Oral traditions Essay

Many ancient scholars believed Africa had no history prior to colonialism because there was no documented evidence. Professor A.P. Newton, who was a distinguished British historian in the early 20th century, believed that there was no African history because most of the African society was illiterate before the European intrusion. ‘History’, he said, ‘only begins when men take to writing.’ He, as well as others who had the same opinion, failed to realize that African communities existed long before colonialism and so had their own history, even though it had not been put into writing at the time. Oral traditions have played and continue to play important roles in the history of Africa as well as its present. Songs, folklores, superstitions, etc. are just some of the things that have been passed from generation to generation orally. We see the evidence of some of these superstitions in J.P. Clark’s _Abiku_ as well as Wole Soyinka’s _Abiku_. Both poems are based on traditional superstitions and it is evident from the title, _Abiku_, which is a word from the Yoruba language of Nigeria that is used to describe a child that dies and is reborn, usually multiple times. It is believed that such children are not of the human world, but rather belong to the spirit world and so they keep going back and forth from one world to the other unless the child’s family is able to make the child stay in the human world, using traditional methods most times. These beliefs and actions are results of oral traditions and, even with the rise of western education in Yoruba communities and Nigeria in general, continue to be upheld by some people. Clark and Soyinka are evidence of the continued dependence and belief in oral traditions by a lot of Africans, even after extensive western  education. These Africans could be doing this as an indirect rebellion against western ideas and principles that have sought to ridicule and destroy African culture. During the colonial era, the Europeans did their best to destroy African culture, especially those that had to do with superstitions and religious beliefs that did not correspond with western principles. Concepts like reincarnation were frowned upon heavily by the European missionaries seeking to change the religious beliefs of Africans and since most aspects of life were based on religion at the time, changing one’s religious beliefs meant changing one’s political, social and economic beliefs as well. However, with the rise of cultural nationalisms, Africans began to reject European standards as the ideal and focus on bringing African culture back to the forefront. Hence, we see Soyinka and Clark as well as many other African poets bringing their cultural superstitions to their literary works, even though most of the m are written in European languages. In Soyinka’s _Abiku_ poem, almost every line is made up of cultural beliefs and practices as they relate to the _Abiku_ child. He even dips into non-African oral traditions in the line that says, â€Å"remember/ this, and dig me deeper still into/ the god’s swollen foot.† (14-16). Here, Soyinka is referring to Oedipus, the Greek mythological figure, and his use of this in his poem suggests that he wants to show that oral tradition is not just an African phenomenon but rather, exists in different cultures all around the world. While, he doesn’t expand on this line, it is important because it stands out from the rest of the poem as it is not connected to Yoruba tradition at all and it makes known to its readers the fact that oral traditions are universal. Also, Soyinka writes his poem from the subject’s point of view as a means of humanizing the character. The concept of _Abiku_ is usually explained as an other- worldly phenomenon, which made it easier for a lot of people to disassociate themselves with the idea. However, Soyinka writes his poem in first person in order to make known to people the fact that _Abiku_ children do exist and they are, in fact, human beings. He brings the _Abiku_ child to the forefront and though the rhetoric is tinged with superstitions and  cultural traditions, the fact that it is being told from the child’s perspective is a humanizing effort. There is no doubt that the poem emphasizes cultural and spiritual notions, especially through the child, however, the poem’s use of words like â€Å"Mothers† (line 26) paints a human picture in the minds of the readers. The juxtaposition of spiritual and human language used in the poem lets the readers know that both the spiritual and the human are present in this _Abiku_ child. Therefore, the poet brings to light the idea that the spiritual i.e. traditional and the human i.e. rational can exist and coincide with one another. He is saying that African culture can exist side by side with western culture and one doesn’t have to diminish the other, which is the direct opposite of what was preached by European missionaries. Also, it is important to note that these two poets as well as most African writers are invested in the concept of Africanism. Keeping African cultures alive is important and we see the poets using their poems to remind Africans and the world in general that African culture still exists and has not been destroyed by urbanization. Oral traditions have never been completely accepted as adequate sources with which to make any kinds of analyses because of the fickle nature of the human memory and so, writing these poems allows the poets show the readers that the culture is still there and these stories and beliefs have not been forgotten. It was important for Africans in historical times to repeatedly acknowledge the oral traditions so they would not forget any parts of it and this is also one of the reasons why African writers usually add some elements of oral tradition into their works. A lot of African communities did not have any means of recording their culture for future generations so they just made sure the younger generations became aware of these traditions from the early stages of their lives so these traditions became engrained in their minds by the time they were adults. However, with the colonization of Africa, a lot of Africans are now able read and write these oral traditions and because of this easy access, a lot of Africans have become unaware of a lot of cultural traditions that would have been passed orally. So, the writers include oral traditions in their written works to bring these stories, beliefs, practices, etc. back into the minds of Africans and the world. This is why  Soyinka and Clark include some traditional processes in their poetry. Soyinka writes about the charms that people believed would keep the _Abiku_ child from going back to the spirit world†¦ â€Å"Must I weep for goats and cowries/for palm oil and sprinkled ash?† He takes the reader into the world of the _Abiku,_ using cultural rituals, which then reminds the Africans who had forgotten and informs those who were not privy to this information initially. Clark takes his readers into the immediate environment of the _Abiku_ child, both the physical environment and the spiritual environment†¦ â€Å"Do stay out on the baobab tree/follow where you please your kindred spirits/if indoors is not enough for you.† In conclusion, oral traditions are very important in African culture as well as other cultures around the world and the use of written language in passing oral traditions has been helpful in bringing forgotten histories back into the minds of its people. BIBLIOGRAPHY Fage, J. D., and British Broadcasting Corporation. Africa Discovers Her Past. London: Oxford University Press, 1970. Henige, David P. The Chronology of Oral Tradition: Quest for a Chimera. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1974. Adesanmi, Pius. You’re Not a Country, Africa: A Personal History of the African Present. Johannesburg: Penguin Books (South Africa), 2011.

Of Mice and Men: The Failure of the American Dream Essay

Thesis Statement : The novel Of Mice and Men was John Steinbeck a message to the world of how the American Dream is dead and unattainable. The nation had seen one of the biggest spending sprees in the nineteen twenties and the following decade the results were crashing down on the nation. People were losing everything that they owned and starving. The American Dream is defined as â€Å"The American Dream is â€Å"that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement. (What Is the American Dream) Because of that, it seemed like the American Dream was dead and there was never a better novel to illustrate it than Of Mice and Men. George and Lennie, the co protagonist of the novel, aspire to the American Dream, but because few people believe in its attainability, few are surprised when they fall short of its achievement. To understand how the American Dream is shown to be unattainable in the novel Of Mice and Men, it must be understood. There are several definitions of the American Dream. According to Merriam Webster’s â€Å"an American social ideal that stresses egalitarianism and especially material prosperity; also: the prosperity or life that is the realization of this ideal. † (Merriam Webster). The other part of that materialistic idea is that if one works hard enough, he/she can achieve absolutely anything. George and Lennie have a dream that completely embodies the concept of the American Dream. They are two men who are migrant workers during the Great Depression who have a dream of owning their own farm. The actual ownership of the farm is only a small part of the dream. The fact that they will not be owned by another person is the allure of the dream. All kin’s a vegetable in the garden, and if we want a little whisky we can sell a few eggs or something, or some milk. We’d jus’ live there. We’d belong there. There wouldn’t be no more runnin’ round the country and gettin’ fed by a Jap cook. No, sir, we’d have our own place where we belonged and not sleep in no bunk house. (Steinbeck p. 63) Because of their situation of being migrant workers, every aspect of their lives were dictated by their boss. Their need for money to survive, set them up for ownership as if they were slaves. George realized this more than Lennie. Lennie brought innocence to the dream. He wanted nothing more than to tend the rabbits because petting soft things brought him pleasure. He did not care about materialism or having control of his life. Pleasure of the moment was his goal for life and the American Dream took on its purest form through him. They remind themselves daily of this dream. Lennie begs for George to tell him the story even though he knows it as if hearing it will make it so. George tells it as if each time he tells it the dream will become more and more real. Yet they are chasing an illusion. The characters have survived in the world so far because of their belief that the American Dream is alive and well. George and Lennie cannot imagine that their hard work will not pay off in the end. Society had told children for generations that hard work would take an individual to the top of society and many times it did. Then came the Great Depression and everything changed. People worked hard and they did what they thought was right, but at that time it did not take them anywhere but backward. George and Lennie try to save, but it takes every dime to survive. Once they meet Candy, who offers to add money to the cause, they know that with the money they have coming, they will be able to have their dream, but just as it was time to make their purchase, tragedy strikes. Their work has gotten them nowhere. It is apparent throughout the novel that the dream is not attainable. From the incident in weed to the killing of the puppy, everything that George and Lennie do ends up becoming a disaster. It is obvious that the dream of the farm will be as well. As George says: â€Å"-I think I knowed from the very first. I think I knowed we’d never do her. He usta like to hear about it so much I got to thinking maybe we would† (103). The unattainable American Dream is not limited to George and Lennie and that is symbolic that most people will not attain it. There are other characters who also have their American Dream crushed. Curly’s wife had a dream of fame and fortune. She also wants to be loved. She married a man who was to inherit his father’s farm and he seemed to want her, but after she marries him, she realizes that he only cares about himself. She does everything in her power to get his attention because of her need. He is jealous of other men, but not because of the love for his wife. Love, marriage, and producing a family is part of the American Dream and all Curly and his wife have is the legal part of the institution. The dream that she imagined did not materialize with her marriage and that left her lonely and seeking the attention of other men. If I catch any one man, and he’s alone, I get along fine with him. But just let two of the guys get together an’ you won’t talk. Jus’ nothing but mad. You’re all scared of each other, that’s what. Ever’ one of you’s scared the rest is goin’ to get something on you† (85). Crooks wants his part of the American Dream where all men will be equal and he thinks that he gets close to this the night Lennie and Candy end up in his room and share the dream of the farm with him. It does not take long for him to have to face the reality that there is no equality in the world. George and Lennie prove that the American Dream is unattainable. To obtain it one’s life would be perfect and there is no perfection in the world. There are always going to problems and hardships in life and this makes the dream just that; a dream. Of course the American Dream has become less of a reality in this country since the beginning of the Great Depression, but it was really just a fantasy from the start. There were always people who seemed to achieve it, yet underlying problems were always present. George and Lennie prove that problems will always come to the surface.

