Thursday, November 14, 2019

Middle Ages :: essays research papers fc

The Christian Crusades Positively Impacted the East and the West Even though countless numbers of people died during the Christian Crusades, there were many positive effects for both the East and the West. After the Crusades halted, various trade routes opened up between Eastern and Western cities. Also, the Muslims developed new military strategies and techniques during the fights with the Europeans, and they united themselves against one cause, producing a stronger religious nation (Encyclopà ¦dia Britannica, 1993). Numerous effects of the Christian Crusades in the Middle East had a positive outcome. In John Child's book, The Crusades, he quotes J. Kerr as claiming that the "most obvious result of the crusades" was a growth in "trade with the east". According to a 1996 AP article printed in the Jerusalem Post, the English word "sugar" comes from the Arabic "sukkar", and "scallion" comes from "Ascalon", a Philistine city. Trade extended from England to the Black Sea, going through the ports of Beirut, Acre and Alexandria. After the loss of Acre in 1291, Cyprus, Rhodes and Crete were the three Mediterranean islands that composed some of the main crusader trading centers. From these three islands it was possible to control goods' ships traveling to and from the Middle East (Child, 1994). These trade routes generated a beneficial contact between the cultures of East and West. Many merchants from the cities of Venice and Genoa settled in Cyprus and Crete. From the Muslims these merchants bought spices, sugar, cloth and cotton. Other merchants from Sicily and Aragorn traded for Tunisian gold, and Algerian wool and animal skins. Popular goods traded from the Middle East were sugar, melons, cotton, ultramarine dye and damask cloth. Although the Pope tried to stop merchants from trading with the Muslims, he had to repeal his embargo in 1344. Though most of the traded goods came from the Middle East, the com bined efforts from both East and West brought about many inventions, such as windmills, compasses, gunpowder and clocks. Figure 1 This trade between East and West caused prosperity among the people. Child states in his book that the merchants made "a lot of money" out of the trade with the Muslim people. After the Crusades had terminated, these merchants were able to prosper from trade between Europe and the Middle East. Outlined in Figure 1 are some trade routes utilized after the Crusades. During the Crusades, the Muslims used weaponry that the Franks were not familiar with.

Tuesday, November 12, 2019

Accounting and Finance For Business Essay

While these tutorial tasks MUST be submitted individually, you are encourage to work through these tasks together with the other members of your team, both during this week’s tutorial and in your own time. This is a good opportunity to ensure that all members of your group can calculate a breakeven point before and after-tax, a margin of safety and make a managerial decision regarding the addition of a new product (in this tutorial exercise, the addition of a new route). All answers must be inserted into the on-line form provided in LMS titled, â€Å"Topic 9 Tutorial Exercises†. Kangaroo Airlines Kangaroo Airlines in small local carrier located in the Kimberly region of Western Australia. All seats are economy class and the following data is available: 1.What is the break-even point in number of passengers per month? 30000 2.What is the break-even point in sales revenue dollars per month? 2100000 3.What is the break-even point in number of flights per month (round up)? 334 4.If Kangaroo Airline currently has on average 40,000 passengers per month what is Kangaroo Airline’s margin of safety in number of passengers? 5.If Kangaroo Airlines raises its average full passenger fare to $85 and the  average variable costs per passenger will remain at $30, it is estimated that the load factor will decrease to 60 percent. What will be the break-even point in number of flights (round up)? 6.The cost of aviation fuel is a significant variable cost to any airline. If fuel charges increase by $8 per barrel, it is estimated that variable cost per passenger will increase to $40 however that average full passenger fare will remain at the original $70 per passenger as will the original load factor of 75 percent. What will be the new break-even point in number of passengers? 7.The cost of aviation fuel is a significant variable cost to any airline. If fuel charges increase by $8 per barrel, it is estimated that variable cost per passenger will increase to $40 however the average full passenger fare will remain at the original $70 per passenger as will the original load factor of 75%. What will be the new break-even point in number of passengers? What will be the new break-even point in number of flights (round up)? 8.Kangaroo Airlines has experienced an increase in average variable cost per passenger to $35 and an increase in fixed costs to $1,500,000. Kangaroo Airlines has decided to increase the average full passenger fare to $80. How many of passengers are needed to generate an after-tax profit of $400,000, if the company tax rate is 30 percent (round up)?

