Thursday, October 31, 2019

The Impact of Mobile Banking on the Finance Profession in Banking Article

The Impact of Mobile Banking on the Finance Profession in Banking Environment - Article Example   However, there is also a group of stakeholders, including the staff that is concerned about the negative consequences of mobile banking. The crucial question is then how the finance work in the banking environment would be affected. The trending developments regarding mobile banking are well documented. According to SWIFT (2005), mobile banking is still considered as one of the pertinent topics in the finance industry, as well as for banking institutions. This has been exacerbated by the growing ubiquity of mobile phones across the global population. In a population of about 7 billion people, as many as 5 billion people will be in the possession of mobile phones. At the same time, out of all that population, only 2 billion people will be holding the bank accounts. Consumers are now increasingly using their mobile phones in making payments and bank their money. Mobile banking is described as a growing business, with users expected to increase to about 900 million while the transac tion value is expected to exceed 1 trillion dollars by 2015. Finance staff would also have to reap from the benefits that accompany the mobile banking operation. It is agreeable that mobile transfer is cheaper than teller transfer by about fifty times and ATM transfer by about ten times. Mobile banking comes with a lot of flexibility, both to customers and the firm itself. For instance, the service makes it easy for the bank to combine and sell other services and products that are offered in the bank, such as credit cards and loans, with relative ease. Mobile banking is the best way of realizing drastic growth because it is one way for banking institutions to remain competitive (Delloitte 2010). In the most obvious way, the finance staff would is some of the stakeholders to gain when the banks gain. Tiwari, Buse, and Hersatt (2006) acknowledge that increased competition as a result of technological development and globalization has exposed banks to a challenging environment. Mobile banking innovation creates the allowance for the banks to retain their place by introducing the innovative services that are aimed at retaining the customers, as well as increase the revenues. However, the business is still immature, considering that only a few initiatives have succeeded in attracting a significant base of users. In other words, the service is still marred with a lot of uncertainties.  Ã‚  

Tuesday, October 29, 2019

Supply chain management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Supply chain management - Essay Example The active participants in a supply chain are linked by information flows and physical flows. Information flows are the various communication channels that these firms use to coordinate and control the daily flow of goods and services in the supply chain. These channels are used by various partners in the supply chain as a conduit of information regarding their plans. Physical flows are the storage, transformation and movement of goods and services, and they constitute the most visible component of the supply chain. Supply chains find themselves competing against other supply chains due to the competitive nature of today’s markets (Lu 2012: 59). This has led to the creation of various forms of supply chain management modules. One of these modules of supply chain management is the green supply chain management. This involves the incorporation of environmental friendly practices in activities and processes that take place in supply chain. Green supply chain management requires i ntegration of environmental friendly practices in all levels of the chain of supply. This includes product design, material selection and sourcing, delivery of the final product to the consumer and manufacturing process. Firms should also consider the end of life handling of the product after it is used or after fulfilling its intended purpose. This paper aims to discuss green supply chain management. Green supply management is the process of using environmentally friendly implements and their transformation into byproducts that can improve or be recycled (Ehrgott 2009: 271). The basic principle of green supply management is to reduce costs while at the same time conserving the environment. When a company reconsiders its options and adopts environmental friendly solutions for their production activities, they are likely to reap substantial benefits (Worthington 2012: 104). This is because, instead of focusing on reducing the unit cost of production, a company strives to reduce overa ll production costs. This can be achieved by applying environmental friendly innovations, which can have a substantial impact on production. This is because most environmental solutions are cheap and easy to implement at no extra cost (Zhang 2010: 2). An example of this is a top European company that designed a system that would be using 95 horsepower. The engineer in this company re-designed the system by using pipes with a bigger diameter than the initial ones and reducing their length. This saw a significant reduction for energy in terms of horsepower to 7. This goes to show that environmental friendly designs do not necessarily mean spending a lot of money, but small changes can bring about tremendous benefits to a firm. Various factors have influenced the management of supply chains around the world ranging from the beginning of the global economy to changes in the environment. The environment has played a significant role, in influencing supply chains, to change their orientat ion towards environmental solutions. These solutions are effective and efficient in terms of costs and resource utilisation. Human utilisation of natural resources has been an on-going process since the beginning of life, which until a few hundred years ago, was a sustainable activity (Cohen 2010: 213). This is because up until then, the environment was able to cope and sustain the demands of humans. Today, human activities have

Sunday, October 27, 2019

What Creates Fear In Horror Movies?

