GATTACA film analysis on the final scene Essay

The final scene of GATTACA had an unexpected twist that triggered mixed emotions of confusion, sorrow and happiness. The irony of Vincent finally fulfilling his life’s mission and Jerome no longer having one was heart wrenching, after all that they went through together to defy the odds and expectations of perfection set by Society. However, it was Jerome’s choice to end his life having finally come to peace with his inner turmoils which was evident when he was first introduced in the film. He was crippled in a wheelchair and smoking, also an alcoholic, sarcastic and pessimistic person with a grudge against Society despite his perfect genes. He showed the most significant character arc, having found a reason to keep going, through the dream of Vincent who inspired him. â€Å"_I got the better part of the deal. I only lent you my body. You lent me your dream.†_ He tells Vincent this before he leaves, showing the strong and unbreakable bond between these two. The way that Niccol skilfully put together the final scene with inter-cutting between Vincent and Jerome from the rocket to the incinerator, also perfectly links with the opening scene. However in the opening scene Vincent is the one in the incinerator, with the same establishing shot of the incinerator burning in both scenes. The final scene inter-cuts between Vincent getting ready to leave earth and the same with Jerome only never to come back. The same background as the opening scene, Jerome enters the Incinerator where close-ups are focused on his hands, and facial expression hidden behind shadows and emphasised through dark-lighting, while Vincent enters the rocket. There is close-ups and panning inside the rocket of other perfectly genetically conceived humans of different race are shown, in moving shadows and dark lighting. The scenes between Vincent and Jerome are perfectly in sync from the closing of the space door to the closing of the incinerator door whilst the dramatic and sorrowful music continues to play accompanied by the diegetic sound of the rockets blasting which cuts to a close-up of Jerome’s medal in the midst of the fire. All these elements create a cumulative effect of emphasising on genetic manipulation carrying  on from the opening scene to the final, as well as genetic discrimination. This scene goes on to prove that genetic manipulation is not as perfect as it is conceived in the film because it does not include individuality or desire just what your genes have to offer. Also, in the beginning of the film Vincent tells us how discrimination is no longer based on colour, religion, ethnicity or money but that it was _†down to a science†._ This is the only part of the film that shows different ethnicities as well as another female whereas throughout the film it was mostly dominated by white men in uniform. This does not make much sense, although a given a benefit of a doubt the final scene could mean that anyone as long as they have the perfect gene is able to fly to Titan. Vincent being the exception proving that it is far more than having the perfect DNA.

EWI competence criteria Essay

Comply with all workplace health, safety and welfare legislation requirements: QCF 641 Communicate with others to establish productive work practices: QCF 642 Moving, handling and storing resources in the workplace: QCF 643 Installing External Wall Insulation In The Workplace: QCF448v2 QCF 448v2: 1.1 Page REF:IEI 7 Interpret and extract information from drawings, specifications, schedules, method statements, risk assessments and manufacturers’ information. QCF 448v2: 1.2 Page REF:IEI 7 Comply with information and/ or instructions derived from risk assessments and method statements. QCF 448v2: 3.1 Page REF:IEI 14a Use personal protective equipment (PPE) and access equipment/ working platforms safely to carry out the activity in accordance with legislation and organisational requirements when installing external wall insulation. QCF 448v2: 4.1 Page REF:IEI 18 Select resources associated with own work in relation to materials, components, fixing, tools and equipment. QCF 448v2: 5.1 Page REF:IEI 24 Protect the work and its surrounding area from damage in accordance with safe working practices and organisational procedures. QCF 448v2: 5.2 Page REF:IEI 24 Minimise damage and maintain a clean work space QCF 448v2: 5.3 Page REF:IEI 24 Dispose of waste in accordance with legislation QCF 448v2: 6.1 Page REF:IEI 27 Demonstrate completion of the work within the allocated time. QCF 448v2: 7.1 Page REF:IEI 29 Demonstrate the following work skills when installing external wall insulation: measuring, marking out, fitting, filling, finishing, positioning and securing. QCF 448v2: 7.2 Page REF:IEI 29 Prepare and install external wall insulation to given working instructions, relating to one of the following :pre finished installation systems/methods :non finished installation systems/methods QCF 448v2: 7.3 Page REF:IEI 29 Safely use and store hand tools, portable power tools and ancillary equipment QCF 448v2: 7.4 Page REF:IEI 29 Safely store the materials, tools and equipment used when installing external wall insulation Applying Surface Finishes To External Wall Insulation In The Workplace: QCF 449v2 QCF 449v2: 1.1 Page REF:ASF 7 Interpret and extract information from drawings, specifications, schedules, method statements, risk assessments and manufacturers’ information. QCF 449v2: 1.2 Page REF:ASF 7 Comply with information and/ or instructions derived from risk assessments and method statements. QCF 449v2: 3.1 Page REF:ASF 14 Use health and safety control equipment and access equipment safely to carry out the activity in accordance with legislation and organisational requirements when applying surface finishes to external wall insulation. QCF 449v2: 4.1 Page REF:ASF 18 Select resources associated with own work in relation to materials, components, fixing, tools and equipment. QCF 449v2: 5.1 Page REF:ASF 24 Protect the work and its surrounding area from damage in accordance with safe working practices and organisational procedures. QCF 449v2: 5.2 Page REF:ASF 24 Minimise damage and maintain a clean work space. QCF 449v2: 5.3 Page REF:ASF 24 Dispose of waste in accordance with legislation. QCF 449v2: 6.1 Page REF:ASF 27 Demonstrate completion of the work within the allocated time. QCF 449v2: 7.1 Page REF:ASF 29 Demonstrate the following work skills when: measuring, marking out, fitting, applying, positioning and securing. QCF 449v2: 7.2 Page REF:ASF 29 Apply finishes to external wall insulation to given working instructions, relating to dash finishes, synthetic renders and one of the following: mortar finishes, proprietary pre cast finishes, paint finishes, corner and surface beads, brick slips, brick effect render, reinforcing mesh. QCF 449v2: 7.3 Page REF:ASF 29 Safely use materials, hand tools, portable power tools and ancillary equipment. QCF 449v2: 7.4 Page REF:ASF 29 Safely store materials, tools and equipment used when applying surface finishes to external insulation.

Culture Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 8

Culture - Essay Example ricans maintain extended families that are not just limited to the blood relatives, but also extend beyond them to include distant relatives and friends whether or not they are blood related. â€Å"Family is the most important value that unifies the Latino community† (old.diocesephoenix.org, n.d., p. 6). The Hispanic American families include sponsors and godparents that love the children like their own even when they are actually not. The Hispanic American families believe in male supremacy. Men earn bread for the family while women are expected to stay at home and look after the children and the husband. Women are expected to submit themselves to their men. Men prefer not to let the women work, though the trend is changing and many Hispanic American women have entered the workforce, which has challenged the machismo of men and is the fundamental cause of distress in many families. The Hispanic American families give a lot of importance to the individualistic rights of each family member. Every individual is deemed worthy and important. Elders in the Hispanic American families are respected by the younger ones. The young seek advice from the elders. Every family member is given the right to have individualized close personal relationships. Communication in the Hispanic American families is governed by the concept of respecto. During communication, men and elders are prioritized over women and children. There are well-defined rules for members of both genders which they follow during communication. Hispanic Americans do not accept anger and aggression while communicating with one another. They deem it disrespectful to disagree over matters. It becomes problematic for them to agree over certain issues that they disagree with, but still they do not express negative emotions. Before this assignment, there were certain stereotypes about the Hispanic American culture in my mind that have changed now. For example, I did not know that the Hispanic Americans believe in

In Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni's short story, Clothes (page 533), Essay

In Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni's short story, Clothes (page 533), Sumita, the protagonist, comes to America where she exp - Essay Example Conflicts in the Life of Sumita Culminated through the Symbolic Scheme Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni’s fictions are generally set against the background of India or in America and mostly they centre round the experiences of the South Asian immigrants especially the women. The story â€Å"Clothes† is not an exception in this regard. The story presents the transition that the protagonist, Sumita undergoes in her life. The story revolves round the transition of Sumita from a young girl to a woman; from woman to a wife and finally facing the climax and the predicament in her life by being a widow. Sumita accepts the tradition of her society and accepts the concept of arranged marriage and marries a man whom she has never met before. She accepts the fact and is shown at the outset of the story to explore the unexplored and know the unknown and with this vision; she whole heartedly starts dreaming of her new life which is going to place her to a complete different socio-cultural milieu. She undergoes a paradoxical transition in her life and that evolves at different times through her clothes and their colours (Almeida, â€Å"The politics of mourning: Grief Management in Cross-cultural Fiction†). Conflict essentially builds up and strengthens the dramatic qualities of any fiction and that conflict does not necessarily mean a conflict with an antagonist in its physical form. The antagonist as in the case is society and the cross cultural transition which treats the existential discourse of the protagonist. Sumita in the US faces difficulty to adept complete change in her attire from eastern styling to that of western. The conflict which she faces is from the transition that she undergoes while changing her identity from wife to a women. One of those dresses includes a T-shirt which is orange in color and symbolizes hope and change on a brighter note. But the destined predicament at the last segment of the story where Sumita has to encounter an unfortu nate incident in the face of her husband’s murder washes all sort of colour and possibility in her life and places her with a confrontation of uncertainty where she is confused to continue her life in a country where the life of her husband was not secured even or get back to the soil i.e. her country from where she was uprooted long back as she fails to identify herself in both the nations and their societies. This is probably the greatest threat encountered by the protagonist of Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni’s short story, â€Å"Clothes† presented in the form of diasporas of existential and identity crisis from the perspective of feminist discourse. Transition in Sumita’s life does not only take place at physical plane but it takes place also mentally. Quite natural to the human nature, it gets reflected through the outward appearance of Sumita precisely through her clothes and its colours. The Indian traditional attire for women is Sari and Sumita at the beginning of the story is seen clad in it fully at one with the tradition of her soil. The selection of each cloth in the story and its colour has a purpose. The story begins with a stage in Sumita’s life when she is about to be a bride and puts a yellow sari, all set to meet her prospective

