Monday, September 30, 2019

Static or Dynamic Checkpoint

* As a network administrator for a company, you want to configure an IP route between two routers. Of static and dynamic routing, which is more appropriate? A router is a device that connects two LANs or WANs together. It has the ability to determine the best known route to send packets to a destination. The factors used to determine the best known route include not only the fastest route, but the most efficient.By using routing tables the router can determine the route with the least amount of congestion or traffic, as well as the safest route for the packets to travel. It doesn’t always mean it’s the fastest route to the destination, but it is the most efficient. A router can be manually programmed by the network administrator to provide the most efficient route. This is called static routing. In this type of routing, the network administrator manually determines the best mappings to each destination before the routing begins.This is a finite form of routing. Once the network administrator programs the routers, there is no change in the routing pattern unless it is reprogrammed to a new route. If the pattern runs through a congested network area, a router in the pattern is not functioning properly, or part of the network is down, the router continues to try the same pattern because that is all it is programmed to remember. For today’s larger networks, an unforgiving router mapping is not necessarily the most efficient way of passing information within the network.When routing dynamically, software is used to program a router to be forgiving. This means that the router remembers the best or most efficient path, but if that path is not working, it will try the next most efficient route. The router is able to do this by remembering the routing tables most often used in the network. A dynamic router needs very little maintenance because it automatically remembers the network routing protocols as they are used. If a path is congested or a oute r is down, it uses the remembered routing tables to find the next best route without any manual programming. This type of dynamic routing is fault tolerant. It not only senses the usual route is not efficient, but it shares the information among routers on the internetwork so that all routers are aware of the new route. In the above scenario, as a network administrator in the present time, I would choose to configure an IP route between two routers dynamically.I believe it is more appropriate to route packets in the most efficient manner, and by routing dynamically this will happen automatically, and without any knowledge by the end user. The network administrator will only have to do the initial programming of the router, and the rest is done by the router itself. As a network administrator, not having to program each path a router will take, will free up time for other projects. In the given scenario, routing the network dynamically is the most appropriate choice.

Sunday, September 29, 2019

Effectiveness of Ra 8049 or Anti-Hazing Law Essay

Under the Anti-Hazing Law, hazing is defined as â€Å"an initiation rite or practice as a prerequisite for admission into membership in a fraternity, sorority or organization by placing the recruit, neophyte or applicant in some embarrassing or humiliating situations such as forcing him to do menial, silly, foolish and other similar tasks or activities or otherwise subjecting him to physical or psychological suffering or injury. The physical, mental and psychological testing and training procedure and practices to determine and enhance the physical, mental and psychological fitness of prospective regular members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police as approved by the Secretary of National Defense and the National Police Commission duly recommended by the Chief of Staff, Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Director General of the Philippine National Police [are not] considered as hazing†. (Section 1) Requirements 1. No hazing or initiation rites in any form or manner by a fraternity, sorority or organization shall be allowed without prior written notice to the school authorities or head of organization 7 days before the conduct of such initiation. The written notice shall indicate: 1) the period of the initiation activities which shall not exceed 3 days, shall include 2) the names of those to be subjected to such activities, and shall further contain 3) an undertaking that no physical violence be employed by anybody during such initiation rites. (Section 2) 2. The head of the school or organization or their representatives must assign at least 2 representatives of the school or organization, as the case may be, to be present during the initiation. It is the duty of such representative to see to it that no physical harm of any kind shall be inflicted upon a recruit, neophyte or applicant. (Section 3) Liability for Hazing Section 4 of the Anti-Hazing Law defines those criminally liable as principals and accomplices. Criminal Liability 1. If the person subjected to hazing or other forms of initiation rites suffers any physical injury or dies as a result thereof, the officers and members of the fraternity, sorority or organization who actually participated in the infliction of physical harm shall be liable as principals. The person or persons who participated in the hazing shall suffer: 1) The penalty of reclusion perpetua (life imprisonment) if death, rape, sodomy or mutilation results there from. 2) The penalty of reclusion temporal in its maximum period (17 years, 4 months and 1 day to 20 years) if in consequence of the hazing the victim shall become insane, imbecile, impotent or blind. 3) The penalty of reclusion temporal in its medium period (14 years, 8 months and one day to 17 years and 4 months) if in consequence of the hazing the victim shall have lost the use of speech or the power to hear or to smell, or shall have lost an eye, a hand, a foot, an arm or a leg or shall have lost the use of any such member shall have become incapacitated for the activity or work in which he was habitually engaged. 4) The penalty of reclusion temporal in its minimum period (12 years and one day to 14 years and 8 months) if in consequence of the hazing the victim shall become deformed or shall have lost any other part of his body, or shall have lost the use thereof, or shall have been ill or incapacitated for the performance on the activity or work in which he was habitually engaged for more than 90 days. 5) The penalty of prison mayor in its maximum period (10 years and one day to 12 years) if in consequence of the hazing the victim shall have been ill or incapacitated for the performance on the activity or work in which he was habitually engaged for more than 30 days. 6) The penalty of prison mayor in its medium period (8 years and one day to 10 years) if in consequence of the hazing the victim shall have been ill or incapacitated for the performance on the activity or work in which he was habitually engaged for 10 days or more, or that the injury sustained shall require medical assistance for the same period. 7) The penalty of prison mayor in its minimum period (6 years and one day to 8 years) if in consequence of the hazing the victim shall have been ill or incapacitated for the performance on the activity or work in which he was habitually engaged from 1 to 9 days, or that the injury sustained shall require medical assistance for the same period. 8) The penalty of prison correccional in its maximum period (4 years, 2 months and one day to 6 years) if in consequence of the hazing the victim sustained physical injuries which do not prevent him from engaging in his habitual activity or work nor require medical attendance. 2. If the hazing is held in the home of one of the officers or members of the fraternity, group, or organization, the parents shall be held liable as principals when they have actual knowledge of the hazing conducted therein but failed to take any action to prevent the same from occurring. 3. The officers, former officers, or alumni of the organization, group, fraternity or sorority who actually planned the hazing although not present when the acts constituting the hazing were committed shall be liable as principals. A fraternity or sorority’s adviser who is present when the acts constituting the hazing were committed and failed to take action to prevent the same from occurring shall be liable as principal. The presence of any person during the hazing is prima facie evidence of participation therein as principal unless he prevented the commission of the acts punishable herein. Accomplices The school authorities including faculty members who consent to the hazing or who have actual knowledge thereof, but failed to take any action to prevent the same from occurring shall be punished as accomplices for the acts of hazing committed by the perpetrators. Liability of Owners of the Hazing venue The owner of the place where hazing is conducted shall be liable as an accomplice, when he has actual knowledge of the hazing conducted therein but failed to take any action to prevent the same from occurring. Administrative Liability The responsible officials of the school or of the police, military or citizen’s army training organization, may impose the appropriate administrative sanctions on the person or the persons charged under this provision even before their conviction. The maximum penalty herein provided shall be imposed in any of the following instances: 1. When the recruitment is accompanied by force, violence, threat, intimidation or deceit on the person of the recruit who refuses to join; 2. When the recruit, neophyte or applicant initially consents to join but upon learning that hazing will be committed on his person, is prevented from quitting; 3. When the recruit, neophyte or applicant having undergone hazing is prevented from reporting the unlawful act to his parents or guardians, to the proper school authorities, or to the police authorities, through force, violence, threat or intimidation; 4. When the hazing is committed outside of the school or institution; or 5. When the victim is below 12 years of age at the time of the hazing. The law states that it applies to the president, manager, director or other responsible officer of a corporation engaged in hazing as a requirement for employment in the manner above mentioned. Lastly, the law specifies that any person charged is not entitled to the mitigating circumstance that there was no intention to commit so grave a wrong. Had the Anti-Hazing been in place in 1991, those acquitted of causing Lenny Villa’s death may still be languishing in jail. (Although, perhaps, had our prosecutors been more diligent in their prosecution of all accused in the death of Lenny Villa, there would at least have been more than 5 convictions – even without the Anti-Hazing Law.) But why do hazing deaths continue to occur despite the law? It is significant to note that the Supreme Court decision on the hazing-death of Lenny Villa, as quoted above, recognizes that: the hazing â€Å"rituals were performed with Lenny’s consent† and â€Å"even after going through Aquila’s grueling traditional rituals during the first day, Lenny continued his participation and finished the second day of initiation.† The law cannot prohibit some people from wanting to belong and willing to tolerate certain rituals to be accepted as a member of a group, nor can the law prevent some people’s inclination to violence or abuse. So at all times, the willing neophyte’s welfare depends on being hazed by a group of non-violent handlers. But that is never guaranteed. Since the risk exists that the neophyte will be hazed by a group of people prone to violence by nature, by pressure or some substance, it may be all left to the individual (or the family rearing him/her) to eliminate that risk by declining the membership (or convincing said individual to decline) as early as possible. We must see hazing as much more than a legal issue, say, like drugs. It is not enough to stop drug production and trafficking. People must learn to just say â€Å"No.† Those inclined to join should be aware that certain activities benignly termed as rites of passage may very well lead to funeral rites, of their own. (Siesta,2012) Statement of the Problem The purpose of the study was to investigate the effectiveness of a Fraternity or Sorority in a specific area, the benefits that an individual get from joining it and how it should be observed. Specifically, it sought answers to the following questions: 1. How effective is Republic Act 8049: Anti-Hazing Law? 2. Are the rules and limitations on practicing initiation rites under RA 8049 properly observed? 3. What are the perceived solutions proposed by the respondents to resolve the lack of implementation of RA 8049? Conceptual Framework 1. Hazing – Section 1. Hazing, as used in this Act, is an initiation rite or practice as a prerequisite for admission into membership in a fraternity, sorority or organization by placing the recruit, neophyte or applicant in some embarrassing or humiliating situations such as forcing him to do menial, silly, foolish and other similar tasks or activities or otherwise subjecting him to physical or psychological suffering or injury. The term â€Å"organization† shall include any club or the Armed Forces of the Philippines, Philippine National Police, Philippine Military Academy, or officer and cadet corp of the Citizen’s Military Training and Citizen’s Army Training. The physical, mental and psychological testing and training procedure and practices to determine and enhance the physical, mental and psychological fitness of prospective regular members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police as approved ny the Secretary of National Defense and the National Police Commission duly recommended by the Chief of Staff, Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Director General of the Philippine National Police shall not be considered as hazing for the purposes of this Act. 2. Rules and Limitation – Section 2. No hazing or initiation rites in any form or manner by a fraternity, sorority or organization shall be allowed without prior written notice to the school authorities or head of organization seven (7) days before the conduct of such initiation. The written notice shall indicate the period of the initiation activities which shall not exceed three (3) days, shall include the names of those to be subjected to such activities, and shall further contain an undertaking that no physical violence be employed by anybody during such initiation rites. Section 3. The head of the school or organization or their representatives must assign at least two (2) representatives of the school or organization, as the case may be, to be present during the initiation. It is the duty of such representative to see to it that no physical harm of any kind shall be inflicted upon a recruit, neophyte or applicant. 4. Problems due to hazing – Physical injury – Damage or harm done to or suffered by a person or thing:   humiliation- The state of being humiliated or disgraced; shame. depression- A psychiatric disorder characterized by an inability to concentrate, insomnia, loss of appetite, anhedonia, feelings of extreme sadness, guilt, helplessness and hopelessness, and thoughts of death. Also called clinical depression psychological disorder- a psychological disorder of thought or emotion; a more neutral term than mental illness death – a permanent cessation of all vital functions; the end of life. 4. Strict implementation of the R.A 8049 or the Anti-Hazing Law shall be observed by the government because sometimes the government forget about this Republic Act and set it aside. Significance of the Study T he researcher considered the following institutions that will sort benefit of the study. These are the following: Government for them to take action and lessen the crimes that were brought up by unlawful initiation process. Society gives awareness to what are the rules and limitations that should be observed in the initiation process. Neophyte gives them awareness and let them understand what the legal procedures in conducting initiation process are. Future Researchers results of this study maybe used as reference by future researchers. Scope and Delimitation of the Study The parameters of the study pertain to the effectiveness and implementation of Republic Act 8049 which is known to be the Anti-Hazing Law. The researcher studies about the perception of law-makers and individuals expert in the field of law. The researcher prepared interview questions that will be answered by 5 or more respondents which happen to be law-makers and individuals expert in the field of law. The set of questions prepared by the researchers are bound with the questions in the statement of the problem, for example how effective is Republic Act 8049: Anti-Hazing Law, are the rules and limitation in conducting initiation rites are properly observed. Definition of terms Accomplice refers to one who knowingly, voluntarily, or intentionally, and with common intent and criminal purpose shared with the principal offender, solicits or encourages another to commit a crime or assists or attempts to assist in its planning and execution. Brotherhood refers to an association of men, such as a fraternity or union, united for common purposes. Congeniality refers to having the same nature, disposition, or tastes. Connation refers to a commonly understood subjective cultural or emotional association that some word or phrase carries, in addition to the word’s or phrase’s explicit or literal meaning, which is its denotation. Conviviality refers to fond of feasting, drinking, and good company; sociable. Curriculum refers to all the courses of study offered by an educational institution. Disdained refers to regard or treat with haughty contempt; despise. Dissipation refers to wasteful expenditure or consumption Fraternity refers to a chiefly social organization of men students at a college or university, usually designated by Greek letters. Freemason refers to an international fraternal and charitable organization with secret rites and signs. Initiation refers to a ceremony, ritual, test, or period of instruction with which a new member is admitted to an organization or office or to knowledge. Insignia refers to a badge of office, rank, membership, or nationality; an emblem. Law refers to a rule of conduct or procedure established by custom, agreement, or authority. Masonry refers to a work done by a mason. Menial refers to a person who has a servile or low nature Neophyte refers to a novice or beginner Protection refers to the state of being protected. Solidarity refers to a union of interests, purposes, or sympathies among members of a group; fellowship of responsibilities and interests. Sorority refers to a chiefly social organization of women students at a college or university, usually designated by Greek letters.

