World Religious Traditions By John Martin Luther King Jr.

Sydney Smith October 15, 2015 World Religious Traditions Professor Wilson Essay #2 According to the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., there is a distinct difference between â€Å"just† and â€Å"unjust laws†. King writes, â€Å"A just law is a man made code that squares with the moral law or the law of God. An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law† (Michaelvdg 2010). This concept dates back to a philosophy developed by the Romans. The Roman’s code was between these two concepts, â€Å"Ius Gentium† and â€Å"Ius Naturalis†. Ius Gentium means a law that is universally practiced, where Ius Naturalis means natural law (Michaelvdg 2010). One way to explain the difference between the two is by using slavery as an example. Slavery was†¦show more content†¦Would that not come naturally to us? But what is too far when it comes to just and unjust? If we see someone being hurt on the street, do we give ourselves the flexibility to go attack the attacker and save the victim? Where is the line drawn? An important concept from Dr. King’s letter is civil disobedience. Civil disobedience is when someone intentionally refuses to abide by specific laws, demands, and commands of someone in charge. Civil disobedience is when one decides to prioritize their conscience rather than to listen to rules. I consider just and unjust laws a valid argument for civil disobedience to a certain point. I find it hard to argue because I believe that some people may take advantage of this concept. I believe that under certain conditions, it is okay, to break the law, as long as it is for the better of the people, earth, or another important factor in quality of life relating to a person, animal or planet life. Personally, I believe that if someone has a strong grasp on human emotions, and comprehends that other humans have the same emotions, such as, we feel the same feelings (physical or psychological), then breaking the law in the name of â€Å"moral law†, could be an action tha t they could take. For example, if someone is robbing an innocent mother as she loads her children into their car, I see nothing wrong with that mother grabbing a

Nutrition and Stronger Workouts Free Essays

In today’s society it seems that everyone wants to loose weight and see immediate results. The trend of using dietary supplements increases constantly because of this factor. The market for these supplements is skyrocketing every year as the demand for the so-called miracle pills continues to grow. We will write a custom essay sample on Nutrition and Stronger Workouts or any similar topic only for you Order Now Much research has been done on many of these drugs and has proven that many are not all as great as they are advertised on television or in magazines. The truth is many contain dangerous ingredients that lead to severe side effects and can even cause death. They prove to be more harmful than healthy. This is why before ever deciding to by any type of dietary supplement, it is crucial to examine every ingredient and know what exactly each one is to see if it is dangerous or safe to ingest. One dietary supplement that seems to be popular at the moment is Hydroxycut. It is supposed to promote fat and weight loss, increased energy and stronger workouts, increased metabolism, and decreased appetite (Hydroxycut Side Effects and Hydroxycut Benefits 1). These added benefits do not come without a price though. There are many severe side effects that can result from using Hydroxycut. Some may include increased blood pressure, increased heart rate, headaches, light-headedness, and dizziness. Others are loss of appetite, feel restless and hyper active, nose bleeds, blurred vision, and outbreak of acne (1). It seems there are more side effects than benefits. It is up to the individual to decide how much pain it is worth going through just to lose a few pounds. Hydroxycut is composed of both healthful and harmful ingredients. It is based on something known as the ECA stack, which consists of ephedrine, caffeine, and aspirin (Hydroxycut Information 1). Ephedrine, as most know, has received much negative attention over the past few months. It is derived from the plants of the genus How to cite Nutrition and Stronger Workouts, Essay examples

