Profit and Corporate Hurdle Rate free essay sample

Currently, Teletech Corp. is using a single corporate hurdle rate to evaluate its investment decisions in its products and systems segment as well as its telecommunications segment. We will write a custom essay sample on Profit and Corporate Hurdle Rate or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Using only one hurdle rate doesn’t take into account the risk that the company faces within each segment. Investors demand higher returns for riskier investments. Victor Yossarian is concerned about the low returns for the high risk in the products and systems segment, this is why he wants to abandon this segment. Using two hurdle rates adjusts for the risk in each industry allows the company to adequately value each segment. Our analysis will show that by using two hurdle rates it will lower the cost of equity and WACC for the less risky telecommunications segment, while raising the cost of equity and WACC for the more risky products and systems segment. Lastly, our calculation of the economic profitability for each industry using the segmented hurdle rates will show that Teletech may be overvaluing its products and systems segment while undervaluing its telecommunications segment. This implies that Teletech should reallocate its capital in order to increase economic profitability . Introduction We will conduct an industry comparison analysis to show how the the company’s cost of borrowing and beta compares to its competitors. Next, we will explain why it is more beneficial for the company to use segmented hurdles rates rather than the corporate hurdle rate currently being used. We will then calculate a new hurdle rate and the economic profit for each division. Then, we will explain how capital restructuring can increase our profits for each segment. Lastly, we will address the concerns with the company’s recent performance and the future direction of the company. Industry Comparable Analysis Prior to any action, we will examine Teletech Corp’s market debt to capital and market debt to equity in comparison with a few selected competitors. In Exhibit One, all three comparable companies have a beta lower than 1. 05, which allows them to raise capital at a lower the cost of equity. However, when you compare market debt to equity, it is lower than the industry average showing that more equity can be issued. They also have a market debt to capital of 22%, which is below the industry average as well. The mean for this section is 28. 10%, which gives us an idea of where the ratio should be in comparison with Teletechs’ top competitors. Based off industry average, Teletech can increase their margins by becoming more levered. Now we will compare the products and systems segment using the same base of measurement with more focus towards the beta. Displayed on Exhibit One, the mean of the three companies is 1. 30, which is a substantially higher beta than Teletech corporate beta of 1. It is likely that the company can choose to raise capital from the wrong source; which shows’ when you compare its’ corporate debt to equity of 29% to an industry average of 9. 2%. This leads to the assumption that the capital structure that management has in place is inadequate in terms of risk and reward. Due to several outliers in this segment, we believe the industry average should be a little higher. Our assumption is that the the market debt to equity for the new segmented PS should be somewhere in between. This is discussed in the capital restructuring section of this analysis, where we assume a 15% weight of debt to calculate the new WACC. Telecommunication Services In order to calculate the new hurdle rate for the telecommunications segment we first had to calculate the cost of equity using the capital asset pricing model. We used the corporate risk free rate and market risk premium and the average beta for the telecommunications segment to make this calculation. As demonstrated in Exhibit Two, the cost of equity is lower than the corporate rate. Next, we calculated the WACC using the new cost of equity and the average market value of debt in the telecommunications segment. Exhibit Two shows that the WACC is lowered when using the market value of debt and new cost of equity. This means that shareholders will require a lower return on their investments and will cost the company less while raising equity, and issuing debt at a lower rate than the 9. 3% corporate rate currently being used. The segmented hurdle rates allow for lower cost of debt than the corporate hurdle rate. Lastly, we calculated the economic profitability using both the corporate hurdle rate and the segmented hurdle rate. Using the corporate hurdle rate, we calculated an economic profit that was negative, which can be shown in Exhibit Three. However, when we use the segmented hurdle rate the economic profitability is positive, which is shown in Exhibit Three. This shows that we are undervaluing the telecommunications segment when we use the corporate hurdle rate. Products and System Segment Our next objective was to determine what was the weighted average cost of capital for the products and systems segment. First, we needed to calculate the cost of equity for this segment. The risk free rate and risk premium were given to us and we calculated the beta by taking industry averages in the telecommunication equipment industry and the computer and network equipment industry. In Exhibit Four, the calculation can be shown and the result is a cost of equity for this segment of 12. 1%. The next step was to determine the overall weighted average cost of capital for this segment. We were given the after-tax cost of debt, but we had to determine a suitable weight of debt for this segment. The weight of debt was determined by calculating the average market value of debt to capital in the telecommunications equipment industry and computer and network equipment industry. We determined a suitable weight of debt of 9. 2% and a weight of equity of 90. 8% based off the average market value of debt to capital for the telecommunication equipment firms and computer and network equipment firms. This segment is riskier than the telecommunication services segment, so less debt is issued in this segment. In Exhibit Four, the calculation for the WACC is shown resulting in 11. 4% cost of capital for this segment. We decided to determine what the economic profitability of this segment was using the new segmented WACC. First, we had to calculate the capital employed in order to correctly figure out the profitability. We were given the return on capital for the segment of 11% and the net operating profit after taxes of $480 million. We calculated the capital employed and by using the newly determined capital employed, we plugged the new hurdle of 11.  4% and the given return on capital into the economic profitability formula. Exhibit Five shows the calculations for both the capital employed and the new economic profitability using the new segmented hurdle rate resulting in an economic profitability of $-17. 41 million. We wanted to do a comparison analysis using the corporate hurdle rate and the segmented hurdle rates for each segment. We used the same capital employed that we calculate d above and just plugged in the corporate hurdle rate instead of the segmented hurdle rate. Exhibit Five shows the calculation using the corporate hurdle rate resulting in economic profitability of $78. 19 million. Capital Restructuring After calculating economic profitability for both the telecommunications services segment and products and systems segment using both the newly calculated segmented hurdle rates and also using the corporate hurdle rate, we decided to do a comparison. Exhibit Six shows the economic profitability for each segment. However, the products and systems segment is still underperforming and has negative economic profitability. The segmented hurdle rate shows that the capital structure of the firm does not properly allocate the optimal capital that could result in much larger economic profits than using a single corporate hurdle rate. The telecommunications services segment has strong performance and low risk, so we determined that we could issue more debt in this segment and decided a weight of debt of 40% was suitable based on performance and comparable firms. Exhibit Seven shows the new WACC with a 40% weight of debt and 60% weight of equity resulting in a lower WACC then using the 27. 1% industry average debt weight. The products and systems segment is struggling to make economic profit, but we believe that even with the riskier characteristics of this segment that slightly raising the weight of debt above the industry average was a suitable option. The average weight of debt for the industry was 9. 2%, but this resulted in negative economic profit. So, we decided to push the weight of debt to 15% in order to just make this segment profitable without creating major debt risk. We decided to issue more debt because Teletech is a more diversified company that allows the risk to be separate out between the two segments instead of just one industry. Exhibit Seven shows the calculation for the products and systems segment using the newly determined weight of debt of 15% and weight of equity of 85% resulting in a factorial decrease in the WACC to 10. 96%. Exhibit Eight shows the new comparison analysis using the new WACC from the capital restructuring and shows that both segments are profitable. Conclusion After determining separate WACCs, we calculated economic profit for each segment discovering that products and systems was underperforming. Using comparable firms, it was evident that there was an opportunity to issue further debt. With the new debt weight, products and systems segment became profitable without significantly impacting this segment’s debt risk. The new debt structure and positive economic profitability would provide increased value for shareholders including Victor Yossarian. We believe that products and systems segment improves the horizontal diversification of Teletech and allows the debt risk to be more separate out with more segments.

