Modern Furniture Evaluation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Modern Furniture Evaluation - Essay Example Preferred stock is a class of ownership in a corporation that has a higher claim on the assets and earnings than the common stock. Preferred stock generally has a dividend that must be paid out before the dividends to common stockholders and the shares usually do not have voting rights. Each company can work out the details pertaining to the issue of preferred stocks. However preferred stock can be considered as a financial instrument that possesses the characteristics of both debt (with fixed dividend) and equity (potential appreciation). (Investopedia) A convertible debt or security is a bond or a share of preferred stock that can be converted at the option of the holder into common stock of the same corporation. The investor is provided with a fixed return from a bond or with a specified dividend from the preferred stock. In addition the investor has an option to covert it to common stock. As a result the company is able to sell a convertible security at a lower yield than it would have to pay on a straight bond or preferred stock issue. This is an advantage for issuing convertible securities. (James C.Van Horne) A Warrant is an option to purchase a specified number of shares of common stock at a stated price. When the holder of a warrant exercises his option he surrenders the warrants. Warrants are often employed as 'sweeteners' to a public issue of bonds or debt that is privately placed. As a result the company should be able to obtain a lower rate of interest than it would otherwise. For companies that are marginal credit risks the use of warrants may make the difference between being able and not being able to raise funds through a debt issue. Occasionally warrants are directly sold to investors directly against cash. On other occasions they are used in founding of the company issued as compensation to underwriters and venture capitalists. Mostly warrants are issued in connection with a debt issue often a private placement. (James C.Van Horne) A primary financial instrument evidences a direct claim against some other party. These instruments often are traded in the spot market with prices set by the usual forces of demand and supply. In contrast a derivative security derives its value from an underlying primary security. One of the examples for the underlying security for derivatives is the stock option. Movements in the price of the underlying asset, the stock in this case drive the value of the derivative instrument, the option. Derivatives may take the form of simple put and call options on stocks. These options were traded in relatively illiquid over the counter markets. However with the tremendous financial innovations occurred in the last two decades the role of derivative securities in the financial markets have increased manifold touching new heights. (James C. Van Horne) Modern Furniture Company Total Number of shares outstanding: 3,000,000 Cash Dividend Proposed: $ 1.60 per share Total Earnings of the firm $ 12,000,000 Earnings per share $ 4.00 Market Value of the Share $ 88.00 P/E Ratio P/E Ratio is given Market Value per Share Earnings per Share 88.00 4.00 = 22 Dividend Yield and Dividend Payout Ratio Dividend Yield is given by Annual Dividends per

The Quality Time Essay Example for Free

The Quality Time Essay I was sitting in my grandfather’s dark house, sitting in front of my father’s big stereo with his huge gray Sony headphones listening to his Boys II Men cd. I feel a tap on my shoulder; I turn around and it’s my father. He said, â€Å"Come outside, dad’s going to teach you how to change the oil in the truck. † The first thing that came to my mind was why in the world would I want to learn how to change oil in a car. I am only 11 and I don’t have a car. My mom would always say â€Å" Felicia before you were born your father wanted you to be a boy so he didn’t want to know the sex of the baby. He wanted to be surprised because he just knew you were going to be a boy. † I figured hey I guess this was the closest he would get so I always went a long with it. On top of that I was a tomboy so I guess it made it easier for him to ask me to come learn about something so minuscule in my life at the time. I went out to the car with my father and he had a smirk on his face and said,† Felicia, dad’s going to teach you how to change your oil because when you get older and you finally get yourself a car this will save you a lot of money. As always I said â€Å"ok,† When he gave me the smirk I think he knew deep inside how much I didn’t care or if I would even remember, but he did it anyway. He slid under the car and just talked and talked and talked the whole time. I didn’t remember anything he said because I couldn’t see it for myself so my mind would just start wondering. The most I did was hand him tools, but that was as good as it got. My father lived with his father, and that’s where I would stay. I was riding my bike in a circle around the house because I wasn’t aloud to leave the 2 acres of land that we had. Off in the distance I noticed my father and my oldest brother mowing the lawn and it looked fun. I was a very bored so I decided to ask my father if I could help mow the lawn. I jump off my bike leaving it in the drive way and run over to my father in the shed. I see my father in the shed putting oil in the lawn mower. I noticed that the lawn mower that my father was putting oil in didn’t look anything like the lawn mower my brother was pushing in the extremely hot sun. This lawn mower I could sit on and ride. So I walk over to ask him. I said I said â€Å" Hey dad what are you doing? he said, â€Å" putting in the oil to mow the lawn. † So I asked â€Å" Can I mow the lawn? † He was very hesitant for a min and looked at me and smirked and said â€Å" Now Felicia your to young to mow the lawn, this isn’t a toy. † I was determined to ride on that lawn mower even more because he didn’t think I could. I just said â€Å" I know its not a toy, but I’m not doing anything else. † He didn’t respond back to me let alone give me eye contact so I went back into the house. After that I didn’t feel like doing anything, not even ride my bike so I just sat down and watched the 5 channels of television that we did have. About 20 minutes later he came in the house and said â€Å" Felicia, come on Imma teach you how to ride the lawn mower. † I was kind of surprised that he changed his mind, but then again I really wasn’t. Once I went out there and learned it, I had the most fun! Now I will admit I didn’t cut the grass as neatly as he did because most of the time I acted as if I was driving a car. My father would stand in the yard and watch me. He never corrected me or told me to slow down. It was as if he was proud and I took interest in something that he liked to do. Every weekend when a thing calmed down and there wasn’t much left to do around the house my father and I would go for a car ride. He lived in Hereford, MD, which is very country with a ton of land, and he would drive all around the windy roads and talk to me about life and how I need to work hard to get to where I want to be in life. After everything he would always end his rants with, â€Å" Felicia you don’t understand now, but you will when you get older. † I hated hearing that. I always knew that I understood him now, but I really didn’t. Just the other day my father and I went for a ride. It wasn’t an intentional ride, but I was helping him move furniture. My father and I haven’t had a ride like this since I was about 14 years old. I am now 27. A lot has changed since our talks. Once again I caught myself trying to convince my father how I understand everything he is saying, but this time I truly did understand and he didn’t question my understanding either. My father and I didn’t do the typical things that I young girl would do with her father. I can actually tell you how many times that we actually went anywhere that was really fun. We would play catch, tennis, and badminton and have big cookouts. We had our times at the movies and the pizza buffet, but the times that meant most to me were the car rides and the little life lessons. As I am older now I reflect upon the struggles that my father would speak of. I wish that I could remember how to change my oil, but the only thing I can remember now is how to check my oil. I now understand that my father never really knew how to be sensitive or tell me about boys, but he showed me that he loved me in the only way that he could. I think that I always knew that, that’s why I have always aimed to please him and have him be proud of me. My father is a very stern man and he shows tough love. I have learned that love comes in all forms, and just because someone may not show it like the next person doesn’t mean that its not there. I know now that the way he loves has passed down to me because I tend to treat my children the same way. I am not as sensitive with my children because I was never really given hugs all the time and shown affection. I never once doubted that I wasn’t loved, but I try to embrace my children more and not only show them but tell them.

Pros and Cons of the European Union Essay -- European Union Economics

Do you think it is useful for a country to join into a union, especially the European Union, to strengthen their economic position? The question could be simple to answer but an individual must look much deeper into the situation. For instance, what are the pros and cons of joining a union? The European Union has many pros but also many cons. The European Union was formed in February 1992 with the signing of the Maastricht Treaty. It consist of originally twelve members – Belgium, Denmark, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, United Kingdom, and Germany. Those twelve members originally formed the European Union until 1995 when three other countries joined the Union – Austria, Finland, and Sweden. The European Union currently is formed of twenty-five members with the ten new members – Cyprus, Malta, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia being added in 2004. In 2007 two other countries (Romania and Bulgaria) could join the European Union. European Union covers a mass majority of the Europe and the current Union membership covers a population base of nearly half a billion people. In 1992 the European Union decided to go for economic and monetary union, involving the introduction of a single European currency managed by a E uropean Central Bank. The single currency, the euro, became a reality in January of 2002, when euro notes and coins replaced national currencies in twelve of the 15 countries of the European Union (Belgium, Germany, Greece, Spain, France, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Austria, Portugal and Finland). (Europa) The information below will consist of the pros of the European Union. With the development of the European Union the countries are able to have the benefit of the principles of European integration, such as free competition or free movement of goods and capital, which will encourage the movement from a post-socialist economy to a free market economy in East-central Europe. The principle of free movement is saying that you can work and study anywhere in the Union if you are a citizen of the Union. By spending part of their education or training in another European Union country, the citizens can acquire an insight into other work environments and gain skills that are very useful in later life. By having a closer joint effort and sharin... ... the European Union. It has several characteristics about it that I do not like. For example, I do not like how the Union only has a single interest rate. I think that each economic cycle needs different interest rates for certain situations that occur in the Union. For instance, if you are in the European Union and let’s say you are going through a depression you are going to need to lower the interest rate but in the European Union you have no choice. The information above in the paper about the European Union has many pros and cons. The only reason the countries are entering the European Union or any other union is they feel it makes their country stronger and better economically. Yes, when you enter into a Union you are gaining some things but what some countries do not see are is that you are giving up just as many or more things. Works Cited Niebor, Jeremy. The pros and cons of Economic and Monetary Union. 1998 http://www.bullen.demon.co.uk/niebor.htm Venckute, Jurgita. European Union: New Members. 2003, http://www.debatabase.org/details.asp?topicID=233 Europa. The History of the European Union. 2004 http://europa.eu.int/abc/history/index_en.htm

