Case Study - Rumpole Ltd Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Case Study - Rumpole Ltd - Essay Example The positive NPV indicates that the company will generate sufficient cash inflows, which will cover the initial investment and generate profits for the company. The payback period is also estimated at 2 23/69 years. The project has a positive NPV and the payback period appears to be reasonable (Kinney & Raiborn, 2008). On the basis of the project evaluation with positive NPV and reasonable payback period, it could be recommended to the company that it should go with the project. Since, the company is currently considering only one project therefore, it will be appropriate for the company to go ahead with the project. Otherwise, the company should consider other projects, which have higher positive NPV and short payback period (Maher et al., 2012). The financing required for the project requires assessment of different types of funding sources available to the company. Since, Rumpole Ltd. is a private company, therefore it will not be possible for the company to acquire its funding from issuance of share capital or debt instrument in the secondary market. The company has two options from which it could raise capital for the net project. These include raising funds from internal equity and / or external debt financing. Internal equity comprises of retained earnings of the company. These earnings are accumulated over the year and disclosed on the face of the company’s balance sheet. These earnings are available to the company for investing into the company’s existing operations or investing in the new project, which the company is considering at the moment (Brigham, 2013). Managing retained earnings require time. In short run, the company will have to manage its working capital. Active recoveries will work a lot. Aging of the receivables should be monitored actively. Buffer levels of inventory should be lowered so that lesser amount is bound in stock. On the other hand, the company can also raise from external sources. The company can

Rights of Women and Children Essay Example for Free

Rights of Women and Children Essay Around the world, women and children aren’t able to have the same basic rights as men. Unfortunately, the problem of inequality is broader. Inequality is often extreme against women and is part of their daily lives. Inequality is often justified by men as part of their culture or religion. Women and children face brutal situations each day. Harsh acts like child labor, slavery, forced marriage, and prostitution are suffered by millions. Child labor is full-time employment of children who are under the minimum legal age. Throughout the world, an estimated number of 218 million children were working in 2006. Children are bought and sold, forced into prostitution or work without getting paid any money. Besides these acts, children aren’t able to receive a good education. Women are also bought and sold as slaves, for labor and for sex trade. Not only are women banned from attending school, but women are denied the right to vote. Unfortunately, in some countries, women can be beaten or abused by their husbands legally. As Shirn Ebadi, a human activist said, â€Å"Not only is a woman a citizen, but she is also a mother who nurtures future generations. In my opinion, the conditions toward women around the world are prejudicial, but in certain places, they are worse than others. Success for women is when prejudice is removed everywhere in the world. † The problem of unequal rights of women and children needs more global attention because women and children are suffering. The golden rule in the bible teaches us that it is important to treat everyone the way you would want to be treated. Being bought and sold, forced into prostitution, working without getting paid any money, banned from attending school, being Dunham 2 enied the right to vote, or even getting beaten or abused by your spouse is not the way anyone would want to be treated. Women and children rights should be equal to the rights of men. Some stakeholders are Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and PeaceJam. These stakeholders are all working to stop unequal rights of women and children. They work to protect the human rights of people around the world. This problem is unresolved because some families make their children work because they need the money. As child laborers get older and become adults, they are usually working for a job that doesn’t pay very much money. As a result, their children will also be made to work to supply more money for their family. This shows that poverty and child labor is passed down from generation to generation. Developing countries are countries that are still developing and aren’t fully developed yet. Developing countries are very poor compared to first world nations and developed countries. The distribution and conditions of child labor vary from region to region. World Bank household or living standard surveys show that children, in some countries, help their families get more money. In Ghana, children supply one-third of household earnings for their family. Children supply one-fourth of the earnings for their families in Pakistan. In these families, children are always working and are not attending school. Some families are very dependent on their children to get money. Women in developing countries are lagging far behind men. Enrolment rates for education are only a third of those in Sub-Saha ­ran Africa. In other developing countries, women have fewer job opportunities. The employment rates of women are an average of only fifty Dunham 3 percent those of men. In South Asia it is twenty-nine percent and in Arab States it is only sixteen percent. Women also tend to work much longer hours than men. Developed countries are countries that are fully developed. Developed countries are also affected by the problem of unequal rights. But these acts occur less than they do in developing countries. For example, child labor, prostitution, and other horrible acts occur in developed countries too. They might not be as horrible as they are in less developed countries because fully developed countries have better securities to stop the acts. But in most countries the economy is bad and it is getting harder to earn money or even have a job. This leads to families feeling like they have no other choice but to become a prostitute, or make their child work. The United Nations is working to stop the problem of unequal rights on women and children. UN-WOMEN (United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women) works to support gender equality across a lot of issues related to human rights and human development. UNICEF (United Nations  International Childrens Emergency Fund) works to help build a world where the rights of every child are realized. Both organizations travel the world helping women and children. UNICEF helps by feeding children, giving children vaccinations, giving them an education, protect children from violence and other helpful acts. UN Women works with the government and non-governmental partners to help them get new policies, laws, services and resources to move towards equality. Bosnia is a developing country which means it is not fully developed yet. In 2007, The United Nation’s Development Program reported that twenty percent of the population lives below the poverty line which is one dollar and twenty five cents in U. S. dollars per one day of Dunham 4 work. Thirty percent of the population lives just above it. This shows that Bosnia is a very poor country. Bosnia became a country with a lot of horrific violence. In particular, rape and sexual violence of Bosnian women during the course of the war has continued to occur today. This also means child labor, prostitution, forced marriage, and slavery still occur today. One developing country is Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia is one of two countries in the world where women cannot vote in any elections. All females must have a male guardian, typically a father or husband. Women of all ages are forbidden from traveling, studying, or working without permission from their male guardians. Also in Saudi Arabia, Only 85% of children attend school. Unfortunately, child abuse is fairly common in Saudi Arabia. About 70 cases are reported annually and many are ignored. One developed country is Germany. In Germany, one in every six children lives in poverty. 50,000 victims of violence and 20,000 sexual abuses are recorded in Germany. Most of the time, these abuses are carried out by their parents. UNICEF believes 2 children die every week as a result of violence. The United Nations has done a lot to improve the inequality of women and children in the world. One suggestion that I think would improve women and children’s rights in Bosnia is to make the penalty of prostitution, child labor, slavery, forced marriage, and more acts more severe. This would work because people would stop knowing the consequences are higher.

