Hypothetico-Deductive Method - Sociology Definition

Definition: The hypothetico-deductive method is an approach to research that begins with a theory about how things work and derives testable hypotheses from it. It is a form of deductive reasoning in that it begins with general principles, assumptions, and ideas, and works from them to more particular statements about what world actually looks like and how it works. The hypotheses are then tested by gathering and analyzing data and the theory is then either supported or refuted by the results.

Parental Influence on Huck Finn Essay - 1587 Words

Parental Influence on Huck Finn In Mark Twains novel Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the adults in Hucks life play an important role in the development of the plot. Pap, Hucks father, constantly abuses the boy, never allowing him to become an intelligent or decent human being. He beats and attacks Huck whenever they meet up, and tries to destroy Hucks chances of having a normal life. This situation is balanced by several good role models and parent figures for Huck. Jim, the runaway slave, embraces Huck like a son, and shares his wide ranging knowledge with him. He also protects Huck on the journey down the river. Widow Douglas is another good role model for Huck. She tries to civilize him and make him respectable to society,†¦show more content†¦T.S. Elliot said, Huck is alone: there is no more solitary figure in fiction. The fact that he has a father only emphasizes its loneliness; and he views his father with a terrifying detachment (329). Most parents like to s ee their children excel in life and become productive members of society, but Pap is thinking only about himself. Instead of wishing the best for his son, he is angry because he is becoming a better person than his father. This man would be an awful influence on any child, and should be kept away from Huck. Pap is known as the town drunk. Every dollar he gets he spends on whiskey. He is an angry drunk, and beats Huck during his drinking spells. One night after he kidnaps Huck, he gets very drunk, which Huck describes. He says Â…all of the sudden there was an awful scream and I was up. There was Pap, looking wild and skipping around every which way and yelling about snakes. He said they was crawling up his legs; and then he would give a jump and scream, and say one had bit him on the cheek - but I couldnt see no snakes. (Twain 28) This is a disturbing account of what Huck went through. Pap brought Huck out into the middle of the woods so no one can find them. He got drunk and basically went nuts. He also tries to attack Huck before he passes out again. This is an awful situation, and would be illegal in modern times. Pap should be put in jail and kept away from Huck, but somehow he is able to kidnap his son. Henry Nash SmithShow MoreRelatedParent Figures in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn1398 Words   |  6 PagesInstructor Date Parent figures in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn In Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Huck indirectly searches for a home among the different characters, with whom he interacts. The theme of parental figures is core to this piece of work. There are different characters, which represent parental figures. These are important to Huck, as they help to shape him into a man. The characters that are a representation of parental figures include Jim, Mr. Grangerford, Miss Watson, JudgeRead MoreThe Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn By William Twain940 Words   |  4 PagesENG4U May, 2015 The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, considered to be one of America’s greatest works of literature to this date, highlights Huck’s relationships with primary and secondary characters that he meets whilst journeying down the mississippi river. Through Huck’s development of these relationships, his development as an individual is quite evident as novel progresses. So why is it that relationships are such a great influence to Huck? How have these relationships developed his characterRead MoreA Comparison Piece of Mark Twains the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Frederick Douglasss Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave834 Words   |  4 PagesMark Twains The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Frederick Douglasss Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave can be said to be comparison pieces. Despite that Huck Finn is a fictional character and Douglass was a physical being, certain characteristics and developmental proce sses are very similar. Firstly, in the initial stages of their lives, both Huck and Douglass faced repression, though in different forms. While Huck is a character whose spirit longs to fly freelyRead MoreHuck Finn Morality And Morality887 Words   |  4 Pageslife. A parental scolding, a particularly strong sense of guilt, and wrongdoing done onto a loved one are all potential instances where our own conscience and morality come to question. Mark Twain in his novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn writes about a young boy, Huck, escaping his abusive father with the help of a runaway slave, Jim. On their journey, they are faced with many trials and come across many questionable people doing bad deeds throughout the south. Seeing this causes Huck, a teenagerRead MoreEssay on Maggie: A Girl of the Streets and Huck Finn922 Words   |  4 PagesMaggie Girl of the Streets Huck Finn Life in the 1800s has taken on an almost idealistic quality in the minds of many Americans. The images linked to this era of our history are, on the surface, pleasurable to recall: one room school houses; severe self-reliance; steam-powered railroads and individual freedom. All in all, we seem to recall a well-scrubbed past. Maybe, as we cross into the next century, its time to take another look at the so-called good old days. Two very well writtenRead More Parental Roles in Huck Finn: Jim as Hucks Perfect Companion1689 Words   |  7 Pagesneed for love and support,† (World Book). In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, the subject of family is questioned. Huck does not have a consistent parental figure. Using a psychological literary approach to analyze Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and family relationships, one finds that Huck does not work well with either Miss Watson and Aunt Sally, or Pap, Jim is the only appropriate parental figure. â€Å"The term family generally refers to a group of people relatedRead MoreThe Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn By Mark Twain Essay2115 Words   |  9 PagesAbusive, derogatory, and malevolent, Pap Finn represents the epitome of an uneducated and underprivileged lower class. Pap’s crude dialect, disorderly conduct, and frequent rants demonstrate and convey the opinions of those in society who feel that their human rights remain obscure. Mark Twain, in his nineteenth century novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, exploits the character, through the use of dramatic, rhetoric-filled rants, of individuals in society who urge for a fairer representationRead MoreEssay on Huck Matures in Huckleberry Finn1685 Words   |  7 PagesIn the novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn a young adolescents journeys and struggles are portrayed and questioned with Hucks maturation. Throughout the book, Mark Twain examines societal standards and the influence of adults that one experiences during childhood. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn have been condemned since its publication, usually focusing, especially in modern times, on its use of the word nigger. While this could be a valid argument had the author portrayed Jim negativelyRead MoreThe Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn And The Runaway African American Slave2115 Words   |  9 Pageshis novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn where Mark Twain positively supports the relationship between the main white character Huck Finn and the runaway African American slave, Jim. The purpose of Twain’s work is to show his readers of the oppression experienced by blacks. He uses the character Huck Finn as a model to show people that everyone is an equal human being and they deserve to be treated as such. The novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, published in 1884, is portrayed throughRead MoreThe Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn3078 Words   |  13 PagesEnglish III 01, June 2015 Independent Novel Project The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Knowledge Significance of Title The title of this novel can be very literal and sarcastic. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn does contain the plot of Huckleberry Finn going on several adventures, which tells the literal and obvious meaning of the title. The title is also used as sarcasm. Although The adventures of Huckleberry Finn does contain adventure throughout the story, it is more about race and slavery.

Analysis using Porter’s five forces model in Marketing Free Essays

On analyzing the case we will seek to look at two relevant barriers to entry; namely, product differentiation and economies of scale. The economy of scale refers to the decline per unit in product cost as the volume of production increases. Levi’s could have exploited opportunities to outsource their production facilities where labour is cheaper, in order to mass produce and have a cost advantages. We will write a custom essay sample on Analysis using Porter’s five forces model in Marketing or any similar topic only for you Order Now Volumes of jeans have been produced in this market because other labels such as Arizona Jeans have exploited the opportunity. If they exploit the opportunity it means that they could produce for less and sell at a higher cost to their profitability. The Levi’s brand has product differentiation because there is a history of brand loyalty; the product carries enough clout to justify a reasonable price premium. They had embarked on a project to create a niche market to attract higher income customers who were willing to pay a premium for a perfect fit. In this case the threat would be brand loyalty because there are a lot of producers of jeans. Threat of Rivalry Threat of rivalry includes all distributors and stores that sell jeans. Example of stores is the likes of JC Penny stores who were once a business alliance, they have sought out cheaper alternatives such as the Arizona brand of jeans and have become their competitor; there is also Gap, Lee and Wrangler. Each of these brands has their own market or customer base. With all of these competitors in the market there is likely competitive pricing for the product. Threat of Substitutes There are other forms of clothing that can substitute for jeans example cotton, linen and other forms of material that makes clothing. In this case though Levi’s has created a â€Å"personal pair for a perfect fit† this proposal has created the niche market for Levi’s through a jeans customization program with their strategic alliance partner Technology Corporation. With this partner they will be able to achieve a competitive advantage. Threat of Suppliers Threat of suppliers all depends on the amount of raw materials. Since Levi’s now has a strategic partner, Technology Corporation they are the ones who take the orders and manufactures the customized jeans at their location. The threat is that they have to rely on another organization to complete the process at a separate location. The benefit though is that this company is a joint venture where each partner has a vested interest in the success of the business thus minimizing risks. However; on the other hand the partner may decide to cheat if they see a more valuable venture for themselves in starting their own line of business. There is also the threat of an increase salary and benefit for employees as well as retention of trained personnel in the area of sales and manufacturing. Threat of Buyers Threat of buyers relies on the marketing of the brand. If Levi’s has a good marketing strategy then customers and suppliers are more likely to purchase their goods. The company has begun to engage in a joint venture with another company therefore once they start receiving orders they will be able to meet the demand to supply stores and retail customers alike. According to the case, the brand Levi is one of the most recognizable brands worldwide since the 1950’s. The jeans had established a political and ashion statement as an American icon. Levi’s has become synonymous with the term â€Å"authentic,† â€Å"genuine,† and â€Å"original. † They are the largest brand-apparel company in the world and the number one purveyor of blue jeans. Levi’s has an image of quality and durability. The image of the company is valuable and rare. Perhaps no other firm has been able to duplicate the Levi brand and the firm uses this image to their competitive advantage as not many firms are able to imitate that image. Despite competetition from low cost rivals who are able to produce more cheaply at overseas facilities, Levi has organized its cost structure and business by using technology and joint venture to their advantage. They have established value creating activities by way of market revitalization and have established a corporate reputation, established links with their suppliers and buyers and invested in high technological equipment and information support systems. How to cite Analysis using Porter’s five forces model in Marketing, Papers

