A Father’s Story

Stories regularly have a primary character that is fixated on the grounds that he/she fizzles at some obligation of theirs or misses the mark concerning their objective. In â€Å"A Father's Story† composed by Andre Dubus, Luke Ripley is a character that prevails in his obligations as a dad. Luke shows love, sympathy or more each of the a defensive intuition and want to support his little girl. He underscores that he is strict albeit maybe not extremely dedicated. These qualities assist him with satisfying his caring obligations to his girl during her stay at his home. Luke has had an intriguing life going before the headliners of the story. He has lost his whole family, making only him in a huge house with only ponies and a radio to stay with him. Regardless of those preliminaries, Luke has it inside him to ceaselessly demonstrate love to his family when they do return, particularly to his girl despite the fact that she slaughters a man. Andre Dubus underlines this adoration and sympathy Luke has through a portion of the foundation data he surrenders prompting the headliners of the story. Dubus shows little subtleties that Luke a focuses his consideration on and the endeavors that Luke advances to attempt to adore his family after they leave him. There likewise comes a point in the story where Luke's heart's â€Å"longing to love† as he calls it, makes him harsh with Father Paul. Luke's kinship with Father Paul achieves another exceptionally fascinating character attribute in Luke. This is his strict side. In light of the way that Luke relates an incredible occasions, religion is a city hall leader part and focal point of his life. He appears not to be exceptionally passionate and exacting; he says that â€Å"being a genuine Catholic is excessively hard. † Still however, he goes to every Sunday Mass and Father Paul is his best, and in truth his solitary companion. Luke gets up early every morning and rides his pony to the congregation. Luke flounders just twice to the extent his celibacy and marriage convictions are concerned and he depicts those two occurrences as having been in the inaccessible past and not a reoccurring propensity. Luke likewise understands that he can't power or mention to his kids what to accept however he despite everything attempts to point them toward the path that he accepts to be correct. Luke clarifies that his religion and Father Paul help to stay with him and keep him solid when his family left him. The primary focal point of this story anyway isn't about Luke's adoration and empathy, or his religion; it is about simply his paternal sense and want to ensure and support his girl. The whole story, up till the peak Top point, is focused on Luke's capacity to sympathize with his little girl and furnish her with the solace and help that she needs. Above all else, Jennifer is the most youthful youngster, the infant in the family. This consequently places her in the situation to get more consideration and care from her dad. Jennifer additionally is by all accounts the one that visits her dad the frequently and for the longest timeframes. Luke appreciates the time that he gets the opportunity to go through with his little girl. He savors the little subtleties and unpretentious changes that happen after some time. He brings up how they are growing up and getting consistently increasingly develop. Luke gives us that he comprehends and identifies with his girl and her change into a youthful grown-up when he says, â€Å"it was womanhood they were entering, its profound woods, and regardless of what number of ladies and men also are stating nowadays that there is little distinction between us, in all actuality men discover their way into that woodland just on plainly stamped trails, while ladies move about in it like flying creatures. Jennifer then wakes her dad in the night to disclose to him that she has quite recently hit a man, and may have slaughtered him. This is sufficient to test any dad's affection, tolerance, and temper. Yet, Luke meets the challenge at hand and his character doesn't vacillate he firsts comforts his little girl and learns the entire story of what has occurred and what has vexed her so seriously. At that point after she has quieted down, and simply after she has quieted down, Luke leaves to attempt to discover this man. The outcome is that Luke finds the man, and watches him kick the bucket since he is frail to spare him now, he doesn't tell his little girl this, he just says that the man is dead. At that point Luke says something fascinating, he lets us know â€Å"If one of my children had come to me that night, I would have called the police and instructed them to meet us with a rescue vehicle at the highest point of the slope I could bear the torment of watching and knowing my children's torment yet never my daughter's. This outlines with flawless clearness Luke's uncommon love for his girl and want to ensure her in a manner that changes incredibly from that of his affections for his children. Stories frequently have a principle character that is fixated on in light of the fact that he/she comes up short at some obligation of theirs or misses the mark concerning their objective. In â€Å"A Father's Story† composed by Andre Dubus, Luke Ripley is a character that prevails in his duties as a dad.

Sample Essays for Personal Essay for College Application

Sample Essays for Personal Essay for College ApplicationPersonal essays are one of the most important parts of your college application. This is because it should be written in such a way that it will get you noticed by the schools that are hiring you. It should also be interesting and have relevance to your interest. So how do you write a personal essay?There are different sample essays that you can use in writing your personal essay for college application. Most of them follow the basic format of a resume. If you are a high school student or just started to study and this is your first time to write an essay, then you need to know the basics before going ahead with the whole process. In this article, I will show you samples of personal essay for college application.The first and the most important part of the essay is the first paragraph. You need to start with your education so that the reader gets an idea about what kind of things you have studied up to date. Try to keep it short but informative. So that they can understand the content better, you can tell them the reason why you want to go to college.The second part of the personal essay for college application is the introduction. You need to introduce yourself and where you want to go after high school. You need to answer the question that this question is aimed at you and not answer it in any other way. Do not forget to write a personal statement. A brief overview of what your background is.The last paragraph in a person's essay for a college application is the conclusion. Do not forget to write a positive and promising end to the story. Your writing must be concise and direct as you are already halfway through the essay. You need to finish the part of the essay that details the expected benefits of going to college.If you want to make the paragraphs more interesting, you can include some personal anecdotes in each paragraph. For example, in the third paragraph, you can tell a personal anecdote about ho w your father passed away. Or, in the fourth paragraph, you can tell a story about an incident that happened to you. Sometimes, you can also use an argument to show that your facts are correct. Just make sure that you avoid plagiarism.Remember that the readers of the essay want to get to know about you and find out about your life and how you see your future. So try to use samples of personal essay for college application that will capture the reader's attention and will reflect on your personality.These are some of the samples of personal essay for college application. However, you should also learn more about the different formats of personal essays. It is very important to know your place and to write in the manner in which you see fit.

Finding the Best Term Paper Writing Service

Finding the Best Term Paper Writing ServiceIf you're looking for the best term paper writing service, then you will probably be able to find some on the internet. But before you do, you should spend some time researching the company and what they can offer you. It's always a good idea to check out the positives and negatives of the company, as well as read testimonials to see what other people think of them.One of the first things you should do is make sure that they have a free trial period of at least one month. While it may be tempting to sign up for a very low price right away, try and avoid companies that do this. After all, there are other companies that are cheaper that you could choose.Of course, you should also look into the company that has a free trial and does not charge you any money until the trial period is complete. Of course, you will need to give them your information before you do so, but that's something you'll need to do when you sign up for most other services. Of course, you don't want to provide your information to anyone else at this point, so this step is definitely necessary.You should also look for a company that offers a full package. For example, they may have services such as the availability of white paper samples and references. In order to get references, you should look at the quality of the term paper writing service. You should also look at the service they can offer you in terms of samples.They should also be able to provide you with information about the best prices on term paper writing services. This can be important, especially if you're not going to be working from home. If you've read about the best services on the internet, you would already know that many times the term paper writing service providers offer discounted rates on their services, which will save you money over the long run.If you are able to find a service provider that offers reviews of their clients, then you can find out the general quality of their work. There is no point in signing up for a low-cost service when it can't provide you with the quality you need. You may also want to read up on other people's experiences, if you can find them.This will help you see what other people think about the client's experiences. A good tip is to ask for the client's references from the provider you've chosen. The references can help you see how a particular writer has performed on previous projects.Choosing the best provider is often a difficult decision, but it is important to compare a number of different choices. By comparing them, you can see what is most important to you and what works best for your needs. Remember, the most important thing is to find a term paper writing service that you can rely on to write your papers and that you can work with for the long term.

