Nine Circles of Dante's Inferno Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Nine Circles of Dante's Inferno - Essay Example Franke (2009) is of the opinion that Dante’s Inferno is conceived primarily as an expansion of the ancient epic motif of the katabasis or â€Å"going down† of the protagonist to the underworld for a revelation of his destiny from beyond the threshold of death. The poet’s contemporary political and literary circles criticized the work by viewing it as the reflection of Dante’s hatred for his political opponents. In addition, the journey also portrays the tales he had listened to from his elders and religious mentors, which describes the pains and sufferings inflicted upon the individuals who, according to his view, led a life of deviancy and sin on the earth by breaking the law o religion and morality. It is because of his adherence and commitment with the same faith that Dante demonstrates feelings of sympathies and remorse for some sinful individuals burning into the flames of Inferno, while he is delighted on finding a few of them on finding them at such a horrible dwelling. Similarly, Dante also takes pity on a group of people because of their miserable plight by stating them as not the guilty of the sins they are being punished. For instance, during his visit of the first inferno, he laments over the pitiable plight of renowned poet Virgil, who appeared to be undergoing punishment in the first circle of inferno along with other non believers. Since Virgil belonged to the era before Christ, he could not develop faith in Jesus. As a result, he was kept in the first circle attributed to the non-believers (Canto I, lines 79-130). Hence, having no belief in Jesus Christ is a minor in Dante’s eyes. Surprisingly, the holy personalities, including Adam, Noah, Abraham and others are also seen in that very circle by Dante, which were bless with salvation and pardon by Jesus Christ (Lines 55-57). The purported visionary Dante found debauchers and adulterers in the second inferno; because of the sinful life they spent while their stay on the earth. Since the kings, queens and other people associated with the royal family or court remained in revelry making with or without the consent of the other. Consequently, both adulterers and rapists fall in this category of sinners being inflicted with pains and sufferings in the hell. Colossians (3:5-6) also condemns in these words: â€Å"put to death whatever in your nature is rooted in earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desires and that lust which is idolatry. These are sins which provoke God's wrath.† Dante finds gluttonous and voracious people in the third and fourth circles of inferno; since the poet had found his political rivals as greedy and ravenous, he personally attacked the rivals including Cisco, the politicians belonging to the Black Guelph party, and others and vehemently condemned their lust and greed. Consequently, he views greed as more heinous sin than fornication. Similarly, he finds the offenders of observing anger and heresy as in fifth and sixth circles of the hell, because of displaying cruelty upon others as well as declaring the mortal world as the end of life respectively. Furthermore, violence, chaos and ruthlessness are greater sins in the eyes of Dante. The poet has included the oppressors, seizers of the wealth and properties of others and homosexuals in this very category. He is of the

Media and Gender Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Media and Gender - Research Paper Example With the advent of media and information technology, sweeping changes has manifested itself on women. Today, women spend all their time and resources on media, and are willing to anything in order to be beautiful or change their natural outlooks. This clearly shows that women use media as a tool of educating themselves as a way of seeking freedom from the yoke of women folk, which has enslaved them for long (Joo, 2012). It is evidently clear that most of the media houses take considerable airtime to advertise what appropriate appearance a woman should have in the modern world. This includes the likes of â€Å"figure eight†, tall and slender and less body weight women. Some of these ideal desirable body structures are may not be attainable practically by some of the women. This creates a negative mindset of dissatisfaction from such women should they fail to attain such desirable qualities (In Carter et al, 2014). Therefore, they start a voyage of events that will see them modify their natural bodies in order to pose those deemed desirable by the society. The main problem associated to most of these processes and operations women have to go through may bring adverse lifelong damages in health of victims. The worst outcomes arise where the desired body appearance fails to happen, or the desired characteristics become abnormal, the likes of the various cases that have been documented. Several w omen are on record to have for instance, applied breast enlargement cream only for one of the breasts to be extremely larger than normal and fail to match with the other pair. The main problem is that, some of these outcomes remain unchanged forever and hence a permanent scar of psychological dissatisfaction rules the entire life of a woman in question. Scholars have cautioned on negative results of female objections in the media. It is not, therefore, miracles to find women in the society who are bed-ridden after suffering the negative images that are

