presently Home Corp owns both Excite and WebCrawler. To make searching in the web more organized, Excite was developed by Stanford undergraduate students, who brought the idea of statistical analysis of indexing in 1993. It was called Architext, and it involved conception based searching that was a hard procedure as it included using statistical word relations such as synonym; the result was getting results of missed keywords by other machines that had not been keyed by the user (Levene 79). The World Wide Web Worm, JumpStation, and Repository-Based Software Engineering (RBSE) spider were developed. The JumpStation retrieved information using a simple linear search from the information gathered on title and header on the Web pages. The WWW Worm had the titles and URLs indexed. The two search engines did list results with no discrimination in the order they found it. The ranking system was developed by the RSBE spider, by listing of results in relevancy to the keyed word (Hock 134). The search engines made it harder for the user to find what they were looking for in the web because they did not have link analysis capabilities. Lycos This search engine was named after the wolf spider, which is just like the way the wolf spider pursues its prey. It was developed in 1994 after the WebCrawler, at Carnegie Mellon University (Kent 63). Michale Mauldin, who is still with the University, is the chief scientist who was behind this type of search engine. Research shows that around 1997, Lycos is believed to have more than sixty million web pages indexed, and it was in Netscapes list of ranked search engines as number one on top of the list (Kent 82). The search engine provided for word proximity and prefix matching bonuses as an added advantage. Search engines use the spiders, which are software programs to search the web for information. Links are recorded to help in proxy editorials, know what web page is all about, to know the type of page that exist, and help to discover new documents. Infoseek is the next search engine that was developed after the Lycos search engine, but it had little improvements in the development that could surpass WebCrawler and Lycos (Kent 51). This search engine came to prominence due to the deal they had with Netscape that made them be browsers search engine in place of Yahoo. Alta Vista Alta Vista is a search engine that was introduced in 1995 by Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC). It had new developments and improvements that made it more appealing than the previous search engines in the web scene (Kristopher 47). It ran on DEC Alpha-based computers initially, and it was one of the best powerful processors in place. It is so powerful that when Yahoo fails in searching, it automatically becomes the default search engine. The powerful processors made the search engine to run at high speed hardly slowing down. The processor was running on UNIX that was made to run on heavy multi-user environments (Randolph 78). The search engine had the capability other than entering key words, the ability of one to key in questions, search tips, and advanced search features. The capability made it even easier for users to get results when necessary and the use of natural language is a further advantage (Randolph 83). The innovations of Alta Vista made it the first search engine to have Boolean operators like; or, but, and, not for usage and help in improving searches in the web. The search engines do also have the ability to give tips to its users for easier use, and allowed users to add or delete own URL within 24 hours of posting, the first of its kind in the innovation of search engines (Jones 197). These features makes Alta Vista to be unparallel in terms of is accuracy and accessibility. They allowed for inbound link checking, and natural languages. It was bought by Overture after poor mismanagement around the time Google started becoming popular (Handbook 81). HotBot This is a project of University of California at Berkeley in 1996 by Paul Gauthier and Eric Brewer, which was designed as the most powerful search engine. Wired Magazine who are the current owners claim that the search engine is capable of indexing over ten million pages a day on the web, and to add to that, is that the HotBot search engine can update its full index daily, and this makes it to be able to contain the latest information on the web (Fisher 85). It was powered by Inktomi search engine, and it can index a entire Web as its strength. Metasearch This is a simple type of search engine that was introduced in 1995. The search engine works by forwarding keywords received from the user who can either type key words or the question to the search engine. The search engines then sends back the results to the metasearch which formats the hits in the page for easier viewing by the user (Baig 93). The search engines do not have new innovations but can compile searches simultaneously from different search engines depending on the collective relevancy; they then release the results on the web. Metacrawler lately called Go2nett.com developed by Eric Selburg in 1995 of University of Washington Masters student was the first type of this kind of search engines, but this engine ran a foul of other search engines because it only took the output and not the advertising banners. The search engines later started using the banners advertisement with the set of search results as this is what users see as reducing the revenues of the search engine companies (Kent 432). The metasearch engines had other search engines like Dogpile, ProFusion, C-Nets Search.com, and Ask Jeeves. The Ask Jeeves search engine has several features such as having the natural language queries that have the ability to search using many kinds of search engines. The C-Net has over 700 search engines which are different and this is what they use to get results. The different types of search engines that use metasearch are good when used as search engines and directories by the user who asks questions (Karr 77). Jughead and Veronica This kind of search engine did have similarities to Veronica and around the year 1993, the Web started transforming. The industry of search engines started growing from the known Gopher, FTP, and e-mal servers. Matthew Gray created a database of web called Wandex, and he introduced what was called World Wide Web Wanderer which was a succession of robots that required actual web URLs for usage (Trinkle 38). The search engine was having a problem of lag, in accessing same web page many times a day and he tried to fix the problem with software but it took long. He created the search engine to tally the active web servers as he wanted to know the strength and growth of the web. This was the first actual automated indexing system of the search engine. The robots in this period occupied a lot of network bandwidth, and indexing of the sites was rapid and it was easy for servers to crash. The search engine only captured URLs and thus it easy hard to find things not expressed and described in their URL, since this are cryptic and average user can not understand them (Clay 82). Jughead searched one server at a particular time, and it indexed the servers fast in the database memory. It becomes slow after using all the memory, thus limiting the size of servers indexing. It is during this same season that ALIWEB a web page was developed, and it was corresponding to Veronica and Archie search engines (Clay 78). It was developed by Martjin Koster in 1993 as an answer to Wanderer by creating a directory. The webmasters that was developed started using a special index filing system with site information in searching for files instead of the cataloging system of searching for texts and files, which allowed for more accuracy in listing (Kristopher 65). It allowed users to present their pages in their own description to the web for indexing and allowed for more information. The engine was not using much of the bandwidth as it needed no robot to collect data. The major disadvantage of ALIWEB is that many users did not know how to submit their sites to the web (Marckini 276). The web roots page also hosted by Martijn Kojer created the standards of search engine indexing, as the webmasters were now able to block their sites on whole site level or by page by pa ge root. The indexing made the search engines to link that users ask for in the web. The cataloging of the web continued to develop and a new system called spiders came into use, and just like robots, the system searched the web in a sequence for web page information (Kristopher 65). The versions that were there earlier used to search for the web page titles, the information of the header, and the URL of the page as the basis of key words. Search engines in this period were very much behind and hits in the database were the ones produces as the ones hit as the keys were hard to rank with the sites. The fully fledged search engines started to be developed. In 1994 ElNet Galaxy directory now Tradewave Galaxy was developed, it was structured in an analogous way just like the other web directories of today (Kristopher 154). It had both Gopher and Telnet searching features and this made it to be popular, added to the web search features that it had. It was the first browsable Web directory and made use of the different levels and categories of the web. Users still had the problem of knowing what they were looking for in the web and thus using this search engine they could narrow the search until they find what is related to their search (Rathbone 287). Veronica is a type of search engine that was developed by the University of Nevada Computing Services in 1993. The program used a type of system called Gopher server that is used for searching files in the internet, and it still had the same idea as Archie. This kind of server stores plain text documents in the internet as compared to an FTP server that stores images and program files. The search engine is Resource Directory system that gives access to information that is on Gopher servers (Rognerud 234). It has menus in a collective form from Gopher sites. The search involved matching only the items requested by a user on menu items and the result given is customized Gopher as it acted like one. The search engine has three parts namely: spiders, index, and search interface. The search engine spiders are the ones that follow the link in the web and request to know whether indexing has taken place since the last update. Search engine Index is the catalog that is the content of the web (Kent 83). The search engine search interface and relevancy software help to accept the user input by checking the match syntax and spelling, check the relevancy of the question entered by the user and place links that near the user query, and gathering list of relevant pages for search, and to request a list of relevant ads and put them near the search results. Conclusion The search engines are the popular sites for most web users. The development of the search engines in future can be interesting with the entering of meaning based search engine and it is still continuing to evolve. There is increasing expansion of databases, increase in user friendly interfaces and searching techniques, and indexing of sites has also improved. The meaning based search engines can be used to receive mammoth words as databases with synonyms can be developed by different experts (Sebastian 145). Example is the Oingo search engine and Find Engine that one can use by installing a program in a computer and one can just point to the screen and the program searches the web for more information. The history of the search engines shows that the developments are mostly by university students who are doing their projects, and in return they develop them into commercial enterprises. Buy custom Web Search Engines essay