Homer s Epic Hero, The Odyssey, By Homer - 1670 Words

One of the greatest tales of a hero is one of a man returning home after war. King of Ithaca, Odysseus was a Greek champion in the Trojan War. However, he is known best not for his heroic acts during combat, but for his journey back to Ithaca, to his wife and son, in the ten years that follow. In Homer’s epic hero, The Odyssey, the Greek poet tells of Odysseus’s hardships and how he used his heroic traits to overcome them. The myth is told in twenty four books. Odysseus is a hero because of his cleverness, loyalty, leadership, and courage. Odysseus is, without a doubt, a war hero. He valiantly fought for ten years in the Trojan War, until he finally came up with a brilliant idea to defeat Troy. He had a hollow wooden horse constructed so the Greeks could hide inside. In the middle of the night, they would come out of the horse and defeat their enemies (Baker). Odysseus and his men claimed victory, and set out to return home. However, Poseidon, God of the sea and earthquakes, had other plans for the King of Ithaca. Poseidon favored the Trojans to win the war, so when the Greeks won, he was angered. On top of that, Odysseus did not thank the Gods for his victory. So when Odysseus blinded his son Polyphemus, Poseidon had had enough. He made the waters of the Aegean Sea, the route in which Odysseus took home, rough and difficult to navigate (authors of book.) For ten years he travelled home and showed his heroic side along the way. Heroes like Achilles andShow MoreRelatedThe Hero Of Homer s Epic Tale, The Odyssey1922 Words   |  8 Pagesthe mythological Grecian subject of Homer s epic tale, The Odyssey. This legendary figure displays exemplary brains and muscle, appearing almost superhuman at times. He embodies the ideals Greeks heroes aspired to: manly valor, loyalty to both his family and friends, as well as keen intelligence. The popularity of Odysseus has proven timeless; to this day, he remains greatly admired as both a hero, and an ordinary man who must overcome hurdles and embark on epic adventures in order to regain theRead MoreHomer s Odyssey : The Epic Hero999 Words   |  4 Pages Odysseus can be classified as one of the most well-known epic heroes, and a clear example of Greek priorities and ideals. Written many years after, the Aeneid likewise depicts an epic hero, Aeneas, that also completes a long journey and has closely related aspects to the story of the Odyssey. Virgil’s Aeneid imitates various crucial aspects of Homer’s Odyssey, including: the main protagonist passing through comparable sexual temptations, a similar relationship with the gods, and an analogous endRead MoreThe Epic Hero in Homer ´s The Odyssey 609 Words   |  2 Pages Epic Heroes are those that portray extraordinary traits, in which of displaying honor, integrity, sacrifice for the better, and loyalty. They are considered role models in a sense, thus providing the lessons, morals, and beliefs. Whether it is judging right from wrong, accomplishing the greater good, and many others teach lifelong messages that will continue to be passed down generation after generation. The Odyssey was written by a blind poet named Homer, who was also renowned author of The IliadRead MoreOdysseus - a Different Type of Hero1225 Words   |  5 PagesOdysseus Ââ€" A Different Type of Hero The Homeric epic, the Odyssey, is set in the peaceful years following the Trojan War, and concerns the returning heroes on their journeys home, in particular Odysseus of Ithaca. Odysseus is an epic hero; he displays courage, superior strength, and leadership, all qualities that people admire. While displaying these archetypal heroic traits he also displays his weaknesses as a man, particularly his excessive pride, which actually make him easy to relate to. SoRead MoreHistory, Symbolism, and Characters in Homer’s The Odyssey 1118 Words   |  5 Pages In The Odyssey, it takes Odysseus twenty years to make it home from the Trojan War. On his journey home, he runs into many obstacles and creatures that he must overcome. He encounters the sirens, the Cyclops, and others. Each event in this epic poem has a symbolic meaning behind it. Homer writes about the history, symbolism, and the characters in The Odyssey. The Odyssey is about the Greek gods and heroes and their adventures (Makman). Odysseus is the main character, and he is going on a questRead MoreGreek Epics873 Words   |  4 PagesGreek Epics There are some challenges in each history period, and authors will create some heroes in their epics that reflect values of the culture at the time. By studying the hero’s actions and his motivations, it tells the society conditions and the civilization of that history period. Homer; the authors of The Iliad and The Odyssey; and Vergil; the authors of The Aeneid are two of the greatest writers in ancient western civilization. There are heroes in these three literatures to reflectRead MoreThe Bronze And Iron Age Essay2093 Words   |  9 PagesQuestion: 1-What Can Homer tell us about the Bronze and Iron Age The Bronze and Iron Ages were 2 of the main periods in Greek History and Homer can tell us a lot about them. The Bronze Age was all about mixing copper with tin or arsenic to bronze hence it is called the Bronze Age. The Iron Age was when the whole of the east Mediterranean was in crisis. In central Anatolia, the collapse of the Hitties opened the gates to invaders who overran the country. Firstly, let’s talk about Homer- a lot of the worksRead MoreTennyson vs Homer Ulysses Vs Oddyseus1667 Words   |  7 PagesOdysseus share similar traits, Homer would not agree with Tennyson s portrayal of Odysseus in the poem Ulysses. Whereas Odysseus wishes to complete his journey and find relief, Ulysses seeks to continue on a never-ending one. Homer s Odyssey and Tennyson s Ulysses have different desires and their desires lead them on contrasting quests. The hero in Homer s depicts Odysseus as a hero in the process of completing a journey home. The portrayal of Ulysses is a hero that has already completed hisRead MoreThe Odyssey Heros Journey Essay1322 Words   |  6 PagesThe timeless story, The Odyssey, has left it’s mark in literature as one of the first narratives depicting the hero’s journey cycle. This work of creative writing has laid the foundation of storytelling that would later inspire other popular writings like, The Hunger Games, The Lord of The Rings, and Harry Potter. How has this ancient novel withstand the sands of time and remain relevant and appealing even to modern day readers? The Odyssey touches upon many topics that appear attractive to evenRead MoreKleos in The Odyssey by Homer938 Words   |  4 PagesTHE ODYSSEY Heroic glory occupies a very crucial place in the Indo-European epic tradition, because the Greek society is a shame culture, in which being honoured is one of the primary purposes of people s lives. Hence, the concept of kleos formed an essential part of the bardic tradition which helped the people to maintain the heroic stature of the mythical heroes from generation to generation. This is why, it has got an important place in the Greek epics also. In The Odyssey by Homer also

