Explore the presentation of Heathcliffs Essay

Explore the presentation of Heathcliff’s journey in Wuthering Heights, in the light of the Marxist Perspective. In Wuthering Heights, Bronti show’s Marxist view’s that ‘it is not the consciousness of men that determines their existence, but their social existence that determines their consciousness’. Bront? first published her text in the form of a novel in 1847. During this time England was influenced by Marx’s ideas, socialists in England held a conference in London where they formed a new organisation called the Communist League, the aims of the organisation being to overthrow the old bourgeois society based on class antagonisms and to the establish a new society without classes and without private property. Despite England being influenced by Marx ideas at the time, Bront? created Wuthering Heights: a mix genre novel with themes such as domestic realism, tragedy and gothic love, which were very much open to critic and discussion at the time. This shows the extent to how she was much stipulated in her ideas and therefore Wuthering Heights might not have been influenced by the Marxist ideas at the time. When Heathcliff enters in chapter four with no social or domestic status, emphasised by his ‘gibberish that nobody could understand’ suggesting his lack of social skills and ability to communicate; his lingual acquisition depends on his surroundings. Miles notes how ‘rather than a dual function there is an oscillation resulting in the name never satisfactorily serving him either way’, when he enters his name ‘serves’ him as both his ‘Christian name and surname’ immediately setting him as an outsider and determining his role because he does not embody conventions of society. Victorian Society was organised such that the base of the society determines its superstructure, everything associated with culture: education, law, religion and the arts but because Heathcliff is not an Earnshaw his status means he cannot access this cultural economy and he is ultimately rejected. His name therefore presents his inability to gain access and the extent of his exclusion, as Miles notes is ‘a constant reminder of the unsatisfactory fit between himself and the codes of a society denying him incorporation’. It is his status and his social existence that therefore does determine his consciousness. Bronti creates suggested possibilities that cannot ultimately be realised; when Heathcliff first enters he is referred to as ‘landlord’, yet is not given the opportunity to become an Earnshaw. Also, as Gilbert and Gubar note: ‘smashing Catherines rival-brother’s fiddle and making a desirable third among the children in the family so as to insulate her from the pressure of her brothers domination’, this shows the possibilities that Heathcliff might have been able to integrate into the Earnshaws and therefore society in turn becoming Catherine’s chance for freedom from strict social structure, but because of the base structure of the Victorian Society he is rejected. Perhaps the ‘smashing’ quote from Gilbert and Gubar refers to the ‘three thrashings’ Heathcliff had to endure, foreshadowing the idea that the only way he can become part of Victorian Society is in a destructive way. The first reason why possibilities cannot be realised is that Heathcliff is learning his social position: Mr Earnshaw calls him ‘poor, fatherless child’, Heathcliff is constantly made to perceive himself as poor, these social circumstances determine why Heathcliff is placed into the servant quarters and therefore kept separate from social events by Hindley, who is in power after Mr Earnshaw dies. Heathcliff’s access to the superstructure of Victorian society becomes limited, and even though Heathcliff ‘bore his degradation well’ this heightens his perception of himself as someone in need of charity, making him susceptible to charity or abuse. Perhaps the possibilities might have been realised if Catherine hadn’t accessed Thrushcross Grange: a place ‘carpeted with crimson†¦ pure white ceiling bordered with gold’, suggesting Thrushcross Grange’s wealth, status and a place that epitomises gentry and reflecting the Victorian connection of wealth and heaven. When Catherine is taken to Trushcross Grange she is introduced to a new social status, where she has ‘combed her beautiful hair’ and ‘pair of enormous slippers’, we see how her ‘consciousness’ has now changed as she has been introduced to Victorian Societies superstructure. It is only until this integration into the Heights that Catherine realises Heathcliff is not adequate for her. She is enabled access to the Heights because of her name and its association with economic position. Heathcliff is a gypsy and by ‘putting up the shutters’, ‘curtains half closed’ while Heathcliff’s looking through the window panes shows how the barriers symbolise Bronti presenting the strict Victorian Society which denies Heathcliff’s access to culture and education. Trushcross Grange becomes somewhat of a Victorian society’s ideal, a materialistic ideal. Catherine’s awareness of her social existence results in her new perception that she cannot marry Heathcliff because: ‘if Heathcliff and I married, we should be beggars’ Even though he is her authentic love and she hints at Heathcliff and her being inseparable she does not follow through. She has already chosen to marry Edgar; and so the novel can be read from a Marxist perspective as Catherine’s outlook in marrying Edgar is materialist as she thinks about social reasons and survival, as opposed to the idealistic perspective. Bronti shows how Catherine is affected my material circumstances reflected when she says she will be â€Å"queen of the neighbourhood† and does not chose Heathcliff, who can be seen as a symbol of her freedom. However, it can be argued that she never has a choice between the two as the way she is set to think is largely conditioned by the way the economy is organised. Bront? presents through the novel how this economy determines the superstructure and therefore even though Heathcliff stands for Catherine’s freedom it is Victorian society’s mentality that means people remain ignorant of Heathcliff’s potential goodness, who is instead driven away because he does not have the capital (money) or culture (education) to support her. So, Catherine probably is right in saying they would be beggars. It is their social circumstances that have determined much of their life and results in Heathcliff running off. Bront? creates this gap in the novel where we are unaware of Heathcliff’s situation which effectively creates a sense of mystery around Heathliff and and forms tension until his return, even if it be full of vengeance.