Sunday, November 10, 2019

Abraham Lincoln and the Suspension of Habeas Corpus

Founding father Benjamin Franklin famously said â€Å"Those who would give up Essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety and will lose both. † Civil Liberties are rights and freedoms that protect an individual from the state. Civil liberties set limits on the government so that its agents cannot abuse their power and interfere unduly with the lives of private citizens.In America, the founding fathers fought hard for civil liberties during the revolutionary war, and outlined all of them in the Bill of Rights. Abraham Lincoln is considered to be one of the greatest presidents in American history. Lincoln was the father of the civil war, and risked so much in order to insure slavery would be put to an end. While Lincoln is usually talked about in a positive light, he actually violated many civil liberties during the civil war.During the Civil War, Lincoln appropriated powers no previous President had wielded: he used his war power s to proclaim a blockade, suspended the writ of habeas corpus, spent money before Congress appropriated it, and imprisoned between 15,000 and 18,000 suspected Confederate sympathizers without trial. The biggest suspension of civil liberties in the history of the United States was Lincoln suspending the writ of habeas corpus. Habeas Corpus is a legal action, through which a person can seek relief from unlawful detention, or the relief of another person.The writ of habeas corpus protects persons from harming themselves, or from being harmed by the judicial system. Lincoln suspended habeas corpus in order to arrest war protesters under military authority; Lincoln did this because he believed state courts would not punish war protestors properly. While Lincoln overall was a great president, he clearly did abuse the power of the presidency during the Civil War. Lincoln suspended habeas corpus without the approval of congress and no one was even consulted to see if a violation of an impor tant civil liberty was worth suspending.While Lincoln suspended habeas corpus in order to stop protesters from creating a riot or even a counter coalition in the union, suspending civil liberties is never justified, even in times of war. The founding fathers of America fought hard and preached about inalienable rights that all people in America should have. In the constitution Article one Section nine clearly states: The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended. Even though Lincoln was president, he should have never messed with the constitution, the most important document in America.

Thursday, November 7, 2019

Brighton Beach Memoirs essays

Brighton Beach Memoirs essays Brighten Beach Memoirs is a play that is based on a family who is living in Brooklyn, New York and dealing with the trials of being a family in the 1930s. Throughout the book we are shown the uncertainties in life that the family is forced to live with everyday. The characters in the play are forced to awaken to things about themselves that they were unaware of. In Brighten Beach Memoirs Eugene awakens to the facts about his feelings about his brother Stanley, and Kate awakens to the fact that she has feelings that are negative about her sister Blanche. An awakening is an opening for the characters to discover something new about themselves. The first part of Brighten Beach Memoirs shows where Eugene was unaware about his real feelings for his brother. He didnt realize that he needed his brother to be part of his life in order to make it successfully through life. An example of this is when Stanley comes home from his job and tells Eugene how he has lost his job. " Me and my boss had other things to talk about. Im in trouble, Eug. I mean really big trouble. I got fired today!." (23) This quote shows you when Stanley has come home and tells Eugene about his problems. Stanley doesnt tell his parents first, he tells Eugene that shows you the growing of their relationship with each other. After Stanley states that Eugene tries to help him to find out what he should do. Eugene begins to awaken to the fact that he needs Stanley to learn from and that Stanley is beginning to show that he needs Eugene too. When Stanley decides he is going to write the letter to his boss he goes to Eugene again to ask him if he will help him to write the letter with him. Stanley needs the help with writing the letter to his boss because he isnt as intellectually smart as Eugene is. He goes to Eugene to ask him to help. ...You want to help me? Youre good at those things. (73) This is showing that Stanley ne...

