Financial management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words - 2

Financial management - Essay Example The theory acknowledges the use of both equity and debt financing of the firm operations. It holds that each firm has an optimal capital structure at which it maximizes the value of the firm, which is the point when the attractiveness of each additional debt unit declines, upon balancing its costs and benefits it brings to the firm (Ghazouani, 2013). By this the theory links a firm’s financial leverage to its profitability and optimum debt ratio. Proponents of the theory argue that debt financing can enable firms to achieve maximum profitability and value by making a trade off of the accrued benefits and cost. Financing firms with debt has the advantages of corporate tax benefits of the debt, but also suffer risks from bankruptcy and agency costs, which create financial distress for the firm. Tax shields are firm specific factors that influence firms financing decisions. Firms may choose to take additional debt with increases to tax shield offered. According to Chen, â€Å"the trade-off theory predicts that firms will increase their debt level to capture fully tax benefits until the expected marginal benefits are equal to the expected marginal costs of debt† (2012, p. 1). The higher the tax rate the greater the firm’s leverage and effectively a higher enterprise value. By maximizing the use of debt, firms on the other hand become more prone to losses due to increasing risks of bankruptcy. The firm’s over-borrowing could result to failure of paying the principle, chances of defaulting, and in the event of financial distress are unable to get extended credits from financial institutions, failure to pay dividends or attractive for investment (Kim, Heshmati and Aoun, n.d.). In turn they affect the firm’s profitability, performances and its value. Holding other variables constant, a point comes when a further debt increment becomes inversely and directly proportional to its marginal profits and costs,

Human Resource Essay Example for Free

Human Resource Essay 1. One of the major components of any business is people. The management of people or human resource forms an integral part of any manager’s duty. This makes human resource management an important subject in today’s business scenario. Human resource management refers to the optimum utilization of manpower keeping in mind the focus of the concerned organization. Human resource management focuses on better productivity and in turn, higher profits through better utilization and management of people. As the name suggests, Globalization refers to the free and easy movement of goods, raw material, services, capital, ideas and information across the globe, from one country to another. Every other important aspects of an organization like capital, information, new and better ideas can be copied from one country to another, except the people which forms the most crucial part of any organization. The workforce of an organization keeps it competitive in a global market and attracts foreign investors. The workforce constitutes the skilled and knowledgeable aspect of an organization. Efficient and skilled workers are recruited by foreign investors. This way they gain experience and learn better. Thus it forms a cycle. Today, technology has changed the day to day living in every aspect. Every economy is dependent on technology for knowledge.   Information and better ideas is the key to every successful company.   Technology makes this available at a speed faster than light. Technology has helped every organization in cutting down their cost in terms of people. Today, it’s a world where smart working is preferred over hard work and technology has made it possible. E-commerce has influenced has influenced human resource management in many ways. It has helped to replace man power in various aspects. It can be seen that organizations with better productive capacity are abl e to generate better goods and services even if their inputs are small. 2. Today, organizations have become more competitive and dynamic with increasing complexities. Therefore, managers are of the opinion that manpower management has gained more importance than ever. The most important component of any organization is the people. It can be said that the old approaches of human resource management are no more the answers to the ever-changing economic and social environment. In modern times, experiment with policies to meet the dynamic need is considered healthy and is encouraged.   Management practices and experiments will experience a great change in the coming decade. Employment security will have to be provided. Keeping in mind the increasing complexities, selective and specialized hiring has to be done. Candidates should be selected from a huge pool of applicants. This would provide flexibility to the organization during selection and better opportunities to the candidates. Hierarchy has to be reduced as much as possible and decentralization has to be implemented. This would make workers feel more independent and responsible towards the work allocated to them. They would feel accountable for the outcome of the task. The difference in status amongst the employees will have to be reduced. This would help employees work like a team. Extensive training to workers should become the key element of every organization. Specialized training would be of utmost importance to survive in the coming days. The organizations will have to work in a more transparent manner where information has to be shared with all the employees. This would enhance the trust among workers. All workers should be encouraged to express their ideas and take active part in the controlling and planning phases. Thus, it can be seen that major changes will have to take place in manage ment styles and practices in the coming decade to survive in the completive market. 3. As the name suggests, the key elements of the LAMP model are Logic, Analytics, Measures and Process. These components that are responsible for the various strategic changes and overall effectiveness of the organization and each one play a very crucial role. Logic is an indispensable part of the system. It bridges the gap between numbers and the result or outcomes. It helps people outside the HR system to understand the numbers better. ‘Right Logic’ forms an important connecting link between data and the desired outcome. After combining logic and numbers together, the next step is Analytics. Some of the analytical strategies are statistics, research models and research designs. Wrong analytics can result into faulty results. Sound systems of analytics determine the flow of the arrow. Measures or data is the most popular component in the HR industry. Data collection forms the basis of any kind of assessment in HR. Without appropriate data, logic or analytics components do not hold any value. Mangers filter the required data from a huge variety of data and material. There are various techniques involved like sampling, probability, etc. The final step in the LAMP framework is the Process. It converts logic and analysis achieved through data into action. Managers are directed by process. Data and logic creates the basis of analysis. During analysis, various social and economic issues unfold. All these issues should be considered during process. Hence process can be regarded as the outcome of the LAMP model. To summarize, it can be said be said that the LAMP framework stresses on the significance of data. Raw data or matter does not hold any value. The key point in HR is to use data in a more effective and strategic manner. The LAMP system has proved to be very beneficial in this aspect. 4. High performance work practices generate higher productivity and it is seen that firms that use more of high performance work practices generate higher profits than those who don’t. Employees have more say in the control of the business. Managers are considerate about the professional growth of the employees. Thus, it can be seen that high performance work practices can boost profits to a large extent. However it is seen that many firms do not apply it. The reason could be varied. The size of the firm would greatly influence the decision, as a small size business may not be able to apply the work life programs. The cost of high performance work practices can generally be covered by bigger organizations so it is easier for them to implement it, while smaller organizations may not be able to take care of the pay-offs. Also Organizations who are more concerned about HR practices would also most likely apply the concept. The feeling of empowerment may create stress among employ ees and they may find it difficult to strike a balance between their personal and professional life. Power wars may also be created. So it might become difficult for employees to handle the pressure. This might have a negative influence on the employees. it is also noticed that the effect are most prominent when they are incorporated within the system. To establish the above stated fact, two cases were studied; one on organization culture and the other on the survival of an organization after their initial public issue, and it was seen that the work practices held relevance in both. It is also essential that the practices are not just measured but the analysis should help control and reduce the cost. Also it is necessary to understand that facts, figures and assumptions do not hold true for all organizations. So it is essential to strategically analyze the work practices and understand if it can be applied to the business. Also to successfully apply the strategies thorough research on cost benefits and performance measures is crucial, as there should be no doubt while adopting such practices. The facts and figures should also be correlated to the dynamics of the business and the culture before implementing the programs. many smaller or newer companies may that’s why still take a while to adopt these practices, in spite of evidence of increased productivity.

We Are Living in a Corporate Dystopia Essay -- Persuasive Argumentati

A Corporate Dystopia      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Our children are being brainwashed. Not overtly, mind you, and not in any way that would be so violent as to cause alarm with most parents, but subtly and persistently, powerful entities are programming and transforming the next generation of American citizens into obedient attendants and mindless drones. Without the necessary steps taken to prevent it, our future will lie in the hands of men and women who, instead of using a well-cultivated intellect, will feign attack on the problems of their day with the "Just do it." and "Why ask why?" knee-jerk responses of their wasted childhood, leaving real power to reside with their programmers: Coca-Cola, Nike, Disney, et al. By allowing corporations free access to the minds of our children (as many of us do), we take the first bold steps down the road to the Brave New World. Ignoring this threat and treating it as either non-existent or only minimally significant is tantamount to inviting Huxley's dystopian vision into our own world. In so doing, we set ourselves up for a decidedly dark tomorrow.    To the uninitiated, the society of Huxley's Brave New World at first seems to be only pure science fiction with no visible ties to reality. After all, we have no government-controlled genetic engineering of human beings in our world. We do not center our children's education around pleasure and the maintenance of happiness. We have no drug, or soma, to keep us in a state of physical bliss and emotional contentedness. Yet, for all its fantasy, there are several uncomfortably close connections with our own world in Huxley's ominous vision.    For instance, while there is currently no centralized system of large-scale genetic engineering, recent... ...ty to apathy and, more importantly, teach our children to do the same.    [In] Huxley's vision, no Big Brother is required to deprive people of their autonomy, maturity and history. As he saw it, people will come to love their oppression, to adore the technologies that undo their capacities to think. -From Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman    Works Cited Coca-Cola Company. 1997 Annual Report. Atlanta: Coca-Cola Company. 1998. Available online at: http://www.thecoca-colacompany.com/investors/index.html Hays, Constance L. "Math Textbook Salted With Brand Names Raises New Alarm". New York Times 21 Mar. 1999. Available online at: http://www.nytimes.com Huxley, Aldous. Brave New World. New York: Time, Inc. 1963. Postman, Neil. Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show-Business. New York: Viking. 1985.    We Are Living in a Corporate Dystopia Essay -- Persuasive Argumentati A Corporate Dystopia      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Our children are being brainwashed. Not overtly, mind you, and not in any way that would be so violent as to cause alarm with most parents, but subtly and persistently, powerful entities are programming and transforming the next generation of American citizens into obedient attendants and mindless drones. Without the necessary steps taken to prevent it, our future will lie in the hands of men and women who, instead of using a well-cultivated intellect, will feign attack on the problems of their day with the "Just do it." and "Why ask why?" knee-jerk responses of their wasted childhood, leaving real power to reside with their programmers: Coca-Cola, Nike, Disney, et al. By allowing corporations free access to the minds of our children (as many of us do), we take the first bold steps down the road to the Brave New World. Ignoring this threat and treating it as either non-existent or only minimally significant is tantamount to inviting Huxley's dystopian vision into our own world. In so doing, we set ourselves up for a decidedly dark tomorrow.    To the uninitiated, the society of Huxley's Brave New World at first seems to be only pure science fiction with no visible ties to reality. After all, we have no government-controlled genetic engineering of human beings in our world. We do not center our children's education around pleasure and the maintenance of happiness. We have no drug, or soma, to keep us in a state of physical bliss and emotional contentedness. Yet, for all its fantasy, there are several uncomfortably close connections with our own world in Huxley's ominous vision.    For instance, while there is currently no centralized system of large-scale genetic engineering, recent... ...ty to apathy and, more importantly, teach our children to do the same.    [In] Huxley's vision, no Big Brother is required to deprive people of their autonomy, maturity and history. As he saw it, people will come to love their oppression, to adore the technologies that undo their capacities to think. -From Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman    Works Cited Coca-Cola Company. 1997 Annual Report. Atlanta: Coca-Cola Company. 1998. Available online at: http://www.thecoca-colacompany.com/investors/index.html Hays, Constance L. "Math Textbook Salted With Brand Names Raises New Alarm". New York Times 21 Mar. 1999. Available online at: http://www.nytimes.com Huxley, Aldous. Brave New World. New York: Time, Inc. 1963. Postman, Neil. Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show-Business. New York: Viking. 1985.   

