Financial Analysis Hertzs K Annual Form - 1321 Words

Financial Analysis Hertz’s financial statements will be broken down into the key ratios necessary to make investment recommendations. Using a time-series analysis on the trends of these ratios over time, we’ll get a good representation on Hertz’s financial health. First, raw data will be presented based on the findings found on Hertz’s 10-K annual form, as well as diving further into specific key ratios following the raw data. Hertz Global Holdings, Inc. (HTZ): Risk Ratios Short-Term Liquidity Risk Revenues to Cash: This ratio has been steadily, and aggressively increasing over the 3 year period averaging about 70% increase. Days Revenue in Cash: There is a constant decline in this ratio, with an average loss of 40%. Current Ratio: There is a slight positive increasing trend in this ratio, with over 4% growth from 2011-2013. Quick Ratio: This ratio is decreasing slightly per year, with an average of a 4% loss. Operating Cash Flow to Current Liabilities Ratio: Hertz has a positive trend with this ratio, at 106% in 2013. Hertz is finally to the point where it could cover its short-term liabilities with cash flow from their operations. Working Capital Turnover Accounts Receivable Turnover: This ratio decreased, but had a substantial jump to be at 6.35 in 2013. Days Accounts Receivable: Hertz managed to decrease this ratio by 12% over the time frame, meaning they are decreasing the days taken to get their receivables, which is great since their AR turnover increased.

Tobacco Control Policy - 910 Words

In the UK, smoking persists as the leading cause of avoidable death and disability and a key modifiable risk factor for the development of a range of diseases including cardiovascular disease, chronic obstructive airways disease and some cancers (WHO, 2008; Murray et al., 2013). However, despite a reported decline in smoking prevalence in the UK (ONS, 2016), levels of smoking in prisoner groups are two to three times greater than in the general population and have remained intractably high (Singleton et al., 1999; Lester et al., 2003; Papadodima at al., 2009). As a consequence, prison populations experience far worse health outcomes than in the general population (Biswanger et al., 2014) and subsequently tobacco control policy in prisons†¦show more content†¦This study aims to facilitate a greater understanding of the deeper meanings of smoking in the context of a prison environment by examining both prisoners’ and prison staff’s experience of smoking in a pris on setting and, in the context of these experiences, exploring the perceptions of the impact of a total smoking ban. The setting for this study is HMP Belmarsh, a high secure prison in the Borough of Greenwich, South East London. The study will add to the relatively scarce prison-based, tobacco related evidence and provide valuable insight relevant to the roll out of national smoke-free policy. 2 Background 2.1 Smoking prevalence, its burden and links to health inequalities Smoking prevalence has declined in the UK population from 27% in 2000 to 16.9% in 2015 (ONS, 2016), however, these reductions have not been mirrored in all parts of society. Smoking prevalence in prisons has remained intractably high (60-80%) and is two to three times greater than in the general population (Singleton et al., 1999; Lester et al., 2003; Papadodima at al., 2009). The harmful effects of tobacco, including second-hand smoke, are widely reported (WHO, 2008; US Department of Health and Human Services, 2006; SCOTH, 2004) and are the leading cause of preventable deaths in the UK (Murray et al., 2013). In 2014, there were an estimated 78,000 deaths and 475,000 hospital admissions attributable toShow MoreRelatedDeveloping A Critical Evaluation Of Tobacco Control Policy2191 Words   |  9 Pagesevaluation of tobacco control policy in Australia. It will review and describe some of the various governmental policies on tobacco, and discuss evidence that shows the impact of these policies. 1.2 Methodology Desk research was conducted by accessing relevant governmental and Commonwealth websites for legislative requirements. Information about public and private external organisations was gathered by internet research, not using specific data bank. 2.0 Tobacco control policies in Australia Tobacco smokingRead MoreThe Myths And Beliefs Of Marijuana Essay1819 Words   |  8 Pages( and any other illegal drugs) is that it would neglect the opportunity for children in the US to grow up drug free because availability, leading to an insufficient society. The article â€Å"Marijuana use is safer than Alcohol use†, by the Marijuana Policy Project (MPP) argues that research indicates the relative harm of alcohol consumption in comparison to marijuana use is innumerable.The MPP is an organization that aims to change laws to eliminate the prohibition of medical and nonmedical use of marijuanaRead MoreShould Marijuana Be Legalized?2786 Words   |  12 Pagesdecriminalized the government would then have a say on how to regulate and tax it, giving the government and the people of the United States both what they want. It would give the government control and many American’s the opportunity to pursue their happiness. Aside from the win-win situation of having mere control of what Americans do, the United States would also have $42 billion dollars they can intelligently invest wherever it is needed. Many people have suggested what the government could do withRead MoreThe Costs of Marijuana Prohibition Essay1823 Words   |  8 Pagesproved futile. The current marijuana policy is unjust, causing a wide array of gratuitous atrocities. A new, revised, and just marijuana policy must be established: the free use of marijuana by the American public must be legalized by the U.S. government and condoned by law officials and citizens alike. Throughout this argument for marijuana legalization, the notion of justice will be repeatedly called upon, and the justice of the current system and policy will be analyzed and disputed. In orderRead MoreIncrease Taxation Of Tobacco Products On South Korea And Reduce The Levels Of Noncommunicable Diseases1733 Words   |  7 PagesAmy Tseng G H 511: Problems in Global Health Critical Analysis Paper December 2, 2014 Word Count: 1,536 Increase taxation of tobacco products in South Korea to reduce the levels of noncommunicable diseases Introduction and Background One of the major global public health challenges of the 21st century is noncommunicable diseases (NCDs). Current global mortality from NCDs remains exceedingly high and continues to increase. According to World Health Organization (WHO) 2014 estimates, 38 millionRead MoreA Tobacco Free School Environment Essay1298 Words   |  6 PagesOverview of Policy Tobacco is one of the single most preventable cause of disease and death in the United States. It kills around 6 million people each year, and of that number more than 600,000 deaths are a result of secondhand smoke (World Health Organization, 2016). Even though the rates among youth smoking cigarettes have declined since 2011, more middle schoolers and high schoolers are using tobacco products such as electronic cigarettes, hookahs, and smokeless tobacco. According to the CDCRead MoreThe Effects Of Tobacco Smoking On The Australian Community753 Words   |  4 Pages1.0 Introduction In Australia, tobacco smoking is one of the main leading causes of death and disability.1 Smoking is also one of the single major preventable conditions and is the main causes of disease burden in comparison to other major risk factors.1,2 Use of tobacco voluntarily or involuntary (passive smoking) has been associated with various chronic, life threatening and debilitating conditions such as heart disease, reduced lung function, lung cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary diseaseRead More Tobacco Advertisements1733 Words   |  7 PagesTobacco advertisements have been a sensitive subject in America especially among parents who do not want their children to become smokers. I know from personal experience that tobacco is extremely toxic and can do major bodily harm. My grandfather was a chain smoker for over twenty years. He started smoking in his late teens and he died from lung problems that were caused by his addiction to cigarette smoking. My father is also a chain smoker and h e started smoking when he was sixteen. He isRead MoreEffects Of Cigarette Smoking Among Adult Smokers1264 Words   |  6 Pagesevaluation from the assessment to see what tools can be used in public policy planning. Many people know that the use of tobacco is detrimental to anyone’s health. But it is sad to say, even with all the facts, stats, and information on how harmful tobacco use is, many people continue to use forms of tobacco. Tobacco use is the leading cause of preventable death and illness in the United States. The use of tobacco has resulted in hundreds of thousands of deaths each year and not to mentionRead MoreIndia s Tobacco Advertising Ban1018 Words   |  5 PagesIndia s Tobacco Advertising Ban The World Health Organization (WHO) reports that worldwide, five million tobacco users die annually and estimates that one million Indians die each year prematurely from tobacco use (2015). As late at 2009, India was â€Å"the world’s second-largest consumer and third-largest producer of tobacco† (Economist, 2009, p. 5). In an attempt to reduce consumption, India introduced its first adverting ban on tobacco in 1990, followed in 2003 by the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products

Marketing Project Proposal (Hk Vita free essay sample

) To analyze the Marketing Strategy of the Vitasoy and its Future Expansion through Product Diversification in Hong Kong By Project Proposal Presented to In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For Higher Diploma in Marketing 2011/12 Objectives of the project Vitasoy started its development from soymilk, although it has developed a lot of drinks besides soymilk. The target market of Vitasoy is the Hong Kong citizens. In Hong Kong, the value stated in above could perform with others drinks, such as Coca-Cola, Ribena, etc.The market of soft drinks nowadays is getting saturated, so we are going to investigate the feasibility of developing new products and hence enlarge the market share for the future expansion. On the other hand, we would like to analyze their products for reconstruction of the product lines Background for the study Vitasoy has done lots of researches on the products in order to keep its leadership position in Hong Kong. We will write a custom essay sample on Marketing Project Proposal (Hk Vita or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page However the soft drinks market is getting saturated. Actually products have been introduced to the market not only soft drinks, but also some kinds of food.The sub brand San Sui provides some soy related products like tofu. When we aware the situation, the number of competitors grows very fast, lots of the soft drinks are introduced into the market. Vitasoy should not only develop the new favors, Vitasoy has to create some new products, in order to keep the competitiveness in the field. Hence, we are going to do the analysis on the feasibility of product diversification some un-popular products from the existing product lines will be explore through the data analysis in our summary.We also study Vitasoy’s past marketing strategy to find out the expectation of the public and the future marketing direction. Literature Review The literature review let us analyze Vitasoy’s past marketing strategies, and understand more about Vitasoy’s history and other basic information. So reading the literature review is very useful and important. After reading the literature review, we can easily to collect the useful information and build up the basic concept about our topic. Also, reading the literature review not only get the basic information, but also the useful secondary information.This information has already generalized by others, so we can easily to get the main idea. When we are doing this project, this information can guide us to handle it. The Methodologies 1. Questionnaire survey For the questionnaires’ result, we will mainly collect data about the perception of customers on Vitasoy’s products and the image of Vitasoy. Also, for the literature review, we will focus on the news, surveys and other reports about the Vitasoy. In the questionnaires, it has so many benefits in our project.First of all, the questionnaires can give us the primary information. The primary information let us understand more about the market’s needs and wants. This gives us the information to know which products make Vitasoy more successful. Also, we know more about the different consumers’ needs and wants, such as the high income people. Beside, the questionnaire lets us to collect much information and data more efficiently, so we can save time and resource for collecting it. In this point, we will have much time to handle the information and data.Before collecting the information and data, we need to design the questions. The questions should be standardized for the easy processing of data. 3. 1 Research Questions 1) Why is Vitasoy successful in Hong Kong in the following aspects? a) Price b)Good Taste c)Nice Package 2) What is the critical factor when you buy the products of Vitasoy? 3) Under the same product category, which brand will you choose? 4) Through which channel will you buy the company’s product? 5) Within each product line of Vitasoy, which product does you like most? 3. Population and population size The population is Hong Kong citizens, and the population size is 7 million 3. Sample size The sample size of our project is 400 samples at 95% level of confidence. 4. Sampling method Simple random sampling method Anticipated Problems Suggested Solutions The first anticipated problem is the difficulties to cover interviewees in all ages. Since the online questionnaire are not applicable to all the people, as the elderly are not familiar with the usage of computer, so written questionnaire are used to tackle this problem.The second anticipated problem is the statistical error arose from the analysis of the questionnaire. In order to solve this, the questions needed to be stated clearly and specifically. Foreseeable Contributions from the Study Limitations of the Project The foreseeable contribution from the study could divide into the two aspects, the company and us. For the company, Vitasoy has developed and entered into the mature stage for a long time. As the market is saturated, we would like to suggest Vitasoy to develop new products for maintaining its competiveness and market share.

