Personal Leadership Philosophy and Practice Paper Thesis

Personal Leadership Philosophy and Practice Paper - Thesis Example What is leadership? Leadership can be broadly defined as unique approach of individuals or leaders who can bring about changes in other people. It is an integral part of human behaviour as it is linked to followers. Kouzes and Posner (2007) assert that leaders’ approach to tackling issues or promoting a cause is major factor that makes them popular amongst the followers. It becomes highly pertinent within the organizations as it helps to meet the challenges of work paradigms and inspires others to achieve a common goal. Leadership styles Chandler (1977) has explored the issues with reference to individual approach and says that strategies of managerial leadership become their major motivating factor for their success within the organizations. I believe that three major styles of leadership are popular within organizations: Transformational; situational; and participative. James Burns (1978) states that transforming leadership is based on a relationship of mutual inspiration an d elevation that converts followers into leaders and may convert leaders into moral agents. The political leaders are often endowed with traits of transformational leaders who take up social causes as major agenda to transform them into staunch followers. Situational leaders exploit situations to enhance performance. Sjostrand and Tyrstrup (2001) believe that managerial leadership is relational ongoing social construction which adapts to the changing equations. This is very important in the contemporary environment of fast changing technology and globalization. Such types of leaders are able to convince others to adopt changes and take them as opportunities for improving productive outcome. Participative leadership takes into consideration the views of others and promotes collectives decision making based on informed choice for common goals. Tannenbaum & Schmidt (1973) emphasize that organizational leaders increasingly prefer participative leadership as they can use effective commun ication to share organizational vision, mission and goals with the workforce. Leadership traits Leadership qualities and traits encourage participation of the workforce in the overall strategy of having collective goals through shared learning. Many scholars have conducted studies to find the traits and behaviour and leadership style that has transformed common man into effective leaders (Stogdill 1974; Yukl 2002). Few of the important traits that a leader must inculcate are: good communication; vision; adaptability towards change; positive attitude and commitment; creativity, initiative and belief; integrity and ethics; compassion and caring nature. Effective communication is one of the most crucial traits of the leaders which is used to disseminate information and inculcate a sense of responsibility amongst the various stakeholders of the organization. Visionary leaders empower their followers so that they can make decisions based on informed choices. It facilitates in adapting to the changes which occur due to transforming technologies and values and significantly impact organizational processes. Indeed, effective leadership influences cultural identity and helps adapt to the changing environment. The organizational le

Military Robotics Essay Example for Free

Military Robotics Essay A robot sniper is not subject to arm shake, fatigue, or any of the other human factors that throw off a rifleman’s aim, making each shot more accurate and less likely to hit someone other than the enemy. Pilotless drones are more likely to hit the target with better accuracy than bombs being dropped from a plane at 30,000 feet (Gyrnir). In the Army 53 percent of their casualties come with first contact with the enemy. Having a robot scouting ahead or flying above sending back pictures of the ground below to troops would reduce the casualties (Fogarty). Military robots can serve in place of human beings in explosive ordinance disposal (EOD), surveillance, and other dangerous situations. For example, when an EOD team was hunting for improvised explosive devices (IED), by the time the soldier was close enough to see the telltale wires from the bomb, it was too late. The IED erupted in a wave of flames. A soldier would have to be as far as 50 yards away to escape death and as far as half-mile away to escape injury from bomb fragments. Even if a person is not hit the pressure from the blast by itself can break bones. This soldier had been right on top of the bomb. As the flames and debris cleared, the rest of the team advanced. They found little remaining of their teammate. They loaded the remains onto a helicopter, which took them back to the team’s base near Baghdad International Airport. That night the team’s commander did his duty and wrote home about the incident. He apologized for his inability to change what had happened. He wrote, â€Å"at least when a robot dies, you don’t have to write a letter to its mother† (Singer). The â€Å"Soldier† was a 42-pound robot called a PackBot. The PackBot mounts all sorts of cameras and sensors, as well as an arm with four joints that extends over two meters to allow it to examine suspicious objects on EOD missions. If it weren’t for this robot to scout ahead the rest of the EOD team wouldn’t have survive the explosion (Singer). In conclusion, robotic technology is changing the future of warfare. Robots are used to save and protect, not harm innocent lives. The idea of robots replacing humans in the military is very unlikely. In order for a robot to do something it needs a human to program it and tell it what to do (Singer). Fully autonomous robots that may harm the wrong people presents ethical, legal, and command challenges determining who was responsible for the robot’s actions (the officer that put the robot into action and instructed it on its target or the company that manufactured the hardware) raises philosophical problems. Therefore, until these problems are resolved fully autonomous killing robots are unlikely (Gyrnir).

Flight as a Literal and Metaphorical Symbol in Song of Solomon by Toni

In Song of Solomon, a novel by Toni Morrison, flight is used as a literal and metaphorical symbol of escape. Each individual character that chooses to fly in the novel is â€Å"flying† away from a hardship or a seemingly impossible situation. However, by choosing to escape, one is also deliberately choosing to abandon family and community members. The first reference to this idea is found in the novel’s epigraph: â€Å"The fathers may soar/ And the children may know their names,† which introduces the idea that while flight can be an escape, it can also be harmful to those left behind. However, while the male characters who achieve flight do so by abandoning their female partners and family, the female characters master flight without abandoning those they love. Throughout the novel, human flight is accepted as a natural occurrence, while those who doubt human flight, such as Milkman, are viewed as abnormal and are isolated from the community. It is only when Milk man begins to believe in flight as a natural occurrence that he is welcomed back into the community and sheds his feelings of isolation. The novel begins with the account of Robert Smith, an insurance agent who had promised to â€Å"take off†¦and fly away on [his] own wings† (Morrison 3). Standing on the roof of Mercy Hospital wearing â€Å"blue silk wings,† Smith proclaims to a growing crowd that he will fly (Morrison 5). Unfortunately, he is ultimately unable to take flight and falls to his death among the crowd. This is the first image of attempted flight in the novel and the first glimpse of flight being viewed as both possible and natural. Those who had gathered to view Smith’s flight did not â€Å"cry out to [him]† or attempt to prevent his leap, but instead encouraged him, implying that t... ...ers to and rides the air, and whether he reenacts the suicide of Robert Smith or delivers himself into â€Å"the killing arms of his brother,† Milkman escapes through flight (Morrison 337). During the long period of time in which Milkman doubts human flight, he is essentially shunned from his community. However, by accepting human flight as both a natural and possible occurrence, Milkman achieves acceptance. In actuality, flight as a means of escape is conveyed as a selfish act, harming all those left behind. Furthermore, in reference to Robert Smith and Milkman, death, not flight, was what caused them to essentially escape. In Song of Solomon, flight comes across as an act of desperation, in which those involved would risk anything to escape their troubled lives. Only when you â€Å"surrendered [yourself] to the air† could you truly escape and find freedom (Morrison 337).

Barium Enema Essay -- essays research papers fc

Everyone should know that a lower GI is a very common and important exam used to diagnose many colon conditions. A lower GI examination, also know as a barium enema, is an x-ray examination of the large intestine. The large intestine, or large bowel, consists of the entire colon, including the appendix, rectum, and sigmoid colon. This commonly performed test is essentially the predecessor to the more familiar colonoscopy. A lower GI is used worldwide to help diagnose fatal diseases and many other problems that affect the large intestine. Some of the reasons that your doctor might order this exam are if you are experiencing diarrhea, constipation, blood in your stool, unexplained weight loss, anemia, to screen for colon polyps or colorectal cancer. Because this test demonstrates the large bowel, it is imperative to clean out the bowel completely. The smallest amount of stool left in the intestine can affect the accuracy of the test. To ensure the colon is cleaned the patient is instructed to be on a clear liquid diet for 24 hours prior to the exam. They are also instructed to take a strong laxative the day before. Most patients say that the preparation for the exam is the worst part. Before the test is started an x-ray of the abdomen is taken to check for residual stool and gas. If there is too much stool remaining in the bowel, the patient will have to be rescheduled, and take the laxative prep again. A barium enema test is done by a radiologist and one or two radiographe...

Cause & Effect of European Exploration

Cause & Effect European Exploration Essay Throughout history, people have been curious about finding new land and exploring. Many different factors stirred interest in colonization and exploration for Europeans. During the 15th and 17th centuries Europe was changing rapidly and had its own reasons for growth. All of Europe had the excitement and hesitation of finding new places. There were many reasons for Europe to grow and expand, some of the causes for Europe’s expansion were; a search for new trade routes, religion, new technology, the desire for new products and gold.Europe wanted to find a new trade route to Asia because they wanted the silk, spices, jewels, and riches from China and India that were very valuable. One of the problems that were faced was that when they arrived in Western Europe, the products had been taxed so many times along the way that they were extremely expensive. They wanted to find a route around so that they could get the goods first. They wanted to find a northwest passage.Christian rulers in Europe wanted to spread their religion of Christianity throughout the overseas exploration, they felt they had a duty to keep fighting for Muslims but also to convert non- Christians throughout the world. Bartolomeu Dias (Portuguese explorer) said that his motive was â€Å"to serve God and His Majesty, to give light to those who were in darkness and to grow rich as all men desire to do. † European explores had better navigation skills and equipment to help them find their way.They had a compass and moveable rudder which allowed the explorers to sail even further than before. They also used an astrolabe which used the stars to determine how far north or south they were from the equator. European explorers were on a mission to find these new lands and new technologies, those causes stimulated effects for the aftermath of the exploration. One of the effects on European exploration was the Columbian Exchange. This exchange consisted of trading between the Americas, Europe, Africa and Asia.The Americas sent over squash, pumpkins, turkey, peanuts, potatoes, tomatoes, corn, sweet potatoes, peppers, tobacco, pineapple, cacao, beans and vanilla. Europe, Africa and Asia sent over citrus fruits, bananas, grapes, sugar cane, honeybees, onions, olives, turnips, peaches, pears, and coffee beans. They also sent over items other then food such as grains, wheat, rice, barley and oats. They sent many types of live stock and a huge thing they sent over was disease. The Triangle Trade was another trading system between New England the West Indies and West Africa.New England sent West Africa rum, guns/ gunpowder, cloth and tools. West Africa sent sugar and molasses to New England and New England sent back livestock, lumber, flour and fish. As the trading increased during the sixteenth and throughout the eighteenth century, millions of people were taken out of their home and deported to plantations in the New World. Europeans r isked their lives to explore new lands, the expansion abroad come with hopes for land, riches and social advancement.