Inside The Island essays

Inside The Island essays The time of 18th century and onwards, aspects of Australian life, attitudes and values reflected European origins. Views of the landscape, xenophobic attitudes, powers struggles, relation with the original inhabitants and different class are dealt with in Louis Nowras Inside the Island. This play deals with the survivors of post-colonial Australia's legacies of class inequality, imperial racism, native dispossession and the cultural displacements of a multicultural migrant society. Set in a farming district of western New South Wales in 1912, it is demonstrated how a matriarchal imitation of English society is destroyed by an outbreak of 'holy fire', madness from a wheat fungus. The characters attitudes towards the Australian landscape are of a realistic kind. Lillian Dawson, the central character, makes numerous comments on Australia having a dreadful climate and how everything seems so exaggerated around her. Mrs Dawson has family in England. Her lace and lemonade, her church-going, her charitable works and hospitality hide a cruel streak and a snobbish, hollow heart. The notion of colonialism is further developed by Lillians view of the land, and the treatment of the Aborigines. We learn from Lillians dialogue with the Captain that a portrait painting of Lillians father was painted by an Aboriginal youth who in doing so has rejected his own Aboriginal culture by portraying a trait of European culture. The juxtaposition of his resulting suicide and Lillians welcoming of refreshments shows her complete disregard for Aborigines. We can also see that Lillian is delighted as she effectively converted...one of the lubras by influencing her to sing hymns and admiring Lillians fair skin, making an exact contrast with their own dark skin. Once a colony has been established, it has to defend itself from outsiders. This is how Lillian and perhaps many other Britis ...

