Von Neumann Architecture Essay Example for Free

Von Neumann Architecture Essay The greatest social transformation in Britain can be traced back in early 19th century. It was primarily due to the reform in life style or modernity (the introduction of machines industrialisation)which have caused a radical change on the location of work, which also became a driven force for vast number of people to move towards cities (urbanization).In contrary caused a drastic change on population size (over population )in city areas .The overall state political frame work was based on lassie fair, conservative(non-interventionist )approach where there are no or limited state intervention in redistributing resources . The economy was market wise economy system(free market).There were no social welfare amendments or services provided by the state , it was commonly considered as commodity and they were mainly provided by private sectors or volunteers (philanthropy’s ). The newly life style and overpopulation have caused massive social, political and economic problems which mandated the state to intervention in overcoming the situate (the need appeoch). The overpopulation have triggered various social disorders like shortage in housing , outbreak of new diseases, sanitation problem, poor health condition increase rate of unemployment and poverty..Etc. In the 19th century Britain was the uppermost in industry and trades (the first country to go through industrialized) and accounted as one of the richest country in the world while 30 % of the population were under poverty line (ref) the free market had aggravated great social conflict among haves and the have–not due to opposing interest and created excessive gap between social classes. However this stimulated the emergence of strong labour unions . There are two approaches on the evolution of welfare state. The need approach states diversion in life style (modernity) have caused the state to intervene and the conflict approach argues on class conflict and the growth of strong labour union as the result for the emergence of social welfare. Poor laws that were amended in 1601 and 1834 were considered to be the first measures taken by the state in order to address poverty (poor people) even though the means of poverty were not clearly understood. There were important factors which stimulated the government to contemplate poverty (welfare system) as an important issue. The Edwin Chadwick report led down the first lime stone for the formation of the first health act in 1848 also Charles booth made an outstanding study on poverty and the Courses he argues poverty should not be linked with laziness or poor people should not be blamed for their states.

Financial performance of microfinance institutions

Financial performance of microfinance institutions Financial Performance of Microfinance Institutions Abstract The paper investigates the financial attractiveness of microfinance institutions (MFIs). With the use of CAMEL methodology is the performance of MFIs analyzed. A comparison with G10 commercial banks shows†¦. Secondly, the systematic risk factors of MFIs are identified. The study * VU University Amsterdam, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, De Boelelaan 1105, 1081 HV Amsterdam Comments are welcome at: [emailprotected] Introduction This paper investigates the financial performance of microfinance institutions (MFIs) from the perspective of a foreign investor. Microfinance institutions offer a broad amount of financial products and services to people who lack access to traditional banking services, also called; ‘the unbankable. Starting from social driven performance measures, the microfinance industry has been arguably effective in reducing poverty worldwide. In the last decades the microfinance industry has developed into an alternative investment class. The sector is characterized by attractive returns, low default rates and an explosive growth. Nevertheless, there is only a small scientific basis about the promises microfinance offers as a financial investment class. The financial attractiveness of MFIs for investors is questioned within this paper. Through analyzing the performance of MFI with CAMEL ratings and identifying the systematic risk factors, enriches this paper the academic field of finance. The study starts from the findings of Krauss Walter (2008). Their empirical results show that MFIs have a low or non exposure with international commercial markets from developed nations. Microfinance investments are for investors thus useful for portfolio diversification. Besides the social benefit that social oriented investors gain, the question arises what is the potential financial gain for a foreign investor? Nonacademic sources present microfinance as a interesting alternative investment class for solely return oriented investors. Institutions as the Consultative Group to Assists the Poor (CGAP) are reporting profits twice as high as their local peers and returns on investments in some parts of the world between 117 and 847 percent (Little field Holtman, 2005). Gonzales Rosenberg (2006) presented evidence of MFIs that outperform commercial banks on the return on assets. The returns are combined with a repayment rate of loans of almost 100 percent. Group liability repayment systems realize the low default rates. The repayment schemes are typical for the microfinance industry since clients lack collateral for the provided loans. The numbers indicate a save investment with a high return for investors. Nevertheless, investors seem to be skeptic about investing in MFIs. As Krauss Walter (2008, p.6) righteously mention: â€Å" Investors appear to perceive microfinance as excessively risky relative to the returns it generates, partially due to a lack of viable foreign exchange hedges, absence of a solid track record, poor reporting standards, heterogeneous products and inadequate liquidity.† The Microfinance Exchange (MIX) tracks the performance of MFIs since 1998. The MIX is a platform which gathers and publishes financial and communal oriented (outreach) numbers of MFIs. The institutions deliver the data voluntary to the MIX. Of the approximately 10.000 MFIs worldwide, only a small percentage (around 8 percent) send reports to independent platforms as the Microfinance Exchange. The incentive to offer data is to attract more funds from investors (Hartarska Nadolnuak, 2008). The attraction of more funds leads to a higher amount of accessible capital for the low-income clients. A high return on investment is promised by MFIs to investors. In combination with the support to poor people, seems microfinance to be the commercial solution for worldwide poverty. In practice, this promise is only rarely fulfilled by the institutions, due to the high operating cost per client and the lack of knowledge and transparency within the institutions. Academic research is necessary to cl assify the sources of growth in microfinance institutions, thereby establishing a valid basis to assess the performance and risk of MFIs. The paper aims to increase the transparency and rationale behind the data of microfinance. Transparency is increased by presenting measures of performance of the institutions in relation with their domestic environment. MFIs are considered as emerging banks in developing countries. A comparison with