Effect temperature on permeability of membrane free essay sample

The beet (Beta vulgaris) is a plant in the Chenopodiaceae family. It is best known in its numerous cultivated varieties, the most well known of which is probably the red or purple root vegetable known as the beetroot or garden beet. However, other cultivated varieties include the leaf vegetables chardand spinach beet, as well as the root vegetables sugar beet, which is important in the production of table sugar, and mangelwurzel, which is a fodder crop. Three subspecies are typically recognised. All cultivated varieties fall into the subspecies Beta vulgaris subsp. vulgaris, while Beta vulgaris subsp. maritima, commonly known as the sea beet, is the wild ancestor of these and is found throughout the Mediterranean, the Atlantic coast of Europe, the Near East, andIndia. A second wild subspecies, Beta vulgaris subsp. adanensis, occurs from Greece to Syria. Beetroot cells like any other eukaryotic cells have many types of cell organelle present. We will write a custom essay sample on Effect temperature on permeability of membrane or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Some of these organelles are bounded by a single membrane, e. g. lysosomes, Golgi apparatus, vacuoles; some are bounded by two membranes (an envelope), e. g. nucleus, mitochondrion. Beetroot appears as a dark red/ purple colour and this is caused by the betalain pigment, which is contained within the vacuole of beetroot cells. In order for the betalain to leave the cell it needs to pass through 2 different membranes; the membrane bounding the vacuole and the membrane enclosing the cell. Betalain pigments, named after the Red beet (Beta vulgaris). They replace anthocyanins in plants of the order Caryophyllales (Cacti, beets Co. , bougainvillaea, phytolacca, large-flowered purslane etc and also in some fungi such as fly agaric). Two categories of betalains exist and each have distinct color and chemical properties. Betacyanins convey a blue-violent to reddish-purple coloring, are a source of antioxidants and are susceptible to color changes depending on their environment. Betaxanthins are yellow or orange, do not function as antioxidants and are relatively stable. Betalains are found exclusively within one plant order, which includes beets, prickly pear cactus, chard and amaranth. Betanin is a specific betacyanin and the most prominent pigment in the red beet root where it contributes between 75% 90% of the total visible color. Plasma membrane Plasma membrane is a biological membrane that separates the interior of all cells from the outside environment. The cell membrane is selectively-permeable to ions and organic molecules and controls the movement of substances in and out of cells. It consists of the phospholipid bilayer with embedded proteins, which are involved in a variety of cellular processes such as cell adhesion, ion conductivity and cell signaling. The plasma membrane also serves as the attachment surface for the extracellular glycocalyx and cell wall and intracellular cytoskeleton. Plasma membrane proteins function in several different ways.

