5 Years from Now

My goal is to contribute my skills in creating an equitable and strife free society with the help of media. I would like to be a media entrepreneur in the next five years. After graduating, apart from worked as an IT support executive, I prepared for Civil Service Exams, and worked as volunteer for couple of NGOs which gave me exposure to various Socio-Economic issues and learnt how media can be used to resolve these issues. After careful contemplation, I chose media as my career path and gave up the Civils’ preparation. Many entrepreneurs have been using media innovation for social transformation. For example, Participant Media is an American film and television production company which finances and produces socially relevant films and documentaries. Video Volunteers, an international media and human rights NGO that promotes community media to enable citizen participation in marginalized and poor communities around the world. One World Media, ViewChange, Latin American Network of Art for Social Transformation, TED (Technology Entertainment and Design) are the few examples of such successful media innovations. To shape a great idea into reality, it requires diverse range of skills and intimate knowledge of business. An MBA degree from SIBM with its robust pedagogy and strong industrial interface can act as a bridge between my theoretical knowledge and skills required for the industry. SIBM with more than 5000 alumni will help me to meet the like minded and to build a ‘symbiotic’ relationship for mutual benefit. The convergence of ideas and attitudes of different people from diverse educational and cultural background at SIMB will help me to learn new ways of planning and organizing things and solving problems. I believe that my strong determination and my skills that will be streamlined by SIMB will definitely help me in achieving my goal.

A Day at the Beach

I am the kind of person who likes to go to the beach all of the time and in all kinds of weather.   I enjoy many warm, sunny beautiful days on the sand and in the refreshing water.I also enjoy the scent of a rainy day at the beach and the sight of the rain joining the lake, as if the water is coming home.   Indeed, the beach has provided many happy memories for me.   It is one of my favorite places on earth to go both with friends and alone.   However, there was one very special day at the beach that tops all of the other times I have spent there.On this particular night, the evening sun had just begun to set and the heat of the day was wearing off as I drove to the beach.   I was all alone this evening and had just enjoyed a nice light dinner at my favorite outdoor bistro with my cousin, Paulette.   We had lively conversation, as we always do, and I felt invigorated before I even headed off to my retreat at the beach.   All four of my windows were down, so the air pass ing through the car felt as if I were standing atop a windy cliff.   The breeze felt luxurious on my skin, as if I were slipping into soft silken sheets on a brisk evening.I had the radio on my favorite station, and the music was as loud as I could stand it, but not loud enough to distract me from using all of my other senses to enjoy my surroundings.   I could still hear the wind rushing through my car and the lap of the lake against the breakers.   I could also hear the softer laps of water as I crossed over bridges and sections of road that bordered the water.I could see the orange encrusted yellow sun setting over the shimmering water, with its rays stretching seemingly for miles.   I smelled all of the various scents of the lake and I could still taste the salmon salad that I had just enjoyed with cousin.   Life was wonderful. I was in touch with nature.I pulled into my usual parking spot, a grassy but easily accessible rest spot along the road.   I casually climbed down the rocky wall that led me to my usual spot of respite.I noticed that tonight, I was alone.   There were no other beings around me and not a car passed for at least forty five minutes.   During this time of solidarity, I enjoyed myself.   I took time to be introspective and to have a conversation with myself.   In a spot where I had come and enjoyed the company of many people in my life, I now spent time getting to know myself.   I felt at peace and whole by the time the first car whizzed past my encampment.While being alone may not suit everyone, in it I found strength and happiness.   A very typical day and a very common place ended up leading to my most memorable day on the beach.   The stretching miles of sun rays on the water, the cool, crisp, clean air, and the heavenly breeze brought with them a peace I had never experienced before. The atmosphere was perfect, the day was beautiful, and I was enlightened.  

Ethical issues in Health Care Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Ethical issues in Health Care Management - Essay Example That is why it his essay I will try to present some of the healthcare issued, which I believe are of crucial importance for the functions of the healthcare system as such. It is not only advisable, but it is rather mandatory for every healthcare organization to have its own codes of ethics complying with the general ethics, procedures and policies in view of the culture and worldwide health standards. Pozgar, Santucci and Pinnella (2009) advise that designing internal written policies on ethical decision making is in the interest of all involved parties from patients, family members, the organizations providing the healthcare services, to community centers and caregivers. Having an internal ethical manual will protect both the institution and the patient and is an ideal source when ethical dilemmas occur. Many healthcare professionals face situations today, when they have to refer to previous similar cases to seek adequate advice. Ethical dilemmas in day to day operations in healthcare organizations engage researchers and managers to seek relevant case studies to learn from. Both management and medical research try to create a list of ethical issues in healthcare industry as a guidance to constructively address and handle. I think one of the most biting ethical issues in healthcare management is how to protect personal data and information about patients. Pozgar, Santucci and Pinnella (2009) explain various case studies as an example of how breach of private details can involve both the institutions and the patient into a circle of legal actions and problems. The book discusses and prepares healthcare specialists about the legal realities of ethical issues. Managers should identify and evaluate for themselves the correct and incorrect courses of actions. Preferably, for the organization’s sake the manager should have some legal background knowledge, especially when faced with complex legal dilemma. The last two – three

Global Strategic Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Global Strategic Management - Essay Example This article is a detailed overview of Coca-Cola Company’s global strategy. Doctor John Pemberton, a pharmacist, in Atlanta Georgia in 1886, invented Coca Cola Company. John Pemberton developed and concocted the coca cola formulae in his backyard of his home. He liaised with Frank Robinson, an excellent bookman, who helped to develop the word Coca Cola that is now used globally as a logo to the company. The soft drink was first sold to members of the public at Jacobs’s pharmacy in Atlanta Georgia on May 8, 1886. The brand continued to grow until 1905 when it was sold as a tonic, which contained extracts of cocaine as well as a caffeine rich cola nut. The company began its expansion plan beginning the 1960s when both small and big town dwellers enjoyed carbonated drinks at their local soda fountain counters (Coca Cola (a) Web). This served as a meeting place for all its drinkers. The company then developed a new trade secret and formulae used to manufacture the drink on April 23, 1985. This new secret was code-named new cookie. This strategy has helped the company to penetrate to new, markets where it was not in existence before. The rate of consumption of the drink has greatly increased to a minimum consumption rate of one billion drinks per day (Coca Cola (b) Web). How the Company Global Strategy Operates Vision and Mission Statement In order to achieve the company’s global strategy, the company had to renew their vision and mission statements, as well as their goals, aims, and objectives. The company’s vision statement has been changed to â€Å"To maintain our reputation as the leading Cola Company in the world.† Moreover, the company has developed new mission statements to match with their global strategies. Their enduring mission of achieving their global strategies inspires the company’s mission. Among the company’s mission statement is to refresh the world, in body, mind, and spirit. To inspire moments of o ptimism, and to create value and make a difference everywhere the company is engaged (Coca Cola Web). Responsibilities The company has developed responsibilities, which aims at achieving the global strategic goals of the company. These responsibilities include the following. One of their main responsibilities is to provide its customers with refreshing beverages, which includes soft drinks, water, energy drinks, juices, and tea. The company also aims at seeing that their products can be sold anywhere and are not age restricted which means that their responsibility is to sell their products in any occasion in the day-to-day life (Coca Cola (a) Web). The company has distinguished coke as their signature product and has the most sales of the one billion sales per day. The company is developing other strategies, which aims at boosting the sale of other soft drinks to reach the level of sale attained by coke. Another criteria used by the company is to use the most sophisticated equipment in developing their product in order to beat off competition from other companies such as Pepsi (Peng 7). The company also ensures that they process and make their products to ensure that they consumer is equally satisfied in consuming the last drink as compared to the first drink. The company also strives to ensure that the employees are equally treated and compensated and it practices fair trade in all

Improving Organisational Performance Assignment - 1

Improving Organisational Performance - Assignment Example 6 Highly Skilled/Specialist Staff †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 7 Recent Organizational Change†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 7 Business Strategy Adopted†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 8 Challenges, Weakness, Quality and Culture †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 9 Proposals†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 11 Conclusion†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 12 List of Figures Figure 1. Key component of performance management†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 5 Figure 2. Porter’s Force of Analysis†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 9 Figure 3. Consistency†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 10 References †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦..14-15 Introduction High Performance management is about translating strategic plans to concrete actions. This is the constant challenge in all organization, corporation, and industries that are seeking to sc ale up profits and widen business operation. Experts posit that an effective organizational management ensures the consistency of effective direction of employees work to make their performance consistent to company’s vision, mission and objectives to meet organizational needs (Mejia, Balkin, & Cardy, 2012). It is an approach to encourage innovative efforts and inspire workers’ initiatives to yield high performance It motivates everyone to be engaging as human resource capital for a company. Purpose This paper aims to correlate performance management (PM) to two business organizations based in United Kingdom. It will also explore some evidences pertaining to some difficulties, challenges, and it’s anent implications. Moreover, the paper will attempt to balance proposals inspired by evidences upholding the significance of performance management to human resource management (HRM). Purcell and Hutchinson (2007) explained that this is because the relationship of PM systems to organizational performance is importantly bridged by employees’ behavior and their separate perspectives. In an attempt to advance PM, both in theory and praxis, as discussion is further deepen with concerns on motivation from their expectations, goals and standard company controls. Specifically, the study aims to complete the following: a. Explore, contrast, and critically evaluate, a business case using performance management standards in two organizations; b. Explore using research evidence, practical difficulties, challenges, and implications of PM within two organization; c. Use research evidences to develop balanced proposals that relates to practical challenges that can be effectively managed in short or strategic terms; d. Demonstrate awareness about potential limitations of your proposals. The organizations: UK SMEs Recent development in the European market depicted the completion of internal market amid improved socio-economic and policy-based environ. Ec onomists in UK perceived that the small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) can only thrive by removing the trade barriers and by the institutionalization of structures that can better market relations (Braun, 2012). SMEs are those small and middle businesses partaking in the manufacturing, wholesale, retail, hotel, restaurants, real estate lease management and the like. An