Climate Change in the Business Strategy-Free-Samples for Students

Question: Is climate change integrated into your business strategy. Answer: Introduction Climate changes have significant influences on the visions and profit maximisation strategies of the organisation. The awareness of the climate changes is increasing day by day throughout the world in almost every industry. Every organisation has its distinctive opportunities, challenges and integrating climate change which plays a key role in the policy-making process. The fundamental issue we want to address here is the incorporation of climate change in the business strategy. Furthermore, we will relate this issue to the legitimacy theory which means an organisation seeks to ensure that they operate within the bounds and norms according to the local societies. To put in simple words, the business activities are perceived to be legitimate. The bounds and norms are not static so the organisation has to be responsive and the best way is to rely on the notion of a social contract. Literature Review A plethora of research is available which deal with the issue of climate change and its incorporation in the process of business policymaking. In this section, we will cover some important previous studies that deal with the issue of climate change as well as with the perspective of legitimacy theory. An important study conducted by the McKinsey Company which dealing with the generalised perspective on climate change risk that varies industry to industry. This research is covering almost all major sectors like oil and gas, Chemicals, agriculture, transport etc. The best way to compile that report is show with the help of the following chart; Figure 1. Impact of McKinsey Co on carbon disclosure. Source: McKinsey Company (2017) Legitimacy theory also aids to assess the Green House Gas emission and social performance of the firm making it one of the best tool analyse and compare the firms performance with climate change. A research study had highlighted the issue of legitimacy gap and concluding that this gap arises when there is a clash between expectations of society and actions of an organisation. There is a strong correlation between the expectations of society and legitimacy gap. To put in other words, it means the gap will increase when the expectations of society changes or the unknown information become known to the society (Set Figure 2. Legitimacy gap. Source: Sethi (1975) Another research is suggesting the climate change action plan that can be used as a proactive management of risk that is associated with the climate and also discussing the opportunities and impacts. This study is based on five stages where the first stage is deal with the understanding footprints which means mapping the emissions and improving the reporting and accuracy. The second step is describing the implementation of suitable measures to reduce these emissions. The next stage is dealing with the engaging externalities which mean for instance to develop methane and shale development communication or take part in the process of global legislation and regulations. The final stage is dealing with the building capacity which means to give proper attention to research and development to form an action plan to incorporate the climate change in business strategies (Mousa and Hassan, 2015) Conceptual Model: The conceptual model of this study which is dealing with the issue of climate changes incorporation in the business policymaking process can be presented with the help of the following chart explicitly; Figure 3. Conceptual model of the research. In this research framework, there are three independent variables and one dependent variable along with a control variable. It has been considered that carbon disclosure score is the dependent variable, which is according to the CDP disclosure is dependent upon the integration of climate change in business, internal price of carbon and future consideration of risk, making them the independent variable for this research framework. This research framework considers that size of the firm is one of the main factors that control the carbon disclosure score, this it will be considered as the control variable. Hypotheses: H0: There is no relationship between the independent variables and dependent variables. H1: Integration of climate change in business, internal price of carbon and future consideration of risk positively affects the Carbon disclosure score Proxy Measures for Theoretical Constructs Table 1. Proxy measures for theoretical constructs. Theoretical Constructs Proxy Measures Type of Variable Sources Integration of climate change in the business strategy Nominal answer of Yes/No to Question from the CDP data. Independent Variable CDP survey Internal price of Carbon Measureable in currency($) Independent Variable Future considerations of risk Measurable using previous data comparisons Independent Variable Voluntary Carbon Disclosure score Percentage carbon disclosure score. The measurement is related to the firms on carbon disclosure sources mentioned in CDP spreadsheet. Dependent Variable CDP Survey Company profile Companies: Mining, Chemicals (high profile) Control Variable ASX company sector categorisation. Corporation Size (Low Profile) Market Capitalization Control Variable ASX of top 200 corporations Research Methodology A sample number of 180 corporations including various sectors of industries is taken into consideration in the study. The major section of sectors used in CDP are high profile industries and includes low profile industries as well. All these industry types are classified under Global Industry Classification Standard. voluntary disclosure have been found out, in this study the size is measured as control variable (cv) measured in terms of the firms market capitalization of particulars industrial sector, regresssion analysis is delivered by using secondary data Data Collection The sample data was taken from the CDP survey 2015. The database had 1048 firms from different countries with various sectors. Sample selection for this research project was restricted by the number of companies with appropriate data. Many companies did not answer the CDP questions which were the focus of the research so the sample size was more limited than initially expected. The final sample consisted of 56 companies from different countries and various sectors. These companies did have a response to the identified research question. (Note that the class lecturer approved the use of 56 companies given the research question and CDP data). Adopting random sampling, data was collected from 28 Companies responding YES and 28 Companies responding NO. Data Analysis - Descriptive Descriptive data analysis is being used in the research paper to analyse the data and comparison. Descriptive data analysis is the best form to analyse and tabulate the collective data from the samples and graphical representation as well. Mean, Median, Mode are used to measure the central tendency results to analyse their differences from the data collection. Range, kurtosis, skewness is used to box plot the central tendency results. On the basis parameters, the research proceeds to explain about the analysing of data by means of tabular representation using descriptive analysis. The two key research questions for descriptive data analysis were the following: Is climate change is integrated in the business strategy, and if so, how does it affect the carbon disclosure score? Is climate change not integrated into the business strategy and if so, how does it affect the carbon disclosure score? Table 1. Companies where climate change is integrated in the business strategy Companies responding YES compared with disclosure scores Mean 90.53571 Median 94 Mode 100 Standard Deviation 13.2957 Sample Variance 176.7765 Kurtosis 4.314874 Skewness -2.17536 Range 50 Minimum 50 Maximum 100 Sum of 2535 Count 28 Table 2: Climate change is not integrated in the business strategy Companies Responding NO compared with disclosure scores Mean 55.3571 Median 63.5 Mode 0 Standard Deviation 34.3664 Sample variance 1181.0529 Kurtosis -1.1030 Skewness -0.5509 Range 99 Minimum 0 Maximum 99 Sum of 1550 Count 28 Statistic Std. Error yes Mean 90.54 2.513 95% Confidence Interval for Mean Lower Bound 85.38 Upper Bound 95.69 5% Trimmed Mean 92.21 Median 94.00 Variance 176.776 Std. Deviation 13.296 Minimum 50 Maximum 100 Range 50 Interquartile Range 11 Skewness -2.175 .441 Kurtosis 4.315 .858 No Mean 55.36 6.495 95% Confidence Interval for Mean Lower Bound 42.03 Upper Bound 68.68 5% Trimmed Mean 56.07 Median 63.50 Variance 1181.053 Std. Deviation 34.366 Minimum 0 Maximum 99 Range 99 Interquartile Range 57 Skewness -.551 .441 Kurtosis -1.103 .858 The above represented descriptive tabular data represented analyses on two parameters of integrating climate change in the business and other parameter representing opposite of not integrating climate change in the business. Analysed Mean from table 3 responding yes with disclosure scores and mean of 90.53 depicts a vast difference from the companies responding No in integrating climate change to business. Sample Variance has a huge difference in means to comparison of the samples. Standard deviation is explained how data distribution is moving with the mean values. The standard deviation has a vast difference in the above tables. The normal distributed data lies usually between -1 to +1 but the research results are way too far off the mean in normal distributed results. The skewness of both the parameters have negative scores which results in lack of uniformity and skewed negatively in the distributed data. Kurtosis on the tabular data representing a different result for both parameters shows a negative trend. Range is a factor used to analyse small data sets of the collected data depicting a vast difference between two parameters set. Minimum and maximum depicts the lowest observation and largest observation of the collected samples in the research. Paired Samples Test Paired Differences t df Sig. (2-tailed) Mean Std. Deviation Std. Error Mean 95% Confidence Interval of the Difference Lower Upper Pair 1 yes - no 35.179 36.923 6.978 20.861 49.496 5.041 27 .000 Figure 1: Pie chart depicting the YES or NO response for research question (not related to disclosure score). The above figure evaluates that most of the companies selected for this research have integrated climate change into their business with major proportion of the companies disclosing their score and responding positively on their carbon disclosures. Discussion of descriptive statistics Large variation b/wn yes and high score and no with low score Ideally, re-introduce your management theory (legitimacy) an easy relationship is that if the company is being legitimate, then it will integrate GHG into its business strategy so that its higher disclosure is legitimate or makes sense. Theyre not faking their GHG initiative so could be perceived as more legit. Refs. 1-2 paras Research on descriptive data analysis resulted in large variation of results of the companies responding Positive on the research question with higher values of YES disclosure scores about the companies responding very less and negatively NO in number of disclosure scores in CDP survey. Descriptive statistics of the research using SPSS method resulted that most of the companies had a positive response in relation to integration climate change into business strategy. Reintroducing my research theory Legitimacy theory into the research. Legitimacy theory has been more about research papers these days as there is an assumption that some proposals and tasks of the entity are on spot to some uplifted number of norms adopted socially. The research summarizes that companies having large variation of responding positively on research question, which reasonably entitled to legit information on disclosure of their scores. Data Analysis- Inferential statistics The study is focused around the conjecture which states that, carbon disclosure score of the company depends on a companys act of integrating climate change as a component in its business strategy, its internal pricing score of carbon and its consideration of future risk, where size of the firm is the control variable (Guenther et al., 2016). The assumption on which the study stands is that the companies belong to the same population of companies. The available carbon disclosure score is depends on the treatment of the variable representing the integration status of climate change to the business model, which leads to two groups of companies. The groups are one, which has not yet integrated climate change to its business approach and the two, which has integrated climate change to its business approach. A paired t-test is then employed on the data to determine whether there is a difference between the group attributed by the answer YES to the question asking whether climate change is a factor which is considered during its strategy making and the group attributed by the answer NO when asked the same question (Zikmund et al., 2013). The rationale is that, the scores being higher for the group saying Yes, then integration asserts is role as a positive influencer. Hypothesis testing The hypotheses under scrutiny in this study are as follows: H0: There is no relationship between the independent variables and dependent variables. H1: Integration of climate change in business, internal price of carbon and future consideration of risk positively affects the Carbon disclosure score. The table 4 shows the results of the paired t-test used to test the hypothesis mentioned in the previous section. It reveals that the p-value is less than 0.05, which leads to rejection of the null hypothesis, H0. This implies that there is indeed a significant difference observed between the two groups of organizations, grouped as per their answer to the question asking whether they have integrated climate change as a deciding factor in their strategy making (Zikmund et al., 2013). Therefore, the inference follows that the group, which has integrated notions of climate change as a relevant insight to determine company strategy, has enjoyed higher scores of carbon disclosure. Discussion The emergence of awareness among the masses with regard to climate change and the risks it poses has worked to bring the issue to the forefront of the concerns plaguing the world. It has brought about a sense of responsibility and accountability with regard to how companies carry out their business as a result. Generally, its customers and the tentative market regard a company that cares about the effects of climate change, in a more positive light. The carbon disclosure score is an indicator of the environmental awareness of the company, along with the level of sustainability governance it practices and its leadership status with respect to climate change among its peers (Guenther et al., 2016). A high carbon disclosure score reflects upon a number of things. Firstly, the outlook of the climate change policy to shareholders, clients and the public audience. This could work in its favour as a marketing avenue. Secondly, insight about how it can cope with threats that might arise due to climate change. Thirdly, insight about any business opportunities that might be available to the company. Fourthly, insight about how to increase production and efficiency in production while reducing costs (Luo and Tang, 2014). The legitimacy theory that is of interest in this report stresses on a key benefit that assessing and trying to improve the carbon disclosure index of a company may present. Owing to the argument, that since the world is increasingly shifting focus to cleaner ways of conducting activities, a company would benefit from catering to those shifting ideals as per the rationale of legitimacy theory (ODonovan, 2002). The analysis reveals that a companys reputation has an association with the inclusion of climate change as an important point of consideration in its business model. The bottom line of the conceptual framework of the legitimacy theory in the light of a practical scenario is that, it is an opportunity for the company in question. The opportunity to connect market expectation to operational efficiency (Luo and Tang, 2014). Through effective communication within the organization and between the changing world scenario and the company outlook, which in this particular case is climate change, this could be possible. The aim of this paper is to highlight how that could be done using carbon disclosure score index as a metric to represent the performance of the company in trying to fill the legitimacy gap. The research conducted for this paper has revealed that majority of the companies under consideration have already integrated climate change to its business as shown in figure 1. The indep endent variables are the explanatory factors, which is controllable by the company to achieve a better position with respect to its success in dealing with the legitimacy gap (ODonovan, 2002). Integration of climate change into company model has thus, been found to be a good choice in that regard and it has been supported by our analysis as well. Therefore, the move could be good for generating a more positive market image. Following this, whether and how the remaining independent factors identified, affect the performance of the company in light of the legitimacy gap must be determined. The internal price of carbon is a shadow expense that the company expects will add to its operational cost and due to its future investments owing to its current policy on generating carbon emissions. High internal carbon price acts as a warning and a check during the companies policy making relating to decisions, which could cause carbon emissions (Matsumura, Prakash and Vera-Muoz, 2013). The decre ase in internal price of carbon could thus improve the score of carbon disclosure index. Again, the predicted possible risks of carbon generation arising out of the policies of the company, quantified from historical data could also affect the carbon disclosure index (Luo and Tang, 2014). Considering all three explanatory variables it could then be investigated using survey data, how the performance of the company as per the carbon disclosure index is affected and how the increase or decrease of the metrics could affect the ultimate performance scores, which are the carbon disclosure indices of the companies. Limitations Firstly, note that the data used to calculate the carbon disclosure score are from the companies registered by the Carbon disclosure project. Thus, the self-reporting nature of data collection may raise questions regarding the validity of the data and whatever results may follow the analysis. Secondly, the analysis in this paper focuses on the relationship between only the integration of climate change to the business model with the performance outcome metric. It does not explore the relationship with the other independent variables. Thirdly, it approaches the situation largely from an exploratory viewpoint and does not address the exact nature of the relationship between the variables under consideration. Further Research Firstly, the analysis leaves scope for investigating the causal relationship between the performance score of the company and the explanatory variables of the response. An in depth investigation about the nature of the relationship between integration status of climate change in the company model, predicted future risk due to climate change and the internal carbon price of the company using more advanced statistical tools. Secondly, developing a model to predict the performance score from the explanatory variables. Thirdly, it could be investigated what other factors whether latent or explicit could directly or indirectly affect the carbon disclosure score and hence how those could affect the model upon consideration References: Guenther, E., Guenther, T., Schiemann, F. and Weber, G., 2016. Stakeholder relevance for reporting: explanatory factors of carbon disclosure.Business Society,55(3), pp.361-397. Luo, L. and Tang, Q., 2014. Does voluntary carbon disclosure reflect underlying carbon performance?.Journal of Contemporary Accounting Economics,10(3), pp.191-205. Matsumura, E.M., Prakash, R. and Vera-Muoz, S.C., 2013. Firm-value effects of carbon emissions and carbon disclosures.The Accounting Review,89(2), pp.695-724. ODonovan, G., 2002. Environmental disclosures in the annual report: Extending the applicability and predictive power of legitimacy theory.Accounting, Auditing Accountability Journal,15(3), pp.344-371. Zikmund, W.G., Babin, B.J., Carr, J.C. and Griffin, M., 2013.Business research methods. Cengage Learning.

