Lord of the Rings :: essays research papers

It is easy for the reader who enters the enchanted realm of Tolkien's own work to be lost in the magic of the Middle-Earth and to forbear to ask questions. Surrounded by elves, hobbits, dragons and orcs, wandering the pristine fields and woods, described with such loving care they seem almost real, it is easy to forget there is another world outside, the world in which John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, an Oxford don, lived and wrote his monumental series of fantasy novels. It is, after all, natural to want to escape humdrum reality. Literature that offers a simple pleasure of a different time, a different place has nothing to be ashamed of. Tolkien in the same essay describes "escape and consolation" as one of the chief functions of the fairy-tale by which term he understands also what we would call "literary fantasy" today. "Escape and consolation" seem to be self-evident terms. What is there to discuss? Perhaps all that I have to do today is to praise Tolkie n's fertile imagination and to step modestly aside. But the sentence I just quoted suggests that asking questions about the fairy-tale realm is not so much unnecessary as dangerous. You risk not merely boredom and disenchantment but the actual expulsion from the Fairyland. Why? Is there, perhaps, more to the magic land than meets the eye? What if the "escape" it offers is fake; what if Middle-Earth lies not "in a galaxy long ago and far away", as Star Wars put it, but much closer to home, right on the border with Tolkien's war-stricken England of the 1940s and perhaps even not so far from our own turbulent Middle East. What if the further away we travel, the more inevitably we come home? These are the questions I want to discuss today.And if the result of this inquiry will be the loss of the key to the gates of Paradise, I'm willing to take this risk. Therefore the focus of this talk will be the question that Tolkien himself emphasized as central to our perception of works of fantasy: what is "the effect produced now by these old things in the stories as they are" (32); in other words, how are the elves, orcs, the Dark Lord and the magic ring relevant to the here and now? However, I do not believe that the answer to this question should be sought in the circumstances of the author's own life.

Midnight Express Essay -- essays research papers

Midnight Express   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Billy Hayes becomes desperate at the end of the movie. He realizes that he will never be released and so when he finds the money his girlfriend hid for him, he is moved to try and escape. He tries to bribe Hamidon to let him out. Hamidon takes the money but takes him to an empty room where he is planning on beating Billy. He takes off his gun and puts down his stick. He starts beating Billy. He stops and begins to pull his pants down. Billy seizes this opportunity and pushes him, knocking his head into a peg on the wall killing him. He then puts on Hamidon’s clothes, takes his gun and leaves the prison. He is finally out and makes it across the border into Greece.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  If I were put into that situation, I think I woul...