WORKING WITH AND LEADING PEOPLE Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

WORKING WITH AND LEADING PEOPLE - Essay Example In that case, the retention, selection, as well as the recruitment process is imperative for every firm. In recruiting a new member, there is a need to have a different document, the firm must obey the statutory laws, and go beyond the sequential procedure of selecting (Bell 2012).The human resource department has the mandate to select the right people and prepare a document that details various rules as well as regulations. The management of the restaurant needs to prepare a document detailing various aspects such as the approval of recruitment. The concerned departments who require a new worker then send a draft, which has a description of the position and the necessary education as well as skills that are required. Subsequently, the draft is approved and sent to the HR department. The selection as well as recruitment process commences after the management gives an approval with regard to the request. The approval should have an electronic copy that has the advertisement as well as the copy of the draft. In the document, there is also the description of the position for which the restaurant needs to recruit new trainees. This is imperative for every firm since it cannot change the position after the advertisement of the post. It is also to be understood that the post needs to be approved by the management and should include the responsibility of the new staff (Dessler 2011). After the position description there is the advertising section, which needs to be approved by the director. Through the advertisement, the firm will get the right candidates and can be done using various channels such as the use of print media, open advertisement, or electronic means. The advertisement will also include announcement on the vacancy, the required competencies, and payment among others. The HR department will need to obey the legal procedures of advertisement (Bell 2012). In selecting an applicant, I would

Business Strategic Report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Business Strategic Report - Essay Example So this is a platform which helps them in their exposure to the real world. The report is understanding the strategy of P4CK and also look into the external environment of the packaging industry. PESTLE is a memory helper which in its extended structure means P for Political, E for Economic, S for Social, T for Technological, L for Legal and E for Environmental. It gives a million of perspective of the entire environment from numerous diverse edges that one needs to check and keep a track of while pondering on a certain thought/plan (Oldroyd, 2004). All the parts of this procedure are pivotal for any industry a business may be in. More than simply understanding the business, this structure speaks to one of the vertebras of the spine of strategic management that characterizes what an organization ought to do, as well as records for an associations objectives and the methodologies stringed to them. It might be thus, that the significance of each of the variables may be diverse to various types of businesses, yet it is basic to any procedure an organization needs to create that they lead the PESTLE analysis as it structures a substantially more complete form of the SWOT analysis. The UK has a statutory maker obligation administration for packaging. This places a lawful commitment on organizations which make or use packaging to guarantee that an extension of the packaging they put available is recouped and reused. To help individuals and associations capitalize on chances to spare cash by decreasing waste, the government has distributed the Waste Prevention Program for England. The expense of keeping up labourers may be affected by the change in future pay rates as it builds consistently. The National Minimum Wage rises consistently, has gone up from  £5.93 in 2010 to  £6.50 presently. Worldwide packaging deals are anticipated to climb by 3% in 2013 and develop at a yearly rate of 4% to 201 Because of the peril issue the more

Economics Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Economics - Assignment Example Obama never hesitated to introduce domestic economic initiatives that would check the economic issues. He requested Congress for an economic stimulus package that is worth more than 800 billion dollars. He requested this grant for dealing with the economic crisis. This grant became an integral part in the President’s economic policy for the nation. As a part of Obama’s economic policy in the United States, he had a discussion with the banking sector to bring new banking policies so that the customers will be benefited. He formulated economic policies that help US come out of the recession. However, certain resources say that no international policies have been started by him. He has also been silent in the topics of world recession. First preference of the president’s economic policy is to upgrade trade relations with other nations. Economic conditions of America went through a difficult phase. Even though US economy has faced a constant  economic  growth, th ey encountered financial crisis before few years. Its economic growth had severely impeded by the recession. Economy of US is considered as the healthiest and fast developing economy. US economy is one of the fast growing economies of the world. US government developed several monetary and fiscal policies that made the nation come out of the grave economic problem. Several actions have been taken to stabilize the economic crunch. Several new economic policies are introduced by the government so that the financial sector is steady enough to handle the nation. New economic policies of the nation are intended to solidify and build up economic growth and productivity. However growth and development are not always evenly distributed in the United States. The economic policy of US strains the equality in healthcare and financial access. Several health insurance programs have been initiates to ensure better healthcare facilities for US residents. The economic policy of the nation is target ed towards making the nation a market oriented economy. In a market oriented economy majority of the decisions are made by private business firms and individuals. Business firms enjoy a great amount of flexibility in the United States. Even the business firms of Japan and Western Europe enjoy such flexibility. Introduction of new products is expected to bring economic growth. Big developments are expected in the fields of aerospace, computers, medical equipment and military equipment. Per capita gross domestic product may experience growth according to the new American economic policy. Underemployment and unemployment rates are expected to decrease. Exports also expect a rise because of the new economic policy. The economic recovery started by the middle of 2009. It got strengthened in the following months. However, the development has not been fast enough to bring a major progress in the job market. The first phase of the economic recovery, in the later months of 2009 and in the ea rly months of 2010, included the stabilization of the financial system and the different effects of the expansionary fiscal and monetary policies. The economic recovery also witnessed a strong boost to production from the various ventures that build their depleted inventories. But economic growth slowed down at a big rate as the impetus from inventory building and fiscal stimulus diminished. Moreover, the debt problems of Europe disturbed the global

Supervision Ad Leadership Notes Essay Example for Free

Supervision Ad Leadership Notes Essay * Management theory was first described over 100 years ago during the industrial revolution. Defined as coordination of human, material, technological, and financial resources needed for an organization to reach its goals. Management is multipurpose organ that manages a business and manage managers and manages workers and work. * 5 functions of manager’s job: planning, controlling, organizing, staffing, and leading, continuous improvement. * Top level managers (chief executive officers, presidents, senior vice presidents) plan and organize. First line or front line managers (foreman, crew chiefs, supervisors) involved in nitty gritty. Front line lead and control. Learning Observations- organizations that adapt and grow to cater to new markets and build on new ideas. Green thumb leadership- supportive rather than directive leadership to encourage employee innovation. Peter M. Senge mid 1990’s. must nurture employees to grow Judith estrin. Supportive, protect new initiatives, encouraging risk taking flexibility. Foster open communication lines between themselves and employees protect new ideas, eliminate threats to new idea generation. Learning leaders- active leaders of change that participate in co-inquiry. Patricia Fritts Distinctions between management and leadership Creating and agenda ;(management) planningbudgeting, steps for achieving each goal allocating the resources needed to complete those goals.(leadership) establish direction, develop a vision, and strategies Developing a human network for achieving the agenda;(management) organizing and staffing, structuring, staffing that structures with individuals, delegating responsibility to carry out a plan, providing policies and procedures, cerate methods to monitor implementation.(Leadership) aligning people, communicating the direction by words to influence the teams that understand the vision Executive plans;(management) controlling and problem solving, monitor results, identifying deviations, planning and organizing to solve problem.(Leadership) motivating and inspiring, energizing people to overcome obstacles. Outcomes;(Management)produces a degree of predictability and order, has potential to produce results by stakeholders. (Leaderships)produces change and produce change†¦things customers want. Attitudes towards goals(management)impersonal, functional, passive, believes goals arise out of reality.(leadership)personal and active attitude, goals arise from desire and imagination. Conceptions of work(manager) views work as a enabling process that combines people ideas.(leadership) looks for approaches to old problems, seeks high risk position. Relationship with others(managers) avoids solitary work activity, avoids conflict, prefer t work with others.(Leaders) Comfortable in solitary work activity, not conflict-averse, encourage close working relationships. Sense of self (managers) accepts life as it is, one-born. (Leaders) twice-born, questions life, struggle for sense of order. Eleven managerial Practices Informing, consulting and delegating, planning and organizing, problem solving and crisis management, clarifying roles and objectives, monitoring operations and environment, motivating, recognizing and rewarding, supporting and mentoring, managing conflict and team building, networking.

