Alfred Hitchcock Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 1

Alfred Hitchcock - Essay Example After attending the London County School of Engineering and Navigation, he tried to participate in World War I but was rejected by the military because of his obesity. Undaunted, Hitchcock joined the cadet regimen of the Royal Engineers in 1917. Although he did his part during training, he still did not make it to active military service. Eventually, the man who had previously worked as a draftsman and advertising engineer at Henley's would go on to become one of the most prolific writers of the in-house The Telegraph where he began to dabble in stories rooted in suspense and twist endings. As a writer, he tried his hand at writing various genres including the satirical disquisition â€Å"The History of Pea Eating† and Fedora, which is considered as his shortest and most enigmatic contribution to the literary world (â€Å"Alfred Hitchcock†). Finding work as a title designer led Hitchcock to discover photography, which in turn led to his working as Islington Studios as a silent film title card designer. Hitchcock began a steady 5 years ascent to film director from the moment he began working for Islington Studios. Working steadily in Germany as a collaborator of acclaimed film director Graham Cutts in 1924, the length of time that he spent living and working there influenced his â€Å"seminal† and expressionist film making style. Just like any other film maker just starting out, his career was plagued by budget constrictions, canceled films due to lack of budget, and lackluster ticket sales. Yet Hitchcock soldiered on and became one of the most notable film directors in England for his early films. The most notable of his early work was â€Å"The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog†, which was released in 1929. A majority of film historians believe that this movie in particular set the style for the future films of the director. It was in describing this film that the term â€Å"Hitchockian† was first used as there seemed no bett er or fitting term with which to describe the story he told on film (â€Å"Alfred Hitchcock†). Most of Hitchcock's early films made in Britain are silent films. His tenth film however, titled â€Å"Blackmail† which was shot in 1929, is considered to be an early British â€Å"talkie† considered by many to be the first ever British sound feature film. This film is also notable for having the longest appearance by the director in the movie, as was Hitchcock's signature in all his films. More importantly, this film set the trend by the director of using important landmarks in the country as backdrops for the highlights of his movies. By the 1930's his name was becoming well known far and wide thanks to the success of his films â€Å"The Man Who Knew Too Much† and â€Å"The 39 Steps†. This resulted in the American film producer David O. Selznick actively bidding for his services, winning a 7 year contract with the soon to be highly acclaimed film direct or. Hitchcock left England for a new career in the colonies in March, 1939. (â€Å"Alfred Hitchcock†), believing that he had reached the limits of the British film industry. The golden age of Alfred Hitchcock as a film director occurred during his stint in Hollywood where, unhampered by budget issues, he was able to tell the story that he wanted, regardless of how much film footage it took to do so. The audience lapped up

Computing security exam question Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Computing security exam question - Essay Example PKI provides a powerful and robust environment to ensure security of consumer interests, transactions, and information. Stephen Wilson states that â€Å"It is well known that PKI’s successes have mostly been in closed schemes†. This paper will seek to assess and analyze the effectiveness of Public Key Infrastructure (PKI). Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) is a schema that provides high level of security and confidentiality for Internet users that seek to engage in online transactions and e-commerce. It enables information and monetary transactions to be conducted in a safe and secure manner. A digital certificate is issued in order to recognize individuals and organizations. PKI utilizes public and private keys over the Internet in order to ensure high levels of authentication and privacy. The Internet presents valuable business opportunities for individuals and organization, but it also causes safety and veracity problems (Carlisle, 1999). PKI helps to provide supplementary levels of safety and veracity for online business transactions and e-commerce. The rapid growth of the Internet pushed the need for high levels of trust, confidentiality, and security. Several companies began to design security algorithms and protocols in order to ensure safe and secure transactions. Netscape designed the SSL proto col which allowed the use of digital certificates and security algorithms for safe business transactions over the Internet. PKI was dubbed to the ultimate security protocol and mechanism in the 1990s. A number of vendors began to operate in the environment seeking to create standards and procedures. However the hype over PKI was over by the start of the twenty first century as vendors began to register technical and operational problems over its implementation. The rapid proliferation of the Internet during the 1990s also raised concern about conviction and

Assess the significance of Judith Butlers work

Assess the significance of Judith Butlers work The modern meaning of the word 'gender' emerged in the 1970s. Its original purpose was to draw a line between biological sex and how particular thoughts and behaviours could be defined as either 'feminine' or 'masculine' (Pilcher Whelehan, 2004). The reason for using the word 'gender' was to raise awareness of the exaggeration of biological differences between men and women. The popularity of this meaning for the word 'gender' resulted from the efforts of second wave feminism in the 1970s. This essay examines how second wave feminism attempted to construct a 'grand narrative' of women's oppression. It then examines Judith Butler's contribution to post-modern feminist theory through her performative theory of gender and how this fits into post-modern feminist debates. A product of second wave feminism, which began around 1970, was the attempt to place women within a 'grand narrative' history of their oppression. One of the seminal writers on this narrative was Simone de Beauvoir. Her work in describing how women had become 'the other' in her book The Second Sex (de Beauvoir, 1961) laid the foundations for what was to come in the second wave of feminism (Gamble, 2002). De Beauvoir argues that the way in which men think about women is only in relation to their fantasies, that they have no substance of their own. Unfortunately, for de Beauvoir, women have come to accept men's fantasies of womanhood as constituting their own conception of themselves. For de Beauvoir, it was for women to conceive of themselves in their own terms, to take back the power themselves. A criticism of de Beauvoir's approach was that it tended to blame women for their current condition (Gamble, 2002). The second wave feminists of the 1970s, however, such as Millet (1970), pointed to patriarchy as the root cause of women's oppression. It is patriarchy, so Millet argued, that has become a political institution, and from this flows all the other forms of women's oppression. Firestone (1970) also took a strong line against patriarchy, equating women's oppression to a caste or class system. Ideological support for patriarchy, in Firestone's view, has come from institutions such as the family, marriage along with romantic love. These ideas are referred to as constructing a 'grand narrative', a way of charting the history and development of particular ideas, in this case women's oppression (MacNay, 1997). One of the problems that much feminist thought has come up against in trying to provide a 'grand narrative' of women's oppression is that it is difficult to effectively give all women a common identity (Whelehan, 1995). If the very idea of gender flows from cultural origins, then it is only natural to conclude that gender has different meanings in different cultural contexts. How then can a common identity be posited? Other critics such as Richards (1982), examining second wave feminism from a liberal perspective, have seen it as a movement that has failed. Richards sees many of the feminist approaches as being extreme and unattractive, and not focussing, as she sees it, on rational debate. She criticises feminists for utilising 'eccentric' arguments which do not conform to the normative expectations of philosophical debate. Further, she criticises feminism for ignoring the obvious differences between men and women such as women's ability to have children and thereby presenting an unrealistic picture of utopian gender relations. Another vibrant stream of criticism against second wave feminism has been that it assumes that what is required is a reversal in the relative positions of men and women. In other words, if women can take the position of men in society then their oppression will finally be undone (Brooks, 1997). Instead, however, post-modernist forms of feminism have tended to criticise the placing of women and men in oppositional categories. Post-modernist writers, such as Judith Butler, Brooks argues, help the feminist debate move on from the grand narrative to the focussing on deconstruction and identity (Brooks, 1997). Judith Butler's work as a social theorist has been extremely influential. Some of the major themes of her work include important contributions to queer theory and her criticism of the way in which gender has been constructed (Clough, 2000). Her breakthrough work was Gender Trouble which strongly criticised existing feminist theory on gender such as the work of Firestone and Millet. Butler (1990) points out that feminist approaches have tended to emphasise the difference between gender and sex. In these perspectives sex is seen as a biological fact, while gender is a cultural construction. The problem for Butler is that this split has gone too far, such that it is not possible to analyse how the sexed body is constituted (Salih Butler, 2004). Rather than splitting gender and sex, then, Butler's work has actually collapsed one into the other (Fraser, 2002). Sandford (1999) explains that this is achieved by showing that gender actually produces sex. Butler (1990) asks whether it is possible to talk about the 'masculine' attributes of a man and then talk about their 'feminine' attributes and still be able to ascribe sensible meaning to the word 'gender'. Butler (1990) argues that when the idea of 'woman' and 'man' are dispensed with, it is more difficult to see how these gendered attributes can still be viable. Butler (1990) states that gender cannot necessarily be referred to in terms of these attributes, or as a noun, a thing of itself, but rather as a verb. In this sense Butler considers gender to be performative, to be an act which constitutes itself rather than flowing from some other source. The criticism aimed by Butler (1990) at feminist theory is precisely that it has argued there must be a source for actions. This means that gender cannot be 'performed' of itself; it must be performed by something. Butler (1990) provides an example in the relationship between sexual desire and gender. Freud's explanation that attraction comes from biological sex is considered by Butler. She argues that sexual attraction, rather than coming from sex, is a process that is learned over time, that is a performance we work on, not something flowing directly from biological sex. The political implications of this argument are vital, especially for homosexuality. Kirsch (2001) argues that some people in the queer movement have accepted the primacy of biology. This idea is related to essentialism which relies on factors such as the 'gay gene' to explain homosexuality. In contrast to this view, a constructionist approach concentrates on the ways in which society encourages certain types of behaviour through social norms. 'Men' and 'women', within Butler's theory, are no longer essentialist universal categories but rather free-floating categories which are socially produced. The norms to which Butler is referring are those which see the body as being directly related to the types of sexual desire and practices that are associated with it (Salih Butler, 2004). Sexual desires and practices which do not fit within this matrix are 'not allowed'. In order to understand how sexed bodies are produced, Butler uses Lacan's reading of Freud (Salih Butler, 2004). Lacan argues that it is through fantasy that the sexed body is created. Salih (2002) points out that it is Butler's use of Freud that is one of her most important achievements. Here, she analyses Freud's idea of the Oedipus complex. This is where the child is forced to give up its desire for its parents by the incest taboo. Butler reinterprets this by arguing that the child desires the parent of the same sex, but finds that this is taboo. Sex and gender identities are then formed from this taboo. Butler argues that everyone's gender identity is formed from this homosexual ta boo. Butler refers to the formation of gender identity in terms of melancholic identification (Salih, 2002). The place where this identification can be seen, according to Butler, is on the body in the form of gender and sex identities. While Butler's theory of performativity along with her work in post-modern feminist theory has been extremely influential, it has also provoked a fair degree of criticism. Benhabib (1995) has argued that the death of the subject, which is at the heart of Butler's thesis, leads to an incoherent picture. Benhabib (1995) points out that it is difficult to believe there is nothing behind the mask of gender, that agency appears completely absent. In a parallel argument to Benhabib, Kirsch (2001) makes the point that this negation of the subject has negative consequences for ideas of identity and collective action. A sense of collectivity, in particular, is often seen by those 'coming out' as providing support. In Butler's theory, however, there is only the focus on the individual. To Kirsch (2001) it seems that Butler's theory tends to reduce the ability of the wider community to provide support to the individual. A more generalised criticism of modern feminism, however it is labelled, is that there is a sense in which it is an exclusive club. Butler's ideas relating to the performativity of gender are only available to a certain restricted group in society: white, middle-class, intellectual (Whelehan, 1995). Each feminist sub-movement implicitly creates its own lists of what can be done, and what cannot. Women, therefore, can find it difficult to label themselves as feminists as there are now many apparent bars to entry and negative associations with it (Whelehan, 1995). Perhaps in this sense second wave feminism, as enunciated by Firestone and Millet, provided a vision with which it was easier to associate. In contrast, post-modern perspectives, a category in which Butler's work has been put, provide a much more complex and illusory analysis of gender; even, as some critics would have it, making it harder for those attempting to live outside society's norms. It has been argued that theories such as those put forward by Butler have lead to the need for a new type of feminism (Pilcher Whelehan, 2004). This is precisely because postmodernist thought has rejected the 'grand narratives' associated with second wave feminism. As a result, women may find it difficult to claim the identity 'woman' as its nature is so contested in postmodernist thought (Pilcher Whelehan, 2004). This is part of the problem that so-called 'post-feminism' has attempted to address. This leads to an attempt to answer the question: What gender am I? Viewed through the influence of Butler's theories, it is increasingly difficult to provide a clear answer. The two answers that are most 'natural', male or female suddenly become obsolete expressions which appear devoid of their previous meaning. With the 'subject' apparently removed from the equation, it is difficult to lay claim to any particular gender. Certainly Butler's theory does not imply that both men and women can travel without hindrance across the boundaries of gender, far from it. Naturally society's norms still apply and even transgressions are carried out in relation to the norms themselves. Ultimately, though, the question comes back to the problem of agency. If it is up to me to choose my gender, as I wish, then who is doing the choosing? When Butler even rejects the idea of there being an actor at all, all meaning fades from the question What gender am I? In conclusion, the second wave of feminism brought a grand narrative view of the history of women's oppression. It pointed to oppression as a political institution enforced through social mechanisms such as the family, marriage and economics. Critics of this approach, however, questioned whether it was possible to set women up in direct opposition to men. Judith Butler responded to the second wave view by collapsing the ideas of gender and sex into each other. Gender, she argues, is performed, and so the subject in feminist thought, was apparently destroyed. But, argued critics of Butler, these notions of gender appear to restrict the political power of feminism, to leave it toothless, without its subject. Attempting to answer the question What gender am I? when viewed in the light of Butler's theory, leads to a sense of confusion. I could be both, I could be either, I could be neither. Is this freedom, or is it just too free-form? References Benhabib, S. (1995). Subjectivity, historiography, and politics: Reflections on the feminism/postmodernism exchange. In: S. Benhabib, J. Butler, D. Cornell, N. Fraser (Eds.). Feminist contentions: A philosophical exchange. New York: Routledge. Brooks, A. (1997). Postfeminisms: Feminism, cultural theory, and cultural forms. Oxford: Routledge. Butler, J. (1990). Gender Trouble: Gender and the Subversion of Identity. Oxford: Routledge. Clough, P. T. (2000) Judith Butler. In: G. Ritzer (Ed.). The Blackwell Companion to Major Social Theorists. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing. Beauvoir, S. (1961). The Second Sex. Translated by HM Parshley. New York: Bantam. Firestone, S. (1970). The dialectic of sex: The case for feminist revolution. New York: William Morrow and Company. Fraser, M. (2002). What is the matter of feminist criticism? Economy and Society, 31(4), 606-625. Gamble, S. (2002). The Routledge companion to feminism and postfeminism. Oxford: Routledge. Kirsch, M. (2001). Queer theory and social change. London: Routledge. MacNay, L. (1997). Foucault and feminism: power, gender and the self. London: Polity Press. Millet, K. (1970). Sexual politics. London: Ballantine. Pilcher, J., Whelehan, I. (2004) Key concepts in gender studies. London: Sage. Richards, J. (1982). The sceptical feminist: a philosophical enquiry. London: Penguin. Salih, S. (2002). Routledge critical thinkers: Judith Butler. Oxford: Routledge. Salih, S., Butler, J. (2004). The Judith Butler reader. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers. Sandford, S. (1999) Contingent ontologies: sex, gender and â€Å"woman† in Simone de Beauvoir and Judith Butler. Radical Philosophy 97, 18–29. Whelehan, I. (1995). Modern feminist thought: from the second wave to post-feminism. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.

