The Raising of Lazarus free essay sample

The Gospel according to John is quite different from the synoptic gospels. It is unique as it does not follow the same order or the same stories as the synoptic gospels shows. It is highly literary and symbolic. (The New American Bible, 2004). This gospel narrative of John contains a series of â€Å"signs†, in which, it signifies the gospel’s word for the wondrous deeds of Jesus. Among the signs is the raising of Lazarus in Chapter 11. This account includes the narrative of the sickness, death, and the resurrection of Lazarus.It is also the climax of all the signs as Lazarus is presented as a token of the real life of Jesus. Because of the gift of life to Lazarus, Jesus is ironically put to death. Thus, it makes the people believe in Him once He has been raised from the dead. Moreover, Jesus proved in this account that He is the resurrection and the life of men for he overcomes death. We will write a custom essay sample on The Raising of Lazarus or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Comparative Critique Perkins (1990) as cited in the Jerome Biblical Commentary says that â€Å"†¦the Lazarus’ miracle is a sign that Jesus really is the power of life evident in resurrection. He calls to life a buried person in the tomb.This section creates the necessary time between the death of Lazarus and Jesus’ arrival so that there can be no mistake. Lazarus was not in a coma. He had been dead for a long enough time that rabbinic authorities would have said that the soul had left the vicinity of the body and the decay would have definitely set in† (p. 969). In fact, it was two days that Jesus has waited before He goes to the family at Bethany. Jesus waited before raising Lazarus as to make His own death certain. Beforehand, Jesus said that the sickness of Lazarus was not unto death.However, even He spoke of it, Lazarus was perhaps already dead. The words have deeper meaning, related with the glory of God, which is also that of Jesus. And Jesus was confident that Lazarus will be resurrected. (Harrison, 1962). Similarly, Leonard (1953) says that â€Å"†¦in the ordinances of God’s providence the sickness was not unto death but, through the raising of Lazarus, for the glory of God, who thereby glorifies His Son, the worker of the miracle† (p. 1001). This implies that the illness has a special purpose: it is to make the glory of God manifest so that the Son will be glorified.From that, it is very clear that the giving of life to Lazarus comprises His own death and the oblation of His own life. Hence, Jesus must be willing to sacrifice His life in giving Lazarus’ life. (Flanagan, 1994). Accordingly, Clarke (1998) says that â€Å"†¦ the miracle sign has evidenced God’s glory, his presence, and in the person of the Son of God† (p. 601). Therefore, the miracle is an epiphany. God’s love was revealed through the work of His Son, Jesus Christ. Synthesis The resurrection of Lazarus is the revelation of God’s healing love. Through His Son, Jesus Christ, the worker of the miracle, He raised Lazarus.The restoration of Lazarus is the sign that Jesus is really the resurrection and the life. Thus, Lazarus’ miracle parallels to Jesus’ resurrection. The sickness of Lazarus was not unto death. This shows that Jesus is confident that Lazarus will be restored by the Power of God, even the ill was a fatal one. Besides, Jesus loved the family, yet He waited for two days but this is to make His death certain, for Lazarus’ miracle involves His own death. In other words, there is a deeper meaning in Jesus words: his sickness was not unto death, but to the glory of God. Through his illness, the glory of God will be revealed, as well as of the Son.

Giordano assessing ways to expand a retail business Essay Example

Giordano assessing ways to expand a retail business Paper Successful global players have to create a virtuous cycle of self-reinforcing benefits that will give them the ability to redefine the economics of the retailing industry and, ultimately, to establish strategic control around the world. Many specialty retailers have established solid cross-border positions by building and transferring global brands. Clothing chains like Gap and Zara are following in the footsteps of veteran cross-border operators like IKEA, Hennes Mauritz, and CA. Retailers have attempted to expand across borders in the traditional way replicating domestic business systems and retaining full ownership, an approach that tends to be costly and slow to yield value, will be fail because they have not invested sufficiently in intangibles. Ways to expand across borders for Giordano Choosing sliver Giordano can leave manufacturing to other companies; a few outsource logistics; and some franchise store operations. As the advancement of technologies has proved, a globalizing economy drives more and more companies to specialize in ever smaller business slivers. In globalizing environment, Giordano will have to make more careful choices about slivers to own, which to control without owning, and which to off-load entirely. The choice depends on cash flow and capital requirements, risk, competitive advantage, and the importance of a sliver to a companys retail proposition. Gap, for instance, owns most of its slivers including product development, assortment planning, and branding which create enormous value for the company and probably couldnt be executed more satisfactorily by any partner today. Another example, Carrefour owns its assortment-planning sliver, but it relies on its vendors to develop and brand most of the products it sells. Both Gap and Carrefour tend to own the stor e operations sliver. On the other hand, McDonald sells it to franchisees because the company can do so without relinquishing control. We will write a custom essay sample on Giordano assessing ways to expand a retail business specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Giordano assessing ways to expand a retail business specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Giordano assessing ways to expand a retail business specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer Giordano might able to make different choices in different market environments. For example, the company can have multiple ownership and operating structures such as franchises, joint ventures, and wholly and partly owned subsidiaries to reducing risk, in emerging one. Giordano will have to decide whether owning or off-loading their sliver is more likely to enhance their access, scale, and expertise and hence to raise returns for expand geographically. Get comfortable partnering Leading globalizers in industries have shown how to enter partnerships without losing control of the business. The concept of forming joint ventures or other kinds of partnerships have established. For example, Amazon.com are exerting themselves to build alliances with companies like LiveBid, Drugstore.com, and HomeGrocer.com to get leads, enhance their distribution systems, and build brand equity in new markets. But as the industry fragments into smaller slivers, these companies will have little choice but to entertain the idea if they want to endure and thrive. Giordano able to create a relationship with the global departmental stores like Sieyu, Isetan, and others for selling its products. As retailers get better at managing relationships and as stronger local partners emerge, the trend to form cross-boarder partnerships will accelerate. Such partnerships will become ticket to the global game. Invest in intangible assets Brands and reputation A global platform is built on powerful brands. Global brand need to create from a distinctive value proposition: benefits that appeal to consumers at a price they like. As the company move from a country to another, they must tailor their value propositions to address different consumer preferences, but without stretching their brands too far or destroying attractive profit formulas. Strong brands should have clear personalities that are relevant to consumers and reinforced at every possible point of contact with them. Strong brand requires presence; the brand must be made totally visible in the marketplace. Traditionally, retailers have used their store networks to do this, but the emergence of the Internet and global film, television, and magazine vehicle now makes it possible to do so more rapidly and efficiently. Proprietary technology, know how, and tools Retailers have to exploit know-how and technology for competitive advantage. Retailers invest only 1 to 3 percent of sales in IT and are therefore missing opportunities to improve customer access, to raise their service levels, and to develop critical global business efficiencies. For example, Carrefour now successfully exports tailored versions of its business model, including operations and accounting systems, across geographies. Giordano should make it possible for customers to try on clothing over the World Wide Web like Lands End. People, talent, and skills To support globalization efforts, Giordano will have to develop their skills: managing partnership, building global brands, renewing concepts, and managing people. Upon entering a market, the Giordano companies should have a team of local retail experts and corporate entrepreneurs. When the local operation has matured sufficiently, the company moves its entrepreneurial managers onward to newer markets, and the local team takes over the management of the store. Over time, such practices make people a true intangible asset and source of competitive advantage. Keep expenses and capital requirements low The physical complexity of retailing and local market conditions can drive up costs. Giordano have managed by their need for capital relatively low by franchising or renting rather than owing stores. They might able to consider creating turn key store operations that can be off-loaded to local partner, which would bear the capital costs of owning sites while reaping the benefits of world wide branding and economies of scale. But retailer capable of generating very high sales per square foot might find that it still makes sense for them to own stores, at least if they can sustain a lower capital-to-sales ratio. In the fashion industry, a high degree of complexity is a necessary cost of doing business. Indeed, manufacturing to a lot size of one is already a reality in fashion in a location. However, Giordano should keep complexity under control, allowing for it only when it makes a perceptible difference to the ultimate consumer and the consumer is willing to pay for it. The company s hould avoid changing the basic fabrics every season every new model, and limit the proliferation of variants to the product segments where the market is willing to pay for the extra choice. Rethink product development to cut time to market For fashion companies, getting this process under control has always been a must. Leading companies are rethinking their underlying product development technology to cut development time by up to 70 percent. At present, development can be a lengthy process in some of the short product life industries. In fashion, it ranges between 3 to 4 months. If your new fashion collection is not out in time for the trade shows, you go out of business.

Justifiable Vengeance Is La mere Savage act of burning four Prussian soldiers a first degree murder

Justifiable Vengeance Is La mere Savage act of burning four Prussian soldiers a first degree murder Justifiable Vengeance Justice is the problem which bothers people for many years. Does justice exist or people can punish those who deserve it, in their opinion? The problem is rather contestable and there is no specific opinion about it as in case of justice absence justifiable vengeance is a correct action which should be justified no matter which outcome of the revenge is. Using the example of Victoire Simon, La Savage and basing the discussion on Bentham’s aspects the problem of justifiable vengeance is going to be considered.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Justifiable Vengeance? Is La mere Savage act of burning four Prussian soldiers a first degree murder? specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More In â€Å"Mother Savage†, the author of the book Maupassant determines the plight of the woman Victoire Simon, La Savage. Her son who is 33 years old enlists in a war against the Prussians. Sometimes later, the Pr ussians arrive at Victoire’s country. The Prussian force which previously was at war with the French is integrated into the French society. The four Prussian soldiers though at war with the French, treat the old woman kindly and gently. They do all the house hold chores sparing the old woman the fatigue that is brought by house work. La Mere Savage only prepares their soup in most cases according to the eye witnesses. The old woman acknowledges none of these as she only thinks of her son who is at war. One morning, La mere savage receives news of her son’s death. This is the ultimate point in which she decides to vent her anger on the four Prussian soldiers. She tricks them into getting into a hay trap. She then sets the hay trap on fire when they are deeply asleep killing the four. Neither she neither regrets nor denies committing the murder. Kennedy, Dorothy and Sylvia in their critical analysis state that a woman seems to have derived a certain kind of satisfaction in avenging her son’s death (44). Bentham starts the discussion in his essay with the statement that pain and pleasure are two central issues for identifying whether the action is moral or not. Right actions should refer more to pleasure than to pain, and vice versa, the actions which are wrong tend to create more pain than pleasure. According to Bentham, four aspects of will (justice) exist, command, prohibition, non-command and non-prohibition. Bentham is sure that punishment is not a matter of intuition but rather a consequence of proven acts of wrong deeds (67). It is also imperative to consider the extent of the wrong deed and punish it accordingly without favoring the condition of an individual’s social status. Dwelling upon Bentham’s four aspects, Parekh in his work says that command and prohibition are rather understood issues, while non-command and non-prohibition may confuse (273). Explaining the non-prohibition aspect, the following should be sated. E verything what is not prohibited directly is permitted, thus one is allowed to act. The non-command Bentham’s aspect prohibits the action until it is not allowed.Advertising Looking for essay on literature languages? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Mary’s case according to the Prussians may be considered as an equivalent to first degree murder and may be not. The question in focus is whether La Mere Savage is guilty of first degree murder or not. Corbett answers the issue by considering the appeal to the logos in his research of Bentham’s principles (35). Using this Bentham’s aspect a woman can be justified as she acted in accordance with the war laws. However, on the other hand, soldiers treated a woman kindly and her action may be considered as betrayal and first degree murder. In conclusion, therefore, application of logic is a sure way of determining truth. It is also to a large exten t determined by the parties mandated to administer judgment. Bentham, Jeremy. Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation. New York: Prometheus Books, 1988. Print. Corbett, Edward P. J. Classical rhetoric for the modern student. New York: Oxford University Press, 1990. Print. Kennedy, Jim, Dorothy, Mickle, and A. Holladay Slyvia. The Bedford guide for college writers. New York: Bedford/St. Martins, 2001. Print. Maupassant, Guy de. Mother Savage. Literature: A Pocket Anthology. 4th ed. New York: Penguin, 2009. Print. Parekh, Bhikhu C. Jeremy Bentham: critical assessments. London: Routledge, 1993. Print.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Justifiable Vengeance? Is La mere Savage act of burning four Prussian soldiers a first degree murder? specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More

