Marketing Audit and set Marketing Objectives for British American Assignment

Marketing Audit and set Marketing Objectives for British American Tobacco Company - Assignment Example The threats facing the company include the illicit and counterfeit trade, stringent regulations, high excise taxes and stiff competition. BAT can use its strengths to exploit opportunities in the e-cigarette customer segment, lucrative China market or make strategic acquisitions in emerging markets. BAT is a leading global tobacco company that was founded in 1902. The company has operates in more than 200 countries and has attained success through acting responsibly in the controversial tobacco industry (Lussier 2008). BAT has a diverse product portfolio that includes more than 200 brands that are sold in more than 200 markets across the world. The market is estimated at one billion adult smokers and some of the global brands include Dunhill, Pall Mall, Rothmans, Benson & Hedges, and Lucky Strike. Yach and Bettcher (2000) outlines that BAT has a strong presence in all geographical markets such as Americas, Asia-Pacific Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa and has established 45 cigarette factories in 41 countries across the world (p 210). The traditional BAT tobacco products include the cigarettes, cigars, pipe tobacco while the next-generation products that are more innovative include the electronic cigarettes and heat-not-burn devices (Hagele 2010). According to the 2013 financial results, BAT attained strong market and strong earnings growth despite unfavourable operating environment and currency movements in some parts of the world. The company increased its diluted earnings per share by 6 percent in 2013 and total dividends were increased by 6 percent. The company managed to sell 676 billion cigarettes in more than 200 market and recorded 15,260 million pounds in revenues. BAT adopted a new vision and new strategy in 2013 that reflects the needs of the consumers. BAT has implemented a sustainability approach to its

Investment Report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Investment Report - Essay Example Apple has a very minimal control over its external relations with other countries due to America’s indulgence in war on terrorism (Strategic planning13, 2014). A majority of Apple’s products are manufactured outside of the US. The list of countries includes names such as, China, Ireland and Korea. Political disagreements with these countries may impact the company’s operations severely (Slideee, 2014; Johnson, Whittington and Scholes, 2011). The economic downturn may have a severe impact on the company’s sales and improvements that could be made within the operations. Apple’s products are perceived as luxury segment products by some, which is why individuals have started heavily spending on them. Moreover, due to higher rate of inflation, income is low and unemployment rate is high. As a result, Apple could risk a severe reduction in the level of sales. Due to such volatile economic situations, the value of US dollar keeps fluctuating. Even so, to shield the company from such exposure, considerable amount of foreign currencies is purchased (Strategic planning13, 2014; Slideee, 2014). Possession of Apple products is considered as a demonstrator of status symbol in many societies. This factor has amplified the level of sales for many Apple Inc products. Given the fact that the purchasing power of common people have increased in various markets across the world, purchase of luxury products has amplified as well. As the world cannot be envisaged without gadgets, the products manufactured by Apple have gained worldwide appreciation (Strategic planning13, 2014; Slideee, 2014; Frynas and Mellahi, 2011). The technological environment that surrounds Apple Inc has evolved considerably over past few years. Most importantly, computers and phones have become a popular commodity. Apple Inc is placed at the topmost position in the market for manufacturing innovative products and most relevant aspect of the products offered is that

Role Of The Other In Dracula English Literature Essay

Role Of The Other In Dracula English Literature Essay Bram Stokers Dracula and Kate Chopins The Awakening centralises on the characters of Count Dracula and Edna Pontellier in the respective novels, characters marked as the Other for their distinction in racial and cultural traits and their transgression to strict Victorian social codes of conduct in the late nineteenth century. This essay explores the role and presentation of the Other in Count Dracula and Edna Pontellier on the issues race, culture, marriage and how the Other is represented through literary techniques such as language, symbolism, imagery and narrative strategies. In Dracula, Stoker uses visual imagery in his description of the Count, of his strange and undeniable racial foreignness in his threatening appearance and physical features, where his eyebrows were very massivebushy hair that seem to curl in its own profusion (Stoker 17). In Jonathan Harkers report, he further notices of Dracula: Strange to say, there were hairs in the centre of the palm and the nails were longto a sharp point (Stoker 18), features associated with nefarious criminals and evil beings that lack spiritual values and moral standards. A criminal is what Professor Van Helsing describes Dracula as: This criminal has not full man-brainbe of child-brain in much (Stoker 341), followed by Mina Harker: The Count is a criminal and of criminal type (Stoker 342); Stoker models Dracula as a degenerate criminal that poses serious danger to the society and uses Draculas intimidating features to represent his criminality, compounding his racial Otherness. In The Awakening, Chopin uses the same narrative technique of visual imagery where she describes Edna Pontellier as rather handsome than beautifulcertain frankness of expressioncontradictory subtle play of features (Chopin 5). Chopin brings out Ednas racial foreignness by comparing and contrasting her beauty and body forms to that of Adele Ragtinolle, a Creole descent who is the embodiment of every womanly grace and charm (Chopin 10). Ednas distinct attractiveness, being an American from Kentucky and different from the physical exotic dispositions of Creole women stands her out as different, whose form of beauty attracts men such as Robert and Victor Lebrun as well as Alcee Arobin. In his novel, Stoker portrays Draculas outsider status, contrasting his archaic Transylvanian cultural origins in Eastern Europe to that of modernized Western Europe where Jonathan Harker comes from. On his arrival in Bistritz, Jonathan describes the primitive land where things were new to him, such as the peasant man or woman kneeling before a shrine and Slovaks with their-coloured sheepskinscarryingtheir long staves, with axe at end (Stoker 8). He compares the unfamiliar Eastern superstition to his native Western rationality when a woman offers him her crucifix for his safety against Dracula, for he has been taught to regard such things as in some measure idolatrous (Stoker 5). Different in every respect from English nobles, Dracula asserts Jonathans and his cultural dissimilarity: We are in Transylvania; and Transylvania is not England. Our ways are not your ways, and there shall be to you many strange things (Stoker 21). As a solitary American woman who marries a Creole from New Orleans, Edna experiences cultural dissimilarity and struggles to come to terms with the cultural norms of the Creole society, where a womans place and fulfilment is restricted in the domestic realm. Just as Adele Ragtinolle positions Edna as an Other: she is not one of us; she is not like us (Chopin 23), Edna is surprised by the Creoles entire absence of prudery and freedom of expression (Chopin 12), where intimate conversations such as childbirth are openly discussed, sex to women are considered not for pleasure but rather for procreation and flirtations do not cross the boundaries of infidelity; such were the social codes in the Creole community which Edna feels growingly restrictive and eventually breaches. Where Dracula attempts to assimilate the cultural identity of the English, Edna resists the social conventions of the Creoles, yet in his assimilation and her resistance, both characters violates and threaten the soci al and cultural order of the society they are in. Stoker combines the theme of sexuality with violence in Dracula. The Count is portrayed as a revenant with a bloodlust in the human body and is primarily a sexual threat not only to women but even to men. Dracula expresses his contempt for authority and Victorian order in the most independent means through his sexuality. He possesses the hypnotic and seductive prowess that attract involuntary women into his clutches and holds the feministic role of reproduction, as his victims do not die but transform into vampires themselves, embracing a new racial identity and marking them as the Other. The magnitude of threat to the civilized society Dracula carries through his sexuality is illustrated first through Lucy Westenras transformation from an amiable Victorian lady to a voracious predator and then through Draculas grave personal invasion of Mina Harker in the very presence her husband, Jonathan, who lay asleep beside her. In the theme of sexuality in The Awakening, Chopin paints a picture of Edna as a woman trapped in a stifled marriage and who is plagued by a mixture of feminist and psychological issues. Unlike the mother-women of the Creole community who are protective of and idolized their children, Ednas motherly instincts are seemingly weak and is uncharacteristically distant from her two sons (Chopin 10). If one of the little Pontellier boys took a tumblehe was not apt to rush crying to his mothers arms (ibid.). Ednas discovery of her dormant sexuality stirs her longing desire for liberty and independence from the confines of male domination and a marriage she feels disillusioned with. Her outward sexuality ensues with her forbidden declaration of love for Robert Lebrun to Mademoiselle Reisz (Chopin 90), and also her act of adultery with Alcee Arobin for her growing need for passion, which breeds immorality and transgresses the conservative social values of the New Orleans Creole community. In Stokers novel, blood symbolises the basis of life to Dracula, which he feeds off his victims that not only sustain his physical but soulless existence but also provides its mythical ability to preserve beauty, as Jonathan noted in Draculas youthful transformation in a coincidental encounter in Exeter, England (Stoker 172). Stoker then symbolises blood with racial contamination because of the close connection between the vampire and blood, with all its implications of purity and genetic intimacy. Stoker also creates a symbolic contrast between English modernity in science and technology and Draculas embodiment of the primitives and superstitions, where Draculas threat hinges on the advance of modernity which brushes off the very reality of such a revenant as Dracula himself who seeks to destroy the society. Chopin similarly uses symbolism in the very introduction of her novel, where caged birds bear symbolic reference to Ednas restricted and subservient role as a wife and mother that society presses upon her and in the same way the birds cannot escape from their cages, Edna too cannot fully release herself from her obligations. Before Edna drowns in the conclusion to the novel, she notices a bird with a broken wing was beating the air abovedisabled down to the water, perhaps symbolizing Ednas unsuccessful attempt at escaping the limitations and boundaries in her role as a woman and foreshadowing her impending demise (Chopin 127). The ocean also represents a source of new life and a symbol of liberation for Edna, in where she feels rejuvenated and assertive upon her self-actualization of her dissatisfaction in her life and of her roles. Her acquisition in the ability to swim symbolically empowers her of her sexuality and her chosen identity and not one decided by the society. There is no single authorial voice in Dracula; rather than adopting a continuous narrative voice, Stokers writing style is straightforward and immediate, interlinking extracts from the journals of various characters that creates ambiguity but adds much realism to the story. Dracula is not given a narrative voice and his actions and mysterious whereabouts are only revealed by the progress other characters, in such a way that unambiguously positions readers as jury in the realm of the good in the battle against the evil Other in Dracula. A single authorial voice is adopted by Chopin in her novel in the form of a distant third-person omniscient. Chopins formal prose relays a sense of solemn gravity to the story and she adopts a writing style that is perceptive and concise. In her narration, she alternates between being specific on some occasions and vague on others, for example: It was the kiss of lifethat kindled desire and Edna cried a little that night after Arobin left herThere was with her an overwhelming feeling of irresponsibility, which strongly suggests their transgression of societal conduct through their phase of adultery (Chopin 92). However, Chopin uses implicit details to guide readers, perhaps to mitigate the foregone conclusion to which her text implies, in a her time when Victorian values still prevailed. Both Stoker and Chopin uses several literary techniques in Dracula and The Awakening, including foreshadowing, symbolism and imagery that reveals the Otherness in Dracula and Edna in their difference in fundamental ways from the society accompanying them. Through artful imagery and language that convey perceptive descriptions and ideas, characters and scenes in both novels come to life, making a vivid reading experience.