Effectiveness of Monetory Policy

Various studies have reflected the existence of a positive relationship between the increase of money supply and the level of inflation. Generally, this is reflected by the continued rise of prices of the various products. A situation ensues where excess amounts of money tend to be chasing too few goods. In this perspective, this study tested on whether monetary policy is an effective tool in the combating of inflation and ensuring price stability. The first and foremost objective of the central bank is to formulation and implementation of the monetary policy for maintaining the values of local currency.Otherwise the living standard of the general people may go down. This study finds out the money supply has a direct impact on the level of inflation. Statistically, money supply has a statistical significance on the level of inflation in the country. Thus, monetary policies aimed at controlling the amount of money supply in the economy, have a tremendous impact on controlling the leve l of inflation 2. Objectives of the Study The objectives of the study revolved around exploring the significance and the suitability of the monetary policy in realizing macroeconomic goals.Some of these macroeconomic objectives included price stability, economic growth, full employment, and a favorable balance of payment. 3. Specific Objective Find out the effectiveness of monetary policy in ensuring price Stability & preserving the value of local currency by combating of inflation. 4. Introduction Since time immemorial, inflation has always been an issue of extreme sensitivity. This accrues to the fact that a case of inflation has overall effect on the prices of commodities. An instance of spiraling, uncontrollable inflation is usually a sign of impending catastrophic doom.Thus, the control of monetary policy has turned out to be an essential function of all governments in the world. Inflation does not necessarily have to be reflected a continued increase in the prices of commoditi es (hyperinflation), the vice versa can also be a reflection of inflation (deflation). However, both situations are more than unhealthy for the economy. In most economic situations, the major reasons for the inception of inflation are a culmination of excessive demand for products. The necessary economic policy would thus be entrenched on looking at the causes of an unnecessary rise.This way, they can thus be able to come up with the right measures that can aid in controlling the existing verbal demand in an economy. To this end, various researchers have established the ability of monetary policy as a tool for controlling inflation. All over the world, in diverse economies, monetary policy has been seen as an approach to effectively control inflation. This is reflected by the ability of monetary policy in controlling the rise in demand by an increase in the available rates of interest.In addition, monetary policy reduces the existing real money in the economy. A rise in the interest manages to bring an overall reduction in collective demand in an economy. To this end, this Essay aims at looking at how effective monetary policy as a tool for ensuring price stability. 5. Background Analysis Monetary policy is defined as a public interventionist action that aims at manipulating the level and array of economic activity so as to accomplish specific, desired goals.Specifically, monetary policies are aimed to work fewer than two economic variables that affect the level of inflation in an economy. The two aggregate variables are supply of money in circulation and the respective interest rate in an economy. Monetary policy is among the few tools that a national government can utilize to control the economy using the given monetary authority in the control of the supply and availability of money. Controlling the availability, leading to a control of access, ultimately influences the demand of products.The law of demand ultimately reflects that an increase in demand for products of products leads to an increase in prices. Demand is in turn influenced by the availability of money in the economy. Thus, direct or indirect control of money leads to an ultimate control of inflation. In most instances, governments try to influence an overall level of economic activities to be in line with individual objectives. Some of these objectives include socio cultural, political, economic, and technological objectives.Generally, the main aim of governments is the existence of a macroeconomic stability. Usually, macroeconomic stability encompasses stable prices, economic growth, full employment, balance of external payment, and development in a country. Generally, it is the Job of the central bank of any nation to come up with, and implement, monetary policies that aim at achieving stability in the expected price level of products in a country. However, the major aim is to attain stability in prices so as to be able to sustain the existing value of the currency in a particular country.All economies of the world endeavored to create a central bank as a means of safeguarding the value of individual currency. In the case of integrated economies, there exist geographical banks and one major bank for the respective organization. For example, various American states have federal banks to check on their currency. In addition, an overall control is exhibited by the Central Bank of America. In addition, monetary policy is a major tool exploited in a battle of preserving a runners in an economy. 6.Literature Review Theory has proposed several ways in which inflation can be combated; this essay is concerned with the literature that led to the use of such instruments and policies. To enable us understand the prepositions made the study analyzed several theories: 7. The Classical Quantity Theory of Money This theory was developed by Irving Fisher. Fisher took the view that money was only used as a medium of exchange to settle transaction involving the dem and and supply for goods and services. The quantity theory of money can be developed to a theory of price levels.Since NV=APT Where V – Velocity of circulation M -Money supply p _ price T -Quantity of transactions Assuming that V and T are roughly constant, P will vary directly with increase or decrease in the amount of M and it changes in money supply (M) that causes the prices (P) to change, not changes in price that cause the changes in supply is assumed to be constant as the economy in question is assumed to be operating at full employment. If the velocity of circulation is more or less constant than any growth in money supply (M) over and above the potential of the economy to increase, T will cause inflation.This is then consistent with the monetary policy to curb inflation by controlling the money supply in the economy as it leads to inflation. A further notable feature in this theory is that the government monetary policy should allow some growth in money supply if the economy is growing but not let the growth in money supply to get out of hand as if output in the economy (T) is growing and the velocity of circulation (V) is constant then a matching growth in the money supply of money is needed to avoid deflation. . The Monetarist Policy Theory Monetarists argue that since money is a direct substitute for all other assets, an increase in the supply of money supply, given a fairly stable velocity of circulation, will have a direct effect on the demand for other assets since there will be more money to spend on those assets. If the total output of the economy is fixed, then an increase in the money supply will lead directly to higher prices.Monetarists therefore reach the same conclusion as the old quantity theory of money that a rise in money supply will lead directly to a rise in prices and probably also too rise in money incomes, an increase in real output and so an increase in employment. In the long run however, they argue that all increases i n the money supply will be reflected in higher prices unless there is a long term growth in the economy. Monetarist school of economic thought contended that money supply is a key determinant of the level of production the short run and the rate of inflation in the long run.In order to minimize uncertainty monetarist advocated for the maintenance of a constant rate of growth of money supply. Developing countries have depended on monetary policy in order to achieve price stability, economic growth and development, positive balance of payments and full employment. To contain any reduction in GAP the Central Bank adopted a selective credit control and special attention was given to the interests of marginal traders and productive agents in Agriculture. 9. Tools of Monetary Policy : There are three tools of monetary policy for which the value of money changes.For ensuring price stability monetary policy has to focus on these three tools. Monetary Policy of Bangladesh Bank The aim is to achieve the twin goals of containing inflation and promoting sustained and stable economic growth; provide policy advice to the Government on deficit managing and public debt management; manage the balance of payments and foreign exchange reserves; provide payment services and ensure the stability of the financial system; conduct treasury and government securities related operations; and efficiently perform other international financial activities.Financial Sector Developments Critical activities cover the development of the financial systems; provide effective prudential supervision; ensure information access, market intelligence, and contingency planning to avoid systematic risks; assist banking and financial entities o become efficient and competitive; discover new modalities for delivering agricultural and industrial term credit; enhance the access of small and medium enterprises to investment funds; further develop the market in public and private debt and risk capital; and pro mote measures for inclusion of people hitherto bypassed in formal financial systems.In addition, the Bangladesh Bank will continuously adopt necessary measures for taking a proactive stance in decision making; compiling relevant statistics and conducting high quality and timely economic research to review the country financial and economic conditions to purport decision making; ensuring efficient and professional management of Bib's human and financial resources; and establishing Bib's distinct identity based on its values and strategic roles.In order to uphold the mission, Bangladesh Banks aim would be to provide the required leadership by discharging its duties in a manner that shows a clear vision, is watchful, far-sighted, intelligent and responsive based on an effective and efficient communication strategy. At all times, Bib's aim would be to remain committed, efficient, capable, logistically supported, speedy, focused, and aggressive where necessary in order to ensure that the Bangladesh Bank always remains a credible and prestigious institution with an efficient organizational structure committed to achieving its goals. 9. Interest rate policy This arises where the central bank increases the rate of interest rates for borrowing funds. This instrument is most applicable in cases where banks turn to the central banks as an avenue of securing funds. The rates that can be increased include the overnight borrowing rate. This tends to discourage borrowing which then end up reducing the rate of inflation in an economy. So interest rate is a crucial important to sustain the price stability. Comparison of Interest Rate in Bangladesh Source: 1 . Statistics Department, Bangladesh Bank for Scheduled Banks Weighted Average Interest Rate. . Debt Management Department, Bangladesh Bank for Weighted Average Call Money Market Rates. 9. 2 Inflation Targeting This is an economic monetary inflation policy aimed at achieving a specific level of inflation in the country. This involves the setting of a certain level of inflation by the central bank, and then working towards achieving the given level of inflation. This is usually done through the utilization of interest rate changes and other monetary tools. Despite the embracing of the above monetary policies, many countries still find themselves being faced by extreme inflation rates.The rates end up eroding the value of the specific currency. A devaluation of currency ends up creating an unfavorable balance of payment and hence accumulation of debts and deficit budgets. In this perspective, third world countries continue to remain poor despite their rigorous endeavors aimed at escaping the unfavorable economic situation. In mimes of political tumult, monetary policy also tends to be ineffective in cases of political turmoil. The matter is further aggravated when political instability combines with economic shocks.This leads to a culmination of extreme inflation being witnessed in a country. An epitome of this was witnessed in Bangladesh during the period of Care taker Government of 2007-2008. The prices of basic commodities soared to the extent that they were virtually impossible to the average man. In addition, the monetary policies set out to correct out the situation ended up being ineffective in the control of the ensuing inflation. Economic shocks such as depressions, recessions, and booms also render monetary policies ineffective. This was witnessed during the 2008/09 economic recession all over the world.During the recession, major world economies faced harsh circumstances despite having well formulated monetary policies in place. The available strategies failed to stir the economy back to stability. 9. 3 Foreign Exchange Valuation Figure of Inflation Rate in Bangladesh A method for providing an interface for Foreign Exchange trading centered on a Foreign Exchange rate and this rate is an important factor of value changing of money. So the foreign exchange rate is an impor tant factor for monetary policy. Comparative Figure of exchange Rate in Bangladesh 10.Monetary Policy Instruments: There exist a variety of monetary policy instruments through which the central bank controls/ maintains general price level. Some of these tools include the following: 10. 1 Open Market Operations: Open market operations refer to the sale or purchase of securities. The transactions usually take place in the open market of the central bank. This instrument usually targets the available cash balances of commercial banks and other non bank institutions. The available balances are checked in relation to excess reserves available at the central bank.The major aim of this tool is the attainment of a predetermined level of reserve money. A situation of influenced commercial bank lending ensues hence an overall control of money supply in the economy. 10. Ii. Setting the bank rate: Central bank sets a bank rate for its borrowers. To maintain the general price level, central bank changes the rate time to time. If it wants to take the additional money from the market, it rises the interest rate on the other hand if there is shortage of money in the market it reduces the rate to make balance and control the price level. 0. Iii. Adjusting Reserve Ratio Reserve Ratio is also known as liquidity asset ratio is defined as the proportion of total assets being held by a bank. Every commercial bank has to maintain a reserve of liquid money to the central bank which is called SSL (Statutory Liquidity Ratio). This is usually in the form of liquid assets and cash. This instrument is effective since it manages to indiscriminately affect all banks. Also, the method tends to be directly established and the effects of its implementation are felt soon after its inception.The intended purpose of the tool is usually to create a situation where a banks free cash base is reduced. This reduces a banks ability to give out loans and advances and creates an overall reduction of avai lability of money. The reduction of excess money supply ends up curbing prices and inflation. 10. Lb. Moral Suasion It is one of the qualitative instruments of controlling general price level through persuasion at a moral sight not to disburse more loans to the particular bank. Persuasion not to give out loan to the any particular sector to control money supply . 10. V. Certain Margin RequirementsEvery importer has to keep a certain margin at the time of opening any LLC to the commercial banks to import goods from foreign countries. This marginal money becomes locked up to the bank until the goods are imported and the transaction is settled. This margin level is determined by the central bank and trough setting up new margin requirements central bank can maintain the general price level. 10. V'. Selective Credit Control These instruments prevail on the quantitative measure of credit control that strives at encouraging selective essential sectors of the economy while at the same time discouraging others.In one such instance, the Central Bank of Bangladesh, Bangladesh Bank can ensue to restrict government borrowing up to a given extent. Normally, the given legal limit is 5 percent of the most recent audited government ordinary revenues. Usually, this aims at reducing a case of excess government expenditure. A case of excess government spending leads to a situation of inflationary crisis. 1 1 . Failure of Monetary Policy in Developing Countries Despite the widespread success of monetary policies, there exists a tendency of failure of the policy in developing economies.The failure can be attributed to a yard of reasons. Some of the reasons include the following: I) In developing economies, markets and financial institutions tend to be highly disorganized. The lack of well developed capital and money markets and a limited quantity and range of financial assets creates and atmosphere that leads to the failure of monetary policy. It) In some instances, monetary polic ies end up being misused by the authorities. This leads to a situation where the monetary policies fail to address the situation at hand. Ii) In third world countries, commercial banks tend to have excess funds due to lack of viable projects and borrowers. This reduces the sensitivity of their cash base. In this case, the effectiveness of open market operations ends up being severely limited. Iv) The existence of high levels of corruption ends up rendering some instruments like selective credit control to be ineffective. V) Illiteracy in the developing countries ensures that individuals have little or no knowledge on the working of monetary policy. This reduces the effectiveness of monetary policy. Ii) Most individuals in developing countries prefer personal storage of money as opposed to bank deposits. This ends up reducing the effectiveness of Central Bank's endeavors 12. Conclusion To establish the effectiveness of monetary policy as a tool for combating inflation, The variables investigated were the level of inflation, commercial banks interest rates, money supply and the foreign exchange rate (measurable in dollars) and money supply was found out to be most significant factor affecting the rate of inflation.When money supply increases by one hundred billion the rate of inflation increases by 5. 478 . This being so, then it means that any increase in money supply should be managed to a level that allows the economy to grow and also high enough to avoid fellatio (a situation where the prices are falling) This is due to the fact that, if money supply is zero and the other factors are also zero, there will be a deflation of 18. 042. This means that the economy is not growing hence adversely affects the other objectives of macroeconomics.Also, it is evident that there exist a positive relationship between increase in foreign exchange rate and the rate of inflation; when the currency depreciates at a rate of one, inflation increases at a rate of 0. 233. Therefo re efforts should be made to avoid any rise in foreign exchange or any appreciation in the domestic currency. Also, this research showed that there exist a negative relationship between the rate of inflation and the commercial banks interest rates.When the commercial banks interest rates increase by one percent, the rate of inflation reduces by 0. 84. Thus, increase in interest rates is one way of controlling the rate of inflation. However, the rates of interest should be managed at a level that does not hurt investments as high interest rates hinders investments and this leads to poor economic growth hence it adversely affects the other macroeconomic objectives. Apart from the macroeconomic variables discussed above it is also evident other factors influence the rate of inflation.Some of these factors include political instability, tribal clashes, international financial crisis (recession and depression ) amongst others. Inflation targeting (where the monetary authorities set a cer tain target and manages the macroeconomic variables towards achieving that inflation rate) as policy should also be used as this has shown positive results in some parts of the world such as South Africa. Thus, monetary policy, as a tool for controlling inflation, is effective