Philosophy - Buddhism Philosophy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Philosophy - Buddhism Philosophy - Essay Example Siddhartha Gautama was born in Lumbini near Nepalese Indian border, Kapilavastu. He was the son of King of Sakya tribe. Siddhartha was trained like a warrior as well as he was also coached to possess spiritual knowledge. He was married at the age of sixteen and was happily living with his beautiful wife of thirteen years until one day he left for an excursion. On his way, he encountered four different sights that guided him to an ultimate truth of life. He met an old man, a sick man, a corpse and a monk. Siddhartha saw that people have little control over their lives and with this he left his life as a prince and indulged in self mortification to find the truth. While sitting under a tree, he experienced the Great Enlightenment, a way to escape from suffering. With his teachings, Buddha travelled a lot teaching his doctrine and attracting followers. (Harvey, 1990) Buddha’s initial teachings are about four noble truths. First noble truth is about life and its suffering. Human n ature is imperfect co-existing in an equally imperfect world. Life is full of sorrows and torments, but sprinkled with some happy moments as well. Nothing is permanent in this world not even pain and suffering. Second truth is the reason of first noble truth. It is our attachment to the transient things of the world i.e., our ideas and perceptions of surroundings, our craving and clinging for the best that becomes the basis of our suffering. Detachment from such ideas and dispassion is the only way to end this suffering, which is the third noble truth. Fourth is gradual path of self-improvement. It is detailed as the eighth fold path. The eighth fold is the basis of Buddhist teachings and includes morality, meditation and wisdom (Naht, 1999). Right Knowledge, thinking, speech, conduct, livelihood, effort, mindfulness, and concentration lead a person to realization that selfishness and greed cause sufferings. Buddhism uncovers the material basis of our relationship to this world and our always unsatisfied expectations. Due to impermanence we are always at a miserable or dejected end of our lives just because we expect a lot from something that is constantly changing and shifting its priorities. In any case we cannot solidify our relationship to this world that is so unpredictable and so unfaithful at times. For example, if we are studying business and hope to build a specific carrier, but when we come into practical life we experience that our knowledge is just not enough to compete with other colleagues in the same field. The priorities have shifted from theoretical knowledge to practical internships and training programs that you lack. In this way, you strived for a goal, but still could not reach it due to its impermanence and you will continue struggling until the end of your life and still may lack something or the other. Samsara is another fundamental concept of Buddhism, which means journeying the cycle of birth, death and rebirth. According to Buddha pe ople don’t possess individual souls, individuality is just an illusion. Rebirth is the concept in Hinduism and Buddhism, an ongoing cycle of birth. A person’s feelings, doings, impressions, karma are passed on to his next life and not his physical self, making him similar to his previous life. Nirvana is also considered as an opposite of Samsara. It is not an actual heaven, but a condition of being in heaven, if only in the state of mind. It is achieved by eliminating

Tourism Issue Research Exercise and Essay Essay Example for Free

Tourism Issue Research Exercise and Essay Essay 1.0Introduction 1.1 Introduction to essay Tourism has increasingly grown as the economy develops well and the level of living style of human being improves, especially in China. (Jordon Ken, 2001)The dramatically growth of tourism has brought several benefits such as enhancing local economic development and the reduction of unemployment rate. (Philip D. Brian R., 1995) However, it is still questionable that whether it is absolutely profitable if the number of tourists continue to rise. The objectives of this essay are to emphasize the negative impacts of tourism to a Chinese destination. This essay is going to cover how the boosting tourism is affecting the quality of water and air in China. 1.2 Introduction to articlelu This article is discussing about the sudden influx of tourists throughout China during China’s National Day golden week and the negative environmental impacts that it caused. 2.0 Main arguments discussion 2.1 The general fact of tourism Over time, there is a significant growth in tourism all over the world. With reference to appendix A, it is significantly shown that the number of international tourist arrivals doubled from 435 millions to 940 millions from 1990 to 2010. Distinctively in the South Asia region, the numbers rose from 3.2 millions to 11.1 millions in the span of ten years, this relatively attracts a higher number of tourists among the strongest growing areas in 2010. As reported in UNWTO Tourism Highlight (2011), the position of china in tourism indicators moves up in both arrivals and receipts, reaching to the third position and the forth place out of the top ten, respectively. 