commercial banks using adjusted performance methods is used as a starting point. Identifying the systematic risk factors within the domestic environment results in a valid basis to assess the performance of MFIs. The financial statements of the MFIs are downloaded from the MIX website. A drawback in microfinance related research is the low quality of the data. Although the MIX offers the best available set of data and puts serious efforts to increase the quality is the dataset relative young. The dataset contains annual data and is subject to subjectivity due to the voluntary basis and a lack of legislation and authorization in the nations were MFIs are effective. To deal with the low quality of the data this paper first checks till which extent the data makes sense. CAMEL ratings as an efficiency parameter are used SYSTAMTIC RISK The rest of the paper is organized as follows: section 1 reviews the literature of the microfinance industry and the recent developments. Section 2 describes the bank performance methodologies to assess the performance of banks. Section 3 describes a comparison of banking ratios between commercial banks and MFIs. Section 4 discusses the results on the performance drivers of MFIs as a result of the systematic risk of emerging nations. Section 5 concludes the paper with a discussion of the main findings found in this paper The Microfinance Promise The success of the book ‘Creating a world without poverty of Muhammed Yunus (founder of the Grameen bank in 1970 Nobel Prize Winner for the Peace in 2006), increased the awareness and popularity in microfinance. Microfinance refers to the financial products as savings, insurance, transfer services, microcredit loans and other products targeted at low-income clients. From origin is microcredit the key product of MFIs. Loans are used to develop local economies to banish poverty from the low-income communities. The difference between traditional banking and microfinance is the level of creditworthiness of clients. Low-income clients in microfinance lack collateral, structural employment and/or a verifiable credit history almost by definition. This disables them to meet the minimum creditworthiness requirements to gain access to traditional finance products and services. Microfinance clients are therefore often referred as: ‘the unbankable. The lending activities of MFIs are characterized as follows: 1) loans are solely available to members of the MFI; 2) loans are relatively small and generally unsecured; 3) assets and liabilities of the MFI are owned jointly by the members (the clients are the owners), 4) internal monitoring and social sanctions (group liability) are used to enforce the loan contracts (Skees Barnet, 2006). Microfinance institutions thus use group lending methods to guarantee repayment of the financial services which is a substitute for the lack of collateral. This innovative and reversed perspective on banking enables MFIs to provide financial support to the poorest people of the world. This considers 1 billion people worldwide or a potential of 1 billion clients. Reducing poverty worldwide is incorporated in the G8 millennium development goals. Microfinance is considered to be a proven way to realize this millennium goal. Judged against the profit maximization ideology of commercial banks in developed countries have MFIs a dual mis sion; reducing poverty worldwide while being financial sustainable (Drake Rhyne, 2002). The success of microfinance increased the interest of developed nations and the mainstream finance industry. Commercial organizations support initiatives in microfinance as an act of corporate social responsibility. For investors and financials is microfinance attractive for its low correlation with commercial markets. Real life examples are the diversification possibilities that pension and insurance funds find in microfinance (Krauss Walter, 2008). The balance between social and financial returns was studied by the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP) in February 2008. The CGAP identifies a stream of private investors investing in microfinance with no particular interest in the social objective of MFIs since 2006. The entry of private investors in microfinance is seen as one the most important development since institutional investors noticed microfinance in the beginning of 2000. Before this period mainly governments, NGOs and charity funds invested and supported MFIs. In 2006 seventeen billion dollar of loans represented 10% of the potential microfinance market (Swanson, 2007). The money market return in that year was 5.8% in dollars and 3.2% in euros (Reille Foster, 2008). Although multiple sources report extreme returns on equity in microfinance, is investing in microfinance far from riskless. MicroPlace is the first online platform to trade in MFIs developed by Ebay. The average yield on a investment is 3% which matures in 3 years. In order to realize high net return on equity should organizations keep the operational cost low. Especially in the case of MFIs are operating cost high. Still lack of control and transparency makes investing in MFIs risky. Difficulty to comply with regulation standards, if any regulation framework is available MFIs act like banks, by collecting any in developed nations and from local communities and invest them in the area. Criticism is about the lack of transparency and knowledge in the sector. Databases consist of low quality accounting numbers and the absence of legislation, authorization in emerging economies aInsights in this industry will thus not only benefit the poor of the world, but also investors of the world as well as the lessons for the financial systems worldwide. The promise that microfinance offers is a reduction of poverty worldwide, with without any means of charity or subsidy (Cull, Demirguà §-Kunt Morduch, 2007). The poverty line is defined as having less than 2 dollar to spend on a daily basis. Group liability schemes are the response of MFIs to avoid the lack of traceable credibility and liquidity of clients. The group structure of loan repayment proves to secure high rates of repayment. Even with the lack of collateral or means of liquidity of the clients (Cull, Demirguà §-Kunt Morduch, 2007). The backside of this concept is that the industry is characterized by a high amount of transactional and operational cost due to monitoring cost. Also the high geographical distances and spread of clients, without technology standards or infrastructure to bridge these distance, increases the operational costs. A stereotype client of an MFI would be a woman (approximately 97% of all microfinance clients are woman), with a low level or non education. The idea that most clients are entrepreneurs is a biased view. Since microfinance believes in the strength and flexibility of people new entrepreneurial business arise, but everyone with a spendable income of less than 2 dollar a day, could be a client of an MFI. Grootte markt Although the loans and services provided are relative low is the amount of clients enormous. Ownership and governance (Call for legislation and authorization) Technology influences (Mobile phones) Microfinance for investors (brug naar bank performance en systematic risk) Portfolio diversification Return oriented (non academic article) not more than a T bill) Null