The Sovereignty and Goodness of God

The True History of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson Throughout the history of the planet exploration, the pioneers who dared to set their foot on a new terrain not infrequently faced a multitude of obstacles and barriers ranging from purely practical difficulties of settling in a new environment to spiritual conflicts between the cultural worlds of the aborigines and the newcomers.Advertising We will write a custom report sample on The Sovereignty and Goodness of God specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More In the early decades of American colonization, the settlers found moral support in their religious background based on Protestant values. Mary Rowlandson in her captivity narrative Captivity and Restoration dwells on a dramatic period in her life when she was taken hostage by the Native Americans and approaches the events from the position of her Protestant beliefs, which not infrequently lead her to misinterpreta tion of human actions as those purely guided by God’s will. Mrs Rowlandson’s Protestant outlook reveals itself throughout the whole narrative in her reaction to the current events as those predestined by God and sent to mere mortals as either a challenge or a reward. The wife of a pastor, Mrs Rowlandson constantly quotes the Bible which stands for the symbol of her faith and, when she comes into possession of one, serves as a source of inspiration and moral support both for her and her fellow captives. Not once in the worst moments of despair did she open the Bible and find quotes that provided consolation for the woman who preferred to perceive the reality through her religious convictions: â€Å"God was with me in a wonderful manner, carrying me along, and bearing up my spirit, that it did not quite fail† (Rowlandson 10). The Bible represents Mrs Rowlandson’s guide through the hardships of captivity, and yet leads to a series of delusions that prevent h er from seeing things as they are. According to the Protestant tradition, the Native Americans are viewed by Mrs Rowlandson as the representatives of the evil world totally opposed to the good Christians. The multiple epithets she uses to refer to the Indians are rather revealing: â€Å"murderous wretches†, â€Å"merciless heathen†, â€Å"the infidels†, â€Å"hell-hounds†, â€Å"barbarous creatures†, â€Å"pagans†, â€Å"wild beasts of the forests† (Rowlandson 6–9, 12, 18). Standardly considering the Protestant community to be the concentration of all holy and righteous, Mrs Rowlandson looks down upon her captors as hopelessly cruel and barbarous animals possessing nothing humane. However, such understanding of the Indians is utterly refuted by their attitude to the captured lady: throughout the whole period of her detention, the Indians take care of her not worse than of themselves, offering her food, shelter and remuneration for the small handwork she does for them.Advertising Looking for report on religion theology? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More On one occurrence they even see to it that Mrs Rowlandson’s feet do not get wet while their own are soaking; on another occurrence instead of burning the Bible none of them needs, the Indians choose to offer it to Mrs Rowlandson (Rowlandson 16, 19). But despite all their efforts, Mrs Rowlandson never acknowledges them as humane and considerate creatures, and ascribes all the positive experiences to God’s will. Mrs Rowlandson’s unshakeable belief in the immutability of God’s power over the Christians leads to her erroneous attitude towards the Indians who actually care about her, and prevents her from understanding and accepting their unique culture. In her fanatic belief, she fails to notice the resemblance between the religious ceremonies of the Indians and the Christians, and to recognize that human values of hospitality and care are common to every culture. When Mrs Rowlandson is held captive, her gratitude for the good things applies exclusively to God, and not to the people who actually do that good to her. The more hypocritical appears her praise of ‘the good Christians’ who act as benefactors to her after her release, since thus she reveals the attitude of inequality and discrimination characteristic of the sanctimonious moralists of the time. Works Cited Rowlandson, Mary. Captivity and Restoration. Fairfield, IA: 1st World Library, 2005. Print. This report on The Sovereignty and Goodness of God was written and submitted by user Ayden Weiss to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Frankenstein Society and Alienation Essays

Frankenstein Society and Alienation Essays Frankenstein Society and Alienation Essay Frankenstein Society and Alienation Essay Essay Topic: Frankenstein Alienation in Frankenstein In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, the monster is used to show how society alienates people because of certain characteristics. Victor Frankenstein’s creation is rejected by everyone that it comes into contact with. The reason that the monster is so abhorred is because of its hideous appearance. Although the monster has amiable intentions, the people around him immediately assume that he is completely evil. The monster is rejected by complete strangers, by people he loves, and even by his own creator. The importance that society places upon a person’s appearance is evidenced by the way that Frankenstein’s monster is judged based on his monstrous facade. The monster’s appearance causes anyone who sees him to flee, depriving the monster from having the chance to show its inner goodness. The monster’s first encounter with a human that it can recall occurred when he entered a small hut belonging to an old man. Immediately upon seeing the monster the man screamed and ran away. The creature never made any threatening gesture nor said any aggressive phrase. The mere sight of the monster was enough to make the man assume that the unknown creature was a monster with evil thoughts and intentions. The monster had a similar experience in a village the following day. In this case, the villagers reacted in different ways. One of them faints, some scream, and the majority of them attack the monster. Society tends to judge people according to their appearance, and in this case the villagers judged that the creature was evil, dangerous, and something to be feared. Their decision was to either hurt or drive away the monster before it would the chance to hurt them. : They fact that the monster might not want to hurt them never enters their minds. A similar experience occurs later in the novel when the monster witnesses a young girl slip into a river. Although the monster has been spurned by humans before, he still has enough good feeling left inside of him to want to save the girl. He pulls her from the river and attempts to resuscitate her. A man who had been with the girl sees the monster crouched over her and concludes that the monster must be hurting, or have already hurt her. He takes the girl away from the monster and runs away. The monster follows due to his concern and the man shoots him. Again this was a case of a person judging the monster due to the way he looks. The man assumed that the creature was an evil monster intent on hurting others. This resulted in him shooting the monster, someone that he should really have been grateful to for saving the life of the girl. Not only is the monster alienated by complete strangers, but he is also rejected by the people that he loves because of his appearance. Early in his life the monster comes to live by the home of the De Laceys. The monster watches them daily, and feels nothing but respect and admiration for them. He looks for ways to ease their suffering. When he discovers that eating their food distresses them, he stops at once. He observes Felix leaving the cottage and returning later with wood and decides to chop wood for the cottagers at night in order to make Felix’s life easier. The monster spends months preparing for the day when he will finally be able to talk to the family, his happiness dependent upon the outcome. He hopes that he will be able to persuade them to see past his deformity using the eloquence that he has developed while watching them. The monster first attempts to talk to the old man. This person is the only one who ever gives the monster the chance to talk without immediately judging him. The thing that sets the man apart from the others is the fact that he is blind. Although the monster has a breakthrough with the old man, when the rest of the De Laceys return and see the monster they react the same way that everyone else has. Felix sees the monster by his father and assumes that he is trying to hurt him. In response, he attacks the monster. The family is so scared of the monster that they leave their home, at a great financial loss. They hate the creature that had nothing but warm feelings for them, thereby helping to turn him into the monster that they had assumed he was. Victor Frankenstein also rejects the monster and is disgusted by his appearance. Although Frankenstein constructed the monster and therefore had control over the way he looked, he creates something that he despises. It seems that Frankenstein hates the monster because it is unnatural, a creature that is different to everything that has ever existed. Victor also judges the monster by his appearance. He believes that he has brought some great evil upon the earth. He doesn’t take the time to learn the monster’s true nature. He abandons his creation, rejecting his responsibilities as a creator because of the disgust he feels. Society continually alienates the monster because he is hideous. Beauty is associated with goodness, while ugliness is coupled with evil. Due to the cruel actions of the people who judge him, the creature who is initially good is gradually turned into the evil monster that society automatically assumes he is.

2 Forms of the Imperfect Subjunctive in Spanish

2 Forms of the Imperfect Subjunctive in Spanish Why are there two forms of the imperfect subjunctive, such as hablara and hablase? Do they mean the same thing? The -se form might be considered the traditional form of the imperfect (or past) subjunctive, while the -ra comes from an old Latin indicative form. Over time, the two verb forms came to be used identically. Today, with a few regional exceptions, the -ra form has basically replaced the -se form, and so it is the -ra form you should learn. When used as the imperfect subjunctive, the two forms are interchangeable. The -se form is sometimes known as a literary form because it is used much less, but there is no difference in meaning. Examples of the Imperfect Subjunctive in Use, Showing the -ra  Form Si fuera fcil yo tocarà ­a el piano. (If it were easy I would play the piano.)Espero que à ©l estudiara con cuidado. (I hope he studied carefully.)Le prohibieron que utilizara las redes sociales. (They prohibited her from using social networks.) There are ​very few cases where the use of the -ra form as an indicative verb form has survived in modern Spanish, although you will seldom hear them. In some parts of Latin America as well as some areas near Portugal, you may hear the -ra form substitute for the pluperfect (e.g., fuera instead of habà ­a sido to say had been). There are some speakers who use the -ra form of haber as a substitute for the conditional, that is hubiera conocido instead of habrà ­a conocido for would have known; that usage can also be found occasionally in literature. In these rare cases where the -ra form is used instead of the conditional, the -se form cant be used as a substitute for the conditional. It isnt important to learn these variations, but it can be helpful to remember they exist in case you come across them. The -ra  Conjugation Pattern for Regular Verbs -ar verbs: que yo hablara, que tà º hablaras, que usted/à ©l/ella hablara, que nosotros hablramos, que vosotros hablarais, que ustedes/ellos/ellas hablaran.-er verbs: que yo aprendiera, que tà º aprendieras, que usted/à ©l/ella aprendiera, que nosotros aprendià ©ramos, que aprendierais, que ustedes/ellos/ellas aprendieran.-ir verbs: que yo viviera, que tà º vivieras, que usted/à ©l/ella viviera, que nosotros vivià ©ramos, que vosotros vivierais, que ustedes/ellos/ellas vivieran.