2.2 The factors involving an increase in tourism It is evident that nowadays, more and more people prefer to choose China as their holiday destination, showing an obvious demand for tourism. It is  notable that there was a 20.8% growth of foreign tourists’ (about 85.4 million tourists) arrivals after the Beijing Olympics and Shanghai Expo. (China Daily, 2009) However, there are several crucial reasons that push people to go out to an unfamiliar place and pull them to China, listed below are the push and pull factors respectively. 2.2.1 Push factors There are several factors involved in influencing the increment of tourism, such as economic expansion, social changes, demographic aspects and technological developments. (Weaver, D. B., Oppermann, M. 2000) Being rich and affluent allows most people to be able to achieve a better sense of purchase power. The availability of greater discretionary household income gains various choices rather than just spending on basic living requirement;( Agarwal and Yochum,1999) Moreover, nowadays people tend to travel overseas during their vacation, in order to escape their busy work schedules. Households have also become smaller, so family members can spend less in bringing up children, thus having more money for leisure activities. In addition, the advancement in technology makes it easier for travelers to reach their destination. To sum up, all these factors boost the demand of tourism. (Weaver, D. B., Oppermann, M. 2000) 2.2.2 Pull factors Referring to Appendix B, Asian tourists make up the majority of China’s tourism market due to their geographical advantage. For example, Japan is the biggest tourist-source market for China as both countries are situated near from each other. It is also cheaper for the Japanese to travel to China as it is relatively cheaper than to other countries. Besides, the 5000-year history of China is always attracting tourists all over the world. In addition, the complement of airline systems and expansion of high speed train are more comfortable, continence and efficient. The quality of service has also grown together with the influx of tourists. (Jeffrey, 2008) 3.0 The negative impacts of tourism to environment However, it is questionable whether it is absolutely good if the number of tourist constantly grow yearly. According to this article, it was a common  phenomenon that china was overly congested with people during the Chinese National Day. 20,000 tourists could not find a hotel to settle down in Pu Tuo mountain (a famous mountain in china); During the same period of time, San Ya beach was described to be a dump because 50 tons rubbish was abandoned along the coast, while vehicles were held up on the expressway, which looked like they were parking in car parks. (Lei, 2012) These events are apparently showing a sign that when the sheer number of tourists is overload for a destination, it will lead to a decline in both socio-cultural and natural environment. However, only natural environment will be discussed about thought focusing on two main pollutions that exit during the rapid development of tourism. They are water pollution and air pollution, respectively. 3.1 Water pollution With the boosting tourism, more water resources are developed to attract travelers. Those people who enjoy the natural attractions of beauty and peacefulness like to boat along the waterways and enjoy the scenery.(Jeffrey, 2008) Thus, an increase of water transports like motorboats, will in turn cause oil emissions which would pollute the water ways.( Jeffrey, 2008 ) Moreover, the rubbish dump by travelers is harmful to the quality of water. Furthermore, hotels resorts built along waterways or coastlines will produce a big amount of sewage as well. These series of events would be obviously harmful to local water system during the holiday and would certainly cost a loss in the economy. For example, a number of 360 million yuan(US $43 million) was invested to clean up the Lijiang River by government. (People’s Daily, 2000) 3.2 Air pollution Nowadays, with advanced technology, majority of people prefer to take air transport to their preferred destinations. Refer to Appendix C, half of the total (51%) tourists chose to travel by air in 2010, while the road transport rank at the second popular choice of all mode of transports. All vehicle transport create exhaust fumes. (Simpson et al., 2008) Air pollution caused by tourist transportation has spread to the whole human being living environment, especially from carbon dioxide production because of the usage  of transportation energy. (Majbritt, 2010) In fact, the air in China, especially in the city area, is suffering from heavy pollution. (Gregory C. Chow, 2008) Amongst 20 worst-air-cities around the world, 16 of them belongs to China. (Jeffrey, 2008) 4.0 Conclusion In conclusion, the negative impacts of tourism to Chinese environment such as water pollution and air pollution have been explained above. These are the consequences that booming tourism has to pay. Thus, it is worth noting that the substantial tourism is calling peremptorily. Increasing tourism does bring a lot of profit for economy, but it is a double-edged sword. If left uncontrolled, tourism can cause both social and environmental problems as seen from China’s case. However, although