IN The Ancient City Of London, On A Certain Autumn Day In The Second Q

IN the ancient city of London, on a certain autumn day in the second quarter of the sixteenth century, a boy was born to a poor family of the name of Canty, who did not want him. On the same day another English child was born to a rich family of the name of Tudor, who did want him. All England wanted him too. England had so longed for him, and hoped for him, and prayed God for him, that, now that he was really come, the people went nearly mad for joy. Mere acquaintances hugged and kissed each other and cried. Everybody took a holiday, and high and low, rich and poor, feasted and danced and sang, and got very mellow; and they kept this up for days and nights together. By day, London was a sight to see, with gay banners waving from every balcony and housetop, and splendid pageants marching along. By night, it was again a sight to see, with its great bonfires at every corner, and its troops of revelers making merry around them. There was no talk in all England but of the new baby, Edwar d Tudor, Prince of Wales, who lay lapped in silks and satins, unconscious of all this fuss, and not knowing that great lords and ladies were tending him and watching over him- and not caring, either. But there was no talk about the other baby, Tom Canty, lapped in his poor rags, except among the family of paupers whom he had just come to to talk.

Saks Fifth Avenue vs. Neiman Marcus - A Detailed Company Analysis Using Balance Sheets and Income Statements

Saks Fifth Avenue vs. Neiman Marcus - A Detailed Company Analysis Using Balance Sheets and Income Statements I am writing to analyse the company's current balance sheet and income statement. Particularly, I will critique on the company's results, compare it to past years, compare it to competitors, and make recommendations on how to improve its financial position.Neiman Marcus department stores offer luxurious and high-quality men's and women's apparel and accessories. The Neiman Marcus Group operates 35 stores in nearly 20 states. The 2004 net income was an impressive $204 million and revenue was $3.5 billion. More importantly, their gross profit was $1.2 billion. Their net income is approximately 5.8% (compared to total revenue) and 1.7% (compared to their gross profit). This may seem little, but when a company revenues such a large amount, a small percentage net income is a very large amount, as exemplified. Comparing it with their largest competition - Off Fifth Saks Avenue (Saks) - Neiman Marcus earns 5 times their competition's income.English: Neiman Marcus flagship store, Dallas, Tex ...The profit figure is very adequate.Neiman Marcus' income statement shows their fiscal period ends in July. The total revenue was $3.5 billion but their cost of revenue was $2.3 billion. This is 66% of their revenue. This is significantly high, but again, to increase revenue comes with expenses. After calculations, the total expenses were approximately $1 billion. On the given income statement (attached) they show mostly taxation and interest expenses. These expenses cannot be commented on because they are standard, as directed by the government. However, we are given the "selling general and administrative expense", which was $875 million. These are associated with payrolls and running the company. These expenses are 71.5% of the company's gross profit. These expenses are high and should be lowered; but in comparison to their competition, it is 10% lower.There is always room for improvement and by lowering expenses, one can...