Stages of Pregnancy

Stages of Pregnancy Zainab Fareed Conception- is the stage of when the sperm fertilises the egg. There are different stages before conception this includes ovulation, hormone rise, the egg travels to the fallopian tube, if the egg isn’t fertilised, fertilization, implantation: Moving to the uterus and finally pregnancy hormones. Growth- This is a term used when you are growing in weight and height and size. Development-Development is when you have changes and increasing in skills and abilities. Pregnancy: 3 Trimester stages in pregnancy- First trimester stage- In this stage your body begins to change and you go through different changes. These types of changes happen between (week 1- to week 12) and the hormones in your body begin to change the organs in the body and their systems. Also these changes can cause different symptoms to occur even during the first week of pregnancy. These symptom include- extreme tiredness, morning sickness, mood swings, heartburn etc. 3 weeks of pregnancy- At 6 weeks of pregnancy at this point you are about 6-7 weeks pregnant and there is a large lump where the heart is and a bump at the end of the head of the neural tube. This bump is going to become the baby brain and head. The embryo is curve and has a tail. At this stage the heart can be seen beating on an ultrasound scan at this specific stage. Also the development of the arms and leg form and become visible. At 7 weeks of pregnancy, the embryo is continuing to grow and at this point the embryo is about 10mm long from the head to bottom. Also the brain is continuing to grow faster and this also shows the head is growing faster than the rest of the body. The embryo has a large forehead and eyes and ears are still continuing to develop as the inner ear starts to develop however the outer ear won’t begin to grow for another couple of more weeks. Also the nerve cells continue to multiply and develop as the nervous system begins to take its shape. At 8 weeks of pregnancy, the baby is called a foetus (offspring) and the legs of the baby are lengthening and forming cartilage as well. However the different parts of the body such as the knees, ankles, thighs and toes haven’t fully developed yet and will take some time. Also the placenta is continuing to develop and this when forming structures this is known and called as chorionic villi, this will help attach the placenta to the wall of the womb and at this stage the foetus will get its nourishment from the yolk sac. Second trimester stage- During this stage you will feel like the pregnancy is becoming easier and more causes like nausea and fatigue slowly go away in your pregnancy however more notable changes to your body. Your abdomen will enlarge as the baby is still continuing to grow. This stage happens when you are 13 – 28 weeks pregnant and eventually you can feel the baby moving more. For body changes these include- body aches, stretch marks on abdomen, swelling on the ankles, fingers, face. 3 weeks of pregnancy trimester stages: Week 14- In this week the baby develops different skills such as they can squint, frown, grimace and can possibly suck the thumb etc. Also when doing an ultrasound scan you can possibly check the baby carrying out these skills for example they can possibly see the baby sucking its thumb. Also the baby can grasp too and is being to produce urine. This release the amniotic fluid around the body and this is a process which would continue until birth. However when it comes to the baby’s development the baby is stretching out and approximately the size is from 3 and a half inches. Also by the end of the week the baby’s arm would be growing and also the legs still have to lengthen more. http://www.babycenter.com/6_your-pregnancy-14-weeks_1103.bc Week 17- The baby’s skeleton is changing once again and this time it is from soft cartilage to bone and the umbilical cord. Also the support to the placenta is growing stronger and thicker. At this stage the baby would weigh almost 5 ounces and the length would be around 5 inches long from the head to bottom. The baby can also begin to develop to move the joints and the sweat glands are beginning to develop. http://www.babycenter.com/6_your-pregnancy-17-weeks_1106.bc Week 28- At this week the baby would weigh about 2 Â ¼ pounds and length is 14.8 inches from head to its heels this shows that as the weeks go by the baby is continuing to develop until birth. The baby also picks up on some skills such as blinking their eyes, growth of the baby’s eye lashes, the baby can also see light from the womb and this is filtered light. Also finally the baby is developing billions on neurons in her brain and also gaining a lot of fat in their body to help for when it is born. http://www.babycenter.com/6_your-pregnancy-28-weeks_1117.bc Third trimester stage- In this stage, it consists of going to the toilet regularly, this because the baby is getting bigger and is developing and it’s putting more pressure on your organs. The different symptoms of body changes which occur include- shortness of breath, heartburn, trouble sleeping, contractions etc. Also near to your due date the cervix becomes thinner and softer which is also called effacing. Also these changes happen when you’re in the final trimester stage between 29-40 weeks of pregnancy. 3 weeks of pregnancy trimester stages: Week 30- At this stage the baby’s body length is about 15.7 inches and weighs almost 3 pounds. Also a pint of amniotic fluid surrounds her and the volume will shrink as she gets bigger and takes up a lot of room for the uterus therefore it will become less. The development of the eyes are still continuing to develop and it is not that good however it will develop once the baby is born and also when the baby is born it is likely that it would keep its eyes closed more in the day for some time. http://www.babycenter.com/6_your-pregnancy-30-weeks_1119.bc Week 35- At this stage the baby doesn’t have much room to move as it the baby is length is every long and it is over 18 inches long and weighs 5 Â ¼ pounds. Also not much movement would be going on in the womb as it would be warm and also the number of times the baby kicks would remain the same. As for development the kidneys are fully developed now and this means the liver can take out some waste products. The physical development of the baby is complete and for the weeks coming the baby would continue putting on weight. http://www.babycenter.com/6_your-pregnancy-35-weeks_1124.bc Week 40- At this stage the baby would be developed in many areas and would weight about 7 Â ½ pounds and is 20 inches long. The skull bones are not attached which allows the baby to overlap if it is warm through the birth canal during labours. This also known as moulding which is the reason why the baby’s head shape would look different after birth and this is normal and is not permanent. So these are the different stages in week 40 of pregnancy. http://www.babycenter.com/6_your-pregnancy-40-weeks_1129.bc Labour: 3 Stages- Labour has 3 stages and these include the first years when the contractions open up the neck of your uterus and this consists of early labour and active labour and the transitional phase. The second stage of labour is when you push the baby out into the world and the final third stage is when you deliver the placenta. 1st stage- During pregnancy, your cervix is closed and is full of mucus to keep out infection. In the first stage of labour your cervix has to move forward to what is called anterior position and should be open so that the baby can be born. By the end of this stage the cervix should be fully opened and should be open to about 10cm in diameter. 2nd stage- During the second stage of labour you have to push down the baby from the birth canal and this is when the baby comes out and you have given birth. When giving birth you will feel the pressure of the baby’s head low down to the pelvis. It is important to follow the correct procedures as something can go wrong. When the babys head is down in the pelvis, the mother would probably feel a hot, stinging feeling. When coming down to the final parts the doctor or midwife would tell you to take short breaths this would help resit the need to bear down two or three contractions and this helps the baby to be born gently and slowly. 3rd stage- During the last stage of labour, the baby is born and ends when you deliver the placenta. The contractions will be clear and visible but are weaker when they begin again as the uterus contracts down. Also other options are that the hospital offer an injection which makes the placenta come out however this process has side effects like reducing blood loss and this is because of the drugs. These are the three stages of labour and there are different stages which is involved in this process. Bibliography. Baby centre. (2014). The stages of childbirth. Available: http://www.babycentre.co.uk/a177/the-stages-of-childbirth Last accessed 10/09/2014. Nhs . (2013). Your babys early development. Available: http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/pregnancy-and-baby/pages/pregnancy-weeks-4-5-6-7-8.aspx#close. Last accessed 10/09/2014. Web Md. (2005). Pregnancy and Conception. Available: http://www.webmd.com/baby/guide/understanding-conception. Last accessed 10/09/2014.