hypothesis 3: MFIs dont generate excess returns more over equity indices. How to sustain credibility High fixed cost to monitor clients No collateral as a backup in case of default, so MFIs have to define risk management methods in order to control potential default rates. Bank performance From NGO to Commercial bank Null hypothesis 1: MFIs have the same banking ratios compared with commercial banks from G10 nations. Systematic risk of MFIs Impact of macroeconomic indicators on MFIs and visa versa Null Hypothesis 2: MFIs and macroeconomic indicators are not related. Microfinance business and investors MFIs have a different business model than traditional banks. This affects capital structure of the institution. The expectations of investors are also higher. A return hurdle is identified in †¦. Which state that investors expect return on equity of MFIs between 20-25 percent due to additional risk of the underdeveloped markets. Transaction costs are high for investors. Since most MFIs are not publicly tradable investors have to spend relative more time and effort to find, retrieve and monitor funds of MFIs. Exchange rates and effort to buy forgein shares in MFIs The lack of transparency creates information asymmetry Asymmetric information contributes to high transaction costs associated with underwriting, monitoring, and loss adjustment. The very same asymmetric information and transaction costs problems also plague financial markets in rural areas of low-income countries, contributing to high market interest rates. Market interest rates are also affected by default risk. Financial regulations can protect the interests of consumers by reducing information asymmetries. So Camel But for MFIs instead of commercial banks it is very difficult to diversify risk. Since most lenders have a business in agricultural oparetions a nature disaster or a change of policy within the domestic border affects almost the compete loan portfolio. For this reason it is important to understand the underlying sustamtic risk of an MFI with a nation. Bank Performance Measurement Measurement of the financial performance of banks increases the transparency of the banking sector in various ways. First, the performance indicators are warning signals for troubled banks. This increases the safety of the banking system. Secondly the indicators are useful tools for allocation decisions for investors. Especially in the case of MFIs, investors lack perfect information. Compared with developed nations the information asymmetry is greater, since commercial banks from industrialized countries have easy accessible and reliable performance indicators. Monitoring MFI performance decreases the information asymmetry gap for investors, which helps MFIs to attract more funds and increase their performances. A performance model assesses the efficiency of the organization. Efficiency is the ratio of the effective or useful output to the total input of a system. Different methods are available to measure the efficiency of banks. Statistical and intelligent techniques to model bank performance models are extensively reviewed by Kumar Ravi (2009). The most common approaches are data envelopment analysis (DEA) (Liu, 2009) and CAMEL analysis (Cole Gunther, 2008). DEA is a non parametric method which uses linear programming to measure multiple in- and outputs of business units. The business units are compared through creating an efficient frontier of best performing business units. DEA is mainly used to asses the internal efficiency of a bank. On-site examinations are the most precise way to monitor the performance of a bank. In developed nations are banks assessed between every 12-18 months. The ratings are known to CAMELS ratings according to their functional areas: capital adequacy, asset quality, management quality, earnings strength and liquidity. The performance of each area is rated on a 5 point scale (1 strong performance, 2 satisfactory performance, 3 performance that is flawed to some degree, 4 marginal performance that is significantly below average, 5 unsatisfactory performance that is critically deficient and in need of immediate action). From the 5 areas is a composite overall rating constructed. The Commercial Bank Examination Manual produced by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System qualifies an institution consequently as; 1 an institution that is basically sound in every respect, 2 an institution that is fundamentally sound but has modest weaknesses, 3 an institution with financial, operatio nal, or compliance weaknesses that give cause for supervisory concern, 4 an institution with serious financial weaknesses that could impair future viability, 5 an institution with critical financial weaknesses that render the probability of failure extremely high in the near term. Although the CAMEL approach is widely used, Cole Gunther (2008) point out that the reliability of the ratings decays rapidly once published. To deal with the diminishing value of CAMEL ratings, they offer a method to create CAMEL rating based on accounting data. The off-site examination of the CAMEL rating performs better after two quarters since the last on site assessment. The CAMEL approach is a suitable starting point to asses MFI performance, since MFI data is only published annually. The rating enables to benchmark multiple MFIs and filter credible and well performing institutions from the dataset. CAMEL offers thereby the possibility to incorporate the social objective of MFIs within the performance model. Besides CAMEL are seven approaches established to measure MFI performance. The Global Development Research center describes all approaches which find their origin from private and commercial initiatives to rank MFIs. The ACCION Camel approach is comparable to the measuremen t as suggested above. An overview of the systems: PEARLS rating system. This is a rating system developed for credit unions by the World Council of Credit Unions (WOCCU). ACCION Camel. The evaluation guideline for MFIs developed by ACCION International. Girafe rating system. Developed by PlaNetFinance. MicroRate. Developed by Damian von Stauffenberg of MicroRate. MicroBanking Bulletin/ MicroBanking Standards Project. Funded by the Consultative Group to Assist the Poorest (CGAP). The Philippine Coalition for Micro-finance Standards.Developed a set of performance standards to serve as guidelines or benchmarks to assess the operations of NGOs involved in microfinance. Institutional Performance Standards and PlansDeveloped by the Committee of Donor Agencies for Small Enterprise Development and United Nations Capital Development Fund. CAMEL is suggested as most suitable for investors. The reliance on qualitative measurement through interviews with the MFIs management is a drawback of the above mentioned methods. Although interviews are useful to assess the performance of an institution, it does not allow investors to asses the institution based on free available information (for example from MIX markets). The CAMEL approach offers an objective evaluation method to assess the performance on quantitative measures. CAMEL is thereby widely recognized as a well performance rating method of financial institutions. The areas of the CAMEL approach are defined, but the indicators to generate the rating of the areas vary per organization