Emergency Room Overutilization Essay -- Emergency Room Misuse

Emergency room over utilization is one of the leading causes of today’s ever increasing healthcare costs. The majority of the patients seen in emergency rooms across the nation are Medicaid recipients, for non-emergent reasons. The federal government initiated Medicaid Managed Care programs to offer better healthcare delivery, adequately compensate providers and reduce healthcare costs. Has Medicaid Managed Care addressed the issues and solved the problem? The answer is ‘Yes’ and ‘No’. Throughout the early 1980’s and 1990’s the Federal Medicaid program was challenged by rapidly rising Medicaid program costs and an increasing number of uninsured population. One of the primary reasons for the overall increase in healthcare costs is the over utilization of hospital emergency rooms. This is a direct result of not having a primary care physician and/or family doctor who is the main source of healthcare delivery for an individual and/or entire family The traditional Medicaid program does not offer, or require, recipients to choose a primary care physician like, its counterpart, Medicare. Medicare still operates under the traditional fee-for-service methodology and does not require beneficiaries to identify and primary provider as well as having direct access to specialty services. This allows a cost sharing approach which results in higher out-of-pocket expenses and does not cover drug or prescription benefits. In an effort to offer better healthcare services and access as well as reduce costs the federal government allowed the States to turn to managed care and proposed a mandatory statewide implementation for the Medicaid population. In order to make major changes like these, states have to request waivers of Medicaid regulatio... ...sive.(Practice Trends)." Clinical Psychiatry News 33.2 (Feb 2005): 88(1). Academic OneFile. Thomson Gale. University of Phoenix. Retrieved February 25, 2013 from: . 5. Roohan, Patrick J., Anarella, Joseph P., & Gesten, Foster C. (July-August 2004) Quality oversight and improvement in Medicaid managed care.(Quality Assurance Reporting Requirements ). In Journal of Public Health Management and Practice, 10, p321(9). 6. Wang, Cheng, Villar, Maria Elena, Mulligan, Deborah A., & Hansen, Toran. (Nov 2005) Cost and utilization analysis of a Pediatric Emergency Department Diversion Project. In Pediatrics, 116, p1075(5). Retrieved July 11, 2013, from InfoTrac OneFile via Thomson Gale:

Dividend Policy

Stability of dividend policy. There may be three types of dividend policy (1)Strict or Conservative dividend Policy which envisages the retention of profits on the cost of dividend pay-out. It helps in strengthening the financial position of the company; (2) Lenient Dividend Policy which views the payment of dividend at the maximum rate possible taking in view the current earing of the company. Under such policy company retains the minimum possible earnings; (3)Stable Dividend Policy suggests a mid-way of the above two views. Under this policy, stable or almost stable rate of dividend is maintained.Company maintains reserves in the years of prosperity and uses them in paying dividend in lean year. If company follows stable dividend policy, the market price of tis shares shall be higher. There are reasons why investors prefer stable dividend policy. Main reasons are:- 1. Confidence Among Shareholders. A regular and stable dividend payment may serve to resolve uncertainty in the minds of shareholders. The company resorts not to cut the dividend rate even if its profits are lower. It maintains the rate of dividends by appropriating the funds from its reserves.Stable dividend presents a bright future of the company and thus gains the confidence of the shareholders an the goodwill of the company increases in the eyes of the general investors. 2. Income Conscious Investors. The second factor favoring stable dividend policy is that some investors are income conscious and favor a stable rate of dividend. They too, never favour an unstable rte of dividend. A Stable dividend policy may also satisfy such investors. 3. Stability in Market Price of Shares. Other things beings equal, the market price very with the rate of dividend the company declares on its equity shares.The value of shares of a company having a stable dividend policy fluctuates not widely even if the earnings of the company turn down. Thus, this policy buffer the market price of the stock. 4. Encouragement to Institutional Investors. A stable dividend policy attracts investments from institutional investors such institutional investors generally prepare a list of securities, mainly incorporating the securities of the companies having stable dividend policy in which they invest their surpluses or their long term funds such as pensions or provident funds etc.In this way, stability and regularity of dividends not only affects the market price of shares but also increases the general credit of the company that pays the company in the long run. Factors Affecting Dividend Policy A number of considerations affect the dividend policy of company. The major factors are 1. Stability of Earnings. The nature of business has an important bearing on the dividend policy. Industrial units having stability of earnings may formulate a more consistent dividend policy than those having an uneven flow of incomes because they can predict easily their savings and earnings.Usually, enterprises dealing in nec essities suffer less from oscillating earnings than those dealing in luxuries or fancy goods. 2. Age of corporation. Age of the corporation counts much in deciding the dividend policy. A newly established company may require much of its earnings for expansion and plant improvement and may adopt a rigid dividend policy while, on the other hand, an older company can formulate a clear cut and more consistent policy regarding dividend. 3. Liquidity of Funds.Availability of cash and sound financial position is also an important factor in dividend decisions. A dividend represents a cash outflow, the greater the funds and the liquidity of the firm the better the ability to pay dividend. The liquidity of a firm depends very much on the investment and financial decisions of the firm which in turn determines the rate of expansion and the manner of financing. If cash position is weak, stock dividend will be distributed and if cash position is good, company can distribute the cash dividend. 4. Extent of share Distribution.Nature of ownership also affects the dividend decisions. A closely held company is likely to get the assent of the shareholders for the suspension of dividend or for following a conservative dividend policy. On the other hand, a company having a good number of shareholders widely distributed and forming low or medium income group, would face a great difficulty in securing such assent because they will emphasise to distribute higher dividend. 5. Needs for Additional Capital. Companies retain a part of their profits for strengthening their financial position.The income may be conserved for meeting the increased requirements of working capital or of future expansion. Small companies usually find difficulties in raising finance for their needs of increased working capital for expansion programmes. They having no other alternative, use their ploughed back profits. Thus, such Companies distribute dividend at low rates and retain a big part of profits. 6. Trade Cycles. Business cycles also exercise influence upon dividend Policy. Dividend policy is adjusted according to the business oscillations.During the boom, prudent management creates food reserves for contingencies which follow the inflationary period. Higher rates of dividend can be used as a tool for marketing the securities in an otherwise depressed market. The financial solvency can be proved and maintained by the companies in dull years if the adequate reserves have been built up. 7. Government Policies. The earnings capacity of the enterprise is widely affected by the change in fiscal, industrial, labour, control and other government policies.Sometimes government restricts the distribution of dividend beyond a certain percentage in a particular industry or in all spheres of business activity as was done in emergency. The dividend policy has to be modified or formulated accordingly in those enterprises. 8. Taxation Policy. High taxation reduces the earnings of he companies and c onsequently the rate of dividend is lowered down. Sometimes government levies dividend-tax of distribution of dividend beyond a certain limit. It also affects the capital formation. N India, dividends beyond 10 % of aid-up capital are subject to dividend tax at 7. 5 %. 9. Legal Requirements. In deciding on the dividend, the directors take the legal requirements too into consideration. In order to protect the interests of creditors an outsiders, the companies Act 1956 prescribes certain guidelines in respect of the distribution and payment of dividend. Moreover, a company is required to provide for depreciation on its fixed and tangible assets before declaring dividend on shares. It proposes that Dividend should not be distributed out of capita, in any case.Likewise, contractual obligation should also be fulfilled, for example, payment of dividend on preference shares in priority over ordinary dividend. 10. Past dividend Rates. While formulating the Dividend Policy, the directors mus t keep in mind the dividend paid in past years. The current rate should be around the average past rat. If it has been abnormally increased the shares will be subjected to speculation. In a new concern, the company should consider the dividend policy of the rival organisation. 11. Ability to Borrow.Well established and large firms have better access to the capital market than the new Companies and may borrow funds from the external sources if there arises any need. Such Companies may have a better dividend pay-out ratio. Whereas smaller firms have to depend on their internal sources and therefore they will have to built up good reserves by reducing the dividend pay out ratio for meeting any obligation requiring heavy funds. 12. Policy of Control. Policy of control is another determining factor is so far as dividends are concerned.If the directors want to have control on company, they would not like to add new shareholders and therefore, declare a dividend at low rate. Because by add ing new shareholders they fear dilution of control and diversion of policies and programmes of the existing management. So they prefer to meet the needs through retained earing. If the directors do not bother about the control of affairs they will follow a liberal dividend policy. Thus control is an influencing factor in framing the dividend policy. 13. Repayments of Loan. A company having loan indebtedness are vowed to a igh rate of retention earnings, unless one other arrangements are made for the redemption of debt on maturity. It will naturally lower down the rate of dividend. Sometimes, the lenders (mostly institutional lenders) put restrictions on the dividend distribution still such time their loan is outstanding. Formal loan contracts generally provide a certain standard of liquidity and solvency to be maintained. Management is bound to hour such restrictions and to limit the rate of dividend payout. 14. Time for Payment of Dividend. When should the dividend be paid is anoth er consideration.Payment of dividend means outflow of cash. It is, therefore, desirable to distribute dividend at a time when is least needed by the company because there are peak times as well as lean periods of expenditure. Wise management should plan the payment of dividend in such a manner that there is no cash outflow at a time when the undertaking is already in need of urgent finances. 15. Regularity and stability in Dividend Payment. Dividends should be paid regularly because each investor is interested in the regular payment of dividend.The management should, inspite of regular payment of dividend, consider that the rate of dividend should be all the most constant. For this purpose sometimes companies maintain dividend Meaning and Types of Dividend The profits of a company when made available for the distribution among its shareholders are called dividend. The dividend may be as a fixed annual percentage of paid up capital as in the case of preference shares or it may vary a ccording to the prosperity of the company as in the case of ordinary shares.The decision for distributing or paying a dividend is taken in the meeting of Board of Directors and in confirmed generally by the annual general meeting of the shareholders. The dividend can be declared only out of divisible profits, remained after setting of all the expenses, transferring the reasonable amount of profit to reserve fund and providing for depreciation and taxation for the year. It means if in any year, there is not profits, no dividend shall be distributed that year.The shareholders cannot insist upon the company to declared the dividend. It is solely the discretion of the directors. Aunt hinted that the dividend was an income of the owners of the corporation which they received in the capacity of the owner. Distribution of dividend involves reduction of current assets (cash) but not always. Stock dividend or bonus shares is an exception to it Basic Issues Involved in Dividend Policy There a re certain basic questions which are Involved in determining the sound dividend policy. Such questions are:- 1.Cost of Capital. Cost of capital is one of the considerations for taking a decision whether to distribute dividend or not. As decision making tool, the Board calculates the ratio of rupee profits that the business expects to earn (Ra) to the rupee, profits that the shareholders can expect to earn outside (Rc) i. e. , Rs. /Rc. If the ratio is less than one, it is a signal to distribute dividend and if it is more than one, the distribution of dividend will be discontinued. 2. realisation of Objectives. The main objectives of the firm i. e. maximization of wealth for shareholders including there current rate of dividend-should also be aimed at in formulating the dividend policy. 3. Shareholders' Group. Dividend policy affects the shareholders group. It means a company with low pay-out an heavy reinvestment attracts shareholders interested in capital gains rather than n current income whereas a company with high dividend pay-out attracts those who are interested in current income. 4. Release of Corporate earnings. Dividend distribution is taking as a mens of distributing unused funds.Dividend policy affects the shareholders wealth by varying its dividend pay = out ratio. In Dividend policy, the financial manager decides whether to release Corporate earnings or not. These are certain basic issues Involved in formulating a Dividend policy. Dividend policy to a large extent affects the financial structure, the flow of funds, liquidity, stock prices and in the last shareholders' satisfaction. That is why management exercises a high degree of judgment establishing a sound dividend pattern. Dividend Policy Dividend Policy Vinod Kothari Corporations earn profits – they do not distribute all of it. Part of profit is ploughed back or held back as retained earnings. Part of the profit gets distributed to the shareholders. The part that is distributed is the dividend. The ratio of the actual distribution or dividend, and the total distributable profits, is called dividend payout ratio. How much of its profits should a corporation distribute? There are several considerations that apply in answering this question. Hence, companies have to frame and work on a definitive policy of dividend payout ratio.Of course, no corporate management can afford to stick to a fixed dividend payout ratio year after year – neither is such fixity of dividend payout ratio required or expected. However, management has to broadly decide its policy on its broad attitude towards distribution – liberal dividend payout ratio, or conservative dividend payout ratio, etc. If one were to ask this quest ion in context of debt sources of capital – for example, how much interest should a corporation pay to its bankers, the answer is straight forward. As interest paid is the cost of the borrowing, the lesser the interest a corporation pays, the better it is.Besides, companies do not have choice on paying of interest to lenders – as the rate of interest is contractually fixed. Rate of dividends may be fixed in case of preference shares too. However, in case of equity shares, there is no fixed rate of dividends. It cannot be said that the dividend paid is the cost of equity capital – if that was the case, corporations may try to minimize the dividend distribution. Hence, the following points emerge as regards the dividend distribution policy: †¢ The cost of equity is defined as the rate at which the corporation must earn on its equity to keep the market price of the equity shares constant.Let us further suppose that the market price of the shares is obtained by capitalizing the earnings of the corporation at a certain capitalization rate – the capitalization rate itself depending on the riskiness or beta of the industry. Suppose the corporation does not earn any profit. Shareholders were expecting a certain rate of return on their shareholding – hence, share prices will fall at the expected return on equity. On the other hand, if just the expected rate of return is earned by the corporation, the price of equity shares remains constant if the earnings are entirely distributed, and xactly grows by the expected rate of return if the earnings are entirely retained. The above discussion leads to the conclusion that the cost of equity is not the dividends but the return on equity – hence, a corporation cannot work on the objective of minimizing dividends. Equity shareholders are the owners of the corporation – hence, retained earnings ultimately belong to the shareholders. Supposing a company earns return on equity o f 10%, and retains the whole of it, the retained earnings increase the net asset value (NAV) of the equity shares exactly at the rate of 10%.Assuming there are no other factors affecting the equity price of the company, the market price of †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ the shares should exactly go up by 10% commensurate with the increase in the NAV of the shares. That is to say, shareholders gain by way of appreciation in market price to the extent of 10%. On the other hand, if the company distributes the entire earnings, shareholders earn a cash return of 10%, and there is no impact on the NAV of the shares, hence, the same should remain unchanged.Therefore, in both the cases, the shareholders earned a return of 10% – in the first case, by way of growth or capital appreciation, and in the second case, by way of income. In other words, merely because the corporation is not distributing profits does not mean it is depriving shareholders of the rate of return on equity. The above two points reflect the indifference, sometimes referred to as irrelevance of dividend policy (see Modigliani and Miller approach later in this Chapter) from