Apply the transtheoretical Model of Change to Smoking cessation Essay

Apply the transtheoretical Model of Change to Smoking cessation program or intervention - Essay Example Although several quarters have highlighted weaknesses of the program, the general features are positive. The major focus of the exercise will be on stages of this model, how each can be applied to stop smoking and thereafter, a general critique. The TMC supports the idea that behavior change evolves rather than a perception that it can be revolutionized. This is an implication that the model is a process that is characterized by stages of acceptance to the ultimate cessation especially for smokers. The first one is the pre contemplation stage to the ultimate maintenance stage as illustrated by DiClemente et al (2002). At this point, the person is probably at the denial stage where thy have little or not plans to quit. Smoking to them is part of life and smoking is used for leisure, stress relieve or simply the addictive charm. At this point the person has zero motivation to quit although they are aware of the practice posses to their health. In the pre-contempation stage, the smoking cessation program implementers such as family members may only give minimal help to the individual through persuasive counseling. The decision to change the behavior only comes from within the individual. This is the stage where an individual is ready to act and begin the cessation program. As matter of fact, the individual may be projecting to start the program in six month’s time. The level of awareness of the individual on the effect of drugs is high (DiClemente et al., 2002). They understand the pros and cons of smoking and they believe that the process is possible. The program of cessation can be effective if the addicts can be informed of possible challenges such as relapses. Many smokers in the world today are in this stage because the vast majority is considering quitting. Here, the person is preparing to hit the road and begin the journey to full recovery. Most of the addicts are encouraged to begin with mental preparation for the program. It is common to find them

The Automobile Industry Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

The Automobile Industry - Assignment Example BMW began off as a manufacturer of aircraft engines. In the year 1918 following the end of World War 1, the Versailles Armistice Treaty forced the company to cease the business of aircraft engine production. It thus changed the line of business to start producing motorcycles in the year 1923, and later automobiles in 1928 when the treaty’s restrictions began to be lifted. The very first car successfully produced by BMW and which actually propelled the company’s automobile business was known as Dixie. It debarked again to the production of engines for aircraft in the 1930s producing engines such as BMW 132, BMW 801 and BMW 003. The Quandt family has since the year 1959 owned a controlling stake of 46% of the company’s stock and the rest is public. BMW bought Has Glas Company in the 1966 and in 1992 acquired a controlling stake in Designworks USA and went on to fully acquire the company in 1995. BMW also acquired the Rover Group for six years and sold the group off to the Phoenix Consortium as it was making losses. It retained the rights of building the new Mini brand which entered the market in 2001. The company’s long-serving lead designer Chris Bangle left in 2009 and his place was taken by Adrian Van Hooydonk. BMW bought the Husqvarna Motorcycles. In 2012 Bavaria Motor Works was listed by Forbes as world’s most reputable company. The Forbes ranking system bases a lot on the willingness of people to buy, invest in, work for and recommend the firm to others. 60% of the Forbes raking points is driven by the perception of people about the company while 40% is the perception of the company’s products. Specializing in the production of automobiles, the BMW Group has earned itself brand recognition as the worlds most successful. The group runs with three major brands, MINI, BMW and Rolls-Royce all of which are targeted for different market segments. The company has for a long time continued to be among the major players in luxury automobile section and registering consistent sales growth even with the crisis in the European markets.  

Critical Discussion of the View that Religion is a Major Cause of Essay

Critical Discussion of the View that Religion is a Major Cause of Terrorism - Essay Example Terrorism is defined as an act of violence which is committed to fulfill political reasons. In other words terrorism is done to gain something in response to the actions committed. It can be noted that the rate of terrorism has increased since the 1950s and the main reason behind the increase can be said to be the critical thinking of the religious scholars or the religious individuals. Mark Juergensmeyer and other authors like Mahan and Martin give particular views on these acts of terrorism and their link to different religions. According to Mark religious violence has increased all over the world and different people who follow these acts defend them accordingly. Mark gives a brief review about the individuals and their acts of terrorism and how they defend their acts. Furthermore authors like Griset and Mahan give an overview of the link between religion and terrorism. They conclude that the â€Å"best way to understand terrorism is to examine the social, economic, political and religious conditions and philosophies existing at a particular time and space† (Griset and Mahan 2003). Moreover the logic behind the committing these acts can be said to be religiously affiliated. As the world comprises of different people with different religion and perspectives, these people tend to interpret their own meaning out of their religion. Some people tend to indulge in terrorist activities because of this interpretation. This essay would further discuss and analyze the logics of affiliating terrorism with religion and would conclude if it has an overall affect on terrorism or not. Acts of terrorism all over the world are done to sow a seed of fear amongst the common individuals. They are done to get the demands of the individuals accepted by the government. According to Juergensmeyer religion and terrorism has a deep relationship which pushes the individuals who believe in their religion to move towards terrorist activities. Mark Juergensmeyer in his book tells the readers that religious violence is an act which is theatrical and performance oriented. Religion has an underlying effect on individuals and due to the beliefs people tend to deny the reality and get into acts which are not accepted within the society. Cosmic war has been led by the very reason of the relationship between terrorism and religion. Terrorism is an act of violence committed only to fear individuals and to get certain demands accepted which are of the ones who commit the acts of terrorism. The basic aim of the organizations is to sow a seed of fear amongst individuals when committing th e acts of terror. If certain individuals who see or suffer from the act of terrorism portray the act as of being lethal and deadly, then the aim of these organizations is fulfilled. It shows that terrorism is basically done to achieve public recognition in terms of terror. This follows the definition of religious violence as being theatrical and performance oriented. This shows that the acts are done to achieve such theatrical and performance oriented purpose. As explained by Mark Juergensmeyer in these words , "When we who observe these acts take them seriously- are disgusted and repelled by them, and begin to distrust the peacefulness of the world around us- the purpose of this theater are achieved" (J. pg. 128). It can be said that these acts though cannot disrupt the whole national government but they can disturb the people around the whole scene. Through these acts symbols are being left onto the civilians so they can fear the terrorists. Furthermore the terrorists also tend to set out a particular important date in the nation to target a certain place. This makes the civilians fear the acts of terrorism and consider the world as a non-safe place. This makes the media monitor the whole scene and portray it to the individuals as being a very threatening and deadly attack. Thus the attacks are even getting advertising for free just like other performance orien

Business Ethics in the Footwear, Clothing, and Textile Industries Essay

Business Ethics in the Footwear, Clothing, and Textile Industries - Essay Example   Business ethics and conduct have been a major talking point in the TCF industry, especially with regards to the fairness of its dealings, processes, stakeholder treatment, and competition policies. The principle of fairness seeks to ensure that TCF organizations engage in; fair and free ethical competition deals with all stakeholders in a way that can describe as being equitable and fair and is non-discriminatory during the process of contracting and hiring (Braithwaite & Drahos, 2010: p401). This principle has been a problematic one within the TCF industry. The workforce is 80% female on minimum wage that averages $38 every month. This industry has the lowest costs of labor globally, and the workers’ unions are intimidated with violence in order to stay quiet on industry standard violations (Sajhau, 2013: p34). The industry needs to create a more friendly culture for workers, enforcing freedom of association sans victimization, pro-labor legislation, balance the gender in equality gap, and fire and building inspection codes. This can be achieved with the help of global retailers.   Issues related to diligence and loyalty is an important concern with regards to business ethics in the TCF industry. The industry would be required to act as a fiduciary for investors and the company by carrying out the organization’s operations in a loyal and diligent manner expected of trustees (Braithwaite & Drahos, 2010: p402). Corporate ethics are reflective of the business’ philosophy, and one of its objectives is the determination of the company’s fundamental purposes.