Myth and Reality of Co-Parenting free essay sample

One thing that almost everybody will have to deal with at least once in their lifetime is parenting. In parenting, both parents are needed to make the job easier on themselves, their marriage and their child. In the essay The Myth of Co-Parenting: How It Was Supposed to Be. How It Was. by Hope Edelman, Edelman tells her experience with co-parenting. Edelman, along with many women, initially believed that co-parenting was possible. She soon figured out, however, that it was not a realistic goal. Some points that Edelman hits in the essay are the gender roles and societal expectations in parenting, being the nurturer versus being the provider, and how poor communication can ruin co-parenting. A major point that Edelman brings up in her writing are gender roles in parenting and what society expects each to do as a parent. Edelman says that coming into her parenthood she thought that if she contributed half of the families’ income, then her husband would contribute half of the housework and child caring (Edelman 284). We will write a custom essay sample on Myth and Reality of Co-Parenting or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page She says that she did not want to be the dominant parent in the house and wanted more of a â€Å"shared responsibility† instead of one parent doing all of the care-taking and household duties (Edelman 284). She also talks about her parents’ relationship and parenting when her and her siblings were young. She says that her mother always seemed to do everything around the house, while her father only went to work, came home and sat around (Edelman 284). Her father did provide the families’ income; however, Edelman believes her father should’ve done a little more to help around the house (Edelman 285). Edelman also says that whenever her mother passed away the household duties never were done how they used to be and the house was just different (Edelman 285). After seeing this Edelman told herself that she didn’t want the same relationship her parents had (Edelman 285). Edelman says later that women start with huge expectations for sharing the job of parenting but almost always end up doing the majority of parental duties, which is common in society still today (Edelman 285). Another point that Edelman touches on, is the concept of being the nurturer versus being the provider of the family. This topic really ties into the previous point of gender roles and societal expectations, in that society expects the father to be the provider while the mother is generally looked at as a nurturer. Edelman’s story of her parents and the roles they played as parents when she was young attests to this statement. Although Edelman wanted so badly to achieve her aspirations of co-parenting, with the hours that her husband John worked, however, it was nearly impossible. Soon Edelman accepted the role of nurturer while John was the provider until his company was off the ground and stabilized (Edelman 289). A final point that Edelman touches on is how poor communication made things much more difficult to achieve successful co-parenting. Edelman says that her husband was hardly ever at home, and that one week he logged unofficially ninety-two hours of work (Edelman 283). The way Edelman puts it is that, â€Å"There was no time together for anything other than the most pragmatic exchanges† (Edelman 286). She said that when her husband got home from work the first thing she did was jump up with something to approve, sign, or examine (Edelman 286). This compacted conversation Hope and John were having on a nightly basis was not healthy for them at all. Edelman says that she was mostly mad at John because he never said exactly what was involved when starting his own company (Edelman 287). This anger translated into regret for Hope, saying that she would have never seen herself picking up that much household slack before her and John were married (Edelman 287). This lack of communication kept snowballing until they just stopped arguing in front of each other, and instead started taking small jabs at each other that started to add up after a while (Edelman 287). The jabs included things like buying their daughter something the other didn’t want them to have, or not doing a task the other one asked them to do, small things that added on and after a while (Edelman 288). Eventually, however, John’s company stabilized and with that came fewer hours John needed to work, and with that came the stability of their household and marriage (Edelman 289). Edelman says that it has taken a lot for her to give up her dream of co-parenting, but that she has learned to live with the imbalance and inequality of duties in their household (Edelman 289). Edelman makes some great points throughout her essay and while I do agree with most of them, I disagree with her stance on gender roles. Edelman says that she wanted to achieve a â€Å"shared responsibility† in her household, that way the husband and wife would do the same amount of household duties while keeping their full time jobs. I disagree with her view of this; I believe that if the husband is the one working extended hours during a week, trying to provide for his family, then the wife shouldn’t feel angered or annoyed at having to pick up the extra slack around the house. The wife is generally the one in the household who is known for being the care-taker, the cleaner, the cook, etc. The husband is generally looked at as the provider for the family, the head of the household, the authority figure, and it has always been that way. I understand there are circumstances where the husband can’t find work, or they get let go and the wife has to help out. In that case, while the husband was home and the wife at work, the husband should help out around the house and pick up the motherly responsibilities. What I am trying to say is that it really doesn’t matter who does exactly what in parenting, as long as the child is taken care of, the bills are paid, and everyone is happy, then each parent has done their responsibility. The second point that Edelman hits on is the nurturer and provider topic. This topic really goes hand-in-hand with what was previously stated because society generally sees your role as a parent before you even have a child. They see the mother as the nurturer and the father as the provider. I agree with society on this topic and disagree with Edelman, who says that there should be an even distribution of the two. Like what was stated earlier I believe that the father should do his job of working to provide for the well-being of his family, while the mother raises her children and takes care of the household. The final point that is made in Edelman’s essay is that poor communication made things more difficult than they were, and that good communication would’ve probably helped. She says that John was out of the house so much that they only talked to each other for a few minutes each night and that it eventually got to the point that they didn’t even have time to argue with each other. This is a serious lack of good communication and it is toxic to a relationship. I believe that the most successful relationships are those that the spouses can communicate openly and easily with one another. I agree with Edelman that their poor communication hurt their relationship, as it does to any relationship, but it can be fixed over time as it was in John and Hope’s case. Edelman’s essay is a classic example of someone having high expectations, the expectations getting brought down to reality, and then the person having to cope with the reality now. She was living under a false assumption that co-parenting would be easily reached and maintained. When she realized it wasn’t going to work out she then tried to force it more, before finally giving in and living with the imbalance. She has found something more important than attaining a goal of co-parenting, or her husband John getting rich, she has found that her child’s happiness and raising her daughter no matter what is most important. I strongly believe that no matter what obstacles parents face, they should put their child’s happiness before anything. Parenting is not always easy, as you see here in Edelman’s essay. There are many different ways to parent a child, however; however one thing shouldn’t be different. No child has the right to not be happy and the parents should do everything to make sure that they are happy.

Delia’s life Essays

Delia’s life Essays Delia’s life Essay Delia’s life Essay In the story â€Å"Trifle,† the way the setting was depicted by the author helps the audience understand how sad the main character is. The setting also helps the audience to understand why Mrs. Wright was fond of her bird as the bird gave her life and happiness. In the play, Mrs. Hale said: â€Å"come to think of it, she was kind of like a bird herself-real sweet and pretty, but kind of timid and-fluttery† (Glaspell). Mrs. Wright’s cheerfulness, beauty, and carefree spirit back then were metaphorically compared to a bird. â€Å"She used to wear pretty clothes and be lively, when she was Minnie Foster, one of the town girls singing in the choir,† said Mrs. Hale (Glaspel). In that remark, Mrs. Hale compared Mrs. Wright’s colorful clothes to the bird’s pretty feathers. Mrs. Wright also sang in the choir just like the birds singing in groups. However, after her marriage to Mr. Wright, she started to withdraw from her previous energetic activities maybe because she was possibly oppressed by her husband. The bird cage also symbolizes the secluded life of Minnie or Mrs. Wright. She started to live in isolation with her husband and farmland when she got married. She rarely went out and indulged herself in outdoor activities. The preserved fruit, nicely designed sewing box, and empty bird cage also mirror Mrs. Wright’s domestic and creative character. Most importantly, they were especially helpful to Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters in tracing the truth behind the murder case. The sewing box, which revealed Mrs. Wright’s unfinished quilt, suggested that she was a creative person and helped the audience understand why she was capable of such crafty and detailed murder. The short story â€Å"Sweat† on the other hand speaks about the uncivil and unequal treatment of women especially in their marriages. Just like Minnie Wright, Delia Jones, the main protagonist of this story, survives years of her husband’s cruel physical and psychological treatment not just to her but on their community as a whole. Women during those times were expected to please their husbands, to do domestic works and to be obedient. Women could nothing to change their destinies towards the social constructed roles since they have very little opportunities in politics and social activities. Delia Jones was intertwined with two kinds of inequalities and discrimination: her role as a woman and the apparent discrimination towards her as a black woman. She was doing a domestic role not just for her family but for the whole community. Her work includes doing a laundry for the white people since at this time there were relatively no job opportunities for women, especially if they were black. Her husband on the other hand refused to work with her, very insensitive and unsympathetic to her needs. Looka heah, Sykes, you done gone too fur. Ah been married to you fur fifteen years and Ah been takin in washin for fifteen years. Sweat sweat, sweat! Work and sweat, cry and sweat, pray and sweat! Her life was a never ending work and abuse not just with her husband but with the community as well. Even though the community was perfectly aware of the beatings, verbal and psychological abuses Delia was experiencing, they remained quiet believing that what happened between a husband and wife was personal so no one had the right to help that time during those days. Moreover, her husband publicly commits constant infidelities and no matter how devastating and painful it was to Delia, she can not file for a divorce. Divorce at that time was hard to obtain especially to a poor woman like her. Fortunately Sykes was killed by a rattlesnake when his cruel joke abruptly turns on him. This started the turning point in Delia’s life. The death of her husband became a significant way to get out of the trap towards oppression and abuses. Even though Delia was constantly put down and made to feel less than human by her husband and the community around her, but her spirit and sense of self was never completely smothered. While Minnie Wright counteract with the abuses she experienced with her husband in a negative way; killing the oppressor. Their point of comparison is that they are exactly opposite. Delia was being dominated by the good side of her human nature while Minnie Wright was dominated by the evil tendencies of human. The common feature of the two plays or stories is that both describe the nature of women. The women’s traits can be an advantage and disadvantage. Both stories were written in the early 1900’s where male dominates the civilization. Hence, the plays depict the conventional and traditional domestic nature of women and the different possibilities of how women will respond to it.