Tuesday, November 5, 2019

Modules, Structures, and Classes

Modules, Structures, and Classes There are just three ways to organize a VB.NET application. ModulesStructuresClasses But most technical articles assume that you already know all about them. If youre one of the many who still have a few questions, you could just read past the confusing bits and try to figure it out anyway. And if you have a lot of time, you can start searching through Microsofts documentation: A Module is a portable executable file, such as type.dll or application.exe, consisting of one or more classes and interfaces.A Class statement defines a new data type.The Structure statement defines a composite value type that you can customize. Right, then. Any questions? To be a bit more fair to Microsoft, they have pages and pages (and more pages) of information about all of these that you can wade through. And they have to be as exact as possible because they set the standard. In other words, Microsofts documentation sometimes reads like a law book because it is a law book. But if youre just learning .NET, it can be very confusing! You have to start somewhere. Understanding the three fundamental ways that you can write code in VB.NET is a good place to start. You can write VB.NET code using any of these three forms. In other words, you can create a Console Application in VB.NET Express and write: Module Module1  Ã‚  Ã‚  Sub Main()  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  MsgBox(This is a Module!)  Ã‚  Ã‚  End SubEnd ModuleClass Class1  Ã‚  Ã‚  Sub Main()  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  MsgBox(This is a Class)  Ã‚  Ã‚  End SubEnd ClassStructure Struct1  Ã‚  Ã‚  Dim myString As String  Ã‚  Ã‚  Sub Main()  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  MsgBox(This is a Structure)  Ã‚  Ã‚  End SubEnd Structure This doesnt make any sense as a program, of course. The point is that you dont get a syntax error so its legal VB.NET code. These three forms are the only way to code the queen bee root of all of .NET: the object. The only element that interrupts the symmetry of the three forms is the statement: Dim myString As String. That has to do with a Structure being a composite data type as Microsoft states in their definition. Another thing to notice is that all three blocks have a Sub Main() in them. One of the most fundamental principals of OOP is usually called encapsulation. This is the black box effect. In other words, you should be able to treat each object independently and that includes using identically named subroutines if you want to. Classes Classes are the right place to start because, as Microsoft notes, A class is a fundamental building block of object-oriented programming (OOP). In fact, some authors treat modules and structures as just special kinds of classes. A class is more object oriented than a module because its possible to instantiate (make a copy of) a class but not a module. In other words, you can code ... Public Class Form1  Ã‚  Ã‚  Private Sub Form1_Load( _  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  ByVal sender As System.Object, _  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  ByVal e As System.EventArgs) _  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Handles MyBase.Load  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Dim myNewClass As Class1 New Class1  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  myNewClass.ClassSub()  Ã‚  Ã‚  End SubEnd Class (The class instantiation is emphasized.) It doesnt matter whether the actual class itself, in this case, ... Public Class Class1  Ã‚  Ã‚  Sub ClassSub()  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  MsgBox(This is a class)  Ã‚  Ã‚  End SubEnd Class ... is in a file by itself or is part of the same file with the Form1 code. The program runs exactly the same way. (Notice that Form1 is a class too.) You can also write class code that behaves much like a module, that is, without instantiating it. This is called a Shared class. The article Static (that is, Shared) versus Dynamic Types in VB.NET explains this in much more detail. Another fact about classes should also be kept in mind. Members (properties and methods) of the class only exist while the instance of the class exists. The name for this is scoping. That is, the scope of an instance of a class is limited. The code above can be changed to illustrate this point this way: Public Class Form1  Ã‚  Ã‚  Private Sub Form1_Load( _  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  ByVal sender As System.Object, _  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  ByVal e As System.EventArgs) _  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Handles MyBase.Load  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Dim myNewClass As Class1 New Class1  