Transition Metals †Properties of the Element Group

Transition Metals - Properties of the Element Group The largest group of elements is the transition metals. Here is a look at the location of these elements and their shared properties. What Is a Transition Metal? Of all the groups of elements, the transition metals can be the most confusing to identify because there are different definitions of which elements should be included. According to the IUPAC, a transition metal is any element with a partially filled d electron sub-shell. This describes groups 3 through 12 on the periodic table, although the f-block elements (lanthanides and actinides, below the main body of the periodic table) are also transition metals. The d-block elements are called transition metals, while the lanthanides and actinides are called inner transition metals. The elements are called transition metals because the English chemistry Charles Bury used the term in 1921 to describe the transition series of elements, which referred to the transition from an inner electron layer with a stable group of 8 electrons to one with 18 electrons or the transition from 18 electrons to 32. Location of the Transition Metals  on the Periodic Table The transition elements are located in groups IB to VIIIB of the periodic table. In other words, the transition metals are elements: 21 (scandium) through 29 (copper)39 (yttrium) through 47 (silver)57 (lanthanum) through 79 (gold)89 (actinium) through 112 (copernicium) - which includes the lanthanides and actinides Another way to view it is that the transition metals include the d-block elements, plus many people consider the f-block elements to be a special subset of transition metals. While aluminum, gallium, indium, tin, thallium, lead, bismuth, nihonium, flerovium, moscovium, and livermorium are metals, these basic metals have less metallic character than other metals on the periodic table and tend not to be considered as transition metals. Overview of Transition Metal Properties Because they possess the properties of metals, the transition elements are also known as the transition metals. These elements are very hard, with high melting points and boiling points. Moving from left to right across the periodic table, the five d orbitals become more filled. The d electrons are loosely bound, which contributes to the high electrical conductivity and malleability of the transition elements. The transition elements have low ionization energies. They exhibit a wide range of oxidation states or positively charged forms. The positive oxidation states allow transition elements to form many different ionic and partially ionic compounds. The formation of complexes causes the d orbitals to split into two energy sublevels, which enables many of the complexes to absorb specific frequencies of light. Thus, the complexes form characteristic colored solutions and compounds. Complexation reactions sometimes enhance the relatively low solubility of some compounds. Quick Summary of the Transition Metal  Properties Low ionization energiesPositive oxidation statesMultiple oxidation states, since there is a low energy gap between themVery hardExhibit metallic lusterHigh melting pointsHigh boiling pointsHigh electrical conductivityHigh thermal conductivityMalleableForm colored compounds, due to d-d electronic transitionsFive d orbitals become more filled, from left to right on the periodic tableTypically form paramagnetic compounds because of the unpaired d electronsTypically exhibit high catalytic activity

Requirements to Be a Doctoral Candidate

Requirements to Be a Doctoral Candidate Informally known as All But Dissertation (or ABD), the doctoral candidate has completed all of the requirements for the doctoral degree with the exception of his or her  dissertation. A student usually advances to a doctoral candidate once he or she has completed all coursework required for the degree and has passed the doctoral comprehensive exam. As a doctoral candidate, the students final task is to complete the dissertation. The Long Road to Dissertation Although coursework may have come to an end once the students submit to be doctoral candidates, their journeys to full accreditation  as doctorates are far from over. Many doctoral candidates remain in the ABD status for several reasons including difficulty conducting research, time management and motivational deficits, interfering employment that distracts from research time, and ultimately a loss of interest in the subject matter.   Throughout their education, the advisor will conduct weekly to bi-weekly meetings with the student, guiding them along the path to a strong dissertation. The earlier you start working on yours during medical school, the better. Its best to keep in mind that the dissertation you develop must contain a specific hypothesis that can be tested and peer reviewed, supported or rejected by new data discovered by the student.   Ph.D. candidates  must work independently, which often leads to lengthy periods at the ABD status- especially if students made the common grad school mistake of not vetting their dissertation ideas through colleagues and faculty members while enrolled in the doctoral program. Time is a huge factor in the ability of a doctoral candidate to complete his or her dissertation, so waiting until the last minute to begin could result in these candidates remaining in limbo for many years before publishing their work. Defending the Dissertation Once a student does manage to complete his or her dissertation, the Ph.D. candidate then must defend their statement in front of a panel of faculty members. Fortunately, a dissertation advisor and committee are granted to students hoping to complete their doctorate. As a student, you should utilize these advisors to the fullest extent to ensure that your dissertation is ready for the public forum in which you must defend it.   Once the public defense of the candidates dissertation is completed to a satisfactory level, the committee overseeing the defense will submit a Defense Final Report form to the program and the student will submit the approved dissertation  electronically into the schools database, completing the final paperwork for their degree.   After the Dissertation From there provided that they pass the defense, the candidate will be awarded their full doctorate degree and will officially become an M.D. or Ph.D. and can begin shopping out their resume to potential employers and seek the recommendation letters of their advisors, faculty members, and friends in order to better their chances of gainful employment.

Marketing Research on McDonalds (Australia) Essay

Marketing Research on McDonalds (Australia) - Essay Example It can be said that the marketing efforts for any product or service should always be line with the SMART framework. The SMART framework which essentially focuses on the guidelines related to specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and timed parameters helps to develop a highly integrated marketing plan within a time bound frame (Stone, 2001, p.15). The SMART objectives when implemented in a marketing plan in a properly organized and phased out manner helps tremendously to the process of increasing the productivity of the marketing plan (Mullin, 2010, p. 34). However, the following processes can be followed for the purpose of implementation of SMART objectives within the marketing plan aimed to bring focus and generate consumer interest on the globally present McDonald’s brand in the Australian market. Specific: In order to increase the effectiveness of the marketing plans, McDonalds should focus towards a specific group of consumers or the relevant target audience. Identi fying the specific consumer needs with regards to demography and age group, will lead to the better conversion and increased sales for the products of McDonalds in the Australian region, while effectively trying to generate advantage from the need fulfillment perspective. Measurable: For the purpose of better targeting, demand estimation as well as measuring the effectiveness of the marketing plan, McDonalds should employ various strategies related to data analytics to increase the relevancy of the marketing exercise. Achievable: After the process of effective demand forecasting as well as the estimation of the target audience, effective setting of targets on a monthly basis has to be made for the forward growth of the business. Focus should be on the point of setting sustainable and achievable target growths for the process of generating motivation of the sales team. Realistic: Effective consumer data analysis has to be done for promoting setting of realistic goals while taking int o account the various parameters related to change factors. Timed: While designing the marketing exercise, McDonalds should focus on setting a time limit for each activity in the marketing plan. The process of setting a time limit should comprise of setting a time limit for the development and designing of a new product or service. The time limit should also be fixed on deciding the duration of employing the various mediums for the process of value communication of the product or service in the Australian market. Timing the marketing activities is essentially important as this helps in generating a measure of the level of effectiveness of the various departments of the organization as well as the relevancy and effectiveness of the various platforms of marketing. 2. Having a highly effective and attractive positioning statement in the forefront of the marketing campaigns is a highly vital factor as it can hold the key to the making or breaking point related to the success of the mark eting campaigns. The reason behind it is associated with the fact that the positioning statement helps in the process of identification of the brand by the target audience as well as the competitors at large, while increasingly creating favorable points of difference with rival brands (Capon & Hulbert, 2007, p. 253). It can be said that the target audience which essentially comprises of the consumers of the Australian market prefer to have a food packaging which clearly highlights the

Current issues in advertising (Marketing communications) Essay

Current issues in advertising (Marketing communications) - Essay Example arketing few of which include the statistical techniques that need to be properly fitted in to the equation, the usage of proper rules and methodologies for selecting the right target audiences, the manner in which they are segregated on the basis of their roles and positions in the society and not to forget the buying patterns of them as well, their decision making abilities in the market, the manner in which economical changes are shaping up the whole society and the drifts that are happening as a result, the changing consumer lifestyles with the advent of technological options and grouping all of these in a single database or a combination of databases which would make the work of the marketing communication practitioner easy. Rather the other way around has been seen, where the practitioner has been running from one end to another in the wake of devising the best possible database which will target the right people at the right time with the right offering. It is a difficult prop osition that has to be managed day in day out by the marketing communication practitioner but one that needs to be in place so as to enable growth on the part of the company and the link that is present between the business (company) and the customers that are being targeted upon by it. Database marketing is one of the most powerful tools that look at building a strong rapport between the company and its stakeholders, not only the customers but also the ones who have invested in its stocks, though in an indirect manner. The challenges thus faced account to problems ranging from handling all these records and files on not only a sequential basis but also that correlates with each other and thus comes up with results which precisely target the exact individuals (prospective or otherwise, customer) that have to be sent the newsletters, direct mail, brochures and so on and so forth. This also means that database marketing looks at revolving the glitches that may arise at some point in time

The Ring of Gyges Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The Ring of Gyges - Assignment Example His argument presents a counter-attack to Glaucon’s philosophy purporting that if two identical rings are presented to a just and unjust man, they would both act unjustly. Therefore, proceeds to argue that those who incline their actions to just only do so under compulsion. He also says that one may decline using the ring to perform misdeeds. Meaning that although such a person would receive praises on her face but on the other side she would be regarded a great fool who is unable to utilize the power in her possession. Socrates states that one does not derive justice from the social construct. That’s why his argument tallies that the man who abused the power contained in the ring enslaved himself to his selfish appetites. But hold that the man who chooses not to use the ring remains rationally in total control of himself and thus he is very happy. Therefore, Socrates suggests that the man who uses the ring is always in a constant war with himself ( Copp, 2007).   Socrates is in a strong belief that the soul consists of three parts. These parts include; rational, appetitive and Spirited. He continues to argue that an appetite for something exists like hunger and thirst. He says that we always have some knowledge concerning the demands that are driving us to satisfy the appetite. Therefore, he poses to think, supposing something holds the thirsty person from drinking, what could it be termed to be? This analogy is used to describe the three parts of the soul. The rational part is that which is concerned with the calculation thus goes ahead to examine the existing appetites in relation to the expected consequences. He suggests that the part linked to hunger, lusts, thirsts and which is tickled by all forms of appetites is the irrational appetitive part.