Idioms and Expressions - Come

Idioms and Expressions - Come The following idioms and expressions use the verb come. Each idiom or expression has a definition and two example sentences to help understanding of these common idiomatic expressions with come. You can also learn idioms in context with these stories, or learn further expressions with these idiom resources on the site.   Come apart at the seams completely lose emotional control Theres no need to come apart at the seams. Things will get better.On hearing of the death of his friend, Peter came apart at the seams. Come away empty-handed return from a meeting, situation or other event without any gain We came away empty-handed from the negotiations.The competition was so intense that our company came away empty-handed. Come by something travel by means of some vehicle We came by train.Did you come by plane or by car? Come down in the world lose financial or social prestige and position Im afraid Tom has come down in the world. Lifes been pretty hard for him lately.I think youre taking too much risk. You might come down in the world. Come full circle return to an original state At first life was very difficult for Jane. However, things eventually came full circle and she returned to power.Looks like things have come full circle! How does it feel? Come in out of the rain start paying attention to a situation If he doesnt come in out of the rain, things will get out of control.Alex, come in out of the rain! Open your eyes to what is happening! Come into ones own begin having success and satisfaction in life Since he was appointed to vice-president, hes really come into his own.Keep working hard. One day youll come into your own. Come of age reach maturity required to do something such as marry, drink, vote, etc. You can have a beer once you come of age.When this generation comes of age, theyll be more ecologically alert. Come out ahead to be in a position of profit, or advantage after an event It was difficult, but in the end we came out ahead.Yes, higher education is expensive. However, in the end, youll come out ahead. Come to a bad end end in disaster Im afraid Jack has come to a bad end.If you dont change your behavior, youll come to a bad end. Come to a dead end arrive at an impasse in a situation, not be able to move forward Well have to rethink everything. Weve come to absolute dead end.They changed strategies once they came to a dead end. Come to a head reach a point of crisis when action is called for Things are coming to a head, we have to make a decision.I think everything will come to a head next month. Come to an untimely end die before your time His crazy driving brought him to an untimely end.She came to an untimely end last year. Come to a standstill not able to make any progress forward Can you help me? Ive come to a standstill on this project.We came to a standstill and had to rethink everything. Come to grips with something deal with something difficult Ill have to come to grips with this problem if I want to succeed.I think you first need to come to grips with his complaints before you move forward. Come to light become known A number of facts have come to light which change everything.A new solution has come to light. Come to ones senses begin thinking clearly about a situation Alan, come to your senses! Its not going to happen.She finally came to her senses and left her husband. Come to pass to occur Everything I had predicted came to pass.The prophecy has come to pass. Come true Become real Hard work and patience can help make your dreams come true.Did his plans come true?

Eingemauert walled in (Germany's inner border) Essay

Eingemauert walled in (Germany's inner border) - Essay Example The city of Berlin became a strange sort of island within the Eastern portion. One half of the city continued with western capitalist shops and businesses, while the other half developed under the more repressive communist regime. Citizens and visitors could not cross over from one side to the other without extensive border checks, and most Berlin families were suddenly divided by this physical barrier. Many East Germans tried to break through the alarmed fences, which were guarded by troops in watch towers. More than a hundred people were killed in these attempts, because the guards operated a shoot-to-kill policy. The ugly wall, with its defensive mines and barbed wire became known as â€Å"the death strip.† The purpose of this wall was to keep East Germans inside the communist area and to prevent them from escaping to the wealthier and freer society in the West. In 1989 the wall was finally destroyed, when communism failed, and ever since then Germany has been reunited. The wall survives today only in a few symbolic places as a reminder of the recent

Small Business Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Small Business - Case Study Example With the impetus given by the government on creating infrastructure, not only for the local population, but for the perceived needs of the tourists, I had a feeling the tourism industry would pick up in a great way in our region. There have been fast food joints operating in our area for quite sometime, but these predominantly serve American food. There were one or two eateries serving local food, but the service was not upto the mark. The need of the hour was to open a restaurant which could cater to an international clientele , and yet allow them to experiment with the local cuisine, if they felt like. Yes, I had made up my mind to exploit this potential and open a budget restaurant,which could cater to the growing number of tourists, who wanted to have cuisines from all over the world and were willing to experiment the local flavours too. Location plays a very important role in determining the success or failure of a business venture, especially a small business venture, like an eatery. The business and revenues would most certainly depend on the number of persons visiting this outlet. So, I had to make sure that it was in the heart of the city or such appropriate place , where tourists would flock for a good bargain. Luckily, an existing eatery was on sale, very close to the city center and I finalized on it. It had only one floor built, so, I could add some more floors, in case my venture was successful. Finance/Credit The cost of the building with the existing unit was 5000. Mobilizing such a huge amount was a nightmare. Somehow, I was able to mortgage my house and apply for a loan from the Bank of . My papers were cleared and I had been sanctioned and amount of 3000 from the bank, to be repaid over a period of ten years. I was able to arrange the rest of the amount as loans from friends and relatives. Next I had to think about the workers, their salaries, cost of renovations etc. Workers We decided to start with a minimum number of workers. The family members would have to pitch in as and when they had a chance. My wife and I would take care of the restaurant in the day and my college-going son was asked to help in the evenings, as the rush would be too much for the two of us to handle. So, we needed minimum help in the form of 1. cook-1 2. servers/helpers-2 Apportioning a salary of 100 for the cook, and 50 each for the servers, we would have the rest of the profits. The cost of raw materials had to be factored in, which would work out to 100 during lean days and any where from 200-300 during the tourist season. Marketing Investing a reasonable amount in marketing and creating consumer awareness has its own benefits for any business. We set aside a sum of 500 fro placing advertisements in in-flight magazines, and pamphlets to be distributed at tourist spots. Once people starting visiting us, our reputation would depend more on the word of mouth. We had to be very careful in treating each customer and paying individual attention. Our place had to be spanking clean and

Trading in Hong Kong Essay Example for Free

Trading in Hong Kong Essay Great business dealings take into consideration the intricacies of the culture into which the business is to be established. Customers need to be studied – their needs, their wants and other demands. Studying the local culture would also help in dealing with local business people. What a business person must first note in studying Hong Kong and Vietnam culture is that both countries have collectivist orientations and interests. They exhibit close family and community ties. Loyalty is a very important value and each member takes responsibility for others in the group. (Taylor, para. 7) People in Hong Kong value â€Å"collective ideals of modesty, moderation, and the value of protecting established, harmonious relationships. The collective culture would reinforce peoples motivation to do a good job, because there is an element of face involved. If one is doing a good job in running a company, he or she not only reaps profits but also gain face †(International Business Ethics, Attitude toward a Corporation section). The concept of â€Å"face† in Hong Kong is roughly equivalent to reputation and integrity. Most Hong Kong companies are owned by families (International Business Ethics, Religions and Traditions section, para. 4). For the Vietnamese, the family is of utmost importance. The groups interests comes first before the individuals. All customs and rituals like weddings and funerals are attached to the village community. Marriages had to meet the interests of family lines and wedding proposals are made to the brides family. (Customs, para. 5) Hong Kong culture is â€Å"somewhere in-between Chinese and American culture† (International Business Ethics, para. 1). In fact, both Chinese and English are considered its official languages. Although Hong Kong is predominantly Chinese, its culture blends the East and the West, as well as the old and the new. â€Å"People here still cling to their roots, to their traditional beliefs and religions. They continue to pray and make offerings at more than 600 old and new temples, shrines and monasteries scattered across the territory.†Ã‚   (Hong Kong Culture, para. 2) Hong Kong is famous for their lion dances, a colorful display of   a dancing large lion usually during festive occasions and are meant to bring in good luck. The Hong Kong Chinese also celebrate the Ching Ming Festival, devoted to honoring their relatives who have died. Ancestors are held in high regard by the Chinese and they are always prayed to for guidance. Another festival that exhibits the Chineses close familial ties is the Moon Festival. It is believed that on that day, the moon is on its biggest, roundest and brightest. The term â€Å"round† implies family reunion in Chinese. There are various religions in Hong Kong, including Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Sikhism and Judaism. There are 39,400 Catholics, 300,000 Protestant Christians, 20,000 Muslims and 15,000 Hindus in Hong Kong. All of these religions are deeply involved in education, health care and social services. Homes of Buddhist and Taoist believers have ancestral shrines, â€Å"with images of the most favored of the hundreds of divinities (International Business Ethics, Religions and Traditions section, para. 2).† Generally, Hong Kong has a welcoming attitude to business people from around the world (Hong Kong a Model, para. 6). It could be expected that American-owned businesses would have no problem dealing with the Hong Kong Chinese. In fact, the city already hosts more than 1,100 American firms (U.S.-Hong Kong, para. 4). Despite this, American business people should still take note of the following cultural values and behaviors in order to avoid any misunderstandings with the Hong Kong Chinese: Colors are very significant. Red is considered a lucky color, while white is synonymous with death. It is wise to think about the color of your products. A common way of showing surprise or dismay is by sucking in air quickly and loudly through the lips and teeth. If your customer shows this gesture, it means he is displeased. Gift giving is a sign of thanksgiving. Present gifts using two hands and dont expect that it will be opened in front of you. Religion has a very significant influence on the culture and way of life of the Vietnamese. Their attitude towards family, life and death are greatly influenced by Buddhism, Confucianism and Taoism (Religion, para. 1). The predominant religion in Vietnam is Buddhism, with about 10 million followers. The second largest is Catholicism, with about six million followers, but their influence on the   culture is minimal. Just as well, the influence of the two religious sects, Cao Dai and Hoa Hao, are also insignificant. Caodaism is a combination of different teachings of Buddha, Jesus, Confucius, Lao-Tse and others. Hoa Hao, meanwhile, is a reformed Theravada Buddhism. (Religion, Other religions section) There are also Protestants and Muslims in Vietnam but the numbers are not large. As with the Hong Kong Chinese, Vietnam had also opened their trade with the United States. Likewise, it could be expected that doing business in Vietnam would not be too difficult for Americans, just as long as they keep in mind some of the intricacies of this culture. Among these: The concept of face is very important to the Vietnamese. Take caution not to unintentionally cause the loss of face of your customer. Be aware of your words and actions.Complimenting them is a way to give face, while, accusing them of poor performance or reprimanding them in public causes the loss of face. Pass items with both hands. It shows respect. Do not pass anything over anyones head. Do not point using your finger. Point using your hand. Bibliography: Cunningham, J. (2005). U.S.-Hong Kong Economic Relations. Retrieved February 1, 2007 from http://usinfo.state.gov/eap/Archive/2005/Sep/30-249516.html Customs and practices. (n.d.) Retrieved February 1, 2007 from http://www.vietnamembassy-usa.org/learn_about_vietnam/culture/customs/ Hong Kong a Model for China, U.S. Consul General Says. (n.d.). Retrieved February 1, 2007 from http://usinfo.state.gov/eap/Archive/2005/Sep/30-249516.html Hong Kong Culture. (n.d.) Retrieved February 1, 2007 from http://hong-kong.tourism-asia.net/hong-kong-culture.html Huynh, D. T. (n.d.). Religion of the Vietnamese. Retrieved February 1, 2007 from http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Den/5908/religion/religioninvn.html   International Business Ethics: Hong Kong: Culture, Religion, and Tradition. (n.d.). Retrieved February 1, 2007 from http://www.pitt.edu/~ethics/Hong_Kong/culture.html Taylor, S. (n.d.). Geert Hofstede Analysis: Hong Kong. Retrieved February 1, 2007 from http://international-business-etiquette.com/besite/hong_kong.htm