Cipd Employment Law Essay

Supporting Good Practice in Managing Employment Relations 3MER Introduction: The aim/objectives of this assignment are to explore employee relations in detail, including the internal and external factor impacting on employment relationship, psychological contract, and differences between fair and unfair dismissals, redundancy. 1. Understand the impact of employment law at the start of the employment relationship : 1.Internal and external factor that impact on the employment relationship: The absolute melodious bond between employers and employees is crucial for the smooth running of an organisation, where there is a give and take relationship and there are various factor affecting the relationship Internally and Externally i. e. Organisational culture , historical context, performance, pay and reward, economic factor, technology factor, unemployment etc. Internal Factor: Organisational culture is defined by many writers as being † the way we do things round here † It is m anifested in the rituals of an organisational, in its people, dress, habits, working times and style, attitudes , office layout , almost every intangible aspect of its being. It is also perpetuated by stories, office gossip, heroes and heroines, decor, social life and the language that various parts of the organisation regularly use at work. (CIPD 2011) * Psychological contract the term was first used in the early 1960s but became more popular following the economic downturn in the early 1990s.It has been defined as ‘the perceptions of the two parties, employee and employer, of what their mutual obligations are towards each other'. (CIPD 2012). In which employers except commitment to goals and value, hard working, flexibility, honestly, be courteous to client and staff. In return employee except a pleasant and safe working environment, job security, pays commensurate with performance feedback, skill development aid to employability and fair treatment. External Factor: Technolo gical factor: Due to the ever growing demand of technology there are advantage and disadvantage. There are development in energy sources, mobile technology and medical discoveries etc. These help employees to develop the skills and training. And the same may also create a gap in the market or barrier for the entry in the given market, which may de-motive staff. Economical factor: Slow economic growth/ decline may result in employees just fortunate of having a job.Due to the euro crisis, lowest interest rate, exchange rates and inflation rate, wage rates and unemployment. 2. The different types of employment status: There are three main categories of employment status such as Employee: Has a contract of service, have set working hours, have options of paternal leave, have rights of unfair dismissal. Workers: Does the work personally, either may have set working hours; contract may be verbal or written, they usually work for fixed time, doesn’t have rights of unfair dismissal.B usiness/ Genuinely Self- Employed: They contract for service and employers are the customers, they have a set of working hours, is contracted for each model of work – either verbal or written, contracted by service not time and doesn’t hold any rights for unfair dismissal/ redundancy. 1. 3 Identify and analyse the reasons why it is important to determine an individual’s employment status: Below are the 3 major employment status and reasons for the importance of identifying them: Permanent: An employee has a permanent contract, has access to all the perks and benefits in the firm.Under the Employment Rights Act 1996 permanent employees are entitled to written terms and conditions after 8 weeks of employment and once they have acquired continuous employment for a certain period of time they acquire certain rights (e. g. 1 year for right to claim unfair dismissal; 2 years for redundancy payments). They also have the employment rights such as Statutory Sick Pay. An employee receives a wage/salary rather than seeking remuneration in the form of profits whether the wage is subject to deductions under the PAYE scheme whether an employee is obliged to perform the duties of his or her job.The Company provides the tools, equipment, premises or any other materials that are required to do the work. In economic down turn employers may reduce their or put in a cap into their employees bonus or pay rise. Contractors/ Self – Employed: Whereby a person will work for themselves rather than an employer. It is important to establish this type of worker as they will be entitled to the core legal rights, they will be entitled to receive the National Minimum Wage and be protected against unlawful deduction from wages.They don’t receive any holiday pay or sick pay when they are not available for work. Economic down turn may not affect to such an individual. Agency workers or ‘temps’: They have the opportunity to sign on several employme nt agencies and can work on a variety of assignments through out the year for different organisation. It is important to establish this type of worker as they will be entitled to the core legal rights. They are paid on invoice and may be VAT registered and be protected against unlawful deduction from wages. . Understand the main individual rights that the employee has during the employment relationship: 2. 1 Explain the importance of work life balance within the employment relationship and how it can be influenced by legislation: The Working Time Regulations (1998) implement the European Working Time Directive into GB law. The purpose of the legislation was to have adequate breaks. The importance of work life balance in an employment relationship is vital for two way relationship.To keep an individual motivated to avoid sluggish, to make them feel happier and valued. An individual is more refreshed after a regular break and can be more effective into this work and put in new ideas w hich leads to enhance the performance. A tired worker is more likely to make mistake- but due to WTR there may be reduction of mistakes. There is also a good employer branding around the globe encouraging more people to apply for jobs. A positive culture is build up with an individual willing to work and better productivity.According to the WTR Act an employee can work an average up to 48 hours a week (opt out), a right to have break for 20 minutes every 6 hours in work, a right to have a day off each week, Entitled for 28 days annual leave every year, an average of 8 hours of work in a night shift. 2. 2 Summarise the legal support that may be given to employees as a family member: In our present time and looking at the current situation there are both employee and employers are in need to maintain a good working life balance.Employers have to keep employee motivated, help them in case of emergency i. e. (allowing them to work flexible time) and help them understand maternity, pater nity, adoption pay. Maternity Leave and Pay: A employee who is a new mother of her biological child is entitled to have 39 weeks of SMP (Statutory Maternity Pay), the first 6 weeks is 90 percent of their average gross weekly earning with no upper limit and the next 33 weeks at lower of either the standard rate of ? 135. 45, or 90 percent of their average gross weekly earning.All pregnant employees are entitled for 52 weeks statutory maternity leave (26 weeks ordinary leave and 26 weeks additional leave). ‘Compulsory’ maternity leave is of two weeks immediately after giving birth during which the employee is not permitted to work. Paternity Leave: The Employment Act 2002 which includes Paternity Leave. An employee should qualify for such a leave and pay if they have been in the company for 26weeks or more. From 3 April 2011 additional entitlement to ordinary paternity leaves which is minimum of 2 weeks and additional of 26 weeks. 20 weeks after the child is born). Additi onal Paternity Leave is for a maximum of 26 weeks. If the employee’s partner has returned to work, the leave can be taken between 20 weeks and one year after your child is born. Adoption Leave and Pay: An employee who has worked continuously for the same employer for 26 weeks or more qualify for paid adoption leave. There are two types of adoption leave: 26 weeks ordinary adoption leave and 26 additional adoption leave, giving a total of 52 weeks. SAP (Statutory Adoption Leave) is payable for 39 weeks.The rate of SAP is same as the lower rate of SMP. Dependant Leave: An employee whose child is under 5 or who has a disable child age 18 or under they holds the right to take parental leave. An employee who has a continuous service least for a year qualifies for paternal leave. An employee have the right to have unpaid time off work to deal with emergencies involving a ‘dependant' – this could be employee’s husband, wife, partner, child, parent, or anyone livi ng in your household as a member of the family. 2. 3 Explain the reasons for treating employees fairly in relation to pay:The purpose of the Equal Pay Act 1970 is to eliminate discrimination between men and women in terms of pay. This law gives a woman the right to be paid the same as a man like work, work of equal value and work rated as equivalent by analytical job evaluation study. Enhancing Employer Brand: Giving them equal pay boosts employees confident, keep employees motivated and to keep them in the business longer then ever before. At Bloomberg these benefits are based on the annual salary, and salaries are benchmarked to job levels which are assigned to the role.This ensures salaries are fair for the job being performed, regardless of gender, race, or age, to ensure there is no discrimination among employees. Increased Productivity: Due to the Act there is an ever increasing productivity to be seen, At JIG a case occurred where employees knew there is equality in gender an d pay in place. Employees were treated fair, the morale increased, they are well known for their excellent customer/ client service and employees started to settle down within their jobs for long period of time. 2. 4 Summarise the main points of discrimination legislation:Anti – Discrimination legislation is now incorporated within the Equality Act 2010. The purpose of this legislation is to build up nine separate pieces of anti – discrimination legislation into a single Act, creates a new single equality duty on public bodies, and allows for wider equality objectives to be included in tenders for public sector contracts. The lists of 9 protected characteristics are: Age, Disability, Gender reassignment, marriage and civil partner, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation.Direct discrimination: This occurs when someone is treated less favourably than another on account of having a disability, or on the grounds of age, sex, race, rel igion or sexual orientation. When deciding whether direct discrimination has taken place a comparator issued. At Bloomberg all employees are treated equally but not discriminating between an older and younger candidate going for the same job. Indirect discrimination: This is when a disability or sex is disadvantaged by a provision, criterion or practice which is broadly applied.These could be policies at work, college rules and qualifications. At JIG there were changes made on working shift patterns to dress and display the new lines in the company which were out of business hours. All employers were required to work till 10 twice a week. Women are going to be immoderately affected by this, as women are more likely than men to have caring responsibilities. One particular woman cannot work the shifts and she claims indirect discrimination, as the shift changes particularly disadvantage women who may wish to collect children from school and right out her normal duties.Victimisation: T his occurs when an employee is treated less favourably because they have made or supported a complaint related to the Act, or they are suspected of doing so. At Bloomberg security there was occasion where an employee has given evidence in connection to a discrimination claim, and 4 months later they felt that they have been victimised by their supervisor due to these event that had happened. Harassment: The Harassment Act was introduced in 1997 to protect individuals from harassment situations in and out of the workplace.Harassment is where an employer or an employee violates another person’s dignity or creates an uncomfortable or offensive environment for them. Such a situation has not yet arisen at Bloomberg. 2. 5 Explain the good practice that underpins organisational policies and can contribute to the psychological contract: Psychological contract has been defined as ‘the perceptions of the two parties’ employee and employer, of what their mutual obligations are towards each other’. (CIPD 2005) An individual’s expectation that some organised ystem will act with predictability or goodwill’ (Maguire and Phillips 2008). The psychological contract is more positive if there is evidence of the following: A high-quality workplace – this is made up of six factors linked to stress and well-being, namely: a manageable workload, some personal control over the job, support from supervisors and colleagues, positive relationships at work, a reasonably clear role, a sense of control or involvement in changes. At Bloomberg in our department every staff and line- manager at the start of every shift there is a briefing to be held every morning.There is a psychological contract between the staff and the line – manger in order to attend the briefing every staff member in the morning is excepted to come 15 minutes early prior to the starting time, and vice- verse there are allowed to leave 15 minutes earlier prior to their finish time. In that way trust is not affected, the psychological contract is maintained resulting in an increased loyalty, more efficiency and longer working period. 3. Understand the issues to address at the termination of the employment relationship 1. Explain the differences between fair and unfair dismissals:Dismissal is when employer ends the employment they don’t always have to give notice. If dismissed, the employer must show they’ve: a valid reason that they can justify and act reasonably in the circumstances. Fair Dismissal: Dismissal is normally fair if an employer can show that it is for one of the following reasons: A reason related to an employee's conduct A reason related to an employee's capability or qualifications for the job Because of a redundancy Because a statutory duty or restriction prohibited the employment being continued Some other substantial reason of a kind which justifies the dismissal.And that they acted reasonably in treating that reas on as sufficient for dismissal. Unfair Dismissal: Unfair dismissal is when employer does not have a fair reason or it’s not lawful for dismissing an employee. It is when the employer has not followed the correct and lawful company’s process when dismissing the employee. Summary dismissal: Employee can be dismissed for ‘gross misconduct’ without employer going through the normal disciplinary procedures. This can happen if, for example, violent towards a colleague, customer or property.Constructive dismissal: Is when an employee is forced to leave their job against their will because of their employer’s conduct. Example: let other employees harass or bullying. Automatically unfair reasons for dismissal (where one year or two years continuity of employment is not required) Dismissals will be automatically unfair if related to: A reason connected with pregnancy, taking maternity leave and pay, paternity leave and pay, additional paternity leave and pay (from April 2011) adoption leave and pay, childbirth and parental leave – Section 99 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 (ERA).Seeking to exercise the right to request flexible working. Taking leave for family emergencies or to care for dependants – Section 57A of the ERA. Taking time off for jury service. Potentially fair reasons for dismissal: To be fair, a dismissal must be for one of these reasons: Capability or qualifications Conduct Illegality or contravention of a statutory duty Some other substantial reason Redundancy The process to follow and reduce the likelihood of unfair dismissal: Understanding the purpose and scope of problem. , Principle: Action taken to nature of the problemThe Procedure: Oral, first, final written warning and dismissal Gross Misconduct and giving them a chance for Appeal. 2. Explain the importance of exit interviews: The exit interview at Bloomberg provides an opportunity to allow the employer and employee to express and acquiring their reasons for leaving. Exit interviews can sometimes prove difficult to collect information, as some employees prefer, or are not willing to disclose their reasons for leaving or any problems they have had occurred in during their employment.The importance of an exit interview to Employers is that, if conducted well it delivers an excellent opportunity for Bloomberg to gain insight into employees’ perceptions of the organisation overall, underlying workplace issues and managerial leadership. The importance of an exit interview for the Employee is to voice their views on their working experience during their time at Bloomberg. This also gives them a chance to suggest improvements to their role and to draw a line under their employment relationship. 3. Summarise the key stages to be followed when managing redundancies:Redundancy: A redundancy occurs where a dismissal is wholly or mainly because employees have ceased to carry the employers business or intend to cease to carry out the employers business. Either for the purpose for which the employers is employed or in the place where the employee was employed. (Kate Russell 2011) Key stages followed in managing redundancy: The first stage of redundancy involves planning from HR and line – manager arbitrates to discuss the organisation or department structure. The second stage is lawfully identifying the employees which are due to put into risk, by a fair, objective and non discriminatory selection criteria.The third stage involves the moment of truth, information the employees and consultation meetings. The final meeting with the employee will be formal and includes the right to be accompanied. There may be several meetings prior to the final meeting in reference with what help or alternatives could be provided. The fourth stage is if the redundancy occurs it will be in written and with full explanation of redundancy payments of what they are likely to receive. Redundancy pay depends on age, current pa y (or statutory limit) and length of service. Pay is calculated as follows: 0. week’s pay for each full year of service for those under 22 years of age 1 week’s pay for each full year of service for 22-41 year olds 1. 5 week’s pay for each full year of service for those over 41 The fifth stage is where Employee holds the right to appeal against the decision which has made by the employer. The final stage occurs when there aren’t any alternative jobs and appeal against the decision, the redundancy payment is realised. After the redundancy is communicated, Employees can often feels depressed. Trainings sessions and advice on seeking new employment are been given.