Slang Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Slang - Essay Example Although there are no religious, cultural and economic inhibitions that may restrict its usage, the religiously conservative consider sex as being too serious to be described thus loosely. This phrase is mostly used by the youthful and in less formal settings and audience such as entertainment. Because of its heavy sexual connotations and denotation, the word is mostly used by the mature youth who are already sexually active. There are no class restrictions that may inhibit the use of this phrase but religious conservatives maintain reservations towards the word. This phrase has strong sexual denotations and connotations, thereby restricting it to the mature youth. Again, this group may use it exclusively as language register (keeping it away from those outside their social circles). This phrase cuts across all economic divides, but its usage is less popular among the ultra-religious. This verb phrase is mostly used by the mature youth. Its old profile has steered it clear of teenage use. The phrase cuts across all economic divides but fails to penetrate the ultra-religious due to it being a taboo word. The phrase is used in informal settings and in the presence of youthful audience that is also part of the speaker’s social network. This acronym is commonest among the youth and has already infiltrated teenagers through electronic media, especially the Internet. The word permeates all social classes but remains widely unaccepted among Christians since its last initial is a taboo word and an expletive. The audience is mainly the youth and the audience is very informal. The use of this word permeates all socioeconomic classes and ages, with some Christians being the exception. This is because Christians consider the use of the word as tantamount to trifling with God’s name and a transgression of the Third Commandment. The word is commonly used in an informal setting and audience, particularly in online

Philosophy of Language Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Philosophy of Language - Essay Example The group was called logical positivists, and they accomplished this union by introducing the notion of convention. The class of positivists asserted that logical empiricism was possible through convention or arbitrariness, where agreement would be reached on the meaning of statements. Quine sought to attack this school of thought through a two-pronged approach; reliance on reductionism and making a distinction on analytic and synthetic distinctions. Dogmas are sets of beliefs that are held to be true by certain people without question, and are often called such as a mark of disapproval from an observer or analyst. Quine felt that logical empiricism lacked legitimacy because of two dogmas; one of them was the distinction between analytic and synthetic truths. An analytic truth may be understood as an assertion that is true exclusively because of its meaning while a synthetic one is held as such owing to facts. Quine felt that the distinction between analytic and synthetic sentences was baseless by looking at a series of assumptions and definitions in the school of thought. Quine started with the notion of synonyms where logical positivists claim that a sentence may be defined as analytic if synonyms can be used to substitute original words and the expressions remain logical truths (Schwitzgebel, 2008). However, the philosopher opposed this statement because it presupposes that synonymy is a well understood and defined term, yet it needs to be explained before it can be applied. The philosopher sought to look for other ways in which logical empiricists sought to defend themselves, such as by saying that a logical truth exists if a sentence has terms whose definitions can be substituted by others. Quine has a problem with this component as well because it is not clear whether an irregularity can arise because of the meaning of the term or the belief that one holds about it.

Movie Genre Essay Example for Free

Movie Genre Essay In a dystopian era plagued by radiation, Dredd is one of the Judges, which is the only presence of law in the land. The most feared of all Judges, Dredd is on a mission to stop the distribution and use of a new drug, â€Å"Slo-Mo†. While training a new Judge, Dredd and his trainee are caught in a slum apartment where a drug lord, Ma-Ma, has gained control over almost all of the inhabitants. The two Judges must fight for survival when the futuristic apartment building’s security is taken over by the drug lord with one mission: to kill Dredd and save the business. Films are generally pretty personal things. What one person loves, another may hate, and there are many concepts that can or cannot be included to create the desired effect. Regardless, there are a few things a film needs that everyone can agree on; an interesting plot, believable characters, captivating dialogue, a realistic set design, and must have a destination (and get there in a reasonable time). Dredd accomplishes all of these with ease, and was a film worth seeing. The plot is pretty basic, and while the basic idea of clashing with authority and who will prevail isn’t relatively new, Dredd presents the concept in a fresh way. Thrilling and suspenseful, Dredd is very well written and captivates the audience. NPR reviewed the film, stating, â€Å"Dredd works because its an action flick with wide appeal that takes risks it doesnt need to in its delightfully off-putting violence and daring style and those choices pay off in a singular and exhilarating movie experience. Its savage, beautiful and loads of fun. (ARNOLD)† Taking something so extraordinarily simple and making a masterpiece is what Alex Garland, the writer, has done. While there seems to be a constant flow of action scenes, the rising action isn’t typical backstory stuff. It offers the pertinent information, but in an energetic way. The climax is certainly the definition of, with more guns and ammunition than you can shake a stick at. Dredd lacks in the falling action, but after the previous high point, any more action may border on too much. Judges are self-described as â€Å"Judge, Jury and Executioner†, being given the power to determine charges on scene, and execute the appropriate punishment immediately. This kind of power is overwhelming and one would expect anyone in this position to be a bit arrogant and demeaning. This demeanor is shown exceptionally well by the Judges at the end of the movie. Many are on Ma Ma’s payroll and corrupted Judges are aplenty. These characters act, as one would expect, prompting the audience to feel a bit of animosity towards them: aptly so, since they are part of the villainous crowd. With a plot as dramatic and intense as Dredd’s, the set must be equally astonishing. Set in a futuristic time, after bouts of radiation, Mega-City One looks drastically different than Earth in present day. Shooting in South Africa provided plenty of vast land to create the perfect set that accurately portrayed the ‘goings-on’. The set is authentic and eerie, and strangely draws you in to the point that when you leave the theater, you wonder where all of the sunlight came from. This kind of believable set makes the movie experience that much more enjoyable. â€Å"I am the law†. Potentially one of the most raw lines in the film, this is the overall theme of the Judge’s attitudes. Being a drama, the film must deliver dialogue that is as captivating as the other elements of the film. Audiences love wit, one-liners, and humor, of any variety. But, in fact, the movie is devoid of too much dialogue, giving the audience the ability to absorb the beautiful set and the extreme action shots that seem to never end. Dredd could have offered more in the way of ‘captivating dialogue’, but Karl Urban, who plays Dredd, makes up for it with the delivery, using his raspy, Clint Eastwood-like voice. Perhaps the most important part of the movie is the plot, and how the movie reacts and evolves around the plot. The natural progression of things, the speed of that progression, and the in-betweens of the plot are all extremely important in holding the audience’s attention and not boring them half to death, or leaving them in the dust, confused. Dredd’s plot is pretty simple; stay alive in a post-radiation era while trying to solve a crime and bring down a drug lord. With the wrong writer, Dredd could be very short, and very boring. However, Garland creates intensity and draws the viewer in with numerous action scenes and suspense with not knowing if they will survive or not. Wired. com calls Dredd, â€Å"a fantastic action spectacle set against the back drop of two people trying to escape hell on Earth. There are massive bombtastic fights, near-death face offs, and bro-ing out between new BFFs Anderson and Dredd. The climax is reached in due time, with an ending that, as a viewer, you can’t help but shout a little â€Å"hoo-ra† at. Dredd is strong on the dialogue and characters, but shines on the set and plot areas. An astonishing set and a plot with non-stop action make Dredd an intense film you won’t want to miss.