Iagos Personality :: Literary Analysis, Shakespeare, Classics

Ideas about Othello In what way is this play about race? Considering that the protagonist is black, it brings in the idea of isolation. It is an important part of the play as he is isolated, placed on a pedestal so his fall is even more dramatic. In effect Shakespeare isolates the issue that racial prejudice is a timeless issue that will continue through time. Insecurity and vulnerability, allows Iago to attack him, makes relationship between Desdemona and Othello foundations shaky. Confirms Elizabethan stereotypes about race it was written for an audience that could accept racist stereotypes as truisms without acknowledging their own racism. A tragic flaw; makes Iago jealous; thus the downfall of Othello is imminent Is it a dramatic device? Shakespeare – concerned with racism? Imagery –dichotomy – conflict white/black; a discussion of humanity – confirming the Elizabethan stereotypes Power Iago – his disposition to know all the other characters flaws, undermines peoples in position of authority; his ability as a puppeteer Cassio – young and handsome; educated; superficial power Othello – military power and authority; meritocracy where status is gained on merit undermined by the idea that the duke orders him what to do; superficial power limited to their positions; undermining the power all the time; highlight how superficial his power is, it is undermined by Iago all the time Desdemona – women are dutiful, are repressed by their position as possessions of their masters In what way is this a play about the relationships between men and women? Shakespeare recognises the role of women through their relationships. Othello and Desdemona’s relationship conveys the ideas of love, lust, based on strong foundations or not.

Oil Dependancy, Oil Shortfall Impact and Economic Development Planning

Question 1: Dependence on Oil & A ; Oil deficit Impact Question 2: Economic Development Planning Question 1 We come across a batch of docudramas on about day-to-day footing, yet some of them are serious plenty to pull our attending towards the upseting province of the Earth. Most significantly, all of these sorts of docudramas are besides supported by comprehensive research and surveies conveying the same massages bespeaking that we worlds are in great problem and we are traveling to see a much different life than of all time before. The docudrama, â€Å"The Crude Awakening- ( The Oil Crash 2007 ) signifies one of the most alarming state of affairss that even powerful economic systems are confronting today, i.e. , how dependance on oil is impacting non merely the oil monetary values but besides the nutrient supply. This essay aims to foreground what’s traveling to go on in transit, nutrient and energy sectors of different metropoliss of the United States when the economic system runs short of inexpensive oil. Oil is a au naturel necessity of the universe and besides for the burning engines ; it’s like a life line. Harmonizing to energy information disposal 2009 estimations, about 84 to 85 million barrels of oil was pumped and consumed every bit good, worldwide. With tantamount ingestion and production rate of oil, is it possible that we keep pumping the fossil fuels without the depletion of resources? Obviously, you can’t carry through the oil demands of the full universe with a individual well. Though there are limitless figure of oil well, some of them are still productive while some are dried out, yet each of them follow a peculiar production bell curve, dwelling of productiveness maximization, stabilising and so consuming to nil with certain figure of old ages. This curve is called Hubbert Curve and presented by Shell geologist named King Hubbert, in 1965 ( Jimenez, 2009 ) . This curve is besides applied to oil production all over the universe, Normally, oil companies concentrate more on large and easy to happen oil Fieldss ab initio and so come to deeper and smaller 1s when the big 1s start consuming. They besides take the aid of newer engineerings in this respect. In a nut shell, harmonizing to a bell curve, the production is supposed to increase, make at extremum and diminution eventually. It is to be noted that point called peak oil is arise before depletion. Take an illustration of decanter filled with java, to understand the construct. Pour cup after cup without any attempt until you see a watercourse of Java. Obviously, you would certainly necessitate to badly lean the decanter to run out the dredges. Your last streamlined cup before the concluding autumn is the peak point. Demand for oil will maintain lifting nevertheless ; oil militias of the planet will consume ( Avent, 2008 ) . What is the scenario after the peak point is raised? Indeed, an oil clang. Harmonizing to U.S. section of the interior geological study the anticipations sing the impacts of worst oil clang involve higher gas monetary values, endangered globalisation, increasing lawlessness and irreparable development of secured boring points. The solution of the job might trust in diminishing our dependance on fossil fuels. Alternate resources of bio fuels and energy seem of import in this scenario. Many critics have labeled oil deficits as something political benefit, in position of universe political relations. Everything is rather clear. Supply is less than the demand as of all time, obliging us to research alternate energy resources and alter energy use patterns. Even if we are able to use the last bead of the oil through latest engineering, increasing spread between supply and demand and higher monetary values would name a demand for a alteration. Current Tendencies of Oil ingestion in United States United States consumer really small part of petroleum oil as most of the oil is refined to be used in crude oil merchandise fabrication like Diesel fuel, jet fuel, gasolene etc. Natural gas processing generates liquid that is besides used the same manner. Renewable resources like biodiesel are used as an option for refined crude oil points. EIA besides takes into history biofuels in ingestion studies. Harmonizing to U.S. agency of economic analysis of current concern 6.89 billion barrels of crude oil merchandises were consumed in United States in 2013, connoting 18.89 million barrels per twenty-four hours, in which biofuels account for 0.32 billion. The Deficits in U.S Petroleum Harmonizing to U.S. agency of economic analysis of current concern Deficits in U.S. crude oil trade have been equal to a big fraction of the instability between U.S. imports and exports. Between 2000 and 2012, the cumulative sum of U.S. trade shortages in rough oil and refined crude oil merchandises amounted to $ 2.87 trillion, 40.5 per centum of the cumulative shortages in all goods and services over the period. And oil ‘s function has increased in importance over the clip: in 2012, for illustration, the trade shortage in oil was equal to 55 per centum of the overall trade shortage in goods and services. Deficit of Oil in United States- The Impact on Transportation Over the last 40 old ages, one of the most hard transit policy inquiries has been the issue of the monetary value of oil and its associated impact on transit systems1. Since the 1950’s the North American economic system and its transit system have become progressively dependent on oil both in footings of its production of goods and services, and their distribution from production centres to market ingestion centres ( Gordon & A ; Robert, 1975 ) . The monetary values of nutrient, consumer goods ( e.g. , electronics, furniture, and apparels ) , and capital goods points like autos and houses are all likely to endure from go oning oil monetary value dazes. Fuel monetary value addition may ensue in a broad scope of impacts depending on merely how much of the addition can be passed on to consumers. In the planetary economic system and both the internal and external transit systems of the United States, significantly higher monetary values will act upon factors like †¢ The planetary economic system care and growing †¢ Marine and inland transportation cost †¢ Modal portion Deficit of Oil in United States- The Impact on nutrient production Harmonizing to Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco nutrient monetary values have gone so high since last few old ages. In U.S. , the nutrient monetary values increased by 5 per centum in 2012, while in 2011, the rising prices rate recorded was the highest in last 36 old ages. Though USDA estimated nutrient monetary values increase in between 2.5 to 3.5 per centum, yet rising prices is traveling to be even higher. The higher monetary values are dismaying as economic system is dead with 0 involvement rates. The major ground could be the short autumn of oil supply. Since gas and oil are besides extremely demanded in agricultural sector, a diminution in oil supply will finally raise monetary values of nutrient in approaching old ages. Harmonizing to Geologist Dale Allen Pfeiffer, population is lifting, hence, there is a demand to cut population growing rate by at least one 3rd in United provinces and two 3rd in the full universe ( Trehan & A ; Bharat, 1997 ) . Deficit of Oil in United States- The Impact on energy production The macroeconomic deductions of a supply shock-induced energy crisis are big, because energy is the resource used to work all other resources. When energy markets fail, an energy deficit develops. Electricity consumers may see deliberately engineered peal blackouts during periods of deficient supply or unexpected power outages, irrespective of the cause. Industrialized states such as United States are dependent on oil, and attempts to curtail the supply of oil would hold an inauspicious consequence on the economic systems of oil manufacturers ( Trehan & A ; Bharat, 1997 ) . Consumers will hold to bear increased monetary values of fuel and those who use electricity for cookery, H2O supply and warming, affects would besides be felt. The current scenarios hence indicated uninterrupted energy crisis and are besides a human-centered crises. MentionsJimenez, R. ( 2009 ) . The Industrial Impact of Oil Price Shocks: Evidence from the Industries of Six OECD Countries.Documentos de Trabajo,No. 0731. 2007 ; N. Velazquez. â€Å"Impact of Rising Energy Costss on Small Business.† Congress of the United States. House of Representatives.Avent, R. ( 2008 ) . A World Less Flat.Guardian, UK. p. 35Energy Information Administration ( EIA ) Survey, p. 133-145, 2012.U.S. Department of the Interior. U.S. Geological Survey, p. 205-239, 2008.U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis of Current Business, April 2013.Gordon, B. , Robert, J. ( 1975 ) . Alternate Responses of Policy to External Supply Shocks.Brookings Documents on Economic Activity, ( No. 1:1975 ) , pp. 183—206.Reserve Bank of San Francisco. ( 2012 ) . Oil Prices, Exchange Rates and the U.S. Economy: An Empirical Probe.Economic Review autumn 2012, pp. 25-33Trehan T. , & A ; Bharat, V. ( 1997 ) . Oil Supply Shocks and The U.S. Economy.Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco,We ekly Letter. P.198-209.Documentary: The Crude Awakening- ( The Oil Crash 2007 ) . ( 2007 ) . Retrieved from YouTube.comQuestion 3 Baltimore’s Harbor Point Project This undertaking is considered as one of the controversial undertakings due to match of grounds. One of the grounds is the environmental effects that are disturbed by the building stuff used in edifices and walls. The component that is involved in the building and set uping the environment is Chromium. This component is extremely unsafe for the living existences as it is one of the causes of malignant neoplastic disease disease. Most of the civil applied scientists recommend utilizing Cr as a building stuff but it is besides a cause of diseases for the human existences. There could be precautional steps adopted by the people to avoid the infection of these chemicals. Apart from the Cr consequence, the other contentions that revolve around the Baltimore’s seaport point undertaking are the location of the country. It is believed that the geographical place of this undertaking is non outstanding because there is an extreme are air force per unit area striking the project’s location that could possible weaken the building. The civil applied scientists have taken the constructive steps for the safety of the Baltimore’s seaport point undertaking. The pros and cons have to be considered so that in the hereafter clip, all possible factors could be handled with great attention and concentration. Tax Increment Financing ( TIF ) is one of the fiscal footings used for roll uping the revenue enhancements from the companies, organisations and on-going undertakings. There was an estimation of the paying of revenue enhancements around one hundred and seven US dollars to the authorities which itself is a immense sum. It is besides said that TIF are traveling to increase their rate of revenue enhancements so that maximal gross could be generated from such undertakings and events ( Dorsey & A ; James, 1981 ) . There are some of the points on which the Tax Increment Financing and seaport point undertaking can non hold or can non be on the same page. On these points, they ever struggles and contradicts and this arise to many confederacies. When it comes to answerability of the revenue enhancements being asked from the profitable undertakings like seaport point undertaking from the authorities side, they ever fail to turn out the exact sum been required. There has to be complete transparence of the fiscal statements and revenue enhancements being received from such undertakings. The crystal clear fiscal statement and hard currency books have to be recorded sing the revenue enhancements being collected by the Tax Increment Financing section. It is truly compulsory for such establishments to do the record of revenue enhancement aggregation for the Harbor Point Project as they are invariably turning and expects a great feedback from all ( Dixon, 1992 ) . Harbor point undertaking will demo that it is traveling to make more chances for the people or it would saturate the sum of occupations. It is fact that more earning grounds have to be tipped out as there is traveling to be building all around the topographic points. The rewards and the wages have to be equal for all labours irrespective of their background and vicinity. There has to biasness in every facet so that the society could impact a perfect gesture to others. It is a common fact that occupation are given to those who belong to the same vicinity of company, this unbalance occupation chance has to be eradicated. All people have to be given occupations on the footing of virtue and endowment and the tendency of unfairness has to be removed ( Dietrich & A ; Skinner, 1979 ) . There are certain entities that are involved in the Baltimore Harbor’s undertaking, for case the investors, employees, authorities employees, man of affairs, the people shacking in the specific country and the elective people. All these people are a portion of the Baltimore’s undertaking and all the safety steps have to be taken into consideration from each and every facet. Proposed solution One of the major jobs is the direction and deliverable of activities sing the Baltimore building. The jobs could be resolved if there is a better direction and perfect determination. All the issues would be possible resolved in the most professional manner. There has to be presence of unfastened broad infinites so that structural makeover could be built in much specific manner. This job is supposed to be corrected on clip so that there could be flawlessness at the terminal of the twenty-four hours. There have to be engaging of professional civil applied scientists who know their duty and acquire the issues solved ( Chesterman, 1978 ) . Mentions Chesterman, C. W. ( 1978 ) . The Field Guide to North American Rocks and Minerals: The Audubon Society, New York, Alfred Knopf, Inc. , p.850. Dietrich, R.V. , & A ; Skinner, B. J. ( 1979 ) . Rocks and Rock Minerals: New York, John Wiley & A ; Sons, p.319. Dixon, D. ( 1992 ) . The Practical Geologist: New York, Simon and Schuster, p.160. Dorsey, J. , & A ; Dilts, J. D. ( 1981 ) . A Guide to Baltimore Architecture: Centreville, Md. , Tidewater Publishers, p. 327.