The Impact of Ownership Structure on the Dividend Policy free essay sample

We find evidence in support of the hypothesis that a positive relation exists between dividends and free cash flow and it’s greater for low-growth firms than for the high-growth firms. The results also show that the impact of managerial ownership and bank ownership on dividend yield is positive particularly for the low growth firms. This is inconsistent with the view that the managerial ownership and institutional ownership reduce the need for the dividend mechanism. Finally, there is evidence that the Keiretsu classification affects relations between ownership structure and dividend payouts. Overall, the dividend policy appears to be used by Japanese low-growth firms to control the overinvestment problem. Free cash flow hypothesis is to some degree supported. JEL classification codes: G32 G34 G35 Keywords: Ownership Structure, Dividend Policy, Free Cash Flow -2- 1. Introduction Why does a firm pay dividends? This question has been the subject of debate for many years, In the pre-Miller and Modigliani era, it was believed that increasing dividends would always increase market value. We will write a custom essay sample on The Impact of Ownership Structure on the Dividend Policy or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Miller and Modigliani (1961) establish that in a perfect capital market, given an investment policy, dividend is irrelevant in determining share value. Empirically, however, we have observed that a change in dividend policy does have a significant impact on the share price. Different researchers have concentrated on different types of imperfections in the market in order to rationalize why dividends matter. Of these, a plausible idea is that corporate dividend policy addresses agency problems between shareholders and managers (Rozeff, 1982; Easterbrook, 1984; Jensen, 1986). According to these agency theories, unless profits are paid out to shareholders as dividends, they may be committed to unprofitable projects that provide private benefits for the managers. Rozeff (1982) and Easterbrook (1984) argues that the payment of dividends expose companies to the possible need to raise external funds, and hence subjects them to greater monitoring by capital markets. Jensen (1986) argues that paying dividends reduces the discretionary resources under managerial control and so helps to mitigate the overinvestment problem. In this study, we examine the implication of the free cash flow hypothesis in corporate dividend policy, and focus specifically on cross-sectional relations between dividend payout policy and ownership structure and free cash flow. Given the severity of the overinvestment problem, relations between dividend payouts and ownership structure, free cash flow may be conditioned on the existence of growth opportunities. This research examines how the sensitivity of relations between dividend payouts and ownership structure, free cash flow varies cross-sectionally with growth opportunities. Previous studies have shown that in countries like the US, firm ownership is relatively dispersed, leading to a limited ability of owners to monitor or control management’s use of free cash flow. Thus the dividend payout is one of the primary control mechanisms whereby shareholders can reduce management access to or abuse of discretionary funds. In countries with 1) a higher concentration of ownership 2) extensive cross-shareholding and 3) strong banking relationship, like Japan, dominant shareholders are believed to have both the incentives and the ability to keep management in check. Tests using a sample of 986 observations for 350 firms from 1992 to 2000 period indicate that the sensitivity of managerial ownership and bank ownership to dividend payouts varies directly with the relative abundance of growth opportunities. we find that dividend payouts for low-growth firms are significantly related to managerial ownership and bank ownership. In -3- contrast, there are no significant relations between dividend payouts and managerial ownership, bank ownership for high-growth firms. We also investigate associations between free cash flow and dividend payouts. Consistent with the prediction by Jensen (1986), there is a strong positive relation between the level of free cash flow and dividend payouts. Furthermore, association between free cash flow and dividend payouts is stronger for low-growth firms. The rest of the paper is organized as follows. Section 2 reviews the previous theoretical and empirical research. Section 3 explains the Japanese institutional background. Section 4 describes the empirical framework. The empirical results are presented in Section 5-6 and Section 7 concludes. . Dividend payouts, Ownership Structure and Agency Cost Theory 2. 1 Dividends and Agency Costs Corporate dividend policy has been viewed as a control mechanism that mitigates agency conflicts between shareholders and managers. Jensen and Meckling (1976) suggest that one way to reduce agency costs of equity is to pay a larger proportion of its earnings as dividends to its stockholders. A high dividend payout ratio will result in lower â€Å"discretionary† cash flows available to be squandered away by managers. Rozeff (1982) argues that dividend payments are part of the firm’s optimal monitoring/bonding package and serve to reduce agency costs. Easterbrook (1984) lists some of the mechanisms by which dividends and the consequent raising of capital can control agency costs. Agency costs â€Å"are less serious if the firm is constantly in the market for new capital. When it issues new securities, the firm’s affairs will be reviewed by an investment banker or some similar intermediary acting as a monitor for the collective interest of shareholders, and by the purchasers of the new instruments†. Free cash flow hypothesis The free cash flow hypothesis is a variant of the agency argument based on the Principal-Agent framework. According to this framework, dividends are used by shareholders as a device to reduce overinvestment by managers. Jensen(1986) argues that managers with substantial free cash flow tend to invest it in wasteful projects rather than pay it out to shareholders, because managerial compensation and perquisites increase even with poor investments. These unnecessary investments lead to poor performance, creating conflicts between shareholders and managers. Jensen emphasizes the disciplinary role of dividends that restrain managerial unprofitable expansionary tendencies by limiting financial resources available to managers. Dividend payments represent an ongoing commitment to maintain higher payments in future periods, because firms are reluctant to cut dividends and have been greeted by a significant -4- negative stock market reaction when they do. Jensen suggests that dividends should be paid out in ways that instigate managers to gorge the cash beyond the optimal amount. This implies that free cash flow positively determines dividend payments. . 3 Ownership structure and dividend policy One criticism of the agency cost theory is that if managers want to overinvest or spend more on jets, what is the mechanism that will force them self-commit to an action that will prevent them from doing so? Several authors address this issue in the context of ownership structure 2. 3. 1 Institutional Ownership There are several important ways in which institutions differ from individual investors. In general, institutions manage large pools of funds and therefore invest larger amounts in each stock. Because they have larger amounts at stake, they should have incentives to devote resources to monitoring (Grossman and Hart, 1980; Shleifer and Vishny,1986). Institutions are also likely to be better informed than are individual investors. Not only do institutions devote resources to gathering information, but they are also sometimes privy to corporate information that individual investors do not have ( Michaely and Shaw,1994). However, the prediction on the relationship between dividend policy and institutional ownership are mixed. The first line of research suggests a positive relation. Zeckhauser and pound (1990) suggest the arm’s length view of investment held by many institutional investors, coupled with the incentives to free ride with respect to monitoring activities, implies that institutional shareholders are unlikely to provide direct monitoring themselves. The institutions, rather than providing monitoring themselves, forces firms to increase their dividends in order that they are subsequently forced to go to the external capital market for future funds. Eckbo and Verma (1994) argue that institutional shareholders will prefer free cash flow to be distributed in the form of dividends in order to reduce the agency costs of free cash flow. From this perspective, it may be argued that institutional shareholders may counter a tendency for managers to prefer the excessive retention of cash flow and, by virtue of their voting power, force managers to pay out dividends. Moh’d, Perry and Rimbey (1994) and Short, Zhang, and Keasey (2002) also provide additional support. The second line of research suggests a negative relation. Jensen and Meckling (1976) argue that external monitoring activity is an important controlling element when agency conflict exists. If large institutional investors act as monitoring agents, and if dividends are paid to reduce agency cost, then according to this theory, there should be a substitute relation between dividend policy and institutional ownership. This implies a negative relationship between the percentage of -5- hares held by institutions and the dividend payout. D’Souz, and Saxena (1999) provide the empirical evidence. 2. 3. 2 Managerial Ownership There are several lines of argument on the role of managerial ownership. The first line of argument suggest that managerial ownership may better aligning the interest of management and shareholders and helps mitigate free cash flow problems. Therefore it results in a higher level of total payouts when managers hold more shares. ( White,1996; Fenn and Liang,2001). The second line of argument suggest that insider stock ownership provides direct incentive alignment between managers and shareholders while dividends serve as a bonding mechanism reducing management’s scope for making unprofitable investment out of internal funds. Thus, insider stock ownership and dividend policy are viewed as substitute means of addressing potential agency problem. Empirical articles have shown that managerial ownership is not a linear function of agency costs. Morck, Shleifer and Vishny (1988) and McConnell and Servaes (1990) found insider ownership is related to performance in a nonlinear fashion. Schooley and Barney (1994) report a nonmonotonic relation between CEO stock ownership and dividend yield. Farinha (2003) documented the U-shaped relationship between insider ownership and dividend payout in the UK. He argues that it stems from the effects of managerial entrenchment. Japanese Institutional Background Japan offers us a valuable opportunity to examine issues related to dividend policy under an institutional setup quite different from that in U. S. , such as the main bank, the cross-shareholding among corporations. This distinctive Japanese institutional background may result in important difference between Japanese and U. S. firms in terms of corporate monitoring and information sharing. Since, most theoretical explanations of dividends rely on agency and information issues, they would suggest different choices of dividend policy in Japan. 3. 1 Main bank -6- Aoki, Patrick and Sheard (1994) highlight a significant governance role played by the main bank for Japanese firms. The main bank effectively monitors the client firms by becoming well-informed about the firm (Diamond, 1984)). The main bank’s equity stake in the client firm mitigates agency costs between creditors and shareholders (Prowse (1990)). The main bank sometimes intervenes the management of the client firm that performs poorly by appointing bank employees to the board of directors in the client firm (Kaplan and Minton,1994; Kang and Shivdasani, 1995; Morck and Nakamura, 1999). In case of financial distress, the main bank acts as a guarantor for other creditors, reducing the cost related to the restructuring of the client firm (Hoshi, Kashyap and Sharfstein,1990).. In contrast, several authors suggest that there is a cost in having a main bank. Firms relying on the main bank for financing are likely to be constrained in raising the additional capital when the banking sector as a whole has a financial difficulty (Kang and Stulz, 2000). The main bank can extract surplus from the client firms due to its monopolistic power of information production (Rajan, 1992). In a similar context, the main bank has an incentive to force the client firms to undertake low-risk, negative NPV projects (Weinstein and Yafeh, 1998). Firms that do not depend on bank borrowing exhibit higher profitability than the matched sample of firms that have a main bank ( Kang and Shivdasani, 1999). 3. 2 Keiretsu Group There exist differences between keiretsu or industrial groups centered around affiliated banks and financial institutions and unaffiliated independent firms with weaker banking ties. Japanese industrial organization is characterized by groups of enterprises (keiretsu) composed of firms based in different industries but bound by ties of fractional ownership and reliant on a large commercial bank as the major but not sole lender. The large shareholders of keiretsu firms often are also large creditors of the firm as well as important long-term commercial business partners. The keiretsu and non-keiretsu firms are facing different liquidity constraints in their investment spending. Investment spending is very sensitive to liquidity constrains for non-keiretsu firms, but not so for keiretsu firms. Since keiretsu firms are likely to have better access to financing sources, keiretsu firms seemingly face less liquidity constraints in making investment decision. The differences in institutional arrangements between keiretsu and non-keiretsu firms may influence the behavior of shareholders as monitors. Kester (1990) describes the corporate governance system of keiretsu firms in terms of a complex interaction between shareholdings, credit holding and long-term business relationship that exist between the firm and its stake holders. Aoki, Patric, and Sheard (1994), and Berglof and Perotti (1994) suggest a two-tier monitor system. In the first stage, corporate cross-shareholders serve as the monitors under -7- normal circumstances because they have specific industry knowledge and observe each others’ performance through their business relations. In the second stage, the financial institutions take an active intervention role when member firms get into financial distress, replacing incumbent managers and requiring restructuring and liquidation of assets. Managerial equity ownership Because the well-known keiretsu structure and influential bank shareholders, the agency problems between Japanese managers and shareholders are considered to be minimal (e. g. Nakatani, 1984; Hoshi, Kashyap and Scharfstein, 1990, 1991; and Prowse, 1990). The manager ownership, as a way of aligning interests between managers and shareholders, has been viewed as an unnecessary corporate governance mechanism. However Kang and Stulz (1998), Mock and Nakamura (1999), and Weinstein and Yafeh (1998) questioned the effectiveness of bank oversight in Japan. Morck and Nakamura (1999) argue that for independent firms, bank equity holders pursue their interests as creditors at the expense of their equity claims. Gibson(1995) and Kang and Stulz (2000) argue that poor bank health may adversely affect their dependent firms’ investment prospects, which, in turn, would affect their ability to monitor effectively. This particular contention is especially relevant to the late 1980’s and early 1990’s as it is well known that Japanese banks have been experiencing significant financial difficulties during this time period. In light of these findings, Morck and Nakamura (1999) contend that some independent firms may require corporate control mechanisms other than bank oversight. Due to the decline in power of Japanese banks, the rarity of incentive-based compensation contracts for Japanese managers, and the fact that many Japanese firms are not affiliated with a keiretsu group, the managerial-ownership may represents an alternative mechanism to ensure that firms operate efficiently. Thus, the unique Japanese institutional arrangements provide an interesting backdrop to investigate whether cash flow theory explanation for dividend policy still apply given the differences. 4. Empirical framework 4. 1 Hypotheses If one assumes, as suggested by Jensen (1986), that managers receive utility from increasing the size of the firm, the control function of dividend payouts on the overinvestment problem varies with the firm’s growth opportunities. Management may have an incentive to pay out as few dividends as possible at shareholders’ expense. The overinvestment problem is less important and may be trivial for firms with many growth opportunities, because the objectives of managers and shareholders are more likely to coincide. On the other hand, when good projects are not -8- available, managers with substantial free cash flow must find ways to spend it and hence choose poor projects. Thus, the overinvestment problem is higher for low-growth firms than for high-growth firms, and divergence of interests between shareholders and managers over the firm’s payout policy are more severe in firms with few growth opportunities. These firms can limit management’s temptation to overinvest by paying out a larger percentage of their earnings. Their high-growth counterparts with lots of investment opportunities are likely to pay low dividends because they have profitable uses for the capital. For this reason, we expect stronger relations between free cash flow and dividend payouts for low-growth firms. Hypothesis I: relations between the level of free cash flow and dividend payouts are positive and are stronger for firms with low growth opportunities. Most of the existing agency explanations of payout rely on the implicit assumption that firms can get refinanced on the capital markets when they need funds to undertake new investment projects. Consequently, the strategy that minimizes agency costs is to maintain a high payout (to reduce the amount of free cash flow and to avoid overinvestment problems) and to raise new outside capital whenever and attractive investment opportunity emerges. Outside shareholders are harmed by a potential overinvestment and therefore they have preferences for high payout, which curbs the amount of corporate resources that can be spent by management on value reducing projects. Managerial ownership helps to align interests of management and shareholders that may yield the reduction of agency costs stemming from payout smaller. Consequently, payout ratios in a firm with managerial block holdings may be low because the severity of manager-shareholder agency conflict is low. This traditional agency view generates a set of hypothesis that the payout is negatively related with the managerial ownership. Institutional investors are more effective at monitoring management than retail investors. Due to the size of their investments and the resources at their disposal, institutional investors have greater incentive and ability to gather and analyze information pertaining to their investments, as well as a greater ability to discipline management and push for changes when management performs poorly.

Patriot Act essays

Patriot Act essays Under the new Patriot Act, the Attorney General can subject an immigrant to mandatory detention only by certifying that an alien is likely to engage in or support a bad act. This detention would be mandatory even for immigrants who have been granted asylum. If these detainees are not allowed an opportunity to contest and challenge their likelihood of engaging in dangerous terrorist activities, they will be stuck in these centers. Another problem is the lack of space and the increasing number of detainees. From the year 1994 to 2001, the average daily detention population has more than tripled, from 5,532 to 19,533. At this rate, there will be more and more detainees. Where is the INS planning to house all these people? What is the INS going to do with the detainees if they do not pose a threat to Americas security? What is the INS going to do with the children who have been detained in these less than desirable conditions? Another problem is that it is an enormous strain on both INS and taxpayers to lock up people who do not pose as danger to our nations security, and it is also a waste of space, and it deprives the INS to make the best use of its limited detention space. INS does not have the capacity in both space and structure to imprison every person who comes through the system. This is not a problem that INS can outgrow or easily resolve. INS is currently dependant on local and state jails to lock up the increasing number of detainees. This has a highly devastating impact on the detainees, including the asylum seekers who are unfortunately locked up with the criminal population in these jails. Additional growth of detainees will only intensify these problems. One possible way to resolve this situation is to place a concept of supervised release as an option to mandatory detention (This concept was earlier proposed by Professor Margaret Taylor ). It is a waste of both time and space to i ...