Mental Health Effects Of Exercise Health And Social Care Essay

Mental Health Effects Of Exercise Health And Social Care Essay Objectives: To determine the mental health effects of exercise for people with anxiety disorder, affective and mood disorder, and substances use disorder. Search Strategy: Clinical trials on anxiety disorder, affective and mood disorder, and substances use disorder (August 2010) were searched based on Cochraine, MEDLINE, PsycINFO, PsycheArticles, Sport Discuss, and PubMed database. References from relevant papers were also inspected. Selection Criteria: All randomized controlled trials comparing any intervention where physical activity or exercise was considered to be the main or active ingredient with standard care or other treatments for people with anxiety disorder, affective and mood disorder, and substances use disorder. Data Collection Analysis: Citations and abstract were inspected and the quality is assessed, and the data were extracted. Main result: Ten randomized clinical trials met the inclusion criteria. Trials assessed the effects of exercise on physical and mental health for affective/mood and anxiety disorder, also the consumption change on illicit drugs and alcohol. Overall number leaving the trials were 60%). Exercise effect is higher than standard care alone or adjunct treatment with meditation. Exercise dose differs for underlying fitness level, physical wellbeing, and age. Green environment act as catalyst while smoking behavior block the fitness outcome. BACKGROUND There are about 450 million people suffered from mental and behavioral disorders worldwide. One person in four will develop one or more of these disorders during their lifetime [1]. Mental disorders contribute to almost 11% of 1996 disease burden worldwide and it is predicted that it will increase up to 15% in 2020 [2]. By looking at local context, almost half of Australian population experience mental illness at some point of their lifetime [3], which contribute 13.3% of the total country burden of disease and injury in 2003 [4]. A good mental health enable individual to handle day-to-day events and obstacles, work on their goals, and function effectively in society. Minor disturbances in mental health could with delay early intervention will not only a suffered to the individual but also a burden to their families and society considerably. The economic and personal costs of mental illness are also the major concerned in social and public health. Exercise was believed to enhance individuals ability to cope with and manage their mental disorder apart from its well documented physical health benefit. Improved quality of life is particularly important for individuals with severe and enduring mental health problems as exercise may alleviate depression, low self-esteem and social withdrawal.   Mental disorder is usually determined through clinical diagnoses using the ICD10 or DSM-IV criteria. In Australia, anxiety disorder, affective and mood disorder and substances abuse are the main mental disorder in this country [3] thus will be used in this review. Description of the condition Anxiety Disorder Anxiety disorders are a group of illnesses characterized by persistent feelings of high anxiety, extreme discomfort and tension which will significantly interferes with their daily life. Its often come out of the blue and presented with intense physical symptoms such as breathlessness, palpitations, sweating, trembling, feelings of choking, nausea, abdominal distress, dizziness, pins and needles, feelings of losing control and/or feelings of impending doom[4]. Anxiety disorders also affect the way a person thinks, feels, and behaves. There is different number of anxiety disorders which include panic disorder, agoraphobia, social phobia, generalized anxiety disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder, which most often begin in early adulthood and common among women than men [5, 17]. It is reported that lifetime prevalence of total anxiety disorder was 10.6% 16.6% [23]. Affective Disorder Affective disorder characterized by dramatic changes or extremes of mood which include manic or depressive episodes, and often combinations of the two. They may or may not have psychotic symptoms such as delusions, hallucinations, or other loss of contact with reality [9]. This disorder could be categorized into depression, dysthymia, mania, hypomania, and bipolar affective disorder [5]. For lifetime prevalence, the corresponding pooled incidence rates were 6.7 per 100, 3.6 per 100, and 0.9 per 100 for respective major depressive disorder (MDD) dysthymia disorder and bipolar I disorder categories [16]. Substance use disorder Substance use disorder refers to mental and behavioral disorder resulting from psychoactive substance use such as alcohol, opoids, others stimulants, hallucinogens, tobacco and volatile disorders [5]. The focus of this paper will look at the study on alcohol and illicit drugs. In the short term, the individual may perceive these effects as quite desirable however, prolonged and heavy usage may result in physical harm, dependency, and withdrawal problems and long term psychological damage or social harm. This will leads to intoxication, harmful use, dependence, and psychotic disorders [5]. Harmful use is diagnosed when damage has been caused to physical and mental health. Dependence syndrome involve strong desire to take substance and difficulty in control the use, physical withdrawal, tolerance, neglect of alternative pleasure and interest, and persistent use despite harm to self and others. Point prevalence of alcohol use disorder has been estimated to be around 1.7% globally, which higher rate among men 2.8% to women 0.5% [18]. While, the burden attributable to illicit drugs was estimated at 0.4% of total disease burden, and economic cost of this harmful drugs dependents and use in the United State has been estimated to be USD98 billion [22]. Exercise and mental health There is no single mechanism has yet been found to adequately explain the diverse range of mental health effects possible through physical activity participation. The plausible mechanisms for psychological change through physical activity and exercise fall into one of three broad perspectives as explained by Mutrie (2003) where there is biochemical changes such as increased levels of neurotransmitters; physiological changes such as improved thermo-genesis, muscle and cardiovascular function and, suggested psychological changes such as social support, sense of autonomy, improved perceptions of competence, enhanced body image, self-efficacy and distraction. Important of review There is a growing recognition that physical activity can enhance mental health (Faulkner 2005). Regardless by this fact, there is still limited evidence to suggest the effects of exercise on anxiety disorder, affective and mood disorder, and substances abuse reported in the population characterized by these mental illnesses. The purpose of this review is to focus specifically on methodologically rigorous trials in updating current consensus concerning the potential role of exercise in improving the mental health of individuals with anxiety disorder, affective and mood disorder, and substances use disorder. OBJECTIVES To determine the mental health effects of exercise programmes for people with anxiety disorder, affective and mood disorder, and substances use disorder, and factors that enhance the effect. METHODS Types of participants Clinically diagnosed adult (aged 17 and above) with diagnosed anxiety disorder, affective and mood disorder, and substances abuse using any criteria, with any length of illness and in any treatment setting. Types of interventions Physical activity or exercise will be the main or active elements intervention studied in this review. As a result of most clinical subjects is under treatment, intervention in conjunction with others will be considered as well. Only interventions which address mental health outcome of exercise, its dosage, and factors attribute to effectiveness will be included. Others exercise study that potentially discussed the outcome of enhancing physical exercise intervention on mental health status will also will be included for prospective review. Types of outcome measures Outcomes were groups according to assessments of mental and physical health, and were grouped by different disorders, factors attribute to effectiveness, and dose exposure outcome. The primary outcome will be mental state score. Search methods for identification of studies Search is restricted to English literature will be used as more time is needed for paper translation. Electronic searches The MEDLINE, PsychInfo, PsychArticles, PubMed, Cochrane, SportDiscuss, SAGE, Springerlink, and JSTOR articles and journal databases (August 2010) were searched using the phrase : [(physical* and (therap* or intervention)) within the same field of title, abstract or index term fields) or ((fitness* or sport* or gym* or exercis* or * danc*) in title, abstract and index fields Reference) or (*exercise* or danc* or physical act* in interventions field in Study)] and also different phrases for disorder studied is added in term, reference and study field: anxiety disorder (panic disorder*or agoraphobi*or social phobi* or generalized anxiety disorde* or obsessive-compulsive disorde*or post-traumatic stress disorde*), mood or affective disorder (depressio*or dysthymi*or mani*or hypomani*or bipolar affective disorde*), and substance use disorder (alcoho*or cocain*or heroi*or ampletamin* or illicit dru*). Data collection and analysis In the selection process, abstracts of research papers were independently assessed by the searches for relevance. When abstract was unclear and disagreements occurred, the full report is required and the assessment process repeated. With resolved disagreement, data is extracted from each study and even from unpublished source for the purpose of this review. Studies are then independently assessed for its methodological quality base on sequence generation; allocation concealment; blinding; incomplete outcome data; selective reporting of the results; and any other biases identified. The standard Risk Ratio and Odd ratios at 95% confidence interval (CI) will be used as interpretation of treatment effect. As a result of continuous data outcome in mental health trials are often not normally distributed, criteria for inclusion is used where the standard deviations and means for the endpoint measures on rating scales is obtained and the standard deviation (SD), when multiplied by 2 had to be less than the mean [19]. Even though some degree of loss to follow up data must lose credibility [19], all trial in the main analysis will be included all. Only study with outcome of more than 50% participation will be interpreted. RESULT Results of the search There are about 264 electronics reports inspected and of these, 254 studies were excluded on the basis of their abstracts. Ten randomized controlled trials (Carta 2008; Jerome 2008; Oeland 2010; Doyne 1987; Kenzor 2008; Murphy 1986; Sinyor 1982; Merom 2007; Ng 2007; and Brown 2010) were included in this review. Additional 6 studies (Mackay 2009; Jokela 2010; van Hauvelen 2006; Perrino 2009; Brown 2005; and Tart 2010) were included for prospective view on exercise effectiveness factors that could be used for implementation of study. Included studies We included ten randomized controlled trials (Carta 2008; Jerome 2008; Oeland 2010; Doyne 1987; Kenzor 2008; Murphy 1986; Sinyor 1982; Merom 2007; Ng 2007; and Brown 2010). All studies have been published since 1982 which illustrates growing attention to the role of exercise as a form of adjunct therapy for the focused mental illnesses. One study (Merom 2007) investigated the effects of an exercise programme on anxiety disorder where brisk walking exercise and others exercises were implemented. The 8 -10 weeks program lengths, with exercise dose of >30 minutes duration, done five times per week have shown a remarkable decrease of anxiety among patients in the intervention group. Compare with others mental illness studies; there are numerous studies on affective and mood disorder. Reviewed studies shows that exercise does work to reduce depression and anxiety in bipolar patients with just one hour per week of simple group brisk walk exercise for 8 months lengths (Carta 2008); and for major depression patient, the positive outcome were observed after 150 minutes per week group walking for 8 week length program. Greater total time exposure will give better significant outcome for bipolar patient (Ng, 2007) and the severity of affective/mood psychiatric problem does not influence the exercise outcome (Jerome, 2008). Oeland et al (2010) have demonstrate that, increased in physical activity will tremendously leads towards better body physiology changes among these patient. Their depression level were found to have further decrease with high level intensity exercise compare to low density exercise at equivalence dose (4 times per week with 60 minutes duration) of e xposure (Doyne 1987). The main outcome measured for Drugs and Alcohol use disorder is the percent day abstinence (PDA). Structured group exercise were found leads towards better PDA outcome as adjunct therapy for drugs addicts and alcoholic patients (Murphy 1986; Sinyor 1982; Brown 2010) at the minimum of 8 weeks intervention (Murphy, 1986) to 12 months intervention(Sinyor 1982). The effective dose reported in these studies is 20-70 minutes exercise routine for the least once a week. Unstructured exercise has demonstrated lower outcome in Kendzor (2008) and Sinyor (1982) studies, verified by their respective intervention group and control group outcome. 1. Methods: All trials were randomized. The duration of the trials ranged between 8 weeks (Murphy 1986) and 24 months (Ng 2007). 2. Participants: All trials included people diagnosed with anxiety disorders, affective or mood disorders, and alcohol or drugs use disorder using DSM-IV criteria (Carta 2008; Jerome 2008; Oeland 2010; Doyne 1987; Kenzor 2008; Murphy 1986; Sinyor 1982; Merom 2007; Ng 2007; and Brown 2010). Only one study does not use in- or outpatients (Murphy 2007). Participants ranged in age from 18 to 80 years. 3. Setting: Three studies were conducted in community centre (Kendzor 2008; Murphy 1986; Sinyor 1982), one offered in the university (Doyne 1987), and the rest is offered in and outpatient services. 4. Study Size: The smallest sample size is 16 participants (Brown 2010) and the largest number of participants in sample is 620 people (Kendzor 2008). 5. Interventions: All study using exercise as their main activity used to measured the outcome. The experimental conditions identified in each of the included studies differed in exercise duration and intensity. The exercise activity intensity are from a simple walking to high intensity supervised structured aerobic exercise. Most selected studies implement consistent duration of exercise 20-60 minutes five times per day for the least 8 weeks. Only well structured supervised intervention implements increase intensity (Sinyor 1982; Brown 2010). All exercise programmes were in addition to participants usual care except intervention in Murphy, Pagano and Marlat (1986) study. 