What Creates Fear In Horror Movies? Why I am frightened?With my dissertation, I dont want to explain the entire horror cinema story, nor mention all the important directors or the actually best movies in this genre. My aim is to know what makes the people scary in a movie, what are the elements that really creates a feeling of anxiety and stress. To achieve this goal, first of all I will analyse the beginning of the cinema (the silent movies) in order to know which is the ground of our current horror cinema culture. I think before trying to analyse any topic oneself must know the origins of this specific topic, the reality because this topic its like it currently is. After that, I will make a quick review of the horror films of each decade until the appearing of the first horror film in first-person perspective. This is because I think that the first-person perspective horror films are the culmination of our research to scare the public, I think that kind of movies are our current best bet in this issue.So with the help of the analysis of this kind of movies together with the analysis of the origins of the horror film genre, I expect to know how and what really makes us scary. Before first-person perspective horror The horror film genre born at the same time than the cinema, although did it unintentionally. Larrivà ©e dun train à   La Ciotat (Arrival of a train at the Ciotat) recorded by Lumià ¨re Brothers at 1986,showed simply the arrival of a train in a platform at a railway station. Despite of it, the public who went for the first time to see the film, became frightened and ran out of the room believing that the train would come out of the screen and run over them(Martin Loiperdinger and Bernd Elzer, 2004). That first feeling of terror using a filming was because the viewers in those days didnt know anything about cinema, camera shots and audiovisual language in general. So, from then on, it would be necessary to find new ways to scare and stress the public, more deliberate ways. This result in the birth of the horror film genre, whose objective is to make feel the public in danger, scared, frightened, like the audience who was watching the train arriving in the Lumià ¨res film. Silent Movies, the beginning Logically, the first horror movies were in the field of silent films. Thus, the first horror movies were silent, in black-and-white, and they used to be closely linked to the fantasy genre, prevailing mythological or legendary characters who lived among the society. Here are some outstanding examples: Frankenstein (1910) Director: J. Searle Dawley Country: United States Duration: 12 min. Plot: Film adaption of Mary Shelleys novel Frankensteinor also calledThe modern Prometheus, published in 1818. Victor Frankenstein is a young student of 35 years old who is trying to create the ultimate creature. However, his experiments led him to create a terrible monster, deformed, which constantly attacks the people around it. But the creature disappears when Victor Frankenstein falls in love. The film was recorded in fixed camera and using long shots during all its duration. Der Golem (The Golem)(1915) Director: Paul Wagener Country: Germany Duration: 84 min. Plot:Film adaption of Gustav Meyrinks novel with the same name. The rabbi Loew sees in the stars a sign of that a catastrophe will engulf the Jewish people. Meanwhile, the emperor of Prague gives a command to expel the Jews of the city. The rabbi decides to create a clay figure, the Golem, which what will save the Jews ghetto. This production is divided into five chapters and has two sequels, The Golem and the Dancing Girl and The Golem: How He Came Into the World. Both are also inspired in the medieval Prague but they dont belong to the same genre as the original one. Das Kabinett des DoktorCaligari (The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari) (1919) Director: Robert Wiene Country: Germany Duration: 51 min. Plot: Two friends, Francis and Alan, visit a fair in Holstenwall town (north of Germany). Once there, the mad Dr. Caligari and his faithful somnambulist friend Cesare announcesthat they are able to divine the future. Alan asks how long he has to live. To which question Cesare replied that he will die before dawn tomorrow, a prophecy which is fulfilled. After that his friend, Francis, begins to investigate the seer (Cesare) and the sinister doctor to find out the truth about what happened. In this film most of the plot is presented like a flashback told by Francis, the friend of Alan. The film it is a radiating example of German Expressionist Cinemas foremost forays into the genre of psychological horror and is also one of the first films to include an anti-climatic twist at the end of the story(BrokenProjector.com, 2007 ,n.p.). Nosferatu(1922) Director: F.W. Murnay Country: Germany Duration: 94 min. Plot: An unauthorized adaptation of Bram Stokers Dracula novel. Year 1981, the German estate agent Thomas Hutter goes to Transylvania to visit the count Orlok in him castle to close a deal on the land purchase. During the visit happens a series of mysterious events that makes Thomas suggest that the count is a vampire. Unfortunately, in that moment the contract is already signed and Orlok is going to him new mansion in Wismark (Germany). Thomas Hutter fears the worst about Ellen, him wife. Nosferatu its also considered a German expressionism film. Despite of is not the first vampire movie. Nosferatu is maybe one of the most influential vampire films of all time (Colin Odell and Michelle Le Blanc, 2010, p.13). In this early age of the cinema, the silenthorror films get used to narrate a history about a mythological, legendary or non-natural character. The golem for example, is not simply a fiction character created by Gustav Meyrink in his novel; the golem is also a medieval folklore and an old Jewish legend. The first stories obaut golems date back to the beginning of Judaism and they say that the golem is created from clay and a divine spark that gives life(Karina Garcà ­a, 2007). So, the golem is a mythological character of popular culture since centuries, in the same way that the figure of the vampire, myth in the folklore of many cultures since immemorial times. Despite of it, the word vampire (in their different language forms) began to be used in the medieval era being associated, for example, as a victim and, even, the cause of the many epidemics and diseases occurred in the eighteenth-century Europe(Carol Senf, 1988). In the other hand, characters as Frankenstein are more recent and, although nowadays its a character of the popular culture, originally were simply a fictional character created in 1818 by Mary Shelleys. In any case, all these characters are characterized by not only be fictional characters, but because they are mythological and legendary creatures (Frankenstein maybe not exactly) present in popular culture for centuries. So much so that, for example, until the early twentieth century there were killing vampire kits which were given to travelers to protect themselves from vampire attacks(UsaToday.com, 2003). Thats it, the people of