Power and Privilege Exclusion by Race Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Power and Privilege Exclusion by Race - Essay Example There is no doubt that the law has been used to further discrimination against racial minorities. The law as a political instrument. In a case called City of Memphis v. Greene, 451 U.S. 100, 123,126-27 (1981), the attempt to use the law as an agent of political discrimination is obvious. A white neighborhood association did not want the members of a black neighborhood to drive through their residential area. The City of Memphis, bowing under the pressure of the whites, passed an ordinance that closed the most convenient street giving access to the center of the city. In what can only be described as a wrong-headed decision, the Supreme Court sided with the residents in the name of "residential tranquility." A more classic use of the law as a political instrument could hardly be constructed. The in-power whites did not want the blacks to drive their streets; evidencing pure racism. Their ability to convince the city to close the street and exclude the black community from conveniently driving to the city center demonstrates a regional disregard for those citizens; and the Supreme Court's action took that disregard to a national level. Imagine, if you were a black resident of Memphis at the time, how disenfranchised you would feel. The city, as well as the nation, is telling you to drive out of your way just to preserve the tranquility of white racists. This is not the use of law, it is the abuse of law to further the agenda of the powerful and keep the out-class down. Justice and fairness. Similar to the case above, and a decision which flies in the face of the notion of fairness, the matter of Hernandez v. New York, 111 S. Ct. 1859 (1991), comes to the fore. In this instance, a prosecutor sought to exclude the plaintiff from sitting on a jury simply as a result of Hispanic ancestry. The claim was made that individual Latinos might have difficulty in understanding written documents submitted during the course of the trial, and should not be allowed to sit as jurors. The implication of this assumption is as bizarre as it is inappropriate. While the Supreme Court sided with the prosecution for technical reasons, the racism implied in the very act is clearly apparent; and its extension as a precedent speaks volumes regarding the political use of power and the law. In fact, it should be noted that "[w]here a rule has such a massively disproportionate impact, it is tempting to equate the impact, exclusion of Latinos, with an intent to exclude that grou p" (Friedman and Israel 1745). While the prosecutor in the case may not have intentionally meant to discriminate against an entire class of people, the notion that Hispanics cannot sit on American juries because they may not speak the language well enough is an ugly message to send. Imagine living in the U.S. as a third-generation Latina and being told that you were unfit for jury duty because you were sub-literate. The point you would get was that you were incapable of participating in the legal system because you were inferior as a result of your race. This is neither just nor fair. Once again, the powerful have designed and are perpetuating the institutionalized structure of excluding any one not resembling the people of privilege.

Joe Hills Experiences Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Joe Hills Experiences - Essay Example Joseph Hillstrom (for this was one of his aliases), opted to join Wobbly leader Bill Haywood, in his quest to rally every child, woman and man in America to join one big union, which would ensure economic profits to the rightful people, who according to Bill Haywood, were the workers. Joe Hill was not an American by citizenship. He was born in Sweden into a family of eight and immigrated to the United States alongside his brother Paul. He seems to have run into trouble with the law and thus had to constantly assume different identities. The State of Utah branded him a murderer, but still, many have continued to celebrate this controversial public figure, stating he was a martyr for the cause of justice. In this paper, discussions will be made into the life of Joe Hill, describing his experiences in different situations, and his commitment to the creation of a just society. Although he might have been a man of many faces, Hill’s life experiences fully explain each and every rea son for his actions. For instance, in the story, it is mentioned that he worked for endless hours a day, just for a few pennies. This evidently explains his decision to live a vagrant lifestyle shortly after parting ways with his brother. Most of his story is documented in the setting after he joined the International Workers of the World (IWW). Because of endless frustrations, he seems to have liked the ideas by Bill Haywood- of toppling the big shots in the society from their horses (Verdoia, n.d).  

Downstream Processing of Recombinant Proteins in E.coli Essay

Downstream Processing of Recombinant Proteins in E.coli - Essay Example From this study it is clear that hence for the high recovery of the active protein molecule, solubilization and refolding parts must be of high precision. Inclusion bodies consist of polypeptides of the recombinant protein. They are the inactive secondary –like structures. Thus, the isolation and purification of the protein are simple. The activity of the unfolded protein can be brought out by using mild solubilizing conditions. This will help in the high recovery of the bioactive protein than that compared to solubility using high chaotropic agent. The following Downstream processing steps can be used for the production of the recombinant protein from the inclusion bodies The recombinant E.coli is grown in LB medium with antibiotics such as kanamycin or ampicillin or chloramphenicol based on the plasmid. The flasks are shaken at rpm around 150 -250 and the temperature is maintained at 37 degree Celsius. After the cells have reached the log phase, This study outlines that IPTG is added and further shaken for 4-6 hours. The cells are centrifuged and re-suspended in the 50 mM sodium phosphate buffer. The cells are lysed using the homogenizer or sonicator. The cell suspension is centrifuged and filtered using 0.45 Â µm polyethersulfonate membrane. Many protein-specific methods are available for the increased solubility of the recombinant proteins in E.coli. To recover the soluble proteins, strong denaturants like urea, guanidinium hydrochloride are used. The solubilization is carried out under reducing conditions. These inclusion bodies must be washed well before solubilization. Solubilizing agents such as thioredoxin are known to improve the solubility of the proteins. Gene fusion techniques are equally good for the separation of the proteins. Maltose binding protein and Glutathione-S- transferase are found to bind well with the protein and can be removed by using the affinity chromatography techniques. Refolding is performed using dilution or diafliltrat ion in buffers of low.

How having child would change or has changed your life Essay

How having child would change or has changed your life - Essay Example At first, I naturally felt anxious and scared of having a child because of the enormous responsibility that was ahead of me. But the moment my daughter was born, I learned to confront the challenge of raising my child. I became a braver person who faced her new life as a parent for the first time. From a once happy-go-lucky type of girl, I became more serious in taking care of my children and making sure that I secure their own future. It must have been a motherhood instinct that, as I faced parenthood, I immediately felt as though I could not afford being reckless with my actions and decisions. Indeed, I became more mature in making sound judgment and choices in life. When it comes to my personal relationship, I believe that having kids made me become more focused in keeping my relationship in harmony. When I was younger, I tend to be too demanding and impatient with my partner. However, as soon as my kids were born, I became more forgiving and understanding because I recognized the hardships that we both have endured while raising our kids. As much as possible, it was my goal to keep my family intact through communication and understanding. Together with my husband, I faced parenthood to provide the welfare, support, and happiness that our children need. We became more focused in securing our child’s well-being and making sure that both of our kids can find happiness within the family. Moreover, becoming a mother made me become more appreciative about my own parents. It dawned on me that they too must have sacrificed a lot to properly take care of me and my siblings. Because of this realization, I became close with my parents more than ever. I found myself being comfortable as I asked them questions about practical decisions on parenthood. I also patiently listened for their sincere advice and I have always been grateful whenever they extend help to my family When it comes to achieving goals, I have now mastered to base all my career decisions to whate ver is good for my family. For every career move that I make, I see to that it would be for the benefit of my children. When I was younger, I was more open to career changes, but when I had kids, I thought about securing my job for their future. I am working harder now and as a result, I am able to provide for their needs. With added focus on my work, I sometimes have barely enough time for myself. I am not able to hang out with my friends after work like I used to. Instead, I would always rush home to check and see my children. As a mother, I do not see this as a hindrance or curtailment of my personal freedom because I always look forward to be at home and enjoy quality time with my kids. Lastly, I believe that the most significant change that happened in my life because of motherhood is my renewed perspective of happiness. My previous idea of enjoyment changed a lot. Before, it was more about satisfying and thinking about myself. But now, it is more about sharing joy with my chil dren. I became selfless about happiness. And so, while parenthood gave more responsibilities in life, it also gave me twice the enjoyment and delight by simply seeing my kids smile. Aside from that, I developed adoration for other kids as well. Over time, I learned to engage more with them. I previously had a difficult challenge in dealing with kids before, but now that I have become more

Fire and Emergency Management Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

Fire and Emergency Management - Research Paper Example History There is a rich history that comes with the use of both the ISO grading system and the standards of coverage. The ISO grading system is actually adopted version of the fire suppression rating schedule (FSRS). The FSRS had been used as an independent rating system for several years in selected States until the need to ensuring that there is a global standardization of the activities of the fire and emergency service was brought up (ISO, 2014). Meanwhile, the insurance service office (ISO) had been functioning as an internationally recognized body that was responsible for setting standards of operation for various industries across the globe. To ensure that the rating schedule used for the purposes of fire and emergency fighting was at par with what was internationally recognized, the rating schedule was merged with the ISO standards to form what is today referred to as the ISO grading system of fire fighting. The history behind the standards of coverage can however be traced to very specific fire and emergency agencies across the country. This is because when the use of the standards of coverage started as an assessment system, it was only certified and used by the International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC). These fire chiefs were the ones who ensured that within the limit of the agencies that managed, there was a standard that defined the way they operated and responded to fire.