Should Scholarship Athletes Work? :: essays research papers

Should Scholarship Athletes Work? Should college athletes on full ride scholarships be able to hold a job during the school year? Well up until Monday, January 12, 1997, full scholarship athletes were forbidden to hold jobs during the school year. For the last five years this has been a very controversial issue in the National Collegiate Athletic Association, known as the NCAA. Imagine being from a poor family and going to college on a full-ride scholarship for basketball. Under the old legislation, that player is not allowed to work or receive money from the school. In turn the player cannot afford to even travel home over the holidays to be with his family. Athletes should be able to hold a job during the school year in order to get the valuable experience of working and make enough money to cover living expenses and traveling costs. Under the new legislation, which was passed at the NCAA Convention, Division I athletes on full scholarship will be allowed to earn enough money to match the full cost of attending school. Athletic scholarships typically cover room, board, books and tuition, but do not cover costs for trips home, gas, laundry and other items. The determination of how much money covers those things is made by each school's financial aid office; most administrators have estimated the costs to be between $2,000 and $3,000 a year. Athletes who choose to work, and their employers, will be required to sign an affidavit that says the athletes have not been hired on the basis of their athletic ability or status and that they will be compensated only for the work they perform at a rate commensurate with the local rate of pay for such work. Critics of the legislation that passed said it opens the door for the very problems that originally sparked the regulation, athletes being paid for menial labor, and that keeping track of how much money athletes are earning will be difficult. But according to Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany, "Sure there will be bogus jobs,'' he said. "It'll open up a can of worms, but I think we have to start living with cans of worms and let the presidents, athletic directors, and board of trustees handle it.'' It makes more sense to have the schools required to enforce the new regulations involved than it does to ask the NCAA to handle it. The schools have first hand account o f all the players at their school, therefore they are in the best position to enforce the new legislation's requirements. On the job experience is essential when looking for a job after college.

Professional Communication at the Workplace Essay

Interpersonal communication is essentially the exchange of communication between one person(s) and another. Like any other form of communication, interpersonal communication involves the sender of the message and the recipient of the message. The message can only be passed correctly if both the sender and the recipient pass it correctly and understand each other. I work for a voluntary group at the University. This group aims at reaching out to the less fortunate both in the institution and the society generally. We do not offer financial help as such but instead focus on the abilities of the people we interact with and give them the necessary counsel and advice they need. In this way, we give them ideas on how they can actually help themselves out financially. This organization involves a lot of interaction, both within ourselves as the members of the organization and also between us and the people we interact with. As such there is a lot of interpersonal communication that goes on. The group consists of a total of ten members, and as they say, we are like our fingers; we come in different sizes and lengths, not literally but in terms of age, personalities, gender, culture, spiritual orientation and physical abilities and disabilities. This whole structure of diversity makes communication, particularly interpersonal communication, an issue worth debate. This is because the way we choose to communicate within ourselves and others is bound to affect our service delivery either positively or negatively. The following part of the paper will critically analyze each of these factors mentioned above that makes us diverse in our communication, interpersonal communication.CITATION Joh12 p 56 l 1033 (Johnson, 2012, p. 56)Age The voluntary group I work for is extremely diversified when it comes to age, with members from the extreme sides of the age spectrum. The oldest member in the group is aged forty seven, while the youngest is seventeen. Most of the members, about seventy percent, are aged between seventeen and twenty five. The main reason behind this is the fact that the organization requires the participation of both the old and young. For instance, the young and vibrant group, which forms the majority of the group, is required to move up and down and interact with the people we look forward to offering our help to. The older group is mostly involved ion critically analyzing our case studies and give direction on the best way forward. It is therefore not easy to hold a conversation between these two groups that are different in terms of age. For instance, young people will always base their ideas on what social media says. They will go with current trends since that are what they are familiar with a nd immediately make a decision. The older group will look at trends on a more historical point of view and analyze historical events in relation to the topic of discussion before coming up with a remedy. The young members, moreover, communicate with a lot of slang because as much as this organization is based on official business, it is also a social and interactive group as well. This way, the message at times is not passed effectively from one person(s) to another. The consequence of this communication gap is that the goals of the organizations are not at all times met and therefore efficiency is not achieved as well.CITATION Ric01 p 76 l 1033 (Pircadi, 2001, p. 76)Perceived Emotions, Relationships and Personality Our personalities define us. We have different personalities just as we are different in other aspects of our lives. The personality of a person is one thing that psychologists have proved beyond reasonable doubt that is very difficult to change. The personalities of a person will most of the time dictate the way in which they communicate. Some people are introverts and as such they tend to keep to themselves. They listen more than they speak. They think more and learn more from their surrounding and the people around them. Others are outspoken and will speak more. They express themselves through speech. The relationship between or among people also influences communication. CITATION Joh12 l 1033 (Johnson, 2012)This I have witnessed in my voluntary work group. People tend to open up to those they are close with and give less details to the people they are not that close to. One’s family tends to know them better because of the blood relationship that exists as compared to outs iders. Finally, people perceive and express their emotions very differently. Jerry, a member of my voluntary group tends to hide his low moments in smiles. It is therefore not easy to tell what he is going through. I, on the other hand will always show it. I have no way to hide and it is communicated through my emotions. The way we react to how we feel will determine the way we communicate. There are those of us like Jerry who will drown our sorrows in smiles and those like me who will communicate it just as it is. It is therefore very clear that we communicate our emotions very differently and this goes way back to our personalities.CITATION Joh02 p 94 l 1033 (Gray, 2002, p. 94)Spiritual Orientation The world is composed of people with very diverse spiritual backgrounds. Spiritual background forms the foundation of the life of a person. More often than not, the behavior of a person is well explained by their religious beliefs. This is also the case with communication most of the time. Spiritual diversity will create diversity in speech and in communication generally. For instance, Moslems do not shake hands as a sign of greeting. Their greetings are always in form of speech. This is unlike other religions where people are allowed to shake hands casually and even hug. People from strong religious backgrounds and those with high faith are also very cautious with their speech. They tend to taste their words before they spit them out, that is, they are sensitive in their speech so as not to hurt others. The voluntary group that I work with, or rather that I work for has all Christians but one Moslem, Rahima Nassir. She, in one way or another, communicates in a different way from the rest. Most of the time, she refers to the Allah, who is the Supreme Being according to her religion. This happens especially in cases where she tries to sound optimistic and give a hopeless situation hope. The voluntary group involves a lot of interaction and therefore we have to be warm as we interact with others. This is at times not very easy to achieve owing to the fact that some religious beliefs have certain strains. Rahima is not the only one that faces such challenges. Even along the Christian front, there are various denominations which uphold different values. These values make the approach to various situations very differently. CITATION Gai10 p 104 l 1033 (Forey, 2010, p. 104)Gender The gender of a person also affects communication, particularly interpersonal communication. The female species has a different way of passing a message from the male species. One thing I love the most about my voluntary group is that we are balanced when it comes to gender. Out of a group of ten, we have five ladies and five gentlemen. This gives a ratio of one to one. However, this gender difference can at timers be a major setback in terms of communication. The Ladies, for instance would like to be addressed in a more soft way even when it comes to simple aspects such as greetings. Important to note is that communication does not involve only speech, there is verbal and non-verbal communication, all of which should be considered. Throughout the time that I spend with members of my organization, I have observed that men and women have very different modes and methods of communication. Most of the time, male members are very radical in their speech as well as their illustrations. La dies have a different approach. They, more often than not, are very soft both in their speech and illustrations. It is for this reason that they (ladies) are extremely cautious in their speech. I also noted that the men speak fewer words as compared to the ladies. Ladies speak more, except in a few instances.CITATION Mar09 p 85 l 1033 (Gufey, 2009, p. 85)Person with Disability They say disability is not inability. However, this part of the paper will view disability as a hindrance to communication to an extent. People with disabilities, physical disabilities for that matter, face a lot of challenges when it comes to passing a message effectively. This bottleneck is faced by not only the sender of the message but the recipient as well. The voluntary group that I work for or rather the members of the group that I work with experiences such challenges. In the group, there are two people with physical disabilities. Jerry is a deaf while Geoffrey is visually impaired. Of the two, I think Geoffrey has the most difficult time when it comes to communication. For one reason or the other, Geoffrey happened to be the secretary of the organization at some point in time. He therefore took minutes during meetings and did all the secretarial work. This position, I can say he deserved. Geoffrey is very brilliant besides being very diligent in his work. The main challenge that group faced was the translation of the brail recorded minutes. No one in the group understood brail language apart from Geoffrey himself. He was the only one that could read and understand the minutes. Consequently, he had to step down as secretary after a fortnight of good leadership. Jerry on the other hand, cannot communicate easily and effectively. As a matter of facts, he is most of the time misunderstood and the group experiences a lot of instances with miscommunication. Sign language is not that easy to understand. This impacts negatively on the communication in the organization. Both Jerry and the rest of the members have a hard time in communicating. The importance of both Geoffrey and Jerry in the group can never be underestimated but then at times the challenges effective communication a tall order.CITATION Per08 p 119 l 1033 (Mcintosh, 2008, p. 119)Culture Culture is a very important aspect that should be put into consideration when it comes to effective communication. The culture of a member or members of a group determines how the message is conveyed and it also determines how the message is perceived. Culture affects communication to a very great extent simply because the culture of a person will dictate their style of communication. This means that the more diverse the cultures are, the more diverse their styles of communication. Though to a small extent, there is cultural diversity in our voluntary group. In essence we have people from diverse cultural group. For matters of convenience, I will describe the cultural diversity as high culture and low culture, not that any culture is more superior to another, but for explanatory purposes. For instance, Evelyn, the group’s organizing secretary, is from the high culture. This category mainly focuses their communication on arts and by arts I mean it is more of music, drama et cet era. This category will therefore involve people with a very high esteem since for one to be able to express themselves through arts; they have to be extremely bold, just typical of Evelyn. On the contrary, the low culture category involves large audiences. A good illustration of how culture can affect communication is that in some cultures for instance, it is very vital to maintain eye contact during communication while in others; eye contact can be seen as offensive and unacceptable. Barry, the chairman of our voluntary group and Miley, our secretary are most of the time caught up in such a situation due to their religious differences.CITATION Jos14 p 92 l 1033 (Chesobro, 2014, p. 92)Conclusion and Recommendations With over seven billion people in the world, it is expected that people will differ in relation to various aspects of life. Even people from the same family, people with the same cultures, same religious beliefs and people from the same age group will at one point or the other differ. Communication, on the other is also very important. Each and everything we do revolves around communication. No man is an island. This simply means we have to live harmoniously with each other. For this reason, communication is very important. This paper has not focused on intrapersonal communication but interpersonal communication since this is the way we interact with each other in our work places. Without effective interpersonal communication at our work places, it almost difficult to make any social and economic progress. However, I have learnt from my work experiences at my voluntary group that diversities will always be there, they are there to stay. These are some aspects of life that we should a ccept them just in the way they come. We can never be the same. It is therefore very important to understand and embrace each of our diversities, placing our differences aside. From my own case study it is clear that communication is very important. It is equally clear that challenges must arise due to the diversities in various life aspects. Therefore, from my own experience, I would recommend that we respect the fact that we are not and can never be the same but try as well to burn any bridges that might exist as a result of the differences amongst us. We are one and shall always be one, despite our differences. Let us let communication to make us and not break us. References 1033 Avery, C. (2001). The Flexible Workplace. New York: New York University Press. Chesobro, J. (2014). Professional Communication at the Workplace. New York: New York University Press. Eunson, B. (2009). Communication in the Workplace. New York: Edgeworth Publishers. Forey, G. (2010). Globalization, Communication in the Workplace. Oxford University Press. Gray, J. (2002). Mars and Venus in the Workplace. Oxford University Press. Gufey, M. E. (2009). Essentials of Business Communication. New York: New York University Press. Johnson, J. (2012). Solving Problems in Technical Communication. Oxford University Press. Mcintosh, P. (2008). Interpersonal Communication In The Workplace. New York : New York University Press. Muema, T. (2007). Effects of Poor Communication in the Workplace. Miley and Sons Publishers. Pircadi, R. (2001). Skills of Workplace Communication. New York: New York University Press. Source document