that time really believed that they could be attacked by a vampire or see a golem next to a rabbi. In the case of Frankenstein, the belief was not in that particular character, but in the possibility of the existence of similar monsters in the reality due to advances in science and, above all, the technology in the nineteenth century. In the case of Caesar, the somnambulist of Dr. Caligari, is not exactly the same case but the basis are the same. Caesar although is not a monster acts as one. He sleeps in a coffin, him look is supernatural and frightening, he doesnt have willingly and, above all, he can predict the future. Maybe Caesar is like a pythoness or a witch, enough to scary the superstitious people of that time. In conclusion, the fear generated by these films was due the superstitious of the people and, more generally, because that films also provide a revealing mirror image of the anxieties of their time. Nosferatu (1922) is not simply a tale of vampirism, but offers heart-rending images of a town beleaguered by premature and random deaths, echoes of the Great War and the Great Flu Epidemic fatalities (Karina Wilson, 2005 ,n.p.) Regarding technological aspects of these movies, they are strongly motivated by the theater. Thus, they were trying to immerse the viewer into the story through the use of different melodies (always present throughout the film, there were no voices)with different purposes. On one hand, there were the atmosphere melodies, used most of the time as a resource that remained in the background to create the desired feeling depending of the location or the type of action that is described in the film. In the other hand, there were the mystery melodies, used to intrigue the viewer or stressed in the principal scenes of the movie. Referring the camera, the shots were prone to be quiet long and statics, only interposed by close-ups shots of the characters but rarely by close-ups shots of the actions. Maybe the influence of the theater was still quite strong on this aspect. Sound films, born the scream Opposed to the silent film, a sound film (or talkies) is a motion picture with synchronized sound which appearedin the mid- to late 1920s, although it was not until the early 1930s when this technique turned habitual. Films such as Dracula (1931), Freaks (1932), King Kong (1933), The Wolf Man (1941), Cat People (1942) or some of the adaptions of Robert Louis Stevensons novels, like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931),The Invisible Man (1933) or The Body Snatcher (1945) are good examples of the horror films which the people used to watch in that time. These films maintained the base of the silent movies but giving now much more importance to the human-monster of the story, which is now its indisputable protagonist. Now these characters were, in most of the times, purely fictional, and the way that used to get terrorize the public was simply thanks to their appearance and their screams or, simply, their horrific sounds. The use of close-ups shots was increasing, in these days the real claim were the monster itself, so the events of the films was far removed from the everyday realities and the approaching war. In the decade of 1950s, the beginning of the post-war era and the cold war, the people lived continuously with the fear of war. In this era films like Godzilla (1954), It Came From Beneath the Sea (1955), The Fly (1958) or The Wasp Woman (1960) were the stars of the horror film genre.All these films tell the story about an animal which is converted into a giant or repugnant creature because of reasons such as radiation, technological advances or advanced biological experiments. The relationship with atomic bombs and the anxieties about nuclear weapons is clear, one of the most common fears in the people of the time (Marc Jancovich, 1996). Furthermore, at the end of the decade was the born of the movies about UFOs, aliens and in general foreign forms of life threats. So in 1947 occurred The Roswell Incident, born the acronym U.F.O and all of that maybe originated the fear of people about alien invasions. Movies like Invasion of the Bodysnatchers (1956) or Plan 9 from Outer Space (1958 ) are good examples of that although there is another theory about the fear of alien invasion in that time that argues that is merely a code for fears of Soviet Union aggression (Marc Jancovich, 1996). although this type of films will raise through decades, with films like Alien (1979), Independence Day (1996) or even Paranormal Activity (2007), among many others. This is an example of a fear which is constantly scaring people during the decades, more or less intensively depending of the actuality. Modern times, the fear became human Teens of the time hadnt experienced the war, the social stability was a fact and the pop culture had born, welcome to the 1960s. Hitchcock was still alive and the films Psycho (1960) and The Birds (1963) were proof of this. Horror films and thrillers had intertwined by one of the maters of the cinema. The people were afraid of losing their stable life, but not because attacks ofthe monsters or failed experiments, but because people of flesh and bone. Some of the movies of Alfred Hitchcock and other films like Blood Feast (1963) are a proof of that.On the other hand, the films about ghost and living souls grew in popularity, films like Carnival of Souls (1962) or The Haunting (1963). And not far from the ghosts were the zombies, Night of The Living Dead (1968) of George A. Romero, a classic of zombies and dead livings movies.After the optimism of the 1960s, the 1970 was marked by a certain frustration. The fear apparent in the horror films of the 1970sis the fear of children and the o ften fatal process of childbirth; Eraserhead (1976) is a good example of that. Now the enemy was not in the space or in the Europe with the war. Now the fear was among us, inside our home, our mum, our dad or even our sister. Films such as The Exorcist (1973), The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974), Shivers (1975), Halloween (1978) or The Shinning (1980), narrates the story of murders that occur in our neighborhood or home for people more or less close to us. In that time, there was a social deep-seated paranoia that the moral shift of the 1960s had creates a culture of young monsters without moral capable of killing. And in the year 1980 was when the first-person perspective horror film appeared. 