Decision Making in the Military Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Decision Making in the Military - Essay Example There are other aspects of decision making in the military that can be solely considered as the art of war; such as effective leadership, intricacies of given operations and the ambiguity relative to enemy actions. The decision making process in the military has been chosen to be discussed in this paper because it is considered as an entirely analytical approach towards solving problems. Main Body Strategic decisions in the army are considered to be non routine because routine decisions in regard to effectively managing resources as per established processes and clearly defined plans relate to the technical functions of management. Routine decisions are mostly made by middle level managers or supervisors having the required authority for initiating such actions. But non routine decisions relate to adaptive work whereby senior leadership has to look into the broader implication of the given situation, take active roles in describing the issue, effectively examine the possible solution s and eventually decide about the course of action. In this context, the United States Army War College (USAWC) has defined strategic leadership as the process that impacts the â€Å"achievement of a desirable and clearly understood vision by influencing the organizational culture, allocating resources, directing through policy and directive, and building consensus† (Allen and Coates, 2009, p.4). The commander is always responsible for the decision making process in his unit and takes decisions about that will be done in every situation. The plan depends upon clearly articulating the visualization of the battlefield. The commander plans, prepares for and executes the operations. From the beginning to the end his personal involvement is crucial because his focused participation proves to be a guiding factor for staff. With the help of his staff, the commander explores all possibilities and the probable enemy course of action while analyzing and comparing his unit’s abil ity with that of the enemy. The staff has to integrate information on a collective basis by adopting high levels of technical competence for assisting the commander in his decision making process with the objective of achieving efficient outcomes (Snowden and Boone, 2007). In both the military and business organizations, decision making is a crucial element of management and wrong choices can immensely harm the planned objectives. Military commanders and business leaders need to make decisions by avoiding common biases in arriving at and implementing ethical and sound decisions. In defense establishments, a major challenge has been to manage the impact of the current organizational culture on the practices and standards of decision making. According to the Harvard Business School’s guidance on decision making processes, â€Å"A command and control culture tends to make decisions in line with the preferences of powerful individuals. No matter how well informed they may be â⠂¬ ¦ every decision is ad hoc and there is no consistent approach to dealing with important choices† (Harvard Business Essentials, 2006, p.6). It cannot be said that all defense establishments are characterized with a culture of command and control, but there is a need to be in the know of risks associated with the creation of such an environment. Military command

None Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 29

None - Essay Example is a custom for the clergy in this mainstream to have special attires whose resemblance is that of their Master, Jesus Christ as well as serving as a sign of humility (Pastoor 331). These ought to be in long gowns besides a headpiece or veil that covers their entire heads signifying humility as per the Jesus’ mother (Pastoor 331). Based on Catholic traditions, women and men bear varied behaviors and tasks to play both in the church as well as in the entire society, hence each to dress differently. The nuns dressing marks the first implication of how their behavior and the roles they play vary from the men’s activities and manners, to second them in their duties. This is especially in the church whereby nuns participate only in undertaking lesser tasks like helping to give out communion but not conducting mass service. It is good or useful to identify a person from his or her physical appearance. For instance, Catholic Church leaders have different roles to play besides which when they are physically unique makes it easy for their followers to know well where to seek assistance. Greek Orthodox monks and the Amish use dress for similar purposes. Describe the dress of each group and how it fits into their lives. Do you see any important differences in terms of appearance and/or social function? The women ought to wear long dresses besides covering their heads with shawl when going to the monastery as a sign of respect to the holiness of the place (Boase 94). The monks mostly dress in black colored cassock referred to as Raso that has remained unchanged since Byzantium period up to date (Boase 94). In most cases, Amish wear homemade clothes sewn by the women. Their clothing styles motivate humbleness as well as separation from the world turning them being comprehensive peacekeepers and discouraging conflict for whatever reason. They have a simple way of dressing in which they avoid ornamentation. Men dress in straight cut suits in which their coats have no

Nike Corporation as a corporate tyrant Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Nike Corporation as a corporate tyrant - Article Example A person reading the author’s view that has no knowledge whatsoever of what Nike is all about mind get the erroneous idea that Nike is an evil empire. This essay evaluates Nike Corporation to determine if their practices are hurting or helping workers and other stakeholders. The way the author describes Nike is a bit bias and solely based on some isolated incidents in the past when Nike had true sweetshops in certain locations where they violated the human rights of its workers. These events took place in the late 1990’s and the company had to pay the consequences of their actions. The bad press associated with these events hurt the company’s brand image and corporate sales. Since then Nike Corporation has continued its presence in many developing nations. It is true that Nike pays what would seem to an American citizen like the daily salary of an American citizen in the 1900, but we must consider the reality of the cost of living of many of these developing nations. One US dollar in places like the developing nation of Vietnam can probably provide three meals for an entire family during a day. In the US with a dollar you can buy one hamburger. Nike is also bringing others benefits to the Vietnamese workers and their economy in general. Wo rkers receive benefits such as free or subsidized meals, professional devilment, stability, and educational opportunities. The state benefits when multinational corporations such as Nike penetrate their marketplace from technology transfers, additional taxing revenue, and infrastructure improvements. The article then moves on to describe an alternative perspective of Nike based on the views of Vietnamese citizens. For the author does not agree with the perspective of the Vietnamese people. Despite that fact the author provides a good unbiased description of their feelings and overall perspective about Nike. The average monthly salary of a Vietnamese worker working for Nike is $54 a month.