Financial Analysis for Mining Project

Financial Analysis for Mining Project Definition of Project Finance Financial institutions use a particular type of lending known as project finance when funding a developing mining project. The loan is repaid from the cash flows generated by the project with no recourse, or only limited recourse, to the company as a whole. In non-recourse lending, no tangible assets exist until the operation is brought into production. Clearly the lender will be exposed to all the risks associated with the project which could result in revenue being insufficient to service debt. Banks will thus always take a conservative stance when evaluating the economic viability of a project and may look to the project sponsor to provide corporate guarantees for the loan. If the sponsor is a junior company with little or no collateral, the role of government-backed guarantees becomes important. Project finance is not readily available to junior companies with proven deposits but no operating production. These companies may instead generate funds from the equity market to bring the project to the stage of being a viable operation. Once steady cash flows have been established, debt finance then becomes both possible and attractive and is used to develop the project to its optimum potential. Project finance is also used to develop a particular component of well established operations, such as new mining equipment, the rehabilitation of old or the sinking of new shaft systems, or upgrading of a treatment plant. Why Project Finance? Mining projects are capital-intensive ventures with an inherently high risk, and as such are often not deemed sufficiently creditworthy to obtain traditional financing. The project sponsors may be unwilling to carry the risks and assume the debt obligations associated with traditional financing even if it is available. Project finance is an attractive alternative as it allows the risks associated with the project to be shared with the principal lender. The main advantage of non-recourse funding is that the sponsor has no obligation to service the debt if cash flows generated through mining operations are insufficient to cover the principal and interest payments on the loan. The lender has the security of a collateral guarantee from the sponsor and an economic completion test (ECT) if a project is being developed from the feasibility stage. An ECT acts as a safeguard for the lender against any flaws in the feasibility study encountered during the construction phase and over the start-up period of the project. Once the project has passed the ECT then the guarantee falls away, and the only asset the bank can claim is the actual cash flow itself. Sponsors typically seek to finance the development and construction costs of a mining project on a highly geared basis, often around 60% to 70% debt. Such financing permits the sponsor to put fewer funds at risk and develop the project without diluting its equity investment in the venture. Project finance can also lead to reductions in the cost of capital, as lower cost, tax-deductible interest is used rather than higher cost, taxable returns on equity. Financing should be structured to maximise tax benefits and ensure that all available tax benefits are taken advantage of by the sponsor. Project Financing Participants Sponsor/Developer The sponsor or developer of a mining project is the organising body that controls and has an equity interest in the company or other entity that owns the project. In mining projects there is often more than one sponsor, and these will normally join together under a joint-venture agreement to form a single corporation/partnership that will essentially function as the project owner. A joint-venture agreement must be carefully drawn up with legal involvement and must clearly state the respective rights and responsibilities to the project of the parties involved. Lender The lender of project financing is a financial institution or group of financial institutions that provide the capital loan to the project company. Lenders are usually corporate investment banking groups, though NGO involvement in project finance is important in developing world countries. Due to the non-recourse nature of project finance, the lender takes a security interest in all of the project assets. Government If the sponsor is a junior company with little or no collateral, governments may be required to provide the lender with a guarantee on the loan. This practice is particularly common in the former Soviet Union region, where formerly state-owned projects now seeking to develop in the private sector are backed by national governments in their applications for project finance. An Introduction to Modelling Metal Project Finance February 1, 2010 Schedule to Project Finance The development of a project to the stage where project finance becomes viable involves going through the following stages: resource definition drilling of exploration target; preliminary feasibility study; further project development expenditure; full feasibility study; and information memorandum. Preliminary Feasibility Study Once an economic mineral resource has been identified by an exploration group, a preliminary feasibility study is undertaken by a small group of experienced professionals to determine if further expenditure on the project is justified. The foundation of the pre-feasibility study is the development of a geological model which forms the basis of the reserve estimation. Geostatistical techniques can then be applied to determine if the deposit has been correctly sampled and provide an indication of the uncertainty associated with the estimated grade. The whole integrity of a project will be called into question if the geostatisticians have to place any qualification on the reliability of the sampling programme. Once the geometric form and size of the deposit and the concentration of the mineral have been established, an initial design for the mine and mineral processing stages can be considered. It is particularly important that the rate of production should be on a scale which is appropriate to the size of the ore body. A mine life much in excess of 10 years does not enhance the net present value (NPV) of the project, while too short a mine life does not permit adequate return on capital. A simple discounted cash flow analysis based on some broadly based engineering assumptions can then be set up, provided the reserve estimation is reliable. This will establish the overall financial viability of the project and allows a basic sensitivity analysis to be undertaken. Full Feasibility Study Most junior companies do not have the resources required to meet the high cost of generating all the data needed to undertake a full feasibility study and then fund the study itself. This phase of project development is often funded by bringing on board a major joint venture partner or by raising finance through share issues on the stock market. Essentially, the technical component of the prospectus for a market listing on one of the senior stock exchanges involves the preparation of a pre-feasibility study. Typically, a junior company with a proven deposit will attempt to establish a production capability once equity funding has been obtained. This will provide material for a full feasibility study. Before a mining project can proceed from the exploration and evaluation stage to full-scale production, all available data and relevant factors are compiled and evaluated as part of the full feasibility study. This should analyse every technical, financial and other aspects of the project. The major topics that are expected to be covered include: geology; grade and reserve estimation; mining method and plan; mineral processing design plan and test results; capital costs, taxation and royalty assumptions; operating cost estimates; product price assumptions and negotiated sales contracts; environmental considerations and operating permits; and financial modelling. Typically, a full feasibility study would involve a team of at least 10 professionals who could take up to a year to complete the task. It would be used as a blueprint when calling for tenders and awarding multi-million dollar contracts. Information Memorandum An information memorandum builds on the full feasibility study and results in the document required by the bank in any application for debt finance. While this document would incorporate a full technical feasibility study, a bank would also require background information on the borrower. This includes audited company accounts, a profile of the company structure and senior personnel, the legal framework of the company, the proposed loan terms and all the necessary information on exactly how the loan will be administered, controlled and protected. This material is all incorporated in the information memorandum. Sensitivity analysis would be undertaken on the financial model and key parameters such as operating costs and capital costs would be varied. Clearly much greater confidence will be placed on estimates provided by an experienced mining company than junior companies with no production experience. While junior companies can hire consultants to provide technical reports covering operating and capital costs acceptable to the lender, they will need to assemble an experienced management team. Getting a mine and processing plant to perform to their design capabilities is as much an art as a science. A proven track record is clearly an advantage. The information memorandum will also require an environmental audit to be carried out with specific reference to liability for previous mining activity. Superfund legislation in the US can hold lenders responsible for environmental damage at sites where loans have long since been repaid, or where degradation occurred before it was owned by the mining company to which the bank has provided debt finance. The Lenders Decision Making Process The lender will initially review the submitted information memorandum and it is then frequent practice to hire an independent consultant to perform a due-diligence test or prepare an independent feasibility study. Banks will construct their own financial models and carry out detailed sensitivity analyses. Potential risks must be identified and quantified prior to committing to a project. Given the number of independent and interdependent variables present in a mining operation, it is quite impossible to envisage all possible scenarios that could prevail during actual mining. Monte Carlo techniques are sometimes used to simulate some of the possibilities, but these assume the statistical independence of the parameters, which is clearly not valid. Once the project finance analysts have reviewed and accepted the information memorandum, their findings will be presented to a credit committee which is responsible for the ultimate accept/reject decision. The background information on the borrower and credit guarantees are particularly important at this stage. The Purpose of Modelling The size and complexity of a projects financing requires accurate financial analysis, and modelling plays a vital role in charting a projects cash flows. Both the lender and sponsor alike need to establish that future revenues will be of sufficient magnitude to meet loan repayments on schedule while still producing a residual profit for the sponsor. Discounted cash flow (DCF) modelling thus forms an integral part of the preliminary and full feasibility studies and allows the economic viability of a project with debt finance to be tested. Cash flow modelling should be undertaken throughout project development, with an increasing level of detail as more data becomes available. A preliminary feasibility should include a simple DCF model that allows the overall financial viability of the proposed operation to be established. By the time a project reaches full feasibility level, detailed engineering studies and market evaluations will have been undertaken and capital costs, operating costs, and predicted sales levels can be defined with confidence. A full feasibility cash flow model will thus be more refined and will incorporate tax and royalty formulae and full project financing scenarios. A detailed sensitivity analysis will also be included. In evaluating an information memorandum, the lender will scrutinise the cash flow model of the project and employ independent consultants to verify the cost assumptions used. The lender will perform a risk analysis on the model inputs and analyse the project financing component in order to determine the banks optimum lending scenario. DCF Analysis and the Time Value of Money The principle of discounting cash flows is based on the logic that money received in the future is worth less than that same amount received today, due to the opportunity of earning additional revenue on that sum if it were to be invested elsewhere. Suppose there is a choice of receiving $1000 today and investing it or receiving $2000 in ten years time. Which is the most valuable outcome? The answer clearly depends on the prevailing interest rate. If it happens to be 5%, the money would be worth $1629 at the end of ten years and so it would be better to wait. On the other hand, if the current rate happens to be 10% the sum would be worth $2594 in ten years time and so it would be preferable to take the money now and invest it. The break-even interest rate in this scenario is about 7.2%. Modelling incremental discounted cash flows analyses the financial viability of a project by not only testing that generated revenues are substantially greater than costs and debt service requirements, but also by measuring the present value of those profits. The underlying philosophy in DCF analysis is that the project is to be compared with investing the same stream of cash flows elsewhere. One of the essential questions in DCF analysis is how to choose the discount rate. Discounted cash flows can be used to determine the Net Present Value of the project, which is essentially a present valuation of the potential of the deposit to generate future profits. NPV is calculated as follows: Projects with an NPV greater than zero will produce greater revenues than their costs at the minimum acceptable rate of return (the discount or hurdle rate), and mutually exclusive investment opportunities are ranked by magnitude of NPV. The Internal Rate of Return (IRR) and Payback Period of a project can also be calculated from a model of future cash flows. IRR is essentially the discount rate at which NPV at time zero of all cash flows is equal to zero, and is calculated as follows: A project is profitable if the IRR exceeds the opportunity cost of capital (the projects discount rate), and mutually exclusive scenarios are ranked by magnitude of IRR. Payback period is simply the time taken for the initial capital investment to be recovered by the stream of annual positive cash flows, and is not generally used alone for making an investment decision as it takes no account of the time value of money. Developing a Spreadsheet-Based Model The most important elements to remember when developing a spreadsheet model of projected cash flows are clarity, consistency, and flexibility. The spreadsheets used in some projects can be very large and complicated, with entries going from page to page. Spreadsheet cells call for results from other cells which in their turn call other cells. It is not always easy to follow the logic of the steps being carried out and, when the spreadsheet is very convoluted, there is a