Applied Linguistics: Critical Review of Journal Essay

Introduction Everybody can not be a translator although she or he knows a foreign language. Because of just having a good knowledge of foreign languages does not give any 100% assurance that a translation will be rendered reasonably well. A translator must be aware of the essence of the subject besides having a fine awareness of the language, including language rules, and spelling rules. This journal talking about research of Mohammad Reza Hojat Shamami’s study of the main issue at the core of theorizing translation practice and the feature of a good translator or how to be a good translator and of course what are the skills to become a Freelance Translator with its translation process. This knowledge which is generally written in the English language needs to be transmitted in various languages so that people who do not know how to speak and write the original language can get the knowledge necessary for industrial development and technological innovation to keep up with the rest of the world. To transmit this knowledge effectively, there is a need for competent translators in various languages. Summary In practice, there is always considerable variation in the types of translations produced by various translators of a particular text. This is because translation is essentially an Art and not Science. So many factors including proficiency in language, cultural background, writing flair, etc. Translation turns a communication in one language into a correct and understandable version of that communication in another language. Sometimes a translator has to take certain liberties with the original text in order to re-create the mood and style of the original. A translator does need certain tools to help him out in moments of difficulty. These tools can be in the form of good monolingual and bilingual dictionaries, encyclopedias, e-dictionaries, glossaries of technical and standard works, etc. pertaining to the SL text. He must have patience and should not be in a hurry to rush through while translating any text. To translate from one language into another has never been an easy endeavor . It is an exercise both painstaking and cumbersome and only those who have engaged themselves with translation work can realize the complex character of this Art. For the statement of the problem focusing on this fact, (Chomsky, 1965) how can someone turn into a good translator? And for the objective and the purpose of this research, it is important that translators are familiar with the product they are translating and also with the tools they are using. The translation process is not the replacement of one word with another, but the formation of concepts in another language. Knowledge of the product being translated provides more understandable products to the end user. Time and resources for educating translators should be planned well in advance. The methodologies of this research provide the translators with tools that increase productivity and that prevent translation of non-textual application data. When purchasing or developing a translation tool, the following features should be included. The literature review of this research, The Asian languages, particularly Persia, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese, represent a significant part of the translation industry in the United States, especially on the West Coast (Antal, 1963). Some agencies specialize in only Asian languages or even just one or two of them. Still others make the brunt of their money from these languages. For the result, we should know that it takes much more to be a good and skilled translator. For every talented text (Benjamin, 1992) converter, switching simultaneously between two universes is one of the most demanding tasks lot of training, learning, and experiences are needed to turn someone into a good translator. When engaging translators for your work, be sure to give them a detailed briefing on the work to be done (Brower, 1956). As professional translators we are supposed to improve our quality all the time. The first noteworthy conclusion we can draw from this paper is that translation is teachable because, on the one hand, it is a craft and consequently teachable as are other crafts; on the other hand, it is closely related to teaching language itself, although it is vital to make a distinction between the two. Another important point is that those engaged in teaching translation to students who are learning the target language along with translation should be aware that they are teaching two different things at the same time and that they should use a congruent eclectic method applicable to both. Critique The strength of this research includes its bravery by using the main issues at the core of theorizing translation practice and the feature of a good translator or how to be a good translator and of course what are the skills to become a Freelance Translator and Translation process which determining new standards to be good translators, comprehensive set of research method and qualitative and quantitative approaches used, and its results particularly in the broad area of the study of language and communication or linguistics especially translations field. On the contrary, the weaknesses of this research is mainly associated on the relevant issues that affect the used method and many quotations which are unnecessarily repeated just because it brings out similar messages. The use of references that were being published way back in the 1950’s (1953) while the research conducted in 2012 is also considered as the weakness because the applicability of the findings of these earlier re search studies could be questionable and irrelevant during those years. The concept is considered brave since it is implicitly attempted to redefining standards for being good translator. It has been a trend in language and communication studies that communication vehicles are subject of empirical and theoretical activities including science and technology and translation field becomes the bridge to connect two separated worlds and deliver messages from the result of the advance development in those fields. Furthermore, the comprehensive set of research method and qualitative and quantitative approaches used all throughout the research process can be considered as general solution to the drawbacks of each method or approach used in research. The wide-ranging and multiple tools used in quantitative approach of analysis addresses the issue of validity and reliability while the qualitative approach of analysis supported the limited ability of numbers to provide a complete description in response to a research question or problem. Lastly, the conclusion drawn from the research activity contributes in bridging the identified gaps in the existing body of translations field between real translators and the people who just translate languages. It is also assumed that this research article is another research in translation fields which is more like opinions and expose the important of translations that provides deep understanding in the related field. However, it must be considered that the findings found in this research article should be supported by other factors that are not included in its totality yet believed to have some degree of importance or effect (e.g. political and social or societal beliefs of the participants). Conclusion From this research of Mohammad Reza Hojat Shamami, we can find out the way of being a competent and good translator which is not only based on the knowledge of any foreign language, but it also requires some skills and rules. Chomsky’s 7 explicit criteria have represented what tools (skills) we need, like to sharpen our translation skills by reading different translation of different types of texts; to be more aware of different styles of writing and editing; to understand various expressions, idioms, and specific vocabulary; have the act of translating like to accept the significance of the source text within the framework of the source-language discourse; to improve the quality of our translations by being well-aware of styles of speaking, social stratification related to the foreign language; have to become ourselves attentive of different knowledge-providing sources like bilingual dictionaries, encyclopedias to know the meaning of words in specific situation; and the last is to know the sentence structure of indirect speech and different figures of speech in like hyperbole, irony. But however this research also has weaknesses besides its strength which already gives us sort of advice and translation knowledge, however the weakness can be questionable, from the reference which was taken from long time ago until the absence of supporting related issues in other fields like politics, societal beliefs that are actually worth to know as evidence.