Social Entrepreneurship Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 3

Social Entrepreneurship - Essay Example ddle financial institutions has not been experienced making the social enterprises to result to crowdfunding as the major source of revenue (Othmar, 2012). To assist the social enterprises to generate more revenue and improve the UK social sectors, the Social Finance pays the social organizations such as Peterborough prisons that reduce the number of reconvictions by 7.5 per cent. To mitigate financial problems, crowdfunding has been adopted as one of the avenues of raising capital, debt and equity finance as well as seeking for donations. Crowdfunding entails motivating a large number of audiences for example via the social sites to contribute towards the financial kit of the social enterprises. Additionally, entrepreneurs are now focused at other sources of funds including leasing companies that provide office equipments especially when there is stability in the cash flows (Weerawardena and Mort, 2006). In the same way, government agencies have also been involved to provide subsidies, credits and grants. These are significant especially for the projects that can be managed sustainably. For the small entrepreneurial initiatives, bootstrapping has been the major source of income. The additional sources of revenue for instance crowdfunding can work especially based on the increased use of social sites such as face book and twitter. Since the public, banks and the government are aimed at creating a strong linkage, Ridley-Duff (2009) argues that the solutions to financial issues that social enterprises are facing will be effective. Othmar, M.2012. Literature Review and Research Agenda for Crowdfunding of Social Ventures. Research colloquium on social entrepreneurship. University of Oxford, Skoll Center of SAID Business School, 1,

A Game of Cat and Maus Essay Example for Free

A Game of Cat and Maus Essay Maus and Maus II are both very powerful and moving graphic novels. Both of which discuss one of the worst tragedies known to mankind. Spielgelman used the graphic novel form because it came natural to him, however he probably also used it as a way to get a larger audience and to make the subject matter a little less intimidating. However, Spielgelman’s use of animals to represent the different races helps the reader better understand the situation in a somewhat entertaining and a somewhat easier way. Maus even encapsulates the adage, â€Å"a picture is worth a thousand words† to a tee. The title of the book Maus comes from the German word mauscheln. Mauscheln when translated to English means â€Å"to talk Yiddish† or â€Å"to cheat,† in terms of playing cards. The Germans laid the blame for Germany’s economic distress on the Jewish people. During this time frame, all the propaganda posters were portraying the Jewish community as mice. Maus, was a more than appropriate title considering how the Jewish were viewed and treated during this point. There are approximately eight different animals used to represent the different cultures represented in the novels. The three main animals used are mice, which represent the Jewish people; cats, which represent the German people and pigs, representing the Polish people. It seems obvious as to why the Germans and Jews were represented as they were. Germans believed they were superior to everyone else, and in the animal kingdom, the â€Å"king† is a lion, which is considered an overgrown cat. With the Germans are represented as cats, it would be more than obvious to portray the Jewish as an animal that would be the victim of a cat, a mouse. The Jewish eventually ended up having to live like mice whilst they were in hiding. The artistic portrayal allows the reader to visualize it in an easier manner than if it had been a point blank worded novel. The other main animal the reader sees representing a group of people is pigs. The Polish are represented as pigs due to the fact that, stereotypically, the Poles are considered greedy and brutal. But if one looks at it from a different perspective, they could say that the reason the Polish are represented as pigs is because of the kielbasa, the Polish delicacy. The only time that the reader actually sees any differences between the ethnicity of a â€Å"character† and their religion is in one occasion in Maus. The child of a German and a Jewish person is represented as a mouse with the cat stripes. Other than that one occasion, anytime you see an animal, it is obvious as to whether it is a Pole, a German, a Jew or an American. Aside from the Jewish representation, the other countries being represented, the animal is done as a national identity. The images in Maus offer the reader an understanding that word just would not be able to get across in the same way. For example, on page 31 of Maus, we can tell that Anja is distressed by the way the panel is angled. If this had been a worded novel, the reader would not fully be able to understand the emotions going through the mind of Anja, or even in a way, Vladek. Another example that demonstrates this is in the mini comic- â€Å"Prisoner of Planet Hell. † On page 103, after Artie was discharged from the psychiatric hospital, the reader can see how Artie is feeling suffocated by his mother. Anja is overshadowing Artie, who is curled up in the fetal position- almost as if it is re-creating the image of being in Anja’s womb. The most prominent example, one that communicates the fear of being a Jew in hiding during this period is when Anja and Valdek are traveling to a new â€Å"safe house. † The road they are walking on is depicted as a swastika. This is a perfect depiction for how dangerous it really was for a Jew to be wandering around in the open. Even later on, when they are in hiding and cannot receive food regularly, they eat like mice and live like mice. With the novels being depicted with animals, it allows the reader to understand the mindset of a German Nazi. Yes, people learn about World War II in history but they do not actually seem to care. They take the class and do the minimum it takes to pass. People who were born farther away from the aftermath period of WWII do not seem to really understand the emotional damage from the Holocaust events. Valdek even says that â€Å"nobody can understand. † The Holocaust is extremely hard to comprehend unless one had been there. Anyone could read Diary of Anne Frank or Night, but what do they really take away from it? The Germans held hatred toward anyone they deemed ‘inhuman. ’ Let it have been the Jews, the Poles or the Slavs; the Germans depicted them in the propaganda posters that would turn others against them. In the end, using animals and the graphic novel to depict the events was probably one of the smartest things to do. It gives a first hand, one sided account that allows the reader to see the truth. Truth that has not been tainted by the media, truth shows real pain from a survivor. Maus really encapsulates the truth of the Holocaust. It shows how brutal humanity can be. It also demonstrates how weak minded some people can be, going against what they may think is morally wrong in order to keep themselves and their families safe. When someone writes a novel in graphic form, it makes the subject more approachable. However, when an author uses animals as the characters it brings a whole new dimension to a book. It allows to reader to view the subject manner in a whole new way.