6. Control interventions: Standard care: Participants continued with their usual treatment in Carta 2008, and addition with Group Cognitive behavior therapy and just education benefit of exercise for Merom 2007, Oeland 2010, Doyne 1987, Kendzor 2008, Sinyor 1982 and Brown 2010. There are two control groups in Murphy, Pagano Mariat (1986) study which one group in meditation intervention while the others were not in either exercise or meditation. These participants were university student not with any treatment for excessive alcohol intake. Only Ng 2007 does not implement control in their intervention. 7. Outcomes: Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS-21) is a 21 item self report questionnaire designed to measure the severity of a range of symptoms common to both Depression and Anxiety. Each item is scored from 0 (did not apply to me at all over the last week) to 3 (applied to me very much or most of the time over the past week). Merom 2007 and Ng 2007 used this scale. World Health Organization Quality of Life BREF Version (WHOQOL-BREF) is scale to assesses physical health, psychological, social relations and the environment on a five-point scale where 1 = poor QofL and 5 = good QofL. Carta 2008 and Oeland 2010 use this scale. The Clinical Global Impression Severity scale (CGI-S) is a 7-point scale that requires the clinician to rate the severity of the patients illness at the time of assessment, relative to the clinicians past experience with patients who have the same diagnosis. Considering total clinical experience, a patient is assessed on severity of mental illness at the time of rating 1=normal, not at all ill; 2, borderline mentally ill; 3, mildly ill; 4, moderately ill; 5, markedly ill; 6, severely ill; or 7, extremely ill. Ng 2007 used this scale. The Clinical Global Impression Improvement scale (CGI-I) is a 7 point scale that requires the  clinician  to assess how much the patients illness has improved or worsened relative to a baseline state at the beginning of the intervention. Rated as: 1, very much improved; 2, much improved; 3, minimally improved; 4, no change; 5, minimally worse; 6, much worse; or 7, very much worse. Ng 2007 used this scale. The Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status (RBANS) is a screening battery designed to measure attention and processing speed, expressive language, visual-spatial and constructional abilities, and immediate and delayed memory.  Jerome 2008 used this measurement for to records schizophrenic patient activity. Symptoms Checklist-90 (SCL-90) is used as a screening measure of general psychiatric symptomatology. It includes dimensions measuring somatization, obsessive-compulsive, depression, anxiety, phobic anxiety, hostility, interpersonal sensitivity, paranoid ideation, and psychoticism. This was used by Jerome 2008 Center for Epidemiologic Studies depressive scale (CES-D) is a short self-report scale designed to measure depressive symptomatology in the general population. The items of the scale are symptoms associated with depression which have been used in previously validated longer scales.  It was found to have very high internal consistency and adequate test- retest repeatability. Validity was established by patterns of correlations with other self-report measures, by correlations with clinical ratings of depression, and by relationships with other variables which support its construct validity. This was used by Jerome 2008. Beck Depression Inventory  (BDI) is a 21-question  multiple-choice self-report inventory, used for measuring the severity of  depression from a psychodynamic  perspective. In its questionnaire is designed for individuals aged 13 and over and composed of items relating to symptoms of depression such as hopelessness and irritability, cognitions such as guilt or feelings of being punished, as well as physical symptoms such as fatigue,  weight loss, and lack of interest in sex. Used by Doyne 1987 and Kendzor 2008 Figure1: Methodological quality summary: review authors judgments about each methodological quality item for each included study. Adequate Sequence Generation Allocation Concealment Blinding? Incomplete Outcome data addressed Free of Selective Reporting Free of Others Bias Merom et al 2007 + + + ? + Carta et al 2008 + + + + + Ng et al 2007 + ? ? + Jerome et al 2008 + + + + Oeland et al 2010 + + + + + + Doyne et al 1987 + + + + + Kendzor et al 2008 + + ? ? Murphy et al 1986 + + + + + Sinyor et al 1982 + + + + Brown et al 2010 + + ? + Risk of bias in included studies Allocation: All study reported as randomized. Blinding: None of the studies were double-blinded. The reported results may exaggerate estimates of treatment effect and None of the studies reported any test of blinding Incomplete outcome data: Most of the studies have withdrawal from the sample population as the highest reported were in Sinyor (1982) study which around 60% remains in the study, which were due to self withdrawal from being participant after undergone first phase of treatment. Selective reporting: Most study report the mean and standard deviation. Others source of bias: most of the study have tendency of selection bias, measurement bias and error due to effect of confounding especially effect of group therapy and regular undergone treatment. DISCUSSION Ten studies were included in this review. Overall, these studies showed that exercise therapy can have an impact on mental health outcomes like mental state and general functioning with no adverse effects. There are various studies looking at the impact of exercise towards anxiety in non-clinical samples using DASS and SCL-90 questions tools, which were excluded for reviews apart from the reason of its non-clinical trial study design. Compare to usual treatment alone and GCBT, prolonged and frequent exercise conducted in group for at least 8 weeks were significantly effective in reduce anxiety, depression and stress among patients diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, and social phobia. Similar effect was observed for bipolar disorder and major depression in addition to their usual treatment, regardless of the psychiatric condition severity and exercise intensity (Jerome 2008). Clinical trials have shown high day abstinence from drugs and alcohol best occurs in well structured, high intensity group exercise among alcoholic and drugs addict, in addition to their usual treatment for the problem. Kendzor 2008 study has demonstrated there was no effect of individual low density physical activity towards reducing the heavy drinking habit. We could conclude that, the minimum effective dose for exercise to mental status is 40-60 minutes session, repeated 3-5 times per week for continuous 8 weeks duration. This dose works for low endurance brisk walking exercise with a proper warming up session. Increases in exercise intensity will give better physical fitness, and ideal weight management. Type of exercise, its intensity, and dose is modified base on underlying fitness level and age (Jerome 2008; Jokela 2010; van Hauvelen 2006; Perrino 2009). Others factors that could affect exercise effectiveness is the exercise environment. Mackay Neill 2009 study shows that there is significant relationship between anxiety changes and green environment. Exercise intensity works for depression (Brown 2005; Jerome 2005) and substance use disorder (Sinyor 1982; Brown 2010) but not for anxiety (Mackay Neill 2009). It is found that smoking behavior will delay exercise fitness effect (Tart 2010). AUTHORS CONCLUSION Implication of practice People with mental illness The results of this review indicate that there are various benefits of exercise to individuals with anxiety disorder, mood and affective disorder, and substance use disorder, which can improve components of mental health by participating in structured group exercise. Limited number of studies on proper intensity and dose of exercise towards the improvement of mental health for the different population group and underlying psychiatric problems has cause difficulties for medical practitioner to come out with clear guidance to the patient. Physician, physiotherapist, professional physical trainers, and health educator should be consulted for better support and advice towards implementing exercise as treatment intervention. It is clear from this study that, exercise works as adjunct therapy for identified psychological problems and high intensity exercise work for substance abuser and depression patient. The best effect of exercise is that it conducted in group and being supervised. Pati ent with anxiety does responds to high intensity exercise but the effect is not much different compare to low intensity exercise. Current guidelines for lifestyle activity and exercise appear do not really work for the justified mental disorders. Therefore, accumulating 40-60 minutes of proper physical activity on most or all days of the week is a good guideline. This should be continued for minimum of 8 weeks for a better mental status outcome. Cessation of smoking will further ensure better health benefit. For physician, health educator, physiotherapist and professional physical trainers Regular exercise is known for its physical, mental, and social benefits. It is a multidimensional approach that requires physician, health educator, physiotherapist and professional physical trainers to ensure patients to become and staying active for its physical and psychological benefit. Proper information guidelines to patients are essential in the long run. Health practitioners should also be equipped with this latest information and as well emphasize on the safety of intervention to avoid negative effect of exercise especially muscle injury if not properly done. Side effect of medication and structural barrier for intervention (socio economic status, infrastructure) as well as underlying medical condition should also be considered before recommend this intervention to the patients. In others word, exercise intervention is personalized to suit individual situation. For policy Structural barrier may limit patient participation into exercise intervention in mental disorder treatment. It is shown from the studies that patients with mental health have better chance to improve their morbidity when adhere into exercise intervention as adjunct treatment for their underlying psychological problems. Proper guidelines for health practitioners and patients are required for better communication to deliver the information for both. Multidisciplinary approach should be emphasized in this practices which could profound positive impact on patients health and wellbeing. More time is required to deliver and explained this message to patient as the program is personalized to fit individual underlying social and physical wellbeing. Policymakers should consider the implementation of this multidisciplinary programmes approach within their respective treatment facilities. They should also consider to provide better exercise facilities in the community thus as well promotes gree n environment and the establishment of well structured community exercise group program for a long term benefit. There is chances that continuous exercise program could be used as prevention of acquired mental health problems due to life-style changes. More evidence on this is required and with such evidence support, cost benefit or cost effective analysis of preventive exercise intervention in mental health could be established. In long-standing, this could be helpful in reducing pharmaceutical cost for mental health in a country. Implication for research General There are various established measurement used in reporting mental health outcome thus cause difficulties to compare the study results. It is recommended that in research practice for mental health outcome, the measurement should be standardized. Specific It is important in future for us to have a clear define duration, frequency and intensity of exercise program for each mental health disorder; considering the underlying medical and physiological wellbeing of individual. Study on the changes of fitness level due to the intervention is progressively in practices, and in any future research it should be reported in the record. Mental health is a complex discipline where there is no clear cut point of disease and always presented with a comorbid condition of either other mental disorder or chronic diseases. This should as well to be considered in future research especially in intervention study. It is also a challenge in the research of this area to ensure the finding is free from cofounding effect of biological and social diversity in the complex global society. In the end, with the establishment of complete study in mental health area could contributes a better theoretical background to explain the mechanism of this diversification. T his will help as well towards low cost of treatment in mental health disorder in the future. REFERENCES 1. World Health Organization (2005). Promoting Mental Health: Concepts, Emerging Evidence, Practice. Geneva: WHO Press. 2. Commonwealth Department of Health and Aged Care 2000, Promotion, Prevention and Early Intervention for Mental Health: A Monograph. Canberra: Mental Health and Special Programs Branch, Commonwealth Department of Health and Aged Care. 3. Australian Bureau of Statistics (2007). National Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing: Summary of Results. Canberra: ABS. 4. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (2006). Australias Health 2006. AIHW. Canberra: AIHW. 5. Australian Bureau of Statistic (2008). National Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing: Summary of Results. Canberra: ABS. 6. Jerome G.J, Young D.R, Dalcin A et.al (2009). Physical Activity Levels of Persons with Mental Illness Attending Psychiatric Rehabilitation Programs. Schizophrenia Research. 2009; 108; 252-257 7. Tart C.D, Leyro T.M, Ritcher A, Zvolensky M.J, Rosenfield D, Smith J.A.J (2010). Negative Affect as a Mediator of the Relationship between Vigorous-Intensity, Exercise and Smoking. Addictive Behaviors. 2010 (35); 580-585 8. Mackay G.J, Neill J.T (2010). The Effect of Green Exercise On State Anxiety and The Role of Exercise Duration, Intensity, and Greenness: A Quasi-Experimental Study. Psychology of Sport and Exercise. 2010; 11; 238-245 9. Perrino T, Mason C.A, Brown S.C, Szapocznik J (2009). The Relationship Between Depressive Symptoms And Walking Among Hispanic Older Adults: A Longitudinal,Cross-Lagged Panel Analysis. Aging Mental Health, 14: 2, 211 219 10. Doyne, E. J., Ossip-Klein, D. J., Bowman, E. D., Osborn, K. M., McDougall-Wilson, I. B., Neimayer, R. A. (1987). Running Versus Weight