Childs Safety versus Benefits of Risky Play

Childs Safety versus Benefits of Risky Play There is an ongoing debate whether to prioritise the safety of children or the benefits of risky play in early years setting. More particularly, the contention is on the issue of making certain children are safe against allowing them to play in emotionally and physically motivating and challenging contexts. The emphasis is currently on the right of children to participate in risky play. Thus far, there are no investigations classifying risky play. This study will attempt to accomplish this. In the present study, risky play is defined as stimulating or thrilling varieties of play that involve a possibility of physical harm. Children usually want to and participate in risky or challenging varieties of play although, and to a certain extent, it involves the risk of getting injured or hurt. Because of the safety concerns of the Western culture, the issue of risky play in early years and the degree such play should be monitored and regulated are crucial and continuous debates (Greenfield 2003). These debates on play safety have generated safety proceedings and legislation from concerned child care workers and parents. This has invoked further disputes on the balance between the benefits of risky play for child development on one hand, and safety proceedings and litigations on the other hand (New, Mardell Robinson 2005). Normally, play occurs under the supervision of adults, hence controlling what children are permitted to do and where they are permitted to go (Gill 2007). For this reason, adults are influencing the safety of children when playing, and, simultaneously, they embody the greatest limitation on the childs capability of experiencing challenges and risks that are eventually favourable for development (Gill 2007). A persistent argument in the literature is the children gain developmentally from taking risk, and that too much protection from risk can hamper development. Historical and Current Context of the Debate In a continuously evolving world, environmental and social aspects have significantly affected childrens opportunities for emotionally and physically challenging play. Where previously youngsters may have played in the street, playing ball games, riding bicycles or playing other outdoor activities, increased road hazards has made the streets and play opportunities restricted to children as the risk or perils are extremely high. Children nowadays are confined to their houses or designated areas for relatively secured places to play. Still even these are transforming (Ball 2002). With increasing populations, the enlarged need for housing in several areas, specifically urban areas, is weakening the play spaces of children. High-density housing is increasingly becoming widespread and housing units are becoming smaller (Rivkin 1995). Coupled with diminished opportunities for parents to allocate time for the supervision and participation in their childrens play due to expanded work obligat ions, this condition has led to greatly decreased opportunities for childrens participation in risky play (Rivkin 1995). In addition to this, diminished risky play experiences have been ascribed to the fears of parents for the safety of their children. A UK survey discovered that, although 91 percent of the grown-ups asked understood the benefit of risky play, 60 percent said they were worried about their childrens safety when playing in unsafe places (Valentine McKendrick 1997). Consequently, parents place higher constraints on their childrens independent plays. Their worries have aided the development of overprotective or domineering parenting, by which the world is viewed as a naturally unsafe place from which children have to be protected (New et al. 2005). This concern for safety is present on several levels, involving concerns linked to safety stemming from stranger danger (p. 49) and increased street hazards, as well as those linked to harm inflicted by the use of play equipment, such as skateboards, roller blades, etc., and playground. In contrast, Ball (2002) emphasises that, because the advantages of risky play are not simply determined using recognised western scientific processes, they have a tendency not to be properly regarded in discussions about risk and play. He argues: If the purpose of an activity is not directly considered, then a balance between risk and benefit cannot be struck and one is in danger of considering only one side of the equation (p. 51). It is claimed risk taking can have favourable effects in terms of childrens emotional, social and developmental needs, as well as their general well-being (Ball 2002). Advocates of risky play tend to argue that removing risks deny children the opportunity to evaluate them competently, and hence they are unprepared to cope with any circumstances they may experience in later life (Childrens Play Council 2004). It is argued that, by giving chances to children to deal with their own risks in a regulated environment, they will become skilled at important life capabilities required for adulthood, and