Manganese Ore Beneficiation Production Line

Manganese ore crushing processChunks of manganese ore by silo are evenly sent to first crushing (jaw crusher) for primary crushing by the vibrating feeder, manganese ore coarse crushing by belt conveyor to the secondary crushing (Impact crusher or conecrusher) for further crushing;Manganese ore after crushing is sent into vibrating screen for sieving by belt conveyor, screening out of several different sizes, different specifications of manganese ore, manganese ore to meet the size requirements is sent to the heap of finished material by the finished product belt conveyor;manganese ore without meeting the size requirements is sent back material impact crusher or cone crusher broken again by the belt conveyor forming a closed-circuit and cycling repeatedly. http://www. shzbm. com rotary kiln http://www. pe750. com aw crusherThe product granularity can be combined and graded according to the needs of users, manganese ore processing can be equipped with auxiliary dust removal equipment for the protection of the environment. Manganese is relatively rich resources of lean ore,Disseminated to a large number of high phosphate, high iron ore and beneficial symbiotic metal in manganese ore, causing great difficulties to the beneficiation process. Manganese iron ore beneficiation methods to take ore washing and screening, magnetic separation, gravity separation and flotation, and fire for enrichment, chemical processing method and other methods to complete the beneficiation process. Manganese iron ore beneficiation methods and equipments 1.Washing and screening process: Ore washing process Commonly use these equipments :ore washing sieve ,cylinder ore washing machine and trough washing machine, spiral sand washing machine;Washing mine operation and screening is generally carried out at the same time. 2. Gravity separation process: This process is used for manganese ore sorting with simple structure, disseminated coarser, such as density of oxide ore;The processes used co mmonly have heavy media beneficiation,jigging beneficiation and shaking table beneficiation; 3. Magnetic separation process: High intensity magnetic separation process use magnetic separator to have magnetic separation operation to manganese ore powder,It has several features simple operation, easy to control, strong adaptation. 4.The heavy magnetic separation process: The heavy magnetic separation process has magnetic separation operation to magnetic separator manganese ore powder again,by using a strong magnetic separator. 5. Flotation :Flotation equipment mainly uses the chf inflatable flotation device;good performance, efficiency has been greatly enhanced,it is very suitable for manganese beneficiation process. 6. Pyrometallurgical enrichment process(also known as manganese-rich slag) Pyrometallurgical enrichment method is simple, stable production, effective separation of the ore, iron, phosphorus, and get rich manganese, low iron, low phosphorus manganese-rich slag, this manga nese-rich slag is a high quality manganese alloy materials.For more details on the production equipment of manganese ore, manganese ore stone crushing equipment, manganese ore grinding equipment information, please contact us and leave your contact information, our sales staff or engineers will get in touch with you as soon as possible. If the manganese ore crusher or manganese ore mill produced by us can not meet your needs, We will customize the manganese ore production line that fit you according to your feeding, discharging, yield, hardness and specific material properties Please believe, Shanghai Zhongbo will bring you satisfactory products and good service. http://www. pe600. com ball mill http://www. mining-ss. com rotary kiln http://www. machine-ss. com ball mill manufacture

H.W 4 GSC125-01 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

H.W 4 GSC125-01 - Essay Example Answer: According to the second law of thermodynamics, heat flows in response to a temperature gradient. Heat flows from a high-temperature region toward low-temperature region to remove the existing gradient. Heat is transferred by the processes of conduction, convection, radiation and latent heating (phase transition of water). Answer: On a global annual average basis, radiational heating of earth’s surface is greater than radiational cooling and radiational cooling of the atmosphere is greater than radiational heating. However, due to the formation of temperature gradient, heat is transported from warmer earth’s surface to the cooler atmosphere through processes of latent heating and sensible heating cooling the earth’s surface. Radiation is the principal means by which heat enters and escapes from the planet to space maintaining a habitable environment on earth. Answer: If the temperature falls below freezing, bridge will freeze more quickly than the road surface. Compared to road surface, bridge is exposed to air from all sides resulting in rapid heat loss. Additionally, the heat underneath the road keeps it warm enough extending the time duration of heat loss. The bridge material (mostly steel or concrete) is also a good conductor of heat, whereas road surface material (asphalt) is an insulator of heat. For these reasons, a traffic sign along an Ohio highway warns motorists that a bridge freezes before the road surface. Answer: Both Fahrenheit and Celsius are useful temperature scales for measuring temperature and are based upon the reproducible phase changes in water. On Celsius scale, freezing point of water is 0Â °C and boiling point is 100Â °C. On Fahrenheit temperature scale, water freezes at 32Â °F and boils at 212Â °F. Thus, the Celsius scale is more convenient to use as a 100 degree interval separates the freezing and boiling points of pure water at sea level. Compared to Celsius, Fahrenheit scale is more

Finance In mauritius Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Finance In mauritius - Essay Example The rising market volatility due to the growing speculation in the stock markets led to failure in payment of debt among the banks, insurances and mortgage companies. The gravity of the problem was such that even the banks with huge capital reserves could not evade the situation (Mohamudally-Boolaky & Ramlall, 2010). This led to the fall of the one of the four pillars of Wall Street Lehman Brothers while some of the once ‘unfathomable to fall banks’ were either taken over at very low valuations or had to be rescued by the government. 1.1 Background Chan Lau (2008), states that the credit turmoil sent the US economy into a jittery. Even the European economies could not escape from the crisis and it gradually spread across the emerging economies. Initially, it was believed that the impact of the financial fiasco would be least on the African countries due to their limited exposure to structured financial products. However, this proved to be false. Ramlall (2009) highlighte d that the financial crisis increased the sensitivity of the stock market index of Mauritius to international markets (Mohamudally-Boolaky & Ramlall, 2010). ... The financial system of Mauritius is mainly bank-based with the banks representing 70 percent of the overall assets. In the â€Å"Financial Stability Report of the Bank of Mauritius† released in the year 2009 it has been stated that the recent credit fiasco did not have much impact on the indigenous banking sector. It is mainly because the banks in the country were not directly exposed to any toxic debt that affected the worldwide financial markets. The recent credit crisis has put forth the requirement to safeguard from vulnerabilities like rising foreign currency and credit risk, funding reliability and lending practices (Mohamudally-Boolaky & Ramlall, 2010). 1.2 Impact on financial parameters of Mauritian banks In a survey of Mauritian commercial banks and three important insurance companies it has been revealed that impact of the crisis was severe on the exports of the country with the mixed responses regarding the impact on the banks. As per this survey most of the banks witnessed a lag effect of the credit crisis mainly during the period 2009-10. Table 1- Impact of crisis on important banking ratios Source: (Mohamudally-Boolaky & Ramlall, 2010). The above table shows that the banking system in the country has emerged unscathed from the crisis. A rise in important financial parameters shows that the performance of the banks rose considerably. This implies that most of the banking activities are internal making it less risky as compared to those arising out of foreign operations (Mohamudally-Boolaky & Ramlall, 2010). The recent global financial crisis is reckoned as the worst credit crisis after the Great Depression. It initiated a number of policy actions by the central banks and governments across the world but

Recycling of biological waste for local production of vegetables in Research Paper

Recycling of biological waste for local production of vegetables in Nairobi, Kenya - Research Paper Example These foci include: identifying locally relevant options; optimization of composting processes; organization of any waste handling that occurs; the homogeneity and safety of the generated products; and acceptance of the generated products by end users. Here it will be analyzed what roles soil, plants, and oxygen play in composting in rural communities such as the one described here. Usually, what happens with soil is that the moisture in composting tends to have various gases that are eliminated into the air due to organic elements having been introduced into the soil. â€Å"The moisture content of casts is an important driving force controlling the direction of nitrification–denitrification process, thus in dry– wet cycles, increases and decreases in ammonium and nitrate contents, respectively, may occur. Therefore, the decreases in water content of casts over time may favour the predomination of nitrification processes† (Aira, Monroy, & Dominguez, 2005, pp. 470 ). Additionally, plant life is especially important to composting organic elements within the soil. â€Å"The root basis of plants with an age of more than three years are places of ‘retreat’ for earthworms during the dry season when the soil completely dries out up to a depth of 1 meter and more†¦Within this rotting material, small numbers of epigeic living earthworms can be found† (Bierwirth, 2001, pp. 3). Oxygen is also a very important element in the composting process. â€Å"The results [of this study] are relevant to the supply of oxygen†¦to sediments for the phytopurification of waste waters, to the efflux of methane and carbon dioxide from wetlands, and to rice cultivation† (Armstrong & Armstrong, 2001, Abstract). II. Objectives (100 words) The main focus of the research proposal is much in the direction of safe handling of urban wastes, the processing and the quality of the end product as a soil amendment. As mentioned, the work is plann ed to take place in Nairobi. Some of the recent work on urban agriculture and waste recycling will be analyzed. This includes knowing what steps are necessary to take in composting, and how current research has helped inform the approach that will be taken. It is hoped that, with this research, third-world composting in rural Africa will become more widely-accepted and widely-adopted all over. III. Research Questions (1,250 words) Research Questions (50 words) Research questions include the following: a) What are locally relevant options? B) How can composting processes be optimized? c) How is waste handling organized? How homogenous and safe are the generated products? and d) What is the acceptance of the end products by the public? a. Locally Relevant Options for Vegetable Production in Nairobi (300 words) Locally relevant options include trying to control pests. Pests can affect crops, which can then make the problem of yield losses worse, when trying to produce cash crops. †Å"[P]ests may affect yield loss independently in natural farming, but in conventional paddies, multiple pest injury may interact synergistically, compounding yield loss† (Andow & Hidaka, 1998, Abstract). Another locally relevant option for vegetable production in Nairobi might be testing the soil. It is important to know what type of soil is being used for which