Capital Structure And Profitability Relationship For Ftse Firms - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 13 Words: 3904 Downloads: 4 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Statistics Essay Did you like this example? The capital structure of a firm has long been a much debated issue for academic studies and in the corporate finance world. It is the way a firm finances its assets through some combination of equity, debt, or hybrid securities the composition or structure of its liabilities. In reality, capital structure may be highly complex and include various sources. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Capital Structure And Profitability Relationship For Ftse Firms" essay for you Create order The question whether capital structure affects to the profitability of the firm or it is affected by profitability is crucial one. Profitability and capital structure relationship is a two way relationship. On the one hand profitability of firm is an important determinant of the capital structure, the other hand changes in capital structure changes affect underlying profits and risk of the firm. Traditionally it was believed that the debt is useful up to certain limit and afterwards it proves costly. There is an optimum level of capital structure exist up to that level increasing debt will improve profitability, beyond that it will reduce profitability. In 1945, Chudson carried out an extensive study that implies the possibility of a relationship between the capital structures practised by a firm with its profitability. The question he endeavours to answer was that, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“In what way does the structure of assets and liabilities of a firm reflect the kind of industry in it is engaged, its size and level of profitability?à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? In 1958 Merton Miller and Franco Modigliani in their famous Miller-Modigliani (MM) propositions put forward the net operating income approach of and demonstrated that the capital structure is irrelevant in a perfect market. It states irrelevant of capital structure in a perfect market to its value, hence, how a firm is financed does not matter. The MM propositions forms the basis for modern thinking on capital structure, though it is generally viewed as a purely theoretical result since it is based on perfect market assumptions those are not prevailing in practice. The matter of capital structure has gained much interest and controversy, since the MM Propositions which assert that the value of a firm is independent of its capital structure. The hypothesis proposed by MM created tidal waves in the corporate finance academia. Different theory such as packing order theory and agency cost theory were proposed. Various aspects of capital structure have been put to test and researched by so many researchers. The question is if the capital structure is really irrelevant in a real market and whether a companys profitability and hence value is affected by the capital structure it employs? If not, why capital structure is relevant and which factors make the leverage matter? Apart from profitability, some other factors such as bankruptcy costs, agency costs, taxes, and information asymmetry are considered in determination of capital structure. This study aims and attempts to extend the knowledge of capital structure and profitability relationship in listed UK companies. This analysis can then be extended to look at whether there is in fact an optimal capital structure exist the one which maximizes profitability and hence the value of the firm. 1.1 Context and relevance of the Study The topic of capital structure has been widely explored, though the study is relevant in the different time period and different context to find out whether the evidence concerning the capital structure issue and its various aspects are relevant to a given set of companies in a given period. Given this significance, current study attempts to understand and research on capital structure and its effect on profitability, of large firms in UK in the present context for a period of five years (2005 -2010). Thus, this study attempts to contribute to the research on capital structure in the recent period for large publicly traded companies on FTSE 100. 1.2 Research Objectives The present study is aimed at achieving one main and two secondary objectives. The main objective is to scrutinise the relationship between the capital structure and profitability of the large publicly traded UK firms and to ascertain whether a firmà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s profitability is related with its capital structure or not based on the empirical evidence generated. Secondly, this study would attempt and investigate to determine if any optimal capital structure exist among the sample of FTSE 100 listed companies. Third objective is to find out any trend of capital structure being exhibited by the UK companies. 1.3 Research Questions and Hypothesis The above objectives are translated in two research question. The main research question is that à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“whether a firmà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s profitability is related with its capital structure or not?à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? based on the empirical evidence generated. Hypothesis The first questions can be presented as following hypothesis. The present study shall be undertaken to evaluate this hypothesis based on the tests of the null hypothesis. H1: The profitability of a company is significantly correlated to its capital structure. H0: The profitability of a company is not significantly correlated to its capital structure. The secondary objectives of this study are translated in the determinant question regarding the optimality and trend of capital structure. The second question, will be discussed descriptively is that, Is there an optimal capital structure exists among or any trend of capital structure being exhibited by FTSE 100 listed companies? 1.4 Scope and Limitations of the Study Scope This is an academic study that would shed some light on the matter of capital structure which has been discussed in various different perspectives since the MM propositions. The significance of this study is that it further enhances the research into capital structure of listed firms in UK. Profitability and Capital structure relationship is an ongoing issue and its relevance may change in different period because of the changes in macro and micro economic factors. For practitioners and corporate finance people such as finance executives, controllers and directors of listed firms, this study is relevant and of much interest to get insight of the capital structure and whether it has any effect on the profitability. Limitations The findings of this study will be limited from the following aspects: This study included only FTSE 100 listed firms on the London Stock Exchange (LSE). Hence, its findings were not applicable for all the listed companies in UK. The sample of listed companies for this study included only firms with at least five years of financial data. Firms which are younger than five years or whose five year data could not be obtained will not be included in this study. The study excludes financial utility and other highly regulated industry to avoid any distortions in the result due to industry specific requirements. The cross sectional correlation and regression analysis will be performed using excel formula. CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW The various capital structure theories are developed by corporate finance academia for analysing how a firm could combine the securities to maximise its value. The Modigliani and Miller (MM) proposition (1958) were introduced under the perfect capital market assumptions. It refers to an ideal market where there are no taxes at both corporate and personal level, no transaction costs, no agency costs as and managers are rational. It further assumes that investors and firms can borrow at the same rate without restrictions and all participants have access to all relevant information. Thus it provides conditions under which the capital structure of a firm is irrelevant to total firm value. Most of studies focus on the determination of capital structure i.e. to what extent each of the assumptions in the MM model contributes to the determination of the firmà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s capital structure. Many theories such as the pecking order theory, the trade-off theory and the agency cost theory have been developed. Though much attention was not given to one major aspect of the capital structure, which is the impact of the value of the firm. The value comes from the future cash flow i.e. profit of the firm. Thus capital structure affects value of the firm through the profitability and hence there is a direct relationship between the capital structure and profitability of the firm. Capital Structure The term capital structure can be defined as: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“The mix of a firmà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s permanent long-term financing represented by debt, preferred stock, and common stock equity.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? (Van Horne Wachowicz, 2000, p.470) It can be defined as à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“The mix of long-term sources of funds used by the firm. This is also called the firmà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“capitalizationà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬?. The relative total (percentage) of each type of fund is emphasized.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? (Petty, Keown, Scott, and Martin, 2001, p.932) One of the exhaustive and inclusive description was given by Masulis (1988, pl): à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"Capital structure encompasses a corporationà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s publicly issued securities, private placements, bank debt, trade debt, leasing contracts, tax liabilities, pension liabilities, deferred compensation to management and employees, performance guarantees, product warranties, and other contingent liabilities. This list represents the major claims to a corporationà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s assets. Increases or reductions in any of these claims represent a form of capital structure change.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? However in this study, for the sake of simplicity, the capital structure will be analysed in term of debt and equity in line with other prominent capital structure studies and theories restricted to the debt equity mix. Profitability The term profitability is a very common term in the business world. It refers to an all round measurement and indicator for a firmà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s success. Profitability can be defined as the ability of a firm to generate net income or profit on a consistent basis. It is often measured by price to earnings ratio. The accounting definition of profit can be given as the difference between the total revenue and the total costs incurred in bringing to market the product i.e. goods or service. Hence, profitability had come to mean different things for different people. It can be defined and measured in several ways depending on the purpose. It is a generic name for variables such as net income, return on total assets, earnings per share, etc. though the simplest and common meaning of profitability is the net income. 3.1 Early Study on Capital Structure by W A Chudson One of the earliest comprehensive researches into capital structure of business firms was done by Chudson Walter Alexander (1945) on a cross section of manufacturing, mining, trade, and construction companies in the US from the year 1931 to 1937. Although it has been more than two third of a century, that study is still relevant today as before due to the seven questions which he endeavoured to answer. Out of those questions the relevant to this study are as follows. In what way does the structure of assets and liabilities of a given concern reflect the kind of industry in which a concern is engaged, the concernà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s size and level of profitability? Are there any elements in the corporate balance sheet, either on the asset or the liability side, whose range of variation is so narrow that it is possible to speak of a à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“normalà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? pattern of financial structure? The questions posed by Chudson could be interpreted into the research questions pertinent to this study which are the relationship between profitability and capital structure, the existence of an optimal capital structure, and also the trend of capital structure being practised by a sample of firms. Chudsonà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s research showed there were undisputable relationships between corporate financial structure and the firmà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s profitability. As far as this study is concerned, Chudson had successfully proved the relationship between the profitability of a company with various capital structure variables including debt and equity capital. 3.2 M M Propositions In 1958 Merton Miller and Franco Modigliani in their famous Miller-Modigliani (MM) propositions put forward the net operating income approach of and demonstrated that the capital structure is irrelevant in a perfect market. Accordingly, the first Proposition holds that the value of a firm is independent of its capital structure. While the second proposition stats that when first proposition held, the cost of equity capital was a linear increasing function of the debt/equity ratio. As miller wrote subsequently these propositions implied that the weighted average of these costs of capital to a firm would remain the same no matter what combination of financing sources the firm actually chose. (Miller, 1988) In 1962, Barges tested and evaluated the MM propositions predominantly on the validity of the hypothesis that the cost of capital to the firms is unaffected by capital structure. According to Barges (p. 143): à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“With respect to the empirical methods employed by MM it was found that, under very frequently encountered conditions, their methods will result in tests which are biased in favour of their propositions and biased against the traditional views.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? Barges had empirically proved the existence of some weaknesses in the research design and methodology of Modigliani and Millerà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s study and concluded that (p. 147) à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Thus, on the basis of the evidence presented herein, the hypothesis of independence between average costs and capital structure appears untenable.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? Subsequently many studies were conducted with focus on the determination of capital structure and many theories were presented. 3.3 Profitability and Leverage theories Since MM propositions presented, many studies were conducted by releasing MM assumptions focusing on the extent to which each of the assumptions contributes to the determination of the firmà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s capital structure. All these theories explains the relationship between leverage and the value of the firm and hence profitability of the firm. There are various theories in order to further explain this relationship. Nevertheless, these theories are actually based on asymmetric information (Myers, 1984), tax deductibility (Modigliani and Miller, 1963; Miller 1977), Bankruptcy costs (Stiglitz, 1972; Titman, 1984) and agency costs (Jensen and Meckling, 1976; Myers, 1977). Two main theories are the pecking order theory and the trade off theory. Pecking Order Theory The Pecking Order Theory is based on information asymmetry between management and investors. So, the stock price of a firm may not reflect correct value of the firm. Myers and Majluf (1984) and Myers (1984) suggest that management issue the security which is overvalued and therefore, undervalued firms tend to avoid issuing equity. They argue that in imperfect capital markets, leverage increases with the extent of information asymmetry. They provided theoretical support to Donaldsonà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s (1961) findings that firms prefer to use internally generated funds as a financing source and resort to externals funds only if the need for funds was unavoidable. According to (Myers 1995), the dividend policy is à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“stickyà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? and the firms prefer internal to external financing. Firms prefer using internal sources of financing first, then debt and finally external equity obtained by stock issues. Therefore, asymmetric information models seldom point towards a well-defined target debt ratio or optimal capital structure. All things being equal, the more profitable the firms are, the more internal financing they will have, and therefore we should expect a negative relationship between leverage and profitability. The various studies such as Ross (1977), and Myers and Majluf (1984), Harris and Raviv, 1991; Rajan and Zingales, 1995; Booth et al., 2001have supported this relationship that is one of the most systematic findings in the empirical literature. Agency Costs Theory The Agency Costs Theory (Organizational Theory of Capital Structure) emphasize that capital structure was influenced by conflicts between shareholders and managers, and between debt holders and equity holders. Major study into this area was done by Jensen and Meckling (1976) that showed managersà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ natural tendency to extract too many perquisites and stresses on self-interested behaviour. Obviously, agency costs would increase as the managersà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ personal ownership stake in the firm decreases. This supplied an argument for debt financing and against à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"publicà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ equity which was contributed by non management investors who cannot monitor management effectively. Fama and Miller (1972), using agency cost theory, proved that leverage was positively associated with firm value. Firms with longer credit histories would have lower cost of debt. The Trade of theory The trade-off theory is based on the considerations of benefits and the costs of debt. This theory argues that firms optimise their capital structure by trading the tax deductibility of interests, bankruptcy costs, and agency costs. This theory is consistent with traditional approach of capital structure. This theory leads to an opposite conclusion. Accordingly if the firms are profitable, they should prefer debt to benefit from the tax shield. Further as the past profitability is a good proxy for future profitability, profitable firms can borrow more because the likelihood of paying back the loans is greater. However after a certain level of leverage, the profitability and the value of the firm will reduce due to interaction of bankruptcy costs and agency costs. 3.4 Various Studies on Capital Structure As the issue of capital structure gained prominence and interest, a number of studies had been done over the years to explore the relationship between capital structure and a firmà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s various characteristics e.g. growth opportunities, non-debt tax shields, firmà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s volatility, asset systematic risk, asset unique risk, internal funds availability, asset structure, profitability, industry classification, and firm size. This study is concerned particularly on the relationship between capital structure and profitability. Most of the studies had concluded that capital structure measured by debt/equity ratio had an inverse relationship with profitability measured by Return on Investment (ROI). Professor Myers of MIT had written in 1995 that à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“the strong negative correlation between profitability and financial leverageà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? is one of the à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"most striking facts about corporate financingà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? (p.303). It is worthy to mention here that the aforesaid studies were the most comprehensive ever carried out in the US. One significant research was conducted by Bradley, Jarrell and Rim (1984) using Ordinary Least Squares method to analyze the capital structure of 851 industrial firms over a period of 20 years (1962-81). They concluded that an optimal capital structure actually existed as proposed by finance theorists. Bradley, Jarrell and Kimà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s findings were supported by El-Khouri in 1989 who studied a sample of 1,040 Companies in US from 27 different industries covering a period of 19 years (1968-86). El-Khourià ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s major findings were that there exists an optimal capital structure, and profitability was significantly but negatively related to capital structure. 3.5 Rajan and Zingalesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ Study Rajan and Zingales (1995), in their study of determinant of capital structure find that profitability is negatively or inversely related to gearing consistent with Toy et al. (1974), Kester (1986) and Titman and Wessles (1988). Given, however, that the analysis is effectively performed as an estimation of a reduced form, such a result masks the underlying demand and supply interaction which is likely to be taking place. More profitable firm will obviously need less borrowings, although on the supply-side such profitable firms would have better access to debt, and hence the demand for debt may be negatively related to profits. Most of such studies were conducted in US using local companies and hence represents financing and profitability relationship in US economy and might not be applicable in other countries around the globe. Some of the studies conducted in UK as well though changing business and economic environment and time period may have their impact on such capital structure and profitability relationship. Further as discussed earlier much attention was not given to one major aspect of the capital structure, which is the impact on the profitability and hence the value of the firm. So understanding the effect of capital structure on the profitability and hence the value of the firm in the current economic and business environment is the main motivation for this study. CHAPTER 3 RESERCH FRAMEWORK I intend to use two major sets of variables (Ratios) i.e. Debt and Profitability to ascertain the relationship between the capital structure and profitability. The first set includes Gearing ratios Debt/Equity Ratio and Debt Ratio. The other set includes profitability ratios Return on Equity, and Return on Assets. The variables will be analyzed using the descriptive/time-series Correlation and regression technique. 2.1 Data Sample The data used for the empirical analysis will be derived from Hemscott database contains balance sheet, profit and loss and certain Key Ratio information for FTSE 100 companies in UK. For the purposes of this dissertation, I expect to utilise this data to obtain the required variables for all non-financial companies. 2.2 The Model and Research Methodology The following model outlines the framework for research. It consist two major components i.e. the profitability of a firm as the dependent variables and the capital structure of a firm as the independent variables. The arrow pointing to the right indicated the expected direction of causality. However profitability and capital structure relationship is a two way relationship. DEBT RATIO ROE DEBT/EQUITYRATIO ROA The model gave the foundation for analysis which was to explain the relationship among the two main groups of variables. In as much as possible, variables will be selected on the basis of the literature being reviewed. Thus, while this study is expected to give exciting results, there will be direct ties to earlier studies although may reflect the changing requirements of the time. One prominent issue here is the direction of the causality in the model. This research is based on the notion that the capital structure being practised by a firm would affect its profitability. This particular cause-and-effect relationship had been proved in various studies as found in the literature being reviewed. Though it should be kept in mind that there were a number of researchers who had argued that it was profitability which would influence the capital structure (Chudson 1945, Lamothe 1982, Bowen, Daley and Huber 1982). However, it is not within the scope of this study to determine the direction of causality in this particular relationship but rather to focus on the significance of such a relationship. 2.3 Variables In the first instance, great care was taken to define the dependent and independent variables to be used in the descriptive, co variance and regression analysis. As there are several alternative measures of profitability and gearing, only relevant measures are chosen for this cross-sectional analysis. Dependent Variable Profitability is dependent variable in this analysis and two measures of profitability employed in this analysis are Return on Equity (ROE) and Return on Assets (ROA). ROE is the return on equity and is measured as earnings before tax (EBT) divided by ownersà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ capital or equity. ROE = EBT/EQUITY ROA is return on assets and is measured as earnings before interest and tax divided by total assets (Titman and Wessels, 1998; Fama and French, 2002 and Flannery and Rangan, 2006). The ratio of earnings before interest and tax (EBIT), to the book value of total assets (TA) ROA = EBITDA/TA Independent Variables Gearing Ratio represents capital structure. Therefore, in order to examine the sensitivity or otherwise of their cross-sectional results to the profitability following two ratios are used in this analysis and defined as: Debt to Total Assets: This is a simple ratio of total debt to total assets DEBT RATIO= TD/ TA Debt to Equity Capital: This is the ratio of total debt to capital, with the capital calculated as total debt plus equity, including preference shares. DEBT/EQUITY RATIO = TD / (TD + ECR + PS) PS the book value of preference shares. Research Plan and Implementation Schedule Research work starts from week beginning from October 4, 2010 and is expected to complete in 10 weeks time. The work is scheduled as follows. Research Plan Week Star Date : 04-10-2010 Week 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Background reading and literature review X X Research design and plan X Choice of methodology X Gathering data X X X Data analysis and refine X X X Writing up draft X X X Editing final document X X Produce final document X Document passed to supervisor to read X Resources I intend to use following resources Hemscott database for data collection. MS Excel for analysing data. University of Wales online library, internet, and some books on finance.