The Right Way to Manage an Intervention

For 42 years, Libyans had suffered from the tyrannical dictator Muammar Gaddafi who ruled them without any mercy and allocated Libya’s wealth to his family and himself. On Tuesday 15th of February 2011, Libyans started to demonstrate against the regime of Gaddafi. However, Gaddafi’s response to these demonstrations was horrible. He ordered his forces to open fire on the protestors. According to reporters from the BBC â€Å"500 to 700 people were killed† during February 2011 by Gaddafi’s security forces. Libyans did not give up, though. Instead, the number of demonstrators increased day by day, especially in the city of Benghazi where the demonstrators were armed. They forced the police and the army forces to withdraw from Benghazi. For a person like Gaddafi, who ruled Libya for more than 40 years, resignation was not an option. He was willing to eliminate the revolution against him no matter how. He gathered his army around the cities which the demonstrators controlled and was about to commit massacres against Libyans. The United Nations had to do something to prevent the massacres Gaddafi’s forces were about to commit. On March 2011, the UN started an intervention in Libya by imposing a no-fly zone over Libya to prevent Gaddafi’s air forces from killing civilians. This intervention -which was later led by NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) – proved later that it was the best way to end the conflicts in Libya. The three main reasons behind this statement are firstly, to protect Libyans from the Gaddafi’s crime. Secondly, because the intervention was not a direct invasion. And finally, because the intervention was done after the UN approval. The most important reason why the NATO’s intervention was the best solution in the war in Libya is because Libyans needed urgent military help to stop Gaddafi’s forces from killing civilians. If NATO’s navy in the Mediterranean had not imposed a no-fly zone over Libya Gaddafi’s air forces were about to attack civilians in Benghazi and other cities. The Libyan Representative to the UN, Ambassador Ibrahim Dabbashi, said in a press conference on March 2011, â€Å"We are expecting a real genocide in Tripoli. The airplanes are still bringing mercenaries to the airports. We are calling on the UN to impose a no-fly zone on all Tripoli to cut off all supplies of arms and mercenaries to the regime†. In other words, NATO’s intervention saved thousands of lives by applying a no-fly zone over Libya. No peaceful solutions would do so, especially since Gaddafi seemed insistent on proceeding in his bloody actions against his oppositions. Another reason why NATO’s intervention in Libya was a model one is because it was not a direct invasion. The NATO’s operations in Libya were all by launching air and missile strikes against important targets on Gaddafi’s forces. Ivo H. Daalder, the U. S. Permanent Representative to NATO, indicated that the NATO’s operations in Libya were successful by any standard. The operations â€Å"saved† tens of thousands of lives from almost certain massacre. These operations greatly â€Å"minimized† direct damage. It helped the â€Å"Libyan opposition† to overthrow one of the world’s worst â€Å"dictators†. All these accomplishments were done without any wounded from the allies and with the cost of only several billions of dollars. That was a â€Å"fraction† of that spent in previous â€Å"interventions in Balkans, Afghanistan, and Iraq. In other words, NATO played a huge role in ending a civil war which could last for many years by the least damage possible. The proof of that statement is what happening in Syria today. As no military force intervened to end the bloody war in Syria, the conflicting parties have been killing tens of thousands of civilians for more than two years now. Political ways are not helpful in such situation. If NATO hadn’t intervened in Libya, the civil war could not be finish till today, or at least it could cause much more victims. The third reason to consider the NATO’s intervention a successful one is because it was applied after the UN approval. The military operations were led by a group of allies, and then these operations were led by NATO, which is still a group of allies. This gave legitimacy to the intervention and proved that the intervention was only to save the Libyan people and help them get their freedom, not for the interests of a specific country. Moreover, NATO ended their operations after the death of Gaddafi. Ending their mission is a clear proof that they were not planning to invade Libya. But they were applying the UN solution to save civilians. A report published on the United Nations official website on 17th of March 2011 clarified that the Security Council â€Å"authorized† the use of force in Libya to protect Civilians from Gaddafi’s forces, especially in the city of Benghazi, â€Å"Acting under Chapter VII of the UN Charter†, which allows to take military and nonmilitary actions to restore â€Å"international peace and security†. In other words, there is no proof that the NATO intervened in Libya for any kind of benefits. Even on the economical perspective, the cost of the military operations is a small fraction compared to the wealth of Libya which was stolen by Gaddafi and his family. Despite the obvious success of NATO’s interventions, there are critics who believe that NATO’s intervention was not helpful. The author of the essay â€Å"The Negative Influence of NATO Intervention in Libya† claimed that the NATO’s intervention that happened in Libya was not helpful. He based his thesis on three main reasons. The first one is because NATO neglected Libyan people. Secondly, because NATO killed innocent people through bombing. Finally, because NATO caused internal conflicts for Libyan people. The author mentioned some good examples to prove that the intervention was not helpful. However, His essay has three unconvincing arguments. The first one is that the author claimed that NATO neglected Libyans basing this claim on one example. That is considered as a hasty generalization. The second unconvincing argument is claiming that the main objective of the intervention was to conquer Libya without mentioning logical evidence. The last weakness in the essay is the last paragraph; the author claimed that NATO motivated Libyans to fight against each other. In the first paragraph, the author of â€Å"The Negative Influence of NATO Intervention in Libya† concluded that NATO neglected Libyans. He based this point on the fact that a boat carrying refugees sank in the Mediterranean Sea and NATO didn’t rescue the refugees. However, this example is not convincing to claim that NATO neglected Libyans because it’s a hasty generalization. Moreover, the author based this example on a person called JOHN-MARK IYI without mentioning his position or how he is related to the topic. On the other hand, there are a lot of proofs that NATO saved Libyans. According to the BBC NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said after announcing the end of their mission in Libya, â€Å"NATO's military forces had prevented a massacre and saved countless lives. † He also said,† We created the conditions for the people of Libya to determine their own future. † There is no doubt that NATO has hurt Libyans to some extent, but this damage was a fraction to the one caused by Gaddafi’s forces. Claiming that NATO’s objective was to conquer Libya is the second unconvincing point in Hijazi’s essay. A clear proof that NATO’s operation was not to conquer Libya is that they announced the end of the mission on the 31st of October 2011 after the end of Gaddafi’s regime. If NATO had any interests in conquering Libya they would not end the military operations in Libya. Moreover, Hijazi mentioned that NATO’s airstrikes killed a lot of civilians and destroyed a lot of houses without supporting his claim with clear evidence that the people killed were civilians. Especially that Gaddafi’s army used to hide inside civilians houses, which makes it hard to specify whether the killed people were civilians or soldiers from Gaddafi’s army. In other words, the points mentioned by the author don’t prove that NATO intended to conquer Libya. The last unconvincing point in Hijazi’s essay is claiming that NATO motivated Libyans to start a civil war. That claim is not logical for several reasons. Firstly, the war started before any foreign intervention in Libya and the main cause of this war is to overthrow the Gaddafi’s regime. Secondly, Hijazi didn’t mention how NATO could get any benefits if a civil war started in Libya. And most importantly, Gaddafi’s soldiers were not Libyan which means it was not a civil war. Martin Chulov and David Smith published an article in The Guardian website, they say,† Many black Africans have been arrested and accused of fighting for dictator, but claim they were press-ganged. † In other words, it’s true that NATO participated in the war in Libya, but claiming that they started the war there is not convincing. To sum it all up, the war in Libya caused the death for a lot of Innocent civilians. Without the involvement of NATO, the war would be running until today, causing the death of innocents every single day. Because simply, there was no other clear, political solution would work with the insanity of Gaddafi. For sure, the intervention of NATO was not a perfect choice. However, it was the one with least damage. Moreover, today Libya seems to heel slowly form the war it had, and fortunately it seems that the NATO intervention had no dangerous impacts on Libya. In general, it’s possible to say that sometimes the only way to end violence is to use violence.

A Level Psychology Essay Example

A Level Psychology Essay Example A Level Psychology Essay A Level Psychology Essay One reason that studying memory and organisation may be interesting is because the area was neglected, up until the 1990s, when psychologists became interested in how an enormously important but complex facility operates in people after being stimulated by the attempts to provide information about computer systems and how information is organised.( R.Gross, Hodder and Sloughton) One theory in relation to memory suggests that organisation may occur at two separate stages of memory. Meyer said to remember is to have organised and suggested that organisation either occurs at storage or at retrieval. Meyer suggested that at storage organisation serves to reduce the amount of material to be remembered and does this by grouping it hierarchically or by chunking it (putting it into chunks to remember).At retrieval he argued that organised items have greater uniqueness and therefore more retrieval routes assocciated with them.This suggests that organisation aids memory either by reducing the amount of information or by providing items with more reason to be remembered.( Broadbent, D.E., Cooper, P.J. Broadbent) A key study into hierarchy and memory was conducted by Collins and Quillian 1969 which proposed the hierarchical network model. This model was concerned with how words are organised in relation to their semantic meanings.Semantic memory was portrayed as a network of words which are connected to other when there is a semantic similarity. The meaning of a word is said to be given by pointers which basically point from the word out to the meaning. For example, Collins and Quillian suggested that pointers could indicate properties. For example a canary would have pointers to can sing. Other pointers may point to categories that a certain word belongs to. So a canary would have pointers to bird (on a lower level) and to animal (on a higher level). The model said that if a person was given the sentence A canary can sing and was asked to decide whether it is true or not they would only need to find the word canary and retrieve properties stored with that word. To test this model Collins and Quillian did an experiment where subjects were presented with sentences and were told to judge whether true or false by pressing the correct button as quick as possible.The length of reaction time indicated the difficulty.They found that the time taken to decide that a statement was true or not increased as the number of levels the subject had to go through to verify it increased. Therefore it implies that semantic meaning is stored in a hierarchy to aid memory in terms of its organisation.(R.Gross, Hodder and Sloughton) In 1953 Bousfield conducted a study where he asked subjects to learn 60 words that derived from 4 categories (animals, names, professions and vegetables), which the participants were not aware of. The categories had 15 examples which were all mixed up so did not appear to already be in a category. Bousfield found that when participants free recalled they tended to naturally cluster similar items, for example, if someone recalled potato it was likely that other vegetables followed. This concludes that although participants had not been told of the categories, they recalled in clusters and so therefore suggested that they tried to organise the data themselves and so proves in order to remember better the participants organised the data.(R.Gross, Hodder and Sloughton)  Bower,(1969) investigated the effects of hierarchy in recall memory, and compared  the results of these with those using word lists in a random order.The hierarchy provided a context for the words to be remembered by and recall was found to be up to three times better when word lists were organised . The study used an independent groups design, with two groups of participants: a control group and an experimental group . The independent variable was a list of 112words: The control group was given an unstructured, randomised list, while the experimental group was given the same words organised into a hierarchicy. The recall performance (DV) was measured using this scale (correctly recalled word = 1, incorrect or no-recalled word = 0). Bower found that the unorganised list gave a recall rate of 18% and particpants who used the organised list had a recall rate of 65%. Suggesting that organisation does aid memory recall.(Bower, G.H., Clark, M.C., Lesgold, A.M. Winzenz, D)  Aim: the aim of this replication of Bowers (1969) study is to test his findings (65% recall rate when given an organised list and 18% with and unorganised list) which will be conducted as a small scale version of the original experiment. The experiment will be considered small scale as the number of words will be reduced to 40 compared to Bowers 112. The number of participants will only be around 30 in this replication. The reason that a small scale experiment is to be done is because it is an opportunity sample and is estimated that only around 30 students will be available within a class. The experiment aims to test the experiment using different words, countries, which are categorised into continents further catagorised into eastern and western parts of the world whereas Bower used minerals, a harder topic. Directional Hypothesis: The directional hypothesis which was chosen was that partcipants will remember a greater number of words if they are presented in an organised way rather than if they are presented in a random list (an organised list will be made up of a heirarchy of words into sub categories and a random list will consist of all the words mixed up in list format) . The lists will be divided into 4 categories: Asia, Europe, South America and Africa. There will be 10 words in each category and will be randomly mixed up by picking them out of a hat.  The null hypothesis is whether the list is organised or not will not affect the number of words that the participant remembers and any difference is due to chance.  The chosen hypothesis is one tailed and is used because Bowers findings concluded it to be true as there was a 65% recall rate for organised lists in comparison to just 18% recall rate for an unorganised list..