Advanced Modeling Techniques For Computer Graphics Engineering Essay

Advanced Modeling Techniques For Computer Graphics Engineering Essay In the past thirty years, modeling techniques in computer graphics have evolved significantly as the field has matured and attempted to portray the complexities of nature. Polygonal models, patches, points, and lines are insufficient to represent the complexities of natural objects and intricate man-made objects in a manageable and controllable fashion. Higher-level modeling techniques have been developed to provide an abstraction of the model, encode classes of objects, and allow high-level control and specification of the model. The goal of these advanced modeling techniques is to provide a concise, efficient, flexible, and controllable mechanism for specifying and animating models of complex objects and natural phenomena. Most of these advanced modeling techniques can be considered procedural modeling techniques: code segments or algorithms are used to abstract and encode the details of the model instead of explicitly storing vast numbers of low-level primitives. The use of algori thms unburdens the modeler/animator of low-level control, provides great flexibility, and allows amplification of his efforts through parametric control: a few parameters to the model yield large amounts of geometric details (Smith [1984] called this â€Å"database amplification†). This survey examines several types of procedural techniques, including fractals, grammar-based models, volumetric procedural models, implicit surfaces, and particle systems. Fractals [Peitgen et al. 1992] have a precise mathematical definition, but in computer graphics their definition has been extended to refer generally to models with a large degree of self-similarity: subpieces of the object appear to be scaled down, possibly translated and rotated versions of the original object. Along these lines, Musgrave [Ebert et al. 1994] define a fractal as â€Å"a geometrically complex object, the complexity of which arises through the repetition of form over some range of scale.† Many natural objects exhibit this characteristic, including mountains, coastlines, trees, plants (e.g., cauliflower), water, and clouds. Fractals can generally be classified as deterministic or non-deterministic (also called random fractals), depending on whether they contain randomness. Random fractals have been used extensively in computer graphics to model natural objects, most notably terrain. Most fractal terrain-generation algorithms work through recursive subdivision an d pseudorandom perturbation. An original surface is defined and divided equally into subparts. New vertices are added and pseudorandomly displaced from the original surface, with a displacement magnitude that decreases at each iteration as the frequency increases. Therefore, the first iteration gives the large peaks on the surface, and later subdivisions add small-scale detail. Only the parameters for controlling the random-number generator, the level of subdivision, and the â€Å"roughness† of the surface are needed to define an extremely complex terrain. Recent work in fractals has included the simulation of diffusion-limited aggregation Copyright  © 1996, CRC Press. ACM Computing Surveys, Vol. 28, No. 1, March 1996 (DLA) models and the use of multi-fractals [Ebert et al. 1994], which allows different fractal dimensions (degrees of â€Å"roughness†) in the models to simulate natural terrain better. GRAMMAR-BASED MODELS Grammar-based models, primarily Lsystems [Prusinkiewicz and Lindenmayer 1990], also allow natural complexity to be specified with a few parameters. Grammar- based models have been used by many authors, including Lindenmayer, Prusinkiewicz, and Fowler, to produce remarkably realistic models and images of trees, plants, and seashells. These models use formal languages, parallel graph grammars called L-systems, to describe natural structures algorithmically and are closely related to deterministic fractals in their self-similarity, but fail to meet the precise mathematical definition of a fractal.1 An L-system is a formal language where all the rules are applied in parallel to provide a final â€Å"sentence† describing the object. In the L-system, each terminal symbol represents a part of the object or a directional command to be interpreted by a three-dimensional drawing mechanism (turtle graphics). A â€Å"sentence† for a tree would contain words describing each branch, its length, size, and branching angle, when it develops, and its connection in the tree. More complex L-systems, IL-systems, include context- sensitivity, word age information, and probabilistic rule evaluation, which allows each plant to be unique. Recent work in L-systems allows better developmental models, more advanced biologically based growth models, incorporation of more growth parameters, and environmental effects. VOLUMETRIC PROCEDURAL MODELS Another procedural modeling technique, volumetric procedural modeling (also called hypertextures, volume density functions, and fuzzy blobbies), uses algorithms to define and animate threedimensional volumetric objects and natural phenomena [Ebert et al. 1994]. These techniques have been used to model natural phenomena such as fire (Stam