Fast food in American culture Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Fast food in American culture - Essay Example n American eats at a fast food restaurant is probably four to five times a week indicating towards the trends that people do basically not prefer to cook at their own homes. (Counihan) The history of fast food in America is almost 70 years old when during the first half of the 20th century; an individual with the name of Carl Karcher started to sell the hot dogs and other fast food products. This was basically to provide the speedy service to the customers and it gradually became the main characteristics of the American life also which value speed and efficiency much. It is therefore important to note that fast food has some deep impacts on the way American life actually work and how the common Americans act and respond in certain situations. Fast food as the name suggests is the food which can be prepared and served very quickly however, it is also important to note that any meal which is prepared within shortest possible time can be considered as fast food. Fast food is served over small kiosks or through restaurants and some of the best restaurants offer fast food through their chains. McDonalds, KFC, Burger King are some of the fast food chains offering different kind of burgers and sandwiches as well as other fast food stuff including coffee also. Coupled with the business of fast food chains is the concept of franchising wherein the fast food restaurants basically sell their ideas and operational secrets to whoever purchase the franchise and sell under the same name. The rapid spread of fast food culture and restaurants is mostly a result of the process of franchising wherein the original owners of the restaurants provided the support; brand name and recipes to franchisees in order sell the similar product. The culture of fast food eating also flourished as the US economy started to grow and the average hourly rates of common Americans increased. This increase in the income of the persons actually allowed them to afford the luxury of eating out and thus

Creationism and Darwinism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Creationism and Darwinism - Essay Example While one is the more "scientific point" of view, and the other a religious point of view, both have their massive followers, and both have strong points as well as weak arguments. In creationism, the belief is that the world and people were created by a supreme being, usually God. This is the belief held by the majority of major religions, that God himself created the earth and mankind. This idea is based strongly on faith alone, and is depicted both in the Christian and Jewish book of Genesis, and the Koran for Muslims. Many Christians feel that the book of Genesis offers an actual account of the creation story, and that it should be taken literally. However, this is a hard pill to swallow for most people, saying that the book was written by humans and it therefore full of error and may not be exactly what happened. Another argument is that the story may simply be a story to teach a lesson. I do not believe that you can take every single word in the Bible exactly as meant, and that some of it IS in fact figurative. This does not fully disprove creationism however. The scientific held though is the evolution of people as taught by Darwin. It was in Darwin's Origin of Species that he conned the phrase "survival of the fittest", that evolution was continentally evolving and changing.

Team Building 3 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Team Building 3 - Essay Example The team decides amongst themselves the role of each such that biased relationships are not formed with members within the organisation (Cook Mangla and Ummer, 2009). There are set guidelines that need to be followed and the evaluation team decide whether the rules have been adhered to. Post evaluation the team reports back to the funding body with critical insights into the process, activities and outcomes. Thus an external and unbiased reflection helps the company build the team more effectively and focus on the gaps so as to eliminate them in the future (W. Dyer, W. Dyer, Jr. & J. Dyer , 2007). Evaluations are thus a mix of an objective and passive task and it is necessary for the evaluator to be neutral and offer space for divergent opinions, discussions and debates. 2. The four stages of team building are forming, storming, norming and performing. When a team is initially formed there is a cordial atmosphere on the surface; however in most cases the older team members would be cautious and check whether their positions are threatened by the new entrants. The newcomers are also excited as well as tensed; hence it is necessary to understand team building so as to maintain the balance between the old and the new employees. Since there is mix of various cultures and mentalities, soon there will be competitions between the team members. Hence as a leader, one should be able to channel the inevitable conflicts into effective development of the team and the individuals working therein (Fisher, 2000; West, 2012). The third stage entails the settling down of the team and start conforming to the set of rules and regulations of the companies. The settling down happens as now the team knows what to expect from the other members. Therefore as a good leader and guide one should be able to establish rules that the team needs to adhere

Edit research paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 7500 words

Edit research paper - Essay Example Over the years, the country has established its supremacy in the global oil market. For the past decade, a mean yield of 10.26 million barrels per day has been produced by the country. Figure 1 shows that this is 12% of the total world supply. In 2011, the oil-based economy generated 11.8 million barrels per day, raising their production share to 13%. The world Saudi Arabia is followed by Russia, United States of America, and China with shares of 12%, 12% and 5% respectively (See Appendix Table A). The domestic production of the country grew by a yearly average of 3.6% from 1991 to 2011.This growth is helpful for the country’s export market and profitability making it beneficial for the overall development of the economy (Yizraeli, 2000). In terms of exports, Saudi Arabia also led the industry in 2009 with 8.2 million barrels a day. The country has captured 12.4% of the total world exports during the year. Russia placed second with 5.2 million followed by Iran with 2.8 billion. 20% of the country’s exports go to the United States of America. Japan and South Korea also imports significant portions of Saudi’s supply (US Energy Information Administration, 2010). On the other hand, despite the consistent boost in production of oil, the world demand for the commodity has been volatile. Figure 2 shows the instability in the world-wide demand for oil, these factors may have been influential to the export performance for crude oil. Figure 2 depicts the demand of the world, US, Japan and South Korea. The latter three mentioned were also included because these are significant importers from Saudi Arabia. The demand for oil has been volatile from the 1990s to early 2000 as reflected from the fluctuations in the graph. Near 2008, downward demand trends are manifested from the world, US, Japan and South Korea. Periodic drops in demand are apparent, and seem to relate to business cycles. During this

Pick a topic Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Pick a topic - Essay Example Postal Service Nearing Bankruptcy as Email Asserts Its Dominance†(Wehner). Some people may regard this change in communication because technology has made it cheaper and faster to communicate than every before. Yet, there are many other people who view technology’s changes to communication as a very negative force as it has created a new generation of people who are extremely ignorant in terms of communicating appropriately and effectively. According to the article entitled â€Å"What is Good Communication,† there are distinct characteristics which clearly defines good versus bad communication. In looking at the comparison, it is evident that many of the qualities, which make up â€Å"bad† communication are extremely evident in much of the communication conducted via technology. For example, poor communication has qualities such as â€Å"people wear(ing)masks, the sender attacks the receiver, receiver doesn’t listen to sender, either sender or receiver is distracted, message is garbled or ambiguous, sender has hidden agenda, and one or more of the people involved are overemotional† (â€Å"What is Good Communication†). All of these qualities can be found in how people communicate today due to the influence of technology. This is especially prevalent for Internet based and texting based communication where people are able to hide behind their electronic devices which creates an atmosphe re of anonymity and a false sense of security for the communicators as they are not having to deal with a person in any real capacity. Because of this negative impact, it has become increasingly important in my own life to incorporate the characteristics of good communication with those that I communicate with using methods such as email, Skype, and telephones. People, nowadays, already carry an expectation with them that they are dealing with poor communicators when they technologically communicate with a person. Therefore, I ensure that I strictly