LIberals and Conservatives Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

LIberals and Conservatives - Essay Example They ask the government to treat all individuals on an equal basis, protecting civil liberties and human rights. For example, they ask the government for taxpayer-funded programs that support mothers who want abortions. They support long-term welfare that government provides to the needy. Conservatives, in contrast, do not accept change to traditional way of living. However, there is a contradiction in their beliefs. For example, they are against government programs that support abortions, because they want to save the unborn lives (Courtwright 5); yet, they are also against government programs that provide prenatal care to single mothers. They are against government funding for the needy, but they support government support for victims of flood and earthquakes. Such illogical beliefs held by conservatives are unacceptable for liberals. In short, liberals and conservatives hold opposite views and beliefs. Liberals are open-minded, and promote human rights, like abortion and government support for the needy; while, conservatives are narrow-minded, and hold contradictory views which liberals consider as corrupt and

W5 BPO GROUP PPP OM Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

W5 BPO GROUP PPP OM - Essay Example Below is how the two tools can be applied to the case points. On the case of time spent by the CSRs on the phone for calls that they handled versus calls that they sent to the BAs, this can be classified as one of the seven wastes under the lean production (Abdullah, 2004). Specifically waste for waiting. Instead of spending that much time on calls to and from the BAs, alternatives that focus on reducing the waiting on phone for response can be used. For example text messages and emails could be used, which will require less time in waiting for response to be given. Since emails and text messages are less interactive between communicating parties, it could save much time and guarantee efficiency at work. On the case point of CSRs giving priority to new incoming calls over callbacks, this can be said to be misplaced priority that undermines the process capabilities of the workplace. Once there is such undermining of process capabilities also, effectiveness becomes affected (Meredith and Shafer, 2014). Clearly, new calls come with much enquiry which require a lot of attention, explanations and feedback. Callbacks on the other hand have solutions to problems. As recommended earlier, there can be other forum for new inquiries, for example through the use of emails and text messages so that after finding appropriate responses, those who made the enquiries can be contacted by the CSRs. On the third case point about BAs giving priority to Database Update sub-process over researching calls escalated by the CSRs, it is important to note that such limited priority to calls escalated by the CSRs can bring about deviation from targets, which is against the principle of the six sigma (Labovitz and Rosansky, 2007). It is said that this situation would lead to deviation from targets because once there is escalation of calls from the CSRs, the time to be

PESTAL for china airlines Essay Example for Free

PESTAL for china airlines Essay PESTLE analysis would be used in order to figure out external macro environment of China Airlines. by examining political, economic, social, technological, legal and environmental issues and trends of Taiwan within 1959 and 2009 time period. http://www. oxlearn. com/arg_Marketing-Resources-PESTLEMacro-Environmental-Analysis_11_31 Political Republic of China was established in 1911 and took under its control territory of China. After World War 2 it took Taiwan Island, which earlier belonged to Japan. However, during Civil War Republic of China lost its power and had to settle down in Taiwan. But it did not want to be under control of People’s Republic of China, moreover, it maintained that it was the valid government of Taiwan and mainland China as well. So, the relations between mainland China and Taiwan were frozen until 2007. Things became worth, when United Nations (UN) officially accepted the communist People’s Republic of China as Taiwan’s government. First, it lost its membership in International Civil Aviation Organization. (Why it was important? What caused? ). Also, due to the tight political relationships of People’s Republic of China with some countries, CAL lost international carrier contracts with Japan, Malaysia, Korea, Canada and Australia. One more example of political tension between Taiwan and mainland China happened when China Airlines accused mainland China of internationally attacking the plane with the missile. In 1991, CAL had to enter into joint venture with Koos Development Corporation and form Mandarin Airlines, in order to have an opportunity to operate in Canada and Australia. The other wise decision was to rebrand the company. There was a Republic of China’s national flag on the symbol of CAL at the beginning. First, it could seem that CAL supports ROC, and trying to participate in political dissension and it can cause resentment from the civilian population, secondly, it might countries which sympathize PRC or countries which wanted to keep neutrality. So, in order to avoid the influence of political situation of Taiwan on the airline as much as it is possible, CAL decided to change its symbol into pink plum blossoms and create new slogan-â€Å"blossom every day†. Thus, neutral brand image helped CAL to cooperate with several European cities as Amsterdam, Rome, Frankfurt and Vienna. Only in 2008, when Ma Ying-jeou became the president of Taiwan, significant steps on improvement of relationships between mainland China and Taiwan were taken. Improvement of the political situation positively influenced CAL. Eight Taiwan and five mainland China’s airports opened for flight operations. This helped to minimize the flight time of CAL carriers, which caused the reduction of operational costs and increase in passenger flow due to the direct flights, which were undoubtedly cheaper than traveling by transit. Eleven airlines from mainland China and Taiwan started to operate 18 flights in each direction, be October 2008. Good political relationships with mainland China allowed CAL to enter into agreements with Chinese airlines. It agreed with China Cargo Airlines and China Southern Airlines to exchange cargo space, which produced win-win outcomes for all three airlines (ann rep, 2008), besides, CAL got an opportunity to join SkyTeam alliance. (Which what). CAL started to cooperate with Chunghwa Post Co. in delivery of daily mail and postal goods to China. Expanded cross-strait flight agreement, signed on April 2009, allowed to increase passenger flights from 108 in 2008 to 270, and cargo flights from 30 in 2008 to 112 return services per month in 2009. CAL started 55 scheduled direct flights to 13 cities in mainland China. However, improvement of the political situation with mainland China and opening cross-strait routs allowed expansion not only for CAL, but for Chinese airlines as well, which means that CAL experienced strong competition. From the low cost mainland China airlines. Economic The Chirman of China Airlines Philip Wei states that â€Å"about 1 million of Taiwanese business people doing business in China. They constantly go back and forth between the two sides†. The other point is that, when people have jobs, they have money, wich they can spend on flights. Thus, unemployment rate of Taiwan is directly correlated with the passenger flow. National Statistics, Republic of China reports that starting from the 1978 to 2010 unemployment in Taiwan had an upward trend, http://www. tradingeconomics. com/taiwan/unemployment-rate, and the averageunemployment within this period was 2. 95 %. unemployment in Taiwan within this period reached its highest point in 2009 and lowest in 1981, which accounted for 6. 13% and 0. 86% respectively. In general unemployment rate of Taiwan had an upward trend, which means that, first, less and less people had an opportunity to travel by plane, because of absence of work and as a result absence of money; and second, less people are doing business in China and travel there. So, it can be said that unemployment rate of Taiwan within 1978-2010 time period negatively influenced airline businesses as a result China Airline Ltd. Despite the fact that political situaion and unemployment rate of Taiwan was not positive GDP of Taiwan during 1950-2010 had an upward going trand. An average economic growth of Taiwan over 1950-2010 was 8,10%, http://brage. bibsys. no/nhh/bitstream/URN:NBN:no-bibsys_brage_23799/1/Braaten%202010. pdf, during almost the half of the century Taiwan transformed from having a poor, agrarian to a developed economy. It can be seen from figure 2, that Taiwan’s growth rates exceed world economy almost in all years within 1951-1999 time period, however, in 1973 and 1979 it dropped dramatically, mainly because of the oil price shocks. As it was mentioned in the case, rising profits of CAL were paused because of oil crisis in 1973. However, oil shocks negatively influenced not only CAL, but the whole Taiwan. Increase in price for oil, deceased the revenue for airlines, because it can be seen from the financial statistics that operating revenues minus operating expenses give operating profits of the company. Increase of price for fuel increase operating expenses of CAL and other airlines, thus, reducing operating profits. And taxes for government are taken from the operating profits, which means that the less CAL got in operating profit, the less amount of money could be got from tax. Annual report of CAL in 2009 defines that in recent years aviation again suffered from the rising of fuel prices (Annual rep. 2009). For instance, in 2007 when competitors from mainland China presented profits, CAL suffered from loss of NT$2. 52billion due to the increasing costs for fuel and certain situational factors (Ann rep. 2007). Social Since the establishment of CAL in 1959, population of Taiwan had grown to 23000000 people by 2010 (figure 1), which means that potential market for sale had also grown. http://www. iatss. or. jp/common/pdf/en/iatss/composition/7CountriesReport_en_03Taiwan. pdf The more people in the country the better for the companies, because there are more chances to gain profits when population accounts for the 23000000 (figure 3), than when it is 15927167as it was in 1974 (http://www. iatss. or. jp/common/pdf/en/iatss/composition/7CountriesReport_en_03Taiwan. pdf) Life expectancy of Taiwanese citizens increased as well (figure 5), for instance, the average life expectancy of Taiwanese person reached for 78. 15 years by 2010. http://www. indexmundi. com/g/g. aspx? c=twv=30 This means that the number of retired people had increased. Most often, people in retirement spent their time for leisure, traveling. (find what old taiwaneese do) That is why; people in retirement are potential clients for CAL. On the other hand, there was a decrease in birth rate (http://uk. reuters. com/article/2010/04/02/us-taiwan-economy-birthrate-idUKTRE6310LD20100402 ). High per cent of retired citizens in accordance with the small birth rate meant that there were little workforce in Taiwan, so, the cost for labour increased with the increase in life expectancy rate and decrease in birth rate. Besides, it can influence not only workforce of the country, but the brainpower. Old people are less able for innovations, for development of new abilities, concentration is also, lower , than young generation. From this point of view, company could experience difficulties with the workforce for the company. CAL is actively involved in charity programs, mainly to support children, indigent families and young students (Ann. rep 2009). For instance, in 2009 CAL and the ROC Red Cross Society held fund-raising activity called â€Å"Making Dreams Come True†. China Airlines donated more than NT$1. 39 million, obtained from in-flight duty-free sales, to support poor families and subsidize living cost of young students (Ann rep 2009). Such actions tiny, but help to increase the level of life of Taiwanese, and indirectly can influence increase in number of educated people in the country, which is important for CAL itself, because it is a huge company, which need a lot of qualified employees. http://www. everyculture. com/Sa-Th/Taiwan. html Taiwan has diversified culture, †¦ CAL always tried to support cultural heritage and share it with other nationalities. That is why, CAL involve itself in social-benefit activities, helps to promote tourism, culture, arts and sports events (Ann. Rep 2009). For example, in 2009 CAL in accordance with Taiwan’s biggest bicycle brand, named Giant, promoted the â€Å"Cycling Paradise Taiwan† campaign in order to attract overseas travelers and share warm friendship of Taiwanese people and their diverse culture (Ann rep 2009). Moreover, Taiwanese government launched a project on increase of the number of tourists in the country (ann rep, 2007). China Airlines actively support this project and offers its resources to attract international tourists and media. (ann rep, 2007). This social involvement of CAL, beneficial for both: government and the company itself, because on the one hand, the flow of tourist can increase the GDP of the country, as they are potential on the other hand, tourists are potential clients of CAL, and the more number of tourist visit the county, the higher can be profits if CAL. It, also, support sport events, than as well can increase tourism in the country, which beneficial for CAL (ann rep 2007). Technological Much of Taiwan’s achievement in science and technology is attributable to public support for applied scientific development. Government-sponsored agencies, such as the Industrial Technology Research Institute and the National Applied Research Laboratories, have played important roles in advancing Taiwan’s scientific and technological development by conducting research, aiding RD in the private sector and exploring new technologies. To maintain Taiwan’s competitive edge in information technology, the government, industry and universities are active in efforts to develop cloud computing by rolling out new designs and supporting the creation of a Taiwan Cloud Valley For many years, Taiwan has ranked among the top five countries for the number of patents issued by the U. S. Patent and Trademark Office. It was the No. 3 recipient of all types of U. S. patents over the period 1977 to 2011. In terms of output of scientific papers, Taiwan ranked 16th worldwide in 2010 for the number of papers published in journals tracked in Thomson Reuters’ Science Citation Index, and ninth for those published in journals tracked in the organization’s Engineering Index. CAL owns world biggest-capacity 120000 pound engine test cell which allows maintaining its own aircraft engines and those of other aerospace companies and airline fleets in East Asia. Additionally, it is valuable and well organized because it shortens maintenance time, improves quality and helps with the recruitment of clients and the reduction of flight safety costs. The latest technology and high cost make this resource rare and hard to imitate. One more technological invention added by CAL is located at the High-Speed Rail Taoyuan Station. It offers flight check-in, baggage check-in and boarding pass insurance, which saves passenger’s time and relieves from lugging his/her baggage around. Besides, it provides 25% discount on the rail ticket, which is purchased together with CAL ticket. First of all this resource provides travelers with insurance, discount on tickets and convenience while making check-in if they have heavy luggage. Secondly, it is rare, as no other Taiwanese company can offer such service to their customers. Thirdly, it is difficult to copy this resource as other companies will have to make contract with such train stations in order to cooperate with them and finally it will be costly. Concerning organizational part of VRIO framework, this process is planned and well organized. http://www. ey. gov. tw/en/cp. aspx? n=437415b51c1b5b5a Environmental With the high development of Taiwan, it suffers big environmental problems. With the beginning of usage of mountain resources of Taiwan, it started to suffer from pollution of water, soil erosion, landslides, forest fires, sedimentation of reservoirs. (http://twgeog. geo. ntnu. edu. tw/english/environment/environment_problems. htm ) Airline business seriously pollutes the environment, because plains need a lot of fuel, and the testing machines and other equipment also, bring damage to the environment. Big cities as Taipei and Kaohsiung mostly suffer from