Retrospectives Essay -- Autobiographies Education Essays

Retrospectives I selected three autobiographical pieces and one analytical for the portfolio. The order is: "Multi-Threaded ThingTM," an autobiographical paper which took inspiration from the form of Susan Griffin's "Our Secrets," and represented my life by pseudocode written in different computer programming languages; "Autobiographical Comparison," which was a partially successful attempt to compare and contrast my beliefs with those of James Baldwin; "Virginia Woolf: Assertive or Introspective," an analytical assessment of Virginia Woolf's motives while writing her memoir A Sketch of the Past; and "The ideal Life," an autobiographical response to the fantasy life portrayed in Maxine Hong Kingston's "White Tigers." I chose this layout because it sorts the papers by an increasing amount of time spent on each paper, which coincides with an increasing order of my satisfaction with it, as well as for some other reasons. The first paper consists of alternating sections of computer code describing the period of the last four years of my life. It was an interesting experiment to write a paper in this structure. It was at once both easier and more difficult to write than a standard prose structure. I found it easier because I am used to and more comfortable writing with computer code. The structure of code is stricter than that of English in that fewer constructions can be used. I found it more difficult because I did not have a set vision of the content of the paper in mind, but rather only one of its form. I actually accomplished matching the form to my vision, something that is never done when the vision is of the content, but had no coherent picture of the piece while writing. It was an interesting experiment to expre... ...or get it down on paper I stop and try to search for a better verb to use. Since this is the way I think ("this is"), I continue to start with these sentences and verbs, but then try to revise it immediately and bring the creative process to a halt while trying to think of better verbs), I believe that it has helped me to develop my writing. It has reacquainted me with the whole process of writing, and while it's not any easier to produce the papers, at least I have the experience of producing, and the knowledge that I can probably do it again if forced. "In conclusion, I would like to thank you, gentle reader. What's that you say? Me thank you? No, it's not a misprint, for you see I have enjoyed writing this paper as much as you have enjoyed reading it." — Charles Montgomery Bums ("Bart's Blood" - Simpsons) Courtesy of an Anonymous Student. Used with permission.