acquire the experience required to confront the changeable nature of the world (Childrens Play Council 2004). Gill (2007) claims that depriving children this opportunity may generate a society of risk-disinclined population, or citizens incapable of dealing with daily situations, or in children easily locating more hazardous areas to perform their risk-taking behaviour; risk-taking is regarded to have additional advantages, which contribute to the cultivation of favourable personality attributes, such as creativity (Ball 2002). Through exposure to cautiously supervised risks children become skilled at sound judgment in evaluating risks themselves, thus developing self-esteem, resilience, and confidence, attributes that are crucial for their later independence (Ball 2002). Moreover, a developing culture of litigation has led to the elimination of playground paraphernalia from numerous public places and a growing anxiety amongst educators and child care workers that they will be held responsible for any harm sustained by a child while in their supervision (Childrens Play Council 2004). Moreover, children who adopt and use more minor techniques to play may be open to the more threatening possibilities of chronic illness linked to diminished levels of activity. Experimental data with children in preschools (Smith Hagan 1980) and early school years (Pellegrini Davis 1993) shows that participants who have been denied of physical play for a given period of time will, when provided with the opportunity, participate in physical activities that are much more challenging and persistent. This effect of deprivation was discovered to be more intense for boys than for girls and indicates that risk reduction techniques that limit physical activities are prone to have a direct effect on the plays quality (Mitchell et al. 2006). Hence, the benefit of risk-taking in facilitating childrens development and learning in the context of risky play will be explored in the present study. Current Debate Providing opportunities of risk-taking for children in physical play does not imply that safety is taken for granted. Instead it implies that parents and educators have to be highly aware of the dangers and carry out all the essential steps to make sure that the environment is safe, and to have sufficient number of staffs to supervise risky play (Mitchell et al. 2006). Even within the field of playground safety and harm prevention there is recognition of the benefit of risk-taking during play. As argued by Mitchell and colleagues (2006), children should have opportunities to explore and experiment in an environment that provides a degree of managed risk (p. 122), because eventually, regardless how secure the play environment is, it will fall short in meeting its goal if it is not thrilling and appealing for children. Inopportunely, the concept risk-taking is generally understood with negative implications, with danger and risk usually viewed as synonymous (New et al. 2005). However, Greenfield (2003) thinks a differentiation should be made between these two concepts; risk links to the childs doubt about being capable of attaining the desired result, involving a decision whether to take risk or not, whilst danger is something the child does not perceive. Grown-ups can mostly perceive the dangers and try to get rid of them. The way is in that case certain for children to confront the challenge and take the risk should they decide to do so (Greenfield 2003). This also requires giving sufficient assistance and supervision and being conscious of those features of the childs activities that may contribute to severe injury, particularly as an outcome of improper use of playground tools (Ball 2002). The concept of finding the symmetry is integral if children are to have the chance to encounter some risk in their lives. This symmetry can be realised when adults respond perceptively to individual behaviour patterns (Gill 2007); to recognise and develop childrens capability of evaluating and managing risk, as well as their need for stimulation and challenge in their play. Conclusions Risk is a crucial deliberation within the play field, but it remains a comparatively under-studied field. The studies that have been conducted appears to assume that play is both pleasurable and favourable to children, and there is a number of substantiation that children have a higher understanding of and capability of handling risk than they are credited for. It also proposes that chances for children to evaluate and encounter risk in play are constrained because of several attitudes and structural limitations. Several authors call this a risk-averse society due to the carefulness of risk evaluation in childrens play opportunity, and the prevailing judgment adults adopt towards risky play. There is substantiation to indicate that several of the measures that have been adopted to build safer play for children are not needed or efficient. Scholars appeal for acknowledgement of the potential impacts that thorough safety norms have for children, and propose using a new strategy of risk evaluation.