Saturday, September 28, 2019

POSNER TERMS 2 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

POSNER TERMS 2 - Essay Example For example, such teachings reduce the element of disruptive behaviors in students. Moreover, societal goals also help in creating a peaceful environment in schools by teaching students the way to become a productive part of society. My personal experience of studying social elements in curriculum has had a very dynamic influence on my overall personality. For example, they helped me live in society in a constructive manner. Similarly, they helped me learn the norms and values of living in a society. 2. Administrative Goal Administrative goals refer to the concept of maintaining and improving the administrative approach of organizations. These goals include compensation and management of teachers, implementation of employee safety programs, scheduling of buses, maintenance of buildings, ensuring maximum student and teacher attendance, and all such matters. The role of administrative goals in education is also very positive as they make students aware of the importance of managing thi ngs properly. Of course, students have to become administrators and leaders at homes and at work at some time in future, so they should have some knowledge regarding management of tasks in an effective manner. My personal experience regarding study of administrative goals in education is also very good. ... talk about the cognitive domain with regard to Bloom’s Taxonomy, we can say that it is an important element of success for a student because it directly deals with the writing objectives. It helps students gain knowledge and apply it in different circumstances of life. It also helps students in analyzing things from different perspectives, as well as in evaluating decisions based on surrounding elements. The role of bloom’s taxonomy in education is very influential as it promotes the process of thinking in education which is a key part of writing objectives. It focuses on evaluating and analyzing things, rather than just keeping the facts in mind. My personal experience regarding applicability of bloom’s taxonomy to writing objectives is very positive. For example, I learned the way to put my thoughts on paper after complete analysis and evaluation of thoughts. 4. Cognitive Domain Cognitive domain reflects the intellectual abilities of a person. They deal with th inking, remembering, and putting practice the learned concepts based on personal judgment and knowledge. This domain includes recognition of facts, understanding of procedural patterns, and development of intellectual skills. The role of cognitive domain in education is very influential because it deals learning and applying which arte two of the most critical elements of education. This domain improves the ability of students to learn, recall, and rationalize things. My personal experience is that cognitive domain helps in achieving success in educational, as well as in personal life. This domain helps me in reasoning and justifying the value of ideas based on surrounding circumstances. Similarly, this domain also helps me in troubleshooting, as well as in recognizing realistic facts in reasoning.

Friday, September 27, 2019

Gun Control in U.S Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Gun Control in U.S - Article Example The topic about gun control is facing massive controversy in the United States. However, a solution have to be found since people should not fear going to the public places including schools, malls, movies and the likes. The safety of the nation has to be resurrected. An important reason for the control of the guns is due to the number of healthy lives that are lost due to violence using guns. In the United States, over 8000 murders with guns are recorded every year (Doeden 234). The other survivors of gun violence would then be added into the list of individuals with health problems further adding up on the government’s expenditure in the health sector. In addition, easy access to guns make suicide attempts to be more successful. Suicide is another problem that claims the lives of the healthy generation in the United States and the globe at large. The suicide rate in the US is tragically high at 12 per 100,000 individuals. Firearms are used for half of these suicides. Guns are weapons of war and a whole way of life of an individual is ended abruptly or altered adversely by just squeezing a trigger. Most of the murders that are completed using guns are often crimes of passion. These crimes happen among people who knew each other well enough. When an intense argument arises, the presence of a gun makes murder or maiming far much possible. There are also other numerous cases of kids gaining access to guns. They have no idea that the gins are loaded and they start playing the typical kids shooting game where they pretend to shoot another. However, they end up shooting and killing the other sibling since they did not realize that the gun is loaded. It is also evident that most of the guns that het into the hands of criminals are stolen from homes, or from cars. When burglars break into private homes, the first thing they look for is guns. Thus, it is important for the government to exercise the policy of gun control in

Thursday, September 26, 2019

Overview of the Television Show Glee Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Overview of the Television Show Glee - Essay Example The essay "Overview of the Television Show Glee" talks about a very popular television show ‘Glee’ that has been broadcast all over the world in the recent past; it speaks of a high school atmosphere with children belonging to different backgrounds, coming together to spread love through the gift of music. The children that belong to the Glee Club are not even accepted by the other students going to the school because they may not be as ‘popular’ or pretty as the others in order to be a part of the so-called ‘cool’ social scenes. This is a vast issue that has been affecting children not only across America but on a global basis, merely because peer pressure and social acceptance is something that children coming from different backgrounds and having different opinions have been facing for a long time. The main goal of this show has been spreading social justice among young adults and helping them understand that it is alright to accept different people into their groups. The show has also been able to do an excellent job by cultivating and displaying how its children and students are not able to love themselves and be truthful with themselves about how to deal with life. The first season is based on the social issue of teenage pregnancy and helps to portray how women are thought of when they are going through such problems. Quinn underwent a major amount of hardships when she was pregnant because at first, her fellow students did not support her decision of going ahead with having the baby.

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

Summary and Critical Analysis of Multi-objective Decision Making Term Paper

Summary and Critical Analysis of Multi-objective Decision Making - Term Paper Example This term paper discusses the subject of multi-objective decision making problems, that require a set of criteria prior to implementation. First, it is clear that objective functions must be normalized. That is, objective functions must have the same physical meaning to all the stakeholders involved, which likewise means that units and scales used in the measurement of these function must be consistent. Next, the appropriate principle of optimality must be chosen. The principle of optimality sets the properties of the optimal solution and answers in such a ways that the optimal solution bests all other possible solutions. Third, the researcher states that the priorities of objective functions have also to be considered. It is imortant to understand that different objective functions have different importance and thus, higher priority must be given to more important objective functions. Based on these considerations, this term paper provides a critical analysis of a multi-objective de cision making model, which covers economics and managerial applications of a company. A summary of the model were presented by the researcher of the paper, and its strengths and weaknesses were also highlighted. In conclusion, the researcher of this term paper analyzed the final portion of the study. This term paper also presents an outline of a possible research project, that will be concducted and that will involve both multi-objective decision making process and analysis as well as multi-objective decision making model to view.

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

A leader in healthcare Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

A leader in healthcare - Essay Example They are flexible figures and in their absence to mediate, conflicts in diverse group can arise. Hence, an effective leader should possess the qualities of a change agent in order to lead an organization that can adjust and survive through the challenges of new developments in health care systems. What is permanent in this world is change. The statement is a common clichà © in most society, however, it still holds true in the health care aspect. Medical practitioners in various fields of expertise recognize the importance continuing education and training—updating their knowledge on what practices have been modified and which have been completely eliminated. Being a change agent not only means creating new ideas, it is also about going against the mainstream of usual system (Kouzes & Posner, 2008). The definition does not imply that this attribute in a leader is disrespectful on the higher authority such as the distinguished institutions. At some point, because of this characteristic, clashes in principles may occur. This is to be expected because most health care systems are founded on traditional and hierarchal system. Hence, the need to challenge what is the common way of doing things seems essential, for only with the perceived transformation can the door for impr ovement emerges. The process of change cannot take place if the leaders will just relax in the background. By being change agents, they tend to grab the opportunity to make active actions. The operative word is â€Å"now,† where leaders take hold of what they think is beneficial and turns it around to their advantage. The focus of these types of leaders is more on the external side of things--on the broader picture of the field (Buchbinder & Shanks, 2007). By employing the aid of various agencies, the multidisciplinary approach in change can be more productive and a wide spectrum of development is obtained—ensuring that the far fetching possibility of an organizational downfall will not

Monday, September 23, 2019

Mangroves and sea grasses in Florida Research Paper

Mangroves and sea grasses in Florida - Research Paper Example They usually form mangrove forest that is often inundated by tidal salt twice a day. Sea grasses are grass-like flowering plants that are totally submerged in estuarine and marine waters. These habitats occur throughout the coastal areas of Florida, however, most are found in Florida Bay, and the region between Tarpon Springs northward to Apalachee Bay. Types of Mangroves in Florida There are three species of Mangroves found along the coastal region of Florida: black mangrove, white mangrove, and red mangrove. Black mangroves survive in slightly higher elevations than red mangroves, while white mangrove grows upland more than black and red mangroves. Red mangrove grows along the water edge (Saenger 289). Red mangrove is identified by its branching and arching drop roots from branches, prop roots from trunk. Black mangrove is identified by its pencil-like roots that grow up through the soil. The white mangrove is identified by its more rounded leaves than the leaves of black and red m angrove (Saenger 289). Importance of Mangrove in the Ecosystem Mangrove ecosystems are essential habitat for fish production. They provide breeding and feeding grounds for shell fishes and many fishes. Besides fish, it also supports a variety of wildlife such as crocodile, snakes, birds, deer, insects and fishing cats (Saenger 289). The mangrove forests also protect the coast from floods, fury of cyclone, coastal erosion, UV-B radiation, wave actions and sea level rise. Mangroves act as sinks for nutrients, and traps for sediments (Saenger 289). How do Mangroves Reproduce? Mangroves are flowering and seed-producing plants. Their seeds are larger as compared to other seeds produced by other trees and plants, and they usually begin germinating while still attached to the main plant. When the seeds drop from the tree, they float on water for a short period, and then they sink to the bottom (Gleason 21). They float for a short period while being dispersed to areas where they can grow: t hey can only grow in tidal water. The rate of growth depends on mineral availability and climate. Health of Ecosystem Occupied by Mangrove These ecosystems are free from the deleterious impacts of UV-radiation. Mangrove trees produce flavonoids, which serve as UV-screen compounds. Shores and coastlines with mangrove forest are protected from cyclones with tremendous speed that severely disturbs and destroys coastal ecosystem. This makes it a potent nursery and breeding ground for many fishes and other wildlife (Gleason 21). The mangrove roots prevent erosion of the coast, and attract suspended sediments making these regions fertile grounds for cultivation. They also support the growth of planktons, which is a source of fish food (Gleason 22). How Mangrove deals with Salt in the Water Mangroves eliminate salt at the root level, and mangrove trees can tolerate high salt levels in their tissues more than normal plants. Most of the salts are eliminated at the root level through Ultra fi ltration process. Any salt that passes through the roots is stored in old and dry leaves, which are later shed (Gleason 42). A few mangroves can tolerate high salt levels in their tissues, and the excess salt is eliminated through specialized cells in their leaves. For example, Avecennia is the only tree that survives in hot and salty regions. Florida Laws that Protect Mangroves The Florida Legislature passed the Mangrove Trimming and Prevention Act to protect mangrove forests. The act