3. Terror in first-person perspective After a century of horror films, nowadays we are witnessing an important quantity of films narrated in first-person perspective. Is not a fad, nor a trend, but gradually this type of products has grown in number and, especially, in popularity. The Blair Witch Project or, most recently, Paranormal Activity, are good examples of this situation. Both films were able to make feel the audience terrified when it comes out of the cinema. But this achievement was no thanks to a wonderful special effects, or thanks to the presence of very well made monsters and nor thanks to a heartbreaking melodies. That was because the audience really thought that the story was real and that they could be a victim of a similar experience(Manel E. Diaz, 2010). They probably discussed the facts narrated in the movie with a family member, a colleague or a friend a few days after the viewing. In fact, the movie hit them deeply, turning into an everyday fear during maybe a week after have watched the movie. First-person perspective horror films Here some examples of this kind of horror movies, most of which are recorded as a mockumentary or also called mock documentary. Originally the mockumentarieswere used as a television genre to analyze or comment current events becausethe realism of the stories were higher when this format was used.Soon the mockumentary wasalso used by the cinema, movies asDavid HolzmanHYPERLINK http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Holzmans_DiaryHYPERLINK http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Holzmans_Diarys Diary (1967), The Rutles (1978) or Man Bites Dog (1992) among many others, are a good example of that. Butit was precisely in the genre of horror movies where their use seemed to have a greater impact on the public. Cannival Holocaust(1980) Director:RuggeroDeodato Country: Italy Duration: 95 min. Plot: The movie tells the story of four documentarians who deep into the jungle (Amazon Rainforest) to film the life of the indigenous tribes with cannibal habits. Two month later, after they fail to return, the anthropologist Harold Monroe travels to the place to try to rescue the documentarians. Unfortunately, Monroe and him team discovers that the documentarians has been murdered and eaten by the indigenous. Surprisingly, they could recover the lost can of films which reveals the missing documentarians fate and all them experience into the jungle, including how they died. The supposed content of that can of films is part of the film itself. The film was presented by the director as whether all the length were real; everything you see in the movie is real, even the deaths of animals and people. Thats it, the documentarians are really dead and were really tortured and murdered by the indigenous. These statements together with the content of the supposed rescued can of films and the format in which the film was presented (like a documental, with an important number of camera-in-hand scenes) achieved that the public believed that the story really happened. Despite all this, the whole content of the movie is fiction, except perhaps the animal deaths(Randy Malamud, 2010 : 2-3). In the year 1988 appeared a sequel of the movie called Cannibal Holocaust II;this one was more really like a Giallo rather than a documentary. Alien Abduction Incident in Lake County (1998) Director: Dean Alioto Country: United States Duration: 93 min. Plot: An American family is celebrating the dinner of thanksgiving when suddenly the fuses are gone and the house goes dark. Some of the members of the family decides to go outside to check the fuse box, but something mysterious happens: an unidentified flying object lands near them. This event will mark the beginning of a nightmare night when the aliens will try to abduct the family. The whole film is presented as the recording of the familys son, who films all the events occurred during the night with his new camera because he wants become a cinema director. This fact makes that the public thinks that the filming is real, although in the end of it they can see that all is fiction. Instead of the previous films, this one is not made like a documentary (although it has various elements typical of this kind of format), but its presented as a real home video. The Blair Witch Project(1999) Directors: Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sanchez Country: United States Duration: 86 min. Plot:In October of 1994, three student film makers disappeared in the woods near Burkittesville, Maryland. One year later, their footage was found (The Blair Witch Project, 1999 :n.p.). With this statement the film starts. So, the story is about those three students who were recording a documental about a local legend about the Blair Witch. As in Cannibal Holocaust the film was presented as whether all the footage were real, as the students were really dead in the end of the film and the content of them footage was the film itself (but the whole film is fiction). The technics resources used for this occasion were the same as in Cannibal Holocaust (camera-in-hand scenes, story tell in first person perspective as the camera were the eyes of the character, documentary form, low image quality to make the story more believable,à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦). Despite of it, unlike Cannibal Holocaust the film The Blair Witch Project managed to be a really commercial success being one of the most profitable films in the story. Perhaps the innovative viral marketing campaign that succumbed before the release of the film was one of the reasons of for its success. In the year 1988 appeared a sequel of the movie called The Blair Witch Project 2 which was simply a common horror movie.Apparently, it is already preparing a second sequel that would be more faithful to the original. REC (2007) Director:JaumeBalaguerà ³ and Paco Plaza Country:Spain Duration: 85 min. Plot:Every night Angela and her cameraman, who works for a local TV channel in Barcelona, have to make a report about the routine of one collective of the city. That night they must go along with the firefighters of the city to cover an apparently minor incident in a building in the center of Barcelona. Once they get there, they realize that the residents of this building appear to be infected and that the building has been quarantined, a night of nightmare has started. The whole content of the movie is presented as the footage recorded by the cameraman who works with Angela. There is an American film called Quarantine which is a Hollywood remake of the spanish original movie. In 2009 premiered the sequel, REC 2, which replaces the idea of an infection by a curse. Currently the directors of the original film are working in the third part of the film. There are more horror filmthat uses the first-person perspective,films asDiary of the Dead (George A. Romero), The Last Broadcast (Stefan Avalos), Cloverfield (Matt Reeves) or Paranormal Activity and its sequel (Tod Williams).The most part of the films exposed used the documental or mockumentaries format, instead of some of them like Alien Abduction Incident in Lake Countywhich uses the formatof a home video or REC, which uses the format of a TV report. 