Budgeting and Business Planning Essay Example for Free

Budgeting and Business Planning Essay In order to create the criteria for the committee we have to look at what they want from the project. Most businesses and organisations are in business to make a profit, however the committee has different aims and objectives compared to a normal business or organisation. They need to weight up the options of each proposal and decide which best relates to their aims and objectives. When the committee is considering which proposal to go with they should consider the following categories †¢Short-term Financial Benefits †¢Long-term Financial Benefits †¢Environment †¢Relation to aims Short-term Financial Benefits The committee needs to consider the short term benefits of each proposal. They dont want to take on a proposal that has high start-up costs and doesnt make a return on the capital within the first year. The committee does not want to be left in a high amount of debt if the proposal fails. If the committee is left with a debt they may not be able to fund other projects to further their three aims. Long-term Financial Benefits Long-term the proposals will give different outcomes. The committee needs to decide on how long they want to keep moult hall? If they want it as a long term asset which can help with their aims? Or do they want a longer term money making scheme to boost revenue which can be used in areas they already control. Environment Moult Hall comes with a huge area of woodland, they needs to consider the effects on the local plant life and wildlife that any proposal could have. They need to think, does it destroy plant life? Does it impact on wildlife habitats? Is their going to be any long lasting environmental damage? Relation to Aims The committee is based on three main aims. They need to consider these aims in making their decision, they cant be making use of one proposal if it goes strictly against some of their basic aims. They have to consider their own image and brand, does a proposal give them a bad name/image considering their aims and objectives? Question 2 Jonathan and Ingrids proposal has some short term financial benefits, in the 30 week trial run moult hall turns over a small profit of  £1,646. When the committee takes their proposal in to consideration they should recognise this point, moult hall will be of no financial burden in the short-term 30 week trial. If the 30 week trial is to succeed then moult hall can have some structural work done costing  £20,000 which would close moult hall for four weeks after the trial. The structural alterations would increase the capacity of the site to allow up to 30 guests to stay at one time. According to Jonathan and Ingrid projections of a weekly cost per guest of  £66 and a weekly charge per guest of  £150 they are making  £84 profit per guest per week. With the structural alterations and the increase in capacity by 20 guests. The weeks after the alterations are finished they could make an extra  £1,680 per week, bringing their possible weekly total profit at full capacity to  £2,436 (allowing for one free space, 29 paying customers). Therefore they could justify the large  £20,000 outlay on alterations as moult hall would pay for these alterations in little over 8 weeks. So in the long-run moult hall could be a profitable project by the end of year one. The one drawback of this proposal is the loss of the usage of the minibus at weekends, which generated an annual income of  £1,040, however it can be argued that it is now being put to better use and that the money is being recuperated from moult hall. Break-even point Total expenses £63,880 Weeks until break-even47.3 Guests until break-even473 As we can see from the table above moult hall will have to attract 473 guests a year to break even when they can only hold 10 guests per week. Equally they would have to run for 47.3 weeks a year at full capacity to break-even. This gives them an average of 9 guests a week. If they were to structurally improve moult hall so that they can hold up to 30 guests a week then the figures would look very different as shown in the table below. Break-Even Point Total Expenses £63,880 Weeks until break-even point14.7 Guests until break-even point441 Although a similar amount of guests is required the amount of weeks at full capacity has drastically dropped from 47.3 to 14.7. Their average guests per week has dropped from 9 to 8. Although this is not a large drop, in comparison they only have to fill 8 out of 30 beds compared to 9 out of 10 beds in the 30 week trial. The environment and its protection are very important to the committee and are mentioned in their main aims. Jonathan and Ingrids proposal helps the environment and makes the most of moult hall, if a garden was to be kept at moult hall the guest could tend to this and grow vegetables and recycle waste in a compost, which in turn could be re-used on the garden making moult hall very self-sufficient and environmentally friendly. One of the major aims of the committee is to help and educate the young. Jonathan and Ingrids proposal does just this, by inviting young people from the surrounding area to come stay and learn about the countryside. The guests will be able to learn about different wildlife and plant life living in the moult hall woodland and surrounding areas. The committee has to consider how the proposal will relate to their own aims, with moult hall becoming a learning centre for the young the committee could promote the good work they are doing to increase their donations r evenue and grow as a trust. Question 3 Winston’s proposal consists of turning moult hall into a quad bike track with lavish bedrooms in the house for guests. In the year one moult hall will turn over a profit of  £1,034,283.  £750,000 of this is guaranteed to the North West trust for the protection of wildlife and the other  £284,283 will go to Winston himself. Moult hall would be a great money maker for the trust with the guaranteed income of  £750,000 adding to the  £800,000 a year they receive from local donations and fund raisers, boosting their total revenue for the year to around  £1,550,000. Long-term moult hall will turnover similar amount each year as long as there is no dip in demand. In the second year when Winston doesn’t have any initial capital costs he will make a large profit himself of  £402,350. The funds the committee will earn from moult hall could be used in other areas to promote the protection of wildlife. Break-even Point Total Expenses £1,022,650 Weeks until break-even point35.9 Guests until break-even point538 From the table above we can see the break-even point for moult hall under Winston’s proposal. He would need to be operating at full capacity for almost 40 weeks a year to break-even this means he would have to attract 538 guests a year. On average to break-even Winston will have to have 11 guests a week. In monetary terms moult hall will be a very successful; however some parts of the proposal will go against the trusts main aims. The trust was set up for the protection of wildlife; one aim is to protect local wildlife and plant life. To make the quad bike track many mature trees will have to be removed in the grounds of moult hall. This will disrupt some of the habitats of animals in the woodland. One of the main habitats that could be disrupted is the nesting sites of the red kite. The red kite has only recently been re-introduced in to the United Kingdom after the success of similar projects in wales; the trust fully supports the work of the national charity that achieved this. The red kite was wiped out in the UK by modern farming methods which use pesticides to kill small rodents, which are the main food source of the red kite. The first aim of the Trust is to encourage farming methods that don’t hurt local wildlife and plant life. They have to consider how the disruption of the nesting sites would reflect on them if they took on Winston’s proposal. It may look bad as with one hand they are supporting the work of the charity yet they are making money at the cost of disrupting local nesting sites. Question 4a There are many different measures that to committee can use to measure the performance of moult hall such as: †¢Monthly financial reports †¢Committee inspections twice a year †¢Variance analysis – comparing budgeted figures with actual Variance Analysis The committee could use variance analysis; variance analysis is a comparison of the budgeted cost of running moult hall and the actual cost of running moult hall. They could see if the costs of moult hall are favourable or adverse. If the results are favourable then this means that moult hall is running at a cheaper cost than they originally budgeted. However if the results are adverse then this means that the cost of running moult hall is more than they budgeted, this could be due to higher food prices or a larger light and heating bill than first anticipated. Variance analysis will give the committee a good idea of how much difference there is between their original planned budget and their actual outlay. This will be useful in determining weather moult hall is a financially viable option. Monthly Financial Reports The committee could ask for the manager of moult hall to send them monthly financial reports so that they can keep track of the performance and see if they are making or loosing money. They could let the financial reports come in for a few months or even up to year. This way they can identify trends and high and low seasons. They may find that they have a slightly seasonal product, as more people will want to be outside in the summer compared to the winter. They can also see if over a year they are getting an increasing amount of interest month on month or if they are losing interest Committee inspections Committee inspections could take place two or three times a year, the committee could travel as a whole or send a few representatives to moult hall to assess the upkeep of moult hall and the grounds. The inspection could also be used to see how the guests are enjoying their time at moult hall. The inspection team will then feed back to the committee who will have meetings on how to improve moult hall based on the feedback from guests and/or any improvements or checks that would need to be made to ensure the performance of moult hall is consistent. Question 4b When the committee is assessing the performance of moult hall they can use different companies to assess moult hall for them. The Environmental Inspection Agency (EIA) can carry out Environmental impact assessments. The committee could use this agency to assess the impact that moult hall is having on the surrounding woodland and grounds of moult hall. The committee can use this information to track the environmental progress of moult hall and see if the project is having a damaging or positive effect on the woodland and grounds. The committee could also use a survey company to produce a survey which can be given to guests when they leave so that the guests can give their feedback. The survey company can then use these results to produce accurate feedback to present to the committee. This method would be better than the committee asking the questions themselves as it will give a better representation of the guest’s views on moult hall. One company that they could use is amplitude research, this is a company that specialises in market research, Amplitude research can create a standard survey for guests which will make the results more comparable and easier for the committee to act upon.