BUISNESS COMMUNICATION (NONVERBAL MESSAGES Essay

BUISNESS COMMUNICATION (NONVERBAL MESSAGES - Essay Example interviewee understands the supervisory position in a very adequate way and he is well aware of the tasks that need to be undertaken by him in a proactive fashion. The manner in which he makes a point through his nonverbal gestures is important because it says a lot about his confidence and positive attitude which he manifests during the length of the interview itself. (Leathers, 1992) The nonverbal messages need to be very mild in nature and these do not need to blow the oral message out of proportions. In other words, the emphasis should be on making the point clear and lucid rather than bringing out an entirely new meaning from the nonverbal cues which are being transmitted by the interviewee. The need is to understand when the body gestures and cues are important and when they could prove to be a destructive force in the wake of the interviewee’s success. These five different ways can be employed in different ways but the need is to understand how to make best use of the

ASSESS THE CURRENT MOVE TOWARDS COMPETITION AND CHOICE IN HEALTH CARE Essay

ASSESS THE CURRENT MOVE TOWARDS COMPETITION AND CHOICE IN HEALTH CARE IN TERMS OF THE EFFICIENCY VS. EQUITY TRADEOFF - Essay Example It has been a key concern for policy makers to promote choice and competition, so as to increase productivity and responsiveness to consumers in healthcare. The western countries in Europe and the United States have embarked on renovating their healthcare services, to allow patient choice through availing price competition between the health care providers that customers can choose from. In the past, healthcare service had been a government dominated area, and in most developing countries it enjoyed a monopolistic position, with ability to provide a variety of services and capture the customer surplus in the market. However, today there are many private organizations that venture in the healthcare service as hospitals and pharmaceuticals, which are highly relying on modern technology to offer the customers quality service. As a result, this has made the cost, quality, and healthcare accessibility a legislative and policy issue that ought to be managed, due to the rising variation. Th e economic benefit of promoting competition and choice is to enhance competition pressure, so that private firms become more efficient, causing them to reduce costs of service and improve their services and products as a way of attracting clients, which is generally healthy and an improvement of the economy (Propper, 2010). New forms of health care financing and delivery have developed as a result of the competitive pressure for cost containment, to slow health care inflation and encourage clients to choose from the available relatively lower cost health care. Hospitals and physicians have been each forming mergers and joint ventures with their partners in the healthcare industry, hence influencing costs and bargaining power as they improve the quality of health care and its distribution to ensure equity in the society (Federal trade commission, 2004). Competition, Patient Choice, and Equity In health care, improving patient and user choices are perceived different in accomplishment of healthcare systems objectives. However, it has become a key concern for most nations so that they get to direct their future in health and public services in regard to patients wants. According to Fotaki, offering patient choice in England is viewed as an attempt to address the failure of the pre-existing policies that had been operational in providing equitable and high quality services to the population, while it is perceived as a way to achieve other desirable goals, for example reducing the waiting lists, hence not an explicit policy objective on its own merit (2007). There are numerous patient choice policies being developed in health care industries, but how efficient and effective they will be will depend on the adjustments they would have made from the past policies, and how attractive it would be to the customers in the already competitive market. The transition made so far is that the patient or user choice policies are been made based on the learned experiences in the previous policies. The health systems of most developing and developed countries are still been challenged in responding to the needs of the less privileged members of the society; therefore creating inequality when it comes to choice in healthcare and its delivery. Although the mergers and consolidation of health facilities and physicians have improved, it does not mean that the service being provided to some people, especially in the marginalized areas are similar to those being delivered in urban parts. The networks being formed have been effective to ensure equitable health outcomes, but the efficiency in health

Positive Impact of Banning Smoking in Public Places Essay - 1

Positive Impact of Banning Smoking in Public Places - Essay Example Basically, smokers have the right to continue smoking despite the adverse health consequences of smoking whereas non-smokers have the right for a clean air each time they go to public places like restaurants, malls, and offices. Given that the local government banned smoking in public places, a lot of businesses strictly prohibit the smoking of cigarettes within their working environment and offices. In line with the banning of smoking in public places, three major reasons will be presented in order to convince the readers why I strongly support the government’s legislation on making smoking illegal in public areas. My auntie who lives in another town died at a very young age due to second-hand smoking. She is one of the closest relatives I have considered since we shared a common interest in photography. I have never seen my auntie smoke. Since she has always been with friends who smoke at least two packs of cigarettes a day, her life became in danger. Because of the close re lationship I had with my auntie, I spent almost every single day with her while she was confined at the hospital. Personally, I have seen how she suffered physically from a lung cancer. Due to her bad faith, the researcher strongly supports the banning of smoking in public places. Similar incidence recently happened to my best friend’s father. My best friend’s father is currently undergoing chemotherapy due to second-hand smoking he gets each day from his workplace. Aside from the financial burden the chemotherapy brings to my best friend’s family, there is still a risk that they would lose the head of their family. Similar to all stories related to what happens to patients with smoking habits, my sister who is a nurse told me a lot of smokers are unable to quit smoking despite knowing the health consequences of smoking. She said that patients with lung cancer often experience difficulty in breathing. The fact that there is no way to replace the lungs increases the risk of patients with chronic lung cancer to die.

Compare and Contrast 2 Movies with Platos Allegory Essay Example for Free

Compare and Contrast 2 Movies with Platos Allegory Essay Humans depend on their five senses to confirm the authenticity of the reality that surrounds them, but how would they react when their comfort zone they call â€Å"the truth† is wrong? In Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, Plato answers that question with a series of symbols. The same symbolic meanings can be found in the 1999 film of The Matrix (directed by Andy and Larry Wachowski) where the protagonist Thomas A. Anderson is a man living two lives. Thomas is an average computer programmer by day but hacker Neo by night. Thomas is an obedient citizen; on the other hand, Neo has never been satisfied with the reality that has been spoon fed to him since he was born and has been searching for the truth through computers. When Neo is targeted by the police, Morpheus (a legendary computer hacker) contacts Neo and awakens him to the real world. Because of the obvious similarities, the dimensions present in The Matrix could be compared with Plato’s Allegory of the Cave. In The Matrix, Morpheus makes a perplexing point of â€Å"If real is what you feel, smell, taste and see, then ‘real’ is simply electrical signals interpreted by your brain† (The Matrix) and continues to question â€Å"what is real? † (The Matrix). This argument then leads to Morpheus revealing the real post-apocalyptic world where machines who call themselves the â€Å"Sentinels† rule over humans. Morpheus explains that the Sentinels created a reality stimulator (the â€Å"Matrix†) to control humans. The Matrix is built to feed humans a false world and is manipulated by artificial knowledge. This make-belief world befits Plato’s representation of the ignorant world â€Å"the cave†. In Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, the cave is to symbolize the warped world that the everyday people would perceive as the one and only â€Å"reality†. Not forgetting the ultimate truth, Plato symbolizes it with the â€Å"world above the cave†. In The Matrix, the dark, machine-ruled world is The Matrix[’s] rendition of the world above the cave. Wanting to share the truth, Morpheus opens the door of the ultimate truth to Neo by giving him the choice between the blue and the red pill. If Neo was to choose the blue pill, it was a choice to continue living in the Matrix’s blissful ignorant illusion whereas if he chose the red pill, he will be able to embrace the hidden truth. Morpheus’ red pill is a portrayal of â€Å"the tunnel† in Plato’s Allegory of the Cave. The red pill and â€Å"the tunnel† are to symbolize the path to more information and to become more open-minded. After choosing the red pill, this path awakens Neo to the new world and Morpheus trains and teaches Neos mind to be strong enough to comprehend and differentiate the truth from the Matrix. Neo’s training of the truth is a depiction of Socrates the freed prisoner being pulled to the light because both dimensions are to symbolize the education the one has to go through to further understand the world and its surroundings. In Plato’s allegory, Socrates journey suggests that without the assistance of education and with the little knowledge one has, one is incapable of comprehending new information which makes the â€Å"tunnel† essential for enlightenment. After learning the ultimate truth through Morpheus’ education process, Neo realizes that the spoon that fed him information his whole life was a lie and that â€Å"there is no spoon† (The Matrix). Eventually Neo reacts to the world’s reality with acceptance and he believes that he lives in â€Å"a world where anything is possible† (The Matrix). Neo acknowledges and stomachs the actuality of the Matrix; however, Cypher (another â€Å"disciple of the truth† Morpheus had trained) loathes the truth and would much rather revert back to an ignorant Matrix citizen. As a portrayal of Plato’s allegory’s â€Å"rejection of the truth†, Cypher teams up with Agent Smith (the antagonist of the film) to catch Morpheus and prevent the spread of knowledge. The reasoning behind Agent Smith rejection of the truth and role to silence Morpheus is because the Sentinels (the robots that rule earth) believe that if the humans realize the false world that surrounds them, the humans might revolt which will inevitably lead to the dethroning of the Sentinels. Agent Smith’s role is The Matrix[’s] representation of Plato’s â€Å"guards†, because â€Å"the guards† are responsible for keeping the ignorant prisoners (which, in The Matrix[’s] terms, are the humans) from learning about the real world. Agent Smith’s hatred towards the real world is evident when he says â€Å"I hate this place, this zoo, this prison, this reality†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (The Matrix). Both Agent Smith’s and Cypher’s â€Å"rejection of the truth† leads to Cypher’s betrayal to Morpheus’ trust and consequently leads to several valued â€Å"disciples of the truth† deaths. Cypher’s double-crossing unfaithfulness progresses the plot and the flow of The Matrix[’s] and Plato’s Allegory of the Cave[’s] story leads to the â€Å"execution of Socrates† (ie. Neo’s death). The â€Å"execution of Socrates† is Plato’s metaphor of the information censorship when the ultimate truth is not accepted by the general public. Although Neo is revived in The Matrix, his death is essential because it is the a representation of the general public’s rejection to the one and only hope to understanding the ultimate truth and it also shows the consequences of the general public’s lack of better judgment. Neo was not revived until Trinity and the other â€Å"disciples of the truth† portrayed their hope and acceptance for Neo. When Neo was revived, Neo was able to defeat Agent Smith (â€Å"the guard†) and is now able to spread the legitimacy of the Matrix. Even though Plato ended his allegory with the â€Å"execution of Socrates† to better convince his audience that any information censorship will lead to no progression, The Matrix revived Neo to depict what could of happened to Socrates if the truth was accepted (which eventually be the general public’s acceptance of the truth). After analyzing and comparing The Matrix and Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, one can see that the two are very similar and are trying to get the same messages across. Through character development, themes, and symbolism both allegories were able to demonstrate the path to knowledge is often concealed by the faulty ideology the complacent majority desperately cling unto. Without the willingness to evolve and buildup of what we, as humans, know to further understand the misinterpreted world (ie. The reality), no positive progression will occur.