buy custom AGL Resources essay

buy custom AGL Resources essay AGL resources Inc. is a company based in Atlanta. It is one of the oldest enterprises dealing with the distribution of natural gas to six states: Georgia, New Jersey, Virginia, Florida Tennessee, and Maryland in America. The company has been in business for more than 150 years. It is listed at the NYSE and serves 4.5 million end users. In addition to distribution, it provides asset management services to natural gas wholesalers both in the US and Canada (Annual Report, 2011). Natural gas is 92% efficient compared to electricitys 30% and with domestic abundance of natural gas, AGL has been able to carry out its operations successfully for a long time (Annual Report, 2011). Energy Australia, on the other hand, is one of the largest and oldest Australian energy supply corporations that sells gas and electricity to consumers in many states. It was established under the Energy Services corporations Act 1995 and the State Owned Corporations Act 1989 (Annual Report, 2009/10). It is also governed by other subordinate statutory and legislative requirements passed and stipulated by the government through Australian Energy Regulator (AER). It has a customer base of 1.3 million around Australia and targets both residential and business energy consumers. Energy Australia also distributes electricity around Australia by operating one of the largest NSWs electricity networks (Wallenius, Platt, McKenzie, 2008). Currently Energy Australia moves towards providing green renewable energy and offers 5% discount to their customers who consume both electricity and gas from the same supplier (Annual Report, 2009). Fundamental Philosophical Core Business One major difference between AGL and Energy Australia is based on their core products. AGL deals with distribution of natural gas to end users across six states in the United States while Energy Australia suppliers both gas and electricity to end users. The company, however, sold its retail business to TRUenergy in 2011 as a strategy to concentrate on the electricity delivery. AGL serves nearly 4.5 million end users and has been an active market player for more than 150 years. In addition to distribution, it provides asset management services to natural gas whole sellers both in the US and Canada (Annual Report, 2011). In comparison, Energy Australia serves a customer base of 1.3 million around Australia which is less than the number in AGL and targets both residential and business energy consumers. Energy Australia also distributes electricity in Australia by operating one of the largest NSWs electricity networks (Wallenius, Platt, McKenzie, 2008). According to Annual Report 2009, Energy Australia moves towards providing green renewable energy and offered 5% discount to their customers who consume both electricity and gas from the same supplier. Business and Industry As it was stated before, AGLs core business is the distribution of natural gas. The company is also engaged in various related and complimentary businesses like natural gas asset management, logistic activities, and storage among others. Management of these ventures is undertaken through four segments which include distribution operations, retail energy operations, energy investments, and wholesale services. Each of the departments has its head and six distribution utilities that construct and manage gas pipelines in each of the states. Natural gas industry is very competitive with several players in the market. Further, the industry is subjected to strict government regulatory measures that guide pricing, distribution, and storage. In Georgia, the Public Service Commission sets the base rate for pricing. Given that AGL operates in six different states, the company is affected by the regulatory changes that vary from state to state. Unlike AGL resources, Energy Australia is an Australian government corporation, the core business of which is selling of natural gas and electricity to clients in Australia. It supplies gas and electricity to clients both in residential homes and in the business places. It is also a distributor of electricity to NSWs wide electricity network around Australia: in Australian Capital Territory, South Australia, Queensland, NSW and Victoria through a partnership deal with TRUenergy Company (Pitts, 1973). The main concern of Energy Australia is providing sustainable, reliable, green energy to its customers with safety being a top priority for all employees and clients (Hinnawi, 1981). Management and Governance Governance in a firm includes organizational structure coupled with the activities of the board of directors and the audit committee. Board of directors represents top management of AGL. It is directly responsible for companys day to day operations in line with the Georgia Business Corporation Code. Board of directors supports business operations through the provision of qualified managerial skills. AGL has its governance regulations outlined in a special document that incorporates several issues e.g. selection of chairman and CEO, time commitment of directors, frequency of committee meetings, evaluation of CEO, and assessment of Boards performance among other issues. To gain understanding of AGLs governance system, it is important to appreciate the corporate charters and bylaws and the organizations code of ethics (Annual Report, 2011). The corporate charter is issued by the state in which the company operates. It recognizes a company as a separate legal entity. Among other things it includes the exact name of the organization, date of establishment, types of business activities it is authorized to conduct, and the nature and amount of stock it is authorized to issue. Bylaws, on the other hand, include the description of voting methods available to directors in making major decisions, powers of corporate executives, and frequency of shareholder meetings among others (Annual Report, 2010). The code of ethics entails organizational values and ethical standards and must be frequently communicated to staff. Each public company, AGL included, is required by law to disclose the code of ethics. Any company that fails to do so must state this fact and explain the reasons of this failure to the regulatory authority. Any amendment to any of these codes must equally be disclosed. Energy Australia, on the other hand, being a state owned corporation is governed under the Energy Services Corporations act 1995 by Board of Directors, Audit Compliance team, Human Resource team, Capital Investment team, Retail team and other sub committees (Annual Report, 2009). According to the IBM, selected as systems assimilation partner, the Board of Directors is responsible for making key decisions regarding the business. These include safety measures, provision of green energy through the Smart-Grid Smart-City technology, reliability and sustainability of energy for all customers, corporate responsibility, and financial performance of the firm (Clean Energy Astralia, 2009). The board of directors operates at the top of Energy Australias level of management and is responsible for ensuring stability in business through everyday provision of qualified managerial techniques and skills. This role is similar to that of the AGLs board of directors. Similarly, Energy Australia also op erates under codes of conduct and ethics that outline organizational values and ethical standards of behavior. To be integrated in daily operations, these values must be communicated to all staff members frequently to ensure compliance. Each state corporation, Energy Australia being one of them, is obligated by law to disclose the code of ethics to all staff including those that refer to senior management. Future Challenges that AGL and Energy Australia May Face There exist several business risks that energy firms like AGL and Energy Australia are exposed to. These risks must be minimized, while other independent challenges that vary from one company to another must be taken into account as well. Challenges Faced by AGL Given the fact that most of the business operations of AGL are subject to routine regulations by the relevant authorities, compliance costs are a significant part of expenses that the entity must handle. Legislation enacted in Georgia in 1997 that provided for deregulation of gas distribution stated that AGL operations and personnel were to be recognized as substantial expenses. This had an important impact on the financial statement of a company (Annual Report, 2011). This regulation denied the management team a chance to independently make major decisions regarding expansion, and eventually led to a decrease of companys revenues. For example, the table below indicates the costs that the regulatory authority mandated AGL to pay to remediate the previous MGP operating sites (Annual Report, 2011). In millions Cost estimate range Amount recorded Expected costs over next twelve Illinois $134 $216 $134 $19 Georgia and Florida 42 98 58 7 New Jersey 124 174 124 9 North Carolina 10 16 11 2 Total $310 $504 $327 $37 The storage portfolios of AGL include contracts that are paid on delivery of commodity or cash. If the values of these contacts shift in unforeseen direction, then the resulting losses to AGL will be unbearable. This risk exists due to the inflammable nature of the gasses. The infrastructure necessary for safe distribution of gas requires a colossal amount of capital. This means that any further expansion and improvement projects on the existing infrastructure will require large financial support that the company may not raise from the retained earnings. Funds to finance these projects are, therefore, subject to prevailing economic climate. Failure to secure the company financially would, therefore, have a negative impact on its expansion. This in turn will not allow the company to supply energy to new customers as well as it will slow down overall revenue growth. Transport and storage risks. Distribution and storage of gas carry with it several hazards that range from operating risks like leakages to third party damages and mechanical failures. All might cause significant financial losses to a company. In addition, there is the risk of severe injury to staff, damage to property, and environmental pollution challenges. For AGL to minimize these risks a comprehensive review of protection measures needs to be done, such as reexamining the insurance policies against some of the most serious risks. Financial risk as a result of climate change. Many companies in the word today are paying serious attention to global warming as a result of greenhouse gases. As a result, legislators are coming up with very strict laws that impact the energy industry. These laws result in increased operational costs, decline in demand for natural gas, which is the core product of AGL resources, and impact consumer prices of energy (Annual Report, 2011). With further implementation of environmental laws, companies cash flow statements will be impacted to a great extent. This is a challenge Energy Australia is also likely to face in future. This is due to the belief that pollution from burning natural gas and the environmental changes have led to unpredictable and unreliable rainfall distribution, which has direct effects on the generation of hydropower. Inflation and increased gas costs. Future operations of companies are influenced by global gas prices, which are not likely to go down in the near future. Given that infrastructural improvements are capital intensive, inflation adversely affects acquisition of new machinery necessary to improve the existing infrastructure. This is because new purchases are at a much higher price because of inflationary forces. There should, therefore, be a constant policy for improvements that would facilitate continual investment in infrastructure. This objective can be achieved through implementation of proper information technology systems. Challenges Faced by Energy Australia Inflation and increased gas and electricity costs. Due to the global economic recession, companies like Energy Australia that are fully depended on customer consumption may not witness upward trends in revenue collection in the future. Their prospects in the future are also dependent on global gas prices, which are likely to be unstable. Instability in gas prices results from high costs due to inflation, which in its turn eventually leads to reduced customer consumption. Inflation also reduces chances for success of possible expansion programs due to sky rocketed costs of new machinery and equipment necessary to improve infrastructure (Cubria et al, 2011). Distribution and storage safety risks. Gas and electricity are commodities associated with very serious safety risks to both Energy Australia employees and their customers. Even after selling the retail gas business to TRUenergy, safety performance of the firm regarding electricity distribution is still below acceptable rate. This is a result of the massive network development carried out by inexperienced staff (Annual Report, 2009). Leakages from gas distribution lines is another risk that negatively impacts environment and can also lead to contamination of nature and cause damage to human health (Hinnawi, 1981). Energy Australias management team must, therefore, create necessary measures to minimize the challenge in the future to guarantee safety to employees and consumers. Important Decisions Made by the Two Competitors AGL reviewed its depreciation rates that amounted to total $ 2 million per annum in 2010. This was as a result of the May 2010 authorization of new depreciation rates by authorities in Tennessee for Chattanooga (Annual Report, 2011). This indicates the negative impact of regulations on profitability declarations. In March 2011 Energy Australia signed an agreement to sell its retail business to TRUenergy, which is another gas and electricity supplier. This partnership was a strategy that has helped increase the market base to over 2.5 million consumers across Australian Capital Territory, South Australia, Queensland, NSW and Victoria (Cubria et al, 2011). Similarly, in March 2012 Energy Australia signed another five-year partnership with Swimming Australia to bethe new main sponsor of the Australian swim team. This is a part of companys marketing effort to improve its public relations and become closely associated with all sport fans. Fundamental Differences AGLs core business is the distribution of natural gas within six states that it operates in. The company is, however, engaged in numerous related and complimentary activities like natural gas asset management, logistic activities, and storage among others. Management of the various ventures is undertaken with a help of four elements which are: distribution operations, retail energy operations, energy investments, and wholesale services. Energy Australia is a corporation that operates within the energy industry, core business of which is selling natural gas and electricity to clients in Australia. It supplies gas and electricity to clients both in residential homes and in the business places. It is also a distributor of electricity to NSWs wide electricity network around Australia in Australian Capital Territory, South Australia, Queensland, NSW and Victoria through a partnership deal with TRUenergy Company (Cubria et al, 2011). Specific Competitive Advantages of Each Rival Energy Australia is one of the largest and oldest Australian gas and electricity energy supply Corporation that sells gas and electricity to consumers in many states. Being a government institution, it has competitive advantage over the other competitors since it distributes the largest NSWs electricity networks (Wallenius, Platt McKenzie, 2008). According to Annual Report 2009, Energy Australia is moving towards providing green renewable energy and offers 5% discount to their customers who consume both electricity and gas from the same supplier. This move has created positive image about the firm, which is now viewed as a responsible organization with interest in environmental protection and consumer safety. Strategic Moves Made by one Rival that Might Affect the Other The major strategy currently adopted by AGL is the purchase of Nicor in December 2011. This strategy has increased the market share of the company since all the former Nicor customer base is fully added to AGL (Annual Report, 2011). This gives AGL a competitive advantage over other competitors. On the contrary, Energy Australia sold its retail business to TRUenergy but maintained the wholesale business. This has equally expanded its customer base to over 2.5 million in one year. Company Success Stories The strategy used by Energy Australia to sell its retail business in March 2011 to TRUenegy brought success to the company since it managed to increase its customer base to more than 2.5 million, which is nearly 100% increase in number of customers within one year. The company has also been showing the positive trend in revenues and profitability owing to its dominance of the Australian energy market (Cubria et al, 2011). Similarly, AGL has also managed to expand its share due to the recent acquisition of Nicor in December 2011(Annual Report, 2011). This is expected to inject more revenues into the company. The companys financial reports have also been showing this positive trend over the years. Comparison of Performance Statistics In 2011, AGL Resources Inc. achieved a net income of $172 million, which is $2.14 per basic share and $2.12 per diluted share. This illustrated a drop from 2010 income that was $234 million, making $3.02 and $3.00 per basic share and diluted share respectively, because a substantial part of revenue was used for the acquisition of Nicor. When expenses related to Nicor merger in December 9, 2011 totaling to $64 million were excluded, the new adjusted EPS reached 2.92 USD per diluted share in 2011. The GAAP and adjusted figures for the full year comprised 22 days of contribution received from Nicor after acquisition. AGL natural gas serves approximately 4.5 million, which is the largest share in a market (Annual Report, 2011). Energy Australia in 2009/10 achieved earnings of $913 million before interest and tax from revenues of $3.98 billion. This was higher than the earnings before interest and tax (EBIt) recorded in 2008/09 which was $596 million. This was, however, well above the target. The reports of the two companies indicate the upward trend in their financial performance. Conclusion AGL Resources and Energy Australia energy companies operate in different geographical areas with slightly different competitive environments. Unlike AGL resources, Energy Australia is a state corporation operating under the Energy Services corporations Act 1995 and the State Owned Corporations Act 1989, thus enjoying government support. The core product for AGL is natural gas while Energy Australia supplies both natural gas and electricity (Annual Report, 2011). There is a number of differences and similarities in the operation of the two companies relating to governance styles, future challenges that the two energy firms may face, important decisions made, competitive advantages enjoyed over their rivals, strategic decisions made, the successes, and the general performance of the companies. Buy custom AGL Resources essay