Applying Marxism to contemporary issues of work and employment The WritePass Journal

Applying Marxism to contemporary issues of work and employment Introduction Applying Marxism to contemporary issues of work and employment IntroductionBibliography:Related Introduction Marx’s extensive writings about society, economics and politics, hold that all society progresses through class struggle. He was particularly critical of capitalism. Marx argued that current society is run by the wealthy middle and upper classes purely for their own benefit and predicted this would produce internal tensions (and eventually self-destruction and the rise of a new form of society, socialism). Marx’s ideas of ownership of production, alienation and power relationships may play a key role in explaining contemporary issues in work and employment such as lack of job security, having a voice within the workplace and discrimination. As stated in â€Å"The workplace and social democracy in the post-crisis age†, the financial crisis and recession have caused a change in attitudes towards employment relationships. More now than ever employees worry about job security. Marx belonged to a period of industrial society, whereby factories had thousands of employees all under one authoritative figure, the Boss or Manager. Job Security in this era was not a massive issue as it is now in contemporary times. The Joseph Rowntree Foundation in 1999 published the results of Job Insecurity and Work Intensification survey and showed that job insecurity had steadily been rising since the second world war. The majority of job insecurity lay in the manufacturing industries and blue-collar workers during the 1970’s and 1980#s but at the beginning of the 1990’s professional and managerial workers had their first great exposure to job insecurity. The information age which we now live in has cost many civil servant s their jobs, due to streamlining of systems through computer technology. White collar workers were much less prepared for the changes affecting their occupation. Because redundancy had never occurred to these workers before, the idea of unemployment caused most to experience anxiety and insecurities. Some argue this is an overreaction when compared to the bigger issue of insecurity experienced by the working classes (Giddens, 2009). Anxieties from job insecurities can lead to â€Å"loss of control† and a link has been made between job insecurity and poor overall health (Burchell et al, 1996). This feeling of helplessness against impending unemployment can be explained by Marx’s theory of alienation. Blauner (1964) argued that the introduction of automation to factories has reduced worker alienation. Automation has helped to â€Å"integrate the workforce and gave workers a sense of control over their work that had been lacking with other forms of technology†.   Evidently having a sense of ownership towards your work and feeling part of a community diminishes alienation and in turn will diminish any sense of job insecurity: as workers will feel their role within the workplace is needed. Richard Sennett (1998) conducted a study of workers in a bakery which had an automated high-tech production line. Ironically none of the workers were actually bakers but workers trained in how to use the machinery, but only how to use the machinery. The â€Å"bakers† had no physical contact with the bread at any point. Computers decided every aspect of the baking process. However, despite the workers being skilled with computers, not one was trained in how to fix the computers when they broke, causing massive disruption amongst the production line. Sennett found that the workers wanted to be useful and fix the computers but did not because the automation had destroyed their autonomy. Computer technology within the workplace has not only led to an in crease in workers’ skills but also a group of clerical, service and production workers who lack autonomy in their jobs, are alienated from their work, and lack job security. Another issue concerning work and employment in the UK currently is the movement of work. In a bid for maximum profit, some companies have moved the work from its country of origin to developing countries, where the work is cheaper.   Now British companies such as Primark and Matalan have been accused of exploiting workers in these other countries because of their extremely low pricing. It is widely known that transnational factories in developing countries use sweatshop conditions, child labour and pay exploitative rates of pay. Any codes of conduct put in place are either sneakily avoided or completely disregarded altogether: â€Å"research consistently revealed an inadequate, if not poor, level of integration of CSR and Code compliance responsibilities in the internal structure of MNEs and suppliers† (ILO, 2003). However, as wrong as we may think this is, it could be argued that there has just been a shift in location of exploitation. Marx argued that the bourgeoisie, or the owners of production, exploited workers during the period of feudalism. Society was divided into peasants who worked on the land and nobles who were paid in terms of both crops and labour in return for protection, during this period wages were practically unheard of. For Marx, owning land and being able to take food from peasants if fundamentally different from being a peasant working on the land. Peasants (according to Marx) were a group with shared interests and attitudes and nobles were another. This still applies to today’s world of transnational corporations (TNCs). TNCs open factories in developing countries where cheaper labour can be found. The motives between TNCs and nobles are not all that dissimilar. Although TNCs have the resources to choose where to place their factories, such as technology, money and power, whereas nobles were born into a position of power and had no desire to move as they were meant to serve a duty to protect the fundamental relationship b etween owner and producer are still the same. Nobles wanted to extract maximum surplus and gain power, peasants wanted to be free or at the very least have more to eat. The introduction of towns and technology created a possibility for â€Å"free† labour it actually only led to new classes such as bankers and guilders and thus created new conflicts. In modern day society Marx’s theory of class conflict and exploitation is still relevant. TNCs take the role of the nobles or the owner of production and sweatshop workers take the role of peasants, exploited for their cheap labour in order for the TNCs to gain maximum profit and inevitable more power. Increasing intensity of international competition, particularly from Far Eastern countries, where wages are lower, weakens unions’ bargaining power (Western, 1997). In the early development of modern industry, workers had little or no political rights and very little influence over the conditions of work in which they were employed. Unions were developed in order to restore this imbalance of power between workers and their employees. Through Unions workers influence within the workplace was considerably increased. Originally, unions were set up as defensive organizations; workers could stop any overwhelming power that employers enforced on workers’ daily lives. Now, workers have negotiating rights with employers (which means they can press for economic benefits and any problems within the workplace can be discussed). Unions have essentially enabled workers to have a voice within the workplace and in turn have helped the working classes battle through their struggle with the bourgeoisie, as Marx highlighted. â€Å"Of all the classes that stand face to face with the bourgeoisie today, the proletariat alone is a really revolutionary class. The other classes decay and finally disappear in the face of modern industry, the proletariat is its special and essential product.† Marx depicted the working classes as in a constant resistance to acquire a voice/power and the introduction of Unions, especially the dramatic influence Unions gained after the second world war, has made this a possibility. However, alongside international competition, there are several other factors that have created a fall in union density within industries. High levels of unemployment due to recession in the world economic activity, particularly during the 1980s has weakened the bargaining power of labour and the introduction of right-wing governments such as Margaret Thatcher in 1979 led to an aggressive assault on unions throughout the 1980s. These attacks on unions can be seen replicated in the recent conservative coalition government as well. But possibly the most prominent of union failings was seen during the National Union of Minors strike in the UK in 1984-5. Marx believed that â€Å"the proletariat is a revolutionary class† and that at some point the working classes would rise against the owners of production. However, this is unlikely to occur any time soon. Union membership has declined considerably in industrialized countries and right-wing governments are not the only source of blame. High unemployment and more flexible production decrease the force of unionism (unionism works well when many people work together in large factories and there is a collective atmosphere). Having considered this though, Unions are highly unlikely to disappear. Workers individually have very little say or power when it comes to their employment and rely heavily on unions to provide this type of support.   The collective strength that unions give to wo rkers enables the proletariat to carry on with their struggle against the bourgeoisie and as long as unions continue to work hard in stabilizing their position within the economic and political sphere then trade unions are likely to be here to stay. However, the chances of their ever being an uprising as Marx has suggested in his writings is dubious. Dwindling memberships to unions suggest people are losing faith in union support and this implies that workers have almost given up in their â€Å"struggle†. One of the aims of unions is to eradicate discrimination within the workforce. Discrimination in the workplace has always been a recurring issue. Gender divisions within the workplace have never been eradicated, nor has ethnicity (not fully anyway). Divisions of labour between genders have been evident in humanity for thousands of years. Inequality in modern day society is seen as wrong. From an economic view point not making use of everyone’s maximum potential regardless of their gender, class or ethnicity is wasteful. From a Marxist perspective, societies that have inequality will suffer. But for women, it can be questionable if women are in the job market at all? Women suffer from a dual burden (Young, 2000). In modern society women are expected to maintain a job whilst dealing with domestic chores and childcare. Because of these responsibilities thrust upon women, women are more likely to be found in certain job sectors which tend to be low in status. Women are more likely to be found in â€Å"poor quality† jobs (part time, temporary, low pay, long hours, unpleasant, few benefits). Again this seems unlikely to be choice (or not â€Å"free† choice) but some have argued that these jobs reflect women’s preference for jobs compatible with home life and child care. Marxist feminists argue that men benefit from family life at the expense of women. Women as mothers are pressured by culture to have children and to take time out of the labour market to bring them up. These children become the workforce of the future at little or no expense to the capitalist class. This also benefits men, because it means that women cannot compete on a level playing field for jobs or promotion opportunities if their first priority is looking after children. But this male dominance is not universal. Some men are even discriminated against in the workforce due to their class or ethnicity. Factors such as language skills intervene causing racial preferences w ithin the workplace. The â€Å"job application culture† we live in requires individuals to give off first impressions that dazzle, however many companies look for image or whether you would â€Å"fit† in to the company. Not having UK qualifications may make applications harder (if an employer does not recognise a level of qualification he is likely to disregard it). Ethnic minority groups come under discrimination, however not all the time and not everywhere. In some companies whereby international relations are crucial to their business, languages skills may come in useful. But still discrimination occurs, whether it is gendered or ethnic. Arguably not making full use of a persons’ skill is wasteful. Economically it should not matter who a person is or what a person looks like for a job to get done. And Marx, in this instance, is correct in stating that not making full potential of every worker will cause society to suffer. Not just at the level of the company, but also at the level of the individual. Bibliography: Blauner, R. (1964) Alienation and Freedom (Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press) Burchell, B. Et. al (1996) â€Å"Job Insecurity and Work intensification: Flexibility and the Changing boundaries of work† (York: YPS ILO (2003) â€Å"Business and code of conduct implementation: how firms use management systems for social performance† (Geneva: ILO), mimeo Jameson, H. 22 March 2011, â€Å"The Workplace and social democracy in the post-crisis age†, Policy Network, policy-network.net/articles/3981/The-workplace-and-social-democracy-in-the-post-crisis-age, Accessed 25th March 2011 Marx, K. Communist Manifesto. Sennett, R. (1998) The corrosion of character: The personal consequences of work in the new capitalism (London: Norton) Western, B. (1997) Between classes and market: Postwar Unionization in the Capitalist Democracies (Princeton: Princeton University Press) or put poshly appropriate the fruits of our labour but here is the problem according to marx in the evil capitalist system the capitalist (the factory owner) pay the exchange value of labour for an individuals service which is only enough to keep him alive but the capitalist gets the use value of his labour (the total value of the labour) or put poshly appropriate the fruits of our labour but here is the problem according to marx in the evil capitalist system the capitalist (the factory owner) pay the exchange value of labour for an individuals service which is only enough to keep him alive but the capitalist gets the use value of his labour (the total value of the labour)