Substance Abuse and Prostitution Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Substance Abuse and Prostitution - Essay Example The situation can escalate quickly when someone is under the effects of Ecstasy, often needing to rush them to the bathroom and purge their bodies with water so they don't dehydrate. It also becomes difficult to prevent people influenced under many of these drugs from having unprotected sex, which is another major health indicator. The two go hand in hand. But this is not the only problem with drug abuse around the state. According to a study done about the use of tobacco within the University of Minnesota, those who smoke regularly (which is roughly 25% of the current population of the university) are 6.3 times more likely to use marijuana 5. Part of the problem with marijuana too is the fact that it is easy to get a hold of. Through personal experience and people I know, even though I don't use the drug myself, there are roughly about ten or so people I could talk to who could get me some marijuana within a couple of days, and for fairly cheap as well. With only $20, a person can get significant amount. Part of the problem is the rising prostitution and drug traffickers around the Metro Area. It is a little known fact that the Twin City Area harbors some of the highest levels of prostitution. Even more alarming is the fact that most prostitutes within Minnesota start at the young age of 14, and that there are approximately 1,000 prostitutes who are under the legal age in the Metro Area 6. Not only that, but the Yellow Pages lists over 140 escort services.

Public Relations Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 6

Public Relations - Essay Example No matter how sincere and good the visions of the organizations are they will never succeed in realizing their visions if they do not get enough support from the people. When it comes to getting support from people, the media has a lot to offer. The scope of media is very extensive and it certainly has the capability to reach millions of people around the globe. Through the use of media, it will be easier and more convenient for these profit and non-profit organizations to relay their messages to their target market. For example, if a non-profit organization needs financial aid to accomplish their goals all it has to do is make an announcement, or advertisement, on television, radio, or newspapers, and financial help will sooner or later pour in. In addition, considering the universal truth that people act based upon how they perceive pieces of information, profit and non-profit organizations need the help of media in terms of managing, regulating and influencing the perceptions of people until eventually initiating a course of behaviors that will allow the organizations achieve their objectives (Richins, 1987). Persuasion is a key for success, and this is one thing that the media can provide to profit and non-profit organizations. Especially for profit organizations, the media can help them with their campaigns and communicate their persuasive messages to people (Wartick, 1992). Selnick, D. (2005). Promoting your not-for-profit through public relations. Retrieved March 8, 2012, from

Subsistence Modes and Their Impact on the Amish Culture Research Paper

Subsistence Modes and Their Impact on the Amish Culture - Research Paper Example It does not require settlement, but it is also not reliable and makes it difficult to prepare for difficult times. Horticulture refers to the science of cultivating plants for human use which requires a great deal of knowledge regarding which plants are the most useful for which activities and how to make them grow. Pastoral lifestyles are characterized by herding large numbers of livestock around open land areas according to the seasons and availability of water. This type of lifestyle requires the availability of open land and the ability to move around. An agricultural form of subsistence can be thought of as farming, raising both animals and crops to support human life. This is different from an agrarian lifestyle only in that the agrarian lifestyle focuses on an entire community working together, all of them relying on agriculture as the base means of support but not all being engaged in farming as their personal means of support. An industrial society is recognizable to most of us simply because it is closest to the type of society we live in today in the modern world dominated by businesses, technology, mass production, and masses of people everywhere. However, there are still some societies that have managed to hold onto older forms of subsistence even in the face of widespread industrialization. By studying societies such as the Amish, it is possible to understand how a cultural group's form of subsistence helps to shape other elements of their culture such as their attitudes to religion, family life, and marriage. The Amish are a relatively isolated group of horticulturalists living in scattered pockets throughout the United States, Canada, and Mexico. According to Powell (2012), "The first sizeable group of Amish arrived in America around 1730 and settled near Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, as a result of William Penn's 'holy experiment' in religious tolerance" (p. 1). This group of people disagreed with the Anabaptists in Switzerland regarding some foundational religious concepts associated with their selected lifestyle, causing them to move to the Americas and begin their own religious sect. As a group, the Amish are dedicated to the horticultural way of life, which works to grow fruits, vegetables, and other plant materials necessary for survival within a self-contained, self-sustaining community of close-knit individuals. They believe in living as close to the land as they can, doing things naturally and depending on nature to meet their various needs. "Two key concepts for understanding Amish practices are their rejection of 'huchmut' (pride, arrogance) and the high value they place on 'demut' or humility and 'gelassenheit' (German, meaning: calmness, composure, placidity)" (Scully, 2007, p. 30). This natural approach to life was easy back when they first moved to America and the land was mostly wilderness, but as the land became more populated and particularly once it began to industrialize, it was their dedication to th eir traditional means of subsistence that led them to isolate themselves further and further from the rest of the world, as they found it necessary to create rules that would govern and protect their way of life. "All aspects of Amish life are dictated by a list of written or oral rules, known as Ordnung, which outlines the basics of the Amish faith and helps to define what it means

