Global Financial Crisis Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Global Financial Crisis - Article Example The article further claims that financials problem could be avoided if people could have adopted the current economic models. Depending on the article's argument, financials problems have been brought about by people negligence. States have been neglecting the economic models which can help in resolving the economy. Currently, most of the states depend on others in order to get enough supply of goods and services. Many, countries have their foreign policy which governs their relationship with other states. The lack of an international organization to bring about a general foreign policy to govern all states as led to the lack of corporation in terms of international business. Conflict exists between some states, and this makes it difficult for the international business to take place. Due to increasing level of transnational and globalization activities countries needs to interact and share business difficult importation and exportation of products. The article states that the proble m will affect the livelihood of people in all corners of the world, and this is because people move to other states to seek employment and perform business. When one country is affected, it means that the whole world will be affected (Shah 2013). It is true that I am persuaded by the reading in this article because I have seen it happening. From the time to time, foreign currencies change their market status from being stable to unstable and vice versa (Shah 2013). The level of globalization has increased and without inclusion of the current economic model a country’s economy can decline. Those economic models which could have prevented financials crisis include qualitative models, stochastic and non-stochastic model.  

Transportation Planning And Urban Form Environmental Sciences Essay

Transportation Planning And Urban Form Environmental Sciences Essay Transportation planning should be about more than concrete and steel. It should be about building communities. Rodney Slater The topic of my paper is Transportation planning and urban form. It is well known fact that urban form is highly correlated with the evolution of transportation systems. There exist complex relationship between transportation, land use and urban form. City development patterns are highly correlated with the evolution of transportation systems. As we glanced through the history of transportation Planning in US we see that there has been rational comprehensive approach in the beginning which than with environmental concerns and sprawl changed to another perspective of advocacy. In this paper I am going to focuses on rational approach and Advocacy Planning paradigm for issue of urban form and Transportation and contrasts and compare two different approaches through case studies. History of Transportation Planning and Urban Form1 Transportation planning in the 20th century grew up with the success of automobile industry. According to Rick Adams, Comprehensive plans that included rail transit, such as Forest Hills Gardens, New York, quickly proved to be the exception. Transportation planning soon became the handmaiden of the automobile, taking it where it wanted to go, often regardless of the consequences. By the early 1920s, the popularity of the automobile had largely displaced interest in planning for public transportation, which faced declining rider ship and loss of profits1. Public transit failed to pass public voting. The automobile quickly became the future and national progress. According to Rick, The planners preference was certified at the 1924 National Conference on City Planning when the way of the horizontal city of the future was declared-by the automobile. The sudden tidal wave of auto mobility swept over cities throughout the 1920s.2 As result of this suddenly, suburbs began to grow at a much faster rate than cities. As early as 1923, some cities were debating the banning of cars downtown because of congestion. Commuters by automobile quickly outnumbered those by transit. The single answer for congestion was to build more roads, usually in straight radial lines from the center of the city into territories of developable land at the citys edge. The good roads movement gained in popularity. The concept of a continuous national system of highways was instituted in the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1921 with the adoption of a numbered U.S. highway system composed of routes extending across the nation. According to Rick Adams, No one was more aggressive at road building than Robert Moses, who, from 1924, amassed unprecedented power in New York to steamroll thousands of miles of highway building projects.3 The Regional Plan Association of America (RPAA), composed of the eras most reform-minded planners, including Lewis Mumford, Clarence Stein, and Henry Wright, proposed the idea of the townless highway, thoroughfares that would encourage the building of real communities at definite and favorable points off the main road. With the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1934, Congress authorized funds to state governments for surveys, plans, engineering, and economic analyses for future highway construction projects. By 1940 Los Angeles soon became the world model of up-to-the-minute modernity in its enthusiastic embrace of transportation planning for the automobile. Congress passed the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1944, financing an interurban system of 32,000 miles that bypassed urban areas. The act immediately created a debate: transportation planners, such as Harold Bartholomew, and power broker Robert Moses wanted to use new roads to attack urban blight, charting expressways through urban residential areas to entirely redevelop them. Once again, the debate over roads fight blight came to center stage, with many planners insisting that the new highways must penetrate t o the center of urban areas to remove slums and improve the connection between outlying suburbs and downtown offices and retail areas. In June 1956, the Interstate Highway Act was passed with only a single vote in opposition. The $41 billion bill became the largest public works program in the history of the world, and which set imbalance that favored the private automobile over public transit. By the early 1960s, the automobile was essentially putting other forms of transportation out of business. It soon became apparent to transportation planners that an undue reliance on the automobile was creating as many problems as it was eliminating. As each new interstate was completed, fresh new problems of displacement, pollution, and congestion arose. Although an well-established group of planners continued to argue for more highway building, other voices began to be heard in support of the idea of balanced transportation. In the article Rick Adams4 says that in 1962, for example, the San Francisco Bay Area passed a voters referendum for a 71-mile rail transit system after a prolonged freeway revolt had voiced popular dissatisfaction with more and more highway building. The year 1962 also saw the passage of the Federal Aid Highway Act, which mandated local transportation planning. According to John Edward6 The Urban Mass transportation Act of 1964 (UMTA) was the first significant effort of the century to recognize the need to improve and expand public transit. Expenditures increased from approximately $100 million in 1964-65 to approximately $1.3 billion at the end of the 1970s. Under the program, a type of balance was anticipated against the huge federal subsidy for highway building by offering matching funds for capital acquisitions of local transit, and the principal aim was to attain congestion relief by making public transit faster and more comfortable. However, the act also promoted plans for new rail transit, such as the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) in the Sa n Francisco Bay Area. The ironic consequence of most of these public transit efforts, however, was to spread decentralization of urban downtowns and frequently contribute to the deterioration of central city neighborhoods, often increasing racial segregation. Many of the public transit improvements only facilitated suburban commuting in place of intracity transportation. BART, for example, became a high-speed conduit for financial district office workers from the East Bay suburbs of Contra Costa and Alameda. San Francisco residents were seldom to be found on the bright futuristic cars that sped beneath the city streets. In city after city, the main beneficiaries of the new systems or extensions were suburban commuters, not residents of central cities. After 1970, pollution in urban areas became a major federal concern, and the EPA sought to develop plans that would diminish traffic in urban areas to reduce pollution, although planners generally continued to ignore the automobiles co ntribution to urban sprawl. The shift in focus from reducing congestion to reducing pollution brought about certain restrictions on automobiles in central areas, converted downtown streets into pedestrian malls, and reduced downtown speed limits. Although critics continued to argue that the federal role in transportation planning was only codifying the decentralization of urban areas or providing Band-Aids to the problems of automobile pollution, the notion of balanced transportation continued to be advanced. Increasingly, the federal role in transportation planning grew more inconsistent during the 1980s. Public transit advocates complained that the government was not doing enough, local jurisdictions complained that it was requiring too much, and congressional representatives increased their opposition to what they termed big-government intrusion into local affairs. A kind of deadlock expand throughout the 1980s, with mounting opposition to freeway building by quality-of-life advo cates and suburban home owners on the one hand and by public transit advocates faced with reduced federal subsidies for public transit development on the other. Although there were some notable successes of locally funded transit programs, such as in San Diego, California, and a number of other cities that cobbled together funding for new light rail vehicle systems, congestion and sprawl continued to increase as a new phenomenon of edge cities grew into the planners purview with the most far-reaching requirements for automobile commuting yet. The 1990s saw the influence of numerous state growth management plans that for the first time addressed the comprehensive relationship of urban growth to balanced transportation principles. As state growth-management plans began to extend the idea of what balanced transportation meant, federal transportation planning was also influenced. Passage of the Intermodal Surface Transportation Act attempted to put the highway-only approach to transport ation planning to rest forever. For the first time, federal transportation planning included significant provisions to balance local land use planning, the environment, historic preservation, and mobility for children, the elderly, and the disabled. The pessimist would point to the stranglehold of the automobile on everything from the shape of cities to the air we breathe and conclude that transportation planning has only contributed to the problem. The optimist, however, might point to the incremental progress that is apparent in transportation planning over time, including the increasing interest in what is often called smart growth legislation that attempts to address the relationship of transportation planning and land use, and the increased use of public transportation. As the century ended, public transportation rider ship was again on the rise, with an equivalent of a million new trips of public transportation rider ship, increasing by percentages greater than any other travel modes, including motor vehicle travel. Significantly, these gains were evident in central cities, suburbs, and even rural areas, and the idea of a comprehensive approach to transportation planning shows evidence of spreading with increased levels of influence and acceptance. Hence through out the century transportation has been detrimental factor defining the urban form and vice versa. Urbanization has been one of a dominant trend of economic and social change since the second half of the 20th century. paradigms Comprehensive Rational Planning: There were major criticism of post-war planning thought that emerged in 1950s and 1960s. Planning theory had failed to understand the empirical relationship of planning. The planners did not comprehend the understanding of the relationship between social planning and physical planning4. Criticisms of physicalist bias of post war town planning theory were criticized at two levels. At level one it was criticized for concentrating on physical environment to the extent of ignoring social environment. And at another level, to the extent that town planner did not consider social environment in their plan making. Another criticism of early planning was lack of consultation and public involvement and hence was viewed as political nature of planning. The early physical and blue print planning was criticized not to be aware of reality of the living space. So common theme of all criticisms was the accusation that planners were insufficiently informed about the n ature of the reality they were tampering with. Planners had lack of understanding of cities which was exhibited in their normative ideals. In its Utopianism, its anti-urbanism, its simple tree like models of urban structure and its assumptions about consensus over what ideals of good planning should be, traditional town planning thought failed to grasp the complexity and richness, as well as undoubted problems of human social life and its manifestations in cities. So in respond to this criticisms new Planning theories were developed. This type of planning was described to be technical, abstract and highly mathematical. The systems view of planning arose in criticism to the physical design which is substantive theory, while rational process view was clearly procedural theory of planning. This was a more quantitative approach. Both theories are viewed as sharing certain fundamental assumptions about nature of world and possibilities for human progress within it. The general rational p lanning process involved the steps of defining a problem, identifying alternatives, evaluating them, implementing plans and policies and monitoring their effects. The rational planning theory had a certain methodology that could be applied to smaller problems and in a modified form. The drawbacks to this theory would be the impossibility to grasp all variables and the lack of resources and time to collect information. So from new planning theories, we see that planning has been process of trial and error and that has given rise to so many paradigms in field of Planning. Both Gunton and Hodge note that Rational Comprehensive Planning (RCP) rose in response to problems brought on by urban growth in the Nineteenth Century when scientific methods were applied to find solutions to urban problems (Hodge a, 83). Most planners now style themselves as using RCP. This is evident in Official Plans and the plan-making process which involve scientific instruments like forecasts, analyses of issu es and concerns, studies of anticipated social and environmental impacts and goal statements (Perks Jamieson, 490). As its name implies, this theory applies rational decision-making to planning. The four typical elements of RCP are: goal setting, identification of policy alternatives, evaluation of means against ends, and implementation of decisions with feedback loops and repetition of steps (Hudson, 388). Using this method requires exhaustive information gathering and analysis. It stresses objectivity, the public interest, information and analysis which allow planners to identify the best possible course of action. Requirements for Rational Comprehensive Planning are it assumes that decision makers have well defined problem, full array of alternatives to consider, they are well informed, they have full information about the consequences of each alternative, and they are well equipped with resources and skills. The ideal-typical decision-making model in planning has seven identifiable stages (source Freidman): Formulation of goals and objectives; Identification and design of major alternatives for reaching the goals identified within the given decision-making situation; Prediction of major sets of consequences that would be expected to follow upon adoption of each alternative; Evaluation of consequences in relation to desired objectives and other important values; Decision based on information provided in the preceding steps; Implementation of this decision through appropriate institutions; and Feedback of actual programme results and their assessment