Sony company Essay Example for Free

Sony company Essay One of the most recognized brand names in the world today, Sony Corporation, Japan, established its India operations in November 1994, focusing on the sales and marketing of Sony products in the country. In a span of 16 years, Sony India has exemplified the quest for excellence in the world of digital lifestyle becoming the country’s foremost consumer electronics brand. With relentless commitment to quality, consistent dedication to customer satisfaction and unparalleled standards of service, Sony India is recognized as a benchmark for new age technology, superior quality, digital concepts and personalized service that has ensured loyal customers and nationwide acclaim in the industry. With brands names such as BRAVIA, VAIO, Tablet, Handycam ®, Cyber-shot, Walkman ®, Xplodâ„ ¢, Sony hi-fi, Memory stick ® and PlayStation ®, Sony has established itself as a value leader across its various product categories of Audio/Visual Entertainment products, Information and Communications, Recording Media, Business and Professional products. Sony India is one of the most recognized consumer electronics brand in the country, with a reputation for new age technology, digital concepts and excellent after sales service. In India, Sony has its footprint across all major towns and cities in the country through a distribution network comprising of over 10,400 dealers and distributors, 270 exclusive Sony outlets and 23 direct branch locations. Sony India also has a strong service presence across the country with 255 service outlets. Manned by customer friendly and informed sales persons, Sony’s exclusive stores ‘Sony Center’ are fast becoming the most visible face of the company in India. A distinctive feature of Sony’s service is its highly motivated and well-trained staff that provides the kind of attentive and sensitive service that is rare today. Sony is committed to ensuring that both the products and the marketing activities employed truly make a difference to people’s lifestyles and offer them new dimensions of enjoyment. Relentless commitment to quality, continuous dedication to customer satisfaction and unparalleled standards of service is what differentiates us from countless competitors and reflects a true image of all that is Sony. HISTORY It was in 1946 that Masaru Ibuka and Akio Morita together with a small team of passionate and committed group of employees started to build â€Å"Tokyo Tsushin Kenkyujo† (Totsuko), or â€Å"Tokyo Telecommunications Research Institute† into the billion dollar global conglomerate that it is today. The main objective of the company was to design and create innovative products which would benefit the people. From early attempts at creating products like the rice-cooker to the later success of creating Japan’s first magnetic recorder, the innovative company went on to create other hit products which won the company widespread recognition and international acclaim as a truly global company known for its quality and innovative products. Significant product milestones included Japan’s first transistor radio (1955), Trinitron colour television (1968), Walkman personal stereo (1979), Handycam videocamera (1989), PlayStation (1994), Blu-ray Disc recorder (2003) and PlayStation 3 (2006). The company name of Sony was created by combining two words of â€Å"sonus† and â€Å"sonny†. The word â€Å"sonus† in Latin represents words like sound and sonic. The other word â€Å"sonny† means little son. Used in combination, Sony is supposed to represent a very small group of young people who have the energy and passion towards unlimited creations and innovative ideas. With the far-sight of expanding worldwide, it was in 1958 that the company formally adopted â€Å"Sony Corporation† as its corporate name. Easy to pronounce and read in any language, the name Sony, which has a lively ring to it, fits comfortably with the spirit of freedom and open-mindedness. FORMATS AND TECHNOLOGIES Sony has historically been notable for creating its own in-house standards for new recording and storage technologies, instead of adopting those of other manufacturers and standards bodies. The most infamous of these was the videotape format war of the early 1980s, when Sony marketed the Betamax system for video cassette recorders against the VHS format developed by JVC. In the end, VHS gained critical mass in the marketbase and became the worldwide standard for consumer VCRs and Sony adopted the format. While Betamax is for all practical purposes an obsolete format, a professional-oriented component video format called Betacam that was derived from Betamax is still used today, especially in the television industry, although far less so in recent years with the introduction of digital and high definition. Sony launched the Betamax videocassette recording format in 1975. In 1979 the Walkman brand was introduced, in the form of the worlds first portable music player. 1982 saw the launch of Sonys professional Betacam videotape format and the collaborative Compact Disc (CD) format. In 1983 Sony introduced 90 mm micro diskettes (better known as 3.5-inch (89 mm) floppy disks), which it had developed at a time when there were 4 floppy disks and a lot of variations from different companies to replace the then on-going 5.25 floppy disks. Sony had great success and the format became dominant; 3.5 floppy disks gradually became obsolete as they were replaced by current media formats. In 1983 Sony launched the MSX, a home computer system, and introduced the world (with their counterpart Philips) to the Compact Disc (CD). In 1984 Sony launched the Discman series which extended their Walkman brand to portable CD products. In 1985 Sony launched their Handycam products and the Video8 format. Video8 and the follow-on hi-band Hi8 format became popular in the consumer camcorder market. In 1987 Sony launched the 4 mm DAT or Digital Audio Tape as a new digital audio tape standard. In addition to developing consumer-based recording media, after the launch of the CD Sony began development of commercially based recording media. In 1986 they launched Write-Once optical discs (WO) and in 1988 launched Magneto-optical discs which were around 125MB size for the specific use of archival data storage. In the early 1990s two high-density optical storage standards were being developed: one was the MultiMedia Compact Disc (MMCD), backed by Philips and Sony, and the other was the Super Density disc (SD), supported by Toshiba and many others. Philips and Sony abandoned their MMCD format and agreed upon Toshibas SD format with only one modification based on MMCD technology, viz EFMPlus. The unified disc format was called DVD which was marketed in 1997. Sony introduced the MiniDisc format in 1993 as an alternative to Philips DCC or Digital Compact Cassette. Since the introduction of MiniDisc, Sony has attempted to promote its own audio compression technologies under the ATRAC brand, against the more widely used MP3. Until late 2004, Sonys Network Walkman line of digital portable music players did not support the MP3 de facto standard natively, although the provided software SonicStage would convert MP3 files into the ATRAC or ATRAC3 formats. In 1993, Sony challenged the industry standard Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound format with a newer and more advanced proprietary motion picture digital audio format called SDDS (Sony Dynamic Digital Sound). This format employed eight channels (7.1) of audio opposed to just six used in Dolby Digital 5.1 at the time. Unlike Dolby Digital, SDDS utilized a method of backup by having mirrored arrays of bits on both sides of the film which acted as a measure of reliability in case the film was partially damaged. Ultimately, SDDS has been vastly overshadowed by the preferred DTS (Digital Theatre System) and Dolby Digital standards in the motion picture industry. SDDS was solely developed for use in the theatre circuit; Sony never intended to develop a home theatre version of SDDS. In 1998, Sony launched their Memory Stick format; flash memory cards for use in Sony lines of digital cameras and portable music players. It has seen little support outside of Sonys own products with Secure Digital cards (SD) commanding considerably greater popularity. This is due in part to the SD formats greater throughput (which allows faster recording and access), higher capacities, and significantly lower price per unit capacity compared to Memory Sticks available at the same time. Sony has made updates to the Memory Stick format with Memory Stick Duo and Memory Stick Micro. Sony and Philips jointly developed the Sony-Philips digital interface format (S/PDIF) and the high-fidelity audio system SACD. The latter has since been entrenched in a format war with DVD-Audio. At present, neither has gained a major foothold with the general public. CDs are preferred by consumers because of ubiquitous presence of CD drives in consumer devices. In 2004, Sony built upon the MiniDisc format by releasing Hi-MD. Hi-MD allows the playback and recording of audio on newly introduced 1 GB Hi-MD discs in addition to playback and recording on regular MiniDiscs. Recordings on the Hi-MD Walkmans can be transferred to and from the computer virtually unrestricted, unlike earlier NetMD. In addition to saving audio on the discs, Hi-MD allows the storage of computer files such as documents, videos and photos. Hi-MD introduced the ability to record CD-quality audio with a linear PCM recording feature. It was the first time since MiniDiscs introduction in 1992 that the ATRAC codec could be bypassed and lossless CD-quality audio could be recorded on the small discs. Sony was one of the leading developers of the Blu-ray Disc optical disc format, the newest standard for disc-based content delivery. The format emerged as the market leader over the competing standard, Toshibas HD DVD, after a 2 year-long format war. The first Blu-ray players became commercially available in 2006. By the end of 2007 the format had the backing of every major motion picture studio except Universal, Paramount, and DreamWorks The Blu-ray formats popularity continued to increase, solidifying its position as the dominant HD media format, and Toshiba announced its decision to stop supporting HD DVD in 2008. Now, all major studios support Blu-ray and release their films on the format. CORPORATE INFORMATION Finances Sony is one of Japans largest corporations by revenue. It had revenues of  ¥6.395 trillion in 2012. It also maintains large reserves of cash, with  ¥13.29 trillion on hand as of 2012. In May 2012, Sony shares were valued at about $15 billion. The company was immensely profitable throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, in part because of the success of its new PlayStation line. The company encountered financial difficulty in the mid- to late-2000s due to a number of factors: the global financial crisis, increased competition for PlayStation, and the Japanese earthquake. The company faced three consecutive years of losses leading up to 2011. While noting the negative effects of intervening circumstances such as natural disasters and fluctuating currency exchange rates, the Financial Times criticized the company for its lack of resilience and inability to gauge the economy. The newspaper voiced skepticism about Sonys revitalization efforts, given a lack of tangible results. In September 2000 Sony had a market capitalization of $100 billion; but by December 2011 it had plunged to $18 billion, reflecting falling prospects for Sony but also reflecting grossly inflated share prices of the dot.com years. Net worth, as measured by stockholder equity, has steadily grown from $17.9 billion in March 2002 to $35.6 billion through December 2011. Earnings yield (inverse of the price to earnings ratio) has never been more than 5% and usually much less; thus Sony has always traded in over-priced ranges with the exception of the 2009 market bottom. In April 2012, Sony announced that it would reduce its workforce by 10,000 (6% of its employee base) as part of CEO Hirais effort to get the company back into the green. This came after a loss of 520 billion yen (roughly US$6.36 billion) for fiscal 2012, the worst since the company was founded. Accumulation loss for the past four years was 919.32 billion-yen. Sony plans to increase its marketing expenses by 30% in 2012. 