and Inakage), gases such as smoke, clouds, and fog (Ebert, Perlin, Sakas, Stam), and water (Ebert, Perlin). The volumetric procedures take as input a point location in space, a time parameter, and parameters that describe the object being modeled, and return the density and color of the object for that location in space. Complex volumetric phenomena can, therefore, be described with a few parameters. Perlin has successfully used this technique to create realistic rock arches, woven fabric, smoke, and fur [Ebert et al. 1994], basing his procedures on a statistical simulation of turbulence and random noise to give natural-looking complexity to the obje cts. Ebert et al. [1994] have used similar functions to model and animate steam, fog, smoke, clouds, and solid marble. These procedural techniques allow the use of simple simulations of natural complexity (noise, turbulence) to speed computation, but also allow the incorporation of physically based parameters, where appropriate and feasible. This flexibility is one of the many advantages of procedural techniques. IMPLICIT SURFACES While previously discussed techniques have been used primarily for modeling the complexities of nature, implicit surfaces [Wyvill et al. 1986; Wyvill and Gascuel 1995] (also called blobby molecules, metaballs, and soft objects) have mainly been used for modeling organic shapes, complex man-made shapes, and â€Å"soft† objects that are difficult to animate and describe using more traditional techniques. Implicit surfaces are a more concise representation than parametric surfaces and provide flexibility in modeling and animating soft objects. Im- 1Some authors consider L-systems to be deterministic fractals. 154 †¢ David S. Ebert ACM Computing Surveys, Vol. 28, No. 1, March 1996 plicit surfaces are iso-valued surfaces created from blending primitives (skeletal elements) represented by implicit equations of the form F(x, y, z) 5 0. Each primitive is a procedure that returns a functional value for the field defined by the implicit equation. A key feature of implicit surfaces is the procedural, smooth, often volume-preserving blending of primitives to form quite complex surfaces from simple primitives. Objects are defined as offsets (isosurfaces) from a series of blended skeletal elements (points, lines, polygons, spheres, ellipsoids, and so on). Modeling and animation of implicit surfaces is achieved by controlling the skeletal elements and blending functions, which provide complex models and animations from a few parameters (another example of data amplification). Recent work in implicit surfaces [Wyvill and Gascuel 995] has extended their use to character modeling and animation, human figure modeling, and representing rigid objects through the addition of CSG (constructive solid geometry) operators. PARTICLE SYSTEMS Particle systems differ from the previous four techniques in that their abstraction is in control of the animation and specification of the object. Particle systems do use a large database of geometric primitives to represent natural objects (â€Å"fuzzy objects†), but the animation, location, birth, and death of the particles representing the object are controlled algorithmically. Particle systems are most commonly used to represent natural phenomena such as fire, water, clouds, snow, rain, grass, and trees [Reeves and Blau 1985]. A particle- system object is represented by a large collection (cloud) of very simple geometric particles that change stochastically over time. The procedural aspect and main power of particle systems allow the specification and control of this extremely large cloud of geometric particles with very few parameters. Besides the geometric particles, a particle system has controllable stochastic particleanimation procedures that govern the creation, mov ement, and death of the particles. These animation procedures often include physically based forces to simulate effects such as gravity, vorticity, conservation of momentum, and energy. Particle systems pose special rendering problems because of the large number of primitives, but specialized rendering techniques, including probabilistic rendering algorithms, have been developed to render particle systems [Reeves and Blau 1985]. FUTURE DIRECTIONS Advanced modeling techniques will continue to play an important role in computer graphics. As computers become more powerful, the complexity that can be rendered will increase; however, the ability of humans to specify more geometric complexity (millions of primitives) will not. Therefore, procedural techniques, with their ability to amplify the user’s specification and control, are the only viable alternative. The ability of these techniques to specify and control incredibly realistic and detailed models with a small number of user-specified parameters will evolve. More work will be done to allow high-level control and specification of models in user-understandable terms, while more complex algorithms and improved physically based simulations will be incorporated into these procedures. Finally, automatic generation of the procedural models through artificial evolution techniques, similar to those of Sims [1994], will greatly enhance the capabilities and uses of these advanced modeling techniques.