Textual Comparison on Blog and Journal Summary

Textual Comparison on Blog and Journal Summary In the following I will be reporting on two texts containing a similar research different in terms of presentation: one is a blog and the other is a journal summary. Of importance however, is not their text presentation mode but on how their respective writers made their lexicogrammatical choices. I chose to work with the following features: noun group composition and lexical density. Lexical density I computed the lexical density of the texts by estimating how each writer used lexical as well as grammatical units in total. The entire blog text has a lexical density of 53.78% while the journal article summary has a lexical density of 55.61%. This is an indicator that the journal article has a huge quantity of information-carrying words. The blog text, on the other hand, has comparatively limited information-carrying words. Mostly, you will find incomplete clauses in the blog text like the writer was constructing his/ her own utterances. For example, how the blog post used The five largest statewide whooping cough epidemics identified as the journal writer used The 5 largest statewide epidemics had substantial proportions . Seemingly, the writer had little time to ponder and plan what they wanted to write. The journal writer had more time to plan as well as shape the units of meaning they wanted to use comparatively. The writer of the journal sufficiently selected the best lexical word befitting, reviewed the text and replaced words before he submitted the text compared to the blogger. The writer of the journal also seems to be well equipped when it comes to vocabulary as well as word finding. Comparatively, the blogger has more difficulties finding words and with their vocabulary. Additionally, the lexical density tells us that there is more information in the journal text compared to the blog text. True to this, the journal text has 355 words and the blog text has 308 words (excluding the last bit about requesting for a copy). Take Of the 970 measles cases with detailed vaccination data, 574 cases were unvaccinated despite being vaccine-eligible and 405 (70.6%) of these had nonmedical exemptions (e.g., exemptions for religious or philosophical reasons, as opposed to medical contraindications; 41.8% of total) from the journal article summary it has a lexical density of 48.84%. A similar edition of the blog is Of the 970 measles cases with accompanying vaccination data, 574 cases were unvaccinated despite being eligible to receive the immunization and 405 cases had nonmedical vaccine exemptions, such as religious or philosophical opposition to vaccines, which has 54.29%. Here, the writer of the blogger used more lexical words in the sentence compared to the writer of the journal to tell the same story. The blogger also used lesser words i.e. 35 while the writer of the journal text used 40 words. In the given text, the blogger came strong with his/ her words and overtook the writer of the journal when he sai d, despite being eligible to receive the immunization. The journal writer simply wrote, despite being vaccine-eligible. For the reader, it is easier to understand the blogger because it is not difficult for anyone who is not equipped with vocabularies to know what eligible by itself means. The blogger explicitly tells us how the subject(baby), and the object(vaccine) relate by telling us how the subject would have had an action performed on it. The other sentence does not clearly depict the object nor talk more on it nor the action. When the journal writer uses vaccine-eligible, the sentence comes out as vague. Taking this sentence apart from the text, the lexical words give us a general idea of what the whole text is about which is what the blogger did. The journal writer decided to take the other approach by using grammatical, non-lexical words more to assist us to make a whole from the pieces. Judging from this alone, the blogger intended to convey more information compared to the writer of the journal. See how in the journal text the writer says However, several pertussis outbreaks also occurred in highly vaccinated populations indicating waning immunity. The whole sentence has lexical words except for the word in. the lexical density is a clean 92.31%. For the same text in the blog, it amassed a 68.18% lexical density. The prepositions and determinants replaced lexical words. However, the study also noted that epidemics of whooping cough occurred in vaccinated populations too which highlights the issue of waning immunity. The blogger uses more words because they have incorporated grammatical non-lexical words but that does not increase the density of the sentence. I feel the blogger already told us what they study was about thus, saying which highlights the issue of waning immunity would have been replaced by, highlighting waning immunity. More lexical units, more density less tautology but still maintaining the meaning. When it gets to the general text, the journal writers text is more expository compared to the blog text. The reason their lexical densities are not that far apart is because they both used information-bearing as well as lexical words, only that one excelled at it more. Noun group composition. With the noun groups, I tackled the four common noun phrases: pronouns, nouns alone, nouns + determinants and nouns + modifiers+ determinants. When it comes to parts of speech, the journal has 37.08% usage of nouns, 5.48% of adjectives, 5.48% of verbs, 1.83% of adverbs, 15.67% of prepositions, 2.09% of pronouns, 4.18% of auxiliary verbs. The blog text has 27.32% usage of nouns, 7.92% of adjectives, 14.48% of verbs, 4.37% of adverbs, 17.49% of prepositions, 3.55% of pronouns and finally, a 5.19% of auxiliary verbs. There are two rules that simply govern how noun groups are used in English. One of them is that many noun phrases have at least two essentials. When a noun is not used in a generalizing manner, there is at least a determiner and a noun. A determiner could be a quantifier like many, a possessive like my, a numeral like thirty, a question word like whose and finally an article like the. The writer of the journal used longer and many noun phrases compared to the blogger. He was trying to be very accurate about the information being conveyed because it was complex. I made a count of 25 noun phrases with determiners in the blog text. Comparatively, I made 31 noun phrases with determiners in the journal text. When it comes to the noun phrases with determiners as well as modifiers, the journal text beat the blog text by far. An indicator of how complexly the writer of the journal viewed the information before he accurately relayed it. I feel the blogger was very sketchy when conveying the information. He did not want to delve deeper rather just give the reader an idea of the matter at hand. The writers have both tried to be very noun-centric. They have used many noun phrases as well as been very modest with their variety of verbs. An example is at some point; the two writers have used a noun phrase repeatedly without making use of the pronouns. They ended up repeating a specific term as it was the only way to refer to the concept in the text. An instance is in how they both have used the noun phrase The United States at least more than twice. The second rule that governs how noun groups are used in English claims other multiple noun phrases also use modifiers. Modifiers can be adjectives, subordinate nouns, adjectival clauses, relative phases or prepositional clauses. Using examples in the blog texts, a substantial number and the 5 largest statewide whooping cough cases. The determiners in the two examples are a and the. Substantial, largest, statewide as well as whooping are adjectives. In this case, largest statewide whooping is an adjectival clause. Lastly, the nouns are number, and cough cases. 5 counts as a number which is just part of the clause but is not necessarily important to the clause. An example from the journal text is this phenomenon improved understanding. This is the determinant here. Phenomenon improved is the adjectival clause and understanding is the noun in this case. Noun phrases are an essential fragment of every sentence. Noun phrases function first as the subject of clauses. For example, in the scientific literature, scientific acts as the subject.Secondly, they act as subject complements. Take that have occurred since measles was declared eliminated. Measles is the subject and eliminated is the subject complement. Thirdly, they function as the direct objects e.g. epidemic in the phrase The 5 largest statewide whooping cough epidemic. Conclusion. A journal text tends to try and be as formal as can be while the blog can be informal. They thus differ in their lexical densities because the writer relayed the information stressing the information differently. The building of noun phrases in the journal is also taken seriously because there are more complex clauses compared to the blogger. The blogger seemingly rushes through to make a submission while the journal writer has to think through and integrate so many aspects of grammar in his writing before submitting. APPENDIX. Blogs noun group composition. Noun alone pronoun Determiner + noun Determiner + modifier+ noun Refusal They The vaccine A substantial number Disease They The spread The scientific literature Jama whose This month The 5 largest statewide whooping cough epidemic U.S> Who The study The recent surge whooping cough cases Measles cases Themselves The disease An unfortunate comeback Patients They The U.S. The largest number Vaccine refusal The study Risk That diseased Cough A record low Immunity The immunization Researchers The study Reporters The researches Measles outbreaks The study authors Cough outbreaks The issue Incidence The vaccine Measles cases The study Percent A rise Children Some groups Parents The U.S. Vacation Percent Patients Measles cases Vaccination data Cases Opposition Vaccines Cough outbreaks Studies Vaccination data Percent Percent Patients Purpose Epidemics Coughs Populations Immunity People Measles Percent People Risk Factors Measles Cough People CDC Measles Disease Cases Cases Cough Cases Street Journals noun group composition Noun alone Pronoun Determiner + noun Determiner + modifier+ noun State vaccine mandates Their The United States This phenomenon improved understanding Vaccine delay refusal A review The published literature Diseases The United States that have occurred since measles was declared eliminated Measles We The association That assessed diseases risk Pertussis The epidemiology Which described measles reports Parents These diseases No history of measles vaccination Children The epidemiology The measles cases with detailed vaccination data Immunizations The association These had non-medical exemptions Exemptions The epidemiology Which included 10,609 individuals for whom vaccination status was reported. Association The united states The 5 largest statewide epidemics had substantial proportions Outbreaks The context A substantial portion Disease These outbreaks The phenomenon of vaccine refusal Attention The U.S measles cases An increased risk Exemption The era An increased risk Pertussis Some populations the lowest point in U.S pertussis incidence Pertussis Diseases U.S. outbreaks Search November Reports U.S measles outbreaks Measles January Studies Vaccine delay Exemption Measles studies Summaries Outbreak reports Age range Years Cases Month Half Cases Vaccine eligible Exemption Reasons Contradictions Percent Total Reports Pertussis outbreaks Age range Years Range Percent Percent Individuals Pertussis outbreaks Populations Immunity Reports Outbreaks Vaccination data Cases Percent Elimination Measles People Vaccines Individuals Pertussis resurgence Immunity Vaccine refusal Factors Blogs lexical density classification by sentence. No. of sentences Lexical density by every sentence. Lexical density 1 vaccine refusal is fueling the spread of potentially deadly diseases. 70% 2 Published this month in Jama the study found that a substantial number of U.S. measles cases that happened after 2000 when the disease was declared eliminated in the U.S. occurred among patients who were left purposefully unvaccinated i.e. vaccine refusal. 48.84% 3 They also found that vaccine refusal was associated with an increased risk for whooping cough though waning immunity seems to be contributing as well. 58.33% 4 To conduct the study researchers combed through the scientific literature for reports of measles outbreaks between 2000 and 2015 and for whooping cough outbreaks since 1977 when incidence of that disease reached a record low. 48.57% 5 They identified more than 1400 measles cases since 2000 of which more than 56 percent occurred in children whose parents refused vaccination. 47.83% 6 Among the five largest statewide whooping cough epidemics identified between 24 percent and 45 percent of patients were unvaccinated or undervaccinated. 57.14% 7 Of the 970 measles cases with accompanying vaccination data 574 cases were unvaccinated despite being eligible to receive the immunization and 405 cases had nonmedical vaccine exemptions such as religious or philosophical opposition to vaccines. 54.29% 8 in eight of 12 whooping cough outbreaks from nine studies that included vaccination data the researchers found that 59 percent to 93 percent of unvaccinated patients were left unvaccinated on purpose. 58.06% 9 however, the study also noted that epidemics of whooping cough occurred in vaccinated populations too which highlights the issue of waning immunity. 68.18% 10 the study authors concluded that refusing the vaccine against measles meant that people were putting not only themselves but also other people who had been vaccinated at risk. 57.14% 11 they also wrote that while the recent surge whooping cough cases may be down to other factors too the study clearly demonstrates that refusing to be vaccinated against measles has led to a rise in whooping cough among some groups of people. 53.66% 12 according to CDC though measles was declared eliminated in the u s in 2000 the contagious disease is making an unfortunate comeback spiking to 667 cases in 2014. 42.86% 13 as for highly contagious whooping cough the disease reached a recent high in 2012 with more than 48000 documented cases thats the largest number of reported cases since 1955. 51.72% Journals lexical density by sentence. No. of sentences. Lexical density by every sentence Lexical density. 1 association between vaccine refusal and vaccine preventable diseases in the united states a review of measles and pertussis. 58.82% 2 parents hesitant to vaccinate their children may delay routine immunizations or seek exemptions from state vaccine mandates. 70.59% 3 recent outbreaks of vaccine preventable diseases in the united states have drawn attention to this phenomenon. 60% 4 improved understanding of the association between vaccine refusal and the epidemiology of these diseases is needed. 50% 5 to review the published literature to evaluate the association between vaccine delay refusal or exemption and the epidemiology of measles and pertussis 2 vaccine preventable diseases with recent us outbreaks. 55.17% 6 search of PubMed through November 30 2015 for reports of us measles outbreaks that have occurred since measles was declared eliminated in the united states after January 1 2000 endemic and epidemic pertussis since the lowest point in us pertussis incidence after January 1 1977 and for studies that assessed disease risk in the context of vaccine delay or exemption. 48.33% 7 we identified 18 published measles studies 9 annual summaries and 9 outbreak reports which described 1416 measles cases individual age range 2 weeks84 years 178 cases younger than 12 months and more than half 56 8 had no history of measles vaccination. 57.14% 8 of the 970 measles cases with detailed vaccination data 574 cases were unvaccinated despite being vaccine eligible and 405 70 6 of these had nonmedical exemptions e g exemptions for religious or philosophical reasons as opposed to medical contraindications 41 8 of total. 48.84% 9 among 32 reports of pertussis outbreaks which included 10 609 individuals for whom vaccination status was reported age range 10 days87 years the 5 largest statewide epidemics had substantial proportions range 24 45 of unvaccinated or undervaccinated individuals. 55.26% 10 However, several pertussis outbreaks also occurred in highly vaccinated populations indicating waning immunity. 92.31% 11 Nine reports describing 12 outbreaks provided detailed vaccination data on unimmunized cases among 8 of these outbreaks from 59 through 93 of unvaccinated individuals were intentionally unvaccinated. 55.56% 12 A substantial proportion of the u s measles cases in the era after elimination were intentionally unvaccinated. 47.06% 13 the phenomenon of vaccine refusal was associated with an increased risk for measles among people who refuse vaccines and among fully vaccinated individuals. 57.69% 14 although pertussis resurgence has been attributed to waning immunity and other factors vaccine refusal was still associated with an increased risk for pertussis in some populations. 57.69% Work cited. Laufer, Batia, and Paul Nation. Vocabulary size and use: Lexical richness in L2 written production. Applied linguistics 16.3 (1995): 307-322. Johansson, Victoria. Lexical diversity and lexical density in speech and writing: a developmental perspective. Working Papers in Linguistics 53 (2009): 61-79. Abney, Steven Paul. The English noun phrase in its sentential aspect. Diss. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1987. Pg. 45

