Merits and Demerits of Globalisation Essay

Introduction Globalization or (globalisation) is the process by which the people of the world are unified into a single society and function together. Globalization is often used to refer to economic globalization: the integration of national economies into the international economy through trade, foreign direct investment, capital flows, migration, and the spread of technology. This process is usually recognized as being driven by a combination of economic, technological, socio-cultural, political and biological factors. The term can also refer to the transnational dissemination of ideas, languages, or popular culture. Globalization means increasing the interdependence, connectivity and integration on a global level with respect to the social, cultural, political, technological, economic and ecological levels. Effects of globalization:- ? enhancement in the information flow between geographically remote locations ? the global common market has a freedom of exchange of goods and capital ? there is a broad access to a range of goods for consumers and companies ? worldwide production markets emerge ? Corporations have greater flexibility to operate across borders ? Increased flow of communications allows vital information to be shared between individuals and corporations around the world ? Spread of democratic ideals to developed nations ? Greater interdependence of nation-states ? Reduction of likelihood of war between developed nations ? Workers in less developed countries should see an increase in wages and living benefits. If they do, their rising standard of living should help them consume products from developed nations. A virtuous circle can theoretically be created by a whole new middle class that didn’t exist. ? Peace should be easier to maintain between nations as no country would remain isolated in this new world order. The relationship of China and the United States has changed dramatically as their trade partner status has increased over the years. ? Globalization can help modernize developing countries faster. Modern ideas can be spread to the workers, who make up the social order. ? Products can be purchased much cheaper in developing countries, which increases the lifestyle of the people. As we pay less for simple common items, we have more to spend on big ticket items, which fuel higher paid manufacturing jobs in developed countries. Advantages of globalization in the developing world It is claimed that globalization increases the economic prosperity and opportunity in the developing world. The civil liberties are enhanced and there is a more efficient use of resources. All the countries involved in the free trade are at a profit. As a result, there are lower prices, more employment and a better standard of life in these developing nations. It is feared that some developing regions progress at the expense of other developed regions. However, such doubts are futile as globalization is a positive-sum chance in which the skills and technologies enable to increase the living standards throughout the world. Liberals look at globalization as an efficient tool to eliminate penury and allow the poor people a firm foothold in the global economy. In two decades from 1981 to 2001, the number of people surviving on $1 or less per day decreased from 1. 5 billion to 1. 1 billion. Simultaneously, the world population also increased. Thus, the percentage of such people decreased from 40% to 20% in such developing countries. Disadvantages of globalisation Disadvantages of globalisation are as follows:- ? Increased flow of skilled and non-skilled jobs from developed to developing nations as corporations seek out the cheapest labor ? Increased likelihood of economic disruptions in one nation effecting all nations ? Corporate influence of nation-states far exceeds that of civil society organizations and average individuals ? Threat that control of world media by a handful of corporations will limit cultural expression ?