Personal Response to Poems Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Personal Response to Poems - Essay Example As do the plums, with their taut skin and juice, the tart flesh, all connected to the word 'delicious', suggesting a sensual, selfish, joyful gluttony, which children often indulge in. It makes me want to laugh, it is almost naughty. In Mary Oliver's 'August', the imagery here combines a joy of eating fruit again, but shows a child happy with nature and its own company, a pleasure in just 'being', conjured up in the way the poet says 'my body accepts what it is'. 'The Word Plum' stands out as concentrating entirely on the fruit and the sensations it elicits, while the others give more descriptive and external images to link the fruit and the child to an environment. In Roethke's 'My Papa's Waltz', there are sad and slightly dangerous undertones. The feeling aroused here is one of concern for the potential destruction of the little boy's happiness. I begin to become worried for him, despite his enjoyment and excitement, as something unpredictable and frenetic is present, I think the whiskey smell alerts me to this feeling. The words 'But I hung on like death' are significant, this father is creating mayhem, wrecking the room, and the child is half-delighted, half-fearful of the final outcome. But for love of his father, he suffers this delicious fear, as well as the buckle scraping his face. Even more sad is Robert Hayden's 'Those Winter Sundays'. I think of the fathers who work so hard and do so many unnoticed kindnesses, who are taken for granted. The child does this, the voice of the poet as a man, is filled with regret. There is also a feeling of potential disturbance expressed in the words 'and slowly did I rise and dress fearing the chronic angers of that house'. The last two poems of this group, while recalling childhood memories, suggest a more mature understanding, an awakening to the dangers which can effect the happiness of a child. They also make me think that with this awareness comes the realization that there are things a child cannot control or fully understand, but that despite this, they will try to remain h appy, to keep their innocence intact. All the poems suggest love is abundant, in various forms. The next group of poems also speaks of love, with many facets depicted, but it is the grown-up reality of the ways of the world which are portrayed. Marilyn Hacker's 'Villanelle' shares, I think, the discovery of young, physical love and tries to deepen understanding of how it takes over ones life, as in 'routines are harder to perpetuate.' It brings out a feeling of striving for what cannot be fully understood or attained; complete possession of another, because the separation may be as much mental as physical. Louise Gluck seems to echo this in 'Parable of Faith'. The other three poems seem to be more mature, or have more certainty, without losing the wonder of being in love, or loving deeply. For example, 'Love Poem' by John Frederick Nims tells of somebody accepting the beloved's faults or apparent inadequacies, the small, everyday things that do not really matter, because the essence of the person is far greater than these, and he loves her for that. 'With words and people and

Multimedia Editing Software Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Multimedia Editing Software - Assignment Example The interface is very sophisticated and interesting. It is user-friendly in the sense that the user does not have to search for the options by putting a lot of effort. It is rather very handy. It is based on SolveigMM Video Editing SDK. The quality of the end-product is very high and the speed of editing is prompt because the editing process does not use encoding and decoding process. This saves time and makes it fast. The advanced technology tends to keep almost 100% of the data in the edited video thus ensuring its high quality. This multimedia editing software supports MPEG-2 files with formats .mpg, .mpeg, .vob, .ts. It supports AVI files with .avi extension. AVI files are trimmed without synchronization loss. The software also supports Windows Media files with .asf, .wma, .wmv, and .wm extensions. The MPEG Audio files that it supports are with extensions of .mp1, .mp2, .mp3, and .mpa. It has the ability to facilitate the OpenDML AVI file format extension and supports the native DV AVI format (both Type 1 and Type 2 in Microsoft terms). It executes the editing procedure starting with K frame. The price of this editing software is USD 48.00. Its size is 7.6 MB and works on most of the operating systems like Windows 2000, XP, 2003, Vista, and Windows 7. One interesting usage that it is well known for is that the user can cut different portions of the movie to get rid of all commercials and ads, and then join the movie parts together to watch the whole movie in one go without having to waste time in watching commercials and them wait for the movie to continue. Also, this software allows the user to do batch mode editing, that is, he can edit several portions of the audio or video clip in one go or, in other words, he can do several editing jobs simultaneously. It also allows the user to merge several media files together.