Software Piracy :: essays research papers

Software Piracy   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Software piracy is the failure of a licensed user to adhere to the conditions of a software license or the unauthorized use or reproduction of copyrighted software by a person or entity that has not been licensed to use the software. Software piracy has become a household word and a household crime and has had a great affect on the software industry. It is a problem that can only be solved by the choices of each individual.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The computer software industry is one of the great business success stories of recent history, with healthy increases in both hardware and software sales around the world. However, software piracy threatens the industry's economic future. According to estimates by the U.S. Software Publisher's Association, as much as $7.5 billion of American software may be illegally copied and distributed annually worldwide. These copies work as well as the originals and sell for significantly less money. Piracy is relatively easy, and only the largest rings of distributors are usually caught. In addition, software pirates know that they are unlikely to serve hard jail time when prisons are overcrowded with people convicted of more serious crimes. The software industry loses more than $15.2 billion annually worldwide due to software piracy. Software piracy costs the industry: $482 every second $28,900 every minute $1.7 million every hour $41.6 million every day $291.5 million every week   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  To understand software piracy, one must get inside the mind of the pirate. People, who wouldn't think of sneaking merchandise out of a store or robbing a house, regularly obtain copies of computer programs which they haven't paid for. The pirate has a set of excuses for his actions: prices are too high; the company doesn't provide decent support; he's only going to use the program once in a while. Although, what really makes software piracy seem less bad than other kinds of theft is that nothing is physically taken. There is no immediate effect on the inventory or productive capacity of the creator of a piece of software if someone 500 miles away copies a disk and starts using it.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  People tend to think of property as a material thing, and thus have a hard time regarding a computer program as property. However, property is not a concept pertaining to matter alone. Ownership is a concept which comes out of the fact that people live by creating things of value for their own use or for trade with others. Creation does not mean making matter, but rather changing the form of matter alongwith an idea and a purpose. Most often, the actual cost of creating goods is determined in the production of individual items.