Mikes Fish Market :: essays research papers

Case Study Philips NV 1. Describe changes in Philips environment occurring during the 1960’s and 1970’s (a)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Philips operates in a very competitive market domestic and internationally. There have been various changes over the last decade, with the emergence of the company from a position near economic failure to a well-known brand that is still lacking in performance. From the 1960’s onward, a number of significant changes took place. Due to the efforts of the GATT General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade barriers fell worldwide. There have been many attempts at designing models which describe the competitive environment and the determinants of profitability from Western competitors. The first element is that of the existing competition. Philips market for their products are elevating domestically and emerging internationally, however the environment in which it operated in for both of these markets is highly competitive. The way in which the products are perceived had changed over the last decade may have been seen as a luxury by the domestic markets are now seen as becoming more and more a necessity as technology moves into the home internationally. According to Cahners, the name Philips s is well known, indeed it is ranked as the global brand leader in electronics Cahners Research and in terms of Inter-brand's World's Most Valuable Brands 2000. However, there are also some problems with this and the way that it has been competing and brand awareness alone does not create sales, socially in a market where there is firm competition. 2. Describe why Philips had low profits durng the 1970’s and 80’s (a)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The problem faced by the company may be seen as a result of the lack of change and the inability to identify the way the market was moving. In the 1970‘s and the 1980’s there were different market drivers and challenges. Philips has many different products, and with such a diversified portfolio there has been a spread of risk, but this has also lead to a lack of specialization. This is partly being corrected with a concentration on video cassette recorders. However, unlike many other companies in the market, there is not a single association with the brand.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Other companies have had a higher level of differentiation due to the way in which they have been able to identify with a single product, and this has enhanced their reputation, such as Sony and Matsushita initiating VHS. This is an industry where reverse engineering is extensive and many competitors will be working on similar technologies.

Review & Critical Thinking: Music of the World Essay

1. What are the Hurrian songs? Why are they important? The Hurrian songs are a set of fragmentary relics as well as a nearly complete example of notated music from around 1400 BCE. They are important because it was the first piece of evidence that there was written musical pieces and these songs were played during important life events such that as marriages and royal family births. 2. What is the Natya Shastra? Why is it important? The Natya Shastra is a written discourse on the performing arts, including music, dance, stage performances, and that alike. The importance of music to ancient India is best seen through Natya Shastra. It was also important because it gave quite detailed information on the types of instruments that were used at the time and forms of music that was popular. 3. Who were troubadours? What was their music like? Troubadours were traveling poet-musicians who traveled from place to place, singing and performing for the upper class. Their music was generally monophonic and accompanied themselves with an instrument like the lyre or drums. 4. What are the modes in Western music? Describe at least one mode in Western music. There are seven different modes: Dorian, Ionian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, Aeolian, and Locrian. Dorian mode in C begins and ends on D. 5. What is polyphonic music? How does it differ from monophonic music? Polyphonic music uses two or more independent melodies; whereas monophonic music has only one independent melody. Critical Thinking Questions 1. Why did early humans develop music? What are some of the ways that they were thought to create music? Some scholars believe that music developed from natural sounds and rhythms and humans mimicked these sounds, as they are known to mimic the noises they hear. Therefore early music was likely simple sounds repeated for enjoyment and to create reactions from animals during hunting. Some of the ways they were thought to create music was through their own voices and created instruments. 2. Why is the study of  prehistoric and ancient music important? What can we learn from it? The study of prehistoric and ancient music is important because it gives us insight and understanding of where we evolved from and how we advanced in music up until this very day, and we wouldn’t know just how well we advanced if we did not study prehistoric and ancient music. From this we can learn how the musical instruments in both time periods were used and what use they may have had. 3. What roles did music play in the life of prehistoric and ancient people? Are the roles similar to or different from the roles that it plays today? In the past music was not as big of a deal as it is today. Some individuals may have used music for entertainment but the main use of music in prehistoric and ancient times was for religious reasons such that of ceremonies. The roles are different in that we use music for a multitude of reasons, whether it be to wake us up for school or aid us in sleeping; or even when we need something to cheer us up after a long and hard day or maybe something to calm us down after a heated argument. We use music today for our enjoyment as well as for our emotions. 4. What were the effects of musical notation on music, society, and composers? Music notation allows for multiple people to be able to learn to play an instrument without hearing it as well as having written documents of composers long after they have passed. It also allows a composer to create music without always having to remember it at the top of their head. 5. Describe medieval music’s relationship with the Catholic Church. How was the music influenced by the Church? The Catholic Church influenced medieval music during the Middle Ages through chanting and performances by monks but soon developed melodic sounds which were harmonized together. The Catholic Church did not use musical instruments and those who attended their performances liked the noise that was being produced by the church.