Raising Capital in the Financial Markets Essays

Raising Capital in the Financial Markets Essays Raising Capital in the Financial Markets Essay Raising Capital in the Financial Markets Essay CHAPTER 14 Raising Capital in the Financial Markets CHAPTER ORIENTATION This chapter considers the market environment in which long-term capital is raised. The underlying rationale for the existence of security markets is presented, investment banking services and procedures are detailed, private placements are discussed, and security market regulation is reviewed. CHAPTER OUTLINE I. The mix of corporate securities sold in the capital market. A. When corporations raise cash in the capital market, what type of financing vehicle is most favored? The answer to this question is corporate bonds. The corporate debt markets clearly dominate the corporate equity markets when new (external) funds are being raised. B. From our discussion on the cost of capital, we understand that the U. S. tax system inherently favors debt as a means of raising capital. During the 1999-2001 period, bonds and notes accounted for about 76. 9 percent of new corporate securities sold for cash. II. Why financial markets exist A. Financial markets consist of institutions and procedures that facilitate transactions in all types of financial claims. B. Some economic units spend more than they earn during a given period of time. Some economic units spend less than they earn. Accordingly, a mechanism is needed to facilitate the transfer of savings from those economic units that have a savings surplus to those that have a savings deficit. Financial markets provide such a mechanism. C. The function of financial markets then is to allocate savings in an economy to the ultimate demander (user) of the savings. D. If there were no financial markets, the wealth of an economy would be lessened. Savings could not be transferred to economic units, such as business firms, which are most in need of those funds. III. Financing business: The movement of funds through the economy. A. In a normal year the household sector is the largest net supplier of funds to the financial markets. We call the household sector then a savings-surplus sector. 1. The household sector can also be a savings-deficit sector. 2. From 1995 – 1999, the household sector was a net user of financial capital as a result of taking advantage of low interest rate mortgages. B. In contrast, the nonfinancial business sector is typically a savings-deficit sector. 1. The nonfinancial business sector can also be a savings-surplus sector. . Economic conditions and corporate profitability influence the ability of this sector to provide funds to the financial market. C. In recent years, the foreign sector has become a major savings-surplus sector. D. Within the domestic economy, the nonfinancial business sector is dependent on the household sector to finance its investment needs. E. The movement of savings through the economy occur s in three distinct ways: 1. The direct transfer of funds 2. Indirect transfer using the investment banker 3. Indirect transfer using the financial intermediary IV. Components of the U. S. financial market system A. Public offerings can be distinguished from private placements. 1. The public (financial) market is an impersonal market in which both individual and institutional investors have the opportunity to acquire securities. a. A public offering takes place in the public market. b. The security-issuing firm does not meet (face-to-face) the actual investors in the securities. 2. In a private placement of securities, only a limited number of investors have the opportunity to purchase a portion of the issue. a. The market for private placements is more personal than its public counterpart. b. The specific details of the issue may actually be developed on a face-to-face basis among the potential investors and the issuer. c. Venture capital (1)Start-up firms often turn to venture capitalists to raise funds. (a)Broader public markets find these firms too risky. (b)Venture capitalists are willing to accept the risks because of an expectation of higher returns. (1)Venture capital firms that acquire equity in a start-up firm manage risk by sitting on the firm’s board of directors r actively monitoring management’s activities. (2)Venture capital is often provided by established non-venture-capitalist firms that take a minority investment position in an emerging firm or create a separate venture capital subsidiary. (a)The investment approach allows the established firm to gain access to new technology and to create strategic alliances. (b)The subsidiary approach allows the established firm to retain human and intellectual capital. B. Primary markets can be distinguished from secondary markets. 1. Securities are first offered for sale in a primary market. For example, the sale of a new bond issue, preferred stock issue, or common stock issue takes place in the primary market. These transactions increase the total stock of financial assets in existence in the economy. 2. Trading in currently existing securities takes place in the secondary market. The total stock of financial assets is unaffected by such transactions. C. The money market can be distinguished from the capital market. 1. The money market consists of the institutions and procedures that provide for transactions in short-term debt instruments which are generally issued by borrowers who have very high credit ratings. . Short-term means that the securities traded in the money market have maturity periods of not more than 1 year. b. Equity instruments are not traded in the money market. c. Typical examples of money market instruments are (l) U. S. Treasury bills, (2) federal agency securities, (3) bankers acceptances, (4) negotiable certificates of deposit, and (5) commercial paper. 2. The capital market consists of the institutions and procedures that provide for transactions in long-term financial instruments. This market encompasses those securities that have maturity periods extending beyond 1 year. D. Organized security exchanges can be distinguished from over-the-counter markets. 1. Organized security exchanges are tangible entities whose activities are governed by a set of bylaws. Security exchanges physically occupy space and financial instruments are traded on such premises. a. Major stock exchanges must comply with a strict set of reporting requirements established by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). These exchanges are said to be registered. b. Organized security exchanges provide several benefits to both corporations and investors. They (l) provide a continuous market, (2) establish and publicize fair security prices, and (3) help businesses raise new financial capital. c. A corporation must take steps to have its securities listed on an exchange in order to directly receive the benefits noted above. Listing criteria differ from exchange to exchange. 2. Over-the-counter markets include all security markets except the organized exchanges. The money market is a prominent example. Most corporate bonds are traded over-the-counter. . NASDAQ, a telecommunication system providing an information link among brokers and dealers in the OTC markets, accounted for 43% of the national exchange equity market trading in the U. S. , measured in dollar volume for the year 1998. Nasdaq Stock Market, Inc. trades securities of over 3,600 public companies as of 2002. V. The Investment Banker A. The investment banker is a financial specialist wh o acts as an intermediary in the selling of securities. The investment banker works for an investment banking house (firm). B. Three basic functions are provided by the investment banker: 1. The investment banker assumes the risk of selling a new security issue at a satisfactory (profitable) price. This is called underwriting. Typically, the investment banking house, along with the underwriting syndicate, actually buys the new issue from the corporation that is raising funds. The syndicate (group of investment banking firms) then sells the issue to the investing public at a higher (hopefully) price than it paid for it. 2. The investment banker provides for the distribution of the securities to the investing public. 3. The investment banker advises firms on the details of selling securities. C. Several distribution methods are available for placing new securities into the hands of final investors. The investment bankers role is different in each case. 1. In a negotiated purchase, the firm in need of funds contacts an investment banker and begins the sequence of steps leading to the final distribution of the securities that will be offered. The price that the investment banker pays for the securities is negotiated with the issuing firm. 2. In a competitive-bid purchase, the investment banker and underwriting syndicate are selected by an auction process. The syndicate willing to pay the greatest dollar amount per new security to the issuing firm wins the competitive bid. This means that it will underwrite and distribute the issue. In this situation, the price paid to the issuer is not negotiated; instead, it is determined by a sealed-bid process much on the order of construction bids. 3. In a commission (or best-efforts), offering the investment banker does not act as an underwriter but rather attempts to sell the issue in return for a fixed commission on each security that is actually sold. Unsold securities are simply returned to the firm hoping to raise funds. . In a privileged subscription, the new issue is not offered to the investing public. It is sold to a definite and limited group of investors. Current stockholders are often the privileged group. 5. In a direct sale, the issuing firm sells the securities to the investing public without involving an investment banker in the process. This is not a typical procedure. VI. More o n Private placements: The Debt Side A. Each year billions of dollars of new securities are privately (directly) placed with final investors. In a private placement, a small number of investors purchase the entire security offering. Most private placements involve debt instruments. B. Large financial institutions are the major investors in private placements. These include (l) life insurance firms, (2) state and local retirement funds, and (3) private pension funds. C. The advantages and disadvantages of private placements as opposed to public offerings must be carefully evaluated by management. 1. The advantages include (a) greater speed than a public offering in actually obtaining the needed funds, (b) lower flotation costs than are associated with a public issue, and (c) increased flexibility in the financing contract. 2. The disadvantages include (a) higher interest costs than are ordinarily associated with a comparable public issue, (b) the imposition of restrictive covenants in the financing contract, and (c) the possibility that the security may have to be registered some time in the future at the lenders option. VII. Flotation costs A. The firm raising long-term capital typically incurs two types of flotation costs: (l) the underwriters spread and (2) issuing costs. The former is typically the larger. 1. The underwriters spread is the difference between the gross and net proceeds from a specific security issue. This absolute dollar difference is usually expressed as a percent of the gross proceeds. 2. Many components comprise issue costs. The two most significant are (l) printing and engraving and (2) legal fees. For comparison purposes, these are usually expressed as a percent of the issues gross proceeds. B. SEC data reveal two relationships about flotation costs. 1. Issue costs (as a percent of gross proceeds) for common stock exceed those of preferred stock, which exceed those of bonds. 2. Total flotation costs per dollar raised decrease as the dollar size of the security issue increases. VIII. Regulation A. The primary market is governed by the Securities Act of 1933. 1. The intent of this federal regulation is to provide potential investors with accurate and truthful disclosure about the firm and the new securities being sold. 2. Unless exempted, the corporation selling securities to the public must register the securities with the SEC. 3. Exemptions allow follow for a variety of conditions. For example, if the size of the offering is small enough (less than $1. 5 million), the offering does not have to be registered. If the issue is already regulated or controlled by some other federal agency, registration with the SEC is not required. Railroad issues and public utility issues are examples. 4. If not exempted, a registration statement is filed with the SEC containing particulars about the security-issuing firm and the new security. 5. A copy of the prospectus, a summary registration statement, is also filed. It will not yet have the selling price of the security printed on it; it is referred to as a red herring and called that until approved by the SEC. 6. If the information in the registration statement and prospectus is satisfactory to the SEC, the firm can proceed to sell the new issue. If the information is not satisfactory, a stop order is issued which prevents the immediate sale of the issue. Deficiencies have to be corrected to the satisfaction of the SEC before the firm can sell the securities. 7. The SEC does not evaluate the investment quality of any issue. It is concerned instead with the presentation of complete and accurate information upon which the potential investor can act. B. The secondary market is regulated by the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. This federal act created the SEC. It has many aspects. 1. Major security exchanges must register with the SEC. 2. Insider trading must be reported to the SEC. 3. Manipulative trading that affects security prices is prohibited. 4. Proxy procedures are controlled by the SEC. 5. The Federal Reserve Board has the responsibility of setting margin requirements. This affects the proportion of a security purchase that can be made via credit. C. The Securities Acts Amendments of 1975 touched on three important issues. 1. Congress mandated the creation of a national market system (NMS). Implementation details of the NMS were left to the SEC. Agreement on the final form of the NMS is yet to come. 2. Fixed commissions (also called fixed brokerage rates) on public transactions in securities were eliminated. 3. Financial institutions, like commercial banks and insurance firms, were prohibited from acquiring membership on stock exchanges where their purpose in so doing might be to reduce or save commissions on their own trades. D. In March 1982, the SEC adopted Rule 415. This process is now known as a shelf registration or a shelf offering. . This allows the firm to avoid the lengthy, full registration process each time a public offering of securities is desired. 2. In effect, a master registration statement that covers the financing plans of the firm over the coming two years is filed with the SEC. After approval, the securities are sold to the investing public in a piecemeal fashion or off the shelf. 3. Prior to each specific offering, a short statement about the iss ue is filed with the SEC. E. Congress passed in July 2002 the Public Company Accounting Reform and Investor Protection Act. The short name for the act became the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. 1. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act was passed as the result of a large series of corporate indiscretions. 2. The act contains 11 â€Å"titles† which tightened significantly the latitudes given to corporate advisors (like accountants, lawyers, company officers, and boards of directors) who have access to or influence company decisions. 3. The initial title of the act created the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board. This board’s purpose is to regulate the accounting industry relative to public companies that they audit. Members are appointed by the SEC. . As recently June of 2003, the oversight board itself published a set of ethics rules to police its own set of activities. IX. The Multinational Firm: Efficient Financial Markets and Intercountry Risk A. The United States’ highly developed, complex and competitive financial markets facilitate the transfer of savings from the saving-surplus sector to the saving-deficit sector. B. Multinational firms are reluctant to invest in countries with ineffective financial systems. 1. Financial and political systems lacking integrity will often be rejected for direct investment by multinational firms. . Countries that experience significant devaluation of its currency may also be considered too risky for investment. ANSWERS TO END-OF-CHAPTER QUESTIONS 14-1. Financial markets are institutions and procedures that facilitate transactions in all types of financial claims. Financial markets perform the function of allocating savings in the economy to the ultimate demander(s) of the savings. Without these financial markets, the total wealth of the economy would be lessened. Financial markets aid the rate of capital formation in the economy. 14-2. A financial intermediary issues its own type of security which is called an indirect security. It does this to attract funds. Once the funds are attracted, the intermediary purchases the financial claims of other economic units in order to generate a return on the invested funds. A life insurance company, for example, issues life insurance policies (its indirect security) and buys corporate bonds in large quantities. 14-3. The money market consists of all institutions and procedures that accomplish transactions in short-term debt instruments issued by borrowers with (typically) high credit ratings. Examples of securities traded in the money market include U. S. Treasury Bills, bankers’ acceptances, and commercial paper. Notice that all of these are debt instruments. Equity securities are not traded in the money market. It is entirely an over-the-counter market. On the other hand, the capital market provides for transactions in long-term financial claims (those claims with maturity periods extending beyond one year). Trades in the capital market can take place on organized security exchanges or over-the-counter markets. 14-4. Organized stock exchanges provide for: (1)A continuous market. This means a series of continuous security prices is generated. Price changes between trades are dampened, reducing price volatility, and enhancing the liquidity of securities. (2)Establishing and publicizing fair security prices. Prices on an organized exchange are determined in the manner of an auction. Moreover, the prices are published in widely available media like newspapers. (3)An aftermarket to aid businesses in the flotation of new security issues. The continuous pricing mechanism provided by the exchanges facilitates the determination of offering prices in new flotations. The initial buyer of the new issue has a ready market in which he can sell the security should he need liquidity rather than a financial asset. 14-5. The criteria for listing can be labeled as follows: (1) profitability; (2) size; (3) market value; (4) public ownership. 14-6. Most bonds are traded among very large financial institutions. Life insurance companies and pension funds are typical examples. These institutions deal in large quantities (blocks) of securities. An over-the-counter bond dealer can easily bring together a few buyers and sellers of these large quantities of bonds. By comparison, common stocks are owned by millions of investors. The organized exchanges are necessary to accomplish the fragmented trading in equities. 14-7. The investment banker is a middleman involved in the channeling of savings into long-term investment. He performs the functions of: (1) underwriting; (2) distributing; (3) advising. By assuming underwriting risk, the investment banker and his syndicate purchase the securities from the issuer and hope to sell them at a higher price. Distributing the securities means getting those financial claims into the hands of the ultimate investor. This is accomplished through the syndicates selling group. Finally, the investment banker can provide the corporate client with sound advice on which type of security to issue, when to issue it, and how to price it. 14-8. In a negotiated purchase, the corporate security issuer and the managing investment banker negotiate the price that the investment banker will pay the issuer for the new offering of securities. In a competitive-bid situation, the price paid to the corporate security issuer is determined by competitive (sealed) bids, which are submitted by several nvestment banking syndicates hoping to win the right to underwrite the offering. 14-9. Investment banking syndicates are established for three key reasons: (1) the investment banker who originates the business probably cannot afford to purchase the entire new issue himself; (2) to spread the risk of loss among several underwriters; (3) to widen the distribution network. 14-10. Several positive benefits are associated with p rivate placements. The first is speed. Funds can be obtained quickly, primarily due to the absence of a required registration with the SEC. Second, flotation costs are lower as compared to public offerings of the same dollar size. Third, greater financing flexibility is associated with the private placement. All of the funds, for example, need not be borrowed at once. They can be taken over a period of time. Elements of the debt contract can also be renegotiated during the life of the loan. 14-11. As a percent of gross proceeds, flotation costs are inversely related to the dollar size of the new issue. Additionally, common stock is more expensive to issue than preferred stock, which is more expensive to issue than debt. 4-12. The answer on this is clear. The corporate debt markets dominate the corporate equity markets when new funds are raised. The tax system of the U. S. economy favors debt financing by making interest expense deductible from income when computing the firms federal tax liability. Consider all corporate securities offered for cash over the period 1999-2001. The percentage of the total represented by bond s and notes was 76. 9 percent compared to 23. 1 percent equity. 14-13. The household sector is the largest net supplier of savings to the financial markets. Foreign financial investors have recently been net suppliers of savings to the financial markets. On the other hand, the nonfinancial corporate business sector is most often a savings-deficit sector. The U. S. Government sector too is a deficit sector in most years. 14-14. First, there may be a direct transfer of savings from the investor to the borrower. Second, there may be an indirect transfer that used the services provided by an investment banker. Third, there may be an indirect transfer that uses the services of a financial intermediary. Private pension funds and life insurance companies are prominent examples of the latter case.