Fallacy Summary

Fallacy Summary Free Online Research Papers People do many things to try to win an argument or make you see their point of view. Their argument may seem sound and convincing but on close examination it may contain one or more logical fallacies. Our textbook defines a fallacy as â€Å"an argument that contains a mistake in reasoning† (Bassham, Irwin, Nardone Wallace, 2000, Ch 5, p 1). There are many fallacies, our textbook divides them into two basic groups: Fallacies of Relevance and fallacies of insufficient evidence. â€Å"Fallacies of relevance are fallacies that occur because the premises are logically irrelevant to the conclusion. Fallacies of insufficient evidence are fallacies that occur because the premises, though logically relevant to the conclusion, fail to provide sufficient evidence to support the conclusion† (Bassham, Irwin, Nardone Wallace, 2000, Ch 5, p 1). I will discuss in detail three fallacies: Bandwagon Argument, Begging the Question and Slippery Slope. The first two Bandwagon Argument and Begging the Question are fallacies of relevance. The third fallacy, Slippery Slope is a fallacy of insufficient evidence. Bandwagon Argument A bandwagon argument is an argument that plays on the idea that everybody is doing it, so you should be doing it too. Rather than looking at a logical relevant reason or evidence for doing something, you are expected to do it because everybody is doing it so why not follow the crowd. An examples of a bandwagon argument is: â€Å"Everybody’s doing yoga. Therefore, you should too.† This plays on your desire to be in the popular crowd. It is fallacious because it assumes that because something is popular it is right for you too when in fact you need to logically assess if it is right for you. Bandwagon argument’s significance to critical thinking is that just because it is popular doesn’t mean it is the right decision for you. You still need to exercise skilled judgment it making decisions and not just go with what is popular. An example of a bandwagon argument in an organizational setting is with the hotel industry. Few hotels were questioning whether to support a web site, but were doing so because they seem to be struggling on how best to use the World Wide Web. In a study of hotel websites they found that using animated pictures and the overuse of images can have a negative effect on site success, but many hotels were using it because they felt that animation merely makes the hotel site â€Å"cool† or somehow competitive with other sites, one can recognize this as a bandwagon argument (Murphy, Olaru, Schegg Frey, 2003). Begging the Question Begging the question is a fallacy in which the arguer states or assumes as a premise the very thing he or she is trying to prove as a conclusion (Bassham, Irwin, Nardone Wallace, 2000, Ch 5, p 15). This sort of reasoning is also known as circular reasoning because simply assuming a claim is true does not serve as evidence for that claim. An example of begging the question fallacy is: â€Å"If such actions were not illegal, then they would not be prohibited by the law.† In this example the premise just repeats the conclusion premise including the claim that the conclusion is true. An example of begging the question fallacy in an organizational setting is in the publishing business, a statement about newspaper columnist Safire that was in the â€Å"On Language† section (2001), Pittsburgh Post – Gazette reads, â€Å"Anything Safire says about anything is suspect because you can’t believe what you read in the newspapers.† This is an example of linear question-begging. People who agree that this is true would not make an argument because they take for granted a premise that is unproven. Slippery Slope Slippery Slope fallacy is committed when we claim, without sufficient evidence that seemingly harmless action, if taken, will lead to a disastrous outcome (Bassham, Irwin, Nardone Wallace, 2000, Ch 6, p 13). This is fallacious because there is no reason to believe that one event must follow another event without an argument for such a claim. This is especially noticeable when extreme steps are taken between one event and another. An example of a slippery Slope argument is: â€Å"You can never give anyone a break, if you do they will walk all over you.† This example is a black and white fallacy, there is no room for the gray area. â€Å"It should be noted that many slippery-slope arguments leave out some of or all of the intermediate steps that an arguer believes will occur† (Bassham, Irwin, Nardone Wallace, 2000, Ch 6, p 13). An example of a slippery slope fallacy in an organizational setting is the argument on embryo cell-stem research. When Advanced Cell Technology, Inc. announced it had cloned human embryos in a process that could lead to cures for a host of debilitating diseases, there was a large outcry from critics who claimed that their research will lead society down that ubiquitous â€Å"slippery slope†(Williamson, 2001). Conclusion Care should be taken when one comes across fallacies such as these. It can confuse any good critical thinker who is not wary of the logical fallacies that abound. An argument may seem sound on first approach but with discernment and good decision making skills, one should be able to identify a logical fallacy. References Bassham, G., Irwin, W., Nardone, H Wallace, J. (2000). Critical Thinking: A Students Introduction. New York: McGraw-Hill. Murphy, J., Olaru, D., Schegg, R., Frey, S. (2003, February). The bandwagon effect: Swiss hotels’ web-sit and e-mail management. Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly, Vol 44, Iss 1; pg 71. Retrieved September 18, 2005, from ProQuest database. On Language. (2001, May 13). Pittsburgh Post – Gazette, p. E.8. Retrieved September 18, 2005, from ProQuest database. Williamson, D. (2001, November 27). Ironies clone themselves; Scientists’ work spurs familiar hue, cry. Telegram Gazette, p B.1. Retrieved September 19, 2005, from ProQuest database. Research Papers on Fallacy SummaryComparison: Letter from Birmingham and CritoUnreasonable Searches and SeizuresCapital PunishmentEffects of Television Violence on ChildrenArguments for Physician-Assisted Suicide (PAS)Bringing Democracy to AfricaIncorporating Risk and Uncertainty Factor in CapitalAnalysis of Ebay Expanding into AsiaResearch Process Part OneWhere Wild and West Meet

How to Measure Volume and Density

How to Measure Volume and Density Archimedes needed to determine if a goldsmith had embezzled gold during the manufacture of the royal crown for King Hiero I of Syracuse. How would you find out if a crown was made of gold or a cheaper alloy? How would you know if the crown was a base metal with a golden exterior? Gold is a very heavy metal (even heavier than lead, though lead has a higher atomic weight), so one way to test the crown would be to determine its density (mass per unit volume). Archimedes could use scales to find the mass of the crown, but how would he find the volume? Melting the crown down to cast it into a cube or sphere would make for an easy calculation and an angry king. After pondering the problem, it occurred to Archimedes that he could calculate volume based on how much water the crown displaced. Technically, he didnt even need to weigh the crown, if he had access to the royal treasury since he could just compare the displacement of water by the crown with the displacement of water by an equal volume of the gold the smith was given to use. According to the story, once Archimedes hit upon the solution to his problem, he burst outside, naked, and ran through the streets yelling, Eureka! Eureka! Some of this might be fiction, but Archimedes idea to calculate the volume of an object and its density  if you know the objects weight was fact. For a small object, in the lab, the easiest way to do this is to partly fill a graduated cylinder large enough to contain the object with water (or some liquid in which the object wont dissolve). Record the volume of water. Add the object, being careful to eliminate air bubbles. Record the new volume. The volume of the object is the initial volume in the cylinder subtracted from the final volume. If you have the objects mass, its density is the mass divided by its volume. How to Do It at Home Most people dont keep graduated cylinders in their homes. The closest thing to it would be a liquid measuring cup, which will accomplish the same task, but with a lot less accuracy. There is another way to calculate volume using Archimedes displacement method. Partially fill a box or cylindrical container with liquid.Mark the initial liquid level on the outside of the container with a marker.Add the object.Mark the new liquid level.Measure the distance between the original and final liquid levels. If the container was rectangular or square, the volume of the object is the inside width of the container multiplied by the inside length of the container (both numbers are the same in a cube), multiplied by the distance the liquid was displaced (length x width x height volume). For a cylinder, measure the diameter of the circle inside the container. The radius of the cylinder is 1/2 the diameter. The volume of your object is pi (Ï€, ~3.14) multiplied by the square of the radius multiplied by the difference in liquid levels (Ï€r2h).

Analyse the compromises made in the Vienna Convention between common Essay

Analyse the compromises made in the Vienna Convention between common law and civil law approaches to contract formation - Essay Example Many of the principles of international mercantile law were derived from the early rules and traditions formulated in the Middle Ages.2 However, with regard to the unification of laws and the harmonization of principles that govern transnational commerce and in particular, the international sale of goods, serious efforts were undertaken only in the 1930s. The first draft of a uniform law on international sale of goods was developed in 1935, World political events intervened - in particular, the Second World War - and it was only in 1964 when two conventions were approved in a conference at The Hague. These conventions were the Uniform Law on the International Sale of Goods ("ULIS") and the Uniform Law on the Formation of Contracts for the International Sale of Goods ("ULF"). Unfortuna... Many states were not comfortable with the influence of the civil law traditions of Western Europe3 . The failure of these two conventions made one conclusion inescapable: to achieve uniformity and harmonization of the principles governing the international sale of goods, there must be widespread concurrence from a vast majority of state-actors.4 The road towards a unified law was long and arduous. Two years after the conferences at the Hague, the United Nations established the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL). However, it took ten years before the UNCITRAL released the 1978 Draft Convention. Perhaps the circumstances were a little different than they were in 1968, and there was a growing realization of the imperative to come up with rules that harmonize international trade law. In 1980, 62 countries came together in a conference in Vienna and, after some debate, approved unanimously the Convention on the International Sale of Goods (CISG). In 1988, the CISG finally came into force. The prefatory statement of the CISG illuminates us as to the overarching goals of the Convention: ''THE STATES PARTIES TO THIS CONVENTION, BEARING IN MIND the broad objectives in the resolution adopted by the sixth special session of the General Assembly of the United Nations on the establishment of a New International Economic Order, CONSIDERING that the development of international trade on the basis of equality and mutual benefit is an important element in promoting friendly relations among States, BEING OF THE OPINION that the adoption of uniform rules which govern contracts for the international sale of goods and take

How Seattle Transform Itself by Edward Glaesor Essay

How Seattle Transform Itself by Edward Glaesor - Essay Example The Seattle region is growing faster than other metropolitan areas in the United States of America. During the early part of the 20th century Seattle’s economy was mostly based on the transportation industry. One of biggest companies in the air transportation industry, Boeing, has its corporate headquarters located in Seattle. In the 1950’s more than half of all jobs in Seattle were provided by Boeing.   Another industry that provided many jobs for the people of Seattle was the lumber industry.The author states that the economic model used by Seattle in the 21st century changed a lot since the early part of the 20th century. The key element that differentiates Seattle from other cities in the United States is that Seattle concentrated its efforts in creating an economy based on knowledge. The focus on education helped Seattle because it led to a flurry of innovations that led to the founding of some of the most innovative and successful companies in America. Companies such as Amazon, Starbucks, and Microsoft were founded in Seattle. The author is correct in his assertion that smart people look for each other and they learn from their interaction. Seattle is also home to one of most prestigious universities in America, University of Washington. The percentage of people with college degrees in Seattle is 56%. This figure is very large considering that only about 33% of the US population has a college degree. Seattle is a very attractive region for investors because it has a high population of educated workers.