Sunday, September 22, 2019

The Remains of the Day Essay Example for Free

The Remains of the Day Essay Kazuo Ishiguros The Remains of the Day is an intimate portrayal of an utterly English butler through his methodical ruminations on the subjects of greatness and dignity. Stevens, the aging butler of Darlington Hall, performs his job with selflessness and a ruthless suppression of emotion. He is unsentimental, stiffly walking through job and life like an automaton. He presents himself, perhaps unknowingly, as glacially reserved, humorless (when the new owner of Darlington Hall takes over, Stevens finds himself having to practice banter in order to please his American employer), and snobbish. Out of an unquestioning respect for his betters and a misplaced need to repress all emotion, Stevens has managed to rid himself of all sense of identity, creating a blank facade that fools even himself. He is, indeed, as Galen Strawson calls him, an innocent masterpiece of self-repression (535). Stevenss lack of identity is further emphasized by the fact that he is known only as Stevens; with no apparent first name, he becomes unselfed, possessing no self outside of his manservant role. Critics have made much of the butlers namelessness, citing it as evidence of his suppression and lack of humanity. David Gurewich, for example, points out that for Stevens to have a first name would be improper, and at odds with tradition (77). He is essentially, many contend, worthy of only the surname, lacking the personal identity, as well as any affable qualities, that a given namethe Christian name, the familiar namemight lend. However, a close reading of the novel discovers that Stevens, indeed, has a first namea name of which he is obviously proud and one that is especially appropriate to his character. Early in the novel Stevenss father joins Darlington House; in his seventies, he is too feeble and old to head a household, but he is nonetheless determined to serve someone in some capacity. At one point Stevens becomes miffed when Miss Kenton, the head housekeeper, refers to his father by his first name, William; Stevens demands that she call his father Mr. Stevens. Not allowing his father to be referred to in a personal manner is the same propriety that prevents Stevens from addressing Miss Kenton by her first name and, later, by her married name. It is in large part a result of Stevenss own inability to become personable, personal, emotional. Later, obeying his dictum, Miss Kenton comments, I am sure Mr. Stevens senior is very good at his job (55,italics added), revealing through implication that Stevens is a junior, that his first name is, in fact, William. Stevens is every bit his fathers son and appropriately his fathers namesake. The shared name emphasizes that Stevens is the analogy of his father in both service and dignity. Stevens has obvious and unmitigated respect for his father, whom Stevens views as the perfect butler: [I]t is my firm conviction, Stevens says at one point, that at the peak of his career my father was indeed the embodiment of dignity' (34), the essence of a true butler. Like his son, Stevenss father demonstrates in his day-to-day life an almost inhuman restraint of emotions, in keeping, they both believe, with the dignity inherent in service. Stevens relates the tale of his fathers having to serve the general whose incompetence was responsible for a sons death; Mr. Stevens Senior, denying personal feelings to a disturbing degree, attends to the general with utter professionalism and emotionlessness, an act Stevens later sees as the personification itself of dignity in keeping with his position' (42). Years later Stevens acts with remarkably similar dignity, performing service duties while his father lies dying in an upstairs bedroom. Stevens later considers this to be the epitome of his service, regarding it as a turning point in my life as the moment in my career when I truly came of age as a butler (70). As his father dies, Stevens continues his duties, serving drinks, maintaining proper order, retrieving bandages for the deplorable M. Dupont, all the while unaware that he is crying, his inner walls crumbling under the weight of humanity, his outer walls standing firm. The act establishes him as the quintessential butler and, more important, as proper heir to his fathers name; further, it is through this act of quelled emotion and staunch repression that Stevens indeed earns his fathers name. Stevenss mirroring of his father is further evident in the butlers most intimate relationships, both of which are virtually emotionless and completely passionless. The relationship with his father is the end result of a lifetime of extreme emotional repression. This is most poignantly illustrated as his father, on his deathbed, tells his son, I hope Ive been a good father to you (97), and Stevens can only reply over and over, Im so glad youre feeling better now (97); Stevens is helpless to think of a better, more loving response. He has re-created ithin himself his fathers emotional vacuum, ridding himself of all feelings and, simultaneously, his heart. The void he has so painstakingly constructed is there to haunt him when the possibility of love appears in the form of Miss Kenton. Unable to respond to her intimations (often overt) of a desired relationship, Stevens allows the one possible love of his life to escape. His extreme professionalism prevents him from responding emotional ly to Miss Kenton on any level, allowing her instead to slip away into marriage and forever away from him. Encountering Miss Kenton, now Mrs. Benn, years later and discovering the truth of this past opportunity of love (and, subsequently, the possibility of happiness and fulfillment), Stevens is finally overwhelmed by his pent-up emotions and confesses to his pain: Indeedwhy should I not admit it? at that moment, my heart was breaking (239). Stevens sacrifices all to service, to dignity, to becoming the perfect butler; his entire existence is founded on his butlers profession. And in the end, he finds himself alone, lonelybut unequivocally worthy of his fathers name.

Saturday, September 21, 2019

Human Growth and Development Research Paper Essay Example for Free

Human Growth and Development Research Paper Essay Abstract The following research paper will be written on schizophrenia. I will discuss what schizophrenia is. I will discuss the history behind this chronic disease. Also, who is affected by it? In addition, how common it is in some people. And, I will talk about the different types. Furthermore, I will discuss the causes of schizophrenia. If schizophrenia is hereditary? And the different types of symptoms. Also, how it is diagnosed. Lastly, I will talk over the treatment for people with schizophrenia. What is Schizophrenia? Schizophrenia is a chronic and severe mental illness. It is considered one of the psychotic mental disorders and is described by symptoms of thought, behavior, and social problems. The thought problems associated with schizophrenia are described as psychosis, in that the persons thinking is completely out of touch with reality at times. An example of this would be, the sufferer of this disease may hear voices or see people that are not actually present or feel like bugs are crawling on their skin when there are none. The individual with this disorder may also have disorganized speech, behavior, physically rigid, significantly decreased feelings, and delusions, which are ideas about themselves or others that have no basis in reality (for example, the individual might experience paranoia, in that he or she thinks others are plotting against them when they are not). What is the history of schizophrenia? The term schizophrenia has only been in use since 1911. The word schizophrenia is less than 100 years old. Soon before that, it was deemed a separate mental illness in 1887 by Emil Kraepelin. Despite the fact that it is a more recent known disease, it has been described throughout written history. Ancient Egyptian, Hindu, Chinese, Greek, and Roman writings described symptoms similar to the symptoms of schizophrenia. During medieval times, schizophrenia, like other illnesses, was often viewed as evidence of the sufferer being possessed by spirits or evil powers. The film â€Å"A Beautiful Mind† depicts the life of a man named John Nash, a noted scientist, and his struggles with paranoid schizophrenia. In history, all people who were considered abnormal, whether due to mental illness, mental retardation, or physical deformities, were treated the same. Early theories  invented that mental disorders were caused by â€Å"evil possession† of the body, and the appropriate treatment was then get rid of these demons, through various means, reaching from innocuous treatments, such as exposing the patient to certain types of music, to dangerous and sometimes deadly means, such as releasing the evil spirits by drilling holes in the patients skull. 1996-2014 MedicineNet. 1996-2009. Schizophrenia.com. Who is affected, and who is it most common in? Schizophrenia affects about 1% of the population, corresponding to more than 2 million people in the United States and 100,000-200,000 newly diagnosed people every year. Other statistics about schizophrenia include that it affects men about one and a half times more commonly than women and that 50% of people in hospital psychiatric care have schizophrenia. Diagnosis is usually in people aged 17-35 years with the illness appearing earlier in men (in the late teens or early 20s) than in women (who are affected in the 20s to early 30s). Although there have been fewer studies on schizophrenia in children compared to adults, researchers are finding that children as young as 6 years old can be found to have all the symptoms of their adult counterparts and continue to have those symptoms into adulthood. 1996-2014 MedicineNet. What are the different types of Schizophrenia? There are five different types of schizophrenia, each based on the kind of symptoms the person has at the time of assessment. Firstly, there is paranoid schizophrenia. In this type the individual is preoccupied with one or more delusions or many auditory hallucinations but does not have symptoms of disorganized schizophrenia. On the other hand, disorganized schizophrenia is when the prominent symptoms are disorganized speech and behavior, as well as flat or inappropriate affect. The person does not have enough symptoms to be characterized as suffering from catatonic schizophrenia. On that note, catatonic schizophrenia is when the person with this type of schizophrenia primarily has at least two of the following symptoms: difficulty moving, resistance to moving, excessive movement, abnormal movements, and/or repeating what others say or do. Also, there is undifferentiated schizophrenia: This is characterized by episodes of two or more of the resulting symptoms: delusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech or behavior, catatonic behavior, but the individual does not qualify for a diagnosis of paranoid, disorganized, or catatonic type of schizophrenia. Lastly, there is residual schizophrenia: While the full-blown  characteristic positive symptoms of schizophrenia (those that involve an excess of normal behavior, such as delusions, paranoia, or heightened sensitivity) are absent, the sufferer has a less severe form of the disorder or has only negative symptoms (symptoms characterized by a decrease in function, such as withdrawal, disinterest, and not speaking). Overall, those are all the different types of schizophrenia, there descriptions, and symptoms. 1996-2014 MedicineNet. What Are Causes of Schizophrenia? There are many causes to schizophrenia. Rather, it is the result of a complex group of genetic, psychological, and environmental factors. Genetically, schizophrenia is very similar to bipolar disorder, in the two disorders they both share a number of the same risk genes. However, the fact is that both illnesses also have some genetic factors that are unique. Environmentally, the risks of developing schizophrenia can even occur before birth. For example, the risk of schizophrenia is increased in individuals whose mother had one of certain infections during pregnancy. Difficult life circumstances during childhood, like the early loss of a parent, parental poverty, bullying, witnessing parental violence; emotional, sexual, or physical abuse; physical or emotional neglect; and insecure attachment have been associated with the development of this illness. The environment and the beings around the child as its young can decide whether or not the person suffers of that disease. 1996-2014 MedicineNet. Is Schizophrenia Hereditary? One of the most frequently asked question about schizophrenia is if it is hereditary. Like most of the other mental disorders, schizophrenia is not directly passed from one generation to another genetically, but it is known to run in families. Consequently, the risk of illness in an identical twin of a person with schizophrenia is 40%-50% and a child of a parent suffering from schizophrenia has a 10% chance of developing the illness. So, yes schizophrenia is somewhat hereditary. 1996-2014 MedicineNet. What are some signs or symptoms of schizophrenia? When it comes to symptoms there are two different categories. There are positive and negative symptoms. Positive: Beliefs that have no basis in reality (delusions) Hearing, seeing, feeling, smelling, or tasting things that have no basis in reality (hallucinations) Disorganized speech Disorganized behaviors Catatonic behaviors Negative: Inhibition of facial expressions Lack of motivation/ speech 1996-2014  MedicineNet. How is schizophrenia diagnosed? There is no test that definitively indicates that someone has schizophrenia. Therefore, health care officials diagnose this disorder by gathering comprehensive medical, family, and mental-health information. Patients have a tendency to to benefit when the practitioner takes into account their clients entire life and background. This consists of but is not restricted to the persons gender, sexual orientation, cultural, religious and ethnic background, and socioeconomic status. The symptom sufferer might be asked to fill out a self-test that the practitioner will review if the person being appraised is able to complete it. The practitioner will also either perform a physical examination or request that the individuals primary-care doctor perform one. The medical examination will usually include lab tests to evaluate the persons general health and to explore whether or not the individual has a medical condition that might produce psychological symptoms. Also, mental-health professionals are often exploring if the individual suffers from hallucinations or delusions, depression and/or manic symptoms, anxiety, substance abuse, as well as some personality disorders and developmental disorders. As a result, some of the symptoms of schizophrenia can also occur in other mental illnesses, the mental-health screening is to determine if the individual suffers from schizoaffective disorder or other psychotic disorder, depressive disorder, bipolar disorder, anxiety disorder, or a substance-abuse or personality disorder. Any disorder that is associated with bizarre behavior, mood, or thinking, like borderline personality disorder or another psychotic disorder, as well as dissociative identity disorder, also known as multiple personality disorder, which may be particularly challenging to tell between from schizophrenia. In order to judge the persons current emotional state, health-care providers perform a mental-status examination as well. In addition, providing treatment that is appropriate to the diagnosis, determining the presence of mental illnesses that may co-occur with schizophrenia is important in improving the life of individuals with schizophrenia. For example, people with schizophrenia are at increased risk of depression, or thoughts of suicide. 1996-2014 MedicineNet. What are some treatments for schizophrenia? There are a number  of helpful treatments available; medication remains the key of treatment for people with schizophrenia. These medications are often referred to as antipsychotics since they help decrease the intensity of psychotic symptoms. Many health-care professionals prescribe one of these medications, sometimes in combination of one or more other psychiatric medications, in order to maximize the benefit for the person with schizophrenia. Medications that are thought to be particularly effective in treating positive symptoms of schizophrenia include olanzapine (Zyprexa), risperidone (Risperdal), quetiapine (Seroquel), ziprasidone (Geodon), aripiprazole (Abilify), paliperidone (Invega), asenapine (Saphis), lurasidone (Latuda), and lloperidone (Fanapt). These medications are the newer collection of antipsychotic medications, also called second-generation antipsychotics. They are known for having the ability to work quickly compared too many other psychiatric medications. As a group of medications, side effects that occur most often include sleepiness, dizziness, and increased appetite. In addition to medication there are psychosocial treatments. One, Family psycho-education: In addition to educating family members about the symptoms, course, and treatment of schizophrenia, this form of treatment consists of providing family support, problem-solving skills, and access to care providers during times of crises. Secondly, there is the treatment of Social skills training: Also called illness management and recovery programming, social-skills training involve teaching clients ways to handle social situations appropriately. It often involves the person scripting (thinking through or role-playing) situations that occur in social settings in order to prepare for those situations when they actually occur. This treatment type has been found to help people with schizophrenia resist using drugs of abuse, as well as improve their relationships with health-care professionals and with people at work. Although, these are only a couple of the many options for treatment; these are some of the best. 1996-2014 MedicineNet. References: http://www.medicinenet.com/schizophrenia_pictures_slideshow/article.htmhttp://schizophrenia.com/family/sz.overview.htm http://www.medicinenet.com/schizophrenia/article.htm http://www.helpguide.org/mental/schizophrenia_symptom.htm Title Schizophrenia Authors John M. Neale, Thomas F. Oltmanns Edition illustrated Publisher John Wiley Sons, 1980 Original from the University of California Digitized Aug 24, 2010 ISBN 0471630861, 9780471630869 Length 554 pages http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schizophrenia