Consumer Behavior Example

Consumer Behavior Example Consumer Behavior – Coursework Example Consumer Behavior Consumer Behavior Complaints against Wal-Mart According to the complaints posted by consumers on the independent complaints website Consumer Affairs, it can be inferred that a number of consumers are not satisfied with the service of Wal-Mart. According to one of the complaints, the customer had to face disappointment because no one from the staff helped him out with his queries. According to another customer, the staff did not have knowledge regarding the products available at Wal-Mart therefore he could not find the product he was looking for. Therefore, the company should conduct trainings for its staff in order to enable the staff to satisfy the customers (ConsumerAffairs.com).Complaints against DisneyAccording the complaints posted on an independent website by consumers, it can be inferred that Disney does not treat its customers empathetically. There have been complaints against the Disney cruise by a number of customers. According to one of the customers, he booked a cruise and received a booklet only to find out the dates were incorrect. When he called to find out the problem, he was told that there could be no modifications and the charges to cancel the booking were unusually high. Therefore, Disney should revise its policies to make them consumer friendly (ConsumerAffairs.com).Complaints against SaturnSaturn is a popular car but there have also been complaints about it by a number of consumers on an independent complaints website. According to one of the consumers, the key got stuck in ignition and the consumer was unable to turn down the engine. According to the consumer, the same problem was faced by a number of other consumers as well. Another problem had to face a problem with starting the car in cold or damn mornings. Similarly, other problems faced by consumers were locking of the ignition switch, problem with door locks, and automatic acceleration. Therefore, the company should initiate quality control procedures in order to e nsure that the vehicles do not have any problem. The company should also conduct a survey in order to realize the main problems faced by the consumers (ConsumerAffairs.com).ReferencesConsumerAffairs.com. Wal-Mart. Retrieved March 24, 2011 from consumeraffairs.com/retail/walmart.htmConsumerAffairs.com. Disney Cruises. Retrieved March 24, 2011 from consumeraffairs.com/travel/disney_cruises.htmConsumerAffairs.com. Saturn. Retrieved March 24, 2011 from consumeraffairs.com/automotive/saturn.htm

Chemistery Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Chemistery - Essay Example Suggest a suitable (iv) Using curly arrows, draw a mechanism to account for the synthetic transformations from 4 to 3 and then to 2.reagent for this reaction. Using curly arrows, draw a mechanism for this reaction. (ii) 2-Methoxybuta-1,3-diene (9) can react with ethyl propenoate (10) under thermal conditions. Identify the major product of this reaction. Use curly arrows to indicate the bond making and breaking steps which form the product. 3.Usnic acid (12) is a dibenzofuran derivative found in several lichen species and possesses a wide range of biological functions, including antibacterial properties. Usnic acid can be readily formed from compound 11, which can be prepared from compound 13 by a sequence of reactions. (Note: compound 13 is a minor tautomer of compound 13a.) Carry out a retrosynthetic analysis of compound 13, showing that 14 and 15 are the starting reagents. Your retrosynthetic analysis should clearly indicate the disconnections, the synthons thus generated and the reagents corresponding to each

Financial Intermediaries Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Financial Intermediaries - Assignment Example A drawback of the approach is that it is hard to observe bank conduct and that the approach excludes foreign banks in the determination of competition (Bell, Brooks and Prokopczuk, 2013 p.197). The Panzar-Rosse H-Statistic relates a firm’s conduct with models of different market structures such as monopoly, monopolistic competition, imperfect competition or perfect competition (Schaeck, Cihak and Wolfe, 2009 p.715). It demonstrates how the elasticity of a firm’s revenue differs under the different market structures. Although the model is quite straightforward under monopoly and perfect competition, imperfect competition, and monopolistic competition pose some complexities for this approach. The H-Statistic also assumes equilibrium for the banking market in the long-run. The Lerner Index uses the relationship between a firm’s price and marginal cost as a basis for the measurement of the firm’s market power. The index is a reciprocal of the price elasticity of demand and indicates the proportion price exceeds marginal cost. A disadvantage of the Lerner index is that it fails to demonstrate the substitutability of a product (Bell et al., 2013 206). The Boone Indicator assesses, in terms of strength, the relationship between efficiency and performance. Accordingly, superior performance is achievable for more efficient banks. Under competitive market conditions, banks show more aggression in order to achieve the superior performance as compared to competitors (Bell et al., 2013 p.206). The Boone Indicator does not share the disadvantages of the H-Statistic and the Lerner Index. It demonstrates the aggression more efficient banks employ in the exploitation of their cost advantage. As a measure of competition, Persistence of Profits proposes that entry and exit provide a sufficient avenue for the elimination of abnormal profits. Accordingly, profit rates for all firms would converge towards some average value in the

Aviation strategy- course assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4500 words

Aviation strategy- course assignment - Essay Example Making use of its point to point flights, the airlines gives regular direct flights for the short distances, for example from Los Angeles to Las Vegas, etc. In 2008, Southwest served 438 nonstop city pairs, in 64 cities in 32 states and carried over 101.9 million passengers, the most of any domestic carrier. As the low-fare leader, Southwest's average ticket price was $119.16 in 2008, up from $106.60 in 2007 compared to an average price of $139.40 in 2008 at its closest competitor, Jet Blue. The Southwest Airlines has a focused strategy, it has defined target market and does not scramble its efforts to gain benefits from all over. Instead, it has selected a niche segment, to cater their needs better. Target market - the market that the company focuses are the low cost and value conscious travellers, with no frills but a comfy journey. It focuses on customers that have to travel short haul, these include passengers that travel for their business, are time conscious as well and also include residential customers that prefer travelling for vacations and seeking best value for their spending. Product offering - With focused target market, Southwest has a differentiated product (service) offering, it describes its service offering as short haul, low fare, high frequency, and a point to point carrier in the United States' airline industry. The informal and casual but dignified journey experience is the whole package. It does not provide meals, a pack of peanuts would do, there are no assigned places, no transfer of luggage and no class differentiation either, in form of first class or the business class etc. Whilst the average cost of a meal serve per passenger in the airlines industry is approximately $5, the cost for Southwest airlines is around 20 cents (Rose, 1999)3. Pricing structure - since Southwest Airlines distinguishes itself as the low fare

Executive summary Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Executive summary - Assignment Example The business would follow an incremental business expansion pattern, towards other areas such as Beverly Hills, Santa Monica, Venice, Inglewood, North Hollywood and Glendale, in the initial phase of expansion. Numerous franchise units would also be opened in these areas, as per the demand and sales forecast. To provide gluten-free breads and desserts of the highest quality, that can satisfy the customer’s taste buds at an affordable price. We are committed to respecting our employees, suppliers, vendors and customers alike, following a strict non - discrimination policy with a strong belief and motto to enhance the health and well being of our community as a whole. ‘Glutopia Gluten-free Desserts and Breads’ is an American enterprise, established to serve the gluten and lactose intolerant population of the nation, for customers of all age groups – young and elderly. The company aims to fill the current gap in the market and constantly innovate newer recipes that promise to enhance nutrition and taste at an attractive and affordable price. The company would be headquartered in Los Angeles and cater to three large cities in close proximity with an efficient logistics and supply chain system. The outlets would be situated in prime localities, with a young customer base. The enterprise would obtain all the necessary licenses and strive to meet the health standards of the regulatory bodies. It is widely acknowledged that proper planning and formal structuring of business processes leads to greater success in the service sector (Gottfridsson (2011). Thus, the entire Business Plan must comprehensively address all major departments, activities, processes and protocols, for the smooth functioning of the business. The company’s growth strategy would be to open franchise units in each of these cities in its initial phase of expansion. The target customer sectors would be individuals with health issues or religious concerns and

Television Advertising and Gender Stereotypes Essay

Television Advertising and Gender Stereotypes - Essay Example It should not be surprising then that gender roles are already fully enforced by the time the child leaves for school since daytime television represents the most egregious period for the reproduction of traditional gender stereotypes that coerce a commitment to meeting them from both the impressionable child and, typically, the mother whose influence over the child's developing mind is in conflict with the most entertaining and available substitute for the missing father, the television set. Television commercials are among the most effective when it comes to media reproduction of the existing gender ideologies by simple virtue of the ubiquity of the set itself. In the United States, for instance, it has been estimated that the percentage of population that has at least one television inside their home is a staggering 98%, and further the average member of these households spend more than the equivalent of one full 24 hour day per week watching television (Coltrone, Adams 325) Throughout the history of television advertising right up to contemporary times, the images that are projected and reinforced in commercials have been unsatisfying at best and demeaning at worst. Invariably, female characters are presented as objects of sexual domination who seem to exist entirely to prepare themselves for the approval of the male. At the same time, male characters are typically portrayed in such a way as to intensify the acceptance of aggressive behavior and the urge to dominate while engaging in every imaginable activity (Ruth 388.) Stereotypes are reinforced with more attention paid toward the gender dependent upon the demographics of the viewing audience, and within these minor recalculation there exists ever more subtle calibrations of the effect. For instance since the beginning of television history the daytime has been devoted to viewing aimed predominantly at females in the form of soap operas, cooking shows and children's cartoons. The demographics have certainly changed over the decades with more women entering the workplace and more men staying at home, but contemporary daytime television is still dominated by soap operas and discussion shows like Oprah Winfrey. As a result the changing lifestyles, often the gender stereotyping becomes so subtle as to be unobserved by casual viewers (Craig 209). Men are most often portrayed as confident and independent while women are generally more passive and less ambitious. This engendering of hidden stereotyp es can be as thinly veiled as showing men in suits and a tie acting in a corporate setting while women are shown dressed more casually and hanging out with friends. Commercials and advertisements offered during the daylight hours have traditionally served the purpose of reinforcing the ideological naturalization that places men firmly into the authoritarian and patriarchal role while strengthening the belief that women should associate femininity with submission (Perse 167). Even on 21st century television commercials women are invariably shown to be primarily interested in household duties and motherly obligations. The role of the housewife and by extension all women is to not only service the male and his