America and the Second World War Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

America and the Second World War - Essay Example They also honor the people who leave legacies through being good at doing something or achieving a great feat in their lifetimes. This kind of lifestyle has largely remained unchanged especially for the German people hence views about them will always remain same (Burgan, 55). The real surprise is the fact that an individual in this society who has done so much and achieved great things ends up living his sunset years in a manner that does not befit a person of his caliber which is directly influenced by the leadership in place. I would pursue the following themes: Education, Politics, Inter-cultural relations, and Family Unit and Socio-cultural activities. The most important thing I have learned from this course is that if anyone obliges him or herself to work hard, then definitely they will end up successful. Anyone who is illustrious is bound to succeed. It does not matter what a personal background or start point is, if they work hard then surely they will succeed in anything they set their minds. The context here is about an American president by the name Mr. Woodraw Wilsons. During campaigns for the presidency of the United States of America, he had used the aspect of not getting America involved in world wars as his main bait for winning re-election, which he did narrowly. Then after that, he changes his policy. He felt that if America wanted to have a greater say in world matters, then it had to involve itself in war and through this get as many allies as possible. And as such President Wilsons, in an effort to make America not to remain neutral in a world war, made a proclamation of May 1917 before Congress and for a declaration of war to be made on the Germans (Burgan, 45). In my opinion, the Zimmermann telegram was not a valid reason for getting into war but was simply a pretext.

If I Could travel back to any point in history,what would it be and Essay

If I Could travel back to any point in history,what would it be and why - Essay Example America’s growth began to slow down and many were lucky to even have food to eat. There were also serious droughts that created what is known as the dust bowl. This made it hard to grow food which only added to the affects of The Great Depression. Pictures can barely even describe the actual pain that many had to go through once they lost everything. It would be a great experience to actually be able to see firsthand what The Great Depression was actually like. What would be the most amazing is to see how many kept positive although going through such a bad time. Techniques used by many to keep positive and moving forward can be used today. This would be helpful since currently we are experiencing events similar to The Great Depression. Going back into history to see what works and what doesn’t would be beneficial to many and that’s why if I could travel back in time, I would travel to experience The Great

Concrete mixing Lab Report Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5000 words

Concrete mixing - Lab Report Example e is influenced by the chemical composition of the cement, hydration as well as development of microstructure, admixtures, and characteristics of the aggregate. In addition, the quality is strongly influenced by placement, consolidation, as well as curing. The performance of the concrete throughout its service life is also largely influenced by the method employed in mixing, placing, curing and transporting the concrete. It is also necessary for the civil engineers to perform various quality control tests which should include slump tests, air content tests, as well as strength-gain-with-time tests. It is a well known fact that concretes which are considered as good and those considered as bad may have the same ingredients. The difference between good and bad concretes may come about due to the expertise of the engineer as well as the technicians who handle the concrete during construction. Concrete has been employed in many more applications in the past few decades due to the advances that have been made in concrete technology. It is necessary for civil and construction engineers to be aware of the available alternatives to the conventional concrete, roller-compacted concrete and fiber-reinforced concrete. The weight of air entraining agent should 0.05% of cement. Air is entrained in the concrete by the air-entraining admixtures which contain surface-active agents which are concentrated at the air-water interface. Bubbles are formed readily when the surface tension is lowered, and the bubbles stability remains after being formed. The mixing water foams with the air-entraining admixtures and the formed consequently locked into the paste during the hardening of concrete. The entrapped air voids are not the same as entrained air voids. This is because the air voids are formed by chance when air enters the fresh concrete during mixing whereas the entrained air voids are formed on purpose as described above. The size of the entrapped air voids can be as large as 3 mm