Friday, September 20, 2019

Disadvantages Of Online Learning Education Essay

Disadvantages Of Online Learning Education Essay Clearly, the benefits that online learning brings to students are enormous and undeniable. Even, as Hinkle suggests in her article Advantages and disadvantages of E-learning, pursuing an online course is an outstanding choice in education, especially when traditional learning situations have many obstacles, such as commuting or distance. However, as every coin has two sides, e-learning also has some fundamental drawbacks that can make it a little bit inconvenient for users. 2.1. Lack of verbal interaction One of the most disadvantages that Dogra (2011) and Hinkle (2009, n.d.) all agree is the lack of verbal interaction between teacher[s] and student[s]. Because of the fact that most online learning programs can only offer a one-way communication, this disadvantage is inevitable! As stated in Top 10 Distance Learning Disadvantages, the loss of human contact, let alone personal touch with instructors, provided in a traditional classroom in which two-way or face-to-face communication always proved its important (Pakhare 2008) is the evident truth. Similarly, Hinkle (2009) also believes that there is a significant reduction in the amount of interaction through distance learning. To further discuss this, Kartha (2011) makes the readers aware of that e-learning does not give learners any help in improving their oral communication skills. Although some online courses enable their users to communicate through discussion and community boards, this definitely differs from carrying a conversation to a classmate sitting next to you in person. Moreover, Dogra (2011b) assumes that an e-learning student may not be exposed to enough multidimensional views of a certain subjects or topic. She demonstrate the hindrance of online learning by saying that the chances of growth or learning of students who pursue full-time courses and are facilitated to discuss many aspects of one problems, many problems of one subject might be higher than those who do not. Whats more, in a class, a debate arising does not necessarily involve in what were taught. Instead, a wide range of issues pertaining to future plan or professional life is also focused on. This helps students develop their personality and teaches them how to deal with life in an appropriate manner. To gain success in life, one needs not only bookish but also experience and particularly, knowledge about various life issues as well as situations. She summarizes that, in some cases, the sale of professional improvement gained through online learning, therefore, might be limited. An article entitled Pros and cons of distance learning refutes this viewpoint of effect of less verbal contact, showing that e-learning seems to be a good way to grow students writing skill owing to that they have to type their contributions to class discussions and any other correspondence with [à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦] professors and fellow classmates. However, this opinion is flawed. In the first place, if students really need to improve this skill, it is not required to follow an online course. The second and more important reason is that, compared to the loss of communication skills, the benefit is far from equivalent. 2.2. Absence of live academic resources Apparently, online learning means studying in isolation and without a set schedule and proper study timings and it demands strong self-motivation and self-discipline to be a good learner (Dogra 2011a). She warns that this type of learning is totally not suitable for students who need regular and instant feedbacks from instructors. Pakhare (2008) expresses his agreement with Dogras statement and says that the absence of face-to-face communication results in the failure of receiving immediate feedbacks for students assignments and fieldwork studies. They may not have their problems and questions of the last lesson solved by professors or classmates as in a traditional class, which can function as a barrier in ones learning (Kartha 2011). In case of receiving feedbacks, students have to wait for a long time, till the instructors review their work (Top 10 distance learning disadvantages). In addition, according to the article Pros and cons of distance learning, whereas academic resources are supported in most conventional colleges/universities such as libraries, stadiums, study areas and laboratories, online learning environment is much more challenging. It is pretty practical when mentioning the impossibility of drop[ping] a tutoring center or attend[ing] extra help. Therefore, learning process, due to all of these factors, will be less effective. Perhaps, it is the main contributor to lesser weightage to online learning. There is a common notion among employers that students following e-learning class are far less informed and more experienced than those with full-time education (Dogra 2011a); and worse in term of attitude as well (Dogra 2011b). Some employers even refuse to give online learning a piece of acknowledgement (Top 10 distance learning disadvantages). Of course, she says, this situation will completely different in case those students have certain years of experience. However, most companies still give a preference to learners with traditional certificates or degrees (Dogra 2011a). 2.3. Technology difficulties It is beyond doubt that online learning requires some equipment. Two typical kinds of e-learning can be taken as examples here. First, computer-based training provides users with learning objects including audios, videos, animations and application simulations via a CD-ROM or a mainframe and through a local network, while another type, web-based training, has its learning materials delivered over the Internet . A computer connected to a network is a must with both of them. According to Hinkle (n.d.), this triggers off the technology-related problem to people who do not have ready access this equipment, in other words, they are ill-equipped to use it (Hinkle 2009). Besides, power cutoff, failure in Internet server on any hardware issue can also make severe impacts on learning process. Last but not least, technical requirement may put great pressure on ones who are completely not computer-literate, which, in turn, might lead to stress and frustration (Top 10 distance learning disadvant ages).

Thursday, September 19, 2019

Road Rage: The Scourge Of Americas Roadways :: essays research papers fc

Topic: Road RageGeneral Purpose: To convinceSpecific Purpose: To convince the audience to combat "road rage" by increasing driver awarenessThesis Statement: "Road rage" caused by aggressive driving tendencies is a growing epidemic affecting today's roadways, but there is a solution.Ethos: Include myself in my statements.Pathos: Audience should feel horrified at the consequences of road rage.Logos: Cite statistics and research resources.IntroductionI. How many of you have ever been in a motor vehicle? Did you know that "motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death among Americans 1-37 years old." With the largest % being our age group. (Insurance Institute for Highway Safety)II. Many traffic accidents could have been easily prevented if not for the angry menace called road rage. Road rage caused by aggressive driving tendencies is a growing epidemic affecting today's roadways, but there is a solution.Transition 1: As you can see road rage is a serious problem that could potentially affect us all. But many of us have different ideas of the scope of road rage.BodyI. You can better combat "road rage" by understanding what it is...A. Road rage or aggressive driving is defined as behavior behind the wheel in which furious drivers lose their temper and engage in risk-taking behavior or attempt to injure or kill another driver or pedestrian over minor traffic disputes.(Dr. Leon James, Professor of Psychology at the University of Hawaii, further defines road rage by breaking it down into three types)1. Verbal Road Rage is composed of behaviors such as yelling, swearing, gesturing, honking, and insulting.2. Quiet Road Rage includes complaining, rushing, competing, and resisting.3. Epic Road Rage includes cutting off, blocking, chasing, fighting, and shooting.B. You all are thinking that we've all done some of those things, but no one really gets hurt. You can be sure that's exactly what Tracie Alfieri and Narkey Terry also thought.1. According to a June 2, Newsweek article, Tracie Alfieri became enraged by the manner in which Rene Andrews pulled into her lane. Alfieri tried to pass Andrews on the right then cut in front and hit the brakes causing Andrews to swerve into a stopped tractor resulting in the loss of Andrews' 6 month old unborn child. Tracie Alfieri was convicted this May of vehicular manslaughter and sentenced to 18 months in prison. (Newsweek)2. In the most commonly cited incident of road rage, which ended in three deaths: Narkey Terry and Billy Canipe became involved in a game of cat and mouse because Canipe was moving too slowly in the left lane.