real possibility of artefacts being introduced. Even if there are none, it becomes very difficult to test the projects sensitivity to input parameters. There is great benefit to be gained from a consistent basic layout with a clear flow of logic throughout. Input pages, calculations, and output reports should be kept in separate areas. This course has employed the use of IC-MinEval, a purpose-designed software package for the financial evaluation of mining projects. IC-MinEval automates all the stages required to produce an Excel-based DCF model of a mining project through a series of clearly defined menu-driven forms that prompt the user to enter all the necessary technical and financial variables. Once the key technical and financial data has been entered, it is checked and a comprehensive series of Visual Basic routines ensures that a set of Excel worksheets are generated to form a customised DCF model. The DCF method of analysis has the advantage that a model can be constructed which reflects the primary technical features of the project. This does, however, require a level of knowledge about the operation which may not be available outside the company, but it is still possible to develop a model based on comparative scenarios which can provide the basis for a preliminary valuation. This is the approach followed by IC-MinEval and adopted in this course. The first step in creating a spreadsheet cash flow model is to compile all available project information on an input sheet database. This includes all the technical information which will allow calculation of mine life, annual ROM production and annual production of saleable commodity. The input sheet must also contain project cost information to allow calculation of annual capital, operating, and transportation costs. Finally, financial data must be input, including sale price, tax and royalty rates, project discount rates, and project financing information. A separate series of worksheets can then be created to calculate the annual production, sales and costs. The results are then used to construct a model of the cash inflows and outflows in each year of the projects life. A mine life much in excess of 10 years does not enhance the NPV of the project, while too short a mine life does not permit adequate return on capital. A project with a very long potential lifespan should thus only be modelled over the first 10 to 15 years of its life. It is unlikely that a mine with a longer life could operate effectively without additional capitalisation and so the cash flow forecasts for the later years would be highly subjective in any case. Project Input Data The input data needed to construct a spreadsheet-based cash flow model is divided into project technical information and financial information. IC-MinEval has a series of input screens which prompt you for all the necessary data, navigated from an input menu screen (Figure 1). The basic technical inputs can be subdivided as follows: general project information; resource information; mining rates; costs; commodity price; expenditure; and environmental and closure provisions. General Information General information is required on the commodity/ies, and on the mining method that is to be used to exploit the resource. The choice of mining method has important implications for the rate of production, equipment, capital expenditure and mining operating costs. The permitting and construction period also needs to be established in order to determine the total pre-production period of the project, the time after the initial capital expenditure (capex) has been spent before production (and revenue) can begin. In terms of project finance, the end of this period signifies completion when the projects cash flows become the primary source of debt repayment. Resource Information Information is required on the size of the deposit, the grades, and several other mining parameters. The total mineralised volume of the deposit revealed by geostatistical evaluation can be multiplied by the specific gravity of the particular ore-type to calculate the total in situ ore reserve tonnage. The expected mining recovery (the percentage of the in situ ore that can be mined) provided by the engineering study is multiplied by the total in situ ore tonnage to determine the total ore to be recovered.The expected dilution (the amount of waste rock that is mistakenly mined as ore), stripping ratio (the amount of waste material needed to be removed for every unit of ore mined in surface operations), grade (average grade of ore mined that is higher than the economic cut-off) and plant recovery (the percentage of the commodity contained in the ore rock that can be extracted by the plant) are also required in order to establish the quantity of the saleable commodity produced. Mining Rate The mining rate needs to be established because it directly affects the mine life and capex, as the more rock mined per year, the larger the processing plant and equipment that is required. In addition to the average rate during full production, it must also be established if the mining rate is to be varied over the first few years of production, to model a more realistic slower start up rate. It is particularly important that the rate of production should be on a scale which is appropriate to the size of the ore body. A mine life much in excess of 10 years does not enhance the net present value of the project, while too short a mine life does not permit adequate return on capital. Costs The reliability of a cash flow model often hinges on the accurate determination of the projects capex and operating costs. If these are known, or an accurate estimation is made from similar operations, then these figures can be entered directly. However, project costs are often not known with any degree of certainty during the construction of an early financial model. In this case, OHara cost formulae can be used to calculate rough estimates of capex and operating costs (OHara and Suboleski (1992)). Capex Capital costs (capex) are costs in a particular year that will produce benefits in later years. The major capital requirements in mining projects are the cost of constructing the mine site (including purchase of mining equipment), mill and processing plant. Additional costs and expenses that will be incurred in developing a project are termed capital overheads and can be entered into the model as a percentage of the total capex. Operating costs Operating costs (op costs) are costs that only produce a benefit for that year and are calculated annually. In order to establish the total operating costs per tonne of saleable commodity, the costs of mining ore, mining waste and processing must be established. There may be annual fixed operating costs (e.g. administration costs, salaries, office overheads) that must also be incorporated into the model. If coal or an industrial mineral product is the commodity in question, an additional transport cost component must be established. Commodity Price The expected sale price(s) of the product(s) and how this/these will vary over the project life must be established. It must be decided whether the commodity/ies will be sold entirely on the spot market or whether a percentage will be forward sold at a different price. Hedging details must be incorporated into the model if forward sales are to be applied. Expenditure The model must reveal how capex payments are to be spread over the first few years of the project and the amount of working capital to be used must be established. The capex is unlikely to all be employed in the first year of the project, depending on delays and the construction period. Working capital is the capital reserve required for the day-to-day running of the operation and can be expressed as a percentage of the annual operating costs, normally set at around 25%. Environmental and Closure Provisions A financial model should include the expected environmental costs and additional costs associated with the projects closure. This may incorporate a fixed bullet payment at the end of the mine life to cover environmental rehabilitation costs, a sink fund at the beginning of production that acts as an environmental bond to cover rehabilitation costs, and annual environmental costs during production and after mining to cover on-going costs. It must be established how long after completion of mining the annual rehabilitation costs have to be paid. Basic Financial Parameters The financial inputs to the model set the basic financial parameters of the project, such as tax and inflation rate, depreciation, and project financing scenario (Table 1). Discount Rate and Cost of Capital There are two methods of discounting that can be used to calculate the NPV in a financial model. The pre-determined discount rate can be used or the weighted average cost of capital (WACC) can be used. WACC is calculated as follows: As the NPV is calculated on the cash flows before funding but after tax, an allowance is made for the tax implications of interest payments on debt. The cost of debt is calculated as: The WACC thus varies according to the debt/equity ratio of the projects funding structure. The cost of equity is generally higher than the cost of debt, reflecting the higher rate of return required by the equity holders in comparison to the cheaper interest rate on debt. Thus the greater the percentage of total capex funded by debt, the lower the WACC and thus the more favourable the calculated NPV. This is an essential principal of project finance. Project Finance Parameters Input information is required to set up the financing structure of the project including the amount of debt and equity, interest rate and repayment schedule. Capital structure The debt/equity ratio and the size of debt will be decided by the lender. This can be expressed as a percentage of the total financing requirements that will be funded as debt. The optimum draw-down period for the debt funding will be agreed between the project sponsor and lender, and may be drawn out over as long a period as the first five years of the project. Loan type and repayment schedule The schedule for loan repayment needs to be established in order to complete the cash flow model. The number and size of loan repayments will be negotiated between the lender and sponsor, as will the grace period, if any, before repayments must commence. Loan repayments can be made in equal instalments (straight loan) or made proportional to the production rate (production loan). There will be other cash flows associated with organising the project finance that must also be included in the early years of the model. These include an up-front fee by the bank for arranging the loan (a percentage of the total loan available), a commitment fee (an annual fee charged on the amount of the loan that has not been used), fixed charges (for agents fees, legal documentation, independent reports, etc.) and contingency to act as a cushion against unexpected cost rises, etc. (a percentage of the total required funding). Loan interest rate This is the annual rate of interest on the debt as set by the lender. Return on equity This is the annual expected return on equity invested as funds. This can be calculated by a variety of methods including the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM). It is often linked to the overall company gearing of the project sponsor. Demand for Nickel Top of Form Session Headings: Bottom of Form Introduction Nickel is one of the more common elements in the composition of the earth, but it is sparingly distributed in the earths crust. Nickel is usually found in modest concentrations and occurs in conjunction with a wide variety of other metals and non-metals. The worlds nickel resources occur in two main geological settings: in secondary minerals such as garnierite and limonite contained in nickel-bearing laterites; and in sulphide minerals associated with mafic and ultramafic igneous rocks. The nickel grade of lateritic ore typically ranges from 1-2%, and that of sulphide ore from 1-4%. Nickel is of considerable economic and strategic importance to many countries, its main use being a critical component in the development of metal alloys. More than 80% of the worlds nickel production is used in alloys, and about 60% of global nickel is used specifically for the manufacture of stainless steel (NIDI (2005)). Nickel is also used in the manufacture of Monel Metal, a corrosion-resistant alloy used by the shipbuilding industry, and is an important strategic metal. Throughout the early 1980s the growth in nickel production exceeded the growth in demand, but the late 80s and early 90s saw this trend reversed as the number of emerging new applications of stainless steel, combined with its rapidly-improving price competitiveness, generated a sustained growth in demand for nickel metal. Indeed, Chinas use of nickel-containing stainless steel and its use of primary nickel have grown dramatically and with impressive consistency over the last fifteen years (NIDI (2004)). Nickel s tocks were rapidly depleted over the middle years of the 2000s, but recovered during the 2008/9 world financial problem period. Concern over depleting reserves of sulphide ores, the traditional source of nickel metal, and high nickel prices led to renewed interest in nickel laterite ores that were previously thought too technologically difficult and costly to treat. The introduction of High Pressure Acid Leaching (HPAL) as a large-scale hydrometallurgical method of concentrating nickel metal and cobalt by-products from limonitic laterite ore appeared to enhance the feasibility of laterite deposits as a long-term solution to the continuing demand for nickel. However, poor initial operating performances at major new HPAL processing plants have cast doubt over this technologys ability to provide a large-scale supply of nickel while operating economically. So sulphide deposits remain the main source of nickel metal. The following working sessions therefore will concentrate on sulphide nickel deposits and provide a review of the major technical aspects of nickel projects that must be taken into consideration in th e economic analysis of such operations. Part 5 introduces a typical nickel sulphide case history with which to demonstrate the modelling of nickel project finance. Prices and Markets The nickel price is closely linked to the global demand for stainless steel which is in turn governed by industrial productivity associated with the global economic climate. 2007-08 witnessed a huge fall in London Metal Exchange (LME) nickel prices (Figure 1), principally due to the collapse of the world economy resulting in huge drop in demand for and production of stainless steel associated with the recession. 2009 has witnessed a modest resurgence in the LME nickel price as demand has outstripped production. Since 2002, a booming commodities sector, partly driven by the rapid growth of China, put substantial pressure on nickel suppliers to meet demand. This in turn had a huge impact on prices. However, forecasting forward much is dependent on how sustained the 2009 easing of the recession will be. The general trend of increasing nickel prices in through most of the mid 2000s, generated renewed interest in the nickel sector. Western Australia in particular witnessed significant increases in production over the past period, with several new major nickel sulphide and laterite projects arising. However, the new HPAL laterite operations in the region did not live up to expectations, with over-optimistic product