Overview of the Consequences of Cognitive Neuropsychology

Overview of the Consequences of Cognitive Neuropsychology The ability to study and understand the brain has evolved dramatically since people were first interested in the brains seemingly miraculous capacities. However, comprehending the input/output nature of the brain (and everything in between) has always been limited to behavioral tasks of healthy individuals. Unfortunately for science, a machine that cant be reverse engineered cannot be fully understood. To truly make sense of the diverse functions of each part of the brain, it is necessary to see the importance of studying individuals with brain damage. The field of cognitive neuropsychology occupies itself precisely with this concept. More or less, it offers the analogy of the brain as a sort of appliance, perhaps a television with lots of wires plugged into it. Assuming that none of the cables functions are labeled (as is obviously the case with the brain), the best way to discover which cable controls each part of the television is to unplug each cable one at a time and observe which parts of the television stop functioning. This analogy works well, given that a lesion in the brain is small enough to only effect a certain function. More diffuse brain damage is like more cables being removed at once; it becomes more difficult to declare, with precision, which cable controls which function. As non-invasive methods of imaging the brain have improved over the decades, it is no longer necessary to limit studies to healthy individuals, non-human animals, and less precise guessing as to the localization and diffusion of brain damage in patients. Techniques like magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) allow researchers to pinpoint where brain damage exists in patients, and, from further behavioral experiments, determine how the damage has affected the brain and, moreover, for which behavioral aspects the damaged part of the brain used to be responsible. Additionally, another technique, transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), allows researchers to simulate a momentary lesion on superficial portions of the cortex. Clearly finding a patient with brain damage for every part single part of the brain is a scientific pipedream. Thus, by following the previous analogy, TMS offers the possibility to remove a cable and witness the effects without causing any permanent damage to the brain. This paper will show three cases of brain damage studies from the past, before such technology was available, and three from the present to contrast the difference in techniques and what the studies contributed to the field of neuroscience and demonstrated about brain function. No discussion of brain damage studies is complete without mentioning the case of Phineas Gage. Occurring in the 1840s, and arguably one of the most famous cases of all time, Gages face, skull, and brain were penetrated, through-and-through by a 3cm thick, 109cm long tamping iron. He was momentarily stunned but regained full consciousness immediately thereafter. He was able to talk and even walk with the help of his men (Harlow, 327). John M. Harlow, the doctor who looked after Gage after his accident, made observations about Gages behavior, such as [Gage has] succeeded in raising himself up, and took one step to his chair, and sat about five minutes. , and Intellectual faculties brightening. When I asked him how long since he was injured, he replied, four weeks this afternoon, at 4Â ½ oclock. Relates the manner in which it occurred, and how he came to the house. He keeps the day of the week and time of day, in his mind. Says he knows more than half of those who inquire after him. Do es not estimate size or money accurately, though he has memory as perfect as ever. (Passage of, 282) Assuming Gage had a normally developed brain, such observations essentially prove the concept of functional localization within the brain. Although it is easy to see this retrospectively because of what modern science has shown, Harlow didnt have the luxury of MRI or other techniques, apart from simple observation. By recognizing that Gages memory, speech, movement, and ability to learn were spared, but [h]is respect for the social conventions by which he once abided had vanished [(His abundant profanity offended those around him)] (Harlow, 327), Harlow was later able to connect Gages changed behavior to the frontal regions of the brain, which paved the way for further studies in seeking out the neural basis of various human capacities (ibid.). Understanding that each part of the brain does, in fact, have its own specific function was a crucial discovery in neuroscience and would have likely been impossible without patients such as Phineas Gage. Another patient similar to that of Gage, in terms of fame and selective damage, is Tan (named for the monosyllabic sound the he produced when trying to speak), the aphasic patient of the French surgeon Paul Broca. In 1861, Broca observed that Tan differed from a sane man only in the loss of articulated speech (Broca, 343). Given Tans symptoms, (for later in life he also presented with insensitivity on the right side, paralysis of both right limbs, weakened vision in his left eye ,and incomplete paralysis of the left cheek, in addition to the lack of speech) (347), Broca claimed that the principle cerebral lesion had to occupy the left hemisphere (ibid.). Only years later during the autopsy could Broca precisely observe the extent of the brain damage. In terms of Tans general behavior, however, Broca noted that [it was] certain that Tan understood almost everything that was said to him (345), that [n]umerical responses were those that he could make the best, by opening or closing his fingers (346), and that [t]he tongue was perfectly freethe patient could move it in all directionsThe muscles of the larynx seemed in no way altered, the quality of the voice was natural, and the sounds that the patient made in pronouncing his monosyllable were perfectly clear (345). These observations clearly indicate that Tan was still capable of expressing concepts, even if he was unable to express them strictly verbally, and that there existed a distinction between general vocal tract usage and speech production. These observations coupled with the results of the autopsy led Broca to realize that there existed of faculty of articulated language (as translated from French), lateralized to the left-hemisphere, distinct from comprehended language (35 6). However, the drawback to Tans case is that given the extent of his brain damage, Broca was still left pondering whether the faculty of articulated language depends on the anterior lobe considered as a whole, or especially on one of the convolutions of this lobe (357). Advances in technology in the next century would greatly strengthen his findings. Though in any case, Tans deficits led to the discovery of language in the left hemisphere and the notion that speaking meaningful words is distinct from general expression of concepts or of comprehending concepts as a whole. The case studied by Carl Wernicke greatly added to Brocas findings and strengthened the model of how language was processed in the brain by presenting a double dissociation between speech production and speech comprehension. Basically, Wernicke found a stroke patient in 1873 whose speech and hearing were unimpaired, but he couldnt make sense of what he read or what was said to him (Alic, 666). As it turned out, this condition, which essentially contrasted that of Brocas patient, Tan, was indeed localized to a different part of the brain. Upon autopsy, Wernicke found a lesion in the rear parietal/temporal region of the patients left brain hemisphere (ibid.). However, Wernicke regarded this facet of speech production and posited a connectionist-style theory of language production, thus he postulated that Brocas area and [his] area were connected, anddamage to this connection would cause conduction aphasia, a syndrome wherein a patient could both speak and understand language, but would misuse words (ibid.). From this connectionist notion, Wernicke theorized more deeply about general associations of a concept with language. In 1886, he made the claim that, in order to understand the word bell, the telegram arriving in [the speech comprehension center] must arouse in us the concept of the bell, i.e. the different memory images of the bell deposited in the cortex and localized in accordance with the sensory organs involved in their development. These areacousticoptictactileand finallymotor imagesthe arousal of each one separately is communicated to the others and they constitute a functional unit (Code, 15-16). Unaided by modern neuroimaging technology, Wernicke made a big step forward in connectionist-model theories on semantic associations and language production/comprehension. Together, Broca and Wernicke set the stage for studying language in the brain by having observed patients with specific brain damages and consequently conjecturing about the nature of the healthy human brain. Modern cognitive neuropsychology certainly follows the same principles in terms of assessing brain damage and theorizing about models of information streams. However, contemporary neuropsychologists have the benefit of computers, brain scanners, TMS, and, as seen in the next case, also infrared emitting diodes (IREDs). This next case is another classic, albeit much more recent: the study of patient DF by Goodale and Milner. DF was a middle-aged woman who was plagued by brain damage after carbon monoxide poisoning (Goodale, 154). The researchers could localize the damage without needing an autopsy thanks to MRI, which allowed further testing and studying to occur with knowledge of which structures were afflicted: the ventral and lateral occipital region, and in the parasagittal occipitoparietal region. After beginning neuropsychological testing, the researchers discovered that DF had a visual form agnosia (ibid.). Overall she showed poor perception of shapeorientationcolourintensitystereopsismotionproximitycontinuity, or similarity (Goodale, 154-155). Goodale and Milner ran several tests to discern how profoundly the visual form agnosia affected DF, and they came to realize a striking dissociation between [her] ability to perceive object orientation and her ability to direct accurate reaching movements toward objects (155). In one experiment DF had to indicate the orientation of a slot using a card by orienting the card similarly to the slot. Goodale notes that results here were grossly impaired (ibid), but when [she] was asked to reach out and post thecard through the slother performance was excellent (ibid.). The researchers ran a similar test to measure grip aperture between her index finger and thumb when she would pick up a small plaque. Here they employed the IREDs to measure the distance between the fingers and have numerical data to work with. Such a simple task is rendered quantitative (and thus scientifically measurable) merely by the technology available at the time. This second experiment had results similar to those of the first. Goodale notes that DFs estimates [of her grip aperture] did not change as a function of the width of the plaques (ibid.). However, when DF had to reach for the plaques and grab them, the aperturewas systematically related to the width of the object (ibid.). This profound dissociation arising from DFs brain damage led Goodale and Milner to suggest that at some level in the normal brains the visual processing underlying conscious perceptual judgments must operate separately from that underlying the automatic visuomotor guidance of skilled actions. (ibid). Such a claim of the brain having information that lies at a subconscious level could not have been postulated at the time without the (un)fortunate brain damage that afflicted DF. Building off of this notion of subconscious visual processing, the development of TMS has allowed researchers to test visual awareness (among other things) by momentarily disrupting parts of the brain via a magnetic pulse, effectively creating fake brain damage that is reversible: the immediate benefit being a neuropsychological approach to a question without needing to wait for a patient with precisely the right brain damage to appear. Ro discusses TMS experiments whose behavioral results are similar to those found by Goodale and Milner when testing DF. In the experiments, TMS suppressed primary visual cortex and despite unawareness of the orientation of a line in one experiment and unawareness of the colour of a dot in another experiment, subjects were nonetheless able to guess the orientation and colour of these stimuli presented within their TMS-induced scotomas at well-above chance levels (111). From this, he concludes that the results suggest a geniculoextrastriate pathway that bypasses V1 and projects directly from the lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) into extrastriate cortex, likely area V4. [Such] a direct anatomical pathway from LGN to V4 has been demonstrated in lower primates (112). However, Ro further postulates that information relayed through [the aforementioned] pathway is unconscious, at least without a functioning V1 (ibid.), a profound step toward the comprehension of human consciousness and what actually gives rise to the experience of awareness. The final case discussed in this paper is that of Etcoffs 1991 study of LH, a minister who suffered a severe closed head injury in an automobile accident at the age of 18. The accident and the surgical procedures it necessitated[resulted in] bilateral lesions affecting visual association corticesthe right temporal lobe, the left subcortical occipitotemporal white matter, and bilateral perietooccipital regions (Etcoff, 27). Etcoff remarked that predominant resulting behavior change was that LH can recognize most pictures of objects and most objects encountered in daily life, [but] he is unable to recognize the faces of his wife, children, friends, or members of his family of origin (28). Etcoff noted that in various tasks, LH found other strategies to guess the identity of the person. During a famous faces task, he recognize hairstyles, insignias, and uniforms to correctly guess whose face was presented to him, even though he couldnt recognize the face itself (28-29). This indicates that LH still has a semantic connection between, for example Einsteins hair and his identity, but the facial recognition portion of this association network was knocked out. More interestingly, LH was given the task of recognizing impossible faces from normal ones, i.e. duplicate facial features, strangely oriented features, etc., and consequently Etcoff commented that LH was able to distinguish a true from an impossible face with 97% accuracy[he] can truly recognize faces as faces, and is sensitive not just to gross information such as number of features and relative placement, but to subtler relational information about feature orientation (29). This shows a clear distinction between recognizing a face as an object and recognizing the semantic information that each individual face carries with it, thus the human brain must process faces specially, a process that is still studied extensively today. Etcoff even shared that LH likens the experience of looking at a face to attempting to read illegible handwriting: you know that it is handwriting, you know where the words and letters stop and start, but you have no clue as to what they signify (29). These six cases have demonstrated important discoveries about how the brain works through the lens of neuropsychology. From functional specialization and a man surviving a tamping iron blasting through his prefrontal cortex disrupting his personality, to distinct linguistic systems for producing and comprehending speech, to visual information existing in the brain without conscious knowledge of it, to the idea of primary visual cortex leading an essential role in consciousness, to faces being specially processed entities in the human brain, studying damaged brains has arguably led to understanding certain facets of the brain that otherwise might have been unimaginable. Furthermore, these six cases were only a handful of discoveries that have arisen from observing the behavioral results of brain damaged patients, used to illustrate the benefits of taking a neuropsychological approach to unraveling the mysteries of brain. However, every methodology has some amount of drawbacks, and neuropsychology is not excluded. For example, given a lesion in some area of the brain, the resulting change in behavior must be a function of how the damaged area was affected. But what is this function exactly? Why should brain damage cause the output that it does instead of some very similar but sightly different behavioral change? If it is a question of reductionism, then its only a matter of time before the gap between behavior and structure is solved, but at present, neuropsychology doesnt answer this. Secondly, brain damage tends to be accidental, and accidents can be messy (e.g. car crash). Lesions dont tend to be as simple as unplugging a single cable from the television, where only one aspect of the TV is clearly affected. Thus, finding clean, precise lesions that alter only one part of the brain is far less likely then finding diffuse brain damage. Even if a patient tends to have only one predominant behavioral change, it cannot be said with full certainty that other parts of his brain werent affected or arent contributing, to some degree, to the new behavioral output, thus possibly confounding data despite very careful experimental designs. Additionally, there is the question of neural plasticity, which Ro brings to attention in his study by mentioning that reorganisation of brain functionalso complicate[s] examinations of sensory processing and visual awareness (110), which is where the advent of TMS has been very helpful in that, apart from its aforementioned advantages, it drastically reduces or eliminates any opportunities for neural plasticity (ibid.). The issue here is that plasticity in brain damaged patients might result in a level of rewiring that is abnormal or unexpected, thus rendering the way in which parts of their brain function unique only to them. All in all, however, every methodology has its pros and cons, and neuropsychology has provided science with a myriad of profound insights into the brain and its functions. The disadvantages it carries with it serve as a reminder as to how careful one must be when interpreting data about an entity as enigmatic and elusive as the brain.