Wednesday, September 18, 2019

Biography of Guy de Maupassant :: essays research papers

Biography on Guy de Maupassant   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Guy de Maupassant was born on August 5, 1850 at Chateau de Miromesnil in France. He was a descendent of a very old French family. As a boy, Maupassant went to school at Yvetot in Normandy, and then attended Lycee at Rouen. During his childhood and youth in Normandy, he picked up a great deal of experiences that he later put to use in many of his writings. When Maupassant was eleven years old, his parents got separated. This was probably the most significant events in his life in that his mother retained custody of him. His mother was the sister of a close friend of Flaubert, one of the most famous nineteenth- century writers. She turned to Flaubert for advice on him. Flaubert began tutoring him on various subjects, mainly writing. Maupassant's association with Flaubert brought him into the French literary circles. Even though Maupassant was often a member of gatherings which included such famous writers such as Flaubert, Turgenev, Zola, and Daudet, he had little interest at the time for a career of writing for himself. As an adolescent he was much more interested in sports than writing, especially rowing.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Maupassants education was interrupted by the Franco-Prussian War, in which he served as a member of the French army. After the war was finished, he entered the French civil service. He first served with the Ministry of Navy and later with the Ministry of Public Institution. During the between 1873 and 1880 he also served as a literary apprentice under Flaubert. At this time, Maupassant realized his weakness as a poet and concentrated on developing his skills as a writer of prose fiction. Maupassant wrote a collection of short stories that were published with a writers such as Bola, and Huysmans. Maupassant work outshone all the others by far. This is Maupassant became recognized as a writer. He became one of the most famous and well paid French Biography of Guy de Maupassant :: essays research papers Biography on Guy de Maupassant   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Guy de Maupassant was born on August 5, 1850 at Chateau de Miromesnil in France. He was a descendent of a very old French family. As a boy, Maupassant went to school at Yvetot in Normandy, and then attended Lycee at Rouen. During his childhood and youth in Normandy, he picked up a great deal of experiences that he later put to use in many of his writings. When Maupassant was eleven years old, his parents got separated. This was probably the most significant events in his life in that his mother retained custody of him. His mother was the sister of a close friend of Flaubert, one of the most famous nineteenth- century writers. She turned to Flaubert for advice on him. Flaubert began tutoring him on various subjects, mainly writing. Maupassant's association with Flaubert brought him into the French literary circles. Even though Maupassant was often a member of gatherings which included such famous writers such as Flaubert, Turgenev, Zola, and Daudet, he had little interest at the time for a career of writing for himself. As an adolescent he was much more interested in sports than writing, especially rowing.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Maupassants education was interrupted by the Franco-Prussian War, in which he served as a member of the French army. After the war was finished, he entered the French civil service. He first served with the Ministry of Navy and later with the Ministry of Public Institution. During the between 1873 and 1880 he also served as a literary apprentice under Flaubert. At this time, Maupassant realized his weakness as a poet and concentrated on developing his skills as a writer of prose fiction. Maupassant wrote a collection of short stories that were published with a writers such as Bola, and Huysmans. Maupassant work outshone all the others by far. This is Maupassant became recognized as a writer. He became one of the most famous and well paid French

Tuesday, September 17, 2019

Napoleon Bonaparte from 1799 to 1850 Essay

â€Å"His main aim was to himself in power† How far do you agree with this view of Napoleon Bonaparte from 1799 to 1850? Napoleon Bonaparte was created by the revolution of 1789. In his 15 years of ruling, he managed to consolidate many of the aims of the French Revolution., However, whilst doing so, Napoleon also destroyed many aspects of the Revolution, breaking the trust and hope the people of France had in Napoleon when he promised to honour the revolution. Napoleon ruled the way he wanted to stay in power. Napoleon was a war hero to the French people. His great military tactics helped him to rise to power. Napoleon believed that the army is the true nobility of a country. His skills as a general were both tactical and strategical. By 1810, Napoleon had dominated all of Europe; his victory made him popular amongst his people and brought praise. However, it this praise and popularity that urged Napoleon to stay in power. He thought that when one when does bring victory, then the people would soon get bored and uninterested, thus Napoleon became ruthless and tolerate no argument. This was to prove disastrous in his defeat at Waterloo. Napoleon’s constant ambition to go to war and return with victory was his aim of keeping himself in power. Napoleon domestic policies gained the popular support he demanded in order to keep himself in power. He provided France with a strong centralised government, one that he would dominate when he became emperor in 1801, thus he went against the ideals of the French revolution as people of France wished for an end of the Monarch and one man power. Napoleon wanted to keep himself in power and stand against any threats. He also shaped public opinion by crude forms of propaganda, secret agents, arbitrary arrests and executions. Like a dictator, Napoleon relied on public opinion to prevent hostile criticism. This too was against the ideals of the French Revolution. Napoleon now controlled the media, maintaining his position as emperor. As he once said, â€Å"I can no longer obey; I have tested command and I cannot give it up†. Napoleon also used religion to maintain himself in his high position. Although, Napoleon was not religious himself, as he thought it made people meek and mild rather than independent and strong, he knew the French pubic would not understand or agree with him. His aim was to reconcile the church state; this would gain even greater approval from his people. Napoleon was calculating, intelligent and shrewd. Napoleon granted one of the rights mentioned in the declaration of the rights of man as he made Catholicism as the favoured religion of France whilst Jews, Protestants and Catholics could freely practise their religion. By doing this Napoleon had given the people what they wanted increasing his popularity. Napoleon said his aim was the defend the revolution, this is shown in the code Napoleon which incorporated the great principles of 1789 such as the equality before the law, freedom of religion, abortion of serfdom and careers open to talents. However, although the code agreed with most of the people’s interests, it took away some rights especially those of women and children, as Napoleon once said â€Å"Women are nothing but machines for producing children.† Workers were denied collective bargaining, trade unions were outlawed and women were excluded from education according to Napoleon they did not need education only religion. As the he once wrote†Marriage is their whole destination.† Napoleons economic policies were designed to strengthen France and increase his popularity. To secure the economy and please the bourgeoisie, he aided industry through tariffs and loans. He built roads, bridges and canals. His main achievement was the Bank of France which secured Frances economy. Observing what had happened to the men in power before him Napoleon assumed that he would not make the same mistakes, he knew that he must become both a statesmen and a tyrant. However, he became too confident and believed he was more powerful than ever before, as he once wrote â€Å"Power is my mistress. I have worked too hard at her conquest to allow anyone to take her away from me† While in France he had a police state, he has spies everywhere, he tried to control as much as he could to stay in power. He violated the freedom of the press in article 11, of the declaration of the rights of man, reducing  and censuring the newspapers. Although napoleon changed and improved France, it must be noted that, in his legal reforms especially, all that he was doing was building upon the ideas and activities of other reformers before him. All what he did was consolidation of the achievements and developments of the revolution, there is however absence in social reforms as Napoleon cared little and had not much interest in economic or social matters and did not aim at improving standards of living as he said â€Å" France has more need of me than I have of France.† Thus, although Napoleon changed France and improved its conditions much of it was only done, in order to keep his popularity and maintain his position in power. Napoleon from the start knew he was great, therefore he rose to achieve the power he wanted, like all dictators he has ambition. One that cared more for power than others, one that did not know when the possible ended and the impossible began.