Clausius-Clapeyron Equation Example Problem

Clausius Problem The Clausius-Clapeyron equation may be used to estimate vapor pressure as a function of temperature or to find the heat of the phase transition from the vapor pressures at two temperatures. The Clausius-Clapeyron equation is a related named for Rudolf Clausius and Benoit Emile Clapeyron. The equation describes the phase transition between two phases of matter that have the same composition. When graphed, the relationship between temperature and pressure of a liquid is a curve rather than a straight line. In the case of water, for example, vapor pressure increases much faster than temperature. The Clausius-Clapeyron equation gives the slope of the tangents to the curve. Clausius This example problem demonstrates how to use the Clausius-Clapeyron equation to predict the vapor pressure of a solution. Problem: The vapor pressure of 1-propanol is 10.0 torr at 14.7  °C. Calculate the vapor pressure at 52.8  °C.Given:Heat of vaporization of 1-propanol 47.2 kJ/mol Solution The Clausius-Clapeyron equation relates a solutions vapor pressures at different temperatures to the heat of vaporization. The Clausius-Clapeyron equation is expressed byln[PT1,vap/PT2,vap] (ΔHvap/R)[1/T2 - 1/T1]whereΔHvap is the enthalpy of vaporization of the solutionR is the ideal gas constant 0.008314 kJ/K ·molT1 and T2 are the absolute temperatures of the solution in KelvinPT1,vap and PT2,vap is the vapor pressure of the solution at temperature T1 and T2Step 1 - Convert  °C to KTK  °C 273.15T1 14.7  °C 273.15T1 287.85 KT2 52.8  °C 273.15T2 325.95 KStep 2 - Find PT2,vapln[10 torr/PT2,vap] (47.2 kJ/mol/0.008314 kJ/K ·mol)[1/325.95 K - 1/287.85 K]ln[10 torr/PT2,vap] 5677(-4.06 x 10-4)ln[10 torr/PT2,vap] -2.305take the antilog of both sides 10 torr/PT2,vap 0.997PT2,vap/10 torr 10.02PT2,vap 100.2 torr Answer: The vapor pressure of 1-propanol at 52.8  °C is 100.2 torr.

New France essays

New France essays From the time Samuel de Champlain first stepped foot on Canadian soil to the Jesuits setting up permanent missionaries on the First Nations land, it was evident that the colonization of New France would not be easy. After many failed attempts at creating a settlement along the St. Lawrence River, it was only in 1701 when the Iroquois reached a peace agreement with the French, that allowed New France the opportunity to expand and flourish. The purpose of the young colony, if it succeeded, was to help make France rich and so mercantilism was enforced to insure all goods would only be available to the mother country as well as its colonies in the Caribbean. In order for this to work however, New France had to be self-sufficient and from there a new community was born. A Government designed to oversee the activity of New France was put in place by the Crown, and with the growth of settlement, the economic face of the colony began to change along with the social aspect which included the influence the Church had on the Canadians. All these factors came into play to create New France, a new distinct community, very different from what Old France had in mind when they first sent explorers down the St. Lawrence. With Louis XIV on the throne of France, an absolute monarchy was created where all authority would come from him. New France was then declared a royal province and under his control. Jean-Baptiste Colbert was appointed the title: Minister of Marines, and below him in order of power came The Governor, The Intendant, The bishop and the appointed councillors, all of whom made up the Sovereign Council Under Colberts supervision the seigneurial system was adopted to control land titles among the settlers. Two distinct groups emerged from this system: The Seigneurs, mostly made up of nobles and religious bodies, and The Censitaires, who were known as peasant settlers. The seigneurs had rights over the soil, howev...

How to Answer the Hypothetical Interview Question

How to Answer the Hypothetical Interview Question Pop quiz, hotshot: It’s your first day on the job, and everything is going wrong. How do you fix it? If you get this kind of question during a job interview, it can be alarming, to say the least. It feels like the interviewer is giving you a direct challenge, and if you answer incorrectly, you shall not pass. But if you are asked to solve a hypothetical problem, don’t panic. There’s a method that will help you get through it. Here’s how you can answer the hypothetical interview question.DO take a few seconds to gather yourself.First instincts may get you through in bar trivia nights or emergency situations, but this is neither. You want to make sure you’re giving a reasoned, thoughtful response. The person is testing your problem solving skills and your thinking processes, so you want to make sure you’re showing those off.DON’T blurt out the first thing that comes to mind.This isn’t Jeopardy!, and you don’t get a bonus fo r being the first to buzz in. Again, the interviewer is watching you to see how you approach something, not just the end result.DO ask questions if you need to clarify.This can also buy you a little thinking-on-your-feet time.DON’T ramble or go off on tangents.This is a nervous habit that can be tough to break, and the best way to get around that tendency is to think about this ahead of time. Sure, it’s difficult to anticipate beforehand exactly what (if any) hypothetical situations the interviewer could use, so do some general prep.Look closely at the job description. Is it heavy on client service? If so, you might be asked to talk about how to handle a sticky situation with a client or stakeholder. Is the job focused around deadlines? You might have to field a question about what to do about potentially missing one of those deadlines. It’s unlikely that the interviewer will ask you something entirely unrelated to the job you’re seeking, so the descripti on is a good place to start for anticipating such a question.DO think about your own history.The hypothetical question is a cousin to the â€Å"tell me about a time you†¦Ã¢â‚¬  question. And that’s one you should already have in your pocket ahead of interview day. Have you-specific examples of things like problem solving, communication successes, or challenges you’ve faced down. If these are at all related to the hypothetical situation posed, you can adapt. If it’s very similar, you can say, â€Å"That’s actually like a situation I had at X Corp. Here’s what I did in that scenario†¦Ã¢â‚¬ DON’T feel pressured to give a definitive answer to the problem.Talk about the process of resolving: where you would start, who you would loop in, which steps you would take to arrive at a possible solution, and then what you would do to choose the best option. The interviewer isn’t asking you to solve the problem and achieve world peace right now, she wants to see how you would approach it.The hypothetical question can be a sticky point in an interview, but if you know what they’re looking for (process) and how to lay it out (clearly and calmly), you’ll be past it and back into more familiar territory in no time.