Executive summary Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Executive summary - Assignment Example The business would follow an incremental business expansion pattern, towards other areas such as Beverly Hills, Santa Monica, Venice, Inglewood, North Hollywood and Glendale, in the initial phase of expansion. Numerous franchise units would also be opened in these areas, as per the demand and sales forecast. To provide gluten-free breads and desserts of the highest quality, that can satisfy the customer’s taste buds at an affordable price. We are committed to respecting our employees, suppliers, vendors and customers alike, following a strict non - discrimination policy with a strong belief and motto to enhance the health and well being of our community as a whole. ‘Glutopia Gluten-free Desserts and Breads’ is an American enterprise, established to serve the gluten and lactose intolerant population of the nation, for customers of all age groups – young and elderly. The company aims to fill the current gap in the market and constantly innovate newer recipes that promise to enhance nutrition and taste at an attractive and affordable price. The company would be headquartered in Los Angeles and cater to three large cities in close proximity with an efficient logistics and supply chain system. The outlets would be situated in prime localities, with a young customer base. The enterprise would obtain all the necessary licenses and strive to meet the health standards of the regulatory bodies. It is widely acknowledged that proper planning and formal structuring of business processes leads to greater success in the service sector (Gottfridsson (2011). Thus, the entire Business Plan must comprehensively address all major departments, activities, processes and protocols, for the smooth functioning of the business. The company’s growth strategy would be to open franchise units in each of these cities in its initial phase of expansion. The target customer sectors would be individuals with health issues or religious concerns and

Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptor Delta Polymorphisms Are Essay - 1

Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptor Delta Polymorphisms Are Associated With - Essay Example tivity appropriated; then PPAR delta genes involved in fatty acid oxidation in adipocytes and skeletal muscle cells through promoting appropriated fatty acid oxidation. Indeed, following the research data showed that essential role in blood lipid metabolism plays PPAR delta gene. These were establishes from distinguish studies such as treating with a PPAR dalta agonists that increase plasma high density lipoprotein (HDL-C) and screening 5’ untranslated region of the human PPAR delta gene for DNA sequence variants where identified four polymorphisms. Such as T/C transition in nucleotide 15 of exon 4 was associated with plasma LDL-cholesterol levels in two cohorts of healthy men, than rare C allele correlated with higher LDL levels, was associated with higher transcriptional activity in vitro, and to affect binding of transcription factor. The conclusion is that DNA sequence variation in the PPAR delta locus is a potential modifier of changes in cardiorespiratory fitness and pla sma HDL cholesterol during regular exercise. (Hautalla et al., 2007) According to the World Health Organization, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, obesity, cancer, mental diseases, osteoporosis, caused 60% of the world’s mortality in 1999, and according to current estimations they will be responsible for 73% of deaths by the year 2020.Endeed homeostasis and energy balance, achieving during exercise should reduced these epidemic dieses from spreading. Homeostasis of energy and fitness is correlated with nuclear receptors peroxisome proliferator activated receptors (PPARs) .The key to glucose, lipid and protein metabolism is hiding in PPAR alpha and PPAR gamma, which stay uncovered, but data confirmed the key role of PPAR delta in lipid metabolism. Involvement was proved in metabolic disorder such as metabolic syndrome, arteriosclerosis and cardiovascular disease. So sensors for fatty acid, PPARs, the controller of metabolic pathway, bona fide members, are encored by 48 genes in humans

Advantages of working from home Essay Example for Free

Advantages of working from home Essay There is a trend towards making jobs more mobile and allowing employees to access work remotely from home. Technology has also made a great contribution allowing people to work from home. Equipments such as computers, facsimile machines, telephones etc. have revolutionized the work industry and this trend has helped employers, employees and the state at large. An International Telework Association survey found that the number of teleworking employees grew from 41.3 million in 2003 to 44.4 million in 2005 and projects that number to climb to 51 million by 2008 (Marcia Reed-Woodard, Dec 2005). For a company, employees working from home may save them time, space and money. But for an employee, the benefits are much greater. In addition to the above mentioned factors, the employees benefit with flexibility in working hours, avoid distractions and family commitments are easily fulfilled. The greatest advantage is the time factor which can make the job much comfortable working from home. Often at times, time, becomes your ally, expanding or contracting to conform to specific work assignments. The pressure to finish the work or to look busy even when you are not, is eliminated. Therefore, you can fix your own work hours, more or less, as required. You do not have to reach work on time or give a reason for being late, relieving everyday stress. In an event of sickness, you do not need to get a medical or present a reason to the boss. You can still get some work done instead of remaining idle at home. Lunch can be managed and repair works can be done easily while being at home. You can set your own target and get maximum work done according to your wish. You avoid getting in traffic by driving for long hours to get to work and hence you save on fuel charges, car maintenance and also your precious time. Even if you take a two hour lunch no one can punish you as you are your own boss. Secondly, you avoid distractions around you while working at home. You can avoid difficult co-workers who can make your life stressful at work. Also bullies and gossipers can be avoided to give a good peace of mind. Sometimes there are office politics, like the boss favours some one and constantly looks at what you are doing. This calamity avoided can become a boon in concentrating on more work and reaping more benefits since peacefully you can get extra work done without having to face comments from co-workers or boss on the spot. At work you may come in contact with customers who are offensive, abusive etc. while at home no such instances can bother you. Thirdly, you can be with your family and get your work done simultaneously. The notion that parents do not spend time with children can be avoided and proper care can be taken of them at home. Children get more attention and life can be healthier when people around you are happy, and this can boost your self confidence and esteem. If any family member is sick or needs to get some attention, then this task is easily accomplished as you are your own boss. You can take your own decisions at your own will. Members of the family can be of great help when you have a large amount of work such as, typing a report, which can be done by anyone mature enough in the house or also your close friend or relative. Children can have an opportunity to see what their parents do for a living. The financial benefits are also very attractive. Instead of waiting for a boss to give you a raise or a promotion, the amount of money you can earn is directly related to your own performance. Whether the business is the sole means of support or a secondary income, its earning potential is up to you. These days, people who have been frequently shut out of job markets, for example, homemakers, students, retirees, to name a few, can use their home business to create new income opportunities. You save on travel expenses and you do not have to send your children to nurseries if you can be at home, so substantial savings can be made. In conclusion, working from home can be very relaxing and comfortable. We can see that working from home increases efficiency due to fewer distractions, and much greater benefits are reaped due to less stress and office complications. Today more people have home-based businesses, which increases the use of new ideas to generate income. Hence, working from home can be very rewarding and it may be a dream come true if in the future you own a business with your own ideas and independent thinking. References: -Scarry, Sandra and John Scarry. The writers workplace 6th  edition. http://choosing-careers.suite101.com/article.cfm/five_reasons_to_be_self_employedhttp://ezinearticles.com/?7-Benefits-of-Working-At-Homeid=51130http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/bdotg/action/detail?type=RESOURCESitemId=1073791632

Changes in Teacher Ideologies

Changes in Teacher Ideologies Summarise discuss: Sullivan, K. (1997). Theyve opened Pandoras Box: Educational reform, the new right and teachers ideologies. ln M. Olssen K. Morris Matthews. (Eds.), Education policy in New Zealand (pp. 254-261). Palmerston North, New Zealand: Dunmore Press. (extracts) From page 254: Education Reform and Competing Ideologies Within the extract under investigation, Sullivan is building a case to legitimise his theory that Teachers fundamental professional and ideological principals and intentions are just as important as what and how they teach. In order to clarify his point he provides a model for defining what exactly the concept of an ideology in isolation involves and in the context of educational theories. In his argument he persuades the reader to accept that an ideology is a pre-conceived notion of what humans and in this context in particular teachers are programmed to consider appropriate and exceptional; that an ideology is an individual belief system which can alter politically but not necessarily physically. During the time this piece was written a number of educational reforms were taking place in New Zealand and teacher’s roles were having to adapt accordingly, with the school authorities and boards of trustees exacting greater control over them as employees. Consequently losing them a great deal of freedom within their teaching positions. The extract under discussion proposes that the traditional ideology adopted by most teachers is a humanist approach to life and working with children and adults in a l earning capacity. That this humanist ideal is fundamental to their character and instinctive responsibility as a teacher, or as Sullivan conveys ‘their ideology is largely intuitive and implied, based on some important but usually unstated assumptions’. He then goes on to list these assumptions in detail and proposes the notion that they have deep rooted understandings of how their own role functions under the auspices of the government and the traditional understanding of what they have always meant to mean education in its original context. The rationale for presenting this understanding is in relation to the writer’s broader argument relating to the New Right movement in New Zealand politics which has implemented new educational reforms in antithesis to this humanist ideology. Holistically Sullivan’s overall understanding and opinion of how teachers are adapting is by way of building themselves a new ideology which remains humanist but is also applying a resistance and reinforced method of working practice in response to the government’s new line and legislation. However Sullivan’s theories are not merely a personal observation, the outcomes of his conclusions have emerged from empirical data that he collated from interviews undertaken with fifty primary and intermediate school teachers employed in the Greater Wellington area of New Zealand. The new Education system in New Zealand adheres to an ideology which is essentially anti-humanist and the article is written at a time when the country had been dominated by New Right ideologies. These were in stark contrast to the humanist and liberal ideas that dominated Education in the decades before. The article quotes the progressive Educational pioneer John Dewey. He adhered to the opinion that only constant good is change for the good. Dewey did not measure levels of success based on standards, rather against human inspiration and passion (Tiles, 1990). And it is these measures of standards that Sullivan is critical of in his paper. This is emphasized further in Sullivan’s study Teachers Standards and Professionalism where he suggests that teachers have become pawns in the movement to implement right wing ideology across the country, criticising the new management approach to learning which appears to operate more as a business enterprise. How teachers have lost their authority to parents who dictate the way in which they now function. The modern philosophy of the New Right can be attributed to the breakdown of the original ideals of the Welfare State, reflected not only in New Zealand but in many countries around the world who adopted these principles during and following the outcomes of the Second World War. In particular with the English Government during the 1980’s and the new Conservative driven Education Reform Act of 1988. (Lingard et al, 1993) This new devolved system in New Zealand moved from a centralized arrangement to a structure whereby schools now take responsibility for their own governance and management. The country’s Ministry of education which was established under the 1989 Education Act takes forward the following aims and objectives: provides education policy advice to the Minister of Education and the Government; purchases services on behalf of the Crown; allocates funding and resources to schools and early childhood education providers; oversees the implementation of approved education policies; manages special education services; collects and processes education statistics and information; and monitors the effectiveness of the education system as a whole with ‘Separate education agencies hav(ing) national responsibilities for qualifications and quality assurance’. Additionally most education providers operate independently from Government and are rather controlled by boards of trustees or elected councils. Sourced from: http://www.minedu.govt.nz/educationSectors/InternationalEducation/ForInternationalStudentsAndParents/NewZealandEducationSystemAnOverview/Central_Agencies_and_Providers_A_Devolved_System.aspx, Date accessed 16/10/08 Teachers have consequently needed to adapt and find a new position for themselves as basic blue-collar working classroom teachers in a non-democratic environment. As such this has forced them to build new relationships and alliances with Boards of Trustees and amongst civil society. (Gordon, 1992) To discuss the context of this new change in thinking across New Zealand it has not merely acted in response to the UK government but has primarily acted on the issues that occurred during the 1970’s and 80’s when the country was witness to significant problems relating to trade, business, the balance of power and a dwindling economy. It was these concerns that paved the way for changes to the education system as a means of improving the national standards of the workforce and employment opportunities. (Perris, 1998) The New Right philosophy brings with it a complete list of ideals that include the necessity to implement order, reinstate traditional values, social hierarchy and family responsibility. (Dale and Ozga, taken from Lingard et al, 1993) In addition there is a strong emphasis on the relationship between power and knowledge, including a set of educational benchmarks to achieve forward New Right thinking. These predominantly include: That education should be structured in a way that enables parental influence to succeed over quality Education should be provided within a diverse range of institutions, to which admission is based on selection Provision of Education should be accountable to the parents, by way of the appraisal of teachers and through the frequent testing of students and teachers, with the right of publication of these results. (Bell and Gilbert,1996) Prior to this New Right trend vision which sought to improve schools on the basis of poor economies, gaps in the workforce and ill preparation of young people for the workplace, all curriculum development was governed by the Curriculum Division of the Department of Education and was reviewed regularly with ‘input from subject committees, the Department of Education, teacher groups, training colleges and independent schools. Later included university teachers†¦.’ This philosophy carried on into the 1950’s with a curriculum which was developed and delivered by educators who were considered the most authoritative to do so. (Davis, 2007) This was in line with the traditional concepts established during the 1877 Act which adhered to the National Public School system, with native New Zealand schools falling under the control of the Department of Education and Public Schools ministered by Education Boards. Therefore from 1879 there were two systems of state schools running alongside each other. It was the intention then to eventually integrate the teaching of native and ‘new’ residents to the country, although this was never successfully achieved. The state took control of Education in New Zealand in 1877, adopting a policy which epitomized neutrality. Even the teaching of religion was prohibited. (Bell and Gilbert, 1996). A new Education Act was taken forward in 1914 which sought primarily to consolidate all those strategies of the 1877 legislation and to make further developments to benefit Secondary Education and administration. This was followed up with 43 further amendments until A Commission on Educat ion was conducted in 1962 recommending improvements to teaching salaries, curriculum development, teacher training and the need to reduce class sizes. The proceeding 1964 Education Act failed however to implement any of these recommended changes and merely reinforced the previous statutes. (McClaren, 1974) The Curriculum Division which had been so progressive following the Second World War and into the 1950’s closed in 1989, with the politics of the New Right now dominating the future for educational reform across the country. Much of what had been established during the 1877 Act ‘An Act to make provision for the further Education of the people of New Zealand’ (McClaren,1974) was torn apart in 1989 and reinforced with an Education Amendment Act in 1990 and four further amendments the following year. Interestingly in McClaren’s Education in a small Democracy he emphasizes the negative aspects of Government control throughout this long period of history and the excessive amount of education administration structures that existed, which served to create an often bureaucratic and ineffectual Education system. For example he quotes ‘In 1972 25,000 laymen were working sometimes at cross purposes in the interests of separate, largely isolated sectors of the education system, their energies more often devoted to the improvement of lavatories than to the advancement of learning.’ It is an interesting contrasting theory to that of Sullivan who blames the new market ethos for undermining the ability and capacity of teachers to carry out their role effectively as essentially humanist, bureaucratic actors working for the fundamental ‘social good’ of the child and society as a whole. Considering the business culture of the New Right to be affecting the ideologies inherent in teachers and their philosophy to react against anti-humanist thinking. Sullivan insinuates in his paper ‘Educational reform, the New Right and teachers ideologies’ that teachers are essentially being forced to work against the best interests of the child and instead are having to accommodate the economics and politics being addressed by the parents, Boards of Trustees and civic bodies that they are now accountable to. The Guide to Print Culture in Aotearoa tells us that The Education Act 1877 existed to provide free, compulsory and secular education and standardized r eading systems. The emphasis of the curriculum stressed reading and writing and children were graded according against their ability measured by six standards. The reading texts were predominantly moral tales that were written for the benefit of British council schools and upheld strong values and morals and were ‘directed towards civic and moral duty’ all those considerations that are taken into account by the New Right ideology and yet quite clearly existed in the annals of the original 1877 agenda. Over a century of government control is obviously going to affect the way in which a country adapts to new measures of educational implementation and as Sullivan addresses; it is not necessarily a complete change for teaching staff that is necessary in order to work to a new ideology, but rather a need to maintain their own individual ideologies, whilst adjusting to the New Right agenda. However it is apparent that many of the original ideals of the 1877 Act and those that were adhered to and reinforced decades after are themselves questionable. Schools were segregated and their still remained everyday problems amongst the teaching profession. Department of Education Inspectors reports citing the methods and most significant problems and complaints made by teachers was the lack of reading books and materials for the children to work with. Sourced from http://www.nzetc.org/tm/scholarly/tei-GriBook-_div3-N12E47.html, Date accessed 16/10/08 This is not a problem in today’s public Education system. It could also be argued that for such a great number of years for a country to experience no other alternative to state intervention and control it seems obvious that problems will occur with the ‘deep-seated assumptions’ that Sullivan refers to in the teaching profession in terms of their ideologies. Teachers should be acknowledged for their knowledge and skills for understanding how to deliver learning programmes and prepare children for the wider world but in addition to taking on board the legislation they are operating within as well as remembering that the child is the most important factor. Davis philosophically refers to this aptly in his paper Whose Education Is It Anyway? ‘†¦As it says in a quote on a school staff room wall: ‘No one ever got taller through being measured’. Bibliography Sullivan, K ‘Teachers Standards and Professionalism: Contested Perspectives in a Decade of Reform’: Victoria University of Wellington Lingard, B, Knight, J, Porter, P.H (1993) Schooling Reform in Hard Times: Routledge, Dale, R, Ozga, J ‘Two Hemispheres – Both New Right? 1980’s Education Reform in New Zealand and England and Wales’ taken from Lingard, B, Knight, J, Porter, P.H (1993) Schooling Reform in Hard Times: Routledge, Bell, B and Gilbert, J (1996) Teacher Development: A Model from Science Education: Routledge Gordon,L (1992) ‘Educational Reform in New Zealand: contesting the role of the teacher’, International Studies in Sociology of Education, Volume 2, Issue 1 Perris, L (1998) ‘Implementince; Ducationr Eforms In New Zealand: 1987-97 A Case Study’, The Education Reform And Management Series, vol 1, no2 Peters, M, Marhall, J.D (1996) Individualism and Community: Education and Social Policy in the Postmodern Condition: Routledge Davis, R.A (2007) ‘Whose Education Is It Anyway?’ Why It Is Important That Teachers Understand and Question the Broader Contexts Shaping the Curriculum’, New Zealand Journal of Teachers’ Work, Volume 4, Issue 1, 32-38, 2007 Leicester, M, Modgil, C, Modgil, S Education, culture and values: Routledge Tiles, J.E (1990) Dewey: Routledge McClaren, I.A (1974) Education in a Small Democracy New Zealand: New Zealand: Routledge Book Print in New Zealand: A Guide to Print Culture in Aotearoa Education Act 1877 New Zealand Electronic Text Centre Sourced from http://www.nzetc.org/tm/scholarly/tei-GriBook-_div3-N12E47.html, Date accessed 16/10/08 Sourced from: http://www.minedu.govt.nz/educationSectors/InternationalEducation/ForInternationalStudentsAndParents/NewZealandEducationSystemAnOverview/Central_Agencies_and_Providers_A_Devolved_System.aspx, Date accessed 16/10/08