Impsons As Archetypes Essay -- essays research papers

There are stereotypes of different people and beliefs throughout American's thinking. From early on we learn to associate certain cultural differences to certain individuals. The cartoon representations on The Simpsons are a perfect example of such associations. Each character from the long-running, prime time television show is an archetype of individuals in the American society. Homer, Lisa, Barney, and all the rest give us a look at what "typical" Americans should act like while, at the same time, critiquing their attitudes and behaviors. The Simpsons is not the average cartoon show. Although it features cute, animated people and many humorous situations it was not meant for children. This is how the show's writers can get away with such a complex stereotype for each character. Adults and in particular American adults will understand references made buy the characters, their actions and thought processes. When picked apart the main characters of the show, the Simpson fam ily, each have their own Americanized attitudes, which when thrown together encompass the typical "nuclear" family. To set the scene for this example, picture a family of five, all doing their various daily activities: the little boy skateboarding around the neighborhood causing trouble, the little girl at school concentrating on her music, the mother and baby at the supermarket, and the father driving home from a hard days work at the plant. All of a sudden the viewer is in this famil...

Infant Mortality Within the United States Essay -- Babies Birth Pregna

Infant Mortality Within the United States Herein I briefly overview the Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) within the United States. Initially, I discuss specific causes of infant death and then, contributing factors which put babies at risk. Next, the distribution of various IMR is surveyed on a state to state basis. States possessing the ten highest infant mortality rates are discussed, including possible reasons for higher IMR. In addition, those states with the ten lowest IMR are mentioned. In conclusion, I consider preventative measures for minimizing the number of babies that die each year. Return to Table of Contents Introduction Every eight seconds a baby is born in the United Sates (U.S.), and within one hour four babies die (1). The infant mortality rate (IMR) measures the rate at which babies die before their first birthday and is calculated per 1,000 live births. According to government figures 7.2 babies out of every 1,000 born in 1996 died (2, p 6). Although this figure declines steadily each year and is 406% lower than the 1950 figure (3) the United States IMR is still higher than twenty four other nations (1). More importantly, the IMR for black U.S. citizens is over twice the rate of white citizens (6.3 and 14.6 respectively) (4, p 9). The National Commission to Prevent Infant Mortality even calls some regions "disaster areas" (5, p 18). What are the leading causes of infant death, and what areas within the United States are most affected? What preventative measures can ensure a child its first birthday? These questions are addressed herein. In addition, certain National Standards f or Geography are met. Return to Table of Contents Applicable National Standards In 199... ... Rawlings, James S.; Rawlings, Virginia B.; Read, John A. "Prevalence of Low Birthweight and Preterm Delivery in Relation to the Interval between Pregnancies among White and Black Women." The New England Journal of Medicine, Vol 332, No 2, 1995, p 69-75. Scott, J. "Black Infant Death Rate 2 Â ½ Times That of Whites." Los Angeles Times, 1991 Nov 15, 110 (347), A35. Steinbrook, R. "Black Infant Deaths Tied to Birthweight." Los Angeles Times, 111 (184), 4 Jun 1992, A26. "Ten Leading Causes of Infant Mortality," Infant Health Statistics. 1997. http://www.mofimes.org/stats/ten.htm (11 April 1998). Ventura, Stephanie J.; Kimberley D. Peters; Joyce A. Martin; Jeffrey D. Maurer. Monthly Vital Statistics Report, Vol.46, No. 1 Supplement 2, 11 Sept. 1997, p 6. http://www.cdc.gov/nchswww/products/pubs/pubd/mvsr/supp/46-45/46-45.htm (11 April 1998).