Nike, Inc. Case Study

Nike Valuation At North Point Group we believe we have developed the formula for investing success. As you know better than anyone, our Large-cap fund has exceeded all possible expectations in recent years as it outperformed the S&P 500 by 30% with respect to returns in 2000 and has continued the trend into 2001; as of the end of June 2001 it has already produced returns of 6. 4% while the S&P 500 has continued to struggle producing a return of -7. 3%. We believe these results are made possible by our â€Å"workhorses† of the market as we like to call them. For those of you that don’t know these â€Å"workhorses† are our holdings in companies that have been there through the history of modern America. These companies are those such as 3M, General Motors, McDonalds, and ExxonMobil, which have gone through the many roller-coaster type rises and falls that defines our nation’s economy and has utilized these experiences to prosper and grow step for step with our nation. We are here today to share and discuss our recent findings in our search for another candidate worthy of investment from our Large-Cap Fund. The company originally named â€Å"Blue Ribbon Sports,† now Nike Inc. has caught our attention. Initially known for their athletic performance shoes, Nike has developed itself into a sporting good and apparel monster while maintaining their domination in the athletic shoe sector over the last fifty years. In 1997, Nike reached the top of their game in terms of revenue, when they reported $9 billion in revenues in their annual report; however, since then their revenues have been at a virtual stand-still, hovering around $9 billion for the past five years. Despite their lack of improvement in the last half-decade we see progress in their near future, especially with them already well into the stage of recognizing problem issues within the company. They have realized that one of their major issues is that which made them into what they are today, their athletic shoes. They have maintained a large share of the athletic shoe market throughout their history but they have only just recently noticed that this share is slowly diminishing through time, as it has dropped six percent from 1997 to 2000. After taking a step back and looking at the big picture they realized their error in the recent past, they have placed too much of their focus on producing high-end, high-priced athletic shoes and have forgotten about the mid-priced shoes segment which fueled their growth for decades, and yet still remained the producer of 30% of their revenues. This focus will help bring the Nike brand shoe back into the homes of any American home no matter their income level. Along with their shoes, Nike has other plans to rejuvenate their corporate performance. The biggest of all was the acquisition of top exec, the former president and chief executive of the Polo Jeans division of rival Jones Apparel Group, Mindy Grossman. Nike sought out Ms. Grossman because of her exceptional performance in the clothing industry in hopes that she would take their apparel division to the top; a result which is not far beyond belief when considering the vast resources and influence that Nike already possesses. The hopes within the company are that these tweaks to their corporate approach along with some minor cost cutting adjustments in the company’s operations and administration will drive the company up the incline of revenue growth. With Nike reigniting their pursuit for excellence and fueling this fire by restoring their staple, mid-priced athletic shoes fit for every American, to its glory; it’s easy to believe in the potential of Nike, Inc. and jump on the bandwagon. Even though we believe in the potential of Nike, further financial evaluation is necessary before a decision affecting everyone in this room can be made. We got excited about the prospect of Nike becoming part of our fund not because of the name, and the reputation it carries with it, but because of their remarkable success through numerous decades and varying economic conditions. These factors paired with their current economic struggles and the impact those on the market price of Nike makes them a prime value investing candidate. WACC: We choose the weighted average cost of capital to use as our discount rate. We did this because we calculated future cash flows using the free cash flow to the firm method. By using this method we are able to account for the total free cash flows available to the owners after all expenses. This means that debt is accounted for in the intrinsic value of the company. In order to compute the WACC the following inputs must be calculated; cost of equity, after tax cost of debt, weight of equity and weight of debt. In this section of the analysis we will give a step by step breakdown of how we computed those inputs. Cost of Debt: The cost of debt is rate at which a company pays on its current outstanding debt. This rate is comprised of things like loans or bonds. Nike conveniently has only one issue of publicly traded debt. This is a bond that pays a 6. 75% coupon semi-annually. It was issued on 7/15/10 and is mature on 7/15/21. The current market price is $95. 60. To calculate the cost of debt we found the YTM of the only current outstanding bond issue. As of today we are nine days away from a coupon payment on 7/15/01. After this coupon payment there will be 40 more coupon payments. We are making the assumption that a coupon is paid on the date of maturity. As stated the price of the bond listed today is $95. 60. If the bond were actually to be bought and sold the price would need to reflect the interest accrued since the last coupon payment. To calculate this we subtracted the number of days since the last payment, 173, from the number of days in the period, 182 = . 95. We then took that number and multiplied it by the coupon payment divided by 2 in order to realize the coupon payment per period. (6. 75/2)= 3. 375(. 95) = $3. 2. Based on these calculations we have calculated the following inputs to solve for the YTM. Cost of Equity: The cost of equity is the return that stockholders require to invest in a company. There are many different ways to compute this value. We will look at CAPM, DDM and the earnings capitalization ratio. CAPM: We looked at two different ways to calculate CAPM. First using the 3 month T-Bill as a risk free rate (3. 59%) along with the arithmetic average of returns from 1926-1999 (7. 50%) to calculate the market risk premium. We used a beta of . 8 which is the average of the last 6 years. We believe this to be a good estimate because it accounts for volatility and decreased possible variance. Below is our calculation for the cost of equity. In the alternative CAPM model we used the 10 year Treasury bond as the risk free rate instead of the 3 month. We also used the geometric average of historical returns as the market risk premium. Below is the estimation of the alternative Cost of Equity. We believe that the second calculation of the CAPM using the 10 year bond and the geometric average is a more accurate representation of the cost of equity. The 10 year bond rate is a better indication of the real risk free rate since the fund is looking at value stocks which are generally held for longer periods of time. The geometric mean is also a more realistic calculation of the market risk premium because it calculated real return, as opposed to the arithmetic average which is just a straight average calculation. DDM: The calculation of the dividend discount model required a dividend growth rate and the current stock price. We obtained the dividend growth rate of 5. 5% from Valueline. The current share price is $42. 09. The calculation of the cost of capital using the DDM is below. The dividend discount model works best with companies that follow the constant slow growth path. This is because their dividends are generally a good reflection of earnings. Since Nike is not a slow growing company and their dividends are not highly correlated with changes in earnings we do not recommend using the DDM to estimate the cost of equity. Earnings Capitalization Rate: The earnings cap rate is the opposite of the P/E ratio. The inputs include an implicit growth rate which we calculated by multiplying current ROE by the current retention ratio of earnings. This growth rate is used to project EPS for the next year. The inputs and calculation of the cost of equity is shown below. The earnings capitalization ratio is not a good estimate of the cost of equity for the same reason the DDM was not a good model. This is because the retention ratio and the dividend payout ratio are dependent on each other. Since the dividend payout ratio is not a good indication of earnings than neither is a model that uses the retention ratio. Value of Debt: To effectively calculate the value of debt we used the market value of debt instead of the book value. This gives a better approximation of the current value of the debt. To calculate the market value we discounted the LT debt value that we obtained from the balance sheet. Below are the inputs and the present value of the LT debt. In addition to the market value of long term debt we need to add short term debt. This includes the current LT debt payment and the notes payable as found on the 2001 balance sheet. After adding these values we obtained the total market value of debt. Value of Equity: To find the value of the equity we used the market value of the current equity instead of using the book value. The market equity is calculated by multiplying the current number of shares by the current market price. Calculation is shown below. Capital Structure: Based on the market value of the debt and equity we calculated the capital structure. The numbers are shown below. {draw:frame} {draw:frame} WACC Calculation: To calculate the WACC we combined the weights of equity and value with the cost of each. The equation is as follows: {draw:line} {draw:line} {draw:line} {draw:line} (11,503/12,550) X 3. 42% + (1,047/12,550) X 2. 12% = 9. 44% {draw:custom-shape} {draw:custom-shape} {draw:custom-shape} {draw:custom-shape} Discounted Cash Flow Analysis: Revenue: To have a better estimate of Nike’s current condition, we calculated its discounted cash flow in order to find its NPV and a more realistic measure of Nike’s share price. We estimate that in the next 10 years Nike will have a revenue growth ranging from 6 to 7 percent. In 2002, revenue growth is projected to be at 7 percent. From 2003 to 2005, revenue growth will be 6. 5 percent. In the last 6 years of the forecast, Nike will experience a growth rate of 6 percent. The rationale behind this sales growth forecast is that Nike will be developing more midpriced shoes and increasing its apparel line. The midpriced shoes will offer consumers more affordable selection so sales are likely to increase. Nike’s plan to push its apparel line is also a good strategy to increase sales because athletic apparel is a good complementary to their shoes. Revenue growth will kick off with a good start but it’s projected to fall slightly to a more sustainable growth rate. COGS, SG&A: As Nike’s sales rate slowly declines in the next 10 years, their percentage of Cost of Goods Sold over Sales and Selling, General & Administrative percentage also decline. Nike plans to cut costs in the next 10 years. So as their costs decrease and sales increase, their percentage of COGS and SG&A to sales will decrease. NWC: Next, we calculated Nike’s change in net working capital. Net working capital is current assets minus current liabilities. To do this, we took the average of Nike’s asset in percentage to sales and liabilities over sales for the last 4 years. (Refer to Exhibit A). We then take those numbers and multiply it by the projected revenue to get the project current assets and current liabilities for the next 10 years. We took the difference to get the net working capital. The change in net working capital would be just the difference of one year to the next. Exhibit A. CAPEX, net Depr: We calculated the Capital Expenditure and depreciation using a similar model. The 2001 Nike annual report gave us some guidance that CAPEX would not increase in 2002 from the previous year. Based on an increasing cost of depreciation we forecasted 2002 CAPEX net Depr. to be $120 million. Using this projected 2002 value and the three years previous we calculated an average CAPEX net Depr. (See Exhibit B) We feel this average is the best way to estimate an unpredictable CAPEX number. We used this average in our forecasts through 2011. Exhibit B. Free Cash Flow: After we attain all the CAPEX and the change in NWC, we were able to do a ash flow by taking our net operating income after tax less CAPEX and NWC. For our terminal value, we used the Gordon growth model with a 3 percent growth rate. In our terminal value, we added back the CAPEX value because capital expenditure will eventually be zero in the future. We feel that it won’t be accurate to have a negative value for CAPEX fo r our terminal value. After calculating the future cash flows for Nike, we were able to find the intrinsic value of the company. Using our WACC of 9. 44 percent, we attained a NPV of $15,963 million. During this time, Nike had a current debt balance of about $1,047 million. We subtracted the debt from the NPV to get an equity value for the company of about $14,916 million. We took Nike’s equity value and divided by their total number of shares outstanding of 273. 3 for 2001 and got a price of $54. 58. Compared to the current market price of Nike’s stock of only $42. 09, Nike’s stock is undervalued by almost 30 percent. Based on our new estimates of Nike’s value, we think that these numbers reflect the company better than what the market says. We also did a sensitivity analysis of Nike’s stock using various discount rates. We can see that even at a discount rate of 12 percent, Nike’s stock would be $44. 7. This is still about $2 more than what the market valued Nike. Conclusion: Knowing that our key to success has been a value investing approach to Large-Cap mutual funds, it is easy to see that we are recommending the investment in Nike, Inc. on the basis of the findings of our financial analysis, which reports t he company as undervalued by over 29%. Essentially we are saying that according to our best analysis we believe that the company should be valued by the market at a price 29% higher than it currently is. In terms of stock price this is saying that although Nike is currently selling at $42. 9 we believe it should be priced at $54. 58. It is easy to figure out how this creates value for you as investors as long as Nike stays true to form and true to their word. We do not see the powers that be letting Nike die; they recommitted themselves and the company to excellence and have taken appropriate action to signify their sincerity. Their modifications to expenses in combination with their push of apparel and shoes, which despite its decline in market share is responsible for 30% of Nike’s revenues, will bring Nike out of their current slump. They will ake this happen over time by slowly working down expenses, in particular cost of goods sold and selling and administration expense, while working to increase revenues. We feel very strongly on the accuracy of both our analytical and corporate analysis in part because despite increasing selling and administrative expenses and fluctuating revenues Nike has ended each fiscal year for the last few years with a positive economic value added result. Over the past three years Nike has ended with an average EVA of $387 million, showing that they can go above and beyond market and investor expectations even while in a slump. Nike, Inc. Case Study Nike Valuation At North Point Group we believe we have developed the formula for investing success. As you know better than anyone, our Large-cap fund has exceeded all possible expectations in recent years as it outperformed the S&P 500 by 30% with respect to returns in 2000 and has continued the trend into 2001; as of the end of June 2001 it has already produced returns of 6. 