Monday, September 16, 2019

Ecosystem Management of the Laurentian Great Lakes

Management of the Laurent Great Lakes Common among models implemented in environmental management is the driver-pressure-state-response concept. This type of model uses Indicators to quantify and simplify changes occurring in natural systems. Changes in the environment, according to this model, all originate from human activity which exert pressure or stress on the system. This model attempts to solve environmental crisis by determining the human activity creating the problem and responding to change with environmental and economic policies.In the 1 9705, Environment Canada reposed a model similar to this called the state-pressure-response model, that would be used to mediate environmental issues emerging throughout the Laurent Great Lakes ecosystems. At this time, the Great Lakes faced a number of ecosystem threats stemming from the mismanagement of fisheries, Industry and farming both in Canada and in the united States. Decision makers determined that a state- pressure-response mod el would more efficient in tackling the sheer number of environmental issues faced at the time, as this type of model focuses on handling specific Issues already present.Although this model was useful In reducing pressures by enforcing stricter environmental policies, it fails to consider environmental change over time. It also fails to recognize the ecosystem as a whole as it targets each individual issue separately, giving no consideration as to how one Issue may be affecting or creating another. State-pressure-response models simply look at environmental Issues already present, there is no degree of attempting to prevent and control environmental stress.Disregarding the possibility of environment change, and ignoring basic ecosystem concepts, creates greater issues hat will only continue to grow as climate change and population growth add more stress to the lakes. Since the sass's, prevent-control models have proven to be more effective in eradicating and decreasing issues presen t in the environment. For this reason, although a state-pressure- response model was successful in diminishing major ecological concerns of the Laurent Great Lakes in the sass's, a more holistic, prevent-control model Is needed to respond to present and future ecological concerns.Current Great Lake environmental management strategies assume the lake ecosystems are static not dynamic. Over the past thirty years of management, this assumption has lead to ramifications which will only continue to worsen as climate change Is expected to pose new threats and changes to the environment. The degradation of wetlands in and around the Great Lakes is one of the ramifications of this assumption. Wetlands are the interface between terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, therefore, management strategies must acknowledge environmental changes occurring In both ecosystems.Since the 1 9705, the Increase In alarm temperature, frequency and duration of water level changes, and the increase of inconsidera tion (Mortars, 2004). Without standardized analytical monitoring of environmental change, issues within Great Lake wetlands with only continue to emerge (Environment Canada Report, 2005). Ignorance to dynamic ecosystem concepts have also lead to the increase of reconciling pesticides in some areas (Environment Canada Report, 2005).This reinforces the need for monitoring environmental change rather than focusing only on issues present during the time the model is put into action. Looking into the future, the state-pressure-response model, which assumes lunatic stationary, will render inadequate as new issues emerge from climate change and arbitration. If governments continue to use a state-pressure-response model for the management of the lakes, many environmental changes will go undocumented and untreated, see Figure 1 in Appendix (Macdonald, 2009).Numerous studies have predicted that climate change is expected to significantly decrease water levels in lakes and streams throughout N orth America (Michele, 2007). Decreasing water levels in the Great Lakes will increase their vulnerability to toxic contaminates (Valiant, 2008). It would be greatly beneficial for environmental management models to already begin taking into account and monitoring these changes to lessen the effects of climate change. Stricter environmental policies for industries and farming practices should already be in consideration to prevent environmental concerns in the future.The environmental regulations that will need to be enforced will require much thought as well, such as debates over using a cap and trade or other emissions cutback strategies to lessen industry emissions if is required. The sooner these issues are dealt with, the more equipped decision makers will be at solving future crises. Other future concerns pertaining to the increase of arbitration around the lakes, primarily Lake Ontario, will be another negative environmental factor needing monitoring and acknowledgement of ec osystem change.With arbitration it is expected that natural vegetation will be removed and replaced with impermeable concrete surfaces which allow water to flow directly into river channels, increasing sedimentation and pollutants in runoff (Foote, 1996). Sedimentation describes the process of depositing sediment or gravel. An increase in this process will have effects felt by the entire ecosystem. Domestic water supply will be contaminated and suspended sediment will have adverse effects on the growth of aquatic plant life as it decreases the light which is able to penetrate the water (UNESCO, 2011).Fish breeding grounds and feeding zones will also be effected by an increase in suspended sediment, thus threatening fish populations. Another issue with arbitration will be the swell in atmospheric contaminates from industries, and increase in carbon dioxide from transportation use (Science Daily, 2008). Both environmental concerns will need to be monitored and regulated if governments are o establish efficient and effective environmental management strategies for the future.Before arbitration and climate change present astronomical environmental issues, governments need to consider models which recognize the environment as being in a constant state of change which will encourage critical monitoring of the lakes. Another consideration is the use of a holistic model, quite unlike the model sass's, when management decisions were being made on the Great Lakes, State of the Great Lakes Conference (SOLES) developed an indicators utilizing framework to identify major concerns of the lakes at the time, see Figure 2 in Appendix (Mitchell, 2004).The issue with using indicators to indemnify environmental problems is that it ignores the complex relationships within the ecosystem. Earlier approaches to ecosystem management examined organisms in their ecosystem context, this was later altered to the study of an entire local system with all of its biochemistry (Mitchell, 2004) . SOLES has failed to adapt the new method of ecosystem management which better explains, what and why things are happening in the ecosystem. In the early sass's, excessive recreational boating activity and shipping on the lakes lead to the introduction of a handful of invasive species.The most ecologically harmful being invasive species Addressed polymorph (zebra mussels), which has eliminated the native clam population in Lake Ontario, see Figure 3 in Appendix (Griffith, 1991). Following the state-pressure-response model, it was identified that ballast water discharge from transoceanic vessels was a major contributor to this problem. However, it was not until later that scientists began to notice the effect of this population on that of the native clam (Olden, 2008).This proves that the disconnect of species to species interaction assumed in the model will only result in unpredicted, complex ecological concerns which arise at a later time (Height et al, 2006). It is clear that an essential tool for lake management, are models that describe in detail the lake ecosystem which studies both species and human interaction and species to species interaction. Typically with indicator utilizing frameworks, like that of the state-pressure- response model, environmental management efforts are enforced only when an issues present themselves as a larger problem.In lake ecosystems, the alteration of water quality due to pollution tends to have a multiplying effect, as toxic activity accumulates over time (Ultras, 2005). Since state-pressure-response models do not exist without indicators, it is only until there is a larger scale ecosystem consequence that environmental investigation is undertaken. Once investigation begins, indemnifying the pressure or effect creating an issue is complex, and thus, additional time is taken before any action is seen to mediate the problem.Essentially, this model waits for a problem to reach crisis portions before action is taken (Berger, 9 97). In some cases, environmental responses to human activity cannot be linked to specific stresses (Berger, 1997). This is especially true when targeting point and non- point source pollution. Point and non-point source are the categories which define the main types of pollution. The first being a single identifiable localized source and the second source generally unidentifiable, such as runoff from farmland.In some areas of Lake Ontario, there are hundreds of industries and farms bordering the shoreline. Their by-products (being emissions and runoff inputs to the system are official to identify, and it becomes impossible in some cases to then identify the cause (Berger, 1997). However, the purpose of the state-pressure-response model is to recognize the source and create environmental policies to control the problem. If the source is not found, this will not happen and the problem will continue to grow. Therefore, ecosystem management models need to achieve some degree of rather than unanswered problems.Prevent-control models are needed if current and future ecological concerns of the Great Lakes are to be handled intelligently and in a time appropriate manner. Over the past twenty years, there has been a nationwide use of prevent-control models, which operate quite differently than state-pressure-response models. Prevent-control models are aimed to reduce the amount of environmental issues that arise by diligent monitoring of systems and science inspired decision making. An excellent example of this type of model is the prevention of the spread of the southern pine beetle in western Canada.In some areas, a direct control and preventative management practice requiring the removal of tree stands, known as a cut and remove, have been used (Billings et al, 2007). Although this type of method squires quite accurate and risky decision making, the difference between this model and the state-pressure-response model is astronomical in terms of maintaining ecosystem integrity. The application of a prevent and control model has been used around the Great Lakes area in efforts of counteracting the spread of non-native species from the Great Lakes into other watersheds (Cook and Williamsburg, 2001).This model is known as an on-the-ground management, meaning that there is extensive monitoring at these water bodies. This type of management is dependent upon a detailed understanding of ecosystem dynamics. Scientists first determine if a site is viable for a colony to reach, and then examines it's possible success and impact potential. Thus far, this model have been successful in controlling the spread of the hundreds of non-native species from the Great Lakes into its neighboring water systems. This model can easily be adapted into the management of the Great Lakes.Although this type of model requires an extraordinary amount of effort from the scientific community, the expertise are already there and the environmental benefits would be well worth th e effort. Human pressure on the Great Lakes is quite extensive, ND a result, lake ecosystems are unable to operate in a self-sustaining manner due to the interference or changes that exceed their capacity for self-repair (Ultras, 2005). It is essential that models in effect prevent and control environmental issues of the Great Lake to ensure irreversible damage is avoided, even if this means more funding towards monitoring and scientific expertise.To mange present and future environmental concerns of the Great Lakes, decision makers must discard the old pressure-state-response model and replace it with a holistic, prevent-control model. These types of models encourage strategic, analytical monitoring that will solve many issues in the management of the Great Lakes faced today, with the current state-pressure-response method. Monitoring ensures the documentation of ecosystem changes which will be important in the future for determining climate change effects.