Tourism in Sri Lanka

Tourism in Sri Lanka 1. Sri Lanka is an island country and god has given to Sri Lanka blessings of nature blue seas, green hills, sandy beaches, abundant wildlife, cascading waterfalls, a riot of flowers and fruits, coconut groves, tea estates, spice gardens. Here ones day can be gloriously lazy by a palm cool lagoon or full of joy, swimming, snorkeling, and fishing or sailing like a brilliant jewel in the sparkling waters of the Indian Ocean. Sri Lanka is located in a strategically considered naval spot on the world map. This significant situation creates a path for a major sea route. In addition it creates a strategic naval link between West Asia, Africa and East Asia. Sri Lanka entered the international tourism arena in the 1960s. Since then, government involvement has been the key factor in tourism development in Sri Lanka. The Ceylon Tourist Board (CTB) was established in 1966 in order to provide direction and leadership to this promising sector of the developing economy. The country is famous for h ealthy and cultural heritage. Hospitality, tropical forests, natural and fascinating beaches, archeological sites and the tropical climate are the more attractive features. These factors make Sri Lanka a wonderful tourist destination. Over the years tourism in Sri Lanka has developed significantly. Today tourism has become the sixth Foreign Exchange Earner (FEE) in Sri Lankan economy. 2. Tourism can make a great impact on development of the Sri Lankan economy. Tourism is a fast growing industry which has been identified presently. Employment opportunities and regional development are playing significant role with regard to the tourism industry development. It can be considered as the most important industry in the country as a whole. The governments vision is to make the tourism sector as Sri Lankas most innovative and profitable income generating source. 3. During past three decades Sri Lankas tourism industry had few draw backs. This was mainly due to the security situation which prevailed in the country. Further the tourism industry was also affected due to the Tsunami catastrophe which occurred in 2004. Approximately 2/3rd of the coastal area including tourist infrastructure facilities was destroyed. The immediate post war period gave rise to a dramatic increase of tourist arrival from end May 2009. 4. In order to support the efforts and to develop the tourism sector in Sri Lanka there should be hotels with exclusive facilities which are in par with the international standards to accommodate a large number of visitors. In the year 2010 approximately one million tourists visited Sri Lanka. Unlike in the past, the inflow of tourists is increasing day by day as a result of the end of the 30 year civil war which destroys the whole country. Following graph indicates how tourism increased from 1966 to 2011 in Sri Lanka. The government is expected to receive 2.5 million tourists in 2016. To cater for this increase tourist hotels in Sri Lanka must be developed. Similarly other facilities should also be increased to meet the desired economic goals. AIM 5. The aim of this paper is to analyze the development of Sri Lanka tourism -challenges and opportunities GEOGRAPHY AND CLIMATE OF SRI LANKA 6. Sir Lanka has a various terrain but it mainly consists of flat lands but south-central portion of the countrys step sided river, canyons interior features and mountain. The flatter regions are the areas where most of Sri Lankas agriculture takes place, aside from coconut farms along the coast. Sri Lankas climate is tropical and the southwestern part of the island is the wettest. . The northeastern part of Sri Lanka is drier and most of its rain falls from December to February. Most of the rain in the southwest falls from April to June and October to November Sri Lankas average yearly temperature is around 86 °F to 91 °F. An important geographic note about Sri Lanka is its position in the Indian Ocean, which made it vulnerable to one of the worlds largest natural disasters. On December, 26, 2004, it was struck by large tsunami that hit 12 Asian countries. Around 38,000 people in Sri Lanka were killed during this incident and much of Sri Lankas coast was destroyed. 7. Sri Lanka is situated in strategic location near major Indian Ocean sea lanes. It has a total area of 65,610 km ², with 64,740 km ² of land and 870 km ² of water. Its coastline is 1,340 km long. Sri Lankas climate includes tropical monsoons: the southwest monsoon (June to October) and the northeast monsoon (December to March), its terrain is mostly low, flat to undulating plain, with mountains in the south-central interior. The highest point is Pidurutalagala at 2,524.13 m. Resource include limestone, mineral sands, gems, graphite, phosphates, clay, and hydropower. 8. Adams Bridge, a land connection to the Indian mainland, is now mostly underwater with only a chain of limestone shoals remaining above sea level. According to temple records, this natural causeway was previously complete, but was breached by a violent storm (probably a cyclone) in 1480. SRI LANKAS COMMITMENT TO TOURISM 9. Tourism is a vital area in the policy structure has been identified as capable of efficiently driving the countrys socio economic development. The programmes vision for the tourism sector is to make Sri Lanka foremost freedom destination in the South Asian Region. The programme believes the human resources and natural and cultural endowments values and nation will be essential in transforming Sri Lanka into a centre of excellence and offer tourists the highest values of real experiences in its unique setting. 10 The One Stop Unit Unit for National Investment in Tourism is a Centralized promotion and facilitation center Established Thurs assist potential tourism investors interested in investing in Sri Lanka Tourism Industry. Specialist staff from various government agencies helps investors Identify possible projects, Obtain information possible, Regarding Investments, submit applications, and Provide support in obtaining investment promotion privileges, trade licenses and other approvals Requested for project clearance. OSU Prevents the need for investors Thurs spend time in search of answers and ensures all queries are handled by its specialist staff. 11. Serious civil disturbances starting in July 1983 and the subsequent violence badly affected tourism. Total arrivals were 230,106 in 1986, down 43 percent from 1982. To ease the dilemma of the industry, the government provided various concessions to hotels, such as the rescheduling of loans and the reduction of the turnover tax from 10 percent to 5 percent. The Ceylon Tourist Board also undertook a crash promotion program in an attempt to restore the islands image in world tourist markets. Tourist arrivals in the first six months of 1987, however, showed a decline of 23 percent compared with the same period the previous year. In early 1988, the outlook was for further contraction. 12. In 1988 it remained unclear whether the policies of economic liberalization Sri Lanka has pursued since 1977 would succeed in their principal goals of employment, wealth creation, and economic diversification. Although increased rice production, the growth of textile manufacturing, and an improved infrastructure were successes that could be attributed to the post-1977 policies, these gains came at the cost of a mounting foreign and domestic debt and declining living standards for the poor. POLITICAL ENVIRONMENT TOWARDS TOURISM 13. The One Stop Unit Unit for National Investment in Tourism is a Centralized promotion and facilitation center Established Thurs assist potential tourism investors interested in investing in Sri Lanka Tourism Industry. Specialist staff from various government agencies helps investors Identify possible projects, Obtain information possible, Regarding Investments, submit applications, and Provide support in obtaining investment promotion privileges, trade licenses and other approvals Requested for project clearance. OSU Prevents the need for investors Thurs spend time in search of answers and ensures all queries are handled by its specialist staff. 14. Serious civil disturbances starting in July 1983 and the subsequent violence badly affected tourism. Total arrivals were 230,106 in 1986, down 43 percent from 1982. To ease the dilemma of the industry, the government provided various concessions to hotels, such as the rescheduling of loans and the reduction of the turnover tax from 10 percent to 5 percent. The Ceylon Tourist Board also undertook a crash promotion program in an attempt to restore the islands image in world tourist markets. Tourist arrivals in the first six months of 1987, however, showed a decline of 23 percent compared with the same period the previous year. In early 1988, the outlook was for further contraction. 15. In 1988 it remained unclear whether the policies of economic liberalization Sri Lanka has pursued since 1977 would succeed in their principal goals of employment, wealth creation, and economic diversification. Although increased rice production, the growth of textile manufacturing, and an improved infrastructure were successes that could be attributed to the post-1977 policies, these gains came at the cost of a mounting foreign and domestic debt and declining living standards for the poor. PROMOTION OF TOURISM INVESTMENT 16. The Board of Investment has introduced incentives in the form of tax exemptions, duty-free imports and the relaxation of controls on foreign exchange holdings. The incentives provided by the government have mainly attracted investment in the hotel sector. The present hotel capacity is 13,670 rooms. That figure is projected to increase to 21,000 rooms by 2004, which will accommodate the target of 1 million tourists. Five regional domestic airports to be restructured at a total cost of approx. Rs. 2bn: Rathmalana, Koggala ,Ampara , Trincomalee Jaffna (Rathmalana will be developed as a City Airport) Previous year. This denotes that tourism industry is one of the core sources of foreign exchange earner in economy of Sri Lanka. Due to the development of tourism improved accessibility via new highways and conversion of military to domestic airports may make high-end hotels in the Deep South and the East of Sri Lanka viable alternatives to the Galle area. OPPORTUNITIES FOR TOURISM INDUSTRY 17. Tourism directly affected to economy of a country. The momentum of growth in tourism, as result of the post conflict peaceful environment, the tourist arrivals grew to 654,476 in 2010 surpassing the previous record of 566,202 in 2004. Tourist nights one of an important indicator in measuring the volume of tourist traffic, has recorded 6, 544, 760 in 2010. It shows 60.6 per cent increase compared to 2009. Total receipts in 2010 amounted to US $ 575.9 million as against US $ 349.3 million recorded for the year 2009. It indicates a vast increase of 64.9 per cent than THREATS FOR TOURISM INDUSTRY 18. Development of tourist hotels in Sri Lanka will extremely support the rapid economic development. Developments of tourist hotels, increase room capacities, increase occupancy rates and develop the condition of rooms and upgrade the service provided in the hotels are the key factors to be mainly focused on if to develop tourism. It indeed contributes to the development of tourism and in turn development of economy of the country. Tourist hotel industry should be developed in most of the famous city for tourism with sufficient amount of tourist hotels 19. As political risk introduces additional elements of uncertainty into the rules governing tourism investment projects, the risk of capital loss is raised for longer- term projects. Political risk also negatively influences the timing and pricing of the tourism production process. Negative images, lack of foreign exchange for tourism development, lack of skilled manpower, weak institutional frameworks for tourism planning, political instability caused by communal violence, civil war conflicts are inhibitors to tourism development. However, little is known about how international tourism firms perceive political risks and other general barriers and threats to tourism promotion in Sri Lanka. 20. Common political factors which affect the tourism industry are revolution, civil war, factional conflict, ethnic violence, religious turmoil, widespread riots, terrorism, nationwide strikes, protests, cross- national guerrilla warfare, world public opinion, repatriation restrictions, bureaucratic politics, leadership struggle, high inflation, border conflicts, high external debt service ratio and creeping nationalization. Last thirty years Sri Lanka also faced the civil war and it affected the tourism industry of Sri Lanka. Organizing elections frequently also create threat to the tourism industry because during the election period in some places to control the situation cur hews are implemented. 21. This will create negative image in the mind of tourists. Some of the foreign countries have reject Sri Lankas products in their country due to the violation of human rights during the war time. For example government invested and spent on IIFA programme but it was not a successful event for Sri Lanka because the big stars have boycotted the event. They didnt visit Sri Lanka because of the protests held in their country by asking them not to visit the place. Currently Sri Lanka is having negative relationship with some foreign countries therefore the export and import of Sri Lankan products will be decreased and it affects the tourism industry as well. FUTURE TRENDS, CHALLENGES 22. Source markets in Asia and Middle East to drive demand: Sri Lankas proximity to source markets such as India and its connectivity to the Middle East and China will help in sustaining tourism growth. The rise in per capita income and therefore consumer spending in these source markets will aid the growth in tourism. 23. Infrastructure growth to fuel tourism growth: To ensure rapid growth of tourism in the future, tourism projects will need to be balance with infrastructure development. We expect that with improvements in road infrastructure and development of the new airport in Hambantota, various new destinations will emerge in the country, especially to the north and the east, as these areas have abundant natural beauty to attract tourists but currently suffer from poor connectivity. We expect more airlines to operate in the country as the second airport develops. 24. Greater competition will facilitate growth: We also expect greater competition with the introduction of new hotels in popular destinations such as Colombo, Kandy, Bentota, and Sigiriya, and Galle. We expect the existing hotels to undertake phased renovations to effectively compete with the upcoming hotels. Also, with the increase in income from hotels over the past few years, we expect an increase in the number of hospitality related transactions and mergers and acquisitions. 25. Challenge of attrition to other destinations: Currently, the hotel industry witnesss significant employee attrition to countries in the Middle East and to the Maldives and India. However, with a more stable political environment and improvement in quality of living in Sri Lanka, we expect the attrition to gradually 26. Shortage of skilled labor: As new players enter the market, the projected growth in tourism will be accompanied by shortage of skilled labour. We anticipate the need for relive hospitality education institutions as the contribution of the tourism sector to the overall economy increases. SUMMARY 27. Sri Lanka is located in a strategically considered naval spot on the world map. Sri Lanka entered the international tourism arena in the 1960s. Since then, government involvement has been the key factor in tourism development in Sri Lanka. Over the years tourism in Sri Lanka has developed significantly. Today tourism has become the sixth Foreign Exchange Earner (FEE) in Sri Lankan economy.Tourism can make a great impact on development of the Sri Lankan economy. Employment opportunities and regional development are playing significant role with regard to the tourism industry development. The governments vision is to make the tourism sector as Sri Lankas most innovative and profitable income generating source. 28. During past three decades Sri Lankas tourism industry had few draw backs. In the year 2010 approximately one million tourists visited Sri Lanka. Following graph indicates how tourism increased from 1966 to 2011 in Sri Lanka. To cater for this increase tourist hotels in Sri Lanka must be developed. Sri Lankas climate is tropical and the southwestern part of the island is the wettest. . Around 38,000 people in Sri Lanka were killed during this incident and much of Sri Lankas coast was destroyed. 29. Total arrivals were 230,106 in 1986, down 43 percent from 1982. The Ceylon Tourist Board also undertook a crash promotion program in an attempt to restore the islands image in world tourist markets. This denotes that tourism industry is one of the core sources of foreign exchange earner in economy of Sri Lanka. Tourism directly affected to economy of a country. Development of tourist hotels in Sri Lanka will extremely support the rapid economic development. Developments of tourist hotels, increase room capacities, increase occupancy rates and develop the condition of rooms and upgrade the service provided in the hotels are the key factors to be mainly focused on if to develop tourism. Tourist hotel industry should be developed in most of the famous city for tourism with sufficient amount of tourist hotels 30. Negative images, lack of foreign exchange for tourism development, lack of skilled manpower, weak institutional frameworks for tourism planning, political instability caused by communal violence, civil war conflicts are inhibitors to tourism development. However, little is known about how international tourism firms perceive political risks and other general barriers and threats to tourism promotion in Sri Lanka. 31. Last thirty years Sri Lanka also faced the civil war and it affected the tourism industry of country. Some of the foreign countries have reject Sri Lankas products in their country due to the violation of human rights during the war time. Currently Sri Lanka is having negative relationship with some foreign countries therefore the export and import of Sri Lankan products will be decreased and it affects the tourism industry as well. 32. Sri Lankas proximity to source markets such as India and its connectivity to the Middle East and China will help in sustaining tourism growth. To ensure rapid growth of tourism in the future, tourism projects will need to be balance with infrastructure development. We expect the existing hotels to undertake phased renovations to effectively compete with the upcoming hotels. We also expect the hotel companies, especially the domestic companies located in the country to undertake long and medium term hospitality training programs and regularly undertake competition benchmarking for compensation to retain the talent. RECCOMONDATIONS 33. These are the recommendations which we can produce in related to tourism. Develop a marketing strategy: Emphasizing the creation and sustaining of a positive image of Sri Lanka as a substantive and well-established tourist destination offering facilities experiences that are distinct Sri Lankan products. Establish a domestic tourism strategy: To expand the existing product base and encourage a greater level of holiday movements in addition to pilgrim movements. Develop goods and services: To meet the increasing needs of the tourism industry, and thus optimize the economic benefit of tourism development to Sri Lanka. Modify the organization of tourism activities: In order to bring about related improvements in the private sector, increase coordination between tourism and interrelated sectors, and introduce streamlining to facilitate the development of the tourism sector. Emphasize the environmental, social and cultural aspects: Tourism Development Planning is the only way to solve many issues related to tourism in development. Therefore the tourism planning process should be designed to produce goals and objectives for the destination area related to tourism development. The tourism development plan provides overall guidelines for development and identifies development opportunities. Many development countries are involved in tourism planning. Financial Assistance: Financial assistance for hotel owners and any other profession in tourist sector would help to create more employment opportunities. Domestic Airport: Airport also more than 100 km away from the tourist destination it is needed have domestic airports. Surfing Training: This will create more employment opportunities and generate good income. Among the tourists there are some people they love for surfing and keen to learn. Conduct Language Teaching: Language barrier should be overcome by conducting specially job oriented language training. Employ Combat Divers: Surfing is risky and adventure sport it dont take much time for some to happen therefore as precautionary measure it is needed some combat divers close to the surfing area it would enhance the confidence of people who do surfing. Proper Taxi Service: Taxi service should be reformed introducing good vehicles fixed with meter system and giving training for drivers. Improve Infrastructure Facilities: Infrastructure facilities such as Power, Highways, Railways, Airports, Ports, Water Supply, Telecommunications, Accommodations, and Recreational, Shopping and Banking to be improved. Awareness Programs: Tourists should be informed on specific social, cultural and religious environment programmed. GAD ALWIS SLE Maj STUDENT OFFICER -DSCSC