the viewpoint of either the company or its shareholders. Supposing the corporation decides to retain the entire earning.Obviously, the corporation would earn on this retained profit at the applicable return on equity. Note that the return on equity is relevant, as retained earnings would be leveraged and would, therefore, benefit from the impact of leverage too. On the other hand, if the corporation were to distribute the entire profits, shareholders reinvest/consume the income so distributed at their own rate of return. Hence, it may be contended that whether the company retains or distributes the earnings depends on whose reinvestment rate is higher – that of the company or that of the shareholders?Quite clearly, the rate of reinvestment in the hands of the corporation is higher than that in the han ds of the shareholders, (a) because of leverage which shareholders may not be able to garner; and (b) intuitively, that is the very reason for the shareholders to invest in the company in the first place. This argument generally favors retention of profits by the company rather than distribution. [As we discuss later, this argument is the basis of the Walter formula] As a counter argument to this, it is contended that shareholders do not need growth only – they need current income too.Many investors may sustain their livelihood on dividend earnings. Of what avail is the increase in market value of shares, if I need cash to spend for my expenses? However, in the age of demat securities and liquid stock markets, growth and income are almost equivalent. For example, if I am holding equity shares worth $ 100, which appreciate in value to $ 110 due to retention, I can dispose off 10/110% of my shareholding, earn cash equal to $ 10, and still be left with stock worth $ 100, which i s exactly the same as earning cash dividend of $ 10 with no retention at all.While the above argument may point to indifference between growth and income, the reality of the marketplace is that investors do have varying preferences for growth and income. There are investors who are growth-inclined, and there are those who are income-inclined. Majority of retail investors insist on balance between growth and income, as they do not see an exact equivalence between appreciation in market value and current cashflows. Hence, the conclusion that emerges is that companies do have to strike a balance between shareholders’ need for current income, and growth opportunities by retained earnings.Hence, dividend policy still remains an important consideration. While making the above points, there are certain special points that affect particular situation that need to be borne in mind: †¢ Company’s reinvestment rate lower than that of shareholders: Sometimes, there are compani es that do not have significant reinvestment opportunities. More precisely, we say the reinvestment rate of the company is lesser than the reinvestment rate of shareholders. In such cases, obviously, it is better to pay earnings out than to retain them.As the classic theories of impact of dividends on market value of a share (see Walter’s formula below) suggest, or what is anyway intuitively understandable, retention of earnings makes sense only where the reinvestment rate of the company is higher than that of shareholders. †¢ Tax disparities between current dividends and growth: In our discussion on indifference between current dividends and share price appreciation, we have assumed that taxes do not play a spoilsport. In fact, quite often, they do.For example, if a company distributes dividends, the same may be taxed (either as income in the hands of shareholders, or by way of tax on distribution – like dividend distribution tax in India). Alternatively, if the shareholders have a capital appreciation, which they encash by partial liquidation of holdings, shareholders have a capital gain. Taxability of a capital gain may not be the same as that of dividends. Hence, taxes may differentiate between current dividends and share price appreciation. Shares with fixed returns: Needless to say, there is no relevance of dividend policy where dividends are payable as per terms of issue – for example, in case of preference shares. †¢ Entities requiring minimum distribution: There might also be situations where entities are required to do a minimum distribution under regulations. For example, in case of real estate investment trusts, a certain minimum distribution is required to attain tax transparent status. There might be other regulations or regulatory motivations for companies to distribute their profits.These regulations may impact our discussion on relevance of dividend policy on price of equity shares. †¢ Unlisted companies: Fi nally, one must also note that discussion above on the parity between distributed earnings and retained earnings – the latter leading to market price appreciation – will have relevance only in case of listed firms. Technically speaking, in case of unlisted firms too, retained earnings belong to the shareholders, as shareholders after all are the owners of the residual wealth of the company. However, that residual ownership may be a myth as companies do not istribute assets except in event of winding, and winding up is a rarity. The discussion in this chapter on dividend policy, as far is relates to market price of equity shares, is keeping in mind listed firms. In case of unlisted firms, classical models such as Walter’s model or Gordon Growth model discussed below may hold relevance than market price-based models. From dividends to market value of equity: Dividend capitalisation approach: If, for a second, we were to ignore the stock market capitalisation of a company, what is the market value of an equity share?Say, we take the case of an unlisted company. We know from our discussion on present values that the value of any asset is the value of its cashflows. What is the cashflow a shareholder gets from his equity? As long as the company is not wound up, and the shareholder does not sell the stock, the only cashflow of the shareholder is the dividends he gets. It is easy to understand that if we are not envisaging either a sale of the shares or a liquidation of the company, then the stream of dividends may be assumed to continue in perpetuity. Hence, VE = ? ? (1 + K i =1 Di E )i (1)Where VE : Value of equity K E : Cost of equity Di : dividends in paid in year i Equation (1) is easy to understand. Shareholders continue to receive dividends year after year, and these dividends are discounted by the shareholders at the cost of equity, that is, the required return of the shareholders. If the stream of dividends is constant, then Equation (1) is actually a geometric progression. We can manipulate Equation (1) either to compute the price of equity, if the constant stream of dividends is known, or to compute the cost of equity, if the dividend rate and market price of the shares is known.Applying the geographical progression formula for adding up perpetual progressions, assuming constant dividends equal to D, Equation (1) above becomes: VE = = D (1 + K E ) ? (1 ? 1 ) 1+ KE (2) D KE Example: Supposing a company the nominal value equity were $ 100, and the dividends at the rate of 10 % were $ 10, if the cost of equity is 8%, then the market price of the shares will given by 10/8%, or $ 125. Incorporating growth in dividends:In our over-simplified example above, we have taken dividends to be constant. It would be unusual to expect that dividends will be constant, particularly where the company is not distributing all its earnings. That is to say, with the retained earnings, the company has increasing profits in successive ye ars, and therefore, it continues to distribute more. If dividends grow at a certain compounded rate, say g, then, Equation (2) above becomes: VE = D (1 + g ) (1 + K E ) = ? (1 ? 1+ g ) 1+ KE (3) D (1 + g ) KE ? gNote that we have assumed here that even the first dividend will have grown at g rate, that is, the historical dividend has been D, but we are expecting the current year’s dividend to have increased at the constant rate. If we assume the current year’s dividend will not show the growth, and the growth will come from the forthcoming year, then we can remove (1+g) in the numerator above. The formula as it stands is also referred as Gordon’s dividend growth formula, discussed below. Example: Supposing a company the nominal value equity were $ 100, and the dividends at the rate of 10 % were historically $10.Going forward, we expect that the dividends will continue to grow at a rate of 5% per annum. If the cost of equity is 8%, what is the market value? We pu t the numbers in the formula and get a value of $350. Note that we can also test the valuation above on Excel. If we take sufficient number of dividends, say, 1000, successively growing at the rate of 5%, and we discount the entire stream at 8%, we will get the same value. Example: Supposing a company the nominal value equity were $ 100, and the dividends at the rate of 10 % were historically $10.Going forward, we expect that the dividends will continue to grow at a rate of 12% per annum. If the cost of equity is 8%, what is the market value? This is a case where the growth in dividends is higher than the discounting rate. The growth in dividends is a multiplier; the discounting rate is a divisor. If the multiplier is higher than the divisor, then the present value of each successive dividend will be higher than the previous one, and hence a perpetual series will have infinite value. There is yet another notable point – the growth rate g above may be also be visualised as the appreciation in the market value of the share.That is, shareholders are rewarded in form of current earnings as well as growth in the value of their investment. Dividend-based equity models: Walter Approach: The Walter formula belongs to James E Walter, and is based on a simple argument that where the reinvestment rate, that is, rate of return that the company may earn on retained earnings, is higher than cost of equity (which, as we have discussed before, the expected returns of the shareholders, or rate of return of the shareholders), then, it would be in the interest of the firm to retain the earnings.If the company’s reinvestment rate on retained earnings is the less than shareholders’ rate of return, the company should not retain earnings. If the two rates are the same, then the company should be indifferent between retaining and distributing. The Walter formula is based on a simple analysis that the market value of equity is the capitalisation of the current ear nings and growth in price (g in our formula in equation 3 above). Hence, the basis of Walter formula is: VE = D +g KE (4) Here, the growth factor occurs because the rate of return on retention done by the company is higher than the cost of equity.That is to say, the company continues to earn at r rate of return on the retained earnings, and this is what causes growth g. Hence, g= r (E-D)/ K E Inserting equations (5) into (4), we have VE = (5) D KE + r (E – D)/K E KE (6) Where r = rate of return on retained earnings of the company E = earnings rate D = dividend rate Example: Supposing a company the nominal value equity is $ 100, and the dividends at the rate of 10 % are $10. Supposing the company earns at the rate of 12% , what is the market value of equity if the the cost of equity is 8%?The market value of the share comes to $ 162. 50. This is explainable easily. As the company is earning $12, and distributing $10, it retains $ 2 every year, on which it earns at 12%. The cap italised value of 0. 24 at 8% will be the expected growth. Therefore, the sustainable earnings of the shareholders will be $ 10 +3, which, when capitalised at 8%, produces the value $ 162. 50. Of course, the key learning from Walter’s approach is not what the market value of equity is, but how the market value of equity can be maximised by following a proper distribution policy.For instance, in the present case, it is not advisable for the company to distribute any dividend at all, as the company earns more than the shareholders’ opportunity rate. If the company was not to distribute anything, the market value of the share may increase to $ 225. Gordon growth model: Gordon’s growth model is simply Equation (3) above, that is, VE = D (1 + g ) KE ? g This is, as we have seen above, derived from perpetual sum of a geometric progression, under the assumption that the growth rate is less than the cost of equity. Modigliani and Miller approach:Franco Modigliani was aw arded Nobel prize in 1985 and Merton Miller in 1990 (along with Markowitz and Sharpe). M&M have theorised on the irrelevance of the capital structure, and a corollary, irrelevance of the dividend payout ratio to the value of the firm. Like several financial theories, M&M hypothesis is based on the argument of efficient capital markets. In addition, we believe that a firm has two options: (a) It retains earnings and finances its new investment plans with such retained earnings; (b) It distributes dividends, and finances its new investment plans by issuing new shares.The intuitive background of the M&M approach is extremely simple, and in fact, almost selfexplanatory. It is based on the following propositions: †¢ Why would a company retain earnings? Only tenable reason is that the company has investment opportunities. If the company does not retain earnings, where does it finance those investment opportunities from? We may assume a debt issuance, but then as M&M otherwise propoun ded irrelevance of the capital structure, they see a parity between debt and equity, and hence, it does not make a difference whether the new investments are funded by equity or debt.So, let us assume that the new growth plans are funded by equity. Shareholders price the equity shares of the company to take into account the earnings and the retentions of the company. If the company distributes dividends, the shareholders take into account that fact in pricing of the shares; if the company does not distribute dividends, that is also reflected in the pricing of the shares. If dividends are distributed, the financing needs of the company will be funded by issuing new shares. The issue price of these shares will compensate for the fact that the dividends have been distributed.That is to say, the market price of the share will remain unaffected by whether the dividends have been distributed or not. †¢ †¢ Let us take a one year time horizon to understand the indifference argumen t of M&M. We use the following new notations: Po P1 D1 n m I X : Price of the equity share at point 0 : Price of the equity share at point 1, that is, end of period 1 : Dividend per share being paid in period 1 : existing number of issued shares : new shares to be issued : Investment needs of the company in year 1 : Profits of the firm year in 1 The relation between the price at the beginning of the year (Po), and that at he end of the year (P1) is the simple question of discounted value at the shareholders’ expected rate of return (KE). Hence, Po = (P1 +D1) / (1+(KE) (7) Equation (7) is quite easy to understand. Shareholders have got a cash return equal to D1 at the end of Year 1, and the share is still worth P1. Hence, discounted at the cost of equity, the discounted value is the price at the beginning of the period. Alternatively, it may also be stated that the P1 = (P0 )* (1+(KE) – D1 (8) That is to say, if the company declares dividends, the price the end of year 1 comes down to the effect of the distribution.Equation (7) can be manipulated. By multiplying both sides by n, and adding a self-cancelling number m, we may write (7) as follows: nPo = [(n+m)P1 -mP1 +nD1)]/(1+(KE) (9) Note that we have multiplied both sides by n, and the added number m along with m is cancelled by deducting the same outside the brackets. mP1 represents the new share capital raised by the company to finance its investment needs. How much share capital would the company need to raise? Given the investment needs I and the profits X, the new capital issued will be given by the following: mP1 = I – (X – nD1) (10)Again, this is not difficult to understand, as the total amount of profit of the company is X, and the total amount distributed as dividends is nD1. Hence, the company is left with a funding gap as shown by equation (10). If the value of mP1 is substituted in Equation (9), we have the following: nPo = [(n+m)P1 – {I – (X – nD1)} +nD1)]/(1+(KE) (11) As nD1 would cancel out, we will be left with the following: nPo = [(n+m)P1 – I + X] /(1+(KE) (12) Since nPo is total value of the stock at point 0, it is seen from Equation (12) that dividend is not a factor in that valuation at all.