Portable Art From Upper Paleolithic Period

Portable Art From Upper Paleolithic Period Portable art (known as mobiliary art or art mobilier in French) typically refers to objects carved during the European Upper Paleolithic period (40,000-20,000 years ago) that can be moved or carried as personal objects. The oldest example of portable art, however, is from Africa nearly 100,000 years older than anything in Europe. Further, ancient art is found around the globe far from Europe: the category has had to expand to serve the data that have been collected. Categories of Paleolithic Art Traditionally, Upper Paleolithic art is divided into two broad categoriesparietal (or cave) art, including the paintings at Lascaux, Chauvet, and Nawarla Gabarnmang; and mobiliary (or portable art), meaning art that can be carried, such as the famous Venus figurines. Portable art consists of objects carved from stone, bone, or antler, and they take a wide variety of forms. Small, three-dimensional sculpted objects such as the widely known Venus figurines, carved animal bone tools, and two-dimensional relief carvings or plaques are all forms of portable art. Figurative and Non-Figurative Two classes of portable art are recognized today: figurative and non-figurative. Figurative portable art includes three-dimensional animal and human sculptures, but also figures carved, engraved, or painted on stones, ivory, bones, reindeer antlers, and other media. Non-figurative art includes abstract drawings carved, incised, pecked or painted in patterns of grids, parallel lines, dots, zigzag lines, curves, and filigrees. Portable art objects are made by a wide variety of methods, including grooving, hammering, incising, pecking, scraping, polishing, painting, and staining. Evidence of these ancient art forms can be quite subtle, and one reason for the broadening of the category well beyond Europe is that with the advent of optical and scanning electron microscopy, many more examples of art have been discovered. Oldest Portable Art The oldest portable art discovered to date is from South Africa and made 134,000 years ago, consisting of a piece of scored ochre at Pinnacle Point Cave. Other pieces of ochre with engraved designs include one from Klasies River cave 1 at 100,000 years ago, and Blombos cave, where engraved designs on 17 pieces of ochre were retrieved, the oldest dated to 100,000-72,000 years ago. Ostrich eggshell was first known to have been used as a medium for engraved portable art in southern Africa at Diepkloof Rockshelter and Klipdrift Shelter in South Africa and Apollo 11 cave in Namibia between 85-52,000. The earliest figurative portable art in South Africa is from the Apollo 11 cave, where seven portable stone (schist) plaques were recovered, made approximately 30,000 years ago. These plaques include drawings of rhinoceros, zebras, and humans, and possibly human-animal beings (called therianthropes). These images are painted with brown, white, black and red pigments made of a wide variety of substances, including red ochre, carbon, white clay, black manganese, white ostrich eggshell, hematite, and gypsum. Oldest in Eurasia The oldest figurines in Eurasia are ivory figurines dated to the Aurignacian period between 35,000-30,000 years ago in the Lone and Ach valleys in Swabian alps. Excavations at the Vogelherd Cave recovered several small ivory figurines of several animals; Geissenklà ¶sterle cave contained more than 40 pieces of ivory. Ivory figurines are widespread in the Upper Paleolithic, extending well into central Eurasia and Siberia. The earliest portable art object recognized by archaeologists was the Neschers antler, a 12,500-year-old reindeer antler with a stylized partial figure of a horse carved in the surface in left profile. This object was found at Neschers, an open-air Magdalenian settlement in Auvergne region of France and recently discovered within the British Museum collections. It was likely part of the archaeological materials excavated from the site between 1830 and 1848. Why Portable Art? Why our ancient ancestors made portable art so very long ago is unknown and realistically unknowable. However, there are plenty of possibilities that are interesting to contemplate. During the mid-twentieth century, archaeologists and art historians explicitly connected portable art to shamanism. Scholars compared the use of portable art by modern and historical groups and recognized that portable art, specifically figural sculpture, was often related to folklore and religious practices. In ethnographic terms, portable art objects could be considered amulets or totems: for a while, even terms like rock art were dropped from the literature, because it was considered dismissive of the spiritual component that was attributed to the objects. In a fascinating set of studies beginning in the late 1990s, David Lewis-Williams made the explicit connection between ancient art and shamanism when he suggested that abstract elements on rock art are similar to those images seen by people in visions during altered states of consciousness. Other Interpretations A spiritual element may well have been involved with some portable art objects, but wider possibilities have since been put forward by archaeologists and art historians, such as portable art as personal ornamentation, toys for children, teaching tools, or objects expressing personal, ethnic, social, and cultural identity. For example, in an attempt to look for cultural patterns and regional similarities, Rivero and Sauvet looked at a large set of representations of horses on portable art made from bone, antler, and stone during the Magdalenian period in northern Spain and southern France. Their research revealed a handful of traits that seem to be particular to regional groups, including the use of double manes and prominent crests, traits that persist through time and space. Recent Studies Other recent studies include that of Danae Fiore, who studied the rate of decoration used on bone harpoon heads and other artifacts from Tierra del Fuego, during three periods dated between 6400-100 BP. She found that the decoration of harpoon heads increased when sea mammals (pinnipeds) were a key prey for the people; and decreased when there was an increase in consumption of other resources (fish, birds, guanacos). Harpoon design during this time was widely variable, which Fiore suggests were created through a free cultural context or fostered through a social requirement of individual expression. Lemke and colleagues reported more than 100 incised stones at the Clovis-Early Archaic layers of the Gault site in Texas, dated 13,000-9,000 cal BP. They are among the earliest art objects from a secure context in North America. The nonfigurative decorations include geometric parallel and perpendicular lines inscribed on limestone tablets, chert flakes, and cobbles. Sources Abadà ­a, Oscar Moro. Paleolithic Art: A Cultural History. Journal of Archaeological Research, Manuel R. Gonzlez Morales, Volume 21, Issue 3, SpringerLink, January 24, 2013. Bello SM, Delbarre G, Parfitt SA, Currant AP, Kruszynski R, and Stringer CB. Lost and found: the remarkable curatorial history of one of the earliest discoveries of Palaeolithic portable art. Antiquity 87(335):237-244. Farbstein R. The Significance of Social Gestures and Technologies of Embellishment in Paleolithic Portable Art. Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory 18(2):125-146. Fiore D. Art in time. Diachronic rates of change in the decoration of bone artifacts from the Beagle Channel region (Tierra del Fuego, Southern South America). Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 30(4):484-501. Lemke AK, Wernecke DC, and Collins MB. Early Art in North America: Clovis and Later Paleoindian Incised Artifacts from the Gault Site, Texas (41bl323). American Antiquity 80(1):113-133. Lewis-Williams JD. Agency, art, and altered consciousness: A motif in French (Quercy) Upper Paleolithic parietal art. Antiquity 71:810-830. Moro Abadà ­a O, and Gonzlez Morales MR. Towards a genealogy of the concept of paleolithic mobiliary art. Journal of Anthropological Research 60(3):321-339. Rifkin RF, Prinsloo LC, Dayet L, Haaland MM, Henshilwood CS, Diz EL, Moyo S, Vogelsang R, and Kambombo F. Characterising pigments on 30 000-year-old portable art from Apollo 11 Cave, Karas Region, southern Namibia. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 5:336-347. Rivero O, and Sauvet G. Defining Magdalenian cultural groups in Franco-Cantabria by the formal analysis of portable artworks. Antiquity 88(339):64-80. Roldn Garcà ­a C, Villaverde Bonilla V, Rà ³denas Marà ­n I, and Murcia Mascarà ³s S. A Unique Collection of Palaeolithic Painted Portable Art: Characterization of Red and Yellow Pigments from the Parpallà ³ Cave (Spain). PLOS ONE 11(10):e0163565. Volkova YS. Upper Paleolithic Portable Art in Light of Ethnographic Studies. Archaeology, Ethnology, and Anthropology of Eurasia 40(3):31-37.