Moral Theory: Cultural Relativism

In a fast shrinking world there is very little that a society can do to hide from the scrutiny and judgmental eyes of others. The media and the Internet make it very easy for the rest of the world to know of any indiscretion or any wrongdoing committed by a person or a group of individuals. The problem with judging others though is not as simple as it may seem. There is simply no universal rule to be followed when it comes to some of the more complex ethical issues such as euthanasia, abortion, recreational drug use, etc. Determining what is right and wrong, in this modern age, has been simplified to a moral relativism never before seen since the Western World accepted religion as a standard for living right.The idea that no one can judge others – especially those coming from a different culture – is also known as cultural relativism. This is rooted, in a more general sense, to a concept called moral relativism. This makes the discussion more complicated because accordi ng to Timmons, relativism, â€Å"†¦ is used as a label for a quite a variety of views and ideas that differ in important ways† (2002, p. 38). Timmons adds, that relativism should be understood from the following perspective, â€Å"†¦rightness or wrongness of actions ultimately depends on the moral code of the culture to which one belongs† (2002, p. 38).The PositiveBased on the above-stated definition the proponent can glean at least three ideas that can go in support and against cultural relativism. When it comes to those in favor of relativism then the following are easy to adhere to:1.Cultural relativism allow other groups of people to experience a degree of freedom that they so crave without the interference of outside forces who may not have a clear understanding of what they are doing.2.Cultural relativism makes a person outside the cultural sphere to give the insiders the benefit of the doubt which in some cases is needed to give other people room to ex plain themselves or to execute a plan to its completion.3.Cultural relativism allows for healthy boundaries. This means that other nations or other people groups would do well to mind their own business.The NegativeNow when it comes to the other side, one can also easily find that there are two sides to every idea. When it comes to cultural relativism the negative connotation is ambivalence that at best leads to instability and at worst will lead to chaos as explained in the following:1.Cultural relativism allows for excuses when in fact what is needed is responsibility.2.Cultural relativism allows gross misbehavior that can often lead to violence, violation of human rights etc.3.Cultural relativism can be the cause of misunderstanding that can escalate to war and other international incidents.Expounding on the ideas described above it is better to begin from the positive side of cultural relativism. It is a common contention that cultural relativism is a position that one should ta ke when discussing the evils of legalism – the familiar scene when those who are in a position to demand conformity abuses their power and forces others to follow. The dogmatism and legalism that came from religion is a painful reminder that without a proper view of cultural relativism then there are interest groups who will impose harsh laws and statutes that would make it impossible for others to follow.With regards to the second point, there are cases wherein people groups and even individuals need the benefit of the doubt from others in order for them to fully express themselves or even to execute a plan to perfection. The Western mindset can criticize the oriental mindset but there are times in history when the Western World could have benefited from the wisdom of some Asian practices if they just took the time to give them the benefit of the doubt. Americans for instance ridiculed some of the business practices of post-war Japan and later found out that their way of doi ng things allow them to produce quality products that even surpassed the competition.With regards to the third point, there is no need to look further and begin examining U.S. foreign policy and the way it has been criticized all over the world. There can be good reasons why the mighty United States of America is meddling with the affairs of other countries. But the reaction is already evident in the now infamous September 11 and the Iraq debacle.Understanding, the positive side of cultural relativism would do well to heal conflicts between two different groups but at the same time too much of a good thing can also backfire. Moral looseness can spell chaos, disaster, and tyranny. With regards to the first idea as to why cultural relativism must be opposed a case study was presented by the sociologist James Q. Wilson in sharing an experience he had with his class. Details are shown in the following pages.According to Wilson, he had an interesting and somewhat disturbing discussion wi th his students in the subject of relativism. He said that the students in reaction to the issue of