in light of the new decision situation. RCP approaches problems from a systems (integrated) viewpoint, using conceptual or mathematical models that relate ends (objectives) to means (resources and constraints) with quantitative analysis (Hudson, 388). It attempts to side-step the issue of conflict by presuming a discernable public interest. Here there is assumption that communitys various collective goals can be measured in some effective or quantitative way (Altshuler, 194)6. The method strives to be objective, technical and exclude subjective and emotional discussion. It attempts to separate planning from politics by ignoring the political considerations of public interest. (Hudson, 390). The major advantage of RCP is its simplicity. Following a logical, deliberate process, it is easily grasped, its analytical techniques are standard applications of social science, and its intentions are straightforward (Hudson, 389). It has wide applicability and incorporates the fundamental issues, ends, means, trade-offs, and action-taking which are part of most planning activities (Hudson, 389). The major weakness of RCP is that it is unrealistic. As a methodology, it can only be applied to relatively simple problems and then only in modified form. It is more of procedural theory than substantive. In the real world, inherent limitations on resources, information and time make it impossible to use RCP in its purest form. Lindblom comments that its non-implementability takes away any point in using it (Faludi, 117). Simon and March critiques of decision making process in RCP are that it is ambigious, planners consider themselves to be well informed but infact they are not. ( Forester, 1989.) Its demands are considerable and require more than decision-makers are capable of giving. The impossibility of predicting all consequences or grasp all variables and the lack of resources and time to collect information needed for rational choice limit its practicability (Etzioni, 219). Lindblom further notes that the costs of being more comprehensive often exceeded the benefits (Gunton, 406). Lastly, it relies heavily on a particular model of a clear, unitary notion of the public interest which is impossible to achieve in the real world. Interests in reality are pluralist: citizens, politicians and administrators have differing and conflicting values and objectives. This makes it difficult for planners to ascertain the majoritys preference and public debate is rarely wide enough to accomplish this (Lindblom, 156). The rational planning theory came into emergence after the physical planning theory. The rational planning theory which came along on the bases of the systems theory, had actually originated in highly technical fields of operations research and cybernetics. The rational planning approach follows a certain methodology to the planning process and the planners need to be answerable to any questions that might come up. The renewed faith of the application of science was on of the chief reasons for the start of rational planning theory. The rational planning process is practiced in the planning field even today to a great extent. The benefit-cost analysis done for execution of various projects is a major part of the procedural planning theory. The criticism of the rational planning theory is that in identifying and defining problems, something that is assumed to be a problem is actually a problem. Also the different alternative proposed and the selection within them should not favor a particular group. The rational planning theory persists in the planning field today with the specialized consultants practicing planning. They are hired to solve a certain p roblem with quantitative analysis, technical approach to problem solving and other analytical skills. The rational planning also persists in the form of academic courses. Some of the schools have a curriculum that focus on the more technical and analytical approach towards planning problems and the others are public policy and social economically oriented. Thus, as academics emphasizes on the procedural planning theories, this in turn leads to planners perception and approach towards planning to be rationalistic. Thus, there have been arguments about whether the rational planning approach is the most comprehensive approach to planning. Advocacy planning: The numbers of public policy decisions that are made in planning seem to be favoring a certain group of individuals who are involved in the planning process and not the underprivileged or the minority groups. The very technical and analytical way of planning did not seem to be concerned with human feelings or the opinions of the ordinary people, who were also a major part of the society. Accordint to Paul Davidoff Planning decisions were influenced by political steering, they seem to be neglecting the most disadvantaged7. Advocacy planning, as initiated by Davidoff, is an attempt to incorporate the voices or values that would not otherwise be represented by the incremental approach. Through advocacy planning, planners can advocate the interests of those who are out-of-reach and powerless to represent their own interests. Thus, advocacy planning is a representation of certain social groups by advocacy planners, using the applied techniques of law. Advocacy planning has its origins that such groups needs planners to make their case, thus leading the planners to search for a new kind of clientele. Advocate planner take the view that any plan is the embodiment of particular group interests, and therefore they see it as important that any group which has interests at stake in the planning process should have those interests articulated. They start to reject the notion of general welfare in other words. The clientele is mostly the low income communities. It talks about the slums not having any community association or leaders that could voice their opinions. Thus, they need a support of the planners of the society to improve their needs. The concept of advocacy planning could be reasoned with an understanding that if the lowest needs are taken care of, the higher needs are taken care of and this leading to the over all improvement of the quality of life of the society. There is analogy made between the legal representatives and the advocate planners. Thus, advocacy planning appears to be a new kind of politics. It is considered to be an apparatus by which the society is humanized over the technical apparatus. In the early 1970s advocate planners started working with the city governments that shared their commitment to real pluralism. The criticism of advocacy planning was that if the shift of planners concern was from one group to another. Even though advocacy planning favored the disadvantaged group, it totally was considered to be not concerned with the other groups. The planning process thus started to occupy the rational comprehensive approach. This was trying to create a balance between the loopholes of the two planning process to achieve a better and effective functioning of planning in general. Theorists suggested that since planning was for the people, by all means it should be by the people and of the people too. So was born Advocacy planning wherein even a laymen with the slightest knowledge of plan ning could voice his expressions regarding planning policies that could have direct or indirect effects on his life. Advocacy planners felt that any plan is the embodiment of particular group interests and therefore it is important that any group which has interests at stake in the planning process should have those interests articulated. This view of planning was also considered as a boon for the poor, low income communities and the under represented groups, because the advocacy planning groups proposed to help people from every fraction of the community to voice their interests. Case Study I: Study of De Moines Metropolitan Area9 As discussed in introduction to this paper it is well known that urban form is highly correlated with evolution of transportation systems. This case study focuses on developing planning tools that are responsive to the complicated interaction between transportation and land use, which is helpful to identify the typical characteristics of development of urban form. The historical development of Des Moines area is reviewed to see how urban form is accommodated by transportation evolution and conventional transportation modeling process is reviewed to see how urban form is implied in transportation modeling process. Spatial measurements are used to quantify urban form of Des Moines and its existing transportation network. Historical Development of Des Moines Area: Review of historical development of Des Moines area is given to provide pictorial description of how transportation and urban form have accommodated each other. The above table summarizes different phases of Des Moines development, its corresponding transportation systems and transportation eras. We see that the since From the table above we see that in the year 1968 planning approach for Des Moines Metropolitan areas has been Comprehensive and Rational. Transportation system can be considered an expression of urban spatial pattern during the historical development of the city. Conventional Transportation Modeling Process: Transportation models are computerized procedures used to estimate changes in travel patterns in response to changes in development. Table 2 summarizes how urban form is implied in conventional, sequential transportation modeling processes of trip generation, trip distribution, modal split and traffic assignment. Urban form of Des Moines metropolitan area is measure by seven spatial criteria such as homogeneity, directionality, connectivity, design pattern, density gradient, concentricity and sectorality. From the table 3 below we see that the elements of modeling process were land use, socio-economic, demographics, travel impedance, Transportation policy, Residential density, income, distance from CBD, Geometrics, Capacity of roadway and transportation network. So we see that there has been no consideration for personal preference or public involvement at any stage of modeling. Data has been collected for different social areas and transportation network in Des Moines metropolitan area, for number of housing units, relative location of CBD, the city and Metropolitan area centers. Finally based on this data, results of CBD and Corridor study are summarized. The outcomes of the rational planning process for Des Moines Metroplolitan Area are as follows: Population density gradient shows that the central part of Des Moines metropolitan area has highest population density. The city of Des Moines is still focal point for employment and population in the metropolitan area. The other cities are bedroom communities, even though they are beginning to show significant commercial and retail development. The development largely follows interstate highway development along I-235, I-80 and I-35. The urban pattern of Des Moines metropolitan area is radial in terms of trip attraction. The location of CBD of the city of Des Moines was largely influenced by Raccoon River and Des Moines River. Development in the city of Des Moines has since shifted southward. With metropolitan area, new development is located northwest of the geometric center of metropolitan area, which is close to the cities of Urbandale, Clive, West Des Moines and Windsor Heights. It is assumed that new developments tend to shift to the geometric center of city or region to over come the friction of distance or space. People tend to make tradeoff between transportation costs and land values. It thus suggests that when examining the development trend for city or region, the geometric center or its vicinity may be first measure that should be considered. Based on census data, bicycle trips comprise only 0.2% of total work trips while walk trips make up 3.2% and bus trips are 2.9%. Future urban design would consider more use of these modes to make Des Moines more walkable and more bicycle and transit friendly. Assess the importance of life style as a determinant of urban form. Measure more cities with different urban patterns and cities of different sizes to determine the statistical relationship between density gradient, urban pattern and transportation networks. Finally realizing that not all transportation networks and investments are rational, truly understanding the relationship between transportation and urban form helps to make more rational decisions. The purpose of this research is part of the planning process to provide better transportation networks and make more efficient investments on existing networks to provide residents a better place to live and work and make more livable and sustainable city based on existing transportation network. Case Study II: Fruitvale Transit Village Project The Unity Council, Bay Area Rapid Transit District, City of Oakland10 The Fruitvale Transit Village is the result of broad partnership among public, private and non profit organizations working together to revitalize a community using transit oriented development. Transit oriented development is planning concept that uses mass transit stations as blocks for economic revitalization and environmental improvement. In 1999, groundbreaking took place on a $ 100 million mixed use development adjacent to Fruitvale Bay Area Rapid Transit District (BART) station in Oakland, California. Fruitvale, one of the Oakland seven communities is predominantly minority community with low income, experiencing economic stress. Fruitvale Transit Village is brainchild of Unity Council, a community development corporation (CDC) formed in 1964 by activists who wanted to create forum for working on issues important to Fruitvales Latino community. In June, 1991 BART announced plans to construct a multi level parking facility adjacent to Fruitvale BART station. The community agreed that new parking was necessary, but the design and location of the facility did not sit well with Fruitvale residents and business owners. Members of community were concerned that proposed structure would increase traffic and pollution and further separate Fruitvale neighborhood from BART station. The Unity council which was CDC galvanized the neighborhoods opposition to the parking structure design and location, arguing that any development around BART station should be guided by broad based community planning process. Faced with strong community opposition BART withdrew its proposal and agreed to work with the Unity Council on plan for the area. In February 1992, City of Oakland awarded Unity Council $ 185,000 in Community Block Grant (CBDG) funds to initiate community planning process for revitalizing the area around Fruitvale BART station. During next couple of years Unity Council engaged local stakeholders in comprehensive visioning and planning process that laid out the parameters for Fruitvale Transit Village. Impressed with Unity Council community involvement strategy, the US DOT awarded agency a $470,000 FTA planning grant in 1993 for Fruitvale Transit Village. The vocal and sometimes contentious meetings between BART and community representatives gave birth to idea for Fruitvale Transit Village. The project is consider reducing traffic and pollution in and around the community as residents of neighborhood would have easy access to goods and services within waling distance of transit station. Unity council organized workshops to help community reach on consensus and to identify both positive and negative qualities of Fruitvale Community and to indicate their development preferences. There were about 30 people who participated in this workshop. Participants identified crime, lack of retail business and community service s, the areas negative image, and lack of connection between BART station and community as issues of concern. Plan included mixture of housing, shops, office, library, a child care facility, pedestrian plaza and other community services all surrounding BART station. This project had strong commitment to public involvement by lead agencies involved. Typically, either city officials or private developers represent driving force behind large scale development projects. Series of workshop were conducted and they showed increased number of participation. Normally residents are usually in position of responding to plans that are initiated by others. Whereas here during third workshop, participants were asked to provide feedback on two alternative land use plans prepared by the project design team. In this case under Unity Council who represented the community, played leader role in the project. It helped and ensured communitys own vision for transit station and its surrounding area served as guiding principles for planning and design. Finally, the planning effort behind the Fruitvale Transit Village represent an innovative strategy for using mass transit as lever for revitalizing an urban communit