The Culture of the Israel People And Historical Back Ground of the Essay

The Culture of the Israel People And Historical Back Ground of the Socio-cultural Setting of the Value, Norms And Religious Belief of Israel People - Essay Example This essay stresses that major work of art orchestras, comprising the widely known and acclaimed Israel’s Philharmonic Orchestra, choirs, an opera company and number of chamber ensembles present all over the country. Expert dance groups, plus folk dance troupes, perform on a regular basis before excited spectators. The connection linking the country's past and present is validated through several recorded archeological spots, symbolizing thousands of years of history. This paper makes a conclusion that in the Middle East region little political change had taken place since last three decades. As a matter of fact the governments of the Middle East had shown an outstanding stability. Apart from Islamic revolution in Iran and a military takeover in Sudan in 1989, the region had been steady. Almost all heads of state had been ruling for long period. Iran, the only nation in the region underwent a revolution in the past 25 years, passed on the power to new leaders through elections. Assassinations in Egypt and Israel caused in new leaders but did not alter the basic political arrangement in those countries. It is clear the Western cultural had influence in the Middle East especially in Israel. The socio cultural setting of Israel has lot of diversities because of emigration of Jews from various countries. In conclusion one can say that the modern nation of Israel evolved as a result of facing constant struggles and challenges.

Performance Appraisal Systems in Human Resource Management Research Paper - 1

Performance Appraisal Systems in Human Resource Management - Research Paper Example The beauty and challenge of managing organisations are achieving unity in diversity towards a collective goal. In this context, control becomes inevitable in the organisation because without it, the organisation will forfeit itself, as the organisation is a pre-determined social order collectively working towards one goal achieved through controlled performance (Buchanan & Huczynski 1997, quoted ‘What is an organisation?’ n.d: 1). With employees at the centre of the organisation, productivity can only be achieved if and only if employees perform efficiently and effectively. In this context, human resources mean â€Å"the traits that people bring to the workplace [organisation] – intelligence, aptitude, commitment, tacit knowledge and skills, and ability to learn† (Javed 2009: 3). And one of the many old ways management achieves this is through performance appraisal. Performance appraisal can be historically traced back to Fredrick Winslow Taylor’s pioneering studies of Time and Motion, but as a system management tool for evaluating employees’ performance, it really dates back to World War II (Steel Authority of India Ltd. 2008: 3), yet, it has become an integral part of the life of organisation, that has continually evolved until today trying to respond to the rapidly changing times and needs. Having a strong impact on employees’ working lives, performance appraisal has become not only an issue dividing management and employees into two contending sides but also a favourite topic of debate among theorists and practitioners.  

An Analysis of Cross-Cultural Communication and Negotiation in the Assignment

An Analysis of Cross-Cultural Communication and Negotiation in the International Management Arena - Assignment Example This move is particularly important because Ashby (2008) advises that â€Å"these unpalatable truths contribute to the increasing problems† facing companies. This is so because even though misconceptions are generally accepted to be falsehood, they at times impact on the lives of natives such that they begin to adapt their ways of life towards them (Osei, 2009). In the first place, it is believed that Nigeria is a country blighted with the problem of political and civil tension, instability and unrest. This is considered as a misconception not necessarily because Nigeria never records any instances of political unrest but that the degree of occurrence might be more than suggested. In a typical example of political tension, â€Å"On 19 October 2010, a militant group threatened to attack political campaign gatherings attended by Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan† (Australian Department of Affairs, 2011). Such political tensions are believed to impact negatively on busi nesses wishing to start new ventures in the country because investors cannot be fully assured of the defense of the constitution of the country, which protects the investor and other foreigners. This not withstanding, it is important for Fosters to be aware that for the past fifteen (15) years, Nigeria has upheld it national constitution without a coup d’etat that overdraws the constitution (Dawodu, 2007).

Journal entries 1 and 2 Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Journal entries 1 and 2 - Assignment Example After the preliminary greetings and a few questions on his part about my background (both educational and social), which I later figured out was to make him comfortable as well, we got down to the interview. The questions I asked were not direct hence required further explanations after the â€Å"yes† or â€Å"no† and this is what made the interview take long. All the questions were structured in such a way that they would eventually provide answers my objectives without having to necessarily ask directly. The challenges he provided that the nurse educator encountered when performing his roles were from both a subjective and objective view and since he had an experience of over thirty years as a nurse educator, these views were from a professional eye. According to him in his interview, there were many challenges some which were easily solved and expected but others which were unexpected, unsolvable and which had made quite a few number of the nurse educators opt to change career, move to another specialty of nursing and others leaving nursing all together after losing their license to practice (especially those that could not keep their professional and personal involvement with student apart) (Clarke, 2006). The biggest of these challenges was time management especially since one had duties as a teacher, a faculty member, other administrative roles and even the personal life. Other than that, the other challenge was on ensuring cultural competence and gender sensitivity when teaching and even socializing since students and faculty members had different cultural beliefs (I am experienced in this area and it will not become a problem to me). The nurse educator also had the challenge of ensuring that the teaching was fostering the cognitive, affective and even psychomotor development in line with the nurse educator competency and roles (Bastable, 2008). The other minor challenges included: coming up with an unbiased

Business Plan for an adult strip bar in South Africa Assignment

Business Plan for an adult strip bar in South Africa - Assignment Example Page 2 Mission: 'To delight customers in a way that keeps them coming back for more'---- 'Come 'it's the ultimate cloud nine experience!' Keys to success: Adhering to the laws that govern the business of adult strip club Ensure that every customer and staff is above the legal age of 18. Management and staff to strictly follow rules of the house Ensure rules of the house are properly communicated to all customers. Check papers of every staff and dancer, including nationality status and previous record of prostitution through a private detective agency. Always alert customers politely but firmly in case of their misbehavior with dancers and ensure there is a staff always close by in case of a table dance or lap dance in private booths. Company Summary: Ownership: Mark who is the sole proprietor of the bar and is liable to legal and financial claims stated against the bar will own the business 'Cloud nine'. Mark will be liable to pay taxes in accordance with the income tax act of the state from time to time as instructed by the government. The owner Mark will face all criminal and civil action in case of law breaking. Staff: The bar will start with an initial of 8 dancers and an in house governance staff of 10. This excludes two cooks 2 and 6 waiters. Size: Initially the bar will have 12 tables with a seating capacity of 36. The private booths for the private booth dance. Services offered: The bar offers strip dancing for customers with food and drinks. This means Page 3 only strip dancing and no sex. Sex for money is not offered here as customers are not allowed to touch dancers .The dancing can be on stage, on the customers table, a lap dance or private booth dance and the... 29th August 2008, 'Tourism in South Africa' 'Media Club South Africa.com' Viewed on 1st October 2008, http://www.mediaclubsouthafrica.com/index.phpoption=com_content&view=article&id=91%3ATourism+Industry+Overvew&catid=41%3Avisit_bg&Itemid=58

Analysis Interpretation of Antigone by Sophocles Essay

Analysis Interpretation of Antigone by Sophocles - Essay Example In spite of this threat, Antigone is caught when she tries to bury her brother. Creon leaves Antigone to starve in a cave. And when her fianc, Haemon comes to save her, she has already hanged herself. Haemnon dies and his mother and Creon's wife, also kills herself in grief. The play Antigone is based on conflict between two laws, and forces the audience to decide whose law is greater: God's or man's Thesis Facing the characters with moral choice, Sophocles depicts that God's laws are more important for people because they reflect eternal truth and morality while man's laws are based on power and authority of the ruler only. At the beginning of the drama, Antigone breaks the law of her uncle, Creon, and decides to bury her dead brother against his orders. Sophocles portrays that characters of the play follow God's laws as a source of morality and traditions, norms and social values. In spite of the fact that every epoch creates its own values and moral rules changing our understanding about a self and life, there are some universal laws which cannot be broken. For instance, Antigone follows God's laws as the only authority of truth and moral obligations. This funeral rite had been followed for centuries and Antigone could not break this tradition.

Business Plan for an adult strip bar in South Africa Assignment

Business Plan for an adult strip bar in South Africa - Assignment Example Page 2 Mission: 'To delight customers in a way that keeps them coming back for more'---- 'Come 'it's the ultimate cloud nine experience!' Keys to success: Adhering to the laws that govern the business of adult strip club Ensure that every customer and staff is above the legal age of 18. Management and staff to strictly follow rules of the house Ensure rules of the house are properly communicated to all customers. Check papers of every staff and dancer, including nationality status and previous record of prostitution through a private detective agency. Always alert customers politely but firmly in case of their misbehavior with dancers and ensure there is a staff always close by in case of a table dance or lap dance in private booths. Company Summary: Ownership: Mark who is the sole proprietor of the bar and is liable to legal and financial claims stated against the bar will own the business 'Cloud nine'. Mark will be liable to pay taxes in accordance with the income tax act of the state from time to time as instructed by the government. The owner Mark will face all criminal and civil action in case of law breaking. Staff: The bar will start with an initial of 8 dancers and an in house governance staff of 10. This excludes two cooks 2 and 6 waiters. Size: Initially the bar will have 12 tables with a seating capacity of 36. The private booths for the private booth dance. Services offered: The bar offers strip dancing for customers with food and drinks. This means Page 3 only strip dancing and no sex. Sex for money is not offered here as customers are not allowed to touch dancers .The dancing can be on stage, on the customers table, a lap dance or private booth dance and the... 29th August 2008, 'Tourism in South Africa' 'Media Club South Africa.com' Viewed on 1st October 2008, http://www.mediaclubsouthafrica.com/index.phpoption=com_content&view=article&id=91%3ATourism+Industry+Overvew&catid=41%3Avisit_bg&Itemid=58