Ursa and Generations :: Free Essays

Ursa and Generations It is difficult to come up with a logical explanation of why Ursa's doctors decided to remove her womb and therefore leaving her infertile after suffering a fall down the stairs. She was described as three months pregnant at the time of the fall, so her losing the fetus makes sense, but this hardly seems to justify taking her womb out. Ursa places full blame on Mutt and he stands out as the logical person toward whom she harbors all of her resentment. He was drunk at the time of her accident and from prior account Mutt was insanely jealous, protective and did not want Ursa working. One can not help but wonder how many black women during this period of American History were given hysterectomies for irrational reasons. It seems Ursa's emotions are pulled in different directions. Unfortunately, she not only had to deal with the physical and emotional pain of not being able to bear children but also confronted the reality that the history of her family and Corregidora would end with her. At times, I found it selfish of Great-Gram and Gram to burden the story of Corregidora on Ursa at such a young age. I understand that they did not wish their history and memories to die with them, but the way in which Ursa responds with her emotions indicated to me she was traumatized by their memories. Once she became infertile, she was not able to completely heal emotionally, and she felt she was not complete or not woman enough because she did not have a womb. Ursa became the vessel of Gram's and Great-Gram's unrecorded history, and even if she did not know it, she was filled with all their hurt, anger and humiliation. The way for her to release these feelings would have been to "create

Hydrologic Cycle Essay example -- essays research papers

HYDROLOGIC CYCLE The hydrologic cycle is a constant movement of water above, on, and below the earth's surface. It is a cycle that replenishes ground water supplies. It begins as water vaporizes into the atmosphere from vegetation, soil, lakes, rivers, snowfields and oceans-a process called evapotranspiration. As the water vapor rises it condenses to form clouds that return water to the land through precipitation: rain, snow, or hail. Precipitation falls on the earth and either percolates into the soil or flows across the ground. Usually it does both. When precipitation percolates into the soil it is called infiltration when it flows across the ground it is called surface run off. The amount of precipitation that infiltrates, versus the amount that flows across the surface, varies depending on factors such as the amount of water already in the soil, soil composition, vegetation cover and degree of slope. Surface runoff eventually reaches a stream or other surface water body where it is again evaporated into the atmosphere. Infiltration, however, moves under the force of gravity through the soil. If soils are dry, water is absorbed by the soil until it is thoroughly wetted. Then excess infiltration begins to move slowly downward to the water table. Once it reaches the water table, it is called ground water. Ground water continues to move downward and laterally through the subsurface. Eventually it discharges through hillside springs or seeps into streams, lakes, and the ocean...

Free Things They Carried Essays: The True Enemies :: Things They Carried Essays

The True Enemies in The Things They Carried  Ã‚   In Tim O'Brien's Story "Enemies," one sees several signs that explain the aspects of the Vietnam War, and the actions of two soldiers that snapped under the pressure built up by the war. These pressures caused little tiny things to create tension not only in the minds of soldiers, but also between two soldiers. For example, conflicts grew between Lee Strunk and Dave Jensen. Two soldiers, whose actions were sparked by the craziness of the war, Lee Strunk and Dave Jensen's argument over a jackknife illustrates a perfect example of how tension built up during the war. Both men know all to well what was gong on in the war, they understood that many times they encountered men who they thought were South Vietnamese, but with the quick pull of a gun or knife a whole battle resulted because of the unknown association between the South Vietnamese and the Vietcong. On the message bard, Jeff Jacobie stated, "soldiers in Vietnam were never sure who they could trust; they were not sure if the peasants they were around were secretly loyal to the VC or not." This lack of defined enemy drove the soldiers in the war berserk. Throughout the war, an unclear enemy caused many problems for the Americans. They would ambush a town, and before they knew it, they were under scrutiny for killing people who may or may not of had any association with the Vietcong. Yet, it was a ri sk they had to take in the war, and this risk caused immense stress and tension for soldiers "humping" through the rice fields of Vietnam. Not only from not knowing who the enemy was, tension also grew in the soldiers because of their loneliness and lack of understanding for why they were in Vietnam. Most of the time, soldiers humped around the lonely land of Vietnam with the same guys for months except for the occasional supply chopper that came in or the brief radio contacts with headquarters in order to receive backup and orders. Soldiers had very little contact with others, and this isolation would drive any man crazy. In order to get by, the soldiers had to rely on each other. If they could not trust each other with their lives, none of them would ever make it back to the States to enjoy the aspects of life away form war.