I believe that the Tourism industry in china reaps more positivity on the whole, although there is no concrete panacea to this issue. Methodology This research essay required gathering relevant facts and information from a vast variety of sources, including book literatures, journals, news articles, specified review and online sources, in order to deliver complete understanding of the main topic – Negative impact of tourism to China’s destination. This research paper focused on gathering crucial data from the most valid and credible sources as reliability and credibility were key concerns. The usage of online journals and articles which were accessible on University Of Newcastle Blackboard were definitely useful in gathering information such as essential Annals of Tourism Research and Studies. In addition to this, Google Scholar played an imperative role in providing relevant information on the topics of Tourism in China as well as statistics on relevant areas. Key words like inbound tourism of china, water pollution were used on Google search engine to obtain further detail figures such as the number of tourism to China in 2010. Other than the methods listed above, the Chinese government reports and UNWTO annual reports were also used to describe and further elaborate changing tourism trend and statistics. The main keyword descriptors used to complete the research include: negative impacts of tourism in China, water pollution and air pollution information Reference: Air Pollution in China. (n.d.). FACTS AND DETAILS. Retrieved April 2, 2013, from factsanddetails.com/china.php?itemid=392catid=10subcatid=66 China Daily. (2009) Tourism in beijing boosts after the olympic games. (2009, 7 29). Cultural China. Retrieved from http://news.cultural-china.com/20090729140321.html Gregory C. Chow (2008): China’s Energy and Environmental Problems and Policies, Asia-Pacific Journal of Accounting and Economics Jeffrey, H. (2008). Facts and details. Retrieved from http://factsanddetails.com/china.php?itemid=392catid=10subcatid=66 Jeffrey, H. (2008). Water pollution in china. Retrieved from http://factsanddetails.com/china.php?itemid=391 Jordon, S., Ken, W. (2001). Causality between trade and tourism: empirical evidence from china. (1st ed., pp. 279-283). Lei, B, (2012). Crowd throughout the great wall during chinas national day. Chong Qin Wan Bao (2012, 10 8). . Retrieved from (http://tour.rednet.cn/c/2012/10/08/2770150.htm) Majbritt, T. (2010). Tourism, transport and environmental pollution. Retrieved from http://www.viewsontourism.info/2010/tourism-transport-and-environmental-pollution/ Philip D. , A., Brian R., P. (1995). An applied general equilibrium analysis of the economic effects of tourism in a quite small, quite open economy. (Vol. 27, pp. 985-994). Simpson, M. C., Gà ¶ssling, S., Scott, D., Hall, C. M. and Gladin, E. 2008. Climate change adaptation and mitigation in the tourism sector: Frameworks, tools and practices, Paris: UNEP, University of Oxford, UNWTO, WMO. Tourism, Transport and Environmental pollution – Views On Tourism. (n.d.).Views On Tourism Knowledge and inspiration to the Bangladeshi tourism sector.. Retrieved February 4, 2013, from http://www.viewsontourism.info/2010/tourism-transport-and-environmental-pollution/ UNWTO. (2011). Travel Biz Monitor: UNWTO Tourism Highlights: 2011 Edition (Part -II). Travel Biz Monitor: India travel news, travel trends, tourism. Retrieved February 3, 2013, from http://www.travelbizmonitor.com/unwto-tourism-highlights2011-edition-part-ii-14272 V.B. Agarwal, G.R. Yochum(1999): Tourist spending and race of visitors, Journal of Travel Research, (pp. 173–176) Weaver, D. B., Oppermann, M. (2000). Tourism management. Brisbane: John Wiley Sons Australia.(pp. 5-68) Wheeler, D., Dasgupta, S. and Wang, H. 2003. â€Å"Chapter 12: Can China Grow and Safeguard Its Environment? The Case of Industrial Pollution†. In How Far Across the River? Chinese Policy Reform at the Millennium, Edited by: Hope, N., Yang, D. T. and Li, M. Y. Stanford: Stanford University Press

Richard II: His Dramatic Downfall Essay -- Literary Analysis, Shakespe

Shakespeare’s plays were grouped into three categories: comedies, tragedies and histories. The histories were those plays based on the lives of English kings. Shakespeare was one of the first writers to write about English history. According to Garber, â€Å"before Shakespeare’s time there were few history plays such written in England--- England history was told in verse and prose chronicles (239)†. It’s considered that Richard II is one of the early â€Å"historical plays†. The play became so iconic that even Queen Elizabeth said that she was â€Å"Richard the second, know ye not that†. Richard II tells the story about a king’s downfall. Richard II is not your average king. He is useless with his power and does not know how to use it. He is the king of England when the play begins but shortly after his kingship is taken away from him. Richard II is a young man who has not matured much since his adolescence. He is disconnected from his land and its people, which becomes one of the downfalls of his crown. He has an extraordinary flair for poetic language. He is witty and poetic personality doesn’t work with his higher calling in life. A king should be strong and fearless. King Richard II is not a man of action and as the play advances, he gets into more