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (Lines 928-994) :: Sir Gawain Green Knight Essays

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (Lines 928-994) Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a tale that was written in the fourteenth century. It is an intriguing tale including romance, magic, action, and betrayal. The story opens with a Christmas celebration in which King Arthur refuses to eat until he hears a knightly tale or receives a challenge. The Green Knight enters the scene, and King Arthur receives his challenge. The challenge is a strike for a strike, and the prize is the Green Knight's axe. Sir Gawain is the noble knight who accepts the challenge, so at the same time the following year, he must find the Green Knight and keep his word. Throughout the tale, there are a number of mystical references that foreshadow the ending of the poem. The mystical aura of the Green Knight is the first hint of magic in the poem, but there are also other events suggesting that there is more to this tale than meets the eye. After a year, Sir Gawain begins his quest for the Green Knight. It is not an easy task, and he runs into a number of obstacles on his way. As Christmas Day nears, Sir Gawain "fear[s] for his default" (Norton 750) and prays that he can just hear mass on Christmas day. Almost instantaneously, he stumbles upon "a castle as comely as a knight could own, on grounds fair and green" (767-768), where he is welcomed kindly. The reader is given the impression that this is a magical castle because of its description and the fact that it appears out of nowhere. Furthermore, everyone in the castle appears to know that Sir Gawain is a great Knight of the Round Table, and he is welcomed heartily. Through these insignificant details, the author arouses suspicions within the reader, subtly hinting that this is not a normal castle. Sir Gawain's prayers are answered in the passage beginning at line 928. It is Christmas Eve, and the chaplains are ringing the church bells as the humble knight attends mass with the lord of the castle.

All American Hero!

Large wars were a normal occurrence in my home. Men would fight the forces of evil using their plastic weapons and toy tanks. My G.I. Joes and I would combat the evil C.O.B.R.A. for hours making me forget everyday hassles like my chores and homework. I never thought about why I played with my action figures, but I was hooked by G.I. Joe's concept of honor and pride. My obsessive play with these toys revealed much about myself as a child. As a child G.I. Joe was my life. School provided me a chance to show off my G.I. Joe lunch box before I would run in my G.I. Joe sneakers at recess. After school my best grade for the day would be posted on the refrigerator with my special G.I. Joe magnet, which I sent away for in the mail. Weekends provided me with chores that, upon their completion, allowed me to finance a new G.I. Joe figure. There was no time when G.I. Joe was not in some way involved in my life. I still remember seeing my first G.I Joe on the shelf in the store. These figurines were often sold in packaging that had comics on the back recounting heroic stories of G.I. Joe victory. The first time I saw a G.I Joe, I went over to the shelf and pulled it off the peg, flipped the package over and read the cartoon on the back. Everytime I read the comic for a different character, it made me want that toy more and more. However, I believe my fondest moment with G.I Joe was when I saw my first G.I. Joe cartoon on television. Every episode contained dozens of different characters and vehicles all of which could be bought in toy form. G.I. Joes lived up to their definition as the real American hero by fighting evil terrorists in defense of their country. Each episode even ended with a moral about duty or virtue. Eventually, my fantasy became a when the G.I. Joe cartoon television series was made into a movie. The movie introduced new characters, new vehicles, and new story lines for me to enjoy. Unfortunately, as I got older, I began to realize that the whole G.I Joe scheme was just a way for the company producing them to make money. The marketing power of G.I Joe was further subsidized during the television series by advertisements that aired during the shows commercial breaks. Images of plastic figures fighting on elaborate battlefields were designed to grab children's imagination. I was often shown in the ads creating elaborate scenarios in which G.I. Joe would combat the evil C.O.B.R.A. This melding of the show and commercials bombarded me with the visuals of desired toys. The toys were the basis for an exponential marketing strategy that forced me or my parents to buy more and more products for me. The thought behind this strategy was very simple in that if I bought one G.I. Joe that I would most likely buy another. Not only that, but if I already had a few G.I Joes then I would probably buy a vehicle for them. Eventually, it led to me buying other paraphernalia such as clothing and even lunch boxes. Furthermore, I even remember going to different stores and seeing different marketing campaigns set up. For example, I remember Sears only selling the command center for the bad guys Toys â€Å"R† Us selling a special figurine that came with an audio cassette that is now a valuable collector's item. These special toy sets appealed to me who desired to have all of the rare G.I. Joe items. What does this say about America? It reveals that capitalism was present in nearly everything made in America. No matter how much I loved my G.I. Joe, I was still the puppet of corporate executives who merely desired to make money. Though honor was emphasized on the show to sell toys, it only contrasted the dishonorable marketing scheme of the companies. Personally, my childhood love for G.I. Joe was therefore created by a company solely to profit from. And yet I don't care. After realizing that I was merely being used I still love my G.I. Joes because they were a part of me regardless of how much money I spent.