Willy Loman Is The Cause Of Hi :: essays research papers

Willy Loman is the cause of his own misfortune   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Many characters in literature are the cause of their own misfortune. In the play Death of a Salesman by author Miller, Willy Loman is responsible for his misfortune as well as the misfortune of his two sons Happy and Biff. Willy creates his own small world in which he is the boss, everything goes around him, nothing will change and nothing will go wrong. But by thinking this way Willy causes his own misfortune.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Willy brags to his boys that he is well liked, that he is a 'big man';, but in reality he is not. He says that he went to Providence, met the Mayor, had coffee with him. Willy says: 'And they know me, boys, they know me up and down New England'; (Death of a Salesman 30). This comment illustrates how Willy shows off in front of his sons. He says he can park his car in any street in New England, and the cops will protect it like their own. Willy believes that he is a 'number one'; man but at the same time he knows and says that he is not what he dreams about, but he just does not want to admit it. 'You know, the trouble is, Linda, people don't seem to take me… They seem to laugh at me… they just pass me by. I'm not noticed'; (36) says Willy. He knows the fact that he is a total failure and he never admits it. Then Willy mentions that he cannot sell anything and when Linda says that he is the handsomest, he disagrees with her, says he is fat, foolish to l ook at. Willy tells everyone and believes in the dream that he is well liked, that he is a 'number-one'; man. Thinking that way Willy creates his own little world where he is the boss and he does the things which he should not do causing his own misfortune.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Willy believes in and follows his wrong ideas. And the worst part is that he teaches them his sons Biff and Happy. He thinks that appearance is everything. Willy says: 'Because the man who makes an appearance in the business world, the man who creates personal interest, is the man who gets ahead. Be liked and you will never want'; (33). This comment illustrates Willy's belief in the wrong idea that appearance is everything.

Online Education Essay

Education is an important part of people’s lives; it will either make them or break them in the future depending on the careers they choose. Education is greatly diverse today in comparison to the 1950s because of advancements in teaching and other great inventions that provide easier techniques of teaching. One major issue that has been raised is distant learning courses and online education. Distant learning could be any format from VHS videos, DVDs, or internet courses online. Online education has been legal since 1993 and is a new way of teaching students of all ages. Online education has been gaining popularity through out the years because of the ease of the internet. The internet has made it easier for people to stay connected and has provided people with unlimited resources on the World Wide Web. Many educators have mixed feelings about online educating because there are so many pros and cons to the issue. Mary Kassop, author of â€Å"Ten Ways Online Education Matches, or Surpasses, Face-to-Face Learning,† writes, â€Å"Can students learn as much and as well online as they do in F2F courses? Not only is the answer to these questions a resounding ? yes, ‘ but there are many ways that online courses may actually surpass traditional F2F classes in quality and rigor†(357). Kassop is a pro advocate of online education and she is correct on the issue because it can provide a good education to many people. Online courses provide a good teaching environment where the individual is on his or her own all in the comfort of their room. The convenience of online courses provide busy individuals a chance to get the equal amount of education as a student going to class and all that is needed to get started is a computer with internet access. One computer can open the gates to a whole new world of learning and excitement. To stimulate the experience there are many classes offered online by city and university colleges. Long Beach City College has a few to offer such as Psychology and Sociology which are equal to or even better then face to face classes. One example of a class that is better online rather than face to face is Sociology because they let the students observe human communication at public spaces without the teacher being there. The work that is done in the classes is also expected from someone who signs up for an online class. The online class materials are the same as the normal classes themselves, but the books used can be ordered from book stores online. Discussion on issues is done in chat rooms and forums where everybody writes their views on the issue. This is an advantage for foreigners who can not speak proper English correctly. Live video and sound can also be done with special equipment for a real time conversation with instructors and peers. Other features on the online courses are the learning aides that can be used while taking the course. Certain programs can be made such as flash cards and games which can increase the learning experience of the student. These learning aides can be done on the student’s time and does not require the teacher to be there. Time for a face to face class is very difficult if a person works 40 hours a week but an online course can put an ease on the time restriction because the person does the work at their own pace and time. It is also easier to sign up for an online class than a class at a college. Message boards are in use if the students need to leave a question or a comment about the subject their on. They also save time by not traveling to the college and trying to find a parking space. Rural areas where students have to travel a great distance to get to class can save time and money by doing online classes. For example, a child of a farmer can help the family out in the morning with the farming chores then go to an online class later on. Rural kids may also take additional educational classes online that their school does not provide. Children in the movie industry may also take online courses to keep up with their studies while on the road filming movies. Hillary Duff takes online course while she films. As the price of education continues to rise, the rate of students applying for online educational classes will continue to get greater. The price for a unit at Long Beach City College is $26 and the price per unit will continue to rise as long as there is a deficit in California’s budget. Online courses provide a cheaper alternative for schools that have a problem with their budget and actual classroom space. Teachers can also record themselves and the student can download the film if they miss the session. This gives a student the chance to catch up on a class session if he missed out on that day. In 2002, 12 of the 55 National Geographic Bees were homeschoolers meaning that courses than at home can provide a great teaching environment. Students do not have to put up with bad influences from regular schooling and help build their own identity without social pressures that traditional schooling may have. Some students may also earn their high school degree faster then their peers. While the pros are stated some cons are also involved with online classes such as the there is no real person to person interaction with an instructor. No face to face communication means there is no personal attention from an instructor. Some may also feel the accreditation from an online school is not the same as a real university classroom. Students do not get to feel the real situations of a traditional classroom or university causing them to be isolated or anti-social. There is no support from an instructor like a real class and everything is usually done by the student. Everything depends on his or her ability to understand the material and be ready for term papers and test. Some knowledge of computers is necessary if the student wants to be able to stay in the class as being computer illiterate is a big issue determining if the person will pass or fail because most of the work is done online. Many low-income students might be affected by the computer issue because desktops and laptops are expensive and many may not be able to afford such luxuries. Another problem is if a person always needs an extra push or reminder that a up coming report or test is coming because there is no instructor there to provide the push and it is all up to the student remind themselves. However, the cons stated above can also work to help the student become more responsive. The person to person interaction is not really needed because when they graduate some individuals will become office workers and they usually work in a cubical providing the same atmosphere that the online class provides. Also by the students doing everything by themselves in an online class they become more independent, teaching them that there is not always a person there to guide them in a problem, just like in life. As for the issue of the computer cost that some students can not afford they can use public resources to access the internet such as the library and so on. There are also loans, grants, and other forms of financial help they can get to provide them with the tools they need to get started in an online  class and with the computer training they must learn in an online class it can provide a leg up in the competitive job market. Online education could be the tool of the future to provide the young and the old with schooling and instruction. It provides a cheaper way of teaching while still giving the student the material necessary for the class. Students learn responsibility through online education and will give them a reason to work hard during the class. All in all online classes will help provide many students with the education they require.

American Government Exit

In our society, people are always being treated unfairly whether it is or is not intentional. In the book â€Å"To Kill a Mockingbird† by Harper Lee, the character Tom Robinson was a hardworking crippled Black man living in 1930’s America. He was convicted for raping a White young woman named Mayella Ewell. Throughout the course of the book, Robinson was consistently victimized by the citizens of his predominantly White town of Maycomb, Alabama. Tommy Lee Hines is a 26-year-old mentally retarded citizen of Decatur, Alabama living in America in 1978. He was convicted for the rape of a White woman.Hines is an unaware victim in the struggle for civil rights. Tom Robinson and Tommy Lee Hines are good examples of people who have been judged unfairly over things they could not control. Their race, ability to express themselves, and verdicts in their trails are reasons why they are targets of unfair judgement. Being a Black man in Maycomb, Alabama was difficult; Maycomb was a racist town with people who did not want the Blacks to be equal to the Whites. People discriminated Robinson’s race to the point where his race was what defined his character. The Whites in Maycomb had a mentality that all blacks were not to be trusted.This affected Tom Robinson because during his rape trial his lawyer, Atticus Finch states â€Å". . . You know the truth, and the truth is this: some Negroes lie, some Negroes are immoral; some Negro men are not to be trusted around women—black or white. But this is a truth that applies to the human race and to no particular race of men. † [Lee, 48] Atticus was trying to say that we need to judge people as individuals rather than by their race. Robinson’s race caused him to be discriminated against by the Whites in Maycomb, in particular Bob Ewell. Bob Ewell had seen that his daughter had kissed a Black man and was very upset.He said â€Å"I seen that black nigger yonder ruttin' on my Mayella! † [Lee , 84] Because Robinson was Black, his race made the issue all the more serious than if she had been caught with a White man. Robinson’s race affected his rights in the court. â€Å"To Kill a Mockingbird† was set in the 30s, which meant African Americans would not get full civil rights until thirty years later. This made things harder for Robinson because in an all-White court, he did not stand a chance. Like Tom Robinson, Tommy Lee Hines is also discriminated because of his race. In Hines’ case, there is not a clear description of the suspect who raped the woman.Other than the fact that he is Black, there is rather vague description. Hines is arrested in a case where it is a White woman’s word over a Black man’s. He happens to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. Similar to Robinson, Hines is also discriminated by the people in his town because of his race. In Decatur, there were people who do not want the freedom of Tommy Lee Hines or any Blac ks in general. The Ku Klux Klan threatened Hines’ church with bombs and make things harder for the Black community during the trial. They burn crosses in front of the church and yell threats.Hines unlike Robinson has people protesting for his freedom. Although Hines is discriminated because of his race, the Black community was very supportive of him; about 25 Blacks marched from Decatur to Cullman–a 35-mile journey–while 3,000 Whites stood on the side of the road, teasing and shouting at them. Both Robinson and Hines are to men who endure injustice they do not deserve because of their race. Tom Robinson could not express himself freely because the jury in his trial was full of prejudice people. Only one person testified that he saw the act and that was Bob Ewell, Mayella Ewell's father.Ewell wanted Robinson imprisoned and made up a story to â€Å"teach the Blacks a lesson†. â€Å"It's time somebody taught 'em a lesson, they were gettin' way above themsel ves, an' the next thing they think they can do is marry us† [Lee, 187] So he couldn’t saw what he wanted when everyone was against him. Like Robinson, Hines is also unable to voice his options freely because he’s mentally disabled. Hines has an IQ of 39 which is about the same as a 6 year old. Naturally, he wouldn’t be able to explain himself in the way that could have helped him in the case. In Tom Robinson’s trial, he was proven guilty; Robinson was innocent.In the trial it was said that Mayella Ewell had a bruise on the right side of her face, meaning that she had to be struck by someone left handed. â€Å"His left arm was fully 12 inches shorter than his right, and hung dead at his side. It ended in a small shriveled hand, and from as far away as the balcony I could see that it was no use to him. ‘Scout’ breathed Jem. ‘Scout, look! Reverend, he's crippled! ‘† [Lee, 186] This quote shows his innocence because Mayel la testified that Tom Robinson had punched her with his left fist to her right eye, but he clearly couldn't have: because his whole arm was crippled.In the story, Robinson explains the events that happened on the day of the supposed rape with the most details he can and there were no holes in his story that might suggest he is lying. This shows Mayella Ewell in a deceitful person, further proving Robinson’s innocence. Tom Robinson said in his testimony, â€Å"She reached up and kissed me on the side of my face. She says she never kissed a grown man before and she might as well kissed a nigger. She says ‘kiss me back nigger. ‘ I say Miss Mayella lemme outa here and I tried to run but she got her back to the door and I'd had to push her.I didn't wanta harm her Mr. Finch and I say lemme pass, but just when I say it Mr. Ewell yonder hollered though the window. † This shows that Tom wanted to leave Ewell's house but Ewell did not allow Tom Robinson to do so. It also shows that Robinson had no intention of doing anything sexual with Mayella. Like Tom Robinson, Tommy Lee Hines also has an unfair trial. In Hines’ case, the jury found Hines guilty and the judge sentenced him to 30 years of imprisonment. In the rapes, the suspect drove a car, returned the woman to her home, backed the car up and abandoned it.Steve Wynn, a friend of Hines, said â€Å"He can't even steer a bicycle. † Tom Robinson and Tommy Lee Hines are good examples of people who have been judged unfairly over things they could not control. Their race, inability to express themselves, and verdicts in their trails are reasons why they are targets of unfair judgement. The fact that people pick on those who cannot defend themselves is shallow and mean. Our world can be a much better place if we put aside the differences of others and embraced them as human beings. God intended for us to live harmoniously together on this earth.