Communication 380 Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Communication 380 - Coursework Example What is the pattern of the pronunciation variation? The pattern of the variation is in the chorus line. The first two times the group uses the phrase â€Å"stick witch you†, whereas in the third usage in the chorus it is â€Å"with you†. 2. What is the effect of such deliberate dialect code switching on you personally? I would not have noticed it if it had not been pointed out to me, and since it has been, I find it irritating and annoying. 3. Do you think that other people listening to the song will react differently to it than you? Yes, I do think that others will react differently. As with most popular song lyrics, unless a word or phrase used garners an emotional reaction, it goes unnoticed. 4. Do you think this song is aimed for a male or female audience? I think that this song is aimed more towards a female audience, since people have a strong tendency to notice chorus lines that â€Å"speak† to them. In turn, this initiates an emotional reaction, which the n starts the person’s thought processes about someone in their life. 5. Why does she vary her pronunciation? She varies her pronunciation because of the rhythm of the song itself. In the first two instances of using â€Å"stick witch you†, the beat of the music is slightly faster than in the third instance, which is also the ending of the chorus line. 3 Part 3: Matching current words to their historical roots 1. Kingdom correlates to F. Anglo Saxon cyne, meaning â€Å"royal† 2. Toast (as in â€Å"to your health†) correlates to H. Scottish toss as in â€Å"toss a drink† 3. Wedlock correlates to E. Anglo Saxon wed, meaning â€Å"pledge or engagement† and lac, meaning â€Å"offering or giftâ€Å". 4. Fancy (as in imagination) correlates to G. French pensee, meaning â€Å"thought† 5. Cutlet correlates to A. Latin costa, meaning â€Å"rib† 6. Cockatoo correlates to B. Hindustani kakatua, a word imitative of its cry 7. Country Danc e correlates to D. French contre meaning â€Å"opposite† 8. Cold Slaw (or Cole Slaw) correlates to C. Dutch kool meaning â€Å"cabbage† and sla meaning â€Å"salad†. 4 Part 4: Misanalyses 1. Sick-as-hell anemia is â€Å"sickle cell anemia† 2. Old-timer’s disease is â€Å"Alzheimer’s disease† 3. Smiling Mighty Jesus is â€Å"spinal meningitis† 4. For all intensive purposes is â€Å"for all intents and purposes† 5. A blessing in the skies is â€Å"a blessing in disguise† 6. Spitting image is â€Å"splitting image† 5 Part 5: â€Å"Chat with A.L.I.C.E.† (pandorabots.com) 1. Are A.L.I.C.E.’s responses semantically appropriate? The semantics of A.L.I.C.E.’s responses are determined by the use of language, and how they are worded to her. Oftentimes, they are not appropriate, i.e. she asked how I was doing, and I responded with â€Å"I am lovely†. Her response was if that â€Å"made me feel superior†. 2. Are they pragmatically appropriat

Managing across Cultures ( My sis ) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Managing across Cultures ( My sis ) - Essay Example Models of Cultural Dimension Hofstede Model Geert Hofstede cultural dimension theory was introduced in 1993. While working in international business it becomes essential to understand the different cultures of the people and based on this various decision can be taken. In this theory different management concept and practices in different countries has been evaluated by analysing five dimensions of culture. Power Distance: It is the extent to which inequality between the powers of the people of a country is distributed. High power distance based cultures are generally hierarchical in nature in which everybody is placed. Low power distance culture implies equalisation of power and wants justification of power inequalities when it occurs. France and India are examples of countries that are high in power distance. The Netherlands is a country that is low in power distance. ... It has been found that men are considered violent and competitive, whereas women are supposed to be gentle and are concerned with home and family. Uncertainty Avoidance: It defines the point at which a value of the culture is predictable in nature and whether the people assume new ideas as risky or challenge. Hofstede finds that people who prefer to avoid uncertainty believe in the rules that are made to be followed. They should be with the organisation for a lifetime and for this uncertainty level there is stressful life. Japan is an example of a country that is high in uncertainty avoidance. India and the US are examples of countries that are low in uncertainty avoidance. Long-Term Orientation versus Short-Term Orientation: It is the cultural attribute that focuses on whether people is focussed on long term benefit such as saving money for the future or on the short term basis that like abide by the various social responsibility and traditions (Changing Minds, 2011). Source: (Desig ned for Africa, 2010). While working overseas in different countries with different people, at first their national culture with these dimensions is to be evaluated. Hofstede’s theory demonstrates that with one or more of the dimension all the countries are different in certain way or the other from each other. Trompenaars Model Trompenaars is a Dutch culturalist who has introduced international culture. In this model major dimension of person versus task and centralised versus decentralised have been determined. The various cultural dimension of this model are: Universalism vs. Particularism: The high universalism culture stress on formal rules and contracts to their individual

Statistics 401 Mod 3 SLP - Hypothesis Testing II Coursework

Statistics 401 Mod 3 SLP - Hypothesis Testing II - Coursework Example It is merely based on a hunch or general observation without hard facts to support it. This implies that it calls for a means of testing whether or not it is true at the end of the research. There are two types of hypothesis; one is the null hypothesis which implores that there is no relationship between two variables under observation. In the case of this study in which the variables are my stock price and the DJIA, The null hypothesis is that there is no relationship between my stock price and the DJIA. The second type of hypothesis is the alternative hypothesis. This offers the opposite idea from that of the null hypothesis. It states that indeed there is a relationship between the two variables in question. ... 1.86 3.46 -12.87 54 15.08 227.41 12 -2.41 5.81 36.34 48 9.08 82.45 18 3.59 12.89 32.59 37 -1.92 3.69 16 1.86 3.46 3.57 70 31.08 965.97 15 0.59 0.35 18.34 23 -15.92 253.45 12 -2.41 5.81 38.37 36 -2.92 8.53 13 -1.41 1.99 4.12 35 -3.92 15.37 14 -0.41 0.17 1.61 21 -17.92 321.13 11 -3.41 11.63 61.11 55 16.08 258.57 16 1.86 3.46 29.91 TOTAL 467 2183.95 173 52.66 208.61 AVERAGE 38.92 14.41 r= 208.61 [(sqrt 2183.95)(sqrt 52.66)] = 0.309 Confirming in the table of the value of r shown below:- If r = +.70 or higher Very strong positive relationship +.40 to +.69 Strong positive relationship +.30 to +.39 Moderate positive relationship +.20 to +.29 weak positive relationship +.01 to +.19 No or negligible relationship -.01 to -.19 No or negligible relationship -.20 to -.29 weak negative relationship -.30 to -.39 Moderate negative relationship -.40 to -.69 Strong negative relationship -.70 or higher Very strong negative relationship ‘r’ is between 0.30 and 0.39 and therefore a moderate positive relationship. This implies that there is moderate positive relationship between my stock price and the DJIA. This confirms the alternative hypothesis which stated that; there is a relationship between my stock price and the DJIA REFERENCES Soper, H.E., Young, A.W., Cave, B.M., Lee, A., Pearson, K. (1917). "On the distribution of the correlation coefficient in small samples. Appendix II to the papers of "Student" and R. A. Fisher. A co-operative study", Biometrika, 11, 328-413.

Search Engine Optimization Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Search Engine Optimization - Research Paper Example This is to mean that, white hats use terms appropriately to ensure that their websites are visible. On the other hand, black fill their websites with content or words that get plenty of hits from search engines. White hats, when compared to black hats have distinct characteristics that put them apart in favor or against one another as one of the uses unscrupulous means and makes attractive promises (Creative Momentum 1). In relation to white hat search engine optimization, it follows regulations and guidelines to the letter, as provided by search engines to ensure that websites are visible to all that require information from them. This includes careful use of words that get numerous hits from search engines such that the words used are not meant to bloat documents or articles in the website. Instead, the words used are of a unique nature in that they are informative and, at times, act as support words for the whole article and not for exploiting the abilities of search engines. As s uch, websites are designed with certain aspects in mind; these include rules and norms, as well as a code of ethics to ensure that all internet activities are conducted with transparency. Based on this, following the guidelines of search engines for optimizing visibility, ensures that the ever-changing algorithms applied by search engines (Revenuewire 2) achieve transparency. This shields legal or appropriate sites from relegation, and thus gets high ratings by following meeting the terms of use on multiple levels. The white hat optimizers or designers, therefore, apply to the intelligence and needs of internet users to deliver quality content that does not fool search engines by giving false information, including in the titles of the websites. In relation to domain naming, white hat optimizers allow the actual intent of the website to appear rather than mislead the search engine user into logging into it for irrelevant content. These are the distinct characteristics of â€Å"whit e hat† search engine optimization due to their compliant nature, which offers protection from removal and relegation. On the other hand, black hat search engine optimizers have their own code of ethics, or lack of it thereof that sees them dump the rulebook and carry the day, but only for limited moment (Smith 5). Black hat optimization in search engines involves the application of hidden content, where there are numerous links and articles, as well as documents that are spammed with keywords, which serve as crucial gateway points for search engines. This is in relation to search engines accessing the site due to its heavy saturation with such words that are mainly used by internet users to query information from the internet. Information is usually hidden in scripts and non-script parts of code in a website, where search engines only expose it as its algorithms crawl the internet. In addition black hat optimizations tends to have meta-keyword stuffing, where in the descriptio n of the website, or even in its headers, it has numerous keywords (Wilding). These words raise the flags, both red and white for search engines thus improving the ranking of a website, especially in marketing and sites that market content to generate revenue. Through this, it is evident that black hat optimizers are only

EBay expands around the globe Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