4. Format Topic, the key for scare As spectators, we have always felt protected from the dangers that are shown in the horror movies. That is thanks to the border of the diegesis, that fine line, the thickness of the screen.When we enter at the cinema we know that everything we will see is fiction, drama, a trick to scare us in the case of the horror films. We can imagine the camera and all the casting and the crew filming every scene of this movie. However, when we watch a documentary for example, our feelings are totally different so we are really convinced that every action showed in the screen really happened and, in general, we are convinced that the whole reality showed in this documentary is the same reality as ours. This fact makes us quickly empathize with the protagonists of the documentary because we already know that we can life and feel the same experiences that they are showing on the screen. In the other hand, if the documentary is in Africa and is about the danger of the snake bites, is probably that a European spectator doesnt feel as much empathy about the events showed as an Asian one for example.This is because be attacked for a venomous snake is much more possible in Asia than in Europe. So there are two things that mark our level of empathy with what were seeing on the screen, the type of visual narrative or format used and the topic of the film. The most part of the films exposed in the previous point have used the documental or mockumentaries format, instead of some of them like Alien Abduction Incident in Lake Countywhich uses the formatof a home video or REC, which uses the format of a TV report, it doesnt matter. What is really important is the use of a format that we associate with the reality. Every day we see in the news reports about local or international events and, for this reason, when we watch a film narrated with that same format we feel that the story is real. By chance, this type of formats (these are normally used to tell the reality) used to get the camera perspective to show the information, as the home video uses the same perspective to show the quotidian life of a family for example. Soin the case of the horror films in first-person point of view is not the perspective what makes us feel in danger, but the format. About the topic, as happens in the silent movies, will cause more or less fear depending on what level its close to us. So nowadays a first-person perspective horror movie about vampires wont scare us much as if was about the Flu A for example. In the other hand, there are some topics which scare us during all our history as for example, alien invasions. But inside every topic there are also a wide variety of manners of reaching the viewer. In the film Alien Abduction Incident in Lake County for example, the people who is attacked live in a rural area away from the civilization and, for this reason, they cant ask for help. However, in the film Paranormal Activity the people is attacked by aliens when they are sleeping. So is reasonable to say that Paranormal Activity has potential for scare more many people than Abduction Incident in Lake County because not everyone lives in a rural area, however, everyone sleeps. The same example its attributable to the film Cannibal Holocaust. The nightmare lived for the documentarians happen in the Amazonsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ How many of the spectators have never been in the amazons? A large minority of them, sure. However, how many of the spectators have been sleeping during the night in a forest like the students of The Blair Witch Project? Surely a lot of them, maybe families with them children or friends making a picnic or a bivouac during the summer. Although the film could have been even scarier if for example it had occurred in a neighborhood in the outskirts of big city. So a really large part of the audience would feel identified with it and, maybe, when they would return home they would be a little bit afraid at least. So, in the same way that throughout the history of horror movies, nowadays we are scared about those topics whose are close to us. But not only nearby topics, also films with characters wholived situations that we can live in our quotidian lives. During the history of the horror films we have seena large amount of films about issues of concern to the entire population, global issues. Instead, to really scare the public its better to find closer topics, more personal, all this bearing in mind that a movie is a commercial product that should appeal to millions of people. In conclusion, for make a really terrifying movie we have to speak about a fear which can be felt by the people in their everyday life and furthermore, we have to use a format which is used to link to the explanation of real events, a format like the documentary for example. The horror films in first-person perspective uses this formats, but not always speaks about the most terrifying topic thus its depends of the global issues that there are when the film is released. Conclusions After more than a century of watching films, the human as a spectator feels so comfortable that its difficult to scare. The people goes to the cinema knowing that the reality showed in the screen is not the same reality that the one they lives. And also knowing that the characters who are in the film are well-paid actors. In fact, they expect to enjoy with a good dramatization, a well narrated fiction story and, maybe, some spontaneous scare. As did Orson Welles in his radio broadcast War of the Worlds in 1938, the key for scare the public is to catch them off guard. And it has to be made inside their own reality, without allowing them to protect themselves with the diegesis of the fiction. The history has shown us that the best way to achieve this purpose is to narrate a fictional story using the same techniques that we would use whether the story was real. In fact, Larrivà ©e dun train à   La Ciotat (Arrival of a train at the Ciotat) recorded by Lumià ¨re Brothers at 1986 its a documentary (in its way), not a fiction movie. So,the first-person horror movies uses this techniques to scare the audience, but that is not the only thing to keep in mind. The topic of the movie is also important,a really terrifying movie has to speak about a fear which can be felt by the people in their everyday life, something that can really happen to them. This is a human fact, the people always has felt fear by the dangers of his surrounding, of his country, of his town, of his neighborhood, on his lives. Bybliography BrokenProjector, 2007, Kammerspielfilm, http://www.brokenprojector.com/wordpress/?p=9[Electronically accessed 24th November, 2010.] Elzer, B. Loiperdinger, M. (2004), The Moving Image 4. Minnesota: University of Minnesota Press. Garcà ­a, K. (2007), ObservacionesFilà ³soficas Magazine, http://www.observacionesfilosoficas.net/golem.html[Electronically accessed 24th November, 2010.] Jancovich, M. (2006), Rational Fears.Manchester : Manchester University Press. Le Blanc, M. Odell, C. (2000), Vampire Films. Harpenden : Pocket Essentials Malamud, R. (2003), Poetic Animals and Animals Souls.Georgia : Palgrave Macmillan. Senf, C. (1988),The Vampire in Nineteenth Century English Literature.Wisconsin : Popular Press. Myrick, D. Sanchez, E. (1999) The Blair Witch Project. Haxan Films. Usa Today. (2003), Vampire Killing Kits Sells for $12,000, http://www.usatoday.com/news/offbeat/2003-10-31-vampire_x.htm[Electronically accessed 24th November, 2010.] Wilson, K. (2005a), Horror Film History, http://www.horrorfilmhistory.com/index.php?pageID=1920s [Electronically accessed 24th November, 2010.]