An Analysis of To Have without Holding by Marge Piercy Essay -- To Hav

An Analysis of To Have without Holding by Marge Piercy The poem "To Have without Holding," by Marge Piercy, is about the speaker trying to reconcile the conflict between her preconceived notion of a personal relationship with present reality. Her partner, whom she must feel worth the pain and effort, apparently has a more liberal and open approach, which causes her to feel insecure. The poem expresses, using metaphor, simile, and symbolism, the speaker's discomfort at a point in time in this emotionally unbalanced relationship. She defines, explains, and personalizes her place in the relationship from a unique and unsettling perspective, while providing a reminder that preconceived notions must eventually be evaluated against one's growing library of empirical evidence obtained, often painfully, via real life experience. She defines her idea of what is right in a relationship by describing how hard and painful it is for her to stray from that ideal in this instance. As the poem evolves, one can begin to see the author having a conflict with values, while simultaneously expressing which values are hers and which are unnatural to her. She accomplishes this accounting of values by personalizing her position in a somewhat unsettling way throughout the poem. I was first drawn to the poem by the title. The interesting use of capitalization caught my attention. Why wasn't the letter 'w' in the word "without" capitalized? Upon reading the poem initially, I got an overall impression of being made to feel "uncomfortable," though quite unsure as to why. I had the same impression once I felt I understood the whole poem, but from a completely different perspective. That sort of clarity at differing resolutions is impressive in tha... ... other party seems unconcerned with all these emotional gymnastics. It seems she is making the compensations for now, though she openly questions the wisdom of this arrangement for the future. This poem has captured a moment in time of a dynamic, tentative, and uncomfortable relationship as it is evolving. The author, having shared her thoughts, concerns, and opinion of the other party's unchanging definition of the relationship, must surely have gone on to somehow reconcile the situation to her own satisfaction. She relishes the work entailed in changing either of them, perhaps. Hence, the small "w" in the title. Its absence serves as a prominence to indicate that the point of this poem is about being uncomfortable with the "Having" of a physical relationship without the mutual desire for commitment and security, the moral authority to "Hold" that she craves.

Learning and Skill Essay

Tymon Muska Intro to Motor Learning Dr Rausch Jr. 11 / 14 / 08 The Skill of Juggling In terms of the type of skill, juggling is a continuous skill as opposed to a discrete or serial. Juggling is a continuous skill because it does not have a distinct beginning or end. Continuous skills involve practicing the movement nonstop and uninterrupted, unless a ball or scarf is dropped. The motor control loop partnered with juggling is the closed loop because feedback and the comparator are present. In terms of breaking down the scheduling for teaching and practicing this skill, one must understand there are several different components to practicing juggling. Similarly, the schedule would be blocked because one must practice a component for juggling and repeat this component until mastered. A blocked practicing schedule also allows the subject being taught to build a feel for the skill, begin to get more confident in performing the skill, and most likely with block scheduling the subject will be more successful in performing the skill, over and over again. I will be using a combination of part and whole practice. This is because teaching the skill in parts is easier for the learner to understand, but when it comes to showing the learner how to put all the movements together, that is where the whole practice comes into play. Using a combination of both types of practices gives the learner a chance to understand each movement, and at the same time get his or her rhythm down without constantly starting and stopping the motion when trying to put the skill together as a whole. Another portion on the practice side of juggling is called massed practice. This type of practice, which I will use, is the best type of practice for a beginner. â€Å"When applied to the length and distribution of practice sessions, a massed schedule will have fewer practice sessions than a distributed schedule, with each massed practice session requiring more and or longer practice† (Richard (2007). I’ll use this type of practice with my subjects because it allows the subject to get a good feel for the skill and build confidence. With those two things, the subject becomes more successful at the skill they are performing. When one thinks of juggling, they think of juggling with some type of ball. For a beginner, juggling with a ball can be very difficult. For one, they are heavier so they fall faster. Second, they are solid so they are harder to grab onto. In teaching the subjects I plan to use a simulated practice, â€Å" research investigations of the effectiveness of simulators have been more common for their use as training devices to help people learn how to drive cars, and pilots to fly planes, (Fisher, 2002), than for their use in sports contexts, (Stewart, Do home, & Null Meyer, (2002)†. Scarves are perfect for a beginner to start off with because they are light and float in the air longer than a ball would. This gives the subject chance to get the right form and technique down. It will also increase their success rate in completing a juggling pattern, which in turn will lead them to build a higher level of confidence when juggling. Then, one must move to the next component involved in the skill of juggling. In other words, when beginning to learn how to juggle, one should begin without any scarves or balls. Mastering the hand movements and repeating the phrases ‘up, up, down, down’ or ‘throw, throw, catch, catch’ are important so that the student may now incorporate the scarves. The student should practice using one scarf and proceed to using two scarves. Also included in the schedule is the art of a practice. In this case, we would use part practice. In demonstrating the skill, I will first address the class explaining the use of the scarves and the different colors of the scarves and the sequence in which they will be used. I will demonstrate the toss and catch method with one colored scarf. Tossing the scarf up from the dominate hand and catching it with the non-dominant hand and then repeating the skill from non-dominant to dominant. The second step involves having two scarves, one in each hand. Starting with the dominant hand, the subject will toss with the dominant, toss with the non-dominant, catch with non-dominant and then catch with the dominant. The third step in learning how to juggle would involve the third color. Starting with the two original colors used for step one, in your dominant hand and step two in your non-dominant hand. Add the third color to your dominant hand; this scarf will be tossed last. In order to produce a perfect cycle of juggling the pattern goes like this, toss with the dominant, toss with the non-dominant, catch with the non- dominant, toss with the dominant and catch with the dominant hand. It is very important for the subject to keep the color and order of the scarves the same throughout each trial. By keeping the same colors in each hand, it will give the subject a base to go by. It will help them remember which scarf to through and grab and when and perform the skill in the correct order. Using the colored scarves is a form of simulated practice. Simulated practice is a great way to teach beginners a skill, but its major weakness is that it is not realistic in terms of juggling with real balls or heavier objects. For the practice consumption for juggling, we would be using the specificity of practice. The specificity of practice hypothesis has been around since the 1900’s. The theory explains why positive transfer occurs between two skills or skill learning situations, (Thorndike & Woodworth 1901). Part practice consists of three different types and we would be using segmentation. Segmentation is a type of part practice in which one part of the target skill is practiced and mastered followed by the practice of a second part in which the first and second would then be put together until the entire skill is practiced. It is important to give the subject feedback on how they are doing result wise and not performance wise. The close loop system involves feedback, whereas an open loop system does not. In human movement, the feedback is afferent information sent by various sensory receptors to the control center. The purpose of this feedback is to update the control center about the correctness of the movement while it is in progress (Richard (2007). There are multiple kinds of feedback a subject’s teacher could give to them after watching a number of trials performed. In this case since my subject is a beginner, I will be using the Summary Feedback schedule which is when the subject has completed his or her trial or practice runs and the teacher gives them intervals of feedback. The specificity of this feedback schedule is called direction, which is strictly used for beginners because it is the easiest to understand and the least overwhelming. After explaining the basic three step method to the class, I will call on subject up and ask he or she to perform the skill and demonstrate for the rest of the class. For the next step, I will split the class up into groups. Each person in the group will have a chance to perform the skill, while being evaluated by their peers in their group. Each subject will perform the task of juggling the scarves ten times, and I will ask the people in the group to give the subject some kind of feedback whether negative or positive after every two trials. The subject juggling has a definite advantage considering he or she will be getting fifty percent feedback during their trial runs. In teaching the subjects how to juggle, my ultimate goal is for each subject to be able to complete a full cycle of juggling without a single error. Due to the time constraints in teaching this skill, the main focus will be on the subjects form in performing the skill and how well he or she interprets the information and que’s given to them to complete the task. Reference Page 1)- Magill, Richard (2007). Motor Learning and Control : concepts and applications,8, 86. New York, NY: The McGrawth-Hill Companies. 2)- Magill, Richard (2007). Motor Learning and Control : concepts and applications,8, 395 – 396. New York, NY: The McGrawth-Hill Companies. 3)- Thorndike, E. L. , & Woodworth, R. S (1901). The influence of improvement in one mental function upon the efficentcy of other functions. Psychology Review, 8, 247 – 261. 4)- Fisher, D. L. , (2002). Use of a fixed based driving simulator to evaluate the effects of experience and PC-based risked awareness training on drivers decisions. Human Factors, 44, 416 5)- Stewart, J, E. , Dohme, J. A. , & Nullmeryer, R. T. (2002). Motor Learning and Control : concepts and applications, 8, 416. New York, NY: The McGrawth-Hill Companies.