Austrian and Post-Keynesian theories of the competitive process

Austrian and Post-Keynesian theories of the competitive process The Austrian School is a heterodox school of economic thought that emphasizes the spontaneous organizing power of the price mechanism, which was influential in the late 19th and early 20th century (Boettke, 2008). After the 1870s, Marxism spread rapidly in the ranks of workers, and the economic theories that defended for the capitalists went bankrupt. The Austrian economics based on three core concepts: entrepreneurship, subjectivism and market process, which became popular after that. The Post-Keynesian school of thought was developed in the debate with the neoclassical synthesis. After The General Theory of Keynes was published, some different points of view on the practical problems arose in the followers of Keynes, and gradually formed two opposing schools of thought: neoclassical and the Post Keynesian School. The theoretical foundation of Post Keynesian economics is the principle of effective demand, that demand matters in the long as well as the short run, so that a competitiv e market economy has no natural or automatic tendency towards full employment (Arestis, 1996). The objective of this paper is comparing and contrasting Austrian and Post-Keynesian theories of the competitive process. The similarities and differences between these two theories will be stated orderly. Although Austrian and Post-Keynesian theories are two different schools of thought, they still have some degree of similarities. First, they both advocate uncertainty. Next, they both cannot be regarded as profit maximizers. Last, the competitive process is seen as a dynamic process by both theories. First of all, for the Austrian approach uncertainty is pervasive. One of the Austrians core concepts is entrepreneurship. Austrian school thinks that the community is a collection of individuals. Individuals economic activity is a microcosm of the national economy. Through the interpretation of individual economic activities, reasoning illustrates the complexities of real economic phenomena. Entrepreneur is the individual here in the real economy. They are all different in each other. Therefore entrepreneurs in particular always face fundamental uncertainty. Kirzner (1973) emphasized the uncertainty present in all human decision-making, has primarily focused on the entrepreneurial market process. For the Post-Keynesian approach firms pricing behaviour is determined by a mark-up rule. This behavioural approach to pricing is partly in response to the imprecision of price setting in conditions of uncertainty. Uncertainty is the fundamental element of Keynes theory, and Post-Keynesian fo llowed and developed it. In the Post-Keynesian theory of agency, agents are non-optimisers due to fundamental uncertainty. According to Fernando Ferarri Filho (2001), in a context in which time is historical, economic agents do not decide future actions on the basis of statistical series analyses or beliefs justified by experience. To the contrary, decision-making is classified as an environment of true uncertainty. They are not the rational calculators of standard theory. This suggests some overlap with Austrian theory. Second, in Austrians term, entrepreneurs display purposeful pursuit of profit in the competitive process, which provides market order. It cannot be regarded as profit maximizers due to fundamental uncertainty. However profit is still therefore important in motivating agents. Neoclassical theory assume that manufacturers pursuit profit maximization, but we all know there is another voice in society requiring manufacturers to take social responsibility. Social responsibility will increase the companys operating costs, which is not conducive to their competition in the market. So, non-profit-maximizing firms will be sustained by the loss of profits and investment capacity and continuous losses, and finally be forced out of the market. Austrian school advocates idealism and they do not believe that firms select the behaviour of pursuit profit maximization. In post-Keynesian economics, firms are not assumed to maximize profits as well, as is clear in Lavoie (1992, p.105), The standard cri tique of the neoclassical theory of the firm is that profit maximization is not possible because of the lack of pertinent knowledge due to an uncertain environment. Profit maximization is then replaced by profit satisfying. Firms are assumed to set themselves threshold levels of profits; that is, minimum levels of profits or of rates of return. Furthermore, the firms overall objective is the pursuit of power. This involves attempting to control its environment. To become powerful, firms must be big; to become big, firms must grow. Growth is the subjective and profits are the means to realize this objective. However, maximizing growth does not equal to maximizing profits. Firms maximize the rate of growth, subject to various finance and expansion constraints. Last, both school of thoughts believe that there is no absolute equilibrium in the competitive process. The Austrian school views competition as a dynamic process, and sees the market process is driven by entrepreneurial activity. Continual change comes from uncertainty gives rise to the process of market activity. This process provides a more fluid account of market activity, than is typical of standard or neoclassical theory. The equilibrium approach of standard theory, it is claimed, cannot capture the dynamics of the competitive process. The dynamic competitive process of entrepreneurial discovery is one which is seen as trending systematically toward, rather than away from, the path to equilibrium (Kirzner, 1997). In contrast to the equilibrium dynamics of standard theory Austrian economics advocates process dynamics. The process of competition is ever changing and open-ended, and cannot be represented by equilibrium. Furthermore, Hicks, who first introduced the term traverse in to economics, characterized it as the path which will be followed when the steady state is subjected to some kind of disturbance (Hicks, 1973, p.81). In other words, the traverse defines the movement of the economy outside equilibrium. It plays a particularly role in Post-Keynesian theory, as most Post-Keynesian economists have serious doubts about the relevance and usefulness of equilibrium analysis (King, 2003, p.355). Therefore, Post-Keynesian economists analysis the economic phenomenon based on a dynamic competitive process as well as Austrian school. On the other hand, there are also many differences between Austrian theory and Post-Keynesian theory of the competitive process. It is mainly reflected in three aspects, basic principles and methodology, views on competition, theories of agency. First, Austrians are concerned with how a whole economic system works. The individualism and subjectivism of theoretical assumptions is a major concern. They avoid tunnel vision and investigate how the specialized activities of millions of persons, who are making their decisions in a decentralized manner, can be coordinated. The relevant knowledge, such as resources, technology, human wants, and market conditions, is inevitably fragmented among millions, even billions, of separate human minds (Yeager, 2001). Therefore, in Austrian terms there would be no competition in perfect competition as there is no role for entrepreneurial activity. Because entrepreneur will not stay in a market which cannot make abnormal profits. However, Post-Keynesian economists are typically more concerned with explanation than prediction as well as distribution, particularly at an aggregate and systemic level, but not with standard welfare economics. The realism of theoretical assumptions is a major concern . They believe that oligopoly is the normal state of affairs in most markets and oligopolists will typically hold some degree of excess production capacity. The degree of monopoly will vary across different markets. These are different from Austrian economics. Next, the second difference is the views on competition. In the Austrian school, competition is redefined in terms of entrepreneurial rivalry. Entrepreneurs play a crucial role by noticing missed opportunities and discover an act upon new pieces of information. The Austrian school of economics argues that true competition is a process rather than a static condition. For competition to be improved and sustained there needs to be a genuine desire on behalf of entrepreneurs to engage in competitive behaviour, to innovate and to invent to drive markets forward (Riley, 2006). In an uncertain environment entrepreneurial activity is characterised by error and errors lead to change. In contrast, Post-Keynesian economics argues that competition is inherently about dominance. Dominance here indicates dominant firms set the price in the market. The Post-Keynesian economics believe that market cannot determine the prices. Prices are administered in accordance with firms objectives and are not ty pically market-clearing prices due to the pursuit of power. Therefore, firms use a mark-up pricing rule, which is price equals average cost plus mark up. The Post-Keynesian school of economics argues that market dominance is merely perfect and markets are prone to reinforcing dominance over time. Finally, theses two school of thoughts advocate different theories of agency. On the one hand, Austrian theory is strongly individualist. All theory is based on individuals, which are entrepreneurs instead of firms or industries or other higher-level agents. But some Post-Keynesian theories are concerned with the social and historical location of economic actors. On the other hand, because of fundamental uncertainty, agents in Austrian theory are broadly rational but they are not the rational calculators of neoclassical theory. But agents do behave with intent. They engage in purposeful action and can make qualitative judgements. This radical subjectivism leads to an interest in individual rights over welfare considerations. These diverse activities are interdependent; yet no particular agency takes charge of coordinating them, and none would be competent to do so (Yeager, 2001). However, agents in Post-Keynesian theory are central to understanding how markets work. King (2003, p.1) argued that since agents make choices, they must possess a capacity that enables them to accomplish this. The idea of making a choice involves more than just a random or capricious action. To make a choice is to engage in an intentional act based upon reasons and beliefs, which must be possessed by agents. Furthermore, agents cannot be optimisers because they have to deal with uncertainty in attempting to establish their dominance. The role of uncertainty is perhaps less positive than it is in Austrian theory. In conclusion, this paper compared and contrasted Austrian and Post-Keynesian theories of the competitive process. First, the three similarities between these two theories of the competitive process were stated. Both Austrian and Post-Keynesian theories advocate uncertainty in the competitive process. Both these two schools cannot be regarded as profit maximizers. And the competitive process is seen as a dynamic process by both theories. Then the differences between these two theories been shown. The differences are mainly reflected in three aspects, basic principles and methodology, views on competition, theories of agency. Austrians are concerned with how a whole economic system works. The individualism and subjectivism of theoretical assumptions is a major concern. Competition is redefined in terms of entrepreneurial rivalry. And Austrian theory is strongly individualist. All theory is based on individuals, which are entrepreneurs instead of firms or industries or other higher-lev el agents. However, Post-Keynesian economists are typically more concerned with an aggregate and systemic level, but not with standard welfare economics. The realism of theoretical assumptions is a major concern. Competition is inherently about dominance. And they are concerned with the social and historical location of economic actors.