Options for Company in Financial Difficulty

Options for Company in Financial Difficulty Introduction There are a few options for S.B. Ltd to consider getting through difficult times. The five main options are firstly, to discontinue the Nottingham division and Leicester and Loughborough divisions could use their spare capacity to produce 60% of Nottingham’s 2010 output in addition to their own 2010 output, close the Nottingham division and outsource Nottingham’s 2010 output, to launch a major campaign for all 3 products to increase their sales, to introduce a transfer pricing system between the division and the head office to increase motivation among the staff in each division and rightsizing the organisation. Discontinuation As seen Nottingham is not making growth, in response to market forces, the first option is to discontinue Nottingham division by selling its assets and settling its liabilities and shifting production from Nottingham to Leicester and Loughborough. The discontinuation decision is a decision when the division profitability highlights the potential of unprofitable (Drury, 2010, pp.91-92). In this option, assuming that Leicester and Loughborough have some spare capacity to produce 60% of Nottingham’s 2010 output on top of their own 2010 output. According to Drury (2010, p.92), discontinuing the Nottingham division could aid the company in eliminating cost of goods sold, and other variable costs in the division. Other cost such as advertising costs, distribution costs and Head Office costs remain unchanged and is not affected by the discontinuation of the Nottingham division. O’Hare (2010, Management Accounting Lecture 3) suggested other factors which will affect an organisation to discontinue a division, the division is making a loss, to identify avoidable costs or to discover other saving. Outsourcing Outsourcing option is also known as sub-contracting option has become increasingly common in organisations, which enables organisations to concentrate on their core performance while outsource other specialist their secondary activities (Collier et al, 2007, pp.220-221). In S.B. Ltd case, according to Oxford University Press (2009), outsourcing could help to get through this hard time by going on a process of business process downsizing. Outsourcing allows operations that have seasonal demands to bring in additional resources in time of needs. Other advantages of outsourcing are, outsource activities will allow S.B. Ltd to focus on important functions without sacrificing quality or service, outsource specialist could help improve the quality and standard of the jam. It may also be able to purchase the jam more cheaply or perhaps more quickly. Assuming the outsource price for raspberry jam is 20% more then the cost of goods produced and sold for raspberry jam. Hence, the sales of raspberry jam remains the same and Leicester division and Loughborough division have spare capacity which gives them room for expansion of 30% more sales each. All other expenses remain the same for both Leicester and Loughborough divisions. This gives the Head Office a net profit of  £76,000 On contrary to the advantages, outsourcing the jam to some specialist could lead to risk of unsatisfactory quality and standard of the jam. Other disadvantages could be leak of procedures and techniques of making the jam, outsourcing usually focuses on short-term cost-saving, and ignores the unchanged overhead burden. Major Campaign Another option is to launch a major advertising campaign for all three products to increase their sales and keep all three divisions. Advertising could boost awareness and generate demand of the sales of jams of S.B. Ltd. and hence acquiring more orders. In the advertising campaign, assuming the advertising cost increase by 20% and it bring the sales of each product to an increase of 20% each. It simply boost up the profit of the company to  £96,000. Transfer Pricing The other option is when an organisation chooses to decentralise its divisions, transfer pricing helps decide what price to charge for in-company transactions (Collier et al, 2007, p.38-39) and as a form of promoting divisional autonomy (O’Hare, 2010, Management Accounting Lecture 8). It is useful when goods are transferred between divisions; hence, the performance measurement of each division is not prejudiced by the corporate objectives. The profitability of each business units will be affected and according to Solomon (1965 cited in Collier et al, 2007, pp.38-39), companies might take advantage of the transfer pricing which are suitable for evaluating divisional performance for the corporate interest, instead of the business units. Transfer pricing strategies and can produce substantial tax savings in addition to enhancing operational performance and improving cash flow. In many organisations, in order to avoid de-motivating effects on different business units, negotiated p rices are adopted. Say, each product is transferred to Derby division and it pays each division 70% of the sales it made from selling all the jams and yet still bare the cost of advertising, distribution and the head office costs. The local administrative expenses shall be bare by the respective divisions. There are downsides of transfer pricing. The political process in an organisation might affect the transfer pricing between divisions. Incorrect prices adopted can distort reported performance, by making some divisions more profitable at others expense. Opportunities exist to avoid taxes using artificial transfer prices to transfer profits from a high tax division to a low tax division. Rightsizing Rightsizing, or corporate restructuring, with the aim of reducing costs and improving efficiency and effectiveness is also one option in difficult times. Rightsizing is downsizing in the belief that an organisation really should operate with fewer personnel. The primary reason to engage in rightsizing is to make the daily operations of a business more productive. For example, a company may be able to replace assembly line employees with machines which will be quicker and less prone to error. In addition, rightsizing increases profits by reducing the overall overheads of a business. S.B. Ltd operates a full cost (TAC) standard costing system. The standard costs set fot the year 31 March 2010 and information about future costs and selling prices are in Appendix 2. Part 2 (700) Assuming the company decided to go for the option of keeping all divisions open and launching an advertising campaign, you are required to produce a standard cost card for each product and a budget for the company showing clearly the costs attributable to each division for the year to 31 March 2011. State clearly all assumptions made. Standard Cost Card A standard cost card can be defined as ‘a detailed listing of the standard amounts of materials, labour and overheads that should go into a unit of product, multiplied by the standard price or rate that has been set for each elements’ (Anon 2, 2010). A standard cost card, for example must include the price, specifications, quantity and quality of material required, as well as such factors as the period of credit allowed from suppliers, cash and quantity discounts, spoilage due to wastage and deterioration. A standard cost card demands an investigation of all contributing factors that can constitute a cost before the cost is adopted. According to Drury (2010, p.278), standard costs are ‘predetermined costs’ and they are the target costs that should be incurred under efficient operating conditions. The standard cost card will be subjected to updating caused by revision of standards such as changes in prices, discounts, etc. Standard costing is a control system which sets standards that are ideal, expected and achievable (O’Hare, 2010, Management Accounting Lecture). Collier (2007, p.36) put forward that standard costing is a control technique which compares standard cost and all of production revenues with actual results. It is to obtain variances of each division and product (O’Hare, 2010, Management Accounting Lecture 8), which are used to stimulate improved performance and to increase motivation of staff in each division. It is a detective control used to prevent problems from reoccurring as it measures variances as it occur, thus allowing management to take necessary corrective action. The standard cost card for the year ended 31 March 2011 (per batch of 40 jars each 500 grams) for Strawberry Jam, Raspberry Jam and Orange Marmalade are as below: Budget The principal tool in planning is called ‘a budget’. A budget is a collection of predictions. It is an estimation of the revenue and expenses over a specified future period of time. There are three purposes of budgets as identified by Emmanuel et al (1990 cited in Collier, 2007, pp.39-40), ‘as forecasts of future events’, ‘as motivational targets’ and ‘as standards for performance evaluation’. Budget is a financial plan or qualitative statement for implementing the various decisions to be pursued during a specific accounting period, that management has made in the previous period. Collier (2007, pp.39-42) suggest that budgets provide a control mechanism through both the feed forward and feedback loops. The control mechanism in the budget is to provide a performance monitoring function to the appropriate managers who are responsible for implementing the various decisions by producing and presenting the performance reports. According to Drury (2010, pp.8-9), the performance report provide feedback information by comparing planned and actual results. Generally, a functional budget is drawn up for each division of S.B. Ltd. These budgets are, then, merged together into a single combined statement, which is known as the master budget, of S.B. Ltd’s expectations for the future periods. The master budget consists of budgeted profit, which it is expected to convey to everyone in the organisation the part that they are expected to achieve in implementing management’s decisions. The master budget, usually, consists of a budgeted profit and loss, a budgeted balance sheet and a budgeted cash-flow statement. In order to finalised a budgeted profit and loss, other budgets for the individual divisions and produced, such as the sales budget, direct materials usage budget, direct materials purchase budget, direct labour budget, and selling and administration budget. Master Budget Budgeted Profit and Loss Account for the year ending 31 March 2011  £  £ Forecast sales (Schedule 1) 816,000 Purchases (Schedule 3) Materials Fruit 130,272