Air Industry Analysis Essay

Executive Summary Airlines companies are undergoing major changes to cope with the new challenges of the modern economy. Geopolitical factors, such as war and terrorism, the financial crisis of 2009, high entry barriers, as well as extreme weather events, are some of the factors that are driving these changes. Costs in fuel prices, wages and ticket prices are some of the demand drivers of this multi-billionaire industry. Also, there has been an industry-wide shakedown, which will have far-reaching effects on the industry’s trend towards expanding domestic and international services. The perception that air travel is an ordeal continues to grow, making it very difficult for airlines to charge the higher prices that are necessary to return to profitability. Today Airlines provide a vital service, but factors including like the continuing existence of loss-making carriers, bloated cost structure, vulnerability to exogenous events and a reputation for poor service combine to present a huge impedime nt to profitability. While a handful of low-cost airlines have successfully managed to post consistent profits, by and large, profitable airlines are few and far between. Introduction The global airline industry provides transportation to virtually every corner of the world. The airline companies employ many people, hold multi-billion dollar equipment inventory, and generate billions of dollars in yearly gross revenue. It facilitates economic growth, world trade, international investment and tourism. However, the industry can be very vulnerable to government regulations, economic influences, extreme weather events and geopolitical factors such as war and terrorism. The SIC/NAICS code for the industry is 4512 /4811. The NAICS term for the industry is â€Å"Scheduled air transportation† . The industry is further classified into 2 NAICS codes – 481111 for Scheduled passenger transportation and 48112 for Scheduled Freight Transportation. Per NCAIS, â€Å"This U.S. industry comprises establishments primarily engaged in providing air transportation of passengers or passengers and freight over regular routes and on regular schedules. Establishments in this industry operate flights even if partially loaded. Scheduled air passenger carriers including commuter and helicopter carriers (except scenic and sightseeing) are included in this industry.† History The commercial airline industry in the US grew at a fast rate after the World War III. The commercial aviation industry in the United States has grown dramatically since the end of World War II. In 1945 the major airlines flew 3.3 billion revenue passenger miles (RPMs). By the mid 1970s, when deregulation was beginning to develop, the major carriers flew 130 billion RPMs. By 1988, after a decade of deregulation, the number of domestic RPMs had reached 330 billion (Source: Winds of Change). Up to the 1970s the industry was heavily regulated around the world. However, in 1976 under the recommendation of the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB), the regulatory system was dismantled by the US Congress. Most of the industrialized world soon followed suite. The Airline Deregulation Act passed in the US in 1978 eased the entry of new companies into the business and gave them freedom to set their own fares and fly whatever domestic routes they chose. This lead to a swarm of new entrants, lower fare s and the opening of new routes and services to all over the country. Organization The major Capital expenditure for the airline industry is the cost of the airplanes. Boeing and Airbus are the two major providers of aircrafts to the industry. Other than that the Airports Authorities are the other major service providers to the airline industry. Airline fuel is another major product the the industry buys from external suppliers. The industry itself provides the rest major services- Flight operations, aircraft maintenance, passenger service ( (in-flight food, flight attendants) and Aircraft traffic services (baggage and passenger handling). Governmental Factors As mentioned earlier government factors play a big role in the industry. The growth of the industry post the 1976 deregulation illustrates this point. Government policies that impact the economy also have a big impact on the industry profits as was seen during the 1990 global recession and the 2001 US economic downturn. Wars and Geopolitical tensions that impact the airline fuel supplies also pose threat to the industry. Environmental Factors Environmental factors such as bad weather conditions can force planes to be delayed, canceled or even to divert to another airport. In such cases the airlines are forced to pay for lodging and meals of the affected passengers and in some cases refund tickets. An extreme sample of this is the airline disruption caused by the ash from the volcanic eruption in Iceland in 2010. It could have cost the industry more than $1.7 bln according an estimate by the International Air Transport Association (IATA). Market Structure The airlines industry has undergone major changes since 1978 due to the deregulation and the economic liberalization, where restrictions on the routes and fares charged were removed. Thus in order to obtain the cost efficient and to concentrate traffic to one airport the Hub-and-spokes was created to move passengers from smaller cities and gathered a group of passengers in a major city airport to be transported from a major hub of one city to another major hub. This new system allows the airline industry to retain the oligopolistic market due to the huge barriers that obstruct competition. From one hand the government regulations established barriers for airports such us a slot management system that demonstrate there is a failure in the investment of governments in adequate infrastructure, gate constraints due to exclusive leasing arrangements and gates usage in congested cities is limiting the entry despite the share usage between airlines. â€Å"Airlines need certainty because they have invested billions of dollars in aircraft. They must be certain they will have access to the infrastructure for the next 25-30 years and this is why historic (grandfather) rights are appropriate.† (Airlines International, 2010). On the other hand the hub and spoke system allows major airline firms to restrict the entrance of new competitor, because they have captured the market of small and big cities with a large economy of scale and a big profit margin, price flexibility, and other rights like reserved slots that was very difficult to be matched by new airlines, protecting them from new competitors developing a mature oligopoly where the prices are set by the leaders and the others airlines followed, practicing parallel pricing. All the studies reviewed suggested that despite the benefits of airline deregulation, there are many factors that continued preventing airlines to get advantage of this economic deregulation due not only to the airport restrictions but also due to computer-reservation systems, benefits of frequent-flyer programs, economies of scale of operation. This fact can be evidence after the deregulation when many new airlines attempted to get into the market but the majority failed due to the high cost associated with gates, slots and other airports facilities did not let them to compete with prices as a result this new competitors were acquired by the already established ones. (Seng, 2007) According to RITA, the U.S., Research and Innovative Technology bureau Transportation’s statistics the largest carrier for domestic market from May 2011 through April 2012 was Delta followed by Southwest and American (see table No.1.) It is important to mention that with the merger of United and Continental, they could become the largest carrier if the tendency remains. (Jenkins, 2011) As we can observe, the 55.9% of the market is hold by Delta, Southwest, American, and United,. In order to open the market for new carriers and generate airfare competition the government has to work on expanding the access to new gates, baggage claim areas and slots, otherwise the existent oligopolistic market will continue prevailing. Industry Demand The US airline industry demand is affected by the current market that has generated unstable conditions due to the high dependency and reaction to many factors like regulation, fuel price, inflation, security and competition. In addition this industry was also affected by the financial crisis during 2009 that had a great impact in market demand, thought due to the revival of the economy the travel demand has started improving since 2010. According to RITA â€Å"There were 2.1 percent fewer passengers in the April 2009 to April 2010 period compared to April 2008 to April 2009. From the year ending April 2010 to the year ending in April 2011, system wide passenger numbers on US airlines increased 2.9 percent† (Smallen,2011) As a result of the deregulation of the airline industry in 1979 the traffic of passengers increased and the ticket prices decreased. In this environment there was more competition and less demand, the operating cost and margin profit were affected and the maj or firms filed for bankruptcy falling from six major airlines (united, America, Delta, Eastern, TWA, and Pan Am) to three by 1991 (United, American and Delta). The new challenge for airlines was reconfigured routes and making improvements in capacity and utilization to reach the expected efficiency and offer better service to the general public. Indeed security had a great impact on the demand of airlines. After attack of 9/11 domestic passengers demand went down by more than 30 percent, which caused a reduction on routes and numbers of flights not to mention that planes were grounded and thousands of workers were laid off. To rebuild the public confidence in the air transportation, both airlines and government started working together. These security measures have managed to allay the public fear. According to Bisignani, â€Å" Despite severe shocks in recent years-including the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and outbreaks of avian flu-the demand for air travel is at record levels and is expected to grow an average of 6 percent each year for the foreseeable future. People need to fly. More important, people want to fly†. ( Bisignani,200 6) The peak in oil prices during 2008 and the financial crisis during 2009 affected and slowed down the numbers of passengers ,specially leisure travelers, as the prices of oil pushed up fares, and people’s disposable income decreased. The demand for business travel also shifted left. The industry responded with fiercely competing on the airfare which resulted in huge revenue losses and forced major airlines like American Airlines to be restructured. The airline industry overcame this crisis due to people’s need to fly for business and personal purposes and due to the absence of any other alternate mode of long-distance transportation. The use of substitutes such car, train diminishes with distance travelled. This demonstrates that the demand for air transportation is inelastic for longer flights and for business purposes. The lack of substitutes let the airline industry to move without a real external competitor, the passenger trains, bus and personal automobiles are not a viable option for traveling long distances and for business travel. In addition for leisure purposes the demand is more elastic because travelers are more likely to change destination or postpone trips expecting lower ticket prices. Despite the events of security breaches, wars and the economy, the demand for air flight has increased and is expected to continue increasing. The airlines continue to compete among themselves with pricing and offering complementary goods such hospitality, policies, car rental, hotels and tourist packages as the opportunities to improve their sales. Cost structure In the airlines industry, fixed costs are high, while variable costs tend to be low. Costs are fixed and variable at different points in time. That is, the timeframe in this market is important to categorize cost on their relation to output. With the commoditization of air travel, cost structure is now a key success factor in the industry. Central cost items are fuel, capital and wage costs. Costs in fuel prices, which are exogenous as is the time series for the average fuel efficiency of planes; constant dollar amount per seat mile that grows at the rate indicated by the Producer Price Index; and wages, which are based on several factors, such as inflation, industry margins, and average worker tenure. Concerning wages, they are fixed costs in short term decisions and variable in the longer term, where total wage costs