EBay expands around the globe - Essay Example This growth has mainly come in the past 8 years. While expanding globally, eBay has exercised a variety and combination of options that it had available in the first place (Thompson, 2003). The following section discusses various options for businesses while expanding. For moving in the international markets, a business has a number of options that can be considered. The consideration is based on various analyses of cost versus benefit being the major highlight (Davis, 2000). Some of the main options that a business may consider while going international are: Franchising is when a foreign business (parent company) deals with a local business to be their representative in the local markets, with the parent company's name, rules, policies and procedures being followed. The local company operates under the name of the parent company, precisely as per their inherent instructions, and earns the parent company earns the royalty from this set up (Shull, 2000). Examples of such an arrangement are often witnessed in the fast food chain set up or even in gas stations. Mergers occur when two or more businesses decide on merging their set of services to compete in a much enhanced form in the industry. In such a form, the businesses unite and the separate existence and identity seizes (Price, 2003). Glaxo Smith Klime (GSK) is the most renowned merger of recent times, with Sony Ericsson being another one. Acquisitions takes place when one firm is taken over by another and the acquiree seizes to exist as the acquirer takes over the operations and assets under its own books. In such a scenario, the acquirer yields various advantages. The extent of the advantages increases further when the acquirer is a foreign entity, acquiring a local entity to enter into the local markets (Carr, 2004). For example, as Royal Bank of (Scotland RBS) took over ABN AMRO, it instantaneously got access to the countries where it had no existence earlier. Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) takes place when a business having no existence in a certain region or country decides to enter into the local market for purpose of expanding its operations and taking advantage of an existing opportunity. For the industry in which eBay operates, the two most viable options for expanding are either acquisition or FDI. However, on majority of the occasions, eBay has seemed to preferred acquisition over FDI. The following section discusses the pros and cons of this selection and preference in detail. eBay's Policy: Acquisition Vs FDI eBay while expanding globally has chosen the option of acquisition rather than any other mode of expanding. There have been several critiques on the issue because with the likes of funding available at eBay, the firm could have easily gone in with any mode of expansion. The aim of essay is to critically analyze the pros and cons of acquisition vs. FDI. Following are the main advantages for eBay to choose acquisition over FDI as its preferred strategy to enter into the markets (David, 2002): 1) Existing Infrastructure: The major advantage of

Search Engine Optimization Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Search Engine Optimization - Research Paper Example This is to mean that, white hats use terms appropriately to ensure that their websites are visible. On the other hand, black fill their websites with content or words that get plenty of hits from search engines. White hats, when compared to black hats have distinct characteristics that put them apart in favor or against one another as one of the uses unscrupulous means and makes attractive promises (Creative Momentum 1). In relation to white hat search engine optimization, it follows regulations and guidelines to the letter, as provided by search engines to ensure that websites are visible to all that require information from them. This includes careful use of words that get numerous hits from search engines such that the words used are not meant to bloat documents or articles in the website. Instead, the words used are of a unique nature in that they are informative and, at times, act as support words for the whole article and not for exploiting the abilities of search engines. As s uch, websites are designed with certain aspects in mind; these include rules and norms, as well as a code of ethics to ensure that all internet activities are conducted with transparency. Based on this, following the guidelines of search engines for optimizing visibility, ensures that the ever-changing algorithms applied by search engines (Revenuewire 2) achieve transparency. This shields legal or appropriate sites from relegation, and thus gets high ratings by following meeting the terms of use on multiple levels. The white hat optimizers or designers, therefore, apply to the intelligence and needs of internet users to deliver quality content that does not fool search engines by giving false information, including in the titles of the websites. In relation to domain naming, white hat optimizers allow the actual intent of the website to appear rather than mislead the search engine user into logging into it for irrelevant content. These are the distinct characteristics of â€Å"whit e hat† search engine optimization due to their compliant nature, which offers protection from removal and relegation. On the other hand, black hat search engine optimizers have their own code of ethics, or lack of it thereof that sees them dump the rulebook and carry the day, but only for limited moment (Smith 5). Black hat optimization in search engines involves the application of hidden content, where there are numerous links and articles, as well as documents that are spammed with keywords, which serve as crucial gateway points for search engines. This is in relation to search engines accessing the site due to its heavy saturation with such words that are mainly used by internet users to query information from the internet. Information is usually hidden in scripts and non-script parts of code in a website, where search engines only expose it as its algorithms crawl the internet. In addition black hat optimizations tends to have meta-keyword stuffing, where in the descriptio n of the website, or even in its headers, it has numerous keywords (Wilding). These words raise the flags, both red and white for search engines thus improving the ranking of a website, especially in marketing and sites that market content to generate revenue. Through this, it is evident that black hat optimizers are only

Hate Crimes Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Hate Crimes - Research Paper Example t acts against other individuals have always been prevalent in society throughout history, the socially-constructed notion of referring to this as hate crimes is a fairly new notion (McPhail and DiNitto, 2005). This paper will discuss hate crimes in general and place an emphasis on why it seems like hate crimes are on the rise. It is undoubtedly true that hate crimes are reported in the news more frequently than in the past. A good example of this is a comparison of the number of newspaper coverage given. In the 1980s, over the course of 8 years, the Washington Post published 49 articles on hate crimes. In comparison, in the 1990s, there were 1,100articles published on hate crime in 8 years (Nolan et al, 2002).one main reason for this is possibly due to the ‘Hate Crimes Statistics Act’ which was passed in 1990 (Nolan et al,2002). 5) There appears to be no relationship between hate crimes and index crimes. Index crimes refer to the eight criminal acts that are used by the FBI to predict the amount of crime in the USA. These include murder, manslaughter, rape, robbery, assault, burglary, larceny-theft, vehicle theft and arson (Nolan et al, 2002). To make the decision as to whether a crime should be treated as a hate crime, the police follow a two step approach (FBI, 1999 from Macmahon et al, 2004). The officer who is first on the scene decided whether there is any evidence the offender’s motivation was bias. In the second step, a trained officer makes a solid decision as to whether the incident is in fact a hate crime using a set of criteria. These criteria are all victim-orientated and are ‘membership in the targeted group, active role or advocacy in community group, representation of victim’s group in the community, previous record of victimization, or the victim’s visitation to a high-tension community’ (Macmahon et al,2004). Four other criteria that are usually used that are offender based include ‘the presence of comments, gestures, or written