Analysis of Strategic management and the position of Dialog Axiata PLC Research Paper

Analysis of Strategic management and the position of Dialog Axiata PLC - Sri Lanka - Research Paper Example Moreover the recruiting team of the company is always in the hunt for a pool of talented human resources that would help the company in setting new benchmarks (Dialog, 2011). The company reflects a huge financial growth during the first quarter of the 2011 period compared to that of the 2010 period which showed a huge growth by around 64 percent. Further in regards to the market for mobile phones and other telecommunication services the company reflects a growth by around 10 percent in a comparison drawn between the first quarter of the 2011 and 2010 period. However in close connection to the above facts the operating costs of the company along with other domestic and international installation charges grew in the first quarter of the 2011 period in sharp contrast to the 2010 period. (Dialog-a, 2011). Thus the paper in this connection focuses to understand the strategic moves taken by the company in restoring its competitive position while tending to reduce the current operational co st. Critical Analysis of the Strategic Position of Dialog Axiata PLC In the process of critically analyzing the strategic position of the business organization firstly the parameters upon which the company becomes able to sustain its leadership in the market is analyzed. The company must have a definite mission based on which it sets the strategies to successfully satisfy the same. Further the company must set some definite goals and objectives which must be adequately based on the mission statement of the company. Strategic business units of the company must be identified that would help in meeting the stated objectives. Moreover the hierarchal or the organizational structure of the concern must be evaluated in terms of the division of the total responsibility among employees thereby enhancing on the accountability parameters. Finally the company management is also required to set adequate monitoring systems to rightly monitor the activities taken to pursue the stated goals and the reby to set effective remedies to help reduce such gaps (Schein, 2010, p.74). In regards to the above discussion the vision, mission and value structure of the company would be analyzed. The company shares the organizational vision of being the leader in the Sri Lankan communication market through the innovation rendered in the field of communication technology. This strategy focused by the company would help in enriching the social image of the concern. Working on the above vision the company thereby focuses to set the organizational mission of helping to render potential activities in the sphere of sustaining better relationships with the customers. Further the company also desires its business processes to be highly flexible in meeting the changing demands of the market. This sets the organizational culture of the company which increases the parameters of accountability both in the internal and external sphere and also encourages the growth of team activities in the concern (Dial og-b, 2011). The above strategic analysis of the company