Environmental issues Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Environmental issues - Essay Example There are many underlying causes for the raise in the chemical wastes which has led to the search for methods to dispose this waste. The population around the globe has increased at alarming levels and with increased number of people; the amount of the production of chemical wastes has also increased. Another vital reason for this increase in the chemical wastes is the movement of the people to urban localities and with increased urbanization there has been increased waste production. The industries across the globe have also increased and with greater production in the industries, greater amount of waste is generated. New technologies have led to the production of even more toxic substances. This includes nuclear power which leads to the production of toxic waste products and their disposal leads to the production of hazardous substances for the environment. Chemical wastes are also generated from coal mines as well as hospitals and research organizations (Geophysics Research Forum 1984; Murray et al 1982). There have been many proposed solutions to the subject of chemical waste. A very good method was presented by the Geophysics Study Committee which was deep burial.

Critical Thinking Exercise Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Critical Thinking Exercise - Essay Example The brand collectively has over 33,000 restaurants, franchises and outlets serving on a daily basis over 68 million people in almost 120 countries. (About McDolands) The business model of franchising helps McDonald’s to convey reliable, quality oriented and locally-relevant eating experiences to its customers. The total assets of the company amount to $32,990 million including a $22.8 billion of fixed assets. The current assets of the company amount to $4.4 billion and a goodwill of $2.6 billion. The proportion of the current assets over the total assets is 13% and the net identifiable and tangible assets of the company have a proportion of 69.2% which indicates a healthy backing of tangible assets. The major portion of the company’s liabilities is the long-term debt of the company which amounts to $12.1 billion and takes 65.24% of $18.6 billion of the total liabilities. The current liabilities of the company, which majorly include payroll and trade payables, has a low standing as compared to the current assets as the current liabilities amount to $3.5 billion as at December 31, 2011. The company has generated total revenue of $27 billion for the year 2011 and $18.3 billion of that revenue has been generated through company operated restaurants while the remaining from franchised restaurants generating an operating profit of $8.4 billion whereby the operating expenses majorly include food, payroll and other operational expenses such as the ambiance and maintenance related costs of the company. These expenses make up a total of $14.8 billion out of the total $18.5 billion operating expenses. The net income of the company after tax is $5.5 billion for the year which is quite attractive for such a company operating in such a competitive environment. The company also declared a dividend of $2.6 billion for its common shareholders. The company was able to maintain the same level of cash as last year as the company’s total cash was $2.34

Discussion 4 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 4

Discussion 4 - Essay Example uring his era for revolutionizing the painting style with his style that was definitive, darkening the shadows and transfixing the subject in a blinding shaft of light. Caravaggio pioneered the method of acute observation of physical and psychological reality in his subjects as the foundation of all the paintings he was commissioned to do. He proved that it was possible to work speedily on a painting. He finished painting the Sistine Chapel, his most notable work still in existence, in a matter of 7 years. He was an expert at working with live models and was frowned upon by his peers because he preferred to paint directly on the canvass rather than drawing sketches on paper and working from those models for the final product. This was a unique skill of Caravaggio that at the time was considered to be detrimental to an artists masterpiece or commissioned work. However, Caravaggio proved his detractors wrong, creating his masterpieces exactly how he saw them, directly on the canvass. Your description of a typical reinassance painting is highly accurate and was obviously well researched. I am in agreement with you regarding the influence of Florentine painters over this particular era of the arts. However, you failed to fully or even partially discuss the actual influences in the painting style of Giotto di Bondone. Although his style was later on classified as Renaissance, there is no information as to which particular aspects of the art form can directly be attributed to him. My research actually shows that there were other artists from the same era who pioneered the same style so it may be likely that Bondone should not be ascribed to as the Father of Reinassance Art. Overall, you presented a very interesting discussion. You failed to present what it was that made the Reinassance Art era special. How these drawings and paintings were defined by the artists of their time and why these became part of the basis of modern art. You did not point out the method by

Critical Thinking Exercise Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Critical Thinking Exercise - Essay Example The brand collectively has over 33,000 restaurants, franchises and outlets serving on a daily basis over 68 million people in almost 120 countries. (About McDolands) The business model of franchising helps McDonald’s to convey reliable, quality oriented and locally-relevant eating experiences to its customers. The total assets of the company amount to $32,990 million including a $22.8 billion of fixed assets. The current assets of the company amount to $4.4 billion and a goodwill of $2.6 billion. The proportion of the current assets over the total assets is 13% and the net identifiable and tangible assets of the company have a proportion of 69.2% which indicates a healthy backing of tangible assets. The major portion of the company’s liabilities is the long-term debt of the company which amounts to $12.1 billion and takes 65.24% of $18.6 billion of the total liabilities. The current liabilities of the company, which majorly include payroll and trade payables, has a low standing as compared to the current assets as the current liabilities amount to $3.5 billion as at December 31, 2011. The company has generated total revenue of $27 billion for the year 2011 and $18.3 billion of that revenue has been generated through company operated restaurants while the remaining from franchised restaurants generating an operating profit of $8.4 billion whereby the operating expenses majorly include food, payroll and other operational expenses such as the ambiance and maintenance related costs of the company. These expenses make up a total of $14.8 billion out of the total $18.5 billion operating expenses. The net income of the company after tax is $5.5 billion for the year which is quite attractive for such a company operating in such a competitive environment. The company also declared a dividend of $2.6 billion for its common shareholders. The company was able to maintain the same level of cash as last year as the company’s total cash was $2.34

I.R Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 2

I.R - Essay Example Feminism, on the other hand, is a very complicated political theory, a branch of Critical Social Theory, As per the neorealist theory, the chances of conflict give directions to actions while the post classical realism sponsors assessment of chances of confrontation on security issues among states. The three primary hypotheses of neorealist theory are: 1) recurrent equilibrium behavior, 2) states not coming forward for cooperative relations, and 3) states compete to remain on equal footing (Brooks 1997). Assuming worst-case chances of confrontations on the basis of neorealist theory provides benefits in approximating global decision taking. Actually, states are projected productively such way. So the assumptions on the behavior of states become useful in throwing light on swapping of various aspects of human nature, aggression and fear. States get focused to achieve their short-term goal of making their defense line strong. Disadvantage occurs in long term negative impacts on states’ other preferences. Long term goals become secondary to short term defense needs in a conflict (Brooks 1997). Neorealist theorists don’t give credence to the factors the liberal theorists perceive as impacting the probability of conflict. The postclassical realism is more akin to liberal theory in the sense that productive discussion can take place with liberal theorists. The main difference remains between the material and non-material factors (Brooks 1997). Liberal feminism is an ideology of egalitarianism. Since Plato so much has been written on the topic that it seems the relation of gender to politics is very complex. Feminism is against Rousseau’s masculine savage, unable to grasp abstract ideas. Both Rousseau and Freud have different opinions; Freud perceives women as â€Å"opposition to civilization† and all â€Å"civilization† is the work of

Example of Concert Essay Example for Free

Example of Concert Essay This was a paper written by an actual student in the Popular Music in America class. It is not offered as an award-winning review nor is it compositionally error-free. It did, however, receive an A for this assignment and is an example of the level of writing and analysis that is required to receive an A. Please do not, however, begin your paper in exactly the same way or attempt to copy â€Å"buzz words† or phrases. Write your own paper! On February 17, 2005, the Jazz Ensemble at Tarleton State University had their first concert of the spring semester with special guest trumpeter, Daryl White. The jazz ensembles collectively performed thirteen pieces during the concert. â€Å"Fly Me to the Moon†, â€Å"Waltz for Debby† and â€Å"Ancient Memories† were three stylistically different pieces that allowed the audience to experience the various sounds of jazz music. Jazz music, like all music, tells a story and here are the stories of â€Å"Fly Me to the Moon†, â€Å"Waltz for Debby† and â€Å"Ancient Memories†. â€Å"Fly Me to the Moon†, written by Bart Howard and arranged by Sammy Nestico, is an upbeat standard sung most famously by Frank Sinatra. In the instrumental version of this song, a Latin-inspired sounding consonance set the romantic mood at the beginning of this song. A piano and saxophone then alternated the melody of the song as though they were dancing like two lovers flying to the moon. As the passion of the song heated up, the texture changed within the song as the saxophone took the melody and the piano and other instruments within the ensemble were in accompaniment. The rhythm, which was continuously steady seemed to get faster like a heart beat by the climax of the song. It was also at this point that the dynamics of the song were increasingly getting louder until all instruments met at the top with a bang and then changed the dynamics again to a moderate level until the song concluded.