Rough Water Ahead

Required: 1. How should Smooth Sailings’ management perform the recoverability test for the cruise ship as of December 31, 2010? The following are the required steps to identify, recognize and measure the impairment of a long-lived asset (group) to be held and used: * Indicators of impairment — consider whether indicators of impairment are present. Test for recoverability — If indicators are present, perform a recoverability test by comparing the sum of the estimated undiscounted future cash flows attributable to the asset (group) in question to their carrying amounts (as a reminder, entities cannot record an impairment for a held and used asset unless the asset first fails this recoverability test). Measurement of an impairment — If the undiscounted cash flows used in the test for recoverability are less than the long-lived asset’s (group’s) carrying amount, determine the fair value of the long-lived asset (group) and recognize an impairment loss if the carrying amount of the long-lived asset (group) exceeds its fair value. What assets and liabilities should be included in the â€Å"asset group† as defined by ASC 360-10 for purposes of performing the recoverability test?For purposes of recognition and measurement of an impairment loss, a long-lived asset or assets shall be grouped with other assets and liabilities at the lowest level for which identifiable cash flows are largely independent of the cash flows of other assets and liabilities. Asset groups may include assets and liabilities outside the scope of ASC 360-10 (for example, goodwill — if certain conditions, discussed later, are met — and other non-amortizing intangible assets).In general, assets should be grouped when they are used together, that is, when they are part of the same group of assets and are used together to generate joint cash flows. If assets and/or liabilities are grouped for purposes of a test for recoverability, they are referred to as an ? asset group. How should the multiple operating scenarios impact the recoverability test? ASC 360-10 allows entities to use either a single-most-likely estimate of expected future cash flows (often referred to as a traditional or best-estimate approach) or a range of possible future outcomes (often referred to as a probability-weighted approach).However, if alternative courses of action to recover the long-lived asset (group) are under consideration or if a range is estimated for the amount of possible cash flows, the likelihood of possible outcomes should be considered. An entity is not required to use the probability-weighted approach, but it may be useful in considering the likelihood of possible outcomes. If the probability-weighted approach is used, the likelihood of possible outcomes should be considered in determining the best estimate of future cash flows. What impact should the potential foreclosure and extinguishment of debt have on the cash flows used t o perform the recoverability test? Generally, debt should not be included in an asset group because the lowest level of identifiable cash flows will typically not include cash flows associated with debt (i. e. , the principal payments associated with the debt). Further, the cash flows associated with debt principal payments are typically easy to identify; therefore, most entities will be able to eliminate the cash flows associated with debt from the cash flows of other assets and liabilities.However, in rare instances, if the lowest level of identifiable cash flows includes cash flows associated with debt principal payments and it is not practical to eliminate those cash flows (which would be more likely to occur when the asset group is a business or reporting unit), then the debt should be included in the asset group (i. e. , netted with the carrying amounts of the assets of the group) so as to maintain an appropriate comparison. This basis adjustment provides the same result as if the debt principal payments have been excluded (e. g. debt with a carrying value of $100 would have undiscounted cash flows of $100). As a reminder, the guidance in ASC 360-10 prohibits the inclusion of interest expense in assessing the recoverability of long-lived assets. When the FASB originally deliberated Statement 144, it considered and rejected requests for a limited exception to the fair value measurement for impaired long-lived assets that are subject to nonrecourse debt. Some constituents believed that the impairment loss on an asset subject entirely to nonrecourse debt should be limited to the loss that would occur if the asset were put back to the lender.The FASB decided not to provide an exception for assets subject to nonrecourse debt. In its basis for conclusions, the FASB explained that the â€Å"Recognition of an impairment loss and the recognition of a gain on the extinguishment of debt are separate events, and each event should be recognized in the period in whic h it occurs. The Board believes that the recognition of an impairment loss should be based on the measurement of the asset at its fair value and that the existence of nonrecourse debt should not influence that measurement. † (Statement 144, paragraph B34) 2.What impairment loss, if any, should be recorded as of December 31, 2010? As discussed above, if indicators of impairment exist for an asset (group) to be held and used, an entity determines whether the sum of the estimated undiscounted future cash flows attributable to the asset (group) in question is less than its carrying amount. If those undiscounted cash flows are less than the carrying amount, then an entity will recognize an impairment loss based on the excess of the carrying amount of the asset (group) over its respective fair value.However, under ASC 820 cash flows used to determine fair value (using a present value technique) when determining the impairment loss (Step 3) must include assumptions that market partic ipants would use in their estimates of fair value. As a result, entities are not able to simply apply a discount rate to the cash flows used in Step 2 to determine fair value without first determining whether they reflect the expectations of market participants.Entities may use their own assumptions as a starting point in developing market participant assumptions and apply reasonable judgment in analyzing whether such assumptions are representative of market participant assumptions. The determination of market participant assumptions and their effect on fair value estimates are particularly subjective considering that the evaluation is being made for assets to be held and used. When multiple valuation techniques are used, the merits of each valuation technique and the underlying assumptions embedded in each of the techniques should be considered in evaluating and assessing the results.In this case, we do not know the assumptions for the estimated fair value of $3. 0 million and we c onsider the discounted cash flow is more reliable. The first step is to check impairment indicator. Because of an increased presence of pirate in the area which Smooth Sailing cruises, the cruise ship’s operating performance has significantly declined which has directly contributed to a decline in its overall fair value, and may indicate a potential impairment. In the second step, we did the recoverability test.The undiscounted cash flow is the sum of expected operating cash flow and the cash flow from the net working capital. Calculation is shown below: We use the probability-weighted approach to get the estimated future cash flow ($2. 30) which is smaller than the net book value. As a result, the cruise is not recoverable. In the third step, we calculated the impairment loss. We calculated the discounted cash flow as follow: So an impairment of 2. 44 million should be recorded, which is the difference between the net book value of 4. million and the discounted cash flow of 2. 16 million. The detailed calculation is included in the attachment â€Å"rough water ahead. xlsx† Alternate Facts: Would the outcome of the recoverability and impairment tests change if the probability assessment was revised such that there was a 50 percent, 40 percent, and 10 percent probability of scenarios A, B, and C occurring, respectively? If so, how? An impairment of 0. 62 million should be recorded. The calculation is included in the attachment â€Å"rough water ahead. xlsx†

A comparison between cardiac CT scanning and cardiac digital subtraction angiography (DSA)