change in relation to volume of activity as a result of recruitment, retirement, and dismissals. Consequently, effective management of fuel, maintenance, and labor cos ts is mandatory in the current environment in this industry (Harmsen, 2007). Fixed costs are costs that are unaffected by changes in volume. These costs are always constant even when production varies. One example of fixed cost is rent of premises. In the extremely short term, all costs are fixed, while all costs may be regarded as variable in the very long term, which will be described later, in this section. A good example to illustrate could be long-term leasing aircraft leasing contracts. In the short run the airline would be unable to avoid these payments no matter how it adjusts output. Therefore, lease payment is a fixed cost in the short run, but in the long run they are variable, because contractual obligations will expire (Vasigh, Fleming, & Tacker, 2008). Variable costs are costs that increase or decrease with fluctuations in production. In the aviation market, infrastructure, wear, and the bulk of the fuel are often placed in the variable cost bracket. These normal variable costs are then adjusted by the eï ¬â‚¬ect of congestion, since large load factors add costs from increased services, cancellations, and many other sources. As mentioned on the fore above, costs in the airlines industry are fixed and variable at different points in time. For the purpose of pricing, for instance, a cost structure is required that expresses the time horizon at which different cost categories may be considered fixed and variable. We will describe them with at least three different time spans: medium-long term, short term, and very short term, as follows. * Medium-long term: once the schedule is in place, the costs of operating air services are relatively fixed. This means that capital costs for aircraft, pilots’ wages, technical staff and other skilled labor cannot be influenced. * Short-term: once the carrier decides to embark on the flight, all costs under the medium-long term heading become fixed as do the costs for infrastructure charges (except passenger service charges), wear and the bulk of the fuel. * Very short term: the costs for ticketing, food, travel agency commissions, and extra fuel consumption due to the advent of an extra passenger become fixed once the carrier has decided to accept a ticket reservation. Moreover, wage, capital, and fuel costs are decided to a great extent in markets where it may reasonably be assumed that a single carrier has little influence over prices. Experience shows, however, that major carriers are able to influence all the above costs through negotiation. It is very difficult to observers outside the airline industry to assess the extent of these potential negotiating gains. Analysis of Competitive Forces (Porter’s five forces) The threat of entry by new competitors The threat of entry by new competitors in the Airline Industry is moderate. Being a capital intensive industry, new entrants would require large amounts of money. However, with easy access to bank loans and credit the likelihood of new airlines entering the market has risen. There are still a lot of barriers to entry in the industry. Higher Oil prices would require the airline to operate at full capacity to be profitable and smaller airports do not provide sufficient passenger traffic. New entrants would also have difficulty getting gates at the airports which major airlines use as their hubs. This acts as a barrier for them to operate on more lucrative routes. Major airlines also have stronger brand recognition and have garnered customer loyalty through their frequent flyer programs. Skybus Airlines, Independence Air, ATA Airlines and Maxjet Airways are among the most recent examples of new entrants that have failed to survive in the industry. Even Virgin America, the most successful of new carriers, has so far failed to turn a profit since entering the market 5 years ago. So while entering the new market might be easy, success stories such as that of Southwest & AirTran & JetBlue have been far and few. Pressure from substitute products The pressure from substitute products is weak for the American airline industry. Air travel being the fastest way to travel from one origin to another has no true substitute. Lack of extensive and long distance public transportation system within US reduces the likelihood of someone taking a train or bus to their destinations. Furthermore, time consumption and convenience would also discourage customers to take these options or to drive themselves.However emerging technologies could, in a long run, generate viable substitutes. For instance, more and more companies adopting video-conferencing could impact business travel for meetings and discussions. People could opt for using online chat to virtually meet with their friends and family instead of spending large amounts of money on airline travel. The intensity of rivalry among existing competitor Airline industry is highly competitive as there are several airlines operating on the same routes. These airlines compete by trying to differentiate themselves from others by providing different services – low-fares, frequent flyer membership privileges, no baggage fee, no cancellation fee etc. Competition between the majors and the low-cost carriers has resulted in a downward pressure on the fares, benefiting the travelers but at the same time lowering the revenue for the airlines (see figure). This combined with lower demand and excess capacity has lead to a consolidation trend in the industry. Recent consolidations include – United & Continental, Delta & Northwest and Southwest & Airtran. Such consolidations could lead to monopolization of a market where the majors already rule the roost. The Bargaining power of buyers The buyers are the passengers, for either business or leisure purposes. In the aviation market, the bargaining power of buyers is quite low. The power that airline customers have varies based on the options available to them and the origin-destination city pair. Even though there are high costs involved with switching airplanes, there is not much ability to compete on service. For instance, the seat in one airline is probably not more comfortable than another, unless a potential buyer is analyzing a luxury liner. Other macro environmental trends are the weather, which is variable and unpredictable, and may shut down airports and cancel flights; and airport capacities. Hence, there are pockets where some airlines have pricing power. In this case, the overall airline industry is characterized by significant buyer power stemming from the intense price competition among airlines (Sundaresa, 2009). Since the concentration and size of the buyers in the airlines industry is relatively lower than the number of suppliers it is not difficult to observe that buyers are more aware of the price, product, and services and discounts available at their disposal. The bargaining Power of Supplier The three major inputs for the airline industry are airplanes, labor and fuel. In terms of suppliers of commercial airplanes there are three major Air Bus, Boeing and McDonnell Douglas, it seems like this few suppliers will have great power in the industry but instead they compete between themselves developing technology, capacity of passengers, mechanics training and giving solutions to improve cost effective exploitation of airplanes between others. The second input is labor such as pilots, mechanics, ground personnel and flight attendants , in general they are unionized playing a critical role in the industry. According to IATA â€Å"About half of all workers in the air transportation industry are unionized, 49.3% of workers being union members and 51.6% being covered by collective bargaining agreements in 2006† (http://www.iata.org/whatwedo/Documents/economics/Hirsch_Unions_Wages.pdf) The fuel is an important variable due to the price and its volatility but the market has many suppliers that compete to sell large volumes of fuel but they do not control the price because it is an external factor. (Hirsch, 2007) Conclusion The growth in the airlines industry shows no signs of slowing. The recent industry-wide shakedown will have far-reaching effects on the industry’s trend towards expanding domestic and international services. Despite the events of security breaches, wars and the economy, the demand for air flight is expected to continue increasing. The airlines continue to compete among themselves with pricing and offering complementary goods such hospitality, policies, car rental, hotels and tourist packages as the opportunity to improve their sales. The industry’s challenges for the 21st century are the rising costs of fuel, labor, maintenance and security, the impact of technology, such as telecommunication and video conferencing, as well as bankruptcies and shutdowns. However, the overall perspective of demand has been consistently increasing. Growth rates are not consistent in all regions, but countries with a deregulated airline industry have more competition and greater pricing fr eedom. This results in lower fares and sometimes dramatic spurts in traffic growth. Moreover, in the aviation market, consolidation is a trend. Airline groupings may consist of limited bilateral partnerships, long-term, multi-faceted alliances between carriers, equity arrangements, mergers, or takeovers. In summary, the perspectives for the airline industry are bright and it also holds many challenges. Macro-external environment may directly affect is profitability and operation. Low cost airlines have radically altered the nature of competition within the industry. For low cost, the airlines companies should continue maintaining the existing business model by reducing the cost to improve their product. Turning a profit in a competitive industry with high fixed costs isn’t about gouging consumers on baggage fees. Rather, it’s about paying careful attention to numerous behind-the-scenes expenses, and looking for opportunities to charge passengers for optional extras while keepi ng ticket prices low. References: Lee, Tail (2002). Competitive Airlines. Retrieved July 13, 2012 from http://www.scribd.com/doc/58820847/31/The-cost-structure-of-the-airline-industry#page=53 Pierson, Kawika (2011). Cyclical dynamics of airlines industry profits. Retrieved July 13, 2012 from http://willamette.academia.edu/KawikaPierson/Papers/461653/Cyclical_Dynamics_of_Airline_Industry_Profits Sundaresa, Sankar R. (2009). Introduction analysis of the airline industry. Retrieved July 17, 2012 from http://bcs.solano.edu/workarea/mgarnier/MGMT%2050/Southwest%20Porters%20-%20Brief%202.pdf The industry handbook: The airline industry. Retrieved July 13, 2012 from http://www.investopedia.com/features/industryhandbook/airline.asp#axzz20tWDcbCM Using macro and micro environment analytical techniques provide a comparative analysis of leadership and the external environment for the following four airlines: AirTran, Delta, West Jest, and Air Canada. (n.d.) Retrieved July 8, 2012 from http://www.businessteacher.org.uk/free-manag ement-essays/environmental-analytical-techniques/ Smallen Dave (2011) April 2011 Airline System Traffic Up 1.4 Percent from April 2010. Retrieve July 12 from http://www.rita.dot.gov/rita_archives/bts_press_releases/2011/bts036_11/html/bts036_11.html) Bisignani, Giovanni (2006) The airline industry is going to collapse. Retrieve July 13 2012, from http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2006/01/04/think_again_airlines?page=full Jenkins, Darryl Consumer Regulation and Taxation of the U.S. Airline Industry Estimating the Burden for Airlines and the Local Impact November 16, 2011. Retrieve July 7, 2012 http://www.aviationinstitute.org/AAIReportNov11.pdf Seng, Pauline.. Increasing Competition in the U.S. Domestic Airline Industry through International Competition.December 20, 2007 Snider, Connan. Barriers to Entry in the Airline Industry: A Regression Discontinuity Approach January 2011. Retrieve July 7 2012. http://www.econ.ucla.edu/people/papers/Snider/Snider507.pdf Hirsch, Barry (2007) Unions and Wages in the US Airlines Industry . Retrieved July 18, 2012 from http://www.iata.org/whatwedo/Documents/economics/Hirsch_Unions_Wages.pdf) Airlines International (2010). Retrieved july 18, 2012 http://www.iata.org/pressroom/airlines-international/august-2010/pages/06.aspx Read more: http://www.investopedia.com/financial-edge/0112/The-Economics-Of-Discount-Airlines.aspx#ixzz21JqFZHYR http://www.firstresearch.com/industry-research/Airlines.html http://voices.yahoo.com/airline-industry-profile-1885428.html?cat=3 http://web.mit.edu/airlines/analysis/analysis_airline_industry.html