Effects of Google Translate on Vocabulary

Effects of Google Translate on Vocabulary Acquisition and Reading Comprehension BY traveler0527 Effects of Google Translate on Vocabulary Acquisition and Reading Comprehension Abstract With the rapid development of technology, more modern ways are applied to English learning. Though technology towards language learning has been extensively studied in recent years, the influences of online translation are seldom examined. This study investigates the effects of Google translate on English vocabulary acquisition and article comprehension. It was hypothesized that Google translate can improve students' performance in both aspects.The research was evaluated by an experiment which needed participants to read one article and finish some related quizzes. To make a comparison, participants were divided into two groups with only one can use Google translate. The results were unexpected. It seems that Google translate does not has a significant positive effect to help students learn English voc abulary and to improve reading comprehension. Students who learn English, teachers who want to help their students make progress and researchers in this area could benefit from this study.Introduction The rapid development of technology in recent decades benefits the education area. Besides traditional teaching methods, more approaches are employed in language learning to help learners make progress. Many studies have focused on impacts of different kinds of technology on English learning. Previous research from Kung and Chuo (2002) affirmed that college students acknowledge the Internet as a useful tool to learn English. Chun and Plass (1996) suggested that with multimedia program to assist high school students in reading articles, the rate of incidental vocabulary learning increased.However, few studies have examined the effects of online translation service on English learning. Research studies both vocabulary learning and reading comprehension is also difficult to find. Therefor e, further investigations are needed. This research is aimed at investigating the influences of Google translate on vocabulary learning and reading comprehension. Google translate is a kind of free online language translation service which can instantly translate text or web pages into numerous different languages. Vocabulary learning is an important and fundamental aspect of English study which stresses cognition and use of words.Additionally, reading comprehension is an ability to understand articles which elated to recognition of content and grasp of main ideas. The lack of previous research on this topic leads to the research question: Do students who use Google translate to help them learn English have higher efficiency than students who do not? It was hypothesized that Google translate will improve students' understanding of unfamiliar words and the content of an article. Methodology Sample The sample participating in this experiment consisted of 1 1 students from Yl- are non- native English speakers.Material Google translate, which is capable to offer translation of text immediately and can un perfectly on laptops, was used as assistance for the experiment group and defined as the independent variable. A relatively new article excerpted from Slate Magazine which is about business and trade was adopted as the test material. With an academic style and approximately 700 words, this article can be difficult to understand. A quiz related to the article consisting of 8 questions about vocabulary learning and 2 questions about reading comprehension was also used.The first 8 questions ask participants to choose the right words to fill in 8 incomplete sentences. The last 2 questions are multiple choice questions. Procedure Several meetings were held to design the experiment and the quiz. After that, the whole experiment was piloted in the researcher team to check the validity of questions and to ensure there would be sufficient time for participants to finish the reading task and the quiz. Another purpose is to make every researcher be familiar with the process. The formal experiment was conducted on 19th April in the EAP classroom.All members of the research team were required to bring laptops in order to run Google translate. First, participants were divided into two groups randomly. 6 tudents in the experiment group were allowed to use Google translate during the reading time. Other 5 students were treated as the control group. Then, a 3-minute- long brief guidance including rules of the experiment was given to participants. Next, paper copies of the article were given out and 1 5 minutes were arranged for participants to read.The experiment group was allowed to use Google translate when they encounter unfamiliar words or sentences, whereas the control group should read through the paper without any assistance. For both groups, taking notes and making marks in the reading paper were forbidden. Afterwards, quiz papers were distributed to evaluate participants' learning outcomes and Google translate is banned to use. Participants were given 15 minutes to finish the quiz. Finally, all the papers were collected. The whole experiment was conducted in the EAP classroom and last for approximately 40 minutes.After the experiment, the research team gathered to mark quiz papers and the results were analyzed by using a data- recording table. Result and analysis The aim of this experiment is to define whether Google translate can help students learn English more efficiently. Without the independent variable, which is Google ranslate, all other conditions were kept the same to both groups. Therefore, it seems fair to say the experiment was conducted in a Just way. The most important finding is one that out of the researchers' expectation. The average grade of control group is nearly 1. 2 times higher than the experiment group (Figure 1).It reflects that the control group had a better performance during the test. Considering the result contraries to the hypothesis, deep analyses were given. The possible reasons are as follows. Firstly, because of the lack of a pre-test to divide subjects, there may be a hance to put students who are good at English in the control group. Secondly, participants who have the privilege to use Google translate may rely on it whenever understanding of the content and the efficient use of context. Thirdly, since participants in experiment group needed to switch between the papers and laptops, it is hard for them to concentrate on the article.Fourthly, as Google translate can only give one simple definition of the word or phrase, this could be inaccurate and sometimes could mislead those students. After data were entered in an Excel spreadsheet, the accuracy of every question was alculated. As the Figure 2 below illustrates, the overall accuracy of the control group is higher than the experiment group except for question 5 and 8. No one in the control group answered correctly to t he fifth question and one third of them gave wrong answers to the eighth question.These two questions are aimed at testing students' understanding of the meaning of new words. Google translate gives the right explanations which are consistent with the meaning in the content. This may indicate that Google translate can help students gain the meaning of some words which have clear and simplex meaning. However, the last question, which is a multiple choice question about reading comprehension, none in the experiment group gave the right answer while almost half of the students in the control group chose the correct one.The data suggests that students in the control group had a better understanding about the main ideas of the article. This may because there was no equipment to distract their attention and all they could do during the first part of the test was to read the whole content thoroughly. Another question that worth being discussed according to the Figure is the sixth question, all participants in he experiment, no matter which group they belonged to, failed to answer it. The question is: Even so, it is unclear how much the shift to inland growth really has. The correct word be chosen from the box is â€Å"momentum†.From the experiment group's perspective, it is proper to surmise that the Chinese translation given by Google translate is inapposite and not related to the content tightly. This made it tough for those who take Google translate as a helper. From the control group' viewpoints, it may perhaps be that the context is complex and the meaning is hard to guess. Another factor that needs to be concerned is the question itself because it is a compound sentence and difficult to understand. To brief summarize, Google vocabulary and improve the comprehension of reading.Conclusion One of the most important findings is that the control group performed better with higher marks on average in the experiment about whether Google translate is helpful for students to learn new words and to understand better about the content when they read an article. Another interesting finding is that Google translate can be very useful when the target word has a definite meaning and at the same time, be very imited when relate to the text comprehension. In general, the findings are unexpected and contradict the hypothesis which claims that Google translate can have positive effects to English learners.It is also contradictory to the findings of Peters (2007), which claims that the use of online dictionary can enhance vocabulary acquisition. To sum up, though Google translate is useful when readers want to find students when they read an article or encounter words with multi-meanings. The unanticipated findings may relate to some limitations of this experiment. First, the topic is limited. Since the research topic is to examine the effects of technology on English learning, it can contain many subareas. For example, reading, listening, speaking an d writing.The research group only focused on 2 English learning aspects: vocabulary and text learning. Even the vocabulary contains lots of inspection points, such as spelling, pronunciation and word meaning. Also, use Google translate to represent technology is one-sided. There are other kinds of technology like software, recorder and e-dictionary. Second, for the experiment, the sample size is too small and lack of diversity. All 11 participants are year 1 students with the same major from the same education background. In addition, the gender proportion is unbalanced.Meanwhile, a pre-test about the English level of the participants is lacked. Moreover, the function of Google translate is inadequate. In brief, the limitations are in two aspects: topic and the design of the experiment and these may lead to the unpredicted findings. The findings of this report lead to some recommendations. Firstly, students who learn English at the beginning level can use Google translate to find th e meaning of the words, phrases and sentences to help them understand the ontent. However, it is not suggested to rely on Google translate to find definitions of every words.Secondly, teachers who want to help their students make progress in English learning could use Google translate as assistance more appropriately and efficiently in the aspect of simplex-meaning word acquisition. It is also advised that teachers should encourage students to think more by themselves actively and avoid using Google translate to find the meaning of every new word. Thirdly, researchers in this area can gain useful information about the effects of online translation service n English vocabulary learning and reading comprehension.

Cango Analysis Essay

Like Liz mentions in the video (speech); CanGo acts as a personal shopper for their customers. Customers don’t have go to different store to buy their merchandise when they can buy online at the same place and for affordable prices. Weaknesses: When Liz was asked to prepare a speech of how their company developed over time, she had no clue of where to start. She didn’t plan anything ahead, for example; she mentions in the resolution video that if she had done some planning for her company, her company would have gone much far from where they are at now. CanGo didn’t have a strategic plan for online gaming. Liz and her employees just had a small meeting and without giving a notice ahead of time, she just announced that they are entering into a new market of online gaming. All her employees were surprised at first. She didn’t ask any of her employees before that if they liked the idea of online gaming or not. She just went ahead and asked for preliminary marketing plan. The employees seemed hesitant as to asking questions. The employees at CanGo don’t work together and are not working in a team setting as should be implemented. Furthermore, the company doesn’t determine what this online gaming includes. Further, the company didn’t speak to determine what would be the various levels of support it would provide to its customers. CanGo didn’t develop a strategy explaining how it will conduct its business. Opportunities: As one of the employee mentions what about online â€Å"football† game ? I think it would be great idea for the company to go ahead and implement an online football game, since a lot of customers like to play football or sports. It could be that during the football season they can get a huge rush. Secondly online gaming also allows people from different countries to play at the same time which is a huge plus. Threats: CanGo doesn’t have a huge capital to invest. If they waste it on the idea of online gaming without knowing if they have any future with it, CanGo will be in a huge debt. If they are going to train their staff to do the operations, their customers are going to be unhappy because they have few people and there is a lot of work to do. They would have to increase wages of their employees because they will be handling more work than they are supposed to. Recommendation: CanGo company needs to have a mission and vision statement. Mission statement is going to describe what their company does and vision statement is where management wants to see their company in future. First step is, to have these two statements ready, which this company is missing. I don’t think CanGo should expand on their idea of online gaming without having a strategic plan. They were missing all the elements of strategic planning which are implementation, evaluation and formation. There were no questions about the future of online gaming nor there do any report to see how much success other companies had so far with online gaming. No one discussed about the equipment they are going to need to build this huge project. Liz has put the whole burden on one employee. There is no teamwork; what if that person gets lazy and comes up a lazy marketing plan. Then everyone would have to agree to it because no other member knows anything about marketing. Liz should have told her employees that everyone needs to come up with marketing plan and then in the next meeting they will choose the best one by consensus. I don’t think company is in its best financial condition. If they go ahead with their idea of online gaming, operational costs of buying equipment and software are going to cost a lot by itself. I also think they need new personnel; training old employees about the new technology is going to be a tough job. Hiring the new staff will be cheaper. May be they should wait for the financial times to get better or they should outsource. The company can outsource the implementation of equipment which would save them a lot of money and keeping the customer service here in America. CanGo’s customers will be very happy because they will be able to talk to their own people in their language comfortably. Customer Service should be the priority in any decision they make or any service they provide. References: Devry. (n. d. ). CanGo videos. Retrieved July 15, 2009, from devry: www. devry. edu/ec/crs