Friday, October 25, 2019

Access to the Truth :: Truth Writing Expertise Essays

Access to the Truth In â€Å"Zen and the Art of the Writing Tutorial,† Paul Gamache asks, â€Å"do you think of yourself as an Expert? Do you have access to the truth?† I like this question because it seems to contradict some of his other assertions. For example, he claims that he sometimes does not provide his students with the help they want; rather, he gives them the help he deems they need, and he only gives them the assistance they desire when he decides that it is also what they require. How does he know exactly what they need? Does he consider himself an expert? Does he have access to the truth? Perhaps Mr. Gamache is overconfident? Perhaps he not only overestimates his ability to recognize the inadequacies of his students but also underestimates their ability to honestly assess their writing and identify their own strengths and weaknesses. Although some writers may not know precisely what kind of help they need, others are quite aware of their shortcomings. Indeed, many writers who come to the Peer-Tutoring Center seeking assistance know exactly what type of help they need. Furthermore, a lot of writers know that they need help in one area, but not another. I will explain. Like any other English writing tutor I work with numerous ESL writers. Often they tell me: A) I am having problems with articles and B) you may not understand my argument because I am unable to translate certain words from my native language into English. From these tutorial sessions I have learned that: A) they are almost always correct in their deduction that they need help with articles and B) they are almost always incorrect in their assumption that I will not understand their positions because of translation problems. In my (albeit limited) tutoring experience, it appears that those ESL writers who struggle with articles (which I can relate to as a GSL student), and are aware of this problem, know exactly what type of aid they need. Conversely, those ESL writers who believe that their arguments are unclear as a result of translation issues are often unaware of what they need. That is, the problem is not one of translation but vocabulary, as I can usually decipher their arguments and help them find the necessary words to articulate them.