Irish migration to Great Britain Research Paper

Irish migration to Great Britain - Research Paper Example Irish people have a long and profound history of migration to Great Britain. The migration is due to economic necessities, political compulsions and geographical location. The historic aspect that accelerates the migration process since the eleventh century has varied impact on the economy of Great Britain. After many political and geographical adjustments and divisions, the present position is that Ireland has two entities. Independent Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, that remains part of Great Britain. This long association and disassociation, has resulted in millions or Irish people becoming residents of Great Britain and they can be identified through their Irish ancestry. As the migration process continues unabated, Irish people have become the largest minority group in Great Britain and this position is being sustained for centuries. Apart from others, proximity and employment factors are the important reasons for Irish migration to Great Britain and it is going on una bated with intermittent high and lows. Economic conditions dominate the scene of migration With the Great Famine of the 1840s and potato crop failures on a recurring basis, exoduses on a mammoth scale occur. About a million people migrate and an equal number of them die in Ireland due to hunger and poor economic conditions. Migration on a big scale occurs for the second time during the period 1930-1960, as the Irish people are trying to escape from the desperately poor economic conditions, following the establishment of the Irish Free State. On the other hand, conditions are favorable in Great Britain that facilitates migration from Ireland. With the rapid industrialization in Great Britain, demand for labor is intense and the domestic and constructions companies depend on labor. Especially in the construction industry, the contribution of the Irish labor is magnificent and this has been acknowledged by the concerned authorities in Great Britain. Seasonal migration for a specific period is also in vogue and they are known as harvest labors. London accounts for the biggest Irish population and they are concentrated in the County Kilburn area of North West London. Liverpool, Birmingham, and Manchester are the other important cities in England that own a good chunk of Irish population. Irish population in Scotland and Wales is also substantial. There are an unspecified number of people of Irish ancestry in Great Britain and some other cities with Irish population are, Cardiff, Coventry, Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Coat bridge, Leeds, Lupton, Middleborough, Preston, Portsmouth and Sunderland. â€Å"Genealogy has become hugely popular throughout the world in recent decades but has long had an important position in Ireland. Many of the surviving medieval Gaelic manuscripts are accounts of the pedigree of important, powerful Irish families.†(Murphy) Due to some profound reasons that are not part of the culture of normal procedures of migration, it is impossible to decide the exact dimensions of Irish migration to Great Britain. Ireland remains under British rule for centuries, and notwithstanding the legal provisions to render the process of assimilation of the Irish in the mainstream society by barring them from owning land, the sense of kinship persists. â€Å"Emigration has been a feature of Irish society for centuries. There is another myth that emigration began during and after the "Great Famine" 1846 - 52. But in fact the Irish had been upping sticks and moving long before that.† (Murphy) The process has been unstoppable due to one or the other reason. It is often forgotten that until 1922 Ireland was part of the UK, The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. As such they were one and the same country and migration between the two islands was commonplace. Consequently records of Irish born are common in British civil, parish and other records. Indeed one-sixth of all residents of the UK

MPH503, Infertility and Public Health, Mod 4 Case Assignment Essay

MPH503, Infertility and Public Health, Mod 4 Case Assignment - Essay Example The usual things, of course, such as am I healthy enough, am I in a stable relationship, and is this a good environment for the child? Can I actually afford this very expensive procedure and if the father is known, is this someone that I may need to be connected to his family? Other than those typical kinds of things, there is the criticism. Today there is much controversy as to whether it is an acceptable way to raise children. This causes quite a lot of criticism and discussion that even the child will have to learn to deal with. Much of that controversy centers around the fear that the children will not be well adjusted and if raised by lesbians will be gay themselves (Drexler, 2002). Many studies are showing this not to be true, in fact Drexler’s (2002) study shows that these children are probably better adjusted than other children. There are, however, a couple of issue that present themselves in the literature. One of those is that older couples as well as older women are using this technique to have children. This has precipitated several studies. Bovin, Rice, and Hay et.al. (2009) completed a study that shows that even though there is less outward emotion shown in these older parents, children remain very stable and do not have unusual problems growing up. Another issue that is represented in the literature is the involvement of grandparents. In the event that the grandparents are known most of them admitted that they would want to have contact with these children. In a study completed by Fulcher, Chan Raboy et.al.(2002), eighty families were studied and the result was that in as many households that were heterosexual as well as lesbian, the grandparents as well as uncles and other extended family members were a regular part of these children lives. In conclusion, the use of ART by women who are lesbian or women who wish to have a family as a single parent remains somewhat

Driving Safety among Middle-Aged Drivers Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Driving Safety among Middle-Aged Drivers - Essay Example Hence, a remedial driver's safety course becomes mandatory for them (Evans 108-126) It can be said that, most of the young people in the world get to know about the world soon and start driving as soon as they become legal to do so. At a young age, the youthfulness stirs them to take the road of riskier driving. At the age of 25 to 40, people generally tend to be more concise of their safety. But still, due to risky life styles and with addiction to alcohol and other drugs, their safety too comes under question. They become wary of life and a sense of overconfidence about their driving comes into them. Apart from the accidents, many of the people tend to neglect their safety measures while driving and once caught with the authorities, they get their license suspended. So, in order to revitalize these middle aged men, it is important to provide these safety-forgotten drivers a course where they could refresh themselves on driving safety and continue to drive safely. (Evans 108-126) When people are young, their health is up and running and they are well aware of their safety measures, thought they would not follow it in most cases. As age progresses, people tend to get more mature and more experienced with viewing several accidents and they would care about their safety measures. ... Also other health issues like having poor eyesight and weak sense over things would make them more of a target for accidents. Hence a refreshing remedial driving safety course would enable them to refresh them up and continue with their driving. Hence the seriousness of matter becomes very high and it needs to be made mandatory for every middle aged person. (Evans 108-126) Proposal and Solution Middle age is a period where people are in a transforming state where they are shifting their thought process from progressing towards opportunities to be content with their limitations. They are moving towards a more sedate but stable state. It's also a period where the mid life crisis plays a major role in affecting the psychology of middle-aged people. On a gender basis, reports suggest that middle aged women suffer more than their counterparts. So, in such a situation, it is practical to think that a person's driving skills would definitely get affected psychologically. It is not like they forget everything and will be crashing somewhere. It is to revitalize them of the safety thoughts so that they would be able to know what to do in case of an emergency situation. (Hole 154-175). This is where the importance of Remedial safety courses comes into picture. They help you to do just exactly that. Though the concept of refresher safety courses came into picture only for old age people, it is also becoming an important criterion for middle age people too, to freshen up their thoughts. There are several benefits for a middle aged person through this remedial safety course. It could help them understand better about the rules of the road. They could also revitalize their driving skills. The important benefit would be that they can better