Tobacco 16th Century

Tobacco in the sixteenth century What is tobacco? The definition of tobacco is leaves of the tobacco plant dried and prepared for smoking or ingestion. For the English settlers in Chesapeake tobacco was there way of surviving. During the sixteenth century a man planted tobacco in Virginia for the first time and found it took well to the climate. Once the tobacco started growing it needed much attention and great care by hand. Workers were needed around the clock to tend to the crops. The settlers realized that tobacco could be there way to riches.The growing of tobacco not only helped the English settlers but also the English monarchy, ships men, and merchants. In 1612 John Rolfe planted seeds of tobacco plants that had been found originally in the West Indies and Venezuela. The plants grew very well and he started to experiment with methods of curing the leaf further enhancing its flavor. Rolfe sent his first shipment of tobacco to London in 1614. After this it became clear to settl ers that they could make a fortune in Virginia by growing tobacco. In 1617 the colonists made their first commercial shipment to England.When the shipments first arrived they product was hardly known but Sir Walter Releigh Helped to make tobacco smoking popular among the English. At first tobacco was sold at a very high price were only the wealthy could partake, but once the English colonist began to grow and ship an abundance of tobacco the price became much lower and tobacco was an indulgence for many. The shipping of tobacco to England saved the Jamestown settlement. Before growing tobacco they couldn’t even grow enough corn to feed themselves.Once the colonist started growing tobacco it became very clear to them that it could be the road to a fortune. The revenue coming in from exporting tobacco kept Chesapeake alive and growing. The king saw all the wealth being made and so he put a tax on importing tobacco giving him a major financial interest. In the end the exporting of tobacco provided a livelihood for many, a fortune for a few, and valuable revenue for ships men, merchants, and the English monarchy. In order to make all the tobacco they shipped to England to gain their wealth the tobacco plantations needed workers.A hired man working on tobacco plantations could make two or three times more in Virginia than in England. Most of the workers on the plantation were indentured servants. These people have their trip to Virginia paid for by someone else then pay the person back by working in the tobacco fields for four to five years. The indentured servants were mostly young, male, and had no skills in the job force. They were thrown on a field and told what to do. Growing tobacco is a very time consuming job. First the fields had to be cleared by hand.Like the Indians the colonist â€Å"clered† fields by cutting a ring of bark from each tree, this was called girdling, killing the tree. Then colonist would use heavy hoes to till the fields. Ho les were then made with sticks and the tobacco seed was placed in each hole. Once the plants matured they were cut down and thrown in a pile to wilt. After the leaves dried a little in the piles they were striped from the stock of the plant and suspended from poles in drying barns or just out in the fields. Last after the leaves were dry, they were seasoned, packed up in casks, and shipped off.During all of this work the men, women, boys, and girls from the age seven and up would smoke tobacco in order to pass the time. As farming went on the owners of the fields’ realized that the indentured servants were hard to control and would soon be free of their contract to them. They first found ways to add time to their contract but found it hard and people were living through their time served. So Between 1670 and 1700 the Chesapeake tobacco plantations discovered slavery and slowly made the transition from servant to slave fixing the problem for the moment.Just when the colonists of Chesapeake thought they would be starving and have no money for the rest of their being John Rolfe showed up and planted tobacco seeds. The seeds grow well and the colonist learned how to make money from all the hard work they were putting forth. They also found cheap ways of getting workers. Pay for an indentured servant and have them work for up to 7 or 10 years or have slave that don’t ever leave the plantation. The tobacco business thrived for everyone entangled in it.Over thirty-million pounds of tobacco was exported from Virginia to England helping make Chesapeake thrive as a colony. Bibliography The Old Dominion in the Seventeenth Century: A Documentary History of Virginia, 1606-1700 /  Edition 1by  Warren M. Billings The American Promise, A compact history, fourth edition, volume 1: to 1877, by: Roark, Johnson, Cohen, stage, Lawson, and Hartmann WWW. fcps. edu/GunstonES/gunstones/speciaLprojects/Jamestown1612. htm Gale Encyclopedia of Biography :John Rolfe

World War II and Operation Vengeance

World War II and Operation Vengeance During the Pacific conflict in World War II, American forces conceived a plan to get rid of Japanese commander Fleet Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto. Date Conflict Operation Vengeance was conducted on April 18, 1943, during World War II (1939-1945). Forces Commanders Allies Admiral William Bull Halsey16 Lockheed P-38G Lightnings Japanese Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto2 G4M Betty bombers, 6 A6M Zero fighters Background On April 14, 1943, Fleet Radio Unit Pacific intercepted message NTF131755 as part of project Magic. Having broken the Japanese naval codes, US Navy cryptanalysts decoded the message and found that it provided specific details for an inspection trip that the Commander-in-Chief of the Japanese Combined Fleet, Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, intended to make to the Solomon Islands. This information was passed to Commander Ed Layton, the intelligence officer for the Commander-in-Chief of the US Pacific Fleet, Admiral Chester W. Nimitz. Meeting with Layton, Nimitz debated whether to act on the information as he was concerned that it might lead the Japanese to conclude that their codes had been broken. He was also concerned that if Yamamoto was dead, he might be replaced with a more gifted commander. After much discussion, it was decided a suitable cover story could be devised to alleviate concerns regarding the first issue, while Layton, who had known Yamamoto before the war, stressed that he was the best the Japanese had. Deciding to move forward with intercepting Yamamotos flight, Nimitz received clearance from the White House to move forward. Planning As Yamamoto was viewed as the architect of the attack on Pearl Harbor, President Franklin D. Roosevelt instructed Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox to give the mission the highest priority. Consulting with Admiral William Bull Halsey, Commander South Pacific Forces and South Pacific Area, Nimitz ordered planning to move forward. Based on the intercepted information, it was known that on April 18 Yamamoto would be flying from Rabaul, New Britain to Ballale Airfield on an island near Bougainville. Though only 400 miles from Allied bases on Guadalcanal, the distance presented a problem as American aircraft would need to fly a 600-mile roundabout course to the intercept to avoid detection, making the total flight 1,000 miles. This precluded the use of the Navy and Marine Corps F4F Wildcats or F4U Corsairs. As a result, the mission was assigned to the US Armys 339th Fighter Squadron, 347th Fighter Group, Thirteenth Air Force which flew P-38G Lightnings. Equipped with two drop tanks, the P-38G was capable of reaching Bougainville, executing the mission, and returning to base. Overseen by the squadrons commander, Major John W. Mitchell, planning moved forward with the assistance of Marine Lieutenant Colonel Luther S. Moore. At Mitchells request, Moore had the 339ths aircraft fitted with ships compasses to aid in navigation. Utilizing the departure and arrival times contained in the intercepted message, Mitchell devised a precise flight plan that called for his fighters to intercept Yamamotos flight at 9:35 AM as it began its descent to Ballale. Knowing that Yamamotos aircraft was to be escorted by six A6M Zero fighters, Mitchell intended to use eighteen aircraft for the mission. While four aircraft were tasked as the killer group, the remainder was to climb to 18,000 feet to serve as top cover to deal with enemy fighters arriving on scene after the attack. Though the mission was to be conducted by the 339th, ten of the pilots were drawn from other squadrons in the 347th Fighter Group. Briefing his men, Mitchell provided a cover story that the intelligence had been provided by a coastwatcher who saw a high ranking officer boarding an aircraft in Rabaul. Downing Yamamoto Departing Guadalcanal at 7:25 AM on April 18, Mitchell quickly lost two aircraft from his killer group due to mechanical issues. Replacing them from his cover group, he led the squadron west out over the water before turning north towards Bougainville. Flying at no higher than 50 feet and in radio silence to avoid detection, the 339th arrived at the intercept point a minute early. Earlier that morning, despite the warnings of local commanders who feared an ambush, Yamamotos flight departed Rabaul. Proceeding over Bougainville, his G4M Betty and that of his chief of staff, were covered by two groups of three Zeros (Map). Spotting the flight, Mitchells squadron began to climb and he ordered the killer group, consisting of Captain Thomas Lanphier, First Lieutenant Rex Barber, Lieutenant Besby Holmes, and Lieutenant Raymond Hine to attack. Dropping their tanks, Lanphier and Barber turned parallel to the Japanese and began to climb. Holmes, whose tanks failed to release, turned back out to sea followed by his wingman. As Lanphier and Barber climbed, one group of Zeros dove to attack. While Lanphier turned left to engage the enemy fighters, Barber banked hard right and came in behind the Bettys. Opening fire on one (Yamamotos aircraft), he hit it several times causing it to roll violently to the left and plummet into the jungle below. He then turned towards the water seeking the second Betty. He found it near Moila Point being attacked by Holmes and Hines. Joining in the attack, they forced it to crash land in the water. Coming under attack from the escorts, they were aided by Mitchell and the rest of the flight. With fuel levels reaching a critical level, Mitchell ordered his men to break off the action and return to Guadalcanal. All of the aircraft returned except Hines which was lost in action and Holmes who was forced to land in the Russell Islands due to a lack of fuel. Aftermath A success, Operation Vengeance saw the American fighters down both Japanese bombers, killing 19, including Yamamoto. In exchange, the 339th lost Hines and one aircraft. Searching the jungle, the Japanese found Yamamotos body near the crash site. Thrown clear of the wreckage, he had been hit twice in the fighting. Cremated at nearby Buin, his ashes were returned to Japan aboard the battleship Musashi. He was replaced by Admiral Mineichi Koga. Several controversies quickly brewed following the mission. Despite the security attached to the mission and the Magic program, operational details soon leaked out. This began with Lanphier announcing upon landing that I got Yamamoto! This breach of security led to a second controversy over who actually shot down Yamamoto. Lanphier claimed that after engaging the fighters he banked around and shot a wing off the lead Betty. This led to an initial belief that three bombers had been downed. Though given credit, other members of the 339th were skeptical. Though Mitchell and the members of the killer group were initially recommended for the Medal of Honor, this was downgraded to the Navy Cross in the wake of the security issues. Debate continued over credit for the kill. When it was ascertained that only two bombers were downed, Lanphier and Barber were each given half kills for Yamamotos plane. Though Lanphier later claimed full credit in an unpublished manuscript, the testimony of the lone Japanese survivor of the battle and the work of other scholars supports Barbers claim. Selected Sources World War II Database: Operation VengeanceUS Naval Institute: Operation Vengeance