Beximco Textile’s Working Capital Management

Executive Summary This report is presenting the overall working capital management of BeximcoTextiles Limited. In this report all of the information is collected from secondary data. As, Primary data was too much confidential, the company didn’t disclose it to us. In this report the terms and conditions that we have learned in FIN 406 has implemented. In this report financial analysis and recommendations are given. Introduction part Company overview The Beximco Textiles Ltd. was incorporated in Bangladesh as a Public Ltd. Company with limited liability on 1994 & commenced commercial operation in 1995. The project was set up as a state of the art fabric weaving, dyeing & finishing facilities for production of high quality shirting fabric, unique wrinkle free fabric (Cortex-2000, cotra DP 3. 5 +) & other fabrics. BTL has an installed capacity of 288 high-speed air-jet looms in its weaving section & a high-tech dyeing & finishing section with a capacity of 100,000 yards of finished fabric per day. It is a member enterprise of the Beximco conglomerate. During the year the company produced and sold high quality shirting and other fabric and bringing forth all the latest in hard and soft technologies in weaving and finishing of fabric. It is the most modern composite mill in the region. They have leveraged Bangladesh's labor cost advantage ; export competitiveness to the maximum. Beximco Textiles Limited engages in manufacturing and marketing yarn, woven, knit, and denim fabrics in Bangladesh. The company offers yarn products, such as count, fiber, CVC, and TC yarn products; fabric products comprising solid dyed, yarn dyed, finishing, dobby designs, and yarn count products; and denim products. It also provides special yarn products consisting of plied yarn, fancy yarn, slub yarn, core spun, multi count, and multi twist products, as well as wrinkle-free products. The company was formerly known as Padma Textile Mills Limited and changed its name to Beximco Textiles Limited in 2006. Mission Each of our activities must benefit and add value to the common wealth of our society. We firmly believe that, in the final analysis we are accountable to each of the constituents with whom we interact; namely: our employees, our customers, our business associates, our fellow citizens and our shareholders. Purpose of this Study: This study has been designed in such a way that students are going to learn the in-depth knowledge about a company’s financial condition. The main purpose of this report is to reinforce the concept of financial policy of Beximco Textiles ltd. along with its all working capital ratios, short-term financing and long-term financing. etc. Overall, this study will help a finance student to familiar with the practical scenario. Limitation: The report is limited to the data that are available in the annual reports and in the website related to Beximco textiles. Primary data was not available as they didn’t disclose. Finally, we have used our own judgments in many ways from our Business Finance courses in order to simplify the research, evaluate, calculation and advising. Financial Analysis Working Capital of Beximco Textiles ltd. : Working capital is defined as current (expected to be consumed or converted into cash within one year) assets minus current liabilities. Working capital turnover indicates how efficiently the company generates revenue with its working capital. Year| Current Assets| Current Liabilities| Working Capital of particular year| 2006| 7572906611| 5961381357| 1605525254| 2007| 7881489387| 8058498925| -177009538| 2008| 7230982538| 7906937639| -675955101| 2009| 8677166758| 4834823994| 3842342764| 2010| 9031547621| 6944110703| 2087436918| Inventory: Inventories are carried at the lower of cost and net realizable value as prescribed by IAS 2:Inventories, cost is determined on weighted average cost basis. The cost of inventories comprises of expenditure incurred in the normal course of business in bringing the inventories to their present location and condition. Net realizable value is based on estimated selling price less any further costs expected to be incurred to make the sale. Beximco textile ltd. Holds 5 types of inventory: * Raw material inventory (Fibre, yarn, gray fabric, dyes ; chemicals) * Work in process inventory * Finished goods inventory * Packing materials * Stores and Spares Amount of inventory in five years: Year| Amount of inventory| 006| 3414768025| 2007| 3688016341| 2008| 2733063864| 2009| 2742675600| 2010| 2994596746| Accounts Receivable: Their accounts receivable are recognized at cost which is fair value of the consideration given for them. 5 years accounts receivable of Beximco Textile: Year| Amount of Accounts receivable| 2006| 3407687731| 2007| 3451582241| 2008| 3765912622| 2009| 4986086053| 2010| 5040220480| Current ratio: Year| Ratio| 2006| 1. 27| 2007| . 97| 2008| . 91| 2009| 1. 79| 2010| 1. 3| Illustration: Quick Ratio: Year| Ratio| 2006| . 69| 2007| . 52| 2008| . 56| 009| 1. 22| 2010| . 86| Illustration: Activity ratios: Working capital turnover: Year| ratio| 2006| 3. 23| 2007| -24. 11| 2008| -7. 04| 2009| 2. 04| 2010| 6. 98| Illustration: Working Capital Turnover Inventory Turnover: year| ratio| 2006| . 92| 2007| . 81| 2008| 1. 13| 2009| 1. 79| 2010| 3. 15| Illustration: Days of inventory on hand (DOH): Assuming that, Beximco Textile’s number of days in period is 360. Then the DOH would be: Year| DOH| 2006| 391. 30| 2007| 444. 44| 2008| 318. 58| 2009| 201. 11| 2010| 114. 29| | | | | Illustration: Receivable turnover: Year| ratio| 2006| 1. 52| 2007| 1. 23| 2008| 1. 26| 2009| 1. 57| 2010| 2. 89| Illustration: Days sales outstanding(DSO): Year| Ratio| 2006| 235. 85| 2007| 291. 20| 2008| 284. 80| 2009| 228. 19| 2010| 124. 51| | | Illustration: Cash conversion cycle: (Inventory conversion period+ Receivables conversion period)-Payables conversion period Year| CCC| 2006| 523. 12| 2007| 594. 16| 2008| 417. 5| 2009| 387. 17| 2010| 143. 36| | | Collection ; Disbursement Cash Inflow and Cash Outflow by Operating Activities (in tk. ): | 2010| 2009| 2008| 2007| 2006| Cash received from customers ; others| 145187023| 664608431| 3190602600| 4223133089| 4887688455| Cash paid to suppliers ; Employees| 898661193| 535932698| 3043303205| 3788738872| 3703613507| Cash Generated from Operations| 5532091050| 1286757473| 147299395| 434394217| 1184074948| Interest Paid| 1445098454| 2006166127| 1261679027| 766830156| 906788267| Income Tax Paid| 43025787| 56338512| 20396366| 74934103| 8084912| Net Cash Generated from Operating Activitie| 4043966809| 775747166| 1134775998| 407370042| 269201769| Daily Cash Generated from Operating Activities| 11233241. 4| 2154853. 24| 3152155. 55| 1131583. 45| 747782. 6917| Cash Flows from Investing Activities (in tk. ): | 2010| 2009| 2008| 2007| 2006| Acquisition of Property, Plant ; Equipment| 3231593528| 2381789851| 986841760| 39250045| 205811905| Long-term security deposit| -| -| -| -| 46064| Net Cash Used in Investing Activities| 3231593528| 2381789851| 986841760| 39250045| 205857969| Daily Cash Used in Investing Activities| 8976648. 69| 6616082. 92| 2741227. 1| 1090279028| 571827. 917| Cash Flows from Financing Activities (in tk. ): 2010| 2009| 2008| 2007| 2006| Allotment of shares| -| 6351789302| -| -| 1050000000| (Decrease)/Increase in Long Term Borrowings| 594878760| 1605294361| 1945272911| 74392816| 1273417109| (Decrease)/Increase in Short Term Borrowings| 201830690| 1578840462| 181255969| 511187488| 118194147| Dividend Paid| -| -| -| -| 30405375| Net cash Generated from Financing Activities| 796709450| 3167654479| 2126528880| 436794672| 135628337| Daily Net cash Generated from Financing Activities| 2213081. 81| 8799040. 22| 5907024. 67| 1213318. 3| 376745. 3806| Increase or decrease in cash and cash equivalents| 15663831| 10117462| 4911122| 9825415| 72284537| Cash and Cash Equivalents at Beginning of Year| 27249672| 1713221o| 12221088| 22046503| 94331040| Cash and Cash Equivalents at End of Year| 42913503| 27249672| 17132210| 12221088| 22046503| Interpretations: 1. Working capital: In 2007 and 20 08 working capital of Bextex ltd. was negative. That means; current assets have been lower than the current liabilities. So, the company was in a risky position in terms of liquidity. But from 2009, it started to be positive and the company is in a stable position. 2. Current ratio: This ratio expresses current assets in relation to current liabilities. Current Ratio of bextex ltd. is highest in 2009 which indicates that the company has higher level of liquidity and it can meet short term obligations. But during 2007 and 2008 the ratio had a smaller value than one, indicating that Bextex ltd. had lower liquidity to meet its short term obligations. However, over the following years; Beximco Textiles managed to solve this issue. 3. Quick ratio: The quick ratio is more conservative than current ratio, because it only includes the more liquid current assets in relation to current liabilities. Beximco Textiles Ltd. reached its peak in 2009 in terms of quick ratio but yet again it dropped in 2010. Apart from that, there has been a steady improvement in this aspect. 4. Activity Ratios: a. Working capital Turnover: working capital turnover indicates how efficiently the company generates revenue with its working capital. Bextex ltd. was in the worst situation in 2007, that the ratio was -24. 11; this ratio was negative in 2008 as well. The main reason behind it was that the current asset remained lower than the current liabilities. The negativity in this aspect simply depicts that the company took a very high amount of loans during those years. Yet, the operations were efficient enough to improve that risky position over the years. b. Inventory Turnover Ratio: Inventory turnover ratio shows the times  a company's  inventory is sold and replaced over a financial period. A low turnover implies poor sales and, therefore, excess inventory. A high ratio implies either strong sales or ineffective buying. During 2006 and 2007; the annual inventory on hand was way higher than the following years. Consequently, the turnover was high as well. During the following years; the management took new measures and managed to reduce the excess the inventory. However, the total amount of inventory in 2010 was higher than that of 2009. Yet, the inventory turnover almost doubled during 2010; which is a strong indication that the sales is increasing in number. c. Days Sales Outstanding Ratio: It indicates the elapsed time between a sale and cash collection. Bextex ltd. ad the lowest DSO in 2010, which indicates a better situation than that of the previous years. In 2007, the ratio was the highest indicating the efficiency lapse in cash collection during that period. 5. Cash Conversion cycle: This metric indicates the amount of time that elapses from the point when a company invests in working capital until the point at which the company collects cash. Bextex ltd. had 523. 12 CCC in 2006 which indicat es poor position and in 2010; they have decreased it from 523. 12 to 143. 36. So, it is a good indication for the company. Basic reason behind this positive trend is that; Beximco Textiles has improved the Inventory conversion and receivables Collection operations dramatically. Both the Inventory conversion period and the Receivable conversion period has been halved from the year 2006 to 2010. 6. Cash-Flow: Cash flow activities show that both the income from operational activities and the return from investments have been increasing over the years. The Payables are being paid out and the retained earnings are being reinvested heavily to increase the efficiency to a higher level. This can be a reason why Beximco Textiles have refrained from giving out dividends since 2007. References 1. BEXIMCO TEXTILES Ltd. (2007). Auditors’ Report 2. BEXIMCO TEXTILES Ltd. (2009). Auditors’ Report 3. BEXIMCO TEXTILES Ltd. (2010). Auditors’ Report 4. Fredric C. Scherr, Modern Working Capital Management, Prentice Hall International Editions. 5. Ross, S. A, Westerfield, R. W & Jaffe, J. (2005). Corporate Finance 7th Edition. New Delhi: McGraw Hill Publishing Company Limited. 6. Financial Reporting and Analysis CFA (level-1) 2011