Genetically Modified Foods Essay -- GMOs, Genetically Modified Crops

Genetically Modified Foods With an ever-growing population and the problems of world hunger, there has been a high demand for an increased food supply and a better food supply. Technology has been called upon to meet this challenge. The advent of genetically engineered foods, sometimes called transgenic crops or genetically modified foods, is not a new concept, but the controversy over it is. Can these "frankenfoods" be harmful to humans? What are their effects on the environment? The following paper will focus on such questions as well as providing a better understanding of what genetically modified foods are and how they should be regulated. What are genetically modified foods? Although traditional plant breeding has been around for ages, the development of recombinant DNA techniques have offered a wide range of valuable genes and methods of inserting them into the plant genomes. Two major advances in molecular biology have resulted in new plant breeding technology: "The construction of genetic maps saturated with DNA markers, and the subsequent design of relatively simple PCR-based assays to facilitate the selection of desired alleles at closely linked loci and the resulting development of plant lines with desired combinations of traits; The cloning and DNA sequencing of specific genes, the reassembly of specific DNA fragments into functional chimeric genes, and the transfer of such genes to single plant cells from which complete plants can be regenerated via cell and tissue culture." (Conner et. al, 1999) It is the second method of breeding that has come into the most light recently and offers the opportunity to develop a wide variety of new crop cultivars. Transgenic plants are usually made up of a gene... ...ally engineered crops. Current Opinion in Biotechnology. Vol. 10, 1999. Pp. 298-302. OCDE (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development). Consensus document on general information concerning the genes and their enzymes that confer tolerance to glyphosphate herbicide.1999. http://www.oecd.org/ehs/ehsmono/#BIO Snow, Allison and Pedro Moran Palma. Commercialization of transgenic plants: potential ecological risks. BioScience. Vol. 47, Feb. 1997. Pp. 86-96. Steinbrecher, Ricarda A. From green to gene evolution: the environmental risks of genetically engineered crops. The Ecologist. Vol. 26, Nov./Dec., 1996. Pp. 273-281. 14. Traynor, Patricia and James H. Westwood, Eds. Proceedings of a workshop on: ecological effects of pest resistance genes in managed ecosystems (Jan. 31-Feb. 3, 1999). Information Systems for Biotechnology. http://www.isb.vt.edu

The Count Of Monte Cristo :: essays research papers

The Count of Monte Cristo The Count of Monte Cristo, written by Alexandre Dumas, tells the story of a man, Edmond Dantes, a sailor who goes through being betrayed by his enemies and thrown in to a dark prison cell to planning revenge on his enemies. His behavior and personality changes after spending 14 years in jail for a crime that he didn’t commit. Edmond Dantes was thrown in jail ,after being framed by his enemies, accused of committing treason and being a bonapartist. The story takes place during the Napoleonic Era while the usurper, Napoleon has escaped to his place of exile, the Isle of Elba, located in the Mediterranean Sea. The story of Edmond Dantes starts out as him being a sailor, aboard the Pharaon; he’s soon to become captain of the ship. Monsieur Morrel is the name of the owner of the Pharaon and a great friend of Dantes. He treats Edmond with great respect. There’s also a little special lady in Dantes life, the beautiful and wonderful Mercedes. A dream job and a dream wife, who could possibly want more? His dream soon becomes shattered by three of his enemies, Danglars, Fernand, and Caderousse. As these three people plot against Edmond, he is about to become married to the beautiful Mercedes. On his wedding day, his betrothal feast was interrupted when the police came barging through the door and arrested Edmond Dantes. Dantes was accused of giving a letter to the usurper while the Pharaon stopped on the Isle of Elba and returning a letter from the usurper to the Bonapartist party in Paris. After his arrest, Edmond was interrogated and questioned by the public prosecutor, Monsieur de Villefort. During the interrogation Villefort promised Edmond freedom, but that was before Monsieur de Villefort read the letter from the usurper addressed to Monsieur Noirtier, Villefort’s father. Edmond Dantes was sent to prison. Edmond Dantes imprisonment made a huge impact on his life. He spent 14 years in the dark and quiet Chateau d’If. During those 14 years he met a priest, Abbe Faria, which they met each other through a secret tunnel in which they both have created while in prison. An amazing transformation takes place in Edmond Dantes as he learns about his enemies and a large hidden treasure that contains a large sum of money. Abbe Faria is a very smart man, while in prison he taught Dantes many useful knowledge including the whereabouts of a large treasure located on the Isle of Monte Cristo.