Rate of reaction between Hydrochloric Acid and Calcium Carbonate Essay

Rate of reaction between Hydrochloric Acid and Calcium Carbonate Calcium carbonate reacts with hydrochloric acid to form carbon dioxide gas. One way of following the rate of reaction at which it reacts is to measure the volume of carbon dioxide produced at certain time intervals during the reaction. CaCO + 2HCl CaCl + H O + CO =========================== Calcium Carbonate + Hydrochloric Acid Calcium Chloride + Water + Carbon Dioxide Equipment --------- Delivery tube Conical flask Hydrochloric acid Calcium carbonate chips Burette Beaker Electric scales Measuring cylinder Tub Water Electric timer Goggles Retort stand The different factors that can affect my experiment are the temperature, the concentration of my reactants and the surface area, also adding a catalyst. We have decided to test different concentrations of hydrochloric acid for our experiment because it will give us sufficient results to make our evidence reliable. RATE OF REACTION BETWEEN HYDROCHLORIC ACID AND CALCIUM CARBONATE LOW CONCENTRATION HIGH CONCENTRATION I think that during our experiment, the higher the molarity of acid the quicker the rate of reaction will be, I think this because of the collision theory. If the solution is made more concentrated, there will be more particles in the solution. This makes collisions between important molecules more likely and will collide more often. At the beginning of the reaction, there are lots of reactants particles (and no products). This means a lot of productive collisions between reactants. As time goes on these reactants will become less and less (because reactants have been turned into products), therefore less collisions, so the rate of reaction will slow down. If the molarity of the acid concentratio... ...act same size we could use 2 chips in one experiment and get 1g then we could use 4 chips in another experiment and still get 1g. This meant that the surface area for the hydrochloric acid changed in each experiment for it to react and collide with. I could have stopped this by sieving so I would get chips that are of the same or close enough the same surface area. Overall my results are fairly reliable, yet could be subjective to change if better methods were available. If I was to do my experiment again I would make sure I would do it all on the same day and maybe change the limits of the products so that the results we got could be more accurate and we would have less anomalous results like the 2.5 molar experiment. However, if I did this experiment again I would expect the same results and patterns that I have got apart from the 2.5 molar and 3 molar experiments.