Global warming effects Essay Example for Free

Global warming effects Essay Yankee Candle Company began in 1969, as penniless Mike Kittredge, age 16, melted crayons to form a candle as a Christmas present for his Mom. A neighbor, mesmerized by his fabulous creation, expressed her desire to purchase one of his candles; thus Yankee Candle Company was born. Mike used his parents basement, kitchen, and garage to produce his scented candles. Five years later, in 1974, Mike moved production into an old paper mill located in Holyoke, Massachusetts. In 1998 Forstmann Little Company partnered with Yankee Candle Company and began to publicly trade on the NYSE in 1999. Mike Kittredge sold his first candle to a neighbor for $1.36, in 1969 and in 2005 Yankee Candle Companys total sales were $601,180,000. Mikes humble beginning in the family home has grown into a wholesale customer network of 16,400 store locations, a growing base of Company owned and operated retail stores (390 located in 42 states),†¦ direct mail catalogs, its website,†¦ international distributors, and to a European wholesale network of approximately 2,200 store locations†¦ (2006) Yankees passion for fragrance has become a profitable entity with visions of continued global expansion. Yankee Candle Company has branded their product as long-lasting and strong in fragrance. Yankee has developed over 150 fragrances for their various candle products. Their product line includes jars, votive, tarts, wax potpourri, pillars, tapers, and tea lights candles. Yankees design is innovative and their scents are pleasant, relaxing, and rejuvenating. Yankee Candle Companys design department is visionary in developing candles to accent modern dà ©cor and fragrances that appeal to its customers. Yankee will explore and introduce aromas that are common to the Greek culture as they expand into this new market. Yankee Candle will emulate their passion for fragrance and provide a wide variety of choices for its new customers in Greece. The Yankee Candle Company continues to build on the passion and creativity of Mike Kittredge; driven by a mission to warm hearth and home with the fragrances of life through excellence, innovation, and passion. Yankee has been dedicated to excellence throughout their 37 year history. A company spokesperson attributes their success to, our vertically integrated  business model, which enables us to control most every aspect of our business, from product development to manufacturing to distribution to marketing and sales. This structure allows us to consistently provide high quality and innovative products†¦ (2006) Yankees innovation is evident in their candles and accessory designs, which acclimate too various dà ©cor preferences and the expanding variety of fragrances, which appeal to its customers. Yankee Candle Company is driven by an intense passion to spread the fragrances of life around the world for all to enjoy. The product expansion into the Greek marketplace is another step towards reaching their objectives. Yankee Candle Company will expand its fragrances to blend in with the cultures of new markets. Yankee will continue to develop partnerships with established Company owned retail stores as venues for their products to be sold. The candle company has already established Yankee Candle  ® Europe with a 30,000 square foot distribution center in Bristol, England that provides Yankee products for approximately 2,200 stores. This distribution center will be used to export Yankee products to be sold by retail stores in Greece. The Yankee Company has decided to expand their markets and head out to the Country of Greece. We will be exporting our candle line product from the United States to Greece. The product expansion into the Greek marketplace is another step towards reaching their objectives. Yankee Candle Company will expand its fragrances to blend in with the cultures of new markets. Yankee will continue to develop partnerships with established Company owned retail stores as venues for their products to be sold. As Yankee Candle expands into new regions of the world, distribution centers will be built to service their wholesale store network. Where trade barriers, economical and political policies will allow. When expanding into new countries, Yankee Candle will establish an online shopping website to market and sell their products. Since 1994, the United States is part of the NAFTA organization between three countries. The North American Free Trade Agreement, known usually as NAFTA, is a free trade agreement among Canada, the United States, and Mexico. NAFTA  went into effect on January 1, 1994. NAFTA is also used to refer to the tripartite trading bloc of North American countries. www.wikipedia.org. Since the inception of the Eurpeon Union in 1957 six countries were a part of this union. Nineteen further states have joined in and creasted a successful union. Greece joined the EU January, 1981. The exchange and repatriation of funds risks the Euros exchange rate against the dollar, remains unstable. The low interest rates, increased competition in the banking industry, and continued growth in commercial bank lending; to raise bad debt and strong growth in consumer borrowing. Economic growth is forecast to slow in 2006 and 2007. The consumer price inflation slowed dramatically in Greece before its entry into pre-economic and monetary union (EMU) in January 2001 and was helped by other temporary measures. The economy of the United States is stable made up of natural resource, labor and manufacturing, and investments. The United States has the largest and one of the most technologically advanced national economies in the world, with a GDP of 13.049 trillion dollars. www.wikipedia.org. Consumers and producers have some decision-making that form the economy, but the government also has a powerful role on the effects of the economy. The economy of Greece is growing fast after the implementation of stabilization policies in recent years. Greece remains a net importer of industrial and capital goods, foodstuffs, and petroleum. Leading exports are manufactured goods, food and beverages, petroleum products, cement, chemicals, and pharmaceuticals. www.wikipedia.org. Greece is global leader in shipping, which is the transportation of goods and cargo by land, air, or sea. Types of currency used through out the world vary from country to country and or by region. The Unites States of America official currency is the dollar, symbol: USD also known to be abbreviated by $. The US currency was adopted in 1785 by the United States Congress. The United States dollar is also known as a world currency; in 1985 $300 billion dollars were in circulation,  with two thirds being out side of the Untied States. Each year the amount of U.S dollars is being circulated around the world continues to increase. In comparison to the Untied States of America, Greece uses the euro as denomination of currency type, symbol â‚ ¬. Greece is part of the European Union also knows as the EU. What I found most interesting is the European Monetary Union has ceded control of monetary policy to the European Central Bank. Versus the Untied States taking control over their own currency. The European Union has a large economy, probably slightly larger than that of the United States of America with a 2005 GDP of 12,865,602 million vs. 11,734,300 million (USD figures) (using nominal US Dollar GDP) according to the International Monetary Fund. www.wikipedia.org. Greeces relations with other countries in the region have been steadily improving. Greece is working with Turkey to resolve their disagreements, mainly with regard to Cyprus. Failure to resolve the division of the island of Cyprus may increase tensions between Greece and Turkey as the latter finds its bid to join the European Union partially dependent on success, but tensions rise sharply with Turkey over the issue of Cyprus. Greece is also assisting and improving relations with the economic development of the Balkans. The Balkans is now viewed by Greece as a greater threat to security than Turkey. Also, renewed instability in the Balkans leads to unrest in Greece and trade disruption. Political corruption is considered higher in Greece than many other European Union countries. Politicians are dependent on media with strong ties to business interests. There is a politicized, anti-globalization environmental movement in Greece which is increasingly complicated in its use of the courts and the European Union to block large projects. United States culture is very diverse but due to the level of the American culture there are many integrated but exclusive subculture within the U.S. The subcultures differentiated by status, ethnic background, residence, religion or other factors that functionally combine the group and act jointly on each subculture member. The ethnic groups are White, Black, Asian, Amerindian, Alaska native, native Hawaiian, and other Pacific  islander. The various religion are Protestant, Roman, Catholic, Mormon, Jewish, Muslim, Baptist, and others. Lastly, the languages are English, Spanish, Indo-European, Asian, Pacific island and others. Let us not forget that the government type is constitution-based federal republic but strong democratic tradition. As a result, the subcultures have their own joint set of customs, attitudes, and values. Greece is a diverse culture partial by its place at the crossroads between the East and the West and by the various occupations endured by the Greek people throughout history. The Greeks are proud of their culture which is the definition of their national and ethnic belonging. The Greeks culture is made of their traditions, religion, music, language, food and wines. Some of the traditions and superstitions vary from one island to another. Many countries differ within a range of dimensions including social structure, language, religion, and traditions to name a few. The difference has important implications on marketing strategy of the product. The most cultural difference that has an impact would be traditions. Candle scent preference may differ from one country to another. The company may encounter resistance to some of its different scents or wax. The organization must careful research Greece cultural norms and understanding the difference between US and Greece. Cross-Cultural training (literacy) would be needed to make sure the company advertising or marketing strategy does not offend anyone in the other country. The candles should be affordable due to the unemployment rate within Greece; however the organization must make a profit consider the cost to export the candles within that country. Yankee Candle is aware of the culture difference between the US and Greece, therefore staffing would be important to the organization. The organization would provide their US employees with language and cultural training. Yankee understands that one of their vendors Berlitz has experience and knowledge in cross cultural and language training that would help assist the expatriates. Berlitz offers a variety of programs and has been in the  business for 128 years, more than 450 centers in over 60 countries. Berlitz offers online, adult, children and teen programs for cultural and language training including one-on-one sessions. The cultural and language training would be for the family as well. The cultural training would be for two days and 100 hours for language training, however if more hours are needed for language the company would approve this cost. The employees that are going on the international assignment would have other benefits including when they are expatriating back in to the US. However, the expatriates will receive just a  ½ day of cultural training and language will not be necessary. The US dollar is not equal to the same amount in most other countries. Hence, the company would pay an additional allowance to cover the difference. The cost of living may be higher in the other countries, as a result a housing allowance is provided to the employee. The company does consider the cost living in the US and then compare that cost to living in Greece. The education in Greece is not the same for US citizens. As a result, to the language barrier and cultural it may be very difficult for the employees children to attend the local school in the host country for that reason private schools or boarding school may be required. Consequently the company is aware of this and therefore would provide tuition allowance. Due to the cultural and language difference there are going to be diversity issues, so human resource has provided an open door policy. The open door policy would allow employees to express him or she concerns and human resource will try to provide a solution to the problem, if possible. Supply chain management is an important role for the success of Yankee Candle Company to sell scented candles in Greece. Supply chain is most effective for optimal resource use, minimum total cost, and maximum value to the customer. Decisions with in supply chain are to buy your product or make your own. Yankee Candle Company already produces its own scented candles and will be the same for candles being shipped overseas. The production will be manufactured in the Companys 294,000 square foot facility in Whately, Massachusetts. As a manufacturer, the Company is able to closely monitor product quality and control production costs, which ensures high quality  products and maintains affordable pricing. Information has been gathered from the Greece from the candle business industry. This data will assist in forecasting how much product is needed for a three months supply to meet the supply and demand in Greece. Lead time for the initiation of Yankee Candle Company to enter the Greece market is 10 months. In turn this will give enough time to meet the three month stock supply. The information gathered from the Greece candle market will support the types of scented candles that will be produced to ship overseas. Lead time for the shipment to arrive at the distribution warehouse is three months; the life span of a candle is three years. Placing our product will be near or around the largest cities and ports in Greece. The largest and most important city in Greece is Athens, the capital with population based in 1991 of 748,110. The largest port in Greece is Thessalonà ­ki, with a population of 377,951. Also another large port is located on the North part of the Peloponnesus, is a major seaport, with 155,180 inhabitants. Other sizable cities include Là ¡risa (113,426), Irà ¡klion (117,167), and Và ³los (76,463). The ports and its population are important factors in knowing were to place the Yankee Candle Stores. These would be in areas in the region that have the most population and are easily accessible to Tourist from vacation boats that may doc on these ports. Promoting Yankee Candle Company in Greece would be similar as it is currently in the Untied States. Through its retail stores the Yankee Candle company would open in Greece, direct mail catalogs. To include a large market Yankee candle will also promote is U.S product through television commercials newspapers, bill board singes through out the larger cities of Greece, and through its own web page http://www.yankeecandle.com/cgi-bin/ycbvp/retail.jsp. Promotion for this product will be introduced to all who wants to have special fragrances in their homes. Business will also be targeted to have fresh new fragrances for their offices. Candles are an excellent gift for all ages and for any special occasion. The middle class in Greece is the main target market Yankee Candle Company is promoting the scented U.S candle product. In 2005  the labor force in Greece was at 4.72 million compared to unemployment rate of 10.8% figures from www.cia.gov. These figures give Yankee Candle Company the green light to proceed with international distribution into the Greece market. Pricing the candles will be 30% above the sale price of a U.S product. This will ensure the costs of having a U.S product of seas. Yankee Candles has successfully developed and market new products and earn enormous returns. We have success springs for the fact that it has a vertically integrated business model, with the in-house expertise required to design, develop, manufacture, distribute and sell our candle products. Our vertically integrated business model acts as a powerful platform to support our product innovation initiatives. This business model included strong research and development activities, an experienced employee team, and a basis skill in test marketing our products. We collected these resources to research consumer interests and home decor buying trends, and then to create original candle designs, fragrances, accessories, gift sets, home fragrance merchandise, and personal care items that align with our findings. We then release this merchandise into our distribution channels in a way that permits us to seek and track consumer feedback. This process positions us to fine-tune our new products from performance, to packaging, to labeling, to pricing helping to maximize the potential for each item we develop to have a successful launch and widespread acceptance. Together, these efforts helped to drive sales, attract new customers and extend the appeal of the Yankee Candle brand. Once exporting was chosen as the mode of entry, Yankee Candle secured assistance from a company called, Export Trade of America; to learn about insurance, tariff, and tax laws involved in trading with Greece. Yankee Candle Company will face various legal challenges when exporting its candles into Greece, but the process will go much easier with the help of an export management company. Yankee will need to comply with employee laws and have knowledge about hiring, firing, and discipline regulations in Greece. They will need to be acquainted with their legal system and how those laws are enforced. Greece is a parliamentary republic with a president, who is heads the executive administration, a prime minister, who is head of the  government, and a 300 seat legislature. The judicial includes a Supreme Court, regional districts, and prefectures to decide civil and criminal cases. There is a national police force as well as policing agencies from the European Union. As a member of the European Union, the EU laws supersede those of the individual member nations. Yankee Candle Company will need to be aware of the EU laws, enforcement, penalties, and necessary trade practices. The European Union could cause legal complications as the union adds new members, arbitrates disagreements among its memberships, and as competition increases in the global marketplace. There has been a longstanding relationship between Greece and the United States of America. The two countries have diplomatic, intelligence, and law enforcement ties. Greece and the United States, recently signed treaties covering extradition and mutual legal assistance, which further strengthened this cooperation. (2006) Trade between these two nations should proceed with success barring increased terrorism, war, or a terrific natural disaster that impacts the global economy. It is important for any company to evaluate their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. As Yankee Candle employees examines their organization they listed the following as company strengths; strong business model, long-lasting candles, well-branded product, variety of fragrances, adaptability of product to various cultures and dà ©cor, strong financial backing, increasing profitability, expanding marketplace, efficient manufacturing and distribution process, and an innovative product development. Yankee Candle Companys weaknesses include; rising cost for manufacturing and distributions, technological skills, single manufacturing center, adapting products to various cultures and customs, and material shortages. There are several opportunities that must be pursued to maintain profitability; increase presence in the global marketplace, expanded online shopping options, adapt fragrance choices to new markets, build foreign manufacturing and distribution center, and add accessories to their product line. There are many threats to the existence of Yankee Candle Company  including; competitions pricing and product differentiation, terrorism, natural disasters, exchange rate, rising costs for manufacturing and distribution, and the products life-cycle. The external environment strengths include; reduction in trade barriers, strong European Union, technological advancements, and utilization of websites. The external weaknesses are; trade blocs, closed economic and political policies that prevent or limit imports/exports, and the affects of terrorism. External opportunities include; improving the economic levels of third world countries, utilizing the skills, resources, and expertise of various countries to lower costs and create an integrated economy, develop innovative products, and create a global network. Finally, the external threats include; terrorism, political instability, natural disasters, increased global competition, trade blocs that become fortresses against those outside their union, countries imposing regulations against outsiders who want to merger or acquire other foreign companies, conflict among existing trade bloc members, and inflation/deflation of the monitory systems. Reference: (2006, 4,12). The Yankee Candle Company, Inc. 2006 First Quarter Earnings Webcast. Retrieved 4/23/06, from SBC Yahoo Finance Web site: http://biz,yahoo.com/bw/060412/20060412005002.html?.v=1www.wikipedia.org., retreived April 24, 2006. http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/gr.html#EconRetrieved 5/13/06 from the World FactbookUnknown, Retrieve on April 23, 2006 fromhttp://www.odci.gov/cia/publications/factbook/print/gr.htmlUnknown, Retrieve on April 23, 2006 fromhttp://www.greeka.com/greece-culture.htm