Global toy market

Global toy market 1.0 Background 1.1. Global toy industry Scenario More than 80% of global toy market is generated by three Continents i.e. Europe, North America and Asia. With the recent financial turmoil, the value of toy industry has decreased in two consecutive years, from US$78.67 billion in year 2007 to US$75.033 billion. The shrinking market size is mainly attributed by Western countries, particularly Europe. On the side of the world, Asia registered upward trend in market share for toy market. Chart 1 World Toy Market Scenario NPD analysts attribute the downward trend in global market value for toy industry to the following reasons Low unit price particularly in year end, which intensified further by the financial crises Cannibalization by other games categories namely video games, electronic games etc. In developed market, the per capita usage for toys is high as they are considered to be an important aid in a childs development vis-a-vis a wasteful expenditure in developing nations. The scenario is illustrated in below table:- Table 1 Toy expenditure Country Kids population in 2008 (million) Spending per kid in 2008 (US$) Total available market in 2008 (US$) United States 61.6 $281 $17.31 billion Japan 17.4 $286 $5 billion China 267.4 $17 $4.5 billion United Kingdom 10.3 $348 $3.6 billion France 11.9 $293 $3.5 billion Germany 11.4 $223 $2.5 billion Brazil 52.9 $38 $2.01 billion India 361.4 $5 $1.8 billion Mexico 32.6 $53 $1.7 billion Italy 7.9 $185 $1.5 billion Source: NDP Group, 2009 1.2 Toy Industry Structure Toys are classified into four broad categories, namely Traditional Toys which consist of action figures, dolls, playsets, stuffed animals, models, and other related products Board games Video Games Casino Games Accessories. Globally, the market is dominated by four large players viz: Mattel, Lego, Hasbro Bandai with Mattel the largest and selling toys under the brand Barbie, Hot Wheels, Fisher-Price etc. Table 2 Global toy makers product portfolio Toy maker Traditional toys brands Board games Video Games Licensing product Mattel Barbie, Break the Safeâ„ ¢, Hot Wheels ®, Matchbox ®, American Girl ®, Fisher-Price ®, Little People ®, Rescue Heroesâ„ ¢, Power Wheels ® UNO Barbie CareNCure, UNO, Barbie Girls, Hot Wheels etc Disney, Warner Bros., Pixar, Viacom International Inc., Sesame Workshop Hasbro My Little Pony, SpongeBob, Toy Story Monopoly, Pictureka, Scrabble Monkeybar Transformer, G.I. Joe, Incredible Hulk, Jurassic Park, Spider-Man, Star Wars, Wolverine, Disney, Iron Man Bai Dan Ben 10, Power Ranger, Dragon Ball, Digimon, Blue Dragon NIL Kamen Rider, Harumika, Tamaguchi, Mugen Pop PopTM Ben 10, Power Ranger, Dragon Ball, Ultraman MGA Entertainment Bratz range, Zapf Creation, Little Tikes, Baby born, Chou Chou, MGA games, My-ePets 3D, Resue PetsTM NIL NIL NIL Disney Disney characters NIL Disney characters Disney characters LEGO LEGO bricks NIL LEGO NIL Takara Tomy Plarail, Pocker Moser, Transformers, Tomica die-cast vechicles, Yumel and Nerul, Licca doll line Jinsei Games Tasinoko Production, Game software Disney characters There are several market signals have impacted to toy market. Globally, toy manufacturers are partnering with companies from other sectors, like fast-food chains in their merchandise promotion campaigns, e.g. McDonald Mushrooming of dedicated malls/stores for toys is becoming increasingly visible e.g. Toy â€Å"Râ€Å" us Retail consolidation in overseas markets has changed the landscape for toy exporters. Production of movies based on toy characters for television audience is a unique trend for promoting toy sales in the US. Toy makers are entering into licensing deals with movie studios to make products in the image of film characters e.g. Disney, Sony Picture, Bai Dan etc. 1.3 Mattel Inc. 1.3.1 Mattel Inc. founded by Harold Matt Matson and Elliot Handler (hence the name matt-el) and incorporated in 1948 with Headquarter in Hawethorne, Los Angeles County, California and later relocate to El Segundo, CA in 1990. Barbie was brainchild by Elliot and Ruth Handler co-founders of the Mattel Toy Company. Ruth came up with the idea for Barbie after watching her daughter, Barbara Handler, play with paper dolls. The three-dimensional model for Barbie was a Germen doll Mattel refashioned the doll into an all-American version and named it after Barbara, who was then a teenager. Barbies boyfriend, Ken, was introduced in 1961 and named after Barbaras brother. 1.3.2 Since establishment, Mattels product portfolio has grown from its flagship brand, Barbie, to toy cars, board games, dolls, cuddly toys and education toys – Mattel offers comprehensive product lines to cater for different age groups – new born to adult segments. This can encourage repeat customer and attract different customer profiles with its range of different toys. Table 3 Mattel Inc.s product range by market segments Market segment Brand Infant Pre-school School Kids Tweens @ Pre-teens Teens (12 years above) Adults / Parents Barbie P P P P Fisher Price P P P Hot Wheel P P Tyco Toys P P P American Girls P P Sesame Street P P P UNO P P Scramble P P P MyScene Dolls P 1.3.3 Mattels Corporate Structure 1.3.4 Business Model Broadly, Mattel Inc.s businesses are segmented by geographically – domestically and internally. Mattels presence at Canada, Latin America, European, Asian countries, Australia, and New Zealand. 1.3.5 Along its establishment in the market, Mattel has gone through several hypes and downs†¦ Table 4 Mattel Inc. Events in chronological order Success stories Failures * 1959 – Barbie debut * 1965 – Enters Educational Market with See ‘N Say * 1968 – Hot Wheels Introduced * 1977 – Ventures into Electronic Game Market * 1993 – Merges with Fisher-Price * 1996 – Introduces Tickle Me Elmo * 1998 – Fisher-Price takes control of Infant and Preschool Character Brands * 1998- Acquired Pleasant Company, the maker of the American Girl collection, which is a series of historical dolls, books and accessories * Mattel says the average American girl owns ten Barbie dolls, and two are sold somewhere in the world every second * As a teenage fashion model, Barbie has worn many fabulous fashions. Beginning with her trademark black and white striped swimsuit and swirled ponytail, Barbie has followed style trends as well as blazed her own fashion trail. She even inspired some of fashions top designers * Barbie celebrates her 50th birthday in 2009. * Mattels Barbie opened her first flagship store on March 6, 2009, six-story showpiece at Shanghai . The store will also be a testing ground for new marketing strategies and services, including a design center where visitors can create their own dolls * Sold The Learning Company at a lost in year 2000 * Toxic Toys Scandal. Recalled millions of China-made toys as potential hazards from parts of the toys which were colored using lead-based paint that may have exceeded the US Federal limit of 600 part per million. 18.2 million items were recalled in total in year 2007. 2.0 Mattels Vision and Mission Jennifer 2.1 Mattels Philanthropic Vision To make a meaningful difference, one child at a time. 2.2 Mattels Philanthropic Mission Mattel makes a difference in the global community by effectively serving children in need. Partnering with charitable organizations dedicated to directly serving children, Mattel creates joy through the Mattel Childrens Foundation, product donations, grant making and the work of employee volunteers. We also enrich the lives of Mattel employees by identifying diverse volunteer opportunities and supporting their personal contributions through the matching gifts program. 