Organizational Behavior at My Company Essay Example for Free

Organizational Behavior at My Company Essay To understand how the concept of organizational behavior can be applied and described through the work environment of My Company, I will first explore a general definition of what Organizational Behavior is and then relate how the individual components apply. According to Stephen Robbins, author of our Organizational Behavior textbook, Organizational behavior is a field of study that investigates the impact that individuals, groups, and structure have on behavior within organizations for the purpose of applying such knowledge toward improving an organizations effectiveness(9). The first component of this definition is to see the impact that the individuals have, followed by the impact of the groups, and then finally the impact of the structure. I will expand on each of these areas and relate them to the current practices within My Company. It is probable that the single most prevalent aspect of organizational behavior through the eyes of an employee would be the impact that they personally have on the company. What this implies, is that when I try to describe the impact individuals have to the company, it will be solely from my perspective as a non-managerial employee. Had my perspective been from that of an employee in a management-level position, it would most likely differ. From the experiences that I have had in the two and a half years that I have worked at My Company, it seems to me that individuals are encouraged to take the initiative to make their work as productive as possible. I have been part of many changes that have been initiated by non-management level employees to try and streamline and improve efficiencies within the company. This has led me to believe that one of the in-use espoused values is that of empowering all levels of employees with the ability to make changes that will directly affect their p articular areas. When evaluating the group component and how that relates to the My Company environment, I am going to make the assumption that a group is the equivalent of a department. These departmental segregations help to increase internal accountability and define what each group will be responsible for. Each group has its own independent structure and operates a little differently depending on the style of the individual manager. Many of these groups (departments) can be broken down into subgroups to further delegate  components of work. The outcome is that within each department or group there is a hierarchy where you will find different forms of leadership. Some of these subgroup leaders lead by being experts in their fields rather than having a title of being a manager. Within my group there is a distinct leader that I work for. I have found that if I am struggling with a project or if I cannot define the scope of a job that I am working on often times I can rely on help from the leader of my group to help achieve the desired results. If for some reason components (individuals) within my subgroup started to perform poorly, the outcome could have serious consequences to the productivity of our entire department. Conversely, if we were able to drastically improve performance metrics for our areas of responsibility, we would then be able to offset some work from other areas within the group. This interdependence of the subgroups has helped our group to have more control of the aspects that will impact how productively the company will continue to be going forward. Through the process of defining the groups within My Company, I have made reference to the internal group structure. Instead of rehashing this same information and tying it back to the structural component mentioned in the definition of organizational behavior, I am going to relate how my manager is able to structure her team to be as effective and productive as possible. Looking through the four essential management functions (Robbins 5) defined in our reading material, (planning, organizing, leading and controlling) I am able to see how my manager struggles to constantly apply these ideas in her day to day responsibilities. Our group organizes weekly meetings where we try to plan what tasks we would like to undertake in the near future. My manager is responsible for keeping these meetings in focus so that overall group objectives are met. Through controlling and delegating within these meetings, she has shown the ability to lead our group and utilize different strengths of individuals to maximize our effectiveness. Being able to take more of an observational role in this situation has helped me to understand the different idiosyncrasies that exist within our company and department. By identifying these quirks I feel that I am able to better understand how many of the different internal components and people must work together in order to achieve desired results. This has helped me to recognize, at least  at the group level, how one can utilize many of the resources to maximize efficiencies within My Company. Works Cited Robbins, Stephen. Organizational Behavior. New Jersey: Pearson, 2001.