Apple Computer Inc. Marketing

Apple Computer Inc. Marketing Industry background Essentially, international trade is often a characteristic of the computer industry, rather than a mere contributing factor (Bardhan, Jaffee Kroll, 2004). Currently, even the smallest businesses have become active in marketing their products or services internationally. Personal computing has emerged to be the most important contributing factor to overseas labor employment due to production costs.Advertising We will write a custom report sample on Apple Computer Inc. Marketing specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The continued increase in productivity within the computing industry is steered by the continued advancements in technology. Efficiency and other achievements result from the ever changing technology for the better. Among the major product lines in the electronic industry are the computers which also form the core products of the electronic companies. However, Apple’s computers have lost significant de mand due to the limitations the company experiences from complementary products. Hewlett-Packard and Dell have continued to dominate the computer market with their products having a higher demand than other competitors. Compared to Apple, firms like Dell and HP are substantially bigger and provide substitute products which attract many consumers due to their compatibility. Sony, Samsung and LG have focused more on consumer electronics such as televisions, digital cameras, mobile phones, gaming consoles, DVD players and digital speakers. Company background Previously known as Apple Computer Inc, Apple store is a global company that produces computers, software and consumer electronics. Its major products are personal computers, iPhone, iPod, iPad and iTune Store. The company was established in 1976 by two electronic engineers, Wozniak and Jobs, who released the first computer called Apple 1. Since then, Apple store has dominated the personal computer market through innovative product s such as the Power Mac and Macintosh, but encountered marketing problems in the 90s. Through Steve Jobs, the firm seeded innovative technologies that led to the introduction of new products such as the iPhone, iPad and iTune music store. The company became the new market leader in consumer electronics with the latest success coming from a range of products including the iPod Touch, iTunes, the iPhone, and the iPad (Apple Inc., 2011). Presently, the company is the global leader in technology with revenue of $60 billion after overtaking Microsoft in terms of market capitalization in 2010.Advertising Looking for report on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Sony was founded as a telecommunication engineering company by Akio, Masaru and Tamon in 1946 (Dogruer et al, 2001, p.4). The firm immediately adopted transistor technology to produce radios, home video recorders and microphones. Due to pressures fr om competition, Sony diversified beyond consumer electronics and started producing computer chips and computer peripherals. Later, the company entered the gaming machines after Nintendo became very successful in the industry. Due to rapid growth through mergers, Sony expanded to other major markets for consumer electronics such as Europe and America. So far, the company has focused on consumer electronics and in particular televisions, digital cameras and game machines. The company is also a major producer of personal computers and computer microchips. Product overview There are four major product segments that defines Sony’s portfolio. They include electronics, games, computers and pictures (Tang, Misra Shanholt, 2012, pp.16-18). The electronic product line consists of products like audio electronics, digital cameras, televisions and speakers. In this line, advanced technologies like Blu-ray and LCD technologies are the key differentiating factors. The games product line co nsists solely of the Play stations which are differentiated through enhanced technology that allow for superior graphics and increased computation power. The pictures category involves movies while the computer segment includes PCs, computer peripherals and computer microchips. Apple’s product and services segments involve a wide portfolio of Smartphone, personal computers, music store, book leaders and other applications. The key products and services include iPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac, software applications, televisions, iCloud, iOS and Mac OS (operating systems) as well as a variety of services, accessories and support services (USSEC, 2011, p.1). In addition, Apple tenders moderator products for instance iPhones, iPads, iPods, Mac and attuned merchandises as well as PC appliances, imprinter, amplifiers, storage devises and supercomputer peripherals. The firm also offers digital content and applications via the App Store, iBook Store, iTune Store and Mac App Store. Strategic marketing Strategic marketing is a process that allows a business to focus its limited resources on the greatest opportunities in order to achieve sustainable competitive advantages and thus increase sales (Baker, 2008). The focus of Sony strategy is to ensure that its products are of high quality and develop profitable and long-term loyalty with customers.Advertising We will write a custom report sample on Apple Computer Inc. Marketing specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The corporate marketing strategy of the firm is to build awareness before launching a product. International market success depends on standardization/adaptation to local markets. Sonny standardized its products by manufacturing Japanese electronics and adapted local promotions campaigns to build awareness. Apple uses Apple brand as the competitive strength in the highly competitive market such as the PC industry with its Macintosh computers and associated software. Th e product strategy is to develop innovative products in line with a ‘digital hub’ strategy such that the firm’s products work as digital hub for other devices (Apple Inc.). The branding approach puts emphasis on sentiments such that the brand is about thoughts, routine, novelty, enthusiasm, dreams, autonomy and desires. Macro-environmental analysis Rivalry between competitors While an industry characterized by few large manufacturers and very expensive products hunts a niche audience, the evolution of personal computers has caused an explosion in the industry which currently includes dozens of companies pursuing millions of consumers across the globe. Due to the use of electronic equipments in day to day lives, the equipments are becoming more of commodities (Sony Corporation, 2010). For most consumers, economy is more important than performance specifications. This has forced many manufacturers to pursue best-cost and low-cost provider strategies. The companies in the middle range compete for consumers by offering various options at varying prices. The similarity of electronic products because of industry standard setting leads to competition in prices that squeeze margins and drive prices down. Moreover, technological development presents increased competition on the industry. Electronic products are becoming more and more sophisticated, efficient with less energy consumption. To hasten the situation, industry leaders like Apple, Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo have always kept to this pace. Supplier power Suppliers have significant influence over the manufacturers of electronic equipments. While many standards in the industry are open and made by collaborative or independent bodies like IEE, manufacturers also depend on standards owned privately. Often, the technology requires entrance or must be licensed to a paid-membership group. Additionally, the virtual concentration of suppliers puts some pressure on competitors.Advertising Looking for report on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More For personal computers, Sony outsources central processing units from Intel. Thus, incompatibility in design does not allow the company to switch to other suppliers. However, microchip manufacturers are not present in computer manufacturing business and hence rely on computer manufacturers for their business. As a result discounts are placed on exclusivity agreements and bulk purchasing thus lessening some pressure from suppliers. Buyer power As in all businesses, customers have the last say and apply considerable leverage over manufacturers. The various buyers with many but differing needs impact manufacturers of electronics directly since they must react and adapt by offering extensive product-lines. The notable characteristic between power user looking for the ‘greatest and latest’ and average user needing a product which is ‘just good enough’ presents an obstacle to manufacturers focusing on tapping the many customers possible. Manufacturers benefit fro m the wide use and acceptance of electronic products causing high demand for the products. Brand loyalty and proprietary systems are used to maintain customers. Threat of potential entrants Many avenues through which new entrants can enter the electronic market exist; however several hindrances may prevent the entrance. The current market is characterized by well entrenched players who have significant brand loyalty and recognition including Sony, Microsoft, Apple, Samsung and LG among others (Sony Corporation, 2010). Thus developing a successful brand in the presence of such players is difficult. They also keep costs down and dominate with economies of scale that cannot be achieved easily by a new entrant unless a substantial capital is invested. Despite these obstacles, new entrants may still come from newly instituted lean organizations which depend on third party OEM (original equipment manufacturers) for production. This trend is increasing in popularity bringing companies such as Acer Inc. into competition with industry giants. Threat of substitutes The technology sector has substantially grown with the introduction of alternatives such as televisions, game consoles, Smartphone, virtual music stores and personal computers. There are now feature-rich smart phones and PDAs in an average living room. Such developments have resulted in consumers focusing their â€Å"technology money† away from computers, televisions, radios and game consoles. However, despite the focus it is not likely that smart phones will diminish the importance of other products significantly. The only thing that the substitutes have influenced is elimination of monopoly in the electronic market. Micro-environmental analysis Apple and Sony are leaders in the electronic industry but market their products in the same markets. The firms are probably influenced by the same micro-environmental factors. They are expected to respond to the dynamics of both individualistic cultures of the west and collective cultures of the east. This is probably achieved by creating organizational cultures that support both team work and individual efforts in the respective areas of operations. As the firms become increasingly global, Du Plessis and Beaver (2008) insist on the need to develop an effective International Human Resource Management (IHRM) in order to respond to labor sourcing and expatriation issues. Consumers are also becoming more sensitive to prices and quality hence compelling Apple and Sony to be more responsive through effective quality control systems. Involvement in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is also a strategy that Apple and Sony are using to improve their relationship with consumers. SWOT analysis Sony SWOT analysis Strength Mature value chain Strong brand name Intellectual property holding Weaknesses Weak financials Lack of focus Conservative management Opportunities New Chief Executive Officer Economic recovery Industry integration Threats Stiff competition Macro-economic factors Partnership Apple SWOT analysis Strengths Global presence Strong brand image Synergistic portfolio Strong media content Weaknesses Low returns Labor issues Dependency for key components Opportunities Wireless product New digital platform MP3 player market Threats Strong competition Slow Euro-zone economy Lawsuits Market segmentation Sony Corporation segments its market in three divisions namely the consumer, professional and devices segment, networked products and services segment and financial services segment. Televisions lead in the first segments while game and PCs lead in the second segment. Sony Corporation has also segmented its markets according to geographic regions. These regions include Europe, America, Asian-Pacific, Africa and Latin America. For the Asian-Pacific, European and American markets, the firm markets its major product categories including household electronics, computer hardware and software, computer micr ochips, mobile phones and gaming consoles. For the rest of the markets, the firm markets only its household electronic goods and computer hardware. For several years, Apple has identified four major segments within its customer profile including business, education, creative professionals and high-end consumers. At the turn of the millennium, the company’s core product strengths were in the product segments of Computer Aided Design (CAD) and Desktop Publishing (DTP) (Ashcroft, 2011, p.5). By the end of 2010, the situation turned upside down. The core product strengths were now the Personal computers, Smartphone, book readers, iTune store and applications. Market segments widened to include households, celebrities and sports fanatics. All these segments are continuously pursuing whatever information technology offers to their careers and lifestyles. Target markets Apple store sell its products to a wider range of markets and across many parts of the world. The company uses ret ail stores and online sites, to offer its goods and third party goods to the consumer and business segments. Apple has invested in programs that promote reseller sales such as the ASCP which focuses on certain reseller locations and APRP which provide expertise in products and customer service (USSEC, 2009). In addition, the company offers its computer products in the government, business and creative markets within its locations. The markets are particularly crucial to third party developers of computer applications and hardware that are compatible with Apple’s computers. The superior expansion and computing performance of Apple products are the major attractions for consumers within this market. Moreover, Apple offers its computer products to customers in scientific market as well as information technology markets. Positioning strategy Through product differentiation, Sony is positioned as the most convenient, quality-focused, value-added and technological producer of consu mer electronics goods. The focus of Sony strategy is to ensure that its products are of high quality and develop profitable and long-term loyalty with customers. Indeed, this positioning strategy has enabled the company to sell its products at premium prices even in primitive markets in Africa. The corporate marketing strategy of Sony is to build awareness before launching a product. International market success depends on adaptation to local markets. Sonny standardized its products by manufacturing Japanese electronics and adapted local promotions campaigns to build awareness. The success of Apple Company has been credited to its effort in innovating new products. In fact, while many companies experienced decreased revenues during the depression period, Apple continued to increase its revenues throughout. Up to date, the company has invested generously in innovative development of its products. Apple has continually put innovation ahead of all its plans and strategies. This can be witnessed in the current wave of touch screen technology in most of its devices. They have come up with not only iPhones, iPods and iPads with touch screens, but laptops with no keyboards (Apple Inc.). These laptops use a very unique technology in which a user can complete computer tasks like printing or typing with just a few spins of a disc. However, this is not the only new innovation; just recently the company released the world thinnest laptop challenging all of its competitors. The Macbook Air is so thin that it can fit inside an envelope. For the last several years, the company has surprised the market with new innovations starting from its iPhone, iPad, ipod, laptops, desktops, iTunes, and the recent Macbook. This is a clear indication that innovation is the core positioning strategy for Apple. Recommendation The changing consumer trends and market shifts are requiring many companies to institute strategies that will respond to these dynamics and ensure that the firms achiev e competitive advantages. Among the trickiest industry is the electronic industry which is characterized by big firms that are swift in responding to the marketing changes. In this industry, Apple Inc. and Sony Corporation can only adopt the best-cost strategy to increase their competitive advantages since consumers are increasingly becoming price sensitive and many competitors are pursuing low-cost strategies. This strategy demands the integration of developmental and marketing plans which focus on the best value while reducing the prices of products. Within this strategy, the firms should retool their products to attract a wider range of consumer segments while maintaining low prices for the majority low income earners. Avoiding unexpected risks such as those from natural calamities is important. Therefore, the firms should include stakeholders such as OEM partners to distribute the impacts caused by such calamities. But the best way for the companies to position themselves better in the marketplace is to stay ahead in terms of price and quality. Reference List Apple Inc, The new, faster MacBook Air. Web. Ashcroft, J 2011, Apple Inc. The case study 2000-2010. Web. Baker, M 2008, The Strategic marketing plan. Cambridge Strategic Publications Limited, London. Bardhan, A, Jaffee, D Kroll C 2004, Globalization and a high-tech economy: California, the United States and beyond. Springer, New York. Dogruer, B, Ferzly, M, Nguyen, H, Roach, D Ward, R 2001, Report on Sony Corporation. Web. Du Plessis, A J Beaver, B 2008, â€Å"The changing role of human resource managers for international assignments.† International Review of Business Research Papers, vol.4 no.5, pp.166-181. Sony Corporation 2010, Annual Report 2009. Web. Tang, H, Misra, R Shanholt, E 2012, Sony Corporation. Web. USSEC 2009, Form 10-K: Apple Inc. Web. USSEC 2011, Form 10-K. Web.