Abstract Coronary artery disease affects nearly one tenth of the UK population and remains the leading cause of death in the western world. To investigate and provide interventions for coronary artery disease, imaging of the coronary arteries to enable visualisation of atheromatous plaque is required. This review looked at the techniques of cardiac computed tomography scanning and cardiac digital subtraction angiography, and their contribution to the investigation of coronary artery disease. Comparison of the procedures considered technique, radiation exposure, contrast agent, clinical indications and efficacy in diagnosis of coronary artery stenosis. On comparison of the effectiveness of the techniques, both were shown to have been effective non-invasive procedures that may be used to rule out diagnoses and avoid inappropriate use of invasive angiography. The research shows mixed evidence for cardiac computed tomography angiography as a test of high specificity, however sensitivity and speci ficity of cardiac digital subtraction angiography is high, and therefore suggest that the techniques may be useful in low risk patients. Introduction Coronary artery disease remains the main cause of death in the UK and western world (Hacker, 2013; Liu et al., 2002) and contributes a substantial disease burden, affecting 7% of men and 5% of women in the UK in 1999 (Liu et al., 2002). Coronary artery disease results from the build up of atherosclerotic plaque within the arteries supplying the myocardium. This plaque limits the flow of blood through the arteries, and can cause ischaemia of the heart muscle. If the plaque becomes unstable and ruptures, this may lead to thrombus formation and the complete occlusion of an artery, resulting in a myocardial infarction (McClure et al., 2009). Acute coronary syndrome (ACS) is a sub-classification of coronary artery disease and encompasses unstable angina, non-ST elevation myocardial infarction and ST elevation myocardial infarction. ACS represents a range of conditions that result from thrombus formation in coronary arteries, and if untreated has poor prognosis and high mortality (NICE, 2010). To investigate and provide information for interventions for coronary artery disease and ACS, visualization of the coronary arteries and any lesions caused by atherosclerotic plaque is required. Advances in technology have given rise to several sophisticated perfusion analysis techniques, which provide greater prognostic value than morphological imaging (Hacker, 2013). Perfusion analysis allows the blood flow through the coronary vessels to be observed and any abnormalities in the perfusion can be interpreted as a functional consequence of atherosclerotic changes within the vessels (Hacker, 2013). Currently, UK guidelines (NICE, 2010a) recommend coronary angiogram as first line management for patients presenting with ACS. This enables imaging of the coronary arteries to assess perfusion. It is important to assess the circulation as arteries can be affected from the earliest stages of endothelial dysfunction to high-grade coronary artery stenoses (Hacker et al., 2010; Bugiardini et al. 2004; Kaufmann et al., 2000), and this provides the information necessary for prognosis and intervention. With the advances in technology, there are now various diagnostic tests available to assess coronary artery disease, including coronary angiography and computed tomography (CT) scanning (Gorenoi, Schonermark & Hagen, 2012). This review aims to review the literature on coronary CT scanning and digital subtraction angiography, their clinical applications, techniques and comparative value in coronary artery assessment and diagnosis. Cardiac Digital subtraction angiography Coronary angiography is the conventional diagnostic procedure used in coronary artery disease. It is a minimally invasive technique, whereby a catheter is placed into the radial or femoral artery and is advanced through the arterial system to the coronary arteries. A contrast agent is then injected at the aortic root and allows visualization of the arteries using x-ray in real time at up to 30 frames per second. This allows a view of the extent, location and severity of coronary obstructive lesions such as atherosclerosis and enables prognostic indication (Miller et al., 2008). Coronary angiography also enables catheter placement either side of the lesion to assess pressure changes and determines the degree of flow obstruction (Miller et al., 2008). . Digital subtraction angiography (DSA) again works by introducing a contrast agent into the coronary arteries and taking x-rays in real time, however a pre image is taken by x-ray. This allows for the post images to be subtracted from the original mask image, eliminating bone and soft tissue images, which would otherwise overlie the artery under study (Hasegawa, 1987). Unlike conventional angiography, it is possible to conduct DSA via the venous system, through accessing the superior vena cava via the basillic vein (Myerowitz, 1982). This removes the risks associated with arterial cannulation (Mancini & Higgins, 1985). The procedure can also be performed with a lower dose of contrast agent and be done more quickly therefore eliminating constraints of using too much contrast during a procedure (Myerowitz, 1982). Whilst DSA is the gold standard in arterial imaging of carotid artery stenosis (Herzig et al., 2004), the application of DSA to the coronary arteries is limited due to motion artefacts associated with each heartbeat and respiration (Yamamoto et al., 2009). There are numerous cardiac clinical applications of DSA, it can be used to assess coronary blood flow (Molloi et al., 1996), valvular regurgitation (Booth, Nissen & DeMaria, 1985), cardiac phase (Katritsis et al., 1988), congenital heart shunts (Myerowitz, Swanson, & Turnipseed, 1985), coronary bypass grafts and percutaneous coronary intervention outcomes (Katritsis et al, 1988; Guthaner, Wexler & Bradley, 1985). However, others have suggested that the coronary arteries are not visualized well due to their small size, movement, their position overlying the opacified aorta and left ventricle, and confusion with other structures such as the pulmonary veins (Myerowitz, 1982). Cardiac CT Scanning Development of CT scanning in the 1990s enabled an increase in temporal resolution that was sufficient to view the beating heart, and they now provide a non-invasive technique for diagnostic and prognostic purposes. Cardiac CT scans have clinical applications that go beyond perfusion investigation, and can be used to assess structure and function of the heart (for example in electrophysiology disorders or congenital heart disease) due to its ability to provide anatomical detail (Achenbach & Raggi, 2010). CT scans can be used to assess coronary artery disease with and without injection of contrast agent (Achenbach & Raggi, 2010) by calcium scan or CT angiography. Coronary calcium CT scanning uses the evidence base that coronary artery calcium is a correlate of atherosclerosis (Burke et al., 2003) and is a strong prognostic predictor of the future development of coronary artery disease and cardiac events (Arad et al., 2000; Budoff et al., 2009; Achenbach & Raggi, 2010). Calcium is easily depicted on CT scan due to its high CT attenuation, and is classified according to the Agatson score, which considers the density and area of the calcification (Hoffman, Brady & Muller, 2003). Coronary CT angiography (CTA) allows visualization of the coronary artery lumen to identify any atherosclerosis or stenosis within the vessels. Patients are injected intravenously with a contrast agent and then undergo a CT scan. There are limitations regarding the suitability of patients for coronary CTA due to prerequisites of sinus rhythm, low heart rate and ability to follow breath-holding commands. Additionally, obesity presents a problem for patients that cannot fit into the scanner and affects the accuracy of the procedure. (Achenbach & Raggi, 2010). Comparison of cardiac DSA and cardiac CT scanning The technical differences between cardiac DSA and cardiac CT scanning give rise to differences in the clinical indications for the procedures, their diagnostic efficacy and also different risks or relative benefits to the patients. Due to the nature of the images produced by coronary CTA and DSA, each lends itself to different indications for use. Whilst coronary DSA provides imaging of all aspects of perfusion, CTA used with contrast agent also provides this however has the additional advantage of being able to assess structure and function of the heart. Coronary CTA has been shown to have a high accuracy at detection and exclusion of coronary artery stenoses (Achenbach & Raggi, 2010). In a multicentre trial conducted by Miller et al. (2008), patients underwent coronary calcium scoring and CT angiography prior to conventional invasive coronary angiography. The diagnostic accuracy of coronary CTA at ruling out or detecting coronary stenoses of 50% was shown to have a sensitivity of 85% and a specificity of 90%. This showed that coronary CTA was particularly effective at ruling out non-significant stenoses. Additionally, coronary CTA was shown to be of equal efficacy as conventional coronary angiography at identifying the patients that subsequently went on to have revascularisation via percutaneous intervention. This was shown by an area under the curve (AUC), a measure of accuracy of 0.84 for coronary CTA and 0.82 for coronary angiography. Miller et al.’s (2008) study included a large number of patients at different study sites , and additionally represented a large variety of clinical patient characteristics. The author’s claim that these factors contribute to the strength and validity of the study findings, and suggest that in addition to using patients with clinical indications for anatomical coronary imaging, should be used as evidence that coronary CTA is accurate at identifying disease severity in coronary artery disease. Miller et al. (2008) did however,, find that positive predictive and negative predictive values of coronary CTA were 91% and 83% respectively and therefore suggested that coronary CTA should not be used in place of the more accurate conventional coronary angiography. A low positive predictive value (in relation to the prevalence of disease) was proposed to be due to a tendency to overestimate stenosis degree as well as the presence of artefacts leading to false positive interpretation (Achenbach & Raggi, 2010). Other research providing comparison between coronary CTA and conventional coronary angiogram has highlighted variability in results. A meta-analysis conducted by Gorenoi, Schonermark and Hagen (2012) investigated the diagnostic capabilities of coronary CTA and invasive coronary angiography using intracoronary pressure measurement as the reference standard. The authors found that CT coronary angiography had a greater sensitivity than invasive coronary angiography (80% vs 67%), meaning that coronary CTA was more likely to identify functionally relevant coronary artery stenoses in patients. Despite this,, specificity of coronary CTA was 67%, compared to 75% in invasive coronary angiography, meaning that the technique was less effective at correctly excluding non-diagnoses than invasive coronary angiogram. This research appears to contradict the power of cardiac CTA at excluding diagnoses of coronary artery stenosis as suggested by Miller et al. (2008), he study did combine evidence from over 44 studies to provide their results and therefore had a large statistical power. The authors interpret the results in light of the clinical relevance of cardiac imaging, suggesting that patients with a higher pretest possibility of coronary heart disease will likely require invasive coronary angiography for revascularisation indicating that coronary CTA may be a helpful technique in those patients with an intermediate pre-test probability of coronary heart disease that will therefore not require invasive angiography. Goldberg et al. (1986) investigated the efficacy of DSA in comparison to conventional coronary angiography in 77 patients. They found that the two angiograms agreed within one grade of severity in 84% of single cases and 90% of multiple cases, identifying both patent and lesioned arteries. The results led the authors to conclude that there was no significant difference between the two methods and that DSA could be used in selective coronary angiography to find results comparable to that of conventional angiography. In addition to being a small study into the efficacy of DSA, the study also had several sources of inherent variability that should be considered when interpreting the results. These included differing sizes of digital imaging screen and non-use of calipers, meaning that the interpretation of the images could vary throughout the study. The authors also suggest that whilst showing strong support for the use of DSA in coronary artery disease, the technique may not actually p ermit better prognostic determinations or clinical judgements that are better than conventional angiography, and therefore the further implementation of the techniques may not be founded or necessitated. More recently, there has been further research looking at the effectiveness of DSA as a way of measuring coronary blood flow. Whilst motion artefacts have proven a problem in lots of past research (Marinus, Buis & Benthem, 1990; Hangiandreou, 1990), recent research has developed methods to minimise these. Moilloi and colleaues (1996) showed that using a motion-immune dual-energy digital subtraction angiography, absolute volumetric coronary blood flow could be measured accurately and thus provide an indication of the severity of any arterial stenosis.This may provide further suggestion for clinical implementation of DSA. Although these studies provide evidence for the efficacy of cardiac DSA and CTA, they often make comparisons to conventional angiography. This is useful as a baseline comparison, however it is difficult to make comparisons between the two procedures directly due to less available evidence making direct comparisons. Lupon-Roses et al. (1985) conducted a study investigating both coronary CTA and venous DSA. The study looked at the efficacy of both techniques at diagnosing patency of coronary artery grafts compared to the control conventional angiography. CT was shown to diagnose 93% of the patent grafts and 67% of the occluded grafts whereas DSA correctly diagnosed 98% and 100% of patent and occluded grafts respectively. Interestingly, the DSA picked up the 11 grafts that were misdiagnosed by CTA and the CTA picked up the 2 grafts misdiagnosed by the DSA. This data may suggest that individually, DSA has a better profile for diagnosis of coronary artery occlusion, however if the two procedures are used in combination exclusion of patent arteries and diagnosis of occluded arteries would be effective (Lupon-Roses et al., 1985). Coronary DSA and CTA are both non-invasive procedures (unlike the conventional coronary angiography where a wire is placed in the coronary vasculature). With the only invasive part of the procedure being the injection of the contrast material into a vein. This presents a significant advantage to both procedures over that of conventional angiography, and may even permit investigation on an outpatient basis (Meaney et al., 1980). Similarly, both DSA and coronary CTA are favoured because of their intravenous approach, eliminating the risks of bleeding or arterial injury from an intra-arterial catheterization and being able to be used in those with limited arterial access. However, although the intravenous approach used in cardiac DSA makes it favourable, it does lead to difficulty with visualisation of the coronary arteries due to the overlying iodinated pulmonary and cardiac structures (Mancini & Higgins, 1985). Therefore,, intra-arterial DSA is also sometimes used (Yamamoto et al., 20 09). As with all CT scanning, coronary CTA carries with it a dose of ionizing radiation (Brenner & Hall, 2007). Studies have estimated that for diagnostic CT scanning, patients are on average exposed to 12mSv of radiation during the procedure, the equivalent of 600 x-rays (Hausleiter et al., 2009). Estimates of radiation doses associated with conventional coronary angiography are lower than that of coronary CTA at 7mSv (Einstein et al., 2007). Additionally, DSA technique reduces the radiation dose from that of conventional coronary angiography as the vessels are visualised more clearly (Yamamoto et al., 2008). The dangers of radiation exposure are increased risk of developing cancer, skin injuries and cateracts (Einstein et al., 2007). It is therefore important that the benefits of conducting the procedure greatly outweigh the risk of radiation exposure. CT calcium scanning provides a low radiation dose at around 1mSv (Hunold et al., 2003). Cardiac CT calcium scanning does not require administration of a contrast agent, unlike in coronary CTA and DSA that use iodine based contrast agents. The risks associated with contrast agent include nephrotoxicity and risks of hives, allergic reactions and anaphylaxis (Maddox, 2002). The amount of contrast agent used is partly dependent on the length of the procedure and how clearly the arteries can be visualised. For this reason, both cardiac CTA and DSA use less contrast agent that conventional coronary angiography (Brant-Zawadzki, et al., 1983). CT calcium scanning of the coronary arteries is therefore recommended in those with less likelihood of coronary artery disease (NICE, 2010). Both coronary CTA and DSA require interpretation by trained physicians, and the importance of training and achieving intra-rater reliability should not be underestimated (Pugliese et al., 2009). Conclusion Overall, both coronary CT and DSA have been demonstrated as effective procedures for the imaging of the coronary arteries in CAD (Achenbach & Raggi, 2010; Miller et al., 2008; Moilloi et al., 1996; Goldberg et al., 1986). Whilst cardiac CT scanning does provide a wider range of clinical applications, allowing assessment of perfusion as well as cardiac structure and function (Achenbach & Raggi, 2010), coronary DSA has many applications that allow assessment of coronary blood flow (Molloi et al., 1996; Katritsis et al, 1988; Booth, Nissen & DeMaria, 1985; Guthaner, Wexler & Bradley, 1985; Myerowitz, Swanson, & Turnipseed, 198). Both cardiac DSA and CTA procedures have their advantages. As non-invasive procedures, these techniques pose less risk to patients, and enable the possibility of outpatient investigation, to be used to rule out diagnoses and to avoid inappropriate invasive coronary angiogram (Gorenori et al., 2012). Additionally, intravenous access is preferential to arterial cannulation for the contrast infusion, removing the risks associated with bleeding or intra-arterial injury. Cardiac DSA exposes the patient to a lower dose of radiation that coronary CTA (Hausleiter et al., 2009; Yamamoto et al., 2008; Einstein et al., 2007), which is beneficial at reducing the risk of genetic mutations and cancer. Cardiac CTA and DSA also have their common disadvantages. The use of contrast agent may present side effects for the patient including kidney damage and risk of allergic reactions and anaphylaxis (Maddox, 2002). For this reason, calcium CT scanning can be useful in patients that are not at high likelihood of coronary artery disease (NICE, 2010b). Additionally, both cardiac DSA and CTA are subject to motion artefacts from respiration and heart beats, which can cause difficulties with interpretation (Achenbach & Raggi, 2010; Yamamoto et al., 2009). In the case of cardiac CTA, this excludes a subset of patients that are unable to follow commands and those who have high heart rates. Overall, cardiac CTA and cardiac DSA are effective, non-invasive imaging techniques for assessment of coronary artery disease. Whilst they are not the gold standards in cardiac monitoring, they can provide important diagnostic information without exposing patients to the risks of invasive angiography. Due to this, their use should be weighted against clinical need, the risks of the procedures, and the suitability of the patient. Interpretation of cardiac CTA and DSA imaging should be by trained individuals. 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The Haunted House