ALPES case anlysis Essay

CONTENT Part One 1. Key Issue Charles Rivers Laboratories (CRL) is evaluating a joint venture proposal that a Mexican company creates a state-of-the-art specific pathogen-free (SPF) egg for the vaccine. If the proposal is approved, CRL is going to invest 2 million dollars to the Mexican company. However, CRL must consider the potential risks of cooperation. Part Two 2.Internal Analysis: VRINE ANALYSIS 2.1VALUE Charles River Laboratories has a large variety of customers more than 15 countries, which means CRL is already capable to expand overseas market. The demand of SPF eggs is very high due to making flu vaccine. More than 100 million SPF eggs were consumed for influenza vaccines each year. The demand even exceeds its supply between 5 to 10 percent worldwide. Accordingly, the operation margin will be improved around 20 percent and revenue will be doubled in four years. Therefore, joint venture is valuable. 2.2RARITY The rarity of normal eggs switching to SPF eggs is relatively high. First, Charles River Laboratories is still using standard eggs to produce influenza vaccines. Many franchisees haven’t totally changed to cultivate SPF eggs. They still use old chicken farm, This goes to show that the traditional eggs haven’t been replaced and new eggs are rare. Second, most companies don’t intend to take an adventure to try new products due to political instability and corruption. However, SPAFAS took long time to do sufficient research on APLES. It means the rarity exists because not many companies decide take advantage of new eggs. 2.3Inimitable & Non-Substitutability The degree of inimitable and Non-Substitutability is medium. Even though not many companies start to produce vaccine by SPF eggs, there are still some like APLES working on it. Therefore, technology might be imitated by several companies to some extent. As far as APLES, it is the only company producing SPF eggs in Mexico. The popularity and loyal customers are strong so substitutes are hard to enter. However, other companies can still use the current standard eggs to make vaccine instead of higher price SPF eggs. 2.4Exploitability The degree of joint venture exploitability is high. According to high demand and double revenue prediction in the case, cooperation of CRL and ALPES could increase production of SPF eggs and highly benefit from sales to both of them. 3.External Analysis: PESTEL ANALYSISA The most highly used method when conduct the external analysis of a company is PESTEL Analysis, which includes political, economic, sociocultural, technological, environmental and legal aspects. 3.1Political Analysis Politically, in 1994, The North American free trade agreement came into effect, which allowed the free trade between USA, Canada, and Mexico. This political alliance benefited the economic development. The flow of capital, goods and services became more smooth and swift among these three countries. Due to the concerns from strong competition some business quit. Whereas, increased demand of vaccine production from U.S. and Canada led to the increased supply in Mexico. 3.2Economic Analysis Economically, as the case implied, demand for specific pathogen-free (SPF) eggs had exceeded available supply by five to ten percent across the globe. Furthermore, after the M&A, SPAFAS more than doubled its annual revenues while improving its operating margin to nearly 20%. To support the growth, CRL continuously invested capital in expanding domestic SPF egg production capacity. Alpes is the sole supplier in Mexico, which makes it more instrumentally beneficial from the production. Yet, problems such as endemic corruption, economic instability and unstable currency hinder the development of business in Mexico. 3.3Socialcultural Analysis Social and culturally, without being vaccinated against Salmonella and Campylobacter, poultry are easily got contaminated which excreted severe human health risk to people who were fed with these. Frankly, the recognition from the public of importance of vaccination would benefit the business like CRL and ALPES in the long run. Additionally, the bond the friendly relationship between the two family-style director boards has been combined successfully. 3.4Technical Analysis Technologically, having been founded in 1947, CRL was the global market leader in the commercial production and supply of laboratory animal models for use in discovery and research and the development and testing of new pharmaceuticals. CRL has taken the leadership position in SPF eggs production after the acquisition of SPAFAS. Additionally, Alpes was the only franchisee in Mexico. Given that production capacity is less than needed and highly sanitary standards are expected to be met, challenge still exist. 3.5Environment Analysis Environmentally, the old informal â€Å"handshake agreement† can be still influential when joint venture is functioned. And then, the market needs more production which means demand is more than current storage supply. The business opportunity is huge ever. Board directors are divided into two piles, one is supportive of the proposal and another is more objective to this business move. The freezing situation stands between Alpes and CRL: Alpes is in urgent need of capital investment, while CRL claims the acquisition. 3.6Legal Analysis Legally, Asian and European vaccine regulations are getting more and more strict and high-quality standard and tend to be more preferable to the vaccine industry. It is quite a challenging move prior to export products to theses countries. 4.Porter’s 5 Forces – Industry Analysis: 4.1Rivalry While Alpes supply eggs to the tow biggest buyers in the industry, there are  just two providers of the SPE eggs beside them. Furthermore, IDISA has a chance to make capital and compete in different area in the industry due to the 4 different companies that make profit in different research areas. As a result rivalry degree is comparatively (low). 4.2 Threat of Substitutes ALPES has the largest market comparing by other competitors in the same field. Actually, mice are the only threat they use, but this threat is has not too much influence and not strongly effective. Also, because of the expensive if this area buyers try to find another options. So, substitutes within the industry are (low). 