Explain what Roman Catholics Essays

Explain what Roman Catholics Essays Explain what Roman Catholics Essay Explain what Roman Catholics Essay Explain what Roman Catholics and other Christians believe about sexual relationships outside of marriage as well as within marriage. Use bible passages and Christian teaching and practice to support your answer.All Christian churches teach that sex belongs in marriage. The proper context of a sexual relationship is marriage and it was what God intended us to do, thus making it very important. God intended everyone to get married, have sex and have children. So God created human beingshe created them male and female, blessed them and said, have many children, so that your descendents will live over all the earth. (Genesis 1:27-28)Sex outside of marriage is not permitted in the Catholic Church for many reasons. One of these is that it will not fulfil everything that God intended it to be, which is the expression of deep love. Also sex makes the marriage official, this is the last stage of becoming a married couple. This is also known as the marriage being consum mated.The basis of this is the belief that marriage is a sacrament. It is permanent, exclusive, a sign of Gods love and it should be life giving. The two most important points are life giving every marriage should be open to the possibility of having children and a persons life is enriched through being married. The other point is exclusive promise to be faithful and to not have an affair. Do not commit adultery (7th commandment). These are the most important because they paint a picture of the ideal marriage. Marriage is the sacrament in which baptised men and women vow to belong to each other in a permanent and exclusive sexual partnership of loving mutual care, concern and shared responsibility, in the hope of having children and bringing up a family. (Catechism of the Catholic Church)This also shows that the church has a positive view on sex. Marriage provides security for a sexual relationship, where the couple can trust each other and is a stable environment to raise childre n. This means that there should be no artificial contraception or need for an abortion. Also, that a relationship is enriched through sex, it is a unique way of showing love. A man should fulfil his duty as a husband, and a women should fulfil her duty as a wife, and each should satisfy the others needs. (1 Corinthians 7:3)Sex before marriage (fornication) and adultery both break the exclusivity of marriage, as one of the couple is breaking the vows of marriage. Also, sex outside of marriage is not as meaningful as inside of marriage. This is because when you have sex outside of marriage you do it for pleasure and lust, but inside of marriage you do it as a sign of deep, meaningful love. Although not all Christians believe this; some think that once you are in a committed relationship, with a plan to get married, then it is all right to have a sexual relationship.If you have sex before marriage then you are breaking the vow of faithfulness for your future husband/wife. Also, that th e sacrament hasnt taken place, so Gods love isnt there and present.At a wedding, the greatest gift that you can give to you future husband/wife is your body. This means that you save your virginity for your husband/wife so you are pure for them. This also means that you only have one sexual partner.When people start to have casual sex or one night stands, the person may start to feel used, or as a sexual object. This also causes many unwanted children and this is the position where people start to have abortions.Some Christians go against no sex before marriage; they say that if a couple are engaged, then they are entitled to a sexual relationship, but only if the commitment is there. This could go wrong though; for example if a couple go through a tough time whilst engaged and break up, then if the couple have already had sex, then they cannot marry in the eyes of God. This is because it would be seen as adultery and would be very unfaithful to your future husband/wife.If someone c ommits adultery whilst married, then it can be very hard to be set right again. Adultery can be seen in many different ways, for example in the bible it says that if you look lustfully at someone then that could be seen as adultery. You have heard that it was said, Do not commit adultery. But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell. (Matthew 5:27-30)It is also adultery if you have a sexual relationship before you get married and then decide to get married latter on in life. This is seen as adultery because you are breaking a vow in advance, that you wont have sex outside of marriage. Havin g sex outside of marriage is also known as fornication. This also means that you cant give you purity/virginity to your future husband/wife. This is because you have already lost your virginity so once you have lost it to that one person then you cant lose it again for your husband/wife.Another form of adultery is when you get re-married after being divorced. This is adultery because you have only divorced legally, but in the eyes of God you are still married. If you re-marry and have sex, you have committed adultery against your first husband/wife, who you are still married to in the eyes of God.