MARKETING COMUNICATION- INTERNAL MARKETING COMMUNICATION Essay

MARKETING COMUNICATION- INTERNAL MARKETING COMMUNICATION - Essay Example In order to be productive, the vision of employees must be in sync with the company’s vision and goals. Internal marketing communication is an effort by the top management to win employees support in their marketing strategy which in turn results in greater employee effectiveness. Internal marketing is based on the philosophy that employees are the internal customers of an organization and hence, it is necessary to promote the firm, its policies, mission, vision, products and strategies to the employees of the firm. Employees and business partners are called internal customers because they interact within the organization in order to generate long term value to the company. In order to be effective, a firm must accurately segment the internal customers (employees) according to their own buying behaviour. Employees can be divided into three segments: supporters (who support the internal strategy), neutral ( who neither support, nor oppose the strategy) and opposers ( who outrig ht refuse to or are against the strategy). Internal marketing communication aims to identify all the three segments of employees within an organization and then target all the three segments effectively in order to achieve a corporate culture comprising of empowered employees, equitable reward and recognition system and an overall good organizational structure that promotes learning, total quality management and business re-engineering. Internal marketing communication also plays a role in the three P’s of marketing strategy, push, pull and profile. The most important role played by internal communication is to decide upon which strategy to use for the company. Ans. Internal marketing communication plays a key role in internal marketing by communicating internal information within all departments in order to achieve organizational objectives. It aims to achieve the following purposes in an organization: It creates

Critical thinking in management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Critical thinking in management - Essay Example Moreover, it is significant to understand that employees because play a great role among other defining factors. The question will be answered by including all the main arguments, the theories, authors who have contributed in their knowledge and understanding and case examples to illustrate the above arguments. Further, the question requires annotated bibliography and it will be provided at the end of the essay. Essay body Organisational behavior is a field which studies how people think, act and feel within a setting of an organisation (Sapru 2008). Outstanding managers have been identified and they possess four types of skills, which allow them to handle the process of behavior management effectively (Sapru 2008: 276). These steps include; being familiar with behavioral challenge, the ability to pick out the causes of current behavior, identifying a strategy for attaining behavioral goals, and the ability to implement and adjust the chosen strategy as required (Parler & Ritson 2005 : 1276). These are the pillars of management theory as discussed by Hartley (2006), Tsukamoto-Wagner (2008), and Brownlie et al (2008). On the other hand, guru theory is based on the assumption that the gurus promote maxims, which specify the behavior rules, but they never increase the managers’ competence as in the works of Bos & Heusinkveld (2007), Collins (2001), Parler and Ritson (2005), and Barabba et al (2002). However, the theory is significant when applied from the manager’s side. Organizational behavior in management is best handled using behavioral theories that are well discussed by Bucklin et al (2000) and Baron and Greenberg (2008). This field of study was created around 1900 and its major perspectives have included scientific management (Tsukamoto-Wagner 2008: 361), human relations approach (Van de Ven 2003), and contingency approach as the latest (MANAGE 2012: 1). According to the analyses of Wallach (1983: 32), Alvero et al. (2000: 43), and Tompkins (20 05: 398), the contingency approach recognises organisational behavior as a complex field of study, driven by different characters. Managers in organisations need to understand this and develop their personal answers to some extent. Fayol’s theory of competitive strategy is said to be advocated by foyol for management education, both as a profession and a discipline. In this case, Yoo et al (2006: 360), Wright (2006) Williams (2003), The Wisest (2011), Collins (2003), and Black et al. (1992) approached the competative strategy theory from different perspectives. The diversity of this theory makes it compartible with many other approaches and when blended, any organisation will be able to achieve a working successful behavior. Findings A combination of Organisational behavior management with the other theories is the best aspect of managing organisations (Wallach 1983: 32). This is significant because there is no signle theory that can be said to solve all managerial challenges or to be applied successfully in managerial behavior. Therefore, the approach requires application of psychological principles of organisational be

Case study Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words - 1

Case study - Essay Example This relationship calls for a change in the way the children perceives things and ends up creating a more successful person in the future. Play therapy is different in a way that it normally provides a safe, trusting, soothing and pleasurable environment to the child under consideration. The result of creating such a climate is the trust of the child in the therapist. The more the individual feels comfortable the easier it gets to understand his problem and solve it accordingly. Play therapy, hence, directs toward a one-to-one relationship where children are encouraged to communicate and express their feelings, fear, views and thoughts. Therapists normally get two kinds of communications from the children, that is, either the children communicate their issues and feelings directly in words (Wilson et. al., 2002) or indirectly by using actions and behaviors. Whatever way the child chooses, a therapist must respond to the messages, either direct or indirect, that he receives from the c hildren. Therapists are required to listen, understand and respond to the children in a way which they feel is suitable for that particular child. The therapists must keep in mind that their behavior and responses would play a significant role in the development of a future relationship between them and the children. They need to flourish the relationship and must respond in a way which strengthens the relationship rather than creating any negative feeling or perception in the child’s mind. The underlying theory is to develop command of children over the feelings which are hidden and controlling them. Non directive approach to play therapy was formed by Axline who gave a way to professionals through which they could treat children. The basic principles laid down by Virginia Axline revolve around non directive play therapy and how a therapist could successfully follow these guidelines. The principles basically revolve around the

Substance use Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Substance use - Essay Example On the other hand the parasympathetic nervous system slows the heart rate, causes papillary constriction, and increases digestion. 2. List and explain three mechanisms by which drug tolerance might occur.  (One paragraph-at least 4 sentences) Drug tolerance occurs through different ways in the body. Three major mechanisms of drug tolerance go down to the molecular level. It can occur when the degradation enzymes for a specific drug are increased in the body and this result in the destruction of the drug before it begins its action. In another mechanism the receptors for the drug are removed temporarily or the down regulation of receptors occurs. These receptors are necessary for the action of the drug and decreased receptors might result in drug tolerance. Enhanced excretion of the drug is the third mechanism through which tolerance to the drug occurs. Excretion of the drug increases when the tolerance to it increases. 3. Discuss why current laws on crack possession have been criti cized. Include at least three of these criticisms.  (One paragraph-at least 4 sentences) Current laws on crack possession have been criticized by many because the same laws for crack in the powder form are lenient. Critics put forward that crack in powder form should also be penalized in the same way as normal crack is.

Community Service for Students Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Community Service for Students - Essay Example This means that these services are meant for students who want to contribute to the betterment of the society. Community services can take a number of dimensions from school-directed service learning to individual assistive interactions with one’s society or large scale learning volunteering initiatives (Ferrari & Chapman, 1999). This paper, therefore, provides an argument that all students should participate in community services as it provides a platform upon which they develop new skills, experiences and ideologies. Community service can take numerous forms that include aiding in a nursing home, serving food at orphanages, teaching special-need children, cleaning parks, streams, and fields, volunteering at the local fire station, providing food for needy families, clerical duty for the red-cross organization, and volunteering to work for the Boy- or girl-scout (Reeb, 2006). Participation in community work can either be done individually or in groups. Examples of these organ izations include community service groups (involved in serving community members), organizations of students governments (serving students), and organizations that protect and serve the environment (Reeb, 2006). All these organizations are aimed at helping students acquire social skills, and organizational and leadership skills. Many students from high school level and above are required to undertake a certain number of community services as a requirement for graduation. The number of hours and type of community service accomplished by high school students usually make them highly recruited by universities and colleges (Rhoads, 1997). Unlike high school students, college students usually spend most of their free time participating in community services, and develop volunteer experiences to include in their resumes. Most university and college students are involved in community services, where they work as mentors and tutors to other students from local schools within that community. This helps students develop both academic and social skills, and influence children’s lives positively (Poplau, 2004). In most curriculums, community service is thematically required to maintain a student’s active membership in the community. Students’ participation in a wider number of community services under sufficient supervision, often help them develop appropriate skills required for developmental activities (Ferrari & Chapman, 1999). Tutors and supervisors should always ensure that the type of community services chosen by students is not harmful. Students should appropriately be supervised within their scopes of abilities, and giving them room to exercise and expand their skills and knowledge. They should also be allowed to perform some vital roles in the community, by allowing them interact physically with some chosen members from that community. In every society, there are several voluntary services that are available for a wide range of ages and capab ilities (Dunlap, 2000). Students also have limitless benefits to participating in community service projects. Although these are non-loan rewarding activities, the benefits they have for students are things that money cannot buy. The following are some of the benefits that make community services valuable for students; Participation in community serv