4% while the S&P 500 has continued to struggle producing a return of -7. 3%. We believe these results are made possible by our â€Å"workhorses† of the market as we like to call them. For those of you that don’t know these â€Å"workhorses† are our holdings in companies that have been there through the history of modern America. These companies are those such as 3M, General Motors, McDonalds, and ExxonMobil, which have gone through the many roller-coaster type rises and falls that defines our nation’s economy and has utilized these experiences to prosper and grow step for step with our nation. We are here today to share and discuss our recent findings in our search for another candidate worthy of investment from our Large-Cap Fund. The company originally named â€Å"Blue Ribbon Sports,† now Nike Inc. has caught our attention. Initially known for their athletic performance shoes, Nike has developed itself into a sporting good and apparel monster while maintaining their domination in the athletic shoe sector over the last fifty years. In 1997, Nike reached the top of their game in terms of revenue, when they reported $9 billion in revenues in their annual report; however, since then their revenues have been at a virtual stand-still, hovering around $9 billion for the past five years. Despite their lack of improvement in the last half-decade we see progress in their near future, especially with them already well into the stage of recognizing problem issues within the company. They have realized that one of their major issues is that which made them into what they are today, their athletic shoes. They have maintained a large share of the athletic shoe market throughout their history but they have only just recently noticed that this share is slowly diminishing through time, as it has dropped six percent from 1997 to 2000. After taking a step back and looking at the big picture they realized their error in the recent past, they have placed too much of their focus on producing high-end, high-priced athletic shoes and have forgotten about the mid-priced shoes segment which fueled their growth for decades, and yet still remained the producer of 30% of their revenues. This focus will help bring the Nike brand shoe back into the homes of any American home no matter their income level. Along with their shoes, Nike has other plans to rejuvenate their corporate performance. The biggest of all was the acquisition of top exec, the former president and chief executive of the Polo Jeans division of rival Jones Apparel Group, Mindy Grossman. Nike sought out Ms. Grossman because of her exceptional performance in the clothing industry in hopes that she would take their apparel division to the top; a result which is not far beyond belief when considering the vast resources and influence that Nike already possesses. The hopes within the company are that these tweaks to their corporate approach along with some minor cost cutting adjustments in the company’s operations and administration will drive the company up the incline of revenue growth. With Nike reigniting their pursuit for excellence and fueling this fire by restoring their staple, mid-priced athletic shoes fit for every American, to its glory; it’s easy to believe in the potential of Nike, Inc. and jump on the bandwagon. Even though we believe in the potential of Nike, further financial evaluation is necessary before a decision affecting everyone in this room can be made. We got excited about the prospect of Nike becoming part of our fund not because of the name, and the reputation it carries with it, but because of their remarkable success through numerous decades and varying economic conditions. These factors paired with their current economic struggles and the impact those on the market price of Nike makes them a prime value investing candidate. WACC: We choose the weighted average cost of capital to use as our discount rate. We did this because we calculated future cash flows using the free cash flow to the firm method. By using this method we are able to account for the total free cash flows available to the owners after all expenses. This means that debt is accounted for in the intrinsic value of the company. In order to compute the WACC the following inputs must be calculated; cost of equity, after tax cost of debt, weight of equity and weight of debt. In this section of the analysis we will give a step by step breakdown of how we computed those inputs. Cost of Debt: The cost of debt is rate at which a company pays on its current outstanding debt. This rate is comprised of things like loans or bonds. Nike conveniently has only one issue of publicly traded debt. This is a bond that pays a 6. 75% coupon semi-annually. It was issued on 7/15/10 and is mature on 7/15/21. The current market price is $95. 60. To calculate the cost of debt we found the YTM of the only current outstanding bond issue. As of today we are nine days away from a coupon payment on 7/15/01. After this coupon payment there will be 40 more coupon payments. We are making the assumption that a coupon is paid on the date of maturity. As stated the price of the bond listed today is $95. 60. If the bond were actually to be bought and sold the price would need to reflect the interest accrued since the last coupon payment. To calculate this we subtracted the number of days since the last payment, 173, from the number of days in the period, 182 = . 95. We then took that number and multiplied it by the coupon payment divided by 2 in order to realize the coupon payment per period. (6. 75/2)= 3. 375(. 95) = $3. 2. Based on these calculations we have calculated the following inputs to solve for the YTM. Cost of Equity: The cost of equity is the return that stockholders require to invest in a company. There are many different ways to compute this value. We will look at CAPM, DDM and the earnings capitalization ratio. CAPM: We looked at two different ways to calculate CAPM. First using the 3 month T-Bill as a risk free rate (3. 59%) along with the arithmetic average of returns from 1926-1999 (7. 50%) to calculate the market risk premium. We used a beta of . 8 which is the average of the last 6 years. We believe this to be a good estimate because it accounts for volatility and decreased possible variance. Below is our calculation for the cost of equity. In the alternative CAPM model we used the 10 year Treasury bond as the risk free rate instead of the 3 month. We also used the geometric average of historical returns as the market risk premium. Below is the estimation of the alternative Cost of Equity. We believe that the second calculation of the CAPM using the 10 year bond and the geometric average is a more accurate representation of the cost of equity. The 10 year bond rate is a better indication of the real risk free rate since the fund is looking at value stocks which are generally held for longer periods of time. The geometric mean is also a more realistic calculation of the market risk premium because it calculated real return, as opposed to the arithmetic average which is just a straight average calculation. DDM: The calculation of the dividend discount model required a dividend growth rate and the current stock price. We obtained the dividend growth rate of 5. 5% from Valueline. The current share price is $42. 09. The calculation of the cost of capital using the DDM is below. The dividend discount model works best with companies that follow the constant slow growth path. This is because their dividends are generally a good reflection of earnings. Since Nike is not a slow growing company and their dividends are not highly correlated with changes in earnings we do not recommend using the DDM to estimate the cost of equity. Earnings Capitalization Rate: The earnings cap rate is the opposite of the P/E ratio. The inputs include an implicit growth rate which we calculated by multiplying current ROE by the current retention ratio of earnings. This growth rate is used to project EPS for the next year. The inputs and calculation of the cost of equity is shown below. The earnings capitalization ratio is not a good estimate of the cost of equity for the same reason the DDM was not a good model. This is because the retention ratio and the dividend payout ratio are dependent on each other. Since the dividend payout ratio is not a good indication of earnings than neither is a model that uses the retention ratio. Value of Debt: To effectively calculate the value of debt we used the market value of debt instead of the book value. This gives a better approximation of the current value of the debt. To calculate the market value we discounted the LT debt value that we obtained from the balance sheet. Below are the inputs and the present value of the LT debt. In addition to the market value of long term debt we need to add short term debt. This includes the current LT debt payment and the notes payable as found on the 2001 balance sheet. After adding these values we obtained the total market value of debt. Value of Equity: To find the value of the equity we used the market value of the current equity instead of using the book value. The market equity is calculated by multiplying the current number of shares by the current market price. Calculation is shown below. Capital Structure: Based on the market value of the debt and equity we calculated the capital structure. The numbers are shown below. {draw:frame} {draw:frame} WACC Calculation: To calculate the WACC we combined the weights of equity and value with the cost of each. The equation is as follows: {draw:line} {draw:line} {draw:line} {draw:line} (11,503/12,550) X 3. 42% + (1,047/12,550) X 2. 12% = 9. 44% {draw:custom-shape} {draw:custom-shape} {draw:custom-shape} {draw:custom-shape} Discounted Cash Flow Analysis: Revenue: To have a better estimate of Nike’s current condition, we calculated its discounted cash flow in order to find its NPV and a more realistic measure of Nike’s share price. We estimate that in the next 10 years Nike will have a revenue growth ranging from 6 to 7 percent. In 2002, revenue growth is projected to be at 7 percent. From 2003 to 2005, revenue growth will be 6. 5 percent. In the last 6 years of the forecast, Nike will experience a growth rate of 6 percent. The rationale behind this sales growth forecast is that Nike will be developing more midpriced shoes and increasing its apparel line. The midpriced shoes will offer consumers more affordable selection so sales are likely to increase. Nike’s plan to push its apparel line is also a good strategy to increase sales because athletic apparel is a good complementary to their shoes. Revenue growth will kick off with a good start but it’s projected to fall slightly to a more sustainable growth rate. COGS, SG&A: As Nike’s sales rate slowly declines in the next 10 years, their percentage of Cost of Goods Sold over Sales and Selling, General & Administrative percentage also decline. Nike plans to cut costs in the next 10 years. So as their costs decrease and sales increase, their percentage of COGS and SG&A to sales will decrease. NWC: Next, we calculated Nike’s change in net working capital. Net working capital is current assets minus current liabilities. To do this, we took the average of Nike’s asset in percentage to sales and liabilities over sales for the last 4 years. (Refer to Exhibit A). We then take those numbers and multiply it by the projected revenue to get the project current assets and current liabilities for the next 10 years. We took the difference to get the net working capital. The change in net working capital would be just the difference of one year to the next. Exhibit A. CAPEX, net Depr: We calculated the Capital Expenditure and depreciation using a similar model. The 2001 Nike annual report gave us some guidance that CAPEX would not increase in 2002 from the previous year. Based on an increasing cost of depreciation we forecasted 2002 CAPEX net Depr. to be $120 million. Using this projected 2002 value and the three years previous we calculated an average CAPEX net Depr. (See Exhibit B) We feel this average is the best way to estimate an unpredictable CAPEX number. We used this average in our forecasts through 2011. Exhibit B. Free Cash Flow: After we attain all the CAPEX and the change in NWC, we were able to do a ash flow by taking our net operating income after tax less CAPEX and NWC. For our terminal value, we used the Gordon growth model with a 3 percent growth rate. In our terminal value, we added back the CAPEX value because capital expenditure will eventually be zero in the future. We feel that it won’t be accurate to have a negative value for CAPEX fo r our terminal value. After calculating the future cash flows for Nike, we were able to find the intrinsic value of the company. Using our WACC of 9. 44 percent, we attained a NPV of $15,963 million. During this time, Nike had a current debt balance of about $1,047 million. We subtracted the debt from the NPV to get an equity value for the company of about $14,916 million. We took Nike’s equity value and divided by their total number of shares outstanding of 273. 3 for 2001 and got a price of $54. 58. Compared to the current market price of Nike’s stock of only $42. 09, Nike’s stock is undervalued by almost 30 percent. Based on our new estimates of Nike’s value, we think that these numbers reflect the company better than what the market says. We also did a sensitivity analysis of Nike’s stock using various discount rates. We can see that even at a discount rate of 12 percent, Nike’s stock would be $44. 7. This is still about $2 more than what the market valued Nike. Conclusion: Knowing that our key to success has been a value investing approach to Large-Cap mutual funds, it is easy to see that we are recommending the investment in Nike, Inc. on the basis of the findings of our financial analysis, which reports t he company as undervalued by over 29%. Essentially we are saying that according to our best analysis we believe that the company should be valued by the market at a price 29% higher than it currently is. In terms of stock price this is saying that although Nike is currently selling at $42. 9 we believe it should be priced at $54. 58. It is easy to figure out how this creates value for you as investors as long as Nike stays true to form and true to their word. We do not see the powers that be letting Nike die; they recommitted themselves and the company to excellence and have taken appropriate action to signify their sincerity. Their modifications to expenses in combination with their push of apparel and shoes, which despite its decline in market share is responsible for 30% of Nike’s revenues, will bring Nike out of their current slump. They will ake this happen over time by slowly working down expenses, in particular cost of goods sold and selling and administration expense, while working to increase revenues. We feel very strongly on the accuracy of both our analytical and corporate analysis in part because despite increasing selling and administrative expenses and fluctuating revenues Nike has ended each fiscal year for the last few years with a positive economic value added result. Over the past three years Nike has ended with an average EVA of $387 million, showing that they can go above and beyond market and investor expectations even while in a slump.