Expanding Circle - Definition and Examples

Expanding Circle s The expanding circle is made up of countries in which English has no special administrative status but is recognized as a lingua franca and is widely studied as a foreign language. Countries in the expanding circle include China, Denmark, Indonesia, Iran, Japan, Korea, and Sweden, among many others. According to linguist Diane Davies, recent research suggests that some countries in the Expanding Circle have . . . begun to develop distinctive ways of using English, with the result that the language has an increasingly important functional range in these countries and is also a marker of identity in some contexts (Varieties of Modern English: An Introduction, Routledge, 2013). The expanding circle is one of the three concentric circles of World English described by linguist Braj Kachru in Standards, Codification and Sociolinguistic Realism: The English Language in the Outer Circle (1985). The labels inner, outer, and expanding circles represent the type of spread, the patterns of acquisition, and the functional allocation of the English language in diverse cultural contexts. Although these labels are imprecise and in some ways misleading, many scholars would agree with Paul Bruthiaux that they offer a useful  shorthand  for classifying contexts of English world-wide   (Squaring the Circles in the International Journal of Applied Linguistics,  2003). Examples and Observations The spread of English in the Expanding Circle is largely a result of foreign language learning within the country. As in the Outer Circle, the range of proficiency in the language among the population is broad, with some having native-like fluency and others having only minimal familiarity with English. However, in the Expanding Circle, unlike the Outer Circle, there is no local model of English since the language does not have official status and, in Kachrus (1992) terms, has not become institutionalized with locally developed standards of use.(Sandra Lee McKay, Teaching English as an International Language: Rethinking Goals and Approaches. Oxford University Press, 2002)Expanding Circle English and Lingua Franca English- Despite the all-pervasive use of English throughout what many like to term the international community and despite countless anecdotes about emerging varieties such as Euro-English, professional linguists have so far shown only limited interest in describing lingua franca English as a legitimate language variety. The received wisdom seems to be that only when English is a majority first language or an official additional language does it warrant description. . . . Expanding Circle English is not deemed worthy of such attention: users of English who have learned the language as a foreign language are expected to conform to Inner Circle norms, even if using English constitutes an important part of their lived experience and personal identity. No right to rotten English for them, then. Quite the contrary: for Expanding Circle consumption, the main effort remains, as it has always been, to describe English as it is used among the British and American native speakers and then to distribute (Widdowson 1997: 139) the resulting descriptions to those who speak English in nonnative contexts around the world.(Barbara Seidlhofer and Jennifer Jenkins, English as a Lingua Franca and the Politics of Property. The Politics of English as a World Language, ed. by Christian Mair. Rodopi, 2003)- I argue . . . that a lingua franca model is the most sensible model in those common and varied contexts where the learners major reason for [studying] English is to communicate with other non-native speakers. . . . [U]ntil we are able to provide teachers and learners with adequate descriptions of lingua franca models, teachers and learners will have to continue to rely on either native-speaker or nativized models. We have seen how a native-speaker model, while appropriate for a minority of teachers and learners, is inappropriate for the majority for a range of linguistic, cultural and political reasons. A nativized model may be appropriate in Outer and in certain Expanding Circle countries, but this model also carries the disadvantage of cultural inappropriacy when learners require English as a lingua franca to communicate with other non-native speakers.(Andy Kirkpatrick, Which Model of English: Native-Speaker, Nativized, or Lingua Franca? English i n the World: Global Rules, Global Roles, ed. by Rani Rubdy and Mario Saraceni. Continuum, 2006) Also Known As: extending circle