Sunday, September 15, 2019

International Movie Revenues: Determinants and Impact of the Financial Crisis

Institute of Economic Studies Faculty of Social Sciences Charles University in Prague Empirical Project Assignment — Econometrics II Due on Friday, 13 January 2012, 11. 00 International movie revenues: determinants and impact of the financial crisis Marek Kre? mer, Jan Mati? ka c c International movie revenues : Determinants and impact of the ? nancial crisis Table of Contents Abstract Keywords Introduction Literature survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Data analysis variables used . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . model 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . model 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Results model 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . model 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Conclusion References primary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . secondary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . data sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Appendix Descriptive statistics for the dependent variables model 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Residuals versus ? tted values plot . . . . . Breusch-Pagan test for heteroskedasticity . model 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Residuals versus ? tted values plot . . . . . . Breusch-Pagan test for heteroskedasticity . The correlation matrix . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 2 2 2 3 3 4 4 4 4 6 6 6 7 8 8 8 8 9 9 10 11 11 12 13 13 14 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Marek Kre? mer, Jan Mati? ka c c Page 1 of 14 International movie revenues : Determinants and impact of the ? nancial crisis Abstract This empirical project examines the determinants of international box o? ce revenues for movies produced in United States during 2006 – 2010. Our sample consists of 424 ? lms released in this period. We also test the hypothesis if the world ? nancial crisis had any signi? can t impact on the international box o? ce revenues. Keywords the ? ancial crisis, movie international box o? ce revenue, movies produced in the United States, budget, rating, Academy Awards, Introduction When choosing a topic of our empirical paper we were considering di? erent suggestions. As we both are pretty much interested in movies we ? nally decided to exit a viewer seat for a while and perform an empirical study on the movie industry. While being newcommers in sophisticated movie data analysis, we needed ? rst to get acquainted with important theoretical concepts and empirical papers concerning this topic. Literature survey When going down the history, [Litman, 1983] was the ? st who has attempted to predict the ? nancial success of ? lms. He has performed a multiple regression and found a clear evidence that various independent variables have a signi? cant and serious in? uence on the ? nal success of a movie. Litemans work has been gradually getting developed, [Faber & Oâ₠¬â„¢Guinn, 1984] tested the in? uence of ? lm advertising. They proved, that movie critics and word-of-mouth are less important then movie previews and excerpts when explaininng movie succes after going on public. [Eliashberg & Shugan, 1997] explored the impact of restricted-rating labeled movies on their box o? e performance. [Terry, Butler & De’Armond, 2004] analysed the determinants of movie video rental revenue, ? nding Academy Award nominations as the dominant factor. [King, 2007] followed their research and used U. S. movie data to ? nd the connection between the criticism and box o? ce earnings†¦ Many other authors has extended the initial work of [Litman, 1983], but none of them has focused on the key factors of the international box o? ce revenues as we planned to. So we ? nally decided to use [Terry, Cooley & Zachary, 2010] as our primary source. Their object of interest is very much similar to our resarch.Therefore we studied their metodology the most and we u se their results in the analytical part as a primary resource of comparison. Marek Kre? mer, Jan Mati? ka c c Page 2 of 14 International movie revenues : Determinants and impact of the ? nancial crisis Data We got quickly stucked realising that the strong majority of movie data on the internet are not free available. It was quite a surprise because there are many movie-oriented sites with seemingly endless data access. But when there is a need of more profound, well structured and complete set of random data everything gets little bit tricky.After hours of searching, we luckily got to a 30 days free access to this kind of databases [opusdata. com] and got the core data for our analysis. Then we wanted to add some interesting or usefull variables just as the movie rating or the number of AcademyAwards to complete our dataset. It has been done using well known and free accessed databases [imdb. com], [numbers. com] and [boxo? cemojo. com]. Thanks to our literature survey we discovered a model which we have thought would be interesting to test on di? erent or new data. The most interesting would be to test it on our domestic data but these are quite di? ult to obtain (as explained before). Anyway, it would be possible to get data for the highest grossing ? lms but that would violate the assumption of random sample. Therefore we decided to use data from U. S. and Canada which we considered the most likely to obtain. We also wanted to test whether the ? nancial crisis have had an impact on movie box o? ce revenues and whether the world ? nancial crisis made people less likely to go to the cinema. Model We considered several models and in the end we used two models. The ? rst one is just the same as the one used in paper [Terry, Cooley & Zachary, 2010], but it is slightly modi? d by using di? erent data plus setting the crisis variable. We considered it as a dummy variable, which was 1 if the movie was released during crisis (2008-2009), otherwise it is equal to zer o. As it was proposed before, this model has been used as a comparison to the original model [Terry, Cooley & Zachary, 2010] wihle we wanted to test whether their inference holds up with slightly di? erent and newer data. In the second model we tried to use a slightly di? erent approach. We used a time series model with year dummies and we also used all the variables which we obtained and were statistically signi? ant. Our ? rst model is basic linear regression with cross-sectional data. Our data are a random sample thanks to [opusdata. com] query which was capable of selecting a random sample of movies. We have tested all the variables for multicollinearity with the correlation matrix and there is no proof for multicollinearity in our used variables. The only high collinearity is between domestic and budget variables, which is about 0. 75. After running the regressions we have used the Breusch-Pagan test for heteroscedasticity and the chi squared was really high therefore showing s igns of strong heteroscedasticity.Even after looking at the graph of residuals against ? tted values it was clear that the heteroscedasticity is present. Therefore we had to run the regressions with the heteroscedasticity robust errors. We therefore tested in both models for presence of these: †¢ the variables which have an impact on movie international box revenues †¢ any signi? cant impact of ? nancial crisis on these revenues Marek Kre? mer, Jan Mati? ka c c Page 3 of 14 International movie revenues : Determinants and impact of the ? nancial crisis Data analysis Here we list all the used variables in both models and their a description. ariables used academy awards . . . . . . . . . number of Academy Awards a ? lm earned action . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . categorical variable for movies in action genre animation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . categorical variable for movies in animation production method budget . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . the estimated pr oduction and promotion cost of a movie comedy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . categorical variable for movies in comedy genre crisis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . dummy variable for movies released during crisis domestic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . omestic box o? ce earnings horror . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . categorical variable for movies in horror genre international . . . . . . . . . . . . international box o? ce earnings kids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . categorical variable for movies for children rating . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . average user rating from the [imdb. com] source ratingR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . is a categorical variable for movies with a restricted rating romantic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . categorical variable for movies in romantic genre sequel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . categorical variable for movies derived from a previously released ? lm y06 ? y10 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . dummy vari able for movies released in a year The list of variables is followed by both model equations and reggression table comparism, while model 1 and model 2 mean the original [Terry, Cooley & Zachary, 2010] model and our new model respectivelly. model 1 international = ? 0 + ? 1 domestic + ? 2 action + ? 3 kids + ? 4 ratingR+ + ? 5 sequel + ? 6 rating + ? 7 academy awards + ? 8 budget + ? 9 crisis model 2 international = + + ? 0 + ? 1 academy awards + ? 2 budget + ? 3 domestic + ? 4 sequel + ? horror + ? 6 romantic + ? 7 comedy + ? 8 action + ? 9 ratingR + ? 10 animation + ? 11 y06 + ? 12 y07 + ? 13 y08 + ? 14 y09 Marek Kre? mer, Jan Mati? ka c c Page 4 of 14 International movie revenues : Determinants and impact of the ? nancial crisis Table 1: Model comparison model 1 domestic action kids rating R sequel rating academy awards budget crisis horror romantic comedy animation y 06 y 07 y 08 y 09 Constant Observations t statistics in parentheses ? model 2 1. 025 (13. 31) -18. 56? (-2. 29) 1 . 028 (12. 70) -13. 43 (-1. 79) 48. 33? (2. 10) 5. 922 (1. 52) 26. 91? (2. 06) 0. 309 (1. 42) 6. 978? (2. 33) 0. 68 (5. 48) -5. 320 (-1. 01) 9. 259? (2. 36) 28. 74? (2. 16) 7. 097 (2. 59) 0. 508 (4. 73) -9. 867? (-2. 23) 13. 41 (1. 79) -17. 77 (-3. 31) 52. 02 (2. 87) -7. 962 (-1. 24) 1. 182 (0. 17) -6. 748 (-1. 01) -11. 79 (-1. 30) -43. 25 (-3. 05) 424 -15. 11? (-2. 41) 424 p < 0. 05, p < 0. 01, p < 0. 001 Marek Kre? mer, Jan Mati? ka c c Page 5 of 14 International movie revenues : Determinants and impact of the ? nancial crisis Results model 1 After running the ? rst regression we get quite similar results as [Terry, Cooley & Zachary, 2010], so their inference holds up even under our data.The similar results we get are that one dollar in revenues in US makes $1. 02 in international revenues, therefore succesful movie in US is likely to be similarly succesful in international theatres, if movie is a sequel it adds to revenues about $26 mil. , every academy award adds about $7 mil. and every additional dollar spent on budget adds about $0. 57 so there is about 57% return on budget. We also have similarly insigni? cant variables which are whether is movie rated as restricted and how great or poorly is movie rated by critics or other people.That means that international audience is not in? uenced by age restrictions and critical movie ratings. When we look at our and theirs results regarding the genres then we get quite di? erent results. They say that when a movie is of an action genre then it adds about $26 mil. whereas we obtained results that revenues for an action movie should be lower about $13 mil. and our result for children movies is two times larger and it says that a children movie should make about $48 mil. more. It could be explained that movie genre preferences shifted in the last two years.But more likely explanation is the di? erence in our data in labeling the movies. In our data we have had more detailed labeling and movies which they had labe led as action movies, we had labeled adventure movies etc. Therefore the strictly action movie genre is not so probable to make money as it would seem. Action movies are usually of low quality and many of them could be labeled as B-movies which usually are not very likely to have high revenues. The children movies could be getting more popular and taking children to the movies could be getting more usual thing.Our last and new variable is the crisis dummy which is not signi? cant and therefore we have no proof that the ? nancial crisis had any e? ect on movie revenues. Our model has quite high R2 which is about 0. 83, that is even higher then [Terry, Cooley & Zachary, 2010] have. But the main reason behind this high R2 is that most of the variation in data is explained by US revenues. If we regress international revenues on domestic alone we still get high R2 which is about 0. 59. model 2 In our time series model we get quite similar results as in the ? rst one. We have there ? e ne w variables which are genres comedy, romantic and horror, animation dummy, which tells us whether the movie is animated or not and year dummies. Our model implies that when a movie is a comedy it will make about $17 mil. less in revenues, when horror about $10 mil. less, when romantic about $13 mil. more and when animated it will add about $52 mil to its revenues. The restricted rating is now also statistically signi? cant and it should add to the revenues about $9 mil. which is quite unexpected. Y ear dummies are statistically non-signi? cant and even when we test them for joint signi? ance they are jointly non-signi? cant. Therefore even in this model there appears no reason to believe that the ? nancial crisis or even year makes di? erence in the movie revenues. Marek Kre? mer, Jan Mati? ka c c Page 6 of 14 International movie revenues : Determinants and impact of the ? nancial crisis Conclusion The inferences from our models are quite like we expected. We expected that people ar e more likely to go to cinema to see movies that had won academy awards, that were succesful in U. S. theatres and that are some kind of sequel to previous succesful movies. The resulting e? cts of di? erent movie genres could be quite puzzling but these e? ects depend highly on quality of the movies released these years and on the mood and taste of current society. If we had had larger sample with data from many years then it is possible that we would have seen trends in the di? erent movie genres. The insigni? cance of the ? nancial crisis on movie revenues was also likely because the severity of the crisis and impact on regular citizen has not been so large that it would in? uence his attendence of movie theatres. Marek Kre? mer, Jan Mati? ka c c Page 7 of 14International movie revenues : Determinants and impact of the ? nancial crisis Reference primary [Terry, Cooley & Zachary, 2010] Terry, Neil, John W. Cooley, & Miles Zachary (2010). The Determinants of Foreign Box O? ce Reven ue for English Language Movies. Journal of International Business and Cultural Studies, 2 (1), 117-127. secondary [Eliashberg & Shugan, 1997] Eliashberg, Jehoshua & Steven M. Shugan (1997). Film Critics: In? uencers or Predictors? Journal of Marketing, 61, 68-78. [Faber & O’Guinn, 1984] Faber, Ronald & Thomas O’Guinn (1984). E? ect of Media Advertising and Other Sources on Movie Selection.Journalism Quarterly, 61 (summer), 371-377. [King, 2007] King, Timothy (2007). Does ? lm criticism a? ect box o? ce earnings? Evidence from movies released in the U. S. in 2003. Journal of Cultural Economics, 31, 171-186. [Litman, 1983] Litman, Barry R. (1983). Predicting Success of Theatrical Movies: An Empirical Study. Journal of Popular Culture, 16 (spring), 159-175. [Ravid, 1999] Ravid, S. Abraham (1999). Information, Blockbusters, and Stars: A Study of the Film Industry. Journal of Business, 72 (4), 463-492. [Terry, Butler & De’Armond, 2004] Terry, Neil, Michael Butler & D e’Arno De’Armond (2004).The Economic Impact of Movie Critics on Box O? ce Performance. Academy of Marketing Studies Journal, 8 (1), page 61-73. data sources [opusdata. com] Opus data – movie data through a query interface. 30-days free trial. http://www. opusdata. com/ [imdb. com] The Internet Movie Database (IMDb). The biggest, best, most award-winning movie site on the planet. http://www. imdb. com [numbers. com] The numbers. Box o? ce data, movies stars, idle speculation. http://www. the-numbers. com [boxo? cemojo. com] Box o? ce mojo. Movie web site with the most comprehensive box o? ce database on the Internet. ttp://www. boxofficemojo. com Marek Kre? mer, Jan Mati? ka c c Page 8 of 14 International movie revenues : Determinants and impact of the ? nancial crisis Appendix Descriptive statistics for the dependent variables Marek Kre? mer, Jan Mati? ka c c Page 9 of 14 International movie revenues : Determinants and impact of the ? nancial crisis model 1 Regr ession of the original model published in [Terry, Cooley & Zachary, 2010] Marek Kre? mer, Jan Mati? ka c c Page 10 of 14 International movie revenues : Determinants and impact of the ? nancial crisis Residuals versus ? tted values plotBreusch-Pagan test for heteroskedasticity Marek Kre? mer, Jan Mati? ka c c Page 11 of 14 International movie revenues : Determinants and impact of the ? nancial crisis model 2 Regression of our model Marek Kre? mer, Jan Mati? ka c c Page 12 of 14 International movie revenues : Determinants and impact of the ? nancial crisis Residuals versus ? tted values plot Breusch-Pagan test for heteroskedasticity Marek Kre? mer, Jan Mati? ka c c Page 13 of 14 International movie revenues : Determinants and impact of the ? nancial crisis The correlation matrix Marek Kre? mer, Jan Mati? ka c c Page 14 of 14 International Movie Revenues: Determinants and Impact of the Financial Crisis Institute of Economic Studies Faculty of Social Sciences Charles University in Prague Empirical Project Assignment — Econometrics II Due on Friday, 13 January 2012, 11. 