and more trouble. As his end approaches, he becomes very poetic. Like most Shakespearean heroes, Richard II has a strong theatrical personality. He likes putting on a show and enjoys a bit of wordplay, even at his own expense. What sets him apart from other Shakespearean characters is the perverse joy he takes in his downfall. There are many tragic events that lead to Richard’s downfall and consequently lost of his crown. The most important one was that he basically didn’t ... ...n moral and royal principles. By the end of this play, it’s clear that Richard has completely questioned the concept of divine right and when he has to shed his crown and turn over England to his enemy, he dramatically states â€Å"Throw away respect, Tradition, form, and ceremonious duty; For you have but mistook me all this while. I live with bread like you, feel want, Taste grief, need friends. (3.3.172-76). Just because Richard as a divine right to be the King doesn’t mean that he is the right choice to accomplished the requirement of what it takes to be a great king. Richard was lacking on the will power of a leader. His downfall was his fault in the sense that he couldn’t concentrate to see what he was doing to his region as a ruler. He failed as a leader but at the same time he gain sometime much better than a crown, Richard gain the understanding of who he is.

Hewlett Packard – Review

Hewlett Packard was founded in 1939, and has continually thrived from year to year, growing to over 50 operations worldwide presently. Around 1990 things began to change. They ran into issues they had to contend with, such as the need to find the best way to satisfy customer needs in terms of product availability. They also needed to get agreement among the various parties in the supply chain. Their inventory management plans were synchronized. In the U.S. and Western Europe the market for printers was becoming mature, although it was still developing in Eastern Europe and the Asia-Pacific region. In addition, they needed to assess which particular printer market they wanted to target, so as to maximize profits and value to shareholders. Currently, the market consisted of 40% impact/dot matrix, 40% laser printers, and 20% inkjet printers. With dot matrix printers starting to become outdated and expected market share to drop 10% within the next few years, laser and inkjet printers would be the best alternative for HP to focus on. The key issue that Hewlett Packard will have to deal with, however, will be identifying the level of safety stock needed at their distribution centers and finding the lowest cost way to supply this amount. Problem Recognition: There is an assortment of problems that have contributed to Hewlett Packard's inventory/service crisis. One of these problems was a result of the considerable lead time in shipping out to Europe and Asia. Having a lead time of 4 to 5 weeks makes it extremely arduous for companies whom have a JIT system put into place. When you wish to have inventory levels of 0, but have long lead times, problems are bound to occur. Another issue arising is HP's system of inventory assessment. Currently they are devising a new system of safety stock analysis, because their old system was based on heuristics, and was not fully effective for the company. Due to the increasing difficulty of obtaining accurate forecasts, HP's safety stock analysis will probably have to be revisited. It is their choice of inventory carrying costs to be used in the safety stock analysis which is the one issue that continuously comes up. Some estimates start at 12% which comes from their cost of debt plus some warehousing expenses, whereas others are at 60%, which is based on the ROI expected of new product developments. Management must be able to determine that percentage that more accurately reflects the true cost of holding inventory. Demand uncertainties, while more controlled then past years, could have also exacerbated to the inventory/service crisis. There were three areas of concern to be addressed in this sector. The first dealt with delivery of incoming materials; whether the parts/products shipped come on time, and if the actual order was filled correctly with the right parts. Internal process uncertainties, such as process yields and machine downtimes, were another issue HP had to look over carefully. Finally, the final end demand varied too much for forecasting to be accurate enough. This issue complicates the choice of safety stock levels since they are ultimately based on expected demand. This creates what is known as the bull-whip effect. Essentially the bull-whip increases variability at various levels of the SC making efforts to integrate efforts difficult. There are four key aspects of the bull-whip effect that HP must take into consideration: demand forecast updating, order batching, price fluctuations, and rationing and shortage gaming. These are the four major causes of bull-whip that must first be understood, so that we can counteract the effect. The waterway distribution system could also be a potential problem for the company. Our analysis determines maximum air freight that is acceptable under different inventory holding cost assumptions. As aforementioned, there are quite a few issues which could have caused an inventory/service crisis within Hewlett Packard. Some issues, like the safety stock analysis problem