Thursday, October 24, 2019

Initial Public Offering Paper Essay

The focus of this paper is to examine and research the financing issues that an organization must face when going public. The team has selected Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. as the organization which has had an initial public offering in the last three years. The learning team will address registration, disclosure, and compliance issues and cost of issuance. In addition, the team will examine the impact on ownership control and return as well as the source and application of funds. Financing Issues that an Organization Faces When Going PublicAn Initial Public Offering (IPO), is extremely expensive for organizations. It is common for a small business to pay between $50,000 and $250,000 to organize and publicize an offering. According to Paul G. Joubert, author of The Portable MBA in Finance and Accounting, IPO claims between 15 and 20 percent of the proceeds of the sale of stock (IPO Forum, 2008). Some other costs associated with going public include lead underwriter’s commission, expenses for legal and accounting services, printing costs and filing costs with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Organizations may have ongoing expenses for legal, accounting and filing services (IPO Forum, 2008). Issues Impacting Dividend Policies and Constraints on Dividend Payments A firm must examine all financing and investment issues before determining the proper payout of dividends for their organization. Some organizations’ opt to pay out smaller cash dividends to reserve earnings for future expansion. It is ideal for an organization to start with smaller payouts, and continue with conservative dividends per share. This payout decision is a result of the organization’s capital budgeting decision. Another option for payout of dividends is to finance a large portion of their capital expenditures. This will free up cash that the organization can pay out to shareholders. This payout decision is a result of the decision to borrow for the organization’s growth (Brealey, Myers, and Marcus, 2007). Chipotle Chipotle Mexican Grill, INC. is a â€Å"fast-casual† restaurant. It offers customers the quality food they would receive in a restaurant with â€Å"fast-food† style quickness. The first opening was in 1993 by the founder  and CEO Steve Ells. They serve very few things but claim to provide thousands of options. Their base choices are burritos, burrito bowls, tacos, and salads. Chipotle’s culture is â€Å"Food With Integrity† which involves using â€Å"unprocessed, seasonal, family-farmed,.naturally made, added hormone free, organic, and artisanal†, in the words of Chipotle.com. Chipotle claims there products to better, all the way from dairy to meat. They only purchase from farms in which the animals are treated humanely and naturally raised. This philosophy has allowed Chipotle to grow from one location in 1993 to 670 in 2007 as well as compete in the fastest growing industry in restaurants (Chipotle, 2008). Registration, Disclosure and Compliance Issues Chipotle filed a form S-1/A with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission on December 23, 2003. Two securities were registered under the filing as follows: Class A common stock, par value $0.01 per share, offered by the registrant and Class A common stock, par value $0.01 per share, offered by the selling shareholder. ( Form S-1/A ,2005) Common stock offered by the registrant is at a Proposed Maximum Aggregate Offering Price of $1 million dollars and a registration fee of $11,770. The Proposed Maximum Aggregate Offering Price of the common stock offered by the selling shareholder is $49.5 million (over allotment selling to the underwriters, if any, factored in to total) with a registration fee of $5,296.50. A total of 78,78,788 shares is included in the IPO and broken down by 60,60,606 from Chipotle Mexican Grill, INC and 18,18,182 from McDonalds Ventures, LLC as the selling shareholder. Chipotle intends to list their common stock on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol â€Å"CMG† and selling price is between $15.50 and $17.50 per share. (Form S-1/A ,2005)Disclosure is the release of relevant information. (Disclosure ,2008) In Chipotle’s SEC filing they disclosed the prospectus statement, financial data, and future plans. Through there prospectus statement Chipotle makes it c lear that they are set apart from other chains by serving â€Å"Food with Integrity†. However, there are risks involved in investing, they are as follows: the number of new stores rapidly being established, lack of independent operating history, ability to continue to grow and profit, and  health and safety concerns regarding the ingredients used among others. Although the risk factors are in place, Chipotle’s financial data provides more assurance of returned profit on investment. In their â€Å"Rapidly Improving Financial Performance† section of the SEC filing they state a 130% increase in revenue in 2004 of 470.7 million up from 2002 and 49% up from 2003. And, average sales in new restaurants after 90 trading days increased 24.9% a total of $303,390. From 2002-2004 Chipotle opened a total of 237 stores. Their increased financial growth is attributed to â€Å"word-of-mouth† sales and quicker implementation of Chipotle culture in the area of the new restaurant. Also, more people are aware of Chipotle, thus increasing average opening sales.( Form S-1/A ,2005) The future plans of Chipotle is to expand operations and sales by opening new stores. They forecast opening a total of 75 stores in 2005 of which 58 were already opened at the time of the SEC filing. In order to expand sales they plan to implement an online method of ordering and increasing fax lines to accommodate heavier traffic without causing service to suffer. And, create new food options with existing ingredients. Through filing the SEC Chipotle is in compliance with the securities act of 1933 through rule 457 by following registration fee rules. (Compliance, 2008) Cost of Issuance A company filing an IPO must select underwriters in order to issue their stock. The underwriters purchase the stock and sell it at a slightly higher price than what they bought it for. They are responsible for all shares allotted, not including over allotment, and are not reimbursed for shares not sold at initial offer price. Chipotle’s underwriters areMorgan Stanley & Co. IncorporatedSG Cowen & Co., LLCBanc of America Securities LLCCitigroup Global Markets Inc. J.P. Morgan Securities Inc. Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & SmithIncorporatedA.G. Edwards & Sons, Inc. RBC Capital Markets CorporationSunTrust Capital Markets, Inc. Wachovia Capital Markets, LLC(Form S-1/A ,2005)Chipotle Mexican Grill, INC. did not disclose the cost of issuance in the SEC filing. Impact on Ownership Control and ReturnChipotle had filed their IPO October 25th, 2005. Seeking $121.4 Million, Morgan Stanley and SG Cowen & Co., LLC they auctioned their shares. Clarifying some of the details behind its highly anticipated stock offering, Chipotle estimated its market value to be as high as $121. 4 Million, Chipotle will remain majority owned by McDonald’s Corp. (Chipotle.com, 2008). On its first day as a public company, Chipotle stock rose exactly 100%, closing at $44.00 per share. On September 8, 2006 McDonald’s Corp. announced it had started an offer for its shareholders to exchange McDonald’s stock for shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill. The exchange allowed McDonald’s shareholders to acquire Chipotle shares at a 10 percent discount. The offer is capped at a level of 0.9157 Chipotle shares for each McDonald’s share exchanged owned by McDonalds Corporation. On October 13, 2006, McDonald’s Corp. completed a tax-free swap of class B common stock in Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (NYSE:CMG), for its own common stock. McDonald’s Corp. has now fully divested its investment in Chipotle. Source and Application of FundsWhen it comes to an IPO, the initial funds come from an investment banking firm referred to as an underwriter. The underwriter provides the financial advice to the company, buys the stock from the company, and then resells it to the public. Depending on the size of the IPO and number of stocks being offered, the company may have one underwriter or multiple underwriters. Before the stocks can be sold, they must be registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The primary responsibilities of the SEC are to enforce federal securities laws and to regulate stocks and the stock market. The company must also decide whether to trade the stocks on either the New York Stock Exchange or NASDAQ. This would be the secondary and future source of funds. When Chipotle decided to go public, they had two underwriting companies as their primary underwriters: Morgan Stanley and SG Cowen & Co. LLC. Chipotle originally planned to sell 6.3 million shares at $15.50 to $17.50 per share but ended up changing at the last minute to 6.3 million shares at $22 per share. In the end the offering raised approximately $133M in primary capital to fund new store growth. In conclusion, organization’s must take into consideration many financial issues and decisions when going public. Many of these financial issues will be ongoing, and have to be taken into consideration when determining dividend payout to shareholders. Reference(s) Brealey, R., Myers, S., and Marcus, A. (2007). Fundamentals of corporate finance. (5th ed.). [University of Phoenix Custom Edition e-text] New York, NY: McGraw-Hill/Irwin. Retrieved February 9, 2008 from University of Phoenix, rEsource, FIN325-Financial Analysis for Managers II Web site. Chipotle (2008) Chipotle.com Investor Relations. Retrieved on February 10, 2007 from,http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=194775&p=irol-homeProfile&t=&id=&Compliance (2008) Compliance Definitions. Retrieved on February 10, 2008 from, http://www.investorwords.com/5468/compliance.htmlDisclosure (2008) Disclosure definition. Retrieved on February 11, 2008 from,http://www.investorwords.com/1469/disclosure.htmlForm S-1/A (2005) Chipotle Mexican Grill. INC SEC Filing. Retrieved on February 10,2007 from, http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=194775&p=irol-sec&secCat01.1_rs=241&secCat01.1_rc=10#Initial Public Offering Forum. (n.d.). Initial public offering. Retrieved February 11, 2008 from http://www.referenceforbusiness.com/small/Inc-Mail/Initial-Public-Offerings.html