Research Synthesis Nursing Recruitment And Retention

Research Synthesis: Nursing Recruitment and Retention in Newfoundland, Canada The topic of this research synthesis paper is nursing recruitment and retention in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador (NL), Canada. The reason this topic is significant is that there is a shortage of nurses worldwide CITATION NEEDED) and Newfoundland serves as a great illustration because it has many obstacles that it has to overcome, including limited employment for the families of nurses, recent healthcare reforms, and unique challenges of living in a rural environment (CITATION NEEDED). The strategies for recruitment and retention may brign to light the consideration of the needs to both educate and retain nurses in the field, thus may assist in the needs of nurses by considering the needs to both educate and retain nurses in the field. The expected more effective recruitment and retention is better patient outcomes, as units will not be understaffed resulting in less fatigue and burnout which can ultimately lead to errors. (http://qsen.org/competencies/) The purpose of this synthesis paper is to provide a better understanding on the methods of recruitment and retention in Newfoundland, Canada, which has implications for nursing research throughout the world. Methodology Search Strategy The method of finding articles began by searching through Baylor University’s Electronic Resource Database. Criteria to limit the search result included to search through by selecting â€Å"Nursing†Show MoreRelatedNursing Retention Through Residency Programs971 Words   |  4 PagesNursing Retention through Residency Programs: A Literature Review Shannon G. 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Los Angeles Abrasion Test free essay sample

The steel reamed wheels of animal driven vehicles also cause considerable abrasion of the road surface. Therefore, the road aggregates should be hard enough to resist abrasion. Resistance to abrasion of aggregate is determined in laboratory by Los Angeles test machine. Many tests have been developed to empirically characterize aggregate properties without, necessarily, strong relationships to the performance of final products incorporating an aggregate. The Los Angeles (L. A. abrasion test is a common test method used to measure of degradation of mineral aggregates of standard grading resulting from a combination of action including abrasion and grinding. The standard Los Angeles abrasion test is ASTM C131: Resistance to degradation of small-size coarse aggregate by abrasion and impact in the Los Angeles Machine. Aggregate abrasion characteristics are important because the constituent aggregate in HMA (Hot Mix Asphalt) must resist crushing, degradation and disintegration in order to produce a high quality HMA. The standard L. We will write a custom essay sample on Los Angeles Abrasion Test or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page A abrasion test subjects a coarse aggregate sample (retained on the No. 19. 0 mm sieve) to abrasion, impact, and grinding in a rotating steel drum containing a specified number of steel spheres. As the drum rotates, a self-plate picks up the sample and the steel spheres, carrying them until they are dropped to the opposite site of the drum creating an impact-crushing effect. The contents then roll within the drum with an abrading and grinding action until the self plate impacts and the cycle is repeated. After the prescribed number of revolutions, the contents are emoved from the drum and the aggregate portion is sieved to measure the degradation as percent loss. 2. 0 Objective a) The objective of this test is to ascertain the degradation of aggregates by abrasion and impact. 3. 0 Apparatus/Equipments The apparatus used in this test are : a. Los Angeles abrasion machine (plate 2) b. Sieves (19mm, 12. 5mm, 9. 5mm, 1. 7mm and pan) c. Sieve shaker (plate 3) d. Balance (accurate to 0. 01 g) 3. 1 Picture and the Use of the Equipment Name and picture| Function| Figure 3. 1: L. A abrasion machine| * The L. A. Abrasion Machine is used as a quality control tool for aggregates, including crushed rock, gravel and slag. The testing method determines the degradation when subjected to abrasion, attrition, and impact and grinding. | Figure 3. 2: Sieve Shaker| * Use to shake sieves by subjecting vibration toward them. | Figure 3. 3: Balance| * A balance is used to measure mass to a moderate degree of precision and accuracy. | Figure 3. 4: Sieve| * It is use to separate particles of different sizes. * Each sieve has different size of holes * Usually be used with sieve shaker| . 0 Methodology 4. 1 Procedure Approximately 5000g of aggregates including 2500 Â ± 10g of 19 mm to 12. 5 mm sizes and 2500 Â ± 10g of 12. 5 mm to 9. 5 mm sizes are used in this test. (Note that this is for aggregates graded mainly between 20 mm and 10 mm size. Sample requirements of other aggregate gradations such as 40 mm to 10 mm, 10 mm to 5 mm, and 5 mm to 2. 5 mm – are given in the ASTM and CSA standards. ) This test procedure is explained below: 1. The sample is washed and dried and later the weight is obtained. 2. The sample is placed in L. A. Abrasion Machine. 3. Eleven steel balls are added in the machine. 4. The drum is rotated for about 500 revolutions at 30-33 rpm. 5. After being rotated, the sample is removed from the drum and is sieved on no. 12 sieve. Later the sample that is retained on the sieve is washed and dried at the temperature of 1050C to 1100C. The weight of the sample is taken after the sample is cooling down. 4. 2 Flow Chart 4. 3 Picture of the Procedure 5. 0 Result/Calculation Table 5. 1: Result of LAA test Aggregate Size (mm)| Weight Of Sample Before (g)| Weight Of Sample After Abrasion (g)| Loss (g)| 19 12. 5| 5000 500 2500| 4190| 810| 12. 5 9. 5| | | | Calculation: Weight loss= (Weight of sample before abrasion) – (Weight of sample after abrasion) = 5000 – 4190 = 810 g = 0. 81 kg Percent loss= (Weight loss / Total weight of sample) x 100 = 8105000 x 100 = 16. 2% lt; 30% (JKR standard requirement) The result obtained in this experiment shows that the percent loss due to degradation of aggregates by abrasi on is 16. 2%. As the percent loss of the sample is below the range of standard requirement of maximum 30% by JKR, thus the sample is suitable to be used for road works. . 0 Discussion 1. In this experiment, 2500 g of aggregate of size between 14 12. 5mm and 12. 5 9. 5mm respectively (total of 5000g) is mixed and poured into the Los Angeles Abrasion machine together with 10 standard steel balls (lack of one from the standard test) and operated for 500 revolutions at 30 33 rpm. After that, the sample is sieved through sieve of size 1. 7 mm and the weight retained is weighted. 2. From the test, the weight loss of the 5000g of sample after abrasion is 810g. It translate into a 16. 2% of loss, which is still within the JKR requirement standard (

Music And Violence Essays - African-American Culture, Gangsta Rap

Music And Violence Rap music can be considered a style of art, and a way for the artists to express feelings through their words on paper. However, there are quite a few rap artists that get criticized for their lyrics. In my essay, I want to discuss why rappers use certain lyrics in their music and why people shouldn't believe that it causes violence among the younger generations. People shouldn't censor the music just because of violent, vulgar and abusive messages it promotes to the world. I believe in my own mind, that there is a reason for these types of lyrics that rap artists use and I will simply explain those reasons in this essay. Rap has been called one of the most important music forces to emerge in two decades. It's pounding beats and staccato rhymes exploded on the streets of the urban America in the early 1980s and since have become the theme music and lyrical heart of the vibrant youth culture called hip-hop ( SIRS 1993). There are many different types of rap artist. There are some that talk about money, some talk about righteousness, and the list goes on and on. Every rap artist had their own way of expressing themselves. There are those that talk about sex, drugs, and violence who receive the negative attention( SIRS 1993). People, think this so- called gangster rap is a bad influence on children in the world and that it promotes violence and that it also is abusive to women. Delores Tucker, head of national congress of black women has been among those pressuring different record companies to stop distributing gangster rap music. There were other significant names that participated in this action. Names like Senate Majority leader Bob dole, and former education Secretary William J. Bennett(Surveys, pg. 1). There are some rap artists that have been openly criticized for their lyrics. Rappers like Lil Kim, Too Short, Snoop Doggy Dogg, and a member from "Too Live Crew," named Luke Skywalker. These rap artists in the past have been appointed for the things they say in their music. Lil Kim talks about sex in her music, Too Short talks about drugs, sex, and how much of a pimp he is, and Luke Skywalker talks about girls and sex. The lyrics that these rap artist use in their music might not be suitable for everybody to listen to but I don't think their music should be banned or criticized because you don't have to listen to it if you don't choose to. Rap music, how much influence does it really have on it's youthful listeners? Many, from record company executives to high school students agree that it plays a critical role in the lives of many tans, affecting the way they dance, dress and speak(SIRS 1993). Personally, I feel that rap music is a form of art. I think it takes a great deal of talent to write lyrics that rap artists write, because you have to use metaphors and similes, and at the same time get your point across so the listeners can understand. I give rappers a great deal of credit because I know it took them a long time to get where their at today, and I know it takes a tremendous amount of time to write a song. It's also true and I strongly agree with that rap artists use lyrics that reflect on their childhood and the way they grew up. That could be the reason why gangster rappers and rappers talk about sex, drugs, and violence in their music because that was what they were exposed to through out their life. Rap artists generally write about what they know because it is easier to write about things and situations that you know, and if sex, drugs and violence is what you know about, then you are going to write about situations that involve those subjects. Not just write about them in hopes to cause more violence in our world. Young rap fans caution it is wrong and simplistic to believe music can dictate their actions. Upbringing and circumstance steer a child's behavior, they say, not a record on a turntable or a performer posturing on stage(Newsweek, 1998). There are other reasons why gangster rappers should not be criticized for their lyrics. One reason is that I would rather hear gangster rappers talk about violence on the streets than them actually going out on the streets and participate in the violence. Another reason why rappers shouldn't be criticized is because