are more likely to cause the crisis; however, it is most likely that a combination of all these factors contributed to the overall problem. Each issue must be examined so that some of the potential problems can be filtered out, and the real issue can be known and figured out according to HP's policies and objectives. Alternative courses of action: There are three courses of action that could be implemented in an attempt to rectify the problem with satisfying demand for printers in the global economy with minimal inventory and stock out costs. The first alternative is the base case scenario. This scenario consists of HP's normal distribution strategy, which consists of one main manufacturing plant in Vancouver who assembles everything on the printers and localizes it according to its destination. The means for distribution is by sea. The second alternative is an air freight scenario which will utilize the airline industry in HP's shipments to Europe. This approach reduces lead time from 4.5 weeks in the base case scenario to 1 week. All of the manufacturing and processing still occurs in the Vancouver plant. The third alternative is a generic European model to be assembled-to-order in the European DC. This approach will produce a generic product in the Vancouver facility and then ship the unfinished product to the European DC's where the final assembling and localizing will occur. We have three basic assumptions. First, lead time for the base case scenario will be 4.5 weeks. Second, air freight will create a lead time of 1 week; this includes actual transportation, customs clearing time, and other miscellaneous events. Third, the majority of the holding cost will be in generic European option. The calculations for all types of printers in the European market are located in Appendices 2-4. To evaluate these three approaches, we consider holding cost for the safety stock. When comparing these costs between the three approaches for both the best case scenario of 12% inventory holding costs we get $442,300, $626,254, and $847,412, for air freight scenario, generic European model to be assembled-to-order, and base case scenario respectively. The costs for the worst case scenario of 60% inventory holding costs are $2,211,500, $3,131,272, and $4,237,062, for air freight scenario, generic European model to be assembled-to-order, and base case scenario respectively. Necessary Supply Chain Changes: The primary change that should be made in the supply chain management in order to implement the generic product option would be to move the finalization of the product to its respective distribution center. Due to the long shipping times involved, the factory should engineer and manufacture a base assembly at the Vancouver facility and ship them to the distribution centers abroad. At these distribution centers an inventory of localizing and finishing parts will exist; therefore, the base product can then be localized and finished at the respective distribution center according to demand patterns at that time. Since inventory is generic, one DC can ship the generic product to another DC which can be finalized and localized quickly to satisfy the current demand to hedge the risk of stock outs in the higher demand regions. The result is that the total safety stock required at the DC is reduced by a factor of n1/2, where n is the number of different SKU's for which the customization is being postponed. Marketing and sales figures can then be created more accurately, and seasonal trends can be compensated for more easily. This would aid in the forecasting of demand to determine how to allocate the scarce resources to maximize profitability. Having the flexibility to better meet the changing demand of different markets should cut down on lost revenue due to stock outs. Also, the required safety stock for the distribution center will be reduced, which should cut back on inventory and holding costs. Even though these costs do not show up on the income statement, these are real costs and need to be addressed and minimized. Recommendations and Evaluations and Conclusion: There are a variety of different options that Hewlett Packard could use to help smooth out their supply chain. The first is air shipment. While it may provide a faster route to move the products, the big problem with air freight is that is expensive to use. Looking at appendix 5, if air freight costs per unit are less than $2.04 (assuming inventory holding cost of 12%) then the air freight is preferable to sea. The air freight costs per unit are less than $10.19 (assuming inventory holding cost of 60%) then the air freight is preferable to sea. The next option would be to have a European factory actually producing parts and products. This would reduce the extensive lead times that are associated with shipping out of Vancouver. The other side to this situation is that with a new manufacturing factory in Europe, the concern would be that there is not sufficient volume to necessitate the need for an additional plant. Of course, Hewlett-Packard could also always use a better forecasting method to determine demands and safety stocks needed. Obviously it has become a present problem for the company, and while they are attempting to create a method to forecast better, they are not sure they can come up with a truly effective method that would erase the uncertainties