4.3 Threat of New Entrants The threat of substitutes degree is from (medium to low) because of the difficulty of success they face due to the specialized in pharmaceuticals. But expertise in this area can find some of the facilities in less expensive areas easily. Furthermore, it is hard to the new entrant getting into industry because that needs a very high level requirement. SPF has a small market share in pharmaceutical and the lack of facilities prevent agriculture company supporting. ALPES has large market share because it is a provider to the two largest producer of vaccine. 4.4 Bargaining Power of Buyers: Power of buyers is low. Supplier of eggs has option to increase the prices due to the highly demands one of this demand is the tow biggest companies ALPES made further research into SPF eggs, which is between 5 and 10 percent. And this increasing in prices justified that the revenue in the first four years was almost doubled. 4.5 Bargaining Power of Suppliers There is little agriculture company that provides SPE eggs by facilities with high prices that’s why the power of suppliers is (high). Moreover, its hard to make high quality of good under the industries regulation and it is highly cost and expensive. Part Three 5.FINANCIAL ANALYSIS Ratio Analysis Indicators Year1 Debt-to-Equity 0.128 Current Ratio 8.903 Quick Ratio 7.901 From the table above, we can see that the Debt-to-equity ratio is very low. It shows that ALPES has a potential to use more debt to earn revenue. However, the current ratio and Quick ratio are quite high. A current ratio that higher than 1 means the company is able to pay off its obligations, as this ratio is 8.903, we are sure ALPES is in a very good condition. Much similar to Current ratio, if a Quick ratio is higher than 1, then the company is able to meet their short-term liabilities. As this ratio is 7.901, we can say ALPES has no doubt to meet its obligations. Forecast after joint venture Indicators Year1 Year2 Year3 Year4 Year5 Profit Margin 2.757% 15.802% 19.005% 21.110% 22.752% Gross Margin 18.867% 27.401% 29.270% 30.520% 31.489% Operating Margin 2.899% 15.914% 19.104% 21.200% 22.836% We can see from the chart above that, after joint venture, all of the profit margin, gross margin and operating margin will have an increase trend between year1 and year 5.The net profit margin indicates how much out of each dollar of sales a company actually earns. In year 5, the company will keep $0.23 in earnings for every dollar of sales. The gross margin represents the proportion of each dollar of revenue that the company retains as gross profit. In year 5 the gross margin will be 31.49%, therefore the company may retain $0.32 from each dollar of revenue generated to pay off liabilities. Operating margin gives us a view of how much a company’s operation can make on each dollar of sales. The company’s margin is increasing so it is earning more per dollar of sales. In year 5 the operating margin is 22.84%, this means that the company’s operation makes $0.23 for every dollar of sales. 6.Decision Criteria Decision making by CRL whether invest up to $2 million in ALPES to built a joint venture in Mexican has to consider tow criteria: expected profit and facing risk. 7.Alternatives 7.1Alternative 1 The joint venture with ALPES is a good option for Charles River Laboratories. CRL invest up to $2 million to APLPES joint venture to create a state-of-the-art specific pathogen-free (SPF) egg farm in Mexican. Mexico’s  trade policy implements the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) so it is open and welcome to foreign investment. Pros: Joint venture can overcome entry barriers in a foreign market Save transaction costs Provide new expertise and share resources, including specialized staff and technology Risks sharing with a venture partner Cons: Invest $2 million is not a small name. Investment itself is a kind of risk. It takes time to build partnership with foreign business. ALPES is a small family company. The different between U.S. and Mexico in culture and management style is a problem. Mexico currency is unstable and Mexico is an uncertain market. 7.2Alternative2 The following chart is the pros and cons of alterative two which is reject the proposal and no joint venture. As for this alternative, the pros can be illustrated in 3 aspects: CRL does have to invest extra 2 million capital into this project and avoid the loss and risk this performance may bring about. Cons can be elaborate in 3 aspects as well: if CRL declines to invest this joint venture, meaning giving up this opportunity and even worse leaves it to rivals and in a long run, maybe will jeopardize the benefit of the organization as a whole. Pros Cons No invest risk Discard opportunity to develop Spare 2 million capital Create a chance for competitors Avoid loss Less benefit for CRL in long run 8.Recommendations Growth about 12% and 15% annually and entire business by 20% is the strategic objective of Charles River Laboratories. Joint Venture can increase the sale, which helps CRL get this goal. Join a new market is a risk, but after  visit members of Romero family. It can be seen that this family has knowledge, government influence, and trust. ALPES believes that this corporation should be successes. Invest in Mexico presents opportunities as well as challenges. But Mexico’s trade barriers have reduced by the implementation of the North American Free Trade Agreement. The business environment should be friendly. 9.Implementation Firstly, visit Mexico to get more information about ALPES and Romeros’ family. Both the CEO and the board of directors believe that this project could be trusted and this joint venture would serve profit. Secondly, this joint venture company is 50%-50% equity share. The profits also go halves SPAFAS would invest $2 million cash and ALPES would contribute their knowledge-existing SPF and commercial egg assets to the joint venture company. Thirdly, the direction of the investment: $1.5 million should be used to increase the SPF egg production capacity of the joint venture. $250,000 would be used to establish a pre-incubation facility; the left $250,000 would be used for ALPES to do some activity to build good social image and complete the services. 10.Contingency Plan Charles River Laboratories (CRL) has to prepare a contingency plan for the certain events may interrupt normal business operations. CRL has to build a team to follow up operation of this joint venture to make sure the profit from $2 million investment.