Effects of the financial crisis on various UK industries

Effects of the financial crisis on various UK industries Economic Report The above graph shows the FTSE 100 index in the 5 years to the 14th October 2010.   The index value at any particular time is based on the share prices of the top one hundred by value with each organisation being weighted in proportion to its total market value (Pike, Neale, p.38 2009).   Despite this index only being a small percentage of the total companies in the United Kingdom it generally reflects the performance of much of the market. Prior to the financial crisis of 2008 leading to the crash in the markets-shown in the first quarter of 2009-investment in government debt was regarded as relatively risk free.   It is a sign of the fragile economy situation globally that investors no longer view such investments as a sure thing (Oakley, 2010).   This credit crisis has prompted investors to proceed with caution and despite initial positive trends the principles which underpinned investments in the past have been shattered resulting in large scale political reforms throughout much of the Western World (Future of investing, FT).   The suggestion of an unsteady recovery is reinforced by a recent article in the Economist which states that,   Big asset busts are usually followed by years of weakness as the over-borrowed repair their balance-sheets.   Experience suggests that several years of slow growth lie ahead.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Oct. 7th 2010 It goes on to state that the reactive measures will be the biggest synchronised fiscal tightening on record.   Governments worldwide have had their hand forced in to budget cuts and other measures to sustain growth out of the crisis.   Whilst this statement points to and assures uncertainty should be highlighted that growth albeit at a slow pace is thought to be likely. The current economic situation, specifically in the United Kingdom, is underlined by the massive growth in unemployment.   Gilmore comments that the number of workless households has increased to 3.9 million over the last two years an increase of 389,000 (2010, p 39).   Furthermore, high profile cutbacks remain prevalent with Boots and Hewlett-Packard announcing combined cuts of 2,200 workers in the UK alone (Clark, 2010; Felsted 2010).   Whilst over the past two years there has been an overall escalation in unemployment there are some signs of improvement.   The three months to July 2010 witnessed the number out of employment fall to 2.47 million (Gilmore, 2010). It can be said that the current times are very uncertain and on that account the correct investment strategy will be vaguer than ever before.   For that reason, the general investment strategy which will be employed is buy and hold.   Not all investments will be made in this manner, however, for the most part this logic will be applied.   The buy and hold approach can be justified by looking at the market trend since the FTSE 100 began in 1984: It can be seen that after a dip such as in 1987 and in 2000 that the market tends to recover so despite the fragile economic situation a recovery, albeit a slow one as mentioned previously, can be envisaged. Sector Reviews Sector: Power The power sector is one of the main constituents of the FTSE 100. Utilities and Oil Gas alone make up 14 of the 104 constituents which complete the index, together counting for nearly a quarter of the net market capitalisation for all the industries included. It can therefore be deduced that any reasonable change in the power sector as a whole has a great influence on the performance of the top one hundred FTSE listed companies (FTSE Fact Sheet, 2010). For consideration, the sector has been split in to three main sub-sectors: mining, water utilities and oil gas. All three sub-sectors witnessed their three year minimum around 2009 and have recovered strongly since with one exception to be covered in more detail: oil gas. Mining The recovery can be expected to continue in the mining sector as commodity prices continue to rise. One of the major mined commodities, gold, has seen prices soar in recent times increasing nearly six fold since 2001 (Post1, 2010) to its current levels of $1361.20 per ounce. The market expects this price will continue to rise amid speculation that the United States government will commence quantitative easing once more (Murchie, 2010). Barrick Gold and Anglo Gold Ashanti have recently raised equity to eliminate bad hedges and does not expect to return to hedging at any price (Yahoo! Finance, 2010). Thus, both organisations expect the price of gold to continue to rise therefore gold companies with proven reserves are likely to increase in value. This theory is reinforced by a Goldman Sachs analyst, writes Alistair Dawber, who predicts that Gold will hit $1,650 within a year (Independent, 2010). Water and Utilities Water and Utilities in the United Kingdom show a strong recovery after the first quarter of 2009 also receiving boosts from an exceptionally cold winter. Profits of ScottishPower rose 7.9% last year due to the bitterly cold winter and Britains biggest supplier of gas and electricity witnessed profits soar 46% to  £554 million (Macallister, 2010). The Met office commented that it had been the coldest winter in thirty years (2010). Long term forecasts predict that this winter will be colder than average with more precipitation than would be the norm. Should this hold true then share prices will increase on the back of higher demand for gas and electricity which eludes to the sector share prices to trend upwards. Oil and Gas The first graphic representation shows the FTSE 350 index for Oil and Gas producers. A sustained recovery from the low in late 2009 was seen until Q2 of 2010 which observed a sharp decline. This deterioration is largely due to the Deepwater Horizon disaster and its effects are clear. BP (formerly British Petroleum) are the second largest company in the FTSE 100 index (FTSE Fact Sheet, 2010) so any change in share price will have a large influence on both the sector and the whole economy. The second graph shows the correlation between the BP share price and the FTSE 350 Oil and Gas. The cost to BP, who are regarded as being ultimately responsible for the disaster, amounts to a pre-tax charge of $32,192 million. This amount relates to all costs sustained in relation to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill and the commitment to cover any future costs which BP feel they can estimate reliably (BP, 2010). As the cost of the disaster has already been absorbed by the company and the markets, assumi ng there is no further outfall, it can be expected that the market will continue to trend upwards and back towards its previous average. On this basis, the sector can be considered as a relatively safe investment. There is potential for very large returns within this sector however they arise with considerable risk. Those with a higher risk appetite may seek to invest in the companies partaking in the oil exploration taking place in the Falkland Islands. Investment Due to the positive nature of all three sectors in this uncertain economic period it has been decided that all three sub-sectors outlined will provide investment opportunities. This facilitates potential for excellent gains but at the same time it utilises one of the main strategies for managing risk, diversification (Jaeger, 2002, p.235). Sector: Transport and Leisure Transport and leisure is a broad ranging sector including companies such as Babcock International Group who specialise in a wide range of areas including defence to organisations such as First Group who are a leading transport operator in the UK and North America (First Group). As it is such a broad sector transport and travel and leisure will be combined due to the similar nature of the two sub-sectors. Food Beverages has been discounted for ethical reasons. Aerospace and Defence As much of this sub-sectors revenue comes from government spending, Aerospace Defence at first appeared to be a wise choice for investment although on closer inspection this was proved not to be the case.   This sector was eventually discounted largely due to the expected cuts in government spending in the United Kingdom and abroad which will have an influence on companies which rely on this spending to maintain profitability and current share price levels.   For example, Babcock International Groups revenues are 80% U.K based (Hoyos, 2010) which in the current climate is too much exposure to a single market.   The FTSE 350 index Aerospace and Defence shows the volatility across the sector throughout 2010. Automobiles and Parts Outside of the main organisations in this sector there is only comparatively small amount of information available outside of the major companies. Where the majors are concerned, a case could be constructed for investment however these are outweighed by the potential risks. In recent times there has been many disrupting events which have an effect on the volatility of share prices within the sub-sector. Three major car manufacturers, including one trading in the UK-Toyota, have announced large scale recalls. Toyota was forced to recall 10.9 million cars in the US and Canada (Simon, 2010) whilst both BMW and Dailmler AG have recalled a combined 698,800 vehicles. (Sky News, 2010)(WSJ, 2010). As well as the turbulent recalls demand for new cars in the UK has fallen and it is not expected that they will return to peak levels. Between 2007 and 2009 the amount of new cars purchased fell from 2.4 million to 1.9 million-of which 285,000 were purchased at a heavily discounted level under the Governments scrappage scheme (Sky News, 2010). The article goes on to state that sales figures are not expected to increase above 2 million for the next three years which would allude to a levelling of share prices at current levels. Food and Beverage The low which the FTSE 350 Food and Beverage experienced in March 2009 coincided with the bottom of the FTSE100, however, the dip was not as severe and the immediate recovery was swift and strong.   Whilst these are promising signs there has been a stagnation.   In Q2 and Q3 of 2010 the index has   fallen from its high of 541.81 in mid April to a its current level of 528.69 (Yahoo finance, 18th October).   In the same period the FTSE 100 after suffering from an initial drop recovered strongly and is now showing a positive growth curve in the short term.   It can be concluded that the performance of the sector as a whole is not matching that of other sectors which are performing well. An example of a poor performer in this sector would be Punch Taverns which is one of the largest pub companies in the United Kingdom (Punch Taverns, 2010). Shares in Punch Taverns are down over 15% in the last 52 weeks (Interactive Investor Trading, 2010). Travel Leisure A graph of the FTSE 350 index over the previous 5 years is shown. It can be seen that from its peak in 2007 there has been a huge loss in market capitalisation across the travel and leisure sector however this was met with a strong recovery from mid 2009 onwards and this trend looks to continue. The upwards movement of this index is underpinned by growth in many of the major companies in the sector such as British Airways, Ryanair Holdings and Easyjet. This shows growing investor confidence in one of the most troubled industries of the past 10 years. Investment It is this confidence and steady sustained growth within sub-sector four that makes the Travel and Leisure sub-sector the advised choice for investment however the other sectors will provide some potential for investment should an appropriate company be identified. Retailers UK retail sector employees around 3 million people. It is the 3rd largest in the world after USA and Japan. On a whole the retail sector generates around 8% of the UK GDP. 1 in 10 of the people in employment currently works in the retail sector. Shops account for more than a third of consumer spending; due to this the retail sector is very important to how the economy on a whole performs. Usually if there is a drop in retail, the GDP of the economy would be affected greatly as well. The year 2007 marked the beginning of the credit crisis which resulted in the UK facing an economic downturn. This affected many companies, including Woolworths. Woolworths before the credit crisis was one of the major companies in the retail sector. Due to the crisis, which lasted from 2007-2009, Woolworths went into administration on the 26th November 2008. During late 2009 market the end of the period of the recession, which allowed the retail sector to improve its growth, as shown in the graph below. Investment The retail sector is ideal because of its high growth before the credit crisis, this sector is now quickly recovering and should be expected to be at a high growth as before the credit crisis. There should be high growth especially during the Christmas period. The House leisure Personal Goods sector would be an inappropriate option in my opinion because it involves lots of manual and material costs. This sector will also gain lower growth unlike the retail sector, which should have higher growth. Telecommunications The telecommunication sector offers a wide variety of jobs and is an important sector for the economy. The UK is one of the leading locations for telecommunication in Europe. In recent times, the competition between telecommunication companies has sharply risen since the early 1990s. This is due to the rapidly increasing use of phone lines, internet and mobiles etc. This sector also was affected with the credit crisis during late 2007 as shown below on diagram. One of the largest companies in the telecommunications sector BT faced their third-quarter profits had been reduced to 81 per cent. This was due to the poor performance from the BTs IT network division. BT had also had to write off a lot of its contracts which resulted in a loss of  £336 million. But it should be considered that this was due to the credit crisis, now that the crisis is finished, most companies should start to develop more growth in the telecommunication sector. Investment Telecommunications is constantly developing through mobile devices, video calling and other services. Todays technology has an impact on the telecommunication sector, such as Apple, that supplies innovative telecommunication service through its Iphone. There telecommunication service offers many new services, which suggest this sector would be ideal for strong growth The Tech Hardware sector involves lots of constant research that includes innovation and development, which could involve lots of costs in this sector. The Electronic Electronic Equipment sector involves large costs of investment because of the development and material costs involved, you must take into consideration of the current competiveness in the market today. This sector makes up for 4 per cent of the Europeans municipal waste, which is growing three times faster than any other waste management system, as discussed by Waste online website. It would not be recommended to invest in the Media sector because of the competiveness in this market. Current organisations in the media sector are losing out from customers, due to the vastly availability of free media available online. Pharmaceuticals Biotechnology Sector: Chemicals General The pharmaceuticals and biotechnology sector is a massive industry, there are many companies involved with the field. The value of the global pharmaceutical market is expected to grow 5-7 percent in 2011, to $880 billion, compared with a 4-5 percent pace this year, according to IMS Health. The sector divides itself into two sub-sectors. Pharmaceutical companies: Develop and manufacture prescription and over-the-counter drugs (aspirin, cold remedies, birth control pills), as well as vaccines. Biotechnology companies: Create new biological substances for use in drugs and diagnosing tools through research and development. The sector is mainly occupied by small, extremely specialised, research firms. As these companies dont have a normal income flow, but rely more upon new discoveries to help fund future research any breakthroughs or licensing arrangements. As this can lead to large revenues which may help fund even further research. On the other hand due to the small size of the businesses any delays in acquiring funding may cause cash flow problems. Along with this trading can be very irregular as new discoveries can cause share prices to rocket. There has been a trend in the pharmaceutical industry whereby small biotechnology companies are carrying out the premature work on new discoveries, before selling their work to the industry leaders, which is quite similar to an outsourcing model. The end result allows the product to be sold in large quantities to a global market. The industry has seen very drastic changes over the past few quarters, since performance was affected by factors such as generic competition. The next 5 years suggest a major change between the introduction of new products and patent loses. One of the main reasons why the global pharmaceutical market growth, will be limited to 5-8% through 2014 is because over the next five years. Products that generate sales upwards of $142 billion will eventually face competition from generic products. Also upcoming products are not likely to reach the same amount of sales, as products lose their patent protection. Fig 1. The above graph shows the FTSE-350 of the Pharmaceutical and biotechnology sector over a period of 4 years. You can see the affects of the credit crisis in the first quarter of 2008, after this there is a slight increase in the market however the market crashes in the first quarter of 2009. Overall the sector produced total revenues of $615.1billion in 2008. One of the most profitable sectors of the market in 2008 was cardiovascular which was worth 19.8% of the markets total value. That is equivalent to $121.7 billion. Forecasts suggest that the growth of the market is set to shrink with a likely CAGR of 3.6% fro, 2008-2013. This should cause the value of the market to increase to $734 by the end of 2013. Top ten companies top 10 pharma bio.jpg Emerging Markets Other recent trends include focusing on emerging markets such as the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India, and China). This is due to sales in emerging markets that have been growing at faster rate than sales in the established markets (IMS, 2010). Within the next five years these emerging markets will generate as much revenue as the traditional markets such as the U.S. market (largest pharmaceutical market) along with Europe and Japan. Source: IMS health Construction Materials Sector: Industrials materials This sector includes companies that are involved with discovering, developing and processing raw materials and mining/refining of metals, chemicals and forestry. Due to this sector supplying materials for construction, it heavily relies on a strong economy. This sector can also be very unpredictable as it is vulnerable to supply and demand due to prices of raw materials such as gold. In general construction activity declined rapidly by 10.5% in 2009. Estimates backed by fragile private sector housing, industrial and commercial property activity suggest a further fall of 1.6% in 2010. The most profitable in the sector over the past year was infrastructure and public non-housing (such as schools) which increased by 10% and 25% Recent data shows slight signs of recovery in the private sector, particularly in new housing. This is backed up by survey evidence which shows a slight increase in housing activity in the final quarter of 2009 construction2.jpg In 2010, private sector housing activity is expected to show further signs of a gradual recovery, but recent signs of increased investor confidence in commercial property may not translate into stronger activity until 2011. This is shown in the graph below. contruction 1.jpg Review Public housing: Weak activity in the private sector has caused output in this sector to have fallen in 2009. However due to the governments drive to help increase affordable housing there are signs of increase in the second half of 2009. Public housing is expected to rise around 6-7% within the next two years. Private housing: Output for private housing was forecasted to drop by nearly 30% last year. Forecasts suggest the recovery period will be gradual. Housing indicators also show recovery in house prices and mortgage approvals. Output in this sector is set to rise to 1% this year pushing it to 10% in 2011 Infrastructure and public non-housing: This sector is continuously growing over the past year this has been due to a number of high- profile projects such as road and rail projects across the UK, the schools building programme and the 2012 Olympics Private commercial and industrial: Over 25% of output has plunged since last year in this sector according to forecasts. Even though there has been interest to investors in this specific sector. Output will likely increase again in 2010, as the commercial sector underperformed industrial, before it returns to normal growth. Repair maintenance: As the current economic situation is slowly recovering, maintenance and private repair are expected to stabilise and eventually grow in 2011. However its different story for public repair and maintenance as its easier to push back spending on this area than make a cut in new high- profile investments Chemicals General including:- Support Services Tobacco Industrials Materials including:- Industrial Transportation Industrial General Industrial Engineering Sector: Chemicals General Sub Sector 1: Chemicals The chemical industry is very crucial to UK manufacturing as it provides the essential compounds for the manufacturing processes and the also the large number of jobs it creates. The industry is equivalent to 1.5%GDP. UKs manufacturing industry total sales of  £62.62bn over the period of 2005 to 2009. However when the economy fell into recession one of the key sectors to be hit by this was manufacturing which the chemical industry is a key supplier of. This sector is highly competitive which has lead to a great deal of mergers and acquisitions. Majority of the major companies in the UK industry are global players which are focused on core ` activities which involve specialised synthesis or final formulation of products. Before the economic recession growth was steady and would have increased over a period of time, however due to the sluggish growth of the UK economy and also globally. Growth will stay reasonably restrained in 2011-2012. Along with the dire state of the governments finance which will eventually lead to tax rises and spending cuts. Therefore this subsector will not be a profitable investment. However export markets in emerging economies are more likely to successful. Sub Sector 2: Health Care Equipment Services The Healthcare industry is broken down into smaller groups such as medical devices, laboratory equipment, system and technology and associated services such as management, training and education. The majority of companies that operate in the UK are foreign-owned mostly American. This sector exports up to  £4bn worth of products and services annually into the global market. Overall this sector is growing extremely fast as there are so many countries working to improve their health care services and facilities. The main reason to the UKs growing presence in the global market is down to the positive relationship between the government, the industry, NHS and private sectors. Along with the well developed health care infrastructure. One of the main themes of the healthcare industry has become cost reduction this is due to the difficult economic times. It is very crucial that the organisations look for new ways to help decrease costs. Therefore this sub sector will not be a profitable investment.