Childbirth, Childhood and Adolescence in the Middle Ages

Childbirth, Childhood and Adolescence in the Middle Ages What do you really know about medieval children? Perhaps no other period of history has more misconceptions associated with it than the Middle Ages. The history of childhood is also full of misconceptions. Recent scholarship has illuminated the lives of medieval children as never before, dispelling many of these misconceptions and replacing them with verifiable facts about life for the medieval child. In this multi-part feature, we explore various facets of medieval childhood, from childbirth through the teen years. Well see that, though the world they lived in was very different, medieval children were in some ways very like the children of today. Introduction to Medieval Childhood In this article, we dissect the concept of childhood in the middle ages and how that influenced the importance of children in medieval society.   Medieval Childbirth and Baptism Discover what childbirth was like in the middle ages for women of all stations and classes and the importance of religious ceremonies like baptism in the Christian world. Surviving Infancy in the Middle Ages The death rate and average lifespan in the middle ages were drastically different from what we see today. Discover what like was like for an infant as well as the realities of child mortality rate and infanticide. The Playful Years of Childhood in the Middle Ages A common misconception about medieval children is that they were treated like adults and expected to behave like adults. Children were expected to do their share of household chores, but play was also a prominent part of medieval childhood.   The Learning Years of Medieval Childhood The teenage years were the time to concentrate more intensely on learning in preparation for adulthood. While not all adolescents had schooling options, in some ways education was the archetypal experience of adolescence. Work and Adolescence in the Middle Ages While medieval teens might have been preparing for adulthood, their lives may have been full of both work and play. Discover the typical life of a teen in the middle ages.

Economic principle Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Economic principle - Essay Example ers by % Â  China 18.2% United States 11.6% Japan 7.8% Singapore 5.9% Germany 4.6% Thailand 4.2% South Korea 4.0% Â  China 19% Canada 14% Mexico 12% Japan 6.4% Germany 4.7% Â   US 14.2 % UAE 11% Saudi Arabia 8.3% UK 6.4% Japan 6 % China 4.8% Source: Unicef, 2013 Answer 1 The percentage of population who are in the labour force has been calculated by taking the total population and the number of people in the workforce. While both in US as well as in Australia the rates of participation in the labour force are 49% for each of the countries with the rate at Australia little higher than that of the United States for Quarter the figure is much higher at 64% (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2013). Answer 2 In case of all the three countries it has been noticed that the percentage of population in the agriculture is extremely low. This is a special characteristic of all the developed nations. As the countries move from the different stages of development the sectoral contributions of t hese countries would vary at each stage. This means that an underdeveloped country would have the majority of the population engaged in the agriculture. On the other hand the developing countries which have crossed the initial stage of development would have industry as the main contributor to the GDP and the maximum participation of the labour force would be in that sector. Finally the most developed countries of the world would have the maximum percentage of people working in the services sector. Thus the high percentage of people engaged in the services sector of USA and Australia, which are 79% and 75% respectively, would prove that these countries are more developed. On the other hand in case of Qatar the percentage of people in the services sector is only 45% while the industrial sector constitutes the major part of the population. Therefore Qatar can be claimed as comparatively less developed than the countries like Australia and the USA. Answer 3 The list of exports of Austr alia compared to that of Qatar is much longer. This is because the country does not have any agricultural produce and therefore it cannot export any agricultural goods to any other country. Petroleum and related products are the main sources of income of the economy of Qatar and the main sources of government revenue and accounts for more than 60% of the GDP of the country. Thus the resources that the Qatar Economy is endowed with are restricted to the industry and the services sector only. Even the contribution of the services sector is limited to 20% only. On the other hand, the Australian economy exports products and services that comprise of all the sectors of the economy.

Sustainable Practices in Facilities Management Assignment

Sustainable Practices in Facilities Management - Assignment Example Due to increasing environmental concerns worldwide, the governments are under pressure to intervene in the affairs of the society through statutory regulations for streamlining the operations of the general public, local authorities, businesses and other agencies in the backdrop of global warming. â€Å"There is enough for everybody’s need, but not enough for anybody’s greed† – Mahatma Gandhi. Nilsson (2008) states â€Å"In the past, the statement (Ibid) might have been overlooked as being a somewhat idealistic point of view, but in the light of climate change, the truth becomes very evident†.   Industrial and technological developments leading to air pollution caused by the automobiles, water pollution by industries, depleting water table and deforestation as well as imbalances in ecosystem due to extinction of species necessitates coordinated actions at all levels as the pace of development at the current rate with uninhibited use of precious na tural resources is not sustainable in the long run. The corporate community is expected to rise up to the occasion as they have been primarily responsible in the first place for this deplorable environmental phenomenon in the name of growth and industrial development. Carbon Intensity U.S. and China are the world’s two largest emitters, and reducing the Carbon intensity by these nations as well as the EU and fast developing countries such as India, Brazil and Russia holds the key for success by the world in climate change. However, the targets are mainly aimed at human induced Carbon-Di-Oxide (CO2) emissions only. However, in a comprehensive approach the need for land reuse, reforestation, biomass fuel cropping, recycling of waste and renewable energy and its perceived effects on ecosystem have also gained attention and lead the socially responsible people including corporate citizens to realize the need for their cooperation and participation, apart from the complex internat ional negotiations starting from Kyoto Protocol. Finamore (2009) states â€Å"a carbon intensity target will require each province and major enterprise to measure, report and reduce their CO2 emissions and energy consumption, year-on-year, acting as a driver for greater efficiency and renewable†. UK is committed to 80% reduction in CO2 emissions by 2050 at the recent Copenhagen Climate Change Summit in December 2009.    A 2 Z Retail’s total carbon footprint Carbon footprint means the total amount of greenhouse gases produced by an organization (or individual) in its activities, expressed in terms of measurable units of carbon dioxide. The direct greenhouse gas emission by burning fossil fuels for various needs of energy and transportation is called as Primary Footprint. The Secondary Carbon Footprint is the total of the indirect emissions generated in relation to the manufacturing process involving use of several intermediary products, consumables and services. Total carbon footprint in relation to a company is the sum of all emissions of CO2 (carbon dioxide), including Primary and Secondary footprints in a given time frame, calculated usually for a year. The calculation is based on the consumption of different type of fuels by the different activities. For example, for each (UK) liter of Diesel consumed, 2.7 kg carbon dioxide (CO2) is emitted, and for each liter of heating oil, it works out to 3.0 kg. The activities such as travel by train or bus (public transportation) for a distance of 10 to 12 km or by