Fair Value Accounting Essay Example for Free

Fair Value Accounting Essay This paper attempts to answer the questions: Is Fair Value Fair? In so answering the question there is a need to determine whether the use of fair value accurately portray the value underlying financial and economic transactions; to determine whether there is basis to have one universal standard of valuing the assets and obligations of all firms; to find out whether accounting standards would allow for both historical and fair value and still produce meaningful information for decision making; and establish one is more important between relevancy and reliability and whether one’s the importance each depend upon the financial user. 2. Analysis and Discussion 2. 1 What is meant by being fair? To be fair means giving what is due to a person. If applied to an asset purchased or liability assumed in business, fair value would simply mean that said asset or liability is neither overpriced nor underpriced as a matter of perception. Under the law of economics, fair value would refer to that market price which is approximated by the equilibrium price of a thing or good, which is the value of the something from a seller that is not forced to sell or from a buyer that is not forced to buy. In a business transaction there are always are investors, creditors, and other persons who must get their due in transactions that they will enter into. An investor will know what is fair if the person or entity will earn just enough return above cost of capital and in exchange for the risk that such person or entity is taking. The same must be true with a creditor that the person must also get paid on time on his credit plus a sufficient return for the risk in form of interest and penalties. In terms of viewing the corporation as a business entity, what is fair to it is what will allow it to have a sufficient return for the risk that it is taking above its cost of doing business or cost of capital. To arrive at what is fair the investors and creditors who are called users of financial information, these users must know the true or accurate information about of the company so that they will know whether they are going to earn or lose and make the necessary decision whether they will sell, buy or hold to their investments. In other words, to have the chance of being treated fairly from a transaction, one must have the opportunity to have the true or accurate value of asset or liability being dealt with in a business transaction. The opportunity is thus normally supplied by financial reports prepared by companies and which are made public. It is in these financial reports where values whether fair or historical are reported in accordance with prescribed accounting standards that may come from the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) in the case of US companies and IFRS in case of companies operating in the European Union and in other countries which have adopted the IAS or IFRS. Fair value accounting was made pursuant to FAS 157 as issued by US FASB for companies to reflect the accounting information on how much are the real values of assets, liabilities and equity in the balance sheet as contrasted with presenting the information using the historical cost accounting. The purpose of FAS 157 then was built on a framework whereby financial users are given the chance about the true state or fair value of assets, liabilities and equity for decision making under the impression that things will be fair to users of financial information about a company. Incidentally, FAS 157 defines fair value almost very closely to what was discussed and analyzed so far. It is the price that would be received â€Å"to sell an asset or paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between market participants in a measurement date† (Sortur, 2007). 2. 2 Does the use of fair value accurately portray the value underlying financial and economic transactions? To the extent that fair value concept is discussed so far, there is the presumed proposition that the use of fair value will accurately portray the value underlying the financial economic transaction. As to whether this is true, this subsection will have to evaluate the subsequent result on what happened upon the application of 157. In the case of banks, there are those who have to write down the value of assets because of their perception that values have declined due to existing market conditions (Chasan, 2008: Rees-Mogg, 2007). The economic effects however were not favorable to affected interested parties since this action of the banks has produced a backlash. Investors of these banks have lost values of their investments. As a result, the banks have become more risky and depositors lost their trust too in the banking system. If indeed the banks were just reflecting the true values of the assets, how come the reaction of these banks as matter of complying with the requirements of the FAS I57 was not good for many of the affected parties? Would it proper then to deduce that the application of FAS 157 is not fair or that FAS 157 fair value is not fair? If the answers to both of these questions are in the affirmative, then this would have the connotation that what is unfavorable to others is not fair. But how if the values being reflected in the write down are indeed the true values, would the fact that users of financially information get adversely affected make the FAS 157 not fair any more? It would seem that it would be not correct to say fair value accounting or the use of fair value will not be fair if users get affected or have the perception of not getting what they feel or perceive to deserve even if the information is indeed accurate. Otherwise, fair value accounting would be equated with sure profits which could never be within the contemplation of the use of information in decision making. Being fair therefore must first and foremost be characterized to represent the true and accurate information and consequence would be justified by such quality of information. To answer squarely whether the use of fair value accurately portray the value underlying financial and economic transactions, this paper would have to answer in the affirmative. Based on foregoing analysis the FAS 157 aims to reflect the values what would approximate the market price since it is â€Å"the price to sell an asset or paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between market participants in a measurement date† (Sortur, 2007). FAS 157 fair value is therefore the result of the business transaction using the exit price (Sortur, 2007) and is determined by the buyers and sellers in the market. It is therefore not the job of FAS 157 to create what is unfair but would have only to reflect the true values of assets or liabilities that would have to be reported. Therefore, fair value accounting or the use of fair value must be upheld to be fair if it would reflect or would cause the reflection of what are true values. Indeed, it must be the capital markets or the buyers and sellers who will determine the market value or fair value and not the accounting standard. The only role of the accounting standard is to cause its reflection in financial reports of companies because of the requirement to make public their financial statement to investors which would reflect the fair values of assets and liabilities. There is argument that the intention of 157 Accounting rule FAS 157 is good but one cannot prevent people from taking advantage of the new rule to what could further their interest. It is further argued that in whatever one would like to look at it, the generic thing about business is still the desire for profit by which people are motivated with their personal interest to get more wealth (Brigham and Houston, 2002). In response, the use of fair value does consent to allowing people to be taken advantage but cannot prevent those who would want to and those who do not know how to process information for decision making. If the banks which wrote down asset values are indeed taking advantage of the use of fair value accounting, it is still the transactions between the previous buyer or seller that have caused the reaction which started it and the role of accounting standard is just to reflect them (Meigs and Meigs, 1995). If the requirement to report what is happening is unfair, what will then be fair? Chasan (2008) narrated about some investors expressing their doubts on the effectiveness or fairness of fair value accounting method used especially in the context of evaporating markets caused by the financial crisis. The author however admitted that the use of FAS 157 as an accounting standard was made to improve transparency to investors. Citing big write-downs being made big companies like Citigroup and Merrill Lynch Co Inc. which has made multibillion-dollar reductions on subprime-related asset-backed securities and other assets described as hard-to-price assets, the issue of whether fair value is still fair has become a controversial question (Chasan, 2008). The argument being asserted is about the volatility of being caused the use of fair value. Rephrased simply, can fair value justify the volatility? Volatility is a term used in business which connotes changes in market prices and which causes risks to investors (Droms, 1990; Helfert, 1994). It is feared that with the desire to create transparency, increased risk from the use of fair value is coming out as a result. To resolve the issue, the previous answer to the question on whether the use of fair value could justify big losses if what is being reflected or reported about company values are still true, would in effect cover the issue of volatility being blamed on the use of fair value. Hence, this paper believes, that fair value which stands for what is true must be upheld as argued earlier. There are concerns that because of volatility caused by the use of fair value accounting, the money makers would just be benefiting hedge funds since they are those to profit from volatility (Chasan 2008). In answer, it could argued that such is the nature of fair value accounting, to allow the market forces to move freely without people being compelled to enter into buying and selling transactions. If there are losers, there are also losers and they are part of the process. It is also argued that those who are complaining about the effects of credits being blamed on the use of fair value accounting are investors or groups of them, who may have been instrumental in pushing for the shift to fair value accounting. One of these groups is called the CFA Centre for Financial Market Integrity, with analysts and portfolio managers composing the group (Chasan 2008). The group and other groups 2007 had their aggressive lobbying to use fair value more in financials. These investor groups could not be only be winners in a market transaction, they could also be losers sometimes; otherwise the market is not operating efficiently. 2. 3 Should there be one universal standard of valuing the assets and obligations of all firms? The issue of whether there should be universal standard for valuing the assets and obligation may be very ideal since when one now talks of universal fair value as a universal standard for example, one will have to consider macroeconomic conditions of the different companies in the world. Since not all nations are similarly situated, at least economically, there is the strong probability that universal value could not be implemented. The question is being propounded to help in setting what is the fair value in accounting like the universality of human rights. However its impracticality will prevent the attainment of the objective. Accounting values are not human rights. Another thing is the difficulty of measuring the risks in business in different countries which are factors in determining the cost of capital of doing business. The difference in risks depends upon many factors including macroeconomic conditions which are affected by political developments. In answer therefore to the question, it will have to plainly say that the vision of universal standard is laudatory and this could be a part of an approximate desire to the internationalization of accounting in many part of the world. There is the plan to harmonize all accounting standards in the world. The FAS 157 definition was actually made part of the plan of IASB which makes IFRS, to adopt the former for the use of those using the IAS or IFRS (Sortur, 2007). In other words, efforts are made to approximate universality of standard in valuing the assets and obligations of all firms but its realization could only possibly become when the time will come for a universal government. 2. 4 Can accounting standards allow for both historical and fair value and still produce meaningful information for decision making? Accounting standards are in effect guides to users to help users make informed decisions in business. Having both historical and fair value must strike the balance of getting to the extreme of having one and disregarding the other. In other words, one needs to know what is historical for comparison to what is fair value or market value to make an informed judgment. Accounting standards must then work for the attainment for the creation of balance between the two values. As to whether the accounting standards can allow for both historical and fair value and still produce meaningful information for decision making, is answered again in the affirmative. This can be tackled better by breaking the given statement into two propositions first and then combine them latter. The first proposition would be declared settled in the fact the accounting standards can allow both historical and fair value together. The second proposition is that the use of both will still produce meaningful information. This first proposition is accomplished since the practice have been done for a long time already since in the case of valuing of inventories, accounting standards allow the valuing them of lower of cost or market under the IAS 2. (Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, 2008). The fact that inventories can be valued at cost means the historical cost is maintained but requirement of presenting the fair value of inventory if it has gone down in the market is also a part of the standard which in effect allows the working of fair value concept. There are other IAS concepts which allowed fair value accounting and historical value accounting. Thus this section is not much of a problem. The second proposition appears to also to have been fulfilled by the use of IAS as illustrated. More meaningful information is in fact reflected by allowing a combination of fair value and historical cost in the valuation of assets and liabilities of companies. By combining the validation done is confirming the application of two proposition, it could be sufficient to strongly answer the question in the affirmative. 5. Relevancy and Reliability: Is one more important than the other, depending upon the financial user? Both relevancy and reliability are requirements for qualitative characteristics of accounting information. Forcing one to be is more important than the other would be asking the wrong question if the objective is only to determine whether preparing financial information using their fair values is fair. In fact to say that an information must be relevant carries the presupposition that the information must also be reliable. This is on premise that reliability connotes objectivity of information which is very much akin to being truth or fair. Information is relevant or has is relevancy character if it influences one’s decision about a particular issue. On the other hand, reliability deals with the objectivity or accuracy of the information. How could a decision maker consider information as relevant when there is no reliability of the information? On the other hand having reliable information would be of no value if the same is not needed in the decision to be made. The two characteristics must therefore go together. 3. Conclusion The issue of whether fair value accounting or the use of fair in accounting for company assets and liabilities is fair must be answered in the affirmative. What is fair is not what has caused much damaged to a person or entity if such damage was a result of failure to follow the basic rules of making investment. The effect of fair value should not be used to allow one to just justify greed while disregarding the rights of others. A loser under a fair value accounting is comparable to a person who is taking too much risk thus the return could also be high but could be low because of the working of the market. As long as buyers and sellers are not being compelled to complete their transaction, fair value is still fair. Fair value accounting will lead to the truth but its value will also depend on the users of information after they have done their roles in the market. The user will still need to make a comparison with what is historical and what is the current fair value as caused by economic conditions. Present accounting standards have caused the reporting of both kind of information but users must also be intelligent in doing their part. Fair value as a concept in accounting standard was just made to correct the apparent failure of purely historical cost accounting. If fair value accounting is fair, it does not imply that the standard must go back to historical accounting but historical information must still be reported and allow the user to make a difference in how to process the information. Since fair value and historical cost could co-exist together, the same must be the better option as it will provide a balance between historical and fair value accounting. References: Brigham and Houston, Introduction to Financial Management, Thomson-South Western, USA, 2002 Chasan, Emily (2008), Is fair value accounting really fair? {www document} URL, http://www. reuters. com/article/reutersEdge/idUSN1546484120080226, Accessed October 20, 2008 Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu (2008), Summary of IFRS for IAS 2, {www document} URL http://www. iasplus. com/standard/ias02. htm , Accessed October 21, 2008. Droms (1990) Finance and Accounting for Non Financial Managers, Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, England Helfert, Erich (1994), Techniques for Financial Analysis, IRWIN, Sydney, Australia Meigs and Meigs, 1995, Financial Accounting, McGraw-Hill, Inc, London, UK Rees-Mogg (2007), Why FAS 157 strikes dread into bankers, {www document} URL http://www. timesonline. co. uk/tol/comment/columnists/william_rees_mogg/article2852547. ece, Accessed October 21, 2008. Sortur (2007) Fair Value Measurement, The Chartered Accountant {www document} URL, http://icai. org/resource_file/96471564-1574. pdf, Accessed October 21, 2008. ]