Reflective Practice In Pastoral Ministry Education Essay

Reflective Practice In Pastoral Ministry Education Essay The focus of this paper is reflective practice, which is the ability of individuals to learn from critically analysing events and experiences that they encounter in their daily lives besides the values and theories that support those activities. This is employed in various professionals such as in teaching, nursing, environmentalists among other professionals as a supplement for formal professional learning. In this study, reflective practice will be examined from a pastoral point of view. The term reflective practice will be examined with reference to its definition, the various types of reflective practice that exist and the models of reflective practice that are in use today. Additionally, reflective practice will be analysed from a pastoral point of view whereby the various ways in which it can be used in Christian ministry will be explored as well as the ways in which it has enabled the writer of this paper to develop or change their public relations as far as the ministry is concerned. Finally, the role of reflective practice in the learning experience of the writer will be examined. 2.Reflective practice 1)Definition Reflective practice is one of the core characteristics in professions such as education, health, environmental management and theology among others and usually refers to the ability of an individual to reflect on actions or acts in a way that facilitates further learning for the individual. This usually involves paying special attention to the activities of everyday life with special reference to the values and theirs that are the basis for these actions. Reflective learning encourages practice-based professional learning whereby individuals are able to learn from their experiences as opposed to formal and structured teaching. The term reflective practice is composed of two words; reflection and practice whereby the term reflection means to critically and accurately evaluate an item, an individual or a situation while experiencing them or after one has encountered them. Practice on the other hand refers to learning or mastery through repetition. Reflective practice has been defined by Moon as a set of abilities and skills, to indicate the taking of a critical stance, an orientation to problem solving or state of mind whereas Cowan has defined reflective thinking as the situation when they analyse or evaluate one or more personal experiences and attempt to generalise that from thinking. Biggs on the other hand defined reflective thinking as a reflection in a mirror is an exact replica of what is in front of it. Reflection in professional practice, however, gives back not what it is, but what might be an improvement of the original . In conclusion therefore, the process of reflective learning may be thought of as a process through which individuals critically evaluate their actions, thoughts and experiences and through this critical appraisal, are able to experience autonomous learning. The connection between knowledge and practice is further facilitated by the availability of an experienced professional within the discipline, in this case theology and pastoral ministry. In laymans terms, the practices and strategies for reflective practice includes questioning the manner in which one carries out various activities and comparing it to the manner in which others carry out the same activities; the search for alternatives in the course of accomplishing the same activities; comparing and contrasting; keeping an open mind; looking for the framework, theoretical basis and underlying rationale for those activities; viewing from various perspectives by asking for the viewpoints of others; consideration of the consequence s; hypothesising, testing, seeking, identifying and resolving problems . 2)Advantages of practice reflective Reflective practice in pastoral ministry is associated with a higher understanding for the minister of his or her own style in the course of ministry besides validation of his or her own ideas, beneficial challenges to traditional approaches, recognition of the role of ministry in society and the respect for diversity in the course of applying theories in practice . 3.Types Of Reflective Practice 1)Content Reflection This refers to the recounting of something that happened by the practitioner who in this case is the minister . This may be the outright description of a situation or of a problem such as Mr. Stan did not tell me anything that may have been troubling him in spite of the fact that I reassured him that I was ready to listen and despite his revelation that his family was unreceptive to him 2)Process Reflection This is where a practitioner the process that was involved in the happening of an event such as as I narrated in the encounter with Mr. Stan what my purpose was, then I began to carry out an intense physical assessment. I asked again about any concerns once in the middle of taking temperature, and did not mention it again. Mr. Stan failed to make eye contact when he said everything was ok. 3)Premise Reflection Premise reflection is where a problem, issue or situation is evaluated with the view of understanding why it happened or occurred. For example I wonder why he failed to respond to my questions. How come I didnt notice and respond to his body language then? Why did I not feel comfortable digging a little more? Did I ask about her problems too early in the interview and too often again when in the middle of the task? Was I comfortable? What should I do differently in a future situation? Do I feel comfortable acting differently in the future? What would assist me in the future? 4)Action Reflection This is also known as reflection on action and is used to refer to the reflection of actions, activities and events that happened in the past and may involve documentation of those past events and experiences and may be referred to as Schons model of reflection. 5)Critical Reflection Critical reflection is the process of analysing, reconsidering, and questioning experiences within a broad context of issues and can be broken down into various dimensions for the purposes of addressing various activities besides various levels of reflection. The first, second and third dimensions constitute the ordinary process of reflection whereas the fourth dimension constitutes the core of critical reflection. The first dimension involves critical observation for the purposes of understanding the issues in a deep and accurate way through the use of frameworks such as past experiences. The second dimension involves an exhaustive description of what has been observed whereas the third dimension involves the making of the meaning of what has been described. Finally, the fourth dimension refers to the addition of breadth and depth to the issue through asking questions about and relating meanings to a variety of professional and personal issues. 6)Reflection In Action Reflection in action refers to the reflection of an individual on action while in the course of carrying out the action. This is manifested in constant thinking throughout the duration of the action and is referred to as knowing in action, thinking on your feet and keeping your wits about you besides learning by doing as described by Schon. 4.Models Of Reflective Practice The purpose of these models is to enable professionals to draw lessons out of experiences in the course of enabling professionals to develop independence and to create a continuous, life long, learning experience. 1)Argyris and Schon 1978 In 1978, Argyris and Schon proposed the single loop and the double loop models of reflective practice on the basis of the identification and correction of an error, fault or mistake. Single loop learning is where the individual continues to rely on the old procedures in spite of the identification and resolution of a problem whereas double loop learning is where upon the identification and resolution of a problem, new procedures are adopted and in case the same problem appears again, a new solution is found. Later, Schon brought up the idea of reflection-in-action and reflection-on-action whereby the former may be defined as thinking on their feet and the latter may be described as felt knowing. The idea behind these two concepts is that in the course of any practice, a professional normally experiences feeling, emotions and thoughts that are derived from a similar past experience and which enables them to face the situation at hand directly. 2)Kolb 1984 This model was heavily influenced by the works of Dewey and Piaget in the 1970s and besides focussing on experimental learning, is centred on the change of information into knowledge. This occurs when an event has already come to pass and involves the reflection of the individual on the experience in order to gain understanding and insight of the concepts, which are then transferred into a new situation. Thus, knowledge obtained from a specific situation is constantly and regularly utilised and builds on an individuals experience and knowledge . 3)Gibbs 1988 This is an improvement of Kolbs experimental learning cycle whereby structured debriefing is used as a way of enabling reflection. The stages of a full structured debriefing in order are: the initial experience, the description of the experience, the description of the feelings that an individual encountered, the valuation of the experience, an analysis of the experience, the general conclusions that an individual makes from the experience and analysis, the specific conclusion and the personal action plans in case a similar situation is encountered in future. These steps are also known as the Gibbs model of reflection or the Gibbs reflective cycle and are summarised as: description, feelings, evaluation, analysis, and conclusion and action plan. 4)Johns 1995 This is a structured model of reflection that consists of a guide for individuals to gain higher understanding and is designed to include the participation of a colleague or a mentor, who facilitates faster transformation of the experience to learnt knowledge. This model is based on the earlier works of Carper and puts emphasis on the ability of a professional to access, understand and put into practice information gathered empirically through looking in on ones thoughts and emotions and looking out at the events that took place. This model includes Carpers four patterns of knowing which are: empirical, personal, ethical and aesthetic and reflexive. 5)Rolfe 2001 The basis of this model is Bortons developmental model of 1970 and involves a simplistic cycle consisting of three questions that a professional asks. These are: what, so what and what next. This enables an individual to describe a situation accurately, which further enables scrutiny of the situation and construction of knowledge that was learnt through the experience. After this, the various ways and methods in which one may improve as well as the results of ones response to the situation are evaluated . 6)Bauds model Bauds model places emphasis on the feelings and emotions of an individual besides being cyclical. This model recommends a critical analysis of an experience or an event with reference to the emotions or feelings that were experienced in the course of the event or after the event and application of the lessons that were learnt from this experience. 7)Greenaway 3-stage Model This model is based on three activities that are performed in cyclical progression. These are plan, followed by do, which is followed by review and so on. It is suggested that this model is closely related to the Gibbs model of reflective practice. 5.Use Of Reflective Practice In Christian Ministry The role of reflective practice in Christian ministry and Pastoral work cannot be overemphasised. This is especially so taking into consideration that ministry involves the delivery of the word of a perfect God, through an imperfect individual to other imperfect individuals with the aim of bringing them close and closer and closer to the fold. Additionally, Christian ministry is much more than preaching and one of its other components is to set a good example to the congregation and thus the need for reflective practice among the Christian ministers. 1)Reflective Practice in Church Ministry Leadership To begin with, reflective practice is important for a pastoral minister to accomplish his or her leadership role within a ministry. The leadership of any ministry is important in the achievement of the goals and objectives of that particular community in addition to influencing their congregations to view and value these in the same way. The role of leadership demands certain behaviours from the Christian minister and hence the minister needs to constantly reflect on his or her behaviour and adopt behaviour and actions that will serve as an example to the community. This would enable the attainment of goals and objectives besides steering the congregation to greater heights . 2) Reflective Practice in Prayer and Instruction Reflective practice may be used by the ministers to encourage congregation to reflect on their thoughts, experiences and events with reference to Biblical teachings as well as prayer as a way of encouraging them to live lives that are more godly. This may also be used by the ministers themselves as well in striving to live lives that are more godly. 3)Reflective Practice in Improving the Running of the Churchs Affairs. In the course of management of the affairs of the church, not everything that the minister comes across will have been taught in class and it is prudent for him or her to come up with ways of handling such situations. Additionally, the minister may find that some of the management that he or she may have learnt in the classroom are not so practical in some situations and it is in such times when reflective practice should be used to invent more olutions to management problems. 6.Role Of Reflective Practice In The Course Of Learning 1) Reflective Practice in Time Management In the course of learning, reflective practice has come in handy especially in the course of time management. By looking at past events and experiences, I have learnt how to plan ahead for activities, how to prioritise activities and the importance of allocating time both for working and for relaxation purposes. Unlike in the past, I am now able to meet my obligations and the stress that comes with undone work has dramatically reduced in my life. Consequently, in spite of fulfilling my responsibilities, I am able to engage in activities that I like. 2 )Reflective Learning in Accommodating Others Accommodation of others has been a challenge all along in my life and more so in the course of Christian ministry studies as a result of the diverse viewpoints that are held by my fellow students. However, by reflecting past instances of my intolerance towards the opinion of others, I was persuaded to try and accommodate the feelings of others. This turned out to be worthwhile as I learnt that it is important to accept the views and opinions of others no matter how offensive they are to me, since I realised that people like being listened to and understood even if not necessarily agreed with. This, I have learnt is perfect for harmonious living and coexistence even with my classmates. 3)Reflective Practice and Challenges at Work and in personal life Reflective practice has been instrumental in assisting me to deal with challenges at work and at home. In the past, difficulties and work would spill over when I got home and difficulties I experienced at home would affect my work. As a result of reflecting on these situations, I learnt that there is a time and place for everything and that what happens at home should not affect what happens at work and what happens at work should not impact my life away from work. This has enabled me to find fulfilment at home and at work in spite of whatever difficulties I may be experiencing. This has made me more effective in my work and responsibilities. 7.Conclusion This paper has been centred on reflective practice within the context of pastoral ministry. To begin with, the definition of the term reflective practice has been defined in laymans terms but the definitions of various experts such as Moon, Cowan and Biggs have also been included. The advantages of the practice of reflective practice especially among pastoral ministers have also been mentioned besides the types of reflective practice. The types of reflective practice that have been discussed in this study are: content reflection, process reflection, premise reflection, action reflection, critical reflection and reflection on action. This paper also contains brief discussions on the various models of reflective practice that have been proposed by experts over the years which are: Argyris and Schon model of 1978, Kolb model of 1984, Gibbs model of 1988, Johns model of 1995, and Rolfes model of 2001. Additionally, the importance of reflective practice in Christian ministry has been expl ored and in this case, its role in church leadership, prayer and instruction and in the running of the affairs of the church has all been discussed. The impact of reflective practice in my personal life has also been outlined with reference to its effects on the challenges that I encounter in my personal and professional life, in accommodating others, and in time management.