17th Century Masters of Dutch Painting Essay

The Baroque Art Style Movement started in the 17th century. This period was characterized by complex art style which is stimulated by the urge to tap the different â€Å"emotional states† which is dramatically shown â€Å"by appealing to the senses. † The dominant characteristics of this period were â€Å"grandeur, sensuous richness, drama, vitality, movement, tension, emotional exuberance, and a tendency to blur distinctions† ( Pioch, 2002, â€Å"Baroque†). The Dutch were one of those who perfected this particular style and they have generated some of the critically acclaimed Baroque masterpieces in art history. Jan Vermeer, Jan Steen and Gabriel Metsu were just three of the masters of Dutch painting who have immensely contributed to the development of the arts in the Netherlands. Vermeer’s Woman Holding A Balance, Steen’s The Drawing Lesson and Metsu’s Young Woman Reading A Letter were some of the noted creations that have embodied the â€Å"novelty of genre Dutch paintings. † These art pieces were immediately accepted by the public because they resembled an â€Å"honest and materialist art† that highlighted art as an â€Å"end in itself and not as a mere vehicle for emphasizing values from other realms of human thought. † More so, these paintings focused on a common theme which is the depiction of domestic daily life wherein women where the central characters. The artists used this theme to emphasize that the homes were not merely structures but also the foundation of morals in the society. In addition, the role of women in the paintings was intended to help bring serenity to the viewers in order for them to easily adapt to the overwhelming changes that were introduced in the 17th century (cited in Janson, 2008, â€Å"The Subject Matter of Dutch Domestic Interiors†). See more: Analysis of Starbucks coffee company employees essay Jan Vermeer was an artisan who is known for his trademarks of crafty play with light and color, inclusion of graphics with poetic quality and the exploration of spatial relationships. The camera obscura was the tool he used add a realness factor to his paintings (Pioch, 2002, â€Å"Vermeer, Jan†). In Woman Holding A Balance, Jan Vermeer illustrated a young woman holding a pair of empty weighing scales who was probably going to measure the mass of the valuable materials placed on the table. Moreover, other elements were also harmoniously integrated in the artwork such as the painting of the Last Judgment which signified a Christian biblical event; the weighing scales which symbolized justice; the light coming from the window suggested spiritual enlightenment and the mirror in front of the woman represented conceitedness. All of these elements exemplified the significance of resisting temptation of material things and living moderately in order to obtain salvation (National Gallery of Art, 2008, â€Å"Vermeer†). Meanwhile, Jan Steen was branded as one of the most productive painters of the Dutch art scene. He was known for his â€Å"versatility, richness of characterization, inventiveness in composition, skillful manipulation of colors† (Janson, 2008, â€Å"Seven Dutch Masters: Jan Steen†). The Drawing Lesson captured the scene of an art instructor teaching a young male and a beautiful young lady most likely about drawing. The art studio was filled with a variety of art paraphernalia that were strewn all over the place. There were nude sculptures, paint brushes, easels and other art materials. Vanity was also represented through the presence of â€Å"a laurel wreath, a skull, wine, a fur muff, a book, a lute, and a pipe† to impart Steen’s message that popularity and life are not permanent in the physical world. This uncomplicated ordinary scene is a symbolic representation of the lives of artists and the nature of their profession (J. Paul Getty Trust, â€Å"†The Drawing Lesson†). Moreover, another Dutch painter who made a mark in the field of Baroque art was Gabriel Metsu who was also a son of a painter. He founded the Leiden painters guild where he learned to create genre scenes that showed the â€Å"influences of Nicolaes Maes, Gerrit Terborch and the Delft school. † More so, â€Å"his technique evolved from the quite broadly painted Leiden works to the meticulous fjnschilder manner of his later Amsterdam years† (Janson, 2008, â€Å"Seven Dutch Masters: Gabriel Metsu†). In Metsu’s painting of Woman Reading a Letter, shows a woman reading a letter probably from a suitor or a male correspondence. Actually, this painting is a continuation of another Metsu painting called Man Writing a Letter and when these two pieces are interconnected, a story of courtship between a man and a woman is established. Meanwhile, â€Å"the maid’s momentary movement contrasts with the concentration of the young woman who, one senses, will not move until she has finished reading the letter. † Love was also cleverly symbolized in the painting which is in the form of the seascape painting mounted on the wall which probably was directed to represent the risks involved in having relationships (Web Gallery of Art, 1996, â€Å"Metsu, Gabriel†). In terms of aesthetic qualities, the three paintings showcased a variety of distinct elements including color, light, texture, lines, and brushstrokes. In Woman Holding A Balance by Vermeer, the artist combined all aesthetic elements to produce one exquisite picture. Vermeer employed darker shades of color but accents of blue, yellow and white were visible to avoid monotony. More so, the light came from only source which was at the window that directly illuminated the serene face of the woman. Since this painting symbolically suggests living a balanced life, the compositional lines proportionally dissected the whole picture that emanated uniformity and a sense of space. The technique used by Vermeer for his brushstrokes was impasto wherein he densely put paint on the canvas to make strokes using a paintbrush finished by thin glazes. In addition, played with camera obscura â€Å"to create a specular highlight† as seen on the pearls on the table which were painted with two layers of color. Overall, these elements: the dark colors, the orthogonal lines, impasto brushstrokes, the objects that surround the woman like the balance and painting of the Last Judgement , all â€Å"reinforced the theme of spiritual moderation†(National Gallery of Art, 2008, â€Å"Vermeer†). Many different objects and elements were incorporated in The Drawing Lesson by Steen. Every object has a corresponding meaning and significance. The colors of brown, pink, grey, blue and red were delicately subdued to seamlessly mesh the variety of objects in the picture. In addition the colors, lighting and the placement of the objects were very strategic that despite the many elements present, the painting did not look cluttered. More so, each object included in the painting suggested a symbolical meaning, the viewer just needs to look closely and try to comprehend the message of Steen. â€Å"Typically Steen gives a degree of information about individual characters, but leaves the viewer to ponder the specific twists of the narrative, and to admire the artist for his clever allusions† (Wiseman, â€Å"Dutch and Flemish Art†). The focal point of the painting was the teacher and his pretty young student. The pastel colors of pink and blue contrasted by the gold and dark red colors emphasized the young woman and her dress which suggested that she is aristocratic in nature. While the art teacher was depicted in an ordinary attire to show that he is a commoner trying to break into the exclusive circle of the rich by teaching their children how to make art. In the position of the artist, the young woman and the boy, it could be drawn that there exist a special relationship between the teacher and his pupil and that the other student notices their secret â€Å"love affair. † However, this interpretation was not confirmed by Steen. He wanted his artworks to insinuate different messages depending on the viewer’s perception. For Woman Reading a Letter Metsu wanted to tell a story of love, drama and anticipation. This painting was clearly the continuation of Metsu’s other painting called Man â€Å"Writing a Letter. † Compared to the two previous artworks, this one had been brightly illuminated and the dominant colors were of light shades and hues. At first glance, one may think that this is a sublime scenario but if one would look closely and analyze the objects that surround the woman, one can realize that this painting suggests otherwise. The tranquil face of the woman reading the letter is contradicted by the chaotic seascape painting on the wall. Also, the dropped shoe and the worried position of the maid support the theory that something bad might have happened to the man who sent the letter. Every aspect of this painting had been craftily incorporated to tell a provoking story.

Jonathan Edwards essays

Jonathan Edwards essays Puritans wanted to purify the Church of England and live a life dedicated to the church. These were the people who were first to arrive to America to escape religious persecution. Jonathan Edwards the author and preacher of from sinners in the Hands of an Angry god was a preacher in the mid 1700s was part of the religious great awakening to bring the puritan people back to their old ways. Edwards uses two different tones a tone of fear to begin with, then a tone of hope to help manipulate his audience or reader. Edwardss use of fear makes the audience pay attention and scares them into believing that they will all be going into hell, That world of misery, that lake of burning brimstone, is extended abroad under you. There is the dreadful pit of the glowing flames of the wrath of god; there is hells wide gaping mouth open(98). This sense that is extended to the audience gives them a terrible picture that is burned into their minds about where they will go if they continue to live there lives the same way they are. This image is of a dark and despair place that people can only fear and is almost unreal in how horrible it is, The god that holds you over the pit of hell; much as one holds a spider, or some loathsome insect over a fire, abhors you and is dreadfully provoked(100). God is shown here to hold your afterlife in his hands and you are at his mercy and how he doesnt care much for anyone, as they have done nothing for him to make god care. Edwards use of fear and despair puts an image o f hell and scares the audience into going with what he says. Edwards tone changes from fear to an optimistic attitude with hope for the audiences afterlives, And now you have an extraordinary opportunity, a day wherein Christ has thrown the door of mercy wide open and stands in calling and crying with a loud voice too poor sinners(101). This optimistic ou...