The Da Vinci Code Chapter 44-47

CHAPTER 44 â€Å"Ten digits,† Sophie said, her cryptologic senses tingling as she studied the printout. 13-3-2-21-1-1-8-5 Grand-pere wrote his account number on the Louvre floor! When Sophie had first seen the scrambled Fibonacci sequence on the parquet, she had assumed its sole purpose was to encourage DCPJ to call in their cryptographers and get Sophie involved.Later, she realized the numbers were also a clue as to how to decipher the other lines – a sequence out of order†¦a numeric anagram.Now, utterly amazed, she saw the numbers had a more important meaning still. They were almost certainly the final key to opening her grandfather's mysterious safe- deposit box. â€Å"He was the master of double-entendres,† Sophie said, turning to Langdon. â€Å"He loved anything with multiple layers of meaning. Codes within codes.† Langdon was already moving toward the electronic podium near the conveyor belt. Sophie grabbed the computer printout and followed. The podium had a keypad similar to that of a bank ATM terminal. The screen displayed the bank's cruciform logo. Beside the keypad was a triangular hole. Sophie wasted no time inserting the shaft of her key into the hole. The screen refreshed instantly. ACCOUNT NUMBER: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ The cursor blinked. Waiting. Ten digits.Sophie read the numbers off the printout, and Langdon typed them in. ACCOUNT NUMBER: 1 3 3 2 2 1 1 1 8 5 When he had typed the last digit, the screen refreshed again. A message in several languages appeared. English was on top. CAUTION: Before you strike the enter key, please check the accuracy of your account number. For your own security, if the computer does not recognize your account number, this system will automatically shut down. â€Å"Fonction terminer,†Sophie said, frowning. â€Å"Looks like we only get one try.† Standard ATM machines allowed users three attempts to type a PIN before confiscating their bank card. This was obviously no ordinary cash machine. â€Å"The number looks right,† Langdon confirmed, carefully checking what they had typed and comparing it to the printout. He motioned to the ENTER key. â€Å"Fire away.† Sophie extended her index finger toward the keypad, but hesitated, an odd thought now hitting her. â€Å"Go ahead,† Langdon urged. â€Å"Vernet will be back soon.† â€Å"No.† She pulled her hand away. â€Å"This isn't the right account number.† â€Å"Of course it is! Ten digits. What else would it be?† â€Å"It's too random.† Too random? Langdon could not have disagreed more. Every bank advised its customers to choose PINs at random so nobody could guess them. Certainly clients here would be advised to choose their account numbers at random. Sophie deleted everything she had just typed in and looked up at Langdon, her gaze self-assured.† It's far too coincidental that this supposedly random account number could be rearranged to form the Fibonacci sequence.† Langdon realized she had a point. Earlier, Sophie had rearranged this account number into the Fibonacci sequence. What were the odds of being able to do that? Sophie was at the keypad again, entering a different number, as if from memory. â€Å"Moreover, with my grandfather's love of symbolism and codes, it seems to follow that he would have chosen an account number that had meaning to him, something he could easily remember.† She finished typing the entry and gave a sly smile. â€Å"Something that appeared random†¦ but was not.† Langdon looked at the screen. ACCOUNT NUMBER: 1123581321 It took him an instant, but when Langdon spotted it, he knew she was right. The Fibonacci sequence. 1-1-2-3-5-8-13-21 When the Fibonacci sequence was melded into a single ten-digit number, it became virtually unrecognizable. Easy to remember, and yet seemingly random.A brilliant ten-digit code that Sauniere would never forget. Furthermore, it perfectly explained why the scrambled numbers on the Louvre floor could be rearranged to form the famous progression. Sophie reached down and pressed the ENTER key. Nothing happened. At least nothing they could detect. At that moment, beneath them, in the bank's cavernous subterranean vault, a robotic claw sprang to life. Sliding on a double-axis transport system attached to the ceiling, the claw headed off in search of the proper coordinates. On the cement floor below, hundreds of identical plastic crates lay aligned on an enormous grid†¦ like rows of small coffins in an underground crypt. Whirring to a stop over the correct spot on the floor, the claw dropped down, an electric eye confirming the bar code on the box. Then, with computer precision, the claw grasped the heavy handle and hoisted the crate vertically. New gears engaged, and the claw transported the box to the far side of the vault, coming to a stop over a stationary conveyor belt. Gently now, the retrieval arm set down the crate and retracted. Once the arm was clear, the conveyor belt whirred to life†¦ . Upstairs, Sophie and Langdon exhaled in relief to see the conveyor belt move. Standing beside the belt, they felt like weary travelers at baggage claim awaiting a mysterious piece of luggage whose contents were unknown. The conveyor belt entered the room on their right through a narrow slit beneath a retractable door. The metal door slid up, and a huge plastic box appeared, emerging from the depths on the inclined conveyor belt. The box was black, heavy molded plastic, and far larger than she imagined. It looked like an air-freight pet transport crate without any air holes. The box coasted to a stop directly in front of them. Langdon and Sophie stood there, silent, staring at the mysterious container. Like everything else about this bank, this crate was industrial – metal clasps, a bar code sticker on top, and molded heavy-duty handle. Sophie thought it looked like a giant toolbox. Wasting no time, Sophie unhooked the two buckles facing her. Then she glanced over at Langdon. Together, they raised the heavy lid and let it fall back. Stepping forward, they peered down into the crate. At first glance, Sophie thought the crate was empty. Then she saw something. Sitting at the bottom of the crate. A lone item. The polished wooden box was about the size of a shoebox and had ornate hinges. The wood was a lustrous deep purple with a strong grain. Rosewood, Sophie realized. Her grandfather's favorite. The lid bore a beautiful inlaid design of a rose. She and Langdon exchanged puzzled looks. Sophie leaned in and grabbed the box, lifting it out. My God, it's heavy! She carried it gingerly to a large receiving table and set it down. Langdon stood beside her, both of them staring at the small treasure chest her grandfather apparently had sent them to retrieve. Langdon stared in wonderment at the lid's hand-carved inlay – a five-petal rose. He had seen this type of rose many times. â€Å"The five-petal rose,† he whispered,† is a Priory symbol for the Holy Grail.† Sophie turned and looked at him. Langdon could see what she was thinking, and he was thinking it too. The dimensions of the box, the apparent weight of its contents, and a Priory symbol for the Grail all seemed to imply one unfathomable conclusion. The Cup of Christ is in this wooden box. Langdon again told himself it was impossible. â€Å"It's a perfect size,† Sophie whispered,† to hold†¦ a chalice.† It can't be a chalice. Sophie pulled the box toward her across the table, preparing to open it. As she moved it, though, something unexpected happened. The box let out an odd gurgling sound. Langdon did a double take. There's liquid inside? Sophie looked equally confused. â€Å"Did you just hear†¦ ?† Langdon nodded, lost. â€Å"Liquid.† Reaching forward, Sophie slowly unhooked the clasp and raised the lid. The object inside was unlike anything Langdon had ever seen. One thing was immediately clear to both of them, however. This was definitely not the Cup of Christ. CHAPTER 45 â€Å"The police are blocking the street,† Andre Vernet said, walking into the waiting room. â€Å"Getting you out will be difficult.† As he closed the door behind him, Vernet saw the heavy-duty plastic case on the conveyor belt and halted in his tracks. My God! They accessed Sauniere's account? Sophie and Langdon were at the table, huddling over what looked to be a large wooden jewelry box. Sophie immediately closed the lid and looked up. â€Å"We had the account number after all,† she said. Vernet was speechless. This changed everything. He respectfully diverted his eyes from the box and tried to figure out his next move. I have to get them out of the bank! But with the police already having set up a roadblock, Vernet could imagine only one way to do that. â€Å"Mademoiselle Neveu, if I can get you safely out of the bank, will you be taking the item with you or returning it to the vault before you leave?† Sophie glanced at Langdon and then back to Vernet. â€Å"We need to take it.† Vernet nodded. â€Å"Very well. Then whatever the item is, I suggest you wrap it in your jacket as we move through the hallways. I would prefer nobody else see it.† As Langdon shed his jacket, Vernet hurried over to the conveyor belt, closed the now empty crate, and typed a series of simple commands. The conveyor belt began moving again, carrying the plastic container back down to the vault. Pulling the gold key from the podium, he handed it to Sophie. â€Å"This way please. Hurry.† When they reached the rear loading dock, Vernet could see the flash of police lights filtering through the underground garage. He frowned. They were probably blocking the ramp. Am I really going to try to pull this off? He was sweating now. Vernet motioned to one of the bank's small armored trucks. Transport sur was another service offered by the Depository Bank of Zurich. â€Å"Get in the cargo hold,† he said, heaving open the massive rear door and motioning to the glistening steel compartment. â€Å"I'll be right back.† As Sophie and Langdon climbed in, Vernet hurried across the loading dock to the dock overseer's office, let himself in, collected the keys for the truck, and found a driver's uniform jacket and cap. Shedding his own suit coat and tie, he began to put on the driver's jacket. Reconsidering, he donned a shoulder holster beneath the uniform. On his way out, he grabbed a driver's pistol from the rack, put in a clip, and stuffed it in the holster, buttoning his uniform over it. Returning to the truck, Vernet pulled the driver's cap down low and peered in at Sophie and Langdon, who were standing inside the empty steel box. â€Å"You'll want this on,† Vernet said, reaching inside and flicking a wall switch to illuminate the lone courtesy bulb on the hold's ceiling. â€Å"And you'd better sit down. Not a sound on our way out the gate.† Sophie and Langdon sat down on the metal floor. Langdon cradled the treasure wadded in his tweed jacket. Swinging the heavy doors closed, Vernet locked them inside. Then he got in behind the wheel and revved the engine. As the armored truck lumbered toward the top of the ramp, Vernet could feel the sweat already collecting beneath his driver's cap. He could see there were far more police lights in front than he had imagined. As the truck powered up the ramp, the interior gate swung inward to let him pass. Vernet advanced and waited while the gate behind him closed before pulling forward and tripping the next sensor. The second gate opened, and the exit beckoned. Except for the police car blocking the top of the ramp. Vernet dabbed his brow and pulled forward. A lanky officer stepped out and waved him to a stop a few meters from the roadblock. Four patrol cars were parked out front. Vernet stopped. Pulling his driver's cap down farther, he effected as rough a facade as his cultured upbringing would allow. Not budging from behind the wheel, he opened the door and gazed down at the agent, whose face was stern and sallow. â€Å"Qu'est-ce qui se passe?† Vernet asked, his tone rough. â€Å"Je suis Jerome Collet,† the agent said. â€Å"Lieutenant Police Judiciaire.† He motioned to the truck's cargo hold. â€Å"Qu'est-ce qu'ily a la dedans?† â€Å"Hell if I know,† Vernet replied in crude French. â€Å"I'm only a driver.† Collet looked unimpressed. â€Å"We're looking for two criminals.† Vernet laughed. â€Å"Then you came to the right spot. Some of these bastards I drive for have so much money they must be criminals.† The agent held up a passport picture of Robert Langdon. â€Å"Was this man in your bank tonight?† Vernet shrugged. â€Å"No clue. I'm a dock rat. They don't let us anywhere near the clients. You need to go in and ask the front desk.† â€Å"Your bank is demanding a search warrant before we can enter.† Vernet put on a disgusted look. â€Å"Administrators. Don't get me started.† â€Å"Open your truck, please.† Collet motioned toward the cargo hold. Vernet stared at the agent and forced an obnoxious laugh. â€Å"Open the truck? You think I have keys? You think they trust us? You should see the crap wages I get paid.† The agent's head tilted to one side, his skepticism evident. â€Å"You're telling me you don't have keys to your own truck?† Vernet shook his head. â€Å"Not the cargo area. Ignition only. These trucks get sealed by overseers on the loading dock. Then the truck sits in dock while someone drives the cargo keys to the drop-off. Once we get the call that the cargo keys are with the recipient, then I get the okay to drive. Not a second before. I never know what the hell I'm lugging.† â€Å"When was this truck sealed?† â€Å"Must have been hours ago. I'm driving all the way up to St. Thurial tonight. Cargo keys are already up there.† The agent made no response, his eyes probing as if trying to read Vernet's mind. A drop of sweat was preparing to slide down Vernet's nose. â€Å"You mind?† he said, wiping his nose with his sleeve and motioning to the police car blocking his way. â€Å"I'm on a tight schedule.† â€Å"Do all the drivers wear Rolexes?† the agent asked, pointing to Vernet's wrist. Vernet glanced down and saw the glistening band of his absurdly expensive watch peeking out from beneath the sleeve of his jacket. Merde. â€Å"This piece of shit? Bought it for twenty euro from a Taiwanese street vendor in St. Germain des Pres. I'll sell it to you for forty.† The agent paused and finally stepped aside. â€Å"No thanks. Have a safe trip.† Vernet did not breathe again until the truck was a good fifty meters down the street. And now he had another problem. His cargo. Where do I take them? CHAPTER 46 Silas lay prone on the canvas mat in his room, allowing the lash wounds on his back to clot in the air. Tonight's second session with the Discipline had left him dizzy and weak. He had yet to remove the cilice belt, and he could feel the blood trickling down his inner thigh. Still, he could not justify removing the strap. I have failed the Church. Far worse, I have failed the bishop. Tonight was supposed to be Bishop Aringarosa's salvation. Five months ago, the bishop had returned from a meeting at the Vatican Observatory, where he had learned something that left him deeply changed. Depressed for weeks, Aringarosa had finally shared the news with Silas. â€Å"But this is impossible!