Far East :: essays research papers

A Critique Abstract The Far East, written by Paul H. Clyde and Burton F. Beers is a book containing a collection of facts and is presented in chronological and topical order starting with history in general and this history in particular. The authors begin their book with â€Å"What is history?† The answer is â€Å"In its simplest form, history is the record of things thought, said, and done. Such a definition is a useful starting point but it leaves a host of questions unanswered†. (p.1) It is here that I find myself in complete agreement with the authors not just for this book but history in general as a subject. The authors’ foundation for their book is centered on the subject of history itself. However, it is at this point that I begin to have problems with analysis presented. The authors make the examination, â€Å"For those who are practically inclined, it is a principal means through which man may anticipate the future†. (p.2) I think this statement is more wishful than realistic. The geographic depiction offered in the book gives the reader unfamiliar with this region of the world a 1) starting point on a world map and a 2) sense of not only where but the density covered by the book. With this sense the reader can better understand why there is demographic, cultural, and language differences within and among the many countries as well as the root similarities. The reader finds enhanced discerning to the impact of east meeting west; how from their views the cultural shock was enormous in the past and continues today. The book research is both extensive and systematic, cumulating some 50 odd years. I, as a reader, cannot say the good or bad of this other than to say the focus of the book seems distinctive in content, with the sources listed point to this detail. Book Organization Overall Composition The book includes thirty-six chapters of surprising stories some superb and some grisly of regional history and is arranged in chronological order. Selective chapters are organized with regional chronicles of Old China to New Governments of Asia since 1953. The chapters relate many details and events and processes with noteworthy consequences that have made a foremost impact to the past and present world. It is pragmatically written and contains distortions and omitted parts. It is apparent that it is written from a Western point of view.

Network Diagram Essay

2. A medium-sized engineering firm has three separate engineering offices. In each office, a local LAN supports all the engineers in that office. Due to the requirement for collaboration among the offices, all the computers should be able to view and update the data from any of the three offices. In other words, the data storage server within each LAN should be accessible to all computers, no matter where they are located. Draw a network diagram that will support this configuration. 3. A small start-up company has a Web-based customer sales system that is written by using PHP and JavaScript. The company is deciding whether to host the system on its own servers, contract with a hosting company for a virtual server, or go to amazon’s cloud. Volumes are expected to be low at the beginning, and it is hard to predict the growth patterns, although there is a potential for rapid growth. Decide which alternative the company should choose. Defend your decision by giving advantages and disadvantages of each solution based on the characteristics of the start-up company. I would recommend them to get a contract from a hosting company that can suffice all their needs. There are lots of web hosts that support companies for sales system; they even give additional functionalities for a reasonable price. Online threats are emerging nowadays, it is not safe to host a system yourself especially if you’re company is still new and needs more experience. Most hosting companies are almost invulnerable to threats and that should be your priority for your company. 4. Find four separate hosting providers and compare their offerings, including prices. Put your answer in a table showing the results of your research. Add additional row for the sources/references. HostPapa http://www.hostpapa.com/ Price Value At HostPapa, you truly feel like you’re getting the family discount, what with so much being offered for less than $4 a month. Enjoy unlimited storage and bandwidth for unlimited sites, all Softaculous-enabled and equipped with HostPapa Website Builder. Beyond that, you’ll also receive online stats and  reporting tools, full email versatility, developers’ tools and extensive third party web design and multimedia software support. Don’t forget, HostPapa web hosting gives you free domain registration for the first year, and free setup. Reliability HostPapa web hosting guarantees you’ll get maximum uptime (99.9% uptime guarantee and 99.9% network uptime guarantee) and promises to provide around the clock/around the calendar server monitoring. They regularly perform secure and reliable backups of all your data to protect against unforeseen emergencies. Control Panel Joy of joys, all HostPapa customers get the full benefits of the industry’s most popular and user-acclaimed control panel: cPanel. Large, intuitively organized icon-based buttons empower you to perform any number of administrative tasks. The main menu includes a real-time display of every stat and figure relevant to your web hosting account and your website’s activity and performance. Customer Support At HostPapa, you’ll get all the one-on-one help setting up and getting started that you need as well as dedicated customer service any time you need it. Choose from phone, live chat, and email support, or do-it-yourself with the HostPapa library of helpful and easy to follow video tutorials and online help docs. iPage http://www.ipage.com/ Price Value The web experts at iPage.com have managed to compile an eye-popping list of services and value-added extras and package them neatly into a all-encompassing web hosting package. Currently on promotion for just $1.99 a month, iPage.com is proving that sometimes you actually get more than you pay for. Reliability iPage.com uses a system of pooled servers – so there is always server space available to you. The first and fastest machine available will serve your website. A pool of servers provides redundancy, streamlined service, and maximum uptime. Control Panel The iPage control panel offers users tools to create, enhance and manage their websites simple and effectively. iPage.com has also worked closely with Google to integrate the industry-leading Google Tools for Websites right into your control panel. Customer Support iPage.com makes a remarkable promise: when you contact their customer service department, they’ll put you in touch with an agent within two minutes. iPage offers around the clock support via live chat, phone and e-mail. HostGator http://www.hostgator.com/ Price Value Host Gator’s shared web hosting plans start at $3.96 a month (the recently upgraded â€Å"Hatchling† plan) and include unlimited disk space and bandwidth. Their reseller plans are offered for prices ranging from $24.95 to $99.95 per month, and their dedicated server plans range from $174.00 to $374.00 per month. Put it all together and you have one company that wants to remain competitive in the web-hosting market. Reliability HostGator has chosen The Planet, located in Dallas, Texas, to house their data center. The Planet boasts over 35,000 square feet of raised floor space, and features state-of-the-art security, safety, and cooling systems. This facility is accompanied with Multiple TXU electrical grids, 4800 volts of input power, DataTrax monitoring software for the whole data center infrastructure, and a fully meshed and redundant Certified Cisco Network  featuring 10 backbone providers. Control Panel Host Gator employs the industry standard control panel, cPanel. This control panel is one of the best in the industry, and has over 39 scripts that can be installed. It is easy to learn and use, as it provides more than one million end users the ability to install dozens of leading open source programs, accompanied with flash movies for instant tutorials. Customer Support Host Gator is becoming one of the leading companies offering quick responses and a personal touch to their support system. They present 24/7/365 phone support, online chat, fax, peer support forums, and a wide variety of cPanel flash video tutorials. Their knowledgebase is also quite extensive and useful. JustHost http://www.justhost.com/ Price Value Unlimited disk space, unlimited bandwidth, unlimited domain hosting, unlimited email accounts, unlimited MySQL databases, has it priced at just $2.25 per month. And that fee includes a free domain for life, a free point-and-click SiteBuilder with templates, a free e-Commerce shopping cart, and a free Spam Assassin for your email. Reliability At JustHost you get a 99.9% uptime guarantee on service. Just Host ‘s reliability is guaranteed, in part, thanks to their unique load balancing technology and super fast backbone connections. With load balancing, your site is available from multiple servers, so if one server becomes unavailable, your site will still be live on the other server, virtually eliminating site downtime. Control Panel If we had to pick just one web hosting control panel to use and forgo all  others, it would be the very same control panel that just so happens to come with Just Host web hosting plan. It’s cPanel, of course, the industry leader for mastering user-friendliness and ease-of use. All the resources, tools, and even web statistics are right there in one place, at your disposal. Plus you can personalize and customize your cPanel for an even easier webmastering experience. Customer Support The JustHost support center offers a full range of help features, from assisted support 24/7 via live web chat, 1-888 toll-free telephone, and email support ticket system to self-guided help via searchable and categorized online FAQ and articles, web tutorials, and an active user community. 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Life Without Gravity Essay

In a world without gravity, one would be weightless, but always nauseous. Because of this, it would be very difficult to complete a lot of your daily activities without throwing up. If you tried to eat something while you and your food are floating around, you will probably have a lot of trouble trying to hold your food down. In 0-g, life would be very hard. Roller coasters are a perfect example of this. I do not do well on roller coasters. I get sick when I encounter zero gravity for that split second on rides with loop-dee-loops and the like. This is how I know I would really suck at surviving if there was no gravity. Not only would I be constantly puking, but I wouldn’t be able read or really even enjoy doing anything except floating around trying not to dry heave. So, I wonder how someone, mainly me because I do not have a strong stomach, would merely perform the act of drinking a glass of water and thinking at the same time in a world where everything floats. Without the force of gravity acting on all objects, there is nothing keeping us attached to the earth. We would simply float away from the earth unless we nail out toes to our floorboards, and our entire house to the earth’s crust. So, drinking water†¦this would not go very well for me. Not only would the water not be forced to stay in its proper area of residency, the cup, but it would be poured on my face if ever I tried to drink it, and that is most certainly NOT WHERE IT BELONGS. However, since the only force acting on the cup is the earth’s, pushing everything away from its core, the water probably was already floating around in space somewhere. This would make for a very, VERY thirsty Alex, not to mention the rest of the world. Unless you had stocked up on bottled water prior to the sudden change in the laws of the world, you would be dead. Thinking during splashing water all over yourself, or trying to catch it as it pins itself to your ceiling, just as you are doing because of the lack of gravity, would probably present a slight problem. As if you weren’t already nauseous as could be, suffering from extreme thirst and boredom while you lie in wait on your ceiling for something interesting to happen like being crushed by that bookcase over there that has been slowly creeping closer with each passing second, you would also need to be able to think. While floating around on earth shouldn’t give you any more of a headache than when you lie down, I have a feeling that I would get them anyway. However, in space, 0-g, your blood would be floating free throughout your body, just as you do so, ubject only to those forces placed on it by your own circulatory system. Your blood would have no tendency to pool in any particular part of your body, meaning no headaches. But with everything floating around, I can’t help but think that all that free blood must make you kind of floppy. Without gravity, multitasking would probably be even more difficult than it is in a world with gravitational forces. If I tried drinking my water, while translating our national anthem into Arabic, WHILE I try to bike on one of those stationary exercise bikes, I would be very sad. Not only would I be nauseous and EXTREMELY THIRSTY, causing me to get a headache, but I would be floating away from my excise bike, while trying to stay on it, that giving me exercise within itself. I can’t even imagine how long our species would survive before we either all starved to death or tried to open a window for fresh air and then floated into our atmosphere and died from lack of oxygen. I don’t think that we would live very long at all, and drinking a glass of water would be so terribly difficult that it would make living very complicated.