or study. Microfinance has a different banking perspective compared with traditional banking. To adjust for this basic principle the set of accounting indicators for the CAMEL model is different, compared with models of traditional banks. ACCION is a rating agency which uses CAMEL to measure the performance of MFIs. A combination of qualitative (interviews) and quantitative (accounting data) analysis is used to rate the institutions. The present study solely uses quantitative measures to assess MFI performance. The indicators are adjusted to the amount of the gross loan portfolio to adjust for company size. Capital adequacy is measured by the amount of total equity and the amount of leverage within the organizations. A higher amount of equity reduces the probability of the occurrence of insolvency. A higher reliance on debt increases the financial pressure on the institution. Leverage reduces therefore the overall CAMEL score. Asset quality indicates the quality of the loans. The write of ratio of the loans and the not winnable loans in 30 days, reduces the quality of the assets. The ACCION model and the model of Cole Gunther (2008) do not include a quantitative measure of management. The current study measures the way the management uses the financial resources efficiently to provide as many loans with the same resources. Better management should be able to reach more clients (possibly with a higher amount of an average loan). Operational self-sufficiency is a measure of overall financial performance of the management. The ratio of operational expenses and loan portfolio presents how effective the management distributes loans to clients. This serves as a proxy for the objective of MFIs to reduce poverty. Secondly is the amount of active borrowers an absolute measure of how many clients the management reaches compared to the financial resources. The average loan balance divided by the GNI of the domestic nation indicates how much a MFI offers to clients within the local context. Earnings strength is the most important for return oriented investors. Return on assets and equity are a widely accepted measures of financial performance. Profit margin is included as a profitability measure of the services offered by the institution. Liquidity is a measure of how well an institution deals with short term cash flows and needs. Unfortunately the database only provides annual information of balance sheets. Specific (short term) cash flow information is not available. Liquidity represents the ability of an institution to meet obligations as they come due. In order to create a proxy for liquidity, data is gathered to determine till which extent institutions can meet loan requests of clients. Two ratios are calculated. The first represents the growth of the assets compared with the growth in the total loan portfolio. The second ratio focuses on the growth of equity compared with the growth in the total loan portfolio. If the ratios are above one, institutions are able to meet the obligations of new loans on a short term basis. An overview of the indicators used in the present study is given in table X, together with the expected effect on the overall CAMEL score. BEKIJK CLEAM Winker Tank, 2008 Exponential weighting is used to include past performances of institutions into the model. Other CAMEL models do not incorporate the time dimension, but past performances are a reliable proxy for future performance. Capital adequacy is for example calculated as: CA1 and CA2 are the camel scores on the indicators as discussed above, is the weight of the indicator within the specified CAMEL area. This will be normally equally distributed over the amount of parameters. The is the degree to which the past years taken into the equation. N is the amount of years of available data of MFI performance. The overall CAMEL score is constructed by an equal or adjusted weighting of the five performance areas. The sums of the weights of the indicators have a maximum of 1. Regarding the social objectives of MFIs a distinction is made between solely return oriented investors and more social oriented investors. A customized CAMEL rating on the preferences of an investor is created by shifting the weights of the areas, yielding the CAMEL rating which reflects the preferences of the investor. Within this study we will use an equal weight distributing, a distribution which stresses the financial performance (ES) and a rating which focuses on the social objectives (MQ). Two words of caution have to be made with the use of the current model. The comparability of the ratings is not straight forward when investors adjust weights to their preferences. Traditional CAMEL models use always an equal weighting over the areas, to grant comparability. Secondly, in line with Cole Gunther (2008) the CAMEL ratings are a not interchangeable with the CAMEL based on on-site visits. For investors the model designed for MFIs provides a reasonable indicator to determine the quality of MFIs on various aspects and should be seen complementary with the on site visits. Summarizing, CAMEL is used as a starting point to measures the financial performance of MFIs. Specific indicators are chosen to adjust for the special case of a microfinance institution. The ACCION CAMEL model provided a first start for the current model. The solely quantitative model incorporates proposes a measure for effective management of an MFI, as a reflection of the social objective of MFIs. Secondly the model also considers past performance of MFIs with the use of exponential weighting. Thirdly the model enables to provide weights according to the investor preferences. For MFIs the model presents indicators which could be embedded in the MFIs performance goals. This way MFIs could attract more funds necessary through establishing a better rating and so, become more attractive for investors. In the appendix are the CAMEL rating for the indicators specified. Systematic risk in microfinance Sentivity to market risk as a extension of the CAMEL model. Descriptive statics are used to compare the performance of MFIs with commercial banks. Banking ratios of commercial banks of the G10 are used as a benchmark. The comparison of banking ratios provides a glance of the performance of the MFIs. The return on assets (RoA) and on equity (RoE) is compared to give an indication of the profitability of MFIs. The outstanding loan portfolios and write off ratios, provide a view of the riskiness MFIs, since micro credit represents the largest product class with microfinance. Leverage is used as an additional proxy for the riskiness of the organizations. Operational costs are compared to get a feeling for the efficiency of MFIs. According to Krauss Walter (2008) is the performance of MFIs mainly driven by macroeconomic factors within the domestic borders. The drivers of the financial performance of MFIs are studied with the use of the arbitrage pricing model (APT). The asset pricing model is used to determine the risk premiums of the macro economic factors of MFIs within the nation. Roll Ross (1995) find that the return on assets or equity consists of a system of risk factors. The systematic risk factors are macroeconomic factors. The expected return on a portfolio of assets is given by The betas on the factors represent a risk premium for a systematic risk factor. The alpha, as a residual idiosyncratic factor is canceling out in large portfolios. By using the linear multi factor model an indication of the impact of the macroeconomic factors is revealed on the performance of MFIs. The factors incorporated in the model are the growth of GDP, GNI, inflation and the penetration of the financial sector within the nation. In line with the