the holocaust asserted an extreme form of relativism in that they refused to acknowledge that the evil that was the holocast.This is very serious for Wilson and the proponent of this study agrees with him. There is clearly a demarcation line between allowing room for cultural relativism and simply turning a blind eye towards something as significant as the murder of six million people. This is an example as to how cultural relativism can be taken too far.Furthermore, the two points raised concerning the negative aspect of cultural relativism can also be seen in the case study presented by Wilson. Cultural relativism can result in behavior that is destructive and harmful for the general public. In this case a group of people – the Nazis – were given blanket authority to harm fellow Germans, who happened to be Jews. This is the disturbing thing about relativism. The Jews w ho were massacred were not people belonging to another nation. They were in fact Germans, with valid citizenship who happened to belong to a particular heritage or to a particular religion. Yet, the Nazis did not consider this and instead went on to murder their own.On the third and last point, cultural relativism can be allowed but only on certain terms. If cultural relativism is allowed without boundaries, it can result in something as serious as a world at war. And the Nazis rise to power is the case in point. The German people allowed this group of radicals to dictate their politics and their moral code. So at the end they were forced to pay a steep price for it. Even today their history is tainted with the blood of six million Jews and it is more jarring that some of them are trying to erase the stigma by using cultural relativism, an idea that was seen in full bloom in Mr. Wilson’s class.ConclusionCultural relativism, an idea rooted in moral relativism is a view that in essence encourages respect and creating boundaries in dealing with people coming from a different social background and culture. This simply means that relativism allow for a more understanding environment, a world where people learn to be more gracious and open minded when it comes to other people’s actions. Those who agree with cultural relativism points to the necessity of first understanding the other person’s social background, culture, and the details of the circumstances that made him or her do something even as disturbing as the holocaust.This view plays an important role in creating a world more open to discussion and less prone to hostility. But there is another side to cultural relativism that can create the same set of problems that it hoped to solve. Those who are espousing cultural relativism aims for a global society that is more humane, more forgiving and more open to discussion. The opposite can happen as seen above.The explanation can be partly seen in the analysis of Catherine Wilson who remarked that in order to perform, â€Å"†¦just and benevolent actions, to approve just and benevolent actions in others, and to attribute merit to those who perform them †¦ requires a social system that regards actions as items for judgment and criticism† (2004, p. 4). In other words this world cannot function having only cultural relativism as a guide. Humanity requires something more stable than just a simplistic answer such as relativism.Relativism is like a band-aid to something as serious as gangrene. One can simply patch up a festering wound denying the fact that something is rotting underneath hoping to show that everything is fine will not solve the problem. The sociologist James Wilson was right to be appalled by the naivete and simplistic formulations of his class. Six million people murdered not including millions more who suffered in death camps could not be simply be dismissed as part of freedom of expression bas ed on the unique circumstances surrounding the event.It is the height of hypocrisy for the students to turn a blind eye from the suffering of Jews in Word War II and yet become so livid when others are violating their own freedom. How come they can easily allow the Nazis to trample the rights of the Jews when they could not stand their own parents telling them what to do. This is simply inconsistent and goes against human nature. Cultural relativism can be allowed in areas where cultural preferences and highly debatable issues are at stake but not when lives are on the line and especially when heinous crimes were committed. ReferencesDreier, L. (2005). Contemporary Debates in Moral Theory. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers.Posner, R. (1999). The Problematics of Moral and Legal Theory. Boston, MA: First HarvardUniversity Press.Soccio, D. J. (2004). Archetypes of Wisdom: An Introduction to Philosophy. 5th Ed. Belmont,CA: Wadsworth.Sorell, T. (2000). Moral Theory and Anomaly. Malden, MA : Blackwell Publishers.Timmons, M. (2002). Moral Theory: An Introduction. Maryland: Rowman & LittlefieldPublishers.Wilson, C. (2004). Moral Animals: Ideals and Constraints in Moral Theory. New York: OxfordUniversity Press.