What Makes Silicon Prairie The Best Place For Startups - CoSchedule

What Makes Silicon Prairie The Best Place For Startups You’ve probably heard startups have to be in Silicon Valley. That’s an understandable assumption. After all, it’s where many of the world’s biggest software successes call home. But, is it really where startups have to be located to be successful? Is it possible, or even probable, that there are other places where you can build world-class software without heading for the coast? For our team at , the answer is a resounding yes. In fact, as a proud North Dakota-based company (you read that right), we’re proof positive you don’t have to leave home to build great software. From local investment opportunities to a skilled and ambitious talent pool, we wouldn’t trade the benefits of our home state to be anywhere else in the world. With more than 8,000 customers located in 100-plus countries around the globe, we think the numbers speak for themselves. So, what makes the Silicon Prairie the best place for ? That’s the question we’ll answer on this episode of #OverheardFrom.What Makes Silicon Prairie The Best Place For Startups? | #OverheardAt Recommended Viewing: Where In The World Is Located? How to Focus on 10X Growth Projects How to Make Your Meetings Effective (And Not Suck) Transcript: Eric: Everyone knows the best place for a startup is Silicon Valley, right? Wrong. Welcome to the Silicon Prairie. Howdy everyone, this is Eric with and welcome to Overheard at , the show where we talk about the things we talk about a . Were flipping the script. Im out in the middle of the beautiful prairie here in North Dakota. Our customers jaws always drop when they find out that s based in Bismarck and I love it. We are merely miles from the geographical center of North America so you know what? How about we find out how the middle of nowhere suddenly becomes the middle of everywhere. All right, were here with Garrett Moon, CEO, Co-founder of . I find this absolutely incredible, Garrett. Were sitting behind the world map. Weve got 8,000 customers in 100-plus countries and were doing straight out of North Dakota, which I love. Youve got to fill in the rs out there, what is this North Dakota advantage? Garrett: Oh, theres tons, besides the weather we also have things like were a technology company in a state thats actively trying to grow in the technology sector, so theres a ton of economic advantages, incentives and things that come our way that way. I think theres also just this dynamic of were able to be a big fish in a little pond rather than being a little fish in a big pond. That helps us stand out, it helps us really differentiate ourselves from other employers and stuff in the state and it gives us a ton of value going forward. Eric: Hi Emma. Emma: Hey Eric. Eric: What do you love about North Dakota? Emma: Obviously the people. Definitely the hot dish. Eric: So good, right? Emma: So good. Third, the jobs. I actually moved here from Florida because of the job opportunities for millennials. Eric: You dont say? Youre so smart, Emma. Emma: Thanks Eric. Eric: Later. Emma: Later. Eric: Hey Jordan. Jordan: Hey man. Eric: Hows it going? Jordan: So good. Eric: Good. Youve been here a whopping month now, is that correct? Jordan: Thats right, yeah. Eric: Okay, this is the perfect question. Im asking folks why North Dakota and why ? Jordan: First of all, killer team, insanely cool product and its nice to be back in our hometown. Eric: Your hometown, youve got to tell me more here. Jordan: Thats right. Wife and I did Minneapolis thing, did the Denver thing, but theres something about being back in your hometown, family around, AKA built-in babysitters thats just too sweet to pass up. Eric: I got it. So built-in babysitter, check. Helping marketers be more productive, check. Helping them get [sound effect] down, triple check. Jordan: Amen. Eric: I feel you. Take care, man. Youve got to love that a state as notoriously known for its cold winters has suddenly become the hotbed for marketing technology. Im Eric with . Thanks for tuning in to Overheard at and our quest to organize the world one marketing calendar at a time. Yee-ha!

Imagecreatetruecolor() PHP Function

Imagecreatetruecolor() PHP Function The imagecreatetruecolor() function is used in PHP to create a new true color image using the GD Library. True color uses a 24-bit color depth when displaying an RGB image. Its two parameters are the width and height of the image you are creating. Sample Code Using Imagecreatetruecolor() Function This code generates a PNG image that is 130 pixels wide by 50 pixels high. The imagecreatetruecolor() function specifies a shape that is 130 pixels wide by 50 pixels high. The text color is set using RGB values. The text that will print on the shape is A Simple Text String, in size 1 (of 1-5) with an x ordinate of 5 and a y-ordinate of 5. Return Values When successful, this function returns an image identifier that represents a black image of the specified size. If not successful, it returns False. Considerations The GD library must be enabled for this function to work properly; otherwise, the return value is False. It can be downloaded free from the internet if you dont already have it installed. Imagecreatetruecolor() vs. Imagecreate() Function Although the imagecreate() function still works in PHP, the PHP manual recommends the use of the newer imagecreatetruecolor() function, which creates images with many more colorsmakes color transparency possibleallows advanced image processes

Assignment for Business Integration Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

For Business Integration - Assignment Example If the employee productivity is at its highest level then the company would be beneficial after all. So every company should take care that every employee of the company is highly motivated so that they can provide their full effort. If an employee becomes demoralized then he can’t provide his 100% effort for the company as well as the employee can leave the organization, which is in turn the loss of the organization itself. Some researchers have stated some theories, following these principles the company management can make sure that the employees are well motivated. This report is an attempt to analyze the Hertzberg’s factor theories which influence the employees’ motivation positively and thereby suggesting some ways to improving the performance of the team members. Hertzberg’s Factor Theories Among the motivational theories presented by certain researchers the factor theories of Professor Frederick Herzberg is an important one. The motivation- hygiene theory of Herzberg was presented in three volumes. In the year 1959 it was first stated by Him. After that the theory was elaborated by him and at present the theory is applied by many organizations. The research about the motivation to work had two hypotheses. These are as follows The factors which are causing positive attitudes among the employees which affected their performance and the factors which are causing negative attitudes among the employees are different. The factors which affect the performance of the employees or personally differs for the job events which are extended over long term than the job events which are of short duration. From the research outcomes the factors which leading to job satisfaction and the factors which leading to job dissatisfaction are specified and thus it became the part of the theory. There are five factors of job satisfaction recognized by the researcher. These are the work of the employee (Is it challenging or not), the verbal recognition , the responsibility in the organization, the achievement and the promotion of the employee in the organization. If these five things are present in the organization then the basic needs of the employee will be satisfied and the employee would be able to produce an improved performance. On the other hand there are also certain factors which lead to the job dissatisfaction of the employees. These factors are the policy of the company and the practice of the administration, the working conditions, the interpersonal relations between the employees and especially with the supervisor, the technical quality of the supervisor, job security and remuneration. These factors are represented by Herzberg as the hygiene factors. Herzberg argued that when these hygiene factors are appropriately provided by the company management then the dissatisfaction of the employees is removed and performance of the employee get improved to a certain point. But providing only these factors don’t ensure the performance to the high level which is possible potentially. Regarding the human motivation Herzberg said that human being has two kinds of needs. One is the basic needs (life security, hunger, pain etc) and the other need is of psychological growth. Herzberg emphasized that there are need of motivators in the company as the employees who are the hygiene seekers are motivated only for a short term. They need external

INDIVIDUAL INTERNATIONAL INTERVIEW & PAPER Assignment

INDIVIDUAL INTERNATIONAL INTERVIEW & PAPER - Assignment Example It lies within the latitudes 24 and 37 degree north and longitude 62 and 75 degree east. The country consists of five provinces - Baluchistan, Punjab, Sind, Khyber Pakhtun Khwa and Gilgit/Baltistan - and its capital is named Islamabad. Pakistan has one of the richest and most diverse cultures in the world. It is because this land had seen a number of invaders in the past including Whites, Persians, Turks and Mongols who had spread their own culture across this land. For this very reason we get to see diversity in culture throughout Pakistan with different ethnic groups having their own preferences when it comes to food, dressing, lifestyle etc. Increased globalization has brought further diversity to the country with Western culture increasingly being adopted by the people (â€Å"Pakistan Culture†, 2009). Ali himself comes from a Westernized background with many of his friends educated abroad, who love hanging out at international food chains and who openly drink. This defies my research since I found that alcohol was banned in Pakistan. But then there are so many things that are banned in the US too but still people do them. Religion shapes many of the Pakistan’s customs. ... Employment forms in Pakistan range from menial labor to jobs at multinational companies. The minimum wage per month of a Pakistani is Rs.10,000 (USD 100) and that is why many families live below the poverty line. Entrepreneurship has seen a rise in recent times and many people have switched to self created jobs. Induction of multinationals have brought good fortune to locals and created highly paid jobs. But people like Ali have moved out of the country for better job opportunities and better lifestyles. Since Pakistan is a developing country, the road network is not that of an international standard and is absent in much part of the country. Public transportation through buses is the most common means of traveling, with the slightly stable families using motor bikes and the ones economically sound use petrol and gas driven cars. Pakistan also has a sound air that connects cities and countries. Though a railway network is also present, the experience is not worth trying, says Ali. In frastructure within Pakistan varies from city to city. From mud houses to high rises, one can find it all. The metropolitan city homes a number of high rises and is a safe abode for businesses and other activities. Recently a sky-scraper by the name of Centaurus and designed by a British architectural company was officially inaugurated in the capital city. These developments hold a brighter future for the country’s growth and economy. Pakistan is one of the two countries of the world, made on religious lines of Islam and that is what is practiced by the majority of citizens. Almost 98% of Pakistanis are Muslim while the remaining 2% are either Hindu, Christians or other minority groups. My research led me to believe that Pakistanis were taken by religion in every aspects of life but