1,000 of the jobs cut come from the companys mobile phone units workforce. 700 jobs will be cut in the 2012-2013 fiscal year and the remaining 300 in the following fiscal year. On 9 December 2008, Sony Corporation announced that it would be cutting 8,000 jobs, dropping 8,000 contractors and reducing its global manufacturing sites by 10% to save $1.1 billion per year. Environmental record In November 2011, Sony was ranked 9th (jointly with Panasonic) in Greenpeaces Guide to Greener Electronics. This chart grades major electronics companies on their environmental work. The company scored 3.6/10, incurring a penalty point for comments it has made in opposition to energy efficiency standards in California. It also risks a further penalty point in future editions for being a member of trade associations that have commented against energy efficiency standards. Together with Philips, Sony receives the highest score for energy policy advocacy after calling on the EU to adopt an unconditional 30% reduction target for greenhouse gas emissions by 2020. Meanwhile, it receives full marks for the efficiency of its products. In 2007, Sony ranked 14th on the Greenpeace guide. Sony fell from its earlier 11th place ranking due to Greenpeaces claims that Sony had double standards in their waste policies. Since 1976, Sony has had an Environmental Conference. Sonys policies address their effects on global warming, the environment, and resources. They are taking steps to reduce the amount of greenhouse gases that they put out as well as regulating the products they get from their suppliers in a process that they call green procurement. Sony has said that they have signed on to have about 75 percent of their Sony Building running on geothermal power. The Sony Take Back Recycling Program allow consumers to recycle the electronics products that they buy from Sony by taking them to eCycle (Recycling) drop-off points around the U.S. The company has also developed a biobattery that runs on sugars and carbohydrates that works similarly to the way living creatures work. This is the most powerful small biobattery to date. In 2000, Sony faced criticism for a document entitled NGO Strategy that was leaked to the press. The document involved the companys surveillance of environmental activists in an attempt to plan how to counter their movements. It specifically mentioned environmental groups that were trying to pass laws that held electronics-producing companies responsible for the clean up of the toxic chemicals contained in their merchandise. EMPLOYEE SATISFACTION Employee Data The addition of employees of its mobile communications business, included in the scope of consolidation effective from fiscal year 2011, was offset by substantial personnel reductions at production sites in the East Asia and Asia/Pacific regions (i.e., excluding Japan) accompanying the implementation of production adjustments. As a consequence, as of March 31, 2012, the Sony Group had approximately 162,700 employees on its books, down 5,500 from the previous fiscal year-end. Sony Corporations headcount peaked at 23,000 in 1993, after which it remained fairly consistent at approximately 17,000. As of March 31, 2012, Sony Corporations headcount was approximately 16,000. Composition of Sony Corporations Directors and Corporate Executive Officers ELECTRONICS Sony Corporation is the electronics business unit and the parent company of the Sony Group. It primarily conducts strategic business planning of the group, research and development (RD), planning, designing and marketing for electronics products. Its subsidiaries such as Sony EMCS Corporation (6 plants in Japan), Sony Semiconductor Corporation (7 plants in Japan) and its subsidiaries outside Japan (Brazil, China, England, India, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand and United States) are responsible for manufacturing as well as product engineering (Sony EMCS is also responsible for customer service operations). In 2012, Sony incorporated rolled most of its consumer content services (including video, music, and gaming) into the Sony Entertainment Network. Sony produced the worlds first portable music player, the Walkman in 1979. This line fostered a fundamental change in music listening habits by allowing people to carry music with them and listen to music through lightweight headphones. Walkman originally referred to portable audio cassette players. Sony utilized a related brand, Discman, to refer to its CD players. It dropped this name in the late 1990s. Sony sells many of its computer products using the VAIO brand. Sony entered again into the global computer market under the new VAIO brand, began in 1996. Short for Video Audio Integrated Operation, the line was the first computer brand to highlight visual-audio features. Sony faced considerable controversy when some of its laptop batteries exploded and caught fire in 2006 resulting in the largest computer-related recall to that point in history. In a bid to join the tablet computer market, the company launched its Sony Tablet series in 2011. The machines run on Google Android software. Sony offers a range of digital cameras. Point-and-shoot models adopt the Cyber-shot name, while digital single-lens reflex models are branded using Alpha. The first Cyber-shot was introduced in 1996. At the time, digital cameras were a relative novelty. Sonys market share of the digital camera market fell from a high of 20% to 9% by 2005 Sony entered the market for digital single-lens reflex cameras in 2006 when it acquired the camera business of Konica Minolta. Sony rebranded the companys line of cameras as its Alpha line. Sony is the worlds third largest manufacturer of the cameras, behind leaders Canon and Nikon. Sony used the LCD WEGA name for its LCD TVs until summer 2005. The company then introduced the BRAVIA name. BRAVIA is an in house brand owned by Sony which produces high-definition LCD televisions, projection TVs and front projectors, home cinemas and the BRAVIA home theatre range. All Sony high-definition flat-panel LCD televisions in North America have carried the logo for BRAVIA since 2005. Sony is the third-largest maker of televisions in the world. As of 2012[update], Sonys television business has been unprofitable for eight year. In December 2011, Sony agreed to sell all stake in an LCD joint venture with Samsung Electronics for about $940 million. On 28 March 2012, Sony Corporation and Sharp Corporation announced that they have agreed to further amend the joint venture agreement originally executed by the parties in July 2009, as amended in April 2011, for the establishment and operation of Sharp Display Products Corporation (SDP), a joint venture to produce and sell large-sized LCD panels and modules. Sony also sells a range of DVD players. It has shifted its focus in recent years to promoting the Blu-ray format, including discs and players. Sony produces a wide range of semiconductors and electronic components including image sensors, laser diodes, system LSIs, mixed-signal LSIs, OLED panels, etc. The company has a strong presence in image sensor market. Sony-manufactured CCD and CMOS image sensors are widely used in digital cameras, smartphones, tablet computers. Sony Ericsson distinguished itself with multimedia-capable mobile phones, which included features such as cameras. These were unusual for the time. Despite their innovations, SMC faced intense competition from Apples iPhone, released in 2007. From 2008 to 2010, amid a global recession, SMC slashed its workforce by several thousand. Sony acquired Ericssons share of the venture in 2012 for over US$1 billion. In 2009, SMC was the fourth-largest mobile phone manufacturer in the world (after Nokia, Samsung and LG). By 2010, its market share had fallen to sixth place. Sony Mobile Communications now focuses exclusively on the smart phone market. Launched in 1994, the first PlayStation gained 61% of global console sales and broke Nintendos long-standing lead in the market. The console has become the most successful of all time, selling over 150 million units as of 2011[update]. Early on, poor sales performance resulted in significant losses for the company, pushing it to sell the console at a loss. It later introduced the PlayStation Move, an accessory that allows players to control video games using motion gestures.Early on, the format was used for movies, but it has since lost major studio support. Sony released a disc-less version of its PlayStation Portable, the PSP Go. The company went on to release its second portable video game system, PlayStation Vita, in 2011 and 2012. Sony Online Entertainment operates online services for PlayStation, as well as several other online games. In 2011 hackers broke into the PlayStation Network online service, stealing the personal information of 77 million account holders. ENTERTAINMENT Sony Pictures Entertainment, Inc. (SPE) is the television and film production/distribution unit of Sony. With 12.5% box office market share in 2011, the company was ranked 3rd among movie studios. Its group sales in 2010 were US$7.2 billion. The company has produced many notable movie franchises, including Spider-Man, The Karate Kid, and Men in Black. It has also produced popular television game shows Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune. Sony entered the television and film production market when it acquired Columbia Pictures Entertainment in 1989 for $3.4 billion. SPEs television division is known as Sony Pictures Television. For the first several years of its existence, Sony Pictures Entertainment performed poorly, leading many to suspect the company would sell off the division. In July 2000, a marketing executive working for Sony Corporation created a fictitious film critic, David Manning, who gave consistently good reviews for releases from Sony subsidiary Columbia Pictures that generally received poor reviews amongst real critics. Sony Music Entertainment (also known as SME or Sony Music) is the second-largest global recorded music company of the big four record companies and is controlled by Sony Corporation of America, the United States subsidiary of Japans Sony Corporation. The company owns full or partial rights to the catalogues of Michael Jackson, The Beatles, Usher, Eminem, Akon, and others. In one of its largest-ever acquisitions, Sony purchased CBS Record Group in 1987 for US$2 billion. In the process, Sony gained the rights to the catalogue of Michael Jackson, considered by the Guinness Book of World Records to be the most successful entertainer of all time. In 2004, Sony entered into a joint venture with Bertelsmann AG, merging Sony Music Entertainment with Bertelsmann Music Group to create Sony BMG. In 2005, Sony BMG faced a copy protection scandal, because its music CDs had installed a controversial feature on users computer that posing a security risk to affected users. In 2007, the company acquired Famous Music for US$370 million, gaining the rights to the catalogues of Eminem and Akon, among others. Sony bought out Bertelsmanns share in the company and formed a new Sony Music Entertainment in 2008. Since then, the company has undergone management changes.