00 International movie revenues: determinants and impact of the financial crisis Marek Kre? mer, Jan Mati? ka c c International movie revenues : Determinants and impact of the ? nancial crisis Table of Contents Abstract Keywords Introduction Literature survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Data analysis variables used . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . model 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . model 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Results model 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . model 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Conclusion References primary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . secondary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . data sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Appendix Descriptive statistics for the dependent variables model 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Residuals versus ? tted values plot . . . . . Breusch-Pagan test for heteroskedasticity . model 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Residuals versus ? tted values plot . . . . . . Breusch-Pagan test for heteroskedasticity . The correlation matrix . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 2 2 2 3 3 4 4 4 4 6 6 6 7 8 8 8 8 9 9 10 11 11 12 13 13 14 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Marek Kre? mer, Jan Mati? ka c c Page 1 of 14 International movie revenues : Determinants and impact of the ? nancial crisis Abstract This empirical project examines the determinants of international box o? ce revenues for movies produced in United States during 2006 – 2010. Our sample consists of 424 ? lms released in this period. We also test the hypothesis if the world ? nancial crisis had any signi? can t impact on the international box o? ce revenues. Keywords the ? ancial crisis, movie international box o? ce revenue, movies produced in the United States, budget, rating, Academy Awards, Introduction When choosing a topic of our empirical paper we were considering di? erent suggestions. As we both are pretty much interested in movies we ? nally decided to exit a viewer seat for a while and perform an empirical study on the movie industry. While being newcommers in sophisticated movie data analysis, we needed ? rst to get acquainted with important theoretical concepts and empirical papers concerning this topic. Literature survey When going down the history, [Litman, 1983] was the ? st who has attempted to predict the ? nancial success of ? lms. He has performed a multiple regression and found a clear evidence that various independent variables have a signi? cant and serious in? uence on the ? nal success of a movie. Litemans work has been gradually getting developed, [Faber & Oâ₠¬â„¢Guinn, 1984] tested the in? uence of ? lm advertising. They proved, that movie critics and word-of-mouth are less important then movie previews and excerpts when explaininng movie succes after going on public. [Eliashberg & Shugan, 1997] explored the impact of restricted-rating labeled movies on their box o? e performance. [Terry, Butler & De’Armond, 2004] analysed the determinants of movie video rental revenue, ? nding Academy Award nominations as the dominant factor. [King, 2007] followed their research and used U. S. movie data to ? nd the connection between the criticism and box o? ce earnings†¦ Many other authors has extended the initial work of [Litman, 1983], but none of them has focused on the key factors of the international box o? ce revenues as we planned to. So we ? nally decided to use [Terry, Cooley & Zachary, 2010] as our primary source. Their object of interest is very much similar to our resarch.Therefore we studied their metodology the most and we u se their results in the analytical part as a primary resource of comparison. Marek Kre? mer, Jan Mati? ka c c Page 2 of 14 International movie revenues : Determinants and impact of the ? nancial crisis Data We got quickly stucked realising that the strong majority of movie data on the internet are not free available. It was quite a surprise because there are many movie-oriented sites with seemingly endless data access. But when there is a need of more profound, well structured and complete set of random data everything gets little bit tricky.After hours of searching, we luckily got to a 30 days free access to this kind of databases [opusdata. com] and got the core data for our analysis. Then we wanted to add some interesting or usefull variables just as the movie rating or the number of AcademyAwards to complete our dataset. It has been done using well known and free accessed databases [imdb. com], [numbers. com] and [boxo? cemojo. com]. Thanks to our literature survey we discovered a model which we have thought would be interesting to test on di? erent or new data. The most interesting would be to test it on our domestic data but these are quite di? ult to obtain (as explained before). Anyway, it would be possible to get data for the highest grossing ? lms but that would violate the assumption of random sample. Therefore we decided to use data from U. S. and Canada which we considered the most likely to obtain. We also wanted to test whether the ? nancial crisis have had an impact on movie box o? ce revenues and whether the world ? nancial crisis made people less likely to go to the cinema. Model We considered several models and in the end we used two models. The ? rst one is just the same as the one used in paper [Terry, Cooley & Zachary, 2010], but it is slightly modi? d by using di? erent data plus setting the crisis variable. We considered it as a dummy variable, which was 1 if the movie was released during crisis (2008-2009), otherwise it is equal to zer o. As it was proposed before, this model has been used as a comparison to the original model [Terry, Cooley & Zachary, 2010] wihle we wanted to test whether their inference holds up with slightly di? erent and newer data. In the second model we tried to use a slightly di? erent approach. We used a time series model with year dummies and we also used all the variables which we obtained and were statistically signi? ant. Our ? rst model is basic linear regression with cross-sectional data. Our data are a random sample thanks to [opusdata. com] query which was capable of selecting a random sample of movies. We have tested all the variables for multicollinearity with the correlation matrix and there is no proof for multicollinearity in our used variables. The only high collinearity is between domestic and budget variables, which is about 0. 75. After running the regressions we have used the Breusch-Pagan test for heteroscedasticity and the chi squared was really high therefore showing s igns of strong heteroscedasticity.Even after looking at the graph of residuals against ? tted values it was clear that the heteroscedasticity is present. Therefore we had to run the regressions with the heteroscedasticity robust errors. We therefore tested in both models for presence of these: †¢ the variables which have an impact on movie international box revenues †¢ any signi? cant impact of ? nancial crisis on these revenues Marek Kre? mer, Jan Mati? ka c c Page 3 of 14 International movie revenues : Determinants and impact of the ? nancial crisis Data analysis Here we list all the used variables in both models and their a description. ariables used academy awards . . . . . . . . . number of Academy Awards a ? lm earned action . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . categorical variable for movies in action genre animation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . categorical variable for movies in animation production method budget . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . the estimated pr oduction and promotion cost of a movie comedy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . categorical variable for movies in comedy genre crisis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . dummy variable for movies released during crisis domestic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . omestic box o? ce earnings horror . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . categorical variable for movies in horror genre international . . . . . . . . . . . . international box o? ce earnings kids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . categorical variable for movies for children rating . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . average user rating from the [imdb. com] source ratingR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . is a categorical variable for movies with a restricted rating romantic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . categorical variable for movies in romantic genre sequel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . categorical variable for movies derived from a previously released ? lm y06 ? y10 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . dummy vari able for movies released in a year The list of variables is followed by both model equations and reggression table comparism, while model 1 and model 2 mean the original [Terry, Cooley & Zachary, 2010] model and our new model respectivelly. model 1 international = ? 0 + ? 1 domestic + ? 2 action + ? 3 kids + ? 4 ratingR+ + ? 5 sequel + ? 6 rating + ? 7 academy awards + ? 8 budget + ? 9 crisis model 2 international = + + ? 0 + ? 1 academy awards + ? 2 budget + ? 3 domestic + ? 4 sequel + ? horror + ? 6 romantic + ? 7 comedy + ? 8 action + ? 9 ratingR + ? 10 animation + ? 11 y06 + ? 12 y07 + ? 13 y08 + ? 14 y09 Marek Kre? mer, Jan Mati? ka c c Page 4 of 14 International movie revenues : Determinants and impact of the ? nancial crisis Table 1: Model comparison model 1 domestic action kids rating R sequel rating academy awards budget crisis horror romantic comedy animation y 06 y 07 y 08 y 09 Constant Observations t statistics in parentheses ? model 2 1. 025 (13. 31) -18. 56? (-2. 29) 1 . 028 (12. 70) -13. 43 (-1. 79) 48. 33? (2. 10) 5. 922 (1. 52) 26. 91? (2. 06) 0. 309 (1. 42) 6. 978? (2. 33) 0. 68 (5. 48) -5. 320 (-1. 01) 9. 259? (2. 36) 28. 74? (2. 16) 7. 097 (2. 59) 0. 508 (4. 73) -9. 867? (-2. 23) 13. 41 (1. 79) -17. 77 (-3. 31) 52. 02 (2. 87) -7. 962 (-1. 24) 1. 182 (0. 17) -6. 748 (-1. 01) -11. 79 (-1. 30) -43. 25 (-3. 05) 424 -15. 11? (-2. 41) 424 p < 0. 05, p < 0. 01, p < 0. 001 Marek Kre? mer, Jan Mati? ka c c Page 5 of 14 International movie revenues : Determinants and impact of the ? nancial crisis Results model 1 After running the ? rst regression we get quite similar results as [Terry, Cooley & Zachary, 2010], so their inference holds up even under our data.The similar results we get are that one dollar in revenues in US makes $1. 02 in international revenues, therefore succesful movie in US is likely to be similarly succesful in international theatres, if movie is a sequel it adds to revenues about $26 mil. , every academy award adds about $7 mil. and every additional dollar spent on budget adds about $0. 57 so there is about 57% return on budget. We also have similarly insigni? cant variables which are whether is movie rated as restricted and how great or poorly is movie rated by critics or other people.That means that international audience is not in? uenced by age restrictions and critical movie ratings. When we look at our and theirs results regarding the genres then we get quite di? erent results. They say that when a movie is of an action genre then it adds about $26 mil. whereas we obtained results that revenues for an action movie should be lower about $13 mil. and our result for children movies is two times larger and it says that a children movie should make about $48 mil. more. It could be explained that movie genre preferences shifted in the last two years.But more likely explanation is the di? erence in our data in labeling the movies. In our data we have had more detailed labeling and movies which they had labe led as action movies, we had labeled adventure movies etc. Therefore the strictly action movie genre is not so probable to make money as it would seem. Action movies are usually of low quality and many of them could be labeled as B-movies which usually are not very likely to have high revenues. The children movies could be getting more popular and taking children to the movies could be getting more usual thing.Our last and new variable is the crisis dummy which is not signi? cant and therefore we have no proof that the ? nancial crisis had any e? ect on movie revenues. Our model has quite high R2 which is about 0. 83, that is even higher then [Terry, Cooley & Zachary, 2010] have. But the main reason behind this high R2 is that most of the variation in data is explained by US revenues. If we regress international revenues on domestic alone we still get high R2 which is about 0. 59. model 2 In our time series model we get quite similar results as in the ? rst one. We have there ? e ne w variables which are genres comedy, romantic and horror, animation dummy, which tells us whether the movie is animated or not and year dummies. Our model implies that when a movie is a comedy it will make about $17 mil. less in revenues, when horror about $10 mil. less, when romantic about $13 mil. more and when animated it will add about $52 mil to its revenues. The restricted rating is now also statistically signi? cant and it should add to the revenues about $9 mil. which is quite unexpected. Y ear dummies are statistically non-signi? cant and even when we test them for joint signi? ance they are jointly non-signi? cant. Therefore even in this model there appears no reason to believe that the ? nancial crisis or even year makes di? erence in the movie revenues. Marek Kre? mer, Jan Mati? ka c c Page 6 of 14 International movie revenues : Determinants and impact of the ? nancial crisis Conclusion The inferences from our models are quite like we expected. We expected that people ar e more likely to go to cinema to see movies that had won academy awards, that were succesful in U. S. theatres and that are some kind of sequel to previous succesful movies. The resulting e? cts of di? erent movie genres could be quite puzzling but these e? ects depend highly on quality of the movies released these years and on the mood and taste of current society. If we had had larger sample with data from many years then it is possible that we would have seen trends in the di? erent movie genres. The insigni? cance of the ? nancial crisis on movie revenues was also likely because the severity of the crisis and impact on regular citizen has not been so large that it would in? uence his attendence of movie theatres. Marek Kre? mer, Jan Mati? ka c c Page 7 of 14International movie revenues : Determinants and impact of the ? nancial crisis Reference primary [Terry, Cooley & Zachary, 2010] Terry, Neil, John W. Cooley, & Miles Zachary (2010). The Determinants of Foreign Box O? ce Reven ue for English Language Movies. Journal of International Business and Cultural Studies, 2 (1), 117-127. secondary [Eliashberg & Shugan, 1997] Eliashberg, Jehoshua & Steven M. Shugan (1997). Film Critics: In? uencers or Predictors? Journal of Marketing, 61, 68-78. [Faber & O’Guinn, 1984] Faber, Ronald & Thomas O’Guinn (1984). E? ect of Media Advertising and Other Sources on Movie Selection.Journalism Quarterly, 61 (summer), 371-377. [King, 2007] King, Timothy (2007). Does ? lm criticism a? ect box o? ce earnings? Evidence from movies released in the U. S. in 2003. Journal of Cultural Economics, 31, 171-186. [Litman, 1983] Litman, Barry R. (1983). Predicting Success of Theatrical Movies: An Empirical Study. Journal of Popular Culture, 16 (spring), 159-175. [Ravid, 1999] Ravid, S. Abraham (1999). Information, Blockbusters, and Stars: A Study of the Film Industry. Journal of Business, 72 (4), 463-492. [Terry, Butler & De’Armond, 2004] Terry, Neil, Michael Butler & D e’Arno De’Armond (2004).The Economic Impact of Movie Critics on Box O? ce Performance. Academy of Marketing Studies Journal, 8 (1), page 61-73. data sources [opusdata. com] Opus data – movie data through a query interface. 30-days free trial. http://www. opusdata. com/ [imdb. com] The Internet Movie Database (IMDb). The biggest, best, most award-winning movie site on the planet. http://www. imdb. com [numbers. com] The numbers. Box o? ce data, movies stars, idle speculation. http://www. the-numbers. com [boxo? cemojo. com] Box o? ce mojo. Movie web site with the most comprehensive box o? ce database on the Internet. ttp://www. boxofficemojo. com Marek Kre? mer, Jan Mati? ka c c Page 8 of 14 International movie revenues : Determinants and impact of the ? nancial crisis Appendix Descriptive statistics for the dependent variables Marek Kre? mer, Jan Mati? ka c c Page 9 of 14 International movie revenues : Determinants and impact of the ? nancial crisis model 1 Regr ession of the original model published in [Terry, Cooley & Zachary, 2010] Marek Kre? mer, Jan Mati? ka c c Page 10 of 14 International movie revenues : Determinants and impact of the ? nancial crisis Residuals versus ? tted values plotBreusch-Pagan test for heteroskedasticity Marek Kre? mer, Jan Mati? ka c c Page 11 of 14 International movie revenues : Determinants and impact of the ? nancial crisis model 2 Regression of our model Marek Kre? mer, Jan Mati? ka c c Page 12 of 14 International movie revenues : Determinants and impact of the ? nancial crisis Residuals versus ? tted values plot Breusch-Pagan test for heteroskedasticity Marek Kre? mer, Jan Mati? ka c c Page 13 of 14 International movie revenues : Determinants and impact of the ? nancial crisis The correlation matrix Marek Kre? mer, Jan Mati? ka c c Page 14 of 14