A milimeter too far Essay -- Medical Research

A millimetre too far: Discuss metastatic melanoma (skin cancer) with particular reference to the genes involve. Introduction In 2008 11,767 new cases of malignant melanoma was reported in the UK (UK, 2011) . Melanoma involves melanocytes of the skin which have a role in protecting the deeper layers of the skin from UV light emitted from the sun. Metastatic melanoma occurs when a primary tumour travels into the bloodstream and spreads to other body parts i.e. liver or lymph nodes. The survival rate for people with metastatic melanoma decreases the later the diagnosis and the bigger the spread (metastasis) of the cancer. Scientists have therefore investigated ways in which treatment for melanoma can be improved by diagnostic markers and by targeting the genes involved in the development of melanocytes; also the genes involved in uncontrolled proliferation as seen in metastatic melanoma. BRAFV600E Mutation of BRAF gene (a member of the RAF family of serine-theronine kinase (Gorden et al., 2003) has led to countless research on therapeutic treatments that target BRAF gene and inhibit its expression. Before melanoma gets to the metastatic stages there are a series of somatic mutations in melanocyte genes that leads to the transition from radial growth phase to vertical growth phase (Tan, 2012). Over activation of BRAF gene (somatic mutation) in melanoma leads to the uncontrolled proliferation and survival of melanoma cells via activation of the RAS/RAF/MAPK pathway (Gorden et al., 2003); the attachment of BRAF to RAS proteins activates the MAPK pathway involved in melanoma proliferation and the regulation of genes involved in the metastatic cascade. Recent studies showed that 92% of melanoma samples had a substitution (l... ...M., Elder, D. E., Hsu, M. Y., & Herlyn, M. (1994). Regulation of Mel-CAM/MUC18 expression on melanocytes of different stages of tumor progression by normal keratinocytes. [Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.]. Am J Pathol, 145(4), 837-845. Tan, W. W. H., J.E.;Schulman, P. (2012, 29 Feb 2012). Malignant Melanoma Retrieved 15 March, 2012, from http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/280245-overview Toh, B., Wang, X. J., Keeble, J., Sim, W. J., Khoo, K., Wong, W. C., . . . Abastado, J. P. (2011). Mesenchymal Transition and Dissemination of Cancer Cells Is Driven by Myeloid-Derived Suppressor Cells Infiltrating the Primary Tumor. Plos Biology, 9(9). doi: ARTN e1001162 DOI 10.1371/journal.pbio.1001162 UK, C. r. (Producer). (2011, April 5). Skin cancer - UK incidence statistics. Retrieved from http://info.cancerresearchuk.org/cancerstats/types/skin/incidence/#Trends

Carl Friedrich Gauss Essay -- essays research papers

Carl Friedrich Gauss   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  This report is on Carl Friedrich Gauss. Gauss was a German scientist and mathematician. People call him the founder of modern mathematics. He also worked in astronomy and physics. His work in astronomy and physics is nearly as significant as that in mathematics. Gauss also worked in crystallography, optics, biostatistics, and Making mechanics.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Gauss was born on April 30, 1777 in Brunswick. Brunswick is what is now called West Germany. He was born to a peasant couple. Gauss's father didn't want Gauss to go to a University. In elementary school he soon impressed his teacher, who is said to have convinced Gauss's father that his son should be permitted to study with a view toward entering a university. In secondary school nobody recognize his is talent for math and science because he rapidly distinguished himself in ancient languages. When Gauss was 14 he impressed the duke of Brunswick with his computing skill. The duke was so impressed that he generously supported Gauss until his death in 1806.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Gauss conceived almost all his basic mathematical discoveries between the ages of 14 and 17. In 1791 he began to do totally new and innovative work in mathematics. In 1793-94 he did intensive research in number theory, especially on prime numbers. He made this his life's passion and is regarded as its modern founder.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Gaus...

Music Diaries :: essays research papers

The Beatles   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I enjoyed the music of The Beatles. I felt that their songs were fun and uplifting. They had enjoyable beats and were easy to dance and listen to. Listening to their music didn?t put me to sleep. That is a good thing. They didn?t always have to have a meaning behind their music. Some of the songs that they wrote were just a result of them screwing around.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The one thing that I did notice was that I could understand every word they were singing in their songs. That is another reason that I enjoyed their music so much. There have been many groups in the past, and there are many groups today that don?t know how to make music. All they can do is make racket and scream into a microphone.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  There were a couple of Beatles songs that did have a very serious meaning and others that were just about drugs and good times. Unless you were sitting down and really analyzing their music you were not able to figure out that they were singing about drugs. After they met Dylan there music did make a drastic change, but they still had the respect of their audiences and still do today. They have definitely made a difference in the music industry. May 21, 1998 period 1 Queen   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Queen is a very fun group to listen to. Their upbeat crazy music keeps people listening. They became more and more popular with every new album they released. Queen?s songs often had several hidden meanings. We think that they were just having fun when they wrote certain songs, but in reality they were expressing themselves. A lot of the meanings went unknown for a very long time and some are still making people wonder.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  They also had a very talented band. This made it easier to make the background music in their songs interesting. The guitar solos are excellent, the drummer is great, and the vocals are very enjoyable. There are many that feel that the fact that the lead was a bisexual changed the quality of their music. I don?t believe that. Queen was Queen, no matter what, they were good.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  There is a reason that they had nineteen albums, eight gold and six platinum, they played quality music. I am glad there music is still appreciated around the world today. May 21, 1998 period 1 The Sex Pistols   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  This is a group I wouldn?t mind never hearing again.