Geologic Time Scale Tourism Project Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Geologic Time Scale Tourism Project - Essay Example The period Permian which ended roughly 252 million years ago marked the end of the Palezonic era. It was immediately preceded by the Triassic period and immediately followed by the Carboniferous period. Evidence of the Permian period has been found in eastern part of Imperial Russia. During the Permian period the supercontinent (Pangea) was formed as different land masses joined together to form a single unit. The formation of Pangea occurred over a long period of time and ended with collision between Siberia-Kazakhstania, Laurasia, and China as noted by Kazlev (2002). With the formation of one landmass, there water masses correspondingly joined to form one massive ocean called Panthalassa. As the supercontinent formed, the sea level dropped and warm shallow seas that existed at the time reduced in extent (Gradstein, Ogg & Smith, 2004). The supercontinent that was so formed took the shape of a giant pacman. The mouth of the â€Å"pacman† faced east, enclosing part of the ocean to form a smaller sea. A sea called the Tethys covered a major part of what now constitutes Central and Southern Europe. The Zechstein sea which covered present time Europe was an extremely salty inland sea that existed in the Permian period. The extremely salty conditions that prev ailed near and around the Zechstein sea only allowed a few plant species to thrive, mainly bivalves and brachiopods (Kazlev, 2002). Apart from the establishment of the supercontinent, super-ocean, and salty seas, the Permian period saw the establishment of a groups of mountains as a result of plate tectonics. During the Uralian Orogeny, for example, the Ural Mountains were formed as the Siberian plat Kazakhstania and Pangaea collided (Gradstein, Ogg & Smith, 2004). At the beginning of the Permian era, the climate was extremely cold and many parts of the earth was covered in ice. However, the formation of Pangaea brought with it extreme climate and environmental changes owing to

Problems of Water Supply in the Rural Communities of Nigeria

Problems of Water Supply in the Rural Communities of Nigeria Problems of Water Supply in the Rural Communities of Delta State, Nigeria Abstract This study assess the problem of rural water supply in Delta slate with the main aim of examining the factors responsible for the incidence of ineffective water supply to the rural communities of Delta state, Nigeria. Questionnaire survey was the instrument of data generation and a total of 500 questionnaires were administered to 10 rural communities of the state. The data were analyzed with descriptive and multiple regression analyses and the following constitutes as the observations as follows: erratic power supply, embezzlement of fund, diversion of hydraulic equipment, theft, government policy, indiscriminate wastage/carelessness, poor maintenance culture, fruity hydraulic equipment and loss by evaporation. Introduction Studies on water resources have concentrated on urban setting to the detriment of rural communities (Adesuyi, 1996; Adebola, 2001; Ovrawah and Hymore, 2001 and Efe, 2003). For instance, there is absolute absence of water schemes in most rural communities of Delta state e.g. Otorho-Abraka, Samagidi/Kokori, Abbi, Anwai etc., even when they exist, they are non-functioning. Thus, most women and school children balanced basin, buckets, 20-50litres Geri cans on their head and trek long distances to streams, rivers, wells and bore holes. The varied water sources result in consumers spending many hours waiting for water or carrying water to their homes. For example, in Anwai the delay in getting water from private bores is detrimental to the study regime of students of the Delta State University, Anwal Campus. The inadequate water supply has resulted in water borne disease largely because of the supply misappropriation of fund, diversion of water scheme, erratic power supply amongst other (Efe, 2003). This problem becomes more acute in recent times as a result of increased population. Thus, this work seek to investigate: the factors militating against effective water supply, study the cost of each water supply scheme, study time spent on obtaining water on daily as a social cost; and study response to ameliorate the problems. Study Area Delta state lies between longitude 5 °E and 6 °45E and latitudes 5 °N and 6 °30’N and has landmass areas of 16,842km Square. Delta state lies within the Benin, Agbada and Akata formation in terms of geology (see fig.1). The state is drain by river Niger, and its distributaries (Forcados, Escravos and Warn river and creeks), Jamieson and Ethiope (www.on1ine.nigeria.com 2312/05). River Niger drains the eastern flank of the state and empty it water into the sea. Delta state has a population of about 2,590 491, where about 75% of her population lives in rural areas (1991 census), without good access to potable water. The state is divided into three seaatorial districts: Delta North, 793,517; Delta central with a population 936,707 and Delta South, 865,540 population (Omaksone, 2004). Methodology This work-utilised data generated through direct fieldwork exercises. The instrument of data generation is the questionnaire administration. The questionnaire was administered through systematic sampling technique. On the whole, a total of 50 questionnaires were administered to eh community, making a total of 500 respondents that were interviewed. The data were analysed with the aid of multiple regression analysis and descriptive statistics. Data Analysis and Discussion of Results Source of Water Supply Different types of water supply sources exdist in the study for effective utilisation of the respondents as follows (See table 1) Table 1: Sources of rural water supply in Delta State Source: Author’s fieldwork, 2005. Table I indicates that 39% of the rural inhabitants of these communities obtain their drinking water from Rain Water Harvesting, 24% from river or stream who carried the water through long distances, 14% from Wells, 13% from private boreholes who make a charge to households on the water supplied, 9% from Tankers which supply water to homes from long distances, and 1% from state owned boreholes who provide free water services to the households. Most of the water sources are owned and maintained by private individuals. For instance out of the 72 boreholes in table 1, it is only 3 that are owned and maintained by State Government. These bores are found in Patani, Ozoro, Anwai. This represents only 4% of the boreholes in these communities. The State owned boreholes are very irregular in their water supply. Essentially, there are times Quantity, Distance, Time and Cost of Water Table 2 show the volume of water supply to each household, distance and time spent in obtaining water from the various sources. On daily basis, an average of 80 litres of Rain Water are harvested whenever it rains. This recorded the highest volumes of water obtained by each household. About 30minutes are spent on the average whenever it rains by each household fetching water. Table 3: Average time and daily demand of water per household It is observed from table 3 that Well Water recorded 35 litres of water obtained by each household at a time and distance of 1hours 30minutes and 1km respectively. The volume of well water obtained by each household is attributed to the long distance and time spent, hence reduction in the quantity of supplied. According the inhabitants because they cannot afford the price of Borehole water, we resort to trekking distance places and spending long time as well carrying water from Wells and Streams the various houses. Similarly, the long time and distance spent in obtaining water from streams reduces the quantity of stream water supply. This show an average of 30litres of stream water supply at a time and distance of 2hours and 1 V2 km respectively spent in obtaining stream or river water by each household. Thus, the higher the distance and time spent in obtaining water from these sources reduces the volumes of water demanded by each household (See fig, 2). For instance it is clear from these communities (Otorho, Ozoro, Ekpan-Ovu, Kokoro and Patani) in fig.2 that as the time expended in obtaining domestic water increases, the quantity of water demanded by the inhabitants of these communities decreases. Though the water from these sources is free, but there is economic cost to the water as children, women and students in most of these communities spend a considerable time carrying water to meet their need, which time they could have expended in earning income. Fig. 2: Domestic water consumption and time required for well water and stream water collected at Otorho-Abraka, Kokori Ekpan-Ovu, Ozoro and Patani Similarly, it also reduces the time they could have expended in household labour amongst other activities. However, the cost of water from boreholes and tankers led to the reduction in volumes of water obtained from boreholes and water tankers. Factors of Ineffective Water Supply The respondents generally agreed that in all the rural communities they experienced acute problem of water supply. Essentially, they observed that the factors that are responsible for the problem of water supply relates to erratic power supply, embezzlement of fund/corruption, diversion of hydraulic equipment/political factors, theft, government policy, indiscriminate wastage/carelessness, poor maintenance culture, faulty distribution system and topography of the areas (See table 4). Table 4: Correlation co-efficient between acute problem of water supply and the associated factors responsible. Source: Author’s Fieldwork, 2005 The results of the correlation statistics shows that the problem of inadequate water supply to the rural communities of Delta State, rely heavily on the predictive factors The individual explanatory contributions of each of this predictive model are discussed below. Erratic power is the highest explanatory factor of inadequate water supply. This is evident from a positive correlation coefficient of 0.48 (see table 4). This is significant at 0.05 confidence level, This shows a positive contribution, and as such the problem of water supply became worsen with increasing epileptic power supply to these communities. For instance most of these communities resort to the use of self-generating plant to pump the water through self-help efforts. But as a result of hike in prices of petroleum products, the generating plant was abandoned, hence acute shortage of water supply to these communities. The second contributory is embezzlement of fund, which shows a correlation coefficient of 0.39, thus water problems became more acute as more funds meant for water projects are embezzled. For examples there are series of complains by the rural inhabitants that huge amount of money has been released for the sitting of water projects by the successive government. But such projects are either not undertaken due to embezzlement of fund or they are poorly executed. As such, most of the hydraulic projects packed up soon after commissioning. The third predicative factors affecting acute supply of water in the rural communities of Delta State is the diversion of hydraulic project or political factor. This indicates a positive correlation coefficient of 0.35. For instance, water projects meant for Otorho Abraka, Abavo, Samagidi etc has been diverted to personal compound or to other villages because these communities did not vote for them during the last political dispensation. Theft of hydraulic equipment is the fourth predictive factor of water supply with positive correlation coefficient of 0.33. This indicates that as more hydraulic equipment are stolen or vandalized, the problem of water supply to the area will become more acute For instance the generating plants and submersible pump at Emevo, Otorho — Abraka, have been vandalized. Thus, the acute problems of water supply in these in these rural communities of Delta State. Another causal factor is the lack of laudable government policy of water supply for all (b oth rural and urban areas of the state). This factor shows weak positive effects of 0.22 correlation coefficient. The state, local government and ministry of water resources in Delta state, have not made concerted effort to actualise this policy, to them they are constraints with the problem of finance and high price of hydraulic equipments. Another identified factor of inadequate water supply is indiscriminate wastage arid careless use of water. This indicates correlation coefficient values of 0.12. In some of the rural communities (Patani, Ozoro, and Anwai) where there is existence of public tap, it is not uncommon to find children and some adults, attempting to drink direct from household and public taps without using a container. At times, the children forget to lock the tap back after usage. In this way, they waste the greater portion of the water, and the wasted water is depended on pressure of the area. This view collaborated the work of Oyabande (1981) in the city of Jos. Lack of good maintenance culture is another causal factor in the areas where there is public water supply. It shows weak correlation coefficient of 0.04. For instance, most of the equipments are old and absolute and some of the pipes are corroded, without replacement. As such, there is frequent breakdown of†¢ the equipment. Similar to this factor, is faulty hydraulic and distributing system. Due to corrosion and old age of the pipe lines there are many leakages from these pipelines and finihy fitting in tank. This indicated an inverse effect on effective water supply. This is evident from a correlation coefficient of —0.35. The topography of the area recorded the list amongst the predictive factors of water problem. This shows an inverse correlation coefficient of —0.50. This factor is most severe in Delta north senatorial district (Anwal, Uineunede and Abavo) communities. For examples at Anwai it takes up 200 — 250 feet depth before the aquifer can be stroke, at Abavo and Umuenede it takes 180 — 210 feet depending on the location, such, sitting of water project in these areas is relatively very difficult. Conclusion Certainly the health, amenity and standard of living of the inhabitants of these communities are dependant upon the provision of acceptable system of water supplies to these rural communities. Its regular supply enhanced liveability and longevity of Life in this environmental setting. To enhance regular supply of water to the rural inhabitants of Delta state there is urgent need to adopt the above policy measures. References Adebola, K.D. (2001) Groundwater Quality in Ilorin Township: An Environmental Review. African Journal of Environmental Studies 2(2): Pp. 4-7. Adesuyi, O. (1996) Nigeria Produces 25 year water Masterplan. Ultimate water Technology and Environment 1(1): l7-ISpp. Efe, S.I. (2003) Water Quality and its Utilisation in the Nigerian Rural Setting of Abraka Delta State, Nigeria. International Journal of Ecology and Environmental Dynamics. Maiden (ed) pp. 81 —86 Ovrawah, L. and Hymore, F.K. (2001) Quality of Water from hand-dug wells in the Warn Environs of Niger Delta Region 2(2):pp. 169-173 Oyebande, L. (1981) The Hydrology of Urban Water Supply: A Case of Jos. P.O. Sada and J.S. Oguntoymbo (eds) in: Urbanisation Processes and Problems in Nigeria. Ibadan. University Press pp.141 — 149. 1