Epistemology in Locke and Berkeley Essay Example for Free

Epistemology in Locke and Berkeley Essay Even though Locke seems to posit a mind-independent world founded on matter, on closer examination it will be found that he does so grudgingly. Berkeley, on the other hand considers the notion as unnecessary, and indeed evil. With a proper examination of the two philosophies they will found to be identical in substance, and they only differ in their moral orientation regarding the notion of matter. Locke’s path would appear to lead to materialism, while Berkeley’s to spiritualism. I argue, however, that Locke is not really promoting materialism. On the other hand, Berkeley’s stance might be the road to quietism, instead of true spirituality. On balance, I would favor Locke. Both philosophers are Empiricists, therefore claim that all knowledge is derived from sense experience alone. The real target against whom this philosophy is directed are the Rationalists, following Descartes, who contended that the mind is possessed of innate knowledge, which is discovered through the application of reason as applied to the sensory data of experience. Descartes numbered substance as three – the soul capable of thought, the non-thinking material world, and God. Excluding God as the unknowable entity, the Cartesians grappled with mind and matter duality, confident that both could be understood as agents interacting with each other. However all efforts in this direction ended in pantheism, where God is invoked as the necessary and indispensable agent of mind and matter interaction. Locke’s philosophy is primarily aimed at overcoming Cartesian duality, and the same can be said of Berkeley’s. Locke focuses his attack on the Cartesian mind with its innate ideas. Berkeley, on the other hand, attacks the concept of mind-independent matter. Locke pictures the mind as a white piece of paper, on which experience writes all possible content, and that which we are able to describe as mind. Before the mind experiences the external material world it has no knowledge. This is made up of ideas, which is that formed when something impinges on our senses, coming from the object of perception. The actual process of transmission is inscrutable, though, which Locke is at pains to point out. The ideas are generally nothing like the object itself, and so the causation that is talked about, as the body being caue of the sense perception, is left shrouded. To make this point Locke shows that we form positive ideas from even the lack of causation. So that the absence of light is positively a shadow to us. Just like the names we give to objects are nothing like the objects themselves, so that most of the ideas that form in the mind bear â€Å"no more the likeness of something existing without us† (qtd. in Bowie, 251). With this provision out of the way, Locke goes on to claim that there are certain ideas which do bear resemblance to the object being observed. The ideas of extension, solidity, shape and motion are indeed said to reside in the object itself. These aspects of matter are intuited, and form what Locke terms primary qualities. This is why the ideas of shape, solidity and motion have such distinct and forceful presence in our mind. It is due to the fact that such ideas constitute the only information transmitted from matter itself to the mind. All other ideas, termed as secondary, are derived from the primary ones, and compounded from them in various ways. In this way color, taste, smell, texture etc are all secondary qualities. These ideas are characterized by their relative nature, so that no two observers are able to agree exactly on a quality like taste or color. At the same time they are not as distinct as are the simple ideas. The same food item can be sweet when tasted in health, and bitter when in fever. Again Locke takes care to point out that there is no necessary causation involved. The idea of blueness, along with the particular fragrance, that we get from holding a violet cannot be linked to the flower itself, so that it is â€Å"no more impossible to conceive that God should annex such ideas to such motions, with which they have no similitude† (Ibid 253). Berkeley insists that the relativistic argument must also apply to the primary qualities of Locke, so that there can be no agreement even regarding shape, size and motion. Different perspectives of the same event gives rise to different ideas, so that a large square building might appear to be small and rectangular when seen from a distance and a skewed perspective. Locke argues, however, that such differences can be â€Å"reasoned† away, by the use of geometry and knowledge of the observer’s position relative to the object of scrutiny. Because such correction is possible the mind can be said to have true knowledge regarding extension. Thus, the thesis of simple ideas, the crux of Locke’s epistemology, is restored. Against this, Berkeley would complain that there cannot be any distinction between primary and secondary sensations. He asks us to try to imagine, if we can, the shape of an object without color. And because we cannot our notion of extension is inseparable from the so-called secondary sensations. That which Locke claimed as distinct as an idea, is found out not to be really so. Shape, size and motion appear to us always associated with color, tone, texture, taste, mood, and so on, and the two categories of sensations cannot be clinically separated at all. And if it is the case that the secondary qualities are not in the object itself, but are framed by the mind that perceives it, then the same must be true for the primary qualities too (Ibid 256). Locke had dismissed Descartes’ materialism, and yet held on to the notion of matter by the slender thread of â€Å"primary qualities†. Berkeley overturns this too, so that there is nothing left with which to grasp on to a notion of matter as a mind-independent entity. He simply applies Occam’s razor to the preceding argument and concludes that, if God would impart to us our idea of extension, whether there be matter or not, then it is illogical to postulate the separate existence of matter, a thing that serves no function at all, and to do so would be tantamount to imputing that â€Å"God has created innumerable beings that are entirely useless, and serve to no manner of purpose† (Ibid 258). We know that this is an argument that Locke would have appreciated, because he himself uses Occam’s razor at many points in his own argument, for example, when he postulates that all experience is derived from only simple ideas. Berkeley is not saying, â€Å"Nothing exists.† The external world is indeed real, but as an idea in the mind of God, and maintained as such so that we are able to refer to an absolute fixity in nature. Existence is either as a spirit or as an idea. The spirit is that which perceives idea. Apart from our own existence we also perceive ideas. These too are said to have real existence. A table does not cease to exist just because we have left the room and there is none to observe it anymore. If it continues to exist, it must only be in some other mind, says Berkeley, and â€Å"consequently so long as they are not actually perceived by me, or do not exist in my mind or that of any other created spirit, they must either have no existence at all, or else subsist in the mind of some Eternal Spirit† (Ibid 255). As epistemology, Berkeley’s reasoning is irrefutable, except that it does not inspire active enquiry as does Locke’s. After a proper examination of the latter’s philosophy it will be found not to differ in essence from that of Berkeley, except in structure and the terminology used. But such a difference is not a minor one either. The distinction of primary ideas made by Locke found better expression in Kant, a century later, as the â€Å"synthetic a priori† ideas of the mind. The gist of Kant is that while practical reason does not deliver knowledge, it nevertheless presages the existence of â€Å"pure† reason, transcendent to practical reason, and the preserve of true knowledge. A further corollary to Kant’s philosophy is the categorical imperative, which stimulates action towards the moral path, which is the path dictated by pure reason, and also the road to true knowledge. It is easy to demonstrate that Locke’s postulate of a material sense perception is the counterpart to Kant’s postulate of practical reason. That such an idea does not deliver knowledge both Locke and Kant admit. But contained in the idea is the imperative to enquire and attain to true knowledge. This is what Locke means when he says: How short soever their knowledge may come of an universal or perfect comprehension of whatsoever is, it yet secures their great concernments, that they have light enough to lead them to the knowledge of their Maker, and the sight of their own duties. (27) This is the spirit of active enquiry that we find in Locke, but not in Berkeley. Indeed, the historical influence of Locke testifies to this claim completely. The German historian Oswald Spengler was not exaggerating when he said, â€Å"The Western Enlightenment is of English origin. The rationalism of the Continent comes wholly from Locke† (qtd. in Durant, 590). It is unfortunate, however, that Locke has come to be associated with materialism. Such a misunderstanding is due to a failure to comprehend fully the implications of his epistemology. This is why I favor Locke over Berkeley. Works Cited Bowie, G. Lee, Meredith W. Michaels and Robert C. Solomon. Twenty Questions: An Introduction to Philosophy. Wadsworth Publishing, 2006. Durant, Will and Ariel Durant. The Age of Louis XIV: A History of European Civilization in the Age of Pascal. New York: Simon and Schuster,1963. Locke, John. An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding. Bibliobazaar LLC, 2006.