Analysing strategic business decisions in us cereal industry

Analysing strategic business decisions in us cereal industry The purpose of this essay is to use game theory and barriers to entry to analyse strategic business decisions in the US ready-to-eat breakfast cereal industry. An industry analysis was done using different published journals. An overview of the oligopoly industry was also done for a broader understanding of the ready-to-eat breakfast cereals industry. Bertrand competition was used as the oligopoly model adopted by the industry. Game theory was used to analyse the strategy firms in the industry will adopt and a discussion on barriers to entry as it applies to the industry was done. Introduction This essay will discuss the US ready-to-eat breakfast cereals industry. An overview of oligopoly, discussions on Game theory, Nash equilibrium, Bertrand Price Competition and Barriers to Entry will be used to analyse the industry and the strategic business decisions as they relate to the industry Analysis of the Ready-to-eat Breakfast Cereals Industry Connor (1999) described the ready-to-eat breakfast cereal industry as a capital intensive industry requiring huge capital investments in production plants. To a large extent, this has contributed to Barriers to Entry in the industry. This industry market structure though having quite a few number of suppliers, is dominated by four major companies which are Kellogg Company, General Mills, Quaker Oats and Kraft. According to Nevo (2000) these companies have consistently continued to post high profits in comparison with the other food industries. A key characteristic feature of this industry is product differentiation. Brand specific knowhow is apparently present since established firms are sometimes unable to duplicate each others brand. The existence of this however, does not prevent them from producing, promoting and distributing successful new brands. Existing brands differ in such potentially relevant dimensions as sweetness, protein content, shape, grain base, vitamin content, fibre content and crunchiness (Schmalnesee, 1978) Connor (1999) has argued that competition in this industry does not involve the use of price war and therefore not a competitive strategy. Different researches conducted on the industry have shown that there is a level of collusion amongst the top firms though not openly done. This assumption was made popular by a case of anticompetitive complaint by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission against the top three manufacturers Kellogg, general Mills Post in the 1970s (Aviv Nevo, 2000) Because of the absence of price wars in the industry, the use of other non-price strategies to gain competitive advantage are employed by firms in this industry. The consistency of zero price wars over the years, however was broken when in the late nineties, a price reduction by Kraft led the other big three Kellogg Company, General Mills and Quaker oats to respond by also reducing their prices as suggested by ( Nevo, 2000). This pricing strategy by Kraft significantly affected the overall industry price forci ng its competitors to reduce their prices as well. Innovation through the launch of new products and aggressive media advertising are strategies employed by firms in the ready-to-eat cereals industry to compete for market share. This is a major factor contributing to the consistent high profits in the industry. The result of Connors (1999) research revealed that the rivalry in the breakfast cereals industry tends towards the choreographed grunts of televised wrestling than a cutthroat dual to the death and that the ultimate weapon, steep price cuts, is rarely unsheathed. According to Connor (1999), media advertising and new product introductions are intimately related. New product introductions are one of the principal mechanisms for effecting rapid price increases in the breakfast cereals industry. His research revealed that all the new cereals introduced by the big four companies between 1981 and 1987 in the first year of sales, were priced 12% above the companys existing brands average prices. Connor (1999) in his research further showed that the extraordinary attachment of consumers to branded cereals (or at least to the boxes they come in) has made entry by private-label products extremely difficult. This high degree of brand loyalty in the industry has significantly posed a threat to any firm considering entry into the industry. Invariably, the more a firms brand is recognised, the higher the sale of a newly introduced cereal will be. The cereal industry has oligopolistic tendencies and characteristics and will be classified as one. An overview on oligopoly below highlights the characteristic nature of oligopoly. Overview of Oligopoly Lipsey + Chrystal (1999) defined oligopoly as the theory of imperfect competition among the few. The industry is characterised by a few firms selling differentiated products. Because there are only few firms, each firm realises that its competitor may respond to any move it makes and takes that into account because each firms decision affects the other firms in the industry. Earl and Wakeley (2005) described firms in the Imperfect competition as having differentiated products which are close substitutes. These differentiated products are supported heavily by advertising. Advertising tends to persuade consumers to patronise a particular brand over other brands of the other competitors. Advertising is used as a crucial weapon to create brand loyalty in the industry as consumers are assumed to be highly mobile. The existence of strong brand loyalty makes entry difficult because consumers are likely to have strong preferences for the already existing brands. This implies that the behaviour of oligopolists are strategic with each firm taking explicit account of the impact of their decisions on competitors and the expected reactions from them (Lipsey + Chrystal, 1999, page 176). Besanko et al (2004) also defined oligopoly as a market in which the actions of individual firms materially affect the industry price level. The strategic behaviour of oligopolists is attributed to the highly competitive nature of the industry. For these firms to make strategic decisions that can give them comparative advantage, they make use of oligopoly models and game theory (Besanko et al, 2004). Game Theory and Bertrand Price Competition Besanko et al (2004) defined Game theory as the branch of Economics that deals with the analysis of optimal decision making when all decision makers are presumed to be rational and each is attempting to anticipate the actions and reactions of its competitors (Besanko et al, 2004, page 36) Game theory is a strategic business decision making tool in areas such as pricing and capacity expansion. Bertrand Price competition Model Besanko et al (2004) has described Bertrand competition as a model of competition in which each firm selects a price to maximize its profit given the price that it anticipates its competitor will select. Each firm views its competitors price as fixed and believes that its own pricing practices will not affect the pricing of the competitor. In an oligopolistic industry with differentiated products, price competition is usually mild. When products are differentiated, a firm will not lose all of its business to competitors that embark on a price cut. This is majorly attributed to competition being based on a variety of product parameters such as its quality, availability and advertising. The US ready-to-eat- breakfast cereal industry like all oligopolistic industries is highly competitive. The strategy of each firm will be to maximize profits and outputs given its rivals strategy. To use game theory to analyse what choice is best for a firm at any given point, two companies will be used; Kellogg Company and General Mills as they are one of the top four and are each others competitors. Game theory and Nash equilibrium will be used to analyse the best strategy for profit maximization given that each firm sets a price for its cereals. A Nash Equilibrium is the strategy combination where each player is doing its best given the strategies of its competitor. An assumption is made that each firm sets a price that maximises its profit and that a price cut by either of them to achieve a larger market share will impact their profits given the strong influence of brand loyalty. The consequences of each firms actions are described in the game matrix below; In the game above, the strategy (Co-operate, Co-operate) is both a Nash equilibrium and a dominant strategy because each firm maximises profit at this point. It is a Nash equilibrium because with the pay-off of ($120, $120) no firm will unilaterally want to deviate knowing that it will achieve a lower pay-off by doing so. Furthermore, co-operate strategy is a dominant strategy because no matter what the other firm chooses, to co-operate will always yield a higher pay-off. Barriers to Entry According to Earl and Wakeley (2005), barriers to entry exist when potential competitors find there are obstacles which hinder their proposed entry into an otherwise attractive industry. Typical barriers to entry include: incumbents owning all sources of essential raw materials; incumbents patents; economies of scale providing incumbents with a cost advantage; and incumbents past expenditure on advertising (which gives them a higher profile in the minds of buyers relative to newcomers). The important point to note about barriers to entry is that they protect all of the industrys incumbent firms from the threat posed by competition from outside of the industry As fierce as rivalries are and as highly competitive as the oligopolistic industry may be in nature, Lipsey + Chrystal (1999) stated that there are determining factors that make a few large firms dominate in the industry. According to Lipsey + Chrystal (1999), some of these factors are natural or structural, and some are firm-created or strategic. These same factors are deterrents to firms seeking entry into an oligopolistic industry. The natural/structural barriers as it applies to the cereal industry include economies of scale, cost of introduction of new brands and economies of scope, and marketing advantages of incumbency, while firm-created/strategic barriers include capacity expansion. Natural/Structural Barriers Economies of Scale According to Besanko et al (2004) production process for a specific product exhibits economies of scale over a range of output when the average cost drops over that range. Economies of scale exist when the unit cost of production declines as the quantity of output increases. When production becomes standardised and highly specialised, the concept of division of labour must be applied. Lipsey + Chrystal (1999) described division of labour as occurring when the production of a product is broken up into hundreds of simple, repetitive tasks. They further stated that the division of labour is, as Adam Smith observed long ago, dependent on the size of the market. If only a few units of products can be sold each day, there is no point in dividing its production into a number of specialised tasks. Lipsey + Chrystal (1999) further stated that larger firms have advantage in industries that have potentials for economies based on the division of labour because the larger the scale of production, the lower their average costs of production. Economies of scale also lead to minimum efficient scale. According to Besanko et al (2004) and Earl and Wakeley (2005) minimum efficient scale is the smallest level of output at which economies of scale cannot be sustained further. Minimum efficient scale can only be achieved in the long run. Based on this, it will be difficult for a firm considering entry to achieve MES because of the costly nature. The cereal industry is capital intensive and is dominated by a large few with the long years of existence. As a strategy to deter entry, the incumbent firms may decide to increase the quantity of output to further drive down their costs and achieve a higher rate of economies of scale. Because economies of scale are present in the industry, the incumbents average cost of production will be lower than that of a new entrant who will have difficulties trying to attain MES which can only be achievable in the long-run. Doing so will entail acquiri ng excess capacity and increasing production output which will both be costly and unprofitable as brand loyalty is extremely high in this industry. Costs of Introducing A New Product and Economies of Scope The cereal industry is categorised by the introduction of new brands. It will be difficult for a firm attempting entry to recover such costs in a short period of time bearing in mind that it will need to break even before making profits. Economies of scope are associated with lower cost scales derived from having multiple production lines within a plant. According to Besanko et al (2004) The ready-to-eat breakfast cereal industry provides a good example. For several decades, the industry has been dominated by a few firms including Kellogg, General Mills, General Foods and Quaker Oats, and there has been virtually no new entry since World War II. There are economies of scope in producing and marketing cereals. Besank0 et al (2004) further explained that for an entry to be successful in the ready-to-eat breakfast cereals industry, the newcomer will need to introduce 6 to 12 successful brands. This requires heavy capital and makes entry a risky proposition. The introduction of new brands is associated with a high cost of advertising. An incumbent firm in the cereal industry can consistently employ the use of introduction of new cereals to deter further entry by new firms. It will not be as expensive for the incumbent firm to advertise its new cereal product as it will be for a new entrant because of the high brand loyalty in the industry and the economies of scope cost advantages. C) Marketing advantages of incumbency Umbrella branding has been described as a situation whereby a firm sells different products under the same brand name (Besanko et al, 2004). According to Besanko et al (2004), an incumbent firm can exploit the umbrella effect to offset uncertainty about the quality of a new product that is been introduced. The umbrella effect may also help the existing firm negotiate the vertical chain. Retailers are more likely to devote scarce warehousing and shelf spaces to the firms new products more than it would for a new entrant. Likewise, suppliers and distributors may be more willing to transact businesses with the incumbent firms more than the new entrant in the areas of credit sales and relationship-specific investments (Besanko et al, 2004). Incumbent firms in the cereals industry can use umbrella branding as a strategy to deter new entry or force new entrants out of the industry. Umbrella branding also has an effect on consumers. The possibility of a newly introduced brands been widely a ccepted by consumers is higher for firms enjoying umbrella branding than for new entrants. Umbrella branding has the ability to reduce uncertainties associated with the introduction of a new cereal brand. Furthermore, the development of close relationships by an incumbent firm with its vertical chain is another strategy for barriers to entry. Firm-Created/Strategic Barriers Capacity Expansion The incumbent firm may decide to embark on capacity expansion. A new entrant will find it difficult to match up its plant size with the plant size of existing firms and may incur losses at entry. With the expansion of capacity and increased sales, the incumbent will continue to enjoy economies of scale thereby forcing new entrants who are unable to achieve such low unit cost of production out of the industry as their average cost of production may consistently be higher than the market price of the cereal brands and the price. Conclusion The ready-to-eat breakfast cereal industry is an oligopolistic industry requiring the firms to employ non-pricing strategies to maximize profits and sustain competitive advantage. Because the ready-to-eat breakfast cereal industry has natural barriers to entry, firms in this industry do not need to do much in the area of strategic barrier to entry to prevent of or force new entrants out of the market. However, the constant introduction of new cereals is crucial to earning higher profits.