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  myNewClass.ClassSub()  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  myNewClass Nothing  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  myNewClass.ClassSub()  Ã‚  Ã‚  End SubEnd Class When the second myNewClass.ClassSub() statement is executed, a NullReferenceException error is thrown because the ClassSub member doesnt exist. Modules In VB  6, it was common to see programs where most of the code was in a module (A .BAS, file rather than, for instance, in a Form file such as Form1.frm.) In VB.NET, both modules and classes are in .VB files. The main reason modules are included in VB.NET is to give programmers a way to organize their systems by putting code in different places to fine tune the scope and access for their code. (That is, how long members of the module exist and what other code can reference and use the members.) Sometimes, you may want to put code into separate modules just to make it easier to work with. All VB.NET modules are Shared because they cant be instantiated (see above) and they can be marked Friend or Public so they can be accessed either within the same assembly or whenever theyre referenced. Structures Structures are the least understood of the three forms of objects. If we were talking about animals instead of objects,  the structure would be an Aardvark. The big difference between a structure and a class is that a structure is a value type and a class is a reference type. What does that mean? Im so glad you asked. A value type is an object that is stored directly in memory. An Integer is a good example of a value type. If you declared an Integer in your program like this ... Dim myInt as Integer 10 ... and you checked the memory location stored in myInt, you would find the value 10. You also see this described as being allocated on the stack. The stack and the heap are simply different ways of managing the use of computer memory. A reference type is an object where the location of the object is stored in memory. So finding a value for a reference type is always a two step lookup. A String is a good example of a reference type. If you declared a String like this ... Dim myString as String This is myString ... and you checked the memory location stored in myString, you would find another memory location (called a pointer - this way of doing things is the very heart of C style languages). You would have to go to that location to find the value This is myString. This is often called being allocated on the heap. The stack and the heap Some authors say that value types arent even objects and only reference types can be objects. Its certainly true that the sophisticated object characteristics like inheritance and encapsulation are only possible with reference types. But we started this whole article by saying that there were three forms for objects so I have to accept that structures are some sort of object, even if theyre non-standard objects. The programming origins of structures go back to file-oriented languages like Cobol. In those languages, data was normally processed as sequential flat files. The fields in a record from the file were described by a data definition section (sometimes called a record layout or a copybook). So, if a record from the file contained: 1234567890ABCDEF9876 The only way you would know that 1234567890 was a phone number, ABCDEF was an ID and 9876 was $98.76 was through the data definition. Structures help you accomplish this in VB.NET. Structure Structure1  Ã‚  Ã‚  VBFixedString(10) Dim myPhone As String  Ã‚  Ã‚  VBFixedString(6) Dim myID As String  Ã‚  Ã‚  VBFixedString(4) Dim myAmount As StringEnd Structure Because a String is a reference type, its necessary to keep the length the same with the VBFixedString attribute for fixed length records. You can find an extended explanation of this attribute and attributes in general in the article Attributes in VB .NET. Although structures are non-standard objects, they do have a lot of capability in VB.NET. You can code methods, properties, and even events, and event handlers in structures, but you can also use more simplified code and because theyre value types, processing can be faster. For example, you could recode the structure above like this: Structure Structure1  Ã‚  Ã‚  VBFixedString(10) Dim myPhone As String  Ã‚  Ã‚  VBFixedString(6) Dim myID As String  Ã‚  Ã‚  VBFixedString(4) Dim myAmount As String  Ã‚  Ã‚  Sub mySub()  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  MsgBox(This is the value of myPhone: myPhone)  Ã‚  Ã‚  End SubEnd Structure And use it like this: Dim myStruct As Structure1myStruct.myPhone 7894560123myStruct.mySub() Its worth your time to play around with structures a bit and learn what they can do. Theyre one of the odd corners of VB.NET that can be a magic bullet when you need it.