Free Essays on Haitian Revolution

The French Revolution came about in 1789 in reaction to an absolute monarchy in which the people did not have a voice. The Revolution touched and transformed social values and political systems in France, in Europe, and eventually throughout the world. France's revolutionary regime conquered much of Western Europe with its arms and with its ideology. The ideologies of the revolutionaries were of individual liberty; they rejected monopolies on commerce, government claims on land, and the remnants of serfdom. They believed in a constitutional government with elections and legislative supremacy. They demanded equal rights for all, denied the claims of privileged groups, localities, or religions to special treatment and required the equality of all citizens before the law. Their ultimate goal was expressed by the concept of fraternity; that all citizens regardless of social class, region, or religion shared a common fate in society, and that the well being of the nation sometimes super seded the interests of individuals. The revolutionary slogan was Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity for all. This ideology of the French Revolution inspired the revolt in the French colony of St. Domingue, which in turn impacted the Western Hemisphere in many ways. St. Domingue was the richest colony of France; they were the largest exporter of sugar to the eastern world. To meet with the increasing demand for sugar, France imported African slaves to fill the labor deficit. Near the time of the French Revolution, slaves outnumbered white plantation owner’s 15:1. There were approximately 500,000 slaves and only 40,000 white slave owners. White plantation owners exploited the slaves and literally worked them to death because it was cheaper than taking care of elder slaves. The average life span of a slave in St. Domingue was 15 years. At the time of the revolution in France, slaves in St. Domingue were already very resentful of their owners. However, the sl... Free Essays on Haitian Revolution Free Essays on Haitian Revolution The French Revolution came about in 1789 in reaction to an absolute monarchy in which the people did not have a voice. The Revolution touched and transformed social values and political systems in France, in Europe, and eventually throughout the world. France's revolutionary regime conquered much of Western Europe with its arms and with its ideology. The ideologies of the revolutionaries were of individual liberty; they rejected monopolies on commerce, government claims on land, and the remnants of serfdom. They believed in a constitutional government with elections and legislative supremacy. They demanded equal rights for all, denied the claims of privileged groups, localities, or religions to special treatment and required the equality of all citizens before the law. Their ultimate goal was expressed by the concept of fraternity; that all citizens regardless of social class, region, or religion shared a common fate in society, and that the well being of the nation sometimes super seded the interests of individuals. The revolutionary slogan was Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity for all. This ideology of the French Revolution inspired the revolt in the French colony of St. Domingue, which in turn impacted the Western Hemisphere in many ways. St. Domingue was the richest colony of France; they were the largest exporter of sugar to the eastern world. To meet with the increasing demand for sugar, France imported African slaves to fill the labor deficit. Near the time of the French Revolution, slaves outnumbered white plantation owner’s 15:1. There were approximately 500,000 slaves and only 40,000 white slave owners. White plantation owners exploited the slaves and literally worked them to death because it was cheaper than taking care of elder slaves. The average life span of a slave in St. Domingue was 15 years. At the time of the revolution in France, slaves in St. Domingue were already very resentful of their owners. However, the sl...

Case Study - Federal Deposit Insurance Corp Essay

Case Study - Federal Deposit Insurance Corp - Essay Example For example, Toyland the owner of a departmental store in Houston, contracts with Pantaloon, a manufacturer of children toys in New York, for $15,000 worth toys. In the absence of negotiable instruments, Toyland would have to remit or take across the country the said amount which is risky and inconvenient. If the money is stolen in transit, it will create additional botheration for the company besides the financial loss. Check facilitates transfer of the funds through the designated bank. The transaction through the check is convenient to both the parties. Some types of negotiable instruments are promissory notes, certificates of deposit, drafts and checks. The legal requirements for an instrument to be negotiable: That it should be in writing and signed by the issuer and it should contain an unconditional promise to pay a fixed amount of money, as per terms and conditions described in the promise or order. It may be with or without interest. It is a bearer instrument or payable to order, either on demand or at prescribed future date. It should â€Å"not state any other undertaking or instruction by the person promising or ordering to do any act in addition to the payment of money. However, it may contain (a) an undertaking or promise relative to collateral to secure payment, (b) an authorization for confession of judgment, or (c) a waiver of benefit of any law intended for the advantage or protection of an obligor.† (p.780) A holder in course of a negotiable instrument has special rights. â€Å"Normally, the transferee of an instrument—like the assignee of a contract—gets only those rights in the instruments that are held by the person from whom he got the instrument. But a holder in due course can get better rights. A holder in due course takes a negotiable instrument free of all personal defenses, claims to the instrument, and claims in recoupment either of the obligor or of a third party.† (p.797)The advantage

Mindfulness, Professionalism and Healing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Mindfulness, Professionalism and Healing - Essay Example In addition to my experience with the films and the readings, witnessing my aunt visiting a nurse for help was just evidence on the power of the nursing. Despite having three kids, the size of the building she had was a hindrance to giving adequate care for the younger ones. Taking her time to visit the nurses was a life changing moment since she was given every kind of empathy, mindfulness and healing that she required. Intuitively, in order to realize the importance of nursing system to families I had to relate my aunt’s experiences with the nurses on the basis of the three aspects: of empathy, mindfulness and healing . Rationally, my aunt was a low income earner who could not acquire enough resources to secure his family. As if the scarcity is not enough punishment, my aunt gave birth to three kids of which all of them required care from her. For instance the children were a subject to food consumption, shelter and clothes to wear which my aunt could not adequately offer. Just the same to my aunt situation, David Bornstein in â€Å"The Power of Nursing† introduces his article with an intriguing question to depict the state of some individuals in the society† The following is a statement and question put forward by Bornstein: â€Å"In 2010, 5.9 million children were reported as abused or neglected in the United States. If you were a policy maker and you knew of a program that could cut this figure in half, what would you do?† (Bornstein, 2012) The above quote depicts children who are abused and neglected in the same way as my aunt who is going through a crisis of taking care of her three children in her small hut. The act of mindfulness comes in when Bornstein talks about Nurse-Family partnership as the best way to save this group of people. Nurse-Family partnership comes in handy as it is the only right way of harmonizing the gap between the poor and the rich. No matter what background an individual comes from, the program arranges for registered

Moral delemmas Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Moral delemmas - Research Paper Example al. March 2009). During intense police pursuit, some police officers mistakenly use their pistols instead of the taser gun. The facts of the case so states that BART Officer Johannes Mehserle killed Oscar Grant while trying to subdue Mr. Grant during an arrest. Officer Mehserle mistaken used his pistol instead of his taser to subdue the suspect and accidentally killed the suspect. Note that there are a number of moral dilemmas that often result from the use of taser guns. The people involved in the situation including the arresting officer, police department authorizing the use of taser guns and the suspect often have to deal with a number of moral issues resulting from the incident such as what happened between Officer Johannes Mehserle and Oscar Grant. In the police operation, both the arresting officer and the suspect are at risk. As it is, ethical dilemmas often happen arise in connection with the arrest. The first moral dilemma that we need to look into is whether or not the pol ice department should allow police officers to use tasers when subduing suspects. Note that unruly suspects can endanger the lives of the people around including the apprehending police officers. If the police officers are not allowed to use taser guns on suspects, the suspects may turn against the officers and hurt them on the process. Moreover, if police officers do not use taser guns, they will need to use other forms of deterring force to subdue the suspects. Without the taser gun, the apprehending police officers will need to have direct body contact with the suspect. Using deterring force such as manhandling the suspect who resists arrest can also cause harm on the suspect and may even result to lawsuits against the police force. Note that cases involving â€Å"police brutality† are very common and often brings headaches to the police department. We have to understand that when a police officer comes near the suspect and have direct bodily contact with him or her, any c an happen. A twist in the arm can have different effect on different people and because we cannot be sure what kind of damage a simple bodily contact can have and what will be the reaction of the person arrested, it is still better for the police officer to maintain distance from the suspect and use taser guns. Also in cases of pursuits when the suspect is running away from the arresting officer, the use of taser gun can be very handy. Come to think of it, if the police officer does not use a taser gun in apprehending an escaping suspect, the suspect may get away and may commit another crime. When the police officer fails to apprehend a known suspect who has committed a series of crimes, he/she gives permission to that suspect to commit yet another crime. Yes, the whole idea that an escaped suspect can cause more harm to innocent people is disturbing so it is very important for police officers to have the right tools to do their jobs. Also if the suspect gets away, the police depart ment will need to use more resources to hunt down and capture the suspect. The cost of hunting down and apprehending a suspect can be enormous and given the limited budget of the police force, the department does not have the luxury of letting a suspect escape. While allowing the police officers to use taser guns to apprehend suspects have many advantages, it also has some disadvantages. Using taser guns involve risk and it may cause harm on people. According to Grant et al. (March 2009),