Claudio – ‘A man of honour betrayed’?

In Shakespeare's ‘Much Ado About Nothing' honour is very important to all the gentil characters. To know Claudio's character and his cruel treatment of Hero, it is important to understand the honour code. Specific to aristocracy, honour meant reputation, status and respect. A man's honour was earned through conduct in battle and the virtue of a wife and daughter. Contemporary audiences would not approve of Claudio's manner towards Hero, whereas Renaissance audiences would understand Claudio's behaviour towards Hero. This is because honour was regarded very highly n their social class, which would suggest why audiences would see Claudio as ‘a man of honour betrayed'. Throughout the play, even when the truth of Hero's chastity comes out, Claudio is a respected character who is not disliked by other characters, such as Benedick and Don Pedro. Audiences in the renaissance periods believed honour was everything. Claudio's ‘dishonouring' would not only act as a threat to his reputation, but also undermine the social structure, as honour was an important tool of social cohesion. The Renaissance era believed that honour was synonymous with order. It is important to emphasize this concept to understand that Claudio is ‘a man of honour betrayed'. Nevertheless Shakespeare recognizes the importance of honour throughout the play. However,he also sees that the code as flawed, meaning men can defend their honour using weapons in the battlefield and in duel, yet a man can shame a woman, as Claudio does Hero, and she cannot defend herself. If Claudio had allowed Hero to dishonour him he would have lost his well-earned reputation, so he ‘shames' her. Claudio talks of Hero as if she were an object, and insults her at every opportunity. For instance, whilst he is alking to Leonato he says: â€Å"There, Leonato, take her back again. Give not this rotten orange to your friend, She's but the sign and semblance of her honour. † There are many contradictions within the honour code, men are meant to cherish and ‘honour' women, but are only too ready to dishonour them, accusing them of being â€Å"spoiled goods†, as in the case of Claudio and Hero. At the beginning of the play when the messenger enters he describes Claudio as having : â€Å"the figure of a lamb, the feats of a lion†¦ † Claudio is considered a man of honour, he is praised in battle and is portrayed as a great soldier; he is said to be noble Claudio†. The lamb/lion metaphor is very appropriate for Claudio as he could be seen as naive and easily influenced by Don John, this is because of his extreme youth. Even without evidence Claudio was ready to believe Don John over Hero. When Don John delivers the news of Hero's disloyalty, Claudio and Don Pedro are quick to believe a fellow male soldier, without thinking that Don John could be lying. This could be seen as a contradiction as it was believed that â€Å"bastards† were not to be trusted. Don John referred to himself as a bad character saying; â€Å"I am a plain-dealing illain†, audiences may think that Claudio is not ‘a man of honour betrayed', as he is the one who is betraying Hero by believing the words of Don John. There are also many characters in the play that sympathize with him and believe that he is right to shame H ero. The honour code meant that if a friend got disrespected and dishonoured then it could affect other friends, in the same way that Don Pedro felt dishonoured. â€Å"I stand dishonoured, that have gone about to link my dear friend to a common stale. † Don Pedro supports his friend and believes that he is dishonoured, as it was him who wooed Hero for him. Due to the allegations about Hero, other characters in the play believe that they too are dishonoured. One of whom is Leonato, Hero's father. Leonato believes that Hero has destroyed the family's reputation and throws terrible insults at her as well as refusing to believe that she could be his daughter by saying; â€Å"No part of it is mine; This shame derives itself from unknown loins? â€Å". Before knowing the facts Leonato instantly believes that his daughter has ruined the family. It could be argued that Claudio invites sympathy as Don John tricks him into believing that Hero has dishonoured him. There are many different nterpretations to whether Claudio actually believes that he was betrayed. For example if Claudio genuinely believes himself betrayed then perhaps his actions can be justified, like in Kenneth Branagh's Much Ado About Nothing production, he makes Claudio's rage and hurt believable by making the witnessed infidelity convincing. To understand the presentation of Claudio's character it is necessary to consider him as a man of honour betrayed', which means the scene where Hero, allegedly, is dishonouring Claudio should be believable. In Shakespeare's time, a woman's honour was based upon her virginity and chaste ehaviour. For a woman to lose her honour by having sexual relations before marriage meant that she would lose all respect, a catastrophe from which she could never recover. Furthermore, this loss of honour would destroy the woman's whole family. Hence, when Leonato believes Claudio's shaming of Hero at the wedding ceremony, he tries to obliterate her entirely: â€Å"Hence from her, let her die†. Moreover, he speaks of her loss of honour as an unforgettable stain from which he cannot distance himself, no matter how hard he tries: â€Å"O she is fallen / Into a pit of ink, that the wide sea / Hath rops too few to wash her clean again†. Leonato is prepared to align himself with Claudio rather then his own daughter. The illusory betrayal of Claudio's ‘honour' becomes Leonato's dishonouring as she has ‘smeared the family name'. Honour was a frequent theme in some of Shakespeare's plays and was also common in that period, for example in Shakespeare's play Julius Caesar, Brutus says â€Å"Believe me for mine honour, and have respect to mine honour that you may believe†. Mowbray states in Richard 11 â€Å"Mine honour is my life; both grow in one/Take honour from me, and my life is done†. This shows the importance of honour in that period. Claudio speaks of Hero as an ‘object' by referring to her as a â€Å"jewel†. Claudio's tendencies to see Hero as an object was because he had no intimacy with her and perceived her as a commodity. His language portrays the differences between his and Benedick's love. The way Claudio speaks of his love shows the audiences that Claudio is not very romantic, which could affect how audiences would think of him. Audiences might dislike Claudio because he is not the conventional romantic character like ‘Romeo'. Whilst talking about Hero, Claudio sometimes uses blank verse. His speech seems more constructed and artificial then others, which has the effect of making him sound less genuine. He doesn't talk about Hero with passion, whereas Benedick uses poetry and sonnets to show and represent his love towards Beatrice. There is irony in the play when it comes to the denunciation of Hero, where Claudio speaks with passion to Hero for the first time, out of hatred. This shows audiences that Claudio did not love Hero truly otherwise he would not have been so quick to judge her. In act 4 scene 1 he likens her to an animal; â€Å".. or those pampered animals that rage in savage sensuality†. However, it could be said that after Claudio finds out the truth he knows that he has wronged Hero. He tries to renew Hero's reputation by marrying Leonato's niece even if she is an â€Å"Ethiope†, which means that he was truly apologetic. Some critics argue that Claudio has a business like approach, it can be argued that he only wants the estate, before Claudio married Hero he was fully informed about the property: â€Å"Hath Leonato any son, my lord? † In aristocratic society, people were dependant upon marriages of conveniences based on status and property, which could mean that Claudio is not a man of honour betrayed, as he only married for onvenience. Before Claudio went to war all he thought about was fighting but as soon as he has finished it is time for marriage. When he had finally come from war, audiences can tell that he is ready for marriage as one of the first sentences he says are â€Å"I would scarce trust myself, though I had sworn the contrary, if Hero would be my wife. † Critics can also argue that ‘war' can be seen as a central metaphor, the men return from war and instantly convey the values engaged on the battlefield into the domestic arena. ‘Love' is presented by Shakespeare as a form of warfare with the sexes battling it out. However, it is not a fair fight because women, unlike men, can not physically defend their honour. Hero's honour is betrayed, but there is little she can do about it. Claudio uses the metaphor â€Å"beauty is a witch†, even before his relationship with Hero, Claudio started showing that he was already suspicious of her -seeing her as an Eve, a betrayer of men. This emphasizes what he felt about women and reflected a popular renaissance view – that women were untrustworthy. It may be argued that Claudio lived in a society that was very misogynistic; during that period much of the fiction included misogynistic views. In the renaissance period people used to live by the bible, this is where the idea of male superiority came from. The story of Adam and Eve blames Eve for tempting Adam to eat the fruit. Thus, it was the woman who was morally weak. In Genesis, Chapter Two vs. 21-25 it says; â€Å"and the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman.. † Women were ‘made from men' reinforcing the illusion of inferiority. In renaissance times it was believed that women were deceivers and were there to tempt, just like Eve. It could be argued that Claudio was not to blame for his reaction to Hero, as he was erely reacting as men would at that time as it represented Elizabethan values. Benedick has similar values, believing that if he gets married he would be cuckolded; â€Å"I will live a bachelor†. There are endless Elizabethan jokes about cuckoldry, which reveal a general fear of infidelity that was perceived as dishonour. It was believed that the honour code was important and that soldiers such as Claudio were supposed to behave with chivalry. Audiences might have found it hard to sympathize with Claudio even in the Renaissance period because he was not behaving n a truly chivalrous manner. His behaviour could be seen as unacceptable and immoral as he treats Hero in a shameful way. However, Claudio's behaviour can be seen as acceptable once audiences understand the honour. Claudio's honour was so important to him, but when Hero allegedly cheated on him, he believed that it was only right to shame her. Claudio could have been seen as a victim of gossip within the play as he was lied to and manipulated by Don John to fulfill his plan. However despite this, Claudio changed his mind about Hero and instantly believed that she had done wrong. In conclusion, it could be argued that Claudio was not at fault. He was just mirroring the values of renaissance society. It is important to understand how social status and honour worked in the renaissance period to understand Claudio's cruelty. He was a ‘man of honour betrayed' and to understand what he did to Hero, audiences would have to consider that he thought that he had been betrayed. Nevertheless, it would be hard for any audience to sympathize with Claudio, as he did not behave with chivalry. However, Claudio realized his mistake and was willing to marry Hero's cousin.