Anne Carson Essay

â€Å"Early one morning words were missing.† When I first read Short Talks, I had difficulty understanding why Anne Carson wrote about what she did, and thought that some words must have been missing. I was confused as to how they all fit together and it was only after further consideration that I came to see how the sections unite into one cohesive piece. Anne Carson’s Short Talks is a series of short reflections on different subjects that at first do not seem to be related, but through her use of cyclical images and consistent use of historical facts in fiction, the piece gains a cohesive quality that unifies the work. Throughout this piece Anne Carson references many historical figures. She mentions many famous people, including Frans Kafka, Gertrude Stein, Prokofiev, and Sylvia Plath, and by referencing these people she borrows from the authority they hold in the readers mind to strengthen her own work. She even references Frans Kafka multiple times, which acts to reinforce her authority. She references him first in the short talk â€Å"On Rectification† about his life and wife, and then brings him up again in â€Å"On The Anatomy†. By having her texts refer back onto themselves in an authoritative way, she strengthens her reliability in the reader’s mind as well as the relatedness of the different Talks. Anne Carson goes further than just bringing up historical figures. She also references many historical works of art as well as facts. The way in which she does this unifies her talks in a way that seems scientifically reliable. It appears as though she has facts to base her talks on, which stops the reader from wondering for too long if she is any sort of authority on the subject. She places these historical references throughout the text to curb the readers questions, as if to say â€Å"look, I’m not making this up, see this fact? I am talking about real things, go look it up if you want.† She starts off the talks with a fact asserted alongside her assumptions. In â€Å"Homo sapiens† she says the phases of the moon were inscribed on the handles of the tools, so they could be â€Å"reminded of her presence† while they worked. While the tools may actually have had the phases of the moon inscribed upon them, it does not mean the inscriptions were used for th at purpose at all. Anne Carson asserts historical assumptions with historical fact consistently throughout her text, which serves to unify the text. Yep, she plays with that strict division between fact and fiction. I think she is showing us that the way she knows these facts is filtered through her aesthetics and her particular way of perceiving — even though she is a classics scholar, her facts are inevitably fictionalized. Anne Carson also uses many cyclical imagery to unite her work. There are many reappearing images in this work, including the moon, travel, and art, but one great use of imagery is her use of water. Water appears in many of the talks, including â€Å"On Waterproofing†. This short talk is particularly important because it gives a deeper meaning to the appearance of water. This is a very strong, emotionally charged, talk, and whenever water appears in the peace emotions seem to flow with it. In â€Å"On Waterproofing† the mother dies shortly after the father shines her shoes so they are â€Å"waterproof†. Water also appears again when she is looking for her lost lover she crosses rivers, and the strong emotions of loss are again connected with water. Water is also a very cyclical element. Water exists in the water cycle, and the water cycle is also related to the moon and its cycles. These are wonderful details to notice. I loved these sections too! Water is also important in more subtle ways throughout the text. In â€Å"On Trout† the cyclical nature of water is more subtly referred to. Trout live their lives entirely in the water, and their life cycle depends on swimming upstream to spawn. Anne Carson says that some trout do not spawn upstream, and says that these â€Å"remaining trout† survive the winter by finding somewhere very deep in the water to hide. This reference brings up imagery of both the water cycle and the life cycle of trout, but also reinforces the watery imagery throughout the text, which ultimately serves to unite the short talks as a whole.