Human resource Management Essay Example for Free

Human resource Management Essay Introduction Human resource Management is the method of managing an organisation or a business and is related to employees and planes of a company or an institution. The aims or objectives of an HR are to meet the desires and benefits of the organisation, to make the business to grow and have value and to motivate the employees and to reward them when they perform very well. In the essay below its gone be illustrated all the job and responsibilities of an HR. LO1. The difference between Human Resource Management and Personnel Management 1.1 Human resource Management is a needed function on all the organisations because is the process of hiring and selection of people for the right job by training the candidates and increasing their skills and performance providing appropriate benefits ,inspiring, keeping the safety of the workers by obeying with labour laws . Personnel Management is dedicated to discipline the employees, is taking care of their salaries, training, motivating the employees to perform well, solving arguments between workers and communicating with the employees at all levels.(Business Dictionary 2014). The difference between Human Resource and Personnel Management is that the Personnel Management is that the Personnel Management is  concentrating more on the training of the employees; give them the wages, explaining them the rules of the company and the interests of the employers ,employees processes, job description, checking, writing contracts and explain the rules, while the Human Resource Management is dedicated to the values,objectives,aims,culture,plans,customers,teams,performance of the employees,motivation,rewards and increased the profit of the business.(IQPC 2011) KFC preparation and improvement of the employees is concentrating more on efficacious management and to build strong relationships with the customer. By serving the customer as fast as possible with a large smile on the face the clients have nothing to complain and will come often to visit the restaurant. This can be one of many important duties of a Human resources management or Personnel management the method that can satisfy the customer needs and to respect the people time. 1.2 1.3 The role, responsibilities and duties of the Human Resource Management and Line Managers The Human Resource practitioners they have a vital role in the organisation because they focusing on rules and coordination. The Human Resources Management need to have the capability and knowledge to think out of the box, to engage employees to improve and perform well, to recruit professional and well trained people for all the vacant positions and to have the right wages, with other words the Human Resource Manager must hire the right staff with the right abilities for the right job. His other responsibilities are to plan, improve the success of the company, orientation as well is one of his activities because must help the new staff to adjust to the new job and make sure that the workers know their working hours,wages,benefits and the rules and expectations of the organisation. Planning of the career also is part of the Human Resources Job because must know the potential that his employees have to grow and advance in their careers. Compensation is a task that the Human Resources Manager have to control because in this way knows how many of his employees they perform well and the employees that can do well certain jobs are paid better that other workers. Benefits also are a form of being paid well because of their good performance. The labour relations are a method to interact with the employees which are characterized by trade unions. Trade unions is the voice of a group of employees which are together when they have to take decisions about salaries, compensations, working hours or working conditions and other  methods or characteristics of working.Recoord keeping is the duty that involves recording ,conserving ,and repossessing employees similar information’s for difference motivations.(Human Resources Management Functions ) In 2010 KFC concentrated again on developing the business and making the employees feel valuable for the company putting exceptional efforts on developing that method and is accomplished by the business reward package. This programm was design to give bonuses to employees but the performance was the best way to show that they can truly can received by selling more items and by educated with all the customers. Anyway constructing employee’s capability and knowledge at KFC is a very important plan. (KFC Human resources management to meet emerging business needs 2005-2014) 1.4 Lawful and regulatory request The regulations and the legal regulations that must be respected by the Human Resource Management are: = to give equal opportunities to the employees to work no matter the culture, gender,ethnie,color of the skin, race or sex ,disabilities or age.(Civil Rights Act 1964) =prohibits discrimination (Civil Rights Act 1991) =forbids diverse wage for based on sex for identical work (Civil Rights Act 1963) =discrimination of pregnancy (Civil Act Rights 1978) =sexual harassments prohibited (Civil Rights Act 1980)  (HR Management Laws and Regulations2013) At KFC the staff is always needed being very busy as Mc Donald’s so the management need to hire enough people in each team or group to have a working time easy and without stress ,so the Human resource management have to know what kind of people to hire no matter their culture are ,or religion,ethnie,age or colour. No discrimination should appear in any of the company. Because employees are working in teams at KFC their conduct must by respectful with other colleagues and disputes between the staff must disappear immediately. Lo3.3.1 Motivational theory and how this impacts the reward system in the  organization. When people go to work they bring with them their personality and individual behaviours. No matter the person’s position in the workplace the personality and behaviour plays a very important role in how that person is completing his duties and interact with others .Theory of Maslow also have an impact on the people at work because explains how the employees desire to perform at work by having a higher position, the need of money, friends, love or sex, sleep, hunger, safety or esteem when they need only the respect of other, no matter that person is. In every company the employees they work only to satisfy a need from the scale of Maslow theory and they perform to achieve that goal no matter what it is. Motivation it refers to the reason that makes as act, perform or even behave. The motivation is guide as to achieve a goal, desire or a purpose. Without motivation we can’t start or finish enithing.On the other hand rewards it’s the thing that keeps you motivate continuously. The rewards can be money, higher position, compensation or even more hours to work or bigger salary. At KFC restaurant the culture, ethnie, colour, religion and age are togheter.The staff can by from Bangladesh, Italy, Pakistan, Poland, and Rumanian and so on. Anyway the characters working together and must have a good conduct and behaviour. When the religion and culture of a person is respected and take it seriously at the workplace that person is motivated and happy to improve his performance and improve company’s profit as well. Culture is the atmosphere which all of as we functioning all the time, so in fact the culture is something that we ca not see, is in fact the harmony or manifestations in the workplace. Every new staff bring in the company his own culture and attitude or religion. Culture also is recognised by symbols, stories, language, religion, outfits and daily rituals. (KFC Legal terms) 3.2 Job evaluation process and payment factors. Job evaluation process refers to the strategy of a company by estimating the number of the vacancies in the company and when looking for qualified and professional people for a position in the company. The characteristics of job evaluation and the methods that KFC is using to recruit people when a position is vacant: Description of the job and design Presentation Recruitment Selection Training Profession preparation Progression development KFC evaluation process in few steps and methods that the company is using when the candidates are chosen, management must explain to the new personnel what the policies and rules of the company are and below examples of the procedures after selection: 1. The employers must give clear details and working hours to the employee 2. Salary agree and about benefits 3. Tasks and duties of the employee 4. Written contracts as proof of agreement for job between employer and employees 5. Training is a must in all the company because help the staff to perform well and help the company to achieve their goals and purposes 6. Clear conditions of the company (Human resources organisational development and design 01 January 2014) Human resources flow chart and stages to take in order to recruit and select people and how payment of employees and volunteers are made. Identify staff and volunteers needed HR and ManagerAdvertising HR criteria and job description regular hire Permanent hirework hours explained and requirement of skills, knowledge and experience Receive CVClassificationinterviewsnr of candidates chosen and rejected, development of recruiting strategy Selection Benefits of the job explained by Management Hiring (Quality management at Kentucky Fried Chicken) 3.3 Varieties of reward systems Reward systems are the rules, procedures benefits classified by money, extra working hours for those who want or need more hours to make extra, and a higher position in the company and so on. All the employees who are performing well in the company by selling more or making more customers are rewarded by management in the way they need. The reward system is designed to motivate employees to work better and make the organisation improve. How planning a compensation programm: The solutions to implement a compensation program are the following steps: †¢Discovering the organisation or team goals that this program will support to improve the company s profit. †¢Identification of the preferred workers routine or comportments that will strengthen the business’s aims and the image of the organisation will be a respectful one in the customer’s eyes. †¢Nomination of crucial proportions of the presentation or conduct, founded on the individual or collections earlier realisations Specification of suitable recompenses †¢Announcement of program to workers Then the types of reward system can by: additional benefit, variable pay, stock choices, compensations, more working hours or increase salary, or an advanced position. (Organisational behaviour Ninth Edition by G.I.Moorhead) At KFC the employees are encouraged and motivated to perform well and increased the company’s profits because are rewarded in terms of promotions, bonuses, higher position, more working hours, higher wages or free lunchtimes or meals. And also when the staffs have more than 5 points that person can receive benefits in money, this called â€Å"My growth body†. (KFC presentation 2013) 3.4 Organisation monitors performance. This is a few steps of monitoring employee’s performance: Amount means the number of items or goods sold can be the best indicator of performance Timeliness refers to how fast the staff can sell something Non-attendance or unpunctuality no one can perform well as is latte at work. .employees must be on time at the workplace or if is absent Individual presence staff must dree adequately at work Ask feedback from customers can control behaviour of the employees. Controlling the employees is a simple duty but with all these controlling and measuring the employee’s performance and motivation as well is heavy look from directors, owners and those who control the company. The staffs are the very important tools of all the company s because they are communicating with the customers directly or face to face. Conclusion The Human resources management is a roll that all the companies must have it because is the person which the best know how to control, recruit and select and pay the staff. The training is also his duty because must know and recruit the professional and knowledge people for the right position. All the recruitment, selection, procedures of the organisations are calculated and monitored by Human resource management. REFERENCE LIST Webs Business Dictionary 2014, last acceded on 31/08/2014 http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/personnel-management.html IQPC 2011, last acceded on 31/08/2014 http://www.iqpc.com/redcontent.aspx?id=65816 Human Resource Management Functions, last acceded on 31/08/2014 http://www.whatishumanresource.com/Human-Resource-Management-functions HR Management Laws and Regulations2013, last acceded on 31/08/2014 http://www.cliffsnotes.com/more-subjects/principles-of-management/staffing-and-human-resource-management/hr-management-laws-and-regulations Human resources organisational development and design 01 January 2014 last access on 05/09/14 http://hr.uct.ac.za/usr/hr/job_evaluation_guide.pdf Quality management at Kentucky Fried Chicken http://www.sba.pdx.edu/faculty/melliep/339/QualityMgmtKFC.pdf KFC Human resource management to meet emerging business needs 2005-2014 last access on 05/09/2014 http://www.afrbiz.com.au/case-studies/kfc-human-resources-to-meet-emerging-business-needs.html KFC Legal terms last access on 05/09/2014

Free King Lear Essays: The Unaccommodated Man :: free essay writer

The Unaccommodated Man in King Lear In William Shakespeare's King Lear, betrayal is a common event that leads to the downfall of some of the characters. In today's society, there are two main attitudes that are generally taken towards these fallen individuals or unaccommodated men. The first attitude is more of a pessimistic, judgmental attitude. This attitude puts the majority of the blame on the individuals themselves. The individuals are portrayed as being responsible either due to ignorance or laziness, and it is thought that the individuals got themselves into their deprived situation and they can also find their way out. The second view is more optimistic and is usually more merciful and accepting. People taking this stance generally would take pity on the individuals thinking that their unfortunate situation was due to a simple case of bad luck, or that these individuals were taken advantage of or betrayed by others ultimately leaving them accommodated. In King Lear, the characters Lear, Gloucester, and E dgar were all betrayed by family members leading to their unaccommodated lives. Once again you can take the pessimistic, judgmental attitude or the optimistic, merciful attitude. When applied to the characters in King Lear, I choose to take the optimistic, merciful attitude. King Lear was betrayed by his two daughters Goneril and Regan. King Lear wanted to distribute his land according to the amount of love that this daughters had for him. Granted this was an illogical method, his intentions were not to destruct the family and himself. He was also very harsh to Cordelia, but the ultimate event that took place to leave him unaccommodated was the betrayal by Goneril and Regan. Lear put his trust in the wrong people, and it ended up placing him in a horrible situation. Now Lear did not make the smartest decisions, but what wrong did he commit in trusting his two daughters who professed their love for him to provide for his basic needs. "How sharper than a serpent's tooth it is to have a thankless child." ( I, iv,57). Lear voices his frustration with not being able to trust his own family members. Gloucester's downfall was also a case of betrayal. His illegitimate son, Edmond, betrayed him into thinking that Edgar, his legitimate son, was plotting against him. One might say that Gloucester was ignorant in believing Edmond, and that he was illogical in not confronting Edgar.