In what ways does Shakespeare make the opening scenes of Macbeth dramatic? Essay

The play Macbeth written by William Shakespeare is skilfully structured to engage an audience’s interest through effective techniques in the opening scenes. These are the use of setting, characterisation, language and the structure of the play. The setting is cleverly used to create the appropriate atmosphere to the scene and plays on the 17th century expectations and assumptions of weather. The characters introduced in the opening scenes are captivating, Shakespeare’s use of rhyme, rhythm, repetition and dialogue help establish this. The play’s structure in the scenes and character’s dialogue create an engaging and inquiring effect, helping to make the opening scenes of Macbeth captivate the audience’s interest. The setting in the opening scenes is crafted to create a dramatic effect through the place its set in and the weather used. In act one, scene one, the stage directions are given as â€Å"An open place†¦Thunder and lightening. Enter three witches.† This is quite significant, especially in the 17th century, as in those superstitious times it was believed that storms were representative of and released forces of evil. The audience is already informed that it’s a spooky and eerie atmosphere and are then intrigued as to what frightening or supernatural event might follow. A stormy setting is used prior to the witches’ entrance in both scene one and three, which acts as an effective prelude to a sinister and immoral mood. Act one, scene three’s stage description â€Å"A heath†¦thunder†¦Ã¢â‚¬  is not only using pathetic fallacy to set the evil and unsettled tone, but also landscape. A heath can be described as wasteland overgrown with shrubs, uncultivated. This uncared for and abandoned environment reflects that the witches are socially unacceptable and rejected, emphasising and reminding the audience how ill-favoured and god-awful these witches are. This provokes the audience’s curiosity as they’re ‘sheltered’ or not used to seeing this kind of living, and shows the dramatic impact Shakespeare crafts through setting. Another technique used to maintain interest and stimulate inquisitiveness is the structure of the opening scenes. Shakespeare purposely organises the order in which the characters are introduced and limits the storyline revealed to the audience to captivate them. The first scene with the witches mentions their plans involving Macbeth. â€Å"There to meet with Macbeth†¦Ã¢â‚¬  and as the character of Macbeth hasn’t yet made an entrance, the audience indecisively creates an image of doom around him, as his name is associated with the witches. However, scene two sets up a more assuring perception of Macbeth. The Captain praises his name and noble actions to King Duncan, â€Å"For brave Macbeth†¦disdaining fortune, with his brandished steel†, this follow through scene leaves the audience assured, but having the preceding thought of Macbeth being doomed creates curiosity in the audience. Having been introduced to two completely contrasting personas of Macbeth, the audience wants to know whether he will turn out to continue being noble or change to being evil. In scene three Macbeth meets with the witches, as they’d predicted at the beginning of the play. They then foretell Macbeth’s destiny as becoming Thane of Glamis, Thane of Cawdor and then King, â€Å"All hail Macbeth, hail to thee, Thane of Glamis!†¦Thane of Cawdor!†¦that shalt be King hereafter!† In sequence, Macbeth is informed that he’s now Thane of Cawdor. â€Å"And for an earnest of a greater honour†¦call thee Thane of Cawdor.† The audience is now aware that the witches’ predictions have been proven correct. Macbeth is also now aware of this, and a curious seed of greed has been planted into his mind. This is where he then starts brooding on thoughts of becoming King, and what he might have to do to achieve this, â€Å"†¦My thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Aside to the audience, Macbeth is explaining his thoughts of killing Duncan, in order to be King. This creates a lot of interest amongst the audience as Macbeth was described as being a noble, respectable and courageous man prior to his soliloquy, yet now after the witches’ prediction has come true, Macbeth is falling into the witches hands- favouring their other prediction of him becoming King. This order of events is effective in the way that intrigue is raised as to whether Macbeth will become King or not. Structure is not only used in the scenes, but also in the dialogue to build up an alluring and tense effect. In scene two the Captain has been delivering victorious news about a battle Macbeth had led to triumph. In sequel he begins â€Å"†¦whence comfort seemed to come, discomfort swells.† The Captain raises Duncan’s expectations of defeat by using ‘comfort’ and ‘discomfort’ as contrasting words. Duncan now assumes an unsuccessful loss, as well as the audience, â€Å"Dismayed not this our captains, Macbeth and Banquo?† However the Captain continues to announce Macbeth’s second victory, â€Å"†¦As cannons overcharged†¦strokes upon the foe.† His order of dialogue, by preparing Duncan for loss, effectively emphasises the victorious event of Macbeth’s second triumph in battle. So Shakespeare’s use of structure in scenes and dialogue contribute to making the opening scenes of Macbeth dramatic. Setting and structure in the opening scenes are used effectively to engage the audience’s interest. Furthermore the characters and language Shakespeare constructs are the utmost intriguing, completing the dramatic tone in the opening scenes of Macbeth. In act one, scene one the witches’ dialogue is in rhyme and rhythm, â€Å"When shall we three meet again In thunder, lightening, or in rain?† This gives it a sense of chanting and makes it spell-like, emphasising the supernatural characterisation of them. Another example of the witches speaking in rhyming couplets is in scene 3, â€Å"But in a sieve I’ll thither sail, and like a rat without a tail†¦Ã¢â‚¬  This habit is not only spell-like, but it also separates the witches from the other characters in the play, accentuating the fact that they’re evil and opposing to the natural ways of humanity. The three witches also take it in turns to speak, completing and answering each other’s speech. This pattern and unity suggests that they act together like one, almost as if they’re representing an inverse of the holy trinity. This underlying image of them is significant in the way of reversing the ‘natural order’ that God had originally set up- again opposing to the natural ways of humanity. This is also shown through a spell they chant together in scene one, â€Å"Fair is foul, and foul is fair†. They believe everything evil is good, contradicting what the society they live in believes- that everything evil is bad and sinful. Another habit of the witches’ speech is repetition of threes. In scene three witch 1 is discussing taking revenge on a woman’s husband, as she’d not given her chestnuts, â€Å"†¦and munched, and munched, and munched†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢Aroint thee witch,’†¦I’ll do, I’ll do, and I’ll do.† The woman tells the witch to get lost, ‘aroint’, and this angers the witch to take revenge, ‘I’ll do’. To speak words or phrases in triplets really states how powerful or magical they are as in Shakespeare’s time the number 3, and multiples of 3, were regarded as magic numbers. The witches cite triplets and magic numbers a number of times in the opening scenes, â€Å"†¦nine times nine†¦thrice to thine, and thrice to mine, and thrice again, to make up nine.