Definition of the Preterite Tense in Spanish

Definition of the Preterite Tense in Spanish Definition of the Preterite Tense The preterite (often spelled preterit) verb tense is the tense that expresses an action that took  place at a definite time in the past. It is contrasted with the imperfect tense, which expresses an action that took place at an indefinite time or has not been completed. The preterite is the tense that would normally be thought of as the past tense in English. The preterite is also known as the simple past tense in English and as the pretà ©rito indefinido or pretà ©rito perfecto simple in Spanish. When To Use the Preterite In general, the preterite is used in referring to events that happened at a specific time or to repeated events that happened over a specific time. A simple example would be Ayer yo buscaba las llaves (I looked for the keys yesterday) because the event happened at a specific time. If youre talking about something that didnt occur at a particular time, you usually would use the imperfect tense. For example, you might say, Yo buscaba las llaves en todas partes (I looked for the keys everywhere), as its unspecified when you did the searching. Some Spanish words and phrases, sometimes known as indicators, always or nearly always are used with the preterite. Among the common ones: anoche (last night)anteayer (the day before yesterday)h3Miscellaneous Facts About the Preterite/h3el aà ±o pasado (last year)ayer (yesterday)hace _____ (_____ ago)el mes pasado (last month)el otro dà ­a (the other day)la semana pasada (last week) Conjugation of the Preterite Here are the regular  conjugations  for the preterite  -ar,  -er, and  -ir  verbs. The endings, added to the verb stems, are shown in boldface: Example  -ar  verb  cantar  (to sing): yo cantà ©Ã‚  (I sang)tà º cantaste  (you sang)usted/à ©l/ella cantà ³Ã‚  (you/he/she/it sang)nosotros/nosotras cantamos  (we sang)vosotros/vosotras cantasteis  (you sang)ustedes/ellos/ellas cantaron  (you/they sang) Example  -er  verb  temer  (to fear): yo temà ­Ã‚  (I feared)tà º temiste  (you feared)usted/à ©l/ella temià ³Ã‚  (you/he/she/it feared)nosotros/nosotras temimos  (we feared)vosotros/vosotras temisteis  (you feared)ustedes/ellos/ellas temieron  (you/they feared) Example  -ir  verb  partir  (to divide): yo partà ­Ã‚  (I divided)tà º partiste  (you divided)usted/à ©l/ella partià ³Ã‚  (you/he/she/it divided)nosotros/nosotras partimos  (we divided)vosotros/vosotras partisteis  (you divided)ustedes/ellos/ellas partieron  (you/they divided) Note that in the first-person plural or we forms, the forms are the same for both the  present  and imperfect tenses. In other words,  cantamos  can mean either we sing or we sang. Context will nearly always tell you which translation is appropriate. Sample Sentences Using the Preterite Pablo me hablà ³. (Pablo spoke to me.) Ana escribià ³ la carta. (Ana wrote the letter). Hace dos aà ±os fuimos a Nueva Zelanda. (Two years ago we went to New Zealand.) Se se cayà ³ tu celular al agua y no sabes que hacer, no desesperes. (If your cellphone fell into the water and you dont know what to do, dont worry.) Se puso el sol. (The sun set.) Compraron dos respiradores para el hospital. (They bought two respirators for the hospital.) El aà ± aà ±o pasado, esperamos las lluvias, pero nunca llegaron. (Last year we expected the rains, but they never came.) Anteayer estudiamos la epidemia de Barcelona de 1821. (The day before yesterday we studied the 1821 Barcelona epidemic. Note that without anteayear, the sentence would be ambiguous as to whether the studying occurred in the past or is currently taking place.) Ayear  fui el mejor dà ­a de mi vida. (Yesterday  was the best day of my life.) Mirà © a la derecha y ella mirà ³ a la izquierda. (I looked to the right and she looked to the left.)   Miscellaneous Facts About Using the Preterite The preterite is nearly always used in discussing events that happened only one time. El concierto fue un à ©xito. (The concert was a success.) One use of the preterite is to indicate that a process has become complete. La estudiante alcanzà ³ el tà ­tulo de campeà ³n. (The student took  the title of champion.) The preterite can also be used to indicate the beginning of a process: Guillermo conocà ­ a mi madre. (Guillermo met my mother. Note that conocer can mean to know or to meet. The translation of met is used because it refers to the moment that the two people began to know each other.)Tuve el coche perfecto. (I got the perfect car. If you used the imperfect form, tenà ­a, the verb would indicate ownership of the car rather than the obtaining of it.)