† Silas had cried out. â€Å"I cannot accept it!† â€Å"It is true,† Aringarosa said. â€Å"Unthinkable, but true. In only six months.† The bishop's words terrified Silas. He prayed for deliverance, and even in those dark days, his trust in God and The Way never wavered. It was only a month later that the clouds parted miraculously and the light of possibility shone through. Divine intervention, Aringarosa had called it. The bishop had seemed hopeful for the first time. â€Å"Silas,† he whispered,† God has bestowed upon us an opportunity to protect The Way. Our battle, like all battles, will take sacrifice. Will you be a soldier of God?† Silas fell to his knees before Bishop Aringarosa – the man who had given him a new life – and he said,† I am a lamb of God. Shepherd me as your heart commands.† When Aringarosa described the opportunity that had presented itself, Silas knew it could only be the hand of God at work. Miraculous fate! Aringarosa put Silas in contact with the man who had proposed the plan – a man who called himself the Teacher. Although the Teacher and Silas never met face-to-face, each time they spoke by phone, Silas was awed, both by the profundity of the Teacher's faith and by the scope of his power. The Teacher seemed to be a man who knew all, a man with eyes and ears in all places. How the Teacher gathered his information, Silas did not know, but Aringarosa had placed enormous trust in the Teacher, and he had told Silas to do the same. â€Å"Do as the Teacher commands you,† the bishop told Silas. â€Å"And we will be victorious.† Victorious.Silas now gazed at the bare floor and feared victory had eluded them. The Teacher had been tricked. The keystone was a devious dead end. And with the deception, all hope had vanished. Silas wished he could call Bishop Aringarosa and warn him, but the Teacher had removed all their lines of direct communication tonight. For our safety. Finally, overcoming enormous trepidation, Silas crawled to his feet and found his robe, which lay on the floor. He dug his cell phone from the pocket. Hanging his head in shame, he dialed. â€Å"Teacher,† he whispered,† all is lost.† Silas truthfully told the man how he had been tricked.† You lose your faith too quickly,† the Teacher replied. â€Å"I have just received news. Most unexpected and welcome. The secret lives. Jacques Sauniere transferred information before he died. I will call you soon. Our work tonight is not yet done.† CHAPTER 47 Riding inside the dimly lit cargo hold of the armored truck was like being transported inside a cell for solitary confinement. Langdon fought the all too familiar anxiety that haunted him in confined spaces. Vernet said he would take us a safe distance out of the city.Where? How far? Langdon's legs had gotten stiff from sitting cross-legged on the metal floor, and he shifted his position, wincing to feel the blood pouring back into his lower body. In his arms, he still clutched the bizarre treasure they had extricated from the bank. â€Å"I think we're on the highway now,† Sophie whispered. Langdon sensed the same thing. The truck, after an unnerving pause atop the bank ramp, had moved on, snaking left and right for a minute or two, and was now accelerating to what felt like top speed. Beneath them, the bulletproof tires hummed on smooth pavement. Forcing his attention to the rosewood box in his arms, Langdon laid the precious bundle on the floor, unwrapped his jacket, and extracted the box, pulling it toward him. Sophie shifted her position so they were sitting side by side. Langdon suddenly felt like they were two kids huddled over a Christmas present. In contrast to the warm colors of the rosewood box, the inlaid rose had been crafted of a pale wood, probably ash, which shone clearly in the dim light. The Rose.Entire armies and religions had been built on this symbol, as had secret societies. The Rosicrucians.The Knights of the Rosy Cross. â€Å"Go ahead,† Sophie said. â€Å"Open it.† Langdon took a deep breath. Reaching for the lid, he stole one more admiring glance at the intricate woodwork and then, unhooking the clasp, he opened the lid, revealing the object within. Langdon had harbored several fantasies about what they might find inside this box, but clearly he had been wrong on every account. Nestled snugly inside the box's heavily padded interior of crimson silk lay an object Langdon could not even begin to comprehend. Crafted of polished white marble, it was a stone cylinder approximately the dimensions of a tennis ball can. More complicated than a simple column of stone, however, the cylinder appeared to have been assembled in many pieces. Six doughnut-sized disks of marble had been stacked and affixed to one another within a delicate brass framework. It looked like some kind of tubular, multi-wheeled kaleidoscope. Each end of the cylinder was affixed with an end cap, also marble, making it impossible to see inside. Having heard liquid within, Langdon assumed the cylinder was hollow. As mystifying as the construction of the cylinder was, however, it was the engravings around the tube's circumference that drew Langdon's primary focus. Each of the six disks had been carefully carved with the same unlikely series of letters – the entire alphabet. The lettered cylinder reminded Langdon of one of his childhood toys – a rod threaded with lettered tumblers that could be rotated to spell different words. â€Å"Amazing, isn't it?† Sophie whispered. Langdon glanced up. â€Å"I don't know. What the hell is it?† Now there was a glint in Sophie's eye. â€Å"My grandfather used to craft these as a hobby. They were invented by Leonardo Da Vinci.† Even in the diffuse light, Sophie could see Langdon's surprise. â€Å"Da Vinci?† he muttered, looking again at the canister.† Yes. It's called a cryptex.According to my grandfather, the blueprints come from one of Da Vinci's secret diaries.† â€Å"What is it for?† Considering tonight's events, Sophie knew the answer might have some interesting implications. â€Å"It's a vault,† she said. â€Å"For storing secret information.† Langdon's eyes widened further. Sophie explained that creating models of Da Vinci's inventions was one of her grandfather's best-loved hobbies. A talented craftsman who spent hours in his wood and metal shop, Jacques Sauniere enjoyed imitating master craftsmen – Faberge, assorted cloisonne artisans, and the less artistic, but far more practical, Leonardo Da Vinci. Even a cursory glance through Da Vinci's journals revealed why the luminary was as notorious for his lack of follow-through as he was famous for his brilliance. Da Vinci had drawn up blueprints for hundreds of inventions he had never built. One of Jacques Sauniere's favorite pastimes was bringing Da Vinci's more obscure brainstorms to life – timepieces, water pumps, cryptexes, and even a fully articulated model of a medieval French knight, which now stood proudly on the desk in his office. Designed by Da Vinci in 1495 as an outgrowth of his earliest anatomy and kinesiology studies, the internal mechanism of the robot knight possessed accurate joints and tendons, and was designed to sit up, wave its arms, and move its head via a flexible neck while opening and closing an anatomically correct jaw. This armor-clad knight, Sophie had always believed, was the most beautiful object her grandfather had ever built†¦ that was, until she had seen the cryptex in this rosewood box. â€Å"He made me one of these when I was little,† Sophie said. â€Å"But I've never seen one so ornate and large.† Langdon's eyes had never left the box. â€Å"I've never heard of a cryptex.† Sophie was not surprised. Most of Leonardo's unbuilt inventions had never been studied or even named. The term cryptex possibly had been her grandfather's creation, an apt title for this device that used the science of cryptology to protect information written on the contained scroll or codex. Da Vinci had been a cryptology pioneer, Sophie knew, although he was seldom given credit. Sophie's university instructors, while presenting computer encryption methods for securing data, praised modern cryptologists like Zimmerman and Schneier but failed to mention that it was Leonardo who had invented one of the first rudimentary forms of public key encryption centuries ago. Sophie's grandfather, of course, had been the one to tell her all about that. As their armored truck roared down the highway, Sophie explained to Langdon that the cryptex had been Da Vinci's solution to the dilemma of sending secure messages over long distances. In an era without telephones or e-mail, anyone wanting to convey private information to someone far away had no option but to write it down and then trust a messenger to carry the letter. Unfortunately, if a messenger suspected the letter might contain valuable information, he could make far more money selling the information to adversaries than he could delivering the letter properly. Many great minds in history had invented cryptologic solutions to the challenge of data protection: Julius Caesar devised a code-writing scheme called the Caesar Box; Mary, Queen of Scots created a transposition cipher and sent secret communiques from prison; and the brilliant Arab scientist Abu Yusuf Ismail al-Kindi protected his secrets with an ingeniously conceived polyalphabetic substitution cipher. Da Vinci, however, eschewed mathematics and cryptology for a mechanical solution. The cryptex. A portable container that could safeguard letters, maps, diagrams, anything at all. Once information was sealed inside the cryptex, only the individual with the proper password could access it. â€Å"We require a password,† Sophie said, pointing out the lettered dials. â€Å"A cryptex works much like a bicycle's combination lock. If you align the dials in the proper position, the lock slides open. This cryptex has five lettered dials. When you rotate them to their proper sequence, the tumblers inside align, and the entire cylinder slides apart.† â€Å"And inside?† â€Å"Once the cylinder slides apart, you have access to a hollow central compartment, which can hold a scroll of paper on which is the information you want to keep private.† Langdon looked incredulous. â€Å"And you say your grandfather built these for you when you were younger?† â€Å"Some smaller ones, yes. A couple times for my birthday, he gave me a cryptex and told me a riddle. The answer to the riddle was the password to the cryptex, and once I figured it out, I could open it up and find my birthday card.† â€Å"A lot of work for a card.† â€Å"No, the cards always contained another riddle or clue. My grandfather loved creating elaborate treasure hunts around our house, a string of clues that eventually led to my real gift. Each treasure hunt was a test of character and merit, to ensure I earned my rewards. And the tests were never simple.† Langdon eyed the device again, still looking skeptical. â€Å"But why not just pry it apart? Or smash it? The metal looks delicate, and marble is a soft rock.† Sophie smiled. â€Å"Because Da Vinci is too smart for that. He designed the cryptex so that if you try to force it open in any way, the information self-destructs. Watch.† Sophie reached into the box and carefully lifted out the cylinder. â€Å"Any information to be inserted is first written on a papyrus scroll.† â€Å"Not vellum?† Sophie shook her head. â€Å"Papyrus. I know sheep's vellum was more durable and more common in those days, but it had to be papyrus. The thinner the better.† â€Å"Okay.† â€Å"Before the papyrus was inserted into the cryptex's compartment, it was rolled around a delicate glass vial.† She tipped the cryptex, and the liquid inside gurgled. â€Å"A vial of liquid.† â€Å"Liquid what?† Sophie smiled. â€Å"Vinegar.† Langdon hesitated a moment and then began nodding. â€Å"Brilliant.† Vinegar and papyrus, Sophie thought. If someone attempted to force open the cryptex, the glass vial would break, and the vinegar would quickly dissolve the papyrus. By the time anyone extracted the secret message, it would be a glob of meaningless pulp. â€Å"As you can see,† Sophie told him,† the only way to access the information inside is to know the proper five-letter password. And with five dials, each with twenty-six letters, that's twenty-six to the fifth power.† She quickly estimated the permutations. â€Å"Approximately twelve million possibilities.† â€Å"If you say so,† Langdon said, looking like he had approximately twelve million questions running through his head. â€Å"What information do you think is inside?† â€Å"Whatever it is, my grandfather obviously wanted very badly to keep it secret.† She paused, closing the box lid and eyeing the five-petal Rose inlaid on it. Something was bothering her. â€Å"Did you say earlier that the Rose is a symbol for the Grail?† â€Å"Exactly. In Priory symbolism, the Rose and the Grail are synonymous.† Sophie furrowed her brow. â€Å"That's strange, because my grandfather always told me the Rose meant secrecy.He used to hang a rose on his office door at home when he was having a confidential phone call and didn't want me to disturb him. He encouraged me to do the same.† Sweetie, her grandfather said, rather than lock each other out, we can each hang a rose – la fleur des secrets – on our door when we need privacy.This way we learn to respect and trust each other.Hanging a rose is an ancient Roman custom. â€Å"Sub rosa,†Langdon said. â€Å"The Romans hung a rose over meetings to indicate the meeting was confidential. Attendees understood that whatever was said under the rose – or sub rosa – had to remain a secret.† Langdon quickly explained that the Rose's overtone of secrecy was not the only reason the Priory used it as a symbol for the Grail. Rosa rugosa, one of the oldest species of rose, had five petals and pentagonal symmetry, just like the guiding star of Venus, giving the Rose strong iconographic ties to womanhood.In addition, the Rose had close ties to the concept of† true direction† and navigating one's way. The Compass Rose helped travelers navigate, as did Rose Lines, the longitudinal lines on maps. For this reason, the Rose was a symbol that spoke of the Grail on many levels – secrecy, womanhood, and guidance – the feminine chalice and guiding star that led to secret truth. As Langdon finished his explanation, his expression seemed to tighten suddenly. â€Å"Robert? Are you okay?† His eyes were riveted to the rosewood box. â€Å"Sub†¦rosa,†he choked, a fearful bewilderment sweeping across his face. â€Å"It can't be.† â€Å"What?† Langdon slowly raised his eyes. â€Å"Under the sign of the Rose,† he whispered. â€Å"This cryptex†¦ I think I know what it is.†