Types of Mobile Operating System (Os) and Its Pros Cons

Types of Mobile Operating System (OS) and its pros cons The Operating System (OS) is the software that communicates with the computer’s hardware, manages resources and provides a user interface. All phones use an operating system of some sort but in recent years, as mobile phone and smart phone technology has become more complex and powerful, operating systems have grown more important. The operating system of a particular handset is now an important factor to consider when deciding which mobile phone deal is right for you, as each mobile OS offers different advantages and disadvantages.Use this handy chart of features to compare the best Operating Systems and choose the best mobile phone contract for you. The types of mobile operating system are Android, iOS, and BlackBerry OS. The first mobile operating system is Android. Android is a Linux-based operating system for mobile devices such as smartphones and tablet computers. It is developed by the Open Handset Alliance led by Google. Google purchased the initial developer of the software, Android Inc. , in 2005.The unveiling of the Android distribution in 2007 was announced with the founding of the Open Handset Alliance, a consortium of 86 hardware, software, and telecommunication companies devoted to advancing open standards for mobile devices. Google releases the Android code as open-source, under the Apache License. The Android Open Source Project (AOSP) is tasked with the maintenance and further development of Android. Among the advantage of using this operating system is Multitasking. Android phones can run many applications, it means you can browse, Facebook and as well as listening to the song.Besides, Android make ease of notification, any SMS, Email, or even the latest articles from an RSS Reader, there will always be a notification on the Home Screen Android phone, do not miss the LED indicator is blinking, so you will not miss a single SMS, Email or even Miscalls. Easy access to thousands of a pplications via the Google Android App Market. Through Google's Android App Market you can download applications for free. There are many thousands of applications and games that are ready for you to download on Android phones.On the other hand the disadvantages of using this operating system is Application in the Android phones can indeed be obtained easily and for free, but the consequences in each of these applications, will always be ads on display, either the top or bottom of the application. Besides, since Google Android is an open source platform driving all Android phones, it could significantly increase the risk of hacking these devices. If this happens, then locking mobiles as a security measure will be a mockery. The second mobile operating system is iOS. OS (formerly iPhone OS) is Apple Inc. ‘s mobile operating system. Originally developed for the iPhone, it has since been extended to support other Apple Inc. devices such as the iPod Touch, iPad, and Apple TV. Appl e does not license iOS for installation on non-Apple hardware. As of October 4, 2011, Apple's App Store contained more than 500,000 iOS applications, which have collectively been downloaded more than 18 billion times. It had a 26% share of the smart phone operating system units sold in the last quarter of 2010, behind both Google's Android. And Nokia's Symbian.In May 2010 in the USA, it accounted for 59% of mobile web data consumption (including use on both the iPod Touch and the iPad). The user interface of iOS is based on the concept of direct manipulation, using multi-touch gestures. Interface control elements consist of sliders, switches, and buttons. The response to user input is immediate and provides a fluid interface. Interaction with the OS includes gestures such as swipe, tap, pinch, and reverse pinch, all of which have specific definitions within the context of the iOS operating system and its multi-touch interface.Internal accelerometers are used by some applications to respond to shaking the device (one common result is the undo command) or rotating it in three dimensions (one common result is switching from portrait to landscape mode). The advantages of using this operating system is iOS 4. 0 version can run multiple applications simultaneously and is in no way inferior to other similar operating systems  . Users can schedule an application to be run in the background. When the system detects update or notice, it will appear in the current interface.But due to technical reasons, only iPhone 4,  iPhone  3GS and above can enjoy the service. Besides that, Folder settings are the first time appearing in iOS. The result is very obvious when starting to use. The home page layout becomes well-organized. It is convenient to find the folders for the software come down in the appropriate folders. The disadvantage of using iOS is Unlock way is complicated. Apple don’t modify the operate of lock screen to iPhone, perhaps in order to maintain the consistency of user habits.However, you may miss the next important voice mail, phone, short message. Next is there is no real features upgrade for iPod Frankly speaking, the new operating system's home page has much improvement to the older. But the iPod itself does not get the nature improvement. It is lack of adjustable graphic equalizer, and better support to create playlists. Last but not least is Blackberry OS BlackBerry OS is a proprietary mobile operating system, developed by Research in Motion for its BlackBerry line of smart phone handheld devices.The operating system provides multitasking and supports specialized input devices that have been adopted by RIM for use in its handhelds, particularly the track wheel, trackball, and most recently, the track pad and touch screen. The advantages of using this operating system is compared to other brands, Blackberry mobiles allow users to use the device for two days at a stretch on a single charge. Thus proving its power efficient features of the Blackberry OS. Next is the mobile platform of this brand is extremely secure, thus making it the favourite for businessmen. The push email experience is excellent amongst others.It provides easy accessibility from the moment you get to the main screen together with strong attachment support. The disadvantage of using this mobile OS is Blackberry App World does not come with a wide selection of apps. On top of that, premium programs are quite expensive. Furthermore, the browser is much slower compared to Web Kit based browser on other branded phones like iPhones and Android. When it comes to QWERTY devices, the browser comes with small type. In a nutshell, by choosing the right mobile operating system for your phone, hopefully it will fulfil your needs. Thank You.