Grendels Mothers Attack Essay -- Beowulf Grendel Mother Essays

Grendel's Mother's Attack In Beowulf, we see a number of elements throughout the poem. First, we see a pagan warrior society. In this society the relationship between a king and his thanes is key. It is a symbiotic relationship in which the thanes defend the king and his land and fight his wars. In return, the king provides for his men. He offers them such items as mailcoats, swords, helmets, gold rings, mead, beer, shelter and companionship. This society also places great value on kinship. If one's kin is killed, it is the remaining relative's duty to make the killer pay for the death, either with his own life or the payment of wergild (the "man price"). Finally, we see the recurrence of the pagan ideas of fate and courage. Men believe that fate controls their lives. Beowulf constantly tests fate and believes that through courage he can live on in the memory of those who will live after him. In the section of the poem dealing with Grendel's Mother's attack, we see the warriors settling down to sleep in Heorot after the huge celebration of Beowulf's victory over Grendel. They seem unaware of the fact that Grendel has kin who may come to avenge his death. Grendel's mother appears on the scene, snatches a man away and hurries back to the mere. When it is discovered a man is dead, sorrow is renewed. There is no more joy at Heorot, now that the she-monster has sought "payment" for the death of her son. Yet since she and her son are monsters, the thanes feel little sympat...