Performance Analysis for AD-HEED and N-HEED

Performance Analysis for AD-HEED and N-HEED 4.1 Results and Discussion In this section, we exhibit and discuss the results of the simulation. This section shows the performance analysis for AD-HEED and N-HEED compared to the original HEED protocol. Every result presented is the average of five experiments. The following sections give a detailed description of the experiments and the results. 4.4.1 Network Lifetime The number of alive nodes for each round is observed for AD-HEED and N-HEED compared to HEED protocol to evaluate the lifetime of the network. In the proposed methods and according to the distance between the CH and its anchor, we proposed AD-HEED30, AD-HEED87, N-HEED30 and N-HEED87. 30 and 87 are the distance between the CH and its anchor (dch_to_Anc) where 30 is the cluster radius and 87 is the threshold distance which depends on the environment. According to simulation results, AD-HEED87 and N-HEED87 have the same results for all experiments so N-HEED87 results will not be appeared in any figure. In all of the experiments, the sensor nodes were deployed uniformly. Figure ‎4‑1 shows the performance of HEED protocol compared to AD-HEED and N-HEED. It is observed that AD-HEED87 outperforms HEED and the other proposed methods. AD-HEED87 increases the network lifetime until all nodes consume their whole energy by more than 150 rounds compared with HEED protocol. N-HEED30 also increases the network lifetime by more than 50 rounds until the whole nodes die. Figure ‎4‑1: Number of alive nodes per rounds Figure ‎4‑2 presents how AD-HEED and N-HEED behave with HEED protocol in term of node death percentage. The figure below shows the number of rounds for 10%, 25%, 50%, 75% and 90% of nodes that consume their whole energy. The results show that AD-HEED and N-HEED outperform HEED throughout the network. There is a slight advantage to HEED on AD-HEED30 in 90% of nodes death .The figure shows that for 10% of nodes death, the best choice is AD-HEED30 and N-HEED30 while the best choice for 75% and 90% of nodes death is AD-HEED87. For 25% and 50% of nodes death the best choice occurs with all proposed methods because they are approximately the same. According to both of figures, the results show that our proposed methods outperform HEED. Figure ‎4‑2: Node death percentage per rounds 4.4.2 Energy Consumption Analysis The performance of AD-HEED and N-HEED is compared with that of HEED protocol in term of energy consumption for data transmission between CHs and the base station. Figure ‎4‑3 reveals the ratio of energy consumption for AD-HEED and N-HEED per rounds compared with HEED. Here, the energy consumption is the energy consumed by nodes to transmit data to the base station. According to the listed parameters, the results show that the energy consumption for data transmission between CHs and the base station is approximately 19% from the whole energy in HEED protocol. According to our experiments, we have a network that consists of 200 sensors deployed in 100m Ãâ€" 100m, the base station located away at (200, 200) from the surrounding area and the initial energy for each node is 2 J. The total energy for 200 nodes is 400 J and then the energy consumed to transmit data from CHs to the base station is 76 J (19% of 400 J). The figure below shows that AD-HEED87 is the lowest energy c onsuming and then N-HEED30 and AD-HEED30 respectively which means that all of them consumed energy lower than that consumed by HEED. AD-HEED87 decreases the energy consumption by HEED by almost 47% and this means it consumes 36 J for data transmission. Figure ‎4‑3: The ratio of energy consumption per rounds Figure ‎4‑4 presents the ratio of energy consumption in data transmission in term of node death percentage. The figure below shows the ratio of energy consumption for 10%, 25%, 50%, 75% and 90% of nodes that consume their whole energy. As it is obviously clear from the figure, AD-HEED and N-HEED consume lower energy than HEED throughout the network. AD-HEED87, N-HEED30 and AD-HEED30 are the lowest energy consumption respectively. Figure ‎4‑4: The ratio of energy consumption for AD-HEED, N-HEED and HEED Table ‎4‑2 reveals the improvement of energy consumed for data transmission of AD-HEED and N-HEED on HEED protocol for 10%, 25%, 50%, 75% and 90% of nodes death. The comparison results shown in Table ‎4‑2 depict that AD-HEED87, N-HEED and AD-HEED30 respectively are more energy efficient than HEED throughout the network. It is worth mentioning here that the data transmission energy is the energy consumed to transmit data from CHs to the base station. Table ‎4‑2: Improvement of AD-HEED and N-HEED on HEED protocol 4.4.3 Variance of the Base Station Location In this set of experiments we evaluate how varying the location of the base station could effect on both schemes; AD-HEED and N-HEED in term of network lifetime and energy consumption. Figure ‎4‑5 compares the lifetime of the network of AD-HEED and N-HEED with HEED, where the network lifetime is the time until the first 10% of nodes die and when the locations of the base station are (150, 150), (200, 200) and (250, 250) on x-coordinate and y-coordinate. Similar comparisons are conducted for the network lifetime in term of HND and LNA10% as exhibited in Figure ‎4‑6 and Figure ‎4‑7 respectively. Both approaches improve the network lifetime with different locations for the base station compared to HEED protocol. Figure ‎4‑5 shows that AD-HEED30 is the best choice where the network lifetime is FND10%. Figure ‎4‑5: Comparing HEED with AD-HEED and N-HEED using different locations of the base station for FND10% metric Figure ‎4‑6 and Figure ‎4‑7 show that AD-HEED87 and N-HEED30 prolong network lifetime in term of HND and LNA10% while AD-HEED30 prolongs network lifetime in term of HND and LNA10% while AD-HEED30 prolongs network lifetime in term of HND. Thus, for the application that requires that at least 90% of nodes should work, AD-HEED30 is the best choice and appropriate for improving the network lifetime in term of FND10%. If the demand of the application is to boost the lifespan of the network in term of LNA10%, then AD-HEED87 will be appropriate because they improve the network lifetime in term of LNA10% significantly. Figure ‎4‑6: Comparing HEED with AD-HEED and N-HEED using different locations of the base station for HND metric It can be easily observed form Figure ‎4‑5, Figure ‎4‑6 and Figure ‎4‑7 that if the base station location is farther, the network lifetime will decrease in term of FND10%, HND and LNA10% in AD-HEED and N-HEED. The decreasing of network lifetime is due to consuming more energy to transmit data to the base station. We know that the anchor or CH consumes (k (Eelec + Eamp * dn)) J to transmit k-bit message to the base station where n = 2 for d 0, and n = 4 for d ≠¥ d0. Thus, the distance between the closest node and the base station according to the experiments is greater than 87 (d0) so n = 4 all the time. In other words, whenever the base station was nearer, CHs and anchors will consume less energy to deliver data to the base station and vice versa. This means that the distance between CHs or anchors and the base station is a critical factor which effects on the energy consumption. Figure ‎4‑7: Comparing HEED with AD-HEED and N-HEED using different locations of the base station for LNA10% metric The following three figures present the energy consumed in Joules by HEED, AD-HEED and N-HEED using different locations of the base station. From the figures, it is clear that AD-HEED and N-HEED consume less energy than HEED protocol throughout the network. The energy saving by the proposed method increases as the location of the base station was farther. The explanation of this was aforementioned. It is clear from the figures that the fraction of improvement decreases as we go through the network lifetime. In other words, the fraction of improvement in the energy consumption for FND10% is greater than that for HND and LNA10%. This is due to that in the earlier periods of the network lifetime there are a lot of nodes that not consume their whole energy. Thus, CHs can select the beast node as anchor which is the closest node to the base station. But in the in the later periods of the network lifetime, a lot of nodes die. Thus, some of CHs may not use anchor to transmit data the base s tation or select a node as anchor which not effect on energy consumption impressively. Figure ‎4‑8, Figure ‎4‑9 and Figure ‎4‑10 reveal that AD-HEED87 is the most energy saving and then N-HEED30 and AD-HEED30. Figure ‎4‑8: The energy consumption using different locations of the base station for FND10% metric Figure ‎4‑9: The energy consumption using different locations of the base station for HND Figure ‎4‑10: The energy consumption using different locations of the base station for LNA10% metric 4.4.4 Variance of the Number of Sensors We also evaluate the effectiveness of increasing number of the nodes on both methods; AD-HEED and N-HEED. Figure ‎4‑11 compares the lifetime of the network of HEED to AD-HEED and N-HEED, where the network lifetime is FND10% and when the number of nodes is varied between 150, 200, 250 and 300 nodes. Identical comparisons are conducted for HND and LNA10% as depicted in Figure ‎4‑12 and Figure ‎4‑13 respectively. Both methods improve the network lifetime as the number of nodes increases. The figures show that, in almost all cases, AD-HEED and N-HEED performs better than HEED. This improvement is also due to using the anchor as intermediate between CHs and the base station. This increases the network lifespan and decreases the energy consumption. The figures show that AD-HEED30 outperforms the others in term of FND10% while AD-HEED87 outperforms the other in term of LNA10% as the number of sensors increases. AD-HEED87 and N-HEED30 are approximately the same with a slight advantage to AD-HEED87 in term of HND. Figure ‎4‑11: Comparing HEED with AD-HEED and N-HEED using different number of sensors for FND10% metric Figure ‎4‑12: Comparing HEED with AD-HEED and N-HEED using different number of sensors for HND metric Figure ‎4‑13: Comparing HEED with AD-HEED and N-HEED using different number of sensors for LNA10% metric The following three figures present the energy consumed in Joules by HEED, AD-HEED and N-HEED using different number of sensors. Figure ‎4‑14: The energy consumption using different number of sensors for FND10% metric It is obviously clear that AD-HEED and N-HEED are more energy efficient because they consume less energy than HEED protocol in all experiments throughout the network. It can be easily observed form the figures that the percentage of improvement is almost the same when the number of the nodes increases. So, the proposed methods doesn’t affect by varying the number of sensors. Figure ‎4‑15: The energy consumption using different number of sensors for HND metric Figure ‎4‑16: The energy consumption using different number of sensors for LNA10% 4.4.5 Results Analysis In HEED protocol, each sensor gathers data and forwards it to its CH. CHs in turn aggregate data from sensors and transmit it to the base station which located far away from the surrounding area. CHs consume their energy during data aggregation from sensors, data compression per signal and forwarding them to the base station. Where ET is energy consumed for transmission of K bits for distance d, ER is energy consumed for receiving, Eelec is energy consumed by the sensor node circuit, Eamp is the energy consumed by amplifier and Efus is the energy consumed for data fusion. Our proposed technique focuses on data transmission between CHs and the base station. The energy consumed by CH to transmit data to the base station directly (EnDir) represents a certain percentage of the whole energy. This percentage differs according to many factors such as the base station location, number of sensors and etc. the energy consumed for direct data transmission is calculated as the following: EnDir = EnCH_to_BS EnCH_to_BS = The energy consumed to transmit data to the base station indirectly via anchor (EnIndir) is calculated as the following: EnIndir = EnCH_to_Anc + EnAnc_to_BS EnCH_to_Anc = (1) EnAnc_to_BS = + (2) Where n =2 if d 0 or n = 4 if d > d0. The energy of (1) is consumed for transmission data to the anchor by CH while the energy of (2) is consumed for receiving data from CH and forwarding it to the base station by anchor. In AD-HEED, CHs transmit the collected data to their anchors if EnDir > EnIndir and anchors in turn transmit data to the base station. Otherwise CHs transmit the gathered data to the base station directly. In N-HEED and in addition to AD-HEED, the current anchors transmit the gathered data to the next anchors if EnDir > EnIndir and the next anchors in turn transmit data to the base station. Otherwise the current anchors transmit the gathered data to the base station directly. Figure ‎4‑17shows the detailed description of how can transmitting data via anchors reduce the energy consumption. If we assume that the point a is the CH, d is the base station and b, c and e are hypothetical points that located in the CH’s transmission range which represented by a circle. The deployment field is 100m x 100m and the base station located away at (200, 200) m from the network field. The transmission range is 30 (cluster radius). ac = ab = 30. ad is the distance between CH and the base station while bd, cd and ed are the distances between the points b, c and e respectively and the base station. According to our proposed technique, CH selects the closest sensor to the base station to be its anchor and it should be closer than CH itself. Firstly, we assume that the distance between the base station (d) and point (c) is equal to the distance between the base station and CH (a). After that, we reduce the distance cd by moving the position of point c and calculate the energy consumed to transmit one byte from CH (a) to the base station directly (EnDir) and the energy consumed to transmit one byte from CH to the base station indirectly (EnIndir) via point (c). This operation repeats many times until EnDir > EnIndir. The same operations are conducted with point (b). After testing and calculation and by assuming that c, b and e are sensors, we get that cd and bd are the maximum distances while ed is the minimum distance in which sending data to the base station indirectly via sensors c, b or e consumes less energy than sending data directly from CH to the base station. Now, we can see that for any sensor located in the gray zone in the circle and has a distance to the base station less than the maximum distance, transmitting data from CH to the base station via any of these sensors will consume less energy than energy consumed by transmitting data from CH directly to the base station. Figure ‎4‑17: The mechanism of sending data via anchors Chapter Two: Conclusions and Future work 5.1 Conclusions In this research, we proposed an efficient mechanism for hierarchal protocols of wireless sensor networks which proved to be more efficient in the use of energy than HEED protocol in most cases. The main contribution is to allow CHs to transmit data by using other sensors called anchors as intermediates which are closer to the base station than CHs. Furthermore, this approach reduces the burden from the CHs which consume their energy by collecting data from sensors and forwarding them to the base station. The sensor which has the collected data compares between the energy consumed in case if it transmits data directly to the base station and if it transmits data indirectly to the base station via its anchor. After that, the sensor decided either to transmit data directly or via anchors to the base station base on way that consumes less energy. We compared and evaluated the proposed approach performance with the HEED protocol in terms of network lifetime and energy consumption. Simula tion results depict that the proposed methods which called AD-HEED and N-HEED perform better than HEED. The improvement percentage relies on the best choice of the distance between the CH and the anchor, the evaluation metrics and the properties of the wireless sensor network. This improvement is because of that the sensor consumes much less energy when they transmit data to sensor closer than another. We know that the CH consumes (k (Eelec + Eamp * dn)) J to transmit k-bit message to the base station. If the distance between CH and the base station less than threshold distance, the energy consumption equation is calculated by using distance to the power of 2 otherwise, to the power of 4. So, the energy consumption is decreased by using anchors which allow sensors to transmit data via short distances until all data received by the base station. According to simulation results, the distance between CH and the base station is very critical factor which effects on the network lifetime and energy consumption .Furthermore; we also conduct a performance evaluation between our proposed approach and HEED protocol by using different number of sensors and different locations of the base station. The simulation results show that the variation in the number of sensors doesn’t affect significantly on the percentage of improvement. The simulation results show also that the percentage of improvement decreases as the location of the base station was farther because the sensors consume more energy whenever transmitting data over long distances. 5.2 Future Work Though considerable effort has been made on this thesis, many ideas regarding the subject are still not investigated. This section outlines and presents some of our future plans to be conducted in order to improve this work. The choosing of anchors in our approach depended entirely on the distance between the sensors and the base station where CHs choose the closest sensor to the base station. We think to make the choosing of anchors more controlled by taking into account different conditions and other related parameters such as the residual energy, the positions of the nodes and the received signal strength. The collected data by sensors is transmitted by CHs to one base station. This assumption is similar to that in HEED protocol. For scenarios where there are more than one base station located in different locations, each CH should transmit data to the suitable base station. Thus, studying how our proposed approach behaves with these scenarios is a very good idea to be conducted for future work. Finally, the energy consumption and network lifetime are the only performance metrics that are used to evaluate our proposed approach. Using other performance metrics such as throughput, latency and packet delivery ratio to evaluate the proposed approach is a good idea to be conducted for future work.

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde :: Picture Dorian Gray Oscar Wilde Essays

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde â€Å"Like the painting of a sorrow, A face without a heart.† - Hamlet When I went to the movies, I didn’t expect to be so intrigued by the characters that I would want to read about them individually. â€Å"The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen† had many interesting characters: Mena the vampire, Alan Quartermain the hunter, Skinner the invisible man, Nemo the pirate, Dr. Jekyll the scientist, Tom Sawyer of the CIA, and Dorian Gray the immortal. Out of all the characters, Dorian Gray seemed to have the most interesting story to tell. I didn’t know anything about the book, but when I went to the book store, I asked for anything about Dorian Gray that they might have. I was both embarrassed and surprised when the lady picked out several books and asked which one I wanted. The Picture of Dorian Gray was the story of a man who starts out as an innocent, loving boy, but then he made the â€Å"Devil’s Bargain-- the exchange of one’s external soul for extreme but, alas, temporary gratification.† His sins, pa in, and suffering go into a painting of himself made by his friend, Basil Hallward. Lord Henry Wotton was the older man who began corrupting Dorian and made him more vain and cynical. A big part of the story was the relationship between Dorian and his cursed painting, and I believe the painting has more than one meaning in this book. The first thing the painting reminded one of was a drug addict and his drug. After Dorian brought the painting home and realized that it was aging and he wasn’t, he hid it under a screen. Eventually, he hid it away in a locked room because his servants were curious as to why he had kept it covered. Yet, even though he was ashamed of it, he kept going into the room to study the portrait, such as an addict going back for more supplies.