Literature Review On Point Of Sales System

Literature Review On Point Of Sales System Switch is a brand name wholly owned by CG Computers Sdn Bhd. CG Computers Sdn Bhd was founded on 1995 by Mr. Li Chau Ging. The main business of the company is selling Apple Products under the brand name Switch, which focuses their business in retail store, education and enterprise market. Currently, there are five Switch outlets, Two of the stores are Apple Premium reseller, which have more demos of Apple products in the store for customers to test drive compare to Apple Authorized Reseller. As one of the leading Apple Premium Reseller in Malaysia, Switch also provide training course which is called CofeeMUG to teach customers on how to use or enjoy the product which they have purchased. CG Computers Sdn Bhd is also an Apple Authorized Gold Service Provider, which provide service and repair for Apple products, any Switch store is a Drop Point if the customer have problem with their Apple product which they purchase from any Apple Store around the world. The founder of CG Computers Sdn Bhd name his store Switch is because the company wants the more users to Switch to Mac, by delivering the best customer service to the customer and demonstrating The Beauty of a Mac. Switchs employees called themselves Switcher, which is trained to serve customer on the best they could. Every Switcher will be trained on product knowledge of Apple products on Apple Sales Training Online (ASTO) by Apple Inc. and will be certified as a Apple Product Professional and Apple Sales Professional. 1.2 Business Operation Switch operates the business every day. The business hour depend on which shopping complex the Switch store is located. The standards business hour in Switch is from 10.00 AM to 10:00 PM. On every store, Switchs employees will do stock counting every morning and night(when opening and closing the store). Stocks that the employees have to count are from iPods to System; this is to ensure that no stock is lost and amount in the inventory is tally. All branches in Switch will do the same thing. If there is a problem during the stock count, Switchs employees must report immediate to the Headquarters. After stock counting, Switchs employees turn on the all the demo units, the MacBooks, iPods, iPhone, iMacs and the Mac Pro. This is to ensure the moment that customer walks into the store. They could test drive the demo unit immediately, without waiting for the system to startup. Immediate after the all the systems are turned on, Switchs employees will clean up the store. They will sweep the floor, wipe the tables and demo units to make sure customers feel comfortable when trying it. While wiping and cleaning the units, Switchs employees will also check on the demo units to make sure it is functioning. This are the 3 task the every Switchs employee does in every outlets in the morning. It is a rule set by the company before they could start attending customer. After this 3 task is completed, they will start attend customer and do their daily sales. E-mail serves as the communication channel of the company, every employee will be given an employee ID and email address from the company. E-mails are sent everyday to each employee regarding updates, promotions, news, comments and suggestions. CG Computers is a very flat organization that it has no hierarchy between uppers and lowers, any comments or suggestion could be voice out to the management or other colleagues. E-mail is the most important thing in the company which is use on every branch to communicate. Another communication technology that is use by the company is Instant Messaging. The Company uses .mac and AIM on every Point of Sales machines for instant communications. Every Switch outlet and all the employees are connected using .mac or AIM. This is to ensure instant communication can be held if a branch need help, emergency, queries and stock request. Chapter 2: Literature review on Point of Sales System 2.1 What is Point of Sales Also known as the point of service or POS, the point of sale is the exact point in a transaction when goods or services are provided to the customer and payment is rendered for those products. While the specifics of a point of sale system will vary somewhat from one situation to another, the final outcome is always the same. (Malcolm Tatum, 2010) Point of sales (POS) software is a type of software that retail store use to calculate their sales and operate the cash drawer; it is a computerized cash drawer. Point of sales add up the sales total and calculate the change. When customer buy items from retail store, point of sales will minus or debit the amount of item sold in the inventory system. At minimum, POS should be able to handle sales and manage your inventory database. (Jane Harmon, 2010) Image above illustrates point of sales (image from: http://www.pcmag.com/encyclopedia_term/0,2542,t=point+of+salei=49444,00.asp) Point of sales system is mostly found in supermarket. The point of sales system consists of the checkout counter, bar code scanner, and the cash register. Every time when an item is scanned, the system count the cost; till all the items selected by the customer are scanned, the system will calculate the total cost of all item that customer would like to purchase. Customer will then pay amount money, using either credit card or cash. If customer pays by cash, the point of sales system will allow the cashier to input the amount of money that customer pay and calculate the balance that should be returned to the customer. When the payment is done, Point of Sales system will generate a receipt and store a log in the server. The proposed system will be at least able to do the basic requirement of what a Point of Sales should have. 2.2 Features of Point of Sales System There were many features in Point of Sales System. The proposed system will highlight the existing and important features. One of them is easy to learn, By using a user friendly and easy to learn system, the company will save up cost. Switch do not need to send their employees for expensive training on how to use the point of sales. Switch will also save time to train a crew before they could start working. The second feature is easy to use. An easy to use Point of sales system should require the minimum keystroke and minimum skill during daily sales. This will ensure customers do not have to wait too long until a receipt is printed. A complicated Point of Sales system will cause customers to wait while paying and a long queue when the cashier takes too long time to key in the data into the Point of Sales. The third feature is automatic. Point of sales system should be able to apply automatic discounts or preferred price levels to special customers. This will help ease the speed up the cashiers job when there is a promotion going on. The fourth feature is rewarding. Point of sales system should be able to calculate the total sales by every individual staff to keep track their sales performance and commission. This will ensure staff could get their commission every month in their pay slip and it will motivate staffs to sell more items to earn more money. The fifth feature is accommodating; some hot selling items will be sold out very frequently. Customer may have to come back the next time until the stock arrive, but when it is a hot selling product, it may be sold out before customers could come again and purchase it. Point of sales system should be able to take sales order so that, when the new stock arrived, it will be reserved for customers. The sixth feature that I would like to highlight is receipt. This is the most important feature is point of sales. Every sales end up with a receipt before the sales is complete. Point of sales system must be able to print receipt for customers to proof that they have bought the items from a store and it will be used for items that have warranty. The date of purchase will be printed on the receipt. Chapter 3: Literature Review on Existing Point of Sales System 3.1 Existing Point of Sales System in the market. 3.1.1 Retail Man Point of Sales Retail Man Point of Sales can turn an ordinary personal computer into a Point of Sales System and inventory system just by attaching Point of Sales hardware into it, for example, bar code scanner, cash drawer, docket printer, touch screen and pole display into the computer. It features a very simple user interface with powerful security. This software includes Point of Sales, stock control, inventory and standard accounting functions. By using this software, you can turn your ordinary personal computer into a powerful point of sale terminal. Their official website is http://www.retailmanpos.com/ 3.1.2 POS MAID This software is compatible with any barcode scanner or any touch screen computer. POS Maid basically have all the tools a retail store need to run a business. With simple operation and feature set, business owners will be pleased by this tool. All the maths, including taxes was automatically added to ensure accuracy. This software allow a retail sotre to save customers information into database to run a business report with just a few clicks. This program even has feature to record the employee work hours and tally up their pay checks. Their official website is http://www.alexandriacomputers.com/retail-software.aspx 3.1.3 Free Deluxe Pos Point of Sale Software System 2.0 Win TRS Point of Sales us a completely free software suite for setting up a Windows DOS based point of sales system. This software is a full feature system with a client and inventory database. One of the great features is it allow users to create purchase order. It also support cash drawer and barcoding. This software can be used on a single PC with a standard printer and expand up to multiple PCs with dedicated printer if required. This is a complete stock management system that can work in a single PC system. 3.2 Existing Point of Sales in Switch The existing Point of Sales System used in Switch is FileMaker Pro. FileMaker Pro is a cross-platform relational database application from FileMaker Inc., formerly Claris, (a subsidiary of Apple). The main reason why FileMaker Pro was used is because the Point of Sales devices in Switch is a MacBook, Apple Macintosh computer, FileMaker Pro is fully compatible with Mac OS X on Macintosh Machines. FileMaker Pro is a database application that has been used since when the company was founded. Figure 1 Figure 1 is a snapshot of the sales interface, this interface is used to key in customers info, stock no (stock ID), amount, cash/ credit card and sales person name. When cashier filled up the required information, the receipt will be printed. If a product runs out of stock, this sales order interface will allow staff to take customers information, such as, name, address, and contact number. Staffs will have to key in the items that customer would like to order and deposit paid and issue a receipt as a proof that the customer have paid and order for the item. Figure 2 The existing system also allows the retail store to view the total cash and credit card sales. It is called the daily report of each branch. The main purpose of this is to ensure the cash and credit card amount is tally each night before closing the retail store. Figure 3 Chapter 4: Investigation of Problems 4.1 Overview This chapter is about to investigate existing problem in the Point of Sale currently used in Switch. The proposed system will solve the problem to ease the task of Switch employees. 4.2 Problem 1: Sales report The very main problem of FileMaker Pro (Point of Sales System) used by Switch is the sales report. When a receipt is being issues, the existing system cannot send a report to the Headquarters to inform them that a transaction is being made. To know the daily sales, Headquarters can only view it the next day because the report will have to be generated manually every night. It means the Headquarters cannot view the sales report in real time each time a transactions is being made. The proposed system will solve this problem on the server software in the headquarters by implementing a page for authorized person to view the transaction in real time and updated every seconds. By solving this problem, the company will benefit from monitoring each transaction in real time. If there is a mistake made on the sales receipt, price, promotion and etc. It can be monitored and noticed directly so that changes could be made immediately. Compare to existing system, mistake can only be identified on the next morning. Mistake could be identified if the report could successfully generate on the night. It there is an incident like staffs forgot to generate the report and the next day the report is lost or damages; this will cause the company loses a report of a whole day and it might take a week to trace back what items have sold, pricing etc. 4.3 Problem 2: Stock delete/ stock debit The second problem in the existing point of sales system is stock deduction/debit. Notice that in Chapter 1, under Switchs business operations, the author have mention about stock counting every morning. The report of the stocks only included, iPod, iPhone and Mac. Other accessories are not included in the stock count due to too large amount; but iPod, iPhone and Mac are expensive stock and still are in countable numbers, that the company is afraid of. Staffs might steal a MacBook home and the stock is lost and no one could realize it without the stock count. The problem of stock deduction is, every time a iPod, iPhone or Mac is sold, the local list of stock in the existing Point of Sales System require manual deletion. After all stock sold on the day are being deleted, this list will be a part of daily report to be send to the Headquarters. Staffs may have forgotten to delete the stock from the list and result an untallied amount during stock count at night. There is a possibility of deleting the wrong stock. The proposed system will solve this problem by implementing automatic stock deletion from the local and server stock list so that there is less possibilities of error made by humans. This will speed up the job of stock counting and report generating. By implementing this system, Switchs employees will have lesser task and stock amount are always correct.