2.3 Mattels Philanthropic Values We intend to make a meaningful difference in the lives of children in need around the world through our interactions how we play with our communities, our partners, and our volunteers. Play with Passion: By making a meaningful and lasting impact on children globally. Play Together: By forming deep partnerships to enrich the communities in which we work and play, and engaging Mattel employees in our efforts. Play Fair: By acting with unwavering integrity in all aspects of our work. Play to Grow: By striving to make long term differences in the lives of children in need and seeking continuous improvement. 3.0 The External Assessment Ezuan Issues to discuss: Opportunities An alliance with an Asian company, Bandai Weakening dollar makes Mattels products more affordable in many of these new markets greatest pressures to adapting products with the constant changing of society * etc Threats Children abandon tangible toys such Hot Wheels and Barbie for more interactive and technological products. Need extreme careful to protect customers legal and moral reputations by respecting the privacy of the children and their families, which is put in jeopardy every time the website asks a minor to provide information. Global recession problems breaking into foreign markets due to cultural barriers After-effect of Toxic Toys Scandal with 18.2 million items were recalled in total in year 2007 Etc External Factor Evaluation (EFE) matrix Key Internal Factors Weightage Rating Weighted score Opportunities 1. Barbie an recognizable brand worldwide 0.1 4 0.4 2. Weakening dollar makes results market affordability 0.1 3 0.3 3. Favorable US tariff law 0.05 3 0.15 Threats 1. Children abandon tangible toys for more interactive and technological products. 0.1 1 0.2 2. Global recession cause reduce spending or down trading for toy 0.05 1 0.1 3. Cultural barriers hinder market penetration 0.1 1 0.1 4. High product substitution 0.1 1 0.1 5. Government Regulations and Environmental Quality 0.05 2 0.2 6. Higher bargain power from retailers 0.05 2 0.2 7. Raw material subject to price fluctuation 0.05 2 0.1 8. Highly seasonal business 0.05 2 0.1 9. Rising in ‘cyber @ virtual games 0.1 1 0.1 10. Unpredictable shift in the play patterns of Gen X kids ‘Netizen 0.1 1 0.1 Total 1.00 2.15 Note: Weight factor: 0.0 (not important) to 1.0 (very important) Rating scale: 1 = Major Weakness 2 = Minor Weakness = Minor Strength 4 = Major Strength. Competitive Profile Matrix (CPM) for Mattel Inc. Wght. Mattel Inc. Hasbro Bai Dan MGA Ent. Disney LEGO Takara Tomy Rating WS Rating WS Rating WS Rating WS Rating WS Rating WS Rating WS Global Market share 0.10 4 0.4 3 0.3 3 0.3 2 0.2 4 0.4 3 0.3 3 0.3 Product Quality 0.10 3 0.3 3 0.3 3 0.3 3 0.3 3 0.3 3 0.3 3 0.3 Product variation 0.15 4 0.6 4 0.6 3 0.45 2 0.3 4 0.6 2 0.6 3 0.6 Price competitive 0.10 3 0.3 3 0.3 4 0.4 3 0.3 3 0.3 3 0.3 3 0.3 Technology Innovation 0.10 2 0.2 3 0.3 3 0.3 3 0.3 3 0.3 3 0.3 3 0.3 Management Experience 0.10 3 0.3 3 0.3 3 0.3 3 0.3 3 0.3 3 0.3 3 0.3 Financial position 0.10 3 0.3 3 0.3 3 0.3 3 0.3 3 0.3 3 0.3 3 0.1 Customer loyalty 0.15 2 0.3 2 0.3 2 0.3 2 0.3 2 0.3 2 0.3 2 0.3 Global expansion 0.10 3 0.3 4 0.4 4 0.4 2 0.3 4 0.4 4 0.4 2 0.1 Total 1.00 3.0 3.1 3.05 2.7 3.2 3.2 2.7 4.0 The Internal Assessment Ezuan Issues to be discussed: Strengths Long history in toy industry Preferred brand by customers Releasing new product annually follows a code of ethics, as well as requiring ethical actions of their suppliers. contributes to the communities merged with or struck licensing deals with a number of other established brands, including Disney, Fisher Price, Nascar, and even Microsoft. time delivery of products to retailers has soared in recent years from 50% to 90%, due to improvements in information systems and warehouse facilities. product availability has been improved in specific market with collaborative efforts with international firms, specifically Bandai Co. of Japan. able to simultaneously cater products to each markets taste, and maintain high flexibility and low costs by simplifying packaging strategies etc Weaknesses * Until the acquisition of Fisher Price, most of Mattels attempts to expand beyond their primary market of childrens toys were largely unsuccessful  · Etc Internal Factor Evaluation (IFE) matrix Key Internal Factors Weightage Rating Weighted score Strengths 1. Barbie as a long established brand – 60 years 0.05 4 0.2 2. Recognizable brand portfolio 0.10 4 0.4 3. Wide product range to cater various life stage 0.10 4 0.4 4. New product launch annually 0.05 3 0.15 5. Business Integrity 0.05 3 0.15 6. Corporate Social Responsibility 0.05 3 0.15 7. Strategic partnership with Microsoft, Disney, BanDai 0.10 3 0.3 8. Energetic management team 0.05 3 0.15 9. Efficient automation of SCM 0.05 3 0.15 10. Trade names and trademarks as significant assets 0.05 4 0.2 Weaknesses 1. Unprofitable mergers and acquisitions 0.05 2 0.1 2. Slipping popularity of their core product, Barbie. 0.10 1 0.1 3. After-effect of Toxic Toys Scandal 0.10 1 0.1 4. History of management struggles and uncertainty 0.05 2 0.1 5. Royalty expense for license agreement 0.05 2 0.1 6. Liquidity problems or bankruptcy of key customers Total 1.00 2.75 Note: Weight factor: 0.0 (not important) to 1.0 (very important) Rating scale: 1 = Major Weakness 2 = Minor Weakness = Minor Strength 4 = Major Strength. 5.0 Strategies in Action Jennifer 6.0 Strategy Analysis and Choice Ismi Strengths [S] Weaknesses [W] Opportunities [O] Threats [T] 7.0 Implementing Strategies 7.1 Background The growth plan for Mattel Inc will be:- Maintaining its Corporate Social Responsibility – sustain its commitment to children, business partners, suppliers and environment Expending its territories with product diversification and business sustainability – strengthen and gain market share Zero product recall to boost up its brand image Below illustrate the direction for Mattel Inc. to concentrate in:- 7.2.0 Mattel Inc.s Direction 7.2.1 Management Operation Strategies The massive recall incidence in 2007 Christmas season will be an occasion to be remembered for Mattel Inc. Thus it is essential for Mattel to enhance its working relationship with their suppliers and business partners. Mattels product lines are manufactured in both company-owned facilities and through third-party manufacturers and the market demand is highly seasonal driven. In order to mitigate, it is crucial for Mattel to ensure just-in-time inventory practices to reduce backlog of orders. Mattel is committed to executing Global Manufacturing Principles (GMP) policy in all areas of its business, i.e. to all parties that manufacture, assemble, or distribute any product, or package bearing the Mattel logo, and, will only engage business partners commit to GMP. Mattel will ensure full compliance of GMP by its business partners, and will assist them in meeting GMP requirements. The GMP principles are to ensure there is a holistic approach that all the key stakeholders are being well care off. To ensure the closed monitoring the third party manufacturers, Mattel need to set up Centre of Excellence (CoE) in selected geographical areas strategically. The main function of the CoE is to embark manufacturing intelligent and ensure smooth execution of GMP and developing best practice in the manufacturing for their strategic partners. 7.3 Marketing Strategies 7.3.1 Segmentation Currently, Mattels product range is catered to wide range of age group, Market segment Brand Infant Toddlers Pre-School Kids Tweens @ Pre-teens Teens (12 years above) Adults / Parents Barbie