Sunday, November 3, 2019

My Media Uses and Gratification Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

My Media Uses and Gratification - Essay Example In other words, people from all walks of life seek to gratify their needs in line with surveillance or information, personal identity, personal relationships or integration and social interaction, and diversion or entertainment (Marris and Thornham 258). All of these are integral parts of my media uses and gratification discussed in the following sections. Presented in this paper is the analysis of how my media use can illustrate the uses and gratifications theory with alternate perspective of magic bullet theory. Watching television Uses and gratifications theory There are many reasons why I need to watch television. I have personal desires that could be addressed if I watch the television. I could be entertained. It can relax me at some certain level and it is a form of recreation activity for me, and including the people around. In other words, television can address my affective needs which include emotions and pleasures. People have varying emotional needs and watching televisio n seems to gratify them. The very example is watching television that may substantially result to emotional release or sexual arousal. People can cry with sentimental soup opera or be sexually aroused with TV programs with depiction of highly erotic scenes. The above illustration shows that watching television is a form of activity that gratifies one’s specific needs as motivated by personal desire. This also shows that people have significant things to do with television based on gratifying their needs. There are different reasons or intentions why watching television is a must for some people. At some point, television could be a source of information like TV news report or weather forecast, current affairs and live events around the world including popular sports. As for me, watching television is also a source of information. I watch television in order to be also updated with the current economic, political and social status of the country and around the world. In other words, television also helps me gratify my cognitive needs. Magic bullet theory These are specific things I need from watching television, but along the way there are also other things that I encountered which are not integral parts of my needs. For example, commercial advertisements give me specific idea about the latest trend in fashion. Although I also have personal integrative needs, I am not expecting to find them out from watching television. Watching commercial advertisements from television increases my ideas on the latest fashion trends, diet techniques and many more. In other words, it is in this aspect that I am being influenced by the television because it was not my desire to find my needs for fashion trend or diet in there. This is the main point of the magic bullet theory, which states that the audience is substantially influenced by the media due to their being passive and communication has powerful effect on attitudes and behaviors (Kelly 352). It is therefore impor tant to point out that apart from my personal needs as what motivate me to watch television; there are other personal needs that could be addressed by it outside of my innermost desire or intention. It is at this point that television has substantially influenced me not because of my desire to find my needs fulfilled by it, but because it has specifically just informed me beyond my desire

Friday, November 1, 2019

Corporate finace Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Corporate finace - Essay Example Online Travel Portal Limited used to be the former name of Opodo Limited prior to July 2001. It is a subsidiary of Amadeus IT Holding, South Africa. However, it is based in London, UK and was incorporated in the year 2000. The Financial Times reported that Permira Advisers Ltd. and AXA Private Equity seem to join hands together for the purpose of buying Opodo Limited from Amadeus IT Holding SA at the cost of â‚ ¬500 million that is equal to USD 682.5 million. The prime objective of the planned buyout is to develop the best online booking services provider through merging the Opodo Limited with the eFreame and Go Voyages SA. Also, the American Carlyle Group has shown some intend to buy Opodo limited due to which the bids for Opodo exceeded â‚ ¬400 million since any bid would probably be challenged by Carlyle Group. Some sources reported that the Permira would bid through Vacaciones eDreams, S.L. where as the Axa would be bidding through Go Voyages SA. The process of this sale wi ll be handled by the JPMorgan Chase. Permira and Axa have been bidding against each other for the acquisition of medium sized European web based travel agencies prior to joining together so as to acquire Opodo Limited. In the last year, Permira defeated Axa so as to acquire eDreams-Spanish online agency where as the Axa won against Permira for the acquisition of Go Voyages. After which they together planned to develop a giant European agency through merging the Opodo Limited, after its acquisition if their bid for it is successful, with the previously acquired eDreams and Go Voyages. At present, the Amadeus IT Holding owns the Opodo Limited and this business venture involves only 4 % of their entire business turnover. Financial Performance Indicators Financial performance indicators for the three companies are provided below. Chart 1: Annual Sales Permira Advisers Ltd for the Last 5 Years in Million USD. The chart 1 given above provides interesting information about the annual sales of the Permira Advisers Ltd that enables us to apprehend the performance of the company before the acquisition of OPODO Limited. Chart 2: Annual Sales AXA Private Equity for the Last 5 Years in Million USD. The chart 2 given above provides interesting information about the annual sales of the AXA Private Equity that enables us to apprehend the performance of the company before the acquisition of OPODO Limited. Chart 3: Annual Sales OPODO Limited for the Last 5 Years in Million USD. The chart provides interesting information about the annual sales of the OPODO Limited that enables us to apprehend the performance of the company before its acquisition. Due to the above performance of Opodo, other companies are interested towards its acquisition. Why Are Mergers & Acquisitions Interesting? The most important factor for the mergers and acquisitions is the existence of "synergies" that enables the two companies to operate more efficiently together in comparison to be working individually . Nevertheless in some cases, organization may obtain tax benefits from a merger or acquisition. 'Horizontal' mergers that take place between companies functioning in the same industry at the same production level may also be instigated through the wish for greater market power, as in the current case of OPODO acquisition by the Permira and AXA (being merged together). Also,