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Self-sacrifice: Sacrifice and Ancient Rome

In ancient Rome and Greece, during the Olympics, as many as 100 bulls would be sacrificed to show the relationship between humans and nature. In the photo, Mother and Child by Jerome Liebling, the mother is holding a bull which could be exemplifying the relation between the mother and child. In this unique relationship there are many sacrifices made for each other, the clich © is that the mother is always sacrificing for their children but there are always aspects that are given up by the child.The sacrifices that are made to keep the correlation amiable between a mother nd child have to be made from both parties The mother in the photo is holding a baby and a miniscule basket full of groceries. We can assume she had bought these groceries for herself and her child, and by the look on her face it took a lot of work to get the food. The mother is also holding a bull which can be inferred exhibits the sacrifices that she has made for her child.This photo embodies the relationship bet ween a mother and child and the compassion that is between them. Although all of the above is true, mothers do sacrifice a lot for their offspring in all species but the children also give up certain aspects for their parents. In eighth grade my mother was admitted to the hospital for several different health concerns including esophagus cancer, severe gall stones, and thyroid infection. Because of the different concerns I had to miss a lot of school and dance to care for her.Missing so much school put a plethora of pressure on me but I diligently stayed at the hospital for the beginning of the time she spent there. After around a month I started becoming frustrated that I was missing a lot because of the time I spent at the hospital. I eventually quit dancing for the rest of the year because treatment for my mom ecame expensive and I was inevitably falling behind. I did sacrifice a lot in the beginning but became fed up with it after a while. This shows that, at first the capabilit y for sacrifice is a lot larger for short term than longer.In adolescence you are trying to fgure out who you are and not being able to go to school and spending countless hours in the hospital is disheartening. The mother in the photo looks to be quite young so she could be trying to find herself or she could be very concerned about the health of her child. The mother will also have to face challenging circumstances due to the child, I also had to face challenging ircumstances because every day I was in a conundrum to either go to the hospital and support my mother or go to school, and this forced me to develop great fortitude.In the beginning I chose to go to the hospital but after a while I felt that I had done my duty by missing school and quitting dance so I started going less frequently. Consequently, in young adulthood I regret not going to support my mother in a time of adversity where she needed her family and it is evident that I was selfish with my time and did not sacrif ice nearly as much as I could have and should have at the ime. Because of this remorse I now try my best to do anything that I can for people that I care for because I don't want to regret anything else that could have been prevented.Sacrificing anything can be hard but needs to be done in order to keep relationships in your life. The mother in the photo by Jerome Liebling and I resemble each other because we botn nave nad to sacrifice tor the sake ot keeping the relationship between a family member. The situations I have been in have influenced my capacity for self-sacrifice because of situations I was put in at a young age I ecame very precocious and concerned for the well-being of others.