associated with demand. Because this is a difficulty, our cost allocation assumes that demand is such that the safety stock level is constant over the year. Safety stock represents the inventory level above and beyond expected demand, so assuming a constant safety stock seems reasonable. On the flip side of a better forecasting method, you could also simply increase levels of inventory to ensure product demand is met. However, this is more of a nearsighted approach as this will just lead to increased holding costs and overall inventory costs. Hewlett-Packard could also introduce a system of more localized distribution centers. The cost savings associated with this are hard to determine though. While you may reduce inventory and holding costs, the expenses incurred to have localized distribution centers built and maintained could very well outweigh the benefits received. If we were Brent Cartier, we would definitely recommend that we use the air freight alternative. This was determined by comparing the numbers seen in Appendix 5. If we take a look, if the amount of air freight per unit exceeds the cost of shipping by sea per unit by less then $2.04, then airfreight will be more cost efficient. The $2.04 essentially represents differences in holding cost per unit, which is why we analyze this difference. It is important to realize however, that this is based upon a 12% inventory holding cost. If we were to base it upon 60% inventory carrying costs, the difference would be equal to $10.19. We would have to show the board of directors the calculations derived in determining the above numbers so that air freight will sell itself. The numbers speak for themselves, and the board of directors should clearly be able to see this noticeable advantage.

The Ideals of Fdr

FDR: The Great American President Jacob WagmanProfessor Christy ChapinHIST102Due: 25OCT12 Franklin Delano Roosevelt is easily the best president of his era. He had the single best approach to the economic problems and social problems that followed the economic problems of the time. Many people would say that he couldn’t make decisions for himself because of how he was constantly changing his ideas but in truth, his plan was to do whatever it took to work and he was going to make something work. In case it was not known, FDR was a fighter. He never gave up on the USA or stepped down even after being stricken by polio.A lot of his ideas came from his â€Å"brain trust† which was comprised of many advisors of all different back rounds and political beliefs. He was constantly keeping the American people informed with the state of the government and economy through a new invention popularly known as the radio. He would go out of his way to help the banks and would do anythin g to dig the US out of the pit that Hoover had dug and did nothing really to dig them out other than laying the foundation for FDR to bring America back from the brink of complete collapse.Using the foundation laid by Hoover many Administrations, Acts, and even some Corporations were put in place and somewhere welcomed and others weren’t, but FDR took all of the success and failures and made sure it worked out for the American people and the world when WWII came around. His foreign policy in WWII was very much respected and still is today because FDR would not let the crimes of others go unpunished. All in all everything FDR did was for the best of this country and the way he handled WWII both domestically and overseas.When FDR was elected into office he was left with quite a mess left by Herbert Hoover, but Hoover had left a very nice foundation to start FDR’s famous â€Å"New Deal. † Programs during this time focused on trying very hard to help bring the US ou t of the Great Depression by working on reform, recovery, and relief efforts. Many of the programs put together by FDR came from his â€Å"brain trust† which was FDR’s circle of advisors which ranged from democrats to republicans and even to progressives. This is why it seemed like his ideals were always changing because he was trying to here from verybody to see which would work best to pull the US out of the muck. He started with starting a bank holiday in which every bank in the US was forced to close so that government officials could come into each of the banks and decide if the banks were suited to re-open for public use. In order to guarantee the money people put into the bank for safe keeping, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) was created and this gained the public’s usage of the banks again because they could not possibly lose their money because of a bank failing because the government backed up the money 100%.The Securities and Exchange Commission Act was also implemented to regulate the stock market so that another stock market crash could be avoided. Many people disagreed with these economic policies but if they were alive they could see that these two government sectors are still in use today because of how effective they have been throughout the years. FDR’s next goal was to provide jobs for all the people who were unemployed, which was about 25% of the entire population.Programs to fix this problem were such like the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), which hired young adults around 18 to plants tress and help the National Parks, the Public Works Administration (PWA), which