How to Use Google to Create a Winning Resume

How to Use Google to Create a Winning Resume So you found the perfect job posting and think you really want to make the plunge this time and apply. But what’s stopped you in the past is likely what’s making you take pause now- you (of course) need to provide a resume, and the thought of updating yours or creating a new one from scratch is just too daunting to tackle. Hmm, maybe you don’t  need to apply to this job? Nonsense. Do it. No idea how to start building (or rebuilding) your resume? Lucky for you there are a ton of templates out there that can serve as a useful starting point. You don’t just have to sit there with a new Word document, the cursor blinking at you on the blank page.Next time you’re stuck, turn to Google Docs. Their template archive is a wealth of possible head starts for you to make a gorgeous and professional looking resume. And all you need is a Google account to get started- it’s completely free. And the best part is, you’ll be able to access your docume nt from anywhere, on any computer, in any document format.Here are a few tips on how to use Google Docs resume templates to your best advantage.1. Search for exactly what you want and like.The template gallery is huge- and includes more than just resumes. Use the search function to narrow things down. Just enter the word â€Å"resume† and start browsing through what’s available that suits your needs.And if you don’t have a sense of the type or style that you want? Really, don’t let the numbers overwhelm you. Find the first one that looks clean and classy and professional. Pick that one- done and done. Use the preview function to make sure you’re happy with your choice. If you don’t love it, keep looking for clean and classy. If you do, simply click â€Å"Use this Template† and get started.2. Personalize it piece by piece.Your template will be full of dummy text for a fake job applicant, and you’ll have to go in and change all o f the information to your own. Enter your details by clicking on each section as you edit it. The most convenient part? Your changes are automatically saved in Google Docs. (Though, in general, please practice saving as you go- it’s a great habit.)To save a copy to your computer, simply â€Å"Download as† then choose your file extension of choice. You can then attach your file to an email if needed, or print your file directly from Google Docs.3. Choose a good file name.Simply click on the title of the Google Doc to rename it. Remember to make it something you’ll be able to search for easily, and that will not confuse a hiring manager- something like â€Å"Smith Resume 2017 July† will do. If you’re making multiple versions for multiple positions, be sure to make the file names specific enough to find later when you need them.Honestly, the toughest part of this whole process is getting started. It’s hard to picture filling up a whole page of information when you have an expanse of white space sitting in front of you. A template seems like a simple thing, but trust us when we say that having set boxes to fill in is often all it takes to get your fingers typing, your brain moving, and the information about your work history into those neat little compartments.

An integrated critique of kozols and dawkins Essay Example for Free

An integrated critique of kozols and dawkins Essay AN INTEGRATED CRITIQUE OF KOZOL’S AND DAWKIN INTRODUCTION Richard Dawkins was born on March 26, in 1941. He is an ethnologist, an evolutionarily biologists and a popular writer in science. He also holds the Simonyi Chair, which is designed to promote the understanding of science to public at Oxford University. The first time Dawkins come into the limelight and became popular was after writing his book ‘The Selfish Gene’ in 1976. This book introduced the term ‘meme’ and consequently helped discover memetics fields. It also made ‘gene-centered view of evolution’ popular. Around 1982, he made significant contributions toward evolution science. THE SELFISH GENE BY RICHARD DAWKINS Richard Dawkin’s ‘The selfish Gene’ was a very popular reading and to some extent controversial on evolution. The book elaborates and goes deeper to discuss more about the theory of William’s first ever book to write ‘Adaptation and Natural Selection’. The theory discussed on this book is principal to William’s book. Richard introduced, ‘Selfish Gene’ to provoke and express his views on gene’s evolution. This view states that evolution acts on genes and when we select some organisms or a population, this selection is normally based on the type of genes. According to his book, an organism must evolve since it is the only way of maximizing its ‘inclusive fitness’, which refers to the total number of the genes which are transmitted globally, rather than the genes passed on by a particular individual. Consequently, a population tends to learn towards ‘Evolutionarily Stable Strategy’. (Richard, 1990) This ‘selfish gene’ came up with the term ‘meme’. ‘Meme refers to a single unit of human’s culture evolution which is analogous to genes. It suggests that this is a ‘selfish’ replication of human genes, and it can affect the culture of human in a totally difference sense. There is no doubt that ‘memetics’ evoked a discussion of meme since he published his book. ‘Meme’ is cultural information units, which can be transferred from one mind to another. Examples of memes are tunes, clothes fashion, catch phrases, pot making or building arches. â€Å"Meme’ is properly defined in the theory of memetic, which is comprised of information on culture in a unit theory; how evolution of culture or diffusion is blocked, how it propagates form mind to mind and the way a gene propagates from one person or from an organism to an organism. Where memes are multiple, they propagate as â€Å"memeplexes’. Meme complexes act as cooperative groups. (Richard, 1990) A ‘gene’ on the other hand, is a region that can be located and has a sequence called ‘genomic sequence. This corresponds to an inheritance unit that is closely associated with regions that play a regulatory function, the regions, which are transcribed, and other regions with functional sequence. The phenotype and physical development of organisms is believed to be productivity of genes, which interact among themselves and with their environment. Genes are generally inheritance units. A gene generally defines human or organism’s characteristic and the functionality of potential products. Genes do not define products but rather they contain regions. Eukaryotic organisms contain regions, which do not have coding regions and are called introns. These are taken away from RNA, which acts as the messenger in a process referred to as ‘splicing’. Exons are regions, which encode the products of gene. A total number of genes, which make a set, is called ‘genome’. The genome size of an organism is usually low in prokaryotes, which come in base pairs and the gene’s numbers. The theorists of meme state that meme evolve through natural selection, this is similar to biological evolution of Darwin through competition, inheritance, variation and mutation. THE ROLE OF CULTURAL EVOLUTION Cultural evolution and socio-evolution fall under the umbrella called ‘socio-cultural evolution’. It describes how societies and cultures have come into being over time. Cultural theories provide us with models to enhance our understanding on the relationship between our social structure, technologies and society values; and give reasons why and how they change gradually. They change to a degree to which specific mechanisms of social change are described. (Richard 1990) Around 20th and 19th century, there were approaches, which were aimed to give models for humankind evolution. The argument is that the social development of different societies is not in the same stage. The recent approaches of the 20th century emphasize on changes, which are specific to a society as an individual and turn down social progress and directional change. Archeologists and anthropologists use modern theories as the framework of socio-cultural evolution. Sociobiology and neo-evolutionism are some of modern approaches employed to cultural evolution. Richard Dawkins, the ethnologist discovered ‘meme’. According to his book, â€Å"TheSelfish Gene’ 1976, likened human’s cultural evolution unit to a gene. His argument was that replication happens in the culture, through in a different sense. Dawkins contends that meme, which resides in the brain represents units of information and it is the replicator that controls mutation in cultural evolution of humans. This forms a pattern, which has the power to influence surroundings, that is, it can propagate and possesses causal agency. However, his theory caused a heated debate among biologists, sociologists and scientists from other disciplines. Dawkins failed to given adequate explanation about the information units replicates, in organism’s brain, how it can control the behaviour of a human being and finally culture. It is apparent that it was not Dawkins intention to give the theory of memetics. Comprehensively in the selfish gene, he coined the word meme in a kind of speculative spirit. In the same sense, ‘unit of information was given different definitions by different scientists. (Richard 1990). MEME AND EDUCATION It is not entirely impossible though it is hard to debate the subject matter of the functions of emotions in education system if we are lacking the right words to sufficiently discuss the topic. This is the scenario when we reach a point of discussing the functional role of ‘emotional intelligence’ because it has got to do with the needs of our younger brothers and sisters as well as great grandchildren and become stochastically and mathematically proficient so as they can exist and fit in the competition which is characterized by technological advancement. Many educators are failing because they lack words such as ‘eipiphiny’ and ‘mehme’ and hence do not have words, which play an important role of ‘emotional intelligence,’ and how it relates to stochastic and mathematical literacy sufficiently and appropriately address attempts that can be made. The outcome is a system of education that is believed to be failing. If the kids can experience and feel eipiphinies and MEHMES, kids will definitely love maths, and see its relevance to their lives daily. It also contributes a feeling of self-confident. The key here is to create the terms mehme and eipiphiny. Introduction of mehme and eipiphiny may have a positive effect if incorporated in the meme selection process. An integrated critique of kozols and dawkins. (2017, Apr 30).