† So in addition to speaking in rhyming couplets and rhythm, Shakespeare uses society’s superstition to enhance the witches’ dark and forbidden characterisation. In addition to these unusual ways of speaking, the witches are portrayed to be physically unappealing. Banquo’s first impression was dismayed and confused, â€Å"What are these, so withered, and so wild in their attire†¦Ã¢â‚¬  He describes how unattractive and degraded they appear, â€Å"†¦look not like th’ inhabitants o’ th’ earth†¦Live you, or are you aught that man may question?† Banquo is suggesting that they look nothing like humans, and is hesitant to ask if they are as he fears they’re evil spirits. This really exemplifies the witches’ characteristics to be spooky, eerie and devious. This would be more so appealing to an Elizabethan audience as they’d been sheltered and kept away from anything dark and sinful. Being able to witness these strange characters on stage would be extremely interesting. By constructing the witches to be physically unattractive enhances the intrigue, as they’re even more u nfamiliar and ‘different’. This helps to capture the audience’s intrigue and make the opening scenes dramatic. As well as the witches, Macbeth is set up to be a very interesting character successfully captivating the audience in the opening scenes. As discussed in the structure of the play, Macbeth is portrayed to be a very loyal, courageous and noble man. To depict these qualities, Shakespeare uses descriptive language which is very effective, especially when the Captain compares Macbeth to Macdonwald, â€Å"†¦multiplying villainies of nature do swarm upon him [Macdonwald]†¦like a rebel’s whore† Using a harsh and sinful tone about Macdonwald sets up a great contrast against Macbeth, â€Å"For brave Macbeth†¦ with his brandished steel, which smoked with bloody execution, like valour’s minion carved out his passage†¦Ã¢â‚¬  The Captain’s description of Macbeth not only seems incredibly worthy compared to Macdonwald, but also mighty and potent due to using bold words such as ‘brandished’, ‘smoked’ and ‘carved’. The Captain also glorifies Macbeth through the use of irony. As in the discussion on the play’s structure, the Captain had prepared Duncan for bad news only to praise Macbeth’s second victory. He says the second attack dismayed Macbeth and Banquo as much â€Å"As sparrows [dismayed] eagles, or the hare [dismayed] the lion.† Macbeth is being described as an eagle or lion that prey upon the sparrows and the hare, which represent the King of Norway- the second opposition. Eagles and lions are very majestic animals in the animal kingdom, giving Macbeth a high authority and status. The dialogue is kept very enthralling through different techniques. Assonance keeps the pace quick and poetic to listen to, â€Å"†¦doubly redoubled strokes upon†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Some of the similes used are very effective â€Å"As cannons overcharged with double cracks†¦Ã¢â‚¬  The Captain is describing the power and conquest Macbeth has over the King of Norway, ‘overcharged with double cracks’ creates a very powerful image as it’s described to be immoderate- more than enough. Another technique common in the character’s dialogue is the use of metaphors. Again when the Captain is lauding Macbeth, he refers to him as â€Å"Bellona’s bridegroom†. This trope instantly gives Macbeth a high status and supremacy as it’s referring to him as Mars, the god of war, who was wedded to Bellona. All these high praises have set up the audience’s perception of Macbeth to be very valiant, and this makes his developing characterisation to be intriguing because the audience wants to see if he can be both n oble and associated with the witches. Even though Macbeth’s persona is portrayed to be noble, his righteous ways are uncertain when the audience meets him which hooks the audience. His first words in his first entrance mimic the witches’ in scene one, â€Å"So foul and fair a day†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Although Macbeth is presumably referring to the bad weather yet satisfying victories, this echo of ‘foul and fair’ suggests that Macbeth is sub-consciously crossing over to the evil ways and beliefs of the witches. It could also be suggesting that even though Macbeth isn’t aware, the witches are already in control of him. Either way, the echo of ‘foul and fair’ underlies a connection to the witches and their evil characteristics. This possibility of Macbeth being villainous only increases after the witches’ prediction of him becoming thane of Cawdor comes true. Macbeth then obsesses with the idea of becoming King and tries to evaluate this occurrence, questioning whether the wi tches only let this come true to gain his trust so they can betray him. â€Å"If ill, why hath it given me earnest of success, Commencing in a truth? I am Thane of Cawdor.† Macbeth questions why these predictions might be bad if it has made him successful as a Thane. â€Å"If good, why do I yield to that suggestion†¦Ã¢â‚¬  By suggestion, Macbeth means the thought of him killing Duncan to be King, â€Å"†¦my thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical†¦Ã¢â‚¬  As he’s in this state of confusion, it intrigues the audience to think whether Macbeth will turn evil or stay true to his virtues. In the end of his deliberation, he decides to let destiny take its place without his interference, â€Å"†¦chance will have me King†¦without my stir† This lessens the tension of the audience until noble Macbeth hears that Duncan is naming his son future King. â€Å"We will establish our estate upon our eldest, Malcolm†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Despite Macbeth originally deciding to let destiny take place, he instantly sees Malcolm as an obstacle to becoming King, â€Å"The Prince of Cumberland-that is a step, On which I must fall down, or else o’erleap, For in my way it lies.† His obsessing ambition now makes him consciously think evil deeds. â€Å"†¦Stars hide your fires, Let not light see my black and deep desires.† By referring to his thoughts as ‘desires’, it’s evidently showing that Macbeth is crossing over to the witches ‘side’- believing in what they believe. The other characters are unaware of this; it’s only Macbeth and the audience who know. This makes the development of the play enthralling to the audience, as they want to know how the other characters fall into Macbeth’s other persona, his dark side. He continues his obsession, describing how awful his thoughts are. â€Å"The eye wink at the hand; yet let that be, Which the eye fears when it is done to see.† Macbeth’s saying ‘the eye’, any witnesses, should be blind to what he’s about to do (in thought) as, if anyone’s exposed to what he’s done they’ll be in fear. Alternatively, Macbeth could be suggesting that his eyes should be blind to what his hands are doing (his actions) as if he let’s both his personas clash (his noble side and evil side), he’ll regret what he’s done. Macbeth’s character is so episodic, changing his beliefs and qualities from scene to scene. The language in the dialogue is so varied and interesting through assonance, irony, similes and metaphors, that the audience are immediately absorbed and inquiring. The opening scenes of Macbeth are made dramatic through a series of techniques including setting, structure, characters and language. Shakespeare effectively uses weather and landscape to create and enhance an eerie and immoral mood, mostly prior to the witches’ entrance. Intrigue is also stimulated through the play’s structure, in both Shakespeare’s order of scenes and use of dialogue. Limiting the storyline revealed and purposely organising the order in which characters are introduced develop anticipation and inquisitiveness amongst the audience. Overall the characters and language introduced in the opening scenes are the utmost captivating. Their characterisations are constructed through language compiling of techniques such as similes, assonance, metaphors, rhythm, rhyme and irony. All of these effectively help to make the opening scenes of Macbeth extremely enthralling, interesting and dramatic.