The Names Essay -- Literary Analysis, Billy Collins

In the poem â€Å"The Names,† by Billy Collins, the speaker is calmly recalling people’s last names alphabetically as he notices them wherever he goes. At first it seems as though he is playing a game to see how many names he can think of. After reading the whole poem several times, it becomes clear that he is referring to people who died on September 11th. Collins uses imagery, a serious tone, and similes throughout the poem to show appreciation for the memory of the victims that died that tragic day. In the first stanza, it is established that the poem is written in the first person, when â€Å"I† is referring to the speaker, which illustrates this person’s point of view concerning the tragedy of 9/11 during a whole day of events. The speaker begins by setting a tranquil mood as the opening of a long list of last names. In line 1, he says: â€Å"Yesterday, I lay awake in the palm of the night.† He describes the night like a tropical tree gently swaying in a peaceful beach setting. He calmly observes the gentle raindrops dripping slowly down his windows until they disappear in â€Å"A soft rain stole in, unhelped by any breeze, / And when I saw the silver glaze on the windows,† (2-3). For a brief moment, he enjoys going outside to his garden at sunrise to forget the sorrow that death brings when â€Å"In the morning, I walked out barefoot / Among thousands of flowers† (11-12). In the second stanza, the speaker visualizes images within the starry night and a muddy shoreline that symbolize individuals experiencing death-defying events. In line 8, the speaker states â€Å"Names printed on the ceiling of the night.† He is referring to the pattern of stars that draw great figures of Greek Gods, like Mars who is related to strength, energ... ...rassy cemetery is the place where gravestones are placed so the victims will not be forgotten. The speaker also reminds the reader that relatives tend to put the memory of their loved ones â€Å"into the dim warehouse of memory† (53) or in back of their minds so they will not feel so broken hearted. He recalls seeing â€Å"A woman by a window puts a match to a candle† (39) for the memory of a loved one that died from the attack. By the speaker’s comment â€Å"are outlined on the rose clouds† (40), he suggests as though the deceased victims appeared up in heaven. Collins uses visualization, emotions, and comparisons within several natural and man-made objects in respect to all the victims that tragically passed away that dreadful day. By specifically identifying several individuals in this poem, Collins found a way to honor those people that died on September 11, 2001.

COP 3530, Discrete Data Structures and Algorithms, Summer 1999, Homework 7 :: UFL Florida Computer Programming Homework

Class Notes: Data Structures and Algorithms Summer-C Semester 1999 - M WRF 2nd Period CSE/E119, Section 7344 Homework #7 -- Due Wed 21 July 1999 : 09.30am (Revised Date) In class, we discussed minimum spanning trees (MSTs) and the algorithms that derive MSTs from a graph specification. Using your class notes as a guide, answer the following questions. Note: The graph specifications from Homework #5 have been used with slight modifications, to make the data structures more familiar for you. Comments in response to student questions are in red typeface. * Question 1. Write pseudocode (not Java code) for Prim's algorithm that we discussed in class. Beside each step, write the number of external I/O, memory I/O, incrementation, comparison, and other types of operations employed. Note in the above description that Prim's algorithm (for MST) is to be used, not Dijkstra's (for Shortest Path). The use of Dijkstra's was a typo...my apologies... Then, construct a work budget for each type of operation, together with a Big-Oh estimate of complexity for each of the following graph representations: (a) adjacency matrix, (b) edge list, and (c) adjacency list. * Question 2. Repeat Question 1 for Kruskal's algorithm that we discussed in class. * Question 3. Given the following graph specification (assume directed edges only) for G = (V,E), write out the order of edges with which Prim's algorithm constructs the MST, starting at vertex a. (The third value (integer) in each edge triple is its weight.) (1 point each): (a) V = {a,b,c,d,e,f}, E = {(a,b,1), (b,c,3), (a,c,2), (c,d,4), (c,e,5), (e,f,2),(b,f,3)}. (b) V = {a,b,c,d,e,f}, E = {(d,a,2), (b,c,4), (a,b,2), (e,b,3), (c,e,1), (b,d,1)}. (c) Analyze the complexity of each case ((a) and (b), above) by constructing a work budget similar to Question 1, but for the adjacency list representation only, followed by a Big-Oh estimate. (2 points total) * Question 4. Repeat Question 3 with b as the start vertex. * Question 5. Repeat Question 3 for Kruskal's instead of Prim's, without regard to the start vertex. * Question 6. Repeat Question 3 for Kruskal's instead of Prim's, using the following graph specifications, without regard to the start vertex:

Limiting Death Row Appeals :: essays research papers

Limiting Death Row Appeals   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Constitution of the United States outlines the rights of a person accused of a crime. The individual has a right to a trial and to be judged by a jury of his peers. When the result of a trial is a guilty verdict and the individual is sentenced to death, the individual has a right to appeal the verdict and the sentence. At the present time, there are virtually no limits on the number of appeals the individual is entitled to and the process could take years. Therefore, the process should be altered to limit the number of appeals to one.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Supreme Court of the United States re-instituted the death penalty in 1976. Between that year and 1995, 314 inmates have been executed in the 37 states, districts, and providences of the United States that allow the death penalty. There are more than 3100 inmates on death row. The majority of executions are of white males. Most executions are by lethal injection or electrocution. In the years since the Supreme Court re-instituted the death penalty through 1994, there have been approximately 467,000 homicides in the United States. Based on that number, 2.8 people will die every hour at the hands of another person.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Death row inmates are often on death row for years, some upwards of twenty years. This puts great financial strain on taxpayers' money. While in prison, inmates have many privileges, including cable television, the chance to pursue a college degree, and free health care, all at taxpayers' expense. There are many law-abiding citizens who don't get these benefits. It is appalling to think these people have a virtual life of leisure while in prison. There are some death penalty opponents who believe that convicts don't get enough privileges and lobby for better living conditions and the rights of the convicted felons. Lost in this passionate pursuit of human rights are the rights of the dead victim and those of that victim's family.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The appeal process is lengthy and time-consuming. The appeal process is almost automatic for individuals sentenced to death. Many appeals are filed by the convicts in hopes of overturning their conviction or to change their sentence to life imprisonment. Although a great majority of these cases are handled pro bono by lawyers ethically opposed to the death penalty, no consideration is taken in respect to the cost to taxpayers for the local, state, and federal government to respond to and process these appeals. A little known fact about the appeals process is that many states have laws providing funds for the legal defense and appeals for convicted felons.