Chemistry Investigatory Project

CHEM. RES. CHINESE UNIVERSITIES 2012, 28(3), 415—418 Determination of Nicotine in Tobacco by Capillary Electrophoresis with Electrochemical Detection SUN Jin-ying1, XU Xiao-yu1,2, YU Huan1 and YOU Tian-yan1* 1. State Key Laboratory of Electroanalytical Chemistry, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun 130022, P. R. China; 2. Ministry of Public Security of Jilin Province, Changchun 130051, P. R.China Abstract A sensitive, simple and low-cost method based on capillary electrophoresis(CE) with electrochemical(EC) detection at a carbon fiber microdisk electrode(CFE) was developed for the determination of nicotine. Effects of detection potential, concentration and pH value of the phosphate buffer, and injection time as well as separation voltage were investigated. Under the optimized conditions: a detection potential of 1. 20 V, 40 mmol/L phosphate buffer(pH 2. 0), a sample injection time of 10 s at 10 kV and a separation voltage of 16 kV, the linear range obtained was from 5. 0? 10–7 mol/L to 1. 0? 0–4 mol/L with a correlation coefficient of 0. 9989 and the limit of detection(LOD, S/N=3) obtained was 5. 0? 10–8 mol/L. The method was also used to determine the nicotine in cigarettes. Nicotine amount ranged from 0. 211 mg/g to 0. 583 mg/g in the pipe tobacco of seven brands of cigarette and the amount in one cigarette varied from 0. 136 mg/cigarette to 0. 428 mg/cigarette. Keywords Capillary electrophoresis; Electrochemical detection; Nicotine; Tobacco Article ID 1005-9040(2012)-03-415-04 1 Introduction Nicotine accounts for about 98%(mass fraction) of the total alkaloids and presents in a concentration of 0. %? 8% (mass fraction) in tobacco[1,2]. And nicotine addiction is related with higher risk for many kinds of diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and even suicide[3,4]. Thus it’s necessary to control nicotine amount in tobacco products. Determination of nicotine is ver y important in both the tobacco industry and toxicology area[5]. A lot of analytical methods have been established for the analysis of nicotine and related alkaloids, such as radioimmunoassay[6], spectrophotometry[5], near-infrared spectroscopy[7], and recently flow injection(FI) with electrochemiluminescence(ECL) detection[8].The most frequently used analytical techniques for nicotine and its relative compounds determination are high performance liquid chromatography(HPLC)[9? 15] and gas chromatography (GC)[16? 23] with mass spectrometry(MS). Besides, HPLC coupled with UV-visible absorption(UV)[24? 28] or GC with flame ionization detector(FID)[1,29,30] and atomic emission detector(AED)[31] have also been developed to determine nicotine and related alkaloids. Capillary electrophoresis(CE) is characterized by high separation efficiency, short analysis time and a small amount of reagent consumed.Moreover, capillary column is flexible for use, easy to be treated with and cost effective . CE has been considered as an efficient alternative for HPLC technique[32]. Up to now, various detectors have been combined with CE separation for nicotine analysis, such as CE-MS[33,34], nonaqueous CE(NACE)-MS[35], CE-UV[36? 38], microchip mi- cellar electrokinetic chromatography(microchip MEKC)-UV[39] and CE with dual light-emitting diode induced fluorescence (LEDIF) and ECL detection[40]. Electrochemical(EC) detection has received more attention due to the simple manipulation and good selectivity.Electrocatalytic oxidation properties of nicotine have been investigated at multi-walled carbon nanotube-alumina-coated silica nanocomposite modified glassy carbon electrode(MWCNTACS-GCE), MWCNT-GCE and pencil graphite electrode[3,41,42]. HPLC with EC detection has been used for nicotine assay in plasma and hair[43,44]. NACE-EC was also established for tobacco nicotine detection[45]. In this paper, a simple CE-EC analytical procedure at a carbon fiber microdisk electrode(CFE) was develo ped. The linear range was 5. 0? 10–7? 1. 0? 10–4 mol/L, with a correlation coefficient of 0. 989. The limit of detection(LOD, S/N=3) obtained was 5. 0? 10–8 mol/L. To evaluate the applicability of the proposed CE-EC method, seven different cigarette brands were tested. Nicotine amounts ranged from 0. 211 mg/g to 0. 583 mg/g in pipe tobacco of seven brands of cigarette and the amount in one cigarette varied from 0. 136 mg/cigarette to 0. 428 mg/cigarette. 2 2. 1 Experimental Reagents All the reagents were of analytical grade that were used as received without further purification. Nicotine(purity 99. 7%) was obtained from Alfa Aesar(USA). Stock solution of 1. ? 10–3 mol/L nicotine was prepared in doubly distilled water ——————————— *Corresponding author. E-mail: [email  protected] jl. cn Received June 20, 2011; accepted November 24, 2011. Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(No. 20875085). 416 CHEM. RES. CHINESE UNIVERSITIES Vol. 28 and stored at 4  °C. Na2HPO4, NaH2PO4, H3PO4 and NaOH were used for phosphate buffer solutions(PBS) preparation. All the solutions were prepared and diluted with doubly distilled water unless otherwise indicated. PBS was prepared daily with doubly distilled water.All the solutions were filtered through a 0. 22 ? m membrane before use. Different brands of cigarette were purchased from local market. high detection sensitivity. As shown in Fig. 2, with the increase of the applied detection potential, the current response increased slowly between 0. 70 and 1. 00 V, and then increased quickly between 1. 00 and 1. 20 V. Higher detection potential than 1. 20 V led to a peak current decrease and background noise increase. To achieve high detection sensitivity, 1. 20 V was selected as the optimum applied detection potential. 2. 2 ApparatusEC experiment was conducted with a Voltammetric Analyzer(CHI 800, USA). A conventional three-electrode system was employed with a 33-? m CFE as working electrode, a Pt wire as counter electrode and an Ag/AgCl electrode as reference electrode. An uncoated fused-silica capillary with i. d. of 25 ? m and length of 45 cm(Ruifeng Chromatogram Equipment Co. , Ltd. , Hebei, China) was used for sampling and separation. Capillary was rinsed in 0. 1 mol/L NaOH overnight before use. Every day before experiments, it was flushed with doubly distilled water for about 10 min and balanced with running buffer for about 15 min.CE-EC was conducted on a self-assembly instrument including a Voltammetric Analyzer(CHI 800, USA) and a high voltage supplier(MPI-A, Remax Electronic Co. , Ltd. , Xi’an, China). Sample injection was performed electrokinetically for 10 s at 10 kV. Fig. 2 HDV investigation of nicotine c(Nicotine)=1. 0? 10–5 mol/L; sample injection: 10 s at 10 kV; separation voltage: 20 kV; CE buffer: 40 mmol/L PBS(pH 2. 0); cell buffer: 0. 1 mol/L PBS(pH 8. 0). 3. 3 Optimization of CE-EC Conditions 3 3. 1 Results and Discussion Cyclic Voltammetry(CV) CV was used to investigate the electrochemical behavior of nicotine.A dramatic current increased from 0. 70 V was observed for nicotine(Fig. 1, curve b) compared with that of background electrolyte(Fig. 1, curve a), indicating that nicotine had high electroactivity at CFE. The adsorption property of CFE for nicotine was also investigated under CV experiment, however, no adsorption phenomenon of nicotine was observed. Since the oxidation potential of nicotine was not high at CFE, CE coupled with EC at CFE is practical for nicotine determination. Some other important factors including buffer concentration and buffer pH as well as separation voltage were investigated.Running buffer pH value influences the charge-mass ratio of the analyte and then influences the electrophoresis behavior of the analyte. We investigated the effect of pH values on the detection between pH 2. 0 and pH 10. 0 as shown in Fig. 3. Fig. 3 Effect of pH of CE buffer on detection of nicotine pH: a. 2; b. 4; c. 6; d. 8; e. 10. Separation voltage: 14 kV; other conditions were the same as those in Fig. 2. Fig. 1 Cyclic voltammetry curve of nicotine a. Background electrolyte, 0. 1 mol/L PBS(pH 8. 0); b. 1. 0? 10–3 mol/L nicotine; scan rate: 0. 05 V/s. 3. Hydrodynamic Voltammogram(HDV) Investigation Since applied detection potentials influence the detection sensitivity, thus we investigated the HDV of nicotine to achieve At pH 2. 0, nicotine was fully protonated and electroosmotic flow(EOF) was well restrained. EC response was the highest at pH 2. 0, and then decreased with the increase of pH value. With the increase of pH value, the migration time decreased correspondingly. Strong acidic CE buffer pH is more beneficial to sensitive and selective determination of nicotine. In consideration of the detection sensitivity, pH 2. was selected as the proper CE buffer pH value. Separation voltage is an important factor that influences the detection sensitivity and the migration time. When the separation voltage was changed from 10 kV to 20 kV, the migration time decreased from 14 min to 7 min correspondingly. No. 3 SUN Jin-ying et al. 417 As for EC response, when the separation voltage increased from 10 kV to 18 kV, the EC intensity of nicotine increased quickly, after that it decreased quickly from 18 kV to 20 kV(shown in Fig. 4). Detection sensitivity at 16 kV was higher than that at 18 kV.In consideration of the detection sensitivity, 16 kV was selected as the optimum separation voltage. supermarket. Pipe tobacco of 0. 1 g was weighed and placed in a polyethylene tube, in which 10 mL of solvent was added for nicotine extraction. Then, 10  µL of the extraction solution was transferred into a new polyethylene tube and diluted 100 times by doubly distilled water and the diluted extraction solution was used for analysis. 4. 2 Investigation of Extraction Solvents Fig. 4 Effect of separation voltage on detection of nicotine Applied detection potential: 1. 20 V; other conditions are as those in Fig. . 3. 4 Linear Range and LOD To obtain high extraction efficiency, solvents including water, methanol, chloroform and ethyl acetate were investigated. Current response of nicotine extracted with different solvents is shown in Fig. 5. Current response of nicotine was the highest when water was used as solvent. Methanol was also efficient for the extraction of nicotine from pipe tobacco. However, when methanol was used as solvent, migration time prolonged and the baseline shifted. When chloroform was used for extraction, current response was about 36% of that when water was used for extraction.Only very low response was found when ethyl acetate was used as solvent. Water was selected as nicotine extraction solvent for the highest nicotine current response obtained. Under the selected conditions: an applied detection potential of 1. 20 V; sample injection for 10 s a t 10 kV; a separation voltage of 16 kV; 40 mmol/L PBS(pH 2. 0) as running buffer and 0. 1 mol/L PBS(pH 8. 0) as detection buffer, EC response of nicotine was linear with concentration from 5. 0? 10–7 mol/L to 1. 0? 10–4 mol/L(81? 16200  µg/L)(y = –0. 2566+0. 4884x, R2= 0. 9978) and LOD(S/N=3) of nicotine was determined to be 5. 0? 10–8 mol/L(8.  µg/L). The proposed CE-EC method was compared with HPLC-MS[9,10], HPLC-UV[24,28], CE-UV[38,39], CE-MS[34], CE-LEDIF-ECL[40], microchip CE-UV[39], NACE-MS[35] and NACE-EC[45] methods(Table 1). From Table 1 we can know that linear range and LOD of CE-EC are nearly comparable with those of HPLC-MS[9] and UV[24] or NACE-EC[45] methods and CE-EC is almost 2000 times more sensitive than microchip CE method. Table 1 Method HPLC-MS HPLC-MS FI-ECL HPLC-UV HPLC-UV CE-MS NACE-MS CE-UV Micorchip CE-UV CE-LEDIF-ECL NACE-EC CE-EC Fig. 5 Extraction solvent comparison a. Water; b. methanol; c. chloroform; d. ethyl acetate.Sep aration voltage: 16 kV; injection: 10 s at 10 kV; applied detection potential: 1. 20 V; cell buffer: 0. 1 mol/L PBS(pH 8. 0); CE buffer: 40 mmol/L PBS(pH 2. 0). 4. 3 Extraction Time Investigation Comparison of CE-EC with other methods for nicotine determination Linear range/(? g ·L–1) 10? 10000 1? 100 0? 16000 25? 500 250? 100000 — 500? 100000 1724? 17240 — — 100? 10000 81? 16200 LOD/(? g ·L–1) 10 1 0. 19 8 100 0. 55 20 — 16000 259. 2 13 8. 1 Ref. [9] [8] [22] [24] [28] [34] [35] [38] [39] [40] [45] Our method The influence of extraction time on nicotine detection was investigated between 2 and 7 h.When extraction time was increased from 2 h to 4 h, the nicotine response kept increasing. But when extraction time continued to increase, the current response decreased, which may be due to the nicotine decomposition under room conditions. We chose 4 h as proper extraction time based on the experiment result. 4. 4 Tobacco Analysis 4 4. 1 Ciga rette Analysis Extraction Procedure Seven brands of cigarettes were purchased from local Pipe tobacco of 0. 1 g of each seven brands of cigarettes was weighed respectively and 10 mL of doubly distilled water was used for nicotine extraction.Nicotine amounts ranged from 0. 211 mg/g to 0. 583 mg/g in the pipe tobacco of each of seven brands of cigarettes. Nicotine amount in one cigarette varied from 0. 136 mg/cigarette to 0. 428 mg/cigarette(as listed in Table 2). The results obtained are slightly less than the amounts reported in the literature[46]. With the increase of nicotine concentration, the recovery decreased. For 5. 0? 10–6, 5. 0? 10–5 and 5. 0? 10–4 mol/L of nicotine, the recoveries were 80%, 75% and 418 CHEM. RES. CHINESE UNIVERSITIES [20] [21] [22] [23] [24] [25] [26] [27] B, 2006, 844, 322 Vol. 28 72%, respectively(n=3).Table 2 Nicotine amounts in pipe tobacco and cigarette obtained by CE-EC analysis Number of tobacco sample 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Nicotine amo unt in pipe tobacco/(mg ·g–1) 0. 518 0. 502 0. 454 0. 211 0. 583 0. 454 0. 421 Nicotine amount in cigarette/ (mg ·cigarette–1) 0. 337 0. 355 0. 316 0. 136 0. 428 0. 327 0. 276 Man C. N. , Gam L. H. , Ismail S. , Lajis R. , Awang R. , J. Chromatogr. Lafay F. , Vulliet E. , Flament-Waton M. M. , Anal. Bioanal. Chem. , 2010, 396, 937 Shrivas K. , Patel D. K. , Food Chem. , 2010, 122, 314 Bao M. L. , Joza P. , Rickert W. S. , Lauterbach J. H. , Anal. Chim. Acta, 2010, 663, 49 Sharp M. P. , Hale T.W. , Hackett L. P. , Kristensen J. H. , Ilett K. F. , J. Chromatogr. B, 2003, 796, 173 Jablonski J. E. , Schlesser J. E. , Mariappagoudar P. , J. Agric. Food Chem. , 2006, 54, 7460 Nakajima M. , Kwon J. T. , Tanaka E. , Yokoi T. , Anal. Biochem. , 2002, 302, 131 Doctor P. B. , Gokani V. N. , Kulkarni P. K. , Parikh J. R. , Saiyed H. N. , J. Chromatogr. B, 2004, 802, 323 Chang Y. L. , Tsai P. L. , Chou Y. C. , Tien J. H. , Tsai T. H. , J. Chromatogr. A, 2005, 1088, 152 Zuo Y. G . , Zhang L. L. , Wu J. P. , Fritz J. W. , Medeiros S. , Rego C. , Anal. Chim. Acta, 2004, 526, 35 Cai J. B. , Liu B. Z. , Lin P. , Su Q. D. J. Chromatogr. A, 2003, 1017, 187 Stevens N. A. , Borgerding M. F. , Anal. Chem. , 1999, 71, 2179 Kowalski P. , Marszall M. , Oledzka L. , Czarnowski W. , Chromatographia, 2007, 66, 357 Palmer M. E. , Smith, R. F. , Chambers K. , Tetler L. W. , Rapid Commun. Spectrom. , 2001, 15, 224 Baidoo E. E. K. , Clench M. R. , Smith R. F. , Tetler L. W. , J. Chromatogr. B, 2003, 796, 303 Chiu C. W. , Liang H. H. , Huang H. Y. , Electrophoresis, 2007, 28, 4220 Lu G. H. , Ralapati S. , Electrophoresis, 1998, 19, 19 Yang S. S. , Smetena I. , Chromatographia, 1995, 40, 375 Ralapati S. , J. Chromatogr. B, 1997, 695, 117 Newman C.D. , Giordano B. C. , Copper C. L. , Collins G. E. , Electrophoresis, 2008, 29, 803 Chang P. L. , Lee K. H. , Hu C. C. , Chang H. T. , Electrophoresis, 2007, 28, 1092 Xiong H. Y. , Zhao Y. F. , Liu P. , Zhang X. H. , Wang S. F. , Micro chim. Acta, 2010, 168, 31 Levent A. , Yardim Y. , Senturk Z. , Electrochim. Acta, 2009, 55, 190 Chien C. Y. , Diana J. N. , Crooks P. A. , J. Pharmaceut. Sci. , 1988, 77, 277 Mahoney G. N. , Al-Delaimy W. , J. Chromatogr. B, 2001, 753, 179 Matysik F. M. , J. Chromatogr. A, 1999, 853, 27 Ruiz-Rodriguez A. , Bronze M. R. , da Ponte M. N. , J. Supercrit. Fluid. , 2008, 45, 171 References 1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] Sheng L. Q. , Ding L. , Tong H. W. , Yong G. P. , Zhou X. Z. , Liu S. M. , Chromatographia, 2005, 62, 63 Solarino B. , Rosenbaum F. , Rie? elmann B. , Buschmann C. T. , Tsokos M. , Forensic Sci. Int. , 2010, 195, e19 Wang S. J. , Liaw H. W. , Tsai Y. C. , Electrochem. Commun. , 2009, 11, 733 Moriya F. , Hashimoto Y. , Furumiya J. , Forensic Sci. Int. , 2007, 168, 102 Rai M. , Ramachandran K. N. , Gupta V. K. , Analyst, 1994, 119, 1883 Langone J. J. , Gjika H. B. , Vunakis H. V. , Biochem. , 1973, 12, 5025 Zhang Y. , Co ng Q. Xie Y. F. , Zhao B. , Chem. J. Chinese Universities, 2009, 30(4), 697 Lin M. S. , Wang J. S. , Lai C. H. , Electrochim. Acta, 2008, 53, 7775 Tuomi T. , Johnsson T. , Reijula K. , Clin. Chem. , 1999, 45, 2164 Stolker A. A. M. , Niesing W. , Hogendoorn E. A. , Rambali A. B. , Vleeming W. , J. Chromatogr. A, 2003, 1020, 35 Ryu H. J. , Seong M. W. , Nam M. H. , Kong S. Y. , Lee D. H. , Rapid Commun. Mass Spectrom. , 2006, 20, 2781 Murphy S. E. , Villalta P. , Ho S. W. , von Weymarn L. B. , J. Chromatogr. B, 2007, 857, 1 Gray T. R. , Shakleya D. M. , Huestis M. A. , J. Chromatogr. B, 2008, 863, 107 Kataoka H. Inoue R. , Yagi K. , Saito K. , J. Pharmaceut. Biomed. , 2009, 49, 108 Miller E. I. , Norris H. R. K. , Rollins D. E. , Tiffany S. T. , Wilkins D. G. , J. Chromatogr. B, 2010, 878, 725 Ji A. J. , Lawson G. M. , Anderson R. , Dale L. C. , Croghan I. T. , Hurt R. D. , Clin. Chem. , 1999, 45, 85 Shin H. S. , Kim J. G. , Shin Y. J. , Jee S. H. , J. Chromatogr. B, 2002, 769, 177 Wu W. J. , Ashley D. L. , Watson C. H. , Anal. Chem. , 2002, 74, 4878 Kim I. , Darwin W. D. , Huestis M. A. , J. Chromatogr. B, 2005, 814, 233 [44] [45] [46] [42] [43] [41] [40] [36] [37] [38] [39] [35] [34] [33] [31] [32] [30] [29] [28]