Reason We Go to College Essay

Everyone has their own reason for wanting to get a degree in higher learning. Some of the reasons are; the love of learning, the chance to get away from their parents and be on their own. While others do it for the promise of a better future or just because they think that it is the right thing to do. Needless to say, there are countless reasons why we choose to further our education. Just like there are different reasons people go to college, there are different ways that people learn best. I will be telling you a little bit about my desire to earn my college diploma and how I think I learn best. Lots of people like to make money ever since currency was created and that is one of my motivations to complete college. According to Shaffer (2010), the top five reasons that people go to college are: to get an education, to expand their circle of awareness, to discover their passion, to network and to challenge themselves. I agree with all of these but as a parent, I also want to provide a great lifestyle for my children and complete what I’m teaching them to aim for. I love learning new things and having knowledge in my head instead of having to grab a dictionary, my phone or a computer to understand something. Though I love to increase my knowledge base, there are certain styles of learning that I excel in learning over others. Learning styles is new to me. All through high school and the first two years of college I have never heard of learning styles. I did know that I was more interested in a subject if a teacher/professor was lively, animated or just really excited about what they were teaching. I thought that’s how everyone else was. I was mistaken with that mindset. I took a couple of quizzes and learned that a few styles were my preferred method of learning. As written in Attribute advanogy. om (2004), There are seven main learning styles and they are: Visual (spatial), Aural (auditory), Verbal (linguistic), Physical (kinesthetic), Logical (mathematical), Social (interpersonal) and Solitary (intrapersonal). The tests that I took with Attribute (2004) and The Center for New Discoveries (2012), show that my preferred learning styles are verbal, aural, social and physical. My logical score was pretty high but it only showed up on one of the test results. The result are based on what I call the normal person standard, but I do not consider myself normal. Since that is the case, I will let you know if I agree with the results. Do I see myself as a verbal learner? Yes, because I love to talk and I like being able to get feedback instantly. I would rather give an oral presentation than type up a paper. If someone is lecturing on a subject, I will retain it easily if there is dialogue going back and forth in the class. The aural style I do not agree with as much because I can listen to music all day but if it is about school and it is something that I have to listen to, I will be going to sleep. I really enjoy touching things so the physical is a no brainer for me. I crave taking things apart to see how they work. As I said, I love to talk and I cannot talk to myself without being considered crazy, so yes, I am a social learner and I thrive off of others ideas. So, the tests got a three out of four which is not bad. Earning a college degree does not only hold the reward of monetary increase but it provides a sense of accomplishment and an example for our children who will be our future. Knowing how you learn best as an individual can help you know your shortcomings and prevent pitfalls and roadblocks on the road to a degree.