Discover The Marriage Proposal by Anton Chekhov

Discover The Marriage Proposal by Anton Chekhov Anton Chekhov is known for brilliant, full-length plays, yet in his younger years he fancied writing short, one-act comedies like The Marriage Proposal. Filled with wit, irony, and brilliantly developed and impassioned characters, this three-person play shows the young playwright at his best. The Comedies of Anton Chekhov Anton Chekhovs full-length masterpieces may be considered comedies, yet they are filled with dour moments, failed loves, and sometimes even death. This is especially true in his play The Seagull a comedic drama which ends with a suicide. Although other plays such as Uncle Vanya and The Cherry Orchard do not culminate in such an explosive resolution, a feeling of hopelessness permeates each of Chekhovs plays. This is a sharp contrast to some of his more jovial one-act comedies. The Marriage Proposal, for example, is a delightful farce that could have ended very darkly, but the playwright instead maintains its energetic whimsy, concluding in a successful albeit combative engagement. The Characters of A Marriage Proposal The main character, Ivan Vassilevitch Lomov, is a heavy-set man in his mid-thirties, prone to anxiety, stubbornness, and hypochondria. These flaws are further amplified because he becomes a nervous wreck when he tries to propose marriage. Stepan Stephanovitch Chubukov owns land next to Ivan. A man in his early seventies, he gladly grants permission to Ivan, but soon calls off the engagement when an argument over property ensues. His chief concerns are maintaining his wealth and keeping his daughter happy. Natalya Stepanovna is the female lead in this three-person play. She can be jovial and welcoming, yet stubborn, proud and possessive, just like her male counterparts. Plot Summary of A Marriage Proposal The play is set in the  rural countryside of Russia during the late 1800s. When Ivan arrives at the home of the Chubukov family, the elderly Stepan assumes that the well-dressed young man has come to borrow money. Instead, Stepan is pleased when Ivan asks for his daughters hand in marriage. Stepan whole-heartedly bestows his blessing, declaring that he already loves him like a son. The old man then leaves to fetch his daughter, assuring the younger man that Natalya will graciously accept the proposal. While alone, Ivan delivers a soliloquy, explaining his high level of nervousness, as well as a number of physical ailments that have recently plagued his daily life. This monologue sets up everything that unfolds next. Everything is going well when Natalya first enters the room. They chat pleasantly about the weather and agriculture. Ivan attempts to bring up the subject of marriage by first stating how he has known her family since childhood. As he touches upon his past, he mentions his familys ownership of the Oxen Meadows. Natalya stops the conversation to clarify. She believes that her family has always owned the meadows, and this disagreement ignites a caustic debate, one that sends tempers flaring and Ivans heart palpitating. After they yell at each other, Ivan feels dizzy and tries to calm himself down and change the subject back to matrimony, only to get immersed in the argument yet again. Natalyas father joins the battle, siding with his daughter, and angrily demanding that Ivan leave at once. As soon as Ivan is gone, Stepan reveals that the young man has planned to propose to Natalya. Shocked and apparently desperate to be married, Natalya insists that her father bring him back. Once Ivan has returned, she tries to bend the subject toward romance. However, instead of discussing marriage, they begin to argue over which of their dogs is the better hound. This seemingly innocuous topic launches into yet another heated argument. Finally, Ivans heart cannot take it anymore and he flops down dead. At least thats what Stepan and Natalya believe for a moment. Fortunately, Ivan breaks out of his fainting spell and regains his senses enough for him to propose to Natalya. She accepts, but before the curtain falls, they return to their old argument regarding who owns the better dog. In short, The Marriage Proposal is a delightful gem of a comedy. It makes one wonder why so much of Chekhovs full-length plays (even the ones labeled as comedies) seem so thematically heavy. The Silly and the Serious Sides of Chekhov So, why is The Marriage Proposal so whimsical whereas his full-length plays are realistic? One reason that may account for the silliness found in this one-act is that The Marriage Proposal was first performed in 1890  when Chekhov was just entering his thirties and still in relatively good health. When he wrote his famous comedy-dramas his illness (tuberculosis) had more severely affected him. Being a physician, Chekhov must have known that he was nearing the end of his life, thereby casting a shade over The Seagull and the other plays. Also, during his more prolific years as a playwright, Anton Chekhov traveled more and beheld many impoverished, marginalized people of Russia, including inmates of a penal colony. The Marriage Proposal is a humorous microcosm of marital unions among the Russian upper class in late 19th century Russia.   This was Chekhovs world during his late 20s. As he became more worldly, his interests in others outside the middle classes increased. Plays such as Uncle Vanya and The Cherry Orchard feature an ensemble of characters from many different economic classes, from the wealthiest to the most impoverished. Finally, one must consider the influence of Constantin Stanislavski, a theater director who would become one of the most important figures in modern theater. His dedication to bringing a naturalistic quality to drama may have further inspired Chekhov to write less silly plays, much to the chagrin of theater-goers who like their comedies broad, loud, and full of slapstick.

Liberal Theories of International Relations Essay

Liberal Theories of International Relations - Essay Example The apparent peaceful behavior of democracies was only an extension of the domestic ideal into the international sphere. At the end of the Cold War, with the fall of communist Soviet Union (USSR), the ideological triumph of liberal democracy (and its implications for IR) was celebrated with much gusto, with some going so far as to claim that the event signified the â€Å"end of history† (Fukuyama 1992). Liberal states were deemed to be internally more stable and externally most peaceful.  Such a description, however, is not an accurate reflection of the true nature of democracies in the international sphere. As two seminal studies on the democratic-peace thesis note, democracies are equally aggressive as any other rà ©gime type in their relations with authoritarian states (Doyle 1995: 100) and young democracies tend to be more war prone than other states (Mansfield & Snyder 2005). In fact, even this explanation remains somewhat inadequate; take, for instance, the dyad of In dia and Pakistan, two countries with a long history of confrontations. The last armed conflict between the two states in 1999 occurred when a democratic government led either state. This shows that there may be contextual reasons for states go to into war, and their internal configurations may not matter in this regard.  The optimism of liberal international theory at the end of the Cold War was buoyed to a large extent by the hopes attached with the resurgence of the United Nations (UN) and the collective security system. In fact, the success of the multilateral venture at Iraq in 1991 reinforced these hopes.

Victims of Terrorism, Hate Crimes & Racial Profiling Assignment

Victims of Terrorism, Hate Crimes & Racial Profiling - Assignment Example However, there have been attempts to end racial profiling in the United States. Question one: Terrorism is a systematic use of terror, especially as a means of coercion. Domestic terrorism refers to illegal use of force or violence committed by a person or group against a person to intimidate them for political or social objectives. The US considers terrorist attacks domestic if they are carried out by its citizens who are not acting on behalf of a foreign power (Doerner, 2012). Investigations of domestic violence are carried out in accordance with The Attorney General guidelines on general crimes and Domestic Terrorism Investigations. The establishment of terrorism as a crime that can be committed domestically became a law in the year 2001 when President George W. Bush signed the Patriot Act. Domestic terrorism is a major concern in the United States. In fact, domestic terrorism has currently hit the highest point of the cycle in the United States but most of the cases are simple at tacks committed by lone actors. However, the implications of the crimes is as those of jihadist and Iranian attacks (Peek, 2011). Recently there was an attack on Oak Creek, which was termed as a case of domestic terrorism where seven people were shot and killed. The US local law enforcement agencies have played a key role in dealing with the many threats of the modern world. The police in the United States are involved in mitigating and defeating terrorism in the United States. This is because the police agencies have acquired technology and ideas on how to offer effective defense and conquer offence. According to Peek (2011), they work with communities in order to achieve this goal. Therefore, the establishment of terrorism as a crime that can be committed domestically has changed policing in a number of ways. It has broadened the ideas and knowledge of the Department of Homeland Security who work together with police, intelligence and immigration agencies to fight terrorism (Doern er, 2012). Question One A: Policing in the US has changed with the establishment of terrorism as a crime that can be committed domestically. As mentioned above, police play a major role in mitigating and overcoming terrorism in the United States. Local agencies in the country have the knowledge and technology to create counter networks and to work on effective defenses and offenses. This has been possible due to expansion on knowledge concerning the concept of terrorism and what entails it. Through multijurisdictional efforts, police can determine whether individuals or enterprises are an active threat that calls for inquiry or enforcement action (Peek, 2011). The agencies are transparent, flexible and adaptable enough to join forces with one another. They develop more important and credulous unions and create strategies that capitalize on law enforcement resources. Most significantly, they work with societies to counter the acts of terrorism. Policing is therefore a convergent tact ic that battles crime and disorder while creating unfriendly environments for terrorists. For instance, after terrorist events in 2011, police organizations have strengthened their efforts against terrorism (Peek, 2011). The Justice Departments’ federal Bureau of Investigations which is the leading agency dealing with matters of terrorism and the Department of Homeland Security and the local agencies have strongly been involved in the fight against terrorism. The police have been able to attack

Closed Doors Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Closed Doors - Essay Example If a habeas petition is rejected, it is one step in assuring that a Death Row inmate has no more access to making appeals in court. According to Dow (2006), â€Å"[T]he district courts are required to dismiss any action brought by a death row inmate who has already had a federal habeas petition† (pp. 46). Such rejection is tantamount to a death sentence for someone, who might actually be innocent. If someone is unfairly accused of a crime that they did not commit—most likely, in this case, murder—it would only make sense that the defendant should have rights to appeal any rulings. However, for Death Row inmates this is usually not the case. One federal judicial review is allowed if the habeas petition fails. Roberts (2007) states, â€Å"Even if the Court upholds a death sentence, a prisoner still has the option for one last review in the federal court† (pp. 104). Basically, if the judicial review does not look like it will be in the favor of the defendant, the inmate basically has no appeal left in order for recourse. Sadly, our court system only allows one federal judicial review that is at the mercy of one sole judge’s opinion. After the habeas petition has been filed, and the client’s case has gone under federal judicial review, there is basically no other avenue down which a client can proceed.