Marvel

Bankruptcy and Restructuring at Marvel Entertainment Group Chen Ziqiang Wu Libin Lin Yingshuai Deng Linli Lim Yihao 2011/11/29 1. Why did Marvel file for Chapter 11? Were the proble ms caused by bad luck, bad strategy, or bad execution? We think that Marvel filed for Chapter 11 mainly due to its bad business strategy. Three o f its six b usiness lines, Trading cards, Stickers and Comic Books started facing the decline in sales after year 1993. There were two main reasons for this decline: F irst, these businesses increasingly had to compete with a lternative forms of child entertainment (mainly video games).Second, the decline in sales was driven by disappointed collectors who had viewed comic books as a form of investment and stopped buying them as company stopped increasing the prices. We believe that the company should have foreseen these events while performing a market research and forming a long- term business and financial strategy. The three unpromising business lines account ed to 61% of total revenues of a company in year 1995. At the same time, the company's financial strategy was based on highly optimistic business expectations and was not suitable for unfavorable turn of demand for entertainment products towards video games.Due to its high leverage (52%), the company was not able to serve all the debt in case of sharply declining revenues. It is obvious that the company did not anticipate the cha nge in customers' preferences and was wrong in prediction of market trends, focusing on cards, stickers and publishing business lines and leveraging itself. Moreover, in 1995 Marvin continued its leveraged expansion into entertainment cards b usiness – acquiring Skybox. This decision was extremely imprudent, as the company was already on the threshold of financial distress and should have sought for high growth pportunities to expand in order to boost its revenues instead of adding debt to buy business whic h produces non- demanded products. Operatin g ratios Marvel Entertainment Group 1991 1992 1993 Sales 115. 1 223. 8 415. 2 Cost of Sales 58. 2 112. 6 215. 3 Cost of sales/ Sales 50. 6% 50. 3% 51. 9% SG&A 21. 4 43. 4 85. 3 SG&A/Sales 18. 6% 19. 4% 20. 5% Net Income 16. 1 32. 6 56 Net Income/Sales 14. 0% 14. 6% 13. 5% 1994 514. 8 275. 3 53. 5% 119. 7 23. 3% 61. 8 12. 0% 1995 823. 9 383. 3 46. 2% 231. 3 27. 9% – 48. 4 – 5. 8% 1996 581. 2 372. 4 61. 4% 168 28. 9% – 27. 9 – 4. 8%As can be seen in the table above, Marvels operating ratios dropped dramatically. The cost of Sales/Sales rose from 51% in 1991 to 62% in 1996, together with the SG&A expenses/Sales rising from 19% to 29%. Additionally Marvels Net Income/Sales dropped from 14% to – 5%. Leverage ratios Marvel Entertainment Group 1991 1992 1993 Total Debt 355,3 324,7 Shares outstanding 97,7 98,6 102,6 Share price 5 12 26 Market value of equity 488,5 1183,2 2667,6 Debt/ D+E 23,1% 10,9% EBITDA 35,5 67,8 114,6 EBITDA/SALES 30,8% 30,3% 27,6% Int erest expenses 3,50 6,50 14,60 EBITDA/Interest 10,1 10,4 7,8 1994 585,7 103,7 16 1659,2 6,1% 119,8 23,3% 16,50 7,3 1995 934,8 101,3 12 1215,6 43,5% 214,7 25,9% 43,20 5,0 1996 977 101,8 4 407,2 70,6% 40,8 7,0% 42,70 1,0 Compare the management policy and the leverage ratios from that time together with its operating ratios, we believe Marvel made an extremely impudent move to acquire Skybox in 1995. While their operating margins where deteriorating and their leverage coverage ratio (EBITDA/Interest) where falling, they should have acquired a different policy. For all above stated reasons, we believe that the company's financial problems were caused mainly by bad strategy and poor management. . Evaluate the proposed restructuring plan. Will it solve the proble ms that caused Marvel to file Chapter 11? As Carl Icahn, the largest unsecured debt holder, would you vote for the proposed restructuring plan? Why or why not? A. ) We believe that the restructuring plan can only solve part of th e problems that Marvel is facing. We also believe that the proposed restructuring plan will not solve the actual problems that Marvel is facing but only provide temporary relief to the company that is not sustainable.The proposed restructuring plan aims at providing liquidity to Marvel, lifting its debt burden and expanding its existing toy business. This is to be achieved by means of a recapitalization of the company through an emission of 427mn additional shares of common equity fo r a total value of USD 365mn. Additionally, the outstanding public debt of the company shall be retired with debt holders being paid in the shares that acted as collateral for their loans. With the proceeds of the emission and the lowered debt burden, Marvel is then supposed to acquire the remaining stake in ToyBiz, its toy manufacturer subsidiary.The recapitalization through the issue of 427mn new shares would solve the acute liquidity problems of the firm and the retirement of the firm’s public d ebt would lower the debt burden of the firm significantly. However, we believe that Marvel, under the proposed plan, would use its newly gained liquidity and flexibility to the wrong end. The acquisition of the remaining shares of ToyBiz would mean the continuation of an already ill- fated strategy that led to the current crisis.We therefore believe that the restructuring plan can only solve part of the problems that Marvel is facing. More precisely, the plan offers a solution for the symptoms of the underlying problems only. It solves the liquidity problem that caused Marvel to violate some of its debt covenants and it also lowers the company’s debt burden. The core problem in our view, the business strategy of Marvel, is not abandoned but even pursued further. B. ) I would not you vote for the proposed restructuring plan.The shares being p ledged to their bonds as collateral are valued largely lower now than they were when the bonds were first issued , which result in t hey can only recover a fraction of the face value of their bonds in the form of equity now and a breaking even again seems questionable. This argument does not necessarily hold for the investors who bought the deeply discounted bonds but given the valuat ion of Bear Stearns it is questionable whether they will recover their investment either. 3. How much is Marvel’s equity worth per share under the proposed restructuring plan assuming it acquires Toy Biz as planned?What is your assessment of the pro forma Financial projections and liquidation assumptions? Marvel’s current market price that is 2 dollars before restricting plan assuming it acquires Toy Biz as planned. Table 1: Debt/Equity Ratio With the aim to calculate Marvel’s equity with the proposed a cquisition of Toy Biz we used DCF model. As Debt/Equity ratios are stable (table 1), FCFE is used to calculate the cash flow with the following assumptions. Table 2: Assumptions Assume: Discount Rate is equal to average Annual Return on Investments in Stocks from 1997 to 2001. *Annual Returns data is from histretSP. xls (http://pages. tern. nyu. edu/~adamodar/New_Home_Page/Inv2ed. htm) Table 3: FCFE 401. 7million/528. 8 million = 0. 76 Dollars per share. It shows that Mr. Perelman pays 13. 3% premium for new shares (he pays 0. 85 dollars per share). M arvel’s liquidation value Table 4: Marvel’s liquidation value The liquidation value is 424. 7million via Chapter 7. 4. Will it be difficult for Marvel or other companies in the MacAndrews and Forbes holding company to issue debt in the future? The outstanding debt of Marvel has been downgraded by two rating agencies. In 1995 S and Moody’s downgraded the holding companies’ debt from B to B- .In 1996 Moody’s downgraded Marvel’s public debt. After that, Marvel had announced that it would violate specific bank loan covenants due to decreasing revenues and profits. Downgrading of debt increases the change o f default. After downgrading of debt, the process of probability to default increased substantially. The low credit rating indicates a high risk of defaulting on a loan and, hence leads to high interest rates or the refusal of a loan by the creditor. Investors realize this risk and therefore would demand a higher default premium. The increased default pre miums raised the cost of capital for the holding company.Given the increased risk premium and default possibilities, Marvel and other companies in the MacAndrews and Forbes holding group would having more difficulties issuing new debt in the future. Debt holders and creditors where raising questions about the integrity on the judgment decisions from Perelman. Judge Balick approved Marvel did not discriminate unfairly against non- affecting creditor classes and provided it was fair and equitable to all classes. In reaction, a lawyer challenged the Bearn Stern’s conclusions and insinuated Bearn Sterns had multiple levels of co nflicts due to the contingency fee provided by Perelman.In the end even the Vice – Chairman of the Andrew group had to come with a statement to overcome all the negative sounds in the market. Anyhow it looks like Perelman’s reputation was damaged already. 5. Why did the price of Marvel’s zero-coupon bonds drop on Tuesday, Nov 12, 1996? Why did portfolio managers at Fidelity and Putnam sell their bonds on Friday, Nov 8,1996? On Nov 12, 1996, Marvel’s zero- coupon bonds fell by more than 50% when the spokesman for the Andrews Group announced the details of the proposed restructuring plan.According to the announcement, Perelman was to purchase, through Perelman- related entities, 410 million shares of newly- issued Marvel common for $0. 85 per share, 81% discount to the then prevailing market price of $4. 625. The newly- issued stock would not be subject to the pledge of Perelman- owned Marvel stock that otherwise secured the bonds. The announcement of this self- dealing transaction was in no way foreshadowed by Marvels' prior public statements and conflicted with the covenants in the indentures to the bonds.Therefore, the market prices of the bonds to decline suddenly as the collateral t hat supported the bonds. Perelman's Marvel common stock holdings pre- proposed transaction was diluted from 80% of the equity in Marvel to less than 16%. The terms of the prospective transaction required Marvel to increase the number of its outstanding shares to approximately 511. 6 million shares from 101. 8 million, diluting Marvel common stockholders and greatly reducing the value of the shares that were pledged as collateral for the bonds. So it greatly impaired and reduced the value of the bonds.In fac t, Marvel bondholders were divested of virtually the whole of their collateral while Perelman would maintain 80% ownership of the firm, purchasing the newly- issued shares at grossly sub- market prices while preserving the ability to write off Marv el's losse s against the reported income in his other consolidated enterprises due to the maintenance of his 80% ownership of the firm. The price of Marvel’s zero- coupon bonds dropped also due to it did not meet the expectation of the debt holders, who analyzed the b ond by fair value or future growth of the firm.In addition, the public would predict that the restructuring plan could not be settled down so that the firm would have a very uncertain future, even bankrupt. Thus, the price declined because a lot of debt holders could not bear the risk for getting nothing and sold out their debts. On Nov 8, 1996, Howard Gittis, vice chairman of Andrews Group, called Fidelity Investments and Putnam Investments, two of the largest institutional holders of Marvel’s public debt, and asked them what they would like to see in a restructuring plan.Portfolio managers at Fidelity and Putnam decided to sell more that $70 million of Marvel bonds at a price of $0. 37 per dollar of fac e value on the next day. The main reason for selling by the managers is the conversation between Howard Gittis and them, which caused the managers considering the result of restructuring plan. They believed the plan would disappoint the public depending on their professional judgment. Perhaps, during this conversation, they got some detail information of the plan which proved the present value of Marvel’s bonds was overvalued.It gave the chance for them to avoid tens of millions of additional losses in diminished value that would have followed and suffer t he time they continued to hold the bonds already existing facts were revealed. On the other hand, the managers may worried about the downgrade of the bonds because the requirement of their portfolio allocation which constrained the percentage of the lower graded bonds or prohibited buying such bonds. Therefore, the bonds have to be sold to meet the requirement. Marvel Bankruptcy and Restructuring at Marvel Entertainment Group Chen Ziqiang Wu Libin Lin Yingshuai Deng Linli Lim Yihao 2011/11/29 1. Why did Marvel file for Chapter 11? Were the proble ms caused by bad luck, bad strategy, or bad execution? We think that Marvel filed for Chapter 11 mainly due to its bad business strategy. Three o f its six b usiness lines, Trading cards, Stickers and Comic Books started facing the decline in sales after year 1993. There were two main reasons for this decline: F irst, these businesses increasingly had to compete with a lternative forms of child entertainment (mainly video games).Second, the decline in sales was driven by disappointed collectors who had viewed comic books as a form of investment and stopped buying them as company stopped increasing the prices. We believe that the company should have foreseen these events while performing a market research and forming a long- term business and financial strategy. The three unpromising business lines account ed to 61% of total revenues of a company in year 1995. At the same time, the company's financial strategy was based on highly optimistic business expectations and was not suitable for unfavorable turn of demand for entertainment products towards video games.Due to its high leverage (52%), the company was not able to serve all the debt in case of sharply declining revenues. It is obvious that the company did not anticipate the cha nge in customers' preferences and was wrong in prediction of market trends, focusing on cards, stickers and publishing business lines and leveraging itself. Moreover, in 1995 Marvin continued its leveraged expansion into entertainment cards b usiness – acquiring Skybox. This decision was extremely imprudent, as the company was already on the threshold of financial distress and should have sought for high growth pportunities to expand in order to boost its revenues instead of adding debt to buy business whic h produces non- demanded products. Operatin g ratios Marvel Entertainment Group 1991 1992 1993 Sales 115. 1 223. 8 415. 2 Cost of Sales 58. 2 112. 6 215. 3 Cost of sales/ Sales 50. 6% 50. 3% 51. 9% SG&A 21. 4 43. 4 85. 3 SG&A/Sales 18. 6% 19. 4% 20. 5% Net Income 16. 1 32. 6 56 Net Income/Sales 14. 0% 14. 6% 13. 5% 1994 514. 8 275. 3 53. 5% 119. 7 23. 3% 61. 8 12. 0% 1995 823. 9 383. 3 46. 2% 231. 3 27. 9% – 48. 4 – 5. 8% 1996 581. 2 372. 4 61. 4% 168 28. 9% – 27. 9 – 4. 8%As can be seen in the table above, Marvels operating ratios dropped dramatically. The cost of Sales/Sales rose from 51% in 1991 to 62% in 1996, together with the SG&A expenses/Sales rising from 19% to 29%. Additionally Marvels Net Income/Sales dropped from 14% to – 5%. Leverage ratios Marvel Entertainment Group 1991 1992 1993 Total Debt 355,3 324,7 Shares outstanding 97,7 98,6 102,6 Share price 5 12 26 Market value of equity 488,5 1183,2 2667,6 Debt/ D+E 23,1% 10,9% EBITDA 35,5 67,8 114,6 EBITDA/SALES 30,8% 30,3% 27,6% Int erest expenses 3,50 6,50 14,60 EBITDA/Interest 10,1 10,4 7,8 1994 585,7 103,7 16 1659,2 6,1% 119,8 23,3% 16,50 7,3 1995 934,8 101,3 12 1215,6 43,5% 214,7 25,9% 43,20 5,0 1996 977 101,8 4 407,2 70,6% 40,8 7,0% 42,70 1,0 Compare the management policy and the leverage ratios from that time together with its operating ratios, we believe Marvel made an extremely impudent move to acquire Skybox in 1995. While their operating margins where deteriorating and their leverage coverage ratio (EBITDA/Interest) where falling, they should have acquired a different policy. For all above stated reasons, we believe that the company's financial problems were caused mainly by bad strategy and poor management. . Evaluate the proposed restructuring plan. Will it solve the proble ms that caused Marvel to file Chapter 11? As Carl Icahn, the largest unsecured debt holder, would you vote for the proposed restructuring plan? Why or why not? A. ) We believe that the restructuring plan can only solve part of th e problems that Marvel is facing. We also believe that the proposed restructuring plan will not solve the actual problems that Marvel is facing but only provide temporary relief to the company that is not sustainable.The proposed restructuring plan aims at providing liquidity to Marvel, lifting its debt burden and expanding its existing toy business. This is to be achieved by means of a recapitalization of the company through an emission of 427mn additional shares of common equity fo r a total value of USD 365mn. Additionally, the outstanding public debt of the company shall be retired with debt holders being paid in the shares that acted as collateral for their loans. With the proceeds of the emission and the lowered debt burden, Marvel is then supposed to acquire the remaining stake in ToyBiz, its toy manufacturer subsidiary.The recapitalization through the issue of 427mn new shares would solve the acute liquidity problems of the firm and the retirement of the firm’s public d ebt would lower the debt burden of the firm significantly. However, we believe that Marvel, under the proposed plan, would use its newly gained liquidity and flexibility to the wrong end. The acquisition of the remaining shares of ToyBiz would mean the continuation of an already ill- fated strategy that led to the current crisis.We therefore believe that the restructuring plan can only solve part of the problems that Marvel is facing. More precisely, the plan offers a solution for the symptoms of the underlying problems only. It solves the liquidity problem that caused Marvel to violate some of its debt covenants and it also lowers the company’s debt burden. The core problem in our view, the business strategy of Marvel, is not abandoned but even pursued further. B. ) I would not you vote for the proposed restructuring plan.The shares being p ledged to their bonds as collateral are valued largely lower now than they were when the bonds were first issued , which result in t hey can only recover a fraction of the face value of their bonds in the form of equity now and a breaking even again seems questionable. This argument does not necessarily hold for the investors who bought the deeply discounted bonds but given the valuat ion of Bear Stearns it is questionable whether they will recover their investment either. 3. How much is Marvel’s equity worth per share under the proposed restructuring plan assuming it acquires Toy Biz as planned?What is your assessment of the pro forma Financial projections and liquidation assumptions? Marvel’s current market price that is 2 dollars before restricting plan assuming it acquires Toy Biz as planned. Table 1: Debt/Equity Ratio With the aim to calculate Marvel’s equity with the proposed a cquisition of Toy Biz we used DCF model. As Debt/Equity ratios are stable (table 1), FCFE is used to calculate the cash flow with the following assumptions. Table 2: Assumptions Assume: Discount Rate is equal to average Annual Return on Investments in Stocks from 1997 to 2001. *Annual Returns data is from histretSP. xls (http://pages. tern. nyu. edu/~adamodar/New_Home_Page/Inv2ed. htm) Table 3: FCFE 401. 7million/528. 8 million = 0. 76 Dollars per share. It shows that Mr. Perelman pays 13. 3% premium for new shares (he pays 0. 85 dollars per share). M arvel’s liquidation value Table 4: Marvel’s liquidation value The liquidation value is 424. 7million via Chapter 7. 4. Will it be difficult for Marvel or other companies in the MacAndrews and Forbes holding company to issue debt in the future? The outstanding debt of Marvel has been downgraded by two rating agencies. In 1995 S and Moody’s downgraded the holding companies’ debt from B to B- .In 1996 Moody’s downgraded Marvel’s public debt. After that, Marvel had announced that it would violate specific bank loan covenants due to decreasing revenues and profits. Downgrading of debt increases the change o f default. After downgrading of debt, the process of probability to default increased substantially. The low credit rating indicates a high risk of defaulting on a loan and, hence leads to high interest rates or the refusal of a loan by the creditor. Investors realize this risk and therefore would demand a higher default premium. The increased default pre miums raised the cost of capital for the holding company.Given the increased risk premium and default possibilities, Marvel and other companies in the MacAndrews and Forbes holding group would having more difficulties issuing new debt in the future. Debt holders and creditors where raising questions about the integrity on the judgment decisions from Perelman. Judge Balick approved Marvel did not discriminate unfairly against non- affecting creditor classes and provided it was fair and equitable to all classes. In reaction, a lawyer challenged the Bearn Stern’s conclusions and insinuated Bearn Sterns had multiple levels of co nflicts due to the contingency fee provided by Perelman.In the end even the Vice – Chairman of the Andrew group had to come with a statement to overcome all the negative sounds in the market. Anyhow it looks like Perelman’s reputation was damaged already. 5. Why did the price of Marvel’s zero-coupon bonds drop on Tuesday, Nov 12, 1996? Why did portfolio managers at Fidelity and Putnam sell their bonds on Friday, Nov 8,1996? On Nov 12, 1996, Marvel’s zero- coupon bonds fell by more than 50% when the spokesman for the Andrews Group announced the details of the proposed restructuring plan.According to the announcement, Perelman was to purchase, through Perelman- related entities, 410 million shares of newly- issued Marvel common for $0. 85 per share, 81% discount to the then prevailing market price of $4. 625. The newly- issued stock would not be subject to the pledge of Perelman- owned Marvel stock that otherwise secured the bonds. The announcement of this self- dealing transaction was in no way foreshadowed by Marvels' prior public statements and conflicted with the covenants in the indentures to the bonds.Therefore, the market prices of the bonds to decline suddenly as the collateral t hat supported the bonds. Perelman's Marvel common stock holdings pre- proposed transaction was diluted from 80% of the equity in Marvel to less than 16%. The terms of the prospective transaction required Marvel to increase the number of its outstanding shares to approximately 511. 6 million shares from 101. 8 million, diluting Marvel common stockholders and greatly reducing the value of the shares that were pledged as collateral for the bonds. So it greatly impaired and reduced the value of the bonds.In fac t, Marvel bondholders were divested of virtually the whole of their collateral while Perelman would maintain 80% ownership of the firm, purchasing the newly- issued shares at grossly sub- market prices while preserving the ability to write off Marv el's losse s against the reported income in his other consolidated enterprises due to the maintenance of his 80% ownership of the firm. The price of Marvel’s zero- coupon bonds dropped also due to it did not meet the expectation of the debt holders, who analyzed the b ond by fair value or future growth of the firm.In addition, the public would predict that the restructuring plan could not be settled down so that the firm would have a very uncertain future, even bankrupt. Thus, the price declined because a lot of debt holders could not bear the risk for getting nothing and sold out their debts. On Nov 8, 1996, Howard Gittis, vice chairman of Andrews Group, called Fidelity Investments and Putnam Investments, two of the largest institutional holders of Marvel’s public debt, and asked them what they would like to see in a restructuring plan.Portfolio managers at Fidelity and Putnam decided to sell more that $70 million of Marvel bonds at a price of $0. 37 per dollar of fac e value on the next day. The main reason for selling by the managers is the conversation between Howard Gittis and them, which caused the managers considering the result of restructuring plan. They believed the plan would disappoint the public depending on their professional judgment. Perhaps, during this conversation, they got some detail information of the plan which proved the present value of Marvel’s bonds was overvalued.It gave the chance for them to avoid tens of millions of additional losses in diminished value that would have followed and suffer t he time they continued to hold the bonds already existing facts were revealed. On the other hand, the managers may worried about the downgrade of the bonds because the requirement of their portfolio allocation which constrained the percentage of the lower graded bonds or prohibited buying such bonds. Therefore, the bonds have to be sold to meet the requirement.