Workable Plan to Improve Emotional Intelligence at Work Place Essays

Workable Plan to Improve Emotional Intelligence at Work Place Essays Workable Plan to Improve Emotional Intelligence at Work Place Essay Workable Plan to Improve Emotional Intelligence at Work Place Essay Workable Plan to Improve Emotional Intelligence at Work Place Emotional Intelligence is one of the topics that gain popularity in business discussion nowadays. To understand what Emotional Intelligence is and how it may help to build a better personality and better worker, this paper is to discuss about to two main competencies of Emotional Intelligence. The first one is the Personal Competencies and the other is Social Competencies. By understanding these competencies, employees gain the knowledge of how to create a better workplace not just for those individuals, but for others around them, as well. Emotional Intelligence refers to the capacity for recognizing our own feelings and those of others, for motivating ourselves, and for managing emotions well in ourselves and our relationships† (Daniel Goleman, 1998). As stated by Dr. Goleman, Emitional Intelligence basically is how we, as human being, are able to control and manage our own feelings, emotions and from there, we can motivate ourselves and others around us. It is the way for us to recognize, learn and improve our way of life mentally and intelligently. Personal Competencies include two major factors, they are Self-Awareness and Self-Management. Self-Awareness is the ability to read our own emotions and recognize their impact as we sometimes refer to it as â€Å"gut feelings† to make decisions. Self-Awareness also involves the accurate self-assessment – knowing our own strengths and weaknesses. We also need to have self-confidence, a measure of ourselves of what we are worth and our capabilities. One of the elements of the emotional intelligence self-awareness is the self-control as Lisa Nicole describes in her book (Divine Inspirations) and the article â€Å"Control that Temper! suggests that we need to know our limitations and learn how to self-control, through recognizing when we are about to lose our control and learn how to control our temper, we will slowly be a happier and ‘life well-lived’ person. (Nicole, 2009) Self-Control: we know we need it, but when temptations and frustrations are looming, we struggle to exert it. This week, I want to share some new perspectives with you on self-cont rol and inspire you to exercise more self-control in your life. When we think of the need for self-control, we often think of issues with anger and overindulgence. These areas certainly require attention, but lets dig deeper. Do you find yourself angry when people criticize you? Do you get defensive and then decide to seek revenge on people who may attack or wrong you? As inspired people, we have to remember that the only taste of success some people will ever have is when they take a bite out of us! Revenge weakens us because we cannot harbor resentment and negative energy and make progress at the same time. When we carry the burdens of anger and the need to control other people, we put on a 50 lb backpack that slows us down as we run the race of life. When criticized or attacked, you have 2 choices: strike back or allow your work to speak for itself and leave vindication in Gods hands. Because Gods ways are so much bigger and better than ours, we often plot schemes that are illogical and unfair, not realizing that God is just and will serve any punishment that is due. We separate ourselves from Him when we engage in combative and malicious behavior. The best revenge is a life well-lived. You may be thinking, Well that sounds nice, but some people really get on my nerves! And to that I reply, This is why self-control is necessary. Its the people and situations that irritate us the most that serve as measuring sticks of our commitment to self-control and excellence. Remember that your life is about being a builder, not a destructor. Outstanding people throughout history have faced violent opposition from jealous, envious, unwise people. Dont let a lack of self-control dissipate your energy and take your eyes off the prize. You are living an inspired life there is no time for petty disputes and time-sapping resentment. Youve got to be the amazing, self-controlled being God created you to be so that others will be blessed. Live well and prosper! Self-Management is the ability to recognize our own strength and weakness as well as how to best manage it to our advantages. The one person that served as an example of this is Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft once said â€Å"Unlike some students, I loved college. However, I felt the window of opportunity to start a software company might not open again†. It is a prime example of self-awareness and self-management that guide or facilitate reaching goals as well as the initiative of readiness to act on opportunities. Because of his self-awareness of his abilities and the opportunity, he later becomes a richest man on earth. The other competency of the Emotional Intelligence is the Social Competencies. Social Competencies include the two main components which are Social Awareness and Relationship Management which this gentleman – Jack Welch, the CEO of General Electric who has known to spend half of his time on people development. He is a CEO of one of the largest company in the orld, but he knows the names and positions of over 1,000 people in his company (Dattner, )– that is how he builds the relationship to his people. What can inspire you more when the CEO sees you in the elevator and greets you with your name and asking you about your work! â€Å"he does knows me† that is the question most people in GE express in surprise and ecstatic. So†¦ with all the good things about the Emotional Intelligence we just learned, what can we do to â€Å"boost† our EI? First, we need to prepare by doing our own assessments of our current emotional intelligence, evaluate it and to see whether we are using it or not. If yes, how much do we apply it to our daily life/work? Second, we observe how we interact with each others. Do we interact with â€Å"emotional intelligence† or we just â€Å"re-act† to situation. Third, we deliver. We start to apply Emotional Intelligence into our day-to-day at work and at home. Then, record. At the least, do the mental recording of how many times we apply the Emotional Intelligence into our conversation, to our behaviors, etc†¦ and pay attentions to if this changes the interactions and behaviors of the other parties. Finally, go back and reassess of what is working and what is not and go back again†¦. With time, it will become more nature and you will see the results. By learning Emotional Intelligence and understanding how to apply it to our skills, we can build a stronger personality because we are aware of what we feel as well as others, we have more confident in our ability and therefore, we work better in a team – team player – because we have the ability to create relationship with others, thus, increase team performances. References Dattner, B. (). Succeeding with Emotional Intelligence. Retrieved August 1st, 2009, from dattnerconsulting. com/presentations/ei. pdf Nicole, L. (2009, July 17, 2009). Control that Temper!. Retrieved August 1st, 2009, from http://ezinearticles. com/? Control-That-Temper! id=2626596

Rosalind Elsie Franklin essays

Rosalind Elsie Franklin essays Born on July 25, 1920 in London, England, Rosalind Elise Franklin was a catalyst to many other scientists in the field of genetics. Using coal and carbon as subjects, Franklin discovered the double helix of DNA, the shape that two linear strands of DNA assume when bonded together. In 1945, Franklin received her Ph. D in physical chemistry from Cambridge University. The next year she went to Paris and worked in the Laboratoire Central des Services Chimiques de LEtat until 1950 where she concentrated her studies on x-ray diffraction methods. In 1951, Franklin returned to England to work as an associate to John Randall at Kings College. While Maurice Wilkins, a scientist, was away, Franklin was put in charge of his DNA project. Wilkins returned to think that Franklin was a lowly technical assistant mainly because of the discrimination against women at that time. During her studies, Franklin took pictures of the DNA structure using her own technique discovering a helical structure. Through this technique, Franklin discovered that there were two types of DNA, dry A-form and wet b-form. B-form being the DNA that exist within our bodies. She also located the position of phosphate sugars in DNA. With this technique, the locations of atoms can be precisely mapped by looking at the crystal under an x-ray beam. Unfortunately, unlike with visible light, there is no known way to focus x-rays with a lens. This causes an x-ray microscope to be impossible to use unless someone finds a way of focusing x-rays. So it is necessary to use crystals to diffract x-rays and create a diffraction pattern. Crystals are important because by definition they have a repeated unit cell within them. The x-ray diffraction from one unit cell would not be significant. Fortunately, the repetition of unit cells within a crystal amplifies the diffraction enough to give results that can turn into a pictur ...