MiKayla Jones Mrs. Ceballos PAP English 1 – 8 October 30, 2012 The Haunted House This was going to be my best Halloween ever. As I sat in class waiting anxiously for the bell to ring, I began wondering how much fun this is going to be. When Kaitlyn and I arrived at my house we sat around chatting waiting for it to get dark, before we started to trick or treat. As we were putting on our costumes, Kaitlyn had a difficult time putting her alien costume from outer space on because the directions were illegible.After I was put on my zombie cheerleader costume I noticed it looked a little sully. I didn’t mine because it was Halloween and things are sometimes not very comely. As we heard out the front door my mom jeered loudly and said, â€Å"be careful and stay in the neighborhood and don’t make any erratic turns†. I knew we had made a wrong turn when we went trick or treating at this old, run down dissolute house. When we knocked on the door it automatically op ened, a heavy wind came out and caused the pumpkins to sing and locked us in.All of a sudden I slipped on some fudder and something being to tantalizing me, I screamed and held on to Kaitlyn’s hand unflinching, I tried with all my might to fortify myself against the two headed monster, I screeched as loud as a mongoose. The more we fought the more the monsters proliferated. Some were mediocre, the monsters tried to tell us to subjugate but we kept on screaming and fighting until we freed ourselves for a moment.As we tried to expulsion from the back door a three legged lucretia ghost told us how to get out safely, we thanked the three legged ghost by giving him all of our trick or treat candy to compensate him for being so nice and helping us to escape. I feint that he was as friendly as Casper. Finally, we made it back to my house, I gave a short terse wave to Kailtlyn and she adjourns to her house. This would be one Halloween that I will never forget.

Corporate finance Essay

There are three main reasons companies purchase investments in debt or stock securities. The first reason is if corporations have extra cash that they don’t need for immediate purchase of operating assets. The second reason is; Companies purchase investments to generate earnings from investment income. The third reason companies purchase investments is for strategic reasons. A company can exercise some influence over a customer by owning a significant, but not controlling, interest in that company. Or, a company may purchase a non controlling interest in another company in a related industry in which it wishes to establish a presence. (Weygandt, Kimmel, & Kieso, 2010). Sometimes corporations will have excess cash for investment reasomns. It may invest in things, incase in the future the economy falls then it has money to fall back on when money is gone, or low. 3. Low-risk, high-liquidity, short-term securities such as government-issued securities are best when investing for short periods of time. 4. Debt securities, from banks and other financial institutions and stock securities from mutual funds and pension funds generate earnings when investing. 5. 6. Stocks of companies in a related industry or in an unrelated industry that the company wishes to enter Q: E12-2 Foren Corporation had the following transactions pertaining to debt investments. Jan. 1 Purchased 50 8%, $1,000 Choate Co. bonds for $50,000 cash plus brokerage fees of $900. Interest is payable semiannually on July 1 and January 1. July 1 Received semiannual interest on Choate Co. bonds. July 1 Sold 30 Choate Co. bonds for $34,000 less $500 brokerage fees. Instructions (a) Journalize the transactions. (b) Prepare the adjusting entry for the accrual of interest at December 31. A. Jan. 1 Debt investments $50,900 Cash $50,900 July 1 Cash $2000 Interest rev.$2000 July 1 Cash $33,500 Debt Investment $33,540 Gain on sale $2,960 Dec. 31 Interest receivable $2000 Interest revenue $2000 References Weygandt, J. J., Kimmel, P. D., & Kieso, D. E. (2010). Financial accounting (7th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.

The Political Objectives of International Trade Research Paper - 1

The Political Objectives of International Trade - Research Paper Example Pushing aside the philosophical exception to buying regionally, it is very difficult to decipher what products are manufactured partially, mostly, or entirely from any one specific region. In most cases, raw materials are gathered here, assembled there, and shipped via a third entity to an entirely new location for packaging. The item is sold and the funds deposited in a completely different location which invests the money in an endless array of regions providing myriad avenues of revenue for untold amounts of regions. Buy from, for example, A bumper sticker that suggests â€Å"Be American. Buy American.†, might be manufactured in the USA with imported glue from Chile, ink from Jamaica, and paper from China. If, after the purchase, one is dissatisfied with the product, a toll-free Hotline for consumers is routed to India, Russia, or Hong Kong. The difficulty of deciding what has been completely and entirely manufactured, represented, transported, and supported is like finding a needle in a haystack. After reading the Chapter, my viewpoint hasn’t changed much from price and quality. I found the polling interesting â€Å"2/3 supported trade restrictions† (pg. 135). ... g paid to US and European farmers allowing them to sell crops on the world market at reduced prices driving down prices of commodities in developing nations (pg. 142). The impression I have is US farmers are paid to ‘not grow’ crops for availability on the world market since the number of crops produced if all US farmers did grow crops, would dramatically overwhelm the markets and drive developing nations out of business for good. The most effective use of government subsidies is not from the US, but from China who pays subsidies for their companies on imported oil driving the price of gasoline to record numbers. The problem, it appears, is dissecting information from neutral informants. The book includes a secondary â€Å"Supporting† position about a ‘Conservative’ misstep; â€Å"George W. Bush†. Each side seems to have an agenda and wishes to persuade, albeit subtlety, towards their particular point of view. All three sides-Left, Right, Centr al-seem to persuade instead of informing. It is difficult to see the unvarnished truth about International Trade from any writer. Each writer seems to have a polar objective. The political objectives of International Trade are the reason Trade is mired in the grey area for understanding. Political considerations outweigh most logical directives towards â€Å"common sense† free trade and/or their restrictions. The book even muddies the Trade waters even further by proclaiming â€Å"List† an economic icon with regard to Trade. The list is referenced as suggesting a Country that cannot produce ‘X’ amount for export should get out of the business of that particular export ‘X’. At the same time, the book vilifies Europe and the USA-as examples-of dominating and controlling the market with respect to crops and commodities.