Proctor and Elizabeth change Essay Example for Free

Proctor and Elizabeth change Essay How does the relation ship between Proctor and Elizabeth change from the beginning of the play until now?  In the beginning of the play John speaks about Elizabeth once to Abigail. Abby has said that Elizabeth was a cold and sickly wife. John says to her that she has no right to speak of his wife in such a manner and renounces the comment about her being sickly. He does not, although, dismiss Abbys charge that Elizabeth is a cold wife. But, he means it is because of him that she is this way. In the beginning of Act 2 there was a great feeling of detachment and tension in the Proctor household. We see John trying to start a conversation with Elizabeth and she only gives him short answers to please him. Then the tide turns to her questioning him and he is the one that becomes short with her because she is requesting that he go to Salem and confess that Abigail is liar. To do that, though he must confess his sin. During most of the scene theyre not sure of each other. She doesnt quite trust him, but she loves him. Proctor believes himself to be an abomination in his own eyes and according to his own high standards and especially in the eyes of God. He only wants his wifes trust in him restored and for her to love him again. At the end of the act is where you feel the great love that they hold Proctor holds for her. When she is arrested he nearly gets into a fight with Cheever because he is going to chain her. He knows that she is being arrested because of his mistake. He verbally fights with Hale over the evidence as he promises to bring her home soon. They need to protect each other now. In Act 3 you see that he is doing his best to fulfill his promise to free her from that jail and have all the charges acquitted. He goes to the court with Mary Warren and was trying to convince Dansforth that she was innocent when Mary Warren betrays Proctor to save herself from the wrath of Abigail. He even tells the secret that brings him the greatest pain, to save his wife. It is her that the reader is assured of Elizabeths love for Proctor when she lies for him to protect his name. She lied and just the moment before hed told Dansforth that his wife never lied. But she did for him unaware that Proctor himself confessed ad only putting then deeper into trouble. Yu are again reassured of Proctors great love for her when he tells the court of his disloyalty to his wife. This shows that he is adamant to save and free his wife. In Act 4 Elizabeth is asked to speak to Proctor in the hope that she will be able to persuade him to lie and save his life. Even the Reverend Hale is begging her to make him confess and he sworn to truth in his bond with the Lord. When she says that she will try to see what he can do they are left to themselves. This is the first time that they have seen each other in three months and greet each other in a great display of love and sorrow for each other. Their love is one that is everlasting. He asks her what to do, he is willing to go with her choice, even if it were that she wanted for him to be honest and die. He would have done it just because she had asked for him to. She tells him instead to choose for himself because she feels that it is not her place to judge him. She tells him that she will love him regardless of his decision. Their love is restored even though they have not been able to see each other they both understand that they both share some blame even if it the most remote amount of blame, for Elizabeth.

Marketing Analysis Tools for Business

Marketing Analysis Tools for Business Todays world all businesses around the world become intense competition. Companies have to find their own strongest strategies by using effective marketing tools in order to survive in the business competition. By doing that, there are many marketing tools such as SWOT analysis, PEST analysis, BCG matrix, 4P s, Porters five forces, etc. The main purpose of using these is to help the companies create and enhance their strategies so that their business performance will be improved. On this assessment, it will illustrate SWOT analysis and PEST analysis which give an understanding how they work through the business companies. To begin with SWOT analysis, it is one of the most important marketing tools that is used for analysing the business situations and strategic plannings. It is also useful for determining the new strategies by analysing the internal and external factors (Bartolomei, 2010). This strategy is beneficial for various organisations or businesses. Besides, SWOT analysis is divided into two categories which are examining on the both internal and external factors. Internal factors consist of strengths (S) and weaknesses (W), while external factors comprise opportunities (O) and threats (T) (Novicevic, Harvey, Autry and Bond lll, 2004). Thus, SWOT analysis plays a crucial key in the companies strategies to succeed. There are many examples that support conducting SWOT analysis with the companies. To begin with the first example, Zahorsky (n.d.) claimed that there are plenty of businesses have capability to aware of their inner-performance while the outer-performance are not well enough. Hence, SWOT analysis is very useful for them to examine their companies especially for small businesses. In addition, it is effective to look for the companies growth, comprehend their structure, and improve the competitive marketing and advertising. The second example is Vanichakul (2004), who is the lecturer in Thailands university, explained that SWOT analysis could be used to create the strategic planning and analyse the current situation in order that the organisations would minimise the weaknesses and threats whereas they would maximise the strengths and opportunities. However, he also gave an example that in Thailand the majority of organisations especially schools and universities applied SWOT analysis to not only create their new strategic planning but also determine their performance so as to improve their organisations consecutively. The third example is about Mcdonalds case study (The Time 100, 2009). It was discussed about SWOT analysis which could be used for multiplying the opportunities in strategic business marketing because of the different demands of each customer. Another thing, of which the companies should do, was the regular customers record. Furthermore, the strengths and weaknesses of Mcdonald were referred to brand loyalty, serving time, tastes, convenient food and the quality of food. While the opportunities and threats were referred to its competitors, target groups, menu and facilities. The fourth example is Tasmeen (2009) provided the case study of Ford by conducting SWOT analysis and considering the internal and external environment factors which influenced on Ford s performance. Additionally, the Interpublic Group of Companies was scrutinised the structure, procedures, histories and products by using SWOT analysis so as to enhance its strategic plannings (Aarkstore, 2010). Moreover, The Ashley Furniture Industries was also examined by SWOT analysis. Following this, the result of it included the history, employees, main competitors, essential product and services (Companiesandmarkets, 2010). However, there are several advantages and disadvantages for this marketing tool. Firstly, SWOT analysis is useful for businesses because of increasing the strengths of companies and reducing the weaknesses of companies. Furthermore, the analysis of opportunities and threats is to analyse the external factors, which the companies sometimes cannot control. From these reasons, SWOT analysis will enhance the image of companies and lead to the effective business performance. Secondly, SWOT analysis will help the companies to create new strategies. Due to a better business performance, the companies should aware of their weak points and build their own strong points so as to have their efficient future plans. It is certainly true that SWOT analysis is easy to adapt with a variety of situations such as selection, prioritizing important orders, facing to the unexpected problems, analysis the cause and effect of problems, generating the new project, enhancing the work effectiveness and creati ng the acquisition of knowledge. Besides, Bartolomei s article (2010) supported that the benefits of SWOT analysis are to provide and help the companies to forecast the causes and effects more explicitly. On the other hand, there are some arguments that against the advantages. For instance, there are many misunderstanding of SWOT analysis which causes problems about the quality of information such as skills, experiences, and the researchers. Another example is SWOT analysis should be repeated doing intermittently in order to examine the changes of situations and factors. Moreover, people who take responsibility for SWOT analysis could not have the bias due to avoiding the distorted information. (Novicevic, Harvey, Autry and Bond III, 2004) This part is going to discuss about PEST analysis, which is one of the marketing tools. Companies or organisations use this tool to analyse the external factors including political (P), economic (E), social (S) and technological (T) factors that are difficult to control. However, it also has impacts on the organisational or business performance. In addition, according to Haughey s thinking (n.d.), PEST analysis is the significant part of conducting a strategic planning of project. Firstly it will analyse political factors such as tax rate, labour laws, law enforcement, trade policy and charging fee as well as the certain situation of politics. Secondly, for economic factors, it will consider economic crisis, economic growth, interest rates, exchange rates, inflation and deflation. Thirdly, in term of social factors, it will pay attention to the social value, the social aspects, cultures, believes and medical cares, population growth, longer life period, unemployed rate, crime rate an d safety. Finally, the last factor, which is about technologies, will illustrate conducting Research and Development (RD), mechanization or industrialization, the development of technological motivations and the technological changes. There is an example that conducting PEST analysis with a company, which is one of the tourism industries in the UK, namely Simply Travel. According to the article, PEST analysis was influenced on the customers needs (123HelpMe, 2011). Another example is UNISON, which is the biggest public sector trade union in the UK, conducts PEST analysis in order to reach the demand of its staff and determination. Following the article, it is clearly revealed that the Migrant Workers Participation Project had a good impact on the alien employees outside Britain by using PEST analysis (The Times 100, 2010). Nevertheless, there are many benefits if the companies use PEST analysis. For instance, the companies will be aware of the extensive firm s factors. Not only does it motivate the firms to improve their strategic planning, but the firms also are cautious their risks if they need to gain more profit as well. Besides, the companies will be indicated their opportunities so that they will enhance their effective performances. Despite the fact that PEST analysis will help the companies to understand and create the up-to-date marketing strategic planning, it also has some limitations that affect its actions. For example, the dramatic change in the competitive market leads to the difficult companies situation in the future. Having a lot of information might be problem for finding the real useful information. Many people believe that PEST analysis uses for analysing the macro external environment and it is associated with others components such as their own companies, businesses and competitors (CMI, 2005). To conclude, it is obviously true that every marketing tool has not only many advantages but also many disadvantages. However, it is better to use SWOT analysis simultaneously because PEST analysis can be shown only the external factors. Therefore, SWOT analysis will be covered the internal factors analysis. Additionally, there are some suggestions that the companies should use other tools such as PRIMO-F analysis, Porters five forces in the same time (Morrison, 2010). Although, using both of PEST and SWOT analysis are beneficial, the companies should updated their information in order to avoid obsolete information. Consequently, the companies will be able to understand their performance, improve their strategic planning and compete with their other competitors.