Financial Analysis of PepsiCo and Coca Cola

PepsiCo and Coca Cola are two major companies that manufacture beverages. They compete to be the number on manufacturer and distributor of beverages in the world. These two companies are very identifiable in this market and you know them as PepsiCo and Coca Cola. These two companies have undoubtedly dominated the markets worldwide that they both receive universal recognition for their different products. Although, there are many other manufacturers and distributors of beverages these two are the major competitors.Not only do they produce soda drinks, they also produce flavored water, spring water, and some energy drinks. PepsiCo, best known for Pepsi and Coca Cola best known for Coke have great marketing anddue to this they are able to target all income brackets. Their marketing and reasonable prices make iteasy for the people to buy their products in all income brackets. I will be examining both company’s income statements and balance sheets to disclose thefinancial condition of these companies in relation one to another.I will also perform vertical andhorizontal analysis from their annual report of financial data. There are a vast amount of manufacturers and distributors in this market, but Pepsi and Coca-Cola have managed to stay in the number one spot for a couple of decades. These two companies have not only dominated the market domestically they have dominated the worldwide market. They followed a plan that kept them above and beyond the market of soft drinks. They have overcome obstacles that allowed them to manufacture and distribute globally. (The Coca Cola Company, 2009).These companies compete with one another for the same customers. When one company comes up with a product the other company comes out with something very similar to it; this is called the â€Å"follow up strategy,† and while doing so they live the other companies behind dazed and confused, wondering what just happened. (www. PepsiCo. com, 2009). Being successful does not come without a price, both of this companies has had to deal with legal issues, precedents, and politics. These two companies are the best examples on how leadership is the power of influence.They design their product geared towards a certain taste and to appeal to a certain population and make look as though they are subjected to certain ethical and moral practices. Their influence in this market is so powerful that they drive out and shut down any other competitor in this market. I would like for you to keep in mind that all financial data of these companies are shown in millions so if you see a figure of 200 that means 200 million and if you see 5,000 it is in the billions. We will start with a vertical analysis of these companies. The vertical analysis comes from each company’s financial statements.The total assets for each company will be the starting point of this analysis. Coca Cola’s total assets in 2004 were $31,441 and its 2005 total assets were $29,427. Pep siCo’s total assets for 2004 were $27,987 and its total assets for 2005 were $31,727. (Weygandt, Kimmel, & Kieso, 2008). The total asset of each of the figures relates to items from each company’s balance sheet. The cost of sales for PepsiCo during 2004 was $12,674 yielding a ratio percentage of 45. 3% of total assets and for 2005 the cost of sales was $14,167 yielding a ratio percentage of 44. 7% of total assets.Coca-Cola’s cost of sales in 2004 was $7,674 yielding a ratio percentage of 24. 4% of total assets and in 2005it was $8,195 yielding a ratio percentage of 27. 8% of total assets. PepsiCo experienced a 5% increase within a one year span and Coca Cola experienced a 3. 4% increase during the same span. This does not mean that this increase is a positive analysis since the single figure does not reveal whether the increase is a positive measure. A higher cost of sales may not be offset by higher revenues matching or exceeding the increased cost. The next th ing we are going to look at is net income.Pepsi had in 2004 a net income of $4,212 and this yielded a ratio percentage of 15. 1% of total assets and in 2005 their net income was $4,078 yielding a ratio percentage of 13. 2% of their total assets. This is a 1. 9% decrease in their net income between 2004 and 2005 and they also show a decrease in the cost of sales during the same period. Coke on the other hand had a net income of $4,847 in 2004 yielding a ratio percentage of 15. 4% and in2005 their net income was $4,872 yielding a ratio of 16. 6% of their total assets. This shows and an increase of 1. 2% between 2004 and 2005.Although they experienced an increase it is not entirely an offset of their income overall, making this a negative indication for Coca Cola. Now the breakdown of each company’s consolidated balance sheets to compare current assets and current liabilities to their total assets for each year considered. Pepsi’s total current assets in 2004 were $8,639 which yields a ratio percentage of 30. 9% of total assets for that year. Pepsi’s total current assets in 2005 were $10,454 which yields a ratio percentage of 32. 9% of total assets. This shows a 2%increase in current assets.In contrast coca Cola current asset in 2004 were $12,281 yielding a ratio percentage of 39. 1% and in 2005 current asset were $10,250 yielding a ratio percentage of 34. 8%;which show a major decrease in their current assets. Although, there was a significant decrease in their current assets it was accompanied by a decrease in their current liabilities, which would be a positive indication for Coke instead of a negative one. Looking at the horizontal analysis of each company will give us more information. Horizontal analysis is also called â€Å"trend analysis† because of its ability to show financial data compared over a period of time.There are two different formulas that can be employed to teach this information. The first one uses the current yea r amount and subtracts from that the base year amount. The second formula divides the current year amount by the base year amount. The year 2004 is the base year for both companies in this analysis. Pepsi’s total current assets for 2004 were $8,639 and for 2005 were $10,454. In the first Pepsi had an increase of 121. 01% of total current assets; over their 2004 base year figure. The second formula yields a 21. 01% total current assets from the base year. Coke’s total assets in 2004 were$12,281 and $10,250 in 2005.As you can see Coke’s total current assets dropped between 2004 and2005 without performing the formulaic calculations. All the analysis shows that PepsiCo and Coca Cola both experienced lower net profits in 2005than in 2004. They showed an increased operation expenses which resulted in a lower net profit. Both has had a higher operating expense in 2005 than in 2004 and need to modify their operations to reduce their expenses so their profit margins can increase so they will not keep experiencing a decrease in profits. I have analyzed two well-known companies in this paper.These two companies are PepsiCo and Coca Cola. These two companies have been around for a long time and have stormed the market. We have seen in my vertical and horizontal analysis that their financial data reveals somewhat a different picture of each company’s financial status. Both companies have experienced a moment were they were not profitable and a moment when they were profitable. During this exercise made me realize that although these companies appear to be profitable the analyses showed that these two companies performance were very different from one another in the years 2004 and 2005