Post-Colonial Literature: Salman Rushdie Essay

The style of Post-colonial writing has been given the name â€Å"New English literature† most especially for its very particular way of writing that focuses on the discussion of colonization. These types of writings have often dealt with various issues that are related to de-colonization or the cultural independence as well as the political power that is related to colonial rule. Various authors have already tried to delve deep into this specific type of genre and they have been able to carry out their novels with racist or colonial subtexts. Revie, 2003) The characteristic of post-colonial literature is that in its most modern form, it seeks to critique the various contemporary post-colonial discourse that has been able to shape the times. Post-colonial works are typically literature that seeks the process of re-writing and re-reading. This particular description of this specific type comes from the perspective of those who have been under the rule of colonization in the past. This particular type of style is used in almost every type of post-colonial literature novel that has been made. Due to the tone and the type of narrative that authors use with this particular type of literary work, the inhabitants of those colonized countries are most often portrayed as victims instead of foes of those who have colonized them. This is one of the attributes of this type of literature. The various actions of colonizers have long harmed those who have they tried to submit to their will and because of this fact, the authors who have had the privilege of writing about their injustices have always given the colonized people a fate which was less than desirable. Revie, 2003) Salman Rushdie One of the most notable authors who have already made their mark regarding this particular type of literature is Salman Rushdie. The different types of fiction that Salman Rushdie has authored has been continuously monitored and analyzed for its different perspectives. A review of several of the books and his journals will reveal that there is a proliferation of criticisms that concentrate mainly on the topic of postcolonial matters. His works effectively address the various types of issues that have a political or social nature. Some of these things address the fatwa as well as the publication of The Satanic Verses. Some of the sentiments that other writers and authors share is that Rushdie is a postmodern writer whose seriously pushes the different boundaries of the novel in modern times. Rushdie had authored several novels and as different as the texts are from each other, so does Rushdie stick a coherent type of message which is only discernible from a broader standpoint. One of the novels that Rushdie had written is Midnight’s Children. This was a novel that had already been published for already twenty years. This novel gave Salman Rushdie a notable status because he was a very gifted author who wrote in English. This is one of the things that was quite remarkable about the author since he was aware of different things about postcolonial national matters of different countries even though he was of Indian descent. This fact gave prominence to writers who were of a different race and thus gave the literary enthusiasts and various classes of people a new way of looking different things. This cross-cultural way of writing novels has shone the spotlight on how post-colonial literature should not be limited to an author of that particular country. This is one of the things that was highlighted when Rushdie churned out Midnight’s Children way back in the 80’s. Midnight’s Children With his work, Midnight’s Children, this novel is about the power of mixture and interaction. This type of mixture that Rushdie tries to focus on is seen through the filter of the protagonist’s memory. Saleem Sinai is a person who recalls the history of his family and provides the readers a very thorough history of the entire Indian environment that he knows. The reader is thrust deep into the heart of a particular period of India which essentially covers the entire timeline of India’s pre- as well as postcolonial twentieth-century history. The protagonist who is said to be born during the first hour of independence from the British colonizers begins by recalling his narrative from about 32 years before that time. He begins with his his heritage which focuses on his grandfather, Aadam Aziz. This is one of the most noticeable things that one can see with this type of literature. The strategy of going back to set the stage for the present is one trait of postcolonial literature and at the onset of the novel, Rushdie masterfully inserts this type of characteristic in order to set the stage for the rest of the novel. Throughout the novel, Saleem is set out to find meaning in his life but as the novel goes on, one learns that Saleem is actually switched at birth by the nurse Mary Pereira with Aziz’s biological grandson, Shiva. The story actually weaves a very complicated web as it turns out that Saleem is the illegitimate son of Vanita who is the wife of another Hindu who plays the accordion. Saleem writes out the story of his life and narrates it to his friend Padma. This is exactly the story that Saleem seems to narrate and recall over and over. (Rushdie, 1996) It is through this particular novel that we find that recalling is not exactly something that is done on purpose by the protagonist but it somehow flows out of his natural tendency to move and focus on different fragments of his past. He Saleem manages to create the memory of his past through bits and pieces of information that he remembers throughout his life. It is through the act of recalling that Saleem seems to make sense out of the chaos that is around him as he compares recalling to pickling which to according to him is an â€Å"impure† act of love. (Rushdie, 1996) Pickling for him is sort of a process that makes things new again due to the fact that one dies without newness. One of the things that is implied here is the fact that we exist and are alive simply because of the fact that we continue to reinvent and redo ourselves in the sense that we recreate our world and our reality as we remember it and as we experience it. The author gives a certain degree of importance to memory and how it has helped him with this particular novel in the sense that he makes it known to the readers that what they do is very important. (Hogue, 1996) Shame In the novel Shame, Rushdie seeks to focus on a different type of characteristic. The author’s other novels seek to further illustrate the different possibilities of mixtures but with this particular novel, Rushdie finds himself writing about anger. The repressed state that one enters in when angered is what this novel is focusing on. This is the time that Rushdie retells the history of Pakistan ever since the time of its independence way back in 1947. (Rushdie, 2008) The story essentially discusses three generations as focuses on the different lives of Raza Hyder who is a very successful and celebrated military general and Iskandar â€Å"Isky† Harappa who is a politician who came from being a playboy because of his riches and wealth. These characters are actually based on different real life people–the former being President Zia-ul-Haq and the latter former Prime Minister Zulfikar Alik Butto. As seen in the different novels of Midnight’s Children and The Satanic Verses, the novel Shame describes the colonizer-colonized relationship. In this particular relationship, the colonizers are those who are politically powerful and they are the characters Isky and Raza. They have been said to become repressed identities who have been mistreated in the past. The repression that can be found in the novel Shame comes from the longstanding desire for purity which is a a theme that is also found in The Satanic Verses and Midnight’s Children. Pakistan is said to be the land of the pure and mohajirs. (Rushdie, 2008) There have been rewrites of their pasts in order to fit into this new myth of purity that Pakistan is supposed to be. In such a novel, the author seems to reject hybridity in exchange for purity. With this particular novel, the author seems to focus on this idea and highlights purity in the face of anger and repression that is found in the relationship of the colonizer and the colonized. In this particular novel, the author focuses on the anger that is found in the relationship of those colonizers and those who have been colonized. In relation to this particular setup, it is because of the repression that happens and because of the fact that people are in essence filled with anger and hatred when they are stripped of their natural freedom. This novel adheres directly to the type of literature that characterizes post-colonial treatments. The Satanic Verses The Satanic Verses is the kind of novel that admonishes the reader to ask various questions regarding himself. This novel focuses on identity. As with the setup in a colonized state, there are various questions that arise because of such an act. The novel begs to ask the question, â€Å"How does one act when one wins? † and â€Å"What kind of idea are you? † The former and the latter pertaining to the identity of the person is challenged because of the fact that they are ideas which are ingrained in a person. One of the characters in the novel is Gibreel Farishta who never actually develops a will of his own and actually becomes a battered and abused puppet of other people throughout the entirety of the novel. (Rushdie, 2008) The question of identity plays around with the fact that Gibreel is unable to be flexible and â€Å"impure† at the same time. This particular juxtaposition by the author reveals a much larger picture philosophically as it addresses the notion of reality as a mere artifact that is masterfully handmade by the strength of words. The identity of people is questioned in this particular novel because it focuses on identity and what one person should be when he encounters a particular challenge in his or her life. This is one of the things that a person or a nation struggles with when they are colonized. (Spivak, 1993) Conclusion Through the various texts, the archetype of post-colonial literature was quite obvious because of the nature of the way that the ideologies were presented. Through the different ways and plots that the author introduced to the readers, he was able to fully explain and incorporate the feelings and the ideas that the colonizer and the colonized go through in their minds. Rushdie was able to immerse the readers in very profound stories where he was able to stay faithful with the characteristics and the nature of the genre of literature. The different novels that he authored are wonderful examples of how diverse the feelings and the ideas are when one encounters colonization firsthand.

Dramatic Irony in Oedipus Essay

In the play written by Sophocles, Oedipus the King, there are several instances of irony. Dramatic irony, or tragic irony as some critics would prefer to call it, usually means a situation in which the character of the play has limited knowledge and says or does something in which they have no idea of the significance. The audience, however, already has the knowledge of what is going to occur or what the consequences of the characters actions will be. The degree of irony and the effect it has depends upon the readers’ grasp and recognition of some discrepancy between two things. Our first taste of dramatic irony comes very early into the play when Oedipus vows to bring to justice the killer of Laius, which is in reality himself. When he learns that the bringing of justice of Laius’ killer will rid the city of a terrible plague, he sets forth with a plan to track down the killer. Oedipus begins to curse the killer and vows: Oedipus: As for the criminal, I pray to God – Whether it be a lurking thief, or one of a number – I pray that that man’s life be consumed in evil and wretchedness. And as for me, this curse applies no less (968) This is very ironic, as Oedipus is indeed, without knowledge of the truth, talking about himself. Another example of dramatic irony is the power of fate and Oedipus’ powerlessness against it. Throughout the play we are aware of Oedipus’ fate and we realize there is nothing that he can do to change it. When Oedipus tells his city after listening to their plea for help against the terrible sickness and plague that has taken over the city: Oedipus: I know that you are deathly sick; and yet, Sick as you are, not one is as sick as I. (963) The audience understands the truth and the irony in that statement. Oedipus should not worry about himself becoming ‘sick’ for he is already infested with the sickness. A third example of the irony of Oedipus is the fact that Oedipus seemed to be blind and deaf to the truth. He appears to be on a valiant search for the truth and justice of the killer of Laius, yet refuses to hear the truth when it is spoken to him. In order to hear the truth Oedipus needed to be able to hear and interpret it, yet he only heard what he wanted to hear. Therefore rendering him unable to understand the mystery of who he truly was. In this play there seems to be a constant string of ironies throughout. Oedipus is in denial of the truth. In his dramatic speeches he misconstrues the information that he has been given by Teiresias, as well as Creon and Iocaste. The horrifying realization that the prophecy of the Sphinx is in fact the truth, causes Oedipus to blind himself. The audience therefore pities him, which is a result of the use of dramatic irony. The use of irony in a play allows the writer to make their audience want to see how the events which are occurring, mentally affect the main character, even if they already know how the story will end, as in Oedipus the King. Kennedy, X.J., and Gioia Dana. â€Å"Oedipus the King† Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. 2nd edition. New York: Addison Wesley Longman, 2000. 960-1005.