A Review of Software Tools for Quantitative Data Analysis

A Review of Software Tools for Quantitative Data Analysis If youre a   sociology student or budding social scientist and have started to work with quantitative (statistical) data, analytic software will be very useful to you. These programs force researchers to organize and clean her data and offer pre-programmed commands that allow everything from very basic to quite advanced forms of statistical analysis. They even offer useful visualizations that will be useful as you seek to interpret your data, and that you may wish to use when presenting it to others. There are many programs on the market, but unfortunately, they are quite expensive to purchase. The good news for students and faculty is that most universities have licenses for at least one program which students and professors can use. In addition, most programs offer a free, pared-down version of the full software package which will often suffice. Heres a review of the three main programs that quantitative social scientists use. Statistical Package forSocial Science (SPSS) SPSS is the most popular quantitative analysis software program used by social scientists. Made and sold by IBM, it is comprehensive, flexible, and can be used with almost any type of data file. However, its especially useful for analyzing large-scale survey data. It can be used to generate tabulated reports, charts, and plots of distributions and trends, as well as generate descriptive statistics such as means, medians, modes and frequencies in addition to more complex statistical analyses like regression models. SPSS provides a user interface that makes it easy and intuitive for all levels of users. With menus and dialogue boxes, you can perform analyses without having to write command syntax, like in other programs. It is also simple and easy to enter and edit data directly into the program. There are a few drawbacks, however, which might not make it the best program for some researchers. For example, there is a limit on the number of cases you can analyze. It is also difficult to account for weights, strata and group effects with SPSS. STATA STATA is an interactive data analysis program that runs on a variety of platforms. It can be used for both simple and complex statistical analyses. STATA uses a point-and-click interface as well as command syntax, which makes it easy to use. STATA also make it simple to generate graphs and plots of data and results. Analysis in STATA is centered around four windows: the command window, review window, result window and variable window. Analysis commands are entered into the command window and the review window records those commands. The variables window lists the variables that are available in the current data set along with the variable labels, and the results appear in the results window. SAS SAS, short for Statistical Analysis System, is also used by many businesses; in addition to statistical analysis, it also allows programmers to perform report writing, graphics, business planning, forecasting, quality improvement, project management and more. SAS is a great program for the intermediate and advanced user because it is very powerful; it can be used with extremely large datasets and can perform complex and advanced analyses. SAS is good for analyses that require you to take into account weights, strata or groups. Unlike SPSS and STATA, SAS is run largely by programming syntax rather than point-and-click menus, so some knowledge of the programming language is required.

Immigration law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words - 1

Immigration law - Essay Example However, the blurring of the distinction between the need to legislate for immigration on the one hand and protection from terrorism on the other is further perpetuated by the patchwork of piecemeal immigration legislation in the UK, which is further compounded by the legal rights of asylum seekers. On the other side of the legal spectrum, the implementation of the Human Rights Act in 1998 (HRA) enshrines the fundamental rights and freedoms of the European Convention on Human Rights into UK law. From an immigration policy perspective, the most important rights relied on in immigration cases have been the Article 5 right, which prohibits detention without trial and the right not to be subjected to degrading treatment under Article 3. Additionally, Article 14 guarantees rights under the ECHR. On the one hand, these fundamental freedoms are essential to the function of the UK as a democracy. On the other hand, the reliance on the ECHR rights through the HRA 1998 arguably undermines immigration rules and legislation, which enables the UK immigration system to be exploited1. However, it is precisely this paradox within the law that enables the changing Governmental policy from circumventing both entrenched immigration and asylum rules and human rights protection on grounds of â€Å"national security†2. This is particularly evidenced by the implementation of the controversial Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2003 (ACTSA), which permits derogation from the ECHR. The contradictory nature of UK immigration policy and compliance with human rights highlights the inherent flaw in enacting knee jerk legislative responses to socio-economic issues. This further highlighted by the dichotomy in protection afforded by the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) 1950 and the Convention on the Status of Refugees 1951

Ralph K. Andrist's The Long Death Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Ralph K. Andrist's The Long Death - Essay Example achinery, the railroad, concepts of private property, and the capitalist economic system all served to further isolate the Indians both geographically and economically. By 1864, the Native territory had been shrunk and was on a path to the coming reservation system that would be the death knell for the Indian culture and way of life. The violence that began at Sand Creek in 1864 culminated in the 1890 Wounded Knee massacre and signaled the passing of the great North American Indian civilizations. While the violence against the Native Americans did not begin at Sand Creek in 1864, it was the most egregious violation of human rights that had been perpetrated on the Indians to that date. In the early morning hours of November 29, 1864 US soldiers from the Colorado Territory militia and cavalry brutally attacked a Cheyenne settlement that was occupied by some 700 unarmed inhabitants, mostly women and children (Andrist 91). The Indians had been isolated on a small tract of land to make their territory available to the Gold Rush. Estimates vary on the number killed, but may have been as high as 500 fatalities. This was a peaceful village that had been led to believe that they were under the protection of the Army. In the summer of 1864 John Evans, Governor of Colorado, issued a proclamation of safety for all Plains Indians that demonstrated their peaceful intentions by placing themselves in the custody of the Army (Keenan 104). The Indians were told to fly an American flag as a sh ow of their loyalty as a means of protection. However, the American flag and a subsequent white flag both went unheeded as the troops attacked. The commanding officer at Sand Creek, Colonel Chivington, ordered the attack and was personally responsible for the degree of brutality exhibited. Prior to the onslaught Colonel Chivington "believed it to be right and honorable to use any means under Gods heaven to kill Indians that would kill women and children and damn any man that was in sympathy