How the Media Affect What People Essay

The standard assertion in most recent empirical studies is that â€Å"media affect what people think about, not what they think. † The findings here indicate the media make a significant contribution to what people think—to their political preferences and evaluations—precisely by affecting what they think about. A he belief that long dominated the scholarly community is that news messages have â€Å"minimal consequences† (Katz and Lazarsfeld, 1955; Klapper, 1960). Many media scholars still endorse something close to this view (cf. McGuire, 1985; Gans, n. d. ; Neuman, 1986; also M. Robinson and Sheehan, 1983). The more popular recent view is that media influence is significant, but only in shaping the problems the public considers most important—their agendas (McCombs and Shaw, 1972). In some respects, agenda research challenges the minimal consequences view, but both approaches share a core assumption. Both assume audiences enjoy substantial autonomy in developing their political preferences. Research contradicting the notion that media have minimal consequences or only influence agendas has emerged during the 1980s (see, e. g. the pioneering yet disparate work of such authors as Bartels, 1985; Patterson, 1980; Iyengar and Kinder, 1987; and Page, Shapiro, and Dempsey, 1987; cf. Rob- The author gratefully acknowledgesfinancialsupport from the John and Mary R. Markle Foundation and the Institute for Research on Poverty, University of Wisconsin, and thanks this journal’s referees and editors for useful suggestions. JOURNAL OF POLITICS, Vol. 51, No. 2, May 1989 Portions of this article appear in DEMOCRACY WITHOUT CITIZENS: THE MEDIA AND THE DECAY OF AMERICAN POLITICS by Robert M. Entman.  © 1989 by Robert M. Entman. Used by arrangement with Oxford University Press, Inc. 348 Robert M. Entman inson and Levy, 1986). 1 But this burgeoning research has not yet generated a theory that explicitly refutes the assumption of audience autonomy and explains more fully the media’s impact on public opinion. This article probes the theoretical underpinnings of the autonomy assumption and provides empirical evidence that media messages significantly influence what the public thinks by shaping what they think about. THE RESEARCH TRADITION The audience autonomy assumption provides the foundation for the minimal consequences position. The assumption is that audiences form their political opinions in relative independence from the media. There are two somewhat distinct variants of this position. The first emphasizes that audiences think about communications selectively, screening out information they do not like (Klapper, I960; cf. McGuire, 1985). The second holds that audiences pay so little attention and understand so little that the news cannot influence them (Neuman, 1986; cf. MacKuen, 1984). 2 In practice, both the selectivity hypothesis and the hypothesis of inattention and incomprehension (hereafter just â€Å"inattention†) hold that media messages tend only to reinforce existing preferences rather than helping to form new attitudes or change old ones. Thus the media have little net impact on politics. The central assumption of the more recent agenda setting research has been that media do exert significant influence, but only in a narrow sphere. In this view, the public’s autonomy is not complete, but its susceptibility to media influence is limited to agendas. Agenda research almost always includes a sentence like this: â€Å"Although a ‘minimal effects’ model most accurately describes the media’s ability to change opinions, recent research has shown that the media can play a much larger role in telling us what to think about, if not what to think† (Lau and Erber, 1985, p. 60; almost identical assertions appear throughout the literature, e. g. , McCombs and Shaw, 1972; MacKuen, 1984, pp. 72, 386; and even radical critiques such as Parenti, 1985, p. 23; also see MacKuen and Combs, 1981; Behr and Iyengar, 1985; Miller, Erbring, and Goldenberg, 1979). 3 Agenda scholarship does not provide a comprehensive theory that explains why media influence is confined to agendas, but selecDeFleur and Ball-Rokeach’s â€Å"dependency theory† (1982) describes an important theoretical alternativ e to the autonomy assumption, but that work predates most of the recent surge in empirical evidence. 2 Neuman (1986, chap. ) grounds his argument in the lack of evidence that media can teach specific information or enhance political sophistication. The concern in this paper is with political evaluations and preferences, which do not require much information—often a simple emotional response will do (cf. Abelson et al. , 1982). A related argument cites the public’s inability to recall specific stories. But the influence of a single news story or show is rarely of interest. The primary concern is the effect of repeated news messages over time (cf. Graber, 1984). But compare Iyengar and Kinder, 1987, and Protess et al. , 1987, for agenda setting research showing that media influence of agendas also shapes, respectively, the mass public’s criteria of political judgment and public officials’ behavior. 1 How the Media Affect What People Think 349 tivity and ina ttention again seem to be key. In the agenda setting view, the media can overcome these barriers in determining the issues people think about but not in shaping how they evaluate issues or candidates (the most explicit discussion is MacKuen, 1984). The problem with the agenda setting position is that the distinction between â€Å"what to think† and â€Å"what to think about† is misleading. Nobody, no force, can ever successfully â€Å"tell people what to think. † Short of sophisticated physical torture (â€Å"brainwashing†), no form of communication can compel anything more than feigned obeisance. The way to control attitudes is to provide a partial selection of information for a person to think about, or process. The only way to influence what people think is precisely to shape what they think about. No matter what the message, whether conveyed through media or in person, control over others’ thinking can never be complete. Influence can be exerted through selection of information, but conclusions cannot be dictated. If the media (or anyone) can affect what people think about—the information they process—the media can affect their attitudes. This perspective yields an assumption of interdependence: public opinion grows out of an interaction between media messages and what audiences make of them. I will call this the â€Å"interdependence model. The competing positions, the minimal consequences and the agenda perspectives, both endorse the assumption that audiences form preferences autonomously. I will call this the â€Å"autonomy model. † INFORMATION PROCESSING AND MEDIA IMPACTS Combining a recognition of the interdependence of audiences and media with information-processing models developed by cognitive psychologists may offer the best foundation for a new understanding (cf. Graber, 1984; Kraus and Perloff, 1985). There is no consensus among those who study information processing. But a number of generalizations pertinent to the mass media’s impacts can be gleaned from their work. Information-processing research shows that people have cognitive structures, called â€Å"schemas,†4 which organize their thinking. A person’s system of schemas stores substantive beliefs, attitudes, values, and preferences (cf. Rokeach, 1973) along with rules for linking different ideas. The schemas â€Å"direct attention to relevant information, guide its interpretation and evaluation, provide inferences when information is missing or ambiguous, and facilitate its retention† (Fiske and Kinder, 1981, p. 73). Schemas are not filters used to select out all unfamiliar or uncomfortable information. As Bennett writes, â€Å"[I]nformation processing constructs [i. e. schemas] like party identification and ideological categories should not be reScholars have used many other terms, including â€Å"scripts,† â€Å"inferential sets,† â€Å"frames,â €™ and â€Å"prototypes. † While there are subtle differences among them, they need not concern us here. The term schema is as good as any, and for clarity’s sake I use the English plural â€Å"schemas† instead of the awkward â€Å"schemata. 4 350 Robert M. Entman garded as rigid cognitive frameworks that work infixedways to screen out unfamiliar information† (Bennett, 1981, p. 91). Certainly people fail to think about much of the news, but not necessarily because they choose only congruent messages, or because they inevitably misunderstand or deliberately ignore media reports. Selectivity and inattention are stressed by the autonomy model, but that model fails to explain why many citizens do think about a great deal of the new information they encounter. Information-processing theory recognizes and helps explain how attitudes emerge from a dynamic interaction of new information with peoples’ existing beliefs. In Bennett’s (1981, p. 92) words, political thought is â€Å"data-driven† by external information and â€Å"conceptually-driven† by internal schemas. Information-processing theory suggests that whether people ignore or pay attention to new information depends more on its salience, on whether it meshes with their interests, than on whether it conflicts with their existing beliefs (Markus and Zajonc, 1985, pp. 162 and passim; Kinder and Sears, 1985, pp. 710-12). While people may resist knowledge that challenges their fundamental values (Axelrod, 1973), most can accommodate new information and even hold a set of specific beliefs that may appear dissonant, contradictory, or illogical to an outsider (cf. Lane, 1962). The explicit model of thinking that cognitive psychologists have been putting together thus contradicts the implicit model in much of media research. Rather than resisting or ignoring most new or dissonant media reports, as the autonomy model assumes, the information-processing view predicts that people are susceptible to significant media effects. In the information-processing perspective, a person first assesses a media report for salience. If salient, the person processes the news according to routines established in the schema system. Processing may lead the person either to store the information or discard it; if stored, the information may stimulate new beliefs or change old beliefs. So selectivity and inattention are not the whole story. Often people may screen out information that contradicts their current views; but other times they think about disturbing reports they find relevant. The notion of an audience that actively resists all potentially conflicting information rests upon an assumption of a deeply involved and knowledgeable citizenry, a vision that does not apply to most people (e. g. , Converse and Markus, 1979; Kinder and Sears, 1985). Common sense suggests it takes more information and time to change the minds of strong adherents than weak ones, but sometimes even loyalists do change. When the implications are not obvious—for example when the information is contained in the form of a subtle slant to the news (see Entman, 1989, chap. )—the probability increases that even activists will store conflicting data without experiencing any immediate dissonance. And while it may take many repetitions of a media message to pierce the public’s indubitable haze of neglect and distraction, this very same political indifference may enhance the likelihood that messages which do penetrate How the Media Affect What People Think 351 will have an im pact. Just because on most matters Americans have so little knowledge and such weakly-anchored beliefs, information provided by the media can significantly shape their attitudes. Not only do the majority of audience members lack detailed, expert knowledge or strong opinions (cf. Fiske, Kinder, and Larter, 1983); sometimes there are no old attitudes to defend. Many of the most significant political contests are played out over emerging issues or leaders; audiences do not have set attitudes toward them. That clears the path for significant media influence. TESTING MEDIA INFLUENCE Identification as liberal, moderate, or conservative is a key component of the political schema system that much of the public applies to political information. Ideological leanings affect responses to specific media eports; different identifiers may read the same message differently. This is why the media, in common with all other sources of information, cannot dictate public views and why an interdependence model seems appropriate. The interdependence model predicts that media influence varies according to the way each person processes specific news messages. Instead of treating ideo logy as a tool people use to screen out reports that conflict with their liberalism or conservatism, the model sees ideology as a schema that influences the use people make of media messages in more complicated ways. The interaction between the attributes of the message and the schemas of the audience shapes the impact of the news. One element of this interdependence is message salience, which may vary among the ideological groups. Stories that interest liberals may bore conservatives; items that intrigue ideologues on either side may not interest moderates, who have few strong beliefs. Another aspect of interdependence involves whether the message is relevant to peripheral or central attitudes. The centrality of a message may vary for different groups, since liberals and conservatives appear to structure their ideas distinctively. Central to liberalism is attachment to ideals of change and equality; central to conservatism is attraction to capitalism (Conover andj^eldman, 1981). The two groups probably process some media messages^differently. This decidedly does not mean liberals, for example, screen out all material that challenges liberalism. Consider an editorial praising the ideal of capitalist markets and proposing to make the post office a private enterprise. While the message conflicts with liberal ideology, it does so peripherally, since government ownership of public utilities is not fundamental to American liberalism. The message may not only