contracted with private businesses to build roads, schools, hospitals, and other government-esc buildings, the Tennessee Valley Authority (TWA), which was set up to build dams along the Tennessee River, and the Works Progress Administration (WPA), which was an administration that directly hired people and also white collar workers s uch as teachers and nurses, and they also trained unskilled workers so they could perform specific tasks.Looking back nobody could even argue with these programs because it provided thousands of jobs for the unemployed which did much more good than bad. There was some controversy over the TWA forcing people out of their houses but it was for the good of the entire Tennessee River Valley so it was more necessary than anything. ,Many programs were welcomed with open arms like the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) which tried to lower the foreclosure rate and made more long term mortgage loans that made owning a house more possible, but there were programs like the National Recovery Administration (NRA) which wanted to eliminate competition so all businesses could thrive, but it ailed very oorly because the little businesses were still eaten alive by the bigger companies, and another unpopular program was the Resettlement Administration (aka Federal Security Administration), tried t o make farming more like the USSR in which farming was more collective and controlled by the government but the program was met by much resistance both from Farmer’s and the Chamber of Commerce.But if it had not been for these failure than FDR would not have been able to come up with the Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA), which was the government paying farmers not to produce so that the goods on the market could be purchased at a slightly higher price to attempt to stimulate the economy. At first the Supreme Court shot down the AAA, but it was later brought back by congress in 1938 because it actually helped farmers and made them happy.During the start of WWII when it was strictly in Europe and China, the USA became extremely isolationist to the point where they even pulled out of Haiti and Nicaragua so that they were involved in as little foreign conflict as possible. The USA even refused to sell weapons to Great Britain and France because they didn’t want to risk getting pulled into another World War again. While the war kept going on the USA passed acts such as the Neutrality Acts which banned US citizens from traveling on ships from foreign nations that were in war with another country and they banned selling weapons to foreign nations.FDR pleaded with congress to allow the USA to at least attempt to assist the allies fighting in Europe because they were just that, the USA’s allies. But congress kept turning down FDRs pleas for help until he managed to convince congress to allow for the first Military draft and for the US to start building and selling arms to the Allied powers. This was when FDR decided to run for a 3rd term which he won by a landslide because people saw how he had started to help the economy grow bit by bit. In 1941, FDR got the Lend-Lease act to be approved.The Lend-Lease Act made it possible for the US to fully help the Allies by giving them arms and munitions. In order to provide these items for the All ies more jobs had to be created to produce the weapons and so thousands of jobs were created which helped the economy out that much more. The Lend-Lease Act also stopped all trade with Japan in an attempt to discourage them from continuing the atrocities they were committing over in China. This unfortunately provoked Japan into launching a preemptive strike on Pearl Harbor where over 2000 service men lost their lives and about 200 aircrafts were destroyed and 18 naval ships were lost.FDR immediately requested a declaration of war in his famous address to congress in which he quoted the attack on Pearl Harbor as â€Å"a day that will live in infamy. † FDR’s policy on isolationism and then all-out war is an extremely well thought out strategy considering the position the US was in. He wanted to help GB and France desperately but Congress wouldn’t help him at all. But he pushed and pushed till he finally succeeds and ultimately, helped the Allies push to victory an d overcome the most outstanding odds against them.Franklin Delano Roosevelt is not only one of the best Presidents the USA has ever had, but he also had some of the most ingenious ideals for how to fix the economic crisis the US has ever faced, and then later one of the worst crisis the world has ever faced in World War Two. His plans or creating jobs worked unlike those of Hoover, and even though some of his programs failed, he learned from the failures only to make the successful programs even more helpful and long lasting for the US.To top his economic policies, his policies on World War Two were even better because he found a way to stay isolationist at the beginning where he could still make jobs by avoiding the war and then joining the war when it was absolutely crucial the US did, which ultimately ended up pulling the USA out of the Great Depression even if he were not alive to see them win the war and there to see the Great Depression end due to all the good he did for the U SA. Nobody can argue that his ideals and policies were anything shy of some of the best of any president.