The Long Hard Road Out of Hell - Marilyn Manson :: autobiography autobiographies

The Long Hard Road out of Hell is an autobiography that allows us to temporarily enter the frontal lobe of the creative persona known as Marilyn Manson. Following the childish antics of the once innocent Brian Warner, the book gives us insight to the creation of the Pseudo Satanist, "Antichrist Superstar" we all know as Marilyn Manson. The grotesque life of Brian Warner is both disturbing and fascinating. From the moment I turned the first page, I was hooked. The book is well written, repulsive, perverse, demented, sexual, sleazy, violent, captivating and uncommonly addictive. The tragic tale of a rock star, lots of sex, drugs, and mental decay. Each new page holds a series of deep and dark secrets which ironically, is what makes the book so appealing to all of your senses. ?What was happening to me now seemed to be some kind of perverse combination of both types of self destruction? is a good example of him overcoming a hardship in his own life. (Pg. 232) It refers to his battle with cocaine addiction. Four and a half months into the production of his first mainstream album Antichrist Superstar, all he had was a few unfinished songs, a sore nose, and a hospital bill. He then hit rock bottom and realized that he needed to get his life back on track, which started him quitting cocaine. He then overcame his cocaine addiction in only a matter of weeks. Some people reading this would take solace and find strength within his experience that could help them with their own inner struggles. For these reasons I would highly recommend this book to just about anyone over a certain age. There are many people who would find this book offending, but I feel that it is very well written and honest. The book?s intention is not malicious, it is not meant to offend anyone, and in parts can be very appealing to your intellect. Reading this book also opened my eyes to how media portrays celebrities, and how superficial the world we live in really is.

Macbeth - Character Changes :: essays research papers

"This dead butcher and his fiend like queen", is the way in which Malcolm describes Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. Describe the way in which these two characters changed during the course of the play. At the beginning of the play Macbeth is seen as a courageous soldier who is loyal to the King but is corrupted from the witches prophecies and by his and Lady Macbeth’s ambition. This is because of the weakness of Macbeth’s character and the strong power of Lady Macbeth and how she is easily able to influence him. Her strength motivates him at the start but after he realises what he has done it is himself that continues in his murderous, bloody path. At the beginning of the play Lady Macbeth appears as a kind wife of Macbeth’s but underneath lies a scheming and treacherous woman. In the beginning of the play Macbeth is a strong soldier who fights for the King without mercy but his strive for ambition and his curious nature leads him to the witches who give him a prophecy. Banquo realises that there must be a trick hidden in the witches prophecies somewhere but Macbeth refuses to accept that, and when Lady Macbeth finds out about the witches her strong desire for ambition and her cold nature leads Macbeth astray. Macbeth is a little ambitious at first, but Lady Macbeth’s far exceeds his and so she is able to get Macbeth to agree with her to kill King Duncan. Macbeth still has a conscience at this stage because he is very hesitant about killing the King but his weak nature over comes him. He has a conscience throughout the entire play as this is seen by the hallucinations of the dagger and the ghost of Banquo and his vivid imagination and his constant worry also provokes him. This is also evident in his terrible dreams which gives the solid theme that he has indeed "murdered sleep". Throughout the play we see the character of Macbeth change not from just the way he thinks and what we hear from the play, but from the actions he takes in the play, from killing Banquo, then having Lady Macduff and her children murdered, shows the insecurity that was present in Macbeth. After the murder of Duncan Macbeth becomes paranoid and his first step of killing the guards is one of many that Macbeth takes to secure himself.

Hypertension Causes And Treatments Health And Social Care Essay

The most common medical status and taking cause of decease in Ireland today is Hypertension, accounting for about 1/3 of the entire figure of deceases and killing about 10,000 people each twelvemonth. Hypertension or high blood force per unit area is where the force of the blood against the arterial walls as it circles the organic structure is more forceful than it should be. It is the chief cause of decease in Ireland due to the fact that it is a status that normally gives no symptoms, and goes unnoticed unless it is checked on a regular basis or when a wellness job arises. It is the deficiency of symptoms that gives the status its other name The Silent Killer. To look into entire blood force per unit area a measuring of both systolic and diastolic force per unit area must be taken. Systolic force per unit area measures the blood force per unit area while the bosom beats and diastolic force per unit area measures the blood force per unit area while the bosom rests. Normal blood forc e per unit area is considered to be 120/80 mmHg, 120 being the measuring of systolic end product and 80 being measuring of the diastolic end product. Today, there are 4 classs of blood force per unit area ; normal, pre-hypertension, high blood pressure stageI and high blood pressure stageII. Normal blood force per unit area as stated antecedently is 120/80, pre-hypertension is considered to be between 121-139 systolic and 80-89 diastolic while both phases of high blood pressure are 140 systolic or higher with 90 diastolic or higher.blood-pressure.gifThe statusWith Hypertension, as stated antecedently both the systolic and diastolic may be inveterate higher than 140/90mmHg or merely one of the measurings may be inveterate higher than the normal figure. Hypertension is split into 2 different blood force per unit area classs ; high blood pressure phase I and high blood pressure phase II. Phase I flatly has a systolic of between 140 and 159 with a diastolic of 90 to 99 while phase II is marked by a systolic reading of 160 or higher with a diastolic of 100 or more. There are 2 types of high blood pressure, the first is called indispensable high blood pressure and the second is called secondary high blood pressure. Essential or primary high blood pressure is high blood force per unit area with no identified cause while secondary high blood pressure is high blood force per unit area caused by another implicit in status or the medicine used to handle it. When sing the pathogenesis of primary high blood pressure, the alteration in systemic vasculature could be as a consequence of continuously increased blood volume, cardiac end product or strictly due to sustained lift of the systemic vascular opposition. The increased opposition is as a consequence of a decrease in diameter of the lms and thickener of the walls of immune blood vass. Vascular tone is besides another factor to take into consideration when sing pathogenesis as surveies show that vascular endothelium of p atients with high blood pressure produce really small azotic oxide. Nitric oxide is the organic structure ‘s natural vasodilative but due to the decrease in production the vascular smooth musculus becomes less sensitive to its activity. This deficiency of azotic oxide and desensitized smooth musculus coupled with increased production of endothelin can take to enhanced vasoconstriction of the vascular tissue. This vasoconstriction causes the arterial walls to go more stiff and to increase opposition to the flow of blood, which in bend causes the bosom to crush more forcefully. The stiffening of the arterial walls besides leads to a wider pulsation which is a characteristic of stray systolic high blood pressure which is where the systolic reading is 140 but the diastolic reading is still below 90.blood_vessel.gifCausesToday, indispensable high blood pressure histories for more than 90 % of all high blood pressure related instances while secondary high blood pressure viz. account s for the remainder. The cause of indispensable high blood pressure is unknown but there are 7 factors that could potentially be responsible for this type of blood force per unit area. These are a high salt diet, age, ethnicity such as African American, Renal inadequacy, weight jobs, genetic sciences and susceptibleness. Secondary high blood pressure is less common but is by and large a consequence of an implicit in status or due to medicine ; some implicit in causes include nephritic inadequacy, thyroid inadequacy, gestation, emphasis and many more. Nephritic arteria stricture is the narrowing of the nephritic arteria lms, this consequences in a decrease of force per unit area in the arteriola and a decrease in nephritic perfusion. This decrease in nephritic perfusion and bottleneck of the arteria stimulates the release of chymosin which increases the concentration of the endocrines angiotensin II and aldosterone. The addition in these endocrines consequences in the increased consu mption of Na and H2O therefore increasing the blood volume taking to high blood pressure due to the Frank-Starling mechanism. The pathogenesis of hyperaldosteronism is similar to that of nephritic arteria stricture, as the increased secernment of aldosterone consequences in increased Na and H2O uptake therefore increasing the blood volume and cardiac end product. The Frank-Starling mechanism is physiologically involved in equilibrating the end product of the 2 ventricles of the bosom ; it is the Black Marias ability to alter its force of contraction therefore altering the shot volume as a response to alterations in the venous return. An illustration of this is an addition in end product of the right ventricle would take to an addition in the flow into the left ventricle. Without the Frank-Starling mechanism to respond to the instability so a major malfunction would occur.primary hyperaldosteronism One of the most prevailing links with secondary high blood pressure in today ‘s society is stress. It acts as an indirect cause of the status by repeatedly exciting the sympathetic nervous system ; this overstimulation leads to big sums of vasoconstricting endocrines such as noradrenaline to be released. Stimulation of the sympathetic nervous system due to emphasize besides increases the go arounding angiotonin II, antidiuretic hormone and aldosterone degrees. The changeless and perennial bottleneck of the arterias due to increased cardiac end product and vascular opposition elevates the blood force per unit area. On top of the sympathetic nervous system stimulation, emphasis besides stimulates the adrenal myelin to bring forth more catecholamines such as noradrenaline and adrenaline. It is the combination of increased catecholamines and angiotonin II that maintains the elevated blood force per unit area doing the high blood pressure.Conventional interventionTo handle the statu s it is frequently necessary to look at the underlying cause if any and to seek dainty that where possible. For indispensable high blood pressure there is no identifiable cause so the intervention program is test and mistake, while with secondary high blood pressure ; the implicit in status that is seting emphasis on the bosom can be treated with the hopes that it will relieve the strain. There are 4 chief categories of antihypertensive drugs these are ; Diuretics, vasodilatives, sympathetic nervous system suppressers and rennin-angiotensin system drugs. Diuretic drugs such as Thiazides, K sparing and cringle are the chief types used in the intervention of high blood pressure. They are frequently called ‘water pills ‘ as they act on the kidneys to increase the riddance of Na and H2O from the organic structure in order to diminish blood volume. Vasodilators are another of import class of drugs in the intervention of high blood pressure as they help in the relaxation of the musculuss in the blood vass. Calcium channel adversaries ( blockers ) and potassium channel agonists are 2 chief illustrations of vasodilatives used to handle high blood pressure. The Ca channel blockers aid in the relaxation by barricading the Ca conductivity of L type Ca channels on vascular smooth musculus. K+ channel agonists on the other manus do local relaxation of smooth musculus by increasing the permeableness of the membrane to K+ ions. The activation of K ions switches off the Ca channels therefore halting the production of action potencies. Alpha and beta blockers/ adversaries are 2 chief sympathetic nervous system suppressers or peripheral sympatholytic drugs used in the intervention of high blood pressure. The alpha adversary blocks the alpha receptors in the smooth musculus of peripheral arterias which blocks the mechanism of contraction through the IP3 signal transduction tract therefore cut downing the blood force per unit area. The beta antagonists nevertheless, merely act on cut downing the cardiac end product and are found to be non so effectual on their ain and so they are by and large prescribed with the usage of water pills like the Thiazides. Alpha agonists are the 3rd type of sympathetic nervous system suppresser or centrally acting sympatholytic drugs, they block the sympathetic activity of the encephalon by adhering to the alpha 2 receptor and triping it. This activation of the alpha 2 receptor reduces the escape to the bosom therefore diminishing the cardiac end product, bosom rate and contraction. By an d large the alpha agonists are prescribed in concurrence with water pills due to the drugs unstable accretion side effects which when left untreated can take to cell hydrops. The last class of drugs used to handle high blood pressure is the Renin-angiotensin targeting drugs. The 2 chief aiming drugs used are ACE inhibitors and angiotonin II receptor adversaries. ACE inhibitors or angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors ; barricade the enzyme from bring forthing angiotonin II which is responsible for the narrowing of blood vass and stimulation of endocrines that raise blood force per unit area. By barricading this enzyme, the blood vass remain relaxed and blood force per unit area remains normal. On the other manus, the angiotonin II receptor adversaries block the action of angiotonin non the formation therefore the blood vass remain relaxed.Herbal and complementary interventionIn today ‘s medical universe, diet and exercising are the best recommended interventions where possible or when medicine can be avoided. Simple things such as to discontinue smoke, exerting for 30 proceedingss a twenty-four hours, restricting salt and intoxicant consumption, eating a bosom healthy diet and cut downing emphasis are all things that could dramatically take down blood force per unit area. Addendums in the diet are another friendly manner of lower blood force per unit area, addendums such as omega3 fish and pod liver oils, coenzyme Q10, ALA, Allium sativum, Ca and chocolate are all indicated for the intervention of high blood pressure. Where addendums and diet do n't hold the desired efficaciousness, herbs can assist hike the effects or can even be used in concurrence with prescribed anti-hypertensive medicines.