The effects of the 2008 financial crisis on the investment in the Gulf Research Paper

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Management and Marketing Strategies Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Management and Marketing Strategies - Case Study Example In this regard, Sunhuan Holdings LTD is a construction company in Singapore that deserves to be considered for the award given their exemplary management and marketing strategies performance and their great contribution in the economic growth of the country. Sunhuan Holdings LTD Business Model, Productivity, and Innovation Viability and Sustainability of the Business Model Sunhuan Construction Company in Singapore has demonstrates high-level viability coupled with sustainability of their business in the competitive industry. The industry throughout its existence has demonstrated the need to satisfy the needs of their customers in the most sustainable ways possible, for instance, the company has shown flexibility and adaptability in satisfying the diverse demands of their customers to the extent of changing their models over time. Currently, the company has complied with all the standardizations that are required to be complied with by the construction companies in Singapore, in their QEHS policy, the company pledges to be provide within budget and time quality services and products to their customers. Furthermore, the company has shown sheer commitment in satisfying the needs of their customers by availing to them different tastes of constructions that has perfectly fit into the demands of the customers. There have also been several architectural designs that the company has been providing to the clients because of their investment in the designs and structural organization of building that has shown more clients opting for the company. Additionally, the construction company does provide for all kinds of buildings, they have shown specialization to all requirements of the customers from offices to residential buildings, besides this, the company has adopted the contemporary building requirements that requires buildings to be sustainable in their own . They have fully complied with the green building requirements and some of the aspects that are considered by th e company when doing their construction in pursuit of sustainability includes; enabling the house to use natural lights thus avoiding extra use of power during the day. The houses build by the company are designed such they are able to utilize natural light during the day and there is no need lighting, their also water conservation by the buildings that are constructed by the company, the water that is harvested by the buildings constructed by the company can be used for irrigating the nearby surroundings. The buildings constructed by the company are thus mindful of the cost that should be incurred while operating in the buildings, the occupants thus finds their construction economical for use. The kind of flexibility and adaptability that has been established by the company makes them to be way ahead of other companies in coping with the economic needs of their customers and they are worth being considered for the award. Plans to Expand, Improve, and Adapt the Current Business Mode l Concerning the Sunhan Construction Company plans for expansion, they have projected to engage in building construction in most of the countries around the world. The company has decided to go global and be an international company in

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BUSN300 UNIT 5DB - Research Paper Example In general both of them can be used interchangeably in studying, meaning that one can be used while implementing a project (Haugan, 57). The primary role of PERT is to identify the critical path that a project takes from planning to completion. It lays down the activities that need to be done in the entire project period giving the timelines to be used in implementing a series of activities performed either sequentially or parallel with other activities. In the flow chart, the initial stage of project implementation must start from step 1 before it proceeds to step 2. Some part of the project can directly go straight to step 5 from step 2 so long as at this stage it is independent. A part of the project can go through step 3, on the diagram, before finalizing at step 5. Still, some task can take the direction through step 4 and end at step, so long as it is independent of step 2 and 3. Each step has planned number of days, weeks or months to complete. It can be in terms of days, weeks or even months. Step 1 to step 4 and eventually to step 5 can take months while in the other hand, step 1 to step 2 can take days or weeks and step 2 to step 5 can take months or several weeks. Through step 3, the timeline can be months but eventually ending at step 5. Each step’s timeline can be different, but when implemented either in parallel or concurrently, it will all end at step 5 at the project completion stage. All stages of the process are what are referred to as the critical path that the project takes in order to realize completion as planned. The stages have to be meticulously planned and implemented as planned in order not to delay the entire project from completion. The steps have to be synchronized accordingly, and necessary resources should be allocated and availed in time. Such resources include tools and equipment, labor and materials. The necessary inspection and servicing of tools and equipment should be done to reduce chances of breakdown. All materials

How does someone learn to be racist or prejudiced Essay

How does someone learn to be racist or prejudiced - Essay Example They begin to believe that they have a right to feel as they do. The most common way that a person learns racism and prejudice is through their parents or other close relatives. When a child grows up in a household that openly promotes being racist or prejudice, that child usually grows up to become racist or prejudiced. They are subjected to these ideas from a young age and they grow up thinking that these thoughts, ideas, and behaviors are right. Children are easily influenced by their parents and other authoritative figures in their lives and they end up taking on a lot of their personality traits. If a child’s parents raise that child into thinking that a certain race is bad or lower than their own, that child will hold onto that concept throughout the childhood and into adulthood. Sometimes the passing on of racist views is unintended, but, more often than not, a child raised in a situation like this is not corrected when they begin to display some of the same ideals. In many cases, some children are even praised when they first make it known that they have prejudice views towards someone else simply because of their skin color, religion, or sexual orientation.

The Continuum From Legitimacy to Fraud Research Paper - 2

The Continuum From Legitimacy to Fraud - Research Paper Example The main Research methods include quantitative, mixed methods, and qualitative approaches methods. The criteria of choosing a research method depend on the decisions on questions to be answered and data type required (Stangor, 2011). A research considers various aspects like the person who will collect data, place of data collection and data the researcher seeks to collect. Other factors considered in the selection criteria are; methodology to be used and data analysis type. The method of research selected should answer the questions and be in line with the methodology (Cozby, 2009). Quantitative research involves deductive and pivots in a hypothesis that is recognized prior to the research. Qualitative research involves inductive and needs no hypothesis formulation for the research. A mixed research method comprises the use of both quantitative and qualitative method (Zikmund, Babin, Carr, & Griffin, 2010). Quantitative Research Method This research considers a general case then mov es towards a specific case. This method considers a probable cause of a problem and anticipates validating its effect. The cause and effect factor depends on the strength of variables relationship. If the variables are strongly related, the relationship of cause and effect becomes highly probable (Cozby, 2009). An example of this method is a research to evaluate the differences in use of websites carts of shopping and online consumer purchasing behavior. General Cause The general cause involves the purchasing habit of internet customers who put commodities in the shopping carts that are online. However, these shoppers do not complete several purchases. Analysing this behavior varies from the purchasing habit of online shoppers who never use shopping carts to hold commodities they never purchase. Specific Effect The specific effect comprises of internet shoppers who routinely put commodities in their online shopping carts but do not accomplish the purchase, and are 75% more probable to revisit the same websites late complete the purchase within a week. Research Finding Holding the contents in the internet-shopping cart for 10 days when a shopper goes offline, prior to finishing a purchase, is favorable business and implies a high possibility of potential purchases by that customer on the same website. Hypothesis This is a guess in a statement or a query form, which a research attempts to answer. A quantitative research has two-hypotheses. Null hypothesis (Ho) is where a researcher does not anticipate the guess to be true. In the end of the research, the researcher will scrutinize the data collected in order to either acknowledge or reject the negative hypothesis. Testing a hypothesis is the confirmation of the assumption or the hypothesis. In the alternative hypothesis, (Ha), a researcher supposes the guess is true. When a researcher rejects the null hypothesis, it implies that the alternative hypothesis might be accepted. This means likelihood that the data er ror that would make the Ha not true is reasonably minute by scientific standards. There is no absolute hypothesis testing in any quantitative research (Stangor, 2011). From the example, on the online study: Ho = Online buyer who puts commodities in the cart prior to leaving the website is more probable to revisit and complete a transaction than online buyers who do not put commodities in their cart, but also return to the website.  

Case Study Analysis Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Case Study Analysis - Assignment Example Rise of secondary ticket market is affecting the profitability and brand value of several leagues and sports teams. It is clear from the case study that the teams in NFL are facing several critical issues due to growth of secondary ticket industry. Issues and Problems It is true that the pricing of tickets is influencing by the organizational and economical factors along with the perceived value of the spectators. National Football League is the most popular and leading sporting event in United States. It is a seasonal event. Day-by-day, the popularity of this event is increasing significantly. Looking into these aspects, the brokers used to purchase large number of primary tickets from the ticketing management organizations of the league or several NFL teams. It is actually affecting the image of the organizations and team managements. Brokers or ticket agents generally sell these tickets to the spectators based in higher price comparing to the developed price by the organization. T he price of tickets is generally set depending on the previous year’s success, income, profit, revenue and demand of customers. This secondary ticketing process is making it difficult for the target audiences to buy the tickets at same price that is developed by the team management.

The Continuum From Legitimacy to Fraud Research Paper - 2

The Continuum From Legitimacy to Fraud - Research Paper Example The main Research methods include quantitative, mixed methods, and qualitative approaches methods. The criteria of choosing a research method depend on the decisions on questions to be answered and data type required (Stangor, 2011). A research considers various aspects like the person who will collect data, place of data collection and data the researcher seeks to collect. Other factors considered in the selection criteria are; methodology to be used and data analysis type. The method of research selected should answer the questions and be in line with the methodology (Cozby, 2009). Quantitative research involves deductive and pivots in a hypothesis that is recognized prior to the research. Qualitative research involves inductive and needs no hypothesis formulation for the research. A mixed research method comprises the use of both quantitative and qualitative method (Zikmund, Babin, Carr, & Griffin, 2010). Quantitative Research Method This research considers a general case then mov es towards a specific case. This method considers a probable cause of a problem and anticipates validating its effect. The cause and effect factor depends on the strength of variables relationship. If the variables are strongly related, the relationship of cause and effect becomes highly probable (Cozby, 2009). An example of this method is a research to evaluate the differences in use of websites carts of shopping and online consumer purchasing behavior. General Cause The general cause involves the purchasing habit of internet customers who put commodities in the shopping carts that are online. However, these shoppers do not complete several purchases. Analysing this behavior varies from the purchasing habit of online shoppers who never use shopping carts to hold commodities they never purchase. Specific Effect The specific effect comprises of internet shoppers who routinely put commodities in their online shopping carts but do not accomplish the purchase, and are 75% more probable to revisit the same websites late complete the purchase within a week. Research Finding Holding the contents in the internet-shopping cart for 10 days when a shopper goes offline, prior to finishing a purchase, is favorable business and implies a high possibility of potential purchases by that customer on the same website. Hypothesis This is a guess in a statement or a query form, which a research attempts to answer. A quantitative research has two-hypotheses. Null hypothesis (Ho) is where a researcher does not anticipate the guess to be true. In the end of the research, the researcher will scrutinize the data collected in order to either acknowledge or reject the negative hypothesis. Testing a hypothesis is the confirmation of the assumption or the hypothesis. In the alternative hypothesis, (Ha), a researcher supposes the guess is true. When a researcher rejects the null hypothesis, it implies that the alternative hypothesis might be accepted. This means likelihood that the data er ror that would make the Ha not true is reasonably minute by scientific standards. There is no absolute hypothesis testing in any quantitative research (Stangor, 2011). From the example, on the online study: Ho = Online buyer who puts commodities in the cart prior to leaving the website is more probable to revisit and complete a transaction than online buyers who do not put commodities in their cart, but also return to the website.  