The Nation Splits and Reunites (US History) Assignment

The Nation Splits and Reunites (US History) - Assignment Example Northern businessmen helped get the "Tariff Act" passed which in turn raised the prices of manufactured products from Europe mainly sold in the South. This angered the Southern people to have to pay more for these goods and hence developed hatred towards the Northern people (Davis). The political power in the Federal government led further to escalation of the conflict. Since the Northern States were becoming more and more powerful, the Southern States felt a growing need for freedom and as such wanted to break away from the north and govern themselves. The north would not allow this and hence the civil war. Finally, the martial confrontation between the Federal states and the Confederate States of America further fueled the Civil War when Fort Sumter in South Carolina was attacked (Davis). 2) In most polls of presidents by historians Lincoln is either ranked first or second. Does he deserved such an exalted position, or as his detractors claim, he should be ranked lower because he presided over a war that killed 620,000 of his fellow citizens? Explain. In my opinion, Abraham Lincoln should be ranked lower as the President of the United States because he presided over a war that killed 620,000 of his fellow citizens. Firstly, he vowed to keep the country united and the new western territories free from slavery. Sadly, this was not so. First of all, many Southerners were afraid that he was not sympathetic to their way of life and therefore could not treat them fairly (Davis). This feeling led the South to break away from the United States and joined together to form a new nation named the Confederate States of America. Although more than half of the said deaths were caused by disease, documented statistics indicate that one third of all Southern soldiers died in the civil war during Lincoln’s reign (Davis). Consequently, a big majority of families felt this pain and loss, a testimony of how much the War had scarred and devastated the American

Linear Regression and Regression Analysis Assignment

Linear Regression and Regression Analysis - Assignment Example Linear regression refers to an approach that involves modeling the relationship that exists between a dependent variable Y and explanatory variable(s) X. The model for linear regression requires that the variables take up the relationship illustrated below: Therefore, regression analysis is the process of determining the parameters that make up the equation defining that defines the relationship between the variables. This forms the basis for further evaluation of the variables through an in-depth analysis of the basic components of the equation that would result into a line of best fit. Regression analysis is defined on basis of the goal of conducting regression, which is to develop a line of best fit for the variables under investigation (Kahane, 2001). The goal of using the technique is to establish the relationship and strength of the relationship between two or more variables. This technique is applicable in criminal justice in a number of ways. Regression analysis is useful in evaluating the relationship existing between various aspects of criminal justice. By acknowledging that there are events that take up the position of being determinants of the outcomes of other variables, this technique can be applied in Criminal justice. The regression analysis is pertinent in determining the relationship among variables as a basis for evaluation of the best practices and structures to adopt with regards to the criminal justice system. For instance, upon establishing the nature and strength of the relationship among variables, it is possible to evaluate the impact of specific changes on one to the other. This analysis is important in developing an understanding of the different ways in which improvements can be made to one of the variabl e in order to change the other (Williams, 2009). There are many ways in which regression analysis is applicable to criminal justice. For instance, when conducting a study on the relationship between criminal

Orlando Is My Favorite Place Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Orlando Is My Favorite Place - Essay Example As one walks along the main areas of the city, one can see that it has a number of renowned eateries and restaurants as well as art based activities for people, for the purpose of recreation, entertainment attractions, and hanging out. It is very well built in terms of infrastructure and is very actively lived in the city. The sounds of Orlando include traffic noise as well as the hustle and bustle of people roaming around trying to absorb the sights of the city. On the east side of the city, there is beautiful landscaping along with lush greenery and a clean environment for people to live in. This area mostly consists of residential places to live and has very well planned areas with convenience with respect to shopping, transport, eating out as well as schooling and education. Most of the roads in Orlando are well connected to each other, thus providing only 30 minutes of travel and commute time from the corners to some of the city’s main attractions. Orlando is soon becomin g a haunt for urban people as the suburbs are becoming sprawled with homes to live in as well. The aromas of various cuisines waft all around Orlando as it is dotted with food stalls at every corner and road. Shopping malls adorn the main areas as well as making it easier to see women, men and children moving along happily feeling good. The place is very overwhelming for many people as they are about to do almost everything they want to and thus it makes it gives for a very exciting buzz in the air.

Corporate Restructuring Essay Example for Free

Corporate Restructuring Essay Purpose of Corporate restructuring : 1. To enhance the shareholder value 2. To utilize the assets properly 3. To get profitable investment opportunities 4. To diverse the business 5. To reduce cost of capital by designing innovative securities through corporate restructuring Types of Corporate restructuring : 1. Mergers or amalgamation The words mergers and amalgamation are always interchangeable but there is slight difference in mergers and amalgamation. Merger is fusion of two or more entities and it is a process in which the identity of one or more entities is lost (as is often seen when political parties merge). In the case of a merger, the assets and liabilities of a company get vested into the assets and liabilities of another company. The shareholders of the company being merged become shareholders of the larger company (as when two or more smaller banks merge with a larger bank). On the other hand, in the case of amalgamation, shareholders of both (or more) companies get new shares allotted that are of a new company altogether. 2. Acquisition or takeover : Acquistion may be defined as an act of acquiring effective control over assets or management of a company by another company without any combination of businesses or companies.In acquisition , two or more companies may remain independent, separate legal entity but there may be change in control of companies. Acquistion : When managements of acquiring and target companies mutually and willingly agree for the takeover it is called acquisition or friendly takeover Takeover : Takeover means acquisition . When the company takes the target company unwillingly or forcefully it is called takeover. The term takeover is understood to connote hostility. 3. Leveraged buyouts (LBO) : A leverage buyout (LBO) is an acquisition of a company in which the acquisition is substantially financed through debt. 4. Divestment : A divestment involves the sale of company’s assets or product lines or  divisions or brand to the outsiders.It is reverse of acquisition. There are 2 types of divestments : sell-off and spin-off Sell off : When a company sells a part of its business to a third party it is called sell –off Spin-offs : When a company creates a new company from the existing single entity it is called a spin-off. 5. Reverse merger / Reverse Takeover : The acquisition of a public company by a private company so that the private company can bypass the lengthy and complex process of going public. The transaction typically requires reorganization of capitalization of the acquiring company.