Science for Shaping the Future of India

The theme of this Congress, `Science for Shaping the Future of India`, reflects the dream of every generation of Indian scientists. Faster growth over the next few decades, more sustainable development based on food and energy security, and socio-economic inclusion made possible by rapid growth of basic social services, such as education and health, are all crucial for defining India’s future. Science, technology and innovation all have an important role to play in achieving these objectives.Science and technology development have been central to the phenomenal material advancement and efficiency in the use of resources seen in the last hundred years. The pace of change has only accelerated in the last few decades, as globalization and new technology have enhanced people’s access to knowledge and their ability to leverage it through collaboration. India has benefited from this epochal transformation by embracing these trends. Since technological changes typically emanat e from established structures, they may at times re-inforce them and inhibit the advancement of equity and equality.As India seeks a sustained growth of its national income, we must endeavour to harness the tools of science to cater to the needs of the underprivileged and to bridge the gap between the haves and the have-nots. Nearly 65 percent of our people live in rural areas. The increase in their living standards depends greatly on the growth of agricultural production and productivity. The Twelfth Five Year Plan assumes that a sustained growth of our agriculture at the rate of 4 percent per annum is essential for the achievement of food security for our country.This growth is constrained by shortages of water and also of land. We need new breakthroughs in water-saving technologies of cultivation, enhancement of land productivity and development of climate-resilient varieties. This transformation of agriculture must be the top priority concern of our public policies, including sc ience and technology policies. In keeping with the theme of this Congress, the question naturally arises as to what we should do to build our future through science? I would like to share a few ideas.First, we must, as a society, enhance the spread of what Jawaharlal Nehru used to describe as the scientific temper. Our younger generations must adopt a science-based value-system in order to benefit from what science can offer and to make up for lost time. Complex issues, be they genetically modified food or nuclear energy or exploration of outer space, cannot be settled by faith, emotion and fear but by structured debate, analysis and enlightenment. A scientific approach and understanding of these issues are therefore as vital as our core scientific capabilities.For this, we must invest in popularizing science, not only in our schools and colleges – as we are doing through the INSPIRE programme – but also in our homes, workplaces and communities through all available co mmunication methods, like the high-speed optical fibre National Knowledge Network. Eventually, science must help in establishing an inclusive society that seeks to solve major social problems through the application of science. Second, our scholarship and research must be informed by a keen awareness of our basic social and economic realities.Given the limited resources that we, as a nation, are able to devote to scientific research, it is imperative that we give priority to meeting those challenges which are fundamental to the transformation of our economy. I have already referred to the need to transform India’s agriculture. But there are other equally valid concerns as well which require priority attention. The quest for energy security, sanitation, provision of safe drinking water, labour intensive manufactures and universal healthcare at affordable cost are other areas of high priority concern.Our effort should be to carve out a niche for India’s leadership in som e of these areas. Indian industry must play an active part in this process through in-house research centres and, more importantly, through enhanced academia-industry interaction. Third, a holistic organizational approach is essential. There was a time when science took a lonely road, driven by individual enterprise rather than collective effort. This is sub-optimal in the innovation and knowledge-intensive world that is empowering the growth process today.We need cross-fertilization of disciplines and synergy among stakeholders. Government-sponsored research must be supplemented by research in private labs. Academic and research systems must foster innovation and entrepreneurship and therefore link up with those interested in commercial development. In the last few years, we have taken some policy measures in this direction. We have encouraged sharing of and access to Government-owned data for research.We have also created new mechanisms like Innovation Complexes, Technology Busine ss Incubator and Innovation Universities in an effort to bring about convergence of interests among the various players in science. Fourth, international collaboration is vital for increasingly resource-intensive modern science to progress. Economic liberalization and economic growth over the last several years have made it possible for our scientists to collaborate meaningfully and confidently in the international arena.Let me cite only two outstanding examples. There was significant Indian collaboration with the European Centre for Nuclear Research on the Large Hadron Collider, which led to the discovery of what is believed to be the elusive Higgs boson. The other example is our work with a select group of countries on the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor. We must partner not only with established leaders in science and technology, but also with emerging innovation powerhouses, many of them in our region.We must also offer our expertise to our neighbours for collec tive prosperity and progress. Finally, the quality of our scientific institutions will depend upon the quality of the students we can attract into science, the freedom we give them in pursuing scientific research and the human resource policies we follow in selecting leaders. We must select only the best and we must expand our search to the many Indian scientists abroad who may wish to return to India at least for some years.The solution of even the simplest of problems related to humanity’s pressing needs often requires first-rate fundamental research. During the last eight years, we have tried to fill this gap by expanding the infrastructure of our scientific research and innovation. We have established five new Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research, eight new Indian Institutes of Technology, sixteen new Central Universities, ten new National Institutes of Technology, six new R&D institutions in the field of biotechnology and five institutions in other branche s.It is my hope that all this will significantly raise the quality of scientific research in our country. Given that science-led innovation is the key to development, the National Innovation Council has also brought the domain of innovation to the foreground, helping translation of knowledge into usable solutions. The Science, Technology and Innovation Policy 2013 released here today aspires to position India among the top five global scientific powers by the year 2020. It is an ambitious goal.It aims to produce and nurture talent in science, to stimulate research in our universities, to develop young leaders in the field of science, to reward performance, to create a policy environment for greater private sector participation in research and innovation and to forge international alliances and collaborations to meet the national agenda. The Twelfth Five Year Plan, which was approved by the NDC a few days ago, outlines a number of initiatives which will make this possible.An importan t step in this direction in the Eleventh Plan was the establishment of the National Science and Engineering Research Board as an autonomous funding body. As pointed out in the Twelfth Plan, this institution proposes to invest in researches of proven track record and establish about 200 to 250 centres based on a grant model with performance reward linkages. I would like to conclude by recalling Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore’s immortal lines in which he prayed for a future India where, among other things, a â€Å"clear stream of reason† would prevail.I am confident that, in the next five days, this confluence of leading lights of science from home and abroad will throw up useful ideas on how science will shape the future of India. As the Indian Science Congress crosses another milestone, let us pledge to keep alive the passion of its architects for truth that is eternal and beautiful and their dream to lead India to greater heights of knowledge. Let me also take this occas ion to wish all those gathered here a very Happy New Year. †