Dr. Jekell And Mr. Hyde :: essays research papers

The Dominion of Evil The term â€Å"Jekyll and Hyde†, now a part of our common language, can be found in most dictionaries. Random dictionary definitions of â€Å"Jekyll and Hyde† include: 1) â€Å"One who has quasi-schizophrenic, alternating phases of pleasantness an unpleasantness.† 2) â€Å"A person having a split personality, one side of which is good and the other evil.† 3) â€Å"This phrase refers to a person who alternates between charming demeanor and extremely unpleasant behavior.† This concept revolves around the experience of Dr. Jekyll, enabled by drinking a potion, into living as his own living side, whom he names Hyde. Stevenson intended Jekyll’s character to be pronounced Je (French word for â€Å"I†) Kill (Je-Kill = I kill), as an indication that the doctor wanted to isolate the evil portion of himself, appropriately named â€Å"Hyde,† meaning low and vulgar hide or flesh which must hide from civilization. When R obert Louis Stevenson wrote the story Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, he portrayed man’s evil nature as a portion of his total makeup, and showed that the evil portion will often express itself more forcefully and powerfully than do the other aspects. Throughout life, a person can develop a sense of the conflict that actually involves one’s good and evil natures. Often a person’s current actions reflect their childhood experiences. Jekyll, described by Stevenson, born wealthy, grew up handsome, honorable, and distinguished. Yet, throughout much of his life, he commits secret acts which he thoroughly regrets. Early in Jekyll’s development, Stevenson had him recognize a â€Å"profound duplicity of life...so profound a double dealer† and â€Å"that man is not truly one, but truly two.† Intellectually, he evaluates the differences between his private life and his public life and, ultimately, he becomes obsessed with the idea that at least two different entities, maybe even more, occupy a person. Jekyll’s reflections and his scientific knowledge lead him to contemplate the possibility of scientifically isolating these two components. With this in mind, he begins to experiment with various chemical combinations. When Jekyll discovers the correct formula and drinks it, he is approaching a hardy fifty years of age; after his transformation into Edward Hyde, he feels younger, lighter, and more sensual, thereby indicating the appeal of the evil side. At that point, he acknowledges â€Å"the thorough and primitive duality of man.† He sees the necessity to try to separate the two selves, to hide that shameful part of himself from the world, and therefore stay in control of his evil nature.

Biodiversity Outline

I. Introduction a. Over the past two decades, strong scientific evidence has emerged showing that loss of the world's biological diversity reduces the productivity and sustainability of natural ecosystems and decreases their ability to provide society with goods and services like food, wood, fodder, fertile soils, and protection from pests and disease. II. Body a. [Amphibians] No group of animals has a higher rate of endangerment than amphibians. Scientists estimate that a third or more of all the roughly 6,300 known species of amphibians are at risk of extinction i.The current amphibian extinction rate may range from 25,039 to 45,474 times the background extinction rate ii. Frogs, toads, and salamanders are disappearing because of habitat loss, water and air pollution, climate change and disease. iii. Because of their sensitivity to environmental changes, vanishing amphibians should be viewed as the canary in the global coal mine, signaling subtle yet radical ecosystem changes that could ultimately claim many other species, including humans. b. [Birds] Birds occur in nearly every habitat on the planet and are often the most visible and familiar wildlife to people across the globe.As such, they provide an important bellwether for tracking changes to the biosphere. Declining bird populations across most to all habitats confirm that profound changes are occurring on our planet in response to human activities. i. A 2009 report on the state of birds in the United States found that 251 (31 percent) of the 800 species in the country are of conservation concern. ii. Globally, BirdLife International estimates that 12 percent of known 9,865 bird species are now considered threatened, with 192 species, or 2 percent, facing an â€Å"extremely high risk† of extinction in the wild — two more species than in 2008. ii. Habitat loss and degradation have caused most of the bird declines, but the impacts of invasive species and capture by collectors play a big role , too. c. [Fish]Increasing demand for water, the damming of rivers throughout the world, the dumping and accumulation of various pollutants, and invasive species make aquatic ecosystems some of the most threatened on the planet; thus, it’s not surprising that there are many fish species that are endangered in both freshwater and marine habitats. i. The American Fisheries Society identified 700 species of freshwater or anadromous fish inNorth America as being imperiled, amounting to 39 percent of all such fish on the continent ii. In North American marine waters, at least 82 fish species are imperiled. Across the globe, 1,851 species of fish — 21 percent of all fish species evaluated — were deemed at risk of extinction by the IUCN in 2010, including more than a third of sharks and rays. d. [Invertebrates (depth into coral reefs)] Invertebrates, from butterflies to mollusks to earthworms to corals, are vastly diverse — and though no one knows just how many invertebrate species exist, they’re estimated to account for about 97 percent of the total species of animals on Earth.Of the 1. 3 million known invertebrate species, the IUCN has evaluated about 9,526 species, with about 30 percent of the species evaluated at risk of extinction. i. Freshwater invertebrates are severely threatened by water pollution, groundwater withdrawal, and water projects, while a large number of invertebrates of notable scientific significance have become either endangered or extinct due to deforestation, especially because of the rapid destruction of tropical rainforests. ii.In the ocean, reef-building corals are declining at an alarming rate: 2008’s first-ever comprehensive global assessment of these animals revealed that a third of reef-building corals are threatened. III. Conclusion a. While much concern over extinction focuses on globally lost species, most of biodiversity’s benefits take place at a local level, and conserving local po pulations is the only way to ensure genetic diversity critical for a species’ long-term survival. Not everything is lucid when it comes to biodiversity loss, but what it is clear that many thousands of species are at risk of disappearing forever in the coming decades.