bolster conservatism among conservatives, but weaken liberals’ commitment to liberalism, if only at the margin. Another point of interdependence involves whether the message comes from an editorial, with its overtly persuasive intent, or from a news story that is ostensibly designed merely to inform. Conservatives may be more likely 352 Robert M. Entman o screen out editorial than news items that favor the left, since the slant of news may not be obvious. Afinalaspect of interdependence lies in how new or unfamiliar the reported topic is. All else being equal, the less familiar the object of the news, the less likely a person will respond by fitting the report into an established category and maintaining a set attitude. Where the subject of the news is unfamiliar to all sets of ideological identifiers, all will be susceptible to media influence. Four hypotheses emerge from this use of information processing theory to develop an interdependence model of media influence. They are not all the hypotheses that merit exploration, but they are the ones that can be tested with the data available, and they should provide support for the superiority of the interdependence over the autonomy model. Hypothesis #1: Editorials affect ideological identifiers more than moderates. Those identifying as liberals or conservatives are likely to find ideologically-charged editorial messages salient. Those with less-focused commitments, the moderates, may not find ideological editorials relevant. Hypothesis #2: Liberal editorials should exert a leftward push on those attitudes of conservatives not central to their ideology. Hypothesis #3: Editorial content has stronger effects on new subjects of news coverage than on long-familiar ones. Hypothesis #4: News affects beliefs among liberals, moderates, and conservatives alike. People will tend to screen out news messages less than editorials. Shaped by objectivity rules, news stories are designed to appear neutral to audiences (e. g. , Schudson, 1978; Tuchman, 1978; Molotch and Boden, 1985). The appearance of neutrality may soften the audience’s defenses. DATA The dataset combines a national survey on Americans’ political attitudes from 1974 and 1976 with information on the political content of the newspapers read by respondents. The 1974 Michigan Content Analysis Study provides extensive information on the front page news and editorial page content of ninety-two newspapers throughout the country. The total number of news and editorial items employed here is nearly 18,000. 5 The content information (Institute for Social Research, 1978) is matched to data from a representative national survey, the University of Michigan Center for Political Studies poll of 1974. The sample analyzed consists of those who were surveyed and read  ° The study included ninety-six newspapers, of which four had incomplete data; readers of those four were excluded from the analysis. How the Media Affect What People Think 353 one of the ninety-two newspapers included in the Content Analysis Study, a total weighted sample of 1,292 persons. 6 Excluded were those who did not read a paper (approximately 30% of those surveyed) or who read papers for which no data were collected. 7 The content data were gathered for ten days during October and November, 1974. Even though the data were obtained over a short time period, a check suggests they accurately reflect the typical stands of the papers. For example, among the ninety-two newspapers, the Washington Post scores higher in editorial liberalism than the (defunct) Washington Star; the New York Daily News scores to the right of the New York Times, and so forth. 8 In any case, while far from perfect, the dataset is the most comprehensive collection linking media content to peoples’ attitudes. One measure of newspaper content taps diversity in news stories, the other liberalism in editorials. I expect both aspects of the newspaper’s message to encourage opinions to move toward more sympathy with liberal politicians, 6 The actual number of people interviewed was 1,575. The answers of some members of the sample were counted three times to make a weighted sample of 2,523. This was done in order to ensure adequate representation in the sample of sparsely populated areas of the count ry. Thus, the weighted sample is the most representative. 7 The demographics of the final reader subsample closely parallel those of the 1974 national cross section as a whole. The mean education of the entire original sample, including non-readers (n = 2,523), is 11. 5 years, the mean of the sample analyzed (n = 1,292) is 12. 2; the mean income, about $11,000 versus $12,000. On other demographic and political characteristics, the two groups are virtually identical. 8 Further enhancing confidence in the validity of the content measures is their use in such important studies as Erbring, Goldenberg, and Miller, 1980. 9 Each editorial item was coded for zero, one, or two assertions favoring or opposing liberal and conservative policy stands. The editorial liberalism index is a percentage formed by first counting the number of times a paper endorsed a liberal position or opposed a conservative position, then subtracting assertions favoring conservative or derogating liberal stands. The result was divided by twice the number of editorial items, since each item was coded for up to two liberal or conservative assertions. The higher the score, the more liberal the editorial page. This index uses variables 21 and 28 in the CPS Media Content Analysis Study 1974. A second measure employed data on news (variables 27 and 34 in the CPS study). The news diversity measure taps a dimension of news slant that audiences are less likely to screen than editorial liberalism. Like most aspects of news slant, it is a subtle trait of reporting that few audience members would notice. The front page news items were coded for mention of zero, one, or two problems. For each problem mention, coders noted whether two different actors overtly disagreed with each other. Each news item was coded as having zero, one, or two instances of two actors asserting different points of view. The diversity index is the number of times two actors expressed different positions divided by twice the number of stories. The higher the score, the more diversity of news. Examples of the actors coded in this variable include Gerald Ford, Richard Nixon, Nelson Rockefeller, Democratic Party, Republican candidates, and business leaders. Thus, a story might concern inflation and unions, and might contain opposing assertions by Gerald Ford and a Democratic Senate candidate on both the causes of inflation and the value of unions. The story would be coded 2 for one disagreement on each of the two problems. If the two actors agreed (or voiced no opinions) on unions but disagreed on inflation, the code would be 1. If they agreed on both or neither agreed nor disagreed, the code would be 0. 354 Robert M. Entman groups, and ideas. The basis for predicting that news diversity moves audiences leftward is that the majority of local newspapers appear to promote a generally Republican and conservative perspective (cf. Bagdikian, 1974; Radolf, 1984). Their editorial and perhaps news inclinations do not favor liberalism. All else being equal, I believe those papers with higher diversity probably provide more information that challenges the conservative editorial baseline. In addition, the mere presence of conflicting views in the news may convey an awareness of the diversity of the country, including its variety of races, economic classes, and viewpoints. Such consciousness may promote tolerance of change, and empathy for positions or groups that challenge the status quo. 0 Diversity may also undermine authority by conveying the impression that a range of ideas is plausible, that the existing distribution of power, wealth, and status is not immutable. As for the other content measure, while many readers no doubt skip editorial pages, Bagdikian (1974) shows that the editorial perspective tends to be mirrored in news slant. The editorial liberalism index may indirectly reflect the political tendency of news coverage. The survey incl uded â€Å"feeling thermometer† questions. Interviewers asked respondents to express their feelings toward several well-known groups and politicians. Respondents chose numbers ranging from â€Å"0† for the coldest feelings, through â€Å"100† for the warmest, with â€Å"50† meaning neutral or mixed feelings. I constructed five attitude indexes using factor analysis. 11 The Liberal Feelings Jndex combined ratings of Edward Kennedy, Hubert Humphrey, liberals, Democrats, and unions. The Radical Feelings Index consisted of thermometer ratings of radical students, black militants, civil rights leaders, and policemen. The Poor Feelings Index tapped thermometers of poor people, blacks, and George Wallace. The Republican Feelings Index was created from ratings of Gerald Ford, Richard Nixon, and Republicans. Finally, the Conservative Feelings Index rated big business, the military, and conservatives. 12 The Michigan survey also asked respondents for their stands on government guaranteed jobs; dealing with urban unrest by solving the problems of unemployment and poverty; protecting legal rights of those accused of crimes; A competing hypothesis might be that diversity challenges initial viewpoints, so that it would promote conservatism among liberals and vice versa. That idea is not borne out by the data. Diversity is consistently associated with more liberal views. 1 ‘ Surveys are described in Institute for Social Research, 1979. All feeling thermometers were classified on their face for relevance to the liberal-conservative continuum. Pertinent items received varimax factor analysis. Five factors had eigenvalues greater than 1. 0. Indexes added together scores on all feeling thermometer responses loading above . 40 on a factor. In two cases, items loaded more than . 40 on two factors; these were included on their highest loaded index. All dependent variable attitude indexes used in this paper have Cronbach Alpha reliability scores greater than . 80. 12 Policemen and Wallace loaded negatively on their respective factors. The feeling thermometer responses to each were subtracted from the sum of the other items in forming the indexes. 10 How the Media Affect What People Think 355 busing to achieve racial balance; the Equal Rights Amendment; integration of schools; government aid to minorities; and self-placement on the liberalconservative spectrum. 3 Using factor analysis again, all but one of the responses (to the ERA) were associated together and became the Policy Preferences Index. Twofinalvariables come from readers of sampled papers who participated in surveys during both 1974 and 1976. Their responses in 1976 provide an opportunity to check for media impacts on feelings toward a previously unknown presidential candidate, Jimmy Carter (Carter Index), and on presidential vote (Vote76). FINDINGS Testing the four p redicted media effects requires probing for impacts of editorial liberalism and news diversity on the seven attitudes and on presidential vote. Regression analysis enables us to see whether, with all else equal, readers of more liberal or diverse papers exhibit more liberal attitudes and voting behavior. Editorial liberalism taps the persuasive element of the newspaper, or, in agenda-setting terms, the aspect of the paper that attempts to â€Å"tell people what to think. † News diversity taps the putatively informational element that only â€Å"tells people what to think about. † The interdependence model holds that both editorials and news provide information to think about and thereby influence attitudes, whether intentionally or not. If selectivity or inattention precludes media influence, or if the effect is limited to agendas, the regressions should reveal no significant associations between attitudes and newspaper content. 14 Table 1 summarizes regression results for the impacts of newspaper content on the beliefs of the entire sample of readers. The feeling thermometers are coded from 0 to 100 so that higher scores are warmer (more favorable). The higher the policy preferences score, the more conservative the responses. Vote76 is 1 for Carter, 0 for Ford, so higher scores indicate voting for Carter. The regressions include the following additional variables to control for forces that might also influence attitudes: urban-rural place of residence; age; years of education; family income; race; region; party identification; and ideological self-identification. 15 The impacts of these non-media variables follow expecVariables 2265, 2273, 2281, 2288, 2296, 2302, and 2305 in the 1974 NES Codebook. Although partisanship and ideology are not truly interval variables, the results of the regressions suggest that it is quite reasonable to treat them as such. 15 These variables are coded as follows. Age: coded in years; non-South: 1 = North or West, 0 = South; income: coded in thousands; party i. d. : 7-point scale, 0 = strong Democrat, 3 = independent, 6 = strong Republican; urbanized: 1 = urban, suburban, 0 = rural; white race: 1 = white, 0 = nonwhite; education: coded in years; policy preferences index: adding six 7-point scales, so range is 6 = most liberal, 42 = most conservative; and ideology identification: 1 = most liberal, 4 = middle of the road or don’t know, 7 = most conservative. On the latter, note 14 13 356 Robert M. Entman tations, which bolsters confidence in the validity of the attitude measures. For a full display of coefficients for all independent variables, see Entman, 1987). Multicollinearity among the independent variables is not a problem. Of the forty-five intercorrelations, only three exceed . 20. The strongest was between education and income (r = . 357). Table 1 shows that the more editorially liberal the paper, the more warmly their readers re spond on the Liberal Feelings Index. This relationship suggests that editorial liberalism influences the public’s evaluations of key leaders and groups associated with the liberal coalition: in this case, Hubert Humphrey, Edward Kennedy, Democrats, unions, and liberals.