Crime and Cjus285-1302a-01 Juvenile Delinquency

Colorado Technical University Online CJUS285-1302A-01 Juvenile Delinquency Phase 1- Individual Project Professor Grace Mickles Obaid Rahman April 15, 2013 There are many advantages of the taxpayer and the juveniles to split the juvenile courts into two sections because it will benefit taxpayer and juveniles by splitting into sections. By doing that status offenders will get more help and treat as a minor crime offender, which they don’t in a joint section.Status offenders are treated unfairly, and don’t get the punishment what they are committed too, there is a need for splitting a juvenile court into two sections. The advantages of splitting will help status offenders to be treated fairly according to their offences. Other advantage toward splitting courts will increase the ability of juvenile courts to punished young offenders, and this will benefit to taxpayers because the punishment will determined offenders and will reduced cases of young kids and help them to pay less for juveniles cases.Juvenile delinquent court and status offender court will benefits juveniles because it will make it possible for the juvenile courts to differentiate between major and minor crimes. The process will be more efficient and juveniles will get more proper response from specific courts. I think the higher court judges rule and appoint the judges who work for juvenile courts, who can handle all the juvenile cases and separated those cases by category and according to crime charges.Juvenile’s delinquency cases are those cases which juveniles violated a law or a serious crime which done by juveniles. In other hand the young offenders who charge with the offence but cannot be classified as criminal violation offence that can only be applied to children, which is why rehabilitation program is must for those kids who can turn back to their normal life. There should be a specific program for those parents who have or had their children in criminal activity, in or der to teach their kids right path and stop them to commit crime or break law.The percentage of Juvenile offenders who arrested first time in their life and never been arrested again are more higher then the juvenile who committed repeat crimes, means if the department can detain children first time and warn them, have more chances to keep them away from future crimes, rather then put them into jail and sentence them like adult will turns out into criminal in future.By splitting juvenile court into two sections will disadvantage in effectiveness of the two sections will depend on the implementation of the courts. It will also take taxpayers into financial problem and poor services. It will also increase the number of staff and the burden will be on taxpayers. It will also disadvantages to those offender who commit a serious crime, will be subjected more sphere courts then those who attend status offender courts.There are many advantages by comparing to disadvantages by splitting juv enile court will benefit to those young offender who commits minor crime and able to get back in their normal life with taking some detention or rehabilitation program. References Minor Crime Is a Major Ordeal (2007), retrieved from (http://criminal. findlaw. com/juvenile-justice/minor-crime-is-a-major-ordeal. html) Juvenile Court by Kathleen Michon, retrieved from (http://www. nolo. com/legal-encyclopedia/juvenile-court-overview-32222. html)