San Diego International Airport Green Project Research Paper

San Diego International Airport Green Project - Research Paper Example Therefore, airports are important regional, national and international commerce. They create an avenue for the connection of a nation’s aviation system with other modes of transport. There is a need to carry out research to solve operating problems by adopting new technologies, and introduce innovation to the airport industry. When planning to implement a terminal improvement project, the terminal planning process should provide insights on potential issues and future trends that they affect the functionality of that terminal (Ashford, Mumayiz, & Wright, 2011). Significant changes in technology, airline operations and industry structure have occurred, creating the need for a balance of importance of certain planning factors for airport terminal buildings. These changes have occurred in cost effectiveness, passenger and baggage security, gate utilization to ensure low cost, and concessions (Brown, 2010). The airport and aviation industry is ever changing. This has led to the need for today’s airport buildings to be planned and constructed in ways that will safeguard flexibility for future modification at the list expense, while responding to variations in demand, the changing passenger needs, airlines and aircraft. Therefore, there has to be a flexible, balanced and visionary planning for airport terminals to ensure future flexibility (Brown, 2010). It should be noted that the creation of plans and designs of airports that provide superior services to travelers is difficult. Airport operational needs are extremely dynamic, creating more challenges in the planning and designing of sustainable airports (Brown, 2010). Additionally, in most cases, capital investment resources for expansion and construction of modern, efficient airports are limited. Therefore, development of airport facility designs which can provide the

Textiles Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Textiles - Essay Example The fabric is heavier and thicker compared to most other fabrics. The thickness and weight is depending on some issues such as the novel yarn used. The thick structure and heavy weight of the fabric are caused by the fact that the novel yarn used for the fabric has a different structure and form which in most cases includes multithreads used for the yarn (Sekhri, 2012). The texture of the fabric is rough, unlike most other fabrics which are smoother. It is however not very rough, while the degree or roughness may depend on the individual fabric and based in the novelty yarn used. As stated, the yarn used for the fabric is the novelty yarn which comes in different structures and types. There are a number of novelty yarns with different structures and designs. These include the ply yarn, the Core, Eyelash, Bouclà © Ribbon, Chenille, Crepe yarns. Each type of yarn is based on a different The structure of the novelty fabric is complex and according to the India Textile Journal (2014), this comes from the fact that the yarn used many have a number of threads made into one. The multiply yarn for instance has three then sewn into one and this makes the fabric to have a differed structure. The ply yarn, named so die to its three plies of threads, ahs these threads, each thread having this purpose such as offering strength, design and merging (Strong, 1953). This gives the fabric a novelty form of structure. The beauty of the fabric emanates from the structure which is a raised structure with a rough feel. Ironing this garment would press the fabric and this would reduce its beauty and the rough feel texture. Hand wishing the fabric would be best as this would protect the good quality of the fabric. The fabric can also be machine-washed but with gentle tumbling. If the fabric has to be machine-washed, then gentle cycle would be better to avoid destroying the fabric structure. The fabric is a little delicate due to its special textural features. Tumble drying would

Influence of poverty on the quality of education Case Study

Influence of poverty on the quality of education - Case Study Example Bourdieu relied on the French structuralist movements. According to the book, his most important contribution was about what is called "cultural capital". He defines this as "the general cultural background, knowledge, disposition and skills that are passed from one generation to the next" (13). In his theory the upper-class kids inherit substantially different cultural capital than working class kids. Schools reward the dominant classes and "systematically" devalue the lower classes. There are 4 main points in this theory: 4. the school legitimates the process 'by making social hierarchies and the reproduction of the hierarchies appear to be based upon the hierarchy of 'gifts', merits or skills established and ratified by its sanctions'by converting social hierarchies into academic hierarchies (14). These two looked at linguistic patterns and continued past the work of Bordieu. Bernstein says that class membership is generated by distinctive forms of speech patterns and it happens through family socialization (16). He says working class children use elaborate codes and talk to their parents more often (17). The codes are built on family roles and relationship within the family structure. Brice Heath looked at linguistic patterns and race. ... He says working class children use elaborate codes and talk to their parents more often (17). The codes are built on family roles and relationship within the family structure. Brice Heath looked at linguistic patterns and race. She said that white children had more interaction with their parents and were taught to do things like label and name objects as children; while black children had less interaction (this was in a specific population and school setting). White children are allowed to ask more questions of their parents and black children don't usually get questioned by their parents so there is no interaction of this type. The result is that black working class children aren't socialized to cope with the language patterns that most schools use and therefore fall behind academically. White working class children develop many cognitive and linguistic patterns required for school but they don't develop integrated skills that are necessary to continue to be successful throughout their school life. Paul Willis--The Lads and the Ear'oles Willis also looked at the linguistic patterns of children but he later saw that there was a direct correlation between the class background, geographical location, job market and level of education that the boys achieved and the jobs that they eventually chose. He said that these choices come from the dominant cultures challenges to these boys' culture. He noticed that the majority of students in the school he chose were "ear'oles or those who conformed to the rules and the norms of the schools. There was a counter school culture of lads who that rejected the school's need for academic success and thwarted

Textiles Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Textiles - Essay Example The fabric is heavier and thicker compared to most other fabrics. The thickness and weight is depending on some issues such as the novel yarn used. The thick structure and heavy weight of the fabric are caused by the fact that the novel yarn used for the fabric has a different structure and form which in most cases includes multithreads used for the yarn (Sekhri, 2012). The texture of the fabric is rough, unlike most other fabrics which are smoother. It is however not very rough, while the degree or roughness may depend on the individual fabric and based in the novelty yarn used. As stated, the yarn used for the fabric is the novelty yarn which comes in different structures and types. There are a number of novelty yarns with different structures and designs. These include the ply yarn, the Core, Eyelash, Bouclà © Ribbon, Chenille, Crepe yarns. Each type of yarn is based on a different The structure of the novelty fabric is complex and according to the India Textile Journal (2014), this comes from the fact that the yarn used many have a number of threads made into one. The multiply yarn for instance has three then sewn into one and this makes the fabric to have a differed structure. The ply yarn, named so die to its three plies of threads, ahs these threads, each thread having this purpose such as offering strength, design and merging (Strong, 1953). This gives the fabric a novelty form of structure. The beauty of the fabric emanates from the structure which is a raised structure with a rough feel. Ironing this garment would press the fabric and this would reduce its beauty and the rough feel texture. Hand wishing the fabric would be best as this would protect the good quality of the fabric. The fabric can also be machine-washed but with gentle tumbling. If the fabric has to be machine-washed, then gentle cycle would be better to avoid destroying the fabric structure. The fabric is a little delicate due to its special textural features. Tumble drying would

Shifting Genres Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Shifting Genres - Essay Example Peter answered the man by telling him they were going to Fargo in U.S.A. shockingly the man told them that they must be joking because they can not survive in that place since it is too cold. The man laughed, but Peter Dut did not know the reason beyond the laughter. Having lived at Kakuma refugee camp the boys had not experienced cold climate since Kakuma is 1000C. By that time, the temperature in Fargo had dropped below 150C. The boys had only experienced cold from a frozen bottle of water given to them by aid worker in the refuge camp. Peter and his brothers belong to a number of 10,000 boys in Kakuma refugee camp from Sudan, who went to seek refuge in 1992 during the civil war in the southern part. The lost boys were given names after Peter Pan’s orphan’s posse. A report from America showed that over 17,000 boys left Sudan and separated from their families in 1987 during the war. They fled to Ethiopia and then back to Sudan then finally to Kenya. They arrived in Kenya parentless, homeless and throng having walked over 1,000 miles. The boys were between the age 8 and 18 from the Dinka tribe. Many of the boys did not know their age and the aid workers gave them ages depending on their sizes. On the way to the camp, the number of boys reduced by half. Most of the boys died on the way because they were attacked by bandits, lions, swept away by river water and others attacked by crocodile. After living in a camp for 9 years without being governed the three brothers’ decided to move to America. The boys in the refugee camps were sponsored by the UN to study in America while others were to be released to start their own live because after five years they were 21 years. The time when the three brothers were to land in Fargo, snow was flowing in the streets and roads. Later, Peter with his brothers, Riak, 15 and Maduk 17, arrived at their home apartment which was fully furnished by the