Ethical Philosophies of Machiavelli and Subramanian Essay Example for Free

Ethical Philosophies of Machiavelli and Subramanian Essay One of the greatest comparisons of all time is to contrast Niccolo Machiavelli’s â€Å"The Prince† with V. K. Subramanian’s â€Å"The Chanakya: Kautilya. † Critically, a look can be taken into several different elements of each author’s work to best compare and contrast them. To that end, a look will be taken at the political, social, and ethical philosophies of Machiavelli and Subramanian to determine how they differ and in which ways the philosophies are similar. Niccolo Machiavelli’s The Prince† in the early 1500’s as a way of adding his insight from what he had seen of politics and hereditary principality—even though â€Å"it was plagiarized during Machiavelli’s lifetime†¦[and] was never published by him†¦[making] the text [itself as] still disputable† (Machiavelli 11). While current versions of â€Å"The Prince† are attributed to him, this fact of plagiarism and publishing fraud make the work even more intriguing, given the subject matter itself. Of the work itself, Machiavelli said that â€Å"I pour myself out as fully as I can in meditation on the subject, discussing what a principality is, what kinds there are, how they can be acquired, how they can be kept, why they are lost; and if any of the fancies ever pleased you, this ought not to displease you; and to a prince, especially to a new one, it should be welcome† (Machiavelli 11). Machiavelli dedicated the work itself to Lorenzo de’ Medici, even after he was put to torture by the family for treachery. Machiavelli’s methods are one of unique significance as he is writing, having been there, in the thick of things. Essentially, â€Å"The Prince† is meant as a guidebook on how to rule in all princely matters for Lorenzo de’ Medici. Machiavelli wrote about how hereditary principalities worked, how to keep that inheritance, and even how a prince could gain a new principality, and how a prince should rule his people and act, as a prince, and politically. While Machiavelli essentially confined his writings to obtaining fortune, keeping and obtaining power, and virtue as a leader, a look can be taken into his writings to discover the philosophies beneath his ideas. In comparison, V. K. Subramanian’s â€Å"The Chanakya: Kautilya† was published in 1980 about and are translated from are translated from three works known as the â€Å"Chankyasutras,† the â€Å"Chankyanitidarpan† and the â€Å"Arthshastra† and are based upon the time in history around 300 BC. The intro of Subramanian’s work notes that â€Å"Chanakya, also known as Kautilya and Vishnugupta was the famous Indian Machiavelli who was responsible for the overthrow of the last ruler of the Nada Dynasty and the enthronement of Chandragupta Maurya†¦there is an interesting story about Chanakya’s first encounter with Chandragupta, which ultimately ended in their collaboration and capture of power† (Subramanian 1). Subramanian’s work, then, is a direct reflection of Machiavelli’s own. What makes them similar, however, despite the men within the tales, is the philosophies shared between the two. Machiavelli’s political philosophy is perhaps the easiest to pinpoint as the very purpose of his work revolved around the necessity of a prince to reign successfully. Machiavelli, actually, mainly focused on the political aspects of maintaining and gaining principalities. He notes that â€Å"let any one now consider with what little difficulty the king could have maintained his position in Italy had he observed the rules above laid down, and kept all his friends secure and protected; for although they were numerous they were both weak and timid, some afraid of the Church†¦and thus they would always have been forced to stand in with him, and by their means he could easily have made himself secure against those who remained powerful† (30). Machiavelli is urging his prince to take note of the past and understand that had the king protected his weaker neighbors, he would have not only gained them as allies—but also could have gained them as part of his reign. And, at all costs, he should protect his allies as he would protect his own lands. Politically, being a stronger power, he would have been made into the â€Å"leader,† who they would be indebted to and would follow with more loyalty than any money could purchase. And, to Machiavelli, the art of gaining allies and principalities, even de facto ones, was the art to be achieved. Even more so, Subramanian’s fourth maxim entitled â€Å"Advisors, Aides, Counselors, Ministers,† notes that â€Å"after equipping oneself fully, one should seek an ally (aide), one without an advisor has no certainty of counsel, one wheel does not move (the vehicle), the true aide serves alike in prosperity and adversity, a self respecting ruler should appoint as counselor, one who is inferior to him, and respects him†¦deflection to the enemy takes place due to negligence† (22-25). In this, Subramanian agrees wholeheartedly with Machiavelli’s statements. To be a successful ruler, allies must be taken and protected, first and foremost, before true rule can begin. The reason being, that with allies, a force become much stronger, incrementally, with each ally added. Furthermore, each ally must be protected and cared for to ensure their cooperation—but with that cooperation comes an extended kingdom. Indeed, Machiavelli’s social philosophy can be found within his writings on obtaining fortune. Machiavelli writes that â€Å"principalities are either hereditary, in which the family has been long established; or they are new†¦. such dominions thus acquired are either accustomed to live under a prince, or to live in freedom; and are acquired either by the arms of the prince himself, or of others, or else by fortune or by ability† (21). Machiavelli is commenting, simply, that the way in which a prince gains land is two-fold: either he inherits it or he fights for it. The manner in which the prince gains and obtains his land, however, is what makes the prince either beloved by his people or hated. For Machiavelli, gaining the most principalities possible by virtuous means was the ideal result. And, as he instructed his prince, it was best to be good, socially, if any hopes of maintaining that principality are held. In fact, Machiavelli comments that, for example, â€Å"Louis the Twelfth, King of France, quickly occupied Milan, and as quickly lost it; and to turn him out the first time it only needed Lodovico’s own forces; because those who had opened the gates to him, finding themselves deceived in their hopes of future benefit, would not endure the ill-treatment of the new prince† (23). Moreover, â€Å"it is very true that, after acquiring rebellious provinces a second time, they are not so lightly lost afterwards, because the prince, with little reluctance, takes the opportunity of the rebellion to punish the delinquents, to clear out the suspects, and to strengthen himself in the weakest places† (24). Thus, not only is it important for a prince to be clear in his occupation in a land, to become most beloved, he must first get rid of the troublemakers—thus leaving the peaceable, and willing to be occupied. If a prince does not take this step, he is left in hostile territory with people willing to stage an overthrow. On contrast, Subramanian writes out a few of the maxims of Chanakya, citing that â€Å"economic prosperity creates prosperity for the people, if the people are prosperous, even a leaderless state can be governed, people’s fury is the greatest of furies†¦[and] to be without a master is better than having an arrogant master† (22). In this, the two authors cannot be more different from the other. Machiavelli believes that the first step of any prince should be to take a firm grasp upon his principalities, to conquer new ones, and to rout the dissenters by force before they can rally for an overthrow. Machiavelli believes that by getting rid of the rebellious people before they can act, a leader can sustain and mark his position within his land, taking charge before the people even really know that it has happened. Then, once all the rebellion has been stamped out, a leader can begin to make his land prosperous. However, Subramanian cites a very different kind of social philosophy, making note that a leader might as well not exist if he intends to be a tyrant to the people, that a people have more respect for a man intent on prosperity, first, and rebellion last. Because, in an attempt to rout the dissenters, a leader would make a dent on the value the people hold for him—and thus their fury would remain. To really be a true leader and be beloved by his land, a leader must intend on affluence and prosperity as his bottom line. Finally, Machiavelli’s ethical and moral philosophy requires the most interpretation to highlight significantly. As Machiavelli writes about virtue in a leader, instructing a prince on how to act and behave, an ethical philosophy is formed. On contrast, Subramanian’s ethical philosophy stems from his ethical roots maxim that states â€Å"righteousness is the root of happiness, wealth is the root of righteousness, the state of the root is wealth, victory over senses is the root of the state, humility is the root of sense control, worship of elders is the root of humility, wisdom results from the worship of elders, with wisdom one can prosper, the prosperous one becomes the victorious one†¦[and] the victorious one obtains all the riches† (21-22). Despite it’s cryptic fortune-cookie nature, Subramanian’s writings do indeed have a fine message on ethical philosophy, here. In explicating the words, Subramanian is saying that to be a good leader, on must first be righteous, but to be righteous, one must first have wealth, to have wealth, one must first have victory, to have victory, one must first have humility, to have humility, one must listen to their elders to obtain wisdom, and with that wisdom a leader can prosper and be victorious in all they seek to achieve. The value here, is that Subramanian notes the significance of wisdom in all things. Without wisdom and following and heeding the elders who have come before, a leader stands no chance of being successful. Morally, a leader is obligated to his people to be triumphant so that the land can prosper, but without wisdom, a leader is nothing to his people but a tyrant. Subramanian says what Machiavelli does not. To Machiavelli, leading a people, by first disposing of the bad ones, is the best way for a prince to prosper in his lands. While he encourages his prince to be sound and wise, he first sends out the encouragement that the prince must always guard his assets, for fear of being overthrown or taken down by a greater force. To Machiavelli, obtaining land and prospering was, essentially, about war. To win that war, a prince had to be wise, and indeed, listen to his elders as well, but not in the ethical sense. Machiavelli meant for the prince to watch out for himself, first and foremost, and then, once the land became prosperous, Machiavelli encouraged the prince to be good to his people so that they would love him and understand that they were prosperous because of him. To Machiavelli, the ethical philosophy came last, after conquering and protecting one’s principalities. Overall, one of the greatest comparisons of all time is to contrast Niccolo Machiavelli’s â€Å"The Prince† with V. K. Subramanian’s â€Å"The Chanakya: Kautilya. † Taking a look at several different elements of each author’s work critically revealed a great level of significance as to their philosophies on politics, socially, and even ethically. Politically, Machiavelli and Subramanian follow the same philosophy, which intends a leader to find and protect allies first and foremost. As to social philosophy, however, the two authors cannot be more different. Machiavelli intends his prince to take charge and stamp out rebellion, while Subramanian cites that prosperity and kindness should be shown towards the new land. And finally, ethically, the two authors also differ. Machiavelli is intent on a prince who focuses on war and conquering new lands, and in this way a leader can gain wisdom and insight—however, to Subramanian, wisdom only comes by following one’s elders. Morally, a leader is obligated to his people to be triumphant so that the land can prosper, but without wisdom, a leader is nothing to his people but a tyrant. Works Cited. Machiavelli, Niccolo. The Prince. Trns. W. K. Marriott. New York: Plain Label Books, 1910. Subramanian, V. K. Maxims of Chanakya: Kautilya. India: Abhinav Publications, 1980.