America is Not Responsible for September 11 :: September 11 Terrorism Essays

America is Not Responsible for September 11 I am starting to hear something somewhat disturbing about the September 11 attack on the United States. I hear people in the press saying it. I hear it from foreign spokesmen and organizations. And now I hear students and professors agreeing. What they are all saying is that American foreign policy is responsible for this attack. This is not the first time I have heard it. I read this when I was researching Internet sites in the Middle East for a school project. But now I hear it in America. Well, I absolutely reject that belief. And before you start down that road, let me give you an alternative argument and the facts to accompany it. In today's world of sound-bite journalism and quick, dumbed-down answers, this is an easy solution to a problem that doesn't have an easy solution. Sure, jump on the bandwagon. Blame America for all the bad things that happen to her. We are big, powerful and an easy target. Why not blame us? Who else can you blame? Well, simply put, the United States did not plant the bombs that have killed close to 9,000 Americans in the last decade. Someone else did. Nine thousand Americans were lost in terrorist bombings around the world in a decade. Still think this is our fault? There are some good critiques of American foreign policy. But when do we say enough is enough? When do we put the safety of our citizens above public opinion in other countries? Can we not say to the world that "these are our policies, they are based on good values and sound judgement," without fear of being killed? The answer is yes, we can, we will and we must. If we do not, then the hatred of a small minority dominates the rule of law for the vast majority. Let us examine the American foreign policy that is so terrible that terrorists feel justified murdering people in the hundreds and thousands at a time. I think you will see it may not be the root of all evil. First, let us examine our relations with Israel versus the Palestinians. This is the center of the criticism laid upon the backs of Americans dealing with the Middle East for at least 40 years.

Polyhydroxybutyrate Essays -- Chemistry

Plastic industry has become of vital importance for the comfort and quality of our lives, due to numerous qualities as strength, lightness, low cost and durability. Their downside is the negative impact over the environment, due to the accumulating of millions of tons per year. Therefore, the development of biodegradable plastics seems a key issue for further development. PHAs are hydroxyalkanoate polyesters that are used as energy storage for bacteria. Polyhydroxybutyrate(PHB) is a biodegradable polymer, with similar properties to polypropylene, which gives it great potential as alternative source of plastics. PHB is linear polyester of D-3-hydroxybutyric acid, with high molecular weight, accumulated as a storage carbon in different microorganisms. The PHB-producing bacteria require an environment rich in sucrose, glucose or ethanol, all expensive raw materials. Efforts have been made in the past years to overcome those disadvantages, by producing PHB from plants. (Gehrke, 2009) The first attempts to establish fermentative production of PHA happened 40 years ago, using stains of Ralstonia eutropha and Alcaligenes latus. Biopol ®, a polymer developed by ICI (Imperial Chemical Industries) was produced using a mutant stain Ralstonia eutropha using glucose as a carbon source. That was the start of the commercially available PHVBs, in the 1980s. After the change of proprietorship to Monsanto, the bioplastic’s division was sold and the patent was bought by a Cambridge, (MA, U.S.A.) company called Metabolix (source: press release 16 May 2001, Metabolix.com). The research continued, adding new naturally PHA- producing bacteria to the list, whilst other microorganisms were modified to do so. The carbon source usually used was gluc... ...ndia : University of Pune. 9. Mousavioun, P. (2011). Properties of Ligning and Polyhydroxybutyrate Blends. Queensland, Australia: Queensland University of Technology. 10. Nisha V. Ramadas, S. K. (2009). Polyhydroxybutyrate Production using Agro-industrial Residue as Substrate by Bacillus sphaericus NCIM 5149. Kerala: National Institute for Interdisciplinary Science and Technology. 11. Peter H. Yu, H. C.-L.-H.-P. (1999). Conversion of industrial wastes by Alcaligenes Latus into Polyhydroxyalkanoates,. 12. Product information . (fÄÆ'rÄÆ' an). Preluat de pe mirel plastics: http://www.mirelplastics.com/discover/default.aspx?ID=1783 13. Udpuay, S. C. (2008). Production and Characterization of Polyhydroxybutyrate from Molasses and Corn Steep Liquor produced by Bacillus megaterium ATCC 6748 . Phitsanulok ,Thailand: Dept. of Biology, Fac. of Science, Naresuan University, .