Write a critical review of Plutarch Life of Crassus Essay

Write a critical review of Plutarch Life of Crassus - Essay Example s necessary to take into account inappropriate behavior of the great ancient leaders and it would be better to focus on their strengths and not on their vices. There is no need to focus on the biography of Crassus if not to consider moral and ethical implications provided by Plutarch in this biography. There is a lot of incongruence and the biography of Crassus is rather imbalanced. The way Plutarch describes Crassus head, which is served to the Parthian king is a way of ambitious depiction of the negative side of glory. There are two main drawbacks, which Crassus has: the first one is his ambition and the second one is avarice. Plutarch is a magnificent bibliographer. The lives of ancient Greeks are highly informative and the personalities, who were described by Plutarch, are extraordinary and leading people of the ancient times. The main feature of bibliographical discussions by Plutarch is the reflection of his personal opinion. The Life of Crassus is evidently considered from a negative perspective. On the example of Crassus Plutarch intends to teach a moral lesson to his readers. The main negative feature of Crassus was his avarice. Moreover, this vice was dominant over all other vices, because the other vices could be crossed by the vice of avarice (Plutarch, The Life of Crassus). This claim was positioned by Plutarch in the beginning of biography of Crassus. Therefore, the readers consider Crassus from a negative perspective. Other virtues of Crassus are opposed to the main vice of the main character. Plutarch underlines the main vice of Crassus in an intensive manner (Zadorojniy, 1997). Otherwise, the readers would not be so much concerned about avarice as the main vice of Crassus. In such a way, Plutarch positions greed as the main destructive feature of Crassus. Still, Crassus is positioned as a kind man and we cannot claim that this character is bad to the bones. He often helped people in time and thus people relied on him greatly. Moreover,

Medicare Fraud Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Medicare Fraud - Essay Example   As part of what federal officials are calling the â€Å"largest national Medicare fraud takedown in history,† they announced the apprehension of 16 Metro Detroit health care officials allegedly involved in fraud and kickback schemes totaling over $122 million.The arrests were part of a nationwide sweep that resulted in charges against 243 individuals, including 46 doctors, nurses and other license medical professionals, accused of bilking the government with $712 million in false billings. According to officials, the schemes involved medical services that were unnecessary or never rendered, including hospice and home health care plus the billing, but not dispersal, of drugs.Authorities said the owners of home health care and hospice companies in Metro Detroit, two of whom are physical therapists, allegedly paid kickbacks to doctors and recruiters for referring patients to them, then billed Medicare for unnecessary services.Federal officials said two physicians — Dr. Waseem Alam, 59, of Troy and Dr. Hatem Ataya, 47, of Flushing —solicited kickbacks and submitted false claims to Medicare through their company, Woodward Urgent Care, in Bloomfield Hills.The physicians who allegedly solicited and received kickback also submitted claims to Medicare for medically unnecessary physician services through their companies, identified as A Plus Hospice and Palliative Care, At Home Hospice and At Home Network, Inc., all of which are located in Livonia.